The secret of the Lord

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Chapter I. The Raven S Cry

' Pie giveth to the beast his food, and to the young ravens which cry." — Psa. cxlvii. 9.

' Ye shall know that I am the Lord, when I have wrought with you for my name's sake, not according to your wicked ways, nor according to your corrupt doings." —

Ezek. xs. 44.

F God will not help me, no one else can !" The words were spoken almost despairingly by a pale, sad -faced child of about five years of age. A fruitless search for some lost possession had left her overwhelmed with sorrow. She sat alone upon the ground, and gazed on the heavy clouds that crossed the sky in the dim autumn twilight. Having no one below to sympathize in her B distress, she looked for the first time from earth to heaven, experimentally learning, "Vain is the help of man."

The child had lost a treasure, and children's treasures are precious, and children's griefs are sharp.

The loss comprised a lock of her dead mother's hair. She had worn the locket containing it since the day she could remember anything. Nightly she was expected to place this on her table, that it might be seen that it was safe. She had neglected to do so, and now it was gone, — how or where she knew not, — and the child wept.

It was not for the ornament, nor yet for her disobedience, but for the loss of that brown braid of glossy hair in the tiny casket — the child's wealth.

She knew that the locket would be missed from her neck, and that she would be punished ; but what punishment could exceed that silent unshared sorrow ? The joy of her life had departed ; and though careless eyes observed that she did not eat, none remarked her sad face, or the absence of the chain.

" I wish it was Sunday," said the child. " I could go to church; perhaps God would hear rne there."

The child did not know that God's house is not made with hands, and that He is everywhere nigh to all that call upon Him. This was Friday, and two long days must intervene before she could make her request known to Him in church. The longest day however has an end, and Sunday came at length. Kneeling in the extreme corner of the pew with her face to the wall, observed by none but God, she told over the petition with which her heart was ready to burst, and ended as she began: "If You do not help me, no one else can." So she begged Him to send her back her lost locket, for He alone knew where it was. When her prayer was over, a strange peace fell on the heart of the little suppliant. She did not question that her voice had reached the ear of the Most High, who rules the world.

Yes ! gracious and Almighty God, Father of the fatherless, as one whom his mother comforteth, so didst Thou comfort her. Thou wert working for the desolate little one.

When she returned home, the sun shone brightly in her nursery, and glittered on the golden chain. Hastily she opened her casket and found her treasure safe. But she did not praise Him who had heard her cry. Only the soul that knows salvation through the Lamb slain can praise.

The power of the Lord had wrought on the conscience of the thief to restore the stolen article, and it was not until thirty years afterwards that the culprit was known.

Dear reader, that child now records the first remembered token of a loving Father's care over thy fellow-sinner, who by His grace would commune with thee by the way. In conscious helplessness I cast myself upon Him, who has redeemed me from death and hell, and I would show forth His praise. My cry is still, "If Thou wilt not help me, no one else can ! "

I know not how far this early evidence of a loving Father's care influenced my soul. Certain I am, that since I have known Him as my Redeemer and Lord, it has often made me

THE KAVEX'S CEY. 5

ashamed to lack the simple faith of a child. Through long years of sin and ignorance the remembrance of the recovery of my lost chain has made me realize anew that God, who feedeth the young ravens when they cry, will much more care for the soul that calleth upon Him.

Since He gave me eyes to see Him, daily have I been proving His wondrous power and willingness to help me. And yet, even when He has reminded me, "All power is given unto Me in heaven and on earth," I have fallen back upon my own miserable plans and natural understanding, as if I had not again and again proved that I had infinite wisdom and power to draw from.

It is written, " When the Son of Man cometh, shall He find faith on the earth ?" He will find works, abounding works, of the natural heart, in which He has no part as the Author, or Counsellor, or Partner; but of the faith that lives in Him, watches for Him, waits for Him, follows Him — how little !

And yet Jesus died to bring us near to the Father, that we might walk with Him, thus restoring the heavenly communion which Adam's sin had invested with terror and shame. The daily intercourse of confidential affection calls for no preliminary ceremony. Communion does not consist in a mere narration of wants or confession of failure. It is an interchange of mind, a giving forth and receiving. Neither are there any formal preparations to be gone through, nor set phrases to be uttered, before we acknowledge His abiding presence. "The secret of the Lord " has been well described as "that peculiar presence of God which is the secret of His people, with the assurance that they are His." Who that has known this " secret " has not thirsted for deeper and fuller revelations of Himself? He has been found of them while waiting in the sanctuary and watching by the way.

It was the living God, of whom I read in the Scriptures, that my soul longed to know. Seeking Jesus, my weary heart turned away from what was offered me instead : and I shall for ever praise Him for the sorrow, and sickness, and trial, which have beset my path; since thus, and thus only, have I known that all other refuges are vain. Often have I returned to my first childish prayer : " If You do not help me, no' one else can!" I have thus learnt to love the cross ere it has been removed, so many Peniels has it marked on my otherwise toilsome way.

When I am told that the desire of intimacy with my risen Lord is irreverent and unnatural, I test the foolishness of man by the wisdom of God. "The natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God ; for they are foolishness unto him ; neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned." (1 Cor. ii. 11) "Henceforth I call you not servants ; for the servant knoweth not what his Lord doeth : but I have called you friends." " If a man love Me, he will keep my words ; and my Father will love him, and we will come unto him, and make our abode with him." (John xv. 15 ; xiv. 23.)

