home
***
CD-ROM
|
disk
|
FTP
|
other
***
search
/
Bible Heaven
/
Bible Heaven.iso
/
online
/
topics27
/
t28900
< prev
next >
Wrap
Text File
|
1994-07-15
|
32KB
|
575 lines
28900
next 28901
28901
July 1 Evening
\\"The voice of the Lord God walking in the garden in the cool\\
\\of the day."\\
--Genesis 3:8
My soul, now that the cool of the day has come, retire awhile
and hearken to the voice of thy God. He is always ready to speak
with thee when thou art prepared to hear. If there be any
slowness to commune it is not on his part, but altogether on
thine own, for he stands at the door and knocks, and if his
people will but open he rejoices to enter. But in what state is
my heart, which is my Lord's garden? May I venture to hope that
it is well trimmed and watered, and is bringing forth fruit fit
for him? If not, he will have much to reprove, but still I pray
him to come unto me, for nothing can so certainly bring my heart
into a right condition as the presence of the Sun of
Righteousness, who brings healing in his wings. Come,
therefore, O Lord, my God, my soul invites thee earnestly, and
waits for thee eagerly. Come to me, O Jesus, my well-beloved,
and plant fresh flowers in my garden, such as I see blooming in
such perfection in thy matchless character! Come, O my Father,
who art the Husbandman, and deal with me in thy tenderness and
prudence! Come, O Holy Spirit, and bedew my whole nature, as the
herbs are now moistened with the evening dews. O that God would
speak to me. Speak, Lord, for thy servant heareth! O that he
would walk with me; I am ready to give up my whole heart and
mind to him, and every other thought is hushed. I am only
asking what he delights to give. I am sure that he will
condescend to have fellowship with me, for he has given me his
Holy Spirit to abide with me for ever. Sweet is the cool
twilight, when every star seems like the eye of heaven, and the
cool wind is as the breath of celestial love. My Father, my
elder Brother, my sweet Comforter, speak now in lovingkindness,
for thou hast opened mine ear and I am not rebellious.
28902
July 2 Evening
\\"Unto thee will I cry, O Lord my rock; be not silent to me:\\
\\lest, if thou be silent to me, I become like them that go down\\
\\into the pit."\\
--Psalm 28:1
A cry is the natural expression of sorrow, and a suitable
utterance when all other modes of appeal fail us; but the cry
must be alone directed to the Lord, for to cry to man is to
waste our entreaties upon the air. When we consider the
readiness of the Lord to hear, and his ability to aid, we shall
see good reason for directing all our appeals at once to the God
of our salvation. It will be in vain to call to the rocks in the
day of judgment, but our Rock attends to our cries.
"\\Be not silent to me\\." Mere formalists may be content
without answers to their prayers, but genuine suppliants cannot;
they are not satisfied with the results of prayer itself in
calming the mind and subduing the will--they must go further,
and obtain actual replies from heaven, or they cannot rest; and
those replies they long to receive at once, they dread even a
little of God's silence. God's voice is often so terrible that
it shakes the wilderness; but his silence is equally full of awe
to an eager suppliant. When God seems to close his ear, we must
not therefore close our mouths, but rather cry with more
earnestness; for when our note grows shrill with eagerness and
grief, he will not long deny us a hearing. What a dreadful case
should we be in if the Lord should become for ever silent to our
prayers? "\\Lest, if thou be silent to me, I become like them\\
\\that go down into the pit\\." Deprived of the God who answers
prayer, we should be in a more pitiable plight than the dead in
the grave, and should soon sink to the same level as the lost in
hell. We \\must\\ have answers to prayer: ours is an urgent case
of dire necessity; surely the Lord will speak peace to our
agitated minds, for he never can find it in his heart to permit
his own elect to perish.
28903
July 3 Evening
\\"If we suffer, we shall also reign with him."\\
--2 Timothy 2:12
\\We must not imagine that we are suffering for Christ, and\\
\\with Christ, if we are not in Christ\\. Beloved friend, are
you trusting to Jesus only? If not, whatever you may have to
mourn over on earth, you are not "suffering with Christ," and
have no hope of reigning with him in heaven. Neither are we to
conclude that all a Christian's sufferings are sufferings with
Christ, for \\it is essential that he be called by God to\\
\\suffer\\. If we are rash and imprudent, and run into positions
for which neither providence nor grace has fitted us, we ought
to question whether we are not rather sinning than communing
with Jesus. If we let passion take the place of judgment, and
self-will reign instead of Scriptural authority, we shall fight
the Lord's battles with the devil's weapons, and if we cut our
own fingers we must not be surprised. Again, \\in troubles which\\
\\come upon us as the result of sin, we must not dream that we are\\
\\suffering with Christ\\. When Miriam spoke evil of Moses, and
the leprosy polluted her, she was not suffering for God.
