1 Behold this dreamer cometh.... Gen. xxxvii. 19. : JAMES says, "The Spirit that dwelleth in us lusteth to envy." ....James iv. 5. This is fully manifest in the conduct of Joseph's brethren against him. Joseph seemed an open hearted lad, simple and without guile : if he had not told his dreams, he had not raised his brethren's envy; but the Lord's hand was in it: no thanks to them their cruelty to Joseph raised him to the greatest eminence and saved them from death by famine. Thus the Lord brings good out of evil. Methinks I see young Joseph coming towards his brethren, and they looking upon him with an air of the greatest contempt and derision, saying, "Behold this dreamer cometh!" There, that's he, that we are all to bow down to, worship and serve; look at this mighty dreamer of foolish dreams. St. Paul, in enumerating the sufferings of the faithful, says, "Others had trials of CRUEL MOCKINGS."....Heb. xi. 36. Sampson by the Philistines: Elisha by the children, whom the bears devoured: David by Michal, &c. But who of all the sons of men ever had trial of such cruel mockings as the Son of God. Know then, O disciple, thou art not to be above thy master: it is sufficient for thee to be as thy master. Expect cruel mockings. Wast thou never mocked and derided for thy profession? Then thou hast reason to fear thou hast not been faithful to thy Lord, else surely the world would have seen that thou hast been with Jesus, and as verily as they mocked him they would deride thee. Though you need not cast your pearls before swine; or as Joseph did, tell ALL the dealings of God with your soul, to the men of the world; yet if you dare make an open profession of salvation by the free grace of God, through Jesus ONLY, your name will be up, mockings will be your portion; yea, men will say of thee, as Joseph's brethren did of him, "Behold this dreamer cometh." See that visionary, enthusiastic fool: he dreams that he is one of God's elect; that he has got the witness of the Spirit; that he is sure of going to heaven, not for his works, but by grace, through faith only. Such - honor have all God's saints. Pray now, who would wish, who would strive to escape it? Would you lose a badge of your profession, a mark of honor that you are the followers of the once mocked and derided Son of God? But beware of being deceived, like those of old, with "the visions of their own heart."....Jer. xxiii. 16. But glory in the heavenly vision, the vision of the Spirit, the vision of faith: let men mock on; let devils envy; yet the vision of faith is for an appointed time. Cruel mockings are only for a short season: soon, very soon, you shall receive the end of your faith, the salvation of your soul, and be exalted far above Joseph at Pharaoh's court: you shall be with Jesus above, where all is harmony, peace and love. She said truth, Lord; yet the dogs eat of the crumbs which fall from their master's table....Matt. xv. 27. HERE is blessed reasoning: it produced admiration in the Lord': "O woman, great is thy faith!" It obtained a free grace grant from him also: "Be it unto thee, even as thou wilt." Great faith! How does it appear? We do not find she came to Christ in full assurance of faith, saying, I know thou art My Saviour, I am assured thou hast loved ME and wilt save ME. No. Still there was great faith without this. Look at her faith: imitate it: she honored the Lord by it; he honors her for it. Ist. She was in trouble: she flies instantly to Christ: she tells him of her sorrows: "Have mercy upon me, O Lord, for my daughter is grievously vexed with a devil." To cry to Jesus for mercy, under a sense of being vexed with a devil, is the prayer of faith, and honors the Lord of glory. 2d. Here are great discouragements: Christ answers her not a word: the disciples desire him to cure her, that they might get rid of her: but Jesus answers, (not her, but his disciples) "I am not sent, but to the lost sheep of the house of Israel." Was not this repulse enough to strike her dumb and send her away in despair? But, 3d. Instead of this, her faith grew stronger and her importunity greater. She falls at his feet, with, LORD HELP ME. O, that was putting it home to the loving heart of our dear Lord: she brought her case to a point: Jesus, you can help me: none but you can: if you do not, I am miserable. Have you no compassion for a poor miserable sinner? Lord help me. Thus casting herself upon the Lord's love and