My young friends, your prudence will be displayed in imitating one part of Abigail's conduct. David was a type of Christ. Jesus is David's Lord. He is represented in his own word as coming to punish all doggish, drunken, foolish Nabals, who reject his claims, refuse his authority, and insult his servants. He will soon be here, and then he will say, 66 As for these mine enemies, who would not that I should rule over them, bring them forth, and slay them before me." Go then, like this prudent woman, go and meet him. He is now on his throne of grace. That throne is accessible from all places. He receives all comers. He pardons all applicants. Go and bow before him. Bow not only the knee, but the heart. Plead with him. Plead his own gracious invitations, his own precious promises, your imminent danger, your great need. Plead as Abigail did, with fervour, with feeling, conscious that you must prevail or perish. Plead until he pronounce your pardon, impart his blessing, and bid you go in peace. If you have no present, and you have nothing fit to offer to him, make him a present of yourself. Give him your heart to be his temple, your entire person to be an instrument for his glory. He will not refuse the offer. He will receive you graciously. He will raise you from the dust, he will win your warmest love, he will take you into vital union with himself, he will seat you on his throne, and place you before his face for ever. His heaven shall be your home. His presence shall be your delight. His joy your perpetual feast. His Father your Father; and his God your God. This will be genuine prudence. This will be true wisdom. But if you go recklessly on, if you allow time to waft you into eternity, before you are reconciled to God, and enjoy peace with him, then you must expect to receive the due reward of your deeds. Then you must experience all the threatenings which God's word contains, directed against such unwise, imprudent characters as you are. Being guilty of Nabal's folly, you must expect to meet Nabal's doom, and share in Nabal's punishment. Yes, with all the fools, drunkards, and doggish sinners, that have lived and died in their sins, you must suffer the vengeance of eternal fire. What companions for you! What society to spend an eternity in! Yet all such will have their portion in the lake that burneth with brimstone and fire. Driven away in their wickedness, they sink under the righteous condemnation of the Most High, and endure the just curse of the Eternal, for ever and ever. Reader, will this be your doom? Shall this be your portion? Nothing can make it so but your own sin. No one can force you into it against your own will. Hell is the wages of unrighteousness, the desert of sin, the necessary result of transgression, the end of the sinner's chosen course. "Be wise now, therefore, O ye" who read these lines; "be instructed, ye" who have hitherto lived carelessly in sin; "kiss the Son lest he be angry, and ye perish from the way, when his wrath is kindled but a little. Blessed are all they that put their trust in him." Cheltenham. "AT EASE IN ZION." There is a class of professing christians, who are justly exposed to the charge of being "at ease in Zion." They are not by any means the enemies of religion; neither are they wholly destitute of its hopes; they maintain the forms of piety, set some value upon the means of grace, and are willing to contribute for their support; yet they are characterised by no deep, earnest, and soul-stirring solicitude for the glory of Christ and the salvation of sinners. Their religion, though respectable, is not zealous and powerful. They are unlike the Psalmist, who beheld the transgressors and was grieved,-unlike the apostle, who had "great heaviness and continual sorrow" of heart for his brethren, his kinsmen according to the flesh. To a lamentable extent, they are "at ease in Zion." The impenitent about them are not converted; the stated ministrations of the word fail of their saving effect; sinners are hardening their hearts against God, and treasuring up wrath against the day of wrath; and yet these friends of the Saviour, and of their kind, are spiritually very much at their "ease." Their sensibilities are not disturbed; neither do they make any special effort to secure a change in themselves or others. Call their attention to the subject, and they are ever ready to confess judgment, to acknowledge that such a state of things ought not to be, that christians ought not thus to live, or sit down quietly when the work of Christ is not advancing; and yet notwithstanding this verdict of conscience, they remain in the condition of apathy and inefficiency. Now, we suppose this picture is true of a great many who are not, for any outward reasons, the proper subjects of discipline; who, as compared with others, live very well, though they fail to wield the converting power of the gospel. God, however, has said, "Woe to them that are at ease in Zion." Such a style of piety does not suit his kingdom. He has selected his people to be the instruments of gospel blessing; having made them "the light of the world," it is his will that they should be faithful in using the means and motives of grace. Where, then, is their zeal in respect to those who have no hope, who are living irreligious lives, dishonouring their Maker, and hastening to a sinner's doom in the world to come? Where is it? Ah, what means that stereotyped and impertur bable apathy, so prevalent in the christian church, in respect to a matter of such profound interest in heaven, and so much moment on earth? It is not the sign of health, or the emblem of victory. "Let him know," says an apostle, "that he which converteth a sinner from the error of his way, shall save a soul from death, and shall hide a multitude of sins." What