its freshness nor antiquate its form. It is as incorruptible and
2. It is a robe of gladness. "Joy unspeakable and full of glory," is woven into its texture; so that he who wears it cannot but rejoice.
3. It is a robe of splendour. Its ornaments are the jewels of a bride. It is the raiment of a queen. Its gems and its hues are all of heaven.
4. It is a robe of triumph. It is the festal dress—the robe that suits best that crown and that palm which we are to wear in the kingdom.
5. It is a robe for eternity. It waxes not old. It fades not Ages dim not its freshness nor antiquate its form. It is as incorruptible and imperishable as it is undefiled.
The clasp which fixes it around us is faith. In believing, we put it on, and fasten it around us. In continuing to believe, we keep that robe about us, and we find in it sufficient covering even for deformity like ours. What storm of earth can unclasp it, or tear it away?
Forgiveness the Root of Holiness
"He shall put his hand upon the head of the burnt-offering; and it shall be accepted for him to make atonement for him."—LEV. 1:4
MY person must be accepted before any of my doings can be so. The worshipper must be accepted before his worship can be acceptable.
This is the answer to those who think by means of labour, penance, self-denial, almsdeeds, prayers, &c., to secure acceptance. Their efforts are fruitless. Nay, worse; they invert God's order, and subvert the foundation which He has laid. He has said that the person must be accepted before the work; He has moreover, made full provision
of everything needed for our acceptance, so that nothing remains for us to do in order to secure, but simply to recognise the completeness of that provision, and to avail ourselves of it in drawing near to God.
The moment that I receive God's testimony to His Son, and to His work as the sinner's substitute, I am an accepted man, and thenceforth an acceptable worshipper and a successful labourer for God. Until I believe, I am not accepted in person; for I am refusing to acknowledge Him in whom God is well pleased; nor can any of my doings find favour with God. How needful, then, that we should understand the right beginning, lest we grope on in bondage and darkness all our days! We begin by simply believing, and we thus go on unto the end,—complete in Christ, and accepted through Him, before the Father.
What is the Depth of your Religion?
"I ate no pleasant bread, neither came flesh nor wine in my mouth."—DAN. 10:3.
ABOUT a hundred years ago, a man of God thus wrote in his diary: —"I was enabled to persevere in prayer, till I saw so much need of Divine help, that I knew not how to leave off, and had forgot that I needed food."—(D. Brainerd.)
Strange intensity of desire! He who felt it must have been far above most Christians of our age. Who of us could thus record the longings of his soul?
We feel that this is reality. There is no insobriety or wild excitement here. All is calm and deep. We are listening to the utterances of a soul that has got into conscious contact and vital fellowship with
God; and who, in the profound enjoyment thus entered on, has lost the consciousness of this outer world in which he is still a dweller.
Happy saint! Who would not tread thy footsteps, and thus get as completely within the veil as thou! All thy religion was amid realities and certainties. There was no distance, no dimness, no vagueness in thy intercourse with the Father of spirits. How much of our religion is made up of shadows and incoherencies! How much of our intercourse with God is vague and distant; a groping after something which we seem never to reach, instead of being living, personal, conscious intercourse between our souls and God!
Live for Something
"See that ye walk circumspectly, not as fools, but as wise, redeeming the time, because the days are evil."—EPH. 5:15, 16
OUR life here, as saints, is no aimless life. We know the true way of living. We have found an object worthy of our living for. In all we speak and do we serve the Lord Christ.
We do not live at random. Each hour, each word, each action, has its aim. Far short, indeed, we come of that which we propose to ourselves, but still we have always something in our view; something exalted, large, unselfish; something that will last for eternity.
We have done with idleness, frivolity, and vain amusement. Our desire is, not to kill time, but to use it; to gather up all its fragments, to lay out every moment well, to lose nothing of so precious a boon. All that we have of it is too little to be trifled with, too precious to be thrown away.
We would fain live busy lives. We cannot afford to be idle; neither do we desire it. The call is, REDEEM THE TIME. Be always doing something that will last; be always stretching forward to the prize. It will soon be ours, for the Lord is at hand. It is a prize worth all our labour and sorrow here. The very thought of it is enough to put to flight all murmuring, or selfishness, or sloth. To labour here is as blessed as it is to rest hereafter. Work on, work on, till the day of recompense arrives.
Spend and be Spent.
"Be instant in season, out of season."—2 TIM. 4:2.
