diff options
| author | Roger Frank <rfrank@pglaf.org> | 2025-10-15 02:38:42 -0700 |
|---|---|---|
| committer | Roger Frank <rfrank@pglaf.org> | 2025-10-15 02:38:42 -0700 |
| commit | 860800ae661e2ded70c1164bc2840b28ba5e9f7b (patch) | |
| tree | 23d33796be2f1ca2c1a6a56be938c59e27a2afd2 | |
| -rw-r--r-- | .gitattributes | 3 | ||||
| -rw-r--r-- | 28547-8.txt | 2488 | ||||
| -rw-r--r-- | 28547-8.zip | bin | 0 -> 50493 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | 28547-h.zip | bin | 0 -> 181036 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | 28547-h/28547-h.htm | 2675 | ||||
| -rw-r--r-- | 28547-h/images/preface.png | bin | 0 -> 3216 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | 28547-h/images/quote.png | bin | 0 -> 14287 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | 28547-h/images/t01.png | bin | 0 -> 3430 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | 28547-h/images/t02.png | bin | 0 -> 3712 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | 28547-h/images/t03.png | bin | 0 -> 3310 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | 28547-h/images/t04.png | bin | 0 -> 3430 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | 28547-h/images/t05.png | bin | 0 -> 3024 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | 28547-h/images/t06.png | bin | 0 -> 3256 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | 28547-h/images/t07.png | bin | 0 -> 3118 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | 28547-h/images/t08.png | bin | 0 -> 3382 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | 28547-h/images/t09.png | bin | 0 -> 3064 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | 28547-h/images/t10.png | bin | 0 -> 4262 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | 28547-h/images/t11.png | bin | 0 -> 3794 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | 28547-h/images/t12.png | bin | 0 -> 3253 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | 28547-h/images/t13.png | bin | 0 -> 2604 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | 28547-h/images/t14.png | bin | 0 -> 3124 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | 28547-h/images/t15.png | bin | 0 -> 3056 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | 28547-h/images/t16.png | bin | 0 -> 3190 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | 28547-h/images/t17.png | bin | 0 -> 2844 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | 28547-h/images/t18.png | bin | 0 -> 2434 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | 28547-h/images/t19.png | bin | 0 -> 2882 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | 28547-h/images/t20.png | bin | 0 -> 3545 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | 28547-h/images/t21.png | bin | 0 -> 2929 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | 28547-h/images/t22.png | bin | 0 -> 3767 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | 28547-h/images/t23.png | bin | 0 -> 3622 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | 28547-h/images/t24.png | bin | 0 -> 3545 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | 28547-h/images/t25.png | bin | 0 -> 3345 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | 28547-h/images/t26.png | bin | 0 -> 3814 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | 28547-h/images/t27.png | bin | 0 -> 2897 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | 28547-h/images/t28.png | bin | 0 -> 3007 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | 28547-h/images/t29.png | bin | 0 -> 3289 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | 28547-h/images/t30.png | bin | 0 -> 3346 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | 28547-h/images/t31.png | bin | 0 -> 3602 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | 28547.txt | 2488 | ||||
| -rw-r--r-- | 28547.zip | bin | 0 -> 50475 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | LICENSE.txt | 11 | ||||
| -rw-r--r-- | README.md | 2 |
42 files changed, 7667 insertions, 0 deletions
diff --git a/.gitattributes b/.gitattributes new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6833f05 --- /dev/null +++ b/.gitattributes @@ -0,0 +1,3 @@ +* text=auto +*.txt text +*.md text diff --git a/28547-8.txt b/28547-8.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..136af0c --- /dev/null +++ b/28547-8.txt @@ -0,0 +1,2488 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Words of Jesus, by John R. Macduff + +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: The Words of Jesus + +Author: John R. Macduff + +Release Date: April 9, 2009 [EBook #28547] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE WORDS OF JESUS *** + + + + +Produced by Heiko Evermann, Nigel Blower and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net (This +book was produced from scanned images of public domain +material from the Google Print project.) + + + + + + + + + +Transcriber's Note + +Minor punctuation errors and inconsistencies have been silently corrected. + +The following minor typographic corrections have also been made: +p8: "al" changed to "all" +p13: "sorrrow" changed to "sorrow" +p81: "trom" changed to "from" +p112: "Mat." changed to "Matt." for consistency +p122: "striken" changed to "stricken" + + + + + THE + + WORDS OF JESUS. + + + + by the author of + + "THE MORNING AND NIGHT WATCHES," + "THE FAITHFUL PROMISER," ETC. + + + +Taken from the last London Edition. + + + + New York: + STANFORD & DELISSER, + No. 508, BROADWAY. + 1858. + + + + +The Words of Jesus. + + +"A word spoken in season," says the wise man, "how good it is!" If this +be true regarding the utterances of uninspired lips, with what devout +and paramount interest must we invest the sayings of Incarnate +Truth--"the WORDS OF JESUS!" + +We have, in the motto-verses which head the succeeding pages a few +comforting responses from the Oracle of heavenly Wisdom--a few grapes +plucked from the true Vine--living streams welling fresh from the Living +Fountain. Every portion of Scripture is designed for nutriment to the +soul--"the bread of life;" but surely we may well regard the recorded +"_Words of Jesus_" as "the finest of the wheat." These are the "Honey" +out of the true "Rock," with which He will "satisfy" us. "The WORDS that +I speak unto you, they are spirit and they are life." + +The following are selected more especially as "_Words for the +Weary_"--healing leaves for the wounded spirit falling from the Tree of +Life. Jesus was divinely qualified for this special office of speaking +"many and _comfortable_ words." "The Lord God hath given me the tongue +of the learned, that I might know how to speak a _Word in Season_ to him +that is _weary_." + +Let us, like the disciple of Patmos, turn to hear the voice that speaks +to us, saying, "I wait for the Lord, my soul doth wait, and in _His +Word_ do I hope." Eighteen hundred years have elapsed since these +"words" were uttered. With tones of unaltered and unchanged affection, +they are still echoed from the inner sanctuary--they come this day fresh +as they were spoken, from the lips of Him whose memorial to all time is +this: "_that same Jesus_." + +Reader, seek to realise, in meditating on them, the simple but solemn +truth--"_Christ speaks to me!_" Surely nothing can be more soothing with +which to close your eyes on your nightly pillow, or to carry with you in +the morning out to the duties (or, it may be, the trials and sorrows) of +the day, than--"A WORD OF JESUS." + + + + +1ST DAY OF MONTH. + +"Remember the words of the Lord Jesus, how He said"-- + + "Come unto me all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will + give you rest."--Matt. xi. 28. + +The Gracious Invitation. + + +Gracious "word" of a gracious Saviour, on which the soul may confidingly +repose, and be at peace for ever? It is a _present_ rest--the rest of +_grace_ as well as the rest of _glory_. Not only are there signals of +peace hung out from the walls of heaven--the lights of Home glimmering +in the distance to cheer our footsteps; but we have the "shadow" of this +"great Rock" in a _present_ "weary land." Before the Throne alone is +there "the sea of glass," without one rippling wave; but there is a +haven even on earth for the tempest-tossed--"We which have believed DO +enter into rest." + +Reader, hast thou found this blessed repose in the blood and work of +Immanuel? Long going about "seeking rest and finding none," does this +"word" sound like music in thine ears--"_Come unto Me_?" All other peace +is counterfeit, shadowy, unreal. The eagle spurns the gilded cage as a +poor equivalent for his free-born soarings. The soul's immortal +aspirations can be satisfied with nothing short of the possession of +God's favour and love in Jesus. + +How unqualified is the invitation! If there had been one condition in +entering this covenant Ark, we must have been through eternity at the +mercy of the storm. But all are alike warranted and welcome, and none +_more_ warranted than welcome. For the weak, the weary, the sin-burdened +and sorrow-burdened, there is an open door of grace. + +Return, then unto thy rest, O my soul! Let the sweet cadence of this +"word of Jesus" steal on thee amid the disquietudes of earth. Sheltered +in Him, thou art safe for time, safe for eternity! There may be, and +_will_ be, temporary tossings, fears, and misgivings,--manifestations of +inward corruption; but these will only be like the surface-heavings of +the ocean, while underneath there is a deep settled calm. "Thou wilt +keep him in perfect peace" (_lit._ peace, peace) "whose mind is stayed +on Thee." In the world it is care on care, trouble on trouble, sin on +sin; but every wave that breaks on the believer's soul seems sweetly to +murmur, "Peace, peace!" + +And if the foretaste of this rest be precious, what must be the glorious +consummation? Awaking in the morning of immortality, with the unquiet +dream of earth over--faith lost in sight, and hope in fruition;--no more +any bias to sin--no more latent principles of evil--nothing to disturb +the spirit's deep, everlasting tranquillity--the trembling magnet of +the heart reposing, where alone it can confidingly and permanently rest, +in the enjoyment of the Infinite God. + + "THESE THINGS HAVE I SPOKEN UNTO YOU, THAT IN ME YE MIGHT HAVE PEACE." + + + + +2D DAY. + +"Remember the words of the Lord Jesus, how He said"-- + + "Your heavenly Father knoweth that ye have need of all these + things."--Matt. vi. 22. + +The Comforting Assurance. + + +Though spoken originally by Jesus regarding temporal things, this may be +taken as a motto for the child of God amid all the changing vicissitudes +of his changing history. How it should lull all misgivings; silence all +murmurings; lead to lowly, unquestioning submissiveness--"My Heavenly +Father knoweth that I have need of all these things." + +Where can a child be safer or better than in a father's hand? Where can +the believer be better than in the hands of his God? We are poor judges +of what is best. We are under safe guidance with infallible wisdom. If +we are tempted in a moment of rash presumption to say, "All these things +are against me," let this "word" rebuke the hasty and unworthy surmise. +Unerring wisdom and Fatherly love have pronounced _all_ to be "needful." + +My soul, is there aught that is disturbing thy peace? Are providences +dark, or crosses heavy? Are spiritual props removed, creature comforts +curtailed, gourds smitten and withered like grass?--write on each, +"_Your Father knoweth that ye have need of all these things._" It was He +who increased thy burden. Why? "_It was needed._" It was He who smote +down thy clay idol. Why? "_It was needed._" It was supplanting Himself: +He had to remove it! It was He who crossed thy worldly schemes, marred +thy cherished hopes. Why? "_It was needed._" There was a lurking thorn +in the coveted path. There was some higher spiritual blessing in +reversion. "He '_prevented_' thee with the blessings of His goodness." + +Seek to cherish a spirit of more childlike confidence in thy Heavenly +Father's will. Thou art not left unbefriended and alone to buffet the +storms of the wilderness. Thy Marahs as well as thy Elims are appointed +by Him. A gracious pillar-cloud is before thee. Follow it through +sunshine and storm. He may "lead thee about," but He will not lead thee +wrong. Unutterable tenderness is the characteristic of all His dealings. +"Blessed be His name," says a tried believer, "He maketh my feet like +hinds' feet" (_literally_, "equaleth" them), "he _equaleth_ them for +every precipice, every ascent, every leap." + +And who is it that speaks this quieting word? It is He who Himself felt +the preciousness of the assurance during His own awful sufferings, that +all were _needed_, and all _appointed_; that from Bethlehem's cradle to +Calvary's Cross there was not the redundant thorn in the chaplet of +sorrow which He, the Man of Sorrows, bore. Every drop in His bitter cup +was mingled by His Father: "This cup which _Thou_ givest me to drink, +shall I not drink it!" Oh, if He could extract comfort in this hour of +inconceivable agony, in the thought that a Father's hand lighted the +fearful furnace-fires, what strong consolation is there in the same +truth to all His suffering people! + +What! one superfluous drop! one redundant pang! one unneeded cross! Hush +the secret atheism! He gave His Son for thee! He calls Himself "thy +Father!" Whatever be the trial under which thou art now smarting, let +the word of a gracious Saviour be "like oil thrown on the fretful sea;" +let it dry every rebellious tear-drop. "He, thine unerring Parent, +knoweth that thou hast need of _this_ as well as _all_ these things." + + "THY WORD IS VERY SURE, THEREFORE THY SERVANT LOVETH IT." + + + + +3D DAY. + +"Remember the words of the Lord Jesus, how He said"-- + + "Whatsoever ye shall ask in my name, that will I do, that the Father + may be glorified in the Son."--John xiv. 13. + +The Power of Prayer. + + +Blessed Jesus! it is Thou who hast unlocked to Thy people the gates of +prayer. Without Thee they must have been shut forever. It was Thy +atoning merit on earth that first opened them; it is Thy intercessory +work in heaven that keeps them open still. + +How unlimited the promise--"_Whatsoever ye shall ask!_" It is the pledge +of all that the needy sinner requires--all that an Omnipotent Saviour +can bestow! As the great Steward of the mysteries of grace, He seems to +say to His faithful servants, "Take thy bill, and under this, my +superscription, write what you please." And then, when the blank is +filled up, he further endorses each petition with the words, "_I WILL +do it!_" + +He farther encourages us to ask "_in His name_." In the case of an +earthly petitioner there are some pleas more influential in obtaining a +boon than others. Jesus speaks of _this_ as forming the key to the heart +of God. As David loved the helpless cripple of Saul's house "_for +Jonathan's sake_," so will the Father, by virtue of our covenant +relationship to the true JONATHAN (_lit._, "the gift of God"), delight +in giving us even "exceeding abundantly above all that we can ask or +think." + +Reader, do you know the blessedness of confiding your every want and +every care--your every sorrow and every cross--into the ear of the +Saviour? He is the "Wonderful Counsellor." With an exquisitely tender +sympathy He can enter into the innermost depths of your need. That need +may be great, but the everlasting arms are underneath it all. Think of +Him now, at this moment--the great Angel of the Covenant, with the +censer full of much incense, in which are placed your feeblest +aspirations, your most burdened sighs--the odour-breathing cloud +ascending with acceptance before the Father's throne. The answer may +tarry;--these your supplications may seem to be kept long on the wing, +hovering around the mercy-seat. A gracious God sometimes sees it meet +thus to test the faith and patience of His people. He delights to hear +the music of their importunate pleadings--to see them undeterred by +difficulties--unrepelled by apparent forgetfulness and neglect. But He +_will_ come at last; the pent-up fountain of love and mercy will at +length burst out;--the soothing accents will in His own good time be +heard, "Be it unto thee according to thy word!" + +Soldier of Christ! with all thine other panoply, forget not the +"_All-prayer_." It is that which keeps bright and shining "the whole +armour of God." While yet out in the night of a dark world--whilst still +bivouacking in an enemy's country--kindle thy watch-fires at the altar +of incense. Thou must be Moses, pleading on the Mount, if thou wouldst +be Joshua, victorious in the world's daily battle. Confide thy cause to +this waiting Redeemer. Thou canst not weary Him with thine importunity. +He delights in hearing. His Father is glorified in giving. The memorable +Bethany-utterance remains unaltered and unrepealed--"I knew that Thou +hearest me always." He is still the "Prince that has power with God and +prevails"--still He promises and pleads--still He lives and loves! + + "I WAIT FOR THE LORD, MY SOUL DOTH WAIT; AND IN HIS WORD DO I HOPE." + + + + +4TH DAY. + +"Remember the words of the Lord Jesus, how He said"-- + + "What I do thou knowest not now; but thou shalt know + hereafter."--John xiii. 7. + +The Unveiled Dealings. + + +O blessed day, when the long sealed book of mystery shall be unfolded, +when the "fountains of the great deep shall be broken up," "the channels +of the waters seen," and _all_ discovered to be one vast revelation of +unerring wisdom and ineffable love! Here we are often baffled at the +Lord's dispensations; we cannot fathom His ways:--like the well of +Sychar, they are deep, and we have nothing to draw with. But soon the +"mystery of God will be finished;" the enigmatical "seals," with all +their inner meanings, opened. When that "morning without clouds" shall +break, each soul will be like the angel standing in the sun--there will +be no shadow; all will be perfect day! + +Believer, be still! The dealings of thy Heavenly Father may seem dark to +thee; there may seem now to be no golden fringe, no "bright light in the +clouds;" but a day of disclosures is at hand. "Take it on trust a little +while." An earthly child takes _on trust_ what his father tells him: +when he reaches maturity, much that was baffling to his infant +comprehension is explained. Thou art in this world in the nonage of thy +being--Eternity is the soul's immortal manhood. _There_, every dealing +will be vindicated. It will lose all its "darkness" when bathed in the +floods "of the excellent glory!" + +Ah! instead of thus being as weaned children, how apt are we to exercise +ourselves in matters too high for us? not content with knowing that our +Father _wills_ it, but presumptuously seeking to know _how_ it is, and +_why_ it is. If it be unfair to pronounce on the unfinished and +incompleted works of man; if the painter, or sculptor, or artificer, +would shrink from having his labours judged of when in a rough, +unpolished, immatured state; how much more so with the works of God? How +we should honour Him by a simple, confiding, unreserved submission to +His will,--contented patiently to wait the fulfilment of this +"_hereafter_" promise, when all the lights and shadows in the now +half-finished picture will be blended and melted into one harmonious +whole,--when all the now disjointed stones in the temple will be seen to +fit into their appointed place, giving unity, and compactness, and +symmetry, to all the building. + +And who is it that speaks these living "words," "What _I_ do?" It is He +who died for us? who now lives for us! Blessed Jesus! Thou mayest _do_ +much that our blind hearts would like _un_done,--"terrible things in +righteousness which we looked not for." The heaviest (what we may be +tempted to call the severest) cross Thou canst lay upon us we shall +regard as only the _apparent_ severity of unutterable and unalterable +love. Eternity will unfold how _all_, _all_ was needed; that nothing +else, nothing less, could have done! If not now, at least then, the +deliberate verdict on a calm retrospect of life will be this,-- + + "_THE WORD_ OF THE LORD IS RIGHT, AND ALL HIS WORKS ARE DONE IN + TRUTH." + + + + +5TH DAY. + +"Remember the words of the Lord Jesus, how He said"-- + + "Herein is my Father glorified, that _ye bear much fruit_."--John + xv. 8. + +The Father Glorified. + + +When surveying the boundless ocean of covenant mercy--every wave +chiming, "God is Love!"--does the thought ever present itself, "What can +I do for this great Being who hath done so much for me?" Recompence I +cannot! No more can my purest services add one iota to His underived +glory, than the tiny taper can add to the blaze of the sun at noonday, +or a drop of water to the boundless ocean. Yet, wondrous thought! from +this worthless soul of mine there may roll in a revenue of glory which +He who loves the broken and contrite spirit will "not despise." "_Herein +is my Father glorified, that ye bear much fruit._" + +Reader! are you a fruit-bearer in your Lord's vineyard? Are you seeking +to make life one grand act of consecration to His glory--one +thank-offering for His unmerited love. You may be unable to exhibit much +fruit in the eye of the world. Your circumstances and position in life +may forbid you to point to any splendid services, or laborious and +imposing efforts in the cause of God. It matters not. It is often those +fruits that are unseen and unknown to man, ripening in seclusion, that +He values most;--the quiet, lowly walk--patience and +submission--gentleness and humility--putting yourself unreservedly in +His hands--willing to be led by Him even in darkness--saying, Not _my_ +will, but _Thy_ will:--the unselfish spirit, the meek bearing of an +injury, the unostentatious kindness,--these are some of the "fruits" +which your Heavenly Father loves, and by which He is glorified. + +Perchance it may be with you the season of trial, the chamber of +protracted sickness, the time of desolating bereavement, some furnace +seven times heated. Herein, too, you may sweetly glorify your God. Never +is your Heavenly Father _more_ glorified by His children on earth, than +when, in the midst of these furnace-fires, He listens to nothing but the +gentle breathings of confiding faith and love,--"Let Him do what seemeth +good unto Him." Yes, you can there glorify Him in a way which angels +cannot do in a world where no trial is. They can glorify God only with +the _crown_; you can glorify Him with the _cross_ and the prospect of +the _crown_ together! Ah, if He be dealing severely with you--if He, as +the great Husbandman, be pruning His vines, lopping their boughs, +stripping off their luxuriant branches and "beautiful rods!" remember +the end!--"He purgeth it, that it may bring forth _more_ fruit," and +"_Herein_ is my Father glorified!" + +Be it yours to lie passive in His hands, saying in unmurmuring +resignation, Father, glorify Thy name! Glorify Thyself, whether by +giving or taking, filling my cup or "emptying me from vessel to vessel!" +Let me know no will but Thine. Angels possess no higher honour and +privilege than glorifying the God before whom they cast their crowns. +How blessed to be able thus to claim brotherhood with the spirits in the +upper sanctuary! nay, more, to be associated with the Saviour Himself in +the theme of His own exalted joy, when he said, "_I_ have _glorified_ +Thee on earth!" + + "THESE THINGS HAVE I SPOKEN UNTO YOU, THAT MY JOY MIGHT REMAIN IN YOU, + AND THAT YOUR JOY MIGHT BE FULL." + + + + +6TH DAY. + +"Remember the words of the Lord Jesus, how He said"-- + + "The very hairs of your head are all numbered."--Matt. x. 30. + +The Tender Solicitude. + + +What a "word" is this! All that befals you, to the very numbering of +your hairs, is known to God! Nothing can happen by accident or chance. +Nothing can elude His inspection. The fall of the forest leaf--the +fluttering of the insect--the waving of the angel's wing--the +annihilation of a world,--all are equally noted by Him. Man speaks of +great things and small things--God knows no such distinction. + +How especially comforting to think of this tender solicitude with +reference to his own covenant people--that He metes out their joys and +their sorrows! Every sweet, every bitter is ordained by Him. Even +"_wearisome_ nights" are "_appointed_." Not a pang I feel, not a tear I +shed but is known to Him. What are called "dark dealings" are the +ordinations of undeviating faithfulness. Man _may_ err--his ways are +often crooked; "but as for God, _His_ way is perfect!" He puts my tears +into His bottle. Every moment the everlasting arms are underneath and +around me. He keeps me "as the apple of His eye." He "bears" me "as a +man beareth his own son!" + +Do I look to the future? Is there much of uncertainty and mystery +hanging over it? It may be, much premonitory of evil. Trust Him. All is +marked out for me. Dangers will be averted; bewildering mazes will show +themselves to be interlaced and interweaved with mercy. "He keepeth the +feet of His saints." A hair of their head will not be touched. He leads +sometimes darkly, sometimes sorrowfully; most frequently by cross and +circuitous ways we ourselves would not have chosen; but _always_ +wisely, _always_ tenderly. With all its mazy windings and turnings, its +roughness and ruggedness, the believer's is not only _a_ right way, but +THE right way--the best which covenant love and wisdom could select. +"Nothing," says Jeremy Taylor, "does so establish the mind amidst the +rollings and turbulence of present things, as both a look above them and +a look beyond them; above them, to the steady and good hand by which +they are ruled; and beyond them, to the sweet and beautiful end to +which, by that hand, they will be brought." "The Great Counsellor," says +Thomas Brooks, "puts clouds and darkness round about Him, bidding us +follow at His beck through the cloud, promising an eternal and +uninterrupted sunshine on the other side." On that "other side" we shall +see how every apparent rough blast has been hastening our barks nearer +the desired haven. + +Well may I commit the keeping of my soul to Jesus in well-doing, as unto +a faithful Creator. He gave _Himself_ for me. This transcendent pledge +of love is the guarantee for the bestowment of every other needed +blessing. Oh, blessed thought! my sorrows numbered by the Man of +Sorrows; my tears counted by Him who shed first His tears and then His +blood for _me_. He will impose no needless burden, and exact no +unnecessary sacrifice. There was no redundant drop in the cup of His own +sufferings; neither will there be in that of His people. "Though He slay +me, yet will I trust in Him." + + "WHEREFORE COMFORT ONE ANOTHER WITH _THESE WORDS_." + + + + +7TH DAY. + +"Remember the words of the Lord Jesus, how He said"-- + + "I am the good shepherd, and know my sheep, and am known of + mine."--John x. 14. + +The Good Shepherd. + + +"The Good Shepherd"--well can the sheep who know His voice attest the +truthfulness and faithfulness of this endearing name and word. Where +would they have been through eternity, had He not left His throne of +light and glory, travelling down to this dark valley of the curse, and +giving His life a ransom for many? Think of His love to each separate +member of the flock--wandering over pathless wilds with unwearied +patience and unquenchable ardour, ceasing not the pursuit _until_ He +finds it. Think of His love _now_--"I AM the Good Shepherd." Still that +tender eye of watchfulness following the guilty wanderers--the glories +of heaven and the songs of angels unable to dim or alter His +affection;--the music of the words, at this moment coming as sweetly +from His lips as when first He uttered them--"I know my sheep." Every +individual believer--the weakest, the weariest, the faintest--claims His +attention. His loving eye follows me day by day out to the +wilderness--marks out my pasture, studies my wants, and trials, and +sorrows, and perplexities--every steep ascent, every brook, every +winding path, every thorny thicket. "He goeth before them." It is not +rough driving, but gentle guiding. He does not take them over an unknown +road; He himself has trodden it before. He hath drunk of every "brook by +the way;" He himself hath "suffered being tempted;" He is "able to +succour them that are tempted." He seems to say, "Fear not; I cannot +lead you wrong; follow me in the bleak waste, the blackened wilderness, +as well as by the green pastures and the still waters. Do you ask why I +have left the sunny side of the valley--carpeted with flowers, and +bathed in sunshine--leading you to some high mountain apart, some +cheerless spot of sorrow? Trust me, I will lead you by paths you have +not known, but they are all known _to_ me, and selected _by_ me--'Follow +thou me.'" + +"And am known of mine!" Reader! canst thou subscribe to these closing +words of this gracious utterance? Dost thou "know" _Him_ in all the +glories of His person, in all the completeness of His finished work, in +all the tenderness and unutterable love of His every dealing towards +thee? + +It has been remarked by Palestine travellers, that not only do the sheep +there follow the guiding shepherd, but even while cropping the herbage +as they go along, they look wistfully up to see that they are near him. +Is this thine attitude--"_looking unto Jesus_?" "In all thy ways +acknowledge Him, and he will direct thy paths." Leave the future to His +providing. "The Lord is my Shepherd; I shall not want." _I shall not +want!_--it has been beautifully called "the bleating of Messiah's +sheep." Take it as thy watchword during thy wilderness wanderings, till +grace be perfected in glory. Let this be the record of thy simple faith +and unwavering trust, "These are they who _follow_, whithersoever He +sees meet to guide them." + + "THE SHEEP FOLLOW HIM, FOR THEY KNOW HIS VOICE." + + + + +8TH DAY. + +"Remember the words of the Lord Jesus, how He said"-- + + "And I will pray the Father, and He shall give you another + Comforter, that he may abide with you for ever."--John xiv. 16. + +The Abiding Comforter. + + +When one beloved earthly friend is taken away, how the heart is drawn +out towards those that remain! Jesus was now about to leave His +sorrowing disciples. He directs them to one whose presence would fill up +the vast blank His own absence was to make. His name was, _The +Comforter_; His mission was, "to abide with them for ever." Accordingly, +no sooner had the gates of heaven closed on their ascended Lord, than, +in fulfilment of His own gracious promise, the bereaved and orphaned +Church was baptized with Pentecostal fire. "When I depart, I will send +Him unto you." + +Reader, do you realize your privilege--living under the dispensation of +the Spirit? Is it your daily prayer that He may come down in all the +plenitude of His heavenly graces on your soul, even "as rain upon the +mown grass, and showers that water the earth?" You cannot live without +Him; there can be not one heavenly aspiration, not one breathing of +love, not one upward glance of faith, without His gracious influences. +Apart from him, there is no preciousness in the word, no blessing in +ordinances, no permanent sanctifying results in affliction. As the angel +directed Hagar to the hidden spring, this blessed agent, true to His +name and office, directs His people to the waters of comfort, giving new +glory to the promises, investing the Saviour's character and work with +new loveliness and beauty. + +How precious is the title which this "Word of Jesus" gives Him--THE +COMFORTER! What a word for a sorrowing world! The Church militant has +its tent pitched in a "valley of _tears_." The name of the divine +visitant who comes to her and ministers to her wants, is _Comforter_. +Wide is the family of the afflicted, but He has a healing balm for +all--the weak, the tempted, the sick, the sorrowing, the bereaved, the +dying! How different from other "sons of consolation?" _Human +friends_--a look may alienate; adversity may estrange; death must +separate! The "Word of Jesus" speaks of One whose attribute and +prerogative is to "abide with us for ever;" superior to all +vicissitudes--surviving death itself! + +And surely if anything else can endear His mission of love to His +Church, it is that He comes direct from God, as the fruit and gift of +_Jesus' intercession_--"_I_ will pray the Father." This holy dove of +peace and comfort is let out by the hand of Jesus from the ark of +covenant mercy within the veil! Nor is the gift more glorious than it is +free. Does the word, the look, of a suffering child get the eye and the +heart of an _earthly_ father? "If ye then, being evil, know how to give +good gifts unto your children, how much more shall your Father in heaven +give the Holy Spirit unto them that ask Him?" It is He who makes these +"words of Jesus" "winged words." + + "HE SHALL BRING ALL THINGS TO YOUR REMEMBRANCE, WHATSOEVER I HAVE + SAID UNTO YOU." + + + + +9TH DAY. + +"Remember the words of the Lord Jesus, how He said"-- + + "Neither do I condemn thee; go and sin no more."--John viii. 11. + +The Gracious Verdict. + + +How much more tender is Jesus than the tenderest of earthly friends? The +Apostles, in a moment of irritation would have called down fire from +heaven on obstinate sinners. Their Master rebuked the unkind suggestion. +Peter, the trusted but treacherous disciple, expected nothing but harsh +and merited reproof for faithlessness. He who knew well how that heart +would be bowed with penitential sorrow, sends first the kindest of +messages, and then the gentlest of rebukes, "Lovest thou me?" The +watchmen in the Canticles smote the bride, tore off her veil, and loaded +her with reproaches. When she found her lost Lord, there was not one +word of upbraiding! "So slow is He to anger," says an illustrious +believer, "so ready to forgive, that when His prophets lost all patience +with the people so as to make intercession _against_ them, yet even then +could He not be got to cast off this people whom He foreknew, for his +great name's sake." + +The guilty sinner to whom He speaks this comforting "word," was frowned +upon by her accusers. But, if others spurned her from their presence, +"_Neither do I condemn thee._" Well it is to fall into the hands of this +blessed Saviour-God, for great are His mercies. + +Are we to infer from this, that He winks at sin? Far from it. His blood, +His work--Bethlehem, and Calvary, refute the thought! Ere the guilt even +of one solitary soul could be washed out, He had to descend from His +everlasting throne to agonise on the accursed tree. But this "word of +Jesus" is a word of tender encouragement to every sincere, +broken-hearted penitent, that crimson sins, and scarlet sins, are no +barriers to a free, full, everlasting forgiveness. The Israelite of old, +gasping in his agony in the sands of the wilderness, had but to "_look_ +and _live_;" and still does He say, "Look unto me, and be ye saved, all +the ends of the earth." Up-reared by the side of his own cross there was +a monumental column for all Time, only second to itself in wonder. Over +the head of the dying felon is the superscription written for despairing +guilt and trembling penitence, "This is a faithful saying, and worthy of +all acceptation, that Jesus Christ came into the world to save sinners." +"He never yet," says Charnock, "put out a dim candle that was lighted at +the Sun of Righteousness." "Whatever our guiltiness be," says +Rutherford, "yet when it falleth into the sea of God's mercy, it is but +like a drop of blood fallen into the great ocean." + +Reader, you may be the chief of sinners, or it may be the chief of +backsliders; your soul may have started aside like a broken bow. As the +bankrupt is afraid to look into his books, you may be afraid to look +into your own heart. You are hovering on the verge of despair. +Conscience, and the memory of unnumbered sins, is uttering the +desponding verdict, "I condemn thee." Jesus has a kinder word--a more +cheering declaration--"_I_ condemn thee _not_: go, and sin no more!" + + "AND ALL WONDERED AT THE GRACIOUS _WORDS_ THAT PROCEEDED OUT OF + HIS MOUTH." + + + + +10TH DAY. + +"Remember the words of the Lord Jesus, how He said"-- + + "Whosoever shall do the will of my Father which is in heaven, the + same is my brother, and my sister, and mother."--Matt. xii. 50. + +The Wondrous Relationship. + + +As if no solitary earthly type were enough to image forth the love of +Jesus, He assembles into one verse a group of the tenderest earthly +relationships. Human affection has to focus its loveliest hues, but all +is too little to afford an exponent of the depth and intensity of _His_. +"As one whom his _mother_ comforteth;" "my _sister_, my _spouse_." He is +"_Son_," "_Brother_" "_Friend_"--all in one; "cleaving closer than any +brother." + +And can we wonder at such language? Is it merely figurative, expressive +of more than the reality?--He gave _Himself_ for us; after that pledge +of His affection we must cease to marvel at any expression of the +interest He feels in us. Anything He can _say_ or _do_ is infinitely +less than what He _has done_. + +Believer! art thou solitary and desolate? Has bereavement severed +earthly ties? Has the grave made forced estrangements,--sundered the +closest links of earthly affection? In Jesus thou hast filial and +fraternal love combined; He is the Friend of friends, whose presence and +fellowship compensates for all losses, and supplies all blanks; "He +setteth the solitary in families." If thou art orphaned, friendless, +comfortless here, remember there is in the Elder Brother on the Throne a +love deep as the unfathomed ocean, boundless as Eternity? + +And who are those who can claim the blessedness spoken of under this +wondrous imagery? On whom does He lavish this unutterable affection? No +outward profession will purchase it. No church, no priest, no +ordinances, no denominational distinctions. It is on those who are +possessed of _holy characters_. "He that doeth the will of my Father +which is in heaven!" He who reflects the mind of Jesus; imbibes His +Spirit; takes His Word as the regulator of his daily walk, and makes His +glory the great end of his being; he who lives _to_ God and _with_ God, +and _for_ God; the humble, lowly, Christ-like, Heaven-seeking +Christian;--he it is who can claim as his own this wondrous heritage of +love! If it be a worthy object of ambition to be loved by the good and +the great on earth, what must it be to have an eye of love ever beaming +upon us from the Throne, in comparison of which the attachment here of +brother, sister, kinsman, friend--all combined--pales like the stars +before the rising sun! Though we are often ashamed to call Him +"Brother," "He is not ashamed to call us _brethren_." He looks down on +poor worms, and says, "_The same_ is my mother, and sister, and +brother!" "I will write upon them," He says in another place, "my new +name." Just as we write our name on a book to tell that it belongs to +us; so Jesus would write His own name on _us_, the wondrous volumes of +His grace, that they may be read and pondered by principalities and +powers. + +Have we "known and believed this love of God?" Ah, how poor has been the +requital! Who cannot subscribe to the words of one, whose name was in +all the churches,--"Thy love has been as a shower; the return but a +dew-drop, and that dew-drop stained with sin." + + "IF A MAN LOVE ME, HE WILL KEEP _MY WORDS_; AND MY FATHER WILL LOVE + HIM, AND WE WILL COME UNTO HIM, AND MAKE OUR ABODE WITH HIM." + + + + +11TH DAY. + +"Remember the words of the Lord Jesus, how He said"-- + + "I will not leave you comfortless: I will come to you."--John xiv. + 18. + +The Befriended Orphans. + + +Does the Christian's path lie all the way through Beulah? Nay, he is +forewarned it is to be one of "much tribulation." He has his Marahs as +well as his Elims--his valleys of Baca as well as his grapes of Eschol. +Often is he left unbefriended to bear the brunt of the storm--his gourds +fading when most needed--his sun going down while it is yet day--his +happy home and happy heart darkened in a moment with sorrows with which +a stranger (with which often a _brother_) cannot intermeddle. There is +_One_ Brother "born for adversity," who _can_. How often has that voice +broken with its silvery accents the muffled stillness of the +sick-chamber or death-chamber! "'_I_ will not leave you comfortless:' +the world _may_, friends _may_, the desolations of bereavement and death +_may_; but _I will not_; you will be alone, yet _not_ alone, for I your +Saviour and your God will be with you!" + +Jesus seems to have an especial love and affection for His orphaned and +comfortless people. A father loves his sick and sorrowing child most; of +all his household, he occupies most of his thoughts. Christ seems to +delight to lavish His deepest sympathy on "him that hath no helper." It +is in the hour of sorrow His people have found Him most precious; it is +in "the wilderness" He speaks most "comfortably unto them;" He gives +them "their vineyards from thence:" in the places they least expected, +wells of heavenly consolation break forth at their feet. As Jonathan of +old, when faint and weary, had his strength revived by the honey he +found dropping in the tangled thicket: so the faint and woe-worn +children of God find "honey in the wood"--everlasting consolation +dropping from the tree of life, in the midst of the thorniest thickets +of affliction. + +Comfortless ones, be comforted! Jesus often makes you _portionless_ +here, to drive you to Himself, the _everlasting portion_. He often dries +every rill and fountain of earthly bliss, that He may lead you to say, +"All my springs are in Thee." "He seems intent," says one who could +speak from experience, "to fill up every gap love has been forced to +make; one of his errands from heaven was to bind up the broken-hearted." +How beautifully in one amazing verse does he conjoin the depth and +tenderness of his comfort with the certainty of it--"As one whom his +mother comforteth, so will I comfort you, and ye SHALL be comforted!" + +Ah, how many would not have their wilderness-state altered, with all +its trials, and gloom, and sorrow, just that they might enjoy the +unutterable sympathy and love of this Comforter of the comfortless, one +ray of whose approving smile can dispel the deepest earthly gloom? As +the clustering constellations shine with intensest lustre in the +midnight sky, so these "words of Jesus" come out like ministering angels +in the deep dark night of earthly sorrow. We may see no beauty in them +when the world is sunny and bright; but He has laid them up in store for +us for the dark and cloudy day. + + "THESE THINGS HAVE I TOLD YOU, THAT WHEN THE TIME COMETH, YE MAY + REMEMBER THAT I TOLD YOU OF THEM." + + + + +12TH DAY. + +"Remember the words of the Lord Jesus, how He said"-- + + "In the world ye shall have tribulation: but be of good cheer; I + have overcome the world."--John xvi. 33. + +The World Conquered. + + +And shall I be afraid of a world already conquered? The Almighty Victor, +within view of His Crown, turns round to His faint and weary soldiers, +and bids them take courage. They are not fighting their way through +untried enemies. The God-Man Mediator "_knows_ their sorrows." "He was +in _all points_ tempted." "Both He (_i. e._, Christ) who sanctifieth, +and they (His people) who are sanctified, are all of one (nature)." As +the great Precursor, he heads the pilgrim band, saying "I will show you +the path of life." The way to heaven is consecrated by His footprints. +Every thorn that wounds _them_, has wounded _Him_ before. Every cross +they can bear, he has borne before. Every tear they shed, He has shed +before. There is one respect, indeed, in which the identity fails,--He +was "yet without sin;" but this recoil of His Holy nature from moral +evil gives Him a deeper and intenser sensibility towards those who have +still corruption within responding to temptation without. + +Reader! are you ready to faint under your tribulations? Is it a seducing +world--a wandering, wayward heart? "Consider _Him_ that endured!" Listen +to your adorable Redeemer, stooping from His Throne, and saying, "_I_ +have overcome the world." He came forth unscathed from its snares. With +the same heavenly weapon He bids you wield, three times did he repel the +Tempter, saying, "It is written."--Is it some crushing trial, or +overwhelming grief? He is "_acquainted_ with _grief_." He, the mighty +Vine, knows the minutest fibres of sorrow in the branches; when the +pruning knife touches _them_, it touches _Him_. "He has gone," says a +tried sufferer, "through every class in our wilderness school." He loves +to bring His people into untried and perplexing places, that they may +seek out the guiding pillar, and prize its radiance. He puts them on the +darkening waves, that they may follow the guiding light hung out astern +from the only Bark of pure and unsullied Humanity that was ever proof +against the storm. + +Be assured there is disguised love in all He does. He who knows us +infinitely better than we know ourselves, often puts a thorn in our nest +to drive us to the wing, that we may not be grovellers forever. "It is," +says Evans, "upon the smooth ice we slip, the rough path is safest for +the feet." The tearless and undimmed eye is not to be coveted _here_; +_that_ is reserved for heaven! + +Who can tell what muffled and disguised "needs be" there may lurk under +these world-tribulations? His true spiritual seed are often planted deep +in the soil; they have to make their way through a load of sorrow before +they reach the surface; but their roots are thereby the firmer and +deeper struck. Had it not been for these lowly and needed "depths," they +might have rushed up as feeble saplings, and succumbed to the first +blast. He often leads His people still, as he led them of old, to "a +high mountain apart;" but it is to a _high_ mountain--_above the world_; +and, better still, He who Himself hath overcome the world, leadeth them +there, and speaketh comfortably unto them. + + "I HOPE IN THY _WORD_." + + + + +13TH DAY. + +"Remember the words of the Lord Jesus, how He said"-- + + "Fear not, little flock; it is your Father's good pleasure to give + you the kingdom."--Luke xii. 32. + +The Little Flock. + + +The music of the Shepherd's voice again! Another comforting "word," and +how tender! _his_ flock a _little_ flock, a _feeble_ flock, a _fearful_ +flock, but a _beloved_ flock, loved of the Father, enjoying His "good +pleasure," and soon to be a _glorified_ flock, safe in the fold, secure +within the kingdom! How does He quiet their fears and misgivings? As +they stand panting on the bleak mountain side, He points His crook +upwards to the bright and shining gates of glory, and says, "It is your +Father's good pleasure to give you these!" What gentle words! What a +blessed consummation! Gracious Saviour, Thy _gentleness_ hath made me +_great_! + +That kingdom is the believer's by irreversible and inalienable +charter-right--"I appoint unto you" (by covenant), says Jesus in another +place, "a kingdom, as my Father hath appointed unto me." It is as sure +as everlasting love and almighty power can make it. Satan, the great foe +of the kingdom, may be injecting foul misgivings, and doubts, and fears +as to your security; but he cannot denude you of your purchased +immunities. He must first pluck the crown from the Brow upon the Throne, +before he can weaken or impair this sure word of promise. If "it pleased +the Lord" to _bruise_ the Shepherd, it will surely please Him to make +happy the purchased flock. If He "smote" His "Fellow" when the sheep +were scattered, surely it will rejoice Him, for the Shepherd's sake, "to +turn His hand upon the little ones." + +Believers, think of this! "It is your Father's good pleasure." The Good +Shepherd, in leading you across the intervening mountains, shows you +signals and memorials of paternal grace studding all the way. He may +"lead you about" in your way thither. He led the children of Israel of +old out of Egypt to their promised kingdom,--how? By forty years' +wilderness-discipline and privations. But trust Him; dishonour Him not +with guilty doubts and fears. Look not back on your dark, stumbling +paths, nor within on your fitful and vacillating heart; but forwards to +the land that is far off. How earnestly God desires your salvation! What +a heaping together of similar tender "words" with that which is here +addressed to us? The Gospel seems like a palace full of opened windows, +from each of which He issues an invitation, declaring that He has no +pleasure in our death--but rather that we would turn and live! + +Let the melody of the Shepherd's reed fall gently on your ear,--"It is +your Father's good pleasure." I have given you, He seems to say, the +best proof that it is _mine_. In order to purchase that kingdom, I died +for you! But it is also _His_: "As a shepherd seeketh out his flock in +the day that he is among his sheep that are scattered, so," says God, +"will I seek out my sheep, and will deliver them out of all places where +they have been scattered in the cloudy and dark day." Fear not, then, +little flock! though yours for a while should be the bleak mountain and +sterile waste, seeking your way Zionward, it may be "with torn fleeces +and bleeding feet;" for, + + "IT IS NOT THE WILL OF YOUR FATHER WHICH IS IN HEAVEN, THAT ONE OF + THESE LITTLE ONES SHOULD PERISH." + + + + +14TH DAY. + +"Remember the words of the Lord Jesus, how He said"-- + + "If any man thirst, let him come unto me, and drink."--John vii. 37. + +The Unlimited Offer. + + +One of the most gracious "words" that ever "proceeded out of the mouth +of God!" The time it was uttered was an impressive one; it was on "the +last, the great day" of the Feast of Tabernacles, when a denser +multitude than on any of the seven preceding ones were assembled +together. The golden bowl, according to custom, had probably just been +filled with the waters of Siloam, and was being carried up to the Temple +amid the acclamations of the crowd, when the Saviour of the world seized +the opportunity of speaking to them some truths of momentous import. +Many, doubtless, were the "words of Jesus" uttered on the previous days, +but the most important is reserved for the last. What, then, is the +great closing theme on which He rivets the attention of this vast +auditory, and which He would have them carry away to their distant +homes? It is, _The freeness of His own great salvation_--"If any man +thirst, let him come unto me and drink." + +Reader, do you discredit the reality of this gracious offer? Are your +legion sins standing as a barrier between you and a Saviour's proffered +mercy? Do you feel as if you cannot come "just as you are;" that some +partial cleansing, some preparatory reformation must take place before +you can venture to the living fountain? Nay, "_if any man_." What is +freer than water?