BY THE LATE REV. D. MACBEATH OF NESS, LEWIS.
WHEN God is pleased to call persons to offices of peculiar importance, we generally find that He trains them up and qualifies them for the arduous undertaking. Thus Joshua was brought up under the immediate eye and tuition of Moses, his illustrious predecessor, and was particularly endowed by God with all that grace, wisdom, and courage which were most eminently called into exercise in the future discharge of his honourable employ. It was Joshua who, as General of the Army of Israel, fought with and conquered Amalek, while the hands of Moses were lifted up in earnest supplication for him, and to him was the peculiar honour granted of going up with Moses into the Mount of God. It was Joshua who was sent with the other messengers to bring a faithful report of the land of promise. He and Caleb were firm in giving a correct account, for which reason they only of the twelve were honoured with an entrance into it. O may the Lord enable me to strive to enter into that rest which remaineth for the people of God.
Why have I mistaken this thorny wilderness for a garden of flowers, this place of danger for a palace of delight, and this howling desert for an enchanting grove? If the world has joys, it has none for me. Mine must be pure and spiritual. If the creature affords pleasures, they cannot suit my soul. Its honey is mixed with gall, its sweet with wormwood, its wine with water, its gold with dross, and all its yields with poison. The pleasures I should seek are such as my soul may feed on without danger, feast on without surfeiting, and rejoice in without sin. Again, why do I expect comfort in this world? Can I hope or even desire to go through the valley of tears always singing, or to dwell in the house of mourning laughing? Would I fare better than my best Friend? While here He was a man of sorrows, and shall I not taste the briny cup? He was acquainted with grief, and shall I be a stranger to it? Would I be kindly entertained in that very place where He had nowhere to lay His head? Would I fare like the kings of the earth, when the King of kings fared not so well as the fowls of heaven, or the foxes of the field? Should not the folly of the world teach me wisdom? They provide for time, and shall I not provide for eternity? But how shall I secure endless felicity, and know my interest in unchangeable love? Well, then, may not I, in the language of faith, enter into a firm belief of eternal bliss, and, without delusion, fortify myself against the attacks of sin, and sallies of unbelief? Is not Christ come to seek, and save the lost, and am I not among the number, and willing to be sought and saved? Is not the call to all the sons of men?
Foxes of the field.
—Would I go another way to glory than the saints ever trod? Would I go through one heaven to another, when it is “through much tribulation” I must enter into the kingdom? Can the children of the bridechamber be glad when the bridegroom is not with them? Can I be easy, can I be quiet among the enemies of my Lord the King where the general voice is, “Shall this man reign over us? We will not have Him for our King; we will not take Him for our Saviour.” Oh that my head were waters and mine eyes a fountain of tears that I might weep day and night for the sins of my fellow-creatures, for the slain of my fellow-sinners. Let sorrow seize on my heart and grief fix her iron talons there; it is all I can do for the honour of my Lord.
SELF will bid some men confess themselves sinners, that they may be considered as saints. To take them at their word would mortify and displease them.—Serie.
WHAT need a child fear though the whole house be full of rods, seeing not one of them can move without the father’s hand?—Dodd.