THE news of the passing away of King George was announced to the nation as we went to press and we were thus prevented from making mention of an event of such importance to British subjects throughout the Empire. The departed Monarch, as lately as May, celebrated the completion of twenty-five years reign on the British throne. It was one of the stormiest periods in British history and it is to the credit of the King that through all the storms he conducted himself with rare wisdom and in strict accordance with all that was required of him as a constitutional ruler. His patience in the face of much to cause irritation; his calmness at critical moments in the nation’s history and his sympathy with his people in their sorrows did much to win the loyalty of his people so that he died universally regretted. He will not probably be accorded such an honoured place as that given to his father, King Edward VII., and his distinguished grandmother, Queen Victoria, but he possessed qualities of mind that carried him through difficulties where their stronger wills and more aggressive methods might have set the fires of revolution burning as fiercely as they did in continental countries. This is not the place to heap honours upon the departed Monarch but an event of so much importance to those over whom he ruled cannot be overlooked. The Georgian period will go down to history as one of the most critical in our long history. Were it nothing but the Great War itself when blood was poured forth like water the period from 1910 to 1936 will have an ever memorable, if sad place, in the annals of Britain. The General Strike also was big with disaster for there can be no doubt the nation was on the verge of revolution—a revolution from which God in His mercy saved us. Then came the economic crisis so far reaching and so crushing in its incidence. Dynasties centuries old came tumbling down and occupants of thrones found themselves forced to flee to foreign countries for refuge. While paying tribute to the many fine qualities of King George, we would, above all, seek to give the chief glory to God for His kindness to us as a people in the midst of deserved wrath. Kings, like ordinary mortals, have to go when the inevitable hour comes and King George, like the beggar that passed his palace gates, had to obey God’s summons. There is something very impressive in the press accounts of the death-bed scene—distinguished physicians standing around the royal bed but utterly helpless to save Britain’s King from the hands of death. It is true of kings as of others that it is appointed to all men to die. While many things have been reported in the press to the late King’s credit, such as his daily reading of the Bible, yet one regrets his association with horse-racing (though it was reported that he objected to gambling and betting in connection with the same); his manner of observing the Lord’s Day also was not all that could be wished for. It is not to be forgotten that it was during his reign that the Accession Declaration was changed—a change which weakened its Protestant testimony.
The sympathy of the whole Nation was extended to Queen Mary and the Royal Family in their sorrow.
Accession of Edward VIII.
OUR new King, so long known to us as the Prince of Wales, has now ascended the throne as Edward VIII. He is very popular with his subjects and while he is yet to be tried it is the duty of all loyal subjects to pray for him that God may give him grace and wisdom to rule in the fear of that Lord by whom kings reign. The weight of the responsibilities that have fallen upon his unaccustomed shoulders are tremendous and he cannot escape feeling the responsibility of his position as a ruler over such a vast multitude of the human race. May he, through grace given, acknowledge the Lord Jesus unto whom all power in heaven and in earth has been given and own Him from his heart as the King of kings and Lord of lords.
Peter Rebuked by the Lord.
By the late Rev. HUGH MARTIN, D.D.
“And he turned, and said unto Peter, 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.
THE stern rebuke which our Lord thus addresses to Simon Peter comes very swiftly on the back of that celebrated confession which embodies our apostle’s faith in the divine glory and the Messiahship of his Master (Matt. xvi. 16). It is very melancholy to see a man’s worst come out so closely on the back of his best; yet this is not seldom the case, especially with a true believer, and very specially if he be of an ardent disposition. The commendation bestowed by Jesus on His much-loved disciple—“Blessed art thou, Simon Bar-jonah”—may have not only been a source of gratification to him and joy, as it was well fitted to be; but perhaps, alas! through the weakness of the flesh, it may have acted as a snare to self-sufficiency; and so, when Jesus brought forward the unwelcome theme of His coming sufferings, the very joyfulness of Simon at the time may have predisposed him to be annoyed and irritated, as if an unwelcome theme had been protruded on him at a peculiarly unwelcome time.
