Spiritual Reflections for the Saint and Sinner E-Book

Octavius Winslow

• Herausgeber: Darolt Books
• Kategorie: Religion und Spiritualität
• Sprache: Englisch

Seitenzahl: 230

Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2020

Beschreibung

Shadows and Realities constitute the great contrast between earth and heaven, time and eternity. "What shadows we are, and what shadows we pursue!" was an exclamation once uttered upon the floor of the British Senate by Burke, one of England's most eloquent statesmen, not less true than solemn and sublime. But the revelations of the Bible have come to displace these human, these earthly shadows, with divine and heavenly REALITIES. The Bible is trueeternity is real. "We have not followed cunningly devised fables" in yielding our unquestioning belief to the great and precious truths of the Gospel. Experience has proved them real, has demonstrated them divine. We have tried the world, and it has wounded usthe creature, and it has disappointed usthe teaching of men, and it has bewildered usour own hearts, and they have proved "deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked." We turn to the "glorious Gospel of the blessed God," and we find it, through the anointing of the Holy Spirit, light in darkness, joy in sorrow, counsel in perplexity, strength in weakness, and hope in despair. It tells us of Jesus, the loving One, the mighty One, the sympathizing One, the faithful One, the saving One; and concentrating our whole soul in childlike faith upon Him, we prove the Gospel divine, God's Word trueall it threatens, and all it promises, REAL. The following pages will, we trust, in a humble way, lead the reader into a closer acquaintance with a few of these Divine Realities. With them many who take up this volume, may be already familiar. Those who have welcomed them before, as they have eagerly looked for a word of counsel and comfort at the opening of a new year, may not regret to meet them again in another and more permanent form. To those to whom they will be new, this will explain the particular and appropriate bearing of each chapter upon this reflective and impressive period of time. But, believing that they contain instructive and saving, sanctifying and consolatory truths, suitable for the history of every-day life, and that they have already had the seal of the Divine blessing, the author commends them with confidence, in their enlarged form, to the prayerful perusal of the Christian Church, and to the continued favor of the Triune God.

Leseprobe

PREFACE

Shadows and Realities constitute the great contrast between earth and heaven, time and eternity. 

"What shadows we are, and what shadows we pursue!" was an exclamation once uttered upon the floor of the British Senate by Burke, one of England's most eloquent statesmen, not less true than solemn and sublime. But the revelations of the Bible have come to displace these human, these earthly shadows, with divine and heavenly REALITIES. 

The Bible is trueeternity is real. "We have not followed cunningly devised fables" in yielding our unquestioning belief to the great and precious truths of the Gospel. Experience has proved them real, has demonstrated them divine. 

We have tried the world, and it has wounded usthe creature, and it has disappointed usthe teaching of men, and it has bewildered usour own hearts, and they have proved "deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked." We turn to the "glorious Gospel of the blessed God," and we find it, through the anointing of the Holy Spirit, light in darkness, joy in sorrow, counsel in perplexity, strength in weakness, and hope in despair. 

It tells us of Jesus, the loving One, the mighty One, the sympathizing One, the faithful One, the saving One; and concentrating our whole soul in childlike faith upon Him, we prove the Gospel divine, God's Word trueall it threatens, and all it promises, REAL.

The following pages will, we trust, in a humble way, lead the reader into a closer acquaintance with a few of these Divine Realities. 

With them many who take up this volume, may be already familiar. Those who have welcomed them before, as they have eagerly looked for a word of counsel and comfort at the opening of a new year, may not regret to meet them again in another and more permanent form. 

To those to whom they will be new, this will explain the particular and appropriate bearing of each chapter upon this reflective and impressive period of time. 

But, believing that they contain instructive and saving, sanctifying and consolatory truths, suitable for the history of every-day life, and that they have already had the seal of the Divine blessing, the author commends them with confidence, in their enlarged form, to the prayerful perusal of the Christian Church, and to the continued favor of the Triune God.

