Chapter II: Part 2

We know that earthly affection is deepened and intensified by increased familiarity with its object. The friendship of yesterday is not the sacred, hallowed thing, which years of growing intercourse have matured. If we may with reverence apply this test to the highest type of holy affection, what must have been that interchange of love which the measureless lapse of Eternity had fostered--a love, moreover, not fitful, transient, vacillating, subject to altered tones and estranged looks--but pure, constant, untainted, without one shadow of turning! And yet, listen to the "words of Jesus," As the Father hath loved _me_, _so_ have I loved _you_! It would have been infinitely more than we had reason to expect, if He had said, "As my Father hath loved ANGELS, so have I loved you." But the love borne to no finite beings is an appropriate symbol. Long before the birth of time or of worlds, that love existed. It was coeval with Eternity itself. Hear how the two themes of the Saviour's eternal rejoicing--the _love of His Father_, and His _love for sinners_--are grouped together;--"Rejoicing always before HIM, _and_ in the habitable part of His _earth_!"

To complete the picture, we must take in a counterpart description of the _Father's_ love to us;--"_Therefore_ doth my Father love me," says Jesus in another place, "_because_ I lay down my life!" God had an all-sufficiency in His love--He needed not the taper-love of creatures to add to His glory or happiness; but He seems to say, that so intense is His love for us, that He loves even His beloved Son _more_ (if infinite love be capable of increase), because He laid down His life for the guilty! It is regarding the Redeemed it is said, "He shall _rest_ in His love--He shall rejoice over _them_ with singing."

In the assertion, "God is love," we are left truly with no mere unproved averment regarding the existence of some abstract quality in the divine nature. "Herein," says an apostle, "perceive we THE LOVE,"--(it is added in our authorised version, "of God," but, as it has been remarked, "Our translators need not have added _whose_ love, for there is but one such specimen")--"_because_ He laid down His life for us." No expression of love can be wondered at after _this_. Ah, how miserable are our best affections compared with His! "_Our_ love is but the reflection--cold as the moon; _His_ is as the Sun." Shall we refuse to love Him more in return, who hath _first_ loved, and so _loved us_?

"NEVER MAN SPAKE LIKE THIS MAN."

17TH DAY.

"Remember the words of the Lord Jesus, how He said"--

"Only believe."--Mark v. 36.

The Brief Gospel.

The briefest of the "words of Jesus," but one of the most comforting. They contain the essence and epitome of all saving truth.

Reader, is _Satan_ assailing thee with tormenting fears? Is the thought of thy sins--the guilty past--coming up in terrible memorial before thee, almost tempting thee to give way to hopeless despondency? Fear not! A gentle voice whispers in thine ear,--"_Only believe._" "Thy sins are great, but my grace and merits are greater. 'Only believe' that I died for thee--that I am living for thee and pleading for thee, and that 'the faithful saying' is as 'faithful' as ever, and as 'worthy of all acceptation' as ever."--Art thou a _backslider_? Didst thou once run well? Has thine own guilty apostacy alienated and estranged thee from that face which was once all love, and that service which was once all delight? Art thou breathing in broken-hearted sorrow over the holy memories of a close walk with God--"Oh that it were with me as in months past, when the candle of the Lord did shine?" "_Only believe._" Take this thy mournful soliloquy, and convert it into a prayer. "Only believe" the word of Him whose ways are not as man's ways--"Return, ye backsliding children, and I will heal your backsliding."--Art thou beaten down with some heavy _trial_? have thy fondest schemes been blown upon--thy fairest blossoms been withered in the bud? has wave after wave been rolling in upon thee? hath the Lord forgotten to be gracious? Hear the "word of Jesus" resounding amid the thickest midnight of gloom--penetrating even through the vaults of the dead--"Believe, _only believe_." There is an infinite _reason_ for the trial--a lurking thorn that required removal, a gracious lesson that required teaching. The dreadful severing blow was dealt in love. God will be glorified in it, and your own soul made the better for it. Patiently wait till the light of immortality be reflected on a receding world. Here you must take His dealings on trust. The word of Jesus to you now is, "_Only believe._" The word of Jesus in eternity (every inner meaning and undeveloped purpose being unfolded), "Said I not unto thee that if thou wouldest _but_ BELIEVE, thou shouldst SEE the glory of God?"--Are you fearful and agitated in _the prospect of death_? Through fear of the last enemy, have you been all your lifetime subject to bondage?--"_Only believe._" "As thy day is, so shall thy strength be." Dying grace will be given when a dying hour comes. In the dark river a sustaining arm will be underneath you, deeper than the deepest and darkest wave. Ere you know it, the darkness will be past, the true Light shining,--the whisper of faith in the nether valley, "Believe! believe!" exchanged for angel-voices exclaiming, as you enter the portals of glory, "No longer through a glass darkly, but now face to face!"

Yes! "Jesus Himself had no higher remedy for sin, for sorrow, and for suffering, than those two words convey. At the utmost extremity of His own distress, and of His disciples' wretchedness, He could only say, 'Let not your heart be troubled: ye believe in God, believe also in me.' 'Believe, only believe.'"

"LORD, I BELIEVE, HELP THOU MINE UNBELIEF."

18TH DAY.

"Remember the words of the Lord Jesus, how He said"--

"Be of good cheer: It is I; be not afraid."--Mark vi. 50.

The Great Calm.

"It is I," (or as our old version has it, more in accordance with the original), "I AM! be not afraid!" Jesus lives! His people may dispel their misgivings--Omnipotence treads the waves! To sense it may seem at times to be otherwise; wayward accident and chance may appear to regulate human allotments; but not so: "The Lord's voice is upon the waters,"--He sits at the helm guiding the tempest-tossed bark, and guiding it well.

