The Remnant – Past and Present
Ministry by C. H. Mackintosh
– Part Three

Josiah

We shall now pass on to the reign of the pious and devoted king Josiah, when the nation was on the very eve of dissolution.

• Here we have a very striking and beautiful illustration of our thesis. We do not attempt to go into details, having done so elsewhere. We shall merely quote the few closing lines.
  • "And the children of Israel that were present kept the Passover at that time, and the feast of unleavened bread seven days.

    "And there was no Passover like to that kept in Israel from the days of Samuel the prophet; neither did all the kings of Israel keep such a Passover as Josiah kept, and the priests, and the Levites, and all Judah and Israel that were present, and the inhabitants of Jerusalem.

    "In the eighteenth year of the reign of Josiah was this Passover kept", 2 Chronicles 35: 17-19.

What a very remarkable testimony! In Hezekiah's Passover we are carried back to the brilliant reign of Solomon;

• but here we have something brighter still.

• And if it be asked what it was that threw such a halo of glory around Josiah's Passover, we believe it was the fact of its being
  • the fruit of holy and reverent obedience to the Word of God in the midst of abounding ruin and corruption, error and confusion.

• The activities of faith in an obedient and devoted heart were thrown into relief by the dark background of the nation's condition.

All this is full of encouragement and comfort for every true lover of Christ. Many might have thought it very presumptuous of Josiah to pursue such a course at such a moment and under such circumstances;

• but it was the very reverse of presumption, as we may gather from the blessed message sent to him from the Lord by the mouth of Huldah, the prophetess;
  • "Thus saith the Lord God of Israel concerning the words which thou hast heard; Because thy heart was tender, and thou didst humble thyself before God, when thou heardest His words against this place, and against the inhabitants thereof, and humbledst thyself before Me, and didst rend thy clothes, and weep before Me; I have even heard thee also, saith the Lord", 2 Chronicles 34: 26-27.

Here we have the moral basis of Josiah's remarkable career; and most assuredly there was nothing savouring of presumption therein.

• A contrite heart, weeping eyes, and rent garments are not the accompaniments of presumption or self-confidence.

• No; they are the precious results of the Word of God acting on the heart and conscience and leading to a course of deep-toned personal devotedness, most cheering and edifying to contemplate.

• Oh, that there were more of it amongst us! Truly the heart longs for it.

• May the Word of God so tell upon our whole moral being that instead of yielding to the condition of things around us we may live above it and pass through it as witnesses to the eternal reality of the truth of God and the imperishable virtues of the name of Jesus.

Daniel

But we must pass on from the interesting history of Josiah, and present some further illustrations of our theme.

• Hardly had that beloved servant of God passed off the scene when every trace of his blessed work was swept away, and the heavy tide of judgment, long held back in the long-suffering mercy of God, rolled over the land.

• Jerusalem was laid in ruins, its temple burnt to the ground, and all the people who escaped were carried captive to Babylon, there to hang their harps on the willows and weep over the faded light of other days.

But, blessed forever be the God of all grace, He never leaves Himself without a witness; and hence, during the long and dreary period of Babylonish captivity, we find some most striking and beautiful proofs of the statement that

• the greater the ruin the richer the grace, and the deeper the gloom the brighter the flashes of individual faith.

• There was then, as there ever is,
  • "a remnant according to the election of grace"

• – a little band of devoted men who loved the Lord and were true to His Word amid the pollutions and abominations of Babylon, and who were prepared to face the fiery furnace and the lions' den for the truth of God.

The opening chapters of the book of Daniel furnish some magnificent results of individual faith and devotedness. Look, for example, at Daniel 2: 46.

• Where in the history of the nation of Israel have we aught more striking than what is here recorded? Earth's greatest monarch humbled before a captive exile and giving forth this wonderful testimony:
  • "The king answered unto Daniel, and said, Of a truth it is, that your God is a God of gods, and a Lord of kings, and a revealer of secrets, seeing thou couldest reveal this secret".

But where did Daniel get the power to reveal the king's secret? Verses 17 and 18 supply the lovely answer:

• "Then Daniel went to his house, and made the thing known to Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah, his companions: that they would desire mercies of the God of heaven concerning this secret".

• Here we have a prayer-meeting in Babylon. These dear men were of one heart and one mind. They were one in their purpose to refuse the king's meat and wine.

• They were resolved, by the grace of God, to tread the holy path of separation, though captive exiles in Babylon; and they got together for prayer, and received an abundant answer.

Can aught be finer than this? What an encouragement to the Lord's beloved people in darkest days to hold fast Christ's Word, and not deny His precious name!

• Is it not most refreshing and edifying to find amid the dark days of Babylonish captivity a few true-hearted men treading in holy fellowship the path of separation and dependence?

• They stood for God in the king's palace, and God was with them in the furnace and in the lions' den, and conferred upon them the high privilege of standing before the world as the servants of the Most High God.

• They refused the king's meat; they would not worship the king's image; they kept God's Word and confessed His name utterly regardless of consequences.

They did not say, 'We must go with the times; we must do as others do; there is no need to make ourselves singular; we must outwardly conform to the public worship, the religion of the state, and hold our own private opinions all the same; we are not called to withstand the faith of the nation; being in Babylon, we must conform to Babylon's religion'.

Thank God, Daniel and his beloved companions did not adopt this contemptible, time-serving policy.

• No! and what is more, they did not draw a plea, from the complete wreck of Israel's national polity, for lowering the standard of individual faithfulness.

• They felt – could not but feel, the ruin. They confessed their sin, and the sin of the nation; they felt that, so far as they were concerned, sackcloth and ashes became them; they would bow down their whole moral being beneath that solemn word,
  • "O Israel, thou hast destroyed thyself".

• All this was, alas, too true; but that was no reason why they should defile themselves with the king's meat, worship the king's image, or give up the worship of the one true and living God. Ah, God was before their eyes, and Him they served and obeyed.

All this is full of the most precious teaching for all the Lord's people at the present moment.

• There are two special evils which we have to guard against.

• We must beware of ecclesiastical pretension or boasting in mere church position, without an exercised conscience and the holy fear of God. This is a terrible evil, against which every beloved child of God should most sedulously watch.

• We must never forget that the professing Church is a hopeless wreck, and that any human effort to restore it is a delusion. We are not called, and hence not qualified, to restore it.

• The Holy Ghost is nevertheless forming the body of Christ, and hastening its completion for the Lord's return.

But, on the other hand, we are not to draw a plea from the ruin of the church for laxity as to truth, or sluggishness in our personal walk. We are in great danger of this.

• There is no reason whatever why any child of God, or servant of Christ, should do or sanction what is wrong, or continue for an hour in association with aught that has not for its authority,
  • "Thus saith the Lord".

  • "Let every one that nameth the name of the Lord depart from iniquity".

• And what then? Stand alone? Do nothing? Not so, thanks and praise to our ever-gracious God!
  • But "follow righteousness, faith, love, peace, with them that call on the Lord out of a pure heart"

• – a heart true to Christ and His interests.

Nehemiah

But we must pursue our subject, and ask the reader to turn to Nehemiah 8.

• We have been looking at the remnant before the captivity and during the captivity;
  • and now we are called to look at them after the captivity; brought back, by the rich mercy of God, into their own beloved land.

• We shall not attempt to go into details, but just take one weighty fact in illustration of our special thesis – a fact of immense importance for the whole Church of God at the present moment.

We shall quote a few verses of this lovely Scripture:

• "So they read in the book in the law of God distinctly, and gave the sense, and caused them to understand the reading – And on the second day were gathered together the chief of the fathers of all the people, the priests, and the Levites, unto Ezra the scribe, even to understand the words of the law.

