|
By Dr. Caird
MORNING WORSHIP.
O LORD, who hast taught us that all our doings without charity
are nothing worth, send Thy Holy Ghost, and pour into our hearts
that most excellent gift of charity, which is humble, meek,
kind, long-suffering and patient, the very bond of peace and of
all virtues; grant this for Jesus Christ’s sake. Amen.
HYMN, or Psalm li. 7-13.
LORD, when we bend before thy throne,
And our confessions pour,
Teach us to feel the sins we own,
And hate what we depore,
Our contrite spirits pitying see;
True penitence impart;
Then let a healing ray from thee
Beam hope on every heart.
When we disclose our wants in prayer,
May we our will resign;
Let not a thought our bosoms share
Which is not wholly thine.
Let faith each meek petition fill,
And waft it to the skies;
And teach our hearts ’tis goodness still
That grants it or denies.
I. SAMUEL II. 1-10.
AND Hannah prayed, and said, My heart rejoiceth in the Lord;
mine horn is exalted in the Lord; my mouth is enlarged over mine
enemies; because I rejoice in thy salvation. 2. There is none
holy as the Lord: for there is none besides thee; neither is
there any rock like our God. 3. Talk no more so exceedingly
proudly; let not arrogancy come out of your mouth: for the Lord
is a God of knowledge, and by him actions are weighted. 4. The
bows of the mighty men are broken, and they that stumbled are
girded with strength. 5. They that were full have hired out
themselves for bread; and they that were hungry ceased: so that
the barren hath born seven; and she that hath many children is
waxed feeble. 6. The Lord killeth, and maketh alive, he bringeth
down to the grave, and bringeth up. 7. The Lord maketh poor, and
maketh rich: he bringeth low, and lifteth up. 8. He raiseth up
the poor out of the dust, and lifteth up the beggar from the
dunghill, to set them among princes, and to make them inherit
the throne of glory: for the pillars of the earth are the Lord’s
and he hath set the world upon them, &c.
----------------
Prayer.
ALMIGHTY God, give us grace whereby we may serve Thee
acceptably, with reverence and godly fear. Who is a strong Lord
like unto Thee? The pillars of heaven tremble, and are
astonished at Thy reproof. Thou removest the mountains and they
know not, and overturnest them in Thine anger. Thou commandest
the sun and it shineth not, and sealest up the stars. In Thy
hand is the soul of every living thing, and the breath of all
mankind. Wherewith shall we come before Thee, O Lord, in whose
sight the heavens are not clean, and who art of purer eyes than
to behold evil? We humbly and reverently bow before Thy
sovereign majesty; abashed and confounded we tremble at the
thought of Thine infinite purity. Will God in very deed dwell
with men upon the earth? We have turned our backs upon Thee, and
justly mightst Thou turn Thy face from us. Our trust is in Thy
mercy, and on that sure word of promise on which Thou hast
caused us to hope. Blessed be Thy name, we follow not cunningly
devised fables. Assured that Thy faithfulness Thou shalt
establish in the very heavens, and that one good word shall not
fail of all that Thou hast spoken, we lift up our cry unto Thee
in the name of Thy Son, and entreat Thee, for His sake, to be
merciful unto us sinners. We beseech Thee, O God, to have
compassion upon us, and save us.
Our souls cleave to the dust. When we would do good, evil is
present with us. Even did we ever act, up to the measure of our
power, in conformity with Thy will, we must still say that we
are unprofitable servants; we have done only that which it was
our duty to do. But how often have we failed to do what we
could! How often, in the hour of temptation, have we courted the
assaults of our adversary the devil, and given him the advantage
over us, by neglecting prayer to Thee for grace to help in time
of need. How often have we fallen before temptations springing
out of the unhallowed lusts and passions that reign in our
members; and yielded ourselves an easy prey to the foes of our
own house! Thy grace alone has kept us back from utter and
irretrievable ruin; and not unto us, O Lord, not unto us, but
unto Thy name be the glory. Conscious of our infirmity, our
waywardness, our sympathy with evil and the powers of evil, we
come to Thee, O God, for strength, for guidance, and for such a
measure of the influences of Thy Spirit as will enable us to
fight the good fight of faith, and to stand in the evil day.
We bless Thee for the sabbath, and for the tender and loving
regard to our comfort and well-being which Thou hast shown in
appointing it. Enable us this day to enter into the spirit of
its holy exercise, and to value duly its exalted privileges.
Turn away our eyes from beholding vanity, O God; and let neither
the cares nor the pleasures of the world, nor any unhallowed
thoughts of whatever kind, mingle or interfere with the homage
which we offer unto Thee, or shed their deadening and polluting
influences upon our minds. May our spiritual sight, purged and
strengthened by that faith which purifies the heart, pierce
through all those darkening and deceptive mists which sin and
unbelief so abundantly create, and enter into that within the
vail, whither the Forerunner hath for us entered, even Jesus,
who is made an high priest for ever.
And Thee, O Divine Spirit, who givest life to those who are dead
in trespasses and sins, we entreat to descend this day upon the
churches, and form a people for Thyself to show forth Thy
praise. O that Thou wouldst rend the heavens, that Thou wouldst
come down, that the mountains might bow down at Thy presence, to
make Thy name known to Thine adversaries, that the nations may
tremble at Thy presence! O Captain of our salvation, gird Thy
sword upon Thy thigh, and in Thy majesty ride prosperously,
because of truth, and meekness, and righteousness; let Thine
arrows be sharp in the hearts of the King’s enemies, whereby the
people shall fall under Thee; and at the close of this day may
multitudes, who, in their stoutness of heart, had hitherto
maintained an attitude of hostility to Thee and to Thy cause, be
found submitting to Thy righteous and benign sway. These our
prayers, O Lord, we beseech Thee to grant, for Jesus’ sake.
Amen.
----------------
THE CHURCH IN THE HOUSE.
FATHER of mercies, who causes the sun to shine and the rain to
descend, so providing meat for all thy creatures in due season;
evermore give us the bread of God which cometh down from heaven,
that so we may grow up into Him in all things, who is the Head,
even Christ. Amen.
HYMN, or Psalm lxv. 9-13.
LORD of the harvest, once again
We thank Thee for the ripened grain;
For crops safe carried, sent to cheer
Thy servants through another year;
For all sweet holy thoughts supplied
By seed-time, and by harvest-tide.
Daily, O LORD, our prayers be said,
As Thou hast taught, for daily bread:
But not alone bodies feed,
Supply our fainting spirits’ need:
O Bread of Life, from day to day,
Be Thou their comfort, food, and stay!
PSALM LXV.
