{"collection":"scripture-revelation","full_text_available":true,"graph_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/api/page/gutenberg_40216/graph","html_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/page/gutenberg_40216","id":"gutenberg_40216","license":"Public Domain (US)","rights_basis":"gutenberg_metadata_copyright_false","source":"gutenberg","source_url":"https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/40216","summary":null,"tags":["Bible -- Biography","Category: Religion/Spirituality","Patriarchs (Bible)"],"text":"Produced by Andrew Sly, Al Haines and the Online Distributed\nProofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net.\n\n\n\n\n\n                            THE PATRIARCHS:\n\n                           Being Meditations\n\n                                  UPON\n\n            ENOCH, NOAH, ABRAHAM, ISAAC, JACOB, JOSEPH, JOB;\n\n                    THE CANTICLES, HEAVEN AND EARTH.\n\n\n                                   BY\n\n                            _J. G. BELLETT_.\n\n\n\n\n                              New Edition.\n\n\n\n\n                              A. S. ROUSE,\n\n               15 & 16, PATERNOSTER SQUARE, LONDON, E.C.\n\n                                  1895\n\n\n\n\n                            THE PATRIARCHS:\n\n                         BEING MEDITATIONS UPON\n\n            ENOCH, NOAH, ABRAHAM, ISAAC, JACOB, JOSEPH, JOB;\n\n                    THE CANTICLES, HEAVEN AND EARTH.\n\n\n\n\n                                 ENOCH.\n\n\nIt is not so much of Enoch himself that I now purpose, in the Lord's\ngrace, I would hope, to write a little, but rather of the times and the\nsaints before the flood. Whether it be of them or of him, the materials,\nas we know, are very scanty; but in the way and wisdom of the Spirit of\nGod, they are full of meaning and of value.\n\n\nA peculiar attraction has been commonly felt in the Book of Genesis.\n\nThe simplicity of the narratives has to account for much of this, I\ndoubt not. Human life is in its infancy and artlessness. The scenes are\ndomestic, and the habits and manners such as family duties and\naffections were forming. This is a great source of enjoyment to the mind\nfrom this book. Such springs of pleasure are at times tasted in spite of\nourselves. We are spoiled very much by the customs of the world, and we\nsuppose that we like them. But still we find ourselves naturally at ease\nin such scenery as that which this lovely book presents to us. The wife\nof one wealthy lord, who numbered his servants by hundreds, and his\nflocks by thousands, would knead the cake for the traveller; and the\ndaughter of another, without practising the language of apology, would\nbe seen by strangers watering the family herds.\n\nYet with all this there was the truest courtesy. The honour due to all\nmen was as well understood as the love of kindred. It was not barbaric\nlife, though simple and inartificial. It was not rude simplicity; but\nthat which came from an influence that could mould and adorn life. And\nthat influence was the knowledge of God. The times of this book were, as\nwe know they were, unindebted to the advance of civility, or the\nregulations of cultivated life; but still the state of things was not\nbarbarous, just because there was the knowledge of God. The hand of God\nwas felt, while as yet the conceits of polished life had not time or\nliberty either to garnish or soil the scene.\n\nIt is this which fashions the manners of these early times. Peculiar\nthey are, deeply commending themselves to a right mind; but enough,\nperhaps, to provoke the smile of many who belong to times like ours. For\nstrange nowadays would be the confidential friendship of a master and\nhis servant. And yet such was between Abraham and Eliezer, though all\nthe while the duties and rights of the relationship were religiously\nobserved. And how unwarrantable would it now be judged, that the\nintended husband of one of the daughters, or the son-in-law himself, as\nin the case of Laban and Jacob, should tend the family flocks in the\nheat of day and frost of night, getting his wages! And yet in all this\nthere is no moral offence whatever; nothing but what may charm the\nnicest sensibilities of our nature.\n\nBut that which ought to lend this book its principal power to engage us\nis this: the Lord Himself is seen in it in ways and characters suited to\nthis simple and primitive style. The action of the book being very much\ndomestic, plain and unadorned, His way is according. Whether He\ncommunicates His mind, or manifests His presence, it is after this same\npattern. He does not employ prophets, but personally makes His pleasure\nknown. It may be in a dream, or with a voice, as well as by personal\nmanifestation; but still it is _Himself_. And even if angels are\nemployed, they are rather His _companions_ than His _messengers_.\n\nIn the cool of the day, or the afternoon, He walked in the garden. In\nthe field He pleaded with Cain, _personally_ pleaded with him, adding\nthe weight and authority of His own presence to a moment of awful and\nsolemn interest. He came down at the cry of Babel, and the cry of the\nsin of Sodom, just that He might see, as we would do, whether things\nwere really as bad as they were said to be. In forms of intimacy He\nagain and again appeared to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob; inviting\nconfidence, expressing displeasure, or conveying His purpose, in ways of\nfull personal familiarity. And though, in the progress of the book, this\nstyle may grow a little slack, still it is maintained in measure to the\nend, even where we might have least expected it. For to kings, not of\nthe stock of Abraham, the Lord God appeared in dreams by night, and,\nwithout amazement, warned them of their duty, or told them of their\ndanger.\n\nThe ministry of prophets, as I observed, is not employed. That would\nhave been too distant, too reserved, to suit the general style. Nor is\nthe divine pleasure communicated through the Holy Ghost, or by\ninspiration. That is not the way either--not the _usual_ way. But it is,\nas we have seen, the personal interference of the Lord Himself, coming\nin a vision, or by a dream or a word; or in the still nearer way of\ntaking the forms and attributes of manhood; and that, too, not in mystic\ndress, as afterwards to such as Isaiah, Daniel, or John; but as one who\nwas meeting man in his place and circumstances. As a traveller, needing\nhospitality, He eats of a calf and a cake at the tent door with one;\nwith another He contends and wrestles, as a man with his fellow, having\na quarrel or matter of dispute with him.\n\nSee all this style of action in the case of Noah. How interestedly does\nthe Lord God enter into the whole state of things in that day! Just as\nwe all feel, His eye affects His heart. And then, just as we all do, He\ntakes counsel with Himself. He saw the wickedness of man that it was\ngreat; it grieved Him to the heart; and then He said, \"I will destroy\nman whom I have created from the face of the earth.\" And after all this,\njust as we ourselves would do, having taken His counsel, He communicates\nit to a friend, passing it to the ear, and the heart, and the sympathies\nof another.\n\nIt was _thus_ that the Lord dealt with Noah. He dealt with him as a man\nwith his friend, as well as like God with an elect sinner. And we\nourselves practise these ways. We love these confidences of friendship.\nWe love a second self. \"The end of all flesh is come before Me,\" says\nthe Lord to Noah, telling him what had been passing in His own bosom.\nAnd afterwards, in the day of the waters, in the same way of gracious\nfriendship, when the ark was about to float upon the scene of the\njudgment, \"the Lord shut him in.\" With His own hand He did it.\n\nHere was intimacy. Here was living, palpable nearness of the Lord God to\nHis creature. And this is in character with His general actings and\ncommunications in this book. The glory was not as yet taking its place\nin a dispensation, shrouded in a cloudy chariot, or seated between\ncherubim. In all that there was majesty and conscious greatness, and the\ndistance of holiness, as suited an ordered economy. But in the times of\nGenesis this was not so. Things were informal, and the action was\ndesultory; and the Lord was in person, as the occasion demanded,\naccording to this.\n\nIn this manner do we find the action of this beautiful book. The elect\nof God are thus, and thus is the living God Himself. It is as divine as\nanything else in the Word. And the soul so receives it. And good reason\nhave we for blessing the Lord, because He has introduced our hearts to\nsuch a book as this. For we are not always ready for the higher things.\nWe cannot at all times reach them, or obey a summons to ascend the\nheavenly places. But the Spirit of God is tender of our weakness, and\nhas provided for it. The Scriptures, if I may take leave to speak in a\nfigure, have change of air and change of scene for our souls.\n\nIt is relish and appetite we have to covet, beloved--a holy delight in\nthe things of God, whether they be the things of the \"children\" or of\nthe \"fathers;\" the pure milk or the strong meat. _Little_ ones in His\nschool are still _living_ ones. That is the blessed thing. He who liveth\nin the mere power of intellect, or in the schools of men, is dead while\nhe liveth.\n\n\nThere is, however, another thing to be said on the times and on the Book\nof Genesis.\n\nIn those times, or, as the apostle speaks, \"from Adam to Moses,\" _law_\ndid not give character to the state of the people of God. Adam was under\nlaw in Eden, and so were the children of Israel after the day of Mount\nSinai. But not so the generations from Adam to Moses. Sin was equally in\nthe world, but there was no law. Rom. v. 14.\n\nBut not only, I may observe, were they not under law; there was also\nalmost a total absence of moral or preceptive instruction. Much\nrevelation of the divine pleasure and counsels there was; but scarcely\nanything of precept. Under the Spirit, revelation worked its result on\ncharacter and conduct, and formed the mind and the ways of the saints.\nEvil was resented by them, and judged of God; but without a written\nstandard of right and wrong. Without any law against murder, Cain is\nexposed; without a fifth commandment, Ham's dishonour of his father is\npunished. And so Jacob's guile is visited and resented by the Lord; and\nthe wicked way of Joseph's brethren. And without the light of any\nprecept the soul of a saint can thus plead with temptation, How can I do\nthis great wickedness, and sin against God?\n\nAll this is so, though neither law nor moral instruction was then\npublished. It was revelation in matters of faith which, under the\nSpirit, formed patriarchal character. Abraham was not enjoined either\nhis altar or his tent; but his call of God, through the Spirit,\nsuggested both. No precept required his high, generous treatment of Lot;\nbut his faith and hope in God dictated and commanded it. Without\ndirection on the case, his knowledge of God and the mind of Christ that\nwas in him disposed him, and taught him to let the potsherds of the\nearth strive with their fellows, but as soon as his kinsman was a\ncaptive to go forth for his deliverance. No word, no oracle from God,\ndistinguished for him between the king of Salem and the king of Sodom;\nbut the light that was in him did.\n\nI might go through other histories in this book, and find these same\nthings. The holy judgment of the mind that was in them, under the\nSpirit, suggested to those early saints conduct by means of revelation,\npromise, and calling of God. And this is ever beautiful, when we get\ngenuine samples or instances of it.\n\n\nSuch then are among the characteristics of this earliest and infant age\nof our history, and of the precious book which records it. And this\nearliest method in the way of the Lord is to be the last and the abiding\nmethod. In Genesis, as we have seen, the Lord God acted \"in the human\nguise,\" being personally present in the scene, and seeking the nearest\nintimacy with His creature. And this is to be the eternal thing when\ndispensations are over. God in manhood is to be for ever!\n\nPrecious mystery! Unfathomable wonder! Blessed to ponder this. The first\nis to be the last. The song of salvation--the \"song of Moses\"--was the\nfirst breath of the ransomed tribes. It was sung on the banks of the Red\nSea, just as they had got beyond the reach of Pharaoh. After experiences\nwere different. They had then to do with themselves. But at first the\nvictory of the divine \"man of war\" was everything to them. And this\nfirst thing is to be the eternal thing. The song of Moses is to fill the\ncourts of glory. Exodus xv.; Rev. xv. And so in earliest days, in\nGenesis days, the divine presence was not deemed strange, or something\nwhich did not suit the earth, or belong to man. The divine courtesies\nwere then, so to speak, freely given, and unsuspectingly received. And\nso at the end, in days of millennial heavens and earth, the Lord God\nwill be personally again in the scene.\n\n\nThe first five chapters of this book give us an account of antediluvian\ntimes, or, as they have been called, \"the world before the flood.\" And\nit is those chapters I now purpose to look at a little particularly.\n\nThe whole opens, as of course, with the work of creation. I speak not\nparticularly of this. But, instructed by the apostle, we may say that it\nis only _faith_ which deals justly with this great work. Faith puts God\nabove all the things that were made, or are seen. \"Through faith we\nunderstand that the worlds were framed by the word of God, so that\nthings which are seen were not made of things which do appear.\" Faith\ntreats God worthily--the only principle in the soul which does so. He\ndwells \"in the light which no man can approach unto.\" Faith owns this.\nThe wisdom of men busies itself in seeing or inspecting Him. But though\nHe will \"show\" great things of Himself, yet does faith know that no man\nhath seen or can see Him. 1 Tim. vi. It enjoys all His manifestations;\nbut inspects not His dwelling-place in light.\n\nThe second chapter exhibits the man made in the image of God, in his\nestate in the garden of Eden. All there was tributary to him, all was\nfor him. He had food for all the faculties and desires of his nature,\nand provision of all desirable things. He was made, however, to _impart_\nas well as to receive; and that is ever a necessary feature in the\nhappiness of a well-ordered mind. He was important to the garden, as the\ngarden was important to him. He had \"to dress it and to keep it.\" And he\nsaw his dwelling-place the spring-head of a fruitful river, which went\nforth with life and refreshing to the whole earth. With all this the\nvoice of a Sovereign was heard. A command went forth. \"Of the tree of\nthe knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat.\" But this was no\ntrespass, no discordant note on the ear of Adam. God will not, and\ncannot, give His glory to another. And a creature of a right thought,\n\"made upright,\" as Adam was, must delight in having it so. All this was\ntherefore only harmonious and consistent happiness.\n\nTo perfect his condition the Lord God celebrates for him a coronation\nday, and a day of espousals. But this action has an order in it. The\nLord takes counsel with Himself about Adam's espousals. This is done\n_first_. Then He introduces him to the scene of his sovereignty. He\nbrings the creatures of the field and of the air to Adam, to see what he\nwould call them, and whatsoever he called every living creature, that\nwas the name thereof. This was investing him with dominion, setting the\ncrown royal on his head. Then He prepares the help-meet, and presents\nEve to him, following his coronation with his marriage.\n\nThis is the order of these events--an order which has a sacred and\ninteresting sense in it. It is not the mere progress of independent\nfacts. It is the design, so to speak, of a great master. For there is,\nas we now know, a mystery which had been \"hid in God,\" \"purposed in\nHimself,\" before the foundation of the world, His secret (Eph. iii.), of\nwhich this marriage in the garden of Eden was the type. Eph. v. And\naccording to this the Lord, in the solitude of His own presence, in the\nmusings of His own bosom, ere He led forth Adam into his kingdom,\nprepares his help-meet for him.\n\nThis, however, is not merely the _design of a great master_, but the\n_well-known way of a perfect love_.\n\nThe _richest_ purpose of joy is the _first_ in counsel.\n\nThe Lord's earliest thought was about Adam's best blessing. The\nhelp-meet at his side, the one like unto him, his companion, was\ndestined to be more to him than all beside. And that which was chief in\nhis enjoyments was the earliest and deepest thought in the mind of his\nLord. His Lord pondered it. He spoke of it to Himself. His coronation\nwas taken in hand at once and disposed of; but the getting of his\nhelp-meet for him was counselled and talked of beforehand.\n\nThis is the way that love would take. We know it ourselves. We like to\ndwell in thought over the materials of the happiness of one we love. So\nthat all this is sweet and important to our hearts; for we read in it\nthat which may again draw out the admiration and the worship, \"Behold,\nwhat manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon us!\"\n\nAnd Adam at once owns all this. Out of the abundance of the heart the\nmouth speaks. \"This is now bone of my bones, and flesh of my flesh,\" he\nsays, as he received the woman from the hand of the Lord God, owning\nthat all was now complete. The serpent may by-and-by insinuate it to be\notherwise. But he is a liar. There is not a flaw in all this estate. No\nlack, and no exception. Nothing that did not in its way contribute to\nbless him; and nothing of creature blessedness that was wanting to him.\n\nBut all this is at once envied by the great enemy. And he had title to\ntry the stability of it. The nakedness, the unshamed nakedness, of the\nman and the woman was innocency. Yes, but it was also _exposure_. The\ncreature was to be proved. Strength of creaturehood was to be tried. And\nthe enemy had title to enter the garden to carry on the trial. He was no\ntrespasser there. The order and purpose of creation made room for him,\nas well as for Adam himself. The very instrument by which he was to\nconduct his designs was there already. The tree of knowledge was in the\nmidst of the garden.\n\nThe tempter, this serpent that was \"more subtil than any beast of the\nfield,\" was the devil. This is directly told us. Rev. xii. 9; xx. 2. And\nthe scene around us to this hour tells of his victory. \"The present evil\nworld,\" whether in its moral condition or in its circumstances, we get\nin this chapter iii. And we might have expected this; for the world as\nit now is has derived itself out of the apostasy of Adam; its character\nand condition are formed by that great act of rebellion.\n\nThe three master-principles which animate \"the course\" of it--\"the lust\nof the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life\"--are here\nseen to become the springs of moral action in the heart of the woman, as\nsoon as she listened to the devil; for the soul that gives up God must\nfind out other masters, and other resources. And this is the world. The\nworld has no confidence in God, nothing to bind it to Him, nothing to\ngive it rest in Him, no sense of His love and truth. Such has it been\nsince this hour, when man gave ear to the accuser of God. It has\ntherefore found out other objects. God made man upright; but he has\nsought out many inventions. Eccles. vii. 29.\n\nConscience, too, is quickened into being. Sin did this. \"They knew that\nthey were naked.\" And it was then, at the hour of its birth, as it is to\nthis hour, an _uneasy_ conscience, a conscience that makes cowards of\nall who carry it. \"I was afraid,\" says Adam (unable to look at God),\n\"because I was naked.\" Conscience in man must be of this quality, for it\nowes its existence to sin. There was no sense of good and evil in him\ntill he sinned; and this sense, thus acquired, must leave him a coward\nin the presence of the _righteous_ One.\n\nInstinctively they make themselves aprons. This is our doing still. Our\ncommon state of guilt makes us shun even our fellow-creatures. We cannot\nstand inspection even from them. One great and constant effort, in the\nscene around us every day, is to escape _full_ notice. The apron is\nstill invented. The social system understands and allows this. Indeed,\nit is maintained by a common consent of this sort. And religion, in its\nway and measure, as well as the rules and common understanding of\nsociety, helps in all this. But \"the presence of the Lord God\" is a\ndifferent element from that of the presence of our fellows. No rules\nwhich sustain the social system will make that tolerable for a moment.\nThe clothing and the ceremony, the inventions of society, or the good\nmanners that array and adorn it, will be found vanity. All have come\nshort of _His_ glory. Let but the conscience hear the tread of His foot,\nor the sound of His voice in the garden, and no attempt will be equal to\nthat moment. Even religious inventions will all be vain. They can give\nno confidence with God, nor turn the current of the heart. With his\napron upon him, Adam hides himself among the trees of the garden.\n\nThis teaches holy and solemn lessons. But with all this cowardice there\nis effrontery. \"The woman whom thou gavest to be with me, she gave me of\nthe tree.\" Man lays the mischief down at God's door. He says in effect,\n\"Let God see to it; for the woman is His creature, and He gave her to\nme;\" as he still, in the spirit of his mind, says, \"Let God see to it;\nfor the world is His, and He made it.\" A strange and horrible union! The\ninsolence of the heart charging God, and yet a coward conscience unable\nto meet Him. The sinner may talk big, and make a noise; he may reason\nupon God and his own condition, and frame speeches and arguments as well\nas aprons; but in spite of all he can surround himself with, there he\nis, like Adam, ashamed of himself, and afraid of God. Man has wronged\nthe blessed God, and avoids Him. He charges Him, and yet is afraid to\nlook in His face while he does so. All this, in spite of himself,\nwitnesses against him. \"Out of thine own mouth will I judge thee,\" the\nLord has but to say. And then, as again in the parable, he must be\nspeechless.\n\nSuch was the mind of Adam then, and such is human nature still. But if\nthis were his moral condition, what were his circumstances? Just those\nof man to this hour also. By the sweat of his face he was to get bread,\nand in the sorrow of his heart to eat of it; and that too in the place\nof thorns and thistles. And in like sorrow the woman was to bring forth\nchildren; and all this till they both returned to the dust, out of which\nthey had been taken. And man is still after this manner, outside the\ngarden, conversant with toil and sorrow. Dressing and keeping a lovely\nsurface and a fruitful soil is not the thing or the allotment now.\nThorns and thistles and an unkindly reluctant ground are to be contended\nwith, and life to be had by the sweat of the face in the contest.\n\nGod alone is above this water-flood, able to manage this mighty\ncatastrophe. And His supremacy is such that He will make even such an\neater yield meat, and get sweetness out of even this strong one.\n\nIn a glorious sense, however, redemption is far more than remedy of a\nmischief, or relief, even with advantage, for an injured, ruined\ncreation. Creation, rather, is the servant of redemption; for\n\"redemption is no afterthought.\" For the pleasure of Him who sits upon\nthe throne all things are and were created. But that very throne has\n_the rainbow round about it_ (Rev. iv.), the sign of covenant\nfaithfulness, and that all things were to stand _in redemption_, or in\nthe value of the blood of Jesus. So that when sin entered, the Lord God\nwas at once prepared for it (I speak as a man); prepared to meet it by\ncovenant arrangements made before the world began, as His very first\nword to the serpent tells us, \"I will put enmity between thee and the\nwoman, and between thy seed and her seed; it shall bruise thy head, and\nthou shalt bruise his heel.\"\n\nHere the great way of God opens upon us. This promised Seed of the\nwoman, here revealed, is _God's provision for dead and ruined man_, in\nthe face of all the malice and wrath of the enemy. And He is this _at\nall personal cost_; for the serpent was to bruise His heel. But though\nbruised, _He was to achieve a glorious victory_; for He was to bruise\nthe serpent's head.\n\nThese are the holy, august characters of this mysterious stranger--this\npromised Deliverer or Kinsman. Such was the truth revealed on the first\nmoment of our sin, and such has been the truth ever since. This gospel,\npublished in the first promise in the face of the devil himself, is\nmaintained in these last days by the apostle, in the face of men on\nearth and angels in heaven. Gal. i. 8. Whether it be the earliest or the\nlatest preaching of it, this glorious gospel is still the same. It is\n\"the witness of God which He hath testified of His Son.\" It is the\ngospel of the bruised and yet victorious Seed of the woman. In the\nbright and perfect idea of it man is silent and passive. Abram had only\nto _believe_, and righteousness was imputed to him. Israel had but to\n_stand by_ and see God's salvation. Joshua in Zechariah iii., the\nprodigal, the convicted adulteress, are all in like case. And here, at\nthe beginning of our sin, and the beginning of God's gospel, it is just\nthe same. Adam has only to _listen_, and through hearing to believe and\nlive. The word is nigh us, and we have but to receive it without working\nanything in the heights above, or in the depths beneath. The\n_activities_ are God's; the _sacrifices_ are God's. The profoundness of\nour silence and passiveness in _becoming_ righteousness is only equalled\nby the greatness of the divine activity and sacrifice in _acquiring_\nrighteousness for us. In the sight of such a mystery we may well stand\nand say, \"What hath God wrought!\" \"Simple indeed it is to us,\" as one\nonce said, \"but it cost _Him_ everything.\"\n\nThere is nothing in the heart of man like faith in this gospel. The\nfaith of a poor sinner in the redeeming grace of God is the most\nbeautiful condition the soul can be in. As saints, beloved, we may trust\nGod for our need. We may look to Him for counsel, or for provision. We\nmay trust Him to vindicate our doings, comfort us in sorrow, and\nstrengthen us in difficulties. But the faith of a sinner, in the\njustifying grace and work of His divine Saviour, transcends them all.\nNothing is so precious, for nothing apprehends God in so glorious a\ncharacter, or gives Him to the soul in so wondrous a relationship. This\nfaith it is which uses the richest resources in God, and acts upon the\nmost blessed discoveries of Him. For while all the ways of His glory\nshine brightly--His strength, and comfort, and wisdom for His needy\nsaints--yet, that He has grace and salvation for sinners, this excelleth\nthem all.\n\nThe Spirit of God, in these early times, gives us some most precious\nsamples of this most precious faith; as though (may I say it?)\ndelighting in such a thing, He produced an impression of the finest\ncharacter _at once_, as soon as occasion served.\n\nThus Adam, in his faith, talked only of life, though in the midst of\ndeath--death, which he himself had brought in, a standing witness\nagainst him. He was doomed to be an outcast in a scene of ruin which his\nown sin had produced. He knew this and allowed it. But he had listened\nto the story of the conflict between his destroyer and the woman's Seed.\nIn the very place of judgment--from among the trees of the garden, where\nconscience had driven him--his ear had caught the sound of the sweet\ngospel, not of mercy merely, but propitiation and victory, and forth he\ncomes, talking of life. He called his wife \"Eve,\" the mother of all\nliving. All life was in the promised Kinsman-Redeemer. In creation Adam\nhimself had been constituted head of life--\"Be fruitful, and multiply,\nand replenish the earth;\" but that, in his esteem, was now forfeited and\ngone. Life must flow in a new channel--\"He that hath the Son hath life,\nand he that hath not the Son of God hath not life.\"\n\nHow grand in its very simplicity all this was! And there was recovery\nalso of _moral_ glory, in a great sense, in all this. Adam had not\n_submitted_ himself to the _majesty_ of God, but affected to be as God.\nBut now he does _submit_ himself to the _righteousness_ of God. His\nshoulders bowed themselves to receive the covering wrought for his\nnakedness by God's own hand. See Rom. x. 3. He was now honouring God the\nRedeemer, though he had just before been doing all he could to dishonour\nGod the Creator--so simply was he led by the Spirit to value the divine\nprovision for a sinner in the promise of our bruised but victorious\nKinsman.\n\nIn like manner, Eve. She had listened to the same promise, and\ntherefore, as soon as she had brought forth her first-born, she gives\nwitness that this promise lived chief in the thoughts of her heart. \"I\nhave gotten a man from the Lord,\" said she. She as much overlooked\nherself as Adam did. She gloried only in her Seed. She had listened to\nthe promise with too faithful an ear to mistake herself for her Seed. It\nwas not over herself, but over him, that she now, in the language of\nanother mother, was singing, \"My soul doth magnify the Lord, and my\nspirit hath rejoiced in God my Saviour!\" There was a mistake here, it is\ntrue. But there was witness how the object of faith filled her visions,\nand the expectations of faith stirred in her heart. And so soon as\ndisastrous events manifest her mistake, and prove to her that this\nfirst-born of her womb was anything rather than the promised Seed--that\ninstead of being the bruiser of the serpent's head, he turned out to be\nthe murderer of his brother--still is she found on the rock where faith\nhad fixed her soul. \"Let God be true, but every man a liar,\" was her\ntriumph. Over Seth she exclaims, \"God hath appointed me another seed\ninstead of Abel, whom Cain slew.\" Though every cistern fail, she knows\nthe fountain cannot. One son had been a murderer, and another his\nvictim; but still God is true. \"I will sing of the mercies of the Lord\n_for ever_; with my mouth will I make known thy faithfulness to all\ngenerations.\"\n\nPrecious faith, we may say, \"like precious faith,\" with Adam, and with\nus, beloved. So Abel. Faith in him had respect to the same promise, the\nsame gospel. The word had spoken of a _bruised_ Deliverer; and\naccordingly it is a victim, a bruised or bloody sacrifice, he lays on\nGod's altar. But not only so. He brings the _fat_ of the victim\nlikewise. He knows the delight which God Himself takes in the provisions\nof His own grace. He knows that He is pleased with the work of His own\nhand. He understands that God is a cheerful giver, that there is no\ngrudging in the gift of grace. In spirit he hears the music which the\nFather's command has awakened in His own house over His returned\nprodigal. In the delight with which God Himself had clothed the naked\nsinner with coats which His own hand had willingly wrought (a happier\ntask than even the six days of creation), the faith of Abel seems to\nglory. And as thus the richest joy that is felt in all the costly\nmystery of redemption is felt by God Himself, he lays the richest part\nof the victim, the fat of the animal, on the altar, making _that_ the\nLord's own portion in this feast of love and joy, in His own house, and\nat His own table.\n\nThis was another most excellent sample of a sinner's faith. Abel, in\nspirit, was in Luke xv.--that chapter which tells us that the Lord's own\njoy in it may account for the gospel. And all these are _pattern_ works\nof the Spirit, forming the faith of sinners. There is no questioning of\nGod's grace, no uneasy reflections on creature-worthlessness, though\nthere was plenty of cause for that. The strength, the liberty, the\ntriumph of the promise live in their souls.\n\nAnd let me add, that if the confession of Lamech (chapter iv. 23, 24) be\nthe utterance of a convicted believing sinner (as I believe it is), it\nis only another equally fine expression of this same early and excellent\nfaith. It is of an order worthy to stand with that of Adam, or of Eve,\nor of Abel; fervent, strong, unquestioning, and full of liberty.\n\nGod's word to Cain had revealed a great truth--that He, and He _alone_,\nhas to do with a sinner. Others, like Abel, may suffer; but all sin is\ndirectly done against God, and He asserts His title to deal with it\nalone. \"Whosoever slayeth Cain [the Lord therefore says], vengeance\nshall be taken on him sevenfold.\"\n\nThis great truth, so unspeakably precious to faith, Lamech seems to have\nreceived and fed upon, until his whole soul triumphed in it. Not merely\n_preservation_ from man, like Cain, does he count upon, but _salvation_,\n\"the salvation of God.\" Learning that as a sinner he was _alone_ with\nGod, he takes that place, and there discovers how God can deal with him,\neven in the security and provisions of grace; and that discovery is the\nlight in which his soul at once walks. Like Job, afterwards, he\npublishes his confession far and wide. \"Hear my voice, ye wives of\nLamech,\" he says; \"hearken unto my speech.\" Then in true gospel\nintelligence he magnifies sin, and owns that it was his destruction. \"I\nhave slain a man to my wounding, and a young man to my hurt.\" But then\nagain, in true gospel simplicity, he much more magnifies grace. \"If Cain\nbe avenged sevenfold, truly Lamech seventy and sevenfold.\" In his\nthoughts, \"where sin abounded, grace did much more abound.\" He is of the\nvery mind and temper of Paul. His confidence and victory are apostolic.\nHe seems to sing--\n\n      \"I hear the accuser roar\n        Of ills that I have done;\n      I know them well, and thousands more--\n        Jehovah findeth none.\"\n\n\nA glorious sight his faith takes of the whole mystery, and of the\nboundlessness and riches of grace. He listens to the provisions of grace\n(when alone with God), and the charging of the law, the accusings of\nSatan, the alarms of conscience, and the self-righteous reproaches of\nmen, are not heard.[1]\n\n  [1] I do not, however, assume that Lamech was a murderer; but he could\n      identify himself with such. With Paul, he could, in the sense of\n      what he was before God, speak of himself as chief of sinners. And\n      we know also that the repentant Remnant of the latter day will, in\n      their confession, quite take the place of blood-guiltiness after\n      this manner. They will look to Him whom they pierced. They will,\n      in the spirit of Daniel or Nehemiah, make themselves one with the\n      guilty nation.\n\nThese operations of the Spirit through the promise on the souls of\nsinners are truly beautiful. The apron of fig-leaves drops off, or is\nrather cast away, when such operations go on. It is found _unnecessary_\nnow, as it was found _insufficient_ before. And so all the inventions of\nmen. They are the contrivances of the wrong-doer himself, the efforts of\nthe creature, the devices of the sinner, and they can _therefore_ never\ndo. But they are as unnecessary as they are insufficient. The coat of\nskin, the work of God Himself, has made them so.\n\nThere is, however, something which this glorious relief provided for the\nsinner does _not_ accomplish. The thorns and the thistles of the cursed\nground remain; and with them the sweat of the face, and the sorrow of\nthe heart, and then the return of dust to dust. As to this hour. We\nshine in \"the righteousness of God,\" adorned under His own eye, and by\nHis own hand dressed for His presence; but all the while pressures and\nhindrances and sore grievances wait on the tilling of the earth; and\npains bring us into the world, till we return to the dust from whence we\ncame. Neither does this glorious provision of grace displace the\ncherubim. They accompany it rather. They are stationed at the eastern\ngate of the garden, with their flaming sword, to keep every way of the\ntree of life; and no promise which Adam had listened to, no covering\nwhich Adam had received, changes this. Man's capacity to regain that\ntree is gone, and gone for ever. Never will he be anything but a _saved\nsinner_, pass he along what paths of glory he may, from \"paradise\" to\n\"the kingdom,\" from the kingdom to \"the new heavens and the new earth.\"\nEating of that tree is only by gift of Jesus, the woman's Seed of the\nfirst promise. Rev. ii. 7.\n\nSuch are among the mysteries taught us in this wonderful chapter, full\nof mysteries as it is, and of the profoundest secrets of God. But we\nhave to come down for instruction to learn man and his ways, as well as\nto rise, as we learn God and His counsels.\n\nCain is declared by the Spirit of God in the apostle to have been \"of\nthat wicked one.\" The first thing we see in him is his religion. He\nrenders to God, as offering or sacrifice, the fruit of the cursed\nground, the produce of his own toil. But this was unbelief. It was the\ndenial of all that had happened since the creation, the _religious_\ndenial of it. It was the direct contradiction of the way of faith, or of\nAbel. Abel took the way of the promise to God, the bloody victory of the\nwoman's Seed, the death and resurrection of Christ, and offered of his\nflock; but Cain refused to see man's ruin and God's redemption, giving\nGod the fruit of the earth; in effect saying, that He was to be read and\nknown in the thorns and the thistles, the sweat, and the sorrow, and the\ndeath; and by the solemn services of his altar he was denying all truth.\n\nThis was the way of a heart deeply departed from God. He was laying the\nscene of ruin at God's door, as Adam, ere he repented, had laid down the\nsin itself there.\n\nHis next way is in terrible keeping with all this. He hates his brother,\nbeing of that wicked one who is a murderer (John viii. 44), and in\nprocess of time he slays him.\n\nTremendous fruit of the apostate, departed nature. He was the first of\nthat generation who delivered Jesus to be crucified--self-righteous and\nmurderous. For envy the Jews delivered Jesus; and Cain slew Abel because\nhis own works were evil and his brother's righteous. It is the world.\n\"Marvel not, my brethren, if the world hate you. We know that we have\npassed from death unto life, because we love the brethren. He that\nloveth not his brother abideth in death. Whosoever hateth his brother is\na murderer, and ye know that no murderer hath eternal life abiding in\nhim.\" The Lord pleaded with him. See iv. 6, 7. His heart had conceived\nthe sin, but his hand had not brought forth fruit unto death; and with a\nvoice of long-suffering grace and warning the Lord pleaded with him. The\ngrace was despised; this grace of pleading with him at the last hour, as\nthe grace of the promise had been despised before.\n\n\"This is the condemnation, that light is come into the world, and men\nloved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil.\" The\nlight which the Lord Jesus was bringing with Him was the light of life\nor salvation. Isa. xlix. 6; John viii. 12. And _this_ was the light\nwhich Cain hated and refused.\n\nThere is the light of righteousness or holiness. But the refusal of it\nis not without remedy. In that light the Lord God had come into the\ngarden and called, \"Adam, where art thou?\" Adam could not stand it; for\nhe had sinned. It was intolerable to him. He had come short of that\nglory. He retreats from it. And then the Lord God shines in another\nlight. The promise is made. The character of the glory is changed. God\nseats Himself in a light which the sinner can approach, and, believing,\nAdam comes forth.\n\n_This_ was the light which Cain despised, the light of salvation, the\nlight of the promise, the light in which God shines before men outside\nthe garden. And Cain is therefore cursed as Adam had not been. As it is\nsaid of another generation, \"Behold, ye despisers, and wonder, and\nperish.\"\n\nAll this is the solemn history of the first unbeliever. But the treasury\nof corrupt nature that was in him spends itself in further ways of\nwickedness. In him was rising that spring which was to give out \"its\nsuperfluity of naughtiness.\" He lies after all this, and justifies\nhimself. \"I know not,\" says he; \"am I my brother's keeper?\" For \"the\nlusts of his father he would do;\" and when the devil \"speaketh a lie, he\nspeaketh of his own: for he is a liar, and the father of it.\"\n\nAll this, however, and even more than this, was _man_, and not Cain\nmerely. It was the ruined heart of man exposing itself. And because it\nwas this, because it was the common nature that was thus disclosing\nitself, the Lord takes the judgment of it away from man. \"Whosoever\nslayeth Cain, vengeance shall be taken on him sevenfold;\" for none are\nwithout sin. \"Thou art inexcusable, O man, whosoever thou art that\njudgest; for wherein thou judgest another, thou condemnest thyself.\" All\nare in the like condemnation. No one can take up the stone and cast it\nat another. And in order to express this great principle of truth, and\nthat God alone has either title or competency to deal with sin, the Lord\nwill not allow any man to touch the fratricide. By this divine writing\non the case, all are to go out convicted, one by one, and leave the\nsinner with God. John viii.\n\nFor the ends of government, when government in the earth becomes the\ndivine purpose, it shall be said, Whoso sheddeth man's blood, by man\nshall his blood be shed. ix. 6. But this is not so as yet. And for the\nteaching of the common pravity, that all of us may be humbled by the\ncommon conviction, that \"we have all sinned, and come short of the glory\nof God,\" not one of the whole human family is allowed to touch this\nwicked Cain. And so to this day, when government has been divinely set\nup, it is not sin that it deals with. _Crimes_, or offences against\npublic order, and _wrongs_ done to individuals, may be judged by man;\nbut to take vengeance on _sin_ would be the assuming of personal\nguiltlessness. \"He that is _without sin_ among you, let _him_ first cast\na stone at her.\" God has to deal with sin _alone_.[2]\n\n  [2] Some have spoken of the Jews, as guilty of the blood of Christ, so\n      as to have betrayed the principle of self-righteousness condemned\n      here. And yet I doubt not that there is a sense in which the Jews\n      are--in a special sense--connected with that sin in the divine\n      judgment. The land of the Jews is the distinguished field of\n      blood; the blood of Jesus, in a great sense, is specially on them\n      and their children. And so, like Cain, that people are under the\n      special securities of God. And further; that blood is to be\n      cleansed from off their land, though it now so stains it. Joel\n      iii. 21.\n\n      And still further; the language of Lamech, I also judge, is\n      mystical or typical, intimating the repentance of the Jews who\n      shed the blood, after generations of unbelief and hardness of\n      heart. See note, p. 20.\n\nBut, further, as to this awful history. Man will not always be making\nthis terrible exhibition of himself. He will not at all times appear as\nthe liar and the murderer. Legion will not be found on every journey we\ntake. There are restraints. The law, in one sense, was given to that\nend. So there are the checks and improvements of education. And there is\nthe control of God's hand, and the fear of His providence and judgment.\nAnd there is \"the law of opinion,\" as it has been called, the verdict of\nsociety. These and the like influences produce an order in the social\nscene, which has therefore become not only tolerable, but full of vast\naccommodations and large entertainments. A new _scene_ is thus produced,\nthough not a new _creature_. Man is man still, the same creature in\nGod's esteem, or in all divine reckoning, though he appears in the\ncharacter of a respectable citizen of the world, and not as the murderer\nof his brother. Cain builds a city. He has a thriving, prosperous\nfamily. Through their skill and industry the face of the world\nflourishes and looks well. All is respectable; and pleasant and friendly\nthe people are one with another. The murder is forgotten. Man does not\nhear the cry of blood, but the sound of the harp and the organ. His\ninventions have stifled his convictions. Cain is an honourable man. But\nas to the presence of God, he is as thoroughly separated from it as when\nhis hand was freshly stained with the blood of his brother.\n\nThis is solemn. Man, as a respectable citizen of the world, may be as\nseparated from God as a murderer. \"The remnant of them,\" as the parable\nspeaks, \"took his servants ... and slew them.\" The remnant! a word which\nlets us know that the refusers of the supper were of _one_ class with\nthose who shed the blood of the innocent.\n\nThe ease and indifference with which Cain could turn his back upon the\nLord, and upon the recollection of his brother's blood, are dreadful. He\ngot a promise of security, and that was all he cared for. And quickly,\nunder his hand, accommodations and delights of all sorts fill the scene.\n\nIn some sense this is principally shocking. This exceeds. But is not\nthis the \"course of the world\"? Was it not man that slew Jesus? Does not\nthe guilt of that deed lie at every man's door? And what is the course\nof the world but the ease and indifference of Cain in this highest state\nof guilt? The earth has borne the cross of Christ; and yet man can busy\nhimself with garnishing and furnishing it, and making life in it\nconvenient and pleasurable without God. This is shocking when we look at\nit in full divine light. A respectable citizen of the world Cain was,\nbut all the while a heartless forgetter of the sorrows of Abel! His ease\nand respectability are the blackest features of his history. He went\naway as soon as he got a promise of security; and that promise he uses,\nnot to soften his heart, and overwhelm him with convictions of all that\nhad happened, but as giving him full occasion to indulge and magnify\nhimself.\n\nWe read in the New Testament of \"the way of Cain.\" It may be, nay, it\nis, run by others. Jude 11. And what a way does this chapter show it to\nbe! He was an infidel, or a man of his own religion; not obedient in\nfaith to God's revelation. He practised the works of the liar and the\nmurderer; he hated the light; he was proof against God's word in mercy\nand in warning; he cares nothing for the presence of God which his sin\nhad forfeited, or for the sorrow of his brother which his hand had\ninflicted. And, as such an one, he can take pains to make himself happy\nand honourable in the very place which thus witnessed against him.\n\nIs this the \"way of Cain\"? Is this man still? Yes; and nature outlives a\nthousand restraints and improvements. For at the end of Christendom's\ncareer it will even then be said of a generation, \"They have gone in the\nway of Cain.\"\n\nThis is deeply solemn, beloved, had we but hearts to feel it. There is,\nhowever, a rescued, separated people. Seth's family are after another\norder altogether. They are not seen in cities, furnished with\naccommodations and pleasures, apart, like Cain, \"from the presence of\nthe Lord;\" but as the household of God, separated from that world that\nlay in the wicked one, to the faith and worship of His name.\n\n\nIt is the sight of this elect family that has principally at this time\ndrawn me to this portion of the precious oracles of God. There is much,\nI believe, in their standing and testimony which has instruction for our\nsouls. Like all else in these chapters, it is but short notices we get;\nbut great things are to be found in them.\n\nThis family of Seth may generally be thus spoken of: _They are\nstrikingly opposed to the way of Cain, and remarkably apprehensive of\nthe way of God_.\n\nI speak not here again of their _faith_, but of their _standing and\ntestimony_. Their faith, or the character of their religion, may be read\nin that of Adam, who re-appears here at the head of these antediluvian\nsaints; and his faith (kindred with that of Eve and Abel, or of all who\nreceive the gospel of the grace of God) I have already considered. But I\nspeak now of their standing as a household of God, and of their\ntestimony in the world.\n\nThe Lord had set a mark on Cain, that no one finding him should slay\nhim. He would not have the blood of Abel avenged. This we have already\nseen.\n\nThe family of Seth are strictly observant of this. No attempt, or\nanything like it, is made by them to answer the cry of innocent blood.\nThey know that it is heard in the ears of the Lord of Sabaoth; but,\nunder this word of God, they are deaf to it themselves. Vengeance does\nnot belong to them. The harvest has not come. They are not reapers. In\nobedience they heard, not the cry of blood, but the voice of the Lord\ncountermanding vengeance. And they suffer it. They take the wrong done\nto their brother, and are acceptable with God.\n\nExpress charge demanded this, and this was consequently simple\nobedience. But the mind of a saint is full of light. It is the mind of\nChrist (1 Cor. ii.); in us, it is true, darkened in a thousand actings\nof it, by the coarseness and blindness of nature with which it is now\nlinked; but still, in itself it is full of light. Even angelic nature is\nall life. Torpidity and dulness do not belong to it. \"Winds\" and \"flames\nof fire\" express that nature, and such things act constantly and\nfervently; and in like virtue the mind of Christ, the divine nature in\nthe saint, is full of affection and intelligence.\n\nWe get some of its fine ways of acting in this household of God.\n\nThe innocent blood is to remain unavenged. Its cry from the earth is not\nto be answered, at least for the present. _That_ is enough to teach the\nsaint his pilgrim, heavenly calling. The family of Seth are therefore as\npilgrims and strangers here, and all their habits are those of heavenly\ncitizens. If the earth be not to be cleansed, the elect are to be\nstrangers in it with a heavenly calling.\n\nBeautifully true to the mind of God is this! For this is the way of God;\nand it was apprehended by these saints, more in the light and knowledge\nof His most perfect and beautiful ways than many of us, beloved, who, in\nthe fuller revelations of this present age, have been so much nourished\nand instructed. But it is not the much schooling we get, but the\ncapacity which sits at the lesson. David wanted capacity for this same\nlesson, when he talked of building a house of cedars, a fixed\nhabitation, for the Lord, while the land was still defiled with blood.\nBut the Lord (may I say?) would be, like the antediluvian saints, a\nstranger on the earth, a dweller in tents, while blood was staining it;\nand that very night rebuked the purpose of the king of Israel. 1 Chron.\nxvii.\n\nWe have many exhibitions of this way of God in different forms of it.\nThe Lord, for instance, would have no altar in Egypt, uncircumcised as\nthat land was. He would not have a throne in the land (in the full glory\nof it) till the day of Solomon, when all was sanctified for His royal\npresence. Afterwards the glory was grieved away by the abominations\nwhich were done in the temple. The captives, in like spirit, hang their\nharps on the willows of the Euphrates; for how could they sing in a\nstrange land, or let the songs of Zion be heard in Babylon? Separation\nwas the rule of the divine mind. Separation was holiness. Pollution\ndemanded it, and faith rose at the bidding. And with all this the Seth\nfamily, the household of God in earliest days--days before the\nflood--are in company. They are one in spirit with Jehovah Himself in\nEgypt, with the glory in the defiled temple, with the harps of the\ncaptives in Babylon, and with the Church of God in \"this present evil\nworld.\"\n\nWe have to distinguish between these two things: _God's assertion of His\ntitle to the earth, and God's call of a people out of the earth_.\n\nThese different things have been again and again exhibited in the\nprogress of the dispensations. And they have been exhibited, as I have\nlong judged, alternately.\n\nThe Lord began, in Adam, to claim and display His rights on the earth.\nThe man in the garden was to own the sovereignty of God, and the earth\nwas the rest and the delight of the Lord, and the place of His glory.\n\nSin entering and polluting all, and the pollution being left uncleansed,\nin Seth God called a people away from the earth to an inheritance in\nheaven.\n\nThen in Noah the Lord God re-asserted His rights here, and took up the\nearth as the place where His elect might find a home, and His own\npresence be known again.\n\nAfter this Abraham is separated from kindred, and from country, and from\nfather's house, to be a heavenly stranger on the earth, with his altar\nand his tent, looking for a city whose builder and maker was God.\n\nIsrael, in their day, then take up this mystic tale of the heavens and\nthe earth, and in the land of Canaan become the witness of the scene of\nGod's sovereignty. The ark passes over the river as \"the ark of the\ncovenant of the Lord of all the earth.\"\n\nAnd now the Church is set for the full testimony of heavenly mysteries\nagain; and strangership here is the divine idea, till our being taken to\nmeet the Lord in the air.\n\nThis wondrous tale these dispensations of God, like day and night\nalternate, have thus been telling from the beginning; and still are\ntelling. And millennial days ere long will make these pledges good, and\nbe the glorious substance of these foreshadowings.[3]\n\n  [3] Such passages as Eph. i. 10 and Col. i. 20 tell us that both the\n      heavens and the earth are equally the scene of divine purposes.\n      And the great argument in Rom. xi. instructs us about those\n      purposes, and the ways and times of their accomplishment.\n\nNow let me observe, that whenever God arises in this progress of His\ncounsels to _assert title to the earth_, He begins by judging and\ncleansing it. And this, I may say, _of course_; because, the scene of\nHis purposed glory and presence being corrupted, He must take the\noffence away, for His presence could not brook defilement. Noah's\nlordship of the earth was, accordingly, preceded by the flood carrying\naway the world of the ungodly. Israel's inheritance of Canaan under\nJehovah, as the God of all the earth, was prepared by the judgment of\nthe Amorites and the sword of Joshua. And the future millennial kingdom,\nwhen the earth is to be the place of the glory again, is (as all\nScripture tells us) to be ushered in by that great action called \"the\nday of the Lord,\" with a clearing out of all that offend, and all that\ndo iniquity.\n\nBut the _call of God_ is quite of another character. It proceeds on the\nprinciple, that God Himself is apart from the earth, and is not seeking\nto have it as the home of His glory, or the place of His presence; but\nseeking a people out of it, to be His, away from it, and above it. The\nearth is altogether a stranger to such a purpose. It is left just as it\nis found. No judgment, no visitation of the scene here from the hand of\nGod, accompanies it.\n\nThis was exhibited in Abraham. Abraham was the object of the call of\nGod; and accordingly the Canaanites find no rival in him. He does not\ndispute with them the title or possession of the soil. He finds them,\nand he leaves them, lords of it. He desires only to pitch his tent and\nraise his altar on the surface of it for a season; and then, for another\nseason, to have his bones laid in the bowels of it.\n\nSo with the Church in this age. She is likewise under the call of God.\nBut her call leaves the Gentiles in power, as it found them. \"Let every\nsoul be subject to the higher powers.\" The saints have only to obey them\nunreluctantly, or to suffer from them patiently, according as the demand\nmade by them is or is not consistent with their subjection to Christ and\nthe call of God. They cannot strive with the potsherds of the earth.\nPeter's sword is to be put up, and Pilate is to learn that the servants\nof Jesus cannot fight. Their warfare is not with flesh and blood. They\nare defeated the moment they begin it. The call of God has marshalled\nthe hosts of God against principalities and powers on high, and the\nbattle is there. It does not connect us with the earth. Our\n_necessities_ do, but not our _call_. We need the fruit of the ground,\nthe toil of the hand, and the skill of the heart, to provide things\nneedful for the body. Our necessities thus connect us with it, and we\nhave to do with it for their supply; but our call separates us from it.\nJoshua went into the possession of the Gentiles, that his sword might\nmake it the possession of the Lord; Paul went into the places of the\nGentiles, to take out of them a people unto God, linked with the\ndisallowed Stone, despised and rejected of men.\n\nThe family of Seth were, in like manner, under this call of God. It was\nintimated to them by the charge to leave the blood of Abel unavenged,\nand they understood the intimation. If the earth be left in its\ndefilement, God is not seeking it (as we have now seen all His ways\ndeclare), and this family of faith are in that secret. They will not\nseek it either. Cain's house was in possession of it, and Seth's family\nwill leave them there, without a rival or a struggle. The mind of God in\nthem took this knowledge of the way of God, and of His pleasure touching\nthem; and they acted on heavenly principles in a blood-stained earth,\nwhose judgment was now for a time to linger and to slumber.\n\nI own, beloved, that I greatly admire this fine expression of the mind\nof Christ in these earliest saints. They take the only way which the\nholiness of God could sanction. They are \"partakers of _His_ holiness.\"\nThe light they walked in was _God's_; the holiness they partook of was\n_God's_. 1 John i. 7; Heb. xii. 10. This is a peculiar thing. That light\nis not merely righteousness. It is the light of grace also. Yea, and the\nlight of heavenly strangership in a polluted world. It is a light which\nreproves the course of this world, and makes manifest other principles\nand hopes altogether. There may be righteousness, and the watching and\npraying which escapes temptation; but there must be a walk according to\nthese principles and hopes, to form a walk \"in the light, as He is the\nlight.\" These earliest believers beautifully shine there, I believe.\nThey were not under law. They come between Adam and Moses. They had not\nprecepts, as I have already shown. But they were in the light, as God is\nin the light. And if afterwards Abram did not need to be told to have\nhis altar and his tent--if he needed no precept from the Lord how to\norder the marriage of his son, or how to answer the king of Sodom--so\nthese saints of still earlier days understood the holiness of the call\nof God, and took their journey for a heavenly country at the bidding of\nthe pollution of the earth.\n\nI own indeed, again, that I greatly admire this. It is the beauty of the\nSpirit's workmanship in His elect vessels. All is His. \"How great is His\ngoodness, and how great is His beauty!\" They learn the word in spirit\nere the voice of the Spirit uttered it--\"Arise, depart, for this is not\nyour rest; it is polluted.\"\n\nThe details about these antediluvian believers are very scanty; but\nthrough it all there is this heavenly character. They do not supply\nhistory for the world; but they do supply instruction for the Church.\nThis is heavenly. No spirit of burning or spirit of judgment had purged\nthe blood of the earth, and they shrink instinctively from it. In the\nspirit of their minds they leave it. \"What communion has light with\ndarkness? what fellowship has righteousness with unrighteousness?\" their\nconduct asks. Their _religion_ is that of separation from the world, and\nso are _their habits_.\n\nThey call on the name of the Lord. The name of the Lord is the\nrevelation He has been pleased to make of Himself. Immanuel, Jesus, \"the\nLord our righteousness,\" Jehovah, God Almighty, the Father, the Son, and\nthe Holy Ghost--these are among His names graciously and gloriously\npublished by Himself. And \"to call on the name of the Lord\" was service\nor worship of God in spirit and in truth.\n\nThis was the religion of these earliest saints. It was simply the\nreligion of faith and hope. They worshipped God, and, apart from the\nworld, they waited in hope. \"The work of faith\" and \"the patience of\nhope\" are seen in them. Something of the Thessalonian spirit breathes in\nthem. For they served the living and true God, and waited for the Son\nfrom heaven, who had already delivered them. 1 Thess. i. To \"call on the\nname of the Lord\" is faith, and salvation, and worship. It bespeaks the\nstanding of a saint, and his spiritual service. It shall come to pass,\nthat whosoever shall call on the name of the Lord shall be saved. Joel\nii.; Rom. x. I will offer to thee the sacrifice of thanksgiving, and\nwill call upon the name of the Lord. Psalm cxvi. And such was their\nreligion, such was their worship. It was worship in spirit. No temples,\nor costly carnal services, or institutions of man appear.\n\nAnd in their ways and habits they are only seen as a people walking\nacross the surface of the earth, till their bodies are either laid under\nit, or are translated to heaven above it. They rejoice, as though they\nrejoiced not; they buy, as though they possessed not; they have wives,\nas though they had none. All around them is as Babylon to them, and\ntheir harps are on the willows. Cain's family have all the music to\nthemselves. But Seth's family are a risen people. Their conversation is\nin heaven. They look for no estates or cities. All they take is an\nearlier Machpelah. Nothing is told us of their place or their business.\nThey are strangers where even Adam was once at home, and, much more,\nwhere Cain still was. We may follow them, and in spirit abide with them\nfor a day; but where they dwelt we know not--like the disciples who\nfollowed the glorious Stranger from heaven in the day of His sojourn\nhere. John i. 38, 39. They are without a place or a name. The earth knew\nthem not. Like the stranger Rechabites, they are, throughout their\ngenerations, one after another, of the wilderness, and not of the city\n(Judges i. 16); or in Levitical language, they were a standing order of\nNazarites, more separated to God than even Israel themselves.\n\nThey are the earliest witnesses of this heavenly strangership. Such a\nlife is exhibited afterwards in other saints of God in its fuller,\nbeautiful details; but we have it here in spirit.\n\nFor instance, in Isaac. The world was against him. But he strives not\nwith it either in deed or in word. He neither answers nor resists. The\nPhilistines tell him to go from them. He goes at their bidding. They\nspoil him of his labours. He yields and takes it patiently, as Esek and\nSitnah tell us. Gen. xxvi.\n\nSo his father Abraham before him. Only, sad to tell it, it is a\n_brother_ who acts the part of the world in the scene. Lot chooses, as\nthe world chooses, the well-watered plain. Abraham suffers, and takes it\npatiently--though it was something more galling than the wrong of a\nPhilistine--the unthankful, selfish way of one who should have known\nbetter, and who owed him everything. Gen. xiii.\n\nSo Israel, in still later days, accepts the insult of Edom in like\nspirit. They pleaded for a passage through their land by the claims of\nkindred, by reason of their common origin, by their many toils and\nafflictions, by the tokens of the divine favour toward them, and by\ntheir present need as toiling, way-worn pilgrims through a desert land.\nBut Edom despised them and threatened. They pleaded again, but they were\ninsulted again; they suffered it, and took another road. Num. xx. And so\ntheir Lord in the day of His pilgrimage. He sought another village when\nother Edomites of Samaria refused Him. Luke ix. Precious and happy, thus\nto put Him at the head of all that is excellent! The good that is done\nis _like_ Him, as well as _of_ Him. Isaac suffers wrong from _the\nworld_, and takes it patiently. Abraham suffers wrong from _one who owed\nhim everything_, and takes it patiently. Israel suffers likewise from\ntheir _kindred_; but Jesus from those whom _He was serving and blessing\nat the cost of everything to Himself_, from the world which He had made,\nand from that people whom He had adopted. And yet \"He lays His thunder\nby,\" and goes on His pilgrimage of love and service still.\n\nIn like spirit the family of God, in days before the flood pursue their\npilgrim path. They leave the world to Cain. There is not the symptom of\na struggle, nor the breath of a complaint. They say not, nor think of\nsaying, \"Master, speak to my brother, that he divide the inheritance\nwith me.\" In habits of life and principles of conduct, they are as\ndistinct from their injurious brother as though they were of another\nrace, or in another world. Cain's family make _all_ the world's history.\nThey build its cities, they promote its arts, they conduct its trade,\nthey invent its pleasures and pastimes. But in all this Seth's family\nare not seen. The one generation call their cities after their own\nnames; the other call themselves by the name of the Lord. The one do all\nthey can to make the world their own, and not the Lord's; the other do\nall they can to shew themselves to be the Lord's, and not their own.\nCain writes his own name on the earth; Seth writes the Lord's name on\nhimself.\n\nWe may bless the Lord for this vigorous delineation of heavenly\nstrangership on earth, and ask for grace to know some of its living\npower in our souls. It is this which has drawn me to this portion of the\nWord at this time. It reads us a lesson, beloved. And well indeed, if\nthe instincts of our renewed minds suggest the same heavenly path with\nlike certainty and clearness. The call of God leads that way, and all\nHis teaching demands it. The pastimes and the purposes, the interests\nand the pleasures, of the children of Cain are nothing to these\npilgrims. They declare plainly that they refuse the thought, that there\nis any capacity in the earth, as it is now, to give them satisfaction.\nThey are discontented with it, and make no attempts to have it\notherwise. There lay their moral separation from the way of Cain and his\nhousehold. They were not mindful of the country around them, but sought\na better, that is, a heavenly.[4] May I not therefore say of them, as I\nhave said, that they are strikingly opposed to the way of Cain, and\nremarkably apprehensive of the way of God?\n\n  [4] What I say of this antediluvian family is only as we see them in\n      Genesis v. I doubt not, as under every trial of man, failure and\n      corruption are witnessed. But I speak merely of their standing and\n      testimony as given to us here. Sons and daughters, as we are told,\n      were born to them, generation after generation, and seeds of\n      apostasy were sown and sprang up among them, I doubt not. But this\n      does not at all affect the lesson we get from this fifth chapter.\n\nAfter this pattern the Lord would have us: in the world, but not of it;\nof heaven, though not as yet (except in Christ) in it. Paul, in the Holy\nGhost, would so have us, taking example from those whose \"conversation\nis in heaven.\" Peter, in the same Spirit, would so have us \"as strangers\nand pilgrims\" abstaining from fleshly lusts. James summons us, in the\nsame Spirit, to know that \"the friendship of the world is enmity with\nGod.\" And John separates us as by a stroke: \"We are of God, and the\nwhole world lieth in wickedness.\"\n\nIt is for the Church surely, beloved, to walk in this elevation and\nseparateness. What is according to the call of God, and what worthy of\nheavenly hopes, but this? We breathe but feebly, and glow but faintly,\nin company with those and like witnesses. What a temper of soul, it has\njust struck me, we get in such a chapter as Phil. iv.! What a glow is\nfelt throughout it! What depth and fervency of affection! What a shout\nof triumph the spirit raises! What elevation in the midst of changes,\nperplexities, and depressions! The apostle's whole temper of soul\nthroughout that chapter is uncommon. But if one may speak for others, it\nis to us little more than the tale of a distant land, or the warmth and\nbrilliancy of other climes reported to our souls by travellers.\n\nLead us, Lord, we pray thee! Teach us indeed to sing--\n\n      \"We're bound for yonder land,\n        Where Jesus reigns supreme;\n      We leave the shore at His command,\n        Forsaking all for Him.\n\n      \"'T were easy, did we choose,\n        Again to reach the shore--\n      But that is what our souls refuse,\n        We'll never touch it more.\"\n\n\nBut surely it is one thing to be the advocate of Christianity, and\nanother to be the disciple of it. And though it may sound strange at\nfirst, far easier is it to _teach_ its lessons than to _learn_ them. But\nso our souls know full well.\n\nWe have, however, still to look at the _destiny_ and _endowments_ of\nthese saints, as we have already looked at their _faith_, their\n_virtues_, and their _religion_.\n\nThe translation of Enoch was the first formal testimony of the great\ndivine secret, that _man was to have a place and inheritance in the\nheavens_. By creation he was formed for the earth. The garden was his\nhabitation, Eden his demesne, and all the earth his estate. But now is\nbrought forth the deeper purpose, that God has an election from among\nmen, destined, in the everlasting counsels of abounding grace, for\nheaven.\n\nIn the course of ages and dispensations after this, this high purpose of\nGod was only dimly and occasionally, slowly and gradually, manifested.\nBut in the person of Enoch it is made to shine out at once. The heavenly\ncalling at this early moment, and in the bosom of his elect and favoured\nhousehold, declares itself in its full lustre. This great fact among the\nantediluvian patriarchs anticipates in spirit the hour of Mount Tabor,\nthe vision of the martyred Stephen, and the taking up of the saints in\nthe clouds to meet the Lord in the air.\n\nSuch was the high destiny of the elect people.\n\nThe prophecies of Enoch and of Lamech are samples of their endowments.\nAnd rich indeed, worthy of their dignity, these endowments were. For\nthose prophecies under the Holy Ghost tell us that glorious secrets had\nbeen entrusted to them. They were treated as in the place of friends.\n\"Shall I hide from them,\" the Lord was saying to them, as afterwards to\nAbraham, \"that thing which I do?\" For such privileges belong only to\ndignity. See Gen. xviii. 18. And if Abraham knew the doom of Sodom\nbeforehand, Enoch, in a deeper, larger sense, knew the doom of the whole\nworld beforehand. And his prophecy lets out a mystery of solemn and\nwondrous glory--that the heavenly saints are to accompany the Lord in\nthe day of His power and judgment. And, as of a character equal with\nthis, Lamech's, which comes after, in its turn, with happier\nanticipations, sketches the scene that lies beyond the judgment, days of\nmillennial blessedness, \"the days of heaven upon the earth.\" The Lord\nhas not given up the earth for ever. And these saints before the flood\ncan speak of that great mystery even before the bow in the cloud becomes\nthe token of it. But they know the judgment of it must come first; and\nthey can speak of that mystery also before the fountains of the great\ndeep were broken up.\n\nRich endowments in the Spirit thus attach to their high personal dignity\nwith God. As with the Church now. \"Stewards\" they were \"of the mysteries\nof God.\" They could \"sing of mercy and of judgment;\" unto God and of His\ncounsels they could sing. Profoundest secrets feed their souls. \"The\ndeep things of God,\" the things both of prophets and apostles, the\nthings of the epistles and the apocalypse, are theirs. Paul was\nentrusted with the circumstances of the heavenly calling. He speaks of\nour being caught up in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and of\nthat great expectation as being our comfort and relief against the day\nof the Lord and its terrors; Enoch in himself, long before, illustrated\nthat very thing. John speaks of the raptured saints accompanying the\nLord in the day of His power, joining in the breaking of the potter's\nvessel, and in the warfare of the Rider on the white horse; Enoch in his\nprophecy, long before, testified the same. Jude 14, 15. Prophets tell of\nthe wilderness by-and-by rejoicing, and of the desert blossoming, of the\nblessed One renewing the face of the earth, and instead of the brier,\nthe myrtle flourishing; but long before Lamech had told of this same\ncomfort in the earth again, and this rest for man from the curse of the\nground. Gen. v. 29.\n\nRich indeed were these endowments in the Holy Ghost. There is even\npeculiar vividness in these earliest utterances of the prophetic spirit.\nThere is commonly a haze over the distance. It is not clear, as if it\nwere the foreground. Indistinctness invests it. And this, in contrast\nwith the nearer landscape, only heightens the impression of the whole.\nSo the notices of the prophets, and the things reported by apostles.\nThey are delivered in different style. Properly so. The haze of distance\ncommonly invests the communications we get of the future. Such is the\nperfectness of the way of the Spirit. The very drapery under which the\ndistant or the future appears sets it off fitly. Clearness, or literal\ndefiniteness, would be offensive, as glare or nakedness. This is\ncommonly so, and this is all admirable. But if _at times_ the distance\nis illuminated, we can delight in it; and in these earliest notices the\nlatest scenes of divine action are thus set off in strange and beautiful\ndistinctness.\n\nSuch was the heavenly calling, its virtues, its dignity, and its\nendowments, of this antediluvian family of God. The end of their path\nwas heavenly also, as heavenly as any feature of it. I speak not of the\n_fact_ of its ending in heaven, but of the very _style_ in which it so\nended. No sign among the nations gave notice of it. No times or seasons\nhad to mark or measure it. No stated age or numbered years had to spend\nthemselves. No voice of prophecy had so much as hinted the blessed,\nrapturous moment. \"Enoch walked with God, and he was not, for God took\nhim.\" Nothing peculiar ushered forth that glorious hour. No big\nexpectations or strange events gave token of its coming. It was the\nnatural heavenly close of an undeviating heavenly journey.\n\nIt was otherwise with Noah afterwards. Great preparation was made for\nhis deliverance. Years also spent themselves--appointed years. But not\nso our heavenly patriarch. Noah was carried through the judgment; but\nEnoch, before it came, was borne to the place out of which it came.[5]\n\n  [5] I am not careful to apply all this, as I believe it may be\n      applied. I rather leave it in the way of a suggestion. But it does\n      seem to me that the Lord, _speaking of the Jewish election_, takes\n      Noah for His text or type (Matt. xxiv.); while the apostle,\n      _addressing the Church_, takes his language the rather from the\n      translation of Enoch. 1 Thess. iv. 17; 2 Thess. ii. 1. For the\n      Jewish remnant, like Noah, will be carried through the\n      judgment---the saints now gathering will be in the sphere out of\n      which the judgment is to be poured. For we are taught again and\n      again, as I have noticed before, that exercise of power in that\n      day, in company with the Lord, is part of the glory of the saints.\n      See Col. iii. 4; Rev. ii. 26; xvii. 14; xix. 14.\n\nAnd if the days and years did not measure it, nor signs announce it, did\nthe world, I ask, witness it? Or was it, though so glorious and great,\nsilent and secret?\n\nThe language of the apostle seems to give me my answer, and so does all\nthe analogy of Scripture. He \"was not found, because God had translated\nhim.\" This sounds as though man had been a stranger to that glorious\nhour. The world seems to have inquired and searched after him, like the\nsons of the prophets after Elijah; but in vain. 2 Kings ii. 17; Heb. xi.\n5. And this tells us that the translation had been a secret to man; for\nthey would not have searched, had they seen it.\n\nAll scriptural or divine analogy answers me in like manner. Glory, in\nnone of its forms or actions, is for the eye or ear of mere man.\n\nHorses and chariots filled the mountain; but the prophet's servant had\nto get his eye opened ere he could see them. Daniel saw a glorious\nstranger, and heard his voice as the voice of a multitude; but the men\nwho stood with him saw nothing--only a terror fell on them. The glory on\n\"the holy hill\" shone only in the sight of Peter, James, and John,\nthough the brightness there at that moment (night as it was) might have\nlighted up all the land; for the divine face \"did shine as the sun.\"\nMany bodies of saints arose, attendants on the Lord's rising; but it was\nonly to some in the holy city they showed themselves. The heaven was\nopened over the head of the martyr of Jesus, in the very midst of a\nmultitude; but the glory was seen only by him. Paul went to Paradise,\nand Philip to Azotus; but no eye of man tracked either the flight or the\njourney. And beyond all, when Jesus rose, and that, too, from a tomb of\nhewn stone, and from amid a guard of wakeful soldiers, no ear or eye was\nin the secret. It was a lie, that the keepers of the stone slept; but it\nis a truth, that they saw no more of the resurrection than had they done\nso. Silence and secrecy thus mark all these glorious transactions.\nVisions, audiences, resurrections, flights, ascensions, the glory down\nhere, and the heaven opened up there, all these go on, and yet mere man\nis a stranger to all. And the translation of Enoch takes company with\nall these, I assuredly judge; and so, I further judge, will another\nglorious hour soon to come, in which \"they that are Christ's\" are _all_\nto be interested.\n\n\nI have now reached and closed the fifth chapter. The first part of the\nBook of Genesis will be found to end here. For these chapters (i.-v.)\nconstitute a little volume.\n\nI.  This chapter opens the volume with the work of creation.\n\nII.  Creation being complete, the Lord, the Creator, takes His delight\nin it; and in the midst of it, and over it, places the man whom He had\nformed in His own image, with all endowments and possessions to make his\ncondition perfect.\n\nIII.  Man, thus made perfect, being tried and overcome, we see the\n_ruin_ which he wrought, and the _redemption_ which God provided.\n\nIV.  V.  These chapters then show us one branch of this ruined, redeemed\nfamily choosing the ruins, and another branch of it delighting in the\nredemption.\n\nThis is simple, and yet perfect. The tale is told--a tale of other days;\nbut in the results and sympathies of which we live at this hour.\n\nIt is the sight of the elect, believing, heavenly household, which we\nget in this little volume, which has at this time drawn my thoughts to\nit. They walked on earth as we should walk; but they were, by their\nfaith, hope, and destiny, all the while, very near heaven, as we are.\n\nAre we touching the skirts of such glory with unaffected hearts,\nbeloved? Does anything more humble you in His presence, I ask you (for\nmy own soul has already given its answer), than the conviction we have\nof the little estimation in which the heart holds His promised glory? It\nis terrible discovery to make of oneself. That we have but small delight\nin the provisions of His goodness, is more terrible than that we have no\nanswer to the demands of His righteousness. And yet both stand in proof\nagainst us. After Israel had left Egypt, they were tested by the voice\nof the law; but the golden calf tells that they had no answer for it. In\nthe progress of their journey, they are tested by the firstfruits of\nCanaan; but the desired captain tells that they had no relish for the\nfeast. And what is the heart of man still? What was it in Christ's day?\nThe parable of the marriage of the king's son, like the captain of the\nwilderness, tells us that there is no relish there for the table which\nGod spreads. What are singing men and singing women to a heavy ear? The\npleasant land is despised still. Canaan is not worth the scaling of a\nsingle wall, or an encounter with one Amalekite. The farm, the\nmerchandise, and the wife, are made the captain to take us back, in\nspite of the invitations of love and the treasures of glory.\n\nTerrible discovery! And yet it is not hard to make it. The proof of it\nclings pretty close to us. We know how quickly present interests move\nus; how loss depresses and profit elates us; and then, again, we know\nhow dull the glory glitters, if but a difficulty or a hazard lie this\nside of it.\n\nAre we sorry because of this, beloved? Does it ever break the heart into\nsighs and groans before our God? Sad and solemn, if we feel it not\nthus--and terrible, when we deliberately talk to ourselves of making a\ncaptain again. And this we do when the pastime and the pleasures of the\nsons of men again give animation to our hearts, or when their honours or\ntheir pursuits become again our objects. Lot's wife, beloved, had got\nbeyond Sodom, and that, too, in company with the elect, when it was\nfound that she was still there, in such a sense as to perish with the\ncity. Israel was as far as the wilderness of Paran, and that, too, in\ncompany with the ark of God, when it was proved that they were still\namid the flesh-pots of Egypt. Serious remembrances for us all! holy\nwarnings, that we wanton not with those lusts and enjoyments, which once\nwe watched and mortified.\n\n\n\"Of that day and hour knoweth no man\"--are the solemn words by which the\nLord refuses to pledge the moment of His return to His Jewish remnant.\nMatt. xxiv. 36. That moment is to be to them as the thief of the night,\nor as the hour of the woman in travail. So as to death. If it come on\nany of us without a moment's warning, the Lord has not been untrue to\nany pledge He has given. And so as to the rapture. In no case is the day\nor the hour pledged or made known. All is included in _one_ word of deep\nand holy import--\"Watch\"--and that one word is addressed to all: \"What I\nsay unto you, I say unto all, Watch.\"\n\nWhether the close to us be by death or rapture--whether it be to Israel\nby being taken or left--the day and the hour remain alike untold; no\npledge of it is promised at all. Each and all are set on the\nwatch-tower. _We_ wait for \"the Son from heaven;\" _they_ will have to\nwait for \"the days of the Son of man;\" but neither of us know the hour\nthat closes the waiting.\n\nThat is common to them and to us. We stand in equal condition with them\nas to this. But together with this there is a difference.\n\nThe Jewish Remnant are given signs. That is, they are told of certain\nthings which _must_ precede \"the days of the Son of man,\" though they\nare left ignorant of the day or the hour of that appearing. See Matt.\nxxiv. 32-36. The saints now gathering to the hope of the \"Son from\nheaven\" are, on the contrary, not given any such signs, or told of any\nnecessary precursory events.\n\nThe Lord communicated His _purpose_ of judgment to Noah, but said\nnothing to him of the _time_ of it. But Noah knew that it could not be\ntill his ark was built. He knew not the time when the waters were to\nrise; but he knew they could not rise till he and his were lodged in\nsafety. This was a sign, or an event necessarily forerunning the close\nof his history. And so with the earthly Israel. Circumstances must take\nplace, though the day or the hour of it be not known, ere the Son of man\ncan be here on earth again. But not so with Enoch. No circumstance\nnecessarily delayed his translation. His walk with God was not a\ncircumstance. And that was all that led the way to his ascension. And so\nwith the Church now gathering. She waits for no circumstance--no years\nmeasure her sojourn here; no events prepare her heavenward way. She is\nnot put, like the Jewish election, under the restraint of any signs or\npreceding circumstances.\n\nThe Lord treats it as _deceit_ to say \"the time draweth nigh;\" while the\napostle _expressly puts us under those words_. Luke xxi. 8; James v. 8.\n_After certain signs or events_, the Lord tells the remnant that their\nexpectation is near; the apostle tells us that ours is _always so_.\nMatt. xxiv. 33; Phil. iv. 5. The Lord exhorts the remnant to watch,\nbecause the day may otherwise overtake them; the apostle exhorts us to\nwatch, because we are already of the day, and it is fit that we should\nact as day-men. Matt. xxiv. 43; 1 Thess. v. 5, 6.\n\nHere lies a difference. But still, all are equally commanded to\nwatch--we in this our day, as ever knowing that \"the end of all things\nis at hand,\" and the remnant, in their coming day, even though they know\nthat some events must go before.\n\nAnd beautiful and just this is. For if the things threatened be\nprofoundly solemn, as they are, and the things promised be unspeakably\nglorious, as they are, it is but little to require of us to _treat them\nas supreme_--and that, in other words, is _watching_.\n\nAnd the sense of the nearness of the glory should be cherished by us. I\nmean its nearness in _place_ as well as time. And we need be at no\neffort to persuade ourselves of it. It is taught us very clearly and\nsurely. The congregation of Israel were set at the door of the\ntabernacle, and as soon as the appointed moment came the glory was\nbefore them. See Lev. viii. ix. So at the erection of the tabernacle,\nand so at the introduction of the ark into the temple. Ex. xl.; 2 Chron.\nv. So when it had business to do (though of different characters) with\nthe company on Mount Tabor, with the dying Stephen, or with Saul on the\nroad to Damascus--wherever it may have to act, and whatever it may be\ncalled to do, to convict, to cheer, or to transfigure--to smite to the\nearth the persecutor, to give triumph to the martyr, or to conform an\nelect Vessel to itself, it can be present in a moment, in the twinkling\nof an eye. It is but a thin veil, which either hides it or distances it.\nThe path is short, and the journey rapidly accomplished. We should\ncherish the thought of this, beloved. It has its power as well as its\nconsolation. And so ere long, when the time of 1 Cor. xv. 51 arrives,\nthat moment of the general transfiguration, as soon as the voice of the\narchangel summons it, the glory will be here again, as in the twinkling\nof an eye, to do its business with us, and in the image of the heavenly\nto bear us up, like Enoch, to the heavenly country.\n\nThen shall the Lord be glorified in His saints--not as now, in their\nobedience and service, their holiness and fruitfulness, but in their\n_personal_ beauty. Arrayed in white, and shining in our glories, we\nshall be the wondrous witness of what He has done for the sinner that\ntrusts in Him. And as one much loved and honoured in the Lord has just\nwritten to me, so I write to you, beloved: \"No lark ever sprang up on a\ndewy morning to sing its sweet song with such alacrity as you and I\nshall spring up to meet our Lord in the air.\" And his exhortation to me\nI would make mine to you (though feebly echoed from my heart): \"Oh, my\nbrother, set it before your mind's eye as a living reality, and then let\nhope patiently wait for the fulfilment!\"\n\n\n                   \"Amen. Even so, come, Lord Jesus.\"\n\n\n\n\n                                 NOAH.\n\n                            GENESIS VI.-XI.\n\n\nHow changed is the whole condition of things since the day of Genesis!\n\nWere I to read the opening of this fine scripture, and just expose my\nheart to the simpler earliest impression of what I get there, it is this\nthought which would engage my mind; and yet with all ease we can account\nfor this strange and wondrous revolution. In chapter i. God was alone,\nproducing the fruit of His own handiwork, in wisdom, goodness, and\nskill; and then all was good and desirable. On the return of every\nevening and morning the divine delights lingered over what the divine\nhand was working out, and behold all was very good; and the seventh day\nwas sanctified for the celebration of this rest and enjoyment. But now,\nit is not God's hand presenting a perfect work to God's thoughts and\naffections, but it is man, the apostate artificer, spreading out a wide\nscene of corruption and violence for the grief and repentings of the\ndivine mind. The secret of the change lies there. Man has been at work;\nman has been fashioning and furnishing the scene, and not the living,\nblessed God. The earth is therefore filled with violence; giants there\nare, mighty men, men of renown; and the imaginations of that heart which\nwas now making \"this present evil world\" are only evil, and that\ncontinually.\n\nHere lies the secret. The change was complete because of the new potter\nthat had been at the wheel; the change could not be less. The song of\nthe morning stars, the shout of the sons of God, had no echo in the\nscene of creation now; man was now abroad--not as a part of the work,\nbut as a reprobate workman.\n\nIt is just this which gives character to the opening of chapter vi. And\nthere is no relief for all this in the creature--the best sample and\nportion it could offer is itself defiled. The sons of God themselves are\ndragged into the mire--their will, their desire, their taste, are\nsupreme with them. The daughters of Moab have seduced to fornication;\nand the Nazarites, who were purer than snow and whiter than milk, whose\npolishing was of sapphire, are become blacker than a coal. The witness\nagainst them is, \"he also is flesh.\"\n\nIf Adam was seduced by the subtilest of enemies, and followed the sight\nof his eye and the desire of his heart, the sons of God are now seduced\nby an enemy equally successful. He works, it is true, from within rather\nthan without--\"he also is flesh\"--but the sight of the eye and the\ndesire of the heart are again followed. Wives are taken of all \"whom\nthey choose;\" other lords are listened to, for God is not in all their\nthoughts, and then it matters not whether it be the promise of the\nserpent, or the fairness of the daughters of men. Gen. iii. 4, 5.\n\nThe multiplying of men on the face of the earth is noticed as connected\nwith all this corruption--just as in the history of the Church. Acts vi.\n1. It was when the number of disciples was multiplied that murmurings\nand disputings began to arise; and these kindred cases in Genesis vi.\nand Acts vi. tell us that man is never to be trusted, and that the more\nwe get of him the worse things are. \"Jesus did not commit Himself to\nthem, for He knew all men, and needed not that any should testify of\nman, for He knew what was in man.\"\n\nSuch was the condition of the scene from one end to the other; and\nagainst all this corruption and violence which now overspread the earth,\nthe judgment of God is marked--\"My spirit shall not _always_ strive with\nman.\" There may be, and there shall be, a term of long-suffering--as it\nis said, \"his days shall be one hundred and twenty years\"--but still\njudgment is marked, and the day of visitation will come--the Spirit will\nnot _always_ strive.\n\nBut there is resource in God, as well as judgment with Him. If man, the\nwork of His _hand_, have \"grieved\" Him, still, drawing from Himself, He\nwill (may I say?) go deeper, and find His joy in the counsels of His\n_heart_.\n\n\"Noah found grace in the eyes of the Lord.