Moreover, suffering which God accepts \\must have God's glory as\\
\\its end\\. If I suffer that I may earn a name, or win
applause, I shall get no other reward than that of the Pharisee.
It is requisite also \\that love to Jesus, and love to his\\
\\elect, be ever the mainspring of all our patience. We must\\
\\manifest the Spirit of Christ\\ in meekness, gentleness, and
forgiveness. Let us search and see if we truly \\suffer with\\
\\Jesus\\. And if we do thus suffer, what is our "light
affliction" compared with \\reigning with him\\? Oh it is so
blessed to be in the furnace with Christ, and such an honour to
stand in the pillory with him, that if there were no future
reward, we might count ourselves happy in present honour; but
when the recompense is so eternal, so infinitely more than we
had any right to expect, shall we not take up the cross with
alacrity, and go on our way rejoicing?
28904
July 4 Evening
\\"He that hath clean hands, and a pure heart; who hath not\\
\\lifted up his soul unto vanity, nor sworn deceitfully."\\
--Psalm 24:4
Outward practical holiness is a very precious mark of grace.
It is to be feared that many professors have perverted the
doctrine of justification by faith in such a way as to treat
good works with contempt; if so, they will receive everlasting
contempt at the last great day. If our hands are not clean, let
us wash them in Jesus' precious blood, and so let us lift up
pure hands unto God. But "\\clean hands\\"will not suffice,
unless they are connected with "\\a pure heart\\." True religion
is heart-work. We may wash the outside of the cup and the
platter as long as we please, but if the inward parts be filthy,
we are filthy altogether in the sight of God, for our hearts are
more truly ourselves than our hands are; the very life of our
being lies in the inner nature, and hence the imperative need of
purity within. The pure in heart shall see God, all others are
but blind bats.
The man who is born for heaven "\\hath not lifted up his soul\\
\\unto vanity\\." All men have their joys, by which their souls
are lifted up; the worldling lifts up his soul in carnal
delights, which are mere empty vanities; but the saint loves
more substantial things; like Jehoshaphat, he is lifted up in
the ways of the Lord. He who is content with husks, will be
reckoned with the swine. Does the world satisfy thee? Then thou
hast thy reward and portion in this life; make much of it, for
thou shalt know no other joy.
"\\Nor sworn deceitfully\\." The saints are men of honour
still. The Christian man's word is his only oath; but that is as
good as twenty oaths of other men. False speaking will shut any
man out of heaven, for a liar shall not enter into God's house,
whatever may be his professions or doings. Reader, does the text
before us condemn thee, or dost thou hope to ascend into the
hill of the Lord?
28905
July 5 Evening
\\"Trust ye in the Lord for ever: for in the Lord Jehovah is\\
\\everlasting strength."\\
--Isaiah 26:4
Seeing that we have such a God to trust to, let us rest upon
him with all our weight; let us resolutely drive out all
unbelief, and endeavour to get rid of doubts and fears, which so
much mar our comfort; since there is no excuse for fear where
God is the foundation of our trust. A loving parent would be
sorely grieved if his child could not trust him; and how
ungenerous, how unkind is our conduct when we put so little
confidence in our heavenly Father who has never failed us, and
who never will. It were well if doubting were banished from the
household of God; but it is to be feared that old Unbelief is as
nimble nowadays as when the psalmist asked, "Is his mercy clean
gone for ever? Will he be favourable no more?" David had not
made any very lengthy trial of the mighty sword of the giant
Goliath, and yet he said, "There is none like it." He had tried
it once in the hour of his youthful victory, and it had proved
itself to be of the right metal, and therefore he praised it
ever afterwards; even so should we speak well of our God, there
is none like unto him in the heaven above or the earth beneath;
"To whom then will ye liken me, or shall I be equal? saith the
Holy One." There is no rock like unto the rock of Jacob, our
enemies themselves being judges. So far from suffering doubts to
live in our hearts, we will take the whole detestable crew, as
Elijah did the prophets of Baal, and slay them over the brook;
and for a stream to kill them at, we will select the sacred
torrent which wells forth from our Saviour's wounded side. We
have been in many trials, but we have never yet been cast where
we could not find in our God all that we needed. Let us then be
encouraged to trust in the Lord for ever, assured that his ever
lasting strength will be, as it has been, our succour and stay.