--The poorest beggar may drink "without money" the +wayside pool. _That_ is your Lord's own picture of His own glorious +salvation; you are invited to come, "without one plea," in all your +poverty and want, your weakness and unworthiness. Remember the +Redeemer's saying to the woman of Samaria. She was the chief of +sinners--profligate--hardened--degraded; but He made no condition, no +qualification; _simple believing_ was all that was required,--"If thou +knewest the gift of God," thou wouldst have asked, and He would have +given thee "living water." + +But is there not, after all, _one_ condition mentioned in this "word of +Jesus?"--"_If_ any man _thirst_." You may have the depressing +consciousness that you experience no such ardent longings after +holiness,--no feeling of your affecting need of the Saviour. But is not +this very conviction of your want an indication of a feeble longing +after Christ? If you are saying, "I have nothing to draw with, and the +well is deep," He who makes offer of the salvation-stream will Himself +fill your empty vessel,--"He satisfieth the _longing_ soul with +goodness." + +"Jesus _stood_ and _cried_." It is the solitary instance recorded of Him +of whom it is said, "He shall _not_ strive nor cry," lifting up "His +voice in the streets." But it was truth of surpassing interest and +magnitude He had to proclaim. It was a declaration, moreover, specially +dear to him. As it formed the theme of this ever-memorable _sermon_ +during His public ministry, so when He was sealing up the inspired +record--the last utterances of His voice on earth, till that voice shall +be heard again on the throne, contained the same life-giving +invitation,--"Let him that is athirst come, and whosoever will, let him +take of the water of life freely." Oh! as the echoes of that gracious +saying--this blast of the silver trumpet--are still sounding to the ends +of the world, may this be the recorded result, + + "AS HE SPAKE _THESE WORDS_, MANY BELIEVED ON HIM." + + + + +15TH DAY. + +"Remember the words of the Lord Jesus, how He said"-- + + "My yoke is easy, and my burden is light."--Matt. xi. 30. + +The Joyful Servitude. + + +Can the same be said of Satan, or sin? With regard to _them_, how +faithfully true rather is the converse--"my yoke is _heavy_, and my +burden is _grievous_!" Christ's service is a happy service, the _only_ +happy one; and even when there is a cross to carry, or a yoke to bear, +it is His own appointment. "_My_ yoke." It is sent by no untried friend. +Nay, He who puts it on His people, bore this very yoke Himself. "He +_carried_ our sorrows." How blessed this feeling of holy servitude to so +kind a Master! not like "dumb, driven cattle," goaded on, but _led_, and +led often most tenderly when the yoke and the burden are upon us. The +great apostle rarely speaks of himself under any other title but _one_. +That _one_ he seems to make his boast. He had much whereof he might +glory;--he had been the instrument in saving thousands--he had spoken +before kings--he had been in Cæsar's palace and Cæsar's presence--he had +been caught up into the third heaven,--but in all his letters this is +his joyful prefix and superscription, "The _Servant_ (literally, _the +slave_) of Jesus Christ!" + +Reader! dost thou know this blessed servitude? Canst thou say with a +joyful heart, "O Lord, truly I am Thy servant?" He is no hard +taskmaster. Would Satan try to teach thee so? Let this be the +refutation, "He loved me, and gave _Himself_ for _me_." True, the yoke +is the appointed discipline he employs in training his children for +immortality. But be comforted! "It is His tender hand that _puts_ it on, +and _keeps_ it on." He will suit the yoke to the neck, and the neck to +the yoke. He will suit His grace to your trials. Nay, He will bring you +even to be in love with these, when they bring along with them such +gracious unfoldings of His own faithfulness and mercy. How His people +need thus to be in heaviness through manifold temptations, to keep them +meek and submissive! "Jeshurun (like a bullock unaccustomed to the +harness, fed and pampered in the stall) waxed fat, and kicked." Never is +there more gracious love than when God takes His own means to curb and +subjugate, to humble us, and to prove us--bringing us out from +ourselves, our likings, our confidences, our prosperity, and putting us +under the needed YOKE. + +And who has ever repented of that joyful servitude? Among all the ten +thousand regrets that mingle with a dying hour, and oft bedew with +bitter tears a dying pillow, who ever told of regrets and repentance +here? + +Tried believer, has He ever failed thee? Has His yoke been too grievous? +Have thy tears been unalleviated--thy sorrows unsolaced--thy temptations +above that thou wert able to bear? Ah! rather canst thou not testify, +"The word of the Lord is tried;" I cast my burden upon Him, and He +"sustained me?" How have seeming difficulties melted away! How has the +yoke lost its heaviness, and the cross its bitterness, in the thought of +whom thou wert bearing it for! There is a promised rest in the very +carrying of the yoke; and a better rest remains for the weary and +toil-worn when the appointed work is finished; for thus saith "that same +Jesus," + + "TAKE MY YOKE UPON YOU, AND LEARN OF ME, ... AND YE SHALL FIND _REST_ + UNTO YOUR SOULS." + + + + +16TH DAY. + +"Remember the words of the Lord Jesus, how He said"-- + + "As the Father hath loved me, so have I loved you."--John xv. 9. + +The Measure of Love. + + +This is the most wondrous verse in the Bible. Who can sound the +unimagined depths of that love which dwelt in the bosom of the Father +from all eternity towards His Son?--and yet here is the Saviour's own +exponent of His love towards His people! + +There is no subject more profoundly mysterious than those mystic +intercommunings between the first and second persons in the adorable +Trinity before the world was. Scripture gives us only some dim and +shadowy revelations regarding them--distant gleams of light, and no +more. Let one suffice. "_Then_ I was by Him, as one brought up with Him, +and I was daily His delight, rejoicing always before Him." + +We know that earthly affection is deepened and intensified by increased +familiarity with its object. The friendship of yesterday is not the +sacred, hallowed thing, which years of growing intercourse have matured. +If we may with reverence apply this test to the highest type of holy +affection, what must have been that interchange of love which the +measureless lapse of Eternity had fostered--a love, moreover, not +fitful, transient, vacillating, subject to altered tones and estranged +looks--but pure, constant, untainted, without one shadow of turning! And +yet, listen to the "words of Jesus," As the Father hath loved _me_, _so_ +have I loved _you_! It would have been infinitely more than we had +reason to expect, if He had said, "As my Father hath loved ANGELS, so +have I loved you." But the love borne to no finite beings is an +appropriate symbol. Long before the birth of time or of worlds, that +love existed. It was coeval with Eternity itself. Hear how the two +themes of the Saviour's eternal rejoicing--the _love of His Father_, and +His _love for sinners_--are grouped together;--"Rejoicing always before +HIM, _and_ in the habitable part of His _earth_!" + +To complete the picture, we must take in a counterpart description of +the _Father's_ love to us;--"_Therefore_ doth my Father love me," says +Jesus in another place, "_because_ I lay down my life!" God had an +all-sufficiency in His love--He needed not the taper-love of creatures +to add to His glory or happiness; but He seems to say, that so intense +is His love for us, that He loves even His beloved Son _more_ (if +infinite love be capable of increase), because He laid down His life for +the guilty! It is regarding the Redeemed it is said, "He shall _rest_ in +His love--He shall rejoice over _them_ with singing." + +In the assertion, "God is love," we are left truly with no mere +unproved averment regarding the existence of some abstract quality in +the divine nature. "Herein," says an apostle, "perceive we THE +LOVE,"--(it is added in our authorised version, "of God," but, as it has +been remarked, "Our translators need not have added _whose_ love, for +there is but one such specimen")--"_because_ He laid down His life for +us." No expression of love can be wondered at after _this_. Ah, how +miserable are our best affections compared with His! "_Our_ love is but +the reflection--cold as the moon; _His_ is as the Sun." Shall we refuse +to love Him more in return, who hath _first_ loved, and so _loved us_? + + "NEVER MAN SPAKE LIKE THIS MAN." + + + + +17TH DAY. + +"Remember the words of the Lord Jesus, how He said"-- + + "Only believe."--Mark v. 36. + +The Brief Gospel. + + +The briefest of the "words of Jesus," but one of the most comforting. +They contain the essence and epitome of all saving truth. + +Reader, is _Satan_ assailing thee with tormenting fears? Is the thought +of thy sins--the guilty past--coming up in terrible memorial before +thee, almost tempting thee to give way to hopeless despondency? Fear +not! A gentle voice whispers in thine ear,--"_Only believe._" "Thy sins +are great, but my grace and merits are greater. 'Only believe' that I +died for thee--that I am living for thee and pleading for thee, and that +'the faithful saying' is as 'faithful' as ever, and as 'worthy of all +acceptation' as ever."--Art thou a _backslider_? Didst thou once run +well? Has thine own guilty apostacy alienated and estranged thee from +that face which was once all love, and that service which was once all +delight? Art thou breathing in broken-hearted sorrow over the holy +memories of a close walk with God--"Oh that it were with me as in months +past, when the candle of the Lord did shine?" "_Only believe._" Take +this thy mournful soliloquy, and convert it into a prayer. "Only +believe" the word of Him whose ways are not as man's ways--"Return, ye +backsliding children, and I will heal your backsliding."--Art thou +beaten down with some heavy _trial_? have thy fondest schemes been blown +upon--thy fairest blossoms been withered in the bud? has wave after wave +been rolling in upon thee? hath the Lord forgotten to be gracious? Hear +the "word of Jesus" resounding amid the thickest midnight of +gloom--penetrating even through the vaults of the dead--"Believe, _only +believe_." There is an infinite _reason_ for the trial--a lurking thorn +that required removal, a gracious lesson that required teaching. The +dreadful severing blow was dealt in love. God will be glorified in it, +and your own soul made the better for it. Patiently wait till the light +of immortality be reflected on a receding world. Here you must take His +dealings on trust. The word of Jesus to you now is, "_Only believe._" +The word of Jesus in eternity (every inner meaning and undeveloped +purpose being unfolded), "Said I not unto thee that if thou wouldest +_but_ BELIEVE, thou shouldst SEE the glory of God?"--Are you fearful and +agitated in _the prospect of death_? Through fear of the last enemy, +have you been all your lifetime subject to bondage?--"_Only believe._" +"As thy day is, so shall thy strength be." Dying grace will be given +when a dying hour comes. In the dark river a sustaining arm will be +underneath you, deeper than the deepest and darkest wave. Ere you know +it, the darkness will be past, the true Light shining,--the whisper of +faith in the nether valley, "Believe! believe!" exchanged for +angel-voices exclaiming, as you enter the portals of glory, "No longer +through a glass darkly, but now face to face!" + +Yes! "Jesus Himself had no higher remedy for sin, for sorrow, and for +suffering, than those two words convey. At the utmost extremity of His +own distress, and of His disciples' wretchedness, He could only say, +'Let not your heart be troubled: ye believe in God, believe also in me.' +'Believe, only believe.'" + + "LORD, I BELIEVE, HELP THOU MINE UNBELIEF." + + + + +18TH DAY. + +"Remember the words of the Lord Jesus, how He said"-- + + "Be of good cheer: It is I; be not afraid."--Mark vi. 50. + +The Great Calm. + + +"It is I," (or as our old version has it, more in accordance with the +original), "I AM! be not afraid!" Jesus lives! His people may dispel +their misgivings--Omnipotence treads the waves! To sense it may seem at +times to be otherwise; wayward accident and chance may appear to +regulate human allotments; but not so: "The Lord's voice is upon the +waters,"--He sits at the helm guiding the tempest-tossed bark, and +guiding it well. + +How often does He come to us as He did to the disciples in that midnight +hour when all seems lost--"in the fourth watch of the night,"--when we +least looked for Him; or when, like the shipwrecked apostle, "for days +together neither sun nor stars appeared, and no small tempest lay on +us; when all hope that we should be saved seemed to be taken away,"--how +often _just at that moment_, is the "word of Jesus" heard floating over +the billows! + +Believer, art thou in trouble? listen to the voice in the storm, "Fear +not, _I_ AM." That voice, like Joseph's of old to his brethren, may +_seem_ rough, but there are gracious undertones of love. "It is I," he +seems to say; It _was_ I, that roused the storm; It is I, who when it +has done its work, will calm it, and say, "Peace, be still." Every wave +rolls at My bidding--every trial is My appointment--all have some +gracious end; they are not sent to dash you against the sunken rocks, +but to waft you nearer heaven. Is it _sickness_? I am He who bare your +sickness; the weary wasted frame, and the nights of languishing, were +sent by Me. Is it _bereavement_? I am "the Brother" born for +adversity--the loved and lost were plucked away by Me. Is it _death_? I +AM the "Abolisher of death," seated by your side to calm the waves of +ebbing life; it is _I_, about to fetch My pilgrims _home_--It is My +voice that speaks, "The Master is come, and calleth for thee." + +Reader, thou wilt have reason yet to praise thy God for every one such +storm! This is the history of every heavenly voyager: "_So_ He bringeth +them to their desired haven." "_So!_" That word, in all its unknown and +diversified meaning, is in _His_ hand. He suits His dealings to every +case. "_So!_" With some it is through quiet seas unfretted by one +buffeting wave. "_So!_" With others it is "mounting up to heaven, and +going down again to the deep." But whatever be the leading and the +discipline, here is the grand consummation, "_So_ He bringeth them unto +their desired haven." It might have been with thee the moanings of an +eternal night-blast--no lull or pause in the storm; but soon the +darkness will be past, and the hues of morn tipping the shores of glory! + +And what, then, should your attitude be? "Looking unto Jesus" +(literally, looking _from unto_); looking away from self, and sin, and +human props and refuges and confidences, and fixing the eye of +unwavering and unflinching faith on a reigning Saviour. Ah, how a real +quickening sight of Christ dispels all guilty fears! The Roman keepers +of old were affrighted, and became as dead men. The lowly Jewish women +feared not; why? "_I know that ye seek Jesus!_" Reader, let thy weary +spirit fold itself to rest under the composing "word" of a gracious +Saviour, saying---- + + "I WAIT FOR THE LORD, MY SOUL DOTH WAIT, AND IN _HIS WORD_ DO I + HOPE." + + + + +19TH DAY. + +"Remember the words of the Lord Jesus, how He said"-- + + "Peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you: not as the world + giveth, give I unto you."--John xiv. 27. + +The Dying Legacy. + + +How we treasure the last sayings of a dying parent! How specially +cherished and memorable are his last looks and last words! Here are the +last words--the parting legacy--of a dying Saviour. It is a legacy of +_peace_. + +What peace is this? It is His own purchase--a peace arising out of free +forgiveness through His precious blood. It is sung in concert with +"Glory to God in the highest"--a peace made as sure to us as eternal +power and infinite love _can make it_! It is _peace_ the soul wants. +Existence is one long-drawn sigh after repose. _That_ is nowhere else to +be found, but through the blood of His cross! "Being justified by +faith, we _have_ peace with God." "HE giveth his beloved _rest_!" + +How different from the false and counterfeit peace in which so many are +content to live, and content to die! The world's peace is all well, so +long as prosperity lasts--so long as the stream runs smooth, and the sky +is clear; but when the cataract is at hand, or the storm is gathering, +where is it? It is _gone_! There is no calculating on its permanency. +Often when the cup is fullest, there is the trembling apprehension that +in one brief moment it may be dashed to the ground. The soul may be +saying to itself, "Peace, peace;" but, like the writing on the sand, it +may be obliterated by the first wave of adversity. BUT, "Not as the +world giveth!" The peace of the believer is +deep--calm--lasting--_ever_lasting. The world, with all its +blandishments, cannot give it. The world, with all its vicissitudes and +fluctuations, cannot take it away! It is brightest in the hour of +trial; it lights up the final valley-gloom. "Mark the perfect man, and +behold the upright, for the end of that man is peace." Yes! how often is +the believer's deathbed like the deep calm repose of a summer-evening's +sky, when all nature is hushed to rest; the departing soul, like the +vanishing sun, peacefully disappearing only to shine in another and +brighter hemisphere! "I seem," said Simeon on his deathbed, "to have +nothing to do but to wait: there is now nothing but _peace_, the +_sweetest peace_." + +Believer! do you know this peace which passeth understanding? Is it +"keeping (literally, '_garrisoning_ as in a citadel') your heart?" Have +you learnt the blessedness of waking up, morning after morning, and +feeling, "I am at peace with my God;" of beholding by faith the true +Aaron--the great High Priest--coming forth from "the holiest of all" to +"bless His people with peace?" Waves of trouble may be murmuring around +you, but they cannot touch you; you are in the rock-crevice athwart +which the fiercest tornado sweeps by. Oh! leave not the making up of +your peace with God to a dying hour! It will be a hard thing to smooth +the death-pillow, if peace be left unsought till then. Make sure of it +_now_. He, the true Melchisedec, is willing _now_ to come forth to meet +you with bread and wine--emblems of peaceful gospel blessings. All the +"words of Jesus" are so many rills contributing to make your peace flow +as a river;--"These things have I spoken unto you, that in Me ye might +have peace." + + "I WILL HEAR WHAT GOD THE LORD WILL SPEAK, FOR HE WILL SPEAK PEACE + UNTO HIS PEOPLE AND TO HIS SAINTS." + + + + +20TH DAY. + +"Remember the words of the Lord Jesus, how He said"-- + + "All power is given unto me in heaven and in earth."--Matt. xxviii. + 18. + +The Supreme Investiture. + + +What an empire is this! Heaven and earth--the Church militant--the +Church triumphant--angels and archangels--saints and seraphs. At His +mandate the billows were hushed--demons crouched in terror--the grave +yielded its prey! "Upon his head are many crowns." He is made "head over +_all things_ to His Church." Yes! over _all things_, from the minutest +to the mightiest. He holds the stars in His right hand--He walks in the +midst of the seven golden candlesticks, feeding every candlestick with +the oil of His grace, and preserving every star in its spiritual orbit. +The prince of Darkness has "a power," but, God be praised, it is not an +"all power;" _potent_, but not _omnipotent_. Christ holds him in a +chain. He hath set bounds that he may not pass over. "Satan," we read in +the book of Job, "went out (_Chaldee paraphrase_, 'with a licence') from +the presence of the Lord." He was not allowed even to enter the herd of +swine till Christ permitted him. He only "_desired_" to have Peter that +he might "sift him;" there was a mightier countervailing agency at hand: +"_I_ have prayed for thee, that thy faith fail not." + +Believer, how often is there nothing but this grace of Jesus between +thee and everlasting destruction! Satan's key fitting the lock in thy +wayward heart; but a stronger than the strong man barring him out;--the +power of the adversary fanning the flame; the Omnipotence of Jesus +quenching it. Art thou even now feeling the strength of thy corruptions, +the weakness of thy graces, the presence of some outward or inward +temptation? Look up to Him who has promised to make His grace sufficient +for thee; "all power" is His prerogative; "all-sufficiency in all +things" is His promise. It is power, too, in conjunction with +tenderness. He who sways the sceptre of universal empire "gently leads" +His weak, and weary, and burdened ones:--He who counts the number of the +stars, loves to count the number of their sorrows; nothing too great, +nothing too insignificant for _Him_. He puts every tear into his bottle. +He paves His people's pathway with love! + +Blessed Jesus! my everlasting interests cannot be in better or in safer +keeping than in Thine. I can exultingly rely on the "_all-power_" of Thy +Godhead. I can sweetly rejoice in the _all-sympathy_ of Thy Manhood. I +can confidently repose in the sure wisdom of Thy dealings. "Sometimes," +says one, "we expect the blessing in _our_ way; He chooses to bestow it +in _His_." But His way and His will must be the best. Infinite love, +infinite power, infinite wisdom, are surely infallible guarantees. His +purposes nothing can alter. His promises never fail. His word never +falls to the ground. + + "HEAVEN AND EARTH SHALL PASS AWAY, BUT _MY WORDS_ SHALL NOT PASS AWAY." + + + + +21ST DAY. + +"Remember the words of the Lord Jesus, how He said"-- + + "He shall glorify me: for He shall receive of mine, and shall show + it unto you."--John xvi. 14. + +The Divine Glorifier. + + +The Holy Spirit glorifying Jesus in the unfoldings of His person, and +character, and work, to His people! The great ministering agent between +the Church on earth and its glorified Head in Heaven,--carrying up to +the Intercessor on the throne, the ever-recurring wants and trials, the +perplexities and sins, of believers; and receiving out of His +inexhaustible treasury of love,--comfort for their sorrows--strength for +their weakness--sympathy for their tears--fulness for their +emptiness,--and _this_ the one sublime end and object of His gracious +agency,--"_He shall glorify Me._" "He shall not speak of Himself, but +whatsoever He shall hear, that shall He speak." My words of +sympathy--My omnipotent pleadings--the tender messages sent from an +unchanged Human Heart,--all these shall He speak. "He shall tell you," +says an old divine, commenting on this passage, "He shall tell you +nothing but stories of My love" (_Goodwin_). He will have an ineffable +delight in magnifying Me in the affections of My Church and people, and +endearing Me to their hearts; and He is all worthy of credence, for He +is "the Spirit of truth." + +How faithful has He been in every age to this His great office as "the +glorifier of Jesus!" See the first manifestation of His power in the +Christian Church at the day of Pentecost. What was the grand truth which +forms the focus-point of interest in that unparalleled scene, and which +brings three thousand stricken penitents to their knees? _It is the +Spirit's unfolding of Jesus_--glorifying _Him_ in eyes that before saw +in Him no beauty? Hear the key-note of that wondrous sermon, preached +"in demonstration of the Spirit, and with power,"--"HIM hath God exalted +to be a Prince and a Saviour, to give repentance to His people, and +forgiveness of sins." + +Ah? it is still the same peerless truth which the Spirit delights to +unfold to the stricken sinner, and, in unfolding it, to make it mighty +to the pulling down of strongholds. All these glorious inner beauties of +Christ's work and character are undiscerned and undiscernible by the +natural eye. "It is the Spirit that quickeneth." "No man can call Jesus +Lord, but by the Holy Ghost." He is the great Forerunner--a mightier +than the Baptist--proclaiming, "Behold the Lamb of God!" + +Reader! any bright and realising view you have had of the Saviour's +glory and excellency, is of the Spirit's imparting. When in some hour of +sorrow you have been led to cleave with pre-eminent consolation to the +thought of the Redeemer's exalted sympathy--His dying, ever-living love; +or in the hour of death, when you feel the sustaining power of His +exceeding great and precious promises;--what is this, but the Holy +Spirit, in fulfilment of His all-gracious office, taking of all things +of Christ, and showing them unto you; thus enabling you to magnify Him +in your body, whether it be by life or death? As your motto should ever +be, "_None BUT Christ_," and your ever-increasing aspiration, "_More +OF Christ_," seek to bear in mind who it is that is alone qualified to +impart the "excellency of this knowledge." + + "THE SPIRIT OF TRUTH WHICH PROCEEDETH FROM THE FATHER, _HE_ SHALL + TESTIFY OF ME." + + + + +22D DAY. + +"Remember the words of the Lord Jesus, how He said"-- + + "Your sorrow shall be turned into joy."--John xvi. 20. + +The Joyful Transformation. + + +Christ's people are a sorrowing people! Chastisement is their +badge--"great tribulation" is their appointed discipline. When they +enter the gates of glory, He is represented as wiping away tears from +their eyes. But, weeping ones, be comforted! Your Lord's special mission +to earth--the great errand He came from heaven to fulfil, was "to bind +up the broken-hearted." Your trials are meted out by a tender hand. He +_knows_ you too well--He _loves_ you too well--to make this world +tearless and sorrowless! "There must be rain, and hail, and storm," says +Rutherford, "in the saint's cloud." Were your earthy course strewed +with flowers, and nothing but sunbeams played around your dwelling, it +would lead you to forget your _nomadic_ life,--that you are but a +sojourner here. The tent must at times be struck, pin by pin of the +moveable tabernacle taken down, to enable you to say and to feel in the +spirit of a pilgrim, "I desire a better country." Meantime, while sorrow +is your portion, think of Him who says, "I know your sorrows." Angels +cannot say so--they cannot sympathise with you, for trial is a strange +word to them. But there is a mightier than they who _can_. All He sends +you and appoints you is in love. There is a provision and condition +wrapt up in the bosom of every affliction, "_if need be_;" coming from +His hand, sorrows and riches are to His people convertible terms. If +tempted to murmur at their trials, they are often murmuring at disguised +mercies. "Why do you ask me," said Simeon, on his deathbed, "what I +_like_? I am the Lord's patient--I cannot but like _everything_." + +And _then_--"your sorrow shall be turned into joy." "The morning +cometh"--that bright morning when the dew-drops collected during earth's +night of weeping shall sparkle in its beams; when in one blessed +_moment_ a life-long experience of trial will be effaced and forgotten, +or remembered only by contrast, to enhance the fulness of the joys of +immortality. What a revelation of gladness! The map of time disclosed, +and every little rill of sorrow, every river will be seen to have been +flowing heavenwards,--every rough blast to have been sending the bark +nearer the haven! In that joy, God Himself will participate. In the last +"words of Jesus" to His people when they are standing by the triumphal +archway of Glory, ready to enter on their thrones and crowns, He speaks +of their joy as if it were all _His own_. "Enter ye into the joy _of +your Lord_." + +Reader, may this joy be yours! Sit loose to the world's joys. Have a +feeling of chastened gratitude and thankfulness when you have them; but +beware of resting in them, or investing them with a permanency they +cannot have. Jesus had his eye on _heaven_ when he added-- + + "YOUR JOY NO MAN TAKETH FROM YOU." + + + + +23D DAY. + +"Remember the words of the Lord Jesus, how He said"-- + + "Father, I will that they also whom thou hast given me, be with me + where I am; that they may behold my glory."--John xvii. 24. + +The Omnipotent Prayer. + + +This is not the petition of a suppliant, but the claim of a conqueror. +There was only _one_ request He ever made, or ever _can_ make, that was +refused; it was the prayer wrung forth by the presence and power of +superhuman anguish: "Father, _if it be possible_, let this cup pass from +me!" Had that prayer been answered, never could one consolatory "word of +Jesus" have been ours. "_If it be possible_;"--_but_ for that gracious +parenthesis, we must have been lost for ever! In unmurmuring submission, +the bitter cup _was_ drained; all the dread penalties of the law were +borne, the atonement completed, an all-perfect righteousness wrought +out; and now, as the stipulated reward of His obedience and sufferings, +the Victor claims His trophies. What are they? Those that were given Him +of the Father--the countless multitudes redeemed by His blood. These He +"_wills_" to be with Him "where He is"--the spectators of His glory, and +partakers of His crown. Wondrous word and will of a dying testator! His +last prayer on earth is an importunate pleading for their glorification; +His parting wish is to meet them in heaven: as if these earthly jewels +were needed to make His crown complete,--their happiness and joy the +needful complement of His own! + +Reader! learn from this, the grand element in the bliss of your future +condition--it is _the presence of Christ_; "_with Me_ where I am." It +matters comparatively little as to the locality of heaven. "We shall see +_Him_ as He is," is "the blessed hope" of the Christian. Heaven would +be _no_ heaven without Jesus; the withdrawal of His presence would be +like the blotting out of the sun from the firmament; it would uncrown +every seraph, and unstring every harp. But, blessed thought! it is His +own stipulation in His testamentary prayer, that Eternity is to be spent +in union and communion with _Himself_, gazing on the unfathomed +mysteries of His love, becoming more assimilated to His glorious image, +and drinking deeper from the ocean of His own joy. + +If anything can enhance the magnitude of this promised bliss, it is the +concluding words of the verse, in which He grounds His plea for its +bestowment: "_I will_--that they behold my glory;"--why? "For Thou +lovedst (not _them_, but) ME before the foundation of the world!" It is +equivalent to saying, "If Thou wouldst give _Me_ a continued proof of +Thine everlasting love and favour to Myself, it is by loving and +exalting My redeemed people. In loving _them_ and glorifying them, Thou +art loving and glorifying Me: so endearingly are their interests and My +own bound up together!" + +Believer, think of that all-prevailing voice, at this moment pleading +for thee within the veil!--that omnipotent "_Father, I will_," securing +every needed boon! There is given, so to speak, a blank _cheque_ by +which He and His people may draw indefinite supplies out of the +exhaustless treasury of the Father's grace and love. God Himself +endorses it with the words, "Son, Thou art ever with me, and all that I +have is Thine." How it would reconcile us to Earth's bitterest sorrows, +and hallow Earth's holiest joys, if we saw them thus hanging on the +"_will_" of an all-wise Intercessor, who ever pleads in love, and never +pleads in vain! + + "BE IT UNTO ME ACCORDING TO _THY WORD_." + + + + +24TH DAY. + +"Remember the words of the Lord Jesus, how He said"-- + + "Because I live, ye shall live also."--John xiv. 19. + +The Immutable Pledge. + + +God sometimes selects the most stable and enduring objects in the +material world to illustrate His unchanging faithfulness and love to His +Church. "As the mountains are round about Jerusalem, so doth the Lord +compass his people." But here, the Redeemer fetches an argument from +_His own everlasting nature_. He stakes, so to speak, His own existence +on that of His saints. "_Because I live_, ye shall live also." + +Believer! read in this "word of Jesus" thy glorious title-deed. _Thy +Saviour lives_--and His life is the guarantee of thine own. Our true +Joseph is alive. "He is our Brother. He talks kindly to us!" That life +of His, is all that is between us and everlasting ruin. But with Christ +for our life, how inviolable our security! The great Fountain of being +must first be dried up, before the streamlet can. The great Sun must +first be quenched, ere one glimmering satellite which He lights up with +His splendour can. Satan must first pluck the crown from that glorified +Head, before he can touch one jewel in the crown of His people. They +cannot shake one pillar without shaking first the throne. "If we +perish," says Luther, "Christ perisheth with us." + +Reader! is thy life now "hid with Christ in God?" Dost thou know the +blessedness of a vital and living union with a living, life-giving +Saviour? Canst thou say with humble and joyous confidence, amid the +fitfulness of thine own ever-changing frames and feelings, "Nevertheless +I live, yet not I, but Christ liveth in me?" "_Jesus liveth!_"--They +are the happiest words a lost soul and a lost world can hear! Job, four +thousand years ago, rejoiced in them. "I know," says he, "that I have _a +living Kinsman_." John, in his Patmos exile, rejoiced in them. "I am He +that liveth" (or _the Living One_), was the simple but sublime utterance +with which he was addressed by that same "Kinsman," when He appeared +arrayed in the lustres of His glorified humanity. "This is _the_ record" +(as if there was a whole gospel comprised in the statement), "that God +hath given to us eternal life, and this _life_ is in His Son." St. Paul, +in the 8th chapter to the Romans--that finest portraiture of Christian +character and privilege ever drawn, begins with "no condemnation," and +ends with "no separation." Why "no separation?" Because the life of the +believer is incorporated with that of his adorable Head and Surety. The +colossal Heart of redeemed humanity beats upon the throne, sending its +mighty pulsations through every member of His body; so that, before the +believer's spiritual life can be destroyed, Omnipotence must become +feebleness, and Immutability become mutable! + +But, blessed Jesus, "Thy word is very sure, therefore Thy servant loveth +it." + + "I GIVE UNTO THEM ETERNAL LIFE, AND THEY SHALL NEVER PERISH, NEITHER + SHALL ANY MAN PLUCK THEM OUT OF MY HAND." + + + + +25TH DAY. + +"Remember the words of the Lord Jesus, how He said"-- + + "Lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world."--Matt. + xxviii. 20. + +The Abiding Presence. + + +Such were "the words of Jesus" when He was just about to ascend to +Heaven. The mediatorial throne was in view--the harps of glory were +sounding in His ears; but all His thoughts are on the pilgrim Church He +is to leave behind. His last words and benedictions are for _them_. "I +go," He seems to say, "to Heaven, to my purchased crown--to the +fellowship of angels--to the presence of my Father; _but_, nevertheless, +'Lo! I am with _you_ alway, even unto the end of the world.'" + +How faithfully did the Apostles, to whom this promise was first +addressed, experience its reality! Hear the testimony of the beloved +disciple who had once leant on his Divine Master's bosom--who "had +heard, and seen, and looked upon Him." That glorified bosom was now hid +from his sight; but does he speak of an absent Lord, and of His +fellowship only as among the holy memories of the past? No! with +rejoicing emphasis he can exclaim--"Truly our fellowship IS with ... +_Jesus Christ_." + +Amid so much that is fugitive here, how the heart clings to this +assurance of the abiding presence of the Saviour! Our best earthly +friends--a few weeks may estrange them;--centuries have rolled +on--Christ is still the same. How blessed to think, that if I am indeed +a child of God, there is not the lonely instant I am without His +guardianship! When the beams of the morning visit my chamber, the +brighter beams of a brighter Sun are shining upon me. When the shadows +of evening are gathering around, "it is not night, if He, the unsetting +'Sun of my soul,' is near." His is no fitful companionship--present in +prosperity, gone in adversity. He never changes. He is always the +same,--in sickness and solitude, in joy and in sorrow, in life and in +death. Not more faithfully did the pillar-cloud and column of fire of +old precede Israel, till the last murmuring ripple of Jordan fell on +their ears on the shores of Canaan, than does the presence and love of +Jesus abide with His people. Has His word of promise ever proved false? +Let the great cloud of witnesses now in glory testify. "Not one thing +hath failed of all that the Lord our God hath spoken." _This_ "word of +the Lord is tried"--"having loved His own, which were in the world, He +loved them _unto the end_." + +Believer! art thou troubled and tempted? Do dark providences and severe +afflictions seem to belie the truth and reality of this gracious +assurance? Art thou ready, with Gideon, to say, "If the Lord be indeed +with us, why has all this befallen us?" Be assured He has some faithful +end in view. By the removal of prized and cherished earthly props and +refuges, He would unfold more of his own tenderness. Amid the wreck and +ruin of earthly joys, which, it may be, the grave has hidden from your +sight, One nearer, dearer, tenderer still, would have you say of +Himself, "_The Lord liveth_; and blessed be my Rock; and let the God of +my salvation be exalted." "Thanks be to God, who _always_ maketh us to +triumph in Christ." Yes! and never more so than when, stripped of all +competing objects of creature affection, we are left, like the disciples +on the mount, with "_Jesus only_!" + + "THESE THINGS HAVE I SPOKEN UNTO YOU, THAT IN ME YE MIGHT HAVE PEACE." + + + + +26TH DAY. + +"Remember the words of the Lord Jesus, how He said"-- + + "I am the resurrection and the life: he that believeth in me, though + he were dead, yet he shall live."--John. xi. 25. + +The Resurrection and Life. + + +What a voice is this breaking over a world which for six thousand years +has been a dormitory of sin and death! For four thousand of these years, +heathendom could descry no light through the bars of the grave; her +oracles were dumb on the great doctrine of a future state, and more +especially regarding the body's resurrection. Even the Jewish Church, +under the Old Testament dispensation, seemed to enjoy little more than +fitful and uncertain glimmerings, like men groping in the dark. It +required death's great Abolisher to show, to a benighted world, the +luminous "path of life." With Him rested the "bringing in of a better +hope"--the unfolding of "the mystery which had been hid from ages and +generations." Marvellous disclosure! that this mortal frame, decomposed +and resolved into its original dust, shall yet start from its ashes, +remodelled and reconstructed--"a glorified body!" Not like "the earthly +tabernacle" (a mere shifting and moveable _tent_, as the word denotes), +but incorruptible--immortal! The beauteous transformation of the insect +from its chrysalis state--the buried seed springing up from its tiny +grave to the full-eared corn or gorgeous flower--these are nature's mute +utterances as to the possibility of this great truth, which required the +unfoldings of "a more sure word of prophecy." But the Gospel has fully +revealed what Reason, in her loftiest imaginings, could not have dreamt +of. Jesus "hath brought life and immortality to light." He, the Bright +and Morning Star, hath "turned the shadow of death into the morning." He +gives, in His own resurrection, the earnest of that of His people;--He +is the first-fruits of the immortal harvest yet to be gathered into the +garner of Heaven. + +Precious truth! This "word of Jesus" spans like a celestial rainbow the +entrance to the dark valley. Death is robbed of its sting. In the case +of every child of God, the grave holds in custody precious, because +redeemed, dust. Talk of it not, as being committed to a dishonoured +tomb!--it is locked up, rather, in the casket, of God until the day +"when He maketh up His jewels," when it will be fashioned in deathless +beauty like unto the glorified body of the Redeemer. Angels, meanwhile, +are commissioned to keep watch over it, till the trump of the archangel +shall proclaim the great "Easter of creation." They are the "reapers," +waiting for the world's great "Harvest Home," when Jesus Himself shall +come again--not as He once did, humiliated and in sorrow, but rejoicing +in the thought of bringing back all His sheaves with him. + +Afflicted and bereaved Christian!--thou who mayest be mourning in +bitterness those who are not--rejoice through thy tears in these hopes +"full of immortality." The silver cord is only "loosed," not broken. +Perchance, as thou standest in the chamber of death, or by the brink of +the grave,--in the depths of that awful solitude and silence which +reigns around, this may be thy plaintive and mournful soliloquy--"Shall +the dust praise Thee?" Yes, it _shall_! This very dust that hears now +unheeded thy footsteps, and unmoved thy tears, shall through eternity +praise its redeeming God--it shall proclaim His truth! + + "LORD, TO WHOM SHALL WE GO BUT UNTO THEE, THOU HAST THE _WORDS_ OF + _ETERNAL LIFE_." + + + + +27TH DAY. + +"Remember the words of the Lord Jesus, how He said"-- + + "A little while, and ye shall not see me; and again, a little while, + and ye shall see me, because I go to the Father."--John xvi. 16. + +The Little While. + + +Long seem the moments when we are separated from the friend we love. An +absent brother--how his return is looked and longed for! The "Elder +Brother"--the "Living Kinsman"--sends a message to His waiting Church +and people--a word of solace, telling that _soon_ ("a little while,") +and He will be back again, never again to leave them. + +There are indeed blessed moments of communion which the believer enjoys +with His beloved Lord _now_; but how fitful and transient! To-day, life +is a brief Emmaus journey--the soul happy in the presence and love of an +unseen Saviour. To-morrow, He is _gone_; and the bereft spirit is led +to interrogate itself in plaintive sorrow,--"Where is now thy God?" Even +when there is no such experience of darkness and depression, how much +there is in the world around to fill the believer with sadness! His Lord +rejected and disowned--His love set at nought--His providences +slighted--His name blasphemed--His creation groaning and travailing in +pain--disunion, too, among His people--His loving heart wounded in the +house of His friends! + +But "yet a little while," and all this mystery of iniquity will be +finished. The absent Brother's footfall will soon be heard,--no longer +"as a wayfaring man who turneth aside to tarry for a night," but to +receive His people into the permanent "mansions" His love has been +preparing, and from which they shall go no more out. Oh, blessed day! +when creation will put on her Easter robes--when her Lord, so long +dishonoured, will be enthroned amid the hosannahs of a rejoicing +universe--angels lauding Him--saints crowning Him--sin, the dark +plague-spot on His universe, extinguished for ever--death swallowed up +in eternal victory! + +And it is but "a little while!" "Yet a little while," we elsewhere read, +"and He that shall come, will come, and will not tarry" (literally, "a +little while as may be.") "He will stay not a moment longer," says +Goodwin, "than He hath despatched all our business in Heaven for us." +With what joy will He send His mission-Angel with the announcement, "the +little while is at an end;" and to issue the invitation to the great +festival of glory, "Come! for all things are ready!" + +Child of sorrow! think often of this "_little while_." "The days of thy +mourning will soon be ended." There is a limit set to thy suffering +time,--"After that ye have suffered a WHILE." Every wave is numbered +between you and the haven; and then when that haven is reached, oh, what +an apocalypse of glory!--the "little while" of time merged into the +great and unending "while of eternity!"--to be _for ever with the +Lord_--the same unchanged and unchanging Saviour! + +"A little while, and ye _shall_ see me!" Would that the eye of faith +might be kept more intently fixed on "that glorious appearing!" How the +world, with its guilty fascinations, tries to dim and obscure this +blessed hope! How the heart is prone to throw out its fibres here, and +get them rooted in some perishable object! Reader! seek to dwell more +habitually on this the grand consummation of all thy dearest wishes. +"Stand on the edge of your nest, pluming your wings for flight." Like +the mother of Sisera, be looking for the expected chariot. + + "HE IS FAITHFUL THAT PROMISED." + + + + +28TH DAY. + +"Remember the words of the Lord Jesus, how He said"-- + + "Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God."--Matt. v. + 8. + +The Beatific Vision. + + +Here Is Heaven! This "word of Jesus" represents the future state of the +glorified to consist not in locality, but in character; the essence of +its bliss is the full vision and fruition of God. Our attention is +called from all vague and indefinite theories about the +_circumstantials_ of future happiness. The one grand object of +contemplation--the "glory which excelleth," is _the sight of God +Himself_! The one grand practical lesson enforced on His people, is the +cultivation of that purity of heart without which none could _see_, or +(even could we suppose it possible to be admitted to _see_ Him) none +could _enjoy_ God! "The kingdom of Heaven cometh not with observation +... the kingdom of God is _within_ you." + +Reader, hast thou attained any of this heart-purity and +heart-preparation? It has been beautifully said that "the openings of +the streets of heaven are on earth." Even here we may enjoy, in the +possession of holiness, some foretaste of coming bliss. Who has not felt +that the happiest moments of their lives were those of close walking +with God--nearness to the mercy-seat--when self was surrendered, and the +eye was directed to the glory of Jesus, with most single, unwavering, +undivided aim? What will Heaven be, but the entire surrender of the soul +to Him, without any bias to evil, without the fear of corruption within +echoing to temptation without; every thought brought into captivity to +the obedience of Christ; no contrariety to His mind; all in blessed +unison with His will; the whole _being_ impregnated with holiness--the +intellect purified and ennobled, consecrating all its powers to His +service--memory, a holy repository of pure and hallowed +recollections--the affections, without one competing rival, purged from +all the dross of earthliness--the love of God, the one supreme animating +passion--the glory of God, the motive principle interfused through every +thought, and feeling, and action of the life immortal; in one word, the +heart a pellucid fountain; no sediment to dim its purity, "no angel of +sorrow" to come and trouble the pool! The long night of life over, and +_this_ the glory of the eternal morrow which succeeds it! "I shall be +satisfied when I awake, with _Thy_ likeness." + +Yes, this is Heaven, subjectively and objectively--_purity of heart_ and +"_God all in all_!" Much, doubtless, there may and will be of a +subordinate kind, to intensify the bliss of the redeemed; communion with +saints and angels; re-admission into the society of death-divided +friends: but all these will fade before the great central glory, "God +Himself shall be with them, and be their God; they shall _see his +face_!" Believers have been aptly called _heliotropes_--turning their +faces as the sunflower towards the Sun of Righteousness, and hanging +their leaves in sadness and sorrow, when that Sun is away. It will be in +heaven the emblem is complete. _There_, every flower in the heavenly +garden will be turned Godwards, bathing its tints of loveliness in the +glory that excelleth! Reader, may it be yours, when o'er-canopied by +that cloudless sky, to know all the marvels contained in these few +glowing words, "We shall be like Him, for we shall see him as He is." + + "AND EVERY MAN THAT HATH THIS HOPE IN HIM PURIFIETH HIMSELF EVEN AS + HE IS PURE." + + + + +29TH DAY. + +"Remember the words of the Lord Jesus, how He said"-- + + "In my Father's house are many mansions."--John xiv. 2. + +The Many Mansions. + + +What a home aspect there is in this "word of Jesus!" He comforts His +Church by telling them that soon their wilderness-wanderings will be +finished,--the tented tabernacle suited to their present probation-state +exchanged for the enduring "mansion!" Nor will it be any strange +dwelling: a _Father's_ home--a _Father's_ welcome awaits them. There +will be accommodation for all. Thousands have already entered its +shining gates,--patriarchs, prophets, saints, martyrs, young and old, +and still there is room! + +The pilgrim's motto on earth is, "Here we have no continuing city." Even +"Sabbath tents" must be struck. Holy seasons of communion must +terminate. "Arise, let us go hence!" is a summons which disturbs the +sweetest moments of tranquillity in the Church below; but _in Heaven_, +every believer becomes a pillar in the temple of God, and "he shall _go +no more out_." Here it is but the lodging of a wayfarer turning aside to +tarry for the brief night of earth. Here we are but "tenants at will;" +our possessions are but moveables--ours to-day, gone to-morrow. But +these many "mansions" are an inheritance incorruptible and unfading. +Nothing can touch the heavenly patrimony. Once within the Father's +house, and we are in the house for ever! + +Think, too, of Jesus, gone to _prepare_ these mansions,--"I go to +prepare a place for you." What a wondrous thought--Jesus now busied in +Heaven in His Church's behalf! He can find no abode in all His wide +dominions, befitting as a permanent dwelling for His ransomed ones. He +says, "I will make new heavens and a new earth. I will found a special +kingdom--I will rear eternal mansions expressly for those I have +redeemed with my blood!" + +Reader, let the prospect of a dwelling in this "house of the Lord for +ever," reconcile thee to any of the roughnesses or difficulties in thy +present path--to thy pilgrim provision and pilgrim fare. Let the distant +beacon-light, that so cheeringly speaks of a _Home_ brighter and better +far than the happiest of earthly ones, lead thee to forget the +intervening billows, or to think of them only as wafting thee nearer and +nearer to thy desired haven! "Would," says a saint, who has now entered +on his rest, "that one could read, and write, and pray, and eat and +drink, and compose one's self to sleep, as with the thought,--soon to be +in heaven, and that for ever and ever!" + +"My Father's house!" How many a departing spirit has been cheered and +consoled by the sight of these glorious Mansions looming through the +mists of the dark valley,--the tears of weeping friends rebuked by the +gentle chiding--"If ye loved me, ye would rejoice, because I said, I go +unto _my Father_!" Death truly is but the entrance to this our Father's +house. We speak of the "_shadow of death_"--it is only the shadow which +falls on the portico as we stand for a moment knocking at the longed-for +gate--the next! a Father's voice of welcome is heard-- + + "SON! THOU ART EVER WITH ME, AND ALL THAT I HAVE IS THINE." + + + + +30TH DAY. + +"Remember the words of the Lord Jesus, how He said"-- + + "I will come again, and receive you unto myself; that where I am, + there ye may be also."