power, she at last gets an answer from him: but O, such a one as was like a dagger to her heart, "It is not meet to take the children's bread, and cast it to the dogs.' Now, does she turn away like a dog? No. 4th. She had got a child's heart and a child's faith too: for she again puts her case home to the Saviour's heart. Mark it : I am a dog, a filthy, unclean creature; let me be fed as such upon the falling crumb: I know I do not deserve even that from thee. See what perseverance, faith and prayer will do: it overcomes all difficulties, surmounts all objections, obtains the sought for mercy. Some in our day would have thought this woman undervalued herself: but Jesus humbles those sinners to the very lowest whom he raises to the very highest. O, take up this resolution, "I will wait upon the Lord who hideth his face: I will look for him."....Isa. viii. 17. Tho' vile, tho' hopeless is my case, Tho' he don't grant at first my suit, Wherefore, lift up the hands which hang down, and the • feeble knees....Heb. xii. 12. O, I ARE you saying, my troubles are many, my burden is great, and hope deferred makes my heart sick? True, a faint heart makes weak hands and feeble knees: then afflictions become intolerable, duty tiresome, prayer irksome, the ordinances like dry breasts, the lamp of spiritual life seems expiring, the poor sinner grows dejected and dispirited, is ready to give up hope, and to give way to despondency. THE COMFORTER inspires a work for such, "lift up your hands," &c. Do you say, the advice is good, but the practice hard? Paul supposes it: for he introduceth it with WHEREFORE. dearly love these scripture adverbs! Much courage and comfort are got by attending to them. Wherefore, or for which reason, lift up your weak hands, or the weak hands of others. Consider why, or wherefore, we should do this. 1st. We have Jesus to look unto for patience. He is the author and finisher of our faith; he bore our sins; he hath for ever took away the curse due to them; he has made our peace with God; God is in him reconciled to us. He who endured the cross for our sins, and despised the shame of being treated as a malefactor, in love to our persons, is now before the throne of God praying for us. O, this look is reviving! 2d. Consider Jesus, the captain of our salvation, lest ye be weary and faint. He was made perfect through sufferings, that he might bring many sons unto glory. He is bringing you, through much tribulation, into his kingdom. Consider the love and sorrows of Jesus for you. Look on yourself as a suffering member of a once suffering head: so shall your weak mind be strengthened and your weary mind refreshed. 3d. Forget not, but consider the exhortation, My Son. Precious application! God is your Father; he loves you with the same everlasting and unchangeable love as he did his only begotten Son he treats you in love: he chastises you as his child. Why? Because he is in wrath against you? No; but to make you more like himself in holiness. O then lift up your hands to your brother Jesus, your Father God, in confident faith, in humble prayer. Though all within is clouded dejection, yet all above is sun-shine, joy, peace, and consolation. Consider your hope; "It is as an anchor of the soul." On what is it fixed? It entereth into that within the vail, whither the fore-runner is FOR us entered, even Jesus....Heb. vi. 19, 20. : When knees are weak, and hands hang Then let our sighing hearts to Christ, And we can't run nor pray, [down, Still Jesus is before the throne In faith and hope ascend: Christ is our faithful friend. M. He saw his glory, and spake of him....John xii. 41. MINISTERS Who do not preach Christ, sinners who do not speak of Christ, are objects of pity, not of our wrath their eyes are blind to his matchless glory: their hearts do not understand his unparalleled love. But consider, 1st. When once Christ's glory is displayed and his love believed in the heart, the tongue will speak of him. So Isaiah found it. So did that poor woman of Samaria, "she ran into the city," she catched hold of one and another, she eagerly cried, "Come, see a man who told me all things that ever I did, is not this the Christ?" Surely it is, what think ye?....John iv. 29. She had sweet experience. Here was no self-exalting; no cry, see me, admire me; what fine experience I have got! One is sometimes grieved to read or hear people tell of their experiences, when they tend only