and not be heard; they may cry and entreat in vain! Prov. 'Behold now is the accepted time; behold i. 24. 33. now is the day of salvation!' 2 Cor. vi. 2." "We're bound for yonder land, Where Jesus reigns supreme; THE BROKEN KEY. ON a fine summer day a minister was walking to the village of W, in order to declare the glad tidings of salvation to the inhabitants. He had arrived at the summit of a hill which commands the view of a large valley, studded by villages and hamlets, corn and pasture land, with clumps of trees scattered in profusion over the whole, when his attention was arrested by a woman standing by a small cottage which overlooks the vale. As he drew nigh, she said, "O sir, sir, I am glad to see you; how are you, and how is your family?" But before he had time to answer, she continued, "Have you such a thing as a key about you, for I have broken my key, and cannot get one to open my drawers, to get what I want out of them? O, what shall I do; I want some things so badly?" The minister, replying to the latter part of the request, said he had no key about him; and if he had, it might not open the lock. This was bad news to the woman, as she thought few were without keys of some kind. She stood making lamentation for her broken key, saying she knew not what was to be done without it. While looking round her, to see if any one was coming who might have a key to open her drawers, the minister asked her if she had ever heard of a key to open heaven; in plain words, did she know the way by which she was to get to that better country? for many missed heaven by trying to open it by a wrong key or a broken key, and cried at last, "Lord, Lord, open unto us!" "Ay, ay," cried the poor woman, I know how we are to get heaven opened very well; I am old enough to know all about that. If we earn our bread by the sweat of our brow, walk up to that we profess, pay what we owe, say our prayers, keep the ten commandments, and fear God, that surely will open heaven for us; and they that can say that, can say a great say. And now, sir, don't you think I have told you right?" The woman, from the confident way she spoke, seemed to have no doubt that she was right, and had the key to open heaven at hand. After a pause the minister shook his head, and said, "Ah, my friend, these things you mention will no more open heaven, than your broken key will open your drawers; for among all the things you have mentioned, you have forgot the main thing. I assure you that your best deeds, hard workings, prayers and tears, will never, never open heaven. You must get another key." Amazed and astonished that her wisdom and knowledge were called in question, and that such a death-blow should be given to her good works, and that by one who, she had reason to think, knew what was right, having often heard him preach, she exclaimed with surprise, "What, sir! will good works not open heaven to us at last? What can I do, if the things I mentioned won't do? What did I forget in what I said?" ' "My friend, you forget the Lord Jesus Christ, what he did and suffered for sinners. It was Jesus who opened a new and living way, and by what he did in the place of the guilty; it is by his atoning sacrifice that heaven is opened to sinners, and by faith in his righteousness we get to that heavenly land. The word of God, in Isaiah, chap. xxii. 22. declares, And the key of the house of David will I lay upon his shoulder, (that is, Jesus;) so he shall open, and none shall shut, and shut, and none shall open.' Now you know that our sins have shut heaven's gates; and God proclaimed, in case any should try to open them by their works, 'By the works of the law no flesh living can be justified.' You know if works would open heaven, it would not have been said, 'Blessed are the dead which die in the Lord; they rest from their labours, and their works do follow them;' it would have been said, 'They rest from their labours, and their works go before them, to open heaven for them;' therefore Jesus, my friend, has the key, that is, the power, for he has power and authority in heaven and earth. He has the key of knowledge; he knows all his people's persons, their cases and cares; he has the key of authority and government in his church; he fixes ordinances, bestows gifts, and dispenses blessings, as it pleases him; he opens the door of opportunity to hear the word, and gives ministers the door of utterance. He opens the heart to receive the word, as, you know, Lydia's heart was opened to attend and hear the word gladly. Therefore you must throw away the broken key of duties, for what duty do you perform but there is imperfection, and consequently sin in it? Pray to Jesus to open your heart to receive his word, and depend only upon his word, upon his righteousness, which alone can give solid comfort." 