The Sepulcher in The Garden
"In the place where He was crucified there was a garden, and in the garden was a sepulcher, in which no one had ever been laid." (John 19:4).
1. Sin obtrudes itself in the fairest scenes. You see around a cross a multitude come together to perform the foulest act ever perpetrated. The object of their hatred has never wronged them; but, on the contrary, has ever blessed them. His character presented an assemblage of graces such as the world had never witnessed. And now He hangs on a Cross in a garden! What a place for the perpetration of such a crime! A garden! where nature seems best fitted to exert a soothing influence on the angry passions! Surely nature cannot have her sanctuary violated by such an outrage.
Thus the text contains a most emphatic refutation of the fiction that by giving them access to natural beauty you may restrain the wickedness, if not transform the character of men. True, there is nothing in what is beautiful, whether in nature or art, unfavorable to religion - but very much by which religious feelings may be induced and fostered. And, certainly, they are not the worst Christians who have the most extensive and loving acquaintance with nature's works.
But nevertheless the influence which these things exert depends entirely on the state of mind with which they are surveyed. They may foster and strengthen feelings which already exist; but they have no power to produce feelings which are not there. They have no power to change the heart, so as to make bad men good.
One of the loveliest scenes in the world is the site of Pompeii, but it would seem that God has preserved her ruins that she might testify to the nineteenth century, that she resembled Sodom in the depth of her wickedness before she resembled her in the terribleness of her overthrow. Man fell in Eden angels sinned in Heaven.
"In the place where He was crucified there was a garden."
2. Sorrow mingles with all earthly enjoyment. "In the garden was a sepulcher." How emblematical of human life in which every joy is marred by some sorrow, and the presence or the memory or the prospect of death casts its shadow over all. It is a good thing to be reminded that there is no such thing here as pleasure without drawback or alloy.
Of Naaman the Syrian, it is said that "he was captain of the host," but he was a leper! Of Haman we read how he told his wife and friends of his good fortune, and then, "Yet all this avails me nothing so long as I see Mrordecai,"
There is no rose without a thorn. In every garden there is a sepulcher.
3. The presence of Christ converts death into Life, and sorrow into joy. It was fit that the sepulcher should be placed in a garden, seeing it was to contain the body of our Lord. His presence there gave to the grave a significance which it had never possed before. The tomb which Christ lies, is a seed plot of immortality from which radiant and glorious forms shall spring; "for that which you sow is not quickened unless it dies."
4. As symbolic of how the presence of Jesus tends to change our sorrow into joy - Christ in the sepulcher transforms the receptacle of death into the source of higher life. And therefore have no sepulcher without a Saiour in it no trouble in which you do not seek to have the presence of your Lord. A life of pleasure would neither be so desirable nor so profitable, as a life whose sorrows are sanctified by fellowship with Christ.
Nor should you seek, as is sometimes done, to have the sepulcher of your own fashioning, saying, "If I had only such-and-such trials, I could bear them well: I should not complain if I were only like so-and-so." No man ever got to choose his own trials. He who gives the garden, gives the sepulcher with it; and determines at once his position and its form. All that you need is to have Christ in it!
~W. Landells~
(The End)
Saturday, June 27, 2020
Saturday, June 20, 2020
Bitter and Sweet # 2
Bitter and Sweet # 2
But it is not all bitter, there are also HIDDEN JOYS. "No one else can fully share its joy." No stranger can understand it, share it, or at times even disturb it.
There is the joy of salvation - when after conviction, depression, seeking,sighing, and sorrowing - the Lord appears and says unto the soul, "I am your salvation!"
There is the joy of faith - when we are enabled to claim, appropriate, and plead the promises. Then we see their suitability, taste their sweetness, and feel their power. We draw water with joy out of these wells of salvation.
Then there is the joy produced by a believing view of Jesus - when the Holy Spirit reveals His glory and beauty to us - filling our minds with the sweetest thoughts, and our hearts with the choicest delight. O how glorious is His Person, how excellent is His love, how perfect is His work, how precious is His blood, how sweet is His voice, and how ravishing is the thought of being with Him forever!
Our souls are now full of Christ. We can think of nothing else, speak of nothing else, enjoy nothing else! Jesus is all fair, all lovely, all glorious - and we rejoice in Him with joy unspeakable and full of glory.
