Remembered for his Prayer

IN the first book of Chronicles (chapter iv., verse 10) we have the record of one who is remembered for the prayer he offered up to the God of Israel. The record of the inspired chronicler is in the following words: “And Jabez called on the God of Israel, saying, Oh! that thou wouldest bless me indeed, and enlarge my coast, and that thine hand might be with me, and that thou wouldest keep me from evil, that it may not grieve me. And God granted him that which he requested.” Some men are remembered for their deeds of daring, others for their great benevolence, some for their piety and others for the trouble they have given to their fellow-men. But it is a rare thing for men to be remembered for their prayers. There have been, no doubt, great wrestlers at the throne of grace such as Moses, Daniel, Paul, etc., but their works as servants of the Highest are also recorded but, as for Jabez, the most that we are told of him is that he offered up a remarkable prayer to the God of Israel. There is something very fragrant in a memory that has prayer for its centre. One may have heard many a prayer but it is not every prayer that left an impression that the years have not been able to obliterate. One such prayer we remember having been offered up at one of the early conferences of our Church held at Inverness over forty years ago by one of our elders. The memory of that prayer has lingered with us after the long lapse of years. That the solemn impression made was not confined to ourselves was manifest from

the solemn stillness that pervaded the building where we met. To be remembered for prayer—earnest pleading with God with a sense of our need and a hope by faith that prayer will be heard—is not so common as one might expect among those professing to be followers of the Lord. That this was the position of Jabez, therefore, gives him an honourable place among the pleaders at the throne of grace. It is also to be observed that this gem is hidden among a long list of difficult Hebrew names—a list which many readers of the Bible are ready to pass over as having no instruction for them, all the while forgetting that “All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness: that the man of God may be perfect, thoroughly furnished unto all good works” (II Tim. iii. 16, 17). All true prayer must come from the Holy Spirit who searcheth all things and who knows perfectly the will of God. We, by reason of the limitation of our knowledge, and the darkness of our understanding, are prone to ask for things that are neither conducive to God’s will nor to our own well-being. But when Jabez offered up his prayer he not only prayed but received an answer to his prayer. God always answers the prayers of His people either by granting them what they pray for or refusing to grant their petition. The latter method is as truly God’s answer as the former though it is not generally regarded as His answer. When God refused to take away the thorn in the flesh this was God’s answer to Paul as truly as when He answered the Apostle’s prayer in the storm by sending him deliverance. We are so ready to be cast down and come to wrong conclusions and to have wrong thoughts of the Lord’s kindness because the answer is not along the lines we anticipated or hoped for. We are like little children who cry bitterly when the wisdom of their parents denies them something which, with their wider experience and more mature knowledge, they know would be hurtful to the child. In the case of Jabez, however, God granted him “that which he requested.” This gives a significance to the

petitions and did space permit it was our intention to refer to these petitions in the order in which they appear in the inspired Word but owing to the exigencies of space we must forbear. May we, too, like Jabez pray that God, who is ever-blessed, would bless us with blessings indeed—blessings that are really worth calling blessings and which can come from Him and Him alone.

Sermon.

BY REV. JOHN TALLACH, INGWENYA, SOUTH AFRICA.

II.

Jesus Christ the same yesterday and to-day and forever.—

Hebs. xiii. 8.

(Continued from page 456).

III. In the third place we observe that, this unchangeableness in Him and so precious to us should result in a certain fixedness of purpose. (a). And first in our attitude to His Word. The Word of God is not only a revelation of Christ but it comes to us solely on His account, it belongs to the economy of grace and on that account it has as its foundation a permanently satisfied justice, a foundation which cannot change and so by it taking its nature from its foundation cannot change either. To the extent of every inspired word it is saturated with the unchangeable Jesus. We feel grieved indeed when it is interfered with but the Word written takes the words of the Word Incarnate, “Weep not for me but for your children” and grief is turned to pity for those who trifle with it. In Him it is established fast in the heavens and so cannot really be interfered with; for, if men on earth change it the Word in heaven simply disowns this as being no longer the truth and charges it with being another gospel than that of Christ the unchangeable. A variable Bible must mean a variable Christ and out text outruling the one outrules the other. Let us look at it in this way. Christ

