Jesus said unto them, If ye seek me, let these go their way. John chapter 18 verse 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 the 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 rose and hinds of the field may graze at perfect peace among the lilies of his loves. The thundercloud 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. He was heard in that he feared Hebrews chapter 5 verse 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 in 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?

Maybe 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.

His sweat was as it were great drops of blood falling down to the ground. Luke chapter 22 verse 44 The mental pressure arising from our Lord's struggle with temptation so forced his frame to an unnatural excitement that his paws 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 Savior 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 campfire 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 oh 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 Savior 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 fullness 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.

Canst thou bind the sweet influences of Pleiades or loose the bands of Orion? Job chapter 38 verse 31 If inclined to boast of our abilities, the grandeur of nature may soon show us how puny we are. We cannot move the least of all the twinkling stars, or quench so much as one of the beams of the morning. We speak of power, but the heavens laugh us to scorn. When the Pleiades shine forth in spring with vernal joy, we cannot restrain their influences. And when Orion rains aloft, and the year is bound in winter's fetters, we cannot relax the icy bands. The seasons revolve according to the divine appointment. Neither can the whole race of men effect a change therein. Lord, what is man?

In the spiritual, as in the natural world, man's power is limited on all hands. When the Holy Spirit sheds abroad his delights in the soul, none can disturb. All the cunning and malice of men are ineffectual to stay the genial quickening power of the comforter. When he deigns to visit a church and revive it, the most inveterate enemies cannot resist the good work. They may ridicule it, But they can no more restrain it than they can push back the spring when the Pleiades rule the hour. God wills it, and so it must be. On the other hand, if the Lord in sovereignty or injustice bind up a man so that he is in soul bondage Who can give him liberty? He alone can remove the winter of spiritual death from an individual or a people. He loses the bands of Orion and none but he. What a blessing it is that he can do it.

Oh that he would perform the wonder tonight Lord end my winter and let my spring begin I cannot with all my longings raise my soul out of her death and dullness but all things are possible with thee I need celestial influences, the clear shinings of thy love, the beams of thy grace, the light of thy countenance. These are the Pleiades to me. I suffer much from sin and temptation. These are my wintry signs, my terrible Orion. Lord, work wonders in me and for me. Amen.

Husbands, love your wives even as Christ also loved the Church. What a golden example Christ gives to his disciples. Few masters could venture to say, if you would practice my teaching, imitate my life. But as the life of Jesus is the exact transcript of perfect virtue, he can point to himself as the paragon of holiness, as well as the teacher of it. The Christian should take nothing short of Christ for his model. Under no circumstances ought we to be content unless we reflect the grace which is in him. As a husband, the Christian is to look upon the portrait of Christ Jesus and he is to paint according to that copy. The true Christian is to be such a husband as Christ was to his church.

The love of a husband is special. The Lord Jesus cherishes for his church a peculiar affection which is set upon her above the rest of mankind. I pray for them. I pray not for the world. The elect church is the favorite of heaven, the treasure of Christ, the crown of his head, the bracelet of his arm, the breastplate of his heart, the very center and core of his love.

A husband should love his wife with a constant love. For thus Jesus loves his church. He does not vary in his affection. He may change in his display of affection but the affection itself is still the same. A husband should love his wife with an enduring love. For nothing shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord. A true husband loves his wife with a hearty love. fervent and intense. It is not mere lip service. Ah, beloved, what more could Christ have done in proof of his love than he has done? Jesus has a delighted love towards his spouse. He prizes her affection and delights in her with sweet complacence.

Believer, you wonder at Jesus's love. You admire it. Are you imitating it? In your domestic relationships is the rule and measure of your love, even as Christ loved the church.

