I * '^^^ppl^^pl^'. ' THE HEAVENLY TOIEtf: (gift oh for Christians, BT DAVTD ADDI8OW HARSHA. INDIANAPOLIS, IND.: ASIIEK & ADAMS, PUBLISHERS. NO. 3 ODDFELLOWS HALL. Entered according to Act of Congress, in tbe year 1S56, BY DAYTON AND BTODICK, In the Clerk's Office of the District Court cf the United States, for the Southern District of New York. on % lofce of Cljmt. ACE. THIS work is not designed as a systematic treatise, out as an humble essay on the great, the inexhaustible sub- ject of the love of Christ, as manifested to a lost world. It was composed during a long period of recovery from a chronic disease, which brought the author to the gates of death, and well nigh terminated his life. In the present essay the author has endeavored to notice a few ways in which Christ has manifested his great love to sinners. His object in writing this work is to do good; and should this volume be the means of leading any sinner to the blessed Jesus, or of kindling a single spark of divine lore in his bosom, or even of refreshing the soul of any saint of animating him on his way to glory he will feel amply rewarded for the toil of writing it, when in a stato of much pnysical inability ; and most gratefully would ho ascribe all the praise and glory to God. He can bless the feeblest instrument; and, without his blessing, all our labors for good must be futile. While the author would endeavor to lead others to tho 6 PREPACK. Lamb of God, to the bleeding Saviour, mcst humbly would he himself glory in the cross of Christ "God forbid that I should glory, save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom the world is crucified unto me, and I unto the world ;" and ever does he hope to pro- claim the love and set forth the praise of that blessed Redeemer, who left the regions of glory to live and die for sinners. "Jesus I my Shepherd, Husband, Friend; My Prophet, Priest, and King; My Lord, my life, my way, my end, Accept the praise I bring. " Weak is the effort of my heart, And cold my warmest thought; But when I eee thee as thou art, I'll praise thee as I ought. ** Till then I would thy love proclaim, With ev'ry fleeting breath ; And may the music of thy nanv Refresh my soul in death. AROYLE, N. Y., Nov., 185f the day of Christ, and was glad. Dying Jacob spoke of the coming of a Saviour. " The sceptre shall not depart from Judah, nor a law- giver from between his feet, until Shiloh come."f Moses said to the children of Israel, " The Lord thy God will raise up unto thee a Prophet from the midst of thee, of thy brethren, like unto me : unto him ye shall hearken.";); Isaiah, wrapped in prophetic vision, eloquently describes the advent and characteristics of the 1 John i . 8. 2 f Gen. xlix. 10. { Deut. xviii. 15 18 INTRODUCTORY ESSAY. promised Messiah. " Unto us a child is horn : anto us a son is given, and the government shall be upon his shoulder ; and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, The Mighty God, The Everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace."* " Behold a virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel. : 'f A1J the prophets spoke of Him who was to come into the world to accomplish our salvation ; " for the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecv.":f As the time approached, the promises of a divine Saviour were multiplied. " But when the ful- ness of time was come, God sent forth his Son v made of a woman, made under the law, to redeem them that were under the law, that we might receive the adoption of sons.' ? Love was the grand principle which prompted the blessed God to give his Son to diu for sin- ners ; and love was the impelling motive that brought Immanuel from his throne, to this fallen world, in order to save the lost. How great, how sublime was that scheme of his to save a perishing world! How vast was that love which enabled him ta execute this plan ! * is. ix. 6. f Is. vii. 14 J. Rev. xU H Gal. iv. 4, 6. THE LOVE OF CHRIST. 10 CHAPTER II. THK LOVE, OF CHRIST IN COMING INTO THE WOELD TO SAVE SINNERS. "Tliis is a faithful saying, and worthy of all acceptation, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners." 1 Tim. xi. 15. THE gospel, as the name signifies, denotes glad tidings. This blessed gospel is sent to us : 'to you, reader, are these glad tidings conveyed. " That Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners," is the best news that ever fell on the ears of a dying world. Life and immortality are brought to light through this gospel of the grace of God. Let us now contemplate the glorious charac- ter of our blessed Kedeemer, and the love which he has manifested in coming into the world to save sinners. 1. In the person of Christ, the human and divine natures are united. His divinity is clearly asserted in the Scriptures. The Re- deemer of lost sinners is the eternal Son of God equal witli the Father, the Creator of the universe, the upholder of all things. Indued 20 THE LOVE OF CHRIST. with supreme power, he reigns universal Lord. All power is given to him, in heaven and earth. A.11 worlds are his. All kingdoms are his do- main. He made all things. At his command, worlds started into being. By his power all created matter is upheld in existence. He has caused the sun to shine with undiminished splendor on our globe for nearly six thousand years. It is he " that spreadeth out the heavens, and treadeth upon the waves of the sea ; that maketh Arcturus, Orion, and Pleiades, and the chambers of the south."* Open the blessed volume, and read the fun- damental doctrine of Christianity, that Christ, he redeemer of sinners, is God. "In the be- ginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. All things were made by him; and without him was not any thing made, that was made."f It is a matter of great consolation for the believer who has in- trusted his immortal concerns in the hands of his blessed Redeemer, to know that he is God over all, blessed forever. Let him ever bear in rnind that the Saviour, who loves him, is the only begotten Son of God, and bears his very image. He is the brightness of his Father's glory, and the express image of his person. Ho * Job ix. 8 9 f John i. 1. 8. THE L O V & OF CHRIST. 21 is clothed with divine majesty, and possesses all divine perfections, and infinite excellences. He is equal with God in all his glorious perfec- tions. He is called " the Lord of Glory," the " King of glory," "the mighty God," "Jehovah;" and in the Revelation he is described as having on his vesture, and on his thigh a name writ- ten, "King of kings, and Lord of lords."* Again, it is said of him that he " is the image of the invisible God, the first-born of every creature: for by him were all things created that are in heaven, and that are in earth, visible and invisible ; whether they be thrones or do- minions, or principalities, or powers. All things were created with him and for him : and he is before all things, and by him all things consist ; and he is the head of the body, the church, who is the beginning, the first-born from the dead ; that in all things he might have the pre-emi- nence. For it pleased the Father, that in him should all fuilness dwell."f There is a transcendant loveliness in the per- son of Christ. He is "fairer than the children of men:" "the chiefest among ten thousand; yea, he is altogether lovely." What glorious and lovely attractions centre in Immanuel * Rev. XIT ifi. f Col. * 16-19. 22 THE LOVE OF CHRIST. Such is the character of Him who came into our sin-polluted world, to shed on Calvary his precious blood for the redemption of his people. 2. Christ came into the world by being mani- fested in the flesh, yet he lost nothing of his essential glory and dominion. He was as truly "the brightness of his Father's glory," and the owner of the universe, when in the manger, and on the cross, as he is now at the right hand of God : " Even the son of man who is in heaven." Yet out of love to sinners, he chose to suffer that glory to be veiled in humanity, and him- self to be made under the law to redeem his people. What amazing love is seen here. " The Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us."* "God was manifest in the flesh."f Christ Jesus was in the form of God, and thought it not rob- bery to be equal with God ; but he " made himself of no reputation, and took upon him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men.'':): The advent of Christ was the signal of peace on earth. His incarnation was an event of great joy to the world. To the shep- herds of Bethlehem, the glad tidings of his birth were conveyed by an angel of the Lord. To them he proclaim 3d : " Behold I bring you * John i. 14. f 1 Tim. iii. 16. \ Phil. ii. 7 THE LOVE OF CHRIST. 23 good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people. For unto you is born this day, in the city of David, a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord,"* A new light then burst upon the world. The glorious Sun of Righteousness, emitting his resplendent rays upon kingdoms and nations involved in moral darkness, arose to enlighten, to gladden, and to bless our be nighted planet. * The prince of peace made his appearance. The messenger of reconciliation came, to reconcile alienated man to the friend- ship of his offended Creator, and fit him for the mansions of glory. When such a momentous event had occurred, when the eternal Son of God had invested himself with humanity, and become bone of our bone, and flesh of our flesh ; well might the song of the heavenly host re- sound among the hills of Judea, proclaiming, " Glory be to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men." For unto us a Saviour was born. And never was human na ture so highly honored and exalted as when Christ assumed it. What blessings are bestowed upon fallen man, through the incarnation of the Son of God ! Eternity alone can unfold them. Christ came most willingly into the world to do the will of nis heavenly Father His Vcrds * Lukeli. 10, 11. 24 THE LOVE OF CHRIST. were " Lo, I come : in the voiume of the book it is written of me; I delight to do thy will, my God."* Christ offered himself a willing victim upon the altar of divine wrath. He came into the world. But oh ! wonderful condescen- sion and boundless love, that Christ should come into this sinful world. On the matchless con- descension and kindness of Christ, as manifested by his incarnation, a pious wrjterf has the fol- lowing beautiful remarks : " Earthly princes are only feeble worms ; their loftiest elevation is a molehill, and their brightest splendor a vain show. Yet iiow rarely do they descend from their thrones, to visit and relieve those who lan- guish in the abodes of poverty and wretched- ness! In our low and lost estate Jesus Christ not only saw and pitied us, but also hastened on the wings of love to bring salvation. ' He was eternally 'rich, yet for our sakes he became poor, that we through his poverty might be made rich.' He was clothed wjth light, and surrounded with hosts of happy, adoring spirits; yet he submitted to put on our nature, and sojourn among guilty, worthless mortals. Herein is love! love without a parallel, love that exceeds description, and passes knowledge I * P& xL 7. 8 f The rn ton- THE LOVE OF C HEIST 25 The incarnation of the only begotten Son of God is a mystery of wisdom and love, in which all our thoughts ought to be absorbed, and all our hearts with it should be enraptured. The wonders of the vast universe, could they be col- lected and presented to us in one view, would lose all their attraction and dwindle into insig- nificance, were we stedfastiy to contemplate the marvellous condescension of the Redeemer, manifested in the humiliation to which he sub- mitted on our account. When he exchanged his throne for the manger of Bethlehem, the shining host of heaven burst into that sublime song, " Glory to God in the highest, on earth peace, and good will to men." Here is con- descension which we could not have believed possible, had it not been so clearly and amply revealed. The kindness and love of God our Saviour towards man, appeared with pre-emi- nent lustre in the whole of that great work which he undertook to perform for their salva- tion. How ardent was that love which brought the ever blessed Son of God from heaven to earth, that he might save sinners. What but infinite love could have induced him to come into the world to be made sin for us to bear our sins in his own body, that we might be reconciled to God, and be brought at last into THE LOVE OF CHRIST. the everlasting mansions of glciy. to be ever with the Lord. Jesus Christ is love itself embodied in a hu- man form : that form onee appeared on our earth, and trod the thorny pathway from the manger to the cross, till it was seen to bleed, and groan, and die, on Calvary, for sinners as vile as we are. Reader ! have you an interest in that great work which Christ, by coming into the world, has finished ? Are you deeply in- terested in his atonement, and righteousness? Is his love shed abroad in your heart ? Is he unspeakably precious to you? For, says the Apostle, "unto you therefore which believe, he is precious." Can you adopt the language of the poet, and sweetly sing, "Sweeter sounds than music knows, Charm me in Immanuel's name: All her hopes my spirit owes To liis birth, and cross, and shame. ' When he came, the angels suns 'Glory be to God on high!' Lord, unloose my etamm'ring tongue ; Who shall louder sing than If" NEWTON. By his coming into the world and accomplish- ing our salvation, Christ has opened the gates of the celestial city, through which redeemed sinners may now pass into mansions of eternal THE LOVE OF CHKIST. 27 bliss. O sinner, the gates of Paradise are now wide open for your reception ; enter in and be saved. The arms of Christ are now stretched from heaven for your relief. Look up, then, with confidence to your loving Saviour. He now calls upon you from his eternal throne, "Look unto me and be ye saved, all the ends of the earth ; for I am God, and there is none else ; a just God, and a Saviour."* Sinner, ha,ve you looked to Christ for salvation? In him you will find an everlasting salvation. Everlasting salvation 1 precious words I It is the gift of God, through Jesus Christ our Lord. In the incarnation of the Son of God, we behold immeasurably great love manifested to sinners. With love unparalleled, he descends to this sinful world, and lives and dies for the redemp- tion of his people. Love led him to forsake the regions of glory, for this dark abode 'of sin and suffering. "Nothing brought him from above, Nothing but redeeming love." 0, what love is here manifested to a guilty, rebellious world! "Ye know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, for your sakes he became poor, that ye through his poverty might be rich." * Is. Xlv 21 22 28 THE LOVE OF CHRIST. But why did he thus veil his glory in numan. ity, and come into this world? It was to save sinners. " This is a faithful saying, and worthy of all acceptation, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners."* 3. To save sinners was the very object for which Messiah left his throne ; for which the Son of God became incarnate. " I am not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance. "f " The Son of man is come to seek and to save that which was lost.":): When Christ veiled his glory, and left the regions of bliss, it was to save sinners. When he assumed mortal flesh, and became a suffering man, it was to save sinners. When he bled and died on the cross, it was to save sinners. When he burst the fetters of death, and in a glorified form ascended to heaven, it was to save sinners; and now that he is set down at the right hand of the throne of God. he is still carrying on his blessed work of saving smners. It was infinite love that brought Christ into the world to save sinners. What amazing love is here displayed! In man's redemption th$ love of Christ shines with pre-eminent lustre, In his love Christ came to save sinners, and Tin. i. 15. f Mat ix IS. t l/'-ke xix. 1C THE LOVE OF CUBIST. 29 most willingly does he receive even the vilest sinner that comes to him for salvation. Have you yet fled for refuge to the world's Eedeemer? There is but one refuge provided ,for a lost world : Christ is that refuge. He shelters all that come to him. In him is eternal safety. Happy are they, whose hopes are fixed on him : they are safe ; though all around them are changes and fluctuations, yet their rest is pitched aloft, for above this sphere of changing and perishing mortality. Onward and heaven- ward will be their course, and glorious will be their destiny ! When Christ shall appear, they shall appear with him in glory. Animated by the hope of immortality, look with holy contempt upon the world arid all its delusive pleasures. Let a joyful eternity be ever in your view. Choose Christ as your Saviour and portion, and heaven will be your home. You will quickly glide over the tempestuous sea of life, and land on "the peaceful shore Of blest eternity." Come, O sinner ! come and intrust your salva- tion to the blessed Jesus, who came to save sin ner&. He will not cast you out. Hear his own words- "H :r n that comot.li to nw I will in no THE LOVE OF CHKTST. wise cast out."* He has a willing ear to hear your cry ; a willing heart to recoive you ; will- ing arms to embrace you; almighty power to save you. do not refuse the Lord of glory ! Do not contemn the gospel message of love. Behold your loving Saviour I See what an interest he has taken in your eternal welfare. See him laying aside the robes of his glory for you. See him, though high, becoming low; though rich, becoming poor for you: and see him coming into this world to save you. Attend to his gracious calls. Seek him instantly. May the sweet influences of Christ's redeeming love constrain you to come and partake of the joys of salvation. Salvation by Christ! Blessed gospel ; well mayest thou be styled glad tidings of great joy I In a word, I beseech you, dear reader, as you value the happiness of your immortal soul and the bliss of eternity, tojnake sure of your salva tion. "Behold, now is the accepted time; be hold, now is the day of salvation." To-rnorrow may be too late. To-morrow's sun may set upon your grave. Now " Seek ye the Lord while he may be found, call ye upon him while he is near : let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts; and let him re- Ti.87. THE LOVE OF CHRIST. 31 torn unto the Lord, and lie will have mercy upon him; and to our God, for he will abun dantlv pardon."* 'Come, lepers, seize the present hour The Saviour's grace to prove: He can rcliev3, for he has pow'r He will, fo* he u love." 32 THE LOVE OF CHRIST. CHAPTER III. THE LOVS OH" CHRIST, AS MANIFESTED JN HIS SUFFER- INGS AND DEATH. M Greater love hath no man tiian this, that a man lay !own his life foT nls friends." JOHN xv. 13. "'Religion! thou the soul of happiness ; And groaning Calvary, of theel Thrc shine The noblest truths ; there strongest motives sting There sacred violence assaults the soul ; There nothing but compulsion is forborne. Thou my all ! My theme ! my inspiration, and my crown 1 My strength in agel my rise in low estate! My soul's ambition, pleasure, wealth; my world My light in darkness, and rny life in dflul.h I My boast through time! bliss through etern.ty 1 Eternity too short to speak thy praise, Or fathom thy profound of love to man ! To man of men the meanest, e'en to me ! My sacrifice ! my God ! What things are these ? Talk they of morals ? thou bleeding Love ! Thou maker of new morals to mankind ! The grand morality is love to thee !" In the death of Christ, we behold the most astonishing exhibition of divine love that has ever been manifested to a lost \vcrld. Such love as ie here displayed ; ? without a precedent THE LOVE OF CHRIST. 33 - without a parallel in the annals of time or in the records of eternity. To behold the Son of God, the Maker of worlds, bowing his head on the cross, and yielding up his immaculate soul amid the agonies of death, is the most wonderful, the most affecting, the most melting sight that mor- tals ever witnessed. Around the Cross of Christ there shine the most resplendent rays of divine love that ever beamed from the Sun of Eight- eousness that ever emanated from the Deity. Here then is the brightest display of love, that Christ has manifested to a world of per- ishing sinners. "Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends."* But, oh ! amazing love ! that Christ breathed out his precious life, poured out his holy soul unto death, for his enemies, for the ungodly, for sinners. " For when we were yet without strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly. For scarcely for a righteous man will one die : yet peradventure for a good man some would even dare to die. But God com- mendeth his love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us."f Christ died to save sinners: without his death, their salvation could not have been accomplished. Without the shedding of blood, there is no re* * John x% 1 f- f Rom. v. 6-8. 34: THELOVE OF CHRIST. mission;* and without the shedding of Christ's precious blood, not a single sinner could have been saved. The salvation of countless millions was suspended on the death of Christ ; but, in love, he died to save them. Here we may behold a little of the vastncss of that love which cannot be measured, and which cannot be told. The Saviours love met death itself in the face, and triumphed over the grave. O, my soul, look and wonder! Behold thy Saviour breeding on the cross; bleeding from every pore, that thy sins might be washed away in the flowing stream! See him pouring out his soul unto death, for thy salvation; and ask, Is not this a manifestation of unparalleled love to thee ? 0, blessed Jesus! we come far short of c^m- prehending the greatness of thy dying love. It is a great deep. It is a fathomless ocean. May we contemplate more and more this mystery of divine love ! Christ's suffering and dying for us is a great mystery, a mystery of unfathomable love. How vehement was the love of Christ, that led him to endure death in its most terrible form, even the death of the cross ! " Love is strong as death : the coals thereof are coals of fire, which hath * Heb. iy. 29, THE LOVE OF CHE 1ST. 35 a most vehement flame. Many waters cannot quench love ; neither can the floo Is drown it."* Such is the love of Christ. All the waters of affliction and suffering; all the billows cf divine wrath that rolled over our blessed Redeemer, were not sufficient to quench the ardency of that love which he felt for a dying world of sin- ners. It will endure through time. It will shine with nndiminished splendor, and glow brighter and brighter through eternity. Oh ! the infinite love of the Son of God, to shed his precious blood for sinners. The love of Christ, in dying for sinners, passeth all knowl- edge. It is immeasurable. It is as incomprehen- sible as the duration of eternity. It is as illimit- able as boundless space. " It is as high as heaven ; what canst thou do ? deeper than hell ; what canst thou know ? The measure thereof is longer than the earth, and broader than the sea."f love divine ! where are thy limits ? Great God ! beyond the sight of mortals, and of an- gels ? The stupendous sun, the brilliant moon, the amazing stars, the extended firmament ; these have their bounds, but that love has r one. Lift up your eyes, and behold this vast world, the product of his po\v er ! See its continents, * Cant vL 6. 7. f Job xl 3, . 86 THE LOVE OF CHRIST. and its oceans extending for thousands of miles, these continents may be measured ; but not his love, who, though God, became man, to die for man. Sooner would those unfathomable oceans be fathomed, than the depths of his compassioa Lift up your eyes to the heavens I Survey the countless glories of the starry firmament ; all its fixed or " moving worlds of light !" Let your thoughts rove from star to star. How great is he who formed them all ! How glorious he who has bid them shine with undiminished splen- dor through six thousand years, and to whom they are mean as a speck of flying dust ! Yet he who hung out those brilliant fires stooped from his amazing height of bliss and majesty, to assume mortal flesh, and appear a feeble infant and a suffering man. Far sooner should you measure their immeasurable distances, and count their countless numbers, than tell all the vast- ness of his love, and the blessings it bestows. The sun is darkness compared with his superior glory who hung it in the heavens ; and yet he humbled himself to the dark abodes of misery and death for guilty man. ! when you gaze upon the blue expanse, or when the solemn stillness of night banishes from your mind the thoughts of a vain, departing world ; when you behold the midnight sky and mark the thousands of its glowing fires; then THE LOVE OF CHRIST. 37 think that he who fixed them there once hung on Calvary for you, that you might shine a star, a sun, in heaven, when all those stars shall shine no more. Think that he was once mean and dishonored, stained with blood, and blue with blows, that you might have a treasure greater than a thousand worlds united, and in- finitely more lasting than the countless lights which illuminate the firmanent. Amazing love I* Here we must pause, and wonder, and praise, and adore ; and in the' midst of our adoration, exclaim, Lord ! what is man, that thou art mindful of him ; and the son of man, that thou shouldst thus visit him ? O blessed Jesus I thou didst visit us in love in great mercy. Thou didst bleed thy life's blood, that we might be washed from our sins in that blood of infinite virtue. Thou didst die, that we might live. Thou didst wear a crown of thorns, that we might wear a crown of glory, and shine as stars in heaven forever. 0, to know more and more about the dying love of the Lord Jesus ! The heart of Jesus is nothing but a heart of love : love to sinners, even the chief. It has been well remarked, that " were all the love of all the men that ever were Pike. 88 THE LOVE OF CHIIIST. or shall be on the earth, and all the love- of ill the angels in heaven, united in one hee,rtj it would be a cold heart to that which was pierced with the soldier's spear."* thou loving, bleed- ing Lamb of God ! come, wash us in that blood which flowed from thy wounded heart, from thy pierced side ; which streamed from Calvary, 2 fountain of overflowing, inexhaustible depths of redeeming blood. " In that day there shall be a fountain opened to the house of David, and to the inhabitants of Jerusalem, for sin and for un- cleanness."f Blessed be God ! that fountain has been opened these eighteen hundred years, and is as inexhaustible as ever. " Ho, every one that thirsteth, come ye to the waters ; and he that hath no money, come ye, buy and eat; yea, come, buy wine and milk, without money and without price.";): What stupendous love has Christ here manifested, in washing away the sins of a lost multitude in his own most precious blood. Well may redeemed sinners shout in songs of praise to their adorable Redeemer, " Unto him that loved us, and wash- ed us from our sins in his own blood, and hath made us kings and priests unto God and hia Father; unto him be glcry and dominion for ever and ever Amen." * Maclaunn. f Zecb. xii:. i. J Is. Iv. L THE LOVE OF CHRIST. 39 " Worthy is the Lamb that was slain to receive power, and riches, and wisdom, and strength, and honor, and glory, and blessing/ Oh ! the infinite efficacy of the blood of Christ to cleanse from all sin. "The blood of Jesus Christ cleanseth us from all sin."* Through the blood of Christ, pardon and peace flow to guilty sinners. "In whom we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, ac- cording to the riches of his grace."f " Chnsc died for our sins, according to the Scriptures." J "Through this man is preached unto you the forgiveness of sins." " He made peace through the blood of his cross."