and His Word answer the one to the other as wax to the seal. The Word gives its impress of Him, “Unchangeable or no Christ at all” and He gives the Word of His impress, “the same yesterday and to-day and forever” to every word or no word at all. The Word lives, moves, and has being only in the revelation of a present and unchangeable Christ. In this sense the Bible can never be detached from the Lord and a true spiritual contending on its behalf must spring from a personal loyalty to Christ as the unchangeable. Now, this suggests a thought or two that we all may lay to heart. In contending for the faith our sword is no dead thing but the living Word of the living Christ, and we draw it in sight of Calvary, in sight of the empty tomb, in the presence of the living Jesus so that when we speak His Word we do not merely convey His mind but rather He is here and now actually employing human language as His mouthpiece. There is a difference between my saying, “I speak God’s Word to you” and, “the Lord is speaking to you through His Word.” Now, here is solidity, here is strength, here is the true sword of the Word. When a person is brought face to face with His Word he is face to face with the Lord of Truth and his answer must be to him and not to us. At the strongest your witness is weak but He who shall sit to judge the quick and the dead fills the words you witness to, they are clothed with the dignity of the great white Throne. His words are “the same yesterday and to-day and forever” because He lives in them in a constant now. Oh! how careful, should we be in the use of His Word. How careful, especially, that self in the form of puerile personalities casts not its shadow between men and the Christ of Truth. Wretch indeed would he have been who would have sat down with Christ on the Mount that he might supplement His Word and His authority with those of a fallen creature. A hell-deserving sinner to advertise himself on Immanuel’s platform. I am that wretch if I cast my shadow along the edge of truth, if my contending for truth is no more than a contention that self

should have some part of what is Christ’s. In contending for our creed this must be a fixed article in it as in all else. “No flesh shall glory in His presence,” and He is unchangeably present in the Word we contend for.

(b). And now in the light of our text what should be our attitude to Church Standards as these are based on the truth in which He resides. I think there is sometimes a danger of detaching and isolating these standards from the Lord Himself and we must jealously guard against this for to the extent we do this we remove the authority for them from Him to mere men, while on the other hand the constant association of them with Him as Head of the Church will enhance their authority and preserve for them a constant freshness in our hearts. If some of my younger friends were asked the question: “What think you is at the very centre of your Church’s contending for the truth?” I wonder what the answer would be. Those outside your church will give her struggles no higher motive than that of a dour conservatism, a purpose simply not to change, while you rejecting this will say that these struggles have something to do with the infallibility of the Word and a conscientious cleaving to Standards. To an extent you are right in your reply but I wish you to get a firm hold of something more. What is the proper background behind all that our Church stands for? It is not church courts. You must lift it higher, you must in fact find that background in the truth of our text. On his deathbed John Knox desired that the 17th Chapter of John should be read to him. Here he first cast his anchor. Prior to the Reformation you see him alone on his knees with the unchangeable Jesus who communes with him in this Word. A realization that He is the same yesterday and to-day and forever, a strong affection for Him as His unchangeable Saviour and then, the Reformation. I can well remember when on one occasion the late Mr. Cameron* was preaching what is sometimes called a “witnessing sermon” and while making some forcible remarks on the infallibility of

*The late Rev. N. Cameron, Glasgow.

the Word he paused, then throwing his left arm across his breast with tremendous conviction he exclaimed: “precious Jesus.” The true background of your Church’s strivings is there then, in the closet, on the hills, souls alone with a living Saviour to whom as “the same yesterday and to-day and forever” an unswerving personal loyalty is freely yielded. They know no variable Christ in heaven and they know no variable Christ in the Word. We are gladly fixed to an unchanging Bible because of our unchanging Christ in the Bible. Nor are we cribbed in being thus fixed. “Go where you will,” said the eagle to her young, “but remember that you are limited to the heavens.”

