THE CHRISTIAN REMEMBRANCER

WE see but little into the true worth and importance of the miracles of Jesus, if we look no farther than the historical “facts. These indeed do speak aloud the glory of the Divine Person to the carnal sense of man, and did so even to those who hated and blasphemed him; but the grandeur of these works consisted in this, that they were only outward testimonies of the far more noble operations of his grace within the soul, which were not to endure for a time only, like their outward signs, but to flourish throughout eternity.

He gave sight to the blind, that he might testify unto men his sovereign power in giving light and understanding to the mind. He opened the deaf ear, that men might know by whom alone they can hear aright the good news of salvation, and live for ever. The lame he caused, in a moment, to walk, that his people might learn that they can only move, as well as live, by him, and that without him they can do nothing. He cured the foul leprosy of the body, in order to show that only by him can be healed the far more deplorable leprosy of sin, which covers and defiles the mind. All sickness vanished at his command, that we might have hope in him, as the sure restorer of our souls. The poor or meek among men, were made rich for eternity. He cast out unclean spirits, and suffered them to possess the swine, who were thereby lost, that he might teach his redeemed, that he only delivered and can deliver them from the powers of darkness, which, being let loose upon the world, drive them violently and swiftly down the steep course of time, into a gulf of inextricable woe. The hungry multitudes were fed by his miraculous power, to explain this great truth, that he is not only the giver of spiritual life, but the constant sustainer and nourisher of it from day to day: and he did this by small means, that the excellency of the power might be known to be his, and not in the creatures, however sanctified, blessed, and used. The winds and waves were instantly obedient to his word, that his beloved might rejoice in him, as the stiller of all spiritual waves, the tumultuous madness of this world, the ragings of Satan, and the confusion of all things. These can roar and foam no longer than it pleaseth him; and when they foam and roar at all, it shall turn out in the end for the good of his people. The dead were raised, to proclaim his rising power, and to declare, that the issues also of spiritual life and of endless death are altogether in his hands. Whatever he did was an act of mercy, under which he revealed, as in a parable, innumerable lessons of grace and love. All his works proclaimed him to be both the Creator of all, and, what seems more comforting to his chosen, the Redeemer and restorer of millions that were lost.

Learn from these things, O believer, what thy Lord and God hath done for thy soul. He quickened thee from the death of trespasses and sins; he giveth light and peace to thy mind; he feedeth thee with the bread of life; he cureth all thy spiritual diseases; he quelleth thy manifold enemies and temptations; he strengthened thee with strength in thy soul; he doeth all that is done in thee by grace; and he will never cease working in thee both to will and to do—no, not even when he hath brought thee to his kingdom in heaven.

O pray fervently, my soul, rightly to apprehend these precious things. If thou teach me, blessed Lord, then shall I know them, in some measure at least, according to my capacity, as they ought to be known. Such knowledge, indeed, is too excellent for my clouded faculties of nature; these cannot, if left to themselves, attain unto it. I therefore, seek not to obtain the apprehension of these truths, as fallen man can teach or retain them, but as thou didst teach and enforce them. In thy teaching, though the substance of the truths be the same, there is a wide difference from all the teaching of men. Man, by his own study, gropeth in the dark, and wearieth himself in vain to reach up to the perception of thine excellent wisdom; but thou are light in thyself, and sendest down both illumination and influence at once to such as are taught by thee, by which they not only know thy truth as a truth demonstrable in itself, but feel the blessings of it as a truth applied and made their own. They find strength and nourishment in what thou gavest for food, and not airy words or unprofitable speculations, which, without thy saving influence, are all that can be found in the best and wisest instructions of men. O raise me up, then, my blessed teacher, above the pictures of things, which may be gained by words, to the true enjoyment of the things themselves. So shall I not hear, or give discourse only of thy spiritual feast, like a man in a dream but shall taste and see indeed how good and gracious thou art, and that all life, power, and consolation, are entirely from thee.

CHAPTER IX

ON THE WORD OF CHRIST

“For ever, O Lord, thy word is settled in heaven; and upon earth it runneth very swiftly. The righteousness of thy testimonies is everlasting: Give me understanding, and I shall live.”

Such is the word, and the end of the word, of my gracious Redeemer. It is called a word, because it is a revelation; all words being only the revelation or expression of things. This revealed word is settled in heaven upon the throne of God, is ordered by the Divine Persons in all things, and is sure, because ordered by them in a covenant which cannot be broken.

It is a word too of testimony, because it testifieth of my Saviour throughout, either directly by the institutions and declarations of his grace, or indirectly by the courses and actions of his providence, meeting in one and the same purpose, which is the guidance and salvation of his people.

This word, in the conduct of the Divine Spirit, is also a word of power, and the fit instrument of all his work. It is his spiritual sword, by which he divides asunder the soul and spirit, and effects that circumcision of the heart, whereby his people are enabled to live no longer unto themselves but unto God. The operation is painful indeed to the flesh or to nature; but it causeth the spirit to rejoice in Christ Jesus, and to give up its confidence in all things beside.

