A Portrait and a Promise

A GALLERY OF ACCURATE PORTRAITS. — SAINTS IN LOW ESTATE..

PEOPLE WHO TREMBLE AT GOD’S WORD. — I. WHO THEY

ARE. — NOT A PROUD PEOPLE. — NOT INDIFFERENT. — NOT

CRITICAL. — NOT PRESUMPTUOUS. — NOT BOASTERS OF PER-FECTION. A PEOPLE WHO BELIEVE IN THE WORD OF GOD. — ARE ACQUAINTED WITH IT. — THE ORIGIN OF THE NAME OF QUAKERS. — Il. WHY THEY TREMBLE. — BECAUSE OF GOD’S MAJESTY. — BECAUSE OF THE SEARCHING POWER OF THE ~WORD. — LEST THEY BREAK THE LAW. — OR MISS THE PROM- -ISES. — III. WHAT GOD COMPARES THEM TO. — WHAT GOD DOES FOR THEM.

Portrait painting is a great art. Many pretend to

it, but the masters of the art are few. In the Word of God we have a gallery of portraits so accurate, so striking, that only the hand of the Lord could have drawn them. Most of us have been startled to see - our own portrait there. The best of all is, that at the bottom of each likeness we have the Lord’s judgoa ment upon the character, so that we are able to form an estimate of what our true condition is before the ee Lord. Here you have

e. A MAN DRAWN TO THE LIFE:

: os is poor, and of a contrite spirit, and trembles at: “the word of the Lord. Here, also, you have the Lord’s estimate of him: “To this man will I look.” T hope to dwell chiefly upon the character described in the closing words, “And trembleth at My word.”

79 my oe oe Load, ye that urertible at, oe aond Ae ‘Bembling is, in God’s esteem, an admirable 1 trait Bone: in nav en speaks at these conve ones who ke tremble at His word: and then the prophet takes up ‘ the strain, and cries, “Hear the word of the Lord, ye. f that tremble at His word.” Itisa very great mercy: that there are descriptions of saints given in the Word of God which go very low, and reach the feeblest - degrees of grace, and the saddest frames of mind. We find the children of God sometimes upon very — high places: their spiritual life is vigorous, and their — Rok inward joy is abounding. Yet, we have to thank God Me that, in His priceless Scripture, He has painted for us: 3 portraits of the believer in his low estate.

ay IN THE PICTURE-GALLERY of those saved by faith we find Rahab as ool ase Sars Sarah, and erring Samson as well as holy Samuel. r o In the family register of the Lord we have the names of believers who were weak and sad and faulty. We have instances in the sacred record of undoubtedly gracious men who were in very uncomfortable and undesirable conditions. Men are spoken of as the Lord’s people when their souls are sick, when grace is at a very low ebb, and when joy is eclipsed. — ““Trembleth at My word.” This is the description to which I call your attention. Here are the elect men upon whom the Lord looks, and with whom He dwells. They are not the chivalry of earth, but the chosen of heaven. They are not dancing, but trem- a ‘ n LGR hee aio Bick away their eigen I Who are these peas PEOPLE THAT TREMBLE bs at - God’s word? I think I hear your hearts crying, ih “Qh, that we may be numbered among them!” Let me begin to answer the question by telling you who they are not. They are not a proud people: they do not cry, “Who is the Lord, that I should obey His voice!” They are humbly hearing; hearing the word -of God, and inwardly reverencing the heavenly moniae ‘tor. They are no longer careless and reckless, for the voice of the Lord has brought them to their bearings. They have bowed their heads before Jehovah, i and they listen with rapt attention to everything that He mayspeak. They are like the child Samuel when he said, “Speak, Lord; for Thy servant heareth.” ‘They are teachable, and lowly, and by no means belong to the school who correct the infallible. I must put down the careless in the same list, and -<say of the Lord’s tremblers they are not indifferent people. We have among us a class who cause us -great sorrow of heart. They are not likely to jest at God’s Word, but yet it has no power over them; they -do not scoff at it, but they do not feed on it. They exe have too much thought and sense to become infidels; but yet they overlook the importance of the truth which they accept. God’s book lies in their houses ‘honored, but unread. They do not muchtroubletogo cand hear about its meaning; or if, through custom, they ‘become attendants at the re of Gba they hear the

