網頁圖片
PDF
ePub 版

FRIENDLY VISITOR.

No. CLXVI.]

JULY, 1832.

[VOL. XIV.

LOVE THE CEMENT OF THE TEMPLE.

EPHESIANS ii. 20, 21, 22.

"And are built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ himself being the chief corner-stone;

"In whom all the building, fitly framed together, groweth unto an holy temple in the Lord :

In whom ye also are builded together for an habitation of God through the Spirit."

Truly it must be affirmed, that something requires to be done towards cementing the stones of the temple; for it is a fact, grievous to think of, that the present condition of Christ's church among us, is that of a house divided against itself; a church militant, not without outward enemies, but torn to pieces by intestine discord; exhibiting the aspect of the temple, not with "veil rent in the midst," and its glory laid open to view; but itself rent from top to bottom, and its nakedness detected and laid bare. Alas! the cement which was wont to bind the once goodly building, is gone; the failure of love is lamentable; the edifice gapes with fissures, to the grief of the loving Spirit of Christ; but to the satisfaction of those who "have evil will to Zion."

Now the Lord calls upon you, brethren, to acknowledge Jesus as your Lord, to look up to him for supplies of the Spirit, to serve him with all your powers, and to apply to him for more and more. In this way you come to be the temples of God; you grow by a natural growth in an unseen way; as the child grows up into understanding of God's ways, and into the strength of his obedience. There is no other way of being a stone in the temple of God. He who redeemed you, and washed you, and prepared you, is the architect to lay you in your place; he gives you that place in the temple for which you are fitted; he it is who will bring out all the symmetry, and the beauty, and the glory of the temple. And following Jesus, we shall stand together in love and in harmony,

H

possessing within us the fulness of the body of Christ, and rejoicing with one accord in one sweet society; each one in his place, to bear the burden that is laid upon him, to do the duty that is required of him, and to enjoy the blessedness that flows continually from God into his temple.

. Furthermore, I observe, that we stand together in this temple; stone resting on stone, one borne up by another; so incorporated and cemented together that, out of many, we become one. It would be no temple but for this unity, and the name of this unity is love. Love is to the church what cement is to the building. Other things, joy, strength, power, glory--are proper to the building, to the decoration of it, or to the service of it, or to the proportion of it; all the graceful architecture is proper to the temple, but love is to bind them; and without love there can be no beauty, no stability, there can be no temple. Know therefore that love is the first thing whereby man comes into the unity of the service of God. You must love your brother as yourself; you must bear each other's burdens; you must be bound together with all your hearts, resting one on another; and yet not one resting on himself, nor any number resting on themselves, but all resting on Jesus. We must be like an arch, of which no stone can be parted; but least of all can the key-stone be parted; every stone bears it part, yet every stone dependeth for its consistency on its fellow-believer. Therefore let love have her perfect work in the midst of you. Put away envies, I beseech you; put away jealousies, put away suspicions, put away fightings, they may not be; they are the Canaanite, they are the uncircumcised in the temple of the Lord, they are the pollution of it: put them away. If we do differ on some points, and these points be not such as trench upon our fidelity to Christ, and interfere not with our holding the head; let us differ in the spirit of meekness, and not quarrel over a revelation of Love: let us put on charity, and hold the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace; let us learn of him who was meek and lowly to "love as brethren, to be pitiful, to be courteous; not rendering evil for evil, but contrariwise blessing;

knowing that thereunto are we called, that we might inherit a blessing." Let us bear in mind the caution of the Holy Ghost," but if ye bite and devour one another, take heed that ye be not consumed one of another." And if you have the Spirit of Jesus within you, you will have that which will hate all divisions, and detect all falsehood, and embrace all truth. Love is holiness, and holiness is love. Wherever there is love, there will always be a warfare against sin; and wherever there is sin in a brother, love will not allow it to rest, it will be sharp-sighted to discern it, just as the eye of a mother is sharp-sighted to discern a growing disease in her child, because she loveth him. It is because there is so little love in the church that there is so much deception in the church. Let love be perfected amongst us. But the wit of man cannot do it, the wisdom of man cannot do it. It is having the anointing of the Holy Spirit. It is hearing the word of Christ which preserveth his people from all the snares of the enemy. Can the sheep contend with the wolf? No-yet you are as sheep among wolves. What can you do then? When the wolf cometh, the sheep flee to the Shepherd; and are preserved by walking at the Shepherd's feet, by being carried in the Shepherd's arms, by being penned in the Shepherd's fold; that is, by union to Jesus, by love to Jesus. Let love have her perfect work, and the stones of the temple, which are all loosened, shall come to be bound together; and the house shall, through the architecture of Jesus, grow unto a holy temple, and be filled with the presence of God, and his mighty power shall be manifested in the church. "And the Lord make you to increase, and abound in love one toward another, and toward all men, to the end he may establish your hearts, unblameable in holiness before God, even our Father at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ with all his saints."

