voices he heard and verily thought the whisperings of the Accuser sprang from his own mind. He dared not turn to some for help for their very hilarity discouraged him. And what a failure many devotional writers and spiritual helpers turned out to be! He was not helped out of his dungeon by experts. When he emerged, he had sympathy he had never had before for all similarly afflicted. But, although many helpers failed, he became well acquainted with some rare and precious souls both of the past and present who did not disappoint him. What a fresh debt to dear old John Bunyan! Modern psychia trists would have a picnic analyzing the Bedford tink- Thousands of immigrants have looked eagerly for the lighteci torch of the Statue of Liberty as their ship has steamed into New York harbor. We sing "O u r Fathers' God, to Thqe, A u thor of Liberty, To Thee we sing.",. In what sense is God the "Author of Lib erty?" Through a plan by which everybody can be truly free: free from the burden of sin and despair. One of the hardest things in the world is for a man to admit that he ever misses the standard which God has set. Yet the Scriptures inform us that "A ll have sinned, and come short of the glory of God" (Romans 3:23). God sent His Son, Jesus Christ, to bear the burden of the world's sin. When He is allowed to come into your heart and life, the fetters of sin are broken and for the first time you realize what liberty really means. Everyone desires to have freedom from the power'of the dictator's hand, but even more important is the necessity of knowing we are free from the power of sin and counted right eous in God's sight. Jesus Christ said: "The Spirit of the Lord is upon me . . . he hath sent me to heal the broken-hearted, to preach deliverance to the captives . . . to set at lib erty them that are bruised" (Luke 4:18). T H A T is real liberty, and it can be yours despite any circumstances which surround you. Available in printed form from the American Tract Society, Oradell, New Jersey. er’s ups and downs, but that immortal pilgrim knew more about the human heart than all the experts of today. What has better described the misgivings of some of us than Christian (who is of course Bunyan him self) saying in the Valley when he perceived that God was with others similarly beset: “ And why not with me, though, by reason of the impediment which attends this place, I cannot perceive it” ? And Mr. Fearing himself! Alexander Whyte grows exuberant and says, “ Show me another passage in our whole literature to compare with John Bunyan’s por trait of Mr. Fearing.” Now I do not defend Mr. Fear ing nor do I hold him up as a model for Christian con duct. Perhaps he should have gone through singing in stead of sighing. Sturdy souls nowadays would now call him a neurotic. But I perceive that he did not get into as much trouble with sin and Satan as some of the LIBERTY Richard Woike
hardier souls. “ The highest flames,” says Jeremy Tay lor, “are the most tremulous” and the pilgrim who quakes in his boots, whatever else he may be.gqilty of, will not likely rush into the rash and precipitate sins that so often ensnare the bold and venturous traveler. We are to work out our salvation with fear and trem bling and pass the time of our sojourning here in fear. Mr. Fearing may be afraid of the wrong things but even at that he will learn more readily the right kind of fear than he who boasts of no fear at all. According to Bunyan God was very good to Mr. Fearing and when the poor soul got to the river where he thought he should be drowned forever and so never see that Face with comfort that he had come so many miles to behold, no such thing happened. Instead, the water of the river was lower than ever and he went over “ not much above wetshod.” And dear Alexander MacLaren with his matchless sermon on “ The Witness of the Spirit!” He is very patient with Mr. Fearing. “ There are none so far away from false confidence,” says he, “as those who tremble lest they be cherishing it . . . There may be, and there often is, the combination of a real confidence and a false diffidence, the presence of faith, and the doubt whether it be present.” Now the real trouble with such fearful ones is that they have a misplaced fear. They are fearful about the wrong things. I have already hinted at i t : they should cease worrying about their acceptance and cultivate the godly fear of our texts. We have only to commit the keeping of our souls unto the faithfql Creator; our Lord will keep all we commit unto Him against that day. But we do well to exercise another kind o f fear, not dread, but a holy and reverent fear of God. The man who lives that way is far nearer the spirit of the New Testament than the glib, flippant sort who has never tasted deeply of human misery. The old hymnwriters thought the Christian life to be serious business. They were bidding their souls be on guard and would have them stretch every nerve and press on with vigor. They would not be carried to the skies on flowery beds of ease. They envisioned a fight and a struggle and they would give all diligence to make their calling and election sure. They made it life’s supreme concern to walk circumspectly; they worked at it and prayed over it and were profoundly concerned lest they be castaways. They were burdened over the plague of their hearts and the poverty of their souls. They were bur dened over the state of the church and the plight of the world. Ezekiel’s man with the inkhorn would have marked them because they did mourn for the abomina tion of their generation. Dear friend, if you are set in a somber key, God can use you. He starts with the bass in stringing His instruments and today He has all too few serious souls to offset the high-pitched piping of our time. Turn your tendencies to good account. You will be in the company of Jeremiah weeping over his people and Paul willing to be accursed that Israel might be saved . . . and the Lord Himself with His heart broken for us all. And what shall we say of Augustine and Rutherford and McCheyne and Fletcher and Fox and all that im mortal host who truly passed the time of their sojourn ing here in fear? Surely this present hour is not conducive to levity among God’s colony still here on earth. The crisis demands appropriate conduct and we had better be at our godliest as we tread our way through these days. Sobriety becomes the children of light and while Mr. Fearing should not be afraid as to his acceptance at last, he may well fear God in his sojourning now.
OCTOBER, 1964
9
Made with FlippingBook Online newsletter