Secondly, this implies attention, in opposition to indolence and indifference. Though the believer is tranquil and calm, he is not regardless of the mind and will of God. He says with David, "I wait for the Lord, my soul doth wait, and in His word do I hope. My soul waiteth for the Lord more than they that watch for the morning; I say, more than they that watch for the morning." So says the Church, "I will stand upon my watch-tower." "I will stand there, looking to see if God is passing by, hearkening to what He has to communicate, otherwise I may lose the opportunity of seeing Him." Various are the means He may employ, and therefore let us say, "Behold as the eyes of servants look unto the hand of their masters, and as the eyes of a maiden unto the hand of her mistress, so our eyes wait upon the Lord our God, until that He have mercy upon us." This takes in patience. The enemy of our souls knoweth our frame, and takes advantage of our weakness. Because Moses stayed so long in the Mount, the people made a golden calf and danced before it. So Rebecca-she was peculiarly attached to Jacob, and knew that he should have the blessing, but by a crooked policy and unhallowed means she must take it out of the Lord's hands. So trouble is called a prison. David says, "Bring my soul out of prison, that I may praise Thy name." You are not to force open the door or the window; if you do, you will be confined more firmly than before: but you must stay there till God lets you out. When He is walking by, you may look through the bars, and say, " O Lord, come to my succour; bring my soul out of prison." All this is wise and well, but "in patience" you are to "possess your souls." "By patient continuing in well-doing" you are to "seek for glory, honour, immortality, and eternal life." You are not to be "weary in well-doing, for in due season you shall reap if you faint not." Again, this implies expectation, in opposition to despondency. This is the very essence of waiting upon God. If this is not in exercise, you will not hold out long, but will be ready to say with the unbelieving nobleman, "Why should I wait for the Lord any longer?" IV. Consider, lastly, THE BLESSEDNESS THAT WILL ATTEND THE EXERCISE OF WAITING FOR HIM. "Blessed are all they that wait for Him." : The work itself is blessed therefore says Jeremiah, “It is good for a man that he hath hope and quietly wait for the salvation of the Lord." Your happiness depends not so much upon outward things as upon the state of your own mind. If you are quiet from the fear of evil, your soul dwells at ease; your mind is kept in perfect peace, being stayed upon Him. You are like Noah in the Ark, all peace within, while the floods are rolling around; or as the Apostle says, "We are troubled on every side, but not in despair." "Blessed," secondly, because it will prevent matter for bitter reflection. How miserable are you when you have been led to censure a kind friend, or have entertained some hard unworthy thoughts of him, and afterwards have seen that you were mistaken. So will it be, so often has it been with Christians here; they say, "I lament that I should have been so foolish and so wicked in judging my Lord and Saviour. Why did I not honour him with my entire confidence? O that I had stayed longer before I had judged Him. How it grieves me now, that I have grieved the Holy Spirit." Thirdly, they are blessed, because His coming will amply recompense their waiting. How does the absence of a friend endear his presence! How does the night endear the morning! How does the winter make us hail the spring! And when God comes to us, when He appears, what once appeared wrong will be seen to be right in all His dispensations. "Jesus, on Thee our hope relies, "Blessed are all they that wait for Him," because they will not, cannot, wait in vain. No, the vision is for an appointed time; though it tarry, wait for it. They that sow in tears shall reap in joy." "Be patient therefore, brethren, for the coming of the Lord draweth nigh;" and if ever Satan assaults you, repel the temptation with this declaration, "Yet a little while and He that will come shall come, and will not tarry." Then turn inward and say, "Why art thou cast down, O my soul? and why art thou disquieted within me? Hope in God, who is the health of my countenance and my God.” 325 XXIV. THE CITY OF OUR SOLEMNITIES. (Delivered on Thursday Evening, December 10th, 1846.) "Look upon Zion, the city of our solemnities.”—ISAIAH Xxxiii. 20. "BE not conformed to this world," says the Apostle. The world has always been immensely the larger portion of the human race, but we are persuaded this will not always be the case; for said Our Saviour, "I, if I be lifted up will draw all men to me:" and when, without a figure, it may be said, "Behold the world is gone after Him," we shall then, brethren, have to change even the language of Scripture, and to say, "Strait is the way, and narrow is the gate that leadeth unto death, and few there be that find it." The Lord hasten it in His time! When "a nation shall be born in a day;" when "all kings shall fall down before Him, and all nations shall serve Him!" But down to the present hour, the saints have been spoken of individually rather than collectively; and their numbers comparatively have been small. Our Saviour is still addressing these, and saying, "Fear not, little flock." Yet He never left himself without witness. He has always had people for His name, however poor and despised they may be. What says Zechariah? "These are men wondered at." What says Solomon ? "The righteous is more excellent than his neighbour." What says Paul? "Of such the world is not worthy." And how does God, the Judge