Shall we read these gracious promises as if they were merely forms of speech, and treat the Lord of life as if He were a wayfaring man who tarries for a night? Is He not the light and centre of that temple in which He has taken up His abode ? Shall He be sought for in special emergencies when other help fails, while the flesh, in which dwelleth«no good thing, regards ordinary times and events as those with which the God who appointed them has nothing to do?

Each trial of onr faith hath its commission from the Father of spirits : in the end it will speak; if it tarry, wait for it. The heavenly Master has still His eye upon His weary followers toiling in rowing, and each wave of circumstance bears Him on its crest. Listen ! His voice is in the storm ; and believe that each billow is appointed by the Lord, whom winds and waves obey : " It is I, be not afraid."

We are not required to live above circumstances ; they are assigned to us that we may obtain therein a deeper. experience of the love and wisdom of Him to whom all power is given in heaven and on earth.

The encouraging "Fear nots!" with which the Holy Scriptures abound, promise us help and companionship through the rivers, not above them , safety in the fires, not escape from them , that we may behold His way in the sea, and His path in the mighty waters; that

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the Father may be glorified in the life of Christ manif( sted in us by the Holy Ghost.

If the eye of faith is withdrawn from Christ crucified, be assured that how much soever of theoretical and doctrinal knowledge we may possess, and however fervent the aspiration and utterance of religious sentiment may be, we shall be barren and unfruitful, and fail of the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.

It is the Spirit's presence in us that tells whence our life springs. Whether in the warehouse or the shop, in the poorest hovel or in the mansion of the rich and noble, the child of God is called to witness for Him. The power of testimony that one solitary soul may possess will carry its influence through time and eternity. "The Lord hath set apart him that is godly for Himself: the Lord will hear when he calleth unto Him." "I have declared, and have saved, and I have showed, when there was no strange god among you : therefore ye are my witnesses, saith the Lord, that I am God." (Psalm iv. 3 ; Isaiah xliii. 12.)

The coast of Cornwall, particularly in and near Mount's Bay, is visited by the warm Gulf-stream, which is the secret of its healthful temperature. There is little alternation in the atmosphere by day or night. There is not much information to be obtained concerning this interesting phenomenon, but the influence is felt and seen, though the Gulf-stream itself is flowing unseen in the ocean, separated in a manner from the deep waters, through which it passes without mingling. The lands it visits are warmed by it; the air above, and in its vicinity, is soft and balmy ; exotics seen nowhere else in England flourish in its neighbourhood, and many an early blossom is put forth before the winter has elsewhere departed. In the caves of the rocks, and occasionally in some places of the coast, its presence is known by the rare and beautiful shells, which, carried safely by the current through the ocean, are left as the productions of a distant shore, and tell whence the stream flowed.

As I felt the soft influence of this genial stream in the months of early spring, it never failed to remind me of the hidden life in Christ — the positive blessing flowing from the fulness of the Spirit in the soul of a child of the light, dwelling in this ungodly world — a continual contrast to that negative Christianity, which lives only on the lips of formal professors, bringing neither warmth nor blessing to themselves, nor light nor gladness to others.

"The secret of the Lord is with them that fear Him, and He will show them His covenant." The worldling has no part nor lot in this promise. It is yours, child of God, to whom I write, saved and separated from the world lying in wickedness. Can you be content to walk in your blindness, in paths everywhere beset with danger, without heavenly counsel and companionship ? Can you endure the benumbing cares of life without carrying them separately to the mighty Counsellor, that common things may be cleansed and sanctified to His service? For if there is any matter of/ which it can be said, "I cannot ask the bless-fl ing of the Lord on this," then neither ought 'it '. to be an occupation in which His follower I should be found.

Search the Scriptures; they testify of Him with whom I pray you to walk a day's journey.

Be assured, if your heart burn within you, that the Son of man has made one of our company. May God the Holy Ghost reveal Him more and more to His waiting people, and open their understanding, that they may know Jesus : then will they surely seek their brethren, and tell what things were done in the way.

Let the perplexed and dispirited traveller eat of the bread that cometh down from heaven ; the Lord shall be known in the breaking thereof. Strengthened in His strength, he shall realize the promise of the Father, and rejoice in the assurance of Him who cannot lie : " Lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world." (Matt, xxviii. 20.) May it be said, "And it came to pass, that while they communed together and reasoned, Jesus Himself drew near, and went with them." (Luke xxiv. 15.)

THE SOUL'S PETITION.

"Ask, and it shall be giyen you."— Matt. vii. 7. Oh for a priceless crown of stars

To cast before the throne, And a seraph's voice of melody

To tell what grace hath done;

THE KAVEN'S CRY.

To sing Thy praise, Lamb of God,

Who for the sinner died ; To tell the love of Him once slain—

Jesus, the Crucified.

Grant, Lord, unto this longing heart

Thy blood hath washed from sin, To image back Thy holiness,

As Thou dost dwell within.

Give me a will subdued and meek,

Obedient to Thy Word, To prove the might of Him who lives—

Jesus, my risen Lord.

Give to my hand a heavenly harp,

To hymn Thy matchless worth, To echo o'er the sea of glass,

While waiting still on earth : Cause it to break the sleeper's dream,

And downcast spirits cheer ; And to Thy watching people tell,

The Bridegroom draweth near.

Give, Lord— I ask it from Thy grace,—

The heart, the harp, the crown ; I ask them for Thy service here,

And all shall be Thine own.

I bless Thee for Thy love's sweet seal,

And nought Thy love can sever ; Lord, lead me on from strength to strength

To follow Thee for ever.