Bible Heaven/Bible Heaven.iso/online/topics27/t28050

Text File | 1994-03-26 | 34.5 KB | 670 lines

28050
 next 28051
28051
 March 16                                                 Morning

 \\"I am a stranger with thee."\\
                                                    --Psalm 39:12

    Yes, O Lord, \\with\\ thee, but not \\to\\ thee. All my
 natural alienation from thee, thy grace has effectually removed;
 and now, in fellowship with thyself, I walk through this sinful
 world as a pilgrim in a foreign country. \\Thou\\ art a stranger
 in thine own world. Man forgets thee, dishonours thee, sets up
 new laws and alien customs, and knows thee not. When thy dear
 Son came unto his own, his own received him not. He was in the
 world, and the world was made by him, and the world knew him
 not. Never was foreigner so speckled a bird among the denizens
 of any land as thy beloved Son among his mother's brethren. It
 is no marvel, then, if I who live the life of Jesus, should be
 unknown and a stranger here below. Lord, I would not be a
 citizen where Jesus was an alien. His pierced hand has loosened
 the cords which once bound my soul to earth, and now I find
 myself a stranger in the land. My speech seems to these
 Babylonians among whom I dwell an outlandish tongue, my manners
 are singular, and my actions are strange. A Tartar would be more
 at home in Cheapside than I could ever be in the haunts of
 sinners. But here is the sweetness of my lot: I am a stranger
 \\with thee\\. Thou art my fellow-sufferer, my fellow-pilgrim.
 Oh, what joy to wander in such blessed society! My heart burns
 within me by the way when thou dost speak to me, and though I be
 a sojourner, I am far more blest than those who sit on thrones,
 and far more at home than those who dwell in their ceiled
 houses.

              "To me remains nor place, nor time:
              My country is in every clime;
              I can be calm and free from care
              On any shore, since God is there.

              While place we seek, or place we shun,
              The soul finds happiness in none:
              But with a God to guide our way,
              'Tis equal joy to go or stay."

 Evening Reading .......................................... 28151
 # Jos 9:1 - 10:43 * Daily Bible Reading
28052
 March 17                                                 Morning

 \\"Remember the poor."\\
                                                 --Galatians 2:10

    Why does God allow so many of his children to be poor? He
 could make them all rich if he pleased; he could lay bags of
 gold at their doors; he could send them a large annual income;
 or he could scatter round their houses abundance of provisions,
 as once he made the quails lie in heaps round the camp of
 Israel, and rained bread out of heaven to feed them. There is no
 necessity that they should be poor, except that he sees it to be
 best. "The cattle upon a thousand hills are his"--he could
 supply them; he could make the richest, the greatest, and the
 mightiest bring all their power and riches to the feet of his
 children, for the hearts of all men are in his control. But he
 does not choose to do so; he allows them to suffer want, he
 allows them to pine in penury and obscurity. Why is this? There
 are many reasons: one is, \\to give us, who are favoured with\\
 \\enough, an opportunity of showing our love to Jesus\\. We show
 our love to Christ when we sing of him and when we pray to him;
 but if there were no sons of need in the world we should lose
 the sweet privilege of evidencing our love, by ministering in
 alms-giving to his poorer brethren; he has ordained that thus we
 should prove that our love standeth not in word only, but in
 deed and in truth. If we truly love Christ, we shall care for
 those who are loved by him. Those who are dear to him will be
 dear to us. Let us then look upon it not as a duty but as a
 privilege to relieve the poor of the Lord's flock--remembering
 the words of the Lord Jesus, "Inasmuch as ye have done it unto
 one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me."
 Surely this assurance is sweet enough, and this motive strong
 enough to lead us to help others with a willing hand and a
 loving heart--recollecting that all we do for his people is
 graciously accepted by Christ as done to himself.

 Evening Reading .......................................... 28152
 # Jos 11:1 - 13:33 * Daily Bible Reading
28053
 March 18                                                 Morning

 \\"Ye are all the children of God by faith in Christ Jesus."\\
                                                 --Galatians 3:26

    The \\fatherhood of God is common to all his children\\. Ah!
 Little-faith, you have often said, "Oh that I had the courage of
 Great-heart, that I could wield his sword and be as valiant as
 he! But, alas, I stumble at every straw, and a shadow makes me
 afraid." List thee, Little-faith. Great-heart is God's child,
 and you are God's child too; and Great-heart is not one whit
 more God's child than you are. Peter and Paul, the highly-
 favoured apostles, were of the family of the Most High; and so
 are you also; the weak Christian is as much a child of God as
 the strong one.