(e) This same thought can be profitably pursued in connection with the ordering of His house here on earth. One would think, if we are to believe some, that the practice of the church depends solely on the opinion of men so that it can be changed by any majority of unbelievers but the truth is that all church rules have direct connection with the teaching of our text. When we remember that “to-day” Christ is the same as in the “yesterday” of the early church we begin to see how serious it is to do much that passes as harmless in the professing church to-day. An unchangeable Christ in an unchangeable Book of rules must mean a changeless practice in His Church. Innovations are outruled, not by men in assemblies merely but by the finger of Christ. This is so true that what are often regarded as differences between churches are really points of difference between bodies of men and the mind of Christ, their quarrel is first with Him rather than with those who will not change. On such questions as church praise and the keeping of the Lord’s Day He who sits midst the seven candlesticks is here and now of the same mind as when He sang these Psalms on earth and filled the first Christian Sabbath with His own personality, peace, and power. The Church is His; to His mind the means which He gave it are sufficient so that any addition or change in them immediately contradicts our text, raises the question of a changeable Christ. Those who take up a strong position on the matter of church

practice are often spoken of as being narrow and self-righteous. The truth simply told is this, we profess and feel that we are poor needy sinners who are utterly weak and unstable. A Saviour would but increase our misery. We know that the Word of God brings before us an unchangeable Saviour and this is all our hope and all our salvation. Can it be expected of us wilfully to grieve Him by changing anything wherein we see Him to be “the same yesterday, to-day and forever?” By His Spirit He maintains a constant witness in us to His own unchangeableness and shall we be expected to please men at the cost of desiring Him to remove this witness. For we must first quench this witness before we proceed to bring in changes and in quenching we request that such witness should cease. With this witness in this glorious Person in Heaven, with this witness in His word in earth, and in our hearts why should it be wondered at when we say: “Never!” to all calls to change practice in church matters that are in accordance with His Word. Hard sayings and unjust accusations that we are uncharitable leave us cold, unresponsive, indifferent. And so long as we are able in any measure to see the glory of our unchangeable Lord we may with great indifference take any name men are pleased to give us. The crown of His work and love is this, “I change not” and are we to see that crown removed from off His head; and see it trampled under foot; and that by people professing His name; and in that very worship professed to be to Him; and, seeing and knowing, are we to join in with these acts? approve them? be silent before them? Be silent when the heavens are ringing with the word “Immutability?” Be silent when the whole Covenant of Grace resounds with the glory of an unchangeable Saviour? Be silent when the only revelation of Him we possess, His Word, absolutely denies all knowledge of any changeable Christ and loudly witnesses in every word of it that He cannot change. Be silent when all our comfort, hope, prospects for time and eternity are knit up with the heart of our gloriously unchanging Lord? When we say that these

innovators are doing the work of those who are enemies of His glory we are saying what we firmly believe to be the mind of Christ in the matter; but even then we do not expect that our attitude will be understood. In fact, we expect to be misunderstood. But let those lovers of change do the first things taught in God’s Word and we will then look for them to understand us. Let them but betake themselves as poor needy unstable sinners to the feet of Christ; let them come and meet us as they rejoice in an unchangeable Saviour and then and not until then are they in a fit state to appreciate our tenderness in such matters. There is no doubt about it but to change in practice from Him is to change in conscience towards Him. Change in practice is a practical change in doctrine especially this doctrine of His unchangeableness and no wonder changes in creed follow. The law of spiritual gravitation comes in here and there is no saying where the end may be.

(d) Now the more that we regard the Word of God as thus the face of the unchangeable Christ on His church the more shall we feel ourselves bound down to, more than we can at present look into. The fact of our having a fixed place in the bosom of Immanuel is at such a discount to-day in the church that hardly a week passes without some change being brought in. The result is that God’s true people are being made to examine the articles of their faith and calling, again, and again. The term “the Gospel” has come to have so many meanings to-day that it is applied to almost anything so long as it is applied by some church even although that church be Anti-Christ. The gospel is so accommodating, so adaptable, so readily changeable that it can be made to fit in anywhere and into anything. But “I, if I be lifted up will draw all men unto me” there in its naked simplicity stands the unchangeable gospel among us. Men are to be drawn to Him and Him only; by Him and by Him only, and through His being lifted up and that only. Recognising the presence of the unchangeable Lord among us let us be careful that these three particulars are matters of the