PRAISE waiteth for thee, O God, in Zion: and unto thee shall the
vow be performed. 2. O thou that hearest prayer, unto thee shall
all flesh come. 3. Iniquities prevail against me: as for our
transgressions, thou shalt purge them away. 4. Blessed is the
man whom thou choosest, and causest to approach unto thee, that
he may dwell in thy courts: we shall be satisfied with the
goodness of thy house, even of thy holy temple. 5. By terrible
things in righteousness wilt thou answer us, O God of our
salvation; who art the confidence of all the ends of the earth,
and of them that are afar off upon the sea: 6. Which by his
strength setteth fast the mountains; being girded with power: 7.
Which stilleth the noise of the seas, the noise of their waves,
and the tumult of the people. 8. They also that dwell in the
uttermost parts are afraid at thy tokens: thou makest the
outgoings of the morning and evening to rejoice. 9. Thou
visitest the earth, and waterest it: thou greatly enrichest it
with the river of God, which is full of water: thou preparest
them corn, when thou hast so provided for it. 10. Thou waterst
the ridges thereof abundantly; thou settlest the furrows
thereof; thou makest it soft with showers; thou blessest the
springing thereof: 11. Thou crownest the year with thy goodness;
and thy paths drop fatness. 12. They drop upon the pastures of
the wilderness; and the little hills rejoice on every side. 13.
The pastures are clothed with flocks; the valleys also are
covered over with corn; they shout for joy, they also sing.
----------------
SERMON XXXVII.
“THEY JOY BEFORE THEE ACCORDING TO THE JOY IN HARVEST.” --
Isaiah iv. 3.
THE image here employed by the prophet is one which we must all
recognize as a most graphic one. There are probably few who
would not sympathize with the cheerful emotions congenial to
such a season as harvest, when Nature, arrayed in all her
loveliness, has again begun to pour the rich tribute of her
bounty into the lap of man. As we pass through some fair and
fertile district of our land, where every breeze is laden with
fragrance, every field teems with fertility, every tree is
covered with foliage or hangs heavy with fruit; or as we climb
the hill that skirts some noble landscape where for miles on
miles the broad acres are waving, a mimic sea of gold, beneath
you, and survey the busy toils of the reapers and listen to the
merry shouts that rise, blended with the voices of birds and
streams, now faintly echoing from the far hamlet, now more
distinctly heard from the nearer homestead; and as, moreover,
the happy associations connected with such a scene as this come
before our mind -- visions of plenty and peace and comfort, of
garners overflowing with goodly store, of homes and hearts made
glad by nature’s bounty -- we cannot resist the universal
sentiment of cheerfulness and gratitude, and as it steals over
our mind, we feel ourselves rejoicing before the great Bestower
of all blessings, “rejoicing with the joy in harvest.”
In further illustration of the analogy which these words
suggest, let us consider in what respect the joy or happiness of
the individual believer as well as of the Church at large may be
conceived to resemble the harvest-joy.
I. One aspect of the harvest-joy which suggests a corresponding
emotion in the spiritual experience of the believer, is that of
a joy which succeeds to a period of suspense and uncertainty.
It is very obvious that the pleasure experienced from any happy
or auspicious event, will be more or less vivid in proportion to
the degree of doubt and anxiety that preceded it. Regularity and
certainty in our enjoyments in some measure diminish their
intensity; rarity and suspense greatly heighten them. The longer
we labour for any good thing, and the more numerous the
conditions which render the result a dubious one, the greater
will be our delight when all goes right at last, and the matter
is brought to a successful issue.
Of this simple principle the text affords us two examples: “They
joy,” says the prophet, “before thee according to the joy in
harvest, and as men rejoice when they divide the spoil.” In the
latter of these we are led to contemplate the consummation of
some warlike enterprise, the close of the brilliant campaign,
the victorious warriors in the first flush of success, when
after all the excitement, anxiety, and hazard of some mighty
conflict on which vast consequences were staked, the thrilling
shout of victory has been heard, and the victors are just
beginning to repose amid the glory and the rapture and the rich
rewards of conquest. The other example is one with which we are
more immediately concerned. It is that of the husbandman, who,
in the language of St. James, has “had long patience, waiting
for the precious fruit of the earth until he might receive the
early and latter rain. Exercising all his skill and experience
in the selection of the crop and the preparation of the soil, he
has ploughed and sown and gone through all the process of his
husbandry, and then with anxious eye he has watched the course
of the seasons and the progress of his work. Through the slowly
rolling months, the fluctuations and uncertainties of weather
and the remembrance of many past disappointments have kept him
in much doubt and uncertainty as to the result. But as the
season crept on, the genial influences of Nature have come forth
in unwonted benignity over the ripening fields; and at length,
as he watches the busy reapers engaged in their rapid and
peaceful conquests, his heart gladdens with the satisfaction of
successful industry, and he “rejoices with the joy of harvest.”
