The holy spirit crown of beauty

THE HOLY SPIRIT CROWNOF BEAUTY
EDITED BY GLENN PEASE
Isaiah 61:1-3 1The Spirit of the Sovereign LORD is on me, because the LORD has anointed
me to proclaim good news to the poor. He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to
proclaim freedom for the captives and release from darkness for the prisoners, 2to
proclaim the year of the LORD's favor and the day of vengeance of our God, to comfort all
who mourn, 3and provide for those who grieve in Zion- to bestow on them a crown of
beauty instead of ashes, the oil of joy instead of mourning, and a garment of praise instead
of a spirit of despair. They will be called oaks of righteousness, a planting of the LORD for
the display of his splendor."
NOTE: Each of the phrases of this text are based on the fact that the SPIRIT OF GOD is
on him, and because the Lord has anointed him. This means that we have a great host of
wonderful ministries of the Holy Spirit just in these three verses. I am taking just one to
look at in this study and that is the crown of beauty for ashes.
Isaiah61:3 to providefor those who grieve in Zion--to
give them a crown of beauty for ashes, the oil of joy
for mourning, and a garment of praise in place of a
spiritof despair. So they will be calledoaks of
righteousness, the plantingof the LORD, that He may
be glorified.
"In this Scripture, God promises to give us beauty for the bitter ashes of
regretfor mistakes and wrong choices we have made that burned up our

hopes and dreams leaving us only their ashes to remember them by. God will
actually turn those ashes into something beautiful in your life if you will
release them and let Him." UNKNOWN
The Crownof Beauty
Greg Boyd
This weekend, we startedour “BeautifulLife” series!Sometimes, the state of
the world can make life look so ugly, but God is a beautiful God that wants us
to understand that life was meant to be enjoyed as beautiful. Godwants to
give us “beauty” in exchange for the “ashes”ofour everyday existence and
give us crowns that let us know who we were createdto be in God.
God is beautiful. God exists as an eternal, honoring, and loving relationship
going on betweenthe Father, Holy Spirit, and Son. God exists as perfect,
beautiful experience. Notonly this, but everything God has created, in some
way reflects God’s beauty. All of the beautiful things that we see, like a lovely
picture or bright sunrise, are just simple indicators of the beauty that God is.
The really coolthing is that we human beings have been createdlike our
Creatorsuch that we really enjoy participating in beauty. So, when we
appreciate and create beauty through loving relationship, we are being just
like God!
Unfortunately, our world has lots of ugliness. Painful, anxiety-producing
ugliness. Some of it is our own fault…but a lot of it just is! Because ofmuch
ugliness, we wearashes. This is a symbolic term for saying that we think of
ourselves and our lives from a largelynegative point of view. Understandably,
we mourn over the states ofour world and our places in that world. It seems
like the more we “wearashes”the worse things seemto get. It’s a vicious cycle
that leads to nothing to but despair and ugliness.
There is GoodNews, though! The Beautiful God has been incarnated in Jesus,
and has started the mustard-seedKingdom of God. In this Kingdom, all those

who are slaves to the waythe world tries to rush, define, and dehumanize us
will become free. God wants us to trade in our ugly ash-suits for beautiful
crowns. “Why a crown?” one may ask. It’s because Godcreatedhuman
beings to reign with him as earthly kings and queens who living in God’s love
and experience God’s beauty in the world. We were createdto live in freedom
and love. Every moment that we live out our days, the choice is up to us. We
can remain in ashes ofself-doubt, pain, and bondage. Or we can trust God to
give us the crownof who we really are in God. May we all continue the
journey towards living with our “crowns” oneveryday!
This whole text is about the beauty of Jesus, and so before we look further let
us look at the beauty of the king.
THE KING IS HIS BEAUTY. by BY REV. RICHARD NEWTON, D.B.
" THINE EYES SHALL SEE THE KING IN HIS BEAUTY." Isaiahxxxiii.
17.
THE KING IN HIS BEAUTY.
The King here spokenof is Jesus. This promise refers
to heaven. There will be many glorious things for us
to see when we get to heaven. But the grandest, and
the most beautiful of all, will be to see Jesus Himself.
3
The Apostle Paul says that there " we shall see Him as
He is." It must have been a blessedthing to have seen
Jesus whenHe was on earth; but that was nothing
compared to what it will be to see Him in heaven.

When Jesus was here, in this world, we have no reason
to suppose that He was remarkable for the beauty of His
appearance. We are not told, indeed, by the goodmen
who wrote His life in the Gospels, how He looked. The
prophet Isaiahis the only one of the sacredwriters who
has given any particular accountof His appearance
" when Jesus was seenamong men." And he speaks of
Him as —*'a man of sorrows, andacquainted with grief;
with no form, nor comeliness,and with no beauty that
we should desire Him" (Isaiahliii. 2, 3).
But it will be very different when we come to see
Jesus in heaven. There will be wonderful beauty and
glory about Him there. And those wlio on^ «xi^ ^^-r?^
4 . THE KING IN HIS BEAUTY.
Him here, will see all this beauty and glory there.
4
Jesus prayed for this very thing when He was here on
earth. In the 17th chapter of St. John's Gospel, we
have written out for us the greatprayer which Jesus
offered for His people, just before He went to be crucified.
In the twenty-fourth verse of that chapter, we have
these wonderful words —" Father, I will that they also
whom Thou hast given me, be with me where I am ;

that they may behold my glory, which Thou hast given me."
These words of Jesus, in His prayer, give us the best
explanation we canhave of the meaning of the prophet
Isaiah, when he wrote the sweetpromise containedin
our presenttext, ** Thine eyes shallsee the King in
His beauty." If you ask me to tell you what this
promise means, I would answerthe question by turn
ing to these words of Jesus in His prayer —" Father, I
will that they also whom Thou hast given me, be with
me where I am ; that they may behold my glory." The
King spokenof in one of these passagesis Jesus, who
is speaking Himself in the other passage.The " heauty "
that Isaiahspeaks ofis the same thing as the " glory "
that Jesus prays about. Isaiah calls it "the King's
beauty." Jesus calls it —^^ My glory. ^* Isaiah does not
tell us where this beauty was to be seen;but Jesus
tells us. He says it will be —" where I am.^^ And we
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know very well where Jesus is. Jesus is in heaven.
And every one who loves Jesus canlook up to Him^
and say—
** *Ti8 where Thou art is heavento me.
And heaven without Thee cannotbe."

THE KING IN HIS BEAUTY. 5
And so these words of Isaiahlead our thoughts up to
heaven —" Thine eyes shall see the King in His beauty."
We all hope to go to heaven when we die. If we
really love and serve Jesus, we certainly shall go there.
And so we should be interestedin hearing of what we
are to see when we get there. God has not told us
much concerning heaven. We should try to understand
all that He has told us. The Apostle Paul was taken
to heaven before he died, and then came back again to
earth. He saw " the King in His beauty " there ; but
he never told about it. He said he was not allowed
to tell what he had seen(2 Cor. xii. 4).
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And so we canonly leam about heavenby studying
what God has told us of it in His blessedWord. This
passagein Isaiah is one of the places in which it is
spokenof. "Thine eyes shall see the King in His
beauty."
And when we come to think of the beauty, or glory,
of Jesus in heaven, there are three things with which
that glory will be connected, and which we must speak
of, in order to understand this subject properly.

The first of these is —the place —where Jesus wUl be,
when we see Him in His beatUy.
We callthis place heaven. In the Bible it is com
pared to different things. Sometimes it is spokenof as
a paradise, or garden, full of all bright and beautiful
things. When Adam and Eve were first created, you
know that God put them in such a garden, or paradise.
In that garden, we are told that God made to grow
" every tree that was pleasantto the eye aui goofiiiatIqq^^
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6 THE KING IN HIS BEAUTY.
And we know they would have been perfectly happy
there, if they had only minded what God told them.
But Satangot in there, in the form of a serpent, and
tempted them to eat of the tree of which God had feaid
they must not eat. And then they were driven out.
In this way that Paradise was lost. But Jesus came to
restore it to us. ' And heavenis comparedto a garden,
because it will be a place in some respects like the
garden of Eden. It will be a "Paradise Restored."
But it will be better than that first Paradise, because
Satanwill never be allowedto getinto it to tempt us.
And we shall never sin, and never be put out of it.

Heaven is spokenof as a paradise in 2 Cor. xii. 2, 4,
and Eev. ii. 7.
Sometimes heavenis spokenof in the Bible as " a
cmmiryr Paul calls it —"a better country, that is a
heavenly " (Heb. xi. 16). The original word here means
a Fatherland. Canaan, you know, was the land, or
country, promised to the Jews. And while they were
toiling in Egypt, or travelling through the wilderness,
it was the thought of that blessedcountry, that pro
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mised land, that cheeredand comforted them. That
was a beautiful country. God calledit " a land flowing
with milk and honey ; " He saidit was —" a goodland,
a land of brooks of water, of fountains and depths that
spring out of valleys and hills ; a land of wheat, and
barley, and vines, and fig-trees, and pomegranates ; a
land of oil olive, and honey ; a land wherein they
should eatbread without scarceness, andnot lack any
tbing in it ; a laud whose stones are iron, and out of
THE KING IN HIS BEAUTY. ^
whose hills they might dig brass" (Deut. viiL 7-9).
And so the land of Canaanwas one of God's, types, or
figures of heaven. And when we read in the Bible

about the fertility and glory of that land, it should lead
us to think of heaven, the place where Jesus is, and
wh^re "our eyes shall see the King in His beauty."
Sometimes heavenis spokenof in the Bible as a
kingdom, where all is " righteousness,and peace, and
joy in the Holy Ghost " (Eom. xiv. 17). Sometimes it
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is spokenof as a temple, in which all God's people shall
worship, and serve Him day and night, without ever
feeling weary(Eev. iii. 12, iv. 8), Sometimes it is
spokenof as a buUding, a house, or home, in which all
who love God will be brought together, as one great
family ; all knowing and loving one another, and per
fectly happy in being with Jesus, where He is, and
" seeing the King in His beauty." This is the way in
which Jesus Himself spoke ofheaven, when He said —
"In my Father's house are many mansions;I go to
prepare a place for you " (John xiv. 2).
But the fullest description we have in the Bible of
heaven, the place where Jesus is, is when it is compared
to a city. In one place it is called" a continuing city "
(Heb. xiiL 14). In another place it is spokenof as —
" a dUy that hath foundations, whose builder and makeris

