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THE

VOICE OF TRUTH;

OR,

Baptist Record.

"SPEAKING THE TRUTH IN LOVE."

IN ESSENTIALS, UNITY; IN NON-ESSENTIALS, LIBERTY; IN ALL THINGS, Charity.

MAY, 1866.

Expositions and Essays.

LITTLE THINGS.

"Who hath despised the day of small things ?" Zech. iv. 10.

"WHO hath despised the day of small things?" Why, everybody. We are all verily guilty in this matter. And it is strange; for we might learn every day, if we would, that little things are of great consequence. "Behold, how great a matter a little fire kindleth!" A single word may set a whole house in a blaze. The sum of life is not in a few great things, but in many little ones. Our joys and sorrows come in drops; they fall alternately, and mingle together; hence, as a rule, we are not very happy nor profoundly sad, but aiming at something great, which is never attained.

It is to be feared that many professors think very lightly of what they choose to call little sins. And we do not think that all sins are alike in the eyes of God, because he speaks of some in the Scriptures as being worse than others. Yet many sins which are little in man's esteem, are great in the Lord's. But allow there are little ones, and indulge in them, and you destroy your own peace. These are the little foxes that spoil the vines. Catch them, crucify them, and show them no mercy. Little sins are mighty foes to the growth of grace; and if not fought against, they always lead to greater evils: see Psa. xix. 12, 13.

Most people despise little sorrows-not their own. Oh no; we magnify our own small troubles. Sometimes the breaking of a tea-cup will upset the peace of a whole family for hours, cost a servant her situation, and almost her character. But we can smile at Jane, whose heart is broken because Robert and she have had a "tiff;" but we forget that Robert is all the world to her, that life is a blank without his smile, and that it may cost her her life if the breach be not healed. And we forget, too, that a little sympathy and a few kind words of advice might be of great service to the poor young thing. Oh how much happier the world would be if each would do a little good to his neighbour in that way every day. Let us learn to sympathize with our friends and neighbours in their little troubles. In their great ones there will be plenty to do it.

Thousands are in poverty, and suffering many privations, who might have had plenty; but they despised small savings. I knew a married man, who was in conVOL. V. NO. LIII., NEW SERIES.

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stant work at good wages for forty years; and though he only had himself and wife to keep, he never put by a shilling; and when he died, the widow was left penniless. Now, one shilling a week, saved for forty years, would have been, without interest, above £100; and, well invested, it would have been more than £200. Never forget that the great is made of the little a million consists of units. Therefore, if you cannot put away a pound, try a penny. But then we should apply this rule to everything. Precious as gold is, there are matters of much more value. How many are mentally poor: they have no time to read; that means, that they cannot sit down for hours together. But were they to gather up fragments of time, -spare moments, which run to waste, and use them in gaining knowledge, especially from the Bible, they might be rich in that wealth which abides for ever with its possessor.

Once more little deeds in the church. How many who are now habitually idle, in connection with the cause of God, would work, if the prophet were to "bid them do some great thing;" but they despise small things. Now, if little sins are productive of great evils to ourselves and others, little acts of service, habitually attended to in the fear of God, from a humble desire to advance the interests of his cause, will, in the end, be of inestimable worth. All great qualities are not given to one person; yet there are few Christians who might not excel, in some one point, however humble their position, and limited their means. Let us take the great Master for our example. He did possess all qualities that are good. In everything he is the Alpha. But did he stand upon his dignity? Behold him washing the disciples' feet! an office generally performed by a slave. See him again in the parlour -a guest-visitor-friend-talking in a most familiar way. He had a kind word for children, took them up in his arms, kissed, and blessed them. He was always about his Father's business-went about doing good; at one moment exercising the power of a mighty king, and the next weeping with the bereaved and sorrowful.

The law of God is progress. Be careful of the little, and get more. Be patient; the seed must have time to grow. Has the Holy Ghost put life into thy soul? Art thou troubled because that life is so feeble? It is the day of small things with thee. Be encouraged. Use the grace given, and it will grow; in every little way possible give, and thou shalt get. Seekest thou great things for thyself? Seek them not:" Jer. xlv. 5. "The cup of cold water," Jesus will not forget.

