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The art of meditation

(George Mylne, "Lessons for the Christian's Daily Walk" 1859)

"So I applied my mind to understand, to investigate and to search out wisdom and the scheme of things." Ecclesiastes 7:25

We live in stirring days, when deeds are everything--when closet work is often neglected for active business, and little time is given to meditation. Yet, with more thought and prayer--wholesome activity would be greater in the end, and all our actions more successful. Time is not lost, which is spent in meditation--in searching wisdom's ways, and seeking out profound realities. There is one who often meditates--and yet accomplishes much. There is another who hastens--and yet does little. None works so heartily, nor reaps so fully--as he whose wits are sharpened by prayer and meditation.

Reading either Scripture or Christian books, apart from meditation, does little good. It is much the same as not digesting what you eat--this only starves the soul. How many read the Bible thus!

The art of meditation may be learned by dint of effort.

You say, "I am quite unused to meditate. How shall I begin?" Deal gently with yourself at first. Select your subject--some passage from the Word. Then fix the time you choose to give; say, five minutes at a time. Begin, and think aloud. This makes it easier, and saves the mind from distracted thoughts, the hardest task of all. The sound even of your own voice will help you; it is like speaking to a friend. And what is meditation, but communing with self--that self may be a constant hearer.

But, more than all, make it a time of prayer--of communing with God. This helps the matter greatly. Take the words of Scripture--and ask Jesus what they mean. In doing this, the mind is exercised. A glow of thought attends the effort. You honor Jesus; and He will honor you, by pouring out a largeness of capacity--a quicker mind. The interchange of thought between you and Jesus goes on apace, and you are surprised to find how long the exercise has lasted.

Thus meditation grows, the more it is exercised. It . . .
  feeds the soul,
  expands the mind,
  increases thought, and,
  best of all, it brings you into fellowship with Jesus. This is the very life and soul of meditation.

"Do not let this Book of the Law depart from your mouth; meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do everything written in it. Then you will be prosperous and successful." Joshua 1:8

"But his delight is in the Law of the LORD, and on His Law he meditates day and night." Psalm 1:2

"I will meditate on all Your works, and consider all Your mighty deeds." Psalm 77:12

"I meditate on Your precepts, and consider Your ways." Psalm 119:15

"Oh, how I love your law! I meditate on it all day long." Psalm 119:97

"I meditate on all Your works, and consider what Your hands have done." Psalm 143:5

"My eyes stay open through the watches of the night, that I may meditate on Your promises." Psalm 119:148

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What are You doing?

(George Mylne, "Lessons for the Christian's Daily Walk" 1859)

"Where the word of a King is, there is power! Who may say to Him: What are You doing?" Ecclesiastes 8:4

What word, what power, are like the Lord's? With earthly kings words may be loud--and power small. Not so with God. His purpose knows no hindrance. His word can never fail. Who can resist His power? With God, purpose, and word, and power are but one.

Who, then, may say to God: "What are You doing?" To hinder His purpose, you must be able to overcome Omnipotence! Infinite, unchangeable, almighty--with God to will, is to perform; to speak, is to proclaim His past eternal purpose, and His endless might. Who can arrest His hand, or thwart His providence? Who can? That is not the word. Rather, who ought to wish it? Who ought to quarrel with His will, or say, either with bold or fretful opposition, "What are You doing?"

Your child has died; or perhaps a shipwreck has bereft you at one stroke, of all your family; or other ills untold, unspeakable, have made you drink the wine of desperation. My friend, these things were ordained by God "before the world began." In God's eternal mind it was written--it was settled long ago. How vain to say, "What are You doing?" And when the time was come, God sent His messengers--noiseless, unseen, invisible--to do His righteous will. Could you have said, "What are You doing with my child? What are You doing with the winds and waves? Forbear!"

