May he not expostulate with us and ask us, "Dost thou well to be angry?" Would not this question close our lips for ever? Dost thou well to be angry 01 desponding, when God hath forgiven all thine iniquities and re- moved them from thee, as far as the east ia from the west? Dost thou well to be angry wheu thou art delivered from the wrath to
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come, as well as from a present evil world, and safely lodged within the clefts of the rock with Jesus thy companion there ? Dost thou well to be angry when the Father's love is t hine assured portion, and the kingdom of the Son thine inheritance for ever ? Dost thou well to be angry when the night is far spent and the day is at hand, when the distant eastern clouds are taking on their rosy fringes, and the day- star is preparing to arise?*
* God's chastened ones will find many precious words of counsel and consolation in Samuel Rutherford's letters. Having been tried, he knew how to speak a word in season to the weary. Hear some of them — " I wonder many times that ever a child of God should have a sad heart, considering what the Lord is preparing for them." — " When we shall come home, and enter into the possession of our brother's fair kingdom, and when our heads shall find the weight of the eternal crown of glory, and when we shall look back to pains and sufferings, then shall we see life and sorrow to be less than one step or stride from a prison to a glory, and that our little inch of time-suffering is not worthy of our first night's welcome home to heaven." "However matters go, the worst shall be a tired traveller, and a joyful and sweet welcome home,'-
CHAPTER VIII.
THE REBUKING.
IT is worth while noticing the word which is used in the two well-known passages which speak of chastisement, "Neither faint when thou art rebuked of him."* " As many as 1 love, I rebuke and chasten. "t A little inquiry into its meaning, and a little comparing of texts will help to set it in its true light.
It is the same word used in Matt, xviii. 15 : " If thy brother trespass against thee, go and tell him his fault." It is the same word used in Luke iii. 19, when John is said to have re- proved Herod. It is the same word used in John xvi. 8, " When He cometh, He will re- prove the world of sin." We learn, then, from these expressions, that rebuke is not simply some stern word or frown, implying displeasure on the part of God, but such a frown as " tells us our faults " — such a frown as reproves or convinces us of sin. It is God's way of point- ing out what he sees to be amiss in us, of call-
* Heb iii. 5. f RGV- &• W-
9
98 THE REBUKING.
ing our attention to it as a thing which dis- pleases him, and. on account of which, if not put away, he must certainly deal with us in chastisement.
The word rebuke seems to imply something more gentle than chastisement. And it is of some importance to consider it in this light. I know not a better illustration of it than Christ's address to the churches of Asia. The especial preciousness of these lies in this, that they show us what the heart of Christ is when re- proving. What a discovery do they give us of this ! Let us hear him addressing them. Thus he rebukes the angel of the church of Ephe- sus : — " Nevertheless, I have somewhat against thee, because thou hast left thy first love ; re- member, therefore, from whence thou art fallen, and repent." Thus he rebukes the church of Pergamos : " I have a few things against thee, because thou hast there them that hold the doctrine of Balaam ; repent, or else I will come unto thee quickly, and will fight against thee with the sword of my mouth." In like man- ner we might qucte his other rebukes to the other churches as illustrations of our meaning. But these are enough. They show the gen- tleness of the reprover both in the manner and
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the language. They aie faithful, indeed, but how delicate, how tender, how mild ! They point out what is amiss with all distinctness and directness, yet in a manner the most fitted to win, and in language the least likely to offend. He begins each of them by making most gracious mention of the past services and excellent deeds of the angel of the church, as if desirous to show how willing he was to praise, in so far as he could, and how unwilling to blame, save when it could not be avoided. In listening to this voice speaking from hea- ven, we seem to hear the same meek and lowly one that once spake on earth, in the house of Simon the Pharisee. Wishing to re- prove him for his evil thoughts of the woman who stood behind the Lord, and washed his feet with her tears, he began thus mildly hig rebuke, " Simon, I have somewhat to say unto thee."