{"collection":"scripture-revelation","full_text_available":true,"graph_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/api/page/gutenberg_27344/graph","html_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/page/gutenberg_27344","id":"gutenberg_27344","license":"Public Domain (US)","rights_basis":"gutenberg_metadata_copyright_false","source":"gutenberg","source_url":"https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/27344","summary":null,"tags":["Category: Religion/Spirituality","Devotional exercises"],"text":"Produced by Heiko Evermann, Nigel Blower and the Online\nDistributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net (This\nbook was produced from scanned images of public domain\nmaterial from the Google Print project.)\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n          THE FAITHFUL PROMISER.\n\n\n             By the Author of\n\n           \"THE WORDS OF JESUS,\"\n      \"THE MORNING AND NIGHT WATCHES,\"\n                    ETC.\n\n\n\"Whereby are given unto us exceeding great\n   and precious promises.\"--2 Pet. i. 4.\n\n\n                 NEW YORK:\n            STANFORD & DELISSER,\n             No. 508, BROADWAY.\n                   1858.\n\n\n\n\nThe Faithful Promiser.\n\n\nIt has often been felt a delightful exercise by the child of God, to\ntake, night by night, an individual promise and plead it at the\nmercy-seat. Often are our prayers _pointless_, from not following, in\nthis respect, the example of the sweet Psalmist of Israel, the Royal\nPromise pleader, who delighted to direct his finger to some particular\n\"word\" of the Faithful Promiser, saying, \"Remember Thy word unto Thy\nservant, on which thou hast caused me to hope!\"\n\nThe following are a few gleanings from the Promise Treasury,--a few\ncrumbs from \"the Master's Table,\" which may serve to help the thoughts\nin the hour of closet meditation, or the season of sorrow.\n\n  ST. M----,\n    _December_, 1849.\n\n\n\n\n1ST DAY OF MONTH.\n\n\"He is Faithful that Promised.\"\n\n     \"Come now, let us reason together, saith the Lord: Though your sins\n     be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they be red\n     like crimson, they shall be as wool.\"--ISAIAH i. 18.\n\nPardoning Grace.\n\n\nMy soul! thy God summons thee to His audience chamber! Infinite purity\nseeks to reason with infinite vileness! Deity stoops to speak to dust!\nDread not the meeting. It is the most gracious, as well as wondrous of\nall conferences. Jehovah himself breaks silence! He utters the best\ntidings a lost soul or a lost world can hear: \"God is in Christ\nreconciling the world unto Himself, not imputing unto men their\ntrespasses.\" What! _Scarlet_ sins, and _crimson_ sins! and these all to\nbe forgiven and forgotten! The just God \"justifying\" the unjust!--the\nmightiest of all beings, the kindest of all! Oh! what is there in thee\nto merit such love as this? Thou mightest have known thy God only as the\n\"consuming fire,\" and had nothing before thee save \"a fearful looking\nfor of vengeance!\" This gracious conference bids thee dispel thy fears!\nIt tells thee it is no longer a \"fearful,\" but a _blessed_ thing to fall\ninto His hands? Hast thou closed with these His overtures? Until thou\nart at peace with Him, happiness must be a stranger to thy bosom. Though\nthou hast all else beside, bereft of God thou must be \"bereft indeed.\"\nLord! I come! As thy pardoning grace is freely tendered, so shall I\nfreely accept it. May it be mine, even now, to listen to the gladdening\naccents, \"Son! Daughter! be of good cheer! thy sins, which are many, are\nall forgiven thee.\"\n\n     \"REMEMBER _THIS_ WORD UNTO THY SERVANT, UPON\n         WHICH THOU HAST CAUSED ME TO HOPE!\"\n\n\n\n\n2D DAY.\n\n\"He is Faithful that Promised.\"\n\n     \"As thy days, so shall thy strength be.\"--DEUT. xxxiii. 25.\n\nNeedful Grace.\n\n\nGod does not give grace till the hour of trial comes. But when it\n_does_ come, the amount of grace, and the nature of the special grace\nrequired is vouchsafed. My soul, do not dwell with painful apprehension\non the future. Do not anticipate coming sorrows; perplexing thyself with\nthe grace needed for future emergencies; to-morrow will bring its\npromised grace along with to-morrow's trials. God, wishing to keep His\npeople humble, and dependent on himself, gives not a stock of grace; He\nmetes it out for every day's exigencies, that they may be constantly\n\"travelling between their own emptiness and Christ's fulness\"--their own\nweakness and Christ's strength. But _when_ the exigency comes, thou\nmayest safely trust an Almighty arm to bear thee through! Is there now\nsome \"thorn in the flesh\" sent to lacerate thee? Thou mayest have been\nentreating the Lord for its removal. Thy prayer has, doubtless, been\nheard and answered; but not in the way, perhaps, expected or desired by\nthee. The \"thorn\" may still be left to goad, the trial may still be left\nto buffet; but \"more grace\" has been given to endure them. Oh! how often\nhave His people thus been led to glory in their infirmities and triumph\nin their afflictions, seeing the power of Christ rests more abundantly\nupon them! The strength which the hour of trial brings, often makes the\nChristian a wonder to himself!\n\n     \"REMEMBER _THIS_ WORD UNTO THY SERVANT, UPON\n         WHICH THOU HAST CAUSED ME TO HOPE!\"\n\n\n\n\n3D DAY.\n\n\"He is Faithful that Promised.\"\n\n     \"God is able to make all grace abound toward you; that ye, always\n     having all sufficiency in all things, may abound to every good\n     work.\"--2 COR. ix. 8.\n\nAll-Sufficient Grace.\n\n\n\"All-sufficiency in all things!\" Believer! surely thou art \"thoroughly\nfurnished!\" Grace is no scanty thing, doled out in pittances. It is a\nglorious treasury, which the key of prayer can always unlock, but never\nempty. A fountain, \"full, flowing, _ever_ flowing, _over_flowing.\" Mark\nthese three ALL's in this precious promise. It is a three-fold link in a\ngolden chain, let down from a throne of grace by a God of grace.\n\"_All-grace!_\"--\"_all-sufficiency!_\" in \"_all things!_\" and these to\n\"abound.\" Oh! precious thought! My want cannot impoverish that\ninexhaustible treasury of grace! Myriads are hourly hanging on it, and\ndrawing from it, and yet there is no diminution: \"Out of that fulness\nall we too may receive, and grace for grace!\" My soul, dost not thou\nlove to dwell on that all-abounding grace? Thine own insufficiency in\nevery thing, met with an \"all-sufficiency in all things!