Geepel but it noes in at one ear and out of ‘the peer oa - There is no practical regard to it, no weighing it, nom 5 Tee eo. considering it, no meditating upon it, no applying tet) to the conscience and the daily life. Those cannot be ee said to tremble at God’s Word who neglect the greatnaem salvation. These were NOT A CRITICAL PEOPLE. a — They trembled at the Word, and did not sit down on. ‘Z the throne of usurped infallibility, and call the Scriptures to their bar. There are men abroad nowadays — I grieve to say some of them in the ministry — who take the Bible, not that it may judge them, but that they may judge it. Their judgment weighs in its balancethe wisdom of God Himself. They talk exceeding proudly, and their arrogancy exalteth itself. Ofriends, I know not how you feel about the prevailing” scepticism of the age, but I am heart-sick of it! I; shun the place where Iam likely to hear men who do: >. not tremble at God’s Word. ) = i ‘Oh, but surely you are open to conviction?” they = op say. We are open to no conviction that shall be “contrary to the 3

TRUTH THAT HAS SAVED US co from going down to the pit. We are opentonocon — - viction that shall rob us of our eternal hope, and of — our glorying in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ. We do not deliberate, for we have decided. To be forever holding the truth of God as though it might. yet turn out to be a lie were to lose all the comfort: of it.. To be forever prepared to desert our Lord. and Master, to follow some brand-new philosopher, z would be perpetual disloyalty. Nay, we have not come thus far at a guess. We have known our Lord and His truth for these forty years, and it is not maybe or may-not-be with us now. We neither speculate, nor hesitate; but we know whom we have believed, and by His grace we will cleave to Him in life and in death..

Those who tremble at God’s word are not presumptuous people, who derive fictitious comfort from it. We meet at times with a vain-confident man, who. puts behind his back every warning and threatening,

-and only appropriates to himself every promise,

though the promise be not made to him. Some of God’s dearest children are so afraid of presumption

that they go too far the other way, and hardly dare to

be as confident as they might. Some of the holiest. people that I know are afraid to say what they might

say; for they scarcely dare to call themselves the children of God. On the other hand, I have heard. others say what I fear they never ought to have said, for they have boasted that they never had a doubt. I heard one minister of great experience, who believes in THE DOCTRINE OF PERFECTION, assert very plainly that he had lived in the midst of the church of God for many years, and that he had seen many persons who claimed to be perfect, but he did not think that any one agreed with them; and, on

the other hand, he had known intimately certain other

persons whom he thought to be as nearly perfect as men could be, but in every case they had been the first to disown all notion of personal perfection, and eioumiea: ele own, ‘conscious pe - my observation also. I. distrust the men te publ

. moor own perfection: I do not believe one ee ee

that there is a revealed Word of God. There are

much brass, and too little gold, about thie pentecdtal

of the present day. It hath a brazen forehead, ane st

hath a way of sitting by the roadside — a way which —

in old time belonged not to true purity. I had rather a tremble at God’s word than testify to my own excelnm.) dence.,

I have largely told you what these tremblers are

not; and I must now tell you a little of what these” ‘; poopie are. They are

PEOPLE WHO BELIEVE

plenty of persons who profess and call themselves — : Christians, and yet do not believe that this sacred Book is the very Word of God. Say that it is inspired, and they answer, ‘‘So is the Koran, and so are the Vedas.” They talk after this fashion: “This

is the religious book of the ancient Hebrew nation, A very respectable book it is, but infallible, certainly

not: the very Word of God, certainly not.” Well,

then, we distinctly part company with such talkers. a 7 ‘We can have no sort of fellowship with them in any —

measure or degree with regard to the things of God. They are to us as heathen men and publicans. If we are to come under the head of those that tremble at — God’s word, we must believe that there is a Word of the Lord to tremble at, as we do most assuredly be-

: lieve, let others talk as they may.::

ey are. a pee wot are acquainted with God’s.

“INTELLIGENT APPRECIATION

a ae Word of God can alone make a man tremble at it; and the more he understands it, the more cause for trembling will he see in it. Ay, and the more he - enjoys it, the more will he tremble. The highest joy which it yields to mortal men is attended with a reverent awe, and a holy trembling before God. If othe believer went beyond the enjoyment of the literal.