\" Man, as a sinner, shall\nbecome the object of electing, pardoning, justifying love--he shall\nengage the _heart_ now, as of old, at creation, he engaged the _hand_ of\nthe Lord.\n\nThus from Himself the Lord draws, but from Himself in a deeper sense and\nway than before. This was to be no more repairing of the creature--such\na thing would have been no fit work for God. As to man, God had to\nrepent that He had made him on the earth; and as to the scene around\nhim, the mind of God was changed--changed unalterably, and for ever.\nMan, as a thing formed of the dust, was never to be the divine delight\nagain--mere man. But grace can make a new thing--not repairing the work\nmarred on the wheel, but making it another vessel, as it seem good to\nthe potter to make it. In its old estate it was ruined, but in its ruins\ngrace will take it up to make it a goodly and a pleasant vessel of\nrichest treasures and all-desirable beauty.\n\nWe admire a ruin; and some, as they have thought of this, have suspected\nthe _moral_ of such a sentiment, and been ready to condemn the heart and\neye that could linger with pleasure over what was the witness of decay\nand death, and the entrance of the power of sin. But I would venture to\nembolden such, and to tell them that they may still admire a ruin, and\ndo so without fear or self-judgment. The redeemed thing is a vast, and\nprecious, and beautiful ruin; it will bespeak the power of sin and death\nfor ever, while displaying the boundless, glorious victory of death's\nDestroyer. And the thoughts of the Spirit of God, the mind of Christ, as\nwell as heaven itself and all its hosts, will linger over that ruin for\na happy eternity. It will be the ornament and the delight of the\ncreation of God. \"Sing, O ye heavens; for the Lord hath done it! Shout,\nye lower parts of the earth; break forth into singing, ye mountains, O\nforest, and every tree therein; for the Lord hath redeemed Jacob!\" And\nagain, \"Joy shall be in heaven over one sinner that repenteth, more than\nover ninety-and-nine just persons which need no repentance.\"\n\nThis is heaven's admiration of a beautiful ruin; and these are the ways\nof God. The operations of His hands were, of old, His delight, and the\ncounsels of His grace are now His delight, and the attending angels have\ntheir music, and their dancing in the house of the prodigal's Father.\n\nNoah, having thus found grace in the eyes of the Lord, becomes the\nsubject of divine teaching. An elect vessel is always the vessel for the\nhandiwork of God, through the Spirit. The Lord communicates His mind to\nhim; He tells him that the judgment of an evil world, which had now\nfilled up its measure, was marked before Him, but that for him and his\nhouse there was safety, and a great deliverance.\n\nThis communication has a very precious character in it--_it is strictly\naccording to the previous counsel of His own bosom_. This is very much\nto be prized. God tells His elect one, that the end of all flesh was\ncome before Him--as, in His own secret counsels He had already said, \"My\nspirit shall not _always_ strive with man;\" He tells him of the sense\nand judgment He had of the _moral_ condition of the earth--just such as\nHe had uttered in secret before; and, further, He tells him to get ready\nan ark for the saving of his house, as, in the counsels of His electing\nlove and sovereign purpose, Noah had already found grace in His eyes.\n\nIt is very establishing to the heart to notice this. It lets us\nunderstand how _exactly_ the revelation made to us puts us into\npossession of the divine mind, \"Shall I hide from Abraham that thing\nwhich I do?\" says the Lord, on another occasion, when He was, as here,\nspeaking to Himself. And a _fulness_, as well as exactness, I may say,\ndistinguishes these revelations. Jesus says to His disciples, \"_All_\nthings that I have heard of my Father I have made known unto you\"--with,\nhowever, one exception. The Lord God had fixed 120 years as the term of\nHis longsuffering. Noah's preaching, as well as ark-building, was to be\nfor that period. Such was the purpose of God. But Noah was told nothing\nof this predestinated interval. The Lord kept back all mention of the\n120 years. Noah knew, indeed, that the waters could not prevail till he\nand his were safe in the ark, but how long that might be preparing, or\nwhether or not, after it was finished, any time should pass ere the\nwaters should begin to rise, he knew not. This part of the divine\ncounsel the Father kept in His own power; this was the exception to the\nfulness of the communication. Events were to take place, signs were to\nprecede \"the day of the Lord\"--such, at least, as the finishing and\nfilling of the ark. In the language of the prophet, the bud was to\nbecome tender, and to put forth its leaves. Had any one talked to Noah\nabout the waters rising ere the ark was ready, Noah would not have been\nshaken in mind, or in anywise troubled. That could not be. \"The time\ndraweth nigh\" would have been deceit then, as it will be by-and-by, when\nthe earthly remnant, or election, are, like Noah, waiting for\nredemption. Luke xxi. 8. But still, the period itself, the term of the\ndivine longsuffering, was put in the Father's power, and no one knew the\nday nor the hour. So rich and full are those harmonies in earlier and\nlatter days, in typical and closing actions of God's hand. Noah was at\nthis time an _earthly_ man--that is an elect one destined for\ninheritance in the earth, as the nation of Israel, by-and-by, will be;\nand both of them, in their several days, are provided, by divine\ninstructions, against the deceits which might alarm them, or the\npromises which might seduce them; but the day and hour of their\ndeliverance are not told.\n\nThe ark, in the size, fashion, and material of it, is entirely the\nprescription of God. Noah has but to make it--the Lord plans it as well\nas appoints it. The making of it is only the trial and the proof of\nfaith--\"by faith Noah, moved with fear, prepared an ark to the saving of\nhis house.\" Israel fashioning the sanctuary, in after days, was a like\nact of faith. They had to make it, and make it they did, with willing\nhearts and ready service, yielding their brass, and their silver, and\ntheir gold, their fine linen, badgers' skins, shittim-wood, oil, spices,\nand precious stones. But all this was only the obedience of faith to the\nway of deliverance and peace, which God Himself had planned and\nrevealed. They made the sanctuary as Noah made the ark; but neither was\nhis act nor their act anything more than faith in the provisions of God.\nAnd what is the gospel, and faith in the gospel, to this hour, but such\na revelation of the provisions of grace, and such obedience to that\nrevelation? The religion of the elect has ever been the same--\"It is of\nfaith, that it might be by grace.\" Faith in God's sovereign provisions\nwas Adam's religion at the beginning, then it was Noah's, afterwards it\nwas the religion of Abraham, and of every true Israelite; and so at this\nday it is ours. We all, as well as Adam, come forth from our shame, and\nfear, and confusion of conscience, at the tidings of the bruised and\nbruising Seed of the woman. We all, as well as Noah, prepare an ark for\nsalvation, and become heirs of the righteousness which is by faith; we\nall as well as Israel, betake us from the fiery hill to the sanctuary of\nenthroned mercy--and Jesus, Jesus, is the name borne along the line,\nfrom one end of it to the other, of patriarchs, prophets, apostles, and\nsaints, Gentile and Jewish, small and great, in the deep-toned melody\nthat is to charm the eternity of heaven.\n\nIt is not merely mercy. Heaven knows no such thought. Neither is it\nsimple, naked promise. It is _propitiation_ and victory, and _purchased_\nas well as promised blessings.\n\nInspect the sanctuary of God and you will find that it is not mere mercy\nthat is there. It is enthroned mercy, mercy on the ark of the covenant,\nmercy sustained by the work and on the person of the Son of God. And\nfaith has respect only to such a mystery as that. Faith never talks of\nmere mercy. It could not. It could no more talk of mere mercy in God\nthan it could of moral righteousness in man. The gospel does not know\nsuch ideas, and therefore faith cannot apprehend them. The gospel\nreveals One who is just, while justifying the ungodly. Mercy and truth\nhave met together. It is glory to God in the highest while it is peace\nand good will to men. This is the way of the gospel.\n\nAbraham is in the faith of this, as we see in Genesis xv. The Lord had\nsaid to him, \"I will give thee this land to inherit it.\" This was a\npromise, the promise too of One that could not lie. It was an immutable\nthing. And Abraham rightly listened to this. As a sinner, who knew full\nwell and full justly, that promises to such an one must have foundations\nand warranty, he listened to it; therefore he at once says, \"Whereby\nshall I know that I shall inherit it?\" Is this a challenge of the\npromise? Is this a question of the divine truthfulness? No, indeed. It\nis only faith letting God know, that it was a conscious sinner who was\nlistening to His promise, which needed therefore some warranty, or\nconsideration, to carry it with certainty to the heart. And the Lord was\nwell pleased with this. Faith always pleases Him, as without it nothing\ndoes. And at once He prepares to let Abraham know that _sacrifice\nsustained the promise_.\n\nOur patriarch, before Abraham, was in the like faith. And walking in the\nsteps of the same faith he takes an advanced character. He attains\nrighteousness. \"Thee have I seen righteous before me in this\ngeneration,\" is now the word of God to him. \"By faith Noah, being warned\nof God of things not seen as yet, moved with fear, prepared an ark to\nthe saving of his house; by the which he condemned the world, _and\nbecame heir of the righteousness which is by faith_.\"\n\nLove, and faith, and the patience of hope were, however, each to animate\nhis soul, and form his life, for that solemn interval of 120 years.\nWhile the ark was preparing, the Spirit, in Noah's preaching, was\nstriving with that generation. Nothing can be more beautifully replete\nwith meaning than all this. Noah was in the work of faith, the labour of\nlove, and the patience of hope--a true Thessalonian saint. He was\npreparing the ark in that faith which had received the divine\nwarning--in love he was telling his generation of righteousness. 2 Peter\nii. 5. Just like a saint of this day. His own safety is settled and\nsure--_that_ he knows; but he is careful that his neighbours should\nshare it with him. The Spirit then strove in the testimony as now He\nstrives; but every stroke of Noah's hammer day by day told that He would\nnot _always_ strive.\n\nAt the close of this predestinated but undisclosed period, Noah enters\nthe ark. This was the great salvation in a mystery. It was as the night\nof Egypt's doom and Israel's rescue. Nothing less than safety and\ndeliverance under the fullest securities and dearest title in an hour of\nmost solemn judgment, was now the story of Noah. And this is the\nsalvation of the gospel. In Egypt afterwards, the very hand which\ncarried the sword of destruction along the land had appointed the\nsheltering blood. Could the sword strike? Impossible! And now it was He,\nwho took counsel with Himself about the judgment of the world, who had\nalso counselled His elect about the way of escape. It was the hand which\nwas about to let the waters out which was now shutting Noah in. Could\nthey then prevail against him! Just, in like manner, impossible!\n\n      \"The voice that speaks in thunder\n      Says, 'Sinner, I am thine.'\"\n\nThe One to whom vengeance belongs has settled all the plan of safety. He\nthat is bearing the sword into the land has appointed the scarlet line\nin the window. But a solemn scene of judgment accompanies all this. The\nsun was risen on the earth, as, after this, Lot entered into Zoar. And\nyet that sunny hour was the very time for the rain of brimstone and fire\nto fall. Nothing could be done till Lot entered the city, but then\nnothing remained to be done ere the fire came down.\n\nHow deeply was the moment of visitation hid! They might well have said,\n\"Peace and safety,\" when they saw that morning sun, as he was wont,\ngilding the bright and happy surface of the scene around them. But even\nthen the \"sudden destruction\" fell.\n\nNoah's generation was eating, and drinking, and marrying, just as the\nwater began to rise. There was no harbinger, save, like Lot's escape to\nZoar, Noah's entrance into the ark. But that was folly. To imprison\nhimself and all that he had in the sides of a ship aground, that _was_\nfolly. But the flood came in the moment of fancied security, and took\nthem all away. They were \"willingly ignorant\" of the word of God, the\ntestimony of the \"preacher of righteousness;\" one who addressed them in\nthe power and on the principle of a resurrection hope. 1 Peter iii.\n\nSudden and sure destruction on all outside, but divine, infallible\nsecurity on all within. The city of refuge was _appointed of God_, and\nits walls must be salvation. Impossible to be less. The same\nrighteousness which has pronounced a curse on every one that continueth\nnot in all things written in the book of the law to do them, has\nlikewise pronounced a curse on every one that hangeth on a tree. Gal.\niii. Can He then deny His own remedy to the sinner, cursed under the\nlaw, when he pleads, by faith, the Saviour cursed on the tree? Alike,\nimpossible.\n\n\"The Lord shut him in.\" The hand of the Lord imparted its own strength\nand security to Noah's condition. It is not too bold to say, that all\nwithin the door of the ark were as safe as the Lord Himself. The Lord\nreturned, we may say, to His own heavens, or to His throne, which is\nestablished for ever, and Noah was left on the earth, in the place and\nday of judgment. But Noah was as safe as the Lord. \"We may have boldness\nin the day of judgment: because as He is, so are we in this world.\"\nJesus has gone back to heaven, and we are still in this world, the\njudgment of which is marked before God; but we have the boldness which\nis proper to Jesus. Wonderful to utter it! And yet is all that\nmysterious, glorious security figured in that little action, \"The Lord\nshut him in.\" God's own hand imparted its strength to Noah's condition\nere He returned to the heavens.\n\nSome of every sort are borne with Noah from the place of death into the\nark of salvation. The \"eight souls,\" as Peter speaks, but with them,\nremnants of the beasts of the earth, small and great, winged fowl and\ncreeping things, all are housed and redeemed together with Noah.\n\nSo was it afterwards in Egypt. Not a hoof was left behind. The great\nredemption of that day, in like manner, provided for all--Moses and the\n600,000, with their wives and little ones, and also all their cattle;\nall again knew and manifested the saving strength of God. As in the day\nof Nineveh, long after, \"the much cattle\" are the Lord's thought, as the\nsix-score thousand persons that could not discern between their right\nhand and their left.\n\nAnd in the coming day of the inheritance of Christ, His dominions will\nmeasure all the works of God's hand, \"All sheep and oxen, yea, and the\nbeasts of the field; the fowl of the air, and the fish of the sea;\" and\nthe fields and the floods, and the hills and trees of the wood, shall be\njoyful before Him. Psalm xcviii.\n\nWelcome mystery! Are they not all His creatures? Did not His hand of old\nform them, and His eyes and His heart rest and delight in them? And is\nthis lost to Him? May Jonah grieve for his withered gourd, and the Lord\nnot spare the works of His own hand for His abiding joy? He will renew\nthe face of the earth, as it is written--The glory of the Lord shall\nendure for ever, the Lord shall rejoice in His works. Psalm civ. 31.\n\"The earnest expectation of the creature waiteth for the manifestation\nof the sons of God. For the creature was made subject to vanity, not\nwillingly, but by reason of Him who hath subjected the same in hope,\nbecause the creature itself also shall be delivered from the bondage of\ncorruption into the liberty of the glory of the children of God.\"\n\nBut it is here that I may pause for a moment, to notice the\ndispensational character of these days of Noah.\n\n\nThe earth, as the scene of God's delight, and of His people's\ncitizenship, had been lost by the apostasy of Adam; and the hopes and\ninheritance of the saints, all through the days before the flood, were\nheavenly--the Lord thereby disclosing, though faintly, certain portions\nof the great secrets of His own bosom--the secrets of the good pleasure\npurposed in Himself ere worlds were, that heaven, as well as earth,\nshould be connected with the destinies of man. The heavens were opened\nto man, when Adam, the man of the earth, failed. Gen. v. 24.\n\nThat was so. But earth was not shut because heaven was thus opened. The\ndivine counsel ran otherwise. It was this--that God would \"gather\ntogether in one all things in Christ, both which are in heaven, and\nwhich are on earth.\" And the heavenly calling having been already\nrevealed in the story of the saints before the flood, the due season had\nnow come for the revelation of God's great purpose concerning the earth,\nand to make it known that He had not given it up, because, in His\ndispensational ways, He had taken up the heavens.\n\nAs in Rev. iv. When the heavenly saints, \"the fulness of the Gentiles,\"\nthe mystic elders and living creatures, are seated in their heavenly\nplaces, the thoughts of Him who sat on the throne there return to the\nearth. The rainbow is _at once_ seen around the throne--the witness of\nthis, that the covenant which gives security _to the earth_ was about to\nbe the spring of action in heaven. And so now in these days of Noah.\nWhen the heavenly family had ended their course, and Enoch was\ntranslated, the Lord's thoughts returned to the earth, and that, I may\nsay, _at once_; for the next thing of character in the progress of the\nhand, or the Spirit of God, is the prophecy of Lamech, pledging God and\nHis mercies to the earth again, and introducing Noah--\"This same [Noah]\nshall comfort us concerning our work and toil of our hands, because of\nthe ground which the Lord hath cursed.\"\n\nThis is all simple--scarcely capable of being misunderstood. The\nprophecy of Lamech, which introduces it, tells us what we are to expect\nand find in the mystery of Noah. \"The key of the parable lies at the\ndoor.\" The recovery of the earth, the return of God's rest and delight\nin it, all this will be made good in the coming times of the true Noah,\nin whom, and in whom alone, all the promises of God are yea and amen.\n\nA great action, however, must usher in those times. The call of the\nheavenly people is quite otherwise, as in the call of the antediluvian\nsaints. There was in those days no interference with the scene around.\nCain's family was left in possession--quiet, undisputed possession--of\ntheir cities and their wealth. The visitation of God then, as always\nunder such a call, only separated a people without affecting either to\nregulate or judge the world. It left it as it found it. But God's claim\nto the earth, and His purpose to take it up again, is necessarily\notherwise. There He is as _thoroughly interfering with every thing_, as\nin the other way of His \"manifold wisdom\" He was _utterly leaving all\nalone_. For by judgment He must purge the earth, and get it fit to be\nHis footstool.\n\nAll this is the dispensational truth we learn here, in this parable, or\nin these times of Noah. The earth has been remembered, and is now\nresumed, but through purifying judgments. All takes the sentence of\ndeath into itself, that it may stand as a new thing, in the strength and\ngrace of Him who quickens the dead. The earth itself was in the water,\nor under the water, and the elect remnant were saved--as in the\nappointed city of refuge--from the hand of the avenger; and all\ntherefore appears again, as in resurrection.\n\nBeasts, and fowl, and creeping things, some of every sort, go into the\nark; and there, within that refuge, which kept its charge in peace from\nfear of evil, the ransomed passed the days of their patience.\n\nBut they were more than safe. They were _remembered_--\"God remembered\nNoah, and every living thing, and all the cattle that was with him in\nthe ark.\" So did Joshua, in other days, remember Rahab. The scene of\ndeath and judgment lay all around our patriarch. It was one vast, and\ndeep, and mighty ruin--an extended Jericho the accursed--another and a\nwider land of Pharaoh, with the doom of the Lord resting darkly and\nheavily upon it. But He who had already shut His remnant in, now\nremembers them; and in that remembrance there was present life, and, in\nprospect, a goodly inheritance.\n\nIt will be so with another elect remnant, in coming days. Before the\nsame covenant God, who was now keeping Noah in mind, a book of\nremembrance will be written for them that fear the Lord and think upon\nHis name. Mal. iii. And of them the Lord says, \"They shall be mine in\nthat day when I make up my jewels;\" as now, in virtue of this\ncovenant-remembrance, the Lord causes a wind to pass over the earth, the\nwaters abate, and the ark rests on the mountains of Ararat.\n\nThis remembrance of God was most precious. But Noah, in his city of\nrefuge, had other consolations. The divine remembrance was the hidden\ncomfort of faith; but he had also blessed, conscious exercises of\nspirit.\n\nThe ark had a window in it. The door was in the keeping of the Lord, but\nthe window was for Noah's use. He who had shut him in, alone could let\nhim out--the times and the seasons were in _His_ hand. But while the\ntime of his pilgrimage, as a prisoner of hope, cannot be shortened, yet\nmay the hopes of such a prisoner be very preciously nourished, and his\nspirit within him blessedly exercised. Noah may open the window, remove\nthe covering, look out, and send forth his messengers, his Caleb and\nJoshua and their companions, to spy out the land, and report to him what\nit is, whether it be fat or lean, good or bad, and to bring him the\nfruit of it.\n\nWhat beauty and what wisdom strike the eye and the heart in all this!\nThis window in the ark, and its uses, are so significant! The divine\n_methods_ are so worthy of the divine _communications_! \"Apples of gold\nin pictures of silver\" are the Spirit's words.\n\nTypical, symbolic, parabolic teaching is very acceptable to the heart,\nand makes ready entrance there. We all prove this, just as children like\npictures and stories. Not only, I would here observe, are doctrines thus\ntaught--not only the great mysteries of the glory, but experiences of\nthe soul, the personal inworkings of the Spirit, are illustrated by\nthese same methods. Conviction of sin, for instance, was expressed in\nAdam retreating from the voice of the Lord God, amongst the trees of the\ngarden. The longings and inquiries of a soul awakened to a sense of its\ncondition, if haply it might find its path, are given to us in the\nIsraelite standing at his tent door stripped of his ornaments, and\nlooking after the Mediator as he entered the Tabernacle. Ex. xxxiii. And\nMoses, with his veiled and unveiled face, might have spoken of exercises\nand experiences of heart to us, even had not the Spirit, by His light in\nthe Apostle, helped our understandings. 2 Cor. iii.\n\nWe might go through a thousand such instances. And by this method the\ngreat things of God are pressed home upon the heart. By these figures\nthe Lord is standing very near the heart, and knocking there. It is not\nHis grace displaying itself in the distance, or shining from afar, but\nit is the Lord Himself, and His blessing, coming very near for our full\nacceptance. We may _admire_, but if we do not also _enjoy_, the purpose\nof the revelation is not answered.\n\nNow this method is beautifully preserved in these days of Noah. Indeed\nthe whole of Genesis is full of it. It is a book of \"allegories,\" as St.\nPaul speaks--divine stories written for the school of God.\n\nThe ark, as I have already noticed, had its door and its window, and\nNoah had his spies to send into the promised land--and the mission of\nthese spies, the raven and the dove, express the experience of the saint\nin the contrary workings of the flesh and spirit, which contend in him.\n\nThe raven never returns. The earth may be still unpurged, but the\nunclean nature can take up with it. The \"present evil world\" will do\nwell enough for fallen, degraded man. Indeed, the ark was rather a place\nof captivity than security, to the unclean raven. She never returns to\nit when once escaped. But Noah will not trust her. Beautiful saintly\nintelligence! The raven may remain outside; but that is no proof to Noah\nthat the earth is clean, or fit for the sole of his foot. Noah will not\ntrust her, but sends out a clean creature after her. And different\nindeed are the tidings which she bears. It is, in principle, the contest\nof Caleb and Joshua with their companion spies. The dove returns\ninstinctively. There was no rest for her in a place still under judgment\nof God, and unpurged. And Noah, conscious that he can trust her and\ncommit the question to her settlement, sends her out a second and a\nthird time. And well indeed he may trust her. Her only sympathy is with\nthe pledges of peace and of a new creation. On her second return she\nbears an olive-leaf in her mouth, and after her third mission she never\ncomes back.\n\nBeautiful mystery! The earth was redeemed from the curse now, and in its\nnew-creation state the dove can delight. All is native air to her. It is\nnow the land of the turtle and the olive, and Noah understands the\nabsence of this clean creature. He at once removes the covering from the\nark, and looks out; and the God of glory shortly lets him out, as the\nGod of all grace had before shut him in.\n\nSurely the ways of a saint, the ways of the mind of Christ, are here! I\nknow not that any action can be more pregnant with meaning. There was\nthe ark, and its window, and its door. The ark itself was for safety,\nthe window for a prospect, and the door for an exodus, in due season.\nAll this was faith and hope ending their pilgrimage in the place of\npromised glory.\n\nNoah suspected not the ark; he did not occupy himself in feeling its\ntimbers, whether indeed they were keeping the waters outside--he had no\ndoubt of that. He had no pump in his ship, if I may be allowed the\nfigure; and I may utter it, since, homely as it is, it glorifies Jesus\nin the security He gives the sinner; for such is the very style of\nScripture itself.\n\nThe lesson taught us may be the profoundest in the mind of the Spirit,\nbut the school where it is learnt may be a despised place. Look, for\ninstance, at Genesis xlviii. You are there at the bedside of a dying old\nman--a common homely spot. But there, some of the deepest and richest\nsecrets of the mind of God are, in a figure, conveyed to us--the great\nmystery of our adoption, according to divine good pleasure; and then our\nwelcome into the family of God, in the day of our manifestation, or\nconversion. And what richer counsels of grace are there than those? And\nyet in what more common or homely school could they have been taught us?\n\nAs in still earlier days, in Genesis xvi. There you are introduced to\nthe domestic arrangement of Abraham's family as to the servant and her\nmistress, and their disputes; and yet, in all that, you get the profound\nmystery of the two covenants. Gal. iv. And again, in the act, the\nordinary act, of discharging a servant, another feature in the same\nmystery is presented to us, in chapter xxi. The wisdom of God delights\nin these scenes and materials; they rebuke the erring thought of man's\nheart, that important things must be done or said by imposing\nmethods--that the prophet must come forth and strike his hand over the\nplace. 2 Kings v. 11. But it is with rude and inartificial instruments\nthat both the wisdom of God and the power of God are commonly seen.\nRams' horns blew down Jericho, and fishermen turned the world upside\ndown, as was said of them. But these homely methods of God's wisdom aid\nin carrying the instruction home, and lodging it deep in the intimacies\nand recollections of the heart. I may therefore still say that Noah's\nship had no pump in it. Indeed it could not. Such a thing would have\nwitnessed against it. God's provisions would have declared their own\ninsufficiency. That could never have been. God's provisions and God's\nworks always tell _whose_ they are by being _what_ they are. Simplicity,\nand yet sufficiency, give them their character. \"Let there be light, and\nthere was light.\" \"Believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be\nsaved;\" and the sinner, believing, rejoiced in God with all his house.\n\nSo, in like simplicity, in these earlier days. The heart of Noah was not\nsoiled by a suspicion. He rested in the sea-worthiness of his vessel,\nbecause of God's appointment and approval of it--nay, I may say, because\nof God's building of it. Faith keeping his heart quiet and assured as to\nthe judgment, hope fills it as to the coming glory.\n\nSuch is the beautiful way of this \"prisoner of hope.\" _A prisoner of\nhope_ is one of the Spirit's titles, I may say, for all the saints of\nGod. Jeremiah was such an one in his day. Jeremiah was shut up in \"the\ncourt of the prison, which was in the king of Judah's house,\" and this,\ntoo, for Christ's sake. He was God's prisoner, and such an one is always\nhope's prisoner. Jeremiah is told to purchase Hananiah's field, and that\nwas food for hope, like the olive-leaf in the mouth of the dove. It told\nthe prophet of good days to come, though at that moment he was in a\nprison, the Chaldean army at the city gates, and all the land deserted.\nThe waters were again all around and abroad; but the ark of the prophet,\nlike that of the patriarch, had a window in it.\n\nSo was Israel a prisoner of hope in the night of the passover. With shoe\non foot, staff in hand, and girded loins, Israel waited in the very\nmidst of the judgments of the Lord; but, like our patriarch, they waited\nthere only to pass out to the inheritance of the Lord. And having the\npre-eminence in all things, Jesus again and again shows us the perfect\nway of a prisoner of hope, looking for a resurrection portion. As when\nHe entered Jerusalem, in John xii., the Jewish multitudes and the\nGentile strangers being drawn thither to inquire after Him, and all the\ndignities and joys of the Son of David seeming to wait on Him, His heart\nwaits on the resurrection hope still, \"the joy set before him,\" and\nforth from that attitude of soul, or place of expectation, He speaks of\nthe corn of wheat falling into the ground and dying. Steadily and\ndesirously did His eye rest on the glory which lay, not _in_ that hour,\nbut _beyond_ it. In a spirit of entire consecration and sacrifice, He\nsurrenders _that_ hour (bright to Him in the world as it was, and big\nwith the promise of all its kingdoms and the glory thereof) to the\nFather: and the voice from heaven then visits this perfect, blessed\n\"prisoner of hope,\" with assurances that, in due season, even\nresurrection times, His name and victory and honour should all be\nprovided for and secured.\n\nMatchless Jesus!--This voice from heaven was again the food of hope's\nprisoner. And what was the transfiguration on the holy hill but the\nsame? Jesus had been speaking to the disciples of His death, and\nencouraging them (as He would us, beloved) not to love their lives in\nthis world, when, soon after, six or eight days, as we read, the holy\nhill shines suddenly with the light of resurrection or millennial\nregions. And what was all that visitation of glory, but the grapes of\nEshcol brought from Canaan to the camp of God in the desert; or as the\nreturn of the dove to Noah, with the olive-leaf in her mouth?\n\n\nThe time, however, for \"rendering double\" to this \"prisoner of hope\"\n(Zech. ix. 12), comes in due course. \"And God spake unto Noah, saying,\nGo forth of the ark, thou, and thy wife, and thy sons, and thy sons'\nwives with thee! bring forth with thee every living thing that is with\nthee, of all flesh, both of fowl and of cattle, and of every creeping\nthing that creepeth upon the earth.\" And Noah went forth. He landed on\nthe renewed earth, where, at that mystic moment, all was, in a great\nsense, according to God's mind again; no longer corrupt, as when he had\nlast trod it in its old estate, but clean, under the refining of the\njudgment.\n\nNot a thing had gone into the ark thirteen months before, which did not\nnow come forth. The small and the great had been in it, and the small\nwere as safe as the great; the creeping thing of the ditch or the hedge,\nas free of all danger or harm as Noah himself. Precious mystery! We may\nbe little, and we are little, as the heart knows full well; but heaven,\nor the coming system of glory, has fitted itself like the ark, for the\nreceiving of the small as well as the great. \"A voice came out of the\nthrone, saying, Praise our God, all ye His servants, and ye that fear\nHim, both small and great.\" We may be calm, though we know ourselves to\nbe \"small\" in every way, even as the creeping thing that went in with\nNoah--for such a little one was equally in the covenant, or \"the family\nsettlement,\" which made each and all, in their way and measure,\ninheritors of the new world. The Father's house on high has surely made\nits reckoning according to these differences of \"small and great.\" As in\nancient days of typical glory, all the congregation of Israel, the\ndistant ones of Dan and Naphtali, as well as the princes of Judah,\njoined in the shout of triumph when the fire came down, and in mystery,\nthe kingdom was entered. Lev. ix. Clement and others were not Paul in\nthe measure of their labours, or in the energy of the Spirit; but they\nwere Paul as having their names, alike with his, in the book of life.\nPhil. iv. 3. The Father has built His house in the heavens, on the very\nplan of its receiving the saints as well as Jesus Himself. It was part\nof the original design. Ere foundations were laid, that plan and purpose\nwere laid. In counsels of everlasting love it was provided that the\nhouse should be a large one, a many-roomed or mansioned house, that all\nthe children might be there.\n\nWhat say we, beloved? Do our thoughts of it and glances at it do justice\nto this love of God? As well might you say, your prospect from the\nhighest of the hills could do justice to God's creation. Could your\nglance then measure the ten thousandth part of the earth? The length,\nthe depth, the breadth, the height--the love of Christ which passeth\nknowledge!\n\n\n\"And Noah builded an altar unto the Lord; and took of every clean beast,\nand every clean fowl, and offered burnt offerings on the altar. And the\nLord smelled a sweet savour: and the Lord said in His heart, I will not\nagain curse the ground any more for man's sake; for the imagination of\nman's heart is evil from his youth: neither will I again smite any more\nevery thing living, as I have done. While the earth remaineth, seed time\nand harvest, and cold and heat, and summer and winter, and day and\nnight, shall not cease.\" The cleansing of the waters of judgment had\nmade no change in the imaginations of the thoughts of man's heart. They\nwere still evil, and that only. The heart was uncured, for \"that which\nis born of the flesh is flesh,\" though there be water to cleanse or fire\nto refine. It was no change there which gave the Lord thoughts of peace\nand not of evil towards men.\n\n\"Faith eyes the blood of Christ, and not victory over corruptions,\" as\none has said, even where there is such victory. But here, _in spite of\ncorruptions_, that blood awakens thoughts of peace and not of evil, to\ngive the sinner an expected end. Christ was under the eye of God, and\nthat was enough; as in the day of atonement. The blood of sprinkling is\nthen seen everywhere. That was the great secret, the great principle, of\nthat mystic day in Israel. The blood of the lamb (Lev. xvi.) went into\nthe presence of God, attended by a cloud of incense; so that Aaron\nhimself was hid, and there was no man in the tabernacle of the\ncongregation, as the holy service of putting the blood on every thing\nproceeded. Christ in mystery was seen, and nothing else--and the fruit\nof that was the bearing away of sins into the wilderness, a land not\ninhabited, a place of forgetfulness, where there was no voice to accuse,\nto judge, or to condemn, where nothing _could_ be heard but the voice of\nthat blood which speaketh better things than the blood of Abel.\n\nThat blood, now under the eye of the Lord God, had moved His heart. Do I\nspeak as a man? No, the word is, \"The Lord said in His heart, I will not\nagain curse the ground.\" As the Saviour Himself says (in spirit bound\nfor the altar), \"Therefore doth my Father _love_ me, because I lay down\nmy life.\" The heart of the Lord God has sealed the acceptance of the\nsacrifice. It did so here, in the times of Noah.\n\nThis word that broke from the heart of the Lord God in Noah's day, the\npassage of the burning lamp in Abraham's day (Gen. xv.), and the answer\nof God to Solomon (2 Chron. i.), all witness to the value of the cross\nof Christ with God established. The rending of the veil from top to\nbottom, the breaking of the rocks, and the bursting of the graves,\nwitness the same, when the true offering was once and for ever\naccomplished. In rich variety of form and character is the acceptance of\nthe work done in \"the place that is called Calvary\" testified and\npublished--in every tongue and language, as it were, in Hebrew, and\nGreek, and Latin.\n\nAnd Noah becomes at once the object of fresh and multiplied blessings,\nblessings in glory and inheritance now, as already he had blessings in\nelection, an acceptance of grace and the righteousness which is by\nfaith. \"God blessed Noah and his sons, and said unto them, Be fruitful,\nand multiply, and replenish the earth. And the fear of you, and the\ndread of you, shall be upon every beast of the earth, and upon every\nfowl of the air, upon all that moveth upon the earth, and upon all the\nfishes of the sea: into your hand they are delivered.\"\n\nNoah was blessed in the new world. That blessing conveyed to him\nproperty and dominion in the earth, and the use or enjoyment of the\ncreatures good for food. \"Every moving thing that liveth\" was given to\nhim, that it might be meat for him.\n\nHere was a large grant, as wide as the scene which lay around him. He\nwas monarch of all he surveyed, lord, like Adam in the garden, of the\nnew world. Instructed, however, as well as honoured and enriched--taught\nthat the _blood_ of the animal was not to be eaten with its _flesh_:\n\"the flesh with the blood thereof, which is the life thereof, thou shalt\nnot eat\"--a principle which involves all the thoughts and counsels of\nGod in His way with sinners--as suited a prohibition, or limitation to\nthe grant made to Noah now, as had been the prohibition of the tree in\nthe midst of the garden, to the grant of all things else made to Adam.\n\nThe blood was the life, and man was not to eat it. It would have been a\nbold re-assuming of that which through sin he had lost, a challenge to\nregain life by forcing the passage kept by the sword of the cherubim.\nFor this ordinance told the sinner, that having lost his title to the\ntree of life, he can never return to it in his own strength. The life\nhas reverted to God. Blood is His. And the gospel comes to tell us how\nHe has used it, even providing with it and through it new, eternal,\ninfallible life for the dead sinner.\n\nThe way of God in the gospel was, therefore, rehearsed to Noah in this\nordinance: \"The flesh with the blood thereof, which is the life thereof,\nthou shalt not eat.\" His altar had already told us that he stood with\nAdam in the faith of the woman's Seed, and that that mystery was the\nprinciple of his religion and his worship. But here, while making over\nevery thing to him for property, dominion, and use, the Lord will not\npass by this great exception out of the grant; conveying, as it does,\nthe great secret or principle of His gospel. In the changed\ncircumstances of Adam and Noah, in the difference between an upright\ncreature and a ruined sinner, this exception was as fitting and\nnecessary, as I have said, as that of the tree of knowledge out of the\ngrant of all with which the Lord, the Creator, had of old, furnished and\nfilled the scene.\n\nWe take life from Christ who has made atonement by His blood. But we\ndeeply own we can get it nowhere else. _We do not look for it elsewhere,\nbut we refuse it not from Him._ We know we were dead in trespasses and\nsins, but we know that we have life in Him, though only in Him. Adam\nlearnt these things in the promise of the woman's Seed, and in the sword\nof the cherubim; Noah learnt them or witnessed them in his altar and in\nthis ordinance; these things the whole book of God declares; and\neternity will celebrate them.\n\nFurther, however, still--for in this blessing we find Noah with the\nsword of justice in his hand. His fellow-man was to be both protected\nand avenged. Man's person was sacred; and his life or blood, if shed by\neither man or beast, would be required. \"And surely your blood of your\nlives will I require; at the hand of every beast will I require it, and\nat the hand of man; at the hand of every man's brother, will I require\nthe life of man. Whoso sheddeth man's blood, by man shall his blood be\nshed.\"[6]\n\n  [6] It has been justly said by another, that the principle of\n      _government_ was represented in Noah; that Adam had been the\n      representative head of _creation_, and that Noah is the same now\n      of _government_. And I doubt not, that after the judicial\n      scattering from Babel, the nations became associations in which\n      God still recognized the sword of justice and the seat of\n      government, which therefore are still to be exercised, and ought\n      still to be religiously owned and reverenced.\n\nWho does not instinctively approve of this? All that we feel judges the\nfitness of thus treating the person of man as sacred. While every other\nmoving thing that lived was submitted to the use of man, his fellow-man\nwas to be sacred in his eyes.\n\nWe instinctively approve this. But this scripture accounts for this\ninstinct. The reason lies here--\"in the image of God made He man.\" There\nis a dignity in man that is entirely his own. He is the natural head of\ncreation. Man is the possessor and governor, and not part of the\nconveyed inheritance, or of the delegated dominion. He is the object and\nnot the subject of the divine grant. The instinctive verdict of our own\nhearts is thus divinely accounted for.\n\nAfter this, however, a great subject opens before us. \"With thee will I\nestablish my covenant\" had been God's word to Noah, before the ark was\nmade, or the waters had come. vi. 18. Now that the judgment is past, and\nthe new earth is inherited, that covenant is fully detailed, as well as\npledged again to God's elect. ix. 8-17. And it is here that the word\n\"covenant\" is first used. The covenants of which we read in Scripture\nare all specific, having their parties and their objects well defined\nand plainly declared. There is no mistaking of them. Whether it be this\ncovenant of the earth with Noah, the covenant with Abraham and his seed,\nthe covenant of priesthood with Phinehas, or that of the throne with\nDavid, all is defined--the parties are declared and the objects set\nforth. Nor do these, nor any of them, I surely judge, contemplate the\npeculiar calling of the Church. Spiritual calling in heavenly places,\nand the results of oneness with Christ, are neither described nor\nconveyed by them. But the Scriptures of the New Testament abundantly\ndeclare a _purpose_, or a counsel, of God according to the good pleasure\nof His will; a mystery hid in God, before the foundation of the world,\nin which the Church is directly interested. See Romans xvi. 25; 1 Cor.\nii. 7; Eph. i. 9; iii. 8-11; Col. i. 26; 1 Tim. ii. 9.\n\nThe inquiry may arise, Does this purpose or counsel take the form of a\ncovenant? Let us call it covenant, or simply a purpose taken of God;\nstill the great and holy and august transaction itself is richly found\nin the New Testament. But has it, we may still ask, the character of a\ncovenant?\n\nI would not be careful to say that it is ever called so; but I believe\nwe may say, that many things of a covenant nature are intimated as\nattaching to it. Promises are made, consideration or price contemplated,\narrangements formed and fixed, and all this as between distinct parties.\n\"In the volume of the book it is written of Me\"--\"I was set up from\neverlasting\"--and such words of deepest and holiest import have their\nplace in settling these thoughts that arise. And not only were our\nelection, and appointment to our peculiar glory, as in predestination,\nmatters before the world (Rom. viii. 28, 29; Eph. i. 4, 5; 1 Peter i.\n2), but we were then formally or virtually given by the Father to\nChrist. John vi. 37, 39; x. 29; xvii. 1, 6, 8, 9, 11.\n\nAnd eternal life is declared to have been promised before the world\nwas--language which intimates Christ as a party to a blessed transaction\nthen, and one that has covenant character in it. Titus i. 2.\n\nI do not, then, say that this transaction is called a covenant, as God's\ndealing with Noah is, and His dealing with Abraham, with David, and with\nPhinehas; but it has these qualities, or this form of a covenant; the\npresence of distinct parties, considerations and purposes all settled,\nand the whole confirmed and acted on. And how does the spirit of a saint\nwelcome the blessed truth of this great eternal transaction, engaging\nall the Godhead in the behalf of our souls!--as we read, among other\npassages, \"elect according to the foreknowledge of God the Father,\nthrough sanctification of the Spirit unto obedience and sprinkling of\nthe blood of Jesus Christ.\"[7]\n\n  [7] As intimating blessed and distinct actions among the Persons of\n      the Godhead, according to covenant arrangements, we may remember\n      Messiah's words in Isa. xlviii.--\"And now hath the Lord God and\n      His Spirit sent me.\" What words! how full of deep, counselled, and\n      ordered grace towards sinners! And they are quite according to the\n      structure of things in the Gospels--for there not only does the\n      baptism of Jesus but many passages tell us or show us, according\n      to this word of the prophet, that the mission and ministry of the\n      Lord Jesus were under the ordaining of God and the anointing of\n      the Holy Ghost;--the Lord God and His Spirit sent the Son, the\n      Christ or Messiah.\n\nBut what strong foundations are these! what wondrous discoveries of\ngrace! God Himself, Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, in counsel and in\naction for us! In the Gospel, man is in the place of _vision and\naudience only_. It is _God_ that is active. The activities and\nsacrifices are _God's_, and the sinner has but to hear and live, to look\nand be saved. But these doings of God in the gospel of His grace, are\nthe fruit (as we thus see) of precious and wondrous counsels, taken in\nHimself ere worlds were framed. And what, I ask, can surpass this? Can\ntitle or stability for a sinner, such as may allay all motion and\nuneasiness of conscience, be conceived beyond what he gets in this?\nDoings for him by God, and sacrifices made for him, and all this\naccording to counsels ere worlds began! A sinner made happy (may I use\nthis word?) at God's expense!\n\nIt is covenant or counselled service that Jesus has rendered us. A\npromise is made to Noah, that the waters shall not again prevail to\ndestroy the earth, but this promise rests on the strong foundation of\nthe blood of a covenant. Noah's altar had already sent up a sweet\nsavour, a savour of rest, to God, and in the satisfaction and delight of\nthat the Lord had said, I will not again curse the ground for man's\nsake. That blood was the foundation of the promise. Just as with Abraham\nafterwards. The land is promised to him, but it is by the covenant of\nHim who passes through the pieces of the sacrifice. No _promised_\nblessing that is not a _purchased_ blessing also--no throne of grace, as\nwe have said before, that does not stay itself on the ark of the\ncovenant. Gen. xv. 17.\n\nBut the covenant comes with its seal, as well as with its blood. As\nhere. There is _the bow which witnesses it_ as well as _the blood which\nsustains it_. Wondrous thoughts keep themselves before the soul in all\nthis! The foundation and the witness, the blood and the token, the\nconsideration and the attestation of the great act and deed of God come\nto mind here. The like figure whereunto even circumcision afterwards;\nfor as the bow in the cloud, so circumcision in the flesh, is a sign of\ncovenant engagements.\n\nAll such signs, however, beautiful and sure as they may be, are lost\nwhen we think of the great original. For it is the Holy Ghost Himself\nthat is now given as the great sign, the seal of our adoption, the\nearnest of our inheritance, the witness of the accomplished work of\nJesus, and of the acceptance of it in all its sufficiency and\npreciousness.\n\nWhat thoughts are these! The promise of God sustained by the blood of\nthe Son, and witnessed by the presence of the Spirit! How has God\nimparted Himself to us in this marvellous act and deed for sinners! The\nsoul can conceive nothing richer. In divine activities we are\ninterested, but such activities as are founded on everlasting counsels,\nand which make manifest to us and for us the name of God, \"Father, Son,\nand Holy Ghost.\"\n\nHow should it take us out of ourselves, to stand in sight of this! What\na mystery it is; and what have we to do, but with Moses to \"turn aside\nand see this great sight,\" turn aside from all else! The grander \"this\ngreat sight\" presents itself to our eye, the more commanding will it be.\nLet us get rich thoughts of this mystery. \"The secret of the Lord is\nwith them that fear Him, and He will shew them His covenant.\" Let us see\nthis great transaction settled ere worlds began, see it calling forth\nall the energies of divine love and power in Father, Son, and Holy\nGhost, see it undertaking the most deep and marvellous purposes of grace\nand glory for the elect, keep the eye on it, like Moses, till, like him,\nwe discover Him who dwells in the midst of it, and whose name explains\nit all.\n\n      \"Oh, all ye rich, ye wise, ye just,\n      Who the blood's doctrine have discussed\n        And judge it mean and slight--\n      Grant that I may, the rest's your own,\n      In shame and poverty sit down\n        At this one well-spring of delight!\"\n\n\nIf it be but a man's covenant, there is both the consideration and the\ndeed, the purchase money and the muniments, the price and the witness of\nits payment. God treats with our souls in language thus well understood,\nand tells us thus of the _consideration_ and the _deed_, or that which\n_sustains_ and that which _witnesses_ the counsels of His sovereign good\npleasure. It is a deed of gift to the elect, but it is nothing less than\nthe blood of the Son which sustains it, and the presence of the Spirit\nwhich witnesses it.\n\nWhat a secret! By nature I am at a great distance from God, an alien and\na foreigner. I am also shut up, so that I cannot come forth. But in this\ngreat transaction God Himself undertook to travel this unmeasured\ndistance, and assail the house of my strong enemy; and in His\nincarnation, sorrows, and victory all this mighty doing of love is\naccomplished, and I am \"compassed about with songs of deliverance.\"\n\nCan it be, as I gaze at such a mystery, that I fear lest the distant one\nbe not brought nigh, or the captive one be not delivered? \"Surely in the\nfloods of great waters they shall not come nigh unto me.\" I may\nsay--\"_Thou_ art my hiding-place; thou shalt preserve me from trouble;\nthou shalt compass me about with songs of deliverance.\"\n\n        \"Strong Deliverer!\n      Be Thou still our strength and shield!\"\n\n\nThis may well be our confidence in the faith of such truth. But to these\ngeneral thoughts on the covenants and their signs, I might add, the\ntoken given to Noah has a beautiful significancy. The bow, as it were,\nrode triumphant on the cloud. It rolled away the stone and sat upon it.\nIts form and bearing were those of a conqueror. It said to the cloud,\n\"Hitherto shalt thou come and no further, and here shall thy proud waves\nbe stayed.\" It gave the angel of death his measure, and said to him, \"It\nis enough, stay now thine hand.\"\n\nAnd all this lives in the divine remembrance. The earth and the covenant\nthat secures it are there. \"The bow shall be in the cloud, and I will\nlook upon it, that I may remember the everlasting covenant between God\nand every living creature of all flesh that is upon the earth.\"\nAccordingly this promise to the earth is remembered, the bow in the\ncloud is looked at, through every stage and variety of the\ndispensational actings of the Lord.\n\nIt was remembered, of course, all the time the Lord had His seat in\nZion, for then the glory made _the earth_ its residence. The Lord then\ndwelt between the cherubim, in the temple at Jerusalem, in the land of\nIsrael. But when the throne of the Lord leaves that city, and the\nsanctuary loses the glory, because abominations had grieved and\ndisturbed it, the throne and the glory are accompanied by the rainbow to\nheaven. Ezek. i. 28. Though the earth then ceased, for a while, to be\nthe dwelling-place of God, still it was before Him in counsel. He would\nbe mindful of it, as the object of His faithful care, according to the\npromise.[8]\n\n  [8] Just like the throne of David. That throne is for the present in\n      the dust--the crown of Judah is cast down--but the promise of the\n      Lord to it is remembered, as is His promise to the earth. This\n      analogy Scripture giveth us in Jer. xxxiii. Dishonoured now or\n      made the sport of the wicked, the promises to the earth and to\n      David's throne are still in full remembrance, and, in their\n      season, will be accomplished.\n\nAnd therefore when heaven is opened to our view, we see the faithful and\nremembered bow encompassing the throne. Rev. iv. And further still. The\nrainbow is seen when the Lord is presented as coming down for the\ndirect, immediate execution of judgment. The mighty angel, the divine\nexecutor of the day of the Lord, comes down to the earth clothed with a\ncloud, the symbol of judgment, and the fearful vessel of wrath. Gen. ix.\n14; Rev. i. 7. But even then the rainbow is with Him (Rev. x.); as much\nas to tell us, that to the end, and at the end, God remembers His\npromise to the earth, and will debate with judgment. The cloud is to\ndescend, it is true--\"They shall see the Son of man coming in the clouds\nof heaven.\" The judgment must sit--the books must be opened--the vials\nmust be emptied; but it is only to take out of the kingdom them that\noffend--to destroy them that destroy the earth. The cloud, as it\nexecutes its commission, must stay itself at the beginning of the bow.\nThe _day_ of the Lord, or the judgment, must give place to the\n_presence_ of the Lord, or the refreshment and restoration. Time shall\nbe no longer, the mighty angel may cry; the present course of things may\ncease again, as once it did in the days of Noah; but the bow shines, in\nthe eye of the Lord, as brightly as ever, and His promise lives in His\nheart. The earth is still beloved, for Noah's sake, as Israel is for the\nfathers' sake--that true Noah, in whom (but in whom alone) all the\npromises of God are yea and amen; and of whom it shall be said, in all\nits fulness and truth, \"This same shall comfort us concerning our work\nand toil of our hands, because of the ground which the Lord hath\ncursed.\"\n\nThis earth of ours, given to the children of men, therefore outlives the\njudgment. It stands the shock of the descent of the mighty angel, though\nclothed with a cloud, planting his right foot on the sea, and his left\non the earth, and crying aloud, as when a lion roareth. Rev. x.\n\nAnd what is it reserved for? For more than the bow had promised it. It\nis not only preserved--with its seed time and harvest, its summer and\nwinter, its day and night, its cold and heat--but it is to be delivered\ninto \"the liberty of the glory of the children of God.\" This is more\nthan had been promised.\n\nSuch was the token, and such will be its acknowledgment--such was the\npledge, and such will be its redemption. Beautiful mystery! The\ncovenant, with its blood and its sign! God's promise, with the sacrifice\nof the Son as its foundation, and the presence of the Spirit as its\nwitness!\n\nBut here this thought occurs to me: Are we, beloved, to stand before\nsuch ways and revelations of God in the same calmness in which they are\ndelivered to us? Is that the thing that becomes us? The Queen of Sheba\ndid not stand before the glories of Solomon in the same way that Solomon\nhimself dwelt among them. Solomon was at home in the midst of them. They\nwere all his own. It was _his_ wisdom, and _his_ house that he had\nbuilt. The meat of the table, and the sitting of the servants, with\ntheir apparel, were all _his_. The ascent by which he went into the\nhouse of God was his. But the Queen of Sheba, from the distant south,\nwas but introduced to it all. Fitting it was that he should be at ease\nthere; and fitting it was that she should be all rapture. So with the\nbook of God and the disciple. All the profound and precious mysteries\nwhich the Spirit is unfolding there are His own--the thoughts and\ncounsels of the divine mind. There is no effort to produce effect in the\ncommunication of them; the tale of the wonders of grace and glory is\ntold artlessly. But is the soul, introduced to them, to be, in like\nmanner, unmoved? Such an one may rather gaze with more of rapture than\nshe who came from the uttermost parts of the earth, for \"a greater than\nSolomon is here.\"\n\nAnd it is more of this Sheba-rapture we want. We too easily afford to\ntalk of God's things as though there were no more preciousness and\nexcellency in them than our hearts could measure; but as secret after\nsecret comes forth from the wisdom of the greater than Solomon, surely\nour souls should say, \"Happy are thy men, and happy are these thy\nservants, which stand continually before thee, and hear thy wisdom.\"\n\n\nEndowed and blessed, enriched and honoured--instructed too, and ordained\nas \"the power\" under God, and with all this, at ease, in conscious\nsafety, \"no evil or enemy occurrent,\" Noah is seated in the new world. A\nnew trial of man, under new circumstances, was proceeding; and, as with\nAdam in Eden, nothing is left undone on God's part. The oxen and\nfatlings were killed, and all things were ready. But where is man's\nsufficiency? If Adam failed before him, and lost the garden; if Israel\nfailed after him, and lost their land of milk and honey; it may be said\nto Noah, \"Lovest thou me more than these?\" In Christ, and in Him only,\nare unfailing fidelity and strength. And Noah, like the rest, fails, and\nthe virgin soil of the new world is quickly tarnished by the very first\nfoot that trod it.\n\n\"And Noah began to be an husbandman, and he planted a vineyard, and\ndrank of the vine, and was drunken, and he was uncovered within the\ntent.\"\n\nNoah himself is put to shame; the very first man, the Adam of this new\nsystem, begins the history of this second apostasy, like his first\nfather.\n\nThe \"little fire\" is thus kindled; but it is for \"a greater matter.\"\nNoah is put to shame; but Ham, his son, glories in the shame. That was a\nterrible advance in the progress of evil. \"Ham, the father of Canaan,\nsaw the nakedness of his father, and told his two brethren without.\"\n\nIt was a terrible advance in evil; this was not simply the being\n\"overtaken in a fault,\" but \"rejoicing in iniquity.\" The common moral\nsense rejects this--\"Shem and Japheth took a garment, laid it on their\nshoulders, went backwards, and covered the nakedness of their father.\"\nAnd the saint himself is soon restored. Noah awakens from his wine. He\nthat was overtaken recovers himself, through the Spirit, and the grace\nof God gives him a great triumph--a very precious and glorious triumph\nindeed, for the restored one judges his judge, and condemns his\naccuser--\"Cursed be Canaan, a servant of servants shall he be unto his\nbrethren.\" This is something more than recovery--it is triumphant\nrecovery. Even the apostle's fine word, \"Who shall lay anything to the\ncharge of God's elect?\" scarcely measures it; for that is only the\nsilencing of the accuser, while this is turning back on the pursuer.\n\"Rejoice not against me, O mine enemy: when I fall, I shall rise....\nThen she that is mine enemy shall be trodden down as the mire of the\nstreets.\"\n\nHere, however, we may stand for a moment--the rich and interesting\nprospects of the Spirit of prophecy here spread themselves out before\nus.\n\nThis curse upon Canaan is part of Noah's prophecy. Noah, in spirit,\nlooked out from the renewed earth, but anticipated the return of\ncorruption and violence, though the grace of God were to have its\nwitness in the midst of it. In detail, he saw that one branch of the\nhuman family (now about to re-people the earth) was to be distinguished\nby the revelation and presence of God among them; another by their\nsuccess and advancement in the world--a people to be enlarged and made\nhonourable in the earth; another, by the constant, unchanging token, in\ntheir flesh, of degradation and servitude. His prophecy contemplated, as\nwe may say, the Asiatic, the European, and the African man; or, the\nHebrew in the East, with whom was to be the sanctuary of God--the\nGentile of the West, who was, under the hand or providence of God, to\nmake himself great in borders beyond his own--and the slave of the\nSouth, who might know a change of masters, but who was to be a slave\nstill.\n\nShort is the notice of the world's history, but just and perfect as far\nas it goes, and enough to answer the purpose of the Spirit in Noah, who\nwas taking his son Ham for his text.\n\nThe three prophecies, which we get in these earliest times, that of\nEnoch, that of Lamech, and this of Noah, all touching the earth and its\nhistory, though respecting different stages or parts of that history,\ntogether present a very perfect outline of the whole thing. We must take\nthem in this order--Noah's, Enoch's, Lamech's.\n\nNoah's prophecy has been accomplishing from of old, and is still getting\nits seal and witness in all the changes of the world's solemn and\ninteresting story. Enoch's (Jude 14), which spoke of judgment, will have\nits answer, its full answer, when the present course of things is\nclosing, and the day of the Lord comes to convince the ungodly. Lamech's\n(Genesis v. 29), which spoke of rest, will be made good afterwards,\nwhen, \"the day of the Lord\" having fulfilled the judgment, \"the presence\nof the Lord\" will bring its restitution and refreshing.\n\nThe present and the future of the world's history, the varied good and\nevil of the present, and the judgment and the glory that are to share\nthe future, are thus sketched before us in these prophecies. It is easy\nto discern these things, and to give these early patriarchal oracles\ntheir order and character.\n\nIt is Noah's, however, that I must look at more particularly, as what we\nhave more properly to do with here. It was delivered on the discovery of\nthe evil of his son Ham, and the onward course of evil is then detailed\nto its close and maturity, ere we leave these chapters.\n\nWe have already watched the infant springing of it in Noah himself, and\nthe advanced form of it in Ham. Its further growth is next to be seen in\nthe builders of Babel, some hundred years after the flood. And an awful\nexhibition it is.\n\nAt the birth-time of this new world, Noah's altar was raised, witnessing\nfaith and worship--but now the city and the tower are reared, witnessing\ndefiance of God and the affected independency of man. And the answer of\nheaven to these things is just as different. Noah's altar brought down\nwords and tokens of peace and security--the cry of the city and the\ntower now bring down judgment. Corruption here, and vengeance from on\nhigh, mark the scene, instead of worship here, and blessing from God.\nThen it was, that the Lord hung the bright token of His covenant in the\nheavens, but now He is sending abroad over the earth the witnesses of\nHis righteous anger.\n\nBut this is not all. The tower is over-topped, high and proud as it was.\nThe builders may be scattered, but their principles survive. Judgment\ndoes not cure. All the apostate mind that quickened that proud and\nrebellious confederacy, gathers itself rapidly for its perfect work and\ndisplay in one man. For soon after the scattering (it may be about\nthirty years) Nimrod, a grandson of Ham, plants his standard on the very\nspot which had witnessed the judgment of God. The beginning of his\nkingdom was Babel. x. 10. He unfurls his banner in the very face of Him\n\"to whom vengeance belongs,\" and cries, \"Where is the God of judgment?\"\nHe was as the fool of Ps. xiv.--\"The fool hath said in his heart, There\nis no God.\" He begins to be a mighty one in the earth. \"Before the Lord\nhe hunted.\" In defiance of God he sought conquest and power. He added\nhouse to house and field to field, in the desire to be lord alone. Erech\nand Accad and Calneh are mother-cities, and mighty Nineveh with Rehoboth\nand Calah, and that great city Resen, are but colonies in the system of\nthis vaunting apostate. He had no heart for any portion which God could\ngive him. He undertook to provide for himself, to be the maker of his\nown fortune, that his dignity and honour should proceed from himself.\nAnd such an one is the man of the world to this day. His intellect or\nhis industry, his skill or his courage, makes him what he is, and\nprovides him what he cares for. Such was this distinguished apostate,\nthis earliest representative and type of that one who, in closing days,\nis to do according to his will, and fill the measure of man's iniquity.\n\nIt is a serious sight for the watching and observance of our souls. Are\nwe, beloved, waiting for other and purer scenes? and are our hearts upon\nsuch enjoyments as God can sanction, and Jesus share with us?\n\nThese chapters properly close with this--these scenes of evil and proud\nrebellion pass from before us, with a faint and distant view of the call\nof another heavenly stranger apart from the world. But all that is the\ndawn of another era in the ways of God, and our present subject only\nlooks at it in the distance.\n\nThe second part of the book of Genesis, I may say, ends here. It\npresents a complete, distinct action, suitably following what had\npreceded it, and as suitably (were it my purpose to show it) introducing\nwhat is to follow it.\n\nIn this portion, Gen. vi.-xi., the scene is laid in the earth. The\nheavenly family have already been before us, Gen. i.-v., and their\ncourse ended in the translation of Enoch; now the scene is laid in the\nearth again, as at the beginning in the garden of Eden.\n\nThe contents of this little volume, which I have now closed, might be\ngiven in the following order:\n\nvi.-viii. These chapters present the sin and judgment of the earth, with\nthe election, faith, and deliverance of the saints in the midst of it\nall, and out of it all.\n\nix. This chapter shows us the new condition of man in the new world,\nendowed and enriched there by the God of heaven and earth, secured in\nthe covenant mercy, and made the representative and executor of divine\nauthority.\n\nx. xi. These chapters unfold great portions of the history of the new\nworld, the springs, workings, progress, and maturity of evil, leaving or\nrendering the earth such a place as that the Lord must again, a second\ntime, retire from it (at least for the present) and bring out from it,\nalso a second time, a people to be heavenly strangers in the midst of\nit, like the antediluvian saints.\n\nHeaven and earth have thus, in their season, been rehearsing the\nmystery, till together, in coming days, the days of the glory, they\nshall display it, when \"at the name of Jesus every knee shall bow, of\nthings in heaven, and things in earth, and things under the earth; and\nevery tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the\nFather.\"\n\n\n\"The land shall not be sold for ever,\" says the Lord; \"for the land is\nmine.\" Lev. xxv. 23. Man has a term of years granted him, in which it is\nleft in his power to disturb the divine order. For forty-nine years in\nIsrael disturbing traffic might go on, but in the fiftieth year the Lord\nasserted His right, and restored all things according to His own mind;\nfor it was a time of \"refreshing\" and of \"restitution\" as from His own\n\"presence.\"\n\nBright and happy expectation! \"The earth is the Lord's, and the fulness\nthereof,\" is the proclamation of Psalm xxiv. And then the challenge goes\nforth, \"Who shall ascend into the hill of the Lord?\"--that is, Who shall\ntake the government of this earth and its fulness? And the answer is\nmade by another challenge to the city gates, to lift up their heads to\nthe Lord of hosts, the King of glory; a fervent form of words whereby to\nconvey the truth, that the Lord, as in strength and victory, the Lord as\nRedeemer and Avenger, should take the government. As again in Rev. v. a\nlike proclamation is heard, \"Who is worthy to open the book, and to\nloose the seals thereof?\" And the answer from every region is this, \"The\nLamb that was slain, the Lion of the tribe of Judah.\" He who sat on the\nthrone gave that answer by letting the Book pass from His hand into the\nhand of the Lamb. The living creatures and crowned elders joined in that\nanswer by singing their song over the prospect of their reign over the\nearth. The hosts of angels add to it, by ascribing all wisdom and\nstrength and honour and faculty of dominion unto the Lamb--and every\ncreature in heaven, on earth, under the earth and in the seas, in their\norder and measure, join in uttering this same answer. The title of the\nLamb to take dominion in the earth is thus owned and verified in the\nvery place where alone all lordship or office could be rightly\nattested--the presence of the throne in heaven.\n\nAnd so it is. The nobleman has now gone into the distant country to get\nfor himself a kingdom. Jesus, who refused all power from the god of this\nworld (Matt. iv.), or from the desire of the multitude (John vi.), takes\nit from God, as He owns in Psalm lxii. that to Him it belongs. And in\ndue season He will return, and those who have owned Him in the day of\nHis rejection shall shine with Him in the day of His glory; those who\nhave served Him now shall take another city with Him then.\n\nIn the prospect of such a day, Paul says to Timothy, \"Keep this\ncommandment without spot, unrebukeable, until the appearing of our Lord\nJesus Christ: which in His time He shall show, who is the blessed and\nonly potentate, the King of kings, and Lord of lords.\" And in the like\nprospect the same dear apostle could say of himself, \"I have fought a\ngood fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith; henceforth\nthere is laid up for me a crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the\nrighteous Judge, shall give me at that day; and not to me only, but unto\nall them also that love His appearing.\"\n\nMay the Lord give our poor hearts--for they need it much--more of the\nlike spirit of faith and power of hope! Amen.\n\n\n\n\n                                ABRAHAM.\n\n                           GENESIS XII.-XXV.\n\n\nIn earlier parts of the book of Genesis, I have already traced two\ndistinct histories--that of the antediluvian saints, or the times from\nAdam to Enoch; and that of Noah and of those who followed him, down to\nthe scattering of the nations.\n\nThe first of these histories occupies chapters i.-v., the second,\nvi.-xi.\n\nIn the chapter which follows--xii.--the story of Abraham begins, and is\ncontinued down to chap. xxv. This forms the third portion or section of\nthe book of Genesis, and presents to us a new era in the ways of God.\nAnd in all this, I am sure, there is beautiful moral order, and an\nunfolding of the dispensational wisdom of God. For in these things the\nheavens and the earth are made, by turns, to take up the wondrous tale\nof that wisdom, and to rehearse divine mysteries--such mysteries as, \"in\nthe fulness of time,\" will be accomplished, when, as we know, He shall\ngather together in one all things in Christ, both which are in heaven\nand which are on earth. Eph. i. 10.\n\n\nAdam in innocency was a man of the earth. He had to enjoy it, knowing it\nall as his, but knowing nothing as his beside. But when he was sent out\nof Eden, he became a stranger in the earth. He received no commission to\nimprove or furnish it. He had simply to till the ground for a living,\nand the translation of Enoch tells us, that the destiny and inheritance\nof that earliest household of God was _heavenly_.[9]\n\n  [9] The family of Cain was the contradiction of this, in those\n      antediluvian days. They tilled the ground for something more than\n      livelihood. Their tillage led to the culture and advancement of\n      the world as a system of gain and pleasure. And thus were the two\n      families distinguished--the one was formed by faith, or by\n      obedience to the revelation of God; the other by the despite of\n      it, as the world is to this day.\n\nIn Noah, however, in process of time, the purpose of God is different.\nNoah is a man of the earth again. He leaves the ark in a character very\ndifferent from that in which Adam had left the garden. Noah left the ark\nunder commission to keep the world in order, as judge and ruler. It was\nnot strangership on it, but citizenship in it, and government of it,\nthat was now again the divine thought. But a second apostasy was\nwitnessed in the midst of Noah's descendants. In process of time, they\naffected independency in the earth, casting off the fear of God, and\nseeking to do for themselves without Him, as Adam had (seeking to be as\nGod) in the garden of old.\n\nAbraham, upon all this, finds grace in the eyes of the Lord. He is\ncalled out from this apostate scene; and, as we might expect, from this\nalternate telling of heavenly and earthly mysteries, after Noah the man\nof the earth, Abraham is called to be a heavenly man.\n\nThe Lord said to him, \"Get thee out of thy country, and from thy\nkindred, and from thy father's house.\" This was the character of the\ncall of Abraham. It was not a call from moral pollution, or from\nidolatry, or the like; it was a call from the associations of nature and\nof the earth. There were idols to be left, I doubt not. See Joshua xxiv.\n2, 3. But it was not the leaving of them that constituted the nature of\nthe call. Yet Abraham, touching the earth, was to be like Adam outside\nthe garden. He leaves Ur of the Chaldees, as Adam left Eden. He received\nno commission to cultivate the land of Canaan for the Lord, or to\nconquer and govern the people there. The arrangements of the world were\nleft just as they were. Abraham had nothing to say to the nations\nthrough which he passed on his way to Canaan; and when he reached that\nland, he found the Canaanite there, and there he left him as he found\nhim.\n\nGovernment had been set up in Noah, and nations had been organized; as\nnatural relationships had been instituted at the beginning, or in Adam.\nBut Abraham is called from all this. God Himself is received by faith;\nand the things of nature which Adam might have conveyed to him, or the\nthings of government which Noah might have secured to him, are left\nbehind.[10]\n\n [10] In their day, Abraham's seed, or the nation of Israel, are again\n      an _earthly_ people; and they exhibit the very opposite of all\n      this. They _smite_ the nations of Canaan; and instead of being\n      called _from_ kindred and country, they are called _to_ all such\n      things; men, women, children, and even cattle (for not a hoof was\n      to be left behind), journeyed from Egypt to Canaan--from a land of\n      strangers to their own inheritance.\n\nIn our patriarch, then, we see the election and the call of God. He was\nof the corrupt, departed family of man, without a single claim on God.\nBut sovereign grace (in the virtue of which all the redeemed, according\nto eternal counsel, stand) had made him its object; and under such grace\nhe is, in due time, manifested as a chosen one, and is called of God to\nbe a heavenly stranger in the world. Scripture speaks of him as the\nfather of all them that believe. Rom. iv. We may, therefore, expect to\nfind the life of faith exhibited in him; and so we do find it, as this\nlittle book designs to show.\n\nBut in this \"life of faith\" we do not merely look for the principle of\ndependence on God, or of confidence in Him, though that may be the\nthought immediately suggested by such words. It signifies much more. It\nis a life of large and various energies; for according to God, or\nScripture, faith is that principle in the soul which not only trusts Him\nand believes Him; it is also that which apprehends His way, acts in\nconcert with His principles and purposes, receives His promises, enjoys\nHis favour, does His bidding, looks for His kingdom, in His strength\ngains victories, and by His light walks in light; and thus it is ever,\nthough variously, exhibiting a life according to Him, or formed by\ncommunion with Him.\n\nAll this is strongly marked for our observation.\n\nHeb. xi. shows us all this--the life of faith in its vast diversity of\nexercise and action. Accordingly, we shall find, in the life of Abraham,\noccasions where confidence in God was the virtue exercised; occasions,\ntoo, where strength was put forth and conflict endured; and again, where\nsurrender of rights and submission to wrongs were the virtues. And the\nlife of faith is beautiful in its variety; for this variety is but the\nchangeful glowing of the same mind, the mind of Christ, in the saint.\n\nBut again. We are not to understand that we get _nothing else_ than this\nlight and power of faith in the believer or saint. Perfectness in this\nvariety of the life of faith is not to be found save in Him who is set\nbefore us as \"the Author and Finisher of faith,\" and whose way, from\nbeginning to end, and in every incident of it, was the great exemplar of\nthis life in full unsullied brightness. Still, however, the life of\nAbraham, or of David, or of Joseph, or of Paul, is to be called the life\nof faith; for it was the life of those in whom that principle was,\nthough betraying again and again, and that too in different ways, the\npravity of nature, the workings of unbelief, and the counsels of a heart\nprone to converse with flesh and blood, and to take the way of a\nrevolted world.\n\n\nThis life of faith our Abraham entered upon with beautiful simplicity\nand earnestness. \"He went forth to go into the land of Canaan, and into\nthe land of Canaan he came.\" He went out, not knowing whither he went.\nHe took God for his security and his portion; and, as another has said,\n\"it is in this that the Spirit of God rests, as characteristic of his\napproved faith; for, by separation from the world, on the ground of\nimplicit confidence in God, he lost everything, and got nothing but _the\nword of God_.\"\n\nWe do not like such conditions. The heart resents them; but the renewed\nmind approves them, and justifies God in them. The _sufferings_ of\nChrist are first, and then the _glories_. 1 Peter i. 11. Job was nearer\nhis good thing in God, when he lay in ashes amid the potsherds, than\nwhen he was happy in his nest. Israel did not descend Mount Lebanon, and\nenter Canaan after a fruitful journey, through a land of cities and\nvillages, and corn and wine, and rivers and vineyards; but they paced it\nslowly, through one desert after another. And so Abraham was called out\nfrom all, to go he knew not whither; but this he knew, that it was God\nwho had called him. And this was faith's beginning. \"He went forth to go\ninto the land of Canaan, and into the land of Canaan he came.\"\n\nHe came, however, rather to sojourn than to dwell there. He moves from\nplace to place, and in every place it is but a tent he pitches. He had\nbeen told by the God of glory, that the land should be _shown_ him. He\nshould _have_ it in _his seed_ for ever, but in _his own person_ he was\nbut to _see_ it. And, accordingly, we find him _surveying it carefully_,\nbut not _occupying any of it_. For this was the right answer of such a\npromise. He _looked_ on the land, because the promise was that it should\nbe _shown_ him. He went first to Sichem and to the plain of Moreh; from\nthence, southward, to the neighbourhood of Bethel and Ai. But he was a\nman of the tent, and of the tent only, wherever he went. The Canaanite\nwas then in the land, and he was the occupier of the soil; and Abraham\ndid not dispute with him for a foot's breadth of it. He surveyed it, and\nhad such possession of it as faith and hope imparted; but he sought no\npersonal, present inheritance there. The promise lived in his heart, and\nthe promise was his measure as well as his joy. Chapter xii.\n\nQuickly, however, another man in our Abraham is before us; for, like all\nof us, beloved, he was a man of _nature_, as he was a man of God; and\nthere is none perfect in the life of faith, as we said before, but the\nMaster Himself. Famine touches the land into which the call of God had\nbrought him. A strange surprise this may well be thought to have been.\nBut faith would have been equal to it. Faith in Paul was equal to a like\nsurprise. Called into Macedonia by the voice of God, a prison awaited\nhim. But Paul stands the shock, though Abraham falls before it. Paul and\nhis companion sing hymns in the prison in Macedonia; but Abraham\npractises a lie, seeking help from the famine of Canaan in another land,\nof which his call under the God of glory had made no mention whatever.\n\nSuch things have been, and still are, found among the saints. There are\n\"Little Faith\" and \"Great Heart\" among the elect, as well as flesh and\nspirit--nature and the new mind in each of them. But this we may know:\nthat if nature _rule_ us, nature will _expose_ us. Even the man of the\nearth, Pharaoh of Egypt, puts Abraham to shame; and his journey, instead\nof being onward in the witness of his tent and in the joy of his altar,\nwas that of a wearied foot, because it was that of a rebuking heart. He\nhas to \"do his first works,\" to retrace his steps, and regain his\nstanding--sorrowful works at all times. He has to leave \"by-path meadow\"\nfor the King's highway again, betaking himself back from Egypt to the\nplace between Ai and Bethel, where he had raised his altar at the first.\n\nWhat say we to this, beloved? The flocks got in Egypt accompany him\nhome. The glitter of the gold and the silver--the offerings of a land\nthat lay beyond where the God of glory had called him--adorn and set off\nhis return. All this is so indeed. But what say we to all this? again I\nask. Is the bleating and the lowing of such flocks and herds in our ears\nlike the soft music of an approving conscience? or this glittering\nwealth like the brightness of the divine presence which was now lost to\nAbraham? I am bold to answer for Abraham, though I may not for myself,\nthat his spirit knew the difference. The wearied heart was but feebly\nrelieved by all that he brought with him from the land of Egypt, or out\nof the house of Pharaoh. Sure I am of this. It could not but be so with\nsuch a man. \"He that sinneth against me wrongeth his own soul,\" must\nhave been his experience; and his action in the scene which immediately\nsucceeds, as I judge, tells us something of this.\n\nLot, his younger brother, or his brother's son, who had come with him\nout of Ur into Canaan, now becomes the occasion of trial to Abraham, as\nthe famine had lately been. But faith in Abraham triumphs, I may say, to\nadmiration. The very style in which he gives this trial its answer seems\nto say, that he will return fourfold to the life of faith for that which\nnature had so lately, as it were, taken away from it. The herdmen of the\ntwo brothers, the elder and the younger, cannot feed their flocks\ntogether. They must separate. This was the occasion of trial which had\nnow arisen. But \"let Lot choose,\" is Abraham's language. In a fine\nsense, he will act on the divine oracle, \"the elder shall serve the\nyounger.\" Lot may choose, and leave Abraham what portion he please. The\nwell-watered plains may be his; Abraham can trust the Lord of the\ncountry, though he lose them. He may have to _dig_ wells instead of\n_finding_ them; but it is better to dig for them in the strength of God,\nthan to find them in the way of covetousness; better, as it were, to\nwait for them in Canaan, than to go after them again down to Egypt.\nxiii.\n\nThis is beautiful recovery. And in this way will faith, at times,\nexercise judgment on unbelief, and clear itself again. And now the Lord\nvisits him, as He had not, as He could not, have done in Egypt. The God\nof glory, who had called Abraham into Canaan, could not go with him into\nEgypt: but to the man who was surrendering the best of the land to his\nyounger brother, in the joy of restored confidence in God, He will\ndelight to show Himself.\n\nWhere, then, are we, beloved? I will ask. Where is our spirit? On which\nroad with Abraham are we, as at this moment, travelling? Are we knowing\nEgypt in the bitterness of self-reproach, or a regained Canaan in the\njoy of God's countenance? Is it a walk with God we are taking every day?\nThe life of faith knows the difference between the checks of the worldly\nmind and the enlargements of the believing mind. Abraham knew these\nthings. He knew, in spirit, what Egypt was--the place of gold and of\nsilver, and of rebuke and death; he knew what it was to regain Ai\nwithout an altar on the road; and he knew what it was to rest again,\nwith altar and tent, in the plains of Mamre.\n\n\nThus the chequered life of faith begins. But there is vastly more in it\nthan this. And in this variety of action in the life of faith, we notice\nits _intelligence_, the exercise of the mind of Christ, or of the\nspiritual sense, which discerns things that differ, which has capacity\nto know times and seasons according to God. This fine endowment of the\nsaint we find in Abraham, in the next passage of his history.\n\nThe battle of the kings is recorded in chap. xiv. While that was a mere\ncontest between such, Abraham has nothing to say to it. Let the\npotsherds strive with the potsherds. But as soon as he hears that his\nkinsman Lot is involved in that struggle, he stirs himself.\n\nEverything, as we read, is beautiful in its season. There is a time to\nbuild, and a time to pull down. There was a time for Abraham to be\nstill, and a time for Abraham to be active; a time to be silent, and a\ntime to break silence. And he understood the time. Like the men of\nIssachar afterwards, he knew the time, and what Israel ought to do.\nGod's principles were Abraham's rules. Lot was taken prisoner, and the\nkinsman's part was now Abraham's duty. The battle-field in the vale of\nSiddim shall be his now, as the tent had been his till now in the plains\nof Mamre. The mind of God had another lesson for him than that which he\nlearnt while the potsherds of the earth were alone in the conflict; and\na time to break silence calls him out at the head of his trained\nservants.\n\nExcellent and beautiful indeed in a saint is this intelligence of the\nmind of Christ, and beautiful is everything in its season. Out of season\nthe very same action is defiled and disfigured. For the _material_ of an\naction is not enough to determine the _character_ of an action. It must\nbe _seasonable_ likewise. Elijah, from his elevation, may call down fire\nfrom heaven on the captains and their fifties; and so, the two\nwitnesses, in the day of Rev. xi. But it will not do for the companions\nof the lowly, rejected Jesus to act thus on the Samaritan villagers.\nLuke ix. It is only in its season that anything is really right. How was\nthe garden of Gethsemane (made sacred as it was by the sorrows of the\nLord Jesus) disfigured by the blood which Peter's sword drew there! What\na stain on that soil, though the power of Christ was present to remove\nit! But another sword was doing right service when it hewed Agag in\npieces. For when vengeance is demanded, when the trumpet of the\nsanctuary sounds an alarm for war, vengeance or war will be as perfect\nas grace and suffering. It is for God to determine the dispensational\nway, and to make known the dispensational truth. That being done, all\nlife of faith is just that manner or order or character of life that is\naccording to it. \"The duties and services of faith flow from truths\nentrusted. If the truths be neglected, the duties or services cannot be\nfulfilled.\" And the good pleasure of God, or His revealed and dispensed\nwisdom, varies in changing and advancing ages. Noah, in a few\ngenerations before Abraham, would have avenged the blood of one made in\nthe likeness or image of God, in the same spirit of faith, as Abraham\nallowed one army of confederate kings to slay another. It is neither the\n\"sword\" nor the \"garment,\" as the Lord speaks in Luke xxii., that must\nneeds be the due instrument of service, or symbol of faith; but either\nof them, according as it severally expresses the dispensational good\npleasure of God at the time.\n\nThis is much to be observed; for the distinguishing of things that\ndiffer, and the rightly dividing of the word of God or of truth, is\nexpected, among other virtues, in the life of faith. Abraham was endowed\nwith this fine faculty. He walked in the light of that day, as God was\nin the light. He knew the voice of the silver trumpet; when, as it were,\nto gather to the tabernacle, and when to go forth to the battle.\n\n\nBut there is more than this in our patriarch at this time. Two victories\ndistinguish him--one over the armies of the kings, and one over the\noffers of the king of Sodom.\n\nThe first of these Abraham gained, because he struck the blow exactly in\nGod's time. He went out to the battle neither sooner nor later than God\nwould have had him. He waited, as it were, till \"he heard the going in\nthe mulberry trees.\" Victory was therefore sure; for the battle was the\nLord's, not his. His arm was braced by the Lord; and this victory of\nAbraham's was that of an earlier sling and stone, or of the jaw-bone of\nan ass, or of a Jonathan and his armour-bearer against a Philistine\nhost; for Abraham's was but a _band of trained servants against the\narmies of four confederated kings_.\n\nThe second, still brighter than the first, was achieved in virtue of\nfellowship with the very springs of divine strength. The _spirit_ of the\npatriarch was in victory here, as his _arm_ had been before. He had so\ndrunk in the communication of the King of Salem--had so fed on the bread\nand wine of that royal, priestly stranger--that the king of Sodom spread\nout his feast in vain. The soul of Abraham _had been in heaven_, and he\ncould not return to the world.\n\nThat was his blessed experience in the valley of Shaveh. Happy soul\nindeed! Oh for something more than to trace the image of it in the book!\nZaccheus, in his day, was a son of Abraham in this generation, or\naccording to this life and power. Zaccheus so drank in the joy and\nstrength that are to be known in the presence of Christ, that the world\nbecame a dead thing to him. He had sat at table with the true\nMelchizedek, and had eaten of His bread and drunk of His wine. Jesus had\nspread a feast for His host at Jericho as He had in other days for\nAbraham in the valley of Shaveh; and, strengthened and refreshed, this\nson of Abraham, like his father of old, was able to surrender the world.