December 3

These are they which follow the Lamb whithersoever he goeth. - Revelation 14:4.

OUR following the Saviour takes in three things. First, It must be free and voluntary. “My son, give me thine heart.” If it be given to him, nothing will be withholden. If this is withholden, nothing else will be acceptable to him, for

“He abhors the sacrifice

Where not the heart is found.”

What he requires he infinitely deserves; and therefore, to gain the heart,-to make his “people willing in the day of his power,” -he opens the eyes of their understanding, he unveils to their view his personal glory, makes them sensible how much they owe to him, and brings them to his cross and says, “Behold my hands and my feet.” “Thus he draws them with the cords of love and the bands of a man;” and they run after him, and find his yoke easy and his burden light.

Secondly, Our following him must be impartial. Hence it is said, “They follow the Lamb whithersoever he goeth.” It is true that their obedience while here is not perfect, but then it is not partial. They say, “Therefore I esteem thy precepts concerning all things to be right, and I hate every false way.” They come to him, not to bargain, not to prescribe, not to choose. They throw down their will at his feet, and their only question is, “Lord, what wilt thou have me to do?” “Speak, Lord, for thy servant heareth.” Thirdly, Our following him must be constant. The goodness of Ephraim was as “the morning cloud, and the early dew, which passeth away.” And the Galatians did run well, but they were hindered. “But he only that endureth to the end shall be saved.” When our Saviour was upon earth some followed him for a season only. One day a large number went back and walked no more with him, and our Saviour took occasion then to address his disciples, saying, “Will ye also go away?” But they said, “Lord, to whom shall we go? Thou hast the words of eternal life.”

We may be assured of this:-that what comes from God will also lead to him. Hence, says the apostle, “We are made partakers of Christ, if we hold the beginning of our confidence steadfast to the end.” And so it will be with all the subjects of divine grace. Each of them will be able to say, “To the-praise of his glory by whom we have been kept through faith unto eternal salvation;” and with Job, “My foot hath held his steps; his way have I kept, and not declined; neither have I gone back from the commandment of his lips; I have esteemed the words of his mouth more than my necessary food.” Or, with the afflicted church, “Our heart is not turned back, neither have our steps declined from thy way; though thou hast sore broken us in the place of dragons,” and “covered us with the shadow of death.” This is what the apostle enjoins upon the Corinthians:-“Therefore, my beloved brethren, be ye steadfast, unmovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, forasmuch as ye know that your labour is not in vain in the Lord.”