God " (Heb. xi. 10). But it is in the lasttwo chapters
of the Bible that we have the fullest description of
heaven. And here it is representedas a city. But it
is the most oeautiful city that any eye has ever seen, or
any earhas ever heard of, or any mndL;ia e^^x ^ovxj^
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of. Gold, and pearls, and precious stones, are the only
materials employed in the building of this city. Earthly
houses have those parts of them which only are seen
finished oflf beautifully. The foundations, and those
parts not seen, are made of very coarse, roughmaterials.
But it is very different with the house, or city, which
Jesus is preparing as our heavenly home —the place
where we are to " see the King in His beauty." The
very foundations of this city, even down to the lowestof
them, are made of precious stones. Eachofits gates
is made out of one vast pearL The walls and streets of
the city are all made of pure gold. Only think of a city
jpaved with gold; where the people walk on gold, and
where the gold is as fine and transparent as glass, so
that you cansee through it. How poor and mean the
grandestpalaces ofearthly kings become comparedwith

this!
How much beauty there will be in such a place as
this! We see a greatmany beautiful things in this
world of ours. A day in spring is beautiful, when the
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leaves are bursting open, and the flowers are coming
out, and the birds are singing, and the air is balmy,
and the sun is bright ; —^yes, a day in spring is beautiful
The rising sun is beautiful, and so is the setting sun. A
moonlight night is beautiful. Our world is full of
beauty. And yet this world is only the prison-house,
in which God keeps His disobedient children. But if
God can afford to make His prison-house so beautiful,
how much more beautiful must the palace be in which
His SonIB to reign as King and where His own dear
THE KING IN HIS BEAUTY. Q
I
children are to live for ever % When the Psalmistis
speaking ofthis place he says —" the perfectionof beauty "
is there (Ps. 1. 2). There is no perfection of beauty in
this world. Here the ripest fruit has some speck in it.
The sweetestrose has a thorn on the stem, or a worm at
the heart of it. The brightest skyhas a cloud upon its

surface ; and the sun itself has dark spots on its face.
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There is something to mar the beauty of all our brightest
things in this world. But in that world, —that city, —
that place where Jesus is —there will be nothing to mar
the beauty that is seeneverywhere. It will all be " the
perfection of beauty."
A little girl was gazing up at the starry skyone clear
night. She seemedto be very much occupiedin think
ing about something. Her mother said to her, " What
are you thinking about, my dear % "
" O mamma ! " she said, " I was thinking if the
dMde of heavenis so beautiful, how vefry beautiful it
must be inside 1 "
A very sweetthought, indeed, and one we may often
considerourselves, whenwe look up at the sky, on a
clear, bright night, and see how it sparkles in its loveli
ness. That is the outside of heaven.
Sometimes when people are dying the heavenly land,
where Jesus is, comes very near them, so that they can
see it before they die.
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lO THE KING IN HIS BEAUTY.

THE LAND BEYOND THE MOUNTAINS,
A little boy lay dying. His father and mother were
sitting on one side of his little bed, and the doctorwas
waiting and watching near. He had been silent for
some time, and appeared to sleep. They thought he
might pass awayas he slept. But suddenly his blue
eyes opened, wide and clear, and a sweetsmile broke
over his face. He lookedupwards very earnestly, and
then turning to his mother said —"Mother, what is
that beautiful land that I see there, beyond the moun
tains?"
"I don't see any mountains, my dear," said the
mother.
" Look there, mother dear," he said, pointing up.
" They are very near now : so large and high ; and the
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country beyond them seems so beautiful ! The people
are so happy ; and there are no sick children there. Is
that the heavenly land I see 1 "
"Yes, my child," his mother sobbed, "that is the
heavenly land where Jesus dwells."
" O mother ! —father ! don't be sorry for me ; but
come after me, to that beautiful land. Good-bye, mother

dear, I'm going now ; and Jesus has sent His angel to
carry me over the mountains."
These were his last words. He died in his mother's
arms. The angelcarried him over the mountains to
"-see the King in His beauty." But he had caught a
glimpse of its brightness "befoxe i^ -w^iA. «bway. The
THE KING IN HIS BEAUTY. II
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beauty of the place is one of the things that will help to
make up the glory, or beauty, that we shall see in Jesus
when we go to heaven.
The secondthing will he —^the company —about Jesus
when we see Him in His beauty.
Howeverbeautiful the jplace may be, which is to be
our heaven, we never could be satisfiedwith that alone.
Jewelledwalls, and pearly gates, and goldenstreets are
all very well. They must be wondrously beautiful.
But these, of themselves, couldnever make us happy.
When we go to the house we live in, and which we call
home, what is it that makes it feelso sweetand pleasant
to us 1 It is not the walls of the building. It is not
the furniture of the rooms —the tables, the chairs, the
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carpets on the floor, or the pictures that hang on the
walls. It is not these things that make that place home
to us ; but it is the presence there of a dear father or
mother, of brothers and sisters, ofthose whom we love,
and who, we knoiy, love us. And so it will be with
leaven." The place will have something to do with the
l)eauty we shall see, and the happiness we shall enjoy
there; but the company will have much more to do
with it.
And now let us talk a little about the company we
shall meet in heaven. Who will make up this company ]
Well, to begin with, the angels will form a part of this
company. We are told in the Bible that there will be
in heaven —" an innumerable company of angels " (Heb.
17
xii 22). I never saw an angel. You never saw an
angel. No doubt that any of ua ôwi iÂ ixv^D^^îJ^^,
if we should see one come into the room where we were.
But we know, from what the Bible tells us, that the
angels are very beautiful. They are always spokenof
as clothed in white. They are sometimes spokenof as
having wings, but not always. Sometimes they have

appearedin the form of men, or women, but without
any wings. "We are not told how they looked; but we
know that they must be very beautiful in their appear
ance. And to see sucha beautiful place as heaven is,
filled with such beautiful beings as angels are, must
help to make heaven very beautiful
But now, I think I hear one of you say —" Ah ! yes ;
the angels, I dare say, are very beautiful. But then I
don't know them ; and they don't know me. I should
be afraid of them. I don't think I could feel at home,
or happy with them."
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This is very natural And if there were to be none
but angels in the company of heaven, it would not feel
very much like home to us. But then there will be
others in heavenbesides the angels. All the good
people that we read about in the Bible will be there.
Abraham will be there ; and so will Joseph, and David,
and Daniel, and Peter, and John, and Paul And all
the goodpeople, who have died since, will be there
too.
But then the company of heavencomes nearerto us
even than this. I suppose there is not one personwho

will read these pages, but has some friend, or relation,
in heaven. Have you losta beloved father, or mother,
or unde, or^ aunt, who loved Jesus 1 You will find
them in heaven. Have you losta dear brother, or
sister, old enough to love and serve Jesus 1 You will
find them in heaven. Hear what an agedminister
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once said, on this very pomt.
HE A VEN.
" When I was a boy I used to think of heavenas a
glorious golden city, with jewelledwalls, and gates of
pearl, with nobody in it but the angels, and they were
all strangers to me. But after awhile my little brother
died ; then I thought of heaven as that greatcity, full
of angels, with just one little fellow in it that I was
acquainted with. He was the only one I knew there
at that time. Then another brother died, and there
were two in heaven that I knew. Then my acquaint
ance beganto die, and the number of my friends in
heaven grew largerall the time. But, it was not till
one of my own little ones was takenthat I beganto
feel that I had a personalinterest in heaven. Then

a secondwent, and a third, and a fourth ; and so many
of my friends and loved ones have gone there, that it
seems as if 1 knew more in heaven than I know on
earth. And now;, when my thoughts turn to heaven,
it is not the gold, and the jewels, and the pearls that
I think of —but the loved ones there. It is not. the
jlace, so much as the company^ that makes heavenseem
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beautiful."
Have any of us lost dear little baby brothers and
sisters, too young to learn about Jesus here ? We shall
find them in heaven. Did you ever think of this, that
there are more children in heaven than there are grown
people f It is so. Do you ask me how I know it ? I
will tell yoiL
It is very well known that more than half of the
people bom into this world die while they are children.
But Jesus takesaU ike little ones to heaven. He taught
us this Himself when He took them in His arms, put
His hands on them, and blessedthem ; saying —*' Suffer
the little children to come unto me, and forbid them
not ; for of suck is the kingdom of heavenj*

Here, then, we are sure that at leastone half of
those bom into the world go to heaven, because they
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die as children. But what becomes of t^e other half !
Do they oZ? go to heaven! Alas ! No. A goodmany
of them never love, or serve, or trust in Jesus. It is
a sad thing to say it, but it is true, they cannotgo to
hsaven. And if the whole of one half of those bom into
the world die as children, and thus go to heaven, and
only part of the other half, who grow up to be men
and women go to heaven, then it is plain, that as the
whole of one half is greaterthan a part of the other
half, there must be more children in heaventhan there
are grownpeople.
And some people think that when children die, and
go to heaven, they do not grow up to be men and
women, but that they always remain children. I am
not able to say, for certain, that this is so ; because God
has not told us about it; and no one can tell us for
Him. But I hope it may be so. ForI do love children
. THE KING IN HIS BEAUTY. 1 5
SO much that I should like to think that there mil always
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he children in heaven. But if they all grow up to be
men and women, by and by, there will be no children
there, and this, it seems to me, would not be so
pleasant.
If you gp into a garden you never find all the flowers
in full bloom at the same time. Instead of this you
will find, mingled with the full-blown flowers, some
buds half opened, and others just beginning to open.
And this variety adds very much to the beauty of the
garden. But heaven is God's garden. Christian men
and women will be the full-blown flowers in that
garden ; and children wUl he the buds. And it seems to
me there will always be buds there, as wellas flowers
in full bloom. But God is much wiserthan we are,
and whicheverway He orders it wUl he the lest
But this company in heaven will be all good, and
kind, and holy. They will be all "made perfect."
Here, in this world, we have no perfectchildren, and
no perfect men and women. But we shall all he perfect
there. There will be none blind, or deaf, or lame, or
sick in heaven. There will be none cross, orproud, or
selfishin heaven. There will be no ugliness of any
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kind in heaven. There will be perfect beauty in the
place, and perfectbeauty in the company there. And
they will all know and love one anotherthere. No
one will feel a stranger, or alone in heaven.
It is a very painful feeling that we have when we find
ourselves alone, and unknown, among strangers.
1 6 THE KING IN HIS BEAUTY.
THE STRANGER NOT A STRANGER.
In the early settlement of the city of Cincinnati, there
was only one way for persons to getthere, and that
was by means of the flat-boats that passedup and down
the Ohio river.
On one occasiona boat landed there. It had come
down the river from Pittsburgh. There was a company
of people on board that boat, who were going to
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Cincinnati to live there. Their friends were expecting
their arrival, and had met, down by the side of the
river, to welcome them. As they left the boat their
friends gatheredaround them, to shake hands with
them, and give them the warmestkind of a welcome.
But in that company, who had just arrived, there was
one who was a stranger. He had no friends, or any

one that knew him in Cincinnati. There was no one
there to shake hands with him, or bid him welcome to
the place. He had been feeHng lonely before, he felt
ten times more so now.
The crowdwas beginning to scatter, leaving that
strangeralone on the boat Leaning over the railing of
the boat, he calledafter them, saying —
" Friends, if there are any of you who love the Lord
Jesus Christ, I am your brother."
In a moment half a dozen of them were at his sida
They shook him warmly by the hand, and bade him
welcome to their homes.
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How different Cincinnati seemedto that stranger
THE KING IN HIS BEAUTY. 1 7
now, from what it did a moment before ! The place
indeed was the same ; but oh, how diflTerent the company
seemed! He was among friends now, and that made
him feelat home.
And so it will be with us when we get to heaven.
Jesus will know and love every one who enters there.
He will introduce us to those who are there, and they
will all love us, because we love Jesus. Angels, and