Your will was not consulted--your permission was not asked. Do not say, "What are You doing?" Be silent before the omnipotent Disposer! "I was silent; I would not open my mouth, for You are the one who has done this!" (Psalm 39:9.) "But what can I say? He Himself has done this! I will walk humbly all my years because of this anguish of my soul." (Isaiah 38:15.) Go softly all your years--yet not "in anguish of soul." If you have faith in Christ, you are better taught than this. Go softly--yet in faith, in patience. Looking to Jesus, let your language be: "It is the Lord! Let my Lord do what seems good in His eyes!" (1 Samuel 3:18.)

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Chance!

(George Mylne, "Lessons for the Christian's Daily Walk" 1859)

"The race is not to the swift,
  or the battle to the strong;
  nor does food come to the wise,
  or wealth to the brilliant,
  or favor to the learned--
but time and chance happen to them all." Ecclesiastes 9:11

Time, and her handmaid, what the world calls "chance", are clad in the vesture of uncertainty. What the worldling calls "chance"--in reality, is nothing but God's divine providence. God's ways bespeak His wisdom and His power--He is wise to adapt, and mighty to fulfill. Viewed with the eye of sense, God's ways often assume an air of fickleness; by which it is inferred that all things happen without rhyme or reason--with no settled law pervading, and no sovereign will directing their occurrence.

Thus man twists the attributes of God, and robs Him of His honor--as though some mock divinity called "chance" presided over us, and made caprice his rule of action.

Man's needs are various, and require an ever varying treatment--hence the varieties of "time and chance." Not one event occurs without its meaning. All events are divinely fitted by the supreme Disposer's wisdom and sovereignty.

Such treatment is required for a fallen race. No one uniform law would suit every purpose. Shivered to atoms by the "fall"--all order is gone from man. Each broken fragment of his nature reflects prismatic rays of frailty--their hue, their color, their intensity, forever varying; each calling for a divine providence adapted to fit its need; and, as the prism varies, so is the divine treatment changed.

The divine eye which counts the feathers on the wings of insects; which numbers up the blades of grass; which counts the drops of water in the ocean; and registers each grain of sand upon the shore--is quick to see, and swift to direct. Hence, are all the changes, accidents, and "chances" of man's experience.

Hence, "the race is not to the swift, or the battle to the strong, nor does food come to the wise, or wealth to the brilliant, or favor to the learned." Man may propose--but all the disposing is of God. God's "chance" (divine providence) is not the "chance" of men--all fickle and confused. God's "chance" is sure--fixed in its principle, certain in its aim, acting on rules of wisdom, inscrutable to man, yet clear and well-defined.

Man fails--and he knows not why. He calculates in vain. His plans are crossed by divine counter-plans--the underworkings of the divine Hand which made the worlds; of Him, who sovereignly controls all things of "time and chance."

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Thank God that He has veiled the future!

(George Mylne, "Lessons for the Christian's Daily Walk" 1859)

"Since no man knows the future, who can tell him what is to come?" Ecclesiastes 8:7

God's purposes have all their seasons of fulfillment. His judgments each have their time of visitation. Mapped out in clear perspective, your every dispensation was fixed from everlasting in the eternal mind of God. Your sunny seasons, and your cloudy days; sorrow and pain, anxiety and lack, your every loss of property or friends--all was designed before you ever saw the light. Trials may be in store for you, the thoughts of which would harrow up your soul--if you knew they were coming!

All this is known and ordained by God. What it will be, or when it is to come--He never tells to His creatures. As lightning strikes--for quickness, as wave comes after wave--for frequency; so may trials visit you. They are as uncertain as the wind. Yet fixed in divine purpose, and in performance sure--they come. From day to day, from hour to hour, who can foretell his future?

"Therefore, the misery of man is great upon him!" Reader, is this your feeling? Is "therefore" misery great on you? Does it make you brood over possibilities--alarmed at the contingency of woes? Would you rather, that all were known before, that you might be prepared for whatever trials and tribulations come?