|| Precious blood that redeems us from eternal misery, and brings us nigh to God ! " Now in Christ Jesus, ye who sometime were for off, are made nigh by the blood of Christ. "T Oh ! costly price of man's redemption the precious blood of Christ. " Ye know that ye were not redeemed with corrup- tible things, as silver and gold ;* but with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot."** " For ye are bought with a rrice : therefore glorify God in your body and in your spirit, which are G od's."ff 0, ray 1 John i. 7. % I Cor. XT 3. J Col. t ;o. f Eph. i. 7 Acts aci\ 58. 1 Eph. .1 18 ** 1 Peti. ], 19. * Cor vi. %.\ 40 THE JLOVE OF CHRIST. soul ! look witn astonishment at the price paid for thy redemption the infinitely precious clood of Christ. Dc^r reader, look and live ! Look at the blessed Jesus, bleeding and dying on the cross for your sins. " As Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of man be lifted up ; that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have eternal life."* ' Upon the cross I see him bleed, And by the sight from guilt am freed : This sight destroys the life of sin, And quickens heavenly life within." A bleeding Saviour, seen by faith, is the sight that gives peace to the guilty, heavy-laden soul. It is the blood of Christ sprinkled upon the con- science, that makes peace between God and the sinner. But what intense sufferings our divine Ee- deemer endured, when he " bore our sins in his own body ;" when he was made to be sin for us ; when he suffered, the just for the unjust. A? our substitute, he endured the wrath of God, and suffered for our sins. It was infinite lovo that led the blessed Son of God to endure all these sufferings, rud, at last to submit to ihe > * J-^Sn iii. 14. Ifi. ILE LOVE OF CHRIST. , 41 painful death of the cross. How brightly did that love shine in the last hours of his life, when he was about to bleed on Calvary ! What but infinite love led him to the garden of Geth- sernane, to endure that bitter agony ; when he said, "My soul is exceeding sorrowful unto death,"* and where " his sweat was as it were great drops of blood falling down to the ground !"f What but infinite love led him to the judgment hall, there to be derided, con- demned to death, and crowned with thorns ; where " his visage was so marred more than any man, and his form more than the sons of men !"J What but infinite love brought him to Calvary's mount, there to hang a suffering, bleeding vic- tim on the cross, for our sins ? There is nothing that shows the love of Christ like Calvary. It is there that all the rays of divine love are blended together. In that dark hour in which our Saviour hung on the cross, he showed to the world that his love was stronger than death : then he exhibited more than human love ; he manifested the infinite love of God. Amidst all his sufferings, divine love shone with the greatest lustre. Who can tell what love Christ felt for a lost world when he suffered on the cross? Then hs was aboii to accomplish * Mark xiv 34. f Luke xxii. -M. J l>-i Hi. M 42 THE LOVE OF CHRIST. our salvation ; and his love became stronger and stronger, Though he grappled with the powers of darkness, yet his arm brought salvation. He endured the hidings of his Father's countenance, till he was led to exclaim, in the bitterness of his soul, "My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me ? ' But he made an end of sin, and brought in an everlasting righteousness ; and amidst the last struggles of his holy soul, there fell from his lips in dying accents, these most blessed words the most joyful ever conveyed to a sinner's ear, "It is finished!" Yes, your salvation, sinner, is accomplished by this won- drous death by that divine personage who endured it. O, look at this exhibition of love ! Was there ever such love manifested to a lost world, as is here displayed before your eyes? Header, con- template Christ crucified. How intently was the mind of the great apos- tle fixed on this prolific theme ! His language to the Corinthians is, "I determined not to know any thing among you, save Jesus Christ and him crucified."* You also may look towards Calvary, and witli the same apostle, exclaim, "God forbid that I should glory, save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ s y wlioin the * I Cor. 11. 2. THE LOVE OF CHRIS T. 43 world is crucified unto me, and I unto the World."* Blessed Jesus 1 we cannot comprehend ihe vastness of thy dying love. " The propitiatory death, of Christ," says a late pious writer, f " viewed by faith, fills and absorbs the mind, touches and melts the heart, raises and refines the affections, and completely transforms the whole character." " Herein is love," says John ; " not that we loved God, but that he loved us, and gave his Son to be a propitiation for our sins." "For the love of Christ constrain clli. us, because we thus judge, that if one died for all, then were all dead ; and that he died for all, that they which live should not henceforth live unto themselves, but -unto him which died for them, and rose again. "J Is it surprising, then, that Christ should be precious to believers ? Can we see his matchless condescension, in stooping from a throne of glory, to a cross of suffering and shame; can we understand the great end of his amazing humil- iation and vicarious death ; can we feel the sprinkling of his peace-speaking blood upon the conscience, and not love, adore, and magnify him? "O ye cold-hearted, frozen formalists! on such a theme it is impious to be calm. Pas- * Gal. vi. 14 4- Thorn :on. 2 Cor. r. 14, 15. 4-i THE LOVE OF CHRIST. sion is reason, transport is temper, here.' "What can elevate and rejoice the soul, if it oe unaf- fected with the highest manifestation' of eternal love? In the death of Christ, the power, wis- dom, justice, and mercy of God, shine fcith in full unclouded splendor. What language can, with due force, express the tender and lively emotions which spring up in^the Chris- tian's breast as he silently muses on the delight- ful subject of redeeming love? God ! whaj is man, that thou art mindful of him? Thou didst not even spare thine own Son, but freely delivered him up for us all. Who am I, that such a price should be paid for nry ransom ? It v\ r as not with silver and gold, and corruptible chiiigs, that my soul was redeemed, but by the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot. Why, blessed and adorable Saviour, didst thou look in compassion on me, a worthless worm, a vile apostate, a hell- deserving rebel ? how is my soul lost in ad- miration and delight, when I contemplate this mystery ! May thy love ever glow in my heart, and thy praise on my tongue ! May I wholly live to thee, who hast died for me. "Oh, wond'rous love! to bleed and die To bear the cross and shame; That guilty sinners, such as I, Might plead thy ^raaious vae." THE LOVfi, OF CUEIST. 45 The death of Christ delivers us from condem- nation. When a sinner, by faith, obtains a sight of the crucified One, he boldly exclaims in the faoe of all his enemies, " Who is he that conclem- neth ? It is Christ that died." By his death he ; has satisfied divine justice, and reconciled us to God ; and " there is therefore now no condem- nation to them .which are in Christ Jesus."* "Being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ;" and being now justified by his blood, we shall he saved from wrath through him. " When we were enemies, we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son."f O, to have an interest in. that itonement which Christ made for our sins 1 " By whom we have now received the atonement."^: Eeader, I would not lead you to Sinai, but to Calvary to the Saviour's bleeding side. I would point you to the cross of Christ ; to Him, who, in his great love, once suffered, and bled, and died for sinners. I would direct you to the bleeding Lamb of God, " which taketh away the sin of the world." May you behold Him with the eye of faith ; even Him who so loved you, that he laid down his own life for you Then shall the peace of God, which passeth all under- standing, fill vo'ir heart. Then shaB heavenly * Rom. viii. 1. f RoE "- v 1, 9 *) t Rom - v - n THE LOVE OF CHRIST. joys possess yo'ur renewed spirit ; and one un- broken strain of praise shall, through time and eternity, arise from your purified, exalted, and enraptured soul, to Him that loved you, and washed you from your sins in his own blood. Look at Jesus now. Have faith in his aton ing blood. Endeavor to obtain a glimpse of the bleeding Saviour. "A bleeding Saviour, seen by faith, A sense of pard'ning love; A hope that triumphs over death, "Give joys like those above, M Tc take a glimpse within the vail, To know that God is mine; Arc springs of joy that never fail, Unspeakable! divine 1" The sufferings and death of the Son of God afford the most illustrious exhibition of divine love that has ever been displayed on this terres- trial globe. Here is exhibited love, such as never before shone on earth love, surpassing human thought and comprehension.- Truly, here the love of Chris, passeth knowledge! What wonderful love and condescension are here manifested! Christ dying for sinners! The Son of God nailed to the cross for sinners The blood of Imrianuel flowing from Calvary for sinners I THE LOVE OF CHRIST. 47 Dur blessed Saviour, " who, being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with Go,l made himself of no reputation, and took upon him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men ; and being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself, and be- came obedient unto death, even the death of the cross."* 0, wonderful love that made the only begotten Son of God lay down his life for sinners! " That such a person as Christ," says an old divine, f "so excellent, so innocent, should un- dergo death, and such a death as that of the' cross, so disgraceful, so painful ; that he should submit to such ignominy, and endure such agony, such tearing of his flesh, such pressure in his spirit, with such submission and patience, for strangers and enemies ! Here was love, stronger than death. Oh 1 the height, oh! the depth of this love ! There are such dimensions in this love of Christ, as the longest line of our most extended thoughts and imaginations can never be able to reach and measure." What amazing love did Christ manifest, when he, who was the brightness of his Father's glory, exchanged that crown of glory which he wore in heaven, for a crown of thorns on * Phil, ii 6-8. f Vincent 48 THE LOVE OF CIIKIST. earth, and bled, and died on the cross for guilty man! Sinner, "Behold the Lamb of God!" Con- template your divine Redeemer, who has shed his precious blood to save your soul from eter- nal misery. In love he died to save you. 0, then, contemplate this loving Saviour in his suf- ferings and death ! ~ Think how on the cross he hung, Pierc'd with a "thousand wounds! Hark, from each, as with a tongue, The voice of pardon sounds ! See, from all his bursting veins, Blood of wondrous virtue flow ! Shed to wash away thy stains, And ransom tliee from woe." Sinner, flee to Christ. lie will receive you joyfully, and save you with an everlasting sal- vation. He will rejoice over you with great joy. He is a loving Saviour, and he loves to save sinners. He, " for the joy that was set be- fore him," (the joy of saving sinners,) u endured the cross, despising the shame, and is" now " set down at the right hand of the throne of God."* " Wherefore he is able also to save them to the uttermost that come unto God by him, seeing he ever liveth to make intercession for thcm."f Heb. xii. 2. f Jleb. vii 5 THE LOVE OF CHRIST. 49 Come, no\v, and put your trust in this Saviour, Leave with him your immortal concerns. In- trust fearlessly your whole salvation to him, Think not that he will reject you, if you essay to cast your sin-burthened soul into his com- passionate arms. His atonement is all-sufficient. He saves to the very uttermost. Despair not ; only come and commit your soul to Christ, and salvation is yours. There is an infinite efficacy in the precious blood of Christ, to cleanse you from all sin. Blessed be God t that blood which washes away the deepest stains, has been shed ; and that atonement which expiates the greatest guilt, has been made. God now says to us, in language the most strong and encouraging, " I have blot- ted out, as a thick cloud, thy transgressions, and * as a cloud, thy sins : return unto me ; for I have redeemed thee."* In the contemplation of our salvation, well may we exclaim, with the prophet, "Sing, ye heavens; for the Lord hath done it! Shout, ye lower parts of the earth : break forth into sing- ing, ye mountains, forest, and every tree therein ; for the Lord hath redeemed Jacob, and glorified himself in Israel."f Blessed Jesus ! It is from thy death that we * Is. xliv. 22. Is. xliv 28. 4 50 THE LOVE OF CHRIST. derive eternal life and blessedness. How should our hearts glow with love to thee, and sound with the high praises of our God I "I will greatly rejoice in the Lord: my soul shall be joyful in my God ; for he hath clothed me with the garments of salvation ; he hath covered me with the robe of righteousness.' 1 * Header, are }^ou deeply interested in the atonement and righteousness of Christ ? Then go forward in your pilgrimage journey with joy ; leaning upon Jesus, the beloved of your soul. " And walk in love, as Christ also hath loved us, and given himself for us, an ofFering and a sacrifice to God for a sweet-smelling savor."f " Christ also loved the church, and gave himself for it, that he might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of water by the word ; that he might present it to himself a glo- rious church, not having spot or wrinkle, or any such thing ; but that it should be holy and without blemish.":): With their robes washed white in the blood of the Immanuel, invested with his spotless, perfect righteousness, the saints shall at last be presented before God, a faultless church ; and the redeeming love of Christ constituting their unending theme, shall engage their enlarged and exalted faculties, and * Is. Ixi. la i Eph. v. 2. t Eph- v. 25-27. THE LOVE OF CHRIST. 51 employ their ransomed souls in holy mediations through the everlasting sabbath of eternity. Sinner, resort forthwith to the fountain of the Redeemer's blood, while it is yet open. Come, without delay : "Wash, and be clean." "The Spirit and the bride say, Come ; and let him that heareth say, Come; and let him that is athirst, come ; and whosoever will, let him take the water of life freely."* If you thus come to the fountain of living water, you will be able tc adopt the language of Cowper, and say There is a fountain fif/d with blood, Drawn from Immanuel's veins ; And sinners, plung'd beneath that flood, Lose all their guilty stains. The dying thief rejoic'd to see That fountain in his day ; And here have I, as vile as he, "Wash'd all my sins away. Dear, dying Lamb, thy precious blood Shall never lose its pow'r, Till all the ransom'd ohurch of God Be sav'd, to sin no more. E'er since by faith I saw the stream Thy flowing wounds supply, Redeeming love has been my theme. And shall be till I die. * Rov. jodi T 52 THE LOVE OF CHRIST. Then in a nobler, sweeter song, I'll sing thy pow'r to save ; When this poor lisping, stamm'ring tongue Lies silent in the grave. THfi LOVE OF CHEIST. 58 CHAPTER 1,. THE LOVE OF CHRIST CONTEMPLATED. " And to know the love of Christ." EPHESIANS ii. 19. ON no other subject did the mind of the apostle Paul dwell with so much delight, as on that of the redeeming love of Christ. This was his favorite theme. It was his ardent desire to exhibit to a lost world the grace of the Lord Jesus, which had been so abundantly manifested to himself, once a great sinner. It was the love of Christ that sustained him amidst all his trials, and distresses, and persecutions, and enabled him to finish a glorious career. Neither the threats of the Jews, nor the terror of the Eomans, could separate him from the love of Christ, or in the least abate his zeal for spread- ing the news of salvation, and the wonders of redeeming love through a lost world. Writing to the Komans, he boldly exclaims : " Who shall separate us from the love of Christ ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword ? As it is written, For thy sake we are killed all the 64: THE LOVE OF CHKIST. day long; we are accounted as sheep for the slaughter. Nay, in all these things we are more than conquerors, through him that loved us. For I am persuaded, that neither death nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord."* The same apostle, writing to the Ephesians, desires and prays that Christ may dwell in their hearts by faith, that they being rooted and grounded in love, " may be able to comprehend with all saints what is the breadth, and length, and depth, and height ; and to know the love of Christ, which passeth knowledge." Let us contemplate the love of Christ in all its extent, and in all its vastness. When did it commence ? In the past eternity. The love of Christ to his people extends from eternity. Though it was manifested in time, yet it existed from eternity. "Then I was by him as one brought up with him, and I was daily his de- light, rejoicing always before him ; rejoicing in the habitable part of his earth, and my delights were with the sons of men."* Christ says to each of his chosen ones, * Rom viii. 35-39 * Prov. viiL 30, 31 THE LOVE OF CHRIST. 55 " I have loved thee with an everlasting love therefore, with loving kindness have 1 drawn -hee."* % Oh ! wonderful thought, everlasting love ! Who can comprehend the import of these words, everlasting love ? Christ loves us, and his love is everlasting. Yes, dear believer, Christ loved you before the world was created ; before you had an existence. From all eternity he thought upon your lost condition by nature ; and oh ! how willingly, how gladly, he left the throne of 'glory to bring salvation to you. His love never had a beginning. "This river of love began to flow before the world was ; from everlasting, from the beginning, or ever the earth was. Christ's love to us is as old* as the father's love to the Son. This river of light began to stream from Jesus towards us, before the beams poured from the sun ; before the riv- ers flowed to the ocean ; before angel loved angel, or man loved man : before creatures were, Christ loved us. This is a great deep ; who can fathom it ? This love passeth knowledge."-)- The love of Christ will reach into eternity ; will extend throughout its immeasurable ages : it has no end. This is the sweet declaration of Christ, with regard to his love, that il the raoun- * Jcr. xxxi. 3. f M'Cheyne, 56 THE LOVE OF CHRIST. tains shall depart, and the hills be removea, but my kindness shall not depart from thee, neither shall the covenant of my peace be re- moved, saith the Lord that hath mercy on thee."* 0, to be among that happy number, who will enjoy in heaven the eternal favor of Christ's love, which will make eternity itself one joyous unclouded day of everlasting light and immor- tal felicity ! Blessed Jesus 1 Interest each of us in thy un- changing loving-kindness, which is better than life. 0, let one ray of thy most wonderful love light on our benighted hearts : soften them by the manifestation of thy grace. Of the vastness of the love of Christ, we can form no adequate conceptions; much less can we, by any power of the understanding, com- prehend it. To use the emphatic language of an old divine,f " it is as if a child could take the globe of earth and sea in his two short arms." The love of Christ is like a great ocean, whose depths are unfathomable. There is a height in this love, to which no human intelli- gence can soar; a depth which no created mind can penetrate. In viewing the love of Christ, there lies a * Is. liv. 10. f Sanrue Hulberford THE LOVE OF CHEIST. 57 wide unbounded prospect before us. The men- tal' vision wanders at liberty over this illirr it-able range. The love of Christ is circumscribed by no limits ; it is bounded by no horizon : it is one vast expanse in which the soul may lose itself in wonder, delight, and admiration. The pious M'Cheyne, whom we have already quoted, has the following beautiful remarks on the love of Christ. " Paul says: ' The love of Christ passeth knowledge.' It is like the blue sky into which you may see clearly, but the real vastness of which you cannot measure. It is like the deep, deep sea, into whose bosom you can look a little way, but its depths are unfath- omable. It has a breadth without a bound, length without top, and depth without bottom. If holy Paul said this, who was so deeply taught in divine things ; who had been in the third heaven, and seen the glorified face of Jesus; how much more may we, poor and weak be- lievers, look into that love, and say, It passeth knowledge I" If we cannot comprehend the love of Christ; if we cannot fathom it, let us contemplate and admire it. It was the love of Christ that led him to as- s'lme human nature, in order that he might suf- fer and die, and thus atone for the sins of hia people : it was this love tha induced him to 58 THE LOVE OF CHRIST. leave the bosom of his Father, and the adorutic a of the angelic host, and to sojourn among guilty worthless mortals. . It was love that led him to exchange the throne of glory for the manger of Bethlehem and the cross of Calvary. It was love thai made his whole life, from the manger to the cross, one of grief and sorrow. Love made him " a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief." Well might the blessed Jesus have exclaimed, "Behold and see if there be any sorrow like ,unto my sorrow, wherewith the 'Lord hath af : flicted me in the day of his fierce anger."* It w:*> love that made him suffer and die for sinner;-. Yes, love led him to the gloomy garden of Geth- semane; love drew him to the judgment hall; love nailed him to the cross ; and love enabled him to exclaim with -his expiring breath, "It is finished." " Greater love hath no man than this." The love of Christ is wonderful love : it is surpass- ing, boundless love. Look at that amazing love which Christ has manifested to sinners ; and may you be able to comprehend with all saints what is its breadth, and length, and depth, and height ! When you intently contemplate that redeem* * Lam u 12. THE LOVE OF CHRIST. 59 i.ng love which brought Christ from his throne, to live and suffer, and die for sinners, does not your breast heave with emotions of gratitude ; does not your soul rise in adoration, and is it not lost in wonder, love, and praise ? Have you a heart so cold as not to be warmed by such unbounded love ; a heart so hard as not to be softened by such grace as is here set be- fore the eyes of a wondering world ? No feeble mortal can express the vastness of the love of Christ to sinners ! It is a mystery which eternity itself will never fully unravel. " God only knows the love of God." We know- that it is great love, and that it is manifested to sinners, but it is love too boundless for the most capacious mind to grasp. None can comprehend its vastness : none can measure its immensity ; language fails to describe it; human thought cannot fathom it ; time cannot disclose its depths; and vast eternity itself will roll away in its con- tinual and delightful contemplation. Ho\v transcendent is the love of Christ 1 It passeth knowledge. O my soul, art thou not lost in wonder and admiration when thou contemplatest this divine love the love of Jesus ? And love so amazing, love so boundless as the love of Chrisi, should call forth all our loftiest s rains of praise, and exercise our highest powers -)f mind in devout 60 TH.. LOVE OF CHRIST. contemplations. It should be the constant . of our meditation here, till we come to possess its full and eternal enjoyment in that world where all is love. And if we possess the love of Christ on earth, it will cheer our hearts, brighten our prospects, alleviate our sorrows, mitigate our afflictions, and emit a ray of hope that will enable us to rejoice with joy unspeak- able and full of glory, even in this vale of tears. To be the object of Christ's love is desirable, and it is a blessed attainment to know that you enjoy it; to say with Paul, "I am crucified with Christ : nevertheless, I live ; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me ; and the life which I now live in the flesh, I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me."* There is nothing so much calculated to drive from sin, or excite to good works, as a ray of the love of Christ darting into the sinner's heart : this will more effectually melt it, than all the terrors of the law, or the thunders of Sinai. The love of Christ fills the soul with immortal joys. There is nothing so reviving to the be- liever, as the sweet thought of Christ's love to him. There is no subject stored with such an exub- * Gal ii. 20. T* H E LOVE OF CHRIST. 61 erance of divine consolation, and heavenly joy as that of redeeming love the love of the Son of God to a lost world. Every other subject loses its lustre when contrasted with this sub-, lime, soul-reviving theme ; and nothing tends so effectually to expand, elevate, and purify the soul, as that faith " which worketh by love." And what do we not owe to the love of Christ ? All the comforts and happiness of life, and all the joys of a blissful eternity flow from this love. You should meditate much upon the love ot Christ ; and may that love ever glow within you, and be like a perpetual fire burning upon the altar of your heart. " The love of Christ is a subject too lofty for a seraph's harp. The soul, renewed by the spirit, is often incapable of ex- pressing the sublime feelings which pass through the mind, when thinking on this glorious sub- ject. The love of Christ conveys a joy to the believer's heart, which is unv peakable and fall of glory. The tongue cannot express the delight of heart which arises from the manifestation of this love. "The joy of harvest, the joy of the bride- groom on his wedding day ; the joy of victory, and taking great spoils, from the enemy ; the joy of a poor man in finding great treasures; all these are not worthy to be compared with the 62 THB LOVE OF CHRIST. joy and exultation of the believer's heart, oa the manifestation of this love to his soul. "* What does the blessed Jesus deserve for such unbounded love to sinners? .All our hearts should be devoted to his service, and all our affections should be placed upon him. We should love him, because he first loved us. " Whom having not seen, ye love ; in whom, though now ye see him not, yet believing, ye rejoice with joy unspeakable and full of glory."f to be made like the adorable Redeemer, and to praise him throughout the countless ages of eternity, for the wonders of his redeeming love ! May this be the desire of every reader ; and may each be enabled to exclaim with the Psalmist, ** Whom have I in heaven but thee ? and there is none upon earth that I desire besides thee I' 1 } "One there is, above all others, Well deserves the name of Friend : His is love beyond a brother's ; Costly, free, and knows no end. They who once his kindness prove, Find it everlasting love. " Which ol' all our friends to save us, Could or wo' Jd have shed their llood 1 But our Jesi s died to have us Reconciled, in him to God ; This was boundless love indeed Jesus is a friend in need." NEWTON. Vin Jent. f 1 Pet. i. 8. \ Ps. IxxiL '25 THE LOVE OF OH BIST. 63 CHAPTER V. THE LOVE OF CHRIST IN THE BESTOW MENT OF { RACE, IN THE GIFT OF HIS WORD, AND IN THE INSTITU- TION OF DIVINE ORDINANCES. "The Lord will give grace." PSALM Ixxxiv. 11. "I have given them thy word." JOHN xvii. 14. "He gave some, apostles; and some, prophets; and some, evangelists ; and some, pastors and teachers." EPH. iv. 11, 12. "THE Lord will give grace."* But will he give grace to sinners? Yes, to great sinners. Paul was the chief of sinners, and yet to him was the grace of the Lord Jesus manifested. He asserts, concerning himself, that "The grace of our Lord was exceeding abundant, with faith and love which is in Christ Jesus."f Oh ! what surpassing, boundless love, has Christ manifested to sinners ! And on millions of Adam's lost and guilty race, who were once as vile as sin could make them, has he in his great love bestowed his boundless grace. It is his love that makes sinners saints, and distin- guish them from thury. f Jchn v. 39. Col. iii. 16. THE LOVE OF CHRIST. 