A NEW YEAR’S GREETING
(Extract from a letter by Alfred Hewlett,
to readers of ‘The Gospel Magazine’, 1878)
(Note: A timely exhortation even for our day!)
….We have reached another of Time’s milestones on the way to the “city which hath foundations.” We are a year’s “march nearer home.” We have had our buffetings; our faith has been exercised; the faithfulness and love of our covenant God have stood the test of another year’s trial. We can say with them of old, “No good thing hath failed of all that the Lord promised; all hath come to pass.” But we often enquire, what is of the future? “Watchman, what of the night?”
A faithful watchman is bound to say the night is gloomy; thick clouds hang over our heads; we can scarcely see the way. We are in a strange position. Do we as a nation honour our God? Enemies to His truth are numerous on every side. The truth is assailed by those who have sworn to defend it. How is it with us? Are we walking in the light? It behoves us to be strong and quit ourselves like men. Let our motto for this year be:
“Above all, taking the shield of faith.”
That is, not our faith as our shield, but the shield which faith lays hold on, namely the declaration of our God, “Abraham, I am thy Shield,” and “the Lord God is a Sun and a Shield.” If we are enabled thus to lay hold on our God in His covenant character and relationships to our souls; if we thus get sheltered under His wing, we need not fear “the arrow that flieth by day, nor the pestilence that walketh by night.”
Christians, you are the salt, the light of this nation; “the holy seed is the substance thereof.” As God blessed Laban for Jacob’s sake; and the house of Obed-Edom for the sake of the ark that was under his roof, so He hath blessed this nation for the sake of His elect who are in it, for the sake of those who cry, day and night, for the abominations that are done therein. Let it be our care, my dear friends, to be earnest with our God, in prayer for our nation, for our rulers, for all those who are dear to us; let us look unto Him who is able to deliver, “who hath delivered, who doth deliver, and who will yet deliver;” and what a stability is afforded to the soul by the remembrance that “the Lord reigneth!”
However gloomy our feelings for our country may be, whatever struggles and trials we may foresee for true and faithful, bold and uncompromising Christians; at one time from a false and specious liberality, at another from the workings of superstition, tending to idolatry and leading to that corrupt system which only lacks the power to make its persecuting spirit felt as in days of old; of this we are sure, as we are of our existence, that it shall be well with the righteous; no weapon that is found against him shall ever prosper; “all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to His purpose.” They may be tried, even in the fire, but they shall come forth like gold; they may be forsaken of men, but never of God; they may be put into the furnac but shall only lose their dross. In fact, my dear friends, all these things will only tend to purify and exalt the dear child of God into his Father’s bosom and, in such circumstances, faith lays hold of its shield and the soul is preserved from harm.
That our gracious God may infuse His strength into our souls, and thus nerve us for every conflict and every trial, and enable us to sing to His praise continually, is the prayer of your loving brother.
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A Holy, heavenly walk, will command dread and awe from men and devils; upon which account the Church is said to be “terrible as an army with banners.”
Characters and Names of Messiah
Extract of a sermon preached by
John Newton
“Unto us a child is born;” in our nature, born of a woman: “Unto us a Son is given,” not merely a man-child, but, emphatically, a Son, the Son of God. This was the most precious gift, the highest proof and testimony of Divine love. The distinction and union of these widely-distant natures, which constitute the person of Christ, the God-man, the Mediator, is, in the judgment and language of the Apostle, the “great mystery of godliness,” the pillar and ground of truth….It is the central truth of revelation, which, like the sun, diffuses a light upon the whole system, no part of which can be rightly understood without it. Thus, the Lord of all humbled Himself, to appear in the form of a servant, for the sake of sinners.