--John xiv. 3. + +The Promised Return. + + +Another "word of promise" concerning the Church's "blessed hope." +Orphaned pilgrims, dry your tears! Soon the Morning Hour will strike, +and the sighs of a groaning and burdened creation be heard no more. +Earth's six thousand years of toil and sorrow are waning; the Millennial +Sabbath is at hand. Jesus will soon be heard to repeat concerning all +his sleeping saints, what He said of old regarding one of them: "I go to +awake them out of sleep!" Your beloved Lord's first coming was in +humiliation and woe; His name was--the "Man of Sorrows;" He had to +travel on, amid darkness and desertion, His blood-stained path; a +chaplet of thorns was the only crown He bore. But soon He will come "the +second time without a sin-offering unto salvation," never again to leave +His Church, but to receive those who followed Him in His cross, to be +everlasting partakers with Him in His crown. He may seem to tarry. +External nature, in her unvarying and undeviating sequences, gives no +indication of His approach. Centuries have elapsed since He uttered the +promise, and still He lingers; the everlasting hills wear no streak of +approaching dawn; we seem to listen in vain for the noise of His chariot +wheels. "But the Lord is not slack concerning His promise;" He gives you +"this word" in addition to many others as a _keepsake_--a pledge and +guarantee for the certainty of His return,--"_I will come again._" + +Who can conceive all the surpassing blessedness connected with that +advent? The Elder Brother arrived to fetch the younger brethren +home!--the true Joseph revealing Himself in unutterable tenderness to +the brethren who were once estranged from Him--"receiving them unto +himself"--not satisfied with apportioning a kingdom for them, but, as if +all His own joy and bliss were intermingled with theirs, "Where _I am_," +says He, "there _you_ must be also." "Him that overcometh," says He +again, "will I grant to sit with Me on My Throne." + +Believer, can you _now_ say with some of the holy transport of the +apostle, "Whom having not seen, we love?" What must it be when you come +to see Him "face to face," and that for ever and ever! If you can tell +of precious hours of communion in a sin-stricken, woe-worn world, with a +treacherous heart, and an imperfect or divided love, what must it be +when you come, in a sinless, sorrowless state, with purified and renewed +affections, to see the King in His beauty! The letter of an absent +brother, cheering and consolatory as it is, is a poor compensation for +the joys of personal and visible communion. The absent Elder Brother on +the Throne speaks to you _now_ only by His Word and Spirit,--soon you +shall be admitted to His immediate fellowship, seeing him "as He is"--He +Himself unfolding the wondrous chart of His providence and +grace--leading you about from fountain to fountain among the living +waters, and with his own gentle hand wiping the last lingering tear-drop +from your eye. _Heaven an everlasting home with Jesus!_ "Where I am, +there ye may be also."--He has appended a cheering postscript to this +word, on which He has "caused us to hope:"-- + + "HE WHICH TESTIFIETH THESE THINGS SAITH, SURELY I COME QUICKLY." + + + + +31ST DAY. + +"Remember the words of the Lord Jesus, how He said"-- + + "Blessed are those servants whom the Lord when He cometh shall find + watching."--Luke xii. 37. + +The Closing Benediction. + + +Child of God! is this thine attitude, as the expectant of thy Lord's +appearing? Are thy loins girded, and thy lights burning? If the cry were +to break upon thine ears this day, "Behold the Bridegroom cometh," +couldst thou joyfully respond--"Lo, this is my God, I have waited for +him?" WHEN He may come, we cannot tell;--ages may elapse before _then_. +It may be centuries before our graves are gilded with the beams of a +Millennial sun; but while He _may_ or may _not_ come _soon_, He _must_ +come at some time--ay, and the day of our death is virtually to all of +us the day of His coming. + +Reader! put not off the solemn preparation. Be not deceived or deluded +with the mocker's presumptuous challenge, "Where is the promise of His +coming?" See to it that the calls of an engrossing world without, do not +foster this procrastinating spirit within. It may be now or never with +thee. Put not off thy sowing time till harvest time. Leave nothing for a +dying hour, _but to die_, and calmly to resign thy spirit into the hands +of Jesus. Of all times, _that_ is the least suitable to have the vessel +plenished--to attend to the great business of life when life is +ebbing--to trim the lamp when the oil is done and it is flickering in +its socket--to begin to watch, when the summons is heard to leave the +watch-tower to meet our God! + +Were you never struck how often, amid the many _gentle_ words of Jesus, +the summons "to watch," is over and over repeated, like a succession of +alarum-bells breaking ever and anon, amid chimes of heavenly music, to +rouse a sleeping Church and a slumbering world? + +Let this last "word" of thy Lord's send thee to thy knees with the +question,--"Am I indeed a servant of Christ?" Have I fled to Him, and am +I reposing in Him, as my only Saviour?--or am I still lingering, like +Lot, when I should be escaping--sleeping, when I should be +waking--neglecting and trifling, when "a long eternity is lying at my +door?" He is my last and only refuge; neglect Him--_all is lost_! + +Believer! thou who art standing on thy watch-tower, be more faithful +than ever at thy post. Remember what is implied in watching. It is no +dreamy state of inactive torpor: it is a holy jealousy over the +heart--wakeful vigilance regarding sin--every avenue and loophole of the +soul carefully guarded. _Holy living_ is the best, the _only_, +preparative for _holy dying_. "Persuade yourself," says Rutherford, +"the King is coming. Read His letter sent before Him, 'Behold I come +quickly;' wait with the wearied night-watch for the breaking of the +Eastern sky." + +Let these "_Words of Jesus_" we have now been meditating upon in this +little volume, be as the Golden Bells of old, hung on the vestments of +the officiating High Priest, emitting sweet sounds to His spiritual +Israel--telling that the _true High Priest_ is still living and pleading +in "the Holiest of all;" and that soon He will come forth to pour His +blessing on His waiting Church. We have been pleasingly employed in +gathering up a few "crumbs" falling from "the Master's table." Soon we +shall have, not the "_Words_" but the _presence_ of Jesus--not the +crumbs falling from His table, but everlasting fellowship with the +Master Himself. + + "AMEN, EVEN SO, COME LORD JESUS." + + + + + "Wherefore + +Comfort One Another + + with + + THESE WORDS." + + + 1 THESS. iv. 18. + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Words of Jesus, by John R. Macduff + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE WORDS OF JESUS *** + +***** This file should be named 28547-8.txt or 28547-8.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + https://www.gutenberg.org/2/8/5/4/28547/ + +Produced by Heiko Evermann, Nigel Blower and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net (This +book was produced from scanned images of public domain +material from the Google Print project.) + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. Special rules, +set forth in the General Terms of Use part of this license, apply to +copying and distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works to +protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm concept and trademark. Project +Gutenberg is a registered trademark, and may not be used if you +charge for the eBooks, unless you receive specific permission. If you +do not charge anything for copies of this eBook, complying with the +rules is very easy. You may use this eBook for nearly any purpose +such as creation of derivative works, reports, performances and +research. They may be modified and printed and given away--you may do +practically ANYTHING with public domain eBooks. Redistribution is +subject to the trademark license, especially commercial +redistribution. + + + +*** START: FULL LICENSE *** + +THE FULL PROJECT GUTENBERG LICENSE +PLEASE READ THIS BEFORE YOU DISTRIBUTE OR USE THIS WORK + +To protect the Project Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting the free +distribution of electronic works, by using or distributing this work +(or any other work associated in any way with the phrase "Project +Gutenberg"), you agree to comply with all the terms of the Full Project +Gutenberg-tm License (available with this file or online at +https://gutenberg.org/license). + + +Section 1. General Terms of Use and Redistributing Project Gutenberg-tm +electronic works + +1.A. By reading or using any part of this Project Gutenberg-tm +electronic work, you indicate that you have read, understand, agree to +and accept all the terms of this license and intellectual property +(trademark/copyright) agreement. If you do not agree to abide by all +the terms of this agreement, you must cease using and return or destroy +all copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in your possession. +If you paid a fee for obtaining a copy of or access to a Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic work and you do not agree to be bound by the +terms of this agreement, you may obtain a refund from the person or +entity to whom you paid the fee as set forth in paragraph 1.E.8. + +1.B. "Project Gutenberg" is a registered trademark. It may only be +used on or associated in any way with an electronic work by people who +agree to be bound by the terms of this agreement. There are a few +things that you can do with most Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works +even without complying with the full terms of this agreement. See +paragraph 1.C below. There are a lot of things you can do with Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic works if you follow the terms of this agreement +and help preserve free future access to Project Gutenberg-tm electronic +works. See paragraph 1.E below. + +1.C. The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation ("the Foundation" +or PGLAF), owns a compilation copyright in the collection of Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic works. Nearly all the individual works in the +collection are in the public domain in the United States. If an +individual work is in the public domain in the United States and you are +located in the United States, we do not claim a right to prevent you from +copying, distributing, performing, displaying or creating derivative +works based on the work as long as all references to Project Gutenberg +are removed. Of course, we hope that you will support the Project +Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting free access to electronic works by +freely sharing Project Gutenberg-tm works in compliance with the terms of +this agreement for keeping the Project Gutenberg-tm name associated with +the work. You can easily comply with the terms of this agreement by +keeping this work in the same format with its attached full Project +Gutenberg-tm License when you share it without charge with others. + +1.D. The copyright laws of the place where you are located also govern +what you can do with this work. Copyright laws in most countries are in +a constant state of change. If you are outside the United States, check +the laws of your country in addition to the terms of this agreement +before downloading, copying, displaying, performing, distributing or +creating derivative works based on this work or any other Project +Gutenberg-tm work. The Foundation makes no representations concerning +the copyright status of any work in any country outside the United +States. + +1.E. Unless you have removed all references to Project Gutenberg: + +1.E.1. The following sentence, with active links to, or other immediate +access to, the full Project Gutenberg-tm License must appear prominently +whenever any copy of a Project Gutenberg-tm work (any work on which the +phrase "Project Gutenberg" appears, or with which the phrase "Project +Gutenberg" is associated) is accessed, displayed, performed, viewed, +copied or distributed: + +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 + +1.E.2. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is derived +from the public domain (does not contain a notice indicating that it is +posted with permission of the copyright holder), the work can be copied +and distributed to anyone in the United States without paying any fees +or charges. If you are redistributing or providing access to a work +with the phrase "Project Gutenberg" associated with or appearing on the +work, you must comply either with the requirements of paragraphs 1.E.1 +through 1.E.7 or obtain permission for the use of the work and the +Project Gutenberg-tm trademark as set forth in paragraphs 1.E.8 or +1.E.9. + +1.E.3. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is posted +with the permission of the copyright holder, your use and distribution +must comply with both paragraphs 1.E.1 through 1.E.7 and any additional +terms imposed by the copyright holder. Additional terms will be linked +to the Project Gutenberg-tm License for all works posted with the +permission of the copyright holder found at the beginning of this work. + +1.E.4. Do not unlink or detach or remove the full Project Gutenberg-tm +License terms from this work, or any files containing a part of this +work or any other work associated with Project Gutenberg-tm. + +1.E.5. Do not copy, display, perform, distribute or redistribute this +electronic work, or any part of this electronic work, without +prominently displaying the sentence set forth in paragraph 1.E.1 with +active links or immediate access to the full terms of the Project +Gutenberg-tm License. + +1.E.6. You may convert to and distribute this work in any binary, +compressed, marked up, nonproprietary or proprietary form, including any +word processing or hypertext form. However, if you provide access to or +distribute copies of a Project Gutenberg-tm work in a format other than +"Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other format used in the official version +posted on the official Project Gutenberg-tm web site (www.gutenberg.org), +you must, at no additional cost, fee or expense to the user, provide a +copy, a means of exporting a copy, or a means of obtaining a copy upon +request, of the work in its original "Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other +form. Any alternate format must include the full Project Gutenberg-tm +License as specified in paragraph 1.E.1. + +1.E.7. Do not charge a fee for access to, viewing, displaying, +performing, copying or distributing any Project Gutenberg-tm works +unless you comply with paragraph 1.E.8 or 1.E.9. + +1.E.8. You may charge a reasonable fee for copies of or providing +access to or distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works provided +that + +- You pay a royalty fee of 20% of the gross profits you derive from + the use of Project Gutenberg-tm works calculated using the method + you already use to calculate your applicable taxes. The fee is + owed to the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark, but he + has agreed to donate royalties under this paragraph to the + Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation. Royalty payments + must be paid within 60 days following each date on which you + prepare (or are legally required to prepare) your periodic tax + returns. Royalty payments should be clearly marked as such and + sent to the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation at the + address specified in Section 4, "Information about donations to + the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation." + +- You provide a full refund of any money paid by a user who notifies + you in writing (or by e-mail) within 30 days of receipt that s/he + does not agree to the terms of the full Project Gutenberg-tm + License. You must require such a user to return or + destroy all copies of the works possessed in a physical medium + and discontinue all use of and all access to other copies of + Project Gutenberg-tm works. + +- You provide, in accordance with paragraph 1.F.3, a full refund of any + money paid for a work or a replacement copy, if a defect in the + electronic work is discovered and reported to you within 90 days + of receipt of the work. + +- You comply with all other terms of this agreement for free + distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm works. + +1.E.9. If you wish to charge a fee or distribute a Project Gutenberg-tm +electronic work or group of works on different terms than are set +forth in this agreement, you must obtain permission in writing from +both the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation and Michael +Hart, the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark. Contact the +Foundation as set forth in Section 3 below. + +1.F. + +1.F.1. Project Gutenberg volunteers and employees expend considerable +effort to identify, do copyright research on, transcribe and proofread +public domain works in creating the Project Gutenberg-tm +collection. Despite these efforts, Project Gutenberg-tm electronic +works, and the medium on which they may be stored, may contain +"Defects," such as, but not limited to, incomplete, inaccurate or +corrupt data, transcription errors, a copyright or other intellectual +property infringement, a defective or damaged disk or other medium, a +computer virus, or computer codes that damage or cannot be read by +your equipment. + +1.F.2. LIMITED WARRANTY, DISCLAIMER OF DAMAGES - Except for the "Right +of Replacement or Refund" described in paragraph 1.F.3, the Project +Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation, the owner of the Project +Gutenberg-tm trademark, and any other party distributing a Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic work under this agreement, disclaim all +liability to you for damages, costs and expenses, including legal +fees. YOU AGREE THAT YOU HAVE NO REMEDIES FOR NEGLIGENCE, STRICT +LIABILITY, BREACH OF WARRANTY OR BREACH OF CONTRACT EXCEPT THOSE +PROVIDED IN PARAGRAPH F3. YOU AGREE THAT THE FOUNDATION, THE +TRADEMARK OWNER, AND ANY DISTRIBUTOR UNDER THIS AGREEMENT WILL NOT BE +LIABLE TO YOU FOR ACTUAL, DIRECT, INDIRECT, CONSEQUENTIAL, PUNITIVE OR +INCIDENTAL DAMAGES EVEN IF YOU GIVE NOTICE OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH +DAMAGE. + +1.F.3. LIMITED RIGHT OF REPLACEMENT OR REFUND - If you discover a +defect in this electronic work within 90 days of receiving it, you can +receive a refund of the money (if any) you paid for it by sending a +written explanation to the person you received the work from. If you +received the work on a physical medium, you must return the medium with +your written explanation. The person or entity that provided you with +the defective work may elect to provide a replacement copy in lieu of a +refund. If you received the work electronically, the person or entity +providing it to you may choose to give you a second opportunity to +receive the work electronically in lieu of a refund. If the second copy +is also defective, you may demand a refund in writing without further +opportunities to fix the problem. + +1.F.4. Except for the limited right of replacement or refund set forth +in paragraph 1.F.3, this work is provided to you 'AS-IS' WITH NO OTHER +WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO +WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTIBILITY OR FITNESS FOR ANY PURPOSE. + +1.F.5. Some states do not allow disclaimers of certain implied +warranties or the exclusion or limitation of certain types of damages. +If any disclaimer or limitation set forth in this agreement violates the +law of the state applicable to this agreement, the agreement shall be +interpreted to make the maximum disclaimer or limitation permitted by +the applicable state law. The invalidity or unenforceability of any +provision of this agreement shall not void the remaining provisions. + +1.F.6. INDEMNITY - You agree to indemnify and hold the Foundation, the +trademark owner, any agent or employee of the Foundation, anyone +providing copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in accordance +with this agreement, and any volunteers associated with the production, +promotion and distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works, +harmless from all liability, costs and expenses, including legal fees, +that arise directly or indirectly from any of the following which you do +or cause to occur: (a) distribution of this or any Project Gutenberg-tm +work, (b) alteration, modification, or additions or deletions to any +Project Gutenberg-tm work, and (c) any Defect you cause. + + +Section 2. Information about the Mission of Project Gutenberg-tm + +Project Gutenberg-tm is synonymous with the free distribution of +electronic works in formats readable by the widest variety of computers +including obsolete, old, middle-aged and new computers. It exists +because of the efforts of hundreds of volunteers and donations from +people in all walks of life. + +Volunteers and financial support to provide volunteers with the +assistance they need are critical to reaching Project Gutenberg-tm's +goals and ensuring that the Project Gutenberg-tm collection will +remain freely available for generations to come. In 2001, the Project +Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation was created to provide a secure +and permanent future for Project Gutenberg-tm and future generations. +To learn more about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation +and how your efforts and donations can help, see Sections 3 and 4 +and the Foundation web page at https://www.pglaf.org. + + +Section 3. Information about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive +Foundation + +The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation is a non profit +501(c)(3) educational corporation organized under the laws of the +state of Mississippi and granted tax exempt status by the Internal +Revenue Service. The Foundation's EIN or federal tax identification +number is 64-6221541. Its 501(c)(3) letter is posted at +https://pglaf.org/fundraising. Contributions to the Project Gutenberg +Literary Archive Foundation are tax deductible to the full extent +permitted by U.S. federal laws and your state's laws. + +The Foundation's principal office is located at 4557 Melan Dr. S. +Fairbanks, AK, 99712., but its volunteers and employees are scattered +throughout numerous locations. Its business office is located at +809 North 1500 West, Salt Lake City, UT 84116, (801) 596-1887, email +business@pglaf.org. Email contact links and up to date contact +information can be found at the Foundation's web site and official +page at https://pglaf.org + +For additional contact information: + Dr. Gregory B. Newby + Chief Executive and Director + gbnewby@pglaf.org + + +Section 4. Information about Donations to the Project Gutenberg +Literary Archive Foundation + +Project Gutenberg-tm depends upon and cannot survive without wide +spread public support and donations to carry out its mission of +increasing the number of public domain and licensed works that can be +freely distributed in machine readable form accessible by the widest +array of equipment including outdated equipment. Many small donations +($1 to $5,000) are particularly important to maintaining tax exempt +status with the IRS. + +The Foundation is committed to complying with the laws regulating +charities and charitable donations in all 50 states of the United +States. Compliance requirements are not uniform and it takes a +considerable effort, much paperwork and many fees to meet and keep up +with these requirements. We do not solicit donations in locations +where we have not received written confirmation of compliance. To +SEND DONATIONS or determine the status of compliance for any +particular state visit https://pglaf.org + +While we cannot and do not solicit contributions from states where we +have not met the solicitation requirements, we know of no prohibition +against accepting unsolicited donations from donors in such states who +approach us with offers to donate. + +International donations are gratefully accepted, but we cannot make +any statements concerning tax treatment of donations received from +outside the United States. U.S. laws alone swamp our small staff. + +Please check the Project Gutenberg Web pages for current donation +methods and addresses. Donations are accepted in a number of other +ways including including checks, online payments and credit card +donations. To donate, please visit: https://pglaf.org/donate + + +Section 5. General Information About Project Gutenberg-tm electronic +works. + +Professor Michael S. Hart was the originator of the Project Gutenberg-tm +concept of a library of electronic works that could be freely shared +with anyone. For thirty years, he produced and distributed Project +Gutenberg-tm eBooks with only a loose network of volunteer support. + + +Project Gutenberg-tm eBooks are often created from several printed +editions, all of which are confirmed as Public Domain in the U.S. +unless a copyright notice is included. Thus, we do not necessarily +keep eBooks in compliance with any particular paper edition. + + +Most people start at our Web site which has the main PG search facility: + + https://www.gutenberg.org + +This Web site includes information about Project Gutenberg-tm, +including how to make donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary +Archive Foundation, how to help produce our new eBooks, and how to +subscribe to our email newsletter to hear about new eBooks. diff --git a/28547-8.zip b/28547-8.zip Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..46497c1 --- /dev/null +++ b/28547-8.zip diff --git a/28547-h.zip b/28547-h.zip Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..e7d47d3 --- /dev/null +++ b/28547-h.zip diff --git a/28547-h/28547-h.htm b/28547-h/28547-h.htm new file mode 100644 index 0000000..1507e18 --- /dev/null +++ b/28547-h/28547-h.htm @@ -0,0 +1,2675 @@ +<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Strict//EN" + "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-strict.dtd"> + +<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml" xml:lang="en" lang="en"> + <head> + <meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html;charset=iso-8859-1" /> + <meta http-equiv="Content-Style-Type" content="text/css" /> + <title> + The Project Gutenberg eBook of The Words of Jesus, by John R. Macduff. + </title> + <style type="text/css"> + +body {margin-left: 10%; margin-right: 10%;} + +h1,h2,h4,h6 {text-align: center; clear: both;} +h2 {text-align: right; font-variant: small-caps; font-size: 1em;} + +p {margin-top: .75em; text-align: justify; margin-bottom: .75em;} + +hr {width: 65%; margin-top: 2em; margin-bottom: 1em; + margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; clear: both;} + +.pagenum {position: absolute; left: 92%; font-size: smaller; font-variant: normal; text-align: right;} +.blockquot {text-align: center; font-size: smaller;} +.word {text-align: center; margin-top: 2em; + font-variant: small-caps; text-transform: lowercase;} + +.center {text-align: center;} +.smcap {font-variant: small-caps;} +.lowercase {text-transform: lowercase;} +.uppercase {text-transform: uppercase; font-weight: bold;} +.halfsize {font-size: 50%;} +.hidden {visibility: hidden; margin-bottom: 0em; margin-top: 0em;} + +.figcenter {margin: auto; text-align: center;} +.figleft {float: left; clear: left; text-align: center; padding: 0; + margin-bottom: 0; margin-top: 0.5em; margin-left: 0; margin-right: 0.5em;} + +div.notes {background-color: #eeeeee; color: #000; border: 1px solid black; + padding-top: 1em; padding-bottom: .5em; padding-left: 1em; padding-right: 1em; + margin-top: 2em; margin-bottom: 4em; width: 75% ;margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;} + </style> + </head> +<body> + + +<pre> + +The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Words of Jesus, by John R. Macduff + +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: The Words of Jesus + +Author: John R. Macduff + +Release Date: April 9, 2009 [EBook #28547] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE WORDS OF JESUS *** + + + + +Produced by Heiko Evermann, Nigel Blower and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net (This +book was produced from scanned images of public domain +material from the Google Print project.) + + + + + + +</pre> + + +<div class="notes"> + +<h4>Transcriber’s Note</h4> + +<p>Minor punctuation errors and inconsistencies have been silently corrected.</p> + +<p>The following minor typographic corrections have also been made:<br /> +p8: “al” changed to “all”<br /> +p13: “sorrrow” changed to “sorrow”<br /> +p81: “trom” changed to “from”<br /> +p112: “Mat.” changed to “Matt.” for consistency<br /> +p122: “striken” changed to “stricken”<br /> +</p> +</div> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_1" id="Page_1">[Pg 1]</a></span></p> + +<h1><span class="halfsize">THE</span><br /><br /> +WORDS OF JESUS.</h1> + +<h4 style="margin-top:3em;">BY THE AUTHOR OF<br /> + +“THE MORNING AND NIGHT WATCHES,”<br /> +“THE FAITHFUL PROMISER,” ETC.</h4> + +<h6 style="margin-top:3em;">Taken from the last London Edition.</h6> + +<h4 style="margin-top:3em;">New York:<br /> +STANFORD & DELISSER,<br /> +No. 508, BROADWAY.<br /> +1858.</h4> + +<hr /> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_2" id="Page_2"></a> +<a name="Page_3" id="Page_3">[Pg 3]</a></span></p> + +<div class="figcenter"> +<h4 class="hidden"><a name="The_Words_of_Jesus" id="The_Words_of_Jesus"></a>The Words of Jesus.</h4> +<img src="images/preface.png" + alt="The Words of Jesus." title="The Words of Jesus." /> +</div> + +<p>“A word spoken in season,” says the wise man, “how good it is!” If this +be true regarding the utterances of uninspired lips, with what devout +and paramount interest must we invest the sayings of Incarnate +Truth—“the WORDS OF JESUS!”</p> + +<p>We have, in the motto-verses which head the succeeding pages a few +comforting responses from the Oracle of heavenly Wisdom—a few grapes +plucked from the true Vine—living streams welling fresh from the Living +Fountain. Every portion of Scripture is designed for nutriment to the +soul—“the bread of life;” but surely we may well regard the recorded +“<i>Words of Jesus</i>” as “the finest of the wheat.” These are the “Honey” +out of the true “Rock,” with which He will “satisfy” us. “The WORDS that +I speak unto you, they are spirit and they are life.”</p> + +<p>The following are selected more especially as “<i>Words for the +Weary</i>”—healing leaves for the wounded spirit falling from the Tree of +Life. Jesus was divinely qualified for this special office of speaking +“many and <i>comfortable</i> words.” “The Lord God hath given me the tongue +of the learned, that I might know how to speak a <i>Word in Season</i> to him +that is <i>weary</i>.”</p> + +<p>Let us, like the disciple of Patmos, turn to hear the voice that speaks +to us, saying, “I wait for the Lord, my soul doth wait, and in <i>His +Word</i> do I hope.” Eighteen hundred years have elapsed since these +“words” were uttered. With tones of unaltered and unchanged affection, +they are still echoed from the inner sanctuary—they come this day fresh +as they were spoken, from the lips of Him whose memorial to all time is +this: “<i>that same Jesus</i>.”</p> + +<p>Reader, seek to realise, in meditating on them, the simple but solemn +truth—“<i>Christ speaks to me!</i>” Surely nothing can be more soothing with +which to close your eyes on your nightly pillow, or to carry with you in +the morning out to the duties (or, it may be, the trials and sorrows) of +the day, than—“A WORD OF JESUS.”</p> + +<hr /> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_4" id="Page_4">[Pg 4]</a></span></p> + +<h2><a name="Day1" id="Day1"></a><span class="smcap">1st Day of Month.</span></h2> + +<h4>“Remember the words of the Lord Jesus, how He said”—</h4> + +<p class="blockquot">“Come unto me all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will +give you rest.”—Matt. xi. 28.</p> + +<h4>The Gracious Invitation.</h4> + +<div class="figleft"> +<img src="images/t01.png" alt="The Gracious Invitation." title="The Gracious Invitation." /> +</div> + +<p>Gracious “word” of a gracious Saviour, on which the soul may confidingly +repose, and be at peace for ever? It is a <i>present</i> rest—the rest of +<i>grace</i> as well as the rest of <i>glory</i>. Not only are there signals of +peace hung out from the walls of heaven—the lights of Home glimmering +in the distance to cheer our footsteps; but we have the “shadow” of this +“great Rock” in a <i>present</i> “weary land.” Before the Throne alone is +there “the sea of glass,” without one rippling wave; but there is a +haven even on earth for the tempest-tossed—“We which have believed DO +enter into rest.”</p> + +<p>Reader, hast thou found this blessed<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_5" id="Page_5">[Pg 5]</a></span> repose in the blood and work of +Immanuel? Long going about “seeking rest and finding none,” does this +“word” sound like music in thine ears—“<i>Come unto Me</i>?” All other peace +is counterfeit, shadowy, unreal. The eagle spurns the gilded cage as a +poor equivalent for his free-born soarings. The soul’s immortal +aspirations can be satisfied with nothing short of the possession of +God’s favour and love in Jesus.</p> + +<p>How unqualified is the invitation! If there had been one condition in +entering this covenant Ark, we must have been through eternity at the +mercy of the storm. But all are alike warranted and welcome, and none +<i>more</i> warranted than welcome. For the weak, the weary, the sin-burdened +and sorrow-burdened, there is an open door of grace.</p> + +<p>Return, then unto thy rest, O my soul! Let the sweet cadence of this +“word of Jesus” steal on thee amid<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_6" id="Page_6">[Pg 6]</a></span> the disquietudes of earth. Sheltered +in Him, thou art safe for time, safe for eternity! There may be, and +<i>will</i> be, temporary tossings, fears, and misgivings,—manifestations of +inward corruption; but these will only be like the surface-heavings of +the ocean, while underneath there is a deep settled calm. “Thou wilt +keep him in perfect peace” (<i>lit.</i> peace, peace) “whose mind is stayed +on Thee.” In the world it is care on care, trouble on trouble, sin on +sin; but every wave that breaks on the believer’s soul seems sweetly to +murmur, “Peace, peace!”</p> + +<p>And if the foretaste of this rest be precious, what must be the glorious +consummation? Awaking in the morning of immortality, with the unquiet +dream of earth over—faith lost in sight, and hope in fruition;—no more +any bias to sin—no more latent principles of evil—nothing to disturb +the spirit’s deep, everlasting tranquillity—the trembling<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_7" id="Page_7">[Pg 7]</a></span> magnet of +the heart reposing, where alone it can confidingly and permanently rest, +in the enjoyment of the Infinite God.</p> + +<p class="word">“THESE THINGS HAVE I SPOKEN UNTO YOU, THAT IN ME YE MIGHT HAVE +PEACE.”</p> + +<hr /> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_8" id="Page_8">[Pg 8]</a></span></p> + +<h2><a name="Day2" id="Day2"></a><span class="smcap">2d Day.</span></h2> + +<h4>“Remember the words of the Lord Jesus, how He said”—</h4> + +<p class="blockquot">“Your heavenly Father knoweth that ye have need of all these +things.”—Matt. vi. 22.</p> + +<h4>The Comforting Assurance.</h4> + +<div class="figleft"> +<img src="images/t02.png" alt="The Comforting Assurance." title="The Comforting Assurance." /> +</div> + +<p>Though spoken originally by Jesus regarding temporal things, this may be +taken as a motto for the child of God amid all the changing vicissitudes +of his changing history. How it should lull all misgivings; silence all +murmurings; lead to lowly, unquestioning submissiveness—“My Heavenly +Father knoweth that I have need of all these things.”</p> + +<p>Where can a child be safer or better than in a father’s hand? Where can +the believer be better than in the hands of his God? We are poor judges +of what is best. We are under safe guidance with infallible wisdom. If +we are tempted in a moment of rash presumption to say, “All these things +are<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_9" id="Page_9">[Pg 9]</a></span> against me,” let this “word” rebuke the hasty and unworthy surmise. +Unerring wisdom and Fatherly love have pronounced <i>all</i> to be “needful.”</p> + +<p>My soul, is there aught that is disturbing thy peace? Are providences +dark, or crosses heavy? Are spiritual props removed, creature comforts +curtailed, gourds smitten and withered like grass?—write on each, +“<i>Your Father knoweth that ye have need of all these things.</i>” It was He +who increased thy burden. Why? “<i>It was needed.</i>” It was He who smote +down thy clay idol. Why? “<i>It was needed.</i>” It was supplanting Himself: +He had to remove it! It was He who crossed thy worldly schemes, marred +thy cherished hopes. Why? “<i>It was needed.</i>” There was a lurking thorn +in the coveted path. There was some higher spiritual blessing in +reversion. “He ‘<i>prevented</i>’ thee with the blessings of His goodness.”<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_10" id="Page_10">[Pg 10]</a></span></p> + +<p>Seek to cherish a spirit of more childlike confidence in thy Heavenly +Father’s will. Thou art not left unbefriended and alone to buffet the +storms of the wilderness. Thy Marahs as well as thy Elims are appointed +by Him. A gracious pillar-cloud is before thee. Follow it through +sunshine and storm. He may “lead thee about,” but He will not lead thee +wrong. Unutterable tenderness is the characteristic of all His dealings. +“Blessed be His name,” says a tried believer, “He maketh my feet like +hinds’ feet” (<i>literally</i>, “equaleth” them), “he <i>equaleth</i> them for +every precipice, every ascent, every leap.”</p> + +<p>And who is it that speaks this quieting word? It is He who Himself felt +the preciousness of the assurance during His own awful sufferings, that +all were <i>needed</i>, and all <i>appointed</i>; that from Bethlehem’s cradle to +Calvary’s Cross there was not the redundant thorn in the chaplet of +sorrow which<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_11" id="Page_11">[Pg 11]</a></span> He, the Man of Sorrows, bore. Every drop in His bitter cup +was mingled by His Father: “This cup which <i>Thou</i> givest me to drink, +shall I not drink it!” Oh, if He could extract comfort in this hour of +inconceivable agony, in the thought that a Father’s hand lighted the +fearful furnace-fires, what strong consolation is there in the same +truth to all His suffering people!</p> + +<p>What! one superfluous drop! one redundant pang! one unneeded cross! Hush +the secret atheism! He gave His Son for thee! He calls Himself “thy +Father!” Whatever be the trial under which thou art now smarting, let +the word of a gracious Saviour be “like oil thrown on the fretful sea;” +let it dry every rebellious tear-drop. “He, thine unerring Parent, +knoweth that thou hast need of <i>this</i> as well as <i>all</i> these things.”</p> + +<p class="word">“THY WORD IS VERY SURE, THEREFORE THY SERVANT LOVETH IT.”</p> + +<hr /> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_12" id="Page_12">[Pg 12]</a></span></p> + +<h2><a name="Day3" id="Day3"></a><span class="smcap">3d Day.</span></h2> + +<h4>“Remember the words of the Lord Jesus, how He said”—</h4> + +<p class="blockquot">“Whatsoever ye shall ask in my name, that will I do, that the Father +may be glorified in the Son.”—John xiv. 13.</p> + +<h4>The Power of Prayer.</h4> + +<div class="figleft"> +<img src="images/t03.png" alt="The Power of Prayer." title="The Power of Prayer." /> +</div> + +<p>Blessed Jesus! it is Thou who hast unlocked to Thy people the gates of +prayer. Without Thee they must have been shut forever. It was Thy +atoning merit on earth that first opened them; it is Thy intercessory +work in heaven that keeps them open still.</p> + +<p>How unlimited the promise—“<i>Whatsoever ye shall ask!</i>” It is the pledge +of all that the needy sinner requires—all that an Omnipotent Saviour +can bestow! As the great Steward of the mysteries of grace, He seems to +say to His faithful servants, “Take thy bill, and under this, my +superscription, write what you please.” And then, when the blank is +filled up, he further endorses<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_13" id="Page_13">[Pg 13]</a></span> each petition with the words, “<i>I <span class="smcap lowercase">WILL</span> +do it!</i>”</p> + +<p>He farther encourages us to ask “<i>in His name</i>.” In the case of an +earthly petitioner there are some pleas more influential in obtaining a +boon than others. Jesus speaks of <i>this</i> as forming the key to the heart +of God. As David loved the helpless cripple of Saul’s house “<i>for +Jonathan’s sake</i>,” so will the Father, by virtue of our covenant +relationship to the true <span class="smcap">Jonathan</span> (<i>lit.</i>, “the gift of God”), delight +in giving us even “exceeding abundantly above all that we can ask or +think.”</p> + +<p>Reader, do you know the blessedness of confiding your every want and +every care—your every sorrow and every cross—into the ear of the +Saviour? He is the “Wonderful Counsellor.” With an exquisitely tender +sympathy He can enter into the innermost depths of your need. That need +may be great, but the everlasting arms are underneath it<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_14" id="Page_14">[Pg 14]</a></span> all. Think of +Him now, at this moment—the great Angel of the Covenant, with the +censer full of much incense, in which are placed your feeblest +aspirations, your most burdened sighs—the odour-breathing cloud +ascending with acceptance before the Father’s throne. The answer may +tarry;—these your supplications may seem to be kept long on the wing, +hovering around the mercy-seat. A gracious God sometimes sees it meet +thus to test the faith and patience of His people. He delights to hear +the music of their importunate pleadings—to see them undeterred by +difficulties—unrepelled by apparent forgetfulness and neglect. But He +<i>will</i> come at last; the pent-up fountain of love and mercy will at +length burst out;—the soothing accents will in His own good time be +heard, “Be it unto thee according to thy word!”</p> + +<p>Soldier of Christ! with all thine other panoply, forget not the +“<i>All-prayer</i>.”<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_15" id="Page_15">[Pg 15]</a></span> It is that which keeps bright and shining “the whole +armour of God.” While yet out in the night of a dark world—whilst still +bivouacking in an enemy’s country—kindle thy watch-fires at the altar +of incense. Thou must be Moses, pleading on the Mount, if thou wouldst +be Joshua, victorious in the world’s daily battle. Confide thy cause to +this waiting Redeemer. Thou canst not weary Him with thine importunity. +He delights in hearing. His Father is glorified in giving. The memorable +Bethany-utterance remains unaltered and unrepealed—“I knew that Thou +hearest me always.” He is still the “Prince that has power with God and +prevails”—still He promises and pleads—still He lives and loves!</p> + +<p class="word">“I WAIT FOR THE LORD, MY SOUL DOTH WAIT; AND IN HIS WORD DO I HOPE.”</p> + +<hr /> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_16" id="Page_16">[Pg 16]</a></span></p> + +<h2><a name="Day4" id="Day4"></a><span class="smcap">4th Day.</span></h2> + +<h4>“Remember the words of the Lord Jesus, how He said”—</h4> + +<p class="blockquot">“What I do thou knowest not now; but thou shalt know +hereafter.”—John xiii. 7.</p> + +<h4>The Unveiled Dealings.</h4> + +<div class="figleft"> +<img src="images/t04.png" alt="The Unveiled Dealings." title="The Unveiled Dealings." /> +</div> + +<p>O blessed day, when the long sealed book of mystery shall be unfolded, +when the “fountains of the great deep shall be broken up,” “the channels +of the waters seen,” and <i>all</i> discovered to be one vast revelation of +unerring wisdom and ineffable love! Here we are often baffled at the +Lord’s dispensations; we cannot fathom His ways:—like the well of +Sychar, they are deep, and we have nothing to draw with. But soon the +“mystery of God will be finished;” the enigmatical “seals,” with all +their inner meanings, opened. When that “morning without clouds” shall +break, each soul will be like the angel standing in the sun—there will +be no shadow; all will be perfect day!<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_17" id="Page_17">[Pg 17]</a></span></p> + +<p>Believer, be still! The dealings of thy Heavenly Father may seem dark to +thee; there may seem now to be no golden fringe, no “bright light in the +clouds;” but a day of disclosures is at hand. “Take it on trust a little +while.” An earthly child takes <i>on trust</i> what his father tells him: +when he reaches maturity, much that was baffling to his infant +comprehension is explained. Thou art in this world in the nonage of thy +being—Eternity is the soul’s immortal manhood. <i>There</i>, every dealing +will be vindicated. It will lose all its “darkness” when bathed in the +floods “of the excellent glory!”</p> + +<p>Ah! instead of thus being as weaned children, how apt are we to exercise +ourselves in matters too high for us? not content with knowing that our +Father <i>wills</i> it, but presumptuously seeking to know <i>how</i> it is, and +<i>why</i> it is. If it be unfair to pronounce on the unfinished<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_18" id="Page_18">[Pg 18]</a></span> and +incompleted works of man; if the painter, or sculptor, or artificer, +would shrink from having his labours judged of when in a rough, +unpolished, immatured state; how much more so with the works of God? How +we should honour Him by a simple, confiding, unreserved submission to +His will,—contented patiently to wait the fulfilment of this +“<i>hereafter</i>” promise, when all the lights and shadows in the now +half-finished picture will be blended and melted into one harmonious +whole,—when all the now disjointed stones in the temple will be seen to +fit into their appointed place, giving unity, and compactness, and +symmetry, to all the building.</p> + +<p>And who is it that speaks these living “words,” “What <i>I</i> do?” It is He +who died for us? who now lives for us! Blessed Jesus! Thou mayest <i>do</i> +much that our blind hearts would like <i>un</i>done,—“terrible things in +righteousness<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_19" id="Page_19">[Pg 19]</a></span> which we looked not for.” The heaviest (what we may be +tempted to call the severest) cross Thou canst lay upon us we shall +regard as only the <i>apparent</i> severity of unutterable and unalterable +love. Eternity will unfold how <i>all</i>, <i>all</i> was needed; that nothing +else, nothing less, could have done! If not now, at least then, the +deliberate verdict on a calm retrospect of life will be this,—</p> + +<p class="word">“<span class="uppercase">THE WORD</span> OF THE LORD IS RIGHT, AND ALL HIS WORKS ARE DONE IN +TRUTH.”</p> + +<hr /> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_20" id="Page_20">[Pg 20]</a></span></p> + +<h2><a name="Day5" id="Day5"></a><span class="smcap">5th Day.</span></h2> + +<h4>“Remember the words of the Lord Jesus, how He said”—</h4> + +<p class="blockquot">“Herein is my Father glorified, that <i>ye bear much fruit</i>.”—John +xv. 8.</p> + +<h4>The Father Glorified.</h4> + +<div class="figleft"> +<img src="images/t05.png" alt="The Father Glorified." title="The Father Glorified." /> +</div> + +<p>When surveying the boundless ocean of covenant mercy—every wave +chiming, “God is Love!”—does the thought ever present itself, “What can +I do for this great Being who hath done so much for me?” Recompence I +cannot! No more can my purest services add one iota to His underived +glory, than the tiny taper can add to the blaze of the sun at noonday, +or a drop of water to the boundless ocean. Yet, wondrous thought! from +this worthless soul of mine there may roll in a revenue of glory which +He who loves the broken and contrite spirit will “not despise.” “<i>Herein +is my Father glorified, that ye bear much fruit.</i>”<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_21" id="Page_21">[Pg 21]</a></span></p> + +<p>Reader! are you a fruit-bearer in your Lord’s vineyard? Are you seeking +to make life one grand act of consecration to His glory—one +thank-offering for His unmerited love. You may be unable to exhibit much +fruit in the eye of the world. Your circumstances and position in life +may forbid you to point to any splendid services, or laborious and +imposing efforts in the cause of God. It matters not. It is often those +fruits that are unseen and unknown to man, ripening in seclusion, that +He values most;—the quiet, lowly walk—patience and +submission—gentleness and humility—putting yourself unreservedly in +His hands—willing to be led by Him even in darkness—saying, Not <i>my</i> +will, but <i>Thy</i> will:—the unselfish spirit, the meek bearing of an +injury, the unostentatious kindness,—these are some of the “fruits” +which your Heavenly Father loves, and by which He is glorified.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_22" id="Page_22">[Pg 22]</a></span></p> + +<p>Perchance it may be with you the season of trial, the chamber of +protracted sickness, the time of desolating bereavement, some furnace +seven times heated. Herein, too, you may sweetly glorify your God. Never +is your Heavenly Father <i>more</i> glorified by His children on earth, than +when, in the midst of these furnace-fires, He listens to nothing but the +gentle breathings of confiding faith and love,—“Let Him do what seemeth +good unto Him.” Yes, you can there glorify Him in a way which angels +cannot do in a world where no trial is. They can glorify God only with +the <i>crown</i>; you can glorify Him with the <i>cross</i> and the prospect of +the <i>crown</i> together! Ah, if He be dealing severely with you—if He, as +the great Husbandman, be pruning His vines, lopping their boughs, +stripping off their luxuriant branches and “beautiful rods!” remember +the end!—“He purgeth it, that it may bring<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_23" id="Page_23">[Pg 23]</a></span> forth <i>more</i> fruit,” and +“<i>Herein</i> is my Father glorified!”