Yet the time, though unwelcome to the flesh of Simon Peter, was well chosen in the wisdom of our Lord. The disciple had seen his Lord’s divine majesty and glory as the Son of God—the glory as of the only-begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth. It was time he should be made to know the grand design with which the eternal Son had become flesh and dwelt among men upon the earth. Every day that he lived in the belief of his Master’s Godhead and the perception of his Master’s glory, without understanding that this divine Messiah was to die for the sins of men—the High Priest after the order of Melchizedek—could only mislead him more and more fatally as to the nature of the work which He had come to accomplish, and give time for his mind being filled with prejudices which it would be growingly difficult to eradicate. There is not any reasonable explanation that ever has been attempted, or can be given, of the incarnation of the Son of God—no adequate or even plausible reason why so glorious and divine a Person should clothe Himself with the frail nature and dwell amidst the humbling circumstances of the human race, except that which is afforded by the atonement of the cross. The humiliation of God’s dear Son becomes intelligible when we see Him undertaking the work of magnifying the divine law by His obedience unto death, reconciling an offended Lawgiver, and redeeming righteously in His love a people whom no man can number from the just wrath of Heaven and the destroying powers of sin—a work for which no creature, none but a divine person, is competent. But if the righteousness and inflexibility of the moral law, of which sin is the transgression, be not seen upheld and glorified in the death of God’s Son, the only real justifying design of His incarnation is unknown; and the mind is left to be habituated to false views of His work, and of the object which He had in view in tabernacled with men upon the earth; or of doubting His Godhead, when nothing is seen to be accomplished worthy of a divine Person. That this may not be so with His disciples—that they may not be left to look upon Him as a mere teacher like the prophets, or a temporal ruler in Israel like the kings—Jesus no sooner sees His disciples impressed with the conviction of His divineness and Messiahship, than He sets before them the coming cross of Calvary as the goal to which they must go forward with Him; for it is emphatically said, “From that time forth, Jesus began to show unto His disciples how that He must go unto Jerusalem, and suffer many things of the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and be raised again the third day” (ver. 21).
The prospect of his Master being subjected to such a destiny, is a shock both to the judgment and to the feelings of Peter. He stumbles at it and is offended. The cross always is a stumbling-block to the natural man, and to the remains of the natural man which abide in the believer. The flesh shrinks from the cross—for the cross comes to crucify the flesh. Rather than hear of such humiliation in store for his Master, Peter rebukes even Him whom he had confessed as the Son of the living God, commissioned as the Christ with the seal of heaven: “Then Peter took Him, and began to rebuke Him, saying, Be it far from thee, Lord: this shall not be unto thee.” In the last chapter we saw how deadly is the temptation couched under these words; how Satan, by the lips of Peter, would have fain prevented the cross, and the redemption which is thereby; and we pointed out that, though, in the particular form and words, that sin cannot now of course be committed, yet in substance and spirit it is really a very common thing for sinners to do what they can, if not to prevent the death of Christ, yet to prevent the death of Christ from being fruitful of saving issues—to make void the cross, so far as all their influence to do so goes. Every one of us is confederate with Peter in this most Satanic sin, unless, looking beneath the shame of Calvary by the eye of faith, and seeing the glory of atoning righteousness and redeeming love, we glory in the cross because by it the world is crucified to us, and we unto the world. It is not in vain that Jesus follows up this animated conversation with the words: “If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross and follow me” (ver. 24).
But we are more particularly called upon at present to consider the rebuke which Peter called down upon himself by rebuking his Lord. It is a very wonderful utterance on the part of Jesus. It is in holy, lofty indignation—in stern and ringing tones of righteousness—yet with purpose of consummate love and grace. By how much the more terrible the voice of indignation sounds in it, by so much the more tender is its gracious purpose. It is a mistake to fancy that intense and severe rebuke is inconsistent with affection. The terrible unshrinking rectitude of this remarkable utterance is exactly what renders it an utterance of successful graciousness and love. For in the uncompromising condemnation thus pronounced, and in the peremptory and imperious command, “Get thee behind me, Satan,” the hand of love is laid on Peter that he may not be condemned with the devil. For in repelling from Himself the temptation which Peter had presented to Him, and rebuking Peter for tempting Him, Jesus, by the self-same means, the self-same words, rescues Peter himself from the temptation in which Satan had ensnared him. All these ends—repelling the temptation offered to Him; rebuking Peter for offering it; rescuing Peter from the power of it, which had proved too much for him—all these ends Jesus achieves in one. It is as if our father Adam, when his Eve offered him the fruit of that forbidden tree, had been able to answer so as to put away the temptation from himself; rebuke the fair beloved temptress; and not only so, but rescue her also from the serpent’s snare, and restore her from the fatal effects of that “subtlety wherewith Satan beguiled Eve.” In what the first Adam failed, the last Adam is seen to triumph. Temptation offered to Him is rejected, is rebuked; while the human tempter—united to Him by faith, bone of his bone and flesh of his flesh, espoused to Him in faith and love for ever—is by resistless authority and redeeming love restored from evil, and reinstated in affectionate and confidential communion with his Lord and living Head once more.