How often does He come to us as He did to the disciples in that midnight hour when all seems lost--"in the fourth watch of the night,"--when we least looked for Him; or when, like the shipwrecked apostle, "for days together neither sun nor stars appeared, and no small tempest lay on us; when all hope that we should be saved seemed to be taken away,"--how often _just at that moment_, is the "word of Jesus" heard floating over the billows!

Believer, art thou in trouble? listen to the voice in the storm, "Fear not, _I_ AM." That voice, like Joseph's of old to his brethren, may _seem_ rough, but there are gracious undertones of love. "It is I," he seems to say; It _was_ I, that roused the storm; It is I, who when it has done its work, will calm it, and say, "Peace, be still." Every wave rolls at My bidding--every trial is My appointment--all have some gracious end; they are not sent to dash you against the sunken rocks, but to waft you nearer heaven. Is it _sickness_? I am He who bare your sickness; the weary wasted frame, and the nights of languishing, were sent by Me. Is it _bereavement_? I am "the Brother" born for adversity--the loved and lost were plucked away by Me. Is it _death_? I AM the "Abolisher of death," seated by your side to calm the waves of ebbing life; it is _I_, about to fetch My pilgrims _home_--It is My voice that speaks, "The Master is come, and calleth for thee."

Reader, thou wilt have reason yet to praise thy God for every one such storm! This is the history of every heavenly voyager: "_So_ He bringeth them to their desired haven." "_So!_" That word, in all its unknown and diversified meaning, is in _His_ hand. He suits His dealings to every case. "_So!_" With some it is through quiet seas unfretted by one buffeting wave. "_So!_" With others it is "mounting up to heaven, and going down again to the deep." But whatever be the leading and the discipline, here is the grand consummation, "_So_ He bringeth them unto their desired haven." It might have been with thee the moanings of an eternal night-blast--no lull or pause in the storm; but soon the darkness will be past, and the hues of morn tipping the shores of glory!

And what, then, should your attitude be? "Looking unto Jesus" (literally, looking _from unto_); looking away from self, and sin, and human props and refuges and confidences, and fixing the eye of unwavering and unflinching faith on a reigning Saviour. Ah, how a real quickening sight of Christ dispels all guilty fears! The Roman keepers of old were affrighted, and became as dead men. The lowly Jewish women feared not; why? "_I know that ye seek Jesus!_" Reader, let thy weary spirit fold itself to rest under the composing "word" of a gracious Saviour, saying----

"I WAIT FOR THE LORD, MY SOUL DOTH WAIT, AND IN _HIS WORD_ DO I
HOPE."

19TH DAY.

"Remember the words of the Lord Jesus, how He said"--

"Peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you: not as the world
giveth, give I unto you."--John xiv. 27.

The Dying Legacy.

How we treasure the last sayings of a dying parent! How specially cherished and memorable are his last looks and last words! Here are the last words--the parting legacy--of a dying Saviour. It is a legacy of _peace_.

What peace is this? It is His own purchase--a peace arising out of free forgiveness through His precious blood. It is sung in concert with "Glory to God in the highest"--a peace made as sure to us as eternal power and infinite love _can make it_! It is _peace_ the soul wants. Existence is one long-drawn sigh after repose. _That_ is nowhere else to be found, but through the blood of His cross! "Being justified by faith, we _have_ peace with God." "HE giveth his beloved _rest_!"

How different from the false and counterfeit peace in which so many are content to live, and content to die! The world's peace is all well, so long as prosperity lasts--so long as the stream runs smooth, and the sky is clear; but when the cataract is at hand, or the storm is gathering, where is it? It is _gone_! There is no calculating on its permanency. Often when the cup is fullest, there is the trembling apprehension that in one brief moment it may be dashed to the ground. The soul may be saying to itself, "Peace, peace;" but, like the writing on the sand, it may be obliterated by the first wave of adversity. BUT, "Not as the world giveth!" The peace of the believer is deep--calm--lasting--_ever_lasting. The world, with all its blandishments, cannot give it. The world, with all its vicissitudes and fluctuations, cannot take it away! It is brightest in the hour of trial; it lights up the final valley-gloom. "Mark the perfect man, and behold the upright, for the end of that man is peace." Yes! how often is the believer's deathbed like the deep calm repose of a summer-evening's sky, when all nature is hushed to rest; the departing soul, like the vanishing sun, peacefully disappearing only to shine in another and brighter hemisphere! "I seem," said Simeon on his deathbed, "to have nothing to do but to wait: there is now nothing but _peace_, the _sweetest peace_."

Believer! do you know this peace which passeth understanding? Is it "keeping (literally, '_garrisoning_ as in a citadel') your heart?" Have you learnt the blessedness of waking up, morning after morning, and feeling, "I am at peace with my God;" of beholding by faith the true Aaron--the great High Priest--coming forth from "the holiest of all" to "bless His people with peace?" Waves of trouble may be murmuring around you, but they cannot touch you; you are in the rock-crevice athwart which the fiercest tornado sweeps by. Oh! leave not the making up of your peace with God to a dying hour! It will be a hard thing to smooth the death-pillow, if peace be left unsought till then. Make sure of it _now_. He, the true Melchisedec, is willing _now_ to come forth to meet you with bread and wine--emblems of peaceful gospel blessings. All the "words of Jesus" are so many rills contributing to make your peace flow as a river;--"These things have I spoken unto you, that in Me ye might have peace."

"I WILL HEAR WHAT GOD THE LORD WILL SPEAK, FOR HE WILL SPEAK PEACE
UNTO HIS PEOPLE AND TO HIS SAINTS."

20TH DAY.

"Remember the words of the Lord Jesus, how He said"--

"All power is given unto me in heaven and in earth."--Matt. xxviii.
18.

The Supreme Investiture.

