And now, reader, what do you say to these things ? Have you tasted the ‘thousand sacred sweets” which are afforded by the hill of Zion ? Have you felt the ‘heaven begun below’ of which we have discussed? If you have not, then allow a word of advice which may well be furnished from the subject:—Never believe the falsehood which pronounces true religion to be a miserable thing, for a more ungrounded slander can never be imagined.
The godly have their trials as well as the rest of the human family, but these are rather the effects of sin than of grace. They find this world at times a howling wilderness—but then the manna from above, and the rock which follows them, combine to prevent their howling as they pass through it, and constrain the wilderness and the solitary place to be glad for them. Some of them are of a sorrowful countenance—but their gloom is the result of temperament rather than of religion, and if they had more grace, the wrinkles upon their brows might become fewer.
The Gospel is in itself ‘glad tidings of great joy;’ can you suppose that misery is the result of that which is essentially joyful? The very proclamation of it is a theme for exulting song; (Isa. 52:7-10) how much more the reception of it? If the hope of reconciliation is a just ground of rejoicing, how much more the actual agreement of the soul with its God? ‘We rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received the reconciliation’ (Rom. 5:11). To us there are express precepts given to ‘rejoice in the Lord always’ (Phil. 4:4). And that the exhortation might have its full weight, and not be considered hastily, it is solemnly repeated, ‘and again I say, rejoice.’ Therefore, we may safely conclude that the genuine right temper and frame of a healthy Christian mind will be an habitual joyfulness, prevailing over all the temporary occasions of sorrow which in this life must unavoidably beset us.
No trial can be thought of so heavy as to outweigh our great cause of joy; nor can the kingdom of God ever be in its constitution, even when attacked by the most furious assaults, anything other than ‘righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit’ (Rom. 14:17). ‘Nor,’ says Howe, in a letter to the bereaved Lady Russell, ‘is this a theory only, or the idea and notion of an excellent temper of spirit, which we may contemplate indeed, but can never attain to. For we find it also to have been the attainment and usual temper of Christians heretofore, that, “being justified by faith, and having peace with God, they have rejoiced,” in hope of the glory of God, unto that degree as even to “glory in their tribulations also;” (Rom. 5:1,3) and in the confidence that they, should “be kept by the power of God through faith unto salvation,” they have there fore “greatly rejoiced,” though with some mixture of heaviness (whereof there was need) from their manifold trials. But that their joy did surmount and prevail over their heaviness in manifest, for this is spoken of with much diminution, whereas they are said to “rejoice greatly,” and “with joy unspeakable and full of glory”’ (1 Peter 1:5,6,8).
If, when the believer is but a feeble thing, ‘carried about with every wind,’ (Eph. 4:14) he is, despite his weakness, able to rise to raptures of joy, who shall dare to suppose him unhappy when he has become strong in faith and mighty in grace? If the porch of godliness is paved with gold, what must the interior of the palace be like? If the very hedgerows of her garden are laden with fruit, what shall we not find on the goodly trees in the centre? The blade yields much, shall the ear of corn be empty? No, ‘the ways of the Lord are right,’ and those who walk therein are blessed. Do not think otherwise of them, but as you wish to share their ‘last end,’ then think well also of the way which leads there.
May the Lord direct his children, by his Holy Spirit, in reviewing this subject by prayer, to give all the glory of their mercies to the adorable person of Jesus. Amen.
“This article originally appeared here at Bible Bulletin Board.”