Rather, thank God that He has veiled the future, and deals out His dispensations one by one. The time, the way, the kind, the circumstances--are all fixed by unerring wisdom, and by boundless love. It is thus that God is glorified; His power felt; His sovereignty known, free from the trammels of His creatures' will. Matchless in skill; unfailing in resources--He thus proclaims His sovereign Godhead.

The world may murmur--but the saints submit to God's sovereign plan. The world may tremble--but the saints are glad. In all their woes, they see a Father's hand, and a Savior's sympathy. They would not alter it if they could! They meekly leave the future to their God.
The times and seasons;
the "what,"
the "when,"
the "how,"
the "why"--
they would not, dare not, know!

But these things they do know:
that as their days--so their strength shall be;
that He who counts the stars, and calls them by their names--will heal the broken-hearted and bind up their wounds;
that divine comforts shall keep pace with worldly sorrows, and
that God's grace will be sufficient for every time of need!

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There is no discharge in that war!

(George Mylne, "Lessons for the Christian's Daily Walk" 1859)

"No one has power over the spirit to retain the spirit; and no one has power in the day of death. There is no discharge in that war!" Ecclesiastes 8:8

Oh, what a war it is! Since Adam's day, the war is carried on. There is no respite granted, no peace, no armistice, and no exchange of prisoners. Each moment of the day, hundreds are slain! Each one is carried off in turn--but none ever come back again. "There is no discharge in that war!" Some have been prisoners for centuries, and tens of centuries, fast bound in chains of DEATH. As yet there is no discharge!

Parents have seen their children snatched away--and none have returned again! Wives have been torn from husbands, husbands from wives, and friends from friends. There is no exception, "no discharge."

Oh, DEATH, you are the conqueror now! Some fear you; others brave you; most forget you--but all alike fall under you! You take some when life is scarcely begun. Even for them, "there is no discharge!" Some are removed in bloom of youth--in beauty's prime--in the midst of usefulness. Death, are you not mistaken? Was not your stroke intended for another? Oh, give them back! Alas! "There is no discharge in that war!"

We have seen one while still young--and loved to think how long and useful he would live. We gave him many years and hopes. But no! He is taken away! "There is no discharge in that war!" What anguish in the thought, "He will never return!" Imagination can hardly take it in. Each meal you think you see his well-known face. Each opening door, seems opened for his form to enter! Alas! "there is no discharge!"

As YET there is none. But will there never be? "There is no discharge!" Death, do not say so! One day you will see it. As all have gone--all will return; as all have died--so all will live again. Oh, death, you are doomed! "The lake of fire" is reserved for you. (Rev. 20:14.) You will be totally conquered!

The wicked are even taken from your grasp. They will rise again--to misery, it is true; yet still they will live. Oh, death--they are not yours!

But, for those who have died in faith, it is not death--they sleep in Jesus. They wait the appointed time. Their "change" will come. Jesus will not forget them, nor leave them in the dust of death. (Job 14:14, 15.)

Where, then, is your sting, O Death? Where O Grave, where then, is your victory! O Death, your war is at an end; not now, but then. And then, O Death, there is no discharge for you!

"Then Death and Hades were cast into the lake of fire!" Revelation 20:14

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Neither youth, nor wit, nor beauty, nor strength, nor money

(George Mylne, "Lessons for the Christian's Daily Walk" 1859)

"No one has power over the spirit to retain the spirit; and no one has power in the day of death." Ecclesiastes 8:8

Man, for six thousand years, has tried to understand his spirit--yet knows as little of it as he did at first. What is the soul of man? Whence did it come? Where does it go? He can't explain how spirit dwells with flesh--what binds the two together, for a time, in perfect unity. He has never seen, as little can he feel, the links that knit them to each other. It is all within him--his flesh, his spirit, his life, his being--all the machinery of soul and body, thus closely interlaced. Yet is it as foreign to his grasp, as that which happens in another world!

Thus flesh and spirit dwell together. Who could suppose they ever would part again! Who can explain how soul and body part, or how the links of union are undone--what makes the spirit fly away, or how the flesh gives up its hold! God wills it. God does it. God does not explain why. God does not tell how. He speaks, unheard; and immediately it is done--the spirit returns to Him who made it.

