PRESENTED TO THE LIBRARY 
 
 OF 
 
 PRINCETON THEOLOGICAL SEMINARY 
 
 BY 
 
 JVTfs. Alexander Ppoudfit. 
 
 BV 4501 .R45 
 
 Reid, William, 1814-1896 
 
 The paths of the Lord 
 
THE 
 
 PATHS OF THE LORD. 
 
 BY / 
 
 REV. WILLIAM REID, 
 
 EDINBURGH, 
 AUTHOR OF "THE BLOOD OF JESUI 
 
 "I will bring the blind by a way that they knew not ; I will lead them 
 in paths that they have not known : I will make darkness light before 
 them, and crooked things straight. These things will I do unto them, and 
 not forsake them." — Isaiah xlii. 16. 
 
 PUBLISHED BY THE 
 
 AMERICAN TRACT SOCIETY, 
 28 CoBNHiLL, Boston. 
 
OBO. C. RAND & AVERT, 
 8TKRE0TYPERS AND PRINTERS 
 
PREFACE 
 
 When two equal forces are directed at right angles 
 upon a given movable object, tbat object will move 
 in the direction of neither force, but in a direction in- 
 tennediate to both. So is it with us when acted upon 
 by the carnal heart and the gospel of the grace of 
 God. That gospel may be clearly preached or writ- 
 ten ; but it generally happens that, on account of our 
 natural blindness and opposition, it has to take an- 
 other than the direct course in reaching our hearts 
 and in saving our souls. We propose to show the 
 way by which sinners, on account of their ignorance, 
 have to be brought to know the truth of the gospel 
 as a personal experience; and, by the Spirit and 
 providence of God, to enjoy its sanctifiying and sav- 
 ing power. 
 
 The sin-crisis, as described in this work, must be 
 
 experienced either before or after conversion ; and it 
 
 is an experience which will make us " walk softly " 
 
 henever it comes. I believe that all who are saved 
 
 cvre more or less convinced of sin previous to conver- 
 
 III 
 
IV PREFACE. 
 
 sion, for Jesus says, " I came not to call the righteous 
 but sinners to repentance ;" but in the case of some, 
 it may be so blended with the experience of the love 
 of God in Christ, that it is not strong, or very dis- 
 tinctly recognized. It is, however, the conscious sin- 
 ner that Jesus saves ; or else, if there be no conscious- 
 ness of sin and danger, salvation is an unmeaning 
 term, and conversion is a piece of unintelligible mys- 
 ticism. 
 
 In the case of those who have had no religious 
 education, and who, at the same time have run greed- 
 ily in the ways of the world, conviction of sin is gen- 
 erally overwhelming, — the sin-crisis comes before 
 conversion ; while in the case of those who have had 
 a thorough religious training, conviction may be very 
 feeble and gradual before conversion, and the sin- 
 crisis may take place months and even years subse- 
 quent to conversion, and generally on the back of 
 some declension from the "first love" and zealous 
 service of conversion times. But let no perishing 
 sinner hanker after the mere accidents of conversion 
 and salvation. On the contrary, be in earnest to 
 have Christ in you the hope of glory, and leave the 
 manner of his entrance entirely to himself. 
 
CONTENTS. 
 
 I. 
 
 THE PATH OF PEACE, ...7 
 
 II. 
 THE PATH OF PURITY 21 
 
 III. 
 THE PATH OF STRENGTH, 29 
 
 IV. 
 
 THE PATH OF COMFORT, 43 
 
 V 
 
VI CONTENTS. 
 
 V. 
 
 THE PATH OF SERVICE, 55 
 
 VI. 
 THE PATH OF LIGHT, 73 
 
 VII. 
 THE PATH OF LIFE, 105 
 
 VIII. 
 THE PATH OF GLORY 122 
 
THE PATHS OF THE LOED. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 THE PATH OF PEACE. 
 
 p^HE Apostle Peter writes, that there 
 are " given unto us exceeding great 
 and precious promises;" and that 
 blessed passage in Isaiah forty-second 
 and sixteenth contains some that are 
 " exceeding great and precious." Only lis- 
 ten to your Shepherd's voice, and you must 
 wonder at the gracious words which proceed 
 out of his mouth: ''I ivill bring the blind by 
 a ivay that they knew not ; I will lead them 
 in 2^ctths that they have not hnoivn. I will 
 make darkness light before them, and crooked 
 
 . 7 
 
8 THE PATH a OF THE LORD. 
 
 tilings straight. These things will I do unto 
 them, and not forsake them.'*^ How exceed- 
 ing great and precious to our souls are such 
 promises as these ! How cheering in this 
 wilderness to hear "the voice of my Be- 
 loved," saying, " Lo, I am with you alway ! " 
 Our gracious Redeemer is ever near. The 
 good Shepherd goeth before his sheep, and 
 leadeth them forth by " the right way," 
 though it may be " by a way that they knew 
 not." 
 
 My Christian friends, let me recall to your 
 remembrance that he brought you by a way 
 you knew not, w^hen he made you '* his peo- 
 ple, and the sheep of his pasture." In your 
 spiritual ignorance, you wished to be brought 
 to Jesus by a way of your own, and you had 
 the whole way pictured out ; and it seemed 
 quite amazing to you that the Lord should 
 set your way entirely at naught. You 
 thought that your way of being brought to 
 Jesus and to enjoy peace was the right way ; 
 
TJIE PATH OF PEACE. 9 
 
 and yet God had no pleasure in it. You 
 professed to renounce the deeds of the law, 
 and to put on the righteousness of Christ, — 
 to acknowledge the necessity of regenerat- 
 ing grace, and to live by faith on the Son 
 of God. But, though your profession was 
 right, your practice was wrong ; for, on ac- 
 count of the blindness of your heart, you 
 missed the narrow way, — "the new and 
 living way," — and walked in the Avay of 
 anxiety rather than in the way of divine 
 peace. Some of you struggled hard to make 
 for yourselves a religious way into the pres- 
 ence of the holy Jehovah. You would fain 
 have formed a pavement of glistering good- 
 ness by which to come near the great and 
 mighty God. In order to do this you would 
 be correct in your conduct ; you would be 
 devout and "instant in prayer ; " you would 
 strive to have good hearts and holy thoughts ; 
 you would make vows and resolutions ; you 
 would peruse the Scriptures with great dil- 
 
10 2'HE PATHS OF THE LORD. 
 
 igence, and be constant and earnest in your 
 attendance on all the duties and ordinances 
 of religion. How many poor souls are 
 continually building at this tower of Babel, 
 whose top, they imagine, will reach to heav- 
 en ! And yet, w^hen the Lord comes down 
 to bring them to himself, the first thing he 
 does is to confound them, and stop the build- 
 ing of the tower! He first confounds all 
 such Babel-builders, whom he means to teach 
 a more excellent way. When you were 
 arrested by the Lord, was it not very diffi- 
 cult to stand still and see your religion all 
 leveled by the divine Spirit, who alone can 
 bring blind sinners into the King's high- 
 way ? You confessed yourselves lost ; but, 
 that you might be made thoroughly to feel 
 it, the good Spirit was commissioned to ac- 
 quaint you with your true condition. Your 
 sins were set in order before you, — you 
 were made to feel that they formed moun- 
 tain barriers between you and your God. 
 
THE PATH OF PEACE. 11 
 
 Your conscience felt burdened, and all hope 
 of salvation was cut off. The sorrows of 
 death compassed you ; and the waves of 
 wrath appeared ready to overwhelm your 
 soul. Ah, how mysterious and strange was 
 all this ! Yet this is God's way, that he 
 may lay sinners in the dust. He leads to 
 such views of sin as to show them that it 
 deserves infinite punishment; and in their 
 mental anguish they are brought to descend, 
 as it were, into the very depths of the " hor- 
 rible pit," and to lie there crying, individu- 
 ally, " God be merciful to me, a sinner ! " 
 And when by the mercy of God they are 
 saved, they can sing with intelligence that 
 awful, joyful song, " I will glorify thy name 
 for evermore ; for great is thy mercy toward 
 me, and thou hast delivered my soul from 
 the lowest hell." 
 
 The Holy Ghost, although called the 
 Comforter, gives no comfort to carnal hearts. 
 On the contrary, he leads the lost one to 
 
12 THE PATHS OF TEE LOItD. 
 
 Sinai, and makes him hear the thunders of 
 Jehovah, and gaze upon the flashing hght- 
 nings of his vengeance, and listen to the 
 awful curses of his broken law. He can 
 give you no comfort in your sins ; and it is 
 more than likely that he will so convince 
 you of sin that your conscience will be 
 lashed into a fearful storm, and the fierce 
 tempest of the Almighty will appear to 
 sweep over your soul. And when you 
 stand " trembling and astonished," and 
 know not which way to turn, he will take 
 you by your right hand, and leaxi you to 
 the cross of Calvary ; and while he reminds 
 you, even there, that " our God is a con- 
 suming fire," he will bid you " behold the 
 Lamb ;" and, as you look, you will hear a 
 voice from that crucified One, speaking 
 peace, and sa^'ing, " I, even I, am he that 
 blotteth out thy transgressions for mine own 
 sake, and will not remember thy sins." " I 
 am the way ; no man cometh to the Father 
 
THE PATH OF PEACE. 13 
 
 but by me ; " and '' Him that cometh I will 
 in no wise cast out." This is the new and 
 living waj, — the only way of salvation, yet 
 a way we knew not, and never should have 
 known had we been left to ourselves. 
 
 And, before going further, let me solemn- 
 ly ask you, my dear reader, what is your 
 experience of this way ? Have you been 
 brought to God by his own w^ay, of convic- 
 tion of sin and application of the blood of 
 Jesus ? Happy are you if the Lord is your 
 Shepherd ! Oh, what a blessing it is to be 
 made to cease from man and from self, and 
 to lie passive in the wilderness before the 
 good Shepherd, and allow him to bring us 
 to himself in his own blessed way, of con- 
 viction, pardon, and peace! Oh, how de- 
 sirable it is to be washed in the blood of 
 atonement, and clothed in the spotless right- 
 eousness of Immanuel ! This is God's meth- 
 od, — God's holy way of saving sinners ; 
 and truly it is a way w^e knew not, — a way 
 
14 THE PATHS OF THE LORD. 
 
 we never should have known, had not he 
 who commanded the hght to shine out of 
 darkness shined into our hearts, to give the 
 hght of the knowledge of the glory of God 
 in the face of Jesus Christ. 
 
 But Jesus is given to be a leader to his peo- 
 ple to the end of time, — yea, even through- 
 out eternity, — for it is written, "They 
 shall hunger no more, neither thirst any 
 more ; neither shall the sun light on them, 
 nor any heat : for the Lamb which is in the 
 midst of the throne shall feed them, and 
 shall lead them to living fountains of waters ; 
 and God shall wipe away all tears fi'om their 
 eyes." 
 
 When the Lord brings lost sinners to 
 himself in his own gracious way, it is that 
 they may remain with him as the sheep of 
 his pasture, and follow him wheresoever he 
 may lead them. Conversion is the begin- 
 ning of grace, — not the end. Conversion 
 is the gate of the narrow way ; and even 
 
THE PATH OF PEACE. 15 
 
 after we are converted, we have the whole 
 way to glory before us ; and being ignorant 
 of it and under the necessity of traveling in 
 it, we must be daily following the Captain of 
 our salvation, who says, in his great love, 
 ''Iivill lead them in paths that they have not 
 hiowny The Lord's ways are very diifer- 
 ent from our ways. When he called us by 
 his grace, he himself knew what he would 
 do ; but we knew it not. And seeing that 
 we are " blind " as to the way in which we 
 are yet to walk, may we not expect to be 
 led in many " paths " of which we have 
 never thought ? But although his ways are 
 not our ways, yet his ways are always best. 
 The experience we shall receive in these 
 ways of his will prove salutary to us, and 
 (by his grace) glorifying to him. 
 
 When Israel came out of Egypt, they 
 were taking what would certainly have been 
 the shortest, and, to the eye of man the 
 safest, way to go to Canaan ; but it was not 
 
16 THE PATHS OF THE LORD. 
 
 God's way, and therefore they had to give 
 it up. They were taking that course by 
 which they would have altogether escaped 
 the, Red Sea; but "the Lord spake unto 
 jNIoses, saying, Speak unto the children of 
 Israel that they turn.^^ They were on their 
 way northward, to pass by the sea ; but the 
 Lord commanded them to move southwards, 
 and encamp between the sea and their ene- 
 mies ! This might have appeared to many 
 among them a strange and dangerous pro- 
 cedure ; but " the foolishness of God is wiser 
 than men." For though they were shut in 
 by impassable rocks on either hand, faced by 
 the rolling waves, and closely pursued by an 
 armed host, they were quite safe ; for they 
 had gone into that difficult and trying po- 
 sition at the command of God^ and he was 
 in the midst of them, to open up for them a 
 way of escape ; and he led them in those 
 very paths which more fully showed them 
 his grace and power, — accomplished the 
 
THE PATH OF PEACE. 17 
 
 complete overthrow of their enemies, " and 
 manifested forth his glory." " This cometh 
 from the Lord, who is wonderful in counsel 
 and excellent in working." And surely, 
 my dear friends, when we are at any time 
 in perplexity and know not what to do, this 
 may teach us to be still, and know that he 
 is God. The sorrowing disciples of our 
 Lord would not have felt his visit, on the 
 evening of that day on which he rose from 
 the grave, to be so refreshing, had it not 
 been for the circumstances in which they 
 were then placed. Their hearts were not 
 only sorrowfiil, but they were fearful lest 
 they should be arrested and murdered as 
 their Lord had been. The narrative is full 
 of instruction. It runs thus : " Then the 
 same day, at evening, being the first day of 
 the week, when the doors were shut where 
 the disciples were assembled for fear of the 
 Jews, came Jesus and stood in the midst, 
 and saith unto them, Peace be unto yoo. 
 
18 THE PATHS OF THE LORD. 
 
 And when he had so said, he showed unto 
 them his hands and his side. Then were 
 the disciples glad, when they saw the Lord." 
 They feared the Jews ; but instead of a visit 
 of infuriated Jews, they had a visit of the 
 risen Jesus, speaking in words of love, and 
 saying, " Peace be unto you," and showing 
 unto them " his hands and his side," to as- 
 sure them, at once, that he indeed was their 
 crucified Lord, and that he had " made 
 peace by the blood of his cross." " Then 
 were the disciples glad when they saw the 
 Lord." If you will follow the Lord fully, 
 he will doubtless lead you into circumstances 
 of trial and perplexity, where, like Paul in 
 Adria, you will be "driven up and down," 
 and for many days you may neither see sun 
 nor stars, " and have no small tempest," in 
 order to try your faith, and show you his 
 salvation. 
 
 When brought to Jesus, the Lord's deal- 
 ings with us ever after are such as to make 
 
THE PATH OF PEACE. 19 
 
 US cease from our oavr ways, and allow our- 
 selves to be led in his. His paths frequently 
 cross our paths, — in fact, his paths run quite 
 contrary to our natural hearts ; and that is 
 the reason why there is so much difficulty 
 felt in submitting; to the will of God. But 
 what can ive sinful creatures know of " the 
 way of holiness ? " Nothing at all, unless 
 taught by God himself. How frequently 
 does it happen that the inward experience 
 we have from God is not the experience we 
 thought we should have ! Some of you 
 thought you should have nothing but peace 
 and joy, sunshine and calm, and summer all 
 the y^ar round, when you believed in Jesus 
 and connected yourselves with the people of 
 God. But, oh, how different has it been ! 
 how checkered has been your experience ! 
 You will find out, by and by, if you have 
 not found it out already, that your souls can 
 enjoy peace only by a full surrender of your- 
 selves to Jesus, to be led as poor blind chil- 
 
20 THE PATHS OF THE LORD. 
 
 dren through this great wilderness, " where 
 there is no way." Like Israel of old, you 
 must submit to be led by Israel's God. 
 " He led them forth by the right way^ that 
 they may go to a city of habitation. He 
 saved them for his name's sake, that he 
 might make his mighty power to be known." 
 
 Thy way, not mine, O Lord, however dark it be ! 
 Lead me by thine own hand, choose out the path for 
 
 me. 
 Smooth let it be or rough, it will be still the best ; 
 Winding or straight, it matters not, it leads me to thy 
 
 rest. 
 I dare not choose my lot : I would not, if I might ; 
 Choose thou for me, my God, so shall I walk aright. 
 The kingdom that I seek is thine ; so let the way 
 That leads to it be thine, else I must surely stray. 
 
CHAPTER II. 
 
 THE PATH OF PURITY. 
 
 /^^^HE Lord frequently leads his people 
 IjfcfJ in paths that they have not known, 
 to make them holy. " This is the 
 will of God, even your sanctifica- 
 tion." The Lord led Israel in 
 paths that they had not known, when he 
 led them about " for the space of forty years 
 in the wilderness." He might have taken 
 them into Canaan in a few days, but they 
 were not ready to enter upon their inheri- 
 tance. Theirs had been, in Egypt, the life 
 of slaves, and they were not fit to meet the 
 enemy in battle, nor to be put in possession 
 of the land, and to have it as their own. 
 There must be a wilderness education, to 
 
 21 
 
•22 THE PATHS OF THE LORD. 
 
 teach them their entire dependence upon 
 Jehovah, and to discover the dreadful cor- 
 ruption which lay concealed in their hearts. 
 When he was preparing them for immediate 
 entrance into the land of promise, he said, 
 " Thou shalt remember all the way which 
 the Lord thy God led thee these forty years 
 in the wilderness, to humble thee^ and to prove 
 thee, and to knoiv what was in thine heart, 
 whether thou wouldst keep his command- 
 ments or no. And he humbled thee.^^ 
 
 How much corruption does a season of 
 leading through the wilderness bring forth 
 to view ! It is not by the joys of first love 
 that we know whether we will walk before 
 God to the praise of the glory of his grace, 
 but by a few years of " the wilderness." 
 The " wilderness " reveals the wickedness, 
 the rebelliousness, the perverseness, tlie dis- 
 contentedness, the godlessness, and deceit- 
 fulness of the human heart. It is the^^e that 
 the Lord " humbles us and proves us," and 
 
THE PATH OF PURITY. 23 
 
 brings out what is in our hearts. When 
 your soul was breathing after hoKness and 
 likeness to Jesus, you may have prayed 
 earnestly that the Lord would show you the 
 hatefulness of sin and the vileness of self, 
 and you may have been waiting to see 
 whether something like a revelation from 
 heaven would not be made to you ; and you 
 may have felt, in some measure, disappointed 
 that you had not obtained such deep views 
 of sin as you longed to have, that you might 
 with more intensity abhor yourself, and de- 
 part from iniquity. A period of wilderness- 
 experience was given you, and you were 
 brought into circumstances which were most 
 trying and provoking to the carnal heart. 
 The Lord removed his hand, to some extent, 
 from restraining your corruptions, and then 
 you had the answer to your prayer by " ter- 
 rible things." You began to see that that 
 awful catalogue of sins mentioned by the 
 Saviour might have been, in a great meas- 
 
24 THE PATHS OF THE LORD. 
 
 ure, filled up out of the hateful contents of 
 your heart, for out of your heart were pro- 
 ceeding " evil thoughts, adulteries, fornica- 
 tions, murders, thefts, covetousness, wicked- 
 ness, deceit, lasciviousness, an evil eye, blas- 
 phemy, pride, foolishness." You thought 
 that your heart was comparatively good be- 
 fore this experience was given you, and you 
 may have deplored the evil-heartedness of 
 others ; but now you see that within your 
 own heart there were lying asleep a swarm 
 of loathsome reptiles, which needed only to 
 be roused to make them trail their slimy 
 coils over your conduct, and sting yourself 
 and all around you. There was within you 
 a stagnant pool, which needed only to be 
 stirred by some trouble, offense, or tempta- 
 tion, to give such evidence of its putridity as 
 to disgust yourself and all who came within 
 your reach. My dear friend, if the Lord 
 has thus allowed your corruptions to come 
 out and disfigure your fair profession, and. 
 
