Give Me That Old Time Gospel

[Soldier4Christ]

AFTER GRACE, GLORY

"The Lord will give grace and glory." —Psalm 84:11

Oh! happy day, when this toilsome warfare will all be ended, Jordan crossed—Canaan entered—the multitude of enemies of the wilderness no longer dreaded—sorrow, sighing, death, and, worst of all, sin, no more either to be felt or feared! Here is the terminating link in the golden chain of the everlasting covenant. It began with predestination; it ends with glorification. It began with sovereign grace in eternity past, and no link will be lacking until the ransomed spirit is presented faultless before the throne! Grace and glory! If the pledge is sweet, what must be the reality? If the wilderness table contains such rich provision, what must be the glories of the eternal banqueting house? Oh! my soul, make sure of your saving interest in the one, as the blessed prelude to the other. "Having access by faith into this grace, you can rejoice in hope of the glory of God;" for "whom He justifies, them He also glorifies!"

Has grace begun in you? Can you mark—though it should be but the drops of the incipient streamlet which is to terminate in such an ocean—the tiny grains which are to accumulate and issue in such "an exceeding weight of glory?" Do not delay the momentous question! The day of offered grace is on the wing; its hours are fast numbering; and, "No grace, no glory!"

[Soldier4Christ]

ANOTHER COMFORTER

"I will ask the Father, and He shall give you another Comforter, that He may abide with you forever."—John 14:16

Blessed Spirit of all grace! how often have I grieved You! resisted Your dealings, quenched Your strivings; and yet You are still pleading with me! Oh! let me realize more than I do the need of Your gracious influences. Ordinances, sermons, communions, providential dispensations, are nothing without Your life-giving power.

"It is the Spirit that quickens." "No man can call Jesus, Lord, but by the Holy Spirit." Church of the living God! is not this one cause of your deadness?—My soul! is not this the secret of your languishing frames, repeated declensions, uneven walk, and sudden falls—that the influences of the Holy Spirit are undervalued and unsought? Pray for the outpouring of this blessed Agent for the world's renovation, and your own. "I will pour out my Spirit on all flesh," is the precursor of millennial bliss.

Jesus! draw near, in Your mercy, to this dull heart, as you did of old to Your mourning disciples, and breathe upon it, and say, "Receive the Holy Spirit." It is the mightiest of all blessings; but, like the sun in the heavens, it is the freest of all—"For if you, being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your children, how much more shall your Father in heaven give the Holy Spirit unto those who ask Him!"

[Soldier4Christ]

PROVIDENTIAL OVERRULING

"All things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose." —Romans 8:28

My soul! be still! you are in the hands of your Covenant God. Were all the strange circumstances in your history the result of accident, or chance, you might well be overwhelmed. But "all things," and this thing (be what it may) which may be now disquieting you, is one of these "all things" that are so working mysteriously for your good. Trust your God! He will not deceive you—your interests are with Him in safe custody. When sight says, "All these things are against me," let faith rebuke the hasty conclusion, and say, "Shall not the Judge of all the earth do right?" How often does God hedge up your way with thorns, to elicit simple trust! How seldom can we see all things so working for our good! But it is better discipline to believe it. Oh! for faith amid frowning providences, to say, "I know that your judgments are good;" and, relying in the dark, to exclaim, "Though He slays me, yet will I trust Him!"

Blessed Jesus! to You are committed the reins of this universal empire. The same hand that was once nailed to the cross, is now wielding the scepter on the throne—"all power in heaven and in earth is given unto you." How can I doubt the wisdom, and the faithfulness, and love, of the most mysterious earthly dealing, when I know that the Roll of Providence is thus in the hands of Him who has given the mightiest pledge Omnipotence could give of His tender interest in my soul's well-being, by giving Himself for me?

[Soldier4Christ]

SAFE WALKING

"All the paths of the Lord are mercy and truth, unto such as keep His covenant and His testimonies." —Psalm 25:10

The paths of the Lord! My soul! never follow your own paths. If you do, you will be in danger often of following sight rather than faith—choosing the evil, and refusing the good. But "commit your way unto the Lord, and He shall bring it to pass." Let this be your prayer, "Show me Your ways, O Lord; teach me Your paths." Oh! for Caleb's spirit, "wholly to follow the Lord my God"—to follow Him when self must be sacrificed, and hardship must be borne, and trials await me. To "walk with God"—to ask in simple faith, "What would You have me to do?"—to have no will of my own, but this, that God's will is to be my will. Here is safety—here is happiness.