Consider the three clauses of this rebuke in their order, especially the first—”Get thee behind me, Satan.” Jesus turned and said this unto Peter—”Get thee behind me, Satan.” It is not the first time that Jesus had said this, though it be the first time He has said it to Peter. In the wilderness the devil tempted Jesus directly, without the intervention of any human instrument. He tempted Him on that occasion in the self-same strain as on this—he would have Him avoid and evade the sore trial and probation of the suffering lot and closing cross which His Father had assigned Him. Instead of a kingdom purchased by obedience unto death, let Him accept, at the price of a trifling act of recognition, “the kingdoms of the world and all the glory of them.” To such proposal there is no reasoning to be opposed, not a moment’s dallying or delay to be conceded. Swiftly the peremptory, conclusive command springs forth from One who speaketh with authority—”Get thee behind me, Satan.” Exactly so, when Satan tempts through Peter—when Peter tempts the Lord under Satan’s instigation. The answer is the same, for the temptation is the same. In substance and spirit the temptation is the same. It comes now through human lips—but its drift and its design are unchanged. Our Lord’s answer, therefore, is unchanged—”Get thee behind me, Satan.” For Peter has, to this extent, identified himself with Satan; the wisdom that stumbles at the cross is the wisdom of the flesh—sensual, grovelling, devilish, Satanic. Peter—here and now, in this matter and thus far—is the mouth-piece, the ally, the agent of Satan. Jesus turns to Peter, therefore, and says, “Get thee behind me, Satan.”
It is a very marvellous form of words—fixing responsibility, blame, rebuke on Peter—but the origin of the sin and the damnation of it on Satan: remorselessly assigning the judgment of retribution on Satan, and leaving open for Peter a door of escape. Mark it well. It is not, Get thee behind me, Peter. That would indeed fasten the guilt on Peter, and guilty he is; but it would seal his doom. It would banish him on the instant from his Lord. It is, “Get thee behind me, Satan.”
And thus our Lord strikes righteously at the father of this lie, the author of this temptation. In rebuking your sin, your Lord will not omit to deal with the great enemy who may have tempted you. He will not so manage the case as to allow the old serpent to escape, even with all his subtlety and with all his secrecies and windings in the grass. All his machinations are as plain before the Lord Jesus as if he used no tools at all in them—as if he needed no disciple’s tongue to utter his suggestions—as if he played on no disciple’s love and infirmity to compass his malignant ends. However circuitous and indirect, however concealed amidst a thousand intermediate agencies, the proposal may be which springs from the great liar and destroyer—and, however, it behoves the righteous Lord to rebuke and chasten all who may have yielded to the unholy temptation, and surrendered to be the victims, instruments, and tools of the evil one—yet Satan shall know that his part in giving origin to the evil thought lies as bare and naked before his great Conqueror’s eye as if no Peter, no disciple, no human instrument whatever, had been wielded and put forward in the case at all; as if Satan alone and plainly stood forth to tempt with his own voice, even as in the wilderness. As fully is he now before the Lord as then, though skulking behind the infirmity of Peter; and that he is as well seen now as then he shall know by the self-same resistless utterance as met him then, and which he cannot have forgotten—”Get thee behind me, Satan.” I see thy hand, I hear thy voice in this, as much as when thou didst shroud thyself in no disciple’s form, and serve thyself of no disciple’s weakness. And I have no other word for thee now, than when alone and without intermediate instrument, thou didst directly offer me the same deadly hint. Thou hadst thine answer then; and though again thou hast tried that game through one who loveth me, grieving me the more through him—expecting to conceal thyself behind him—thou hast thine answer still, even now the same as then, “Get thee behind me, Satan.”