              "This cov'nant stands secure,
              Though earth's old pillars bow;
              The strong, the feeble, and the weak,
              Are one in Jesus now."

 All the names are in the same family register. One may have more
 grace than another, but God our heavenly Father has the same
 tender heart towards all. One may do more mighty works, and may
 bring more glory to his Father, but he whose name is the least
 in the kingdom of heaven is as much the child of God as he who
 stands among the King's mighty men. Let this cheer and comfort
 us, when we draw near to God and say, "Our Father."

    Yet, while we are comforted by knowing this, let us not rest
 contented with weak faith, but ask, like the Apostles, to have
 it increased. However feeble our faith may be, if it be real
 faith in Christ, we shall reach heaven at last, but we shall not
 honour our Master much on our pilgrimage, neither shall we
 abound in joy and peace. If then you would live to Christ's
 glory, and be happy in his service, seek to be filled with the
 spirit of adoption more and more completely, till perfect love
 shall cast out fear.

 Evening Reading .......................................... 28153
 # Jos 14:1 - 16:10 * Daily Bible Reading
28054
 March 19                                                 Morning

 \\"Strong in faith."\\
                                                    --Romans 4:20

    Christian, take good care of thy faith; for recollect \\faith\\
 \\is the only way whereby thou canst obtain blessings\\. If we
 want blessings from God, nothing can fetch them down but faith.
 Prayer cannot draw down answers from God's throne except it be
 the earnest prayer of the man who believes. Faith is the angelic
 messenger between the soul and the Lord Jesus in glory. Let that
 angel be withdrawn, we can neither send up prayer, nor receive
 the answers. Faith is the telegraphic wire which links earth and
 heaven--on which God's messages of love fly so fast, that before
 we call he answers, and while we are yet speaking he hears us.
 But if that telegraphic wire of faith be snapped, how can we
 receive the promise? Am I in trouble?--I can obtain help for
 trouble by faith. Am I beaten about by the enemy?--my soul on
 her dear Refuge leans by faith. But take faith away--in vain I
 call to God. There is no road betwixt my soul and heaven. In the
 deepest wintertime faith is a road on which the horses of prayer
 may travel--aye, and all the better for the biting frost; but
 blockade the road, and how can we communicate with the Great
 King? Faith links me with divinity. Faith clothes me with the
 power of God. Faith engages on my side the omnipotence of
 Jehovah. Faith ensures every attribute of God in my defence. It
 helps me to defy the hosts of hell. It makes me march triumphant
 over the necks of my enemies. But without faith how can I
 receive anything of the Lord? Let not him that wavereth--who is
 like a wave of the Sea--expect that he will receive anything of
 God! O, then, Christian, watch well thy faith; for with it thou
 canst win all things, however poor thou art, but without it thou
 canst obtain nothing. "If thou canst believe, all things are
 possible to him that believeth."

 Evening Reading .......................................... 28154
 # Jos 17:1 - 19:51 * Daily Bible Reading
28055
 March 20                                                 Morning

 \\"My beloved."\\
                                            --Song of Solomon 2:8

    This was a golden name which the ancient Church in her most
 joyous moments was wont to give to the Anointed of the Lord.
 When the time of the singing of birds was come, and the voice of
 the turtle was heard in her land, \\her\\ love-note was sweeter
 than either, as she sang, "\\My beloved\\ is mine and I am his:
 he feedeth among the lilies." Ever in her song of songs doth she
 call him by that delightful name, "My beloved!" Even in the long
 winter, when idolatry had withered the garden of the Lord, her
 prophets found space to lay aside the burden of the Lord for a
 little season, and to say, as Esaias did, "Now will I sing to my
 well-beloved a song of my beloved touching his vineyard." Though
 the saints had never seen his face, though as yet he was not
 made flesh, nor had dwelt among us, nor had man beheld his
 glory, yet he was the consolation of Israel, the hope and joy of
 all the chosen, the "beloved" of all those who were upright
 before the Most High. We, in the summer days of the Church, are
 also wont to speak of Christ as the best beloved of our soul,
 and to feel that he is very precious, the "chiefest among ten
 thousand, and the altogether lovely." So true is it that the
 Church loves Jesus, and claims him as her beloved, that the
 apostle dares to defy the whole universe to separate her from
 the love of Christ, and declares that neither persecutions,
 distress, affliction, peril, or the sword have been able to do
 it; nay, he joyously boasts, "In all these things we are more
 than conquerors through him that loved us."