\" Grace in all\ncircumstances and situations, in all vicissitudes and changes, in all\nthe varied phases of the Christian's being. Grace in sunshine and\nstorm--in health and in sickness--in life and in death. Grace for the\nold believer and the young believer, the tried believer, and the weak\nbeliever, and the tempted believer. Grace _for_ duty, and grace _in_\nduty,--grace to carry the joyous cup with a steady hand,--grace to drink\nthe bitter cup with an unmurmuring spirit,--grace to have prosperity\nsanctified,--grace to say, through tears, \"Thy will be done!\"\n\n     \"REMEMBER _THIS_ WORD UNTO THY SERVANT, UPON\n         WHICH THOU HAST CAUSED ME TO HOPE!\"\n\n\n\n\n4TH DAY.\n\n\"He is Faithful that Promised.\"\n\n     \"I will not leave you comfortless; I will come to\n     you.\"--JOHN xiv. 18.\n\nComforting Grace.\n\n\nBlessed Jesus! How thy presence sanctifies trial, takes loneliness from\nthe chamber of sickness, and the sting from the chamber of death! Bright\nand Morning Star! precious at all times, thou art never _so_ precious as\nin \"the dark and cloudy day!\" The bitterness of sorrow is well worth\nenduring to have thy promised consolations. How well qualified, thou Man\nof Sorrows, to be my Comforter! How well fitted to dry my tears, Thou\nwho didst shed so many thyself! What are _my_ tears--my sorrows--my\ncrosses--my losses, compared with Thine, who didst shed first Thy tears,\nand then Thy blood for _me_! Mine are all deserved, and infinitely more\nthan deserved. How different, O Spotless Lamb of God, those pangs which\nrent Thy guiltless bosom! How sweet those comforts Thou hast promised to\nthe comfortless, when I think of them as flowing from an Almighty\n_Fellow-Sufferer_,--\"A brother born for adversity,\"--the \"Friend that\nsticketh closer than any brother!\"--one who can say, with all the\nrefined sympathies of a holy exalted human nature, \"I know your\nsorrows!\" My soul! calm thy griefs! There is not a sorrow thou canst\nexperience, but Jesus, in the treasury of grace, has an exact\ncorresponding solace: \"In the multitude of the _sorrows_ I have in my\nheart, Thy _comforts_ delight my soul!\"\n\n     \"REMEMBER _THIS_ WORD UNTO THY SERVANT, UPON\n         WHICH THOU HAST CAUSED ME TO HOPE!\"\n\n\n\n\n5TH DAY.\n\n\"He is Faithful that Promised.\"\n\n     \"Satan hath desired to have you, that he may sift you as\n     wheat; but I have prayed for thee, that thy faith fail\n     not.\"--LUKE xxii. 31, 32.\n\nRestraining Grace.\n\n\nWhat a scene does this unfold! Satan tempting--Jesus praying! Satan\nsifting--Jesus pleading! \"The strong man assailing\"--\"the stronger than\nthe strong\" beating him back! Believer? here is the past history and\npresent secret of thy safety in the midst of temptation. An interceding\nSaviour was at thy side, saying to every threatening wave, \"Thus far\nshalt thou go, and no farther?\" God often permits His people to be on\nthe very verge of the precipice, to remind them of their own weakness;\n_but never farther than the verge!_ The restraining hand and grace of\nOmnipotence is ready to rescue them. \"Although he fall, yet shall he not\nbe cast down utterly; and why? for the Lord upholdeth him with His right\nhand!\" The wolf may be prowling for his prey; but what can he do when\nthe Shepherd is always there, tending with the watchful eye that\n\"neither slumbers nor sleeps?\" Who cannot subscribe to the testimony,\n\"When my foot slipped, Thy mercy, O Lord! held me up?\" Who can look back\non his past pilgrimage, and fail to see it crowded with Ebenezers, with\nthis inscription: \"Thou hast delivered my soul from death, mine eyes\nfrom tears, and my feet from falling?\" My soul, where wouldst thou have\nbeen this day, hadst thou not been \"_kept_\" by the power of God?\n\n     \"REMEMBER _THIS_ WORD UNTO THY SERVANT, UPON\n         WHICH THOU HAST CAUSED ME TO HOPE!\"\n\n\n\n\n6TH DAY.\n\n\"He is Faithful that Promised.\"\n\n     \"I will heal their backsliding.\"--HOSEA xiv. 4.\n\nRestoring Grace.\n\n\nWandering again! And has He not left me to perish? Stumbling and\nstraying on the dark mountains, away from the Shepherd's eye and the\nShepherd's fold, shall He not leave the erring wanderer to the fruit of\nhis own ways, and his truant heart to go hopelessly onward in its career\nof guilty estrangement? \"My thoughts,\" says God, \"are not as your\nthoughts, neither are your ways my ways.\" Man would say, \"Go, perish!\nungrateful apostate!\" God says, \"Return, ye backsliding children!\" The\nShepherd _will_ not, _cannot_ suffer the sheep to perish He has\npurchased with His own blood. How wondrous His forbearance towards\nit!--tracking its guilty steps, and ceasing not the pursuit till He lays\nthe wanderer on His shoulders, and returns with it to His fold\nrejoicing! My soul! why increase by farther departures thine own\ndistance from the fold?--why lengthen the dreary road thy gracious\nShepherd has to traverse in bringing thee back? Delay not thy return!\nProvoke no longer His patience; venture no farther on forbidden ground.\nHe waits with outstretched arms to welcome thee once more to His bosom.\nBe humble for the past, trust Him for the future. Think of thy former\nbackslidings, and tremble; think of His forbearance, and be filled with\nholy gratitude; think of His promised grace, \"and take courage.\"\n\n     \"REMEMBER _THIS_ WORD UNTO THY SERVANT, UPON\n         WHICH THOU HAST CAUSED ME TO HOPE!\"\n\n\n\n\n7TH DAY.\n\n\"He is Faithful that Promised.\"\n\n     \"He which hath begun a good work in you, will perform it until the\n     day of Jesus Christ.\"--PHIL. i. 6.\n\nSanctifying Grace.\n\n\nReader! is the good work begun in thee? Art thou holy? Is sin\ncrucifying? Are thy heart's idols, one by one abolished? Is the world\nless to thee, and eternity more to thee? Is more of thy Saviour's image\nimpressed on thy character, and thy Saviour's love more enthroned in thy\nheart? Is \"Salvation\" to thee more \"the one thing needful?\" Oh! take\nheed! there can be no middle ground, no standing still; or if it be so,\nthy position must be a false one. The Saviour's blood is not more\nnecessary to give thee a title to Heaven, than His Spirit to give thee a\nmeetness for it. \"If any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is _none\nof His_!\" \"Onwards!\" should be thy motto. There is no standing still in\nthe life of faith. \"The man,\" says Augustine, \"who says '_Enough_,' that\nman's soul is lost?\" Let this be the superscription in all thy ways and\ndoings, \"Holiness to the Lord.\" Let the monitory word exercise over thee\nits habitual power, \"Without holiness no man shall see the Lord.\"\nMoreover, remember, that to be holy, is to be happy. The two are\nconvertible terms. Holiness! It is the secret and spring of the joy of\nangels; and the more of holiness attained on earth--the nearer and\ncloser my walk is with God--the more of a sweet earnest shall I have of\nthe bliss that awaits me in a holy Heaven. Oh! my soul, let it be thy\nsacred ambition to \"Be holy!