\nBehold, Lord, says he, the half of my goods I give to the poor, and if I\nhave wronged any man of anything by false accusation, I restore him\nfourfold. He could give Abraham's answer to the king of Sodom, for he\nhad had Abraham's refreshment from the King of Salem.\n\nSurely, beloved, this is the way of victory in all the saints. The\nsprings of strength and joy are found in Jesus. May you and I be able to\nlook at Him and say, \"All my fresh springs are in thee.\" \"This is the\nvictory that overcometh the world, even our faith.\" And what are all\nconquests in God's account but such?--\n\n        \"'Tis within\n      The fervent spirit labours. There he gains\n      Fresh conquests o'er himself, compared with which\n      The laurels that a Caesar wears are weeds.\"\n\n\nSuch, then, are the victories of faith.\n\nBut we have more still; and in the next scene, in chapter xv. we see\nfaith's _boldness_.\n\nAnd let me ask, for our common comfort, what more precious with God\nHimself than this? The intelligence of faith is bright, and its\nvictories glorious; but in the accounting of the God of all grace, its\nboldness surpasses all.\n\nAfter Abraham's victory over the world, or over the offers of the king\nof Sodom, the Lord comes to him with some great pledges and promises.\nAfter these things the word of the Lord came unto Abram in a vision,\nsaying, Fear not, Abram: I am thy shield, and thy exceeding great\nreward. xv. 1. After the heat of the preceding day, it was meet, in the\nways of grace, that Abraham should be owned again, and encouraged again.\nBut faith is bold, very bold, apparently aiming higher than the purposes\nand undertakings of grace. And this is a wonderful moment to\ncontemplate. Abraham seems to throw back the words of the Lord. \"I am\nthy shield, and thy exceeding great reward,\" says the Lord. \"What wilt\nthou give me?\" Abraham replies--\"What wilt thou give me, seeing I go\nchildless, and the steward of my house is this Eliezer of Damascus?\"\n\nThis was bold; but, blessed to say it, not too bold for the ear of the\nLord who finds His richest joy in the language of faith like this.\n\nGood it is to have a _portion_; but Abraham sought an _object_, an\nobject for the heart; something far more important to us. Adam found it\nso. Eden was not to him what Eve was. The garden with all its tributes\ndid not do for him what the helpmeet did. Eve opened his mouth; she\nalone did that, because she alone had filled his heart. Christ finds it\nso. The Church is more to Him than all the glory of the kingdom--as the\npearl and the treasure were more to the men who found them, than all\ntheir possessions, for they sold all to get them. The strayed sheep, the\nlost piece of silver, the prodigal son, are more to heaven--to the\nFather, to the Shepherd, to the Spirit, and to angels--as occasions of\njoy, than all else; just because the heart has got its object--love has\nfound its answer. _This_ is the mind of Christ. Affection puts the heart\non a journey; and it cannot rest, in the midst of all beside, without\nits object; and it says even to the Lord and His pledges, \"What wilt\nthou give me, seeing I go childless?\"\n\nBut bold faith this was indeed, appearing thus to throw back the words\nof God. But it was precious to Him. Yea, it was precious to Him on the\nhighest kind of title; for faith, acting thus and craving after this\nmanner, spoke the way and the taste of the divine mind itself. For God\nHimself looks for children, as Abraham did. It is not the spirit of\nbondage that is to fill His house, but that of adoption; it is not\nservants but children He will have round Him. He has \"predestinated us\nunto the adoption of children, by Jesus Christ, _to Himself_.\" He has\nfound in His children an object for _Himself_; and Abraham was,\ntherefore, but telling out the _common_ secret of his own heart, and of\nthe bosom of God. And at once his desire is answered; and the sight of\nthe starry heavens is made to pledge to the patriarch something better\nthan all portions and all conditions; for the Lord says to him, \"So\nshall thy _seed_ be.\"\n\nHow truly may we say, never does faith aim more justly than when it aims\nhigh, and draws with a bold hand. Never is the mark it sets before it\nmore God's own purpose. \"Ask thee a sign of the Lord thy God,\" says the\nprophet to the king, \"ask it either in the depth, or in the height\nabove;\" range through the divine resources, and use them. What king Ahaz\nwould not do, wearying the Lord by his reserve, and unbelief, and\nslowness of heart, Abraham does and continues to do. His soul continues\nin the same power of faith to the end of this action. He holds on in the\nsame track. \"I'll give thee this land to inherit it,\" says the Lord to\nhim shortly afterwards. \"Whereby shall I know that I shall inherit it?\"\nis his reply to the Lord. This is of the same fine character; and being\nso--bespeaking the boldness of faith--it is still infinitely acceptable\nwith the Lord. Abraham seeks something beyond a promise. Not that he\ndoubted the promise. He was sure of it. It could never fail. Heaven and\nearth would pass away, ere it could pass away. But \"oath and blood\" to\nseal it were desired by Abraham. He loved _covenant_ title, and his\nfaith sought it; but sought no more than grace and purpose and sovereign\ngood-pleasure had already designed to give him.\n\nAnd there lies the richest, fullest consolation. _Faith is never too\nbold to please the Lord._ In the days of His flesh, He often rebuked the\nreserves and suspicions of little faith, but never the strength and\ndecision of a faith that aimed as at everything, and would not go\nwithout a blessing. So, the very style in which, in this fine chapter\n(xv.), He answers the faith of His servant, tells us of the delight with\nwhich He had entertained His servant's boldness. The very _style_ of the\nanswer speaks this in our ears; as afterwards in the case of the palsied\nman in Luke v.; for there the words, \"Man, thy sins be forgiven thee,\"\ntell how the heart of the same Lord, the God of Abraham, had been\nrefreshed by the faith which broke up the roof of the house without\napology, in order to reach Him. And it is the same here. When a fine,\nbold, unquestioning faith sought for a child, the Lord God took Abraham\nforth that very night, and, showing him the starry heavens, said to him,\n\"So shall thy seed be.\" When like faith would have the land secured by\nsomething more than a word of promise, the same Lord pledges the\ncovenant by the passage of a burning lamp between the pieces of the\nsacrifice.\n\nThis _style_, as I said, is full of meaning. It eloquently (may I say?)\nbespeaks the divine mind. The Lord does not content Himself by merely\npromising a child, as by word of mouth, or by merely giving some other\nassurances to Abraham that the land shall be the inheritance of his\nseed; but, in each case, He enters on certain actions, and conducts them\nwith such august and striking solemnities, as lets us know\ninstinctively, the delight with which He had listened to these demands\nof faith.\n\nWould that we knew our God as He is to be known, for His praise and our\ncomfort! Love delights to be used. Love is wearied with ceremoniousness.\nIt is, in its way, a trespasser on love's very nature, and on its\nessential mode of acting. Family affection, for instance, puts ceremony\naside all the day long. Intimacy is there, and not form. Form would be\ntoo cumbrous for it, as Saul's armour was for David. It has not proved\nit, and cannot therefore wear it. Love is doing the business of the\nhouse in one and another, and the common confidence of all allows it to\nbe done in love's way. So will the Lord have it with Himself. The\nintimacy of faith is according to His grace, and ceremony is but a\nweariness to Him.\n\nGrace, as we sing at times, is \"a sea without a shore,\" and we are\nencouraged to launch forth with full-spread sails. The pot of oil would\nhave been without a bottom, had the woman's faith _still_ drawn from it;\nand the king of Israel's victories would have been in quick succession,\ntill not a Syrian had been left to tell the tale, had his faith trod the\nfield of battle as one who knew it only as a field of conquest. 2 Kings\niv. and xiii. But we are straitened. The boldness of faith is too fine\nan element for the niggard heart of man that cannot trust the Lord:\nthough, blessed to tell it, it is that which _answers_, as well as\n_uses_, the boundless grace of God.\n\nThe believing mind is the happy mind; and it is the obedient mind also,\nthe God-glorifying mind. It is the thankful and the worshipping mind;\nthe mind too that keeps the saint the most in readiness for service, and\nin separation from pollutions. We may be watchful, and it is right; we\nmay be self-judging, and it is right; we may be careful to observe the\nrule of righteousness in all that we do, and it is right: but withal, to\nhold the heart up in the light of the favour of God, by the exercise of\na simple, child-like, believing mind, this is what glorifies Him, this\nis what answers His grace, this is what above all proves itself grateful\nto Him with whom we have to do. \"We have access by faith into this grace\nwherein we stand.\" It is not attainment, it is not watchfulness, it is\nnot services or duties, which entitle us to take that journey, that\ngives the soul entrance into that wealthy place of the divine\nfavour--_by faith_ we have access into this grace wherein we stand.\n\nBut we go onward still in this history, and find it rich in other\ninstructions and illustrations of the life of faith.\n\nSarah now comes forth for the first time in independent action. Chapters\nxvi. xvii.\n\nThe famine had already, as we saw, tempted Abraham to seek the _land_ of\nEgypt, and he got the resources of that land, with shame and sorrow, and\na wearisome journey back again to Canaan. Sarah now tempts him to seek\nthe _bondmaid_ of Egypt.\n\nWe know what this Egyptian bondmaid is, from the divine teaching of the\nepistle to the Galatians. She is the covenant from mount Sinai, the law,\nthe religion of ordinances; and Sarah, in her suggestions to Abraham,\nthat he should take this Egyptian, represents _nature_, which always\nfinds its relief and its resources in flesh and blood, finds its\n_religion_ there also, as well as everything else.\n\nThe Spirit had not as yet dealt with Sarah's soul. At least, we have had\nno manifestation of this. She was an elect one surely; but our election\ngoes long before we become the subject of divine workmanship; and, as\nyet, spiritual life, the life of faith, the operation of the truth on\nSarah through the Holy Ghost, had not been witnessed. She had not as yet\nbeen spoken of by the Lord. She had not been the companion of her\nhusband in the exercise of his spirit before God, nor his\nfellow-disciple in God's school. She was not called out with Abraham to\nnumber the stars, or to watch the sacrifice. She was still, I may say,\nin the place of _nature_; and accordingly she invites her husband to\ngive her seed by her Egyptian handmaid.\n\nThat is her place in this action; and Abraham becomes the saint\n_betrayed by nature_, led in nature's path, surprised by a temptation\nfrom that quarter now, as he had been before by the pressure of famine.\n\nBut all this is unbelief and departure from God. It is the way of man,\nthe way of nature; not of faith or of the Spirit. We naturally resort to\nthe law, the bondwoman, the religion of ordinances, when the _soul_\nfeels its need; as we naturally go down to Egypt, or seek the world,\nwhen our _circumstances_ are needy. It is unbelief and departure from\nGod, as is seen even in Abraham; but to leave God and the restorings of\nHis grace, when the soul has need, is a more grievous offence and wrong\nagainst Him, than to seek help as from Egypt, when our circumstances\nhave need. My poverty may tempt me to use shifts and contrivances, which\nis bad enough; but if my conscience want healing, if breaches within\nneed repairing, that I may walk again in the enjoyed light of His\ncountenance, and I go to mere religion, or to ordinances, or to anything\nbut the provisions of His own sanctuary, this is still worse.\n\nThe Hagars and the Pharaohs, the bondmaids and the wealth of Egypt, are\npoor resorts for the Abrahams of God. But so it has been, and so it is,\nthrough the working of nature. But Abraham (we will now see for our\ncomfort) is under God's eye, though led by Sarah's suggestions. God has\nHis place in him as well as nature; and He will assert it for his\nrestoring. He rises on his soul in a fresh revelation of Himself,\ndemanding of His saint the fresh obedience of faith. \"I am the almighty\nGod; walk before me, and be thou perfect.\" For Abraham's soul had lost\nthis truth, the almightiness or the all-sufficiency of God. He had gone\nin to Hagar; he had taken up confidence in the flesh; he had left the\nground he had stood upon in chap. xv.; but the Lord will not and cannot\nallow this; and therefore rises, in a renewed revelation of Himself, on\nthe spirit of His saint; and it is a rising \"with healing in its wings;\"\nfor Abraham falls on his face, convicted and abashed, and the soul is\nled again in paths of righteousness.\n\nSurely there are to this hour such moments in the history of \"them that\nbelieve,\" as well as of their \"father Abraham.\" Abraham had not fallen\non his face, when the Lord appeared to him and spoke to him in chap. xv.\nThere he stood, conscious that he was in the light with the Lord. But\ndarkness had now come over his soul, and he is not ready for the Lord.\nHe is on his face, silent and amazed. He is not standing, urging the\nsuits of faith, as there; but on his face, silent and confounded. The\nchange in his experience is great; but there is no change in the Lord;\nfor it is the same love, whether He rebuke or comfort. If we walk in the\nlight, we have fellowship with Him; if we confess our sins, we have\nforgiveness with Him; if we be able to stand before Him, He will feed\nand strengthen us; if we must needs fall convicted in His presence, He\nwill raise us up again.\n\nThis is a fine, earnest path of the spirit of a saint. There is a deep\nreality here. Departure from God proves itself to be bitterness; but God\nproves Himself to the soul to be restoration and peace; and under His\ngracious hand faith is afresh emboldened, and Abraham plies his suit, as\none that was again in the vigour of chap. xv., and seeks of God that\nIshmael might live before Him.\n\nHow one longs to have one's own soul formed by these blessed revelations\nof grace, and the inwrought work of faith which answers them. The scene\nchanges; but God and the soul are together still. There is\nreality--reality in the sadness and in the joy, in the light of the\ndivine countenance and in the hiding of our own face as in the dust.\n\nAll this may be said of the life of faith, as seen in chapters xvi.\nxvii. But on entering upon the next scene of action, in chapters xviii.\nxix., I would observe, that in the life of Abraham we get something\nbeside these exercises and illustrations of faith. _We get exhibitions\nof certain divine mysteries also._\n\n\nAll the facts in this history are simple truths. They happened just as\nrecorded. But there is this twofold design in them: either to give\nsamples of the life of faith in a saint, or to give illustrations of\nsome great ways and purposes of God.\n\nAnd such illustrations of the divine counsels and mysteries is the\ncommon way of divine wisdom throughout Scripture. What was the\ntabernacle or the temple but a place for the constant rehearsal of\nmysteries, such as atonement and intercession, and the varied order of\nGod in the worship and services of His house, or in the ministry of\ngrace? For such were the sacrifices and the services there, the feasts,\nand the holy days, and the jubilees. What, in like manner, were the\nexodus, and the journey through the wilderness, and the entrance into\nCanaan, the wars there, and then the throne of the peaceful one? Were\nnot all these, whether institutes of the sanctuary, or facts in the\nhistory, exhibitions of the hidden, eternal counsels of the divine\nbosom?\n\nNow chapters xviii. xix. of this history suggest this recollection.\nThese chapters are to be read together, and afford us a large and vivid\nexhibition of certain great truths, which concern us at this moment, in\nas full a sense as ever the facts themselves, which convey them to us as\nin a parable, concerned Abraham and his generation.\n\nSodom, in that day, was the _world_. It had been warned, but had refused\ninstruction. It had proved incurably departed from God, and beyond\ncorrection. Sodom had been visited and chastened in the day of the\nvictory of the confederated kings--as we saw in chapter xiv.; but it was\nSodom still, and was, at this time, in advanced iniquity, in a state of\nripened apostasy, her last state worse than her first.\n\nSodom was the _world_ in this day. The Lord Jesus, in His teaching,\ngives it morally that place, just as another generation had been the\nworld in Noah's day. See Matt. xxiv.; Luke xvii. They are like figures,\npresenting to our thoughts \"this present evil world,\" which is ripening\nitself for the judgment of God.\n\nAt such a crisis, however, in this day of the judgment of Sodom, or the\noverthrow of the cities of the plain, as in every other like day, there\nare two incidental matters to be deeply pondered by our souls; there is\n_deliverance out of the judgment_, and there is _separation before it\ncome_. There is Lot, and there is Abraham. Lot is delivered, when the\nhour of the crisis comes; Abraham is separated before it comes.\n\nAll this is much to be weighed in our thoughts. _Judgment_,\n_deliverance_, _separation_--these are the elements of the action here,\nand these are full of meaning, and of application to our own history as\nthe Church of God, and to the world around us.\n\nBefore this action opens, Abraham had been in a heavenly place. He was a\nstranger on the earth, having his tent only, and wandering from place to\nplace without so much as to set his foot on; and now, when the judgment\ncomes, he is apart from it altogether, like Enoch, the heavenly Enoch,\nin another and earlier day of judgment. Each of these, in the day of\nvisitation, was outside, beyond, or above the scene of the ruin; not\nmerely delivered out of it when it came, but separated from it before it\ncame.\n\nAbraham had already stood with the Lord Himself on an eminence which\noverlooked Sodom, as he and the Lord had walked together from the plain\nof Mamre; and now, when the judgment spends itself on that apostate,\npolluted city, Abraham is again, in that high place, beholding the\ndesolation afar off. He was (in the spirit of the place where he stood)\nin company with Him who was executing the judgment. But Lot is only\nrescued. Lot is a delivered man, Abraham is a separated one. As Abraham\nis the Enoch, Lot is the Noah of this later day, and is drawn forth from\nthe devoted city.\n\nWhat mysteries are these! What solemn realities, in the counsels of God,\nare here rehearsed for our learning! Do we know what we are looking at\nin all this? Do we not see great purposes of God, as in a glass, in this\nvaried and eventful action? Have we to ask, Where is this mystic ground,\non which we are here standing? Surely, beloved, we ought to know it. In\nthis action, the world, as Sodom, is typically meeting its doom; the\nrighteous remnant, as in Lot, are delivered in that hour of wrath; and\nthe Church, as in Abraham, already separated and borne above, looks afar\noff on the scene of the mighty desolation. Surely these mysteries are\nbefore us in this action at Sodom. \"Known unto God are all His works\nfrom the beginning of the world.\" The world, the Church, and the\nkingdom, are here in mysteries or types; the thing that is to be judged;\nthe thing that is to be separated to heavenly glory; the thing that is\nto be delivered, and thus reserved for the earth again after the\npurification. Enoch, Noah, and the deluged creation are again here in\nAbraham, and Lot, and the doomed cities of the plain.\n\nThese are mysteries of which the Book of God is full. And thus is it\nagain and afresh witnessed to us, what we are and where we are, though\ntravelling on, to all appearance, in the common track of everyday human\nlife, with a generation, in the spirit of their mind, still, as ever,\nsaying, \"Where is the promise of His coming? for since the fathers fell\nasleep, all things continue as they were from the beginning of the\ncreation.\"\n\nMany incidental things might occur to the mind in this, as in other\nsections of this wonderful history; such as the visit of the Son of God\nto Abraham; Abraham's intercession for Sodom; the angels' reserve\ntowards Lot; and the contrasted characters of the two saints--the saint\nof the tent, and the saint in Sodom. But my purpose, in this little\nbook, does not take in such details. But I would ask, in closing this\naction in chapters xviii. xix. Are we, beloved, apprehensive of the\nmoment in which we are living? Is \"man's day\" brightening up to its\nmeridian before us, ascending to its noontide splendour? And what think\nwe of that? Are we joining in the congratulations of man with his\nfellow, that thus it is? Or is all this brightness suspected and\nchallenged by us, as the sure precursor of God's judgment? Do we know\nthat the god of this world finds a house \"swept and garnished\" as\nthoroughly a scene for his evil and destructive energy as a Sodom? Do we\njudge, with our generation, that this cannot be? Or do we hold it in\nmind, that it is in such a house that he will work at the closing of\nChristendom's history? And are we waiting for the Son of God to take us\nup to that mystic eminence where of old He took His Abraham? The Lord\ngive us grace to occupy such ground! And we shall the more easily and\nnaturally do so, if, like Abraham, we are saints of the tent and not of\nthe city--such saints (again like Abraham) as rejoice, \"in the heat of\nthe day,\" to hold communion with the Lord of glory.\n\nAfter this we go, with our patriarch, into the land of the Philistines,\nwhere he sojourns during the times of chapters xx. xxi.\n\nThe old compact between Abraham and Sarah is acted on again, after so\nlong a time--acted on now at Gerar, as before it had been in Egypt. It\nhad been made between them ere they left their native country. It was\nbrought out with them from the very place of their birth. It was, I may\nsay, in them older than anything of God; and after many changes and\nexercises it is in them and with them the same thing still.\n\nIt was a very evil thing--both subtle and unclean. It was false and yet\nspecious, and savoured strongly of the serpent, of him that is a liar\nand the father of lies. Abraham was forced to betray it, vile as it was,\nto the king of Gerar. \"It came to pass, when God caused me to wander\nfrom my father's house, that I said unto her, This is thy kindness which\nthou shalt show unto me: at every place whither we shall come, say of\nme, He is my brother.\" This was worse than we might even have feared.\nThere was not a principle in the life of faith that was not gainsaid by\nso vile a compact as this, brought from the very place of their nativity\nwith them. And such is the flesh, the inbred corruption. Its way,\nwhenever taken, is shame and deep dishonour. It degrades a saint even\nbefore men. It is that which will confound and expose an Abraham before\nan Abimelech. And it never changes, or improves, or ceases to be. It is\nthe same in Egypt, and at Gerar. It lives in us still, and follows us\neverywhere. We get it at our birth from the loins of Adam; and we are,\nfor the common consistency of our way as the called of God, to mortify\nand refuse it.\n\nWretched indeed it is to have to see such a thing as this. But the\nSpirit of God hides nothing. There it lies before us, this vile and\nwicked thing, in the pathway of the recording Spirit. We have, however,\nother happier objects.\n\nThe progress of Sarah's soul, under the light and leading of the Lord,\nis to be tracked in its own peculiar and instructive path. Under the\ninfluence of the flesh she had, at the outset, joined Abraham in this\nunclean compact, of which I have just spoken. In unbelief, she had\nafterwards, as we also saw, given Hagar to her husband; and then, in the\nhaste and rebellion of the heart, she resented the effects of that\nunbelief, and cast out the bondwoman, whom she had adopted and settled\nin the family. But at the command of the Lord, Hagar had gone back to\nher; and now, at the time of this action, she had borne with her in the\nhouse for fourteen years. There was, however, no manifestation of the\nrenewed mind, or the life of faith, in her. It was even during these\nyears, that in unbelief she had laughed at the promise, behind the\ntent-door. But still, I may say, she had, during this time, in one\nsense, _been at school_; and she seems to have learnt a lesson, for she\nsubmitted patiently and unresistingly, to the presence of the bondwoman\nand her child in the house of her husband. We hear of no fresh quarrels\nbetween them. This was something. This was witness of her being in the\nhand of God, till at length, as we know, she was given faith to conceive\nseed. Heb. xi. A great journey, however, after all this, is now about to\nbe taken by her spirit. She is to take the lead even of her husband. And\nhappy this is--common enough, too, among the saints--but happy, very\nhappy. And were we of a delivered heart--a heart given up to the desire\nof Christ's glory only--we should rejoice in these discoveries, made in\nthe regions of the Spirit, though we ourselves would have to be humbled\nby them. \"The last shall be first, and the first last.\" These are among\nthe ways of \"new-born souls,\" and to be discerned still by those who\n\"mark the steps of grace.\" Paul could say of some, \"Who also were in\nChrist before me;\" but we may be bold to add, in that case, though he\ndid not, \"The last were first.\" And the generous liberty of the redeemed\nsoul will but glory in these sovereign actings of the Spirit.\n\nSarah's elevation above Abraham in the things of the kingdom of God is\nnow to appear in illustration of all this. In obedience to the command,\nAbraham calls the child that was born, Isaac. But Sarah _interprets_\nthat name: and this is a finer exercise of soul over the gift of God. To\nobey a word is good; but to obey it in the joy of an exercised heart,\nand in the light and intelligence of a mind that has entered into the\ndivine sense of that word, is better. Abraham called the child that was\nborn to him, Isaac: but Sarah said \"God has made me to laugh; and all\nthey that hear it will laugh with me.\" The oracle of chapter xvii. 19\nwas made more to her than a command to be observed. It had springs of\nrefreshing in it, and kindlings of soul. It was full of light and\nmeaning to the opened understanding of Sarah. And this leads to strength\nand decision. This Deborah of earlier days will brace the loins of\nBarak. \"Cast out this bondwoman and her son,\" says Sarah to Abraham; for\nshe was happy in the liberty of grace and promise, while he was still\nlingering amid the claims of nature, and the desires which his own loins\nhad gendered. \"Cast out this bondwoman and her son; for the son of this\nbondwoman shall not be heir with my son, even with Isaac.\" And this was\n_Scripture_, as we read in Gal. iv.; this was the voice of God. This\ndecision of faith, in the liberty of grace, gets its sealing at once\nunder God's own hand. \"Stand fast in the liberty wherewith Christ hath\nmade you free,\" says the Spirit. And what met the mind of the Lord, in\nthe days of His flesh, like the faith which was bold and free, after\nthis manner? the faith which would use Him without ceremony, which\nreached Him through a crowd, which pressed in through the silent\nreproaches of a misjudging Pharisee, or through the injurious whispers\nof a self-righteous multitude! And how much of the energy of the Spirit\nin St. Paul is engaged in giving the sinner this precious boldness, this\nimmediate assurance of heart in Christ, in spite of law, conscience,\nearth, and hell!\n\nThis boldness of faith in Sarah, this challenge of the bondwoman, this\ndemand (in her own behalf too) that she might enjoy her Isaac all alone,\nis _Scripture_. Gal. iv. 30. She spake as \"the oracles of God.\" But in\nAbraham nature now acts. He would fain retain Ishmael. This is no\nstrange thing. Nature now acts in Abraham, and faith in Sarah; as, on an\nearlier occasion, which we noticed, nature had acted in Sarah and faith\nin Abraham. But nature in Abraham must submit. He must not let Sarah be\nentangled any longer as with this yoke of bondage. The house must be\nfreed of Ishmael, for it is to be built only in Isaac. \"The son of the\nbondwoman shall not be heir with the son of the freewoman.\"\n\nBut all this quickly bears its fruit. Hagar being now gone, and the\nhouse settled in Isaac according to this demand of faith, glory is\ntherefore quickly ready to enter. For this is the divine order. Having\n\"access into this grace wherein we stand, we rejoice in hope of the\nglory of God.\" Such is the order of the Spirit in the soul of such a\nsaint; and such is the order now in the mystic house of our Abraham.\n\n_Abraham is sought by the Gentile._ This is full of meaning. In the days\nof stress and famine, Abraham seeks the Gentile, whether in Egypt or in\nPhilistia; but now, the Gentile seeks Abraham. This is a great change.\nAbraham's house, as we have seen, is now established in grace. Ishmael\nis dismissed, and Isaac is gloried in. In mystic sense, Israel has\nturned to the Lord, the veil is taken away, Jerusalem has said to\nChrist, \"Blessed is He that cometh in the name of the Lord,\" her warfare\nis therefore accomplished, and she is receiving the double. The Gentile\nseeks Israel. Abimelech and Phichol, the king and his chief captain,\ncome to Abraham.\n\nThis is a great dispensational change. Israel is the head now, and not\nthe tail. The skirt of the Jew is now laid hold on by the nations; for\nthe Jew has, by faith, laid hold on the Lord, and the nations say, God\nis with you. Chap. xxi. 22; Zech. viii. 23.\n\nThis is full of meaning; and Abraham on all this (led of the Spirit) is\nfull of thoughts of glory or of the kingdom. And rightly so. Because,\nwhen the Jew is sought by the Gentile, instead of being trodden down or\ndegraded by the Gentile, the kingdom is at hand. Accordingly, on the\nking of Gerar seeking him and suing him, our patriarch raises a _new_\naltar; not the altar of a heavenly stranger, as in chapter xii., but an\naltar to \"the everlasting God;\" not an altar in a wilderness-world, but\nan altar beside a _grove_ and a _well_; the one being a witness that the\nsolitary place had been made glad, and that the wilderness was\nrejoicing; the other, that the peoples of the earth were confederate\nwith the seed of Abraham.[11]\n\n [11] The Lord Jesus, in His day, acknowledged this same pledge or\n      symptom of the kingdom. For when the Greeks came up to the feast\n      and asked to see Him, as the Gentile here seeks Abraham, His\n      thoughts are immediately upon His glory. He knows indeed that\n      glory is to be reached only by His death, and so He testifies; but\n      still, His thoughts go out at once to the glory. See John xii. 23.\n\nAll this bright intelligence of faith in Abraham is very beautiful. We\nhave already seen other actings of it in him. He knew a time of peace\nand a time of war, and acted accordingly in the day of the battle of the\nfive kings with four. So, again, he knew his heavenly place, and took\nit, when the fire of the Lord was judging the cities of the plain. So,\nagain, as this chapter xxi. very remarkably shows us, he also knew when\nto suffer wrong and when to resent, when to be passive and when to\nassert his rights. For now, in the time of this chapter, when the\nGentile seeks him, he reproves Abimelech for a well of water which\nAbimelech's servants had violently taken away. _But he had not\ncomplained of this injury until now_; for Abimelech said to him, \"I wot\nnot who has done this thing; neither didst thou tell me, neither yet\nheard I of it, but to-day.\" And this is exceedingly beautiful. It is\nperfect in its generation. Abraham had till now suffered, and taken it\npatiently, because till now he had been a heavenly stranger on the\nearth; and such patient suffering in such an one is acceptable with God.\nBut now, times are changed. The heavenly stranger has become the head of\nthe nations, sought by the Gentile; and rights and wrongs must now be\nsettled, and the cry of the oppressed must be heard.\n\nAll this has great moral beauty in it. I know not how sufficiently to\nadmire this workmanship of the Spirit in the mind of Abraham. He was an\nIsraelite who knew the seasons of the year--when to be at the Passover,\nand when at the Feast of Tabernacles. He knew, in spirit, when to\ncontinue with Jesus in His temptations, and then again, when the day\narrived, how to surround Him with hosannahs as He entered the city of\nthe Son of David. All such various and blending lights shone in the\nspiritual intelligence of his soul. God, by the Spirit, communicated a\nbeautiful mind to Abraham. In other days, he would not have so much of\nthis earth as to set his foot on--he would surrender the choice of the\nland to Lot--he would leave the Canaanite where he found him--he would\nrefuse to be enriched by the king of Sodom even in so little as a thread\nor a shoe-latchet--he would wander up and down in his tent here, a\nstranger from heaven--but now, in a day signified and marked by the hand\nof God, he can be another man, and know his millennial place, as father\nof the Israel of God, and their representative as head of the nations.\nHe can keep the Feast of Tabernacles in its season. His rebuke of\nAbimelech--his entertaining him--his enriching him--his giving him\ncovenant pledges--and all this in such easy, conscious dignity--and then\nhis new altar or his calling on God in a new character, and his planting\na grove, all bespeak another man, and that a transfiguration, if I may\nso speak, had taken place in him, according to God.\n\nAll this I judge to have a great character in it. But I will not any\nlonger stay here; for there is still more in this fine life of faith\nwhich our father Abraham, through grace, tracked to the very end,\nholding still the beginning of his confidence.\n\nAnd here let me say, this life of faith is, in other words, life spent\nin the _power of resurrection_. It is the life of a dead and risen man.\nIt is a lesson, if one may speak for others, hard indeed to be learnt to\nany good effect, but still it is the lesson, the practical lesson of our\nlives, that we are a dead and risen people. At the outset Abraham, in\nspirit, took that character. He left behind him all that nature or the\nworld had provided him with. He left what his _birth_ introduced him to,\nfor that which _faith_ introduced him to. And as he began, so he\ncontinued and ended, with failings by the way indeed, and that too again\nand again, but still to the end he was a man of faith, a dead and risen\nman.\n\nAs such an one he had received Isaac, some twenty years ago, not\nconsidering his own body now dead, neither yet the deadness of Sarah's\nwomb; and as such an one he now offers him on the altar at the word of\nthe Lord. The promise was _God's_--that was enough for him. For _faith_\nis never overcome. It has divine, infinite resources. The believer fails\nagain and again; but faith is never overcome, or comes short of its\nexpectation. xxii.\n\nThis is the way of faith, when Isaac was demanded.[12] And the same\novercoming faith we trace in the very next scene, the burial of Sarah.\nThis was the same faith, the faith of a dead and risen man, the faith\nwhich had already _received_ Isaac, and _offered_ Isaac, now buries\nSarah. Abraham believed in resurrection, and in God as the God of\nresurrection, the God who quickens the dead, and calls those things that\nbe not as though they were. The cave of Machpelah tells us this. \"Earth\nto earth, dust to dust, ashes to ashes, _in sure and certain hope_,\" was\nthe language of Abraham's heart there. His purchase of that place, with\nall his care to make it his own, to have it as his _possession_, while\nbeyond it he cared not for a single acre of the whole land, tells us of\nhis faith in resurrection. His treaty for it with the children of Heth\nis like his words to his servants at the foot of mount Moriah, \"Abide ye\nhere with the ass, while I and the lad will go yonder and worship, and\ncome again to you.\" Each of these things bespoke beforehand what he knew\nabout his Isaac and his Sarah. He committed each of them into the hands\nof Him who, as he knew, quickens the dead. The corn of wheat dying, as\nhe knew, was to live again. The handful of sacred dust, as he knew, was\nto be gathered again. Death itself was eyed in like victory of faith, as\nhad already been eyed the fire, and the wood, and the beloved victim on\nthe altar. xxiii.\n\n [12] There are _mysteries_ as well as _illustrations of faith_ in these\n      things; but I cannot follow them here. The offer of Isaac on\n      Moriah, we none of us doubt, is a mystery. So, I surely know, is\n      the action of Hagar and Ishmael in chapter xxi. It is the picture\n      of the present _outcast_ but _preserved_ Jew--a homeless fugitive,\n      destined, however, for future purposes of mercy. See Gal. iv. 25.\n      But I follow not these things particularly here.\n\nThese were the victories of faith again. Faith in our patriarch, after\nthis manner, talked calmly with all circumstances, and won the day over\nthem all in their turn. Beautiful victories of \"precious faith\"! And\nthey are gained still. Faith still disposes of one circumstance after\nanother as it rises. It meets our own personal condition as \"dead in\ntrespasses and sins;\" it meets the difficulties and temptations of the\nway; it meets the last great enemy. Let me not make a wonder of meeting\nthings on the journey, or at the end of it, if I have already met what\nwithstood me at the outset. Faith will go to mount Moriah, or to the\ncave of Machpelah, if it have already gone out in the starry night with\nthe Lord at Hebron. If it have met death in my own person, it may meet\nit in my Isaac or my Sarah. One speaks, the Lord knows, of His grace,\nand not of one's own experience. But still, beloved, let each of us say,\nAm I not at peace with God? Do I not know that He is for me? Do I not\nknow that my estate of sin, guilt, and condemnation has been met in His\ngrace? Do I not know that I am washed, accepted, adopted? Have I not\ngone out with Abraham, as in the night of chap. xv., and found relief\nfor my own state by nature, and shall I then tarry on my way, though the\ntrial of mount Moriah await me, or the death and burial at Machpelah? If\nfaith have already met sin, it is to know itself conqueror over even\ndeath. Let our souls be accustomed to the thought that the _brightest\nvictory of faith was achieved at the beginning_--that if at peace with\nGod in spite of sin, we may reckon on strength and comfort from Him in\nspite of the trials of the way, and on power and triumph in Him in spite\nof the end of it. Faith which has done its _first_ work has done its\n_greatest_ work. \"If, when we were enemies, we were reconciled to God by\nthe death of His Son, much more, being reconciled, we shall be saved by\nHis life.\" God is glorified in these reckonings of faith. \"He that\nspared not His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all, how shall He\nnot with Him also freely give us all things?\"\n\nIt is the power of life over death, life in victory, that faith uses. It\nwas such power of victorious life that Abraham possessed himself of by\nfaith. The sepulchre is empty, and the grave-clothes are lying there, as\nthe spoils of war. The deadness of his own body, the altar of his Isaac,\nand the grave of his Sarah, were visited and inspected by a _risen_ man,\nin the light of the faith of Him who is the Quickener of the dead, and\ncalleth those things that be not as though they were.\n\nThese are the great things of faith in the souls of the elect. But\nfurther still, in this fruitful, shifting history. Abraham, at the end,\nis seen to hold his first ground, as well as to work his earlier\nvictories. He maintains, through grace, erect and firm, that very\nattitude which he had at once and at the first assumed, when by faith he\nhearkened to the call of God.\n\nThat call of God had done these two things with Abraham, I might say\n_for_ Abraham; it had separated him from Mesopotamia, and yet left him a\nstranger in Canaan. From country, kindred, and father's house he had\nbeen withdrawn; but still, in the midst of that land and people to which\nhe had come, he was to be but a pilgrim, dwelling as on the surface of\nit, in a tent, whatever part of it he might pass through or visit.\n\nThis position was very holy. His separation was twofold--separation from\npollution, such as he might meet in Canaan; separation from natural\nalliances, such as he had been born into in Mesopotamia. He was under\nthe call of the God of glory; and such a call made no terms with either\nthe flesh or the world. In somewhat of Levite holiness, he did not know\nhis mother's children; in somewhat of church holiness, he knew no man\nafter the flesh. Nay; beyond even all this, in somewhat of the virtue of\nhis divine Lord, he did not know _himself_. He was the heir of the land\nwhere he was a pilgrim. The _promise_ of God was his, as surely as the\n_call_. He knew himself to be destined of divine, unimpeachable purpose,\nto dignities of a very high order. But to the end he was willing to pass\nunknown, entirely unknown. He talked of himself to the children of the\nland only as a stranger and a sojourner. He would pay for the smallest\nplot of ground which he wanted. He would be nothing and nobody in the\nmidst of them. He never talked of the dignities which he knew, all the\ntime, really attached to him. David, in like spirit, in other days, had\nthe oil of Samuel on him, the consecration of God to the throne of the\ntribes of Israel; and yet he would be hid, and thank a rich neighbour,\nin his need, for a piece of bread. These men of God knew not themselves.\nThis was the way of our Abraham; and this was the virtue of Him who, in\nthis same departed, evil world, made Himself of no reputation, though\nGod of heaven and earth.\n\nBlessed virtues of soul under the power of the call of God, through the\nHoly Ghost! Mesopotamia is left, Canaan is estranged, and self is\nforgotten and hid! The call of God purposes to do at this day with us\nwhat in that day it did with Abraham. It would fain conform us to\nitself. Its authority is supreme. It is not that country or kindred are,\nof necessity, defiling. Nature accredits them; and the law of God, in\nits season, owns and enforces them. But the call of God is supreme, and\ndemands separation of a very high, and fine, and peculiar order. And\nthis was what addressed Abraham when he dwelt in Mesopotamia, the place\nof his birth, of his kindred, and of his natural associations, and this\nwas what still echoed in his heart all the time of his sojourn in\nCanaan.\n\nIt was not that he was called to assert the _harm_ of such things. Not\nat all. But they were such things as the call of God left behind; and\nthe harm, or the moral wrong, or the pollution of a thing was no longer\nhis rule, but _inconsistency with the call of God_. He may allow the\nright and the claim of a thousand things; but it is the voice of the God\nof glory, to which in faith he had hearkened already, that must lead him\nand command him. \"No man, having put his hand to the plough, and looking\nback, is fit for the kingdom of God.\"\n\nHe was very true to his call. According to it, at the beginning, he had\ngone forth, not knowing, as before him, whither he went, and leaving, as\nbehind him, all that even nature itself must accredit, and all but the\nsovereign pleasure of God sanction. He continued in the power of it,\nsojourning in tents, unknown and unendowed, a stranger in the world,\nrefusing to take one backward step. And at the end, we find the same\npower of his call as fresh in his soul as ever--as earnest and as simple\nin chap. xxiv. as it had been in chap. xii. He charges Eliezer to act\nupon it to the full, as he himself at the outset had done--that is, he\nwas to keep Isaac in the place of separation at all cost. Let come what\nmay, Isaac was neither to be taken back to Mesopotamia, nor to be allied\nwith Canaan. He was, let circumstances make it difficult as they may, to\nbe maintained in his true place under the call of God.\n\nThis has a great character in it. There is another mystery in this\nexquisite chapter (xxiv.), as we commonly know; but I do not notice it\nhere. I rather design to trace the earnest, simple path, which faith\ntrod from first to last, in our father Abraham. The voice of the God of\nglory was _still_ heard by him. He was _still_ the separated man. He\ndeclared plainly that he sought a heavenly country. He might have had\nopportunity to return. This very journey of Eliezer proved that he had\nnot forgotten the road. But he did not, he would not.\n\nThis strangership of our patriarch in the earth has indeed a very fine\ncharacter. He left Mesopotamia, he sojourned in Canaan, he hid or forgot\nhimself! Abraham left Abraham behind, as well as country, kindred, and\nfather's house. He made himself of no reputation. He spoke of himself as\n\"a stranger and a sojourner,\" and as that only, in the audience of the\nchildren of Heth, though he was, all the while, the one \"who had the\npromises.\" All this was real, true-hearted strangership in the world.\nAnd it was conscious citizenship in heaven that made him, after this\nmanner, a willing stranger here. Because of possessions in prospect, he\ncould do without them in hand. The land of promise was to him but a\nstrange country, because it was but a land of promise and not of\npossession. He saw Christ's day, and was glad; but he saw it in the\ndistance. Heb. xi. 9-14.\n\n\nAnd Abraham was all this to the very end--as these closing chapters show\nus. The character which he took up at the beginning, under the call of\nGod, that character he maintained to the end. He fails in the power of\nfaith along the road, again and again, but he is the same heavenly\nstranger to the end of his journey.[13]\n\n [13] In the mystic history of the earth given to us in Lev. xxiii. the\n      Church is brought in as the \"poor\" and the \"stranger\" gleaning in\n      another man's field, in ver. 22. But as she entered that field so\n      she left it. She was the poor one, and the stranger, and the\n      gleaner in another's field, to the end. The field never becomes\n      her property.\n\n      Looked at in the light of this beautiful figure, what is\n      Christendom under God's eye?\n\nAnd strangership of this order is ours, I am deeply assured. Ours is to\nbe strangership in the earth, because of conscious and well-known\ncitizenship in heaven; separation from the world, because of oneness\nwith an already risen Christ. Nothing can alter this while we are on the\nearth. We ought so to look in the face of a _rejected_ Christ as to\nmaintain this strangership in power. And so we do, as far as Christ is\nof more value to us than all our circumstances. It is for want of this\nthat we take up with the world as we do. We have not learnt the lesson\nthat Moses learnt--that the reproach of Christ was greater riches than\nthe treasures of Egypt.\n\nHard but blessed. Abraham knew something of it in power. He was the\nstranger to the end. He might have returned to Mesopotamia. He had not\nforgotten the road, as we observed before; and the constant respect and\nfriendliness of all his neighbours proved that there was no enemy to\nhinder the journey. But the call of God had fixed his heart, and he\nlooked only where it led him.[14]\n\n [14] The Lord Jesus, in the days of His flesh, acted as the God who, of\n      old, had called Abraham. _For He put in the supreme claims of such\n      an one._ \"He that loveth father or mother more than Me,\" says He,\n      \"is not worthy of Me.\" And again, \"Follow Me, and let the dead\n      bury their dead.\" Who but God can step in between us and such\n      relationships, such obligations and services? Duties and\n      affections like these are more than sanctioned by nature; they are\n      enforced by law--law of God Himself. But the call of God is\n      supreme, and Jesus asserted it in the day of His humiliation here.\n\nWould that the soul held these things in increased power! Little indeed\ndoes the heart know of this, if one may speak for others. But they are\nreal--the prized fruit of divine energy in the elect of God.\n\nAfter all this we find another and distinct matter in the history of\nAbraham. I mean his marriage with Keturah, and his family by her.\n\nThis family by Keturah is, we may surely judge, a distinct mystery. That\nis, Abraham is here presenting a new feature of the divine wisdom, or\nillustrating another secret in the ways of the divine dispensations. In\nthese children of the second wife we get (typically) the millennial\nnations, the nations which shall people the earth in the days of the\nkingdom, branches of the great family of God in that day, and children\nof Abraham. They may lie far off, as in the ends of the earth; but they\nshall have their allotments, and be owned as of the one extended\nmillennial family. \"Rejoice, ye Gentiles, with His people,\" shall be\nsaid to them. The ends of the earth shall be Christ's inheritance then,\nas surely as the Church shall be glorified in Him and with Him in the\nheavens, and the throne of David, and the inheritance of Israel be His,\nas set up and revived in the land of their fathers. Abraham's children\nwill be all the world over.\n\nFor in that day of glory, the King of Israel shall be the God of the\nwhole earth. Christ is the Father of the everlasting age. If Israel be\nhonoured by Him, all the nations shall be blest in Him. He is \"the light\nto lighten the Gentiles,\" as He is \"the glory of His people Israel.\"\nKeturah's children, parcelled off in other lands, bespeak this mystery.\nThey will be second to Israel, it is true; but, nevertheless, they will\nbe elect and beloved. As it is here written: And Abraham gave all that\nhe had unto Isaac. But unto the sons of the concubines which Abraham\nhad, Abraham gave gifts, and sent them away from Isaac his son, while he\nyet lived, eastward, unto the east country. xxv.[15]\n\n [15] The same mystery, I doubt not, is presented in the marriage of\n      Moses and the Ethiopian, and in that also of Solomon with\n      Pharaoh's daughter. Moses' second wife stands, in dignity, below\n      his Zipporah, who shines in peculiar glory at the mount of God in\n      Exodus xviii.; and Pharaoh's daughter, though fully acknowledged\n      by the king at Jerusalem, would not be given a place in the city\n      of David.\n\nThis is, I believe, the mystic meaning of this new family of Abraham;\nand this strange and wondrous article is that which closes his history.\nBut it is another witness of the large and varied testimony which God\nhas borne to His own counsels and secrets in that history. And this is\nvery remarkable. At times _the Father_ is seen in Abraham--as, in his\ndesire for children--his making a feast at the weaning of Isaac--his\noffering up of his son--his sending for a wife for his son; at other\ntimes _the Christ_ is seen in him, as the one in whom all the families\nof the earth are to be blest--as the kinsman-redeemer of Israel--as the\nholder of the headship of the nations--father of the millennial or\neverlasting age--and then, at other times, _the Church_, or heavenly\npeople, are traced or reflected in this wondrous story; and, at other\ntimes, we are on earth, or with _Israel_.\n\nWe have the Blessed One, unto whom all His works are known from the\nbeginning of the world, in the details and changeful stories of this\nlife of Abraham, thus showing forth parts of His ways. In the allegories\nof Sarah and her seed, of Hagar and her seed, of Keturah and her seed,\nwe have the mystery of Jerusalem, \"the mother of us all,\" Israel in\nbondage as she now is with her children, and the gathering of the\nnations all the world over, as branches of the one extended millennial\nfamily. Mystery after mystery is thus acted in the life of Abraham; and\nmany and various parts of \"the manifold wisdom of God\" are taught us.\n\nI am quite aware, that _living or personal_ types may have been as\nunconscious of what they were, under God's hand, as _material_ types.\nHagar, no doubt, was as passive as the gold that overlaid the table of\nshew-bread, or as the water which filled the brazen laver. But the\nlesson to us is not affected by this. I have Christ's royal glory in the\nstate of Solomon, and I have the deeply precious provisions of His grace\nin the golden plate on Aaron's forehead; and I no more think of\nenquiring about Solomon himself in that matter than I do about the gold.\nThe sleeping Adam teaches me about the death of the Christ of God; the\nwaking rapture of Adam, on receiving Eve, teaches me about the\nsatisfaction and joy of the same Christ of God, when He shall see of the\ntravail of His soul; but whether Adam knew what he was doing for me, I\ndo not ask myself. I can learn about the first covenant from an\nunconscious Hagar, as I can learn about the cleansing of the blood of\nChrist from an unconscious altar. So, as to our Abraham, in taking his\nplace in the midst of all these varied and wondrous mysteries, I enquire\nnot curiously the measure of his mind in these things. The wisdom of God\ncan say--the Christ who stood in the eternal counsels can say, \"Behold,\nI and the children whom the Lord hath given me are for signs and for\nwonders;\" but how far Abraham could speak so, in whatever measure he was\nhimself in the secret he was made to utter, or whether he spoke\nmysteries as in an unknown tongue, we have not to enquire. \"God is His\nown interpreter.\"\n\nOur patriarch has now closed his actings and his exercises. We have now\nto close his eyes, as we read in chap. xxv. 7, 8, \"And these are the\ndays of the years of Abraham's life which he lived, an hundred\nthreescore and fifteen years. Then Abraham gave up the ghost, and died\nin a good old age, an old man, and full of years; and was gathered to\nhis people.\"\n\nHe had, we may say, seen the land, but he was not to go over and possess\nit. He was the Moses of an earlier generation; like him, a _heavenly_\nman, a man of the wilderness and not of the inheritance--a man of the\ntent--a child of resurrection. He was gathered to his people, ere the\nland was entered by the Israel of God according to promise. As in the\nglass of God's purpose, and by the light of faith, he sees the land; but\nhe goes not over to possess it. He dies as on Mount Pisgah, on the\nwilderness-side of the Jordan, destined, with Enoch before him and with\nMoses after him, to shine on the top of the hill in the heavenly glory\nof the Son of man.\n\n\nWe have now closed the third section of the Book of Genesis; and, with\nit, the scenes and circumstances of the life of Abraham.\n\nIn the midst of these fragments, thus gathered and treasured up for us\nby the Holy Ghost, we have seen faith getting its victories, knowing its\nrights and pleading its titles, practising its generosity, enjoying its\nfellowships, making its surrenders, and obtaining its consolations and\npromises. But we have seen also its _intelligence_, and learnt it to be\nsuch a thing as walks in the light, or according to the judgment, of the\nmind of Christ.\n\nThere is something very beautiful in such a sight as this. We do not\ncommonly witness this fine combination--the _intelligence_ of faith, and\nthe _moral power_ of faith. In some saints, there is the earnest, urgent\npower of faith, which goes on right truthfully and honestly, but with\nmany a mistake as to the dispensational wisdom of God. In others, there\nis a mind nicely taught, endowed with much priestly, spiritual skill, in\nfollowing the wisdom of God in ages and dispensations, but with lack of\npower in all that service which a simpler and more earnest faith would\nbe constantly pursuing. But in Abraham we see these things combined.\n\nIn our walk with God, the light of the knowledge of His mind should be\nseen, as well as our hearts be ever found open to His presence and joy,\nand our consciences alive to His claims and His will. The life of faith\nis a very incomplete thing, if we know not, as Abraham knew, the times\nas signified of God, when to fight, as it were, and when to be still;\nwhen to be silent under the wrongs of an Abimelech, and when to resent\nthem; when to raise the altar of a sojourning stranger, and when to call\non the name of the everlasting God. In other words, we ought to know\nwhat the Lord is about, according to His own eternal purpose, and what\nHe is leading onward to its consummation, in His varied and fruitful\nwisdom.\n\nSuch is the nature of all obedience; for the conduct of the saint is\never to be according to the dispensed wisdom of God at the time, or in\nthe given age.\n\nBut, let me add, the highest point of moral dignity in Abraham was this:\nthat he was _a stranger in the earth_.\n\nThis, I may say, outshines all. It was this that made God not _ashamed_\nto be called his God. God can _morally_ own the soul that advisedly\nrefuses citizenship in this revolted, corrupted world.\n\nThis was the highest point in moral dignity in Abraham.\n\nGod loveth the stranger. Deut. x. 18. He loves the _poor_, _unfriended_\nstranger, with the love of pity and of grace, and provides for him. But\nwith the _separated_ stranger, who has turned his back on this polluted\nscene, God links His name and His honour, and morally owns such without\nshame. Heb. xi. 13-16.\n\nHow finely he started on his journey at the beginning! The Lord and His\npromises were all he had. He left, as we have seen, his _natural_ home\nbehind him, but he did not expect to find _another_ home in the place he\nwas going to. He knew that he was to be a stranger and sojourner with\nGod in the earth. Mesopotamia was left, but Canaan was not taken up in\nthe stead of it. Accordingly, from all the people there, he was a\nseparated man all his days, or during his sojourn among them of about\none hundred years. Canaan was the _world_ to that heavenly man, and he\nhad as little to do with it or to say to it as he might, though all the\nwhile in it. When circumstances demanded it, or as far as business\ninvolved him, he dealt with it. He would traffic with the people of the\nland, if need were (to be sure he would), but his sympathies were not\nwith them. He needed a burying-place, and he purchased it of the\nchildren of Heth. He would not think of hesitating to treat with them\nabout a necessary matter of bargain and sale; but he would rather _buy_\nthan _receive_. He was loth to be debtor to them, or to be enriched by\nthem--nor were they his _companions_. This we observe throughout. If\nAner, Eshcol, and Mamre--it may be morally attracted by what they saw in\nhim--seek confederacy with him, he will not refuse their alliance on a\ngiven occasion of the common interest, when such interest the God who\nhad called him would sanction or commend. But still the Canaanites were\nnot his company. His wife was his company, his household, his flocks and\nhis herds, and his fellow-saint, Lot, his brother's son, who had come\nout of Mesopotamia with him--as long, at least, as such an one walked as\na separated man in Canaan. But even _he_, when undistinguished from the\npeople of the land, is a stranger to him as well and as fully as they.\n\n\nAll this has surely a voice in our ears. Angels were Abraham's company\nat times, and so the Lord of angels--and at all times, his altar and his\ntent were with him, and the mysteries or truths of God, as they were\nmade known to him. But the people of the land, the men of the world, did\nnot acquire his tastes or sympathies, or share his confidence. He was\n_among_ them but not _of_ them--and rather would he have had his house\nunbuilt, and Isaac be without a wife, than that such wife should be a\ndaughter of Canaan.\n\nTo some of us, beloved, this breaking up of natural things is terrible.\nBut if Jesus were loved more, all this would be the easier reckoned on.\nIf His value for us _within the veil_ were more pondered in our hearts\nand treasured up there, we should go to Him _without the camp_ with\nfirmer, surer step. \"I have learnt,\" said one of the martyrs, \"that\nthere is no freedom like that of the heart that has given up all for\nChrist--no wisdom like that learnt at His feet--no poetry like the calm\nforeseeing of the glory that shall be.\"\n\n\nOf our Abraham and his companions in this life of faith, confessing that\nthey were strangers and pilgrims on the earth, it is written, \"They that\nsay such things declare plainly that they seek a country--and truly if\nthey had been mindful of that from whence they came out, they might have\nhad opportunity to have returned, but now they desire a better country,\nthat is, an heavenly, wherefore God is not ashamed to be called their\nGod, for He hath prepared for them a city.\"\n\nBeloved, we are called to be these strangers--strangers such as God can\nthus morally own. If the world were not Abraham's object, we ought to\nfeel, even on higher sanctions, that it cannot be ours. The call of the\nGod of glory made Abraham a stranger here--the cross of Christ, in\naddition to that, may still more make us strangers. As we sometimes\nsing--\n\n      \"Before His cross we now are left,\n      As strangers in the land.\"\n\n\n\"Ye are dead,\" says the apostle, \"and your life is hid with Christ in\nGod.\" That is strangership of the highest order--the strangership of the\nSon of God Himself. \"The world knoweth us not, because it knew Him not.\"\n\nIn the strength of this strangership in the world, may we have grace to\n\"abstain from fleshly lusts which war against the soul\"! and in the\nstrength of our conscious citizenship in heaven may \"we look for the\nSaviour, the Lord Jesus Christ: who shall change our vile body, that it\nmay be fashioned like unto His glorious body, according to the working\nwhereby He is able even to subdue all things unto Himself.\"\n\n\n\n\n                                 ISAAC.\n\n                          GENESIS XXV.-XXVII.\n\n\nIn the former papers, entitled _Enoch_, _Noah_, and _Abraham_, I have\nfollowed the course of the Book of Genesis, down to the end of chapter\nxxiv. I now propose to take it up from thence, and follow it on through\nchapters xxv.-xxvii.; Isaac, after Abraham, being the principal person\nthere.\n\nThere is, however, but little in his history, and little in his\ncharacter. In some respects this is no matter; for, whether much or\nlittle, his name is in the recollection of us all who have learnt the\nways of the God of grace, \"the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob,\" which\nis His name for ever, His memorial unto all generations. Exod. iii.\n\nIsaac was a stranger in the earth, a heavenly stranger, as his father\nhad been, and we see him with his tent and his altar, as we saw Abraham;\nand we hear the Lord giving him the promises, as He had given them to\nAbraham.\n\n\"By faith Abraham sojourned in the land of promise, as in a strange\ncountry, dwelling in tabernacles with Isaac and Jacob, the heirs with\nhim of the same promise.\"\n\nThis tent-life of the patriarchs had a great character in it. Hebrews\nxi. 9, 10 teaches us this. It tells us that the fathers were content to\nlive upon the surface of this world. A tent has no foundations. It is\npitched or struck at a moment's warning. And such a slight and passing\nconnection with this earth, and life upon it, these patriarchs were\nsatisfied to have and seek only. They did not look for a city or for\nfoundations, till God became a Builder. Till His building was manifested\nthey were sojourners here, just crossing the plain, or surface of the\nearth, without striking their roots into it.\n\nThis is the voice that is heard from the tents of these pilgrim-fathers.\nAnd as their tents bespoke this heavenly strangership, their altars\nbespoke their worship, their _true_ worship; for they raised their altar\nto Him who had _appeared_ to them. They did not affect to find out God\nby their wisdom, and then worship Him in the light and dictate of their\nown thoughts. They did not, thus, in the common folly, profess\nthemselves to be wise; but they knew God and worshipped God only\naccording to His revelation of Himself. Therefore it was not an altar\n\"to the unknown God\" at which they served; but they served or worshipped\nin truth. And in its generation the patriarchal _altar_ was, in this\nway, as beautiful as the patriarchal _tent_. The latter put them into\ndue relationship to the world around them, the former to the Lord God of\nheaven and earth who was above them.\n\nAbraham, Isaac, and Jacob were alike in all this. There was, therefore,\nno new dispensational secret, no fresh purpose of the divine counsels,\nrevealed in Isaac, as there had been in Abraham.[16] This is so. But\nstill, though there was no new dispensational scene unfolded, there was\na further unfolding of the glories that attach to the dispensation or\ncalling which had been already made known in Abraham. And a very\nimportant one too--such as, if we had divine affections, we should\ndeeply prize. I mean this: The heavenly calling or strangership on earth\nwas the _common_ thing; but characteristically, _election_ was\nillustrated in Abraham, and _sonship_ or adoption in Isaac.\n\n [16] See the paper on \"Enoch,\" pp. 32-37, where certain dispensational\n      purposes of God, in their differences, are considered.\n\nGod called Abraham from the world, from kindred, country, and father's\nhouse, separating him to Himself and to His promises. But Isaac was\nalready as one chosen and called and sanctified, while in the house of\nhis father. He was at home from his birth, and he was there with God,\nhaving been born according to promise, and through an energy that\nquickened the dead; and in all these things he represented _sonship_, as\nAbraham had represented _election_. In Isaac we see that family that is\n\"born not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of\nman, but of God,\" and who stand in liberty; as the apostle says, \"Now\nwe, brethren, as Isaac was, are the children of promise.\" We are\nAbraham's seed, so many Isaacs, children of the freewoman, or in the\nadoption, if we be Christ's.\n\nNow this mystery of sonship or adoption represented in Isaac, as the\nmystery of election had been made known in Abraham, is in divine order.\nFor _the election of God is unto adoption_, as we read, \"Having\npredestinated us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ unto\nHimself;\" and this being so, this high, personal prerogative being\nrepresented in Isaac, in the course of his history we get the mystery of\nthe son of the freewoman very blessedly, largely exhibited.\n\nFor we get both the _birth_ and the _weaning_. And each of these events\nwas the occasion of joy in the house of the father. The child born was\ncalled \"laughter,\" the child weaned was celebrated by a feast.\n\nWondrous and gracious secrets these are. It is the father's joy to _have\nchildren_, it is his further joy that his children should _know\nthemselves to be children_. This was the birth and the weaning of Isaac\nin the Book of Genesis. And all this, after so long a time, is revived\nin the Epistle to the Galatians. For what was represented in Isaac is\nrealized in us through the Spirit. In that epistle we learn that we are\nchildren by faith in Christ Jesus. And there we learn also that, being\nchildren, we receive the spirit of children. We are _weaned_ as well as\n_born_. Paul travailed in birth for them again, as he says: \"My little\nchildren, of whom I travail in birth again until Christ be formed in\nyou.\" The Christ of this passage is Christ _the Son_; and Paul longed\nand laboured that they might be brought into the Isaac-state, the\nliberty of conscious adoption. They were under temptation to feed again\nupon the ordinances which gendered bondage, and which the tutors and\ngovernors of an earlier dispensation had enjoined. But opposed to this,\nthe apostle would draw them again into liberty, as he himself had proved\nthe virtue of it in his own soul. It had pleased God, as he says, to\nreveal the Son in him. The life he lived in the flesh he lived by the\nfaith of _the Son_, who loved him. He could, therefore, go down to\nArabia, where he had no flesh and blood to confer with, no Jerusalem or\ncity of solemnities, no apostles or ordinances, no priesthood after a\ncarnal order, no worldly sanctuary, to countenance, to seal, or to\nperfect him. He did not want what any or all could give him, for he had\n_the Son revealed in him_. He was a weaned Isaac; and he would fain have\nthe Galatians to be such likewise; and to hear the word which of old had\nbeen heard in the house of Abraham over Isaac, \"Cast out the bondwoman\nand her son; for the son of the bondwoman shall not be heir with the son\nof the freewoman.\"\n\nAll this is given us, mystically, in Isaac, the child of the freewoman,\nwhose birth caused laughter, and whose weaning was celebrated with a\nfeast. And this mystery is, we thus see, largely and expressly revived\nand opened, in its full character, in the Epistle to the Galatians.\n\nIt is not of _glories_ only that we must be thinking, when thinking of\npredestination. God's purposes concerning us are still richer. We are\npredestinated to a state of _gratified affections_, as well as to a\nplace of _displayed glories_--to \"the adoption of children,\" and to be\n\"before Him in love,\" as well as to the inheritance of all things.\nEphesians i. And the Spirit already given is as surely in us the power\nto cry, \"Abba, Father,\" as He is the seal of the title of the coming\nredemption.\n\nWe are apt to forget this. We think of calling and of predestination, in\nconnection with glory, rather than in connection with love, and\nrelationship, and home, and a Father's house.\n\nAnd yet it is relationship that will give even the inheritance or the\nglory its richest joy. The youngest child in the family has another kind\nof enjoyment of the palace of the king, than the highest estate and\ndignitary of his realm. The child is there _without state_, for its\ntitle is in relationship--the lords of the land may be there, but they\nare there as at court, by title of their dignity or office. And the\nchild's enjoyment of the palace is not only, as I said, of _another_\nkind, it is of a higher kind--it is personal and not official--the\npalace is _a home_ to it, and not merely _the court of royalty_.\n\nNow it is the son, the child at home, the child in the privileges of\nrelationship, that we get in Isaac. It is such an one that he\nrepresents--this is what Isaac, mystically, is. Isaac was kept at home,\nwaited on by the household, nourished and endowed; and the wealth as\nwell as the comfort of his father's house was his; as we read, \"And\nAbraham gave all that he had unto Isaac. But unto the sons of the\nconcubines which Abraham had, Abraham gave gifts, and sent them away\nfrom Isaac his son, while he yet lived, eastward, unto the east\ncountry.\"\n\nMystically looked at, Isaac is thus before us, a son, born of the free\nwoman, born of promise, born of God, as it is said, \"I will come and\nSarah shall have a son.\" Isaac represents that adopted family who are\nmade \"accepted in the Beloved,\" who have put on Christ, who stand in His\njoy, and breathe His spirit.\n\nWe have, however, to consider him _morally_ as well as _mystically_;\nthat is, in his _character_, as well as in his _person_. The elements,\nhowever, are but few. There is but little history connected with him.\nThere are but few incidents in his life, and but little disclosure of\ncharacter. And this is to our comfort. At times we find among the elect\nof God very fine natural materials, a noble bearing of soul, or a\ndelicate, attractive form of human virtue; and again, at other times,\neither poor, or even very bad, human materials. And this becomes a\nrelief to our poor hearts. _Because_ we find it (from a better\nacquaintance with ourselves than with others) easy to own the poor and\nwretched materials that go to make up what we ourselves are; and then it\nis our comfort (comfort of a certain sort) to find like samples of\nnature in others of God's people.\n\nIsaac was _wanting_ in character. He was neither of fine nor of bad\nnatural materials. There was much in him that, as we say, was amiable,\nand which, after a human estimate, would have been attractive. But he\nwas wanting in character. The style of his education may go far to\naccount for this. He had been reared tenderly. He had never been away\nfrom the side of his mother, the child of whose old age he was--her only\nchild; and these habits had relaxed him, and kept a naturally amiable\ntemper in its common softness. Quietness and retirement, the temper that\nrather submits than resents, and this allied to the relaxing indulgence\nof domestic, if not animal, life, appear in him. He was blameless, we\nmay quite assume, pious and strict in the observance of relative duties,\nas a child and as a husband, and would have engaged the good-will and\ngood wishes of his neighbours; but he was wanting in that energy which\nwould have made him a witness among them, at least, beyond the\nseparation which attended his circumcision, his altar, and his tent. And\nsuch a life is always a poor one. To his tent and his altar he was true,\nto a common measure; but he pitched the one and raised the other with\ntoo feeble a hand.\n\nIsaac was forty years old when he received Rebecca to wife. For twenty\nyears they were childless; but under this trial they behaved themselves\neven better than Abraham and Sarah had done. Abraham and Sarah had no\nchild, and Sarah gave her bondmaid to her husband. Isaac and Rebecca had\nno child; but they entreated the Lord, and waited for His mercy. This\nwas a difference, and for a moment, the last are first, and the first\nare last; and such moral variety do we find among the people of God to\nthis day. But the two sets of children suggest different divine\nmysteries, as the way of the parents of each thus afford different moral\nteaching.\n\nThere were the two sons of Abraham--Isaac and Ishmael; but they were by\ntwo wives: there are now the two sons of Isaac--Jacob and Esau; but they\nare by the same wife.\n\nThe enmity between the sons of Abraham began when Ishmael, a lad of\nfourteen years of age, mocked the weaned Isaac. But the struggle between\nthe sons of Isaac was in the womb. Two nations were there, as the Lord\nhad told Rebecca, \"Two manner of people shall be separated from thy\nbowels.\" And so it came to pass. The man of God was found in Jacob, the\nman of the world in Esau; the principle of _faith_ was in the one, the\nprinciple of _nature_ in the other. Two manner of people were indeed\nseparated from her bowels, and had struggled in her womb. \"The\nfriendship of the world is enmity against God.\" And this was Esau.\nAccordingly, Esau made the earth the scene of his energies, of his\nenjoyments, and of his expectations. He was \"a man of the field,\" and \"a\ncunning hunter.\" He prospered in his generation. He loved the field, and\nhe knew how to use the field. He set his heart on the present life, and\nknew how to turn its capabilities to the account of his enjoyments. His\nsons quickly became dukes, nay kings, and had their cities; as Ishmael's\nchildren had become princes, and had their castles. Their dignity and\ntheir greatness proceeded from themselves; and the world witnessed them\nin their magnificence.\n\nBut Jacob was \"a plain man,\" a man of the tent. He took after his\nfathers. Like Abraham and Isaac, he was a stranger here, sojourning as\non the surface of the earth for a season, with his eye upon the promise.\nHis children--while Esau's were dukes, settled in their domains, in the\nsunshine of their dignities and wealth--had to wander from one nation to\nanother people, to suffer the hardships and wrongs of injurious Egypt,\nor to traverse, as pilgrims, the trackless, wasted desert.\n\nEsau was the \"profane\" one. His hope and his heart were linked with life\nin this world, and with that only; for he would say, \"I am at the point\nto die, and what profit shall this birthright do to me?\" Like the\nGadarenes, and like Judas, Esau would sell his title to Christ. But\nJacob had faith, and was ready to buy what Esau was ready to sell.\n\nTwo manner of people were, after this manner, separated from Rebecca's\nbowels, as all this tells us. They are no sooner brought forth than this\nis seen; and their earliest habits, their first activities, are\ncharacteristic. It was not merely the bondwoman and the free, or the\nchildren of the two covenants, as Ishmael and Isaac had been; in Esau\nand Jacob we get a _fuller_ expression of the same natures; the one,\nthat reprobate thing, had from Adam, profane or worldly, which takes a\nportion in the earth and not in God; the other, that divine thing, had\nfrom Christ, which is believing, hopeful, looking to God's provisions,\nand waiting for the kingdom.\n\nAll this survives to the present day, and flourishes abundantly in\ndifferent samples in the midst of us, or around us. I might say the\nCain, the Nimrod, the Ishmael, and the Esau are still abroad on the\nearth, and these tales and illustrations have their lessons for our\nsouls. They are wonderful in their simplicity; but they are too deep for\nthe wisdom of the world, and too pure for the love of it.\n\nThese things I have gathered for the sake of the moral and the mystery\nwhich so abound in them. But my immediate business is with Isaac.\n\n\nIsaac, as I have already noticed, was brought up in his mother's tent.\nHe was, as I may say, rather the child of his mother than of his\nfather--the common case of all of us in our earliest days. But with\nIsaac, this was so till his mother died; and then he must have been much\nbeyond thirty years of age.\n\nHe knew more of Sarah's tent, than of the busier haunts and occupations\nof men. Her tent had been his _teacher_, as well as his _nurse_, and\nthis education left impressions on his character which were never\neffaced. We have a passing or incidental, but still, a very sure,\nwitness of the strength of maternal influence over him, in chap. xxiv.\n67. \"And Isaac brought her [Rebecca] into his mother's tent, _and Isaac\nwas comforted after his mother's death_.\"\n\nThis strongly intimates the tendencies of his early life. And thus was\ncharacter formed in him. He was the easy, gentle, unresisting Isaac,\npious, as we speak, and, as I have said of him, blameless and amicable.\n\nBut with all this, and while this I doubt not is surely so, I ask, Was\nit merely nature or character that bore him unresistingly along the road\nto Mount Moriah? See chap. xxii. Was it merely filial piety which then\ndisposed him to be bound as a lamb for the slaughter, without opening\nhis mouth? Can we assume this? Was this the force of character merely? I\nsay not so. This was too much for human gentleness and submission, even\nsuch as might have been found in an Isaac, or in a Jephthah's daughter.\nI must rather say, the hand of the Lord was over him on that occasion,\njust as, long afterwards, it was over the owner of the ass that was\nneeded to bear the King on to the city, and then over the multitude that\naccompanied and hailed Him on the road; or, as it was over the man\nbearing the pitcher of water, who prepared the guest-chamber for the\nlast passover. On these occasions, the hand of the Lord was strong to\nforce the material to comply, and take the impression of the moment. As\nalso in the earlier days of Samuel, when the kine carried the ark of God\nright on the way homeward, though nature resisted it, their young being\nleft behind them. For the divine power was upon the kine then. And\nIsaac, in like manner, was under divine power, under the hand of God, on\nthis occasion; willingly, I fully grant, but made willing as in a day of\npower; for he was to be the type or foreshadowing of a greater than he.\nThe seal was in a strong hand, and the impression must be taken, clear,\ndeep, and legible. \"Lo, I come to do thy will, O God,\" is the writing on\nthe seal. \"As a lamb before her shearers is dumb, so he openeth not his\nmouth.\"\n\nThat was a great moment in the life of Isaac, an occasion of great\nmeaning. So in his acceptance of Rebecca. See chap. xxiv. In his taking\na wife, not of all whom he chose, but of his father's providing, we may\ntrace the same strong hand over him. There might easily have been more\nof human submissiveness and filial piety in this, than in the case of\nthe sacrifice on Mount Moriah, we may surely allow; but still this was a\n_sealing_ time as well as the other. This marriage was a type or\nmystery, as well as that sacrifice. The wife brought home to the son and\nheir of the father, by the servant who was in the full confidence and\nsecret of the father, this was a mystery; and the material must comply\nagain, and take the impression from the hand that was using it. The\npotter was making vessels for the use of the household, and the clay\nmust yield. The prophet's children, ages afterwards, had names given\nthem, as the Lord pleased, and the prophet had to say of them, Behold, I\nand the children whom the Lord hath given me are for signs and for\nwonders. Isa. viii. And so, Isaac and Rebecca, in the day and\ncircumstances of their marriage, were a type, \"for a sign and a wonder.\"\nThis was their chief dignity; _they tell the mysteries of God_. They are\nparables as well as mysteries. They were events set in time or in the\nprogress of the earth's history, as the sun and moon and stars are set\nin the heavens, _for signs_. Each of them has a writing on it under the\nhand of God. \"I will engrave the graving thereof, saith the Lord of\nhosts;\" for on these events He has impressed the image of some of His\neverlasting counsels.\n\nBut though this gentle and submissive nature that was in our Isaac was\nnot equal to such sacrifices and surrenders as these, yet gentle,\nsubmissive nature is the quality which gives him his character. At times\nit acts amiably and attractively; at times it sadly betrays him. But at\nall times, under all circumstances, amid the few incidents that are\nrecorded of him, it is the easy, gentle, yielding Isaac that we see. And\nthe presence of one and the same virtue on every occasion is, I need not\nsay, but poor in point of character. It is _combination_ that bespeaks\ncharacter and divine workmanship. \"The kingdom of God is righteousness\nand peace and joy in the Holy Ghost.\" It is firm as well as gracious and\njoyous. And this is moral glory; as many coloured rays give us the one\nunsullied result in the light we enjoy and admire. But this does not\nshine in Isaac. In none, surely, in its full beauty, save in Him in whom\nall glories, in their different generations, meet and shine.\n\nJeremiah, I might here take liberty to say, appears to me to have been a\nman of one passion, as Isaac was a man of one virtue. I mean, of course,\ncharacteristically as to each of them, Isaac and Jeremiah. A godly\npassion indeed it was, grief over the moral wastes of Zion, which\ncharacterized Jeremiah. But being thus his _one_ affection, the passion\nor sentiment, which, after this manner, possessed his soul, it makes him\ngenerally very engaging and attractive to the heart; but at times it\nallies his spirit with that which defiles him. He is angry with the\npeople who were stirring the sorrows of his heart. And he murmurs\nagainst God Himself. I speak, of course, of Jeremiah's character, as we\nget it exhibited in his ministry. I know, surely, in that ministry,\nlooked at in itself, he was the prophet of God and delivered the\ninspirations of the Holy Ghost. But as a man I speak of him; as a man,\nhe was a man of one passion; as I have said of Isaac that he was a man\nof one virtue. But it is those in whom there is _assemblage_ of virtues,\nthat tell us more assuredly of divine workmanship, of trees planted by\nthe rivers of waters, that bring forth fruit _in season_. Psalm i. For\nit is this seasonableness that is the real beauty. Everything is\nbeautiful in its season, and only then. Gentleness loses its beauty,\nwhen zeal and indignation are called for. The first Psalm is too high a\ndescription for a man of one virtue; it implies character, and decision,\nand individuality; it shows a soul drawing its virtue from God. \"He\nshall be like a tree planted by the rivers of water, that bringeth forth\nits fruit in its season; his leaf also shall not wither; and whatsoever\nhe doeth shall prosper.\" This is of divine husbandry; but such we do not\nsee in our Isaac. In his measure, and certainly in contrast with Isaac,\nthis combination or assemblage of virtues, of which I have already\nspoken, appears in Abraham; and this difference in the two may be seen\nin their acting under similar circumstances. Abraham in chap. xxi. and\nIsaac in this chapter xxvi.[17]\n\n [17] As to the common sin of Abraham and Isaac touching the denial of\n      their wives, calling them their sisters, see \"Abraham,\" p. 122.\n\nIsaac had been very badly treated by the Philistines. One well after\nanother of his own digging was violently taken away from him, as the\nwells which his father had dug had been filled up. He had yielded to\nthis wrong with a gentle, gracious spirit, in a spirit that well became\none of God's strangers and pilgrims here, who look for citizenship in\nanother world. He went from place to place, as the Philistines again and\nagain strove with him and urged him. This was according to the mind\nwhich marks him, as we said, in every incident of his life. Suffering,\nhe threatens not--doing well and suffering for it, he takes it\npatiently; and this we know is acceptable with God. 1 Peter ii. 20. And\nso God here attests this; for He owns His servant in this thing, and\ncomes to him by night as He had comforted Abraham. But when, in season,\nthe Philistines are brought to a better mind, and Abimelech the king,\nwith his friend Ahuzzath, and Phichol his chief captain, seek Isaac and\nalliance with him, I ask, Does not his character, in its way, betray\nhim?\n\nOf course it was right in Isaac to receive them, and plight them his\nfriendship, and to exchange the good offices and pledges and securities\nof neighbourliness which they sought. For we ought to forgive, if it be\nseventy times seven a day. But with that there is to be faithfulness in\nits season--faithfulness as well as forgiveness. \"If thy brother\ntrespass against thee, rebuke him; and if he repent, forgive him.\" But\nIsaac was not quite up to this sturdier virtue. He complains to\nAbimelech, but it is in such soft and easy terms, that it seems to carry\nno authority to the conscience with it. Not so his entering into\ncovenant with him. He strikes hands readily, and, I may say, heartily.\nHe makes a feast for the king of Gerar, and sends him away as his ally,\nwithout his being brought to any acknowledgment of the wrong which his\npeople had done to the man whose friendship he was now seeking and\ngetting. Nor is there on the lips of Isaac any gainsaying of Abimelech's\nassertion, that he had done nothing but good to Isaac all the time he\nhad been in his country. As far as this intercourse went, and as far as\nwe can discover the mind of the king of Gerar, he was not convicted by\nIsaac, but returned home with his friends at peace with himself as well\nas with Isaac. Isaac had not made good to Abimelech's conscience the\ncomplaint he had made to his ear--there was want of character and force\nin it--it partook of Isaac's own nature.\n\nThis was but poor virtue in Isaac. It is but poor virtue in ourselves,\nwhen it appears--and some of us have to treat it as such, and confess it\nas such, at times. It is agreeable in a certain form of amiable human\nnature; but it is not service to God. We are humbled by reason of that\nin our own ways. It is poor, and our Isaac here gives us, in measure at\nleast, a sample of this.\n\nIt was, however, otherwise with Abraham. The king of Gerar had sought\nAbraham in his day, and sought him for a like reason, and with a like\ndesire. Abraham meets him in as noble a spirit of forgiveness as Isaac\nwould have done, with an equal readiness of heart and hand to accept\nhim, and to pledge him. But with all this, he rebukes him and makes him\nfeel the rebukes. \"Abraham _reproved_ Abimelech,\" as we read, but as we\ndo not read in the case of Isaac. Abraham will not send him away\nsatisfied with himself, as Isaac did, with an unanswered boast in his\nmouth of his and his people's virtues. He will assure him, as fully as\nIsaac could have done, of his full forgiveness and reconciliation; but\nhe will not hide it from him, that his conscience may have a question\nwith him, though his neighbour may accept him and pardon him; that there\nare matters (as between him and the Lord) which Abraham's feast and\nAbraham's friendship could never settle.\n\nThis was _real_, real before God, where _reality_, beloved, ever puts\nus. May we know that secret better, and be upright before Him! This was\nbeautiful--and by this Abraham was _blessing_ Abimelech, and not _merely\ngratifying_ him. But this was not so with Isaac; and we may leave him on\nthis occasion, in chap. xxvi., with something of this inquiry in our\nhearts, Was it mere nature, or the renewed mind in the saint, that acted\nthus?--a question which still occurs.\n\nIsaac was an elect one, as surely as Abraham; a stranger with God in the\nearth; one who _used_ his altar as well as _carried_ it. He was\nmeditating in the field when he got his Rebecca, and he had prayed for\nthe mercy, when Esau and Jacob were given to him. We speak of\n_character_ in him only, when we thus contrast him with another. We\nspeak of the living, practical ways of a saint; and we see in him what\nwas below a witness for God abroad, though amiable and devout at home.\nThis is found in Isaac; and kindred things are still found, again I may\nsay, as many of us know to our humbling. As one once said to me, \"There\nis much that goes with others for being _spiritual_, because it is done\nfor the eye and taste of our fellow-Christians, and not, as in God's\npresence, with a single heart to Him.\"\n\n\nThis indeed is true; and this searches our hearts to their profit. Such\nnotices of our common ways may convict, but they need by no means\ndishearten us. Quite otherwise; they may be welcomed as for blessing.\nThe light that penetrates to scatter our darkness, leaves itself behind\nto gladden us, and has title to assert the place as _all its own_--so\nthat we ought to be able, in spirit, to sing of _present light_ and\n_past_ _darkness_, to know what we _were_, and what we _are_, and still\nto sing--\n\n      \"All that I was, my sin, my guilt,\n        My death was all my own--\n      All that I am I owe to Thee,\n        My gracious God, alone.\n\n      \"The evil of my former state\n        Was mine and only mine--\n      The good in which I now rejoice\n        Is Thine and only Thine.\n\n      \"The darkness of my former state,\n        The bondage, all was mine--\n      The light of life in which I walk,\n        The liberty is Thine.