71 while in tliis world. In his love, "he gavo some, apostles ; and some, prophets ; and some, evan- gelists; and some, pastors and teachers; for the perfecting of the saints, for the ediiying of the body of Christ."* A preached Gospel is the gift of Christ a gift of love to a lost world. The Redeemer's last command, was, " Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature."! This blessed gospel, Christ in his love has sent to us. The lines are fallen unto us in pleasant places; yea, we have a goodly heritage.^ Blessed be God ! that the glad tidings of life and salvation, through a crucified Redeemer, have reached our ears. 0, happy they, whose lot is cast within the joyful sound of the glo- rious gospel ! " Blessed is the people that know the joyful sound ; they shall walk, O Lord, in the light of thy countenance."! "Blessed are they that dwell in thy house ; they will be still praising thee."|| What a blessed privilege is it, that we enjo}^, of entering into the house of God, with voices of joy and praise ! Let us prize this privilege, and let us love to dwell in the house of God. How ardently did David love the sanctuary of God ! " Lord, I * Eph. iv. 11, 12. * f Mark xvi. 15. \ Psalm xvi 6. Psalm Ixxxix. 1& i| Psalm Ixxxiv. 4. 72 THE LOVE OF CHRIST. have loved the habitation of thy house, and th* place where thine honor dwelleth."* " One thing have I desired of the Lord, that will I Beekr after; that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, to behold the beauty of the Lord, and to inquire in his tern ple."f To David, no spot on earth was so dear as Zion's holy hill ; no service so sweet as that of divine worship. How highly should you, who live amidst the meridian splendor of Chris- tianity, prize the means of grace which you en- joy ! With the Psalmist may you exclaim from the heart, " How amiable are thy taberna- cles, Lordfr of hosts 1 a day in thy courts is better than a thousand. I had Father be a door- keeper in the house of my God, than to dwell in the tents of wickedness.";]; In the institution of the sacramental supper, Christ has afforded a grand exhibition of love. In his love, yea in his dying love, he instituted it. The Lord's Supper is the sweetest of all or- dinances; it is, emphatically, a feast of love. The very banner that Christ unfurls over the head of every believing communicant, is love, love written in such legible characters that he vho runs may read. " He brought me to the * Psalm xxxvi. 8. f Psalm xxviS. 4 J Psalm Ixxxiv. 1. la THE LOVE OF CHRIST. 73 banqueting house, and his banner over me was love."* With, what joy does the redeemed sin- ner approach this sacred table, that he may com- memorate the dying love of his blessed Saviour ! His language is, "I sat down under his shadow with great delight, and his fruit was sweet tc my taste."f This ordinance, exhibiting as it does a cruci- fied Saviour, vividly displays the vastness of redeeming love and the riches of divine grace. A loving Saviour has spread this table for us, and he cries, " Eat, friends ; drink, yea, drink abundantly, beloved.":): What blessings are here provided for dying sinners ? the bread of life, the waters of salvation, remission of sins ; yea, an abundant pardon, peace with God, a raeetness for heaven ! Come and show your love to Christ, at this feast of love ; remember, and obey his dying in- junction, " This do in remembrance of me." Can vou lay any claim to the name of a .Christian, while you live in the utter neglect of this duty ? Surely not. The love of Christ should constrain you to observe it. Surely it becomes a ransomed captive, a captive bought at such an inestimable prioe, to testify his obligations to his loving Ee- Cant, il 5. f Cant ii 8. J Cant v. 1 74 THE LOVE OF CHRIST deemer I " Come, for all things are now ready."* Come to the Lord's table, and behold the most amazing love manifested to you the infinite love of the dying Son of God! Blessed Jesus I may it be our delight, on earth to confess and own thee as our divine Redeemer before men, and to commemorate thy dj-ing love in this sweet ordinance. Eefreshed by that spiritual provision, which thou hast laid up for us in the gospel of thy grace, may we press onward in our pilgrimage journey heaven- ward ; and at last realize the joys of a blessed home in the world of glory. Dear believer/ we shall soon exchange the table below for the table above. i i " our divine Redeemer, himself shall be at the head of that table, and shall feed us, and lead us unto liv- ing fountains of waters, and God shall wipe away all tears from our eyes. Till then, let us en- deavor to be profited by all those means of grace, with which Christ in his love has favored us. " Grow in grace, and in the knowledge of OUT Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. To l.ira be glory both now and for ever. Amen."{- * L'-kexv 17 f % Pet. lil 18. THE LOVE OF CHRIST. 76 CHAPTER V . THE LOVE OF CHRIST IN AFFLICTIONS. Whom the Lord loveth he chasteneth, and scourgetb t F ery son whom he receiveth." HKB. xii. 6. "Although affliction cometh not forth of the dust, neither doth trouble spring out of the ground ; yet man is born unto trouble as the sparks fly upward." JOB v. 6, 7. AFFLICTION comes upon all. None are ex- empt from the sufferings incident to our fallen nature. The young, the old, the rich and the poor, alike feel the withering touch of affliction and of sorrow. Disease invades the strongest constitution, and affliction prostrates the might- iest energy. Often those in the prime and vigor of life are laid down on the bed of sickness, and made to feel that they are dying creatures. IIow true it is, that " man that is born of a woman is of few days, and full of trouble!"* The children of God are not exempted from the afflictions of this life ; but it is their blessed consolation to know that they have a Friend to sympathize with them in all their sorrows and * Job xiv. . THE LOVE OF CHRIST. sufferings, while in this mortal state. Yes, Jesua is that friend, who watches over their sick beds, and consoles their desponding spirits amid the frailty of sinking nature. Oh I how often does the blessed Jesus wonderfully manifest his love to his afflicted ones 1 How often does he whis- per words of peace and love and consolation in their ears ! How often, on the manifestation of his love, do their souls overflow with joy, even when their bodies are racked with severe pain ! Christ will always make that promise good, " As thy days, so shall thy strength be ;" and amidst all our trials and afflictions here, we may rely with unshaken confidence on the promises of our loving Eedeemer, who will not forsake us in the hour of extremity. Then he will manifest his love to us, and display the riches of his grace In all our trials, his promise runs thus : " My grace is sufficient for thee, for my strength is made perfect in weakness."* All the afflictions of the children of God are designed for their good. They come from a kind heavenly Father, from a God of love ; and one of their designs is, the purification and sanctification of believers. "I will turn my hand upon thee, and purely purge away thy dross, and take away all thy tm."f " By this, 2 Cor. \ri ? f Is i- 25 - THE LOVE OF CHRIST. 77 therefore, stall all the iniquity of Jacob be purged ; and this is all the fruit to take away his sin."* "Some of them of understanding shall fall, to try them, and to purge, and to make them white, even to the time of the end."f " Many shall be purified, and made white, and tried.' 1 :): Afflictions make us meet for glory : they en- able us to obtain a correct view of the vanity of terrestrial happiness ; they tend, through grace, to fix our souls on Him, in whom alone we can find true happiness and immortal joys. Happy sickness, that leads the soul to Jesus, the only source of blessedness ! Afflictions, then, promote our spiritual wel- fare, and are ordered for our good. It is ex- pressly declared, " that all things work together for good, to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose ;" and afflictions are among the "all things" that are beneficial to the present and eternal welfare and happiness of God's children. Afflicted believer, Christ says to you, " What I do, thou knowest not now ; but thou shalt know hereafter."! You will soon know the merciful design, which Christ had in afflicting you. In the light of la xxii. 9. f Dar - xi. 35. \ Dan. xii. 10 Rom ^ iii. 28- Jolin xiii. 7. 78 THE LOVE OF CHRIST. eternity, you will look back and say that he has brought you by a way that is right. In their afflictions here, Christ manifests most tender love to believers: he renews their faint- ing souls, by the manifestation of his love and the revelation of his grace ; he strengthens them inwardly. "In the day when I cried, thou answeredst me, and strengthenedst me with strength in my soul."* It was the manifestation of the love and grace of the Lord Jesus, that supported the Apostle Paul amidst all his afflictions. " For which cause," says he, "we faint not; but though our outward man perish, yet the inward man is re- newed day by day. For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, worketh for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory; while we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen : for the things which are seen are temporal, but the things which are not seen are eternal."! How greatly will our light afflictions and trials here, add to the weight of that crown of glory, which we shall wear hereafter 1 How will they sweeten that eternal rest which re- maineth for the people of God, our happy home in heaven I * Ps cxxxviii. 3 {Cor. !Y. 16,18. THE LOVE OF CHRIST. 79 Wore the sun of prosperity always to shine upon us, we would soon forget our Father's house, car heritage above. Christ sends us af- flictions to tell us that this is not our rest, that our blessed home is far above this scene of per- ishing mortality. Here, we must be fitted for glory ; and Christ says to his followers, "In the world ye shall have tribulation."* It is through much tribulation that we must enter into the kingdom of God. Of that happy throng who stand around the throne of the Eternal, it is said, *' These are they which came out of great tribulation, and have washed their robes, arid made them white in the blood of the Lamb."f The way to Mount Zion lies through the val- ley of Baca. The road to glory is a rough one. Believers may exclaim with the Psalmist, " Thou, God, hast proved us : thou hast tried us, as silver is tried. Thou broughtest us into the net ; thou laidest affliction upon our loins ; thou hast caused men to ride over our heads ; we went through fire and water; but thou broughtest us out into a wealthy place.":): But when we come to that wealthy place, even to the heavenly Canaan, we will find that it will make amends for all our momentary afflictions * Jjhnxvi. 33. f Rev. vl 14. J Psalm Ixvi. i)-12. 80 THE LOVE OF CHRIST. on earth- that one hour with Christ in glory, will make us forget a lifetime of suffering. "Though rough and thorny be the road, It leads thee home, apace, to God : Then count thy present trials small, For heaven will make amends for all." Even now, when we are travelling through this vale of tears to mansions of glory, we have our comforts and enjoyments. The love of Christ sweetens every affliction ; turns the dark- est night of adversity into the light of day, and the saddest, night of weeping into the morning of joy. Come afflictions, come trials, come whatever may, we are assured that all things shall work together for our good. Reader, are you afflicted ? Is it sanctified to you ? If so, look upon it as an evidence of Christ's love. Let it ever be remembered, that " Whom the Lord loveth he chasteneth, and scourgeth every son whom he receiveth." * And again, " Whom the Lord loveth he cor- recteth, even as a father the son in whom he de- lighteth."f The Lord afflicts his people, be- cause he loves them. "As many as I love," says Christ, "I rebuke and chasten.'' J Hs does it " for our profit, that we might be partakers Heb xi 6. f Prey iii. !2 Rev. iii. 19. THE LOVE OF CHRIST. 81 of his holiness." And though now, " No cnast- ening for the present seemeth to be joyous, but grievous ; nevertheless, afterward it yieldeth the peaceable fruit of righteousness unto them which are exercised thereby."* Afflictions are often sent to arrest the wanderer in his course, and to bring him back to God. Many a child of God can say with David, who had often been tried and made to pass through the furnace of afflic- tion, "Before I was afflicted, I went astray, but now have I kept thy word. It is good for me that I have been afflicted, that I might learn thy statutes. I know, Lord, that thy judg ments are right, and that thou in faithfulness hast afflicted me."f Afflictions are also designed for the conver- sion of sinners. Thousands have been chosen in the furnace of affliction. Oh! how many saints of God, in every age, can witness to the truth of these words : " Behold, I have refined thee, but not with silver ; I have chosen thee in the furnace of affliction."^: How many care- less sinners, under the softening touch of af- fliction, have been brought to Jesus, and have found peace in his atoning blood ! How many, without the saving knowledge of Christ, have Ha: xii. 10, 11. f Psaln cxix. 67 71,75. J Is. xlviii. 10. t> 82 THE LOVE OF CHRIST. been cast on beds of sickness, and there made, for the first time, to feel that Jesus is precious Then they enjoyed his love, received his grace, and knew by experience that the Lord is gra clous. Then affliction became light, Christ pre- cious, and heaven sweet. The manifestation of a Saviour's love dispelled every gloorn, and heavenly light irradiated their souls. In affliction, Christ manifests the tenderest love to his people, and then it is that they get a glimpse of his matchless perfections. He is al- ways near them, and " in all their affliction he is afflicted, and the angel of his presence saves them."* How happy are they to whom the love of Christ is manifested in affliction ; in whose hearts the love of God is shed abroad ; and whc are filled with joy unspeakable, and full of glory! Such are enabled to say, with an ex- perienced apostle, " We glory in tribulations also ; knowing that tribulation worketh pati- ence; and patience, experience; and experience, hope ; and hope maketh riot ashamed ; because the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost which is given unto us."f A young lady who had lain on a bed of sick- ness for many months, once declared to the * T s . Jxiii. a * Rom v. 8-6. THE LOVE OP CHRIST. 83 writer, that she would rather suffer affliction with the people of God, than enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season. Whence arose this resigna- tion to the will of God, amidst extreme suffer- ings? From the manifestation of Christ's love ; from that love being shed abroad in her heart. "How often does Christ manifest his dear- est love to his suffering ones," said an emi- nent saint* of other days, during her sickness. " Blessed be God for all his mercies, and for this comfort in my affliction. 0, how many mercies I have ! I want for nothing. Hitherto I can say, the Lord is gracious. He has been very merciful to me, in sustaining me under all my trials. The Lord brings affliction, but it is not because he delights to afflict his children ; it is at all times for our profit. I can say it has been good for me to be afflicted ; it has enabled me to discern things, which, when I was in health, I could not perceive. It has made me know more of the vanity and emptiness of this world, and all its delusive pleasures ; for at best they are but vanity." Said an amiable and devoted young minister^ in his last sickness, " I do not consider my cir- cumstances melancholy or painful. I am very * Hannah Housman. f Rev Thomas Kawson Taylor, late of Bradford in York- hiro. 84: THE LOVE OF CHKIST. mercifully dealt with. My passage to the tomb is easy. I have comparatively little suffering, and I enjoy that peace of God which passeth all understanding. I can truly say, that goodness and mercy have followed me all my days, in- cluding these suffering days: and looking up- wards to that house not made with hands, eter- nal in the heavens, I can also add, 'I shall dwell in the house of the Lord for ever.' " Thus afflictions work for our good, and qualify us for the joys and bliss of heaven. And now, afflicted reader, remember the di- vine exhortation, "My son, despise not thou the chastening of the Lord, nor faint when thou art rebuked of him."* " Happy is the man whom God correcteth ; therefore despise not thou the chastening of the Almighty : for he maketh sore and bindeth up ; he woundeth, and his hands make whole."f " If ye endure chastening, God dealeth with you as with his sons ; for what son is he whom the father chasteneth not ? but if he be without chastisement, whereof all are par- Bakers, then are ye bastards and not sons."J Dear believer, the time is short. Your afflic- tions are nearly over.g * Heb. xiii. 5 f Job. v. 17, 18. \ Heb. xii. 7, 8. " A few more trials ; a few more tears , a few more days of darkness, and we shall be forever with the Lord. ' In this tabernacle we groan, being I urdened.' All dark tilings THE LOVE 01? CHRIST. 85 * Be still, my soul, and know the Lord ; In meek submission wait his will, His presence can true peace afford, His power can shield from every ilL " Thy path is strewed with piercing thorns Each step is gained by arduous fight, Yet wait, till hope's bright morning dawns, Till darkness changes into light " Soon shall the painful conflict cea? Soon snail the raging storm be o'er ; Soon shalt thou reach the realms of peace, Where suffering shall be known no more. "There shall thy joy forever flow In one unbroken stream of bliss ; There shalt thou God the Saviour Know, And feel him thine as thou art his." Cleave closely to Jesus ; you shall soon see him as he is; then your afflictions, and trials, and days of mourning will have eiaded; you Bhall reign with Jesus, and be like him. The Lord having now " begun a good work in you, will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ."* shall yet be cleared up; all sufferings healed; all blanks supplied; and we shall find fulness of joy (not cne drop wanting) in the smile and presence of our God. It is one of the laws of Christ's kingdom. 'We must through much tribulation enter into the kingdom of God.' We must not reckon upon a smooth road to glory, but it will be a short ona* * Phil. i. G. THE LOVE OF CHRIST. Sanctified afflictions are fitting you for neaven, "Blessed is the man whom thou cnnstenest, Lord, and teaches! him out of thy law ; that thou mayest give him rest from the days of ad- versity, until the pit be digged for the wicked."* Choose Christ now, and yon may rest assured that goodness and mercy shall follow you through life, and glory and immortality crown you at death. You will enjoy the love of Christ in health, and in sickness, arid when you. corne to feel your last pain, and draw your last breath, you will shout forth, " O death, where is thy sting ? grave, where is thy victory ? Thanks be to God, which giveth us the victory, through our Lord Jesus Christ."* * rsalm xoiv. 13, 18 f 1 Cor. xv f&> 6?. THE LOVE OF CHRIST. 87 HI mi vii. TliE LOVE OF CHRIST, AS MANIFESTED TO HIS PEOPLR IN THE HOUR OF DEATH. "Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, 1 will fear no evil: for thou art with me; thy rod and thy staff, they comfort me." PSALM xxiii, 4. "And when the closing scenes prevail, When wealth, state, pleasure, all shall fail; All that a foolish world admires. Or passion, craves or pride inspires : At that important hour of need, Jesus shall prove a friend indeed: His hand shall smooth thy dying bed, His arm sustain thy drooping head , And when the painful struggle's o'er, And that vain thing, the world, no more He'll bear his humble friend away, To rapture and eternal day." IT is a solemn truth that you and I must die, Death will soon overtake us. Before the termi nation of the present year ; yea, before the sun shall have again passed the horizon, the hand that now writes these lines, and the eye that now reads them, may both have felt the chill of death. Oh, what is human life 1 A. vapor ; a dream 88 THE LOVE OF CHEIST. a tale that is soon told ; a feeble spark of vital- ity, emitting its light for a moment, and then for- ever extinguished! "Man that is born of a woman, is of few days : he cometh forth like a flower, and is cut down; he fleeth also as a shadow, and continueth not."* "My days," says Job, " are swifter than a weaver's shuttle, and are spent without hope. remember that my life is wind! "f Our continuance on earth is but for a short moment. "Our days on the earth are as a shadow, and there is none abiding.";): "As for man, his days are as grass : as a flower of the field, so he flourisheth; for the wind passeth over it, and it is gone, and the place thereo shall know it no more."|| " For what is your jfe? It is even a vapor that appeareth for a little time, and then vanisheth away." How short, how uncertain is life ; but how certain 13 death ! How true it is that God will bring us to death, and to the house appointed for all living. ^f " It is appointed unto men once to die."** Millions have fallen before the irresistible stroke of death * Job xiv. 1, 2. J Psalm cin. 15, iJ. f Job vii. 6, 7, Jaraesiv. 14. J 1 ChroL xxix. 15 ^T Job xxx. 2X. 27. THE LOVE OF CHRIST. 89 All mankind are dying creatures, and are press- ing en ward to the grave. Keflect upon the past history of mortality. " Generation after generation," says a beautiful writer, "have passed away. Time was, when they were alive upon the earth, and active amid its busy scenes. They had their joys and their sorrows. They flitted across life's busy stage: and disappeared forever behind the curtain of mortality. They have gone. The winds of centuries have swept over their graves. " As it was with them, so it will soon be with us. Look at the future. It is computed that eight hundred millions constitute the popu- lation of our globe : these, in less than a cen- tury, will all be lodged in the grave. The grave receives alike as its victims the inmate of the cottage, and him who sits on his throne and sways the sceptre of nations. The paths of glory and honor lead but to the grave. Here come the nobles with their titles, kings with their crowns, and scholars with their volumes. Here is the home of the mighty hero, who once with his steel-clad millions thundered over the field of battle, and with an arm of power shook the foundations of kingdoms. 'How populous, how vital is the grave! This is creation's melancholy vault." 90 THE LOVE OF CHRIST. look at the brevity and vanity of human life, and learn a solemn lesson. Though you have soared in fame, or have accumulated wealth in abundance ; though you glory in human p< wer, and, like Alexander, could ride triumph- antly over the ruins of desolated nations, yet the time will soon have arrived when the feeble ten- ement of clay shall moulder, leaving its only epitaph upon the crumbling marble ; when it may be pronounced, over your mortal remains : "How loved, how valued once, avails thee not, To whom related, or by whom begot: A heap of dust alone remains of thee; 'Tis all thou art, and all the great shall be." But death does not annihilate our existence. We are immortal beings. Human life is but a prelude to an immortal state of being. As we close our eyes on the visionary scenes of time, we open them amid the solemn realities of eter- nity ; we enter upon that life which will never end. To die, then, is but to live. Oh I how important it is that we should be- come interested in the atonement of Christ ; that we may find redemption in his blood, and for givcness of sins, that we may die in peace. All must tread along the dark valley. All must cross the Jordan of death. But the hum- ble follower of Chrst is through grace, enabled THE LOVE OF CUEIST. 91 to exclaim, as he approaches the dreadful prec- ipice that hides the view of mortality : " Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil : for thou art with me ; thy rod and thy staff, they comfort me."* Christ's presence is with believers in the hour of death ; he cheers their departing spirits. They have fled for refuge to him, and he sus- tains them in their trying hour. Then he is a friend indeed ; a friend that sticketh closer than a brother. This love is manifested to them : it enables them to shout forth triumphantly, in the face of the last enemy, " 0, death, where is thy sting ? 0, grave, where is thy victory ? The sting of death is sin, and the strength of sin is the law. But thanks be to God, which giveth us the victory, through our Lord Jesus Christ."t It is to the believer in Jesus, and to him alone, that death comes disarmed of his terrors ; being only a faithful messenger to convey him to his dear Lord and Saviour: so. that in the prospect of dissolution, he can express a desire with Paul, "To depart and be with Christ, which is far better.":); He knows that Christ is his loving friend, that he is watching over his dying bed, ready to receive his departing spirit, and he can confidently say with Stephen, " Lord Jesus, re- * Psalm xxiii. 4. f 1 Coi xv. 55-57 $ Phil i. 28 92 THE LOVE OF CHRIST. ceive my spirit : r * with David, "Into thine hand I commit my spirit ; thou hast redeemed me, Lord Grod of truth ;"f " I will behold thy face in righteousness : I will be satisfied, when I awake, with thy likeness ;"; and with Simeon, " Lord, now lettest thou thy servant depart in peace according to thy word ; for mine eyes have seen thy salvation." Such is the peaceful end of the Christian's mortal career. He dies in peace. He passes the swellings of Jordan, cheered by the Sav- iour's presence, and animated by the manifes- tation of his love. It is in the trying hour of death, when flesh and heart fail, that the love of Christ is amazingly manifested to believers. It is when the swellings of Jordan come al- most over the poor believer's soul ; when he is ready to sink benath the boisterous waves, that Christ reveals to him his wonderful love, which fills his heart with joy ; which enables him to shout forth joyfully upon his bed, and be more than a conqueror through Him that loved us. " Let the saints be joyful in glory : let them sing aloud upon their beds."|| " Precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of hia saints." And at that solemn period, when the last Acts vii 56. f Psalm xxxi. 6. \ Psalm xvii. 15 LcK* il 29 0. | Psalm cxlix. 5. THE LOVE OF CHRIST. 93 sands of life are running out, when life's last hour is closing, he visits them individually, and unfolds the riches of his grace, and the wonders of his love. He whispers in their ears his gracious prom- ises. " Fear not ; for I have redeemed thee, I have called thee by thy name : thou art mine. When thou passest through the waters, I will be with thee ; and through the rivers, they shall not overflow thee : when thou walkest through the fire, thou shall not be burnt ; neither shall the flame kindle upon thee."* And they find him faithful to his promises ; yes, when they tread the verge of Jordan, they find him like the high priest of old, who bore the ark of the covenant, standing in the midst of the waters, that they may safely pass through its proud waves to the heavenly Canaan, that glorious land of promise the happy home of the believers, the heaven of eternal rest. " Then are they glad, because they be quiet: so he bringeth them unto their desired haven."f Jesus Christ, our blessed high priest, himself has passed through the Jordan of death. He has dipped his feet into this stream. He has rolled back its swelling waves. He has made a safe and easy passage for all his followers. Christian, * Is. xlii. 12. f Psalm cvii. 80. 