THE world judgeth merely by outward appearances, and, therefore, may easily be mistaken. They see the chastisement which is upon the flesh, and thence conclude a man miserable; but they cannot discover that divine teaching which is upon the spirit, which truly rendereth him incomparably blessed. The men of the world are incompetent judges of the estate and condition of God’s children. The godly man’s happiness or misery is not to be judged by the world’s sense and feeling, but by his own; it lieth inward, save only so far as by the fruits it is discernible, and the world’s faculty of judging is only outward, made up of sense and reason; therefore, said the Apostle: “The spiritual man judgeth all things, yet he himself is judged of no man;” that is, he is able to judge of the condition of the men of the world, but the men of the world are not able to judge of his condition, because it is above their faculty. The natural man thinks the spiritual man, under affliction, to be miserable; but the spiritual man knows the natural man, in the midst of his greatest abundance and bravery, to be miserable indeed. Therefore may the saints in their troubles think it, with Paul, a very small thing to be judged of man’s judgment, I. Cor. iv. 3. This is but man’s day of judging; so the word signifieth; God’s day is coming when things and persons shall be valued by another standard. Christ in His day shall judge not after the sight of the eyes, that is, not as things appear to sense and reason; nor after the hearing of the ears; that is, according to the report of the world; but with righteousness shall He judge; that is, He shall judge of things and persons as they are, and not as they appear. Moreover, this is also another comfort: “We have the mind of Christ,” I. Cor. ii. 16, the judgment of Christ, by virtue whereof we are enabled, in our measure, to judge of things and persons, as Christ Himself judgeth.—Case’s Correction, Instruction: The Rod and the Word.
The Volume of the Book.
Rev. v. 9.
Behold the Volume of the Book,
Before His Father’s throne:
Who can within its pages look
And make the writing known?
One, only One, in earth or heaven,
The royal right can gain:
The worthiness to Him is given,
Because He once was slain.