Yes; to deal finally and effectively with all sin, the righteous Judge must deal with him who sinneth from the beginning, and whose hand is in all iniquity. A righteous judgment, reaching to the root, judges the greater tempter first. It was so in the blighted garden at the beginning; the announcement of salvation began in denunciation of the serpent, “Cursed art thou; I will put enmity between thee and the woman.” And when the Seed of the woman reaches the crisis of His work, He cries, “Now is the judgment of this world; now is the prince of this world cast out.” On him lies the guilt of originating the temptation, and on him the sentence of inevitable retribution. For him there is no concealment, no escape, no mercy. “Get thee behind me, Satan.”
And yet this does not release Peter from responsibility and guilt; it does not free him from blame, or transfer the rebuke away from him. When Jesus says, “Get thee behind me, Satan,” it is not because he is dealing with Satan only, or not dealing at all with Peter. He does not leave Peter to think, or leave us to think of Peter, as if he were not to blame, or but little to blame, in this sad scene of temptation, reverse, and failure—as if he were unfortunate in having been so far prevailed upon and overpowered by Satan, unfortunate rather than guilty. No: for in point of fact, Peter knew, as every one of us in sinning knows, that no force had been exerted on his mind by the great tempter; that the proposal he made to Jesus to avoid His cross was most thoroughly and intensely his own; that of his own ready, hearty will—yea of his own love for his Master—had he condemned the idea of his Master’s sufferings and death. Assuredly Simon Peter knew in himself—as we all know when we sin, under whatsoever temptation it may be that we are snared and carried captive—he knew full well, that wheresoever in the secret mysteries of the unseen world the first origin and last responsibility might lie of the thoughts sent so presumptuously from his heart when he took his Lord and rebuked Him, yet from his own heart it was that they were sent, and that he was himself responsible for every word he had uttered, for every thought he had entertained in his own mind and insinuated into the mind of Jesus—ay, as much as if no arch-enemy existed to exercise his wiles upon the sons of men at all. The relation of Satan to sinners, and his power over them, in no way diminishes the guilt of their sin. To think so is to try again with God the plea which served not her who used it first: “The serpent beguiled me, and I did eat.” The sin I commit is my sin—it is mine: the guilt of it is mine. An unseen spirit of evil—the same in moral character with the evil I commit—may have some hand in it. That is a question of metaphysics, and of spiritual physiology. It touches not the question of morals:—What is my guilt and just retribution? It touches not that question of morality—the grand judicial question of my demerit—so long as the sin is really mine, any more than your swiftly-speeding journey on one rail can be affected by the construction of, or rate of movement on, another. The guilt arises from the sin being mine, and from its moral character; not from its metaphysics, or the history of how it came to be mine. The Judge of all the earth will do what is right if any other has contracted guilt in the history of that sin becoming mine; he will deal with that other agent righteously, so far as any sin therein is his. He deals with me concerning what is mine. If the serpent beguiled me, he will deal with him; if I did eat, he will deal with me. He will deal with him for beguiling me. He will deal with me because “I did eat,” when the Lord God had said, Thou shalt not eat of it. He will not abstain from condemning and rebuking me, even while perhaps He puts His condemnation of the serpent in the foreground.
And so it is here. While Jesus attributes the origin and final judgment of the temptation to Satan, He does not abstain from attributing guilt to Peter. It was Peter whom He rebuked. It is expressly declared that it was to Peter that He spake when He spake the stern reply, “Get thee behind me, Satan.” “Jesus turned and said unto Peter, Get thee behind me, Satan.”