Now to this sort of joy -- joy after long labour and suspense --
many parallels may be found in spiritual things. The successful
termination of any inquiry or enterprise for our own good, or
for the moral and spiritual welfare of others, would give rise
to it. For instance, is it not emphatically realized in the
feelings of the Christian parent when he contemplates the happy
results of his watchful care over the early years of his
children? No province of labour upon earth can call forth more
anxious and incessant care, more thoughtful wisdom and sagacity,
more forbearance, prudence, patience, than that of parental
discipline and instruction. In none, I believe, will
carelessness or neglect be more frequently avenged, even in this
life, on those who are unfaithful to their trust; and in none,
on the other hand, is the reward of fidelity more precious, or,
in general, more sure. What soil can be compared with the soil
of mind in fertility, in richness, in tractability, in the scope
it presents for the most varied and skilful cultivation? Neglect
it, and its very richness will be manifested in the rank vigour
and abundance of the crop of weeds that will speedily overspread
its surface. Tend it, study its capacities, give yourself in
good earnest to the sowing of the seed of knowledge, truth,
piety, to the fostering and tending of their growth, to the
eradication of the weeds of sloth and ignorance and selfishness;
and though it may cost you many a weary hour, many a day and
year of untold anxieties, yet a thousand instances prove how
sweet, how unspeakably precious may be our reward even in this
world. One can imagine -- would that it were oftener something
more than imagination and theory! -- the case of a wise, tender,
watchful Christian parent, as he prosecutes this high and
laborious work of education. Dedicating his little ones in holy
baptism to the Saviour, one can conceive him seizing the
earliest moments of opening consciousness to sow the first seeds
of Christian knowledge and holy thought and principle, eagerly
watching the first indications of character, the first up-growth
of disposition, temper, talent, above the yet virgin soil of
mind -- cheered, it may be, by the hopeful signs of gentleness,
goodness, native vigour, or pained, humiliated, and discouraged
by the already too obvious germs of a stubborn, or selfish, or
dull and intractable character. As years roll on, we can well
suppose, even in the most fair and hopeful cases -- nay, in
these more than others, -- how much trembling hope and anxiety,
and alternate elation and sinking of spirit, a pious and
thoughtful parent must experience. When sickness visits the
home, for instance, and the prattle of childhood is hushed, and
the bright eye grows heavy and dull, and the fair young plant,
bright with opening promise, droops and seems ready to wither
away, the very beauty, and delicacy, and rare attractiveness of
its unformed being will make the thought of losing it more sad,
and call forth a more thrilling suspense and anxiety in the
parent’s mind. Or when temptations beset its path, and the
auspicious progress of character threatens to be arrested, or
the fond hopes and flattering promises of past years are rudely
checked and disappointed by some grievous fault or failure, who
can tell what pognant grief, what inexpressible heartfelt
bitterness, such lapses in his child’s history occasion in a
good man’s mind? But let us suppose, on the other hand, amidst
all such occasional misgivings and anxieties, that as time slips
on and the characters of their offspring become developed, the
father or mother can perceive the more and manifest proofs that
their long labours have not been lost; let us conceive them, as
they look round on one and another and another member of that
family circle, discerning in the innocent gentleness that beams
in the countenance of one, and the manly integrity and
truthfulness of another, and the gravity and thoughtfulness and
intelligence of a third, and in the mutual love and amiableness
and Christian sincerity of all, the fruit of many prayers and
efforts in years bygone; or yet again, as the little group
becomes thinned of its numbers and one and another goes forth to
the struggle of life, let us realize the fond delight of the
parent in hearing of their advancement and honour, or, what is
better still, in watching their holy and Christian lives; and
finally, as the evening of life gathers on, let us imagine them
cheered amid the infirmities of age by the reverence, the fond
regard, the tender love and care of those over whose infant
years they had watched, and looking forward to a blessed
re-union with them in the loftier and purer intimacies of heaven
-- oh! who can doubt that such parents would feel in all this a
rich recompense for their former toils and fears, that in the
fulness of their present satisfaction all their bygone anxieties
would be forgotten, or remembered only to render that
satisfaction the sweeter, and that in the fulfilment of their
hopes and the frustration of their fears, there would be indeed
to them a realization of that text -- “They joy before thee
according to the joy in harvest.”
II. The joy of harvest may be regarded as typical of the
Christian’s joy in this respect, that it is a joy that is
connected with active exertion.
The mirth of the harvest-field is not a mere listless amusement.
The shout that rings, or the song that rises cheerily from the
reaper’s lips, is the shout that inspires to effort, and the
song that beguiles toil of its weariness and fatigue. When it
catches your ear as you pass by the wayside, or is born along
and re-echoed from distant plain and valley and upland, it does
not pain you like the vacant laugh of indolence, or the wild
ribaldry that breaks forth from the tavern. It tells not of
folly and reckless enjoyment, of wasted hours and wanton
carousing, but of busy and honest exertion. It speaks not, like
the sluggard’s or the drunkard’s merriment, of squandered
substance, and squalid homes, and beggared broken-hearted
families; it is the symbol rather of plenty, and peace, and
comfort, of smiling face and well-clad forms, of garners
overflowing with corn, and homes where the sunshine of
prosperity smiles. It conveys to us, besides, the tidings not
merely of labour that is profitable, but of labour that is
pleasant, of toil that is pursued neither in grim silence, like
the work of the overtasked mechanic, nor amid groans and curses,
like the work of the slave or the felong, but with the merry and
light-hearted song and jest that tell how the labourer likes his
work.
And when it is averred that the joy of a Christian resembles the
harvest-joy, may not the comparison remind us of that great law
of man’s nature which connects his true happiness and dignity
with work? Man was not made for idleness. The world is but a
great harvest-field, in which, each in his own place, we are
called forth to take our part, and do our share of labour.
Neither by the structure of our nature, nor by the constitution
of society, is there any room for the idler, or any possibility
of true enjoyment and happiness without work. If we want to be
truly happy, to attain in any measure to the real use and
enjoyment of life, work of some kind we must have. There ought
to be no play without work. No man is entitled to enjoyment who
does not purchase it by labour. The sweetest holiday is that
which we have earned by strenuous application. God has so made
us that we must find our pleasure either in working, or as the
reward of working. It is quite true that we may set a man to
work for which he is not adapted, and which, therefore, will not
be pleasant, but irksome and disagreeable; or we may so
overburden him, even with work of the right kind, as to exhaust
and break down his strength of body and vigour of mind. If God
has endowed a man with high mental gifts, and you set him --
weak, it may be, in physical strength, and utterly deficient in
manual dexterity -- to a trade or handicraft, where little or
nothing of his intellectual power is called forth; or if, on the
other hand, God has bestowed upon a man a sturdy frame and
strong hand, and instead of setting him to the plough, or the
saw, or the trowel, you must needs make a student and scholar of
him -- no wonder such men are unhappy, no wonder they drag on,
ill at ease, out of place and proportion, as would be a cart
horse on the race-course, or a high-mettled steed harnessed to
the hay-waggon. But in no such case is the unhappiness any
disproof of the law in question, that man’s true joy is in
labour. The only conclusion to be drawn from it is that every
man must be put into his own peculiar sphere of labour -- set to
do his own work. Or again, if we put a man even into the sort of
place for which his talents are adapted, and yet goad and drive
him on to incessant application, make his life all work and no
play, till the jaded faculties, whether of mind or body, lose
their elasticity, till the wheels of energy and buoyancy roll
off, and the framework of life, like Pharaoh's chariots, drives
heavily, no wonder such a man feels work to be no pleasure, and
sighs for emancipation from its bondage and misery. Overwork we
admit is bad, but that does not prove that no work is good. In
this, as in many other cases, happiness is to be found in the
medium between extremes. God has created us with a nature made
for work, and whatever be our peculiar sphere of duty, our own
happiness and that of society at large will be found in doing
our work to the best of our ability. Do not say that this is not
a topic for the Christian teacher, that religion has nothing to
do with this. Religion has to do with everything that affects
man’s duty and happiness. It goes with us, or should go, to the
shop, the plough, the anvil, and takes cognizance of what passes
there; and the idle servant, the dawdling, trifling workman, the
man who wastes his time and hangs listlessly over his work, sins
against religion just as certainly as the man who neglects
prayer or seldom opens his Bible. Constituted as human nature
and human society are, there is something holy, something divine
in work. “My Father worketh hitherto,” said Jesus, “and I work.”
