WHAT IS IT THAT SAVES A SOUL? (J. C. Philpot, 1802-1869)

PREFACE

When, at the request of the Publisher, I undertook to furnish an answer to that important question, "What is it that saves a soul?" I intended merely to write a few pages. But as I wrote, I found the subject to grow under my hand, and thoughts and ideas to flow into my soul. I felt, especially when I came to the second part of my subject, namely, salvation as an inward possession--that it could not be dispatched in a few common-place words, but that it demanded what I could not bestow--pages of life and feeling, unction and power--to set it forth so as to meet the needs of God's tried family. I saw on every side of me "salvation as an internal reality", unknown, unprized, uncared for, unregarded.

Some I saw, who called themselves ministers of God, zealous enough for salvation outwardly, sound in the letter of truth, and contending earnestly for the doctrines of grace, who either never spoke of salvation inwardly, or if they mentioned it at all, dispatched it in a few meager sentences, which were usually so mixed with error that they only puzzled simple souls and discovered to a discerning eye, the ignorance and emptiness of the preacher.

Others I observed who, from their pomposity and conceit, seemed to think that "wisdom would die with them", pulling down what God in His Word has built up, and building up what He has pulled down. These would-be teachers I saw setting up forms, ceremonies, ordinances, prayer-meetings, church membership, family prayer, and a thousand other 'external things', all good in their place, as if they were the sum and substance of vital godliness. Thus the ins and outs, the ups and downs, the mysterious workings, the invisible track, the inward conflict, and all that peculiar, deep, ever-changing, fluctuating path which is trodden by the family of God--I saw to be either never touched upon or, if attempted to be entered into, so mystified, confounded, and misrepresented, that a living soul was more distressed and perplexed by all that he heard, than comforted and encouraged.

The question with most seemed to be– "Are you an Arminian or a Calvinist? If the former, you are a foe; if the latter, a friend." And thus the most dangerous and insidious enemies of vital godliness are received into the camp of Christ because they can repeat the 'watchword' and wear the dress of His soldiers. Thus I saw truth to be fallen in the streets, vital godliness uncared for, external things highly regarded, Christ's sheep unfed, and the devil's goats unseparated. So that I felt myself led to insist on an internal salvation at greater length than I at first intended, though with the deepest consciousness of my ignorance and inexperience.

WHAT IS IT THAT SAVES A SOUL? To answer, then, this question aright, we must view salvation under two points–

I. Salvation as an EXTERNAL WORK
(Election, Redemption, & Justification)
II. Salvation as an INTERNAL WORK

Thus far have we traced salvation as an external act, as something done for us, and done outside of us. In these covenant engagements and transactions, we had no participation as living agents. They were planned and executed before we had any existence, in the predestinating mind of Jehovah. As the tree pushes out its buds, which buds had an existence in the tree before they came into visible growth, so do the predestinating purposes of a Triune God bring us into being, that we may enjoy the benefit of all that was done for us, when we had no existence but in the mind of Jehovah.

And this leads us to speak of salvation as a work wrought in us, as a mighty act whereby that which was originally and always ours becomes a personal reality, an enjoyed possession, a received inheritance, as an heir is invested, when he arrives at age, with that property which was his own long before he was put into possession of it.

God is all-wise, and therefore takes no rash, precipitate steps. As the original plan of salvation was devised by infinite wisdom, so all the successive steps of the execution of that plan are directed by the same boundless wisdom also. "Wherein He has abounded towards us in all wisdom and prudence." Thus, in His dealings with His people, God does not put them at once into possession of all the blessings which He has laid up for them. He has pardoned, for instance, their sins; but He does not immediately, when He calls them by His grace, put them into possession of this blessing. He has first to teach them their need of it. He has to prepare their heart for the right reception of it. It is no common gift, and He has to teach them how to value it. They are saved from wrath and eternal misery, from His dreadful displeasure and ever-burning indignation against sin. They have need to be shown, and made deeply to feel, from what they are saved, as well as to what they are saved. And as the oak does not grow to its full stature in a day, but needs years of sunshine and storm, of beating winds and howling tempests, to give it strength and consistency, a deep and wide root, as well as a lofty and branching stem, so do God's children need months and years of trial and temptation, that they may push a deep root downwards, and shoot up healthy and vigorous upwards.

Thus, before the soul can know anything about salvation, it must learn deeply and experimentally the nature of sin, and of itself, as stained and polluted by sin. It is proud, and needs to be humbled; careless, and needs to be awakened; alive, and needs to be killed; full, and requires to be emptied; whole, and needs to be wounded; clothed, and requires to be stripped. It is, by nature, self-righteous and self-seeking; is buried deep in worldliness and carnality; is utterly blind and ignorant; is filled with presumption, arrogance, conceit and enmity, and hates all that is heavenly and spiritual. Sin, in all its various forms, is its natural element. Covetousness, lust, worldly pleasure, desire of the praise of men, an insatiable thirst after self-advancement, a complete self-abandonment to all that can please and gratify every new desire of the heart, an utter contempt and abhorrence of everything that restrains or defeats its mad pursuit of what it loves--these are some of the features of the unregenerate nature of man.