Fearlessly follow the Guiding Pillar. He will lead you by a right way, though it may be by a way of hardship, and crosses, and losses, and privations, to the city of God. Oh! the blessedness of thus lying passive in the hands of God, saying "Undertake for me God!"—dwelling with holy gratitude on past mercies and interpositions—these as pledges of future faithfulness and love—hearing His voice behind us, amid life's many perplexities, exclaiming, "This is the way, walk in it!" "Happy," surely, "are every people who are in such a case!" Happy, Reader! will it be for you, if you can form the resolve in a strength greater than you own: "This God shall be my God forever and ever; He shall be my Guide even unto death!"

[Soldier4Christ]

LOVE IN CHASTISEMENT

"As many as I love, I rebuke and chasten." —Revelation 3:19

Sorrowing Believer! what could you wish more than this? Your furnace is severe; but look at this assurance of Him who lit it. Love is the fuel that feeds its flames! Its every spark is love! Kindled by a Father's hand, and designed as a special pledge of a Father's love. How many of His dear children has He so rebuked and chastened; and all, all for one reason, "I love them!" The myriads in glory have passed through these furnace-fires—there they were chosen—there they were purified, sanctified, and made "vessels fit for the Master's use;" the dross and the alloy purged, that the pure metal might remain.

And are you to claim exemption from the same discipline? Are you to think it strange concerning these same fiery trials that may be purifying you? Rather exult in them as your adoption-privilege. Envy not those who are strangers to the refining flames—who are "without chastisement." You should surely rather have the severest discipline with a Father's love, than the fullest earthly cup without that Father's smile. Oh! for grace to say, when the furnace is hottest, and the rod sorest, "Even so, Father!" And what, after all, is the severest of your chastisements in comparison with what your sins have deserved? Do you murmur under a Father's correcting love? What would it have been to have stood the wrath of an unpropitiated Judge, and that, too, forever? Surely, in the light of eternity, the heaviest pang of earth is indeed "a light affliction!"

[Soldier4Christ]

A CONDITION IN CHASTISEMENT

"If need be."—1 Peter 1:6

Three gracious words! Not one of all my tears has been shed for nothing! Not one stroke of the rod has been unneeded, or that might have been spared! Your heavenly Father loves you too much, and too tenderly, to bestow harsher correction than your case requires! Is it loss of health, or loss of wealth, or loss of beloved friends? Be still! there was a needs be. We are no judges of what that "needs be" is; often through aching hearts we are forced to exclaim, "Your judgments are a great deep!" But God here pledges Himself, that there will not be one unnecessary thorn in the believer's crown of suffering. No burden too heavy will be laid on him; and no sacrifice too great exacted from him. He will "temper the wind to the shorn lamb." Whenever the "need be" has accomplished its end, then the rod is removed—the chastisement suspended—the furnace quenched.

"If need be!" Oh! what a pillow on which to rest your aching head—that there is not a drop in all your bitter cup but what a God of love saw to be absolutely necessary! Will you not trust His heart, even though you cannot trace the mystery of His dealings? Not too curiously prying into the "Why it is?" or "How it is?" but satisfied that "So it is," and, therefore, that all must be well! "Although you say you cannot see Him, yet judgment is before Him, therefore trust in Him!"

[Soldier4Christ]

STRENGTH IN THE WEAK

"A bruised reed shall He not break, and smoking flax shall He not quench." —Matthew 12:20

Will Jesus accept such a heart as mine?—this erring, treacherous, traitor heart? The past!—how many forgotten vows—broken covenants—prayerless days! How often have I made new resolutions, and as often has the reed succumbed to the first blast of temptation, and the burning flax been well-near quenched by guilty omissions and guiltier commissions! Oh! my soul! you are low indeed—the things that remain seem "ready to die." But your Savior-God will not give you "over unto death." The reed is bruised; but He will not pluck it up by the roots. The flax is reduced to a smoking ember, but He will fan the decaying flame. Why wound your loving Savior's heart by these repeated declensions? He will not—cannot give you up. Go, mourn your weakness and unbelief. Cry unto the Strong for strength.

Weary and faint one! You have an Omnipotent arm to lean on. "He faints not, neither is weary!" Listen to His own gracious assurance: "Fear not, for I am with you. Do not be dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you; yes, I will help you with the right hand of my righteousness!" Leaving all your false props and refuges, let this be your resolve—"I trust in the Lord for protection!"

[Soldier4Christ]

ENCOURAGEMENT TO THE DESPONDING

"Him that comes unto me, I will in no wise cast out." —John 6:37

Cast out! My soul! how often might this have been your history! You have cast off your God—might He not often have cast out you? Yes! cast you out as fuel for the fire of His wrath—a sapless, fruitless cumberer. And yet, notwithstanding all your ungrateful requital for His unmerited forbearance, He is still declaring, "As I live, says the Lord, I have no pleasure in the death of him that dies." Your sins may be legion—the sand of the sea may be their befitting type—the thought of their vileness and aggravation may be ready to overwhelm you; but be still! your patient God waits to be gracious! Oh! be deeply humbled and softened because of your guilt, and resolve to dedicate yourself anew to His service, and so coming, "He will by no means cast you out!" Despond not by reason of former shortcomings—your sins are great, but your Savior's merits are greater. He is willing to forget all the past, and sink it in oblivion, if there be present love, and the promise of future obedience. "Simon, son of Jonah, do you love me?" Ah! how different is God's verdict from man's! After such sins as yours, man's sentence would have been, "I will in nowise receive!" But "it is better to fall into the hands of God, than into the hands of man;" for He says, "I will in nowise cast out!"