Word, and saw the Incarnate Word Himself, in all

the splendor of His person, he would tremble stilh

more: for what said John? ‘When I saw Him, I fell at His feet as dead.” A sight of the Incarnate Word would create even a greater trembling than the fulk

understanding of the Word as it is written and revealed. Yet such trembling is a sign of grace, and

by no means to be censured.

But what meaneth this trembling? Believe me, it does not mean a slavish fear. They that tremble at God’s Word at the first may do so, because the Word threatens them with death. But afterwards, as they advance and grow in grace, and become familiar with the God of love, and enter into the secret of His covenant, they tremble for a very different reason. They tremble because they have a holy reverence of God, and consequently of that Word in which resides

so much of the power and majesty of the Most High. These are they that reverence the Word, who would

not have a syllable of it touched, who regard it as being divine after its measure, and therefore sacred as 236 =e

THE SKIRTS OF DEITY.

George Fox, the famous founder of the Society of Friends, was called a “Quaker” for no other reason than this: that often, when the Spirit of God was upon him, and he spoke the Word with power, he would quake from head to foot beneath the burden of the message. It is an honorable title. No man need be ashamed to quake when Moses said, “I exceedingly fear and quake.” In the presence of God a man may well tremble. Surely he is worse than the devil if he does not; for the devils believe and tremble. Demons go the length of that; and he that knoweth God, and hath any sense of His infinite power, and inconceivable purity and justice, must tremble before Him. I believe George Fox not only quaked himself, but he made others quake; and if we tremble at God’s Word, we shall make others tremble. True power, when it rests upon us, will discover our own weakness, but it will not be hindered thereby —

I]. I have described these tremblers so far as my

scant knowledge and brief time will allow: the time:

has now come to inquire,
WHY DO THEY TREMBLE?

I have been trenching upon this field of inquiry already. They do not tremble because they are going to be lost. Those who are going to be lest are pretty generally free from trembling: “there are no bands in their death; but their strength is firm.” I would, my hardened hearer, that you did tremble; and because you do not tremble for yourself I tremble for you. Oh, that you judged yourself, that you ts Beat ao Pie je juiced I cae thats you toottemncd oe ee that God might acquit you; I would that

you were horribly afraid; for then the great cause for

fear would be over. See how the text eee. all the contrite and the trembling; and, when you have seen

it, seek to be among them.

God’s people tremble, first, because of His aan ‘ing majesty. Note what becomes of Ezekiel, of Daniel, of Habakkuk, of John the beloved, when they

‘had visions of God. No man could see God’s face

and live. There must always be some sort of a cloud between. ‘Through the veil of Christ’s manhood WE SEE GOD AND LIVE. But God absolutely is beyond all creature ken — the sight were far too much for us. Even a glimpse of His skirts is something overwhelming! They that

have seen God at any time have trembled at Him and at His Word. — For the Word of the Lord is full

of majesty. There is a divine royalty about every sentence of Scripture which the true believer feels and recognizes, and therefore trembles before it.

‘They tremble at the searching power of God’s Word. I can personally bear my witness to the way in which the solemn word of the Lord makes my whole soul tremble to its centre. The word of the Lord has cut very close sometimes with many of you, and made you cry, “Am I saved or not?” The man that did never tremble before the Lord does not know Him. It is very easy to take the matter of your soul’s salvation for granted, and yet to be mistaken. It is infinitely better to ask your way twenty b me or is it not soe fer I eae to ‘ee and to. be

beloved, I am not sorry that you tremble. befo:

/ #4 perfect law it is, and how spiritual it is, and how it

the refining fire of sacred truth; I should be muc h #3

distressed if you did not. we He that knoweth the Lord aright also trembles with

fear lest he should break God’s law. He sees what as ie

OVERLAPS HUMAN LIFE, and the man cries, ‘It is high; I cannot attain unto it; O my God, help me, I pray Thee.” “Oh,” mee ae one, “if he trembles like that, it shows he does not

know the love of God.” It shows that he does know 4; it. Have you heard of the boy whose father was — Ray. exceedingly fond of him? He was asked by some

other boys to go and rob an orchard with them, bee he said, ‘No, I will not go.” They replied, “Your father won’t scold you, nor beat you; you may safely.

