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VICTORY
THROUGH
THE NAME

New and Cheap Edition. Monthly 6d. nett

Edited by Rev. Evan H. Hopkins

The Series will consist of the following—

t A HOL V LIFE Rey. G. H, C. Macgregok

• THE SECRET OF HOLINESS

Rev. F. S. Webster

3 NEED AND FULNESS Dr. Hanuley Moule

4 JOHN THE BAPTIST Dr. Elder Gumming

5 / FOLLOW AFTER Rev. Preb. Webb-Peploe

< HIDDEN, YET POSSESSED

Rev. Evan H. Hopkins

7 FROM CALVARY TO PENTECOST

Rev. F. B. Meyer

t THEY MIGHT BE Rev. Hubert Brooke

9 THE LIFE OF FELLOWSHIP

Rev. E. W. Moore

xo "REALITY'' Rev. J. T. Wrenford

11 LIFTED LOADS Miss Lucy Bennett

12 THE SECRET OF POWER FOR DAILY

LIVING Rev. W. Houghton

13 "INSTEAD" Miss Nugent

14 VICTORY THROUGH THE NAME

Rev. C. A. Fox

15 THINGS WHICH CANNOT BE SHAKEN.

Rev. C. G. Moore

Marshall Brothers. Keswick House, Paternoster Row

Cfie JSesitoicfe libran)

Victory
Through
The Name

By Rev C A Fox

LONDON MARSHALL
BROTHERS PATERNOSTER
ROW

First Edition

Oct. 1894

Reprinted

April 1895

Reprinted

May 1901

Reprinted

June 1901
Reprinted

Nov. 1903

CONTENTS

CAP PAGE

1 Jehovah; or, the Victory of the

Invisible Presence ... 7

2 JeHOVAH-JiREH ; OR, THE VICTORY OF

Divine Self-Sacrifice . . .42

3 TeHOVAH-RoPHI ; OR, THE VICTORY OF

Divine Assimilation . . .71

VICTOI|Y THl^OUGH THE \km

JEHOVAH; OR
r^on T THE VICTORY OF THE
^^ ^ INVISIBLE PRESENCE

** He endured, as seeing Him who was invisible. "

" / appeared unto Abraham, unto Isaac, and

unto Jacob, by the name of God Almighty, but by

My Name, Jehovah, was I not known to them.*'—

Ex. vi. 3.

IS God dead ? " was the startling ex-
clamation of a stalwart coloured
woman, as she sprang to her feet in the
midst of a mass-meeting of downtrodden,
hopeless slaves. " Downtrodden, hope-
less slaves " — such is an exact description
1

VICTORY THROUGH THE NAME

of the condition of Israel at this juncture
of their history, as brought before us in
the book of Exodus. And just such is
the startUng truth God intended now to
emphasize in the ears of His people at
this very juncture, by the revelation of
His great and mysterious Name, Jehovah.
It was as though He would say to them,
True, slavery, despair, and death are
staring you in the face, yet God lives !
I Am unchangeably that I Am ; and I
Am is here !

"Jesus lives ! no longer now

Can thy terroi-s, Death, appal us ;
Jesus lives ! by this we know

Thou, O grave, canst not enthral us.
AUehiia !

Jesus lives ! our hearts know well
Nought from us His love can sever.

Life, nor death, nor powers of hell
Tear us from His keeping ever.
Alleluia ! "

It has been said that the proper study
of mankind is man ; surely we may
venture to Christianize Pope's famous

a

THE INVISIBLE PRESENCE

line, and say, " The proper study of man-
kind is God."

God has at various times given Himself
a name, or revealed Himself under some
particular title. In the Old Testament it
was this mysterious name, Jehovah, which
on various subsequent occasions received
certain qualifying additions. In the
Gospels it was the ever-blessed name of
Jesus. In the Acts of the Apostles, and
afterwards in the Epistles, we meet the
fuller name, Jesus Christ, or the Lord
Jesus Christ, or the Lord Jesus. In the
book of Revelation one name stands out
increasingly prominent, as though it were
to demand special attention, and would
need special emphasis in the closing times
of this dispensation, viz., "The Lamb
that was slain." Each of these great
Names has a history attached to it ; each
of them is a volume in itself; each
gathers up into itself certain aspects or
attributes of God, which transcend human
speech and knowledge.
9

VICTORY THROUGH THE NAME

God's names are intended to be uni-
versal symbols, watchwords for Eternity ;
names by which we may at once bring
God down within the range of human
vision, and within the reach of human
need. They are concise moral revelations
of the nature and character of God, made
available and portable for our earthly pil-
grimage. It is natural that the first great
Name, Jehovah, should be in some sort
indicative of the essential nature of God,
and of His wondrous personality. It seems
intended to answer in some measure the
inevitable enquiries of the human soul,
What is God ? Does He know, does He
care, does He feel ? Can He help, can
He keep, can He love ? If so, will He ?
The name Jehovah, with the exposition,
which God Himself immediately gives of
it to His servant Moses, satisfies all these
natural cravings of the soul. It blessedly
anticipates the long-subsequent expression
of that grandest fundamental truth of
Inspiration, " God so loved the world I *'

lO

THE INVISIBLE PRESENCE

Was ever that little word " so " freighted
with such a momentous responsibility
before ?

We will first notice the circumstances
under which the name Jehovah was origin-
ally commu7iicated. We read in the third
chapter that as God was commissioning
His servant Moses to go in His name and
rescue Israel from Egypt, that Moses very
naturally asked, " And when I go to the
children of Israel and say, The God of
your fathers hath sent me, and they shall
say, What is His name? what shall I
say unto them? And God said unto
Moses, I Am that I Am ; and He said
thus shalt thou say unto the children of
Israel, I Am hath sent me unto you"
(Ch. iii. 13, 14) Now assuredly God
was not playing with His people, who
were at that time in grievous bondage
and under cruel sufferings, that He should
give them some vague, abstract name,
without definite meaning or purpose, or
wilhout any hidden blessing, or surprise
1.1

VICTORY THROUGH THE NAME

of grace, or supply of power ? It could
not be a mere abstract, philosophical
name, it must be one full of Divine mean-
ing and delivering grace, pregnant with
comfort, and hope, and assurance, such
as suffering humanity needs under ex-
tremest circumstances. But why was it
reiterated and emphasized at this particular
juncture ? Glance at the fifth chapter for
an instant. We find here how dis-
heartened Moses and Aaron were when
they came out from Pharaoh, after laying
before him God's urgent command to let
Israel go and hold a feast unto the Lord
in the wilderness. Pharaoh refused
indignantly to listen to the request. " Ye
are idle, ye are," he said ; " you want
more work to do. This is but a pretext
for idleness ; harder work will soon put an
end to such spiritual dreams." So he
commanded that in future straw should
e no longer provided for them as hereto-
fore, but that they should find straw for
themselves wherever they could, and yet

THE INVISIBLE PRESENCE

fulfil the same amount of work. It is
indeed an old story of Eastern despotism,
still to be seen only too often in Eastern
lands, as in Morocco, for example, to
this day, though not far from our own
shores. This extra hardship sorely afflic-
ted God's people, who were frequently
beaten for not doing what was beyond
iiuman power to do. So they waylaid
Moses and Aaron, and addressed them re-
proachfully, " The Lord look upon you and
judge, because ye have made our savour to
be abhorred in the eyes of Pharaoh, and in
the eyes of his servants, to put a sword in
their hand to slay us " {^. 20). As much
as to say, the interference of Moses and
Aaron had only increased their misery,
and the blame rested upon their shoulders.
Now we read a significant sentence about
the conduct of Moses under this trial.
*' And Moses returned unto the Lord, and
said. Lord, wherefore hast Thou so evil en-
treated this people ? Why is it Thou hast
sent me? For since I came to Pharaoh

VICTORY THROUGH THE NAME

to speak in Thy Name, he hath done evil
to this people ; neither hast Thou delivered
Thy people at all " {p. 22). And is it
not too often so with us, when God is
beginning to work a work of deliverance,
that at first things only seem worse than
before? Are we not often tempted to
say, " 1 think I shall give up attempting
to please God; it only makes me more
miserable, for I so constantly fail ; it is no
use attempting the impossible. Why not
live as other people do, and take things
easily? Perpetual striving only irritates
and woiries."

Let us now take special note of what
took place between God and His sorely-
tried servant. Moses went in at once,
and told God exactly what the people had
told him. He kept back nothing. He
said in effect, " Lord, how is it all this
has happened ? I did what Thou bidst
me to do, and I thought it was for their
good; but it is just the reverse. And
they blame me for it; and yet really it

THE INVISIBLE PRESENCE

does not belong to me, Lord, but to
Thee." Oh, that we had the same free
access to God as Moses had, the same
humble but blessed intimacy with the
Lord to-day, so that we should instinc-
tively go in at once and lay every trouble,
and trial, and reproach at His feet ; even
expostulating with God, if needs be, when
it seems at all justifiable to our poor
human judgment, until He shall take us
in hand and make us see the matter from
His own point of view, and silence all
our doubts and questionings. " They
went and told Jesus," not that it could
be of any use, for the cruel deed was
done, and it was too late ; but it was of
every use to themselves to share their
sorrow with their Lord. But how does
God answer Moses ? " Then the Lord
said unto Moses, Now shalt thou see
what I will do to Pharaoh : for with a
strong hand shall he let them go, and
with a strong hand shall he drive them
out of his land." This is " what I will do
15

VICTORY THROUGH THE NAME

to Pharaoh." God knows how to touch
hard hearts, and to turn tyrants to sup-
pliants. And then at once God makes
this revelation of Himself, which revela-
tion is the turning-point of the whole
story ; for do we not find that a deeper
vision of God is the true starting-point of
personal deliverance with us all ?

"And God spake unto Moses, and
said unto him, I am the Lord : and I
Appeared unto Abraham, unto Isaac, and
unto Jacob, by the name of God Almighty,
but by My name JEHOVAH was I not
known to them " (Exod. vi. 2, 3). Com-
mentators are divided as to whether these
words are to be taken as a question, " Was
I not ? " or as an assertion, " I was not";
the latter is more usually adopted.

We will now notice^ in the next place^
ivhat was contamed in the Name thus
communicated, or reiterated, at such a
crisis in Israel's history. Jehovah itself
means the self-existing One, the self-sub-
sistmg One, the self-sufficing One, the
16

THE INVISIBLE PRESENCE

All-present, the Eternal Being. And God
may be defined to be that One who
has the whole of His perfect and un-
limited life in His own possession and
power, consciously and continuously every
moment. In one word, He is Jehovah.
Let us then observe carefully how much
is involved in this Name, and how thereby
the Past, Present, and Future of God are
discovered to us, by His own express de-
claration, to be graciously disposed towards
His needy people.

I. The Completeness of God's Great
Redemption as thus revealed. First, the
irrevocable covenant in the Fast. " And
/ have also established My covenant with
them, to give them the land of Canaan,
the land of their pilgrimage, wherein they
were strangers " {v. 4). I have estab-
lished it; it is irrevocable. Second, the
Omniscient sympathy, " And / have also
heard the groaning of the children of
Israel. I have heard, Moses, before you
told Me ; I have heard all." God cannot
17 B

VICTORY THROUGH THE NAME

but hear, such is His Divine nature.
Third, "And / have remembered My
covenant." The unalterable faithfulness
of God. These are the three Divine " I
haves " of the past, the blessed past of
the child of God. We have a God whose
covenant is irrevocable, whose sympathy
is omniscient, and whose faithfulness is
unchangeable.