Education, moral restraints, or the force of habit, may restrain the outbreaking of inward corruption, and dam back the mighty stream of indwelling sin, so that it shall not burst all its bounds, and desolate the land; but no moral check can alter human nature. A chained tiger is a tiger still. "The Ethiopian cannot change his skin, nor the leopard his spots". To make man the direct contrary of what he originally is; to make him love God instead of hating Him; fear, instead of mocking Him; obey, instead of rebelling against Him; and to tremble at His awesome majesty, instead of running upon the thick bosses of His shield-to do this mighty work, and to effect this wonderful change, requires the implantation of a new nature by the immediate hand of God Himself. Natural light, natural love, natural faith, natural obedience, in a word, all natural religion, is here useless and ineffectual. To turn the stream does not alter the nature of the waters. Let the muddy brook be diverted from its southern course. and made to run north, it is a muddy brook still.

Thus the old nature may be restrained and modified, and directed into new and different channels, but it is old nature still. And this is the employment of hundreds who call themselves ministers of Christ and laborers in His vineyard, to use pick-axe and spade, and cut out various channels for the waters of old nature to run in; and when, by much toil and labor, they have drawn off a few streamlets into their narrow canals, they dignify their success with the names of "conversion," and "regeneration," and "a work of grace."

Thus one cuts out a channel in the Sunday School, another digs a broad canal for the Bible Society, a third opens a new cut for decided piety, and a fourth excavates a wide channel for self-righteousness, under the name of Christian holiness. But after all their pains, and after all their success in leading the streams of nature to flow into these new channels, it is old nature still, as fallen, as ignorant, as blind, as carnal, as dead, as full of enmity against God, and as unable as ever to enter into the kingdom of heaven. To whitewash, to paint, to gild over, to clothe, to put a gloss upon--in a word, to reform the outside of old nature, is the religion of the day.

Hundreds of churches and chapels are built, thousands of sermons are preached and millions of dollars are expended with the sole purpose of hewing out the 'rough block of nature' into the shape, limbs and features of a man; and all this labor produces nothing but a statue, a dead image, a lifeless resemblance of vital godliness, which has a mouth, but speaks not--eyes, but sees not--ears, but hears not--hands, but handles not--feet, but walks not--neither speaks through its throat. Churchman and Dissenter, Orthodox and Evangelical, Baptist, Independent and Methodist, all join hand in hand in the good work. "They encourage one another with the words, 'Be strong!' The craftsmen rush to make new idols. The carver hurries the goldsmith, and the molder helps at the anvil. "Good," they say. 'It's coming along fine.' Carefully they join the parts together, then fasten the thing in place so it won't fall over." Isaiah 41:6-7

But REFORMATION is not REGENERATION, neither is a change of life the same thing as a change of heart. There may be abundance of zeal, devotedness, consistency, studying of the Bible, private and family prayer, hearing of the gospel, religious conversation, attention to the ordinances of the New Testament, and a great show of outward piety and holiness, where there is not a spark of divine life in the soul. Man's religion is to build up the creature in good works, in piety, in hearing the word, in reading religious authors, in activity, in all the busy ferment and excitement of societies and schools. God's religion is to throw the creature down into the dust of self-abasement and self-abhorrence.

Man would teach religion as he teaches arithmetic or mathematics. This rule is to be learned, this sum is to be done, this problem is to be understood, this difficulty is to be overcome, and thus progress is to be made. The fire is to be kindled, the bellows to be blown, the steam to be gotten up, the engine to be set to work, the prescribed task to be done. Religion, according to the received creed, is something which a man must be urged into. He must be made religious somehow or other. He must either be driven or drawn, wheedled or threatened, enticed or whipped into it, by human arguments or human persuasions. Religion is set before him as a river between his soul and heaven. Into this river he is persuaded, invited, exhorted, entreated to jump. He must leap in, or be pushed in. His feelings are wrought upon, and he takes the prescribed spring. He becomes a professor. He hears, he reads, he prays, he supports the cause; he attends the Sunday School; he models his garb according to the regimentals of the party to which he belongs; he discards shirt collars, combs his hair smooth, and trims off his whiskers; he furnishes his mind with the creed of the sect which he has joined, talks as it talks, believes as it believes, and acts as it acts. And all this is called "conversion" and "decided piety," when all this time there is not an atom of grace, a grain of spiritual faith, or a spark of divine life in the poor wretch's soul.

Now, God's way is very different from all this miserable system, so widely prevalent. He does not build up until He has first pulled down, nor save before He has made the soul to feel itself lost. He does not take the sticks and stubble of old nature to lay a foundation with, nor does He use tar instead of mortar to build up a rotten Babel. Man's way is to put a stick here, and place a stone there; to fill up this corner with a brick and the other corner with a tile; and in this progressive way to build a tower, whose top may reach unto heaven.