What an empire is this! Heaven and earth--the Church militant--the Church triumphant--angels and archangels--saints and seraphs. At His mandate the billows were hushed--demons crouched in terror--the grave yielded its prey! "Upon his head are many crowns." He is made "head over _all things_ to His Church." Yes! over _all things_, from the minutest to the mightiest. He holds the stars in His right hand--He walks in the midst of the seven golden candlesticks, feeding every candlestick with the oil of His grace, and preserving every star in its spiritual orbit. The prince of Darkness has "a power," but, God be praised, it is not an "all power;" _potent_, but not _omnipotent_. Christ holds him in a chain. He hath set bounds that he may not pass over. "Satan," we read in the book of Job, "went out (_Chaldee paraphrase_, 'with a licence') from the presence of the Lord." He was not allowed even to enter the herd of swine till Christ permitted him. He only "_desired_" to have Peter that he might "sift him;" there was a mightier countervailing agency at hand: "_I_ have prayed for thee, that thy faith fail not."

Believer, how often is there nothing but this grace of Jesus between thee and everlasting destruction! Satan's key fitting the lock in thy wayward heart; but a stronger than the strong man barring him out;--the power of the adversary fanning the flame; the Omnipotence of Jesus quenching it. Art thou even now feeling the strength of thy corruptions, the weakness of thy graces, the presence of some outward or inward temptation? Look up to Him who has promised to make His grace sufficient for thee; "all power" is His prerogative; "all-sufficiency in all things" is His promise. It is power, too, in conjunction with tenderness. He who sways the sceptre of universal empire "gently leads" His weak, and weary, and burdened ones:--He who counts the number of the stars, loves to count the number of their sorrows; nothing too great, nothing too insignificant for _Him_. He puts every tear into his bottle. He paves His people's pathway with love!

Blessed Jesus! my everlasting interests cannot be in better or in safer keeping than in Thine. I can exultingly rely on the "_all-power_" of Thy Godhead. I can sweetly rejoice in the _all-sympathy_ of Thy Manhood. I can confidently repose in the sure wisdom of Thy dealings. "Sometimes," says one, "we expect the blessing in _our_ way; He chooses to bestow it in _His_." But His way and His will must be the best. Infinite love, infinite power, infinite wisdom, are surely infallible guarantees. His purposes nothing can alter. His promises never fail. His word never falls to the ground.

"HEAVEN AND EARTH SHALL PASS AWAY, BUT _MY WORDS_ SHALL NOT PASS AWAY."

21ST DAY.

"Remember the words of the Lord Jesus, how He said"--

"He shall glorify me: for He shall receive of mine, and shall show
it unto you."--John xvi. 14.

The Divine Glorifier.

The Holy Spirit glorifying Jesus in the unfoldings of His person, and character, and work, to His people! The great ministering agent between the Church on earth and its glorified Head in Heaven,--carrying up to the Intercessor on the throne, the ever-recurring wants and trials, the perplexities and sins, of believers; and receiving out of His inexhaustible treasury of love,--comfort for their sorrows--strength for their weakness--sympathy for their tears--fulness for their emptiness,--and _this_ the one sublime end and object of His gracious agency,--"_He shall glorify Me._" "He shall not speak of Himself, but whatsoever He shall hear, that shall He speak." My words of sympathy--My omnipotent pleadings--the tender messages sent from an unchanged Human Heart,--all these shall He speak. "He shall tell you," says an old divine, commenting on this passage, "He shall tell you nothing but stories of My love" (_Goodwin_). He will have an ineffable delight in magnifying Me in the affections of My Church and people, and endearing Me to their hearts; and He is all worthy of credence, for He is "the Spirit of truth."

How faithful has He been in every age to this His great office as "the glorifier of Jesus!" See the first manifestation of His power in the Christian Church at the day of Pentecost. What was the grand truth which forms the focus-point of interest in that unparalleled scene, and which brings three thousand stricken penitents to their knees? _It is the Spirit's unfolding of Jesus_--glorifying _Him_ in eyes that before saw in Him no beauty? Hear the key-note of that wondrous sermon, preached "in demonstration of the Spirit, and with power,"--"HIM hath God exalted to be a Prince and a Saviour, to give repentance to His people, and forgiveness of sins."

Ah? it is still the same peerless truth which the Spirit delights to unfold to the stricken sinner, and, in unfolding it, to make it mighty to the pulling down of strongholds. All these glorious inner beauties of Christ's work and character are undiscerned and undiscernible by the natural eye. "It is the Spirit that quickeneth." "No man can call Jesus Lord, but by the Holy Ghost." He is the great Forerunner--a mightier than the Baptist--proclaiming, "Behold the Lamb of God!"

Reader! any bright and realising view you have had of the Saviour's glory and excellency, is of the Spirit's imparting. When in some hour of sorrow you have been led to cleave with pre-eminent consolation to the thought of the Redeemer's exalted sympathy--His dying, ever-living love; or in the hour of death, when you feel the sustaining power of His exceeding great and precious promises;--what is this, but the Holy Spirit, in fulfilment of His all-gracious office, taking of all things of Christ, and showing them unto you; thus enabling you to magnify Him in your body, whether it be by life or death? As your motto should ever be, "_None BUT Christ_," and your ever-increasing aspiration, "_More OF Christ_," seek to bear in mind who it is that is alone qualified to impart the "excellency of this knowledge."

"THE SPIRIT OF TRUTH WHICH PROCEEDETH FROM THE FATHER, _HE_ SHALL
TESTIFY OF ME."

22D DAY.

"Remember the words of the Lord Jesus, how He said"--

"Your sorrow shall be turned into joy."--John xvi. 20.

The Joyful Transformation.

