/a— 
 
 Duke University Libraries 
 
 Come thou with 
 Conf Pam l2mo #588 
 
 D e H03Eb03W 
 
No 71 
 
 COME THOU WITH US, 
 
 AND WE WILL DO THEE GOOD 
 
 BY REV. J. H. MARTIN', KN'OXVILLE, TKNN . 
 
 This was the kind invitation given by Moses to Hobab, 
 his brother-in-law, when the children of Israel were 
 passing through the wilderness on their way to the 
 promised land. "And Moses said unto Hobab, the son 
 of Raguel the Midianit<\ Moses* father-in-law, we are 
 journeying unto the place of which the Lord said, I 
 will give it you : come thou with us, and we will do 
 thee good ; fur the Lord hath spoken good concerning 
 Israel." Num. 10: 29. 
 
 Wo may regard the journey of the Israelites to Canaan 
 as a type or emblem of the journey of Christians to 
 heaven. The former were advancing to conquer and 
 possess the promised land. They had a definite country 
 in view as their dwelling place and inheritance, thte ob- 
 ject of their desire, and the end of their journey. In like 
 manner there is a place or country, which has been prom- 
 ised to Christians as their eternal rest and inheritance. 
 It is called in Scripture a better country, that is, an heav- 
 enly one. far more attractive, desirable and glorious 
 than the earthly Canaan, which was a type of it. 
 
 The life of the Christian is a journey to the.heavenly 
 Canaan. To that celestial land all true believers are 
 traveling. This journey commences with the conviotion 
 of sin, produced by the application of the law to the 
 conscience of the sinner by the Holy Spirit. Conviction- 
 of sin drives him to the cross pf Christ, where by faith 
 he is forgiven and accepted in the Beloved. His con? 
 
version is [followed by baptism and union with (Jod'n 
 people, the company of heaven-bound travelers, "With 
 them he walks in the celestial road, runs the race set 
 before them presses forward in the path of duty, makes 
 advancement in spirituality, knowledge, love, holiness 
 and conformity to the divine image. God goes before 
 his people, providentially and graciously, as their Guide, 
 in a pillar of cloud by day, and a pillar of fire by night. 
 Their journey terminates at death, the end of the race, 
 the close of the day of life, and is followed by an abun- 
 dant entrance into the everlasting kingdom of our Lord 
 and Saviour Jesus Christ. 
 
 It is the duty, both of ministers of the Gospel and of 
 Christians generally, to hrvite others to journey with 
 them. Heirs of the heavenly inheritance, and travel- 
 ing to that land, the friends of Christ should invite their 
 fellow-men to accompany them, and share in the bene- 
 fits and happiness in store for them. "And the Spirit 
 and the bride say, Come. And let him that heareth say, 
 Come. And let him that is athirst, come. And whoso- 
 ever will, let him take the water of life freely." It 
 should be a pleasure to invite sinners to the Gospel 
 feast ; to become members of the fold of Christ, and 
 share m the benefits, privileges, and joys of his people ; 
 to taste of divine grace and love, and all the good things 
 which God bestows on his children in this life, and to 
 become heirs of his kingdom and glory in eternity. 
 
 The invitation to be given to sinners is, "Come thou 
 with us." To comply with this invitation is, to forsake 
 the world, and enter into the kingdom of God ; to re- 
 nounce the company of the irreligious and ungodly, and 
 join one's self to the people of the Lord ; to repent of sin, 
 undergo a change of heart, begin the Christian race, 
 profess faith in the Saviour, be baptized, and become a 
 member of the church. It it is to come out from the 
 world, and be separate, % take a decided stand on the 
 
rem 
 
 8 
 
 Lord's side, walk in fellowship and love with his disci- 
 ples, be identified -with Christ and his cause, keep his 
 ordinances and commandments, bear the fruits of right- 
 eousness, and make effort to extend the Redeemer's 
 kingdom. It is to commence the life of a Christian pil- 
 grim ; to join the company of travelers who are jour- 
 neying to'the heavenly country, and go with them m 
 the way that leads thither. In short, to accept this in- 
 vitation is, to join the disciples of Christ with true 
 brotherly affection, and cleave^to themjas Ruth cleaved 
 to Naomi, saying, "AY hither thou goest, I will go ; and 
 where thou lodgest, I will lodge : thy people shall be 
 my people, and thy God my God : where thon diost, 
 will I die, and there will I be buried i the Lord do so to 
 me, and more also, if aught but death part thee and 
 
 me." , .. ' 
 
 The argument which Moses employed to prevail with 
 Hobab was, the prospect of advantage which he display- 
 ed before' his mind :"Come thou with us, and we will do 
 thee good : for the Lord hath spoken good concerning 
 Israel/' We are his chosen people ; we are in cove- 
 nant with him; he has rioh blessings in store for us ; 
 he has promised us a goodly land as our inheritance, and 
 we are journeying to the place of which he said, I wil 
 give it vou. We expect great things lor ourselves, and 
 'if thou wilt go with us, we promise thee n participation 
 in all our benefits and privileges. 
 