THE UNTRODDEN PATH

"You have not passed this way before."Joshua 3:4

How solemn is the reflection that with a new cycle of time commences, with each traveler to Zion, a new and untrodden path. New events in his history will transpirenew scenes in the panorama of life will unfoldnew phases of character will developnew temptations will assailnew duties Will devolvenew trials will be experiencednew sorrows will be feltnew friendships will be formedand new mercies will be bestowed. How truly may it be said of the pilgrim, journeying through the wilderness to his eternal home, as he stands upon the threshold of this untried period of his existence, pondering the unknown and uncertain future, "You have not passed this way before."

But there is another thought inexpressibly soothing. Untried, untrodden, and unknown as that new path may be, it is each step mapped and arranged, and provided for in the everlasting and unchangeable covenant of God. To Him who leads us, who accepts us in the Son of his love, who knows the end from the beginning, it is no new, or uncertain, or hidden way. We thank Him that, while He wisely and kindly veils all the future from our reach, all that futureits minutest eventis as transparent and visible to Him as the past. Our Shepherd knows the windings along which He skillfully, gently, and safely leads his flock. He has traveled that way Himself, and has left the traces of His presence on the road; and as each follower advancesthe new path unfolding at each stephe can exultingly exclaim, "I see the footprint of my Lordhere went my Master, my Leader, my Captain, leaving me an example that I should follow his steps." Oh! it is a thought replete with strong consolation, and well calculated to gird us for the coming yearthe Lord knows and has ordained each step of the untrodden path upon which I am about to enter.

Another reflection. The infinite forethought, wisdom, and goodness which have marked each line of our new path have also provided for its every necessity. Each exigency in the history of the new year has been anticipated. Each need will bring its appropriate and adequate supplyeach perplexity will have its guidanceeach sorrow its comforteach temptation its shield each cloud its light. Each affliction will suggest its lessoneach correction will impart its teachingeach mercy will convey its message of love. The promise will be fulfilled to the letter"As your day so shall your strength be."

And how blessed to know that all the provision for the untrodden path is in Jesus. "It pleased the Father that in Him should all fullness dwell." All wisdom to guide, all power to uphold, all love to soothe, all grace to support, all tenderness to sympathize, dwells in Christ. Let us, then, gird ourselves to a fresh taking hold of Christ. We must walk through this year not by sight, but by faith, and that faith must deal simply and directly with Jesus. "Without me you can do nothing." But with his strength made perfect in our weakness, we can do all things. Oh, be this our course and our posture"coming up from the wilderness leaning on our Beloved."

Living in a world of imperfection and change, we must expect nothing perfect, nothing stable, in what we are, in what we do, or what we enjoy. But amid the dissolving views of the world that "passes away," let us take firm hold of the unchangeableness of God. The wheels may revolve, but the axle on which they turn is immoveable. Such is our covenant God. Events may vary providences may changefriends may diefeelings may fluctuatebut God in Christ will "know no variableness, neither the shadow of a turning." "Having loved his own that were in the world, He loved them unto the end." And will it not be blessed to receive each new event of our remaining history as directly under the government and appointment of God? "He who sat upon the throne said, Behold, I make all things new." That new thing, be it what it may, which will transpire in your coming history, He will have created for your greatest good and his highest glory.

Reader! if you are a believer in the Lord Jesus, you will enter upon a new stage of your journey by a renewed surrender of yourself to the Lord. You will make the Cross the starting-point of a fresh setting out in the heavenly race. Oh, commence this year with a renewed application to the "blood of sprinkling." There is vitality in that blood; and its fresh sprinkling on your conscience will be as a new impartation of spiritual life to your soul. Oh, to begin the year with a broken heart for sin beneath the Cross of Immanuel! looking through that Cross to the heart of a loving, forgiving Father! Be not anxious about the futureall that future God has provided for. "All my times are in your hands." "Casting all your care upon Him, for He cares for you." "Cast your burden upon the Lord, and He shall sustain you."