utmost concern to us. I say utmost concern, because no mere nod of recognition to these particulars as part of our creed will satisfy Him. In the words quoted above he speaks “to-day” with the same emphasis and assurance as He did in the “yesterday” of His earthly life, He means every word of it and He means it for all time. Oh! let us then listen again and again to the “I” and the “Me,” listen until every word becomes a fire in our souls and the conviction becomes predominant and permanent, there is salvation in no other, there is nothing but the fire of hell for all outside Christ. “He is beside himself,” “these who have turned the world upside down,” “thou art mad” are some of the things said about Christ Himself and those who were His followers and in light of these sayings we can measure to what extent this truth is a mere mental view and how far it is a heart conviction with us. Men may be drawn to concerts, to church, and to put their names on the communion roll but the incessant question is, “Are they being drawn to me and by me?” There may be finance committees, statistics, organisation, elaborate machinery, but all these are but so much empty things if men are not drawn to Him. He is the same too in His present ordering of the instrument to be used in leading men to Him, the law. He looks at the law in His Word and then He looks at us and He says, “Use it as a schoolmaster to lead to me.” Use it in the pulpit as a mere corrector of moralism or as a hope of salvation, or as a weapon to hit off your opponents with and you are acting forthwith the desire of Christ in the matter. The law is holy, just, and good, the law is spiritual in its application, final in its standards, absolute in its authority, inflexible in its demands, awful in its threatenings yet deliberately preached with the feet of Jesus as its present end. And not alone in the matter of it but in the spirit of it He shows to us His present will. “When He beheld the city He wept over it,” yes, even while pronouncing judgments against it. “The same yesterday and to-day and forever” in this as all else He would have us preach the law

with the spirit of the gospel. He has also fixed for us for all time the Agent of gospel blessings, the Holy Spirit. Men are either dead or alive as these conditions admit of nothing in between. “Yesterday” at Pentecost men were raised from their spiritual graves by the regenerating power of the Holy Spirit and their condition being unchanged the same Power must be at work or otherwise there is no regeneration experienced. The Holy Spirit has given Himself over to this work in the name of the ever living Christ for there is an infinite value bound up with the work and name of Christ and the Holy Spirit recognises no other channel of approach to men dead in sin. In this way to say, “Jesus Christ the same yesterday and to-day, and forever” is equal to our saying, “The Holy Spirit the same yesterday and to-day, and forever through Jesus.” Any ignoring of His place in salvation, any displacing of His function by any other person or thing brings us into conflict with our text. Now, believing as we do that Christ is unchangeable in His attitude to the Holy Spirit and His work we raise for ourselves a very practical question. Are we as preachers and congregations showing that intelligent, humble, prayerful, and trusting attitude of expectancy towards the Holy Spirit which our belief demands? Is not the Lord constantly with us in unchanged sufficiency? And is He not constantly to-day as yesterday the way of the Spirit’s approach to men? “Constantly,” does not this word seem to constitute a challenge to us? “The same yesterday and to-day and forever,” the ladder is there not one rung of it removed, but where is the uplooking, waiting expectant church gathered at its foot? Too often, alas! we are at a remove discussing the work of the Holy Spirit when we should be waiting for Him. Closely connected with the above is the relation in which our text stands to the gospel call. The scope of the call is to the ends of the earth with a “beginning at Jerusalem” and the history of the church largely centres round persons who have been the means in their generations of directing the attention of the church to this duty. The result has been that the gospel has been preached to a wider and wider circle of this world’s

inhabitants. In this progress of the raising of men and the directing of the subsequent movements we see the hand of the Lord. The presence of the unchangeable Christ in His church was the spring of all these movements and this in the “to-day” of each generation He revealed His unchangeable will of yesterday. And as far as we are concerned He still looks us in the face with “Jerusalem” and “the ends of the earth” on His lips. No shadow of doubt is there in His purpose, His present command nor in our unchangeable duty in the matter. The “Jerusalem” of yesterday comprised, scribes, pharisees, hypocrites, Christ-rejectors. This mass of antagonism lay deeply round the doors of the early church, and to-day, if we look, we see it still there. Rejectors who take His name in vain, rejectors both church-connected and churchless, rejectors who profess the name of Christ but who find nothing more easy than to draw a line through His Word, divinity, and authority. We rightly lament the increase of Romanists, of Communists, of Higher Critics, of unbelievers in general, but let us lay it to heart that these comprise the “Jerusalem” of our “to-day.” Begin here. This is His mind if we mistake not. Did the flesh in the disciples get its way they would have begun anywhere outside Jerusalem. A promise to write to Jerusalem or a purpose to return after their position was strengthened by victory elsewhere might compromise conscience on the matter. But no, begin here. He was gone but His Word was of equal authority with them as when He was with them on earth. They were fixed down to this duty by the Holy Spirit and the means used by Him were simply a practical apprehension of the unchangeableness of Christ. How often are we guilty of regarding our “Jerusalem” at a distance as if we were under no duty to make it one of our immediate interests. We even go further. Do we not at times indulge in a dangerous form of self-pity when on any account we have to rub up against its religion or irreligion? We pity ourselves, not our “Jerusalem.” Does this not look like the spirit of Cain? Am I my brother’s keeper? It certainly