\"\n\n\nThis is standing, not attainment; this is what faith entitles us to\ncelebrate. Faith takes up this language, and the soul surely hears it\nand understands it. But _faith_ is the spring, in the inworking power of\nthe Holy Ghost. As in Heb. xi., from beginning to end, it is _faith_\nthat is celebrated. Enoch, and Moses, and David, and the prophets, and\nthe martyrs of other days, may be presented there in their fruits and\nvictories, but it is _faith_, and not the people of God, that the Spirit\nby the apostle is celebrating in that fine chapter.\n\n\nBut I must return to Isaac.\n\nAt the close of chapter xxvi. we read: \"And Esau was forty years old\nwhen he took to wife Judith the daughter of Beeri the Hittite, and\nBashemath the daughter of Elon the Hittite: which were a grief of mind\nto Isaac and to Rebekah.\"\n\nThis has much for us in the way of admonition; but to use it aright, I\nmust look to things connected with it, or like it, in the earlier\nhistory of Abraham, and then in the future histories of Jacob and his\nson Judah.\n\nThe command to the nation of Israel at the very beginning was to keep\nthe way of the Lord very particularly as to _marriage_. They were by no\nmeans either to give their daughters to the sons of the Canaanites, or\ntake the Canaanites' daughters for their sons. Deut. vii. 3. If they did\nso, it would be on the pain of being no longer owned of the Lord. Josh.\nxxiii. According to this, the apostate days of Solomon are marked by\ndisobedience to this very thing (1 Kings xi.); and afterwards, no real\nrecovery to God could be admitted, without a return to the observance of\nthis principle in their marriages. Ezra x.; Neh. x.\n\nObedience, therefore, in this thing was a peculiar test of the state of\nthe nation. And it is thus that I look at it in this earliest book of\nGenesis. For though divine law was not then published, divine principles\nwere then understood. It may be regarded as the witness of the state of\n_family_ religion then, as it was of the state of _national_ religion\nafterwards.\n\nAbraham, in this matter, eminently keeps \"the way of the Lord;\" and so\nEliezer, one of his \"household;\" and so our Isaac, one of his\n\"children.\" For Abraham sends a special embassy into a distant land, in\norder to get a wife \"in the Lord\" for his son--Eliezer goes on that\nembassy with a ready mind--and Isaac in patience waits for the fruit of\nit, not seeking any alliance with the nearer people; and, though sad and\nsolitary, keeps himself for the Lord's appointed helpmeet. Like Adam, he\nwaited for a helpmeet from the Lord's own hand, though it cost him\npatience and sore solitude. This his meditation in the field at eventide\nshows. He endured. He might have got a daughter of Canaan; but he\nendured. He will rather suffer the sickening of his heart from the\ndeferring of his hope, than not marry \"in the Lord,\" or take him a wife\nof any that he may choose. And all this was very beautiful in this first\ngeneration of this elect family. The father, the servant, and the child,\neach in his way, witnesses how Abraham had ordered his house according\nto God, teaching his children and his household the way of the Lord. See\nchap. xviii. 19.\n\nBut we notice a course of sad decline and departure from all this.\n\nIsaac, in his turn and generation, becomes the head of the family. But\nhe is grievously careless in this matter, compared with his father; as\nthis scripture, the close of chapter xxvi., shows us. He does not watch\nover his children's ways, to anticipate mischief, as Abraham had done.\nEsau his son marries a daughter of the Hittites. Isaac and Rebecca are\ngrieved at this, it is true; for they had _righteous_ souls which knew\nhow to be \"vexed\" with this; but then, it was their _carelessness_ which\nhad brought this vexation upon them.\n\nThis we cannot say was beautiful. But still there was a happy symptom in\nit. There was a righteous soul to be vexed, a mind sensitive of\ndefilement. And this was well. Jacob, however, declines still further.\nHe neither anticipates the mischief, like Abraham, nor does he, like\nIsaac, grieve over it when it occurs. But with an unconcerned heart, as\nfar as the history tells us, he allows his children to form what\nalliances they please, and to take them wives of all whom they choose.\n\nThis is sad. There is no _joy_ for the heart here, as in the _obedience_\nof Abraham; there is no _relief_ for the heart here, as in the _sorrow_\nof Isaac and Rebecca.\n\nBut Judah afterwards goes beyond even all this in a very fearful way. He\nrepresents the fourth generation of this elect family. But he not only\ndoes not anticipate mischief, like Abraham, in the ordering of his\nfamily, nor grieve over mischief when brought into it, like Isaac, nor\nis he simply indifferent about it, whether it be brought in or not, like\nJacob, but he actually brings it in himself! For he does nothing less\nthan take a daughter of the Canaanites to be the wife of his son Er!\n\nThis exceeded. This was sinning with a high hand. And thus, in all this,\nin this history of the four generations of Genesis-patriarchs, we notice\ndeclension, gradual but solemn declension, till it reach complete\napostasy from the way of the Lord.\n\nBut if this be serious and sad, as it really is, is it not profitable\nand seasonable? Can we not readily own, that it is \"written for our\nlearning\"? How does it warn us of a tendency to decline from God's\nprinciples! What took place in the same elect family, generation after\ngeneration, may take place in the same elect person, year after year.\nThe principles of God may be deserted by easy gradations. They may first\nbe _relaxed_, then _forgotten_, then _despised_. They may pass from a\n_firm_ hand into an _easy_ one, from thence to an _indifferent_ one, and\nfind themselves at last flung away by a _rebellious_ one. Many have at\nfirst stood for God's principles in the face of difficulties and\nfascinations, like Abraham--then, merely grieved over the loss of them,\nlike Isaac--then, been careless about their loss or maintenance, like\nJacob--and at last, with a high hand, broken them, like Judah.\n\nThis is suggested by the scene at the close of chap. xxvi. As we pursue\nthe story of Isaac after this, we shall find that his soft and pliant\nnature allies him not only with weaknesses, but with defilement, with\nsome of the low indulgences of mere animal nature. I mean in the closing\naction of his life, his blessing of Esau and Jacob.\n\nThis is a solemn scene indeed, full of warning and admonition.\n\nThough Isaac had been grieved, as we have seen, by the marriage of Esau\nwith a daughter of the Hittites, yet we learn immediately afterwards,\nthat it is this very same Esau that draws and holds the strongest\naffections of his father's heart, to which that father would, if he\ncould, have sacrificed everything. And this was very sad. It reminds me\nof Jehoshaphat. Jehoshaphat had godly _sensibilities_, but he was\nwanting in godly _energies_. Through vanity he sadly sinned; first\njoining in affinity with Ahab, king of Israel, and then with Ahab going\nto the battle. But still, he had sensibilities that were spiritual and\nof divine workmanship. For in the midst of the prophets of Baal, he was\nnot at ease. He had a witness within, that this would not do; and he\nasked, \"Is there not here a prophet of the Lord beside, that we might\ninquire of him?\" But still, and in spite of all this, he went to\nRamoth-Gilead to battle, and that, too, in alliance with that very Ahab,\nwho had thus so painfully wounded the best affections of his soul, and\nwho, under his own eye, and as they sat on the throne together, in the\nspirit of deep revolt from the God of Israel, had consulted the prophets\nof Baal.\n\nThis was strange, as well as terrible; but this was that king\nJehoshaphat. And just after the same manner, our Isaac on this occasion\nhad his _sensibilities_, but not his corresponding _energies_. With a\ngodly mind he grieved over Esau's marriage with a daughter of Heth; and\nyet that very Esau, who thus wounded the witness within him, was the one\nto attract and hold and order the fondest sympathies of his heart, so as\nto hinder him from freeing himself to act for God.\n\nIt was not through vanity, as it was in Jehoshaphat, that Isaac thus\nsadly and strangely failed--it was rather, from the common pravity of\nhis character, such as we have seen it to be, a general relaxed moral\ntone of soul. But whether it be through this or that, he is ensnared, I\nmay say, by an earlier Ahab, though his soul had the sense of that\nAhab's apostasy. He would help Esau to the blessing all he could, as\nJehoshaphat would help the king of Israel all he could to the victory at\nRamoth-Gilead.\n\nWhat sights are these! what lessons and warnings!\n\nBut we must inspect this family scene, this family circle in chap.\nxxvii. a little more closely. There are others beside Isaac to be looked\nat.\n\nAbraham's servant in chap. xxiv. had brought two different things with\nhim out of the house of his master, when he visited the house of\nBethuel. He brought a _report_ of all that the Lord had done for\nAbraham, and _gifts_.\n\nThese different things become tests of that household in Mesopotamia.\nThe report dealt with future and distant things, and had God necessarily\nconnected with it--the gifts might have been independent of Him, and\nwere a present gain. Rebecca was moved by the report. She takes the\njewels, it is true; but the tidings which the servant brought are chief\nwith her. The report of what awaited her among a distant people whom the\nLord had blessed had power to detach her. It was not Isaac merely, or\nAbraham's wealth merely. Her father had wealth, and she need not go far\nto promise herself a home and its enjoyments. But _the Lord_ had blessed\nAbraham, and had now prospered the journey of his servant. It was not a\nquestion with Rebecca whether she would take Isaac and a share in\nAbraham's wealth, or remain poor and lonely. The question was\nthis--Would she take the portion the Lord was now bringing her, or that\nwhich her kindred and circumstances in the world had provided her?\n\nAnd so it is with us, beloved. It is not a question between heaven and\nnothing, but between heaven and the world, between our taking the\nhappiness which the Lord in His promises, or which human present\ncircumstances, have for us. Are we desirous of divine joy and of\nheavenly riches? Can we say to the Lord Jesus, Thou shalt \"choose our\ninheritance for us?\" Is the distant land, of which we have received a\nreport, our object? This was Rebecca; she could answer these questions.\nWe should wrong her if we judged that with her it was Abraham's wealth\nand Isaac's hand or nothing. It was not so. As we said before, and\nsurely the story warrants it, she had large expectations of every kind,\nif she remained at home. She need not take a long, untried journey with\na stranger and to a strange people. But all became nothing to her, when\nin faith she received the report. She comes forth at the call of God.\n\nRebecca was a genuine daughter of Abraham. Abraham had crossed the\ndesert at the call of the God of glory, and Rebecca now crosses the same\ndesert at the report of what the God of glory had done for Abraham. They\nhad the like \"spirit of faith.\" The stronger expression of it we may\nfind in Abraham, but it was the like \"spirit of faith.\" Abraham had gone\nforth in the faith of an unattested call; Rebecca now goes forth on an\naccredited report. There was no Eshcol brought out of Canaan to Ur to\nembolden Abraham to take the journey; but \"this is the fruit of it\" was\nsaid to Rebecca in the servants and camels and gold and jewels--a branch\nwith a cluster rich and abundant indeed. The report is now sealed to\nRebecca, as it had not been to Abraham. Abraham tried an untried path;\nRebecca did but walk in the footsteps of the flock. But they were on the\nsame road, and reached the same place.\n\nThis is simple and beautiful in Rebecca, and the way of faith to this\nhour. But, beloved, there is more, and that, too, of another kind.\nRebecca's _character_ had been already formed--as, I may say, it is with\nall of us, before we are quickened of God. The moment of His power\narrives--we are made alive with divine life then--the separating call is\nalso answered; but it finds us of a certain character, a certain shape\nand complexion of mind. It finds us, it may be, Cretans (Titus i.), or\nbrothers and sisters of Laban, or something that wears the strong stamp\nof a peculiar pravity of nature. And then character and mind, derived\nfrom nature or from family or from education and the like, we take with\nus after we have been born of the Spirit, and carry it in us across the\ndesert from Padan-aram to the house of Abraham.\n\nThis is serious. It is serious, that with the quickening of the Spirit,\nnature or the force of early habits and education, or of family\ncharacter, will cling to us still. \"The Cretans are always liars.\"\n\nLaban, with whom Rebecca had grown up, was a crafty, knowing, worldly\nman. It is plain that, on the occasion of Eliezer's visit, he had been\nmoved only by the _gifts_. They made a ready way for Abraham's servant;\nas we read, A man's gift maketh room for him. Proverbs xviii. 16. Laban\nwas evidently the stirring, active, important one in his father\nBethuel's house. He had a taste for occasions which called for\nmanagement. And all this is a very bad symptom. It is a bad symptom when\none carries the bag. It is bad to find one prematurely managing and\nclever, or, at any period, fond of occasions where skill of that kind is\nto be exercised, having an aptness in conducting either state affairs or\nfamily interests. And just such an one was Laban; and Laban was the\nbrother of Rebecca; and Rebecca had passed all her life, till her\nmarriage, with him; and the family character, in this only great action\nin which she is called to take a part, sadly betrays itself.\n\nIf Abraham and Sarah had brought the foul, unclean compact between them,\nas they left their father's house to walk with God, so did Rebecca bring\nthis family character, this Laban-leaven, with her. We have _nature_ in\nits pravity with us after our conversion; and we have our own _fleshly\ncharacteristics_ also, as well as the common pravity of nature. And we\nhave to rebuke them sharply, that we may be sound, that is, morally\nhealthful, in the faith. Tit. i. 13. And this lesson is afresh pressed\nupon us, from the story of this distinguished woman in this chapter.\n\nBut there is more of the same kind. Jacob, as well as his mother,\nRebecca, got his mind formed by this same earliest influence. He was all\nhis days--I mean, all his practical, active days--a slow-hearted,\ncalculating man; and in this family scene, in chap. xxvii., we find him\nto be such an one--a ready, intelligent pupil of his mother, Laban's\nsister, and whose favourite child he had been from his birth. So that as\nLaban had been corrupting his sister Rebecca, Rebecca had been\ncorrupting her son Jacob.\n\nAnd further still, as this same chapter tells us, Isaac, whose mind and\ncharacter, as we have seen, had been so remarkably formed by his early\nlife in Sarah's tent, had sunk into the indulgence of some of the low\ndesires of nature. He loved his son Esau, because he ate of his venison.\nThis was poor indeed, and something worse than poor. And this love of\nvenison, we may surely suggest, must have encouraged Esau in the chase;\njust as Rebecca's cleverness, got and brought from her brother's house\nin Padan, formed the mind and character of her favourite Jacob. And thus\none parent was helping to corrupt one of the children, and the other the\nother.\n\nWhat mischief, what sad defilement, is disclosed here, in all this\nfamily scene! But we may go on to expose it even more; for the heart is\nnot only capable of such defilement, but it is daring enough, at times,\nto take its naughtiness _into the sanctuary_. \"I was almost in all evil\nin the _midst of the congregation and assembly_.\" Proverbs v.\n\nThe word to Aaron, long after this, was, Do not drink wine nor strong\ndrink, thou, nor thy son with thee, when ye go into the tabernacle of\nthe congregation. Lev. x. Nature is not to be animated in order to wait\non the service of God; it is not to be set in action by its provisions,\nfor the discharge of the duties of the sanctuary. Strong drink may\nexhilarate, and give ebullition to animal spirits, but this is no\nqualification for a priest of the house of God.\n\nBut even into pollution such as this Isaac seems to have been betrayed.\n\"Take, I pray thee,\" says he to Esau, \"thy weapons, thy quiver and thy\nbow, and go to the field, and take me some venison: and make me savoury\nmeat, such as I love, and bring it to me, that I may eat; that my soul\nmay bless thee before I die.\" He was going to do the last religious act\nof a patriarchal priest, and he calls as for wine and strong drink, the\nfood of mere animal life, to raise and endow him for the service!\n\nThis was sad indeed, thus to deliberate on the venison at such a moment.\nWe may all be conscious how much of nature soils our holy things, how\nmuch of the mere animation of the flesh may be mistaken for the easy and\nstrong current of the Spirit. We may be aware of this, in the place of\ncommunion. And this is to be our sorrow and our humbling--we are to\nconfess it as evil, or at least as weakness, and to watch against it.\nBut to prepare for it, carefully to mix the wine and strong drink, to\ntake a full draught, after this manner, this exceeds in defilement.\n\nAnd nothing comes of all this but dishonour and loss. The whole of this\nfamily pollution is judged in the holiness of God, because this was a\nfamily of God in the earth. \"You only have I known of all the families\nof the earth, therefore I will punish you for all your iniquities.\"\nIsaac is laid aside, Rebecca never sees Jacob again, and the calculating\nsupplanter finds himself in the midst of toils and wrongs and hardships,\nsupplanted and deceived himself again and again; for twenty long years\nan alien from the house of his father. Nothing comes of all this,\nwhether we look at the crooked policy of the one party, or at the\nfleshly favouritism of the other; all is disappointment and shame, under\nthe rebuke of the holiness of the Lord.\n\nThere is, however, one relief, and it is a very important one, in the\nmidst of this otherwise foul and gloomy scene. \"By faith Isaac blessed\nJacob and Esau concerning things to come.\" This is the Holy Ghost's own\nreference to this chapter in Hebrews xi.\n\nBut ere I speak of the relief or comfort which this has for us when\nthinking of Isaac, I take occasion to inquire, What was the nature or\ncharacter of this blessing by the patriarchs upon their children, which\nwe find again and again in the Book of Genesis?\n\nA blessing was in the hand of Melchizedek in chap. xiv.; as again, long\nafter, there was a blessing in the hand of Aaron in Num. vi. These\ninstances we may easily understand--these blessings were conferred or\npronounced by reason of _office_. They were delivered through priesthood\nordained of God. There was nothing prophetic or oracular in them. The\nwords which these priests used were rather _prepared_ than _inspired_;\nwords already prescribed by divine provision, rather than communicated\nat the moment by divine illumination, at least in the case of Aaron.\n\nWith the patriarchal blessing, however, it was as clearly otherwise.\nThere was a prophecy or an oracle in Isaac's words on Esau and Jacob\nhere in chap. xxvii.; and so was there afterwards in Jacob's words on\nhis children in chap. xlix., and in his words on Joseph's children in\nchap. xlviii.; and so was there before, in Noah's words, in chap. ix.,\non Shem, Ham, and Japheth.\n\nBut why, I inquire, was this great matter thus committed to the\npatriarchs?\n\nIf I mistake not, some of the secrets of patriarchal religion,\npatriarchal worship and ministry, are involved in the answer to this.\nReligion had, in these earliest days, the same great truths which it\nstill has for its spirit and principle. The Fall and Recovery of man, or\nRuin and Redemption, were then made known, and they were received by\nfaith. The altars of the fathers, and the ordinance of clean and\nunclean, tell us of faith and of the apprehensions of faith in those\ndays. The tent of the living patriarchs, and the Machpelah of the\ndeparted patriarchs, tell us that they understood the stranger's\ncalling, and a coming resurrection; and Abraham's grove at Beersheba\n(chap. xxi.), and his alliance with the Gentile at the well of the oath,\ntell us likewise, in clear though symbolic language, that they\nunderstood some of the bright and happy secrets of the millennial age,\nor of \"the world to come.\"\n\nAnd worship and ministry, in those infant days, were in their simplest\nforms. I may say, _nature_ suggested that the father or head of the\nhouse should be the prophet, priest, and king, there. In after times,\nwhen the condition of things spread out, and when, with enlargement and\nage, corruption came in, _the holiness of God_ demanded a separated or\ncircumcised people; and, connected with such, a separated or anointed\npriesthood. Now, in our day, in the day of the kingdom of God, which is,\nas we know, \"not in word, but in power,\" it is required that ministry\nshould be something more than nature would suggest, or than holiness\nwould demand; there must be _power_, such as the Spirit Himself prepares\nand imparts. But in the early days of Genesis, those _family_\ndays--those infant, earliest days--the voice of _nature_ was listened\nto, and duly and seasonably so; and accordingly, the head of the family\nwas the minister of God to the family, and both the dignities and the\nservices of prophets, priests, and kings, within the range of the\nhomestead, or in the family temple, centred in the father.\n\nThe blessing of the children seems to flow from this. It was an act\nperformed in the combined virtues of a prophet and a priest, which, as\nwe see, the fathers of the families carried in their own persons. They\nreceived a communication of the divine mind, and then uttered it, as\n\"oracles of God;\" and, being separated or priestly representatives of\nGod to their children, they pronounced His blessing, God's blessing,\nupon them.\n\nThey seem to sustain this character through the Book of Genesis.\n\nIn our Isaac it is sad indeed to see how this character was exercised,\nor rather abused--as such like high endowments have constantly been, the\npriestly dignity, for instance, in the person of Eli (godly old man as\nhe was), and the kingly authority, in one tremendous instance, even by\nsuch an one as the deeply-loved and honoured son of Jesse.\n\nSo Isaac would have made his office serve, not only his private\npartialities, but his very appetites. And this, too, in the face of\nsolemn, divine warning. The word had gone before, upon Isaac's children\n(Esau the elder and Jacob the younger), \"the elder shall serve the\nyounger.\" But Isaac's fleshly favouritism and appetites had made him\ncareless and forgetful of this, and he would fain have made the elder,\nEsau, the heir of the promise.\n\nAnd here we may call to mind, that Caiaphas, in his day, was such an one\nas Isaac, combining the prophet and the priest in his own person. And\nCaiaphas would fain have abused his office and his gift to his own\nwretched purposes and desires. He delivered a true prophecy with a\ndesign on the life of the Lord Jesus. John xi. And in earlier days, the\nprophet Balaam was of the same generation. He sought, all he could, to\nuse his gift in the service of his lusts. God, however, took him out of\nhis own hand, and forced his lips to utter the sentence of\nrighteousness, the judgment of truth. And, though it be sad to put such\nmen together, even in a single action, yet so it is; for such was Isaac\nin Gen. xxvii. Though a sanctified and filled vessel, he would have\nserved the wish of his own fond heart, in the use of the treasure which\nhe carried; but God took him out of his own hand, and used him as the\noracle of His settled, sovereign purpose. Again I say, it is sad thus to\nlink such men as Isaac and Balaam in a common moral action. But we know\nthat \"that which is born of the flesh is flesh.\" As an old writer says,\n\"The water that is foul in the well will not be clean in the bucket.\"\nThe flesh in an Isaac is as the flesh in a Balaam; and the world in the\nheart of each of them is the same world.\n\nBut they are not one _to the end_. This is the comfort, the gracious\ncomfort, of which I spoke before. Balaam is Balaam still, the man who\nloved the wages of unrighteousness, and ran greedily after his own error\nfor reward; he goes on as Balaam, giving counsel to Balak to cast a\nstumbling-block before the people of God; and at last he fell, as\nBalaam, with the uncircumcised, slain with the sword, like those that go\ndown to the pit. But Isaac repented with godly sorrow unto a repentance\nnot to be repented of. When his eye is opened, and he discovers what he\nhad been about, and how Jacob had got the blessing which he had prepared\nfor Esau--when it thus confronts him to the face, that he had been\nwithstanding God, but that he could not prevail, his soul seems to\nawaken as from sleep, and to get alive to all this, for we read of him,\nthat he trembled with a great trembling greatly. v. 33. The sight, the\nmoral sense, of the place that he was filling, startles his soul. He\ntrembles in himself. The flesh which he had been nourishing could not\nstand him in such a moment--and he seeks it not--it has been exposed to\nhim; and in the light and energy of the better life, he acts according\nto faith, and says, speaking now of Jacob, and no longer of Esau, \"I\nhave blessed him, yea, and he shall be blessed.\"\n\nThere was nothing of this in Balaam; Balaam was not turned back. When\nthe angel withstood him in the narrow way, and his ass fell under him,\nthere was none of this godly sorrow working repentance. But our Isaac is\nrestored. He seeks another way, and takes up and follows after God's\nobject from that moment. It is not \"the _madness_ of the prophet\" that\nthe Spirit records in Isaac, as He had to do in Balaam, but the _faith_\nof the prophet. For in this hour of happy restored fellowship with the\nmind of God, after his trembling, \"with a great trembling greatly,\" the\nway of Isaac is sealed and signalized by the Spirit. \"By faith Isaac\nblessed Esau and Jacob concerning things to come.\" And this is the only\nmatter in the life of Isaac which is noticed by the Spirit in that\nchapter, Heb. xi.\n\nBut this had character in it, and the Spirit has distinguished it. The\nvictories of faith which Moses gained were very fine. He answered both\nthe _attractions_ and the _terrors_ of Egypt; refusing to be called the\nson of the king's daughter, and forsaking the country, not fearing the\nking's wrath. These were splendid victories; and are so to this day,\nwhen achieved in the saint. But there are conquests much less\ndistinguished, which nevertheless are conquests, recorded in this\nchapter which celebrates the deeds of faith. They may be seen in Isaac\nand in Jacob. Each of these witnesses of faith, in his day, blessed the\nchildren or the sons before him _according to God_, though this was\n_contrary to nature_. Isaac would have preferred Esau, and Jacob would\nhave preferred Manasseh; but Isaac persisted in his blessing of Jacob,\nand Jacob in his blessing of Ephraim, and in this, _nature_ was\nconquered. It was not, we may allow, the _world_, in either its snares\nor its dangers, that stood out to try the strength of faith in the\nsaint--but still it was an opposer. It was _nature_; the suggestions or\nsympathies or partialities of nature--and while we may admire the\nsplendour of the victories of a Moses or an Abraham, let us remember and\nlook to it, that we fight the fight of faith with _nature_, and gain the\nday in that field, with Isaac and Jacob.\n\nAs to Jacob's part in this family scene which we are looking at, we may\ncertainly say, had he but left his matters in the Lord's hand, where\nthey had been from the beginning, from before his birth, and not allowed\nhis mother to take them into hers, he would have fared far better. How\noften has many and many a Jacob since the days of Gen. xxvii. proved the\nsame! The Lord had promised him the blessing without any condition. \"The\nelder shall serve the younger.\" But he could not, in the patience of\nfaith, wait the Lord's time and method to make good His own promise.\nTherefore the promise gets laden with reserves and difficulties and\nburthens. It shall surely be made good. The promise of the Lord is\ncertain, and \"never was forfeited yet.\" He is able to make it stand. The\nelder shall serve the younger--but now, by reason of Jacob's own\nunbelief and policy, the elder shall give the younger some trouble:\nbecause the younger thinks well to deal with the promise in his own\ncraft and skill, he shall be made to reach it after delay and sorrow and\nshame.\n\nAccordingly, Esau himself gets a promise from the Lord, through his\nfather Isaac, on this occasion, a promise which the divine purpose and\ngrace towards Jacob, at the first, had never contemplated. \"And Isaac\nhis father answered and said unto him, Behold, thy dwelling shall be the\nfatness of the earth, and of the dew of heaven from above; and by thy\nsword shalt thou live, and shalt serve thy brother; and it shall come to\npass when thou shalt have the dominion, thou shalt break his yoke from\noff thy neck.\" _vv._ 39, 40.\n\nAll this comes to pass. David, who came of Jacob, sets garrisons in\nEdom, and the Edomites become his servants and bring gifts. Jehoram, who\nalso comes of Jacob, afterwards loses the Edomites as his servants and\ntributaries; they revolt, and continue so to this day. 2 Sam. viii. 14;\n2 Chron. xxi. 8.\n\nSaviours by-and-by shall come to Zion and judge the mount of Esau.\nObadiah 21. The tabernacle of David which is now fallen shall be raised\nup, and Israel shall possess Edom and the residue of the Gentiles. Amos\nix. This shall be made good in its season, for the elder shall serve the\nyounger--the promise is yea and amen. But now, and from the days of\nJehoram the son of Jehoshaphat of the house of David of the lineage of\nJacob, Esau or Edom has been in revolt; and the promise is thus delayed\nand complicated and burthened in ways such as the grace of God and the\ngift by grace had never designed, and such as Jacob had never passed\nthrough, had his faith been more simple.\n\nAnd there is much like this in Christian experience. See the disciples\non the sea of Galilee, in Mark iv. The Lord had said to them, \"Let us go\nunto the other side.\" This was a pledge to them that they were sure to\nreach the other side. They need not fear. They may, if they please, lay\nthem down to sleep with their Master. But no--they fear, and consult\nwith flesh and blood. And therefore they reach the other side with\ntremblings and amazement and shame. Their fears loaded their spirit with\nthese burdens, which, had they left the _fulfilling_ of the word to Him\nwho had _given_ the word, would have been saved them. And so, the\nunbelief of Jacob in Gen. xxvii., his putting the promise of God into\nhis mother's hand, has loaded the history of his house with those\nperplexities and contradictions and changes, which, as we have\nmentioned, were all strangers to the promise, as the simple gift of\ngrace, at the beginning, had purposed it and made it.\n\nMany like experiences the disciples had, through their unbelief, as they\ncompanied with the Lord Jesus all the time He went in and out among\nthem--and many such are known to us His saints at this day. Our spirits\ngather amazement and shame, when we might have known only the calm and\nbright enjoyments of faith, looking, if it were so, at a sleeping Jesus,\nand knowing His sufficiency for all promises, though winds and waves\noppose.\n\nThus was it with Jacob, according to the part he acted in this sad\nfamily scene. Esau was not the _guilty_ one here. He was rather the\n_injured_ party; and therefore, in the hand of Him by whom \"actions are\nweighed,\" Esau is the only one who is a gainer. All the rest have to\nlearn what the way of their own hearts shall end in. Isaac, Rebecca, and\nJacob alike prove this. It is Esau, so far the injured one, who gains,\nas we have seen, anything by it all. By his sword he lives, and, in time\nand for a time, breaks the yoke of his younger brother off his neck.[18]\n\n [18] Jeroboam in his day took his own way to reach the promise of God\n      touching the kingdom of the ten tribes, by the prophet Ahijah--and\n      he delayed his own mercy; just as Jacob does in this chapter. Nay,\n      further. Jeroboam has to be an exile in Egypt till the death of\n      Solomon, because of this; as Jacob has for twenty years to be an\n      exile in Padan, for the same evil. See 1 Kings xi.\n\n\nAfter all this, just at the end of his ways, though not of his days, at\nthe desire of the suspicious and terrified Rebecca, Isaac sends away\nJacob. And this action is done with an expression of sorrow and shame\nand disappointment, the bitter fruit which their own way had prepared\nfor them. All would have been different indeed, had the spirit and\nobedience of faith kept them in the way of the Lord. xxvii. 42; xxviii.\n5.\n\nAnd here we reach, as we said, the end, the practical end, of the life\nof our patriarch. He lives, it is true, for forty years after this; it\nmay be more--but he is lost to us. He is as if he were not.\n\nAt the close of chapter xxxv. we read, \"And Jacob came unto Isaac his\nfather unto Mamre, unto the city of Arbah, which is Hebron, where\nAbraham and Isaac sojourned. And the days of Isaac were an hundred and\nfourscore years. And Isaac gave up the ghost, and died, and was gathered\nunto his people, old and full of days: and his sons Esau and Jacob\nburied him.\"\n\nAbraham had carefully possessed himself of Machpelah, on the occasion of\nSarah's death; and there he had buried Sarah, and there Isaac and\nIshmael had buried him; and there, at this time, Jacob and Esau bury\nIsaac; and there afterwards his twelve sons bury Jacob.\n\nThe purchase of this parcel of ground, and the care the patriarchs\nmanifested in the matter of their burial there, tell us of their faith\nin their own happy resurrection and its attendant inheritance of the\nland. It tells us that _hope_ was in their souls as surely as\n_faith_--that as they rested, without a doubt, in the certainty of their\ncall and adoption, so did they, with like assurance, in the life and\ninheritance prepared for them in the world to come. They lived in faith,\nand they died in faith. They were a people in whose souls the life of\nfaith and hope was known and enjoyed. They betray nature again and\nagain; they err, they shift and contrive and play false with God at\ntimes through unbelief; they incur discipline and rebuke, and at times\nare humbled before men; but they seem never to doubt the blessed facts,\nthat they were _adopted_ and _endowed_ by the God of glory. Faith and\nhope lived in their souls. I say not that they had what we have. There\nis now an unction, an earnest, and a witness, fruit of the given,\nindwelling Spirit, imparting not only the power but the character of\nthis day of ours. But the patriarchs, in their infant age, seem _never\nto doubt_. And this is precious--that God, even in the earliest\ncommunications of Himself--communications of Himself to His elect even\nin their childhood, or, in the infant days of Genesis--would be known by\nthem as One to be trusted both for the present and the future.\n\nAnd again I say, this is precious. The Spirit forms _hope_ in the soul\nof the elect, as surely as faith. Machpelah tells us this, as to the\npatriarchs. But it was found before them, and it has been found ever\nsince. Adam was a hoping as well as a believing man. As soon as he had\nfaith, he had hope. He walked as a _stranger_ on earth, as well as in\n_the consciousness of life_. And with him, and like him, the\nantediluvian saints.\n\nIsrael afterwards celebrated the last night of their sojourn in Egypt\nwith the staff in their hand and the shoe on their foot, as simply and\nas surely as they had put the blood on the lintel. They hoped for\nsomething beyond Egypt, as certainly as they counted on security in\nEgypt.\n\nMoses witnessed this standing of Israel, this proper standing in the\ncamp of God in the power of faith and hope, when afterwards he said to\nHobab, \"We are journeying to a place of which the Lord said, I will give\nit you.\" And so Paul, in his words before King Agrippa, \"Unto which\npromise our twelve tribes instantly serving God day and night hope to\ncome.\"\n\nThe oil in the vessels of the wise virgins is the expression of the\npower of hope. They provided against His delay for whose return alone\nthey looked and waited, be that return far off or nigh.\n\nAnd to give hope its highest, brightest moral glory, we are given to\nknow, that the present heaven of Jesus is a heaven of hope. Though\nseated at the right hand of the Majesty on high, He is, we know,\n\"expecting till His enemies be made His footstool.\" And the mind of the\nglorified Church will, by-and-by, be kindred with this mind of her\nglorified Lord; for the heaven of Rev. v. is also a heaven of hope.\n\"Thou art worthy,\" say the living creatures and enthroned elders of that\nheaven, \"to take the book, and to open the seals thereof: for thou wast\nslain, and hast redeemed to God by thy blood out of every kindred, and\ntongue, and people, and nation; and hast made them unto our God kings\nand priests: and they shall reign over the earth.\"\n\nIn this life of faith and hope, the fathers of the Book of Genesis are\nseen to be one. Happy to know this. They illustrate different mysteries,\nand read us different moral lessons; but in this life of faith and hope\nthey are _one_; and each in his day, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, is alike\ngathered to his people (chaps. xxv., xxxv., xlix.)--each is \"a handful\nof sacred dust\" in the cave in the field of Ephron the Hittite, laid up\nthere in sure and certain hope of a resurrection unto life and to the\ninheritance.\n\n\nThere is a common saying, \"It is better to wear out than to rust out.\"\nBut this better thing was not Isaac's. He rusts out. And _such_ was the\nnatural close of _such_ a life.\n\nWas Isaac, I ask, a vessel marred on the wheel? Was he a vessel laid\naside as not fit for the Master's use? or at least not fit for it any\nlonger? His history seems to tell us this. Abraham had not been such an\none. All the distinguishing features of \"the stranger here,\" all the\nproper fruits of that energy that quickened him at the outset, were\nborne in him and by him to the very end. We have looked at this already\nin the walk of Abraham. (See pp. 134-137.) Abraham's leaf did not\nwither. He brought forth fruit in old age. So was it with Moses, with\nDavid, and with Paul. They die with their harness on, at the plough or\nin the battle. Mistakes and more than mistakes they made by the way, or\nin their cause, or at their work; but they are never laid aside. Moses\nis counselling the camp near the banks of the Jordan; David is ordering\nthe conditions of the kingdom, and putting it (in its beauty and\nstrength) into the hand of Solomon; Paul has his armour on, his loins\ngirded. When, as I may say, the time of their departure was at hand, the\nMaster, as we read in Luke xii., found them \"so doing,\" as servants\nshould be found. But thus was it not with Isaac. Isaac is laid aside.\nFor forty long years we know nothing of him; he had been, as it were,\ndecaying away and wasting. The vessel was rusting till it rusted out.\n\nThere surely is meaning in all this, meaning for our admonition.\n\nAnd yet--such is the fruitfulness and instruction of the testimonies of\nGod--there are others, in Scripture, of other generations, who have\nstill more solemn lessons and warnings for us. It is humbling to be\n_laid aside_ as no longer fit for use; but it is sad to be left merely\nto _recover ourselves_, and it is terrible to remain to _defile\nourselves_. And illustrations of all this moral variety we get in the\ntestimonies of God. _Jacob_, in his closing days in Egypt, is not as a\nvessel laid aside, but he is there recovering himself. I know there are\nsome truly precious things connected with him during those seventeen\nyears that he spent in that land, and we could not spare the lesson\nwhich the Spirit reads to us out of the life of Jacob in Egypt. But\nstill, the moral of it is this--a saint, who had been under holy\ndiscipline, recovering himself, and yielding fruit meet for recovery.\nAnd when we think of it a little, that is but a poor thing. But\n_Solomon_ is a still worse case. He lives to defile himself; sad and\nterrible to tell it. This was neither Isaac nor Jacob--it was not a\nsaint simply laid aside, nor a saint left to recover himself. Isaac was,\nin the great moral sense, blameless to the end, and Jacob's last days\nwere his best days; but of Solomon we read, \"It came to pass, _when\nSolomon was old_, that his wives turned away his heart after other\ngods,\" and this has made the writing over his name, the tablet to his\nmemory, equivocal, and hard to be deciphered to this day.\n\nSuch lessons do Isaac and Jacob and Solomon, in these ways, read for us,\nbeloved--such are the minute and various instructions left for our souls\nin the fruitful and living pages of the oracles of God. They give us to\nsee, in the house of God, vessels fit for use and kept in use even to\nthe end--vessels laid aside, to rust out rather than to wear\nout--vessels whose best service it is to get themselves clean again--and\nvessels whose dishonour it is, at the end of their service, to contract\nsome fresh defilement.\n\nWondrous and various the lessons and the ways of grace, abounding grace!\nQuickly indeed does the soul entertain thoughts of God according to the\nsuggestions of _nature_, instead of knowing Him according to _faith_.\nNature holds Him before the soul as a judge, or as a lawgiver, or an\nexactor of righteousness, as One that carries balances in His hand to\ntry every thought and work--One that is sensitive and resentful of the\nslightest touch of evil. But faith holds Him before a gazing,\nworshipping eye and heart, as the One who always loves us, do what He\nmay, or speak as He will. For faith worketh by love (Gal. v. 6)--it\nworketh towards God as Love, and therefore it is a spirit of confidence\nand liberty. If we find our souls under pressure of the spirit of fear\nor bondage or uncertainty, we may be sure that they have let go the\ngentle hand of faith, and allowed themselves to be led by such tutors\nand governors as nature provides. This ought not so to be. We are to\nknow that we have _ever_ to do with _love_! When we read, when we pray,\nwhen we converse, when we confess, when we serve, when we sing, when we\nlook at His hand in providence, or think of His name in secret, may\nfaith's communion with God be ours! He loves us. The relationship in\nwhich we stand, and of which our Isaac was the expression, makes this a\n_necessary_ truth.\n\nIt is \"to Himself\" that God has brought us and adopted us--having\npredestinated us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ _to\nHimself_, according to the good pleasure of His will. Eph. i. 5. And\nthese words \"to Himself\" bespeak God's own joy in the _adoption_ of the\nelect, in making them _children_; as was Abraham's joy at the weaning of\nour Isaac. Christ presents the Church to _Himself_ (Eph. v. 27), and the\nFather gathers the elect as children by adoption to _Himself_. Each has\npersonal interest and personal delight in the mysteries of grace. And\naccording to this, the Holy Ghost, in the Epistle to the Galatians, to\nwhich the story of Isaac so refers, pleads the cause of the Father as\nwell as the cause of Christ with us. He teaches us that we are redeemed\nby Christ from the _curse_ of the law, and, through the Spirit given to\nus by the Father, from the _bondage_ of the law. All this is full of\nblessing to us; and all this, the mystery of Isaac, the son of the\nfree-woman, suggests to us.\n\nFaith is that principle in us which gives to the Lord Jesus the place or\nprivilege (such a place indeed as God alone can fill) of sustaining the\nconfidence of a sinner entirely by Himself, of being the immediate, the\nonly object of the sinner's trust. But faith, in this dispensation,\ninvolves _relationship_. By faith we stand in the Person as well as _on_\nthe work of Christ--and Christ being the Son, we are children, as we are\nsaved sinners. We are all the children of God by faith in Christ Jesus.\nGal. iii. 26. And Ishmael is not to share the house with Isaac. The\nspirit of bondage gendered by the law or by the religion of ordinances,\nis to be put out, and the spirit of liberty alone is to fill it. For the\nhouse is now set in a child and not in a servant, in Isaac and not in\nEliezer--and _relationship_ is God's joy as it is ours. \"The _Father\nseeketh_ such to worship Him.\" Wondrous words of abounding grace,\nbeloved! and Sarah's joy in our Isaac pledged this in patriarchal days.\n\n\n\n\n                                 JACOB.\n\n                         GENESIS XXVIII.-XXXVI.\n\n\nI have already followed the course of the Book of Genesis to the close\nof chapter xxvii. From that chapter to chapter xxxvi., Jacob is\nprincipal; and it is that portion which I now purpose to consider.\n\nThere is a very important era in the life of Jacob afterwards--his\nsojourn in Egypt for seventeen years, and his death there. But this is\nfound in that part of the book in which Joseph becomes principal, so\nthat I shall refer to it only so far as Jacob is concerned.\n\n\nThe life of Jacob is one of very large and varied action, quite of\nanother character from that of his father Isaac. The wisdom of God\nreadily accounts for this; because there is divine intention in the\nconstruction of these histories, as there is divine truthfulness in the\nrecord of them. By them we are instructed in mysteries, as surely as we\nare made acquainted with circumstances. It has been my desire to notice\nthese mysteries, as well as to gather the moral of these earliest ages\nof the human family, and these first fathers of the elect of God.\n\n_Election_, and the call of God, in the sovereign exercise of His grace,\nwere exhibited in Abraham.\n\n_Sonship_, to which election brings us, (for we are predestinated unto\nthe adoption of children,) was then shown in Isaac.\n\n_Discipline_, as of a son, (for what son is he whom the father\nchasteneth not?) is now, in its season, to be exhibited in Jacob.\n\nAnd thus, after this manner, these successive histories not only\ncontinue the orderly narrative of facts, but present us with a view of\nthat course or conduct which the grace and wisdom of God is taking with\nHis people.\n\n\nJacob was a son as well as Isaac. But he was a son at school, or under\ncorrection; not a son, like Isaac, in the care and nurture of the home\nof his father; not as one given to know the rights and dignities of son\nand heir, but as one made to know the love, the practical love, that\nchastens and corrects. This was the child Jacob. But we are never to\nforget that we are never more distinctly children than when under such\ndiscipline. Discipline assumes adoption. The exhortation or correction\nspeaks to us as _to children_. The discipline may occupy the foreground,\nbut the fatherly love is the secret.\n\nBut this notice of Jacob as a son under discipline I give here only as a\ngeneral characteristic. As to the materials of his history, various and\nstriking as they are, we may distinguish them into four eras:\n\n1. His birth and early life in his father's house in the land of Canaan.\n\n2. His journey to Padan-aram, and his residence there, in the house of\nLaban the Syrian, for twenty years.\n\n3. His journey back from Padan-aram, and his second residence in Canaan.\n\n4. His journey from Canaan to Egypt, and his residence and death there.\n\nThis may be read as a simple, natural table of contents, so to call it,\nand I would follow it out in its order.\n\n\n_Part I._--This earliest portion of Jacob's history, his birth, and his\nlife in the house of his father in the land of Canaan till he was about\nseventy years of age,[19] I have generally anticipated in the preceding\npaper, entitled \"Isaac.\" And I may be allowed to say, necessarily so;\nbecause it is involved in those chapters of the Book of Genesis, where\nIsaac is principal. I must therefore refer to it.\n\n [19] It is said in the Jewish writings that he was seventy-seven.\n\n\n_Part II._--Jacob begins to be seen under discipline in chap. xxviii.,\nand there it is where this second part of his history opens, and where\nalso, in the Book of Genesis, he becomes the chief or leading character.\n\nIn his journey out towards Padan, but ere he left the borders of Canaan,\nat the place called Luz, the Lord meets him. This was not his father's\nbed-side, where he was sinning, but a lonely, dreary, distant spot where\nhis sin had cast him, and where the discipline of his heavenly Father\nwas dealing with him. In such a place God can meet us. He cannot appear\nto us in the scene of our iniquities, but He can in the place of His\ncorrection. And such was Luz to Jacob. It was a comfortless spot. The\nstones of the place were his pillow, and the sky over his head his\ncovering; and he had no friend but his staff to accompany and cheer him.\nBut the God of his fathers comes there to him. He does not alter his\npresent circumstances or reverse the chastening. He lets him still\npursue his way unfriended, to find, at the end of it, twenty years' hard\nservice at the hand of a stranger, with many a wrong and injury. But he\ngives him heavenly pledges, that hosts on high should watch and wait\naround him.\n\nThe Lord had made, as we know, great promises to Abraham: the same were\nrepeated to Isaac, and are now, at Bethel, given to Jacob. But, to\nJacob, something very distinct from these common promises is added:\n\"And, behold, I am with thee, and will keep thee in all places whither\nthou goest, and will bring thee again into this land; for I will not\nleave thee, until I have done that which I have spoken to thee of.\" _v._\n15. This was a new promise, an added mercy; just because Jacob needed\nit, as Abraham and Isaac had not. Jacob was the only one of the three\nwho needed that the Lord would be with him wherever he went, and bring\nhim home again. Jacob, by his own naughtiness, had made this additional\nmercy necessary to himself, and, in abounding grace, he gets it; and the\nvision of the ladder pledges it. The promises to Abraham and to Isaac\nhad not included this providential, angelic care. They had remained in\nthe land; but Jacob had made himself an exile, that needed the care and\nwatching of a special oversight from heaven, and he gets it. And it is\nto this, I believe, that Jacob alludes, when he says to Joseph, The\nblessings of thy father have prevailed above the blessings of my\nprogenitors. Chap. xlix. 26. This angelic care, that watched over him,\nunder direct commission from heaven, in his days of exile and drudgery,\nwhich his own error had incurred, _distinguished_ him as an object of\nmercy, and gave him \"blessings\" above those of his \"progenitors.\" And in\nthis character he reached \"the bounds of the everlasting hills.\" He was\nheir of the kingdom as a _debtor to special mercy_, through that\nabounding grace that had helped him and kept him amid the bitter fruits\nof his own naughtiness. As David, in his day, triumphed in \"the\neverlasting covenant\" made with him, though for the present his house\nwas in ruins through his own sin. 2 Samuel xxiii.\n\nThis is God's way, excellent and perfect in the combination of grace and\nholiness. And upon this, let me observe, that in all circumstances there\nare two objects, and that nature eyes the one, and faith the other.\nThus, in divine discipline, such as Jacob was now experiencing, there is\nthe _rod_, and also the _hand that is using it_. Nature regards the\nfirst, faith recognizes the second. Job, in his day, broke down under\nthe rod, because he concerned himself with it alone. Had he eyed the\ncounsel, the heart, or the hand that was appointing it (as we are\nexhorted to do, Micah vi. 9), he would have stood. But nature prevailed\nin him, and he kept his eye upon the rod, and it was too much for him.\n\nSo in _failures_, as well as in circumstances, there are two objects.\nConscience has its object, and faith again has its object. But\nconscience is not to be allowed to rob faith of its treasures, the\ntreasures of restoring, pardoning grace, which the love of God in Christ\nhas stored up for it.\n\nThere is great comfort in this. Nature is not to be over-busy with\ncircumstances, nor conscience with failures. Nature is to feel that no\naffliction is for the present joyous, and conscience or heart may be\nbroken; but in either case, faith is to be at its post and do its duty;\nand much of the gracious energy of the Spirit in the epistles is engaged\nin putting faith at its post, and encouraging it to do its duty. The\nApostles, under the Holy Ghost, take knowledge of the danger and\ntemptation we are under by nature; and while it is abundantly enforced,\nthat conscience is to be quick and jealous, yet it is required that\nfaith shall maintain itself in the very face of it.\n\nTo know God _in grace_ is His praise and our joy. We naturally, or\naccording to the instincts of a tainted nature, think of Him as one that\n_exacts obedience and looks for service_. But faith knows Him as one\nthat _communicates_, that speaks to us of privileges, of the liberty and\nthe blessing of our relationship to Him.\n\nBut Jacob's soul was not quite up to this way of grace. He found the\nplace where the ladder and the angels were seen, and where the God of\nhis fathers spoke to him, to be \"dreadful.\" In some sense it was too\nmuch for him. As it was long afterwards with Peter on the holy hill. God\nis true to the aboundings of His grace. Jacob may say, \"How dreadful is\nthis place!\" Peter and his companions may have their fear; but the\nladder, nevertheless, reaches to heaven, and angels are up and down upon\nit in the sight of the patriarch; and the glory on the Mount still\nshines. For the grace of God is richer than the apprehensions of the\nsoul about it. God shines in Himself above our experiences. And it is in\nHimself He is to be known, and not in the reflections of our experience.\n\nStill, like Peter on the hill, Jacob, in some sense, found it good to be\nat Luz, and he called the place Bethel. It was the house of God to him,\nfor God had there been with him, and spoken to him; it was the gate of\nheaven in his eye, for there the angels had appeared, as descending from\ntheir own place on high. \"This is none other but the house of God,\" says\nhe, \"and this is the gate of heaven.\"\n\nGod both _records_ His name and _glorifies_ it. He records it or reveals\nit at first, and faith accepts Him. In due time He verifies that record\nor testimony, making it all good, and thus glorifies His name. And\nwherever He records His name there is His house. Ornan's threshing-floor\ngot the same dignity long afterwards, which Luz now gets, and on the\nsame title. \"This is the house of the Lord God, and this is the altar of\nburnt-offering for Israel,\" says David of that spot of the Jebusite. 1\nChron. xxii. 1. For it was the place, like this Bethel of our patriarch,\nwhere mercy had rejoiced against judgment, where God was revealing\nHimself in the aboundings of His grace, and there faith descries the\nhouse of God. Jacob and David, each in his day, were saints under\ndiscipline; but the Lord met them in the rich provisions of His love,\nthus revealing Himself or recording His name; and this was His house to\nthem. But it is easier thus to consecrate the house, than to learn the\nlesson that is taught there. Jacob rightly uttered his heart under force\nof the impressions which the vision could not but awaken; but there is\nsomething of old Jacob in his spirit still. The faulty way of his heart\nis at work still, and he seems to calculate, and to make bargains, and\nto enter into conditions, though the Lord had spoken to him there in the\nlanguage of the promise, in free, sovereign, abounding goodness. For\nnature still stirs itself after many a rebuke and defeat, and outlives\nwhat for a moment may have appeared a death-blow. Jacob no more now\nleaves it behind him at Bethel, than before he had left it behind him in\nhis mother's tent.\n\nBut he goes on. Grace sets the chastened saint on his journey, and with\nsome alacrity too, till \"he came to the land of the people of the east,\"\ntill he reached Padan-aram, where his mother's counsel had appointed\nhim, and, doubtless, where the hand of God had now conducted him.\n\nHis introduction to Rachel was at the well, and in the midst of the\nflock, like that of Eliezer to Rebecca; and Eliezer was but Isaac's\nrepresentative. But Jacob was the poor man, Isaac the wealthy. Isaac\ncould enrich Rebecca with earrings and bracelets of gold, pledges of the\ngoodly estate he had for her. Jacob has but his toil and sweat of face.\nThe one was as the son and heir, the other a man who had beggared\nhimself, and must find his own way through the wear and tear of life as\nbest he may, with God's help. Israel served for a wife, and for a wife\nhe kept sheep. Hosea xii. 12. And a hard service he was about to find\nit. But he enters on it at once, and continues at it for twenty long\nyears. Chap. xxix.-xxxi.\n\nThe scene is laid in the house of Laban his mother's brother, and a\nscene of various moral action it quickly becomes, and so continues. We\nhave not only Jacob himself and Laban, but the two wives Leah and\nRachel, and their two handmaids Zilpah and Bilhah.\n\nJacob had been but a little while under the trials and sorrows of his\nsojourn with Laban, ere he was visited after the very pattern of his own\noffence at home. He had deceived his father touching his brother and the\nblessing. Laban now deceives him touching Rachel and the marriage. But\nin much of his behaviour during the twenty years he spent with Laban, we\nsee what was excellent in him. For the force and influence of knowing\n_that we are under the hand of God for correction_, is necessarily felt\nby a mind that has anything right towards God in it. It is not that\nnature will be changed or broken under such a pressure, but it must, in\nmeasure, more or less, be controlled. David when under rebuke, sore and\nhumbling as ever saint had exposed himself to, carries himself\nbeautifully. His words to Ittai, to Zadok, and to Hushai, his resentment\nof the motion of the sons of Zeruiah, his humiliations, his lamentations\nover Absalom, and his using his victory as if it had been a defeat, all\nthis and more than this of the same kind, show us a blessed work of the\nSpirit in his soul. In Jacob at Padan-aram we get nothing so fine as\nthis, I know; but, if I mistake not, we get a saint under discipline\nconscious of the discipline, well understanding the character of the\nmoment under God's hand, and the righteousness of the rebuke of the\nLord, carrying himself meekly and watchfully. He submits to the wrongs\nof an injurious master in silence. He serves patiently, and suffers\nwithout complaint. His wages were changed ten times, but he answers not\nagain. In all this he is humbled under the mighty hand of God, as one\nwho would fain remember his own past ways. And at the end of twenty\nyears' hard drudgery and ill usage, he is able to testify of his\nfidelity, and God Himself seems to seal the testimony. By the\nprovidences of His hand, and the revelations in visitations of His\nSpirit, and also by direct interferences with Laban himself, the Lord\nshelters and blesses and vindicates Jacob.\n\nThere is beauty in this. I say not that nature was mortified, that the\nroot of bitterness was judged. We shall find, I know, that after this,\nJacob is old Jacob still, sadly betrayed by the same leaven that had\nbeen working in him from the beginning. But, while in the house of the\nSyrian, Jacob was as one who knew himself to be under the mighty hand of\nGod as for correction, and carried himself accordingly, neither\njustifying himself against reproaches, nor contending for his rights in\nthe face of wrongs and injustice.\n\nSuch a one I judge Jacob to have been in the house of Laban. As to\nLaban, he was a thorough man of the world when Jacob entered his house,\nand so he was when Jacob left it. In all his dealings, from first to\nlast, he eyes his own advantage. He is constrained to own that the hand\nof God was with Jacob; but he would make that hand, through Jacob,\nminister to himself, and turn Jacob's interest in God to his own\naccount. For twenty years he had the witness of the hand of the Lord,\nand the operation of His grace and power, under his eye and in his\nhouse, and that daily; but he continued a man of the world still. God\ncame near to him, as afterwards to Bethsaida and Chorazin in the doing\nof His mighty works; but there was no repentance. And Jacob's departure\nfrom his house at the last, was like an escape out of the enemy's hand,\nor from the snare of the fowler. It was a kind of exodus. In a family\nway it was what was afterwards known by Israel in a national way. Laban\nwas as Pharaoh, and Padan-aram as Egypt to our patriarch. He would fain\nhave kept Jacob a drudge still, or at best have sent him away as a\nbeggar; but the Lord pleaded for Jacob with Laban, as He afterwards\npleaded for Israel with Pharaoh. Laban and Pharaoh had each in his day\n_witnessed_ the operation of God, but neither of them became the\n_subject_ of it.\n\nA thorough lover of the world he surely was, and never anything better;\na crafty one, and a hypocritical one too--common companions. At the end,\nwhen all his devices are broken to pieces, and no enchantment is allowed\nto prosper, as against Israel, he does what he can, according to the\nmiserable, disgusting style of a crafty heart, to cover the purpose\nwhich had now failed, and to give himself a fair character. He pretends\nthat Jacob's leaving him was mere fondness for home, while his\nconscience must have told him many a very different reason. He affects\ngrief and indignation at not having an opportunity of kissing his\ndaughters and grandchildren, and of sending them away honourably, while\nhis conscience must have reminded him how he had sold them again and\nagain. He seems to be concerned for them, now about to be in Jacob's\nhand, as if his own hand had been that of a father to them. He pretends\nto spare Jacob through religious fear of God's words, while he must have\nfelt himself to be completely restrained by God, willing or unwilling,\nreligious or profane; as Balaam afterwards. And he gives a serious air\nto the last bargain between him and Jacob, introducing the name of the\nGod of Abraham, though he had just been searching for his idols, and was\npreparing to return to that land out of which God had called Abraham,\nand to continue there a thorough, heartless man of the world still, a\nworshipper of his own god.\n\nMiserable man! pointing a holy, serious lesson for us.\n\n\nBut we have the women and the children of Padan-aram, as well as Laban\nthe Syrian. The women and the children of the Book of Genesis are all\nmysteries. We see this in Eve and her three children--in Abraham's\nSarah, and Abraham's Hagar, and Abraham's Keturah, and the seed of each\nof them. And we noticed in Isaac (see page 152) the same mystic\ncharacter in Rebecca his wife, and Esau and Jacob his children. Each and\nall tell out parts and parcels of the purpose of God, as in figures. And\nnow, in the women which become connected with Jacob in Padan, whether it\nbe his wife the elder sister, or his wife the younger sister, or the\nhandmaids given to them, and in the children of each of them, there are\nmysteries again.\n\nIn the children of Israel, that is, the nation, the seed of Abraham, we\nfind three classes. 1. There has already been Israel _after the flesh_,\nset in the land under title of their fleshly alliance with Abraham. 2.\nThere is now, at this time, the nation _in bondage_, made to know the\nservice of the Gentiles. 3. There will be, by-and-by, the nation _set in\ngrace_, Israel redeemed and accepted, established in the promises made\nto the fathers.\n\nThese are three generations in the nation of Israel, as that nation\neither has been, now is, or is to be hereafter. And the shadowing of\nthis, I judge, we see in the families of Jacob in Padan; that is, in the\nchildren of Leah, who had her title in the flesh; in the children of the\nhandmaids; and in the children of Rachel the beloved, who had no\nstrength in nature, but whose seed was all of promise or of God.\n\nThe way of the wisdom of God is thus learnt in the women and children\nhere, in chapters xxix.-xxxi., as it had been in the earlier family\nscenes of this wondrous book.\n\nAs soon as Joseph, the child of promise, the son of Rachel the beloved,\nis given to him, Jacob speaks of leaving Padan, the place of his exile\nand bondage. See xxx. 25, 26. And this, simple as it seems to be, has\ncharacter in it. The condition of an alien and servant did not suit him,\nas soon as he got the seed that witnessed to him the power of God in his\nbehalf. He may have felt somewhat instinctively, that it became him now\nto assert his freedom, and to bethink himself of his home and his\ninheritance. I say not whether Jacob really entered into this, or\nwhether it was something of an inspiration that he breathed, and which,\nin its full meaning, was beyond him. But so it was that he said to\nLaban, immediately upon the birth of Joseph, \"Send me away, that I may\ngo to my own place and to my country.\"\n\nIt had been very much after this manner with Abraham in an earlier day.\nAs soon as Isaac was weaned, the scene around Abraham immediately\nchanged. The child of the bondwoman has to leave the house, and Abraham\ntakes precedence of the Gentile. See chap. xxi. The weaning of Isaac was\nthe turning-point in Abraham's condition. In spirit, for a moment, he\nenters the kingdom, raising a new altar, an altar to the \"everlasting\nGod,\" and planting a grove. This was very fine, and the character of it\nI have considered in its place. See \"Abraham,\" page 126. But so was it\nnow with Jacob, as then with Abraham. As soon as Joseph, the child of\npromise, that witnessed the grace and strength of God, is given to him,\nhe conceives the thought of freedom and of home.\n\nThis was a fine, striking instance of the intelligence of a new mind in\nJacob. The way of faith, I may add, is seen in Rachel on the same\noccasion, for she calls her son \"Joseph,\" that is, \"adding;\" assured\nthat the Lord, who had now _begun_ His mercies towards her, would _go\non_ with them and _perfect_ them. As faith now in our hearts and on our\nlips, in like spirit, says, \"He that spared not His own Son, but\ndelivered Him up for us all, how shall He not with Him also freely give\nus all things?\" From His gifts, Rachel not only \"drew a plea to _ask_\nHim still for more,\" but in still bolder, happier faith, drew a\nconclusion to _trust_ Him still for more.\n\nBut though this was so, the connection between Laban and Jacob is\ncontinued for a while after Joseph's birth, till the separation takes\nplace under force of other circumstances altogether, leaving Laban,\nstill more than before, a kind of pillar of salt, or a solemn\nremembrance to us of what our wretched hearts are capable.\n\n\n_Part III._--The time of his servitude closes in chap. xxxi. He is then\non his way back from Padan-aram to Canaan; the principal scenes of his\njourney being at _Mount Gilead_, shortly after his setting out, and\n_Mahanaim_, near the brook Jabbok, a little before he entered the land.\n\nIt was at Mount Gilead that the parting between him and Laban took\nplace, for Laban had pursued him so far. But there they make a covenant,\noffering sacrifice, and then eating together as upon the sacrifice.\n\nSuch a scene, in mystery, exhibits our blessing. For we enjoy a covenant\nof peace, secured by a sacrifice, and witnessed by a feast. So, in the\nnight of redemption from Egypt, the altar and the table, that is, the\nsacrifice and the feast, are there again. The blood is upon the\ndoor-post, and the household, thus ransomed and sheltered, are within,\nfeeding on the lamb, whose blood was protecting and delivering them.\n\nBut there is another thing on this occasion to be noticed--_it is Jacob\nwho offers the sacrifice_.\n\nThis has a great character in it. It tells us that Jacob knew his place\nand dignity under God. Laban had all the claims which nature or the\nflesh or relationship could confer, but Jacob acts in spite of them.\nLaban was the elder; he was the master and the father-in-law. But still\nJacob takes the place of the \"better,\" and offers the sacrifice, in the\nlike spirit of faith as Abraham when entering into covenant with the\nking of Gerar (chapter xxi.); or like Jethro at Horeb, in the midst of\nthe Israel of God, and in the presence of Aaron. Ex. xviii.\n\nSuch cases are among the triumphs of faith; and they are no mean\ntriumphs either. To know our high title in Christ, and by no means to\nsurrender it, even when circumstances may humble us, this is no easy\nthing. Jacob was under discipline in Padan-aram. He had no altar there.\nBefore God he was rather a penitent than a worshipper. But before Laban\nhe knows himself as a saint, and here, at the Mount Gilead, he has his\npillar, his sacrifice, and his feast, and he exercises that faith which\nemboldens him to act according to his dignity as a saint and priest of\nGod, in the presence of all the claims of flesh and blood. Elihu, in the\nbook of Job, though renouncing _himself_ before his elders, asserts the\ntitle of _the Spirit in him_, in the face of the highest claims of\nnature.\n\nIt is very encouraging to witness such fragments of the mind of Christ\nin the saints. Jacob never suspected his title in Christ, from first to\nlast, though under discipline all his days. And this is blessed--blessed\nto take the place that grace, in its riches, in its exceeding riches, in\nits glory and in its aboundings, gives us. I do not believe, if Peter in\nJohn xxi. had purposed to reach the Lord as a _penitent_, he would have\n_hurried_ towards him as he did. A penitent would have approached with a\nmore measured step. But Peter was not thinking of his late denial of his\nLord, but of his Lord Himself. His step was therefore hurried and\nearnest. He had sinned against his Master, it is indeed true, and might\nhave been backward and ashamed. But, wondrous to say it, as Peter _the\npenitent_ would not have taken so ready and so earnest a journey, so\nPeter the penitent would not, at the end of it, have been so welcome to\nhis Master, as the confiding though erring Peter. In this is the grace\nand heart of Him \"with whom is _all_ our business now.\"\n\nThese are but fragments however, broken pillars in the temples of God.\nNature is nature still; and Jacob, quickly after all this, betrays\nhimself as _old_ Jacob still.\n\nOne has said, that had the Lord slacked His hand with Job, when the\n_first_ trial was over, Job would have come short of the blessing. There\nwas respite; and it might have been thought that all had ended. But\nGod's end in grace was not yet reached; and we may be sure that Satan's\nmalice was not yet satisfied. The unweary adversary begins afresh, the\nLord gives him place again, and Job is visited a _second_ time.\n\nAnd nature is just as unwearied as Satan. Expel it and it will return.\nWe have just had this little respite from the way of nature, in Jacob at\nMount Gilead, and seen for a moment the better mind in him, and some\nexpressions of the glory, but we are quickly, too quickly indeed, to see\nthe old man again.\n\nJacob goes on his way from Mount Gilead, and as he approaches the\nborders of the land, the angels of God meet him. Jacob at once\nrecognizes them. \"This is God's host,\" says he, and he called the place\nMahanaim.\n\nThis was holy ground. The undertakings of chapter xxviii. had been\nfulfilled--the pledges of Bethel had been redeemed. Accordingly, we have\nno ladder here. Providential, angelic guardianship had fulfilled its\nministry; Jacob had been kept in the distant land, and brought home to\nhis own land. The ladder may, therefore, be taken down, and instead of\nangels ascending and descending as between heaven and the patriarch,\nangels _meet_ him. They are standing before him, just to salute him, or\nto welcome him on his return. The Lord God of his fathers and of the\npromises was welcoming our patriarch home, and ministers of the heavenly\ncourts were sent to express the mind of their King towards him.\n\nThis was \"piping\" to Jacob, and Jacob ought to have \"danced.\" He should\nhave breathed an exulting spirit. He should have been already in\ntriumph, ere the battle was fought, or even the armies were arrayed. He\nshould have entered the field with songs, like Jehoshaphat. If the hosts\nof heaven thus waited on him, what had he to fear from the hosts of\nEsau? \"If God be for us, who can be against us?\" But this was not so\nwith him. He \"laments,\" rather than dances, at this piping. He trembles,\nand prays, and calculates. He marshals his force, as though the battle\nwere his. This is all _religious_, but it is all _unbelief_ too; and all\nthis the Lord resents. Surely He does. It was all out of harmony in His\near. He had welcomed Jacob home with every token of an earnest,\nhonourable welcome, but Jacob was out of spirits.\n\nThe Lord seeks to be _one_ with us, and that we be one with Him; so that\ndiscordance of soul can never suit Him. He withstands Jacob. \"There\nwrestled a man with him,\" as we read, \"till the breaking of the day.\"\nThis was God's answer to his prayer. And this is all very significant,\nand it has lessons for us.\n\nIt is found by us much easier to trust the Lord in all questions that\narise between Him and ourselves, than it is to bring Him in, and use\nHim, and trust Him, in questions that arise between us and\nothers--easier to trust Him for eternity than for to-morrow; because\neternity is entirely in His hand. To-morrow, as we judge, is more or\nless divided between Him and others--in the power of circumstances as\nwell as of God. Abraham, in his day, betrayed this. He came forth at the\nbidding of the God of glory, leaving country, kindred, and father's\nhouse; but as soon as a famine came, his faith failed, and instead of\ntrusting the Lord in the face of circumstances, he goes down to Egypt.\n\nJacob, at Mahanaim, betrays the same easy, common way of nature. He is\nunable to trust God in the face of Esau. Esau's 400 men frighten him,\nand he will interpose, first, his messengers with words of peace and\nfriendliness, and then, his presents, that by one or the other he may\nallay the heat of his brother's anger. He has no faith in God, so as to\nbring Him in between himself and Esau. He trembles, and prays, and\ncalculates, and marshals his household. Circumstances have proved too\nmuch for him. But immediately afterwards, when the Lord Himself\nwithstands him, when it becomes a question between him and God, then he\nis bold and prevails. He faints not, though rebuked, and rebuked\nsharply, by the Lord. He behaves himself like a champion of faith, and\nobtains a good report. He carries himself like a prince, and gains new\nhonours. This is a common experience, and this moment in Jacob's history\nat the brook Jabbok expresses it.\n\nThere is not, however, necessarily, in such a victory as this, a cure\nfor that faint-heartedness that had occasioned the previous conflict.\nAnd Jacob is now about to illustrate this for our further admonition. In\nthe very next chapter (xxxiii.), which is but the continuance of the\nsame action, or a further stage in it, we find him the same timid,\nunbelieving, calculating man, in the presence of Esau, as he had been,\nere he had prevailed with the wrestler at Jabbok.\n\nThis is admonition for us. There may be exercise of spirit before God,\nand yet not much advance in the strength of the soul in carrying on its\nconflict with the world. In no stage of his history does Jacob appear\nmorally lower than in that which immediately follows Peniel. He is not\nin anywise purified from himself. He calculates, he prevaricates, he\naffects amiability and confidence, he lies, he flatters. He stood\nagainst the stranger at Jabbok. He was strong in faith, glorifying the\ngrace of God, even when the way of God had a controversy with him. But\nbefore Esau he practises and acts the old man to shameful perfection. He\nrids himself of his brother by a grossly false pretence. He is nothing\nbetter than a mean flatterer, a servile courtier, shamelessly speaking\nof the face of Esau as of the face of God. It is all miserable--a\nhumbling picture of the moral condition to which a saint may come, for a\ntime, if nature be allowed.\n\nThere are moments of exhilaration of spirit, and we may be thankful for\nthem; as when Jacob had so lately, in the preceding chapter, said, \"This\nis God's host;\" and again, \"I have seen God face to face, and my life is\npreserved.\" These are moments of exhilaration of spirit. But then, they\nmay be only _refreshments_, and not solid edification. And sad indeed it\nis to see a saint after them returning so quickly to himself. \"Where is\nthen the blessedness ye spake of?\"\n\nAnd who will trust his own heart, when we thus see that Jacob's was so\nuntrue? Jacob had lost the knowledge of God's name. He had to inquire\nafter it, instead of using it and enjoying it. That name was \"Almighty,\"\nthe name that told him of all-sufficiency for all his need. But Jacob\nhad lost it in chap. xxxii., and he is not as one who had recovered it\nin chap. xxxiii. He is contriving for himself. And we may, in like\nmanner, lose the name that has been revealed to us. That name is\n\"Father\"--a name that may give abiding calmness and strength and liberty\nto the soul. It prepares a home for the heart. \"He that dwelleth in love\ndwelleth in God.\" This home is enough to make our joy full, as John\nspeaks. And though we may be under His hand for discipline, as Jacob\nwas, still we are to know the power of that name, the full, secret,\nunchanging love of a father. Like Jacob in these two chapters, we have\nlost the name of God, if it be not thus with our souls. \"Ye have\nforgotten the exhortation that speaketh unto you as unto children,\" says\nthe apostle to us. And Jacob, therefore, may be no longer such a wonder\nto us, but we may the rather at times be a wonder to ourselves.\n\n\nAfter this, in his journey onward from the place where he and Esau\nparted, he reaches Succoth, and then Shechem, and we may say, he had\nthen returned to Canaan. But it is only still worse and worse with him.\nHe seems for a while to have entirely forgotten himself and the call of\nGod. And mischief must follow this. Consistency with our calling is\nlooked for. We are all, it may be in a thousand ways, untrue to it; but\nif it be willingly disregarded by an easy, relaxing conscience, the\ncommonest moral defences may soon give way. Truth and integrity may be\nforced to yield, and such pollutions may at last be found, that would\nnot, as the apostle speaks, be named among the Gentiles.\n\nAt Succoth, where our patriarch first arrived, he builds a house; and\nthen at Shalem, in Shechem, he buys a field--what Abraham and Isaac,\ntruer to the call of God, never did, and never would have done. How\ncould he count on moral security under such circumstances? The tent had\nbeen exchanged for a house, and the pilgrim stranger had become a\ncitizen and a freeholder. Was not all this a forgetting of himself under\nthe call of God? The Lord, long after this, lets David know, by His\nservant Nathan, that there was a difference between a _house_ and a\n_tent_, and that He would have that difference maintained. 1 Chron.\nxvii. But here at Succoth, Jacob violates this. So also it is the divine\nmemorial of the patriarchs in their purity, that they dwelt in tents\n(Heb. xi. 9); but here at Succoth, Jacob willingly forfeits that\nmemorial. And again, the Lord did not give Abraham so much land as to\nset his foot on (Acts vii. 5); but here at Shalem in Shechem, Jacob, in\nspite of this, will have a parcel of ground, and buy it for an\ninheritance.\n\nThe altar, which comes next, in the catalogue, to the house and the\nfield, may appear at first to be a relief and a sanctifier, the one good\nthing in the midst of corruption. But it is, perhaps, the worst of all.\nIt was not raised to Him who had appeared to him. There had been no\ncommunion between the Lord and Jacob, at either Succoth or Shechem.\nShechem was not Bethel, and this parcel of ground, where El-elohe-Israel\nwas raised, was not the place of stones and destitution, where abounding\ngrace had shone from an open heaven on the unfriended head of the\npatriarch, but the parcel of a field which Jacob had bought of the\nchildren of Hamor, the father of Shechem. It was raised, not by a\nheavenly stranger to the God who visited him, but in the midst of the\nuncircumcised. It looks like an attempt to get the Lord's sanction of\nJacob's loss of his separated, pilgrim, Nazarite character; to link His\nname and His worship with that on which His judgment was resting, and\ntoward which His long-suffering was shown till iniquity was full.\n\nSurely it is rather an uncircumcised Jacob we see here, and not\ncircumcised Shechemites. It is all miserable. Is this a son of Abraham?\nIs this a saint of God? Is this one of God's strangers in a world that\nhas revolted from Him? This is like the religious energy of Christendom,\nwhich has put the name of Christ in company with the world that is under\nHis judgment, and only borne with in His long-suffering. It is as if\nIsrael had consented to Pharaoh, and undertaken to give Jehovah an altar\nin Egypt. But such altars are no altars--as another gospel is not\nanother. Such religion is vain, whether practised in these earliest days\nat Shechem, or now in these days of Christendom, among the nations of a\njudged, condemned world, from which separation is the call of God. But\nthis will not do. A fair trade with the world will be followed, and the\ncourse of it pursued greedily, without watchfulness or conviction, but\nreligious family services, and religious national ordinances, the modern\norder at Shechem, will all the while be waited on.\n\nIt was of the fruit of all this that Jacob had afterwards to say, \"O my\nsoul, come not thou into their secret; unto their assembly, mine honour,\nbe not thou united.\" For it is to the action in chapter xxxiv. that\nJacob thus refers, when he was about to die, in chapter xlix. He finds\nout, at the end, the real character of all this, the fruit of his\ndwelling at Shechem. In self-will a man had been killed there, and a\nfence thrown down. But surely Jacob himself had digged down God's fence\nbefore. The partition-wall which the call of God had raised between the\nclean and the unclean, between the circumcision and the Gentile, he\nhimself, in spirit, had broken down, when he settled as a citizen or\nfreeholder on his purchased estate at Shechem. And Simeon and Levi may\nperfect this, as soon afterwards as they please.\n\n\"And Dinah, the daughter of Leah, which she bare unto Jacob, went out to\nsee the daughters of the land.\" xxxiv. 1. Was this the way of the house\nof Abraham? Was this the family of the separated patriarch keeping the\nway of the Lord? Had Abraham been thus slack? What intercourse had he\nhad for his children with either the sons or the daughters of the land?\n\nIt is all sad, and proclaims its own shame. Shechem is next door to\nSodom. But it is not Sodom, I grant. Jacob is not Lot. We can\ndistinguish; and we have to distinguish, though it is sad to be put to\nthe work of distinguishing. Nature prevails, in some more, in some less,\nin all the recorded saints of God. But there is _moral variety_, as well\nas the _prevalency of nature_, and \"things that differ\" among the saints\nare to be distinguished by us. There is a _soiled_ garment, and there is\na _mixed_ garment. Our way, under the Spirit, is to keep the garment\nboth unsoiled and unmixed. Surely it is to keep ourselves \"unspotted\nfrom the world.\" But still, a _soiled_ garment is not a _mixed_ garment,\na garment, as Scripture speaks, \"of divers sorts, of woollen and of\nlinen.\" Nor is a garment with a thread of \"another sort\" now and again\nin it, to be mistaken for a mixed garment, the texture of which is\nwrought on the very principle of woollen and linen. Scripture, ever\nfruitful and perfect, exhibits characters formed by what are called\n\"mixed principles,\" and also characters which occasionally betray the\nmixture, but which are not formed throughout by them. The life of Lot\nwas formed throughout by mixed principles. As soon as temptation\naddressed him, he entered into connection with evil. Though associated\nwith the call of God, he had to be saved so as by fire. The garment\nwhich Lot wore was of divers sorts, of woollen and of linen. Abraham, at\ntimes, wore a soiled garment, but never a mixed one. Lot was untrue to\nthe call of God from the outset of his career to the close of it. He\nbecame a citizen where he should have been a stranger, taking a house in\nthe city of Sodom, while Abraham was traversing the face of the country\nfrom tent to tent. And Lot's life of false principles leads him into\n_sorrows that are his shame_--and that is the real misery of sorrow. He\nhad no comfort in his sorrow. His righteous soul was vexed: this is told\nof him; but there was no joy, no brightness, no triumph in his spirit.\nThe angels maintained much reserve towards him. He had to escape with\nhis life as a prey, and under the loss of all beside.\n\nOur Jacob was not of this generation. We dare not say he was a man of\nmixed principles, or one who wore a garment of divers sorts, of woollen\nand linen. But he had a soiled garment on him pretty commonly, and here\nat Succoth and at Shechem, a garment with threads of another sort woven\nin it. His schemes and calculations disfigure him, and are the soiled\ngarment; his building a house at Succoth, and purchasing a field at\nShechem, untrue to the call of God, and to the tent-life of his fathers,\nlook very like a garment with threads of another sort in it.\n\nStill Jacob is not to be put with Lot. His life was not _formed_ of\nmixed principles. He was indeed a stranger with God in the earth. But,\nlike Lot, he had been in the place of the uncircumcised willingly; and\nhe was now to feel the bitterness of his own way; and very much what\nSodom had been to Lot, Shechem is now to Jacob. He is saved (may I not\nsay?) yet so as by fire. The iniquity of Simeon and Levi, with the\ninstruments of cruelty that were in their habitations, bring poor Jacob\nvery low. He is at his wits' end in the midst of that people, of whom he\nhad purchased his estate, and in the neighbourhood of whom, he had,\nLot-like, consented to settle.\n\nThings, however, are now at the worst. We are about to make, through the\ngrace of God, a happy escape with Jacob out of all this, to find a good\nriddance of Shechem and all its pollutions.\n\n\"A word spoken in due season, how good is it!\" We often prove this\nourselves. A word will do more for us at times than long and careful\ndiscourses. For \"power belongeth unto God.\" \"Follow me,\" from the lips\nof Christ, had power to detach Levi from the receipt of custom; while,\nin the same chapter, a discourse was heard by Peter without effect,\nbeing left by it, as he had been before it, the easy, kind-hearted,\namiable, and obliging Peter. See Luke v. \"Thy people shall be willing in\nthe day of thy power,\" even that very people, of whom it had been said\nbefore, \"All day long have I stretched out my hands unto a disobedient\nand gainsaying people.\"\n\nAn instance of this power is found in the history of Jacob, just at this\ntime, in chapter xxxv. 1.\n\n\"Arise, go up to Bethel,\" said the Lord to him, \"and dwell there; and\nmake there an altar unto God, that appeared unto thee when thou fleddest\nfrom the face of Esau thy brother.\"\n\nThese few words were with power. They formed, I believe, the great era\nin the life of Jacob, or rather, in the history of his soul. They were\nfew and simple, unaccompanied by anything strange or startling, no\nvision or miracle attending them; but they were a day of power. He had\nalready come forth from the vision of the ladder at Bethel, from the\nmagnificent sight of the angelic host at Mahanaim, and from the\nwrestling of the divine Stranger at Peniel, scarcely helped or advanced\nat all in the real energy of his soul. But now, power visits him; and\npower with God may use as weak an instrument as it pleases; it matters\nnot. The hand of God can do the business of God, though it have but a\nsling and a stone, or the jaw-bone of an ass, or lamps and pitchers; and\nthe Spirit of God can do the business of God with souls, though He use\nbut a word, or a look, or a groan.\n\nThese few words which open chapter xxxv. prevail over Jacob. \"Arise, go\nup to Bethel.\" Bethel is rewritten on his heart and conscience as by the\nfinger of God. He falls before it, as Abraham, in chap. xvii., had\nfallen before the name of \"God Almighty,\" or as Peter, long after, in\nLuke xii., fell before the look of Jesus.\n\nPower is always its own witness, as light is. These words, carrying the\npower of God with them, are everything now to the soul of our patriarch.\nThey manifest their virtue at once, just as the one touch of the woman\nin the crowd did. As soon as Jacob heard them, without fuller\ncommandment to do so, he cleanses his household, and will have his tents\npurified of all the abominations which they had brought with them out of\nPadan. In spirit he was already at Bethel, the place where God had met\nhim in the riches of His grace, in the day of his degradation and\nmisery. Bethel had been reintroduced to his heart--yea, manifested to\nhis soul in greater vividness than ever. He now read the story of grace\nclearer than ever; and _grace pleads for holiness_. The feast of\nunleavened bread waits on the Passover. The grace of God that bringeth\nsalvation teaches us to deny ungodliness and worldly lusts. For grace,\nagain I say it, pleads for holiness. And so, Jacob, now hearing of\nBethel in the power of the Spirit, without further ordinance, or\nrequirement, or command, will have his house and his household clean.\n\nThis is full of beauty and meaning. Pollution cannot be allowed by one\nwho is in the sense and joy of abounding grace. Gods and earrings, idols\nand vanities, are together buried under an oak at Shechem, and Shechem\nis left behind. The patriarch rises up with all that was his, and is\nquickly on the road to Bethel. He had kept the feast of unleavened bread\nin company with the Passover, as Israel afterwards did in Egypt; but,\nlike Israel too, he is at once, with staff in hand and shoe on foot,\nleaving his Egypt behind him. And the Lord accompanies him, as He did\nIsrael in the day of their Exodus afterwards; and accompanies in\n_strength_ too; for, as the rod of Moses opened the way of Israel in the\nface of enemies, and He that was in the cloud looked out and troubled\nthe host of Pharaoh, so now, we read of Jacob and his household, \"they\njourneyed, and the terror of God was upon the cities that were round\nabout them, and they did not pursue after the sons of Jacob.\"\n\nThis is surely full of beauty and meaning, I may again say. There is\nmercy and blessing here, but there is humbling also. Israel had lost the\npower of God's name, and Jacob must now learn that he had lost also the\nhonour of his own name. But all shall be given back to him. \"God\nAlmighty,\" and \"Israel,\" and \"Bethel\" are revealed afresh, at this\nmoment of revival.