12. Joseph's mission was, first, one of humiliation, then one of glorious triumph. Of Jesus the Apostle speaks in Heb. x. 12: "This Man, after He had offered one sacrifice for sins for ever, sat down on the right hand of God; from henceforth expecting, till His enemies be made His footstool." "When the seventh angel sounded, there were great voices in heaven, saying, The kingdoms of this world are become the kingdoms of our Lord and of His Christ, and He shall reign for ever and ever." "All hail the power of Jesu's name!

THE SAVIOUR'S ASSURANCE AND PLEDGE.

"All that the Father giveth me shall come to me; and him that cometh to me 1 will in no wise cast out."-JOHN vi. 37.

JESUS uttered these words of eternal truth in the hearing of a promiscuous multitude. His disciples were there, who had seen a manifestation of His Godhead the previous night in His stilling the storm. The Jews were there, who used to question Him, to cavil, and to murmur at Him. The common people were there in great numbers, who used to hear Him gladly, but who, notwithstanding, followed Him for the loaves and fishes, so as to merit the rebuke: " Ye seek me, not because ye saw the miracles, but because ye did eat of the loaves, and were filled."

The effect produced in the minds of the envious Pharisees, by such multitudes following Him, called forth on one occasion the remark:"Perceive ye how ye prevail nothing? Behold, the world is gone after Him." Yet it is plain that few of those great multitudes savingly believed on Him; few among them could say with the Spirit-given assurance of Peter, "Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God." Few of them could say with Thomas, "My Lord and my God." Indeed, for the most part, "they laboured for the bread which perisheth" (ver. 27). They were free-willers, and supposed they could "work the works of God" (ver. 28). They professed to want spiritual blessings (ver. 34), but desired them evidently with the sluggard's desire (ver. 36): "For the soul of the sluggard desireth and hath nothing.”

They saw His person with the bodily eye; they witnessed His miracles; they were fed by His bounteous hand, as all men are to this day; and they heard His doctrine direct from His own lips; yet all these privileges did not produce in them saving faith: so neither will Gospel privileges now, unless God invest His Word with divine power, and carry it thus home to the heart.

Concerning the work given Him to do, God the Father thus speaks in ancient prophecy to Christ: "Thou art my servant, O Israel, in whom I will be glorified;" in answer to which He replies, doubtless with reference to the multitudes that followed Him, and the few that were saved, "Then I said, I have laboured in vain, I have spent my strength

for nought, and in vain: yet surely my judgment is with the Lord, and my work with my God. And now, saith the Lord that formed me from the womb to be His servant, to bring Jacob again to Him (Jacob here representing the entire election of grace), Though Israel (the professing multitude) be not gathered, yet shall I be glorious in the eyes of the Lord, and my God shall be my strength" (Isaiah xlix. 3—5). Why? Because "all that the Father giveth me shall come to me," and "him that cometh to me I will in no wise cast out."

In this text we have a declaration and an assurance :

I. Now, observe, the declaration is not "All mankind shall come to me,' neither is it, "All hearers of the Gospel shall come to me," but "All that the Father giveth me shall come to me."

Dr. Gill justly remarks on this text: "Though Christ here expresses this act of His Father's in the present tense, 'All that the Father giveth me,'-perhaps to express the continuance and unchangeableness of it he expresses it in verse 39: "hath given me,' as an act of God antecedent to coming to Christ, which entirely corresponds with the words used by Him in His last intercessory prayer on earth, on behalf of the same persons (John xvii. 2), and the text in Acts: "For as many as were ordained unto eternal life believed" (Acts xiii. 48).

These "given ones" were chosen of God in Christ before the foundation of the world (Eph. i. 4), and gathered to Him in time out of every kindred and tongue and people and nation. Ages have now run their course since God-Father, Son, and Holy Ghost-loved them and put their names in the Book of Life. He had loved them with an everlasting love ere He came forth to create the "smallest part of the dust of the earth;" and the fruit and proof of that love was the incarnation, life, death, and ascension of God the Son. Elect sinners of mankind were given to Christ to constitute His Church, which is His bride, His portion, and His delight-the object of His supremest joy in heaven, and His

constant care on earth.