94 THE LOVE OF CHRIST. why then are you afraid to die, to plur ge into this stream, when you see the very footprints of 3^our Saviour in the bottom ? " Who is he that condemneth ? It is Christ that died."* His eyes have been closed in death. 0, believer ! Christ has been laid in the cold and silent grave before you. He has felt the chill of death. But he has removed its sting. Through death, he has destroyed him that had the power of it. Fear not, death is a vanquished foe. Christ says concerning his people, " I will ransom them from the power oi the grave. I will redeem them from death : death ! I will be thy plague ; grave ! I will be thy destruction. "f Christian, death cannot hurt you. It is but a sure step into glory. Are you in bondage through the fear of death? Christ has delivered you from this bondage. " Forasmuch, then, as the children are partakers of flesh and blood, he also himself likewise took part of the same ; that through death he might destroy him that had the power of death, that is, the devil ; and deliver them, who, through fear of death, were all their lifetime subject to bondage.":]: Thus, the children of God are safely conducted through death to mansions oi glory, and awake amid the splendors of an im- Rom. viii. 84. 4 Hosea xiii 14 J Heb. ii. 14 15 THE LOVE OF CliRIST. 95 mortal day. llow happy they, whc, when walking through the valley of the shadow of death find that Jesup is their friend and com- paLJoa I How glorious lie 1 how happy they, In such a glorious friend! Whose love secures them all the way, And crowns them at the end. Thus, while the believer is standing on the verge of the grave, and looking back on his past life, his past conflicts, his earthly pilgrim- age, he can exclaim in the language of the Apostle Paul, " I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith ;" and as he looks forward into a vast eternity, and sees the rich rewards that are shortly to be his, the kingdom that he is going to possess, the crown of glory that is soon to be placed upon his brow, he triumphantly adds, "Henceforth there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, shall give me at that day, and not to me only, but unto all them also that love his appearing." At least, he hears that happy approbation, and joyful invitation, "Well done, good and faith- ful servant, enter thou into the joy of thy Lord."* The solemn scene closes. The dark valley * Matth. xxv 23. THE LOVE OF CHRIST is passed. Jordan is crossed. No more strug gles. No more pain. No more tears of sorrow, and affliction. No more death. "He will swallow up death in victory ; and the Lord God will wipe away tears from off all faces."* The believer is " absent from the body, and present with the Lord." Jn the Saviour's perfect love, he rests, and finds his eternity of joy. In his dying moments he could say, " God will redeem my soul from the power of the grave ; for he shall receive me." " For this God is our God, for ever and ever ; he will be our guide, even unto death." And he has experienced a happy realization of these promises. That Saviour who loved him in life, also manifests his love to him in the hour of death. His love is abiding, it is not subject to mutation ; it knows no change. " Having loved his own which were in the world, ne loved them unto the end."f As the believer's mortal career is about to terminate, the Saviour stands by him, and en- circles him with the arms of his love. He sheds abroad his love in the believer's heart. He sus- tains him amid the agonies of dissolving nature. He strengthens him by his grace. The dying Christian cries, " My flesh and my heart faileth; but God is the strength of my heart, and my * IR xxv. 8. f John xiii, 1. I THE LOVE OF CHRIST. 97 portion for ever."* " For which cause we faint not ; but though our outward man perish, yet the inward man is renewed day by day."f Thus he finishes his earthly course with joy. His end is peace. " Mark the perfect man, and behold the upright ; fbr the end of that man is peace.";]: With him all is calm, and peaceful. The heavens are serene. The thunders of the law are hushed. Calvary is in his eye. Around him all is sprinkled with atoning blood. No wonder, then, that he should die in peace ; for, " being justified by faith," he has "peace with God, through our Lord Jesus Christ." He has obtained the victory over death, the last enemy. Hence, many a dying Christian has been able to say, with Dr. Goodwin, "Is this dying? Is this the enemy that dismayed me so long, now appearing so harmless, and even pleasant ?" Not so with the end of the wicked. To him, death is terrible ; the grave, gloomy ; and eter- nity, dark. " The wicked is driven away in his wickedness ; but the righteous hath hope in his death." The death-bed of the Christian is a glorious, happy place. "The chamber where the good man meets his fate, Is privileged beyond the common walk of virtuous lifc% Quite on the verge of heaven." \ * Ps. Ixxiii. 26. f 2 Cor. iy. 1. J Ps. xxxvii. 37 Prov sir. 32, 7 98 THE LOVE OF CHRIST. CHAPTER VIII. fllfi LOVE OF CHRIST IN THE HOUR OF DEATH (COH TINUED) ; THE CLOUD OF WITNESSES. Seeing we also are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses." Heb. xii. 1. A GREAT many delightful records of the death bed scenes of martyrs, ministers of Jesus Christ, and private Christians, who have enjoyed the presence of Christ in a dying hour, who have felt his love manifested to them, and have re- ceived his consolations, might be adduced to corroborate the assertions we have already made, and to confirm the truth, that Christ does thus manifest his love to dying believers. We shall introduce the following : 1. Lambert, a martyr under Henry VIII. ; while he was cruelly mangled by the soldiers' halberts, and consuming in a slow fire, raised his burning hands arnid the flames, and, with a dis- tinct voice, exclaimed, " None but Christ ; none but Christ !" 2. Lawrence Saunders, suffered martyrdom under the " bloody Queen Mary." He kissed the stake at wlroh he was bound, and erred THE LOVE OF CHRIST. 99 aloud, "Welcome the cross of Christ! Wei come the cross of Christ 1 Welcome life ever lasting 1" 3. John Knox, the Scottish Keformer's dying words, were, " Come, Lord Jesus, sweet Jesus ! into thy hands I commend my spirit." Again he said, " I have tasted of the heavenly joys where presently I shall be ! Now, for the last time, I commit soul, body, and spirit into his hands." Uttering a deep sigh, he said, " Now it is come !" His attendant desired him to give his friends a sign that he died in peace. On this he waved his hand, and uttering two deep sighs, he fell asleep in Jesus. 4. John Welch, the son-in-law of John Knox, was one of the most eminent ministers that the Church of Scotland ever produced. He died in great joy. On his death-bed, he seemed to feel himself on the very threshold of glory : he was filled and overpowered with the sensible man- ifestations of God's love and glory. His last words were uttered in an ecstasy of joy : " It ia enough, Lord, it is now enough : hold thy hand ; thy servant is a clay vessel, and can hold no more !" 5. Samuel Kutherford, professor of divinity m the University of St. Andrew's, was one of the most resplendent lights that ever rose in Scotland, He died a triumphant death. In his 100 THE LOVE OF CHRIST. last moments, he was favored with a most won derful manifestation of Christ's love. He felt that Christ was with him, and that he man- ifested his grace to him ; and he was, through that manifested love and grace, enabled to ex- claim with his dying breath, " There is none like Christ. I feel, I feel, I believe, I joy, I re- joice, I feed on manna ! My eyes shall see my Redeemer, and I shall be ever with him ? And what would you more ? I have been a sinful man ; but I stand at the best pass that ever a man did. Christ is mine, and I am his ! Glory, glory, to my Creator and Kedeemer forever 1 Glory shines in Immanuel's land 1 O for arms 10 embrace him! for a well-tuned harp/ ; He continued exulting in God his Saviour tc the last, as one in full vision of joy and glory At length he entered into the joy of his Lord. 1 In vain my fancy strives to paint The moment after death ; The glories that surround the saints, When yielding up their breath. "One gentle sigh their fetters breaks; We scarce can say * They're gsne,' Before the willing spirit takes Her mansion near the throne." 6. JRev. James Durham, on his dying bed, was at first in much darkness of his mind. He THE LOVE OF CHRIST. 101 said to a friend, " For all that I nave preached and written, there is but one scripture that I can think of, or dare to lay hold of. Tell me, bro- ther, if I may dare lay the weight of my salva- tion on it: "Whosoever cometh unto me, I will in nowise cast out 1' " " That you may de- pend on," said the minister in reply, " though you had a thousand salvations at hazard!" Having remained some time in silence, he at length came joyfully from beneath the dark cloud, and cried, in a rapture of joy, " Is not the Lord good ? Is he riot infinitely good ? See how he smiles ! I do say it, and I do pro- claim it!" 7. The noble Marquis of Argyle, on the morning of his execution, while settling his worldly business, was so overpowered by the manifestation of divine love and goodness, that he broke out in a holy rapture, and said, "I thought to have concealed the Lord's goodness ; but it will not do. I am now ordering my af- fairs; and God is sealing my charter to my heavenly inheritance, and is just now saying to me, Son, be of good cheer; thy sins are forgiven thee!" 8. James Guthrie, a godly minister, the com- panion of the noble Argyle, exclaimed, when on the scaffold, "Jesus is my light and life, my righteousness my strength and salvation } and aD 102 THE LOVE OF CHRIST. my desire I Him, Him do I commend with all my soul unto you. Bless Him, my soul, now and forever! Now, Lord, lettest thou thy servant depart in peace ; for mine eyes .have seen thy salvation." 9. The pious Hervey closed his life in peace. His last words were: " How thankful am I for death ! It is the passage to the Lord and Giver of eternal life. welcome, welcome death I Thou mayest well be reckoned among the treas- ures of a Christian : to live is Christ ; to die, is gain! Lord, now lettest thou thy servant de~ part in peace ; for mine eyes have seen thy sal- vation !" Then he fell asleep in Jesus. Oh, what a happy death ; to die unto the Lord to sleep in Jesus ! 10. William Eomaine was an eminent preacher of the gospel of Jesus, and died a joyful death. He had the love of Christ in his heart ; and He was very precious to him in the hour of death. " I have," said he, " the peace of God in my conscience, and the love of God in my heart. Jesus is more precious than rubies; and all that can be desired on earth, is not to be compared to him." Being near his dissolution, he cried out, " Holy, holy, holy Lord God Almighty ! Glory be tu thee on High, for such peace on earth, and good will to men." One time he said, THE LOVE OF CHRIST. 103 " I have much of the* presence of Jesus with me." 11. Kev. Dr. Doddridge, an eminent servant of Christ, said, on his death-bed, " I am full of confidence : there is a hope set before me ; I have fled ; I still fly for refuge to that hope. In him I trust. In him I have strong consola- tion, and shall assuredly be accepted in the be- loved of my soul." 12. The immortal Baxter closed his course full of joy and peace. To some ministers around him, he said, "I have peace, I have peace!" " You are now drawing near your long-desired home," said one. "I believe, I believe," was the reply. When the question was put to him, " How are you ?" he promptly answered, " Al- most well !" To a friend who entered the c ham her, he said, "I thank you, I thank you for coming." Then fixing his eye on him, he added, " The Lord teach you how to die !" These were his last words. 13. John Janeway, a young minister of Eng- land, died one of the most triumphant Chris- tian deaths on record. Not a word dropped from his lips, which me! he is come! 0, how glorious is the blessed Jesus 1 How shall I speak the thou- sandth part of his praises I for words to set out a little of that excellency ; but it is inex- pressible ! 0, my friends, come look upon a dying man, and wonder I I myself cannot but wonder! Was there ever greater kindness? Were there ever such manifestations of rich grace ? O, why me, Lord ; why me ? If this be dying, dying is sweet ! Let no Christian be afraid of dying. 0, death is sweet to me ! This bed is soft! Christ's arms, his smiles, his vis- its ; sure they would turn hell into heaven ! What are all human pleasures compared to ouo glimpse of his glory, which shines so strongly on rny soul? I shall soon be in eternity: I shall soon see Christ himself, who died for me, who loved me, and washed me in his blood ! I shall soon mingle in the hallelujahs of glory! Me- thinks I hear the melody of heaven, and by faith I see the angels waiting to carry me to the bosom of Jesus, and I shall be forever with the Lord ! And who can choose but rejoice in all this?" Often he would say, " 0, that I could but let you know what I now feel! 0, that I could express the thousandth part of that sweetness that I now f.nd i Christ ! Y a would all then THE LOVE OF CHRIST. 105 ji it well worth while to make it your busi- ness to be religious. 0, my dear friends, we little think what Christ is worth upon a death- bed 1 I would not for a world, nay, for millions of worlds, be now without Christ and pardon." To those around him, he said, " that glory, the unspeakable glory that I behold ! My heart is full ; my heart is full ! Christ smiles, and I cannot but smile. The arms of my blessed Saviour are open to embrace me; the angels stand ready to carry my soul into his bosom. 0, did you see what I see, you would all cry out with me, * How long, dear Lord ? Come, Lord Jesus, come quickly!' 0, why are his chariot wheels so long in coming? I do so long to be with Christ, that T couiu be contented to be cut in pieces, and to be put to the most exquisite torments, so that I might but die and be with Christ. O, how sweet is Jesus ! ' Come, Lord Jesus, come quickly P Death, do thy worst. Death has lost its terribleness. Death I it is nothing to me ! Death is nothing (through grace) to me. I can as easily die, as shut my eyes, or turn my head and sleep. I long to be with Christ : I long to die." To his Christian friends who came to see him, he said, " help me to praise God, I have no- thing else to do, from this time to eternity, but to praise and love God 1 O, praise, praise, 106 THE LOVE OF CHRIST. praise, that infinite boundless iove that hain io a wonder, looked upon my soul, and done r.ioie for me than for thousands of his children 1 Bless the Lord, my soul, and all that is within me, bless his holy name ! Help me, help me, my friends, to praise and admire him that hath done such astonishing wenders for my soul : he hath pardoned all my sins ; he hath filled me with his goodness ; he hath given me grace and glory, and no good thing hath he withheld from me." On another occasion, he uttered such words as these, " Admire God forever and ever, ye redeemed ones ! 0, those joys, the taste of which I have ! The everlasting joys which are at his right hand forever more 1 Eternity, eternity itself is too short to praise God in. bless the Lord with me! Corne, let us shout for joy, and boast in the God of our salvation. O, help me to praise the Lord, for his mercy endureth forever." Again he said, "I shall presently behold Christ himself that died for me, and loved me, and washed me in his own blood. I shall, before a few hours are over, be in eternity, singing the song of Moses, and the song of the Lamb. I shall presently stand upon Mount Zion, with an innumerable company of angels, and the spirits of the just made perfect, and Jesus the mediator of the new covenant. I shall hear THE LOVE OF CHRIST. 107 the voice of much people, and be one arncngst them, who shall say, hallelujah, salvation, glory, honor and power, unto the Lord our God ! And yet a little while, and I shall sing unto the Lamb a song of praise, saying, Worthy art thou to receive praise, who wert slain, and hast re- deemed us to God by thy blood, out of every kindred and tongue, and people, and nation, and hast made us unto our God, kings and priests, and we shall reign with thee forever and ever." A few hours before his death, he said, " And now, dear Lord, my work is done. I have fin- ished my course, I have fought the good fight ; and henceforth there remaineth for me a crown of righteousness. Now come, dear Lord Jesus, come quickly." At length his course was com- pleted, and this lovely servant of the Lord fell asleep in Jesus. 14. The great Thomas Haly burton, one of the most learned divines of Scotland, and professor of divinity in the University of St. Andrew's, breathed out his soul to God in a triumphant death. The following were his last words : "I dare look death in the face, in its most ghastly shape, and hope soon to have the victory over it. Glory, glory to him I 0, what of God do I see I I have never seen any thing like it. The beginning and the end cf religion are wonder- 108 THE LOVE OF CHRIST. fully sweet ! I long far his salvation : I bless his name, I have found him ! I am taken up in blessing him ; I am dying rejoicing in the Lord! 0, I could not have believed that I should bear, and bear cheerfully, as I have donej this rod which hath lain long on me. This is a miracle! Pain without pain! You see a man dying ; a monument of the glorious power of astonishing grace !" Some time after, he said, " When I shall be so weak as no longer to be able to speak, I will, if I can, give you a sign of triumph when I am near to glory." He did so : for when one said, " I hope you are encouraging yourself in the Lord," being now unable to speak, he lifted up his hands and clapped them, and in a few moments expired. 15. Mr. Augustus M. Toplady closed a long and eminently holy life, by a very triumphant death. He said, "O how this soul of mine longs to be gone: like an imprisoned bird, it longs to take its flight. 0, that I had the wings of a dove, I should flee away to the realms of bliss, and be at rest forever! I long to be ab- sent from the body, and present with the Lord." At another time he said, " what a day of sun- shine has this been to me ! I have no words to express it ; it is unutterable ! O, my friends, how good our God is ! Almost without inter- ruption his presence has been with me." Being THE LOVE OP CHRIST. 109 near his end, he said, " what delights ! Who can fathom the joys of the third heavens I" And just before he expired, he said, " The sky is clear; there is no cloud; come, Lord Jesus, come quickly !" 16. Eev. Thomas Scott, the commentator, died a happy, triumphant death. The love of Christ filled his soul ; and his dying bed may be said to have been sublimely Christian 1 Among the last words he uttered were these, " Lord support me I Lord Jesus receive my spirit 1 Christ is rny all ! He is my only hope ! to realize the fullness of joy ! O, to have done with tempta- tion ! This is heaven begun ! I have done with darkness forever ! Satan is vanquished ! Noth ing remains but salvation with eternal glory, eternal glory I" 17. Dr. Condict, President of Queen's (now Eutger's) College, New Jersey, was known to be much afraid of death, but he died triumph- antly. Eaising himself from .his pillow, he stretched out his quivering hands, and ex- claimed, "I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith: henceforth there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, shall give me." Then he added, "Let us pray ;" and having uttered a brief and solemn prayer, he gently leaned "back on his pillow, and 110 THE LOVE OF CHRIST. closing his eyes with his own hands, soon fell asleep in Jesus. 18. Dr. Dwight, President of Yale College, closed his useful life by a peaceful and happy death. He requested his brother to read to him the 17th chapter of John. While listening tc the latter verses of that chapter, he exclaimed. " 0, what triumphant truths 1" Some one re- cited to him a part of the 23d Psalm, and asked him, " Can you now say, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for thou art with me ?" He replied, " I hope so." He died in peace, cheered by his Saviour's presence and love. 19. Dr. Edward Payson was an eminent Christian, and a devoted minister of the Lord. He died a most triumphant death. When about to finish his course, 'he thus commenced a letter : " Dear sister, were I to adopt the figurative lan- guage of Bunyan, I might date this letter from the land of Beulah, of which I have been for some weeks a happy inhabitant. The celestial city is full in my view : its glories beam upon me ; its breezes fan me ; its odours are wafted to me ; its sounds strike upon my ears, and its spirit is breathed into my heart. Nothing separates me from it but the river of death, which new appears but as an insignificant rill that may be crossec at a single step, whenever THE LOVE OF CHKIST. Ill God shall g'.ve permission. The Sun of righte- ousness has been gradually drawing neaier and nearer, appearing larger and brighter as he ap- proached ; and now fills the whole hemisphere, pouring forth a flood of glory, in which I seem to float like an insect in the beams of the sun, exulting, yet almost trembling, while I gaze on this excessive brightness, and wondering with unutterable wonder why Go'd should deign thus to shine upon a sinful worm. A single heart, and a single tongue, seem altogether inadequate to my wants : I want a whole heart for every separate emotion, and a whole tongue to express that emotion." Among the last wojds of this excellent and pious divine, are the following: "A young man, when about to leave the world, exclaimed, ' The battle's fought, the battle's fought; but the victory is lost forever!' But lean say, The battle's fought, the battle's fought, and the vic- tory is won ! The victory is won forever ! ] am going to bathe in an ocean of purity, and benevolence, and happiness, to all eternity 1" Again : " Hitherto I have viewed God as a fixed star; bright indeed, but often intercepted by clouds. But now he is coming nearer and nearer ; and he spreads into a sun so vast, and so glorious, that the sight is too dazzling for Hesh and blood t - sustain !" 112 THE LOVE OF CHRIST. On one occasion, when ^boring under very acute pains, he exclaimed, "These are God's arrows ; but they are sharpened with love." Once he exclaimed, "Victory, victory! Peace, peace 1" The last words he was heard to whisper, were these: "Faith and patience, hold out!" Thus died Dr. Payson ; and he has left a glorious testimony to the truth of the religion of Jesus. 20. Harlan Page* was an eminent Christian, and used great personal efforts for the souls of individuals ; and in his death, Christ was with him. "A death-bed," said he, "is a precious place, when we have the presence of Christ then to wake to a glorious immortality." Again : " I feel as if I had got half way home. I cannot bear to stop. It 'would be a pity to have the flesh return on these limbs again." Again he said: "I commit myself to thee, Jesus, Saviour of sinners. O the infinite love of Christ ! I may stop my mouth, and lie in the dust." He appeared to feel that he had obtained a new view of the love of Christ ; therefore he said, " It seems as if I never kne*,v before what it was to love him. 0, who can help loving each a Iplessed Saviour I" * See a very in cresting memoir of this holy man, by W. . Hallock, publish 3d by the American Tract Society. THE LOVE OF CHRIST. 113 Again lie repeated these words: ' when shall I go home? How long must I be bur- dened with this body ! The Lord knows how much suffering I need, to prepare me for his kingdom." A little before his death, he exclaimed, "Home! home!" and prayed: "0 for a free nd full discharge ! Lord Jesus, come quickly ! Why wait thy chariot wheels so long ? I dedi- cate myself to thee. may I have the victory I come quickly! Come, Lord Jesus, come quickly!" 21. David Brainerd died a happy death. With perfect composure of mind, this eminent servant of God saw the approaches of dissolution. To him, death was not an enemy, but a friend : it was the long expected messenger, sent to convey him home to his heavenly Father's house ; and he would exclaim, u Oh ! why is the chariot so long in coming? Why tarry the wheels of his chariot? Come, Lord Jesus; come quickly!" In this happy frame of mind, he expired. 22. Kev. Eisdon Darracott, an eminent ser vant of the Lord Jesus Christ, said on his death- bed, " I am going to that Jesus whom I love, and whom I have so often preached. Come, Lord Jesus, come quickly! Why are thy chariot wheels- so long a coming?" The nigbi 114 THE LOVE OF CHKIST. before lie died, he said, " what a good God have I in Christ Jesus ! I would praise him, but my lips cannot. Eternity will be too short to speak his praises." He related his experience of the goodness of God to him during his sick- ness, and said, "If I had a thousand lives to live, I would live them all for Christ. I have cast anchor on him, and rely on his blood, and am going to venture my all upon him. There is nothing on earth I desire ! Here I am wait- ing ! What a mercy to be in Jesus !" He then threw abroad his arms, and exclaimed, " He is coming! he is coming! But surely this can't be death ! how astonishingly is the Lord softening my passage ! Surely God is too good to such a worm ! speed thy chariot wheels ! Why are they so long in coming? I long to be gone." At length he fell asleep in Jesus, whom 'ie so much loved, and who manifested such tender love to him in the hour of death. 23. Mrs. Catharine Brettergh, a singular Christian of Lancashire, (England,) was blessed to die a comfortable and joyful death. The fol- lowing were some of her last words: "0 the joys that I feel in my soul ! O my sweet Sav- iour, shall I be one with thee, as thou art one with the Father? wonderful is thy love to me, who am but dust ! To make such as me partaker of thy glory ! that my tongue and THE LOVE OF CHRIST. 115 eart were able to sound forth thy praises as I ought!" 24. The amiable and pious Hannah Hous- man, when on her death-bed, often said, with smiles in her face, and transports of joy : " Come, Lord Jesus; come quickly! Why tarry the wheels of thy chariot? 0, blessed convoy! come and fetch my soul, to dwell with God, and Christ, and perfect spirits, forever and ever When I join that blessed society above, my pleasures will never end. 0, the glory, the glory that shall be set on the head of faith and love I ' 25. Jeremiah Evarts, so well known by every friend of missionaries, died a triumphant death. Feeling the love of Christ in his last moments, he broke out into* rapturous expressions : " Praise him, praise him r praise him in a way which you know riot of." Some one said to him, " You will soon see Jesus as he is, and know how to praise him." He replied, " wonderful, won- derful, wonderful glory! We cannot compre- hend . . . wonderful glory ! I will praise him : I will praise him ! Wonderful .... glory .... Jesus reigneth !" 26. Richard Cecil often exclaimed on his duath-bed, with the martyr Lambert, " None but Christ; none but Christ!" As he drew nearer to death, Jesus Christ was his only topic ; and a <*h >rt time before he died, he requested one of 116 THE LOVE OF CHRIST. his family to write down for him in a book the following sentence : " 4 None but Christ, none Lut Christ,' said Lambert, dying at the stake : the same, in dying circumstances, with his whole heart, saith Kichard Cecil." 27. The Eev. John Kees, of London, uttered the following words on his death-bed : " Christ in his person, Christ in the love of his heart, and Christ in the power of his arm, is the rock on which I rest; and now," (reclining his head on the pillow,) "Death, strike!" 