HEBREWS IV. i6 347
power of temptation in its might, and come scathless through the trial. " In all points tempted — yet witJioiit sin " \ therefore, to Him you may " boldly go to find mercy." ^
2. There is no fellowship with God possible on the footing of what people call " disinterested communion." No, we have always to go to Him to get something from Him. The question is, What do we expect to get? The text tells us. It is not temporal blessings, not the answers to foolish desires, not the taking away of thorns in the flesh, but mercy and grace to help — inward and spiritual blessings. But what are these ? The one expresses the heart of God, the other expresses the hand of God. We may obtain mercy as suppliants coming boldly, confidently, frankly, with faith in the Great High Priest, to the throne of grace. There we get the full heart of God. We stand before Him in our filth, in our weakness, with conscience gnawing at us in the sense of many infirmities, many a sin and shortcoming and omission, and on the throne, so to speak, is a shoot of tender ]ove from God's heart to us, and we get for all our weakness and sin pity and pardon, and find mercy of the Lord in that day. And then in getting the full heart of God, with all its Divine abundance of pardoning grace, and tender, gracious pity, we get, of course, the full hand of God to obtain mercy, and find grace, the bestowment of the needful blessings, the obtaining of grace in time of need, the right grace. There are no blunders in the equipment with which He supplies us. He does not give me the parcel that was meant for you ; there is no error in the delivery. He does not send His soldiers to the North Pole equipped for warfare in Africa. He does not give this man a blessing that the man's circumstances would not require. No ; God cannot err. The right grace will be most surely given to us to help us in time of need, or, as the words may perhaps be more vigorously and correctly translated, find grace for timely aid, grace punctually and precisely at the very nick of time, at the very exact time determined by heaven's chronometer, not by ours. It will not come as quickly as impatience might think it ought ; it will not come so soon as to prevent an agony of prayer ; it will not come in time enough for our impatience, for murmuring, for pre-
1 F. W. Robertson.
348 THE THRONE OF GRACE ill
sumptuous desires; but it will come in time to do all that is needed.
^ You remember the narrative of that great final battle on the plains of Waterloo. For long weary days brave men died by the thousands ; the afternoon of the last day was wearing rapidly away, the thin red living line getting thinner and thinner, the squares smaller and smaller at each returning charge — but at last, just before the daylight faded, just before endurance could do no more, there comes old Bliicher at last and gives the order, and the whole line bore down upon the enemy and scattered them. Ah, help came at the right time, not so soon that the courage of our brave soldiers had not been tested, but before despair had settled upon the ranks, and in time for a great and perfect victory. " Let us therefore draw near with boldness unto the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy, and may find grace to help us in time of need." ^
^ An old Scottish divine, Eobert Walker, makes some apt observations on finding grace to help us in time of need. The grace, he remarks, that we are encouraged to ask is grace for present need, and not present grace for future supposed necessities. It is no uncommon thing for serious people who suspect their own sincerity to forecast some trial of the severest kind, and to pass judgment upon themselves, according to the present state and temper of their minds with respect to that supposed trial. What shall I think of myself ? saith one ; it is required of a disciple of Jesus, that he take up his cross ; but so feeble am I, that my nature shrinks at the remotest prospect of suffering. Alas ! saith another, instead of desiring " to depart, and to be with Christ," death is to me the " king of terrors " : when I think of dissolution, my heart dies within me ; what shall I do when the fatal period is come ? By such unwarrant- able experiments do many perplex and discourage their souls, and weaken their hands for present duty. I call them unwarrantable experiments, because they are not only beside the Scripture rule but directly contrary to it. Our Lord hath commanded us to " take no thought for the morrow," but to leave the morrow to take thought for the things of itself ; because " sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof." GTrace to suffer is for a suffering season ; grace to die is for dying moments : then, but not before, is the time of need. Are you solicitous about grace for future emer- gencies ? Let me ask you, I pray, have you got all the grace you need for present duty ? If you think you have, I can, without