Now, as to the Future^ what has Jehovah
to say ? " Wherefore say unto the chil-
dren of Israel, I am the Lord, and I will
bring you out from under the burdens of
the Egyptians " {v. 6). This is the first
of the seven Divine ^^ I zvills" which are
the inalienable property of the child of
God. The future is filled to the full with
God's most blessed "I wills." As we
travel onward in life, hour after hour, we
are only passing from one Divine "I will"
to another. " / will bring you out from
under the burdens ; surely this is the
identical Gospel message itself, "Come
unto Me, all ye that are weary and heavy

THE INVISIBLE PRESENCE

laden" Whatever it may be, the burden
of sin, the burden of trial, the burden of
responsibility, " I will bring you out from
under the burden." He sees where we
are as regards the burden — right under it
— " I will bring you out from ufider."
The people under the burden are the
people God has got His eye upon ; they
are nearer to the heart of God than the
king upon his throne. This is God-like ;
this is Jehovah.

But further, " And / will rid you out
of their bondage, and I will redeem you
with a stretched out arm, and with great
judgments." First from under the burden
of guilt, it must be, then from the bondage
of the habits of evil that are keeping you
down so that you cannot be free. I will
bring you out from under the burden, and
forth from the bondage, and I will redeem
you, "buy you back" into liberty. "So
fetch them home, blessed Lord," is the
beautiful expression of our Good Friday
collect. " I have seen, I have seen the
^9

VICTORY THROUGH THE NAME

affliction of My people. I am come down
to deliver them ! " Liberty means song
and thanksgiving. But " how can you sing
the Lord's song in a strange land ? " The
thing is impossible ; you cannot do with it
there, and yet God cannot do without it.

So you must be brought out first, and
when you are brought out, and have
come forth clean out of Egypt under the
sprinkled blood, and are safe behind the
Red Sea, "then sang Moses and the
children of Israel " ; and woman's voice
shall peradventure lead the minstrelsy, as
woman was first to fall. For to her came
first the gracious rebuke, " Woman, why
weepest thou?" and from her sounds
forth still in the van of all the Church's
praises, " My soul doth magnify the Lord,
and my spirit hath rejoiced in God my
Saviour." And so to-day, " He hath put
a new song in my mouth," whenever the
mighty outstretched arm of the Lord is
revealed afresh at some recent crisis in
each soHtary child's history.

The invisible presence

And again notice, " And / will take you
to Me for a people, and I will be to you
a God" {v. 7). Most blessed "I will"
surely. "I will take you to Me." Sweetest
of all words ! God stays not at rescue
from sin and bondage, but " I will take
you to Me." No condemnation and no
separation ! This is our Jehovah Him-
self as revealed by Himself ; and this is
the gospel of Jehovah, earlier than any
Sinaitic manuscript. He takes the miry
bondslave straight from the brick-kilns
into His own bosom. Until one day this
shall be spoken of as the choicest and
most coveted of all distinctions and
honours for the redeemed life, " that
disciple who leaned on Jesus' breast at
supper ! " "I will take you unto Me for a
people," and the people becomes actually
"a peculiar treasure unto Me," a king-
dom of priests and a priesthood of kings.

But we have a still fuller " I will '"
(7;. 8). Not only will I bring you out,
and take you unto Me, but "/ ze;/// bring
21

Victory through the name

you in unto the land, concerning the
which I did swear to give it to Abraham,
to Isaac, and to Jacob ; and I will give it
to you for an heritage : I am the Lord."
In short, I will bring you out, I Avill take
you to Myself, I will bring you in ! " I
will bring you into a land " — it is the
land of the oath — how irrevocably ours !
It is the land of gift : " I will give it to
you for an inheritance " — how irresistibly
free ! Such is the revelation of the
glorious " I wills " of Jehovah, like a
vista of the clustered pillars of His shrine,
retreating in glittering perspective, strong
as Omnipotence, and sun-smitten already
with the advancing gospel dawn of His
advent.

But it may be asked. Is there no Divine
Present for the child of Jehovah ? Or is
the present treated as but an imaginary
line between past and future, simply the
meeting-place of the two, and almost in-
visible,— which is indeed just what it is.
Where Jehovah's " I haves "and " I wills"

22

THE INVISIBLE PRESENCE

meet, there is the standing place of the
believer : this is the behever's Present, re-
presented by and over-canopied with
Jehovah's great "/ Avi.'' For besides
the "I have" and "I will," we find "I
am " also wrapt up and packed away by
the hand of God Himself in this wondrous
Name Jehovah. God's renewed promise
which we have here unrolled before us,
studded with "I have" and "I will,"
opens with His " I am," like some rich
illuminated initial letter in an ancient
missal — " / am the Lord " {v. 2) ; and
midway we have it again, — " Wherefore
say unto the children of Israel, / am the
Lord " {^. 6) ; and once more at the close
{v. 8),—"/ ain the Lord." It is Hke
some precious covenant or deed, or like
some solemn blood-bought international
treaty, which is sealed on the first page,
and sealed in the middle, and sealed at
the end. Just as some wills which re-
quire the signature to be on every page
for security, so this is the covenant, the
23

VICTORY THROUGH THE NAME

everlasting covenant, between the Great
Eternal God and the wandering tribes
that haunt the borderlands of Time ; and
the signature of The Eternal must needs
be repeated for security on every page.
It must be sealed within and without with
the great Seal of the Kingdom, "I am
the Lord." There can be no change,
therefore, here, with the three "I Ams"
attached to it. The Trinity have set their
seal to it ; witness their several signatures :
"I am the Lord," " 1 am the Lord," " I
am the Lord." Here is the greatest
moral certainty in the universe. Every-
thing on earth or of man changes and
shifts and moves, but " I am the Lord "
is unchangeable; for though He layeth
the beams of His chambers on the vari-
able waters of ministering creatures, this
remaineth firm as the very floor of eternity
itself. It may seem strange at first sight
to some, perhaps, but the man Christ
Jesus has the very same motto on His
seal as this of Jehovah — "Jesus Christ,
24

THE INVISIBLE PRESENCE

the same yesterday, to-day, and for ever.'
But how was this Gospel of Jehovah
welcomed by Israel ? " And Moses spake
so unto the children of Israel ; but they
hearkened not unto Moses for anguish of
spirit and for cruel bondage" {^. 9). They
were so deaf with sufferings and fears, that
they could not even hear it ; they were so
blinded with tears, that they could not
catch the golden gleam of hope and sym-
pathy glowing through every word of the
Divine message. Is not this the exact
counterpart of ourselves to-day ?

" Blind unbelief is sure to err,
And scan His work in vain ;
God is His own interpreter,
And He will make it plain. "

II. The Idc'Uity of Jesus ivith Jehovah.

The completeness of Divine redemption
as revealed under the Name Jehovah is
now shown in the New Testament to be
accomplished in the person of Jesus of
Nazareth. In other words, Jesus Christ
fulfils all the oflices and undertakings of

VICTORY THROUGH THE NAME

Jehovah, as regards past, present, and
future in connection with His people.
Instead of issuing a new copy of the Old
Covenant in New Testament times, with
renewed demands and penalties, the
Covenanter Himself has come, and ful-
fils His own law in His own person, and
discharges all those convicted under it,
attaching them at the same time to Him-
self by personal forgiveness and faith, and
covenanting to work out His own life in
them, after giving His own death for
them.

Who has ever ventured to take up and
adopt unto himself the stupendous lan-
guage of Jehovah which we have been
considering, — the "I have," and "I will,"
and " I am " ? None but the Crucified
alone.

Calvary says, " I have." " I have made
an end of sin."

Resurrection says, " I am." " I am He
that liveth, and was dead, and, behold, I
am alive for evermore."
26

THE INVISIBLE PRESENCE

Ascension says, " I will." " I will not
leave you comfortless; I will come unto
you."

Pentecost says, " I do." " I do pour
out my Spirit upon all flesh."

" He hath shed forth this which ye do
now see and hear." In a word, whereas
in the old text, " Thus saith the Lord "
rings out on every page, in the Gospels
Christ's '' But I say unto you " quietly,
but significantly, takes its place. Surely He
who could say truthfully those three brief
words,— "I have," "I will," "lam," in
their supreme sense, must be Divine.
Who ever ventured before in solemn
prayer to Almighty God, and that in the
hearing of others too, to recapitulate with
perfect approbation all the motives and
actions of a lifetime, without one word of
confession, or the slightest suggestion of
self-accusation or shortcoming.?

Let us pause to observe how in that one
great prayer alone (John xvii.) there are
nine distinct " I haves," in which Christ

VICTORY THROUGH THE NAME

declares His perfect life-work for His
people.
^'I have glorified Thee on the earth"

("• 4).

" I have finished the work which Thou
gavest Me to do " {ik 4).

" I have manifested Thy Name " {v. 6).

" I have given unto them the words
which Thou gavest Me " {v. 8).

" I have kept those that Thou gavest
Me"(z/. 12).

" I have sent them into the world "
(.V. 18).

" I have given them Thy glory " (z/. 22).

"I have known Thee " {v. 25).

"I have declared unto them Thy
Name " {ik 26.)

Surely the Divine ideal life here is
complete in all points. And mark what
emphasis our blessed Lord lays upon the
manifestation of the Name. What Name?
Is it not this very Name, Jehovah, which
He maintains that He has manifested and
declared ? Instead of asking, like Moses,
28

THE INVISIBL'k PRESENCE

what name He should declare, He unhesi-
tatingly asserts His own perfect and inti-
mate knowledge of the Name, and the
fulness and faithfulness with which He
has communicated it. Here is at last
fulfilled,—" I will set Him on high, be-
cause He has known My Name." Take
again the " I will " of Jehovah. Did ever
any son of man venture to adopt this
sovereign word of power ? The Crucified
is that one alone who dares to lay His
hand on the leper, and say, " Leper, I
will " ; and forthwith, by that one word,
the leprosy is expelled ; and who at the
same time dares to lay His hand on the
throne, and say, "Father, I will," and
therewith admits sinners to glory. Here
are nine " I wills " of Jesus Christ, six
of them centring round the Ascen-
sion : —

" I will ; be thou clean."

" I will come and heal him."

" Father, I will that they whom Thou
hast given Me be with Me where I am."
29

VICTORY THROUGH THE NAME
'* / will pray the Father, and He shall

n

" I will send Him unto you."

" I will come again and receive you
unto Myself."

" I will love him."

" I will manifest Myself unto him."

" I will give you rest."

