"And they called Rebekah, and said unto her, Wilt thou go with this man? And she said, I will go." - Genesis 24:58
See, my soul, with what readiness Rebekah determined to accompany the
servant of Abraham to Isaac. And wilt thou not arise and go forth at
the invitation of the servants of Jesus, who sends them to call thee to
his arms? Hath he not, by the sweet constraining influences of his Holy
Spirit, as well as by the outward ministry of his blessed word, made
thee willing in the day of his power? Did the servant of Abraham give
an earnest of his master's affection in putting the bracelets upon
Rebekah's hands, and the ear-rings, and the gold? But what was this to
the love-tokens which Jesus himself hath given thee, when he set thee
as a seal upon his heart, and as a seal upon his arm, and when all the
waters of divine wrath his holy soul had poured upon him for thy sins,
and all the floods of corruption, which like a deluge, had overspread
thy whole nature, could not quench his love, nor drown it. And if it be
demanded, then, from thine own mouth this day, "Wilt thou go with this
man," this Godman, this Glory-man, this Jesus? Wilt thou not instantly
cry out, "I will go?" Yes! thou altogether lovely Lord, thou chiefest
and fairest among ten thousand, I will go with thee. I would forget
mine own people .and my father's house. For my father's house is an
house of bondage. I was born in sin, and shapen in iniquity. A child of
wrath, even as others, and by nature dead in trespasses and sins. It is
thou, blessed Jesus, who hast delivered me from the wrath to come. It
is thou who hast quickened me by thy Holy Spirit to a new and spiritual
life. It is thou who hast sent thy servants to call me to thyself, and
hast betrothed me to thyself forever. And is there any that yet asketh
me, "wilt thou go with this man? My whole soul would outrun the
question, and, like the apostle, I would answer, "to whom else shall I
go?" Witness for me, ye servants of my Lord; ye angels, and ministers
of light. I have none in heaven, neither in earth, but him. Yes, thou
dearest Redeemer! I will go with thee, follow thee, live with thee,
hang upon thee, die with thee, nor even death itself shall part thee
and me. Oh let those precious words of thine, concerning thy church, be
sweetly, felt in my soul. "I will say, it is my people: "and my whole
soul will make her responses to the gracious sound, and say," the Lord
is my God."
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