does; it is as alien to the Spirit of Christ as Cain was alien to the God who found him guilty. My friend, do you find yourself less interested in this aspect of our Lord’s unchangeableness than of some others mentioned? Know then that you sin deeply by as much as thinking that you can make the Lord changeable to meet your ideas, changeable to excuse you from plain duty. Your whole comfort for personal salvation comes to you from the assurance that He is unchangeable. He unchangeably wills that you are a saved sinner and He unchangeably wills that you begin at Jerusalem and go to the ends of the earth. Rejoicing in His salvation will you now divide Christ? Will you now evade the burden of Jerusalem and the ends of the earth? I speak of a church as a whole. How each member in it is to serve lies with the individual and his or her Lord. Only let us be clear that in this as in all else He is “the same yesterday and to-day and forever,” and let us prayerfully and tenderly ponder His will on the matter.

And now, in conclusion, has not His unchangeableness a very definite message of encouragement to those churches which may be mean and poor in the eyes of the larger churches? The Lord did not choose the children of Israel because they were a great people, nor did he make choice of the throne, wealth and power of Caesar to spread the gospel but His choice fell on a handful of poor men who as a whole claimed neither great gifts nor wealth—”The weak things to confound the mighty.” And in this His choice of human means He is “the same yesterday, and to-day, and forever.” Now, has it not happened sometimes that a realisation of His unchangeableness has been at the root of a church’s separation and consequently the reason why she is so often despised by larger churches? Christ a changeable one, a variable one, an adaptable one, Christ cut and carved to fit into modern thought and morals, Christ interpreted outside the Word by individuals, by churches, by religions this is the one so loved by many churches and they have naught but the fiery furnace for all who will not bow down to this image. But let

us note that small and despised though a church may be in the eyes of men yet if it but witness to His unchangeableness He will make use of its witness. We know that the influence of such a church must go much further than its apparent reach but He alone can estimate its power to the full. The kneeling church refuses to budge an inch to right or left from His feet, she is bound to them. Yes, and those who pass by cast mire on her, they mock her, they make jest of her seeming worthlessness, but year after year finds her still kneeling and there is a great joy in her heart. And why? She well knows that whatever may befall her nothing can befall that crown which He wears and which shall flourish upon Him and she is content. For His unchangeableness is a crown to Him and a church’s crown is its practical adherence to Him as unchangeable. “Let no man take thy crown,” no ideas of our own bigness from within, no mocker from without. In the past He has used the weak to be not only a depository of truth but a channel of it to men and may we not grow more and more expectant that He will so use us too? It is the Father’s purpose to glorify this very Christ we know and believe in, “to the ends of the earth” and He will glorify no other. “I know thy poverty but thou art rich,” yea, and these same riches shall yet be poured out to those who are poor indeed making them rich for eternity. What a work! To be enabled to carry on the witness to an unchanging Christ to a generation yet unborn and who shall come and declare that He hath done this. In weakness let us seek to preserve this light, in face of all opposition carry it, and the blessings of the Three One God attend us, blessings under which the little one will become a thousand. My dear friends, this is no idle sentiment although we often speak as if it were little more. This is the truth as the annals of Heaven declare it, and in time history attests it. We are not faced with a shadowy future, a mere fulfilling of our duty in our day and nothing beyond. The truth we carry is even now weighty with the glory of our Lord. In the light of the foregoing, here and now we are on

the way to the fulfilling of a purpose as high as any merely human beings can be called to. Put the ear of faith to the mouth of the Word, listen long enough and you will hear the tramp of generations already on the way who shall arise and call you blessed. They will rightly gauge the import of your witness, appreciate your struggles, and prize your crown as around the feet of our Lord and theirs they praise Him as “the same yesterday and to-day and forever.”