For this purpose, then, of testifying for Christ, and of acting by the Spirit in the redeemed, is all the written word calculated and given. Hence, the institutions of the law preached Jesus and his salvation—the prophecies declared the same truth—the histories are records of God’s conduct towards his people from age to age—the Gospels are evidences of the accomplishment of all these things in Christ—and the Epistles are explanations and enforcements of these things to believers. In short, all the holy writings relate to Christ, and to the redeemed in him. Jesus is the Alpha and the Omega of the whole word and work of the most High.

In this word and its experience, consist the right wisdom and comfort of a Christian. Here is truth without error; so that he can read without fear, and trust without danger. All other books, as they come from men, have more or less of folly or vanity in them, and often are looked over with little real satisfaction and improvement. But, in this volume, grace not only discovers something new, but brings new force out of old truths, which have charmed the soul a thousand times. It discovers the multiform and manifold wisdom of God, in what he hath spoken; insomuch that, from under the veil of one precious instruction, another and another shall arise, as the soul is improved to bear them. These are the steps of the kingdom; and the higher the renewed mind can ascend, it not only understands better what it hath already attained, but sees further and wider into the glories yet before it, till it is ravished with unspeakable delight in its views of the infinite knowledge and love of God.

The right understanding of this word doth not puff up, but humbleth. He hath not a true apprehension of its sense, who is lifted up by it in himself. The lowly reader is the only learner. To him it is not a word lettered or sounded, so much as a living and lively word ingrafted. It enters into his heart more than his ears, and diffuseth its sweet savour through all the faculties, setting them into delightful exercise for the divine glory.

The great depth of the word of God keeps the real Christian ever and learner. He knows that it is impossible to reach the utmost of God’s wisdom. There will be always mysteries to be unfolded, because man’s comprehension is finite; at the bound of which how wide soever it may extend, remaineth ignorance. One, who had been in the third heaven, and in spirit caught up into Paradise itself, where he heard unspeakable words, could only say, when he wrote of the divine counsels, “0 the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are his judgements, and his ways past finding out!” He could stand upon the shore and taste; but all beyond was an infinite ocean.

The true disciple, however, knows enough to make him see the vanity and unprofitableness of all learning and wisdom, (if so they may be called,) out of Christ. The speculations of men are but dreams, and their pursuits but idle labors at the best, which begin and end in self, and which have no higher object than this evil world. The poor simple countryman who hath learned Christ, (and many such, blessed be God, there are,) can pity the pompous ignorance of those who know almost every thing but God, and the proper value of their own souls. By a logic, far beyond that of the schools, he hath been led to this conclusion, that God is his Father, that Christ is his Saviour, that the Holy Spirit is his Guide, that the Bible is his charter and his library, that the devil, the world, and the flesh, are his foes, that the earth is the wilderness of his banishment, that heaven is his home, and that all the favor, love, and power of the Godhead are engaged to bring him thither. The worldly wise can only value this (if at all) when carnal knowledge is dying with their bodies, and all their trifling thoughts are about to perish. Hence it is, that the poor man’s konwledge being sound and true, though ever so small, can stand the onset of trials in the world, and death at last; while the self-taught, the learned, and the knowing, with none of this true understanding, fall into the absurdest errors, fail in their course, and frequently go off at last doubting and despairing.

O, my soul, seek thou the substantial wisdom which cometh from God, and which neither time nor eternity itself can diminish, but only brighten and improve. Though other knowledge may be valuable for the purposes of this world, yet this alone can ripen for heaven, and is therefore most earnestly to be sought for by thee, whose business and calling, whose citizenship and hope, are principally there.

And, O Thou, who are the living and life-giving WORD itself, through whom and for whom all the written word was given, come and possess my soul! I long for nothing, and I would always long for nothing, but for thy wisdom and thee.

O forgive my unsettled heart, which hath so often been taken up with a multitude of unprofitable things, instead of being wholly fixed upon thee, who art the only Way, the Truth, and the Life!

I can have no rest, no firm establishment, but here alone. My nature is unstable as water; and I live, moreover, in a slippery world. Leave, O leave me, therefore, not to myself, nor to the power of the evils, which are above, beneath, and on every side. Set me upon thyself, my blessed Rock, and order thou my goings in the way, and lead me into the way everlasting. Who is sufficient for these things but thou, who are all-sufficient? How can I, so poor a creature, hope either to stand or to prevail, but through that strength which is made perfect in weakness, through that wisdom which cannot be deceived by fraud, and that love which is stronger than death, and durable as the days of heaven? O Lord, be on my side, and then neither my own flesh, nor the corruption of the flesh in others, no, nor all the powers of darkness, shall be able in the least to hurt me. I am thine, O save me now, save me to the end, and save me for ever!

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