</p> + +<p>Be it yours to lie passive in His hands, saying in unmurmuring +resignation, Father, glorify Thy name! Glorify Thyself, whether by +giving or taking, filling my cup or “emptying me from vessel to vessel!” +Let me know no will but Thine. Angels possess no higher honour and +privilege than glorifying the God before whom they cast their crowns. +How blessed to be able thus to claim brotherhood with the spirits in the +upper sanctuary! nay, more, to be associated with the Saviour Himself in +the theme of His own exalted joy, when he said, “<i>I</i> have <i>glorified</i> +Thee on earth!”</p> + +<p class="word">“THESE THINGS HAVE I SPOKEN UNTO YOU, THAT MY JOY MIGHT REMAIN IN +YOU, AND THAT YOUR JOY MIGHT BE FULL.”</p> + +<hr /> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_24" id="Page_24">[Pg 24]</a></span></p> + +<h2><a name="Day6" id="Day6"></a><span class="smcap">6th Day.</span></h2> + +<h4>“Remember the words of the Lord Jesus, how He said”—</h4> + +<p class="blockquot">“The very hairs of your head are all numbered.”—Matt. x. 30.</p> + +<h4>The Tender Solicitude.</h4> + +<div class="figleft"> +<img src="images/t06.png" alt="The Tender Solicitude." title="The Tender Solicitude." /> +</div> + +<p>What a “word” is this! All that befals you, to the very numbering of +your hairs, is known to God! Nothing can happen by accident or chance. +Nothing can elude His inspection. The fall of the forest leaf—the +fluttering of the insect—the waving of the angel’s wing—the +annihilation of a world,—all are equally noted by Him. Man speaks of +great things and small things—God knows no such distinction.</p> + +<p>How especially comforting to think of this tender solicitude with +reference to his own covenant people—that He metes out their joys and +their sorrows! Every sweet, every bitter is ordained by Him. Even +“<i>wearisome</i> nights” are “<i>appointed</i>.” Not a pang I feel,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_25" id="Page_25">[Pg 25]</a></span> not a tear I +shed but is known to Him. What are called “dark dealings” are the +ordinations of undeviating faithfulness. Man <i>may</i> err—his ways are +often crooked; “but as for God, <i>His</i> way is perfect!” He puts my tears +into His bottle. Every moment the everlasting arms are underneath and +around me. He keeps me “as the apple of His eye.” He “bears” me “as a +man beareth his own son!”</p> + +<p>Do I look to the future? Is there much of uncertainty and mystery +hanging over it? It may be, much premonitory of evil. Trust Him. All is +marked out for me. Dangers will be averted; bewildering mazes will show +themselves to be interlaced and interweaved with mercy. “He keepeth the +feet of His saints.” A hair of their head will not be touched. He leads +sometimes darkly, sometimes sorrowfully; most frequently by cross and +circuitous ways we ourselves would not<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_26" id="Page_26">[Pg 26]</a></span> have chosen; but <i>always</i> +wisely, <i>always</i> tenderly. With all its mazy windings and turnings, its +roughness and ruggedness, the believer’s is not only <i>a</i> right way, but +<span class="smcap lowercase">THE</span> right way—the best which covenant love and wisdom could select. +“Nothing,” says Jeremy Taylor, “does so establish the mind amidst the +rollings and turbulence of present things, as both a look above them and +a look beyond them; above them, to the steady and good hand by which +they are ruled; and beyond them, to the sweet and beautiful end to +which, by that hand, they will be brought.” “The Great Counsellor,” says +Thomas Brooks, “puts clouds and darkness round about Him, bidding us +follow at His beck through the cloud, promising an eternal and +uninterrupted sunshine on the other side.” On that “other side” we shall +see how every apparent rough blast has been hastening our barks nearer +the desired haven.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_27" id="Page_27">[Pg 27]</a></span></p> + +<p>Well may I commit the keeping of my soul to Jesus in well-doing, as unto +a faithful Creator. He gave <i>Himself</i> for me. This transcendent pledge +of love is the guarantee for the bestowment of every other needed +blessing. Oh, blessed thought! my sorrows numbered by the Man of +Sorrows; my tears counted by Him who shed first His tears and then His +blood for <i>me</i>. He will impose no needless burden, and exact no +unnecessary sacrifice. There was no redundant drop in the cup of His own +sufferings; neither will there be in that of His people. “Though He slay +me, yet will I trust in Him.”</p> + +<p class="word">“WHEREFORE COMFORT ONE ANOTHER WITH <span class="uppercase">THESE WORDS</span>.”</p> + +<hr /> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_28" id="Page_28">[Pg 28]</a></span></p> + +<h2><a name="Day7" id="Day7"></a><span class="smcap">7th Day.</span></h2> + +<h4>“Remember the words of the Lord Jesus, how He said”—</h4> + +<p class="blockquot">“I am the good shepherd, and know my sheep, and am known of +mine.”—John x. 14.</p> + +<h4>The Good Shepherd.</h4> + +<div class="figleft"> +<img src="images/t07.png" alt="The Good Shepherd." title="The Good Shepherd." /> +</div> + +<p>“The Good Shepherd”—well can the sheep who know His voice attest the +truthfulness and faithfulness of this endearing name and word. Where +would they have been through eternity, had He not left His throne of +light and glory, travelling down to this dark valley of the curse, and +giving His life a ransom for many? Think of His love to each separate +member of the flock—wandering over pathless wilds with unwearied +patience and unquenchable ardour, ceasing not the pursuit <i>until</i> He +finds it. Think of His love <i>now</i>—“I <span class="smcap lowercase">AM</span> the Good Shepherd.” Still that +tender eye of watchfulness following the guilty wanderers—the glories +of heaven<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_29" id="Page_29">[Pg 29]</a></span> and the songs of angels unable to dim or alter His +affection;—the music of the words, at this moment coming as sweetly +from His lips as when first He uttered them—“I know my sheep.” Every +individual believer—the weakest, the weariest, the faintest—claims His +attention. His loving eye follows me day by day out to the +wilderness—marks out my pasture, studies my wants, and trials, and +sorrows, and perplexities—every steep ascent, every brook, every +winding path, every thorny thicket. “He goeth before them.” It is not +rough driving, but gentle guiding. He does not take them over an unknown +road; He himself has trodden it before. He hath drunk of every “brook by +the way;” He himself hath “suffered being tempted;” He is “able to +succour them that are tempted.” He seems to say, “Fear not; I cannot +lead you wrong; follow me in the bleak waste, the blackened wilderness, +as well<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_30" id="Page_30">[Pg 30]</a></span> as by the green pastures and the still waters. Do you ask why I +have left the sunny side of the valley—carpeted with flowers, and +bathed in sunshine—leading you to some high mountain apart, some +cheerless spot of sorrow? Trust me, I will lead you by paths you have +not known, but they are all known <i>to</i> me, and selected <i>by</i> me—‘Follow +thou me.’”</p> + +<p>“And am known of mine!” Reader! canst thou subscribe to these closing +words of this gracious utterance? Dost thou “know” <i>Him</i> in all the +glories of His person, in all the completeness of His finished work, in +all the tenderness and unutterable love of His every dealing towards +thee?</p> + +<p>It has been remarked by Palestine travellers, that not only do the sheep +there follow the guiding shepherd, but even while cropping the herbage +as they go along, they look wistfully up to see that they are near him. +Is this<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_31" id="Page_31">[Pg 31]</a></span> thine attitude—“<i>looking unto Jesus</i>?” “In all thy ways +acknowledge Him, and he will direct thy paths.” Leave the future to His +providing. “The Lord is my Shepherd; I shall not want.” <i>I shall not +want!</i>—it has been beautifully called “the bleating of Messiah’s +sheep.” Take it as thy watchword during thy wilderness wanderings, till +grace be perfected in glory. Let this be the record of thy simple faith +and unwavering trust, “These are they who <i>follow</i>, whithersoever He +sees meet to guide them.”</p> + +<p class="word">“THE SHEEP FOLLOW HIM, FOR THEY KNOW HIS VOICE.”</p> + +<hr /> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_32" id="Page_32">[Pg 32]</a></span></p> + +<h2><a name="Day8" id="Day8"></a><span class="smcap">8th Day.</span></h2> + +<h4>“Remember the words of the Lord Jesus, how He said”—</h4> + +<p class="blockquot">“And I will pray the Father, and He shall give you another +Comforter, that he may abide with you for ever.”—John xiv. 16.</p> + +<h4>The Abiding Comforter.</h4> + +<div class="figleft"> +<img src="images/t08.png" alt="The Abiding Comforter." title="The Abiding Comforter." /> +</div> + +<p>When one beloved earthly friend is taken away, how the heart is drawn +out towards those that remain! Jesus was now about to leave His +sorrowing disciples. He directs them to one whose presence would fill up +the vast blank His own absence was to make. His name was, <i>The +Comforter</i>; His mission was, “to abide with them for ever.” Accordingly, +no sooner had the gates of heaven closed on their ascended Lord, than, +in fulfilment of His own gracious promise, the bereaved and orphaned +Church was baptized with Pentecostal fire. “When I depart, I will send +Him unto you.”<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_33" id="Page_33">[Pg 33]</a></span></p> + +<p>Reader, do you realize your privilege—living under the dispensation of +the Spirit? Is it your daily prayer that He may come down in all the +plenitude of His heavenly graces on your soul, even “as rain upon the +mown grass, and showers that water the earth?” You cannot live without +Him; there can be not one heavenly aspiration, not one breathing of +love, not one upward glance of faith, without His gracious influences. +Apart from him, there is no preciousness in the word, no blessing in +ordinances, no permanent sanctifying results in affliction. As the angel +directed Hagar to the hidden spring, this blessed agent, true to His +name and office, directs His people to the waters of comfort, giving new +glory to the promises, investing the Saviour’s character and work with +new loveliness and beauty.</p> + +<p>How precious is the title which this “Word of Jesus” gives Him—<span class="smcap">The +Comforter!</span><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_34" id="Page_34">[Pg 34]</a></span> What a word for a sorrowing world! The Church militant has +its tent pitched in a “valley of <i>tears</i>.” The name of the divine +visitant who comes to her and ministers to her wants, is <i>Comforter</i>. +Wide is the family of the afflicted, but He has a healing balm for +all—the weak, the tempted, the sick, the sorrowing, the bereaved, the +dying! How different from other “sons of consolation?” <i>Human +friends</i>—a look may alienate; adversity may estrange; death must +separate! The “Word of Jesus” speaks of One whose attribute and +prerogative is to “abide with us for ever;” superior to all +vicissitudes—surviving death itself!</p> + +<p>And surely if anything else can endear His mission of love to His +Church, it is that He comes direct from God, as the fruit and gift of +<i>Jesus’ intercession</i>—“<i>I</i> will pray the Father.” This holy dove of +peace and comfort is<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_35" id="Page_35">[Pg 35]</a></span> let out by the hand of Jesus from the ark of +covenant mercy within the veil! Nor is the gift more glorious than it is +free. Does the word, the look, of a suffering child get the eye and the +heart of an <i>earthly</i> father? “If ye then, being evil, know how to give +good gifts unto your children, how much more shall your Father in heaven +give the Holy Spirit unto them that ask Him?” It is He who makes these +“words of Jesus” “winged words.”</p> + +<p class="word">“HE SHALL BRING ALL THINGS TO YOUR REMEMBRANCE, WHATSOEVER I HAVE +SAID UNTO YOU.”</p> + +<hr /> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_36" id="Page_36">[Pg 36]</a></span></p> + +<h2><a name="Day9" id="Day9"></a><span class="smcap">9th Day.</span></h2> + +<h4>“Remember the words of the Lord Jesus, how He said”—</h4> + +<p class="blockquot">“Neither do I condemn thee; go and sin no more.”—John viii. 11.</p> + +<h4>The Gracious Verdict.</h4> + +<div class="figleft"> +<img src="images/t09.png" alt="The Gracious Verdict." title="The Gracious Verdict." /> +</div> + +<p>How much more tender is Jesus than the tenderest of earthly friends? The +Apostles, in a moment of irritation would have called down fire from +heaven on obstinate sinners. Their Master rebuked the unkind suggestion. +Peter, the trusted but treacherous disciple, expected nothing but harsh +and merited reproof for faithlessness. He who knew well how that heart +would be bowed with penitential sorrow, sends first the kindest of +messages, and then the gentlest of rebukes, “Lovest thou me?” The +watchmen in the Canticles smote the bride, tore off her veil, and loaded +her with reproaches. When she found her lost Lord, there was not one<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_37" id="Page_37">[Pg 37]</a></span> +word of upbraiding! “So slow is He to anger,” says an illustrious +believer, “so ready to forgive, that when His prophets lost all patience +with the people so as to make intercession <i>against</i> them, yet even then +could He not be got to cast off this people whom He foreknew, for his +great name’s sake.”</p> + +<p>The guilty sinner to whom He speaks this comforting “word,” was frowned +upon by her accusers. But, if others spurned her from their presence, +“<i>Neither do I condemn thee.</i>” Well it is to fall into the hands of this +blessed Saviour-God, for great are His mercies.</p> + +<p>Are we to infer from this, that He winks at sin? Far from it. His blood, +His work—Bethlehem, and Calvary, refute the thought! Ere the guilt even +of one solitary soul could be washed out, He had to descend from His +everlasting throne to agonise on the accursed tree. But this “word of +Jesus” is a word of tender encouragement to every sincere,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_38" id="Page_38">[Pg 38]</a></span> +broken-hearted penitent, that crimson sins, and scarlet sins, are no +barriers to a free, full, everlasting forgiveness. The Israelite of old, +gasping in his agony in the sands of the wilderness, had but to “<i>look</i> +and <i>live</i>;” and still does He say, “Look unto me, and be ye saved, all +the ends of the earth.” Up-reared by the side of his own cross there was +a monumental column for all Time, only second to itself in wonder. Over +the head of the dying felon is the superscription written for despairing +guilt and trembling penitence, “This is a faithful saying, and worthy of +all acceptation, that Jesus Christ came into the world to save sinners.” +“He never yet,” says Charnock, “put out a dim candle that was lighted at +the Sun of Righteousness.” “Whatever our guiltiness be,” says +Rutherford, “yet when it falleth into the sea of God’s mercy, it is but +like a drop of blood fallen into the great ocean.”<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_39" id="Page_39">[Pg 39]</a></span></p> + +<p>Reader, you may be the chief of sinners, or it may be the chief of +backsliders; your soul may have started aside like a broken bow. As the +bankrupt is afraid to look into his books, you may be afraid to look +into your own heart. You are hovering on the verge of despair. +Conscience, and the memory of unnumbered sins, is uttering the +desponding verdict, “I condemn thee.” Jesus has a kinder word—a more +cheering declaration—“<i>I</i> condemn thee <i>not</i>: go, and sin no more!”</p> + +<p class="word">“AND ALL WONDERED AT THE GRACIOUS <span class="uppercase">WORDS</span> THAT PROCEEDED OUT OF HIS +MOUTH.”</p> + +<hr /> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_40" id="Page_40">[Pg 40]</a></span></p> + +<h2><a name="Day10" id="Day10"></a><span class="smcap">10th Day.</span></h2> + +<h4>“Remember the words of the Lord Jesus, how He said”—</h4> + +<p class="blockquot">“Whosoever shall do the will of my Father which is in heaven, the +same is my brother, and my sister, and mother.”—Matt. xii. 50.</p> + +<h4>The Wondrous Relationship.</h4> + +<div class="figleft"> +<img src="images/t10.png" alt="The Wondrous Relationship." title="The Wondrous Relationship." /> +</div> + +<p>As if no solitary earthly type were enough to image forth the love of +Jesus, He assembles into one verse a group of the tenderest earthly +relationships. Human affection has to focus its loveliest hues, but all +is too little to afford an exponent of the depth and intensity of <i>His</i>. +“As one whom his <i>mother</i> comforteth;” “my <i>sister</i>, my <i>spouse</i>.” He is +“<i>Son</i>,” “<i>Brother</i>” “<i>Friend</i>”—all in one; “cleaving closer than any +brother.”</p> + +<p>And can we wonder at such language? Is it merely figurative, expressive +of more than the reality?—He gave <i>Himself</i> for us; after that pledge +of His affection we must cease to marvel<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_41" id="Page_41">[Pg 41]</a></span> at any expression of the +interest He feels in us. Anything He can <i>say</i> or <i>do</i> is infinitely +less than what He <i>has done</i>.</p> + +<p>Believer! art thou solitary and desolate? Has bereavement severed +earthly ties? Has the grave made forced estrangements,—sundered the +closest links of earthly affection? In Jesus thou hast filial and +fraternal love combined; He is the Friend of friends, whose presence and +fellowship compensates for all losses, and supplies all blanks; “He +setteth the solitary in families.” If thou art orphaned, friendless, +comfortless here, remember there is in the Elder Brother on the Throne a +love deep as the unfathomed ocean, boundless as Eternity?</p> + +<p>And who are those who can claim the blessedness spoken of under this +wondrous imagery? On whom does He lavish this unutterable affection? No +outward profession will purchase it. No church, no priest, no +ordinances, no<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_42" id="Page_42">[Pg 42]</a></span> denominational distinctions. It is on those who are +possessed of <i>holy characters</i>. “He that doeth the will of my Father +which is in heaven!” He who reflects the mind of Jesus; imbibes His +Spirit; takes His Word as the regulator of his daily walk, and makes His +glory the great end of his being; he who lives <i>to</i> God and <i>with</i> God, +and <i>for</i> God; the humble, lowly, Christ-like, Heaven-seeking +Christian;—he it is who can claim as his own this wondrous heritage of +love! If it be a worthy object of ambition to be loved by the good and +the great on earth, what must it be to have an eye of love ever beaming +upon us from the Throne, in comparison of which the attachment here of +brother, sister, kinsman, friend—all combined—pales like the stars +before the rising sun! Though we are often ashamed to call Him +“Brother,” “He is not ashamed to call us <i>brethren</i>.” He looks down on +poor worms, and says,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_43" id="Page_43">[Pg 43]</a></span> “<i>The same</i> is my mother, and sister, and +brother!” “I will write upon them,” He says in another place, “my new +name.” Just as we write our name on a book to tell that it belongs to +us; so Jesus would write His own name on <i>us</i>, the wondrous volumes of +His grace, that they may be read and pondered by principalities and +powers.</p> + +<p>Have we “known and believed this love of God?” Ah, how poor has been the +requital! Who cannot subscribe to the words of one, whose name was in +all the churches,—“Thy love has been as a shower; the return but a +dew-drop, and that dew-drop stained with sin.”</p> + +<p class="word">“IF A MAN LOVE ME, HE WILL KEEP <span class="uppercase">MY WORDS</span>; AND MY FATHER WILL LOVE +HIM, AND WE WILL COME UNTO HIM, AND MAKE OUR ABODE WITH HIM.”</p> + +<hr /> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_44" id="Page_44">[Pg 44]</a></span></p> + +<h2><a name="Day11" id="Day11"></a><span class="smcap">11th Day.</span></h2> + +<h4>“Remember the words of the Lord Jesus, how He said”—</h4> + +<p class="blockquot">“I will not leave you comfortless: I will come to you.”—John xiv. +18.</p> + +<h4>The Befriended Orphans.</h4> + +<div class="figleft"> +<img src="images/t11.png" alt="The Befriended Orphans." title="The Befriended Orphans." /> +</div> + +<p>Does the Christian’s path lie all the way through Beulah? Nay, he is +forewarned it is to be one of “much tribulation.” He has his Marahs as +well as his Elims—his valleys of Baca as well as his grapes of Eschol. +Often is he left unbefriended to bear the brunt of the storm—his gourds +fading when most needed—his sun going down while it is yet day—his +happy home and happy heart darkened in a moment with sorrows with which +a stranger (with which often a <i>brother</i>) cannot intermeddle. There is +<i>One</i> Brother “born for adversity,” who <i>can</i>. How often has that voice +broken with its silvery accents the muffled stillness of<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_45" id="Page_45">[Pg 45]</a></span> the +sick-chamber or death-chamber! “‘<i>I</i> will not leave you comfortless:’ +the world <i>may</i>, friends <i>may</i>, the desolations of bereavement and death +<i>may</i>; but <i>I will not</i>; you will be alone, yet <i>not</i> alone, for I your +Saviour and your God will be with you!”</p> + +<p>Jesus seems to have an especial love and affection for His orphaned and +comfortless people. A father loves his sick and sorrowing child most; of +all his household, he occupies most of his thoughts. Christ seems to +delight to lavish His deepest sympathy on “him that hath no helper.” It +is in the hour of sorrow His people have found Him most precious; it is +in “the wilderness” He speaks most “comfortably unto them;” He gives +them “their vineyards from thence:” in the places they least expected, +wells of heavenly consolation break forth at their feet. As Jonathan of +old, when faint and weary, had his strength revived by the honey he +found<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_46" id="Page_46">[Pg 46]</a></span> dropping in the tangled thicket: so the faint and woe-worn +children of God find “honey in the wood”—everlasting consolation +dropping from the tree of life, in the midst of the thorniest thickets +of affliction.</p> + +<p>Comfortless ones, be comforted! Jesus often makes you <i>portionless</i> +here, to drive you to Himself, the <i>everlasting portion</i>. He often dries +every rill and fountain of earthly bliss, that He may lead you to say, +“All my springs are in Thee.” “He seems intent,” says one who could +speak from experience, “to fill up every gap love has been forced to +make; one of his errands from heaven was to bind up the broken-hearted.” +How beautifully in one amazing verse does he conjoin the depth and +tenderness of his comfort with the certainty of it—“As one whom his +mother comforteth, so will I comfort you, and ye <span class="smcap lowercase">SHALL</span> be comforted!”</p> + +<p>Ah, how many would not have their<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_47" id="Page_47">[Pg 47]</a></span> wilderness-state altered, with all +its trials, and gloom, and sorrow, just that they might enjoy the +unutterable sympathy and love of this Comforter of the comfortless, one +ray of whose approving smile can dispel the deepest earthly gloom? As +the clustering constellations shine with intensest lustre in the +midnight sky, so these “words of Jesus” come out like ministering angels +in the deep dark night of earthly sorrow. We may see no beauty in them +when the world is sunny and bright; but He has laid them up in store for +us for the dark and cloudy day.</p> + +<p class="word">“THESE THINGS HAVE I TOLD YOU, THAT WHEN THE TIME COMETH, YE MAY +REMEMBER THAT I TOLD YOU OF THEM.”</p> + +<hr /> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_48" id="Page_48">[Pg 48]</a></span></p> + +<h2><a name="Day12" id="Day12"></a><span class="smcap">12th Day.</span></h2> + +<h4>“Remember the words of the Lord Jesus, how He said”—</h4> + +<p class="blockquot">“In the world ye shall have tribulation: but be of good cheer; I +have overcome the world.”—John xvi. 33.</p> + +<h4>The World Conquered.</h4> + +<div class="figleft"> +<img src="images/t12.png" alt="The World Conquered." title="The World Conquered." /> +</div> + +<p>And shall I be afraid of a world already conquered? The Almighty Victor, +within view of His Crown, turns round to His faint and weary soldiers, +and bids them take courage. They are not fighting their way through +untried enemies. The God-Man Mediator “<i>knows</i> their sorrows.” “He was +in <i>all points</i> tempted.” “Both He (<i>i. e.</i>, Christ) who sanctifieth, +and they (His people) who are sanctified, are all of one (nature).” As +the great Precursor, he heads the pilgrim band, saying “I will show you +the path of life.” The way to heaven is consecrated by His footprints. +Every thorn that wounds <i>them</i>, has wounded <i>Him</i> before. Every<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_49" id="Page_49">[Pg 49]</a></span> cross +they can bear, he has borne before. Every tear they shed, He has shed +before. There is one respect, indeed, in which the identity fails,—He +was “yet without sin;” but this recoil of His Holy nature from moral +evil gives Him a deeper and intenser sensibility towards those who have +still corruption within responding to temptation without.</p> + +<p>Reader! are you ready to faint under your tribulations? Is it a seducing +world—a wandering, wayward heart? “Consider <i>Him</i> that endured!” Listen +to your adorable Redeemer, stooping from His Throne, and saying, “<i>I</i> +have overcome the world.” He came forth unscathed from its snares. With +the same heavenly weapon He bids you wield, three times did he repel the +Tempter, saying, “It is written.”—Is it some crushing trial, or +overwhelming grief? He is “<i>acquainted</i> with <i>grief</i>.” He, the mighty +Vine, knows the minutest<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_50" id="Page_50">[Pg 50]</a></span> fibres of sorrow in the branches; when the +pruning knife touches <i>them</i>, it touches <i>Him</i>. “He has gone,” says a +tried sufferer, “through every class in our wilderness school.” He loves +to bring His people into untried and perplexing places, that they may +seek out the guiding pillar, and prize its radiance. He puts them on the +darkening waves, that they may follow the guiding light hung out astern +from the only Bark of pure and unsullied Humanity that was ever proof +against the storm.</p> + +<p>Be assured there is disguised love in all He does. He who knows us +infinitely better than we know ourselves, often puts a thorn in our nest +to drive us to the wing, that we may not be grovellers forever. “It is,” +says Evans, “upon the smooth ice we slip, the rough path is safest for +the feet.” The tearless and undimmed eye is not to be coveted <i>here</i>; +<i>that</i> is reserved for heaven!<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_51" id="Page_51">[Pg 51]</a></span></p> + +<p>Who can tell what muffled and disguised “needs be” there may lurk under +these world-tribulations? His true spiritual seed are often planted deep +in the soil; they have to make their way through a load of sorrow before +they reach the surface; but their roots are thereby the firmer and +deeper struck. Had it not been for these lowly and needed “depths,” they +might have rushed up as feeble saplings, and succumbed to the first +blast. He often leads His people still, as he led them of old, to “a +high mountain apart;” but it is to a <i>high</i> mountain—<i>above the world</i>; +and, better still, He who Himself hath overcome the world, leadeth them +there, and speaketh comfortably unto them.</p> + +<p class="word">“I HOPE IN THY <span class="uppercase">WORD</span>.”</p> + +<hr /> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_52" id="Page_52">[Pg 52]</a></span></p> + +<h2><a name="Day13" id="Day13"></a><span class="smcap">13th Day.</span></h2> + +<h4>“Remember the words of the Lord Jesus, how He said”—</h4> + +<p class="blockquot">“Fear not, little flock; it is your Father’s good pleasure to give +you the kingdom.”—Luke xii. 32.</p> + +<h4>The Little Flock.</h4> + +<div class="figleft"> +<img src="images/t13.png" alt="The Little Flock." title="The Little Flock." /> +</div> + +<p>The music of the Shepherd’s voice again! Another comforting “word,” and +how tender! <i>his</i> flock a <i>little</i> flock, a <i>feeble</i> flock, a <i>fearful</i> +flock, but a <i>beloved</i> flock, loved of the Father, enjoying His “good +pleasure,” and soon to be a <i>glorified</i> flock, safe in the fold, secure +within the kingdom! How does He quiet their fears and misgivings? As +they stand panting on the bleak mountain side, He points His crook +upwards to the bright and shining gates of glory, and says, “It is your +Father’s good pleasure to give you these!” What gentle words! What a +blessed consummation! Gracious Saviour, Thy <i>gentleness</i> hath made me +<i>great</i>!<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_53" id="Page_53">[Pg 53]</a></span></p> + +<p>That kingdom is the believer’s by irreversible and inalienable +charter-right—“I appoint unto you” (by covenant), says Jesus in another +place, “a kingdom, as my Father hath appointed unto me.” It is as sure +as everlasting love and almighty power can make it. Satan, the great foe +of the kingdom, may be injecting foul misgivings, and doubts, and fears +as to your security; but he cannot denude you of your purchased +immunities. He must first pluck the crown from the Brow upon the Throne, +before he can weaken or impair this sure word of promise. If “it pleased +the Lord” to <i>bruise</i> the Shepherd, it will surely please Him to make +happy the purchased flock. If He “smote” His “Fellow” when the sheep +were scattered, surely it will rejoice Him, for the Shepherd’s sake, “to +turn His hand upon the little ones.”</p> + +<p>Believers, think of this! “It is your Father’s good pleasure.” The Good<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_54" id="Page_54">[Pg 54]</a></span> +Shepherd, in leading you across the intervening mountains, shows you +signals and memorials of paternal grace studding all the way. He may +“lead you about” in your way thither. He led the children of Israel of +old out of Egypt to their promised kingdom,—how? By forty years’ +wilderness-discipline and privations. But trust Him; dishonour Him not +with guilty doubts and fears. Look not back on your dark, stumbling +paths, nor within on your fitful and vacillating heart; but forwards to +the land that is far off. How earnestly God desires your salvation! What +a heaping together of similar tender “words” with that which is here +addressed to us? The Gospel seems like a palace full of opened windows, +from each of which He issues an invitation, declaring that He has no +pleasure in our death—but rather that we would turn and live!</p> + +<p>Let the melody of the Shepherd’s<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_55" id="Page_55">[Pg 55]</a></span> reed fall gently on your ear,—“It is +your Father’s good pleasure.” I have given you, He seems to say, the +best proof that it is <i>mine</i>. In order to purchase that kingdom, I died +for you! But it is also <i>His</i>: “As a shepherd seeketh out his flock in +the day that he is among his sheep that are scattered, so,” says God, +“will I seek out my sheep, and will deliver them out of all places where +they have been scattered in the cloudy and dark day.” Fear not, then, +little flock! though yours for a while should be the bleak mountain and +sterile waste, seeking your way Zionward, it may be “with torn fleeces +and bleeding feet;” for,</p> + +<p class="word">“IT IS NOT THE WILL OF YOUR FATHER WHICH IS IN HEAVEN, THAT ONE OF +THESE LITTLE ONES SHOULD PERISH.”</p> + +<hr /> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_56" id="Page_56">[Pg 56]</a></span></p> + +<h2><a name="Day14" id="Day14"></a><span class="smcap">14th Day.</span></h2> + +<h4>“Remember the words of the Lord Jesus, how He said”—</h4> + +<p class="blockquot">“If any man thirst, let him come unto me, and drink.”—John vii. 37.</p> + +<h4>The Unlimited Offer.</h4> + +<div class="figleft"> +<img src="images/t14.png" alt="The Unlimited Offer." title="The Unlimited Offer." /> +</div> + +<p>One of the most gracious “words” that ever “proceeded out of the mouth +of God!” The time it was uttered was an impressive one; it was on “the +last, the great day” of the Feast of Tabernacles, when a denser +multitude than on any of the seven preceding ones were assembled +together. The golden bowl, according to custom, had probably just been +filled with the waters of Siloam, and was being carried up to the Temple +amid the acclamations of the crowd, when the Saviour of the world seized +the opportunity of speaking to them some truths of momentous import. +Many, doubtless, were the “words of Jesus” uttered on the previous days, +but the most important<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_57" id="Page_57">[Pg 57]</a></span> is reserved for the last. What, then, is the +great closing theme on which He rivets the attention of this vast +auditory, and which He would have them carry away to their distant +homes? It is, <i>The freeness of His own great salvation</i>—“If any man +thirst, let him come unto me and drink.”</p> + +<p>Reader, do you discredit the reality of this gracious offer? Are your +legion sins standing as a barrier between you and a Saviour’s proffered +mercy? Do you feel as if you cannot come “just as you are;” that some +partial cleansing, some preparatory reformation must take place before +you can venture to the living fountain? Nay, “<i>if any man</i>.” What is +freer than water?—The poorest beggar may drink “without money” the +wayside pool. <i>That</i> is your Lord’s own picture of His own glorious +salvation; you are invited to come, “without one plea,” in all your +poverty and want, your weakness and<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_58" id="Page_58">[Pg 58]</a></span> unworthiness. Remember the +Redeemer’s saying to the woman of Samaria. She was the chief of +sinners—profligate—hardened—degraded; but He made no condition, no +qualification; <i>simple believing</i> was all that was required,—“If thou +knewest the gift of God,” thou wouldst have asked, and He would have +given thee “living water.”</p> + +<p>But is there not, after all, <i>one</i> condition mentioned in this “word of +Jesus?”—“<i>If</i> any man <i>thirst</i>.” You may have the depressing +consciousness that you experience no such ardent longings after +holiness,—no feeling of your affecting need of the Saviour. But is not +this very conviction of your want an indication of a feeble longing +after Christ? If you are saying, “I have nothing to draw with, and the +well is deep,” He who makes offer of the salvation-stream will Himself +fill your empty vessel,—“He satisfieth the <i>longing</i> soul with +goodness.”<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_59" id="Page_59">[Pg 59]</a></span></p> + +<p>“Jesus <i>stood</i> and <i>cried</i>.” It is the solitary instance recorded of Him +of whom it is said, “He shall <i>not</i> strive nor cry,” lifting up “His +voice in the streets.” But it was truth of surpassing interest and +magnitude He had to proclaim. It was a declaration, moreover, specially +dear to him. As it formed the theme of this ever-memorable <i>sermon</i> +during His public ministry, so when He was sealing up the inspired +record—the last utterances of His voice on earth, till that voice shall +be heard again on the throne, contained the same life-giving +invitation,—“Let him that is athirst come, and whosoever will, let him +take of the water of life freely.” Oh! as the echoes of that gracious +saying—this blast of the silver trumpet—are still sounding to the ends +of the world, may this be the recorded result,</p> + +<p class="word">“AS HE SPAKE <span class="uppercase">THESE WORDS</span>, MANY BELIEVED ON HIM.”</p> + +<hr /> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_60" id="Page_60">[Pg 60]</a></span></p> + +<h2><a name="Day15" id="Day15"></a><span class="smcap">15th Day.</span></h2> + +<h4>“Remember the words of the Lord Jesus, how He said”—</h4> + +<p class="blockquot">“My yoke is easy, and my burden is light.”—Matt. xi. 30.</p> + +<h4>The Joyful Servitude.</h4> + +<div class="figleft"> +<img src="images/t15.png" alt="The Joyful Servitude." title="The Joyful Servitude." /> +</div> + +<p>Can the same be said of Satan, or sin? With regard to <i>them</i>, how +faithfully true rather is the converse—“my yoke is <i>heavy</i>, and my +burden is <i>grievous</i>!” Christ’s service is a happy service, the <i>only</i> +happy one; and even when there is a cross to carry, or a yoke to bear, +it is His own appointment. “<i>My</i> yoke.” It is sent by no untried friend. +Nay, He who puts it on His people, bore this very yoke Himself. “He +<i>carried</i> our sorrows.” How blessed this feeling of holy servitude to so +kind a Master! not like “dumb, driven cattle,” goaded on, but <i>led</i>, and +led often most tenderly when the yoke and the burden are upon us. The +great apostle rarely speaks of himself<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_61" id="Page_61">[Pg 61]</a></span> under any other title but <i>one</i>. +That <i>one</i> he seems to make his boast. He had much whereof he might +glory;—he had been the instrument in saving thousands—he had spoken +before kings—he had been in Cæsar’s palace and Cæsar’s presence—he had +been caught up into the third heaven,—but in all his letters this is +his joyful prefix and superscription, “The <i>Servant</i> (literally, <i>the +slave</i>) of Jesus Christ!”</p> + +<p>Reader! dost thou know this blessed servitude? Canst thou say with a +joyful heart, “O Lord, truly I am Thy servant?” He is no hard +taskmaster. Would Satan try to teach thee so? Let this be the +refutation, “He loved me, and gave <i>Himself</i> for <i>me</i>.” True, the yoke +is the appointed discipline he employs in training his children for +immortality. But be comforted! “It is His tender hand that <i>puts</i> it on, +and <i>keeps</i> it on.” He will suit the yoke to the neck, and the neck to +the yoke.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_62" id="Page_62">[Pg 62]</a></span> He will suit His grace to your trials. Nay, He will bring you +even to be in love with these, when they bring along with them such +gracious unfoldings of His own faithfulness and mercy. How His people +need thus to be in heaviness through manifold temptations, to keep them +meek and submissive! “Jeshurun (like a bullock unaccustomed to the +harness, fed and pampered in the stall) waxed fat, and kicked.” Never is +there more gracious love than when God takes His own means to curb and +subjugate, to humble us, and to prove us—bringing us out from +ourselves, our likings, our confidences, our prosperity, and putting us +under the needed <span class="smcap lowercase">YOKE</span>.</p> + +<p>And who has ever repented of that joyful servitude? Among all the ten +thousand regrets that mingle with a dying hour, and oft bedew with +bitter tears a dying pillow, who ever told of regrets and repentance +here?<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_63" id="Page_63">[Pg 63]</a></span></p> + +<p>Tried believer, has He ever failed thee? Has His yoke been too grievous? +Have thy tears been unalleviated—thy sorrows unsolaced—thy temptations +above that thou wert able to bear? Ah! rather canst thou not testify, +“The word of the Lord is tried;” I cast my burden upon Him, and He +“sustained me?” How have seeming difficulties melted away! How has the +yoke lost its heaviness, and the cross its bitterness, in the thought of +whom thou wert bearing it for! There is a promised rest in the very +carrying of the yoke; and a better rest remains for the weary and +toil-worn when the appointed work is finished; for thus saith “that same +Jesus,”</p> + +<p class="word">“TAKE MY YOKE UPON YOU, AND LEARN OF ME, ... AND YE SHALL FIND <span class="uppercase">REST</span> +UNTO YOUR SOULS.”</p> + +<hr /> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_64" id="Page_64">[Pg 64]</a></span></p> + +<h2><a name="Day16" id="Day16"></a><span class="smcap">16th Day.</span></h2> + +<h4>“Remember the words of the Lord Jesus, how He said”—</h4> + +<p class="blockquot">“As the Father hath loved me, so have I loved you.”—John xv. 9.</p> + +<h4>The Measure of Love.</h4> + +<div class="figleft"> +<img src="images/t16.png" alt="The Measure of Love." title="The Measure of Love." /> +</div> + +<p>This is the most wondrous verse in the Bible. Who can sound the +unimagined depths of that love which dwelt in the bosom of the Father +from all eternity towards His Son?—and yet here is the Saviour’s own +exponent of His love towards His people!</p> + +<p>There is no subject more profoundly mysterious than those mystic +intercommunings between the first and second persons in the adorable +Trinity before the world was. Scripture gives us only some dim and +shadowy revelations regarding them—distant gleams of light, and no +more. Let one suffice. “<i>Then</i> I was by Him, as one brought up with Him, +and I was daily His delight, rejoicing always before Him.”<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_65" id="Page_65">[Pg 65]</a></span></p> + +<p>We know that earthly affection is deepened and intensified by increased +familiarity with its object. The friendship of yesterday is not the +sacred, hallowed thing, which years of growing intercourse have matured. +If we may with reverence apply this test to the highest type of holy +affection, what must have been that interchange of love which the +measureless lapse of Eternity had fostered—a love, moreover, not +fitful, transient, vacillating, subject to altered tones and estranged +looks—but pure, constant, untainted, without one shadow of turning! And +yet, listen to the “words of Jesus,” As the Father hath loved <i>me</i>, <i>so</i> +have I loved <i>you</i>! It would have been infinitely more than we had +reason to expect, if He had said, “As my Father hath loved <span class="smcap lowercase">ANGELS</span>, so +have I loved you.” But the love borne to no finite beings is an +appropriate symbol. Long before the birth of time or of worlds,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_66" id="Page_66">[Pg 66]</a></span> that +love existed. It was coeval with Eternity itself. Hear how the two +themes of the Saviour’s eternal rejoicing—the <i>love of His Father</i>, and +His <i>love for sinners</i>—are grouped together;—“Rejoicing always before +<span class="smcap lowercase">HIM</span>, <i>and</i> in the habitable part of His <i>earth</i>!”</p> + +<p>To complete the picture, we must take in a counterpart description of +the <i>Father’s</i> love to us;—“<i>Therefore</i> doth my Father love me,” says +Jesus in another place, “<i>because</i> I lay down my life!” God had an +all-sufficiency in His love—He needed not the taper-love of creatures +to add to His glory or happiness; but He seems to say, that so intense +is His love for us, that He loves even His beloved Son <i>more</i> (if +infinite love be capable of increase), because He laid down His life for +the guilty! It is regarding the Redeemed it is said, “He shall <i>rest</i> in +His love—He shall rejoice over <i>them</i> with singing.”</p> + +<p>In the assertion, “God is love,” we<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_67" id="Page_67">[Pg 67]</a></span> are left truly with no mere +unproved averment regarding the existence of some abstract quality in +the divine nature. “Herein,” says an apostle, “perceive we <span class="smcap lowercase">THE +LOVE</span>,”—(it is added in our authorised version, “of God,” but, as it has +been remarked, “Our translators need not have added <i>whose</i> love, for +there is but one such specimen”)—“<i>because</i> He laid down His life for +us.” No expression of love can be wondered at after <i>this</i>. Ah, how +miserable are our best affections compared with His! “<i>Our</i> love is but +the reflection—cold as the moon; <i>His</i> is as the Sun.” Shall we refuse +to love Him more in return, who hath <i>first</i> loved, and so <i>loved us</i>?</p> + +<p class="word">“NEVER MAN SPAKE LIKE THIS MAN.”</p> + +<hr /> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_68" id="Page_68">[Pg 68]</a></span></p> + +<h2><a name="Day17" id="Day17"></a><span class="smcap">17th Day.</span></h2> + +<h4>“Remember the words of the Lord Jesus, how He said”—</h4> + +<p class="blockquot">“Only believe.”—Mark v. 36.</p> + +<h4>The Brief Gospel.</h4> + +<div class="figleft"> +<img src="images/t17.png" alt="The Brief Gospel." title="The Brief Gospel." /> +</div> + +<p>The briefest of the “words of Jesus,” but one of the most comforting. +They contain the essence and epitome of all saving truth.</p> + +<p>Reader, is <i>Satan</i> assailing thee with tormenting fears? Is the thought +of thy sins—the guilty past—coming up in terrible memorial before +thee, almost tempting thee to give way to hopeless despondency? Fear +not! A gentle voice whispers in thine ear,—“<i>Only believe.</i>” “Thy sins +are great, but my grace and merits are greater. ‘Only believe’ that I +died for thee—that I am living for thee and pleading for thee, and that +‘the faithful saying’ is as ‘faithful’ as ever, and as ‘worthy of all +acceptation’ as ever.”—Art<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_69" id="Page_69">[Pg 69]</a></span> thou a <i>backslider</i>? Didst thou once run +well? Has thine own guilty apostacy alienated and estranged thee from +that face which was once all love, and that service which was once all +delight? Art thou breathing in broken-hearted sorrow over the holy +memories of a close walk with God—“Oh that it were with me as in months +past, when the candle of the Lord did shine?” “<i>Only believe.</i>” Take +this thy mournful soliloquy, and convert it into a prayer. “Only +believe” the word of Him whose ways are not as man’s ways—“Return, ye +backsliding children, and I will heal your backsliding.”—Art thou +beaten down with some heavy <i>trial</i>? have thy fondest schemes been blown +upon—thy fairest blossoms been withered in the bud? has wave after wave +been rolling in upon thee? hath the Lord forgotten to be gracious? Hear +the “word of Jesus” resounding amid the thickest midnight of +gloom—penetrating even<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_70" id="Page_70">[Pg 70]</a></span> through the vaults of the dead—“Believe, <i>only +believe</i>.” There is an infinite <i>reason</i> for the trial—a lurking thorn +that required removal, a gracious lesson that required teaching. The +dreadful severing blow was dealt in love. God will be glorified in it, +and your own soul made the better for it. Patiently wait till the light +of immortality be reflected on a receding world. Here you must take His +dealings on trust. The word of Jesus to you now is, “<i>Only believe.</i>” +The word of Jesus in eternity (every inner meaning and undeveloped +purpose being unfolded), “Said I not unto thee that if thou wouldest +<i>but</i> <span class="smcap lowercase">BELIEVE</span>, thou shouldst <span class="smcap lowercase">SEE</span> the glory of God?”—Are you fearful and +agitated in <i>the prospect of death</i>? Through fear of the last enemy, +have you been all your lifetime subject to bondage?—“<i>Only believe.</i>” +“As thy day is, so shall thy strength be.” Dying grace will be given +when a dying hour<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_71" id="Page_71">[Pg 71]</a></span> comes. In the dark river a sustaining arm will be +underneath you, deeper than the deepest and darkest wave. Ere you know +it, the darkness will be past, the true Light shining,—the whisper of +faith in the nether valley, “Believe! believe!” exchanged for +angel-voices exclaiming, as you enter the portals of glory, “No longer +through a glass darkly, but now face to face!”</p> + +<p>Yes! “Jesus Himself had no higher remedy for sin, for sorrow, and for +suffering, than those two words convey. At the utmost extremity of His +own distress, and of His disciples’ wretchedness, He could only say, +‘Let not your heart be troubled: ye believe in God, believe also in me.’ +‘Believe, only believe.’”</p> + +<p class="word">“LORD, I BELIEVE, HELP THOU MINE UNBELIEF.”</p> + +<hr /> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_72" id="Page_72">[Pg 72]</a></span></p> + +<h2><a name="Day18" id="Day18"></a><span class="smcap">18th Day.</span></h2> + +<h4>“Remember the words of the Lord Jesus, how He said”—</h4> + +<p class="blockquot">“Be of good cheer: It is I; be not afraid.”—Mark vi. 50.</p> + +<h4>The Great Calm.</h4> + +<div class="figleft"> +<img src="images/t18.png" alt="The Great Calm." title="The Great Calm." /> +</div> + +<p>“It is I,” (or as our old version has it, more in accordance with the +original), “I AM! be not afraid!” Jesus lives! His people may dispel +their misgivings—Omnipotence treads the waves! To sense it may seem at +times to be otherwise; wayward accident and chance may appear to +regulate human allotments; but not so: “The Lord’s voice is upon the +waters,”—He sits at the helm guiding the tempest-tossed bark, and +guiding it well.</p> + +<p>How often does He come to us as He did to the disciples in that midnight +hour when all seems lost—“in the fourth watch of the night,”—when we +least looked for Him; or when, like the shipwrecked apostle, “for days +together<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_73" id="Page_73">[Pg 73]</a></span> neither sun nor stars appeared, and no small tempest lay on +us; when all hope that we should be saved seemed to be taken away,”—how +often <i>just at that moment</i>, is the “word of Jesus” heard floating over +the billows!</p> + +<p>Believer, art thou in trouble? listen to the voice in the storm, “Fear +not, <i>I</i> <span class="smcap lowercase">AM</span>.” That voice, like Joseph’s of old to his brethren, may +<i>seem</i> rough, but there are gracious undertones of love. “It is I,” he +seems to say; It <i>was</i> I, that roused the storm; It is I, who when it +has done its work, will calm it, and say, “Peace, be still.” Every wave +rolls at My bidding—every trial is My appointment—all have some +gracious end; they are not sent to dash you against the sunken rocks, +but to waft you nearer heaven. Is it <i>sickness</i>? I am He who bare your +sickness; the weary wasted frame, and the nights of languishing, were +sent by Me. Is it <i>bereavement</i>? I am “the Brother” born<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_74" id="Page_74">[Pg 74]</a></span> for +adversity—the loved and lost were plucked away by Me. Is it <i>death</i>? I +<span class="smcap lowercase">AM</span> the “Abolisher of death,” seated by your side to calm the waves of +ebbing life; it is <i>I</i>, about to fetch My pilgrims <i>home</i>—It is My +voice that speaks, “The Master is come, and calleth for thee.”