And she did eat and was sufficed and left. Ruth chapter 2 verse 14 Whenever we are privileged to eat of the bread which Jesus gives, we are, like Ruth, satisfied with the full and sweet repast. When Jesus is the host, no guest goes empty from the table. Our head is satisfied with the precious truth which Christ reveals. Our heart is content with Jesus as the altogether lovely object of affection. Our hope is satisfied. For whom have we in heaven but Jesus? And our desire is satiated. For what can we wish for more than to know Christ and to be found in him? Jesus fills our conscience till it is at perfect peace. Our judgment with persuasion of the certainty of his teachings. Our memory with the recollections of what he has done. And our imagination with the prospects of what he is yet to do. As Ruth was sufficed and left, so is it with us. We have had deep drafts. We have thought that we could take in all of Christ. But when we have done our best, we've had to leave a vast remainder. We have sat at the table of the Lord's love and said, nothing but the infinite can ever satisfy me. I am such a great sinner that I must have infinite merit to wash my sin away. But we have had our sin removed and found that there was merit to spare. We have had our hunger relieved at the feast of sacred love and found that there was a redundance of spiritual meat remaining. There are certain sweet things in the Word of God which we have not enjoyed yet and which we are obliged to leave for a while. For we are like the disciples to whom Jesus said, I have yet many things to say unto you, but he cannot bear them now. Yes, there are graces to which we have not attained, places of fellowship nearer to Christ which we have not reached, and heights of communion which our feet have not climbed. At every banquet of love there are many baskets of fragments left. Let us magnify the liberality of our glorious Boaz. Strong in faith. Romans chapter 4, verse 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. Ay, 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 defense. 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. Let him that thinketh he standeth take heed, lest he fall. 1 Corinthians 10.12 It is a curious fact that there is such a thing as being proud of grace. A man says, I have great faith, I shall not fall. Poor, little faith may, but I never shall. I have fervent love, says another, I can stand, there's no danger of my going astray. He who boasts of grace has little grace to boast of. Some who do this imagine that their graces can keep them, knowing not that the stream must flow constantly from the fountainhead, or else the brook will soon be dry. If a continuous stream of oil comes not to the lamp, though it burn brightly today, it will smoke tomorrow, and noxious will be its scent. Take heed that thou glories not in thy graces. but let all thy glory and confidence be in Christ and his strength for only so canst thou be kept from falling be much more in prayer spend longer time in holy adoration read the scriptures more earnestly and constantly watch your lives more carefully live nearer to God Take the best examples for your pattern. Let your conversation be redolent of heaven. Let your hearts be perfumed with affection for men's souls. So live that men may take knowledge of you that you have been with Jesus and have learned of him. And when that happy day shall come, when he whom you love shall say, come up higher, may it be your happiness to hear him say, Thou hast fought a good fight, thou hast finished thy course, and henceforth there is laid up for thee a crown of righteousness which fadeth not away. On, Christian, with care and caution, on with holy fear and trembling, on with faith and confidence in Jesus alone, and let your constant petition be uphold me according to thy word he is able and he alone to keep you from falling and to present you faultless before the presence of his glory with exceeding joy I will take heed to my ways. Psalm 39 verse 1. Fellow pilgrim, say not in your heart I will go hither and thither and I shall not sin. For you are never so out of danger of sinning as to boast of security. The road is very miry. It will be hard to pick your path so as not to soil your garments. This is a world of pitch. You will need to watch often if, in handling it, you are to keep your hands clean. There is a robber at every turn of the road to rob you of your jewels. There is a temptation in every mercy. There is a snare in every joy. And if you ever reach heaven, it will be a miracle of divine grace to be ascribed entirely to your father's power. Be on your guard. When a man carries a bombshell in his hand, he should mind that he does not go near a candle. And you too must take care that you enter not into temptation. Even your common actions are edged tools. You must mind how you handle them. There is nothing in this world to foster a Christian's piety, but everything to destroy it. How anxious you should be to look up to God, that he may keep you. Your prayer should be, Hold thou me up, and I shall be safe. Having prayed, you must also watch, guarding every thought, word, and action with holy jealousy. Do not expose yourselves unnecessarily, but if called to exposure, if you are bidden to go where the darts are flying, never venture forth without your shield. For if once the devil finds you without your buckler, he will rejoice that his hour of triumph is come, and will soon make you fall down wounded by his arrows. Though slain you cannot be, wounded you may be. Be sober, be vigilant. Danger may be in an hour when all seemeth securest to thee. Therefore take heed to thy ways and watch unto prayer. No man ever fell into error through being too watchful. May the Holy Spirit guide us in all our ways. So shall they always please the Lord. Remember the poor Galatians chapter 2 verse 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 around their houses abundance of provisions as once he made the quails lie in heaps around the camp of Israel and rain 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 favored 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 almsgiving to his poor 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. Blessed are the peacemakers for they shall be called the children of God. Matthew chapter 5 verse 9 This is the seventh of the Beatitudes, and seven was the number of perfection among the Hebrews. It may be that the Savior placed the peacemaker the seventh upon the list because he most nearly approaches the perfect man in Christ Jesus. He who would have perfect blessedness, so far as it can be enjoyed on earth, must attain to this seventh benediction and become a peacemaker. There is a significance also in the position of the text. The verse which precedes it speaks of the blessedness of the pure in heart, for they shall see God. It is well to understand that we are to be first pure, then peaceable. Our peaceableness is never to be a compact with sin or toleration of evil. We must set our faces like flints against everything which is contrary to God and his holiness. Purity, being in our souls, is a settled matter. We can go on to peaceableness. Not less does the verse that follows seem to have been put there on purpose. However peaceable we may be in this world yet we shall be misrepresented and misunderstood. And no marvel for even the Prince of Peace by his very peacefulness brought fire upon the earth. He himself, though he loved mankind and did no ill, was despised and rejected of man, a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief. Lest, therefore, the peaceable in heart should be surprised when they meet with enemies, it is added in the following verse, Blessed are they which are persecuted for righteousness' sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Thus, the peacemakers are not only pronounced to be blessed, but they are compassed about with blessings. Lord, give us grace to climb to this seventh beatitude. Purify our minds that we may be first pure, then peaceable. And fortify our souls that our peaceableness may not lead us into cowardice and despair when for thy sake we are persecuted. As the father hath loved me so have I loved you John chapter 15 verse 9 as the father loves the son, in the same