  "And they found written in the law which the Lord had commanded by Moses, that the children of Israel should dwell in booths in the feast of the seventh month … And all the congregation of them that were come again out of the captivity made booths, and sat under the booths: for since the days of Joshua the son of Nun unto that day had not the children of Israel done so. And there was very great gladness.

  "Also day by day, from the first day unto the last day, he read in the book of the law of God. And they kept the feast seven days; and on the eighth day was a solemn assembly, according unto the manner".

This is very striking. Here we find a feeble remnant gathered round the Word of God, holding a reading-meeting, and getting to understand the truth and feel its power on the heart and conscience.

• And what was the result? Nothing less than the celebration of the feast of tabernacles, which had never been kept since the days of Joshua the son of Nun.

• Throughout the days of the judges, the days of Samuel the prophet, the days of the kings – even the brilliant days of David and Solomon – the feast of tabernacles had never been celebrated.

• It was reserved for a feeble company of returned exiles to keep, amid the ruins of Jerusalem, this precious and beautiful festival – the type of Israel's glorious future.

Was this presumption? Nay, it was simple obedience to the Word of God. It was written in the Book – written for them; they acted upon it.

• "And there was very great gladness".

• There was no pretension, no setting up to be anything, no boasting, no attempt to hide their true condition;
  • they were a poor, feeble, despised remnant, taking their true place, broken, and contrite, confessing their failure, deeply conscious that it was not with them as it was in the days of Solomon, David, and Joshua.

• But they heard the Word of God – heard and understood – bowed to its holy authority – kept the feast.
  • "And there was very great gladness".

• This surely is another striking and beautiful illustration of our theme, that the greater the ruin, the richer the grace; and the deeper the gloom, the brighter the flashes of individual faith.

• At all times, and in all places, the contrite and confiding heart is met by unqualified, unbounded grace.

Malachi

We shall now turn, for a moment, to the last page of Old Testament Scripture – the prophecy of Malachi.

• Many years have rolled by since the bright days of Ezra and Nehemiah, and we have here a most sorrowful picture of Israel's condition. Alas, alas! 'the down grade' has been rapidly trodden. It is the same sad story
  • – "O Israel, thou hast destroyed thyself!"

• Let us quote a few sentences.
  • "Ye offer polluted bread upon Mine altar; and ye say, Wherein have we polluted Thee? In that ye say the table of the Lord is contemptible … Who is there even among you that would shut the doors for naught? neither do ye kindle fire on Mine altar for naught. I have no pleasure in you, saith the Lord of hosts, neither will I accept an offering at your hand …

    "Ye say, The table of the Lord is polluted; and the fruit thereof, even His meat, is contemptible. Ye said also, Behold, what a weariness is it! and ye have snuffed at it, saith the Lord of hosts; and ye brought that which was torn, and the lame, and the sick; thus ye brought an offering: should I accept this of your hand? saith the Lord", Malachi 1: 7, 10, 12-13; see also Malachi 3: 5-9.

• What a deplorable condition of things! It is simply heart-breaking to contemplate.

• The public worship of God brought into utter contempt; the ministers of religion working only for hire; venality and corruption in connection with the holy service of God; every form of moral pravity practiced amongst the people.

• In short, it was a scene of deep moral gloom, depressing beyond expression to all who cared for the Lord's interests.

Yet, even in the midst of this terrible scene, we have a most touching and exquisite illustration of our thesis.

• As ever, there is a remnant – a beloved company who honoured and loved the Lord, and found in Him their centre, their object, their delight.
  • "Then they that feared the Lord spake often one to another; and the Lord harkened, and heard, and a book of remembrance was written before Him for them that feared the Lord, and that thought upon His name.

    "And they shall be Mine, saith the Lord of hosts, in that day when I make up My jewels" [My special treasure]; "and I will spare them, as a man spareth his own son that serveth him".

How lovely is all this! What a contrast to the general condition of things! We may range through the entire history of the nation, and find nothing like this. Where do we read of

• "a book of remembrance … written before … the Lord"?

• Nowhere; not even amidst the brilliant victories of Joshua and David, or the splendours of Solomon. It may be said there was no need. That is not the point.

• What we have to ponder is the striking fact that the words and ways of this feeble remnant, in the very midst of abounding wickedness, were so refreshing to the heart of God that He had a book of remembrance written about them.

• We may safely assert that the communings of these beloved ones were more grateful to the heart of God than the singers and trumpeters in Solomon's day.
  • "They … spake often one to another".

    "They … feared the Lord, and … thought upon His name".

• There was individual devotedness, personal attachment; they loved the Lord; and this drew them together.

Nothing can be more lovely. Would there were more of it in our midst!

• Those dear people were not doing anything very great or showy in man's view; but ah, they loved the Lord, they thought of Him, and their common attachment to Him drew them together to speak of Him;
  • and this gave a charm to their reunions which gratified and refreshed the heart of God!

• It stood out in bright and beauteous relief from the dark background of hirelingism and heartless routine with which they were surrounded.

• They were not bound together by certain views or opinions which they held in common, though doubtless they had their views and opinions; neither were they held together by ritualistic services or ceremonial observances;
  • no, they had something far better and higher than any of these things; they were drawn and knit together by deep-toned personal devotedness to the Lord, and this was agreeable to His heart.

• He was weary with the whole system of ritualism, but refreshed by the genuine devotedness of a few precious souls who got together as often as they could to speak one to another, and to encourage one another in the Lord.

Would that there were more of this amongst us! We long for it, and our one earnest desire in writing this paper is to promote it.

• We greatly dread the withering, paralysing influence of mere formalism or religious routine – getting into a groove, and going on day after day, week after week, year after year, in a poor, cold, formal manner, most offensive to the loving heart of our adorable Lord and Saviour,
  • who desires to be surrounded by a company of wholehearted, devoted followers, true to His name, true to His Word, true to one another for His sake, seeking to serve Him in every right way, while ardently looking out for His blessed appearing.

• May the Spirit of God work mightily in the hearts of all His people, healing, restoring, reviving, and maintaining a faithful company to welcome the heavenly Bridegroom! Let us cry to our gracious God day and night for this.

Luke

I am anxious to present two or three illustrations drawn from the precious pages of the New Testament.

• In the opening of Luke's Gospel we have a lovely picture of a remnant in the midst of a hollow, heartless profession.

• We listen to the spiritual heart utterances of Mary, Elizabeth, Zacharias, and Simeon. We read of Anna the prophetess, who spoke of Jesus to all who looked for redemption in Jerusalem.

• I remember hearing my beloved and revered old friend J.N.D. [Darby] say in reference to Anna, "I am sure I do not know how she managed to get at them at all, but she did".

• Yes, she did, because she loved the Lord and loved His dear people, and delighted to find them out and speak of Him. It is just our beloved remnant in Malachi over again.

• Nothing can be more lovely or refreshing. It was the exquisite and fragrant fruit of deep-toned love to the Lord in contrast with the wearisome forms of dead religiousness.

Jude

• But our object just now is not apostate Christendom, but the Christian remnant.

• Thanks and praise to our gracious God, there is always a remnant marked off from the mass of corrupt profession, and characterised by genuine attachment to Christ, to His interests, and to every member of His beloved body.

It is to this remnant that the inspired apostle addresses his solemn and weighty Epistle. It is not to any special assembly, but

• "To them that are sanctified by God the Father, and preserved in Jesus Christ, called: mercy unto you, and peace, and love, be multiplied".

• Blessed position! Precious portion! "Separated", "preserved", "called" – this is the position. "Mercy", "peace", "love" – this is the portion.

• And all this made sure to every true-hearted child of God on the face of the earth ere a single word is written about the overwhelming tide of apostasy which was so soon to roll over the whole professing Church.

We repeat, and would emphasise the expression, 'to every true-hearted child of God'.

