Imagens das páginas
PDF
ePub

healing in his wings." (Mal. iv. 2.) Then shall the night pass away, and all will be joy, unutterable joy, to those who love HIS appearing. (2 Tim. iv. 8, compared with Heb. ix. 28.)

Believe me, dear children,

Ever your affectionate Father.

LETTER VIII.

"THOU, LORD, IN THE BEGINNING HAST LAID THE

FOUNDA

TION OF THE EARTH; AND THE HEAVENS ARE THE WORKS OF THINE HANDS: THEY SHALL PERISH; BUT THOU REMAIN EST; AND THEY ALL SHALL WAX OLD AS DOTH A GARMENT; AND AS A VESTURE SHALT THOU FOLD THEM UP, AND THEY SHALL BE CHANGED: BUT THOU ART THE SAME, AND THY YEARS SHALL NOT FAIL."Heb. i. 10, 11.

My Dear Children,

I have been thinking much of the closing scene of my last letter, and of those verses especially which I have selected as a motto for this; what so forcibly struck me, was the progression we had made in passing on from one planet to another, thousands and millions of miles; until, having reached the Georgium Sidus,* we found ourselves in the utmost bounds of the Solar System, eighteen thousand millions of miles from the Sun: from thence we passed on into the boundless heaven of the

The Foreign Astronomers gave this star the beautiful name of Uranius, which is derived from the Greek word for "the heavens," probably considering it the boundary of the solar heavens.

N

fixed stars, and here all calculation was at an end, and space seemed lost in infinitude: and yet this is the language of scripture concerning those illimitable heavens, "as a vesture shalt THOU fold them, and they shall be changed;" consider this figure, "as a vesture.”—That starry sky shall be folded up, shall be changed; whatever this in its extent may signify, it conveys at one glance the most vast and sublime conceptions of the power of God; yes, those hands once suspended on the cross of Calvary, shall one day fold the azure sky together, "they shall perish, but Thou endurest, they shall all wax old as doth a garment, and as a vesture shalt thou fold them up, and they shall be changed." The quotation of the Psalm cii., by the Apostle in Heb. i. 10, most explicitly applies this act to that blessed One who died for us.

I will again recur to this subject at the close of this letter, but will now seek to bring before your young minds some of the scriptures, that draw their illustrations more especially from the fourth day's creation. Let us first then turn to the Old Testament, and remember that the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy (Rev. xix. 10), to Him gave all the prophets witness (Acts x. 43), and thus whether in Moses, in the Prophets, or in the Psalms, (Luke xxiv. 44.) we shall, (if we search, by the Spirit's guidance,) find HIM THERE, even Jesus, the Alpha and Omega-the beginning and end-the first and last of all Revelation (Rev. i. 8).

How beautiful is the nineteenth Psalm, "The heavens declare the glory of God; and the firmament sheweth his handywork.

Day unto day uttereth speech, and night unto night sheweth knowledge. There is no speech nor language, where their voice is not heard. Their line is gone out through all the earth, and their words to the end of the world. In them hath he set a tabernacle for the sun, which is as a bridegroom coming out of his chamber, and rejoiceth as a strong man to run a race. His going forth is from the end of the heaven, and his circuit unto the ends of it and there is nothing hid from the heat thereof." Now we are not left to conjecture in the application of the figures of this Psalm; the Spirit of God, in the Epistle of Paul to the Romans (chap. x. ver. 18), explains it to us, and shews, that as the heavenly bodies visited all parts of the globe in their circuit; so had the gospel gone out to every creature, yes, to every creature, for there is no limit to "these glad tidings of great joy to all people" (Luke ii. 10), none are to be hid from its blessing. But what is the great character of the gospel message? It is Jesus. Philip went down and preached Christ to Samaria, and testified to the Eunuch of Jesus (Acts viii. 5, 35); this was the name wherewith he was named by the angel (Matt. i. 21), because, as the name implies, he should save his people from their sins; you remember, I believe, all of you, the sweet hymn of Cowper :

How sweet the name of Jesus sounds

In a believer's ear!

It soothes his sorrows, heals his wounds,
And drives away his fear.

It makes the wounded spirit whole,
And calms the troubled breast;
'Tis manna to the hungry soul,
And to the weary rest.

Yes, this is the name which is above every name, Phill. ii. 9; and this Psalm most beautifully sets it forth. Now suppose we look again at the 5th verse, "In heaven hath He set a tabernacle for the sun, which is as a bridegroom coming forth of his chamber; and rejoiceth as a strong man to run a race." Jesus, the true sun of righteousness (Malachi iv. 2), is the heavenly bridegroom; and He, by the Spirit, dwells ever in His church (1 Cor. vi. 19), and manifests through her His own light. The church is His tabernacle, "the goodly building fitly framed (Eph. ii. 21), and Her office is to make the circuit of the globe, to go to every creature and preach Jesus--and Jesus only, as the way-the truth-the life (John xiv. 6); she is to prolong the blessed message of mercy far and wide, nothing is to be hid from the heat thereof. The church of God is essentially Missionary, -her field of operation is the habitable globe, and "every creature" her only limit (Matt. xxviii. 19); she has received the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ (2 Cor. iv. 6), not to hide it, but to manifest it; not to put her light under a bushel, but to place it on a candlestick, that it may give light to all that are in the house (Matt. v. 15); but we must read the whole portion through, for it beautifully shews forth how the

« AnteriorContinuar »