Mark here the perfect command over
sin and disease. Mark also His perfect
equality with God the Father — "Father,
I will"; and His perfect equality with
God the Holy Ghost—" I will send Him
unto you." Mark also His perfect ability
to communicate Himself, and His rest,
and His love. And does not this rest
which Christ so sublimely promises cor-
respond exactly to the rest Jehovah had
promised of old — "I will bring you out
from under the burdens," " Come unto Me,
all ye heavy laden, and I will rest you ; " "I
will take you to J/^," " I will receive you
to Myself;" "I will bring you /«," "We
which have believed do enter into rest."
30

THE INVISIBLE PRESENCE

But, once more, who but He, the Cruci-
fied, has ever dreamed of or dared to
take up the challenge of the Eternal God
conveyed in the brief but boundless ap-
pellation, "I am"? Who but He has
ever dared to fill in, and that without
hesitation or ostentation, that illimitable
blank cheque of Divine potentiality con-
tained in the pregnant title, "I am"?
Take again nine examples : —

" Before Abraham was, I am."

" I am the Light of the world."

"I am the Way, the Truth, and the
Life."

" I am the Resurrection and the Life."

" I am the Good Shepherd."

" I am the Bread of Life."

" I am the True Vine."

" I am the First, and the Last, and the
Living One."

" I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning
and the ending, saith the Lord, which is,
and which was, and which is to come, the
Almighty."

31

VICTORY THROUGH THE NAME

Here He claims to be coeval with Je-
hovah. He claims to have Life in Himself.
He claims to be the Light of the world,
the Life of the world, the Food of the
world, the Shepherd of the world. He
claims omniscient sympathy — "/ am, be
not afraid" (Greek). He claims omni-
present companionship — "/ am with you
always, even unto the end of the world."
He claims, as we see in the Revelation,
equal eternity with the Triune God, and
adopts for His own the very one abso-
lutely unique and literal equivalent to
Jehovah, with all its awful mystery and
unchangeable indeclinability. In our
Lord's own one pregnant word, ''Ye be-
lieve in God, believe also in Me.*'

Now let us turn from the I have of
Calvary, and the I am of Resurrection,
and the I will of Ascension, to the "I
do" of Pentecost. "Behold I send the
promise of My Father upon you ! " "I
will do it ! " No more words now, but
deeds. No more promises now, but

THE INVISIBLE PRESENCE

prompt fulfilment. Thus affirms Pente-
costal Peter — "This is that which was
spoken ! " Surely everything in the Acts
bears witness to the ascended Christ's
faithfulness when He said, "That will I
do, because I go to My Father."

Wind, and earthquake, and fire, and
still small voice, all echo, "This is that
which was spoken?" Three thousand
converts in a day, all echo, "This is that
which was spoken!" "He hath shed
forth this which ye now see and hear,"
echoes again. "This is that which was
spoken." Great grace upon all, great bold-
ness, great power, great fear, great joy, all
echo the same. Death-stricken Ananias
and Sapphira bearing awful witness to the
presence of the Lord of life and death,
surely repeat the same — "This is that
which was spoken ! " Stephen's face, aglow
with angel light in the council chamber
of death, testifies to the same. The
miracle of healing at the Beautiful Gate of
the temple; Peter's prison doors burst
33. c

VICTORY THROUGH- THE NAME

open without hands; "^neas, Jesus
Christ maketh thee whole" — all testify
aloud, " I will do it ! this is that which
was spoken ! " Saul converted on the
highway, the Ethiopian in the desert,
Cornelius the Roman officer in his own
house, Lydia by the river side — testify
alike, " This is that which was spoken ! "
Wind and Spirit fulfilling His word !
What need we further witness? — "Thou
art the King of glory, O Christ ! "

Thus have we found that all the actual
qualities attributed to Jehovah as regards
past, present, and future in the Old
Testament are shown to be realized to
the full in the person of Jesus Christ in
the New. And just as Jehovah was re-
vealed to Israel when they were at their
last extremity and compelled to make
bricks without straw, so is Jehovah Jesus
revealed now to the spiritual Israel, when
goaded by conscience to fulfil the right-
eousness of the law in their own strength,
they cry unto the Lord "for anguish of
spirit and cruel bondage."

THE INVISIBLE PRESENCll

III. The name Jehovah restored after
many days.

It may well be asked, what has become
of the Hebrew name Jehovah in the New
Testament. Is it entirely and for ever
lost ? What ! when God gave it at such
a momentous crisis, and with such pomp,
and with such emphasis? Impossible.
But what has become of it? The Jew,
indeed, uses it to this hour, he ever prays
to Jehovah. Although to him it is so
sacred a word that he scarcely dares to
pronounce it audibly, habitually lowering
his voice with awe, and in reading aloud
always substituting the more ordinary
name Elohim.

Let us turn to the last book of the
Bible, and at the opening of the book
(Rev. i. 4) we shall find what has become
of the long-lost name. "John to the seven
churches which are in Asia : Grace be un-
to you, and peace, from Him ivhich is^ and
which was, and which is to corned This
is none other than the literal rendering of
35

Victory through the name

the grand old Hebrew name Jehovah,
which is here restored to us in all its
ancient, vast, elemental grandeur and
mystery. The glorious name long lost is
now recovered to us in Christ Jesus, and
recovered to us (glory be to His holy
name ! ) with all redemption's renewed
emphasis about it, and with more than all
its primal music and majesty. Here is
the same unchangeable, self-existent, self-
sufficing, grand, abstract, elemental God;
yes, but no longer simply abstract and
indefinable, the great eternal Essence ; for
though He is still the Great Spirit, He
is also something more : henceforth He
is the revealed Triune God from whom
grace and peace for ever proceed.

The completeness of Divine redemption
is now finally and fully proclaimed before
the universe, as proceeding alike and
simultaneously from each person of the
glorious Triune Deity. Grace and peace
being the triumphant outcome and ex-
pression of the past, present, and future
.^6

THE INVISIBLE PRESENCE

of the Everlasting and Almighty Lord.
" Grace be unto you, and peace, from
Him which is, which was, and which is
to come ; and from the seven Spirits
which are before His throne; and from
Jesus Christ, who is the faithful witness,
and the first- begotten from the dead, and
the Prince of the kings of the earth."

The Boundless, the Infinite, the Eternal,
is here revealed to us as our own great
Redeemer-Lord, from whom all fountains
of grace and peace are for ever flowing
forth. Have we ever stopped and
solemnly taken in what is here affirmed ?
First, that from all the threefold eternity
of Godhead, Past, Present, and Future,
there is for ever streaming forth grace
and peace. Secondly, that from all the
sevenfold Holiness of Godhead, here
hkened to seven lamps of fire burning
before the throne, with intolerable light
and all-consuming glory, there is for ever
streaming forth Grace and Peace. Thirdly,
that from all the threefold revelation of
37

VICTORY THROUGH THE NAME

God in the face of Jesus Christ, "whetner
as " the Faithful Witness " and Prophet
of inexorable Truth ; or as " the First-be-
gotten of the dead," and the Priest who
has returned from His self-immolation on
the altar of atonement for the children of
death ; or as King to whom all power is
given, " the Prince of the kings of the
earth " ; there is for ever streaming forth
grace and peace. Grace, the Christ-
liberated, all-blessed nature of God —
Peace, the Christ-purchased rest both of
soul and body.

But not only have we here revealed
to us Jehovah expanded into the Three
Persons of the Godhead ; but still further,
and more amazing still, do we find (Rev.
i. 8, 17, 18) our blessed Lord claiming
to Himself the triple eternity of the Triune
God, " I am the first, and the last, and the
Living One," as though the Three Persons
were all veritably compressed into His own
single, glorious Person. And so, as we
have said before, we find Him adopting

48

THE mVISIBLE PRESENCE

as His very own the one absolutely
unique and literal equivalent to Jehovah,
with all its magnificent and awful mystery,
and all its unchangeable indeclinability (as
the nominative case in the original clearly
indicates). "I am Alpha and Omega, the
beginning and the ending, saith the Lord,
which is, and which was, and which is to
come, the Almighty ! " Shall we not,
therefore, here once again, but with deeper
awe than ever before, join in the sublime
and heaven-inspired doxology to our glor-
ious Jehovah-Jesus ? —

" Unto Him that loveth us, and loosed
us from our sins by His blood ; and He
made us to be a kingdom, to be priests
unto His God and Father ; to Him be the
glory and the dominion for ever and ever.
Amen. (R.V.)

There are four brief reflections which
naturally arise from the consideration of
this subject as we conclude. Let us ob-
serve, with all thankfulness : —

(i) How the unity and cohesion of Holy
39

Victory through the nam&

Scripture is mightily confirmed by thus
tracing down the ages the wondrous con-
tinuity and unbroken development of the
name, character, and purpose of Jehovah
right onward until the great consumma-
tion.

(2) How the sacrifice of the Cross, by
the consideration of the absolute and in-
separable unity of the Blessed Trinity, is
triumphantly vindicated from all cruel and
libellous attacks, such as would suggest
that God had dealt unrighteously in suffer-
ing the innocent Christ to become the
sinner's substitute. Whereas we find it
to be incontrovertibly true that " God was
in Christ reconciling the world unto Him-
self."

(3) How the grand primal object, ex^
pressly contemplated by Jehovah of old,
that His people should become a kingdom
of priests to offer spiritual sacrifices, has
at length been triumphantly attained and
manifested in Christ, who " hath made us
kings and priests unto God."

40

THE INVISIBLE PRESENCE

(4) How the unlocked for re-appearance
of the Song of Moses, in conjunction with
that of the Lamb, in the book of Revela-
tion seems henceforth to be invested with
a far profounder significance, and to be
touched with a diviner illumination, and
to breathe an almost indescribable pathos
of conflict and triumph, not of this world
only.

"Therefore, with angels and archangels,
and with all the company of heaven, we
laud and magnify Thy glorious Name,
evermore praising Thee, and saying. Holy,
Holy, Holy, Lord God of Hosts, heaven
and earth are full of Thy glory ; glory be
to Thee, O Lord most High ! "

41

Cap

JEHOVAH-JIREH: OR

THE VICTORY OF

DIVINE SELF-SACRIFICE

*' Behold the Lamb of God that taketh away the
sin of the world. "

^^ And Abraham called the name of that place
Jehovah-jireh : as it is said to this day, In the
mount of the Lord it shall be seeji^ — Gen. xx. 14.

E come now to Jehovah-Jireh,
"the Lord will provide," or
" Jehovah will interpose " ; and, according
to the well-known statement in the Epistle
to the Hebrews, " He that cometh to God
must believe that He is," first of all ; and
after that, " that He is a rewarder of them
that diligently seek Him " ; so in the pre-
vious pages we saw that " He is," that
He is the self-existent One, the eternal
One, and now under this title we shall
42

DIVINE SELF-SACRIFICt.

see that " He is a rewarder of them that
dibgently seek Him "; and that there can
be no question about it.

" In the mount of the Lord it shall be
seen."

I. The walk of faith.

In the opening verse and onwards we
find the walk of faith exemplified in the
character and conduct of the great patri-
arch Abraham. We read in the opening
verse, —

"And it came to pass after these
things, that God did tempt Abraham";
and yet he was not found wanting. "By
faith Abraham, when he was tried, offered
up Isaac."

God tempts to prove, to purify, to en-
rich, and to bless. The devil also tempts;
but he tempts to deprive, to despoil, to
deteriorate, to destroy ; he is the tempter,
and then the accuser of the brethren, after
being first their seducer and deliberate
betrayer.