28906
July 6 Evening
\\"How many are mine iniquities and sins?"\\
--Job 13:23
Have you ever really weighed and considered how great the sin
of God's people is? Think how heinous is your own transgression,
and you will find that not only does a sin here and there tower
up like an alp, but that your iniquities are heaped upon each
other, as in the old fable of the giants who piled Pelian upon
Ossa, mountain upon mountain. What an aggregate of sin there is
in the life of one of the most sanctified of God's children!
Attempt to multiply this, the sin of one only, by the multitude
of the redeemed, "a number which no man can number," and you
will have some conception of the great mass of the guilt of the
people for whom Jesus shed his blood. But we arrive at a more
adequate idea of the magnitude of sin by the greatness of the
remedy provided. It is the blood of Jesus Christ, God's only and
well-beloved Son. God's Son! Angels cast their crowns before
him! All the choral symphonies of heaven surround his glorious
throne. "God over all, blessed for ever. Amen." And yet he
takes upon himself the form of a servant, and is scourged and
pierced, bruised and torn, and at last slain; since nothing but
the blood of the incarnate Son of God could make atonement for
our offences. No human mind can adequately estimate the infinite
value of the divine sacrifice, for great as is the sin of God's
people, the atonement which takes it away is immeasurably
greater. Therefore, the believer, even when sin rolls like a
black flood, and the remembrance of the past is bitter, can yet
stand before the blazing throne of the great and holy God, and
cry, "Who is he that condemneth? It is Christ that died; yea
rather, that hath risen again." While the recollection of his
sin fills him with shame and sorrow, he at the same time makes
it a foil to show the brightness of mercy--guilt is the dark
night in which the fair star of divine love shines with serene
splendour.
28907
July 7 Evening
\\"When I passed by thee, I said unto thee, Live."\\
--Ezekiel 16:6
Saved one, consider gratefully this mandate of mercy. Note
that this fiat of God is \\majestic\\. In our text, we perceive
a sinner with nothing in him but sin, expecting nothing but
wrath; but the eternal Lord passes by in his glory; he looks,
he pauses, and he pronounces the solitary but royal word,
"Live." There speaks a God. Who but he could venture thus to
deal with life and dispense it with a single syllable? Again,
this fiat is \\manifold\\. When he saith "Live," it includes
many things. Here is judicial life. The sinner is ready to be
condemned, but the mighty One saith, "Live," and he rises
pardoned and absolved. It is spiritual life. We knew not
Jesus--our eyes could not see Christ, our ears could not hear
his voice--Jehovah said "Live," and we were quickened who were
dead in trespasses and sins. Moreover, it includes glory-life,
which is the perfection of spiritual life. "I said unto thee,
Live:" and that word rolls on through all the years of time till
death comes, and in the midst of the shadows of death, the
Lord's voice is still heard, "Live!" In the morning of the
resurrection it is that self-same voice which is echoed by the
arch-angel, "Live," and as holy spirits rise to heaven to be
blest for ever in the glory of their God, it is in the power of
this same word, "Live." Note again, that it is an
\\irresistible\\ mandate. Saul of Tarsus is on the road to
Damascus to arrest the saints of the living God. A voice is
heard from heaven and a light is seen above the brightness of
the sun, and Saul is crying out, "Lord, what wilt thou have me
to do?" This mandate is a mandate of \\free grace\\. When
sinners are saved, it is only and solely because God \\will\\ do
it to magnify his free, unpurchased, unsought grace.
Christians, see your position, debtors to grace; show your
gratitude by earnest, Christlike lives, and as God has bidden
you live, see to it that you live in earnest.
28908
July 8 Evening
\\"Lead me in thy truth, and teach me: for thou art the God of\\
\\my salvation; on thee do I wait all the day."\\
--Psalm 25:5
When the believer has begun with trembling feet to walk in
the way of the Lord, he asks to be still led onward like a
little child upheld by its parent's helping hand, and he craves
to be further instructed in the alphabet of truth. Experimental
teaching is the burden of this prayer. David knew much, but he
felt his ignorance, and desired to be still in the Lord's
school: four times over in two verses he applies for a
scholarship in the college of grace. It were well for many
professors if instead of following their own devices, and
cutting out new paths of thought for themselves, they would
enquire for the good old ways of God's own truth, and beseech
the Holy Ghost to give them sanctified understandings and
teachable spirits. "\\For thou art the God of my salvation\\."