God's way is to come down and confound their language, to scatter every stick and every stone to the four winds of heaven, and not to leave one stone upon another that shall not be thrown down. He is a jealous God, and will have no partner in the way of salvation. He will not put the new wine into the old bottle, nor a new patch on the threadbare garment. Joshua's filthy garments (Zech 3:4) must be taken away from him before he is clothed with a change of clothing. Thus killing goes before making alive--poverty before riches; beggary and the ash-heap before the inheritance of the throne of glory; the grave of buried hopes and the dust of self-abhorrence before exaltation to a seat among princes. Sowing in tears precedes reaping in joy; ashes go before beauty, mourning before the oil of joy, and the spirit of heaviness before the garment of praise.

Salvation is not an outward thing. It stands not in the letter, but in the spirit; not in a sound creed, but in the enjoyment of it as a balm to a broken heart. Thus, in answering the great question, "What is it which saves a soul?" we must first premise that the very word "save" implies a previous state, for which, and from which, it is a remedy, an escape, a deliverance. That salvation implies previous loss, ruin and misery, and that it is a deliverance from all these, everybody admits. But it is not so readily admitted, or, if acknowledged in words, it is not put forward as a fundamental truth, that it is a felt loss, ruin and misery, from which salvation is an escape.

All who acknowledge the truth of the Bible admit in words the Fall of man, and that to be saved is to be delivered from the terrible consequence of that Fall. But that a man must deeply know and feel it; that he must have his soul weighed down and burdened by it; that the conviction of guilt, wrath and alarm must be wrought by a supernatural power into his experience; and that he must be ground down by the upper millstone of the law, and the nether millstone of a guilty conscience--these great and solemn truths are shunned, shirked and muffled by nearly all who profess to show the sinner the way to Zion. "Go to Christ; look to Jesus; devote yourself to the Lord; lead a consistent life; read this and that author; attend to known duties; be up and doing; join our society; become a member of our church; hear our minister; set up family prayer; send your children to the Sunday School; diligently cultivate holiness; hate all sin; watch against all evil tempers; exercise faith in the atonement"--these, and similar exhortations, are lavished in boundless profusion upon seeking sinners from thousands of modern pulpits. But the nature, the depth, the power, the feelings, the cutting convictions, the groaning cries, the tearful anguish, the gloomy prospects, the sinking despondency, the utter helplessness, the thick darkness, the wretched unbelief--in a word, all those inward transactions which are carried on in a seeking sinner are passed over by all the letter-ministers of the day. These things are taken for granted, and are either totally omitted or slightly alluded to.
 

1. WHAT WE ARE SAVED FROM

But if we wish to know what it is that saves a soul, we must know what that state is out of which it is saved. If we have not the beginning, we cannot have the middle nor ending. But our modern professors and preachers never had a beginning to their religion. They were pious from childhood; or they had the advantage of religious parents; or they were brought up at the Sunday School; or they sat under a gospel minister; or a good book fell into their hands and made them pious; or they became serious, and impressed with the necessity of religion; or they married a religious wife, or husband, and so they became religious too. Such, and similar accounts, are daily given to the public in pious periodicals, related in conversation, or given at church meetings, and implicitly received by universal charity as a true experience and as a genuine work of grace. But where is one to be found out of a thousand who can tell how the Lord began with him, and what were his feelings under His divine teachings; who can describe the path by which he has been led, the ups and downs which he has experienced, the changes through which he has passed, the vessels from which he has been successively emptied, and the conflicts in which he has been engaged?

Who, of a thousand professors, can speak feelingly of the wormwood and the gall of sin, the poisoned stings of guilt, the arrows of God in the conscience, the mire and filth of a desperately wicked heart, the strugglings, sinkings and wrestlings, the alternate hopes and fears, the beams of light and the shades of darkness, the short-lived confidence and the soon-returning despondency, and all the varied experience of an awakened soul? Self-loathing and self-abhorrence in dust and ashes, gloomy forebodings of eternal punishment, cries unto God out of the pit of guilt, succeeded by fits of sullen silence, alternate repentance and hardness of heart, being now overcome by sin, and now mourning and sighing over his weakness against it--such exercises as these, how few speak of with that feeling, unction and power, which show that they have passed through them! Or, again, the heavy burden of sin, the daily weight of evil, the floods of infidelity and atheism, the torrents of filth, lust, and obscenity, the sudden rushings in of blasphemous thoughts, dreadful imaginations, foul ideas, horrible cursings, and all the heavings up of the filthy bed of a sensual and devilish heart, what minister in a thousand carries any evidence in his preaching that such a track has been trodden by him?

But if salvation implies a previous state from which it is a deliverance, then I say that it is childish folly to talk of being saved if we know nothing experimentally of what we are saved from. If a man asks me, then, "What is it which saves a soul?" I answer, "Why do you ask that question? Before anything about salvation can be known, there is a previous lesson to be learned. If you have not learned this, you have nothing to do with the other. You might as well think of learning common fractions without first learning to read. But what is your motive for wishing an answer to this question? To learn a few notions, to inform your judgment, to adopt a sound creed? If this be your motive, my business lies not with you. You have to go and first learn another lesson, and until you have been taught this, I can give your question no answer."