Christ's people are a sorrowing people! Chastisement is their badge--"great tribulation" is their appointed discipline. When they enter the gates of glory, He is represented as wiping away tears from their eyes. But, weeping ones, be comforted! Your Lord's special mission to earth--the great errand He came from heaven to fulfil, was "to bind up the broken-hearted." Your trials are meted out by a tender hand. He _knows_ you too well--He _loves_ you too well--to make this world tearless and sorrowless! "There must be rain, and hail, and storm," says Rutherford, "in the saint's cloud." Were your earthy course strewed with flowers, and nothing but sunbeams played around your dwelling, it would lead you to forget your _nomadic_ life,--that you are but a sojourner here. The tent must at times be struck, pin by pin of the moveable tabernacle taken down, to enable you to say and to feel in the spirit of a pilgrim, "I desire a better country." Meantime, while sorrow is your portion, think of Him who says, "I know your sorrows." Angels cannot say so--they cannot sympathise with you, for trial is a strange word to them. But there is a mightier than they who _can_. All He sends you and appoints you is in love. There is a provision and condition wrapt up in the bosom of every affliction, "_if need be_;" coming from His hand, sorrows and riches are to His people convertible terms. If tempted to murmur at their trials, they are often murmuring at disguised mercies. "Why do you ask me," said Simeon, on his deathbed, "what I _like_? I am the Lord's patient--I cannot but like _everything_."

And _then_--"your sorrow shall be turned into joy." "The morning cometh"--that bright morning when the dew-drops collected during earth's night of weeping shall sparkle in its beams; when in one blessed _moment_ a life-long experience of trial will be effaced and forgotten, or remembered only by contrast, to enhance the fulness of the joys of immortality. What a revelation of gladness! The map of time disclosed, and every little rill of sorrow, every river will be seen to have been flowing heavenwards,--every rough blast to have been sending the bark nearer the haven! In that joy, God Himself will participate. In the last "words of Jesus" to His people when they are standing by the triumphal archway of Glory, ready to enter on their thrones and crowns, He speaks of their joy as if it were all _His own_. "Enter ye into the joy _of your Lord_."

Reader, may this joy be yours! Sit loose to the world's joys. Have a feeling of chastened gratitude and thankfulness when you have them; but beware of resting in them, or investing them with a permanency they cannot have. Jesus had his eye on _heaven_ when he added--

"YOUR JOY NO MAN TAKETH FROM YOU."

23D DAY.

"Remember the words of the Lord Jesus, how He said"--

"Father, I will that they also whom thou hast given me, be with me
where I am; that they may behold my glory."--John xvii. 24.

The Omnipotent Prayer.

This is not the petition of a suppliant, but the claim of a conqueror. There was only _one_ request He ever made, or ever _can_ make, that was refused; it was the prayer wrung forth by the presence and power of superhuman anguish: "Father, _if it be possible_, let this cup pass from me!" Had that prayer been answered, never could one consolatory "word of Jesus" have been ours. "_If it be possible_;"--_but_ for that gracious parenthesis, we must have been lost for ever! In unmurmuring submission, the bitter cup _was_ drained; all the dread penalties of the law were borne, the atonement completed, an all-perfect righteousness wrought out; and now, as the stipulated reward of His obedience and sufferings, the Victor claims His trophies. What are they? Those that were given Him of the Father--the countless multitudes redeemed by His blood. These He "_wills_" to be with Him "where He is"--the spectators of His glory, and partakers of His crown. Wondrous word and will of a dying testator! His last prayer on earth is an importunate pleading for their glorification; His parting wish is to meet them in heaven: as if these earthly jewels were needed to make His crown complete,--their happiness and joy the needful complement of His own!

Reader! learn from this, the grand element in the bliss of your future condition--it is _the presence of Christ_; "_with Me_ where I am." It matters comparatively little as to the locality of heaven. "We shall see _Him_ as He is," is "the blessed hope" of the Christian. Heaven would be _no_ heaven without Jesus; the withdrawal of His presence would be like the blotting out of the sun from the firmament; it would uncrown every seraph, and unstring every harp. But, blessed thought! it is His own stipulation in His testamentary prayer, that Eternity is to be spent in union and communion with _Himself_, gazing on the unfathomed mysteries of His love, becoming more assimilated to His glorious image, and drinking deeper from the ocean of His own joy.

If anything can enhance the magnitude of this promised bliss, it is the concluding words of the verse, in which He grounds His plea for its bestowment: "_I will_--that they behold my glory;"--why? "For Thou lovedst (not _them_, but) ME before the foundation of the world!" It is equivalent to saying, "If Thou wouldst give _Me_ a continued proof of Thine everlasting love and favour to Myself, it is by loving and exalting My redeemed people. In loving _them_ and glorifying them, Thou art loving and glorifying Me: so endearingly are their interests and My own bound up together!"

Believer, think of that all-prevailing voice, at this moment pleading for thee within the veil!--that omnipotent "_Father, I will_," securing every needed boon! There is given, so to speak, a blank _cheque_ by which He and His people may draw indefinite supplies out of the exhaustless treasury of the Father's grace and love. God Himself endorses it with the words, "Son, Thou art ever with me, and all that I have is Thine." How it would reconcile us to Earth's bitterest sorrows, and hallow Earth's holiest joys, if we saw them thus hanging on the "_will_" of an all-wise Intercessor, who ever pleads in love, and never pleads in vain!

"BE IT UNTO ME ACCORDING TO _THY WORD_."

24TH DAY.

"Remember the words of the Lord Jesus, how He said"--

"Because I live, ye shall live also."--John xiv. 19.

The Immutable Pledge.

God sometimes selects the most stable and enduring objects in the material world to illustrate His unchanging faithfulness and love to His Church. "As the mountains are round about Jerusalem, so doth the Lord compass his people." But here, the Redeemer fetches an argument from _His own everlasting nature_. He stakes, so to speak, His own existence on that of His saints. "_Because I live_, ye shall live also."