    O that we knew more of thee, thou ever precious one!

              "My sole possession is thy love;
               In earth beneath, or heaven above,
               I have no other store;
               And though with fervent suit I pray,
               And importune thee day by day,
               I ask thee nothing more."

 Evening Reading .......................................... 28155
 # Jos 20:1 - 21:45 * Daily Bible Reading
28056
 March 21                                                 Morning

 \\"Ye shall be scattered, every man to his own, and shall leave\\
 \\me alone."\\
                                                     --John 16:32

    Few had fellowship with the sorrows of Gethsemane. The
 majority of the disciples were not sufficiently advanced in
 grace to be admitted to behold the mysteries of "the agony."
 Occupied with the passover feast at their own houses, they
 represent the many who live upon the letter, but are mere babes
 as to the spirit of the gospel. To twelve, nay, to eleven only
 was the privilege given to enter Gethsemane and see "this great
 sight." Out of the eleven, eight were left at a distance; they
 had fellowship, but not of that intimate sort to which men
 greatly beloved are admitted. Only three highly favoured ones
 could approach the veil of our Lord's mysterious sorrow: within
 that veil even these must not intrude; a stone's-cast distance
 must be left between. He must tread the wine-press \\alone\\,
 and of the people there must be none with him. Peter and the two
 sons of Zebedee, represent the few eminent, experienced saints,
 who may be written down as "Fathers;" these having done business
 on great waters, can in some degree measure the huge Atlantic
 waves of their Redeemer's passion. To some selected spirits it
 is given, for the good of others, and to strengthen them for
 future, special, and tremendous conflict, to enter the inner
 circle and hear the pleadings of the suffering High Priest; they
 have fellowship with him in his sufferings, and are made
 conformable unto his death. Yet even these cannot penetrate the
 secret places of the Saviour's woe. "Thine unknown sufferings"
 is the remarkable expression of the Greek liturgy: there was an
 inner chamber in our Master's grief, shut out from human
 knowledge and fellowship. There Jesus is "\\left alone\\." Here
 Jesus was more than ever an "Unspeakable gift!" Is not Watts
 right when he sings--

                "And all the unknown joys he gives,
                Were bought with agonies unknown."

 Evening Reading .......................................... 28156
 # Jos 22:1 - 24:33 * Daily Bible Reading
28057
 March 22                                                 Morning

 \\"And he went a little farther, and fell on his face, and\\
 \\prayed."\\
                                                  --Matthew 26:39

    There are several instructive features in our Saviour's
 prayer in his hour of trial. It was \\lonely prayer\\. He
 withdrew even from his three favoured disciples. Believer, be
 much in solitary prayer, especially in times of trial. Family
 prayer, social prayer, prayer in the Church, will not suffice,
 these are very precious, but the best beaten spice will smoke in
 your censer in your private devotions, where no ear hears but
 God's.

    It was \\humble prayer\\. Luke says he knelt, but another
 evangelist says he "fell on his face." Where, then, must be THY
 place, thou humble servant of the great Master? What dust and
 ashes should cover \\thy\\ head! Humility gives us good
 foot-hold in prayer. There is no hope of prevalence with God
 unless we abase ourselves that he may exalt us in due time.

    It was \\filial prayer\\. "Abba, Father." You will find it a
 stronghold in the day of trial to plead your adoption. You have
 no rights as a subject, you have forfeited them by your treason;
 but nothing can forfeit a child's right to a father's
 protection. Be not afraid to say, "My Father, hear my cry."

    Observe that it was \\persevering prayer\\. He prayed three
 times. Cease not until you prevail. Be as the importunate widow,
 whose continual coming earned what her first supplication could
 not win. Continue in prayer, and watch in the same with
 thanksgiving.

    Lastly, \\it was the prayer of resignation\\. "Nevertheless,
 not as I will, but as thou wilt." Yield, and God yields. Let it
 be as God wills, and God will determine for the best. Be thou
 content to leave thy prayer in his hands, who knows when to
 give, and how to give, and what to give, and what to withhold.
 So pleading, earnestly, importunately, yet with humility and
 resignation, thou shalt surely prevail.