And when Abraham was thus tried oi,
43

VICTORY THROUGH THE NAME

God, we read in the same verse, God
said unto him, —

" Abraham : and he said, Behold, here
I am."

Mark the immediate answer. If you
are in touch with God, the answer will be
immediate : Here am I. God will always
have something to say to you, and do with
you, if you are in immediate touch with
Him.

" Abraham said. Here am I." Then
He said, —

" Take now thy son, thine only son
Isaac, whom thou lovest, and get thee
into the land of Moriah ; and offer him
there for a burnt offering upon one of the
mountains which I will tell thee of."

It is a walk of faith indeed, — faith all
the way along. He returns an immediate
response, and at once prepares for early
and immediate action.

"And Abraham rose up early in the
morning, and saddled his ass, and took
two of his young men with him, and Isaac
44

DI VINE SELF-SA ORIFICE

his son, and clave the wood for the burnt
offering, and rose up, and went unto the
place of which God had told him."

Immediate obedience ; that is the secret
of blessing, the secret of peace, and the
secret of power.

"And on the third day Abraham lifted
up his eyes, and saw the place afar off."
The third day is ever the time for resur-
rection manifestation.

" And Abraham said unto his young
men, Abide ye here with the ass ; and I
and the lad will go yonder and worship,
and return unto you again."

Worship ! This is the great object and
aim of the Christian life. Worship ! Not
merely on our knees, but in the soul, and
in the life ; the worship of God's holy
will.

Oh ! how empty our churches would
be if it were only they who have surren-
dered their wills that entered them. And
yet this is the only worship that God
recognises, — the worship of a yielded will.
-43

VICTORY THROUGH THE NAM&

" And we will go yonder and worship."
Let the Lord choose the place ; anywhere
He directs.

Are you willing to worship to-day in
this true sense, and anywhere ?

" And Abraham took the wood of the
burnt offering, and laid it upon Isaac his
son ; and he took the fire in his hand,
and a knife ; and they went both of them
together."

And then we catch this solemn word
from Isaac, the first word he seems to
have spoken, —

" And Isaac spake unto Abraham his
father, and said, My father : and he said,
Here am I, my son. And he said, Be-
hold the fire and the wood ; but where is
the lamb for a burnt offering ? "

And here comes in the sublime answer
of the father of the faithful —

" And Abraham said, My son, God will
provide Himself a lamb for a burnt
offering."

God will provide ! Atonement is God'f
46

DIVINE SELF-SACRIFICE

first and great provision for man's need.
All else follows. " Seek first the king-
dom of God and His righteousness, and
all other things shall be added unto you."
This is the provision of God made on Cal-
vary. You feel sure ever after that when
you are going to give up anything, God
will provide. AVhen you have lost every-
thing, God will provide. Jehovah-jireh !
This is the walk of faith. Now let us
look at the passive side of faith, as repre-
sented in the character of Isaac.

II. The work of faith.

What is the work of faith ? " It is God
that worketh in us both to will and to
do."

You will observe in the character of
Isaac what the work of faith was,— half
obedience, and half silence. One of the
sublimest things in the world is this char-
acter of Isaac, — obedience and silence.
He simply obeyed and was silent.

Who was the Isaac of the New Testa-
ment ?

47

VICTORY THROUGH THE NAME

" Ah ! " you say, " the blessed Lord
Jesus, undoubtedly."

Yes ! perfectly true. He is the supreme
Isaac of the New Testament. But there
is one other also who seems to me to
represent Isaac almost to perfection.
Who is that? Lazarus, the brother of
Mary and Martha. And this Gospel-
Isaac rehearses the death in his own per-
son of Calvary, and goes actually through
the figure of death, yea, and all the dread
reality of it. And Lazarus, in going
through the reality of death, rehearses in
his death the coming death of Christ.
The death of Christ was thus rehearsed
by His most intimate friend Lazarus a
week before Christ died. Lazarus died
for Jesus, as it were. He died to exem-
plify what Jesus was about to do, and to
prove beforehand how that He who was
the resurrection and the life in his case
was about to lay down His own life, and
to take it again.

48

DIVINE SELF-SACRIFICE

Beautiful character, this, of Isaac ! No
wonder he was very dearly beloved.

"Take now thy son, thine only son
Isaac, whom thou loves t " {v. 2).

God knew how he loved him. God
knows whom we love and how we love.
It had reached even to Heaven that
Isaac was dearly beloved of Abraham.
God knew what a father's heart the
father of the faithful had.

Notice not only how beloved Isaac was,
but how he loved in return, for obedience
is the test of love.

" And Abraham saddled his ass, and
took two of his young men with him, and
Isaac his son " {v. 3).

There was no question, no hesitation
whatever on Isaac's part ; no wondering
why it was, or what was coming ; he was
ready to go. " He took Isaac." Yes !
he was actually so closely in union, with
his father, so entirely one with him, that
Abraham took Isaac just as he took the
wood.

49 »

VICTORY THROUGH 7 HE NAME

That is what God is looking for. Souls
whom He can take, and use for Himself,
and glorify Himself in them.

O children of God to-day, are we such
yielded souls ?

And then we have already noticed that
at last Isaac speaks. On the third day,
it seems, he addressed his father : — " My
father, everything is ready for the sacri-
fice, but there is no lamb."

" My son, God will provide Himself a
Iamb for a burnt offering." " My son,
God will ! My son, God will ! " That
was enough for Isaac.

He was at once satisfied ; he acquiesced
in the will and word of God perfectly and
freely. God could work in him to will
and to do of His good pleasure.

We see first that the walk of faith is
heroic and prompt ; this is faith's active
side. And we see here that the work of
faith on its passive side is submissive and
silent.

After this answer we have an expression
50

Dl HNE SELF'S A CRIFICE

singularly simple but significant : " So
they went both of them together."

Observe this touching, yet infinite!)
grand word, "they went both of them
together." We have had it already in the
6th verse. " And they went both of them
together " ; together, yet alone, each
pensively wondering.

What exquisite unity of soul, exquisite
identity with the will of God, — "and they
went both of them together." " I and
My Father are One."

This is what God wants, that we should
just go with Him side by side. Enoch
walked with God, "and he was not, for
God took him."

And now we pass on from this most
beautiful instance of surrender, just paus-
ing as we pass to see how Isaac yields
himself up in everything. They came to
the place that God had told him of : —

"And Abraham built an altar there,
and laid the wood in order, and bound
Isaac his son." But where now was the
SI

VICTORY THROUGH THE NAME

lamb ? " And bound Isaac his son, and
laid him upon the altar upon the
wood."

He simply yielded ; strong man that he
was, he at once yielded to his father ; he
did not resist the will of God.

Wonderful picture of the Lord who
died. " Lo, I come to do Thy will, O
God." Anything, Lord, everything that
Thou wiliest ! " Shall He not do what
He will with His own?" "The cup
which My Father hath given Me, shall I
not drink it ? "

"And Abraham stretched forth his hand
and took the knife to slay his son." What !
must the Isaac, the divinely given joy of his
life, be sacrificed to a sudden blind fanati-
cal impulse of faith ? " By faith Abraham
offered up Isaac." But Isaac was God's
own gift ; and must faith give back the
gift at call to the Giver, and depend upon
the inscrutable faithfulness of a Giver who
revokes His gift ? Was this the struggle
here? We know not, we only know the

52

DIVINE SELF-SACRIFICE

naked majesty of the faith put forth by
the father of all the faithful ones.

III. The retvard of faith .

" In the mount of the Lord it shall be
seen." What shall be seen ? Let us
study this momentous crisis carefully.

(i) The waiting God shall be seen in
the mount. "The angel of the Lord
called unto him, Abraham, Abraham, and
he said. Here am I." Just at the precise
moment, just at the exact instant, God
appears and interposes. The Lord will
provide ! Marvellous ! Every time I
read it I am simply amazed at the infinite
spirit of sacrifice on the part of both father
and son. But still more am I amazed at
the unspeakable awfulness of the Divine
sacrifice on Calvary, which seems to burn
up with its intensity the tragic human
story. What unquenchable awe still rests
on that height of Moriah, that hill of
sacrifice ! and shall we not always find
the hill of sacrifice to be the hill of Divine
interposition, with a waiting God on the
5.^

VICTORY THROUGH THE NAME

summit? Go up fearlessly, yea, rise early
and go ; go up and worship, and you shall
find God is ever waiting to meet you
there. " Therefore doth the Lord wait
that He may be gracious ! "

(2) Again, " in the mount of the Lord
it shall be seen" — what shall be seen?
The sacredness of the surrendered life shall
be seen. "And he said. Lay not thine
hand upon the lad, neither do thou any-
thing unto him; for now I know that
thou fearest God, seeing thou hast not
withheld thy son, thine only son, from
Me." Observe the sacredness in God's
sight, yea, the absolute sacredness of the
surrendered life of God's child. This is
a remarkable point. The moment you
yield yourself to the Lord you become
His entirely. Isaac seems no longer to
belong to Abraham,' but to God. " Lay
not thine hand upon the lad, Abraham;
you have given him to Me, and I have
received him of you ; I accept the sacred-
ness of the trust. Who shall touch the
54

DIVINE SELF-SACRIFICE

Lord's anointed ? He is the very apple
of Mine eye ; I, the Lord, do keep it; lest
any hurt it, I will keep it night and day.
Lay not thine hand upon the lad — thou
art Mine, saith the Lord." It reminds us
of the woman who brake the alabaster
box on His feet; when the disciples
grudged the waste — " Let her alone," said
the indignant Master ; she belongs to Me !
God will always interpose on your behalf
if you are wholly yielded to Him. You
need not be afraid, nor be for ever vindi-
cating yourself, that poor precious self;
leave it to God ; " I will vindicate, saith
the Lard." " Who shall lay anything to
the charge of God's elect? It is God
that justifieth ! "

We know that Isaac's name means
" laughter, or joy," for the derisive smile of
once dubious increduUty was lost in the
sunshine of that happy child. He was
the joy of the father's heart, the light of
his eyes ; yet God calls back the treasure
He Himself had given. The Divine

VICTORY THROUGH THE NAME

promise was lodged in him alone ; yet he
must now give up the promise into the
hands of the Promiser, he must resign
the gracious gift to the Source of all grace,
and exchange Divine faith for Divine
faithfulness. Instead of for ever poring
over our own faith, a far too common sort
of introspection, let us dwell deeper
on His own guaranteed faithfulness.
Observe, O ye believing fathers dnd
mothers, what a splendid offering it was,
and how much Jehovah thought of it :
"Now I know that thou fearest, seeing
thou hast not withheld thy dearest."
This is the victory that overcometh the
world of sense and sight, even our faith.
This is the secret of all want of success in
the spiritual life, — we withhold from God,
and force Him to withhold from us.
"Give, and it shall be given unto you,
good measure and running over shall God
give into your bosoms ! " Withhold the
son, or withhold the sin, and you force
God to withhold the peace and the power.
56

DIVINE SELF-SACRIFICE

Keep back part of the price, and you
shut out all the shining of the Presence,
and the luxury of the love of the Unseen.
Spare the darling sin, and you lacerate
your own soul.