• As in Israel of old, so in the professing Church, the remnant will be found to consist of those who are true to Christ, hold fast His Word in the face of everything, are devoted to His precious interests, and who love His appearing.

• In a word, it must be a living reality, and not mere church-membership or nominal fellowship here or there, with this or that.
  • Moreover it is not assuming to be, but really being, of the remnant-not the name, but the spiritual power; so the apostle says,
    • "I will know, not the speech … but the power".

  • A weighty word for us all.

And now let us turn for a few moments to the precious words of exhortation addressed to the Christian remnant. May the Spirit clothe them with power to our souls!

• "But, beloved, remember ye the words which were spoken before of the apostles of our Lord Jesus Christ".

• They are directed to the Holy Scriptures, and to these alone.

• It is not to human tradition of any kind; not to the Fathers; not to the decrees of general councils; not to the commandments and doctrines of men; not to any of these, or all put together, which can only bewilder, perplex, and mislead;

• but to the pure and precious Word of God, that perfect revelation which in His infinite goodness He has put into our hands,
  • and which can make a little child "wise unto salvation"

    and make a man "perfect, thoroughly furnished unto all good works", 2 Timothy 3.

The Lord be praised for this unspeakable favour! No human language can set forth the importance of having a divinely settled authority for our path.

• All we want is to be absolutely and completely governed by it, to have it hidden in our hearts, acting on our consciences, forming our character, governing our conduct in everything.

• To give the Word of God this place is one of the marked characteristics of the Christian remnant.

• It is not the worthless, baseless formulary, 'The Bible, and the Bible only, is the religion of Protestants'. Protestantism is not the Church of God, it is not the Christian remnant.

The Reformation was the result of a blessed work of the Spirit of God

• but Protestantism, in all its denominational branches, is what man has made of it.

• In it human organisation has displaced the living work of the Spirit, and the form of godliness has displaced the power of individual faith.

• No mere 'ism', call it what you please, can ever be regarded as the Church of God or the Christian remnant. It is of the very utmost moral importance to see this.

• The professing Church has utterly failed, its corporate unity is hopelessly gone, just as we see in the history of Israel.

• But the Christian remnant is made up of all those who truly feel and own the ruin, who are governed by the Word and led by the Spirit, in separation from what is contrary to that Word, to wait for their Lord.

Let us see how all this comes out in Jude's address to the remnant.

• "But ye, beloved, building up yourselves on your most holy faith, praying in the Holy Ghost, keep yourselves in the love of God, looking for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ unto eternal life".

• Here then we have a loved view of the true Christian remnant and their occupation among themselves. Nothing can be more beautiful.

• We may be asked, to whom does this charming passage apply? We answer, to those – whoever and wherever they are – addressed in the first verse of the Epistle:
  • "To them that are sanctified by God the Father, and preserved in Jesus Christ, and called".

• Nothing can be more simple or more blessed. It is perfectly obvious that these words do not and cannot apply to mere professors; neither can they apply to any ecclesiastical body under the sun.

• In a word, they apply to the living members of the body of Christ. All such should be found together building up themselves on their most holy faith, praying in the Holy Ghost, keeping themselves in the love of God, and looking out for their Lord.

This is the Christian remnant, just as in Malachi 3 we have the Jewish remnant. Nothing can be more lovely. It is the position in which all true Christians should be found.

• There is no pretension to setting themselves up to be anything, no attempt to ignore the sad and solemn fact of the utter ruin of the professing Church.

• It is a Christian remnant in the midst of Christendom's ruins, true to the Person of Christ, true to His Word; knit together in true Christian love – not the love of sect, party, clique, or coterie, but love in the Spirit, love to all who love our Lord Jesus Christ in sincerity;
  • love expressing itself in true devotedness to Christ and His precious interests; and loving ministry to all who belong to Him and seek to reflect Him in all their ways.

• It is not resting in mere position, regardless of condition – a terrible snare of the devil – but a healthy union of the two in a life characterised by sound principle and gracious practice; the kingdom of God established in the heart and developing itself in the whole practical career.

Such then is the position, the condition, the practice of the true Christian remnant; and we may rest assured that, where these things are realized and carried out,

• there will be as rich enjoyment of Christ, as full communion with God, and as bright a testimony to the glorious truth of New Testament Christianity as ever was known in the brightest days of the Church's history.

• In a word, there will be that which will glorify the name of God, gratify the heart of Christ, and tell with living power on the hearts and consciences of men.

• May God, in His infinite goodness, give us to see these bright realities in this dark and evil day – a fresh illustration of the soul-stirring fact that the greater the ruin, the richer the grace; the deeper the gloom, the brighter the flashes of individual faith.

Thyatira

Look for a moment at the address to the fourth of the seven churches, as given in the second chapter of Revelation.

• The church of Thyatira gives us the history of the Church during those long, dreary centuries of the Middle Ages, when gross darkness covered the earth, when poverty – that darkest moral blot – prevailed in the well-known character of Jezebel.

In the address to this assembly we find a marked change, indicated by three plain facts – namely: first, a remnant is for the first time addressed: secondly, the Lord's coming is for the first time introduced; and, thirdly, the hearing ear is no longer looked for in the assembly at large, but in the overcomer.

• Now these facts prove beyond all question that in Thyatira all hope of corporate restoration is abandoned.
  • "I gave her space to repent … and she repented not".

• The case is hopeless as regards the professing body. But here the remnant is singled out and cheered – not with the hope of a converted world or a restored church but with the bright and blessed hope of the Lord's coming as the bright and morning star.
  • "But unto you I say, the remnant"*
    [* The word rendered "remnant" in the above passage is loipois and is from the same root as the word "remnant" in Romans 11: 5, which is limma. Both are from leipo, to leave.]

    "in Thyatira, as many as have not this doctrine"*
    [* didachen the same root as didaskein what Jezebel was doing],

    "and which have not known the depths of Satan, as they speak; I will put upon you none other burden. But that which ye have hold fast till I come".

Here then we have a deeply interesting view of the Christian remnant.

• It is not the church restored, but a distinct company clear of Jezebel's teaching and Satan's depths, and going on to the end.

• It is of the utmost importance that the reader should be clear in reference to the fact that the last four churches run on synchronously to the end.

• It simplifies the whole subject immensely, and gives us a very definite, practical view of the Christian remnant.

• There is no mention of a remnant until we get to Thyatira. Then all hope of corporate restoration is given up.

• This simple fact overturns the church of Rome from its very foundations. It is presented to us as an apostate and idolatrous system, threatened with the judgment of God: and a remnant are addressed who have nothing to do with her. So much for the boasted, universal, infallible church of Rome.

Sardis

But what of Sardis? Is this the church restored? Nothing of the kind.

• "Thou hast a name that thou livest, and art dead".

• This is not a restored or reformed church, but threatened with Christ's coming as a thief, instead of being cheered with "the bright and morning star". In a word, it is Protestantism with "a name", but the works "not perfect before God".

• And what then? The Christian remnant.
  • "A few names even in Sardis which have not defiled their garments; and they" [He does not say thou] "shall walk with Me in white: for they are worthy".

• We have here a vivid and most striking contrast between dead, cold, nominal profession and a few true-hearted, earnest lovers of Christ – between form and power, death and life.

Philadelphia

In the last two assemblies we have the contrast continued, enlarged, and enforced.

• Philadelphia gives us a most precious picture of a company of true Christians,
  • humble, lowly, feeble, but true to Christ; holding fast His Word, and not denying His name – Christ and His Word treasured in the heart and confessed in the life – a living reality, not a lifeless form.

• The moral beauty of this is excellent. The very contemplation of it is refreshing and edifying indeed.