</p> + +<p>Reader, thou wilt have reason yet to praise thy God for every one such +storm! This is the history of every heavenly voyager: “<i>So</i> He bringeth +them to their desired haven.” “<i>So!</i>” That word, in all its unknown and +diversified meaning, is in <i>His</i> hand. He suits His dealings to every +case. “<i>So!</i>” With some it is through quiet seas unfretted by one +buffeting wave. “<i>So!</i>” With others it is “mounting up to heaven, and +going down again to the deep.” But whatever be the leading and the +discipline, here is the grand consummation, “<i>So</i> He bringeth them unto +their desired haven.” It might have been<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_75" id="Page_75">[Pg 75]</a></span> with thee the moanings of an +eternal night-blast—no lull or pause in the storm; but soon the +darkness will be past, and the hues of morn tipping the shores of glory!</p> + +<p>And what, then, should your attitude be? “Looking unto Jesus” +(literally, looking <i>from unto</i>); looking away from self, and sin, and +human props and refuges and confidences, and fixing the eye of +unwavering and unflinching faith on a reigning Saviour. Ah, how a real +quickening sight of Christ dispels all guilty fears! The Roman keepers +of old were affrighted, and became as dead men. The lowly Jewish women +feared not; why? “<i>I know that ye seek Jesus!</i>” Reader, let thy weary +spirit fold itself to rest under the composing “word” of a gracious +Saviour, saying——</p> + +<p class="word">“I WAIT FOR THE LORD, MY SOUL DOTH WAIT, AND IN <span class="uppercase">HIS WORD</span> DO I HOPE.”</p> + +<hr /> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_76" id="Page_76">[Pg 76]</a></span></p> + +<h2><a name="Day19" id="Day19"></a><span class="smcap">19th Day.</span></h2> + +<h4>“Remember the words of the Lord Jesus, how He said”—</h4> + +<p class="blockquot">“Peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you: not as the world +giveth, give I unto you.”—John xiv. 27.</p> + +<h4>The Dying Legacy.</h4> + +<div class="figleft"> +<img src="images/t19.png" alt="The Dying Legacy." title="The Dying Legacy." /> +</div> + +<p>How we treasure the last sayings of a dying parent! How specially +cherished and memorable are his last looks and last words! Here are the +last words—the parting legacy—of a dying Saviour. It is a legacy of +<i>peace</i>.</p> + +<p>What peace is this? It is His own purchase—a peace arising out of free +forgiveness through His precious blood. It is sung in concert with +“Glory to God in the highest”—a peace made as sure to us as eternal +power and infinite love <i>can make it</i>! It is <i>peace</i> the soul wants. +Existence is one long-drawn sigh after repose. <i>That</i> is nowhere else to +be found, but through the blood of His cross! “Being justified by +faith,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_77" id="Page_77">[Pg 77]</a></span> we <i>have</i> peace with God.” “<span class="smcap">He</span> giveth his beloved <i>rest</i>!”</p> + +<p>How different from the false and counterfeit peace in which so many are +content to live, and content to die! The world’s peace is all well, so +long as prosperity lasts—so long as the stream runs smooth, and the sky +is clear; but when the cataract is at hand, or the storm is gathering, +where is it? It is <i>gone</i>! There is no calculating on its permanency. +Often when the cup is fullest, there is the trembling apprehension that +in one brief moment it may be dashed to the ground. The soul may be +saying to itself, “Peace, peace;” but, like the writing on the sand, it +may be obliterated by the first wave of adversity. BUT, “Not as the +world giveth!” The peace of the believer is +deep—calm—lasting—<i>ever</i>lasting. The world, with all its +blandishments, cannot give it. The world, with all its vicissitudes and +fluctuations, cannot take it away!<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_78" id="Page_78">[Pg 78]</a></span> It is brightest in the hour of +trial; it lights up the final valley-gloom. “Mark the perfect man, and +behold the upright, for the end of that man is peace.” Yes! how often is +the believer’s deathbed like the deep calm repose of a summer-evening’s +sky, when all nature is hushed to rest; the departing soul, like the +vanishing sun, peacefully disappearing only to shine in another and +brighter hemisphere! “I seem,” said Simeon on his deathbed, “to have +nothing to do but to wait: there is now nothing but <i>peace</i>, the +<i>sweetest peace</i>.”</p> + +<p>Believer! do you know this peace which passeth understanding? Is it +“keeping (literally, ‘<i>garrisoning</i> as in a citadel’) your heart?” Have +you learnt the blessedness of waking up, morning after morning, and +feeling, “I am at peace with my God;” of beholding by faith the true +Aaron—the great High Priest—coming forth from “the holiest of all” to +“bless His people<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_79" id="Page_79">[Pg 79]</a></span> with peace?” Waves of trouble may be murmuring around +you, but they cannot touch you; you are in the rock-crevice athwart +which the fiercest tornado sweeps by. Oh! leave not the making up of +your peace with God to a dying hour! It will be a hard thing to smooth +the death-pillow, if peace be left unsought till then. Make sure of it +<i>now</i>. He, the true Melchisedec, is willing <i>now</i> to come forth to meet +you with bread and wine—emblems of peaceful gospel blessings. All the +“words of Jesus” are so many rills contributing to make your peace flow +as a river;—“These things have I spoken unto you, that in Me ye might +have peace.”</p> + +<p class="word">“I WILL HEAR WHAT GOD THE LORD WILL SPEAK, FOR HE WILL SPEAK PEACE +UNTO HIS PEOPLE AND TO HIS SAINTS.”</p> + +<hr /> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_80" id="Page_80">[Pg 80]</a></span></p> + +<h2><a name="Day20" id="Day20"></a><span class="smcap">20th Day.</span></h2> + +<h4>“Remember the words of the Lord Jesus, how He said”—</h4> + +<p class="blockquot">“All power is given unto me in heaven and in earth.”—Matt. xxviii. +18.</p> + +<h4>The Supreme Investiture.</h4> + +<div class="figleft"> +<img src="images/t20.png" alt="The Supreme Investiture." title="The Supreme Investiture." /> +</div> + +<p>What an empire is this! Heaven and earth—the Church militant—the +Church triumphant—angels and archangels—saints and seraphs. At His +mandate the billows were hushed—demons crouched in terror—the grave +yielded its prey! “Upon his head are many crowns.” He is made “head over +<i>all things</i> to His Church.” Yes! over <i>all things</i>, from the minutest +to the mightiest. He holds the stars in His right hand—He walks in the +midst of the seven golden candlesticks, feeding every candlestick with +the oil of His grace, and preserving every star in its spiritual orbit. +The prince of Darkness has “a power,” but, God be praised,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_81" id="Page_81">[Pg 81]</a></span> it is not an +“all power;” <i>potent</i>, but not <i>omnipotent</i>. Christ holds him in a +chain. He hath set bounds that he may not pass over. “Satan,” we read in +the book of Job, “went out (<i>Chaldee paraphrase</i>, ‘with a licence’) from +the presence of the Lord.” He was not allowed even to enter the herd of +swine till Christ permitted him. He only “<i>desired</i>” to have Peter that +he might “sift him;” there was a mightier countervailing agency at hand: +“<i>I</i> have prayed for thee, that thy faith fail not.”</p> + +<p>Believer, how often is there nothing but this grace of Jesus between +thee and everlasting destruction! Satan’s key fitting the lock in thy +wayward heart; but a stronger than the strong man barring him out;—the +power of the adversary fanning the flame; the Omnipotence of Jesus +quenching it. Art thou even now feeling the strength of thy corruptions, +the weakness of thy graces, the presence of some outward or<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_82" id="Page_82">[Pg 82]</a></span> inward +temptation? Look up to Him who has promised to make His grace sufficient +for thee; “all power” is His prerogative; “all-sufficiency in all +things” is His promise. It is power, too, in conjunction with +tenderness. He who sways the sceptre of universal empire “gently leads” +His weak, and weary, and burdened ones:—He who counts the number of the +stars, loves to count the number of their sorrows; nothing too great, +nothing too insignificant for <i>Him</i>. He puts every tear into his bottle. +He paves His people’s pathway with love!</p> + +<p>Blessed Jesus! my everlasting interests cannot be in better or in safer +keeping than in Thine. I can exultingly rely on the “<i>all-power</i>” of Thy +Godhead. I can sweetly rejoice in the <i>all-sympathy</i> of Thy Manhood. I +can confidently repose in the sure wisdom of Thy dealings. “Sometimes,” +says one, “we expect the blessing in <i>our</i> way; He<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_83" id="Page_83">[Pg 83]</a></span> chooses to bestow it +in <i>His</i>.” But His way and His will must be the best. Infinite love, +infinite power, infinite wisdom, are surely infallible guarantees. His +purposes nothing can alter. His promises never fail. His word never +falls to the ground.</p> + +<p class="word">“HEAVEN AND EARTH SHALL PASS AWAY, BUT <span class="uppercase">MY WORDS</span> SHALL NOT PASS +AWAY.”</p> + +<hr /> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_84" id="Page_84">[Pg 84]</a></span></p> + +<h2><a name="Day21" id="Day21"></a><span class="smcap">21st Day.</span></h2> + +<h4>“Remember the words of the Lord Jesus, how He said”—</h4> + +<p class="blockquot">“He shall glorify me: for He shall receive of mine, and shall show +it unto you.”—John xvi. 14.</p> + +<h4>The Divine Glorifier.</h4> + +<div class="figleft"> +<img src="images/t21.png" alt="The Divine Glorifier." title="The Divine Glorifier." /> +</div> + +<p>The Holy Spirit glorifying Jesus in the unfoldings of His person, and +character, and work, to His people! The great ministering agent between +the Church on earth and its glorified Head in Heaven,—carrying up to +the Intercessor on the throne, the ever-recurring wants and trials, the +perplexities and sins, of believers; and receiving out of His +inexhaustible treasury of love,—comfort for their sorrows—strength for +their weakness—sympathy for their tears—fulness for their +emptiness,—and <i>this</i> the one sublime end and object of His gracious +agency,—“<i>He shall glorify Me.</i>” “He shall not speak of Himself, but +whatsoever He shall<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_85" id="Page_85">[Pg 85]</a></span> hear, that shall He speak.” My words of +sympathy—My omnipotent pleadings—the tender messages sent from an +unchanged Human Heart,—all these shall He speak. “He shall tell you,” +says an old divine, commenting on this passage, “He shall tell you +nothing but stories of My love” (<i>Goodwin</i>). He will have an ineffable +delight in magnifying Me in the affections of My Church and people, and +endearing Me to their hearts; and He is all worthy of credence, for He +is “the Spirit of truth.”</p> + +<p>How faithful has He been in every age to this His great office as “the +glorifier of Jesus!” See the first manifestation of His power in the +Christian Church at the day of Pentecost. What was the grand truth which +forms the focus-point of interest in that unparalleled scene, and which +brings three thousand stricken penitents to their knees? <i>It is the +Spirit’s unfolding of Jesus</i>—glorifying <i>Him</i> in eyes that before saw +in<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_86" id="Page_86">[Pg 86]</a></span> Him no beauty? Hear the key-note of that wondrous sermon, preached +“in demonstration of the Spirit, and with power,”—“<span class="smcap">Him</span> hath God exalted +to be a Prince and a Saviour, to give repentance to His people, and +forgiveness of sins.”</p> + +<p>Ah? it is still the same peerless truth which the Spirit delights to +unfold to the stricken sinner, and, in unfolding it, to make it mighty +to the pulling down of strongholds. All these glorious inner beauties of +Christ’s work and character are undiscerned and undiscernible by the +natural eye. “It is the Spirit that quickeneth.” “No man can call Jesus +Lord, but by the Holy Ghost.” He is the great Forerunner—a mightier +than the Baptist—proclaiming, “Behold the Lamb of God!”</p> + +<p>Reader! any bright and realising view you have had of the Saviour’s +glory and excellency, is of the Spirit’s imparting. When in some hour of +sorrow<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_87" id="Page_87">[Pg 87]</a></span> you have been led to cleave with pre-eminent consolation to the +thought of the Redeemer’s exalted sympathy—His dying, ever-living love; +or in the hour of death, when you feel the sustaining power of His +exceeding great and precious promises;—what is this, but the Holy +Spirit, in fulfilment of His all-gracious office, taking of all things +of Christ, and showing them unto you; thus enabling you to magnify Him +in your body, whether it be by life or death? As your motto should ever +be, “<i>None <span class="smcap lowercase">BUT</span> Christ</i>,” and your ever-increasing aspiration, “<i>More +<span class="smcap lowercase">OF</span> Christ</i>,” seek to bear in mind who it is that is alone qualified to +impart the “excellency of this knowledge.”</p> + +<p class="word">“THE SPIRIT OF TRUTH WHICH PROCEEDETH FROM THE FATHER, <span class="uppercase">HE</span> SHALL +TESTIFY OF ME.”</p> + +<hr /> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_88" id="Page_88">[Pg 88]</a></span></p> + +<h2><a name="Day22" id="Day22"></a><span class="smcap">22d Day.</span></h2> + +<h4>“Remember the words of the Lord Jesus, how He said”—</h4> + +<p class="blockquot">“Your sorrow shall be turned into joy.”—John xvi. 20.</p> + +<h4>The Joyful Transformation.</h4> + +<div class="figleft"> +<img src="images/t22.png" alt="The Joyful Transformation." title="The Joyful Transformation." /> +</div> + +<p>Christ’s people are a sorrowing people! Chastisement is their +badge—“great tribulation” is their appointed discipline. When they +enter the gates of glory, He is represented as wiping away tears from +their eyes. But, weeping ones, be comforted! Your Lord’s special mission +to earth—the great errand He came from heaven to fulfil, was “to bind +up the broken-hearted.” Your trials are meted out by a tender hand. He +<i>knows</i> you too well—He <i>loves</i> you too well—to make this world +tearless and sorrowless! “There must be rain, and hail, and storm,” says +Rutherford, “in the saint’s cloud.” Were your earthy course<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_89" id="Page_89">[Pg 89]</a></span> strewed +with flowers, and nothing but sunbeams played around your dwelling, it +would lead you to forget your <i>nomadic</i> life,—that you are but a +sojourner here. The tent must at times be struck, pin by pin of the +moveable tabernacle taken down, to enable you to say and to feel in the +spirit of a pilgrim, “I desire a better country.” Meantime, while sorrow +is your portion, think of Him who says, “I know your sorrows.” Angels +cannot say so—they cannot sympathise with you, for trial is a strange +word to them. But there is a mightier than they who <i>can</i>. All He sends +you and appoints you is in love. There is a provision and condition +wrapt up in the bosom of every affliction, “<i>if need be</i>;” coming from +His hand, sorrows and riches are to His people convertible terms. If +tempted to murmur at their trials, they are often murmuring at disguised +mercies. “Why do you ask me,” said Simeon, on his<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_90" id="Page_90">[Pg 90]</a></span> deathbed, “what I +<i>like</i>? I am the Lord’s patient—I cannot but like <i>everything</i>.”</p> + +<p>And <i>then</i>—“your sorrow shall be turned into joy.” “The morning +cometh”—that bright morning when the dew-drops collected during earth’s +night of weeping shall sparkle in its beams; when in one blessed +<i>moment</i> a life-long experience of trial will be effaced and forgotten, +or remembered only by contrast, to enhance the fulness of the joys of +immortality. What a revelation of gladness! The map of time disclosed, +and every little rill of sorrow, every river will be seen to have been +flowing heavenwards,—every rough blast to have been sending the bark +nearer the haven! In that joy, God Himself will participate. In the last +“words of Jesus” to His people when they are standing by the triumphal +archway of Glory, ready to enter on their thrones and crowns, He speaks<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_91" id="Page_91">[Pg 91]</a></span> +of their joy as if it were all <i>His own</i>. “Enter ye into the joy <i>of +your Lord</i>.”</p> + +<p>Reader, may this joy be yours! Sit loose to the world’s joys. Have a +feeling of chastened gratitude and thankfulness when you have them; but +beware of resting in them, or investing them with a permanency they +cannot have. Jesus had his eye on <i>heaven</i> when he added—</p> + +<p class="word">“YOUR JOY NO MAN TAKETH FROM YOU.”</p> + +<hr /> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_92" id="Page_92">[Pg 92]</a></span></p> + +<h2><a name="Day23" id="Day23"></a><span class="smcap">23d Day.</span></h2> + +<h4>“Remember the words of the Lord Jesus, how He said”—</h4> + +<p class="blockquot">“Father, I will that they also whom thou hast given me, be with me +where I am; that they may behold my glory.”—John xvii. 24.</p> + +<h4>The Omnipotent Prayer.</h4> + +<div class="figleft"> +<img src="images/t23.png" alt="The Omnipotent Prayer." title="The Omnipotent Prayer." /> +</div> + +<p>This is not the petition of a suppliant, but the claim of a conqueror. +There was only <i>one</i> request He ever made, or ever <i>can</i> make, that was +refused; it was the prayer wrung forth by the presence and power of +superhuman anguish: “Father, <i>if it be possible</i>, let this cup pass from +me!” Had that prayer been answered, never could one consolatory “word of +Jesus” have been ours. “<i>If it be possible</i>;”—<i>but</i> for that gracious +parenthesis, we must have been lost for ever! In unmurmuring submission, +the bitter cup <i>was</i> drained; all the dread penalties of the law were +borne, the atonement completed, an all-perfect righteousness wrought +out; and now, as the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_93" id="Page_93">[Pg 93]</a></span> stipulated reward of His obedience and sufferings, +the Victor claims His trophies. What are they? Those that were given Him +of the Father—the countless multitudes redeemed by His blood. These He +“<i>wills</i>” to be with Him “where He is”—the spectators of His glory, and +partakers of His crown. Wondrous word and will of a dying testator! His +last prayer on earth is an importunate pleading for their glorification; +His parting wish is to meet them in heaven: as if these earthly jewels +were needed to make His crown complete,—their happiness and joy the +needful complement of His own!</p> + +<p>Reader! learn from this, the grand element in the bliss of your future +condition—it is <i>the presence of Christ</i>; “<i>with Me</i> where I am.” It +matters comparatively little as to the locality of heaven. “We shall see +<i>Him</i> as He is,” is “the blessed hope” of the Christian.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_94" id="Page_94">[Pg 94]</a></span> Heaven would +be <i>no</i> heaven without Jesus; the withdrawal of His presence would be +like the blotting out of the sun from the firmament; it would uncrown +every seraph, and unstring every harp. But, blessed thought! it is His +own stipulation in His testamentary prayer, that Eternity is to be spent +in union and communion with <i>Himself</i>, gazing on the unfathomed +mysteries of His love, becoming more assimilated to His glorious image, +and drinking deeper from the ocean of His own joy.</p> + +<p>If anything can enhance the magnitude of this promised bliss, it is the +concluding words of the verse, in which He grounds His plea for its +bestowment: “<i>I will</i>—that they behold my glory;”—why? “For Thou +lovedst (not <i>them</i>, but) <span class="smcap">Me</span> before the foundation of the world!” It is +equivalent to saying, “If Thou wouldst give <i>Me</i> a continued proof of +Thine everlasting love and favour to Myself, it is by loving<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_95" id="Page_95">[Pg 95]</a></span> and +exalting My redeemed people. In loving <i>them</i> and glorifying them, Thou +art loving and glorifying Me: so endearingly are their interests and My +own bound up together!”</p> + +<p>Believer, think of that all-prevailing voice, at this moment pleading +for thee within the veil!—that omnipotent “<i>Father, I will</i>,” securing +every needed boon! There is given, so to speak, a blank <i>cheque</i> by +which He and His people may draw indefinite supplies out of the +exhaustless treasury of the Father’s grace and love. God Himself +endorses it with the words, “Son, Thou art ever with me, and all that I +have is Thine.” How it would reconcile us to Earth’s bitterest sorrows, +and hallow Earth’s holiest joys, if we saw them thus hanging on the +“<i>will</i>” of an all-wise Intercessor, who ever pleads in love, and never +pleads in vain!</p> + +<p class="word">“BE IT UNTO ME ACCORDING TO <span class="uppercase">THY WORD</span>.”</p> + +<hr /> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_96" id="Page_96">[Pg 96]</a></span></p> + +<h2><a name="Day24" id="Day24"></a><span class="smcap">24th Day.</span></h2> + +<h4>“Remember the words of the Lord Jesus, how He said”—</h4> + +<p class="blockquot">“Because I live, ye shall live also.”—John xiv. 19.</p> + +<h4>The Immutable Pledge.</h4> + +<div class="figleft"> +<img src="images/t24.png" alt="The Immutable Pledge." title="The Immutable Pledge." /> +</div> + +<p>God sometimes selects the most stable and enduring objects in the +material world to illustrate His unchanging faithfulness and love to His +Church. “As the mountains are round about Jerusalem, so doth the Lord +compass his people.” But here, the Redeemer fetches an argument from +<i>His own everlasting nature</i>. He stakes, so to speak, His own existence +on that of His saints. “<i>Because I live</i>, ye shall live also.”</p> + +<p>Believer! read in this “word of Jesus” thy glorious title-deed. <i>Thy +Saviour lives</i>—and His life is the guarantee of thine own. Our true +Joseph is alive. “He is our Brother. He talks kindly to us!” That life +of His, is all<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_97" id="Page_97">[Pg 97]</a></span> that is between us and everlasting ruin. But with Christ +for our life, how inviolable our security! The great Fountain of being +must first be dried up, before the streamlet can. The great Sun must +first be quenched, ere one glimmering satellite which He lights up with +His splendour can. Satan must first pluck the crown from that glorified +Head, before he can touch one jewel in the crown of His people. They +cannot shake one pillar without shaking first the throne. “If we +perish,” says Luther, “Christ perisheth with us.”</p> + +<p>Reader! is thy life now “hid with Christ in God?” Dost thou know the +blessedness of a vital and living union with a living, life-giving +Saviour? Canst thou say with humble and joyous confidence, amid the +fitfulness of thine own ever-changing frames and feelings, “Nevertheless +I live, yet not I, but Christ liveth in me?”<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_98" id="Page_98">[Pg 98]</a></span> “<i>Jesus liveth!</i>”—They +are the happiest words a lost soul and a lost world can hear! Job, four +thousand years ago, rejoiced in them. “I know,” says he, “that I have <i>a +living Kinsman</i>.” John, in his Patmos exile, rejoiced in them. “I am He +that liveth” (or <i>the Living One</i>), was the simple but sublime utterance +with which he was addressed by that same “Kinsman,” when He appeared +arrayed in the lustres of His glorified humanity. “This is <i>the</i> record” +(as if there was a whole gospel comprised in the statement), “that God +hath given to us eternal life, and this <i>life</i> is in His Son.” St. Paul, +in the 8th chapter to the Romans—that finest portraiture of Christian +character and privilege ever drawn, begins with “no condemnation,” and +ends with “no separation.” Why “no separation?” Because the life of the +believer is incorporated with that of his adorable Head and Surety. The +colossal Heart of redeemed humanity beats<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_99" id="Page_99">[Pg 99]</a></span> upon the throne, sending its +mighty pulsations through every member of His body; so that, before the +believer’s spiritual life can be destroyed, Omnipotence must become +feebleness, and Immutability become mutable!</p> + +<p>But, blessed Jesus, “Thy word is very sure, therefore Thy servant loveth +it.”</p> + +<p class="word">“I GIVE UNTO THEM ETERNAL LIFE, AND THEY SHALL NEVER PERISH, NEITHER +SHALL ANY MAN PLUCK THEM OUT OF MY HAND.”</p> + +<hr /> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_100" id="Page_100">[Pg 100]</a></span></p> + +<h2><a name="Day25" id="Day25"></a><span class="smcap">25th Day.</span></h2> + +<h4>“Remember the words of the Lord Jesus, how He said”—</h4> + +<p class="blockquot">“Lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world.”—Matt. +xxviii. 20.</p> + +<h4>The Abiding Presence.</h4> + +<div class="figleft"> +<img src="images/t25.png" alt="The Abiding Presence." title="The Abiding Presence." /> +</div> + +<p>Such were “the words of Jesus” when He was just about to ascend to +Heaven. The mediatorial throne was in view—the harps of glory were +sounding in His ears; but all His thoughts are on the pilgrim Church He +is to leave behind. His last words and benedictions are for <i>them</i>. “I +go,” He seems to say, “to Heaven, to my purchased crown—to the +fellowship of angels—to the presence of my Father; <i>but</i>, nevertheless, +‘Lo! I am with <i>you</i> alway, even unto the end of the world.’”</p> + +<p>How faithfully did the Apostles, to whom this promise was first +addressed, experience its reality! Hear the testimony of the beloved +disciple who had<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_101" id="Page_101">[Pg 101]</a></span> once leant on his Divine Master’s bosom—who “had +heard, and seen, and looked upon Him.” That glorified bosom was now hid +from his sight; but does he speak of an absent Lord, and of His +fellowship only as among the holy memories of the past? No! with +rejoicing emphasis he can exclaim—“Truly our fellowship <span class="smcap lowercase">IS</span> with ... +<i>Jesus Christ</i>.”</p> + +<p>Amid so much that is fugitive here, how the heart clings to this +assurance of the abiding presence of the Saviour! Our best earthly +friends—a few weeks may estrange them;—centuries have rolled +on—Christ is still the same. How blessed to think, that if I am indeed +a child of God, there is not the lonely instant I am without His +guardianship! When the beams of the morning visit my chamber, the +brighter beams of a brighter Sun are shining upon me. When the shadows +of evening are gathering around, “it is not night, if He, the unsetting +‘Sun of<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_102" id="Page_102">[Pg 102]</a></span> my soul,’ is near.” His is no fitful companionship—present in +prosperity, gone in adversity. He never changes. He is always the +same,—in sickness and solitude, in joy and in sorrow, in life and in +death. Not more faithfully did the pillar-cloud and column of fire of +old precede Israel, till the last murmuring ripple of Jordan fell on +their ears on the shores of Canaan, than does the presence and love of +Jesus abide with His people. Has His word of promise ever proved false? +Let the great cloud of witnesses now in glory testify. “Not one thing +hath failed of all that the Lord our God hath spoken.” <i>This</i> “word of +the Lord is tried”—“having loved His own, which were in the world, He +loved them <i>unto the end</i>.”</p> + +<p>Believer! art thou troubled and tempted? Do dark providences and severe +afflictions seem to belie the truth and reality of this gracious +assurance? Art thou ready, with Gideon, to say,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_103" id="Page_103">[Pg 103]</a></span> “If the Lord be indeed +with us, why has all this befallen us?” Be assured He has some faithful +end in view. By the removal of prized and cherished earthly props and +refuges, He would unfold more of his own tenderness. Amid the wreck and +ruin of earthly joys, which, it may be, the grave has hidden from your +sight, One nearer, dearer, tenderer still, would have you say of +Himself, “<i>The Lord liveth</i>; and blessed be my Rock; and let the God of +my salvation be exalted.” “Thanks be to God, who <i>always</i> maketh us to +triumph in Christ.” Yes! and never more so than when, stripped of all +competing objects of creature affection, we are left, like the disciples +on the mount, with “<i>Jesus only</i>!”</p> + +<p class="word">“THESE THINGS HAVE I SPOKEN UNTO YOU, THAT IN ME YE MIGHT HAVE +PEACE.”</p> + +<hr /> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_104" id="Page_104">[Pg 104]</a></span></p> + +<h2><a name="Day26" id="Day26"></a><span class="smcap">26th Day.</span></h2> + +<h4>“Remember the words of the Lord Jesus, how He said”—</h4> + +<p class="blockquot">“I am the resurrection and the life: he that believeth in me, though +he were dead, yet he shall live.”—John. xi. 25.</p> + +<h4>The Resurrection and Life.</h4> + +<div class="figleft"> +<img src="images/t26.png" alt="The Resurrection and Life." title="The Resurrection and Life." /> +</div> + +<p>What a voice is this breaking over a world which for six thousand years +has been a dormitory of sin and death! For four thousand of these years, +heathendom could descry no light through the bars of the grave; her +oracles were dumb on the great doctrine of a future state, and more +especially regarding the body’s resurrection. Even the Jewish Church, +under the Old Testament dispensation, seemed to enjoy little more than +fitful and uncertain glimmerings, like men groping in the dark. It +required death’s great Abolisher to show, to a benighted world, the +luminous “path of life.” With Him rested the “bringing in of a better<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_105" id="Page_105">[Pg 105]</a></span> +hope”—the unfolding of “the mystery which had been hid from ages and +generations.” Marvellous disclosure! that this mortal frame, decomposed +and resolved into its original dust, shall yet start from its ashes, +remodelled and reconstructed—“a glorified body!” Not like “the earthly +tabernacle” (a mere shifting and moveable <i>tent</i>, as the word denotes), +but incorruptible—immortal! The beauteous transformation of the insect +from its chrysalis state—the buried seed springing up from its tiny +grave to the full-eared corn or gorgeous flower—these are nature’s mute +utterances as to the possibility of this great truth, which required the +unfoldings of “a more sure word of prophecy.” But the Gospel has fully +revealed what Reason, in her loftiest imaginings, could not have dreamt +of. Jesus “hath brought life and immortality to light.” He, the Bright +and Morning Star, hath “turned the shadow of death into the morning.” He +gives,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_106" id="Page_106">[Pg 106]</a></span> in His own resurrection, the earnest of that of His people;—He +is the first-fruits of the immortal harvest yet to be gathered into the +garner of Heaven.</p> + +<p>Precious truth! This “word of Jesus” spans like a celestial rainbow the +entrance to the dark valley. Death is robbed of its sting. In the case +of every child of God, the grave holds in custody precious, because +redeemed, dust. Talk of it not, as being committed to a dishonoured +tomb!—it is locked up, rather, in the casket, of God until the day +“when He maketh up His jewels,” when it will be fashioned in deathless +beauty like unto the glorified body of the Redeemer. Angels, meanwhile, +are commissioned to keep watch over it, till the trump of the archangel +shall proclaim the great “Easter of creation.” They are the “reapers,” +waiting for the world’s great “Harvest Home,” when Jesus Himself shall +come again—not as He once did, humiliated<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_107" id="Page_107">[Pg 107]</a></span> and in sorrow, but rejoicing +in the thought of bringing back all His sheaves with him.</p> + +<p>Afflicted and bereaved Christian!—thou who mayest be mourning in +bitterness those who are not—rejoice through thy tears in these hopes +“full of immortality.” The silver cord is only “loosed,” not broken. +Perchance, as thou standest in the chamber of death, or by the brink of +the grave,—in the depths of that awful solitude and silence which +reigns around, this may be thy plaintive and mournful soliloquy—“Shall +the dust praise Thee?” Yes, it <i>shall</i>! This very dust that hears now +unheeded thy footsteps, and unmoved thy tears, shall through eternity +praise its redeeming God—it shall proclaim His truth!</p> + +<p class="word">“LORD, TO WHOM SHALL WE GO BUT UNTO THEE, THOU HAST THE <span class="uppercase">WORDS</span> OF +<span class="uppercase">ETERNAL LIFE</span>.”</p> + +<hr /> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_108" id="Page_108">[Pg 108]</a></span></p> + +<h2><a name="Day27" id="Day27"></a><span class="smcap">27th Day.</span></h2> + +<h4>“Remember the words of the Lord Jesus, how He said”—</h4> + +<p class="blockquot">“A little while, and ye shall not see me; and again, a little while, +and ye shall see me, because I go to the Father.”—John xvi. 16.</p> + +<h4>The Little While.</h4> + +<div class="figleft"> +<img src="images/t27.png" alt="The Little While." title="The Little While." /> +</div> + +<p>Long seem the moments when we are separated from the friend we love. An +absent brother—how his return is looked and longed for! The “Elder +Brother”—the “Living Kinsman”—sends a message to His waiting Church +and people—a word of solace, telling that <i>soon</i> (“a little while,”) +and He will be back again, never again to leave them.</p> + +<p>There are indeed blessed moments of communion which the believer enjoys +with His beloved Lord <i>now</i>; but how fitful and transient! To-day, life +is a brief Emmaus journey—the soul happy in the presence and love of an +unseen Saviour. To-morrow, He is <i>gone</i>; and<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_109" id="Page_109">[Pg 109]</a></span> the bereft spirit is led +to interrogate itself in plaintive sorrow,—“Where is now thy God?” Even +when there is no such experience of darkness and depression, how much +there is in the world around to fill the believer with sadness! His Lord +rejected and disowned—His love set at nought—His providences +slighted—His name blasphemed—His creation groaning and travailing in +pain—disunion, too, among His people—His loving heart wounded in the +house of His friends!</p> + +<p>But “yet a little while,” and all this mystery of iniquity will be +finished. The absent Brother’s footfall will soon be heard,—no longer +“as a wayfaring man who turneth aside to tarry for a night,” but to +receive His people into the permanent “mansions” His love has been +preparing, and from which they shall go no more out. Oh, blessed day! +when creation will put on her Easter robes—when her Lord, so long<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_110" id="Page_110">[Pg 110]</a></span> +dishonoured, will be enthroned amid the hosannahs of a rejoicing +universe—angels lauding Him—saints crowning Him—sin, the dark +plague-spot on His universe, extinguished for ever—death swallowed up +in eternal victory!</p> + +<p>And it is but “a little while!” “Yet a little while,” we elsewhere read, +“and He that shall come, will come, and will not tarry” (literally, “a +little while as may be.”) “He will stay not a moment longer,” says +Goodwin, “than He hath despatched all our business in Heaven for us.” +With what joy will He send His mission-Angel with the announcement, “the +little while is at an end;” and to issue the invitation to the great +festival of glory, “Come! for all things are ready!”</p> + +<p>Child of sorrow! think often of this “<i>little while</i>.” “The days of thy +mourning will soon be ended.” There is a limit set to thy suffering +time,—“After that ye have suffered a <span class="smcap lowercase">WHILE</span>.”<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_111" id="Page_111">[Pg 111]</a></span> Every wave is numbered +between you and the haven; and then when that haven is reached, oh, what +an apocalypse of glory!—the “little while” of time merged into the +great and unending “while of eternity!”—to be <i>for ever with the +Lord</i>—the same unchanged and unchanging Saviour!</p> + +<p>“A little while, and ye <i>shall</i> see me!” Would that the eye of faith +might be kept more intently fixed on “that glorious appearing!” How the +world, with its guilty fascinations, tries to dim and obscure this +blessed hope! How the heart is prone to throw out its fibres here, and +get them rooted in some perishable object! Reader! seek to dwell more +habitually on this the grand consummation of all thy dearest wishes. +“Stand on the edge of your nest, pluming your wings for flight.” Like +the mother of Sisera, be looking for the expected chariot.</p> + +<p class="word">“HE IS FAITHFUL THAT PROMISED.”</p> + +<hr /> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_112" id="Page_112">[Pg 112]</a></span></p> + +<h2><a name="Day28" id="Day28"></a><span class="smcap">28th Day.</span></h2> + +<h4>“Remember the words of the Lord Jesus, how He said”—</h4> + +<p class="blockquot">“Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God.”—Matt. v. +8.</p> + +<h4>The Beatific Vision.</h4> + +<div class="figleft"> +<img src="images/t28.png" alt="The Beatific Vision." title="The Beatific Vision." /> +</div> + +<p>Here Is Heaven! This “word of Jesus” represents the future state of the +glorified to consist not in locality, but in character; the essence of +its bliss is the full vision and fruition of God. Our attention is +called from all vague and indefinite theories about the +<i>circumstantials</i> of future happiness. The one grand object of +contemplation—the “glory which excelleth,” is <i>the sight of God +Himself</i>! The one grand practical lesson enforced on His people, is the +cultivation of that purity of heart without which none could <i>see</i>, or +(even could we suppose it possible to be admitted to <i>see</i> Him) none +could <i>enjoy</i> God! “The kingdom of Heaven cometh<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_113" id="Page_113">[Pg 113]</a></span> not with observation +... the kingdom of God is <i>within</i> you.”</p> + +<p>Reader, hast thou attained any of this heart-purity and +heart-preparation? It has been beautifully said that “the openings of +the streets of heaven are on earth.” Even here we may enjoy, in the +possession of holiness, some foretaste of coming bliss. Who has not felt +that the happiest moments of their lives were those of close walking +with God—nearness to the mercy-seat—when self was surrendered, and the +eye was directed to the glory of Jesus, with most single, unwavering, +undivided aim? What will Heaven be, but the entire surrender of the soul +to Him, without any bias to evil, without the fear of corruption within +echoing to temptation without; every thought brought into captivity to +the obedience of Christ; no contrariety to His mind; all in blessed +unison with His will; the whole <i>being</i> impregnated with holiness—the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_114" id="Page_114">[Pg 114]</a></span> +intellect purified and ennobled, consecrating all its powers to His +service—memory, a holy repository of pure and hallowed +recollections—the affections, without one competing rival, purged from +all the dross of earthliness—the love of God, the one supreme animating +passion—the glory of God, the motive principle interfused through every +thought, and feeling, and action of the life immortal; in one word, the +heart a pellucid fountain; no sediment to dim its purity, “no angel of +sorrow” to come and trouble the pool! The long night of life over, and +<i>this</i> the glory of the eternal morrow which succeeds it! “I shall be +satisfied when I awake, with <i>Thy</i> likeness.”</p> + +<p>Yes, this is Heaven, subjectively and objectively—<i>purity of heart</i> and +“<i>God all in all</i>!” Much, doubtless, there may and will be of a +subordinate kind, to intensify the bliss of the redeemed; communion with +saints and angels;<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_115" id="Page_115">[Pg 115]</a></span> re-admission into the society of death-divided +friends: but all these will fade before the great central glory, “God +Himself shall be with them, and be their God; they shall <i>see his +face</i>!” Believers have been aptly called <i>heliotropes</i>—turning their +faces as the sunflower towards the Sun of Righteousness, and hanging +their leaves in sadness and sorrow, when that Sun is away. It will be in +heaven the emblem is complete. <i>There</i>, every flower in the heavenly +garden will be turned Godwards, bathing its tints of loveliness in the +glory that excelleth! Reader, may it be yours, when o’er-canopied by +that cloudless sky, to know all the marvels contained in these few +glowing words, “We shall be like Him, for we shall see him as He is.”</p> + +<p class="word">“AND EVERY MAN THAT HATH THIS HOPE IN HIM PURIFIETH HIMSELF EVEN AS +HE IS PURE.”</p> + +<hr /> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_116" id="Page_116">[Pg 116]</a></span></p> + +<h2><a name="Day29" id="Day29"></a><span class="smcap">29th Day.</span></h2> + +<h4>“Remember the words of the Lord Jesus, how He said”—</h4> + +<p class="blockquot">“In my Father’s house are many mansions.”—John xiv. 2.</p> + +<h4>The Many Mansions.</h4> + +<div class="figleft"> +<img src="images/t29.png" alt="The Many Mansions." title="The Many Mansions." /> +</div> + +<p>What a home aspect there is in this “word of Jesus!” He comforts His +Church by telling them that soon their wilderness-wanderings will be +finished,—the tented tabernacle suited to their present probation-state +exchanged for the enduring “mansion!” Nor will it be any strange +dwelling: a <i>Father’s</i> home—a <i>Father’s</i> welcome awaits them. There +will be accommodation for all. Thousands have already entered its +shining gates,—patriarchs, prophets, saints, martyrs, young and old, +and still there is room!</p> + +<p>The pilgrim’s motto on earth is, “Here we have no continuing city.” Even +“Sabbath tents” must be struck. Holy seasons of communion must +terminate.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_117" id="Page_117">[Pg 117]</a></span> “Arise, let us go hence!” is a summons which disturbs the +sweetest moments of tranquillity in the Church below; but <i>in Heaven</i>, +every believer becomes a pillar in the temple of God, and “he shall <i>go +no more out</i>.” Here it is but the lodging of a wayfarer turning aside to +tarry for the brief night of earth. Here we are but “tenants at will;” +our possessions are but moveables—ours to-day, gone to-morrow. But +these many “mansions” are an inheritance incorruptible and unfading. +Nothing can touch the heavenly patrimony. Once within the Father’s +house, and we are in the house for ever!</p> + +<p>Think, too, of Jesus, gone to <i>prepare</i> these mansions,—“I go to +prepare a place for you.” What a wondrous thought—Jesus now busied in +Heaven in His Church’s behalf! He can find no abode in all His wide +dominions, befitting as a permanent dwelling for His ransomed ones. He +says, “I will<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_118" id="Page_118">[Pg 118]</a></span> make new heavens and a new earth. I will found a special +kingdom—I will rear eternal mansions expressly for those I have +redeemed with my blood!”</p> + +<p>Reader, let the prospect of a dwelling in this “house of the Lord for +ever,” reconcile thee to any of the roughnesses or difficulties in thy +present path—to thy pilgrim provision and pilgrim fare. Let the distant +beacon-light, that so cheeringly speaks of a <i>Home</i> brighter and better +far than the happiest of earthly ones, lead thee to forget the +intervening billows, or to think of them only as wafting thee nearer and +nearer to thy desired haven! “Would,” says a saint, who has now entered +on his rest, “that one could read, and write, and pray, and eat and +drink, and compose one’s self to sleep, as with the thought,—soon to be +in heaven, and that for ever and ever!”</p> + +<p>“My Father’s house!” How many a departing spirit has been cheered and<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_119" id="Page_119">[Pg 119]</a></span> +consoled by the sight of these glorious Mansions looming through the +mists of the dark valley,—the tears of weeping friends rebuked by the +gentle chiding—“If ye loved me, ye would rejoice, because I said, I go +unto <i>my Father</i>!” Death truly is but the entrance to this our Father’s +house. We speak of the “<i>shadow of death</i>”—it is only the shadow which +falls on the portico as we stand for a moment knocking at the longed-for +gate—the next! a Father’s voice of welcome is heard—</p> + +<p class="word">“SON! THOU ART EVER WITH ME, AND ALL THAT I HAVE IS THINE.”</p> + +<hr /> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_120" id="Page_120">[Pg 120]</a></span></p> + +<h2><a name="Day30" id="Day30"></a><span class="smcap">30th Day.</span></h2> + +<h4>“Remember the words of the Lord Jesus, how He said”—</h4> + +<p class="blockquot">“I will come again, and receive you unto myself; that where I am, +there ye may be also.”—John xiv. 3.</p> + +<h4>The Promised Return.</h4> + +<div class="figleft"> +<img src="images/t30.png" alt="The Promised Return." title="The Promised Return." /> +</div> + +<p>Another “word of promise” concerning the Church’s “blessed hope.” +Orphaned pilgrims, dry your tears! Soon the Morning Hour will strike, +and the sighs of a groaning and burdened creation be heard no more. +Earth’s six thousand years of toil and sorrow are waning; the Millennial +Sabbath is at hand. Jesus will soon be heard to repeat concerning all +his sleeping saints, what He said of old regarding one of them: “I go to +awake them out of sleep!” Your beloved Lord’s first coming was in +humiliation and woe; His name was—the “Man of Sorrows;” He had to +travel on, amid darkness and desertion, His blood-stained path; a<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_121" id="Page_121">[Pg 121]</a></span> +chaplet of thorns was the only crown He bore. But soon He will come “the +second time without a sin-offering unto salvation,” never again to leave +His Church, but to receive those who followed Him in His cross, to be +everlasting partakers with Him in His crown. He may seem to tarry. +External nature, in her unvarying and undeviating sequences, gives no +indication of His approach. Centuries have elapsed since He uttered the +promise, and still He lingers; the everlasting hills wear no streak of +approaching dawn; we seem to listen in vain for the noise of His chariot +wheels. “But the Lord is not slack concerning His promise;” He gives you +“this word” in addition to many others as a <i>keepsake</i>—a pledge and +guarantee for the certainty of His return,—“<i>I will come again.</i>”</p> + +<p>Who can conceive all the surpassing blessedness connected with that +advent? The Elder Brother arrived to fetch the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_122" id="Page_122">[Pg 122]</a></span> younger brethren +home!—the true Joseph revealing Himself in unutterable tenderness to +the brethren who were once estranged from Him—“receiving them unto +himself”—not satisfied with apportioning a kingdom for them, but, as if +all His own joy and bliss were intermingled with theirs, “Where <i>I am</i>,” +says He, “there <i>you</i> must be also.” “Him that overcometh,” says He +again, “will I grant to sit with Me on My Throne.”</p> + +<p>Believer, can you <i>now</i> say with some of the holy transport of the +apostle, “Whom having not seen, we love?” What must it be when you come +to see Him “face to face,” and that for ever and ever! If you can tell +of precious hours of communion in a sin-stricken, woe-worn world, with a +treacherous heart, and an imperfect or divided love, what must it be +when you come, in a sinless, sorrowless state, with purified and renewed +affections, to<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_123" id="Page_123">[Pg 123]</a></span> see the King in His beauty! The letter of an absent +brother, cheering and consolatory as it is, is a poor compensation for +the joys of personal and visible communion. The absent Elder Brother on +the Throne speaks to you <i>now</i> only by His Word and Spirit,—soon you +shall be admitted to His immediate fellowship, seeing him “as He is”—He +Himself unfolding the wondrous chart of His providence and +grace—leading you about from fountain to fountain among the living +waters, and with his own gentle hand wiping the last lingering tear-drop +from your eye. <i>Heaven an everlasting home with Jesus!</i> “Where I am, +there ye may be also.”—He has appended a cheering postscript to this +word, on which He has “caused us to hope:”—</p> + +<p class="word">“HE WHICH TESTIFIETH THESE THINGS SAITH, SURELY I COME QUICKLY.”</p> + +<hr /> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_124" id="Page_124">[Pg 124]</a></span></p> + +<h2><a name="Day31" id="Day31"></a><span class="smcap">31st Day</span>.</h2> + +<h4>“Remember the words of the Lord Jesus, how He said”—</h4> + +<p class="blockquot">“Blessed are those servants whom the Lord when He cometh shall find +watching.”—Luke xii. 37.</p> + +<h4>The Closing Benediction.</h4> + +<div class="figleft"> +<img src="images/t31.png" alt="The Closing Benediction." title="The Closing Benediction." /> +</div> + +<p>Child of God! is this thine attitude, as the expectant of thy Lord’s +appearing? Are thy loins girded, and thy lights burning? If the cry were +to break upon thine ears this day, “Behold the Bridegroom cometh,” +couldst thou joyfully respond—“Lo, this is my God, I have waited for +him?” <span class="smcap">When</span> He may come, we cannot tell;—ages may elapse before <i>then</i>. +It may be centuries before our graves are gilded with the beams of a +Millennial sun; but while He <i>may</i> or may <i>not</i> come <i>soon</i>, He <i>must</i> +come at some time—ay, and the day of our death is virtually to all of +us the day of His coming.