Angels are happy beings, for they are working beings. They
continually “do God’s commandments, hearkening to the voice of
his word.” Civilization, progress, goodness, have spring from
work. The world has reached its present height of intellectual
and social greatness because it is a busy and working world. And
as with society at large, so with individuals. Nobody in the
world is so contemptible, next to the proligate man, as the mere
idler; and between profligacy and idleness there is a close
connection. A man who has nothing to do but enjoy himself, will
never know what real enjoyment is. The hardest of all work is
doing nothing. The mere man of pleasure, the hanger-on upon life
who sets before him no duty, no distinct object and aim, no
definite work, in short, is of all others the man who is least
likely to extract true enjoyment out of life. If men are born
without the necessity of toil, exempted from labour for daily
bread, the true course for them -- that which wisdom, prudence,
even selfishness, as well as Christian principle, points out --
is to devise some path of active duty, to consider what work
they can do in God’s world, and strenuously to set themselves to
do it. For not only will we look back on our working hours with
greatest comfort, not only is it true that those parts of our
lives which we remember with most pleasure are always the
busiest parts of it, not only will relaxation and amusement be
far sweeter and more intense after hard work, than if we spent
our whole life in the pursuit of pleasure and amusement; but
when the first difficulties of labour are over, and habit has
smoothed away the roughness of oil, no man but will find that
there is happiness in the very putting forth of his energies in
some congenial sphere. Whether it be in the toil of the hand, or
the trouble of the brain, the true joy of life is in working,
with a sense of God and of duty upon us, as well and as hard as
we can. No one who has tried it but must feel that in thorough
and earnest occupation there is a buoyancy of spirit, a
lightness of mind, an ease of troubles, an elasticity and
animation diffused throughout a man’s whole being, which the
listless and idle can never know. The world is but a great field
of duty, in which they who labour the hardest may not only reap
the richest results, but in their very labouring rejoice the
most.
But upon this point remark still further, that the comparison of
the Christian’s to the harvest joy may teach us that the
Christian is one who does God’s will because he loves it; or in
other words, that the true motive to Christian obedience is not
fear of punishment, or desire of reward, but love. If we are
true Christians, the reason why we do our duty is not because we
would escape hell or gain heaven, but because we love to do it.
A man may begin an outwardly religious life from inferior
motives, and may indeed feel for many a day that to do one’s
duty, to avoid sin and obey God’s will, is a hard and difficult
task. Nor would we discourage any from attempting a life of duty
because they feel no love to it. On the contrary, we would
warmly encourage those who have been roused, from whatever
cause, to serious thought, instantly to renounce their sinful
and selfish ways, and to begin at once, however hard and irksome
it may be, to try to please Christ, in the assurance that sooner
or later duty will grow, first easy, then pleasant, then
delightful, and at last that the service of Christ will become
perfect freedom. When a man is learning a trade or profession,
or beginning a new branch of study, the first attempts are
almost always hard, blundering, uneasy efforts. The endeavour to
construct or utter a sentence in a new tongue is invariably sad
and rugged work. We cannot catch the right accent, the
grammatical rules are laboriously followed, and a thousand
niceties escape us. But we must not be discouraged; only
persevere, and the difficulties will gradually vanish, the
efforts will become less and less formal and elaborate, till at
last, by dint of regular and constant practice, we will learn to
talk and write with fluency, elegance, and ease. Or to take
another case: when an artist first takes the pencil in hand,
what sad work often does he make of it! Even in his earliest
efforts, indeed, there may be detected amid all the rude
scratches some signs of incipient taste or genius. But the power
of expression for long will be operose and feeble. Yet on he
works; and with work and perseverance, the facility grows. The
eye and hand become quicker, more delicate, more powerful, till
by degrees the labour vanishes, the difficulties are forgotten,
and at last there will come such a pleasure and fascination in
the work, that it becomes the most delightful pursuit of life.
It is the same with the grandest of all pursuits, the service of
God in Christ Jesus. Hard and stern and laborious at the first,
yet to him who perseveres, in the strength of grace and in the
consciousness of duty, it will infallibly grow light-some and
easy in the end. Self-denial, temperance, purity, truthfulness,
strict integrity in thought and word and deed, the giving up of
our own ease and pleasure for the good of others and to please
God; prayer, self-examination, the reading of God’s word,
realization of God’s presence in the active duties and
intercourses of life -- these duties may be difficult and severe
to observe at first, may often impose on a man an almost
intolerable yoke; so that in the weariness of effort and amid
the heart-sickening sense of frequent failure, many a one may
be, and has been, tempted at the very outset to abandon a
religious life in despair. But if only, in reliance on the Holy
Saviour’s cheering promises, the attempt is persevered in,
sooner or later a sweet sense of freedom and ease in duty will
begin to dawn on the soul. Love to Jesus will increase, and what
we do for him will lose the feeling of hardness and effort.
Spiritual employments will assume an attractiveness and gather
around them a pleasure we knew not before, till by degrees we
shall reach that condition in which the Psalmist’s language will
not be strange to our minds: “Oh, how love I thy law; it is my
study all the day:” “My soul fainteth for the longing that it
hath to thy judgments at all times:” “I have longed for thy
salvation, O Lord, and thy law is my delight.” In the daily
round of duty such a man may come to feel free, happy, and
rejoicing as a bird on the wing. What is hard to others will be
to him “a yoke which is easy and a burden which is light.”
Obstacles and efforts that formerly seemed insuperable will
yield before him as gently as the dungeon doors before the
angel-guided apostle of old. A sweet sense of heavenly
companionship and love will gather round his daily toils. He
will go forth to his appointed duties with the light of holy
love to cheer him, as when the reaper goes forth amid the bright
beams and free air of the autumnal morn. In the fulness of his
love and devotion to his Lord, he will feel that, amid all
hardships and labours and even sufferings, there is for him a
secret blessedness, and that beneath the eye of his heavenly
Master it is given to him ever ot “joy according to the joy in
harvest.”
III. Another obvious point of analogy between the joyful labours
of the harvest-field and those of the Christian is, that they
are in both cases the labours of those who combine to help and
cheer each other on in their work. Work, as everyone knows, is
always more efficient, more hearty, more energetic when men
combine and work together, than when each man works by himself.
