350 CARE OF THE LORD JESUS him the extent of his possessions. “There," said he, waving his hand about," that is my estate." Then pointing to a great distance on one side, "Do you see that farm? That is mine." Then pointing to the other side, "Do you see that house? That also belongs to me." His friend said, "Do you see that little village yonder? There lives a poor woman in that village, who can say more than all this." "What can she say?" "She can say, Christ is mine!" And can you say, Christ is mine? Then indeed you should rejoice in the Lord always. O that others would seek the treasures, of which grace has made you an heir! Whatever be your lot, you should be happy. You are so now, and will be so to everlasting years. Let sickness come, and blast your youthful days; let paleness overspread your countenance, and the last enemy be stopping the blood at your heart; yet still in Christ you will be happy; happier infinitely in pain and death, with a Saviour, than you could be without him, though health, and life, and the riches of kingdoms, were your portion. Think more how many blessings are centred in your Saviour; and rejoicing in your Lord, pursue your way to his presence and abode. § 10. Though the chief work of the Lord Jesus is to secure the happiness of his disciples, when this momentary scene is passed away, yet he kindly desires their comfort while it lasts. It is true, to him who views eternity, our few hasty years must appear no longer than a moment, come and gone in the same instant; yet this life, in his sight, like a moment, a sigh, or a nothing, must have its peace and comfort, and have it too from him. He spoke that divinely gracious discourse, recorded in the fourteenth and two following chapters of the Gospel of John, that he might promote the temporal comfort, as well as the spiritual welfare, of his disciples. These things have I spoken unto you, that in me ye might have peace." Precious words! We may hear this gracious Saviour saying in them, Look to me, and though you should have little peace besides, in me ye may have peace. In that troubled world you shall have tribulations; in me a refuge against them all; in me ye shall have peace. In that hostile world hatred and persecution may befall you; in me you have a shelter from every storm, a support in every sorrow; in me ye shall have peace. In that transient world you may expect languor and FOR HIS DISCIPLES' COMFORT. 351 disease, changing comforts, dying pleasures, and piercing griefs; but through life, through death, on earth, in heaven, in me ye shall have unchanging comfort, in me ye may have peace. To promote this peace, the Lord Jesus has given many gracious promises. O exercise faith in them! Consider they are as firm, and as sure, and as precious, as if you heard the Lord Jesus speaking them to you. When pensive and alone, meditating on the world to come, think you see your Saviour approach, and hear him say, "Let not your heart be troubled. In my Father's house are many mansions. I go to prepare a place for you." If oppressed by the malignity of men, go from their company, "enter into thy closet, and shut thy door;" there try to realize the presence of your Lord, and hear him saying, "If the world hate you, ye know that it hated me before it hated you. If ye were of the world, the world would love his own: but because ye are not of the world, but I have chosen you out of the world, therefore the world hateth you." If encountering sorrow and pain, hear him saying, "Ye now have sorrow; but I will see you again, and your heart shall rejoice, and your joy no man taketh from you." When wandering among the tombs, thinking of dear departed friends, whom you must meet no more on earth, and thinking how soon the grave must be your home, as it now is theirs, then hearken to the sweet promises of Jesus. "Where I am there shall also my servant be." "I will come again and receive you to myself, that where I am ye may be also." O would he, who once sojourned below, again descend and utter these and other heart-reviving words, where, with your Saviour speaking by your side, would be the darts of affliction, or the sting of death! and where would be the victory of the grave! If the Lord had been pointing you to a dwelling in the heavens, could you cease to rejoice in the prospect of that happier land! Would you not weep, as though you wept not, and rejoice, as though you rejoiced not; and often think, It was there, beyond these lower skies, that he taught me to expect my endless home. Or had he been warning you to expect hatred, or affliction, yet adding, that you were his friend, and that you should soon be glorified with him, could you mourn much at human hatred, or repine at earthly sorrows? Would you not rather think, My best, my most unalterable friend, has entered within 352 BLESSINGS OF THE JUDGMENT DAY. the veil, and I am following apace; welcome then trials, if by trials he will train me for his own abode! Jesus will not come from heaven, to converse with you; he will not visibly commune with you; he will not sit with you in the house of mourning, or walk with you among the tombs; yet he is as truly with you, as if he were thus to appear. By day, by night, when you walk, or rest, or labour, or sleep, your Lord is with you and his promises are as firm as if you heard them from his lips, or as if an angel, commissioned by him, brought them to you from his heavenly throne. § 11. If grace has made this Saviour and these promises yours, how many blessings do you possess! It is delightful now, with humble yet cheerful confidence, to call Christ ours; yet if this confidence now diffuses through the soul a peace that passeth understanding, what is the rapture it will impart when he shall appear in the clouds of heaven! Then when the sufferer of Calvary descends, attended by all the angelic hosts, and comes as the "worthy Judge eternal;" when the sneers of infidelity are hushed in eternal silence; when