• In short, it is Christ reproduced by the Holy Ghost in a beloved remnant. There is no pretension to be anything, no assumption of great things. Christ is all: His Word, His name, how precious!

• We seem to have gathered up and concentrated here the lovely moral traits of the various remnants that have come under our notice, brought out in full blow and yielding a fragrant perfume.

Now all this is most grateful to the heart of Christ. It is not a question of great service rendered, mighty works performed, anything striking or splendid in the eyes of men.

• No; it is something far more precious to the Lord, namely, the deep, calm, thorough appreciation of Himself and His precious Word. This is far more to Him than the most showy services and costly sacrifices.

• What He looks for is a place in the heart. Without this all is worthless. But the very feeblest breathing of the heart's affections after Himself is most precious.

Let us harken to our adorable Lord as He pours out His loving heart to this dear Philadelphian company – this true Christian remnant.

• "These things saith He that is holy, He that is true, He that hath the key of David, He that openeth, and no man shutteth; and shutteth, and no man openeth;

  "I know thy works: behold, I have set before thee an open door, and no man can shut it: for thou hast a little strength, and hast kept My word, and hast not denied My name. Behold, I will make them of the synagogue of Satan"

• – those who take their stand on the boasted ground of traditional religion –
  • "which say they are Jews, and are not, but do lie; behold, I will make them to come and worship before thy feet, and to know that I have loved thee"

• – precious, blessed fact, the basis and guarantee of all, for time and eternity! –
  • "Because thou hast kept the word of My patience" [not My power], "I will also keep thee from the hour of temptation, which shall come upon all the world, to try them that dwell upon the earth"

• [tous katoikountas], those finding their home on the earth, in contrast to those whose citizenship is in Heaven.

The Lord Christ most graciously pledges Himself to keep His beloved assembly from the terrible hour of trial that is coming upon this whole scene.

• He will have His heavenly people with Himself in their heavenly home ere a single seal is opened, a trumpet sounded, or a vial poured out.

• All praise to His name for this bright, blessed, tranquillising, joyful hope! May we live in the power of it while we wait for the full fruition!

But we must quote the remainder of this most exquisite address, so full of comfort and consolation.

• "Behold, I come quickly: hold that fast which thou hast, that no man take thy crown. Him that overcometh will I make a pillar in the temple of My God, and he shall go no more out:

  "and I will write upon him the name of My God, and the name of the city of My God, new Jerusalem, which cometh down out of heaven from My God: and My new name".

• Nothing can exceed the grace that shines in all this. Jehovah spoke gracious words to His beloved remnant in the days of Malachi.
  • "They shall be Mine … in that day when I make up My jewels; and I will spare them, as a man spareth his own son that serveth him.

    "Then shall ye return, and discern between the righteous and the wicked, between him that serveth God and him that serveth Him not. For, behold, the day cometh that shall burn as an oven; and all the proud, yea, and all that do wickedly, shall be stubble: and the day that cometh shall burn them up, saith the Lord of hosts, that it shall leave them neither root nor branch. But unto you that"

• – what? That have done great things, made great sacrifices, made a great profession, had a great name? No; but –
  • "fear My name shall the Sun of righteousness arise with healing in His wings; and ye shall go forth, and grow up as calves of the stall. And ye shall tread down the wicked; for they shall be ashes under the soles of your feet in the day that I shall do this, saith the Lord of hosts", Malachi 3: 17 – Malachi 4: 3.

There are points of similarity and points of contrast in the Jewish and Christian remnants which we cannot go into just now, inasmuch as our object in referring to both is to illustrate our special theme,

• namely, that in darkest days we find a devoted remnant dear to the heart of God, the heart of Christ, and who are addressed in the most tender and endearing terms, comforted by the most precious assurances, and cheered by the brightest hopes.

• This we believe to be the special subject laid upon the heart to present to the whole Church of God, for the purpose of encouraging every member of the beloved body of Christ on the face of the earth
  • to stand apart from all that is contrary to His mind as revealed in His Word,

• and to be found in the position, attitude and spirit of the true Christian remnant, waiting for the coming of our beloved Lord.

One point marks the distinction between the two remnants in the clearest way. It is this:

• the Jewish remnant is cheered by the hope of the Sun of righteousness;
  • whereas to the Christian remnant is granted the far higher, brighter and sweeter privilege of looking out for the bright and morning Star.

• A little child can understand the difference between these two things.

• The morning star appears in the heavens long before the sun rises; and in like manner the Church will meet her Lord as "the bright and morning Star" before the beams of the Sun of righteousness fall in healing power on the God-fearing remnant of Israel.

Laodicea

And now a word, in conclusion, as to Laodicea. Nothing can be more vivid or striking than the contrast between it and Philadelphia in every respect.

• We have here the last phase of the professing Christian body. It is just about to be spewed out as something insufferably nauseous to Christ. It is not a question of gross immorality.

• It may to man's eye present a very respectable appearance; but to the heart of Christ its condition is most repulsive. It is characterised by lukewarmness and indifference.
  • "I know thy works, that thou art neither cold nor hot: I would thou wert cold or hot. So then because thou art lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will spew thee out of My mouth".

How awfully solemn to find the professing Church in such a condition! And to think how soon we pass from the attractions of Philadelphia – so grateful to the heart of Christ, so refreshing to His spirit – to the withering atmosphere of Laodicea, where there is not a single redeeming feature!

• We have heartless indifference as to Christ and His interests, combined with the most deplorable self-congratulation.
  • "Thou sayest, I am rich, and increased with goods, and have need of nothing; and knowest not that thou art wretched, and miserable, and poor, and blind, and naked:

    "I counsel thee to buy of Me gold tried in the fire, that thou mayest be rich; and white raiment, that thou mayest be clothed, and that the shame of thy nakedness do not appear; and anoint thine eyes with eyesalve, that thou mayest see".

• How solemn is all this! People boasting of their riches, and of their having need of nothing, and Christ outside.

• They have lost the sense of divine righteousness, symbolised by "gold", and practical human righteousness, as symbolised by "white raiment", and yet full of themselves and their doings – the very reverse of the dear Philadelphian company.

• There, He reproves nothing; here, He commends nothing. There, Christ is all; here, He is actually outside, and the Church is all.

• In a word, it is perfectly appalling to contemplate. We are just at the close. We have got to the last solemn phase of the Church as God's witness on the earth.

Yet even here, in the face of this most deplorable condition of things, the infinite grace and changeless love of the heart of Christ shine out in all their undimmed lustre.

• He is outside; this tells what the Church is. But He is knocking, calling, waiting: this tells what He is, eternal and universal homage to His name!
  • "As many as I love, I rebuke and chasten: be zealous therefore, and repent".

• The gold, the white raiment and the eyesalve are offered. Love has various offices to discharge, various characters in which to clothe itself; but it is the same love still –
  • "the same yesterday, and to-day, and forever", even though it has to "rebuke and chasten".

• Here His attitude and His action speak volumes, both as to the Church and as to Himself.
  • "Behold, I stand at the door, and knock: if any man* hear My voice, and open the door, I will come in to him, and will sup with him, and he with Me".
    [* Here it is not to the outside sinner, but to the professing Church the Lord makes this most solemn and weighty appeal. It is not Christ knocking at the door of the sinner's heart – true as that is also – but at the door of those in the professing Church. How telling! how suggestive! Oh, may professing Christians ponder it!]

In the church of Sardis the remnant is spoken of as "a few names"; in Laodicea there is an "if" as to one; but even if there be a single hearing ear, if there be one to open the door,

• that one is assured of the high privilege, the immense favour, of supping with Christ – of having that precious one as Guest and Host.
  • "I with him, and he with Me".

• When the corporate witness has reached the very lowest point, individual faithfulness is rewarded with intimate fellowship with the heart of Christ. Such is the infinite and everlasting love of our beloved Saviour and Lord. Oh, who would not trust Him and praise Him and love Him and serve Him?

