The Faithful Promiser.

by John Ross Macduff.

It has often been felt a delightful exercise by the child of G.o.d, to take, night by night, an individual promise and plead it at the mercy-seat. Often are our prayers _pointless_, from not following, in this respect, the example of the sweet Psalmist of Israel, the Royal Promise pleader, who delighted to direct his finger to some particular "word" of the Faithful Promiser, saying, "Remember Thy word unto Thy servant, on which thou hast caused me to hope!"

The following are a few gleanings from the Promise Treasury,--a few crumbs from "the Master's Table," which may serve to help the thoughts in the hour of closet meditation, or the season of sorrow.

ST. M----, _December_, 1849.

1ST DAY OF MONTH.

"He is Faithful that Promised."

"Come now, let us reason together, saith the Lord: Though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool."--ISAIAH i. 18.

Pardoning Grace.

My soul! thy G.o.d summons thee to His audience chamber! Infinite purity seeks to reason with infinite vileness! Deity stoops to speak to dust!

Dread not the meeting. It is the most gracious, as well as wondrous of all conferences. Jehovah himself breaks silence! He utters the best tidings a lost soul or a lost world can hear: "G.o.d is in Christ reconciling the world unto Himself, not imputing unto men their trespa.s.ses." What! _Scarlet_ sins, and _crimson_ sins! and these all to be forgiven and forgotten! The just G.o.d "justifying" the unjust!--the mightiest of all beings, the kindest of all! Oh! what is there in thee to merit such love as this? Thou mightest have known thy G.o.d only as the "consuming fire," and had nothing before thee save "a fearful looking for of vengeance!" This gracious conference bids thee dispel thy fears!

It tells thee it is no longer a "fearful," but a _blessed_ thing to fall into His hands? Hast thou closed with these His overtures? Until thou art at peace with Him, happiness must be a stranger to thy bosom. Though thou hast all else beside, bereft of G.o.d thou must be "bereft indeed."

Lord! I come! As thy pardoning grace is freely tendered, so shall I freely accept it. May it be mine, even now, to listen to the gladdening accents, "Son! Daughter! be of good cheer! thy sins, which are many, are all forgiven thee."

"REMEMBER _THIS_ WORD UNTO THY SERVANT, UPON WHICH THOU HAST CAUSED ME TO HOPE!"

2D DAY.

"He is Faithful that Promised."

"As thy days, so shall thy strength be."--DEUT. x.x.xiii. 25.

Needful Grace.

G.o.d does not give grace till the hour of trial comes. But when it _does_ come, the amount of grace, and the nature of the special grace required is vouchsafed. My soul, do not dwell with painful apprehension on the future. Do not antic.i.p.ate coming sorrows; perplexing thyself with the grace needed for future emergencies; to-morrow will bring its promised grace along with to-morrow's trials. G.o.d, wishing to keep His people humble, and dependent on himself, gives not a stock of grace; He metes it out for every day's exigencies, that they may be constantly "travelling between their own emptiness and Christ's fulness"--their own weakness and Christ's strength. But _when_ the exigency comes, thou mayest safely trust an Almighty arm to bear thee through! Is there now some "thorn in the flesh" sent to lacerate thee? Thou mayest have been entreating the Lord for its removal. Thy prayer has, doubtless, been heard and answered; but not in the way, perhaps, expected or desired by thee. The "thorn" may still be left to goad, the trial may still be left to buffet; but "more grace" has been given to endure them. Oh! how often have His people thus been led to glory in their infirmities and triumph in their afflictions, seeing the power of Christ rests more abundantly upon them! The strength which the hour of trial brings, often makes the Christian a wonder to himself!

"REMEMBER _THIS_ WORD UNTO THY SERVANT, UPON WHICH THOU HAST CAUSED ME TO HOPE!"

3D DAY.

"He is Faithful that Promised."

"G.o.d is able to make all grace abound toward you; that ye, always having all sufficiency in all things, may abound to every good work."--2 COR. ix. 8.

All-Sufficient Grace.

"All-sufficiency in all things!" Believer! surely thou art "thoroughly furnished!" Grace is no scanty thing, doled out in pittances. It is a glorious treasury, which the key of prayer can always unlock, but never empty. A fountain, "full, flowing, _ever_ flowing, _over_flowing." Mark these three ALL's in this precious promise. It is a three-fold link in a golden chain, let down from a throne of grace by a G.o.d of grace.