SELECT PASSAGES.

When Calvin died, Beza said, "now is life less sweet, and death less bitter."

The venerable Bede, on his death-bed, earnestly wished "to behold the King in his beauty."

SANCTIFIED AFFLICTION.

May 23rd, 1832. MY DEAR SIR,-I cannot resist the pleasure of sending you the following copy of a letter, of which I was the bearer, from a Christian friend in London to a pious relation in this neighbourhood, who has been lately made to partake largely of the cup of adversity; he and his wife and family having been at times for weeks together without a morsel of bread in the house, and compelled to subsist for many days on one single meal of potatoes! The affliction, however, has been most highly blessed to them all; and as the letter breathes a spirit, which is likely to strengthen the faith and cheer the heart of every child of affliction, into whose hands it may fall, I have obtained the permission of the person to whom it was addressed, to forward a copy to you for insertion in the Friendly Visitor, hoping it may be the means of giving comfort to any of your readers, who may have been reduced to similarly trying circumstances, under the chastening hand of the Lord.-May the Spirit of grace and consolation accompany it to all who read it!

Believe me, dear Sir,

very sincerely and gratefully yours,

MINIMUS.

London, May 8th, 1832.

MY DEAR SIR,-I was very grieved at the perusal of your misfortunes, as stated in your letter, and cannot fail to perceive that they form a complete answer to the charge of your being still indebted. For my own part, I think there is a point, up to which a creditor may press for his debt, and it will be his duty so to do; but beyond that point, forgiveness becomes his duty, and pressure, oppression and a sin.

You need not fear that this recital of your sufferings will shake my friendship for you: every one that nameth the name of Christ is a brother to me, who must not be rejected from my acquaintance because it hath pleased our Father to visit him with the heavy rod of affliction. Long continued privation of food is indeed a grievous calamity, and I hope and pray that our great Benefactor will for ever henceforth hear your prayer for yourself and family, and give you each day your "daily bread."

We know that affliction has, in its very nature, a property beneficial to the Christian; as it is said, it “worketh out a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory." In your own case it is manifest that God's purpose was a gracious one, in

allowing you to suffer for a time, that your mind might be made humble and submissive, and in a pliant state to receive every impress of the Gospel of truth. There is certainly no surer truth, than that we know not the full value of God's gifts to his creatures, till he is pleased either to suspend his bounty, or remove it altogether. When we can no longer enjoy a thing, we naturally refer our thoughts to it, as a blessing bestowed in much greater measure, than we had any reason to expect: we canvass its extent, and are led by an easy process to remember the hand that gave it. Then, when we call to mind the utter unworthiness of him who received it, and the infinite mercy Him who conferred it, we are humbled and silent before him. We exclaim, "the Lord gave, and the Lord hath taken away; blessed be the name of the Lord!"

of

Besides this effect, great trouble and privation tend to shew' us the utter instability of things sensual; the perishing nature of hopes and interests long cherished, and now perhaps for ever blighted and destroyed. They bid us look to an estate, which is constant and unending, and not to be engrossed with the few wild flowers, that grow by the wayside of the pilgrim's road. They tell us, in a tone which reaches not the ear only, but through God's grace the heart also, (because heard under cir cumstances when a man feels the privation of the natural food) that "man doth not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God."

It is one of the blessings of the Gospel of Christ, that as soon as it acquaints a man that he is "poor and miserable and blind and naked," it takes him out of his miserable and lost estate, and introduces him to a new and heaven-born dignity, that of a Son of God! thereafter he looks to God as a Father, and knows that he will supply his necessities, because he relies upon his promise, that having "first sought the kingdom of God and his righteousness, all other things shall be added unto him."

It is a great privilege to be able to rest the mind entirely upon God's assurance; to resign composedly all events, joys and sor rows, trials and cares, into the hands of the good Lord our Redeemer, who "careth for us." It is a great point of Chris tian experience, at which we must all study and strive to arrive; nevertheless, not in our own strength, but in the power of the

« 上一頁繼續 »