The Three-One Jehovah is the Author and Perfecter of salvation
to his people. Reader, is he the God of \\your\\ salvation? Do
you find in the Father's election, in the Son's atonement, and
in the Spirit's quickening, all the grounds of your eternal
hopes? If so, you may use this as an argument for obtaining
further blessings; if the Lord has ordained to save you, surely
he will not refuse to instruct you in his ways. It is a happy
thing when we can address the Lord with the confidence which
David here manifests, it gives us great power in prayer, and
comfort in trial. "\\On thee do I wait all the day\\." Patience
is the fair handmaid and daughter of faith; we cheerfully wait
when we are certain that we shall not wait in vain. It is our
duty and our privilege to wait upon the Lord in service, in
worship, in expectancy, in trust all the days of our life. Our
faith will be tried faith, and if it be of the true kind, it
will bear continued trial without yielding. We shall not grow
weary of waiting upon God if we remember how long and how
graciously he once waited for us.
28909
July 9 Evening
\\"And God divided the light from the darkness."\\
--Genesis 1:4
A believer has two principles at work within him. In his
natural estate he was subject to one principle only, which was
darkness; now light has entered, and the two principles
disagree. Mark the apostle Paul's words in the seventh chapter
of Romans: "I find then a law, that, when I would do good, evil
is present with me. For I delight in the law of God after the
inward man: but I see another law in my members, warring against
the law of my mind, and bringing me into captivity to the law of
sin, which is in my members." How is this state of things
occasioned? "The Lord divided the light from the darkness."
Darkness, by itself, is quiet and undisturbed, but when the Lord
sends in light, there is a conflict, for the one is in
opposition to the other: a conflict which will never cease till
the believer is altogether light in the Lord. If there be a
division \\within\\ the individual Christian, there is certain to
be \\a division without\\. So soon as the Lord gives to any man
light, he proceeds to separate himself from the darkness around;
he secedes from a merely worldly religion of outward ceremonial,
for nothing short of the gospel of Christ will now satisfy him,
and he withdraws himself from worldly society and frivolous
amusements, and seeks the company of the saints, for "We know we
have passed from death unto life, because we love the brethren."
The light gathers to itself, and the darkness to itself. What
God has divided, let us never try to unite, but as Christ went
without the camp, bearing his reproach, so let us come out from
the ungodly, and be a peculiar people. He was holy, harmless,
undefiled, separate from sinners; and, as he was, so we are to
be nonconformists to the world, dissenting from all sin, and
distinguished from the rest of mankind by our likeness to our
Master.
28910
July 10 Evening
\\"And the evening and the morning were the first day."\\
--Genesis 1:5
The evening was "darkness" and the morning was "light," and
yet \\the two together are called by the name that is given to\\
\\the light alone\\! This is somewhat remarkable, but it has an
exact analogy in spiritual experience. In every believer there
is darkness and light, and yet he is not to be named a sinner
because there is sin in him, but he is to be named a saint
because he possesses some degree of holiness. This will be a
most comforting thought to those who are mourning their
infirmities, and who ask, "Can I be a child of God while there
is so much darkness in me?" Yes; for you, like the day, take not
your name from the evening, but from the morning; and you are
spoken of in the word of God as if you were even now perfectly
holy as you will be soon. You are called the child of light,
though there is darkness in you still. You are named after what
is the predominating quality in the sight of God, which will one
day be the only principle remaining. Observe that \\the evening\\
\\comes first\\. Naturally we are darkness first in order of
time, and the gloom is often first in our mournful apprehension,
driving us to cry out in deep humiliation, "God be merciful to
me, a sinner." The place of the morning is second, it dawns when
grace overcomes nature. It is a blessed aphorism of John Bunyan,
"That which is last, lasts for ever." That which is first,
yields in due season to the last; but nothing comes after the
last. So that though you are naturally darkness, when once you
become light in the Lord, there is no evening to follow; "thy
sun shall no more go down." The first day in this life is an
evening and a morning; but the second day, when we shall be with
God, for ever, shall be a day with no evening, but one, sacred,
high, eternal noon.
