Imágenes de páginas
PDF
EPUB

Source whence all their power must flow. "Look," they say, upon their threatenings, and grant." Here is a crisis, and they feel the pressure of it, and ask God to consider and estimate their difficulty— they acknowledge in effect, "We shall fail-in ourselves and left to ourselves we can offer no resistance, and when the flood comes we shall be borne down and carried away by its force inevitably unless Thou interfere to prevent and to uphold." Let us not lose sight of this acknowledgment, for it may be to many of us a comfort and encouragement. The whole scene is so grand, so sublime, that it is almost in danger of depressing us. But here are men of like passions with ourselves; they also are weak, and they feel their weakness; they also know what the temptation to waver means, and they only rise above the weakness and the temptation by taking hold of and clinging to Infinite Omnipotence. And mark you that the prayer expresses belief in, and so enforces for us, the doctrine of a regulated administration of heavenly succour. "Now, Lord, behold their threatenings, and grant." How often are we anxiously meeting to-morrow's difficulty before tomorrow comes. I know very well that there is an abundance of resources in Jehovah. He can send a wind which will divide the waves of the Red Sea and make a way for His ransomed to pass over dry-shod; but how do I know that the wind will be there just when I am there and reduced to straits by the pursuing hosts of Pharaoh? Well, but thou, poor fluttering soul, canst thou not wait until thou art actually on the shore of the Red Sea and Pharaoh's hosts are in sight? God's succour is adjusted and proportioned to the time of need, and may ever be appropriated by prayer when the time of need arrives. You may depend upon it that when your bill is due there will be gold in heaven's bank to meet it. Give up thinking about the bill therefore until it is presented, and then go to the bank and say, "Now, Lord, behold and grant."

2. In this prayer there is a sublime exhibition of the spirit of self-surrender. This is suggested (1) in the use of the term "servants." In the opening part of their worship they employ a word which really signifies "master." "And now they apply to themselves a name which intimates, we are thy slaves, thy bondmen, thy property; we recognise this relation, and hold ourselves ready to be devoted to such purposes as to thee may seem fit. (2) But look at what is the burden of their supplication, and you will find that it amounts to this, "Let thy work go on to prosper, and thy kingdom come. There is some doubt about the exact connection of the sentences; but this is what they amount to in substance. It was the healing of the lame man in the name of the Lord Jesus that had brought them into trouble; never mind that, let the healing proceed; let the signs and wonders be multiplied. It is told in ancient Roman story, how, when hostility raged between Rome and Carthage, and Regulus, a Roman general, was taken prisoner, an embassy was sent from Carthage to propose terms on which an honourable peace might be concluded. With this embassy Regulus was sent for the

purpose of promoting its object according to his captors' intention, and under a promise to return into captivity if his object failed. And when the embassy came, instead of pleading for peace, Regulus said, "Prosecute war; prosecute it to the bitter end, until victory be won, and Carthage is subdued, and peace can be dictated not only with honour but with the utmost advantage; " and then he went back to torture and to death. We cannot withhold our admiration even in that case where the object is certainly wrong and the tone of mind more than doubtful; but here is a similar case, which without any of those darker elements far surpasses it in grandeur. Seeing the peril, and knowing what it involved for them, with heroic self-devotion they cry, “Let the battle go on; fight it out, O mighty Captain, until the conflict is completely won, and thine enemies are beneath thy feet." The times, as I have said, were critical; the hosts of darkness were mustering for the fight; they had issued their warning, and nobody knew how soon the assault might be delivered, or with what consequences. The Christians did know the power of Him in whose service they were engaged. They had been reminded by the psalm which perhaps they had just been chanting, how, when the heathen are raging and princes meditating dark and deadly conspiracy, He that sitteth in the heavens doth laugh; and how He can smite them with a rod of iron, and break them in pieces like a potter's vessel. They had often heard how in the olden times that right arm had been stretched out, and how beneath it the foes of the Lord and of His people had fallen, overwhelmed with defeat. But knowing the critical nature of the trial which is before them, and knowing also the power that is behind them, they make no appeal on their own behalf. They have entered into the spirit of that prayer which had been taught them by their crucified Lord. Their first all-absorbing desire is, "Let Thy name be hallowed. Let Thy kingdom come, and let Thy will be done upon. earth as it is done in heaven."