manner Jesus loves his people. What is that divine method? He loved him without beginning and thus Jesus loves his members. I have loved thee with an everlasting You can trace the beginning of human affection. You can easily find the beginning of your love to Christ. But his love to us is a stream whose source is hidden in eternity. God the Father loves Jesus without any change. Christian, take this for your comfort that there is no change in Jesus Christ's love to those who rest in him. Yesterday you were on Tabor's top, and you said, he loves me. Today you are in the valley of humiliation, but he loves you still the same. On the hill Miza, and among the Hermans, you heard his voice, which spake so sweetly with the turtle notes of love. And now on the sea or even in the sea when all his waves and billows go over you his heart is faithful to his ancient choice. The father loves the son without any end and thus does the son love his people. Saint thou needest not fear the loosing of the silver cord. for his love for thee will never cease. Rest confident that even down to the grave Christ will go with you and that up again from it he will be your guide to the celestial hills. Moreover the father loves the son without any measure and the same immeasurable love the son bestows upon his chosen ones. The whole heart of Christ is dedicated to his people. He loved us and gave himself for us. His is a love which passeth knowledge. Ah, we have indeed an immutable Savior, a precious Savior, one who loves without measure, without change, without beginning, and without end, even as the Father loves him. There is much food here for those who know how to digest it. May the Holy Ghost lead us into its marrow and fatness. Betrayest thou the Son of Man with a kiss? Luke chapter 22 verse 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 armor-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 Savior. I do love Thee, Jesus, and though I often grieve Thee, yet I would desire to abide faithful even unto death. Oh 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. when he cometh in the glory of his father with the holy angels. Mark chapter 8 verse 38. If we have been partakers with Jesus in his shame we shall be sharers with him in the luster which shall surround him when he appears again in glory. Art thou beloved one with Christ Jesus? Does a vital union knit thee to him? Then thou art today with him in his shame thou hast taken up his cross and gone with him without the camp bearing his reproach. Thou shalt doubtless be with him when the cross is exchanged for the crown. but judge thyself this evening for if thou art not with him in the regeneration neither shalt thou be with him when he shall come in his glory if thou start back from the black side of communion thou shalt not understand its bright happy period when the king shall come and all his holy angels with him what? are angels with him? and yet he took not up angels he took up the seed of Abraham are the holy angels with him? come my soul if thou art indeed his own beloved thou canst not be far from him if his friends and his neighbors are called together to see his glory what thinkest thou if thou art married to him? shalt thou be distant? Though it be a day of judgment, yet thou canst not be far from that heart which, having admitted angels into intimacy, has admitted thee into union. Has he not said to thee, O my soul, I will betroth thee unto me in righteousness, and in judgment, and in lovingkindness? Have not his own lips said it? I am married unto thee, and my delight is in thee. If the angels, who are but friends and neighbors, shall be with him, it is abundantly certain that his own beloved Hephzibah, in whom is all his delight, shall be near to him, and sit at his right hand. Here is a morning star of hope for thee, of such exceeding brilliance, that it may well light up the darkest and most desolate experience. Then all the disciples forsook him and fled. Matthew chapter 26 verse 56. He never deserted them. 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 honor to have stood at Jesus' side right manfully. They fled from honor. May I be kept from imitating them. where else could they have been so safe as near their master who could presently call for 12 legions of angels they fled from their true safety oh 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 Savior, 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, oh blessed spirit, from an end so shameful. And she said, Truth, Lord, let the dogs eat of the crumbs which fall from their master's table. Matthew chapter 15 verse 27. This woman gained comfort in her misery by thinking great thoughts of Christ. The master talked about the children's bread. Now, argued she, since thou art the master of the table of grace, I know that thou art a generous housekeeper, and there is sure to be abundance of bread on thy table. There will be such an abundance for the children that there will be crumbs to throw on the floor for the dogs, and the children will fare none the worse, because the dogs are fed. She thought him one who kept so good a table that all she needed would only be a crumb in comparison. Yet remember what she wanted was to have the devil cast out of her daughter. It was a very great thing to her but she had such a high esteem of Christ that she said it is nothing to him it is but a crumb for Christ to give. This is the royal road to comfort. Great thoughts of your sin alone will drive you to despair, but great thoughts of Christ will pilot you into the haven of peace. My sins are many, but oh, it is nothing to Jesus to take them all away. The weight of my guilt presses me down as a giant's foot would crush a worm. But it is no more than a grain of dust to him, because he has already borne its curse in his own body on the tree. It will be but a small thing for him to give me full remission, although it will be an infinite blessing for me to receive it. the woman opens her soul's mouth very wide expecting great things of Jesus and he fills it with his love dear reader do the same she confessed what Christ laid at her door but she laid fast hold upon him and drew arguments even out of his hard words she believed great things of him and she thus overcame him she won the victory by believing in him her case is an instance of prevailing faith and if we would conquer like her we must imitate her tactics Though he were a son, yet learned he obedience by the things which he suffered. Hebrews 5, verse 8. We are told that the captain of our salvation was made perfect through suffering. Therefore, we who are sinful and 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 heaven dry-shod in silver slippers? No. Our master's experience teaches us that suffering is necessary. And that 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 a 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 honorable 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 the grace to suffer for Christ to suffer with Christ, just so far does he honor 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 honored. 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. I called him, but he gave me no answer. Song of Solomon, chapter 5, verse 6. Prayer sometimes tarrieth like a petitioner at the gate, until the king cometh forth to fill her bosom with the blessings which she seeketh. The Lord, when he hath given great faith, has been known to try it by long delayings. He has suffered his servants' voices to echo in their ears as from a brazen sky. They have knocked at the golden gate, but it has remained immovable as though it were rusted upon its hinges. Like Jeremiah, they have cried, Thou hast covered thyself with a cloud that our prayer should not pass through. Thus have true saints continued long in patient waiting without reply, not because their prayers were not vehement, nor because they were unaccepted, but because it so pleased him who is a sovereign and who gives according to his own pleasure. If it pleases him to bid our patience exercise itself, shall he not do as he wills with his own? Beggars must not be choosers, either as to time or place or form. But we must be careful not to take delays in prayer for denials. God's long-dated bills will be punctually honored.