THE PATH OF PURITY. 25 
 
 upon mature reflection, to make you loathe 
 yourself, then give him thanks, though the 
 experience came not in your way, but in a 
 way you little thought of; and though it 
 was hard to bear, and has made you say 
 and do things of which you are now ashamed, 
 and for which you may have to mourn all 
 your days, if it has made your soul " like a 
 weaned child," that is most blessed, for that 
 is " the end of the Lord." 
 
 The experience of that accurate spiritual 
 anatomist, President Edwards, is peculiarly 
 instructive : — "When I look into my heart, 
 and take a view of my wickedness, it looks 
 like an abyss infinitely deeper than hell ; 
 and it appears to me that were it not for 
 free grace exalted to the infinite bight of 
 all the fullness of the great Jehovah, and the 
 arm of his power stretched forth in all the 
 glory of his sovereignty, I should sink down 
 in it beyond the sight of every thing but \hQ 
 eye of sovereign grace, that can pierce even 
 
5S6 THE PATES OF THE LORD. 
 
 to such a depth. And yet it seems to me 
 that my conviction of sin is exceedingly 
 small and faint, and amazing to see that I 
 have no more sense of it. I have greatly 
 longed, of late, for a hroken heart, and can 
 not bear the thought of being no more hum- 
 ble than other Christians. I consider that 
 their humility would be vile self-exaltation 
 in me. Others speak of longing to be 'hum- 
 bled in the dust ; ' but I always think that I 
 ought ' to lie infinitely low before God,' and 
 such is often my expression in prayer. And 
 it is affecting to reflect how ignorant I was, 
 when a young Christian, of the bottomless, 
 infinite depth of wickedness, pride, hypoc- 
 risy, and deceit, in my heart." Lord, what 
 is man ? A mass of corruption ! 
 
 Ah ! you thought, when the sun shone 
 brightly, and the fragrance of summer was 
 wafted around your path, that your old sins 
 were completely eradicated, or at least so 
 far subdued that they would never again 
 
THE PATH OF PURITY. 27 
 
 vex, distract, and pollute you ; but you have 
 been taught a very different lesson. You 
 neglected prayer, or reading, or meditation, 
 or watchfulness, and your old sins began 
 immediately to show their hateful and loath- 
 some forms. And to intensify the trial, 
 " the old serpent," at such times, attacks 
 the sin-deluged soul with his fiery tempta- 
 tions, and with remorseless malignity en- 
 deavors to hurry the hardened one into open 
 sin, and heaviness is experienced " through 
 manifold temptations." And added to this, 
 we may by our sins have separated between 
 us and our God, so that he may have hid his 
 face from us, and have "withdrawn him- 
 self." How dreadful is such a case! We 
 are ready in such circumstances to exclaim, 
 " All these things are against us ; " but they 
 are not so in reality, for they are among the 
 "all thincrs" that 'work tog;ether for our 
 good; and " the good Shepherd" is thus ful- 
 filling in our experience his own gracious 
 
28 THE PATHS OF THE LORD. 
 
 promise, ^'I ivill lead them in paths that they 
 have not hnoivn.''^ 
 
 I walk as one who knows that he is treading 
 
 A stranger soil ; 
 As one round whom a serpent-world is spreading 
 
 Its subtle coil. 
 
 I walk as one but yesterday delivered 
 
 From a sharp chain ; 
 "Who trembles lest the bond so newly severed 
 
 Be bound again. 
 
 I walk as one who feels that he is breathing 
 
 Ungenial air ; 
 For whom, as wiles, the tempter still is wreathing 
 
 The bright and fair. 
 
 My steps, I know, are on the plains of danger, 
 
 For sin is near ; 
 But looking up, I pass along, a stranger. 
 
 In haste and fear. 
 
 3j*;c 
 
s^ 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 THE PATH OF STRENGTH. 
 
 HE Lord also leads his people in 
 paths they have not known, in order 
 
 to confirm them in the faith ^ and 
 make them steadfast in his covenant. 
 The God of all grace, who hath 
 called us unto his eternal glory by Christ 
 Jesus, after that ye have suffered a while, 
 make you perfect, stablish, strengthen, set- 
 tle you." Thus prayed the Apostle Peter. 
 He well knew how it is that the Lord con- 
 firms his people. He was himself led in 
 paths he had not known. He was full of 
 fire and fervor, burning with love to Jesus, 
 and, decided in his adherence to his gracious 
 Lord ; he would go with him to prison and 
 
 29 
 
30 THE PATHS OF THE LORD. 
 
 to death ! — he would never deny him ! — 
 he would never forsake him ; though all 
 should forsake him, yet would he abide 
 faithful ; he would stand by his Redeemer, 
 should he have to stand alone ! — and we all 
 know what he did. How unlike his profes- 
 sion were his deeds ! He never thought 
 that he needed to be taught his own weak- 
 ness in such an unlooked-for way. He was 
 truly led in paths that he had not known, 
 to drive out of him his self-confidence, and 
 teach him where his real strength lay, — to 
 make him " strono- in the Lord and the 
 power of his might." Jesus said to him, 
 " When thou art converted, strengthen thy 
 brethren ; " and his writings — his two Epis- 
 tles — have been eminently useful for ac- 
 complishing this great and desirable end. 
 And Peter's experience is that of thousands. 
 It may be yours, beloved reader. You may 
 have been led in paths you never expected 
 to be led in, to deliver you from self-corn- 
 
THE PATB OF STRENGTH. 31 
 
 placency, self-sufficiency, self-exaltation, and 
 self-confidence. You may have prayed for 
 steadfastness and consistency, and all the 
 time you may have never felt your need of 
 God's special interference on your behalf; 
 but the Lord, in some unexpected way, has 
 answered your prayer, by showing you first 
 your own utter weakness and helplessness. 
 
 The wintry storms that beat upon the 
 forest make the trees thereof take a firmer 
 hold of the soil ; so the Lord, by permitting 
 the storms of trouble and temptation to beat 
 upon the soul, makes his people strike then* 
 roots deeper and deeper into clefts of " the 
 Rock of Ages," and to become more ground- 
 ed and settled in the faith of the gospel. 
 The Lord frequently confirms his people's 
 faith by permitting them to witness the falls 
 of others, or by experience of their own un- 
 even and wayward walk. A holy minister 
 of Jesus Christ has said : " The falls of pro- 
 fessors into sin make me tremble. I have 
 
32 THE PATHS OF THE LORD. 
 
 been driven away from prayer, and burdened 
 in a feai'ful manner, by hearing or seeing 
 their sin. This is wrong. It is right to 
 tremble, and to make every sin of every pro- 
 fessor a lesson of my own helplessness ; but 
 it should lead me more to Christ." I must 
 say that I have been frequently .nade to 
 tremble for myself when I heard or read of 
 the fall of some who had occupied a promi- 
 nent position in the church of Christ ; and 
 it has made me cling to Jesus with more 
 earnestness and simplicity of faith. I have 
 no doubt you have been also made to trem- 
 ble for yourself, when you saw those who 
 had long professed to be followers of the 
 Lamb turning back or falling into sin. It 
 takes very much to make us know that we 
 are " without strength," and to cleave to 
 God as our strength. 
 
 Conjoined with the inward teaching of 
 his Sph'it, we need the outward teaching of 
 his providence. Our gracious God deals 
 
THE PATH OF STRENGTH. 33 
 
 with us in love in all lie does for us, and in 
 all he permits to happen to us. Many think 
 they are established in the faith, when they 
 are not rooted and built up in Christ ; and 
 they must be taught by bitter experience 
 that they are deceiving themselves, and 
 walking in the light of their own fire, and 
 delusively trusting in themselves that they 
 are righteous, and despising others. If 
 nothing else will bring them to a sense of 
 their true condition, God will let Satan loose 
 upon them ; then will then- hearts be lashed 
 into a dark tempest, and their iniquities, like 
 the wind, will carry them away to the re- 
 gions of doubt and darkness, fear and de- 
 spondency, if not into open rebellion, and, 
 perhaps, even back for a season to the 
 dreary world, to which they thought they 
 had bidden an eternal farewell. Some pro- 
 fessors are permitted for a time to follow the 
 ways of their own hearts, and others are 
 allowed to embrace dangerous errors and 
 
34 THE PATHS OF THE LORD. 
 
 soul-distracting views of divine things, that 
 they may eventually embrace the truth as it 
 is in Jesus more cordially, and walk in the 
 truth more consistently. Satan is some- 
 times permitted to fill the mind with dread- 
 ful and tormenting doubts with regard to 
 the whole scheme of salvation, and the 
 very foundations seem as if they would be 
 destroyed. Atheism, infidelity, perplexing 
 thoughts about God and Christ and the 
 great salvation fill the soul ; and those who 
 are thus exercised do indeed find trouble 
 and sorrow. Those only who have been led 
 by paths that they have not known, through 
 the mire and marshes of skepticism, to build 
 on the " sure foundation," can sympathize 
 with the desolateness and self-crushing which 
 result from such leadings. But the end of 
 all this is our confirmation. And when we 
 have such experience, it tends to drive us 
 out of ourselves and make us build more 
 firmly on the unchanging and everlasting 
 
THE PATH OF STRENGTH. 35 
 
 foundation, " Jesus Christ, the same yester- 
 day, to-day, and for ever." 
 
 Not a few of the most eminent Christians, 
 as well as able divines, have been allowed to 
 get bemazed in perplexity and doubt about 
 one or other of the precious doctrines of 
 Jehovah's Word ; and they have been led 
 to examine the Scriptures more thoroughly 
 on that very account ; and the result has 
 been their entire conviction of the truthful- 
 ness of all the utterances of the God of truth ; 
 and some of them have been so fully im- 
 pressed with the truth of the great things of 
 God's law, that they have written for the 
 confirmation of the faith of others. One 
 who was once tossed upon the billows of 
 tormenting doubt with regard to the son- 
 ship and divinity of our blessed Lord, thus 
 writes: — "He consciously stood upon a 
 gulf, the depths of which were enveloped in 
 the shadow of death. Arianism had been 
 his next resting-place ; and that he had suf- 
 
36 THE PATHS OF THE LORD. 
 
 ficient self-distrust to regard as a break 
 merely in the fall to deeper and more dead- 
 ly error. He at length turned to the point 
 from which he ought to have set out, and 
 with a firm resolution to rest satisfied with 
 nothing short of a complete investigation, 
 he examined and classified every passage of 
 Scripture which seemed to pertain to the 
 subject. Thus was the present work orig- 
 inated ; * and it eventually proved perfectly 
 adequate to his own conviction. Nothing 
 short of the discomfort and perplexity here 
 described would have induced him to offer 
 his aid to the researches of others." Thus 
 did the Lord lead this servant of his in paths 
 that he had not known — painful, perplex- 
 ing paths — to a well-grounded belief of one 
 of the cardinal doctrines of revelation, and 
 to the production of an unparalleled work 
 on the divine sonship of Jesus, for the con- 
 firmation of his church ! How truly may 
 
 * Treffrey on the Eternal Sonship. 
 
THE PATH OF STRENGTH. 37 
 
 the Lord say to us, " My thoughts are not 
 your thoughts, neither are your ways my 
 ways, saith the Lord. For as the heavens 
 are higher than the earth, so are my ways 
 higher than your ways, and my thoughts 
 than your thoughts ! " 
 
 But it is not Hkely that many have been 
 troubled in such a way as was the minister 
 just referred to, or led by the paths of doubt 
 regarding the doctrines of grace ; but you 
 may have been led by paths that you found 
 perplexing and painful, to bring you to a 
 settled " peace in believing." Though you 
 may not have doubted God's sincerity, you 
 may have frequently doubted your own. 
 Though you believed that all he has said in 
 his Word of Jesus and of his own love and 
 grace was true, yet you may have had many 
 sad questionings whether it was true to you. 
 There are some who have this experience 
 for years ; and they are sorely tried and 
 tempted. Sometimes they have hope, at 
 
38 THE PATHS OF THE LORD. 
 
 other times fear. Sometimes tliey think 
 they observe the streaks of the dawn of day, 
 but at other times they are enveloped in the 
 darkness of midnight. One who was long- 
 in this unhappy state once said to me, " I 
 find now that though it was a painful way 
 by which the Lord led me to Jesus, it was 
 the best way ; and my. experience is, that a 
 great fight is the precursor of a great vic- 
 tory." That Christian is now a simple be- 
 liever in Jesus, and has no doubt of being 
 " accepted in the Beloved." But the way 
 to that confirmed faith and settled peace lay 
 through the region of difficulties, fightings, 
 questionings, and fears. If you are thus led 
 by God (and I do not say that you must be 
 thus led, — some may be, others may not), 
 rest not satisfied till you see the end of the 
 Lord ; for he is " very pitiful, and of tender 
 mercy." "A bruised reed shall he not 
 break, and the smoking flax shall he not 
 quench. The Lord raiseth them that are 
 
THE FATH OF STRENGTH. 39 
 
 bowed down." It is well to examine our- 
 selves whether we be in the faith. And the 
 Lord sometimes leads us to engage in this 
 exercise by unlooked-for means. Our strong, 
 clear views of Jesus as a Saviour become 
 beclouded by sin ; oar joy, peace, hope, love, 
 and zeal lose much of their intensity ; and 
 we begin to fear lest we may have been de- 
 ceiving ourselves. You may be sometimes 
 writing bitter things against yourself, and 
 saying, " Ah ! surely I am not a child of 
 God at all ; for where is my zeal for his 
 glory ? where my holiness, my love to Jesus, 
 my faith, my works, and labors of love? 
 Were I his, surely I would hate and shun 
 sin far more than I do ; I would live more 
 believingly, walk more tenderly, pray more 
 fervently, work more devotedly, and speak 
 more guardedly ; I would not have these 
 dark clouds coming over me, these unbe- 
 lieving thoughts rising up within me, these 
 cold damps overspreading my soul, and 
 
40 THE PATHS OF THE LORD. 
 
 these dreadftil corruptions weltering within 
 me." Ah ! dear soul, be encouraged ; the 
 Lord may be leading you, in all your blind- 
 ness, in paths that you have not known. 
 The unconverted do not know auo;ht of 
 those struggles through which you have 
 passed, or may be even now passing. They 
 know nothing of " the new man" laboring 
 for the ascendency. The Lord may be 
 graciously leading you to a confirmed faith 
 and a more devoted service. But oh, take 
 care that you do not rest in this experience, 
 but press on tow^ard the mark ! Christian 
 experience is mere shifting sand. Christ is 
 
 " THE ROCK." 
 
 Dear reader, if you have been led in paths 
 of confirmation which you have not known, 
 then give God all the praise, and say to him, 
 " I will love thee, O Lord, my strength. 
 The Lord is my rock and my fortress, and 
 my deliverer ; my God, my strength, in 
 whom I will trust ; my buckler, and the 
 
THE PATH OF STRENGTH. 41 
 
 horn of my salvation, and my high tower. 
 I will call upon the Lord, who is worthy to 
 be praised ; so sliall I be saved from mine 
 enemies." 
 
 Pray also that God's Spirit may give you 
 a fuller discovery of your own unspeakable 
 sinfulness and vileness in his holy eyes, and 
 so lead you that you will be made much 
 holier than you now are, and more thorough- 
 ly rooted and built up in Christ, and stab- 
 lished in the faith. May he even now de- 
 scend upon you, "• to the end he may stablish 
 your hearts unblamable in holiness before 
 God, even our Father, at the coming of our 
 Lord Jesus Christ with all his saints." 
 
 Jesus, while this rough desert-soil 
 I tread, be thou my guide and stay ; 
 
 Nerve me for conflict and for toil ; 
 Uphold me on my stranger-way. 
 
 Jesus, in heaviness and fear, 
 
 'Mid cloud, and gloom, and shade I stray, 
 For earth's last night is drawing near ; 
 
 Oh cheer me in my stranger way. 
 
42 THE PATHS OF THE LORD. 
 
 Jesus, in solitude and grief, 
 
 When sun and stars withhold their ray. 
 Make haste, make haste to my relief; 
 
 Oh, light me on my stranger-way. 
 
 Jesus, in weakness of this flesh, 
 
 When Satan grasps me for his prey ; 
 
 Oh, give me victory afresh. 
 
 And speed me on my stranger-way. 
 
 Jesus, my righteousness and strength, 
 My more than life, my more than day ; 
 
 Bring, bring deliverance at length, — 
 Oh, come and end my stranger-way. 
 
 ^^c^ 
 
i/; 
 
 IV. 
 
 THE PATH OF COMFORT. 
 