If believers know more or less of what the Lord's visits mean, when Jesus comes to manifest Himself unto us as He does not unto the world - when He comes, that He may sup with us, and we with Him. Then we can say with the Spouse, "My Beloved is mine - and I am His!"
These are joys which sanctify and satisfy the soul. They are generally enjoyed in secret - no stranger can intrude or understand them. For the loving Lord, and His beloved child - enjoy themselves alone, and appear to fill each other's hearts.
There are secret joys in religion. Pleasure unknown to all - but believers themselves. Joy that is solid, substantial, and durable. Joy often, in the midst of sorrow, for when all without is dark and dreary - then the candle of the Lord often shines brightest within. Joy, that is more than enough to counter balance all the sorrows we endure.
The joy of hope - looking forward into the future; and the joy of possession - when the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts, by the Holy Spirit which is given to us.
Our sorrows and our joys are alike peculiar unto ourselves; but our sorrows all end at death - while our joys will last forever!
Reader, do you know anything of this experience in your own soul? All of the Lord's people do, more or less. All are not alike deeply taught, nor deeply tried - but all know what sorrow for sin is, and what the joy of salvation is. All have some peculiar cause of bitterness - and all hidden sources of joy.
If you are quite a stranger to them - can you be a Christian? What a question is this? Not a Christian! Why if you are not, you are an unbeliever, and Jesus has said, "He who believes not - shall be damned!" If you are not a Christian, you do not believe on the Son of God, and He said, "He who does not believe - is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God."
But do not write bitter things against yourself, because you have not passed through all that I have written - but rather bless God that you have escaped the bitter, and look forward to the enjoyment of the sweet - for there is unspeakable joy and endless glory before you!
Boast not, O sons of earth,
Nor look with scornful eyes,
Above your highest mirth,
Our saddest hours we prize.
For though our cup seems filled with gall,
There's something secret,sweetens all.
~James Smith~
(The End)
But it is not all bitter, there are also HIDDEN JOYS. "No one else can fully share its joy." No stranger can understand it, share it, or at times even disturb it.
There is the joy of salvation - when after conviction, depression, seeking,sighing, and sorrowing - the Lord appears and says unto the soul, "I am your salvation!"
There is the joy of faith - when we are enabled to claim, appropriate, and plead the promises. Then we see their suitability, taste their sweetness, and feel their power. We draw water with joy out of these wells of salvation.
Then there is the joy produced by a believing view of Jesus - when the Holy Spirit reveals His glory and beauty to us - filling our minds with the sweetest thoughts, and our hearts with the choicest delight. O how glorious is His Person, how excellent is His love, how perfect is His work, how precious is His blood, how sweet is His voice, and how ravishing is the thought of being with Him forever!
Our souls are now full of Christ. We can think of nothing else, speak of nothing else, enjoy nothing else! Jesus is all fair, all lovely, all glorious - and we rejoice in Him with joy unspeakable and full of glory.
If believers know more or less of what the Lord's visits mean, when Jesus comes to manifest Himself unto us as He does not unto the world - when He comes, that He may sup with us, and we with Him. Then we can say with the Spouse, "My Beloved is mine - and I am His!"
These are joys which sanctify and satisfy the soul. They are generally enjoyed in secret - no stranger can intrude or understand them. For the loving Lord, and His beloved child - enjoy themselves alone, and appear to fill each other's hearts.
There are secret joys in religion. Pleasure unknown to all - but believers themselves. Joy that is solid, substantial, and durable. Joy often, in the midst of sorrow, for when all without is dark and dreary - then the candle of the Lord often shines brightest within. Joy, that is more than enough to counter balance all the sorrows we endure.
The joy of hope - looking forward into the future; and the joy of possession - when the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts, by the Holy Spirit which is given to us.
Our sorrows and our joys are alike peculiar unto ourselves; but our sorrows all end at death - while our joys will last forever!
Reader, do you know anything of this experience in your own soul? All of the Lord's people do, more or less. All are not alike deeply taught, nor deeply tried - but all know what sorrow for sin is, and what the joy of salvation is. All have some peculiar cause of bitterness - and all hidden sources of joy.