 Evening Reading .......................................... 28157
 # Jud 1:1 - 2:23 * Daily Bible Reading
28058
 March 23                                                 Morning

 \\"His sweat was as it were great drops of blood falling\\
 \\down to the ground."\\
                                                     --Luke 22:44

    The mental pressure arising from our Lord's struggle with
 temptation, so forced his frame to an unnatural excitement, that
 his pores sent forth great drops of blood which fell down to the
 ground. This proves \\how tremendous must have been the weight\\
 \\of sin\\ when it was able to crush the Saviour so that he
 distilled great drops of blood! This demonstrates \\the mighty\\
 \\power of his love\\. It is a very pretty observation of old
 Isaac Ambrose that the gum which exudes from the tree without
 cutting is always the best. This precious camphire-tree yielded
 most sweet spices when it was wounded under the knotty whips,
 and when it was pierced by the nails on the cross; but see, it
 giveth forth its best spice when there is no whip, no nail, no
 wound. This sets forth the \\voluntariness of Christ's\\
 \\sufferings\\, since without a lance the blood flowed freely.
 No need to put on the leech, or apply the knife; it flows
 spontaneously. No need for the rulers to cry, "Spring up, O
 well;" of itself it flows in crimson torrents. If men suffer
 great pain of mind apparently the blood rushes to the heart. The
 cheeks are pale; a fainting fit comes on; the blood has gone
 inward as if to nourish the inner man while passing through its
 trial. But see our Saviour in his agony; he is so utterly
 oblivious of self, that instead of his agony driving his blood
 to the heart to nourish himself, it drives it outward to bedew
 the earth. The agony of Christ, inasmuch as it pours him out
 upon the ground, pictures the fulness of the offering which he
 made for men.

    Do we not perceive how intense must have been the wrestling
 through which he passed, and will we not hear its voice \\to\\
 \\us? "Ye have not yet resisted unto blood, striving against\\
 \\sin."\\ Behold the great Apostle and High Priest of our
 profession, and sweat even to blood rather than yield to the
 great tempter of your souls.

 Evening Reading .......................................... 28158
 # Jud 3:1 - 5:31 * Daily Bible Reading
28059
 March 24                                                 Morning

 \\"He was heard in that he feared."\\
                                                    --Hebrews 5:7

    Did this fear arise from the infernal suggestion \\that he\\
 \\was utterly forsaken\\. There may be sterner trials than this,
 but surely it is \\one\\ of the worst to be utterly forsaken?
 "See," said Satan, "thou hast a friend nowhere! Thy Father hath
 shut up the bowels of his compassion against thee. Not an angel
 in his courts will stretch out his hand to help thee. All heaven
 is alienated from thee; thou art left alone. See the companions
 with whom thou hast taken sweet counsel, what are they worth?
 Son of Mary, see there thy brother James, see there thy loved
 disciple John, and thy bold apostle Peter, how the cowards sleep
 when thou art in thy sufferings! Lo! Thou hast no friend left in
 heaven or earth. All hell is against thee. I have stirred up
 mine infernal den. I have sent my missives throughout all
 regions summoning every prince of darkness to set upon thee this
 night, and we will spare no arrows, we will use all our infernal
 might to overwhelm thee: and what wilt thou do, thou solitary
 one?" It may be, this was the temptation; we think it was,
 because the appearance of an angel unto him strengthening him
 removed that fear. He was heard in that he feared; he was no
 more alone, but heaven was with him. It may be that this is the
 reason of his coming three times to his disciples--as Hart puts
 it--


            "Backwards and forwards thrice he ran,
            As if he sought some help from man."

 He would see for himself whether it were really true that all
 men had forsaken him; he found them all asleep; but perhaps he
 gained some faint comfort from the thought that they were
 sleeping, not from treachery, but from sorrow, the spirit indeed
 was willing, but the flesh was weak. At any rate, he was heard
 in that he feared. Jesus was heard in his deepest woe; my soul,
 thou shalt be heard also.