Christians, old and young, men, women, and children,
will all make one greathappy family.
"Thine eyes shall see the King in His beauty."
There will be beauty in the place, and beauty in the
company.
But there is a third thing that wUl have more to do with
the beauty of heaven, than either the place, or the company —
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and that is —the person and presence of Jesus.
But what shall I sayabout this point of our subject?
It is easyenough to talk about the place, where heaven
is to be. It is easyenough, too, to talk about the com
pany that will be there ; but when we come to think
about the person, and presence ofJesus, in heaven, who is
able to speak on such a subject ?
There was a celebratedpainter once, who was
making a picture of Jesus^ in the midst of His twelve
apostles. In arranging the picture he concluded to
paint the apostles first, and not begin with their Master
till he had finished them. As he went on with the
picture, he tried to do the very best he could with each
of the apostles. He took the greatestpains with their
figures, their positions, their dress and their faces. As

27
B
1 8 THE KING IN HIS BEAUTY.
he went on with his work he was very well pleased
with it. After finishing the apostles he beganwith the
person of Jesus. He got on very well with this, till he
came to the head and face of our blessedLord. Then
he laid down his brush and paused. He felt that the
face of Jesus ought to be made to appearas much more
beautiful than His disciples, as the sun is more glorious
than the stars. But how could he do this ? He had
tried so hard to make the disciples look well, that he
felt he had no power left to make their Masterappear
as much superior to them as He ought to appear. And
80 he finished the person of Jesus all but the head, and
then pamted Him with a white mantle thrown over His
head. He thought that when persons came to look at
his painting, they could imagine what the face of Jesus
ought to be, better than he could representit by
painting.
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And I feel very much as that painter did, when I
come to speak about —the person and presence ofJesus in

heaven* All who love Jesus here on earth, agree in say
ing that from what they know of Him now, He is—
" the chief apiong ten thousand, and altogetherlovely."
Then how will He appear when our eyes come to " see
the King in His beauty," in heaven 1 Just look for a
moment at what some good Christian men have said
about Jesus, from what they knew of Him, here in this
world.
When John Newtonwas thinking of Him, he said —
" How Bweetthe name of Jesus sounds
In a believer's ears I
/
It soothes his sorrows, heals his wounds,
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And drives away his fears."
A goodEoman Catholic, who lived more than six
hundred years ago, expressedhis feelings thus —
" Jesus, the very thought of Thee,
With sweetnessfills my breast,
£vt sweeterfar Thy /ace to see,
And in Thy bosom rest.
. *' Norvoice can sing, nor heart canframe.

Nor canthe memory find
A sweetersoundthan Thy blest name,
Saviour of mankind.''
When Dr. Doddridge was thinking about Him he
said —
" Jesus, I love Thy charming name,
'Tis music to my ear ;
Fain would I sound it out so loud
That earth and heaven might hear.
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'' All my capacious powers canwish
In Thee doth richly meet.
Not to my eyes is light so dear.
Nor friendship half so sweet. "
And Charles Wesleywhen thinking about Him burst
out thus —
*' Oh, for a thousand tongues to sing
My greatRedeemer's praise !
The glories of my God and King,
The triumphs of His grace !
** Jesus ! the name that calms our fean,
That bids our sorrows cease;
'Tis music in the sinner's ears,

'Tis life, and health, and peace.'
When such men get to heaven it will not be the
31
riches that adorn the place, nor the perfection of the
company there, that will make up its chief beauty to
them. No, but it will be the person and presence ofJesus
there that will constitute the charm, the glory, the
fulness of heaven's joy to their souls. And this is just
what Dr. Muhlenberg speaks ofin that beautiful hymn
of his, in which heaven is spokenof as a place —
" Where the saints of all ages in harmony meet,
Their Saviour and brethren transported to greet,
While the anthems of rapture unceasinglyroll,
And the smile of the Lord is the feastof the soul."
The personand presence of Jesus, and" the smile of
the Lord," both mean the same thing.
We have one description given us in the Bible, of the
person and presence of Jesus in heaven. The Apostle
John saw a vision of heaven. He saw " the King in
32
His beauty," and this is what he says about it : —
" I saw sevengolden candlesticks: And in the midst

of the sevencandlesticks,one like unto the Son of Man,
clothed with a garment down to the foot, and girded
with a golden girdle. His head and His hair were white
like wool, as white as snow ; and His eyes were as a
flame of fire ; And His feetlike unto fine brass, as if
they burned in a furnace ; and His voice as the sound
of many waters. And He had in His right hand seven
stars ; and out of His mouth went a sharp two-edged
sword; and His countenance was as the sun shining in
his strength" (Kev. i 12-17).
And then, in addition to this description, in another
place in the Bible, we have an illustration of how the
person and presence of Jesus will appearin heaven. I
refer here to the Transfigurationof gur Saviour. There
33
is Jesus on the top of Mount Tabor, if that was the
place. His three disciples, Peter, and James, and John,
are with Him. As they look at Him, they see a won
drous change take place in His appearance. He is
transfigured before them. His raiment becomes exceeding
white as snow, a whiteness such as no one in the world
could impart His countenance changestoo, till it

shines like the sun —and a glory is' beaming around Him
such as was never seenin the sun. And Moses and
Elias are seenthere in glory too —and the voice of God
is heard speaking there. This transfiguration scene
took place in order to give us an idea of what heaven
will be. When our " eyes see the King in His beauty,"
we shall see Him as He appearedon the Mount of
Transfiguration.
And then, all the beauty that we see, in this world
around us, is but a glimpse, or reflection, of the richer
beauty that we shall see in Jesus. The beauty of the
8un, and stars, and light; the beauty of the sky, the
clouds, the seasons ;the beauty of mountains, hills, and
plains; the beauty of birds, and beasts, and insects;
the beauty of trees, and plants, and flowers, —and all
the beauty that we see everywhere, is only a shadow, a
34
type, or reflection, of the beauty that we shall see in
Jesus whenwe getto heaven. We shall find the place
glorious, and the company perfect ; but the chief beauty
and blessednessofheaven will be in the personand pre
sence (^ Jesus,

A Sunday-sclioolteacherwas visiting one of her
scholars who was soonto die. The sick child was a
Christian. She expressedan earnestdesire to go to
heaven.
"Why do you wish so much to go there, MaryT'
askedher teacher.
" BecauseJesus is there, and I long so to see Him."
"But suppose, Mary, that when you get there, you
should find that Jesus was going out of heaven, what
would you do ? "
35
" I would go out with Him "—was her quick reply. She
felt that there could be no heavento her without Jesus.
" Thine eyes shall see the King in His beauty." Ee
member, there are three things with which this beauty
will be connected. These are —the place —the company
—and the person and presence of Jesus.
There is one very important lessonwe should learn
from this subject ; it is this : we must learn to love Jesus
here, or else His presence in heavenwUl not make us happy.
We see this lessonillustrated in the Hindoo fable
about the crane. The fable says that one day a crane
was contentedly eating snails in a marsh. As she was

thus engageda bird flew down from the sky, and lighted
near her. "Where do you come from?" askedthe
crane. " From heaven," was the answer.
" What have you seenin heaven 1 " askedthe crane.
"Everything that can make people happy." And then
the bird went on and describedsome of the joys of that
blessedplace.
36
"Have they any snails in heaven1 " askedthe crane,
as much as to say —^* I don't care to be in any place
where there are no snails."
" You vulgar, low-bred creature ! " said the bird, and
flew awayojOTended,
Now suppose that this crane had been takento
heaven ; would it have been happy there ? Not at alL
It would have been longing, all the time, for the marsh
where it used to wade and catchsnails. We must be
pr^ared for heaven, if we hope to be happy there. And
there is only one true preparation. This is —learning to
know and love Jesus. If we really love Him, we shall be
perfectly happy to be where He is. And when our
" eyes see the King in His beauty," that will satisfy us

for ever. We shall want nothing' else. Thatwill be a
perfect heavento us.
37
THE BEAUTY OP THE KING.
OÎt lastsermon was from a text that took us up to
^â.ven, and led us to look at "the King in His
^ûty." Now we have a text that brings us down to
^^h again, and leads us to look at the beauty in the
îug. Jesus will have a kingdom in our world that
will be wondrously beautiful It will be different from
any kingdom ever yet known in the world. This is
what Jesus taught us to pray for, when He put into
that wonderful prayer —"The Lord's Prayer" —these
words, " Thy kingdom come." But I am not going to
talk of that kingdom now. The Bible says a greatmany
38
things concerning it. Some of these are hard to be
understood, and goodand wise men have very different
opinions about the meaning of those things.
But Jesus is a king now, in one sense. He rules in
the hearts of His people. He has a kingdom there.
And there is very much that is interesting and beauti
ful about this kingdom. This is what the Apostle Paul

is speaking of, in our text, when he says —" The king
dom of God is —not meat and drink, but righteousness,
and peace, andjoy in the Holy Ghost,"
Jesus is often spokenof in the Bible as a King.
David, in the Book ofPsalms, represents Godas saying
of Him —" Yet have I setmy King upon my holy hill
of Zion" (Ps. il 6). The prophet Isaiahoften speaks
of Jesus as a King. This is what he means when he
says —" Beholda King shall reign, and prosper ; and —
39
shall be as a refuge from the storm, a covertfrom the
tempest; as rivers of waterin a dry place, as the
shadow of a greatrock in a weary land " (Isa. xxxii
I, 2). And when the angelGabriel came to the virgin
mother of Jesus, to tell her about His birth, he spoke
of Him as a King. " And the Lord God," these were
the angel's words, *' shall give unto Him the throne of
His father David, and He shall reign over the house of
Jacobfor ever" (Luke i. 32).
Now let us look at Jesus from this point of view and
see what beauty there is in Him as a Eong. The leauty
of Jesus as a King/ this is our subject. And the

question we must try to answeris this ; what sort of a
kingdom does Jesus have now? or, what does He do
for those who belong to His kingdom] And when we
understand what this is —we shall see what great
beauty there is in Jesus as a King.
In our present text, the Apostle Paul tells us of three
things that Jesus, as a King, does for His people
now.
The first thing that Jesus does forthose who belong to His
40
kingdom is —to make them good.
The Apostle Paul tells us in our text that the king
dom of Jesus is a kingdom of righteousness. Righte
, THE BEAUTY OF THE KING. 29
ousness here means goodness. And what we are taught
is that Jesus is a King who makes all His subjects,
or those that belong to His kingdom, good. Oh, if all
earthly kings were able to do this, and were really
trying to do it, how much beauty we should see in
them! But they cannot do this. Eeally goodkings
like King Solomonin Israel, or Alfred the Great, or
Edward the Sixth in England, try to do goodto their
people in some way or other. But as for undertaking

to make the people belonging to their kingdoms all
good, this is what they never pretend to do. It would
be impossible. But what is impossible with earthly
kings, Jesus, the heavenly King, really does. He is
the goodKing. His kingdom is a good kingdom, and
every one who belongs to it He makes good. The
41
prophet Isaiahis speaking ofthis kingdom when he
says —" Thy people shall be all righteous" or good
(Isa. Ix. 21). And Jesus tells us how He will do this.
He says, "A new heart also will I give them, and a
new spirit will I put within them" (Ezek. xxxvi. 26).
"And I will put my law in their inward parts, and
write it in their hearts, and I will be their God, and
they shall be my people " (Jer. xxxi. 33). And when
Jesus does this for all His people it may well be said
that He makes them good. Now let us look at some
examples, or specimens, of people who are the subjects
of this King, and of the way in which He makes them
good.
30 THE KING IN HIS BEAUTY. .
THE PENITENT BOYTHIEF.
On a heap of chips and shavings, in a garret, a