28. Mrs. Hannah Woodd, mother of the Eev Basil Woodd, repeated the following words, when near her dissolution: "Oh! I am very happy! I am going to my mansion in the skies. Thank God, I have a hope built on the Rock of ages. I am dying, but I am going to glory. 1 shall see Him as he is. I shall be for ever near him, and behold his face. Blessed be God ! Blessed be God !" 29. Mrs. M. M. Atthans, an excellent Chris- tian lady, left this testimony to the cause of Christianity : " I bless God, I have not one fear concerning dying. That Almighty Lord, who has so wonderfully preserved me to the present moment, will not forsake me in my last extrem- ity. No : when flesh and heart fail, he will be the strength of mj k^art and my portion for* THE LOVE OF CHRIST. 117 80. We shall close our records of triumphant deaths,, with an account of the last hours of a remarkably pious young lady, who lately went to glory ; and whose death-bed scene, it was the privilege of the author to witness. He had often read 'accounts of the triumphant deaths of believers, but never before had he seen such an illustrious exhibition of divine grace, and love, manifested to a saint, in the hour of death. Not till then, did he feel that there was such power in the religion of Jesus, to sustain, and to cheer in the hour of dissolution. This young lady had been confined to a bed of severe suffer- ing for one year. At last her soul was ripened for glory. The time came that she must die and her death-bed was a scene of triumph. Christ was very precious to her ; and his love was wonderfully manifested to her soul. She often exclaimed, " My beloved is mine,, and I am his."* The following are among her last words. To her distant brother she thus dictated a letter "Dear brother, I know not whether I shall meet you again on earth ; but I hope to meet you in heaven, where we shall be forever sing- ing the praises of God; where the Lamb, which Cant .i 16. 118 THE LOVE OF CHRIST. is in the midst of the throne, shall feed ua, and lead us unto living fountains of waters, and where God shall wipe away all tears from OUT eyes." To her father, who said to her, " I fear I must lose you ;" she replied, " Your loss will be my gain ! I have a building of God, a house, not made with hands, eternal in the heavens." And again when he said, I think you will fall asleep in Jesus ;" she responded, "It- will be a happy change." As her friends were standing around her dying bed, she said to a brother, "Have you any words to say ?" He immediately repeated Psalm xxiii. 4 : " Yea, though I walk through the val- ley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for thou art with me ; thy rod and thy staff they comfort me." These words vere very reviving to her. She seemed to feel that Christ was with her in that trying moment, that his love was shed abroad in her heart ; for, turning herself she exclaimed in a transport of joy, " Oh 1 I would not give up Christ for a!l the world 1" " Whom have I in the heavens high, But thee, Lord, alone ? And ir the earth whom. I desire, Beside thee there is none." "I hope that I shaP meet you all in heaven, THE LOVE OF C H K I S T. 119 where we shall be forever with the Lord. 7 * She wished that Christ might be praised; and that he might be magnified by her dying breath To her brother she said, " I hope you may live with Christ, and praise him throughout the endless ages of eternity." She was asked by one, if, during her sickness she had not often experienced something like heaven upon earth. She replied that she had. Her earthly course being nearly finished^ she opened her eyes, which were soon to be closed in death, and in the language of strong, un- shaken faith, exclaimed with Job, " I know that my Redeemer liveth, and that he shall stand at the latter day upon the earth : and though after my skin, worms destroy this body, yet in my flesh shall I see God : whom I see for myself, and mine eyes shall behold, and not another, though my reins be consumed within me."* Once she broke out into a rapture and exclaimed, "0, to be ever with the Lord, what a happy change !" A little while before her death, one said to her, " It is a happy thing when the believer can say, when about to leave the world, * I have fin- ished the work which thou gavest me to do.' She said yes ; and added, (though with great dif- v Job xix. 26-27 * 120 THE LOVE OF CHRIST. ficulty, her breath being almost gone,) ''I am now ready to be offered, and the time of my de- parture is at hand. I have fought a good fight, E have finished my course. I have kept the faith : henceforth there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, shall give me at that day; and not to me only, but unto all them also that love his appearing." Her faith remained firm unto the end, and her hope and confidence unshaken to the last. Her sky was clear and serene, her mind calm and composed, and thus she fell asleep in Jesus, and entered into the joy of her Lord. As the writer gazed upon the solemn scene before him, he could not but feel the force of Revelation xiv. 13, " Blessed are the dead which die in the Lord." A few days before this young lady died, she requested the following verses to. be read at her funeral. They are too beautiful, and impressive to be omitted here. "TO MY YOUNG COMPANIONS. "My youthful mates, both small and great, Stand here, and you shall see, An awful sight, which is a type Of what you soon must be. ** I used to appear once fresh and fair Among the youthful crowd ; THE LOVE OF CHRIST. 12 J But now behold me deai and ;uij Wrapped in a sable earourl ' My cheeks once red, like '-o My sparkling eyes so gay ; But now you see how 'tis with in* A lifeless lump of clay. "When you ars dressed in aa your becU In fashion so complete, You soon must be as you see iut Wrapped in a winding sheet " Ah, youth beware, and do prepare To meet the monster, death For he may come when you are vonng. And steal away your breath * When you unto your frolics gc Remember what I say ; In a short time, though in your orun** You may be called away. " Now I am gone, I can't return No more of me you'll see ; But it is true that all of you Must shortly follow me. " When you unto my grave do go, The gloomy place to see, I say to you who stand and view, Prepare to follow me." And now, reader, can you not say, " bet me die the death of the righteous, and let my last end be like his ! How important is it then that you should now choose Christ, in order that you 122 THE LOVE OF CHRIST. may enjoy his love and presence not only through life, but also in the hour ol 'eath I If you belong to Christ, you will find 'urn, in the last hour of life, a iriend that stlcxeth closer than a brother. What an awful thing it is to die without sal- vation by Christ, without an interest in him ; and yet millions live without God, and without hope in the world ; and millions more die in the same awful condition, and plunge into a dark and miserable eternity. 0, be admonished to choose Christ in time, and he will be yours in death, and in eternity. How unspeakably blessed it is to enjoy the love and smiles of Christ in a dying hour! Then what can the world do for you? The tears of your friends, and the exertions of your physicians, will then be unavailing. It is Christ alone that can make a dying-bed easy and comfortable. His love and presence will sustain you, and his almighty arms support you, "Though unseen by human eye, The Redeemer's hand is nigh : He has poured salvation's light Far within the vale of night There will God my steps control, There his presence bless my soul. Lord whate'er my sorrows be, Teach me I > look up to thee " THE LOVE- OF C H K I S T. 123 lie who is thus with you," says an excel- lent writer, " will afford all needful comfort and support in the trying hour. He will open at that time treasures of grace and strength, to which you had been previously a stranger. The Redeemer himself is present, not only to guide his saints, but to infuse that comfort and vigor which will abundantly compensate for the sink- ings of expiring nature. Who but those who have entered heaven, can tell what unearthly joys are vouchsafed the saint in a dying hour ? Often, there is reason to believe, they transcend every thing possessed in the present life. There may be visions of glory realized by the spirit, which are second only to those of heaven. The dying experience of many saints has been of the most delightful kind. Whether such hopes and joys as were afforded to Jane way and others, will be vouchsafed to you, you know not ; nor is it necessary you should know. Whatever is needful for you in a dying hour, Christ will bestow. He says, ( My grace is sufficient for thee."* Eemember, that he has said, "Fear not, I am he that liveth, and was dead ; and be- hold, I am alive for evermore, amen ; and have the keys of hell and of death."f When we contemplate those, whose deaths we * 2 Cor. xii. 9. f Rev. i. 17, 13 124: THE LOVE OF CHRIST. have recorded in this volume, we may justly say, " These all died in faith :" and, let us also be " followers of them who through faith and patience inherit the promises."* "Wherefore, seeing we also are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us, looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith."f If you belong to Christ, he will love you in life, in death, and in that happy home, which his love has prepared for you. In conclusion, Christian reader, you will soon exchange the abodes of mortality for the regions of bliss. Then look beyond the grave. Do not confine your thoughts to this gloomy place. Contemplate the sublime raptures of your future existence beyond the precincts of time. Christ shall one day break the slumbers of the grave, and you will arise to immortality. The love of Christ does not stop at death. It extends beyond this solemn period. It will ac- company you into the heavenly world: your everlasting happy home: and you will soon arrive there. From the valley of the shadow of death you shall ascend to the summit of Zion, *Heb. vi. 12. f Heb xii - 3, 2. THE LOVE OF CHRIST. 125 You shall " Come unto Mount Sion, and i nto the city of the living God, the heaven! y Jeru- salem, and to an innumerable company of angels, to the general assembly and church of the first- born, which are written in heaven, and to God the Judge of all, and to the spirits of just men made perfect, and to Jesus the mediator of the new covenant, and to the blood of sprinkling, that speaketh better things than that of Abel."* For the darkness of mortality, you shall obtain the bright glories of heaven. " Thine eyes shall ?ee the King in his beauty ; they shall be- hold the land that is very far off."f You will possess the promised land, the heavenly Canaan. Then shall the days of your mourning be ended. Raised in the likeness of your blessed Kedeemer, you shall, finally, be presented faultless before the presence of his glory with exceeding joy. Entering the fair mansions of glory, you shall reign with your glorified Redeemer, forever and ever. ! happy issue to the Christian's short pilgrimage on earth ! With such cheering prospects to be realized, can you not also say, in the prospect of death, with many dying saints, " I have a desire to depart, and to be with Christ. Amen. Even BO ; come, Lord Jesus, come quickly!" Heb. xii. 22-24 f Is. xxxiii. 17. 126 THE LOVE OF CHRIST. In the following chapters we shall contem- plate that happy home which Christ, in his great love for a lost world, has now gone to pre- pare for his children. " For we know that if our earthly house of this tabernacle were dis- solved, we have a building of God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens.''* "How happy is the (tying saint* "Whose sins are all forgiven ; With joy he passes Jordan^ flood, Upheld by hopes of heaven. 'The Saviour, whom he truly lov'd. Now cheers him by his grace; A glory gilds his dying bed, And beams upon his face. "Ecstatic joy and heavenly bliss Swell his enraptured heart; He views the promis'd land of rest, And pants for his depart "Terror and dread are both unknown; Sweet peace and hope appear, To guide the blessed traveller home, And all his footsteps cheer. "Angels of light attendant wait His spirit to convey Beyond this drear abode of night, To realms of endless day. Cor. v. L THE LOVE OF CHRIST. 127 " Oh ! may I live the life of faith, Abound in holy love, Till death shall bear my joyful soul To Zion's courts above." 128 THE LOVE OF CHRIST. CHAPTER IX. TBE HAPPY HOME IN VIEW. " In my Fathers House are many mansions : I go to pro pare a place for you." JOHN xiv. 2. " Aa wiien the weary trav'iler gains The height of some o'er-looking bill, His heart revives, if cross the plains He eyes his home, though distant stil; \ ** While lie surveys the much loved spot, He slights the space that lies between ; His past laugues are now forgot, Because his journey's end i seen. "Thus when tne Christian pilgrim viewa By faith, Ins mansion in the skies, The sight his fainting strength renews, And wings his speed to reach the priz& "The thougnt, or tiome his spirit cheers, No more he grieves for troubles past ; Nor any future trial fears, So he may safe arrive at last. : Tis there ne says i am to dwell With Jesus, in ih realms of day; Then I shall r>if Christ has prepared a happy home for your reception, when this sublunary scene sha J have vanished from your mortal vision. All the happiness you enjoy in time ; and all the glory that will crown you through eternity, flow from the love of Christ. Make him your boast in time, your all in all ; and may he be formed in you, the hope of glory. THE LOVE OF CHKIST. 135 Happy they I who have fled for refuge to the world's Redeemer. He will carry them to glory. Reader, may this precious Saviour be yours, in life, in death, and in eternity. Conducted by the Captain of your salvation, you will aiso reach the Christian's happy home, and realize the joys of a blessed immortality. What glorious prospects are presented to the eye of faith, the spiritual vision of the Christian ! He views the never-ending glories of the heavenly kingdom ; and in that view he loses the sight of terrestrial grandeur. He quickly glides over the narrow stream of time ; till he finds himself sailing on the vast unbounded ocean of eternity, an eternity of blessedness. He lifts his eyes to the hills, from whence cometh his help; those everlasting hills which tower aloft, beyond the swellings of Jordan ; beyond the valley of the shadow of death. He expects soon to reach the heights of Zion. " They go from strength to strength, every one of them in Zion appeareth before God."* In the mean time, O my soul, meditate upon the glories of thy happy home. What must be the feelings of the Christian, when he views all heaven as his cwn ; when he can claim all the delights of the celestial paradise as his, and looks * Psalm Ixxxiv. 7 136 THE LOVE OF CHRIST. upon the world to come as his eternal liappy home I Come, Christian, survey the happy land, your everlasting home. Life is fast hastening away. The oscillating tides of time are bearing you onward and homeward. Every wave of life's tempestuous ocean is only wafting you to the happy shores of a blessed eternity. Then look beyond this poor dying world ! Look at that eternal home which Christ has prepared for you ! View the celestial city, irradiated by the glory of God and the Lamb ! See the pearly gates, the golden streets, the shining inhabitants of the New Jerusalem I The uncreated glory of Grod will enlighten that city of everlasting habitation, which the love of Christ has pre- pared. What a blessed habitation has Christ prepared for believers ! What a glorious inheritance has he promised them Come, my soul, and sur vey it. My soul, on Pis>gah's mount, ascend, Where Moses once admiring stood ; There view the promised land extend Beyond the swelling Jordan's flood " By faith survey the landscape o'ei Where living waters gently flow; Till earth usurp thy love no more ; Till all thy lei: Iling passions glow THE LOVE OP CHRIST. 137 M In that blessed region of delight, The saints nor sin nor sorrow feel, Eternal day excludes the night, And all possess the spirit's seal. "The ransomed soul in glory clad, Shines brighter than meridian sun; The weary pilgrim, now so sad, There finds his toilsome journey done." O my soul, rise and soar aloft to the heavenly Canaan ! Mount up as upon eagles' wings, and behold the king in his beauty, and the land that is afar off. Leave the world to those who seek their pleasures and happiness in its perish- ing enjoyments, and set thy affections on things above, where Christ sitteth at the right hand of God. How the world recedes from your view, as you obtain a glimpse of the heavenly land! The short-lived pleasures of earth, and the transient show of sublunary magnificence, no longer fascinate the mind, as it gains a Pisgah view of the Christian s endless happy home, the glories of which baffle all description. The love of Christ is most illustriously manifested to be- lievers, in his going to prepare such a home for them. O matchless love I that Jesus has not only died for sinners, but has gone to prepare mansions above, where they shall reign with 138 THE LOVE OF CHKIST. him in eternal glory I Hasten on, joyful day, when the redeemed of the Lord shall 3ome to Zion with songs ; when ransomed sinners shall commence to celebrate the wonders of redeeming love in mansions of glory ! Look forward, Christian reader, to the con- s' animation of your bliss. With joy antici- pate the glories of the resurrection morning ; a morning that will dawn upon the glorified saint, without a single cloud to darken his beatific vision, or obscure the glorious rays of the Sun of righteousness, that will arise with healing in his beams, and forever gladden the hearts of millions of happy saints. What a happy day will that be, when all the children of God shall reach their everlasting home ; those mansions in the skies, where all are perfectly blessed in the full enjoyment of God through eternity ! Dear believer, in humble confidence in God, wait with patience till the coming of the Lord Jesus ; till you are brought into the full posses- sion of the heavenly inheritance. " Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, which, according to his abundant mercy, hath begotten us again into a lively hope by the re- surrection of Jesus Christ from the dead ; to an inheritance incorruptible and undefiled, and that fadeth not away ; reserved in heaven for you, who are kept b} T the power of God through faith THE LOVE OF CHRIST. 189 ante salvation, ready to be revealed in the iast time."* Blessed Jesus I keep me by thy almighty power through faith unto salvation. Spirit- ualize my affections elevate my views to the world of glory. Wean my heart from the fleet- ing enjoyments of this mortal life, this perishing earth. Satisfy me with thy goodness and mercy ; visit me with thy salvation, and at last bring mo home to thyself in glory. " Then let my soul forever raise The incense of adoring praise ; And join the heavenly choirs above, In sweetest songs of grateful love." Header I look beyond this sublunary scene of changing mortality. " All, all on earth is shadow ; all beyond Is substance. * * * * How solid all, where change shall be no more!" Soar aloft on the wings of faith, and roam in imagination through the myriads of ages that lie beyond the precincts of time ; and in those regions of immortality prepared for the just, may you realize the joys of endless life, of an immortal existence, and of an inheritance before which the splendor of a thousand worlds fades ; * 1 Peter i. 3-6. 140 THE LOVE OF CHRIST, which will endure when this earth and *L her terrestrial glory shall have passed away, and when the sun shall have cast his last rays, and the stars have set in endless night ! " Life's theatre as yet is shut ; and death, Strong death alone, can heave the massy bar, This gross impediment of clay remove. * * * * And spring to life, The life of gods ; oh transport 1 and of man." * Now unto him that is able to keep ^ ou from falling, and to present you faultless before the presence of his glory with exceeding joy ; to the only wise God our Saviour, be glory and majesty, dominion and power, both now and ever, amen."* * Jude i. 84 fcS. THE LOVE OF CHKIST. 141 CHAPTER X. THE HAPPY HOME CONTEMPLATED BEING WITH CHRIST IN GLORY " Father, I will that they also whom thou hast givea me, be with ma where I am." JOHN xvii. 24. "So shall we ever be with the Lord." 1 THESS. iv. 17. In those blest Regions of delight, Where Jesus is unveil'd to sight, No mortal tongue can e'er express The ransom'd sinner's blessedness. WHAT morta: pen can describe the glowing beauties of Immanuel's land ! What mortal tongue can express the blessedness of the saints, when gazing upon the heaven-bright glories of Immanuel's form, and dwelling forever in his glorious presence, under the resplendent beams of the Sun of righteousness I This is what the eye hath not seen ; what the ear hath not heard ; what the heart of man has never conceived. But yet this blessedness awaits all the saints, and will abide with them through the incessant flow of eternity's immeasurable ages. O, happy thought ! Dear Christian reader, Christ has, in his infin- THE LOVE OF CHRIST. ite love, now gone to prepare a place, an endloss happy home for you ; but he will come again, and receive you to himself. He will not always leave you in this vale of tears. No : when this short life is ended, you will " depart and be with Christ;" you will dwell in the house of the Lord forever. Christ will bring you to his Father's house, where his glorious presence is enjoyed without a medium. He will welcome you to the mansions of glory, to the kingdom of heaven. " Come, ye blessed of my Father, in- herit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world."* " I go to prepare a place for you ; and if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you unto myself; that where I am, there ye may be also."f Thus spake our Saviour before he left this world before he ascended to heaven from Mount Olivet. But there is a day coming, when that same Saviour shall break through the clouds of heaven ; " when he shall come to be glorified in his saints, and to be admired in all them that believe in that day." Job obtained a glimpse of this day. He starts forward on the wings of faith, and be- holds through the lapse of many ages the divine Matth. xxv. 34. THE LOVE OF CHKIST. 143 form of his Eedeemer. He sees him with his very eyes. " I know, that my Redeemer liveth, and that he shall stand at the latter day upon the earth ; and though after my skin worms destroy this body, yet in my flesh shall I see God : whom I shall see for myself, and mine eyes shall behold, and not another, though my reins be consumed within me."* Christ shall come again, to gather his children home, to that place which he has prepared for them. Then shall the word of command, issued from his blessed lips, go forth: "Gather my saints together unto me, those that have made a covenant with me by sacrifice. For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God; and the dead in Christ shall rise first : then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air ; and so shall we ever be with the Lord."f Then shall we be ever in his presence, where there is fullness of joy and pleasure forever. It is Christ's presence that will make the very heaven of happiness, the very centre of felicity. It is being with Christ that will constitute tho purest, brightest, noblest heaven. What would * Job xix. 25-27. f 1 Thess. iv. 16, 17 t 144 THE LOVE OF CHRIST. heaven be to the saints, did they not enjoy tne presence of Christ ? It would be no heaven to them, though they were surrounded with tho glories of the New Jerusalem Blessed Jesus ! may we be going up through this wilderness world, leaning upon thee ; walk- ing by faith ; loving and serving thee ; and may we finally be brought to behold thy glorious face in the realms of light, in the paradise above, and be ever with thee. " What is the world, but grief and caref What heaven, if thou be absent there? Thy glorious face illumes the sky, And sheds ecstatic joys on high." It is in the presence of Christ, that we will participate in those pleasures which are at God's right hand. "In thy presence is fullness of joy : at thy right hand, there are pleasures for evermore."* Oh ! to be ever with the Lord ! What human mind can comprehend the blessedness of such a state ? Christ knows this blessedness ; and how fervently he prays, " 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."f This prayer will be an- swered. We shall soon be with Christ. We Paalm xvL 11, ,* John xvii. 24. THE LOVE OF CHRIST. 145 shall soon behold his glory. Then shall we see Him as he is; even Him who loved us, and washed us from our sins in his own blood ; who died on Calvary for us ; whose blessed hands, and side, and feet were pierced for us ; and whose precious blood flowed so freely to wash away our sins : to Him be glory forever 1 Oh I blessed sight. Then shall we gaze forever upon the uncreated glory of Immanuel, shining forth in full unclouded splendor. Then shall we be- hold the glory of that blessed Eedeemer, who left the regions of bliss, to assume mortal flesh and die for us. Then shall we see with our very eyes, Him who was crucified for us on Calvary; but, oh! we shall see Him shining with inconceivable glory. The glory of Christ will attract the eyes of all the redeemed, and he will be forever " admired in all them that be- lieve." " The Word was made flesh ;"* and the glory of God shall shine through that flesh, making that blessed body more glorious than a thousand suns. The saints shall dwell forever in the presence of Immanuel. Thrice happy they, who are to spend eternity in beholding his radiant glory, and in encompassing his throne with everlasting songs of salvation ! Then shall it be proclaimed * John i. 14. 10 146 THE LOVE OF CHRIST. through the heavenly mansions, " Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and he will dwell with them, and they shall be his people and God himself shall be with them, and be their God."* In heaven, the saints will enjoy the society of the Lord himself; which is the perfection of happiness. Says Christ, "Where I am, there shall also my servant be." O ! to be ever near Him ; to see Him as he is ; to be like him ; to behold his glory ; to have that glory revealed in us; to praise Him eternally in the mansions above : what a happy home will this be ! " Be- loved, now are we the sons of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be ; but we know that when he shall appear, we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is."f Oh, to be like the blessed Jesus ; to see him in glory! What heart would desire moreV Then shall we commence to tread with our elder Brother, and adorable Eedeemer, the ceaseless round of eternity. Then shall the wonders of his love be incessantly unfolded before us causing new songs of praise to ascend from our en- raptured souls, to Him that sitteth upon the throne. Who can express the delights tht? saints must feel, when they look into the fa^e of * Rer. xx 8. f 1 John ir 2. THE LOVE OF CHRIST. 147 CLnst, and there read his tender love to them I But oh how completely engulfed in the abyss of infinite love, and lost in wonder and praise, must our souls be, when we gaze upon the ecars which mark the hands and feet and side of our blessed Saviour, and there read the im- mensity of that love which made him die for us ! " And I beheld, and lo, in the midst of the throne, and of the four beasts, and in the rnidst of the elders, stood a Lamb as it had been slain."