This is the edge and intensity of the rebuke: this, namely, that Jesus did not say unto Satan, “Get thee behind me, Satan;” but said it to Peter. He did not speak to Satan and to Peter as twain, but as one. He has not one word for Satan and another for Peter: a word of condemnation for the devil and condolence for the disciple. He does not speak sharply to the one and softly to the other. It is not: “Ah, Simon Bar-jonah, the flesh has unfortunately gained the upper hand, and Satan unfortunately got the advantage; you and I must join in rebuking them.” No; Jesus does not so speak to Peter, and then turn to address an invisible adversary. Little would this have been fitted to convince Peter of his sad and grievous sin. Little would this have answered to the consciousness and conscience of the erring disciple himself. The very essence of his sin lay in this, that he had thoroughly, on this point and to this effect, identified himself with Satan; adopting and embracing Satan’s policy and will. Hence Jesus did not, in His rebuke, separate between Satan and Peter. He expressly and intentionally identified them. He did not speak to Satan, as it were, over Peter’s shoulder, or, as it were, aside from him. He did not look upon Peter and address an unseen foe. He did not speak to Peter and to Satan as twain, but as one. Peter had acted as one with Satan, and Satan had handed on the temptation to Jesus through Peter—Peter not transmitting it mechanically, dreamily, unintentionally, involuntarily, but making it his own. Jesus deals with Peter as one with Satan; and He hands on to Satan the stern rebuke through Peter, laying it home on Peter as his own, ere it reach the great enemy as ultimately designed for him. Satan reaches Jesus through Peter. Jesus repels through Peter too. Satan and Peter stood as one in the temptation. They are addressed as one in the rebuke. And so Jesus, intensely looking on Peter—turning to him to fix His eye upon him, expressly that it may not be imagined that He is speaking past him or aside from him—Jesus turned and said unto Peter, “Get thee behind me, Satan.”
(To be continued.)
Ridicule in Religious Controversy.
A SENSE of the ludicrous was given to man for some wise purpose, and is not to be eradicated. Like other parts of our nature, it is capable of perversion, and its perversion may cause much harm. There is a time to laugh. There is such a thing as an innocent jest. A merry heart doeth good like a medicine. Austerity and gloom are not the characteristics of piety.
But while pleasantry and laughter are lawful at proper times, it is evident that they are to be sparingly indulged in. The Scriptures are adapted to the nature of man: hence their varied contents are addressed to the varied elements of human nature. Man’s conscience, his reason, his imagination, his sense of indignant wrong, his sympathy, and his susceptibility for sorrow, are addressed, but we do not recollect a single passage in the Bible which is addressed to man’s sense of the ludicrous. Nor is there any passage where ridicule is poured upon the Lord’s people even when they are wrong. Ridicule is one of the weapons of the devil which he uses with merciless effect to achieve his own ends. There are perhaps examples of irony, such as that of Elijah on Mount Carmel, but not of wit. This fact would indicate that the mirthful faculty is to be sparingly exercised.
The exercise of this faculty promotes habits of levity, which are unfavourable to serious thought and devotional feeling. We believe that a keen sense of the ludicrous is often possessed by men of great capacity for thought, but an habitual laughter is not an habitual thinker. Levity and profound thought are incompatible. Much less are levity and true devotional feeling compatible. No one could pass from reading the works of Dickens to the prayer meeting, or from the circle of wit and laughter to the worship of God. Christians should be serious. They have serious business to do. There are serious scenes before them. They have a serious account to render.
The frequent exercise of this faculty leads to foolish jesting. Attempts at wit often result in folly. Ridicule is produced, to the pain of those who are made the subjects of it. Anger and deadly hate often follow a foolish jest; contempt is harder to be borne than injury. More strifes have resulted from foolish jesting, than from acts of injury.
Sinful jesting follows foolish talking. All folly is of the nature of sin, but sinful jests are of a more heinous kind. Impurity of thought often composes the staple of sinful jests. Perversions of Scripture are another form of sinful jests. This is a species of sin sometimes indulged in by good men. The ludicrous application of a passage of Scripture is often made to court a grin. Is it right? Is it treating God’s solemn and holy Word with due reverence, to pervert it from its meaning and cause that to produce a laugh which was perhaps designed to produce a sigh? Is it not grieving the Spirit to trifle with His utterances?
But ministers sometimes do it. Does that make it right? A joking minister will seldom have persons coming to him with tears, to ask what they must do to be saved. While, therefore, Christians should not assume a sour, repulsive gravity, while they should rejoice with those who rejoice, they should be sober and watch unto prayer. No man ever utters a sinful jest while he is in a praying frame.—Selected.