\"\n\n     \"REMEMBER _THIS_ WORD UNTO THY SERVANT, UPON\n         WHICH THOU HAST CAUSED ME TO HOPE!\"\n\n\n\n\n8TH DAY.\n\n\"He is Faithful that Promised.\"\n\n     \"They that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength; they\n     shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run, and not be\n     weary; they shall walk, and not faint.\"--ISAIAH xl. 31.\n\nReviving Grace.\n\n\n\"Wilt thou not revive us, O Lord?\" My soul! art thou conscious of thy\ndeclining state? Is thy walk less with God, thy frame less heavenly?\nHast thou less conscious nearness to the mercy-seat,--diminished\ncommunion with thy Saviour? Is prayer less a privilege than it has\nbeen?--the pulsations of spiritual life more languid, and fitful, and\nspasmodic?--the bread of life less relished?--the seen, and the\ntemporal, and the tangible, displacing the unseen and eternal? Art thou\nsinking down into this state of drowsy self-contentment, this\nconformity-life with the world, forfeiting all the happiness of true\nreligion, and risking and endangering the better life to come? Arise!\ncall upon thy God! \"Wilt thou not revive us, O Lord?\" He might have\nreturned nothing but the withering repulse, \"How often would I have\ngathered thee; but thou wouldst not!\" \"Ephraim is joined to his idols;\nlet him alone!\" But \"in wrath He remembers mercy.\" \"They _shall_ revive\nas the corn.\" \"The mouth of the Lord hath spoken it.\" How and where is\nreviving grace to be found? He gives thee, in this precious promise, the\nkey. It is on thy bended _knees_--by a return to thy deserted and\nunfrequented chamber! \"_They that wait upon the Lord!_\" \"Wait on the\nLord; be of good cheer, and He shall strengthen thine heart; wait, I\nsay, on the Lord!\"\n\n     \"REMEMBER _THIS_ WORD UNTO THY SERVANT, UPON\n         WHICH THOU HAST CAUSED ME TO HOPE!\"\n\n\n\n\n9TH DAY.\n\n\"He is Faithful that Promised.\"\n\n     \"The righteous shall hold on his way.\"--JOB xvii. 9.\n\nPersevering Grace.\n\n\nReader! how comforting to thee amid the ebbings and flowings of thy\nchanging history, to know that the change is all with thee, and not with\nthy God! Thy spiritual bark may be tossed on waves of temptation, in\nmany a dark midnight. Thou mayest think thy pilot hath left thee, and be\nready continually to say, \"Where is my God?\" But fear not! The bark\nwhich bears thy spiritual destinies is in better hands than thine; a\ngolden chain of covenant love links it to the eternal throne! That chain\ncan never snap asunder. He who holds it in His hand gives thee _this_ as\nthe pledge of thy safety,--\"Because I live, ye shall live also.\" \"Why\nart thou then cast down, O my soul? and why art thou disquieted within\nme? _hope thou in God!_\" Thou wilt assuredly ride out these stormy\nsurges, and reach the desired haven. But be faithful with thyself: see\nthat there be nothing to hinder or impede thy growth in grace. Think how\nlittle may retard thy progress. One sin indulged--one temptation\ntampered with--one bosom traitor, may cost thee many a bitter hour and\nbitter tear, by separating between thee and thy God. Make it thy daily\nprayer, \"Search me, O God, and know my heart; try me and know my\nthoughts: and see if there be any wicked way in me, and lead me in the\nway everlasting.\"\n\n     \"REMEMBER _THIS_ WORD UNTO THY SERVANT, UPON\n         WHICH THOU HAST CAUSED ME TO HOPE!\"\n\n\n\n\n10TH DAY.\n\n\"He is Faithful that Promised.\"\n\n     \"I have the keys of hell and of death.\"--REV. i. 18.\n\nDying Grace.\n\n\nAnd from whom could dying grace come so welcome, as from Thee, O\nblessed Jesus? Not only is Thy name, \"The Abolisher of Death;\" but Thou\ndidst thyself _die_! Thou hast sanctified the grave by Thine own\npresence, and divested it of all its terrors. My soul! art thou at times\nafraid of this, thy last enemy? If the rest of thy pilgrimage-way be\npeaceful and unclouded, rests there a dark and portentous shadow over\nthe terminating portals? Fear not! When that dismal entrance is reached,\nHe who has \"the keys of the grave and of death\" suspended at His golden\ngirdle, will impart grace to bear thee through. It is the messenger of\npeace. Thy Saviour calls thee! The promptings of nature, when, at first,\nthou seest the darkening waves, may be that of the affrighted disciples,\nwhen they said, \"It is a spirit, and cried out for fear!\" But a gentle\nvoice will be heard high above the storm, \"It is I! Be not afraid!\"\nDeath, indeed, as the wages of sin, must, even by the believer, be\nregarded as an enemy. But, oh! blessed thought, it is thy _last_\nenemy--the cause of thy last tear. In a few brief moments after that\ntear is shed, thy God will be wiping every vestige of it away? \"O Death!\nwhere is thy sting? O Grave! where is thy victory? Thanks be unto God,\nwho giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ!\" Welcome,\nvanquished foe!--Birthday of heaven!--\"to die is gain!\"\n\n     \"REMEMBER _THIS_ WORD UNTO THY SERVANT, UPON\n         WHICH THOU HAST CAUSED ME TO HOPE!\"\n\n\n\n\n11TH DAY.\n\n\"He is Faithful that Promised.\"\n\n     \"The Lord will give grace and glory.\"--PSALM lxxxiv. 11.\n\nAfter Grace, Glory.\n\n\nOh! happy day, when this toilsome warfare will all be ended, Jordan\ncrossed, Canaan entered, the legion-enemies of the wilderness no longer\ndreaded; sorrow, sighing, death, and, worst of all, _sin_, no more\neither to be felt or feared! Here is the terminating link in the golden\nchain of the everlasting covenant. It began with _predestination_; it\nends with _glorification_. It began with sovereign grace in a by-past\neternity, and no link will be awanting till the ransomed spirit be\npresented faultless before the throne! Grace and glory! If the earnest\nbe sweet, what must be the reality? If the wilderness table contain such\nrich provision, what must be the glories of the eternal banqueting\nhouse? Oh! my soul, make sure of thine interest in the one, as the\nblessed prelude to the other. \"Having access by faith into this _grace_,\nthou canst rejoice in hope of the _glory_ of God;\" for \"whom He\n_justifies_, them He also _glorifies_!\" Has grace begun in thee? Canst\nthou mark--though it should be but the drops of the incipient rill which\nis to terminate in such an ocean--the tiny grains which are to\naccumulate and issue in such \"an exceeding weight of glory!\" Delay not\nthe momentous question! The day of offered grace is on the wing; its\nhours are fast numbering; and, \"No grace, no glory!\"\n\n     \"REMEMBER _THIS_ WORD UNTO THY SERVANT, UPON\n         WHICH THOU HAST CAUSED ME TO HOPE!\"\n\n\n\n\n12TH DAY.\n\n\"He is Faithful that Promised.\"\n\n     \"I will pray the Father, and He shall give you another Comforter,\n     that He may abide with you for ever.\"--JOHN xiv. 16.