 In like manner we, as Christians, are enabled and 
 authorized to preseni a similar inducement to sinners, 
 to prevail with them to unite with us in our journey to 
 heaven. It is the promise that they shall be partakers 
 with us of all the good which God has in reserve for us. 
 They shall be co-heirs with us of the heavenly inheri- 
 tance ; our lellow-citizens in the divine kingdom ; breth- 
 ren of the same family ; living stones in the same spir- 
 itual temple. They shall be m all respects as we are. 
 
entitled to the same rights,. privileges, joys and honors, 
 and shall receive the same blissful, glorious, and eter- 
 nal reward hereafter. 
 
 First, then, we say to every impenitent sinner, Come 
 thou with us, and thou shalt be delivered from the wrath 
 to come. The day of judgment will be the great day of 
 wrath, terror and destruction to the wicked and ungodly. 
 It will come a-s a thief in the night, "in the which 
 the heavens shall pass away with a great noise, and the 
 elements shall melt with fervent heat, the earth also, 
 and the works that are therein shall be burned up." — 
 The Son of man shall come in his glory, and all the ho- 
 ly angels with him ; the trump of the archangel shall 
 sound, and the dead shall arise, and stand before him ; 
 all aatibns will Ije gathered in his presence. He will 
 then proceed to dispense justice to every one according 
 to the cl eds done in the body. Against the wicked, un- 
 believing and disobedient he shall utter a decree of con- 
 demnatiou and eternal death. He shall say to them on 
 his left hand, "Depart from me, ye cursed, into ever- 
 lasting tiro, prepared for the devil and his angels." — 
 This sentence will be immediately carried into execu- 
 tion. Mighty angels will be ready as the officers of jus- 
 tice, who shall seize the guilty, trembling, despairing 
 sinner, and consign him to the flames of perdition. 
 
 Such is the dreadful doom that awaits the ungodly. — 
 Hence the apostle Paul, after affirming that we must all 
 appear before the j udgment-seat of Christ, adds : "Know- 
 ing, therefore, the terror of the Lord, we persuade men. " 
 We warn them of the awful consequences of continued 
 impenitence and unbelief: we reason with them of 
 righteousness, temperance and judgment to come; we 
 endeavor to persuade them to repent of their sins, be- 
 lieve in Christ, and devote themselves to his service ; 
 we beseech them to be reconciled to God and obey his 
 commandments, -that they may escape his wrath, and 
 
live. For it is promised to the believer that he shall be 
 delivered in that day. lie shall not come. into condem- 
 nation, and be involved in the curse and torments of the 
 kicked. He shall not go away into everlasting pun- 
 ishment, and have his part in the lake that burneth 
 with fire and brimstone, which is tho second death. — 
 This happy, glorious deliverance in the day of judgment, 
 this promised security and freedom from divine wrath 
 and eternal suffering, is a part of the good which God 
 has laid up for his people, and which is offered to every 
 one as an inducement to unite with them in their celes- 
 tial journey. Host not thou, dear reader, desire to es- 
 cape in that day ? to avoid being placed on the left hand 
 of the judge, and hearing him pronounce those terrible 
 words, "Depart from me, ye workers of iniquity, 1 never 
 knew you V If so, then come thou with us ; cast in thy 
 lot with the peoprle ef God ; unite with them in obeying 
 his law, observing his ordinances, and living to his glo- 
 ry ; become their fellow-traveler in the journey ty 
 them, and thou shah be saved in that da 
 
 Come thou with us, and thou ah alt be the recipient of 
 all the blessings and favors, privileges and benefits, joys 
 and honors bestowed on Christians in this life. What 
 these are, we learn from various parti of Scripture. — 
 They include pardon and righteousness, divine knowl- 
 edge and wisdom, regeneration and adoption, the gift 
 and indwelling of the Holy Spirit, citizenship in God's 
 kingdom, the dignity and'blessedness of divine souship, 
 fellowship with God, Christ, angels and saints on earth 
 and in heaven, sanetification and puritv, grace to resist 
 temptation and strength to endure trials, inward p< 
 comfort, hone and, joy. Such are the rich bless 
 high estate, and precious privileges, of the people of God 
 in the world, and whoever unites with them shall share 
 in these benefits and mercies. 
 
