Page images
PDF
EPUB

RILLS OF THE RIVER.

A CORDIAL FOR THE LORD'S PEOPLE.

PSALM iii., Verse 8.

"Thy blessing is upon Thy people."

HE frosts of winter and the showers of spring are productive of effects differing according to the different soils which are subjected to their influence. The soil which is naturally sterile and unproductive continues sterile and unproductive still, though the frosts of winter have whitened its surface, and checked for a season the growth of the baneful products of the curse, and though the genial showers of spring, descending upon its bleached bosom, seem to woo vegetation, and to provoke it to put forth its dormant powers. It is not so, however, with the soil which is naturally fertile and productive. The frosts of winter, whilst they check vegetation and destroy that which is rank and noxious, enable it to recruit its

B

exhausted strength, and fit it for further efforts; whilst the showers of spring, co-operating with the genial warmth of the sun, dissolve the clotted particles of earth, and prepare them for vegetation, causing the seed sown therein to spring up, and gradually clothing the meadows and pastures with verdure and beauty.

The effects produced upon different individuals by the mercies and judgments of the Almighty are somewhat analogous to those produced by the showers of spring and the frosts of winter on different soils. On the wicked they are utterly uninfluential, or productive only of sinister results, either lifting up their hearts, or plunging them, as the 17th Article significantly affirms, into the wretchedness of unclean living. To the righteous, on the other hand, mercies and judgments are alike beneficial. The former fill them with adoring gratitude to Him from whom every good and perfect gift proceeds; and though the latter at the moment may not be joyous, but grievous, though for a season they may even appear to be against them, yet ultimately they promote their salvation, and give them reason to say, "It is good for me that I have been afflicted."

But you will say, Why is this? Why do mercies and judgments operate so differently on the righteous and on the wicked? The Psalmist, I conceive, supplies us with the key to this mystery when he says, "Thy blessing is upon Thy people."

Two striking truths are presented to us in these words, namely, that God has a people, and that His

blessing is upon them. To the consideration of these two points let us now apply ourselves.

I. God has a people. There is a state in which all are the people of God; for in heaven nothing that defileth is found; there all serve Him with a willing and perfect service, and every voice is employed in ascribing “glory, and honour, and power, to Him that sitteth upon the throne, and to the Lamb for ever and ever." There is a state, too, in which none are the people of God; for though the fallen spirits, and the spirits of the damned, dare but obey God, who assigns to each bounds which he cannot pass, yet in hell all are the subjects of the evil one, who, during their season of probation, sold themselves unto him to work wickedness, and to follow all uncleanness with greediness. There is a state, however, in which the wheat and the tares grow, as it were, in the same field; the good fish and the bad are found in the same net; the sheep and the goats are blended together in the same flock. This state is the present world; for in it are found those that are the people of God, and those that are not His people.

Now if the people of God be considered with reference to those that are not His people, they will be found to be a little flock, a mere remnant, "as the shaking of an olive tree, or as gleaning grapes when the vintage is over."

This need not surprise us, for it has ever been the case. At the deluge this flock consisted only of a single family; at the call of Abraham we know not that it consisted of more, for the Lord called

him alone; in the days of Elijah appearances were so unpromising, that, although God had many hidden ones, not one of whom had bowed the knee unto Baal, that prophet seemed to stand alone; and though at the present day many call themselves the people of God, yet if the chaff were sifted from the wheat, if the precious were severed from the vile, the number of the Lord's people would undoubtedly be small.

But why is the flock of Christ a little one? Why are the people of the Lord few in number? Are God's compassions straitened? Are His invitations limited? Are the walls of separation insurmountable? No. God, we are assured, "would have all men be saved, and come to the knowledge of the truth." I do not mean to say that God actually wills or decrees the salvation of all, for then would all be saved; yea, who could resist His will? I simply mean to say that the same infinite benevolence which led Him to say of Jerusalem, "I would have gathered you unto me, as a hen gathereth her brood; but ye would not," leads Him to say of mankind generally, "I would have all be saved, and come to the knowledge of the truth." The invitations of God are as comprehensive as His benevolence. It is true He does not hesitate to tell us that He has a people; that He knows them that are His; that He chose them to be His people, and not they Him; but at the same time He invites all to become His people; that if any feel the desire to take His yoke upon them, they may be assured that there is no insurmountable wall of separation to exclude

them from the divine mercy, but that all things are ready for their salvation. In fact, the want or absence of desire is that which really excludes man from the mercy of God, as our Saviour teaches us when He says, "Ye will not come to Me, that ye may have life." When this obstacle is removed, when the sinner is made willing and desirous to come unto God by Christ, the door is an open one, and no one can, no one will close it against him.

But how are we to ascertain who are and who are not the people of God? Not by ascending into heaven to ascertain whose names are written in the Lamb's book of life. Those who hold the doctrine of election are sometimes charged, by individuals who are too prejudiced to take the trouble to inquire whether their charge is well grounded or not, with presuming to do this. But such persons should remember that holding the doctrine of election, and presuming to determine who are and who are not the elect, are very different things. I hold the doctrine. of election because Scripture affirms that believers are "elect according to the foreknowledge of God, through sanctification of the Spirit, unto obedience and sprinkling of blood of Jesus; but I have no other means of ascertaining my election of God than through the work of the Spirit upon my soul, and through the love of God shed abroad in my heart by the Holy Ghost. The same evidence which satisfies one who does not receive the doctrine of election, that he is personally interested in the salvation of God, namely, the conviction that old things have passed away, and all things have become new,

[ocr errors]
« PreviousContinue »