</p> + +<p>Reader! put not off the solemn preparation.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_125" id="Page_125">[Pg 125]</a></span> Be not deceived or deluded +with the mocker’s presumptuous challenge, “Where is the promise of His +coming?” See to it that the calls of an engrossing world without, do not +foster this procrastinating spirit within. It may be now or never with +thee. Put not off thy sowing time till harvest time. Leave nothing for a +dying hour, <i>but to die</i>, and calmly to resign thy spirit into the hands +of Jesus. Of all times, <i>that</i> is the least suitable to have the vessel +plenished—to attend to the great business of life when life is +ebbing—to trim the lamp when the oil is done and it is flickering in +its socket—to begin to watch, when the summons is heard to leave the +watch-tower to meet our God!</p> + +<p>Were you never struck how often, amid the many <i>gentle</i> words of Jesus, +the summons “to watch,” is over and over repeated, like a succession of +alarum-bells breaking ever and anon, amid<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_126" id="Page_126">[Pg 126]</a></span> chimes of heavenly music, to +rouse a sleeping Church and a slumbering world?</p> + +<p>Let this last “word” of thy Lord’s send thee to thy knees with the +question,—“Am I indeed a servant of Christ?” Have I fled to Him, and am +I reposing in Him, as my only Saviour?—or am I still lingering, like +Lot, when I should be escaping—sleeping, when I should be +waking—neglecting and trifling, when “a long eternity is lying at my +door?” He is my last and only refuge; neglect Him—<i>all is lost</i>!</p> + +<p>Believer! thou who art standing on thy watch-tower, be more faithful +than ever at thy post. Remember what is implied in watching. It is no +dreamy state of inactive torpor: it is a holy jealousy over the +heart—wakeful vigilance regarding sin—every avenue and loophole of the +soul carefully guarded. <i>Holy living</i> is the best, the <i>only</i>, +preparative for <i>holy dying</i>. “Persuade<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_127" id="Page_127">[Pg 127]</a></span> yourself,” says Rutherford, +“the King is coming. Read His letter sent before Him, ‘Behold I come +quickly;’ wait with the wearied night-watch for the breaking of the +Eastern sky.”</p> + +<p>Let these “<i>Words of Jesus</i>” we have now been meditating upon in this +little volume, be as the Golden Bells of old, hung on the vestments of +the officiating High Priest, emitting sweet sounds to His spiritual +Israel—telling that the <i>true High Priest</i> is still living and pleading +in “the Holiest of all;” and that soon He will come forth to pour His +blessing on His waiting Church. We have been pleasingly employed in +gathering up a few “crumbs” falling from “the Master’s table.” Soon we +shall have, not the “<i>Words</i>” but the <i>presence</i> of Jesus—not the +crumbs falling from His table, but everlasting fellowship with the +Master Himself.</p> + +<p class="word">“AMEN, EVEN SO, COME LORD JESUS.”</p> + +<hr /> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_128" id="Page_128">[Pg 128]</a></span></p> + +<div class="figcenter"> +<p class="hidden center">Wherefore Comfort One Another with THESE WORDS. 1 Thess. iv. 18.</p> +<img src="images/quote.png" + alt="Wherefore Comfort One Another with THESE WORDS. 1 Thess. iv. 18." + title="Wherefore Comfort One Another with THESE WORDS. 1 Thess. iv. 18." /> +</div> + + + + + + + + +<pre> + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Words of Jesus, by John R. Macduff + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE WORDS OF JESUS *** + +***** This file should be named 28547-h.htm or 28547-h.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + https://www.gutenberg.org/2/8/5/4/28547/ + +Produced by Heiko Evermann, Nigel Blower and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net (This +book was produced from scanned images of public domain +material from the Google Print project.) + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. Special rules, +set forth in the General Terms of Use part of this license, apply to +copying and distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works to +protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm concept and trademark. Project +Gutenberg is a registered trademark, and may not be used if you +charge for the eBooks, unless you receive specific permission. If you +do not charge anything for copies of this eBook, complying with the +rules is very easy. You may use this eBook for nearly any purpose +such as creation of derivative works, reports, performances and +research. They may be modified and printed and given away--you may do +practically ANYTHING with public domain eBooks. Redistribution is +subject to the trademark license, especially commercial +redistribution. + + + +*** START: FULL LICENSE *** + +THE FULL PROJECT GUTENBERG LICENSE +PLEASE READ THIS BEFORE YOU DISTRIBUTE OR USE THIS WORK + +To protect the Project Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting the free +distribution of electronic works, by using or distributing this work +(or any other work associated in any way with the phrase "Project +Gutenberg"), you agree to comply with all the terms of the Full Project +Gutenberg-tm License (available with this file or online at +https://gutenberg.org/license). + + +Section 1. General Terms of Use and Redistributing Project Gutenberg-tm +electronic works + +1.A. By reading or using any part of this Project Gutenberg-tm +electronic work, you indicate that you have read, understand, agree to +and accept all the terms of this license and intellectual property +(trademark/copyright) agreement. If you do not agree to abide by all +the terms of this agreement, you must cease using and return or destroy +all copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in your possession. +If you paid a fee for obtaining a copy of or access to a Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic work and you do not agree to be bound by the +terms of this agreement, you may obtain a refund from the person or +entity to whom you paid the fee as set forth in paragraph 1.E.8. + +1.B. "Project Gutenberg" is a registered trademark. It may only be +used on or associated in any way with an electronic work by people who +agree to be bound by the terms of this agreement. There are a few +things that you can do with most Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works +even without complying with the full terms of this agreement. See +paragraph 1.C below. There are a lot of things you can do with Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic works if you follow the terms of this agreement +and help preserve free future access to Project Gutenberg-tm electronic +works. See paragraph 1.E below. + +1.C. The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation ("the Foundation" +or PGLAF), owns a compilation copyright in the collection of Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic works. Nearly all the individual works in the +collection are in the public domain in the United States. If an +individual work is in the public domain in the United States and you are +located in the United States, we do not claim a right to prevent you from +copying, distributing, performing, displaying or creating derivative +works based on the work as long as all references to Project Gutenberg +are removed. Of course, we hope that you will support the Project +Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting free access to electronic works by +freely sharing Project Gutenberg-tm works in compliance with the terms of +this agreement for keeping the Project Gutenberg-tm name associated with +the work. You can easily comply with the terms of this agreement by +keeping this work in the same format with its attached full Project +Gutenberg-tm License when you share it without charge with others. + +1.D. The copyright laws of the place where you are located also govern +what you can do with this work. Copyright laws in most countries are in +a constant state of change. If you are outside the United States, check +the laws of your country in addition to the terms of this agreement +before downloading, copying, displaying, performing, distributing or +creating derivative works based on this work or any other Project +Gutenberg-tm work. The Foundation makes no representations concerning +the copyright status of any work in any country outside the United +States. + +1.E. Unless you have removed all references to Project Gutenberg: + +1.E.1. The following sentence, with active links to, or other immediate +access to, the full Project Gutenberg-tm License must appear prominently +whenever any copy of a Project Gutenberg-tm work (any work on which the +phrase "Project Gutenberg" appears, or with which the phrase "Project +Gutenberg" is associated) is accessed, displayed, performed, viewed, +copied or distributed: + +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 + +1.E.2. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is derived +from the public domain (does not contain a notice indicating that it is +posted with permission of the copyright holder), the work can be copied +and distributed to anyone in the United States without paying any fees +or charges. If you are redistributing or providing access to a work +with the phrase "Project Gutenberg" associated with or appearing on the +work, you must comply either with the requirements of paragraphs 1.E.1 +through 1.E.7 or obtain permission for the use of the work and the +Project Gutenberg-tm trademark as set forth in paragraphs 1.E.8 or +1.E.9. + +1.E.3. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is posted +with the permission of the copyright holder, your use and distribution +must comply with both paragraphs 1.E.1 through 1.E.7 and any additional +terms imposed by the copyright holder. Additional terms will be linked +to the Project Gutenberg-tm License for all works posted with the +permission of the copyright holder found at the beginning of this work. + +1.E.4. Do not unlink or detach or remove the full Project Gutenberg-tm +License terms from this work, or any files containing a part of this +work or any other work associated with Project Gutenberg-tm. + +1.E.5. Do not copy, display, perform, distribute or redistribute this +electronic work, or any part of this electronic work, without +prominently displaying the sentence set forth in paragraph 1.E.1 with +active links or immediate access to the full terms of the Project +Gutenberg-tm License. + +1.E.6. You may convert to and distribute this work in any binary, +compressed, marked up, nonproprietary or proprietary form, including any +word processing or hypertext form. However, if you provide access to or +distribute copies of a Project Gutenberg-tm work in a format other than +"Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other format used in the official version +posted on the official Project Gutenberg-tm web site (www.gutenberg.org), +you must, at no additional cost, fee or expense to the user, provide a +copy, a means of exporting a copy, or a means of obtaining a copy upon +request, of the work in its original "Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other +form. Any alternate format must include the full Project Gutenberg-tm +License as specified in paragraph 1.E.1. + +1.E.7. Do not charge a fee for access to, viewing, displaying, +performing, copying or distributing any Project Gutenberg-tm works +unless you comply with paragraph 1.E.8 or 1.E.9. + +1.E.8. You may charge a reasonable fee for copies of or providing +access to or distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works provided +that + +- You pay a royalty fee of 20% of the gross profits you derive from + the use of Project Gutenberg-tm works calculated using the method + you already use to calculate your applicable taxes. The fee is + owed to the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark, but he + has agreed to donate royalties under this paragraph to the + Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation. Royalty payments + must be paid within 60 days following each date on which you + prepare (or are legally required to prepare) your periodic tax + returns. Royalty payments should be clearly marked as such and + sent to the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation at the + address specified in Section 4, "Information about donations to + the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation." + +- You provide a full refund of any money paid by a user who notifies + you in writing (or by e-mail) within 30 days of receipt that s/he + does not agree to the terms of the full Project Gutenberg-tm + License. You must require such a user to return or + destroy all copies of the works possessed in a physical medium + and discontinue all use of and all access to other copies of + Project Gutenberg-tm works. + +- You provide, in accordance with paragraph 1.F.3, a full refund of any + money paid for a work or a replacement copy, if a defect in the + electronic work is discovered and reported to you within 90 days + of receipt of the work. + +- You comply with all other terms of this agreement for free + distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm works. + +1.E.9. If you wish to charge a fee or distribute a Project Gutenberg-tm +electronic work or group of works on different terms than are set +forth in this agreement, you must obtain permission in writing from +both the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation and Michael +Hart, the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark. Contact the +Foundation as set forth in Section 3 below. + +1.F. + +1.F.1. Project Gutenberg volunteers and employees expend considerable +effort to identify, do copyright research on, transcribe and proofread +public domain works in creating the Project Gutenberg-tm +collection. Despite these efforts, Project Gutenberg-tm electronic +works, and the medium on which they may be stored, may contain +"Defects," such as, but not limited to, incomplete, inaccurate or +corrupt data, transcription errors, a copyright or other intellectual +property infringement, a defective or damaged disk or other medium, a +computer virus, or computer codes that damage or cannot be read by +your equipment. + +1.F.2. LIMITED WARRANTY, DISCLAIMER OF DAMAGES - Except for the "Right +of Replacement or Refund" described in paragraph 1.F.3, the Project +Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation, the owner of the Project +Gutenberg-tm trademark, and any other party distributing a Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic work under this agreement, disclaim all +liability to you for damages, costs and expenses, including legal +fees. YOU AGREE THAT YOU HAVE NO REMEDIES FOR NEGLIGENCE, STRICT +LIABILITY, BREACH OF WARRANTY OR BREACH OF CONTRACT EXCEPT THOSE +PROVIDED IN PARAGRAPH F3. YOU AGREE THAT THE FOUNDATION, THE +TRADEMARK OWNER, AND ANY DISTRIBUTOR UNDER THIS AGREEMENT WILL NOT BE +LIABLE TO YOU FOR ACTUAL, DIRECT, INDIRECT, CONSEQUENTIAL, PUNITIVE OR +INCIDENTAL DAMAGES EVEN IF YOU GIVE NOTICE OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH +DAMAGE. + +1.F.3. LIMITED RIGHT OF REPLACEMENT OR REFUND - If you discover a +defect in this electronic work within 90 days of receiving it, you can +receive a refund of the money (if any) you paid for it by sending a +written explanation to the person you received the work from. If you +received the work on a physical medium, you must return the medium with +your written explanation. The person or entity that provided you with +the defective work may elect to provide a replacement copy in lieu of a +refund. If you received the work electronically, the person or entity +providing it to you may choose to give you a second opportunity to +receive the work electronically in lieu of a refund. If the second copy +is also defective, you may demand a refund in writing without further +opportunities to fix the problem. + +1.F.4. Except for the limited right of replacement or refund set forth +in paragraph 1.F.3, this work is provided to you 'AS-IS' WITH NO OTHER +WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO +WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTIBILITY OR FITNESS FOR ANY PURPOSE. + +1.F.5. Some states do not allow disclaimers of certain implied +warranties or the exclusion or limitation of certain types of damages. +If any disclaimer or limitation set forth in this agreement violates the +law of the state applicable to this agreement, the agreement shall be +interpreted to make the maximum disclaimer or limitation permitted by +the applicable state law. The invalidity or unenforceability of any +provision of this agreement shall not void the remaining provisions. + +1.F.6. INDEMNITY - You agree to indemnify and hold the Foundation, the +trademark owner, any agent or employee of the Foundation, anyone +providing copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in accordance +with this agreement, and any volunteers associated with the production, +promotion and distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works, +harmless from all liability, costs and expenses, including legal fees, +that arise directly or indirectly from any of the following which you do +or cause to occur: (a) distribution of this or any Project Gutenberg-tm +work, (b) alteration, modification, or additions or deletions to any +Project Gutenberg-tm work, and (c) any Defect you cause. + + +Section 2. Information about the Mission of Project Gutenberg-tm + +Project Gutenberg-tm is synonymous with the free distribution of +electronic works in formats readable by the widest variety of computers +including obsolete, old, middle-aged and new computers. It exists +because of the efforts of hundreds of volunteers and donations from +people in all walks of life. + +Volunteers and financial support to provide volunteers with the +assistance they need are critical to reaching Project Gutenberg-tm's +goals and ensuring that the Project Gutenberg-tm collection will +remain freely available for generations to come. In 2001, the Project +Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation was created to provide a secure +and permanent future for Project Gutenberg-tm and future generations. +To learn more about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation +and how your efforts and donations can help, see Sections 3 and 4 +and the Foundation web page at https://www.pglaf.org. + + +Section 3. Information about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive +Foundation + +The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation is a non profit +501(c)(3) educational corporation organized under the laws of the +state of Mississippi and granted tax exempt status by the Internal +Revenue Service. The Foundation's EIN or federal tax identification +number is 64-6221541. Its 501(c)(3) letter is posted at +https://pglaf.org/fundraising. Contributions to the Project Gutenberg +Literary Archive Foundation are tax deductible to the full extent +permitted by U.S. federal laws and your state's laws. + +The Foundation's principal office is located at 4557 Melan Dr. S. +Fairbanks, AK, 99712., but its volunteers and employees are scattered +throughout numerous locations. Its business office is located at +809 North 1500 West, Salt Lake City, UT 84116, (801) 596-1887, email +business@pglaf.org. Email contact links and up to date contact +information can be found at the Foundation's web site and official +page at https://pglaf.org + +For additional contact information: + Dr. Gregory B. Newby + Chief Executive and Director + gbnewby@pglaf.org + + +Section 4. Information about Donations to the Project Gutenberg +Literary Archive Foundation + +Project Gutenberg-tm depends upon and cannot survive without wide +spread public support and donations to carry out its mission of +increasing the number of public domain and licensed works that can be +freely distributed in machine readable form accessible by the widest +array of equipment including outdated equipment. Many small donations +($1 to $5,000) are particularly important to maintaining tax exempt +status with the IRS. + +The Foundation is committed to complying with the laws regulating +charities and charitable donations in all 50 states of the United +States. Compliance requirements are not uniform and it takes a +considerable effort, much paperwork and many fees to meet and keep up +with these requirements. We do not solicit donations in locations +where we have not received written confirmation of compliance. To +SEND DONATIONS or determine the status of compliance for any +particular state visit https://pglaf.org + +While we cannot and do not solicit contributions from states where we +have not met the solicitation requirements, we know of no prohibition +against accepting unsolicited donations from donors in such states who +approach us with offers to donate. + +International donations are gratefully accepted, but we cannot make +any statements concerning tax treatment of donations received from +outside the United States. U.S. laws alone swamp our small staff. + +Please check the Project Gutenberg Web pages for current donation +methods and addresses. Donations are accepted in a number of other +ways including including checks, online payments and credit card +donations. To donate, please visit: https://pglaf.org/donate + + +Section 5. General Information About Project Gutenberg-tm electronic +works. + +Professor Michael S. Hart was the originator of the Project Gutenberg-tm +concept of a library of electronic works that could be freely shared +with anyone. For thirty years, he produced and distributed Project +Gutenberg-tm eBooks with only a loose network of volunteer support. + + +Project Gutenberg-tm eBooks are often created from several printed +editions, all of which are confirmed as Public Domain in the U.S. +unless a copyright notice is included. Thus, we do not necessarily +keep eBooks in compliance with any particular paper edition. + + +Most people start at our Web site which has the main PG search facility: + + https://www.gutenberg.org + +This Web site includes information about Project Gutenberg-tm, +including how to make donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary +Archive Foundation, how to help produce our new eBooks, and how to +subscribe to our email newsletter to hear about new eBooks. + + +</pre> + +</body> +</html> diff --git a/28547-h/images/preface.png b/28547-h/images/preface.png Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..5b39faf --- /dev/null +++ b/28547-h/images/preface.png diff --git a/28547-h/images/quote.png b/28547-h/images/quote.png Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..5265739 --- /dev/null +++ b/28547-h/images/quote.png diff --git a/28547-h/images/t01.png b/28547-h/images/t01.png Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..569dbca --- /dev/null +++ b/28547-h/images/t01.png diff --git a/28547-h/images/t02.png b/28547-h/images/t02.png Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..c78e3da --- /dev/null +++ b/28547-h/images/t02.png diff --git a/28547-h/images/t03.png b/28547-h/images/t03.png Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..989f9ad --- /dev/null +++ b/28547-h/images/t03.png diff --git a/28547-h/images/t04.png b/28547-h/images/t04.png Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..f1fe39f --- /dev/null +++ b/28547-h/images/t04.png diff --git a/28547-h/images/t05.png b/28547-h/images/t05.png Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..d49206a --- /dev/null +++ b/28547-h/images/t05.png diff --git a/28547-h/images/t06.png b/28547-h/images/t06.png Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..cad5d06 --- /dev/null +++ b/28547-h/images/t06.png diff --git a/28547-h/images/t07.png b/28547-h/images/t07.png Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..b2fcbda --- /dev/null +++ b/28547-h/images/t07.png diff --git a/28547-h/images/t08.png b/28547-h/images/t08.png Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..f32a4e3 --- /dev/null +++ b/28547-h/images/t08.png diff --git a/28547-h/images/t09.png b/28547-h/images/t09.png Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..9cb75a7 --- /dev/null +++ b/28547-h/images/t09.png diff --git a/28547-h/images/t10.png b/28547-h/images/t10.png Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..73fa39b --- /dev/null +++ b/28547-h/images/t10.png diff --git a/28547-h/images/t11.png b/28547-h/images/t11.png Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..5f0bc91 --- /dev/null +++ b/28547-h/images/t11.png diff --git a/28547-h/images/t12.png b/28547-h/images/t12.png Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..c363b25 --- /dev/null +++ b/28547-h/images/t12.png diff --git a/28547-h/images/t13.png b/28547-h/images/t13.png Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..945187e --- /dev/null +++ b/28547-h/images/t13.png diff --git a/28547-h/images/t14.png b/28547-h/images/t14.png Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..854320d --- /dev/null +++ b/28547-h/images/t14.png diff --git a/28547-h/images/t15.png b/28547-h/images/t15.png Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..dc66c56 --- /dev/null +++ b/28547-h/images/t15.png diff --git a/28547-h/images/t16.png b/28547-h/images/t16.png Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..053ee33 --- /dev/null +++ b/28547-h/images/t16.png diff --git a/28547-h/images/t17.png b/28547-h/images/t17.png Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..a3f9c1a --- /dev/null +++ b/28547-h/images/t17.png diff --git a/28547-h/images/t18.png b/28547-h/images/t18.png Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..e000a98 --- /dev/null +++ b/28547-h/images/t18.png diff --git a/28547-h/images/t19.png b/28547-h/images/t19.png Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..61568a4 --- /dev/null +++ b/28547-h/images/t19.png diff --git a/28547-h/images/t20.png b/28547-h/images/t20.png Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..326921f --- /dev/null +++ b/28547-h/images/t20.png diff --git a/28547-h/images/t21.png b/28547-h/images/t21.png Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..6c9dde6 --- /dev/null +++ b/28547-h/images/t21.png diff --git a/28547-h/images/t22.png b/28547-h/images/t22.png Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..b4490ce --- /dev/null +++ b/28547-h/images/t22.png diff --git a/28547-h/images/t23.png b/28547-h/images/t23.png Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..a263675 --- /dev/null +++ b/28547-h/images/t23.png diff --git a/28547-h/images/t24.png b/28547-h/images/t24.png Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..f1736d9 --- /dev/null +++ b/28547-h/images/t24.png diff --git a/28547-h/images/t25.png b/28547-h/images/t25.png Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..ef285db --- /dev/null +++ b/28547-h/images/t25.png diff --git a/28547-h/images/t26.png b/28547-h/images/t26.png Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..dea914e --- /dev/null +++ b/28547-h/images/t26.png diff --git a/28547-h/images/t27.png b/28547-h/images/t27.png Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..0664d90 --- /dev/null +++ b/28547-h/images/t27.png diff --git a/28547-h/images/t28.png b/28547-h/images/t28.png Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..f77306a --- /dev/null +++ b/28547-h/images/t28.png diff --git a/28547-h/images/t29.png b/28547-h/images/t29.png Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..c9da562 --- /dev/null +++ b/28547-h/images/t29.png diff --git a/28547-h/images/t30.png b/28547-h/images/t30.png Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..ce59ae2 --- /dev/null +++ b/28547-h/images/t30.png diff --git a/28547-h/images/t31.png b/28547-h/images/t31.png Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..5421818 --- /dev/null +++ b/28547-h/images/t31.png diff --git a/28547.txt b/28547.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..8ac2469 --- /dev/null +++ b/28547.txt @@ -0,0 +1,2488 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Words of Jesus, by John R. Macduff + +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: The Words of Jesus + +Author: John R. Macduff + +Release Date: April 9, 2009 [EBook #28547] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE WORDS OF JESUS *** + + + + +Produced by Heiko Evermann, Nigel Blower and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net (This +book was produced from scanned images of public domain +material from the Google Print project.) + + + + + + + + + +Transcriber's Note + +Minor punctuation errors and inconsistencies have been silently corrected. + +The following minor typographic corrections have also been made: +p8: "al" changed to "all" +p13: "sorrrow" changed to "sorrow" +p81: "trom" changed to "from" +p112: "Mat." changed to "Matt." for consistency +p122: "striken" changed to "stricken" + + + + + THE + + WORDS OF JESUS. + + + + by the author of + + "THE MORNING AND NIGHT WATCHES," + "THE FAITHFUL PROMISER," ETC. + + + +Taken from the last London Edition. + + + + New York: + STANFORD & DELISSER, + No. 508, BROADWAY. + 1858. + + + + +The Words of Jesus. + + +"A word spoken in season," says the wise man, "how good it is!" If this +be true regarding the utterances of uninspired lips, with what devout +and paramount interest must we invest the sayings of Incarnate +Truth--"the WORDS OF JESUS!" + +We have, in the motto-verses which head the succeeding pages a few +comforting responses from the Oracle of heavenly Wisdom--a few grapes +plucked from the true Vine--living streams welling fresh from the Living +Fountain. Every portion of Scripture is designed for nutriment to the +soul--"the bread of life;" but surely we may well regard the recorded +"_Words of Jesus_" as "the finest of the wheat." These are the "Honey" +out of the true "Rock," with which He will "satisfy" us. "The WORDS that +I speak unto you, they are spirit and they are life." + +The following are selected more especially as "_Words for the +Weary_"--healing leaves for the wounded spirit falling from the Tree of +Life. Jesus was divinely qualified for this special office of speaking +"many and _comfortable_ words." "The Lord God hath given me the tongue +of the learned, that I might know how to speak a _Word in Season_ to him +that is _weary_." + +Let us, like the disciple of Patmos, turn to hear the voice that speaks +to us, saying, "I wait for the Lord, my soul doth wait, and in _His +Word_ do I hope." Eighteen hundred years have elapsed since these +"words" were uttered. With tones of unaltered and unchanged affection, +they are still echoed from the inner sanctuary--they come this day fresh +as they were spoken, from the lips of Him whose memorial to all time is +this: "_that same Jesus_." + +Reader, seek to realise, in meditating on them, the simple but solemn +truth--"_Christ speaks to me!_" Surely nothing can be more soothing with +which to close your eyes on your nightly pillow, or to carry with you in +the morning out to the duties (or, it may be, the trials and sorrows) of +the day, than--"A WORD OF JESUS." + + + + +1ST DAY OF MONTH. + +"Remember the words of the Lord Jesus, how He said"-- + + "Come unto me all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will + give you rest."--Matt. xi. 28. + +The Gracious Invitation. + + +Gracious "word" of a gracious Saviour, on which the soul may confidingly +repose, and be at peace for ever? It is a _present_ rest--the rest of +_grace_ as well as the rest of _glory_. Not only are there signals of +peace hung out from the walls of heaven--the lights of Home glimmering +in the distance to cheer our footsteps; but we have the "shadow" of this +"great Rock" in a _present_ "weary land." Before the Throne alone is +there "the sea of glass," without one rippling wave; but there is a +haven even on earth for the tempest-tossed--"We which have believed DO +enter into rest." + +Reader, hast thou found this blessed repose in the blood and work of +Immanuel? Long going about "seeking rest and finding none," does this +"word" sound like music in thine ears--"_Come unto Me_?" All other peace +is counterfeit, shadowy, unreal. The eagle spurns the gilded cage as a +poor equivalent for his free-born soarings. The soul's immortal +aspirations can be satisfied with nothing short of the possession of +God's favour and love in Jesus. + +How unqualified is the invitation! If there had been one condition in +entering this covenant Ark, we must have been through eternity at the +mercy of the storm. But all are alike warranted and welcome, and none +_more_ warranted than welcome. For the weak, the weary, the sin-burdened +and sorrow-burdened, there is an open door of grace. + +Return, then unto thy rest, O my soul! Let the sweet cadence of this +"word of Jesus" steal on thee amid the disquietudes of earth. Sheltered +in Him, thou art safe for time, safe for eternity! There may be, and +_will_ be, temporary tossings, fears, and misgivings,--manifestations of +inward corruption; but these will only be like the surface-heavings of +the ocean, while underneath there is a deep settled calm. "Thou wilt +keep him in perfect peace" (_lit._ peace, peace) "whose mind is stayed +on Thee." In the world it is care on care, trouble on trouble, sin on +sin; but every wave that breaks on the believer's soul seems sweetly to +murmur, "Peace, peace!" + +And if the foretaste of this rest be precious, what must be the glorious +consummation? Awaking in the morning of immortality, with the unquiet +dream of earth over--faith lost in sight, and hope in fruition;--no more +any bias to sin--no more latent principles of evil--nothing to disturb +the spirit's deep, everlasting tranquillity--the trembling magnet of +the heart reposing, where alone it can confidingly and permanently rest, +in the enjoyment of the Infinite God. + + "THESE THINGS HAVE I SPOKEN UNTO YOU, THAT IN ME YE MIGHT HAVE PEACE." + + + + +2D DAY. + +"Remember the words of the Lord Jesus, how He said"-- + + "Your heavenly Father knoweth that ye have need of all these + things."--Matt. vi. 22. + +The Comforting Assurance. + + +Though spoken originally by Jesus regarding temporal things, this may be +taken as a motto for the child of God amid all the changing vicissitudes +of his changing history. How it should lull all misgivings; silence all +murmurings; lead to lowly, unquestioning submissiveness--"My Heavenly +Father knoweth that I have need of all these things." + +Where can a child be safer or better than in a father's hand? Where can +the believer be better than in the hands of his God? We are poor judges +of what is best. We are under safe guidance with infallible wisdom. If +we are tempted in a moment of rash presumption to say, "All these things +are against me," let this "word" rebuke the hasty and unworthy surmise. +Unerring wisdom and Fatherly love have pronounced _all_ to be "needful." + +My soul, is there aught that is disturbing thy peace? Are providences +dark, or crosses heavy? Are spiritual props removed, creature comforts +curtailed, gourds smitten and withered like grass?--write on each, +"_Your Father knoweth that ye have need of all these things._" It was He +who increased thy burden. Why? "_It was needed._" It was He who smote +down thy clay idol. Why? "_It was needed._" It was supplanting Himself: +He had to remove it! It was He who crossed thy worldly schemes, marred +thy cherished hopes. Why? "_It was needed._" There was a lurking thorn +in the coveted path. There was some higher spiritual blessing in +reversion. "He '_prevented_' thee with the blessings of His goodness." + +Seek to cherish a spirit of more childlike confidence in thy Heavenly +Father's will. Thou art not left unbefriended and alone to buffet the +storms of the wilderness. Thy Marahs as well as thy Elims are appointed +by Him. A gracious pillar-cloud is before thee. Follow it through +sunshine and storm. He may "lead thee about," but He will not lead thee +wrong. Unutterable tenderness is the characteristic of all His dealings. +"Blessed be His name," says a tried believer, "He maketh my feet like +hinds' feet" (_literally_, "equaleth" them), "he _equaleth_ them for +every precipice, every ascent, every leap." + +And who is it that speaks this quieting word? It is He who Himself felt +the preciousness of the assurance during His own awful sufferings, that +all were _needed_, and all _appointed_; that from Bethlehem's cradle to +Calvary's Cross there was not the redundant thorn in the chaplet of +sorrow which He, the Man of Sorrows, bore. Every drop in His bitter cup +was mingled by His Father: "This cup which _Thou_ givest me to drink, +shall I not drink it!" Oh, if He could extract comfort in this hour of +inconceivable agony, in the thought that a Father's hand lighted the +fearful furnace-fires, what strong consolation is there in the same +truth to all His suffering people! + +What! one superfluous drop! one redundant pang! one unneeded cross! Hush +the secret atheism! He gave His Son for thee! He calls Himself "thy +Father!" Whatever be the trial under which thou art now smarting, let +the word of a gracious Saviour be "like oil thrown on the fretful sea;" +let it dry every rebellious tear-drop. "He, thine unerring Parent, +knoweth that thou hast need of _this_ as well as _all_ these things." + + "THY WORD IS VERY SURE, THEREFORE THY SERVANT LOVETH IT." + + + + +3D DAY. + +"Remember the words of the Lord Jesus, how He said"-- + + "Whatsoever ye shall ask in my name, that will I do, that the Father + may be glorified in the Son."--John xiv. 13. + +The Power of Prayer. + + +Blessed Jesus! it is Thou who hast unlocked to Thy people the gates of +prayer. Without Thee they must have been shut forever. It was Thy +atoning merit on earth that first opened them; it is Thy intercessory +work in heaven that keeps them open still. + +How unlimited the promise--"_Whatsoever ye shall ask!_" It is the pledge +of all that the needy sinner requires--all that an Omnipotent Saviour +can bestow! As the great Steward of the mysteries of grace, He seems to +say to His faithful servants, "Take thy bill, and under this, my +superscription, write what you please." And then, when the blank is +filled up, he further endorses each petition with the words, "_I WILL +do it!_" + +He farther encourages us to ask "_in His name_." In the case of an +earthly petitioner there are some pleas more influential in obtaining a +boon than others. Jesus speaks of _this_ as forming the key to the heart +of God. As David loved the helpless cripple of Saul's house "_for +Jonathan's sake_," so will the Father, by virtue of our covenant +relationship to the true JONATHAN (_lit._, "the gift of God"), delight +in giving us even "exceeding abundantly above all that we can ask or +think." + +Reader, do you know the blessedness of confiding your every want and +every care--your every sorrow and every cross--into the ear of the +Saviour? He is the "Wonderful Counsellor." With an exquisitely tender +sympathy He can enter into the innermost depths of your need. That need +may be great, but the everlasting arms are underneath it all. Think of +Him now, at this moment--the great Angel of the Covenant, with the +censer full of much incense, in which are placed your feeblest +aspirations, your most burdened sighs--the odour-breathing cloud +ascending with acceptance before the Father's throne. The answer may +tarry;--these your supplications may seem to be kept long on the wing, +hovering around the mercy-seat. A gracious God sometimes sees it meet +thus to test the faith and patience of His people. He delights to hear +the music of their importunate pleadings--to see them undeterred by +difficulties--unrepelled by apparent forgetfulness and neglect. But He +_will_ come at last; the pent-up fountain of love and mercy will at +length burst out;--the soothing accents will in His own good time be +heard, "Be it unto thee according to thy word!" + +Soldier of Christ! with all thine other panoply, forget not the +"_All-prayer_." It is that which keeps bright and shining "the whole +armour of God." While yet out in the night of a dark world--whilst still +bivouacking in an enemy's country--kindle thy watch-fires at the altar +of incense. Thou must be Moses, pleading on the Mount, if thou wouldst +be Joshua, victorious in the world's daily battle. Confide thy cause to +this waiting Redeemer. Thou canst not weary Him with thine importunity. +He delights in hearing. His Father is glorified in giving. The memorable +Bethany-utterance remains unaltered and unrepealed--"I knew that Thou +hearest me always." He is still the "Prince that has power with God and +prevails"--still He promises and pleads--still He lives and loves! + + "I WAIT FOR THE LORD, MY SOUL DOTH WAIT; AND IN HIS WORD DO I HOPE." + + + + +4TH DAY. + +"Remember the words of the Lord Jesus, how He said"-- + + "What I do thou knowest not now; but thou shalt know + hereafter."--John xiii. 7. + +The Unveiled Dealings. + + +O blessed day, when the long sealed book of mystery shall be unfolded, +when the "fountains of the great deep shall be broken up," "the channels +of the waters seen," and _all_ discovered to be one vast revelation of +unerring wisdom and ineffable love! Here we are often baffled at the +Lord's dispensations; we cannot fathom His ways:--like the well of +Sychar, they are deep, and we have nothing to draw with. But soon the +"mystery of God will be finished;" the enigmatical "seals," with all +their inner meanings, opened. When that "morning without clouds" shall +break, each soul will be like the angel standing in the sun--there will +be no shadow; all will be perfect day! + +Believer, be still! The dealings of thy Heavenly Father may seem dark to +thee; there may seem now to be no golden fringe, no "bright light in the +clouds;" but a day of disclosures is at hand. "Take it on trust a little +while." An earthly child takes _on trust_ what his father tells him: +when he reaches maturity, much that was baffling to his infant +comprehension is explained. Thou art in this world in the nonage of thy +being--Eternity is the soul's immortal manhood. _There_, every dealing +will be vindicated. It will lose all its "darkness" when bathed in the +floods "of the excellent glory!" + +Ah! instead of thus being as weaned children, how apt are we to exercise +ourselves in matters too high for us? not content with knowing that our +Father _wills_ it, but presumptuously seeking to know _how_ it is, and +_why_ it is. If it be unfair to pronounce on the unfinished and +incompleted works of man; if the painter, or sculptor, or artificer, +would shrink from having his labours judged of when in a rough, +unpolished, immatured state; how much more so with the works of God? How +we should honour Him by a simple, confiding, unreserved submission to +His will,--contented patiently to wait the fulfilment of this +"_hereafter_" promise, when all the lights and shadows in the now +half-finished picture will be blended and melted into one harmonious +whole,--when all the now disjointed stones in the temple will be seen to +fit into their appointed place, giving unity, and compactness, and +symmetry, to all the building. + +And who is it that speaks these living "words," "What _I_ do?" It is He +who died for us? who now lives for us! Blessed Jesus! Thou mayest _do_ +much that our blind hearts would like _un_done,--"terrible things in +righteousness which we looked not for." The heaviest (what we may be +tempted to call the severest) cross Thou canst lay upon us we shall +regard as only the _apparent_ severity of unutterable and unalterable +love. Eternity will unfold how _all_, _all_ was needed; that nothing +else, nothing less, could have done! If not now, at least then, the +deliberate verdict on a calm retrospect of life will be this,-- + + "_THE WORD_ OF THE LORD IS RIGHT, AND ALL HIS WORKS ARE DONE IN + TRUTH." + + + + +5TH DAY. + +"Remember the words of the Lord Jesus, how He said"-- + + "Herein is my Father glorified, that _ye bear much fruit_."--John + xv. 8. + +The Father Glorified. + + +When surveying the boundless ocean of covenant mercy--every wave +chiming, "God is Love!"--does the thought ever present itself, "What can +I do for this great Being who hath done so much for me?" Recompence I +cannot! No more can my purest services add one iota to His underived +glory, than the tiny taper can add to the blaze of the sun at noonday, +or a drop of water to the boundless ocean. Yet, wondrous thought! from +this worthless soul of mine there may roll in a revenue of glory which +He who loves the broken and contrite spirit will "not despise." "_Herein +is my Father glorified, that ye bear much fruit._" + +Reader! are you a fruit-bearer in your Lord's vineyard? Are you seeking +to make life one grand act of consecration to His glory--one +thank-offering for His unmerited love. You may be unable to exhibit much +fruit in the eye of the world. Your circumstances and position in life +may forbid you to point to any splendid services, or laborious and +imposing efforts in the cause of God. It matters not. It is often those +fruits that are unseen and unknown to man, ripening in seclusion, that +He values most;--the quiet, lowly walk--patience and +submission--gentleness and humility--putting yourself unreservedly in +His hands--willing to be led by Him even in darkness--saying, Not _my_ +will, but _Thy_ will:--the unselfish spirit, the meek bearing of an +injury, the unostentatious kindness,--these are some of the "fruits" +which your Heavenly Father loves, and by which He is glorified. + +Perchance it may be with you the season of trial, the chamber of +protracted sickness, the time of desolating bereavement, some furnace +seven times heated. Herein, too, you may sweetly glorify your God. Never +is your Heavenly Father _more_ glorified by His children on earth, than +when, in the midst of these furnace-fires, He listens to nothing but the +gentle breathings of confiding faith and love,--"Let Him do what seemeth +good unto Him." Yes, you can there glorify Him in a way which angels +cannot do in a world where no trial is. They can glorify God only with +the _crown_; you can glorify Him with the _cross_ and the prospect of +the _crown_ together! Ah, if He be dealing severely with you--if He, as +the great Husbandman, be pruning His vines, lopping their boughs, +stripping off their luxuriant branches and "beautiful rods!" remember +the end!--"He purgeth it, that it may bring forth _more_ fruit," and +"_Herein_ is my Father glorified!" + +Be it yours to lie passive in His hands, saying in unmurmuring +resignation, Father, glorify Thy name! Glorify Thyself, whether by +giving or taking, filling my cup or "emptying me from vessel to vessel!" +Let me know no will but Thine. Angels possess no higher honour and +privilege than glorifying the God before whom they cast their crowns. +How blessed to be able thus to claim brotherhood with the spirits in the +upper sanctuary! nay, more, to be associated with the Saviour Himself in +the theme of His own exalted joy, when he said, "_I_ have _glorified_ +Thee on earth!" + + "THESE THINGS HAVE I SPOKEN UNTO YOU, THAT MY JOY MIGHT REMAIN IN YOU, + AND THAT YOUR JOY MIGHT BE FULL." + + + + +6TH DAY. + +"Remember the words of the Lord Jesus, how He said"-- + + "The very hairs of your head are all numbered."--Matt. x. 30. + +The Tender Solicitude. + + +What a "word" is this! All that befals you, to the very numbering of +your hairs, is known to God! Nothing can happen by accident or chance. +Nothing can elude His inspection. The fall of the forest leaf--the +fluttering of the insect--the waving of the angel's wing--the +annihilation of a world,--all are equally noted by Him. Man speaks of +great things and small things--God knows no such distinction. + +How especially comforting to think of this tender solicitude with +reference to his own covenant people--that He metes out their joys and +their sorrows! Every sweet, every bitter is ordained by Him. Even +"_wearisome_ nights" are "_appointed_." Not a pang I feel, not a tear I +shed but is known to Him. What are called "dark dealings" are the +ordinations of undeviating faithfulness. Man _may_ err--his ways are +often crooked; "but as for God, _His_ way is perfect!" He puts my tears +into His bottle. Every moment the everlasting arms are underneath and +around me. He keeps me "as the apple of His eye." He "bears" me "as a +man beareth his own son!" + +Do I look to the future? Is there much of uncertainty and mystery +hanging over it? It may be, much premonitory of evil. Trust Him. All is +marked out for me. Dangers will be averted; bewildering mazes will show +themselves to be interlaced and interweaved with mercy. "He keepeth the +feet of His saints." A hair of their head will not be touched. He leads +sometimes darkly, sometimes sorrowfully; most frequently by cross and +circuitous ways we ourselves would not have chosen; but _always_ +wisely, _always_ tenderly. With all its mazy windings and turnings, its +roughness and ruggedness, the believer's is not only _a_ right way, but +THE right way--the best which covenant love and wisdom could select. +"Nothing," says Jeremy Taylor, "does so establish the mind amidst the +rollings and turbulence of present things, as both a look above them and +a look beyond them; above them, to the steady and good hand by which +they are ruled; and beyond them, to the sweet and beautiful end to +which, by that hand, they will be brought." "The Great Counsellor," says +Thomas Brooks, "puts clouds and darkness round about Him, bidding us +follow at His beck through the cloud, promising an eternal and +uninterrupted sunshine on the other side." On that "other side" we shall +see how every apparent rough blast has been hastening our barks nearer +the desired haven. + +Well may I commit the keeping of my soul to Jesus in well-doing, as unto +a faithful Creator. He gave _Himself_ for me. This transcendent pledge +of love is the guarantee for the bestowment of every other needed +blessing. Oh, blessed thought! my sorrows numbered by the Man of +Sorrows; my tears counted by Him who shed first His tears and then His +blood for _me_. He will impose no needless burden, and exact no +unnecessary sacrifice. There was no redundant drop in the cup of His own +sufferings; neither will there be in that of His people. "Though He slay +me, yet will I trust in Him." + + "WHEREFORE COMFORT ONE ANOTHER WITH _THESE WORDS_." + + + + +7TH DAY. + +"Remember the words of the Lord Jesus, how He said"-- + + "I am the good shepherd, and know my sheep, and am known of + mine."