come.” To this he answered, “What! do you think because my father loves me, that therefore I will

grieve him? No, I love him, and I love to do what

he wishes me to do. Because he loves me, I fear to

vex him.” That is like the child of God. The more

he knows of God’s love, the more he trembles at the 1m

thought of offending the Most High.. We, also, tremble lest we should miss the promises — when they are spread out before us, sparkling like

priceless gems. We hear of some wno “could not

enter in because of unbelief;” and we are taken with

trembling lest we should be like them. We tremble

: lest there epouid he any passage of Se heates or * - doctrine of revelation that we are not able to believe; we pray for grace that we may never stagger at any- thing in the Word. We tremble lest we should mis- believe; and tremble more — if you are as ] am — lest we should mistake and misinterpret the Word. You and I, who are ambassadors for God, must not trifle, but we must tremble at God’s Word. «<LI. — - Now we have got through the description of these trembling ones, and we have shown why they so exceedingly fear and quake, our third question was. to be, What does God compare them to? Hearken, for here is a thing to be noted and thought upon. The Lord compares the tremblers at His Word to a temple. ‘Where is the house that ye build unto Me? and where is the place of My rest? To this man will

I look, even to him that is poor and of a contrite

spirit, and trembleth at My Word.”
THEY ARE HIS TEMPLE,

And to the Jews the temple was something very wonderful. There stood the holy and Beans house, the joy of the whole earth — lined with unrotting wood,

and overlaid with pure gold, and its hewn stones put together without hammer or axe. To the Israelite’s. mind there never was such a building before. Yet the glorious Jehovah speaks lightly of the temple, andi says, “Where is the house that ye build unto Me?

and where is the place of My rest? To this man will I look, even to him that is poor and of a contrite spirit, and trembleth at My Word.”

Note that the Lord does not merely compare us.

Phe Lord says, ‘“‘ The Regen is My thi fe

es - earth is My footstool,’ ’and yet He seems to say, “op

this is not My rest, nor the place of Mine abode; but — with this man will I dwell, even with him that trem- — bleth at My Word.” It is a sublime comparison; ye e

are the temples of God, and something more. The more you study these verses, the more you “will, be astonished. ‘

And what does God say He will do? He eS

Pharisees; I will not look upon the presumptuous; but I Fes ) WILL LOOK ON THE LOWLY, ‘ trembling truster. I will fix My eye upon him; et shall be countenanced by Me. I will lift up the light of My countenance upon him. He is right with Me, and I will show Myself gracious to him.” It is “right that the creature phe tremble at the Creator; ioht that the sinner should tremble before his Judges right that a child should give due honor to his angie Fa ather; therefore will the Lord look upon such a one with approval. The text means, next, that He will look upon him with care. You know how to use the expression, “I will look to him;” thus will God look to the man that trembles at His Word. You that can stand alone iy y look to ourselves; but he that trembles shall

Bee sec Rater shall be firmer than a Elenite tread.

When you grow so self-satisfied that as the young

Re ‘man you can run without weariness, you shall both weary and fall. Oh, trust not in yourselves, but tremble before the Lord, and He will look to you, and see that no evil shall come nigh unto you! —

He that goes through life fearing has
NOTHING TO FEAR.

. Happy is the man that feareth alway,” says the

Word of the Lord. He that is afraid of falling under

a trial, and cries, “Lead me not into temptation, but

-deliver me from evil,” he shall be kept from sin; but he who rashly rushes into temptation shall fall by it. ‘He who watches by day as well as by night, puts on this armor when there seems to be no war, and carries his sword always drawn even when there is no enemy visible, oh, that is the man who shall cope with the

deadly enemy of souls! The Holy Ghost is in him,

and the Lord has regard unto him; he shall not fall by the hand of the enemy. Though oftentimes he trembles, he shall be safe at last. Glory shall thus be given to God that helped him. The self-confident

would not have glorified God if he had succeeded, for

he would have thrown up his cap inside the gates of heaven, and magnified his own name. As for this ‘man, he doffs his crown. ‘Von nobis, Domine,” he cries, when he enters heaven. ‘Not unto us, not

unto us, O Lord,” is still his cry. Unto Him that loved us and washed us from our sins in His blood; unto Him that kept us from falling, and preserved us to His kingdom and glory, unto Him shall be all honor. Every man who this day trembles at God’s Word says, “Amen” to this. God bless you, My beloved! The Lord Himself look to you, and dwell with you!