WALKING WITH JESUS by Mary Winslow
Spiritual meditations for pilgrims in a weary land on
their way to glory!
Part 1
How often one word, a simple sentence, when
applied by the Holy Spirit, gives comfort, and lifts one up! How much we
need these helps all through our weary pilgrimage! We are such forgetful
creatures; too often forgetting what we are, and what a God He is.
How poor and unsatisfying are all things here below;
even the best and the loveliest! Oh, to walk more intimately with Him, to
live above the world, and hold the creature with a looser hand, taking
God's Word as our guiding light; our unfailing spring of comfort. God has
eternally provided such a magnificent and holy heaven for us above, that
He is jealous lest we should set our hearts too fondly and closely upon
the attractions of earth. Therefore it is that He withers our gourds and
breaks our cisterns; only to dislodge us here, and lead us to seek those
things which are above, where Christ our treasure is.
Let us keep our eye and our hearts upon our blessed
home. Earth is but a stage erected as our passage to the place Jesus has
gone to prepare for us. What a place must that be which infinite power
and love has engaged to provide! Oh, let us not lose sight of heaven
for a moment. How prone are we to allow our minds and hearts (treacherous
hearts!) to become entangled with the baubles of a dying world. No wonder
Christ exhorted us to watch and pray. Heaven is our home; our happy home.
We are but strangers and pilgrims here. Try and realize it. Let us keep
ourselves ready to enter with Him to the marriage supper of the Lamb. In a
little while, and we shall see Him, not as the 'Man of sorrows,' but the
'King in His beauty.' Then let us fight against earth and all its false
attractions, for it passes away.
God is my Shepherd, and all my concerns are in His
hands. Blessed, forever blessed, be His dear and holy name, who has looked
with everlasting mercy on such a poor, vile sinner as me; and encouraged
me with such sweet manifestations of His love, to trust my soul and all my
interests in His hands!
The world and its 'nothings' are often a sad snare
to God's saints. Oh that by faith we may overcome it all, and keep close
to Jesus! We are not of the world. Let us try and not attend to its
gewgaws! Keep a more steadfast, unwavering eye upon Christ. He has gone a
little before us, and stands beckoning us to follow. Live for eternity!
Let go your hold upon the world! Receive this exhortation from an aged
pilgrim, who, as she nears the solemn scenes of eternity, and more
realizes the inexpressible joys that await us there, is anxious that all
the believers who are traveling the same road might have their hearts and
minds more disentangled from earth and earthly things, and themselves
unreservedly given to Christ. Let us aim in all things to follow Him who,
despising this world's show, left us an example how we should walk. Have
your lamp trimmed and brightly burning, for every day and every hour
brings us nearer and nearer to our home!
"Dearest Jesus! help Your pilgrims to live more like
pilgrims, above a poor dying world, and more in full view of the glory
that awaits them when they shall see You face to face!"
The Christian Journey. Life is a journey, often a
short one, and always uncertain. But there is another journey. The
believer is traveling through a waste howling wilderness, to another and a
glorious region, where ineffable delight and happiness await us. The road
is narrow, the entrance strait, so strait that thousands miss it and
perish in the wilderness. But true believers, under the teaching and
convoy of the Holy Spirit, find it and walk in it. The King, in His
infinite love and compassion, has made a hedge about them, separating and
defending them from the many beasts of prey that lurk around them; and
although they hear their howlings and behold their threatenings, they are
safe from their power. But their strongest foe is within themselves; a
heart deceitful above all things and desperately wicked. From this there
is no escape but by constant watchfulness, and earnest cries to their best
Friend and Guide for protection. Were it not for this faithful Guide, how
often, discouraged by reason of the way, would they turn back! But He
watches over them by night and by day, strengthens them when weak, upholds
them when falling, encourages them when cast down, defends them when
attacked, provides for them when in need, leads them by living streams,
and causes them there to lie down in pleasant pastures, and on sunny
banks. And as they advance they obtain brighter views of the good land
they are nearing, and they long to see the King in His beauty, and the
land that is yet very far off, and to meet those that have already arrived
on that happy shore.
It is high time we awoke out of sleep, and aim to live
more for eternity, to live more for God, and to God. With this world and
its opinions and maxims, we, as believers, have nothing to do, for they
are contrary to God's Word. And as it respects mere professing
Christians, we had better keep away from them, for they are as
poisonous weeds in the Church, infecting, in some way or other, all
around them, and must, and will be, rooted out in due time. These are the
very bane of the Church! May God, in mercy, lessen their number daily!