\n\nAnother Comforter.\n\n\nBlessed Spirit of all grace! how oft have I grieved Thee! resisted Thy\ndealings, quenched Thy strivings; and yet art thou still pleading with\nme! Oh! let me realize more than I do the need of Thy gracious\ninfluences. Ordinances, sermons, communions, providential dispensations,\nare nothing without Thy life-giving power. \"It is the Spirit that\nquickeneth.\" \"No man can call Jesus, Lord, but by the Holy Ghost.\"\nChurch of the living God! is not this one cause of thy deadness? My\nsoul! is not this the secret of thy languishing frames, repeated\ndeclensions, uneven walk, and sudden falls, that the influences of the\nHoly Ghost are undervalued and unsought? Pray for the outpouring of this\nblessed Agent for the world's renovation, and thine own. \"I will pour\nout my Spirit on all flesh,\" is the precursor of millennial bliss.\nJesus! draw near, in thy mercy, to this torpid heart, as thou didst of\nold to thy mourning disciples, and breathe upon it, and say, \"Receive ye\nthe Holy Ghost.\" It is the mightiest of all boons; but, like the sun in\nthe heavens, it is the freest of all: \"For if ye, being evil, know how\nto give good gifts unto your children, how much more shall your Father\nin heaven give the Holy Spirit unto them that ask Him!\"\n\n     \"REMEMBER _THIS_ WORD UNTO THY SERVANT, UPON\n         WHICH THOU HAST CAUSED ME TO HOPE!\"\n\n\n\n\n13TH DAY.\n\n\"He is Faithful that Promised.\"\n\n     \"All things work together for good to them that love God, to them\n     who are the called according to His purpose.\"--ROM. viii. 28.\n\nProvidential Overruling.\n\n\nMy soul! be still! thou art in the hands of thy Covenant God. Were\nthese strange vicissitudes in thy history the result of accident, or\nchance, thou mightest well be overwhelmed; but \"_all things_,\" and\n_this_ thing (be what it may) which may be now disquieting thee, is\n_one_ of these \"_all things_\" that are _so_ working mysteriously for thy\ngood. Trust thy God! He will not deceive thee,--thy interests are with\nHim in safe custody. When sight says, \"All these things are against me,\"\nlet faith rebuke the hasty conclusion, and say, \"Shall not the Judge of\nall the earth do right?\" How often does God hedge up our way with\nthorns, to elicit simple trust! How seldom can we _see_ all things so\nworking for our good! But it is better discipline to _believe_ it. Oh!\nfor faith amid frowning providences, to say, \"I _know_ that thy\njudgments are good;\" and, relying in the dark, to exclaim, \"Though He\nslay me, yet will I trust Him!\" Blessed Jesus! to thee are committed the\nreins of this universal empire. The same hand that was once nailed to\nthe cross, is now wielding the sceptre on the throne,--\"all power given\nunto thee in heaven and in earth.\" How can I doubt the wisdom, and\nfaithfulness, and love, of the most mysterious earthly dealing, when I\nknow that the Roll of Providence is thus in the hands of Him who has\ngiven the mightiest pledge Omnipotence _could_ give of His tender\ninterest in my soul's well-being, by giving _Himself_ for me?\n\n     \"REMEMBER _THIS_ WORD UNTO THY SERVANT, UPON\n         WHICH THOU HAST CAUSED ME TO HOPE!\"\n\n\n\n\n14TH DAY.\n\n\"He is Faithful that Promised.\"\n\n     \"All the Paths of the Lord are mercy and truth, unto such as keep\n     His covenant and His testimonies.\"--PSALM xxv. 10.\n\nSafe Walking.\n\n\nThe paths of the Lord? My soul! never follow thine own paths. If thou\ndost so, thou wilt be in danger often of following sight rather than\nfaith,--choosing the evil, and refusing the good. But \"commit thy way\nunto the Lord, and He shall bring it to pass.\" Let this be thy prayer,\n\"Show me _Thy_ ways, O Lord; teach me _Thy_ paths.\" Oh! for Caleb's\nspirit, \"_wholly_ to follow the Lord my God,\"--to follow Him when self\nmust be sacrificed, and hardship must be borne, and trials await me. To\n\"walk with God,\"--to ask in simple faith, \"What wouldst thou have me to\ndo?\"--to have no will of my own, save this, that God's will is to be\n_my_ will. Here is safety,--here is happiness. Fearlessly follow the\nGuiding Pillar. He will lead you by a _right_ way, though it may be by a\nway of hardship, and crosses, and losses, and privations, to the city of\nhabitation. Oh! the blessedness of thus lying passive in the hands of\nGod; saying, \"Undertake thou for me!\"--dwelling with holy gratitude on\npast mercies and interpositions--taking these as pledges of future\nfaithfulness and love--hearing His voice behind us, amid life's manifold\nperplexities, exclaiming, \"This is the way, walk ye in it!\" \"Happy,\"\nsurely, \"are every people who are in such a case!\" Happy, Reader! will\nit be for thee, if thou canst form the resolve in a strength greater\nthan thine own: \"This God shall be _my_ God for ever and ever; He shall\nbe my _Guide_ even unto death!\"\n\n     \"REMEMBER _THIS_ WORD UNTO THY SERVANT, UPON\n         WHICH THOU HAST CAUSED ME TO HOPE!\"\n\n\n\n\n15TH DAY.\n\n\"He is Faithful that Promised.\"\n\n     \"As many as I love, I rebuke and chasten.\"--REV. iii. 19.\n\nLove in Chastisement.\n\n\nSorrowing Believer! what couldst thou wish more than this? Thy furnace\nis severe; but look at this assurance of Him who lighted it. Love is the\nfuel that feeds its flames! Its every spark is love! Kindled by a\nFather's hand, and designed as a special pledge of a Father's love. How\nmany of his dear children has He so rebuked and chastened; and all,\n_all_ for one reason, \"_I love them!_\" The myriads in glory have passed\nthrough these furnace-fires,--_there_ they were chosen,--_there_ they\nwere purified, sanctified, and made \"vessels meet for the Master's use;\"\nthe dross and the alloy purged, that the pure metal might remain. And\nart thou to claim exemption from the same discipline? Art thou to think\nit strange concerning these same fiery trials that may be trying thee?\nRather exult in them as thine adoption-privilege. Envy not those who are\nstrangers to the refining flames,--who are \"_without chastisement_;\"\nrather, surely, the severest discipline _with_ a _Father's love_, than\nthe fullest earthly cup without that Father's smile. Oh! for grace to\nsay, when the furnace is hottest, and the rod sorest, \"Even so,\n_Father_!\" And what, after all, is the severest of thy chastisements in\ncomparison with what thy sins have deserved? Dost thou murmur under a\nFather's correcting love? What would it have been to have stood the\nwrath of an unpropitiated Judge, and that, too, _for ever_? Surely, in\nthe light of eternity, the heaviest pang of earth is indeed \"a light\naffliction!\"\n\n     \"REMEMBER _THIS_ WORD UNTO THY SERVANT, UPON\n         WHICH THOU HAST CAUSED ME TO HOPE!\"\n\n\n\n\n16TH DAY.\n\n\"He is Faithful that Promised.