If you are quite a stranger to them - can you be a Christian? What a question is this? Not a Christian! Why if you are not, you are an unbeliever, and Jesus has said, "He who believes not - shall be damned!" If you are not a Christian, you do not believe on the Son of God, and He said, "He who does not believe - is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God."
But do not write bitter things against yourself, because you have not passed through all that I have written - but rather bless God that you have escaped the bitter, and look forward to the enjoyment of the sweet - for there is unspeakable joy and endless glory before you!
Boast not, O sons of earth,
Nor look with scornful eyes,
Above your highest mirth,
Our saddest hours we prize.
For though our cup seems filled with gall,
There's something secret,sweetens all.
~James Smith~
(The End)
Saturday, June 13, 2020
You Should Consider From Whose Hand It Has Been Sent To You!
You Should Consider From Whose Hand It Has Been Sent To You!
"In the day of prosperity be happy - but in the day of adversity consider; God has made the one as well as the other." (Ecc. 7:14).
In the day of adversity, you should consider from whose hand it has been sent to you! It comes direct from the hand of God!
Intermediate agencies may have been employed in inflicting it: a cherished family member may have been messenger of disease; a treacherous friend may have been the cause of bankruptcy; an avowed enemy may have been the the author of reproach and shame; satan himself may have been allowed to smite you! But through whatever secondary agency it may have been conveyed - adversity comes from God's hand!
"I form the light- and creat darkness; I make peace - and create evil. I the Lord, do all these things." (Isaiah 45:7).
"Is it not from the mouth of the Most High that both calamities and good things come?" (Lamentations 3:38).
"Shall we receive good at the hand of God - and shall we not receive evil?" (Job 2:10).
"Who gave man his mouth? Who makes him deaf or mute? Who gives him sight or makes him blind? Is it not I, the Lord?" (Exodus 4:11).
"See now that I myself am He! There is no god beside Me. I put to death and I bring to life, I have wounded and I will heal, and no one can deliver out of My hand!" (Deuteronomy 32:39).
"The Lord brings death and makes alive; He brings down to the grave and raises up. The Lord sends poverty and wealth; He humbles and He exalts." (1 Samuel 2:6-7).
"This is what the Lord says: "As I have brought all this great calamity on this people..." (Jeremiah 32:42).
"When disaster comes to a city, has not the Lord caused it?" (Amos 3:6).
"For He wounds, but He also binds up; He injures, but His hands also heal." (Job 5:18).
From these and many other passages, it is plain that temporal affliction is ascribed to God in the Holy Scriptures. No one who acknowledges God' Providence at all, can fail to believe that the numerous afflictions and calamities of human life are permitted, appointed, and overruled by the Supreme Governor of the world!
This is a great consideration of great practical importance, and should be seriously weighed in the day of adversity.
It assures us that our afflictions are neither imposed by a fatal necessity, nor produced by the uncertain vicissitudes of chance - but come forth from the hand of One who is infinitely wise and just and good!
It also teaches us in many of our afflictions, and those which it is indeed most difficult to bear - to look beyond, and to rise above, the consideration of the mere human agency by which they have been inflicted. I refer to such afflictions as are brought on us through the malice of our fellow-men, in regard to which we are too apt to alone consider the secondary agency through which they fall upon us - instead of steadily contemplating God as addressing to us, through human agency, the warnings and lessons which we need to learn and improve.
Whereas, did we consider all afflictions, of whatever kind, as emanating from the unerring heart of our loving Father - we would find, that even those which the hand or the tongue of man inflicts - are a wholesome discipline, and means of spiritual improvement.
Let us remember, then, that every affliction, through whatever channel it may flow - comes to us ultimately from God's loving hand!
~James Buchanan~
(The End)
"In the day of prosperity be happy - but in the day of adversity consider; God has made the one as well as the other." (Ecc. 7:14).
In the day of adversity, you should consider from whose hand it has been sent to you! It comes direct from the hand of God!
Intermediate agencies may have been employed in inflicting it: a cherished family member may have been messenger of disease; a treacherous friend may have been the cause of bankruptcy; an avowed enemy may have been the the author of reproach and shame; satan himself may have been allowed to smite you! But through whatever secondary agency it may have been conveyed - adversity comes from God's hand!
