Grace Gems

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In the last consummate city!

(Alexander Smellie, "The Secret Place" 1907)

"I saw the Holy City, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride beautifully dressed for her husband! No longer will there be any curse. The throne of God and of the Lamb will be in the city, and His servants will serve Him!" Revelation 21:2-3

In the last consummate city, all will be worshipers. Its inhabitants will have the godward look. They will recognize . . .
  God's existence,
  His government,
  His watchfulness,
  His faithfulness,
  His grace.
To them, He will be the Reality of realities. They will breathe through all the happy year the atmosphere of the spiritual, the supernatural, the divine, the infinite, the eternal. Atheism, and unbelief, and forgetfulness of God will have spread their black wings and flown forever away.

In the last supreme city, all will be brothers. Uniting in adoration around the throne of God and of the Lamb, they will gaze with kindly eyes into each other's faces and will clasp each other's hands in love and affection. It will be a society in which a new spirit and a new law rule--the law and the spirit of love.
Antagonisms, burdens, fears, will have vanished;
selfishness and greed, will be unthinkable;
the sorrow which man causes, man will never be felt.

In the last crystalline city, all will be saints. Its foundations are precious stones:
  the sapphire of hope,
  the emerald of humility,
  the chrysolite of truth,
  the amethyst of trust.
Its twelve gates are the twelve pearls of whitest and tenderest purity. No life flourishes in its ethereal air, but the life that is redeemed from all iniquity, and that bears the image of Jesus Christ. There is . . .
  no dust in the highways,
  no smoke in the skies,
  no harsh and discordant noise,
  no chilling or arid weather,
  no workhouse, nor tavern, nor prison.

"The twelve gates were twelve pearls, each gate made of a single pearl. The great street of the city was of pure gold, like transparent glass. I did not see a temple in the city, because the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb are its temple. The city does not need the sun or the moon to shine on it, for the glory of God gives it light, and the Lamb is its lamp!" Revelation 21:21-23

"Blessed are those who wash their robes, that they may have the right to the tree of life and may go through the gates into the city!" Revelation 22:14

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My feeble hand lies in His; His omnipotent hand is clasped round mine!

(Alexander Smellie, "The Secret Place" 1907)

"Truly I say to you, unless you are converted and become like children, you will not enter the kingdom of Heaven!" Matthew 18:3

One writes of Robert Louis Stevenson that, "it was part of his genius that he never seemed to grow old like the rest of us--but was a child, a boy, a young man, and an old man all at once."

Just so, Jesus bids me to keep the young lamb's tender heart amid the full-grown flocks.

I look into the face of the child. There are no hard and haughty lines of pride, there is no blatant self-importance in the features. Humility is written there.

Can I get back my vanished humility? I can. God the Spirit creates it when, in my conversion, He shows my sinfulness, and teaches me to abhor my vile self. And He fosters meekness more and more, as He confirms in me the conviction that not for a moment dare I dispense with my Savior and Keeper and Friend.

I survey the mind of the child. It is teachable. It is well aware of its ignorance--and it hungers and thirsts for knowledge of every description. And is there a mind anywhere, that God has touched, which does not feel itself in the presence of . . .
  problems still to be disentangled,
  mysteries waiting to be unfolded,
  great tracts of truth of which it knows little?
I have parted with the delusion of my own wisdom. I sit as a child at the feet of my great Prophet, Christ.

I peer into the imagination of the child. It lives in a realm of marvels. But as I grow older, I pass out of the magical country. But when I experience the miracles of saving grace--they are more extraordinary than the marvels I have left behind in childhood. My sense of wonder and astonishment are reborn!

I remember the affections of the child. They are the shrine of love--unbounded and enthusiastic and outspoken love. But by and by, I am less frank and more reticent. Convention, if not cynicism, has frozen the love-look in the eyes, and the love-speech on the tongue. Is there anything that will break the ice? Yes, the sight of God's love and grace in Christ will! That brings me back to the spring. That makes my heart grateful, devoted, and affectionate.

I note the hand of the child. It is not tremulous and worried. It trusts. It lies in the father's hand, certain that the father will lead it aright.

Just so, to the same peace and unruffled faith, the new birth should conduct me. Confiding in my adorable Redeemer and Heavenly Father, I ought to have no gloomy fears, about either my temporal or my eternal well-being. My feeble hand lies in His; His omnipotent hand is clasped round mine!

All is well, because I "know that God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose!" Romans 8:28

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Let my life be filled, packed and crammed!