Man may detain the body--but he cannot keep the soul, nor say, "You shall not go!" God says, "Return to Me!" The command must be obeyed. Neither youth, nor wit, nor beauty, nor strength, nor money, can delay His omnipotent hand.

How mysterious is death! At times how unexpected! At times how stealthy! At times He takes your darling from your side--and robs you unblushingly before your face! At other times, days, months, and years may intervene before you know it. The spirit fled--and you knew it not. You thought it still on earth; but it was gone. You think of him, prepare for him, and write to invite him to your home. But alas! the spirit is gone; and had you known it, what could you have done!

Oh, vanity of vanities! What pain, what misery--man's sin has brought to pass! And yet how astonishing is the ignorance, the recklessness of sinful man! Dead in spiritual death, he neither knows nor seeks a remedy, but binds his misery around him with thoughtless energy. And yet there is a remedy--a remedy in Jesus--a remedy for those who look to Jesus!

Say, reader, can you look around you, can you look backward or forward and be happy--unless you find this remedy for all the misery and uncertainty of this poor, passing world?

"For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord!" Romans 6:23

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Does God love the unrepentant sinner?

(Charles Finney, "The Guilt of Sin")

"God is angry with the wicked every day!" Psalm 7:11

God is not angry merely against the sin abstracted from the sinner, but against the sinner himself! Some people have labored hard to set up this ridiculous and absurd generalization, and would attempt to make it appear . . .
  that God is angry at sin--yet not at the sinner;
  that He hates the theft--but loves the thief;
  that He abhors adultery--but is pleased with the adulterer.

Now this is supreme nonsense! The sin has no moral character apart from the sinner. The act of sin is nothing, apart from the sinful actor. What God hates and disapproves is not the mere event, the thing done, in distinction from the doer--but He hates the doer himself! It grieves and displeases Him that a rational and moral agent, under His government, should array himself against his own Creator, against all that is right and just in the universe. This is what offends God. The sinner himself is the direct and the only object of His anger!

So the Bible shows that God is angry with the wicked--and not with the abstract sin. If the wicked do no repent, God will whet His sword--He has bent His bow and made it ready--not to shoot at the sin, but the sinner--the wicked man who has done the abominable thing. This is the only doctrine of both the Bible, and of common sense on this subject.

"The wicked and those who love violence, His soul hates!" Psalm 11:5

"The LORD detests all the proud of heart. Be sure of this: They will not go unpunished!" Proverbs 16:5

"The LORD is a jealous and avenging God; the LORD takes vengeance and is filled with wrath. The LORD takes vengeance on His foes and maintains His wrath against His enemies!" Nahum 1:2

"Whoever whoever rejects the Son will not see life, for God's wrath remains on him." John 3:36

"You are storing up wrath against yourself for the day of God's wrath, when His righteous judgment will be revealed." Romans 2:5

"But for those who are self-seeking and who reject the truth and follow evil--there will be wrath and anger!" Romans 2:8

"What if God, choosing to show His wrath and make His power known, bore with great patience the objects of His wrath--prepared for destruction?" Romans 9:22

"Let no one deceive you with empty words, for because of such things God's wrath comes on those who are disobedient." Ephesians 5:6

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No one gets the crown--without the conflict!

(J.R. Miller)

"To him who overcomes, I will give the right to eat from the tree of life, which is in the paradise of God!" Revelation 2:7

The daily temptations which make every true life such a painful conflict from beginning to end--bring us constant opportunities for growth of character. To struggle--is to grow strong. The soldier's art can be learned, and the soldier's honors can be won--only on the field of battle.

If you would grow into the beauty of the Master, you must accept the conflicts, and fight the battles. You can live easy if you will, by declining every struggle--but you will then get little out of life which is truly noble and worthy. The best things all come after the battle--you must fight your way across the field to get them. Heaven is only for those who overcome. No one gets the crown--without the conflict!