--John x. 14. + +The Good Shepherd. + + +"The Good Shepherd"--well can the sheep who know His voice attest the +truthfulness and faithfulness of this endearing name and word. Where +would they have been through eternity, had He not left His throne of +light and glory, travelling down to this dark valley of the curse, and +giving His life a ransom for many? Think of His love to each separate +member of the flock--wandering over pathless wilds with unwearied +patience and unquenchable ardour, ceasing not the pursuit _until_ He +finds it. Think of His love _now_--"I AM the Good Shepherd." Still that +tender eye of watchfulness following the guilty wanderers--the glories +of heaven and the songs of angels unable to dim or alter His +affection;--the music of the words, at this moment coming as sweetly +from His lips as when first He uttered them--"I know my sheep." Every +individual believer--the weakest, the weariest, the faintest--claims His +attention. His loving eye follows me day by day out to the +wilderness--marks out my pasture, studies my wants, and trials, and +sorrows, and perplexities--every steep ascent, every brook, every +winding path, every thorny thicket. "He goeth before them." It is not +rough driving, but gentle guiding. He does not take them over an unknown +road; He himself has trodden it before. He hath drunk of every "brook by +the way;" He himself hath "suffered being tempted;" He is "able to +succour them that are tempted." He seems to say, "Fear not; I cannot +lead you wrong; follow me in the bleak waste, the blackened wilderness, +as well as by the green pastures and the still waters. Do you ask why I +have left the sunny side of the valley--carpeted with flowers, and +bathed in sunshine--leading you to some high mountain apart, some +cheerless spot of sorrow? Trust me, I will lead you by paths you have +not known, but they are all known _to_ me, and selected _by_ me--'Follow +thou me.'" + +"And am known of mine!" Reader! canst thou subscribe to these closing +words of this gracious utterance? Dost thou "know" _Him_ in all the +glories of His person, in all the completeness of His finished work, in +all the tenderness and unutterable love of His every dealing towards +thee? + +It has been remarked by Palestine travellers, that not only do the sheep +there follow the guiding shepherd, but even while cropping the herbage +as they go along, they look wistfully up to see that they are near him. +Is this thine attitude--"_looking unto Jesus_?" "In all thy ways +acknowledge Him, and he will direct thy paths." Leave the future to His +providing. "The Lord is my Shepherd; I shall not want." _I shall not +want!_--it has been beautifully called "the bleating of Messiah's +sheep." Take it as thy watchword during thy wilderness wanderings, till +grace be perfected in glory. Let this be the record of thy simple faith +and unwavering trust, "These are they who _follow_, whithersoever He +sees meet to guide them." + + "THE SHEEP FOLLOW HIM, FOR THEY KNOW HIS VOICE." + + + + +8TH DAY. + +"Remember the words of the Lord Jesus, how He said"-- + + "And I will pray the Father, and He shall give you another + Comforter, that he may abide with you for ever."--John xiv. 16. + +The Abiding Comforter. + + +When one beloved earthly friend is taken away, how the heart is drawn +out towards those that remain! Jesus was now about to leave His +sorrowing disciples. He directs them to one whose presence would fill up +the vast blank His own absence was to make. His name was, _The +Comforter_; His mission was, "to abide with them for ever." Accordingly, +no sooner had the gates of heaven closed on their ascended Lord, than, +in fulfilment of His own gracious promise, the bereaved and orphaned +Church was baptized with Pentecostal fire. "When I depart, I will send +Him unto you." + +Reader, do you realize your privilege--living under the dispensation of +the Spirit? Is it your daily prayer that He may come down in all the +plenitude of His heavenly graces on your soul, even "as rain upon the +mown grass, and showers that water the earth?" You cannot live without +Him; there can be not one heavenly aspiration, not one breathing of +love, not one upward glance of faith, without His gracious influences. +Apart from him, there is no preciousness in the word, no blessing in +ordinances, no permanent sanctifying results in affliction. As the angel +directed Hagar to the hidden spring, this blessed agent, true to His +name and office, directs His people to the waters of comfort, giving new +glory to the promises, investing the Saviour's character and work with +new loveliness and beauty. + +How precious is the title which this "Word of Jesus" gives Him--THE +COMFORTER! What a word for a sorrowing world! The Church militant has +its tent pitched in a "valley of _tears_." The name of the divine +visitant who comes to her and ministers to her wants, is _Comforter_. +Wide is the family of the afflicted, but He has a healing balm for +all--the weak, the tempted, the sick, the sorrowing, the bereaved, the +dying! How different from other "sons of consolation?" _Human +friends_--a look may alienate; adversity may estrange; death must +separate! The "Word of Jesus" speaks of One whose attribute and +prerogative is to "abide with us for ever;" superior to all +vicissitudes--surviving death itself! + +And surely if anything else can endear His mission of love to His +Church, it is that He comes direct from God, as the fruit and gift of +_Jesus' intercession_--"_I_ will pray the Father." This holy dove of +peace and comfort is let out by the hand of Jesus from the ark of +covenant mercy within the veil! Nor is the gift more glorious than it is +free. Does the word, the look, of a suffering child get the eye and the +heart of an _earthly_ father? "If ye then, being evil, know how to give +good gifts unto your children, how much more shall your Father in heaven +give the Holy Spirit unto them that ask Him?" It is He who makes these +"words of Jesus" "winged words." + + "HE SHALL BRING ALL THINGS TO YOUR REMEMBRANCE, WHATSOEVER I HAVE + SAID UNTO YOU." + + + + +9TH DAY. + +"Remember the words of the Lord Jesus, how He said"-- + + "Neither do I condemn thee; go and sin no more."--John viii. 11. + +The Gracious Verdict. + + +How much more tender is Jesus than the tenderest of earthly friends? The +Apostles, in a moment of irritation would have called down fire from +heaven on obstinate sinners. Their Master rebuked the unkind suggestion. +Peter, the trusted but treacherous disciple, expected nothing but harsh +and merited reproof for faithlessness. He who knew well how that heart +would be bowed with penitential sorrow, sends first the kindest of +messages, and then the gentlest of rebukes, "Lovest thou me?" The +watchmen in the Canticles smote the bride, tore off her veil, and loaded +her with reproaches. When she found her lost Lord, there was not one +word of upbraiding! "So slow is He to anger," says an illustrious +believer, "so ready to forgive, that when His prophets lost all patience +with the people so as to make intercession _against_ them, yet even then +could He not be got to cast off this people whom He foreknew, for his +great name's sake." + +The guilty sinner to whom He speaks this comforting "word," was frowned +upon by her accusers. But, if others spurned her from their presence, +"_Neither do I condemn thee._" Well it is to fall into the hands of this +blessed Saviour-God, for great are His mercies. + +Are we to infer from this, that He winks at sin? Far from it. His blood, +His work--Bethlehem, and Calvary, refute the thought! Ere the guilt even +of one solitary soul could be washed out, He had to descend from His +everlasting throne to agonise on the accursed tree. But this "word of +Jesus" is a word of tender encouragement to every sincere, +broken-hearted penitent, that crimson sins, and scarlet sins, are no +barriers to a free, full, everlasting forgiveness. The Israelite of old, +gasping in his agony in the sands of the wilderness, had but to "_look_ +and _live_;" and still does He say, "Look unto me, and be ye saved, all +the ends of the earth." Up-reared by the side of his own cross there was +a monumental column for all Time, only second to itself in wonder. Over +the head of the dying felon is the superscription written for despairing +guilt and trembling penitence, "This is a faithful saying, and worthy of +all acceptation, that Jesus Christ came into the world to save sinners." +"He never yet," says Charnock, "put out a dim candle that was lighted at +the Sun of Righteousness." "Whatever our guiltiness be," says +Rutherford, "yet when it falleth into the sea of God's mercy, it is but +like a drop of blood fallen into the great ocean." + +Reader, you may be the chief of sinners, or it may be the chief of +backsliders; your soul may have started aside like a broken bow. As the +bankrupt is afraid to look into his books, you may be afraid to look +into your own heart. You are hovering on the verge of despair. +Conscience, and the memory of unnumbered sins, is uttering the +desponding verdict, "I condemn thee." Jesus has a kinder word--a more +cheering declaration--"_I_ condemn thee _not_: go, and sin no more!" + + "AND ALL WONDERED AT THE GRACIOUS _WORDS_ THAT PROCEEDED OUT OF + HIS MOUTH." + + + + +10TH DAY. + +"Remember the words of the Lord Jesus, how He said"-- + + "Whosoever shall do the will of my Father which is in heaven, the + same is my brother, and my sister, and mother."--Matt. xii. 50. + +The Wondrous Relationship. + + +As if no solitary earthly type were enough to image forth the love of +Jesus, He assembles into one verse a group of the tenderest earthly +relationships. Human affection has to focus its loveliest hues, but all +is too little to afford an exponent of the depth and intensity of _His_. +"As one whom his _mother_ comforteth;" "my _sister_, my _spouse_." He is +"_Son_," "_Brother_" "_Friend_"--all in one; "cleaving closer than any +brother." + +And can we wonder at such language? Is it merely figurative, expressive +of more than the reality?--He gave _Himself_ for us; after that pledge +of His affection we must cease to marvel at any expression of the +interest He feels in us. Anything He can _say_ or _do_ is infinitely +less than what He _has done_. + +Believer! art thou solitary and desolate? Has bereavement severed +earthly ties? Has the grave made forced estrangements,--sundered the +closest links of earthly affection? In Jesus thou hast filial and +fraternal love combined; He is the Friend of friends, whose presence and +fellowship compensates for all losses, and supplies all blanks; "He +setteth the solitary in families." If thou art orphaned, friendless, +comfortless here, remember there is in the Elder Brother on the Throne a +love deep as the unfathomed ocean, boundless as Eternity? + +And who are those who can claim the blessedness spoken of under this +wondrous imagery? On whom does He lavish this unutterable affection? No +outward profession will purchase it. No church, no priest, no +ordinances, no denominational distinctions. It is on those who are +possessed of _holy characters_. "He that doeth the will of my Father +which is in heaven!" He who reflects the mind of Jesus; imbibes His +Spirit; takes His Word as the regulator of his daily walk, and makes His +glory the great end of his being; he who lives _to_ God and _with_ God, +and _for_ God; the humble, lowly, Christ-like, Heaven-seeking +Christian;--he it is who can claim as his own this wondrous heritage of +love! If it be a worthy object of ambition to be loved by the good and +the great on earth, what must it be to have an eye of love ever beaming +upon us from the Throne, in comparison of which the attachment here of +brother, sister, kinsman, friend--all combined--pales like the stars +before the rising sun! Though we are often ashamed to call Him +"Brother," "He is not ashamed to call us _brethren_." He looks down on +poor worms, and says, "_The same_ is my mother, and sister, and +brother!" "I will write upon them," He says in another place, "my new +name." Just as we write our name on a book to tell that it belongs to +us; so Jesus would write His own name on _us_, the wondrous volumes of +His grace, that they may be read and pondered by principalities and +powers. + +Have we "known and believed this love of God?" Ah, how poor has been the +requital! Who cannot subscribe to the words of one, whose name was in +all the churches,--"Thy love has been as a shower; the return but a +dew-drop, and that dew-drop stained with sin." + + "IF A MAN LOVE ME, HE WILL KEEP _MY WORDS_; AND MY FATHER WILL LOVE + HIM, AND WE WILL COME UNTO HIM, AND MAKE OUR ABODE WITH HIM." + + + + +11TH DAY. + +"Remember the words of the Lord Jesus, how He said"-- + + "I will not leave you comfortless: I will come to you."--John xiv. + 18. + +The Befriended Orphans. + + +Does the Christian's path lie all the way through Beulah? Nay, he is +forewarned it is to be one of "much tribulation." He has his Marahs as +well as his Elims--his valleys of Baca as well as his grapes of Eschol. +Often is he left unbefriended to bear the brunt of the storm--his gourds +fading when most needed--his sun going down while it is yet day--his +happy home and happy heart darkened in a moment with sorrows with which +a stranger (with which often a _brother_) cannot intermeddle. There is +_One_ Brother "born for adversity," who _can_. How often has that voice +broken with its silvery accents the muffled stillness of the +sick-chamber or death-chamber! "'_I_ will not leave you comfortless:' +the world _may_, friends _may_, the desolations of bereavement and death +_may_; but _I will not_; you will be alone, yet _not_ alone, for I your +Saviour and your God will be with you!" + +Jesus seems to have an especial love and affection for His orphaned and +comfortless people. A father loves his sick and sorrowing child most; of +all his household, he occupies most of his thoughts. Christ seems to +delight to lavish His deepest sympathy on "him that hath no helper." It +is in the hour of sorrow His people have found Him most precious; it is +in "the wilderness" He speaks most "comfortably unto them;" He gives +them "their vineyards from thence:" in the places they least expected, +wells of heavenly consolation break forth at their feet. As Jonathan of +old, when faint and weary, had his strength revived by the honey he +found dropping in the tangled thicket: so the faint and woe-worn +children of God find "honey in the wood"--everlasting consolation +dropping from the tree of life, in the midst of the thorniest thickets +of affliction. + +Comfortless ones, be comforted! Jesus often makes you _portionless_ +here, to drive you to Himself, the _everlasting portion_. He often dries +every rill and fountain of earthly bliss, that He may lead you to say, +"All my springs are in Thee." "He seems intent," says one who could +speak from experience, "to fill up every gap love has been forced to +make; one of his errands from heaven was to bind up the broken-hearted." +How beautifully in one amazing verse does he conjoin the depth and +tenderness of his comfort with the certainty of it--"As one whom his +mother comforteth, so will I comfort you, and ye SHALL be comforted!" + +Ah, how many would not have their wilderness-state altered, with all +its trials, and gloom, and sorrow, just that they might enjoy the +unutterable sympathy and love of this Comforter of the comfortless, one +ray of whose approving smile can dispel the deepest earthly gloom? As +the clustering constellations shine with intensest lustre in the +midnight sky, so these "words of Jesus" come out like ministering angels +in the deep dark night of earthly sorrow. We may see no beauty in them +when the world is sunny and bright; but He has laid them up in store for +us for the dark and cloudy day. + + "THESE THINGS HAVE I TOLD YOU, THAT WHEN THE TIME COMETH, YE MAY + REMEMBER THAT I TOLD YOU OF THEM." + + + + +12TH DAY. + +"Remember the words of the Lord Jesus, how He said"-- + + "In the world ye shall have tribulation: but be of good cheer; I + have overcome the world."--John xvi. 33. + +The World Conquered. + + +And shall I be afraid of a world already conquered? The Almighty Victor, +within view of His Crown, turns round to His faint and weary soldiers, +and bids them take courage. They are not fighting their way through +untried enemies. The God-Man Mediator "_knows_ their sorrows." "He was +in _all points_ tempted." "Both He (_i. e._, Christ) who sanctifieth, +and they (His people) who are sanctified, are all of one (nature)." As +the great Precursor, he heads the pilgrim band, saying "I will show you +the path of life." The way to heaven is consecrated by His footprints. +Every thorn that wounds _them_, has wounded _Him_ before. Every cross +they can bear, he has borne before. Every tear they shed, He has shed +before. There is one respect, indeed, in which the identity fails,--He +was "yet without sin;" but this recoil of His Holy nature from moral +evil gives Him a deeper and intenser sensibility towards those who have +still corruption within responding to temptation without. + +Reader! are you ready to faint under your tribulations? Is it a seducing +world--a wandering, wayward heart? "Consider _Him_ that endured!" Listen +to your adorable Redeemer, stooping from His Throne, and saying, "_I_ +have overcome the world." He came forth unscathed from its snares. With +the same heavenly weapon He bids you wield, three times did he repel the +Tempter, saying, "It is written."--Is it some crushing trial, or +overwhelming grief? He is "_acquainted_ with _grief_." He, the mighty +Vine, knows the minutest fibres of sorrow in the branches; when the +pruning knife touches _them_, it touches _Him_. "He has gone," says a +tried sufferer, "through every class in our wilderness school." He loves +to bring His people into untried and perplexing places, that they may +seek out the guiding pillar, and prize its radiance. He puts them on the +darkening waves, that they may follow the guiding light hung out astern +from the only Bark of pure and unsullied Humanity that was ever proof +against the storm. + +Be assured there is disguised love in all He does. He who knows us +infinitely better than we know ourselves, often puts a thorn in our nest +to drive us to the wing, that we may not be grovellers forever. "It is," +says Evans, "upon the smooth ice we slip, the rough path is safest for +the feet." The tearless and undimmed eye is not to be coveted _here_; +_that_ is reserved for heaven! + +Who can tell what muffled and disguised "needs be" there may lurk under +these world-tribulations? His true spiritual seed are often planted deep +in the soil; they have to make their way through a load of sorrow before +they reach the surface; but their roots are thereby the firmer and +deeper struck. Had it not been for these lowly and needed "depths," they +might have rushed up as feeble saplings, and succumbed to the first +blast. He often leads His people still, as he led them of old, to "a +high mountain apart;" but it is to a _high_ mountain--_above the world_; +and, better still, He who Himself hath overcome the world, leadeth them +there, and speaketh comfortably unto them. + + "I HOPE IN THY _WORD_." + + + + +13TH DAY. + +"Remember the words of the Lord Jesus, how He said"-- + + "Fear not, little flock; it is your Father's good pleasure to give + you the kingdom."--Luke xii. 32. + +The Little Flock. + + +The music of the Shepherd's voice again! Another comforting "word," and +how tender! _his_ flock a _little_ flock, a _feeble_ flock, a _fearful_ +flock, but a _beloved_ flock, loved of the Father, enjoying His "good +pleasure," and soon to be a _glorified_ flock, safe in the fold, secure +within the kingdom! How does He quiet their fears and misgivings? As +they stand panting on the bleak mountain side, He points His crook +upwards to the bright and shining gates of glory, and says, "It is your +Father's good pleasure to give you these!" What gentle words! What a +blessed consummation! Gracious Saviour, Thy _gentleness_ hath made me +_great_! + +That kingdom is the believer's by irreversible and inalienable +charter-right--"I appoint unto you" (by covenant), says Jesus in another +place, "a kingdom, as my Father hath appointed unto me." It is as sure +as everlasting love and almighty power can make it. Satan, the great foe +of the kingdom, may be injecting foul misgivings, and doubts, and fears +as to your security; but he cannot denude you of your purchased +immunities. He must first pluck the crown from the Brow upon the Throne, +before he can weaken or impair this sure word of promise. If "it pleased +the Lord" to _bruise_ the Shepherd, it will surely please Him to make +happy the purchased flock. If He "smote" His "Fellow" when the sheep +were scattered, surely it will rejoice Him, for the Shepherd's sake, "to +turn His hand upon the little ones." + +Believers, think of this! "It is your Father's good pleasure." The Good +Shepherd, in leading you across the intervening mountains, shows you +signals and memorials of paternal grace studding all the way. He may +"lead you about" in your way thither. He led the children of Israel of +old out of Egypt to their promised kingdom,--how? By forty years' +wilderness-discipline and privations. But trust Him; dishonour Him not +with guilty doubts and fears. Look not back on your dark, stumbling +paths, nor within on your fitful and vacillating heart; but forwards to +the land that is far off. How earnestly God desires your salvation! What +a heaping together of similar tender "words" with that which is here +addressed to us? The Gospel seems like a palace full of opened windows, +from each of which He issues an invitation, declaring that He has no +pleasure in our death--but rather that we would turn and live! + +Let the melody of the Shepherd's reed fall gently on your ear,--"It is +your Father's good pleasure." I have given you, He seems to say, the +best proof that it is _mine_. In order to purchase that kingdom, I died +for you! But it is also _His_: "As a shepherd seeketh out his flock in +the day that he is among his sheep that are scattered, so," says God, +"will I seek out my sheep, and will deliver them out of all places where +they have been scattered in the cloudy and dark day." Fear not, then, +little flock! though yours for a while should be the bleak mountain and +sterile waste, seeking your way Zionward, it may be "with torn fleeces +and bleeding feet;" for, + + "IT IS NOT THE WILL OF YOUR FATHER WHICH IS IN HEAVEN, THAT ONE OF + THESE LITTLE ONES SHOULD PERISH." + + + + +14TH DAY. + +"Remember the words of the Lord Jesus, how He said"-- + + "If any man thirst, let him come unto me, and drink."--John vii. 37. + +The Unlimited Offer. + + +One of the most gracious "words" that ever "proceeded out of the mouth +of God!" The time it was uttered was an impressive one; it was on "the +last, the great day" of the Feast of Tabernacles, when a denser +multitude than on any of the seven preceding ones were assembled +together. The golden bowl, according to custom, had probably just been +filled with the waters of Siloam, and was being carried up to the Temple +amid the acclamations of the crowd, when the Saviour of the world seized +the opportunity of speaking to them some truths of momentous import. +Many, doubtless, were the "words of Jesus" uttered on the previous days, +but the most important is reserved for the last. What, then, is the +great closing theme on which He rivets the attention of this vast +auditory, and which He would have them carry away to their distant +homes? It is, _The freeness of His own great salvation_--"If any man +thirst, let him come unto me and drink." + +Reader, do you discredit the reality of this gracious offer? Are your +legion sins standing as a barrier between you and a Saviour's proffered +mercy? Do you feel as if you cannot come "just as you are;" that some +partial cleansing, some preparatory reformation must take place before +you can venture to the living fountain? Nay, "_if any man_." What is +freer than water?--The poorest beggar may drink "without money" the +wayside pool. _That_ is your Lord's own picture of His own glorious +salvation; you are invited to come, "without one plea," in all your +poverty and want, your weakness and unworthiness. Remember the +Redeemer's saying to the woman of Samaria. She was the chief of +sinners--profligate--hardened--degraded; but He made no condition, no +qualification; _simple believing_ was all that was required,--"If thou +knewest the gift of God," thou wouldst have asked, and He would have +given thee "living water." + +But is there not, after all, _one_ condition mentioned in this "word of +Jesus?"--"_If_ any man _thirst_." You may have the depressing +consciousness that you experience no such ardent longings after +holiness,--no feeling of your affecting need of the Saviour. But is not +this very conviction of your want an indication of a feeble longing +after Christ? If you are saying, "I have nothing to draw with, and the +well is deep," He who makes offer of the salvation-stream will Himself +fill your empty vessel,--"He satisfieth the _longing_ soul with +goodness." + +"Jesus _stood_ and _cried_." It is the solitary instance recorded of Him +of whom it is said, "He shall _not_ strive nor cry," lifting up "His +voice in the streets." But it was truth of surpassing interest and +magnitude He had to proclaim. It was a declaration, moreover, specially +dear to him. As it formed the theme of this ever-memorable _sermon_ +during His public ministry, so when He was sealing up the inspired +record--the last utterances of His voice on earth, till that voice shall +be heard again on the throne, contained the same life-giving +invitation,--"Let him that is athirst come, and whosoever will, let him +take of the water of life freely." Oh! as the echoes of that gracious +saying--this blast of the silver trumpet--are still sounding to the ends +of the world, may this be the recorded result, + + "AS HE SPAKE _THESE WORDS_, MANY BELIEVED ON HIM." + + + + +15TH DAY. + +"Remember the words of the Lord Jesus, how He said"-- + + "My yoke is easy, and my burden is light."--Matt. xi. 30. + +The Joyful Servitude. + + +Can the same be said of Satan, or sin? With regard to _them_, how +faithfully true rather is the converse--"my yoke is _heavy_, and my +burden is _grievous_!" Christ's service is a happy service, the _only_ +happy one; and even when there is a cross to carry, or a yoke to bear, +it is His own appointment. "_My_ yoke." It is sent by no untried friend. +Nay, He who puts it on His people, bore this very yoke Himself. "He +_carried_ our sorrows." How blessed this feeling of holy servitude to so +kind a Master! not like "dumb, driven cattle," goaded on, but _led_, and +led often most tenderly when the yoke and the burden are upon us. The +great apostle rarely speaks of himself under any other title but _one_. +That _one_ he seems to make his boast. He had much whereof he might +glory;--he had been the instrument in saving thousands--he had spoken +before kings--he had been in Caesar's palace and Caesar's presence--he had +been caught up into the third heaven,--but in all his letters this is +his joyful prefix and superscription, "The _Servant_ (literally, _the +slave_) of Jesus Christ!" + +Reader! dost thou know this blessed servitude? Canst thou say with a +joyful heart, "O Lord, truly I am Thy servant?" He is no hard +taskmaster. Would Satan try to teach thee so? Let this be the +refutation, "He loved me, and gave _Himself_ for _me_." True, the yoke +is the appointed discipline he employs in training his children for +immortality. But be comforted! "It is His tender hand that _puts_ it on, +and _keeps_ it on." He will suit the yoke to the neck, and the neck to +the yoke. He will suit His grace to your trials. Nay, He will bring you +even to be in love with these, when they bring along with them such +gracious unfoldings of His own faithfulness and mercy. How His people +need thus to be in heaviness through manifold temptations, to keep them +meek and submissive! "Jeshurun (like a bullock unaccustomed to the +harness, fed and pampered in the stall) waxed fat, and kicked." Never is +there more gracious love than when God takes His own means to curb and +subjugate, to humble us, and to prove us--bringing us out from +ourselves, our likings, our confidences, our prosperity, and putting us +under the needed YOKE. + +And who has ever repented of that joyful servitude? Among all the ten +thousand regrets that mingle with a dying hour, and oft bedew with +bitter tears a dying pillow, who ever told of regrets and repentance +here? + +Tried believer, has He ever failed thee? Has His yoke been too grievous? +Have thy tears been unalleviated--thy sorrows unsolaced--thy temptations +above that thou wert able to bear? Ah! rather canst thou not testify, +"The word of the Lord is tried;" I cast my burden upon Him, and He +"sustained me?" How have seeming difficulties melted away! How has the +yoke lost its heaviness, and the cross its bitterness, in the thought of +whom thou wert bearing it for! There is a promised rest in the very +carrying of the yoke; and a better rest remains for the weary and +toil-worn when the appointed work is finished; for thus saith "that same +Jesus," + + "TAKE MY YOKE UPON YOU, AND LEARN OF ME, ... AND YE SHALL FIND _REST_ + UNTO YOUR SOULS." + + + + +16TH DAY. + +"Remember the words of the Lord Jesus, how He said"-- + + "As the Father hath loved me, so have I loved you."--John xv. 9. + +The Measure of Love. + + +This is the most wondrous verse in the Bible. Who can sound the +unimagined depths of that love which dwelt in the bosom of the Father +from all eternity towards His Son?--and yet here is the Saviour's own +exponent of His love towards His people! + +There is no subject more profoundly mysterious than those mystic +intercommunings between the first and second persons in the adorable +Trinity before the world was. Scripture gives us only some dim and +shadowy revelations regarding them--distant gleams of light, and no +more. Let one suffice. "_Then_ I was by Him, as one brought up with Him, +and I was daily His delight, rejoicing always before Him." + +We know that earthly affection is deepened and intensified by increased +familiarity with its object. The friendship of yesterday is not the +sacred, hallowed thing, which years of growing intercourse have matured. +If we may with reverence apply this test to the highest type of holy +affection, what must have been that interchange of love which the +measureless lapse of Eternity had fostered--a love, moreover, not +fitful, transient, vacillating, subject to altered tones and estranged +looks--but pure, constant, untainted, without one shadow of turning! And +yet, listen to the "words of Jesus," As the Father hath loved _me_, _so_ +have I loved _you_! It would have been infinitely more than we had +reason to expect, if He had said, "As my Father hath loved ANGELS, so +have I loved you." But the love borne to no finite beings is an +appropriate symbol. Long before the birth of time or of worlds, that +love existed. It was coeval with Eternity itself. Hear how the two +themes of the Saviour's eternal rejoicing--the _love of His Father_, and +His _love for sinners_--are grouped together;--"Rejoicing always before +HIM, _and_ in the habitable part of His _earth_!" + +To complete the picture, we must take in a counterpart description of +the _Father's_ love to us;--"_Therefore_ doth my Father love me," says +Jesus in another place, "_because_ I lay down my life!" God had an +all-sufficiency in His love--He needed not the taper-love of creatures +to add to His glory or happiness; but He seems to say, that so intense +is His love for us, that He loves even His beloved Son _more_ (if +infinite love be capable of increase), because He laid down His life for +the guilty! It is regarding the Redeemed it is said, "He shall _rest_ in +His love--He shall rejoice over _them_ with singing." + +In the assertion, "God is love," we are left truly with no mere +unproved averment regarding the existence of some abstract quality in +the divine nature. "Herein," says an apostle, "perceive we THE +LOVE,"--(it is added in our authorised version, "of God," but, as it has +been remarked, "Our translators need not have added _whose_ love, for +there is but one such specimen")--"_because_ He laid down His life for +us." No expression of love can be wondered at after _this_. Ah, how +miserable are our best affections compared with His! "_Our_ love is but +the reflection--cold as the moon; _His_ is as the Sun." Shall we refuse +to love Him more in return, who hath _first_ loved, and so _loved us_? + + "NEVER MAN SPAKE LIKE THIS MAN." + + + + +17TH DAY. + +"Remember the words of the Lord Jesus, how He said"-- + + "Only believe."--Mark v. 36. + +The Brief Gospel. + + +The briefest of the "words of Jesus," but one of the most comforting. +They contain the essence and epitome of all saving truth. + +Reader, is _Satan_ assailing thee with tormenting fears? Is the thought +of thy sins--the guilty past--coming up in terrible memorial before +thee, almost tempting thee to give way to hopeless despondency? Fear +not! A gentle voice whispers in thine ear,--"_Only believe._" "Thy sins +are great, but my grace and merits are greater. 'Only believe' that I +died for thee--that I am living for thee and pleading for thee, and that +'the faithful saying' is as 'faithful' as ever, and as 'worthy of all +acceptation' as ever."--Art thou a _backslider_? Didst thou once run +well? Has thine own guilty apostacy alienated and estranged thee from +that face which was once all love, and that service which was once all +delight? Art thou breathing in broken-hearted sorrow over the holy +memories of a close walk with God--"Oh that it were with me as in months +past, when the candle of the Lord did shine?" "_Only believe._" Take +this thy mournful soliloquy, and convert it into a prayer. "Only +believe" the word of Him whose ways are not as man's ways--"Return, ye +backsliding children, and I will heal your backsliding."--Art thou +beaten down with some heavy _trial_? have thy fondest schemes been blown +upon--thy fairest blossoms been withered in the bud? has wave after wave +been rolling in upon thee? hath the Lord forgotten to be gracious? Hear +the "word of Jesus" resounding amid the thickest midnight of +gloom--penetrating even through the vaults of the dead--"Believe, _only +believe_." There is an infinite _reason_ for the trial--a lurking thorn +that required removal, a gracious lesson that required teaching. The +dreadful severing blow was dealt in love. God will be glorified in it, +and your own soul made the better for it. Patiently wait till the light +of immortality be reflected on a receding world. Here you must take His +dealings on trust. The word of Jesus to you now is, "_Only believe._" +The word of Jesus in eternity (every inner meaning and undeveloped +purpose being unfolded), "Said I not unto thee that if thou wouldest +_but_ BELIEVE, thou shouldst SEE the glory of God?"--Are you fearful and +agitated in _the prospect of death_? Through fear of the last enemy, +have you been all your lifetime subject to bondage?--"_Only believe._" +"As thy day is, so shall thy strength be." Dying grace will be given +when a dying hour comes. In the dark river a sustaining arm will be +underneath you, deeper than the deepest and darkest wave. Ere you know +it, the darkness will be past, the true Light shining,--the whisper of +faith in the nether valley, "Believe! believe!" exchanged for +angel-voices exclaiming, as you enter the portals of glory, "No longer +through a glass darkly, but now face to face!" + +Yes! "Jesus Himself had no higher remedy for sin, for sorrow, and for +suffering, than those two words convey. At the utmost extremity of His +own distress, and of His disciples' wretchedness, He could only say, +'Let not your heart be troubled: ye believe in God, believe also in me.' +'Believe, only believe.'" + + "LORD, I BELIEVE, HELP THOU MINE UNBELIEF." + + + + +18TH DAY. + +"Remember the words of the Lord Jesus, how He said"-- + + "Be of good cheer: It is I; be not afraid."--Mark vi. 50. + +The Great Calm. + + +"It is I," (or as our old version has it, more in accordance with the +original), "I AM! be not afraid!" Jesus lives! His people may dispel +their misgivings--Omnipotence treads the waves! To sense it may seem at +times to be otherwise; wayward accident and chance may appear to +regulate human allotments; but not so: "The Lord's voice is upon the +waters,"--He sits at the helm guiding the tempest-tossed bark, and +guiding it well. + +How often does He come to us as He did to the disciples in that midnight +hour when all seems lost--"in the fourth watch of the night,"--when we +least looked for Him; or when, like the shipwrecked apostle, "for days +together neither sun nor stars appeared, and no small tempest lay on +us; when all hope that we should be saved seemed to be taken away,"--how +often _just at that moment_, is the "word of Jesus" heard floating over +the billows! + +Believer, art thou in trouble? listen to the voice in the storm, "Fear +not, _I_ AM." That voice, like Joseph's of old to his brethren, may +_seem_ rough, but there are gracious undertones of love. "It is I," he +seems to say; It _was_ I, that roused the storm; It is I, who when it +has done its work, will calm it, and say, "Peace, be still." Every wave +rolls at My bidding--every trial is My appointment--all have some +gracious end; they are not sent to dash you against the sunken rocks, +but to waft you nearer heaven. Is it _sickness_? I am He who bare your +sickness; the weary wasted frame, and the nights of languishing, were +sent by Me. Is it _bereavement_? I am "the Brother" born for +adversity--the loved and lost were plucked away by Me. Is it _death_? I +AM the "Abolisher of death," seated by your side to calm the waves of +ebbing life; it is _I_, about to fetch My pilgrims _home_--It is My +voice that speaks, "The Master is come, and calleth for thee." + +Reader, thou wilt have reason yet to praise thy God for every one such +storm! This is the history of every heavenly voyager: "_So_ He bringeth +them to their desired haven." "_So!_" That word, in all its unknown and +diversified meaning, is in _His_ hand. He suits His dealings to every +case. "_So!_" With some it is through quiet seas unfretted by one +buffeting wave. "_So!_" With others it is "mounting up to heaven, and +going down again to the deep." But whatever be the leading and the +discipline, here is the grand consummation, "_So_ He bringeth them unto +their desired haven." It might have been with thee the moanings of an +eternal night-blast--no lull or pause in the storm; but soon the +darkness will be past, and the hues of morn tipping the shores of glory! + +And what, then, should your attitude be? "Looking unto Jesus" +(literally, looking _from unto_); looking away from self, and sin, and +human props and refuges and confidences, and fixing the eye of +unwavering and unflinching faith on a reigning Saviour. Ah, how a real +quickening sight of Christ dispels all guilty fears! The Roman keepers +of old were affrighted, and became as dead men. The lowly Jewish women +feared not; why? "_I know that ye seek Jesus!_" Reader, let thy weary +spirit fold itself to rest under the composing "word" of a gracious +Saviour, saying---- + + "I WAIT FOR THE LORD, MY SOUL DOTH WAIT, AND IN _HIS WORD_ DO I + HOPE." + + + + +19TH DAY. + +"Remember the words of the Lord Jesus, how He said"-- + + "Peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you: not as the world + giveth, give I unto you."--John xiv. 27. + +The Dying Legacy. + + +How we treasure the last sayings of a dying parent! How specially +cherished and memorable are his last looks and last words! Here are the +last words--the parting legacy--of a dying Saviour. It is a legacy of +_peace_. + +What peace is this? It is His own purchase--a peace arising out of free +forgiveness through His precious blood. It is sung in concert with +"Glory to God in the highest"--a peace made as sure to us as eternal +power and infinite love _can make it_! It is _peace_ the soul wants. +Existence is one long-drawn sigh after repose. _That_ is nowhere else to +be found, but through the blood of His cross! "Being justified by +faith, we _have_ peace with God." "HE giveth his beloved _rest_!" + +How different from the false and counterfeit peace in which so many are +content to live, and content to die! The world's peace is all well, so +long as prosperity lasts--so long as the stream runs smooth, and the sky +is clear; but when the cataract is at hand, or the storm is gathering, +where is it? It is _gone_! There is no calculating on its permanency. +Often when the cup is fullest, there is the trembling apprehension that +in one brief moment it may be dashed to the ground. The soul may be +saying to itself, "Peace, peace;" but, like the writing on the sand, it +may be obliterated by the first wave of adversity. BUT, "Not as the +world giveth!" The peace of the believer is +deep--calm--lasting--_ever_lasting. The world, with all its +blandishments, cannot give it. The world, with all its vicissitudes and +fluctuations, cannot take it away! It is brightest in the hour of +trial; it lights up the final valley-gloom. "Mark the perfect man, and +behold the upright, for the end of that man is peace." Yes! how often is +the believer's deathbed like the deep calm repose of a summer-evening's +sky, when all nature is hushed to rest; the departing soul, like the +vanishing sun, peacefully disappearing only to shine in another and +brighter hemisphere! "I seem," said Simeon on his deathbed, "to have +nothing to do but to wait: there is now nothing but _peace_, the +_sweetest peace_." + +Believer! do you know this peace which passeth understanding? Is it +"keeping (literally, '_garrisoning_ as in a citadel') your heart?" Have +you learnt the blessedness of waking up, morning after morning, and +feeling, "I am at peace with my God;" of beholding by faith the true +Aaron--the great High Priest--coming forth from "the holiest of all" to +"bless His people with peace?" Waves of trouble may be murmuring around +you, but they cannot touch you; you are in the rock-crevice athwart +which the fiercest tornado sweeps by. Oh! leave not the making up of +your peace with God to a dying hour! It will be a hard thing to smooth +the death-pillow, if peace be left unsought till then. Make sure of it +_now_. He, the true Melchisedec, is willing _now_ to come forth to meet +you with bread and wine--emblems of peaceful gospel blessings. All the +"words of Jesus" are so many rills contributing to make your peace flow +as a river;--"These things have I spoken unto you, that in Me ye might +have peace." + + "I WILL HEAR WHAT GOD THE LORD WILL SPEAK, FOR HE WILL SPEAK PEACE + UNTO HIS PEOPLE AND TO HIS SAINTS." + + + + +20TH DAY. + +"Remember the words of the Lord Jesus, how He said"-- + + "All power is given unto me in heaven and in earth."--Matt. xxviii. + 18. + +The Supreme Investiture. + + +What an empire is this! Heaven and earth--the Church militant--the +Church triumphant--angels and archangels--saints and seraphs. At His +mandate the billows were hushed--demons crouched in terror--the grave +yielded its prey! "Upon his head are many crowns." He is made "head over +_all things_ to His Church." Yes! over _all things_, from the minutest +to the mightiest. He holds the stars in His right hand--He walks in the +midst of the seven golden candlesticks, feeding every candlestick with +the oil of His grace, and preserving every star in its spiritual orbit. +The prince of Darkness has "a power," but, God be praised, it is not an +"all power;" _potent_, but not _omnipotent_. Christ holds him in a +chain. He hath set bounds that he may not pass over. "Satan," we read in +the book of Job, "went out (_Chaldee paraphrase_, 'with a licence') from +the presence of the Lord." He was not allowed even to enter the herd of +swine till Christ permitted him. He only "_desired_" to have Peter that +he might "sift him;" there was a mightier countervailing agency at hand: +"_I_ have prayed for thee, that thy faith fail not." + +Believer, how often is there nothing but this grace of Jesus between +thee and everlasting destruction! Satan's key fitting the lock in thy +wayward heart; but a stronger than the strong man barring him out;--the +power of the adversary fanning the flame; the Omnipotence of Jesus +quenching it. Art thou even now feeling the strength of thy corruptions, +the weakness of thy graces, the presence of some outward or inward +temptation? Look up to Him who has promised to make His grace sufficient +for thee; "all power" is His prerogative; "all-sufficiency in all +things" is His promise. It is power, too, in conjunction with +tenderness. He who sways the sceptre of universal empire "gently leads" +His weak, and weary, and burdened ones:--He who counts the number of the +stars, loves to count the number of their sorrows; nothing too great, +nothing too insignificant for _Him_. He puts every tear into his bottle. +He paves His people's pathway with love! + +Blessed Jesus! my everlasting interests cannot be in better or in safer +keeping than in Thine. I can exultingly rely on the "_all-power_" of Thy +Godhead. I can sweetly rejoice in the _all-sympathy_ of Thy Manhood. I +can confidently repose in the sure wisdom of Thy dealings. "Sometimes," +says one, "we expect the blessing in _our_ way; He chooses to bestow it +in _His_." But His way and His will must be the best. Infinite love, +infinite power, infinite wisdom, are surely infallible guarantees. His +purposes nothing can alter. His promises never fail. His word never +falls to the ground. + + "HEAVEN AND EARTH SHALL PASS AWAY, BUT _MY WORDS_ SHALL NOT PASS AWAY." + + + + +21ST DAY. + +"Remember the words of the Lord Jesus, how He said"-- + + "He shall glorify me: for He shall receive of mine, and shall show + it unto you."--John xvi. 14. + +The Divine Glorifier. + + +The Holy Spirit glorifying Jesus in the unfoldings of His person, and +character, and work, to His people! The great ministering agent between +the Church on earth and its glorified Head in Heaven,--carrying up to +the Intercessor on the throne, the ever-recurring wants and trials, the +perplexities and sins, of believers; and receiving out of His +inexhaustible treasury of love,--comfort for their sorrows--strength for +their weakness--sympathy for their tears--fulness for their +emptiness,--and _this_ the one sublime end and object of His gracious +agency,--"_He shall glorify Me._" "He shall not speak of Himself, but +whatsoever He shall hear, that shall He speak." My words of +sympathy--My omnipotent pleadings--the tender messages sent from an +unchanged Human Heart,--all these shall He speak. "He shall tell you," +says an old divine, commenting on this passage, "He shall tell you +nothing but stories of My love" (_Goodwin_). He will have an ineffable +delight in magnifying Me in the affections of My Church and people, and +endearing Me to their hearts; and He is all worthy of credence, for He +is "the Spirit of truth." + +How faithful has He been in every age to this His great office as "the +glorifier of Jesus!" See the first manifestation of His power in the +Christian Church at the day of Pentecost. What was the grand truth which +forms the focus-point of interest in that unparalleled scene, and which +brings three thousand stricken penitents to their knees? _It is the +Spirit's unfolding of Jesus_--glorifying _Him_ in eyes that before saw +in Him no beauty? Hear the key-note of that wondrous sermon, preached +"in demonstration of the Spirit, and with power,"--"HIM hath God exalted +to be a Prince and a Saviour, to give repentance to His people, and +forgiveness of sins." + +Ah? it is still the same peerless truth which the Spirit delights to +unfold to the stricken sinner, and, in unfolding it, to make it mighty +to the pulling down of strongholds. All these glorious inner beauties of +Christ's work and character are undiscerned and undiscernible by the +natural eye. "It is the Spirit that quickeneth." "No man can call Jesus +Lord, but by the Holy Ghost." He is the great Forerunner--a mightier +than the Baptist--proclaiming, "Behold the Lamb of God!" + +Reader! any bright and realising view you have had of the Saviour's +glory and excellency, is of the Spirit's imparting. When in some hour of +sorrow you have been led to cleave with pre-eminent consolation to the +thought of the Redeemer's exalted sympathy--His dying, ever-living love; +or in the hour of death, when you feel the sustaining power of His +exceeding great and precious promises;--what is this, but the Holy +Spirit, in fulfilment of His all-gracious office, taking of all things +of Christ, and showing them unto you; thus enabling you to magnify Him +in your body, whether it be by life or death? As your motto should ever +be, "_None BUT Christ_," and your ever-increasing aspiration, "_More +OF Christ_," seek to bear in mind who it is that is alone qualified to +impart the "excellency of this knowledge." + + "THE SPIRIT OF TRUTH WHICH PROCEEDETH FROM THE FATHER, _HE_ SHALL + TESTIFY OF ME." + + + + +22D DAY. + +"Remember the words of the Lord Jesus, how He said"-- + + "Your sorrow shall be turned into joy."--John xvi. 20. + +The Joyful Transformation. + + +Christ's people are a sorrowing people! Chastisement is their +badge--"great tribulation" is their appointed discipline. When they +enter the gates of glory, He is represented as wiping away tears from +their eyes. But, weeping ones, be comforted! Your Lord's special mission +to earth--the great errand He came from heaven to fulfil, was "to bind +up the broken-hearted." Your trials are meted out by a tender hand. He +_knows_ you too well--He _loves_ you too well--to make this world +tearless and sorrowless! "There must be rain, and hail, and storm," says +Rutherford, "in the saint's cloud." Were your earthy course strewed +with flowers, and nothing but sunbeams played around your dwelling, it +would lead you to forget your _nomadic_ life,--that you are but a +sojourner here. The tent must at times be struck, pin by pin of the +moveable tabernacle taken down, to enable you to say and to feel in the +spirit of a pilgrim, "I desire a better country." Meantime, while sorrow +is your portion, think of Him who says, "I know your sorrows." Angels +cannot say so--they cannot sympathise with you, for trial is a strange +word to them. But there is a mightier than they who _can_. All He sends +you and appoints you is in love. There is a provision and condition +wrapt up in the bosom of every affliction, "_if need be_;" coming from +His hand, sorrows and riches are to His people convertible terms. If +tempted to murmur at their trials, they are often murmuring at disguised +mercies. "Why do you ask me," said Simeon, on his deathbed, "what I +_like_? I am the Lord's patient--I cannot but like _everything_." + +And _then_--"your sorrow shall be turned into joy." "The morning +cometh"--that bright morning when the dew-drops collected during earth's +night of weeping shall sparkle in its beams; when in one blessed +_moment_ a life-long experience of trial will be effaced and forgotten, +or remembered only by contrast, to enhance the fulness of the joys of +immortality. What a revelation of gladness! The map of time disclosed, +and every little rill of sorrow, every river will be seen to have been +flowing heavenwards,--every rough blast to have been sending the bark +nearer the haven! In that joy, God Himself will participate. In the last +"words of Jesus" to His people when they are standing by the triumphal +archway of Glory, ready to enter on their thrones and crowns, He speaks +of their joy as if it were all _His own_. "Enter ye into the joy _of +your Lord_." + +Reader, may this joy be yours! Sit loose to the world's joys. Have a +feeling of chastened gratitude and thankfulness when you have them; but +beware of resting in them, or investing them with a permanency they +cannot have. Jesus had his eye on _heaven_ when he added-- + + "YOUR JOY NO MAN TAKETH FROM YOU." + + + + +23D DAY. + +"Remember the words of the Lord Jesus, how He said"-- + + "Father, I will that they also whom thou hast given me, be with me + where I am; that they may behold my glory."