Faith

James Smith, 1860 excerpt from: Fruit From the Tree of Life

Food and Medicine for the Soul

Faith is a solemn assenting to what God says, and a cordial consenting to what Christ proposes. God says, "I have so loved the world, that I have given my only begotten Son, that whoever believes on him should not perish - but have everlasting life. My Son shall be the Savior, the only Savior, the Savior of sinners in all places, under all circumstances, for all time. He shall save sinners as sinners, not in their sins - but from them. He shall save you, if you are willing to be saved by him, and will venture your soul on him." "I agree to this. I assent to what God says, and I therefore commit my soul into the hands of Christ, to be saved by him."

This is faith. Faith is consenting to Christ's proposals. Christ proposes to be a perfect Savior, to take the sinner just as he is, and save him fully, freely, and for ever. He says, "I will pay all your debts, and give full satisfaction to Divine Justice for all your sins. I will provide you a righteousness, and procure your justification at the bar of God. I will answer all the claims that may be made upon you, and all the charges that may be brought against you. 

I will overcome your foes, clear your way, advocate your cause, supply your needs, deliver you from death, and raise you to immortal life and glory. You shall entrust yourself and your all to me, and I will answer for your salvation. I will be your Surety - to pay all you owe; your Substitute - to do all that law and justice requires of you; your Savior, to save you with an everlasting salvation. You shall trust me with all, trust me to do all, and commit yourself entirely into my hands; so doing, I answer for your salvation." This is Christ's proposal.

"I consent to take Christ to be my Surety, Substitute, and Savior - to do all for me, and all within me, to save me by his grace, and to have all the glory of my salvation." This is faith.

If I assent to what God says in the gospel, and consent to what Christ proposes, thereby taking him as God's gift to be my Savior - I am a believer; and as a believer I am justified, I have peace with God, and I am assured of everlasting life.

For me Jesus lived a life of obedience;

for me Jesus died to make an atonement for my sins, 

for me Jesus intercedes that I may be with him where he is, to behold his glory.

His life was given for my life, his person for my person - so that I am saved from wrath, through him. He represents me, answers for me, and will keep what I have committed unto him, against the great day.

Accepting his proposal, I leave myself in his hands, I am satisfied of my salvation, and only live to honor and glorify his dear name.

Reader, have you faith? Do you heartily assent unto God's plan of salvation, revealed in the gospel? Do you consent to Christ's proposal, take him to be your Savior, and commit yourself unreservedly into his hands? If so, you are safe, and the ruling desire of your soul will be to glorify God for his mercy, and to honor Jesus for his wondrous grace. To please God, will be your daily aim; and to do good to all around you for Christ's sake, will be your constant delight. You will live, not after the flesh - but after the Spirit. You will walk, as Jesus walked, who has left us an example, that we should follow in his steps. 

The life you live in the flesh will be a life of faith in the Son of God; and a life of faith, is a life of holiness, a life of usefulness, and a life of happiness. In one word, if you are a believer, you will live not unto yourself - but unto him who died for you and rose again - and living in faith, you will die in faith, and so be forever with the Lord.

Faith is a solemn assenting to what God says, and a cordial consenting to what Christ proposes. God says, "I have so loved the world, that I have given my only begotten Son, that whoever believes on him should not perish - but have everlasting life. My Son shall be the Savior, the only Savior, the Savior of sinners in all places, under all circumstances, for all time. He shall save sinners as sinners, not in their sins - but from them. He shall save you, if you are willing to be saved by him, and will venture your soul on him." "I agree to this. I assent to what God says, and I therefore commit my soul into the hands of Christ, to be saved by him."

This is faith. Faith is consenting to Christ's proposals. Christ proposes to be a perfect Savior, to take the sinner just as he is, and save him fully, freely, and for ever. He says, "I will pay all your debts, and give full satisfaction to Divine Justice for all your sins. I will provide you a righteousness, and procure your justification at the bar of God. I will answer all the claims that may be made upon you, and all the charges that may be brought against you.

I will overcome your foes, clear your way, advocate your cause, supply your needs, deliver you from death, and raise you to immortal life and glory. You shall entrust yourself and your all to me, and I will answer for your salvation. I will be your Surety - to pay all you owe; your Substitute - to do all that law and justice requires of you; your Savior, to save you with an everlasting salvation.

You shall trust me with all, trust me to do all, and commit yourself entirely into my hands; so doing, I answer for your salvation." This is Christ's proposal.

"I consent to take Christ to be my Surety, Substitute, and Savior - to do all for me, and all within me, to save me by his grace, and to have all the glory of my salvation." This is faith.

If I assent to what God says in the gospel, and consent to what Christ proposes, thereby taking him as God's gift to be my Savior - I am a believer; and as a believer I am justified, I have peace with God, and I am assured of everlasting life.