\"\n\n     \"If need be.\"--1 PETER i. 6.\n\nA Condition in Chastisement.\n\n\nThree gracious words! Not one of all my tears shed for nought! Not one\nstroke of the rod unheeded, or that might have been spared? Thy heavenly\nFather loves thee too much, and too tenderly, to bestow harsher\ncorrection than thy case requires? Is it loss of health, or loss of\nwealth, or loss of beloved friends? Be still! there was a _need be_. We\nare no judges of what that \"need be\" is; often through aching hearts we\nare forced to exclaim, \"Thy judgments are a great deep!\" But God here\npledges himself, that there will not be one redundant thorn in the\nbeliever's chaplet of suffering. No burden too heavy will be laid on\nhim; and no sacrifice too great exacted _from_ him. He will \"temper the\nwind to the shorn lamb.\" Whenever the \"need be\" has accomplished its\nend, then the rod is removed--the chastisement suspended--the furnace\nquenched. \"If need be!\" Oh! what a pillow on which to rest thy aching\nhead,--that there is not a drop in all thy bitter cup but what a God of\nlove saw to be _absolutely_ necessary! Wilt thou not trust Him, even\nthough thou canst not trace the mystery of His dealings? Not too\ncuriously prying into the \"_Why_ it is?\" or \"_How_ it is?\" but satisfied\nthat \"So it is,\" and, therefore that all _must_ be well! \"Although thou\nsayest, thou canst not see Him, yet judgment is before Him, _therefore_\ntrust thou in Him!\"\n\n     \"REMEMBER _THIS_ WORD UNTO THY SERVANT, UPON\n         WHICH THOU HAST CAUSED ME TO HOPE!\"\n\n\n\n\n17TH DAY.\n\n\"He is Faithful that Promised.\"\n\n     \"A bruised reed shall He not break, and smoking flax shall He not\n     quench.\"--MATT. xii. 20.\n\nStrength in the Weak.\n\n\nWill Jesus accept such a heart as mine?--this erring, treacherous,\ntraitor heart? The past! how many forgotten vows--broken\ncovenants--prayerless days! How often have I made new resolutions, and\nas often has the reed succumbed to the first blast of temptation, and\nthe burning flax been well-nigh quenched by guilty omissions and\nguiltier commissions! Oh! my soul! thou art low indeed,--the things that\nremain seem \"ready to die.\" But thy Saviour-God will not give thee \"over\nunto death.\" The reed is bruised; but He will not pluck it up by the\nroots. The flax is reduced to a smoking ember; but He will fan the\ndecaying flame. Why wound thy loving Saviour's heart by these repeated\ndeclensions? He will not--_cannot_ give thee up. Go, mourn thy weakness\nand unbelief. Cry unto the Strong for strength. Weary and faint one!\nthou hast an Omnipotent arm to lean on. \"_He_ fainteth not, neither is\nweary!\" Listen to His own gracious assurance: \"Fear not, for I am with\nthee. Be not dismayed, for I am thy God. I will _strengthen_ thee; yea,\nI will help thee with the right hand of my righteousness!\" Leaving all\nthy false props and refuges, be this thy resolve: \"In the Lord put I my\ntrust: why say ye to my soul, Flee as a bird to your mountain?\"\n\n     \"REMEMBER _THIS_ WORD UNTO THY SERVANT, UPON\n         WHICH THOU HAST CAUSED ME TO HOPE!\"\n\n\n\n\n18TH DAY.\n\n\"He is Faithful that Promised.\"\n\n     \"Him that cometh unto me, I will in no wise cast\n     out.\"--JOHN vi. 37.\n\nEncouragement to the Desponding.\n\n\n\"Cast out!\" My soul! how oft might this have been thy history! Thou\nhast cast off thy God,--might He not oft have \"cast out\" thee? Yes! cast\nthee out as fuel for the fire of His wrath,--a sapless, fruitless\ncumberer. And yet, notwithstanding all thine ungrateful requital for His\nunmerited forbearance, He is still declaring, \"As I live, saith the\nLord, I have no pleasure in the death of him that dieth.\" Thy sins may\nbe legion-like,--the sand of the sea may be their befitting type,--the\nthought of their turpitude and aggravation may be ready to overwhelm\nthee; but be still! thy patient God waits to be gracious! Oh! be deeply\nhumbled and softened because of thy guilt, resolve to dedicate thyself\nanew to His service, and so coming, \"He will _by no means_ cast thee\nout!\" Despond not by reason of former shortcomings,--thy sins are great,\nbut thy Saviour's merits are greater. He is willing to forget all the\npast, and sink it in oblivion, if there be present love, and the promise\nof future obedience. \"Simon, son of Jonas, _lovest thou me_?\" Ah! how\ndifferent is God's verdict from man's! After such sins as thine, man's\nsentence would have been, \"_I_ will in nowise receive!\" But \"it is\nbetter to fall into the hands of God, than into the hands of man;\" for\nHe says, \"I will in _nowise_ cast out!\"\n\n     \"REMEMBER _THIS_ WORD UNTO THY SERVANT, UPON\n         WHICH THOU HAST CAUSED ME TO HOPE!\"\n\n\n\n\n19TH DAY.\n\n\"He is Faithful that Promised.\"\n\n     \"Peace I leave with you; my peace I give unto you; not as the world\n     giveth.\"--JOHN xiv. 27.\n\nPeace in Believing.\n\n\n\"Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on Thee.\"\n\"Perfect peace!\"--what a blessed attainment! My soul! is it thine? Sure\nI am it is _not_, if thou art seeking it in a perishable world, or in\nthe perishable creature, or in thy perishable self. Although thou hast\nall that the world would call enviable and happy, unless thou hast peace\n_in_ God, and _with_ God, all else is unworthy of the name;--a spurious\nthing, which the first breath of adversity will shatter, and the hour of\ndeath utterly annihilate! Perfect peace! What is it? It is the peace of\nforgiveness. It is the peace arising out of a sense of God reconciled\nthrough the blood of the everlasting covenant,--resting sweetly on the\nbosom, and the work of Jesus,--to Him committing thine eternal all. My\nsoul! stay thyself on God, that so this blessed peace may be thine. Thou\nhast tried the world. It has deceived thee. Prop after prop of earthly\nscaffolding has yielded, and tottered, and fallen. Has thy God ever done\nso? Ah! this false and counterfeit world-peace may do well for the\nworld's work, and the world's day of prosperity. But test it in the hour\nof sorrow; and what can it do for thee when most it is needed? On the\nother hand, what though thou hast no other blessing on earth to call\nthine own? Thou art rich indeed, if thou canst look upwards to Heaven,\nand say with \"unpresumptuous smile,\" \"I am at peace with God.\"\n\n     \"REMEMBER _THIS_ WORD UNTO THY SERVANT, UPON\n         WHICH THOU HAST CAUSED ME TO HOPE!\"\n\n\n\n\n20TH DAY.\n\n\"He is Faithful that Promised.\"\n\n     \"Blessed are the dead that die in the Lord.\"--REV. xiv. 13.\n\nBliss in Dying.\n\n\nMy Soul! is this blessedness thine in prospect? Art thou ready, if\ncalled this night to lie down on thy death-pillow, sweetly to fall\nasleep in Jesus? What is the sting of death? It is sin. Is death, then,\nto thee, robbed of its sting, by having listened to the gracious accents\nof pardoning love, \"Be of good cheer, thy sins, which are many, are all\nforgiven thee?