to make the poor sinner appear as somewhat glorious in his own eyes, and to be admired by his fellow sinners: this is not right. If the sinner's vileness is not fully explored, and the Saviour's glory ONLY exalted, such souls know not as they ought to know; such experiences are not profitable, they are not worth attending to. 2d. When sinners see Christ's glory, they will speak of him to God the Father; they will come in his name; they will plead his blood only for the pardon of sin, his righteousness alone for the justification of their souls, his intercession for their obtaining every blessing in earth and heaven. Thus we can come boldly to a throne of grace; thus we expect freely to obtain mercy to relieve us, and grace to comfort us: thus we are sure, perfectly sure, we are welcome to God: for he hath told us so. It pleased the Father, that in Christ all fulness (of grace and glory) should dwell....Col. i. 19. "That out of his fulness we should receive."....John i. 16. Having seen Christ's glory, we come to him for this grace. For, 3d. The sight of Christ's glory blinds us to our own fancied glory. The more we see of Jesus, the less we like ourselves: we grow out of conceit with ourselves. What glory is there in a filthy dunghill, a cage of unclean birds, a nest of serpents, toads and adders? Worse, inexpressibly worse are we than all these. Our nature are half beast half devil. Yet, astonishing love! Jesus displays the glory of his grace to us. Nothing but unbelief prevents our beholding it: "Said I not unto thee, if thou wouldest believe, thou shouldest see my glory?"....John xi. 40. When I my Saviour's glory see I dwell with joy on what he saith, My tongue is loos'd to speak his fame, Put off the old man....Eph. iv. 22. PEOPLE who love money better than a good conscience, make nothing of putting off base and counterfeit coin. Christian, you may safely imitate them, in putting off the base old man: the more the love of Christ is in you, the more will you do it. 1st. What is meant by this OLD MAN? Corrupt nature, which was born with you, is part of you, lives in you, and will never be dead so long as your body lives. Though near six thousand years old, yet he is very strong and vigorous at times: yea, though you are a child of God and a member of Christ, he wants to have the mastery over you: you could never have conquered him had not Christ crucified him. Though crucified, you can never subdue him, but by the strength of Christ: nor you cannot put him off, but by the grace of Christ; for he clings and twines round you like a serpent; yet you are commanded to put him off. This is your duty from day to day. But it is not by your might nor power, but by the Spirit of the Lord. 2d. Why are you called upon to put him off? 1st. Because all his reasonings are corrupt, his every suggestion is totally evil: he would corrupt the gospel, pervert its truths, reject its promises, and defy its threatenings. 2d. All his lusts or desires are deceitful: he deceives by the pride of self-righteousness as well as by gross sins. 3d. He is an enemy to thy Lord, a supplanter of his glory, and a rival of thy faith in him, peace from him, and obedience to him. If you cherish him, you lose the comfort of your best friend's presence. If you reason with him, you perplex your mind and lose the simplicity of faith. If you follow his promise of liberty, you will get into bondage: "If ye live after the flesh, ye shall die.".... Rom. viii. 13. 3d. What is implied by putting off the old man? 1st. That he always continues the same; he is never changed for the better. 2d. That he always remains alive in you. But, 3d. That you should put him down from his seat of rule over you; put him off in your thoughts, walk and conversation, just as you would an old filthy garment; or like an odd, troublesome, intruding old man, who would knock at your door, and want admittance to you. Put him off, with this reply, I have the blessed company of the new man, Christ Jesus; here is no admittance for you: "I have put on the new man, which after God is created in righteousness and true holiness."....Eph. iv. 24. Put off the old man, by humble faith and earnest prayer, ever remembering, I can do all things, through Christ's strengthening me....Phil. iv. 13. Strange is the mystery of grace! Tho' I am a creature new, Yet still I find thro' all my days, The old man in me too. In Christ I am completely bless'd, M. |