When men labour together they can divide the work better, and
each take the place and do the portion of the work for which he
is best adapted. When men work together, again, they can help
each other, and two can often do together four, ten, twenty
times the work of men working separately and apart. When men
work together they not only help, but they cheer and instigate
each other; sympathy brings out a new power of exertion,
emulation quickens energy, the cheering voice of a brother sends
new alacrity through the frame, and electric chain of
fellow-feeling binds each to all the rest; in the sense of
community, toil loses its irksomeness and fatigue is forgotten;
a generous rivalry stimulates the powers, and the sluggish and
indolent, stirred up by the example of the energetic, and
ashamed to lag behind the rest, feel themselves possessed of
energies and putting forth powers and performing feats that
astonish themselves as much as others.
Now, so it is very strikingly in the two cases already referred
to -- that of warfare, and that of husbandry. An army is just a
little community which each has his own place and station and
work allotted to him, and in which all cheer and help each other
on. It would not do for all to be generals, colonels, captains;
there must be those who execute as well as those who devise and
issue orders. It would not do for all to be infantry, or all to
be cavalry. There is needed alike the steadiness and compactness
of the one, and the more active and impetuous movements of the
other. And so, when the hour of battle comes, all in their
place, and all under strict command and discipline, they move
rank and file, shoulder to shoulder, a vast assemblage, yet with
the concentration and quickness of an individual will. The
command is issued from the central authority, it flies from rank
to rank, and from company to company; a common sympathy binds
heart to heart and hand to hand, so that every heart beats high
and every hand grasps the weapon with a firmer and steadier
hold; in the sight of his fellows and with the memory of home
and country rising in his soul, each feels the common impulse to
brave all perils and do radiant deeds; and when the shout of
battle rises, there is a tremendous power called forth by common
action with which the mightiest individual and separate
achievements could never cope.
Now turn for a moment to the more peaceful illustration, to that
quieter scene which is not less graphically illustrative of the
principle in question: for where more vividly than on the
harvest-field are you taught of the power of sympathy,
combination, common action, and mutual helpfulness? Here is a
little company each at his own work, and all cheering,
encouraging, urging each other on. There is perhaps the farmer
who superintends and watches the progress of the work; there are
those who cut, and those who bind, and those who glean, and
those who load the cart or lumbering wain and bear away the
result of the common toil. And as the reapers nimbly ply the
sickle, and each band or individual strains every nerve pushes
on that he may not be surpassed by others, and as the cheering
word, or shout, or merry song rises up in the clear bright air
over the scene of blithe and busy toil, one perceives again a
most striking proof of the increased power of common work and
mutual helpfulness. Now so it is, or should be, in that noblest
of all communities, bound together for the grandest of all
works, -- the church of Christ, the company of Christ’s true
soldiers and faithful workmen on earth. Religion is not a
solitary thing, a thing with which each man has to do
exclusively in the hidden solitude of his own heart. It must
begin there, and in many of its deepest exercises it must be
carried on there; and without the private intercourse of the
soul with God, the private discipline and governance of a man’s
own secret heart, all other religion would be vain. But, on the
other hand, as little will it do to make religion altogether an
individual and secret thing. In many of its highest privileges,
exercises, and engagements it is social; and one of its most
momentous duties is that of mutual sympathy, encouragement, and
helpfulness. If we are sincere Christians, we ought to feel that
all we have and all we are, our wealth, time, talents, power,
influence, our penitence, faith, virtue, Christian experience
and wisdom, all our blessings and privileges temporal and
spiritual, have been bestowed upon us, not for our own use
alone, but for the common benefit of that holy family, that
household and brotherhood of God’s redeemed, to which we profess
to belong. Our portion of meat God has given us not to hasten
away and devour it, like a greedy child, in secret, but to share
it with all our brethren in Christ. Our light was not kindled
that it might be hidden for ever underground, illuminating only
the walls of our own tomb-like solitude. We are to “let our
light shine before men,” and not only by our example, but by our
active exertions and sympathies, we are bound to help on the
work and workmen in Christ’s church. No member of Christ’s
church but can do something to promote the cause of religion,
and by his kindly aid, his visits of sympathy, his soothing
charities, his cheering encouragements, his recountal of his own
experience, be of some use to his fellow Christians. What a
happy state of things would it be if each parish in our land
were as the dwelling-place of a band of brothers enlisted in
some noble and heaven-blessed enterprise, fighting for home and
country, in the cause of freedom, truth, and justice! What a
happy scene would that be in which the wise and experienced were
ever ready with their advice and aid to help the untried and
ignorant, in which the powerful aided the weak, and the weak in
turn were ready to bless, honour and stand true to the strong;
in which by the head or by the hand, by endurance, forbearance,
courage, zeal, self-devotion, all were ready to act together in
the work of putting down sin and winning the world to Christ!
What a parish that in which the scene that is now enacted on
many a bright summer field were but a symbol and representation
of our work in the nobler field of Christ’s church; where from
year to year all of us together, and each in his own place, were
straining every nerve to be and to do good, to help and
encourage each other in the work of the Lord, to prepare for the
great harvest-home of eternity! Then, indeed, might our Sabbath
song of praise be a prelude of that glorious song in which we
all hope to join, in which the thousand times ten thousand
voices, but one mighty heart of the redeemed in glory, shall
celebrate the praises of the great Husbandman, affording the
noblest, most glorious fulfilment of that text, “They joy before
thee according to the joy in harvest.” JOHN CAIRD, D.D.
----------------
THE CHILDREN’S SERVICE.
“THEY WENT THROUGH A FIERY FURNACE.”
AFTER the death of good king Josiah, the kingdom of Judah came
very soon to an end. His just and pious rule could not undo the
evil wrought by the long bad reign of Manasseh, followed by that
of wicked Amon; and the four kings that succeeded Josiah, three
sons and one grandson of the good prince, did not walk in his
ways. The time for God’s fulfilment of his words of threatening
by his prophets was now come. The people, high and low, were
very corrupt, and the land groaned, as it were, under their
sins. So, first of all, God brought the king of Egypt against
them, and he laid a great fine on the country, and took their
king away with him, putting his brother on the throne in his
stead. Then came Nebuchadnezzar against this king, and took him
bound to Babylon, and left his son in his place. He was but a
boy, and he was king for only three months and ten days, when he
had given such offence to Nebuchadnezzar that he sent an army
against Jerusalem, and in the end went himself and conducted the
siege of the place till he took it. The young king, with many
others and much spoil, he took away with him, and left his
uncle, another of Josiah’s sons, to reign in his room, making
him swear by God to be a faithful subject of the great
Babylonian empire. But Zedekiah the Jewish king did not keep his
oath, and then came a great captain of Nebuchadnezzar’s, and
took Jerusalem again and laid it waste, and put out the king’s
eyes, and took him blind to Babylon, and carried away a
multitude of captives, leaving only a very few persons in the
whole land. But God did not forget his own people in the strange
land. He showed them many mercies there, and it is of some of
these I am now going to tell you a very remarkable story.