Christian man, visiting among the poor of London,
found a boy about ten years old. He was pale, but
with a very sweetface.
42
" What are you doing here, my boy 1 " he asked.
" Hush I hush I I'm hiding."
" Hiding 1 What for 1 " The poor boy rolled up his
raggedshirt-sleeve, and showedhis thin white arm all
black and blue with bruises.
" Who was it beat you like that 1 "
"Don't tell—but my father did it."
"What fori"
" Father gets drunk, and beats me because I won't
steal"
**Didyou ever steal?"
" Yes, sir ; I used to stealonce."
" Then why don't you stealnow!"
43
" BecauseI went to the Sunday-school, and there EI
learned about the God of heaven, and how His law says^^
* Thou shalt not steal* I will never stealany more, ever
if father kills me."
That little boy thief had become one of the subjec t

of Jesus, and He had made him good.
HOW MATTIE LEARNED TO SERVE GOD.
A little girl, named Mattie, made up her mind to t:
and become a Christian. She got up the next momii^^
THE BEAUTY OF THE KING. 3 1
and resolvedto look out for some greatthing to do, iii
order to show her love to Jesus. But the day passed
awaywithout her finding anything greatto do ; and at
the close ofthe day she felt very much discouragedSo
she put on her bonnet, and went to her Aunt Jennie's,
at the other end of the village. She sat down on the
piazza, and leanedher head on her hand, and seemed
44
very thoughtful. By and by, her aunt came and sat
down by her side. She took hold of her hand and
gently said —
." What's the matter with you, Mattie 1 "
" Why, auntie," she said, " I want to serve the Lord
Jesus, and I have been looking all the day to find
some greatthing to do for Him, but I have not found
any."
"Ah! Mattie dear," said her aunt, "you are just
making the same mistake that so many other persons

have made before."
"What mistake, auntie?"
"Why the mistake of thinking you can only serve
(Jod by doing greatthings. Now suppose, that instead
of waiting all day for something greatto do, you had
begun in the morning by asking Jesus to help you to
be useful; and then had tried to help mother in sweep
ing the room ; or amusing the baby ; or helping Mary
in the kitchen ; and then had gone to work and learned
45
that long lessonwell, you would have found plenty to
do all day."
" Well, auntie, but those are such little things."
" I know it, Mattie; but then life la made i^ of llttla
things. Now I want you to go home, and try this plai
to-morrow, and see how it works."
Mattie went home wiserthan she came. She begai
the next day as her auntie told her.
Before leaving her room, in the morning, she founc
work to do for Jesus. When her mother came up t
make Mattie's bed, she was surprised to find the be
made, and the room all in the nicestorder. Whe

Mattie went downstairs she found work to do fc
Jesus there. All day long, wherevershe went, the~
was something for her to do. And the thought th_
46
she was doing it for Jesus made it all sweet, as
pleasantto her. She was as busy as a bee, and
bright as a sunbeam all the day.
At the close ofthe afternoon, when she was going
to her room, her mother laid her hand gently on In
shoulder and said, " Mattie, darling, you have beenft
real comfort and blessing to*me to-day."
This filled Mattie's eyes with tears, but they we
tears of joy and gladness. And as she knelt down,
her room to thank God for helping her to serve Hi*
the sun never shone upon a happier girl than Matt:
was that evening.
And here we see how Jesus makes His people good
And sometimes, whenpeople have gone very ft
astray, Jesus makes them goodby His grace, wh^
nothing else could do it.
THE BEAUTY OF THE KING. 33
47
NOW OLD JIM DRAYTON WAS MADE GOOD,

There was a little town, in New England, in which
a miserable drunkard lived. Everybody there knew
him as "Old Jim Drayton." He had once been a
respectable mechanic. Thenhe had a neat little cottage
as his home, and his family were very happy. But, since
t® had takento drink, everything had gone to ruin.
Tile furniture had been sold for liquor. The broken
''îndow-panes were patched with pieces ofnewspaper,
î* stuffed with bundles of rags and bunches of straw.
-Hia YfiiQ lookedsorrowfuland broken-hearted, and his
^^lîldren »were coveredwith rags.
48
Jim himself went reeling about the village with a
"Otteredhat, and raggedclothes, and a bloated, stupid
•■^ôking face.He went to the tavern, one New Year's
^"v-e, intending to drink out the old year. The bar
fe^êperwas busy when he went in, and he satdown in
* comerby himself.
Presentlytwo young men came in. They calledfor
Some beer. While they were drinking it one of them
®^d, " I say. Bill, did you hearthat Old Jim Drayton
l^d cut his throat 1 "
**It'8 goodnews, if it's true," said the other. "No

^ne will miss the old sot, not even his family. They'd
"^ better off without him. He's just the lowestdrunkard
^ town."
" Yes, I've often wondered why he didn't jump into
^he river," said the other. " If I ever getas low, and
^ged, and mean as Jim Drayton, I'll shoot myself."
>J i.^ C
49
Old Jim heard every word. He was quite sober. He
leaned his back againstthe wall, pulled his hat over his
face, and thought of what he heard. " Have I got so
low as this ] " he said to himself. " Would my death
be a relief to my family, and to the town 1 Then it*s
time for me to stop." As he satthere he offered this
silent prayer —" Godhelp me to quit drinking, and be
a new man ! "
Just then the barkeepersung out —" Jim ! do you
want a drink 1"
Jim sprang to his feet, and said, " No, Tm going to
swearoff from drinking from this hour ! "
" That's good," they all exclaimed; " Old Jim Drayton
going to quit drinking —ha ! ha ! ha ! "

" m do it, by the help of God," saidJim, striking
his fist on the counter. Then he left the tavern.
50
He went directly home. At the gate, which led to
his dwelling, he stopped for a moment, and saw whata
wretched-looking home it was ; and how different from
what it had once been ! As his wife heard the door
open, she turned awayto hide herself, afraid to meet
him in his drunken wrath.
"Mary, come here," he said as he closedthe door,
and held out his hand —" I am not drunk to-night."
She came slowlyup to him, wondering what it
meant.
"Mary," he said, as he claspedher hand, "I haven't
drunk a drop to-night."
"0 James!" she exclain^ed, as she threw her arnrs
round bia neck, and sobbedaloud.
51
" They call me Old Jim Drayton, and say I'm only a
barden to my family, and the town, and that I can't
reform," he went on, "but I'm going to .stop drinking —
I have stopped." His poor wife's heart was too full to

speak. "Fromthis night, as long as I live," he con
*ûed, " ril be James Drayton again, —sober—steady—
* tind husband, a goodfather. Now, Mary, go wake
'^P the children, and let us all pray together."
**Is father going to kill us ?" they whispered as their
^'ôther woke them up.
**No—no^he's sobernow, he's going to be a dear
goodfather again," she sobbed.
-At midpight the voice of prayer, broken by loud sobs,
'^sis heard in that drunkard's home, and Old Jim Dray
52
*î:i, kneeling in the midst of his weeping family, said —
" God forgive me for the past ; and help me to be a
SOodhusband and father for the future."
-And God did hear him, and help him too. And
"ôm that hour he kept his vow ; and became a sober,
^^ûstrious, useful man. And the grace ofGod, which
"^'^fits sufficient to reform, and save, a wretcheddrunkard
^^Jce Jim Drayton, and make a goodman of him, is able
^ do the same for any one.
There is greatbeauty in Jesus as a King, because of
"^liat He does for all who belong to His kingdom. The
^8t thing He does for them is to make them good.

The secondthing He does for them is to make them —
^^CEFUL.
"The kingdom of God is righteousness and —peace"
Jesus, the head of this kingdom, ia 3aa "STOi^^ ^i
53
36 TIIE KING IN HIS BEAUTY.
Peace.The Gospelwhich tells about this kingdom is
—" The GospelofPeace"The ministers of this kingdom
are sentout —^^ preaching peace through Jesus Christ."
And the people who belong to this kingdom are com
manded to —"follow peace with all men."
This kingdom of peace is intended, by and by, to
fill the whole world. Then, we are told that men
will "beattheir swords into ploughshares, and their
spears into pruning-hooks, and the nations shall learn
war no more." Then earthquakes will no more alarm
and destroy. Storms will no more burst ; nor tempests
blow ; and all nature will be at peace. Eventhe wild
animals will lose their fierceness, andshare in this
blessing of peace. Isaiahsays, atthat time —"The
wolf also, shalldwell with the lamb, and the leopard
shall lie down with the kid; and the calf and th©
young lion and the fatling together; and a little chilci

shall lead them " (Isa. xi. 6).
And noWf before that "goodtime" comes, Jesus
teaches allwho wish to serve Him, and belong to Hig
54
kingdom, to be kind, loving, and gentle ; and try tc
make peace with those about them. Now let us look
at some examples of the way in which those who have
Jesus for their King try to make peace.
FREDDIE*S PRAYER.
A little boy, named Freddie, was going home at tt»^«
close ofa day in winter. A mantle of pure white sno ^^
was spreadover the fields and woods as he walk^^^
along. It was about sunset, and as the beams of the
sun fell on the landscape they coveredit with golden
gloxy. Everything around seemedbeautiful. There
was no cloud in the sky, but there was a cloud on
Freddie's face. When he gotinto the house he stamped
his foot, and seemedto be very angry about something
or other.
55
** What's the matter, Freddie 1 " askedhis mother.
•*It's that ugly old boy, Bennie Jones, mother. I

