merited, and more than merited, is what God challenges first of all. Be still, and know that I am God. An approving apprehension of his justice is as indispensable as of his goodness. Neither can exist acceptably to him without the other. And can you not at this moment see occasion for both? Is the full measure of your deserts meted out to you? The rod is indeed applied, but it is not the scorpion. You are not lifting up your eyes in torment, in devouring flames. Mercies are mingled with judgments. Kindness and severity are blended mysteriously in your case as in the case of every sinner while in probation. For he doth not afflict willingly, nor grieve the children of men. In every stroke of his rod, in every pain, there is also a fatherly forbearance. Strict justice demands everlasting and unmitigated misery, and the full and penitent admission of this, God insists upon. You seem to look distrustful, as if this were a strange or a hard doctrine. But, my friend, I dare not deal an opiate doctrine. God has bidden me speak to you affectionately, yet plainly and solemnly. Woe is unto me if I administer what shall benumb your conscience. Unwarranted consolation would stupefy only to destroy. But, you are a professed Christian. God is now applying a test, that you may know whether you are truly such; and, if so, that you may become more eminently such. He has placed you in the alembic of suffering. It may seem to you, that in the process there is intensity, and even fury. But all that he does is needful. It is not in anger, that the refiner puts the precious metal into the fire. David could say, I was dumb, I opened not my mouth, because thou didst it.' Can you say the same?'that the trial of your faith, being much more precious than of gold, that perisheth, though it be tried with fire, might be found unto praise, and honor, and glory, at the appearing of Jesus Christ; whom, having not seen, you love; in whom, though now you see him not, yet, believing, you rejoice with joy unspeakable and full of glory.' Is this true of you? Is Christ in you the hope of glory? Does your soul rest on him, cleave to him, as its sole hope of salvation? Look to Mount Calvary. Do you view him, who bleeds there, as the Lamb of God, suffering vicariously for you? Do you see how divine justice is there vindicated? Do you see a flood of glory, that illuminates heaven and earth, pouring from that rude cross? My Lord and my God!' is that the profession of your faith? Does Christ, as your atoning and interceding High Priest, sway your soul supremely and irresistibly? It is your hope, it is mine, too, that you are a Christian. But to the Christian, Christ is all in all. These sufferings of yours should serve as a constant memento of Christ's sufferings. Ponder upon the crucifixion, till you can honestly say, 'God forbid that I should glory, save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom the world is crucified unto me, and I unto the world.' Here is a twofold crucifixion, that of Christ, and through him, the mutual crucifixion of the world and the believer. And what is here meant by the world? All objects of unlawful desire. And what by crucifixion to it? The slaying of worldlymindedness. And how is this effected through Christ, or his cross? It is by virtue of that union, which brings the believer into the fellowship of - Christ's sufferings, being made conformable unto his death. Just in proportion as you obtain a spiritual discernment of Christ and his cross, will you, by a sanctified sympathy, die unto sin, and live unto righteousness. The Christian may become, ought to become, so bound to his Lord, that he shall seem identified with him in the crucifixion, as it were, nailed himself to the cross. By the cross, he is, to be sure, freed from the punishment of sin; but by it, he is also freed from what is unspeakably more to be dreaded, the power of sin. My friend, can you say, in sincerity, 'I am crucified with Christ; nevertheless, I live; yet, not I, but Christ liveth in me?' Then must you have seen how righteously you were condemned by your Sovereign; you must have felt how impotent you were, in yourself; and you must have had convincing experience of justification by faith alone. Your assurance, you find gradually strengthened. You cry-Lord, I believe; help thou mine unbelief.' You speak of a remaining disposition, at times, to murmur. Guard well against it. Humble Yet, yourself under the mighty hand of God, casting all your care upon him, for he careth for you. He knows infinitely well what is best for you. Your physician may often mistake your case; but God never. Nothing comes from him, that betrays want of skill, or that proves pernicious. whom the Lord loveth, he chasteneth; and scourgeth every son whom he receiveth. Take, then, this allotment, much as it may disappoint, and, in various ways, try you; take it, as a paternal dispensation, and bless God that he has so ordered it. Tribulation worketh patience. This is quite foreign to apathy. Stoicism forms no part of Christianity. Not to feel at all is no proof of submission; nor is it proof that a person is not submissive because he feels deeply. Nor does this Christian virtue exclude all desire and effort for relief. Our great Exemplar fell on his face, and prayed, saying, 'O, my Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me; nevertheless, not as I will, but as thou wilt.' There is the great point, after all, and above all, a cheerful, complete, and filial surrender. Relieve and re |