 S tlie sufferings of Christ abound in 
 us, so our consolation also aboundeth 
 by Christ ; for whether we be af- 
 flicted, it is for your consolation 
 and salvation ; or whether we be 
 comforted, it is for your consolation and sal- 
 vation. And our hope of you is steadfast, 
 knowing that as ye are partakers of the 
 sufferings, so shall ye be also of the con- 
 solation." The Church may expect much 
 trouble and sorrow here ; but if tribulation 
 abound, consolation will also abound. The 
 words of Jesus are very explicit : " In the 
 world ye shall have tribulation ; but be . of 
 
 43 • 
 
44 THE PATHS OF THE LORD. 
 
 good clieer, I have overcome the world." 
 " Blessed are they that mourn, for they shall 
 be comforted." The comfort is sm-e ; but 
 Ave must be willing to go to the wilderness 
 for it. The Lord says of his spouse, " I will 
 allure her and bring her into the wilderness, 
 and speak comfortably to her ; " or, as it is 
 in the margin, " I will speak to her heart.'^ 
 It is said in Lamentations, " Though he 
 cause grief, yet will he have compassion 
 according to the multitude of his mercies ; 
 for he doth not afflict from his heart.^^ But 
 though the affliction comes not from his 
 heart, yet the consolation does, and it goes 
 to the heart ; for he says, " I will speak to 
 her heart.'^'' Jesus, the consolation of Israel, 
 came to our world in the fullness of time, and 
 during all the period of his terrestrial sojourn 
 he was " the Man of Sorrows." He knew 
 such sorrow as none of us can know. He 
 agonized in the garden of Gethsemane, and 
 expired amid the anguish, darkness, and 
 
THE PATH OF COMFORT. 45 
 
 soul-crushing sorrows of Calvary. But 
 when enduring those sorrows, he was on his 
 way to the eternal joys that are at God's 
 right hand. And his experience as the 
 Captain of our salvation must be expected 
 by us if we are his followers. 
 
 We have a great fight of afflictions to 
 endiu^e before we enter the "joyous city." 
 God sets a kingdom before us, and promises 
 to give us that kingdom, with all its unspeak- 
 able immunities and " pleasures for ever- 
 more ; " but " we must through much trib- 
 ulation enter into the kingdom of God." 
 And if at any time, while on our way to 
 that kingdom, we expect consolation with- 
 out tribulation, we expect what is not in ac- 
 cordance with the experience of our Lord or 
 his people, or the promises of his blessed 
 Word. Where does the Word promise us 
 comfort of which we have not a feeling of 
 need ? The very' idea of consolation implies 
 sorrow. And when we pray for much joy 
 
46 THE PATHS OF THE LORD. 
 
 and comfort at a time when every thing is 
 going well with us, we are virtually praying 
 for sorrow. The comfort gets into the soul 
 only by those openings which are made by 
 grief and sore affliction. Mary was weep- 
 ing at the sepulcher when the gentle, famil- 
 iar voice of Jesus pronounced her name, and 
 sent a thrill of wondrous joy tln-ough her 
 whole soul ; and the disciples were together 
 mourning and weeping over the sad event 
 of his crucifixion, when he stood in their 
 midst, and said, " Peace be unto you," and 
 by his presence filled their hearts with "joy 
 unspeakable." It was after the Jews had 
 experienced much sorrow, and expected to 
 be all massacred by the decree of wicked 
 Haman, that they " had joy and gladness, a 
 feast, and a good day," on the reversal of 
 that decree. It was when Shadrach, Me- 
 shach, and Abednego were waUving in the 
 midst of the burning fiery furnace, that a 
 fourth One was seen with them, " like the 
 
THE PATH OF COMFORT. 47 
 
 Son of God." And if we are to have much 
 consolation, we must lay our account with 
 being cast into " the burning fiery furnace." 
 The heat of " the furnace of affliction" will 
 be the measure of our consolation. If we 
 are to be greatly comforted, we must be 
 greatly afflicted. The Lord will lead us by 
 " paths that we have not known," into try- 
 ing, difficult, heart-rending, soul-vexing cir- 
 cumstances, that we may be made to feel that 
 all earthly sources of consolation are broken 
 cisterns, and that all real consolation must 
 be found in him. All true and lasting con- 
 solation must flow from himself. And when 
 the soul is first brought to have "joy un- 
 speakable," it is after being brought very 
 low by the convincing Spirit. The Spirit 
 turns us to Jesus to produce both wounding 
 and healing. The very fact of a Comforter 
 being promised, implies that there will be 
 need of his comfort in the church of God. 
 A comforter sent supposes " an afflicted peo- 
 
48 THE PATHS OF THE LORD. 
 
 pie" to be comforted. Let us not, then, 
 mistake our afflictions for calamities, for they 
 are not so ; they are the vessels by which 
 the Lord pours "the oil of joy" into the 
 spirits of liis dear afflicted children. When 
 you see no possibility of deliverance from 
 your difficulties and afflictions, then the 
 Lord will draw near, saying, "J know their 
 sorrows^ and am come down to deliver them; 
 comfort ye, comfort ye my people." '•' Man's 
 extremity is God's opportunity." When 
 you know not what to do, nor how to hold 
 out any longer under the pressure of a com- 
 plication of trials, sorrows, griefs, anxieties, 
 and afflictions, he will interpose and grant 
 you real and suitable consolation. 
 
 When speaking of the Lord's dealings 
 with his own people in leading them by a 
 way they had not know^n, another has given 
 utterance to the following descriptive and 
 expressive language : — 
 
 " They were living to themselves ; self. 
 
THE PATH OF COMFORT. 49 
 
 with its hopes, and promises, and dreams, 
 had still hold of them ; but lie began to ful- 
 fill their prayers. They had asked for con- 
 trition, and he sent them sorrow ; they had 
 asked for purity, and he sent them thrilling 
 anguish ; they had asked to be meek, and 
 he had broken their hearts ; they had asked 
 to be dead to the world, and he slew all 
 their living hopes ; they asked to be made 
 like unto him, and he placed them in the 
 furnace, sitting by ' as a refiner of silver,' 
 till they should reflect his image ; they had 
 asked to lay hold of his cross, and when he 
 reached it to them it lacerated their hands ; 
 — they had asked they knew not what, nor 
 how ; but he had taken them at their word, 
 and granted them all their petitions. They 
 were hardly willing to follow on so far, or to 
 draw so nigh to him. They had upon them 
 an awe and fear, as Jacob at Bethel, or Eli- 
 phaz in the night-vision, or as the aspostles 
 when they thought they had seen a spirit, 
 4 
 
50 THE PATHS OF THE LOUD. 
 
 and knew not that it was Jesus ; — they 
 could ahiiost pray him to depart from them, 
 or to hide his awfulness. They foimd it 
 easier to obey than to suffer, to do than to 
 give up, to bear the cross than to hang upon 
 it ; but they can not go back, for they have 
 come too near the unseen cross, and its vir- 
 tues have pierced too deeply within them. 
 He is fulfilling to them his promise, ' And I, 
 if I be lifted up, will draw all men unto me.' 
 Now their turn is come at last, and that is 
 all. Before, they had only heard of the 
 mystery, but now they feel it. He has 
 fastened on them his look of love, as he did 
 on Mary and Peter, and they can not choose 
 but follow. Little by little, from time to 
 time, by flitting gleams, the mystery of his 
 cross shines out upon them. They behold 
 him as lifted up, and the glory which rays 
 forth from the wounds of his holy passion ; 
 and as they gaze upon it, they advance, and 
 are changed into his likeness, and his name 
 
THE PATH OF COMFORT. 51 
 
 shines out through them, for he dwells in 
 them. They live alone with him above in 
 unspeakable fellowship, wilhng to lack what 
 others own, and to be unlike all, so that they 
 are only like him. Such are they in all 
 ages who follow the Lamb whithersoever he 
 goeth. Had they chosen for themselves, or 
 had their friends chosen for them, they would 
 have chosen otherwise. They would have 
 been brighter here, but less glorious in his 
 kingdom. They would have had Lot's por- 
 tion, not Abraham's, if they had halted any 
 where, — if he had taken off his hand and 
 let them stray back. And what would they 
 not have lost ! What forfeits in the morn- 
 ing of the resurrection ! But he stayed 
 them up, even against themselves. Many 
 a time their foot had well-nigh slipped ; but 
 he in mercy held them up. Now, even in 
 this life, they know all he did was done well. 
 It was good for them to stand alone with 
 him on the mountain and in the cloud, and 
 
52 TUE PATHS OF THE LOUD. 
 
 that not their will but his was done on 
 them." 
 
 The Lord knoweth how to deliver the 
 godly out of temptations and troubles ; there- 
 fore fear none of those things which thou 
 shalt suffer. Do not be in anxious haste to 
 extricate yourself from trouble, when you 
 are led into it by following Jesus. Though 
 the tempest rage, and the sea roar with the 
 fullness thereof, be not afraid ; Jesus is in 
 the ship, and it is in no danger of sinking. 
 Your enjoyment of himself, the wonder- 
 working Immanuel, will be all the greater 
 that you have seen him speak the winds 
 and waves to silence, and produce " a great 
 calm." Do not be seeking after a short- 
 hand method of consolation ; there is no 
 way of procuring it but by waiting patiently 
 for the Lord's interference. Give yourself 
 wholly into the hands of God, for good or 
 for evil, for health or sickness, for sorrow or 
 joy, for affliction or consolation ; and you 
 
THE PATH OF COMFORT. 53 
 
 will soon be able to say, with holy Paul, 
 " We rejoice in hope of the glory of God : 
 and not only so, but we glory in tribula- 
 tions also ; knowing that tribulation worketh 
 patience ; and patience, experience ; and 
 experience, hope ; and hope maketh not 
 ashamed, because the love of God is shed 
 abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost 
 which is given unto us." '' Now our Lord 
 Jesus Christ himself, and God, even our 
 Father, who hath loved us and hath given 
 us everlastiyig consolation and good hope 
 through grace, comfort your hearts and 
 stablish you in every good word and work." 
 Amen. 
 
 Till from the straw the flail the corn doth beat, 
 Until the chaff be pui-ged from the wheat, 
 Yea, till the mill the grains in pieces tear. 
 The riches of the flour will scarce appear. 
 So, till men's persons great afilictions touch. 
 If worth be found, their worth is not so much ; 
 Because, like wheat in straw, they have not yet 
 That value which in threshing thej' may get. 
 
64 THE PATHS OF THE LORD. 
 
 For, till the bruising flails of God's corrections 
 Have threshed out of us our vain affections, — 
 Till those corruptions which do misbecome us 
 Are by thy sacred Spirit winnowed from us, — 
 Until from us the straw of worldly treasures, — 
 Till all the dusty chaff of empty pleasures, — 
 Yea, till his flail upon us he doth lay, 
 To thresh the husk of this our flesh away, 
 And leave the soul uncovered, — nay, yet more. 
 Till God shall make our very spirit poor. 
 We shall not up to highest wealth aspire : 
 But then we shall; and that is my desire. 
 
■^ -r "v*H' 
 
 
 THE PATH OF SERVICE. 
 
 )F you would be Christ's at all^ you must 
 make up your mind to be Christ's al- 
 to getlier. He said, when on earth, "If 
 any man will come after me, let him 
 deny himself, and take up his cross 
 and follow me." Neither father nor mother, 
 wife nor children, brethren nor sisters, houses 
 nor lands, must be allowed to come between 
 you and entire devotedness to Jesus. He 
 would have you to be wholly his, and to be 
 unreservedly devoted to his service, — will- 
 ing to be any thing, do any thing, and go 
 any where for the advancement of his cause. 
 He would have you be in that woman's con- 
 
 55 
 
56 THE PATHS OF THE LORD. 
 
 dition, of whom he said, " She hath done 
 what she could. ''^ 
 
 You desire this. You pray for it, and 
 pant after it, and you think that you are 
 quite wilKng to be thoroughly consecrated 
 to Jesus ; but you feel as if you could not 
 attain to it. There may be hindrances to 
 entu'e consecration lurking about you, of 
 which you are unconscious ; and the Lord 
 has to bring you by an unlooked-for way, 
 and lead you in paths you have not known, 
 to make you aware of these hindrances, and 
 to make you part with them, and serve him 
 with your Avliole heart and life. Holiness, 
 in one of its aspects, is just devoted service. 
 But your mind may be too much occupied 
 with self or the world, and all the time you 
 may be unconscious of it ; and if so, you 
 will likely get self crushed by some very 
 humbling circumstance, and have the world 
 very much swept away from you, before you 
 discover those secret sins which mar your 
 
THE PATH OF SERVICE. 57 
 
 service. Or, you may have your mind un- 
 duly set on those tliat are dear to your 
 heart, and they may have to be removed, — 
 it may be to a sick-room, or to the silent 
 grave. 
 
 Temporal losses, afflictions, difficulties, 
 bereavements, crosses, disappointments, and 
 many other apparently adverse providences, 
 are but love-tokens of the great Shepherd 
 of Israel, and unmistakable indications of 
 his holy and gracious determination to make 
 his people devote themselves unreservedly to 
 his ennobling service, that in promoting his 
 glory they may obtain the highest possible 
 happiness. 
 
 The Lord also leads his people " in paths 
 they have not known" with reference to the 
 hind of service in which they are to be em- 
 ployed. The wild youth of Bedford is ar- 
 rested, convinced, converted, and, Avithout 
 much human learning, becomes one of the 
 greatest preachers of his time. As the poet 
 
58 THE PATHS OF THE LORD. 
 
 is born, not made, so is tlie preacher ; and 
 Bunyan appeared to be a real Heaven-sent 
 preacher, for his ministry was one of power. 
 But yet the Lord led him away into Bedford 
 jail, where he lay "mouth stopped" for a 
 dozen of years, that he might construct his 
 immortal allegory, the " Pilgrim's Progress." 
 Some have thus been led into the writer's 
 seclusion by God, even when, to the eye of 
 human wisdom, they should have been in 
 the preacher's pulpit. There are many liv- 
 ing examples of this peculiarity in the lead- 
 ings of the Lord. Let us be willing to 
 preach or print, as God may judge best. 
 " The foolishness of God is wiser than 
 men." 
 
 More than sixty years ago, two gay young 
 men — one of them an officer in the British 
 navy — were converted to Christ, and were 
 led to Calvary, and formed into soldiers of 
 the cross ; and all Scotland now reveres the 
 memory of the Haldanes, and speaks of them 
 
THE PATH OF SERVICE. 59 
 
 as the pioneers of that blessed tide of evan- 
 gelism which has been gradually rising in 
 that "land of the mountain and the flood" 
 for more than half a century. 
 
 Twenty years ago the name of William 
 Burns was known throughout a great part 
 of Scotland, in connection with the revival 
 of religion and the awakening and conver- 
 sion of souls. Five years later he could not 
 preach at all. God appeared to shut his 
 mouth, so that he had no power or liberty 
 to preach the gospel in his native land ; and 
 he was led to China, where the Lord has 
 again graciously opened his lips, and enabled 
 him to speak to the Chinese, in their own 
 tongue, of " the wondeiiul works of God ; " 
 and the same power of the Holy Spirit is 
 accompanying his preaching in the " Celes- 
 tial Empire," and the same effects are vis- 
 ible as when he first proclaimed " the un- 
 searchable riches of Christ " in this country. 
 The mouths of many who once were sue- 
 
60 THE PATHS OF THE LORD. 
 
 cessful in winning souls appear to be closed. 
 Is it not time for such to consider the pro- 
 priety of waiting upon the Lord for another 
 sphere of labor ? Why not follow " the 
 leadino;s of the Lord ? " 
 
 Robert M'Cheyne proposed to go out as a 
 missionary to the heathen ; but the Lord 
 did not permit him, but led him to St. Pe- 
 ter's Church, Dundee, and through his in- 
 strumentality greatly revived his work in 
 that large and populous town, and, by his 
 preaching ot Jesus, converted many souls. 
 And by the beautiful " Memoirs and Re- 
 mains," he is still speaking with spirit-mov- 
 ing power in the minister's study and at the 
 believer's fireside. Reader, be satisfied with 
 the Lord's arrangements with reference to 
 your service, for they are always the best. 
 Be any thing, do any thing, and go any 
 where, as the Lord may teach and lead 
 you. 
 
 Dr. Kitto was once a poor slater boy ; but 
 
THE PATH OF SFAiVWE. 61 
 
 by a fall from a roof he was led into the 
 work-house, injured and deaf, and was led 
 out to a literary life devoted to the elucida- 
 tion and illustration of the Holy Scriptures. 
 Reader, perhaps, in a spiritual sense, you 
 need a fall, to make you mighty in the Scrip- 
 tures, and useful in expounding them to 
 others. 
 
 George Miiller, of Kroppenstaedt, when 
 converted to Christ, about thirty-five years 
 ago, determined to qualify himself as a mis- 
 sionary to the Jews ; hwt the Lord led him 
 to Bristol, to become a blessing to Gentile 
 orphans, and an example of " the life of 
 faith" to the Christian church. Besides 
 preaching the gospel and engaging in other 
 labors, he now supports, in that city, an in- 
 stitution for the maintenance and education 
 of about eight hundred orphans, without 
 having a penny of his own, and without ask- 
 ing any one for money, — simply by prayer 
 and faith ; and the Lord, who has led him 
 
62 THE PATHS OF THE LORD. 
 
 into tliis service, has sustained him in it for 
 about twenty-five years ; and He is still his 
 " hope and confidence." He has received 
 for his orphans, as the result of prayer to 
 Grod, since the commencement of the work, 
 about £150,000. Reader, shrink not from 
 any service for the Lord, though it may 
 appear secular. If done for Christ's sake, 
 every deed is sacred. According to the 
 " holy George Herbert," even " di'udgery " 
 becomes " divine " when undertaken from 
 love to Jesus. 
 