of all, speak of them? "Since thou hast been precious in My sight, thou hast been honourable, and I have loved thee." Now to them the prophecy before us applies, for whatever partial accomplishment took place in the experience of the Jews after their return from Babylon to their own country, the very strength of the language compels us to look further. "Look upon Him, the city of our solemnities." Let us observe the object of contemplation, and the contemplation of the object; and this is all the division of our subject. I. THE OBJECT OF CONTEMPLATION. "Look upon Zion." You know what Zion was literally considered; it is hardly necessary to add, that it is symbolical of the residence of the Living God. To mention one instance, let me refer you to the language of the Apostle in writing to the Hebrews, where he says, "Ye are come unto Mount Zion, the city of the living God." In all proper types, two things are to be looked for, resemblance and pre-eminence; and here we have truth, for as to pre-eminence, how superior is the Church to the hill of Zion! What was Judaism compared with Christianity? One was the dawn, the other the day. One was infancy, the other the manhood of the Church. The one a series of ceremonies and shadows, the other the substance: "God having provided some better things for us that they without us should not be made perfect." Yet you may see a resemblance, a strong and striking resemblance. Was Zion beautiful? She was "beautiful for situation, the joy of the whole earth." Had God chosen her? He had. We read: “The Lord hath chosen Zion, He hath desired it for His habitation." Was the foundation thereof strong? Was it the place of the divine residence? Was the tabernacle fixed there? Did the temple stand there? Did God say, "This is my rest for ever: here will I dwell; for I have desired it. I will abundantly bless her provision: I will satisfy her poor with bread. I will also clothe her priests with salvation and her saints shall shout aloud for joy. There will I make the horn of David to bud: I have ordained a lamp for mine anointed. His enemies will I clothe with shame but upon himself shall his crown flourish"? What is it by all this that you are reminded of? Of the Church of the living God; adored with comeliness, chosen for the habitation of the Deity, impregnable in its defence, the place where God maintains His ordinances, where He dispenses His influence and the blessings of salvation. : Then it is called, "the city of our solemnities;" and was so called because it was the place of their holy convocations. There the Jews attended, at their three grand annual festivals. This was divinely appointed. "Thrice in the year," says God, "shall all your males appear before me at Jerusalem." Unbelief and selfishness would be ready to murmur at this command, and say, "How can that be? When all our males are drawn from the extremities of the land, it will lie open to the incursions of our adversaries, who are watchful for every opportunity to injure us; and what will become of our wives and children and substance?" Hear how God meets them : "I will cast out the nations before thee, and enlarge thy borders: neither shall any man desire thy land, when thou shalt go up to appear before the Lord thy God thrice in the year." They shall not even wish for the thing. As the king in history said to the prime minister, so says God to us: "You mind my affairs, and I will mind yours." Oh, the God we serve is able to overrule persons by His providence, when He does not change them spiritually by His grace. Oh, let us put all our concerns into His hand, for "when a man's ways please the Lord, He maketh even His enemies to be at peace with him." There is a striking reference in the eighty-fourth psalm to their travelling up to attend these festivals. "Blessed is the man whose strength is in Thee; in whose heart are the ways of them. Who passing through the valley of Baca make it a well; the rain also filleth the pools. They go from strength to strength, every one of them in Zion appeareth before God." David says, "Our feet shall stand within thy gates, O Jerusalem," referring to these festivals. "Jerusalem is builded as a city that is compact together: whither the tribes go up, the tribes of the Lord, unto the testimony of Israel, to give thanks unto the name of the Lord. For there are set thrones of Judgment, the thrones of the House of David." We read in the prophecies of Zephaniah of those "who are sorrowful for the solemn assembly.' "The solemn assembly " is where religious services are solemnly performed, where the Scriptures are solemnly read, where the Gospel is solemnly preached, where prayers are solemnly offered, and where communion of saints is solemnly administered. But the word "solemnities" in Scripture refers much more frequently to what is festive than to what is serious, and Christians have their spiritual festivites to attend upon as well as the Jews had. What is the Gospel but a festivity? According to the language of our prophet, " In this mountain shall the Lord of Hosts make unto all people a feast of fat things, a feast of wines on the lees, of fat things full of marrow, of wines on the lees well refined." What is the Lord's Supper but a festivity, a domestic feast, where the household of faith partake and rejoice together? Wherefore saith the Apostle, "Christ our Passover is sacrificed for us." Therefore says he, Let us keep the feast, not with old leaven, neither with the leaven of malice and wickedness; but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth." 66 Though the word "solemnities" with us signifies what is serious rather than what is sacred, this was not the original |