Britain’s Peril.
O Britain! thou privileged nation!
How greatly thy Land hath been blest!
Thou hast, since the great Reformation,
Had liberty, riches and rest.
The Bible laid firm thy foundations,
The Sabbath Day gave thee thy rest;
Though envied by all other nations,
Thy Land by no foe was oppressed.
These blessings were not of thy making,
Thy God is the giver of all;
But, if Divine laws thou art breaking,
Like Babylon, thou too shalt fall.
What spirit can now have seduced thee?
What means all this unrest within?
Hath conscience e’en now not accused thee
Of godless indulgence in sin?
The Bible—God’s great revelation—
Thy people neglect and despise;
While doctrines of man’s commendation,
Are “highly esteemed” in thine eyes.
Thy Sabbaths—no longer kept holy—
Are given to pleasure and gain;
And thus, with gross, impious folly,
God’s rest day thy people profane!
Thy Church, once reformed from Rome’s errors,
Is learning those errors again;
Though Rome, ‘mid unspeakable horrors,
An army of martyrs has slain!
Thy Preachers—how few preach God’s message!
The services “pleasant” are made;
And “Sunday” amusements, all presage
Thy glory beginning to fade.
Thy Leaders—for “party” contending—
Seem blind to the country’s true weal;
On human devices depending,
They promise thy troubles to heal.
Thy people—some drunken with pleasure,
While others with cares are engrossed;
For God—oh! how few can find leisure!
And soon, alas! all will be lost!
Thy army and navy will fail thee,
If thus the Lord God thou forsake;
Political schemes won’t avail thee,
If sacred commandments thou break.
For God has His eyes on this nation:
O, Britain! to thee will be sent
The doom of thy just condemnation,
Except, ah! “except thou repent.”
Then humble thee, proud British nation;
Give diligent heed to God’s Word.
Appoint now a DAY OF CONFESSION,
And turn from thy sins to the Lord.
For God is a God of compassion,
So, if thou His mercy implore,
He’ll stay thy deserved retribution,
And favour Great Britain once more.
Sidney Collett.
The King is held in the Galleries.
By Rev. EBENEZER ERSKINE.
(Continued from page 423.)
QUESTION 3. I ask, what have you tasted in the galleries? for, as you heard, galleries are for feasting and entertainment of friends. Now, did the King say to you, or is He yet saying it, Eat, O friends, drink, yea, drink abundantly, O beloved? Did He make you to eat of the fatness of His House, and to drink of the rivers of His pleasures? If so be ye have tasted that the Lord is gracious, then I am sure you will as new-born babes, desire, and thirst after, the sincere milk of the Word: You will be saying, Stay me with flagons, comfort me with apples; let me have more and more of this delicious fare. If you have been feasted with the King in the galleries, the world and all the pleasures of it, will be as nothing in your eye, in comparison of Christ and the intimations of His love. O, says David, when his soul was satisfied as with marrow and fatness, Thy loving-kindness is better than life, and all the comforts of life; they are but dung and loss when laid in the balance with Him. If you have been feasting in the galleries, you will be desirous that others may share of the meal you have gotten; and, with David, be ready to say, O taste and see that God is good. You will proclaim the praises of His goodness, as you have occasion, to them that fear Him: Come and hear, all ye that fear God, and I will declare what He hath done for my soul. And readily it will be the desire of your soul to abide in His presence, and to dwell, as it were, in the galleries of ordinances. O it is good for us to be here! let us build tabernacles here, said Peter, on the mount of transfiguration. That will be the language of thy soul, Psalm xxvii. 4. One thing have I desired of the Lord, that will I seek after, that I may dwell in the house of the Lord, all the days of my life, to behold the beauty of the Lord, and to inquire in His Temple. So much for a use of trial. Use third may be in a short word directed to two or three sorts of persons. 1. To you who know nothing of this doctrine, never met with the King in the galleries. 2. To you who have had a comfortable meeting with Him. 3. To these who, perhaps, are complaining, “I sought Him, but I found Him not.” First, To you who never yet knew what it was to have a meeting with Zion’s King in the galleries of gospel ordinances; and, perhaps, Gallio-like, you care for none of these things. To you, I shall only say, 1. Your condition is truly sad and lamentable, beyond expression or imagination. You are aliens to Israel’s common-wealth, strangers to the covenant of promise, without God, without Christ, and without hope in the world. You are in the gall of bitterness, and in the bond of iniquity; under the curse of God, and condemnation of the law, and absolute power of Satan, who rules in the children of disobedience. You are lying within the sea-mark of God’s wrath; and if you die in this condition, you will drink the dregs of the cup of His indignation through all eternity. 