Salvation is a gift, the choicest and richest gift which the hands of a Triune God, whose name is Love, can bestow. It is a portion, an inheritance, an estate, a treasure, an eternal reality. The full possession, the entire enjoyment, the complete acquisition of this predestinated weight of glory, is indeed reserved until a future state; but the pledges, the first-fruits, the early ripe clusters, the first dew-drops of this eternal inheritance--are given to the elect while upon earth. The everlasting enjoyment of the presence and glory of Christ is often compared in Scripture to a wedding. Thus we read of "the Lamb's wife," and of "the marriage of the Lamb." So the Church is said to be "brought unto the King in clothing of needlework," as the bride in Eastern countries was brought by the father to the bridegroom. But we read of "espousals" also, which always preceded the celebration of the marriage. "I remember you, the kindness of your youth, the love of your espousals" "I have espoused you to one husband, that I may present you as a chaste virgin to Christ". So Joseph "was espoused to the virgin Mary, before they came together"; that is, before they became man and wife.

Now this espousal was a necessary prelude to marriage, though it was not the same thing. And, therefore, a betrothed virgin was punished as an adulteress by the Levitical law, if she was unfaithful to her espoused husband. To be betrothed had the nature of marriage in it, though it was not the same thing as marriage. The parties did not live together, and were not put in possession of each other. Thus, it is in this life that the spiritual betrothment takes place, and the spiritual marriage in the life to come. "I will betroth you to me forever; I will betroth you in righteousness and justice, in love and compassion. I will betroth you in faithfulness, and you will know the Lord." Hosea 2:19-20

2. SALVATION- PAST, PRESENT, FUTURE

Thus, if we look at salvation, we shall see that it consists of three parts--salvation past, salvation present, and salvation future. Salvation past consists in having our names written in the Lamb's book of life before the foundation of the world. Salvation present consists in the manifestation of Jesus to the soul, whereby He betroths it to Himself. And salvation future consists in the eternal enjoyment of Christ, when the elect shall sit down to the marriage supper of the Lamb, and be forever with the Lord. Now, as none will ever enjoy salvation future who have no interest in salvation past--in other words, as none will ever be with Christ in eternal glory whose names were not written in the book of life from all eternity--so none will enjoy salvation future who live and die without enjoying salvation present. In other words, none will live forever with Christ in glory who are not betrothed to Him in this life by the manifestations of Himself to their soul.

According to the Jewish custom, the man, at the time of betrothing, gave the bride a piece of silver before witnesses, saying to her, "Receive this piece of silver as a pledge that at such a time you shall become my spouse." And the parties then exchanged rings. This meeting of the espoused parties together, who then saw each other for the first time, is a sweet type of the first meeting of the soul with Jesus. The damsel had heard of the youth, but until then had never seen him, as seeking souls hear of Jesus by the hearing of the ear before their eyes see Him. The veil was upon her face (Ge 24:65), as the veil is upon the heart (2Co 3:15), until Jesus rends it in twain from the top to the bottom.

The bridegroom gave his betrothed a piece of silver as a pledge that all he had was hers. And thus Christ gives to the soul, whom He betroths to Himself by His own manifestations--a pledge, a token, a testimony, which in itself is the first-fruits and assurance of eternal glory. The parties exchanged rings as pledges of mutual affection and eternal faithfulness. And thus, when Christ reveals Himself to the soul in His dying love--mutual engagements, mutual promises, mutual assurances and pledges of faithfulness and love pass between the soul and Him. "One will say, 'I belong to the Lord'; another will call himself by the name of Jacob; still another will write on his hand, 'The Lord's.' " Isaiah 44:5

At these seasons, "in the day of the King's espousals", the language of the soul is, "I sat down under His shadow with great delight, and His fruit was sweet to my taste; He brought me to the banqueting house, and His banner over me was love".

All doctrines, notions, forms, creeds, ordinances and ceremonies--short of this 'manifested salvation'--are as the dust in the balance, and as the driven stubble before the wind. What, for instance, is election, except it be revealed to my soul that I was elected before the foundation of the world? What is redemption to me, except the atoning blood of the Lamb be sprinkled on my conscience? What is the everlasting love of a Triune Jehovah, unless that eternal love be shed abroad in my heart by the Holy Spirit? What is the final perseveranceof the saints, unless there is a blessed enjoyment of it in the conscience as a personal reality? To see these things revealed in the Bible is nothing. To hear them preached by one of God's ministers is nothing. To receive the truth of these into our judgment and to yield to them an unwavering assent is nothing. Thousands have done all this who are blaspheming God in hell.

But to have eternal election, personal redemption, imputed righteousness, unfailing love, and all the other blessed links of the golden chain let down into the soul from the throne of God; to have the beauty, glory and blessedness of salvation in all its branches--past, present, and to come--revealed to the heart and sealed upon the conscience, this is all in all.

And thus all doubts and fears, all convictions of sin, all cutting discoveries of inward vileness, all terrible views of God in the light of a broken law, all groans, sighs and tears, all heart-sinkings, and dismal forebodings of death and judgment that do not lead up to, and terminate in, a revealed salvation and a manifested Jesus before a man closes his eyes in death, have no more to do with religion than the clanking of a madman's chains or the howling frenzy of a maniac. A man's soul must be damned or saved. And as far as inward religion is concerned, a man must have salvation as an internal reality, as a known, enjoyed, tasted, felt and handled possession, or he will never enter the kingdom of heaven. He may be Churchman or Dissenter, Calvinist or Arminian, Baptist or Independent, anything or everything, and yet all his profession is no more towards his salvation than the cut of his clothes, the height of his stature, or the color of his complexion.

