But I speak thus to let you see how reasonable how abundantly necessary it is
that we should cling close to Christ in life and death, and that where he is
there we should be. There is no need to reason further, as the time is brief,
and so let us notice now, in the second place, that:-
II. THIS RESOLUTION, THOUGH GOOD IN ITSELF, SHOULD BE MADE WITH GREAT
DELIBERATION, SINCE IT WILL MOST CERTAINLY BE TRIED.
Ah! young brother, you to-day can sing, as others did:-
“‘Tis done, the great transactions done”;
and you sang and felt a joy in singing that last verse:-
“High heaven that heard the solemn vow,
That vow renewed shall daily hear
Till in life’s latest hour I bow,
And bless in death a bond so dear”
but do you know your weakness? If there were no temptation from without, you
are fickle enough in yourself. Ah! we might sooner trust the wind or rely
upon the glassy waves of the ocean than trust our own frail resolutions. We
are changeable, we are false; our hearts are deceitful above all things, and
desperately wicked. Let him that putteth on his harness take care not to
boast as him that putteth it off. There are dangers ahead and many trials.
All is not gold that glitters. Firm resolutions are not always kept; yea, let
me add they are never kept if they are made, in your own strength; they will
go most surely, and you that promised to stand fast will soon turn aside.
But, in addition to our own fickleness, we must expect many things to try
this resolution. There will be, with some of you, the jeers and sneers of
those you work with. They will call you ill names. Perhaps they have began it
already. Well, but you do not know what they can invent. The Christian
soldier has a gauntlet to run. The Christian worker in many a large factory
has to endure a lifelong martyrdom. Men will invent all sorts of gibes and
jeers against a believer in Christ, and it is fine sport to pelt a Christian.
Can ye cleave to your Lord, then? Oh! if you cannot, you do not know him, for
he is worth ten thousand times ten thousand sneers, and you should count it a
joy to be permitted to bear a scoff for him. Now are you in your measure
partakers with the noble host of martyrs. You cannot in these softer days
earn the ruby crown of martyrdom, but you have, at least, the trial of cruel
mockings. Bear up manfully, and meet their mockery with your holy bravery and
patient endurance.
And you will have, probably, a worse trial than that, and that is to see
those who professed to go with you, as you thought, turn aside. Oh! to young
Christians, this is very staggering. Those of us who are older feel this to
be a very peculiar cross in church life, to be associated with those who are
cold-hearted and dead while they profess to be Christians, who, after all,
ere long betray their hypocrisy; but to young people it seems often almost
staggering. If such a man is not a good man, who can be? Is there anything at
all in religion if such a man, after all, should turn out to be a deceiver?
Oh! but, dear brethren, if you love Christ, you will not turn aside because
some of his friends have forsaken him, for a true friend sticks closer then.
Like this good man Ittai, that we are speaking of, you will say, “I never
thrust myself on David before; I kept in the background, but now that this
rascally Ahithopel has left him, I will go now and offer him my kind and
affectionate greetings.” It ought always to make you who love Christ become
bolder when these villains turn aside, for now you should say that it behaves
every honest man to play the man and come to his friend. If these turn tail,
then should the true-hearted lead the van for Christ and for his truth, and
if it should even come to pass that a standard-bearer should desert his flag,
spring forward, young man, and grasp it in the stead of him, but never
because of that turn aside from your Lord.
“This article originally appeared here at Bible Bulletin Board.”
