May 1

They are men wondered at. - Zechariah 3:8.

THE subjects of divine grace are like him to whom they belong, and whose name is “The Wonderful.” They are for signs and for wonders. “I am a wonder unto many,” says David; and, indeed, the experience of Christians in general is strange to the people of the world. Their language to them seems paradoxical when they say, “I am crucified with Christ; nevertheless, I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh, I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me.” The people of the world think it strange that they run not with them to the same excess of riot. They are amazed when they see that they can turn their backs upon those amusements and dissipations, which seem essential to their very life; and they often imagine that it is mere affectation in Christians to do this-that their hearts are still after these things; for they are not in the secret. They know not that they have discovered pleasures infinitely superior-that they are thus weaned from worldly indulgences; so that they are astonished when they see them in their trials “possessing their souls in patience,” and sometimes even rejoicing in tribulation.

The reason they are so amazed when they see this in Christians, is because they do not see all. They see their troubles, but they do not see their supports. They see the burdens which press them down, but they do not see the “everlasting arms” underneath them. They do not see what access they have to the throne of the heavenly grace; how they bathe their weary souls in the streams of that river which maketh glad the city of God; how by waiting upon God their strength is renewed. They are astonished when they see them going on cheerfully in their religious course, though they gain by it no worldly honour or wealth; nay, often lose the friendship of their connections, and draw upon them the abuse and reproach of their neighbours.

The reason is, they know not the principles which actuate them. They are not acquainted with their grand attraction; “for the love of Christ constraineth us,” says the Apostle, “to live not to ourselves, but to him that died for us and rose again.” He says, “Lovest thou me?” and the Christian answers,

“Lord, it is my chief complaint

That my love is weak and faint!

Yet I love thee, and adore,

O for grace to love thee more.”