Let it be a year of more spiritual advance. "Speak to the children of Israel that they go forward." Forward in the path of dutyforward in the path of sufferingforward in the path of conflictforward in the path of laborand forward in the path to eternal rest and glory. Soon will that rest be reached and that glory appear. This new year may be the jubilant year of your soul the year of your release. Oh, spirit-stirring, ecstatic thoughtthis year I may be in heaven! this year I may be with Jesus, leaning my head upon his breastmy conflict, my sin, my sorrow all over! this year all the glorious wonders of the upper world may burst upon my view, and I may mingle with apostles, and prophets, and martyrsthe "general assembly of the church of the first-born who are written in heaven." What manner of people, then, ought we to be in all holy conversation and godliness? "Now is our salvation nearer than when we believed."

Reader! if you are not a believer in the Lord Jesus, Oh, that your New Year's Gift may be a new heart, a renewed mind, the second birth introducing you to a life for God. The Lord Jesus has solemnly, irrevocably affirmed, that unless you are born again of the Holy Spirit you shall not see the kingdom of God.

Let not this new year be another year spent for SELF. Think of eternity think of your solemn accountingthink of the coming of the Lord; and prepare to meet Him; "Awake, you that sleep, arise from the dead, and Christ shall give you life." Are you wondering if a wretch so vile as you may hope to be saved? Do you feel the serpent's sting? Do you know the plague of your own heart? Then we have joyful news for you! Throw yourself for acceptance and eternal life upon the infinite merits of Jesus, and you shall be saved. No merit but his, no intercessor but Him, no mediator but Christ will avail you. All the saints and angels on earth and in heaven cannot give you peace here or glory hereafter. Go to God simply and entirely through Christ, breathing no name but the name of Jesus, and God, for Christ's sake alone, will accept, pardon, and save you. "Believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, and you shall be saved."

Dear reader, if Christ is in you, and you are in Christ, and these blessed truths are heartfelt truths in your experience, then may I not wish you joy of the New Year into which the good hand of the Lord has brought you? The year that is passed has brought you nearer home; the year that has commenced may bring you to that home. There may we, through the everlasting love and sovereign grace of God, at last meet and sing together, "Worthy the Lamb that was slain!"

Ah! I shall soon be dying, Time swiftly glides away; But on my Lord relying, I hail the happy day;

The day when I must enter Upon a world unknown; My helpless soul I venture On Jesus Christ alone.

He once, a spotless victim, Upon Mount Calvary bled! Jehovah did afflict Him, And bruise Him in my stead.

Hence all my hope arises, Unworthy as I am:

My soul most surely prizes

The sin-atoning Lamb.

To Him by grace united, I joy in Him alone;

And now, by faith, delighted Behold Him on his throne.

Then with the saints in glory The grateful song I'll raise, And chant my blissful story In high seraphic lays.

GOING HOME

"You have not yet reached the resting place and the inheritance the Lord your God is giving you." Deut. 12:9

And is it so, that at the close of this lonely and weary pilgrimage there is rest above? And that after this earthly fleeting existence there is an inheritance reserved? May I unhesitatingly believe this assurance, and hopefully clasp it to my heart? Then with what a firm tread, and with what a buoyant spirit may I press my foot upon the mysterious threshold of the year now opening upon meeven as the morning's sun peers above the horizon, and as the early flower expands to the warm influence of its genial beams. Whether, like that sun, this new born year shall in its course be wreathed with storm-cloudsor whether, like that opening floweret, its earthly loves and joys and hopes shall pale and droop and die, I cannot tell nor wish to know. Enough that God is my Father, my Sun, and Shield; that He will give grace and glory, and will withhold no good and needed thing. Enough that Christ is my Portion, my Advocate, my Friend, and that whatever else may pass away, his sympathy will not cease, his sufficiency will not fail, nor his love die. Enough that the everlasting covenant is mine, and that that covenant, made with me, is ordered in all things and sure. Enough that heaven is my rest, that towards it I am journeying, and that I am one year nearer its blessed and endless enjoyment.