We must not suffer Satan to shake our confidence in the God of truth by pointing to our unanswered prayers. Unanswered petitions are not unheard. God keeps a file for our prayers. They're not blown away by the wind. They are treasured in the king's archives. There is a registry in the court of heaven where in every prayer is recorded. Tried believer Thy Lord hath a tear-bottle, in which the costly drops of sacred grief are put away, and a book in which thy holy groanings are numbered. By and by thy suit shall prevail. Canst thou not be content to wait a little? Will not thy Lord's time be better than thy time? By and by he will comfortably appear to thy soul's joy and make thee put away the sackcloth and ashes of long waiting and put on the scarlet and fine linen of full fruition. Let us search and try our ways and turn again to the Lord. Lamentations chapter 3 verse 40 The spouse who fondly loves her absent husband longs for his return. A long protracted separation from her lord is a semi-death to her spirit. And so with souls who love the Savior much, they must see his face. They cannot bear that he should be away upon the mountains of Bitha, and no more hold communion with them. A reproaching glance, an uplifted finger, will be grievous to loving children who fear to offend their tender father, and are only happy in his smile. Beloved, it was so once with you. A text of scripture, a threatening, a touch of the rod of affliction, and you went to your father's feet crying, Show me wherefore thou contendest with me. Is it so now? Are you content to follow Jesus afar off? Can you contemplate suspended communion with Christ without alarm? Can you bear to have your beloved walking contrary to you because you walk contrary to him? Have your sins separated between you and your God, and is your heart at rest? Oh, let me affectionately warn you, for it is a grievous thing when we can live contentedly without the present enjoyment of the Saviour's face.