hsLte him. He's always hurting me —and just on pur
pose too."
**Bat," saidhis mother, " nobody teaches him better.
Freddie must pray for him."
**ButFreddie won't," —and his eyes flashedfire.
His mother said nothing more about it then, but
talkedabout something else.
Iretty sooncame bedtime, and the bedtime story;
for Freddie's mother always had some nice Bible story
^ tell him before he went to sleep. This night it was
the story of Jesus on Calvary. She spoke ofthe wicked
cruelty of the men who mockedHim, and scourgedHim,
*^d nailed Him to the cross. She told of His dreadful
s^erings, as He hung bleeding there; yet of His patience
^Qder all, and of His wonderful love for His murderers,
^tich led Him to pray for them, in the midst of His
P^ii and sorrow, and say —
56
** Father, forgive them, for they know not what they
do,'>
* feddie listened eagerlytill his mother had finished.
*^^H he gently said, "I'll say my prayers now,

mother, please ; and I think PU pray for Bmnie Jones
first:'
So the little prayer was offered, and Freddie went to
bed, with a face bright as sunshine. Every unkind
feeling was takenout of his heart. The spirit of Jesus,
which is a spirit of peace, was filling it. There is
beauty in Jesus as a King, because He makes His people
loving and peaceful,
BEATING SATAN.
The Apostle Paul says —** If it be possible, as much as
Jieth in y&u, live peaceablywith all men." It always
57
takes two people to mal^e a quarrel. It is not the first
angry word, or the first blow, that leads to a quarrel.
It is the secondword, or the secondblow, that always
makes the quarrel. If we refuse to speak the second
word, or strike the secondblow, then the persons who
want to make the quarrel will have it all to themselves.
And as the boys say —" There's no fun in this ; " and so
% thiii is the way to prevent quarrels.
Some time ago, a man was converted in New Hamp
shire, and afterwards became a minister of the Gospel
Before becoming a Christian he was wellknown, in the

neighbourhood where he lived, as a man of very violent
temper, over which he had no control At the very
time of his conversionhe had an unsettled dispute with
one of his neighbours. They had often talked it over,
and it always ended in their both getting very angry
about it. When this man's neighbour heard that he
had joined the Church, he calledat his house to talk
58
over their old dispute, and to see if he could not make
him angry, and getup a quarrel with him, as easilyas
Jxe used to do before he became a Christian. He began
at once by abusing him with greatviolence, and throw
ing all the blame of the old quarrel upon him.
Not an angry word was spokenin reply. This pro
"^rokedhim more than ever. He cursedan4 swore in a
dreadful manner. Still the Christian was calmand
i3.ilent. Then enragedbeyond measure at the man's
<^oolness,his angry neighbour raised his cane, and struck
a blow with it. And still the Christian did not
is temper, but remained calm and quiet.
« Why," exclaimed the angry man in his astonishment,
**youbeat old Satanhimself! "

"That's what I mean to do," said the goodman
C3oolly, " and this is just the wayin which I'm going
tH) do it."
There was no secondangry word, or blow here, and
«o there was no quarrel The angry man went back to
lus home. But as he went he said to himself —
59
"Well, there must be something in religionmore
than I know about. I guess it's time for me. to look
into it."
Oh, there is beauty in the King who can make His
people practise ^Hhe things that make for peace" in
such a way as this !
THE NEIGHBOURS AND THE HENS.
A Christian man in New Jerseybelongedto this
kingdom of peace, and he gives us this accountof his
own experfence about the effectproduced by a patient,
peacefulexample.
" I once had a number of fowls. Generallythey were
kept shut up. But, one spring, I concluded to clip their
wings so that they could not fly, and let them run in my
yard. One day, when I came home to dinner, I found

that one of my neighbours had been there, full of anger,
60
to say that my hens had been in his garden, and that
he had killed severalof them, and had thrown them
into my yard. It made me very angry to think that he •
should have killed my beautiful hens, that I valued so
mucL I determined at once to be revenged. I would
go to law with him, or make him smart for it in some
way.
'^ I satdown and ate my dinner as calmly as I could.
Before dinner was over I became cooler. I saidto my
self —* Is it the best way for a Christian man to quarrel
with his neighbour, and make a lasting enemy of him
about such a trifling thing as two or three hens 1 Jesus
said —" Learn of me.'* How would Jesus have me act %
What would He do if He were in my place 1 '
"So I changedmy mind about the matter. After
dinner I calledat my neighbour's house. He was in.
his garden. I went out and found him chasing one of
my hens, with a stick in his hand, trying to kill it I
said to him, * Neighbour, look here.'
61

" He turned round and lookedat me. With his face
all flaming with anger, he exclaimed —'You have in
jured me, sir. 1*11 killevery hen you've got, if I can
catchthem. They have ruined my garden, sir.'
** * I am very sorry for it,' said I. * I do not wish to
iDjure you ; I see now that I have made a greatmistake
^^ letting my hens out. I ask your pardon, and am
^^ling to pay you six times the damage they have
done/
** You oi;ght to have seenthat man. He was com
pletely confounded. As the sailors say, * he was taken
*U aback.'He did not know what to make of it. *He
lookedup to the sky, then down to the ground ; then he
lookedat me, then at his stick, then at the poor hen he
^^fi trying to kill, and he had not a word to say.
** •Tell me now,' I said, * what is the damage, and I
^lU pay you sixfold, and my hens shall never trouble
you any more. I leave it entirely with you to say what
^ shall pay. I cannot aflFordto lose the good-willof
62
^y neighbours, and quarrel with them for hens or any
^Wg else.'
** By this time the man had found his tongue. ' Neigh

°^^r,' said he, ' I'm a great fool. The damage isn't worth
^^Ifcing about Won't you pardon mel I thank you
^^^ the lessonyou have taught me about goodsense and
P^^cticalwisdom.'"
IJere we see whatthe spirit of the Grospelis. How
^^ch beauty there is in the King who canmake His
P^^ple act in such a way as this! The secondthing
^^^t Jesus does for His people is to make them peaceful.
This shows us the beauty there is in Jesus as a King.
Bui there is a tMrd thing that Jesus does for His people.
He makes them —^hapfy.
And here, too, we see what beauty there is in Him as
63
a King.
What a wonderful thing it would be, if any earthly
king had the power of making all the people belonging
to his kingdom happy! This is what no king ever
undertook to do. But Jesus is able and willing to do
it. And this is what is meant in our text, when it says
that —"the kingdom of God is** —or consists of —"joy
in the Holy Ghost." Joyin the Holy Ghostmeans the
best kind of happiness. Jesus prayed for His people —

John xvii 13 —that they might all be filled with th
same sort of joy that He has. That must certainly
the bestkind of happiness.
Let us see what Jesus does to make His people happ;
LITTLE TANGLES.
There was once a king, who employed a greatmara.^
of his people to work for him as weavers. The sillk
64
and the patterns, were all given by the king. He tolc
the workers, whenthey met with any trouble, to send :£V>J
him, and he would come and help them ; and that tki.e j
never need be afraid of troubling him.
Many persons —men, women, and children, —weire
busy at the looms. Among these was a little girl, -wlio
always seemedbright, and cheerful, over her work, thoii^i
she was oftenleft to do it all alone. One day aome
of the weavers were very much troubled about their
work. Their threads were tangled and broken, and the
work they were finishing was not like the patterns
given them to copy. Then they gathered round the
cheerful little girl, and said —
"Tellus how it is that you are always so happy in

your work, while we are constantly getting into
trouble 1 "
65
**Why, I always send to the king when I am in
trouble," said the little weaver. " You know he told us
ê might do so."
*'So we do," they said, ** every night and morning."
** Ah ! " said the child, " but I send directly, as soon
^ I find that I get into a little tangle. So I always get
^îp at once, and this saves a greatdeal of trouble."
This was the secretof her being so cheerful and
^PPy. And this is what Jesus wants us to do. He
^ys in one place—" Callupon me, in the day of trouble,
^^d I will deliver thee ; and thou shalt glorify me " (Ps.
** 1 5). And in another place He says —" Casting all ymr
^^**'"c (m Him, for He car dU for yot*" (i Peterv. 7).
It is a beautiful thing to think of Jesus as a King
^lio is able and willing to help His people when they
^^© in trouble. This is one of the ways in which He
**^ês them happy.
THE ROBBER CRIPPLE.
Some years ago an Englishmissionary was stationed
66

^ Asia Minor. On one occasion^ he sent two men
connectedwith his mission on a journey, through the
Taurus Mountains. They took with them a lot of
Bibles, which they were to give away in the villages,
whereverthey could find people who were willing to
receive them.
One day these men stopped under a tree to rest.
While they were resting, one of these men took out a
Bible, and read a chapterfor himself and his companion.
It was the third chapterof St. John, about the conver
sationbetweenJesus and Nicodemus.
Sitting by the hedge, near them, was an old man.
He was a beggarand a cripple. His hands were
withered, and his elbows stiff, and only a few rags
coveredhis body. But more than this, he was a very
wickedman. He had been a robber and a murderer.
He had been connectedwith many scenes ofviolence
67
and blood. But now he was old, and poor, and friend
less. He was as wretcheda man as could be found any
where, with no hope either for this world or the next.
Well, this wretched old man was sitting near the

Bible distributers on that day. He heard the chapter
from the Bible read. He had never heard the Bible
before. It had a wonderful effectupon him. The i6th
verse of that chapter, especially, took greathold of his
mind : " God so loved the world that He gave His only
begottenSon, that whosoeverhdieveth on Him should not
perish, hut have everlasting life" He thought these were
the sweetestwords he had ever heard. He repeated
them to himself, so as to fix them in his memory. The
Bible men went on their way, without taking any
notice of the old beggarcripple. But he was saying
those wonderful words, over and over, to himself. The
thought that God loved him, and caredfor him, softened
his hard heart. He thought about his sins, and was
68
ffled with distress. He cried for mercy all the time.
He spoke to the people in the village about the won
derful words he had heard. But they only laughed at
^^ and thought he was crazy.
Still he kept crying to God, confessing his sins, and
praying for mercy. And God heard and answeredhis
prayer. He found peace and pardon. This filled him