Do not speak peace to a poor soul before God has spoken
it. The murder of souls is the most dire of all murders! Hold in
memory Ezekiel 33:7-8, "Son of man, I have made you a watchman for the
house of Israel; so hear the word I speak and give them warning from Me.
When I say to the wicked, 'O wicked man, you will surely die,' and you do
not speak out to dissuade him from his ways, that wicked man will die for
his sin, and I will hold you accountable for his blood." I wish that every
man who considers he has been called of the Holy Spirit to preach the
Gospel had this whole chapter written upon his heart. In your preaching
separate the precious from the vile, and be ready at a moment's
warning to give an account of your stewardship. Great is your
responsibility! Oh, be faithful over a few things, that you may have a
"Well done, good and faithful servant!" I heard a clergyman in your
neighborhood say, "All that we have to do is to keep the people quiet."
This man was never called of the Holy Spirit to preach Christ's Gospel.
Satan is only too pleased with such. This is just as the Deceiver would
have it. He would keep the people quiet in their own sins, and say, "There
is no danger; it is time enough yet, for you are good enough, and have
done no evil, at any rate, you are no worse than others. Peace, peace!"
What a mercy that there are better things in store for
us than this poor world could give! Who that knows the truth
experimentally would wish to live in this base world one moment longer
than he could help it. But what must that place be which infinite love has
prepared for us! "There are many rooms in My Father's home, and I am going
to prepare a place for you. When everything is ready, I will come and get
you, so that you will always be with Me where I am." Does it not appear as
though Jesus could not enjoy heaven itself to the full if all His redeemed
ones were not there? "Father, I want those you have given Me to be with Me
where I am, and to see My glory." To be with Jesus! One moment of this is
worth ten thousand worlds!
We need Jesus! We cannot do without Him! We must have
Him, for He is our joy, our exceeding joy, our life, and our all.
Without Him, the world and all it calls good, is poverty, wretchedness,
and woe! With Him, a wilderness is a paradise, a cottage a palace, and
the lowliest spot of earth a little heaven below!
As to the subject of the study of prophecy, I
would remark that, we should keep in mind the truth that "the testimony of
Jesus is the spirit of prophecy;" and that the prophecies should be
studied with a view of knowing more of Him; His personal glory, salvation,
and kingdom. There is great danger of being led away from the 'spirit of
prophecy.' The writings of the prophets would possess no meaning, charm,
or attraction, did they not all testify of Jesus. "Of Him give all the
prophets witness." They predict His advent, describe His death, foretell
His triumph, and portray His kingdom and glory. The suffering and
victorious Messiah is the central object of their magnificent picture! In
the study of the prophets there is great danger of being carried away with
some favorite prophetical scheme which, perhaps, we rather bring to, than
take from, their inspired writings. And this is allowed a too absorbing
study and attention, to the exclusion of more vital and momentous
subjects. May we not be liable to lose, in a too exclusive and engrossing
study of the prophetical writings, much of that lowliness of mind, close
intimacy with the progress of the kingdom of God within us, and communion
with God Himself, which constitute the life and spirit of experimental
religion?
Whatever others may say, I am sure there was nothing
good in me to draw the Savior's love. "I will have mercy upon whom I will
have mercy, and I will have compassion upon whom I will have compassion."
Here is the cause! Chosen in Christ before the world began; given to
Christ in the councils of eternity; called; justified; and in due time
glorified when the work of sanctification shall be complete. This is the
glorious mystery which keeps the poor believing sinner low at the feet of
Jesus! Boasting is here excluded! A sinner saved, fully and eternally
saved through the all sufficient merit and atoning blood of Christ the
Lord. It is a free grace salvation! Without money, without
price! No other would have saved such a sinner as me! If there had been
anything necessary in me, I would have been lost to all eternity! It is
a free grace salvation!
My heart feels for you, my dear friend, in your deep,
deep trial. This present world is a world of sadness; but when we think of
that world which is to come, into which sorrow never enters, and how soon
we may be there, we may well "rejoice in tribulation." Our "light
affliction, which is but for a moment, works for us a far more exceeding
and eternal weight of glory." In all your sorrows, pour out your heart to
the Man of sorrows. He will bow down His ear and listen to all you say,
and will either remove or moderate your trial, and give you strength to
bear it. Even this bitter draught He has given you to drink shall result
both in your good and His own glory. Remember, not a sparrow falls upon
the ground without His guidance, and that the very hairs of your head are
all numbered. How much more has this trying event been ordered and
arranged by Him who loves you! Infinite wisdom has appointed the whole!