Let us labor to feel what an evil thing this is. Little love to our own dying Savior. Little joy in our precious Jesus. Little fellowship with the Beloved. Hold a true Lent in your souls while you sorrow over your hardness of heart. Do not stop at sorrow. Remember where you first received salvation. Go at once to the cross. There and there only can you get your spirit quickened. No matter how hard, how insensible, how dead we may have become let us go again in all the rags and poverty and defilement of our natural condition. Let us clasp that cross. let us look into those languid eyes let us bathe in that fountain filled with blood this will bring back to us our first love this will restore the simplicity of our faith and the tenderness of our heart with his stripes we are healed Isaiah chapter 53 verse 5 Pilate delivered our Lord to the Lictus 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 intertwisted 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 Savior 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, gored and gashed, send streams of blood from every part, his backs with knotted scourges lashed. But sharper scourges tear his heart. we would feign 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 And Rizpah the daughter of Aiah took sackcloth and spread it for her upon the rock from the beginning of the harvest until water dropped upon them out of heaven and suffered neither the birds of the air to rest on them by day nor the beasts of the field by night 2 Samuel chapter 21 verse 10 If the love of a woman to her slain sons could make her prolong her mournful vigil for so long a period, shall we weary of considering the sufferings of our blessed Lord? She drove away the birds of prey, and shall we not chase from our meditations those worldly and sinful thoughts which defile both our minds and the sacred themes upon which we are occupied? Away, ye birds of evil wing! Leave ye the sacrifice alone!