''îth joy. The poor old lame beggar, was as happy as
^te day was long. He was as poor as ever ; and as
l^Jne as ever ; but the thought that Jesus lovedhim,
*^d had died to save him, made him happy.
After awhile the missionary came along where the
îble distributers had been. He had heard of the old
^Sgar, and thought he would try and comfort him.
ût instead of this the old man comforted the mis
m
sionary, and taught him a new lesson, about the wonders
^^ G-od's grace and love. ' Here was an old man, who
-"^^d never seena missionarybefore ; had never heard a
^nnon ; and never attended a religious meeting, but
69
^ho was made perfectly happy in the midst of all his
Poverty, loneliness, andinfirmity, by simply reading
^^d's Word, and having faith in Jesus as his Saviour.
Oh, there is wonderful beauty in Jesus as a King,
^hen we see how He can make people happy under such
^^ciunstances.
HAPPY IN DEATH,
There is no time when we axe in greaterneed of

something to make us happy than when we are going to
die. Yet Jesus cantake awaythe sting from death,
and make His people so happy that they do not fear
death. .
Some time ago there was a young man in England,
about eighteenyears of age, who met his death suddenly
and unexpectedly ; but who was peacefuland happy in
meeting it, by the help that Jesus gave him. This
young man was the sonof a clergyman. His father's
70
house was near the sea. He was very fond of rambling
on the sea-shore,and searching for beautiful specimens
of seaweed. One day he was on the shore, as usual,
gathering specimens. The tide was low. There was a
ledge of rocks very full of seaweeds. Theserockscould
only be reachedat the loweststage ofthe tide. The
young man got on these rocks. Here he found great
quantities of the most beautiful specimens. He was so
much interested in gathering them that he quite forgot
to watch how the tide was coming in. When he had
gatheredas much as he wanted of the seaweed, he
lookedround to see about getting off from the rocks;
and, then, to his surprise, he found the waterhad risen

so high betweenhim and the shore, that it was impos
sible for him to getoff. He could not swim, and it was
too deep for him to wade. He lookedabout him ; but
there was no one in sight. At the top of his voice he
sboated—"Help! help I" but there was none near
ough to hear. Then he saw that he must die. Tak
71
out his pocketBible he wrote on the blank leaf as
follows : —" In danger—surrounded hj water : if help
does not come soon, I must be drowned. But Jesus, to
i^liom I gave myself five years ago, is with me. I am
perfectly happy. May He bless and comfort my beloved
parents, and bring my dear little brothers and sisters to
Himself, so that we may all meet in heaven."
Then he calmly waited till the rising waters swept
him from the rocks, and he was taken to heaven. The
next day his body was found, and the hearts of his
sorrowing parents were greatly comforted by those last
s'weetwords written in his Bible.
It is a beautiful thing to think of Jesus as a King
wto canmake His people happy under circumstances so
sad as those in which this young man found himself.

n0 one else cando this but Jesus. He is a King who
can make His people good, and peaceful^ and happy.
Dd for these reasons we may well speak of the wonder
72
beauty there is in Jesus as a King. And if we learn
to love and serve Him, we shall find that He is not only
beautiful in Himself, but that He has the power to
make us beautiful too, for we shall " see Him as He is,
and shall he like HIM:'
"Of all the faces ofthe human race,
None shine so bright as the Savior’s face.
Of all whom we love, of all whom we embrace,
There is none who can take the Master’s place.
His light alone will leadus home;
His light above will lead in love;
His glory pure will everendure,
Of His guiding light you canbe sure.
If you would like to like Him be,
Both now and for eternity,
Be blind to all that is low and base
And gaze instead upon His face.
Be willing howevergreatthe price

To follow the light from the face of Christ."
GLENN PEASE
BIBLEHUB RESOURCES
Beauty for ashes
H. Macmillan, D. D.
I. The well-knownfable of the Phoenix is one that has been often truthfully
enactedon our earth. Successive platforms of creation, with all their varied
life and loveliness, have been reduced to ruin, and out of the wreck new life
and beauty have emerged. The earth has reachedits present perfectionof
form through repeatedgeologicalfires. The fair Eden, in the midst of which
the history of the human race begins, was developedfrom the ashes of
previous less lovely Edens. The soil of the earth is composedof the ashes of
substances that have been oxidized, burned by the slow, softcaresses ofthe
very air that breathed upon them — and whose gentle smile gave them colour
and form. The building of the world was a process ofburning, and its
foundations were undoubtedly laid in flames. Its crust was originally like a
burnt cinder. The rocks and the earths, the sands and the clays, the very seas
themselves are, as it were, the ashes ofa long-continued and universal
conflagration. But during the long geologicalperiods, by the silent agencyof
vegetable life working in unison with the sunshine, the work of the fire has
been partially undone, and a considerable amount of combustible matter has
been slowlyrescuedfrom the wreck of the first conflagration. Whatevernow
exists on the earth unburnt is owing to the wonderful co-operationof plant life
and solarlight. These two forces have given to us all the beauty which now
spreads over the ashes of the world. Nay, the very ashes of the earth
themselves contribute in the most marvellous manner to its beauty. How
much does the sceneryof our world owe to its picturesque rocks, and sandy

deserts, and lonely seas,which, as we have seen, are but the ashes of the
primeval fire! What wonderful beauty God has brought out of water! It is
strange to think of water being the ashes ofa conflagration — the snow on the
mountain-top, the foam of the waterfall, the cloud of glory in the heavens, the
dewdrop in the eye of the daisy. Without the intervention of vegetable life at
all, God has thus directly, from the objects themselves, givenbeauty for ashes.
He might have made these ashes of our globe as repulsive to the sight as the
blackenedrelics of forestand plain, over which the prairie fire has swept,
while, at the same time, they might have subservedall their ends and uses. But
He has, instead, clothed them with incomparable majesty and loveliness, so
that they minister most richly to our admiration and enjoyment; and some of
the noblestconceptions of the human mind have been borrowed from their
varied chambers of imagery.
2. Like the old processesofnature are the new ones that take place still. Out
of the ashes ofthe localconflagrationthat has reduced the fields and forests to
one uniform blackenedwaste comesforth the beauty of greenerfields and
forests of species unknownthere before. Very strikingly is this seenon the dry
hill-sides of the Sierra Nevada, coveredwith dense scrub which is often swept
by fire. All the trees in the groves ofpine that grow on these hill-sides,
howeverunequal in size, are of the same age, and the cones which they
produce are persistent, and never discharge their seeds until the tree or the
branch to which they belong dies. Consequently, when one of the groves is
destroyedby fire, the burning of the trees causesthe scalesofthe cones to
open, and the seedwhich they contain is scatteredprofusely upon the ground;
and on the bare, blackenedsite of the old grove a young, green plantation of
similar pines springs forth. This curious adaptation explains the remarkable
circumstance that all the trees of the grove are of the same age. In an equally
remarkable way the fires in the Australian bush, which are so destructive to
the forests ofthat country, are made the very means of reproducing the
vegetation.
3. Another illustration of the principle may be derived from volcanic regions.
No scenes ofearth are lovelier than those which are subjectedto the frequent
destructive actionof volcanoes. The Bay of Naples is confessedlyone of those
spots in which scenic beauty has culminated. And yet this secondEden is the

creationof volcanic fires. No soil is so fertile as crumbling lava and volcanic
ashes. The destroyerof the fields and gardens is thus the renovator The ashes
of the burning that has devastatedhomesteadand vineyard reappearin the
delicate clusters of the grape, and the vivid verdure of the vine-leaves which
embowera new home of happiness on the site.
4. And — a case ofextremes meeting — frost has the same effectas fire. No
meadows are greener, no corn-fields more luxuriant, than those which spread
over the soft that has been formed by the attrition of ancientglaciers. The
cedars of Lebanon grow On the moraines left behind by ice-streams that had
sculptured the mountains into their present shape;and over the ranges ofthe
Sierra Nevada, the coniferous forests, the noblest and most beautiful on earth,
are spreadin long, curving bands, braided togetherinto lace-like patterns of
charming variety — an arrangementdetermined by the course of ancient
glaciers, upon whose moraines all the forests of the Nevada are growing, and
whose varied distribution over curves and ridges and high rolling plateaus,
the trees have faithfully followed. Elsewhere throughoutthe world pine-woods
usually grow, not on soilproduced by the slow weathering of the atmosphere,
but by the direct mechanicalactionof glaciers,whichcrushed and ground it
from the solid rocks ofmountain ranges, and in their slow recessionatthe end
of the glacialperiod, left it spread out in beds available for tree-growth.
5. Is there not beauty for ashes, whenthe starchy matter which gives the grey
colourto the lichen is changedby the winter rains into chlorophyl, and the
dry, lifeless, parchment-like substance becomes a bright greenpliable rosette,
as remarkable for the elegance ofits form as for the vividness of its colour?
Does not the corn of wheat, when God, as Ezekielstrikingly says, "calls"for it
and increasesit, develop out of the grey ashes that wrap round and preserve
the embers of its life, the long spears ofbright verdure which pierce through:
the dark wintry soil up to the sunshine and the blue air of heaven? All the
beauty, of the greenfields and woods, springing from the root, or the seed, or
the weed, in produced from the ashes ofprevious vegetation. Some plants are
found only where something has been burnt. Farmers say that woodashes will
cause the dormant white clover to spring up; and fields treated in this manner
will suddenly be transfigured with the fragrant bloom. A lovely little moss,
whose seed-vessels,by the twisting and untwisting of their stems, indicate the

changes ofthe weatherlike a barometer, grows on moors and in woods in
spots where fires have been; and it covers with its bright greenverdure the
sites of buildings, marking with its soft, delicate cushions where the
hearthstone had been. From its fondness for growing in such places, it is
known in France by the familiar name of La Charbonniere. After the great
London fire, a species ofmustard grew up on every side, covering with its
yellow blossoms the charred ruins and the recently exposedsoilstrewn with
ashes;and, as if to show some curious affinity betweenthe conflagrationof
cities and the mustard tribe, after the more recentburning of Moscow,
another species ofthe same family made its appearance among the ruins, and
is still to be met with in the neighbourhood of that city.
(H. Macmillan, D. D.)
Beauty for ashes:Judaism
H. Macmillan, D. D.
Out of the ashes ofthe burnt-offering all the beauty of the Hebrew faith
emanated.
Beauty for ashes:the atonement
H. Macmillan, D. D.
How expressive was this type of the atoning death of the Son of God! The
Victim in His case too was reduced to ashes. We see as clearlyon the cross on
which was stretchedHis lifeless body, that the work of atonement was
finished, and that a complete satisfactionhad been made to God for human
sin, as the priest saw in the ashes on the altar how entirely the sacrifice had
met with the Divine approval and acceptance. As the ashes were laid beside
the altar for a while, so the body of Jesus remained upon the cross some time
after death, exposedto the idle and mocking gaze of the multitude, but most