 Evening Reading .......................................... 28159
 # Jud 6:1 - 7:25 * Daily Bible Reading
28060
 March 25                                                 Morning

 \\"Betrayest thou the Son of Man with a kiss?"\\
                                                     --Luke 22:48

    "The kisses of an enemy are deceitful." Let me be on my guard
 when the world puts on a loving face, for it will, if possible,
 betray me as it did my Master, with a kiss. Whenever a man is
 about to stab religion, he usually professes very great
 reverence for it. Let me beware of the sleek-faced hypocrisy
 which is armour-bearer to heresy and infidelity. Knowing the
 deceivableness of unrighteousness, let me be wise as a serpent
 to detect and avoid the designs of the enemy. The young man,
 void of understanding, was led astray by the kiss of the strange
 woman: may my soul be so graciously instructed all this day,
 that "the much fair speech" of the world may have no effect upon
 me. Holy Spirit, let me not, a poor frail son of man, be
 betrayed with a kiss!

    But what if I should be guilty of the same accursed sin as
 Judas, that son of perdition? I have been baptized into the name
 of the Lord Jesus; I am a member of his visible Church; I sit at
 the communion table: all these are so many kisses of my lips. Am
 I sincere in them? If not, I am a base traitor. Do I live in the
 world as carelessly as others do, and yet make a profession of
 being a follower of Jesus? Then I must expose religion to
 ridicule, and lead men to speak evil of the holy name by which I
 am called. Surely if I act thus inconsistently I am a Judas, and
 it were better for me that I had never been born. Dare I hope
 that I am clear in this matter? Then, O Lord, keep me so. O
 Lord, make me sincere and true. Preserve me from every false
 way. Never let me betray my Saviour. I do love thee, Jesus, and
 though I often grieve thee, yet I would desire to abide faithful
 even unto death. O God, forbid that I should be a high-soaring
 professor, and then fall at last into the lake of fire, because
 I betrayed my Master with a kiss.

 Evening Reading .......................................... 28160
 # Jud 8:1 - 9:57 * Daily Bible Reading
28061
 March 26                                                 Morning

 \\"Jesus said unto them, If ye seek me, let these go their\\
 \\way."\\
                                                      --John 18:8

    Mark, my soul, the care which Jesus manifested even in his
 hour of trial, towards the sheep of his hand! The ruling passion
 is strong in death. He resigns himself to the enemy, but he
 interposes a word of power to set his disciples free. As to
 himself, like a sheep before her shearers he is dumb and opened
 not his mouth, but for his disciples' sake he speaks with
 almighty energy. Herein is love, constant, self-forgetting,
 faithful love. But is there not far more here than is to be
 found upon the surface? Have we not the very soul and spirit of
 the atonement in these words? The Good Shepherd lays down his
 life for the sheep, and pleads that they must therefore go free.
 The Surety is bound, and justice demands that those for whom he
 stands a substitute should go their way. In the midst of Egypt's
 bondage, that voice rings as a word of power, "\\Let these go\\
 \\their way\\." Out of slavery of sin and Satan the redeemed
 must come. In every cell of the dungeons of Despair, the sound
 is echoed, "\\Let these go their way\\," and forth come
 Despondency and Much-afraid. Satan hears the well-known voice,
 and lifts his foot from the neck of the fallen; and Death hears
 it, and the grave opens her gates to let the dead arise. \\Their\\
 \\way\\ is one of progress, holiness, triumph, glory, and none
 shall dare to stay them in it. No lion shall be on their way,
 neither shall any ravenous beast go up thereon. "The hind of the
 morning" has drawn the cruel hunters upon himself, and now the
 most timid roes and hinds of the field may graze at perfect
 peace among the lilies of his loves. The thunder-cloud has burst
 over the Cross of Calvary, and the pilgrims of Zion shall never
 be smitten by the bolts of vengeance. Come, my heart, rejoice in
 the immunity which thy Redeemer has secured thee, and bless his
 name all the day, and every day.

 Evening Reading .......................................... 28161
 # Jud 10:1 - 11:40 * Daily Bible Reading
28062
 March 27                                                 Morning

 \\"Then all the disciples forsook him and fled."\\
                                                  --Matthew 26:56