"_All-grace!_"--"_all-sufficiency!_" in "_all things!_" and these to "abound." Oh! precious thought! My want cannot impoverish that inexhaustible treasury of grace! Myriads are hourly hanging on it, and drawing from it, and yet there is no diminution: "Out of that fulness all we too may receive, and grace for grace!" My soul, dost not thou love to dwell on that all-abounding grace? Thine own insufficiency in every thing, met with an "all-sufficiency in all things!" Grace in all circ.u.mstances and situations, in all vicissitudes and changes, in all the varied phases of the Christian's being. Grace in sunshine and storm--in health and in sickness--in life and in death. Grace for the old believer and the young believer, the tried believer, and the weak believer, and the tempted believer. Grace _for_ duty, and grace _in_ duty,--grace to carry the joyous cup with a steady hand,--grace to drink the bitter cup with an unmurmuring spirit,--grace to have prosperity sanctified,--grace to say, through tears, "Thy will be done!"

"REMEMBER _THIS_ WORD UNTO THY SERVANT, UPON WHICH THOU HAST CAUSED ME TO HOPE!"

4TH DAY.

"He is Faithful that Promised."

"I will not leave you comfortless; I will come to you."--JOHN xiv. 18.

Comforting Grace.

Blessed Jesus! How thy presence sanctifies trial, takes loneliness from the chamber of sickness, and the sting from the chamber of death! Bright and Morning Star! precious at all times, thou art never _so_ precious as in "the dark and cloudy day!" The bitterness of sorrow is well worth enduring to have thy promised consolations. How well qualified, thou Man of Sorrows, to be my Comforter! How well fitted to dry my tears, Thou who didst shed so many thyself! What are _my_ tears--my sorrows--my crosses--my losses, compared with Thine, who didst shed first Thy tears, and then Thy blood for _me_! Mine are all deserved, and infinitely more than deserved. How different, O Spotless Lamb of G.o.d, those pangs which rent Thy guiltless bosom! How sweet those comforts Thou hast promised to the comfortless, when I think of them as flowing from an Almighty _Fellow-Sufferer_,--"A brother born for adversity,"--the "Friend that sticketh closer than any brother!"--one who can say, with all the refined sympathies of a holy exalted human nature, "I know your sorrows!" My soul! calm thy griefs! There is not a sorrow thou canst experience, but Jesus, in the treasury of grace, has an exact corresponding solace: "In the mult.i.tude of the _sorrows_ I have in my heart, Thy _comforts_ delight my soul!"

"REMEMBER _THIS_ WORD UNTO THY SERVANT, UPON WHICH THOU HAST CAUSED ME TO HOPE!"

5TH DAY.

"He is Faithful that Promised."

"Satan hath desired to have you, that he may sift you as wheat; but I have prayed for thee, that thy faith fail not."--LUKE xxii. 31, 32.

Restraining Grace.

What a scene does this unfold! Satan tempting--Jesus praying! Satan sifting--Jesus pleading! "The strong man a.s.sailing"--"the stronger than the strong" beating him back! Believer? here is the past history and present secret of thy safety in the midst of temptation. An interceding Saviour was at thy side, saying to every threatening wave, "Thus far shalt thou go, and no farther?" G.o.d often permits His people to be on the very verge of the precipice, to remind them of their own weakness; _but never farther than the verge!_ The restraining hand and grace of Omnipotence is ready to rescue them. "Although he fall, yet shall he not be cast down utterly; and why? for the Lord upholdeth him with His right hand!" The wolf may be prowling for his prey; but what can he do when the Shepherd is always there, tending with the watchful eye that "neither slumbers nor sleeps?" Who cannot subscribe to the testimony, "When my foot slipped, Thy mercy, O Lord! held me up?" Who can look back on his past pilgrimage, and fail to see it crowded with Ebenezers, with this inscription: "Thou hast delivered my soul from death, mine eyes from tears, and my feet from falling?" My soul, where wouldst thou have been this day, hadst thou not been "_kept_" by the power of G.o.d?

"REMEMBER _THIS_ WORD UNTO THY SERVANT, UPON WHICH THOU HAST CAUSED ME TO HOPE!"

6TH DAY.