"I CONFESS," says Richard Baxter, "to my shame, that I remember no one sin that my conscience doth so much I accuse and judge me for, as for doing so little for the saving of men's souls, and dealing no more fervently and earnestly with them for their conversion. I confess to you, that when I am alone, and think of the case of poor, ignorant, worldly, earthly, unconverted sinners, that live not to God nor set their hearts on the life to come, my conscience telleth me that I should go to as many as I can, and tell them plainly and roundly what will become of them if they do not turn; and to beseech them, with all the earnestness that I can, to come in to Christ and make no delay. And though I have many excuses coming from other business, and from disability and want of time, yet none of them all doth satisfy my own conscience, when I consider what heaven and hell are, which will, one of them, be the end of every man's life. My conscience telleth me that I should follow them with all possible earnestness, night and day, taking no denial of them till they return to God."
Oh, well with our land, if each minister were like Baxter! Better still, if each Christian were like him! But, alas! where are such ministers, where are such Christians to be found? The time is short. Men are dying. The night cometh. Let us make haste, if we would do anything for a perishing world.
Stand Fast
"Stand fast in the faith, quit you like men, be strong."—1 COR. 16:13.
IN the last days many shall be as "clouds without water, carried about of winds." And this is one of the special perils of these "perilous times." The winds are let loose, and are now performing their awful work of tossing hither and thither these empty clouds.
Hence the instability that prevails. Men are "carried about with every wind of doctrine." They are not "rooted and grounded in love;" and having never "tasted that the Lord is gracious," nor rested their weary souls upon Him, they go about seeking they know not what. They want something that will fill them, but not going to the Livine fulness of the incarnate Word for it, they wander on in sadness of spirit, vainly trying to soothe their uneasy souls with every new doctrine or device that meets them in the way! All in vain. For what can be a substitute for God and His free love?
Amid all this instability, let us "stand fast in the faith." Let us be "strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus." Let us beware of novelties in religion. Let us guard against fickleness of opinion and hastiness of decision. Satan will let loose his blasts and call up his storms; let us only moor our vessel firmer, and keep faster hold of the anchor, which is sure and steadfast, "and which entereth into
that which is within the veil." Thus, in patience shall we possess our souls, for "he that believeth doth not make haste."
Watch
"Watch therefore: for ye know not what hour your Lord doth come."—MATT. 24:42.
THE Lord is at hand! The world's Judge and King will soon be here? Is not this a rousing, quickening word? And seeing that it is so, may we not say to one and to all, WATCH?
He comes suddenly and swiftly, as the lightning flashing out from the sky, and bursting down upon the earth in a moment. Therefore, Watch.
He comes silently and stealthily, as the thief coming in at midnight upon a slumbering house, without note of warning. Therefore, Watch.
He comes as a snare, which the fowler casts noiselessly over his prey, that it may be entangled and seized ere it be aware. Therefore, Watch.
He comes to raise His dead saints, and to change His living ones. He comes "to execute vengeance upon them that know not God and obey not His gospel." He comes to smite the nations in His wrath, and to kindle a fire in His anger. He comes to bind Satan, to destroy Antichrist, to set up His kingdom, to dispel the long darkness of earth, to bring in the long-promised day. Watch, therefore, and be ready!
What if He should now be on His way, and what if these tumults of the nations be the sound of His chariot-wheels? The night is far spent, the day is at hand, let us sleep no more. Let us up and be in earnest, for the time that remaineth is short.
Surely I Come Quickly
"He who testifieth these things, saith, Surely I come quickly. Amen. Even so, come, Lord Jesus."—REV. 22:20
THE Lord did not mean these words to be empty sounds. He meant His Church to listen and give heed to the solemn announcement. They speak to each passing age with deeper tone and more awakening voice. The voice of this trumpet waxes louder and louder as the ages roll away.
"Now is our salvation nearer than when we believed!" Are we, in the eager joy of our hearts, trying to measure the ages and count the few years or days that may lie between us and the Lord? Who can wonder that we should do so? Who would not wonder if we did not?
"His wife hath made herself ready." Are we ready? Is the bridal dress put on, "the fine linen, clean and white?" Are we decked for the marriage supper? Are we keeping our garments undefiled? Are we "keeping ourselves in the love of God, looking for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ unto eternal life?" (Jude 21.)
And are we warning the ungodly? Are we Noahs in the prospect of that fiery deluge that is coming on the earth? Are we "preachers of righteousness?" Do we "condemn the world?" Are we labouring to pluck brands from the burning? Are we becoming more and more
earnest in urging our message upon sinners—"FLEE FROM THE WRATH TO COME?"
THE END.
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Words of Peace and Welcome by Horatius Bonar, Copyright © 2020
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