Everything of an outward nature, no--truth itself, is a bed too short and a covering too narrow. And thus all a man's consistency of life, soundness of creed, walking in the ordinances, long and steady profession, and everything on which thousands are resting for salvation, of a merely external nature, can no more put away sin, satisfy the justice of God, and give the soul a title for heaven, than the oath of a common swearer, or the lewd conversation of a harlot.

3. WHAT SALVATION IS NOT

If, then, we are asked what it is which saves a soul, we answer that it is not works of righteousness which we have done or can do; nor the use of our free-will, which is only free to choose and love evil; nor receiving of offered grace, to do which we have no natural power; nor watchfulness, prayer and fasting; nor self-denial, austerity and outward sanctification; nor any duties and forms; nor, in a word, any one thing singly, or multitude of things collectively, which depend on the natural wisdom and strength of man. Nor, again, is it head-knowledge, nor firm conviction of truth in the judgment, nor such workings of natural conscience as compel us to assent to a free grace salvation, nor a life outwardly consistent with the gospel, nor membership in a gospel church, nor natural attachment to the children and to the ministers of God, nor zeal for experimental religion, nor sacrifices made to support truth. Nor, again, does salvation consist in doubts and fears, tribulations, temptations, workings of inward corruption, legal terrors, fits of gloomy despondency and heart-rending despair.

All these things "accompany salvation," and are to be found in all the heirs of glory; but some of them or all may equally be found in hypocrites, apostates and reprobates. Nor, again, does salvation consist in desires, for "the sluggard desires, and has not"; nor in tears, for "Esau cried with a great and exceeding bitter cry" Ge 27:34; nor in merely seeking, for "many shall seek to enter in, and shall not be able" Luke 13:24; nor in wishing, for "it is not of him that wills"; nor in running, for "it is not of him that runs," and though "in a race run all, one alone receives the prize." Neither does salvation consist in outward gifts, as preaching and praying, as a man may "taste of the heavenly gift," and yet "his end be to be burned" Heb 6:4,8; while Saul prophesied, Judas preached, and the sons of Sceva adjured devils by the name of Jesus.

Nor does it consist in natural faith, as "Simon Magus believed, and was baptized"; nor in natural hope, as there is "the hope of the hypocrite that shall perish"; nor in natural comforts, as there is "a walking in sparks of our own kindling"; nor in vain confidence, as "the fool rages, and is confident"; nor in talking about religion, for "a prating fool shall fall"; nor in being thought well of by others, as Paul once thought well of Demas, "who loved this present world"; nor in the children of God feeling a union with us, as David "took sweet counsel with Ahithophel, and walked to the house of God in his company".

To sum up the whole, salvation does not consist in anything of the flesh, that is, "in anything earthly, human and natural," as "the flesh profits nothing." "In other words, it is not the natural children who are God's children, but it is the children of the promise who are regarded as Abraham's offspring" Romans 9:8. Thus, no man can deliver his own soul, nor give to God a ransom for himself, or his brother; but all "flesh is grass," fit only to be cut down by the mower, and to be cast into the oven.

We come, then, to this conclusion, to which God sooner or later brings every elect soul, that those who are saved are saved, because God will save them; that "He has mercy on whom He will have mercy," and on them alone; that He saves them not from any foreseen goodness in them, but of His own discriminating, sovereign grace; that He loves them freely, eternally and unchangeably; and that they are redeemed, justified, quickened, sanctified, preserved, and glorified, only because they are the objects of the undeserved love of a Triune Jehovah.

4. SALVATION OUTWARDLY AND INWARDLY

Here, then, is the answer to the question. "What is it which saves a soul?"

1. Having a saving interest in the electing choice of God the Father, in the redeeming blood and justifying righteousness of God the Son, and in the quickening, sanctifying operations of God the Holy Spirit. That is the inheritance sealed to the elect as eternally theirs, by "a covenant ordered in all things and sure." This is salvation outwardly, and he that has neither part nor lot in this salvation will perish in his sins under the tremendous wrath of a just and holy God. But there is,

2. the salvation inwardly which consists in the manifestation of Jesus to the soul, whereby electing love, atoning blood, justifying righteousness, and an eternal inheritance beyond the skies are sealed home upon the soul, and made personal, individual realities. To this inward enjoyment of salvation all the children of God are predestinated, and none of them die without a greater or less share of it. Some of them, indeed, are now being plunged into the terror of the law, others doubting and fearing, others cutting themselves off as hypocrites, others groaning beneath the weight of sin, others overcome by the power of their lusts, others harassed by the devil, others fainting by reason of the way, and all engaged in a terrible conflict with the old man of sin.