\" If thou hast made up thy peace with God, resting on the\nwork and atoning blood of His dear Son, then is the Last Enemy divested\nof all his terror, and thou canst say, in sweet composure, of thy dying\ncouch and dying hour,--\"I will both lay me down in peace and sleep,\nbecause Thou, Lord, makest me to dwell in safety!\" Reader! ponder that\nsolemn question, \"Am I ready to die? Am I living as I should wish I had\ndone when that last hour arrives?\" And when shall it arrive? To-morrow\nis not thine. \"Verily, there may be but a step between thee and death.\"\nOh! solve the question speedily,--risk no doubts and no peradventure.\nEvery day is proclaiming anew the lesson, \"The race is not to the swift,\nnor the battle to the strong.\" Seek to live, so that that hour cannot\ncome upon thee too soon, or too unexpectedly. Live a dying life! How\nblessed to live,--how blessed to die, with the consciousness, that there\nmay be but a step between thee and glory!\n\n     \"REMEMBER _THIS_ WORD UNTO THY SERVANT, UPON\n         WHICH THOU HAST CAUSED ME TO HOPE!\"\n\n\n\n\n21ST DAY.\n\n\"He is Faithful that Promised.\"\n\n     \"In due season we shall reap, if we faint not.\"--GAL. vi. 9.\n\nA Due Reaping.\n\n\nBeliever! all the glory of thy salvation belongs to Jesus,--none to\nthyself; every jewel in thine eternal crown is His,--purchased by His\nblood, and polished by His Spirit. The confession of time will be the\nascription of all eternity: \"By the grace of God I am what I am!\" But\nthough \"all be of grace,\" thy God calls thee to personal strenuousness\nin the work of thy high calling;--to \"labour,\" to \"fight,\" to \"wrestle,\"\nto \"_agonize_;\" and the heavenly reaping will be in proportion to the\nearthly sowing: \"He that soweth sparingly, shall reap also sparingly;\nand he that soweth bountifully, shall reap also bountifully!\" What an\nincentive to holy living, and increased spiritual attainments! My soul!\nwouldst thou be a star shining high and bright in the firmament of\nglory?--wouldst thou receive the ten-talent recompense? Then be not\nweary. Gird on thine armour for fresh conquests. Be gaining daily some\nnew victory over sin. Deny thyself. Be a willing cross-bearer for thy\nLord's sake. Do good to all men as thou hast opportunity; be patient\nunder provocation, \"slow to wrath,\" resigned in trial. Let the world\ntake knowledge of thee that thou art wearing Christ's livery, and\nbearing Christ's spirit, and sharing Christ's cross. And when the\nreaping time comes, He who has promised that the cup of cold water\ncannot go unrecompensed, will not suffer thee to lose thy reward!\n\n     \"REMEMBER _THIS_ WORD UNTO THY SERVANT, UPON\n         WHICH THOU HAST CAUSED ME TO HOPE!\"\n\n\n\n\n22D DAY.\n\n\"He is Faithful that Promised.\"\n\n     \"The days of thy mourning shall be ended.\"--ISAIAH lx. 20.\n\nAn End of Weeping.\n\n\nChrist's people are a weeping band, though there be much in this lovely\nworld to make them joyous and happy. Yet when they think of sin--their\nown sin, and the unblushing sins of a world in which their God is\ndishonoured--need we wonder at their tears?--that they should be called\n\"Mourners,\" and their pilgrimage-home a \"Valley of Tears?\" Bereavement,\nand sickness, and poverty, and death, following the track of sin, add to\ntheir mourning experience; and with many of God's best beloved, one tear\nis scarce dried when another is ready to flow! Mourners! rejoice! When\nthe reaping time comes, the weeping time ends! When the white robe and\nthe golden harp are bestowed, every remnant of the sackcloth attire is\nremoved. The moment the pilgrim, whose forehead is here furrowed with\nwoe, bathes it in the crystal river of life,--that moment the pangs of a\nlifetime of sorrow are eternally forgotten! Reader! if thou art one of\nthese careworn ones, the days of thy mourning are numbered! A few more\nthrobbings of this aching heart, and then the angel who proclaims\n\"time,\" shall proclaim also, sorrow, and sighing, and mourning, to \"be\nno longer!\" Seek now to mourn thy sins more than thy sorrows; reserve\nthy bitterest tears for forgetfulness of thy dear Lord. The saddest and\nsorest of all bereavements, is when the sins which have separated thee\nfrom Him, evoke the anguish-cry, \"Where is my God?\"\n\n     \"REMEMBER _THIS_ WORD UNTO THY SERVANT, UPON\n         WHICH THOU HAST CAUSED ME TO HOPE!\"\n\n\n\n\n23D DAY.\n\n\"He is Faithful that Promised.\"\n\n     \"Behold, I come quickly.\"--REV. iii. 11.\n\nA Speedy Coming.\n\n\n\"Even so! come, Lord Jesus!\" \"Why tarry the wheels of Thy chariot?\" Six\nthousand years this world has rolled on, getting hoary with age, and\nwrinkled with sins and sorrows. A waiting Church sees the long-drawn\nshadows of twilight announcing, \"The Lord is at hand.\" Prepare, my soul,\nto meet Him. Oh! happy days, when thine adorable Redeemer, so long\ndishonoured and despised, shall be publicly enthroned, in presence of an\nassembled universe, crowned Lord of All, glorified in His saints,\nsatisfied in the fruits of His soul's travail, destroying His enemies\nwith the brightness of His coming--the lightning-glance of\nwrath,--causing the hearts of His exulting people to \"rejoice with joy\nunspeakable and full of glory.\" Prepare, my soul, to meet Him! Let it be\na joyous thought to thee,--thy \"blessed hope,\"--the meeting of thine\nElder Brother. Stand oftentimes on the watchtower to catch the first\nstreak of that coming brightness, the first murmur of these chariot\nwheels. The world is now in preparation! It is rocking on its worn-out\naxle. There are voices on every side proclaiming, \"He cometh! He cometh!\nto judge the earth.\" Reader! art thou among the number of those who\n\"love His appearing?\" Remember the attitude of His expectant saints:\n\"Blessed are those servants whom the Lord, when He cometh, will find\nWATCHING!\"\n\n     \"REMEMBER _THIS_ WORD UNTO THY SERVANT, UPON\n         WHICH THOU HAST CAUSED ME TO HOPE!\"\n\n\n\n\n24TH DAY.\n\n\"He is Faithful that Promised.\"\n\n     \"At evening-time it shall be light.\"--ZECH. xiv. 7.\n\nEventide Light.\n\n\nHow inspiring the thought of coming glory! How would we rise above our\nsins, and sorrows, and sufferings, if we could live under the power of\n\"a world to come!\" Were faith to take at all times its giant leap beyond\na soul-trammelling earth, and remember its brighter destiny. If it could\nstand on its Pisgah Mount, and look above and beyond the mists and\nvapours of this land of shadows, and rest on the \"better country.