precious in the sight of Him whose law He had magnified and made
honourable by His obedience unto death. As the ashes, further, were placedon
the eastside of the altar, because from that quarter the bright light of the
morning sun arose — a natural symbolism common to nearly all religions,
Christians, Mohammedans, and Pagans alike turning to the eastin prayer,
and laying their dead and building their sacredshrines in that direction — so
the Sun of Righteousness rose fromthat point of the compass, and castback
the light of the glory of the resurrectionupon all the incidents and
circumstances ofHis death. The radiance of the rising sun shone on the ashes
beside the Jewishaltar, making it manifest that the lamb had been entirely
consumed; the sun rose upon the morning of the Sabbath after Christ's
crucifixion upon a cross from which the slain Lamb of God had been taken
away, and upon a sepulchre nigh at hand, wherein had lain the body of Him
who was the end of the law for righteousness. And, lastly, as the Jewishpriests
carried the ashes of the sacrifice without the camp into a cleanplace, so the
body of Jesus was laid outside the city of Jerusalemin a new sepulchre
wherein no man had ever before been laid. His grave was in a garden which
was close to Golgotha, where He was crucified. Truly God gave greatbeauty
for ashes in that garden sepulchre!
Beauty for ashes:sin and grave
H. Macmillan, D. D.
To the sinner who repents and believes in this greatatoning Sacrifice, God
gives beauty for ashes. Sin is an infringement of God's law of order, through
which alone all the brightness and variety of life can be evolved. It
disintegrates, decomposes, reduces to ashes. Its greatcharacteristic is its
wearisome samenessand monotony, a dreary movement without variety from
iniquity to iniquity. It is a defacementand destruction passing overthe soul
and life of man, like an earthquake over a city, overthrowing into one
common heap of similar ruins all the fair variety of its architecture; or like a
fire through a forest, reducing all the multitudinous life and variety of

vegetationto the same uniform dreary level of black cinders and grey ashes,
on which no dew falls, and oh which the sun itself shines with a ghastly and
mocking smile. Out of this melancholy wreck the grace ofGod constructs the
fresh and infinite variety of blessednesswhichbelongs to the convertedsoul.
Perfectthrough suffering
H. Macmillan, D. D.
To the sorrowfulGod gives beauty for ashes. Sorrow andsuffering play a
gracious part in the moral economyof the world. They are all the furnace in
which our evil nature is reduced to ashes. We are laid with the greatSufferer
of our race upon the altar and sham the fellowship of His sufferings, and like
Him are made perfectthrough suffering. On the most awful battlefields of life
grow the greenestpastures ofpeace;on the fierce lava streams that have
desolatedthe heart, bloom the sweetestvirtues and flourish the peaceable
fruits of righteousness.
Beauty for ashes:death and eternallife
H. Macmillan, D. D.
The ashes ofthe dead speak ofthe greatesthumiliation, the uttermost loss,
highest hopes extinguished, and noblest ideas perished. The gifts and gains of
our civilization have made human life more precious than of old; the results of
science, showing throughwhat long stages and by what wonderful processesit
has reachedits present perfection, have greatly exaltedthe conceptionof its
importance; the revelationof Divine grace has made known to us that, for its
sake, the Son of God Himself died, and what unspeakable issues hang upon it;
and the experience of every heart that deeply loves, confirms the truth that in
this human life love is by far the greatestand most blessedthing, "the most

Divine flowerthat Nature, in the long course of her evolutions, has evoked."
And here, in the ashes of the dead, it has all come to an end. Other wastes may
be repaired. Every spring, the earth rises in fresh loveliness from the baptism
of the autumnal fire. But what shall repair the waste of human death? To the
paganall was hopeless!Even the Hebrew faith itself could scarcelyimagine
that any conscious beauty could ever come from such ashes;and its helpless
cry ascendedup to the pitiless heaven, "Wilt Thou show wonders to the
dead?" And, in our days, cruel science comesand employs all its strength in
ruthlessly rolling a greatstone to the mouth of the sepulchre. But the
Christian religion assures us that for the ashes of our dead we shall yet have
immortal beauty.
Beauty for ashes
I. WHO GIVES THIS WORD? It comes from Him who said, "The Spirit of
the Lord God is upon Me;" "He hath sent Me to bind up the broken.hearted."
Now, in a subordinate sense, Christianministers have the Spirit of God
resting upon them, and they are sent to bind up the broken-hearted;but they
can only do so in the name of Jesus, andin strength given from Him. This
word is not spokenby them, nor by prophets or apostles either, but by the
greatLord and Masterof apostles and prophets, and ministers, even by Jesus
Christ Himself. If He declares that He will comfort us, then we may rest
assuredwe shall be comforted! The stars in His right hand may fail to
penetrate the darkness, but the rising of the Sun of Righteousnesseffectually
scatters the gloom. If the Consolationof IsraelHimself comes forth for the
uplifting of His downcastpeople, then their doubts and tears may well fly
apace, since His presence is light and peace. Butwho is this anointed One who
comes to comfort mourners?
1. He is described in the preface to the text as a preacher. Remember what
kind of preacherJesus was. "Neverman spake like this Man." He was a son
of consolationindeed. It was saidof Him, "A bruised reed shall He not break,
and the smoking flax shall He not quench."

2. In addition to His being a preacher, He is describedas a physician. "He
hath sent Me to bind up the broken-hearted." Some hearts want more than
words. The wounds are deep, they are not flesh cuts, but horrible gashes
which lay bare the bone, and threaten ere long to kill unless they be skilfully
closed. It is, therefore, a greatjoy to know that the generous Friendwho, in
the text, promises to deal with the sorrowing, is fully competent to meet the
most frightful cases.JehovahRophiis the name of Jesus ofNazareth. "By His
stripes we are healed."
3. As if this were not enough, our gracious Helperis next described as a
liberator. "He hath sent me to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the
opening of the prison to them that are bound" There were many downcast
persons in Israelin the olden times — persons who had become bankrupt,
and, therefore, had lost their estates,and had even sunk yet further into debt,
till they were obliged to sell their children into slavery, and to become
themselves bondsmen. But the fiftieth year came round, and never was there
heard music so sweetin all Judea's land as when the silver trumpet was taken
down on the jubilee morn, and a loud shrill blast was blown in every city, and
hamlet, and village, in all Israel, from Dan even to Beersheba. It meant:
"Israelite, thou art free. If thou hast sold thyself, go forth without money, for
the yearof jubilee has come." Jesus has come with a similar message.
4. As if this were not all, one other matter is mentioned concerning our Lord,
and He is pictured as being sent as the herald of good tidings of all sorts to us
the sons of men. "To proclaim the acceptable yearof the Lord." Beholdin the
person of the incarnate God the sure pledge of Divine benevolence. "He that
spared not His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all," etc.
II. TO WHOM IS THIS WORD SPOKEN? To those who mourn in Zion.
They are in Zion; they are the Lord's people, but they mourn. To mourn is not
always a mark of grace. Nature mourns. Fallen human nature will have to
mourn for ever, exceptgrace shallchange it. But the mourning here meant is
a mourning of gracious souls. It assumes various shapes.
1. It begins in most hearts with lamentation over past sin.
2. True hearts also sorrow over their presentimperfections.

3. The Christian mourner laments, also, becausehe cannot be more
continuously in communion with God. A native of sunny Italy deplores the
absence ofheaven's bright blue, when made to dwell in this land of the fleecy
clouds; and he who has dwelt in unclouded fellowshipwith the Lord bemoans
his hard lot, if even for awhile he beholds not that face which is as the sun
shining in its strength.
4. The real Christian mourns, again, because he cannot be more useful.
5. Moreover, like his Lord, he mourns for others. He mourns in Zion because
of the deadness ofthe Christian Church, its divisions, its errors, its
carelessnesstowards the souls of sinners. But he mourns most of all for the
unconverted.
III. WHAT IS THAT WHICH IS SPOKEN in the text to those that mourn?
Come, mourning souls, who mourn in the waydescribed: there is comfort
appointed for you, and there is also comfortgiven to you. It is the prerogative
of King Jesus both to appoint and to give. Observe the change Christ promises
to work for His mourners.
1. Here is beauty given for ashes. In the Hebrew there is a ring in the words
which cannot be conveyed in the English. The ashes that men put upon their
head in the Eastin the time of sorrow made a grim tiara for the brow of the
mourner; the Lord promises to put all these ashes away, and to substitute for
them a glorious head-dress — a diadem of beauty. Or, if we run awayfrom
the words, and take the inner sense, we may look at it thus: — mourning
makes the face wan and emaciated, and so takes awaythe beauty; but Jesus
promises that He will so come and reveal joy to the sorrowing soul that the
face shall fill up again:the eyes that were dull and cloudy shaft sparkle again,
and the countenance, yea, and the whole person, shall be once more radiant
with the beauty which sorrow had so grievously marred.
2. Then, it is added, "He will give the oil of joy for mourning. Here we have
first beauty, and then unction. The Orientals used rich perfumed oils on their
persons — used them largely and lavishly in times of greatjoy. Now, the Holy
Spirit comes upon those who believe in Jesus, and gives them an anointing of

perfume, most precious, more sweetand costlythan the nard of Araby. "We
have an unction from the Holy One.
3. Then, it is added, to give still greaterfulness to the cheering promise, that
the Lord will give "the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness.'The man
is first made beautiful, next he has the anointing, then afterwards he is
arrayed in robes of splendour. "The garment of praise," what a dress is this!
When a man wraps himself about, as it were, with psalmody, and lives for
ever a chorister, singing not with equal voice, but with the same earnestheart
as they do who day and night keepup the never-ending hymn before the
throne of the infinite! AM, what a life is his, what a man is he!
4. Notice whatwill be the result of this appointment, "That they might be
calledtrees of righteousness," etc. The originalis like "oaks ofrighteousness,"
that is, they shall become strong, firmly rooted, coveredwith verdure; they
shall be like a well-wateredtree for pleasantness. Butthe very pith of the text
lies ",m, a little word to which you must look. "Ye shall be calledtrees of
righteousness. There are many mourning saints who are trees of
righteousness, but nobody calls them so;they are so desponding that they give
a doubtful idea to others. Observers ask, "Is this a Christian?" But, O
mourners I if Jesus visits you, and gives you the oil of joy, men shall call you
"trees of righteousness," theyshall see grace in you. I know some Christian
people who, whereverthey go, are attractive advertisements of the Gospel.
Nobody could be with them for half-an-hour without saying, Whence do they
gain this calm, this peace, this tranquillity, this holy delight and joy?" Many
have been attractedto the Cross of Christ by the holy pleasantness and
cheerful conversationof those whom Christ has visited with the abundance of
His love.
5. The result of all this goes further, "They shall be called trees of
righteousness, the planting of the Lord," that is to say, where there is joy
imparted, and unction given from the Holy Spirit, insteadof despondency,
men will say, "It is God's work, it is a tree that Godhas planted, it could not
grow like that if anybody else had planted it; this man is a man of God's
making, his joy is a joy of God's giving."