 Mrs. Judson, in her narrative of the cap- 
 tivity of her husband, and her own efforts 
 and sufferings on his account, has the fol- 
 lowing : — "A review of our trip to, and 
 adventures in, Ava, often excites the in- 
 quiry. Why were we permitted to go ? 
 What good has been effected f . . . . Two 
 years of precious time have been lost to the 
 mission — unless some future advantage may 
 he gained — in consequence of the severe 
 
THE PATH OF SERVICE. (58 
 
 discipline to which we ourselves have been 
 subject. But all that we can say is, It is 
 not in man that walketh to direct Ms steps.'''' 
 She appears to have seen no reason why 
 they should have had to pass through such 
 a painful ordeal ; but I believe that both she 
 and Dr. Judson know it now ; and I tliink 
 I know it too, — at least in one of its phases. 
 It so happened that the writer's wife's uncle 
 was unintentionally the originating cause of 
 Dr. Judson's imprisonment. This is men- 
 tioned in the narrative as follows : — "A 
 report was in circulation that Captain Laird, 
 lately arrived, had brought Bengal papers 
 which contained the intention of the Eng- 
 lish to take Rangoon, and it was kept a 
 secret from his majesty. An inquiry was 
 instituted. The three Englishmen, Gouger, 
 Laird, and Rogers, were called and exam- 
 ined. It was found that they had seen the 
 papers, and they were put in confinement. 
 Next followed the examination of the Ameri- 
 
64 THE PATHS OF THE LORD. 
 
 can missionaries, and, though they were not 
 immediately arrested, they were so in a short 
 time thereafter, on the suspicion that they 
 were in the pay of the EngHsh, and proba- 
 bly spies. The English and the Americans 
 were, consequently, thrust into the same 
 fearful prison at Ava ; and, subsequently, 
 tied two and two, they were driven on to- 
 gether, over the burning sands, to the prison 
 of Oung-pen-la, at a distance of some miles. 
 Mr. Judson was then laboring under fever, 
 and could ill bear such a fiery ordeal. The 
 temperature was above one hundred degrees. 
 The sand and gravel were like burning coals 
 to the feet of the prisoners, wdiich soon be- 
 came perfectly destitute of skin, and in this 
 wretched state they were goaded on by their 
 unfeehng drivers. Mr. Judson's debilitated 
 state, in consequence of fever, and having 
 taken no food that morning, rendered him 
 less capable of bearing such hardships than 
 the other prisoners. When about half way 
 
THE PATH OF SERVICE. 65 
 
 on their journey, as they stopped for water, 
 Mr. Judson begged of the lamine-woon to 
 allow him to ride his horse a mile or two, as 
 he could proceed no further in that dreadful 
 state. But a scornful, malignant look was 
 all the reply that was made. He then re- 
 quested Captain Laird, who was tied with 
 him^ and who was a strong, healthy man, to 
 allow him to take hold of his shoulder, as he 
 was fast sinking. This the kind-hearted 
 man granted for a mile or two, but then 
 found the additional burden unsupportable." 
 It thus appears, from Mrs. Judson's account, 
 that Dr. Judson and Captain Laird were 
 tied together in this horrid march to Oung- 
 pen-la ; and, doubtless, they were close to 
 each other, if not chained together, when 
 there. And could the godly missionary be 
 so near a godless merchant and not seek his 
 spiritual welfare, by unfolding to him the 
 value of the pearl of great price ? No, all 
 the severe tri£|,ls of the missionary did not 
 
G6 THE PATHS OF THE LOUD. 
 
 make liim forget to devote himself to his pe- 
 cuHar work of winning souls, even when in 
 " the inner prison, with his feet fast in the 
 stocks." He conversed with his fellow-pris- 
 oner, and in his ph3^sical captivity showed 
 him the faithful saying that " Christ Jesus 
 came into the Avorld to save sinners," and 
 deliver from the more dreadful yoke of a 
 spiritual bondage. It does not appear that 
 the truth had taken immediate effect on 
 Captain Laird's mind ; but the seed of the 
 Word had found a lodgment in his heart, 
 and, if he w^as not then converted, that 
 truth afterwards sprang up and bore fruit 
 unto holiness. For, when he was thrown 
 into prison, he was in good worldly circum- 
 stances ; but when he was liberated, he found 
 that almost his entire property, to tlie value 
 of X 30,000, had been destroyed (and he 
 had no good reason to expect that any com- 
 pensation would be granted), and he who 
 had been successful in business, and con- 
 
THE PATH OF SERVICE. 67 
 
 nected with tlie Burmese nobility by mar- 
 riage, and on terms of familiarity with the 
 Burman court, found himself emerging from 
 the horrors of captivity to endure the equal- 
 ly mortifying horrors of misfortune. To a 
 man who had spent the best period of his 
 life in the prosecution of successful commer- 
 cial enterprise, and who had been the archi- 
 tect of his own fortune, sucli a reverse of 
 circumstances and loss of position must have 
 come with the keenest poignancy. Then, 
 when he was a ruined man, did he have the 
 favoring circumstances for meditating on 
 what his devoted fellow-prisoner had taught 
 him in the horrid dungeons of the cruel 
 Burman despot. He became, eventually, 
 an altered man ; and the tcme and matter 
 of his letters to his relatives in Scotland 
 became completely changed. He wrote 
 "beautiful letters," we are told, — letters 
 full of the "great salvation," and of solemn 
 warning to those near and dear to him, tell- 
 
68 THE PATHS OF THE LOUD. 
 
 ing them plainly and affectionately that it 
 would profit them nothing although they 
 should gain the whole world, if they lost 
 their own souls, and imploring them to be 
 reconciled to God through Jesus Christ. 
 He wrote with the utmost respect for Dr. 
 Judson, and ascribed the great change that 
 he had experienced to the kind instruction 
 in divine things which he had received from 
 his lips in the dark days of their " sore 
 bondage." I do not believe that Dr. Jud- 
 son ever knew that he had been the means 
 of leading him to turn to the Lord, nor do 
 I know whether he had any intercourse 
 with him after the period of their liber- 
 ation. It is not likely. After his death, 
 when his friends wrote to Dr. Judson, ask- 
 ing if he could give them any particulars 
 about their relative's last days, he replied 
 that he could not ; but he said that the last 
 time he was in Rangoon, he saw a funeral 
 passing along the street, and on inquiring 
 
THE PATH OF SERVICE. 69 
 
 whose it was, he was iiifbriiied it was that 
 of his former fellow-prisoner, Captain Laird. 
 " Why ivere tve permitted to go ? what good 
 has been effected?'''' are questions which ap- 
 peared to stagger faith at that time ; but 
 now that the missionaries have ceased from 
 their labors and gone to their reward, these 
 questions appear, to some extent, to have 
 their answer m the narration we have just 
 given. And as there may be many of God's 
 beloved servants passing through fiery trials 
 for the endurance of which they may not be 
 able to see any immediate result, such as 
 would seem to be intended by them, we 
 would kindly counsel them not to be too 
 hasty in concluding that the period occupied 
 in passing through such trials has been 
 "time lost to the mission" for God their 
 Saviour, which they have given themselves 
 to prosecute. Heavy trials, severe afflic^ 
 tions, crushing circumstances, the alienation 
 of friends, distressing misapprehensions of 
 
70 THE PATHS OF THE LORD. 
 
 the cliurch, the bitter persecution of the 
 world, embarrassing pecuniary troubles, and 
 all that tends to depress the mind, lacerate 
 the feelings, burden the soul, and incumber 
 the circumstances, may be experienced by 
 those that are dear to God and devoted to 
 the spiritual welfare of souls ; and they may 
 be apt to say. If the Lord be for us, and if 
 we are to be employed in his service, and 
 used for the promotion of his cause and 
 glory, why are these things permitted to 
 come upon us, and wherefore are we kept in 
 " the depths " of trouble ? But let God's 
 dear people learn to be still, and know that 
 he is the all- wise God, and that he never 
 does any thing with them without having a 
 purpose to serve by it. In such painful cir- 
 cumstances, when we can get no light upon 
 the way God is taking with us, let us sub- 
 mit cheerfully to all his arrangements, and 
 listen with child-like meekness to his salu- 
 tary teaching, when he says, ^' I will bring 
 
THE PATH OF SERVICE 71 
 
 the blind by a way they knew not ; I will 
 lead them in paths that they have not 
 known ; I will make darkness light before 
 them, and crooked things straight. These 
 things will I do unto them, and not forsake 
 them." 
 
 " Holy brethren," have you not been led 
 to engage in service of which you little 
 thoucrht ? And have not some of you been 
 led — much against your feelings, incHna- 
 tions, early prejudices, and to your worldly 
 disadvantage — to engage in some depart- 
 ment of the Lord's work ? All of us who 
 have come through certain departments of 
 deep Christian experience have been led to 
 do many things quite opposite to Avhat we 
 intended to do ; and we ha\'e had a rich 
 blessing in yielding to the evident leadings 
 of the Lord. Endeavor to know God's will 
 by studying his Word, observing his provi- 
 dence, and considering the promptings of his 
 Spirit within you when asking counsel at 
 
72 THE PATHS OF THE LORD. 
 
 the throne of grace ; and, liaving ascertained 
 his will with reference to your service^ do it 
 at all hazards, and at any sacrifice. He 
 gave his Son for you, and jou must hold 
 yourselves in readiness even to die for him, 
 if you would show yourselves truly and 
 wholly devoted to his service and the pro- 
 motion of his glory. " Ye are not your 
 own ; for ye are hought with a price : there- 
 fore glorify God in your body and in your 
 spirit, which are God's." 
 
 e^' 
 
^ rx^Ati Ll^^>n 6^1 
 
 VI. 
 
 THE PATH OF LIGHT. 
 
 ROVIDENCE is an admirable ex- 
 positor of revelation. The Bible, 
 ."^^ like the sun, remains stationary ; 
 and we, like the earth, in being 
 moved round it, are enlightened. 
 Or, to employ another figure, the Bible, 
 hung up, like some well-painted portrait, 
 upon the great wall of Time, follows us with 
 its lustrous eye in all our movements. We 
 are instructed in divine truth, and enlight- 
 ened " in all spiritual knowledge and under- 
 stanchng," by being put upon an ever shift- 
 ing plane of observation by the providence 
 of God. Just as an ever-varying landscape 
 is exhibited to the passengers in a railway 
 
 73 
 
74 THE PATHS OF THE LORD. 
 
 train as it proceeds on its iron-pathway, so 
 an increase of spiritual knowledge is com- 
 municated to us as we are passing along the 
 way of life. The Lord has graciously given 
 a revelation of himself, and promises like- 
 wise to give the Holy Spirit to make it 
 known ; but he has also ordained the cir- 
 cumstances in which its A^arious parts are 
 likely to make the deepest impression ; and 
 it is made "spirit" and "life" to the soul 
 only through that particular medium. We 
 well know that at certain times, when all 
 is running smooth, we may read much 
 of the Word of God, and yet but a small 
 part, if any, of it fixes itself in our minds, 
 or passes like a transfusion through our 
 souls, and no good impression whatever is 
 made upon our hearts ; but as the beauties 
 of the verdant hills are brought out by the 
 overpassing clouds, so the truths of Holy 
 Scripture are brought out by the trying- 
 providences which pass over us. Luther 
 
THE PATH OF LIGHT. 75 
 
 placed " temptations " or trials amon«^ those 
 things which made a minister, by opening 
 to him the hidden mysteries of divine truth. 
 And, verily, the reformer was right. Af- 
 flictions, temptations, and trials are abso- 
 lutely necessary to the formation of that 
 pure perce]Dtive state of mind which enables 
 a minister or a private Christian to appre- 
 hend the real spirit and bearing of the Word 
 of God. Trying providences are frequently 
 employed as instruments of conversion. No 
 providence, however peculiar, can change 
 the heart, — that is the work of the Spirit 
 of God ; but providences may be used as 
 preparatory to the great change. It w^as so 
 in the case of the late Dr. Chalmers, of un- 
 dying memory. He began his ministry in 
 an unconverted state, but was led by afflict- 
 ive dispensations, and the circumstance of 
 writing on Christianity for the press, to see 
 the truths of the gospel clearly. " During 
 the autumn of the same year" (1807), says 
 
76 THE PATHS OF THE LORD. 
 
 Mr. Anderson in his " Reminiscences," " he 
 was attacked with a severe illness, and his 
 long confinement under this proved a most 
 momentous season of his life. Recent be- 
 reavements in his father's family, and his 
 own affliction, now led him to look at hu- 
 man life in a very different aspect from 
 viewing it merely as a gay, thoughtless 
 scene, or without comparing it in his mind's 
 eye with the magnitude of eternity. This 
 was the first stage of the most eventful pe- 
 riod of his life, and he came out of it an 
 altered man." It was then that his mind 
 was opened to understand the doctrines of 
 free grace ; and ever after he preached the 
 faith which once he destroyed. And the 
 providences of God, especially his afflictive 
 dispensations, have been rendered useful to 
 many others in less prominent spheres, in 
 placing them within the influence of " the 
 grace of Grod that bring eth salvation.'^'' 
 
 That remarkable Christian, Mrs. Mary 
 
THE PATH OF LIGHT. 77 
 
 Winslow,* was led by tlie providence of 
 God in sucli a manner as by his grace to 
 become acquainted with the glorious gospel 
 of Christ. She was at a ball one evening. 
 She received much attention, and her pride 
 was gratified. She was then just married, 
 and surrounded with every thing that could 
 give earthly happiness. But she was un- 
 happy, and her unhappiness remained with 
 her until she knew the Lord Jesus. " On 
 returning from the ball," says she, " I took 
 a hasty review of the evening I had passed, 
 as I lay upon my sleepless pillow. The 
 glitter, the music, the dance, the excitement, 
 the attention, the pleasure, — all passed be- 
 fore me. But, oh ! I felt a want I could not 
 describe. I sighed ; and, throwing my arjn 
 over my head, whispered to myself these 
 expressive words, ' Is this all ? ' I felt at 
 the moment that if this were all the happi- 
 
 * Life in Jesus ; or, Memoirs of iJ/?'S. Afary Winslow. By 
 her son, Octavius Winslow, D. D. 
 
78 THE PATHS OF THE LORD. 
 
 ness the world could bestow, then was there 
 a lack I knew not how to supply, and a void 
 I could not fill. I had reached the very 
 summit of earthly bliss, and found it to fall 
 short of what my heart craved and my soul 
 required. From this time I grew more 
 fond of retirement, and less inclined to min- 
 gle with the gay world. I felt that what I 
 had been pursuing in the early part of my 
 life was not happiness. I turned from it 
 with a sensation of loathing, and sought in 
 solitude what I had never found in the brill- 
 iant and crowded walks of life. I thought 
 that there must be a state where real happi- 
 ness was to be found. In this condition I 
 continued for years, striving to keep the 
 law and shape my course by 'the whole 
 duty of man.' I endeavored to walk so as 
 to please God ; but again and again my best 
 resolutions were broken. These feelings I 
 concealed from all around me, for I would 
 not for the world have breathed a hint that 
 
THE PATH OF LIGHT. 79 
 
 I was uiiliappy, to the dearest friend. I saw 
 every one around me apparently happy in 
 the possession of tlie world, which had lost 
 its charm for me. I now sought peace of 
 mind in domestic enjoyment. I was encir- 
 cled by my children, possessed of a husband 
 who anticipated my fondest wish, and my 
 heart could sigh for nothing of earthly bliss 
 I did not possess, — and still I was unhajopy. 
 I was a sinner^ and this secret conviction 
 beclouded every prospect and imbittered 
 every clip." Such leadings of the Lord are 
 very useful : they bring us to see the point 
 and truthfulness of those portions of Scrip- 
 ture which set forth the vanity and unsatis- 
 fying nature of all earthfy things. The ex- 
 perience described in the book of Ecclesiastes 
 must be reached by ladies and gentlemen 
 who have been born to all the pleasures, 
 comforts, and abundance which the carnal 
 heart could desire, before they are likely to 
 search the Scriptures with a desire to obtain 
 
80 THE PATHS OF THE LORD. 
 
 lasting happiness, and realize the spiritual 
 joys described in " the Song of Songs." 
 They must be made to say of the things of 
 time, " Vanity of vanities, all is vanity,''^ 
 before they will say of Jesus, " He is alto- 
 gether lovely, — he is all our salvation and 
 all our desire." In fact, every soul that is 
 brought to Christ must, in some degree, feel 
 the emptiness of earth's wells of enjoyment 
 before the truth concerning a satisfying por- 
 tion in Jesus be truly and vividly appre- 
 hended. How many are at all times labor- 
 ing and heavy-laden, like Mrs. Winslow, — 
 seeking rest and finding none ! There are 
 far more restless, unhappy, thirsting, long- 
 ing souls in the gay world than we think. 
 Many of the sons and daughters of fashion, 
 as they flit from scene to scene, and seem to 
 be reveling amid the most satisfying joys of 
 earth, are unhappy when alone, sad at heart, 
 and miserable. Such was Mrs. Winslow's 
 condition. " I was unhappy," she says ; 
 
THE PATH OF LIGHT. 81 
 
 " at times miserable ; ray weary soul thirst- 
 ed for what it had not, and yet I could not 
 answer myself and say what that one thing 
 was." 
 
 But so great was the pressure of her 
 mental disquietude, that %er health gave 
 way. Looking narrowly one day into the 
 meaning of the opening verse of the sixty- 
 third Psalm, I was struck to find the lan- 
 guage so accurately describe a circumstance 
 of frequent occurrence in the case of sincere 
 and earnest inquirers. " My flesh longeth 
 for thee ! " says the exiled mourner. What 
 is the exact meaning of that striking ex- 
 pression ? It signifies, " grows pale." His 
 countenance, naturally ruddy (1 Sam. xvi. 
 12), became pale from the intensity of his 
 inward longing after God. How forcible ! 
 His whole being was so intensely exercised 
 that his inward condition of earnest desire 
 for the presence of God might be read from 
 his altered and emaciated bodily appearance. 
 
82 THE PATHS OF THE LORD. 
 
 This experience is not peculiar to the royal 
 psalmist ; many an inquirer has been so in- 
 tensely occupied with the thoughts which 
 prey upon the mind of the tempest-tossed, 
 that the pallor of waning health has made 
 its appearance #n the fair, fresh, and ruddy 
 cheek of joyous youth, to the grief of affec- 
 tionate and anxious friends. It was so in 
 the case of Mrs. Winslow ; and her hus- 
 band, thinking that her unhappiness and 
 consequent unhealthiness arose from the sol- 
 itude of their rural residence, was led to 
 leave his ancestral home at Romford, in 
 Essex, for a residence in London, which 
 was the providence that brought her into 
 contact with the gospel of Christ. She was 
 still blind with reference to the way of 
 peace ; but the Lord was leading her to 
 Calvary, where Jesus made peace by the 
 blood of his cross. He was, in truth, ful- 
 filling his own gracious promise, " I will 
 bring the blind by a way they knew not; 
 
THE PATH OF LIGHT. 83 
 
 I will lead them in paths that they havje not 
 known ; I will make darkness light before 
 them, and crooked things straight. These 
 things will I do unto them, and not forsake 
 them." 
 