" In the mount of the Lord it shall be
seen." What shall be seen ? The great
principle of substitution shall be seen.

(3) The glorious substihction by Divine
provision, whether it be the ram of
Moriah or the Lamb of Calvary, or Jesus
for Barabbas. " And Abraham lifted up
his eyes, and looked, and behold, behind
him a ram caught in a thicket by his
horns : and Abraham went and took the
ram, and offered him up in the stead of
his son."

How healing is this blessed doctrine of
substitution to the soul that can offer
nothing ! Troubled soul, there is nothing
to offer ; " the Lord will provide ; my
son, God will provide Himself a lamb for
a burnt offering ! " God's son in the
stead of man's son ! The Son of the
57

VICTORY THROUGH THE NAME

Father in the stead of Barabbas, " a son of
a father ! " Did Barabbas repent as he
gazed on his Substitute impaled in his
stead ? Why was there no John Baptist
at the foot of the Cross proclaiming at
the sixth hour — " Behold the Lamb of
God, that taketh away the sin of the
tvorld"? The Egyptian darkness that
followed would have been Nature's awful
commentary. But you say substitution
is such an unnatural doctrine. It is just
the reverse ; it is a part of the common
law of nature everywhere. Nearly every
creature is ready to sacrifice itself for its
young by a universal instinct. In the
hedgerow the parent bird defends with
herself her menaced fledgeling; in the
cornfield the skylark, to shelter its brood,
attracts attention to itself. The mighty
mother-instinct of substitution prevails in
hedgerow and furrow, in field and forest,
and in every human home ; why not upon
the throne of the Eternal ? Commerce is
made possible by this inevitable law : the
S8

DIVINE SELF-SACRIFICE

mariner and the miner risk their Hves foi
others' welfare ; the soldier's glory is to
die for his fatherland. Shall God alone
be denied the glory of self-sacrifice, the
nobility of substitution? Nay, in the
midst of the Throne behold there is " a
Lamb as it had been slain 1 "

" O Saviour, grudging Thee the bitter bliss
Of all men's w oe, men rob Thee of Thy Cross —
That landing place of love for shipwrecked souls,
That shore whence God launched forth alone v/ith

sin,
And plunged it in the deep of His own blood ! "

" And Abraham lifted up his eyes and
looked, and behold, behind him a ram
canght in a thicket by his horns." This
is God's unexpected provision on the dark
mountain top.

(4) " In the mount of the Lord it shall
be seen." What shall be seen? The
reckofiiftg of faith.

"Accounting, or reckoning, that God
was able to raise him up even from the
dead ; from whence also He received him
59

VICTORY THROUGH THE NAME

in a figure." " In the mount " of Calvary
reckon yourself to have died verily with
Christ for your sins ; this is to appropriate
the atonement by faith. Resurrection life
is the receiving of yourself back again
from the dead in a figure. So that " it is
no longer I that live, but Christ that liveth
in me " ; this is to be no figure, but a daily
Divine experience. " The one true way to
lose self is to love"—" I live no longer unto
myself, but unto Him that loved me, and
gave Himself for me." This blessed
substitution is at the basis of everything
we see. Conversion is the appropriation
by faith of the Substitute for sin.
Resurrection life is the appropriation by
faith of the Substitute for self. Conse-
crated service is the appropriation by faith
of the Holy Spirit as the Substitute for
self-effort. " I laboured more abundantly
than they all, yet not I, but the grace of
God that was with ;;/^." It is God the
Holy Ghost " who worketh in you both to
will and to do."

60

DIVINE SELF-SACRIFICE

The true believer's life consists in thus
saying, " Yet not I," three times— in
salvation, in sanctification, in service.

It is on Calvary we see One caught
in the dark, tangled thicket of thorny
human sins and human sorrows, fast
bound to the altar of the cross, torn and
bleeding, yet held there by the two
irresistible cords of intense devotion to
God and man ; and as we gaze upon
Him, there imprisoned of His own free
will, we hear Him exclaim : " No man
taketh it from Me ; I lay down My life
of Myself," and we cannot but repeat
with awe from one to another : " Behold
the Lamb of God, that taketh away the
sin of the world ! My son, my brother,
God has indeed provided Himself a
Lamb ! " Jehovah-Jireh ! In the mount
of the Lord it is seen ! " And Abraham
called the name of that place Jehovah-
Jireh." What, the very place of sacrifice
becomes the meeting-place with God, the
workshop of the Almighty, a platform
6i

VICTORY THROUGH THE NAME

extemporized for Jehovah's wonder-works;
the place where the Lord demands is the
place where the Lord provides ; " as it is
said to this day, in the mount of the
Lord it shall be seen." Yes, as it is said
to this day ; Calvary is still the theme in
men's mouths. The world cannot stop
talking about it, though they tremble at
it. Philosophers and infidels, whilst they
are repudiating it, are writing volumes
about it ; they cannot forget it. They
date their letters from it, and deny it on
the same sheet. The saints love it, and
cling to it ; they live on it, and live by it ;
they die for it, and they die on it. The
sinner steeped in sin, and drunk with the
Circean cup of revelry and shame, calls
for it as the one cooling draught of Hfe
and peace, which, if he do but taste with
dying lips, shall heal the fatal poison in
his veins, and let him die in hope. Yes,
as it is said unto this day, " In the mount
of the Lord it is seen." Behold the
Lamb, always Behold ! for you cannot
62

DIVINE SELF-SACRIFICE

see it except by faith. You cannot believe
it ; it is too incredible, save as you gaze
upon it with the eye of faith.

(5) " In the mount of the Lord it shall
be seen." What shall be seen? Some-
thing more, the vision of the Second
Voice. "And the Angel of the Lord
called unto Abraham out of heaven the
second time " {v. 15). This is the second
voice so many of us miss. We hear the
call to sacrifice, we are forced to hear it,
and we reluctantly attend ; but we are
mostly too impatient to wait for the
second voice, the voice of blessing which
follows that of demand and sacrifice.
How many of us have been in darkest
straits and deepest depths of sorrow and
suffering and yet have never heard, never
listened to hear, the Second Voice. We
never knew or recognised that the Lord
was calling to us out of heaven the
second time. How emphatically it is
written, " And the Angel of the Lord
called unto Abraham out of heaven the
63

VICTORY THROUGH THE NAME

second time." " Yea, twice have I heard
the sajne, that power belongeth unto
God." So saith the Psalmist of old, and
that which he heard of God's power twice
is precisely what we are always needing
to hear. The call to sacrifice we hear,
but the call to blessing behind it we
fail to hear. Oh, for faith behind the
brimming tear ! Oh, for faith to hear
behind the message of God's inevitable
will the footsteps of His mercy hastening
to our side ! " Behind a frowning provi-
dence He hides a smiling face," said one
who knew what he was saying, and of
Whom he was speaking. How sweetly
the second call falls on ears full of sounds
of sacrifice and awe. How many thou-
sands and ten thousands of Christians
have found release through atonement
from the terrors of judgment, but have
never waited to receive the sweet promises
of grace and purity and power ! How
many thousands, having got by dint of
prayer, as they believe, all they need to
64

DIVINE SELF-SACRIFICE

keep body and soul together, hurry away
from the throne and the golden sceptre
outstretched to them, never dreaming of
" the royal bounty " their King is longing
to bestow. Satisfied to be saved and
caring for nothing more — is not this the
condition of half the Christian Church ? "
Oh, for hunger for the Second Voice, and
its glorious vision !

(6) " In the mount of the Lord it shall
be seen." What shall be seen? The
irresistible clai?n upon God of full sur
render. "By Myself have I sworn,
saith the Lord ; for. because thou hast
done this thing, and hast not withheld
thy son, thine only son from Me, that in
blessing I will bless thee." Thou hast
not withheld, therefore I cannot with-
hold; such is the Divine principle of
action between God and His own children.
Presume upon My goodness and gene-
rosity, and with contrite prayer you can
ask what you will, and it shall be done
unto you. Because thou hast not
6s «

VICTORY THROUGH THE NAME

grudged Me anything I asked, I will
give ihee all without asking. Such is
the irresistible effect of full surrender
upon the great Jehovah. First it was,
" now I know that thou fearest God,
because thou hast not withheld thine
only son " ; now it is, not only do I know
about thee, but thou shalt know about
Me, that I am able and longing to do
exceeding abundantly above all ye ask or
think ! O happy repetition of Divine
words, but O glorious addition, O blessed
indulgence of Divine love ! Thou hast
not withheld, I cannot restrain ! — until
at last the child has indeed caught the
spirit of the Father : " the love of Christ
constraineth me to keep back nothing, —
yea, let Him take all, for My Beloved is
ISTine, and I am His ! "

(7) " In the mount of the Lord it shall
be seen." What shall be seen? The
outburst of Divifie blessing. " In blessing
I will bless thee, and in multiplying
I will multiply thy seed as the star§
66

Dl VINE SELF-SA CRIFICE

of the heaven, and as the sand which
is upon the seashore ; and thy seed shall
possess the gate of his enemies ; and in
thy seed shall all the nations of the earth
be blessed; because thou hast obeyed
My voice" (&. 17-18). What an out-
burst of blessing ! Mark the reiterated
^' I wills " — I will bless thee, I will multiply
thee. Mark the reiterated " shall s " — thy
seed shall, all nations shall.

Plenty, power, perpetuity, these are the
guaranteed blessings to a fully surrendered
soul. Plenty and fruitfulness; not a family,
but a firmament, of starlike souls, shall
be thine ! Power over the enemy, yea,
power over all the power of the enemy,
shall be thine ! Perpetuity, behold, I
will bless thee, and thou shalt be a bless-
ing. Thy children shall rise up and call
thee blessed ; they that turn many to
righteousness shall shine as the stars, and
in the midst of their own firmament of
stars, for ever and ever !

And now why all this blessed imre-

VICTORY THROUGH THE NAME

strained Divine extravagance of love, we
may well ask. Why ? " Because thou
hast obeyed My voice." Is that really all ?
Let us read it over again — "because thou
hast obeyed My voice." O blessed path
of obedience ! O Divine recompence of
surrender ! See what the Divine crucible
yields at last, the cruel, burning crucible
that seemed to consume all ! The moun-
tain of sacrifice is the mountain of supply.
Springs of blessing break out on Moriah's
mountain-top. A single step — and Cal-
vary turns into Pentecost ; the place of
bereavement or cutting off is the place
of enduement or putting on ! The place
of every thought brought into captivity
is the place of fullest emancipation and
boundless possession ! The place of the
fire and the knife is the place of a sweeter,
tenderer knowledge of God, and of deeper
draughts of the fountain of life !

*' In the mount of the Lord it shall be
seen." The tabernacle was according to
the pattera shown in the mount. And
6&

DIVINE 3ELF-SACRIFICM

was not Calvary according to the pattern
shown in the mount ? And is not Pente-
cost, too, according to the pattern shown
in the mount? Is not, I say, death in
sohtude the source of Hfe before the
world ?