--John xvii. 24. + +The Omnipotent Prayer. + + +This is not the petition of a suppliant, but the claim of a conqueror. +There was only _one_ request He ever made, or ever _can_ make, that was +refused; it was the prayer wrung forth by the presence and power of +superhuman anguish: "Father, _if it be possible_, let this cup pass from +me!" Had that prayer been answered, never could one consolatory "word of +Jesus" have been ours. "_If it be possible_;"--_but_ for that gracious +parenthesis, we must have been lost for ever! In unmurmuring submission, +the bitter cup _was_ drained; all the dread penalties of the law were +borne, the atonement completed, an all-perfect righteousness wrought +out; and now, as the stipulated reward of His obedience and sufferings, +the Victor claims His trophies. What are they? Those that were given Him +of the Father--the countless multitudes redeemed by His blood. These He +"_wills_" to be with Him "where He is"--the spectators of His glory, and +partakers of His crown. Wondrous word and will of a dying testator! His +last prayer on earth is an importunate pleading for their glorification; +His parting wish is to meet them in heaven: as if these earthly jewels +were needed to make His crown complete,--their happiness and joy the +needful complement of His own! + +Reader! learn from this, the grand element in the bliss of your future +condition--it is _the presence of Christ_; "_with Me_ where I am." It +matters comparatively little as to the locality of heaven. "We shall see +_Him_ as He is," is "the blessed hope" of the Christian. Heaven would +be _no_ heaven without Jesus; the withdrawal of His presence would be +like the blotting out of the sun from the firmament; it would uncrown +every seraph, and unstring every harp. But, blessed thought! it is His +own stipulation in His testamentary prayer, that Eternity is to be spent +in union and communion with _Himself_, gazing on the unfathomed +mysteries of His love, becoming more assimilated to His glorious image, +and drinking deeper from the ocean of His own joy. + +If anything can enhance the magnitude of this promised bliss, it is the +concluding words of the verse, in which He grounds His plea for its +bestowment: "_I will_--that they behold my glory;"--why? "For Thou +lovedst (not _them_, but) ME before the foundation of the world!" It is +equivalent to saying, "If Thou wouldst give _Me_ a continued proof of +Thine everlasting love and favour to Myself, it is by loving and +exalting My redeemed people. In loving _them_ and glorifying them, Thou +art loving and glorifying Me: so endearingly are their interests and My +own bound up together!" + +Believer, think of that all-prevailing voice, at this moment pleading +for thee within the veil!--that omnipotent "_Father, I will_," securing +every needed boon! There is given, so to speak, a blank _cheque_ by +which He and His people may draw indefinite supplies out of the +exhaustless treasury of the Father's grace and love. God Himself +endorses it with the words, "Son, Thou art ever with me, and all that I +have is Thine." How it would reconcile us to Earth's bitterest sorrows, +and hallow Earth's holiest joys, if we saw them thus hanging on the +"_will_" of an all-wise Intercessor, who ever pleads in love, and never +pleads in vain! + + "BE IT UNTO ME ACCORDING TO _THY WORD_." + + + + +24TH DAY. + +"Remember the words of the Lord Jesus, how He said"-- + + "Because I live, ye shall live also."--John xiv. 19. + +The Immutable Pledge. + + +God sometimes selects the most stable and enduring objects in the +material world to illustrate His unchanging faithfulness and love to His +Church. "As the mountains are round about Jerusalem, so doth the Lord +compass his people." But here, the Redeemer fetches an argument from +_His own everlasting nature_. He stakes, so to speak, His own existence +on that of His saints. "_Because I live_, ye shall live also." + +Believer! read in this "word of Jesus" thy glorious title-deed. _Thy +Saviour lives_--and His life is the guarantee of thine own. Our true +Joseph is alive. "He is our Brother. He talks kindly to us!" That life +of His, is all that is between us and everlasting ruin. But with Christ +for our life, how inviolable our security! The great Fountain of being +must first be dried up, before the streamlet can. The great Sun must +first be quenched, ere one glimmering satellite which He lights up with +His splendour can. Satan must first pluck the crown from that glorified +Head, before he can touch one jewel in the crown of His people. They +cannot shake one pillar without shaking first the throne. "If we +perish," says Luther, "Christ perisheth with us." + +Reader! is thy life now "hid with Christ in God?" Dost thou know the +blessedness of a vital and living union with a living, life-giving +Saviour? Canst thou say with humble and joyous confidence, amid the +fitfulness of thine own ever-changing frames and feelings, "Nevertheless +I live, yet not I, but Christ liveth in me?" "_Jesus liveth!_"--They +are the happiest words a lost soul and a lost world can hear! Job, four +thousand years ago, rejoiced in them. "I know," says he, "that I have _a +living Kinsman_." John, in his Patmos exile, rejoiced in them. "I am He +that liveth" (or _the Living One_), was the simple but sublime utterance +with which he was addressed by that same "Kinsman," when He appeared +arrayed in the lustres of His glorified humanity. "This is _the_ record" +(as if there was a whole gospel comprised in the statement), "that God +hath given to us eternal life, and this _life_ is in His Son." St. Paul, +in the 8th chapter to the Romans--that finest portraiture of Christian +character and privilege ever drawn, begins with "no condemnation," and +ends with "no separation." Why "no separation?" Because the life of the +believer is incorporated with that of his adorable Head and Surety. The +colossal Heart of redeemed humanity beats upon the throne, sending its +mighty pulsations through every member of His body; so that, before the +believer's spiritual life can be destroyed, Omnipotence must become +feebleness, and Immutability become mutable! + +But, blessed Jesus, "Thy word is very sure, therefore Thy servant loveth +it." + + "I GIVE UNTO THEM ETERNAL LIFE, AND THEY SHALL NEVER PERISH, NEITHER + SHALL ANY MAN PLUCK THEM OUT OF MY HAND." + + + + +25TH DAY. + +"Remember the words of the Lord Jesus, how He said"-- + + "Lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world."--Matt. + xxviii. 20. + +The Abiding Presence. + + +Such were "the words of Jesus" when He was just about to ascend to +Heaven. The mediatorial throne was in view--the harps of glory were +sounding in His ears; but all His thoughts are on the pilgrim Church He +is to leave behind. His last words and benedictions are for _them_. "I +go," He seems to say, "to Heaven, to my purchased crown--to the +fellowship of angels--to the presence of my Father; _but_, nevertheless, +'Lo! I am with _you_ alway, even unto the end of the world.'" + +How faithfully did the Apostles, to whom this promise was first +addressed, experience its reality! Hear the testimony of the beloved +disciple who had once leant on his Divine Master's bosom--who "had +heard, and seen, and looked upon Him." That glorified bosom was now hid +from his sight; but does he speak of an absent Lord, and of His +fellowship only as among the holy memories of the past? No! with +rejoicing emphasis he can exclaim--"Truly our fellowship IS with ... +_Jesus Christ_." + +Amid so much that is fugitive here, how the heart clings to this +assurance of the abiding presence of the Saviour! Our best earthly +friends--a few weeks may estrange them;--centuries have rolled +on--Christ is still the same. How blessed to think, that if I am indeed +a child of God, there is not the lonely instant I am without His +guardianship! When the beams of the morning visit my chamber, the +brighter beams of a brighter Sun are shining upon me. When the shadows +of evening are gathering around, "it is not night, if He, the unsetting +'Sun of my soul,' is near." His is no fitful companionship--present in +prosperity, gone in adversity. He never changes. He is always the +same,--in sickness and solitude, in joy and in sorrow, in life and in +death. Not more faithfully did the pillar-cloud and column of fire of +old precede Israel, till the last murmuring ripple of Jordan fell on +their ears on the shores of Canaan, than does the presence and love of +Jesus abide with His people. Has His word of promise ever proved false? +Let the great cloud of witnesses now in glory testify. "Not one thing +hath failed of all that the Lord our God hath spoken." _This_ "word of +the Lord is tried"--"having loved His own, which were in the world, He +loved them _unto the end_." + +Believer! art thou troubled and tempted? Do dark providences and severe +afflictions seem to belie the truth and reality of this gracious +assurance? Art thou ready, with Gideon, to say, "If the Lord be indeed +with us, why has all this befallen us?" Be assured He has some faithful +end in view. By the removal of prized and cherished earthly props and +refuges, He would unfold more of his own tenderness. Amid the wreck and +ruin of earthly joys, which, it may be, the grave has hidden from your +sight, One nearer, dearer, tenderer still, would have you say of +Himself, "_The Lord liveth_; and blessed be my Rock; and let the God of +my salvation be exalted." "Thanks be to God, who _always_ maketh us to +triumph in Christ." Yes! and never more so than when, stripped of all +competing objects of creature affection, we are left, like the disciples +on the mount, with "_Jesus only_!" + + "THESE THINGS HAVE I SPOKEN UNTO YOU, THAT IN ME YE MIGHT HAVE PEACE." + + + + +26TH DAY. + +"Remember the words of the Lord Jesus, how He said"-- + + "I am the resurrection and the life: he that believeth in me, though + he were dead, yet he shall live."--John. xi. 25. + +The Resurrection and Life. + + +What a voice is this breaking over a world which for six thousand years +has been a dormitory of sin and death! For four thousand of these years, +heathendom could descry no light through the bars of the grave; her +oracles were dumb on the great doctrine of a future state, and more +especially regarding the body's resurrection. Even the Jewish Church, +under the Old Testament dispensation, seemed to enjoy little more than +fitful and uncertain glimmerings, like men groping in the dark. It +required death's great Abolisher to show, to a benighted world, the +luminous "path of life." With Him rested the "bringing in of a better +hope"--the unfolding of "the mystery which had been hid from ages and +generations." Marvellous disclosure! that this mortal frame, decomposed +and resolved into its original dust, shall yet start from its ashes, +remodelled and reconstructed--"a glorified body!" Not like "the earthly +tabernacle" (a mere shifting and moveable _tent_, as the word denotes), +but incorruptible--immortal! The beauteous transformation of the insect +from its chrysalis state--the buried seed springing up from its tiny +grave to the full-eared corn or gorgeous flower--these are nature's mute +utterances as to the possibility of this great truth, which required the +unfoldings of "a more sure word of prophecy." But the Gospel has fully +revealed what Reason, in her loftiest imaginings, could not have dreamt +of. Jesus "hath brought life and immortality to light." He, the Bright +and Morning Star, hath "turned the shadow of death into the morning." He +gives, in His own resurrection, the earnest of that of His people;--He +is the first-fruits of the immortal harvest yet to be gathered into the +garner of Heaven. + +Precious truth! This "word of Jesus" spans like a celestial rainbow the +entrance to the dark valley. Death is robbed of its sting. In the case +of every child of God, the grave holds in custody precious, because +redeemed, dust. Talk of it not, as being committed to a dishonoured +tomb!--it is locked up, rather, in the casket, of God until the day +"when He maketh up His jewels," when it will be fashioned in deathless +beauty like unto the glorified body of the Redeemer. Angels, meanwhile, +are commissioned to keep watch over it, till the trump of the archangel +shall proclaim the great "Easter of creation." They are the "reapers," +waiting for the world's great "Harvest Home," when Jesus Himself shall +come again--not as He once did, humiliated and in sorrow, but rejoicing +in the thought of bringing back all His sheaves with him. + +Afflicted and bereaved Christian!--thou who mayest be mourning in +bitterness those who are not--rejoice through thy tears in these hopes +"full of immortality." The silver cord is only "loosed," not broken. +Perchance, as thou standest in the chamber of death, or by the brink of +the grave,--in the depths of that awful solitude and silence which +reigns around, this may be thy plaintive and mournful soliloquy--"Shall +the dust praise Thee?" Yes, it _shall_! This very dust that hears now +unheeded thy footsteps, and unmoved thy tears, shall through eternity +praise its redeeming God--it shall proclaim His truth! + + "LORD, TO WHOM SHALL WE GO BUT UNTO THEE, THOU HAST THE _WORDS_ OF + _ETERNAL LIFE_." + + + + +27TH DAY. + +"Remember the words of the Lord Jesus, how He said"-- + + "A little while, and ye shall not see me; and again, a little while, + and ye shall see me, because I go to the Father."--John xvi. 16. + +The Little While. + + +Long seem the moments when we are separated from the friend we love. An +absent brother--how his return is looked and longed for! The "Elder +Brother"--the "Living Kinsman"--sends a message to His waiting Church +and people--a word of solace, telling that _soon_ ("a little while,") +and He will be back again, never again to leave them. + +There are indeed blessed moments of communion which the believer enjoys +with His beloved Lord _now_; but how fitful and transient! To-day, life +is a brief Emmaus journey--the soul happy in the presence and love of an +unseen Saviour. To-morrow, He is _gone_; and the bereft spirit is led +to interrogate itself in plaintive sorrow,--"Where is now thy God?" Even +when there is no such experience of darkness and depression, how much +there is in the world around to fill the believer with sadness! His Lord +rejected and disowned--His love set at nought--His providences +slighted--His name blasphemed--His creation groaning and travailing in +pain--disunion, too, among His people--His loving heart wounded in the +house of His friends! + +But "yet a little while," and all this mystery of iniquity will be +finished. The absent Brother's footfall will soon be heard,--no longer +"as a wayfaring man who turneth aside to tarry for a night," but to +receive His people into the permanent "mansions" His love has been +preparing, and from which they shall go no more out. Oh, blessed day! +when creation will put on her Easter robes--when her Lord, so long +dishonoured, will be enthroned amid the hosannahs of a rejoicing +universe--angels lauding Him--saints crowning Him--sin, the dark +plague-spot on His universe, extinguished for ever--death swallowed up +in eternal victory! + +And it is but "a little while!" "Yet a little while," we elsewhere read, +"and He that shall come, will come, and will not tarry" (literally, "a +little while as may be.") "He will stay not a moment longer," says +Goodwin, "than He hath despatched all our business in Heaven for us." +With what joy will He send His mission-Angel with the announcement, "the +little while is at an end;" and to issue the invitation to the great +festival of glory, "Come! for all things are ready!" + +Child of sorrow! think often of this "_little while_." "The days of thy +mourning will soon be ended." There is a limit set to thy suffering +time,--"After that ye have suffered a WHILE." Every wave is numbered +between you and the haven; and then when that haven is reached, oh, what +an apocalypse of glory!--the "little while" of time merged into the +great and unending "while of eternity!"--to be _for ever with the +Lord_--the same unchanged and unchanging Saviour! + +"A little while, and ye _shall_ see me!" Would that the eye of faith +might be kept more intently fixed on "that glorious appearing!" How the +world, with its guilty fascinations, tries to dim and obscure this +blessed hope! How the heart is prone to throw out its fibres here, and +get them rooted in some perishable object! Reader! seek to dwell more +habitually on this the grand consummation of all thy dearest wishes. +"Stand on the edge of your nest, pluming your wings for flight." Like +the mother of Sisera, be looking for the expected chariot. + + "HE IS FAITHFUL THAT PROMISED." + + + + +28TH DAY. + +"Remember the words of the Lord Jesus, how He said"-- + + "Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God."--Matt. v. + 8. + +The Beatific Vision. + + +Here Is Heaven! This "word of Jesus" represents the future state of the +glorified to consist not in locality, but in character; the essence of +its bliss is the full vision and fruition of God. Our attention is +called from all vague and indefinite theories about the +_circumstantials_ of future happiness. The one grand object of +contemplation--the "glory which excelleth," is _the sight of God +Himself_! The one grand practical lesson enforced on His people, is the +cultivation of that purity of heart without which none could _see_, or +(even could we suppose it possible to be admitted to _see_ Him) none +could _enjoy_ God! "The kingdom of Heaven cometh not with observation +... the kingdom of God is _within_ you." + +Reader, hast thou attained any of this heart-purity and +heart-preparation? It has been beautifully said that "the openings of +the streets of heaven are on earth." Even here we may enjoy, in the +possession of holiness, some foretaste of coming bliss. Who has not felt +that the happiest moments of their lives were those of close walking +with God--nearness to the mercy-seat--when self was surrendered, and the +eye was directed to the glory of Jesus, with most single, unwavering, +undivided aim? What will Heaven be, but the entire surrender of the soul +to Him, without any bias to evil, without the fear of corruption within +echoing to temptation without; every thought brought into captivity to +the obedience of Christ; no contrariety to His mind; all in blessed +unison with His will; the whole _being_ impregnated with holiness--the +intellect purified and ennobled, consecrating all its powers to His +service--memory, a holy repository of pure and hallowed +recollections--the affections, without one competing rival, purged from +all the dross of earthliness--the love of God, the one supreme animating +passion--the glory of God, the motive principle interfused through every +thought, and feeling, and action of the life immortal; in one word, the +heart a pellucid fountain; no sediment to dim its purity, "no angel of +sorrow" to come and trouble the pool! The long night of life over, and +_this_ the glory of the eternal morrow which succeeds it! "I shall be +satisfied when I awake, with _Thy_ likeness." + +Yes, this is Heaven, subjectively and objectively--_purity of heart_ and +"_God all in all_!" Much, doubtless, there may and will be of a +subordinate kind, to intensify the bliss of the redeemed; communion with +saints and angels; re-admission into the society of death-divided +friends: but all these will fade before the great central glory, "God +Himself shall be with them, and be their God; they shall _see his +face_!" Believers have been aptly called _heliotropes_--turning their +faces as the sunflower towards the Sun of Righteousness, and hanging +their leaves in sadness and sorrow, when that Sun is away. It will be in +heaven the emblem is complete. _There_, every flower in the heavenly +garden will be turned Godwards, bathing its tints of loveliness in the +glory that excelleth! Reader, may it be yours, when o'er-canopied by +that cloudless sky, to know all the marvels contained in these few +glowing words, "We shall be like Him, for we shall see him as He is." + + "AND EVERY MAN THAT HATH THIS HOPE IN HIM PURIFIETH HIMSELF EVEN AS + HE IS PURE." + + + + +29TH DAY. + +"Remember the words of the Lord Jesus, how He said"-- + + "In my Father's house are many mansions."--John xiv. 2. + +The Many Mansions. + + +What a home aspect there is in this "word of Jesus!" He comforts His +Church by telling them that soon their wilderness-wanderings will be +finished,--the tented tabernacle suited to their present probation-state +exchanged for the enduring "mansion!" Nor will it be any strange +dwelling: a _Father's_ home--a _Father's_ welcome awaits them. There +will be accommodation for all. Thousands have already entered its +shining gates,--patriarchs, prophets, saints, martyrs, young and old, +and still there is room! + +The pilgrim's motto on earth is, "Here we have no continuing city." Even +"Sabbath tents" must be struck. Holy seasons of communion must +terminate. "Arise, let us go hence!" is a summons which disturbs the +sweetest moments of tranquillity in the Church below; but _in Heaven_, +every believer becomes a pillar in the temple of God, and "he shall _go +no more out_." Here it is but the lodging of a wayfarer turning aside to +tarry for the brief night of earth. Here we are but "tenants at will;" +our possessions are but moveables--ours to-day, gone to-morrow. But +these many "mansions" are an inheritance incorruptible and unfading. +Nothing can touch the heavenly patrimony. Once within the Father's +house, and we are in the house for ever! + +Think, too, of Jesus, gone to _prepare_ these mansions,--"I go to +prepare a place for you." What a wondrous thought--Jesus now busied in +Heaven in His Church's behalf! He can find no abode in all His wide +dominions, befitting as a permanent dwelling for His ransomed ones. He +says, "I will make new heavens and a new earth. I will found a special +kingdom--I will rear eternal mansions expressly for those I have +redeemed with my blood!" + +Reader, let the prospect of a dwelling in this "house of the Lord for +ever," reconcile thee to any of the roughnesses or difficulties in thy +present path--to thy pilgrim provision and pilgrim fare. Let the distant +beacon-light, that so cheeringly speaks of a _Home_ brighter and better +far than the happiest of earthly ones, lead thee to forget the +intervening billows, or to think of them only as wafting thee nearer and +nearer to thy desired haven! "Would," says a saint, who has now entered +on his rest, "that one could read, and write, and pray, and eat and +drink, and compose one's self to sleep, as with the thought,--soon to be +in heaven, and that for ever and ever!" + +"My Father's house!" How many a departing spirit has been cheered and +consoled by the sight of these glorious Mansions looming through the +mists of the dark valley,--the tears of weeping friends rebuked by the +gentle chiding--"If ye loved me, ye would rejoice, because I said, I go +unto _my Father_!" Death truly is but the entrance to this our Father's +house. We speak of the "_shadow of death_"--it is only the shadow which +falls on the portico as we stand for a moment knocking at the longed-for +gate--the next! a Father's voice of welcome is heard-- + + "SON! THOU ART EVER WITH ME, AND ALL THAT I HAVE IS THINE." + + + + +30TH DAY. + +"Remember the words of the Lord Jesus, how He said"-- + + "I will come again, and receive you unto myself; that where I am, + there ye may be also."--John xiv. 3. + +The Promised Return. + + +Another "word of promise" concerning the Church's "blessed hope." +Orphaned pilgrims, dry your tears! Soon the Morning Hour will strike, +and the sighs of a groaning and burdened creation be heard no more. +Earth's six thousand years of toil and sorrow are waning; the Millennial +Sabbath is at hand. Jesus will soon be heard to repeat concerning all +his sleeping saints, what He said of old regarding one of them: "I go to +awake them out of sleep!" Your beloved Lord's first coming was in +humiliation and woe; His name was--the "Man of Sorrows;" He had to +travel on, amid darkness and desertion, His blood-stained path; a +chaplet of thorns was the only crown He bore. But soon He will come "the +second time without a sin-offering unto salvation," never again to leave +His Church, but to receive those who followed Him in His cross, to be +everlasting partakers with Him in His crown. He may seem to tarry. +External nature, in her unvarying and undeviating sequences, gives no +indication of His approach. Centuries have elapsed since He uttered the +promise, and still He lingers; the everlasting hills wear no streak of +approaching dawn; we seem to listen in vain for the noise of His chariot +wheels. "But the Lord is not slack concerning His promise;" He gives you +"this word" in addition to many others as a _keepsake_--a pledge and +guarantee for the certainty of His return,--"_I will come again._" + +Who can conceive all the surpassing blessedness connected with that +advent? The Elder Brother arrived to fetch the younger brethren +home!--the true Joseph revealing Himself in unutterable tenderness to +the brethren who were once estranged from Him--"receiving them unto +himself"--not satisfied with apportioning a kingdom for them, but, as if +all His own joy and bliss were intermingled with theirs, "Where _I am_," +says He, "there _you_ must be also." "Him that overcometh," says He +again, "will I grant to sit with Me on My Throne." + +Believer, can you _now_ say with some of the holy transport of the +apostle, "Whom having not seen, we love?" What must it be when you come +to see Him "face to face," and that for ever and ever! If you can tell +of precious hours of communion in a sin-stricken, woe-worn world, with a +treacherous heart, and an imperfect or divided love, what must it be +when you come, in a sinless, sorrowless state, with purified and renewed +affections, to see the King in His beauty! The letter of an absent +brother, cheering and consolatory as it is, is a poor compensation for +the joys of personal and visible communion. The absent Elder Brother on +the Throne speaks to you _now_ only by His Word and Spirit,--soon you +shall be admitted to His immediate fellowship, seeing him "as He is"--He +Himself unfolding the wondrous chart of His providence and +grace--leading you about from fountain to fountain among the living +waters, and with his own gentle hand wiping the last lingering tear-drop +from your eye. _Heaven an everlasting home with Jesus!_ "Where I am, +there ye may be also."--He has appended a cheering postscript to this +word, on which He has "caused us to hope:"-- + + "HE WHICH TESTIFIETH THESE THINGS SAITH, SURELY I COME QUICKLY." + + + + +31ST DAY. + +"Remember the words of the Lord Jesus, how He said"-- + + "Blessed are those servants whom the Lord when He cometh shall find + watching."--Luke xii. 37. + +The Closing Benediction. + + +Child of God! is this thine attitude, as the expectant of thy Lord's +appearing? Are thy loins girded, and thy lights burning? If the cry were +to break upon thine ears this day, "Behold the Bridegroom cometh," +couldst thou joyfully respond--"Lo, this is my God, I have waited for +him?" WHEN He may come, we cannot tell;--ages may elapse before _then_. +It may be centuries before our graves are gilded with the beams of a +Millennial sun; but while He _may_ or may _not_ come _soon_, He _must_ +come at some time--ay, and the day of our death is virtually to all of +us the day of His coming. + +Reader! put not off the solemn preparation. Be not deceived or deluded +with the mocker's presumptuous challenge, "Where is the promise of His +coming?" See to it that the calls of an engrossing world without, do not +foster this procrastinating spirit within. It may be now or never with +thee. Put not off thy sowing time till harvest time. Leave nothing for a +dying hour, _but to die_, and calmly to resign thy spirit into the hands +of Jesus. Of all times, _that_ is the least suitable to have the vessel +plenished--to attend to the great business of life when life is +ebbing--to trim the lamp when the oil is done and it is flickering in +its socket--to begin to watch, when the summons is heard to leave the +watch-tower to meet our God! + +Were you never struck how often, amid the many _gentle_ words of Jesus, +the summons "to watch," is over and over repeated, like a succession of +alarum-bells breaking ever and anon, amid chimes of heavenly music, to +rouse a sleeping Church and a slumbering world? + +Let this last "word" of thy Lord's send thee to thy knees with the +question,--"Am I indeed a servant of Christ?" Have I fled to Him, and am +I reposing in Him, as my only Saviour?--or am I still lingering, like +Lot, when I should be escaping--sleeping, when I should be +waking--neglecting and trifling, when "a long eternity is lying at my +door?" He is my last and only refuge; neglect Him--_all is lost_! + +Believer! thou who art standing on thy watch-tower, be more faithful +than ever at thy post. Remember what is implied in watching. It is no +dreamy state of inactive torpor: it is a holy jealousy over the +heart--wakeful vigilance regarding sin--every avenue and loophole of the +soul carefully guarded. _Holy living_ is the best, the _only_, +preparative for _holy dying_. "Persuade yourself," says Rutherford, +"the King is coming. Read His letter sent before Him, 'Behold I come +quickly;' wait with the wearied night-watch for the breaking of the +Eastern sky." + +Let these "_Words of Jesus_" we have now been meditating upon in this +little volume, be as the Golden Bells of old, hung on the vestments of +the officiating High Priest, emitting sweet sounds to His spiritual +Israel--telling that the _true High Priest_ is still living and pleading +in "the Holiest of all;" and that soon He will come forth to pour His +blessing on His waiting Church. We have been pleasingly employed in +gathering up a few "crumbs" falling from "the Master's table." Soon we +shall have, not the "_Words_" but the _presence_ of Jesus--not the +crumbs falling from His table, but everlasting fellowship with the +Master Himself. + + "AMEN, EVEN SO, COME LORD JESUS." + + + + + "Wherefore + +Comfort One Another + + with + + THESE WORDS." + + + 1 THESS. iv. 18. + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Words of Jesus, by John R. Macduff + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE WORDS OF JESUS *** + +***** This file should be named 28547.txt or 28547.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + https://www.gutenberg.org/2/8/5/4/28547/ + +Produced by Heiko Evermann, Nigel Blower and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net (This +book was produced from scanned images of public domain +material from the Google Print project.) + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. Special rules, +set forth in the General Terms of Use part of this license, apply to +copying and distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works to +protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm concept and trademark. Project +Gutenberg is a registered trademark, and may not be used if you +charge for the eBooks, unless you receive specific permission. If you +do not charge anything for copies of this eBook, complying with the +rules is very easy. You may use this eBook for nearly any purpose +such as creation of derivative works, reports, performances and +research. They may be modified and printed and given away--you may do +practically ANYTHING with public domain eBooks. Redistribution is +subject to the trademark license, especially commercial +redistribution. + + + +*** START: FULL LICENSE *** + +THE FULL PROJECT GUTENBERG LICENSE +PLEASE READ THIS BEFORE YOU DISTRIBUTE OR USE THIS WORK + +To protect the Project Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting the free +distribution of electronic works, by using or distributing this work +(or any other work associated in any way with the phrase "Project +Gutenberg"), you agree to comply with all the terms of the Full Project +Gutenberg-tm License (available with this file or online at +https://gutenberg.org/license). + + +Section 1. General Terms of Use and Redistributing Project Gutenberg-tm +electronic works + +1.A. By reading or using any part of this Project Gutenberg-tm +electronic work, you indicate that you have read, understand, agree to +and accept all the terms of this license and intellectual property +(trademark/copyright) agreement. If you do not agree to abide by all +the terms of this agreement, you must cease using and return or destroy +all copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in your possession. +If you paid a fee for obtaining a copy of or access to a Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic work and you do not agree to be bound by the +terms of this agreement, you may obtain a refund from the person or +entity to whom you paid the fee as set forth in paragraph 1.E.8. + +1.B. "Project Gutenberg" is a registered trademark. It may only be +used on or associated in any way with an electronic work by people who +agree to be bound by the terms of this agreement. There are a few +things that you can do with most Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works +even without complying with the full terms of this agreement. See +paragraph 1.C below. There are a lot of things you can do with Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic works if you follow the terms of this agreement +and help preserve free future access to Project Gutenberg-tm electronic +works. See paragraph 1.E below. + +1.C. The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation ("the Foundation" +or PGLAF), owns a compilation copyright in the collection of Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic works. Nearly all the individual works in the +collection are in the public domain in the United States. If an +individual work is in the public domain in the United States and you are +located in the United States, we do not claim a right to prevent you from +copying, distributing, performing, displaying or creating derivative +works based on the work as long as all references to Project Gutenberg +are removed. Of course, we hope that you will support the Project +Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting free access to electronic works by +freely sharing Project Gutenberg-tm works in compliance with the terms of +this agreement for keeping the Project Gutenberg-tm name associated with +the work. You can easily comply with the terms of this agreement by +keeping this work in the same format with its attached full Project +Gutenberg-tm License when you share it without charge with others. + +1.D. The copyright laws of the place where you are located also govern +what you can do with this work. Copyright laws in most countries are in +a constant state of change. If you are outside the United States, check +the laws of your country in addition to the terms of this agreement +before downloading, copying, displaying, performing, distributing or +creating derivative works based on this work or any other Project +Gutenberg-tm work. The Foundation makes no representations concerning +the copyright status of any work in any country outside the United +States. + +1.E. Unless you have removed all references to Project Gutenberg: + +1.E.1. The following sentence, with active links to, or other immediate +access to, the full Project Gutenberg-tm License must appear prominently +whenever any copy of a Project Gutenberg-tm work (any work on which the +phrase "Project Gutenberg" appears, or with which the phrase "Project +Gutenberg" is associated) is accessed, displayed, performed, viewed, +copied or distributed: + +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 + +1.E.2. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is derived +from the public domain (does not contain a notice indicating that it is +posted with permission of the copyright holder), the work can be copied +and distributed to anyone in the United States without paying any fees +or charges. If you are redistributing or providing access to a work +with the phrase "Project Gutenberg" associated with or appearing on the +work, you must comply either with the requirements of paragraphs 1.E.1 +through 1.E.7 or obtain permission for the use of the work and the +Project Gutenberg-tm trademark as set forth in paragraphs 1.E.8 or +1.E.9. + +1.E.3. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is posted +with the permission of the copyright holder, your use and distribution +must comply with both paragraphs 1.E.1 through 1.E.7 and any additional +terms imposed by the copyright holder. Additional terms will be linked +to the Project Gutenberg-tm License for all works posted with the +permission of the copyright holder found at the beginning of this work. + +1.E.4. Do not unlink or detach or remove the full Project Gutenberg-tm +License terms from this work, or any files containing a part of this +work or any other work associated with Project Gutenberg-tm. + +1.E.5. Do not copy, display, perform, distribute or redistribute this +electronic work, or any part of this electronic work, without +prominently displaying the sentence set forth in paragraph 1.E.1 with +active links or immediate access to the full terms of the Project +Gutenberg-tm License. + +1.E.6. You may convert to and distribute this work in any binary, +compressed, marked up, nonproprietary or proprietary form, including any +word processing or hypertext form. However, if you provide access to or +distribute copies of a Project Gutenberg-tm work in a format other than +"Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other format used in the official version +posted on the official Project Gutenberg-tm web site (www.gutenberg.org), +you must, at no additional cost, fee or expense to the user, provide a +copy, a means of exporting a copy, or a means of obtaining a copy upon +request, of the work in its original "Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other +form. Any alternate format must include the full Project Gutenberg-tm +License as specified in paragraph 1.E.1. + +1.E.7. Do not charge a fee for access to, viewing, displaying, +performing, copying or distributing any Project Gutenberg-tm works +unless you comply with paragraph 1.E.8 or 1.E.9. + +1.E.8. You may charge a reasonable fee for copies of or providing +access to or distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works provided +that + +- You pay a royalty fee of 20% of the gross profits you derive from + the use of Project Gutenberg-tm works calculated using the method + you already use to calculate your applicable taxes. The fee is + owed to the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark, but he + has agreed to donate royalties under this paragraph to the + Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation. Royalty payments + must be paid within 60 days following each date on which you + prepare (or are legally required to prepare) your periodic tax + returns. Royalty payments should be clearly marked as such and + sent to the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation at the + address specified in Section 4, "Information about donations to + the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation." + +- You provide a full refund of any money paid by a user who notifies + you in writing (or by e-mail) within 30 days of receipt that s/he + does not agree to the terms of the full Project Gutenberg-tm + License. You must require such a user to return or + destroy all copies of the works possessed in a physical medium + and discontinue all use of and all access to other copies of + Project Gutenberg-tm works. + +- You provide, in accordance with paragraph 1.F.3, a full refund of any + money paid for a work or a replacement copy, if a defect in the + electronic work is discovered and reported to you within 90 days + of receipt of the work. + +- You comply with all other terms of this agreement for free + distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm works. + +1.E.9. If you wish to charge a fee or distribute a Project Gutenberg-tm +electronic work or group of works on different terms than are set +forth in this agreement, you must obtain permission in writing from +both the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation and Michael +Hart, the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark. Contact the +Foundation as set forth in Section 3 below. + +1.F. + +1.F.1. Project Gutenberg volunteers and employees expend considerable +effort to identify, do copyright research on, transcribe and proofread +public domain works in creating the Project Gutenberg-tm +collection. Despite these efforts, Project Gutenberg-tm electronic +works, and the medium on which they may be stored, may contain +"Defects," such as, but not limited to, incomplete, inaccurate or +corrupt data, transcription errors, a copyright or other intellectual +property infringement, a defective or damaged disk or other medium, a +computer virus, or computer codes that damage or cannot be read by +your equipment. + +1.F.2. LIMITED WARRANTY, DISCLAIMER OF DAMAGES - Except for the "Right +of Replacement or Refund" described in paragraph 1.F.3, the Project +Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation, the owner of the Project +Gutenberg-tm trademark, and any other party distributing a Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic work under this agreement, disclaim all +liability to you for damages, costs and expenses, including legal +fees. YOU AGREE THAT YOU HAVE NO REMEDIES FOR NEGLIGENCE, STRICT +LIABILITY, BREACH OF WARRANTY OR BREACH OF CONTRACT EXCEPT THOSE +PROVIDED IN PARAGRAPH F3. YOU AGREE THAT THE FOUNDATION, THE +TRADEMARK OWNER, AND ANY DISTRIBUTOR UNDER THIS AGREEMENT WILL NOT BE +LIABLE TO YOU FOR ACTUAL, DIRECT, INDIRECT, CONSEQUENTIAL, PUNITIVE OR +INCIDENTAL DAMAGES EVEN IF YOU GIVE NOTICE OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH +DAMAGE. + +1.F.3. LIMITED RIGHT OF REPLACEMENT OR REFUND - If you discover a +defect in this electronic work within 90 days of receiving it, you can +receive a refund of the money (if any) you paid for it by sending a +written explanation to the person you received the work from. If you +received the work on a physical medium, you must return the medium with +your written explanation. The person or entity that provided you with +the defective work may elect to provide a replacement copy in lieu of a +refund. If you received the work electronically, the person or entity +providing it to you may choose to give you a second opportunity to +receive the work electronically in lieu of a refund. If the second copy +is also defective, you may demand a refund in writing without further +opportunities to fix the problem. + +1.F.4. Except for the limited right of replacement or refund set forth +in paragraph 1.F.3, this work is provided to you 'AS-IS' WITH NO OTHER +WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO +WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTIBILITY OR FITNESS FOR ANY PURPOSE. + +1.F.5. Some states do not allow disclaimers of certain implied +warranties or the exclusion or limitation of certain types of damages. +If any disclaimer or limitation set forth in this agreement violates the +law of the state applicable to this agreement, the agreement shall be +interpreted to make the maximum disclaimer or limitation permitted by +the applicable state law. The invalidity or unenforceability of any +provision of this agreement shall not void the remaining provisions. + +1.F.6. INDEMNITY - You agree to indemnify and hold the Foundation, the +trademark owner, any agent or employee of the Foundation, anyone +providing copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in accordance +with this agreement, and any volunteers associated with the production, +promotion and distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works, +harmless from all liability, costs and expenses, including legal fees, +that arise directly or indirectly from any of the following which you do +or cause to occur: (a) distribution of this or any Project Gutenberg-tm +work, (b) alteration, modification, or additions or deletions to any +Project Gutenberg-tm work, and (c) any Defect you cause. + + +Section 2. Information about the Mission of Project Gutenberg-tm + +Project Gutenberg-tm is synonymous with the free distribution of +electronic works in formats readable by the widest variety of computers +including obsolete, old, middle-aged and new computers. It exists +because of the efforts of hundreds of volunteers and donations from +people in all walks of life. + +Volunteers and financial support to provide volunteers with the +assistance they need are critical to reaching Project Gutenberg-tm's +goals and ensuring that the Project Gutenberg-tm collection will +remain freely available for generations to come. In 2001, the Project +Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation was created to provide a secure +and permanent future for Project Gutenberg-tm and future generations. +To learn more about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation +and how your efforts and donations can help, see Sections 3 and 4 +and the Foundation web page at https://www.pglaf.org. + + +Section 3. Information about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive +Foundation + +The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation is a non profit +501(c)(3) educational corporation organized under the laws of the +state of Mississippi and granted tax exempt status by the Internal +Revenue Service. The Foundation's EIN or federal tax identification +number is 64-6221541. Its 501(c)(3) letter is posted at +https://pglaf.org/fundraising. Contributions to the Project Gutenberg +Literary Archive Foundation are tax deductible to the full extent +permitted by U.S. federal laws and your state's laws. + +The Foundation's principal office is located at 4557 Melan Dr. S. +Fairbanks, AK, 99712., but its volunteers and employees are scattered +throughout numerous locations. Its business office is located at +809 North 1500 West, Salt Lake City, UT 84116, (801) 596-1887, email +business@pglaf.org. Email contact links and up to date contact +information can be found at the Foundation's web site and official +page at https://pglaf.org + +For additional contact information: + Dr. Gregory B. Newby + Chief Executive and Director + gbnewby@pglaf.org + + +Section 4. Information about Donations to the Project Gutenberg +Literary Archive Foundation + +Project Gutenberg-tm depends upon and cannot survive without wide +spread public support and donations to carry out its mission of +increasing the number of public domain and licensed works that can be +freely distributed in machine readable form accessible by the widest +array of equipment including outdated equipment. Many small donations +($1 to $5,000) are particularly important to maintaining tax exempt +status with the IRS. + +The Foundation is committed to complying with the laws regulating +charities and charitable donations in all 50 states of the United +States. Compliance requirements are not uniform and it takes a +considerable effort, much paperwork and many fees to meet and keep up +with these requirements. We do not solicit donations in locations +where we have not received written confirmation of compliance. To +SEND DONATIONS or determine the status of compliance for any +particular state visit https://pglaf.org + +While we cannot and do not solicit contributions from states where we +have not met the solicitation requirements, we know of no prohibition +against accepting unsolicited donations from donors in such states who +approach us with offers to donate. + +International donations are gratefully accepted, but we cannot make +any statements concerning tax treatment of donations received from +outside the United States. U.S. laws alone swamp our small staff. + +Please check the Project Gutenberg Web pages for current donation +methods and addresses. Donations are accepted in a number of other +ways including including checks, online payments and credit card +donations. To donate, please visit: https://pglaf.org/donate + + +Section 5. General Information About Project Gutenberg-tm electronic +works. + +Professor Michael S. Hart was the originator of the Project Gutenberg-tm +concept of a library of electronic works that could be freely shared +with anyone. For thirty years, he produced and distributed Project +Gutenberg-tm eBooks with only a loose network of volunteer support. + + +Project Gutenberg-tm eBooks are often created from several printed +editions, all of which are confirmed as Public Domain in the U.S. +unless a copyright notice is included. Thus, we do not necessarily +keep eBooks in compliance with any particular paper edition. + + +Most people start at our Web site which has the main PG search facility: + + https://www.gutenberg.org + +This Web site includes information about Project Gutenberg-tm, +including how to make donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary +Archive Foundation, how to help produce our new eBooks, and how to +subscribe to our email newsletter to hear about new eBooks. diff --git a/28547.zip b/28547.zip Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..e3fc7d9 --- /dev/null +++ b/28547.zip diff --git a/LICENSE.txt b/LICENSE.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6312041 --- /dev/null +++ b/LICENSE.txt @@ -0,0 +1,11 @@ +This eBook, including all associated images, markup, improvements, +metadata, and any other content or labor, has been confirmed to be +in the PUBLIC DOMAIN IN THE UNITED STATES. + +Procedures for determining public domain status are described in +the "Copyright How-To" at https://www.gutenberg.org. + +No investigation has been made concerning possible copyrights in +jurisdictions other than the United States. Anyone seeking to utilize +this eBook outside of the United States should confirm copyright +status under the laws that apply to them. diff --git a/README.md b/README.md new file mode 100644 index 0000000..0c810c1 --- /dev/null +++ b/README.md @@ -0,0 +1,2 @@ +Project Gutenberg (https://www.gutenberg.org) public repository for +eBook #28547 (https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/28547) |