Among them are sinners from all parts of the habitable earth-sinners saved at the eleventh hour, and sinners who are but infants of days. Among them are Jews and Gentiles, rich and poor, bond and free. Among them are sinners who, when in a state of nature, were bloody Manassehs, persecuting Sauls, money-loving Zacchaeuses, infidel John Newtons, and cursing John Bunyans; who, when grace delivered them, and the reigning power of sin was broken in their hearts, followed Christ in their day and generation as washed, justified, and sanctified persons; who, for Christ's sake, cut off right hands, plucked out right eyes, and took up their cross daily as His faithful followers. Of each and all of those " given ones" it is emphatically declared that they "shall come to Christ.' There is no doubt about the matter, no peradventure, but absolute certainty: "They shall come to me." Is it, think you, because the difficulties in the way of their coming to Christ are less, or more easily overcome by their individual power and creature effort, that the Saviour's assertion, "They shall come to me," is so emphatic? Are these difficulties less to them than to others who never come to Christ? Are they not, while in a state of nature, as carnally secure as others? Are they not as much wedded to their sins? Are they not as firmly in the power of Satan, and are their hearts not filled with the same enmity to God as others-their fellow sinners who never come to Christ? In that state, do they not equally with others feel independent of Christ and

despise His work? Are they not included among mankind of whom the Saviour says, "No man can come to me except the Father, who hath sent me, draw him," so completely has the fall ruined mankind? Certainly they are! Certainly they are as degraded, as spiritually dead, and as far off from God as the rest of their brethren of mankind! (Eph. ii. 1-3).

If, then, we cannot find in the creature anything helpful or meritorious to save, where are we to look for the ground of the Saviour's assurance? We must look for it altogether beyond man, and we find it in the grace of God. Paul speaks of it often. In his Epistle to Timothy he says, God "hath saved us and called us with an holy calling, not according to our works, but according to His own purpose and grace, which was given us in Christ Jesus before the world began" (2 Tim. i. 9). The grace which was given the Church in Christ in the eternity that is past, was awakening grace (Acts xvi. 30); quickening grace (Acts xvi. 14); drawing grace (1 Sam. iii. S, 9); pardoning grace (Matt. ix. 2); enlightening grace (Matt. xvi. 17); restoring grace (Ps. xxiii. 3); strengthening grace (Acts xxvii. 23, 24); persevering grace (Job xiii. 15); triumphing grace (1 Cor. xv. 55). Rejoicing, therefore, in the power of this glorious grace, the Saviour could assert and declare, "All that the Father giveth me shall come to me."

But the given ones shall come to Him because of the eternal efficacy of the blood of Christ. That blood has sufficient merit to secure and procure their deliverance from sin and complete salvation; hence it is said, “As for Thee also, by the blood of Thy covenant, I have sent forth Thy prisoners out of the pit wherein is no water" (Zech. ix. 11).

Their coming is further secured by His life on their behalf: "He ever liveth to make intercession for them." His intercession secures their coming. "For if, when we were enemies, we were reconciled to God by the death of His Son, much more, being reconciled, we shall be saved by His life" (Rom. v. 10). Moreover, the Father's promise secures it"Thy people shall be willing in the day of Thy power" (Ps. cx. 3). "For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, saith the Lord. I will put my laws into their mind, and write them in their hearts, and I will be to them a God, and they shall be to me a people" (Heb. viii. 10). And, in a word, by the Holy Spirit's work in the heart, convincing, enlightening, and drawing, their coming to Christ is infallibly secured.

This

Oh, how blessedly certain is all this! Sin may allure-Satan may rage and distract the mind-men may vex and perplex the soul-but the Gospel shall, nevertheless, be unto them the power of God; and, wherever they are, this Gospel of God's grace shall find them out. is the joy and comfort of all the Lord's sent servants. Should God be pleased in His sovereignty to make them instrumental in bringing any sinners to Christ, how willingly shall they give Him the glory, and bless His holy name.

God will perfectly adapt the exigencies of the Gospel to the times in which He has a people to be gathered unto Him. As Toplady says, "When He has but few people in one age to gather, but few ministers shall be raised up; and, when He has, too, many to gather, many shall be sent forth." From the East and from the West, from the North and from the South, shall the Lord's people come to find in Christ a satisfying portion to their souls.

II. The pledge or assurance: "Him that cometh to me I will in no

wise cast out."

The Cities of Refuge were in some respects typical of Christ; we read concerning them, that, "When he that doth flee unto one of those cities shall stand at the entering of the gate of the city, and shall declare His cause in the ears of the elders of that city, they shall take him into the city unto them, and give him a place, that he may dwell among them. And if the avenger of blood pursue after him, then they shall not deliver the slayer up into his hand" (Josh. xx. 4, 5). Now, shall those elders be more merciful than precious Christ? Shall they receive the manslayer and give him ample security from the avenger of blood? and shall not Christ receive the law-pursued sinner, who, weary and heavy laden, presents himself before Him. and commits his cause into His hands? How infinitely dishonouring to Christ were the thought! It shall never be said that a sin-sick soul came to the Great Physician and was turned away.