\n\nGod must be worshipped as the God of salvation. To be sure He must, in\nsuch a world as this. Such worship is the only worship \"in truth.\" John\niv. 23. In Lev. xvii. and in Deut. xii. the divine jealousy touching\nthis is strongly expressed. It is as \"Saviour,\" He records His name in a\nscene of sin and death. As He says by His prophet, \"There is no God else\nbeside; a _just God and a Saviour_; there is none beside me.\" Isa. xlv.\n21. This is revelation of Him; and on this all worship is grounded. In\nthis He records His name, and there is His house of praise. At Bethel,\nGod has thus recorded His name, and there was His house, and there Jacob\nnow brings his sacrifices. He raises his altar, and calls it El-Bethel.\nWith Jacob, that was the Tabernacle of the wilderness, or the Temple on\nMount Moriah, the Temple on Ornan's threshing-floor. And this was\ninfinitely acceptable, and God gave fervent and immediate witness of\nsuch acceptableness; for He appeared to him at once at the altar there,\nand blessed him, and said, \"Thy name shall not be called any more Jacob,\nbut Israel shall be thy name: and He called his name Israel. And God\nsaid unto him, I am God Almighty: be fruitful and multiply; a nation and\na company of nations shall be of thee, and kings shall come out of thy\nloins; and the land which I gave Abraham and Isaac, to thee will I give\nit, and to thy seed after thee will I give the land. And God went up\nfrom him in the place where He talked with him.\"\n\nThis was the expression of divine acceptance, and delight in Jacob's\naltar at Bethel. This was like the glory filling the Tabernacle in\nExodus xl., and again filling the Temple in 2 Chron. v. This was the God\nof grace and salvation with desire occupying the house and accepting the\nworship which a poor sinner, who had tasted abounding grace, had raised\nand rendered to Him. Nothing can exceed the interest of such a moment.\nSolomon felt the power of such a moment; for on seeing the glory fill\nthe house which he had built, he utters his heart in these admirable\nwords: \"The Lord hath said that He would dwell in the thick darkness.\nBut I have built a house of habitation for Thee, and a place for Thy\ndwelling for ever.\" The Temple, where mercy was seen to rejoice against\njudgment, had power to draw the Lord God from the thick darkness, the\nretreat of righteousness, into the midst of His worshipping people.\n\nWhat could exceed this? And, in patriarchal days, this was seen at this\naltar or temple at Bethel. The glory was there. The Lord appeared there,\nand spoke there to Jacob, as afterwards to Solomon. Luz was as Ornan's\nthreshing-floor, and each of them had become God's house. And Jacob\ncalled the place, a second time, Bethel, but without any of the\nmisgivings that had soiled his spirit when he was there at the first. He\nis now there in the spirit of Solomon before the glory in the Temple,\nknowing God's return to him, and His nearness and presence with him.\n\nThen, in the freedom and strength of all this, our patriarch resumes his\njourney. He goes from Bethel to Bethlehem, and from thence, by the tower\nof Edar, to Mamre, in the south country, where his father Isaac was\ndwelling. But in none of these places do we read of house or land again.\nIt is the tent and the altar and the pillar, the journeying onward\nstill, the burial of his aged father, and at last, as one with his\nfathers, dwelling in the land where they had dwelt before him. See chap.\nxxxvii. 1.\n\nThis was indeed a different journey, in its moral character, from the\none which he had before taken from Padan to Mount Gilead, and from\nthence onward to Shechem through Mahanaim and Succoth. Jacob is\nunrebuked now. We have no wrestling as at Peniel, no peremptory voice\nsummoning away as from Shechem. No fears are awakened in our hearts\nrespecting him, lest the tent may be deserted again, or the call of God\nbe forgotten. The word \"Bethel,\" on the lips of the Lord and on the ear\nof Jacob, had done wonders. \"A word spoken in due season, how good is\nit!\" surely we may again remember. \"Behold, God exalteth by His power:\nwho teacheth like Him?\" And He might surely have challenged His erring\nbut convicted child, after this second scene at Bethel, and said to him\nin the words of Isaiah, \"Thus saith the Lord thy Redeemer, the Holy One\nof Israel, I am the Lord thy God which teacheth thee to profit, which\nleadeth thee by the way that thou shouldest go.\"\n\nIt is not that all is perfected as yet. Reuben's iniquity may tell us\nthis too painfully. But the rising up from the place of nature, and the\nmoral extrication of his heart from the spirit of the world, have taken\nplace. Nor is it that he is as yet beyond the place of discipline. That\nis not so. He does not find Rebecca with Isaac at Mamre. He never sees\nhis mother again, the mother who had so preserved him and cherished him.\nHis mother's nurse he buries; and more than that, his beloved Rachel he\nloses. He has indeed the pledge of strength in \"the son of his right\nhand,\" but that same son told of sorrow touching Rachel. And thus he is\nunder discipline still. But--he is in God's _way_, as well as under\nGod's _hand_. That is the new thing. Discipline is telling upon him, and\nreaching its end. The path is shining, and its latest hour will soon be\nfound to be its brightest.\n\n\n_Part IV._--When we enter upon chapter xxxvii. we find _Joseph_ to be\nprincipal in the action, and principal in the thoughts of the Spirit of\nGod. This is evident from the second verse: \"These are the generations\nof Jacob. Joseph being seventeen years old,\" &c. But we get detached\nnotices of Jacob from this chapter to the end of the book, and which\ngive us the last portion of his history.\n\nHe was now, as I may call him, a widower. He appears before us as a\nlonely, retired man, with more of recollections than of present\nactivities about him. He was indeed the patriarch, the common head and\nfather of all the households of his children, and so recognized by them.\nBut the _business_ of the family was rather in their hands; and he was\npassing his widowerhood without seeking to be again the stirring,\nenergetic man he had once been.\n\nHis retirement, however, was not like that of his father Isaac. Isaac,\nfor the last forty years of his life, is not seen. He appears to have\nbeen laid aside, as a vessel unfit for use, as I have observed of him,\nnot _wearing_ out, as the word is, but _rusting_ out. See \"Isaac,\" p.\n185. But this was not Jacob's closing years. He was no longer a man of\nbusiness, but his retirement was not _inactive_. The richest, happiest,\nand purest exercises of his soul seem to be now, and they enlarge and\ndeepen as they advance; chastened and disciplined as we have seen, his\nsoul is now rendering the fruit of divine husbandry. We cannot fully say\nthat Jacob ever reached the high dignity of being a _servant_ of God;\nbut we may say, when we have reached the end of his story, that he was\n_fruitful_ to Him.\n\nFor there is a difference between _service_ and _fruitfulness_. Service\nis more manifested and active, fruitfulness may be hidden. The hand or\nthe foot may serve, and so they should. Tipped with the blood and with\nthe oil, they are to be instruments in the hands of the Master of the\nhouse; but it is in the deep, secret places of the heart that the\nhusbandry of the saint, in the power of the Spirit through the truth, is\nto be yielding fruit to God. Fruitfulness is known in the cultivation of\nthose graces and virtues which give real and intrinsic character to the\npeople of God--those habits and tempers and properties of the inner man\nwhich, with God, are of great price. It is within, or \"out of the\nheart,\" that those herbs, meet for Him by whom the soul is dressed, grow\nfragrant and beautiful, such as bespeak the virtue of that rain from\nheaven which has fallen upon it.\n\nIt is this fruitfulness, as I judge, which will be found in our Jacob,\nin this last scene of his pilgrimage. We have had some fainter notice of\nthis, while yet he remained in Canaan, and ere he took his journey to\nEgypt. But the richer harvest of this husbandry is gathered during the\nseventeen years that he spent in that land, ere he himself was gathered\nto his fathers. For this participation of God's holiness, this fruit of\nthe discipline of the Father of spirits, is commonly gradual--and we\nshall find it to be so in Jacob--the light shining more and more unto\nthe perfect day; the last hour being the brightest.\n\nIn the course of chapter xxxvii., which I have now reached, we are told\nthat the brethren of Joseph were gone to feed their flocks at Shechem.\nBut why was this recurrence to Shechem? Was it that the purchased land,\nthe family estate, was there?[20] It was a dangerous place to be\nconnected with. It had proved a snare to the whole family, and the Lord\nhad called them from it. Had Jacob been as watchful as he should have\nbeen, we might not now have heard again of Shechem and of the flocks and\nthe brethren there. But still, it is happy to see that there were\nsymptoms of uneasiness in his mind about it; for he sends Joseph to find\nout how the flocks and the brethren were faring there, as though there\nwere some misgiving in his heart about them in so suspected a place. And\nthis may be received as the pulse of a quickened state of soul in our\npatriarch, though that pulse be but weak.\n\n [20] This parcel of ground, at last, becomes only a burying-place, like\n      Machpelah; but it had not, at first, been purchased as such, as\n      Machpelah was.\n\nSo afterwards in chapter xliii., when he is sending away his sons, the\nsecond time, into Egypt to buy food, he commits them into the hand of\nthe Lord as \"God Almighty.\" \"God Almighty,\" says he, \"give you mercy\nbefore the man, that he may send away your other brother and Benjamin.\"\nThis also tells happily of Jacob's condition of soul--that in some\nmeasure at least _he had recovered the power of that name which he had\nonce lost_, and which, as we saw, all the exercise through which he had\npassed at Peniel had not given back to him.\n\nFrom these testimonies we may say that Jacob was under godly exercise,\nby the hand of the Father of his spirit, in those early days. Beyond\nthis I need not notice him, till we see him preparing to go down to see\nhis son in Egypt before he die. But that moment was a very important\nmoment indeed in the progress of his soul--and we must meditate on it.\n\n\nOn his hearing that Joseph was yet alive, and governor over all the land\nof Egypt, we read that his heart fainted, for he believed it not. It was\nthe Lord's doing--for so the fact was--but it was marvellous in Jacob's\neyes. He \"believed not for joy, and wondered;\" for this was receiving\nJoseph alive from the dead. At first this was too much for him; but when\nhe saw the waggons which king Pharaoh had sent to bear him, and all that\nbelonged to him, down to Egypt, his spirit revived, and he said, without\nfurther delay, \"It is enough, Joseph my son is yet alive; I will go and\nsee him before I die.\"\n\n_Nature_ thus spake at once in Jacob, as soon as the report was\nbelieved; and without further challenge he begins his journey to Egypt.\nBut a calmer moment, as we shall now see, succeeds this outburst or\nebullition of nature, and then the way of nature is challenged.\n\n\"And Israel took his journey with all that he had, and came to\nBeersheba, and offered sacrifice to the God of his father Isaac.\"\n\nThis is remarkable. Why these sacrifices at Beersheba? There had been\nnone at Mamre, ere Jacob set out. Why, then, this halt at Beersheba, and\nthis service to the God of Isaac?\n\nThis may at first be wondered at; but it will be found to be common\nenough (I had almost said, necessary) in the ways of the people of God.\n\n_Nature_ had acted in Jacob at Mamre, as soon as he believed the report\nabout Joseph, and set him at once on the road to Egypt. But now the\n_spiritual sensibilities_ have waked up, and are challenging the\nconclusions and ways of nature. Very common this is. The _saint_ is now\nfeeling reserve, where the _father_ had felt none. Jacob had not dealt\nwith the Lord about this journey, as he was beginning it; but the mind\nof Christ in him, his conscience in the Holy Ghost, so to speak, is now\ntaking the lead, and the judgment of nature is reviewed, and reviewed in\nthe light of the Lord.\n\nMany years before this the Lord had said to Isaac, Go not down into\nEgypt (xxvi. 2); and this had been said to Isaac in a day of famine,\nlike the present. And this is remembered by Jacob as soon as he reaches\nBeersheba, the last spot in the southern quarters of the land, which lay\nin the way to Egypt, and in the view of which was stretched out that\ncountry to which Isaac had thus been warned not to go.\n\nAll this accounts to me for Jacob's sacrifices at Beersheba to the God\nof his father Isaac. And all this has great moral meaning in it. It was\na mighty stir in Jacob's soul, and it was very acceptable to the Lord.\nAs we find in the day of the siege of Samaria. The poor lepers outside\nthe city immediately feed themselves and gather for themselves among the\ntents of the Syrians. It was natural, almost necessary, that they should\ndo so. But soon afterwards another mind begins to stir in them, as here\nin our patriarch, and they say, We do not well: this day is a day of\ngood tidings, and we hold our peace: if we tarry till the morning light,\nsome mischief will come upon us: now therefore come, that we may go and\ntell the king's household. 2 Kings vii. This was the action of a better\nmind, like this present stir in Jacob's spirit. And this awakening in\nJacob is so acceptable with the Lord, that He comes at once to him with\nthese words of consolation, \"I am God, the God of thy father: fear not\nto go down into Egypt; for I will there make of thee a great nation: I\nwill go down with thee into Egypt; and I will also surely bring thee up\nagain: and Joseph shall put his hand upon thine eyes.\"\n\nWhen we consider this for a moment, we may well say, What a\ncommunication this was! How thoroughly did it let Jacob know that the\nLord had read _all_ his heart, his present fears and his earlier\naffections, the mind of the father and the mind of the saint, the\ndesires of nature and the sensibilities of the spirit. \"Fear not to go\ndown into Egypt\" calmed the present uneasiness of his renewed mind;\n\"Joseph shall surely put his hand upon thy eyes,\" gratified the earlier\ndesire of his heart over his long-lost child. How full all this was! How\nperfectly did it prove the reality of the sympathy of Christ with _all_\nthat was stirring in His elect one! Jacob found pity in Him, and grace\nfor seasonable help. \"When my spirit was overwhelmed within me, thou\nknewest my path,\" was said by David, and is here surely understood by\nJacob. The groan that was not uttered by him in man's ear, had, in _all_\nits meaning, entered the ear of Him who searcheth the heart. And after\nthis, Jacob can no longer halt at Beersheba, or question his further\njourney to Egypt.\n\nHe accomplishes it; and his first sight of Joseph, as we might have\nexpected, and as the Lord would have fully warranted it to be, was the\noccasion of fullest joy to his long-bereaved heart. And I would here\nobserve, that I have felt, as to Jacob in these his last years, that he\nhad become a very _affectionate_ old man; and this is a happy\nimpression, another witness of an improved state of heart. For a\ncalculating man, such as he had been in the habits and activities of his\nlife, is commonly, and somewhat of moral necessity, wanting in\nthoughtfulness and desire respecting others. He is too much, of course,\nhis own object. But now it is not thus with Jacob. His grief at the loss\nof Joseph was intense. He bewails Simeon bitterly as well, and seems\nready to brave the horrors of famine, rather than hazard the loss of any\nmore of the children. And then, at the close of these years, his\nadoption of the sons of Joseph, his sympathy with Joseph in his sorrow\nover the preference of the younger, his reference to Rachel and her\nburial at Ephrath, and his mention of Leah, and of his fathers and their\nwives in connection with Machpelah, all is from a loving heart. And the\ngeneral grief which his death occasioned would tell us that he had been,\nin the midst of the people, a loved, affectionate old man. It is\ndelightful to mark all this.\n\nBut with all this we find him, in his own person and ways, very much the\nsame widowed, solitary man in Egypt as we saw him to have been for years\nin Canaan ere he came out. Only it was thus under very strong temptation\nto be otherwise; for he maintained his strangership, though he now had\nopportunity to make the earth again the scene of his efforts and\nexpectations. For we like _reflected_ dignity. We know the charms of it\nfull well. If nature were given its way, we would be making the most of\nour parentage, and connections, and set off before others our alliance\nwith that which is honourable in our generation. Jacob, in Egypt, had\nsome of the very best opportunities for indulging his heart in that way.\nHis son was then the pride of that land. Joseph was the second man in\nthe kingdom, and Joseph was Jacob's son. Here was a temptation to Jacob\nto come forth and show himself to the world. Joseph's father would have\nbeen an object. Would not all eyes be upon him? Would not place be given\nto him and way made for him, whenever or wherever he appeared? Nature\nwould have said, If Jacob had such opportunities, let him show himself\nto the world. The spirit of the world must have suggested that; as long\nafterwards to a greater than Jacob, who had no _reflected_ glories to\nexhibit, but all _personal_ glories. \"If thou do these things, shew\nthyself to the world.\" See John vii. 4. But, in the spirit of one who,\nin his way, had overcome the world, Jacob continues a retired man\nthrough all his life of seventeen years in Egypt. He was a stranger,\nwhere every human attraction joined in tempting him to be a citizen.\n\nTo me, I own, this is exquisite fruit of a chastened mind, fruit of\ndivine discipline, the witness of a large participation of the holiness\nof God, the holiness that suited the calling of God, the calling that\nmade Jacob a stranger and pilgrim on the earth. At Shechem he reminded\nus of Lot in Sodom, but here he reminds us of Abraham in his victory\nover all the offers of the king of Sodom.\n\nBut with this separation from the world there is nothing of false\nhumility. In the midst of all this practical strangership he knows and\nexercises his dignity under God. As he enters, and as he leaves the\npresence of king Pharaoh (chap. xlvii.), he blesses him. This is to be\nobserved. As he stood there in the royal presence, he owned himself a\npilgrim on the earth, somewhat poor and weary too; but at his\nintroduction and on his exit he blesses him, as one who knew what he was\nin the election and grace of God; for \"without all contradiction the\nless is blessed of the better.\" This is not what old Simeon did when he\nhad the infant of Bethlehem in his arms, but this is what old Jacob now\ndoes, when he has the greatest man on the earth before him. He made no\nrequests of the king, though he might reasonably have expected whatever\nhe asked. He was silent as to all that Pharaoh or Egypt would do for\nhim, but he speaks as the better one blessing the less again and again.\nThis was like the chained prisoner of Rome before the dignitaries and\nofficers of Rome. Paul let Agrippa know--he let the Roman governor\nknow--that he, their prisoner, carried and owned the good thing, and\nthat he could wish no better wish for them all, than that they were as\nhe was. And this is faith that glorifies grace--the proper business of\nfaith--precious faith indeed, whether in a prisoner-apostle, or in an\nexile stranger-patriarch. Rome and Egypt have the wealth and power of\nthe world, such as men will envy and praise, but Paul and Jacob carry a\nsecret with them that makes them speak another language.\n\nThis is all full of meaning in our Jacob. The glory is hidden in an\nearthen vessel, but it is there, and the vessel knows it to be there.\nJacob does nothing in those Egypt-years of his, to make history for the\nworld. He takes no part in its changes; its interests and progress are\nlost upon him; he is at the disposal of others, taking what they may\ngive him, and being what they may make him; but he knows a secret that\ntakes his spirit above them. Others may flourish in Egypt, he only\nspends the remnant of his days there. See xlvii. 27, 28.\n\nI own indeed that I stand in admiration of this way of the Lord, of the\nSpirit of God, with Jacob. To such a life as his had been, most suited\nwas such an end as this now is. It is a poor thing that we should need\nsuch a pause as this, at the end of the journey; but, if needed, it is\nbeautiful to see it fruitful, after this manner. During that long\nhusbandry of his soul under \"the Father of spirits,\" that seventeen\nyears in Egypt, how commonly, I dare to suppose, did Jacob sit before\nthe Lord, meditating the past years, with some confusion of face; and\nthe fire would kindle then, and the refiner's work go on.\n\nBut when these silent and retired years are about to close, we find him,\nsomewhat abruptly, stirring and earnest. It is with Joseph respecting\nhis burial. He will have Joseph not only promise, but swear, that he\nwill bury him in the land of his fathers. xlvii. 30. This is also very\nbeautiful. We never find him urgent about the conditions of his _life_\nin Egypt; he seems willing, as I said, to take what they give him and to\nbe what they make him; but as to his _burial_, he is, now, all urgency\nand decision. He will have it confirmed to him by an oath, that his son\nwill take his dead body to that land which witnessed the promise of God\nto him. He is earnest and peremptory now, as he was indifferent before.\nFor faith likes to read its title clear, full, and indefeasible. Abraham\nwould have the inheritance by _covenant_, as well as by _word_. Chap.\nxv. Jacob now will have the burial, such a burial as is worthy of the\nhopes of a child of Abraham, by _oath_, as well as by _promise_.\n\nAll this shows us another Jacob than what we once knew him to be. He is\nnow partaker of God's holiness; his mind and character are in\nconsistency with the call of God. He is a stranger with God in the\nearth, but in sure and certain hope of promised inheritance. This is\nfruitfulness; I say not that it is service; but it is beautiful\nfruitfulness in the inner man.\n\nIn chapter xlviii. which follows, we get that one act in his life which\nis signalized by the Spirit as the act of faith. See Heb. xi. 21. But\nthe whole chapter is beautiful. All is _grace_ on God's part, and all is\n_faith_ in the heart of Jacob. For it is the proper business and duty of\n_faith_ to accept the decisions of grace, and that is just what grace is\ndoing here. Grace adopts the sons of Joseph, who had no title in the\nflesh, and takes them into the family of Abraham. Grace gives the place\nand portion of the firstborn, the double portion, as though they were\nReuben and Simeon. Grace sets the younger of them above the elder. And\ngrace gives Joseph, or the adopted firstborn, an earnest of his coming\ninheritance. To all this Jacob bows and is obedient. In faith he accepts\nthe decisions of grace. Nature may resent this; but Jacob is true to the\nword of grace committed to him. Joseph was moved when Jacob was setting\nEphraim above Manasseh. Jacob feels for him; but he fulfils the word of\nGod committed to him, let nature be surprised or wounded as it may. He\ndoes not listen to nature in his son Joseph, as he had listened to it on\na like occasion, years and years ago, in his mother Rebecca.[21]\n\n [21] In Joseph obtaining the rights of the firstborn, there is\n      something besides grace; but I do not notice it here.\n\nSurely this is beautiful: faith thus accepting the decisions of grace.\nBut in this, Jacob was also God's oracle. He was not only in faith\nobedient to the purpose or counsel of grace, but he was used of God as a\nvessel of His house, used to declare His mind, to represent and act His\npurposes in these mysteries of grace, the _adoption_, and the\n_inheritance_, and the _earnest_.\n\nAnd as this vessel was thus so fully approving itself fit for the\nMaster's use, it is still used. We still see him and hear him as God's\noracle, as we enter chapter xlix. He calls his twelve sons, and blesses\nthem. He delivers, under the Spirit, the words and judgments of God\ntouching them. But this was a very trying moment to him. It exceeds all\nin what it cost him. In preferring Ephraim to Manasseh, he suffered\nsomething. But he, who did not then attend to nature in his son, will\nnot now attend to it in himself. He goes through this sorrowful,\nhumbling scene, feeling it bitterly at certain stages of it; but he\nstill goes on with it and through it. He had now to retrace, under the\nSpirit, and as the oracle of God, and in their presence, the ways of his\nsons in past days, and the fruit of these ways in days still to come. He\nhad to do much of this with a wounded heart, and with recollections that\nmight well be deeply humbling. For these words upon his sons were a kind\nof judgment upon himself for his past carelessness about his children.\nBut still he does go on and finishes his service, as the oracle of God,\nand that too with such sympathies and affections as give us some further\nbeautiful witnesses of his purified state of soul.\n\nLevi's and Simeon's iniquity has to come before him. But he resents this\nnow in a way, no trace of which we find in him in the day when that\niniquity was perpetrated. It troubled him then because of the mischief\nwhich it might work for him among his neighbours. \"Ye have troubled me,\"\nsaid he, \"to make me stink among the inhabitants of the land, among the\nCanaanites and the Perizzites: and I being few in number, they shall\ngather themselves together against me, and slay me; and I shall be\ndestroyed, I and my house.\" Chap. xxxiv. 30. This was the mind he was in\nwhen he was a citizen in Shechem. But now it is on other ground\naltogether, higher and purer ground, that his soul refuses this\niniquity. It was iniquity; that is enough; and he will not let his\nhonour be united with it. Then he opens his eyes on the uncleanness of\nReuben, just to be shocked by it. And then, as the backsliding of Dan is\nsummoned up before him, his whole soul is moved, and he is cast on the\nhope of God's salvation, his only escape, the only escape which he would\nown, from all that was around him, behind him, or before him. \"Dan shall\nbe a serpent by the way, an adder in the path, that biteth the horse's\nheels, so that his rider shall fall backward. I have waited for thy\nsalvation, O Lord.\"\n\nWhat affections and energies are here! How finely this vessel did its\nservice in the house of God! Poor David knew more than sorrow for the\nloss of Absalom in the day of Absalom's fall. That slaying of his son\nbrought sin to remembrance. And here Jacob entered, with full personal\nsympathies, into the counsels of God, and had his own part and share in\nrecollections that must have stirred the conscience.\n\nHe not only announced these judgments of God, but felt them. He was not\na _mere_ vessel, but a _living_ vessel. And he was faithful to Him that\nappointed him, though the service was, after this manner, full of\nhumbling and bitterness.\n\nWe saw Jacob \"dumb for a season.\" This we noticed as the character of\nmany years of our Patriarch's closing life. But his mouth had now been\nopened by faith; and once opened, God uses him abundantly as His oracle.\nThis is like Zacharias, the Zacharias of Luke i. He also, as we know,\nhad been dumb for a season; but in faith he wrote his child's name upon\na writing-table, and then the Lord used him as His prophet.\n\n\nHere the story ends; but I believe we have gathered the moral of it. The\nLord's hand with Jacob tells us how unwearied He is with His foolish and\nwayward ones. It is _variety_, too, as well as _patience_, that we see\nin this constant moral culture. Jacob had to learn different lessons;\nand He, with whom he had to do, set Himself in patient grace to teach\nthem all to him. Bethel, Peniel, Bethel again, and Beersheba, witness\nthis, as we have seen. And then, throughout a changeful course, at home\nand abroad, in youth and in manhood, among strangers or at the side of\nhis father and his mother, Jacob betrayed much that needed chastening,\nand the lesson was taught him again and again.\n\nHe reminds us of the disciples in the days of the Lord. In how many ways\nhad the Lord to correct and instruct them! And it was the same to the\nend; and the patience of their divine Teacher was the same to the end.\nThe ignorance, the selfishness, the constant moral mistakes they made\nand betrayed, the different ways in which they crossed the mind of their\nMaster, all glorify the goodness that waited on them. And it may remind\nus also of Him who bore with Israel's manners in the wilderness for\nforty years. And it may be also a remembrancer to ourselves of much of\nthat patience and grace which we are daily experiencing at the same\nhand.\n\nDiscipline, the discipline of a child, is illustrated in Jacob, as we\nobserved at the beginning, ere we began to consider his story, and as we\nnow have seen it to be. And discipline is healthful, and does good like\na medicine. If we need it, it is the _only_ thing for us. When in the\ndays of Samuel, Israel asked for a king, would it have been well for\nthem, if the Lord had given them David? The Lord had David in reserve\nfor them; but would it have been seasonable, would it have been\nhealthful for them, if David had been given to them at once, when with a\nrebellious will they were asking for a king? Surely, they must first be\nmade to know the bitterness of their own way. A Saul must be given when\nIsrael asks a king. This was discipline, and this was the only thing\nthat would have been healthful for them. But when they have tasted the\nbitterness of their own way, in pity of their misery, the Lord will\nbring out that which He has in reserve for them, the man after His own\nheart that shall fulfil all His pleasure.\n\nHow perfect was all this! Had David been given to Israel in the day of 1\nSam. xi. the whole moral of the story would have been lost to us. But\nthe love is the same, whether it be discipline or consolation, medicine\nor food.\n\nThis is the characteristic lesson we learn from the story of our\npatriarch.\n\nWith Machpelah and his burial, Jacob then _ends_ these dying\nintercourses with his sons, as he had _begun_ them. xlvii. 29, xlix. 29.\nHe had Joseph's word and oath already on this matter, and now he must\nput all of them under the same engagements to him about it. Death was\nmore important to him than life. Life kept him in Egypt, death would\nrestore him to Canaan. Death linked him with the God and the promise of\nhis fathers. The hopes of faith lay beyond life, and outside Egypt. In\nspirit he was saying, Absent from the body, present with the Lord;\n\"Confident, I say, and willing rather to be absent from the body, and to\nbe present with the Lord.\" As far as patriarchal faith could utter this,\nJacob was uttering it. And at the very last we read, \"When Jacob had\nmade an end of commanding his sons, he gathered up his feet into the\nbed, and yielded up the ghost, and was gathered unto his people.\"\n\nIt was surely no barren or unfruitful time he had spent in Egypt. Though\nto him and to his hands the business of life was all over, he was not\n_rusting_ out, as we had to say of Isaac. Jacob's silence was husbandry.\nWe rejoice in these last days as his best days. We rejoice still more in\nthe grace which provided this pause for him at the end of his journey,\nthat, in the language of the Psalmist, he might recover strength before\nhe went hence, and was no more seen.\n\nGracious indeed is it towards all of us His elect ones, to have such a\nsight as this, such a specimen (may I so call it?) of divine patience,\nwisdom, and goodness, as this. It is peculiar indeed, having its own\nplace amid the infinite forms and characters which grace assumes in\nrelation to the need of the saints. Jacob's last days were his golden\ndays. To others, to their flocks and herds, Egypt was a land of Goshen;\nbut it was not to Jacob's flocks and herds, for we do not read that he\nhad any; but it was to Jacob's _soul_ that Egypt was a Goshen, the very\nrichest, fairest, best-watered land his spirit had ever enjoyed. It was\nmore really the gate of heaven to him than Bethel had been. It was more\nthe face of God to him than Peniel had been. He had the Lord in secret\nand in silence with him there, but in real, living power. With all that\nwould naturally have kept him at home on the earth he was a stranger. In\nEgypt Jacob was a delivered, extricated man, as from the beginning and\nall through he had been a chosen and a called one.\n\nAre we learning that which God was teaching him there? Are we seeking,\nwith more single heart, the portion of God's strangers and pilgrims,\nthinking rather of Machpelah than of Egypt, of the rapture that links us\nwith the promise, than of all the daily growing prosperity of this\npresent evil world?\n\n\n\n\n                                JOSEPH.\n\n                           GENESIS XXXVII.-L.\n\n\nJoseph becomes principal in the narratives of the Book of Genesis as\nsoon as we reach chap. xxxvii., and so continues, I may say, to the end.\nSo that I now propose to close with this paper on \"Joseph,\" referring to\nthe others, entitled \"Enoch,\" \"Noah,\" \"Abraham,\" \"Isaac,\" \"Jacob,\" as if\nthey had been already read.\n\n\nJoseph's story has its peculiarity in the midst of the things of\nGenesis--its own mystery, and its characteristic moral; as the others\nhave. _Election_, as we have seen, was illustrated in Abraham;\n_sonship_, or the adoption of the elect one, in Isaac; _discipline_ of\nthe adopted one in Jacob; and now in Joseph, _heirship_ is to be.\n\nAll this is a divine order.\n\nAnd, consistently with this, in Joseph we get sufferings before glories,\nor before the inheritance of the kingdom; all this realizing that word\nof the apostle, \"If children, then heirs ... if so be that we suffer\nwith Him, that we may be also glorified together.\"\n\nFor while discipline attaches to us as children, sufferings go before us\nas heirs; and this gives us the distinction between Jacob and Joseph. It\nis discipline we see in Jacob, discipline leading him as a child, under\nthe hand of the Father of his spirit, to a participation of God's\nholiness. It is sufferings, martyr-sufferings, sufferings for\nrighteousness, we see in Joseph, marking his path to glories.\n\nAnd this is the crowning thing; and thus it comes as the closing thing,\nin this wondrous Book of Genesis--after this manner perfect in its\nstructure, as it is truthful in its records. One moral after another is\nstudied, one secret after another is revealed, in the artless family\nscenes which constitute its materials; and in them we learn our calling,\nthe sources and the issues of our history, from our election to our\ninheritance.\n\nThus is it for our learning in this Book of Genesis.\n\n\nBut as yet, while we are in this Book, there is no _law_. We are taught\nthat this was so in Romans v. 13, 14. But we might have perceived it for\nourselves. Because, in dispensational age, so to speak, the time of this\nBook was the time of _infancy_. The elect were as children who had never\nleft home, never as yet been under a schoolmaster.\n\nNeither is there any _miracle_. I mean no miracle by the hand of man.\nFor power would no more have suited such hands, than law or a\nschoolmaster would have suited such an age. And, besides, there was no\nmission or apostleship to seal. Miracles or \"signs following\" were not\ndemanded as credentials of a mission. But as soon as we leave this Book,\nand enter Exodus, we get a mission or an apostleship, and then we get\nmiracles, as seals, to accredit it.\n\nSo that what we do not get is just as fitting, from its absence, as what\nwe do get. Neither power nor law would have been in season, and\naccordingly neither power nor law do we get.\n\nBut I will now pass on to Joseph, or to chapters xxxvii.-l.\n\nThe materials which we find in these chapters, and which form the\nhistory of Joseph, may be separated into four parts:\n\n      1. His early times at home in his father's house, in the land\n         of Canaan.\n      2. His life, as a separated man, in Egypt.\n      3. His recovery of his kindred, his father and his brethren,\n         and the results of such recovery.\n      4. His latter times in the land of Egypt till the day of his\n         death.\n\nThis may be received as the contents of this wondrous story. The way in\nwhich it is told has been witnessed to by the sympathies and\nsensibilities of thousands of hearts in every generation.\n\n\n_Part I._ (xxxvii. xxxviii.)--As soon as we enter on the history, the\nheir is at once and immediately seen in Joseph. His dreams are dreams of\n_glory_. But _sufferings_ as quickly form his present reality.\n\nThe story begins by Joseph being a witness both _to_ and _against_ his\nbrethren. He tells his father of their evil deeds, and he tells\nthemselves of his dreams. I cannot blame him in either. I say not how\nfar nature may have soiled him in the doing of these things; but the\ntestimonies themselves were, I believe, under divine authority. There\nwas One who was all perfection, as I need not say, in everything He did\nor said, and He bore witness against the world, and to His own glories.\nA want of season and of measure may have soiled these services in\nJoseph; for a thing out of season and beyond its measure, though right\nin itself, has contracted defilement. A vessel in the master's house, at\ntimes, has to _hide_, as well as to _hold_, the treasure that is in it,\nand should know where, and when, and how, to use it. David had the oil\nof Samuel, the anointing of the Lord, upon him, and he knew that the\nkingdom was to be his, but he veiled his glory till Abigail, by faith,\nowned it. And in this David may have surpassed Joseph. I say not that it\nwas not so. But to tell of what his dreams or his visions in the Spirit\nhad communicated to him, was of God.\n\nAnd hence his sufferings. The Lord marks him as the heir of glory; he\nspeaks of the goodness he had found, and of the high purpose of God\nconcerning him, and his brethren hate him. They envy him; and who can\nstand before envy? They had already begrudged him his father's favour,\nand now they hate him for God's. They hate him for his words and for his\ndreams; and when in the field together (as of old, it had been with Cain\nand Abel), they take counsel whether to slay him, to cast him into a\npit, or to sell him to strangers.\n\nAnd this was at a time when he was serving them. He had come a long way\nto inquire after their welfare, and take their pledge, and to carry them\nblessings from their father's house with their father's love. Such a\nmoment was their opportunity. It was not as the bearer of good tidings\nthat they received him; but \"Behold, this dreamer cometh,\" they say.\n\"This is the heir\" (Matt. xxi. 38); that was the spirit of their words.\nFor envy they deliver them; for his love they are his enemies; and at\nlast they sell him to the Ishmaelites for twenty pieces of silver.\n\nThere may be different measures in the common enmity; but in a great\nmoral sense they are all one generation. Reuben was Jacob's firstborn,\nand we may suppose that he judged himself more answerable to the aged\nfather for the lad, than any of them. He saves Joseph from the sword,\nand Judah proposes a sale of him to the merchantmen, in the stead of the\npit. After such manners as these there are measures in the common\nenmity. As some said of Jesus, \"He is a good man;\" others, \"Nay, but He\ndeceiveth the people.\" In the parable of \"the marriage of the king's\nson,\" some went to the farm, and some to the merchandize, while others\nwere taking the servants and killing them. But the Lord speaks of all as\nof one generation. \"The _remnant_ of them,\" He says, \"took his servants\nand slew them.\" The Judge of all the earth will surely do right, and\nsins will get their many stripes and their few stripes, but _the world_\nhas cast out Jesus, and the world is the world; as here, all are the\nguilty brethren of Joseph; and, as the issue of their counsels and of\ntheir common hatred, he is sold to the merchantmen, and by them is\ncarried down to the market of Egypt, for further and profitable sale\nthere.\n\nIt is the heartlessness of all this that is specially shocking; and it\nis that which the prophet Amos, under the Holy Ghost, so solemnly\nnotices in his reference to the affliction of Joseph. Chap. vi. And we,\nthough at this distant day, may take our share of the rebuke of the\nprophet for like heartlessness, if we can willingly love the world which\ncast out the true Joseph. And what must we say, when we look on the\nboasted advance of everything in that world, the constant skill that is\nexercised in sweeping and garnishing that house which is stained with\nthe blood of Jesus? The beds of ivory, the sound of the viols, the wine,\nand the chief ointments, were never so abundant as in these days. And if\nwe can take up with life in such a world, are we true, as we ought to\nbe, to the cross of Christ? A heartless heart we have, and a heartless\nworld we live in, as it is heartless brethren of Joseph we are here\nlooking at. One knows it for one's self full well; and surely, I may\nagain say, it is this heartlessness that is principally shocking to\nourselves (if one may speak for others), as it was to the Spirit in\nAmos. We are not \"grieved for the affliction of Joseph,\" we are not true\nto the rejection of Christ. _Worldliness is heartlessness to Him._\n\nWhat depths there are in the corruption that is in us! As here, they\ndipped the favoured coat, the coat that the old father had put on\nJoseph, they dipped it in blood, and sent it to their father with these\nwords: \"This have we found: know now whether it be thy son's coat or\nno.\" This is the language of Cain: \"Am I my brother's keeper?\" Cain was\nlaying the burthen of Abel's blood on the Lord, intimating by these\nwords that the Lord should have been Abel's keeper, seeing He had had\nsuch respect to him and his offering. So these words of Joseph's\nbrethren seem to lay the burthen of Joseph's blood upon the aged father,\nwho, if he loved him as well as this coat seemed to say he did, should\nhave looked after him better than this blood seemed to say he had.\n\nWhat depths, indeed, in the revolted, corrupted heart of man! What\ndiscoveries of these depths temptation makes at times! They sinned, in\nall this, against their aged father, and against their unoffending\nbrother, at a time when the love of the one had counselled, and the love\nof the other had undertaken, a mission to them of grace and blessing; as\nis said of a generation which they represent both morally and typically,\n\"They please not God, and are contrary to all men.\"\n\nDark deeds indeed! Joseph's blood is upon themselves, let them seek to\nhide it as they may; and the day is before them when their sin shall\nfind them out, and this blood upon Joseph's coat shall be a swift\nwitness against them. For the present they do but prosper in wickedness,\nthat they may fill up their measure. The course of Joseph's history is\ninterrupted, that we might get this sight of them during Joseph's\nseparation from them. Chap. xxxviii. affords it to us. And it is indeed\napostasy, full departure from \"the way of the Lord,\" in which Abraham\nhad walked, and in which he had commanded his children and his household\nafter him to walk. Judah deals treacherously, marrying the daughter of\nShuah. The way of the Lord is utterly despised and forsaken by Judah.\nStill grace gets pledge here. Pharez is a second supplanter. The hope of\nIsrael is in the womb, a blessing is in the cluster; but truly it is\nsuch a cluster of a wild vine as might well be doomed to the sickle, if\nsovereign, abounding grace did not say, Destroy it not. Isa. lxv. 8;\nMatt. i. 3.\n\nAnd such is the sin of the nation of Israel, as of this, their own\nfather Judah; and such the grace in which the nation shall stand in the\nlatter day. Grace shall then reign in the story of Israel, as it now\ndoes in the person of every saint, elected in the sovereign good\npleasure of God, and made a monument of the saving power of Christ.\n\nWe may not be prepared for this grace of God in some of its surpassing\nexhibitions. We may be less prepared for it than we think. Jonah was\nnot, Ananias was not, Peter was not. Jonah iv.; Acts ix. and x. We are\nnot always practised, skilful weigh-masters in the use of the balances,\nthe weights and measures of the sanctuary. Are the heartlessness of\nchap. xxxvii., and the defilement of chap. xxxviii., and that, too, when\nfound together, too bad? I ask. After all this are we prepared for\n\"repentance and remission of sins\" in the grace of God? The moral sense,\nthe natural conscience, self-righteousness, the laws of society, and the\njudgments of men, supply us with false weights and measures, and we\ncarry them about with us more than we are aware of. But they are an\nabomination. Deut. xxv. 16. In our thoughts, the way of the harlot and\nthe publican are worse than the easy, respectable course of the world.\nHad we the balances of the sanctuary, we should assay things otherwise.\n\"That which is highly esteemed among men is abomination in the sight of\nGod.\"\n\n\n_Part II._ (xxxix.-xli.)--In these chapters, which give us the second\npart, according to our division, we have the life of Joseph while he was\na separated man in the land of Egypt.\n\nDuring this time we shall see the beginning of his day, or his\nexaltation. But ere that come, we are to witness his further\nsufferings--his sufferings at the hand of _strangers_.\n\nWe may, somewhat naturally, have the thought that _the Jew_ is specially\nguilty, as far as the moral history of this world goes--specially\nanswerable for sin against the Lord. But in this we are not fully wise.\nThe Jew had, indeed, a special hand in the sorrows of Christ; and,\nnationally, Israel is under special judgment. But the Gentile is a\ndistinct, not a different man. The ministry of our Lord Jesus tested\n\"the world,\" as well as \"His own.\" The record touching the cross is\nthis, Of a truth against thy holy child Jesus, whom thou hast anointed,\nboth Herod and Pontius Pilate, with the Gentiles, and the people of\nIsrael, were gathered together. Acts iv. All were guilty there. As the\napostle of the Gentiles, in his doctrine, says, the whole world has\nbecome guilty before God. Jew and Gentile are all alike proved under\nsin. Rom. iii.\n\nOur present chapters suggest this. Joseph's affliction, begun among his\nbrethren, is now continued among strangers. His brethren had already\nhated him, and put him in the pit, and thence taken him to sell him as a\nbond-slave; an evil woman of the Egyptians now falsely accuses him, and\nhe is put in prison, and then another Egyptian, whom he had served and\nbefriended, forgets him and leaves him. But, however it may be with him,\nwhether at home or abroad, God is with him. This becomes the very\ncharacteristic of his history. Chapter xxxix.; Acts vii. For, in His way\nwith His elect, God's _sympathy_ comes first, and then His _power_, the\nsympathy which accompanies them through their sorrow, and then the power\nwhich delivers them out of it. We are prone to desire present ease, and\nwould have all inconvenience and contradiction removed at once. But this\nis not _His_ way. When at Bethany \"Jesus wept;\" and afterwards, but not\ntill afterwards, He said, \"Lazarus, come forth.\" Nature would have had\nthe death, which had called forth the tears, anticipated. We judge that\nwe might have been spared many a trial, and we reason it out as a clear,\nunquestioned conclusion, that God had power. As the friends of the\nfamily at Bethany said, Could not this man, that opened the eyes of the\nblind, have caused that even this man should not have died? But they\nreasoned imperfectly, because they reasoned partially; that is, only on\nthe _power_ of Christ.\n\nWe ought to (and we should, had we but bowels in Christ) very chiefly\nvalue the age or dispensation of His sympathy; it gives _Himself_ to us\nin so peculiar a way. And this sympathy was eminently Joseph's, in this\nday of his affliction. As we said, that \"God was with him\" is\ncharacteristic of his condition. And he had abundant evidence of this.\nAs soon as he is in Potiphar's house, all under his hand, committed to\nhim by his master, prospers. And change of scene works no change in\nthis; for as soon as he is in prison, the same record we read of him,\nand the same circumstances we see around him. The keeper of the prison\nputs the same confidence in him that Potiphar his master had; and under\nhis hand in the prison all things prosper, as they had in the Egyptian's\nhouse. So that Joseph had full witness from God, that God was sufficient\nfor him.\n\nIt was not for such an one to leave the help of the Lord for the help of\nthe creature. But Joseph craves the remembrance and the sympathy of the\nbutler, and would have him give him a good word with the king his\nmaster.\n\nThis was natural. Joseph had befriended the butler of the king, and such\nan one was able to befriend him. His craving of his sympathy is not to\nbe condemned on any natural, human, or even moral grounds. But whether\nit was quite worthy of _Joseph_ to do so may be questioned, whether it\nwas quite the way which _faith_ would have suggested.\n\nAnd it comes to nothing. The butler, as we know, forgets him, and he is\nleft for two long years in the prison. For God will still be everything\nto him. Help shall come, but it shall come from Himself. With the Lord,\nthe heaviness of the night is sure to yield to the joy of the morning;\nand ere this season of his separation from his brethren came to an end,\nJoseph is released, and blessed, and honoured. It becomes the\nbudding-time of his glories.\n\nExcellent things indeed are found in the condition of the separated\nJoseph, such things as bear our thoughts to Him who is the greater than\nJoseph. I would just observe four of them.\n\n1. There is great _moral beauty_ in him. He was a Nazarite then, as pure\nan one as Daniel in like circumstances, a captive among the\nuncircumcised, maintaining his circumcision, his separation to God,\nunspotted. 2. There is _precious spiritual gift_ in him. He was a vessel\nin God's house, carrying the mind of Christ, and ministering that mind\nas an oracle of God; like Daniel again, interpreting dreams, and making\nknown even to kings, though still in his day of humiliation, what was\ncoming upon the earth. 3. There is the _right hand of power and dignity\nfor him_. He is seated nearest the throne, and put in possession of\nthose resources on which his own brethren, who had cast him out, and the\nwhole world beside, are destined ere long to depend for preservation in\nthe earth. 4. There is _joy, peculiar joy, prepared for him_. The king\nmakes a marriage for him, and he becomes the head of a family among the\nGentiles; and this is a source of such joy to him, that he can, in some\nsense, as the names of his children tell us, forget his kindred, and\neven rejoice in his affliction.\n\nSurely these are excellent things found in the condition of Joseph while\nseparated from his brethren. And in them we see the Lord Himself in this\npresent age, the season of His separation from Israel. A child might\ntrace the likeness; but He, who reveals to babes and sucklings, has led\nthe way in this. In Stephen's wondrous word, in Acts vii., we get Joseph\nand others put in kindred place and circumstances with the Lord, who is\nthere called \"the Just One.\" And this is so full of interest, that\nthough it be but incidental, we must turn aside for a little, and listen\nto that great voice of the Spirit of God.\n\n\nStephen appears but for a moment in the course of the divine history;\nbut it is to fill a very eminent and distinguished place. The occasion\non which he is seen, and on which he acts, is full of meaning. Jewish\nenmity was again doing its dark deeds, and the God of glory was again\ndisclosing His brighter purposes.\n\nStephen is another witness of the Lord passing from earth to heaven,\nleaving the earth for a season in its unbelief and apostasy, and calling\nout a people for heavenly places.\n\nStephen's was another separating era. Abraham's had been such, and so\nhad Joseph's, and so had that of Moses, and that of \"the Just One,\"\nJesus. The occasion of the separation from kindred to strangers, (and\nthat is, from earth to heaven,) may be different, but it is alike\nseparation. Abraham was separated, because God was leaving a defiled\nworld unjudged; and unjudged defilement God cannot make His habitation,\nnor allow it to be the habitation of His elect. The world after the\nflood had defiled itself, and the Lord was leaving it in its defilement,\nnot purifying it by a second flood; and therefore He becomes a stranger\nin it Himself, and calls His elect out of it with Him. Thus Abraham is a\nseparated man. Joseph in his day was another; separated from home and\nkindred, like Abraham; and so Moses. But Joseph and Moses were not\nseparated like Abraham, simply by the call of God out of unjudged\ndefilement, but by the enmity and persecutions of their brethren. And so\nJesus, \"His own,\" and the world made by Him refused Him, and would not\nknow Him. Wicked hands slew Him, and the heavens received Him. And so\nStephen.\n\nStephen is, thus, in company with these separated ones, Abraham, Joseph,\nMoses, and \"the Just One.\" And he is naturally directed by the Spirit,\nto go over their histories in this wondrous chapter. And these separated\nones have, at different eras or intervals, in the progress of God's way\nupon earth, marked out or foreshadowed His higher or richer purposes\ntouching heaven. For their times, as we speak, were _transitional_.\n\nStephen's was such. Till his day, the scene in \"the Acts of the\nApostles\" is laid in _the earth_. In chapter i. the risen Lord had\nspoken to His apostles of \"the kingdom of God.\" In the same chapter the\nangels had withdrawn the eyes of the men of Galilee, as they call the\ndisciples, from gazing up into heaven, under the promise that Jesus\nshould return to earth. When the Holy Ghost is given, as in chapter ii.,\nunder His baptism it is of things in the earth that the apostles speak.\nThey testify that Jesus was to sit at the right hand of God in heaven,\ntill His foes on earth were made His footstool. They then preach, that\nupon the repentance of Israel Jesus would return to earth with times of\nrefreshing and restitution, and that He was exalted to give repentance\nand remission of sins to Israel. Israel is, thus, the people, and the\nearth the scene, contemplated in the action or testimony of the Spirit\nin the apostles in these earliest chapters.\n\nBut Jewish enmity again takes its way, as it had done in many other\ndays, even from the beginning; and divine grace takes its way also, as\nit had also done in such other days. And Stephen, under the Spirit of\nGod, takes such a moment as his text. He looks back at the way of the\nnation, uncircumcised in heart and ear, resisting the Lord in one or\nanother of His witnesses; and he looks back also at the way of the God\nof glory calling into new and peculiar blessing those whom either\nearthly pollution or Jewish enmity was separating or casting out.\n\nThus his own condition at that moment was his text, just as the\ncondition of things in chapter ii. had been Peter's text. Peter preached\nfrom the gift of tongues; Stephen, as I may say, from his own face then\nshining like the face of an angel, and from the enmity of the Jews that\nwas then pressing him and threatening him. The Spirit in Stephen takes\nup the moment. It was a transitional moment. It was the hour of the\nshining face and of the murderous stones, of the earth's enmity and of\nthe still brighter, richer discoveries of grace calling to heaven. And\nStephen looks back to other histories, histories of other elect ones,\nwho had already filled up kindred moments in the way of God. For the\npeople of the earth are now withstanding God in him, as they had\nwithstood Him in others. As he tells them, they were always resisting\nthe Holy Ghost; the children and the fathers were alike in this,\nthroughout all generations of the nation.\n\nThus, in Stephen, we are called to witness another great transitional\nmoment. It is such a moment in the Book of the Acts, as Joseph's was in\nthe Book of Genesis. This links Stephen and Joseph, and gives natural\noccasion to the Holy Ghost in Stephen to make reference, as He does, to\nJoseph. But if the earth is refusing Stephen a place, as his brethren\nhad refused Joseph a place in the land of his fathers, heaven shall open\nto Stephen. Grace in God shall be active as enmity in man is active--and\nthe eater shall yield meat. And heaven does therefore open in Acts vii.\nA ray from thence finds its way out, and gently yet brightly falls upon\nthe face of Stephen, as the people of the earth were casting him out.\nAnd thus sealed from heaven and for heaven, he speaks of heaven, and\nheaven itself opens to him, and then the Holy Ghost Himself guides his\neye right upward to heaven, and then his spirit is received of the Lord\nJesus into heaven. All is heaven. Stephen gets the pledge or earnest of\nit first, then the sight of it in its wide-opened glories, and then his\nplace in it with Jesus.\n\nNothing can exceed, while still in the body, the brightness of such a\nmoment. It was the Transfiguration of the Book of the Acts of the\nApostles. It was beyond the measure of the patriarch's Bethel; for here\nthe top of the ladder was disclosed, and Stephen was taught to know his\nplace to be there with the Lord, and not at the foot of it merely with\nJacob. The moment was transitional, which the time of Genesis xxviii.\nwas not. It had its forecasting rather in the rejected, outcast Joseph\nfinding his richer joys and brighter honours among the distant Gentiles\nin Egypt. Or rather, if we please, Joseph's history and Stephen's\nhistory, are, each of them in its day and its different way, the\nforeshadowing and the pledge of that glory and inheritance in heaven to\nwhich the Church, the election of this age, is called.\n\nSimply and necessarily, therefore, are Joseph and Stephen linked\ntogether, as we find in Acts vii. Each of them filled the same\ntransitional place--more vividly marked indeed in Stephen, and properly\nso--but each of them filled it. All was new and heavenly, as we have\nseen, with Stephen. It is not _downwards_ but _upwards_ he is commanded\nto look. The angels had told the men of Galilee in chapter i. to take\ntheir eyes off from heaven; the Spirit Himself bade Stephen, in chapter\nvii., to direct his eye right up to heaven. The glory of the terrestrial\nhad been one, the glory of the celestial is now another. Even the gift\nof Tongues had not pledged heaven to the disciples in chapter ii. There\nwas no transfiguration then, no face shining like the face of an angel.\nThe Holy Ghost was upon the assembly in Jerusalem, but the assembly\nitself was not in sight of heaven as its home and inheritance. But\nStephen was on the confines of the two worlds. His body was the victim\nof the enmity of man's world, his spirit was about to be received amid\nthe glories of Christ's world. He was rejected by his brethren, accepted\nby God. All was transitional--and fitly does he look back to Joseph and\nto Moses, who had been in such a place before him.\n\nAnd here let me say, suggested by this allusion to Joseph and others in\nActs vii., that we are not to be surprised by this typical or parabolic\ncharacter of Old Testament histories. Quite otherwise. We ought to be\nfully prepared for it; and that, too, on a very simple principle. God,\nacting in these histories (we speak to His praise) acts in them (surely)\n_according to Himself and His counsels_. And, consequently, these\nhistories become so many revelations of Himself, and of the purposes He\nis bringing to pass.\n\nAn assurance of the inspiration of the narrative does not, therefore, in\nthe full sense, give us _God_ in the narrative. There is purpose as well\nas veracity in it--there is an \"ensample\" as well as inspiration. \"These\nthings happened to them for ensamples.\" They happened as they are\nrecorded. There is historic truth in them. But God brought them to pass,\nin order that they might be \"ensamples;\" and till we find this ensample,\nthat is, the divine purpose in the history, we have not got God in it.\nWe are to go to these narratives, be they those of Joseph or any other,\nvery much in the mind with which the Prophet had to go to the house of\nthe potter. Jer. xviii. He was to see a _real work_ there; vessels made\nby the hand and skill of the workman. But there was a _lesson_ in the\nwork, as well as a reality. There was a parable in it; for the Prophet\nhad to see God Himself at the wheel, as well as the potter. So in these\nhistories which we get in Scripture. There is reality in them, exact\ntruthfulness, such as inspiration secures. But there is meaning also;\nand till we discover that, and learn God and His purpose in the history,\nwe have not really as yet gone down to the potter's house.\n\nBut this is only by the way, suggested by the use which the Spirit\nHimself, through Stephen, makes of the Old Testament stories of Abraham,\nJoseph, and Moses, in that marvellous chapter, Acts vii.\n\n\n_Part III._ (xlii.-lvii.)--We now come to Joseph's recovery of his\nfather and his brethren, and its consequences.\n\nAmong the things which gave character to Joseph and his circumstances,\nwhile he was separated from his brethren, we observed this, that he was\nput into possession of those resources on which his brethren themselves\nand all the world beside were to depend for preservation in the earth.\nThe set time for the world drawing on these resources has now arrived;\nand with that, the set time for Joseph's restoration to his brethren.\n\nJoseph is now in authority. His day of humiliation and sorrow is over.\nHe is at the right hand of the throne of Egypt, and the great executor\nof all rule and power in the land. None can lift up hand or foot without\nhim. He has received the king's ring, and he rides in the second\nchariot. He is the treasurer and dispenser of all the wealth of the\nnation, the one who opened or shut all its storehouses at his pleasure.\nHe that _was_ in the pit _is_ on the throne.\n\nThis is Joseph _as_ in resurrection. I say _as_ in resurrection. For the\nthing itself--resurrection from the dead--had to wait for the day of the\nSon of the living God, who was to be, in His own person, alive from the\ndead. But though we could not have \"the very image\" of this great\nmystery, yet we have \"shadows\" of it, both in certain ordinances of the\nlaw, and in certain histories of the elect. The dead and the living\nbirds of Leviticus xiv., and the two goats of Leviticus xvi., are among\nsuch ordinances; and such historical scenes as the unbinding of Isaac\nfrom the altar on Mount Moriah, or Jonah's deliverance from the whale's\nbelly, set forth the same. And so does this season in Joseph's history,\nbeing the day of his power and authority in Egypt after his sore\ntroubles in the pit and in the prison. It is Joseph _as_ in\nresurrection.\n\nThe Spirit of God, in chap. xlix., using Jacob as His oracle, looks back\nat Joseph in this condition, and celebrates him accordingly. \"Joseph is\na fruitful bough, a fruitful bough by a well; whose branches run over\nthe wall: the archers have sorely grieved him, and shot at him, and\nhated him: but his bow abode in strength, and the arms of his hands were\nmade strong by the hands of the mighty God of Jacob.\" And having spoken\nthis of Joseph, the Spirit uses it as a figure of a Greater than Joseph;\nfor Jacob adds, \"From thence is the Shepherd, the Stone of Israel.\" We\nhave Christ in Joseph. The risen Christ is seen as in a figure here. All\npower is now in Him, in heaven and on earth. He is seated at the right\nhand of the Majesty on high. His title to the resources of creation is\nsure, sealed by the dignity of the place He now fills. And the resources\nwhich He now _owns_, by-and-by He will _use_ for Israel and for the\nwhole earth, after the pattern of this mystery of Joseph. This we are\nnow about to see.\n\nThe famine begins, and the opening of Joseph's storehouses begins, at\nthe close of chap. xli. But the scene is then changed for a season; and\nthe story of the brethren's repentance and acceptance is let in, as a\nkind of episode. But there is wonderful beauty in this. Because the\nrestitution of all things waits, as we know, for the repentance and\nfulness of Israel. So that this introduction of the new matter, by way\nof an episode, in chapters xlii.-xlvi., is full of beauty and meaning;\nand the scene in Egypt, and the full opening of Joseph's stores for that\nland and the whole earth, are resumed in due season afterwards, in\nchapter xlvii. For, \"what shall the receiving of them be, but life from\nthe dead?\" asks the apostle, tracing, under the Spirit, the story of\nIsrael. Rom. xi. \"If the fall of them be the riches of the world, and\nthe diminishing of them the riches of the Gentiles, how much more their\nfulness?\" So that we are prepared for this repentance of the brethren\ngoing before the full blessing of the earth.\n\nOver this operation, this process of the softening of their hearts under\nthe hand of Joseph, it would be impossible not to tarry for a while. I\nmust therefore do so. Our own hearts would need something, if we were\nnot alive to this scene, to admire and enjoy it, and be thankful for it;\nso full is it of the most exquisite touches of true affection, so\nprofound in the disclosure of the moral principles of our nature, and so\nimportant in the sight it gives us of the workmanship of God by His\nSpirit leading sinners, through conviction and the sense of their ruined\nstate, to repentance and newness of life.\n\n\nThe scene of this workmanship of God is laid in a season of need and\nsorrow, as is common in the ways of the God of all grace. For He does\nnot refuse to be sought by us, when we have no help for it. It was thus\nwith the prodigal; it is thus with Joseph's brethren; and it will, I\ndoubt not, be found by-and-by to have been thus with a goodly portion of\nthose who are to praise His name in glory for ever. The prodigal had no\nhelp for it, and back to his father and his father's house he must go.\nJoseph's brethren have no help for it now, and down to Egypt and Egypt's\nstorehouses they must go. Mean it may be, base it may be, in the heart\nof man thus to turn to God, when all else is gone. But the Lord will be\nfound by this base and selfish heart. He will condescend to enter, as\nsome one speaks, by these despised doors of nature. For twenty long\nyears Joseph's brethren had lived easy and prosperous, with goods laid\nup, and blessings plentiful around them, and Joseph and his sorrows had\nall been forgotten. For a time the prodigal had his money, the portion\nof his father's goods that had fallen to him; and with his money, as\nlong as it lasted, he took his pleasure, his back turned upon his\nfather. But famine touches \"the far country\" and \"the land of Canaan,\"\nand then, whether they will or not, the father's house and Joseph's\nstores must be sought. See Hosea v. 15.\n\nThus the scene opens, and Joseph's brethren come down to Egypt to buy\nfood.\n\nAs soon as Joseph saw them, he knew them. He \"remembered the dreams\nwhich he had dreamed of them.\" But upon this he at once set himself to\nthe task of restoring their souls. See xlii. 9.\n\nStrange, and yet beautiful and excellent! His dreams had merely exalted\nhim above them. Had he sought, therefore, simply to make good those\ndreams when he thus remembered them, he might at once have revealed\nhimself, and, as the favoured sheaf in the field, or as the sun, the\nruling sun, in the heavens, have had them on their faces before him. But\nto restore their souls, instead of exalting himself, becomes at once his\npurpose. This was the counsel he took in his heart, as he surveyed the\nmoment when he might have realized his own greatness and their\nhumiliation, according to his dreams. How truly excellent and blessed is\nthis! There was One, in after-days, who, when He took knowledge that He\nhad come from God and went to God, and that the Father had put all\nthings into His hands, rose and girded Himself, and began to wash His\ndisciples' feet. The knowledge of His dignities only led Him to wait on\nthe need of His saints. Who can speak the character of such a moment?\nBut Joseph here, in the far distance, reminds me of it. \"He remembered\nhis dreams,\" dreams which exalted him, and that only; and yet he turns\nhimself at once to the defiled feet, the guilty hearts, the unclean\nconsciences, of his brethren, that he might heal, and wash, and restore\nthem.\n\nStrange, again I say. There was no connection between such remembrance\nand such action, save as grace, divine grace, of which Joseph was the\nwitness, is known; save as the Jesus of John xiii. is understood.\n\n\"Joseph remembered the dreams which he dreamed of them, and said unto\nthem, Ye are spies; to see the nakedness of the land ye are come.\" This\nwas taking them up for the good work (though the process be humbling and\npainful) of restoring their souls. The conscience must be faithfully\ndealt with, if anything be done. And Joseph aims at it at once. He makes\nhimself strange to them. He speaks to them by an interpreter, and he\nspeaks roughly. He must get their conscience into action, let it cost\nhimself in personal feeling what it may. His love, for the present, must\nbe firm; its hour for melting and tenderness is before it. It shall be\n_gratified_ by-and-by; it must _serve_ now. In the day of their sin they\nhad said of him, \"Behold, this dreamer cometh;\" and now, in the day of\ntheir conviction, he says of them, \"Ye are spies; to see the nakedness\nof the land are ye come.\" They had once sold their brother, when their\nheart knew no pity; now, with all peremptoriness which knew no reserve,\none of themselves is taken and bound. But all this was only, in the\npurpose of grace, to fix the arrow deep in the conscience, there to\nspend its venom, and there to lay the sentence of death. And this is\ndone. When God acts, the power of the Spirit waits upon the counsel of\nlove. If they be bound in fetters, and be holden in cords of affliction;\nthen He sheweth them their work, and their transgressions that they have\nexceeded. Job xxxvi. \"We are verily guilty concerning our brother,\" they\nall say as with one conscience, \"in that we saw the anguish of his soul,\nwhen he besought us, and we would not hear; therefore is this distress\ncome upon us.\"\n\nThis was something; it was much; but Joseph has still to go on with the\n_service_ of love. Had he consulted his _name_ at the first, when he\nremembered his dreams, he would have revealed himself at once, and stood\nforth as the honoured one in the midst of his confounded, humbled\nbrethren. Had he now consulted his _heart_, he would have revealed\nhimself, and been the gratified one on the bosom of his convicted,\nsorrowing brethren. But he consulted neither the one nor the other.\n_Love was serving_; and the husbandman of the soul has, at times, like\nthe tiller of the ground, need of \"long patience,\" and has to wait for\nthe latter, as for the early rain.\n\nThis was a happy and promising, because it was a _real_ beginning. But\nJoseph has yet to learn whether the heart of children and of brothers\nwere in them, or whether they were still, as once they had been,\nreckless of a brother's cries and of a father's grief. He therefore\nexercises them still. Roughness and kindness, encouragements and alarms,\nchallenges and feasts, favours and reproaches, all are used and made to\nwork together. Though indeed all is much the same in the reckoning of a\nguilty conscience. Jesus is John the Baptist raised from the dead in the\napprehensions of it. A shaken leaf is an armed host in its presence.\nKindness and roughness alike alarm. They are afraid because they are\nbrought into Joseph's house. They fear where no fear is. But all is\nworking repentance not to be repented of; and the fruit meet for this is\nsoon to be brought forth.\n\nJoseph lays a plan for fully testing whether indeed a child's heart and\na brother's heart were now in them.\n\nAs they are preparing the second time to return to Canaan with food for\nthem and their households, Joseph's cup is put in Benjamin's sack--as we\nall know, for it is a favourite story--and they set out on their\njourney. But this, simple as it seems, is the crisis. Their own lips\nwill now have to pronounce the verdict; for the question is now about to\nbe put, whether they are as once they were, or whether a heart of flesh\nhas been given to them. Will the sorrows of Benjamin move them, as the\ncries of Joseph once failed to do? Will the grief of the aged father at\nhome plead with their heart, as once it did not? This place, this\nmoment, was the field of Dothan again. They were returning, in spirit,\nto the place where all their offence was committed. In the field of\nDothan, in chap. xxxvii., they had to say, Would they sacrifice their\ninnocent brother Joseph to their lusts, their envy, and their malice?\nHere, when Benjamin is claimed as a captive because of the cup found in\nhis sack--claimed as one who has forfeited life and liberty to the lord\nof Egypt--it is in like manner put to them to say whether they would\nsacrifice him, and return on their way home, easy and careless and\nsatisfied.\n\nNothing can excel the skill of the wisdom of Joseph in thus bringing his\nbrethren back, morally and in spirit, to the field in Dothan. The same\nquestion is raised here as there, and put to them solemnly. Judah, he\nwhom his brethren shall praise, gives this question its answer. They\nwere innocent, indeed, touching the cup. But this is nothing to their\nconsciences, and nothing on Judah's lips. Conviction loses sight of\neverything but sin. Its offence is its object. \"I acknowledge my\ntransgressions, and my sin is ever before me.\" The brethren might have\nspoken of their innocency, and been somewhat hurt, that, after this\nmanner, they were again and again misunderstood and charged falsely.\nThey had been called spies when they were true men, and now they were\nhandled as common thieves, though they were honest men. They might have\nsaid this was too bad. They could bear a good deal, injurious speeches\nand hard usage, but to be dealt with thus, was something too much for\nflesh and blood to put up with. But no--nothing of this--this was not\nJoseph's brethren now. They had once hid their guilt under the lie which\nthey sent to their father, now they are willing to hide their innocency\ntouching the cup under the confession they make to Joseph. Judah stands\nforth to represent this new mind in them. Guiltless they were indeed in\nall these matters, from first to last; neither spies nor rogues; but\nsome twenty years ago they had been guilty of what this stranger in\nEgypt (as they must have supposed) knew nothing, but which God and their\nconsciences knew. They may be innocent now, but they were guilty then;\nand their sin, and that only, was now before them. Confession, and not\nvindication, is their language. \"What shall we speak?\" says Judah. \"How\nshall we clear ourselves? God has found out the iniquity of thy\nservants.\"\n\nJoseph for a moment feigns as though all this was nothing to him. This\nmay be their business, if they please, but Benjamin was his. Benjamin is\nthe guilty one, as far as the great man in Egypt is concerned; he must\nremain, and the rest may take themselves home as fast as they please.\n\"The man in whose hand the cup is found, he shall be my servant; and as\nfor you, get you up in peace unto your father.\"\n\nWhat could exceed this? I ask. Did Solomon's wisdom in settling the\nquestion between the two harlots exceed it? Did he, in a spirit of\njudgment befitting one who sat in the place of judgment, find out the\nheart of a mother? and does not Joseph here, in like wisdom from God,\nfind out the heart of his brethren? It is all beyond admiration. The\nheart is indeed laid open. After these words from Joseph, Judah draws\nnear, and with the bowels of a son and a brother pleads for Jacob and\nfor Benjamin. \"The lad\" and \"the old man\" are the burthen of his words,\nfor they were now the fulness of his heart. He will abide a bondman to\nhis lord, only let \"the lad\" go back to \"his father.\" Let but the\nfather's heart be comforted, and Benjamin's innocency preserve him, and\nJudah will be thankful, come to himself what may.\n\nThis is everything. The sequel is now reached, the sequel which had been\nweighed from the beginning. The goodness of God had led to repentance.\nJoseph was exalted indeed; the sheaf had risen and stood upright; but\n\"this was all the fruit, to take away their sin.\" So Christ is now\nexalted, as we read, to be a Prince and a Saviour, to give repentance to\nIsrael, and forgiveness of sins. Acts v. 31.\n\nAnd now the veil may be rent, and it shall be rent. Joseph will be made\nknown to his brethren.\n\nBut this was a moment hard to meet and to manage. The re-appearing of\none whom they had hated and sold, and the remembrance of whom had been\nso deeply stirring their souls, might be overwhelming. He must attemper\nthis light to their vision, lest it prove intolerable. But love is\nskilful, and has its methods and its instruments ready for occasions. \"I\nam Joseph,\" he says to his brethren; but in the same breath (as the\ncommon word among us is) he adds, \"Doth my father yet live?\"\n\nExquisite indeed, in the way of grace, this was, and perfect in the\nskilfulness of love. Joseph could have answered this question himself.\nJudah's speech (the echo of which was still in his ears, for it was too\nprecious to allow him to part with it) had already told him, that the\nfather was still alive. But Joseph hastened to bring a third person into\nthe scene. He could not allow the servants or officers of the palace to\nbe present then; for this would be to expose his brethren. And yet to be\nalone with himself he dreaded as enough to prove too much for them. And\ntherefore he must bring some one in, to share that moment with them; and\nsuch an one, the very best of all, was he whom Joseph's word introduces.\n\nPerfect indeed in its place this was. It calls to my mind the scene at\nthe well of Sychar. \"I that speak unto thee am He,\" says the Lord to the\nwoman who had just by His means been discovered to herself in all her\nold crimson sins. It was not merely, \"I am He,\" but \"I that speak unto\nthee am He.\" In these words He reveals His glory. He stands before her\nas Messiah, who could, as she had said, tell all things, and who had\nnow, as she had proved, really told all things, such things as were\nterrible in the hearing of an awakened conscience. But He reveals it in\ncompany with the sweet, condescending, inviting grace of one who was\nsitting and talking with her. And this was the title of her soul to find\nfreedom, where she might have expected to be overwhelmed. And she did\nfind it.\n\nWhat skilfulness in the ways of love! From its precious stores, I may\nsay, in well-known words--\n\n      \"There sparkles forth whate'er is fit\n        For exigence of every hour.\"\n\nWe only want to trust it more, and assure ourselves of it.\n\nAnd there is more of this in Joseph still.\n\nShortly after this he has to say again to them, \"I am Joseph,\" and to\nadd to it, \"whom ye sold into Egypt.\" But then he goes at once through a\nlong tale of God's purposes in all that matter, and lets them know how\nimportant to Pharaoh, to Egypt, and to the whole world, as well as to\nthem and to their households, his ever having left home was about to be.\nLove does not give them opportunity to occupy the time with thoughts of\nthemselves. Joseph crowds a multitude of other thoughts upon their\nminds--and he kisses them and weeps with them.\n\nPharaoh's people may now, after all this, return and share the scene\nwith them. They can now see, in these visitors from Canaan, not Joseph's\npersecutors, but his brethren. They are introduced to the palace only in\nthat character. As in the parable of the prodigal. The father will see\nhim in his misery; and, while yet in rags and hunger and shame, kiss him\nand welcome him; but the household shall see him as a son at the table.\n\"Cause every man to go out from me,\" had been Joseph's word, when he was\ngoing to make himself known to them; but now, the house of Pharaoh shall\nhear that Joseph's brethren have arrived. The spirit of that blessed One\nwhom we learn in the Gospels breathes in all this. We are in John iv.\nand in Luke xv. when in Genesis xlv.\n\n\nThere are occasions in the story of human life which _the heart_ claims\nentirely for itself. The Lord met such, as we all do at times. There was\nconstant faithfulness in His dealing with the disciples. He did not let\ntheir mistakes pass. He was rebuking them very commonly, because He\nloved them very perfectly, and was training their souls rather than\nindulging Himself. But there did come a moment when faithfulness must\nyield up the place, and tenderness fill it. I mean, the hour of\n_parting_, as we get it in John xiv.-xvi. It was then too late to be\nfaithful. Education of the soul under the rebukes of a pastor was not to\ngo on then. \"O ye of little faith,\" or \"How is it that ye do not\nunderstand?\" was not to be heard then. It was the hour of parting, and\nthe heart had leave to take it entirely into its own hand.\n\nNow a time of _reconciliation_ is, in this, like the hour of parting.\nThe heart claims it for itself. Tenderness alone suits it; faithfulness\nwould be an intruder. And thus we find it with Joseph here. He wept\naloud, so that the house of Pharaoh heard it. He wept on the neck of all\nhis brethren and kissed them, fell on his brother Benjamin's neck and\nwept, and kissed him. And if he spoke in the midst of his tears, it was\nonly to encourage their hearts, and give them pledges and reasons why\nthey should be in full confidence and ease before him.[22]\n\n [22] Neither Pharaoh, nor Pharaoh's house, nor any in Egypt seem ever\n      to have been told of the sin of the brethren.\n\nSurely I may claim these rights and privileges for the hour of\n_parting_, and for the hour of _reconciliation_. And this was so, as we\nsee, in this time of Joseph's restoration to his brethren. But when all\nthis is over, and he has introduced them to Pharaoh and the palace, and\nthey are in readiness to return to Canaan, in full preparation to bring\ntheir aged father into Egypt to Joseph, when they are just standing,\nBenjamin with them, and Simeon with them, and all was the exultation of\na favoured and prosperous hour, one word of warning would not be out of\nseason, and Joseph has it for them, \"See that ye fall not out by the\nway.\" \"Simon, son of Jonas, lovest thou me?\" addressed the heart of\nPeter much in the same spirit, and at a kindred moment, when the\nreconciliation, as I may call it, had been accomplished, and Peter's\nunbroken net had gathered 153, and he had dined with his denied Master\non the sea shore.\n\n\nSurely the whole of this, from first to last, is perfect. There is a\nmoral magnificence in Scripture which makes it, of a truth, the\nchiefest, as we may say, of the works of God. The Spirit breathes in it\nall. Its tenderness, its grandeur, and its depth, are alike His. In the\nissue of the story of Joseph and his brethren we see something that is\nvery excellent. The rights and the wrongs of Joseph, the claims which he\nhad made, and the injuries he had endured, were all wonderfully\nanswered. Whatever dignities his dreams had pledged him, he gained them\nall in full measure. Whatever wrongs he had suffered, they were all\navenged in the very way his own heart would have chosen. The judgment of\ntheir sin against him was executed in the bosoms of the brethren\nthemselves; not a hard word touching it passed his lips from first to\nlast.\n\nThese were the issues of both the rights and wrongs of Joseph. \"This\nalso cometh forth from the Lord of hosts, who is wonderful in counsel,\nand excellent in working.\"\n\n\nBut I must look back at all this for another moment. Conviction of\nconscience may be but natural, the ordinary necessary working of the\nsoul, the absence of which would be resented as the evidence of a seared\nor hardened state. But when it is more than the mere stirring of the\nsoul under the authority of nature--when the Spirit of God has produced\nit--He takes His own object or instrument to work by. David, under the\nconvicting Spirit, says to God, \"Against Thee, Thee only, have I sinned,\nand done this evil in Thy sight.\" And thus will it be with Israel in the\nday of their conviction; for their conscience will then be linked with\nthe once rejected, crucified Jesus. As the Lord says by the prophet, I\nwill pour upon them the spirit of grace and of supplications: and _they\nshall look upon Me whom they have pierced_, and they shall mourn for\nHim, as one mourneth for his only son, and shall be in bitterness for\nHim, as one that is in bitterness for his firstborn. This is conviction,\nwhen the Spirit of God takes that business out of the hand of nature\ninto His own hand. This is conscience doing its work, as the apostle\nspeaks, \"in the Holy Ghost.\" In such a day, under such authority and\npower, Israel will address themselves directly to Jesus. Isaiah liii.\nshows us the same in another form. And precious work this is in the\nsoul--_needed_ work still in each of us.\n\nNow this is seen in Joseph's brethren. Another has noticed it already in\na general way. But it is deeply worthy of notice. It was their sin\nagainst Joseph they called to mind in the day of their distress. \"We are\nverily guilty concerning our brother,\" they say, \"in that we saw the\nanguish of his soul, when he besought us, and we would not hear.\" Other\nsins might have been present to the conscience then. Reuben might have\nthought of the defilement of his father's bed, Simeon and Levi of their\nblood-shedding and treachery, and Judah of his marriage; but, stirred\ninto life, not merely by the trouble which had come upon them, but by\nthe Spirit, they are mindful of the _common_ sin, and speak, as with one\nconscience, of their wickedness touching Joseph. And it is this which\nbespeaks the Spirit's work in this conviction.\n\nNeeded work, again I say, this is in every one of us. But the _fountain_\nhas to do its work as well as the Spirit of grace. Joseph, as we saw,\ninterpreted his sorrows, though at their wicked hands, very differently\nfrom what their fears and guilt had interpreted them. They said, and\nvery rightly, \"we are verily guilty concerning our brother;\" he says,\nand very truly, \"God did send me before you, to preserve life.\" And this\nis the gospel. We are convicted, but saved. We learn that we have\ndestroyed ourselves, but that in Him is our help. The blood meets the\nspear. The fountain is opened in those very wounds which our own hands\nhave inflicted. And this will be the experience of the Jewish election\n(whose history that of these brethren foreshadow, as we know) in the day\nof Isaiah liii. and Zechariah xiii. The cross is the witness. Faith\nstands before it, and there learns _ruin_ and _redemption_.\n\n\nIn the progress of this wondrous story, the reconciliation, as we have\nnow seen, is accomplished. Joseph has received his brethren; and all is\ntherefore ready for Israel's full blessing. Restoration must follow\nconversion. Times of refreshing and restitution must come upon Israel's\nrepentance. The aged father, with his household and flocks, is brought\nfrom Canaan, and with his sons presented to Pharaoh, and they are seated\nin the very best of the land, the land of Goshen in Rameses.\n\nThey were told that they might leave all their own stuff _behind_ them,\nfor all the good of the land of Egypt was _before_ them. And so it\nproved to be. Their empty sacks had come down to Egypt at the first to\nbe made full, and they were still to prove that there were a heart and a\nhand there, both equal and ready to give without measure, and the\nemptier they came down the fuller they would learn this.\n\nThey were but shepherds, it is true, and such were an abomination to the\nEgyptians. But Joseph \"is not ashamed to call them brethren.\" Strangers\nthey were, and pensioners; but the man of that day, the lord of Egypt,\nagain I say, was \"not ashamed to call them brethren.\" He owns them in\nthe presence of the king, of the palace, and of the nation. And the king\nproves to be of the same mind. That they were Joseph's brethren was\nenough for Pharaoh. Truly this has language in our ears. A day is at\nhand, when all this shall be made good in the great originals of Christ\nand Israel. He will return to them and say, \"It is my people;\" and they\nwill say, \"The Lord is my God.\"\n\n\nBut though this is great and excellent, it is not all. The earth itself\nhas to be settled and blest, the inheritance has to be received and\ndisplayed, as the brethren, the Israel of Christ, had to be thus\nquickened and restored; and this we are now to see. Joseph in chapter\nxlvii. becomes the upholder of the world in life and order. By him life\nis preserved in the earth, and order maintained. And all the people are\nmade willing in that day of his power. All is right that Joseph does, in\nthe eyes of all the people. Their money, their cattle, their lands, and\nthemselves, are made over to Pharaoh; and yet all pleases them, for they\nowe their lives to Joseph. Egypt, in those days, was a sample of the new\nworld, the world brought back to God by _redemption_. It was a\n\"purchased possession,\" just what the millennial earth is to be. Eph. i.\n14. It was creation reconciled, delivered from the doom of famine, from\ndeath and the curse, by the hand of a saviour. Joseph's corn had bought\nthe land, the cattle, and the people. All was under Pharaoh in a new\ncharacter, as a purchased possession, standing in the grace of\nredemption. Pharaoh, who had been king of the country, is king of the\ncountry still; but he has another, a redeemer of the land and people,\nassociated with him now, as once he had not. As in millennial days. What\na picture has the hand of God drawn for us here! what a pledge have we\nhere, yea, what a sample of the earth in the days of the kingdom!\n\n\nPharaoh had trusted Joseph, and Joseph had pledged Pharaoh, in earlier\ndays, when as yet nothing was done. Ere the word of Joseph began to be\naccomplished Pharaoh had seated him in dignity and power, given him a\nwife from among the daughters of the excellent of the land, and put upon\nhim a name that told already to all who read it, what he thought of him,\nand how he received him.[23] And Joseph, in the confidence that all\nwould be according to the interpretations which God had given him to\ndeliver, accepted all this at Pharaoh's hand; and then, but not till\nthen, the plentiful years came, one after another, to make good the\npledges of Joseph to Pharaoh, and to vindicate all the honours which had\nbeen conferred by Pharaoh on Joseph. See chap. xli.\n\n [23] Zaphnath-paaneah, in the old Egyptian tongue, is said to have\n      signified \"the saviour of the world\"; in the Hebrew, as we\n      understand, it might be rendered \"the revealer of secrets.\"\n\nPrecious notices of all that which finds its originals, its counselled\nand eternal reality, in the secrets which have been between God and His\nanointed! We have only to bow and worship; and as we gather the spoils\nand riches of the word of God, to rejoice and be thankful. \"I rejoice in\nthy word as one that findeth great spoil.