Some, again, are cut to the heart on account of their backslidings, others abhorring themselves in dust and ashes, others buffeted with the sorest temptations, others filled with rebellion and fretfulness, others entangled in Satan's snares, and others sitting in stubborn silence, or well-near swallowed up with despondency. Some have never found their Savior, and others have lost Him; some have never felt pardon and deliverance, and others have been "again entangled in the yoke of bondage"; some are shut up, and others cannot come forth; some are hoping against hope, and others doubting against evidences; some are "plagued all the day long, and chastened every morning"; and others are fearing they are bastards, because "the rod of God is not upon them."

But as all the family of God have a common interest in the salvation that is external, so do they all agree in this point with respect to the salvation that is internal, that it must be a supernatural religion, a manifested Savior, a revealed righteousness, a sprinkled conscience, a sealed pardon, a shed-abroad love, an enjoyed redemption, that alone will satisfy or save. And thus all their strippings, emptyings, chastisements, temptations, conflicts, sorrows, sighs, groans, and tears; all their doubts, fears, terrors, quakings, gloom and despondency; all their views of the justice of God in a holy law; all their ups and downs, changes, vicissitudes, guilt, condemnation, and bitter feelings of anguish on account of sin; in a word, all their experience of the depths of a desperately wicked heart--all, all serve in the hands of the blessed Spirit to bring them to this point, that salvation is in the blood and righteousness of Christ alone, and that this salvation must be revealed to them, and in them, to deliver them from the flames of hell.

5. THE ONLY TRUE SOURCE OF FRUIT

"But," say the Arminians, "if salvation be such as is here described, what becomes of the interests of morality, what provision is made for good works, what security is there for holiness of life? Will not a belief of his election make a man presumptuous, a confidence in his final perseverance render him careless, and a persuasion that he cannot sin himself out of the covenant, lead him to licentiousness?" To this we answer--"Yes; such will be, and are the fruits and effects of the doctrines of grace, when they are not wrought by the hand of God in the soul; but are learned, as hundreds learn them, in the understanding and judgment only." But this effect does not prove the doctrines to be untrue, but is rather a fulfillment of the Word of God.

"Let their table," that is, the doctrines spread before them on which they profess to feed, "become a snare, and that which should have been for their welfare, let it become a trap" (Psalm 69:22). We read of "spots" in the primitive believers' "feasts of charity, feeding themselves without fear." These drank into the doctrine of election, etc., unmixed with holy awe, unattended with a trembling at God's word, and a spiritual reverence of His awesome majesty. Now, these individuals are said "to turn the grace of God into lasciviousness, and to deny," that is, by wicked works, "the only Lord God and our Lord Jesus Christ."

But because ungodly men pervert the right ways of the Lord, and abuse truth to their own destruction, does it follow that the same effects follow the same doctrines where they are spiritually taught and spiritually received? The rays of the sun draw up disease and fever from the pestilential marsh, and turn a dead carcase into carrion. But is the sun less pure, are his beams less bright, are his rays less cheering, is his genial warmth less fostering to every herb, fruit and flower, because he draws putrefaction out of what is in itself putrid, and corruption out of what is in itself corrupt? And thus, because the doctrines of grace received into a corrupt heart serve only to draw forth its natural corruption, it does not follow that it is so where the word of life is received "into an honest and good heart"; that is, a heart made honest by the shining in of heavenly light, and made good or like unto God by the impress of His divine image. In this prepared soil the doctrines of grace take deep root, and being watered from time to time by the dews and rains of the blessed Spirit, bring forth fruit abundantly.

6. INWARD AND OUTWARD FRUITS

Thus they bring forth– INWARD fruit.

Of these the first is conversion, which consists in a change of heart, a change of affections, a change of feelings, a turning from formality to spirituality; from free-will to free-grace, from self-righteousness to self-abhorrence, from hypocrisy to honesty, from self-justification to self-condemnation, from profession to power.

The second is godly fear, which realizes God's heart-searching presence, trembles at His frown, dreads His displeasure, is afraid of His judgments, feels His chastening hand, and seeks above all things His favor and the light of His countenance.

The third is humility, which springs from a knowledge of God and a knowledge of one's self, and consists in a spiritual acquaintance with the deceit and wickedness of the heart, in esteeming others better than ourselves, in feeling how little grace and real religion we possess, in confessions to God and man of our vileness, in sitting at Jesus' feet to be taught by Him, in taking the lowest room among the children of God, in being a babe in helplessness, weakness, foolishness and nothingness.

A fourth inward fruit is godly sorrow, which springs from a view of a suffering Savior, and manifests itself by hatred of self, abhorrence of sin, groaning over our backslidings, grief of soul for being so often entangled by our lusts and passions, and is accompanied by softness, meltings of heart, flowings of love to the Redeemer and of indignation against ourselves, and earnest desires never to sin more.

A fifth fruit is hope, which springs up out of despair, and is raised up in the soul by a spiritual discovery of the compassion, the mercy, the forbearance, the loving-kindness, and the pity of the Father of mercies and the God of all comfort. This opens the heart in prayer, melts down its sullen obstinacy, enlarges its narrow, selfish, jealous, contracted views of God, holds it fast as a sure and steadfast anchor amid storms and tempests, and encourages it to wait at mercy's door until full deliverance comes.