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J. S. ANDERSON.

RECOLLECTIONS;

Or, Outlines of a Sermon preached by MR. D. ASHBY, in Zion Chapel, Whittlesea, on the occasion of the death of Mrs. Cockram.

"Even so; come, Lord Jesus:" Rev. xxii. 20.

We know not yet what it is to die. We must all know it. The Divine word assures us "It is appointed unto men once to die." This would be a little thing, were it not also said, and "after death the judgment."

It is also true we know but little of heaven. We believe the holiest plans of mercy were formed there; the richest blessings that ever were possessed on earth came from heaven. That is the place where ransomed spirits dwell, the place where Jesus is supremely known and loved; and it is the home of happiness, through grace, we believe, our dear departed sister has safely reached; and we hope to meet her there. This closing chapter of the divine word opens with a description of the future state and place of the saved ones. Look at it, and see what there is, and what it is said there is not. It may well move our souls with desire to be there.

Our text is a warm response to the announcement there made,--"I come quickly." Jesus says, I come! I come! I come! The waiting Christian responds, and says,

"Come! come! come!" Solemn contrast in the sinner, who says in life, "Depart, we desire not the knowledge of thy ways." And God says to such, "Depart, Í never knew you."

First, the text implies that all those who can say, "Even so, come, Lord Jesus," have a knowledge and acquaintance with Jesus. He was not a stranger to them. They knew him, in the record given of him, and in the mighty deeds of grace he had performed. Our sister knew him in his forgiving love revealed to her heart, in the sweet words of grace spoken home to her soul; knew him, and was made happy and willing to become a cross-bearer and follower of him; choosing rather to suffer affliction for him, that when even death might come, she could find a friend in him she knew so well in health. It also implies the absence of all fear. “Even so." We need not wonder that men who have despised religion and the gospel when in health, should start and shrink back at the thought of death. They fear to meet the Lord; they tremble to depart. It also implies strong love to Jesus, and pleasing anticipations of the enjoyment of his presence.

The text may be regarded in a three-fold form.

1. As the language of the penitent, when the bitterness of sin is felt,—when the importance of salvation is really known, and a state of safety in Christ is ardently desired. It is then that the seeking sinner, however broken his language, longs for the Lord Jesus to come, and chase away the natural darkness that has so long blinded the mind to the true nature of sin, and to a right view of the character and holiness of God's law. Another desire of the lowly penitent heart is, that Jesus would 66 come," by his grace, and pardon these sins, over which in secret he now mourns, and by the application of his blood remove the burden of guilt, and give him the gladdening assurance of interest in the salvation that brings peace and joy to the troubled soul. Again, he wants the Lord to "come" and deepen the work of grace in his soul, and to give him expanded views of the Person and work of him who has begun to reveal his love and grace, whereby the affections are captivated, and brought into willing subjection. "Come now," says the forgiven one, and establish my heart in thy fear, and bind my soul to thee.

2. As the language of the believer, who is longing for greater conformity to the Lord. The nearer the soul lives to the Lord, the more likeness to him will be seen and felt, and the more willingly will the soul render obedient service, and suffer reproach and shame for his sake. Hence the cry of the soul is, "Come nearer, nearer, nearer still, I'm blest when thou art near." ""

Again, in the trials of daily life, the Christian says, "Come, Lord Jesus," strengthen me to bear patiently, nor repine against the will of God. Come in this deep affliction and bereavement-in this keen and bleak season of outward adversity, and help me to believe it will work for my spiritual and everlasting good. And how often does the minister in his closet, and in the labours of the sanctuary say, "Come, Lord Jesus," and with beams of holy light shine upon the page of truth, break the fetters, and set the longing captive free. Come, bless the gospel to-day; let not thy servant work alone; let thy power and glory be seen by the word being made "mighty through God," to win souls to Christ, and to comfort afflicted saints.