66 'Ay, ay," said the woman, "I see what you mean now. It is Jesus alone we are to trust in, not in our works; and it is by what he has done that heaven is opened. But, sir, are works of no use then ?" "My friend, they are of use as a needful evidence of our love to Jesus; for if our faith in him is real, it will be attended with, and produce good works and a holy life. For when we believe in him, we love him; and when we love him, we obey him. Now, I entreat you to go to Jesus, believe in his word, and cry, with David of old, Open thou mine eyes, that I may behold wondrous things out of thy law.' Let the broken key remind you of your inability to get to heaven by your own deeds. May it remind you to seek the key I have been telling you of, then you will be happy; you will have unfolded to you treasures unspeakable, and full of glory, treasures out of God's fulness; and when you die, you will, through Jesus, be admitted into heaven, to dwell with him for evermore. Reader, are you trusting in friends to give you comfort? Beware, lest they prove as a broken key, a source of disappointment and grief to you; for, alas, many depend for aid upon the creature, and it proves as a broken key. cr Cease ye from man, whose breath is in his nostrils; for wherein is he to be accounted of?" Isa. ii. 22. Are you trusting in riches, honours, and amusements, to make you happy? These, alas, alas, are so many broken keys, that cannot open to you true peace and satisfaction. These things have nothing in them; they are vain and unsatisfying. Are you trusting that at some future period you shall believe, repent, and reform-that, though you are conscious that at present you are not on the Lord's side, yet you will be at some future time? Friend, if the resolutions you make are made in your own strength, they will prove no better than a broken key. If you are depending upon your works to take you to heaven, and, like the poor woman I have mentioned, forgetting Jesus, who is "all and in all," O how miserable will you be, if you die depending on this broken key! None, none but Jesus can make you happy, in time or in eternity; and let me beseech you to throw aside all self-dependence, and to rest your soul upon Jesus alone, clinging to that promise, "Him that cometh unto me I will in no wise cast out." A few more years, or months, or days, and we shall be brought to the gate of eternity. Jesus, by his messenger, death, will unlock this gate, and you shall enter-where? into the mansions of glory, or the abodes of woe? And then, friend, should you be among those who neglect Jesus, and put off the concerns of your soul, there will be no key in the world of misery to open a door of escape; the door of opportunity, the door of mercy, the door of heaven will be all shut, and instead of doors, there will be "a great gulf fixed." Repair, repair to Jesus; he stands knocking at your door for entrance. O, reject not his offers, but say, "Come in, thou blessed of the Lord; why standest thou without ?" Never, never, until Jesus is your Saviour, can you be happy. Never, never, till you renounce all broken keys of creature and self-dependence, will you enjoy true peace. A MINISTER'S SATURDAY EVENINGS. EVERY Saturday evening Dr. Staughton appropriated to conversation with persons who were distressed on account of their sins. It was his joy to point the trembling sinner to Christ. He used to say his Saturday evening engagements were a sweet prelude to the sabbath. A single example, which was related to me by a lady, who is now a member of the church where his principal labours were expended, will illustrate this remark. He had been stating a number of encouraging considerations to her mind, which seemed to produce but little effect. They were all adapted to the case of inquiring sinners; but she felt as if she had no part or lot in the matter. At length she said, "Ah! sir, mine is a peculiar case." His reply gave instant relief to her mind: "And Christ is a peculiar Saviour: 'He will bestow on Jacob's race Peculiar grace and glory too.?" THE ASSEMBLIES OF EARTH AND HEAVEN. RAISE your contemplations, brethren, at once, unto that state of perfect blessedness which is before you. In their nature and in their source, the joys of saints in heaven and saints on earth are the same; but in numerous circumstances they greatly differ. When we meet in his sanctuary now, the assembly is a mixed one. He that feareth God, and he that feareth him not, sit, and hear, and sing together; but, in the mansions above, the people will all be holy. Here, in their happiest moments, the saints find a sinful nature defiling their purest services; so that the brighter their discoveries of the Divine glory are, like Isaiah and Job, the more they deplore their uncleanness and abhor themselves; but there, not the least taint of moral defilement shall remain; their hearts, as well as their garments, shall be without spot or wrinkle, or any such thing. In our present worship we assemble only with a few of God's people. Though the iron rod of persecution does not scatter us abroad as it did our forefathers, and limit our devotions to the private parlour, or the prison-house, yet the conveniences of our habitations, and the requirements of animal life, render the congregations of the saints but little flocks. Also, centuries keep us asunder; we cannot walk with God in company with Enoch; nor join David in the procession to the tabernacle; we cannot unite with the apostles in their prayers in the upper room in Jerusalem, or accompany the strains of the martyrs who sung their hosannas as they embraced the stake. And place divides us from each other. We know that Divine worship is paid to the Lord by thousands in Europe, and that Asia and Africa are laying their tribute at his feet; but long intervening tracts of land and sea forbid our uniting in their assemblies. Variety of religious sentiment, too, gives rise to different congregations; we, as yet, see through a glass darkly, and know only in part, and prophesy only in part; but in heaven the assembly shall consist of a number that no man can number. All that have loved the Saviour shall form one glorious band. There all, of all ages and countries, and of all denominations, shall, with hearts and with voices for ever united, sing, "Worthy is the Lamb that was slain." STAUGHTON. |