 She heard, for the first time in her life, 
 the precious gospel of peace. " This," 
 she writes, " was what I wanted to know 
 for many years, that Jesus Christ came into 
 the world to save poor sinners. I was a 
 sinner, and wanted to be saved. Oh, how 
 eagerly I listened and drank in every word ! 
 I had been in vain trying to work out my 
 salvation ; but my work always fell short, 
 and left me as poor and miserable as ever. 
 Now was held out to me the hope that I 
 might be saved by the work of another, — 
 the work of Jesus Christ." But still she 
 had great questionings about the way in 
 which a sinner could be justified. Never- 
 theless, the truth that a sinner could be 
 saved had been lodged in her mind. And 
 
84 THE PATHS OF THE LORD. 
 
 the truthfulness of God her Saviour, when 
 he says, ^'Ask and ye shall receive^^ had also 
 been deeply impressed upon her mind, as 
 she searched the Scriptures during the quiet 
 hours of night, as she watched by the side of 
 her sick child. She fell on her knees, and 
 pleaded this promise. " I did not wrestle 
 so much," she says, " for my salvation, as 
 to know lioio I could be saved as a helpless 
 sinner that could do nothing. I arose from 
 my knees, and again took my Bible. I read 
 and compared Scripture with Scripture ; 
 but the one part appeared to contradict the 
 other, and ni}^ mind was left in darkness 
 and perplexity. Again I carried the prom- 
 ise to the throne of grace, and again wres- 
 tled with the Lord. I returned to my Bible, 
 but it w^as yet a sealed book. The third 
 time I ventured near the Lord, still plead- 
 ing his own gracious promise, '•Ask and ye 
 I shall receive.^ In an instant, light broke in 
 ; upon my soul ! Jesus stood before me, and 
 
THE PATH OF LIGHT. 85 
 
 spoke tliese blessed words, '/ am thj salva^ 
 tion!^ I liailed the glad. tidings ; my heart 
 and soul responded. Jesus was with me ! 
 He had himself spoken, — I had seen the 
 Lord and heard his voice ; my soul was 
 saved, my burden was gone ; the grave- 
 clothes in which I had been so long con- 
 fined fell off; my spirit was free, and I 
 seemed to soar toward heaven in the sweet- 
 est, richest enjoyment, my heart filled with 
 a joy unspeakable. I arose from my knees 
 to adore and praise and bless his holy name. 
 Oh, what a night was that ! never, never to 
 be forgotten ! I had seen Jesus ! It was 
 no vision of the bodily senses that I saAV ; 
 but I had no more doubt that I was a re- 
 deemed and pardoned sinner — that I had 
 seen Christ and held communion with him 
 who died that I might live — than I had of 
 my own existence. It was with difficulty I 
 could refrain fi'om calling up the whole 
 house to hear what the Lord had done for 
 
86 THE PATHS OF THE LORD. 
 
 my soul. It has since been evident to my^ 
 self that when the Holy Ghost gave me the 
 promise to plead, he also gave me a measure 
 of faith to credit God for its fnlfinment ; 
 and J in answering the prayer of simple faith, 
 Christ came into my soul with a full and 
 free salvation. 'I am thy salvation!^ This 
 was good news indeed, fresh from heaven. 
 Christ was mine, heaven was mine ; all care 
 and sorrow had vanished, and I was as hap^ 
 py as I could be in the body. I had found 
 what I had long sought. I had been in 
 search of real happiness for years, and in 
 one night I found it all in Jesus. God's 
 richest treasury had been thrown open to 
 my view ; and in him I found all I wanted 
 for time and eternity." How very wonder- 
 fully the providential and spiritual leadings 
 of the Lord wrought to produce that state 
 of mind which made her thirst for higher 
 enjoyments than those which this world can 
 supply ; and how graciously the Lord opened 
 
THE PATH OF LIGHT. 87 
 
 lier eyes, and made her find " all in Jesus ! '* 
 " Blessed is the people that know the joyful 
 sound ; they shall walk, O Lord, in the light 
 of thy countenance." 
 
 It is thus that the Lord leads his ran- 
 somed people to a saving knowledge of him- 
 self, and to obtain spiritual illumination on 
 those passages that contain the gospel of 
 Christ in all its fullness and freeness. It is 
 an all-important period in our life, when we 
 are led clearly to apprehend the divine 
 method of justification by faith alone, — 
 free, full, and everlasting salvation entirely 
 by the perfect work of Jesus, and not by 
 our own imperfect works. But after " being 
 justified freely by his grace, through the re- 
 demption that is in Christ Jesus," and after 
 drawing near to God, " with a true heart, 
 in full assurance of faith," we need to be 
 divinely instructed in other truths, that we 
 may not be always engaged hi laying the 
 
88 THE PATHS OF THE LORD. 
 
 foundation, but that we may be building 
 upon it and going on to perfection. 
 
 Mrs. Winslow had made proof of the 
 truthfulness of God, and she nmst also make 
 proof of his faithfulness as a covenant-keep- 
 ing God. Her beloved husband was seized 
 with a severe illness. Soon after, she her- 
 self became dangerously ill. Her illness led 
 to her husband giving up his commission 
 in the army, which was the cause of much 
 disappointment to her, for " she looked for- 
 ward to the army as the future profession of 
 her sons. But greater trials were before 
 her. Some years after Captain Winslow's 
 retirement from the army, his ample fortune 
 became seriously impaired through ill-ad- 
 vised and disastrous investments. It was 
 this circumstance — an important link in 
 the chain of events, evolving God's purposes 
 of love — that suggested a removal to the 
 United States of America, as offering wider 
 
THE PATH OF LIGHT. 89 
 
 scope for a family composed almost entirely 
 of boys, and a place of residence more favor- 
 able to resources now sadly crippled." Mrs. 
 Winslow, accompanied by her family of ten 
 children, crossed the Atlantic, and her hus- 
 band was to follow\ But she was to find in 
 the home of her adoption trials more severe 
 than any she had yet experienced. Her in- 
 fant daughter sickened and died ; and, before 
 her corpse was buried, the melancholy intelli- 
 gence reached her that her beloved husband 
 was no more ! " Deep calleth unto deep at 
 the noise of thy water-spouts ; all thy waves 
 and thy billows are gone over me." Into 
 that mournful class of Scripture passages 
 she now saw as she had never done ; but 
 she also became more fully acquainted with 
 that class which speaks of the faithfulness of 
 God. A widow with a large family, and in 
 reduced worldly circumstances, a stranger 
 in a strange land, — what was she to do? 
 The first consolation which entered her 
 
90 THE PATHS OF THE LORD. 
 
 striken heart was communicated by New- 
 ton's hymn, so apphcable to her own case : 
 
 I asked the Lord that I might grow 
 In faith and love and every grace ; 
 
 Might more of his salvation know, 
 And seek more earnestly his face. 
 
 *Twas he who taught me thus to pray, 
 And he, I trust, has answered prayer ; 
 
 But it has been in such a way 
 As almost drove me to despair. 
 
 I hoped that in some favored hour 
 At once he'd answer my request ; 
 
 And by his love's constraining power 
 Subdue my sins and give me rest. 
 
 Instead of this he made me feel 
 
 The hidden evils of my heart ; 
 And let the angry powers of hell 
 
 Assault my soul in every part. 
 
 Yea, more, — with his own hand he seemed 
 
 Intent to aggravate my woe ; 
 Crossed all the fair designs I schemed, 
 
 Blasted my gourds, and laid me low. 
 
THE PATH OF LIGHT. 91 
 
 Lord, why is this ? I trembling cried ; 
 Wilt thou pursue thy worm to death ? 
 " 'Tis in this way," the Lord replied, 
 "I answer prayer for grace and faith. 
 
 " Those inward trials I employ 
 
 From self and pride to set thee free ; 
 And break thy schemes of earthly joy, 
 That thou may'st seek thy all in me." 
 
 The Christian Avidow was in some meas- 
 ure comforted, and could now trust in the 
 Lord. She could cast her burden on the 
 Lord, and repose in peace upon his faithful 
 Word. One night, which she spent in 
 prayer, was a memorable one. Toward the 
 dawn of day a voice seemed audibly to utter 
 these words in her ear and heart, — "/ will 
 he a Father to thy fatherless children.'''' 
 ^' Years have passed since then," she writes, 
 " and the Lord has not for one moment for- 
 gotten his promise. But I take the promise 
 to extend beyond this poor dying world. 
 I believe he designs to be their Father to all 
 
92 THE PATHS OF THE LORD. 
 
 eternity, and tliat I shall meet all, all ray 
 children in heaven ! How often have I 
 gone and pleaded this promise before him, 
 and have always found my faith increased ! 
 And still my faith holds out ; for He is faith- 
 fid that hath promised.'^'' Thus was she led 
 to know the power of those exceeding great 
 and precious promises which contain com- 
 forting assurances based upon the unchang- 
 ing faithfulness of God. And as years passed 
 away, she found that the providence of God 
 wonderfully assisted her in obtaining fresh 
 and impressive knowledge of the truths of 
 God's holy Word. 
 
 And so it is with all God's people. They 
 are led by a way they knew not, to obtain 
 a deep, personal, refreshing acquaintance 
 Avith his " treasures of wisdom and knowl- 
 edge " which are hid in Christ. It is com- 
 paratively easy to acquire a natural knowl- 
 edge of divine things from human systems ; 
 but God only can impart a spiritual knowl- 
 
THE PA TH OF LIGHT. 93 
 
 edo;e of clivine tliino;s. " The natural man 
 receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God, 
 for they are foohshness unto him ; neither 
 can he know them, because they are spirit- 
 ually discerned." By the teaching of the 
 Spirit of God, the simple peasant will enter 
 more fiilly into the pith and marrow of di- 
 vine thino's than could the m'eatest scholar 
 or most learned theologian by the utmost 
 efforts of his unaided mental powers. This 
 was seen in the case of the accomplished 
 and talented Hewitson and the young peas- 
 ant he met at Leamington. " My inter- 
 course," he writes, — "my intercourse with 
 the young man soon gave me ground to 
 conclude that if my theoretic knowledge of 
 gospel truths was greater than his, he, un- 
 like myself, had experienced their sanctify- 
 ing power. Truly his was the better por- 
 tion." But after he had been taught these 
 truths by the leading and enlightening of the 
 Spirit of God, the change soon became obvi- 
 
94 THE PATHS OF THE LORD. 
 
 ous to otliers, and they felt that he now pos- 
 sessed a somethmg Jiew and indescribable, 
 — a something of which they, in turn, knew 
 nothing. When he returned to his village- 
 home for the summer, " his relatives at once 
 marked the great change." The very night 
 he arrived, he spoke to all the family most 
 solemnly on the concerns of eternity ; and 
 the whole villao;e soon saw that he was an- 
 other man. He had been known hitherto as 
 the great scholar and the exemplary divinity- 
 student ; but now they " took knowledge of 
 him that he had been w^ith Jesus." " That," 
 said he one day soon after his return, laying 
 his hand upon the open Bible, — " that shall 
 henceforth be my daily study ; I desire to 
 converse through it daily with God ! " " The 
 purpose was not unaccomplished. The Bi- 
 ble may be said to have thenceforth become 
 his library. No longer regarding it as a 
 mere hieroglyphic to be curiously examined 
 by the eye of the scholar, he came to it with 
 
THE PATH OF LIGHT. 95 
 
 the heart of a child to Hsten to the voice of 
 his Father. And out of it he learned that 
 living, fresh divinity which impregnated 
 with its savor his whole ftiture conversation 
 and correspondence and ministry." * And 
 how blessed were the discoveries he made 
 in the field of Scripture ! He was led by 
 the Spirit and dealings of God to discover 
 there many spiritual truths which he had 
 never before perceived ; and among others 
 that which bathes all the rest in noontide 
 radiance, — the coming and the kingdom of 
 our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ ! 
 
 It requires much experience of the deal- 
 ings of God to make us receive the higher 
 and more distino-uishino; truths of Christi- 
 anity, — especially those that are unpopular, 
 and which we have been taught to reject ; 
 but, if we would be fresh and fruitful Chris- 
 tians, we must lay aside all prejudice, and 
 
 * Memoir of the Rev. W. H. Hewiston. By the Rev. John 
 Baillie. 
 
96 THE PATHS OF THE LOUD. 
 
 allow the Lord to teach us from the foun- 
 tarn of inspiration " all the counsel of God.'' 
 There is an an impetuosity about the young 
 Christian which frequently renders him im- 
 patient of those truths of God's Word which 
 run directly counter to his own preconceived 
 notions. The doctrine of Jehovah's su- 
 premacy and absolute sovereignty is so re- 
 pugnant to the notions of fallen human 
 nature, that it is not likely to be received 
 with spiritual apprehension and cordiality 
 for a considerable period after conversion. 
 But it is a blessed experience to be brought 
 to submit wilhngly to the most humbling 
 truths. It is a happy thing to be shown by 
 the Spirit that God is on the throne, and 
 that we must lie low in the dust at his foot- 
 stool, and be dealt with by him according to 
 his own sovereign will. It is no easy matter 
 to submit with adoring complacency to such 
 sentiments as these : — " No man can come 
 to me except the Father who hath sent me 
 
THE PATH OF LIGHT. 97 
 
 draw him," — "So then it is not of him 
 that willeth, nor of him that runneth, but of 
 God that showeth mercy," — "Blessed be 
 the God and Father of our Lord Jesus 
 Christ, who hath blessed us with all spirit- 
 ual blessings in heavenly places in Christ ; 
 according as he hath chosen us in him be- 
 fore the foundation of the world, that we 
 should be holy and without blame before 
 him in love; havmg predestinated us unto 
 the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to 
 himself, according to the good pleasure of 
 his will, to the praise of the glory of his 
 grace, wherein he hath made us accepted in 
 the Beloved, in whom we have redemption 
 through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, 
 according to the riches of his grace." 
 
 The following excerpt from a young man's 
 letter forms a very appropriate illustration 
 of this part of our subject: — "I must con- 
 fess, with much sorrow and shame, that I 
 have been half an infidel in my time ; but by 
 7 
 
yg THE PATHS OF THE LORD. 
 
 a chain of circumstances, the end of which the 
 God of all grace manifestly held in his own 
 hand, I was brought under the ministry of a 
 living evangelical servant of Christ, and re- 
 ceived many good impressions. About the 
 same time I was brought into contact with 
 a book on the ministry, which proved the 
 turning and determining point of my life. 
 I shut myself out from society for a consid- 
 erable period, and gave myself to prayer 
 and the study of God's Word. I was also 
 led by a manifest providence to speak to 
 others of the gospel of Jesus. But, in my 
 zeal, I did not at all times think and act 
 wisely. I earnestly desired to see sinners 
 coming to Jesus ; and I preached almost ex- 
 clusively those truths which I deemed en- 
 couraging, and could not bear to hear others, 
 because I thought they would discourage 
 poor sinners who were seeking salvation. I 
 am still of opinion that it requires much 
 spiritual wisdom and discrimination to preach 
 
* THE PATH OF LIGHT. 99 
 
 the higher trutlis of the Christian system ; 
 and also that the great thing needed by the 
 world is the gospel that ' Christ died for our 
 sins, according to the Scriptures.' But al- 
 though a man holds such views, he need not 
 feel irritated when he comes in contact with 
 these sublime doctrines. At the time I re- 
 fer to, I felt annoyed when I heard them 
 preached, when I met with them in books, 
 and even when I came upon them in the 
 Word of God ! I bless the Lord I can now 
 receive them without irksomeness, and re- 
 joice in them as one that finds great spoil. 
 I was attending the Divinity Hall when 
 I was delivered from my fruitless warfare 
 with the truth. I was hearing a course of 
 lectures on the subject of my aversion, and 
 felt so terribly annoyed that I shut my note- 
 book and wrote nothing ; but sat in suUen- 
 ness, with a heart boiling with opposition to 
 the solemn truths which were treated of. I 
 said to my room-mate, when we got home. 
 
100 THE PATHS OF THE LORD. 
 
 that I believed such teachmg was enough to 
 flood the land with infidelity ; and I stoutly 
 averred that no honest man could hold such 
 views and preach an unfettered gospel. He 
 was better acquainted with the truth than 
 I was, and reasoned the matter with me, 
 bringing forward the most cogent arguments 
 to prove his side of the question ; but after 
 a time he found it was useless, for he saw 
 that I was determined to hold to my own 
 opinions. The point to be settled must be 
 settled practically^ for I would have nothing 
 to do with it theoretically. And thus, in the 
 gracious providence of God, it was settled. 
 I must hear a minister holding these views 
 preach the gospel with the Holy Ghost sent 
 down from heaven. Nothing short of that 
 w^ould convince me. I saw it announced 
 by placards that Dr. Winslow, of Leaming- 
 ton, would preach in town at such places. I 
 had read some of his papers in a religious 
 periodical, and one which gave an account 
 
THE PATH OF LIGHT. 101 
 
 of a revival liad particularly interested me. 
 I was therefore ready to hear him, and ac- 
 cordingly repaired to the chapels where he 
 was expected to preach. In the forenoon he 
 preached from Matt. iv. 16, but appeared to 
 be much straitened, and did not make a 
 very favorable impression. I went, how- 
 ever, to hear him again on the afternoon of 
 that same Lord's day, and heard him preach, 
 with evident power and demonstration of 
 the Spirit, from Psalm Ixxii. 6. He brought 
 out fully the highest doctrines of the Chris- 
 tian system, but in such a way, and with 
 such accompanying power of the Holy Spirit, 
 that I felt my prejudices and opposition en- 
 tirely subdued. I was a new man from 
 that day. I had been converted for a con- 
 siderable time, but this was a kind of second 
 conversion. The light of the knowledge 
 of the glory of God had shined into my 
 heart more fully than before, and I lay in 
 the dust, saying, ' Woe is me, for I am un- 
 
102 THE PATHS OF THE LORD. 
 
 done, .... for mine eyes have seen the 
 Kmg, the Lord. of hosts.' I could never 
 forget the solemnity of that afternoon ; and 
 ever since I have preached with joy all the 
 doctrines of God's holy Word." 
 
 And with reference to the spiritual knowl- 
 edge of all the truths of G-od^s Word, the 
 particular background of providence suited 
 to each is necessary to a saving and refresh- 
 ing view ; so that, when we are led into 
 any very difficult or trying circumstances, 
 instead of concluding that the Lord hath for- 
 saken us, and hath forgotten to be gracious, 
 w^e should rather conclude that the Lord is 
 leading us into these new circumstances to 
 give us new discoveries of his own truth and 
 glory. The instructions of God's Word be- 
 ing intended to correspond with the fore- 
 seen circumstances of all his people, we must 
 have the circumstances, whether joyous or 
 sorrowful, before these instructions can be- 
 come " spirit and life " to our souls. Deep- 
 
THE PATH OF SERVICE. 103 
 
 ly-tried friend, you have no difficulty in un- 
 derstanding my meaning, for you know that 
 God's Word has been the sweetest when 
 your cup has been the bitterest, and that the 
 bitterness of your trials procured for you all 
 that sweetness. Let us, then, " trust in the 
 Lord for ever." " The Lord is my shep- 
 herd, I shall not want ; " though he lead me 
 through the valley of Baca, I shall always 
 find there some refreshing Elim with its wells 
 of water and overshadowing palms. 
 
