Loving Allegiance
LOVING ALLEGIANCE.
First Day.
Loving Allegiance.
'Master !'
THINK this is the very epitome John xx. 16 oflove.
Love understands love ; it needs no talk.
Sunlight needs no paraphernalia of pipes, and wicks, and burners ; it iust shines out, direct and immediate.
And the dewdrop flashes it back in the same way.
The sparkle may be tiny, but it is true and immediate ; it needs no vehicle.
'I have called thee by thy name.'
That was quite enough.
The powerful sunshine of His love was focussed into that white beam of sevenfold light, and the whole soul was concentrated into the responsive love-flash, ' Master !'
Isa, xliii, 1.
When that word has truly gone up
ROYAL COMMANDMENTS.
from the soul to Christ, then we have felt what we can never put into any ; Other words.
It is the single diamond of soul-expression, and we have cast it at His feet for ever.
Ps. xvi. 2.
He accepts it; for how wonderfully sweetly falls His direct answer, ' Ye call Me Master and Lord : and ye say well ; for so I am.'
Think of this seal of approval being set upon the name we so love to give Him.
'Ye say well,'
He reserves it to Himself, for He says, ' One is your Master, even Christ.'
It is sacred to Him in all its depth of meaning.
He has put His hand upon our offering, claiming it as only john xiii. 13.
Matt. xxiii.
8, 10. t Sam. xxv.
35+ His own; and now it can never be | another's.
It includes the whole attitude of soul towards our beloved Lord.
1. Love.—There is a great hush ; we have not any words at all.
We cannot even tell Him we love Him, because we are dazzled with a glimpse of His love, and overwhelmed with our unworthiness of it,
Our eyes fill, and our bosom heaves.
The tide has risen too 2 Sam. i, 26; Eph. iii. 19, ee |
LOVING ALLEGIANCE.
it high for verbal prayer or praise; we have to be 'silent in love'—the very Zeph. iii. 17, margin, silence being an echo of the eternal depth of calmness of the exceeding great love in which He rests.
There Eph, if. 4. is only one word which does not jar with the still music of such a moment, —' Master !'
2. Adoration,.—For the breathing of the name is all we.can do to express the unexplainable recognition of His glory.
Already He is 'admired in all them that believe' with the admiration of astonishment.
'We praise Thee, we bless Thee, we worship Thee, we glorify Thee, we give thanks to Thee for Thy great glory.
And yet we only uttered the one word, 'Master!'
John i. 34.
2 Thess. i.
10 (G7.).
3. Allegiance.—The true utterance of it is the very oath of allegiance.
We cannot, must not, dare not, will not, henceforth serve ' two masters,' nor the Matt. vi. 24 still more subtle 'many masters.'
The word has been breathed into His heart, and He will treasure it there, and keep Jas. iit. 1 3 Isa. XxV1. 13. it for us.
It as been satd, and the sound-waves can never be recalled ;
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they will vibrate through the universe for ever.
God grant that no traitorous whisper may ever cross them !
4. Confidence—We have found One whom we can trust implicitly, and rest upon entirely.
We have put our lives into His hand.
We have burned the bridge behind us, because we are quite sure He is the Captain of our salvation.
We have entered His service for ever.
We have given our allegiance unreservedly, because we confide in Him unreservedly.
There is no question about it.
'I know whom I have believed,' and therefore I say, ' Master !'
Eph, i. 12.
Heb. ii. ro.
Ex. xxi. 6. t Chron. xii, 18, b Tim. i. re.
5. Obedience—Al\l a mockery without this!
Not only our lips, but our lives must say, 'Master!' And by His own grace they shall say it; the name shall be emblazoned on every page of our lives.
For Jesus Himself will 'make it plain' upon our tablets, so 'that he may run that readeth it,'
This is the test, the fruit, the manifestation of love.
But oh, how sweet that we may fearlessly say the word which pledges us to it, knowing that Tab. ii. 2.
John xiv. 15; ea COLnve 14, Is.
LOVING ALLEGIANCE.
Phil. ii. 13. the Master Himself will enable us to fill it up with the practical obedience which, above all things, we want so intensely to yield to Him!
It is like throwing our alpenstock up to a higher ledge of rock, and then giving ourselves up to the strong arm of the guide to draw
DCOLMLX. (Oh
us up after it.
Never shall we have to say, like the Amalekite's servant, 'My master left me!' He is our good Master, our ' own Master,' and He will reveal to His weak servants all that He means in His own zr Sam, xxx, 13.
Mark x. 17.
Rom, xiv. 4 faithful endorsement of the name which His Spirit has taught us to call Him.
John xiii. 13
1 Cor; xil.73
*"O Master, at Thy feet I bow in rapture sweet !
Before me, as in darkling glass, Some glorious outlines pass Of love, and truth, and holiness, and power;
I own them Thine, O Christ, and bless Thee for this hour.'
= i
ROYAL COMMANDMENTS.
te SECOND Day.
—v-—_ Seeking for His Commandments. t Chron.
'Keep and seek for all the commandments poe of the Lord your God.'
S not this precept too often halved?
We acknowledge our obligation to keep, but what about seeing for all the commandments of the Lord our God?
Are we doing this?
Beicxia tes 'Thy commandment is exceeding broad,' and our horizon must be conib. cxix. 35. | tinually widening if He is making us to go in the path of His commandments.
Even when, by His grace, we have been led to take the seven beautiful steps in that path mentioned in that grand gush of Bible love, the r1roth ib. cxix. 66, | Psalm, believing them, learning them,
73, 131, 127, | longing for them, loving them, delight47, 125, ing in them, keeping them, and not 176. forgetting them, there remains yet this further step, seeking for all of them. te = ke See t
SEEKING HIS COMMANDMENTS.
Perhaps we have even a little shrinking from this.
We are afraid of seeing something which might be peculiarly hard to keep; it seems as if it might be enough to try to keep what commandments we have seen without seeking for still more, and as if seeing more to keep would only involve us in heavier obligations and in more failures to keep them.
And we almost wish we had never seen this added command, forgetting that shedding of blood was needed for sin 'through ignorance.'
But we have seen it, even if we never noticed it before ; it is shown us to-day, and we have no alternative but obedience or disobedience to it.
Lev iv. 27° 35:
Does not a loving child like to find out what its dear father wishes it to do? does it not feel sorry that it did not know all he wished in time to avoid doing just the contrary?
How little we must love His will if we would rather not know it, lest it should clash with our own!
Even to take the lowest ground, all His commandments are Ps, xl. 8, ' for our good,' and 'in keeping of them
Deut. x. 53.
ROVAL COMMANDMENTS.
Ps.xixr | there is great reward ;' so that we are clearly missing unknown good or unknown reward by remaining in ignorance of any of them.
Nay, more, 'it Deut. xxxii. | js your life' to observe to do a// the 47- : words of His law.
We need not fear being left to struggle with newly discovered impossibilities ; for, with the light that reveals a command, the grace to fulfil it will surely be given.
It is very humbling when the Spirit's light flashes upon some command of our God which we have yen 41.3231 never 'observed,' much 'less 'done
;' and yet it is a very gracious answer to Ps, exliii. ro. | the prayer, 'Teach me to do Thy will.'
In reading His word, let us steadily set ourselves to seek for all His yet unnoticed commandments, noting day by day what we find; and thus knowing more of His will, will be a step towards doing more of it.
Let us not be content with vaguely praying, ' Lord, what Acts. ix. 6. wilt Thou have me to do?' but set to Hab. ii. | work to see what He has already said
Johnii.s. | we are to do, and then, 'Whatsoever He saith unto you, do it.'