6. Another word remains, "ThatHe might be glorified." That is the great
result we drive at, and that is the object evenof God Himself, "that He might
be glorified." For when men see the cheerful Christian, and perceive that this
is God's work, then they own the powerof God. Meanwhile, the saints,
comforted by your example, praise and bless God, and all the Church lifts up
a song to the MostHigh.
( C. H. Spurgeon.)
Grief transformed
A. Maclaren, D. D.
There is a beautiful thing which comes out more distinctly if we follow the
RevisedVersion, and read it as "to give unto them a garland for ashes, the oil
of joy for mourning, the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness. There
we have two contrastedpictures suggested, one of a mourner with grey ashes
strewedupon his dishevelledlocks, and his spirit clothed in gloomlike a black
robe; and to him there comes One who, with gentle hand, smoothes the ashes
out of his hair, trains a garland round his brow, anoints his head with oil, and,
stripping off the trappings of woe, casts abouthim a bright robe fit for a guest
at a festival. That is the miracle that Jesus Christ cando for every one, and is
ready to do for us, if we will let Him.
(A. Maclaren, D. D.)
The Joy-bringer
A. Maclaren, D. D.
I. JESUS CHRIST IS THE JOY-BRINGER TO MEN BECAUSE HE IS THE
REDEEMER OF MEN. In the original application of my text to the
deliverance from captivity, this gift of joy, and change of sorrow into gladness,
was no independent and secondbestowment, but was simply the issue of the
one that precededit, viz. the gift of liberty to the captives, and the opening of

the prison to them that are bound. The gladness was a gladness that welledup
in the heart of the captives setfree, and coming out from the gloom of the
Babylonian dungeon into the sunshine of God's favour, with their faces set
towards Zion "with songs and everlasting joy upon their heads." You have
only to keepfirm hold of this connectionbetweenthese two thoughts to come
to the crownand centre-point of this greatprophecy, as far as it applies to us,
and that is that it is Christ as the Emancipator, Christ as He who brings us
out of the prison and bondage of the tyranny of sin, who is the greatJoy-giver.
For there is no real, deep, fundamental and impregnable gladness possible to
a man until his relations to God have been rectified, and until, with the
consciousnessofforgiveness and the Divine love nestling warm at his heart, he
has turned himself awayfrom his dread and his sin, and has recognizedin his
Father God "the gladness of his joy." There are many: us who feelthat life is
sufficiently comfortable without any kind of reference to God at all. But about
all that kind of surface joy, the old words are true, "evenin laughter the heart
is sorrowful," and hosts of us are satisfiedwith joys which Jesus has no part
in brining, simply because our truest self has never once awakened. Whenit
does you will find out "that no one can bring real joy who does not take away
guilt and sin.
II. JESUS CHRIST TRANSFORMS SORROWBECAUSE HE
TRANSFORMS THE MOURNER. All that this Joy-bringer and Transmuter
of grief into its opposite is representedas doing, is on the man who feels the
sorrow. In regardto the ordinary sorrows oflife, He affects these not so much
by an operationupon our circumstances as by an operationupon ourselves,
and transforms sorrow and brings gladness, because He transforms the man
that endures it. The landscape remains the same, the difference is the colour
of the glass through which we look at it. How does He do it?
1. By giving to the man sources ofjoy, if he will use them, altogether
independent of external circumstances. "Although the fig-tree shall not
blossom," etc. The paradox of the Christian life is "as sorrowful, yet always
rejoicing.
2. There is another way by which for us, if we will use our privileges, the
sorrows oflife may be transmuted, because we, contemplating them, have

come to a changedunderstanding of their meaning. We shall never
understand life if we class its diverse events simply under the two opposite
categoriesofgood— evil; prosperity — adversity; gains-losses;fulfilled
expectations — disappointed hopes. Put them all togetherunder one class —
discipline and education; means for growth; means for Christlikeness. When
we have found out, what it takes a long while for us to learn, that the lancet
and the bandage are for the same purpose, and that opposite weathers
conspire to the same end, that of the harvest, the sting is out of the sorrow, the
poison is wiped off the arrow.
3. Here we may suggesta third way by which a transformation wrought upon
ourselves transforms the aspectofour sorrows, andthat is that possessing
independent sources ofjoy, and having come to learn the educationalaspectof
all adversity, we thereby are brought by Jesus ChristHimself to the position
of submission. That is the most potent talisman to transform mourning into
praise. An acceptedgriefis a conquered grief; a conquered grief will very
soonbe a comforted grief; and a comforted grief is a joy.
III. JESUS GIVES JOY AFTER SORROW.Jesus Christ, evenhere and now,
gives these blessedresults of our sorrows, if they are takento the right place,
and borne in the right fashion. For it is they "that mourn in Zion that He thus
blesses. There are some of us, I fear, whose only resource in trouble is to fling
ourselves into some work, or some dissipation. And there are some of us
whose only resource for deliverance from our sorrows is that, after the wound
has bled all it can, it stops bleeding, and that grief simply dies by lapse of time,
and for want of fuel. An affliction wastedis the worstof all waste. But if we
carry our grief into the sanctuary, then, here and now, it will change its
aspect, and be a solemn joy. I say nothing about the ultimate result, where
every sorrow rightly borne shall be representedin the future life by some
stage in grace or glory, where every tear shall be crystallized, if I might so say,
into a flashing diamond, which flings off the reflection of the Divine light,
where "there shall be no sorrow nor sighing, nor any more pain," for the
former things are passedaway. When the lessonhas been learnt, God burns
the rod. But there is another saddertransformation of joy into its opposite. I
saw a few days ago, on a hill-top, a black circle among the grass and heather.
There had been a bonfire there on Coronationnight, and it had all died down,

and that was the end — a hideous ring of scorchedbarrenness amidst the
verdure. Take care thatyour gladnessesdo not die down like that, but that
they are pure, and being pure are undying. Separationfrom Christ makes joy
shallow, and makes it certain that at last, instead of a garland, shall be ashes
on the head, and that, instead of a festalrobe, the spirit shall be wrapped in a
garment of heaviness.
(A. Maclaren, D. D.).
Holy Spirit adds beauty and colourto our lives
Postedon October29, 2011
by Bummyla
Image via Wikipedia
THE HOLY
SPIRIT ADDS BEAUTY AND COLOUR TO OUR LIVES
His Spirit made the heavens
beautiful….(Job 36:13 TNLT)
Have you
ever met someone whose life was “Colourless”? Byit I mean things were just
dull and stale and there was nothing inspiring about the person. Such people
are always seeking fulfilment in all the wrong places, but it eludes them.
That’s a signthat such folks have not yielded to the ministry of the Holy

Spirit.
When the
Holy Spirit comes to live in you, He brings colour and beauty into your life!
There will be freshness about your life every single day that can’t be ignored.
If He canonly find a way to express Himself in you, your life will be full of
beauty, glory and grace.
When you
study the accountof creationin the Bible, you’ll discoverthat the earth was
a chaotic mass, coveredin darkness. Butthe Bible says that the Spirit of God
hovered
over the dark vapour (Genesis 1:1-3). When God spoke and commanded
things to
change, guess who went into action? It was the Holy Spirit! He specializes in
beautifying even the worst of situations! When He comes onthe scene, the
chaos
and disorder vanishes and He brings in colour, order and beauty! All the
beauty
that you see in all of God’s creationwas produced by the Holy Spirit.
The
Holy Spirit has brought so much beauty and colour into my life and He cando
the same for you. I don’t have any “Blue days” because He makes eachday a
new
and exciting experience. As you yield to Him, your life will become so full of
beauty and colour that those around you will wonder what you’re doing that

makes you so special. He’ll give you beauty for ashes, suchthat when people
look at you, they’ll see the beauty and favour of God upon your life.
PRAYER
Precious Holy Spirit of God, You have
come into my life to bring in the beauty, glory and colourof God. I yield
myself to you to have your way in me. I let go of all unnecessarytoll and
struggles and I welcome beauty and grace into my every day existence, in the
Name of Jesus Christ! Amen!
www.rhapsodyofrealities.org
Beauty for Ashes
To all who mourn in Israel, he will give a crown of beauty for ashes,a joyous
blessing instead of mourning, festive praise instead of despair. In their
righteousness, theywill be like greatoaks that the Lord has planted for his
own glory. Isaiah61:3
Years ago when I began my walk with Christ, I needed to know something. I
needed to know it (what everit was)was going to be OK. I searchedfor bible
verses that would speak to me and give me peace and comfort me when I
needed comforting. Isaiah 61:3 found me.
I was watching a televisionshow and the speakerrecitedIsaiah61:3. The
verse causedme to sit up and listen intently. I smiled. I felt like God just
kickedthe bully who tried to hurt me. This verse came along at the perfect
time in my life and it reappears like my guardian angel when I need to be
reminded of God’s omniscience and omnipresence.
He will give a crownof beauty for ashes. Whenwe think about all the times
something happened or is happening to us and in the end we became better

human beings for the challenge we face, that is a crownof beauty. Our
positive attitudes, smiles, words of encouragement, our inner and outer
strength, our obvious healing and our successesare big shiny diamonds in the
crown. The definition of ashis something what remains after it is burned. In
other words, it is finished. Whatever the ash may be, it is done. You have been
delivered and given glory for your troubles.
A joyous blessing insteadof mourning. Mourning is heavy and does not give
light to the darkness we face in our suffering. Mourning is a personaljourney
and means different things to different people. Before the ashes became
ashes, they were real people, real situations, and real hopes and promises.
Mostof them we felt were gifts and blessings from Godand a sign of his love
for us. When they are taken awayor we lose them, we think we the worst,
which is a human way of thinking. But the Lord did not promise us worldly
things. He did promise us he will always be present. A joyous blessing may not
even seemlike a joyous blessing when we receive it, but the Lord is on time
and never goes back onhis word. The soonerwe seek him in the midst of the
trials and tribulations, the soonerhis joyous blessing appears.
Festive praise instead of despair. The Bible gives numerous verses on praise
because praise shakesup the enemy and empowers us to be biggerthan our
circumstances. Ithink this is the hardest part of Isaiah61:3 to understand.
Who feels like being festive and giving praise when despair is much more
comfortable and wins pity even within ourselves. I can tell you from years of
practice, praising when you do feel lead to will work wonders on the soul. This
is the part where the Lord wants us to be active in the healing process. He
wants us to praise him will help us give praise and thanksgiving when we open
ourselves up to doing what it takes to getpast the ashes. Praiseis showing we
know how greatour Lord is and how much we believe in his wonder-working
power. Despairand praise both require thought, so why not praise? I know
you can!
In their righteousness, they will be like greatoaks that the Lord has planted
for his own glory. When we overcome our suffering, we stand tall, not just to
the people around us, but also in the eyes of the Lord. Our beauty comes from
surviving the ashes in life and emerging with rejoice and full of praise. Like

the greatoak tree, we are mighty and respectful and the Lord takes pleasure
in seeing His glory in us. It is honorable to be a better and strongerperson for
having beauty for ashes.
5
What does the phrase, "give them beauty for ashes"meanin Isaiah61:3?
Isaiah61:3
NLT - 3 To all who mourn in Israel, he will give a crown of beauty for ashes, a
joyous blessing insteadof mourning, festive praise insteadof despair. In their
righteousness, theywill be like greatoaks that the Lord has planted for his
own glory.
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Kelli Hamann Supporter Pastor's Wife, Mother, Grandmother, Teacher,
Writer, Cellist

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