3. Coming to particulars, and analysing each sentence, we observe (1) it is a request that they may be enabled to do their duty. Grant unto thy servants, that with all boldness they may speak thy word," this is their leading petition. The Word of God is the heritage of truth with which they have been entrusted, the announcement of that Word the solemn duty which has been enjoined. The command of the powers of this world is that they should keep silence, and against this they pray: they ask not to be made triumphant, but to be made faithful; they ask not for power to smite their foes, but for power to lift their own souls up to the right discharge of obligation. There is a proclamation of the Word which is half-hearted, hesitating, and ambiguous; they ask that their proclamation of it may be outspoken and courageous; not safety, but duty; not success, but fidelity; not ease and prosperity, but chivalrous consecration. Such is the key-note of their supplication.

(2) Their second request is that mankind may be benefited. The

exact connection of the sentences is, as I have said, doubtful; the most probable interpretation would be something like this: "Grant unto thy servants with all boldness to speak thy word, whilst thou art stretching out thy hand to heal." They are naturally anxious that their proclamation of the truth should not be barren or unproductive; they want to see results: this would not make their position any the more, but only the less, secure. If their preaching had only been a mere empty sound, that produced no effects, Satan would have been less concerned, and would not have troubled himself to oppose them; but this would not satisfy their evangelistic energy and zeal, they desire to be witnesses whose testimony will do the kingdom of darkness harm. It will exasperate antagonism, but it matters not; with all boldness they would speak the Word, and at the same time they would have God working with them and making the gospel to be His power unto salvation, even at any cost.

(3) Their supplication culminates in the desire that the name of Jesus may be glorified. Yes, it is the name anathematised by the world; but it is the name dear above every name to them. They sought power not for the sake of any influence which might be gained by themselves-not any longer that "the kingdom might be restored unto Israel "—but that the name of Him under whose banner they served might be exalted. To this tone the whole Church is raised. Their cry is: "Not wealth, but the cause of God and the glory of Christ; not reputation, but the cause of God and the glory of Christ; not power, but the cause of God and the glory of Christ; not deliverance, but the kingdom of God and the glory of Christ." It was not merely the apostles who said it, but the entire company that lifted up a blended voice to God with one accord and said it. No wonder that they were mighty and irresistible. God grant that we may catch something of this tone, remembering and laying to heart a hint which is also contained in our text, namely, that the kingdom of God and the glory of Christ will go forward, and the only question is whether we shall be co-workers and helpers in its advancement. The arm of the Lord will be stretched out to heal, signs and wonders will be done in the name of the Lord Jesus, the banner of Messiah will be carried onward unto triumph. Brethren, put this request as an earnest appeal into the very front of your praying, "The Lord give unto His servants, while this is being done, to take their place amid the marshalled and spirit-anointed hosts, and do their appointed duty faithfully by speaking the Word with boldness."

II. Let us just glance, in the second place, at the answer which is given to the prayer. "And when they had prayed," &c.

1. The thing which they had requested is immediately bestowed. They had asked to speak the Word with boldness, and they do speak the Word with boldness. No servant of Jesus ever yet sighed and sought to be useful, but God found some way of turning him to use. If you want to do God's work, you will do it. There are many

prayers which are doubtful in spirit, and which may not be heard; but such a prayer as this is sure of a hearing and a reply. Ask for this grace, and ye shall receive; seek for this result, and ye shall find; knock for entrance here, and He upon whose shoulders is the government will surely say unto you, "I have set before thee an open

door, and no inan can shut it."