A sixth fruit is love, which consists in love to God, on account of His tender mercies, loving-kindness and forbearance in the midst of, and in spite of, all our crookedness, obstinacy, perverseness and dreadful wickedness--in love to Christ as a Savior, so suitable to our miserable condition as filthy, polluted, justly damned wretches; in love to the exercised, harassed, and tempted children of God, as fellow-sufferers and fellow-heirs; in love to the ministers of Christ, as messengers with a message to our guilty souls, as interpreters of our experience, as stewards of heavenly mysteries and discoverers of the secrets of our hearts; in love to the truth of God, which makes us free; to the word of God, which has entered our hearts; and to the promises of God, which have from time to time encouraged us. These are only a few of the inward fruits which the doctrines of grace, spiritually received into the soul, invariably produce.

But besides these there are, secondly, OUTWARD fruits. Such are--separation from a profane world; separation from a professing world; honesty and boldness in the cause of truth; liberality to the poor and needy of God's family; general consistency of life and conversation; abhorrence of all the tricks of trade, lies of business, and frauds of commerce; hatred of flattery, given or received--in a word--a life agreeable to the precepts and ordinances of the gospel.

Such are the fruits, inward and outward, which are produced by the doctrines of grace when applied to the soul by the blessed Spirit. God being the only fountain of life, grace and fruitfulness, the soul that is brought into His blessed presence, to walk with Him, to have communion with Him, and to enjoy access unto Him, derives, for the time, from this holy nearness, faint marks of resemblance unto Him.

And thus, eternal election revealed to the soul, personal redemption applied to the heart, imputed righteousness sealed upon the conscience, and never-failing faithfulness manifested within, so far from leading to licentiousness, are the only truths which will produce real fruit. And, on the contrary, all self-denial, outward sanctification, mortification of the flesh, long prayers, and all the good works of the Arminian catalogue, are nothing but counterfeits and imitations of the fruits of the Spirit, and will therefore leave their deluded owners to the just vengeance of Him who is a consuming fire.

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Philpot's letter of resignation from the Church of England, March 28, 1835

Mr. Provost:
I beg leave to resign the Fellowship of Worcester College, to which I was elected in the year 1826. This step I am compelled to take because I can no longer with a good conscience continue a Minister or a Member of the Established Church.

After great and numerous trials of mind, I am, as I trust, led by the hand of God thus to separate myself from that corrupt and worldly system, called the Church of England. Her errors and corruptions, as well as her utter contrariety to a Gospel Church as revealed in the New Testament, have been for two or three years gradually opening upon my mind. But though I have thus slowly and by degrees obtained light from above to see the Established Church somewhat in her true colors, it is, I confess, only but very lately that the sin of remaining in her has been forcibly laid upon my conscience. I have felt of late that, by continuing one of her ministers, I was upholding what in the sight of the holy Jehovah is hateful and loathsome.

I have felt that, by standing up in her pulpit, I was sanctioning a system in principle and practice, in root and branches, corrupt before God. I have felt that I was keeping those children of God who sat under my ministry in total darkness as to the nature of a true Gospel Church. I have felt that both I myself, and the spiritual people that attended my ministry, were, in principle and system, mixed up with--the ungodly, the Pharisee, the formalist, the worldling, and the hypocrite. And thus, while I remained in the Church of England, my principles and my practice, my profession and my conduct, my preaching and my acting, were inconsistent with each other. I was building up with the right hand what I was pulling down with the left.

I was contending for the 'power'--while the Church of England was maintaining the 'form'. I was, by my preaching, separating the people of God from 'the world lying in wickedness'--and the Church of England, in her Liturgy and Offices, was huddling together the spiritual and the carnal, the regenerate and the unregenerate, the sheep and the goats. I was contending for regeneration as a supernatural act wrought upon the souls of the elect alone by the Eternal Spirit--and the Church of England was thanking God for regenerating every child that was sprinkled with a little water. True prayer I was representing as the Spirit's work upon the soul, as the groanings of a burdened heart, as the pouring out of a broken spirit, as the cry of a child to his heavenly Father, as the hungering and thirsting of a soul that panted after God. The Church of England tied me down to cold, hackneyed, wearisome forms, in which I prayed for the Royal Family, the Parliament, the Bishops, and all sorts and conditions of men, with scarcely one petition that the Spirit would rule in a regenerate heart.

My soul was pained and burdened within me at hearing the wicked and the careless take into their lips the sweet petitions of David in the Psalms. I heard around me those who I knew from their life and conversation had never for a moment spiritually felt the pangs of a wounded conscience, say, 'I stick fast in the deep mire where no ground is; I am come into deep waters, so that the floods run over me'. I heard those who never desired or longed after anything but the gratification of their own lusts and covetousness, repeat aloud, 'Like as the deer desires the water-brooks, so longs my soul after you, O God'. Those that were dressed up in all the colors of the rainbow, I heard saying, 'As for me, I am poor and needy'. Graceless men who had never felt a drop of the Spirit's teachings, and who outside of the Church swore, jeered, and scoffed, would cry in my hearing, 'Take not your Holy Spirit from me'. Adulterers and adulteresses repeated aloud, 'I will wash my hands in innocency, and so will I go to Your altar'. While the self-righteous Pharisee would sound in my ears, 'I will go forth in the strength of the Lord God, and will make mention of Your righteousness only'.