Notwithstanding all the dishonour such may have done to the law of God, or the indifference with which they may have regarded His blessed Gospel-notwithstanding all they may be themselves in respect to having a wicked heart and a depraved nature, Jesus pledges Himself, that, when they come to Him, He will in no wise cast them out.

Oh, what great grace to needy sinners shines forth in this assurance! How divinely suited it is to the case of one who has been awakened to flee from the wrath to come, and who has every discouragement that an unbelieving heart and a tempting devil can suggest to contend with; who, after it may be, vainly seeking a warrant in self to come to Christ, at last finds this to be a sufficient warrant, as indeed it is! Many thousands of Christ's dear people have found these words such to thema sure foundation, on which they have built their hopes for eternity from day to day. It has been a word whereon their souls were made to hope, and the beginning of eternal consolation to their hearts.

Immanuel, the faithful and true Witness, will never break His own pledged word. Blessed be God! Not one of all whom the Father gave Him shall ever be cast out after they have come to Him; and equally true it is that none of the rest who are blinded shall ever come to Him. And why? Because they see no beauty in Him that they should desire Him.

Have you ever seen Him so as to desire Him? Do you desire Him not for one trait of His character only, but for every trait? Can you adore His Sovereignty when He says, "I thank Thee, O Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because Thou hast hid these things from the wise and prudent, and revealed them to babes," equally as you can admire His grace when He says, "Him that cometh to me I will in no wise

cast out?"

If you are not a partaker of the new birth, and so have never known what it is truly to desire Christ, be sure of this, that the enmity of your heart to God and the things of God has never been removed, and, dying in this state, you must be shut out from all participation in the joys of Christ's people, which are yet to be revealed. Who can tell the issues of that blessed transaction in which the coming sinner is met by Christ on the very threshold of grace with this pledge of constant love?

The saved thief came to Christ in these words, "Lord, remember me when Thou comest into Thy kingdom;" and the answer, "To-day shalt

thou be with me in Paradise," was in effect the same as the words, "I will in no wise cast out."

Rahab was assured by the spies of her safety when Israel would destroy her city. She hoped in the truth of their word, and her faith was well rewarded at last.

The Israelites were assured by Moses that when the angel of death should smite the first-born of all the land of Egypt, the Lord would see the blood and pass them by. They hoped in the word, and they were not put to shame. So neither will any of the Lord's people who have made this or a similar word of His the ground of their hope.

But the peculiar lustre of grace that shines forth from these words can only be seen and appreciated by one who has been long in the school of Christ, who has long felt the plague of his heart, who has dealt treacherously in the way of the Lord; whose neck has been an iron sinew, and his brow brass; who, for the iniquity of his covetousness, has endured fatherly chastisement, and has sighed because of the leanness of his soul. These gracious words carried again with power to the soul of such an one will cause him to sing as in the days of his youth, and he will rejoice to know that the Lord "hateth putting away;" that He will rest in His love, and rejoice over His people with singing.

Might the glorified Church not say, "Not the smallest part of our deep spiritual joy arises from the glorious fact that we were chosen to salvation, but we also joy and bless the faithfulness of our dear Redeemer, who, notwithstanding all our waywardness and wanderings, did not cast us out?" Dundee.

G. A.

"If your

MEDITATIONS ON JOB XVI. 4.

soul were in

my soul's stead, I could heap up words against you, and shake mine head at you."

AFTER all the learning, eloquence, zeal, and industry in preaching, it amounts to nothing unless it is experimental matter; "Come and hear, all ye that fear God, and I will declare what He hath done for my soul" (Psalm lxvi. 16). Here is an invitation to hear experimental preaching of what God had done. Job was brought into a deeper experience than his three friends could understand, hence their rash judgments in their own spirit; and, although God suffered Satan to tempt Job to say many naughty things, yet Job boldly declares, "The root of the matter is in me." So the poor soul, under afflictive providences, and in great temptations, says and does many naughty things, and the untried, like Job's friends, say, "Trust God," and the like-quite Scriptural, but not experimental, for the tried soul knows that trust and every grace is the gift of God. Now, if Job's three friends had been through his trials, what experimental sons of consolation they would have been to Job in his affliction, instead of the tantalizers they were; so that it seems absolutely necessary for God's ministers to experience great and varied trials, that they may be sons of consolation to the afflicted children of God.

It matters not how a state of grace may be in a minister, or how great his learning to set it forth may be; his acceptance will be in proportion to his experience. Many learned, gracious men, for want of depth in experience, preach much in the letter of the word, often saying to the tried,