\" But,\nalas! in spite of ourselves, the wings ofttimes refuse to soar--the\nspirit droops--guilty fears depress--sin dims and darkens--God's\nprovidences seem to frown--God's ways are misinterpreted--the Christian\nbelies his name and his destiny. But, \"At eventide it shall be\nlight.\"--The material sun, which wades through clouds and a troubled\nsky, sets often in a couch of lustrous gold? So, when the sun of life is\nsetting, many a ray of light will shoot athwart memory's darkened sky,\nand many mysterious dealings of the wilderness will then elicit an \"All\nis well!\" How frequently is the presence and upholding grace of Jesus\nespecially felt and acknowledged at that hour, and griefs and misgivings\nhushed with His own gentle accents, \"Fear not! it is I; be not afraid.\"\nA triumphant death-bed! It is no unmeaning word; the eye is lighted with\nholy lustre, the tongue with holy rapture, as if the harps of heaven\nwere stealing on it. My soul! may such a life's evening-tide be thine!\n\n     \"REMEMBER _THIS_ WORD UNTO THY SERVANT, UPON\n         WHICH THOU HAST CAUSED ME TO HOPE!\"\n\n\n\n\n25TH DAY.\n\n\"He is Faithful that Promised.\"\n\n     \"What I do thou knowest not now; but thou shalt know\n     hereafter.\"--JOHN xiii. 7.\n\nHeavenly Illumination.\n\n\nAs the natural sun sometimes sinks in clouds, so, occasionally, the\nChristian who has a bright rising, and a brighter meridian, sets in\ngloom. It is not _always_ \"light\" at his evening-time; but this we know,\nthat when the day of immortality breaks, the last vestige of earth's\nshadows will for ever flee away. To the closing hour of time, Providence\nmay be to him a baffling enigma: but ere the first hour has struck on\nheaven's chronometer, all will be clear. My soul! \"in God's light thou\nshalt see light;\" the Book of His decrees is a sealed book now,--\"A\ngreat deep\" is all the explanation thou canst often give to His\njudgments; the _why_ and the _wherefore_ He seems to keep from us, to\ntest our faith, to discipline us in trustful submission, and lead us to\nsay, \"Thy will be done!\" But rejoice in that hereafter-light which\nawaits thee! Now we see through a glass darkly; but _then_, face to\nface. In the great mirror of eternity all the events of this chequered\nscene will be reflected; the darkest of them will be seen to be bright\nwith mercy,--the severest dispensations, \"only the severer aspects of\nHis love!\" Pry not, then, too curiously; pronounce not too censoriously\non God's dealings with thee. Wait with patience till the grand day of\ndisclosures; one confession shall then burst from every tongue,\n\"Righteous art thou, O Lord!\"\n\n     \"REMEMBER _THIS_ WORD UNTO THY SERVANT, UPON\n         WHICH THOU HAST CAUSED ME TO HOPE!\"\n\n\n\n\n26TH DAY.\n\n\"He is Faithful that Promised.\"\n\n     \"I will come again, and receive you unto myself, that where I am,\n     there ye may be also.\"--JOHN xiv. 3.\n\nA Glorious Reunion.\n\n\nIf the meeting of a long absent friend, or brother, on earth, be a\njoyous event, what, my soul, must be the joy of thy union with this\nBrother of brothers, this Friend of friends! \"I will come again!\" Oh!\nwhat an errand of love, what a promised honour and dignity is this!--His\nsaints to share, not His Heaven only, but His immediate presence. \"Where\n_I am, there ye_ shall be also!\" \"Father, I _will_ (it was His dying\nwish,--a wondrous codicil in that testamentary prayer) that those whom\nThou hast given me be with me where _I am_.\" Happy reunion! Blessed\nSaviour, if Thy presence be so sweet on a sin-stricken earth, and when\nknown only by the invisible eye of faith, what must be that presence in\na sinless Heaven, unfolded in all its unutterable loveliness and glory!\nHappy reunion! it will be a meeting of the whole ransomed family--the\nHead with all its members--the Vine with all its branches--the Shepherd\nwith all His flock--the Elder Brother with all His kinsmen. Oh, the joy,\ntoo, of mutual recognition among the death-divided--ties snapt asunder\non earth, indissolubly renewed--severed friendships reunited--the\ntriumph of love complete--love binding brother with brother, and friend\nwith friend, and _all_ to the Elder Brother! My soul! what thinkest thou\nof this Heaven? Remember who it is that Jesus says shall sit with Him\nupon His throne,--\"Him that overcometh.\"\n\n     \"REMEMBER _THIS_ WORD UNTO THY SERVANT, UPON\n         WHICH THOU HAST CAUSED ME TO HOPE!\"\n\n\n\n\n27TH DAY.\n\n\"He is Faithful that Promised.\"\n\n     \"And I will betroth thee unto Me for ever.\"--HOSEA ii. 19.\n\nEverlasting Espousals.\n\n\nHow wondrous and varied are the figures which Jesus employs to express\nthe tenderness of His covenant love! My soul! thy Saviour-God hath\n\"married thee!\" Wouldst thou know the hour of thy betrothment? Go back\ninto the depths of a by-past eternity, before the world was; then and\nthere, thine espousals were contracted: \"I have loved thee with an\neverlasting love.\" Soon shall the bridal-hour arrive, when thine absent\nLord shall come to welcome His betrothed bride into His royal palace.\n\"The Bridegroom tarrieth;\" but see that thou dost not slumber and sleep!\nSurely there is much all around demanding the girded loins and the\nburning lamps. At \"midnight!\" (the hour when He is least expected) the\ncry _may_ be--_shall_ be heard,--\"Behold, the Bridegroom cometh!\" My\nsoul! has this mystic union been formed between thee and thy Lord? Canst\nthou say, in humble assurance of thine affiance in Him, \"My beloved is\nmine, and I am His!\" If so, great, unspeakably great, are the glories\nwhich await thee! Thy dowry, as the bride of Christ, is all that\nOmnipotence can bestow, and all that a feeble creature can receive. In\nthe prospect of those glorious nuptials, thou needest dread no pang of\nwidowhood. What God has joined together, no created power can take\nasunder; He betroths thee, and it is \"for ever!\"\n\n     \"REMEMBER _THIS_ WORD UNTO THY SERVANT, UPON\n         WHICH THOU HAST CAUSED ME TO HOPE!\"\n\n\n\n\n28TH DAY.\n\n\"He is Faithful that Promised.\"\n\n     \"This corruptible must put on incorruption.\"--1 COR. xv. 53.\n\nA Joyful Resurrection.\n\n\nMarvel of marvels? The sleeping ashes of the sepulchre starting at the\ntones of the archangel's trumpet!--the dishonoured dust, rising a\nglorified body, like its risen Lord's? At death, the soul's bliss is\nperfect in kind; but this bliss is not complete in degree, until\nreunited to the tabernacle it has left behind to mingle with the sods of\nthe valley. But tread lightly on that grave, it contains precious,\nbecause ransomed dust! My body, as well as my spirit, was included in\nthe redemption price of Calvary; and \"them also which sleep in Jesus\nwill God bring with Him.