Believer! read in this "word of Jesus" thy glorious title-deed. _Thy Saviour lives_--and His life is the guarantee of thine own. Our true Joseph is alive. "He is our Brother. He talks kindly to us!" That life of His, is all that is between us and everlasting ruin. But with Christ for our life, how inviolable our security! The great Fountain of being must first be dried up, before the streamlet can. The great Sun must first be quenched, ere one glimmering satellite which He lights up with His splendour can. Satan must first pluck the crown from that glorified Head, before he can touch one jewel in the crown of His people. They cannot shake one pillar without shaking first the throne. "If we perish," says Luther, "Christ perisheth with us."

Reader! is thy life now "hid with Christ in God?" Dost thou know the blessedness of a vital and living union with a living, life-giving Saviour? Canst thou say with humble and joyous confidence, amid the fitfulness of thine own ever-changing frames and feelings, "Nevertheless I live, yet not I, but Christ liveth in me?" "_Jesus liveth!_"--They are the happiest words a lost soul and a lost world can hear! Job, four thousand years ago, rejoiced in them. "I know," says he, "that I have _a living Kinsman_." John, in his Patmos exile, rejoiced in them. "I am He that liveth" (or _the Living One_), was the simple but sublime utterance with which he was addressed by that same "Kinsman," when He appeared arrayed in the lustres of His glorified humanity. "This is _the_ record" (as if there was a whole gospel comprised in the statement), "that God hath given to us eternal life, and this _life_ is in His Son." St. Paul, in the 8th chapter to the Romans--that finest portraiture of Christian character and privilege ever drawn, begins with "no condemnation," and ends with "no separation." Why "no separation?" Because the life of the believer is incorporated with that of his adorable Head and Surety. The colossal Heart of redeemed humanity beats upon the throne, sending its mighty pulsations through every member of His body; so that, before the believer's spiritual life can be destroyed, Omnipotence must become feebleness, and Immutability become mutable!

But, blessed Jesus, "Thy word is very sure, therefore Thy servant loveth it."

"I GIVE UNTO THEM ETERNAL LIFE, AND THEY SHALL NEVER PERISH, NEITHER
SHALL ANY MAN PLUCK THEM OUT OF MY HAND."

25TH DAY.

"Remember the words of the Lord Jesus, how He said"--

"Lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world."--Matt.
xxviii. 20.

The Abiding Presence.

Such were "the words of Jesus" when He was just about to ascend to Heaven. The mediatorial throne was in view--the harps of glory were sounding in His ears; but all His thoughts are on the pilgrim Church He is to leave behind. His last words and benedictions are for _them_. "I go," He seems to say, "to Heaven, to my purchased crown--to the fellowship of angels--to the presence of my Father; _but_, nevertheless, 'Lo! I am with _you_ alway, even unto the end of the world.'"

How faithfully did the Apostles, to whom this promise was first addressed, experience its reality! Hear the testimony of the beloved disciple who had once leant on his Divine Master's bosom--who "had heard, and seen, and looked upon Him." That glorified bosom was now hid from his sight; but does he speak of an absent Lord, and of His fellowship only as among the holy memories of the past? No! with rejoicing emphasis he can exclaim--"Truly our fellowship IS with ... _Jesus Christ_."

Amid so much that is fugitive here, how the heart clings to this assurance of the abiding presence of the Saviour! Our best earthly friends--a few weeks may estrange them;--centuries have rolled on--Christ is still the same. How blessed to think, that if I am indeed a child of God, there is not the lonely instant I am without His guardianship! When the beams of the morning visit my chamber, the brighter beams of a brighter Sun are shining upon me. When the shadows of evening are gathering around, "it is not night, if He, the unsetting 'Sun of my soul,' is near." His is no fitful companionship--present in prosperity, gone in adversity. He never changes. He is always the same,--in sickness and solitude, in joy and in sorrow, in life and in death. Not more faithfully did the pillar-cloud and column of fire of old precede Israel, till the last murmuring ripple of Jordan fell on their ears on the shores of Canaan, than does the presence and love of Jesus abide with His people. Has His word of promise ever proved false? Let the great cloud of witnesses now in glory testify. "Not one thing hath failed of all that the Lord our God hath spoken." _This_ "word of the Lord is tried"--"having loved His own, which were in the world, He loved them _unto the end_."

Believer! art thou troubled and tempted? Do dark providences and severe afflictions seem to belie the truth and reality of this gracious assurance? Art thou ready, with Gideon, to say, "If the Lord be indeed with us, why has all this befallen us?" Be assured He has some faithful end in view. By the removal of prized and cherished earthly props and refuges, He would unfold more of his own tenderness. Amid the wreck and ruin of earthly joys, which, it may be, the grave has hidden from your sight, One nearer, dearer, tenderer still, would have you say of Himself, "_The Lord liveth_; and blessed be my Rock; and let the God of my salvation be exalted." "Thanks be to God, who _always_ maketh us to triumph in Christ." Yes! and never more so than when, stripped of all competing objects of creature affection, we are left, like the disciples on the mount, with "_Jesus only_!"

"THESE THINGS HAVE I SPOKEN UNTO YOU, THAT IN ME YE MIGHT HAVE PEACE."

26TH DAY.

"Remember the words of the Lord Jesus, how He said"--

"I am the resurrection and the life: he that believeth in me, though
he were dead, yet he shall live."--John. xi. 25.

The Resurrection and Life.