Never doubt that He loves you when He the most deeply afflicts. "When you
go through deep waters and great trouble, I will be with you. When you go
through rivers of difficulty, you will not drown! When you walk through
the fire, you will not be burned up; the flames will not consume you." May
He lift up upon you the light of His countenance, drawing you nearer to
Himself, that you may see what a tender, loving heart He has for you, and
how deeply and tenderly and considerately He cares for you, as if there
were not another poor sorrowful one to care for on the face of the whole
earth!
I wonder what business a man, declaring himself sent of
God to lead poor sinners to Christ, has to do with the sights and shows
of this perishing world! How can he exhort his flock to live above the
world and all its vanities, while he himself is going after them? I cannot
understand some Christians, and they do not understand me. I may be wrong;
but when I read, "Come out from among them, and be separate." "Do not love
the world, nor the things that are in the world;" and many other such
solemn exhortations, I realize the way a believer in Christ should live,
and have only to regret I so often wander from it myself. Oh, how the
world, with all its cares, crowds upon the poor pilgrim, even in his most
solemn moments! "Dear Savior, keep me near, very near Your blessed heart.
Shelter me under Your almighty, protecting wing, until the storm of life
is past."
Broad is the road to destruction, and many go therein;
narrow is the road that leads to glory, and there are few, comparatively,
who find it; happy few! And, oh, what a mercy that He has guided our
feet there! Our souls and bodies ought to be devoted to Him, to
glorify Him for His distinguishing grace! For what are we more than
others, that He should fix His everlasting love upon us while we were dead
in trespasses and in sins? Blessed be God, who passes by so many, and who
has deigned to look upon us who were lying as others, dead in sin.
Infinite in sovereignty, infinite in goodness, infinite in power! Why He
passes by some and calls others is only known to Himself. But He will have
mercy upon whom He will have mercy. Blessed, forever blessed, be His
adored name! Oh, for grace to serve Him better, and to love Him more!
This world is not, and never was intended to be, our
rest. It is a wilderness we are passing through, and shame, shame
to us, that we so often want to sit down amid its weeds and briars, and
amuse ourselves with the trifles of a fallen world lying in the wicked
one. All here is polluted and tainted by sin; therefore does Christ say,
"Arise, my love, my fair one, and come away."
We must not expect much in this base world. All our
richest blessings are to come. This world is but a preparatory state. We
are disciplining and preparing for the glorious inheritance above. But how
often, through wretched unbelief, we seem to wish to have our all here.
And although, from bitter experience, we feel and acknowledge that this
poor world is polluted, and it is not our rest, yet more or less we go on,
often repining, because we cannot have things just as we wish. Oh, to
leave ourselves in a loving, tender Father's hands! He knows what we need,
and what we ought to have, and will deny us no good thing. But He must
judge for us, who are but as babes, who cannot judge for ourselves.
Oh, dear friend, the world is one vast hospital
filled with diseased inmates, and only one class can ever hope for a
perfect cure. We believers shall all be well when we get above. This world
is not our rest, nor our home. We seek a better one, and, blessed be God,
our best Friend is preparing it for us. When we get there we shall find it
far beyond our highest and most enlarged expectations.
Who would desire to live aways in this poor world?
Who would desire to dwell on these lower grounds, where sickness and
sorrow, the sad consequences of sin, follow in our wake? In heaven, our
happy home, we shall enjoy perfect holiness and perfect happiness.
Is it not strange that we can for one moment lose sight
of heaven, and the increasing glory, and grovel in the dust to gather
pebbles, for the pleasure of throwing them afterwards away?
What a mercy of mercies that He has condescended to
call us out of darkness into His marvellous light, and to translate us
into the kingdom of His dear Son! What do we not owe Him for this rich
display of sovereign mercy? I often have to exclaim, "Lord, why me?
Why such a poor sinner as I am, to be brought near unto God, adopted into
His family, made an heir of God, and a joint heir with Christ Jesus?"
Who can subdue sin in us but Jesus? I might as well
attempt to remove mountains as to reason away one corruption of my fallen
nature. But if we, the moment we detect it, carry it to Jesus, He will do
it all for us. This is one of the most difficult lessons to learn in the
school of Christ. I am but just beginning to learn it, and therefore I am
placed in the youngest class, traveling to Jesus more as a little helpless
child, for Him to do all for and all in me. My imagined strength is all
vanished, my boasted reason turned into folly, and now, thus living on
Christ in childlike simplicity, my peace, joy, and consolation are past
expression. Oh, the love, the matchless love of Jesus to a poor sinner
lying thus at His dear feet, waiting to receive a welcoming smile beaming
from His countenance. Dear friend, keep close to Him. Let not the world or
its cares come between you and Christ.