(Charles Spurgeon, "Flowers from a Puritan's Garden" 1883)

"When men have much to say in a letter, and perceive that they have little paper left, they write closely."

Looking at the shortness of life, and the much that has to be written upon life's tablets--it befits us also to do much in a short space, and so to write closely.

"No day without a line!" is a good motto for a Christian.

A thoroughly useful life is very short, for it is but a span--but how much may be crowded into it for God, our souls, the Church, our families, and our fellows!

We cannot afford wide blanks of idleness. We should not only live by the day, but by the 20 minutes, as Wesley did. He divided each hour into three parts.

So scanty is our life's space, that we must condense and leave out superfluous matter--giving room only to that which is weighty and of the first importance.

Lord, whether I live long or not, I leave to your discretion. But help me to live while I live, that I may live profitably. You can give life more abundantly. Let me receive it, and let my life be filled, packed and crammed, with holy thoughts and words and deeds to Your glory!

"But this I say, brethren, the time is short!" 1 Corinthians 7:29

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The fear of Hell whips him off some favorite vice!

(Charles Spurgeon, "Flowers from a Puritan's Garden" 1883)

"A wolf may be scared from his prey--yet he keeps his ravenous nature."

He has not lost his taste for lambs--though he was obliged to drop the one which he had seized.

Just so, a sinner may be forced to forego his beloved lust--and yet remain as truly a sinner as before. He may give up his drinking, for fear of losing his job, or dying of disease--but he would be at his liquor again if he dared. The fear of Hell whips him off some favorite vice--and yet his heart pines for it, and in imagination he nourishes it.

In the sight of God, each man is as his heart is!
The muzzled wolf is still a wolf,
the silenced swearer is still profane in heart,
the lewd thinker is still immoral.

Something is done when a wolf is scared, or a transgressor driven out of his evil ways--yet nothing is done which will effectually change the wolf, or renew the ungodly heart. A frightened sinner--is a sinner still. Like the frightened dog, he will return to his vomit! And like the sow that was washed, he will wallow in the mire again as soon as opportunity offers!

"You must be born again!" This is the only effectual cure for sin! While the nature is unchanged--it is but the outside of the cup and platter which is washed.

"Truth in the inward parts" is what God desires, and until that is given, we remain under divine wrath.

Any thief will turn honest under the gallows--and yet if he were set free, he would rob the first house he came to! A scare is not a conversion. A sinner may be frightened into hypocrisy--but he must be wooed by God to repentance and faith. Divine love tames, and divine grace transforms. May the God of all grace deal thus with each of us!

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Robbers of God!

(Alexander Smellie, "The Secret Place" 1907)

"Will a man rob God? Yet you have robbed Me!" Malachi 3:8

Other things I withhold from God, besides the tithes and offerings that are His due.

Do I not rob Him of my thoughts? He is a theme of study and meditation that need never become monotonous or wearisome--He has so many wondrous aspects to His nature and works. His self-existence, His holiness, His saving grace, His sympathy and friendship--here are worlds to roam over, which I cannot exhaust!

But it is only at rare intervals that I turn to Him, and then I am content with the briefest interview. I do not practice His presence in earnest thought.

Do I not rob Him of my reverence? Our age has to a great degree lost the reverence that marked former generations--and I am too entirely the child of our age. I have forgotten the humble habit of walking softly before the Lord. He has ceased to be so sacred, so awe-inspiring, so glorious in majesty--as He used to be to me. I seldom feel myself in a holy shrine where I must tread quietly, and must shut my lips, and must lay myself in the dust before Him. I am merry where I should be serious--and flippant when I should tremble. I do not reverence God as I should.

Do I not rob Him of my love? It matters to Him if I refuse Him . . .
  the love of gratitude,
  the love of trust,
  the love of adoration,
  the love of obedience,
  the love of delight.
Have I considered the wrong I inflict on Him, when I do not love Him as He deserves?

Do I not rob Him of my speech? It is astonishing that what is every man's chief concern--should be no man's conversation. Amidst the crowding words that are continually crossing the threshold of my lips--how rarely do I interpose a sentence on behalf of God, or in praise of Him whom I call my Savior and my Master, or in commendation of His great salvation! It is most sinful to be so tongue-tied.

And do I not rob Him of my life?
He requires the prayers of my life.
He requires the endeavors of my life.
He requires the totality of my life!
But how little of my life is undeniably His!