 Com* thou with us, and it shall be well with thee, not 
 
only in life, but in death/ The care and goodness of 
 God to his people extend to them in the closing scenes 
 of their earthly existence. He is their heavenly shep- 
 herd, who will never leave them nor forsake them. As 
 they draw near their last end, He will support and com- 
 fort them with his gracious presence, guide them with 
 his light in their passage through the dark valley, cheer 
 and animate them with the hope of immortality, take 
 away from their minds all doubt, fear, and trouble, and 
 fill them with peace, joy and assurance of victory. — 
 "Mark the perfect man, and behold the upright; for the 
 end of that man is peace." "Precious in the sight of 
 the Lord is the death of his saints." "Blessed are tho 
 dead who die in tho Lord." The dying Stephen was 
 favored with a vision of the glory of God, and the son of 
 man standing on the right hand of God, to whom he 
 prayed, saying, Lord Jesus, receive my spirt. Paul de- 
 parted with exultation and assurance of a .crown of* 
 righteousness which the Lord, the righteous judge, 
 should give him in that day. Does not every one cherish 
 the feeling of Balaam, "let me die the death of the 
 righteous, and let my last end belike his?" Reader, 
 suck a death may be thine, if thou wilt live a righteous 
 and godly life. 
 
 Another reason for becoming one of God's people is, 
 that to them is promised a resurrection from the dead. 
 It is true there shall be a general resurrection, both/)f 
 tho just and unjust. But there will be a wide difference 
 between them. They "that sleep in the dust of the 
 earth shall awake, some to everlasting life, and some to 
 shame and everlasting contempt." Christ said, "The hour 
 is coming, in the which all that are in the graves shall 
 come forth : they that have done good, unto the resur- 
 rection of life ; and they that have done evil, unto the re- 
 surrection of damnation." The resurrection of the right- 
 eous will be to a blissful, glorious, immortal existence in. 
 
ke&foa. The wicked shall be raised up only to be judged 
 and to be cast, both soul and body, into hell. ( The 
 dead in Christ shall rise.first, and shall be distinguished 
 by the power, splendor and iaeorruption of their bodies. 
 I*hese will be spiritual aud immortal, and shall shine 
 with the "brightness of the sun. Hence it is said in 
 Revelation, "Blessed and holy is he that hath part in 
 the first resurrection : on such the second death hath- 
 no power." Reader, become a disciple of Christ, and 
 thou shalt have part in the resurrection of his saints. 
 
 Having been raised from the dead, believers will then 
 be acquitted, justified, owned and accepted of God in the 
 solemn judicial trial that shall take place. God has 
 spoken this good concerning them. He has" declared 
 that He will separate the precious from the vile, 
 and while he condemns and rejects the ungodly, he will 
 justify and save the upright. "They shall be mine, 
 saith the Lord of hosts, in that day when I make up 
 my jewels : audi will spare them, as a man apareth his 
 own son that st j rveth him." Not one of the Lord's peo- 
 ple shall perish in that day. None of his iheep shall be 
 lost. For Christ said, '.'I give unto them eternal life ; 
 and they shall never perish, neitlier shall any pluck 
 them out of my hand." "Placed on the right hand of 
 the judge, all liig followers sha\l hear, from his lips 
 words of approval, shall receive from his hands a golden 
 crown, and be brought into full possession of the heav- 
 enly Canaan. He shall say to them, "Come, ye blessed 
 of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you 
 from the foundation of the world." Does not the reader 
 desire to be remembered with his disciples, and be jus- 
 tified and accepted with them in that day ? Then join 
 thyseljf to them, and be numbered with them in this 
 life. 
 
 Lastly. Come thdu with us. and thou shalt participate 
 in the eternal life and happiness of the people of God in 
 
heav&i. F«ter speaks of himself as a partaker of the 
 glory that shall be revealed. Ged has in store for hia 
 children boundless and everlasting felicity — all kinds 
 and degrees of blessedness, and even sources qf enjoy- 
 ment which it is now impossible for the imagination to 
 conceive. "For it is written, Eye hath not seen, nor ear 
 Heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the 
 things which God hath prepared for them that love 
 him." He has prepared for them a city, a kingdom, a 
 paradise, shining garments, bright crowns, and harps 
 of gold. He shall give them to eat of the tree of life, 
 and shall lead them unto living fountains of waters, and 
 shall wipe away all tears from their eyes. They shall 
 see the face ,of God, behold the glory of the Lamb, sur- 
 round his throne, and serve him day and night in his 
 temple. We .say to the sinner, "Come thou with us," 
 and all this good, this happiness, this glory* honor and 
 immortality shall be thine. Thou shalt receive an hun- 
 dred fold in this present time, and in the world to come, 
 everlasting life. 
 
 HYMN. m 
 
 There is a fountain filled with blood., 
 
 Drawn from JmmanueFs veins, " 
 And sinners, plung'd beneath that flood, 
 
 Lose all their guilty stains. 
 
 The dying thief rejoiced to see 
 
 That fountain in his day ; 
 And there may I, as vile_as he, 
 
 Wash all my sins away. 
 
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