Zeal.

ZEAL for the honour and glory of God is a beautiful thing. It had its pre-eminent manifestation in the jealousy of the Lord Jesus for the glory of God the Father. That was the purest and holiest zeal the world has ever witnessed. “He put on righteousness as a breastplate, and an helmet of salvation upon His head; and He put on the garments of vengeance for clothing, and was clad with zeal as a cloak” (Is. lix. 17). No selfish element marred that pure zeal. It was His meat and drink to do the Father’s will. He did always the things that pleased Him, (John viii. 29). Anything that interfered with the supreme claims of the glory of God He denounced in words of holy indignation. When He drove out of the temple those who sold oxen and doves, and the money-changers, His disciples remembered what was foretold of the Messiah—”The zeal of thine house hath eaten me up” (Ps. Ixix. 9). There was a holy fire burning in His heart and in it there was none of that mixture of strange fire that is so ready, at times, to enter into the zeal of the most faithful of His servants. From the revelation He gave of that zeal it is evident that He had not only His eye but His heart fixed at all times upon the glory of God. He could say in a sense no other servant could say: “I have glorified Thee on earth” (John xvii. 4), “I do always those things that

please Him” (John viii. 29). But while it is impossible for any of the sinful children of men to glorify God in this supreme sense yet He has had His own faithful servants who, in face of death, trials, temptation, fleshly inducements and worldly honours, ease, and comforts, had the glory of God in view. The best of them were far from perfect but when one reads in the New Testament what Paul suffered and notes his steadfastness in the face of it and how his heart ever turned to the glory of God’s name how empty does much of that which passes under the name of zeal among men appear. What noble examples also we have in the Old Testament such as Abraham, Moses, Phinehas, Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, Elijah, Hezekiah, Josiah, etc., men who were zealous for God’s glory. Yet they were but fallible and the Holy Spirit has seen meet to record wherein they came short; for His method of writing the lives of His servants is not after the manner of men.

Real zeal is not always, however, that which passes under this honoured name and as God’s Word and not man’s standard is that by which zeal is to be measured we shall now turn to it for guidance in an endeavour to single out the real from the spurious.

1. Jehu’s Zeal. Jehu was raised up and appointed to be the divine instrument in the destruction of the wicked house of Ahab. He went about his work with effective thoroughness though he did not improve it by his loud proclamation: “Come with me, and see my zeal for the Lord.” Jehu is the type of a certain class who believe that it is necessary to make a great shouting about what they are doing themselves in advancing God’s cause. They cannot understand faithfulness unless there is the sounding of the big drum going before them. Jehu’s zeal would have been none the less effective if he allowed it to speak for itself instead of speaking for it. He did well in executing that which was right in the Lord’s eyes in destroying Baal and the house of Ahab but there is this divine indictment recorded

against him: “Howbeit from the sins of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, who made Israel to sin, Jehu departed not from after them, to wit, the golden calves that were in Bethel, and that were in Dan” (II Kings x. 29).

1. Elijah’s Zeal. There are two striking incidents recorded in the life of this noble witness that stand out in bold contrast—(1) The slaying of the prophets of Baal on Mount Carmel and (2) his flight from Jezebel to the wilderness. The strong man bent before the threat of the wicked queen; but his God was with him. When at Mount Horeb he had an extraordinary experience. The Lord passed by and a great strong wind rent the mountains and broke the rocks in pieces; this was followed by an earthquake and after the earthquake a fire but the Lord was not in the tempestuous wind, nor the earthquake, nor in the fire. All these were followed by a still small voice. He was profoundly impressed by what he saw and heard and on being asked “What doest thou here Elijah?” he replied: “I have been very jealous for the Lord God of hosts . . . and I, even I only, am left.” The Lord then spoke to him giving him certain instructions and added these significant words: “Yet I have left me seven thousand in Israel, all the knees which have not bowed unto Baal, and every mouth that hath not kissed him.” It has been said in defence of Elijah that these seven thousand should have been more public in their witness. Be that as it may, it appears that the Lord was chiding Elijah for saying that he and he only was left. If we have interpreted the words correctly then we have here an admonition addressed to all who think that they only are left to witness on the Lord’s side. There is always the danger that we should occupy the position and think that we only are faithful. It has its counterpart in the Pharisaic claim: “I am holier than thou.” Anything said is not meant to imply that Elijah was not a noble and fearless witness of the truth for he most certainly was one of the noblest but the Lord saw it necessary to tell him he was not alone.