What a difficult matter it is to be in the world,
and yet not to be of the world! Our Lord Himself carried out this
principle. He passed through the world as one who was not of it. Oh, that
we could but imitate His holy example, and aim only, while in it, so to
let our light shine, that others may take knowledge of us that we have
been with Jesus, and have learned of Him. It should be our whole endeavor
to do all the good we can in it and for it; and yet to set at nothing its
spirit, its principles, and its maxims. How can a believer walk through
this world safely and securely? Only as he is upheld by a strength that is
Omnipotent! I am passing through a world lying in the wicked one. I belong
to another kingdom, which is not of this world. Dear friend, see, then,
your high calling! He has called you to come out of the world and to be
separate; in principle, in practice, in heart.
What a brittle thing is all the glory, wealth, and
honor of this vain world! How empty, and what trash does it appear! And
yet men sell their souls to grasp it, and at last pass away from it and
find it all a phantom. How unceasing is Satan in forever bringing it
before our eyes, in some form or other! What is all the pomp and wealth
and rank of this poor fleeting world, in contrast with the glory that
shall soon be revealed in all those who love His appearing?
When disappointed in the creature, I take refuge at
once in Jesus. I run to Him, and find Him all my heart could wish. "Lord,
how could I live without You? You are my all in all, my comfort, my joy,
my peace, my strengthener, my home for time and eternity! Helpless as an
infant I hang upon You!"
How wonderful is God in all His great and gracious
dealings. He places us, as soon as the spiritual eye is opened, in His
school. First, the infant school; and then onward and upward, from class
to class, losing no opportunity of spiritual instruction. Many hard
lessons have we to learn and to relearn. But, oh, the unwearied
patience and tenderness of our Teacher! Some of His children are slow
learners, dull scholars, and require the discipline of the rod to
stimulate them to more earnestness, attention, and submission. Some
imagine they have arrived at the end of their education, and sit down at
their ease; but presently they are called upon to solve some hard problem,
and they find that they know less than they thought, and for their
boasting are sent back to a lower class, and made to commence where they
first began. Such is the school of Christ.
"Lord, teach me more and more of Yourself, and of my
own poverty, misery, and weakness. And oh, unfold to my longing eyes and
heart what there is in Yourself to supply all my need, and in Your loving,
willing heart, to do all for me, and all in me, to fit me for Your service
here, and for your presence hereafter! Sanctify abundantly all Your
varying dispensations to the welfare and prosperity of my soul, and
increase in me every gift and grace of Your Spirit, that I may show forth
Your praise, and walk humbly and closely with You. You know what a poor,
worthless worm I am, and how utterly unworthy of the least mercy from Your
merciful hands; but You love to bestow Your favors upon the poor and
needy, such as me, most precious Lord. You have been a good and gracious,
sin pardoning God to my soul, and a very present help in every time of
trouble. Leave me not, nor forsake me, now that old age is overtaking me,
and grey hairs thicken upon me. I know You will not. You, who have been
with me all my journey, will not leave me now; for You are faithful who
has promised. I feel my dependence on You more than ever. Without You I
can do nothing. Helpless as an infant I hang upon You, to do all
for me and all in me."
We are hastening fast through time. Time is short,
and eternity, with all its solemn realities, is before us. What is our
life? How uncertain! and yet is it not awfully true that poor wretched man
rushes heedlessly on, thoughtless of what awaits him in an endless
eternity? We are traveling fast through this wilderness world, and soon
shall pass away. Let us, then, feel more like pilgrims and strangers here.
Let us not seek our rest where our precious Jesus had no place to lay His
head. Let us rejoice more in the prospect of that glorious inheritance
prepared for us above, where He is who has loved us unto the death. Oh,
for ten thousand worlds would I not have my portion here in this
wilderness!
The believer's life is changeful and chequered.
The path along which he is retracing his steps back to paradise is paved
with stones of variegated hues. And yet, painfully diversified as are
often the events in his history, that very diversity is as essential to
the symmetry and completeness of his Christian character as are different
shades of coloring to the perfection of a picture, or as opposite notes in
music are to the creation of harmony.