"Come,

3. This is the language of the Christian as he approaches near to death. Lord Jesus," he says, and strengthen me for the last struggle, that I may say with the inspired Psalmist, "When I pass through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil." Come, that the work of grace thou hast begun may be finished; come, that I may give back my spirit into thy hands, as the treasure thou hast brought, and by conquering grace hast made thine own. Come, receive me to thyself, that where thou art, I may be also, and behold thy glory.

Now, says the dying believer, I feel my earthly house is falling, the day of labour is over, and I am longing for the rest of heaven; yea, the race of life is terminating; I am near the goal; I am longing to obtain the prize!

CHRIST KNOCKING AT THE DOOR.

"Behold, I stand at the door and knock; if any man hear my voice, and open the door, I will come in to him, and I will sup with him, and he with me."-Rev. iii. 20.

PERHAPS there is no portion of divine truth in the whole compass of the blessed word of God, that has been more perverted and misapplied than this. We are told that Christ stands knocking at the sinner's heart for admission, and dead sinners are indiscriminately called upon to open the door and admit the Saviour. The fallacy of such a God-dishonouring, Christ-depreciating sentiment will appear if we contemplate its real meaning, and take the scripture in its proper connection. 1st. If we contemplate the Speaker, and look at his glorious names and titles as set forth here, we shall see it is not the Arminian's Christ, or what they would represent the Christ of God to be. It is the majestic Christ of the Bible, who is in this and the foregoing chapters, described by the following names:- -The faithful Witness, the first Begotten of the dead, the Prince of the kings of the earth, the Alpha and Omega, the Beginning and the Ending, the Almighty, the Son of God, the Amen, the faithful and true Witness, the Beginning of the Creation of God. We have here a cluster of his glorious names, titles, and offices. His person and glorious deeds are further thus described: "Him that loved us, and washed us in his own blood, and hath made us kings and priests unto God." One like unto the Son of Man, clothed with a garment down to the foot, and girt about the paps with a golden girdle: his head and his hairs white like wool, as white as snow; his eyes as a flame of fire; his feet like unto fine brass; his voice as the sound of many waters, holding in his right hand seven stars, with a sharp two-edged sword proceeding out of his mouth, his countenance as the sun shineth in his strength; he that liveth and was dead, and is alive for evermore, having the keys of hell and of death, and at whose glorious presence the beloved John, who once leaned on his bosom, fell at his feet as dead. He that is holy, he that is true, he that hath the key of David, he that openeth and no man shutteth, and shutteth, and no man openeth. This is the Speaker, and he who utters the words, " Behold I stand at the door and knock." Has the Arminian ever considered this?

2ndly. Who are the persons addressed. They are equally as plainly set forth in the context, not the dead sinner, for it is declared of this glorious Speaker, "The dead shall hear the voice of the Son of God, and they that hear shall live." It is both absurd and derogatory to the glory of Christ, to assert that the great Son of God, the omniscient Lord of all, whose right it is solely on the ground of his meritorious life and death to give eternal life to as many as were given to him by his Father, stands at the heart of the dead sinner, knocking. It is not the heart at all, he opens that by his omnipotent grace, and possesses it as his blood-bought right: he holds the keys of hell and of death, and however secure the devil holds his prey, the prey, at the appointed time, is taken from the mighty, and the lawful captive delivered. The devil don't care for the Arminian's Christ, represented as wooing and beseeching the sinner to open the door and admit him. The Christ of the Bible is thus represented by his own lips, "When the strong man armed keeps his palace, his goods are in peace; but when a stronger than he cometh, he he first binds the strong man." The person of Christ, as before described, is alone a match for the wicked one. Omnipotent grace overcomes the devil and sin, and all his own are made willing in the day of his power that he should inhabit and possess their hearts for ever. It is evident, therefore, sinners dead in trespasses and sin, are not addressed at all in the words. The language is addressed to the church, to those who have ears to hear, and to such persons under certain circumstances. The church of the Laodiceans are primarily addressed, and their condition is thus described; lukewarm, neither cold or hot, counting themselves rich, having need of nothing, and not knowing their wretchedness, misery, poverty, blindness, and nakedness. What a striking and solemn description we have here of the present day professors of the gospel, having a name to live, but are dead; professors to know God, but in works denying him; despisers of rich and sovereign grace; and