\" \"I have rejoiced in the way\nof thy testimonies, as much as in all riches.\"\n\nIt was fitting that we should have this sample of the new world, or the\ncoming millennial condition of the earth, in the history of Joseph; for,\nas we said at the beginning, he is the _heir_, set to represent such an\none in the grace of God, after his fathers had told out, each his\nseveral part, in the same fruitful and abounding grace. _Election_, as\nwe have seen, we got in Abraham; _sonship_, to which election\npredestinates us, in Isaac; _discipline_, to which sonship introduces\nus, in Jacob; and now, _the heir and the inheritance_ which follows,\nclosing the mystery which grace has counselled, and closing likewise the\nBook of Genesis, in Joseph.\n\nThere is no speech or language here, but a voice is heard, clear, full,\nand harmonious, by the ear that is awakened. And as we look back on\nJoseph alone, we see a page of sacred story, full of Jesus; a _rejected_\nJesus first, a _risen and ascended_ Jesus then, and now at the end, a\n_millennial_ Jesus, Jesus in His inheritance and kingdom.\n\n\"Known unto God are all His works from the beginning of the world.\" But\nwhat we do not get teaches us this as surely as what we do. He has\nformed the light and the darkness. \"The day is thine, the night also is\nthine.\" In all this passing and magnificent exhibition of the\ninheritance, there is one whom we might have expected to see _chiefly_,\nand yet we see her _not at all_. Asenath the wife is not found here. She\nand her children get no portions in this great settlement of everything\nin the land; they are not so much as seen or mentioned. Is it that they\nwere forgotten? That could not be. But she was the heavenly one, the\nwife given to Joseph from among the Gentiles in the day of his\nseparation from his kindred, and her portion is more excellent than what\nthe land in its best condition could afford her; it is in him and with\nhim who is the lord and dispenser of it all. Asenath is lost in Joseph;\nor, to be seen only in Joseph.\n\nAnd thus the _full_ end is told at the beginning; for all this in the\nBook of Genesis is \"the dispensation of the fulness of times,\" when God\nshall gather together all things in Christ, both which are in heaven and\nwhich are on earth. And surely it is happy, beloved, in the sight of the\nworld's present confusion, in the midst of the agitation of human\nthoughts which is ever around us, to learn in the mouth of such\nwitnesses, that the end is thus before Him, and has been so from the\nbeginning. \"The counsel of the Lord standeth for ever, the thoughts of\nHis heart to all generations.\" His people and His purposes are alike\nbefore Him; and such truths comforted the apostles, when they found\nthemselves in the midst of church disappointments. See 2 Tim. ii. 19.\n\n_Part IV._ (xlviii.-l.)--This is rather, I might say, an appendix to the\nhistory, than the fourth part of it. It is made up of a few detached\nactions in Joseph's latter days.\n\nThe first thing, however, which we get is kindred with what we have seen\nto be the characteristic of the history itself. Chapter xlviii., which\nopens this fourth part, shows us the bestowing of the birthright upon\nJoseph; and the birthright and the inheritance are, in some sense, one.\n\nIn Israel, or under the law, the birthright carried the double portion.\nThe firstborn was to have a double share of the father's goods; and the\nlaw enjoined that this should be his by an indefeasible title, a title\nthat was not to be challenged. The double portion was not to be given to\nany other child of the family on any ground of personal affection or\npartiality whatever. Deut. xxi. 15-17.\n\nBut though this were so, the birthright might have been either sold or\nforfeited by the firstborn himself. His own acts might alienate it,\nthough his father's partialities or prejudices could not. And we find\nthis to have been the case. Esau sold it, and Reuben forfeited it.\nGenesis xxv.; 1 Chron. v. In the case of the sale of it by Esau, Jacob\nwho bought it, of course, had title to it. The bargain and sale made it\nhis. That is clear. But in the case of the forfeiture of it by Reuben,\nwho is to take it? It reverted to the father; but on which of the sons\nwould he confer it? That was a question, and it is that question which\nthis chapter answers. It presents us with the solemnity of the aged\nfather, dying Jacob, investing Joseph with the birthright which Reuben\nhis firstborn had forfeited.\n\nUpon hearing of the illness of his father, Joseph comes to his bedside,\nbringing his two sons, Manasseh and Ephraim, with him. None of the other\nsons of Jacob are present. The Spirit of God, through Jacob, has a\nspecial business with Joseph.\n\nJacob begins the action by reciting to Joseph the divine grant of the\nland of Canaan. This was a setting forth of the family estate, the\nproperty which he had to leave among his children. He then _adopts_ the\nsons of Joseph; for this was needed to the investing of them with the\nrights of children, inasmuch, as, in a great legal sense, they were\nstrangers to Abraham. Their mother was an Egyptian. They were a seed,\ntherefore, whom the law would, in its day, have put away. Ezra x. 3. But\nJacob adopts them. He takes them into the family. \"And now,\" says he to\nJoseph, \"thy two sons, Ephraim and Manasseh, which were born unto thee\nin the land of Egypt before I came unto thee into Egypt, are mine.\" They\nare constituted of the seed of Abraham, and made children of Jacob; and\nthis being done, Jacob at once sets them in the place of the firstborn;\nfor he adds immediately, \"As Reuben and Simeon, they shall be mine.\"\n\nThis was a solemn act of investiture, by which the rights of the eldest,\nthe double portion which attached to the birthright, passed over to\nJoseph in the persons of his two sons. See 1 Chron. v.; Ezek. xlvii.\n13.[24]\n\n [24] The title now bestowed was afterwards realized, when the family\n      estate, the land of Canaan, came to be divided between the tribes;\n      for Joseph then gets two portions in his two sons, who are treated\n      as though they had been two distinct sons of Jacob.\n\nBut we have still to ask, Why was Joseph thus preferred? The forfeited\nright had reverted to Jacob, and from his hand it had to be disposed of\nafresh. But why was it given to Joseph? Was this merely grace? I could\nnot say so. Grace, I know, on this great occasion, takes its way; and\nwere we duly emptied, we should delight in the way of grace, even though\nwe ourselves might get, in its distributions, only a left-hand or\nManasseh blessing. But while all this is so, I still question whether it\nwere _merely_ grace which thus conferred the rights of the eldest son\nupon Joseph.\n\nI rather judge that Joseph _earned_ it. If Jacob aforetime bought it,\nJoseph, I believe, had now earned it.\n\nWe have already, in the history, tracked his path to the inheritance. It\nwas the path, like that of his divine Master, whose shadow in the\ndistance he was, of sorrow and rejection and separation, and yet of\nrighteousness and testimony. And this path had ended with praise and\nhonour and glory in the kingdom or inheritance; and the birthright is\nkindred with the inheritance.\n\nIt is, therefore, easy for us to say, as we have said, that Joseph\nearned the birthright. Judah earned the royalty, Levi the priesthood,\nand so Joseph the double portion. And his father gave him a pledge, \"an\nearnest of the inheritance,\" which was characteristic of this; for at\nthe end of this action Jacob says to him, \"Moreover I have given to thee\none portion above thy brethren, which I took out of the hand of the\nAmorite with my sword and with my bow.\" This was an earnest. But not\nonly so; it was a _sample_ also. It was characteristic. It spoke of the\ninheritance as it was to be in the hand of Joseph. This portion had been\n_won_, and so had Joseph's. The sword of Jacob had gained this parcel of\nground, as the patience of Joseph had gained the inheritance and the\nbirthright; and it is according to this that the dying father afterwards\ncelebrates him. \"The blessings of thy father have prevailed above the\nblessings of my progenitors, unto the utmost bound of the everlasting\nhills: they shall be on the head of Joseph, and on the crown of the head\nof him _that was separate from his brethren_.\" Or as Moses, the man of\nGod, says of him, \"Let the blessing come upon the head of Joseph, and\nupon the top of the head of him that was separated from his brethren.\"\n\nThe apostle speaks of \"the reward of the inheritance,\" words which may\nnot sound as if they exactly suited each other; for the inheritance is\nof grace, and reward is of work. So the Lord speaks of giving \"a crown\nof life,\" words which may also sound in the ear as somewhat discordant;\nfor life is of grace, and a crown is a reward. But the soul accepts\nthese things, and makes no difficulty of them. \"All purchased and\npromised blessings be with you,\" said the dying martyr to his wife. And\nhe spoke wisely, as he did blessedly; for blessings in one sense are all\npurchased; in another, promised or given. As a sweet hymn, which we all\nknow, has it--\n\n      \"Lord, I believe Thou hast prepared,\n        Unworthy though I be,\n      For me a _blood-bought free reward_,\n        A golden harp for me.\"\n\nAnd Joseph, I judge, got the birthright or the inheritance in this way.\nIt was in his hand \"the reward of the inheritance.\" It was a bought\nthing, and yet a given thing; an earned thing, and yet a free thing. We\nsee grace in the bestowment of it upon him, but we see also the fruit or\nissue of that path of martyr-sorrows which he, and he alone, of all\nJacob's sons, had trod in patience and in triumph.\n\nThis action, therefore, is in full company with the leading character of\nJoseph's history. We see the heir in him, and with that the right of the\nfirstborn, the double portion, with its earnest, \"the earnest of the\ninheritance,\" made over to him, in the action of this chapter.\n\n\nIn the next chapter (xlix.) Joseph is only one of the many sons of\nJacob--Jacob the father being principal. Joseph and his brethren are\ntogether under the eye and before the thoughts of the dying patriarch,\nwho was led of the Spirit to tell them what should befall them in the\nlast days. This I take no further notice of here, but refer to the\nhistory of Jacob, where I have already considered it.\n\n\nIn the last chapter (l.) Joseph is again principal; not, however, so\nmuch mystically as personally; that is, not as the _heir_, but as the\n_man_. We see Joseph himself here, his character and his virtues, rather\nthan the lord of Egypt, his place and his dignities. And considered\npersonally, he is perhaps the most attractive character in the book of\nGenesis. There is more of the fruit and force of godliness in him than\nin either of his fathers. We have in him the steadiest, most consistent\nwalk in the ways of God. There is less elevation, I am sensible, than in\nAbraham, as of course there is less exercise of spirit than in Jacob;\nbut through all circumstances, trials, honours, changes, he is still the\nman of God who walked in His fear and before Him. His history is not\nmade up of failures and recoveries, or a doing of first works over\nagain. It is a path of light, if not of such light as shines more and\nmore unto the perfect day, yet of light which shines clear and calm and\nconstant. In his history we have not angelic visits, nor apparitions of\nthe Lord, or audiences of divine oracles; but in Joseph himself we have\na vessel used of God, because approved of Him; a very precious thing\nwith God. It is not Peniel or Beersheba again, occasional refreshments\nand illuminations, but rather an abiding witness within, so that he knew\nthe way of God, and kept it. \"Until the time that _his word_ came, the\n_word of the Lord_ tried him.\" The authority which Egypt, in due season,\nowned in him, he had before owned in the Lord. He was the obedient one\nhimself, and then became the one set in authority. He continued as with\nChrist in His temptations, and then he was appointed to a kingdom.\nSubjection was his path to honour, the due path of all the heirs of the\nsame kingdom.\n\nBut there are some peculiarities in the story of Joseph beyond this. We\ndo not find the altar and the tent with him, as we do with his fathers.\nBecause it is not strangership in the earth that we see in him, but the\ninheritance or the kingdom, after suffering and humiliation. It is not\nthe tent of his fathers that we see in his history, but the pit and the\nprison, which were his alone, and not his fathers'. The tent and the\naltar may duly be the symbols of their calling; the pit and the prison\nfirst, and then the throne, become the symbols of his.\n\nAnd as another peculiarity, we may observe that the Lord is never called\nthe God of Joseph, as He is called \"the God of Abraham, and the God of\nIsaac, and the God of Jacob.\" But this, likewise, we may account for.\nJoseph was rather among the _sons_ than the _fathers_. The covenant was\nnot made with him, as it had been with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob; nor\nwas any one set aside in order that he might have the blessing. The\ncovenant was made with Abraham separated from country, kindred, and\nfather's house. It was renewed with Isaac, to the setting aside of\nIshmael. It was renewed again with Jacob to the setting aside of Esau.\nBut it was not renewed with Joseph; for he was only one of the sons of\nJacob, and they were all alike interested in it; they were all the seed\ncontemplated by it; and Joseph was no more of that seed than either of\nthe others. So that we have no ground for the characteristic title, \"the\nGod of Joseph.\" For, while grace was displayed in the call of Abraham,\nand then again in the choosing of Isaac the younger, and in the choosing\nof Jacob the younger, it was displayed in Joseph only in its common\nmeasure in behalf of all the seed, a measure that reached to others as\nto him.[25]\n\n [25] God is afterwards called \"the God of Israel,\" as before He had\n      been called the God of Abraham, of Isaac, and of Jacob. Because\n      His covenant was with the nation of Israel.\n\nThus Joseph takes his place in our sight, and we look at him either\n_morally_ or _mystically_; with his characteristic virtues, or in his\npeculiar typical place. But we have not quite done with him yet.\n\nHe was, I would now add, _a great weeper_.\n\nPaul says that he was \"mindful\" of Timothy's tears; and there were many\ntears in the eyes of Joseph which we might well be mindful of. David and\nJonathan were weepers, as well as Paul and Timothy. But were I careful\nto do so, I might claim it for Joseph, that he exceeded them all. The\noccasions of his tears were more various. And indeed it is an earnest,\nreal, and hearty flow of affections that we have to covet in the midst\nof the more cultivated and orderly attainments of this day. Tears are\nofttimes precious things, and sometimes sacred too.\n\nAt the beginning, when Joseph saw conviction awakening in the conscience\nof his brethren, he wept. These were tears both of sorrow and of joy. He\nfelt for them passing through the agony; but he must have rejoiced to\nsee the needed arrow reaching its mark, and the bleeding of the wounds\nthat followed.\n\nHe wept again when he saw Benjamin. The son of his own mother, her only\nchild besides himself, whose birth too had been her death, and the only\none in the midst of his father's children (who were all then before him)\nwho had not been guilty of his blood. Such an one as this was at that\nmoment seen by him in Benjamin. These tears, therefore, nature could\naccount for.\n\nHe wept again as he saw the work of repentance going on in his brethren.\nIn his way, he greatly longed after them; till at the last, Judah's\nwords were too much for him; conviction of conscience had then ended in\nrestoration of heart. \"The old man\" and \"the lad\" again and again on the\nlips of Judah had eloquence which prevailed, and Joseph could no longer\nrefrain himself. He sobbed aloud, and the house of Pharaoh heard him.\nBut these were more than the tears of nature. This was the bowels of\nChrist, or the tears of the Father upon the neck of the prodigal.\n\nEach of these weepings was beautiful in its season; but we have more\nstill.\n\nHe fell on his father's face, and wept, as his father had just yielded\nup the ghost. This was as the grave of Lazarus to Joseph; and there he\nand his Lord can weep together.\n\nAnd again he wept, when, after his father's death, his brethren began to\nsuspect his love. He was disappointed. An unworthy return to the ways of\na constant, patient, serving love, made him weep--in the spirit of Him,\nI may say, who wept over Jerusalem. For years had he been doing all he\ncould to win their confidence. He had nourished them and their little\nones. Years had now passed, and not one rebuke of them do we find either\nin his life or in his ways. Grief over their departed father had just\nfreshly given them to know what common affections they had to bind them\ntogether. He had supplied them with every reason to trust him. And yet,\nafter all, they were fearing him. This was a terrible shock to such a\nheart as Joseph's. But he did not resent it, save with his tears, and\nrenewed assurances of his diligent, faithful love. And have not such\ntears as these, I ask, as fine a character as tears can have? They were\nas the pulses of the aggrieved spirit of the Lord. \"How long shall I be\nwith you?\" \"Why are ye fearful?\" \"Have I been so long time with you, and\nyet hast thou not known Me?\" These were kindred pulses of an aggrieved\nheart in Jesus. Jesus has _sanctified_ tears, and made them, like\neverything else that went up from Him to God, a sacrifice of a\nsweet-smelling savour; Joseph and David and Paul, yea, Jonathan and\nTimothy too, have made them _precious_, and put them among the treasures\nof the Spirit in the bosom of the Church.\n\n\nSuch an one was Joseph, and in such company we put him; again, I say,\nperhaps the most attractive character in the Book of Genesis. We see in\nhim the grace and blamelessness that we get in Isaac, the \"piety,\" as we\nspeak, marking him in all his relations in life. But withal, there was\ncombination which we do not find in Isaac. There was firmness--energy as\nwell as sensibility.\n\nIt remains for him to do the last office of this piety to the memory of\nhis father; and he does it, we need scarcely say, in all grace and\nfaithfulness. He buries his father, as his father had willed it, in the\nland of Canaan. But the whole is conducted with much solemnity--and the\noccasion is such, that we must wait upon it for a little moment.\n\n\nIn other days, worship was a magnificent ceremonial. Temples, altars,\nfeasts, holy days, sacrifices, and the like, furnished it, and officers\nof different orders, in appropriate vestments, conducted it. Because in\nthose days worship pointed onward to certain great mysteries which had\nthen to be realized. But now these mysteries have been accomplished in\nthe manifestation of Christ, His person, work, sufferings, and\nvictories--so that gorgeous worship is now but a reproach on all that\nwhich is found in Him, in its full substance and efficacy.\n\nSo as to funerals, as well as worship. In other days they were to be\ngorgeous. Because resurrection was then only in prospect; and funerals\nthen were a kind of pledge of the expected resurrection; and it was\nfitting that the pledge should be magnificent according to the glory of\nthat which it pledged. But now, since resurrection has been realized in\nthe person of the Lord Jesus, the Son of God, the gorgeous funeral, like\nthe ceremonious worship, is rather a reproach, as though the great\nmystery itself had not been yet realized in its substance and efficacy.\nFor it is not funereal pomp which is now the pledge of our coming\nresurrection--the resurrection of the Lord is that, the first-fruits of\na promised harvest.\n\nAccordingly, worship and funerals are now, in like simplicity, to\nbespeak the Church's faith in _accomplished_ mysteries. We are now in\nsight of the victory of the Lord Jesus. We no longer give or receive\npledges of it, as in ordinances, but we celebrate it. Joseph of\nArimathea gave His body a costly burial, as Joseph the son of Jacob here\ngives the body of his loved and honoured father. We read of Jesus: \"He\nmade His grave with the wicked, and with the rich in His death.\" In that\nday of Joseph of Arimathea the grave had not been spoiled; and pledges\ntherefore--like pledges with these in the day of the Patriarch--might\nstill be given. But in the burial of the Lord Jesus we properly see the\nlast of these pledges; because in Him we see the first-fruits of them\nthat slept. The grave-clothes and the napkins lie in the empty sepulchre\nas spoils of a glorious war, and trophies which tell of glorious\nvictory. Death was overthrown, and faith now celebrates what offices and\nusages, as well as ordinances and ceremonies, had once only pledged and\nforeshadowed. And let me add, that faith did learn this lesson, for the\nburial which followed that of Jesus had neither its embalming nor its\nmagnificence. It was shortly disposed of, reverently withal, and\nlovingly. \"Devout men carried Stephen to his burial, and made great\nlamentation over him.\"\n\nHad we faith, deeply should we prize all this. Our privileges are great\nindeed. In the services of the house of God now, the table has succeeded\nthe altar, and instead of a sacrifice we have a feast upon a sacrifice.\nAnd so have we to see death and burial, too, in the light of the\nresurrection of Jesus.\n\nThese things we notice in connection with Jacob's funeral. His death has\nits moral operation in the family, bringing out (as is often the case\nwhen the head of a family is removed) what before was not suspected to\nbe there. But I must meditate on this for a while.\n\n\nThe simplicity of patriarchal _faith_ is very remarkable. It was like\ntheir manners--beautiful from their artlessness. There was nothing of\nthe spirit of bondage in the Genesis-saints. The patriarchs walked in\nthe assurance of this, that God was their God, His promises their\nportion, and the city and land of the glory their inheritance. They\nlived and died in this spirit of faith. No suspicions or reserves, no\nquestionings, no mistrust of grace, defiles their souls. And this is\nsurely the more strange because, while we nowhere among them trace this\nspirit of bondage, we see it everywhere else, immediately after we leave\nthe Book of Genesis, and then all through Scripture. It would be vain to\nfollow all the notices of it which Scripture furnishes. It works\nnaturally and abundantly in us. Surely we know it in ourselves, and see\nit in all around us.\n\nHow is it, then, that it does not betray itself in the Patriarchs? Was\nit because they were such constant witnesses to themselves of the grace\nand election of God, and had never heard the voice of the law? This\nhelped to form their minds, we may be sure. But besides this, this\nabsence of the spirit of bondage was beautifully consistent with their\ndispensational standing; for they were as children who had never as yet\nbeen from home. They were in infancy, and they could no more move in the\npresence of God in a spirit of fear and uncertainty, than a child, ere\nhe left home, could be tempted to question his title to the nurture and\nshelter of his father's house. And it is of the moral beauty and\nperfection of this infant Book of Genesis that we see this child-like,\nunquestioning faith in the saints of God there. They are faulty, and\nthat, too, at times, through want of faith, when certain circumstances\npress them; but their souls are never defiled by a spirit of mistrust\nand bondage. We see this throughout--at least till we reach the moment\nwhen we are taking leave of the Book, and have gone beyond what is\nproperly the patriarchal character of it. I mean, in Joseph's brethren,\nas soon as Jacob's funeral is over.\n\nIt then appeared that they had not been trusting their brother with a\nguileless, happy confidence. There had been an object of common interest\nbetween them, and that had been too much the secret of their confidence,\ninstead of Joseph himself. They had not boldness by reason of what\nJoseph was, and of what he had done, but they had trusted in a\ncircumstance. Jacob's presence was the stay of their hearts. They had\nrepented; they had been convicted and quickened; but still, their\nconfidence did not honour Joseph, as Joseph had richly deserved at their\nhands.\n\nAnd this may have a word for us. We may ask ourselves, if countenance\nand fellowship of others were withdrawn, would it be found that our\nwhole confidence has all along been in Jesus? that we have so learnt\ngrace, that we can abide the presence of unveiled glory? that the\nremoval of a Jacob clouds not the atmosphere in which our souls have\nbeen dwelling?\n\n\nBut we are now reaching the very end of the times of Joseph. However,\nere we witness his death, we have (seasonable for us to notice this in\nthis eventful day of ours) a fine instance of _faith's acquaintance with\nthe course of the world's history_.\n\nI do not speak of a _prophet's_ knowledge of what is about to be among\nthe nations, such as Daniel had, when he told of the rise of one beast\nafter another, and of the Great Image from its head of gold down to its\ntoes of iron and clay. Such knowledge was by the _Spirit_, the Lord\nfilling the heart of Daniel, and of others like him, with His own light.\nI speak only of _faith's_ knowledge of that course of things which the\nhistory of the nations is to take.\n\nJoseph says to his brethren, \"I die: and God will surely visit you, and\nbring you out of this land unto the land which He sware to Abraham, to\nIsaac, and to Jacob.\"\n\nThe children of Israel were at that time very happy in the land of\nEgypt. They were in the full favour of the king; they were in possession\nof the richest district in the country, and they saw one of themselves\nthe second person in the kingdom. Not a single symptom of danger or of\nchange appeared in all their condition. And Joseph himself was as happy\nas circumstances could make him. \"He saw Ephraim's children of the third\ngeneration; the children also of Machir the son of Manasseh were brought\nup upon Joseph's knees.\"\n\nBut in the midst of all this, Joseph speaks of _God visiting them_;\nwords which bespeak days of sorrow to be at hand, such days as that God\nwould then be their only friend and helper.\n\nStrange this was, very strange! Who could believe it? Was Joseph\ndreaming? statesmen and politicians might have said. But no; Joseph was\nnot dreaming. God's word was his wisdom. The divine oracle in chapter\nxv. had forewarned, that Egypt would afflict Israel, but that God would\nbefriend them, and bring them back to Canaan--and this word from God was\neverything to Joseph, was everything to faith--appearances were nothing.\nThe oracle had spoken it. Joseph believed it and remembered it. And thus\nby faith Joseph saw Israel's _affliction_ in the day of Israel's\nbrightest promise and prosperity--he saw Egypt's _enmity_ in this day of\nEgypt's friendship--he saw _brick-kilns and task-masters_ in the fair\nfields and sunny harvest of Goshen. As Noah, by like faith, had once\nseen a deluged world during 120 years of successive sowing times and\nreaping times, vintages and summer gatherings, times of buying and\nselling, planting and building.\n\nThis was faith's acquaintance with the coming course of things. And\nfaith, in this our day, is to be a like politician, and to know\nsomething of the course of things by the light of God's word, in the\nface of all appearances. And this is the only act in Joseph's life which\nis recorded as of faith in Heb. xi. It is thus strikingly distinguished\nin the midst of so many acts of faith and godliness, and of such a\ncourse of walking with God, as we have seen in him. But it was worthy to\nbe thus signalized. It was a great witness of Joseph's living upon the\nword of God, in the midst of the world's attractions and occupations,\nand with a mind superior to all present appearances. Abraham had been\ninstructed, through divine visions and audiences, about this coming\nhistory of Israel in Egypt; Joseph only used what Abraham had received.\nWe have no visits of the Lord to Joseph, as we have to Abraham. Joseph,\nif you please, was not in Abraham's elevation. But we have in him what\nis morally the chiefest, the light and certainty of a believing mind,\nthe apprehensions and decisions of faith. He remembered what Abraham had\nheard, and he acted on what he remembered. What he wanted in personal\nelevation, as an oracle of God, he had, in moral power, as a believer in\nGod. And if I must needs choose between them, I would rather _believe_\nthan be _inspired_. And Joseph believed, when, as we read, \"he made\nmention of the departing of the children of Israel, and gave commandment\nconcerning his bones.\" Heb. xi. 22. This was _faith's political\nknowledge_, as I may speak--faith's acquaintance with the things which\nwere coming on the earth. And this is that which made a Noah or a Joseph\nwiser than all the senators of the kingdoms. We know well how Joseph's\nwords were vindicated, and how very unlooked for brick-kilns defiled the\ngoodly lands of Goshen, and task-masters drove Israel to their work.\nJust as before, in Noah's day, waters covered the very tops of the\nmountains, and a ship, apparently in all folly built for dry land, was\nsoon the only ark of safety in a watery world.\n\nAnd I do ask, Is it not to be thus with faith still? Have we not\nwarrant, by faith in the word of God, to know the course which this\nworld, with all its growing refinement and varied progress, is taking\nevery hour? Have we not reason to know that it is on its way to\njudgment? Indeed we have. The Lord Jesus has been rejected in this\nworld. That is the fact which gives the world its character with God. No\nadvance in civil order and cultivation, no spread of even His own truth\namong the nations, can avail to relieve the world of the judgment that\nawaits it because of this deed. Let the day be as bright as was the day\nof the Egyptian Joseph to Israel, faith knows that \"the polished\nsurface\" is soon to be broken up. Circumstances never give faith its\nobject. It is the word of God that does that; and circumstances and\nappearances are not to be allowed to take the eye of faith off its\nobject. The house, swept and garnished as it is at present, promises\nmuch. So did the land of Rameses and the friendship of Pharaoh, in the\ndays of Gen. 50. But such promises are idle words in the ear of faith;\nit regards them not. As Jeremiah said to the king of Judah, when the\nallied army had arrived, and the hostile army had broken up and gone\naway, \"Deceive not yourselves;\" so faith says, in this hour, to the\ngeneration that is boasting in progress, \"Deceive not yourselves.\" Faith\nsays this with boldness; for well it knows, that the last state of the\nswept and garnished house is worse than the first.\n\nJoseph then gave proof that he believed what he testified. Like Jacob,\nhis heart was in Canaan, the land of the covenant, the land of his\nfather's sepulchres. And, like Jacob, he took an oath of his brethren,\nsaying, \"God will surely visit you, and ye shall carry up my bones from\nhence.\" The unseen world was the real thing with him, as it had been\nwith his fathers. The call of God had linked them all with that which\nlay beyond death, and their thoughts and their hearts were there before\nthemselves. It was as natural for them to die as to live.\n\n\"Joseph died, being an hundred and ten years old.\"\n\nHis brethren, the children of Israel, were true to him, as he had been\nto his father Jacob. They embalmed his body at once. Afterwards, Moses\ncarried it with him out of Egypt; and, at the last, Joshua buried it in\nShechem in the land of Canaan. See Gen. 50. 26; Ex. xiii. 19; Josh.\nxxiv. 32.\n\n\nWe thus close the story of Joseph, and with it the Book of Genesis, the\nbook of the creation and of the first ways of God, the book also of the\npatriarchs, the earliest families of the children of men, and the infant\nage of the elect of God.\n\nWe are sensible, I think, when we leave this book, that in some sense we\nare getting on lower ground. I think this will be generally felt.\n\nIn Genesis, the Lord is rather _manifesting Himself_; afterwards He is\n_exposing man_. Man was not under law, as we have said, during the times\nof this book. He was set to learn God under many and different\nexpressions and revelations of Himself. But as soon as law enters, and\nthat is very quickly after we leave this book, man is necessarily\nbrought forward, and we have to see him, not simply as under the call of\nGod, but in his own place and character. And surely this is enough to\nmake us sensible of being, in some sense, on lower ground. Of course, in\nthe unfolding of counsels, in the bringing forth of God's resources upon\nman's failures, and in the further manifestations of God Himself upon\nthe exposure of man, we are advancing all through the volume from\nbeginning to end.\n\nBut, all-various and wondrous as these counsels are, which get their\ndisclosure as we proceed through Scripture, let the wisdom of God be\nnever so manifold, as we know it is, yet we may say, every part of it\ngets some notice or foreshadowing in this Book of Genesis. These are\nfaint and obscure; but the rudiments of the whole language are found in\nthis introductory and infant lesson. Atonement, faith, judgment, glory,\ngovernment, calling, the kingdom, the Church, Israel, the nations,\ncovenants, promises, prophecies, with the blessed God Himself in His\nholiness, love, and truth, the doings of His hand, and the workmanship\nand fruits of His Spirit, all these and the like appear in this book.\nCreation was displayed at the beginning. Soiled and ruined under the\nhand of man, redemption was published. The heavens and the earth are\nthen shown to be the scenes of redemption (as they had been at the first\nof creation) in the histories of _Enoch_ and _Noah_. And then in\n_Abraham_, _Isaac_, _Jacob_, and _Joseph_ we get man (the leading\nsubject of redemption, as of course he is) in his election, adoption,\ndiscipline, and inheritance. These mysteries have been looked at in this\nseries, and they lie under the eye, and for the observation of our\nsouls, as we pass on from one of these histories to another.\n\nAnd let us learn to say, beloved, to His praise who has spread out such\nliving creations before us, that if the heavens declare the glory of God\nand the firmament showeth His handiwork, so with no less clearness and\ncertainty do the pages of Scripture bespeak the breathings of His\nSpirit.\n\n\n\n\n                            THE BOOK OF JOB.\n\n                              JAMES v. 11.\n\n                     \"Behind a frowning providence\n                         He hides a smiling face\"\n\n\nMay surely be said, upon the reading of this deeply affecting story.\nSaid, too, with peculiar fitness and fulness of truth, as though the\nthought of the Christian poet had been suggested by the tale of the\ninspired historian. The frown was specially dark and lowering, the smile\nbehind it brilliantly beaming and happy. The veil was very thick, but\nthe glory within very bright. The boastings of the Lord in His servant\nwere above the noise of all the water-floods.\n\n      \"The bud may have a bitter taste,\n        But sweet will be the flower\"\n\nmay as surely be the motto for the story also. For let us wait only for\na little, and the fruit of the travail will be precious beyond all\nexpectation. Very bitter indeed was the bud, but very sweet indeed was\nthe flower. It had to ripen under the pruning of the sprigs and the\ntaking away of the branches (Isaiah xviii. 5), but it tells, in the end,\nthe skill and patience of its divine husbandman. I would, however,\nrather trace some of the principles of this beautiful Book, than thus at\nthe beginning more largely anticipate the moral of it.\n\nResurrection, called by the Lord \"the power of God,\" or, at least, one\nof the ways of that power (Matthew xxii. 29), has been made known,\nthrough different witnesses, and in divers manners, from the very\nbeginning. And connected as it is with redemption, the great principle\nof God's way and the secret of His purposes, it must have been so.\n\nIt was intimated in the creation of the beautiful scene around us, for\nthe world itself was called forth from the grave of the deep. The\nmaterial was without form, and darkness was upon the face of it, but\nlight was commanded to shine out of darkness, and beauty and order were\ncaused to arise. See Hebrews xi. 3.\n\nIt declared itself in the formation of Eve. Then again in the earliest\npromise about the bruised Seed of the woman. It was kept in memory in\nSeth given in the place of Abel whom Cain slew; and then again in the\nline of the fathers before the flood. But still more illustriously was\nit published in Noah. \"Every thing in the earth shall die,\" says the\nLord to him, \"but with thee will I establish my covenant;\" thus\ndisclosing the secret, that the earth was to be established according to\nthe purpose of God, as in resurrection, stability, and beauty.\n\nSo, after these earlier fathers, Abraham was to have both a family and\nan inheritance on the same principle. He and his generations after him\nwere taught resurrection in the mystery of the barren woman keeping\nhouse. The covenant blessing was linked with the risen family. Ishmael\nmay get possessions, and promises too, but the covenant was with Isaac.\n\nAnd more marvellously still, not to pause longer over other witnesses of\nit, we see resurrection in the blessed history of \"the Word made flesh.\"\nWe might indeed have forejudged that it would have been otherwise. For\nin Christ, flesh was without taint. Here was \"a holy thing.\" But even of\nsuch we have now to say, \"Yea, though we have known Christ after the\nflesh, yet now henceforth know we Him no more.\" Christ known by us now\nis Christ in resurrection. And this is enough to let us know assuredly,\nthat resurrection is the principle of all the divine action, and the\nsecret of the covenant.[26]\n\n [26] All orders of His creatures in all places of His dominions witness\n      Him as the _living_ God; but in the history of redeemed sinners He\n      is witnessed as the living God in _victory_. This is His glory;\n      and resurrection should be prized by us as the display of it. The\n      sepulchre with the grave-clothes lying in order, and the napkin\n      which had been about the head, are the trophies of such victory.\n      John xx. 6, 7. The history of redeemed sinners celebrates Him\n      thus. To hesitate about resurrection is to betray ignorance of\n      God, and of the power that is His. See Matthew xxii. 29; 1 Cor.\n      xv. 34.\n\nBut resurrection has also been, from the beginning, an article of the\nfaith of God's people; and, being such, it was also the lesson they had\nto learn and to practise, the principle of their life; because the\nprinciple of a divine dispensation is ever the rule and character of the\nsaints' conduct. The purchase and occupation of the burying field at\nMachpelah, tell us that the Genesis-fathers had learnt the lesson. Moses\nlearnt and practised it, when he chose affliction with the people of\nGod, having respect to the recompense of the reward. David was in the\npower of it, when he made the covenant, or resurrection-promise, all his\nsalvation and all his desire, though his house, his present house, was\nnot to grow. 2 Sam. xxiii. The whole nation of Israel were taught it,\nagain and again, by their prophets, and by-and-by they will learn it,\nand then witness it to the whole world, the dry bones living again, the\nwinter-beaten teil tree flourishing again; for \"what shall the receiving\nof them be, but life from the dead?\" The Lord Jesus, \"the Author and\nFinisher of faith,\" in His day, I need not say, practised this lesson to\nall perfection. And each of us, His saints and people, is set down to it\nevery day, that we \"may know Him, and the power of His resurrection, and\nthe fellowship of His sufferings.\"\n\nBy the life of faith the elders obtained a good report. And so the\nsaints in every age. For \"without faith it is impossible to please Him;\"\nthat faith which trusts Him as a rewarder of them that diligently seek\nHim, which respects the unseen and the future. They, of whom the world\nwas not worthy, practised the life of faith, the life of dead and risen\npeople. Hebrews xi. Stephen before the council tells us the same.\nAbraham, Joseph, and Moses, in his account, were great witnesses of this\nsame life; and he himself, at that moment, after the pattern of his\nmaster, Jesus, was exhibiting the strength and virtues of it, through\nthe power of the Holy Ghost, and apprehending, through the same Spirit,\nthe brightest joys and glories of it. Acts vii.\n\n\nNow, I believe that the leading purpose of the Book of Job is to exhibit\nthis. It is the story of an elect one, in early patriarchal days, a\nchild of resurrection, set down to learn the lesson of resurrection. His\ncelebrated confession tells us that resurrection was understood by him\nas a doctrine, while the whole story tells us, that he had still to know\nthe power of it in his soul. It was an article of his faith, but not the\nprinciple of his life.\n\nAnd a sore lesson it was to him, hard indeed to learn and digest. He did\nnot like (and which of us does like?) to take the sentence of death into\nhimself, that he might not trust in himself, or in his circumstances in\nlife, or his condition by nature, but in God who raises the dead. \"I\nshall die in my nest,\" was his thought and his hope. But he was to see\nhis nest rifled of all with which nature had filled it, and with which\ncircumstances had adorned it.\n\nSuch is, I believe, the leading purpose of the Spirit of God in this\nBook. This honoured and cherished saint had to learn the power of the\ncalling of all the elect, practically and personally, the life of faith,\nor the lesson of resurrection. And it may be a consolation for us,\nbeloved, who know ourselves to be little among them, to read, in the\nrecords which we have of them, that all have not been equally apt and\nbright scholars in that school, and that all, in different measures,\nhave failed in it, as well as made attainments in it.\n\nHow unworthily of it, for instance, did Abraham behave, how little like\na dead and risen man, a man of faith, when he denied his wife to the\nEgyptian, and yet how beautifully did he carry himself, as such, when he\nsurrendered the choice of the land to his younger kinsman. And even our\nown Apostle, the aptest scholar in the school, the constant witness of\nthis calling to others, and the energetic disciple of the power of it in\nhis own soul, in a moment when the fear of man brought with it a snare,\nmakes this very doctrine the covert of a guileful thought. Acts xxiii.\n6.\n\nEncouragements and consolations visit the soul from all this. Happy is\nit to know, that our present lesson, as those who are dead, and whose\nlife is hid with Christ in God, has been the lesson of the elect from\nthe beginning--that on many a bright and hallowed occasion they\npractised that lesson to the glory of their Lord, that at times they\nfound it hard, and at times failed in it. This tale of the soul is well\nunderstood by us. Only we, living in New Testament times, are set down\nto learn the same lesson in the still ampler page, and after the clearer\nmethod, in which it is now taught us in the death and resurrection of\nthe Lord Jesus Christ.\n\nThere is some difference, let me observe, nay, I would say, distance,\nbetween a _righteous_ and a _devoted_ man. No saint is a devoted one,\nwho has not been practising this lesson of which I have been speaking.\nThe measure of his devotedness may be said to be according to his\nattainment in it, according to the energy he is exercising as a man dead\nand risen with Christ. At the beginning of this history, Job was a\nrighteous man. He was spoken well of again and again, in the very face\nof his accuser. But he was not a devoted man. The whisper of his heart,\nas I noticed before, was this, \"I shall die in my nest.\" Accepted he\nwas, as a sinner who knew his living and triumphant Redeemer, godly and\nupright beyond his fellows, but withal, as to the power that wrought in\nhis soul, he was not a dead and risen man.\n\nSuch also, I might add, was Agur in the Book of Proverbs. He was godly,\nand of a lowly, self-judging spirit. He makes a good confession of human\nblindness and pravity, of the unsearchable glories of God, the purity\nand preciousness of His word, and of the security of all who trust in\nHim. Prov. xxx. 1-9. He was a man of God, and walked in a good spirit.\nBut he was not a devoted man. He did not know how to abound and how to\nsuffer need. He dreaded poverty lest he should steal, and riches lest he\nshould deny God. He was not prepared for changes. Neither was Job. But\nPaul was. He had surrendered himself to Christ, as they had not.\nAccording to the power that wrought in his soul, Paul was a dead and\nrisen man. He was ready to be \"emptied from vessel to vessel.\" He was\ninstructed both to be full and to be hungry. He could do all things\nthrough Christ strengthening him. See that devoted man, that dead and\nrisen man, in the closing chapters of Acts. xx.-xxviii. He is in the\nmidst of a weeping company of brethren at Miletus, and in the bosom of a\nloving Christian household at Tyre. But were those, the greenest spots\non earth to a saint, where, if any where, the foot of the mystic ladder\nis felt to rest, and the fond heart lingers and says, Let us make\ntabernacles here, able to detain him? No. Even there, the dear, devoted\nApostle carried a heart thoroughly surrendered to Christ. \"What mean\nye,\" says he, \"to weep and to break mine heart? for I am ready not to be\nbound only, but also to die at Jerusalem for the name of the Lord\nJesus.\" He would not be kept. And on from thence he goes, along the\ncoast of Syria up to Jerusalem, and then for two long years, apart from\nbrethren, in perils by sea and land, under insults and wrongs, a single\nheart and devoted affection bearing him through all.\n\nA good conscience alone is not up to all this. Mere righteousness will\nnot take such a journey. There must be that singleness of eye to Christ,\nthat principle of devotedness, which reckons upon death and resurrection\nwith Jesus. Job was righteous, but he was not prepared for such shifting\nscenery as this. He loved the green spot and the feathered nest. Changes\ncome, and changes are too much for him. But God, in the love wherewith\nHe loved him, as his heavenly Father, puts him to school, to learn the\nlesson of a child of resurrection, to be a partaker of \"_His_ holiness,\"\nthe holiness not merely of a right or pure-minded man, but _the holiness\nthat suits the call of God_, the holiness of a dead and risen man, one\nof the pilgrim family, one of God's strangers in the world. Heb. xii. 9,\n10.\n\nJob was chastened to be partaker of such a holiness as this. Not that\ntrials and troubles, like his, are essential to the learning of this\nlesson. A very common method it is, indeed, with our heavenly Father, in\nHis wisdom. But Paul set himself daily to practise that lesson, without\nthe instructions of griefs and losses in either body or estate. Phil.\niii. In the fervent labourings of the spirit within, he exercised\nhimself in it every day. And so should we. We are to dread the Laodicean\nstate, satisfaction with present condition or attainment. The Laodicean\nwas not a Pharisee, or a self-righteous man of religion. He was a\nprofessor, it may be, of very correct notions and judgments, but in a\nspirit of self-complacency, he did not cherish increasing freshness and\nvigour in the ways of the Lord.\n\nArise, depart; for this is not your rest, says the Spirit by the\nProphet. And why? Why is it not to be our rest? \"It is polluted,\" he\nadds. He does not say it is sorrowful, it is disappointing, it is\nunsatisfying, but it is polluted. The quickened soul is to gather from\nthe _moral_ and not from the _circumstances_ of the scene here, its\nreasons for cherishing within it the power of Christ's resurrection. The\ndove outside the ark did not fear the snare of the fowler, but found no\nrest for the sole of her foot on the unpurged ground.\n\nIt is humbling to sit down and delineate what has been so poorly reached\nin personal power. But \"a beauteous light\" may be seen \"from far,\" and\nas such, some of us descry and hail the virtues of the risen life.\n\nA dead and risen man will have neither his _springs_ nor his _objects_\nhere. His principles of action will be found in Christ, and his\nexpectations in the coming kingdom. He is taken out of all the\nadvantages and adornings of the flesh into the righteousness of God, and\nthen, livingly and practically, is struggling up the hill, having, in\nspirit, left the low level of the world, abating the force of nature,\nand the fascination of nature's circumstances, and taking the affections\nfrom things on earth to give them to those which are with Christ above.\nHe has lost himself, but he has won Christ. He has taken leave of the\ncourse of the world which goes its rounds on the plain beneath, and is\nascending after Jesus.\n\nHe lets the world know that it could never provide him with his object.\nIn the midst of its kingdoms and delights he is a stranger still. And\nvirtues and qualities of heart he practises that are of like divine\nexcellence. He can, like his Master, hide the glory to which God has\nappointed him, and be nothing in the present scene. Abraham did not tell\nevery Canaanite whom he chanced to meet, that he was the heir of the\ncountry. In the ears of the children of Heth he said, \"I am a stranger\nand a sojourner with you.\" He was content to be, and (what is still\nharder) to be thought to be, a homeless, houseless man. So David,\nanother of the dead and risen family, when hunted and driven by the evil\nthing then in power, though the oil of Samuel was upon him, God's own\nconsecration to the throne, he did not publish it. That was the secret\nand the joy of faith. But he did not publish it. He did not traffic with\nit among men--he did not talk of himself in connection with that which\nthe world could value. He was rather, in his own reckoning before men,\nno better than \"a dead dog\" or \"a flea.\"\n\nOh, precious faith! Oh, holy and triumphant faith! But this was an\nelevation which Job had to reach. He was not, according to the power\nwhich wrought in his soul, of this generation. Not that his condition in\nlife made him proud, or self-indulgent, or indifferent to others. But he\n_valued_ his condition. With what eloquence does he describe it. Chapter\nxxix. The minuteness with which he remembers it tells us with what\nfondness he had embraced it. The eloquence with which he describes it\n(and nothing can exceed that) betrays with what fervour of heart he had\nlingered over it, in the day of its bloom and beauty. He loved his\ncondition and circumstances in life, his place, his character, his\nestimation, his dignities and praise among men. Godly he was, truly and\nadmirably so. There was none like him in the earth. But his place in the\nearth was important to him. He was largely ready to communicate and to\nserve, but he communicated and served as a patron or a benefactor. And\nhe desired continuance. \"I shall multiply my days as the sand,\" was his\ncalculation. Hence the great end of his trial, and the purpose of\nrecording it. For this Book gives us the story of a saint in patriarchal\ndays, or rather, the story of his trials, trials through which he was to\nlearn the common lesson, according to the common calling, that we are a\ndead and risen people. Job came, I believe, before Abraham, but he did\nnot come before this lesson; for it had been taught, as we have seen,\nfrom the beginning; Adam and Abel, and the line of Seth through Enoch\nand Noah, had already practised it. And Job, after them, is set down to\nthe same lesson, only engraven in somewhat deeper and darker lines.\n\nSuch, generally, I believe, was Job, and such his history. A solitary\nsaint he was; at least, not linked with dispensational arrangements, or\nwith the peculiar covenanted family, and before the call of God was\nmanifested in the person of Abraham. This, however, adds exceeding value\nto the Book. For it is, thus, a witness of the religion of God's people\nin the most detached and independent condition. Time and place do not\nconnect him with the ecclesiastical order or course of things at all.\nBut still, the faith of the elect of God was his faith, their truths his\ntruths, their calling his calling, their hopes his hopes. We have Adam,\nand Seth, and Noah, and Shem, and Job, and Abraham, Moses, Prophets,\nApostles, and ourselves, till the number of the elect be accomplished,\nlearning the joy and the song of redemption. As we sometimes sing\ntogether--\n\n      \"Then shall countless myriads, wearing\n        Robes made white in Jesu's blood,\n      Palms (like rested pilgrims) bearing,\n        Stand around the throne of God.\n\n      \"These, redeemed from every nation,\n        Shall in triumph bless His name;\n      Every voice shall cry, 'Salvation\n        To our God and to the Lamb.'\"\n\n\nNot only, however, the substance or materials, but the very style of the\nBook is in the analogy of the whole inspired volume. It does not teach\ndoctrines formally, after the method of a science; it rather assumes\nthem, or lets them publish themselves incidentally. Even in the Epistles\nthis is the common way. The great revelation of doctrines made there\ncomes out, more commonly, in the way of either enforcing results, or in\nanswer to inquiries, or in defence of truth against gainsayers or\ncorrupters. So in this Book, doctrines are assumed, or delivered\nincidentally; the more direct object, as I have suggested, being\nthis--to exhibit a soul set to learn, through trials and sorrows, the\ncommon lesson, the power of our calling, that our hopes are neither in\nthe world, nor from the flesh, but in living scenes, with Jesus, beyond\nall that is here.\n\nAnd deeply affecting as a narrative of trying and sorrowing events it\nsurely is, for the events themselves are deeply touching. But they are\nall ordinary, or such as are \"common to man.\" Robbers carry off his oxen\nand asses. Lightning destroys his flocks. A high wind blows down his\nhouse, and kills his children. And, at last, a sore disease breaks out\non his body from head to foot.\n\nEach of these might have happened to his ungodly neighbour, as well as\nto him. In the mere matter of these afflictions, there was nothing that\ndistinguished him as a child of God. They were not the sufferings of\nrighteousness from the hand of man, the sufferings of a martyr. They\nwere such as were \"common to man.\" But still they were all under the\nexactest inspection and admeasurement of his heavenly Father, all in the\nway of appointment and of discipline flowing from heavenly interests,\nand divine relationships. And all, too, the result of great transactions\nin heaven. For Satan had been there, accusing Job, and the Lord had been\nboasting of him; and the Lord had licensed Satan to go against Job, with\na quiver full of arrows, but had appointed him his measure and rule.\n\nAnd this is very comforting. For many a child of God is troubled, in the\nday of affliction, with the thought that his trial is commonplace, and\nno witness at all that he is not \"as other men.\" But such trouble is\nmistaken. In the shape or material of the affliction, the believer may\nbe just in company with other men, it is true. The same storm on the\ndistant sea, or the same disease at home, may have bereaved them alike;\nbut faith takes account of the relationship with God, and of the\ninterest which all that concerns a poor saint awakens in heaven.\n\nIn the wisdom of God, in the construction of this beautiful story (true\nas I know it to be in every incident that it records), it is made to\nintroduce all the great actors in the divine mystery, and to reveal the\ngreat truths which form the common faith of the elect.\n\nThis is much to be prized; for this declares the perfect harmony of all,\neven the most distant and independent, portions of the oracles of God.\nAccordingly, we see engaged in the action of this Book the _angels_ who\nminister to the divine pleasure; _Satan_ the great adversary; _the elect\nsinner_ whose faith is cast into the furnace; _his brethren_ in the\nfaith; _the minister of God_ in the energy of the Holy Ghost; and _the\nLord God Himself_.\n\nThese are the actors in the wondrous scenery of this Book; so that while\nthe action itself is simply the trial of a saint, it is so constructed\nas to bring forth all these great agents and energies, the very same\nwith which our souls are conversant to this hour, occupied, also, in the\nways and places which the whole of Scripture assigns to them. And it is\na matter of the richest interest to our souls to trace this.\n\nThus the angels or \"sons of God\" are here seen for a moment or two, but\nexactly in the place and action which the general consent of all\nScripture gives them. They are in attendance on the Lord in heaven, as\nthose who had been forth, and were ready again to go forth, in the\nservice of His good pleasure. For the whole Word thus bears witness to\nthem. They are \"ministering spirits,\" \"ministers of His that do His\npleasure.\" They are His hosts on high, and the Lord Himself is among\nthem. Gabriel stands in His presence. The Seraphim attend His throne,\nand they are winged, either to veil their faces and their feet before\nthe divine majesty, or to fly, like the wind, to execute the divine\ncommands. All this is told of the angels throughout Scripture, and here\nthe heavens are opened for a moment, and all this is seen and heard.\n\nSo as to Satan. This Book is in strictest analogy with the whole volume.\n\"Messengers of Satan\" go forth from the presence of God, as well as\nGabriel and the hosts. \"Lying spirits\" as well as \"ministering spirits\"\ntake their journey and their commission from thence. He goes about, says\nan apostle, seeking whom he may devour; as here, he says of himself,\nthat he had been up and down, and to and fro, in the earth. Another\napostle tells us, that he, with his principalities and powers, is in\nheavenly places; and here we find him among the sons of God, in the\npresence of God. And again; he desired to have all the apostles, that he\nmight sift them as wheat, put them to the proof of what they were; and\nso here as to Job. Satan is elsewhere called \"the accuser of the\nbrethren,\" and here he is heard as such. He is the tormentor of this\nservant of God, as Scripture generally presents him; but, as Scripture\nalso testifies, his action is under the limitations and sovereignty of\nGod. Jesus, God manifest in the flesh, as He walked in the land of\nIsrael, gave him his measure (Mark v.); and so Elohim from the throne\ndoes here, and the eye of the Seer and the voice of the Prophet assign\nhim also exactly this place and action. 1 Kings xxii.; Zech. iii.[27]\n\n [27] The children of light should reckon upon the attempts of the\n      powers of darkness against them. A sudden moment of conflict\n      should not therefore surprise us. For we are set to be the scene\n      or theatre of their defeat by Christ. \"It is our illumination\"\n      that exposes us. That is its proper natural operation. The more we\n      are in the light, I may say, the more exposed we are. It was\n      Adam's creature-beauty, Job's memorial with God, and the Apostle's\n      attachment to Christ, that laid them open to Satan.\n\n      But let me add, that a \"messenger of Satan\" may be sent forth from\n      the presence of God upon either the _flesh_ or the _heart_ of man.\n      An evil spirit from the Lord came upon Saul, and a lying spirit\n      came upon the prophets of Ahab. 1 Sam. xvi.; 1 Kings xxii. The\n      Lord was beginning solemn acts of _judgment_, and, therefore,\n      these messengers of Satan were sent forth upon the _heart_ of\n      those who were righteously under judgment. But other messengers of\n      Satan reach only the _body_ or _circumstances_, as in the case of\n      Paul and of our patriarch. And this is _discipline_ merely, and\n      not judgment.\n\nThese analogies are as strict and literal as they can be. And\nfurther--for it is edifying to trace this still--we find the patriarch\nin one school with the distant apostle of the Gentiles--so richly does\none Spirit breathe through the whole volume. We are in the last chapters\nof 2 Corinthians, when reading the first chapters of the Book of Job! We\nhave the \"thorn in the flesh,\" \"the messenger of Satan,\" in both Job and\nPaul.\n\nThen, as to Job and his friends, or the elect one whose faith is cast\ninto the furnace, and his brethren in the faith. A very principal part\nof this patriarchal story is made up, as we commonly know, of the\ncontroversies that arose between them. Bitter and heated they were, in\nsomething more than the ordinary measure. But such things are still, and\nhave been in every age.\n\nEliphaz, Bildad, and Zophar were friends and brethren indeed, though\nthey proved to be but \"miserable comforters.\" They came to Job when all\nhad deserted him, children mocking him, young men pushing away his feet,\nhis kinsfolk failing him, his inward friends forgetting him, his\nservants giving him no answer, and his wife refusing him, though he\nentreated for their children's sake. They were true-hearted friends, who\nsaid that they would go and comfort their afflicted brother. And they\ndid go; and they sat with him in his place of ashes and potsherds for\nseven days.\n\nBut they fell out by the way. _Sad_ to tell it, but so it was; not\n_strange_ to tell it, for so has it ever been, and so is it still. So\nearly as the times of Abraham's herdmen and Lot's herdmen, this stands\non record. Joseph had to say to his brethren, \"See that ye fall not out\nby the way.\" Moses knew the trial of the _camp_ even beyond that of the\n_wilderness_, as he went from Egypt to the Jordan. It was of His own\nthat Jesus in His day had to say, How long shall I be with you and\nsuffer you? And Paul counted \"the care of all the churches\" the heaviest\nthing that came upon him.\n\nVariety of temper, different measures of attainment, the quality of the\nlight and the form of the kingdom in us, if I may so express it, will\noccasion collision and trial, even where there is nothing morally wrong.\nBut from whatever cause it be, so is it still, and so has it been from\nthe days of Job and his friends, that we form a great part of each\nother's trial. The Lord sits over it all, refining His silver and\npurifying His gold, but still so it is, that we help to heat each\nother's furnace for the trial of faith.\n\nNothing, perhaps, has been a more common source of this falling out by\nthe way, than the holding of favourite religious opinions, or an undue,\ndisproportioned estimation of certain doctrines or points of truth. And\nthis was the case here. Job prized certain points of truth, and his\nfriends had their favourites also. But each \"knew but in part,\" and\ndarkened the perfect counsels of God. And by reason of this, they fell\nout by the way. Job, sorely afflicted by stroke upon stroke, insisted on\nit, that God acted _arbitrarily_; and having a right to do as He\npleased, did so. His friends would have it, that God dealt\n_retributively_, and that therefore His way with Job convicted Job of\nsome unconfessed iniquity. Their doctrines also very much savoured of\nhuman thoughts; they were not refined from the lees of man's\nreligiousness. They drew much from the traditions of the elders, and\nfrom their own experiences and observations. They accredited that false\nthough favourite axiom in the morals of the world, that \"honesty is the\nbest policy.\" \"Who ever perished, being innocent? or where were the\nrighteous cut off?\" is the challenge which their religion published. \"I\nhave esteemed the words of His mouth more than my necessary food. But He\nis of one mind, and who can turn Him?\" is the counsel of his heart. They\ninsinuate that if all were told, nothing would be too bad for him; and\nhe reproaches them, in the contempt and bitterness of a wounded spirit,\nand an insulted character. \"No doubt ye are the people, and wisdom shall\ndie with you.\"\n\nSuch was the strife of words, the bickering and debate, among them; as\nsad a sample of falling out by the way as has ever been known, I may\nsay, among brethren.\n\nElihu, in whom was a \"manifestation of the Spirit,\" at length enters the\nscene, bringing the light of God to make manifest these forms of\ndarkness. He had listened to the discourses and controversies of these\nbrethren, but, in modesty and reserve, as became his years, in the\npresence of ancient men, he had hitherto held his peace. He waited till\nmultitude of days, which should know wisdom, and speak of understanding,\nhad delivered sentence of truth. But now he speaks. The stirrings of the\nSpirit constrain him. He is silent while it is a question between\nhimself and them, but he durst not surrender the rights of the Spirit in\nhim. He cannot respect any man's person now. In Job's day, God chose the\nweak thing, as He has done ever since. Elihu was but a youth. Timothy\nwas the same. But the ancient men had failed. The stone of help lies in\nanother stripling of Bethlehem. For, from beginning to end it must be\nknown, that the good that is done upon the earth, He doeth Himself. \"Not\nby might, nor by power, but by my Spirit, saith the Lord.\" Eliphaz and\nhis companions shall not have it to say, \"We have found out wisdom;\" for\n\"God thrusteth him down, not man,\" said Elihu of Job.\n\nJob was to be rebuked. He had argued the arbitrariness of the divine\nhand in dealing with man, and, accounting for his present sufferings in\nthat way, he was so far \"righteous in his own eyes.\" Elihu shows that\nthis was not so; that all was the holy discipline of One who, knowing\nthe end from the beginning, ever counsels the best for His people. Nor\nwill he, like the others, draw either from himself, or from the elders\nor fathers. He will not, in the way of human religiousness, bow to any\nnames or traditions, however venerated, but, led of the Spirit, press on\nin the path where the light of God shines.\n\nElihu will not join in laying to Job's charge what his conscience\ntruthfully resisted. But he will tell Job that the thoughts of\nconscience are not to rule his judgment, or dictate his speeches; that\nhe should rather have allowed the divine wisdom in all this sore\ndiscipline, than concluded on the divine arbitrariness in it, just\nbecause conscience was clear. He tells Job this should have been his\nword--\"Surely it is meet to be said unto God, I have borne chastisement,\nI will not offend any more: that which I see not, teach Thou me: if I\nhave done iniquity, I will do no more.\"\n\n\"A mighty maze,\" philosophy will say, \"but not without a plan.\" \"God is\nHis own interpreter, and He will make it plain,\" a Christian poet will\nsay. And a true and beautiful thought that is. But inspired wisdom\ncounsels and teaches thus--\"Although thou sayest thou shalt not see Him,\nyet judgment is before Him; therefore trust thou in Him.\" Chapter xxxv.\n14. For we are to know that purposes of wisdom and goodness rule every\nevent, though another day has so to declare it. \"Judgment\" is ever\n\"before Him,\" as Elihu says. And God is to be justified in the thoughts\nof His children now, as He will be in the face of heaven and earth\nby-and-by. Matt. xi. 19; Ps. li. 4; l. 4.\n\nSuch an one was Elihu. And it is a circumstance full of meaning and of\nmoral beauty, that Job does not answer him, as he had the others. Elihu\ninvited him to speak if he would. But he had a moral sense, a conscience\nin the Holy Ghost, that witnessed to the authority with which this\nminister of the Spirit spake. Very precious this is. How often, how\ncommon, among the saints, is this! Yea, and even beyond their borders,\nat times, the like authority is felt. How often has the presence of a\nholy man controlled the ungodly. The multitudes in the villages of\nIsrael, after this manner, owned the Lord at times. They \"were\nastonished at His doctrine: for He taught them as one having authority,\nand not as the scribes.\" And the want of this is painful. Have we not\noften, beloved, been grieved to see the heart and understanding of\nothers unmoved by that which has come to our own souls with all the\nauthority of truth, and in the freshness of the divine unction? But Job\ngives us not this pain. And a man very dear to the saints he is, as he\nwas to the blessed Lord who was thus afflicting him. Elihu had spoken to\nhim in the Spirit, and his soul bowed to the authority of his word. He\ncould not treat Elihu as he had treated Eliphaz, Bildad, and Zophar. He\nmay not be as yet humbled, but he cannot be angry; he may not as yet\nmake confession, but he will not reply. The Spirit of God in the\nministry of His servant had entered the scene, and Job will at least be\nsilent.[28]\n\n [28] The knowledge of truth alone will never ensure happy or profitable\n      ministry. If we draw merely from our stores or possessions of\n      knowledge, we shall find ourselves confounded. The freshness of\n      the Spirit in us, and the exercise of our gift under Him, at the\n      time of ministry, are also needful.\n\nThe Lord, however, is He that teacheth to profit. There are diversities\nof operations, but it is the same God that worketh all in all. Paul\nplants, and Apollos waters, but it is God that giveth the increase. And,\nin analogy with these truths, the action of this beautiful Book\nproceeds. The voice of God from the whirlwind makes the testimony of the\ngifted minister effectual to the conscience and heart of Job. In a\nseries of challenges as to natural things, that voice, mighty and yet\ngracious, addresses him. It has been said, by those competent to\nentertain such inquiries, that nothing in the whole compass of language\ncan equal, much less surpass, the inimitable grandeur and sublimity of\nthis address. And we can all see that it does that which it belongs to\ndivine power to do--the complainant is humbled. \"I know that Thou canst\ndo everything.\" He confesses to Him whose mighty hand could exalt him in\ndue time, and, after he had suffered awhile, was well able to\nstrengthen, settle, and stablish him. 1 Peter v.\n\nIt was not the lesson of a sinner which Job had to learn. He knew\nalready the grace of God. It was the lesson of a saint he needed to be\ntaught, or taught more perfectly. It is for this, therefore, that the\nLord seats Himself in the whirlwind. Had Job then, and for the first\ntime, to learn the lesson of a sinner, the Lord would rather have\naddressed him in \"the still small voice,\" the tone which suits grace,\nand in which it seeks and delights to be heard. But Job was already a\nsaved sinner. He knew already the _grace_, but had as yet to be taught\nthe _rights_, of God. And therefore the voice from the whirlwind. For\nthe saint has to count on such apparent roughness as the sinner never\ngets. John was left in prison, when every sickness and disease among the\npeople was attended to. The Lord, in His walks of mercy and of\nusefulness to all who needed Him, may often have passed near the prison\ndoors, but He did not open them, as He could have done, though He was,\nall the while, giving sight to the blind, and hearing to the deaf. Was\nit that John was loved the less? No. Among them that were born of woman\nthere was none like him. And was it that Job was loved the less, because\nhe was addressed out of the whirlwind? No. There was none like him in\nthe earth, a perfect and an upright man. But already knowing the grace\nof God, he was now to learn and own His rights. And he does learn them,\nand confesses them. And he confesses them, and bows to them, before the\npressure of the mighty hand was removed, and while as yet it was heavy\nupon him. That is much to be observed, much to be prized. For that is a\nbeautiful witness, that Job had learnt the lesson indeed, learnt it\nspiritually, learnt it in the grace and energy of divine teaching. It is\neasy and common to own the good of a chastisement when it is over, and\nthen to say, I would not have been without it. That is not above the\nreach of nature. But while the burthen is still borne, to vindicate and\nbless the hand that lays it on, that is something more. While as yet he\nlay in the place of ashes and potsherds, and sore boils tormented his\nbody from the crown of his head to the sole of his foot, Job said,\n\"Behold, I am vile; what shall I answer Thee? I will lay mine hand upon\nmy mouth. Once have I spoken; but I will not answer: yea, twice; but I\nwill proceed no further.\"\n\nSuch was the moral, and such the issue, of this simple but important\naction. A lesson had to be taught a child of God. Human wisdom, and\nreligion too, sets itself to teach it, but betrays its own weakness and\ndishonour. A minister of the Spirit, in the light of the Lord, rebukes\nthe thought of man, exposing the wise and the scribe and the disputer of\nthis world, and applying the principles of the truth of God. And the\npower of Him who worketh all in all seals the instruction. Human and\ndivine energies are thus displayed in the places and characters which\nbelong to them, the one abased, and the other magnified.\n\n\nSuch are the actors in the scene of this wondrous Book--angels, Satan,\nthe tried saint, and his brethren, the minister of God in the energy of\nthe Spirit, and the Lord Himself. They hold the place, and do the deeds,\nwhich, as we have now seen, all Scripture assigns them respectively.\n\nThis Book, as I observed before, is an independent Book. The most so, I\nmay add, of any in the inspired volume. In the progress of revelation it\nintimates nothing before it, nor does any other part of that revelation\nfind it necessary to it. Job's history is not linked with that of the\npeople of God, nor does it advance, in any way, the manifestation of the\npurposes of God. But stranger and foreigner as it is, it speaks exactly\nthe same language. The same Spirit breathes here, the same light shines\nhere. And this is so, not only in the case of those who are introduced\nas actors in the scenes, but also in the truths and doctrines assumed or\nasserted. The corruption of nature as found in the seed of Adam--the\nvalue of a sacrifice as a propitiation with God--a coming day of\njudgment--resurrection and life--these are among the common thoughts\nhere. But more beautiful and striking than all is the knowledge it takes\nof _the person and duty of the Kinsman_, a mystery well known in\nScripture, and, throughout Scripture, largely though silently referred\nto, when too commonly not perceived--a mystery which shadows all the\ngreat truths that are characteristic of the work of our redemption.\n\nThis subject is too great to be fully considered here, even had I the\ngrace and light to do so. But it is so happy a one, and suggested by our\nPatriarch's well-known confession of his faith, that I cannot altogether\npass it by.\n\nOur apostle says, \"No man ever yet hated his own flesh; but nourisheth\nand cherisheth it.\" A necessary way of nature is here assumed, and\nassumed with approval, by the Spirit of God. That regard to one's self\nwhich each one of us is ready enough to render, is divinely sanctioned.\nAnd then, on this very principle of nature, the apostle goes on to put\nthe Lord's nurture of the Church. \"For no man ever yet hated his own\nflesh; but nourisheth and cherisheth it, _even as the Lord the Church_;\nfor we are members of His body, of His flesh, and of His bones.\" Christ\nis declared to act towards us on this instinctive verdict of nature,\nthat a man is to love his own body. The Holy Ghost, through the apostle,\nwould let our hearts embrace this joy, that the force of this first law\nof nature is felt by Christ towards us, and the duty it imposes is owned\nby Him. So that if I can understand my love for myself, I may understand\nChrist's love to me. The duty I owe myself is acknowledged by my Lord as\ndue by Him to me. He can but nourish and cherish me, as I would nourish\nand cherish myself.\n\nCan any thought, I ask, respecting the place into which the love of the\nSon of God has brought Him surpass this? Can the imagination form the\nidea of a more intense and devoted affection? Impossible. If it could,\nChrist would embody it, and His Spirit would reveal it, for His love\n\"passeth knowledge.\" But it cannot.\n\nBut though this may be the most marvellous expression of this love, yet\nthere is another of the same character. There is another duty owed on\nthe like claims of nature, which in like manner has been adopted and\nacknowledged by the Lord--the duty of kindred or natural relations.\n\nThe Lord, the Son of God, became our Kinsman. \"Forasmuch then as the\nchildren are partakers of flesh and blood, He also Himself likewise took\npart of the same.\" And He became this Kinsman that He might do for the\nchildren the duties and services of a Kinsman. And what these duties\nare, and how the Lord has answered and discharged them, we are told in\nScripture.\n\n\nOne principal duty was, to ransom a brother or his inheritance, if such\nor either had been sold.\n\nNow such a sold or forfeited condition is ours by nature, under the\nruins of Adam. Forfeiture of every thing is the simple idea that holds\nour natural condition in the just light. We have forfeited life, and\nwith it all things, by the breach of those terms on which we held life,\nand with it all things. We have incurred the debt of death. \"In the day\nthou eatest thereof, thou shalt surely die.\" Adam did eat, and this law\ndemanded death. We sold ourselves under that sentence, and to that\npenalty, and were debtors to die the death. But our Kinsman has paid the\nprice. Jesus died. He has counted out the money to the uttermost\nfarthing. In the language of the law, eye has gone for eye, life for\nlife, blood for blood. We have not been redeemed by corruptible things\nas silver and gold, but by the precious blood of Christ. The value of\nthat blood was well tried. The blood of bulls and of goats was not rich\nenough. It would not do, it could not do. But \"Lo, I come to do Thy\nwill, O God,\" tells us that He was satisfied who exacted, and could not\nbut exact, the full ransom or redemption-price. And now _we and our\ninheritance stand repurchased by our Kinsman_.\n\nThis is the very principal in the great services of Christ for us. It is\nlargely noticed and foreshadowed by the law (Lev. xxv.), but it was\nunderstood from the beginning. For sacrifice or vicarious offering\nproceeded on this principle. And that was made known upon the entrance\nof sin, or act of forfeiture. The coat of skin which covered Adam bore\nwitness that he stood in the value of a ransom, that the virtue of One\nwho had met the demand of God against him was now upon him.\n\nBut this is full of blessing--that the great mystery of the Kinsman or\nRedeemer was known (published by the Lord, and believed by the sinner)\nere the law had shadowed it, or prophets proclaimed it.[29]\n\n [29] The same Hebrew word signifies kinsman, redeemer, and avenger.\n\nAnother of these duties was this--to rescue or deliver a brother taken\ncaptive.\n\nIn the previous case of ransom or repurchase, the Kinsman had to deal\nwith a rightful claimant, and to answer his demands. His brother or his\nbrother's inheritance had been sold, and had to be repurchased at a\nprice well and justly ascertained, according to the law of estimations.\nBut this duty of rescuing or delivering a brother is different. Here the\nKinsman has to do with a stranger or a foe; and by counterforce, or the\nstrength of a stronger arm, to perform this service.\n\nBut this, also, is our natural condition, our state under the ruins of\nthe fall. And this character of Kinsman-service, the Son of God,\npartaker of our flesh and blood, renders us.\n\nIn this, however, His dealing is with our enemy. In the previous case of\nrepurchase He dealt with God, answering His righteous demands for us:\nhere, He answers the enemy for us. For while it is true that we had,\nthrough disobedience, incurred the debt of death, the forfeiture of life\nand all things, so as to need a ransom, it is also true that we had\nsuffered wrong at the hand of the Serpent, out of the results of which,\nin bondage or captivity to the powers of darkness and corruption, our\nRedeemer or Kinsman delivers us.\n\nIt was in this action that the Lord, in the days of His flesh, went\nthrough the cities and villages of Israel. As the stronger man He had\nthen entered the strong man's house, spoiling his goods, and unloosing\nhis prisoners. And He will finish such work, and perfect His way as the\nKinsman-deliverer, when He, as the plague of death and hell's\ndestruction, rescues His sleeping saints. Then will take place the\n_redemption_ of the _purchased_ possession. See Eph. i. 14.\n\nAnd again I may say, Happy is it to know that this way of Christ, this\nwork of our great Kinsman, was also known in patriarchal days. When\nAbraham heard that _his brother_ was taken captive, he armed his trained\nservants, and brought again his brother Lot and his goods. Genesis xiv.\nFive kings may fight with four in the vale of Siddim, the potsherds of\nthe earth may strive with their fellows; all this, in one sense, is no\nconcern of the heavenly stranger, though his tent may be pitched in the\nneighbourhood. But the way of Christ, which becomes the principle of\nconduct to His people, is everything to him--and that way must have been\nthen known, the service of the Kinsman-deliverer must have been then\nquite understood among the elect household, for as soon as Abraham hears\nof Lot, he is all action in a moment, and goes forth for the rescue of\nhis captured brother.\n\nA kindred duty with this was, to avenge the blood of a murdered brother,\nor relative.\n\nThis duty was recognized by the law, and kept in memory all through the\ntimes of the nation. The ordinance touching the cities of refuge was a\nrelief against the abuse of it; and the famous parable of the woman of\nTekoah assumed the fact, that the whole system in Israel took knowledge\nof it.\n\nBut, like the others, it was older than the law and the prophets.\nNotices of Christ and His ways and His doings for us were the earliest\nmanifestations of the mind of God. Happy for our hearts to know this!\nAnd, accordingly, this Kinsman-duty had been prescribed in very early\ndays. When the sword was committed to Noah, it was published. \"At the\nhand of every man's brother will I require the life of man. Whoso\nsheddeth man's blood, by man shall his blood be shed.\" But it was\nunderstood as a divine principle even before then. Cain trembled before\nthis law, which, as his words intimate, must have then been known\neverywhere. Genesis iv. 14. It was, indeed, a part of the very first\npromise. \"It shall bruise thy head\" announced it. For that sentence told\nthe Serpent, that man's Kinsman, the Woman's Seed, would avenge on him\nthe wrongs done by him upon the family. And this duty Christ will\nperform when He casts the old Serpent, \"which is the Devil and Satan,\"\nwith death and hell, into the lake of fire.[30]\n\n [30] The Kinsman _delivering_ and the Kinsman _avenging_ deals with an\n      enemy or a wrong-doer, and not, as in the case of _repurchasing_,\n      with a righteous claimant. There is, however, this difference: in\n      the case of delivering, the Kinsman only rescues his brother or\n      relative out of the hand of the enemy; in the case of avenging, he\n      visits the blood of his brother or relative upon the head of the\n      enemy. Christ will deliver us from the hand of death at the\n      _beginning_ of the Kingdom (1 Corinthians xv. 54), He will avenge\n      us upon the head of death at the _close_ of the Kingdom. 1\n      Corinthians xv. 26.\n\nSuch are among the duties which a Kinsman, according to the mind and\nreckoning of the Lord, owed, and such is the glorious performance of\nthem by our great Kinsman. And wondrous is it to be entitled thus to\nwrite of Him! wondrous that the necessary and instinctive dictates of\nnature are suggested by the Holy Ghost as the ground, warrant, and\ncharacter of the love of Christ to the Saints! that, as I said before,\nwhatever nature tells me I owe myself, that Christ tells me He owes me;\nand now, I may add, whatever nature tells me my kindred owe me, that\nalso Christ tells me He owes me. And again I ask, Can any thought\nrespecting the place into which the love of the Son of God has brought\nHim, surpass this? Can the imagination form the idea of a more intense\nand devoted affection?\n\nThe Son of God became our Kinsman for the very end of performing all\nthese Kinsman-services for us. Hebrews ii., I believe, tells us that.\nAnd these duties and services embody all the great materials in the\nmystery of redemption. And, as we have now seen, they have been made\nknown from the beginning. Jesus did not wait till the Law presented Him,\nin its shadows or swaddling-clothes, to the faith and joy of poor\nsinners. The Law afterwards gave the things concerning Him a tabernacle,\nbut those things had been made known from the beginning. The fourth day,\nin the course of creation, brought forth the Sun, which then became the\ntabernacle of the light, but the light had been abroad through the\nscene, the light had been shining, from the earliest moment of the first\nday. Jesus was known in the garden of Eden, and borne on the breath of\nthe very first promise. And cheering this is to our spirits--happy to\ntrack these notices of the common faith, these thoughts and truths of\nGod and His covenant, all along the line of the ages, linking the most\ndistant hearts of the elect in the fellowship of one joy, and giving\nthem one song for ever and ever.\n\nAmong the saints of the earlier days, our Job knew Him in this great\ncharacter of Kinsman or Redeemer. As rescuing him from the power of\ndeath, or from captivity to the grave and corruption, Job celebrates\nHim. It is a scripture well known, and much delighted in by the saints.\nAnd well may it be so. All that ushers it forth to our hearing, and all\nthat sustains and accompanies it while we listen to it, give it an\nuncommon character.\n\n\"Oh that my words were now written! oh that they were printed in a book!\nthat they were graven with an iron pen and lead in the rock for ever!\nFor I know that my Redeemer liveth, and that He shall stand at the\nlatter day upon the earth: and though after my skin, worms destroy this\nbody, yet in my flesh shall I see God: whom I shall see for myself, and\nmine eyes shall behold, and not another; though my reins be consumed\nwithin me.\"\n\nWhat an apprehension of Christ in both His person and His work is here!\nIt is the faith and hope of our Gospel. Job knew he had a Redeemer, a\nRedeemer then living, and thereafter to stand upon the earth manifested\nin flesh, and that this Redeemer would achieve for him a glorious\nvictory over the power of death, and strength of corruption. And all\nthis fine apprehension of Christ is accompanied with the simplest\nappropriating faith. \"Whom I shall see for myself,\" says Job, \"and mine\neyes shall behold, and not another.\" This is the confidence of Paul.\nThis is the liberty that is befitting the full revelation of the grace\nof God. Paul and Job, in like spirit, knew the glorious redemption, and\nknew it for themselves. \"Who loved me, and gave Himself for me.\"\n\nAnd what fervency is this with which the Holy Ghost enables the\npatriarch to set his seal to all this precious confession of his faith!\nJob would have all men know, and every generation of them, he would\npublish it far and wide, he would tell it out without a fear that he\nshould ever have to cancel a letter of it, he would engrave it for\neternity and have it leaded in the rock, that he knew his Redeemer!\n\nWhat \"light of the Lord\" was this in which the Patriarch walked! \"O\nhouse of Jacob, come ye, and let us walk in the light of the Lord.\" Job\nwalked there long before the house of Jacob, or the prophets of Israel,\nknew of it. The light was abroad, and the Spirit led the elect into it,\nfrom the beginning. And this occasion, recorded in the 19th chapter, was\na moment when that light beamed brightly in Job's soul. His face did not\nthen, like Stephen's, shine as an angel's in the presence of his\naccusers. He had not, in that way, put on the garments of a child of\nresurrection, but his spirit within was in the regions and liberty and\ntriumph of such a one.\n\nThis visitation, in the energy of the Holy Ghost, drawing forth this\nblessed utterance from the heart of the patriarch, was the bow in the\ncloud for a moment. It shared the path of Job's spirit with the grief\nand heaviness that it knew so well--as Jeremiah's vision by night, and\nthe Mount of Transfiguration, broke the dreary way of the weeping\nprophet, and of the adorable \"Man of sorrows.\" Jer. xxxi. 26; Matt.\nxvii. 2. It was the Spirit's power. The poor sufferer was made to look\naway from God's dealings _with_ him to His doings _for_ him. For there\nis a difference. The one calls the soul into exercise, and often are too\nunwieldy, beyond the management of our hearts. Very generally they need\nan interpreter. The other takes the soul into entire liberty. They are\nso plain that a child may read them. They bear their own meaning on\ntheir forehead. They need no interpreter. God's providences, or His\ndealings _with_ us, are ofttimes perplexing, as well as tenderly\nafflicting. God's grace in the Gospel, or His doings for us, are such as\ncannot either puzzle the thoughts or grieve the heart. They bear their\nown witness, and tell a tale of devoted, everlasting love, such as it is\nimpossible to mistake.\n\nAnd these are the things we have to do with, every day. If we be\noppressed or fatigued by the current course of circumstances, finding\nthem weighty, dark, and intricate, it is our privilege, and our duty\ntoo, to pass over, in spirit and in thought, to that calm and sunny\natmosphere in which the Gospel, or God's doings for us, ever invest the\nsoul.\n\nAll this may be seen in Job. That loved and honoured saint is generally\nseen grappling with God's dealings with him. The hand of God had gone\nout upon all his interests and enjoyments. Loss of fortune, children,\nand health, had come, by sore surprise, upon him, and he persists, in\nthe heat and resentment of nature, to keep all this before his mind. But\nin a moment of the Spirit's power he is made to look away from all this,\nto turn from God's dealings _with_ him to God's doings _for_ him; and\nthen he triumphs. Then he can contemplate more than the boils on his\nbody, even the worms destroying it; but all is light and triumph. Then,\nin the face of all enemies, he can sit and sing in spirit, If God be for\nme, who can be against me? Romans viii.\n\nTruly blessed is this. The tempter would lead us to judge of God by the\ndark shadings of many a passage of our history here. But the Spirit\nwould have us acquaint ourselves with Him in the beauteous light of the\nGospel, the glory that shines in the face of Jesus Christ; and there is\nlight there and no darkness at all--no shadows which have to be chased\naway, no dimness that needs to be interpreted.