Avoid light, trifling professors of religion; their
influence will be as poison to your souls. I am convinced that much
communion with lukewarm professors does great injury to the believer. Oh,
avoid such! Light and trifling conversation acts as a poison to the life
of God in the soul. It grieves the Spirit, and He withdraws His sensible
influence.
If the religion of Christ does not make us happy,
nothing else will. But the happiness of the believer is very
different from that of the world. It arises from a sublimer source, and
shuts out unwholesome levity and mirth. The highest state of enjoyment
here below, which can arise from a believing view of Him who was pierced
for our sins and wounded for our transgressions, will ever be accompanied
with the humble and contrite heart; a deep sense of our rebellion before
conversion, and of our ingratitude and unprofitableness since. So here is
joy, yet mixed with sorrow. This is happiness the world knows nothing of.
Be assured I am happy, and do rejoice in God, while I often have occasion
to sigh at what I feel within, and at what I behold around me.
Sin darkens the eye and hardens the heart.
Realize more and more your glorious inheritance, and
do not covet the poor trifles of time and sense.
In heaven I will see my own most precious Redeemer,
enthroned in all His glory, His countenance radiant with ineffable love,
and a welcome beaming from every feature. So shall I behold Him who loved
me with an everlasting love and landed me at last in the kingdom of glory.
The redeemed shall all be encircling the throne, and basking in the full
sunshine of the Redeemer's countenance; while I shall lie prostrate at
His feet in wondering joy and adoring love at the matchless grace that
brought me there.
When Christians meet together, they talk too much
about religion, preachers, and sermons. I cannot but think, that if
they communed less about religion, and more of Jesus, it would give a
higher tone of spirituality to their conversation, and prove more
refreshing to the soul. He would then oftener draw near, and make Himself
one in their midst, and talk with them by the way.
God be praised for His wondrous goodness to me, as
poor and needy a sinner as ever lived; and yet I shall live forever, and
rejoice in God my Savior through an endless eternity!
"Lord, here is my heart, my poor heart. Take it
just as it is, and make it all that You would have it to be; cast it into
Your mold, and let it receive and reflect Your image, Son of God,
inexpressibly precious Jesus, Savior of sinners, Redeemer of my never
dying soul!"
Jesus is the Fountain, yes, the Ocean, of living
waters. We draw supplies from His infinite, inexhaustible fulness. "Lord,
impart to me more of Yourself. Fill this heart with Your love, engrave
Your image there, and let me not lose sight of You for one small moment."
Jesus is all in all to me. I feel a blessed nearness to
Him, to heaven. My soul holds converse with Him, and sweet I find it to
lie as a helpless infant at His feet; yes, passive in His loving
hands, knowing no will but His.
What a mercy, thus to unburden the whole heart; the
tried and weary, the tempted and sorrowful heart; tried by sin, tried by
Satan, tried by those you love! What a mercy to have a loving bosom to
flee to, one truly loving heart to confide in, which responds to the
faintest breathing of the Spirit! "Precious Jesus, how inexpressibly dear
are You to me at this moment! Keep sensibly near to me. Lift up upon me
Your heavenly countenance, for it is sweeter, dearer, better than life!"
Vast as eternity are His mercies, infinite His
perfections, and wonderful all His ways. What will eternity disclose to my
astonished sight, my eyes then unveiled to see what now I
understand not!
I shall soon exchange earth for heaven, and finally
close my eyes, when I shall re-open them in glory. Oh, to be there! Oh, to
see Jesus face to face! To behold Him whom my soul loves, and be with Him
forever! But a little while, and I am there!
My sins, which are mountains high, are all
pardoned, blotted out of the book of God's remembrance by the precious
blood of His dear and well beloved Son. Praise God for His marvellous
goodness to me a sinner!
What a blessing it is to have such a Friend to go
to as Jesus, with all our difficulties, small and great, transferring them
to His hands who is infinite in wisdom and in power, and will do all
things well. Is not this a mercy worth recording in letters of gold, to be
written in the deep recesses of every believing heart?
Without Jesus life would be an aching void, earth a
wilderness of woe and sorrow! He can transform this wilderness into a
little heaven, making it radiant with His presence! What must heaven
itself be!
No weeping in heaven! Blessed be God for the hope
He has given us beyond this scene of sin and sorrow. Let us arise, and
travel on!
I think, if I had ten thousand hearts, I would
give them all to Jesus!
I am increasingly persuaded that it is alone by
constant communion with Jesus, that we can attain to any progression in
the divine life.
No happiness that all the glory of this world could
produce is equal to that of a broken heart at the feet of Jesus. It is
sweet to creep into the very bosom of Christ, while we feel how
utterly worthless and unworthy, yet how welcome, we are.