 We limit not the truth of God to ourpoor reach of mind, 
 
 By notions of our day and sect, crude, partial, and con- 
 fined. 
 
 No, let a new and better hope within our hearts be stu-red ; 
 
 The Lord hath yet more light and truth to break forth 
 from' his Word. 
 
 Who dares to bind to his dull sense the oracles of Heaven, 
 
 For all the nations, tongues, and climes, and all the ages 
 given ; 
 
 That universe how much unknown! that ocean unex- 
 plored ! 
 
 The Lord hath yet more light and tnith to break forth 
 from his Word. 
 
' 104 THE PATHS OF THE LORD. 
 
 Darkling our great forefathers went the first steps of the 
 
 way; 
 'Twas but the dawning, yet to groAv into the perfect day. 
 And grow it shall ; — our glorious sun more fervid rays 
 
 afford : 
 The Lord hath yet more light and truth to break forth 
 
 from his Word. 
 
 The valleys passed, ascending still, our souls would 
 higher climb, 
 
 And look down from supernal hights on all the bygone 
 time. 
 
 Upward we press, — the air is clear, and the sphere- 
 music heard ; 
 
 The Lord hath yet more light and truth to break forth 
 from his Word. 
 
 O Father, Son, and Spirit, send us increase from above ; 
 
 Enlarge, expand all Christian souls to comprehend thy 
 love; 
 
 And make us to go on to know, with nobler powers con- 
 ferred, 
 
 The Lord hath yet more light and truth to break forth 
 from his Word. 
 
cK. 
 
 VII. 
 
 THE PATH OF LIFE. 
 
 )RAVELERS tell us that outside the 
 walls of Floriau, a suburb of Val- 
 etta, in the Island of Malta, there 
 is a convent where the monks, as 
 they die, are carried down to the 
 vaults and stuck up in niches in the wall ; 
 and there, arrayed in all the habiliments of 
 their order, they are kept in their erect po- 
 sition by a chain going round their waists ; 
 while the stone has, it is said, the singular 
 property of preserving them for a considera- 
 ble period from decay. The sight must be 
 a sickening as well as a solemnizing one. 
 What a mockery of living monkery, to stick 
 up the dead monks there ! Yet these dead 
 
 105 
 
106 TEE PATHS OF THE LORD. 
 
 men shall live. They now have all the ap- 
 pearance of life, in the ghramering light 
 which falls upon them ; but, though dressed 
 and standing erect as when alive, they are 
 in reality dead^ and are kept in their present 
 position merely by artificial means. 
 
 And it is sad to think that this mimicry 
 of continued life forms a too appropriate 
 illustration of the state in which even true 
 Christians are sometimes found. The breath 
 of the divine life — the life of God in their 
 souls — appears to have been extinguished. 
 They are still clothed in all the habiliments 
 of their Christian profession, but they are 
 now only bound to the jpresei'ving Rock by 
 the strong chain that keeps them in their 
 erect position ; and their existence is artifi- 
 cial, not vital, — at least they are not con- 
 scious of vitality. Their spiritual life is sus- 
 pended ; but they shall yet live. Sueh 
 was the experience of the psalmist, when he 
 penned the following mournful lines : — 
 
THE PATH OF LIFE. 107 
 
 Lord God of my salvation, 
 
 1 cry day and night unto thee. 
 Let my prayer come before thee : 
 Incline thine ear unto my cry ; 
 For my soul is full of troubles, 
 
 And my life draweth nigh unto the grave. 
 
 I am counted with those who go down into the pit , 
 
 I am as a man who hath no strength, 
 
 Laid low among the dead ; 
 
 Like the slain Avho lie in the grave, 
 
 Whom ttou rememberest no more, 
 
 And they are cut off from thy hand. 
 
 Thou hast laid me in the lowest pit, 
 
 In darkness, in the shadow of death. 
 
 Thy wrath lieth hard upon me. 
 
 And thou hast afflicted me with all thy waves. 
 
 I am shut up, and I can not come forth ; 
 
 Mine eye mourneth by reason of affliction. 
 
 Lord, I have called daily upon thee, 
 
 I have stretched out my hands unto thee. 
 
 Lord, why castest thou off my soul ? 
 
 Why hidest thou thy face from me ? 
 
 While I suffer thy tensors I am distracted. 
 
 But the Lord does not forsake his people. 
 He despiseth not his prisoners. The very 
 
108 TEE PATHS OF THE LORD. 
 
 next psalm commences witli tlie exclamation 
 of deliverance experienced: "I will sing of 
 the mercies of the Lord for ever." So sud- 
 den is the change from death, with its 
 mourning, to life, with its joy and song. 
 
 It is certainly the most trying of all God's 
 dispensations to Imve his Spirit withdrawn, 
 and to be in that condition when we are 
 compelled to say, " He hath made me to 
 dwell in darkness, as those that have been 
 long dead: therefore is my spirit over- 
 whelmed within me, mt/ heart ivithin me is 
 desolated But it is such an experience that 
 teaches us that the divine life within us is 
 not a lamp which we can trim, oil, and keep 
 burning, but which must be trimmed by the 
 High Priest of our profession, and made to 
 burn brightly by having a continued supply 
 of the oil of divine grace communicated by 
 ^' the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus." And it 
 is such an experience that will lead us earn- 
 estly to pray for Jehovah's quickening grace. 
 
THE PATH OF LIFE. ]09 
 
 This melancholy, death-like state of soul, is 
 commonly brought on by indulging in known 
 sin, and retaining an unpurged conscience. 
 The conscience must be kept in a healthy 
 and thorough working condition ; for it be- 
 ing to our spiritual existence what the stom- 
 ach is to our physical constitution, if it is 
 not kept in a state of health and vigor, our 
 whole spiritual constitution must become 
 disordered and unhealthy. It was indul- 
 gence in known sin that brouo;ht David the 
 king into the dead and dangerous condition 
 of soul which produced that hardness of 
 heart, unbelief, and forgetfulness of God, 
 which led to his numbering the people, and 
 to the consequent terrible infliction of the 
 judgments of God. And as long as he con- 
 tinued in the sullen, carnal, unconfessing 
 state, his " moisture was turned into the 
 drought of summer." But as soon as he 
 confessed his sin, in the thoroughly penitent 
 and ingenuous manner recorded in the fifty- 
 
110 THE PATHS OF THE LORD. 
 
 first psalm, his conscience was cleared ; and 
 the first burst of returning life formed itself 
 into the joyous exclamation, " Oh, the bless- 
 edness of transgression forgiven ! sin cov- 
 ered ! " 
 
 There are few, we believe, who under- 
 stand what Bunyan means by his " Valley 
 of the Shadow of Death ; " but it has a ter- 
 rible meaning to those who pass through it ; 
 and as " the path of life " lies right through 
 it, if we would have "life more abundantly" 
 we must, at one time or other, walk through 
 its dangerous and solitary gloom. I believe 
 Bunyan meant, by " The Valley of the 
 Shadow of Death," that experience of true 
 Christians which is commonly known by 
 "walking in darkness," — having to grope 
 their way under the hidings of God's coun- 
 tenance, while their own minds are filled 
 with confusion, and they are so perplexed 
 with the temptations oT Satan that they are 
 at their wit's end. It is difficult to walk in 
 
THE PATH OF LIFE. \\\ 
 
 it, for the way is narrow, the darkness is 
 dreadful, and there is " a deep ditch on the 
 one side, and a quag on the other." When 
 God's countenance is withdrawn, when the 
 mind is confused, when Satan is suggesting 
 blasphemies and every pollution and wicked- 
 edness, when the breathings of the Spirit 
 are not realized, when the Word becomes 
 powerless and the heart gets out of living 
 fellowship with Jesus, how apt we are to 
 depart fi'om that narrow way and fall into 
 the " quag " of outward sin, as did King 
 David ; or into the deep ditch of erroneous 
 doctrines, as did many in the churches of 
 Galatia ! Those only who know " the hard- 
 ships and adversities of the Christian life," 
 are acquainted experunen tally Avith " The 
 Valley of the Shadow of Death," and can 
 enter with sympathetic feeling into the fol- 
 lowing : " Owing to bodily weakness, you, 
 as well as myself, are more exposed to the 
 fiery darts which Satan is ever seeking to 
 
112 THE PATHS OF THE LORD. 
 
 cast throiigli the arrow-slip of imagination 
 into the citadel of the heart — doubts, fears, 
 anxieties, misgivings, despondencies — than 
 if you were enjoying vigor of bodily health 
 and buoyancy of animal spirits. Invalids, 
 and especially those laboring under diseases 
 which have the effect of depressing the mind, 
 
 — an effect not to be removed wholly by 
 any thing but the removal of the cause itself, 
 
 — these seem to be the forlorn hope of the 
 Redeemer's army, set forward to the endur- 
 ance of greater spiritual hardships, and to 
 more desperate encounters with the enemy 
 of souls, than other soldiers of the cross. 
 But ' this is the victory that overcometh the 
 world, even our faith ; ' and our faith over- 
 comes hy identifying us with the So7i of Crod. 
 Faith stands in the battle-field and cries, 
 * Jesus, the Son of God, anointed Saviour, 
 
 — he wdio knew no sm, — was made sin for 
 me ; and I am the righteousness of God in 
 him ! ' This is at once the armor, the war- 
 
THE PATH OF LIFE. IIB 
 
 cry, the battle, tlie victory, and the triumph. 
 Resisted in this gospel-spirit, Satan is turned 
 to flight, and the believer remains master of 
 the field." * Or, to quote the experience 
 of another : "I thought, when I began to 
 read a volume of precious Christian experi- 
 ence, that I was to be quickened by it, as I 
 had been by another some time ago ; but I 
 have read half through it in a miserably low 
 tone of spirit. This train of thought passed 
 through my mind, and produced darkness 
 and unbelief : ' You act as if you could 
 command the life-giving grace of the Holy 
 Spirit. Besides, your expectation is pre- 
 sumption. How can you expect to have 
 this volume blessed to your spiritual edifica- 
 tion, when a fortnight ago you had such a 
 blessed time of brokenness of heart and 
 weeping joy over a similar one, and you 
 have been hardening your heart, going back, 
 and sinning against the love of God ever 
 
 * Rev. W. H. Hewitson. 
 
IM THE PATHS OF THE LORD. 
 
 since ?" You would live upon religious stim- 
 ulants^ and not on Christ, the bread of life ; 
 and your life is that of an occasional spirit- 
 ual excitement, followed by corresponding 
 collapse.' Here Satan seemed to say, ' Read 
 on, and get your much-loved stimulus. I 
 wish you great elevation and much joy.' 
 And sin and unbelief shut me up to be de- 
 rided by him ; for I felt none of the breath- 
 ing of the Spirit within me, and I was 
 ashamed to look to Jesus, it was so hke 
 making Christ the minister of sin. I had 
 wept joyfully and with a deeply-humbled 
 spirit over the former volume ; but although 
 I read truth equally momentous and impres- 
 sive, and longed far more for the blessing 
 than I did then, there was no feeling, — the 
 Lord was silent toward me. Not a tear 
 would come, and I felt conscious none could. 
 How dreadful this experience of ' conscious 
 death /^ .... 
 
 " Oh, how vitalizing to the soul is unin- 
 
THE PATH OF LIFE. 115 
 
 terrupted communion with God ! What 
 freshness, energy, and liveliness it would 
 insure ! I would then grow in grace, and 
 would no longer be so pale-faced, spiritually, 
 as I have lately been. Angels will surely 
 wonder at my present emaciated appear- 
 ance ; and devils — the more knowing and 
 surgeon-like of them — may have predicted 
 the day when I am likely to expire ! I feel 
 no spiritual life within me ; but surely I am 
 not to be left to perish utterly ! Oh, dread- 
 ful thought ! die eternally ! But if I would 
 live, I must eat ; and if I would eat that 
 which is good, I must come to God for it, 
 grudOTuo; neither the distance nor the diffi- 
 cult traveling in the present Cyimean state 
 of the roads. My state is wretched, but be- 
 fore it can be bettered I must come to my 
 Father's house, where ' there is bread enough 
 and to spare,' — otherwise ' I perish with 
 hunger.' At present I seem to be trying to 
 live, like the tuneless birds of winter during 
 
116 THE PATHS OF THE LOUD. 
 
 a protracted snow-storm, upon tlie precari' 
 ous and accidental provision of spare and 
 slender crumbs around the doors of a house 
 where the inmates are feasting daily on 
 nourishing and ample fare. 
 
 " Spiritual freshness and vigor of soul can 
 not be obtained in such circumstances. I 
 remember once saying to an honest country- 
 man, who, after a day of hard labor, had 
 walked five miles to hear a sermon, and 
 who had to walk the same distance return- 
 ing, — ' You have come a long way ; you 
 will be very tired before you get back.' 
 His answer was an unfinished sentence, but 
 very significant, — ' But when there is the 
 desire, sir.' I quite understood him : ' When 
 there is the Spirit-imparted desire in a man's 
 soul for the bread of life, ten miles of road 
 are reckoned nothing by him.' Had I but 
 this desire^ I would think nothing of travel- 
 ing ten miles in spirit before God at the 
 tlu'one of grace, to obtain a fresh, invigor- 
 
THE PATH OF LIFE. 117 
 
 ating supply of ' the bread of life.' I have 
 a weak frame, and I have sometimes short- 
 ened my devotional exercises out of compas- 
 sion for my fragile system, — for there is 
 nothing so wearing as prayer in certain 
 states, as sickly people know too well ; but 
 I fear I have been injured in spirit by listen- 
 ing too frequently to the carnal advice of 
 nature, — ' Spare thyself.' But now that I 
 am better I feel no more desire than for- 
 merly, and am as apt to shrink from intense 
 and continued application of spirit in wait- 
 ing upon God. If I could travel comfort- 
 ably by a first-class express train, or send a 
 cheap message by telegraph, and have little 
 or no trouble, I should have bread from 
 heaven in great abundance all the year 
 over. But having to submit to the old pro- 
 cess of walking for it in the present state of 
 affairs, alters the case very materially, and 
 leaves me destitute of a sufficient supply to 
 support life. Create within me a clean 
 
118 THE PATHS OF THE LORD. 
 
 heart, O God; and renew a right spirit 
 within me. Give me the heart that will 
 make me wilHng to travel any distance for 
 the precious bread of life. This desolateness 
 of soul is hard to bear. Lord, quicken me 
 by thy almighty Spirit. Oh for a softened 
 heart, a spiritual mind, a soul filled with the 
 life of God ! Hear me speedily, Lord; my 
 spirit faileth. Hide not thy face from me, 
 lest I he like unto them that go down into 
 the pit. Say unto my soul, I am thy salva- 
 tion.''^ 
 
 The path of life is indeed a path we nat- 
 urally know not, and which we should never 
 know but for the Lord's gracious leadings. 
 We are to be followers of Jesus in this as 
 well as in every thing else ; and his path of 
 life lay through the valley of the shadow of 
 death. He who is emphatically the Life 
 passed through the mental anguish and suf- 
 fering of the garden of Gethsemane and the 
 cross of Calvary, and lay under the gloom 
 
THE PATH OF LIFE. 119 
 
 and darkness of the grave, before he became 
 " the Livmg One to the ages of ages," pos- 
 sessed of a " resurrection life," which is not 
 subject to decay or death : and we, too, be- 
 ing reckoned as one with him, must " know 
 the fellowship of his sufferings, and be made 
 conformable unto his death," if we would 
 " know him and the power of his resurrec- 
 tion," and '' walk in newness of life, not 
 after the flesh, but after the Spirit." 
 
 It was when the beloved disciple fell as 
 dead at Immanuel's feet, when he beheld 
 his glory as the risen and reigning One, that 
 he had to make the following blessed record : 
 " He laid his right hand upon me, saying, 
 Fear not ; I am the first and the last, and 
 the living One ; and I was the dead One, 
 and, behold, I am the living One to the ages 
 of ages. Amen ; and have the keys of the 
 unseen and of death." And he not only, 
 b}^ this, showed him the path of life, but he 
 opened the unseen and showed him the path 
 
120 THE PATHS OF THE LORD. 
 
 of the church's life. And whoever reads 
 the book of Revelation will have no diffi- 
 culty in perceiving that it lies directly 
 through the midst of the valley of the 
 shadow of death ; but on the further verge 
 of that path shines " the bright and morning 
 star," which ushers in the period of resur- 
 rection life and eternal glory, — and " there 
 shall be no night there." 
 
 Wherefore, brethren, fear not, when pass- 
 ing through the most painful spiritual expe- 
 rience. Jesus lives, and he says to us, "I 
 am the Resurrection and the Life ; he that 
 believeth on me, though he were dead, yet 
 shall he live." Your bitter experience will 
 be made effectual by the grace of God in 
 expelling levity, vain confidence, self-suffi- 
 ciency, and self-exultation ; and while the 
 exuberance of feeling and activity which 
 characterize the babe in Christ may leave 
 you, a mellowness of genuine Christian ex- 
 perience will be produced, and a deep-flow- 
 
THE PATH OF LIFE. 
 
 121 
 
 ing tide of spiritual life will remain, which 
 will augment in depth and volume as it 
 moves noiselessly onward to the great ocean 
 of '' life everlasting." 
 
^^'^^^Sj^i)^^'^^^— 
 
 VIII. 
 
