Wakefield

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  “In some old magazine or newspaper I recollect a story, told as truth, of a man—let us call him Wakefield—who absented himself for a long time from his wife. The fact, thus abstractedly stated, is not very uncommon, nor, without a proper distinction of circumstances, to be condemned either as naughty or nonsensical. Howbeit, this, though far from the most aggravated, is perhaps the strangest instance on record of marital delinquency, and, moreover, as remarkable a freak as may be found in the whole list of human oddities. The wedded couple lived in London. The man, under pretense of going a journey, took lodgings in the next street to his own house, and there, unheard of by his wife or friends and without the shadow of a reason for such self-banishment, dwelt upward of twenty years. During that period he beheld his home every day, and frequently the forlorn Mrs. Wakefield. And after so great a gap in his matrimonial felicity—when his death was reckoned certain, his estate settled...

On mine arm shall they trust

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Isaiah 51:5 "My righteousness is near; My salvation has gone out, and My arms shall judge peoples;
the coastlands shall wait on Me, and on My arm they shall trust."

In seasons of severe trial, the Christian has nothing on earth that he can trust to, and is therefore compelled
to cast himself on his God alone. When his vessel is on its beam-ends, and no human deliverance can avail,
he must simply and entirely trust himself to the providence and care of God. Happy storm that wrecks a man
on such a rock as this! O blessed hurricane that drives the soul to God and God alone! There is no get-
ting at our God sometimes because of the multitude of our friends; but when a man is so poor, so friendless,
so helpless that he has nowhere else to turn, he flies into his Father's arms, and is blessedly clasped therein!
When he is burdened with troubles so pressing and so peculiar, that he cannot tell them to any but his God,
he may be thankful for them; for he will learn more of his Lord then than at any other time. Oh, tempest-tossed 
believer, it is a happy trouble that drives thee to thy Father! Now that thou hast only thy God to trust to,
see that thou puttest thy full confidence in him. Dishonour not thy Lord and Master by unworthy doubts and fears;
but be strong in faith, giving glory to God. Show the world that thy God is worth ten thousand worlds to thee.
Show rich men how rich thou art in thy poverty when the Lord God is thy helper. Show the strong man how strong
thou art in thy weakness when underneath thee are the everlasting arms. Now is the time for feats of faith and
valiant exploits. Be strong and very courageous, and the Lord thy God shall certainly, as surely as he built the
heavens and the earth, glorify himself in thy weakness, and magnify his might in the midst of thy distress.
The grandeur of the arch of heaven would be spoiled if the sky were supported by a single visible column, and
your faith would lose its glory if it rested on anything discernible by the carnal eye. May the Holy Spirit give you
to rest in Jesus this closing day of the month.

(This is August 31 reading of Charles Spurgeon's Morning and Evening.)

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