"To him who overcomes, I will give the right to sit with Me on My throne!" Revelation 3:21

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Sermons without words!

(J.R. Miller)

"Each one should remain in the situation which he was in, when God called him." 1 Corinthians 7:20

When you are tempted to complain and resist the difficulties of your circumstances, and the limitations of your place in life--remember that Jesus, even with all His divine life and all His great powers, for thirty years found room in a humble peasant home, for worthy living and for service not unfitting to His true exalted character.

If you can do nothing but live a true Christian life which is patient, gentle, kind, pure--in your home, in society, at your daily occupation--you will perform a service of great value, and leave many blessings in the world. This kind of life is a little gospel--displaying the wonderful story of the cross of Christ, in sermons without words!

"I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation--whether well fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want." Philippians 4:12

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They cannot leave the lap of Delilah!

(Joseph Alleine, "Alarm to the Unconverted!" 1671)

The unsound convert takes Christ by halves. He is all for the salvation of Christ--but he is not for sanctification. He divides the offices and benefits of Christ. Hypocrites do not love the Lord Jesus in sincerity. They will not have Him as God offers, "to be a Prince and a Savior" (Acts 5:31).

They divide what God has joined, the King who rules--and the Priest who saves.
They desire salvation from suffering--but they do not desire to be saved from sinning.
They would have their souls saved--but still would have their lusts.
They would be content to have some of their sins destroyed--but they cannot leave the lap of Delilah, or divorce the beloved Herodias.
They cannot be cruel to the right eye or right hand.

The sound convert takes a whole Christ, and takes Him for all intents and purposes, without exceptions, without limitations, without reserve. He is willing to have Christ upon any terms. He is willing to have the dominion of Christ--as well as deliverance by Christ. He says with Paul, "Lord, what will you have me to do?" Anything, Lord! He gives Christ the blank page--to write down His own conditions.

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Reader, either you are mad--or you once were!

(George Mylne, "Lessons for the Christian's Daily Walk" 1859)

"The hearts of men are full of evil, and there is madness in their hearts while they live, and afterward they join the dead!" Ecclesiastes 9:3

In life a madman--a madman still in death! Such, such is man.

Man thinks he is wise. He looks with pity on the poor maniac. How little he suspects that he himself is tenfold mad--not only mad for time; mad also for eternity!
He brings madness into the world;
he imbibes madness with his mother's milk;
he learns madness at school;
he confirms and strengthens madness in manhood;
he feeds madness by all he does;
he reads madness in books;
he finds madness in every company;
he bears madness along in every walk of life;
sleeping or waking--silent or speaking--learned or ignorant--rich or poor
--he is a maniac still!

A madman was his father; and so was his father's father! Go backwards until you come to Adam--they were all maniacs!

All his children are mad; and so will be his children's children, even to the final child--they will all be maniacs!

What do you think of a man, who walks blindfolded on a yawning precipice? Is he not mad?

And what are all men? What do they do?
They sport with life.
They play with death.
They slumber above the flames of Hell.
They defy their Maker and their Judge.
They think nothing of judgment and eternity
--and thus they die!
Is it a libel, then, to say, "They are all mad!"

And what comes after death? Does wisdom then come? Will madness cease then? They will hear of wisdom, but they will not have it. Man will then discover how mad he has been. He well see his madness then--but only to know its endless misery!

Happy the man who, "coming to himself," resolves once more to seek his Father's house! (Luke 15:17, 18.) Yes, "coming to himself." Thus speaks the parable. I ask you to mark the words; they are full of meaning. As though the man had been asleep; or drunk; or mad; or had swooned away--unconscious of himself, and all around him. And then, as touched by a sudden hand, and sense as suddenly infused, he awakes--comes to himself again, and immediately he lives, as another man. Such is fallen nature--and such is grace in its effects.