 THE PATH OF GLORY. 
 
 f^^HE Lord of Glory gives us this as 
 the last revelation of himself: " I am 
 
 the root and the offspring of David, 
 the bright and Morning Star." How 
 full of meaning ! How deeply in- 
 structive ! In the Apocalypse our Lord has 
 given us an epitome of the history of his 
 church's course through this evil and rebel- 
 lious world, from the times of his immediate 
 followers " till the day of redemption," when 
 " the holy city, New Jerusalem, descends 
 from lieaA^en," illumined by " the glory of 
 God," and when " the nations of them that 
 are saved shall walk in the light of it, and 
 tlie kings of the earth shall bring their glory 
 
 122 
 
THE PATH OF GLORY. 123 
 
 and honor into it." Here, as we have al- 
 ready said, the attentive reader will iind 
 that the church's path lies directly through 
 the midst " of the darkness of this world ;" 
 and in such circumstances she needed to 
 have her thoughts directed to the coming 
 glory and the Morning Star. But why 
 should David be mentioned ? Why should 
 the exalted Jesus say, " I am the root and 
 the offspring of David," at the same time 
 that he says, " I am the bright and Morning 
 Star ? " The two references are most ap- 
 propriate to the circumstances. The Lord 
 Jesus speaks as the anointed, rightful, but 
 rejected King, giving his faithful followers 
 intimation both of danger and deliverance. 
 He is David's Lord and David's son, — and 
 he has a right to sit on " the throne of his 
 father David," swaying the scepter of right- 
 eousness " from sea to sea, and from the 
 river to the ends of the earth." But the 
 world has rejected him, and " the god of 
 
124 TEE PATHS OF THE LORD. 
 
 this world hath blinded the minds of them 
 who believe not, lest the light of the gospel 
 of the glory of Christ should shine unto 
 them." David's experience is typical of 
 the experience of David's Lord. 
 
 There never was a man so tried and per- 
 secuted as was the anointed David, save 
 "the man Christ Jesus." He was hunted 
 "like a partridge upon the mountains" 
 by Saul, the God-rejected and condemned 
 prince, simply because he was God's ap- 
 proved and anointed king. His path to the 
 glory of royal and actual dominion was 
 often dark and crooked, but his God fulfilled 
 his gracious promise in his experience, and 
 "made darkness light before him, and crook- 
 ed things straight ; " and, after living for 
 years the life of a compulsory outlaw in the 
 kingdom God had given him, and even after 
 beino; forced to retire from it altoo;ether, and 
 to reside for a time elseAvhere, he was event- 
 ually seated upon the throne of Jehovah as 
 
THE PATH OF GLORY. 125 
 
 ruler over liis people. In the deepest sor- 
 rows of persecution and rejection, he could 
 still trust in his God, because he knew that 
 he was his chosen Kino;, — his anointed 
 Sovereign ; and he could even then ad- 
 dress his enemies in the language of tri- 
 umphant expostulation, — "O ye sons of 
 men, how long will ye turn my glory into 
 shame ? how long will ye love vanity, and 
 seek after leasing ? But know that the Lord 
 hath set apart hiin that is godly for himself ; 
 the Lord will hear when I call unto him." 
 
 Jesus, " the King of glory," was made 
 flesh and dwelt among us, full of grace and 
 truth, and his disciples beheld his glory, the 
 glory as of the only-begotten of the Father. 
 They saw his glory on the mount of trans- 
 figuration, when Moses and Elias — repre- 
 sentatives of his risen and translated church 
 — appeared with him, and his awe-struck 
 followers fell down before him, and heard 
 him approved of God, as his beloved Son, 
 
126 THE PATHS OF THE LOUD. 
 
 in whom he is well pleased, and wlioin he 
 had set over his holy hill of Zion. But 
 " he came unto his own, and his own re- 
 ceived him not." " He is despised and re- 
 jected of men." Thej would not have him 
 to reign over them ; but, at the instigation 
 of " the prince of this world," " their father 
 the devil," they took him by wicked hands 
 and crucified him, — thus showing at once 
 their enmity to God, and their determination 
 to pour the utmost shame, ignominy, and 
 contempt upon his chosen King. But, not- 
 withstanding all their rage and opposition, 
 " He must reign till his enemies be made 
 his footstool." Although rejected by man, 
 he is not rejected of God. On the contrary, 
 he has been exalted to the throne of his 
 Father in heaven, " crowned with glory and 
 honor," and he has received " a name which 
 is above every name, that at the name of 
 Jesus every knee should bow, of things in 
 heaven, and things in earth, and things un- 
 
THE PATH OF GLORY. 121 
 
 der the earth, and that every tongue should 
 confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glori) 
 of God the Father r"* Now Jesus' word to 
 his disciples is, "Ye are they who have con- 
 tinued with me in my temptations, and I 
 appoint unto you a kingdom, as my Father 
 hath appointed unto me, that ye may eat 
 and drink at my table in my kingdom, and 
 sit on thrones." The glorified Head is in 
 heaven, the suffering members are on earth, 
 and, if they would enter into the kingdom, 
 they must do it "through much tribula- 
 tion," for they can not otherwise " know 
 the fellowship of his sufferings," and be 
 made " conformable unto his death." " The 
 disciple is not above his master, nor the 
 servant above his lord ; it is enough that 
 the disciple be as his master, and the servant 
 as his lord. Ye shall be hated of all men 
 for my name's sake, but he that endureth 
 to the end shall be saved." Jesus was de- 
 spised, hated, oppressed, rejected, and cruci- 
 
128 THE PATHS OF THE LORD. 
 
 tied ; this was his j^a^A of glory, and it must 
 be ours also. And the book of Revelation 
 teaches us this truth with unmistakable 
 clearness. " I am the bricrht and Morning 
 Star" is therefore a cheering assurance to 
 those who have to experience the rejection, 
 persecution, opposition, or neglect of the 
 world during the night-period of the church's 
 history. The Apocalypse, till near its close, 
 contains the '' lamentation, mourning, and 
 woe " of a dark and cloudy night ; but 
 eventually the Morning Star appears as the 
 harbinger of day ! 
 
 This, then, is the exhortation, which ought 
 to speak with solemn power to the con- 
 sciences and hearts of all the professed fol- 
 lowers of the exalted Jesus, — " If ye then 
 be risen with Christ, seek those things which 
 are above, where Christ sitteth on the right 
 hand of God. Set your affection on things 
 above, not on things on the earth. For ye 
 are dead, and your life is hid with Christ in 
 
THE PATH OF GLORY. 129 
 
 God. When Christ, who is our life, shall 
 appear, then shall ye also appear with him in 
 glory. '*^ Strange though it may seem to the 
 men of this world, the only path of glory is 
 the path of self-renunciation, unworldliness, 
 and shame. It is to be feared that even 
 true Christians frequently and grievously 
 mistake the essential heavenliness of the pres- 
 ent dispensation in so far as they are con- 
 cerned, and, consequently, they greatly err 
 in many respects, and procure for themselves 
 much chastisement, mental anguish, and 
 sorrow, which otherwise they might avoid. 
 
 Even with regard to the tilings of time, 
 we should be willing to take God's path of 
 prosperity. In obedience to God, Noah ex-, 
 pended his all upon the construction of thei 
 ark ; at the command of God, he forsook all I 
 and entered it, but he came out of it thel 
 monarch of the world ! The Lord's way' 
 with his servant Job appeared very dark, 
 but he eventually " made darkness light 
 
130 THE PATHS OF THE LORD, 
 
 before him." The Sabeans fell upon his 
 oxen and asses ; a great fire from heaven 
 burnt up his sheep ; the Chaldeans carried 
 away his camels ; his sons were buried under 
 the ruins of his eldest son's house ; he him- 
 self was delivered into the hands of Satan, 
 and was heavily tried in body, soul, and for- 
 tune; but all tended to his spiritual good, 
 and terminated in his temporal prosperity. 
 He was brought low by afflictions, and was 
 constrained to confess unto the Lord, in the 
 very depths of humility, " Behold, I am 
 vile ! what shall I answer thee ? I will lay 
 my hand upon my mouth." " I have heard 
 of thee by the hearing of the ear, but now 
 mine eyes seeth thee : wherefore I abhor 
 myself, and repent in dust and ashes." 
 " Also the Lord gave Job twice as much as 
 he had before." " So the Lord blessed the 
 latter end of Job more than the beginning." 
 " Ye have heard of the patience of Job, and 
 ye have seen the end of the Lord, that the 
 
THE PATH OF GLORY. 131 
 
 Lord is very pitiful and of tender mercy." 
 It was a very mysterious and unpalatable 
 way that the Lord took to show Job his 
 love and pity. He stripped the patriarch 
 of all he possessed, and gave him up to his 
 adversary. Yet this was the Lord's way. 
 And he still shows us, in these last days, 
 his pity and tender mercy in a similar way. 
 He sweeps away a man's earthly substance ; 
 deprives him of his relatives ; allows his 
 former friends to suspect and vex him ; per- 
 mits some messenger of Satan to buffet him ; 
 some continual '-' thorn" to lacerate his finer 
 sensibilities, and allows the world to go en- 
 tirely against him. All this is hard to bear, 
 and it is difficult, in such circumstances, to 
 say, " The will of the Lord be done ; " but 
 " hght is sown for the righteous," and, sooner 
 or later, it will spring up, and yield " the 
 peaceable fruits of righteousness," to the glory 
 of God. It was a time of darkness to Joseph 
 when he was sold by his brethren to the 
 
132 THE PATHS OF THE LORD. 
 
 Midianites, and carried down to Egypt, and 
 there was no sign of light arising to dispel 
 that darkness for many a day ; in fact, the 
 darkness deepened as that holy youth was 
 cast into the state-prison under the stigma 
 of an abominable sin. But the Lord, whom 
 he feared and served, was watching over 
 him, and he " made darkness light before 
 him, and crooked things straight," and be- 
 stowed upon him unexpected prosperity and 
 glory. In that oppressed but honorable 
 man lay concealed the first lord of the treas- 
 ury, the premier of Egypt. 
 
 " Judge not the Lord by feeble sense, 
 But trust him for his grace ; 
 Behind a frowning providence 
 He hides a smiling face." 
 
 Such cases clearly evince the watchful 
 providence of God, and show us very clearly 
 that, if it would be for their good and his 
 glory, he is able to bestow upon his people 
 the most abundant portion even of the good 
 
THE PATH OF GLORY. 133 
 
 things of this world, and, consequently, they 
 give point to such exhortations as, " Trust 
 in the Lord and do good, so shalt thou 
 dwell in the land, and verily thou shalt be 
 fed." Nevertheless, believers are not to 
 set before themselves the attainment of an 
 earthly inheritance as the result of their at- 
 tachment to Christ. God will certainly be 
 no man's debtor, for he who says, " Owe no 
 man any thing," must act out his own prin- 
 ciple, and therefore Jesus' words shall be 
 fulfilled : " There is no man that hath left 
 house, or brethren, or sisters, or father, or 
 mother, or wife, or children, or lands, for 
 my sake and the gospel's, but he shall re- 
 ceive an hundredfold now in this time: 
 houses, and brethren, and sisters, and moth- 
 ers, and children, and lands, with persecu- 
 tions, and in the world to come eternal life." 
 Here is the principle upon which he will 
 act ; but it is not the principle for our con- 
 duct. In the very same chapter in which 
 
134 THE PATHS OF THE LORD. 
 
 the above occurs, we find our Lord saying 
 to the young ruler who " had great posses- 
 sions," " One thing thou lackest." And 
 what was that one thing but such faith as 
 would produce the true Christian principle, 
 — the world-renouncing spirit? "Go thy 
 way, sell whatsoever thou hast, and give to 
 the poor, and thou shalt have treasure in 
 heaven, and come, take up the cross and 
 follow me." One would think it was " the 
 cross " Jesus was imposing upon him^when 
 he commanded him to sell his all and give 
 the proceeds to the poor ; but no, it was 
 after he had said this that he adds the other 
 command, " Take up the cross and follow 
 me," clearly teaching us that the world-re- 
 nouncing spirit is the law of discipleship, and 
 is not to be considered, in the proper sense 
 of the term, a cross which we must bear for 
 Christ. " If any man will come after me, 
 let him deny himself, and take up his cross 
 and follow me ; for whosoever will save his 
 
THE PATH OF GLORY. 135 
 
 life shall lose it, and whosoever will lose his 
 life for my sake shall find it." He sums up 
 the matter in another place in these words : 
 " Whosoever he be of yoii that forsaketh not 
 all that he hath, he can not be my disciple." 
 In the face of such declarations as these, to 
 entertain the idea of making the best of 
 both worlds is to ignore the law of disciple- 
 ship, and introduce a principle at variance 
 with the spix'it of the gospel. The only path 
 to glory is the path of faith. But you may 
 ask me. Ought we not to provide for our- 
 selves and for our families ? Certainly ; 
 " provide things honest in the sight of all 
 men ; " for " if any man provide not for 
 his own, and specially for those of his 
 own house, he hath denied the faith, and is 
 worse than an infidel." Christianity no- 
 where enjoins us to neglect the use of means 
 for the support of ourselves and our house- 
 holds ; but, on tlie contrary, it commands 
 us " to work and eat our own bread." But 
 
136 THE PATHS OF THE LORD. 
 
 it peremptorily forbids the lieaping up of 
 wealth, and the aggrandizement of self. 
 " Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon 
 earth," is just as binding upon us as, " Thou 
 shalt not kill." The teaching of Incarnate 
 Wisdom on this point is very plain, and very 
 precious. In the same sermon in which he 
 teaches his disciples to pray, " Give us this 
 day our daily hread^'' he unfolds and illus- 
 trates the duty of ceasing to be actuated by 
 a spirit of unnecessary anxiety with refer- 
 ence to the things of time, and of placing 
 entire dependence on our heavenly Father 
 for the supply of all our wants. " Seek ye 
 first the kingdom of God and his righteous- 
 ness, and all these things shall be added 
 unto you." The Apostle Paul, who was 
 baptized into the spii'it of him " who, though 
 he was rich, yet for our sakes became poor, 
 that we through his poverty might be rich," 
 says, in one of his epistles, " Be careful for 
 nothing, but in every thing by prayer and 
 
THE PATH OF QLORY. 137 
 
 supplication, with tlianksgiving, let your re- 
 quests be made known unto God." We 
 are to be anxious about nothing, but prayer- 
 ful for every thing. The whole matter is 
 found in the fourth petition of the Lord's 
 prayer : " Give us this day our daily bread." 
 But how many professing Christians there 
 are now whose utterance of these blessed 
 words is a mockery of heaven ! They have 
 much goods laid up for many years, that 
 they may be saved the trouble of daily 
 dependence upon their heavenly Father ! 
 Jesus teaches us to ask for "daily bread," 
 — nothing more ; and how can we do so if 
 we have " much goods laid up for many 
 years ? " Some are in possession, it may be, 
 of hundreds and thousands of their Lord's 
 money for which they have no use what- 
 ever, and yet they come to the throne of 
 grace and say, " Give us this day our daily 
 bread ! " Surely the very word " our," in 
 the Lord's prayer, should teach such per- 
 
138 THE PATHS OF THE LORD. 
 
 sons to consider tliat, if they have abun- 
 dance, they ought " to distribute to the neces- 
 sity " of their poorer brethren. The Lord 
 teaches us not to say " my daily bread," but 
 " our daily bread," thus associating all dis- 
 ciples into one family, with our Father in 
 heaven at the head of it. You, perhaps, 
 " hide your Lord's money," because you 
 have not sufficiently thought of your poorer 
 brethren in Christ, whose prayers you might 
 be instrumental in answering by communi- 
 cating to them of your abundance. Oh, 
 surely it is a searching thought to consider, 
 that by withholding what it is in " the power 
 of your hand " to bestow, you may intercept 
 the free current of your heavenly Father's 
 bounty, and may thus permit some who are 
 very dear to him to live in straitened cir- 
 cumstances, or compel others wdio have a 
 talent for publicly serving him in the king- 
 dom of his Son to confine their usefulness to 
 far narrower limits than they might do were 
 
THE PATH OF GLORY. 139 
 
 tliej to receive your encouragement, sympa- 
 thy, and assistance. Knowing that these 
 things are so, what weight and point does it 
 give to the apostoHc injunction ! ^ " Charge 
 them that are rich in this world that they 
 be not high-minded, nor trust in uncertain 
 riches, but in the hving God, who giveth us 
 richly all things to enjoy : that tliey do good^ 
 that they he rich in good works, ready to dis- 
 tribute, willing to communicate ; laying up in 
 store for themselves a good foundation against 
 the time to come, that they may lay hold on 
 eternal life." (1 Tim. vi. 17-19.) 
 
 But while it is the duty and privilege of 
 the rich to " do good, to be rich in good 
 works, ready to distribute, willing to com- 
 municate," it is equally the duty of the poor 
 as well as the rich to " trust in the living 
 God.^^ Many sorrows shall the believer ex- 
 perience " who trusteth in man, and maketh 
 flesh his arm, and Avhose heart departeth 
 from the Lord." But happy is he who has 
 
140 THE PATHS OF THE LORD. 
 
 been convinced that "it is better to trust in 
 
 the Lord than to put confidence in man ; " 
 
 for " blessed is the man that trusteth in the 
 
 Lord, and whose hope the Lord is ; for he 
 
 shall be as a tree planted by the waters, and 
 
 that spreadeth out her roots by the river, 
 
 and shall not see when heat cometh, but her 
 
 leaf shall be green ; and shall not be careful 
 
 in the year of drought, neither shall cease 
 
 from yielding fruit." (Jer. xvii. 7, 8.) .There 
 
 is too much " confidence in man " and too 
 
 I little "• trust in the living God " manifested 
 
 ; by many who profess " to live and walk by 
 
 I faith ; " and much suffering to themselves, 
 
 ; and not a little injury to the cause of Christ, 
 
 / are the inevitable consequences. 
 
