first ask light and liberty. Let me tell God of the darkness,' and the dark waters,' and 'the thick clouds.' Let me seek breath for prayer. Then let me realize the character of His grace, and the liberty of access which I enjoy, not for what I am or believe, but for what He is and for what He does. He prays really who prays assuredly. He pleads who pleads to purpose; he asks who expects an answer. Nor let the question of my worthiness, or rather unworthiness, enter into it. That is met by the worthiness of my High Priest. I must keep Him in the fore and myself in the background. I must plead the blood which speaketh better things than that of Abel. Certainly, if I regard sin in my heart, God will not hear me. But I regard it not; I look to Christ, not to sin nor to self. Him I seek, and Him 'I will love.' 'Let us draw near, with a true heart, in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience, and our bodies washed with pure water.' Consider what such realizing prayer can obtain from God, and stay not thine hand. 'Thou shouldst have smitten five or six times, thou hadst then smitten Syria till thou hadst consumed it.' And finally, let me now in praying remember that doubt is not self-examination, nor despondency godly sorrow. Doubt is of the father of lies, but faith is of the Holy Ghost. I WILL love Thee, all my treasure! And will love Thee right at length. ANGELUS SILESIUS. (Hymns from the Land of Luther.) XXV. THE KING IN HIS BEAUTY. 19 He brought me forth also into a large place; he delivered me, because he delighted in me. 20 The Lord rewarded me according to my righteousness; According to the cleanness of my hands hath he recompensed me. 21 For I have kept the ways of the Lord, and have not wickedly departed from my God. 22 For all his judgments were before me, and I did not put away his statutes from me. 23 I was also upright before him, and I kept myself from mine iniquity. 24 Therefore hath the Lord recompensed me according to my righteousness, According to the cleanness of my hands in his eyesight. 25 With the merciful thou wilt show thyself merciful; With an upright man thou wilt show thyself upright; 26 With the pure thou wilt show thyself pure; And with the froward thou wilt show thyself froward. 27 For thou wilt save the afflicted people; but wilt bring down high looks. 28 For thou wilt light my candle: the Lord my God will enlighten my dark ness. 29 For by thee I have run through a troop; and by my God have I leaped over a wall. 30 As for God, is way his perfect: the word of the Lord is tried ; He is a buckler to all those that trust in him. 31 For who is God save the Lord? or who is a rock save our God? 33 He maketh my feet like hinds' feet, and setteth me upon my high places. 35 Thou hast also given me the shield of thy salvation; And thy right hand hath holden me up, and thy gentleness hath made me great. 36 Thou hast enlarged my steps under me, that my feet did not slip. 37 I have pursued mine enemies, and overtaken them; Neither did I turn again till they were consumed. 38 I have wounded them, that they were not able to rise: they are fallen under my feet. 39 For thou hast girded me with strength unto the battle: Thou hast subdued under me those that rose up against me. 40 Thou hast also given me the necks of mine enemies, That I might destroy them that hate me. 41 They cried, but there was none to save them; even unto the Lord, but he answered them not. 42 Then did I beat them small as the dust before the wind; I did cast them out as the dirt in the streets. 43 Thou hast delivered me from the strivings of the people; And hast made me the head of the heathen: A people whom I have not known shall serve me. 44 As soon as they hear of me, they shall obey me : The strangers shall submit themselves unto me. 45 The strangers shall fade away, and be afraid out of their close places. 46 The Lord liveth! and blessed be my rock; and let the God of my salvation be exalted. 47 It is God that avengeth me, and subdueth the people under me. 48 He delivereth me from mine enemies; Yea, thou liftest me up above those that rise up against me: Thou hast delivered me from the violent man. 49 Therefore will I give thanks unto thee, O Lord, among the heathen, And sing praises unto thy name. 50 Great deliverance giveth he to his king; and sheweth mercy to his anointed, To David, and to his seed for evermore.-PSALM XVIII. THE spiritual relief experienced by the soul when implicitly turning to Jehovah for help, can scarcely be expressed in words. In proportion to the greatness of our danger is the sense of mercy dispensed. Yet though the deliverance be equal in all cases, there is not always the same felt suddenness of transition. We need not doubt the genuineness of our conversion, because we have not passed through any particular phase of experience. Other gates lead into the Temple besides that called 'Beautiful.' All pass not through the same process, but all pass from death unto life. Some undergo a 'great fight of afflictions,' or pass through deep waters, while others are led in a plain path;' and the transition in their case may be so gradual that it is scarcely possible to fix the exact date of their conversion. What matters it, if only we are really 'born again?' He has various ways, and various purposes to accomplish; and 'manifold grace' is dispensed in Christ. Yet in the results of our experience we all agree. We know that whereas we were blind, now we see. We feel that 'He brought us up also out of an horrible pit, out of the miry clay, and set our feet upon a rock, and established our goings. And he hath put a new song into our mouths, even praise unto our God.' Of all of us is it true (vers. 18, 19), ' They rushed forward against me in the day of my calamity,' 'but Jehovah became to me for a staff' (Ps. xxiii. 4). And He brought me forth to a wide place; He delivered me' (literally, He pulled or drew me out) 'because He had pleasure in me' (or, inclination towards me-the word originally meaning to incline). Here then is sovereign grace as the ground, and sovereign help as the result. Here also the two—His grace and our faith-are combined: 'Jehovah became to me for a staff.' To lean on Jehovah as upon our staff, is to be safe. Most simple is the way of life. It requires neither strength, wisdom, nor goodness of our own; it implies no elaborate prayers; it calls not for the complicated arrangements of men. The soul makes its safety in God. To find this is to be brought into a large place,' both so far as our finding of it is concerned, for faith is the gift of God, and so far as its result is concerned. It almost seems as if in the following verses we heard the 'new song' put into his lips. There is not a tittle of selfrighteousness in vers. 21-25, as has already been shown. (See Meditation XXIII.) The believer's description of God's mode of dealing lays down an eternal principle: 'Jehovah is rewarding me according to my righteousness, according to the cleanness of my hands is He returning unto me.' Despite all failings there is inward truth. We may fall, but we cannot fall away; there are weaknesses, but there cannot be apostasy; and Jehovah is not returning unto us because, but according to the cleanness of our hands. This is a true principle: 'Now we know that God heareth not sinners,'—not in the sense of sinful men, but of sin-loving and sin-following men. The look upwards cannot at the same time be a look downwards. To 'wickedly depart from my God' is an impossibility to the new nature, marked in almost every word of its description. The reason of this appears in ver. 22: 'For all His judgments are before me, and His statutes I let not depart from me.' It is not our but His strength, supplied by constant intercourse with Him and meditation upon His word and His ways. Yet nothing short of such watchfulness will suffice. 'Watch and pray, lest ye enter into temptation.' |