For me Jesus lived a life of obedience;

for me Jesus died to make an atonement for my sins, 

for me Jesus intercedes that I may be with him where he is, to behold his glory.

His life was given for my life, his person for my person - so that I am saved from wrath, through him. He represents me, answers for me, and will keep what I have committed unto him, against the great day. Accepting his proposal, I leave myself in his hands, I am satisfied of my salvation, and only live to honor and glorify his dear name.

Reader, have you faith? Do you heartily assent unto God's plan of salvation, revealed in the gospel? Do you consent to Christ's proposal, take him to be your Savior, and commit yourself unreservedly into his hands? If so, you are safe, and the ruling desire of your soul will be to glorify God for his mercy, and to honor Jesus for his wondrous grace. To please God, will be your daily aim; and to do good to all around you for Christ's sake, will be your constant delight. 

You will live, not after the flesh - but after the Spirit. You will walk, as Jesus walked, who has left us an example, that we should follow in his steps. The life you live in the flesh will be a life of faith in the Son of God; and a life of faith, is a life of holiness, a life of usefulness, and a life of happiness. In one word, if you are a believer, you will live not unto yourself - but unto him who died for you and rose again - and living in faith, you will die in faith, and so be forever with the Lord.

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The Heart is not Right!

James Smith, 1860 Exerpt from: Fruit From the Tree of Life

Food and Medicine for the Soul

"Your heart is not right in the sight of God." Acts 8:21

So spoke Peter to Simon Magus, when he thought he could obtain power to confer the Holy Spirit for money. He had professed religion. He was a member of the church. He was a gifted man, and perhaps many thought he would be a useful man - but his heart was not right, and if the heart is wrong, then all is wrong. How many are in such a state now. 

Their creed is right. Their general conduct right. They pass muster among professors. But the heart is not right in the sight of God. Let us glance at a few of the many characters, by whom we are surrounded in the present day - whose hearts are not right; and may the Lord bless a few simple remarks, to the convincing of some, and the correcting of others.

Undecided man, or woman - your heart is not right. You ought to be decided for God - or against him. You ought to be wholly with the church - or the world. With you religion should be everything - or nothing. While you halt between two opinions, while you linger between the world and the church - you are wrong.

Formal professor - your heart is not right. There is no life, no power, no love in your religion. You read your Bible, you repeat your prayers, you sing your hymns, and you attend religious ordinances - but all out of form, or from a sense of duty. The love of God has never been shed abroad in your heart. The blood of atonement has never been applied to your conscience. The power of the Holy Spirit has never been felt in your soul. You are wrong. I hope you may not find out your mistake too late.

Fearful one - I mean such as are more afraid of man than God - your heart is not right. You are afraid of losing man's approbation, or afraid of incurring man's frown - afraid of losing some situation, or some of your wordily business, if you were openly to profess Christ. Afraid of poverty, more than you are afraid of God's displeasure. Afraid of persecution from man, more than you are afraid of Hell! You are wrong  - altogether wrong.

The hypocrite, the man who wears a mask, who pretends to be what he knows he is not - his heart is not right in the sight of God. You know you were never born of God, you know you have no love to God, or living faith in Christ; and yet for some worldly advantage, or to please some superior, or from some other unworthy motive - you pretend to be religious. You are wrong!

The worldly-minded, who are more taken up with temporals, than spirituals; who think more of money, than grace; who give their hearts to the world, more than to God - these are wrong. For if we profess religion, we profess to be quickened from a death in sins, to a life of righteousness - we profess to be risen with Christ, and we are therefore to set our affections on things above, not on things on the earth. Our hopes, our desires, our affections should be in Heaven; and if they are not, our hearts are not right in the sight of God.

The presumptuous, whose conduct contradicts their creed, who claim the privileges of God's people without a title to them, and the promises of God without true faith - are all wrong. They know nothing about a broken heart for sin, repentance unto life, or tenderness of conscience; but are bold, daring, and unfeeling, their hearts are not right in the sight of God.

The lukewarm, who decry zeal, fervor, and whole-heartedness in others, and are neither cold nor hot themselves, are wrong. God requires devotion, dedication, the constant presentation of our bodies, souls, and spirits to his service; if therefore we are half-hearted, self-satisfied, and indifferent to God's glory - our hearts are not right in the sight of God.

The backslider, who did run well - but has been hindered, who was thorough but is so no longer - he is wrong. Yes, yes, my friend, if your prayer-closet is neglected, if your Bible is unread, if God's ordinances are no longer prized - depend upon it, your heart is not right in the sight of God.

