contagion of your patience and enthusiasm may spread in many hearts, even though your Master wisely keeps you ignorant of it." We are confident, I say, and willing rather to be absent from the body, and to be present with the Lord.-2 COR. v. 8. And having this confidence, I know that I shall abide and continue with you all for your furtherance and joy of faith.-PHIL. i. 25. In whom, though now ye see him not, yet believing, ye rejoice with joy unspeakable and full of glory.-1 PETER i. 8. IN December 14. THE LEADER DIVINELY GIVEN. N the prophetic volume it is thus written of Christ: "Behold, I have given him for a witness to the people, a leader and commander to the people." This was a great gift, bestowed by the Father in great love and for a great end, even the eternal redemption of a lost world. Nor was the Father more willing to give than the Son to accept so blessed a commission; for he said, "Lo, I come: in the volume of the book it is written of me, I delight to do thy will, O my God." In the passage referred to it is as a divinely-appointed Leader our Lord is presented to us. And in the fulfilling of this mission it is interesting to note that it is not to the few he addresses himself, but to the unlimited many; for with loving entreaty he invites all men everywhere to follow him. It is worthy of note also that, to secure a following, it is never his way, like other leaders, merely to present the inducements, and conceal the difficulties. On the contrary, he is as frank and explicit in speaking of the cross as of the crown. "If any man," he says, "will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me. For whosoever will save his life shall lose it; and whosoever will lose his life for my sake shall find it." As one puts it, "The devil flatters men into his way, he lets them see the bait, but not the hook; but Christ holds the crown in the one hand and the cross in the other, and the cross nearest to the sinner, as first to be taken up. His counsel is, Either build not, or first count the cost; venture not to sea, or else be resolute to ride out the storm.” Notwithstanding the cross-bearing, however, very blessed is it to be permitted to follow the Lord. In a world like this, surrounded as we are by so many enemies, and with snares and temptations on every side, we would utterly fail were we left to our own guidance; but with such a Divine Leader, all-wise and almighty, we are absolutely safe. No foe can overcome, nor real evil ever befall us. When leading the Israelites through the wilderness, Moses had ever and again to cry to the Lord for direction and help; but Jesus himself is to his people the pillar of cloud by day and of fire by night. He needeth not, as Moses, to strike the flinty rock that the streams may flow; for he himself is the smitten Rock, whence gush rivers of living water to cheer and satisfy every longing soul. Nor needeth he to cry for flesh; he is the true Manna, the Bread of Life, whereof if a man eat he shall hunger no more. Thus his people are led safely on from strength to strength; and when at last they come to Jordan's cold and sullen waters, he bears them safely through into the bright land of promise. "Jesus, I my cross have taken, All to leave, and follow thee; Thou from hence my all shalt be. Man may trouble and distress me, Heaven will bring me sweeter rest." These are they which came out of great tribulation, and have washed their robes, and made them white in the blood of the Lamb.—REV. vii. 14. No man should be moved by these afflictions: for yourselves know that we are appointed thereunto.-1 THESS. iii. 3. Remember the word that I said unto you, The servant is not greater than his lord. If they have persecuted me, they will also persecute you; if they have kept my saying, they will keep yours also.-JOHN xv. 20. December 15. THE UNLIKELY BRINGERS OF OUR BEST THINGS. WHE HEN the Lord laid disease upon Naaman, and that one of the very worst that flesh is heir to, it seemed the utter blighting of his every hope. Yet, strange to say, that very leprosy was, as it were, the first imparted medicine for his eternal healing,—a marked proof of unmerited and saving kindness, and an early token of intended adoption; for "whom the Lord loveth he chasteneth, and scourgeth every son whom he receiveth." But for that very disease he might never have been effectually humbled or taught his own nothingness, or have been made to realize his need of help mightier far than any that creature hand could impart. And doubtless, on many an after-day in his life he himself, when reviewing the past and all the marvellous way in which he had been led, would often be ready to say, with grateful heart, "It is good for me that I have been afflicted." It is thus the Lord deals more or less with all his people. He chastens and afflicts them for their good. As without the furnace the gold would never get rid of its dross, so without trials sin would retain its mastery over our corrupt nature. Unbroken prosperity might be more pleasing to us, but adversity, and even storm and tempest, are often more profitable. Keen students of nature, and especially of marine life in all its forms, often welcome the tempest, because after it they frequently get their choicest specimens. In the journal of the late Dr. Coldstream it is thus written: This morning, as the storm had subsided, I determined to go down to the sands of Leith, that I might revel in the riches that might have been cast up by the deep after the terrible storm." So is it with believers; their very richest experiences and the choicest tokens of the divine favour are often got in and after their stormiest trials. This was remarkably exemplified in the dying experience of Dr. Payson. Though his bodily sufferings were intense, yet the peace and joy of his soul completely outweighed them all. It seemed as if he were dwelling in the land of Beulah. "If God had told me," he said, "that he was about to make me as happy as I could be in this world, and then said that he would begin by crippling me in all my limbs, and removing me from all my usual sources of enjoyment, I should have thought it a very strange mode of accomplishing his purpose. Yet how is his wisdom manifest even in this! for if you should see a man at mid-day shut up in a close and stifling room, idolizing a set of lamps and rejoicing in their light, and wished to make him truly happy, you would begin by blowing out his lamps, and throwing open the shutters and letting in the light and air of heaven."-It is even so, believers; and if you cannot always realize this on earth, you you will at least most certainly do so in heaven, and thank the Lord with heart and soul for every affliction sent you. We glory in tribulations also: knowing that tribulation worketh patience; and patience, experience; and experience, hope: and hope maketh not ashamed; because the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost which is given unto us.-ROM. v. 3-5. It is good for me that I have been afflicted; that I might learn thy statutes.-Ps. cxix. 71. Blessed is the man whom thou chastenest, O Lord, and teachest him out of thy law.-Ps. xciv. 12. December 16. A HASTY DELIVERANCE IS APT TO BE AN IMPERFECT ONE. WH HILE the removal of the Israelites from Egypt to Canaan was a great event, it was also, in the mode of its accomplishment, a gradual one. There was wise and gracious design in this. A sudden translation, however seemingly desirable, would not have been safe; for it would have brought them prematurely into Canaan, before either in spirit or character they were fully prepared for it. It needed the long and sore discipline of the wilderness to purge and cleanse them from their manifold corruptions, and make them sweetly ready for all the duties and privileges of the land of promise. And so is it with the great spiritual translation so often referred to in the Word. True, the moment we believe in Christ we are brought into the kingdom of grace; but frequently there is, so to speak, a long and weary wilderness to traverse ere we get into the kingdom of glory. Even after conversion, what continued discipline we need, to refine and purify us, and to make us fully meet for the inheritance of the saints in light. |