What can I do, but claim the mercy which Christ gave to the robber on the tree?

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The song of the Lamb!

(Alexander Smellie, "The Secret Place" 1907)

"They sang the song of Moses the servant of God, and the song of the Lamb!" Revelation 15:3

Moses and Jesus join in teaching me the song of the redeemed children in God's family.

Moses cannot lead me so far as Jesus can. My Savior and Master gives breadth and length and depth and height to the melody. But the one song is the precursor of the other. Moses points me forward to the slain Lamb--and Christ acknowledges and honors the servant Moses; and I learn the doxologies both of the servant and of the Son.

The song of Moses is the song of emancipation. Broken are the fetters of Egyptian bondage!

And it is the song of guidance. It celebrates the life of marching and encamping, over which the mercy and the wisdom and the omnipotence of the Lord preside.

And it is the song of inheritance. "Happy are you, O Israel!" the brave voice cried, on the borders of the land of brooks of water and wheat and barley and oil olive and honey.

The song of Moses is pregnant and rich for me. I hope I am learning more fully and perfectly, such chords and octaves as these. Do I commemorate the goodness of the God, Who discovered me in the prison of shame and fear and helplessness and despair--and Who brought me forth by the blood-shedding of His Son, and the mightiness of His Holy Spirit? Have I my testimony to bear to Him Who rules over all the wilderness experiences of my history? Can I speak of the treasures of His wealthy land?

The song of the Lamb has new elements of delightfulness and wonder!

It tells of the Crucified and slain Lamb. His cruel wounds are healed--but the scars are left as mementos of His anguish and shame!

It tells of the Royal Lamb in the midst of the throne--the sovereign Governor, Controller and Lord of all.

It tells of the Shepherd Lamb, feeding His flock and leading it to living fountains of waters.

It tells of the Conquering Lamb who shall overcome all the enemies of His redeemed people!

Is this Lamb the theme of the hymns which captivate and satisfy me most?

The Lamb assumed my sin and misery, and reaped the bitter harvest I had sown.

The Lamb governs His great world in my behalf--and directs and curbs the storms within my soul.

The Lamb conducts me by the best paths, and supplies my needs, and shelters me from every peril.

The Lamb is lionlike and courageous, and will finally slay my craftiest and strongest enemies, and will rid me of the besetting sins which torment me most!

I would complete the song of Moses the servant, with the song of Jesus the Lamb!

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It is time that I am done with all butterfly-hunting!

(Charles Spurgeon, "Flowers from a Puritan's Garden" 1883)

"As children catch at butterflies, the gaudy wings melt away in their fingers, and there remains nothing but an ugly worm!"

Such is the end of all earthly ambitions! They cost us a weary pursuit, and if we gain our desire--it is destroyed in the grasping of it!

Alas, poor rich man, who has wealth--but has lost the power to enjoy it!

Alas, poor famous man, who in hunting for honor, has learned its emptiness!

Alas, poor beautiful woman, who in making a conquest of a false heart, has pierced her own with undying sorrow!

A butterfly-hunt takes a child into danger, wearies him, trips him down, and often ends in his missing the pretty insect. If, however, the boy is able to knock down his victim with his hat--he has crushed the beauty for which he undertook the chase, and his victory defeats him!

The parallel is clear to every eye. For my part, let me sooner be the schoolboy, dashing after the painted insect--than his father worrying and wearying to snatch at something more deceptive still.

It is time that I am done with all butterfly-hunting! My years are warning me that I may hope soon to be with Christ Himself, and see greater beauties than this whole creation can set before me! I am now bent on pursuing nothing but that which is eternal and infinite. Keep me to this resolve, I beseech you Lord.

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His work is yet on the anvil!

(Charles Spurgeon, "Flowers from a Puritan's Garden" 1883)

"God many times works contrary to outward likelihoods. When the toll of bricks was doubled for the Hebrew slaves--who would look for deliverance? As the sun going back ten degrees on the sundial was a sign of Hezekiah's recovery--so divine providence is to be read backward. Joseph was made a slave--that he might be made the deliverer of the Hebrew people."

Thus have we found sickness work for our spiritual health--and poverty promote our spiritual wealth. Our worst days, have turned out to be our best days; and our low estate has lifted us on high. When storms come we may welcome them, for they bring blessing on their wings. But when our calm is long and deep, we ought to be on our watch, lest stagnation and disease should come of it!

