Milo

July 2

“When thou goest, thy way shall be opened up before thee step by step.” (Proverbs 4:12, free translation.)

THE Lord never builds a bridge of faith except under the feet of the faith-filled traveler. If He builds the bridge a rod ahead, it would not be a bridge of faith. That which is of sight is not of faith.
There is a self-opening gate which is sometimes used in country roads. It stands fast and firm across the road as a traveler approaches it. If he stops before he gets to it, it will not open. But if he will drive right at it, his wagon wheels press the springs below the roadway, and the gate swings back to let him through. He must push right on at the closed gate, or it will continue to be closed.
This illustrates the way to pass every barrier on the road of duty. Whether it is a river, a gate, or a mountain, all the child of Jesus has to do is to go for it. If it is a river, it will dry up when you put your feet in its waters. If it is a gate, it will fly open when you are near enough to it, and are still pushing on. If it is a mountain, it will be lifted up and cast into a sea when you come squarely up, without flinching, to where you thought it was.
Is there a great barrier across your path of duty just now? Just go for it, in the name of the Lord, and it won’t be there.
—Henry Clay Trumbull.
We sit and weep in vain. The voice of the Almighty said, “Up and onward forevermore.” Let us move on and step out boldly, though it be into the night, and we can scarcely see the way. The path will open, as we progress, like the trail through the forest, or the Alpine pass, which discloses but a few rods of its length from any single point of view. Press on! If necessary, we will find even the pillar of cloud and fire to mark our journey through the wilderness. There are guides and wayside inns along the road. We will find food, clothes and friends at every stage of the journey, and as Rutherford so quaintly says: “However matters go, the worst will be a tired traveler and a joyful and sweet welcome home.”

I’m going by the upper road, for that
  still holds the sun,
I’m climbing through night’s pastures where
  the starry rivers run:
If you should think to seek me in my
  old dark abode,
You’ll find this writing on the door,
  “He’s on the Upper Road.”

—Selected.

2 JULY

Children of his grace

‘And in process of time it came to pass, that Cain brought of the fruit of the ground an offering unto the LORD. And Abel, he also brought of the firstlings of his flock and of the fat thereof. And the LORD had respect unto Abel and to his offering: but unto Cain and to his offering he had not respect. And Cain was very wroth, and his countenance fell.’ Genesis 4:3–5
SUGGESTED FURTHER READING: Genesis 4:1–7

From the Fall of man, the Scripture proceeds to an exemplification of the effects of sin, the manifestation of grace, and the opposition foretold between the seed of the serpent and those who by faith belonged to him who was revealed as the hope of sinners, by the name of the seed of the woman. These are the chief points insisted on through the whole Bible. The first remarkable instance in which they are confirmed is the history of Cain and Abel. It seems that Eve had great joy in the birth of Cain, nay some from the manner of her expression think that she supposed Cain was the promised Messiah. If so, she was greatly disappointed. Parents usually receive children with joy—but if God has given you children, pray that they may be the children of his grace; if not, rejoice with trembling. If the Lord is not honoured by them, you will have small comfort in them. You know not what they may come to. And this should be a quieting thought when the Lord has taken away children while young. We are informed that Cain was a wicked man, yet he was not without a form of religion. Cain himself would probably pass for a saint if he were alive now, in comparison with many who are not only destitute of the life and power of godliness, but despise and renounce the very appearance of it. But his religion was vain—the Lord had respect to Abel and his offering and not to Cain’s.

FOR MEDITATION: Give my love to all your children, particularly to the little stranger [baby ‘John Newton’ Coffin]. I am duly sensible of the honour you have done me in incorporating my name with your own. May the name of Newton be to him as a lighthouse upon a hill as he grows up, to warn him against the evils I ran upon in my youth, and on which (without a miracle of mercy) I should have suffered a fatal shipwreck.
John Newton to James Coffin, 29 September 1792

SERMON SERIES: GENESIS, NO. 11 [1/4], GENESIS 4:3–5

July 1st

The inevitable penalty

Verily I say unto thee, Thou shalt by no means come out thence, till thou have paid the uttermost farthing. Matthew 5:26.