His will is best at all times. For the world, I
would not be left to have my own way in any one thing.
Prayer brings heaven down into the soul, and lifts
the soul towards heaven.
Let us live more for eternity, and less for this
poor dying world.
For wise and gracious purposes, the Lord chastens
those whom He loves. Let us lie passive in His hands, leaving ourselves to
be dealt with according to His infinite wisdom and love. I know you have
your cares; but if you would carry them simply to Christ, He would make
the rough places plain and the crooked straight. In every difficulty go at
once to Jesus, before you decide in your own mind, or listen to the
dictates of your own heart. Jesus so loves you, that He would not lay the
weight of a feather upon you more than is needful.
Dear friend, let us live more decidedly for a glorious
eternity. We are here but for a little while, and then pass away. A
crown of glory awaits the poor sinner who clings to Jesus. I hope to meet
you in that better world to which we are all so rapidly approaching.
Pray, pray, pray without ceasing! God listens to
your faintest breathing.
So eternal and deep, so sovereign and boundless is the
love of God, that angels cannot fathom it! He is nothing but
unfeigned, constant, and unabating love, to the weakest, the most unworthy
of all His little flock.
Oh, the goodness of God, the wonders of His
matchless love! Eternity will be only long enough to tell of it.
My dear friend, have constant transactions with your
precious Savior. A holy familiarity with Him will tend much to
conform to His likeness. This simple living upon Christ has a most
sanctifying, purifying tendency upon the whole inner man; and thus sin
grows more hateful, and the world less attractive, and the pleasures of
sense increasingly distasteful, and we are better fitted to sustain the
trials of life.
Oh, dear friend, let us often meditate on heaven;
it will assist us to bear more serenely the ills of life.
Oh, the wondrous love of God in the gift of His beloved
Son, to suffer, bleed, and die for such poor, wretched sinners!
Oh, think of lost souls, of the eternal woe, where the
worm dies not, and the fire is not quenched! Let us put far from us all
the false charity that leaves sinners to stand upon the precipice
of hell, because we will not disturb their carnal security.
Godly parents cannot convert their children; God
alone can do this. But they can lead them to Jesus, and bring them up in
the fear of the Lord. And when they have done this, they have done all
they can do; for the Holy Spirit alone can change the heart. They must be
born again. Christ has said it. The new birth is not a change of
sentiment, nor an outward reformation of life; it is a new heart implanted
by the Holy Spirit.
How many are wasting their precious time on the things
of this poor world they are so soon to leave, and are risking the never
dying soul, yet hastening on to the judgement of God, unprepared for that
great day for which all other days were made! Is not this madness?
Bless God with me, that we are both so near our home,
each day's travel bringing us nearer and nearer. Our eyes shall behold Him
whom our souls love beyond all created good. What a prospect is before us!
Forever with the Lord! Our journey is drawing to an end. Look
forward, look upward. Jesus's eye is upon you; His heart is towards you. A
few more severe trials, a few more staggering steps, and we are there!
What a heart has Christ! Do you know what it is
made of? It is an ocean of goodness. It is a sea, fathomless and shoreless,
of matchless love; love to poor sinners, who but look to Him or sigh for
Him. One loving look from Christ will dissolve your heart into love and
sweet contrition.
Oh, to have such a Friend as Jesus, who feels all
our sorrows, carries all our burdens, and has promised to bring us safely
through this trying world, and place us at last at His own right hand,
where neither sickness nor sorrow shall ever come!
"If you love Me, keep My commandments." Not one nor
two only, but all. It is not given us to choose which we shall keep,
and which we shall break.
I am looking heavenward. There is my only, my best
Friend, and there is my heart. Behold Him seated on His throne, and all
the goodly company of the redeemed around Him. Oh, the blessedness of
beholding all His unveiled beauties, and of basking in the sunshine of His
countenance! Does not your heart burn within you when you think
of these things, these glorious realities? Well, beloved, we shall all
soon see Him eye to eye, face to face. There is much of heaven to be
enjoyed while here, a foretaste of what we shall realize through eternity.
Christ has been with you in all your late deep trial,
and He is with you now. See what a Friend you have by your side; to
talk to in your solitude; to tell Him all you feel and fear, all you wish
and need! Oh, what a Friend is Jesus! He is better than ten thousand
husbands or children. What a Friend has He been to worthless me! I could
not live without Him here, nor in heaven either. He is the chief of all my
joys, and my comfort by day and by night.
