Part 3 (1/2)

But the pious reader may want to knohat is meant by the expression quoted above, nainal terms”

Well, it simply means this, that when God calls us to any special position or path, and we fall short of it, or wander froain And further, e set out under some special principle of action or standard of devotedness, and swerve fro us back to it True, He bears with us patiently, and waits on us graciously; but ”He always keeps us up to the original terms”

And can we not praise Hiht of His allowing us to fall short of His holy standard, or to wander hither and thither without His uttering a word to urge us on or call us back? We trust not Well, then, if He does speak, what must He say? He must just remind us of ”the old terms” Thus it is, and thus it has ever been When Peter was converted at the lake of Gennesaret he forsook all and followed Jesus, and the last words that fell on his ear from the lips of his risen Lord were, ”Follow thou Me” This was siinal terms The heart of Jesus could not be satisfied with less, and neither should the heart of His servant By the lake of Gennesaret, Peter set out to follow Jesus What then? Years rolled on; Peter had stuone back to his boats and nets What then? After the Lord's resurrection, as Peter, restored in soul, stood by the side of his loving Lord at the sea of Tiberias, he was called to listen to that one brief, pointed utterance ”Follow Me”--an utterance erasp all the details of a life of active service and of patient suffering In a word, Peter was brought back to the original terht to learn that the heart of Jesus had undergone no change toward hiuishable and unaltered; and, because it was so, it could not tolerate any change in Peter's heart--neither decline nor departure fro precisely in the history of the patriarch Jacob Let us just turn to it for a moment At the close of Gen

xxviii we have the record of the original terth ”And Jacob went out frohted upon a certain place, and tarried there all night, because the sun was set; and he took of the stones of that place, and put them for his pillows, and lay down in that place to sleep And he dreamed, and behold a ladder set up on the earth, and the top of it reached to heaven: and behold the angels of God ascending and descending on it And, behold, the Lord stood above it, and said, I am the Lord God of Abraham thy father, and the God of Isaac: the land whereon thou liest, to thee will I give it, and to thy seed: and thy seed shall be as the dust of the earth; and thou shalt spread abroad to the west, and to the east, and to the north, and to the south: and in thee and in thy seed shall all the families of the earth be blessed And, behold, I aoest, and will bring thee again into this land; for I will not leave thee, until I have done that which I have spoken to thee of”

Here, then, we have the blessed statement of what the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob undertook to do for Jacob and for his seed--a statement crowned by these memorable words, ”_I will not leave thee, until I have done that which I have spoken to thee of_” Such are the terms by which God binds Himself to Jacob; which terms, blessed be His nah earth and hell should interpose to prevent Jacob's seed shall yet possess the whole land of Canaan as an everlasting inheritance, for who shall prevent Jehovah Elohi His promise?

Let us now harken to Jacob ”And Jacob awaked out of his sleep, and he said, Surely the Lord is in this place; and I knew it not And he was afraid, and said, How dreadful is this place! this is none other but the house of God, and this is the gate of heaven And Jacob rose up early in the , and took the stone that he had put for his pillows, and set it up for a pillar, and poured oil upon the top of it And he called the na, If God will be with ive ain to my father's house in peace; then shall the Lord be my God: and this stone, which I have set for a pillar, shall be God's house: and of all that Thou shalt give ive the tenth unto Thee”

Thus much as to Bethel and the tered Hih heaven and earth should pass away, that pledge rity He revealed Hi on his stony pillow; and not only revealed Himself to him, but linked Himself with him in a bond which no power of earth or hell can ever dissolve