    He never deserted them, but they in cowardly fear of their
 lives, fled from him in the very beginning of his sufferings.
 This is but one instructive instance of the frailty of all
 believers if left to themselves; they are but sheep at the best,
 and they flee when the wolf cometh. They had all been warned of
 the danger, and had promised to die rather than leave their
 Master; and yet they were seized with sudden panic, and took to
 their heels. It may be, that I, at the opening of this day, have
 braced up my mind to bear a trial for the Lord's sake, and I
 imagine myself to be certain to exhibit perfect fidelity; but
 let me be very jealous of myself, lest having the same evil
 heart of unbelief, I should depart from my Lord as the apostles
 did. It is one thing to promise, and quite another to perform.
 It would have been to their eternal honour to have stood at
 Jesus' side right manfully; they fled from honour; may I be kept
 from imitating them! Where else could they have been so safe as
 near their Master, who could presently call for twelve legions
 of angels? They fled from their true safety. O God, let me not
 play the fool also. Divine grace can make the coward brave. The
 smoking flax can flame forth like fire on the altar when the
 Lord wills it. These very apostles who were timid as hares, grew
 to be bold as lions after the Spirit had descended upon them,
 and even so the Holy Spirit can make my recreant spirit brave to
 confess my Lord and witness for his truth.

    What anguish must have filled the Saviour as he saw his
 friends so faithless! This was one bitter ingredient in his cup;
 but that cup is drained dry; let me not put another drop in it.
 If I forsake my Lord, I shall crucify him afresh, and put him to
 an open shame. Keep me, O blessed Spirit, from an end so
 shameful.

 Evening Reading .......................................... 28162
 # Jud 12:1 - 14:20 * Daily Bible Reading
28063
 March 28                                                 Morning

 \\"The love of Christ which passeth knowledge."\\
                                                 --Ephesians 3:19

    The love of Christ in its sweetness, its fulness, its
 greatness, its faithfulness, passeth all human comprehension.
 Where shall language be found which shall describe his
 matchless, his unparalleled love towards the children of men? It
 is so vast and boundless that, as the swallow but skimmeth the
 water, and diveth not into its depths, so all descriptive words
 but touch the surface, while depths immeasurable lie beneath.
 Well might the poet say,

                "O love, thou fathomless abyss!"

 for this love of Christ is indeed measureless and fathomless;
 none can attain unto it. Before we can have any right idea of
 the love of Jesus, we must understand his previous glory in its
 height of majesty, and his incarnation upon the earth in all its
 depths of shame. But who can tell us the majesty of Christ? When
 he was enthroned in the highest heavens he was very God of very
 God; by him were the heavens made, and all the hosts thereof.
 His own almighty arm upheld the spheres; the praises of cherubim
 and seraphim perpetually surrounded him; the full chorus of the
 hallelujahs of the universe unceasingly flowed to the foot of
 his throne: he reigned supreme above all his creatures, God over
 all, blessed for ever. Who can tell his height of glory then?
 And who, on the other hand, can tell how low he descended? To be
 a man was something, to be a man of sorrows was far more; to
 bleed, and die, and suffer, these were much for him who was the
 Son of God; but to suffer such unparalleled agony--to endure a
 death of shame and desertion by his Father, this is a depth of
 condescending love which the most inspired mind must utterly
 fail to fathom. Herein is love! and truly it is love that
 "passeth knowledge." O let this love fill our hearts with
 adoring gratitude, and lead us to practical manifestations of
 its power.

 Evening Reading .......................................... 28163
 # Jud 15:1 - 17:13 * Daily Bible Reading
28064
 March 29                                                 Morning

 \\"Though he were a Son, yet learned he obedience by the things\\
 \\which he suffered."\\
                                                    --Hebrews 5:8

    We are told that the Captain of our salvation was made
 perfect through suffering, therefore we who are sinful, and who
 are far from being perfect, must not wonder if we are called to
 pass through suffering too. Shall the head be crowned with
 thorns, and shall the other members of the body be rocked upon
 the dainty lap of ease? Must Christ pass through seas of his own
 blood to win the crown, and are we to walk to heaven dryshod in
 silver slippers? No, our Master's experience teaches us that
 suffering is necessary, and the true-born child of God must not,
 would not, escape it if he might. But there is one very
 comforting thought in the fact of Christ's "being made perfect
 through suffering"--it is, that he can have complete sympathy
 with us. "He is not an high priest that cannot be touched with
 the feeling of our infirmities." In this sympathy of Christ we
 find a sustaining power. One of the early martyrs said, "I can
 bear it all, for Jesus suffered, and he suffers in me now; he
 sympathizes with me, and this makes me strong." Believer, lay
 hold of this thought in all times of agony. Let the thought of
 Jesus strengthen you as you follow in his steps. Find a sweet
 support in his sympathy; and remember that, to suffer is an
 honourable thing--to suffer for Christ is glory. The apostles
 rejoiced that they were counted worthy to do this. Just so far
 as the Lord shall give us grace to suffer \\for\\ Christ, to
 suffer \\with\\ Christ, just so far does he honour us. The
 jewels of a Christian are his afflictions. The regalia of the
 kings whom God hath anointed are their troubles, their sorrows,
 and their griefs. Let us not, therefore, shun being honoured.
 Let us not turn aside from being exalted. Griefs exalt us, and
 troubles lift us up. "If we suffer, we shall also reign with
 him."