\n\nBut this rather by the way--I have already traced certain combinations\nbetween this earliest and most independent portion of the book of God\nand all other parts of it, whether near or distant. And very\nestablishing to the heart this is. But such combinations or harmonies\nmay be traced still further--in the _scenes of action_, as well as in\nthe _actors in the scenes_.\n\nThere are \"heaven\" and \"earth\" here, as in all Scripture; each, too,\nhaving its \"day\" or special occasion. See i. 4, 6, 13; ii. 1. There are\nalso \"this present evil world,\" and \"the world to come.\" At the opening\nof the action the scene is laid in this present evil world. It is but\ndomestic, but all the features of the great world are seen in it. For\neach family circle, like every heart, is a little world. Indulgence and\nthe love of enjoyment appear in the children, and something of the\ncommon \"enmity against God\" in the wife of our patriarch. Then, again,\nthere are _natural_ calamities, as from wind and fire and disease; and\nthere are _relative_ calamities, as from the hand of our neighbour or\nfellow-men, as Sabeans and Chaldeans. And all this is the various\ncasualty of life and human circumstance to this hour. There is stroke\nupon stroke, messenger after messenger, turning over every page of the\nhistory. It is but human life _then_ instead of _now_, but the same life\nin its losses, crosses, and sore contradictions. There is a little\nreality, a little of the \"friend in need\" who \"is a friend indeed,\" but\nthere is a great deal of scorn and desertion in the hour of calamity,\nstill so well known in the world. Job has three friends who sit with him\namong his ashes and potsherds, but all beside see him afar off.\n\nIs not all this \"the present evil world\" drawn to the life?\n\nBut at the close of the action, the scene is laid in \"the world to\ncome,\" God's world and not man's, the world which His energies are to\nform, and His principles are to fill. It is the time of refreshing and\nrestitution. In the 42nd chapter of our Book, we are, in spirit, in the\nMillennium. The Holy Ghost gives us this account of it. \"Be patient\ntherefore, brethren, unto the coming of the Lord,\" are the words which\nintroduce His allusion to \"the patience of Job,\" and to \"the end of the\nLord.\" The husbandman toils in hope, and gets his fruit in harvest, or\nin resurrection. And so did Job endure, till, at last, he that sowed\nreaped. The 42nd chapter is the harvest of the husbandman. James v.\n7-11.\n\nAnd happy, I may say, is this further witness to the value which a\nspirit of confession and repentance has with our God, beloved. As it is\nwritten, \"The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit;\" and again, \"If we\nconfess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive our sins.\" For I\ndoubt not, that it was to Job's few words of confession and repentance\nthat the Lord referred when He turned to the friends and told them, that\nthey had not spoken of Him the thing that was right, like His servant\nJob. They had not made confession at the end, as he had done. And let us\ncherish this assurance. There are comfort and strength in it. The\nlanguage of repentance prevails. \"I have surely heard Ephraim bemoaning\nhimself,\" says Jehovah--and then came the divine compassion: \"Is Ephraim\nmy dear son? is he a pleasant child? for since I spake against him, I do\nearnestly remember him still.\" Or, as we may learn from Hosea, words of\nconfession and repentance from Israel, in the latter day, mightily\nprevail with God. \"O Israel, return unto the Lord thy God; for thou hast\nfallen by thine iniquity. Take with you words, and turn to the Lord: say\nunto Him, Take away all iniquity, and receive us graciously.\" \"I will\nheal their backsliding, I will love them freely,\" is the divine answer,\nwith a rich and beautiful chapter of promises.\n\nThe consolation of this! the tale it tells us of grace, unwearied,\nlong-suffering grace! And accordingly Job flourishes again. The Lord is\nas the dew to him. He grows as the lily, his branches spread, his beauty\nis as the olive tree, his scent as Lebanon. In \"the end of the Lord\" he\nis seen as \"in the regeneration,\" or day of the kingdom, and even others\ndwell under his shadow, reviving as the corn, and growing as the vine.\nSee Hosea xiv.[31]\n\n [31] I do not regard Job so much as a _type_, but rather as a _sample_.\n      His calling was the common calling, as a dead and risen man. Every\n      saint, now gathering for heavenly glory, is such. Israel in the\n      latter day will be as such, and the whole system of the millennial\n      age. The Lord Jesus holds all things, and exercises His offices,\n      as the One that was dead and is alive again. But I judge it to be\n      more fitting to speak of Job as a sample of the common calling,\n      than as a type. I could not, however, object to the expression,\n      were it used by others.\n\n      Job learnt his lesson through sufferings. The Lord, I may say, did\n      the same. Hebrews ii. iv. v. He was made perfect for His high\n      functions in that way. Christ's compassions could not have been\n      _priestly_, till He became a man, partaker of the flesh and blood\n      of the children, and suffered as such. And Job's history may be\n      read as the expression or foreshadowing of all this.\n\n      So Israel. They will be as a people who, having destroyed\n      themselves, have found their help in God. Hosea presents them in\n      that character. Their language in chapter xiv. is the language of\n      such a people. And Job's history may be regarded as the expression\n      or foreshadowing of this also. He revives, he grows again as the\n      lily, and his branches spread, at the end, as Israel and Israel's\n      branches will, according to their prophet. So that we may speak of\n      Job as a type. But I still feel and judge it to be more fitting,\n      to present him as a sample of us all, in the common faith, as dead\n      and risen with Christ.\n\nSuch was our Patriarch in \"the end of the Lord.\" Another witness he is\nthat the burning bush is never consumed, because of the good-will of Him\nwho dwells in it. It may be Israel in Egypt, or in Babylon, the children\nin the furnace, or the prophet in the den. It may be a poor elect\nGadarene, beset with a legion, or the patriarch, the sport of wind and\nfire and bodily disease, of Chaldeans and Sabeans too, the power and\nmessengers of Satan let out upon him, still the burning bush is\nunconsumed for the goodwill of Him who dwells in it. \"We had the\nsentence of death in ourselves,\" says the apostle, as speaking in the\nname of them all, \"that we should not trust in ourselves, but in God who\nraiseth the dead.\"\n\nSuch an one was our Patriarch. And such an one he had learnt himself to\nbe. In the school of God he had now learnt his calling, as in the\nexperience of his own soul. But a great lesson it is. A great\ndifference, I am full sure, between having God in the midst of our\ncircumstances, and God as Himself the first and great circumstance. The\nfirst was Job's way at the beginning. He would not have been without\nGod. He owned Him, and gave Him an altar in the family scene. But he had\nnot said to Him, Thou shalt choose our inheritance for us. He had not,\nas Abram did afterward, _come out from circumstances with God_, trusting\nHim to surround him with His own circumstances. The power to do this\ncries, \"Whom have I in heaven but Thee? and there is none upon earth\nthat I desire beside Thee.\" For such was the utterance of a saint when\nhis soul had come forth from the tempest and temptation of seeing\nhimself second to the wicked in the conditions and circumstances of life\nhere. Ps. lxxiii.\n\nWhat a voice this truth has for us! Some may listen to it for _comfort_,\nothers of us of feebler faith for _warning_. The world and pride and\nselfishness form the circumstances out of which the call of God summons\nus; and religion, in a sense, may have brought God into them; but faith,\nin its simplicity, forms the other, and God has not to be brought into\nthem, for He is there from the beginning, the great Framer or Artificer\nof them all.\n\nOne repeats this truth, for it is, as I judge, the great secret of this\nBook. Our Job at the end learnt the power of the call of God. And this,\nI may say, imparts a just and spiritual bearing to all he now does, as\nwell as invests his whole estate with the beauty and stability of\nmillennial days.\n\nHe was, at the beginning, as a _prophet_, _priest_, and _king_, and so\nis he again, at the end. But he is so after a new order, exercising his\ndifferent functions more according to the mind of God. As a _prophet_,\nhe had, at the beginning, too confidently assumed to be the interpreter\nof God and His ways; but now he says, \"I will demand of Thee, and\ndeclare Thou unto me.\" He will be a disciple of the Lord, ere he teach\nothers; he will have his ear opened, ere his tongue be loosed. Isa. 50.\n4. Such is the purifying of his prophetic ministry. He will know\nnothing, save as he learns it from God. His doctrine is not _his_ now.\nAs a _priest_, at the beginning, he had stepped in between God and his\nchildren, to heal probable or dreaded breaches. But he does not seem to\nwash his own clothes, while sprinkling the purifying water on others.\nNum. xix. 21. He wanted to remember that he himself was also in the\nbody, temptable like the weakest. Gal. vi. 1. But now he is _accepted_\nhimself. Job xlii. 9; Ezek. xiv. 14, 20. As a _king_, his honours now\ncome after his afflictions, his glories after his sufferings; and also\nafter he prayed for his friends, is his captivity turned. He exercises\ngrace, ere he is again entrusted with power--all this being according to\nthe great originals. \"Ye are they which have continued with Me in my\ntemptations, and I appoint unto you a kingdom, as my Father hath\nappointed unto Me.\"\n\nIn these ways, he is prophet, priest, and king, _after a_ _new order_,\nand all is refined in the furnace, like gold tried in the fire.\n\nAnd he is the father of a family again, a family also, as I may again\nsay, of a new order--nothing has to be corrected among them, but all is\nin happy, holy fellowship, the heart of the father turned to the\nchildren, and the heart of the children to their father. At the\nbeginning he had to watch their ways, and provide for the evil they\nmight have committed. But at the end there is nothing of this; their\nfather has only to see them with admiration and delight. They awakened\n_fear_ at first, but now _contentment_.\n\nAnd further, in this beautiful millennial or resurrection scene, which\nthus closes this story, the stormy wind is hushed, and the lightning of\nthe thunder strikes no more. In this day of a second Noah, such as Job\nwas (the lord of a new world), the waters which once \"prevailed\" are now\n\"assuaged.\" And the Chaldeans and Sabeans no longer spoil the spoil, and\nprey the prey. There is \"no adversary nor evil occurrent,\" no \"Canaanite\nin the house of the Lord\" now. Nothing hurts or destroys in all the holy\nmountain. The Lord delivers His people from those who served themselves\nof them.\n\nAll this is pledged and pictured for us here. And what may be said to be\nof still deeper value to us, the great enemy himself, the ready and\nwishful agent of all the mischief and sorrow that had come in, is gone\nlikewise. At the beginning he is in the action, exercising himself as an\naccuser in heaven, and as a tormentor on earth. And it is for the\ncomfort of the tried saint, that the hand of both God and the enemy are\nengaged in his trial; the enemy (as here with our patriarch) seeking to\ncast his crown to the ground, and to cast his fair memorial with God in\nthe dust, the Lord purposing (and performing it) to brighten that crown,\nand still further to bless the heir of those dignities and joys. It is a\ncomfort to the saint, in the day of trial, to remember this. But, at the\nend, the enemy is gone. The purpose, in the wisdom of God, for which he\nhad been used, is answered, and he is gone. The discipline of Job had\nceased as in his destruction.\n\nSatan had understood Job. He knew the workings of that corrupt nature,\nwhich his own lie had formed in the garden of Eden. He had said, \"Doth\nJob fear God for nought? Hast not Thou made an hedge about him?... Touch\nall that he hath, and he will curse Thee to Thy face.... Skin for skin;\nyea, all that a man hath will he give for his life.\" And serious and\nterrible is the thought, beloved, that he knows us so thoroughly, and\nunderstands the springs of thought and will within us. But though he\nthus understands _Job_, he did not understand _God_. The counsels of\ngrace are above him. And by reason of this, he has been always, in the\nhistory of this world, defeating himself, while thinking that he was\ngetting advantage of us; for he has to meet God in the very thing he\ndoes, and the purposes he plans, against us. When he interfered with\nAdam in the garden, he encountered God to his confusion, and the promise\nto Adam announced his own doom. When he provoked David to number the\npeople, Ornan's threshing-floor was disclosed, and the spot where mercy\nrejoiced against judgment becomes the place of the temple. When he\nsifted the Apostles as wheat, he was answered by the prayer of Jesus,\nand, instead of faith failing, brethren were strengthened. And, above\nall, when he touched Jesus on the cross, the very death he inflicted was\nhis own perfect and accomplished ruin. So, in every trouble which he\nbrings on any of us, he finds, or is to find, sooner or later, that he\nhas met the mighty God, and not the feeble saint. He entered Job's nest\nthat he might spoil it, and leave it driven and wasted. He came into\nanother garden then. But God was there as well as his servant Job, and\nin the end Satan is confounded.\n\nThus is it with the saints and their enemy. They shall take the kingdom,\nand in the kingdom Satan shall have no place. Out of the trials which he\nhad raised around them and against them, they come forth to wear their\ncrowns, and sing their songs. And, instead of his appearing again \"among\nthe sons of God,\" the mighty angel shall lay hold on him, and cast him\ninto the bottomless pit.[32]\n\n [32] It has been observed by another, that Satan is _always_ defeated.\n      This thought seems to get the most striking confirmations from\n      Scripture, beyond the cases mentioned above.\n\n      He is the instrument, the willing instrument, of destroying the\n      flesh; but that destruction ends in _the saving of the spirit_. 1\n      Cor. v. 5. He receives, gladly receives, one that is judicially\n      delivered over to him; but all that ends in _such an one learning\n      not to blaspheme_. 1 Tim. i. 20. He sends forth his messengers as\n      thorns in the flesh, delighting to do so, as being bent on\n      mischief, having been \"a murderer from the beginning;\" but this\n      still works good, for _the servant of Christ is thereby kept from\n      undue exaltation_. 2 Cor. xii. 7.\n\n      These are illustrious exhibitions of the devil being _always_\n      defeated. Because they show this--that he lends himself directly\n      to his own overthrow. His own weapon is turned against himself.\n      The one whom he assails is, by the very assault, given strength or\n      virtue against him.\n\n      Happy assurance! our great adversary is never victorious! It is\n      the pricks he kicks against.\n\nThis is full of blessing--and this is millennial blessing, shadowed here\nin this beautiful story. But there is more. There will be no question in\nthe millennial heavens about the saints, as there was about Adam in the\ngarden, and about Job in the beginning of this Book. The tree of\nknowledge tested the creature whom God had just made. But in the age of\nthe resurrection, in the heavens where Job and all the children of the\nresurrection will be, there will be no such test. There will be no\nquestion about man. There will be silence in heaven as to man, for the\ngreat Kinsman has answered all questions, and man is glorified there.\n\nSuch are the changes which have arisen, ere we leave this divine,\ninspired story. Has not the _trial_ of faith been _precious_, as St.\nPeter speaks, when we can talk of such changes? The enemy is gone. His\nministers, or messengers, the wind and the fire, the Chaldeans and\nSabeans, take their commission no more. Job, too, has changed his mind,\nand made his confession to God--his friends have changed their mind, and\nhumbled themselves to him. But there is One who abides the same. He has\nno step to retrace, no word to recall, no deed of His hand, or counsel\nof His heart, to alter or repent of. Other scriptures tell of Him, that\nHe is \"the same yesterday, and to-day, and for ever,\" and that with Him\nthere \"is no variableness, neither shadow of turning.\" And this precious\ntale about Him and His doings so illustrates and exhibits Him.\n\nThere is never entire calmness, or the absence of all haste and\ndistraction, where we are not conscious that our _strength is equal to\nour business_, whatever it may be. Nor is there, when we are not equally\nconscious of _integrity or righteousness in that business_. The\nconsciousness of both righteousness and strength is needed in order to\nfit the hand to do a deed, or the foot to take a step, with entire ease.\n\nNow we know that this ease marks all the ways and operations of God. He\nis ever at work (to speak after the manner of men) in the full\npossession of this undistractedness of which we are speaking. We might\njudge this from the necessary glory of His godhead. But the ways of\nJesus on earth always exhibited this, and He, as we know, was God\nmanifest in the flesh. And this ease and calmness, in which all the\noperations of God proceed, tell us, that though they may to us appear\nstrange and even wilful, as Job thought them, yet is He able to\ninterpret them every one, so as to be justified in His sayings, and\nclear when He is judged. And this is happy. \"The bud may have a bitter\ntaste,\" and \"blind unbelief is sure to err.\" These things are so. But\n\"God is His own interpreter, and He will make it plain.\" We know how our\nJob was tried--deeply, variously, and, as might be thought, wantonly,\nneedlessly; for he walked in the fear of God, and in the service of his\ngeneration. But \"the end of the Lord\" is more than vindication. It is\ndisplay. The trial is found to be unto praise and honour and glory. The\nlight of the coming day, rebuke what it may, will have only to set off\nand reflect the excellency of Him with whom we have to do.\n\nThus have we lingered, for a little, over these bright notices of\nmillennial days, \"the days of heaven upon earth,\" which shine at the\nclose of this lovely as well as serious and instructive tale of\npatriarchal times. But there is more.\n\nAt the beginning, Job held all his blessings with reserve and suspicion.\nHe was not in safety, nor at rest, nor in quiet; yet trouble came. \"The\nthing which I greatly feared is come upon me,\" says he, \"and that which\nI was afraid of is come unto me.\" It must needs be so. The instability\nwith which departure from God has affected every possession and every\nprofit here makes this necessary. But, at the end, there are no \"fears\nwithin,\" any more than Chaldeans or \"fightings without.\" No shadow\ncrosses the settled sunshine that rests on all around him, or the calm\nlight which fills all within.\n\nAnd further--his kinsfolk and acquaintance, at the end, seek him again.\nThey ought, indeed, never to have deserted him. For we deceive ourselves\nif we think that we must be right if we _grieve_ those whom God is\n_disciplining_. This is often very far indeed from being the case. The\nLord said in Zechariah, \"I am very sore displeased with the heathen that\nare at ease: for I was but a little displeased, and they helped forward\nthe affliction.\" So also is Isaiah xlvii. 6--and so Obadiah 10-14, to\nthe same effect. We are more commonly, perhaps, in God's mind, and act\nas the living vessels of the Spirit, when _soothing_ such. And sure I am\nit was so in Job's case. Had his former friends known God's way, they\nwould have dealt very differently with him. They would not have left\nhim. The very fact that \"the hand of God\" had touched him, as he so\ndeeply expresses it, would have been the occasion of \"pity,\" as he\nfurther says, from his friends.\n\nHowever, as part of the bright sunshine that gladdens his estate at the\nend, his kinsfolk and acquaintance again seek him. And they do so to\n_congratulate_ as well as to _compassionate_ him. And if they talk to\nhim of past griefs, it is but to heighten his present joy--as Israel\nafterwards, in their triumphant feast of Tabernacles, might make booths\nand sit under them, in grateful remembrance of wilderness-days.\n\nAll these are happy reverses, and the latter end of our patriarch is\ntwice as good as his beginning. But among all the gladdening\nanticipations which shine in the latter page of this history there is\nnone which more captivates the heart than _the reconciliation_. The\npatriarch and his brethren, as the narrative largely tells us, and as we\nwell know, had sadly fallen out by the way, as they walked along the\nhigh road of \"this present evil world;\" but as soon as they enter \"the\nage to come,\" the strife of tongues and stir of war are heard and seen\nno more.\n\nThis is truly welcome to the heart. For what joy will it be to be\ndelivered of selfishness and pride, and many other workings of an\nungenerous and perverted nature. How are the pleasures of the heart\nspoiled by such robbers continually! What a thing a page of history is!\nWhat a record of the agitations of envy and ambition and revenge! Is it\nnot misery thus to see men \"hateful, and hating one another,\" and then\nto remember that we are still alive and active in the midst of the same\nelements? But another thing is in our prospect; and it is the way of the\nwisdom and grace of God again and again, in the progress of His Word, as\nhere in the 42nd chapter of Job, to give us a mystic picture of it. Then\nman, as _deceived by Satan_, shall give place; and man, as _anointed by\nGod_, shall prevail. Then shall be known the joy of getting out of such\ndarkness into such light, of beholding the Sun again, after centuries of\nmidnight gloom.\n\nWe know from Scripture that great physical virtue will attend this\ncoming kingdom. As prophets sing, the wilderness \"shall rejoice and\nblossom as the rose\"--the lame shall leap as the hart, the tongue of the\ndumb shall sing, the cow and the bear shall feed together, and the wolf\nshall lie down with the kid. Nature in all its order shall own the\npresence of the Lord. The floods shall clap their hands, the trees of\nthe wood shall rejoice, before Him. As creation has already felt the\nbondage of corruption, it shall then feel the liberty of glory.\n\nIt will be as though dormant sensibilities had all been suddenly\nawakened. It will be as the sweeping of an exquisite instrument with a\nmaster hand. It will be the _same_ creation, but under new authority,\nnew influences. Let but the sons of God be manifested, and the whole\nsystem shall spring into new conditions and consciousness.\n\nAnd so _man_, when the powers of that coming age take him up as their\nsubject. Let but the passage be made from this present evil world into\nthe world to come, and new principles will at once gild and furnish the\nscene, and give _moral_ enjoyments (which are the richest of all) to all\npersonal and social life.\n\nThis will be the touching of an instrument of still finer workmanship.\nThe system around the vegetable and animal world is susceptible of such\nforms of beauty and of order as may make it all the vivid, happy\nreflection of divine goodness and wisdom; but in the renewed mind of man\nthere lie latent powers and affections of nothing less than the divinest\ntexture. In its present condition it has to struggle with nature, and to\nsuffer sore let and hindrance from the flesh. It is oppressed and\nencumbered by a gross atmosphere. But it has capabilities of acting,\njudging, and feeling of the highest order. And let but the due\ninfluences reach it in power, those sensibilities and faculties will be\nall awakened, and forms of moral beauty throughout all personal and\nsocial life will show themselves. What a hope for the spirit tried in\nconflict with the flesh! It will be the same \"new creature\" that now is:\nonly in other conditions. Not oppressed and clouded, but, as it were,\nbreathing its native air.\n\nScripture gives us many a witness of such moral virtue and enjoyment in\nthe millennial age. It is one of the most delightful occupations of the\nmind of Christ in us, to hear these witnesses, in their mystic language,\ndeliver their testimony.\n\nThe Father of Israel and the Gentiles are seen together, for a moment,\nin Genesis xxi. And their communion was a sample of the holy, happy\nintercourse of Israel and the nations, in the coming days of the\nkingdom. Questions which before had divided and disturbed them are now\nall settled. The well of water, which had been the occasion of strife,\nis now a witness of the oath or covenant. All pure social affections\nadorn this communion of Abraham and Abimelech; and they part under\npledged and plighted friendship. Abraham's grove, in principle, makes\nthe desert to bloom, and his altar makes the earth a sanctuary; but his\nway with Abimelech, and Abimelech's with him, give that bright moment\nits dearest and highest character. For there are no enjoyments like\n_moral_ enjoyments, no pleasures like those of the _heart_.\n\nSo in Exodus xviii. The heavenly and the earthly families are seen\ntogether, under the type of Jethro and the ransomed tribes, at the mount\nof God. And all is full of moral beauty. And yet the materials which\nmake up the scene had been, in other and earlier days, very differently\nminded towards each other. Moses and Zipporah had parted in anger, the\nlast time they had met, and the congregation had been murmuring again\nand again. But now the mount of God has influences for them, and from\nthe highest to the least, from Jethro down to the most distant parts of\nthe camp, all is in the power of godly order, subjection, and\nfellowship.\n\nThen again, that generation that lived in the closing days of David and\nin the early days of Solomon exhibit the same. They had been numbering\neach other to the sword, in the wood of Ephraim, but the sword is turned\ninto a ploughshare now. The days of Solomon were, typically or in\nspirit, millennial days, and sweet and surprising virtue attends them.\nInstead of going forth again to the field of battle, they sit, every man\nwith his neighbour, under the vine and under the fig-tree. \"Judah and\nIsrael were many, as the sand which is by the sea in multitude, eating\nand drinking, and making merry.\"\n\nAre not these _moral_ transfigurations? And how blessed they are! Pass\nbut the border. Leave man's day for the Lord's day. Breathe the air of\nthe Mount of God--and all this moral renovation, with its countless\nsprings and streams of social felicity, shall be tasted, ever fresh and\never pure. 'Tis but a little while and all this shall be. The _same_\nbrethren, who may now be a trial to one another, like our Job and his\nfriends, shall then heighten and enlarge each other's joy. And in the\nearthly places, \"Ephraim shall not envy Judah, nor Judah vex Ephraim.\"\nPride and selfishness shall have ceased to depreciate, as they do now,\nwith all their companion lusts and wickednesses, the pleasures of the\nheart.\n\nThis patriarchal story, on which we have now been meditating, more\nancient than, and as illustrious as, any of these inspired records,\ngives us a like sample of millennial days. Job and his three friends,\nEliphaz the Temanite, Bildad the Shuhite, and Zophar the Naamathite, are\nthe same Job, Eliphaz, Bildad, and Zophar, the same _persons_. And they\nare no longer contending, but united brethren. They have ascended the\nmount at the end; and there lies all the difference. And barren indeed\nour hearts must be of every gracious affection, and dead to all godly\nemotions, if we hail not such a prospect.\n\nHe who by His blood did long ago break down all partition walls, and who\nis now, by His Spirit, giving believers common access to the Father,\nwill by-and-by, with His own hand, join the stick of Ephraim and the\nstick of Judah, and make them one there. Ezekiel xxxvii. 16. His Israel\non the earth shall see \"eye to eye,\" for the light and the joy of Zion's\nsalvation shall be passed, with holy speed, from the messengers on the\nmountains to the watchmen of the city, and from them to the people, and\nfrom the people to the nations (Isaiah lii. 7-9)--and, among the\nheavenly people, the children of the resurrection, like Job and his\nfriends, \"that which is in part shall be done away, and that which is\nperfect shall come.\"\n\n\n\n\n                             THE CANTICLES.\n\n\n\"Will God in very deed dwell with men on the earth? Behold, heaven and\nthe heaven of heavens cannot contain Thee.\"\n\nThis was the devout breathing of the king of Israel (the penman, too, of\nthis little book to which we are now proposing, in the Lord's grace, to\nintroduce ourselves), when the glory had come to fill the house which he\nhad builded.\n\nBut so it was. The Son of God, Jehovah's Fellow, He that was with God\nand was God, was manifest in flesh, and conversed with us here. He dwelt\nwith men on the earth. He tabernacled among us. He was Jesus. We knew\nHim as such. He was a _Man_, and a Friend, and a Master, and a\nCompanion. He invited confidence. He sought sympathy and imparted it.\nAnd, as a _Man_, we know Him still--as truly a Man amid the brightest\nglories of heaven now, as once He was a Man amid the ruins and sorrows\nof earth--as able, through sympathy, to understand the sufferings of His\nsaints still, as when He walked the streets and highways here, bearing\nour griefs and carrying our sicknesses.\n\nAnd what will He be even for ever? Still _Jesus Christ_. Dominion of all\nthings will be His as a _Man_. The scene may change the second time,\nfrom the present temple in heaven to the kingdom of glory, as at first\nit changed from the cities and villages here to the temple on high, but\nit is \"the _Man_ Christ Jesus\" who passes from scene to scene. Precious\nmystery! Manhood having been once taken up, will never be given up. A\ntemple has been found for the glory, a vessel for the blessing, a person\nfor the manifestation, an instrument for the exercise of power and\ngovernment, suited to the counsels of divine wisdom and to the purposes\nof divine goodness.\n\n\nFrom the beginning of His ways, and throughout them, the Lord God has\nbeen evidencing His purpose to bring His creature _man_ very near to\nHim. The expression of this has been different, but still constant.\n\nIn patriarchal days the intimacy was _personal_. He walked in the midst\nof the human family, personally appearing to His elect; not so much\nemploying either prophets or angels, but having to do with the action\nHimself.\n\nIn the times of Israel, He was not so much in \"the human guise\" as\nbefore. He was rather in mystic dress. But still He was _near_ them. The\nLord in the burning bush, the glory in the cloud, the armed captain by\nJericho, speak this nearness. The God of Israel seen on the sapphire\nthrone, the glory filling the temple courts, or seated between the\ncherubim, tell the same. And the promises, \"I will set My tabernacle\namong you ... and I will walk among you,\" and \"Mine eyes and Mine heart\nshall be there perpetually,\" alike witness this desired and purposed\nfellowship.\n\nThen, in the progress of the ages, the assumption of manhood is a\nwitness, I may say, that speaks for itself; and the _ways_ of God\nmanifest in the flesh agree therewith. Jesus \"came eating and drinking.\"\nAnd still the same, after He had become the _risen Man_. He had not\nthen, it is true, one lodging and repast with His disciples, as once He\nhad. He did not then, as before, go in and out among them. They were not\nto know Him \"after the flesh,\" as in earlier days. But still there was\nfull intimacy. There was many a note of conscious authority about Him,\nit is most true. He speaks of all power in heaven and in earth being\nHis. He opens their understandings. He pronounces peace upon them on new\nand authoritative grounds, He imparts the Holy Ghost, as the Head of the\nnew creation. He blessed, as Priest of the temple, the only Priest. All\nthis He does, as risen from the dead, with conscious power; but, with\nall this, He owns intimacy, loving, personal intimacy, as near and dear\nas ever, if not more so. He eats and drinks with them, as once He did.\nHe calls them \"brethren,\" as He had not done before His resurrection. He\nspeaks of having one God and Father with them, as He had not done then.\nThough with all authority He sends them forth to work, yet does He still\nwork with them. Mark xvi.; Luke xxiv.; John xx. And though He was at\nthat time paying them only an occasional visit, a visit now and then, as\nHe pleased, during forty days (Acts i. 3), yet He intimates, by a little\naction, that, by-and-by, all such distance and separation will be over,\nand they should \"follow\" Him to His place, risen and glorified with\nHimself. John xxi. 19-23.\n\nIs not all this intimacy still? desired and enjoyed intimacy on the part\nof our \"everlasting Lover\"? And as to this present dispensation, the\nsame is provided for and maintained, though in a different way. The Holy\nGhost is come. The Spirit of truth is in us. Our bodies are nothing less\nthan His living temples or dwelling-places, while the Son has,\nmystically, borne us to heaven in and with Himself. Eph. ii. 6. Surely\nno form of fellowship which we have contemplated is more deep and\nintimate than this. If, personally, the Lord God was with the\npatriarchs, and would take a calf and a cake in the love of\nhospitality--if, in the sight of the whole congregation, He would let\nthe glory fill the temple courts in the joy of its new-found\nhabitation--if, in \"the Man Christ Jesus,\" the Lord God would walk with\nus, and share our seasons of rest and labour and refreshment, talking at\na well with one elect sinner, or letting another press His bosom at\nsupper, and ask Him about the secrets that were in that bosom--in this\npresent day He has us, in the thoughts and affections of His own heart,\nup in heaven with Himself, and the Holy Ghost is here with us, in the\nmidst of the thoughts and affections of our hearts.\n\nIs this, I ask, intimacy of a feebler nature? Is this a retracing of His\nway back into His own perfections and sufficiency, or amid the glories\nand principalities of angels? Is this _reserve_, as men speak? Is this\nwithdrawing Himself, or repenting of former intimacy with man, as though\nHe had been disappointed and put off? \"Adam, where art thou?\" was His\nvoice. But has Adam's retreat forced the Lord back? Let this one\nWitness, this Witness of our times, this indwelling Spirit, leading us\nin company with Himself after this manner, tell us. All His present way\nis only a richer pursuit of that purpose which broke forth, in infant\nform, in the days of Genesis.\n\nAnd what shall we say of this intimacy in still future days? Redeemed\nmen take the place of cherubic nearness to the throne. The living\ncreatures and the crowned elders are there, and the angels do but\nsurround them as well as the throne. The Lamb's wife, the holy\nJerusalem, bears the glory in her bosom. The Tabernacle of God is with\nmen, and He will dwell with them.\n\n\nBut if all this be so, as it surely is, a holy inquiry arises, How are\nwe to entertain this? In what spirit, and after what manner, are we to\nact on the truth of this gracious purpose of God? _We are to admit and\nbelieve it in all the simplicity in which it is revealed._ This is our\nfirst duty. We are by no means to refuse the thought of this divine\nnearness. Did John, I ask, refuse to lie on His Lord's bosom, or excuse\nhimself for doing so? No. Neither are we, through mistaken humility, to\nquestion whether we have rightly interpreted the many scriptures which\ndeclare this truth. We are to use the privileges it confers.\n\nBut with this use of its privileges we are to honour its claims. For\nthis presence of God is a _pure_ as well as a _cheerful_ element. Of\nold, the shoes were to be taken from the feet, when that presence was\nentered, to express the sense of holiness which became it. But that was\nall. Neither Moses nor Joshua were required to withdraw; only to tread\nsoftly. They were welcomed and encouraged, while instructed in the\nholiness of such intimacy.\n\nSo in the Canticles. The soul makes its boast of its Lord's love. It\ndoes not refuse to listen to the tenderest expressions of it, nor to\nrecite His well-known desire towards her; but withal, there is owned and\nfelt unworthiness. There is the breathing of the purest though most\nintimate thoughts--an affection quickly sensitive of the putting slight\non such wondrous condescensions of divine love, and diligence in\nnourishing in the soul the answer due to them. And, thus, this little\nbook gives very clear witness to the truth of God's intimacy with man,\nand to the manner in which it should be entertained by us. And in doing\nthis it introduces us to a great divine mystery, which, in like manner,\ngets its early and constant illustration in the Book of God--a mystery\nwhich must now hold our thoughts for a little. I mean that of the Bride\nand the Bridegroom.\n\nThe Church is called \"the Lamb's wife.\" But this title has its meaning.\n\"The Lamb\" is a figure or a description of the Son of God which tells us\nof the sorrows He endured for us. The soul well understands this; and\ntherefore this title, \"the Lamb's wife,\" tells us that it is by _His\nsufferings_ the Lord has made her His own; that He valued her so as to\ngive up all for her. And from the beginning He has been publishing this\nprecious gospel truth.\n\nEre Adam received Eve he was cast into a deep sleep, and out of his side\nwas taken a rib, of which was formed that one that was afterwards\npresented to him as his wife. This witnesses the mystery I have\nmentioned. Adam was humbled and Adam suffered (I mean, of course, only\nin the symbol or mystery), ere he received Eve; all this casting\nbeforehand the shadow of the humiliation and suffering of the true Adam,\nin acquiring His Eve for Himself.\n\nSo Jacob afterwards. He had to sustain the burthen and heat of a long\nand toilsome day, ere he could possess himself of Rachel. The law of her\npeople, the law of her country, and the oppressive exactions of the\ncovetous Laban, had put him on these terms. He had to endure the\nconstant consuming of sun and moon, to toil night and day, and have his\nexile lengthened out, or go without his Rachel.\n\nJoseph, ere he got his Asenath, was separated from his brethren.\n\nThe same thing we see in Moses. He too was separated from his brethren.\nAnd still more, he _earned_ Zipporah. He rescued her from oppression,\nthen opened the well to her and her flock, and then her father owned his\nclaim to her hand. So with his second wife. He had to take her at the\nexpense of his good name with his own kindred; she was a black\nEthiopian, and did not suit the thoughts of his brother and sister. But\nhe bore the reproach, and married the Ethiopian.\n\nIn each of these marriages (typical as well as real) we see _the\ncharacter_ of the Bridegroom; we see the Lord Jesus Christ possessing\nHimself of His Bride _at some personal cost_. Whether it be humiliation\nand suffering, as in Adam, toil and weariness and conflict, as in Jacob,\nseparation and dreary loneliness, as in Joseph, or mere reproach, as\ndoing a thing unworthy of him, as in Moses, still it is, in principle, a\n_suffering_ Bridegroom that we see.\n\nAnd I might notice Boaz, another type of the same. He was a mighty man\nof wealth, but he pleads the cause of a poor gleaner in his fields; he\nallows her approaches and her suit, and takes her to him to wife. He is\nnot ashamed to make a destitute stranger, who but a day before depended\non the bounty of his hand, the companion of his wealth and honour, and\nthe builder of his house and name among the tribes of Israel. And thus\nthe marriage of Boaz tells out the same mystery, that the Bridegroom of\nthe Church is the One who had before been humbled to redeem her, and\nmake her His own.\n\n\nNot only, however, in types and illustrations is this great truth set\nforth, but in the plain teaching of Scripture also. It is said, that\nChrist loved the Church, then gave Himself for it, then sanctified it by\nthe washing of the Word--and all this, that He might present it worthily\nto Himself as His Bride. Eph. v. Here, doctrinally, or in the way of\nplain teaching, we have the _Lamb the Bridegroom_; for ere He takes the\nChurch _He gives Himself for her_. He takes to wife the one whom He had\nafore purchased with blood.\n\nIn Old Testament Scriptures, the same thing is taught, as between the\nLord and Jerusalem, which is, _in principle_, the same as Christ and the\nChurch.\n\nThus, in Isaiah it is said, Thy Maker is thy Husband, thy Redeemer--the\nwhole passage showing Jerusalem taken up by the Lord in simple\nloving-kindness, He owning one that, like the Ethiopian or like Ruth,\nmight be a reproach to Him. liv.\n\nSo Jeremiah represents the Lord in the very same grace, taking Jerusalem\neven after she had proved herself unfaithful, and been legally and\njudicially put away. iii.\n\nHosea is made the representative of the same. i.-iii. He buys his wife\n(iii. 2), he washes and cleanses her, as well as bears the reproach of\nespousing one in herself so worthless and lost.\n\nSo in the striking picture of Ezekiel. Jerusalem is looked at in her\nloathsome, offensive degradation; but when not one eye pitied, the Lord\nnot only took compassion on, but quickened, washed, clothed, anointed,\nbeautified, and endowed her, and did not stop till He had taken her to\nHimself. xvi.\n\nThus is it in the teachings or voices of the prophets, as in the early\ntypes and shadows; both and all telling out the mystery, that _the Lamb_\nis the _Bridegroom_, that the One who at the end seats her in the\ncompanionship of His glory, had before redeemed her by His blood, washed\nand purified her by His Word and Spirit, suffered reproach for her (Luke\nxix. 7), and gone down to her in her ruin, ere He could take her up to\nHis estate and honour.\n\nThis is the mystery of the Divine Bridegroom. All human tales or fables\nfall short of this, let the imagination that wrought them up be as\nfervent as it may. This is the mystery of a love that passes knowledge\nbetween Christ and the Church. She must love Him for the service He has\nshown her; He must love her for the cost she has put Him to. She will\nfind herself for ever by the side of One who so loved her as to die for\nher. He will see one by His side who so engaged Him that He was willing\nto go through with His affection, though the cost of loving her would\ntake (to speak after the manner of men) all that He was worth. He cannot\nbut prize her supremely, and so she Him. This only difference may be\nobserved--that His love was proved ere she became His, for He had\nbeforehand counted the cost of loving her--her love, later and more\nbackward, and only in the second place, began on her knowing His love\nfor her. For Christ, as the Bridegroom (as in everything else, whether\nof grace or glory, Col. i.), is to have \"the pre-eminence.\" In the\ncharacter of His love He entirely outshines the love of the bride, and\nleaves hers, as it were, no love at all, by reason of the love that\nexcelleth.\n\n\nBut having thus looked at the Bridegroom, I would, in like manner, see\nthe Bride for a moment or two. But I must limit myself, and will,\ntherefore, only trace her as reflected in the Book of Genesis.\n\n_Eve_ is, of course, the earliest type. In her we see the personal\ncharacteristics of the bride: she is formed by the Lord for Adam. Adam's\njoy in a helpmeet was what the Lord proposed to Himself when He began to\nform Eve. He had respect to Adam's need and joy in this work. And when\nAdam receives Eve from the hand of the Lord, his words express his\nsatisfaction in her, vindicating the Lord's workmanship, that His hand\nhad accomplished the design which His love had undertaken. Eve was\nfitted to Adam. This was her full personal beauty. He owned her bone of\nhis bone, and flesh of his flesh. _All in her was attractiveness._ She\nentirely answered the expectations, and satisfied the heart, of him for\nwhom she had been formed. He took her and clave to her (Gen. ii.); and\nthis, we know, is a type of Christ and the Church. Eph. v.\n\n_Sarah_ is the next distinguished female in that book; and she is a\nmystic person also. But it is not the Bride whom she expresses, but the\nMother. So that I will not particularly notice her. For Abraham is \"the\nfather of all them that believe\"--and Sarah is \"the free woman\" or, in\nan allegory, \"the mother of us all\" (Gal. iv.), linked with the family\nof God in the place of the mother, rather than with the Lord as His\nBride. So that I pass her by.\n\n_Rebecca_ comes next in this holy line, and in her we have the Bride\nagain, as in Eve. But great and blessed truths connected with the Bride\nare told in Rebecca. She is separated from Isaac. He is far away, and\nhas never seen her. But Rebecca is the father's choice, and Eliezer's\ncare, till Isaac receives her. Isaac longed for her. That is shown by\nhis going forth in solitariness to meditate at eventide. But beyond the\nsense of this loneliness, we do not see Isaac doing or suffering\nanything for her. The council about the wife is taken between Abraham\nand Eliezer. They settle the whole plan. And Eliezer, in beautiful,\nself-denying service, goes on toil and travel to secure this elect Bride\nfor Isaac. And he does secure her. And he prepares her for him. He not\nonly separates her from her kindred and her father's house, but conducts\nher across the desert; on the way, doubtless, telling her many a tale of\nhim whose she was so soon to be--till at length he gives her safely into\nIsaac's hand, and Isaac, like Adam, is comforted in his Bride.\n\nThis is a beautiful light in which to look at the Bride; the one who is\nbrought home to her lord from the distant land, having been the object\nof the father's choice, and of the servant's care. This is a mystery.\nAnd in it we get the Lord receiving His Bride at the hand of the Father\nand of the Holy Ghost, chosen for Him, and given to Him, He having\nnothing to do but to take her at their hand, and to find in her, as\nIsaac found in Rebecca, the relief of his solitariness, the inmate of\nhis tent, and the companion of all his joys.\n\n_Rachel_, next in order, shows herself to us. And in her we get the\nBride again, though in a different character. Here we find the one who\nwas to own and enjoy her, travelling and toiling for her. And this is\njust as true, in the mystery, as the other. For, in one sense, Christ\nhas only to receive His Bride at the hand of the Father and the Holy\nGhost, the gift of the one and the workmanship of the other--but, in\nanother sense, He has Himself gone into the distant land, and (as I have\nalready been observing on the Bridegroom) laboured and been put to\nreproach and wrong for her. In all this, Jacob sets forth the true\nBridegroom. The Lord Jesus personally has borne the heat of the day _all\nalone_. He had not where to lay His head, like Jacob--absent from His\nFather's house, and the place of His inheritance--wronged again and\nagain in a world which, like Laban and his house, ever seeks its own;\nand yet, enduring all this, and willing to endure all this, for the love\nthat He had to her whom His eye had rested on; as Jacob's seven years of\nservice seemed to him but as a few days, because of his love for Rachel.\n\nThis is as striking a picture of the truth as we have yet seen; here the\nsame mystery of the Bride is still published to us, though still in a\ndistinct part of it. In Eve, we had her full personal fitness for her\nLord--in Rebecca, we had her as the object of the Father's election and\nthe Spirit's care, in order to give her to Christ--in Rachel, we see her\nas the prize, whom the Lord sets before His own eye, for the sake of\nwhich He will give Himself to exile and toil and wrongs. As reflected in\nIsaac, He has nothing to do for her; as reflected in Jacob, He has\neverything to do for her.\n\n_Asenath_ closes these wonders. She is the woman of the fourth\ngeneration of the Patriarchs. There is the Sarah of Abraham, the Rebecca\nof Isaac, the Rachel of Jacob, and the Asenath of Joseph. She now in her\nturn takes up the same mystic tale. She was a Gentile, and in nowise,\nlike the rest, connected in the flesh with Joseph. The enmity of his\nbrethren had cast Joseph among her people. And he is honoured there, and\nwith these strange and Gentile honours gets a Gentile bride and family;\nand in the bosom of this unexpected joy he is willing to forget, for a\nseason, his father's house, and to account himself fruitful or happy,\nthough among strangers.\n\nThis, in its season, is as full of meaning as any of our previous pages\nin this tale of the Bride. For here we get the Bride in her Gentile,\nheavenly character. Here we are told a great secret; that this same\npersonage, whose beauty and personal characteristics we saw in Eve,\nwhose election by the Father and conduct under the hand of the Spirit we\nsaw in Rebecca, and whose purchase for Himself by the personal toil and\nsorrow of Christ we saw in Rachel, is a _Gentile_, a _Stranger_, one\nbrought into union with the Lord, after His own kindred in the flesh had\nrefused Him.\n\nAll this speaks clearly in the ear of the scribe that is instructed unto\nthe kingdom of heaven; he traces the mystery of the Bride in all this,\nand listens to Eve, to Rebecca, to Rachel, and to Asenath telling out\nseparate parts of it. And how does all this witness to us _the delight\nwhich Christ takes in His saints_! It is not merely that He has saved\nthem by His blood, but they are His crown and His joy, His glory and His\ndelight. His own love and workmanship have been displayed in us, more\nhighly than in any scene of His power. And this joy of Christ in His\nsaints is strongly expressed in each of these cases. We love Him for the\nsorrows He has endured, and He loves us who thus prize His love. John\nxiv. 21. And if these affections be not understood as passing between\nChrist and the saint, if we do not, without reserve, allow this\nsatisfaction in each other, our souls will not enter into much of that\ncommunion which the Scripture provides for. The Canticles will not be\nunderstood, if we do not allow and entertain the thought of Christ's\ndelight in the saints, with the same certainty that we allow the thought\nof His having purchased and sanctified them by His blood.\n\nBut this communion must spring from intelligence of the soul, or it will\nbe mere natural fervour. When Ruth sought the feet of Boaz, and did not\nagain go to the gleaning-field, it was because Naomi had been\ninstructing her further about him. Her soul had passed through the light\nof Naomi's words, and, thus taught, she desires more intimate fellowship\nwith him than she had yet enjoyed. She seeks _himself_. The\ngleaning-field, where she was less than his handmaids, is deserted, and\nthe place of a suitor for himself is assumed. She cannot call herself\nless than one of his handmaids any longer. She seeks a kinsman's love,\nfor she knows him to be a kinsman. And this is truly blessed.\n\n\nLove, or desire towards another, takes different forms in the heart.\nThere is the love of _pity_, the love of _gratitude_, and the love of\n_complacency_. The love of pity regards its object in some sort as\n_below_ it, and is full of tenderness. The love of gratitude, on the\ncontrary, regards its object as _above_ it, and is full of humility. The\nlove of complacency does not necessarily look either above or below, but\nsimply at its object, and is full of admiration. But, in addition to\nthis, there is the love of _kindred_. It has its foundation in nature,\nand hence it is called \"natural affection.\" And this love of kindred has\na glory which is peculiarly its own. _It warrants the deepest\nintimacies._ There is no settling of one's self for the other's\npresence. There is full ease in going out and coming in. _Expressions_\nof love are not deemed intrusive--nay, they are sanctioned as being due\nand comely. The heart knows its right to indulge itself over its object,\nand that, too, without check or shame. This is the glory of this\naffection. The love of pity, of gratitude, or of complacency, must act\ndecorously, and in proper form. But the love of kindred, the love of\nthose who dwell in one house, and whom nature or the hand of God has\nbound together, feels its right to gratify itself, and is not fearful of\nbeing rebuked. See, for instance, Canticles viii. 1. This is its\ndistinguishing boast. Nothing admits this but itself. This is, in a full\nand deep sense, \"personal affection.\"\n\nParents and children, brothers and sisters, husbands and wives (and I\nmight add, friends), know this. They know their title to indulge,\nwithout scorn or rebuke, in the warmest expressions of their mutual\nlove. And it is the richest feast of the heart. The love of pity has its\nenjoyment, and so have the love of gratitude and the love of\ncomplacency; but they do not, in themselves and alone, warrant these\n_personal_ fervours. Personally, their objects may be below, above, or\nat a distance, and should be approached with a due respect to all their\nrights. But not so with our kindred, because it is their _persons_ and\nnot _their qualities_ or _conditions_, that form the ground of our love.\nWe may deal with them without apology or reserve. In such cases it is\n_himself_ that the heart embraces. It is not his sorrows, his favours,\nor his excellencies, but it is himself, which this affection handles and\nconverses with.\n\nWe may receive a benefit from a person, and be assured of a hearty\nwelcome to it, and yet feel ourselves ill at ease in his presence.\nNothing is more common than this. Gratitude is awakened in the heart\nvery deeply, and yet reserve and uneasiness are felt. It calls for\nsomething beyond our assurance of his good-will, and of our full welcome\nto his service, to make us at ease in the presence of a benefactor. And\nthis something, I believe, is the discovery that we have an interest in\n_himself_, as well as in his _ability to serve us_.\n\nThis delineates, as I judge, the experience of the poor woman with the\nissue of blood. Mark v. She knew the Lord's ability to relieve her\nsorrow, and her hearty welcome to avail herself of it. She, therefore,\ncomes and takes the virtue out of Him without reserve. But she comes\n_behind Him_. This expresses her state of mind. She knows her welcome to\nHis service, but nothing more. But the Lord trains her heart for more.\nHe lets her know that she is interested in _Himself_, as well as in _His\npower to oblige her_. He calls her \"daughter.\" He owns kindred or\nrelationship with her. This was the communication which alone was equal\nto remove her fears and trembling. Her rich and mighty patron is her\nkinsman. This is what her heart needed to know. Without this, in the\nspirit of her mind, she would have been still \"behind\" Him. But this\ngives her ease. \"Go in peace\" may then be said, as well as \"Be whole of\nthy plague.\" She need not be reserved. Christ does not deal with her as\na patron or benefactor. Luke xxii. 25. She has an interest in _Himself_\nas well as in His _power to bless her_. And so as to the Canticles. It\nis the love which warrants _personal intimacy_ (after this manner of the\nnearest and dearest relationships) that breathes in this lovely book.\nThe age of the union has not yet arrived. But it is the time of\nbetrothment, and we are His delight. Nay, it was so ere worlds were.\nProv. viii.\n\nDo we believe this? Does it make us happy? We are, naturally, suspicious\nof any offer to make us happy in God. Because our moral sense, our\nnatural conscience, tells us of our having lost all right even to His\nordinary blessings. The mere moral sense will therefore be quick to\nstand to it, and question all overtures of peace from heaven, and be\nready to challenge their reality. But here comes the vigour of the\nspiritual mind, or the energy of faith. Faith gainsays these conclusions\nof nature. It refuses at times to think according to the moral sense of\nnature, as it refuses at times to act according to the relative claims\nof nature. In their place, the dictates of the moral sense and the\nclaims of nature are sacred---as we read, \"Doth not even _nature_ itself\nteach you, that if a man have long hair it is a shame unto him?\" But\nstill they are not supreme. If God put in His claim, or make His\nrevelation, the _relations_ of nature and the _moral sense_ of nature\nare to withdraw their authority. \"He that loveth father or mother more\nthan Me is not worthy of Me.\" And in the revelation of God, faith reads\nour abundant title to be near to Him and happy with Him, though natural\nconscience and our sense of the fitness of things would have it\notherwise. Faith feeds where the moral sensibilities of the natural mind\nwould count it presuming even to tread.\n\nI ask, then, Do we ponder, without reserve or suspicion, the thought of\nsuch love towards us in the heart of Jesus as this book suggests? Does\nit make us happy? We owe the love of children to God as our Father, the\nlove of redeemed ones to God as our Saviour, the love of disciples to\nJesus as our Master and Lord. But what is the love that we owe for this\nway of Christ's heart to us? How are we to meet it in a way worthy of\nit? This book, I believe, tells us. But this conducts the soul into the\nholiest. And what grief, and shame, and trouble of heart arise, when we\nreflect how little we are there, and how many tales against us all this\nis ever telling!\n\n\nThe Canticles do not give us the ways of filial affection, or of the\naffection due to a benefactor. But they give us, I believe, the actings\nof the love of espousals, in both Christ's heart and ours. The joy of\nhearing the Bridegroom's voice, I may say, is fulfilled here in the\nheart of the saint, as it was in the soul of the Baptist. And what, I\nwould ask, are the attributes of a commanding affection like this? What\ndo we find the power of it to be, when it seats itself in us?\n\nAs to _service_, it makes it welcome. To say that service for the object\nof this affection is \"perfect freedom\" is far too cold. It makes service\ninfinitely grateful, even though it call for self-denial or weariness.\nAnd it can render its offering without caring for any eye or heart to\napprove it, but that of the one whom it has made its object. It cares\nnot that others should be able to esteem its ways. It has all the\ndesired fruit of its service, if its object approve it, and give but its\npresence at the end of it. As to _society_, this affection wants none\nbut that of its object. If there be no weariness felt in service, as we\nhave been saying, so is there no irksomeness known in solitude. All that\nis cared for is the presence of that one who commands the heart. There\nis no sense of solitude, if that one _alone_ be present; there is no\nsense of satiety, though that one be _always_ present. As to _authority\nin the soul_, it holds its place, I need not say, unrivalled. It is the\nman of the heart. It breaks the bands and cuts the cords of other\ndesires. It makes us undervalue all things but the one. It may take\nother things up, but this is only by the way. It is ever glancing at its\nown thing, even if others be for a time in the foreground. It looks\nthrough the lattices at it. Other things are esteemed according to their\nconnection with it. And it will control the wrong and cultivate the\nright tendencies of the heart; for occasions which might wound vanity or\ngratify pride are not valued or pursued, while we retain it; and yet to\napprove ourselves there, we will nerve the heart and the hand to great\nand generous ways.\n\nWhat intenseness is here! and what purity also! It refreshes the soul to\nthink that we have been created susceptible of such affections. But the\nwarning of another is in season. \"Wherever a passion has these\nproperties, or any of them, conspicuous in it, it cannot, but by being\nconsecrated to God, avoid becoming injurious to Him and to itself. The\nvery nobleness of it entitles Him to it.\" But the same one tells us that\nwe should seek, not to _annihilate_, but to _transfigure_ it. He says,\n\"I would not have it swallowed up by death, the common fate, but be\nennobled by a destiny like that of Enoch and Elias, who, having ceased\nto converse with mortals, died not, but were translated to heaven.\"\n\nIt is good for us to listen to this. The heart has been made deeply\nsusceptible of this affection, and Christ is the offered object of it.\nHe proposes Himself to it. He claims the supreme place in our hearts.\n\"He that loveth father or mother more than Me, is not worthy of Me.\"\nWhatever passion of the soul be moved, it is God's right to have the\nhighest exercise of it towards Himself. It has not treated Him as God if\nit have not rendered this to Him. If each of the passions of our souls\ndo not give Him its richest and largest offerings, it is not a\n_worshipping_ passion.\n\nThis we may readily grant, needing, however, increase of grace ourselves\nto be worshippers on such a score. In the language of another; \"as,\namong the Jews, there were odoriferous unguents, which it was neither\nunusual nor unlawful to use themselves or bestow upon their friends, but\nalso a peculiar composition of a precious ointment, which God having\nreserved for His own service, the perfuming of others with it was\nsacrilege, so there are regulated degrees of love which we may harbour\nfor others, but there is too a certain peculiar strain of love which\nbelongs unto God.\" Exod. xxx. 34-38. It is, I may add, idolatry when\nbestowed on a creature, but it is worship when rendered to Him.\n\nThis may sound a solemn truth, but it is a happy one. Is it not blessed\nto know that our Lord claims our hearts and their affections? Have any\nof us, beloved, read \"the first and great commandment\" without, at\nleast, sometimes rejoicing in the grace that would make such a demand\nupon us? Mark xii. 30. Is it nothing to us that God Himself values our\nlove, that He says to us, \"My son, give Me thine heart\"? The wise\nvirgins delighted in such truth. Many had gone out with them, professing\nthe common expectation. The foolish had lamps. They took their place in\nthe common profession. But the wise counted the cost of the Bridegroom's\nabsence, and the hope of His return. In the spirit of their minds they\nhad said that, let His delay be long or short, they must still wait, for\nthat nothing could satisfy them but His presence. The night of His\nabsence might be long or short---they could not tell---they would not\nundertake to say. It might be, as to its length, a summer night, or a\nwinter night. But their hearts deeply owned this---that nothing could\nclose, nothing could turn that shadow of death into the morning, but the\nrestored presence of the Bridegroom. On this their souls were fixed.\nAnd, therefore, they took vessels of oil, as well as lamps. They\nprepared for a night season, they counted on a darksome time, till Jesus\nreturned. The expectation of their heart so supremely pointed to Him,\nthat nothing could change hope to fruition but His presence; they must\nbe expecting, expecting, and still expecting, till then. \"Hope to the\nend\" they purposed to do, for the grace that was to be brought to them\nat the revelation of Jesus Christ. It was a _worshipping_ hope.\n\nThe early freshness faded, I doubt not. This may sustain us who are so\nconscious of the dulness and stupidity of our hearts. The brightness of\nthat moment when the lamp was first lit is dimmed. \"While the Bridegroom\ntarried, they all slumbered and slept.\" But the reality of supreme\ndelight in Christ, and desire after Him, had not departed. The vessels\nwere still at the side of the slumbering virgins. The oil had not to be\n_bought_, but only to be _used_ afresh.\n\nHow does all this, as in a parable, tell of the heart cleaving to Jesus!\nAnd our Canticles express the same. And our own poets have sung of this\nlove, as well as these mystic songs of the King of Israel:\n\n      \"Jesus has all my powers possess'd,\n        My hopes, my fears, my joys,\n      He, the dear Sovereign of my breast,\n        Shall still command my voice.\n\n      \"Some of the fairest choirs above\n        Shall flock around my song,\n      With joy to hear the name they love\n        Sound from a mortal's tongue.\"\n\n\nThe Church receives such breathings as not beyond the measure or the\nmelody of the soul. And we want these affections to make us happy, and\nto set us free. It is a divine method of delivering us from the tyranny\nof carnal or worldly desires. It is the Spirit's way of spoiling other\nattractions of their power to seduce and fill the heart, and of lifting\nthe soul above the frettings of low anxieties. Look at the commanding\npower of such affection in the poor sinner in Luke vii. Working in her\nheart as it did, she was deaf to the reproaches and blind to the\nsplendours of the Pharisee and his entertainment. She knew only her\nObject. The feast and the guests were all lost upon her. This was the\n_power_ of affection in her. And what was the _value_ of it to Christ?\nNothing that it dictated or did passed His notice. He appeared to be\nsilent, and but the passive Receiver of her offerings; but He had noted\nthem all. The tears, and the kiss, and the ointment, and all, had been\nnoted in the book of His remembrance, and they are read therefrom, when\nthe time for the opening of that book had come.\n\nAnd look at the same in Mary at the sepulchre. She sees the angels. And\nthey were dazzling, beautiful in their generation, and wondrous to the\neye of flesh and blood. But what was all splendour to her then? The dead\nbody of her Lord was her object, the fond image of her heart, and even\nheavenly glories can be passed by in the pursuit of it. So with David of\nold. His soul was full of joy in the Lord. He will dance before the ark,\nhe would \"play before the Lord;\" and if such were shame, he purposed to\nbe viler still. As with Zaccheus too, not a king like David, but a mere\ncitizen of Jericho (for the Spirit links rich and poor, high and low,\ngentle and simple, as we speak, in one affection), he would press\nthrough the crowd, and without seeming to give the strangeness of the\ndeed a thought, climb into a sycamore tree in pursuit of the desire\nwhich then commanded his heart.\n\nWould that this, beloved, were more shed abroad in our hearts! How\nshould we learn to entertain Christ, as this passion entertains or\nembalms its object! And what a heaven it will be, when He is ours in\nthis way, feeding this fire in our souls, and giving us to know, in\nHimself and in His beauties, this seraph love without chill for ever and\never!\n\nWould that our hearts were longing for Him! This is what we find\nbreathed in the Canticles. It is not _filial_ love or _grateful_ love\nthat would ever send this message, Tell him that \"I am sick of love.\" It\nis more than that. Such is not the language of those affections, but\nsuch is the language of the Canticles. And, therefore, we cannot say\nless of this book, than that it is, after a mystic manner, the\nutterances of Christ and of a living, espoused soul--all springing from\nthe faith which gives the soul the happy assurance of acceptance and\nfavour with God through the Lord Jesus Christ.\n\n\nAs to the structure of it as a composition, I doubt not, for a moment,\nthe correctness of those who treat it as \"a collection of distinct idyls\nor little poems perfectly detached and separate from each other, with no\nother connection than what they derive from a common subject, the\npeculiarities of the style of a common author, and perhaps some unity of\ndesign in the mystic sense, which they are intended to bear.\" The\nspiritual senses of the saints are to be exercised in discerning the\nbeginnings and endings of these different canticles or little songs, and\nin interpreting the holy mysteries they express. Different light, and\ndifferent enjoyment in doing it, may surely be expected among us. But\nthat these songs or little poems are allegories, we will none of us\ndoubt. The intercourses of an espoused pair are the imagery; the love of\nChrist and the saint, the mystic sense. And warranted, I am sure, are\nthe suggestions of another on this subject, \"that there are those\nmanifestations of His love, and those affections kindled in the heart\ntowards the person of the Son of God, which may well borrow their\nallusions from the tenderest and most powerful affection which subsists\namong men.\" \"As the bridegroom rejoices over the bride, so shall thy God\nrejoice over thee.\" \"The Lord thy God in the midst of thee is mighty; He\nwill save, He will rejoice over thee with joy; He will rest in His love,\nHe will joy over thee with singing.\" \"So shall the king greatly desire\nthy beauty.\" \"Thou shalt abide for me many days ... thou shalt not be\nfor another man: so will I also be for thee.\" \"Husbands, love your\nwives, even as Christ also loved the Church.\" These and kindred\npassages, with many typical histories in Scripture, and some ordinances\nof the law, all warrant this thought, as well as the character of the\nSpirit's inworking at times in the souls of the saints.\n\n\nThe divine authority of this book has never been questioned in any way\nworthy of the least regard from those who walk simply in the light of\nGod, refusing man and his thoughts and his wisdom. \"Where is the wise?\nwhere is the scribe? where is the disputer of this world?\" It was ever\nreverenced by the Jews as a part of the oracles of God, and in that\ncharacter, we may assure ourselves, received the sanction of Christ, and\nof the Holy Ghost in the Apostles. No one should pause for a moment to\nadmit its value to the soul of the saint. \"We may,\" as has been well\nsaid, \"form but a guess concerning some of its beauties, but, in the\nhands of a Christian, it is invested with a brighter lustre than they\ncould have discerned, who read it in the days of Solomon. For though, in\nregard to the exterior imagery of the allegories, some of their beauties\nmay be lost, the hidden mystic sense is brought more to light, and\nmanifested with fuller assurance to the believer under the Gospel\ndispensation. 'For I tell you that many prophets and kings have desired\nto see those things which ye see, and have not seen them.'\"\n\n\nThere is no inquiry into the fact or the ground or the nature of our\nacceptance with God, in this book. Such questions and inquiries are\nsettled beforehand. The communion is _upon_ the settlement of them all,\nas I have already noticed. Acceptance with God is known. It is delight\nin Christ, occupation with Himself, that we get here. It is not the\nfinding of Him out, nor is it the confession of sins. The communion is a\n_sinner's_ communion, most surely--but it is of a consciously pardoned,\naccepted, and loved sinner. And when any sorrow or repentance is felt or\nowned, it is not for any blot or open transgression, but for some\nspiritual backsliding, some momentary coldness, some infirmity in\nmaintaining or cultivating the soul's due fervour. This is much to be\nobserved. Nothing gross, or even open, in conduct--nothing established\nas a habit is detected here--nothing that a soul that had not been\nalready in simple and earnest fellowship with Jesus would have been\napprehensive of. It is only _a present, temporary slothfulness of\nheart_. The very repentance and confession is of such a nature as\nintimates the fine tone of the soul that could feel and make it. The\ncontact or touch is so tender, that the very perception of it speaks the\ndelicacy of the organ which met it and resented it.\n\nBut what an element is this! Oh, how coarse, beloved, are our\nsensibilities compared with all this. Our poor souls are rarely here;\nthey are engaged ofttimes in doing first works again, in grieving over\nthe advantages which our lusts have taken of us, the surprisals which\nthe heat of wrong tempers has wrought, and such like things. But all\nsuch occupation of the soul keeps us below this pure and spiritual\ndelight in Christ, this sickness of love, this breathing on the\nmountains of myrrh, and this dressing and keeping of the garden of\nspices, here so blessedly presented. Surely it is but little of this we\nknow. Is God our exceeding joy? Is it in the chambers of the King, in\nthoughts of glory, we walk? Is our spikenard greeting our Lord, and are\nour souls able to call Him nothing less than our \"Beloved\"? It were well\nindeed if such affections as these were filling and commanding our\nhearts. Then should we have weapons of sure victory wherewith to meet\nour enemies, and to beat down the intrusive desires and thoughts that\ndefile us so often. In the figurative style of another we may say: \"As\nwhen, in a clear morning, the rising sun vouchsafes to visit us, the\nbright stars which did adorn our hemisphere, as well as those dark\nshades which did benight it, vanish.\" Lust could not with any power come\nagainst a soul thus occupied. This \"joy of the Lord\" would indeed be our\n\"strength.\" For what a dwelling-place opens here for faith to enter!\nWhat a banqueting-house for the soul! How far distant from fear and\nclouds of conscience such regions lie! The land of the turtle is this,\nthe garden of all pleasant fruits.\n\nBut where is the precious faith to enter it and walk there? We need to\ncry for largeness of heart in the bowels of Christ Jesus. It is of\ninfluence on the whole soul to be occupied with such affections. It\nstrengthens and sanctifies--for all questions of our _standing_ are\nanticipated, and our energy in _meeting temptation_ is increased, and\nthus the _liberty_ and _purity_ of the soul are secured. For how can the\nthought of _condemnation_ or the temptation to _defilement_ be\nentertained, when the believer is seeking to reach more into the light\nand joy of such communion as this? Does it not lead him into more than a\nmere escape from a spirit of bondage, or from practical evil? Is it not\nthe divine method of making him more than conqueror?\n\nAs expressing such communion as this, this book of the Song of Songs may\nsuit any saint. Not, however, that I mean, that we may necessarily\nfollow one path of experience, and go from one stage therein to another.\nBut according to the soul's enlarging knowledge of Jesus, so will, of\ncourse, be its enlarging experience. And there ought to be\n_progress_--as we read, \"Grow in grace, and in the knowledge of our Lord\nand Saviour Jesus Christ.\" And as the different relations in which the\nLord stands to us are apprehended and embraced by the soul,\ncorresponding experiences will arise, for experience is our entrance\ninto the power of these relations. And the Canticles I judge to be the\nutterances of the soul at one point of this journey, from the first\nquickening to the full and final enjoyment. It is not the experience of\nRebecca when first awakened to leave Mesopotamia, nor of Ruth, when\nfirst made ready, in Moab, to take the God of Naomi as her God, nor as\nafterwards a gleaner in the field--it is the exercise of Rebecca's\nheart, while on the way to Isaac, listening to the tales of her gracious\nand wise conductor, and of Ruth at the feet of Boaz, as the suitor of\nhis hand and name.\n\nThis is the general moral of the book. But this being so, I can the more\nadmire the perfectness of the Spirit in making this a short book. It is\nof too intimate a character to have been much spread out. It lies\nwithin. It is the recesses of the Temple. It was called by the Jews the\n\"holy of holies.\" And that was the smallest place, as well as the most\nretired. It expressed the deepest character of communion with God. There\nwas one communion at the Brazen Altar or the Brazen Laver in the\ncourts--another in the holy place, at the Table, the Candlestick, and\nthe Altar--and another in the presence of the Lord Himself, in the\nholiest. And of this character of communion is that which the Canticles\nexpress. It may be that the soul cannot at all times enter into it. Ruth\nwould not have been prepared for laying herself at the feet of Boaz when\nshe entered his field as a gleaner. The teaching she got from Naomi was\nneeded to bring her into the threshing-floor.\n\nAnd this little book seems to open with the soul expressing all this. It\nopens with strong and fervent desire toward _Himself_; reaching forth to\napprehend Him in some more intimate manner than had been previously\nunderstood. It is as though the saint had been conscious of being in a\nlower condition than would now satisfy. For at times the soul rests\nitself simply on the firm ground of doctrines; such as \"The blood of\nJesus Christ His Son cleanseth us from all sin.\" It is the simple and\nsure power of such truth that alone answers, at times, the need of the\nsoul. But again, at times, the ground under our feet, as believers, is\nunderstood and rested on, and it is the Lord Himself that the soul\ndesires. And such is its condition here. \"Let Him kiss me with the\nkisses of His mouth.\" She had been keeping the vineyards--attending to\nthings abroad, but now was learning that her own vineyard had been\nneglected; and the deeper things of personal fellowship are longed for.\nThe saint is leaving Martha's and taking Mary's place, longing to feed\nunder His own eye and from His own hand, and not another's. And at the\nclose, the soul appears to know that _it had become a keeper of its own\nvineyard_. At the beginning there had been the grief that the vineyards\nof others had been kept, but that her own had been neglected (i. 6); but\nnow, it is conscious of being more at home, more about its own vineyard;\nas though it had left the Martha place, busy about many things, and\nassumed the Mary place, at the feet of Jesus in personal communion.\nviii. 12.\n\nThis is the advance, the conscious, happy advance, which the soul makes\nthrough these exercises. It has reached a higher order of communion with\nthe Lord, and it desires that this may continue till Jesus return.\n\n\nThe very style of the writing, too, is just that which suits the heart\nunder the power of a commanding affection. \"Let _Him_ kiss me with the\nkisses of His mouth\"--like Mary Magdalene to the supposed gardener--\"If\nthou have borne _Him_ hence\"--both _meaning_ Christ, but neither\n_naming_ Him. For \"the heart had been before taken up with the thoughts\nof Him, and to _this relative_ these thoughts were the antecedent--that\ngood matter which the heart was inditing. For they that are full of\nChrist themselves are ready to think that others should be so too.\" Or,\nit is as the language of the Apostle, who _means_ the day of glory and\nof the kingdom without _naming_ it, when he says, \"I know whom I have\nbelieved, and am persuaded that He is able to keep that which I have\ncommitted unto Him against _that day_;\" and again, \"Henceforth there is\nlaid up for me a crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous\njudge, shall give me at _that day_.\"\n\nThus is it, in the very style and manner of the renewed mind, eyeing, as\nit does, both the Lord Himself and the glory. And blessed are these\naffections. The truth or the doctrine of the Gospel is no cold, rigid\nsystem. Surely our souls must know this. It is at times laid down in\npropositions, taking the form of an argument, deducing conclusions from\nadequate and proved premises. But still the Gospel calls for the warmest\naffections, and abundantly provides for them. _Even the Canticles\nthemselves never pass beyond the strict bounds of the Gospel--they never\nexceed that measure which the strictest rules of evangelic truth would\nprescribe._ So that we should interpret these little songs or idyls in\nthe light of the didactic Scriptures, as we may profitably read those\nScriptures in the warmth of these Canticles. The Apostle says, \"I have\nespoused you to one Husband, that I may present you as a chaste virgin\nto Christ.\" This assumes all that is in the Canticles. And in this way,\nthe Gospel, in its strictest meaning, will account for all that is in\nSolomon's Song. The latter delineates those affections which well suit\nsuch truths and revelations as the former teaches or delivers. But this\nbeing so important, as I judge, I desire to instance it in a few\nparticulars.\n\nIn these idyls, the Lord looks on the saint as altogether lovely. And so\nin His eyes is the believer. A sinner in himself, he has, by faith,\ntaken on him the beauty of Christ. He is \"in Him.\" He has \"the\nrighteousness of God\" upon him. He is \"accepted in the Beloved.\" Faith\nalone gives him all this comeliness. He has been baptized into Christ,\nand put on Christ. This is the beauty of the believer; and he is lovely\nin Christ's eye, as the Canticles again and again express.\n\nIndeed in this form of beauty there can be no spot. For it is Christ\nHimself that the believer is arrayed with. The very \"best robe\" in the\nFather's house is on him. It is a spotless beauty he shines in. The\ndoctrine of the Gospel teaches us this, and here Christ utters His\ndelight in it; such harmonies are there between the Gospels and the\nCanticles.\n\nBut further. In the mystery of Christ and the believer, Christ has a\nmountain of myrrh to which He here invites the believer to turn his\nsteps--and St. Paul exhorts us, \"If ye then be risen with Christ, seek\nthose things which are above, where Christ sitteth.\" The believer mounts\nthose hills with Jesus as here invited, and as in the Gospel exhorted.\nHis conversation is in heaven. In Christ he sits in heavenly places. And\nhe savours of the myrrh and the frankincense which are there.\n\nAgain, the Lord delights in the graces of His saint. He rests, with the\nlove of complacency, in the believer who walks in the Spirit before Him.\nJohn xv. 10. She is an enclosed garden under His eye, a spring shut up,\na fountain sealed. As we read, the Spirit is in him, a well of water\nspringing up into everlasting life. He has the savour of the spices, and\nthe flowings of the living water, _in himself_, and the fragrancy and\nfreshness of these gladden his Lord anew. This is the teaching of the\nGospel, and this is the language of Christ in the Canticles. He delights\nin what is _in us_ through the Spirit, as well as in what is _on_ us\nthrough faith. He has His joy in the places of communion with His elect\nhere, as in the heaven to which He has ascended.\n\nThis is largely told us in Scripture. \"Hearken, O daughter, and\nconsider, and incline thine ear; forget also thine own people and thy\nfather's house, _so_ shall the King greatly desire thy beauty; for He is\nthy Lord, and worship thou Him.\" Psalm xlv. Here is something beyond\n_imputed_ beauty. For here we learn the grace in her which kindles His\ndesire. She has forgotten her own people and her father's house, so the\nKing desires her. And she owns Him as Lord, and worships Him. She will\nrender Him affection and homage. And all of this suited and attractive\ngrace was shown in Rebecca. _She left all for Isaac._ She forgot her own\npeople and her father's house, and came across an unknown desert in\ncompany with a stranger, in the singleness and devotedness of an\nundivided heart. And on reaching him for whom she had consented to all\nthis, _she lights from her beast, and veils herself_. She puts on the\nornament of a meek and quiet spirit. She arrays herself in\nshamefacedness and sobriety. She loves, and yet bows. And _so_ Isaac\ndesires her. And so is the Church to be _subject_ to Christ, and yet\n_love_ Him with virgin love. Eph. v.; 2 Cor. xi. 2.[33]\n\n [33] Affection begets confidence. Rebecca committed herself to Eliezer,\n      _never asking her father or brother for an escort_. So the more\n      singly we love Jesus, the more confidently will our souls trust\n      Him and His supplies for us alone, without confidence in the flesh\n      or anything else.\n\nAnd in the Canticles we find the Spirit of Christ inviting His saint\ninto the liberty of this present time, into the atmosphere of a house\nwhere the cry of adoption is heard. All the darker and colder age is\npassed. All that dispensation which kept the soul in bondage and fear is\nover. The voice of the turtle is heard; the voice of that perfect love\nwhich casts out fear. \"The darkness is past, and the true light now\nshineth,\" says St. John, as though he had the Canticles in mind. The\nsaint should now arise, taking his place as the _loved_ and the _fair_\none, being in the full consciousness of personal unspottedness and\nbeauty, through grace, and of his Lord's perfect favour and delight. He\nshould come away from \"the spirit of fear,\" and pass over into the\nspirit of love and of power \"and of a sound mind.\" For all in the\ndispensation is gladdening. The flowers appear on the earth, and the\nsinging of birds is heard. All is promise, all pledge, and earnest, and\nseal, and unction.\n\nAnd again, if the betrothed one of the Canticles _say_, \"While the King\nsitteth at His table, my spikenard sendeth forth the smell thereof,\" the\ndisciple in the gospel _does_ this. John xii. 3.\n\nAnd, according to all this, we may observe how some of the tenderest\nutterances of this book are warranted by the simple narratives of the\nGospel. If the beloved watch over the restored soul with the fondest\njealousy, not allowing the busy foot of others to disturb the silent,\nhidden rest of the loved one, what does Jesus do in the favoured house\nat Bethany less than this? How does He check the motions of Martha? Ch.\nii. 7; Luke x. 41.[34]\n\n [34] \"Till _she_ please,\" it ought to be, as the \"love\" is the female\n      in this book. Ch. ii. 7; iii. 5; vii. 4.\n\nThe great moral principles of truth are also strictly and fully\nunderstood here, though under very delicate and spiritual illustrations.\nSt. James says, \"Ye ask, and receive not, because ye ask amiss, that ye\nmay consume it upon your lusts.\" In this book we read, \"By night upon my\nbed I sought Him whom my soul loveth; I sought Him, but I found Him\nnot.\" The great moral principle, that _there is a seeking which does not\nfind_, is equally owned in each of these scriptures; but the one has a\nmuch more delicate exhibition of it than the other. Jesus is here sought\n_on the bed_, that is, in some listlessness of mind. The bed may be the\nplace of _meditation_ (Psalm lxiii.; Isa. xxvi.), but not of _seeking_,\nwhich demands action. And thus the seeker _on the bed_, the listless,\ndrowsy inquirer after the Lord, will not, till he pass through\ndiscipline, as here (iii. 1-5), find Him.\n\nIf Christ again and again express His deep satisfaction in her, through\nthis book, what have we less than this in the strict teaching of\nScripture? Did He not find, at the beginning, that His \"delights were\nwith the sons of men\"? and at the end, when He sees of the travail of\nHis soul for us, will He not be \"satisfied\"? Prov. viii.; Isa. liii. If\nthe sinner be content with Him, so is He equally with the sinner. The\nwoman at the well, it is true, forgot her waterpot for Him; but He\nforgot His _thirst_ for her, and that was greater. And then, in like\nenjoyment of spirit, He said, on the very same occasion, \"I have meat to\neat that ye know not of.\" John iv.\n\nFrom the first to the latest moment of our Christian history, our power\nto refresh the mind of our Lord is deeply and fully owned in Scripture.\nOur earliest confidence in Him as sinners sets Him at once at a feast\n(as we have just seen, John iv. 32), there to make merry with his\nfriends (Luke xv. 9); for angels rejoice. The recovery of a wanderer has\nlike joy for Him. Read the utterance of the divine affection over\nrepentant Ephraim, in Jer. xxxi. 20. And what under the eye, and to the\nheart of our Lord, are the comely walk of the saints, and their goings\nin the sanctuary? Is not \"a meek and quiet spirit\" in God's sight \"of\ngreat price\"? Does not the pure behaviour of the believer _please_ Him,\nconvey complacency or delight to the divine mind? 1 Thess. iv. 1. And\nhow is such complacency in us witnessed again and again by the promise\nthat He will manifest Himself to us, and make His abode with us! John\nxiv.\n\nDoes not all this make good the suggestions of this book? And so, in the\nGospels as well as in the Canticles, is not Christ borne away in the\nchariots of Amminadib, the chariots of His willing people? Where, I ask,\ndid the report of the seventy bear Him? Luke x. 17, 18. Where did the\ndesire of the Greeks translate Him? John xii. 21-23. And the faith of\nthe Gentile soldier could, for a moment, hold His spirit in delight and\nadmiration, and then bear Him onward to the glory, when the East and the\nWest shall send home the children of the kingdom with Abraham and Isaac\nand Jacob. Matt. viii. 8-11.\n\nBut the affection which can be thus _gratified_ may be _wounded_. These\nare among the properties of love. You may grieve as well as refresh the\nloving heart. And so it is with our Lord, both in the Canticles and in\nthe Gospels; as we read also in the Epistles, \"_Grieve_ not the Holy\nSpirit of God, whereby ye are sealed unto the day of redemption.\"\n\nAnd again. The betrothed one here knows that the heavens (symbolized by\nhills and mountains) have received her Beloved. But she knows also that\nthough He be _at home_ there, like a roe or a young hart upon its\n_native_ hills, yet that He delights in communion with her, and visits\nher, desirously looking through the lattices. And further still; she\nknows that her duty it is to watch against intrusion and disturbance, as\nthe keepers of a vineyard would watch against the young foxes. And I\nask, Is not all this the truth, the enjoyment, and the practical energy,\nagain and again recognized and enforced in the teaching of the Gospel?\nWe know that the heavens have received Jesus until \"the times of\nrefreshing.\" We know that He makes His present abode with the saint, and\nmanifests Himself to him, as He does not unto the world. And we know\nthat there is to be energy and watchfulness that we \"walk in the\nspirit,\" and not \"in the flesh,\" if we would taste and enjoy these\nmanifestations of His name to our souls.\n\nSo, still further, there is a garden, in this book, under the tillage of\nthe north wind and the south wind, that it may yield its fruits and its\nspices to the Lord. And does not the severer style of the New Testament\nabundantly admit the idea? The Father Himself is the Husbandman of a\nvine which He digs about and dungs; and the saint is as a field that\ndrinketh in the rain from heaven, to yield herbs meet for Him by whom it\nis dressed. John xv.; Heb. vi.\n\nIn the imagery here we have Christ as a Suitor at the door, asking of\nthe one He loves admission from \"the drops of the night;\" and in the New\nTestament we have Him standing and knocking at the reluctant heart,\ndesiring that entertainment which revived and zealous affection would\nsurely provide Him. Rev. iii. 20. And well for us, beloved, if our\nlukewarm Laodiceanism do but depart, like the drowsiness of this dear\none in this lovely mystic song. Chap. v. 2-16.\n\nAnd I know not that the constant self-congratulation of the espoused one\nin this book is a whit beyond that of Paul. She can always talk of her\nBeloved being hers, and say moreover, \"I am my Beloved's, and His desire\nis towards me.\" But he can also always, in spirit, sing (let the toil\nand wear of life be what they may), \"The life that I live in the flesh I\nlive by the faith of the Son of God, _Who loved me, and gave Himself for\nme_.