JANUARY 29.
THERE is a relation between Christ and Christians, and a conformity founded upon it, so that what he says, they may subordinately adopt as their own language.
There are cases in which they may be alone, and there are eases in which they ought to be alone, and there is one ease in which they must be alone; and yet they are not alone, because the Father is with them.
They may be alone, by the dispensations of providence. By death, lover and friend may be put far from them, and their acquaintance into darkness; and bereavements may force from solitude the sigh, "I watch, and am as a sparrow upon the housetop." They have often been driven out of society by the wickedness of power. Their connections have abandoned them through falseness, or deserted them through infirmity. And this is no inconsiderable trial. Our Saviour felt the desertion of his disciples, and said, " I looked for some to take pity, and there was none; and for comforters, and found none;" but looking upward, lie said, " I am not alone, for the Father is with me." Joseph was separated from his family, and sold into Egypt, but the Lord was with Joseph. John was banished into the isle of Patmos, but there he lead the visions of the Almighty, and was in the Spirit on the Lord's day. " At my first answer." says Paul. "no man stood by me, but all men forsook me ; notwithstanding, the Lord stood by me, and strengthened me." Yes ; whoever dies, the Lord liveth. Whoever fails us, He is firm. " He is faithful that hath promised. He hath said, I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee."
They ought to be alone, by voluntary solitude. Not that they are to become recluses, by abandoning their stations, and shunning intercourse with their fellow-creatures. The Christian life is a candle ; but a candle is not to be placed under a bushel, but on a candlestick, that it may give light to all that are in the house ; and our light is to shine before men, and they are to see our good works, and glorify our Father who is in heaven. But occasional and frequent retirement for religious purposes is a duty, and it will be found our privilege. We shall never be less alone than when alone. "Go forth," says God to Ezekiel, "into the field, and there will I talk with thee." Isaac, at eventide, was meditating in the field, when the Lord brought him Rebekah. Jacob was left alone, when he " obtained power with God," and with man, and prevailed. Nathanael was seen and encouraged under the fig-tree. Peter was by himself praying upon the housetop when he received the divine manifestation. If the twelve patriarchs, or the twelve apostles, lived near us, and their presence drew us from our closets, their neighborhood would be a serious injury to us. No creature can be a substitute for God. And it is alone we hold the freest and fullest communion with him. It is there the secret of the Lord is with us, and He shows us his covenant. There we become acquainted with ourselves. There we shake off the influence of the world. It is good to be there.
Men may live in a crowd, but they must die alone. Friends and ministers can only accompany us to the entrance of the passage. None of them can speak from experience, none of them can tell us what it is to die. And it is a way we have not gone ourselves heretofore. Put the Christian, though alone, is not alone even There. "Yea," says David. "though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil ; for thou art with me : Thy rod and thy staff, they comfort me."
Oh, to have a God, the God of all race, at hand, a very present help in that time of trouble, laying underneath his everlasting arms---shedding around the light of his countenance---communicating the joy of his salvation, and insuring the glory to be revealed, in ways beyond all our present experience and thought !
0 my God, what time I am afraid, I will trust in thee. Thou hast holden me by my right hand. Thou shalt guide me with thy counsel, and afterward receive me to glory. Whom have I in heaven but thee? and there is none upon earth that I desire beside thee. My flesh and my heart faileth; but God is the strength of my heart, and my portion for ever."
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