“There is no heaven with a little of hell in it.” God is determined to make you pure and holy and right; he will not allow you to escape for one moment from the scrutiny of the Holy Spirit. He urged you to come to judgment right away when He convicted you, but you did not; the inevitable process began to work and now you are in prison, and you will only get out when you have paid the uttermost farthing. ‘Is this a God of mercy, and of love?’ you say. Seen from God’s side, it is a glorious ministry of love. God is going to bring you out pure and spotless and undefiled; but He wants you to recognize the disposition you were showing—the disposition of your right to yourself. The moment you are willing that God should alter your disposition, His re-creating forces will begin to work. The moment you realize God’s purpose, which is to get you rightly related to Himself and then to your fellow men, He will tax the last limit of the universe to help you take the right road. Decide it now—‘Yes, Lord, I will write that letter to-night’; ‘I will be reconciled to that man now.’
These messages of Jesus Christ are for the will and the conscience, not for the head. If you dispute the Sermon on the Mount with your head, you will blunt the appeal to your heart.
‘I wonder why I don’t go on with God!’ Are you paying your debts from God’s standpoint? Do now what you will have to do some day. Every moral call has an ‘ought’ behind it.

July 1

  “There shall be a performance.” (Luke 1:45)
  “My words shall be fulfilled in their season” (their fixed appointed time). (Greek, Luke 1:20.)

There shall be a performance of those things
  That loving heart hath waited long to see;
Those words shall be fulfilled to which she clings,
  Because her God hath promised faithfully;
And, knowing Him, she ne’er can doubt His Word;
“He speaks and it is done.” The mighty Lord!

There shall be a performance of those things,
  O burdened heart, rest ever in His care;
In quietness beneath His shadowing wings
  Await the answer to thy longing prayer.
When thou hast “cast thy care,” the heart then sings,
There shall be a performance of those things.

There shall be a performance of those things,
  O tired heart, believe and wait and pray;
At eventide the peaceful vesper rings,
  Though cloud and rain and storm have filled the day.
Faith pierces through the mist of doubt that bars
The coming night sometimes, and finds the stars.

There shall be a performance of those things,
  O trusting heart, the Lord to thee hath told;
Let Faith and Hope arise, and plume their wings,
  And soar towards the sunrise clouds of gold;
The portals of the rosy dawn swing wide,
Revealing joys the darkening night did hide.

—Bessie Porter.
Matthew Henry says: “We must depend upon the performance of the promise, when all the ways leading up to it are shut up. ‘For all the promises of God in him are yea (yes), and in him Amen (so be it), unto the glory of God by us.’ ” (2 Cor. 1:20.)

1 JULY (PREACHED ON THANKSGIVING DAY, 29 JULY 1784)

Cause for trembling

‘Rejoice with trembling.’ Psalm 2:11
SUGGESTED FURTHER READING: Hosea 11:1–11

While we rejoice let us remember the causes we still have as a nation to tremble.
(i) God has a controversy with this land. It seems indeed, with respect to a great part of the kingdom and especially of those who are in most estimation for rank, wealth or human wisdom, an undecided point whether the Lord be God, whether he be the Governor and Judge of all the earth or not. Therefore he has withdrawn his blessing. Divisions in our counsels, disappointment in our undertakings followed. But he is merciful and restores us peace. We, alas, are still hardened—the point is not yet acknowledged and there is reason to fear it must be brought to a new trial. And why should it not? Who that loves the Lord can wish that he should desert his cause, and wickedness and infidelity triumph with impunity?
(ii) The actual state of affairs at present: the accumulated burdens on the state, the violence of parties, the generally acknowledged want of public spirit. It is not necessary that we should be destroyed by earthquake, famine or pestilence. It is enough to ruin us if the Lord does not in an extraordinary manner interpose to prevent our destruction. If he leave us to ourselves, we are going, we are gone.
If you speak of the glory and honour of Great Britain as a nation among the nations, you may write Ichabod upon it—the glory is departed [1 Samuel 4:21]. But what is this? The influence of our pride and oppression will not be so severely and extensively felt abroad—nor the profligacy and luxury be so great at home. Perhaps if we were enclosed within the walls of our island, which may possibly be the case, we may become a more temperate and moral, and therefore a more happy, people. I am not sure that these are upon the whole bad times. It is the best time when the best cause prospers most. The truth, I hope, spreads. The kingdom of our God and Saviour is upon the increase.

FOR MEDITATION: This kingdom is not of this world, nor dependent upon kingdoms of the earth. It cannot be shaken. They who belong to it may rejoice, and so far as they live to their Lord, need not tremble, though the earth itself were moved and the mountains cast into the midst of the sea.

SERMON: PSALM 2:11 [3/3] [END OF AMERICAN WAR OF INDEPENDENCE]