* In those blessed regions, where He is unveiled to the sight of mortals, Jesus will gladden our hearts with perpetual joy, and love us with an everlasting love. It is the privilege of believers to be with Christ ; to spend eternity in his presence ; to gaze forever upon the Sun of Kighteousness, shining in his meridian splendor. That sun will never set in the "new heavens." His beams will always irradiate the city of our God, our happy dwelling place. Christ's presence will make "our Father's house" a glorious home, a happy abode, a blessed habitation. Where he is, there will heaven be. His glorious presence will illu- minate the abode of the blessed, the realms of everlasting day. And, believer when you come * Rev. v. ^ 148 THE LOVK OF HE I ST. to dwell in those blissful mansions, his presence his eociety, his love, *nd his celestial voice will cause your enraptured soul to rejoice ; and eter- nity will be spent in being with him, and in beholding his glory. " Oh I to hear that voice speak ineffable peace and consolation to your soul ; to see Him as he is, whose glory infinitely surpasses all objects of nature and of art; to see those dear hands, and feet, and head, whose wounds in suffering for you will be more brilliant and beautiful in your eye than the topaz of Ethiopia : yea, to have his glory revealed in you ; to be perfectly like him, and to reign with him : what a heaven will this be! Then your unbounded desires, which the whole creation could not limit, shall be satisfied with the full fruition of immortal love. You shall be refreshed with the emana- tions of uncreated life and joy, and shall drink at the fountain-head of pleasure. You shall mingle with society the most pure, perfect and lovely, whose glory is only surpassed by that of Him that sitteth upon the throne. You shall dwell with kindred spirits, in everlasting har- mony. Your employment shall combine all the excellencies of ease, delight, and perpetuity. You will have nothing to do but to worship and serve God, and shall have ability to wor- ship and serve hir~ forever." THE LOVE OF CHRIST. 149 What a happy home will heaven be, where we shall be ever with the Lord I How happy will the saints be, when they come to dwell in that heavenly home in that glorious palace, where "He that sitteth on the throne shall dwell among them ;"* where " the Lamb which is in the midst of the throne shall feed them, and shall lead them unto living fountains of waters : and God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes."f Of that celestial city, in which the saints are to make their eternal nome, it is said, "the throne of God and of the Lamb shall be in it , and his servants shall serve him, and they shall see his face, and his name shall be in their fore- heads.":): The saints, in heaven, shall see Christ with their bodily eyes. We shall see Him, who loved us, and gave himself for us. " Now we see through a glass, darkly ; but then, face to face." Yes, we shall behold His glorious face, and be fully satisfied with his immortal love. We hope shortly to exchange the trials and afflictions of this vale of tears this suffering, dying world, for the glories of eternity; and be ever with the Lord. Then will we have Rev. vii. 15. f R 8 v. vii. 17 Rev. xx. 3, 4 1 Cor. xiii. 12. 150 THE LOVE OF CHRIST. done with transitory life, with grief and care. Then will we drink of affliction's bitter cup no more, and death itself will have lost its power over us. Then shall we be lodged in the re- gions of immortality, and be ever with the Lord. And when ten thousand times ten thousand years have rolled away; when ages countless < the stars which deck the midnight skv have run their ample round, it may be said that we are, as it were, just beginning to be ever with the Lord ; that we are just beginning to behold his glory, and to look into that wonderful coun- sel of love, that glorious plan of salvation, which will be our theme of meditation, of wonder, and of praise through the ceaseless ages of eternity. Then shall we know the joy of being with Christ. Then, there shall be no more separa- tion between Christ and his people : they shall then be brought near him, and abide with him forever. " O glorious hour ! blest abode ! I shall be near and like iny God 1 And flesh and sin no more control The sacred pleasure of the soul." It will be Christ's amazing love that will then fill our hearts with joy unspeakable and full of glory. It will be the brighter manifestation of that love which will cause our souls to over- THE LOVE OF CHRIST. 151 with ecstatic joy, as we dwell m the pres- ence of Immanuel, and surround his throne, and behold his glory. Then shall we be better " able to comprehend with all saints what is the breadth, and length, and depth, and height, and to know the love of Christ, which passeth knowledge." Then shall we "be filled with all the fullness of God." Oh! the infinite love of Christ, that he should bring sinners to glory, to dwell in his presence, to spend eternity with him 1 "So shall we ever be with the Lord."* "By faith I see the hour at land, When in his presence I shi.ll stand : Then will it be my endlesa bliss, To 1 3 him where and as I e is." NEWTON. iv. 17. 152 THE LOVE OF CHKIST, CHAPTER XI. THE HAPir HOME CONTEMPLATED. THE BLESSEDNE83 OF THE SAINTS. v' In thy presence is ful.ness of Toy: at thv right hand there are pleasures for evermore." PSALM xvi. 11. COME, my soul, retire from the noise, bustle, and tumult of a vain world, and contem- plate thy happy home in the heavens! Look beyond this present fleeting scene of existence, and view thy future, eternal resting place ; and may the bright glories of heaven, elevate thy views and raise thy affections above the tran- sitory pleasures of this decaying scene. Under the pleasing emblem of a happy home, heaven is most beautifully set forth. Christ calls it his Father's house. "In my Father's house are many mansions."* If we are the children of God, we may also call it our Father's house, our happy home ; and each be- liever may say with the Psalmist, " I will dwell ic the house of the Lord forever."f * John xiv. 2. f PsaLu xxiii. 6. THE LOVE OF CHRIST. 153 Heaven is also described as a glorious city, In his sublime vision of the heavenly world, John thus speaks : "And I John saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband;" "Having the glory of God: and her light was like unto a stone most pre- cious, even like a jasper stone, clear as crystal."* The streets of this city are of gold; and the gates of pearl. " And the twelve gates were twelve pearls ; and the street of the city was pure gold, as it were transparent glass."f And John adds, " I saw no temple therein, for the Lord God Almighty, and the Lamb, are the temple of it."J In this celestial city which is thus beautified by the creative power of God, and enlightened with his glory, the saints are to spend the cease- less ages of a glorious and happy eternity. This is that city which prophets and apostles and saints of every age, have desired, and longed for ; that city which Abraham, when " he so- journed in the land of promise, as in a strange country," looked for. " For he looked for a city which hath foundations, whose builder and maker is God." * Rev xxi 2, 11. t Rev. xxi <>2. f Rev. xxi. 21. 8 Heb. xi. 10. 154 THE LOVE OF CHRIST. Heaven is that b^; >er country which aL the saints of old, who Confessed that they were strangers and pilgrim-; on the earth, desired and sought to obtain. "But now they desire a better country, that is, a heavenly ; wherefore God is not ashamed to be called their God ; for he hath prepared for them a city."* To this heavenly home, God will bring all his children, and Jesus will there dwell among them, for ever and ever. When all the s?ints shall be brought home to be forever with the Lord, they will be per- fectly blessed. They will enjoy the assurance of Christ's love, and the eternal smiles of his countenance! What heart can conceive the unutterable bliss of the Kedeemed, when brought into the glorious palace of the great King, where there is fullness of joy, and pleasures for ever- more. They will be far from a world of grief, and sin. They will be beyond the reach of suffering. No gloom or sorrow shall ever be cloud their bright spirits in the presence of Christ. They shall be forever happy with him. Reaching the happy shores of Immanuel's land, they shall dwell with God. They shall see him, " Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God."f Their souis shall be filled * HeV xi. 16. f Matt, v, 8. THE LOVE OF CHRIST. 155 with unutterable jliss, amid the splendors of beatific vision, and the sublime raptures of ce- lestial joys. The ineffable glories of the Deity, shall then beam forth upon the redeemed. And, " then shall the righteous shine forth, as the sun, in the kingdom of their Father."* To the love of Christ the saints will owe all their blessedness in another world. Let us contemplate this blessedness. In the word of God we see it described. In the 7th chapter of Kevelation there is contained a glimpse of heaven of the redeemed in glory. ^ There we find that when all the redeemed shall be brought home to glory, they will form a mighty host. " After this I beheld, and, lo, a great multitude, which no man could number, of all nations, and kindreds, and people, and tongues, stood before the throne, and before the Lamb, clothed with white robes and palms in their hands, "f Millions of Adam's sons and daughters shaM be brought to glory, through the merits of Immanuel. There we find whence this mighty multitude came. To the questions, " What are these which are arrayed in white robes? and whence came they?" it is answerel, "These are they whbh come out of great t ibulation, and have * Matt. xvii. 43, 4 Rev. viL >. 156 THE LOVE OF CHKIST. washed their robes, and made them white in the blood of the Lamb."* The saints have travelled a rough road to glory, and have come out of great tribulation. Many of them have gone through the fires of persecution, and their souls have ascended to glory amid the flames of martyrdom. Many of that blessed number who now stand before God, "were stoned, were sawn asunder, were tempted, were slain with the sword," were once " destitute, afflicted, tormented ;"f but they have come ou%of all their tribulations, and are now happy before the throne of God. The saints have all washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb. They are invested with the snowy, spotless robe of the Kedeemer's righteousness. " This," says an eloquent writer, J "is the only garb which a child of Adam can wear before the throne of God. And though the apparel of some may be more curiously wrought and ex- quisitely embroidered than that of others, though the hand of the beautifying Spirit ma^ have made it 'raiment of needle- work' the hue and lustre of each is the same. Every spirit in glory wears the vesture radiant with redeeming right- Kev. vii. 14.' f Heb. xi. 87. J Rev J. Hamilton, of London. THE LOVE OF CHRIST. 157 eousness the snowy robe which speaks of the fountain opened, and which wilf commemorate through eternity, the blood of the Lamb." The employment of the saints in heaven is also described in this glorious vision. They serve God. " Therefore are they before the throne of God, and serve him day and night in his temple."* " They cry with a loud voice, saying. Salvation to our God which sitteth upon the throne, and unto the Lamb."f " And his servants shall serve him."^: "Wnat a contrast is there between the service of God on earth, and in heaven ! Here, all our divine services are imperfectly performed : there, all is perfection itself. Here, when the spirit is often willing, the flesh is weak, and soon wearied, even in the sweetest seasons of devotion and heavenly meditation : there " they rest not day and night, saying Holy, holy, holy, Lord God Al- mighty, which was, and is, and is to come." And again, " Thou art worthy, Lord, to re- ceive glory and honor and power ; for thou hast created all things, and for thy pleasure they are and were created."] The employment of redeemed saints will be that of everlasting praise and adoration. They Rev. vii. 15. Rev. iv 8 Rev vii. 1C Rev. xxii. & v. 11. 158 THE LOVE OF CHKIST. will praise ana admire the Saviour, for his un bounded love and goodness to them. They will iontemplate that glorious salvation of which 1 the prophets have inquired and searched dili- gently." and which "the angels desire *to look into." Kedemption and salvation by Christ will constitute their unending theme ; in the contem- plation of which, their souls shall be lost in won- der, love and praise. A crucified Saviour will be the wonder of heaven, and will employ ransomed souls in holy meditations through an inconceivable eternity. " Christ crucified," says an excellent old divine, 45 u is the library which triumphant souls will be studying in to all eternity. Eternity itself will be too short, in which to unfold the wonders of redeeming love, or to speak the praises of that blessed Eedeemer who was crucified on Calvary for a sinful world. With increasing wonder and admiration shall that ransomed host, who stand upon Mount Zion, eternally search into the wonders of Christ's redeeming love as man- ifested to them. And all the redeemed, casting their crowns before the throne in token of their own un worthiness, shall unite in one long, loud, adoring anthern of praise ; in one grand, ever- lasting chorus : ' Wortl y is the Lamb that was * Bifh >p c ~Ulingfleet in Origines Sacrre, ]ib. ?, c. 6. THE LOVE OF CHRIST. 159 slain to receive power, and riches, and rtr. and strength, and honor, and glory, and bless- ing. 'Blessing, and honor, and glory, and power, be unto him that sitteth upon the throne, and unto the ' Lamb forever and ever.'* They sing unceasing praises to him who loved them, and washed them from their sins in his own blood. ' Unto him that loved us, and washed us from our sins in his own blood, and hath made us kings and priests unto God and his Father ; to him be glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen.'f ' They sing the song of Moses the servant of God, and the song of the Lamb, saying, Great and marvellous are thy works, Lord God Almighty: just and true are thy ways, thou King of saints !' "J Such is the employment of heaven ; and its blessed inhabitants shall have power and ability to worship and serve God without weariness, forever. The saints shall be perfectly happy in the presence of Christ. Free from all sorrow, they shall possess immortal joys in the presence of Him who sitteth on the throne. They shall not know what sorrow is any more. All tears shall be wiped away ; for " He that sitteth on the throne shall dwell among them. They shall * Rev. v 12, 1?. f Rev. i. 5 \ Rev. 3rr. 3, 4 160 THE LOVE OF CHRIST. hunger no more, neither thirst any more ; neither shall the sun light on them, nor any heat. For the Lamb which is in the midst of the throne shall feed them, and shall lead them unto living fountains of waters ; and God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes.'"* Here, the saints weep, and wail, and experi- snce the distressing calamities and sorrows of mortal life. They feel the mutations of this ever varying scene. They are often in the depths of adversity and distress. They also ex- perience changes in the spiritual life. To-day they may be on Pisgah, with -heaven in their view, rejoicing ; to-morrow, in the valley of Baca, weeping. To-day, the sunshine of Chris- tianity may illumine their path ; to-morrow they may wander about, enveloped in spiritual dark- ness. Here, the dearest- ties are cut asunder, and the tenderest cords broken; which causes the heart to overflow with sorrow Our friends die, and tears trickle down our cheeks; and perhaps we ourselves go down with sorrow to the grave. " Thou feedest them with the bread of tears, and givest them tears to drink in great measure."f Thus the saints keenly feel the sorrows of this mortal state; but in heaven, "Gcd shall Re-- v . 15, 17 f Psalrnlxxx THE LOVE OF CHRIST. 161 wipe away all tears from their eyes ; and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor cry- ing, neither shall there be any more pain : for the former things are passed' away."* In heaven, the saints shall obtain everlasting joy. " Everlasting joy shall be unto them."f " Therefore the redeemed of the Lord shall re- turn, and come with singing unto Zion; and everlasting joy shall be upon their head : they shall obtain gladness and joy, and sorrow and mourning shall flee awaj:"{ " They that sow in tears shall reap in joy. He that goeth forth and weepeth, bearing precious seed, shall doubt- less come again rejoicing, bringing his sheaves with him." And then "the days of thy mourning shall be ended."] Our joy in heaven will be full, satisfying, and eternal. The redeemed shall be free from all the suf- ferings, pains, and diseases that afflict humani- ty, and render this mortal life one continual scene of distress. In that happy world, "the inhabitant shall not say, I am sick: the people that dwell therein shall be forgiven their in- huity."^ Immortal health and vigor bloom in heaven. Sin, the cause of sickness, and pain, and sor- * Uev. xxi. 4. f Isaiah Ixi. 7- \ Isaiah li. 11: g Psalm cxxvl. 5, 6. fl Is. . 21. T K xxxiii. 24 11 162 THE LOVE OF CHRIST. row, shall be excluded from that blessed world. There, no tears bedew the .jheek, no sorrows rend the heart, no pain is felt, no dissolution is feared ; for death itself is swallowed up in vie tory. " And there shall be no more death." This is nothing but a dying world. Here, death strikes its dart, and cuts down our dear est friends. Perhaps he who now reads theso lines may have stood over the dying bed of a dear relative or friend, and, with bitter sorrow, taken the last farewell, and witnessed the death- struggles of him or her whom he loved. Death annually sweeps off a multitude of the human race. The sun now shines upon the graves of thousands, who, but a year ago, bloomed with health and vigor. Where are they now ? Gone. Now they are numbered among the dead. Now, clad with all the habil- iments of the grave, they lie cold and lifeless in death's narrow house in the grave's dismal mansion. In heaven there shall be no more death, nor painful separation of kindred souls. Eternal lift; shall be enjoyed by the blessed inhabitant! of the New Jerusalem. The last enemy shaL have been destroyed. Then will God say, con- cerning his redeemed ones," " I will ransom them from the power of the grave; I will rejlecm them f-:m. death: death, I will be thy plague: THE LOVK OP CHRIST. 163 i O grave, I will be thy destruction."* Then, " this corruptible must put on incorruption, arid this mortal must put on immortality : then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written, Death is swallowed up in victory."! Tn those celestial mansioBS T all the immortal sons of God shall meet in blissful harmony and adoring praise, to be forever with the Lord. The saints shall enjoy eternal rest in heaven. "There the wicked cease from troubling, and there the weary be at rest":}. They shall be perfectly holy and happy; and shall eternally bask in the sunshine of God's immediate pres- ence, and drink of those perennial streams that issue from the fountain of life. The Lamb shall feed them, and lead them to living fountains of waters." *Hosea xiii. 14. f 2 Cor. xv. 53, 54. \ Job. in. 17. "The Godhead is a boundless sea, on which the thin island of creation floats; and though the region be ever so dry and arid a burning Baca and though the object be ever so bleak and bald a grim Horeb, a flinty rock it needs only the touch of the prophet's rod, and forthwith a fountain springs as exhaustless as that divine perfection vhence it flows. In that better country the Horeb nevei staunches, and the Baca never dries: the fountains j '.ay per- petually, and the waters ever live ; and the Lamb is familiar with thenr all. To the woody brink of one he leads his white- robed followers ; arid in its fringing glcries and populous profound, thy read the richc? of creative power and skill. To the melodious ve*ge of ar :cher he conducts them and 164 THE LOVE OF CHRIST. The saints shall spend an everlasting day of light and blessedness in Immanuel's land ; " and there shall be no night there." Eternal day smiles in those blessed regions. " Thy sun shall no more go down, neither shall thy moon with- draw itself; for the Lord shall be thine ever- lasting light, and the days of thy mourning shall be ended."* In that bright world which the saints are go- ing to possess, all will be irradiated by the glory of God and of the Lamb. The glorious Sun of righteousness will illuminate the heavenly world, the celestial city. " Thy sun shall be no more thy light by day, neither for brightness shall the moon give light unto thee ; but t/he Lord shall be unto thee an everlasting light, and thy God thy glory. "f " And the city had no need of the sun, neither of the moon, to shine in the fountain of light which gushes high, and flings its rainbows wide ; in the balm scattered by its wafted dews, and the song with which the branches wave, they hear it endlessly repeated, ' God is love.' And to another still he guides them ; and simple as the margin looks, and limpid as the waters are, it dilates and deepens as they gaze ; deep- ens, till it ^nocks the longest line; widens, till Gabriel's eye can see no shore ; and in its fathomless abyss, and ever-re- treating bound, they recognize the divine unsearchableness. lu Paradise, every fountain lives, and each fountain a a ies- aou full of God," Rev. J. HAMILTON * IB. be. 20, f Is. 3. 19. THE LOVE OF CHRIST. 165 in it; for the glory of God did lighten K, and the Lamb is the light thereof; and the nations of them which are saved shall walk in the light of it, and the gates of it shall not be shut at all by day, for there shall be no night there."* The saints " shall inherit all things," and " reign with Christ forever and ever." Such is the blessedness of the saints ; and to crown all their heavenly bliss, it will be eternal. Heaven is a state of never-ending bliss. Eternity stamps an infinite value on celestial happiness. " ye blest scenes of permanent delight! Full, above measure! lasting, beyond bound? A perpetuity of bliss, is bliss." With regard to perpetuit}^, what a striking contrast there is between earthly and heavenly joys! How transient are all sublunary pleas- ures ? " Passing away," is indelibly stamped upon all that is terrestrial. " The world passeth away, and the lust thereof."! Youth and beauty, health and strength, riches and honor are passing away. Incessant changes characterize this globe, and all its inhabitants; but no such changes are known in heaven. '' Lord, I long tc be at home, Where these c'xane?* never come I * Rev. xxi. 2c -25 1 John ii. 17. 166 THE LOVE OF CHRIST. Where the saints no winter fear, Where 'tis spring throughout the year How unlike this state below! There the flowers unwithering blow, There no chilling blasts annoy, All is love, and bloom, and joy." The joys of the Christian's happy home never end. The pleasures which are at God's right hand endure for ever. " Oh yes ! those sweet words for ever, shall be attached to every thing in glory. You shall eat of the tree of life: drink of the water of life; wear the crown of life; you shall be made a pillar in the temple of God, and there shall be no more going out." But oh ! what is the for ever of heaven ; who can describe it? who can comprehend vast eter- nity, the measure of the saint's bliss? " Were the house you inhabit," says a very pious writer,* "to be filled with the finest sand, and then emptied so slowly that but the smallest grain should be taken out once in ten thousand years, how many millions of ages should pass away before the last grain were removed ! yet, compared with eternity, these coi.ntless years would be like the twinkling of an eye. Were the mighty seas which dash their waves upon * Rev. j. G. Pike. THE LOVE OF CHRIST. 167 so many shores, ID be suddenly changed mto one mass of ink, and then & be employed in numbering down ligures, and the last figure tc signify a million of years, what countless ages would be numbered down before the seas were emptied ; yet he who wrote the last figure might say, 'These ages are not eternity; they are nothingness itself, compared with that; less than one drop to all the sea; less than one moment to all these infinite years; they are like a tale that is told ; or a sigh that is forgotten.' Were this vast world one mass of sand, and were the Most High, by his infinite power, to create as many worlds as there might be grains of sand in this ; and were he then to commission a ministering angel to destroy them all, by re- moving grain after grain, yet so slowly that he should remove but one grain in a million of years, what millions, and millions, and millions of years, beyond all thought and conception, would pass away before one world were thus destroyed! and 0, what before all these num- bers were! What an eternity would be here! An eternity ! no, not a moment, compared with it. Sand after sand would be removed, though at so infinitely slow a rate ; world after world would be destroyed ; and the angel would finish his task, but not finish eternity. Eternity would txi eternity still. One grain of sane would bear 168 THE LOVE OF CHRIST. some proportion to these numberless worlds one moment to these countless millions of nge3; but all these would bear none to eternity; when they were passed, it would still be 'beginning rather beginning to begin.'" Such is the foi ever of heaven. Eternity! who can grasp the immense idea which this short word conveys? When mil- lions and millions of ages shall have passed away, the blessed inhabitants of Immanuel's land will be young in immortality, and there will still be stretched before them an " evermore," in which they ^'11 enjoy perfect blessedness at God's right hand. Oh! what a blessed, happy home is heaven. " And what a home for us to return to and abido in forever ! A home prepared before the foun- dation of the world. A home in the many man- sions ; a home in the innermost circle of creation, nearest the throne and heart of -God ; a home whose peace shall never be broken by the sound of war or tempest, whose brightness shall never be overcast by the remotest shadow of a cloud. How solacing to the weary spirit, to think of a resting-place so near, and that resting-place our Father's house, where we shall hunger no more, neither thirst any more: where the sun shall not light on us, nor any heat ; where the Lamb that is in the midst of the throne shall feed us, THE LOVE OF CHEIST. 169 and lead us to living fountains of waters, and God shall wipe away all tears from our eyes."* 01 how near is our happy home it is just within sight. How near, how very neai is eter- nity : it is even at the door ! Christian reader, ycu shall soon, very soon, reach your happy home. Already your earthly course may be nearly terminated. One step more, and you will have gained the happy shores of Immanuel's land. Having crossed the tern pestuous ocean of life, you will enjoy the re- freshing breezes of heaven, and the calm repose of the saint's everlasting home. Your redemp* tion is drawing near. " Now is our salvation nearer than when we believed. The night is far spent, the day is at hand." A few more suns will rise and set, and then the unsetting sun shall rise in the " new heavens." A few more days, and then will dawn the eternal day. A few more fleeting years will pass swiftly by, and then the everlasting cycles of eternity will roll on. You will soon exchange a cross of suffering on earth, for a crown of glory in heaven, immortal, incorruptible, and that fndeth not away. You will soon join with the whole family of God, in H. Bonar, author of "The Night of Weeping," and "The Morning of Joy;" two charming little volume, written in a pleasing style. 170 THE LOVE OF CHRIST. the contemplation of Christ's redeeming love, One theme, that of redemption, shall then em- ploy every soul, and every tongue shall be tuned to the praises of Imrnanuel. With your re- deemed companions in glory, you will soon unite in that sweet song, " Unto him that loved us, and washed us from our sins in his own (yea, his own most precious) blood, and hath made us kings and priests unto God and his Father ; to him be glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen." The time is short. "The Lord is at hand." a Surely I come quickly. Amen. Ever so. come Lord Jesus. 