And now, beloved Christian reader, in taking leave of you, I would earnestly and affectionately entreat you to join in petition to our ever-gracious God to stir up the hearts of His beloved people all over the world to seek

• a more pronounced, whole-hearted, devoted discipleship;

• to turn away from everything contrary to His Word;

• to be true to His Word and to His name in this dark and evil day;

• and thus realize the truth, which has passed before us in this paper, that the greater the ruin, the richer the grace; the deeper the gloom, the brighter the outshining of individual faith.

P.S. – I feel I must not let this paper go forth without adding a word on the immense importance of keeping up a full, clear, earnest gospel testimony.

• "Do the work of an evangelist"

• is a charge given by the beloved apostle from his prison at Rome to his dear son Timothy, in view of the total ruin of the professing Church; and truly the circumstances under which these words were penned impart a touching interest to them.

• Come what may, Timothy was to continue to announce the glad tidings of God's salvation. He might be tempted to give up in despair, and say, 'All is going to pieces, people will not listen to the gospel' – "will not endure sound doctrine".

Faith says, 'No; we must never give up. God's gospel must be preached to every creature under heaven. And even though men reject it, God is glorified and His heart is refreshed by the precious message of His love being told out in the ears of perishing sinners'.

• We would encourage the heart of every beloved evangelist on the face of the earth by reminding him that however the Church has failed as God's witness to the world, yet the precious gospel tells out what He is to every poor, broken-hearted, bankrupt sinner who will only trust Him.

• The thought of this has cheered us during forty-eight years of evangelistic work, when the condition of the Church was heart-breaking to contemplate.

In speaking of the work of an evangelist, we must not confine it to public halls and rooms, which, of course, demand a distinct gift from the Head of the Church.

• We believe it is the sweet privilege of every child of God to be in a condition of soul to tell the glad tidings to individual souls in private life; and we must confess we long to see more of this.

• It matters not what our position in life or sphere of action may be, we should earnestly and prayerfully seek the salvation of those with whom we come in contact. If we fail in this, we are not in communion with the heart of God and the mind of Christ.

• In the Gospels and Acts we see a great deal of this lovely individual work.
  • "Philip findeth Nathanael".

    "Andrew first findeth his own brother Simon".

We want more of this earnest, beautiful, personal work in private. It is refreshing to the heart of God.

• We are apt to get into a groove and rest satisfied with asking people to come to public halls and rooms – all right and good in its place, and most important. We would not pen a line to detract from the value of this service;
  • but at the same time we cannot help feeling our sad deficiency in loving, personal dealing with souls.

• But this requires nearness to God in our inward life; which may well cause serious searching of our hearts before God, for it is the root of our deficiency.

May the gracious Lord stir up the hearts of all His beloved people to a more lively interest in the blessed work of evangelization, at home and abroad, in public and in private!

At the same time, we must take care not to carry that feeling to such an extent as would lead us to throw overboard aught that is calculated to act in a divine way upon the heart and conscience of the believer. We really want practical truth.

• There is a vast amount of what is called abstract truth in circulation among us, and we prize it, and would prize it more. We delight in the unfolding of truth in all its departments.

• But then we must remember that truth is designed to act on hearts and consciences, and that there are hearts and consciences to be acted upon.

• We must not cry out, "Legal! legal!" whenever some great practical truth falls upon our ears, even though that truth may come before us clothed in a garb which at first sight seems strange.

We are called to "suffer the word of exhortation" — to listen to wholesome words — to apply our hearts diligently to everything tending to promote practical godliness and personal holiness.

• We know that the pure and precious doctrines of grace — those doctrines which find their living centre in the person of Christ, and their eternal foundation in His work — are the means which the Holy Ghost uses to promote holiness in the life of the Christian;
  • but we know also that those doctrines may be held in theory, and professed with the lips, while the heart has never felt their power, and the life never exhibited their moulding influence.

Yes, we frequently find that the loud and vehement outcry against everything that looks like legality proceeds from those who, though they profess the doctrines of grace, do not realize their sanctifying influence;

• whereas those who really understand the meaning of grace, who feel its power to mould and fashion, to purify and elevate, are ever ready to welcome the most pungent appeals to the heart and conscience.

But the pious reader may want to know what is meant by the expression quoted above, namely,

• "God always keeps us up to the original terms."

• Well, it simply means this, that when God calls us to any special position or path, and we fall short of it, or wander from it, He will recall us to it again and again.

• And further, when we set out under some special principle of action or standard of devotedness, and swerve from it, or fall below it, He will remind us of it, and bring us back to it.

• True, He bears with us patiently, and waits on us graciously; but "He always keeps us up to the original terms."

And can we not praise Him for this? Assuredly we can.

• Could we endure the thought of His allowing us to fall short of His holy standard, or to wander hither and thither without His uttering a word to urge us on or call us back? We trust not.

• Well, then, if He does speak, what must He say? He must just remind us of "the old terms." Thus it is, and thus has ever been.

• When Peter was converted at the lake of Gennesaret he forsook all and followed Jesus, and the last words that fell on his ear from the lips of his risen Lord were, "Follow thou Me."

• This was simply keeping him to the original terms. The heart of Jesus could not be satisfied with less, and neither should the heart of His servant.

By the lake of Gennesaret, Peter set out to follow Jesus. What then?

• Years rolled on; Peter had stumbled; he had denied his Lord; he had gone back to his boats and nets. What then?

• After the Lord's resurrection, as Peter, restored in soul, stood by the side of his loving Lord at the sea of Tiberias, he was called to listen to that one brief, pointed utterance,
  • "Follow Me" — an utterance embracing in its comprehensive grasp all the details of a life of active service and of patient suffering.

• In a word, Peter was brought back to the original terms — the terms between his soul and Christ.

• He was brought to learn that the heart of Jesus had undergone no change toward him — that the love of that heart was inextinguishable and unaltered; and, because it was so, it could not tolerate any change in Peter's heart — neither decline nor departure from the original terms.

Now we see the same thing precisely in the history of the patriarch Jacob. Let us just turn to it for a moment.

• At the close of Gen. 28 we have the record of the original terms between the Lord and Jacob. We shall quote it at length.

"And Jacob went out from Beersheba, and went toward Haran. And he lighted upon a certain place, and tarried there all night, because the sun was set; and he took of the stones of that place, and put them for his pillows, and lay down in that place to sleep. And he dreamed, and behold a ladder set up on the earth, and the top of it reached to heaven: and behold the angels of God ascending and descending on it.

• And, behold, the Lord stood above it, and said, l am the Lord God of Abraham thy father, and the God of Isaac: the land whereon thou liest, to thee will I give it, and to thy seed: and thy seed shall be as the dust of the earth; and thou shalt spread abroad to the west and to the east, and to the north, and to the south: and in thee and in thy seed shall all the families of the earth be blessed. And behold, I am with thee, and will keep thee in all places whither thou goest, and will bring thee again into this land; for I will not leave thee, until I have done that which I have spoken to thee of.

Here, then, we have the blessed statement of what the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob undertook to do for Jacob and for his seed — a statement crowned by these memorable words,

• "I will not leave thee. until I have done that which I have spoken to thee of."

• Such are the terms by which God binds Himself to Jacob; which terms, blessed be His name, have been and will be fulfilled to the letter, though earth and hell should interpose to prevent.

• Jacob's seed shall yet possess the whole land of Canaan as an everlasting inheritance, for who shall prevent Jehovah Elohim, the Lord God Almighty, from accomplishing His promise?

Let us now harken to Jacob.

