66 'Yes, in your latest moments, when with death For, as thy days thy strength shall surely be." And then there is the day of final judgment. That last day when all the dead shall be gathered around the great white throne of the Eternal, and hear from his lips the irreversible sentence which shall fix their everlasting destiny. Oh, the unutterable momentousness of that decision! How will you have courage to listen to it? How will you stand with any calmness before that awful judgment seat, and hear the records of the past, and the awards of the future? Ah, strength shall be given you in that trying hour-strength so unfailing and so indomitable, that you shall meet without fear the scrutiny of Him who is of purer eyes than to behold iniquity. The sweet assurance will then be yours that to those who are in Christ Jesus there is, there can be, no condemnation; that, clothed in the robe of his righteousness, and sanctified by the grace of his Spirit, you are faultless in God's sight. Who shall lay anything to your charge, when God himself will be your justifier? Thus his blessed promise, "As thy days, so shall thy strength be," will never fail. Through life, in death, and before the judgment seat, it will be richly fulfilled in your experience. Oh, the comfort of feeling sure that however wearisome and difficult the path of duty or of suffering may prove, God will impart to us adequate and appropriate strength, and guide us in safety to the heavenly Canaan ! Dr. Doddridge was walking out one day in a very depressed state of mind. His trials were at that time peculiarly heavy; he saw no way of deliverance from them, and he was greatly discouraged. As he passed along, the door of a little cottage was standing open, and he heard a child's voice reading the words, "As thy days, so shall thy strength be." The effect produced upon his saddened feelings was indescribable; his despondency vanished, and his heart was filled with peace and joy. Yes, one simple promise from God is enough to chase our fears, and cheer our hearts. Our wants and weaknesses are many, but he knows them all, and is both able and willing to supply our every need. Then let us "seek the Lord, and his strength; "* let our earnest and constant petitions at the throne of grace be, "Give thy strength unto thy servant;" "strengthen thou me according unto thy word." For it is they who wait upon the Lord that shall renew their Ps. cv. 4. Ps. lxxxvi. 16., cxix. 28. F strength. "Wait," then, "on the Lord: be of good courage, and he shall strengthen thine heart."* The faithfulness of his character is your security for the fulfilment of his promises; for, "The Strength of Israel will not lie nor repent;""Hath he said, and shall he not do it? or hath he spoken, and shall he not make it good?"‡ And his conduct to his people in past days, is a pledge of his readiness to help them now; for he is "the same yesterday, and to-day, and for ever."§ He has been a strength to the poor-a strength to the needy in his distress; and he is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble. "Let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need."|| There should be no hesitation on our part to apply for the strength which we require, for there is no reluctance on God's part to communicate it. In his hand it is to give strength to all. A sense of our weakness, and a cry for his aid, is the only pre-requisite for its bestowal. But how is this strength imparted? It is the gift of God, and through grace is laid hold of by faith. Faith is the hand which grasps and appropriates the promises, and thus fills +1 Sam. xv. 29. Ps. xxvii. 14. Num. xxiii. 19. || Heb. iv. 16. the soul with an all-sustaining, all-conquering energy. The Holy Spirit, by whom all spiritual blessings are bestowed, brings to the Christian just the strength which he needs, and teaches. him to embrace it by faith. That faith may be weak: but its efficacy depends upon the reality, not the degree of our faith; and therefore, if we sincerely trust in God, through Christ, we may assuredly expect that the aid which we look for, and for which we supplicate, will be granted us. Yet, while it is true that the smallest amount of true faith forms, so to speak, a channel through which God's grace flows into our hearts; it is equally true that a stronger degree of faith is more honouring to God, while it would lead us to anticipate, and prepare us to receive, a far greater measure of heavenly assistance than we now possess. "According to your faith," says the Saviour, "be it unto you; ;"* and therefore, if we desire to run without weariness, to walk without fainting, and to mount up with wings, as eagles towards our rest above, we should make the request of his disciples our own, "Lord, increase our faith."+ Your "wanderings in the wilderness," reader, may be now drawing towards a close. It will, then, not be long before you will be called to pass over the river Jordan, that you may enter the promised land. Yet, as we have seen, new trials may have to be encountered in the last stages of your lengthened and perhaps wearisome journey. There is no immunity from sorrow until you reach that blessed country, where God shall himself wipe away all tears, and give you that fulness of joy which is inseparable from his presence. But remember, aged Christian, the promise, "As thy days, so shall thy strength be," and hold the beginning of your confidence stedfast unto the end. As you think of the evening of life, the night of death, and the solemnities of the last judgment, resolve with the psalmist, "I will go in the strength of the Lord God; I will make mention of thy righteousness, even of thine only."* So shall you go on from strength to strength, until you appear in Zion before your God.t |