2. The process by which this result is obtained is described in two stages, or under two aspects.

(1) There is an external, sensible sign: "The place was shaken where they were gathered together." God can reveal Himself to us in many ways, and when we remember the peculiar and critical nature of the time, and when we remember that we are beings dwelling in a tabernacle of flesh, we cannot wonder that God should, along the channel of the senses, give token of Himself, and so, by a variety of methods, make his presence to be realised. What the burning bush was to Moses, what the earthquake and the wind were to Elijah, what the vision of the wheels was to Ezekiel, what the physical Christ and His miracles were to these believers in past days, this shaking of the place where they are assembled together is now. It was a token in accordance with the prophetic intimations of Scripture. "The voice of the Lord shaketh the wilderness; the Lord shaketh the wilderness of Kadesh." "For thus saith the Lord of Hosts, yet once it is a little while, and I will shake the heavens and the earth and the sea and the dry land, and I will shake all nations, and the desire of all nations shall come, and I will fill this house with glory." And whilst thus connecting itself with the solemn and sublime language of prophecy, it would be a token of His power-a premonition of His coming and victory, and an assurance of their safety amid all commotions and convulsions; it would also be a very precious intimation of the Lord's nearness to them. Perhaps they had got to think of their exalted and enthroned Saviour and King as one afar off; looking down upon them, listening to them, but still dwelling in the high and holy place to which no mortal man can draw nigh. But here is something to remind them that He is close at hand. As in the days of His flesh He mysteriously walked upon the sea, as He passed through closed doors and was amongst them nobody knew how, so yet He is moving in the very air they breathe. A living presence which they experience in the vibrations which pulsate around. And oh! what a solemn and sublime place would that become to them then, and what a solemn and sublime place would every house of prayer become to us now if we could only realise that to be eternally and actually true which this shaking only formally and temporarily suggested. Brethren, "this is none other than the House of God." "In Salem is His tabernacle, and His dwelling-place in Zion." "The Lord walketh in the midst of the seven golden candlesticks," and He says, "Lo, I am with you alway unto the end of the world.” “ The Lord is in His holy temple; let all the earth keep silence before Him."

now,

(2) "And they were all filled with the Holy Ghost." This is only a repetition of language used regarding them on the day of Pentecost. It is written, "they were all filled with the Holy Ghost" then, and again it is written, "they were all filled with the Holy Ghost" for, brethren, God, however much He gives, does not give all He has to bestow, and for this, among other reasons, that we are not able to take in His fulness. On the day of Pentecost these Christians had been filled with the Holy Ghost; but they had grown since then; they were larger men now, they had bigger hearts, bigger faith, persecution had excavated and cleared out the channel; what filled them then would not fill them now, and so there comes a fresh baptism. The flood of heavenly life and heavenly light and heavenly force rushes into the enlarged bed in a wider, profounder stream; the tide rises higher; just as they are ready to receive it the new supply is ready to be communicated, and again they are filled with the Holy Ghost; and as on the former occasion, as the immediate consequence of the baptism, "they spake with tongues and magnified God," so now "they speak the Word of God with boldness."

MAGGIE'S POST-OFFICE; OR, THE UNANSWERED LETTERS.

FOR THE YOUNG.

"BUT it seems as if sometimes things promised in the Bible don't really come true. Don't you think s0, papa ?"

My boy Johnny was the speaker, as we walked together along a path leading from a railway junction in the country to a village which nestled on a hill about half a mile before us. We were on our way to spend a few weeks by the seaside at Saltertown.

I almost forget what had led me to say something to my boy about God's great promises to His children. I think, however, it was after answering some questions of his about the rain-how it came, what it did, what clouds were; and as Johnny's questions generally came in clusters, we had found plenty to say to each other. Johnny, returning to the words I had quoted, asked me whether it did not sometimes seem as if God's promises did not come true.

"Which of them, Johnny?"

[ocr errors]

"Well, papa, you know it says, Ask and it shall be given you.' But I've asked, and it hasn't been given me."

"For what did you ask, Johnny?" "Oh, several things. One thing it was my birthday, and we wanted a fine day; and you know we were to go to Far View Point, and have dinner out-of-doors, and the fire-balloon in the evening, and all; and I wanted it so to be fine; and I prayed for it. But it wasn't

it rained all day through. I got out of bed at four o'clock to look, and it was raining then.'

"I remember, Johnny. I rode out to see farmer Harris soon after. He said that day's rain was only just in time to save the crops. Things were dying for want of rain."

“But then, papa, God could have arranged-I mean He can do everything-and might have let farmer Harris's crops get on in spite of one more fine day."

« AnteriorContinuar »