The great king of Babylon, though a very proud despot, who would
have only his own will and did what he liked, was yet a wise and
able man. So it was his plan when he conquered a county and took
its chief men captive, to try and make them fond of his rule by
raising the ablest among them to grand posts in his kingdom.
When he took princes of Judah captive, he tried this plan. He
bade an officer of state look out among the young princes and
nobles of the wise, and have them educated with other youths for
the king’s service. This was, accordingly, done. Now, among the
young persons chosen there were four whose Hebrew names were
changed at the time, and they were called Belteshazzar,
Shadrach, Meshach and Abed-nego. They were all pious and
excellent young men, fearing and loving the God of their
fathers. Their education was prospered by God; and when after a
time they were examined by the king, he was pleased to find that
they were very wise and learned indeed, so that none of the rest
of the youths were at all like them. After this he was still
more pleased to find that, when all his wise men were unable to
tell him what a dream was which God had sent to him, and by
which he was troubled the more that he had, quite forgot it in
the morning, one of these four youths was able to tell him both
the dream and the meaning of it. God had showed it to him in the
night, in answer to his own and his companions' prayers. This
one of the four is best known to us by his Hebrew name of
Daniel, and there are other great stories about him in Babylon.
But it is of the other three we are to read at present.
The Hebrew names of these three were Hananiah, Mishael, and
Azariah; but we have come to think of them most as Shadrach,
Mesach, and Abed-neo. After Daniel had pleased the king so much
by explaining his dream to him, and had himself been promoted to
a very high place, these three friends were set over the affairs
of the province of Babylon at his request. This made the native
great men very angry, and they watched for an opportunity to
accuse them to the king. At last the occasion they were waiting
for arose.
The proud king made a huge image all of gold, perhaps to
represent his own great self; and setting it up in the plain of
Dura -- a place in the province of which the three Hebrews had
care -- he fixed a day for its dedication, and resolved to make
it a grand time. He gathered together all the great officers of
his whole kingdom, and brought them round about the golden
image. He determined that at his word every one should bow the
knee to it, and so do homage to himself. So he set in array a
perfect host of musicians, with every kind of instrument, and
made a decree that as soon as the sound of the loud music should
burst forth, every person in the vast crowd should fall down
before the golden statue, and worship it. I suppose the king
meant to stand up himself, or remain seated on his throne, and
enjoy the sight of so many great people falling down at his
bidding. What a proud man he was when he saw the whole throng,
as he thought, bow to the ground at once at the sound of the
music! He seemed to feel as if he were indeed a god.
Almost all in the vast crowd did as the king had bidden. The
decree had said that if any one did not obey, he should be
thrown into the midst of a burning fiery furnace. That was
enough for the many, even if they had objected to
idol-worshipping. They knew where the furnace was blazing, and
the dread of the king’s wrath, or a wish to please him, made
them bow the knee at once. But there were three persons that
wished to please a greater king, and did not care to think of
what would become of them, if they disobeyed Nebuchadnezzar.
They resolved to obey God, who had forbidden them, in the second
of the ten commandments given at awful Sinai, to bow down to
idols; they would do his will, and leave all the rest to him. So
these three, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-nego, stood straight up
when all the others fell on their faces. Their enemies must have
expected this, and were on the watch to see. So as soon as the
great act of worship was over, they hasted to the king, and told
him that the three Jews had defied his authority, and had not
bowed the knee to the image he had set up. They did it in a way
to make the king as angry as possible; and indeed, when he heard
what they said, his rage rose to a perfect fury.
He sent for the three Hebrews at once; and as soon as they had
come before him, he called out to them, Is this true that I hear
of you? Do you refuse to obey me, and worship the image that I
have set up? I will give you another chance for your lives. The
music will sound again, and if then you fall down immediately on
your faces -- well; but if not, ye shall go to the fire that
hour. Then, thinking perhaps that they might be trusting in the
Lord, he added very daringly, And where is the God that can save
you? The three Hebrew youths gave the furious king a calm
answer. They acknowledged that it was true that they had not
worshipped his image. As for his threats of the fire, they were
not moved by them. They said that they knew the great God whom
they served was able to deliver them from the burning furnace,
and out of the king’s hand. But in any case they would keep his
commandment. These were their closing words: “Be it known to
thee, O king, that we will not serve thy gods, nor worship the
golden image which thou hast set up.”
The king’s face grew white hot with rage, to think that men
could stand there, and calmly say that they would not do what he
bade them. He cried out, Make the furnace seven times hotter
than usual (not thinking, in his passion, how that would make
death easier), and cast them into the midst of it. He told the
mightiest officers of his army to attend to it, and see it done.
So the three Hebrew children were bound in their dresses, just
as they stood, and the officers took them up, and carried them
to the mouth of the burning furnace. Now the flame was flashing
out so fiercely that the men who carried them were scorched to
death, as they went near, and heaved the three bound martyrs
into the blazing fire. You might think they are sure to be burnt
to death in an instant. But God was there, and their faith in
him “quenched the violence of the fire.” His promise was that
day made good to the very letter, “When thou passest through the
fire, thou shalt not be burned, neither shall the flame kindle
on thee.”
The king had his seat placed where he could see the three men,
with whom he was in such a rage, cast into the fire. I do not
know whether he took much notice of the burning up of the
persons who carried them, and flung them into the furnace. But
he soon saw something which made him start up in great haste,
and call out to those about him. He said, Did we not throw three
men bound into the flames? what, then, is this I see? They are
all walking in the fire free, and there is a fourth with them,
and his form is like the son of God! He did not wait to hear
much, but hasted to call loud to the three Hebrews to come out
from the furnace. His rage was all gone now, lost in wonder at
what he saw. At his call the three brave and good youths came
forth, as as the people gathered round them, they were
astonished to find that they were not only quite unhurt
themselves, but that the smell of fire had not passed on their
clothes. The only things about them that the flames had burned
were the cords that bound them.
QUESTIONS FROM THE BIBLE STORY.
1. Do you know where to find a phrase in the New Testament,
which points out the ripeness of the season for some purpose and
work of God?
2. Which of the prophets tells us about the Jews that were left
in the land when their brethren were carried captive to Babylon?
3. What Hebrew youth, long before Daniel’s time, rose high in
the service of a foreign king?
4. What great king was it that prayed to God, and received a
gracious answer in a dream of the night?
5. What king was it that saw a great image, in a dream, ground
all to powder?
6. When was it that God made gracious mention of a number of
persons who had refused to worship an idol?