Our adorable Redeemer bends all things to His gracious purpose! To judge His wise proceedings, is folly and ingratitude. What can we know? Especially what can we know of His design and purpose--while His work is yet on the anvil? Our judgments at their best, are only moderated foolishness.

We are neither prophets nor sons of prophets; and if we were wise, we would no more speculate upon the results of His divine operations--but firmly believe and patiently wait until the providence comes to bloom, and God becomes His own interpreter!

"And we know that God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose!" Romans 8:28 

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He asks for every niche and cranny of my soul!

(Alexander Smellie, "The Secret Place" 1907)

"Only fear the Lord, and serve Him in truth with all your heart; for consider what great things He has done for you!" 1 Samuel 12:24

Here is a simple RULE: "Only fear the Lord."
It gathers in my wandering thoughts and desires. It reduces the thousand schemes and interests of my life, to singleness and unity. It writes the briefest and the most hallowing inscription over all my days and nights. It brings everything to one sure touchstone.

If I reverence and worship God,
if I love Christ Who first loved me,
if I cherish and obey His Holy Word--
then nothing more is demanded of me.

Here is a principle which will conduct me infallibly and securely through the difficulties and perplexities which now environ me--to the Celestial City!

Here is a penetrating TEST also: "And serve Him in truth with all your heart."
Does it not probe deep? Does it not flash a searching light into the secret crevices of my heart? My Sovereign will not be satisfied with fair professions, and lovely words, and external obediences. He comes to reign within my heart. He puts my most hidden feelings, my secret purposes and intentions--into His unerring scales! He asks for every niche and cranny of my soul!

Here is an appropriate PLEA also: "Consider what great things He has done for you!"
There is nothing good in my daily life--but has come by His blessing and gift. There is no deliverance from danger, no sudden incoming of joy, no softening and mellowing and sanctifying through trial--which He did not devise and send. "Minutes come quick--but God's mercies are more fleet and free than they!"

And then the unmeasurable marvel of His best treasure--Christ and His wondrous salvation! The Son of God gave Himself for me! Jesus never fails me, and never forsakes me. He will perfect that which concerns me. Does not love so amazing deserve my all? Shall I not be a willing captive to a Lover so gracious, so patient, so persevering, so victorious?

Rule, and test, and plea--together they constitute the blessed life!

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He writes my sins on the sand!

(Alexander Smellie, "The Secret Place" 1907)

"And I sent before you Moses, Aaron, and Miriam." Micah 6:4

I am interested in the inclusion of Miriam's name. Long generations after her death, God commemorates her deeds no less than those of her great brothers. For in His Kingdom there is neither male nor female, and the woman is as essential and as helpful as the man.

How it illustrates His forgiveness, too, that God recalls only that which is good about Miriam! There was a mournful episode in her history, when she spoke against Moses, and when, for a little while, the frightful scourge of the leprosy fell upon her. But this is forgotten, and nothing is recounted except her brave leadership of Israel.

Who is so liberal-hearted as God, and so rich in magnanimity?

He writes my sins on the sand, and the flowing waters of His mercy and grace soon obliterate the indictment.

My services, as small as they are in comparison with what He deserves--He writes on the undecaying page of His Book of Remembrance, and they live abidingly in His thought and heart!

"And if anyone gives even a cup of cold water to one of these little ones because he is My disciple, I tell you the truth, he will certainly not lose his reward!" Matthew 10:42

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He took special pains to fetch them out, and hang them up!

(Charles Spurgeon, "Flowers from a Puritan's Garden" 1883)

"A benumbed snake is still a snake. A washed sow is not changed. Just so, our natural corruption does not always break out in full."

There may be a winter to our corruptions--as well as to animal and vegetable life. And then the sin which dwells in us may be quiet, as though frozen into a rigid powerlessness--but what of that? The weather will change, and then the nest of vipers will be all astir again, each one with envenomed tooth aiming to destroy!

Experience has taught the wise observer that sin may be bound by sin, and one evil passion may hold the rest in check. One man is kept from immorality, by covetousness: he would be glad to revel in vice--if it were not so expensive. Another would be a profligate, but then it would not be respectable, and thus his pride checks his passions. This restraint of sin by sin, is no proof that the nature is one jot the better--but that it only puts on a fairer appearance, and is more likely to deceive.

Nothing will overcome with inbred sin, but the killing of it!

When Joshua had captured the five kings in the cave, he was not content to simply shut them in with large stones. No, he took special pains to fetch them out, and hang them up! The condemned race must die--and then Israel can breathe freely.