1 '* <%ist anb im fetifitb. PEEFACE. IN presenting these pages to the Christian public, the object of the author is simply to exhibit Christ and Him crucified as the only hope of a lost world. In this essay we have endeavored to speak of the Ex- cellency of the subject of the Person of Christ of the Glory of Christ of Christ Crucified of Redemption by Christ of the New Song in Glory of the Sum and Sub- stance of the Gospel of the only Hope of the Sinner- And of the Cross of Christ. This volume is now com- mended to the blessing of God. May He grant that, through these pages, some despairing soul may be led to hope in Christ and Him crucified. May sinners be at- tracted by the glory of the cross of Jesus ; may saints be built up in their " most holy faith ;" and to the Eternal Father, Son, and Spirit, a triune God, be all the praise, And now, dear reader, in the language of William Mason, 14 1 commend thee to God, and to the word of his grace, wishing thee sweet comfort in perusing these meditar tions. If 7' CHRIST, AND HIM CRUCIFIED. CHAPTER I. THE EXCELLENCY OP THE SUBJECT. " Yea, doubtless, and I count all things but loss, for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord." PHIL. iii. 8 ; IN the physical, intellectual and moral world there are to be found many important and in- teresting subjects. The whole circle of science embraces many topics of absorbing interest to the man of genius. Human learning exalts man to that grand elevation of intellectual great- ness, from which he views nature in all her magnificence, revels amid her beauties, and roams, in imagination, from star to star, from eun to sun, where the Deity reigns in all the grandeur of his attributes. JSTo wonder, then, that human learning should be so highly prized, and so assiduously sought after by rational be- ings, But th 3re is a subject of infinitely greater 12 178 CHRIST, AND HIM CRUCIFIED. importance than all science or human knowl- edge; a subject which above all others may be denominated sublimely great and interesting; and which, to the thirsty soul of a penitent sin- ner, is most refreshing and exhilarating : that theme is Christ and him crucified. All the holy angels that surround the throne of God, with all the redeemed in glory, look upon this sub- ject with unbounded delight and increasing admiration, but can never fully comprehend its sublimity and moral grandeur. It is the unending theme of heaven, the joy of saints, the astonishment of angels. It is a subject too lofty for human skill ; angelic intellect can never com- prehend it. We cannot adequately declare its vastness, much less comprehend its fullness. It is inexhaustible in its nature. The highest in- telligences that move amidst the glories of Paradise cannot fathom its profundity. The mighty oceans that divide continents, and dash their waves on numberless shores, may be ex- hausted. Not so the excellency of the knowl- edge of Christ Jesus. The countless luminaries that decorate the nocturnal sky, and light up the canopy of heaven, rnay be extinguished in eternal darkness, but this glorious theme shall shine forever in tha perfection of beauty. When the last lines of earth's history shall have been written, yea, when this terrestrial globe itself CHRIST, AND HIM CKUCIFIED. 179 ?ht.L have be*?n wrapped in the flames of the judgment day, and &11 the redeemed brought iiome to glory, Christ and him crucified will form the all-absorbing subject that shall engage lie capacious and exalted minds of heaven's blissful inhabitants, in holy meditation and rapturous delight, through a blessed and glorious eternity. Then, believer, if you are to bpend eternity thus, should you not employ the short space of time which intervenes between you and the realms of glory, in the contemplation of this wonder of wonders, this mystery of godliness, a crucified Saviour ? May God in his infinite mercy grant that you may be led to form the resolution of the great Apostle, who, when writing to the Corinthians, declares, "I deter- mined not to know any thing among you save Jesus Christ and him crucified." "Christ crucified," said an old divine,* "is the library which triumphant souls will be study- ing in, to all eternity. Other knowledge makes men's minds giddy and flatulent; this settles and composes them ; other knowledge is apt to swell men into high conceits and opinions of themselves; this brings them 10 the truest view of themselves, and thereby to humility and Bishoj Sfillingfleet. 180 CHRIST, AND HIM CRUCIFIED. sobriety : other knowledge leaves men's Learts as it found them; this alters them, and makes them better. So transcendent an excellency is there in the knowledge of Christ crucified above the sublimest speculations in the world." Should you not then spend much of your time in meditating on this glorious theme ? Where in the whole world can you find a subject so ex- cellent, so consoling, so animating as this ? 0, then, study Christ and hirn crucified. Be dili gent and ardent in the pursuit of this knowl- edge, for it alone can guide the Christian to immortal bliss. A knowledge of Christ and him crucified, is indispensable to salvation. "I am the way," says Christ, "and the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me."* " I arn the door : by me if any man enter in, he shall be saved, and shall go in and out, and find pasture."! By that great atonement which he made on Calvary, our blessed Saviour has abol- ished death, and brought life and immortality to light. The radiancy which the knowledge of a crucified Saviour emits amidst the darkness of mortality, dispels the gloom that overspreads the mind, and dissipates the darkness that hovers around the pathway to immortality. This i John xiv 6. { John x. 9. CHRIST, AND HIM CRUCIFIED. 181 knowledge makes the Christian's eye bright with hope, and animates him on his way to the mansions of glory. It tears asunder the veil that hides the unseen world from mortal view, and holds up to the Christian's enraptured gaze, the untold glories of heaven. It points directly to the only sacrifice for sin, Jesus Christ, the bleeding Lamb of God. It leads you to Calvary, where, amid the affecting and overpowering scenes exhibited, it opens to your astonished view the portals of heaven, and pours in a flood of light and glory that dazzles the eye of the Christian^ sheds effulgence around the throne of God, and beams with unclouded splendor through eternity itself. The saving knowledge of Christ and him cru- cified, leads the sinner to glory and happiness at God's right hand. It will crown him with un- utterable bliss. It will prepare him for the en- joyment of heaven ; for the reception of that unfading wreath of glory which shall be en- twined around the brow of the faithful ; for that glittering diadem which shall be placed upon his head ; and for those robes of salvation with which he shall be eternally arrayed before the throne of God. How important then, is this knowledge which leads to such blessed results, to such unspeakable glory I that each of u* 182 CHRIST AND HIM CRUCIFIX D. may become experimentally acquainted with Christ and him crucified. Permit me to urge this momento-m subject upon your serious consideration. You should give it a thorough investigation. Your immor- tal destiny is embraced within ita -ample scope. To neglect it, will be at the peril o> your eternal happiness. then, we beseeck you with the utmost compassion for your immortal soul, to attend to this glorious message, the proclamation of a crucified Saviour, and eternal life through him. This great and all-important theme, the glory of which no mortal tongue can express, is more intimately connected with your present and future welfare than all other subjects within the range of human acquisition. We would not, in this little volume, display before you the airy speculations of philosophy or the various charms of human science ; but we would, with ardent language, hold up to your view, Christ and him crucified, as your only hope ; as the only hope of a lost world. Here, sinner, is your hiding-place. Under the shadow of Him who once groaned and bled on Calvary, you can find eternal repose. " And a man shall be a hiding-place from the wind, and a covert from th tempest ;* as rivers of waters in a dry * Is xxxii. 2. CHRIST AND HIM CRUCIFIED. 183 place, as the shadow of a great rock in a we ary land." Jesus Christ is here set forth in all the richness of his grace. He is here offered, freely offered to dying sinners. Embrace him as youi only Saviour ; while passing through this " wearj land," through this wilderness world, lean on Him, who will guide you safely to glory. In Him, you will experience that joy which the world cannot impart, and that peace of God, which passeth all understanding. By that bless- ed side which was once pierced with the soldier's spear, you will enjoy the favors and smiles of a reconciled God. From those deep wounds that were inflicted on the Saviour's immortal form, fountaiys of joy, as inexhaustible as the ocean of divine per- fection itself, will flow in the richest streams of grace, to refresh, invigorate and animate your soul I there is something about Calvary so mysterious in its nature so glorious in its re- sults. Time can never disclose nor vast eternity unravel those things connected with that affect- lag scene, displayed when the Son of God bowed his head and exclaimed " It is finished." This subject embraces this mystery, and con sequently will be the trieme of the redeemed to all eternity It comprehends the glorious plan of redemption and all the wonders of Christ's redeeming love. It does not lead the sinner to 184 CHRIST, AND HIM CRUCIFIED. Sinai, and there leave him amid the dreadful thunder and lightning and flame and smoke : no, it gently draws him to Calvary, that life- giving mount, where the unbounded love of God for sinners once glowed in the bosom of his Son, with more than human splendor ; where it beamed forth in all the effulgence of the divin- ity, when the holy Jesus hung a suffering, bleeding, victim on the ignominous cross. How glorious is such a subject! It is full of Christ and salvation through him. It vividly displays the matchless mercy, and boundless love of God to a lost world. " Oh I how matchless is this mercy 1 How unbounded is this love! Tis our joy on earth to feel it; 1 Tia the theme of saints above." Let the knowledge of Christ and him cru- cified dwell in you richly. Endeavor to know more and more ahout the person of your glo- rious Redeemer ; about that wonderful decease which }\Q accomplished at Jerusalem, and that all-sufficient atonement which he effected on Calvary. Christ and him crucified is the sweet- est, noblest theme on which a soul ever dwelt. Holy angels on their lofty thrones in glory, de- sire to stoop from the heights of celestial bliss, and look into this wonderiu abvss of love and CHRIST, AND HIM CRUCIFIED. 185 mercy to fallen man the gift of a Saviour a glorious salvation. Well may we, who are the objects of such unprecedented love, raise our grateful hearts to the God of heaven, and shout forth in language like this : Glory to God in the highest for such peace and good- will toward men. Christian, may Christ and him crucified ever be your delightful theme on earth, till mortality is swallowed up of life, till you are admitted into the glorious presence of Immanuel, and see him face to face, and begin your unceasing song, unto him that loved you and washed you from your sins in his own blood. Can you not now say with the Apostle, " Yea doubtless, and I count all things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord ;"* and that every reader could join with us in the following beautiful, glowing lines of the poet, "Thou myall! My theme ! my inspiration 1 and my crown I My soul's ambition, pleasure, wealth ; my world. My light in dirkness ! and my life in death I My boast through time I bliss through eternity 1 Eternity, too short to speak thy praise, Or fathom thy profound of love to man I To man of m ?a the met nest, ever, to me My sacrifice aiy God I YOUNG. ^Ir... iii. 8. 186 CHRIST, AND HIM CRUCIFIED. CHAPTER II. THE PERSON OF CHRIST. "Them art fairer than the children of men." PSALM t\v. 2. " My meditation of him shall be sweet." PSALM ciy. 84. BEFORE we dwell on the melting story of Calvary, or exhibit to you a crucified Saviour, or afford a display of his glorious atonement, let us advert to the divine person and character of our Immanuel. Let us admire hia glorious per- fections. A saving knowledge of Christ will constitute the foundation of our immortal joys ; will lead us to eternal life, and the highest state of felicity in heaven above. " And this is life eternal, that they might know thee, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom thou hast sent."* 0, that we might obtain a glimpse of the matchless person of Christ! 0, that we might behold "the King, in his beauty." Surely then would our sight and eyes be turned away from viewing vanity. If there is an object in the universe that should attract our attention, excite our admiration, warm our affections, and * Jol r xvii 8. CHRIST, AND HIM CRUCIFIED. 18? I demand our love ; surely it is the glorious Sav- ior, the blessed Son of God, who is the bright- ness of his Father's glory, and the express image of his person. Christ is the most glorious being in the universe of God. Blessed Jesus I reveal thyself unto us in all thy transcendent loveli- ness, in all thy surpassing beauty. " Thou art fairer than the children of men ;" " the chiefest among ten thousand ;" " yea, thou art altogether lovely ;" " thou art the blooming rose of Sharon, and the lily of the valleys." Manifest thyself unto us as thou dost not unto the world. Glad- den our guilty souls with the beams of thy mercy and grace. Unfurl the banner of thy wondrous love over us ; encircle us in the arms of thy compassion, and lift upon us the light of thy gracious countenance. We can know but little, comparatively, of the excellence and glory of Christ's person, until we see him on his heavenly throne, in all his un- veiled glory. Then hall we see him as he is, face to face, and forever behold his matchless beauty. What a glorious sight will that be, tq see the Redeemer shining in the perfection of beauty. What a blessed privilege, to dwell for ever in the presence of the great King, to sur- round the radiant throne of heaven, and amid the spleidors of the celestial Paradise, to sound through endless ages the notes of seraphic 188 CHRIST, AND HIM CRUCIFIED. praise, to him that redeemed us from eternal misery with his own most precious blood ! Gentle reader, seek Christ now; believe on him ; view him with the eye of faith, as your only Lord and Saviour, and in a little while faith shall be turned into sight, into heavenly vision, and you will enjoy the presence and society of your beloved Redeemer through a glorious eternity. Remember, young reader, that Christ has said u those that seek me early shall find me."* May the Lord in his mercy grant that you and I may find Him of whom Moses and the prophets did write, Jesus, the Son of God. This will prove our everlasting com- fort. Through time and through eternity, Christ will be our unchanging friend. To the believer, Christ is ail in all. Amid all the vacillating scenes and Jieart-rending sorrows of mortality, he is ever with him, manifesting his grace and sustaining him in every trial ; and in the last hour of mortal existence, when the believer is standing on the verge of the grave, Christ is by him, cheering his departing soul with the hope of eternal glory, and guiding him safely through the swellings of Jordan to the promised land, the everlasting happy home cf God's children. In the hour of death, the be- * Pro* riii. 17. CHKIST, AND HIM CRUCIFIED. 189 liever Is enabled to exclaim, " Oh ! I -would not give up Christ for all the world. Whom have I in heaven but thee? and there is none upon earth that I desire besides thee." Now, is Christ precious to you ? Do you de- sire to know more and more about him? Is he formed in you, the hope of glory? If so, we trust you will follow us with a joyful heart in our presentation of hi, , character and excellence as they are vividly portrayed in the Holy Scrip- tures. That blessed Redeemer who once hung a bleeding victim on Calvary ; who endured the death of the cross /here, is the eternal Son of God, equal with tbe Father in power and glory, possessing all the attributes of Deity. The Scriptures plainly assert that Christ is God, the Creator of the universe. "In the be- ginning wan the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. All things were made by him ; and without him was not any thing made that was made."* Christ bears the very image of the everlasting Father. Yes, the eternal Son of God, our blessed Saviour, is the brightness of his Father's glo ry, and the express image of his person. " Who, being the bright- ness of his glory, and the express image of his person, ac/i upholding all things by the word Jokn i. 1, 8. 190 CHRIST, AND HIM CRUCIFIED. of his power, when lie had by himself purged our sins, sat down on the right hand of the Majesty on high."* Again, it is declared of Christ that he " is the image of the invisible God, the first-born of , every creature : for by him were all things cre- ated that are in heaven, and that are in earth, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or powers; all things were created by him, and for him ; and he is before all things, and by him all things consist. And he is the head of the body, the Church: who is the beginning, the first-born from the dead ; that in all things he might have the pre-eminence. For it pleased the Father, that in him should all fulness dwell, "f What a fulness of grace and glory dwells in the blessed Jesus I And what divine power has he displayed in the works of creation ! By his word, were all things made. He spake and it was done ; he commanded, and it stood fast. He only gave the command, and this world, with all its iuhab itants, started into being. Such is his illimitable power, that he has created and sustained for ages, millions of fixed and moving worlds of light and glory. With unerring precision, he guides the * He), i S. f Col. i. 16, 19. CHRIST, AND HIM K U I F 1 E D. 191 planets in their revolutions, and directs the comets in their flaming march. With an arm of omnipotence, he has bespangled the midnight sky with its glowing luminaries ; and that same mysterious personage who endured the ignomin- ious death of Calvary, has created this beauti- ful, green earth on which we tread ; formed the moon in her silvery brightness, and kindled up the sun in all his glory. " By the word of the Lord, were the heavens made ; and all the host of them by the breath of his mouth."* He has " measured the waters in the hollow of his hand, and rneted out heaven with a span, and compre- hended the dust of the earth in a measure, and weighed the mountains in scales, and the hills in a balance." Christ is the second person in the glorious Trinity, and is of equal power with God the Father, and God the Spirit. Yea he " thought it not robbery to be equal with God," and as the Creator of the universe, he reigns, the omnipo- tent, Lord of heaven and earth. All power is intrusted to him, and all worlds are the offspring of his almighty fiat, the product of his creative skill. It is the same blessed Saviour who bled and died on earth " that spreacleth out the hea- vens, and treadeth upon the waves of the sea ; Psalms xxxiii. 6. 192 CHKIST, AND HIM CRUCIFIED. that maketh Arcturus, Orion, and Pleiades, and the chambers of the south." Christian, go out and gaze upon the clear, blue sky, when the solemn stillness of night per- vades a slumbering world ; survey the countless glories of the starry firmament ; view the num- berless suns that shine above you ; think of the innumerable planets that revolve around these suns ; contemplate the mighty s} T stems of worlds that move in celestial harmony and majesty through boundless space. Your Saviour made them all. Then think of his power, wisdom, and goodness as manifested in all his works. Think of his original glory and blessedness ; but above all, think of his amazing condescension and infinite love for you. He who hung out these brilliant orbs, once stooped from his celes- tial throne of glory to assume human nature, and bleed and die for you : yes, to die the death of the cross! He "made himself of no reputa- tion, and took upon him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men ; and being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross 1"* Wonderful condescension. Amazing love ! Was there ever love like this, that led Christ to Calvary, there to lay down his * Phil. x. 7. 8. CHEIST, AND HIM CBUCIFIED. 193 precious life for sinners ! No , the annals of time do not furnish a parallel ; neither is it to be found in the records of eternity. Christ, the only begotten Son of God, lay in the bosom of the Father from all eternity ; possessing untold glory with him. But out of infinite compassion and boundless love for his children, his redeem- ed, he consented, for a time, to veil that glory in humanity, and bleed upon the accursed tree. He became partaker of flesh and blood. " For- asmuch then as the children are partakers of flesh and blood, he also himself likewise took part of the same."* % He gave his blessed body to be broken, and his precious blood to be shed for sinners. For you, dear believer, did the Lord of glory suffer. That he might redeem you from the curse of a broken law, and thus rescue you from eternal misery in the regions of darkness and despair, he assumed your nature. " For verily he took not on him the nature cf angels ; but he took on him the seed of Abra- ham. Wherefore in all things it behooved him to be made like unto his brethren, that he might be a merciful and faithful high priest in things pertaining to God, to make reconciliation for the sins of the people."f In Christ, the divine and numan natures are admirably united in one Heb i. 14. 13 Heb. il !, 194 CHRIST, AND HIM CRUCIFIED. glorious person. He is truly God and truly man He is our Creator, our Preserver, our bountiful Benefactor ; and yet he is bone of our bone and flesh of our flesh. He is our near kinsman: our elder brother ; our gracious friend, who lov- eth at all times ; our glorious Redeemer. In our nature, Christ suffered and died for us; in our nature he rose triumphant from the grave ; and he now wears it before the throne of God. how highly has Christ exalted hu- man nature! He has elevated it to the right hand of God, to the greatest honors and the brightest state of felicity in the heaven of heavens. In glory the redeemed shall be made like Christ ; their bodies shall shine like his glorious body. Says an Apostle, "we know that when he shall appear, we shall be like him ; for we Qhall see him as he is."* At his glorious appearing on the resurrection morning, Christ shall call forth our sleeping dust and "change our vile body, that it may be fashioned like unto his glorious body, according to the working whereby he is able even to subdue all things unto him self."f Then shall we be with him, and be en tirely like him to all eternity. Then shall we see him face to face in his heavenly kingdom, yes we shall look into the very face of the 1 John iii 1 f Phil, iii 21. CHRIST, AND HIM CRUCIFIED. 195 blessed Jesus, and behold in that countenance the expressions of tenderest love for us, his re- leemed. Then shall we see what a lovely Sav- iour we have ; and through eternal ages we shall )e contemplating the glorious person of OUT Redeemer. Then shall we discern those excel- lencies in the person of Christ, which are now obscured by the veil of mortality. " Now we see through a glass darkly ; but then face to face : now I know in part ; but then shall I know even as also I am known."* Precious Saviour! Thy name is as ointment poured forth. Thou art all our salvation and desire. We love thee, because thou hast first loved us. Whom have we in heaven but thee, and there is none upon earth that we desire besides thee. Thou art our way to the Father, the way in which the redeemed journey through a wil- derness world to the heavenly Canaan. Thou art the blessed day -star which illuminates our path through a bewildering world, and guides us safely over life's tempestuous ocean into the harbor of eternal glory, Blessed Eedeemer, may I love and prize thee more and more on earth, till, prepared for those happy mansions above, I bid adieu to this sin- ful, sorrowful world, enter into the joy of my * 1 . xiii. 12. 196 CHRIST, AND;HIM CRUCIFIED. Lord, and raise a never-ending song of praise in glory to thee my Almighty Saviour. "Almighty Jesus, make me thine ; Oh ! wash me in thy blood divine, Preserve my soul from every sin, And reign the sov'reign Lord within. " Oh 1 for a heart of faith and love, To taste the Saviour's richest grace, To emulate the choirs above, Who ever see his blissful face. "Blest spirit! beautify my soul With humble joy and holy fear; Thy pow'r can make the wounded whole, And bring each gospel blessing near. " Descend and dwell within my heart ; The Saviour's image let us bear; Then bid me hence with joy depart, And angels' bliss forever share." - What a precious Saviour we have to choose a*; ours. One who is so amiable and excellent in his person. One who is infinitely able to save us. One who delights in our salvation, and re- joices over us to do us good. Concerning his people, Christ says, " I will make an everlasting covenant with them, that I will not turn away from them to do them good but I will put my CHRIST, AND HIM CKUCIFIED. 197 fear in their hearts, that they shall net depart from me. Yea, I will rejoice over them to do them good."* What mercies flow from the Saviour of sinners I When we look at what our Kedeemer has accomplished for us, well may we, with wonder and astonishment, ex- claim, " Oh how great is thy goodness, which thou hast laid up for them that fear thee ; which thou hast wrought for them that trust in thee; be- fore the sons of men." How deeply impressed with the divine goodness was the prophet, when, borne along and overwhelmed with the sublim- ity of his rapturous theme, he breaks forth into this lofty song : " Sing, daughter of Zion ; shout, Israel ; be glad and rejoice with all the heart, daugh ter of Jerusalem. The Lord thy God in the midst of thee is mighty ; he will save, he will rejoice over thee with joy ; he will rest in his love ; he will rejoice over thee with singing."f There is none like Christ. He spake as never man spake. When he sojourned in this vale of tears, he went about doing goo 9. ; words of com- passion flowed from h:'.s gracious lips ; he com- forted the afflicted, healed the diseased, and raised the dead. At his omnipotent voice, " the eyes of the blind were opened, and the ears of Je- xxxii. 40, 41 f Zeph. iii. 14, .1 198 CHRIST, AND HIM CRUCIFIED. the deaf unstopped ; the lame man eaped as a hart, and the tongue of the dumb sung." How compassionate was the blessed Jesus> to the sons and daughters of affliction, to the perish- ing multitudes around him, when he trod this earth, clothed with the garb of humanity ; and now that he is in heaven, invested with all his original glory, he has the same eye of pity, and the same heart of love for dying sinners on earth. Though he reigns in glory, yet he now says, " To this man will I look, even to him that is poor and of a contrite spirit, and trembleth at my word." One compassionate look from Christ, which draws out the soul in love after him, and kindles up the affections in holy desires after sweet communion with him, is worth more than all the treasures of the world. A saving interest in the glorious Redeemer, will put us into the possession and enjoyment of those "unsearch- able riches" which will endure when this bewil- dering world, with all its fascinations, with aL its grandeur, shall have passed away. Does your heart pant after these durable riches ? Then look up to Christ, admire him ? contemplate his adorable, mysterious person. Open the blessed volume of inspiration and read his glorious character. " Search the scriptures," says the Saviour, " for in them ye think ye have eternal life and they are they which testify of CHRIST, A:ND HIM CKUCIFIED. 