precipices, over long tracts of barren desert, and where. cruel foes lurk in ambush or muster in daring defiance. Why voluntarily rush into such toils and perils, when easier and safer paths beckon us along their smooth and flowery slopes? The answer is-Jehovah fireh! He who has provided the path, will provide all needful help for the journey. Do I fear lest by doing what is right my business may suffer, my property be imperilled? Am I not risking the favor of patrons, my chance of advancement, and the longsought prize of an honorable ambition? May I not lose the esteem of my friends, and grieve or even alienate some whom I love most, my foes being those of my own household? By obedience to conscience may not health, or liberty, or life be put in jeopardy, or an aged parent or a feeble wife and little ones be made destitute? And instead of my conduct being appreciated and thus being beneficial to others, may it not prove a "stumbling-block" to those who will regard it as self-willed, irrational, visionary, pharisaical, or cruel? Again let me reply -Jehovah Fireh! I must obey without questioning. God commands. But I may also obey without fearing. God provides. I must leave all results with Him. I am responsible for my actions, not for their consequences. If I do what is right, all will be right. As in Abraham's case, a promise deferred is not forgotten. If death overtake us while the darkness still surrounds us, the brightness will break on us the more gloriously in the resurrection-life. The present is not our whole existence. There will be ample time hereafter for the full accomplishment of all His promises. Our "light afflictions, which are but for a moment, work out a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory." Death is the revival, rather than the destruction of our hopes. Abraham believed that to fulfil His promise God could 4 raise up Isaac from the dead; and we believe that He will raise up us also, to accomplish in us more than our largest hopes had pictured. The three Jewish martyrs at Babylon were sure that Jehovah would interpose for them; "but if not," they added, "Be it known unto thee, O King, that we will not worship the golden image." Their watchword was Jehovah Jireh. He would provide strength and salvation, if not from death, certainly by death. So let us advance to every duty, confident that God, if He sees fit, will deliver us from every threatening ill; but if not, that nevertheless we will obey His commandments, certain that His promise will not fail. In the resurrection, if not here, the God of Abraham will deliver and provide. How often have God's faithful martyrs triumphed gloriously, their hearts jubilant with "Jehovah Jireh!" The early Christians suffered joyfully the spoiling of their goods, knowing that God had provided for them in heaven, a better, even an enduring substance. Hurried from their homes to a prison's living tomb, they calmed their anxiety for their helpless households with "Jehovah Jireh." With this on their lips, they were thrown to wild beasts or burnt at the stake, their confidence unshaken. In this spirit, in our own day, the martyrs of Madagascar, · including feeble women, marched to the spearing-place and the precipice, singing psalms of triumph. A few days since, on Arlington Heights, I stood amongst thousands of graves in your soldiers' cemetery, and wept as I thought of the thousands of homes bereaved, the thousands of hearts well nigh broken by the sudden removal of those young men. But when country, freedom, philanthropy called, you sent them forth, relying on Abraham's God, and saying Jehovah Fireh! In cases less conspicuous, "Jehovah Jireh " is the watchword of daily victories. A widow dying in poverty feels for a moment as if she could not leave the unprotected children who surround her bed; but resignation returns as she looks up and says - Jehovah Fireh! Through sickness or decay of trade, the last shilling has been spent, the last loaf eaten; and the question, Whence shall come the next meal? must be agonizing where it is not answered, as it daily is by thousands of God's children - Jehovah Fireh. An assistant in a business is required to break the divine law of truth and honesty, or Sabbath worship; refusal will entail dismissal, perhaps want; but he obeys God rather than man, and does it confiding in Jehovah Fireh. To secure an honorable or lucrative appointment a declaration must be made not strictly true; but the important word so easily uttered is withheld, and the loss entailed is felt to be abundantly supplied by Jehovah Fireh. A merchant or shopkeeper has invested capital in a business which his conscience now condemns; the struggle is severe, but Faith conquers, and while property and income are sacrificed, exclaims Jehovah Fireh! Not an hour passes in which the victory of Abraham is not in some degree repeated by some of his spiritual children. And when the last trial of all approaches, though natural instinct may quail, Christian faith shall conquer, uttering this battle-cry― Jehovah Fireh. A chamois-hunter of Chamouni, crossing the Mer de Glace, endeavored to leap across one of the enormous crevasses or fissures by which the ice-ocean is in many places rent. He missed his footing and fell in, but was able, by extending his arms, to moderate the speed of his descent, and thus reached the bottom, a hundred yards below, without fracture of limb. But his situation seemed hopeless. He could not scale the slippery walls of his crystal prison, and in a few hours at most he must be frozen to death. A stream of water was rushing below the ice, downward towards the valley. He followed this the only possible path. Sometimes he had to bend low in the narrow tunnel; sometimes he waded, sometimes he floated down. At length he reached a vaulted chamber, from which was no visible outlet. The water which filled it darkly heaved. Retreat was impossible; delay was death. So, commending himself to the help of God, he plunged down into the centre of the gurgling pool. Then followed a moment or two of darkness, tumult, and terror; then he was thrown up amidst the flowers, and the hay-fields, and the merry songs of the vale of Chamouni. Whether fact or fable, this narrative will illustrate our theme. Our path may be often dark and dangerous. Escape may seem impossible. Death may put on its most appalling form. But, uttering our watchword, "Jehovah Jireh," let us still advance. Even if we see no light beyond, let us plunge into the darkness. It will be darkness for a moment only. Then we shall be ushered into that world of light and bliss, where we shall prove, in the fullest sense, that eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, nor hath it entered into the heart to conceive the things which God has provided for those who love Him. "When life sinks apace, and death is in view, VI.* THE SHADOW OF THE ALMIGHTY. THE HE desert is dreary. The way is long. Heavily burdened, a weary traveller slowly drags onward his wounded feet. Faint by reason of the fiery blaze which smites him from the unclouded sky and the scorching sand, he eagerly looks around for shelter. He pants for even the muddiest pool where he may quench his raging thirst. In such a weary land," how welcome "the shadow of a great rock," and the clear, cool fountain gushing up within its rugged clefts! But where can such a refuge be found for the soul-weary with wandering, crushed by care, groaning under guilt? Where can its burden be taken off, its sorrows soothed, its mighty thirst assuaged? 66 A trembling fugitive, long the victim of robbery and violence, has vainly run hither and thither in quest of a hiding-place from his cruel enemies, who, with threatening gestures and words of hate, are in full pursuit. Now he hears their voices clamoring for his blood, as they press more closely upon his track. Each moment he expects the fatal shot. How joyful, as it suddenly bursts upon him, is the sight of the friendly fortress whose open portal bids him enter, and then shuts impregnably! Beneath the shadow of those strong towers, he may now rest both * Preached at the Fifth Baptist Church, Philadelphia, November 27, 1867, |