“The government shall be upon His shoulder.” In our nature He suffered and in the same nature He reigns. When He had overcome the sharpness, the sting of death, He took possession of the Kingdom of Glory as His own – and opened it to all who believe in Him. Now we can say, He who governs in Heaven and on earth, and whom all things obey, is “the child who was born, the Son who was given for us”… [Those united to Him by faith] have, in one respect, an appropriate honour, in which the angels cannot share. Their best friend, related to them in the same nature, is seated upon the throne of glory. Since He is “for them, who can be against them?” What may they not expect, when He who has so loved them as to redeem them with His own blood “has all power committed unto Him, both in Heaven and on earth!”
“His Name shall be called Wonderful.” In another place the word is rendered ‘Secret’. It is true of Him in both senses. He is Wonderful in His person, obedience and sufferings; in His grace, government and glory. So far as we understand His Name, the revelation by which, as by a name, He is made known, we may, we must believe, admire and adore; but how limited and defective is our knowledge! His name is Secret. Who can “by searching find Him out?” His greatness is incomprehensible, His wisdom untraceable, His fulness inexhaustible, His power infinite. “No one knoweth the Son, but the Father.” But they have a true, though not an adequate knowledge of Him, who trust, love, and serve Him; and in their view He is Wonderful!
Another of His names is “Counsellor.” The great councils of redemption, in which every concern respecting the glory of God and the salvation of sinners was adjusted, were established with Him, and in Him, before the foundation of the world. And He is our Counsellor or Advocate with the Father, who pleads our cause – and manages all our affairs in perfect righteousness and with infallible success; so that no suit can possibly miscarry which He is pleased to undertake. To Him likewise we must apply (and we shall not apply in vain) for wisdom and direction, in all that belongs to our duty and the honour of our profession in the present life. In all our difficulties, dangers and cares, we must look to Him for guidance and support. This is to be wise unto salvation. His secret is with them that consult Him; so that, though the world may deem them weak and ignorant as babes (and He teaches them to think thus of themselves), they have a cheering and practical knowledge of many important subjects which are entirely hidden from those who are wise and prudent in their own eyes.
He is “the Mighty God.” Though in the office of Mediator, He acts in the character of a servant, His perfections and attributes are truly Divine. Only the Mighty God could make a provision capable of answering the demands of the holy law, which we had transgressed. Only the Mighty God could be a suitable Shepherd to lead millions of weak helpless creatures to glory, through the many difficulties, dangers and enemies they are exposed to in their passage. In addition, the honour, dependence and obedience, which this great Shepherd claims from His sheep, are absolute and supreme; and they would be guilty of idolatry, if they did not know that He is the Mighty God. Though real Christians, who are enlightened and taught by the Holy Spirit, may, and do, differ in their views and explanations of some revealed truths, I conceive they must be all agreed in this point. It is not only necessary to be known as the only solid foundation of a sinner’s hope, but it immediately respects the object of Divine worship. For if the Redeemer is not possessed of the incommunicable perfections of Deity, the New Testament, in its most obvious and literal signification, would be chargeable, not only with countenancing, but with expressly teaching and enjoining idolatry.
Further, He shall be called the “Everlasting Father.” He is not ashamed to call them brethren, having condescended to assume their human nature; but they are also His children. They are born into His family by the efficacy of His own word and Spirit. From Him they derive their spiritual life, being united to Him by faith and receiving from first to last out of His fulness; and He is an “Everlasting Father.” Our fathers, according to the flesh, are subject to death; but His relation to them subsists unchangeably and therefore they cannot be destitute; and He is thus equally to them all. They live upon the earth and are removed from it, in a long succession of ages; but He is the Father of the everlasting age, “the same yesterday, and today, and for ever.” “All generations shall call Him blessed.” To Him, therefore, the Apostle teaches us to apply that sublime passage of the Psalmist: “Thou, Lord, in the beginning hast laid the foundation of the earth; and the Heavens are the works of Thine hands. They shall perish; but Thou remainest; and they all shall wax old as doth a garment; and as a vesture shalt Thou fold them up, and they shall be changed, but Thou art the same, and Thy years shall not fail.”