Happy is the man, who thus recovers the gift of reason! Happy is the man, who sits at Jesus' feet, "in his right mind," and clothed with grace--cured of his madness! Jesus has said the healing word--the "legion" is cast out and gone. The man is a maniac no more. (Luke 8:35.)

Reader, either you are mad--or you once were! Say, have you looked to Jesus--or are you a madman still?

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How much you have been loved

(Horatius Bonar, "The Revelation of Jesus Christ")

"But God demonstrates His own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us!"  Romans 5:8

The CROSS is the pledge and standard of divine love!

The Father's love is here--for God so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son! Christ's love is here--the love that passes knowledge, the love which many waters could not quench, nor the floods drown; love to the uttermost; love grudging no toil, nor pain, nor weariness, nor reproach--for us!

Believer! If you want to know how much you have been loved, look to the cross of Jesus! That meets and answers all our doubts!

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Your exceedingly great reward!

(George Mylne, "Reposing in Jesus: Or, The True Secret of Grace and Strength" 1862)

"I am your exceedingly great reward!" Genesis 15:1

Christian reader, God Himself is your reward--your exceedingly great reward. God has given Himself to His people for an everlasting possession, from before the foundation of the world. He made Himself over, by the eternal covenant, as the sure inheritance of His people. He gave Himself to them in perpetuity, with all that He IS, and all that He HAS! That eternal transaction was a matter of free and sovereign grace!

What is it that comforts you in your troubles, lightens your labors, and helps you in your difficulties? Is not that Jesus Himself is your exceeding great reward? It is not merely the promises--not even the prospect of glory--it is Jesus Himself, as your very own possession, which constitutes your reward. To this you look--on this you repose--that Jesus is yours--that you are Jesus'--that Jesus and you are eternally one!

If Jesus is your exceedingly great reward here--then how much more so in the world to come!
He will show you more and more of His fullness.
He will unfold to you the riches of His love.
He will open His arms to receive you.
He will take you into His very heart and soul.
You shall be swallowed up in Jesus!

What is true happiness?
What is Heaven?
What is glory to come?
Is it not the Person of Jesus?
To behold Him with your own eyes;
to hear Him with your own ears;
to feast forever on the divine radiance of His countenance;
to forever to drink into the refreshments of His glory!
Oh Believer, this is what you have to repose in--Christ has said, "I am your exceedingly great reward!"

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This was an act of pure mercy--of pure grace!

(George Mylne, "Reposing in Jesus: Or, The True Secret of Grace and Strength" 1862)

God might justly have left the whole race of man to perish in their sins. There was nothing to oblige God to be merciful to sinners. But God was pleased to have a chosen family in Christ Jesus. He bound Himself by the everlasting covenant . . .
  to forgive their sins,
  to renew their nature, and
  to bring them to glory!
This was an act of pure mercy--of pure grace!

"He chose us [actually picked us out for Himself as His own] in Christ before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy [consecrated and set apart for Him] and blameless in His sight." Ephesians 1:4 (Amplified Bible)

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If Jesus is not God

(George Mylne, "Reposing in Jesus: Or, The True Secret of Grace and Strength" 1862)

It is of great importance that we should practically know Jesus as He is--that we should be able to repose on Him in all the reality of His divine nature.

If Jesus is God--then I must repose on Him as God; and this, not merely for the correctness of my beliefs--but for the strengthening of my faith, and for the encouragement of my soul in all the varieties of its experience and warfare.

If Jesus is not God--then He could not have loved me from everlasting--and I then have no warrant that He either can, or will, love me forever.

If Jesus is not God--then He has neither rendered an infinite obedience, nor made a perfect atonement for sins, on my behalf.

If Jesus is not God--then my faith is vain, and I am yet in my sins.

If Jesus is not God--then I cannot look to Him for unfailing guidance, wisdom or power.

If Jesus is not God--then His grace is not sufficient for me--nor is His strength made perfect in my weakness.

But my repose is this, that Jesus is God--that "in Him dwells all the fullness of the Godhead bodily"--and that "From the fullness of His grace, I have received one gracious blessing after another!"