Evening, December 18
Go To Morning Reading
“Be thou diligent to know the state of thy flocks, and look well to
thy herds.”
Proverbs 27:23
Every wise merchant will occasionally hold a stock-taking, when he
will cast up his accounts, examine what he has on hand, and ascertain
decisively whether his trade is prosperous or declining. Every man
who is wise in the kingdom of heaven, will cry, “Search me, O God, and try me”; and he will frequently set apart special seasons for self-examination,
to discover whether things are right between God and his soul. The
God whom we worship is a great heart-searcher; and of old his servants
knew him as “the Lord which searcheth the heart and trieth the reins of the children
of men.” Let me stir you up in his name to make diligent search and solemn
trial of your state, lest you come short of the promised rest. That
which every wise man does, that which God himself does with us all,
I exhort you to do with yourself this evening. Let the oldest saint
look well to the fundamentals of his piety, for grey heads may cover
black hearts: and let not the young professor despise the word of
warning, for the greenness of youth may be joined to the rottenness
of hypocrisy. Every now and then a cedar falls into our midst. The
enemy still continues to sow tares among the wheat. It is not my aim
to introduce doubts and fears into your mind; nay, verily, but I shall
hope the rather that the rough wind of self-examination may help to
drive them away. It is not security, but carnal security, which we
would kill; not confidence, but fleshly confidence, which we would
overthrow; not peace, but false peace, which we would destroy. By
the precious blood of Christ, which was not shed to make you a hypocrite,
but that sincere souls might show forth his praise, I beseech you,
search and look, lest at the last it be said of you, “Mene, Mene, Tekel: thou art weighed in the balances, and art found
wanting.”