• "And Jacob awaked out of his sleep, and he said, Surely the Lord is in this place; and I knew it not. And he was afraid, and said, How dreadful is this place! this is none other but the house of God, and this is the gate of heaven. And Jacob rose up early in the morning, and took the stone that he had put for his pillows, and set it up for a pillar, and poured oil upon the top of it. And he called the name of that place Bethel …

• And Jacob vowed a vow, saying, If God will be with me, and will keep me in this way that I go, and will give me bread to eat, and raiment to put on, so that I come again to my father's house in peace — then shall the Lord be my God: and this stone, which I have set for a pillar, shall be God's house: and of all that Thou shalt give me I will surely give the tenth unto Thee."

Thus much as to Bethel and the terms entered into there. God pledged Himself to Jacob; and though Heaven and earth should pass away, that pledge must be maintained in all its integrity.

• He revealed Himself to that poor lonely one who lay sleeping on his stony pillow; and not only revealed Himself to him, but linked Himself with him in a bond which no power of earth or hell can ever dissolve.

And what of Jacob? Why, he dedicated himself to God, and vowed that the spot where he had enjoyed such a revelation and darkened to such exceeding great and precious promises, should be God's house.

• All this was deliberately uttered before the Lord, and solemnly recorded by Him; and then Jacob went on his journey.

• Years passed — twenty long and eventful years — years of trial and exercise, during which Jacob experienced many ups and downs, changes, and varied trials; but the God of Bethel watched over His poor servant, and appeared unto him in the midst of his pressure, and said unto him,
  • "I am the God of Bethel, where thou anointedst the pillar, and where thou vowedst a vow unto Me: now arise, get thee out from this land, and return unto the land of thy kindred."

God had not forgotten the original terms, neither would He let His servant forget them.

• Is this legality? Nay; it is the exhibition of divine love and faithfulness. God loved Jacob, and He would not suffer him to stop short of the old standard.

• He jealously watched over the state of His servant's heart; and, lest it should by any means remain below the Bethel mark, He gently reminds him by those touching and significant words,
  • "I am the God of Bethel, where thou anointedst the pillar, and where thou vowedst a vow."

• This was the sweet expression of God's unchanging love, and of the fact that He counted on Jacob's remembrance of Bethel scenes.

How amazing that the High and Mighty One, who inhabiteth eternity, should so value the love and remembrance of a poor worm of the earth! Yet so it is, and we ought to bear it more in mind.

• Alas, we forget it! We are ready enough to take mercies and blessings from the hand of God, and most surely He is ready enough to bestow them.

But then we ought to remember that He looks for the loving devotion of our hearts to Him; and if we, in the freshness and ardour of other days, set out to follow Christ, give up all for Him, can we suppose for a moment that He could coldly and indifferently forego His claim upon our heart's affections?

• Should we like Him to do so? Could we endure the thought of its being a matter of indifference to Him whether we loved Him or not? God forbid!

• Yea, it should be the joy of our hearts to think that our blessed Lord seeks the loving devotion of our souls to Him; that He will not be satisfied without it; that when we wander hither and thither, He calls us back to Himself, in His own gentle, gracious, touching way.

When, weary of His rich repast,
I've sought, alas, to rove;
He has recalled His faithless guest,
And showed His banner, Love.

Yes, His banner ever floats, bearing its own inscription upon it to win back our vagrant hearts, and remind us of the original terms. He says to us, in one way or another, as He said to Jacob,

• "I am the God of Bethel, where thou anointedst the pillar, and where thou vowedst a vow."

• Thus he deals with us, in the midst of all our wanderings, our haltings, and our stumblings.

• He makes us to know, that as we cannot do without His love, so neither can He do without ours. It is truly wonderful; yet so it is. He will keep the soul up to the old terms.

• Harken to those touching appeals of the Spirit of Christ to His saints in other days:
  • "Thou hast left thy first love", - "Remember from whence thou art fallen; and repent, and do thy first works", Rev. 2;

  • "Call to remembrance the former times", Heb. 10: 32;

  • "Where is the blessedness ye spake of?", Gal. 4: 15.

What is all this but calling His people back to the old point from which they had declined?

• It may be said, they ought not to have needed this. No doubt; yet they did need it; and because they needed it, Jesus did it.

• It may be said, further, that tried love is better than first love.
  • Granted; but do we not find, as a matter of fact in our spiritual history, that upon our first setting out to follow Jesus there is a simplicity, an earnestness, a freshness, fervour and depth of devotion, which, from various reasons, we fail to keep up?

• We become cold and careless; the world gets in upon us and eats up our spirituality; nature gains the upper hand, in one way or another, and deadens our spiritual sensibility, damps our ardour, and dims our vision.

Is the reader conscious of anything like this? If so, would it not be a peculiar mercy if at this very moment he were called back to the old terms? Doubtless.

• Well, then, let him be assured that the heart of Jesus is waiting and ready. His love is unchanging; and not only so, but He would remind you that He cannot be satisfied without a true response from you.

• Wherefore, beloved friend, whatever has drawn you away from the measure of your earliest dedication to Him, let your heart now spring up and get back at once to Him.

• Do not hesitate. Linger not. Cast yourself at the feet of your loving Lord — tell Him all — and let your heart fully turn to Him, and let it be only for Him.

This is the secret spring of all true service. If Christ has not the love of your heart, He does not want the labour of your hands.

• He does not say, "Son, give Me thy money, thy time, thy talents, thine energies, thy pen, thy tongue, thy head." All these are unavailing, unsatisfying to Him.
  • What He says to you is, "My son, give Me thy heart."

• Where the heart is given to Jesus, all will come right. Out of the heart come all the issues of life; and if only Christ have His right place in the heart, the work and the ways, the walk and the character, will be all right.

But we must return to Jacob, and see further how our subject is illustrated in his fruitful history.

• At the close of Genesis 38 we find him settling down at Shechem, where he gets into all sorts of trouble and confusion. His house is dishonoured, and his sons in avenging the dishonour endanger his life. All this Jacob feels keenly, and he says to his sons Simeon and Levi,
  • "Ye have troubled me … among the inhabitants of the land, among the Canaanites and the Perizzites; and I being few in number, they shall gather themselves together against me; and I shall be destroyed, I and my house."

All this was most deplorable; but it does not appear to have once occurred to Jacob that he was in a wrong place. The defilement and confusion of Shechem failed to open his eyes to the fact that he was not up to the old terms.

• How often is this the case! We fall short of the divine standard in our practical ways; we fail in walking up to the height of the divine revelation; and although the varied fruits of our failure are produced on every side, yet our vision is so dimmed by the atmosphere around us, and our spiritual sensibilities so blunted by our associations that we do not discern how low we are, and how very far short of the proper mark.

However, in Jacob's case we see the divine principle again and again illustrated.

• "And God said unto Jacob, Arise, go up to Bethel, and dwell there; and make there an altar unto God, that appeared unto thee when thou fleddest from the face of Esau thy brother."

Note this. We have here a most exquisite feature in the divine method of dealing with souls.

• There is not one word said about Shechem, its pollutions and its confusions. There is not a word of reproof for having settled down there. Such is not God's way. He employs a far more excellent mode.

• Had we been dealing with Jacob we should have come down upon him with a heavy hand, and read him a severe lecture about his folly in settling at Shechem, and about his personal and domestic habits and condition.

• But oh, how well it is that God's thoughts are not as our thoughts, nor His ways like ours!

Instead of saying to Jacob, "Why have you settled down in Shechem?" He simply says,

• "Arise, go up to Bethel";

• and the very sound of the word sent a flood of light into Jacob's soul by which he was enabled to judge himself and his surroundings.
  • "Then Jacob said unto his household, and to all that were with him, Put away the strange gods that are among you, and be clean, and change your garments: and let us arise, and go up to Bethel; and I will make there an altar unto God, who answered me in the day of my distress, and was with me in the way which I went."