[Soldier4Christ]

EACE IN BELIEVING

"Peace I leave with you; my peace I give unto you; not as the world gives." —John 14:27

"You will keep him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on You." "Perfect peace!"—what a blessed attainment! My soul! is it yours? I am sure it is not, if you are seeking it in a perishable world, or in the perishable creature, or in your perishable self. Although you have all that the world would call enviable and happy, unless you have peace in God, and with God, all else is unworthy of the name—a spurious thing, which the first breath of adversity will shatter, and the hour of death utterly annihilate! Perfect peace! What is it? It is the peace of forgiveness. It is the peace arising out of a sense of God reconciled through the blood of the everlasting covenant—resting sweetly on the bosom, and the work of Jesus—to Him committing your eternal all.

My soul! stay yourself on God, so that this blessed peace may be yours. You have tried the world. It has deceived you. Prop after prop of earthly scaffolding has yielded, and tottered, and fallen. Has your God ever done so? Ah! this false and counterfeit world-peace may do well for the world's work, and the world's day of prosperity. But test it in the hour of sorrow; and what can it do for you when it is most needed? On the other hand, what though you have no other blessing on earth to call your own? You are rich indeed, if you can look upwards to Heaven, and say with an unpresumptuous smile, "I am at peace with God."

[Soldier4Christ]

BLISS IN DYING

"Blessed are the dead that die in the Lord." —Revelation 14:13

My Soul! is this blessedness yours in prospect? Are you ready, if called this night to lie down on your death-pillow, sweetly to fall asleep in Jesus? What is the sting of death?—It is sin. Is death, then, to you, robbed of its sting, by having listened to the gracious accents of pardoning love, "Be of good cheer, your sins, which are many, are all forgiven?" If you have made your peace with God, resting on the work and atoning blood of His dear Son, then is the Last Enemy divested of all his terror, and you can say, in sweet composure, of your dying couch and dying hour—"I will both lay down in peace and sleep, because You, Lord, make me to dwell in safety!" Reader! ponder that solemn question, "Am I ready to die? Am I living as I should wish I had done when that last hour arrives?"

And when shall it arrive? Tomorrow is not yours. "Truly, there may be but a step between you and death." Oh! solve the question speedily—risk no doubts and no peradventure. Every day is proclaiming anew the lesson, "The race is not to the swift nor the battle to the strong." Seek to live, so that that hour cannot come upon you too soon, or too unexpectedly. Live a dying life! How blessed to live—how blessed to die, with the consciousness, that there may be but a step between you and glory!

[Soldier4Christ]

A DUE REAPING

"In due season you shall reap, if you faint not." —Galatians 6:9

Believer! all the glory of your salvation belongs to Jesus—none to yourself; every jewel in your eternal crown is His— purchased by His blood, and polished by His Spirit. The confession of time will be the ascription of all eternity: "By the grace of God I am what I am!" But though "all be of grace," your God calls you to personal strenuousness in the work of your high calling—to "labor," to "fight," to "wrestle," to "agonize;" and the heavenly reaping will be in proportion to the earthly sowing: "He that sows sparingly, shall reap also sparingly; and He that sows bountifully, shall reap also bountifully!" What an incentive to holy living, and increased spiritual attainments!

My soul! would you be a star shining high and bright in the firmament of glory?—would you receive the ten-talent recompense? Then be not weary. Put on your armor for fresh conquests. Be gaining daily some new victory over sin. Deny yourself. Be a willing cross-bearer for your Lord's sake. Do good to all men as you have opportunity; be patient under provocation, "slow to wrath," resigned in trial. Let the world take knowledge of you that you are wearing Christ's uniform, and bearing Christ's spirit, and sharing Christ's cross. And when the reaping time comes, He who has promised that the cup of cold water cannot go unrecompensed, will not allow you to lose your reward!

[Soldier4Christ]

AN END OF WEEPING

"The days of your mourning shall be ended." —Isaiah 60:20

Christ's people are a weeping band, though there be much in this lovely world to make them joyous and happy. Yet when they think of sin—their own sin, and the unblushing sins of a world in which their God is dishonored—need we wonder at their tears?—that they should be called "Mourners," and their pilgrimage home a "Valley of Tears?" Bereavement, and sickness, and poverty and death following the track of sin, add to their mourning experience; and with many of God's best beloved, one tear is scarce dried when another is ready to flow!