What a voice is this breaking over a world which for six thousand years has been a dormitory of sin and death! For four thousand of these years, heathendom could descry no light through the bars of the grave; her oracles were dumb on the great doctrine of a future state, and more especially regarding the body's resurrection. Even the Jewish Church, under the Old Testament dispensation, seemed to enjoy little more than fitful and uncertain glimmerings, like men groping in the dark. It required death's great Abolisher to show, to a benighted world, the luminous "path of life." With Him rested the "bringing in of a better hope"--the unfolding of "the mystery which had been hid from ages and generations." Marvellous disclosure! that this mortal frame, decomposed and resolved into its original dust, shall yet start from its ashes, remodelled and reconstructed--"a glorified body!" Not like "the earthly tabernacle" (a mere shifting and moveable _tent_, as the word denotes), but incorruptible--immortal! The beauteous transformation of the insect from its chrysalis state--the buried seed springing up from its tiny grave to the full-eared corn or gorgeous flower--these are nature's mute utterances as to the possibility of this great truth, which required the unfoldings of "a more sure word of prophecy." But the Gospel has fully revealed what Reason, in her loftiest imaginings, could not have dreamt of. Jesus "hath brought life and immortality to light." He, the Bright and Morning Star, hath "turned the shadow of death into the morning." He gives, in His own resurrection, the earnest of that of His people;--He is the first-fruits of the immortal harvest yet to be gathered into the garner of Heaven.

Precious truth! This "word of Jesus" spans like a celestial rainbow the entrance to the dark valley. Death is robbed of its sting. In the case of every child of God, the grave holds in custody precious, because redeemed, dust. Talk of it not, as being committed to a dishonoured tomb!--it is locked up, rather, in the casket, of God until the day "when He maketh up His jewels," when it will be fashioned in deathless beauty like unto the glorified body of the Redeemer. Angels, meanwhile, are commissioned to keep watch over it, till the trump of the archangel shall proclaim the great "Easter of creation." They are the "reapers," waiting for the world's great "Harvest Home," when Jesus Himself shall come again--not as He once did, humiliated and in sorrow, but rejoicing in the thought of bringing back all His sheaves with him.

Afflicted and bereaved Christian!--thou who mayest be mourning in bitterness those who are not--rejoice through thy tears in these hopes "full of immortality." The silver cord is only "loosed," not broken. Perchance, as thou standest in the chamber of death, or by the brink of the grave,--in the depths of that awful solitude and silence which reigns around, this may be thy plaintive and mournful soliloquy--"Shall the dust praise Thee?" Yes, it _shall_! This very dust that hears now unheeded thy footsteps, and unmoved thy tears, shall through eternity praise its redeeming God--it shall proclaim His truth!

"LORD, TO WHOM SHALL WE GO BUT UNTO THEE, THOU HAST THE _WORDS_ OF
_ETERNAL LIFE_."

27TH DAY.

"Remember the words of the Lord Jesus, how He said"--

"A little while, and ye shall not see me; and again, a little while,
and ye shall see me, because I go to the Father."--John xvi. 16.

The Little While.

Long seem the moments when we are separated from the friend we love. An absent brother--how his return is looked and longed for! The "Elder Brother"--the "Living Kinsman"--sends a message to His waiting Church and people--a word of solace, telling that _soon_ ("a little while,") and He will be back again, never again to leave them.

There are indeed blessed moments of communion which the believer enjoys with His beloved Lord _now_; but how fitful and transient! To-day, life is a brief Emmaus journey--the soul happy in the presence and love of an unseen Saviour. To-morrow, He is _gone_; and the bereft spirit is led to interrogate itself in plaintive sorrow,--"Where is now thy God?" Even when there is no such experience of darkness and depression, how much there is in the world around to fill the believer with sadness! His Lord rejected and disowned--His love set at nought--His providences slighted--His name blasphemed--His creation groaning and travailing in pain--disunion, too, among His people--His loving heart wounded in the house of His friends!

But "yet a little while," and all this mystery of iniquity will be finished. The absent Brother's footfall will soon be heard,--no longer "as a wayfaring man who turneth aside to tarry for a night," but to receive His people into the permanent "mansions" His love has been preparing, and from which they shall go no more out. Oh, blessed day! when creation will put on her Easter robes--when her Lord, so long dishonoured, will be enthroned amid the hosannahs of a rejoicing universe--angels lauding Him--saints crowning Him--sin, the dark plague-spot on His universe, extinguished for ever--death swallowed up in eternal victory!

And it is but "a little while!" "Yet a little while," we elsewhere read, "and He that shall come, will come, and will not tarry" (literally, "a little while as may be.") "He will stay not a moment longer," says Goodwin, "than He hath despatched all our business in Heaven for us." With what joy will He send His mission-Angel with the announcement, "the little while is at an end;" and to issue the invitation to the great festival of glory, "Come! for all things are ready!"

Child of sorrow! think often of this "_little while_." "The days of thy mourning will soon be ended." There is a limit set to thy suffering time,--"After that ye have suffered a WHILE." Every wave is numbered between you and the haven; and then when that haven is reached, oh, what an apocalypse of glory!--the "little while" of time merged into the great and unending "while of eternity!"--to be _for ever with the Lord_--the same unchanged and unchanging Saviour!

"A little while, and ye _shall_ see me!" Would that the eye of faith might be kept more intently fixed on "that glorious appearing!" How the world, with its guilty fascinations, tries to dim and obscure this blessed hope! How the heart is prone to throw out its fibres here, and get them rooted in some perishable object! Reader! seek to dwell more habitually on this the grand consummation of all thy dearest wishes. "Stand on the edge of your nest, pluming your wings for flight." Like the mother of Sisera, be looking for the expected chariot.

"HE IS FAITHFUL THAT PROMISED."

28TH DAY.

"Remember the words of the Lord Jesus, how He said"--

"Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God."--Matt. v.
8.

The Beatific Vision.