28911
July 11 Evening
\\"Tell ye your children of it, and let your children tell their\\
\\children, and their children another generation."\\
--Joel 1:3
In this simple way, by God's grace, a living testimony for
truth is always to be kept alive in the land--the beloved of the
Lord are to hand down their witness for the gospel, and the
covenant to their heirs, and these again to their next
descendants. This is our \\first\\ duty, we are to begin at the
family hearth: he is a bad preacher who does not commence his
ministry at home. The heathen are to be sought by all means, and
the highways and hedges are to be searched, but home has a prior
claim, and woe unto those who reverse the order of the Lord's
arrangements. To teach our children is a \\personal\\ duty; we
cannot delegate it to Sunday school teachers, or other friendly
aids; these can assist us, but cannot deliver us from the sacred
obligation; proxies and sponsors are wicked devices in this
case: mothers and fathers must, like Abraham, command their
households in the fear of God, and talk with their offspring
concerning the wondrous works of the Most High. Parental
teaching is a \\natural\\ duty--who so fit to look to the
child's well-being as those who are the authors of his actual
being? To neglect the instruction of our offspring is worse than
brutish. Family religion is \\necessary\\ for the nation, for
the family itself, and for the church of God. By a thousand
plots Popery is covertly advancing in our land, and one of the
most effectual means for resisting its inroads is left almost
neglected, namely, the instruction of children in the faith.
Would that parents would awaken to a sense of the importance of
this matter. It is a pleasant duty to talk of Jesus to our sons
and daughters, and the more so because it has often proved to be
an \\accepted\\ work, for God has saved the children through the
parents' prayers and admonitions. May every house into which
this volume shall come honour the Lord and receive his smile.
28912
July 12 Evening
\\"His heavenly kingdom."\\
--2 Timothy 4:18
Yonder city of the great King is a place of \\active\\
\\service\\. Ransomed spirits serve him day and night in his
temple. They never cease to fulfil the good pleasure of their
King. They always "rest," so far as ease and freedom from care
is concerned; and never "rest," in the sense of indolence or
inactivity. Jerusalem the golden is the place of \\communion\\
with all the people of God. We shall sit with Abraham, Isaac,
and Jacob, in eternal fellowship. We shall hold high converse
with the noble host of the elect, all reigning with him who by
his love and his potent arm has brought them safely home. We
shall not sing solos, but in chorus shall we praise our King.
Heaven is a place of \\victory realized\\. Whenever, Christian,
thou hast achieved a victory over thy lusts--whenever after hard
struggling, thou hast laid a temptation dead at thy feet--thou
hast in that hour a foretaste of the joy that awaits thee when
the Lord shall shortly tread Satan under thy feet, and thou
shalt find thyself more than conqueror through him who hath
loved thee. Paradise is a place of \\security\\. When you enjoy
the full assurance of faith, you have the pledge of that
glorious security which shall be yours when you are a perfect
citizen of the heavenly Jerusalem. O my sweet home, Jerusalem,
thou happy harbour of my soul! Thanks, even now, to him whose
love hath taught me to long for thee; but louder thanks in
eternity, when I shall possess thee.
"My soul has tasted of the grapes,
And now it longs to go
Where my dear Lord his vineyard keeps
And all the clusters grow.
"Upon the true and living vine,
My famish'd soul would feast,
And banquet on the fruit divine,
An everlasting guest."
28913
July 13 Evening
\\"When I cry unto thee, then shall mine enemies turn back: this\\
\\I know; for God is for me."\\
--Psalm 56:9
It is impossible for any human speech to express the full
meaning of this delightful phrase, "\\God is for me\\." He was
"for us" before the worlds were made; he was "for us," or he
would not have given his well-beloved son; he was "for us" when
he smote the Only-begotten, and laid the full weight of his
wrath upon him--he was "for \\us\\," though he was against
\\him\\; he was "for us," when we were ruined in the fall--he
loved us notwithstanding all; he was "for us," when we were
rebels against him, and with a high hand were bidding him
defiance; he was "for us," or he would not have brought us
humbly to seek his face. He has been "for us" in many struggles;
we have been summoned to encounter hosts of dangers; we have
been assailed by temptations from without and within--how could
we have remained unharmed to this hour if he had not been "for
us"? He is "for us," with all the infinity of his being; with
all the omnipotence of his love; with all the infallibility of
his wisdom; arrayed in all his divine attributes, he is "for
us,"--eternally and immutably "for us"; "for us" when yon blue
skies shall be rolled up like a worn out vesture; "for us"
throughout eternity. And because he is "for us," the voice of
prayer will always ensure his help. "\\When I cry unto thee,\\
\\then shall mine enemies be turned back\\." This is no
uncertain hope, but a well grounded assurance--"\\this I\\
\\know\\." I will direct my prayer unto thee, and will look up
for the answer, assured that it will come, and that mine enemies
shall be defeated, "for God is for me." O believer, how happy
art thou with the King of kings on thy side! How safe with such
a Protector! How sure thy cause pleaded by such an Advocate! If
God be for thee, who can be against thee?