Sin will be our death--if we do not put it to death! Checks and restraints are of small value; what is needed is the root-cure--crucifixion with Christ! To cure sin by sin, is a mere piece of stage playing, which will never answer before God.

O Destroyer of the serpent and his seed--break the head of sin within me, so that it may never lift up its usurped power within my soul. Let the sword of the Spirit do a thorough work within my nature, until not a single rebel lust shall remain alive in the wide domains of my being. Furbish your sword, Almighty Captain, and do Your office within me, for I cannot rest until sin is slain!

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I awake, a new man in a new world of light and love!

(Alexander Smellie, "The Secret Place" 1907)

"First a leaf blade pushes through, then the heads of wheat are formed, and finally the grain ripens." Mark 4:28

There is a similar quietness and calm and steadiness as He deals with my soul.

So it is when He first saves me. For the most part, there is no stir when Christ revolutionizes my heart. Yet, as quiet and inexplicable as the work is--it is thoroughly done.
My mind is illuminated.
My conscience convinces me of my sin.
My heart is enlivened.
My will is subdued.
I awake, a new man in a new world of light and love, from which I shall never leave!

In the same way, my practical sanctification progresses gradually, rather than by leaps and bounds. My ascent up the strait and narrow way to the Celestial City is slower and more agonizing than I had dreamed. My day has cold in it, and tempest, and tears--as well as sunshine and warmth.

Yet He is ruling within me as . . .
  the Teacher of my ignorance,
  the Finisher of my faith,
  the Gardener who matures my spiritual life, even if my growth takes time and my lot is troubled.

"The path of the righteous is like the first gleam of dawn, shining ever brighter till the full light of day!" Proverbs 4:18

"The LORD directs the steps of the godly. He delights in every detail of their lives. Though they stumble, they will never fall, for the LORD holds them by the hand!" Psalm 37:23-24

"Being confident of this, that He who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus!" Philippians 1:6

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Come, friend, you too are getting old!

(Charles Spurgeon, "Flowers from a Puritan's Garden" 1883)

"We see that others are mortal--but we do not number our own days!"

This is an ordinary observation concerning that which is really an extraordinary piece of folly! What can it matter to us, how others are aging? Our main concern is our own conduct, and the spending of our own days.

Come, friend, you too are getting old! Snowflakes here and there upon those once raven locks, are prophetic of coming winter. Those spectacles, too! Why, you will never see fifty again! Half a century have you lived, and more--surely it is time to be wise!

We see that Mr. Brown is getting to be quite the old man. No doubt--but you are moving onward, too. Mr. Brown does not get a year older in less time than you do. We are all sailing at the same rate! Is it not time that we took observations, and found out our longitude and latitude?

At any rate, it were well to know what port we are bound for!

"My days are swifter than a weaver's shuttle!" Job 7:6

"Teach us to number our days aright, that we may gain a heart of wisdom." Psalm 90:12 \

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God's hatred of sin!

(J.A. James, "The Practical Believer Delineated" 1852)

"Yet it was the LORD's will to crush Him and cause Him to suffer!" Isaiah 53:10

The death of Christ, apprehended by faith, presents the strongest motives to personal holiness--by setting forth in the most vivid and striking manner . . .
  the holiness and justice of God;
  His determination to punish transgression;
  the immutable authority of the Divine law;
  the evil nature of sin; and
  the fearfulness of falling into the hands of the living God.

Not all the judgments God ever inflicted, nor all the threatenings he ever denounced, give such an impressive warning against sin, and admonition to righteousness--as the death of Christ.

The torments of the bottomless pit are not so dreadful a demonstration of God's hatred of sin, as the agonies of the cross!

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Revelation 1:13-16

(W. Graham Scroggie)

"He is clothed with a robe reaching down to His feet"--what Official Dignity!

"He is girded about the chest with a golden sash"--what Strong Affection!

"His head and His hair are white as white wool, as white as snow"--what Perfect Holiness!

"His eyes are as flames of fire"--what Consuming Knowledge!

"His feet are like burnished bronze refined in a furnace"--what Righteous Judgment!

"His voice thundered as the mighty ocean waves"--what Absolute Authority!

"He has in His right hand seven stars"--what Sovereign Administration!

"Out of His mouth proceeds a sharp two-edged sword"--what All-Searching Truth!

"His face is like the sun shining in all its brilliance"--what Transcendent Glory!