a wonderful motive for christian effort. Is it nothing to be the means of saving a soul from death, and hiding a multitude of sins? And shall christians, possessing the exalted belief of saintship, suffer their minds to be quiet, or deem themselves innocent, while failing to use, to the very utmost of their ability, the divinely appointed means for so great a result? We think not. Hear the eulogy of God upon a class of his servants, whom he is careful to describe: "And they that be wise, shall shine as the brightness of the firmament; and they that turn many to righteousness, as the stars for ever and ever." Be it true, that they are not appreciated in this world, that their humble and faithful labours purchase for them little or no fame, that the plaudit of earthly renown seeks not their names; yet God sees them; he observes them with pleasure and approval; they are doing his will, placing the seal of honour upon their pious profession, and in the resurrection-morn they shall be like stars of unfading splendour. Their works on earth are filling heaven with joy; they are depopulating the dominions of Satan, while increasing the friends of God here, and the heirs of glory hereafter; and when their course is finished, the salutations of immortality will greet them, angels court their society, and the Saviour give them the cordial welcome, "Well done, thou good and faithful servant; enter thou into the joy of thy Lord." How much better, then, to be anxious, prayerful, and faithful, instant in season and out of season, hearing the burdens of religious labour, than to live "at ease in Zion." To be the former is to have the approval of conscience, and will secure the favour of God; while to be the latter is to be exposed to his frown, and may cost us the forfeiture of eternal life. Reader, are you "at ease in Zion "? Whom have you been the means of converting to God this year? Who has been the better for your influence, or prayers, or efforts? Oh, if you are one of the class who "hide their talent," and because of this are "unprofitable servants," beware lest you should be counted among them at last, and should share their sad doom! There is a class of whom it is said, "I know thy works, that thou hast a name that thou livest, and art dead." If thou art one of these, listen to the solemn appeal, which says, "Remember, therefore, from whence thou hast fallen, AND REPENT!" "THERE'S WORK ENOUGH TO DO." The blackbird early leaves its rest At ev'ry flower would seem to say- The cowslip and the spreading vine, The snowdrop and the eglantine, The planets, at their Maker's will, The leaves that flutter in the air, Who then can sleep, when all around Our courts and alleys are the field, If men would search them through, To have a heart for those who weep, To help the poor, the hungry feed, To see that all can write and read, Is "work enough to do!" The time is short, the world is wide, This wondrous earth and all its pride Will vanish with the sun! The moments fly on lightning's wings, We've none to waste on foolish things- Scripture Exposition for the People. CHRISTIAN MOTIVE. BY THE REV. S. G. GREEN, B.A. "Ye are not your own," said the apostle Paul, "for ye are bought with a price; therefore, glorify God in your body and in your spirit, which are God's." Again, "I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh, I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me." Again, "Whatsoever ye do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus." Once more, "As always, so now also, Christ shall be magnified in my body, whether it be by life or by death; for to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain." What do these passages, and many others like them, mean? Familiar as they are, it is to be doubted whether they are generally apprehended in their full significance. They present a standard for the christian life, to the greatness of which the best among us are but imperfectly conformed. And it may be that our falling short of it may arise in part from our not taking pains enough to realize the precise nature of the motives by which it calls us to act and live. A few words on these, therefore, may appropriately close this series of brief expositions. Our christian conduct is the result of many motives,-some higher, some lower, but each allowable in its place, while all are employed by the Spirit that rules within our hearts. Perhaps these motives may be ranged in three classes, which, instead of trying now to define, we will illustrate by selecting one of the thousand cases in which religious principle is set to work. The instance we choose shall be that of a pious mother anxiously longing and labouring for the salvation of those who are most dear to her. Let us mark the feelings which awaken her anxiety, and inspire her prayers. In the first place, it is clear, that some of her thoughts have reference to her own happiness. "What joy to me, if my little ones should be led to Jesus! How can I bear the prospect of one of them being an outcast for ever from His love? And if in acknowledgment of my efforts, and as an answer to my prayers, they should be saved, I shall therein receive a reward that will brighten my heaven throughout eternity. For surely no other Well done!' shall have half the sweetness of that to which shall be added-' because thou hast been faithful to these thy children!'" Is it wrong to dwell on these thoughts, and to glow with these anticipations? God forbid. He who has taught us to aspire to perfect bliss, and to rejoice in the prospect of salvation and reward, will never bid us blush for the most enrapturing indulgence of the "hope which maketh not ashamed." The motive, then, is right, and lofty; but, as we shall see, it is not the highest. For there are moods of thought in which