Let me give you four rules for this " walk." (1) Start from Christ. Believe, and do not doubt your forgiveness, — that you have an interest in Christ. The only setting-out point must be the foot of the cross. (2) Walk with Christ. Feel Him at your side. Eealise your union then. " How can two walk together except they be agreed ? " (3) Walk leaning on Christ. That is the most true and beautiful picture of the Christian in the whole Bible, — " Who is this that cometh up from the wilder- ness, leaning upon her Beloved ? " Up, up, out of a world which has become a barren wilderness, — for the superior joys you now 17
258 THE GREAT TEXTS OF THE BIBLE
taste ; " leaning," leaning on one she dearly loves. And then (4) walk to Christ. I know it is a long, rugged, steep road to go ; but you are going home ; and you are going to Jesus ! There- fore go ; " looking unto Jesus, the Author and Finisher of our Faith ; who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame ; and is now set down " at the very place where you are going.^
U The United States in 1861 took up the sword in the cause of the negro. A wave of passionate enthusiasm for the cause of the downtrodden and the oppressed swept over the land, and from every town and village in the Northern States there went young men to fight the negro's battle, singing as they went —
" John Brown's body lies a-mouldering in the grave, But his soul goes marching on."
I admire the United States in those days of splendid enthusiasm and hope at the beginning of the war, when she mounted up with wings as eagles, and ran, and was not weary. But I frankly con- fess I admire that great nation still more in the later stages of the conflict ; when the terrible realities of war came home to her ; when it became apparent that the deliverance of the negro was likely to be a long, costly, and bloody business ; when, in spite of defeat after defeat, she stuck doggedly to her task, sending regi- ment after regiment and army after army into the field, bating not a jot or tittle of her resolve; not soaring or running now, perhaps, but still " walking, and not faint." ^
IT Did you ever hear of a great mathematician who lived a long while ago ? He was one of the greatest mathematicians, and knew about the stars. He was an astronomer, and was a very learned man. And he has written his life, and he tells wh* happened to him when he was a boy. He says when a boy he got tired of mathematics, and was going to give it all up. He said, " I shall give it up, I shall never be a clever man." Well, very strangely, as he was thinking that, he saw a piece of paper on the cover of his book, and somehow or other, he could never tell why, he thought he should like to have it, and he got some water and damped it, and then got this piece of paper off, and on it was written, " Go on, sir ; go on, sir." And he said afterwards, " That was my master ; I had no other master ; that bit of paper was my master. I went on — I went on ; I would not give it up, and all through my life that has been my master, and to it I owe everything."^
1 J. Vaiighan, ^ J. D. Jones. ' J. Vaughan.
The Bruised Keed and the Smoking Flax.
U V
Literature.
Dykes (J. 0.), Plai7i Words on G-reat Themes, 131.
Jeffrey (R. T.), Visits to Calvary, 284,
Jordan (W. G.), Prophetic Ideas and Ideals, 253.
Manning (H. E.), Sermons, ii. 377.
Matheson (G.), Voices of the Spirit, 66.
Maurice (F. D.), Prophets and Kings, 292.
Oosterzee (J. J. van), The Year of Salvation, i. 20.
Pearce (J.), Life on the Heights, 138.
Punshon (W. M.), Sermons, i. 18.
Selby (T. G.), The Imperfect Angel, 1.
Smellie (A.), In the Hour of Silence, 92.
Spurgeon (C. H.), Metropolitan Tabernacle Pulpit, xxxi. No. 1831.
Wells (J.), Bible Images, 19.
Wilkinson (G. H.), The Invisible Glory, 46.
Windross (H.), Life Victorious, 197.
Christian World Pulpit, x. 177 (Smith) ; xiv. 291 (Hubbard) ; xv. 241
(Sbort). Church Pulpit Yea/r Book, vii. 3.
The Bruised Reed and the Smoking Flax.
He shall not cry, nor lift up, nor cause his voice to be heard in the street. A bruised reed shall he not break, and the smoking flax shall he not quench. — xlii. 2, 3.
With this chapter we reach a distinct stage in the prophecy of this book. The preceding chapters have been occupied with the declaration of the great, basal truth, that Jehovah is the One Sovereign God. This has been declared to two classes of hearers in succession — to God's own people, Israel, in chap, xl., and to the heathen in chap. xli. Having established His sovereignty, God now publishes His will, again addressing these two classes according to the purpose which He has for each. He has vindicated Himself to Israel, the Almighty and Eighteous God, who will give His people freedom and strength ; He will now define to them the mission for which that strength and freedom are required. He has proved to the Gentiles that He is the one true God : He will declare to them now what truth He has for them to learn. In short, to use modern terms, the apologetic of chaps. xl.-xli. is succeeded by the missionary programme of chap. xlii.