Thus may each Christian pilgrim commune with his own heart while standing beneath the shadowy portal of another cycle of time. Before yet we meet its new and sacred claims, its duties, its responsibilities, and its trialsit may be our wisdom to remember, that we are "not as yet come to the rest and to the inheritance which the Lord our God gives us." Our path, pointing homewards, lies across a long and dreary desert. We have, as yet, many a milestone to passmany a stage to travelmany a foe to confrontmany a battle to win. We cannot exult as those who put off the armor and wave the palm. And yet we are going home. Going home! what a soothing reflection! what an ecstatic prospect! The heart throbs quickerthe eye beams brighterthe spirit grows elasticthe whole soul uplifts its soaring pinion, eager for its flight, at the very thought of heaven. "I go to prepare a place for you," was one of the last and sweetest assurances that breathed from the lips of the departing Savior; and though uttered eighteen hundred years ago, those words come stealing upon the memory like the echoes of by-gone music, thrilling the heart with holy and indescribable transport. Yes! He has passed within the veil as our forerunner; He has prepared heaven for us, and by His gentle, wise, and loving discipline, he is preparing us for heaven.

Amid the perpetually changing scenes of earth, it is refreshing to think of heaven as our CERTAIN hope. "In hope of eternal life, which God, that cannot lie, promised before the world began." This is no quicksand basis for faithno mirage of hope. Heaven is a promised "rest"exquisitely expressive image!and that promise is the word of Him who cannot lie. Nothing can surpass, nothing can compare with this! Human confidences the strong and beautifulhave bent and broken beneath us. Hopesbright and favorablewe too fondly fed, have, like evening clouds of summer, faded away, draping the landscape they had painted with a thousand variegated hues, in the somber pall of night. But heaven is true! God has promised it Christ has secured itthe Holy Spirit is its pledgeand the joys we now feel are its pledges and "first-fruits." Christian, consider this new epoch of time; unfold a new page of your yet unwritten history with the full, unwavering conviction that God is faithfulthat in all the negotiations, transactions, and events of the unknown futurein all the diversified and fluctuating phases of experience through which you may pass, it will be your mercy to do with Him of whom it is said, "It is impossible for God to lie." Oh, take this precious truth into your heart, and it will shed a warm sunlight over all the landscape of your yet shadowy existence. "He abides faithful, He cannot deny Himself." Receive the promise, and confide in the veracity of the Promiser, and He will make good to its utmost the word upon which He has caused you to hope. Standing yet within the solemn vestibule of this new and exciting year, could our fluttering hearts find repose in a more appropriate or sweeter truth than the Divine faithfulness of Him "with whom there is no variableness, neither the shadow of a turning?"

The Home to which we aspire, and for which we pant, is not only a promised, it is also a PERFECT and a PERMANENT Home. The mixed character of those seasons we now call repose, and the shifting places and changing dwellings we here call home, should perpetually remind us that we are not, as yet, come to the perfect rest and the permanent home of heaven. Most true, indeed, God is the believer's present home, and Jesus his present rest. Beneath the shadow of the cross, by the side of the mercy-seat, within the pavilion of a Father's love there is true mental repose, a real heart's ease, a peace that passes all understanding, found even here, where all things else are fleeting as a cloud, and unsubstantial as a dream. "Come unto me, all you that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest."

But it is to heaven we look for the soul's perfect and changeless happiness. With what imagery shall I portray it? How shall I describe it? Think of all the ills of your present conditionnot one exists in heaven! Bereaved one!death enters not, slays not, sunders not there. Sick one!disease pales not, enfeebles not, wastes not there. Afflicted one!sorrow chafes not, saddens not, shades not there. Oppressed one!cruelty injures not, wounds not, crushes not there. Forsaken one!inconstancy disappoints not, chills not, mocks not there. Penitent one!sin exists not, burdens not, embitters not there. Weeping

one!tears spring not, scald not, dim not there. "The former things are passed away." There rests not upon that smooth brow, there lingers not upon those serene features a furrow, or line, or shade of former sadness, languor, or sufferingnot a trace of wishes unfulfilled, of fond hopes blighted. The desert is passed, the ocean is crossed, the home is reached, and the soul finds itself in heaven, where all is the perfection of purity and the plenitude of bliss. Ages move on in endless succession, and still all is bright, new, and eternal. Oh, who would not live to win and enjoy a heaven so fair, so holy, and so changeless as this? He who has Christ in his heart enshrines there the inextinguishable, deathless hope of glory.