She bore the heats of summer, the night-dews and the rains, unsheltered and alone. Sleep was chased from her weeping eyes, her heart was too full for slumber. Behold how she loved her children! Shall Risper thus endure, and shall we start at the first little inconvenience or trial? Are we such cowards that we cannot bear to suffer with our Lord? She chased away even the wild beasts with courage unusual in her sex. And will not we be ready to encounter every foe for Jesus' sake?

These, her children, were slain by other hands than hers. And yet she wept and watched. What ought we to do, who have, by our sins, crucified our Lord? Our obligations are boundless. Our love should be fervent, and our repentance thorough. To watch with Jesus should be our business. to protect his honor, our occupation, to abide by his cross, our solace.

Those ghastly corpses might well have a frighted whisper, especially by night. But in our Lord, at whose cross foot we are sitting, there is nothing revolting, but everything attractive. never was living beauty so enchanting as a dying Savior. Jesus, we will watch with thee yet a while, and do thou graciously unveil thyself to us. Then shall we not sit beneath sackcloth, but in a royal pavilion.

He answered him to never a word. Matthew chapter 27 verse 14. He had never been slow of speech when he could bless the sons of men. But he would not say a single word for himself. Never man spake like this man, and never man was silent like him.

Was this singular silence the index of his perfect self-sacrifice? Did it show that he would not utter a word to stay the slaughter of his sacred person which he had dedicated as an offering for us? Had he so entirely surrendered himself that he would not interfere in his own behalf, even in the minutest degree, but be bound and slain an unstruggling, uncomplaining victim? Was this silence a type of the defenselessness of sin? Nothing can be said in palliation or excuse of human guilt. and therefore he who bore its whole weight stood speechless before his judge.

Is not patient silence the best reply to a gainsaying world? Calm endurance answers some questions infinitely more conclusively than the loftiest eloquence. The best apologists for Christianity in the early days were its martyrs. The anvil breaks a host of hammers by quietly bearing their blows.

Did not the silent Lamb of God furnish us with a grand example of wisdom? Where every word was occasion for new blasphemy, it was the line of duty to afford no fuel for the flame of sin. The ambiguous and the false, the unworthy and mean, will ere long overthrow and confeat themselves. and therefore the true can afford to be quiet and find silence to be its wisdom

evidently our Lord by his silence furnished a remarkable fulfillment of prophecy a long defense of himself would have been contrary to Isaiah's prediction he is led as a lamb to the slaughter and as a sheep before her shearers is done so he openeth not his mouth

By his quiet, he conclusively proved himself to be the true Lamb of God. As such, we salute him this morning. Be with us, Jesus. And in the silence of our heart, let us hear the voice of thy love.

He shall see his seed, he shall prolong his days and the pleasure of the Lord shall prosper in his hand. Isaiah chapter 53 verse 10

Plead for the speedy fulfillment of this promise all ye who love the Lord

It is easy work to pray when we are grounded and bottomed, as to our desires, upon God's own promise. How can he that gave the word refuse to keep it? Immutable veracity cannot demean itself by a lie, and eternal faithfulness cannot degrade itself by neglect. God must bless his son. His covenant binds him to it. That which the Spirit prompts us to ask for Jesus is that which God decrees to give him.

Whenever you are praying for the kingdom of Christ let your eyes behold the dawning of the blessed day which draweth near when the crucified shall receive his coronation in the place where men rejected him.

Courage, you that prayerfully work and toil for Christ with success of the very smallest kind. It shall not be so always. Better times are before you. Your eyes cannot see the blissful future. Borrow the telescope of faith. Wipe the misty breath of your doubts from the glass. Look through it and behold the coming glory.

Reader, let us ask, do you make this your constant prayer? Remember that the same Christ who tells us to say give us this day our daily bread had first given us this petition. Hallowed be thy name, thy kingdom come, thy will be done in earth as it is in heaven. Let not your prayers be all concerning your own sins, your own wants, your own imperfections, your own trials. But let them climb the starry ladder and get up to Christ himself. And then, as you draw nigh to the blood-sprinkled mercy seat, offer this prayer continually, Lord, extend the kingdom of thy dear Son.

Such a petition, fervently presented, will elevate the spirit of all your devotions. Mind that you prove the sincerity of your prayer by laboring to promote the Lord's glory.