Here Is Heaven! This "word of Jesus" represents the future state of the glorified to consist not in locality, but in character; the essence of its bliss is the full vision and fruition of God. Our attention is called from all vague and indefinite theories about the _circumstantials_ of future happiness. The one grand object of contemplation--the "glory which excelleth," is _the sight of God Himself_! The one grand practical lesson enforced on His people, is the cultivation of that purity of heart without which none could _see_, or (even could we suppose it possible to be admitted to _see_ Him) none could _enjoy_ God! "The kingdom of Heaven cometh not with observation ... the kingdom of God is _within_ you."

Reader, hast thou attained any of this heart-purity and heart-preparation? It has been beautifully said that "the openings of the streets of heaven are on earth." Even here we may enjoy, in the possession of holiness, some foretaste of coming bliss. Who has not felt that the happiest moments of their lives were those of close walking with God--nearness to the mercy-seat--when self was surrendered, and the eye was directed to the glory of Jesus, with most single, unwavering, undivided aim? What will Heaven be, but the entire surrender of the soul to Him, without any bias to evil, without the fear of corruption within echoing to temptation without; every thought brought into captivity to the obedience of Christ; no contrariety to His mind; all in blessed unison with His will; the whole _being_ impregnated with holiness--the intellect purified and ennobled, consecrating all its powers to His service--memory, a holy repository of pure and hallowed recollections--the affections, without one competing rival, purged from all the dross of earthliness--the love of God, the one supreme animating passion--the glory of God, the motive principle interfused through every thought, and feeling, and action of the life immortal; in one word, the heart a pellucid fountain; no sediment to dim its purity, "no angel of sorrow" to come and trouble the pool! The long night of life over, and _this_ the glory of the eternal morrow which succeeds it! "I shall be satisfied when I awake, with _Thy_ likeness."

Yes, this is Heaven, subjectively and objectively--_purity of heart_ and "_God all in all_!" Much, doubtless, there may and will be of a subordinate kind, to intensify the bliss of the redeemed; communion with saints and angels; re-admission into the society of death-divided friends: but all these will fade before the great central glory, "God Himself shall be with them, and be their God; they shall _see his face_!" Believers have been aptly called _heliotropes_--turning their faces as the sunflower towards the Sun of Righteousness, and hanging their leaves in sadness and sorrow, when that Sun is away. It will be in heaven the emblem is complete. _There_, every flower in the heavenly garden will be turned Godwards, bathing its tints of loveliness in the glory that excelleth! Reader, may it be yours, when o'er-canopied by that cloudless sky, to know all the marvels contained in these few glowing words, "We shall be like Him, for we shall see him as He is."

"AND EVERY MAN THAT HATH THIS HOPE IN HIM PURIFIETH HIMSELF EVEN AS
HE IS PURE."

29TH DAY.

"Remember the words of the Lord Jesus, how He said"--

"In my Father's house are many mansions."--John xiv. 2.

The Many Mansions.

What a home aspect there is in this "word of Jesus!" He comforts His Church by telling them that soon their wilderness-wanderings will be finished,--the tented tabernacle suited to their present probation-state exchanged for the enduring "mansion!" Nor will it be any strange dwelling: a _Father's_ home--a _Father's_ welcome awaits them. There will be accommodation for all. Thousands have already entered its shining gates,--patriarchs, prophets, saints, martyrs, young and old, and still there is room!

The pilgrim's motto on earth is, "Here we have no continuing city." Even "Sabbath tents" must be struck. Holy seasons of communion must terminate. "Arise, let us go hence!" is a summons which disturbs the sweetest moments of tranquillity in the Church below; but _in Heaven_, every believer becomes a pillar in the temple of God, and "he shall _go no more out_." Here it is but the lodging of a wayfarer turning aside to tarry for the brief night of earth. Here we are but "tenants at will;" our possessions are but moveables--ours to-day, gone to-morrow. But these many "mansions" are an inheritance incorruptible and unfading. Nothing can touch the heavenly patrimony. Once within the Father's house, and we are in the house for ever!

Think, too, of Jesus, gone to _prepare_ these mansions,--"I go to prepare a place for you." What a wondrous thought--Jesus now busied in Heaven in His Church's behalf! He can find no abode in all His wide dominions, befitting as a permanent dwelling for His ransomed ones. He says, "I will make new heavens and a new earth. I will found a special kingdom--I will rear eternal mansions expressly for those I have redeemed with my blood!"

Reader, let the prospect of a dwelling in this "house of the Lord for ever," reconcile thee to any of the roughnesses or difficulties in thy present path--to thy pilgrim provision and pilgrim fare. Let the distant beacon-light, that so cheeringly speaks of a _Home_ brighter and better far than the happiest of earthly ones, lead thee to forget the intervening billows, or to think of them only as wafting thee nearer and nearer to thy desired haven! "Would," says a saint, who has now entered on his rest, "that one could read, and write, and pray, and eat and drink, and compose one's self to sleep, as with the thought,--soon to be in heaven, and that for ever and ever!"

"My Father's house!" How many a departing spirit has been cheered and consoled by the sight of these glorious Mansions looming through the mists of the dark valley,--the tears of weeping friends rebuked by the gentle chiding--"If ye loved me, ye would rejoice, because I said, I go unto _my Father_!" Death truly is but the entrance to this our Father's house. We speak of the "_shadow of death_"--it is only the shadow which falls on the portico as we stand for a moment knocking at the longed-for gate--the next! a Father's voice of welcome is heard--

"SON! THOU ART EVER WITH ME, AND ALL THAT I HAVE IS THINE."

30TH DAY.

"Remember the words of the Lord Jesus, how He said"--

"I will come again, and receive you unto myself; that where I am,
there ye may be also."--John xiv. 3.

The Promised Return.