This was, assuredly, getting back to the original terms. It was the restoring of a soul and a leading in the paths of righteousness.

• Jacob felt that he could not bring false gods and defiled garments to Bethel: such things might pass at Shechem, but they would never do for Bethel.
  • "And they gave unto Jacob all the strange gods which were in their hand, and all their earrings which were in their ears; and Jacob hid them under the oak which was by Shechem … So Jacob came to Luz, which is in the land of Canaan, that is, Bethel, he and all the people that were with him. And he built there an altar, and called the place El-beth-el; because there God appeared unto him, when he fled from the face of his brother."

"EL-beth-EL" Precious title, which had God for its Alpha and its Omega!

• At Shechem, Jacob called his altar "El-elohe-Israel," That is, "God, the God of Israel"; but at Bethel, the true standpoint, he called his altar "El-beth-el," that is God-the house of God. This was true restoration.

• Jacob was brought back, after all his wanderings, to the very point from which he had started. Nothing less than this could ever satisfy God in reference to His servant.

• He could wait patiently on him — bear with him — minister to him — care for him — look after him; but He never could rest satisfied with anything short of this —
  • "Arise, go up to Bethel."

Christian reader, pause here, we want to ask you a question.

• Are you conscious of having wandered from Jesus? Has your heart declined, and grown cold?

• Have you lost the freshness and ardour which once marked the tone of your soul? Have you allowed the world to get in upon you?

• Have you, in the moral condition of your soul, got down into Shechem? Has your heart gone after idols, and have your garments become defiled?

• If so, let us remind you of this, that the Lord wants you back to Himself Yes, this is what He wants; and He wants it now. He says to you at this moment,
  • "Arise, go up to Bethel."

You will never be happy, you will never be right, until you yield a full response to this blessed and soul-stirring call. O yield it now, we beseech you.

• Rise up, and fling aside every weight and every hindrance; put away the idols and change your garments, and get back to the feet of your Lord, who loves you with a love which many waters cannot quench, neither can the floods drown; and who cannot be satisfied until He has you with Himself, according to the original terms.

• Say not this is legal; it is nothing of the sort. It is the love of Jesus — His deep, glowing, earnest love — love which is jealous of every rival affection — love which gives the whole heart, and must have a whole heart in return.

• May God the Holy Ghost bring back every wandering heart to the true standard! May He visit with fresh power every soul that has gone down to Shechem, and give no rest until a full response has been yielded to the call,
  • "Arise, go up to Bethel."

John 21: 1-19

A careful study of these verses will enable us to trace in them three distinct kinds of restoration, namely, restoration of conscience, restoration of heart, and restoration of position.

1. The first of these, restoration of conscience, is of all-importance. It would be utterly impossible to overestimate the value of a sound, clear, uncondemning conscience.

• A Christian cannot get on if there is a single soil on his conscience. He must walk before God with a pure conscience — a conscience without stain or sting. Precious treasure! May my reader ever possess it! but in each it must be a restoration to the original terms.

It is very obvious that Peter possessed it in the touching scene "at the sea of Tiberias." And yet he had fallen — shamefully, grievously fallen. He had denied his Lord with an oath; but he was restored.

• One look from Jesus had broken up the deep fountains of his heart, and drawn forth floods of bitter tears. And yet it was not his tears, but the love that drew them forth, which formed the ground of his thorough restoration of conscience.

• It was the changeless and everlasting love of the heart of Jesus — the divine efficacy of the blood of Jesus — and the all-prevailing power of the advocacy of Jesus, that imparted to Peter's conscience the boldness and liberty so strikingly and beautifully exhibited on the memorable occasion before us.

The risen Saviour is seen in these closing chapters of John's Gospel watching over His poor, feeble, erring disciples — hovering about their path — presenting Himself in various ways before them

• — taking occasion from their very necessities to make Himself known in perfect grace to their hearts.

• Was there a tear to be dried, a difficulty to be solved, a fear to be hushed, a bereaved heart to be soothed, an unbelieving mind to be corrected? Jesus was present, in all the fullness and variety of His grace, to meet all these things.

So also when, under the guidance of the ever forward Peter, they had gone forth to spend a night in fruitless toil, Jesus had His eye upon them.

• He knew all about the darkness, and the toil, and the empty net; and there He was on the shore to prepare a dinner for them.

• Yes, the self-same Jesus who had died on the cross to put away their sins, now stood on the shore to restore them from their wanderings, gather them round Himself, and minister to all their need.
  • "Have ye any meat?" developed the fruitlessness of their night's toil.

  • "Come and dine" was the touching expression of the tender, thoughtful, all-providing love of the risen Saviour.

But let us note particularly the evidences of a thoroughly restored conscience as exhibited by Simon Peter.

• "Therefore that disciple whom Jesus loved saith unto Peter, It is the Lord. Now when Simon Peter heard that it was the Lord, he girt his fisher's coat unto him, (for he was naked,) and did cast himself into the sea."

• He could not wait for the ships or for his fellow-disciples, so eager was he to get to the feet of his risen Lord.

In place of saying to John or to the others, "You know how shamefully I have fallen; and although I have since then seen the Lord, and heard Him speak peace to my soul, yet I think it more becoming in one that has so fallen to keep back; do you therefore go first and meet the blessed One, and I shall follow after."

• In place of aught in this style, he flings himself boldly into the sea — as much as to say, "I must be the very first to get to my risen Saviour; none has such a claim on Him as poor, stumbling, failing Peter."

Now, here was a perfectly restored conscience — a conscience basking in the sunlight of unchanging love; and is not this the true, original terms for every Christian?

• Peter's confidence in Christ was unclouded, and this, we may boldly affirm, was grateful to the heart of Jesus. Love likes to be trusted Let us ever remember this.

• No one need imagine that he is honouring Jesus by standing afar off on the plea of unworthiness; and yet it is very hard for one who has fallen, or backslidden, to recover his confidence in the love of Christ.

• Such a one can see clearly that a sinner is welcome to Jesus, no matter how great or manifold his sins may have been; but then, he thinks, the case of a backsliding, or stumbling, Christian is entirely different.

Should these lines be scanned by one who has backslidden, or fallen, we would press upon him most earnestly the importance of immediate return to Jesus.

• "Return, ye backsliding children, and I will heal your backslidings."

• What is the response to this pathetic appeal?
  • "Behold, we come unto Thee; for Thou art the Lord our God."

  • "If thou wilt return, O Israel, saith the Lord, return unto Me", Jer. 3: 22; Jer. 4: 1.

• The love of the heart of Jesus knows no change. We change; but He is
  • "the same yesterday, and to-day, and forever";

• and He delights to be trusted. The confidence of Peter's heart was precious to the heart of Christ. No doubt it is sad to fall, to err, to backslide; but it is sadder still, when we have done so, to distrust the love of Jesus, or His gracious readiness to take us to His bosom again.

Beloved reader, have you fallen? Have you erred? Have you backslidden? Have you lost the sweet sense of divine favour, the happy consciousness of acceptance with God?p>

• If so, what are you to do? Simply this — "Return."

• This is God's own special word to the backslider. Return in full confession, in self-judgement, and in the fullest confidence in the boundless, changeless love of the heart of Christ.

  Do not, we beseech you, keep away in the distance of your own unbelief. Do not measure the heart of Jesus by your own thoughts. Let Him tell you what is in His heart toward you.

You have sinned, you have failed, you have turned aside; and now, it may be, you are afraid or ashamed to turn your eyes toward the One whom you have grieved, or dishonoured.

• Satan too is suggesting the darkest thoughts; for he would fain keep you at a chilling distance from that precious Saviour who loves you with an everlasting love.