This life is a dark passage to a world of light
and glory above.
Beloved fellow traveler in the kingdom of God, it is
through much tribulation we are to enter into His kingdom of glory above.
I have heard of the severe trial your Father has sent in much love.
When we arrive at home, and trace our steps through this wilderness,
we shall see that every trial, cross, and disappointment was needful, and
that the work would not have been complete without all, even the least.
Our loving God and Father takes no pleasure in afflicting us; but it is by
these things we are brought to be better acquainted with ourselves and
with Him. He does it all. Can anything happen to us but what God does in
love to our souls? Are we not in His heart, and can anything happen to us
but what He designs? Cast all your cares on Him, for He cares for you. He
is better able to bear the burden than you are. Lie contented in His
loving hands, and let Him take His own way with you.
Yes, beloved, even your present trial shall be
to the praise of His dear and holy name. Be of good cheer! God has
commissioned it as a messenger of love, nothing but love; eternal, never
ending love! Only trust Him for all consequences. He is doing all things
well. Leave yourself in His blessed hands, and seek more for cheerful
submission than for the removal of the trial. Be earnest for submission,
and He will give it, and resignation will follow, and then what a calm! Be
quiet in His hands, and feel that His will must be best, because He is
God, and knows the end from the beginning, while we know nothing! I would
not now have been without my trial for a thousand worlds. Oh, the goodness
of God! His name is love, and wondrous is He in all His dealings with us;
and He is dealing with us every moment of our brief existence. May the
Lord comfort and guide you in every step you take, and enable you to
repose passive in His dear hands, is the prayer of your affectionate
sister in a precious Jesus.
The rod, our all wise Father will not withhold. And
what a mercy it is to be able to bear the rod, and to see the cause! But
how often do we close our ears, and go on in our crooked way until He
speaks by some louder and yet heavier blow! And then it is our mercy to
run at once into the tender, loving bosom of God, confess our sin, and beg
for renewed grace, to enable us to forsake it.
Fallen human nature sometimes puts on a show of
religion, and will go a great way while the heart is not changed, and
the fear of God and the love of the Spirit is not there, and is not known.
Thousands, I fear, deceive themselves with this resemblance of true
religion.
Oh to have the heart right with God! It is so
awfully deceitful, and we are so continually more or less deceived by
it, that we imagine all is right, when, in fact, all may be wrong.
The oftener the gold is put into the furnace, the
more the dross is consumed, and the brighter it shines. In our trials, we
cling closer to Jesus; we see more of his loving heart, and imbibe more of
His holy image.
The way the Lord is teaching you is the right way. To
be well acquainted with our own hearts is to bring us nearer to Jesus, and
to make us more firmly cling to the cross. Your poor heart is the
same as it was years ago, but there was no light to show its evil. But as
you grow in grace you will see more and more the goodness of God in the
gift of His dear Son, to make an all sufficient atonement for sinners so
vile and utterly helpless as we are. It is a great mercy that, while the
Holy Spirit opens up the deep fountain of iniquity within our hearts to
our view, He also, at the same time, shows us the Fountain open, always
open, in which we may wash and be clean. This makes Jesus so precious to
the deeply taught Christian.
Oh, God is such an ocean of love to me! The more His
wondrous love is manifested, the more I hate and abhor myself!
Oh, how strange that God should listen, and so listen,
as if he said, "Yes, yes!" to every request I make! He overcomes me
with His love. He breaks my heart, then heals it again. It is His love
that does it. He gives godly sorrow; puts forth His hand and draws me near
to Himself, and then says, What is your petition, and what is your
request? Then I hasten to tell Him all, all, as if I feared He would
withdraw before I could do so. But He lingers and listens, and then sends
me away rejoicing that I have such a Friend in heaven, and longing to drop
this body of sin and death, that I might be with Him.
Oh, the matchless love that is in our reconciled
Father's heart? Can we suppose for a moment that He sees not our trials,
temptations, and conflicts; and that He is not caring for, and watching
over us? Oh, no; God is with us and for us, working all things, even now,
for our good and His glory!
How wearisome is the poor body, creeping to the
grave! It is a dying body, but it shall rise again!
Look at the scenes of a busy world, how they pass away!
It is but as the buzzing of a summer fly, and all is gone.
Therefore, set your affections on things above!
What a mercy to have a good and gracious God to look
to, and ask what you will, and to know that He always hears and stands
ready to answer! Think what an honor put upon a poor worm, to have the
ear and the heart of the mighty God! To know that He loves you, and
cannot cease to love, because He cannot change. He knows what we were, and
what we would be to the end; and yet He loved us, and will love throughout
eternity! And what does He require? Only our heart, just as it is, with
all its imperfections.