28914
July 14 Evening
\\"As it began to dawn, came Magdalene, to see the sepulchre."\\
--Matthew 28:1
Let us learn from Mary Magdalene how to obtain fellowship
with the Lord Jesus. Notice how she sought. She sought the
Saviour \\very early\\ in the morning. If thou canst wait for
Christ, and be patient in the hope of having fellowship with him
at some distant season, thou wilt never have fellowship at all;
for the heart that is fitted for communion is a hungering and a
thirsting heart. She sought him also with \\very great\\
\\boldness\\. Other disciples fled from the sepulchre, for they
trembled and were amazed; but Mary, it is said, "stood" at the
sepulchre. If you would have Christ with you, seek him boldly.
Let nothing hold you back. Defy the world. Press on where others
flee. She sought Christ \\faithfully\\--she stood \\at the\\
\\sepulchre\\. Some find it hard to stand by a living Saviour,
but she stood by a dead one. Let us seek Christ after this mode,
cleaving to the very least thing that has to do with him,
remaining faithful though all others should forsake him. Note
further, she sought Jesus \\earnestly\\--she stood "\\weeping\\".
Those tear-droppings were as spells that led the Saviour
captive, and made him come forth and show himself to her. If you
desire Jesus' presence, weep after it! If you cannot be happy
unless he come and say to you, "Thou art my beloved," you will
soon hear his voice. Lastly, she sought the Saviour \\only\\.
What cared she for angels, she turned herself back from them;
her search was only for her Lord. If Christ be your one and only
love, if your heart has cast out all rivals, you will not long
lack the comfort of his presence. Mary Magdalene sought thus
\\because she loved much\\. Let us arouse ourselves to the same
intensity of affection; let our heart, like Mary's, be full of
Christ, and our love, like hers, will be satisfied with nothing
short of himself. O Lord, reveal thyself to us this evening!
28915
July 15 Evening
\\"He appeared first to Mary Magdalene."\\
--Mark 16:9
Jesus "appeared first to Mary Magdalene," probably not only
on account of her great love and persevering seeking, but
because, as the context intimates, \\she had been a special\\
\\trophy of Christ's delivering power\\. Learn from this, that
the greatness of our sin before conversion should not make us
imagine that we may not be specially favoured with the very
highest grade of fellowship. She was one who had left all to
become \\a constant attendant on the Saviour\\. He was her
first, her chief object. Many who were on Christ's side did not
take up Christ's cross; \\she\\ did. \\She spent her substance\\
\\in relieving his wants\\. If we would see much of Christ, let
us \\serve\\ him. Tell me who they are that sit oftenest under
the banner of his love, and drink deepest draughts from the cup
of communion, and I am sure they will be those who give most,
who serve best, and who abide closest to the bleeding heart of
their dear Lord. But notice \\how\\ Christ revealed himself to
this sorrowing one--by a \\word\\, "Mary." It needed but one
word \\in his voice\\, and at once she knew him, and \\her heart\\
\\owned allegiance by another word\\, her heart was too full to
say more. That one word would naturally be the most fitting for
the occasion. It implies obedience. She said, "\\Master\\."
There is no state of mind in which this confession of allegiance
will be too cold. No, when your spirit glows most with the
heavenly fire, then you will say, "I am thy servant, thou hast
loosed my bonds." If you can say, "Master," if you feel that his
will is your will, then you stand in a happy, holy place. He
must have said, "Mary," or else you could not have said,
"Rabboni." See, then, from all this, how Christ honours those
who honour him, how love draws our Beloved, how it needs but one
word of his to turn our weeping to rejoicing, how his presence
makes the heart's sunshine.
28916
next 28951