7. Can you find words spoken by an apostle in the name of his
brethren, showing that God’s will is to be minded more than
man’s?
8. When did one brave man oppose a multitude of the worshippers
of idols?
9. Where is the story of the three Hebrew youths alluded to in
the New Testament?
10. When did bad men show their rage against one whom they
hated, by gnashing their teeth together?
ANSWERS to the foregoing questions will be found by
consulting the following chapters: --John xvii., and Gal. iv.;
Jer. xl.; Gen. xli.; 1 Kings iii.; Dan. ii; 1 Kings xix.; Acts
v.; 1 Kings xviii.; Heb. xi.; Acts vii.
----------------
Prayer.
O GOD, we thank Thee that we have been taught the knowledge of
Thyself the true God, and have not been left to bow down and
worship stocks and stones and images made by men’s hands. May we
truly worship Thee. May all the world soon be brought to know
Thee, from the least to the greatest. Teach us, O Lord, always
to do Thy will without fear or flinching. Let us never be
ashamed to acknowledge that we fear to offend Thee, and desire
to please Thee. Let us be enabled always to do that which is
right, without being afraid of consequences. Keep us from being
overcome by our own passions. Teach us how to rule our own
spirits. May Thy Spirit rule them, and Thy sweet peace keep
them. And when at any time we are tried by severe affliction,
may Jesus be with us in the furnace, and keep us from all real
harm, and make us patient in the fire, and cause it to burn only
our bonds of sin. This we ask for His own name’s sake. Amen.
----------------
EVENING WORSHIP.
O LORD, we beseech Thee to keep Thy church and household
continually in Thy true religion, and to stir up every member of
the same to adorn their holy profession, by putting on bowels of
mercy, kindness, humbleness of mind, meekness, long-suffering,
that, resting only upon the hope of Thy heavenly grace, and
doing all in the name of our blessed Saviour, we may evermore be
defended by Thy mighty power, giving thanks unto Thee, through
Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
HYMN, or Psalm lxxii. 16-19.
LORD of the harvest, hear
Thy needy servants cry;
Answer thy people’s earnest prayer,
And all our wants supply.
On thee we humbly wait,
Our wants are in thy view;
The harvest truly, Lord is great;
The labourers are few.
Convert and send forth more
Into thy church abroad;
And let them speak thy word with power;
Co-workers with their God.
O let them spread thy name;
Their mission fully prove;
Thy universal grace proclaim;
Thine all-embracing love.
MATTHEW XXI. 1-27.
AND when they drew nigh unto Jerusalem, and were come to
Bethphage, unto the mount of Olives, then sent Jesus two
disciples, 2. Saying unto them, Go into the village over against
you, and straightway ye shall find an ass tied, and a colt with
her: loose them, and bring them unto me. 3. And if any man say
ought unto you, ye shall say, The Lord hath need of them; and
straightway he will send them. 4. All this was done, that it
might be fulfilled which was spoken by the prophet saying, 5.
Tell ye the daughter of Sion, Behold, thy King cometh unto thee,
meek, and sitting upon an ass, and a colt the foal of an ass. 6.
And the disciples went, and did as Jesus commanded them, 7. And
brought the ass, and the colt, and put on them their clothes,
and thy set him thereon. 8. And a very great multitude spread
their garments in the way; others cut down branches from the
trees, and strawed them in the way. 9. And the multitudes that
went before, and that followed, cried, saying, Hosanna to the
Son of David: Blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord;
Hosanna in the highest. 10. And when he was come into Jerusalem,
all the city was moved, saying, Who is this? 11. And the
multitude said, This is Jesus the prophet of Nazareth of
Galilee. 12. And Jesus went into the temple of God, and cast our
all them that sold and bought in the temple, and overthrew the
tables of the money-changers, and the seats of them that sold
doves, 13. And said unto them, It is written, My house shall be
called the house of prayer; but ye have made it a den of
thieves. 14. And the blind and the lame came to him in the
temple; and he healed them.
----------------
Prayer.
O FATHER, Lord of heaven and earth, of whom, and through whom,
and to whom, are all things, to Thee be glory for ever. We bless
Thee for the unwearied and tender care which Thou takest of us
and of all Thy creatures, supplying our ever returning wants,
and giving us all things richly to enjoy. Thou visitest the
earth and waterest it; Thou greatly enrichest it with the river
of God; Thou blessest the springing thereof, and crownest the
year with Thy goodness, filling our hearts with food and
gladness. And, while we praise Thee for the kindness thus
unceasingly manifested in providing for the wants of our bodies,
we would especially acknowledge with warmest gratitude the great
love wherewith Thou hast loved us, as displayed in the rich
provision which, at infinite cost, Thou hast made for the wants
of our spiritual and immortal nature. Thanks be to God for his
unspeakable gift! May the Father himself give us that true bread
of life which cometh down from heaven, of which if a man eat he
shall ever die. May ours be the blessing promised to those who
hunger and thirst after righteousness.
Thou hast given us to enjoy another sabbath, and to Thee we must
yet render an account of the way in which we have spent it. Hide
Thy face, O Lord, from all that Thou hast seen amiss in our
services. Forbid that our seasons of grace should, through
indifference and the moral perversity of our nature, be suffered
by us to pass away unimproved; that we should thus cast Thy
sayings behind our backs, and bring upon ourselves swift and
sure destruction. May Thy word abide in us, and amidst the
snares and temptations of a world lying in wickedness, and the
seductive promptings of our own depraved and deceitful hearts,
may Thy Spirit, through the word, enable us to keep our feet
from every evil way, and to go on unto perfection.
In the spirit of the exercises of Thy holy day we would make
supplications, prayers, intercessions, and thanksgivings for all
men: for kings and all that are in authority, that they who rule
over men may be just, ruling in the fear of God; for subjects,
that, submitting themselves to every ordinance of man for the
Lord’s sake, they may lead quiet and peaceable lives, in all
godliness and honesty. Especially we pray for them who are of
the household of faith. Stablish, strengthen, settle them, O
Lord, and let Thy good Spirit perfect His own work in them. Have
mercy upon those who, enjoying abundantly the means of grace,
say unto the Almighty, Depart from us, for we desire not the
knowledge of Thy ways. Convince them by the power of Thy Spirit
that they cannot set themselves against Thee and prosper, and
subdue them to repentance and to the obedience of faith. Shine
forth, O Shepherd of Israel, Thou that dwellest between the
cherubim, and let Thy glory and Thy salvation appear to the
unnumbered multitudes of our fellow-men who are yet shrouded in
the gross darkness of heathenism. May He, who is the Light of
the world, speedily bring them out of darkness, and break in
sunder the bands in which they are held by the tyranny of the
god of this world. May Jesus destroy the covering cast over all
people, and the vail that is spread over all nations, that soon
through all the tribes of earth it may be said, Lo, this is our
God; we have waited for Him, and He will save us: this is the
Lord; we have waited for Him, we will be glad and rejoice in His
salvation. Send, O Father, a gracious answer to these our humble
prayers, for our Saviour’s sake. Amen.