What is the world, or the glory of a thousand such
perishing worlds as this, when compared with the glory that shall be
revealed in those who love His appearing?
Oh, what a God we have to do with! so full of love
and compassion; and although He tries us, it is all in love, to bring us
to know Him more, that we might love Him better.
My heart is often overwhelmed at the thought of His
avowing such a worthless worm as myself as one of His sheep for whom He
shed His precious blood. Dear friend, let us never for a moment forget
what we were, and what we now are!
Let us aim to walk humbly and confidingly with Jesus,
and never allow Him to be out of our sight. Oh, to travel on, leaning
upon our Beloved! His arm will support us in our feebleness; His eye
will guide us in our blindness; He will strengthen, uphold, and comfort
us, and never leave nor forsake us. May the Lord bless you with much of
His sensible presence; and when we get above, we will unite our praises to
Him who has loved us, and washed us in His own most precious blood!
Oh, the infinite value of a throne of grace! There
is an enjoyment in communion with the holy God, of which the worldling
knows nothing. It is foolishness with the wisest of men; but the sincere,
lowly follower of Christ Jesus, loved by God, regenerated by the Holy
Spirit, is made to sit in heavenly places in Christ Jesus.
The atmosphere of heaven is love. When we arrive there,
we shall swim in an ocean of love!
It is a happy position for a believer to be in, when he
is brought to that point to see he can do nothing for himself, then to
rest and wait patiently for the Lord, fully believing He will do all
things in the best possible way. Whatever the Lord does in this way for
us, is the best, the very best; better than with all our wisdom and
management we could have done for ourselves. I am persuaded, the more
we live by faith the holier and the happier we are. Is it not written,
Cast all your care upon Him, for He cares for you? Why, then, need I be
anxious, when my Savior is caring for me? Are not my concerns His
concerns, and has He ever failed me? Then, oh my soul, why not trust Him
now?
What a suffering world is this! What a mercy to be
able to look beyond this dying world, to the prospect of meeting Him who
has pardoned all my transgressions, and of being with Him forever! And
shall I, the unworthiest of the unworthy, see Him face to face, against
whom I have so often sinned, whose Spirit I have so often grieved? Shall I
be near Him, and be permitted to love Him as my soul wishes now to do, but
cannot? Oh, glorious prospect! My heart is humbled while I rejoice in the
wondrous goodness of a sin pardoning God, who could, and does, love such a
one as I. How I long to be holy even as He is holy! And will it not be so?
When I drop this vile body, shall I not awake in His righteousness? When I
see Him, shall I not be like Him?
Let it be our chief aim to glorify Jesus, to live
upon Him, and live for Him. Oh, He is most precious, so tender, so full of
love, so watchful over our interests, caring for us in all things, and
entering into all our poor concerns!
What a constant source of temptation the world is, in
some shape or other, to the believer all through his journey homeward! Its
cares and its pursuits, its pleasures and its claims, lawful though they
be, yet, through the weakness of the flesh, are a constant snare to the
heavenly pilgrim! Its principles and its spirit are adverse to the
prosperity of the soul, which struggles on through a host of foes.
"Precious Jesus, strengthen Your poor dust, and enable me to cling closer
and closer to You."
At times my heart is overwhelmed with a sense of His
unmerited love towards one so utterly unworthy. I long to be
with Him. The thought of heaven is very sweet. I long to see Him in glory
who has so frequently and tenderly dealt with me.
Live much in heaven, and earth will grow less
attractive.
Whatever draws or drives us to Jesus is good. The
oftener we go the better. The Lord frequently places us in such peculiar
circumstances as compel us to apply to Him for the help we can get nowhere
else. May the Lord enable us more and more to look alone to Him, for He is
a present help in every time of need. His heart overflows with
tenderness, sympathy, and love.
It is good to feel that we are in the Lord's hands, and
that all our trials, small and great, are designed by Him for the
furthering His work in our souls. They are great blessings in disguise
to a child of God. Nothing takes place, within or without, but is designed
for our especial benefit and the glory of His own dear name. We shall have
to thank Him for all when we see Him face to face. What a blessed
time will that be! How much do we need of weaning from this poor
disappointing world; a world lying in the wicked one; and yet so closely
do we cling to it. He who loves us is compelled to give us many a wrench
to tear us from it. Love not the world, neither the things that are in the
world.