It is a richly instructive and deeply sanctifying thoughtthe FUTURITY of the heavenly rest. When told that we are not as yet come to the rest and to the inheritance which the Lord our God gives us, we are gently reminded that we have each one a niche in life to occupy, a sphere to fill, a mission to perform. The idea of personal responsibility, of individual influence, and of untiring action instantly starts up before the mind, "Not yet in heaventhen for what am I here? Surely it is for an object in harmony with my intellectual and spiritual being, and worthy of Him who still detains me on earth. It must be that I have something to do, or something to endure for Christan active or a passive part to fill. Lord, what will you have me to do or suffer for You?" Oh, there is a fathomless depth of Divine wisdom in the arrangement that keeps us so long out of heaven. The world needs us, and we need the world. It needs us to illumine and sanctify it; we need it as the field of our conflict, and as the school of our graces. We need the world, not as a hermit's cell, but as a vast theater where before angels and men our Christianity is developed in the achievements of prayer, in the triumphs of faith, in the labors of love, and in the endurance of suffering.

Not yet at homethen we would remember that it is "through much tribulation we are to enter the kingdom." As a new period of time slowly rises from the depths of the unknown and mysterious future, its form, half-shadowy, half-brightness, seeming to say,

"Cold is my greeting: but when we part

You shall find I have crept around your heart. Ah! vainly then would'st you bid me stay,

And sigh to recall me when I am away."

Shrink we from its stern and solemn duties, its bosomed sorrows, its deep and impenetrable decrees? Why shrink we? Infinite resources unveil their treasures upon its threshold. Christ's atoning merits confront our vast demerit. Christ's boundless grace confronts our deep necessities. Christ's promised presence confronts our sad and gloomy loneliness. Jesus thus filled with grace so overflowing, with love so tender, with sympathy so exquisite, with power so illimitable, with resources so boundless, with a nature so changeless, stands before us and says to each trembling heart, "Fear not!" We commence a new march under His convoy. We prepare for a new conflict with His armor. We renew our pilgrimage with fresh supplies of "angels' food," affording nourishment for the present and pledges for the future. For that future, be not heedlessly, unbelievingly anxious. It is all in God's hands. He desires that you should live each day upon Him as a little childsimple in your faith, unshaken in your confidence, clinging in your love. Let each morning's petition beever linking it with the precious name of Jesus, that name which is above every name"My Father! give me this day my daily bread." Then, Oh, yes, then shall the promise be fulfilled, and its fulfillment shall be the immediate answer to your prayer"As your days, so shall your strength be."

Inspired by the prospect of going home, we shall be watchful that nothing hides it from our view, or hinders our growing fitness for its enjoyment. "Arise, and depart, this is not your rest," is the yet impressive voice uttered by each drooping flower, and dying spring, and fading beam of earth-born good. Each moment we leave the desert behind us. We lose nothing, but we gain much; each night we pitch our tent "a day's march nearer home." The hope of the man whose portion is in this life is continually darkening and deteriorating. Each revolving year brings him nearer to the end and the loss of all his treasures. Unconverted reader, ponder this! But the hope of a believer in Jesus is rendered all the more lively, more precious, and more bright as time approaches eternity. Growing more intense, it becomes more sanctifying. Like the highland stream, dashing from the rock, and purifying itself as it courses its way to the ocean, Christian hope purifies the heart in which it dwells. Gently disentwining its thoughts, affections, and desires from a too clinging attachment to terrestrial objects, it bears them onward to the sea of glory towards which it flows.