IV. The Rest of Faith. "So Abraham
returned unto his young men, and they
rose up and went together to Beersheba ;
and Abraham dwelt at Beersheba" {v. 19).
What a contrast the return journey was
to the going forth ! What a contrast
between " they went both of them to-
gether," with its infinite pathos, and this
"they rose up and went together to
Beersheba " ! After the visions and the
voices and the sacrifice, it is well indeed
to make our home by the Well of the
Oath. What a place of rest and revival
to dwell in, by the Well of the Oath !

This should be the address of every
believer, the Well of the Oath. After
you have climbed the Hill of Consecra-
tion, and yielded yourself afresh to the
69

Victory through the name

Lord, and He has discovered to you the
secrets of the kingdom, go straightway
and dwell contentedly by the Well of the
Oath. The spring of blessing is assured
and inexhaustible as the Lord Himself
who is yours, and who shall be in you "a
well of water springing up unto everlast-
ing life." But what does Beersheba, this
Well of the Oath," represent to us to-day?
The Well of the Oath is none other than
the Well of the Everlasting Word, that
Word that liveth and abideth for ever.
Therefore with joy let us draw water out
of the wells of salvation !

** Thus all anointed souls ai^e crowned
By kneeling first, and being bound
By altar of the Lamb once slain
In fetters fetterless to reign."

70

CJEHOVAH-ROPHl
Rp 2 OR THE VICTORY OF

^ DIVINE ASSIMILATION

^'- 1 am crucified with Christ:'— Qkl. ii. 20.

** For I am the Lord that healeth theey Or as
it is in the Hebrew— J ehovah-Rophi. — ExoD.
XV. 26.

WE have already contemplated the
great name of Jehovah in its first
elemental grandeur ; and then we dwelt
upon the Divine sympathy of Jehovah-
Jireh, who manifests Himself as a God
who interposes and who provides.

We now advance still further, and are
taught this lesson, that God is Jehovah-
Rophi, "I am the Lord that healeth thee."
What a blessed word to be revealed to
the fallen race ! What a blessed relation-
ship between the thrice holy God and
71

VICTORY THROUGH THE NAMk

His poor erring creatures ! " I am the
Lord that healeth thee !"

You must have observed in the history
of Israel being brought out of Egypt a
growth in the principles of spiritual life.

First we have this principle brought
out, as the blood was sprinkled on the
doorposts in Egypt according to the com-
mandment of God : " When I see the
blood I will pass over it." God sees the
blood of atonement, and it is enough.

And then we come to a further point.

When they reached the Red Sea, the
commandment went forth : " Stand still,
and see the salvation of the Lord." Israel
now sees. Believe that God sees, comes
first; and then, Israel shall see, comes
next. " Stand still, and see the salvation
of the Lord."

And now in this chapter, immediately
after the crossing of the Red Sea, im-
mediately after a very short journey in
the wilderness, we are brought to this
further stage, believe to see.
72

blVINE ASSIMILATION

First, as to the Blood of Atonement,
we are to believe that God sees, and to
rest upon that.

Then, when it comes, the Church must
see to the resurrection lite and the way
right through the Red Sea.

And, thirdly, there is this further great
lesson forced upon us who belong to the
Israel of God.

Believe to see ! If difficulties arise,
believe to see. If trials come, believe to
see. If bitterness occur, believe to see.

You must also have observed, surely,
that in this wonderful passage describing
Israel's journey out of Egypt through the
wilderness, there are three characters that
arrest our attention.

First, there is the character of God
Himself, the great Jehovah, boundless in
compassion, and infinite in resources, so
that however often God and His people
seem to be driven into a corner, there is
always a way out, always some means of
escape.

73

VICTORY THROUGH THE NAME

Secondly: we cannot but all have
noticed, surely, how that Israel is an
example of the up and down life of many
in the Christian Church to-day ; that
though they are ever under God's pro-
tection, ever under His mercy, yet that
they are for ever murmuring, and for ever
rebelling against Him.

Then there is a third life presented to
us alongside of these two. Whose is
that life ? It is the life of Moses.

Marvellous life ! A life sustained, in-
spired, devoted, and undaunted. A man
who was unmistakeably a man, and yet
who was in constant and lowly com-
munion with God. A man who, though
he belonged to Israel and was a pure
Israelite, yet lived above the up and
down life of Israel, because he lived in
constant, unbroken communion with his
God. Moses had six hundred thousand
people upon him, no light task indeed ;
and yet only once was he hasty and im-
petuous, though for that once he was de-
74

Dl VINE ASSIMILA TION

barred from entering the promised
land.

Perhaps in all Holy Scripture there is
not such another human character.

You must have noticed also, that after
salvation through the blood of atonement
sprinkled on the doorposts, and after the
crossing of the Red Sea, which indicated
the separation of God's people unto Him-
self; after, I say, the salvation, and the
separation, then there followed the song
— the song of triumph, led by Miriam, as
we read in this chapter, —

"Sing ye to the Lord, for He hath
triumphed gloriously; the horse and his
rider hath He thrown into the sea."

And now, immediately following the tri-
umph, comes the bitterness of disappoint
ment. That is where we are now (23rd
verse) —

"So Moses brought Israel from the
Red Sea; and they went out into the
wilderness of Shur : and they went three
75

P-ICTORY THROUGH THB NAMM

days in the wilderness, and found no
water."

I. The Curse. — " And when they came
to Marah, they could not drink of the
waters of Marah, for they were bitter : there-
fore the name of it was called Marah."
Is this, then, all they have got by the
three days' march in the wilderness which
God demanded from Pharaoh ?

Notice, in passing, how this very name
Marah is continually associated with the
Lord Jesus. Mary is the very same word,
Mary was the mother of Jesus ; bitterness
brings forth sweetness and deliverance.
Mary, too, was that very one out of whom
the Lord cast the seven devils, rescuing
her from the power of evil; Marys, we
find, are continually about Him, from the
cradle to the cross.

And so we read in the 2 3rd' verse, —

" And when they came to Marah, they
could not drink of the waters of Marah,
for they were bitter ; therefore the name
of it was called Marah."
76

DIVINE ASSIMILATION

Observe, then, that as soon as we have
entered into and realized salvation, and
separation, and the song of triumph, then
come the suffering and the testing at
Marah. We meet the curse and its con-
sequences everywhere. As soon as a
Christian is redeemed, and he knows it ;
as soon as he is separated, and he means
it ; as soon as his lips are unsealed, and
he sings the thanksgiving song of the
Lamb ; then he is tried, he is proved, he
is tested ; Marah comes, and he meets
the curse. The bitterness of every spring
upon earth is the result of the curse, the
fall of man and the sorrow which followed
it ; everything that spoils this fair world is
the result of the curse ; the curse is the
result of the fall, and the fall is the result
of man's own sin. We are responsible for
all the sadness, and sorrow, and sin. It
is a beautiful world in itself, but oh ! how
marred, how spoiled, how contaminated !
As soon, then, as we are thus in reality
saved, separated, and brinmiing over with

n

VICTORY THROUGH THE NAME

the song of thanksgiving and triumph, we
are brought, as God's Church, not only
to face the curse, but to undo the curse
wherever we go. Henceforth it is ours
to change disappointment into success,
bitterness into sweetness; this is the
great duty and privilege of the Christian
Church ; and henceforth, whether we ap-
prove of the methods of foreign missions
or not, we are bound to approve of this—
that all savagery, and ignorance, and sin,
and barbarism at home or abroad shall be
arrested by every means in our power.
You have been saved, you are one of
God's own children, and triumph in that
wonderful victory of the Lamb, then you
must immediately begin at your door, or,
it may be, go forth afar, and undo the
curse as far as in you lies, turning every-
where some spring of bitterness into a
spring of sweetness and joy.

Now we pass on, and we read in the
following verse, —

"And the people murmured against
2S

DIVINE ASSIMILATION

Moses." They were always murmuring
This is the beginning of it. When Moses
tried to help them, they murmured, and
they go on with it right through the wil-
derness. We can all murmur, I suppose,
if we cannot do anything else. But God
would teach us here how to be delivered
from murmuring.

"And they murmured against Moses,
saying, What shall we drink ? "

And so it was that he cried unto the
Lord, and thus we come to the cure.

II. The Cure. — Now that we have
glanced at the curse for a moment, we will
look at the cure. The cure is of two parts.

The first part is prayer. " And he cried
unto the Lord."

Think of the six hundred thousand
people murmuring against their solitary
leader, their devoted, dauntless leader.
" What shall we drink ? " Moses, it is all
your fault that we have nothing to drink.
" And he cried unto the Lord." What a
power there is in prayer ! What a power

VICTORY THROUGH THE NAME

in just going at once to the Lord ! " He
cried unto the Lord." And the answer
IS immediate and explicit. Read the other
portion of the cure :

"And the Lord shewed him a tree,
which, when he had cast into the waters,
the waters were made sweet." That tree
was a type of the Bitter Tree of Calvary.

This is the other portion of it : " The
Lord shewed him a tree." It comes to
this, that when we are brought to Marah,
into difficulty, and trial, and pain, it is a
blessed opportunity for God to discover
to us some new secret of the kingdom.

What will not a great artist do to be-
come great in his art? What a life of
drudgery he lives for it ! What does not
a great man of science bear ? He endures
years and years of scorn often, and re-
proach upon reproach. But at last he
finds the secret. " I have found it ! I
have found it ! The secret is discovered ! "
and it is worth all.

So it is with the child of God. When
80

DIVINE ASSIMILATION

he comes to his Marah, his place of trial,
the Lord is wailing to discover to him
some secret of the kingdom, some divine
secret, which shall in answer to his prayer
enable him by grace to change the bitter
into sweet.

The Jews think that this was a bitter
tree itself which changed the bitterness
into sweet, on the principle of like healing
like. What does it represent to us ? To
the Christian it represents this, tke Cross
of Christ infused into the daily life .• " I am
crucified with Christ " ! God's recipe for
one under a thorn in the flesh, or any
other kind of suffering, or in face of any
obstacle or oppression, or anything that
brings us very low and to our knees, is,
" My grace is sutBcient for thee." This
is the Divine secret, "My grace is sufficient
for thee." That is the wood cast into the
spring of bitterness, that is the secret of
God by which we shall overcome. What
a blessed power there is in thus following
the example of the apostle,. " I will glory
ai ir

VICTORY THROUGH THE NAME

in my infirmities." A thorn in the flesh
is just a single splinter of the cross left in
us to remind us that we are crucified with
Christ.

We have been complaining of feeling
our circumstances utterly insurmountable,
" My grace is sufficient for thee." I will
glory henceforth in my infirmities, that
the power of Christ may descend or rest
upon me.

Nay ! this wonderful wood of the tree
shows us this also, that in cases of sorrow
and bereavement, in cases of depression
and darkness, God has a wonderful elixir,
a marvellous tincture, a few drops of which
can turn bitterness into sweetness. That
tincture is the will of God. So it was with
those in the Acts of the Apostles, of
whom we read that when they could not
prevail in dissuading Paul from going to
Rome and facing all the dangers of mar-
tyrdom, they ceased, and said, " The will
of the Lord be done."

What a power it was, as we have air
82

DIVINE ASSIMILATION

ready seen in the case of St. Paul — "The
will of the Lord be done." He could
even rejoice in the thorn in the flesh. It
was not taken away, but he at length
could glory in it. So it was with the
blessed Master in the garden of Geth-
semane : " Not My will, but Thine be
done," He cried. "The cup which My
Father hath given Me, shall I not drink
it?"