2. If you have in this case adventured to the galleries of a communion table, you have run a very dreadful risk. You have adventured to the King’s presence without His warrant, and without the wedding-garment of imputed righteousness, or of inherent holiness; and therefore have run the risk of being bound, hand and foot, and cast into outer darkness: you have been eating and drinking judgment to your own souls, and are guilty of the body and blood of the Lord. And, therefore, 3. For the Lord’s sake, let me beseech you to repent of your wickedness. Flee out of your lost and miserable condition, flee to the horns of the altar. We declare to you, that there is yet hope in Israel concerning you. Let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts: and let him return unto the Lord, and He will have mercy upon him, and to our God, for He will abundantly pardon. Isaiah iv. 7. Secondly, A second sort of persons are those who have this day had a meeting with Zion’s King in the galleries of ordinances. I shall only offer a word of exhortation to you, and of advice. 1. A word of exhortation. Have you met with the King in the galleries? O then be exhorted to hold Him, and bind Him in the galleries; take Him with you from the more open and solemn galleries of public ordinances, unto the more private and secret galleries of prayer, meditation, conference and the like: follow the spouse’s practice when she found Him; she held Him, and would not let Him go, until she had brought Him into her mother’s house, and into the chamber of her that conceived her. To engage you to hold Him, take these motives. Motive 1. Consider His invaluable worth and excellency. The tongues of angels, let be of men, do but falter and stammer when they speak of Him. His worth is best known by the character He gives of Himself in His Word. View Him absolutely in Himself; He is the only begotten of the Father, the mighty God, the Prince of peace. View Him comparatively; He is fairer than the children of men, as the apple-tree among the trees of the wood; the standard-bearer among ten thousand. View Him relatively; He is thy Head, thy Husband, thy Friend, thy Father, thy Elder Brother, thy Surety, Shepherd, and Redeemer; and, in a word, He is all and in all. And should not this make you hold Him? Motive 2. Consider that thy happiness, believer, lies in the enjoyment of Him. What is it, do ye think, Sirs, that constitutes the happiness of heaven through eternity? It is Christ’s presence, a Mediator, the King of Zion, manifesting His heart-charming beauty unto saints and angels through eternity. And what is it that raises the poor soul to the very suburbs of glory while in the wilderness? It is Christ manifesting Himself in a sensible way to the soul: O this, this is it that fills the soul with joy unspeakable and full of glory! The advantages that do attend His presence with the soul, are great and glorious. A cabinet of counsel attends His presence: He brings light with Him; and no wonder, for He is the Sun of righteousness: the vail and face of the covering is rent when Christ comes, and darkness is turned into light. His presence has a mighty influence upon the believer’s work in the wilderness; the believer then rides upon the high places of Jacob; he runs swiftly like the chariots of Amminadib. His presence inspires with courage and strength; it makes the feeble soul as David, and David as the angel of God; it gives power to the faint, and increases strength to them that no might. The soldier fights with courage when his captain is at hand. The poor believer is not afraid to encounter the king of terrors himself, when he is holding Christ in the arms of faith: Psalm xxiii. 4. Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil; for Thou art with me, Thy rod and Thy staff they comfort me. So let this encourage you to hold Him. Motive 3. Consider at what a dear rate this privilege was purchased for thee. Before Christ could pay thy soul a visit in the galleries, He behoved to swim a river and ocean of blood, to tread the wine-press of His Father’s wrath. Justice had rolled insuperable mountains in His way, and these mountains He must pass, and make as a plain, before He could shew Himself in the galleries to thy soul.
(To be continued.)