2. Peter’s Zeal. There is something very attractive in the character of this warm-hearted follower of our Lord. No one can deny to him a heart deeply attached to his Master and a zeal springing from a warm, impulsive nature, which at times called down upon him the rebuke of that Master. On two occasions the Lord addressed a sharp rebuke to his impulsive disciple. (1) The first occasion was when Peter began to rebuke his Master after He had made the announcement that He was to be killed. “Be it far from thee, Lord: this shall not be unto thee.” The Lord turned to him saying: “Get thee behind me, Satan; thou art an offence unto me: for thou savourest not the things that be of God, but those that be of men” (Matt. xvi. 23). Had Peter’s desire been carried out none could be saved. It was mistaken love that prompted him to speak unadvisedly with his lips. It was not after this fashion God was to be glorified and sinners saved. Silence, reverent and submissive, was the right attitude at the moment when the solemn announcement was made. There is a time to speak and a time to be silent and heavenly wisdom is needed to show the path of duty. The Westminster Divines in enumerating the sins forbidden in the Ninth Commandment while mentioning “undue silence in a just cause” also include “speaking the truth unseasonably” and give as their proof-text Provs. xxix. 11. For instance, if one might be permitted to take a concrete case, it is the duty of a minister to condemn the sin of drunkenness but should he meet one of his congregation the worse of drink it may not be a wise thing to denounce drunkenness the next Sabbath in such terms that almost all in the congregation will know who he has specially in view without first adopting the scriptural method of speaking to the erring person in private. This may be taken as an example of “speaking the truth unseasonably.” (b) The next occasion when Peter came under the censure of his Lord was when he cut off the ear of the High Priest’s servant. The sight of his Lord in the hands of His enemies was too much for the

warm-hearted disciple and drawing his sword he did what he had no right to do. “Put up again thy sword into his place: for all they that take the sword shall perish with the sword” was the solemn rebuke administered to Peter. On another occasion the Lord told His disciples to sell their garments and buy a sword (Luke xxii. 36) but on this occasion the sword was to rest in the seaboard. All of which teaches us that while there is a time that the sword should be used there is a time when it ought not to be used. It is not always a sign of heavenly zeal for a man to be laying about him with a sword. Wisdom is required in this matter and if any man lack wisdom “let him ask of God, that giveth to all men liberally and upbraideth not: and it shall be given him” (James i. 5) instead of stretching forth an itching hand to lay hold on the hilt of his sword on every occasion when only the natural impulses of his nature prompt him.

1. The Zeal of the Sons of Zebedee. When the Lord sent messengers into one of the villages of the Samaritans to make ready for Him and when they refused to receive Him the sons of Zebedee (James and John) to whom he had given the name of Boanerges (sons of thunder) said: “Lord, wilt thou that we command fire to come down from heaven and consume, even as Elias did.” But He turned and rebuked them and said, “Ye know not what spirit ye are of. For the Son of man is not come to destroy men’s lives but to save them” (Luke ix. 54-56). Bishop Ryle’s comment on this incident is worthy of being quoted. “Here was zeal indeed,” he says, “and zeal of a most plausible kind—zeal for the honour of Christ! Here was zeal, justified and supported by a scriptural example, and that the example of no less a prophet than Elijah! But it was not a zeal according to knowledge. The two disciples in their heat, forgot that circumstances alter cases, and that the same action which may be right and justifiable at one time, may be wrong

and unjustifiable at another. They forget that punishments should always be proportioned to offences, and to destroy a whole village of ignorant people for a single act of discourtesy, would have been unjust and cruel. In short the proposal of James and John was a wrong and inconsiderate one. They meant well but they greatly erred. Facts like this in the gospels are carefully recorded for our learning. Let us see to it that we mark them well, and treasure them up in our minds. It is possible to have much zeal for Christ and yet to exhibit it in most unholy and unchristian ways. It is possible to mean well and have good intentions and yet to make most grievous mistakes in our actions. It is possible to fancy that we have Scripture on our side, and to support our conduct by Scriptural quotations [and examples], and yet commit serious errors” (Expository Thoughts on St. Luke, I. 333, 334). What a comment on the request of James and John we have in the 8th chapter of Acts where it is recorded the Samaritans received the gospel and that John with Peter preached in many villages of the Samaritans (Acts viii. 25). Who knows but one of these villages was the one John and James desired to be consumed with fire. Be that as it may John is showing more of the Spirit of Christ in this than when he desired fire to come down from heaven to consume the discourteous villagers.