----------------
MORNING AND EVENING MEDITATIONS.
MONDAY.
Morning.
Rejoice evermore.
And let the peace of God rule in your hearts, to the which also
ye are called in one body; and be ye thankful.
Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom;
teaching and admonishing one another in psalms, and hymns, and
spiritual songs, singing with grace in your hearts to the Lord.
And whatsoever ye do in word or deed, do all in the name of the
Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God and the Father by him.
Rejoice in the Lord alway: and again I say, Rejoice.
Glory ye in his holy name: let the heart of them rejoice that
seek the Lord.
1 Thess. v. 16. Col. iii. 15, 16, 17. Phil. iv. 4. 1 Chron. xvi.
10.
Evening.
Pray without ceasing.
In everything give thanks: for this is the will of God in Christ
Jesus concerning you.
Watch and pray, that ye enter not into temptation: the spirit
indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak.
Is any among you afflicted? let him pray. Is any merry? let him
sing psalms.
I sought the Lord, and he heard me, and delivered me from all my
fears.
O taste and see that the Lord is good: blessed is the man that
trusteth in him.
When my soul fainted within me I remembered the Lord; and my
prayer came in unto thee, into thine holy temple.
1 Thess. v. 17, 18. Mat. xxvi. 41. James v. 13. Ps. xxxiv. 4, 8.
Jonah ii. 7.
TUESDAY.
Morning.
Quench not the Spirit.
Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter
into the kingdom of God.
That which is born of the flesh is flesh; and that which is born
of the Spirit is spirit.
It is the Spirit that quickeneth; the flesh profiteth nothing.
The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, long-suffering,
gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance.
Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the
Spirit which is of God; that we might know the things that are
freely given to us of God.
1 Thess. v. 19. John iii. 5, 6. John vi. 63. Gal. v. 22, 23. 1
Cor. ii. 12.
Evening.
Prove all things; hold fast that which is good.
And that ye study to be quiet, and to do your own business, and
to work with your own hands, as we commanded you;
That ye may walk honestly toward them that are without.
In all things shewing thyself a pattern of good works: in
doctrine shewing uncorruptness, gravity, sincerity,
Sound speech that cannot be condemned; that he that is of the
contrary part may be ashamed, having no evil thing to say of
you.
1 Thess. v. 21. 1 Thess. iv. 11, 12. Tit. ii. 7, 8.
WEDNESDAY.
Morning.
Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord, and in the power of
his might.
Put on the whole armour of god, that ye may be able to stand
against the wiles of the devil.
For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against
principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the
darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high
places.
Stand fast in one spirit, with one mind striving together for
the faith of the gospel.
Eph. vi. 10, 11, 12, 13. Phil. i. 27.
Evening.
Stand therefore, having your loins girt about with truth, and
having on the breastplate of righteousness;
And your feet shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace;;
Above all, taking the shield of faith, wherewith ye shall be
able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked.
And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit,
which is the word of God.
That ye may stand perfect and complete in all the will of God.
The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the
communion of the Holy Ghost, be with you all. Amen.
Eph. vi. 14, 15, 16, 17. Col. iv. 12. 2 Cor. xiii. 14.
THURSDAY.
Morning.
As it is written, Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have
entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath
prepared for them that love him.
Beloved, now are we the sons of God; and it doth not yet appear
what we shall be: but we know that, when he shall appear, we
shall be like him; for we shall see him as he is.
Henceforth, there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness,
which the Lord, the righteous Judge, shall give me at that day;
and not to me only, but unto all them also that love his
appearing.
1 Cor. ii. 9. 1 John iii. 2. 2 Tim. iv. 8.
Evening.
We see Jesus, who was made a little lower than the angels for
the suffering of death, crowned with glory and honour; that he
by the grace of God should taste death for every man.
For it became him, for whom are all things, and by whom are all
things, in bringing many sons unto glory, to make the Captain of
their salvation perfect through sufferings.
Wherefore in all things it behoved him to be made like unto his
brethren, that he might be a merciful and faithful high priest
in things pertaining to God, to make reconciliation for the sins
of the people.
Heb. ii. 9, 10, 17.
FRIDAY.
Morning.
Seeing then that we have a great high priest, that is passed
into the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold fast our
profession.
For we have not an high priest which cannot be touched with the
feeling of our infirmities; but was in all points tempted like
as we are, yet without sin.
Though he were a Son, yet learned he obedience by the things
which he suffered;
And being made perfect, he became the author of eternal
salvation unto all them that obey him.
Heb. iv. 14, 15. Heb. v. 8, 9.
Evening.
There remaineth therefore a rest to the people of God.
For he that is entered into his rest, he also hath ceased from
his own works, as God did from his.
Let us labour therefore to enter into that rest, lest any man
fall after the same example of unbelief.
Here is the patience of the saints; here are they that keep the
commandments of God, and the faith of Jesus.
And I heard a voice from heaven saying unto me, Write, Blessed
are the dead which die in the Lord from henceforth: Yea, saith
the Spirit, that they may rest from their labours; and their
works do follow them.
Heb. iv. 9, 10, 11. Rev. xiv. 12. 13.
SATURDAY.
Morning.
And I saw a new heaven and a new earth: for the first heaven and
the first earth were passed away; and there was no more sea.
And I heard a great voice out of heaven, saying, Behold, the
tabernacle of God is with men, and he will dwell with them, and
they shall be his people, and God himself shall be with them,
and be their God.
And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes; and there
shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither
shall there be any more pain: for the former things are passed
away.
And he that sat upon the throne said, Behold, I make all things
new.
Rev. xxi. 1, 3, 4, 5.
Evening.
And he shewed me a pure river of water of life, clear as
crystal, proceeding out of the throne of God and of the Lamb.
In the midst of the street of it, and on either side of the
river, was there the tree of life, which bare twelve manner of
fruits, and yielded her fruit every month: and the leaves of the
tree were for the healing of the nations.
And there shall be no more curse: but the throne of God and of
the Lamb shall be in it; and his servants shall serve him;
And they shall see his face; and his name shall be in their
foreheads.
And there shall be no night there.
Rev. xxii. 1, 2, 3, 4, 5.
You can download Week 37 in pdf
format |