\" And that is the language of Paul, happy in the assurance of\nChrist's devoted love to him.[35]\n\n [35] It is commonly interpreted as though Paul, in Gal. ii. 20, were\n      expressing his _devotedness_ to his Master. But this is not so.\n      This robs the verse of its exquisite glory. He is rather speaking\n      of the joy of his soul in the knowledge of what a devoted and\n      glorious Lover he had.\n\nIf, I may also say, in the imagery of this book, the loved saint can\nsay, \"I sat down under His shadow with great delight, and His fruit was\nsweet to my taste,\" the plainer style of an epistle is not less fervent.\n\"Whom having not seen, ye love; in Whom, though now ye see Him not, yet\nbelieving, ye rejoice with joy unspeakable and full of glory.\" Surely\nthe heart is equally in possession of an Object which it knows is fitted\nto answer all its desires.\n\nAnd further still. We have, in the actions of this book, souls in\ndifferent elevations, the betrothed one, and \"the daughters of\nJerusalem.\" How much is that known among themselves, and contemplated in\nthe illustrations and teachings of the New Testament! All are not fully\nformed--not fully in the measure of the stature, so to express it. \"We\nhave a little sister, and she hath no breasts.\" All are not alike in the\nliberty of the dispensation. Such draw out the sympathy of the saint\nestablished in the grace of God, and solicitous care, and prayer, and\ninquiry of the Lord, are made about such, as here. See chap. viii. 8.\n\nIndeed, I know not that anything can be more in the harmonies of the\nSpirit, in the combined and glowing lights of the Gospel, than the\nutterance of the betrothed one in this short passage. Chap. viii. 8-10.\nThe actings of her soul, both towards others and towards the Lord, are\nthe Spirit's sweetest and choicest workmanship. She has respect to \"the\ninfirmity of the weak,\" desiring for them strength and edifying in the\nfuller measure of Christ, and yet all the time owning full oneness and\nrelationship with them in Him, while she rejoices in her own certain,\nhappy assurance, and the fulness of her growth, even to an ecstasy, that\nher breasts were like towers! and because of that, knowing her Lord's\nfavour towards her, and delight in her. And sure we may be, that all\nthis is purely and richly the way of a believing, renewed soul. Full\nadoption of the weak, with desires for their larger liberty and\nassurance, and yet certainty of personal standing in the most undimmed\njoy of entire assurance, with perfect persuasion that all this liberty\nand confidence were thoroughly to the heart and mind of Jesus.\n\nNothing can be more perfect, I believe, than all this in the harmonies\nand lights of a spiritual mind, according to the strictest sense of\nevangelic truth.\n\nSo again and again, in the gospel history, we find Jesus led to forget\nHis sorrows when beholding faith in a sinner. He found there, as I have\nalready stated, the refreshment of His spirit. He found a transient\nforgetting of His sorrows among the Samaritans, from the Centurion, from\nZaccheus, and from the spikenard and fellowship of Mary. He seeks the\nsame here. He comes to His espoused one, that He might find, in\nfellowship with her, some other and far different thing than that\nrejection and refusal which He was ever meeting in the world. And is it\nnot also so, that if the saint be sluggish and careless, the faithful\nkindred in Christ will help the discipline? If Jesus say, \"Could ye not\nwatch with Me one hour?\" Paul will say, \"Quit you like men, be strong.\"\nSo in the action of this book. Jesus leaves a memorial of the soul's\ndrowsiness on \"the hole of the door,\" that the conscience may take\nalarm; and the watchman of the city smite her, and the keepers of the\nwalls draw the veil from her face. Chap. v.\n\nThe harmonies of the \"one Spirit\" are heard in all this. And so, in the\ncourse of these little songs, I discern the way of the Lord toward a\nrepentant, recovered soul. See chap. vi. 4-13. She had just refused to\nopen her door to Him, but, through discipline, had been brought to\nfervent communion with Him again. v. 2-vi. 3. And now His eye and His\nheart are full of her again. He looks on her as beautiful as ever. She\nis His \"undefiled,\" and nothing less; no upbraidings pass His lips. Her\nmotion towards Him is comely and graceful in His esteem. And He lets her\nknow that her repentance had given Him pleasant and wondrous\nrefreshment. As soon as she was made willing (Psalm cx. 2), He got into\na chariot to bear Him away speedily and joyously to her. vi. 12, margin.\nShe may be a wonder to herself, she may take a place unworthy of any\nnotice (v. 13); but the Lord and angels rejoice over her. As we know in\nthe Gospels, the ninety and nine just ones can be left for the one\nprodigal; the angels in heaven rejoice; the house makes merry; the\nfriends of the beloved triumph over the returned Shulamite. She is like\nthe returned Jacob: the Mahanaim, the hosts of God, salute them both,\nwait at the threshold of the land or of the house, to do their Lord's\npleasure toward them, and express His welcome and concern for them. Gen.\nxxxii. 1; Cant. vi. 13.[36]\n\n [36] Another once observed to me, that in the Canticles, the Beloved\n      expresses _directly to herself_ the beauties He discerns in her;\n      the betrothed one never does this, but recites His beauties _in\n      the ears of others_; and further observed, that there was great\n      moral propriety in this, something quite according to the dictate\n      of a delicate affection.\n\nAnd what is the longing here but that the day should break? And what is\nthe longing of the same soul in the words of the Gospel? \"Come, Lord\nJesus, come quickly,\"--so largely and so exactly do the teachings and\nthe breathings of the New Testament, in these and kindred ways, measure\nthe affections of the heart in this book? Christ dwells in the heart by\nfaith. Christ lies all night between the breasts. Eph. iii. 17; Cant. i.\n13. And has not the saint attuned his heart over Jesus in language of\nlike fervour, such as we all use without shame?\n\n      \"How tedious and tasteless the hours\n        When Jesus no longer I see,\n      Sweet prospects, sweet birds, and sweet flowers,\n        Have lost all their sweetness for me;\n      The midsummer sun shines but dim,\n        The fields strive in vain to look gay,\n      But when I am happy in Him,\n        December's as pleasant as May.\n\n      \"His name yields the richest perfume,\n        And sweeter than music His voice,\n      His presence disperses my gloom,\n        And makes all within me rejoice:\n      I should, were He always so nigh,\n        Have nothing to wish or to fear,\n      No mortal so happy as I,\n        My summer would last the whole year.\"\n\n\nThese are among the seals set upon this beautiful portion of God's Word\nby the spiritual mind of the believer, and also by kindred truths and\nprinciples found in other scriptures. And it has been happily said, that\n\"if there be no express allusion to this book in the New Testament, the\nsame allegory, as portraying the same truth, evidently appears to have\nbeen familiar to the minds of the writers of it, and to the minds also\nof the people whom they addressed. Not more abruptly does John the\nBaptist, for instance, refer to our Lord as 'the Lamb of God who taketh\naway the sin of the world,' as being the character of the Messiah which\nall would know and understand, than he does to the same blessed Person\nin the character of the Bridegroom of the Church--'he that hath the\nBride is the Bridegroom.'\"\n\nAnd is it not seasonable, in these days of growing irreligiousness and\nworldliness, to warn one another, beloved, to keep our minds incorrupt\nin the simplicity that is in Christ? In the preparation-season, which\nthe present age is, and which the Canticles contemplate, Eve was getting\nready, under the forming hand of God, for Adam, and for Adam _only_.\nAdam slept for Eve, and Eve was made for Adam. So with Christ and the\nChurch. He slept in death for us, and we are preparing, under the Holy\nGhost, for Him. \"I have espoused you to _one_ husband, that I may\npresent you as a chaste virgin to Christ.\" As he says also in another\nplace, \"My little children, of whom I travail in birth again till\n_Christ_ be formed in you,\" Christ, and Christ only, Christ in His\nprecious sufficiency for a sinner, in answer to the Hagar or Galatian\nthought of \"days, and months, and times, and years,\" that other gospel\nwhich yet is not another.\n\nBut this is assailed. The Gospel, in its claim on the sinner to give his\nundivided confidence to Christ, has been abroad on the lips of a\nthousand witnesses, to the gladdening of thousands of souls. The enemy\nhas watched and hated this. Working in the scene in which he goes \"to\nand fro\" and \"up and down\" (Job i. 7), he is busy to seduce the heart\nfrom this Gospel. And is not his success far beyond the measure of the\nfears of any of us? The religion of fleshly confidences or of ordinances\nis to this hour among us. It admits of worldliness; and worldliness is,\nat this same hour, flourishing in company with it. There is the erection\nof temples for worship, and of palaces for the worshippers; stricter\ncare to observe, in its season, due attendance in the sanctuary,\ntogether with unparalleled skill and energy and enterprise in advancing\nthe indulgence and elegance of human life, so as to make the world a\n_desirable_ and _safe_ place to live in--a place where religion may now\nbe seen to be observed and honoured.\n\nThis is all seductive from the principle of faith--this is corruption of\nthe mind from the simplicity that is in Christ. The Gospel addresses\nitself to man, not only as a _guilty_ but as a _religious_ creature. It\nfinds him under the power of _superstition_ or _religiousness_, as well\nas of sin. It is as natural for man to refuse to go into the\njudgment-hall lest he should be defiled, as it is, in very enmity to\nGod, to cry out, \"Crucify Him, crucify Him.\" And the Gospel gets as\nstern a refusal from the _religious_ man as from the _lustful_ man. As\nthe Divine Teacher tells us, the harlot goes into the kingdom before the\nPharisee.\n\nReligious vanities are deeply playing their part in our day, and\nfascinating many souls. What answer, beloved, do you and I give them? Is\nJesus so precious that no allurement has power? Is the virgin purity of\nthe mind still kept? and as chaste ones are we still betrothed to Christ\nonly? Like the newly-formed Eve, are we in our place of earliest,\nfreshest presentation to our Lord? or have we, apart from His side,\nopened our ear to the serpent?\n\nThe kingdom of heaven is as a supper, a royal, joyous feast got ready\nfor sinners, that they might taste and see that the Lord is good, and\nthat blessed is the man that trusteth in Him. It does not put God in the\nplace of a _receiver_, for man _to bring Him His due_; but it puts Him\nin the place of a _giver_, and man is called _to value His blessing_.\nBut the question is, Who listens, with desirous heart, to the bidding?\nWho wears \"the wedding garment\"? Who prizes Christ? Who triumphs in His\nsalvation? Who longs for the day of His espousals? John had this garment\non him, knowing, as he did, the joy of being the Bridegroom's friend. It\nwas flowing at liberty on Mary's shoulders, as she sat at her Lord's\nfeet and heard His words. Paul tucked it tight about him when he said,\n\"God forbid that I should glory save in the cross of our Lord Jesus\nChrist.\" The eunuch had just put it on as \"he went his way rejoicing\" in\nthe faith of the name of Jesus. Every sinner adorns himself with it the\nmoment his heart values Christ. And what joy is it thus to know that\nwhen we put on Christ it is not \"sackcloth\" we put on, nor is it \"the\nspirit of heaviness\" we enter into, but \"a wedding garment\" has clothed\nus, and with \"the garment of praise\" we array our spirits!\n\nHave we thus learned \"the kingdom of heaven\"? Have we, in spirit,\nentered it as a banqueting-hall where both magnificence and joy welcome\nus? Are we, consciously, guests at the marriage of a King's Son? Have we\nlearnt the mysteries of the faith? Have we gazed at them? Has the musing\nover them kindled a fire in the heart to burn up the chaff of worldly\nrudiments? Paul had this element in his soul as he travelled through\nGreece. And how did the glow of these mysteries address itself to \"the\nprinces of the world\" there? It consumed them all. \"Where is the wise?\nwhere is the scribe? where is the disputer of this world?\" Precious\nardour of the Spirit! What a pile was thus fired in the famed cities of\nthe learned and the wise! and how were all the thoughts of men thrown as\nrubbish into it!\n\nAnd how did he treat the rudiments of the _religious_ world? He bore the\nsame fervent sense of Christ with him into their regions, to test what\nchaff and dross were there. In Galatia he found much of it; but he\nspared none of it. Though an angel from heaven gather such rubbish;\nthough Peter himself help in the work; though the Galatians, who once\nwould have plucked out their eyes for him, be enticed, nothing should\nstand before the heat of the Spirit that bore him onward. \"O foolish\nGalatians, who hath bewitched you?... Ye observe days, and months, and\ntimes, and years. I am afraid of you.\"\n\nCould he do less? Could he carry Jesus in his heart, and calmly stand\nand measure his light with the lights of Greece, or God's great\nordinance with man's traditions?\n\nIt is to make much of Christ we want, beloved--much of Himself, and His\nglorious achievements for sinners. We want simplicity in that sense of\nthe word--the breathings of a soul content with Him, and the peace of a\nconscience for ever at rest in His sufficiency. \"What think ye of\nChrist?\" is the test, as a dear hymn well known among us has it--\n\n      \"Some call Him a Saviour, in word,\n        But mix their own works with His plan,\n      And hope He His help will afford,\n        When they have done all that they can:\n      If doing prove rather too light\n        (A little they own they may fail),\n      They purpose to make up full weight\n        By casting His name in the scale.\n\n      \"Some style Him the pearl of great price,\n        And say He's the fountain of joys,\n      Yet feed upon folly and vice,\n        And cleave to the world and its toys--\n      Like Judas, the Saviour they kiss,\n        And, while they salute Him, betray--\n      Ah, what will profession like this\n        Avail in His terrible day!\n\n      \"If asked what of Jesus I think,\n        Though all my best thoughts are but poor,\n      I say, He's my meat and my drink,\n        My life, and my strength, and my store;\n      My Shepherd, my Husband, my Friend,\n        My Saviour from sin and from thrall,\n      My hope from beginning to end,\n        My portion, my Lord, and my all.\"\n\n\nMay these thoughts and affections be ours. They are the sweet witness of\nthe one faith, the one Lord, the one Spirit (Eph. iv.), for they express\nthe leading, ruling mind of the Canticles. There the soul in kindred\naffection has but one object, but that one is enough. It is satisfied,\nand never for a moment looks for a second. It has the \"Beloved,\" and\ncares for nothing else. If it grieve, it is over the want of capacity to\nenjoy Him. It seeks for nothing but Jesus, lamenting only that it is not\nmore fully and altogether with Him. And this is the experience we have\nto desire--to find in the Lord a satisfying object, a cure for the\nwanderings of the poor heart, which, till it fix on Him, will go about\nand still say, \"Who will show us any good?\" \"The labour of the foolish\nwearieth every one of them, because he knoweth not how to go to the\ncity.\"\n\n\"That unsatisfiedness with transitory fruitions which men deplore as the\n_unhappiness_ of their nature is indeed the _privilege_ of it.\" Just\nindeed, and truly to be prized, is such a sentiment. For this thirsting\nagain, this spending of \"labour for that which satisfieth not,\" casts\nthe heart on Jesus, As this has ever been, so is it now. The building of\npalaces, the planting of vineyards, the getting of singing-men and\nsinging-women, the multiplying of the delights of the children of men,\nall these efforts and travails of the heart take their course and have\ntheir way still. Eccles. ii. But Jesus revealed to the heart, as in this\nbook, commands these thoughts and purposes away. It speaks the language\nof the blessed Lord Himself; and the experience in it is the experience\nof the poor woman who was able to leave her pitcher at the\nwell--\"Whosoever drinketh of this water shall thirst again: but\nwhosoever drinketh of the water that I shall give him shall never\nthirst; but the water that I shall give him shall be in him a well of\nwater springing up into everlasting life.\"\n\n\n\"I am the Root and the Offspring of David, and the Bright and Morning\nStar.... Even so, come, Lord Jesus.\"\n\n\n\n\n                           HEAVEN AND EARTH.\n\n\n\"In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth.\" The scene of\nthe divine handiwork was twofold; and, accordingly, \"in the dispensation\nof the fulness of times,\" God will display Himself again, both in\n_heaven_ and on _earth_.\n\nI would begin my meditation on this divine subject with Genesis\ni-xlvii., which presents, I judge, a beautiful view of the Lord acting,\nby turns, as in heaven and on earth, till, at the close, we find them\ntogether in a way typical of what their connection and yet distinctness\nwill be in that coming dispensation of the fulness of times. May our\nmeditations be always submitted to His truth and Spirit, and conducted\nin the temper of worshippers.\n\n\n_Genesis I. II._---It was only of the _earth_ that Adam was made lord.\nThe garden was his residence, and he was to replenish and subdue the\nearth. This was the limitation of his inheritance and of his enjoyments.\nHe knew of heaven only as he saw it above him, and by its lights\ndividing his day and his night. But he had no thoughts which linked him,\npersonally, with it.\n\n\nIII.---But Adam transgressed and lost the garden, and became a drudge in\nthe earth, instead of being the happy lord of it. Gen. iii. 17-19. He\nwas now to get a bare existence out of it, till he was laid down in\ndeath upon it.\n\n\nIV. V.---Such was his changed condition. To cling to the earth now as\none's delight and portion was to act in bold defiance of the Lord of\njudgment. And such was the spirit of Cain and his family. He thought the\nearth good enough for God, and desired nothing better for himself. He\ngave God the fruit of it, and built a city for himself on the face of\nit, furnishing it with desirable things of all sorts, unmoved by the\nthought of the blood with which his own hand had stained it, and of the\npresence of the Lord, on whom he had turned his back. But such was not\nAdam, or Abel, or Seth, or that line of worshippers who \"call on the\nname of the Lord.\" They have in the earth only a burying-place. But\ngrace having provided a remedy for them as sinners, and righteousness\nhaving separated them from a cursed earth, they believe in the remedy,\nand seek no place or memorial in the earth, and the Lord gives them a\nhigher and a richer inheritance, even in _heaven_ with Himself, as\nsignified in the translation of Enoch.\n\n\nVI.-IX.---But though the Lord is thus removing the scene of His counsels\nand the hopes of His elect from earth to heaven, yet the earth is not\ngiven up. It is, we know, destined to rejoice, by-and-by, in the liberty\nof the glory; or, as I have already quoted, in \"the dispensation of the\nfulness of times.\" Eph. i. 9, 10. And, accordingly, this purpose the\nLord will at times rehearse and illustrate, as He does now, in due\nseason, in the history of Noah.\n\nThe heavenly family, as we have just seen, only died both to and in the\nearth. They could speak, it is true, both of its coming judgment and\nblessing. Enoch foretold of the one, and Lamech of the other. Jude 14;\nGen. v. 29. But they were, neither of them, _in_ the scenes they thus\ntalked about. But Noah, who comes after them, is a man of _the earth_\nagain. In his day the earth re-appears as the scene of divine care and\ndelight. God has communion with man upon it again. It has passed through\nthe judgment of the water, and God makes a covenant with it, has the\nprophet, priest, and king upon it, providing for its continuance and\ngodly government. Noah's connection with it was quite unlike that of\neither Cain or Seth. He did not, like the former, fill it and enjoy it\nin defiance of God; nor did he, like the latter, take merely a\nburying-place in it; but he enjoyed the whole of it under the Lord. The\nLord sanctioned his inheritance of it, his dominion over it, and his\ndelight in it.\n\n\nX. XI.---Thus the earth, in its turn, again takes up the wondrous tale,\nand is the care and object of the Lord. But again it becomes corrupt\nbefore Him. Noah himself, like Adam, begins this sad history, and the\nbuilders of Babel, like another family of Cain, perfect the apostasy,\nseeking to fill the earth with themselves independently of God. They\nwere mighty hunters before the Lord. They scoured the face of the earth,\nas though they asked, in infidel pride, \"Where is the God of judgment?\"\n\n\nXII.-XXXVI.---This, however, was not allowed. Another judgment comes\nupon them. They are scattered, and the whole human social order is\nawfully broken up. But Abram is called out to find his fellowship with\nGod, apart from the world. His family dwelt in Mesopotamia beyond the\nEuphrates. He came from the stock of Shem, but was a worshipper of\nidols, as all the nations were. But sovereign grace distinguishes him,\nand the God of glory calls him forth from kindred, from home, and from\ncountry.\n\nIt is a call, however, that does not interfere with the order of the\nearth, or government among the nations. He is called to be a _stranger_,\nand not a rival of \"the powers,\" or a new-modelled governor of any\npeople. He walks with God as the God of glory--a higher character than\nthat of the one by whom \"the powers that be are ordained.\" He is a\npilgrim and stranger on earth, and walks as a _heavenly man_. He has\npromise that _his seed_ and _inheritance in the earth_ shall become\nlinked together by-and-by; but he, with Isaac and Jacob, dwell in tents\nall their days, and a tent life is that of a stranger here, of one that\nis not at home and at rest.\n\nHere, then, we have a heavenly people again--heavenly in the character\nof their walk, and heavenly, like Enoch or Lamech, in their intelligence\nabout the earth's future history, and the promise to their seed of\ninheritance in it in due season. But we have still deeper and fuller\nmysteries in the history of him who comes after them.\n\n\nXXXVII.-XLVII.--Through the wickedness of his brethren, as we all know,\nfor it is a favourite story, Joseph is estranged from the scene of the\npromised and covenanted inheritance, and becomes first a sufferer, and\nthen a husband, a father, and a governor, in the midst of a distant\npeople; till at last his brethren, who once hated him, and the\ninhabitants of the earth, are fed and ruled by him in grace and wisdom.\n\nNothing can be more expressive than all this. It is a striking\nexhibition of the great result purposed of God \"in the dispensation of\nthe fulness of times.\" Joseph is cast among the Gentiles; and there,\nafter sorrow and bondage, becomes the exalted one, and the head and\nfather of a family with such joy, that his heart for a season can afford\nto forget his kindred in the flesh. This surely is Christ in heaven now,\nexalted after His sorrows, and with Him the Church taken from among the\nGentiles, made His companion and joy during the season of His\nestrangement from Israel. But in process of time Joseph is made the\ndepositary and the dispenser of the world's resources; his brethren, as\nwell as all beside, become dependent on him; he feeds them and rules\nthem according to his pleasure. And this as surely is Christ, as He will\nbe in the earth by-and-by, with Israel brought to repentance and seated\nin the fairest portion of the earth, and with all the nations under His\nsceptre, when He will order them according to His wisdom, feed them out\nof His stores, and re-settle them in their inheritance in peace and\nrighteousness.\n\nSurely the heavens and the earth are, in type, here seen, as they will\nreally be in \"the dispensation of the fulness of times,\" when all\nthings, both in heaven and on earth, shall be gathered together in\nChrist. Surely this is a rehearsal of the great result, and the heavens\nand the earth tell out together the mystery of God!\n\nAnd I cannot but observe the willing, unmurmuring subjection which the\nEgyptians yield to Joseph. He moves them hither and thither, and settles\nthem as he likes, but all is welcome to them; and so, in the days of the\nkingdom, the whole world will be ready to say, Jesus has done all things\nwell. What blessedness! Subjection to Jesus, but willing and glad\nsubjection! His sceptre getting its approval and its welcome from all\nover whom it waves and asserts its power!\n\nAnd again I observe that all this power of Joseph is held in full\nconsent of Pharaoh's supremacy. The people, and the cattle, and the\nlands, are all bought by Joseph _for_ Pharaoh. It is Pharaoh's kingdom\nstill, though under Joseph's administration--as in the kingdom of which\nthis is the type, every tongue shall confess Jesus Lord, to _the glory\nof God the Father_.\n\nThese features give clear expression and character to the picture. But\nthere is one other touch (the touch of a master's hand, I would\nreverently say) in this picture which is not inferior in meaning or in\nbeauty to any. I mean, that in all this settlement of the earth, Asenath\nand the children get no portion. They are not seen; there is no mention\nof them even. Jacob may get Goshen; but Asenath, Ephraim, and Manasseh,\nnothing. Is it that the wife and children were loved less, and the\nfather and brethren more? Nay, that cannot be. But Asenath and the\nchildren are heavenly, and have their portion, the rather in and with\nhim who is the lord and dispenser of all this, and they cannot mingle in\nthe interests and arrangements of the earth. Even Goshen, the fairest\nand fattest of the land, is unworthy of them. They are the family of the\nlord himself. They share the home, and the presence, and the closest\nendearments of him who is the happy and honoured head of all this scene\nof glory.\n\nIs not this the great result, in miniature or in type? Have we not in\nall this that promised \"dispensation of the fulness of times,\" when God\nwill gather together in one all things in Christ, both which are in\nheaven; and which are on earth? Are not the heavens and the earth here\nseen and heard together in their millennial order? I surely judge that\nthey are. \"Known unto God are all His works, from the beginning of the\nworld.\"\n\n\nBut as we go on in the course of the divine dispensations, earthly and\nheavenly scenes and purposes still unfold themselves. Israel, in their\nturn, and after these scenes in the hook of Genesis, become the witness\nof God, and an _earthly_ people. A portion of the world is sanctified\nfor God's possession and dwelling-place again. As the deluge had\npurified the whole of it for the divine power and presence in Noah's\nday, so the sword of Joshua now purifies a portion of it for the same\ndivine power and presence in Israel. God has His sanctuary and His\nthrone in the land of Canaan. He is worshipped in Jerusalem, and there\nHis law is dispensed. The glory is again in the earth. As Lord of the\nearth, the God of Israel keeps court and rule on the earth again. But\nall is corrupted again. Canaan was defiled by the apostasy of Israel, as\nthe Noah-earth had been defiled by the tower of Babel. Ezekiel, who was\nset as a watchman in the day of this apostasy, sees therefore the glory\non its way from Jerusalem to _heaven_. It does not seek any other spot\non earth, but, being disturbed at Jerusalem by the defilements there, it\nretreats to heaven. Ezekiel xi.\n\nUp to this day of Ezekiel the glory had communicated with Israel _in\npower_. It was a glory, or divine presence, that had judged Egypt,\nguided the camp through the desert, smitten the nations of Canaan,\ndivided their land among the tribes, and then seated itself in the\ntemple and on the throne at Jerusalem. All this was the glory _in\npower_. But, as we have seen, Israel had now forfeited it, and it\nreturns to heaven. But it had another character in which to show itself.\nThis same glory, or the divine presence, God Himself, returns veiled in\nthe person of Jesus; in whom, as a rejected Galilean, or carpenter's\nson, having not where to lay His head, worse off in the world than the\nbirds or the foxes, it went about in the land of Israel in fullest\ngrace, healing, preaching, toiling, watching; poor, yet enriching\nothers; thirsty and hungry, yet feeding thousands, and in every thing as\nsimply and surely declaring itself to be the glory, as it did when it\ndivided the waters of Jordan, or threw down the walls of Jericho. Only\nit was the glory in its _grace_ now, as it had been the glory in its\n_power_ then. In this form, however, Israel, or the earth, forfeited it\nalso, though it did not leave the earth in the same way. Of old, when\nrejected in its power, it left the earth of itself, in righteous anger\nresenting the affront done to its majesty, and withdrawing itself in\njudgment (Ezek. i.-xi.); but now, being rejected in its grace, it is at\nlast rather sent away than withdraws itself. But still, whether we see\nthe glory in power or in grace, the earth has forfeited it, and it is\nnow hid in the heavens. See Acts vii. 55.\n\nThis is the history of the glory since Ezekiel xi. to the ascension of\nJesus. And it is again where the prophet of God saw it going in that\nchapter, that is, in heaven. Only it is now gathering the fulness of the\nGentiles there, receiving to itself the \"holy brethren, partakers of the\nheavenly calling.\" The Holy Ghost has come forth to tell us here of the\nglory there, to form us into association with its own wondrous history,\nor to make its portion our portion.\n\nSuch is the place, and such the action, of the glory now.\n\nBut there is another stage in its history still. Ezekiel sees it return\nto the very spot from whence it set out. Ezekiel xliii. It had never\nsought any other place on earth. If Zion be unprepared for Jesus, the\nearth must lose Him, for of Zion alone has He said, \"This is my rest for\never.\" But the glory does return, as we see in that chapter of Ezekiel.\nAnd then will arise that system commonly known by the name of \"the\nmillennium,\" when Jesus will become the centre, the true ladder which\nJacob saw, the sustainer of all things in heaven and on earth,\nreconciling all by His blood, and then gathering all in Himself to\nspread His glories over all. See Isaiah iv. 5, 6.\n\nThus the two parts of the future kingdom, the heavenly and the earthly,\nhave been pledged again and again from the beginning; one witness after\nanother, called forth in the dispensations, has, as we have seen, been\ntelling of His counsels; and the millennium will be the owning of these\npledges, and the accomplishment of the promises of these heavenly and\nearthly witnesses.\n\nIt has been grateful to my own soul to think of the _intercourse_ of\nheaven with earth, in the progress of this varied and wondrous history.\nI mean in the visions, or the dreams, or the angelic visits, which at\ntimes the people of God have enjoyed. The audiences of divine oracles\nare of this character also. All these show that the heavens had access\nto the earth, and had but to pass through a thin veil to meet or reach\nit.\n\nWhile the earth was undefiled, the Lord God walked in the garden. And\nafterwards, though He was in some sense estranged from earth, yet He was\never ready to visit it in the behalf of His elect, as in the histories\nof Abraham, Joshua, Gideon, and others. The ladder which Jacob saw, with\nits top in heaven and its foot on the earth; the passing and repassing\nof Moses in and out between the Lord and the people; the elders going up\nand seeing the God of Israel; Solomon's ascent from his own house up to\nthe house of the Lord, these are notices of intercourse between the\nheavens and the earth in the days of the kingdom. So that bright and\nmemorable hour, when Jesus was transfigured, in company with Moses and\nElias, in the sight of Peter, James, and John. So the occasional\nappearances of Christ to His disciples after He had risen. And so the\nvision of the descending and ascending sheet. The heavenly things at\nsuch moments unfold themselves to the eye of man, and give sweet notice\nof their nearness to us. We do not as yet perceive this nearness, for\nthe glory is not yet in its millennial place over the city of the Jews;\nbut faith reads these notices of this nearness, and understands them.\nIsaiah iv. Faith, in Elisha, knew that the Lord of hosts was nigh, and\nhe prayed that his servant might have his eye opened to see that the\nmountains around him were filled with the chariots and horses of heaven;\nand in the millennial kingdom all this will be to sight. The heavenly\nglory, or glory of the golden city, will shine over the Jerusalem of the\nland of Israel. On all her habitations it will be a covering. The ladder\nwill be erected, with its head in the heavens and its foot on the earth;\nthe same blessed Lord will be the centre of all things; and, as in the\ndifferent parts of one temple, the services of praise and joy will be\ncelebrated, every tongue confessing Jesus Lord, to the glory of God the\nFather.\n\nThe _pure moral happiness_ that will be enjoyed by reason of this\nintercourse, is also sweetly pictured in different types and prophecies.\nAs at the meeting of Jethro and Moses, of Solomon and the Queen of the\nSouth; as in Isaiah lx., or on the holy Mount, or in the holy Jerusalem.\nWhat right affections do we find in all these intercourses! What pure\nsocial pleasures are, as I have said, pictured before us! At the mount\nof God how naturally Moses at once takes the place of the inferior, and\nAaron too; and how gracefully Jethro, representing the heavenly man,\nfills the duties and wears the honours of their superior! And with what\njoy of heart, and praise on his lips, does he listen to the tale of\nGod's mercies to Israel! In the Queen of the South what unenvious and\nungrudging generosity of soul we witness, and in Solomon what readiness\nto make her happy! He tells her all that was in her heart, and more\nbesides, filling her with such light and joy, that, it is said, there\nwas no more spirit in her; and she returns home, not to envy his\ngreatness, but to spread the report of it. From Isaiah lx. we learn how\ngladly will all the nations, in the day of the kingdom, wait on\nJerusalem with their treasures. Even like the flight of doves to their\nwindows will be the willing-hearted journeys of the dromedaries of\nMidian, or the voyages of the ships of Tarshish, with their treasures\nand their spoils, to nourish the joy and glory of Zion. They will\ndelight to do her honour, and all will be with the glow and fervency of\na free-will offering. As afterwards, in the case of Peter on the holy\nMount; when he awoke to the sight and sense of the heavenly glory, such\njoy filled his soul as, at once, and by its own necessity, expelled all\nselfishness from his heart. It was not Peter properly who spoke, but the\nvirtue of the place, the spirit of the scene. He was, as in the\ntwinkling of an eye, so filled with the air and breath of heaven, that\nhe was ready to labour and let other men enter into his labours.\n\"Master, it is good for us to be here,\" said he; \"let us make three\ntabernacles, one for Thee, and one for Moses, and one for Elias.\" And,\nagain, in the holy Jerusalem, what is the commerce there between the\nfamilies of God? All that is most blessedly of the same great and\ngenerous character. The kings bring their glory and honour up to the\nlight of the city, counting it their place and their joy to do her\nhonour, not lightly approaching her, but, as owning her holy dignity,\nbringing _only their glory and their honour_ up to her. And she\ndispenses her treasures with the same gracefulness. The leaves of her\ntree, the light of her glory, the streams of her living river, are all\nat the welcome disposal of the nations.\n\nAll these shadowy expressions of the social delights of millennial days\nwill be deeply prized by us, if we love the exercise of pure, unselfish\naffections.\n\nBut in this intercourse it is the heavens that will visit the earth, and\nnot the earth the heavens--the people of the one will come down to the\nother, but not the contrary--the people of the earth will only have to\nreceive and welcome the visitants from heaven.\n\nThe kingdom of nature, as we may call it, exhibits this. For the earth\ngives nothing to heaven, but receives from it; as the sunshine and the\nrain come down to bless the earth, but the earth adds nothing in\nreturn.[37]\n\n [37] The saints of the present age, being heavenly in their calling,\n      should be heavenly also in the spirit of their mind, and\n      consciously, in all their tastes and desires, only as strangers,\n      and not at home, in the earth; a people, as another once said, not\n      as looking up from earth to heaven, but as looking down from\n      heaven to earth.\n\nBut in this coming intercourse of the heavens and the earth, when the\npeople of the heavens go up and down the mystic or millennial ladder, I\nhave thought that Scripture leads us to judge that there will be change\nof raiment, or a certain veiling of their proper glory, when they come\ndown, and have communion with the earth beneath them and under them.\n\nThe expression of this we get in the Lord's appearances after He rose\nfrom the dead. For then He could assume any veil which suited the\nbusiness He had to do, whether that of the gardener to Mary, that of a\ntravelling companion to the two going to Emmaus, or that of a courteous\nstranger on the banks of the lake to the fishermen. In such appearances\nHe could not be seen in heaven; but He could thus veil Himself when the\nbusiness He had in hand to do on the earth required it. As of old, Moses\nwas the unveiled Moses in the presence of God, but the veiled Moses in\nthe sight of Aaron and the congregation. One suit of raiment was fitted\nto heaven, another to earth. And as also, in the case of the priests,\nthey had such apparel as became them when they were _within_, and they\nhad another dress wherein to appear _without_. They suited themselves\ndifferently to the presence of God and the people. See Lev. vi. 11; xvi.\n4, 23, 24; Ezek. xlii. 14; xiv. 19.\n\nAnd, besides, we see this changeful appearance of the Son of God in old\ntimes. He had various suits wherein to show Himself, and wherein to veil\nthe brighter glory which was fit only to the higher regions. He was in a\nburning bush at Horeb, in a cloudy chariot through the wilderness, and\nas an armed soldier under the walls of Jericho. Joshua v. 13. The\nbusiness of the kingdom, the concerns of the earth, called Him here; and\nHe appeared in a way suited to the business He had to do. And all these\nare notices of the change of raiment, in which those who are to govern\n\"the world to come,\" and to do the matters of the kingdom on earth, may\nwait on their ministry here, and then return to appear again unveiled in\ntheir more proper heavenly places.\n\nBut in addition to this doctrine of heavenly and earthly places and\npeoples, in the days of the coming glory, and in addition to the truth\nof there being blessed and wondrous intercourse between them, as I have\nbeen shortly stating, we might meditate on some of the joys and glories\n_peculiar_ to each of them.\n\nTo rise and meet the Lord in the air is the hope which is the most\nimmediately upon the heart of the believer. Then the going with Him to\nthe mansions in the Father's house. As He says, \"I will come again, and\nreceive you unto Myself; that where I am, there ye may be also.\" And\nthat house will give exercise to all those family affections which the\nheart so well understands. The Father will be there, and the First-born\namong many brethren, and the many brethren themselves. And to extend\nthese relationships, and awaken affections to the full, there will be\nthe marriage there, and the now espoused or betrothed Church will become\nthe bride of the Lamb. Rev. xix.\n\nThere are scenes of glory also, and occasions of other joy, accompanying\nthis. In those heavens there will be the \"Holy Jerusalem,\" the dwelling\nof the saints as a royal priestly people, the place of _government_ and\nof _worship_. And there will be the Tree of Life, and the River of Life,\nand the Light, and the Throne of God and the Lamb. And the saints will\nbe there as harpers, not having cymbals and timbrels of merely _human_\nskill, fitted to raise the joys of earth (Ps. xcviii.), but having\n\"harps of God,\" instruments of divine workmanship, fitted to awaken\nmelody worthy of heaven itself. And the enthroned elders will be there,\ncasting their crowns before the throne, and the angels delighting to\nascribe all power and authority to the Lamb that was slain.[38]\n\n [38] Another once observed, that the moment of highest rapture in\n      heaven is not when the saints _wear_ their crowns, but when they\n      _cast them down_ before the throne. Rev. iv. 10.\n\nAnd throughout all this there will be nothing to trouble or to hinder.\nAs on earth, in those days, \"nothing will hurt or destroy in all God's\nholy mountain,\" so, in the heavens, there will be no entrance to\nanything defiling. There can be no enemies, for they have been judged;\nno serpent, for he has been trodden under foot. There will be no\nweariness of heart, no coldness or dulness of soul, no fainting of\nspirit; but the servants will serve without fault, and night and day\nthere will be the happy worship, \"Holy, holy, holy, Lord God Almighty.\"\n\nThis heaven too will be one scene of God's own rest or sabbath; and the\nsaints, in their measure tasting the same refreshing, will dwell in that\nrest in bodies fashioned like unto Christ's glorious body. They shall be\nlike Him in His glory, seeing Him as He is. They shall shine \"as the\nsun\" in the kingdom of their Father. In mind, body, and estate they will\nbe conformed to the Beloved. And there will be the seeing or\nunderstanding of all the precious revelation of God, not as through a\nglass, darkly, but as face to face, knowing even as we are known. And\nthere will be the white stone; the hidden manna; the morning star; the\nwhite robes, wherein to stand before the throne of God; the white\ngarments, wherein to walk with the Lord through the dominions; and the\nwhite raiment, wherein to sit on their own thrones. Rev. ii. iii. All\nthese will be ours then.\n\nBut this leads to a scripture which is very fruitful in notices of\nheavenly joy and glory. I mean Rev. ii. iii. The promises there made\nwill be found, I believe, to unroll before us, in holy and exact order,\nthe things which await the saints of the heavens in those coming days.\n\n_Ephesus._--\"To him that overcometh will I give to eat of the tree of\nlife, which is in the midst of the paradise of God.\"\n\nThose outside shall have the _leaves_ of this same tree for healing\n(Rev. xxii.), but the saints of the heavens shall have more--the very\nfruit of the tree itself, gathered, as it were, immediately from it,\nwhere it grows in the midst of God's own garden; not the fruit brought\nto them, but gathered by their own hands off the very tree. Strong\nintimation of the freshness, the constant freshness, of that life which\nis theirs. As Jesus says (and what can pass beyond such words?),\n\"Because I live, ye shall live also.\" Here, in this promise to Ephesus,\nis the tree of life partaken of immediately by the heavenly saints. For\nthis is their portion, to receive life from the very fountains and roots\nthemselves, and there also to feed and to nourish it.\n\n_Smyrna._--\"Be thou faithful unto death, and I will give thee a crown of\nlife.... He that overcometh shall not be hurt of the second death.\"\n\nThis is something beyond what had been said to Ephesus. Life was\nregarded as _imparted_ in its richest form to Ephesus; but here we see\nit _gained_ by Smyrna. For Smyrna was sorely tried. Some were cast into\nprison, and all of them were in tribulation. They were to suffer many\nthings, but they are promised, on being faithful unto death, a _crown_\nof life. As James in like manner speaks, \"Blessed is the man that\nendureth temptation: for when he is tried, he shall receive the crown of\nlife, which the Lord hath promised to them that love Him.\" Here the\ncrown of life is promised to them who endure trial. And this is\nbeautiful in its season. The Lord delights to own the faith of His\nsaints; and if they have shown that they loved not their life in this\nworld unto death, it shall be as though they had gained it in the world\nto come. Life shall be a crown to them _there_, as the glorious reward\nof their not having cared for it _here_.\n\n_Pergamos._--\"To him that overcometh will I give to eat of the hidden\nmanna, and will give him a white stone, and in the stone a new name\nwritten, which no man knoweth saving he that receiveth it.\"\n\nWe have another source of joy disclosed here. _Life_ is possessed, and\nthat abundantly and honourably, as we saw, at Ephesus and Smyrna; but\nthere is here the promise of another joy--_the sense of the Lord's\npersonal favour and affection_; communion with Him of such kind as is\nknown only by hearts closely knit together in those delights and\nremembrances with which a stranger could not intermeddle. This is here\nspoken of to the faithful remnant in Pergamos. They had held His faith\nin the midst of difficulties, and clung to His name; and this should be\nrewarded with that which is ever most precious--tokens of personal\naffection, waking the delightful sense and assurance that the heart of\nthe Lord is knit to their heart. He will kiss the saint \"with the kisses\nof His mouth;\" or, in the midst of it all, give that pledge which shall\nspeak it. It is the _hidden_ manna which is here fed upon; and the stone\nhere received has a name on it, which _none know but he who receives\nit_. This, as another has said, expresses individual affection. It is\nnot public joy, but delight in the conscious possession of the Lord's\nlove. How blessed a character of joy in the coming days is this! _Life_\npossessed in abundance and in honour we have already seen at Ephesus and\nSmyrna; but here, at Pergamos, we advance to another possession--not\n_glory_ in any form of it as yet, but the blessed certainty and\nconsciousness of the Lord's _personal affection_.\n\n_Thyatira._--\"He that overcometh, and keepeth my works unto the end, to\nhim will I give power over the nations, and he shall rule them with a\nrod of iron; as the vessels of a potter shall they be broken to shivers,\neven as I received of My Father; and I will give him the morning star.\"\n\nHere we reach _public scenes, scenes of power and glory_. This is not\nmerely life, though enjoyed never so blessedly, nor simple personal\naffection and individual joy, but here is something displayed in honour\nand strength abroad; here are power and glory in the first character in\nwhich the glories of the saints are destined hereafter to be unfolded;\n_i.e._, in their being the companions of the Lord in the day when He\ncomes forth to make His enemies His footstool; or, according to the\ndecree of the second psalm, to break them with a rod of iron, to dash\nthem in pieces like a potter's vessel. This will be His power just as He\ntakes the kingdom. This will be His ridding out all that would have been\ninconsistent with the kingdom. This will be the girding of the sword\nupon the thigh, like David, ere the throne be ascended, like Solomon.\nPsalm xlv. It will be the Rider's action, ere the reign of the thousand\nyears begins. Rev. xix. And in that exercise of power, and display of\nglory, the saints (as we are here instructed and promised) shall be with\nHim. This is blessed in its place, and given to us in due season; for,\n_after the life_, and the _personal, hidden joy_, the _public glories_\nbegin to be ushered forth.\n\n_Sardis._--\"They shall walk with Me in white, for they are worthy. He\nthat overcometh, the same shall be clothed in white raiment; and I will\nnot blot out his name out of the book of life, but I will confess his\nname before My Father, and before His angels.\"\n\nThis is a stage onward in the scenes of glory. The vengeance has been\ntaken, the sword of Him who sits on the white horse has done its\nrighteous service, the vessels of the potter have been broken, and the\nkingdom has come. Jesus here promises to His faithful ones that He will\nconfess them before His Father and His angels. This is not redeeming\nthem from judgment, or saving their souls (as we speak), but _publicly\nowning them before the assembled dignities of the kingdom_. He promises\nthem that they shall walk with Him in white, for they are worthy. That\nhand which now in grace washes their feet, will then take hold of them\nin holy, happy intimacy, and own full companionship with them in the\nrealms of glory. They shall _walk_ with Him.\n\nWhat a character of joy is this! To be _publicly_ owned, as before (as\nwe read of Pergamos) privately and personally caressed. In how many ways\ndoes the Spirit of God trace the coming joy of the saints! The life, the\nlove, the glory, that are reserved for them; the tree of life, and its\ncrown too; the white stone, carrying to the deepest senses of the heart\nthe pledge of love; and then companionship with the King of glory in His\nwalks abroad through His bright and happy dominions. But even more than\nthis the same Spirit has still to tell.\n\n_Philadelphia._---\"Him that overcometh will I make a pillar in the\ntemple of My God, and he shall go no more out: and I will write upon him\nthe name of My God, and the name of the city of My God, which is New\nJerusalem, which cometh down out of heaven from My God: and I will write\nupon him My new name.\"\n\nWe have just seen the heir of the kingdom as the companion of the Lord\nof the kingdom, abroad in the light of the glory, walking there in white\nwith Him, owned before the Father and before the angels. Here the\npromise is, that _the faithful one shall have his_ _place in the system\nof glory itself_, that he shall be of that glorious order of kings and\npriests who shall then form the character of the scene, each of them\nbeing a pillar in the temple, and each enrolled as of the city High and\nholy dignities! Each of the faithful ones filling his place in the\ntemple and the city, a needed member of that royal priesthood then\nestablished in their holy government in the heavens, where the New\nJerusalem abides and shines. What honour is put on them here! Owned\n_abroad_ in companionship with the Lord, walking through the rich and\nwide scene of glory; and also owned _within_, as bearing, each in\nhimself, a part of the glory, every vessel needed to the full expression\nof the light of the New Jerusalem, and formed as the vital part of the\nfulness of Him who is to fill all in all! A king and a priest, each of\nthem occupying his several rank and station in the temple and the city,\nthe Salem of the true Melchisedec. What a place of dignity! Surely love\ndelights to show what it can do, and will do. If we had but hearts to\nprize these things, chiefly because of their telling us of this love\nwhich has thus counselled for us! For what higher, happier thought can\nwe have, even of glory itself, than that it is the manner in which love\nlets us know what it will do for its elect one. Poor, poor _heart_ that\nmoves so little at these things, while the _mind_ stirs the conception\nof them!\n\n_Laodicea._---\"To him that overcometh will I grant to sit with Me in My\nthrone, even as I also overcame, and am set down with My Father in His\nthrone.\"\n\nHere _the highest point of glory is reached_. This is the bright and\nsunny elevation up to which this passage through the joys and honours of\nthe kingdom has conducted us. Here the faithful one enters into the joy\nof his Lord, sharing His throne; not only owned by Him abroad, and\nestablished with Him within, walking in white with Him, or fixed as a\nneeded and honoured portion of the great system of royal priesthood, but\nwith Him seated in the supreme place.\n\nThese pledges and promises may now end. They have told of blessedness\nindeed.\n\nExceeding great things have surely passed before us in this wondrous\nscripture, Rev. ii. iii. The tree and crown of life---the white\nstone---the morning star---the walking abroad with Jesus through the\nrealms---residence in the temple and city---a place on the throne\nitself! Surely, if Jesus Himself be prized, then will all this be\nwelcomed by us. And then, as we are further told, the joy of dispensing\nto the earth the streams of that living river, and the leaves of that\nliving tree, which rises and grows in our heavens (Rev. xxii.); with\naccess, moreover, to the ladder which lies between the upper and lower\nregions, in order, as I have been already observing, to do the business\nof the kingdom, in conscious royal dignity, and full priestly holiness.\n\nThe glory also shall be revealed _in_ us, each saint shall bear it or be\na vessel of it, and each of them shall be a child of light and a child\nof the day, and each a son of glory, glorified together with Christ, so\nas to join with Him in shedding light, beyond that of the sun or the\nmoon, upon the creation beneath, that the present earnest expectation of\nthat creation may be satisfied in the then \"manifestation of the sons of\nGod.\"\n\n\"And they shall see His face, and His name shall be in their foreheads.\"\nThey shall be intimately near Him, speaking face to face, as a man\nspeaketh to his friend, without fear or suspicion, for their title shall\nbe signed and sealed as with His own hand. He will have appropriated\nthem to Himself; and this they shall know, because His name shall be on\nthem. And there, as within all veils, they will walk in their heavenly\ntemple, and look on their Lord, and love, and wonder.\n\n\nAnd to all this, we may add, that everything will be according to our\nmind, as we speak; all will be right in our eyes; all will equally and\nentirely please us, and be just as we would have it. This we see in the\nbook of Revelation, in the progress of which the heavenly family,\nwherever they are seen or heard, are always found in the fullest concord\nwith the action that is going on. In chap. iv. the throne is getting\nitself ready for judgment---lightnings, thunders, and voices proceeding\nfrom it; but the elders and the living creatures have their doxologies\nto the name of the Lord God Almighty, who sits and orders all. In chap.\nv. the Lamb takes the book, and they again rejoice, taking their harps\nto celebrate Him, and to make merry at the prospect which this sight\nopens to them. In chap. xi. the seventh angel announces judgment, but\nthey have only to fall on their faces, and worship, and give thanks. In\nchap. xii. the war in heaven and its issue is just as they would have\nit; and with a loud voice they publish \"Salvation!\" In chap. xv. God's\n_works and ways_, all things of His _counsel_ or His _strength_, form\nthe theme of their song. And in chap. xix. the judgment of the woman who\ncorrupted the earth calls forth again and again the hallelujah of the\nglorified family. Thus all, from beginning to end, is equally and\naltogether right in their eyes; all is exactly as they would have it.\nThey as loudly triumph in the Kinsman _Avenger_ (chap. xix.), as they do\nin the Kinsman _Redeemer_. Chap. v. Everything is to them beautiful in\nits season. The marriage of the Lamb, and the judgment of the great\nwhore, are equally and entirely according to their mind.\n\nDifferent, far different indeed, from what is now felt by the believer.\nAs far as he is spiritual, nothing is fully right around him here. And\nthis is only increasingly so, as the world gets fuller of its own\ninventions, and increases with the increase of man. And a judgment this\naffords as to the state of our affections. For we may ask ourselves, How\nare we moved by the present advance in the improvements of the world?\nAre we congratulating ourselves and the age upon them, or are they\nsickening to our hearts? This may be a touch-stone of the condition of\nour souls, whether indeed Christ be our object or not. The great tower\nin the plains of Shinar would have been the boast of a Nimrod, but Abram\nwould have turned from it to weep. Just as the merchants of the earth\nbewail that which the heavens rejoice over. Rev. xviii.\n\nAnd this is the great inquiry for us now---Is Christ the object of our\nhearts---the One that we long for? For that He will be ours, and near us\nand with us for ever, will be the highest point in all our rich\nhappiness in this future heaven which we have been looking at. Provision\nfor the _heart_ is always the dearest thought we can entertain. As with\nAdam at the beginning. He was put into the possession of a goodly\nestate, which carried with it all that could gratify the sense. There\nwere the trees and the fruits of that garden, pleasant to the eye and to\nthe palate. The desire of the one and of the other, and of all the\nsenses and faculties of man, might be _holily_ indulged, for the tree of\nknowledge had not been then eaten. The Lord God was in the supreme\nplace, the creature was not then worshipped and served more than the\nCreator, and all the senses might righteously take their enjoyments, and\nthe divine Planter of Eden had provided for them. Gen. ii. 9. Yea, and\nmore than this. Adam received _dominion_ from the same hand. The\nnatural--nay, the divine--delight in power and dignity was thus provided\nfor; for as the Lord God in the upper world called the stars by their\nnames, thus owning them, so did He give Adam on the earth to call the\ncattle and the fowl by their names, thus taking headship of them. And in\nthis way he was set in the midst of these divine provisions for his eye,\nhis ear, his tastes, and his desire of dignity. But the heart was as yet\nunfed. The day of his _coronation_ was not the day of his _espousals_.\nAnd the Lord God knows him. He knows the creature whom in His love and\nperfections He had formed. It is not good, says He, that he should be\nalone, I will make him an help meet for him. And Adam receives Eve from\nthe same hand which had given him Eden with its fruits, and dominion in\nthe earth. And then it is that his lips are opened. \"Out of the\nabundance of the heart the mouth speaks.\" \"This is now bone of my bone,\nand flesh of my flesh,\" says Adam, expressing his deep satisfaction, and\nthat he now needed no more. Eden could not, with all its delights for\nthe senses, nor could his vast and unrivalled dominion abroad, as\n\"monarch of all he surveyed,\" do what Eve did for him. She unsealed his\nlips with a confession that _now_ he was satisfied. And so with us in\npossessing Jesus, above all glory, in our heavenly Eden, for ever.\n\nThese, and the like notices of heaven scattered through the Word, it is\nblessed to take up and ponder. And, as one has said, \"The Holy Ghost,\nwho is called the earnest of our inheritance, acts upon these notices,\nand makes them living to our souls.\" And it is these notices and\nattractions which make us, in a divine sense, strangers and pilgrims\nhere. Abraham, it has been observed, became a stranger in the earth, not\nfrom any sorrow or pressure in Mesopotamia, for we read of none such,\nbut because \"the God of glory\" had spoken in the language of \"promise\"\nto him. He was drawn out from kindred and home and country by something\nbefore him, and not urged or driven out by anything behind. This was\nheavenly strangership here.\n\nIs it thus, beloved, or are we desiring that it may be thus, with our\nsouls? Are we pondering the prospect, and following out the distant\nglimpses of it, with fixed and interested hearts? These are the present\nquestions for the stirring and guiding of our souls. The search will\nlead to humbling and rebuke, but it will be an excellent oil.\n\nAnd, as if to give us full ease of heart in the enjoyment of this our\nfuture heaven, the Lord has taught us to know that we are in some sense\n_wanted_ there, however unimportant we may deem ourselves. For each is\nto be a vessel of the glory, as we have already said; of larger or\nsmaller quantity it may be, but still each is a _needed_ vessel in that\nhouse of glory. We commonly think how necessary the Lord is to us. True\nindeed. We shall celebrate the fact that we owe everything to Him\nthroughout eternity. But it is also a truth (to the praise of the riches\nof grace be it spoken) that we are necessary to Him. \"The woman is the\nglory of the man.\" Not in the same way, surely. He is necessary to us\nfor _life_ as well as for joy, for _salvation_ as well as for glory; but\nwe are important, of course, only to His joy and glory; as it is\nwritten, \"That we should be to the praise of His glory;\" and again,\n\"That in the ages to come He might shew the exceeding riches of His\ngrace in His kindness toward us through Christ Jesus.\" Eph. ii 7.\n\nThe Lord God consulted for Adam's joy when He purposed in Himself to\nform Eve. Eve, we may know full well, was abundantly happy in Adam; but\nstill the concern of the Lord was about Adam being happy in Eve. So it\nis even now in the dispensation of the Gospel. The true Adam is still\nconsulted for. \"The kingdom of heaven is like unto a certain king, which\nmade a marriage for his _son_.\" And so will it be still in the\ndispensation or age of the glory. It is called \"the marriage of the\nLamb\"--not, as once observed to me, the marriage of the Church or of the\nLamb's wife, but _of the Lamb_, as though _the Lamb_ were the One\nchiefly interested in that joy.\n\nAnd so it is. The Church will have her joy in Christ, but Christ will\nhave His greater joy in the Church. The strongest pulse of gladness that\nis to beat for eternity will be in the bosom of the Lord over His\nransomed Bride. In all things He is to have the pre-eminence; and, as in\nall things, so in this--that His joy in her will be greater than hers in\nHim.\n\nAnd all the foreknown to that end, and none less than _all_, will form\nthe Eve of that Adam, and be the Bride or the Woman destined thus to be\nthe Man's joy and glory. _All_ here are _now_ \"fitly joined together and\ncompacted by that which every joint supplieth,\" and no less _then_ will\nthe _all_ be demanded. Oh, how the Lord not only prepares the heaven,\nbut in this way prepares the heart for it, that we may enjoy it with\n_entire ease_, seeing ourselves a needed portion of the holy furniture\nof the place! As Joseph would comfort his brethren by telling them that\nit was God who had sent him into Egypt before them, that life might be\npreserved by a great deliverance. Their wicked hands had done it, it is\ntrue; but God's purpose had done it also, and it is this He would have\nthem now think of, and not the other. For this is the way of love; and\n\"God is love.\" Love will not only spread the feast, but do what it can\nto let it be tasted with all confidence and joy of heart. Love will make\nthe guests _sit_ at the table, give them a plentiful board, and ease\nwhile enjoying it.\n\nCan we, beloved, read these notices of the heaven that is to be ours\nby-and-by, and for ever, and, as we read, wish our hearts joy that it is\nso? Can we count ourselves happy, having such prospects as these? As the\nmiser can bear the scorn of the world without, in the thought of his\ntreasures at home, can we in the hope of this joy of heaven live above\nthe earth and its promises?\n\nSuch things, however, as these, excellent as they are, have something\nstill further with them. The _air_ of a place is more important to us\nthan its _scenery_. If we can get both, of course the better; but if we\ncan have but one, the good air will be surely preferred.\n\nNow, heaven, I may say, will have both. It will be filled with a moral\nelement or atmosphere, as well as furnished with glories; and the former\n(I speak as a man) will be more in the account of our joy than the\nlatter.\n\nI have found it well at times to ponder this, and to learn something of\nthat moral element that is to be the air of heaven. Scriptures which I\nhave already noticed test and prove the purity of that air. The\nmillennial atmosphere both in heaven and on earth will indeed be ever\nfresh, laden with balmy fragrance. If we are now wearied with our own\nselfishness, and with the tempers of \"hateful and hating\" human nature,\nwe must long for a change of air, such as the land of the glory is said\nto know, the land of the voice of the turtle. If the brightness of those\nregions, or the scenery of the place, have its attraction (and what\nheart can conceive it?), what must be the atmosphere of it to our happy\nsouls, where social life, through all its relations, as between heaven\nand earth, and as between Jerusalem, the land of Israel, and the most\ndistant islands, moves and kindles continually with the most generous\nand delicate affections.\n\nIt is not that nature will be triumphed over merely; nature will not be\nthere; at least, not in the heavens which we are approaching. We shall\nnot have to speak of saints carrying themselves towards each other in a\ngood spirit. Such security is well in its place, and while we sojourn in\nour \"vile bodies.\" But there the element itself will be good. The\nfervent currents of pure and happy minds, flowing from each to all, will\nform it.\n\nThe moral dignity and beauty, the various and yet consistent perfections\nthat will animate us then, will all be bright and lovely before the\ndivine mind. God shall survey the work of His fingers through the\ndifferent spheres of glory, and rest with delight in it.\n\nIt is a thought much to be cherished, that our eternal ways will thus be\nthe divine delight, and more than make up to God (I speak again after\nthe manner of men) for the grief which, by us and in us, His Spirit is\nnow so continually put to.\n\nSuch will be the _moral_ enjoyments in the realms of glory; no small\npart of that banquet at which the Lord will seat His guests, when He\ncomes forth and girds Himself to wait upon them. Luke xii. 37. We may be\nbut little able to comprehend the glory itself, but we can appreciate\nthese moral characteristics of the heaven we are reaching.\n\nWhile still here, in the conflicts of flesh and spirit, we are, in some\nsense, under the guardianship of _conscience_, that principle which\njudges of \"good and evil.\" But conscience will not keep heaven in order.\nOur _passions_ and our _righteousness_ will there be one. Little do we\nnow advance in a heavenly direction by the gracious current of\naffections. But what bliss, when the very energy which bears us\n_speedily_ will also bear us _rightly_ onward---when the very gale which\nfills the sails will regulate the rudder; the passion that engages and\ndelights the soul being the very rule and measure of all that is worthy\nof the presence of God!\n\nMay we cherish in our souls these notices of heaven! Faint is their\nimpression; humblingly indeed do some of us know this; but we may\nentertain them, and bid them welcome, grieved that our welcome is not\nmore warm and affectionate.\n\n\nBut the earth is still remembered, and kept in store for great purposes\nyet to be accomplished. The rainbow was, of old, as we know, made the\npledge of this. It is a token of the covenant between God and all the\nearth, and every living thing upon it. The Lord says, that when the\ncloud comes, the bow shall be with it---when the portent of judgment\nlowers, the sign of peace shall shine. And, as we see to this day, the\nearth has not been again destroyed. It may not be the residence of the\nglory, as it once was, and as it will be again, but still it is\npreserved, according to the promise of the rainbow. And Scripture is\ndiligent and exact to show us, that in every variety of the divine\nprocedure, this promise has been, is, and will be remembered.\n\nThus it was surely remembered all the time the Lord had His seat in\nZion; for then the Lord made the earth His habitation. But when the\nthrone of the Lord leaves Zion, and the holiest of holies loses the\nglory, because the earthly people had, by their sin, disturbed its rest,\nand all returns to heaven (Ezek. i-xi.), we see the throne and the glory\ncarrying the rainbow with them. That is, though the earth was then\nstripped of glory; though Jerusalem, the throne of the Lord, was then\nfor a season laid on heaps, and put under the foot of the Gentiles;\nstill the Lord would be mindful of the earth, and make it the object of\nHis faithful care, according to His promise. And thus we see the glory,\nthough it leave the earth, bearing with it the remembrance of the earth:\n_the rainbow accompanies it to heaven_; this telling us, that though the\nLord leave the earth as the scene of His power and praise for a time, He\nhas it still in recollection before Him. Accordingly, when the heaven is\nopened to our vision in Rev. iv. we see the faithful bow encompassing\nthe throne there. How blessed this is! The Lord in the heavens is still\nmindful of the earth. He has thrown the very pledge of its security\naround His throne on high, so that though the earth see not that throne,\nand is no longer the place of that throne, that throne sees the earth\nand remembers it, and longs, as it were, for its natural footstool.\n\nThis shows us the security of the earth during this heavenly\ndispensation through which we are now passing. The Lord is now gathering\na people _for heaven_. It is true, He is not filling the earth with\nglory yet, but gathering an elect family out from it, to have communion\nwith Himself in heaven; but still He is mindful of His promise. He looks\non the bow, and preserves the earth, keeps the seed-time and the\nharvest, the cold and the heat, the day and the night, the summer and\nthe winter, in their stated rounds and seasons. Gen. ix.\n\nHow simple all this is. When the throne went first from earth to heaven,\nwe saw it bearing along with it the recollection of the earth; and now\nin its place in the heavens we see it still clasping to its breast and\nencircling across its brow this fond and loved token of the earth's\nblessing. Ezek. i.; Rev. iv.\n\nBut there is still more. For let the Lord come down in the judgments\nthat are by-and-by to visit the earth, we shall find Him as fully\nmindful of His promise not to destroy it, as now He is, or has been\nhitherto. This we see in Rev. x. The mighty angel, the angel of\njudgment, comes down; and he is clothed with a cloud, the fearful vessel\nof wrath, and token of judgment; as was said at the beginning, \"When I\nbring a cloud over the earth.\" But even then the rainbow is with Him; as\nit was added, \"The bow shall be seen in the cloud.\" It is not simply\nwith a cloud He comes down, but with the cloud and the bow accompanying\nit. See Gen. ix. 14; Rev. x. 1. As much as to tell us, that at the very\nend He remembers His word, and will debate with judgment. He will say to\nit, \"Hitherto shalt thou come, but no further.\" The cloud is to descend,\nit is true; the judgment must come, the vials of wrath must be poured\nout; but it is only to judge those who corrupt or destroy the earth, and\nnot to destroy the earth itself; for the mighty angel, as we see from\nthis scripture, who comes down \"clothed with a cloud,\" has also \"a\nrainbow upon his head.\" And the cloud, as it executes its commission,\nand pours out its water or its judgments again, must stay itself in\nobedience to the bow that is to measure and control it. The present\ncourse of things may cease, as in the days of Noah, but the bow shines\nin the eye of the Lord. His promise lives in His heart, and the earth\nshall be the happy scene and witness of its rich fulfilment.\n\nThus, then, we see that even the judgment itself shall not touch the\nancient promise to the earth. It is still beloved for Noah's sake, of\nwhom it was said, This same shall comfort us concerning our work and\ntoil of our hands, because of the ground which the Lord hath cursed\n(Gen. v.), that is, for His blessed sake whom Noah typified; and we need\nnot say, beloved, who He is. Therefore it survives the judgment, it\nstands the shock of the descent of this mighty angel, though clothed\nwith a cloud, planting his right foot on the sea, and his left foot on\nthe land, and crying aloud as when a lion roars.\n\nAnd what is it reserved for? For even more than the rainbow had promised\nit. For this is the way of God. He takes up His pledges, and is faithful\n_abundantly_, doing more exceedingly than He had spoken. And so is it in\nthis case of the earth. It is not only preserved, with its seed-time and\nits harvest, its day and its night, but it is brought into the \"liberty\nof the glory of the sons of God.\" This is more than had been pledged to\nit. The holy city descends out of heaven, to take its connection with\nthe earth; and, shining in due sphere above it, forth from its bosom it\nsends the leaves of its living tree, the streams of its living water,\nand the rays of its indwelling glory, to beautify and to refresh the\nearth and its creatures below. Rev. xxi, xxii. The rainbow need not now\nappear, for the cloud is gone. The bow would do well enough while there\nwas the cloud, the promise and the pledge might comfort, while there was\nplace for judgment, or for fear of evil; but now judgment is over. The\ncloud is scattered, and the bow has therefore no place. But the holy\ncity descends out of heaven from God, to do more, much more, than merely\nto redeem the divine pledge. For it is glorifying, and not merely\npreserving, the creation. It shall then _rejoice_ in the presence of the\nLord, when He cometh to govern the earth.\n\nWould not time fail to tell of all the types and prophecies of the\n_earth's_ blessing in the days of the kingdom? The trees and the fields\nand the floods, in their order, will then rejoice before the Lord. The\ncreation itself shall be delivered into the liberty of the glory of the\nchildren of God. Psalm viii., with many a kindred voice, proclaims it.\nThe voice of every creature on earth, under the earth, and in the sea,\nheard in vision by the prophet, anticipates it. Rev. v. And the promised\nday, when \"the desert shall rejoice and blossom as the rose,\" when \"the\nleopard shall lie down with the kid,\" and when \"the heavens shall hear\nthe earth, and the earth shall hear the corn and the wine and the oil,\"\nwill realize it. Isaiah xxxv.; Hosea ii.\n\nAnd _the nations_, we know, will fill their place in this approaching\nsystem of glory. They will turn their swords into ploughshares; and\ninstead of learning war, they will learn the ways of the Lord, and walk\nin His paths. At the appointed season they will wait, each with his\noffering, on the King in Zion, holding their high and joyous feast in\nthe presence of His greatness there. Then from the uttermost parts of\nthe earth shall be heard songs to the Righteous One. And then shall the\ncall of the prophet be answered by the willing hearts of all the people:\n\"Sing unto the Lord a new song, and His praise from the end of the\nearth, ye that go down to the sea, and all that is therein; the isles,\nand the inhabitants thereof. Let the wilderness and the cities thereof\nlift up their voice, the villages that Kedar doth inhabit: let the\ninhabitants of the rock sing, let them shout from the top of the\nmountains. Let them give glory unto the Lord, and declare His praise in\nthe islands.\"\n\n_Israel_ then shall dwell safely--\"every man under his vine and under\nhis fig tree.\" They shall be \"all righteous;\" they shall be all united;\nthey shall call every man his neighbour. \"Ephraim shall not envy Judah,\nnor Judah vex Ephraim.\" The two mystic sticks shall become one in the\nprophet's hand. They shall be \"one nation in the land upon the mountains\nof Israel.\" And, as in the shadowy days of Solomon, it shall then be\nsaid, \"Judah and Israel were many, as the sand which is by the sea in\nmultitude, eating and drinking and making merry.\" Their merriment, too,\nshall be holy. It shall be the joy of a sanctuary. \"They shall\nabundantly utter the memory of Thy great goodness, and shall sing of Thy\nrighteousness.... They shall speak of the glory of Thy kingdom, and talk\nof Thy power.\" Within themselves, towards the nations around, and under\nthe God of their fathers, the God of their covenant, all shall be\nblessing with Israel. For thus saith the Lord God, They shall dwell in\nthe land that I have given unto Jacob My servant.... I will make a\ncovenant of peace with them; it shall be an everlasting covenant with\nthem: and I will place them, and multiply them, and will set My\nsanctuary in the midst of them for evermore. My tabernacle also shall be\nwith them: yea, I will be their God, and they shall be My people. And\nthe heathen shall known that I the Lord do sanctify Israel, when My\nsanctuary shall be in the midst of them for evermore. Ezekiel xxxvii.\n\nAll this tells the tale of millennial joys on the earth. But in this\nsystem, of earthly glory, beyond the _creation_ itself, _the nations_,\nand _Israel_, there is a spot still more illustrious, an object\ndistinguished in the midst of even joys and dignities like these. I mean\n_Jerusalem_.\n\nAnd I have before now asked myself, Why is it that Jerusalem is made so\nmuch of in Scripture? Why is it that \"the Lord loveth the gates of Zion\nmore than all the dwellings of Jacob\"?\n\nIt was _His_ court--the place of His presence both as the God and the\nKing of Israel. His palace and His sanctuary were there. The\nadministrations of His laws and the ordinances of His worship were\nthere. The thrones of judgment, the testimony of Israel, and the\neucharistic service of His name, were all known there. Psalm cxxii. It\nwas the place where Jehovah had recorded His name, and where the glory\ndwelt, the symbol of His presence.\n\nIt was _His home_. The whole land was the Lord's demesne; but Jerusalem\nwas the mansion-house, the family dwelling. The children were placed out\nhere and there through the tribes and divisions of the land, which was\nthe family estate, but Jerusalem was the family mansion. It was the\nfather's house, the common home, where, at stated holy days, the\nchildren met, according to the common way of the affection of kindred.\n\nThis, I believe, was Jerusalem's _first_ attraction in the eye and to\nthe heart of the Lord of Israel. He sought and He found a home at\nJerusalem, saying, \"This is My rest for ever: here will I dwell; for I\nhave desired it.\" And He left it, when sin had defiled it, with all the\nhesitation and lingering which disappointed affection so well\nunderstands. Ezekiel viii.-xi.\n\nJerusalem was all this--the house of the Father, the palace of the King,\nand the temple of the God of Israel. For Israel were His children, His\npeople, and His worshippers, and the affections of a Father's heart, and\nthe joys and honours of the Lord and King, found their object and their\nsphere at Jerusalem. And this is more than enough to account to us for\nher high distinction. And all this is she to be again. It will be the\npalace, the temple, and the family mansion again. It will be the place\nof prayer for all nations. It will be the seat of legislation, worship,\njudgment, and government. It will be the fountain, too, of the virtues\nof the new covenant, from whence the living waters will flow, to make\nher, in those days, the mystic mother of the family. Psalm lxxxvii. And\nthe glory of the heavens will shine on her from above, doing for her the\nservice of sun and moon, while she is lifted up and exposed, that she\nmay bask in the full light of it, and dwell under it as her native air.\nIsa. iv. 5; lx. 1; Zech. xiv. 10.\n\nAnd she shall be the bride of the Lord of the earth, and the queen in\nthe day of His power. He will clothe her with ornaments as such, rejoice\nover her, impart His name to her, and have her so honoured and cherished\nby the whole world, as to treat despite of her as indignity done to\nHimself. Psalm xlv.; Isaiah lx.; Jeremiah xxxiii.; Ezekiel xlviii.;\nZeph. iii.\n\nAll this may well account for the place which Jerusalem holds in the\nthoughts of the Spirit. His prophets, those who spake as they were moved\nby Him, address her again and again as the bride, the queen, and the\nmother, in the days of the approaching glory. But what shall we say of\nHim, who has thus decked her with all beauty and dignity, and given her\nsuch relationship to Himself? Is it not wondrous and happy to see the\ncircle of human sympathies thus seating itself in the divine mind? Is\n_friendship_ only human? How can I say so, when I see Jesus and the\ndisciple whom He loved walking in company? Are the affections of\n_kindred_ merely human? How can I say so, when I think of Christ and the\nChurch, and a thousand witnesses from Scripture? Is the heart's fond\ndelight in _home_ a divine as well as a human joy? How can I doubt it,\nwhen I thus see the Lord and Jerusalem? Surely the divine mind is the\nseat of all the pure and righteous sensibilities of the heart, and \"the\nMan Christ Jesus\" tells me so. The Lord God of Israel has known, and\nwill know again, the affection that lingers round the homestead of many\na family recollection and joy.\n\nSuch will be Jerusalem, and such the earth itself, the nations, and\nIsrael, in the promised days of the presence and power of the Lord.\nFaintly traced by the hand, more feebly responded to by the heart. But\n\"yet true,\" though \"surpassing fable.\"\n\nAll Scripture, however, shows us that such joy cannot be had on earth,\nor in the circumstances and history of the world, in their _present_\nstate, nor till the earth is made the scene of righteousness; and such\nit is not to be, till the Lord have ridded it of all that offends, and\nall that does iniquity. _The sword of judgment_ must go before _the\nthrone of glory_. The earth must be cleared of its corruptions, ere it\ncan be a garden of holy, divine delights again.\n\nThe Gospel is not producing a happy world, or spreading out a garden of\nEden. It proposes no such thing, but to take out of the world a people,\na heavenly people, for Christ. But the presence of the Lord will make a\nhappy world by-and-by, when that presence can righteously return to it.\n\nThe close of the Psalms shows us this. Beautiful close! All\npraise---untiring, satisfying fruit of lips uttering the joy of a filled\nheart, and owning the undivided glory of the Blessed One! But this had\nbeen preceded by the sorrows of the righteous in an evil world, and then\nthe judgment of that world. For that Book gives the cries of the\nrighteous in an evil world, the joys of the Spirit in the midst of that\nevil, the varied exercises of the soul by the way, and the end of the\nrighteous in the joy of praise. All, however, forbids the heart from\nentertaining the thought of joy _in the_ _earth_ till the judgment have\ncleansed it; the _rest_ is to be prepared for _Solomon_ by the _sword_\nof _David_.\n\nThe proper thought of this will keep the heart from being tossed by\ndisappointments, and take it off from the expectation of any progress to\nrest and stability for the world, or in it, till the Lord have executed\njudgment. Our joy now is to be in Himself, in spirit, in the thought of\nHis love, and the sense of His peace, helped onward, day by day, in the\nhope of full and righteous joy with Him, when the wicked have gone from\nthe scene for ever.\n\nHow sensitively does the Lord's mind recede from the thought of joy in\nthe earth, when the people were wondering at all things that He did!\nTurning to His disciples He said, \"Let these sayings sink down into your\nears; for the Son of man shall be delivered into the hands of men.\" But\nthis, I may say, was only a sample of all His mind, as He looked to the\nearth in its present condition. It was ever in His thoughts connected\nwith trial.\n\nPsalm lxxv. strikingly utters this. There Messiah looks on the earth as\nall dissolved and disordered, about to drink the cup of judgment at\nGod's righteous hand. For the present He expected nothing from it. But\nthen, after the exhausting of that cup, He does look on it as the scene\nof joy and praise and exaltation of righteousness, He Himself bearing up\nits pillars, and leading its songs.\n\nI feel it, however, to be a very solemn truth, that God is allowing man,\ngiving him space and time, to ripen his iniquity, that the judgment may\nfall upon him in the height of his pride, and crush the system which he\nis raising in its point of greatest pretension and advancement. It is\nsurely a solemn truth. But even in such a purpose, as in all others,\n\"Wisdom is justified of all her children.\" The believer may be awed by\nsuch a fact in the divine dealings with man, but he approves it,\nunderstands it to be a fitting thing, that man should be allowed to\nproduce the fully ripened fruit of his own departure from God, to\npresent it and survey it in the pride of his heart, and then receive his\nrighteous answer to all his boasted and enjoyed apostasy, from the\nsignal judgment of God. The iniquity of the Amorites was to be _full_,\nere justice should overtake it. The Lord bore with Babel till the cry of\nit went up to Him. Nebuchadnezzar had built \"great Babylon,\" as he\ngloried, by the might of his power, and for the honour of his majesty,\nwhen he was driven from his high estate; Haman was full when God emptied\nhim even to the dregs. And the great man of the earth, at the last,\nshall come to his end, just as he has planted the tabernacles of his\npalaces in the glorious holy mountain.\n\nIt is solemn; but it is as wisdom would have it, and as faith deeply\napproves it. God is justified in His sayings, and overcomes when He is\njudged.\n\n\nHappy I desire to find this meditation. Where there is much conflict of\nthought and judgment among the saints, it is grateful to the soul to\nturn to subjects of _common_ interest and delight; and when the scene\naround is getting full of man's inventions and man's importance, it is\nwell, to look to those regions of light and purity, where God, supreme\nand all-sufficient, will gather together all things in Christ, both\nwhich are in heaven and which are on earth. Regions of light and purity\nindeed, where all will tell of intimacy or nearness, and yet of the full\nsense of the position of the Creator and the creature, the Sanctifier\nand the sanctified. In many a delightful page of God's Word is this\nbrightly reflected. The Lord dwelt in the midst of the camp of Israel\nwhile at rest, and, as it took its journey, went along with it, whether\nby night or by day, whether the road lay right onward, or turned back to\nthe mountain or the sea. But still He was _God_, the Lord of the camp.\n\nHow does all that commend itself to our souls! We bow to this. We\nrejoice to know that He dwells in a light that no man can approach unto,\nand yet that He has walked through the cities and villages of earth;\nthat He is One whom no man hath seen, nor can see, and yet that none\nless than the One who is in His bosom has declared Him to us, been in\nthe midst of us, our Kinsman in the flesh, as well as Jehovah's Fellow.\n\nHis supreme authority, as Lord, is infinite; His distance and holiness,\nas God, are infinite. And yet He is \"Head over all things _to_ the\nChurch,\" and God Himself is \"for us.\" At the very moment of His\ncommanding Moses and Joshua to take their shoes from their feet, because\nof His presence, He was manifesting Himself to them in symbols or\ncharacters significant of the deepest sympathy, and of the most devoted\nservice. Exodus iii; Joshua v.\n\nBut enough. I will not pursue these thoughts any further. Yet in the\ndays of increasing gloom and perplexity, like the present, the soul is\nthe more sent to the sure hiding-place of safety, or to the sunny Pisgah\nheights of hope and observation. It gets the more accustomed to meditate\non the strength of those foundations which God has put under our\nfeet---the intimacy of that communion into which He has even now\nintroduced our hearts---and the brightness of those prospects which He\nhas set before our eyes.\n\nI only ask, beloved, Are we pressing, in desire, after this portion? Are\nwe unsatisfied with all in comparison with it? Are we refusing to form\nany purpose, or to entertain any prospect, short of this? In Psalm\nlxxxiv. the heart of the worshipper is still _on the way_, unsatisfied,\nthough he have \"pools,\" and \"rain,\" and \"strength\" of the Lord, till he\nreach Zion. In Psalm xc. all which the man of God sees is the vanity of\nhuman life and the \"return\" of the Lord. He does not anticipate changes\nand improvements in the condition of things, but looks to being \"made\nglad\" and of being \"satisfied\" at the \"return\" of Christ.\n\nIs this our mind? I again ask. Are we still prisoners of hope, refusing\nto let anything change the expectant attitude of the soul? The Holy\nGhost is given to us, not to change that, but to strengthen it. His very\npresence does but nourish present dissatisfaction of heart, and the\nlongings of hope and desire. He causes the saint to \"abound in hope,\"\nand gives breadth and compass to the cry, \"Come, Lord Jesus.\" Spirit of\ntruth, the other Comforter, as He is, He does not show Himself for the\nBridegroom, nor propose to make His refreshings \"the marriage supper of\nthe Lamb.\" The energy of hope, the desirings of the soul after our still\nunmanifested Lord, only speak the Spirit's presence in us the more\nclearly and blessedly. It is His very design and workmanship. He draws\nus forth to hope to the end for the grace that is to be brought to us at\nthe revelation of Jesus Christ.\n\nAnd is He, beloved, our object? The heart well knows the power of that\nwhich is its object. Do we make Jesus such? Do we find, in ourselves,\nanything of that sickness of hope of which we read in Scripture? And are\nwe able to say, \"When He giveth quietness, who then can make trouble?\"\n\nMay the Spirit shed abroad more and more, in the heart of each of us,\nthese and the like affections. And to Him that loved us, and washed us\nfrom our sins in His own blood, be glory and dominion for ever! Amen.\n\n      Bride of the Lamb! awake, awake!\n        Why sleep for sorrow now?\n      The hope of glory, Christ, is thine,\n        A child of glory thou.\n\n      Thy spirit through the lonely night,\n        From earthly joy apart,\n      Hath sigh'd for One that's far away,\n        The Bridegroom of thy heart.\n\n      But see, the night is waning fast,\n        The breaking morn is near,\n      And Jesus comes with voice of love,\n        Thy drooping heart to cheer.\n\n      He comes; for, oh, His yearning heart\n        No more can bear delay,\n      To scenes of full, unmingled joy\n        To call His Bride away.\n\n      This earth, the scene of all His woe,\n        A homeless wild to thee,\n      Full soon upon His heav'nly throne,\n        Its rightful King shall see.\n\n      Thou too shalt reign, He will not wear\n        His crown of joy alone,\n      And earth His royal Bride shall see\n        Beside Him on the throne.\n\n      Then weep no more, 'tis all thine own,\n        His crown, His joy divine,\n      And sweeter far than all beside,\n        He, He Himself is thine.\n\n\n\n\n\n        London: _A. S. Rouse_, 15 & 16, Paternoster Square, E.C.","title":"The Patriarchs: Being Meditations upon Enoch, Noah, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Joseph, Job; The Canticles, Heaven and Earth.","tradition":"scripture-revelation","translated_text":null,"word_count":134246}