What a change ! A few drops of this
Divine tincture changes everything, and
the very sorrow we feel at this moment,
and the bereavement, and the pain, and
the separation, can all be healed to-day
by a few drops of the cordial of His divine
will. Take but as thine own the will of
God, that pure and perfect will of God,
and it is enough.

But also this wood shows us something
still further.

We have not only thorns in the flesh,
we have not only sorrows and bereave-
ments, but we have something still deeper,

VICTORY THROUGH THE NAME

we have perpetually to meet the disease of
sin. What can be done ? It impregnates
the life, it mars the speech, it causes us
to yield to temptation ; everything is
ruined by this deadly influence, this fatal
infection. What shall stop it ? Prayer and
the Cross. Bitter fountains of temper or
tongue, of pride or passion, all may be
cured by the cross of Jesus cast into
the impure spring of human nature. The
root of bitterness may be neutralised by
the blessed " Root out of a dry ground,"
if only applied in faith and honesty.
The healing tree was there waiting be-
side the waters of death. With the
preaching of the Cross of atonement there
must be also the preaching of the Cross
of assimilation^ that is, co-crucifixion with
Christ.

"For the preaching of the Cross of Christ
is to the Jew a stumbHng-block, and to
the Greek foolishness ; but to us who are
saved it is the power of God unto salva-
tion " from sin as well as from its penalties.

DIVINE ASSIMILATION

Marvellous deliverance ! The Cross of
Christ is that which changes the bitter-
ness of this world of sin into the sweet-
ness of Gospel peace and joy, purity and
power. The Cross of Christ becomes
assimilated with the life.

But I must pass on. And we immedi-
ately come upon, in the same verse, the
way to ensure this perpetual sweetness in
life.

III. The conditional Covenant between
God and us is read over to us, as it were,
by the well of bitterness.

" If thou wilt diligently hearken to the
voice of the Lord thy God, and wilt do
that which is right in His sight, and will
give ear to His commandments, and keep
all His statutes, I will put none of these
diseases upon thee, which I brought upon
the Egyptians : for I am the Lord that
healeth thee."

The covenant is conditional : that is
the next thing to be remembered. Jt
is a conditional covenant,— "If thou wilt
S5

Victory through the name

. . I will . . . because I am."
God distinctly tells them what He expects
of them, and then what they may expect
of Him. It is a Divine compact. The
promise is definitely expressed on God's
part ' the warning is as definitely con-
veyed on the other hand, or rebellious
Israel shall fare as rebellious Egypt.

It is a solemn thing, this conditional
covenant revealed by the spring of Marah.
How often it has been repeated in our
own case since !

Beloved, if you find that you are not
submitting to God's conditions, you had
better look to it ; you are at the spring
of Marah over again ; see to it that you
do your part in the conditional covenant ;
hearken to His voice, keep His will and
commandment, and then the Lord will
deliver you according to His word.

We know what to expect, then, of God,

that He will bless us, and keep us, and

preserve us, if we keep close to Him.

We know what to expect also if we do

86

DIVINE ASSIMILATION

not — difficulty, sickness, and trial. And
remember, moreover, that at the same
place where the Lord has made with us
the new covenant— the conditional cove-
nant— He at the same time has also given
a new revelation of Himself.

IV. The nezu Revelation.

He reveals Himself in some new light.
First we saw Him as Jehovah, the self-
existent One, who is all-sufficient. Then,
secondly, as Jehovah-Jireh, the Lord who
will provide and interpose. Now He is,
thirdly, Jehovah-Rophi, I am the Lord
that healeth thee. It is a new revelation
of the Lord.

And there are many souls, I trust, who
have thus been brought through deep
waters, and who have known vv'hat it is to
have a new revelation of the Lord by the
spring of Marah, where the Lord has
revealed Himself under a new name, a
deeper and more intimate name, — " I am
the Lord that healeth thee" The bitter
fountain God here declares to be our-
87

P^ICTORY THROUGH THE NAME

selves — He seems to address us individu-
ally, " O man, O thou human spring of
bitterness, I made thee to be a fountain
of life-giving water ; but, alas ! the water
is corrupt, the fountain-head is poisoned."

The blessed Lord Jesus finds us hope-
lessly tainted. His name in Greek is
exactly rendered by the English " Healer."
That is His true name, Jesus, the Healer, —
" I am the Lord that healeth thee ! *' And
so when we come to read His history in
the Gospels, we find His three years of
public ministry were just a three years'
course of practical healing both of soul
and body. " I will come and heal him."
" He went about healing all those that
were oppressed of the devil." How liter-
ally true, "He sent forth His Word and
healed them."

Notice, then, that we have revealed in
this very name just this — that each one
of us is a spring of bitterness, v/hich,
unless the Healer shall change, will be
sallless. Oh, how many people are springs
8,S

DIVINE ASSIMILATION

of bitterness in their homes, in their
families, — a spring of bitterness always
bubbHng up ! "I am the Lord that
healeth thee." You can be healed,
temper, passion, pride, envy, and all — "I
am the Lord that healeth theeT Thou
art a spring of bitterness, a root of bitter-
ness, I am come to heal thee !

Oh, how blessed is such a discovery !
yea, it is blessed to discover our own
bitterness itself; for if so, the Lord will
put forth His power and show us that —
" I am the Lord that healeth thee."

I ask you, beloved, will you not spend
a part of this very day in gaining such self-
knowledge, until you cry out for this Divine
transmutation for yourself. Will you not
go straight to God and say, "Lord, if Thou
art the Lord that healeth, heal me, heal
me, I entreat Thee, to-day." Moses is a
case in point. He healed Moses. Moses
was once so passionate that he smote an
Egyptian, because he thought it was to
the glory of God. As to the healing of the
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VICTORY THROUGH THE NAME

body, St. James has clearly laid down the
place of believing prayer in all matters of
healing, its unique place and power. At
Marah, manifestly, means were used. But
God can dispense with means if He sees
fit, as at Cana's miracle. His will is
supreme here as elsewhere. Thus the
fiery Moses soon afterwards became the
meekest man upon earth — "I am the
Lord that healeth thee."

Doubtless we all are passionate when
anything really touches us keenly ; un-
happily it is no monopoly of any man's,
though some men do take the monopoly
of it to themselves. " I am the Lord
that healeth thee."

We are all failures in some direction or
other ;. but, " I am the Lord that healeth
thee." He will heal us now if we permit
Him.

I must pass on, and close.

V. The cojumg Compensation.

We now come to the blessed compen-

90

DIVINE ASSIMILATION

sation, the astonishing and abounding
compensation of grace {v. 27).

" And they came to Elim, where there
were twelve wells of water, and threescore
and ten palm trees : and they encamped
there by the waters."

First of all we read, after passing
through the Red Sea, they spent three
days in the wilderness, and had no water ;
and, when they had found water, it was
bitter water. How strange it seems !
But now, when they have triumphed over
disappointment by the grace of the Lord,
they come not only to sweet water, but
they come to Elim, where there were
twelve wells of water — a well a tribe.
Thus they passed from no water to bitter
water, and from bitter water to abundance
of water.

This is God's way of gradual compensa-
tion. Oh ! strive on, child of God ; hold
on, beloved, in the Name of the Lord ;
conquer in His power ; and, through His
blessed Spirit, do not give way ; quit you
91

VICTORY THROUGH THE NAME

like men, —

"Nor bate one jot of hope or heart,"
But steer right onward,"

as the poet Milton says of his blindness.

Then go down to Elim where there are
twelve wells of water— water abounding,
life abounding: "I am come that ye
might have life, and have it more abun-
dantly."

There you shall find also a blessed
screen of shade and tender shelter in the
Lord's near Presence overshadowing you
and yours. The twelve wells of Elim, and
three score and ten — seventy— palm trees,
represented, it may be, the Apostles and
those who went forth for the Master's
work ; the seventy disciples, as well as the
seventy elders with Moses in the Mount.

" And they encamped there by the
waters." Surely it was a good place. I
propose that we encamp there to-day in
the same blessed spirit of unity with the
brethren, — by Elim, where there are
twelve wells of water and the seventy palm

«)3

DIVINE ASSIMILATION

trees, and that we rest under the shade
with hearty thanksgiving and gratitude.
Let us eat and drink there the provided
meal, eat and drink to be strengthened
for the journey of hfe, for the work of
the Lord, " for the journey is too great
for thee." Here is the Divine way to
encamp ;

" I sat down " — a dehberate act at a
given time — "under His shadow with
great dehght " — a definite experience of
conscious communion, — " and His fruit
was sweet to my taste " — a dehcious satis-
faction is reaUzed in the perfect will of
God. -

Qi3

(Tbdsttans Mvl^eb into
Seven Classes.

THERE are seven classes of Chris-
tians in the professing Christian
Church. And these represent seven
stages of belief not unfrequently realized
in the experience of many. It will be
profitable to consider briefly these various
kinds of Christians, and their various
classes, so that we may examine ourselves,
and ascertain to which class we belong ,
and still further ascertain, if possible, how
we may advance from one class into
the other.

First of all there are : —

(i) Nazareth Christians^
if I may so call them
^4

CHRISTIANS DIVIDED

These are they who believe in Christ as
a perfect example of humanity, the soli-
tary flower of the whole human race;
though at the same time they freely deny
His divinity, and discard His claims to
the supernatural ; they repudiate and dis-
count His teaching, as too often being
affected by ignorance or personal bias or
ambition ; and yet in the midst of all this
they look upon Him as the ideal One,
the solitary human Exemplar, the world's
one moral mirror, they attempt to follow
Him as far as may be, and uphold His
character in a measure, and defend Him
in their own various ways.

And yet this blessed Lord Jesus, whom
they look upon as the ideal Man merely,
was for ever arrogating to Himself every
attribute conceivable of Godhead; He
was for ever declaring of Himself that He
was, and He only, the source, spring, and
fountain of Divine law and all other
truth :

" For this cause was I born, and to
96

INTO SEVEN CLASSES

this end came I into the world, that I
should bear witness to the truth."

And yet, in spite of this, your Nazareth
Christian discards half His teaching as
mythical, and uttered under the influence
of personal feeling or patriotic ambition.

This is the first class of Christians, if
we may call them such.

The second class are of a very different
stamp.

(2) Calvary Christians.

These go a whole stage further. The
first class of so-called Christians believe
in Christ as the Example and Teacher,
though at the same time they declare that
His example is imperfect, and His teach-
ing is not wholly to be trusted.

Calvary Christians are they who be-
lieve in the pardon and peace which God
gives through the atonement on the Cross
of Calvary.

They are Christians who are exceed-
ingly careful to be clear that the blood
of Jesus Christ has blotted out all their
97 G

CHRISTIANS DIVIDED

transgressions. They believe that through
the offering of Jesus Christ on the cross
they need not die eternally, they need
not suffer the penalty of sin, because it
has been endured in the person of Jesus
as their Substitute.

They hold, therefore, that God hath
already granted to those that believe
pardon, free pardon ; and that which
follows immediately out of pardon —
peace, perfect peace, through the blood of
Jesus Christ.