199 me." Trace him in his wonderful transition from heaven to earth. He veils his glonr in humanity. He assumes human nature, and becomes an infant of days, a man of sorrow through life; a bleeding victim on Calvary. For you, sinner, he yields to the stroke of death ; and is laid in a tomb. But see him bursting the fetters of the grave, and ascending to glory. Thither follow him. On the wings of faith soar to the heavenly Canaan. Your divine Redeemer is there, radiant in glory. Before him, all the redeemed bow in token of humble adoration and praise. While they gaze upon his won- drous bright form, ; one song, "worthy is the Lamb that was slain," employs them all. In heaven, all are admiring and praising the " Lamb that stands on Mount Zion." There, every re- deemed sinner desires to know more and more about the adorable Saviour. believer, the more you study Christ the more will you ad- mire and praise him. Wonderful in his nature, glorious in his person, and dear in those rela- tions in which he stands tc you, he demands your whole heart, your affections, all your grate- ful thoughts. While you walk by faith through a wilderness world, you should constantly keep Christ in your view in your thoughts in yout mind ; till in the full blaze of heaven's glory, you behold him, in the midst of the celestial 20 J CHRIST, AND HIM CKUCIFIED. throne, as " a Lamb that had been slain,'' and eternally admire his matchless person, and his boundless grace. blessed Jesus ! may the de- sire of our soul now be to thy name, and tc the remembrance of thee. May we remember tbee upon beds, and meditate on thee in the night-watches. And through all our earthly pil- grimage may we ever think of thee, and of thy great goodness. Christian, let your love for an unseen Saviour increase more and more. Now " whom hav- ing not seen, ye love ; in whom, though ye see him not, yet believing ye rejoice with joy un- speakable, and full of glory." "Unto you therefore which believe, he is precious." In the mean time, may your eye that eye of faith which views the eternal world, and those glo- rious " things which are not seen," ever be di- rected to the bleeding " Lamb of God," which taketh away your sins; which "taketh away the sin of the world !" Be always longing and " looking for that blessed hope, and the glorious appearing of the great God, and our Saviour Jesus Christ, who gave himself for us, that he might redeem us from all iniquity, and purify unto himself a peculiar people, zealous of good works."* * Titus ii. 13, 14. CHRIST, AND HIM CBUCIFIED. 2(>l How sweet the name of Jesus sounds, In a believer's ear I It soothes his sorrows, heals his wounds^ And drives away his fear. It makes the wounded spirit whole And calms the troubled breast Tis manna to the hungry soul, And to Ui3 202 CHRIST, AND HIM CKUCIFIED. CHAPTERI II. THE GLORY OF CHRIST. 4 Father I will that they also whom thou hast given mo, be with me where 1 am ; that they may behold my glory." JOHN, xvii. 24. IN order that we may see the personal ex- cellency of God's beloved Son, let us contem- plate his glory. That amazing humiliation and painful death to which Christ submitted, for sinners, will appear still more astonishing, when we reflect upon that majesty and glory with which he was invested before time began to now. In Christ, we behold uncreated glory. No created glory was ever like his. Christ's glory shone from all eternity. Before the sun beamed in the heavens, or the moon walked in silvery brightness ; before the stars glittered in the deep blue sky, or the earth sprang into ex- istence ; Christ, the blessed Son of God, lay in the bosom of the everlasting Father, enjoying equal glory with him. The glorious Kedeeiner of a lost worl I was set up from everlasting. Hear his own leclaration " I was set up from HIM CRUCIFIED. 203 everlasting, from the beginning, or ever the earth was," and surely the glory cf the eternal Son must be as old as himself. Yes, Christ has always been, and will ever continue to be " the brightness of his Father's glory, and the express image of his person." "When he left the bosom of his Father, and the regions of bliss, and visited this fallen world with the message of redeeming love, he only veiled his glory in hu- manity. He lost nothing of his original glory by his assumption of human nature. He was as truly " the brightness of his Fathers glory" when he lay in the manger at Bethlehem, when he had not where to lay his head on earth, or when he hung a dying victim on Cal- vary's cross, as he was before his incarnation, or as he now is, in his glorified state at the right hand of God. Though his glory was veiled in a human form, when he tabernacled in the flesh, yet now and then a beam of that glory darted through his human nature, proclaiming to all around that he was divine. The disciples beheld the glory of their Redeemer. Says the beloved John. " The Word was made flesh and dwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth."** * Jc'ux i. 14, 204 CHRIST, AND HIM CRUCIFIED. Says another faithful follower of the Lord, and an eye witness of his majesty, " He received from God the Father honor and glory, when there came such a voice to him from the ex- cellent glory, This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased. And this voice which came from heaven we heard, when we were with him in the holy mount."* On mount Tabor, Peter, James and John got a glimpse of the Saviour's glory, which made them feel as if heaven had come down upon eaifeh. There Christ's glory beamed forth in heavenly splendor, "when his face did shine as the sun, and his raiment was white as the light."t There Moses and Elias also appeared in glory, and spake of his decease which he should accomplish at Jerusalem." What a glo- rious, sacred spot ! How nearly allied to heaven ! What is all the splendor of the universe, con- trasted with the resplendent scene of Tabor! How gloomy I Contrasted with tjiat dazzling, overpowering brightness which there emanated from the blessed Jesus, the sun is darkness it- self. Never had there been such a vivid mani- festation of the glory of Christ on earth, as was then displayed to the astonished disciples. Well might Peter exclaim, f Lord, it is good for us to * 2 Peter i 17, 18. f Matt xvii. 2. CHRIST, AND HIM CRUCIFIED. 205 be here : if thou wilt, let us make here three tabernacles, one for thee, and one for Moses, and one for Elias." Delightful abode! To dwell with Jesus : to be overshadowed with his glory! " If heaven be thus glorious, Lord, Why must I keep from thence f What folly is't that makes me loth To die, and go from hence!" Hasten on, joyful day, when I shall be ad- mitted into the palace of the great King, when I shall see him in his beauty, in his glory; when I shall be made "a pillar in the temple of God, and go no more out;" when I shall dwell with Christ, yes, with that glorious Sa- viour, whose blessed side was once pierced for me. Happy, unspeakably happy, will those be whom Christ will bring to behold his glory! Their bliss no mortal tongue can express. They will reign with Jesus, and behold his glory forever and ever. " To him that over- cometh," says Christ, " will I grant to sit with me in my throne, even as I also overcame, and am set down with my Father in his throne." It is the will of Christ, that all his people may be with him, that they may. behold his glory. Mark that beautiful prayer of his, in the 17th 206 CHRIST, AND HIM CRUCIFIED. chapter of John : "Father, I will that they also, whon thou hast given me, be with me where I am ; that they may , behold my glory, which thou hast given me." For what is it that Christ prays so fervently here? It is, that those given him by his Father, may not only be with him, but that they may also behold his glory. That prayer has not ascended to heaven in vain. It has been heard on high. In heaven, all the redeemed around the throne of God, are now beholding the glory of Christ. All " the spirits of just men made perfect," are admiring his beauty. This prayer will be fully answered, when Christ shall bring forth the head-stone of his living, glorious temple with shoutings; when he shall exclaim, "Behold I and the children which God hath given me:'* when every mem- ber of his precious flock shall be gathered home to himself; when even the feeblest lamb shall be housed from the storm. Then shall we all V 1 with Christ; then shall we behold his glory; not veiled as it was in his humiliation, but blaz- ing forth in full, unclouded splendor. The glory of Christ will make eternity itself JLO bright, unsullied day of bliss. This glory will be manifested to the redeemed; they will spend the revolving ages of a blissful eternity in beholding it. It will irradiate the mansions oi bliss ; it will adorn with immortal splendor CHRIST,, AND HIM CRUCIFIED. 207 and beauty every inhabitant of those mansions. It will decorate with blooming youth countless millions. It will light up a bright and glorious abode fo: the redeemed. It will constitute the purest, noblest, brightest heaven. What is heaven but being with Christ, and beholding his glory. This is heaven ! This is blessedness ! This is the bliss of saints! blessed privilege, to be with Christ, to behold his glory. And all believers shall soon be forever with him. What a happy state to be ever with the Lord, behold- ing his glory ! This made Paul long to be dis- solved, that he might be with Christ. " I am in a strait betwixt two, having a desire to depart and to be with Christ, which is far better."* t Imme- diately after death, the soul of the believer is with Christ, beholding his glory, "absent from the body, and present with the Lord." How many have longed for a sight of this glory of Christ. How often has it cheered the heart of the dying Christian, and filled his soul with the hope of a glorious immortality. A few hours before the great Dr. Owen breathed his last, a friend informed him that he had just been putting his work " On the glory of Christ, to press, to whom the Dr. responded, " I am glad to hear that that performance is put to press ;" * Phil. i. 28 208 CHRIST, AND HIM CRUCIFIED. then lifting up his hands, and raising his eyea as in a rapture, he exclaimed, "But "brother Payne, the long looked for day is come at last, in which I shall see that glory in another man- ner than I have ever done yet, or was capable of doing in this world." A great part of heaven's happiness, will consist in beholding the glory of Christ ; yes, the glory of Christ will fill heaven with unutterable bliss. blessed Jesus, show us thy glory; may : t illuminate our pathway through a world of Inrkness ; may it guide us to thee, the uncreated source of life, light and glory. With thee is the fountain of life ; in thy light shall we see light. Wean our affections from a world that is so soon to be wrapped in flames. Elevate our views above the transient scenes of earth, its fading, deceitful joys, to the permanent and enrapturing bliss of heaven. May we be going up through this wilderness world leaning on thee, our Be- loved. While on earth may we live to thy glory; and when done with mortal life, when the messenger of death is sent to convey our immortal spirits home, may we be safely con- ducted " through death's dark vale" and Jordan's swelling stream, to the heights of Zion, the city of the great King, the heavenly Jerusalem, the celestial Canaan, where thou, blessed Saviour, reignest in everlasting glory. CHRIST, AND HIM CRUCIFIED. 209 Oh ! that I felt my soul upborne On Ture devotion's winga , Far above earth's deceitful joys And sublunary things. "Where thou, blessed Saviour, sitt'st enthroned In everlasting light; The glory of th' angelic host, The source of their delight ' There in thy blissful presence reigns Immortal joy serene; No wintry storms are heard to roar, Nor desolation seen. " Around thee flow unmixed delights, Like rivers deep and wide ; While from ^* ocean of thy love, Proceeds an endless tide. " Can such a sinful creature, Lord, Partake this wondrous grace, To dwell with thee in heavenly bliss, And view thy glorious face. " Ah ! then, let sin and earth usurp My wayward heart no more ; Be thou, through life, my all in all, My soul's unbounded store, 5 Have you obtained a glimpse of the glcry ol fclie Sufferer of Calvary ? Is Christ glorious in your view, or does he appear '* as a root out of a dry gruund, having no form, nor comeliness, no beauty that you should desire him ?" Is he, in 14 210 CHRIST, AND HIM CRUCIFIED. your estimatiDn, " the chiefest among ten thous- and" all lovely, till glorious ; or do you " lightly esteem the rock of your salvation ?" Have yon seen Christ, in all his glory, not with the bodily eye, but with that of faith, which scans the heavens and views the Saviour there, as yours? Or have you no faith in God's dear Son ? A re you still rejecting the free offer of a crucified Saviour; still counting his precious blood an unholy thing ? These are solemn questions which you are now called upon to answer. If you have never viewed Christ as your glorious Saviour, look to him now as such. Let faith spread her wings towards him. Believe on his glorious name; and "say not in thy heart, who shall ascend into heaven? (that is to bring Christ down from above:) or who shall descend into the deep? (that is, to bring up Christ again from the dead.) The word is nigh thee, even in ihy mouth, and in thy heart; that is the word of faith which we preach."* To see Christ in the glory of his person, in the fulness of his grace and as our onlv Saviour, is the sight that affords perfect peace that peace of God which passeth all un lerstand- iug. This blessed sight fills the soul with joy unspeakable and full of glory ; elevates the sin- * Rom. x 6, 8. CHRIST, AND HIM CRUCIFIED. 211 ner's view above sublunary objects, to those blissful mansions in the skies, and cheers tte believing soul, when standing on the threshold of eternity, with the hope of a glorious immor- tality. When we obtain a faith's view of Christ and his glory, how despicable do the unhallowed joys and pleasures of a dying world appear? Even now one beam of the Saviour's glory shining into our hearts, or the light of his countenance lifted upon us, will afford us more joy than all the glittering wealth of the world. Hear an eminent saint of olden times exclaim : " Thou hast put gladness in my heart, more than in the time that their corn and their wine in- creased." You who have embraced the glorious Saviour will soon be made a partaker of his glory. " The glory which thou gavest me," says Christ, "I have given them." wonderful I wonderful ! not only to behold that glory, but to receive it ourselves ! " The Lord will give glory." What shall we render to Him for all his gifts ? ' Bless the Lord O my soul ; and all that is within me. bless his holy name." Every step you take on earth will be a step heavenward. Constantly beholding the glory of Christ in the mirror of the word and ordinances, you will become more and more transformed into his likeness. " We all, ' says the apostle, " with open face beholding 212 CHRIST, AND HfM CRUCIFIED. as in a glass the glory of the Lord, are changed into the same image from glory to glory, even as by the spirit of the Lord."* In the face of Christ, we behold the glory of God, the bright- ness of the divinity, shining forth in uncreated, overpowering lustre. The holy Spirit illumin ates our hearts, and enables us to discern this effulgence of divine glory. " God, who first commanded the light to shine out of darkness, hath shined in our hearts, to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ."f Christ is crowned with all the radiance of the Deity. "In him dwells all the fulness of the godhead bodily." " In him are hid all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge." "The word was made flesh," and the glory of God shall shine through that flesh through all eter- nity, and make that blessed form far more glorious than the midday sun. How glorious and exalted is Christ I Encircled with incon- ceivable glory and seated on the throne of heaven, he sways with uncontrollable power, the sceptre of the universe. There is a glory in the person of Christ that makes him unspeak- ably precious to believers. There is a glory in his perfections. There is a glory in his works, 2 Cor. iii. 18 f 2 Cor. ix. 6. CHRIST, AND HIM CRUCIFIED. 213 " All tby works shall praise thee, Lord t and thy saints shall bless thee." Yes, Christ is not only glorious in his person, bat also in his works. In the wjrks of creation he is encircled with divine glory. "The heavens declare the glory of God ; and the firmament showeth his handy work;" and in that greater work the redemption of a lost world, he is crowned with incomprehensible glory, and exalted to the right hand of God. "Now, we see Jesus, who was made a little lower than the angels, for the suf- fering of death crowned with glory and honor."* Dear believer, this glorious Saviour is yours For you he died ; for you. he lives ; for you he reigns the Lord of glory. With the church you may exclaim, " This is my beloved, and this is my friend, daughters of Jerusalem ;" " How great is his goodness, and how great is his beauty !" How attractive, how desirable, how lovely, how glorious will Christ appear in heaven! How will his glory shine there! When we awake amid the splendors of immortality, the first object that will excite our admiration vill be that glorious Redeemer, who loved us, and gwe himself for us; whose dying groans were utse 'ed 01 Calvary ; whose bleeding heart * Hcb ii. 9 214: there showed the breadth, and length, and depth, and height of redeeming love ! Then shall we see with our very eyes, Him who was, for us, taken, and by wicked hands Crucified and slain ;" but, oh 1 we shall see him shining in * effulgent glory. The glory of the Man of Calvary will attract the eyes of all the redeemed above, and he will be forever " admired in all them that believe." The perpetual presence of Christ and the continued manifestation of his glory will always make heaven one noontide of light and blessedness. He will be continually before us, and his glory will be constantly beaming upon us ; and our sight will be so illuminated that we can steadily behold that glory. Now we see through a glass darkly ; but then face to face. Now, we could not possibly bear the full effulgence of that glory. It struck Paul, to the earth with blind- ness when Jesus appeared to him, and when he " saw in the way a light from heaven, above the brightness of the sun, shining round about him." % And on the manifestation of a glorified Saviour, John falls to the earth as dead. But in heaveiy we shall gaze with intense delight upon the glorious sun of righteousness, shining in his meridian splendor. Blessed be God ! that sun once rose on our benighted world. That promise has been fulfilled, "Unto you that fear my name, CHRIST, AND HIM CRUCIFIED. 215 ghall the sun of righteousness arise with healing in his wings."'- That " true light, which li^hteth every man that cometh into the world" pointing us to heaven, the region of eternal glory, once shone on earth. That light will eternally shim in the upper world in the celestial mansions There Christ will always manifest himself to hii people, in all his glory. There they will no< have to cry with Moses, " I beseech thee, show me thy glory." All shall see it. Every saint there shall be gazing forever upon the uncreated glory of Immanuel. blessed sight ! Lord, prepare each of us for beholding this glory. Unite our hearts to thce, by faith. May we be growing in grace and in the knowledge of thee our Lord and Saviour. Do thou, Almighty Saviour, preserve us from the snares and temptations of a world lying in wickedness, and finally present us faultless before the pres- ence of thy glory with exceeding joy. In his sublime vision of the glory of Christ Isaiah thus speaks, " In the year that king Uz ziah died, I saw ateo the Lord sitting upon a throne, high and lifted up, and his train filled the temple. Above it stood the seraphims; each one had six wings ; with twain he covered his face, and with twain he covered his feet, and * Ms It. iv 2. 216 CHRIST, AND HIM CKUCIFIED. with twain lie did fly. And one cried unto an- other, and said, Holy, holy, hol^, is the Lord of hosts; the whole earth is full of his glory."* That this was the glory of Christ, which Isaiah saw, John, in the 12th chapter of his gospel, asserts, " These things said Esaias, when he saw his glory, and spake of him." On the lonely isle of Patmos, the beloved disciple had a glor- ious revelation of the Son of God. Heaven opened and poured forth its glories upon him. He was fanned with its breezes. He stood be- wildered ana amazed amid its grand pageantry. But one form more glorious than all other ob- jects, filled him with profound awe and con- sternation. It was the Lord Jesus. His count- enance shone like the sun in his midday splendor. Glory beamed from every part of ,ihat blessed form, diffusing a flood of light on all around, and blazing far, far away into eternity. It was the dazzling form of the Lamb of God, in more than earthly transfiguration that appeared to the bewildered disciple. The description which he furnishes of this glorified personage is this, "I saw seven golden candlesticks ; and in the midst Dt the seven candlesticks one like unto the Son of Man, clothed with a garment down to the toot, and girt about the paps with a golden * I* vi. 1. TV CHRIST, AND HIM CRUCIFIED. 217 girdle. His head and his hairs were white like wool, as white as snow; and his eyes were as a flame of fire ; and his, feet like 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 count- enance was as the sun shineth in his strength."* This is Jesus of Nazareth, the same Jesus on whose bosom the beloved disciple had so often leaned. How glorious does he appear now? So glorious, that John falls at his feet as dead. This is the same Jesus whom the dying Stephen saw standing on the right hand of God. Wher his cruel persecutors were about to imbrue their hands in the blood of this holy servant of God, he being full of the Holy Ghost, looked up steadfastly into heaven, and saw the glory of God, -and Jesus standing on the right hand of God. This, Christian, is the same Jesus whose glory you shall behold in heaven; whom you will love and praise and adore with unceasing de- light and seraphic vigor, through eternity's roll- ing ages. Love and admire him now. Cleave closely to him, and you will soon see his glory. You wiK soon be with Christ. happy thought I * Rev i. 12, 16. 218 CHRIST, AND HIM CRUCIFIED. Soon, very soon, shall the visions of earth vanish, and the darkness of mortality disappear before the rising glories of Imma.nuel's kingdom. The time is short; the period is just at hand, when we shall, with transporting joy, behold the dawn- ing of that day which will never end, and the rising of that sun which will never set. Then " Thine e}^es shall see the King in his beauty : they shall behold the land that is very far off." Raised in glory, and caught up from the flames of a burning, crumbling world, to meet the Lord in the air, " when he shall come to be glorified in his saints, and to be admired in all them that believe ;" we shall, with him, soar to a brighter world above, our everlasting happy home, where no sin ever defiles, where no tears ever flow, and where no death is ever feared. Enter- lug into the golden city and its many mansions, we shall sit down with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, with Moses and Elias, with prophets and apostles, in the kingdom of God. Standing, not on Mount Tabor below, but on Mount Zion above ; not with Moses and Elias alone, but with " the general assembly and church of the first- born, which are written in heaven ;" we shall ever behold, contemplate and admire the glory of Him who is light of heaven, the brightness of God's glory, How gloriously will that celestial city, the home of the redeemed, be illuminated CHRIST, AND HIM CRUCIFIED. 219 with the presence of Immanuel! Theio, no natural light is required. "The city had no need of the sun, neither of the moon to shine on it; for the glory of God did lighttn it, and the Lamb is the light thereof."* There, all will be irradiated by the glory of God and the Lamb. " The sun shall be no more thy light by day, neither for brightness shall the moon give light unto thee ; but the Lord shall be unto thee an everlasting light, and thy God thy glory."f There, from a reflection gf that glory, the right- eous themselves shall shine forth as the sun in the kingdom of their Father. Eternal glory beams in Immanuel's land. Everlasting light emanates from His blessed face. "Thy sun shall no more go down, neither shall thy moon withdraw itself; for the Lord shall be thfne everlasting light, and the days of thy mourning shall be ended." J " And there shall be no night there ; and they need no candle, neither light of the sun; for the Lord God giveth them light; and they shall reign forever and eyer." To this blessedness, to this glory, to this honor, to this immortality, " the Spirit and the Bride say, Come. And let him that heareth say, Come. And let him thr.t is athirst, Come. Rev. xxi. 28. f Isa, Ix. 19 t Isa 1.x. 20. Rev. mi. 6 220 CHRIST, AND HIM CRUCIFIED, And whosoever will, let him take the water of life freely." 0, my friends 1 be wise in time ; choose a glorious Christ now, and you shall qhine as the stars forever and ever. Now, "Blessed be the Lord God, the God of Israel, who only doeth wondrous things. And blessed be his glorious name forever let the wnole earth be filled with his glory Amen and amen." ' He who on eai'^A as man was known And bore our sins and pains. Now, seated on the eternal thron<\ The God of glory reigns. ' His hands the wheels of nature gu*rte With an unerring ski 1 . 1 ; And countless worlds extended wide. Obey his sov'reign will ' While harps unnumbered sound h is prat-v In yonder world above ; His saints on earth admire his ways, And glory in his love. 4 His righteousness to faith reveai'd. Wrought out for guilty worms ; Affords a hiding place and shield. From enemies and storms This land, through which his pilgrims go Is desoiate and dry ; Bnt streams of grace irom him Their thirst, to satisfy. CHRIST, AND HIM CRUCIFIED. 221 '* When troubles, like a burning sun, Beat heavy on their head , To this almighty Rock they run. And find a pleasing shade. :< How glorious he ! how happy they In such a glorious Friend I Whose love secures them ail ina v. ? ~ And vowm them ftt tLe ev.il " 222 CHRIST, AND HIM CRUCIFIED. CHAPTER IV OI1RIST CRUCIFIED. " Foi I determined not to know any thing amoag you, save Jesns Christ and him crucified." 1 COR. ii. 2. We preach Christ crucified."! COR. i. 23. " When on the cross my Lord I see Bleeding to death for wretched me. Satan and sin no more can move, For I am all transform'd to love. His thorns and nails pierce through nr/ heart, In ev'ry groan I bear a part ; I view his wounds with streaming eyes. But see 1 he bows his head and dies I "Come, sinners, view the Lamb of God, Wounded and dead, and bath'd in blooo Behold his side, and venture near, The well of endless life is here. "Here I forget my cares and pains; I drink, yet still my thirst remains; Only the fountain head above Can satisfy the thirst of love. "Oh, that I thus could always feel! Lord, more and more thy 1 ve reveal ; Then my glad tongue shall loud proclaim The grace and glory of thy name. CHRIST', AND HIM CRUCIFIED. 223 " Thy name dispels my guilt and fear, Revives my heart, and charms my ear Affords a balm for every wound, And Satan trembles at the sound." The death of Christ was the most affecting and solemn scene ever presented to the view of men or angels. What a sight ! to see Christ on the cross bleeding for sinners ! How astonish- ing ! to see the