that mother's spirit rises to a still higher atmosphere, and, in care for others, entirely forgets itself. Her language is not now, "What joy to me !" but, "What a blessing to my children !" In the thought of their bliss, her own for the moment is forgotten; and the ear of hope forgets even to wait for the welcome that shall reward a mother's faithful service, so intent is it to catch the greeting which shall hail her sons and daughters as "blessed of the Father!" This, we say, is a higher and grander mood of feeling than that which dwells upon merely personal joy and bliss. The self-forgetting, self-renouncing spirit ranks among the highest manifestations of the christian life, and places us near to Him whose work of love was prompted by compassion for the lost, and who, in their deliverance and final blessedness, "shall see of the travail of his soul, and shall be satisfied." But in the Saviour's heart there was one motive yet higher than this. The joy that was set before him was much,-the triumph of love in the salvation of souls was much; but there was one thing beyond all. This was the GLORY OF THE FATHER. And such must be the spirit of those who would truly follow him. That mother will reach the loftiest height of christian principle when she rises above the thought of self, above the thought of her children, and fixes her mind and heart upon her Lord: desiring, first of all, that He may be honoured. "For thine own sake, great Redeemer, make these children thine! Let them be saved, that thy will may be done, and thy character honoured. Win them as new trophies of thy love. Place them as fresh jewels in thy crown. Let them become on earth, and for ever, a part of the vast reflection of thy glory. And help me to train them aright, because it is thy will. Let my chief anxiety be in this, as in all else, to serve the Lord Christ. And while I feel deep anxiety for myself, unutterable tenderness for them, let my first great motive ever beThe love of Christ constraineth me!'" On the whole, then,-Regard to our own happiness, even though that happiness be pure and eternal, is SELF-LOVE. It may be a very right and noble kind of self-love, as in the case above supposed; but it is nothing more. Regard for others is BENEVOLENCE-a feeling which assumes its purest and most elevated form when it inspires prayer and effort for their salvation. But concern for the glory of God is RELIGION, and until our hearts can rise to this, we shall never have attained "unto the perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ." We are far from saying that these several motives act upon us distinctly and apart,one influencing us at one time and one at another. Their influence is generally intertwined. It is difficult to tell where one begins and another ends, or to trace their separate share in leading us to any course of conduct. The apostle from whom we first quoted, for instance, was filled at one and the same moment with bright anticipations of his own bliss, with anxious desires on behalf of the people to whom he had ministered, and with intense and overmastering zeal for his Master's glory. There is no doubt, however, which feeling was uppermost; and this is the practical point for ourselves. "Lord, what wilt thou have me to do ?" Such was his earliest yow of consecration. And to the latest hour this question remained the motto of his life. Most converts begin with another enquiry, lower and far less noble. "What shall I do to be saved ?" It is well, indeed, when this great question is asked in sincerity and earnestness; but it is not well, when the christian never gets beyond. "Man's chiefest end," an old catechism begins, "is to glorify God, and to enjoy him for ever." second, not first. Yet to how many hearts is it first! A question of duty, we will suppose, is raised. No doubt as to the duty itself. The command is plain and unequivocal. The point is, whether it shall or shall not be performed. And here, strange to say, the disciple demurs. Wherefore? Listen to his plea. "It is nonessential." Non-essential to what? To complete obedience? No, for it is a command. "But it is not essential to salvation. And you know the great thing is to get to heaven." Here is the whole error in a single sentence. The great thing is NOT "to get to heaven." There is something greater still. And that is, to do the will of God, to serve, and glorify him. Our Christianity will, therefore, be enfeebled and sickly, until we have learned the great lesson, to obey him irrespective of consequences to ourselves. The "enjoyment" is put To live for no higher purpose than to be happy on earth, we justly condemn as selfish. We call it worldliness. And what shall we say of the man who still makes happiness his sole aim, albeit its sphere is transferred from earth to heaven? Must we not (with a modern writer) call his ambition "other-worldliness," and tell him that his self-love, if unconnected with higher principles, differs from the other only in being more subtle and delusive? What should we say of a son who, to a wise and loving father's command, should reply, "I shall certainly not do it, Sir; unless, indeed, you will disinherit me for non-compliance"? And is there aught more noble in the conduct of those professed christians who live and speak as though their only object were to gain the everlasting inheritance, and their great concern to make the cheapest bargain? In a word, we want a Christianity which will start from the principle, that God is to be served first, for his own sake, before any thought of our own advantage,-that truth, and devotion, and loving allegiance to our Lord, are greater things than happiness,that being bought with a price, we are not our own, and that "Love so amazing, so divine, Demands our souls, our lives, our all." |