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why, because they are so rich, because they are so ignorant and blind. need not a physician, but they that are sick." In the midst of such a state of things at Laodicea, there were the objects of Jehovah's love, and they are specially addressed thus: "I counsel thee to buy of me gold tried in the fire, that thou mayest be rich, and white raiment, that thou mayest be clothed, and that the shame of thy nakedness do not appear; and anoint thine eyes with eye-salve that thou mayest see." "As many as I love, I rebuke and chasten: be zealous therefore, and repent." Here we have the persons particularly addressed,-" As many as I love." God's fire is in Zion, and his furnace in Jerusalem, and the Lord trieth the righteous. It is at the door of the church, the glorious Speaker stands and knocks.

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3rdly. The position occupied. 'Behold, I stand at the door." This cannot imply Christ's inability to enter when and where he pleases. When the disciples were met together, Christ entered, we read, the doors being shut; neither does it imply that he ever leaves his church, for he says, "Lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the world:" but he will and does sometimes withdraw his manifestative presence from his people; he is not experimentally and sensibly in their midst; communion and fellowship with him are not enjoyed, and coldness and carelessness, and strife, and division enter; and under such circumstances Christ is without, and real Christians know it, and mourn his absence; but he is at the door, not far distant, watching with his omniscient eye the progress of affairs, and thus with a "Behold!" addresses the slumbering, sleeping church,-"I stand at the door and knock;" and what are the knocks?-solemn providences, afflictive dispensations, astonishing events, unthought-of circumstances, fiery trials. Is he not thus knocking now, if we look at the condition of the present professing church? But only those who know his voice and have ears to hear and understand, will attend, as it is written in the prophecies of Daniel, "Many shall be purified and made white, but the wicked shall do wickedly, and none of the wicked shall understand; but the wise shall understand." I will bring the third part through the fire." "His fan is in his hand; he will throughly purge his floor." His desire is to winnow away the chaff, and thus to purify the wheat; to take away the dross, and purify the gold; to take away the fruitless branches of mere professors, and to purge the branches in him vitally, that they may bring forth more fruit. Thus it is that he stands at the door

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of the church and knocks.

4thly. The precious promise is, " If any man hear my voice, and open the door, I will come in to him, and sup with him, and he with me." The "if," here is not a conditional "if ;" he intends his own people should hear, and should open to him. The sanctified effects of fiery trials are often sweet communion and fellowship with Christ. "I will bring the third part through the fire, and will try them as gold is tried. They shall call on my name, and I will hear them. I will say unto them, It is my people; and they shall say, The Lord is my God." These are some of the sweet fruits of sanctified affliction-the peaceable fruits of righteousness after the sharp exercise, the establishing, settling, and strengthening of the soul, after suffering awhile. The soul under such circumitances, does sing

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The best key to open this text we have in the 5th chapter of the book of Solomon's Song. "I sleep," says the church, “but my heart waketh: it is the voice of my beloved that knocketh, saying, Open to me, my sister, my love, my dove, my undefiled for my head is filled with dew, and my locks with the drops of the night." The coldness and indifference of the church, appear from the following reply: "I have put off my coat, how shall I put it on! I have washed my feet, how shall I defile them!" but the whole of this blessed part of God's word sets forth how he comes, how he knocks, how he gains admittance, and what it is to sup with him, and he with the church.

May reader and writer often hear his sweet voice saying, "I am come into my garden, my sister, my spouse; I have gathered my myrrh with my spice, I have eaten my honey-comb with my honey, I have drunk my wine with my milk. Eat, O friends; drink, yea, drink abundantly, O beloved.”

G. BURRELL.

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