 The path of glory is the life of faith ; but 
 we are such unbelieving, distrustful crea- 
 tures, that we forget this great fact, and too 
 often become assimilated to the world in the 
 management of our temporal matters, and 
 " pierce ourselves through with many sor- 
 
THE PATH OF GLORY. 141 
 
 rows." It takes much discipline to teach 
 us that, instead of having a moderate attach- 
 ment to the things of this world, we are not 
 to love them at all ; and that instead of 
 trusting to our own forethought, plans, and 
 efforts, we are confidingly to trust in God, 
 and depend upon the evolutions of his gra- 
 cious providence for the prosperity of all our 
 lawful undertakings for the support of our- 
 selves and our families. If you who are the 
 true people of God will dare to live as your 
 worldly neighbors do, you may expect to be 
 taught " a more excellent way," and to have 
 your prayers for grace to " overcome the 
 world," answered " by terrible things in 
 righteousness." If you have been shown 
 from the Word of God that you ought to 
 conduct your outward affairs on Christian 
 principles and for the glory of God, — not in 
 accordance with "the trade spirit" maxims 
 of the world, or for the gratification of self, 
 or the improvement of your worldly circum- 
 
142 THE PATHS OF THE LORD. 
 
 stances, and you " turn away your ear" and 
 refuse to listen to the voice of Heavenly 
 Wisdom, you may expect that the God of 
 all grace, who loves you too w^ell to allow 
 you to incnist your consciences with a coat- 
 ing of worldliness, will permit your own 
 " wickedness to correct you, and your back- 
 slidings to reprove you," that he may bring 
 home to your heart the painful but salutary 
 lesson " that it is an evil thing and bitter 
 tliat you have forsaken the Lord your 
 God." If you backslide in heart or life 
 from the heavenliness, dcvotedness, and 
 Avorld-renouncing spirit of " first-love," and 
 begin to build again the things you have 
 professedly destroyed ; if you indulge again 
 in the unchristian conduct of calling up be- 
 fore your mind's eye dreams of ambition, 
 pleasure, distinction, honor, or worldly great- 
 ness ; if you let in so much of the atmos- 
 phere of the world into your heart that 
 your spiritual affections become chilled, your 
 
THE PATH OF GLORY. 143 
 
 prayers cold and formal, your Christian en- 
 ergies relaxed, and your life like a light in a 
 November fog, ^ you may expect that you 
 will be led back to the real path of glory 
 through some soul-crushing ordeal and heart- 
 rending experience, which will make the 
 most delicate feelings of your mental nature 
 quiver, and expose your folly in the most 
 humiliating manner. Those Christians who 
 are most thoroughly separated from the 
 world, are mostly likely to be truly happy, 
 vigorous, and useful in the service of their 
 Lord and Master, for there is nothing more 
 enfeebling than the love of the world. " The 
 least deviation from the line of righteous- 
 ness will take your strength away, and leave 
 you at the mercy of the meanest foe." 
 
 If there is one thinp: more than another 
 
 o 
 
 with reference to the Christian life which 
 the disciples of the Lovd need to be warned 
 against, it is an infringement cf the evan- 
 gelical precept "Owe no pmii any thing." 
 
144 THE PATHS OF THE LORD. 
 
 Dear Christian reader, beware of breaking 
 that commandment, for if you allow your- 
 self to be beguiled by Satan into violation 
 of this precept, you will at once weaken 
 your spiritual nature, and procure for your- 
 self anxieties the most distracting, and an- 
 guish of soul the most intolerable ; while 
 you run a tremendous risk of ruining your 
 influence for life, and wounding your Sav- 
 iour in the house of his friends. On no 
 account dare to deviate from the path of 
 rectitude, by incurring responsibilities which 
 you can not meet. Do not allow yourself 
 to be entangled in worldly affairs by trust- 
 ing to the considerate assistance of friends. 
 You will get many friends to take an inter- 
 est in your welfare as long as you do not 
 require their assistance ; but you will find, 
 in "the evil day," after "your foot has been 
 snared and taken," that single-handed and 
 alone you will be compelled to battle with 
 your difficulties, and extricate yourself the 
 
THE PATH OF GLORY. 145 
 
 best way you can ; and sooner or later you 
 will certainly be made to acknowledge that 
 you " have changed your glory for that 
 which doth not profit," and " committed 
 two evils," since you " have forsaken God, 
 the fountain of living waters, and hewed out 
 for yourselves cisterns, broken cisterns, that 
 can hold no water." . 
 
 And if you have been taught from the 
 Word, and have experienced the blessedness 
 of living by faith and prayer for a consider- 
 able time, and yet, through returning world- 
 liness, pride, the necessities of friends, or 
 false humanity, have allowed your circum- 
 stances to become involved, you may expect 
 much to humble you before man, and much 
 more to lay you in the dust before the Lord. 
 He is certain to bring you by a way you 
 knew not, before he makes darkness light 
 before you, and crooked things straight. 
 '' Be not deceived : God is not mocked ; for 
 whatsoever a man sow^eth, that shall he also 
 
 10 
 
146 THE PATHS OF THE LORD. 
 
 reap." If you sow in unbelief, you may 
 prepare to reap in anguish. The reaping 
 time will come to the Christian who will not 
 live by faith with reference to temporal 
 things. You have been sowing for many 
 months or years a large amount of responsi- 
 bility ; but the harvest comes, and darkness 
 that may be felt settles down upon youi' 
 mind. Accounts pour in upon you from 
 every side, and, being penniless, your mind 
 is placed upon the rack, and becomes so 
 dreadfully confounded, burdened, and per- 
 turbed, that you can neither profitably think, 
 read, pray, nor work ; and instead of hav- 
 ing your face shining with the spiritual peace 
 of former days, and radiant with the smile 
 of heavenly enjoyment, care begins to depict 
 in your countenance the lineaments of anxie- 
 ty and incipient hopelessness. You wander 
 lonely along the highway of the world, con- 
 sciously degraded, filled with distracting 
 thoughts respecting your own unhappy cir- 
 
THE PATH OF GLORY. 147 
 
 cumstances, incapable of spiritual progress ; 
 and, like a ship becalmed in a tropic sea, 
 you are compelled to lie motionless upon the 
 great ocean of life, scorched by a flaming 
 sun, and in danger of being stifled by the 
 oppressive atmosphere in which you are 
 forced to breathe. You attend the house of 
 God, — you meet with devoted Christian 
 brethren, — you continue to drag along your 
 former profession in the accustomed ruts of 
 duty, — you still endeavor to do something 
 for your Lord ; but every where, and in all 
 circumstances, your liabilities crowd in upon 
 your mind and mar your devotions, prevent 
 your spiritual improvement, enervate, bur- 
 den, and distract you. It is reported of a 
 late notable defaulter, of position in society, 
 that when Christian friends told him of the 
 progress of the Lord's work, it seemed to 
 give him a strange and unaccountable pain 
 and uneasiness ; he felt more pained than 
 pleased by the information ; and when the 
 
148 THE PATHS OF THE LORD. 
 
 terrible crash and exposure came, lie said, 
 " I am glad it has happened, for I have en- 
 dured a hell in my own mind in connection 
 with it for the last six years ; I have not a 
 word to say in extenuation of my conduct ; 
 I am guilty of enormous sin against both 
 God and man." This was a dreadful con- 
 dition for an outstanding professor of relig- 
 ion ; does it not speak \^ith a trumpet-voice 
 of warning to all Christian disciples of every 
 rank and age ? 
 
 How gracious is our Saviour in pointing 
 out so plainly the path of safety, faith, and 
 glory. He would have us to be '^ without 
 carefulness." His command is, '' Live not 
 in careful suspense" (Luke xii. 29, 30), 
 " for all these things do the nations of the 
 world seek after ; and your Father know- 
 eth that ye have need of these things ; but 
 rather seek ye the kingdom of God, and 
 all these things shall be added unto you." 
 When burdened with care, and anxiaus 
 
THE PATH OF GLORY. 149 
 
 about your fiiture prospects, there is no 
 surer or speedier way of being relieved than 
 " casting all your care upon hhn, for he 
 careth for you." His own blessed command 
 is, " Cast thy burden upon the Lord, and he 
 shall sustain thee ; he shall never suffer the 
 righteous to be moved." * Let your con- 
 
 * " There is a way by which all excess of anxiety may be re- 
 moved, and the heart be left with all its tender afFection, and 
 yet with no more solicitude than such as the blessed in heaven 
 raig-ht feel without a diminution of their happiness. It is to 
 cast care on God. That is the true and only effectual way to 
 dispose of care. He caii take the burden, however huge or 
 heavy. You do not doubt that; but you ask, ' Will he ? May 
 I cast it on him? I — such a one as I — cast my cares — the 
 whole multitude and burden of them — on such a being as 
 God? I know the government of the mighty univeroo, and 
 the providence which extends to the minute equally as to the 
 magnificent, reaching low as to the fall of a sparrow and the 
 numbering of the hairs of the head, does not distract or bur- 
 den him. I know he can take a large charge and not feel it. 
 But will he ? will such greatness stoop to such littleness, such 
 holiness come down to such vileness ? ' Yes, it will, for con- 
 descension is one characteristic of greatness ; and ' the blood 
 of Jesus Christ, his Son, cleanseth us from all sin." But why 
 do I reason ? Does not the Holy Ghost say by David, ' Cast 
 thy burden upon the Lord, and he shall sustain thee ? ' and by 
 
150 THE PATHS OF THE LORD. 
 
 versation be without covetousness, and be 
 content with such things as ye have, for he 
 hath said, " I will never leave thee nor for- 
 sake thee." With such a promise there is 
 no reason why God's people should despond 
 in the midst of the darkest providences, or 
 why they should, through impatience, adopt 
 unscriptural means for promoting their world- 
 ly interests. With a Father in heaven ever 
 ready to help us, there is no need for rush- 
 ing into debt or using doubtful expedients to 
 rectify circumstances which have, through 
 ignorance and without sinfulness, become 
 involved. 
 
 Many of God's children are taught, b}^ 
 
 Peter, ' Casting all your care upon him ? ' and by Paul, ' Be 
 careful for nothing ? ' And does not Immanuel himself say, 
 ' Come unto me, all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I 
 will give you rest ? ' No longer ask if you may, but use your 
 privilege. Here Is your authority. The Lord says you may 
 do it, — nay, more, — commands j'ou to do it. It is your duty 
 as well as your privilege. So far is it from being presumption 
 to cast your care on God, it is a sin not to do it. ^^ — Practical 
 'Thoughts, by William Kevins, D. D. 
 
THE PATH OF GLORY. 151 
 
 bitter and dear-bouglit experience, that they 
 should be separated from the world, botli in 
 principle and practice, and live as " strangers 
 and pilgrims" here; and happy should we 
 be if what we have now written were used 
 by the divine Spirit to warn and instruct 
 any of our dear readers who have not suf- 
 ficiently realized the truth that the path of 
 faith is the only path of glory. Whatever 
 lukewarm professors may say to the con- 
 trary, " affliction and poverty are the dis- 
 tinctive features of the saints of God under 
 the new dispensation ; affluence and exemp- 
 tion from great suffering were probably those 
 of the saints of the former economy. The 
 character of the gospel economy is unique. 
 It is the dispensation of suffering^ the econ- 
 omy of the cross. The sufferings of the old 
 dispensation were more in type and shadow 
 and symbol. But, of the new is the great, 
 the dark filling up of the outline of the pic- 
 ture. The Son of God suffered, — the 
 
152 THE J'ATIJS OF THE LOUD. 
 
 Son of God died ! And Christianity de- 
 rives all its efficacy, and tlie Christian dis- 
 pensation all its character, and the Christian 
 all his glory, from this single, this wondrous 
 fact : " Unto you it is given, in the behalf 
 of Christ, not only to believe in his name, 
 but also to suffer for his sake." " Whoso- 
 ever doth not bear his cross and come after 
 me can not be my disciple." Such is the 
 nature of Christ's religion, and such the 
 terms of his discipleship, — suffering and 
 self-denial. By those who are not initiated 
 into the mysteries of tlie kingdom of grace, 
 this is a truth hard to be understood. To 
 them it is inexplicable how one, whose per- 
 son is loved by God, whose sins Christ has 
 forgiven, whose life appears holy, useful, and 
 honored, should be the subject of divine 
 correction, and, perhaps, in some instances, 
 should, more than others, seem smitten of 
 God, and afflicted. But to those who are 
 
THE PATH OF OLOJiY. 153 
 
 students of Christ, who learn at the feet of 
 Jesus, this is not an insoluble problem." * 
 
 " When God saves a soul he tries it. He 
 never gives faith without trying it. The 
 way to Zion is through the valley of Baca. 
 You must go through the wilderness of 
 Jordan if you are to come to the Land of 
 Promise. Some believers are much sur- 
 prised when they are called to suffer. They 
 thought they would do some great thing for 
 God ; but all that God permits them to do 
 is to suffer. Go round every one in glory, 
 — every one has a different story, yet every 
 one has a tale of suffering. One was perse- 
 cuted in his family, by his friends and com- 
 panions ; ano'ther was visited by sore pains 
 and humbling disease, — neglected by the 
 world ; another was bereaved of children ; 
 another had all these afflictions meeting in 
 one, — deep called unto deep. Mark, all 
 are brought out of them. ' These are they 
 
 * It is Well. By Octavius Winslow, D. D. 
 
154 'rHE PATHS OF THE LOUD. 
 
 which came out of great tribulation.' It was 
 a dark cloud, but it passed away ; the water 
 was deep, but they have reached the other 
 side. Not one of them blames God for the 
 road he led them, — 'Salvation' is their 
 only cry. Is there any of you, dear read- 
 ers, murmuring at your lot ? Do not sin 
 against God. This is the way God leads all 
 his redeemed ones. You must have a palm 
 as well as a white robe. No pain, no palm ; 
 no cross, no crown ; no thorn, no throne ; 
 no gall no glory. Learn to glory in tribu- 
 lations also. ' I reckon that the suflPerings 
 of this present time are not worthy to be 
 compared with the glory that shall be re- 
 vealed in us.' " * 
 
 " Beloved, think it not strange concern- 
 ing the fiery trial which is to try you, as 
 though some strange thing happened unto 
 you ; but rejoice, inasmuch as ye are par- 
 takers of Christ's sufferings, that when his 
 
 * M'Clieyne's " Sermons.''^ 
 
THE PATH OF GLORY. 155 
 
 GLORY shall be revealed, ye may be glad 
 also with exceeding joy." Until his glory 
 be revealed, we must not aspire to any glory 
 here, but follow in his footsteps, arming our- 
 selves likewise with the same mind. Our 
 only safe attitude is that of coming up from 
 the ivilderness leaning upon our Beloved. 
 This is not our rest, — our " rest is glory." 
 (Isa. xi. 10.) This is the place of our 
 Lord's rejection, and we could not wish that 
 the world, which crowned our divine Master 
 with thorns — the symbols of earth's evil 
 condition — and nailed him to the ignomin- 
 ious cross as an accursed one, would crown 
 us with wreaths of laurel, and cherish and 
 love us as its truest friends and chosen com- 
 panions. He lived, for the greater part of 
 his sojourn here, in a lowly, obscure, and 
 mean condition ; and, after he entered on 
 his public ministry, he could say, " The 
 foxes have holes, and the birds of the air 
 have nests, but the Son of man hath not 
 
156 THE PATHS OF THE LORD. 
 
 where to lay his head." And if he who, 
 " though he was rich, yet for our sakes be- 
 came poor," lived in such circumstances, it 
 would surely be most unbecoming in us, his 
 professed friends and followers, to aim at 
 being great, rich, honored, or renowned. 
 " Let this mind be in you which was also in 
 Christ Jesus, who, being in the form of God, 
 thought it not robbery to be equal with God, 
 but made himself of no reputation., and took 
 upon him the form of a servant, and was 
 made in the likeness of men ; and being 
 found in fashion as a man, he humbled him- 
 self., and became obedient unto death, even 
 the death of the cross." 
 
 Oh ! to be so thoroughly possessed of the 
 lowly and self-abnegating mind of Christ, 
 that we could enter personally and enthusi- 
 astically into the apostle's triumphant but 
 self-renouncing experience, when he says, 
 '' I am crucified with Christ ; nevertheless, 
 I live ; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me ; 
 
THE PATH OF GLORY. 157 
 
 and the life which I now live in the flesh, I 
 live by the faith of the Son of God, who 
 loved me and gave himself for me." 
 
 We have no bright prospects here, but 
 we have the brightest prospects for " the 
 world to come." We shall be with om' 
 beloved Saviour in his kingdom, and be sat- 
 isfied with the spiritual refreshment which 
 shall be given us in his glorious presence. 
 And even our trials here shall prepare us 
 for higher enjoyment there : " for our light 
 affliction, which is but for a moment, work- 
 etli out for us a far more exceeding and 
 eternal weight of glory, while we look not 
 at the things which are seen, but at the 
 things which are not seen : for the things 
 which are seen are temporal ; but the things 
 which are not seen are eternal." 
 
 These are the crowns that we shall wear 
 When all thy saints are crowned ; 
 
 These are the palms that we shall bear 
 On yonder holy ground. 
 
158 7' HE PATHS OF THE LORD. 
 
 Far off as yet, reserved in heaven, 
 
 Above that vailing sky, 
 They sparkle, like the stars of even. 
 
 To Hope's far-piercing eye. 
 
 These are the robes, misoiled and white. 
 Which then Ave shall put on, 
 
 When, foremost 'mong the sons of light. 
 We sit on yonder throne. 
 
 That city with the jeweled crest, 
 Like some new-lighted sun ; 
 
 A blaze of burning amethyst, — 
 Ten thousand orbs in one ; — 
 
 That is the city of the saints, 
 Where we so soon shall stand. 
 
 When we shall strike these desert-tents, 
 And quit this desert-sand. 
 
 These are the everlasting hills. 
 With summits bathed in day ; 
 
 The slopes down which the living rills. 
 Soft-lapsing, take their way. 
 
 Fair vision, how thy distant gleam 
 Brightens time's saddest hue ! 
 
 Far fairer than the fairest dream. 
 And yet so strangely true ! 
 
THE PATH OF GLORY. 159 
 
 Fair vision, how thou liftest up 
 
 The drooping brow and eye ! 
 With the calm joy of thy sure hope 
 
 Fixing our souls on high. 
 
 Tbj light makes even the dari^est page 
 
 In Memory's scroll grow fair ; 
 Blanching the lines which tears aud age 
 
 Had only deepened tlieie. 
 
 With thee in view, the rugged slope 
 
 Becomes a level way, 
 Smoothed by the magic of thy hope, 
 
 And gladdened by thy ray. 
 
 With thee in view, how poor appear 
 The world's most winning smiles ; 
 
 Vain is the tempter's subtlest snare, 
 And vain hell's varied wiles. 
 
 Time's glory fades ; its beauty now 
 
 Has ceased to lure or blind ; 
 Each gay enchantment here below 
 
 Hast lost its power to bind. 
 
 Then welcome, toil and care and pain 1 
 
 And welcome sorrow too ! 
 All toil is rest, all grief is gain, 
 
 With such a prize in view. 
 
IGO THE PATHS OF THE LORD. 
 
 Come, crown and throne ! come, robe and palm ! 
 
 Burst forth, glad stream of peace ! 
 Come, holy city of the Lamb ! 
 
 Rise, Sun of Righteousness ! 
 
 When shall the clouds that vail thy rays 
 
 For ever be withdrawn ? 
 Why dost thou tarry, day of days 1 
 
 When shall thy gladness dawn ? 
 
 Songs of Faith and Hope. 
 
DATE DUE 
 
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