\" Oh! blessed Jubilee-day of creation, when\nChrist's \"dead men shall arise;\"--when, together with His dead body,\nthey shall come; and the summons shall sound forth, \"Awake, and sing, ye\nthat dwell in the dust!\" All the joys of that resurrection morn we\ncannot tell; but its chief glory we _do_ know,--\"When He shall appear,\nwe shall be like Him; for we shall see Him as He is.\" Like Him!--My\nsoul, art thou waiting this manifestation of the sons of God? Like\nHim!--Hast thou caught up any faint resemblance to that all-glorious\nimage? Having this hope in thee, art thou purifying thyself, even as He\nis pure? Be much with Jesus now, that thou mayst exult in meeting Him\nhereafter. Thus taking Him as thy Guide and Portion in life, thou mayst\nlay thee down in thy dark and noisome cell, and look forward with\ntriumphant hope to the dawn of a resurrection morn, saying, \"What time I\nawake, I am still with Thee!\"\n\n     \"REMEMBER _THIS_ WORD UNTO THY SERVANT, UPON\n         WHICH THOU HAST CAUSED ME TO HOPE!\"\n\n\n\n\n29TH DAY.\n\n\"He is Faithful that Promised.\"\n\n     \"There shall be no night there.\"--REV. xxi. 25.\n\nA Nightless Heaven.\n\n\nMy soul! is it night with thee here? Art thou wearied with these\nmidnight tossings on life's tumultuous sea? Be still! the day is\nbreaking! soon shall thy Lord appear. \"His going forth is prepared as\nthe morning.\" That glorious appearing shall disperse every cloud, and\nusher in an eternal noontide which knows no twilight. \"Thy sun shall no\nmore go down, neither shall thy moon withdraw itself; for the Lord shall\nbe thine everlasting light.\" Everlasting light! Wondrous secret of a\nnightless world!--the glories of a present God!--the everlasting light\nof the Three in One, quenching the radiance of all created\norbs--superseding all material luminaries. \"My soul waiteth for the Lord\nmore than they that watch for the morning!\" The haven is nearing--star\nafter star is quenched in more glorious effulgence--every bound over\nthese dark waves is bringing thee nearer the eternal shore. Wilt thou\nnot, then, humbly and patiently endure \"weeping for the night,\" in the\nprospect of the \"joy that cometh in the morning?\" Strange realities! a\nworld without night--a firmament without a sun; and, greater wonder\nstill, _thyself_ in this world,--a joyful denizen of this nightless,\nsinless, sorrowless, tearless Heaven!--basking underneath the Fountain\nof uncreated light! No exhaustion of glorified body and spirit to\nrequire repose; no lassitude or weariness to suspend the ever-deepening\nsong: \"They _rest not_!\"\n\n     \"REMEMBER _THIS_ WORD UNTO THY SERVANT, UPON\n         WHICH THOU HAST CAUSED ME TO HOPE!\"\n\n\n\n\n30TH DAY.\n\n\"He is Faithful that Promised.\"\n\n     \"When the Chief Shepherd shall appear, ye shall receive a crown of\n     glory that fadeth not away.\"--1 PETER v. 4.\n\nA Crown of Life.\n\n\nWhat! is the beggar to be \"raised from the dunghill, set among princes,\nand made to inherit a throne of glory?\" is dust and ashes, a puny rebel,\na guilty traitor, to be pitied, pardoned, loved, exalted from the depths\nof despair, raised to the heights of Heaven--gifted with kingly\nhonour--royally fed--royally clothed--royally attended--and, at last,\nroyally crowned? O my soul, look forward with joyous emotion to that day\nof wonders, when He whose head shall be crowned with many crowns, shall\nbe the dispenser of royal diadems to His people; and when they shall\nbegin the joyful ascription of all eternity, \"Unto Him that loved us and\nwashed us from our sins in His own blood, and has made us KINGS----; to\nHim be glory and dominion for ever and ever. Amen.\" Wilt thou not be\namong the number? Shall the princes and monarchs of the earth wade\nthrough seas of blood for a corruptible crown; and wilt thou permit\nthyself to lose the incorruptible, or barter it for some perishable\nnothings of earth? Oh! that thou wouldst awake to thy high destiny, and\nlive up to thy transcendant privileges as the citizen of a Kingly\nCommonwealth, a member of the blood-royal of Heaven. What wouldst thou\nnot sacrifice,--what effort wouldst thou grudge, if thou wert included\nat last in the gracious benediction, \"Come, ye blessed of My Father,\ninherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world?\"\n\n     \"REMEMBER _THIS_ WORD UNTO THY SERVANT, UPON\n         WHICH THOU HAST CAUSED ME TO HOPE!\"\n\n\n\n\n31ST DAY.\n\n\"He is Faithful that Promised.\"\n\n     \"God himself shall be with them, and be their God. And God shall\n     wipe away all tears from their eyes; and there shall be no more\n     death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more\n     pain: for the former things are passed away.\"--REV. xxi. 3, 4.\n\nThe Vision and Fruition of God.\n\n\nGlorious consummation! All the other glories of Heaven are but\nemanations from this glory that excelleth. Here is the focus and centre\nto which every ray of light converges. God is \"all in all.\" Heaven\n_without God_!--it would send a thrill of dismay through the burning\nranks of angels and archangels; it would dim every eye, and hush every\nharp, and change the whitest robe into sackcloth. And shall I then,\nindeed, \"_see God_?\" What! shall I gaze on these inscrutable glories,\nand live? Yes, God himself shall be with them, and be their God: they\nshall \"_see his face_!\" And not only the vision, but the _fruition_. Oh!\nhow does sin in my holiest moments damp the enjoyment of Him! It is the\n\"pure in heart\" alone who can \"see,\" far more, who can enjoy \"God.\" Even\nif he did reveal himself _now_, these eyes could never endure His\nintolerable brightness. But _then_, with a heart purified from\ncorruption--a world where the taint of sin and the power of temptation\nnever enters--the soul again a bright mirror, reflecting the lost image\nof the Godhead--all the affections devoted to their original high\ndestiny--the love of God the motive principle, the ruling passion--the\nglory of God the undivided object and aim--the will no opposing or\nantagonist bias,--man will, for the first time, know all the blessedness\nof his chief end,--\"to glorify God, and to enjoy Him for ever!\"\n\n     \"REMEMBER _THIS_ WORD UNTO THY SERVANT, UPON\n         WHICH THOU HAST CAUSED ME TO HOPE!\"\n\n\n\n            All\n\n    The Promises of God\n\n          In Him\n\n    Are Yea and in Him\n\n           Amen.\n\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\n\n\n\nTRANSCRIBER'S NOTES\n\n\nMinor punctuation inconsistencies have been silently corrected.\n\n11th Day: For consistency, \"bypast\" has been changed to \"by-past\".\n\n16th Day: For consistency, \"1 PETER 1.\" has been changed to \"1 PETER i.\"\n\n30th Day: The spelling of \"transcendant\" has been retained.","title":"The Faithful Promiser","tradition":"scripture-revelation","translated_text":null,"word_count":8832}