his followers no longer appear a despised, afflicted, persecuted train, but led by him, ascend to heavenly thrones ;then when the confusion of despairing sinners, trembling before his awful bar, exceeds, in terrible dismay, all that any heart can conceive, as much as eternal ruin is worse than temporal woe-then what will be the joy of belonging to him? And when all these solemnities are passed, and vast unbounded eternity stretches in infinite prospect before the triumphant soul-then what will it be to belong to Jesus? Here imagination must stop; none can conceive the holy overwhelming rapture. § 12. Among the innumerable privileges which the children of God enjoy, the Scriptures expressly mention the ministering care of holy angels. The word of God represents them as strong in power;f great in glory; and favoured with near access to the throne of God. It declares, that at times they are employed by their heavenly Father, on commissions of judgment; but that their more frequent and delightful office is to minister to the heirs of salvation. So extensively are these countless multitudes thus employed, that the Scriptures (f) Ps. ciii. 20. (g) Rev. x. GOD THE FATHER OF HIS PEOPLE. 353 say, "Are they not ALL ministering spirits, sent forth to minister for them who shall be heirs of salvation." They are employed in protecting and upholding the children of God. They minister to them through the fleeting span of life; and conduct to rest the triumphant spirit, when life's last conflict ends.m How happy they who have such invisible but kind attendants! How rich the Saviour's love, that employs these glorious spirits to minister to the welfare of his feeble flock! How warm should be the gratitude, how fervent the love, how devout the holiness, of that feeble flock! Thus animated by your Redeemer's love, and blest in his care, pursue your pilgrimage to heaven. When you contemplate his love, what is all you can render to him, but like the dust of the balance weighed against the world? When you stretch your views to eternal life, what is mortal life but the twinkling of an eye? And what the sorrows of time but like a drop of grief compared with an ocean of delight? § 13. A principal source of happiness to the followers of the Lamb, is found in their connexion with the great and blessed God, and in what he is to them. Come, solace thy soul by viewing God, thy God, arrayed in all his mild attractive glories. He is "the God of all grace, who hath called us to his eternal glory." "The God of all grace!" Precious words! What more comprehensive, what more kind, can a wounded soul, a contrite heart, desire! The God of all grace! How vast must be the treasures of his compassion! how boundless the riches of his love! Nor less boundless his strange and amazing condescension. "He hath called us to his eternal glory by Jesus Christ." Where now rise the heights of his love? where sink its depths? God, as the God of all grace, hath called us-the children of sin and woe, to glory-to eternal glory-and O, more amazing still! -to his eternal glory. What is there in the character of so good, so compassionate, though so great a God, that should excite one fear in a humble and contrite heart! In a not less attractive light is this great and holy God displayed, when his word says, "God, who is rich in mercy, for his great love wherewith he loved us, even when we were dead in sins, hath quickened us together with Christ." How emphatic is this (k) Heb. i. 14. (1) Ps. xxxiv. 7; xci. 11, 12. (m) Luke xvi. 22. (n) 1 Pet. v. 10. (0) Eph. ii. 4-6. 354 GOD THE FATHER OF HIS PEOPLE. language! Who can ever unfold the wonders of grace and goodness it reveals! God is not only merciful, but " rich in mercy;" not merely kind to man, when penitent and pardoned, but "loving with great love" poor perishing man, " even when dead in trespasses and sins." Amazing grace! what grateful offerings does it not deserve! what fervent love and cheerful confidence should it infuse in every humble heart! The Lord Jesus Christ, in whom dwelt all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge, displayed his Father's tenderness in the most impressive and gladdening manner, when he said to Philip, “ Have I been so long time with you, and yet hast thou not known me, Philip? he that hath seen me hath seen the Father."P Whatever else the divine Saviour intended to express by these words, it is evident they must include the idea, that tenderness, compassion, and love, like what dwelt in him, dwell in the eternal Father. When Jesus abode below, and appeared kind to every mourner, gracious to every suppliant, and full of melting love and tender pity, for all that sought his aid, what humble penitent or downcast believer could have dreaded him? But he says, He that hath seen me hath seen the Father. Blessed declaration! It is as if he had said, "His compassion is like mine; his tenderness as vast; his love as boundless; his goodness as great." Fear not then, my fellow-pilgrim; think what Jesus was, and think thy God is like him. When God represents his own kind condescension and compassion, he says, "Thus saith the high and lofty One that inhabiteth eternity, whose name is Holy; I dwell in the high and holy place, with him also that is of a contrite and humble spirit, to revive the spirit of the humble, and to revive the heart of the contrite ones." Ah, gracious condescension! What more than to be revived by God, and cheered by his presence, can a humbled heart desire? How good is God, who thus encourages your trust in him! How should his immeasurable grace, and rich compassion, drive fear, and doubt, and distress away! § 14. Art thou, my brother or sister, indeed a follower of the Lamb, then God is more than all this to thee, thy Father, Friend, and Portion. "The Lord is merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and plenteous in mercy. For as the heaven is high above the earth, so great is his mercy toward them that |