 Evening Reading .......................................... 28164
 # Jud 18:1 - 19:30 * Daily Bible Reading
28065
 March 30                                                 Morning

 \\"He was numbered with the transgressors."\\
                                                   --Isaiah 53:12

    Why did Jesus suffer himself to be enrolled amongst sinners?
 This wonderful condescension was justified by many powerful
 reasons. \\In such a character he could the better become their\\
 \\advocate\\. In some trials there is an identification of the
 counsellor with the client, nor can they be looked upon in the
 eye of the law as apart from one another. Now, when the sinner
 is brought to the bar, Jesus appears there himself. \\He\\
 stands to answer the accusation. He points to his side, his
 hands, his feet, and challenges Justice to bring anything
 against the sinners whom he represents; he pleads his blood, and
 pleads so triumphantly, being numbered with them and having a
 part with them, that the Judge proclaims, "Let them go their
 way; deliver them from going down into the pit, for he hath
 found a ransom." Our Lord Jesus was numbered with the
 transgressors in order that they might \\feel their hearts drawn\\
 \\towards him\\. Who can be afraid of one who is written in the
 same list with us? Surely we may come boldly to him, and confess
 our guilt. He who is numbered with us cannot condemn us. Was he
 not put down in the transgressor's list \\that we might be\\
 \\written in the red roll of the saints\\? He was holy, and
 written among the holy; we were guilty, and numbered among the
 guilty; he transfers his name from yonder list to this black
 indictment, and our names are taken from the indictment and
 written in the roll of acceptance, for there is a complete
 transfer made between Jesus and his people. All our estate of
 misery and sin Jesus has taken; and all that Jesus has comes to
 us. His righteousness, his blood, and everything that he hath he
 gives us as our dowry. Rejoice, believer, in your union to him
 who was numbered among the transgressors; and prove that you are
 truly saved by being manifestly numbered with those who are new
 creatures in him.

 Evening Reading .......................................... 28165
 # Jud 20:1 - 21:25 * Daily Bible Reading
28066
 March 31                                                 Morning

 \\"With his stripes we are healed."\\
                                                    --Isaiah 53:5

    Pilate delivered our Lord to the lictors to be scourged. The
 Roman scourge was a most dreadful instrument of torture. It was
 made of the sinews of oxen, and sharp bones were inter-twisted
 every here and there among the sinews; so that every time the
 lash came down these pieces of bone inflicted fearful
 laceration, and tore off the flesh from the bone. The Saviour
 was, no doubt, bound to the column, and thus beaten. He had been
 beaten before; but this of the Roman lictors was probably the
 most severe of his flagellations. My soul, stand here and weep
 over his poor stricken body.

    Believer in Jesus, can you gaze upon him without tears, as he
 stands before you the mirror of agonizing love? He is at once
 fair as the lily for innocence, and red as the rose with the
 crimson of his own blood. As we feel the sure and blessed
 healing which his stripes have wrought in us, does not our heart
 melt at once with love and grief? If ever we have loved our Lord
 Jesus, surely we must feel that affection glowing now within our
 bosoms.

             "See how the patient Jesus stands,
             Insulted in his lowest case!
             Sinners have bound the Almighty's hands,
             And spit in their Creator's face.

             With thorns his temples gor'd and gash'd
             Send streams of blood from every part;
             His back's with knotted scourges lash'd.
             But sharper scourges tear his heart."

 We would fain go to our chambers and weep; but since our
 business calls us away, we will first pray our Beloved to print
 the image of his bleeding self upon the tablets of our hearts
 all the day, and at nightfall we will return to commune with
 him, and sorrow that our sin should have cost him so dear.

 Evening Reading .......................................... 28166
 # Ru 1:1 - 4:22 * Daily Bible Reading
28067
 next 28101