1. The Zeal of the Accusers of the Woman taken in adultery. The story of this extraordinary case is told in the eight chapter of the Gospel according to John and it has many important and precious lessons. (1) The accusers (the Scribes and Pharisees) had a very good case—the woman was taken in the very act and (2) the law was on their side—the Mosaic law left no doubt as to what the issue should be and (3) they were determined to make it as public as they could (verse 3). But while bringing the woman to be judged to the Lord they had already acted as judges themselves and in this act of theirs we discover two counts in the indictment against them (1) they had not a right motive in what they were doing—”this they said tempting him,

that they might have to accuse Him.” (2) They were guilty of the same sin themselves as was solemnly brought home to them so that whoever would act as judges or as accusers of the woman they were the very last that should have opened their mouth. How does the Lord deal with the case. He takes it out of the hands of men and brings it into His own court. He asks the accusers to carry out the law of Moses as set forth in Deut. xvii. 7* if any of them are “without sin.” This must mean the sin with which they charged the woman if His words are to have any point. That searching question changed the whole situation—the went out one by one being convicted by their own conscience. Did Jesus condone her sin. No, for He said: “Go and sin no more.” What then is meant by His words: “Neither do I condemn thee.” Does it not mean that He will not condemn her to death? On another occasion he said to the sons of Zebedee as quoted above: “The Son of Man is not come to destroy men’s lives but to save them” (Luke, ix. 56). The sheer hypocrisy of accusing and condemning others for sins of which we are guilty ourselves rules us out of the court of heaven as judges. Such, as we understand the narrative, seems to be one of the clearest lessons to be learned from it. It does not teach that the sin of which the woman was guilty is condoned by our Lord but it makes it very plain that her accusers were in like condemnation when He who is the light of the world put the searching question to them and revealed to them that He knew their character and history.

1. The Zeal of the Pharisees. There is something very touching about the way the Apostle approaches the question of the casting away of his kinsmen according to the flesh. To him it was no mere historical matter with which he was dealing—it touched his very heart. He saw the rock on which they made shipwreck. “Brethren,” are his moving words, “my heart’s

*“The hands of the witnesses shall be first upon him to put him to death.” While the penalty for adultery in the law of Moses was death yet it would appear from Ezek. xvi. 40, that stoning was the form in which the sentence was carried out in later times.

desire and prayer to God for Israel is that they might be saved. For I bear them record that they have a zeal of God, but not according to knowledge. For they being ignorant of God’s righteousness, and going about to establish their own righteousness, have not submitted themselves unto the righteousness of God” (Rom. x. 1-3). All the zeal, even of one who could say, as touching the law blameless, was not only in vain but culpable inasmuch as there was not a submission to God’s way of salvation. Earnestness, sincerity and activity about the things of God outwardly unless there is truth in the inward parts will never take the place of that submission to God’s way of salvation that is required of us if we are to be saved.

In the foregoing paragraphs we have culled a few examples from Holy Scripture in which that which is generally known as zeal is weighed in the balances of the sanctuary. These things were written aforetime for our learning and while no reverent reader of Scripture will ever delight in exposing the failings of God’s servants or make them an excuse for their own shortcomings yet they are recorded there for our warning and if we are so-minded as to think that they should never be referred to or spoken about we are going perilously near to arraigning the wisdom of the Holy Ghost for setting up these lighthouses on the rocky coasts of time. We conclude as we began, zeal for the glory of God is a beautiful thing and there are a thousand fields in which it may be cultivated but alas! alas! when weighed in the unerring balances of the sanctuary how few of us know what it really means and as one thinks of one’s efforts the words of the Saviour come home with force to the conscience—”So likewise ye, when ye shall have done all those things which are commanded you, say, we are unprofitable servants: we have done that which was our duty to do” (Luke xvii. 10).

Pride cannot sit so high but Justice will sit above her.—
Thomas Brooks.