Oh ! blessed are these Calvary Chris-
tians who thus know what it is to have
sin blotted out and sin forgiven, and who
now "go in peace," as the blessed Master
Himself has commanded them to do.

You may ask, How may we pass from
being a Nazareth Christian to a Calvary
Christian ? Let me put it in one word.
Fasten your whole attention upon the
problem of sin, and its absolute irremedi-
ableness, save through a Saviour from
above. And if you have any real moral
98

INTO SEVEN CLASSES

power or perception, you will be bound to
pass from the first stage of believing in
the ideal Christ to believing in a Christ
who is indeed the ideal Man and Exem-
plar, but who died that He might raise
His followers to His own moral position,
and free them from the curse of sin, and
from the penalties of God's holy law.

There is a third class. These are

(3) Easter Christians^ or Resurrection
Christians.

They go further. They beheve, in-
deed, that Christ is the ideal Man;
they believe, indeed, that in His offer-
ing on the Cross there is complete par-
don and peace. But they go further, and
they believe that He is also risen — risen
from the dead to be an assurance to His
people of deliverance from all fear, bond-
age, impotence, failure, and defeat.

Easter Christians ! Would that they
were more plentiful.

So many Christians are quite content
to stay at the cross, and if they can only
99

CHRISTIANS DIVIDED

believe that the blood of Jesus hath
cleansed them from sin, and that through
that precious offering of the Lord Jesus they
may enter into peace, they are satisfied.

But those who are honest in thus be-
lieving are bound to go forward, because
they feel that they in themselves are
weakness, failure, and uncertainty ; that
there is a constant precariousness in their
faith and walk, therefore they need indeed
to become Easter Christians, so to call
them ; that is, to have the full assurance
ol the risen Saviour, and to realize the
life of deliverance which is offered so
freely through the resurrection of Jesus
Christ.

" All power is given unto Me in heaven
and in earth."

But there is yet a further class of Chris-
tians, for I pass rapidly on ; and this
following class of Christians is a very large
class. It is composed of what I may be
allowed to call

(4) Forty-days' Christians. — Before our
100

INTO SEVEN CLASSES

blessed Lord went home to heaven forty
days elapsed. Forty-days' Christians be-
long to this transition period.

Doubtless you have observed that dur-
ing the forty days when our risen Master
was upon earth He used to appear con-
stantly to His followers, and then almost
immediately disappear again. He would
mysteriously appear where He was obvi-
ously absent a moment before, and then
He would disappear again. When the
disciples were assembled v^rithin closed
doors, suddenly, w^ithout any visible en-
trance, Christ appeared in their very
midst.

I would describe these forty-days'
Christians as Christians who know, and
know only, the up-and-down Christian
experience.

There is intermittency as to the pre^
sence of Christ, as far as these are con-
cerned. He comes and He goes. One
time they are full of joy ; just as of old :
" Then were the disciples glad when they

lOI

tHRISTIANS DlVWEi>

saw the Lord." But at other times they
are deeply depressed, they are full of sor-
row and apprehension ; they need to be
encouraged, and assured whether they are
Christians or not ; they want some fresh
confirmation that they are Christ's and
Christ's wholly, and they want to be as-
sured that Christ is theirs, and always
theirs.

This is what I call a forty-days' Chris-
tian— one who has this fitful experience,
this intermittent experience of the Pre-
sence, and the joy, and the glow of the
Lord Jesus Christ.

How many there are who know only
this experience ! How many there are
who, if they honestly spoke the truth,
would have to say, " That is precisely my
own experience. At times I am full of
assurance, full of peace, and comfort ; at
times it is the greatest joy to serve Jesus,
I would give up anything for Jesus."

Of course, that is only a form of speech.
It means generally that you give up as

INTO SEVEN CLASSES

little as possible ; but we frequently use
this phrase, " I would give up anything
for Jesus ; I am so full of His presence
and His strength, because He is with
me ; " and then to-morrow we are all full
of faults and failures : apprehensive, if but
a passing cloud is over the house, that it
will be always dark, that God has forgotten
to be gracious, and has actually given
them up.

It is like that simple Roman Catholic
woman, who exclaimed when her crucifix
was broken, "Now I have nothing but
Almighty God to trust in."

But besides this these Forty-days' Chris-
tians have also this characteristic — there
is a want of cohesion between them and
others. You must have noticed, if you
have read carefully the account of the
forty days, what a kind of breaking up
there was between all the disciples ; how
they fell apart at once like a rope of sand —
distracted and bewildered, one goes this
way and another goes the other. There
103

CHRISTIANS DIVIDED

was no cohesiveness among them, if I
may use the expression ; there was a
great want of central attraction, and con-
sequently of mutual cohesion. There
was necessarily also an entire absence of
all unity of action, and, of course, of
aggressiveness of any kind. These are
the chief characteristics of the Forty-days'
Christian. First, there is a want of cohe-
sion through the presence of Christ being
intermittent. Secondly, there is an un-
aggressiveness in his experience, because
he cannot be sure of himself or others.

That is the secret of the charge so often
brought against so many Christians to-day,
that they have so little union or unity.
They are only Forty-days' Christians ;
there is no aggressiveness, because there
is an entire absence of cohesion ; and
this is the case because the presence of
the central power of attraction is fitful,
and they are not sure that Christ is
theirs and that they are Christ's. Inter-
mittency, want of cohesion, want of
104

INTO SEVEN CLASSES

aggressiveness — these are the ancient and
unfaiHng marks of the Forty-days' Chris-
tian.

But there is yet a further class that
immediately follows upon this —

(5) Ascension Christians.

They are those who go still further.
They have, by God's grace, arrived at
this point — they have perceived that there
is a blessed cohesion among the Churches
of Christ because they realize communion
with their ascended Lord, and freedom of
access into the eternal Presence, even
upon the throne !

Ascension Christians are those of whom
it may truly be said that " their conversa-
tion is in heaven " ; that they do in some
true and real degree " dwell in heavenly
places " ; that they find such an attrac-
tion in Jesus as to raise them above this
world and to lift them heavenward ; the
opened heavens giving them a glimpse, as
it were, of the transfiguration mount, and
a holy intimacy with the Unseen World.
105

CHRISTIANS DIVIDED

This gives them that upHftedness above
the world which often confounds and dis-
appoints ordinary Christians who go to
them to talk the ordinary world talk;
their friends fail to respond with the
heartiness that worldly people do, be-
cause the heart is really engaged and
pre-occupied with heavenly things, and,
as our Prayer-Book so beautifully puts it,
they have "in heart and mind thither as-
cended, and with Him continually dwell."

But there is a further class, as, of
course, you perceive at once, there is
a further class yet, for there are seven
classes of Christians, and this further
class consists of —

(6) Pentecost Christians.

A Pentecost Christian is a Christian
who possesses Christ and is possessed
by Christ, and is in the conscious occu-
pation of God the Holy Ghost, and
who is thereby filled with a great desire
and yearning to bring in others to the
feet of Jesus. That is a true Pentecost
1 06

INTO SEVEN CLASSES

Christian. It is one who is cleansed and
inspired by the Holy Ghost ; it is one
who, being himself possessed by the
Spirit of God, pursues after others to
bring them in also to the feet of Jesus
Christ. Possessed and pursuing, these
are the marks of the Pentecost Christian
— Spirit-possessed and soul-pursuing.

I have only one word further to add.
There is yet the seventh class. What
more can there possibly be, you say ?

We have glanced at the Nazareth Chris-
tian, the Calvary Christian, the Easter
Christian, the Forty-days' Christian, the
Ascension Christian, and the Pentecost
Christian ; what further class can there
be ? There is one more stage yet, marked,
emphatic, all-important.

(7) Advent Christians.

The Second Coming of Christ, the re-
turn of Christ for His own people, and
His entrance upon His own blessed
eternal kingdom, — this is the mightiest
spiritual incentive of all.
107

CHRISTIANS DlVlD&t>

Advent Christians : these, if they be
real Advent Christians, include all others.
These are they who perceive that with
His return there will be a great gathering
in of souls ; these are they who perceive
that the Coming of Christ is that which
shall make the whole difference to all
God's vast creation ; these are they who
perceive that the whole earth is travailing
in pain, and that it is waiting for the
adoption, to wit, the manifestation of the
sons of God at the Coming of Jesus
Christ.

But you say, if you fasten your atten-
tion on the return of Jesus Christ you will
forget your work. Not at all. Because
the true Advent Christian perceives that
it is only by hastening on the work that
he can hasten on the Return of Jesus
Christ and His kingdom. Representa-
tives from every part of Redemption's
Kingdom must be present on Coronation
Day.

Shall we not at once interrogate our
io8

INTO SEVEN CLASSES

own hearts in the conscious Presence of
God ? To what class do I belong ? Be
not content, but go on, I beseech you, unto
perfection; go on until you reach the
blessed highest class, the Advent class,
which includes all other classes, and be
prepared, as He has commanded us to be,
with loins girded and lamps burning, to
meet your Lord when He returns for the
bridal of His Church.

But how are we to pass from one class to
the next ? By discovering carefully, and
fastening your attention upon the weak
point in the experience of each class or
stage. And then you will soon discover
the divinely appointed provision set over
against it. Thus under the keen pressure
of your own defective and dissatisfied
experience, stirred by your deep soul,-dis-
appointment, you will search the Word
till you find the Key to deliverance, and
the passport to the next stage. The
Nazareth Christian, fixing his attention
upon the insoluble problem of sin, and
109

CHRISTIANS DIVIDED

how it remains altogether unrecognised
by his class, can never rest till he be-
come a Calvary Christian. And a Cal-
vary Christian, recognising the bondage
and weakness of his daily life-experience,
can never rest till he become an Easter
Christian. And an Easter Christian, though
he enjoy resurrection liberty, perceives
the absence of the companionship of the
Presence, and in spite of himself he be-
comes a Forty-days' Christian. And the
Forty- days' Christian, disappointed with
the intermittency of fellowship, reaches
forv/ard to the sustained and steady vision
of an Ascension Christian. And the
Ascension Christian, discerning the dan-
ger of selfishness in the joy of Divine
communion unshared, learns to exchange
his own solitary bliss of communion for
the God-like generosity of communication,
which distinguishes the Pentecost Chris-
tian. And the Pentecost Christian, stimu-
lated by the joy of Divine communion
and of the still diviner joy of communica-

IIO

INTO SEVEN CLASSES

tion, is caught up unawares, as it were,
and kindled with the anticipation of the
glory of the manifested Person of the
King, and of the consummation of His
growing kingdom, till, inspired and thrilled
by a divine impatience, he becomes an
Advent Christian, waiting, and working,
and wrestling to hasten the coming and
coronation of the Saviour-Kinsr and Lord

Butler 4 Tanner, The Selwood Printing Works, Fromo, »nd Londoa.

THE

SPIRITUAL GRASP OF THE EPISTLES;

OR,

AN EPISTLE A-SUNDAY.

By Rev. Charles A. Fox, B.A.,

Incumbent of Eaton Chapel, Eaton Square.

Second Edition, naiv ready.

MARSHALL BROTHERS,
Keswick House, Paternoster Row.

Date

Due

.CULh;

f