Another "word of promise" concerning the Church's "blessed hope." Orphaned pilgrims, dry your tears! Soon the Morning Hour will strike, and the sighs of a groaning and burdened creation be heard no more. Earth's six thousand years of toil and sorrow are waning; the Millennial Sabbath is at hand. Jesus will soon be heard to repeat concerning all his sleeping saints, what He said of old regarding one of them: "I go to awake them out of sleep!" Your beloved Lord's first coming was in humiliation and woe; His name was--the "Man of Sorrows;" He had to travel on, amid darkness and desertion, His blood-stained path; a chaplet of thorns was the only crown He bore. But soon He will come "the second time without a sin-offering unto salvation," never again to leave His Church, but to receive those who followed Him in His cross, to be everlasting partakers with Him in His crown. He may seem to tarry. External nature, in her unvarying and undeviating sequences, gives no indication of His approach. Centuries have elapsed since He uttered the promise, and still He lingers; the everlasting hills wear no streak of approaching dawn; we seem to listen in vain for the noise of His chariot wheels. "But the Lord is not slack concerning His promise;" He gives you "this word" in addition to many others as a _keepsake_--a pledge and guarantee for the certainty of His return,--"_I will come again._"

Who can conceive all the surpassing blessedness connected with that advent? The Elder Brother arrived to fetch the younger brethren home!--the true Joseph revealing Himself in unutterable tenderness to the brethren who were once estranged from Him--"receiving them unto himself"--not satisfied with apportioning a kingdom for them, but, as if all His own joy and bliss were intermingled with theirs, "Where _I am_," says He, "there _you_ must be also." "Him that overcometh," says He again, "will I grant to sit with Me on My Throne."

Believer, can you _now_ say with some of the holy transport of the apostle, "Whom having not seen, we love?" What must it be when you come to see Him "face to face," and that for ever and ever! If you can tell of precious hours of communion in a sin-stricken, woe-worn world, with a treacherous heart, and an imperfect or divided love, what must it be when you come, in a sinless, sorrowless state, with purified and renewed affections, to see the King in His beauty! The letter of an absent brother, cheering and consolatory as it is, is a poor compensation for the joys of personal and visible communion. The absent Elder Brother on the Throne speaks to you _now_ only by His Word and Spirit,--soon you shall be admitted to His immediate fellowship, seeing him "as He is"--He Himself unfolding the wondrous chart of His providence and grace--leading you about from fountain to fountain among the living waters, and with his own gentle hand wiping the last lingering tear-drop from your eye. _Heaven an everlasting home with Jesus!_ "Where I am, there ye may be also."--He has appended a cheering postscript to this word, on which He has "caused us to hope:"--

"HE WHICH TESTIFIETH THESE THINGS SAITH, SURELY I COME QUICKLY."

31ST DAY.

"Remember the words of the Lord Jesus, how He said"--

"Blessed are those servants whom the Lord when He cometh shall find
watching."--Luke xii. 37.

The Closing Benediction.

Child of God! is this thine attitude, as the expectant of thy Lord's appearing? Are thy loins girded, and thy lights burning? If the cry were to break upon thine ears this day, "Behold the Bridegroom cometh," couldst thou joyfully respond--"Lo, this is my God, I have waited for him?" WHEN He may come, we cannot tell;--ages may elapse before _then_. It may be centuries before our graves are gilded with the beams of a Millennial sun; but while He _may_ or may _not_ come _soon_, He _must_ come at some time--ay, and the day of our death is virtually to all of us the day of His coming.

Reader! put not off the solemn preparation. Be not deceived or deluded with the mocker's presumptuous challenge, "Where is the promise of His coming?" See to it that the calls of an engrossing world without, do not foster this procrastinating spirit within. It may be now or never with thee. Put not off thy sowing time till harvest time. Leave nothing for a dying hour, _but to die_, and calmly to resign thy spirit into the hands of Jesus. Of all times, _that_ is the least suitable to have the vessel plenished--to attend to the great business of life when life is ebbing--to trim the lamp when the oil is done and it is flickering in its socket--to begin to watch, when the summons is heard to leave the watch-tower to meet our God!

Were you never struck how often, amid the many _gentle_ words of Jesus, the summons "to watch," is over and over repeated, like a succession of alarum-bells breaking ever and anon, amid chimes of heavenly music, to rouse a sleeping Church and a slumbering world?

Let this last "word" of thy Lord's send thee to thy knees with the question,--"Am I indeed a servant of Christ?" Have I fled to Him, and am I reposing in Him, as my only Saviour?--or am I still lingering, like Lot, when I should be escaping--sleeping, when I should be waking--neglecting and trifling, when "a long eternity is lying at my door?" He is my last and only refuge; neglect Him--_all is lost_!

Believer! thou who art standing on thy watch-tower, be more faithful than ever at thy post. Remember what is implied in watching. It is no dreamy state of inactive torpor: it is a holy jealousy over the heart--wakeful vigilance regarding sin--every avenue and loophole of the soul carefully guarded. _Holy living_ is the best, the _only_, preparative for _holy dying_. "Persuade yourself," says Rutherford, "the King is coming. Read His letter sent before Him, 'Behold I come quickly;' wait with the wearied night-watch for the breaking of the Eastern sky."

Let these "_Words of Jesus_" we have now been meditating upon in this little volume, be as the Golden Bells of old, hung on the vestments of the officiating High Priest, emitting sweet sounds to His spiritual Israel--telling that the _true High Priest_ is still living and pleading in "the Holiest of all;" and that soon He will come forth to pour His blessing on His waiting Church. We have been pleasingly employed in gathering up a few "crumbs" falling from "the Master's table." Soon we shall have, not the "_Words_" but the _presence_ of Jesus--not the crumbs falling from His table, but everlasting fellowship with the Master Himself.

"AMEN, EVEN SO, COME LORD JESUS."

"Wherefore

Comfort One Another

with

THESE WORDS."

1 THESS. iv. 18.