But if such characters are wrong, what shall we say to the covetous, the liar, the dishonest, the sly drunkard, the unfeeling? And yet there are many such, who wear a cloak of religion, and wish to be considered the friends of God, and the disciples of Christ; but God will never own them, Christ will never bear them in his presence - but will ask, "Why do you call you me, Lord, Lord, and do not do the things that I say?" And he will also pronounce their doom, "Depart from me, you cursed ones, into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels!"

But when is the heart right? When it has been . . .

quickened by the Holy Spirit, 

cleansed by the blood of Jesus, and 

is influenced by the love of God.

When its dependence is on Christ, and it is in union with Christ, and is ruled by the Word of Christ. When zealous for the Lord's glory, at home in the Lord's work - it beats in union with the Lord's will. Only, as the heart is . . .

inhabited by the Holy Spirit, 

consecrated to the Lord's service, and 

aiming supremely at the Lord's glory - is it right.

In the unregenerate, it is radically, entirely, and altogether wrong. Often, even in those who are born of God, is it partially, and for a season, wrong. 

Let us then bear in mind, that the Lord's eye is fixed on the heart, and that he searches the secret part of man. That though we may be deceived by our fellows, or even be for a time deceived by ourselves - yet God cannot be deceived. That the Lord will in his own time and way, show whose heart is right, and whose is not. Therefore, let us while we think of the awful and dangerous state of those, whose hearts are not right in the sight of God, be very concerned, that always, and under all circumstances, whatever else may happen, that our hearts may be right in the sight of God; for if the heart is right, everything else will be right in the end.

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A Prayer for Imputed Righteousness!

John MacDuff, 1856 

"Even the righteousness of God which is by faith of Jesus Christ, unto all and upon all those who believe." Romans 3:22

Almighty God, Father of all mercies, I desire to draw near into Your sacred presence on this the evening of another day, under a deep sense of my own great unworthiness. What am I, guilty, sinful, polluted - that I should be permitted to take Your name into my lips, or so much as lift up my eyes to the place where You in glory dwell!

I desire to renounce all dependence on myself. I come with all the great burden of my great guilt - to my great Savior. I seek to bring the unrighteousness of an unworthy creature - to the infinite righteousness and everlasting faithfulness of my loving Redeemer. 

Where would I have been, Blessed Jesus - but for You! All that I am, and all I have - I owe to Your free, sovereign, unmerited grace!

All my temporal mercies are sweetened to me as flowing from Your cross, and bearing on them the image and superscription of Your love. And for every spiritual blessing I enjoy, and every spiritual hope I entertain - I desire doubly to adore you, O Great Author and Finisher of my faith!

Whom have I in Heaven but You, and there is none in all the earth I desire besides You. You alone can fill up the aching voids of my heart. In vain can I look to a transient world, or to the perishable creature - for solid peace and permanent enjoyment. All my well-springs are in Yourself; with You for my portion I am independent of every other.

I desire this night to obtain a lively and humbling view of my own spiritual poverty and deep creature destitution - that I may rejoice in the fullness and all-sufficiency of that righteousness which is unto all, and upon all those who believe. In that righteousness I would seek to live - and in that righteousness I would seek to die. There is nothing else but Your righteousness, between me and everlasting ruin. 

But for You, O great Covenant-Angel standing in the breach - the fire of God would break forth and mingle my blood with this my evening sacrifice! But I "will greatly rejoice in the Lord, my soul shall be joyful in my God, for He has clothed me with the garments of salvation, He has covered me with a robe of righteousness." I take You, O adorable Savior, as mine alone, mine wholly; mine for all my needs and all exigencies. I rejoice in the inexhaustible riches treasured up in You - that Your fullness is adequate to supply all my present necessities; and out of that fullness I may still continue receiving, and that forever and ever!

O my Father, look in great kindness, on all whom I love. Pity a perishing world. Arrest the careless; reclaim the wandering; strengthen the feeble. Hasten Your Son's coming and kingdom. How long shall the wicked - how long shall the wicked triumph? Save Your people; bless Your inheritance; feed them also, and lift them up forever.

Let the curtain of Your protecting providence be drawn around me this night. Let me fall asleep at peace with You - ready, if need be, to awake up in glory. And all I ask is for Jesus' sake. Amen.

"Let my prayer be set forth before You as incense - and the lifting up of my hands, as the evening sacrifice."

This Prayer is an excerpt of John MacDuff prayer written in 1856  It is now available on Kindle for only $0.99 

 

A Prayer for a Child-Like Spirit

John MacDuff, 1856 

"My soul is even as a weaned child." Psalm 131:2

O my Father, I rejoice that I am permitted with filial confidence to approach Your blessed presence. What a privilege it is to have such liberty of access to the Mercy-seat - to look upwards to You, the Infinite One, whom the Heaven of Heavens cannot contain - and call You my Father and my God! Earthly love may grow cold or changeable, or perish; but "You are the same." The mercy of God is from everlasting to everlasting. Like as a father pities his children, so does the Lord pity those who fear Him.