"I form the light- and creat darkness; I make peace - and create evil. I the Lord, do all these things." (Isaiah 45:7).
"Is it not from the mouth of the Most High that both calamities and good things come?" (Lamentations 3:38).
"Shall we receive good at the hand of God - and shall we not receive evil?" (Job 2:10).
"Who gave man his mouth? Who makes him deaf or mute? Who gives him sight or makes him blind? Is it not I, the Lord?" (Exodus 4:11).
"See now that I myself am He! There is no god beside Me. I put to death and I bring to life, I have wounded and I will heal, and no one can deliver out of My hand!" (Deuteronomy 32:39).
"The Lord brings death and makes alive; He brings down to the grave and raises up. The Lord sends poverty and wealth; He humbles and He exalts." (1 Samuel 2:6-7).
"This is what the Lord says: "As I have brought all this great calamity on this people..." (Jeremiah 32:42).
"When disaster comes to a city, has not the Lord caused it?" (Amos 3:6).
"For He wounds, but He also binds up; He injures, but His hands also heal." (Job 5:18).
From these and many other passages, it is plain that temporal affliction is ascribed to God in the Holy Scriptures. No one who acknowledges God' Providence at all, can fail to believe that the numerous afflictions and calamities of human life are permitted, appointed, and overruled by the Supreme Governor of the world!
This is a great consideration of great practical importance, and should be seriously weighed in the day of adversity.
It assures us that our afflictions are neither imposed by a fatal necessity, nor produced by the uncertain vicissitudes of chance - but come forth from the hand of One who is infinitely wise and just and good!
It also teaches us in many of our afflictions, and those which it is indeed most difficult to bear - to look beyond, and to rise above, the consideration of the mere human agency by which they have been inflicted. I refer to such afflictions as are brought on us through the malice of our fellow-men, in regard to which we are too apt to alone consider the secondary agency through which they fall upon us - instead of steadily contemplating God as addressing to us, through human agency, the warnings and lessons which we need to learn and improve.
Whereas, did we consider all afflictions, of whatever kind, as emanating from the unerring heart of our loving Father - we would find, that even those which the hand or the tongue of man inflicts - are a wholesome discipline, and means of spiritual improvement.
Let us remember, then, that every affliction, through whatever channel it may flow - comes to us ultimately from God's loving hand!
~James Buchanan~
(The End)
Saturday, June 6, 2020
Bitter and Sweet! # 1
Bitter and Sweet # 1
Real religion is a personal thing. Every man's religion must be his own - produced in his own heart by the Spirit of God, and nourished by the word and prayer. In every man's religion, there is something distinguishing, and something only known to himself. To every believer the proverb may be applied, "Each heart knows its own bitterness - and no one else can fully share its joy" (Proverbs 14:10).
Every Christian has some HIDDEN SORROW. "Each heart knows its own bitterness" - his secret bitterness. It may vary at different times, and under different circumstances - but still there it is.
At one time it may be sorrow for sin, some besetting sin, or the sins of the past life, brought and placed in review before his mind, by the Holy Spirit. Sin is a root of bitterness, and is sure to bear bitter fruit.
At another time it may be reflection on the past life, so many mercies abused, so many duties neglected, so many opportunities for usefulness lost - such reflections awaken bitter sorrow.
Or it may be secret and terrible thoughts, which agitate and torment the soul. They are at times the most filthy, base, degrading, and abominable! They spring up, work within, and torment us when on our knees in prayer, when reading God's Word, and when attending upon the ordinances of the gospel. The more sacred and solemn the employment - the more powerful and horrible they are. We dare not utter them, or speak of them to anyone, for we imagine that ours is a singular case, and that they indicate desperate wickedness.
Then there are violent temptations, secret and powerful solicitations to evil. Sometimes to curse God. Sometimes to blaspheme Christ. Sometimes to speak against the Holy Spirit. Sometimes to indulge the lusts of the flesh. O the violent, terrible, and frightful temptations, from which the Lord's people often suffer! They cause bitterness of heart with a witness.
Then at times the Lord hides His face, we have no enjoyment of His presence in the closet, in His worship, or in any of our means of grace. There is no liberty in prayer, nor answers to prayer. At times no heart to pray, for the soul is so discouraged that it thinks that it is of no use for it to pray. There is a painful sense of need, a searching after the Lord, a sighing and sorrowing for the presence of the Lord; but He hides His face, and we are troubled.