Forward, then, with firmer tread, and with swifter wing to the hope laid up for us in heaven. Animated by such a hope, with a home before us so alluring and so near, shall we linger on our way to pluck the blighted flower, to admire the receding landscape, or even to build our tabernacle upon the mount all glowing with the Savior's presence? We are leaving behind us all present scenes of sadness and of joy. An Arabian prince, on approaching the city of Damascus, was so overwhelmed by the splendor of the city, that he paused at its entrance and said, "I expect to enter one paradise; but if I enter this city I shall be so caught by its blandishments, as to lose sight of the paradise in which I hope to enter."

We are journeying to a heaven infinitely surpassing a Mohammedan

paradisea heaven of perfect knowledge, of perfect holiness, of perfect love shall we allow the dazzle of earthly blandishments to blind our eye to the glory so soon to be revealed? "Here we have no continuing city, we seek one to come."

Not yet come to the heavenly rest, we still are approaching it, and oh, ecstatic thought! we shall reach it at last! Everything in our present course reminds us that we are nearing home, as the seaweed washed from the rocks, and as the land-birds venturing from their bowers and floating by the vessel, are indices to the voyager that he is nearing his port. Are you bereaved?weep not! earth has one tie less, and heaven has one tie more. Are you impoverished of earthly substance?grieve not! your imperishable treasure is in heaven. Are you sailing over dark and stormy waters?fear not! the rising flood but lifts your ark the higher and nearer the mount of perfect safety and endless rest. Are you battling with disease, conscious that life is ebbing and eternity is nearing?tremble not! there is light and music in your lonely and shaded chamberthe dawn and the chimings of your heavenly home. "I am going home! Transporting thought!true, I leave an earthly one, all so sweet and attractive, but I exchange it for a heavenly one infinitely brighter, more sacred and precious. I am going to Jesusto the Church Triumphantto Apostles, Prophets, and Martyrsto the dear ones who line the shore on the other side, prepared to welcome me there. Death, from which I have so often recoiled, is but the triumphal archoh, how bright a risen Christ has made it!through which I pass into my Father's house."

"I'm fading, slowly, slowly as the day Fades into even, and the quiet night; But with the body's sinking and decay, The spirit gathers new and holy light. A brief, brief time, and I shall be at rest, Forever sheltered on the Savior's breast."

Let us, on this birthday of the year, renew each his personal and solemn dedication to God; supplicating forgiveness for the past, and invoking grace to help in every time of need for the future. The atoning blood of Jesus! how solemn and how precious is it at this moment! Bathed in it afresh, we will more supremely, unreservedly, and submissively yield ourselves unto God as those who are alive from the dead. It is only as we commence with the atoning blood that we commence aright. It is this that purifies the conscience, allays legal fears, dissolves the heart, embitters sin, and gives a loftier elevation to motives, principles, and actions. We begin, then, with the Cross. To it, poor and vile, worthless and faithless though we are, we are yet welcome. Oh! let us not carry the burden of the Old Year's sins and backslidings, failures and shortcomings, into the New. We will travel to the open fountain, wash, and be clean. Christ loves us to come as we are. We may approach all clothed with shame for the past, but not a reproving look will dart from His eye, nor an upbraiding word will breathe from His lips. The very fact of our coming penitent, humble, and trusting will, so to speak, wake every feeling of love in His heart, and move Him to the tenderest and most forgiving compassion. Nor shall abuse and ill-requited mercies past, seal our lips from supplicating blessings for the future. "Open your mouth wide, and I will fill it," is still the Divine promise. And He who gave it has added a supplementary one, if possible, yet ampler and richer, "Call unto me, and I will answer you, and show you great and mighty things which you know not." For what, then, shall we supplicate of Him, who is thus prepared to bestow more than we are able to ask or think?

Lord! hearken to my petition

I ask for a power to plead with men, With a might like that of an angel's pen; To bid them turn to their only rest,

And in their blessing to make me blest! The plaudits I want are a silent voice, Which shall bid my inner soul rejoice! I ask in my bosom a wealth to secure

That shall make the whole world's riches poor. I ask for a wisdom that brings to naught

The hoarded years of experience and thought. I ask for a love which with rapture and light Shall fill up my being's infinite;

Which cannot change with a changing lot; Which endures, and oh! disappointeth not!