Mourners! rejoice! When the reaping time comes, the weeping time ends! When the white robe and the golden harp are bestowed, every remnant of the sackcloth attire is removed. The moment the pilgrim, whose forehead is here furrowed with woe, bathes it in the crystal river of life—that moment the pangs of a lifetime of sorrow are eternally forgotten! Reader! if you are one of these careworn ones, the days of your mourning are numbered! A few more throbbings of this aching heart, and then the angel who proclaims "time," shall proclaim also, sorrow, and sighing, and mourning, to "be no longer!" Seek now to mourn your sins more than your sorrows; reserve your bitterest tears for forgetfulness of your dear Lord. The saddest and sorest of all bereavements, is when the sins which have separated you from Him, evoke the anguish-cry, "Where is my God?"

[Soldier4Christ]

A SPEEDY COMING

"Behold, I come quickly." —Revelation 3:11

"Even so! come, Lord Jesus!" "Why do the wheels of Your chariot tarry?" Six thousand years this world has rolled on, getting timeworn with age, and wrinkled with sins and sorrows. A waiting Church sees the long-drawn shadows of twilight announcing, "The Lord is at hand." Prepare, my soul, to meet Him. Oh! happy days, when your adorable Redeemer, so long dishonored and despised, shall be publicly enthroned in the presence of an assembled universe, crowned Lord of All, glorified in His saints, satisfied in the fruits of His soul's travail, destroying His enemies with the brightness of His coming—the lightning-glance of wrath—causing the hearts of His exulting people to "rejoice with joy unspeakable and full of glory." Prepare, my soul, to meet Him!

Let it be a joyous thought to you—your "blessed hope"—the meeting of your Elder Brother. Stand oftentimes on the watchtower to catch the first streak of that coming brightness, the first murmur of these chariot wheels. The world is now in preparation! It is rocking on its worn-out axle. There are voices on every side proclaiming "He comes! He comes to judge the earth!" Reader! are you among the number of those who "love His appearing?" Remember the attitude of His expectant saints: "Blessed are those servants whom the Lord, when He comes, will find WATCHING!"

[Soldier4Christ]

EVENING LIGHT

"At evening time it shall be light." —Zechariah 14:7

How inspiring the thought of coming glory! How would we rise above our sins, and sorrows, and sufferings, if we could live under the power of "a world to come!" Were faith to take at all times its giant leap beyond a soul-trammeling earth, and remember its brighter destiny. If it could stand on its Pisgah Mount, and look above and beyond the mists and vapors of this land of shadows, and rest on the "better country." But, alas! in spite of ourselves, the wings often refuse to soar—the spirit droops—guilty fears depress—sin dims and darkens—God's providences seem to frown—God's ways are misinterpreted—the Christian belies his name and his destiny.

But, "At evening time it shall be light"—The material sun, which wades through clouds and a troubled sky, sets often in a couch of lustrous gold! So, when the sun of life is setting, many a ray of light will shoot across memory's darkened sky, and many mysterious dealings of the wilderness will then elicit an "All is well!" How frequently is the presence and upholding grace of Jesus especially felt and acknowledged at that hour, and griefs and misgivings hushed with His own gentle accents, "Fear not! it is I; do not be afraid." A triumphant death-bed! It is no unmeaning word; the eye is lit with holy luster, the tongue with holy rapture, as if the harps of heaven were stealing on it. My soul! may such a life's evening time be yours!

[Soldier4Christ]

EAVENLY ILLUMINATION

"What I do you know not now; but you shall know hereafter." —John 13:7

As the natural sun sometimes sinks in clouds, so, occasionally, the Christian who has a bright rising, and a brighter meridian, sets in gloom. It is not always "light" at his evening time; but this we know, that when the day of immortality breaks, the last vestige of earth's shadows will forever flee away. To the closing hour of time, Providence may be to him a baffling enigma; but before the first hour has struck on heaven's chronometer, all will be clear. My soul! "in God's light you shall see light;" the Book of His decrees is a sealed book now—"A great deep" is all the explanation you can often give to His judgments; the why and the wherefore He seems keep from us, to test our faith, to discipline us in trustful submission, and lead us to say, "Your will be done!"

But rejoice in that hereafter—light which awaits you! Now we see through a glass darkly; but then, face to face. In the great mirror of eternity all the events of this chequered scene will be reflected; the darkest of them will be seen to be bright with mercy—the severest dispensations, "only the severer aspects of His love!" Pry not, then, too curiously; pronounce not too censoriously on God's dealings with you. Wait with patience until the grand day of disclosures; one confession shall then burst from every tongue, "Righteous are You, O Lord!"