Then there is indwelling sin - the deep and powerful corruption of our nature, which works and mixes itself with all that we do, and spoils all that we attempt to perform. This evil is present with us - always and everywhere present! It strives with everything good, and opposes everything gracious - so that we cannot do the things that we would. It mixes with our prayers and praises, and works when we endeavor to meditate on God's Word, or hear the gospel to profit! It often makes us cry out, "O wretched man that I am, who shall deliver me from this body of sin and death!"
Sometimes a bitter word spoken, either by ourselves or others, will cause much heart sorrow. It fixes in the memory, revolves in the mind, and proves a mental rack on which the soul is tortured.
Besides all these sinful things - almost every believer has some secret source of bitterness in the family. Others have secret causes of sorrow in business, in the church of God, or in their social relations; but every heart has emphatically - its own bitterness. What bitter thoughts are generated, what bitter feelings are produced, and what bitter regrets are felt - by many of Zion's pilgrims in the secrets of the soul.
But it is not all bitter, there are also HIDDEN JOYS.
~James Smith~
(continued with # 2)
Real religion is a personal thing. Every man's religion must be his own - produced in his own heart by the Spirit of God, and nourished by the word and prayer. In every man's religion, there is something distinguishing, and something only known to himself. To every believer the proverb may be applied, "Each heart knows its own bitterness - and no one else can fully share its joy" (Proverbs 14:10).
Every Christian has some HIDDEN SORROW. "Each heart knows its own bitterness" - his secret bitterness. It may vary at different times, and under different circumstances - but still there it is.
At one time it may be sorrow for sin, some besetting sin, or the sins of the past life, brought and placed in review before his mind, by the Holy Spirit. Sin is a root of bitterness, and is sure to bear bitter fruit.
At another time it may be reflection on the past life, so many mercies abused, so many duties neglected, so many opportunities for usefulness lost - such reflections awaken bitter sorrow.
Or it may be secret and terrible thoughts, which agitate and torment the soul. They are at times the most filthy, base, degrading, and abominable! They spring up, work within, and torment us when on our knees in prayer, when reading God's Word, and when attending upon the ordinances of the gospel. The more sacred and solemn the employment - the more powerful and horrible they are. We dare not utter them, or speak of them to anyone, for we imagine that ours is a singular case, and that they indicate desperate wickedness.
Then there are violent temptations, secret and powerful solicitations to evil. Sometimes to curse God. Sometimes to blaspheme Christ. Sometimes to speak against the Holy Spirit. Sometimes to indulge the lusts of the flesh. O the violent, terrible, and frightful temptations, from which the Lord's people often suffer! They cause bitterness of heart with a witness.
Then at times the Lord hides His face, we have no enjoyment of His presence in the closet, in His worship, or in any of our means of grace. There is no liberty in prayer, nor answers to prayer. At times no heart to pray, for the soul is so discouraged that it thinks that it is of no use for it to pray. There is a painful sense of need, a searching after the Lord, a sighing and sorrowing for the presence of the Lord; but He hides His face, and we are troubled.
Then there is indwelling sin - the deep and powerful corruption of our nature, which works and mixes itself with all that we do, and spoils all that we attempt to perform. This evil is present with us - always and everywhere present! It strives with everything good, and opposes everything gracious - so that we cannot do the things that we would. It mixes with our prayers and praises, and works when we endeavor to meditate on God's Word, or hear the gospel to profit! It often makes us cry out, "O wretched man that I am, who shall deliver me from this body of sin and death!"
Sometimes a bitter word spoken, either by ourselves or others, will cause much heart sorrow. It fixes in the memory, revolves in the mind, and proves a mental rack on which the soul is tortured.
Besides all these sinful things - almost every believer has some secret source of bitterness in the family. Others have secret causes of sorrow in business, in the church of God, or in their social relations; but every heart has emphatically - its own bitterness. What bitter thoughts are generated, what bitter feelings are produced, and what bitter regrets are felt - by many of Zion's pilgrims in the secrets of the soul.
But it is not all bitter, there are also HIDDEN JOYS.
~James Smith~
(continued with # 2)
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