Alas! I have to mourn too often an unthankful spirit amid all Your manifold mercies. I have been rebellious and wayward, ungrateful and selfish! You might righteously have surrendered me to my own perverse will; left me to the fruit of my own ways, and to be filled with my own devices. It is of the Lord's mercies, that I am not consumed! Infinite is my need - but infinite too is my help.

 I would seek to stand before You, O my God, in the nothingness of the creature, and to know the boundless resources treasured up for me in the great Redeemer. Unite me to Him by a living faith, as Your own child by adoption; may it be my great desire to glorify You, my Father in Heaven; cherishing towards You a spirit of filial love and devotedness, seeking to do only what will please You, and having a beneficial fear of offending so kind and forbearing a Parent.

Oh keep me from any sullen fretfulness, or unbelieving misgivings, under the strokes of Your chastening hand. Let me place no harsh constructions on Your dealings. May I see all Your chastisements tempered with gracious love - all to be needful discipline. Give me an unwavering trust and confidence in Your faithfulness. Nothing befalls me - but by Your direction; nothing is appointed - but what is for my good.

Let Your varied dealings conform me to the image of my adorable Lord. Let me be willing to suffer patiently for Him, who so willingly and so patiently suffered for me. Let me not so much seek to have my afflictions removed - as to have grace given me to glorify You in them, and in the spirit of a weaned child to say, "Even so, Father - for so it seems good in Your sight!" O may my heart become a living temple, my life a living sacrifice, breathing the incense of gratitude and love. Let me give myself no rest until in this soul of mine, I find a place for the Lord, a habitation for the mighty God of Jacob.

Sanctify trial to all Your sons and daughters of sorrow. Draw near to those bereaved of beloved relatives. Compensate for every earthly loss. May they know that You are faithful who have promised, "Lo, I am with you always, even unto the end of the world."

Have mercy on Your whole Church. Heal divisions. Bless Your preached word. Strengthen Your ministering servants, that they may be enabled to proclaim the whole counsel of God.

Take the charge of me, and of all near and dear to me, this night. Give Your angels charge over us. May no unquiet dreams disturb our rest, and when we awake - may we be still with You. And all I ask is for Jesus' sake. Amen.

"Let my prayer be set forth before You as incense - and the lifting up of my hands, as the evening sacrifice."

This Prayer is an excerpt of John MacDuff prayer written in 1856  The ebook is  now available on Kindle for only $0.99 

 

Prayer for Support in Death!

John MacDuff, 1856 

"Yes, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil; for You are with me; Your rod and Your staff they comfort me." Psalm 23:4

O my Father, I come to You this night through Jesus Christ, the Son of Your love - beseeching You to have mercy upon me, and to impart unto me that Peace of Yours which passes all understanding. Blessed be Your great and glorious name, for those hopes full of immortality which have been opened up to me in the Gospel.

I rejoice in Christ as the great Abolisher of death. I rejoice that the rainbow of covenant faithfulness spans the entrance to the dark valley; that all that is terrible in the last enemy is in Him taken away, and that I can regard these closing hours of existence - as the introduction and doorway into everlasting bliss!

Give me grace, O my Father, to be living in constant preparation for death. Let me not unprofitably squander my present golden moments. Let me live while I live - let me live a dying life. Let me feel that life is a trust given me by You. O You Great Proprietor of my being, may this all important talent of time be more consecrated to Your glory. Let it not be mine, when the hour of death arrives - to bewail lost and forfeited opportunities, when it is too late. 

Let me not leave until then, what best can be done and what only may be done now. May it be my earnest endeavor while it is called today to secure a saving interest in the everlasting covenant, and then I need not fear how soon the silver cord may be loosed, and the golden bowl broken. Through Jesus the darkness has been taken from death; and to His own true people - its shadows will melt and merge into the brightness of eternal day.

You are ever giving me impressive remembrances that "at such an hour as I think not," the summons may come, "Prepare to meet Your God!" The race is not to the swift - nor the battle to the strong. Truly every moment there may be but a step between me and death. Let me be so living a life of habitual faith in the Son of God - that this step may be changed into a step between me and glory.

O my Father, prepare all who may now be laid on dying couches for their great change. May their eyes be directed to Jesus. Pillowing their heads on his exceeding great and precious promises - may they fall asleep in the glorious hope of a joyful resurrection.

This Prayer is an excerpt of John MacDuff prayer written in 1856  It is now available on Kindle for only $0.99