And what of Jacob? Why, he dedicated himself to God, and vowed that the spot where he had enjoyed such a revelation and harkened to such exceeding great and precious promises, should be God's house All this was deliberately uttered before the Lord, and solemnly recorded by Him; and then Jacob went on his journey Years passed--twenty long and eventful years--years of trial and exercise, during which Jacob experienced es, and varied trials; but the God of Bethel watched over His poor servant, and appeared unto him in the midst of his pressure, and said unto him, ”I am the God of Bethel, _where thou anointedst the pillar, and where thou vowedst a vow unto Me_: now arise, get thee out from this land, and return unto the land of thy kindred” God had not forgotten the original terality? Nay; it is the exhibition of divine love and faithfulness God loved Jacob, and He would not suffer him to stop short of the old standard He jealously watched over the state of His servant's heart; and, lest it should by any ently renificant words, ”I am the God of Bethel, where thou anointedst the pillar, and where thou vowedst a vow” This was the sweet expression of God's unchanging love, and of the fact that He counted on Jacob's reh and Mighty One, who inhabiteth eternity, should so value the love and remembrance of a poor worht to bear it h to take s froh to bestow the devotion of our hearts to Him; and if we, in the freshness and ardor of other days, set out to follow Christ, give up all for Him, can we suppose for a o His claim upon our heart's affections? Should we like Hi a matter of indifference to Him whether we loved Him or not? God forbid! Yea, it should be the joy of our hearts to think that our blessed Lord seeks the loving devotion of our souls to Him; that He will not be satisfied without it; that ander hither and thither, He calls us back to Hi way

”When, weary of His rich repast, I've sought, alas, to rove; He has recalled His faithless guest, And showed His banner, Love”

Yes, His banner ever floats, bearing its own inscription upon it to win back our vagrant hearts, and reinal terms He says to us, in one way or another, as He said to Jacob, ”I am the God of Bethel, where thou anointedst the pillar, and where thou vowedst a vow” Thus He deals with us, in the s He makes us to know, that as we cannot do without His love, so neither can He do without ours It is truly wonderful; yet so it is He will keep the soul up to the old ter appeals of the Spirit of Christ to His saints in other days: ”Thou hast _left thy first love_”; ”Remember from whence thou art fallen; and repent, and _do thy first works_” (Rev

ii); ”Call to remembrance _the former times_” (Heb x 32); ”Where is the blessedness ye spake of?” (Gal iv 15)

What is all this but calling His people back to the old point froht not to have needed this No doubt; yet they did need it; and because they needed it, Jesus did it It may be said, further, that tried love is better than first love Granted; but do we not find, as a matter of fact in our spiritual history, that upon our first setting out to follow Jesus there is a simplicity, an earnestness, a freshness, fervor and depth of devotion, which, from various reasons, we fail to keep up? We becoets in upon us and eats up our spirituality; nature gains the upper hand, in one way or another, and deadens our spiritual sensibility, damps our ardor, and di like this? If so, would it not be a peculiar mercy if at this very moment he were called back to the old terms? Doubtless Well, then, let hi and ready His love is unchanging; and not only so, but He would remind you that He cannot be satisfied without a true response from you Wherefore, beloved friend, whatever has drawn you away from the measure of your earliest dedication to Hiet back at once to Hier not Cast yourself at the feet of your loving Lord--tell Him all--and let your heart fully turn to Hi of all true service If Christ has not the love of your heart, He does not want the labor of your hands He does not say, ”Son, give Me thy ies, thy pen, thy tongue, thy head” All these are unavailing, unsatisfying to Hiive Me thy _heart_” Where the heart is given to Jesus, all will coht Out of the heart coht place in the heart, the work and the ways, the walk and the character, will be all right

But we must return to Jacob, and see further how our subject is illustrated in his fruitful history At the close of Gen xxxiii we find hiets into all sorts of trouble and confusion His house is dishonored, and his sons in avenging the dishonor endanger his life All this Jacob feels keenly, and he says to his sons Si the inhabitants of the land, a few in nuainst me; and I shall be destroyed, I and my house”

All this was most deplorable; but it does not appear to have once occurred to Jacob that he was in a wrong place The defilement and confusion of Shechem failed to open his eyes to the fact that he was not up to the old terms How often is this the case! We fall short of the divine standard in our practical ways; we fail in walking up to the height of the divine revelation; and although the varied fruits of our failure are produced on every side, yet our vision is so dimmed by the atmosphere around us, and our spiritual sensibilities so blunted by our associations, that we do not discern hoe are, and how very far short of the proper mark