But you have only to fix your gaze upon the blood, the advocacy, the heart of Jesus, to get a triumphant answer to all the enemy's terrible suggestions, and to all the infidel reasonings of your own heart.

• Do not, therefore, go on another hour without seeking to get a thorough settlement of the question between your soul and Christ.

• Remember, "His is an unchanging love, free and faithful, strong as death." Remember, also, His own words,
  • "Return, ye backsliding children" — "Return to Me."

• Christ, and He alone, is the centre and circumference of all the terms to which our souls are bound. And, finally, remember that Jesus loves to be trusted.

2. But the heart has to be restored as well as the conscience. Let this not be forgotten.

• It often happens, in the history of souls, that though the conscience may be perfectly clear as to certain acts which we have done, yet the roots from whence those acts have sprung have not been reached.

• The acts appear on the surface of daily life, but the roots are hidden down deep in the heart, unknown, it may be, to ourselves and others, but thoroughly exposed to the eye of Him with whom we have to do.

Now, these roots must be reached, exposed, and judged, ere the heart is in a right condition in the sight of God.

• Look at Abraham. He started on his course with a certain root in his heart, a root of unbelieving reserve in reference to Sarah.

• This thing led him astray when he went down to Egypt; and although his conscience was restored, and he got back to his altar at Bethel, yet the root was not reached for years afterwards, as seen in the affair of Abimelech, king of Gerar.

All this is deeply practical, and most solemn. It finds its illustration in Peter as well as in Abraham.

• But now mark the exquisitely delicate way in which our blessed Lord proceeds to reach the roots in the heart of His dear and honoured servant. "So when they had dined."

• Not till then. There was no allusion to the past, nothing that might cause a chill to the heart, or bring a cloud over the spirit, while a restored conscience was feasting in company with a love that knows no change.

• This is a fine moral trait. It characterises the dealings of God with all His saints. The conscience is set at rest in the presence of infinite and everlasting love.

But there must be the deeper work of reaching the root of things in the heart.

• When Simon Peter, in the full confidence of a restored conscience, flung himself at the feet of His risen Lord, he was called to listen to that gracious invitation, "Come and dine."

• But "when they had dined," Jesus, as it were, takes Peter apart, in order to let in upon his soul the light of truth, so that by it he might discern the root from whence all his failure had sprung.

• That root was self-confidence, which had led him to place himself in advance of his fellow-disciples, and say, "Though all should deny Thee, yet will not I."

This root had to be exposed, and therefore, "When they had dined, Jesus saith to Simon Peter, Simon, son of Jonas, lovest thou Me more than these?"

• This was a pointed and pungent question, and it went right to the very bottom of Peter's heart. Three times Peter had denied his Lord, and three times his Lord now challenges the heart of Peter — for the roots must be reached if any permanent good is to be done.

• It will not do merely to have the conscience purged from the effects which have been produced in practical life; there must also be the moral judgement of that which produced them.

• This is not sufficiently understood and attended to, and hence it is that again and again the roots spring up and bear forth their fruit with increasing power, thus cutting out for us the most bitter and sorrowful work, which might all be avoided if the roots of things were thoroughly judged and kept under judgement.

Christian reader, our object is entirely practical. Let us therefore exhort one another to judge our roots, whatever they may be.

• Do we know our roots? Doubtless it is hard, very hard, to know them. They are deep and manifold: pride, personal vanity, covetousness, irritability, ambition — these are some of the roots of character, the motive springs of action, over which a rigid censorship must ever be exercised.

• We must let nature know that the eye of self-judgement is continually upon it. We have to carry on the struggle without cessation.

• We may have to lament over occasional failure; but we must maintain the struggle, for struggle bespeaks life.

• We must remember that the original terms are that in the flesh dwelleth no good thing. May God the Holy Ghost strengthen us for this vigilance against the flesh!

3. We shall close with a brief reference to restoration as bearing upon the soul's position, or path.

• The conscience being thoroughly purged, and the heart, with its varied roots, judged, there is moral preparedness for our proper path.

• The perfect love of Jesus had expelled all fear from Peter's conscience; and his threefold question had opened up the roots in Peter's heart, and now He says to him,
  • "Verily, verily, I say unto thee, When thou wast young, thou girdedst thyself, and walkedst whither thou wouldest: but when thou shalt be old, thou shalt stretch forth thy hands, and another shall gird thee, and carry thee whither thou wouldest not. This spake He, signifying by what death he should glorify God. And when He had spoken this, He saith unto him, Follow Me."

• And this is exactly the original terms by which our Lord began with Peter as His disciple. It was then also, "Follow Me."

Here, then, we have in two words the path of the servant of Christ — "Follow Me."

• The Lord had just given Peter the sweetest pledges of His love and confidence. He had, notwithstanding all past failure, entrusted him with the care of all that was dear to His loving heart in this world, even the lambs and sheep of His flock.

• He had said to him, "If you have affection for Me, feed My lambs, shepherd My sheep"; and now, in one brief but comprehensive utterance, He opens before him his proper path — "Follow Me." This is enough. It includes all besides.

If we want to follow Jesus, we must keep the eye continually upon Him; we must mark His footprints and tread therein.

• Yes, mark them, and walk in them; and when tempted, like Peter, to "turn about," in order to see what this one or that one has to do, or how he does it, we may hear the correcting words,
  • "What is that to thee? follow thou Me."

• This is to be our one grand and all-absorbing business, come what may.

• All this is met by those pointed words, "Follow Me."

There is immense danger of following in the wake of others, of doing certain things because others do them, or doing things as others do them. All this has to be carefully guarded against. It will be sure to come to nothing.

• What we really want is a broken will — the true spirit of a servant that waits on the Master to know His mind.

• Service does not consist in doing this or that, or running hither and thither; it is simply doing the Master's will, whatever that may be. "They serve who stand and wait."

It is easier to be busy than to be quiet. When Peter was "young," he went whither he would; but when he got "old," he went whither he would not.

• What a contrast between the young, restless, ardent, energetic Peter, going whither he would, and the old, matured, subdued, experienced Peter, going whither he would not!

• What a mercy to have the will broken! — to be able to say from the heart. "What Thou wilt — as Thou wilt — where Thou wilt — when Thou wilt" — "not my will, but Thine, O Lord, be done"!

"Follow Me!" Precious words! May they be engraved on our hearts! Then shall we be steady in our course and effective in our service.

• We shall not be distracted or unhinged by the thoughts and opinions of men. It may happen that we shall get very few to understand us or to sympathise with us — few to approve or appreciate our work. It matters not. The Master knows all about it.

• If a master tells one of his servants distinctly to go and do a certain thing, or occupy a certain post, it is his business to go and do that thing, or occupy that post, no matter what his fellow-servants may think.

• They may tell him that he ought to be somewhere else, or to do something else. A proper servant will heed them not; he knows his master's mind, and has to do his master's work.

Would it were more thus with all the Lord's servants! Would that we all knew more distinctly, and carried out more decidedly, the Master's will respecting us!

• Peter had his path, and John had his. James had his work, and Paul had his.

• So it was of old: the Gershonite had his work, and the Merarite had his; and if the one had interfered with the other, the work would not have been done. The tabernacle was carried forward, or set up, by each man doing his own proper work.

Thus it is in this our day. God has varied workmen in His house and in His vineyard; and the original terms of service are that the Holy Spirit divideth to every one as He will.

• He has quarrymen, stone-squarers, masons, and builders. Are all quarrymen? Surely not. But each has his work to do, and the building is carried forward by each one doing his own appointed work.

• Should a quarryman despise a builder, or a builder look down with contempt upon a quarryman? Assuredly not. The Master wants them both; and whenever the one would interfere with the other (as, alas, we are apt to do), the faithful correcting word falls on the ear,
  • "What is that to thee, Follow thou ME."