Covenanter Witness Vol. 53 - Rparchives.org

us."crimson."unequal,"vation?"call."Whengrow."power."completion, yet to His people to whom He gives anappointed time here upon the earth, He applies itprogressively and often so slowly as to be imperceptible to us, and like Israel in the wilderness, ourway."souls become "discouraged because of theWe need to be reminded that it is a long, longway we have to go. As Dr. Watson in his "Body ofDivinity"expresses it, "Men do not leap out of Delilah's lap into Abraham's bosom in the selfsameleap."Verily verily between those two conditions oflife there lies a great fixed gulf over which no onecan pass, even in this state of grace,where gracereigns abundantly over sin and death, without beingtransformed by grace into that condition of life thatmakes the believer meet and fit for the inheritanceof the saints in light and glory. This is not spoken ofthose only whose sins are "dyed red likeThere is no scale of prices in Redemption. It costsour Redeemer His life's blood to redeem from theleast sin as well as to redeem from the greatest sin,to extend common grace as to extend special andsaving grace ; to exercise mercy to His enemies thatslew and hanged Him on the tree, together with allthat united with them throughout all generations,in saying, "We will not have this man to reign overAll the love and the kindness of our Lord andSaviour Jesus Christ that has been bestowed uponfallen mankind, or that ever will be bestowedthroughout the eternal ages to come, is upon themerits of His precious blood that cleanses from allsin.Notwithstanding God's gracious ways of dealingwith fallen mankind in the state of grace, in makingHis sun to rise on the evil and on the good, and sending his rain on the just and the unjust, He is oftenmisunderstood and His, "ways called theevil class accounting that God and His providenceapproves of their evil deeds, or in love, passes overthem, not knowing that the love of God is designedto lead men to repentance. Likewise His own peoplesometimes reckon that His providences indicate Hisdisfavor, not discerning that the trial of their faithis much more precious than gold that perisheth.Solomon observed that in God's providences,"one could not tell whether it was hatred or love."Often times it seems to be happening to the wickedaccording to the promises made to the righteous andto the righteous according to the threatenings madeto the wicked. The Psalmist tells us that this seemingfavorable treatment of the wicked almost causedhim to renounce his faith, until he went into God'shouse and there he learned the solution of his problem. That is, that this condition of life is only temporary and that God is working out His plan of redemption in men's lives.The manner in which these problems of life aresolved severs between the two classes ofmen, whichclass is serving God and which is serving Him notThe wicked base their hope too often at least, on Hisprovidential dealing by concluding that God is likethemselves, and approves of their sin. But theyneglect His word that reproves their sin and callsthem to repentance. The righteous observe Hisprovidences and seek a solution of them in His Wordand take heed according to His word. When God'sprovidence and His Word seem to contradict eachother, His Word is our rule always, instead of theapparent contradiction by His providence.376It is in the home life that thesequestions thatare hard to understand arise. One error of the people of God, or perhaps, we should say, the professedpeople of God, is to separate every-day living fromSabbath-day living; Church life from family life,while according to Scriptural teaching, they are inseparably connected. As before noted God's free giftof grace is applied only through His appointed meansof grace. In order therefore to become partakers ofHis grace, we must fulfill the requirements He makesof us to be partakers or be confronted with the question, "How shall we escape if we neglect so great salAs believers in the Calvinistic doctrine weemphasize God's Justice in our salvation, but in sodoing we in no wise minimize our own part. Whilerelying entirely upon God for our salvation, we laboras diligently to promote it as if it all depended on ourefforts. For His Word commands us to work out ourown salvation with fear and trembling for it isGod that worketh in us both to will and do His goodpleasure. Also His command is "Ask, seek, knock,strive to enter in at the strait Mosesgate."delivered to Israel God's law, testimonies, statutesand judgments, he told them it is not in vain foryou to take heed to these things for it is your life.To sum matters up, the work of grace is a continuouswork. One that cannot be accomplished merely bychurch attendance, Sabbath School and evangelisticwork. It must combine home worship with publicworship. It is in the home where most of life is spentarid there the greatest progress in sanctificationtakes place. Where there is no family altar, there isno evidence of God's presence in the home. Neglecting family worship and parental instruction separates the family from God. It is the daily devotionsthat keep the family in daily contact with God. ThePsalmist says, "Seven times a day it is my care togive due praise to thee." In our present day devotions we could outline them as follows: Privateprayer, morning and evening, twice. Morning andevening family worship, twice. Giving thanks atmeals three times, making a total for the day seven.It is through the daily exercise of grace, thatgrace is imparted to the believer. No one entersheaven without knowing how he got there. In producing the change from sin to salvation, the Spirit ofGod does no violence to the will of His creatures. Heenlightens the mind as He renews the will, and thisenlightenment of the mind brings us into the stateof mind that causes us to desire to be changed. Itwas "After I was turned that I repented and after Iwas instructed that I smote upon my breast," yea,"They are a willing people in the day of HisParents should be as much concerned about the salvation of their children as they are about their ownpersonal salvation.King David's declaration of his hope in thecovenant God had made with him contains a sadlack, "although it be not so with my house, yet Hehath made with me an everlasting covenant, orderedin all things and sure ; this is all my salvation and allmy desire although He make it not to Ourchurch covenant contains the lacking elements inDavid's personal covenant, "The promise is unto youand your children and as manyGod shallas the Lord ourOh the joy in the day of final accounts, whenthe judge of all the earth shall say unto Pastors andCOVENANTER WITNESS