However, in Jacob's case we see the divine principle again and again illustrated ”And God said unto Jacob, ”Arise, _go up to Bethel, and dwell there_; and make there an altar unto God, that appeared unto thee when thou fleddest from the face of Esau thy brother”

Reader, note this We have here awith souls There is not one word said about Shechem, its pollutions and its confusions There is not a word of reproof for having settled down there Such is not God's way He e with Jacob we should have come down upon him with a heavy hand, and read hi at Shechem, and about his personal and domestic habits and condition But oh, hoell it is that God's thoughts are not as our thoughts, nor His ways like ours!

Instead of saying to Jacob, ”Why have you settled down in Shecheo up to Bethel;” and the very sound of the word sent a flood of light into Jacob's soul by which he was enabled to judge his ”Then Jacob said unto his household, and to all that ith hi you, and be clean, and change your garo up to Bethel_; and I will make there an altar unto God, who answered me in the day of my distress, and ith etting back to the original ter in the paths of righteousness Jacob felt that he could not bring false Gods and defiled garht pass at Shecheave unto Jacob all the strange Gods which were in their hand, and all their earrings which were in their ears; and Jacob hid them under the oak which was by Shechem So Jacob came to Luz, which is in the land of Canaan, that is, Bethel, he and all the people that ith him And he built there an altar, and called the place El-beth-el; because there God appeared unto him, when he fled from the face of his brother”

”EL-beth-EL” Precious title, which had God for its Alpha and its Oa! At Shechem, Jacob called his altar ”El-elohe-Israel,” that is, ”God, the God of Israel”; but at Bethel, the true standpoint, he called his altar ”El-beth-el,” that is, God--the house of God This was true restoration Jacob was brought back, after all his wanderings, to the very point fro less than this could ever satisfy God in reference to His servant He could wait patiently on him--bear with him--minister to him--care for him--look after hi short of this--”Arise, go up to Bethel”

Christian reader, pause here We want to ask you a question Are you conscious of having wandered frorown cold? Have you lost the freshness and ardor which once et in upon you?

Have you, in the ot down into Shechearments become defiled? If so, let us remind you of this, that _the Lord wants you back to Himself_ Yes, beloved, this is what He wants; and He wants it now He says to you at this o up to Bethel” You will never be happy, you will never be right, until you yield a full response to this blessed and soul-stirring call O yield it noe beseech you Rise up, and fling aside every weight and every hindrance; put away the idols and change your garet back to the feet of your Lord, who loves you with a love which many waters cannot quench, neither can the floods drown; and who cannot be satisfied until He has you with Hial; it is nothing of the sort It is the love of Jesus--His deep, glowing, earnest love--love which is jealous of every rival affection--love which gives the whole heart, and must have a whole heart in return May God the Holy Ghost bring back every wandering heart to the true standard! May He visit with fresh power every soul that has gone down to Shecheive no rest until a full response has been yielded to the call, ”ARISE, GO UP TO BETHEL”

(John xxi 1-19)

A careful study of these verses will enable us to trace in them three distinct kinds of restoration, namely, restoration of conscience, restoration of heart, and restoration of position

I The first of these, restoration of conscience, is of all-importance It would be utterly impossible to overesti conscience A Christian cannot get on if there is a single soil on his conscience He must walk before God with a pure conscience--a conscience without stain or sting Precious treasure! May my reader ever possess it! but in each it inal terms

It is very obvious that Peter possessed it in the touching scene ”at the sea of Tiberias” And yet he had fallen--sharievously fallen He had denied his Lord with an oath; but he was restored One look from Jesus had broken up the deep fountains of his heart, and drawn forth floods of bitter tears And yet it was not his tears, but the love that drew theh restoration of conscience It was the changeless and everlasting love of the heart of Jesus--the divine efficacy of the blood of Jesus--and the all-prevailing power of the advocacy of Jesus, that imparted to Peter's conscience the boldness and liberty so strikingly and beautifully exhibited on the memorable occasion before us