The Fame-Excelling Reality

‘Thou exceedest the fame that I heard.’—2 Chron. ix. 6.
THOU! Lord Jesus ! for whom have I in heaven but Thee? and there is none upon earth that I desire beside Thee.1 Thou! who hast loved me and washed me from my sins in Thine own blood. Thou! who hast given Thyself for me. Thou! who hast redeemed me, called me, drawn me, waited for me. Thou! who hast given me Thy Holy Spirit to testify of Thee. Thou! whose life is mine, and with whom my life is entwined, so that nothing shall separate or entwine it. ‘Thou exceedest the fame that I heard!’ Yet I heard a great fame of Thee. They told me Thou wert gracious. They told me as much as they could put into words. And they said, ‘ Come and see.’1 I tried to come, but I could not see. My eyes were holden,* though Thou wast ‘not far.’3 Then I heard what Thou wast to others, and I knew that Thou wast the same Lord. But now I believe, not because of their saying, for I have heard Thee myself, and know that Thou art indeed the Christ, the Saviour of the world—my Saviour. Thee, ‘whom \shall see for myself,’* I now know for myself; my Lord and my God.5

I did not understand how there could be satisfaction here and now. It seemed necessarily future, in the very nature of things. It seemed, in spite of Thy promises, that the soul could never be filled with anything but heaven. But Thou fillest, Thou satisfiest it.

Now it wonderingly rejoiceth,
Finds in Thee unearthly bliss,
Rests in Thy divine perfection,

And is satisfied with this.
Altogether fair and lovely,
Evermore the same to me;
Precious, infinite Lord Jesus,

I am satisfied with Thee!’
—Jean S. Pigott.

1 John i. 46. ” 2 Luke xxiv. 16. 3 Acts xvii. 27.

* Job xix. 27. ^ John xx. 28.

For Thou exceedest the fame that I heard. I find in Thee more than I heard, more than I expected, ‘more than all.’ The excellency of the knowledge of Thee, Christ Jesus my Lord, not only includes all other treasures of wisdom and knowledge, but outshines them all. Every other fame that I heard has had some touch of disappointment; imagination could always flash beyond reality, even if actual expectation, quieted by experience, had kept within the mark. But ‘now I see” that Thou exceedest all that God-given mental powers can reach; every glimpse is but an opening vista, all the music is but a prelude; what I know of Thee only magnifies the yet unknown. All the God-implanted craving for something beyond, all the instinct for the infinite, is met, responded to, satisfied in Thee. There is no part of my being but finds its full scope and its true sphere in Thee.

Thou exceedest all that I heard in every respect. No one could tell me what Thy pardoning love, Thy patience, Thy long-suffering would be to me. No one could tell me how Thy strength, Thy grace, Thy marvellous help would fit into the least as well as the greatest of my continual needs. No one could tell me what grace was poured into Thy lips for me.’ Thou art All to each of Thy children; a complete and all excelling Christ to every one, as if it were only for each one. Thy secret is with each.3 Thou givest the white stone and the new name which no man knoweth saving he that receiveth it.4 And if Thou exceedest all that I heard, now and here amid the shadows and the veils, how far more exceeding will be Thy unshadowed and unveiled glory! Lord Jesus, I bless Thee for Thy promised eternity. For I shall need it all to praise Thee, that Thou exceedest the fame that I heard!

1 John ix. 25. 2 Ps. xlv. 2.

8 Ps. XXV. 14. 4 Rev. ii. 17,