Thus the gracious and blessed experience of God's saints was mocked and trampled upon, and the fervent prayers and breathings of the Spirit in contrite souls were profaned by the ungodly taking them into their unhallowed lips. And all this I was conscious was not a casual occurrence, or such as arose from the unsuggested will of individuals, but was the deliberate principle and system of the Church of England. I saw it was so by her teaching every child to say he was made in his baptism 'a member of Christ, a child of God, and an inheritor of the kingdom of Heaven'. I saw it was so by that system of responses which she enjoins upon all the congregation to make, and again and again has my soul been burdened at hearing the wicked little children around me mock God by shouting out the responses, as they had been systematically trained to do by ignorant ministers, parents, school-masters and school mistresses.

Being for the last three years a hearer and not a reader of the Liturgy, I have been compelled at times to close my ears with both my hands, that I might not hear the mechanical cries of the children, one of whose responses they always thus worded, 'We have left undone those things which we ought not to have done'. I have groaned within me at hearing the ungodly around me thus mock God, and so far was I from joining in the dead and spiritless forms of the Prayer Book, that I could only secretly pray, 'Lord, deliver me from this worldly and unholy system'.

Every dull and dry prayer seemed to lay a fresh lump of ice on my heart, and when I got into the pulpit, nothing but the hand of God, to whom I cried for help, could take off that deadness and barrenness which these wearisome forms had, in a great measure, laid upon me. At times, too, when I viewed the gettings up and sittings down, the bowings, the turnings to the East, the kneeling in this place and standing in that, and the whole routine of that 'bodily service' with which the blessed Jehovah was mocked, I could not but look on the whole as a few degrees only removed from the mummery of a Popish mass-house.

But though I felt, and at times could groan beneath the wretched formality of the Church of England, I was from two motives chiefly kept within her. One was, that I desired to be useful to the children of God in a dark neighborhood, with whom I had been connected for nearly seven years, and of whom some professed to derive profit from my ministry. The other was altogether carnal, and, though hiding itself in the secret recesses of my heart and therefore unperceived, was doubtless of much weight with me. This was the desire of retaining that comfortable competence which my Fellowship secured. My heart, I freely confess, has often sunk within me at the prospect of my already weak health terminating in confirmed illness, with poverty and need staring me in the face. I was also praying for an opening from the Lord to show me my path clearly, as, though I was determined neither to accept preferment, nor take another curacy, I was unwilling to throw up my ministry until the 'death of the very aged incumbent.' Lately, however, I have been brought to see 'that I must not do evil that good may come', and that if my conscience was fully convinced of the sin of remaining in the Church of England, no clearer or more direct intimation of the will of God was needed.

Thus have I laid open the inward workings of my heart, and the experience through which I have been led, in order to show that the resignation of my Fellowship and Curacy, and secession from the Church of England, is no sudden and hasty step, but the gradual and deliberate conviction of my soul.

But besides these particular evils under which I especially 'groaned, being burdened', as being brought into continual contact with them, I have felt that by continuing in the Establishment I sanction and uphold every other corruption that is mixed up with so worldly a system.

Thus I must sanction--the union of Church and State; the putting of the King in the place of Christ as Head of the Church; the luxury and pomp of the bishops; the giving away of livings for electioneering purposes; the heaping of office by ungodly parents on ungodly children; the system of tithes (I cannot but wonder how men who profess spiritual religion, and call themselves Evangelical ministers, can take tithes from carnal and ungodly farmers; no, as I have known some do, screw them up to the highest pitch, and even employ legal means to enforce their payment; while others of the same name and pretension exact tithes from gardens watered by the sweat of the laborer, and enforce burial and similar fees from the poor, when they themselves ride about in their carriages and phaetons. Of this I am confident, that they are not taught thus to act by the Blessed Spirit, who guides the regenerate into all truth, makes the conscience tender, and gives compassion towards the poor and needy. The New Testament authorizes no other payment to ministers but free and voluntary offerings; and thus all tithes, fees, and dues are part of that 'mystery of iniquity' of which Babylon, the mother of harlots, is the head); the principle and practice of Ecclesiastical Courts; the manufacturing of ministers by the gross at the Bishops' ordinations, and all that mass of evil which has sprung out of a worldly and wealthy Establishment. When Christ has bidden me 'call no man Father on earth', and not to be called myself 'Rabbi', and 'Master', and consequently by no title distinctive of priesthood or ministerial office, I must sanction the decking out of His professed ministers with the trappings of Antichrist, such proud titles, I mean, as Reverend, Very Reverend, Right Reverend, Most Reverend, Father in God, My Lord, Your Grace, and the like.

As a minister of the Establishment I must also sanction that abominable traffic in livings whereby 'the souls of men' are bought and 'sold' (an especial mark of Babylon, Rev. 18:13), and knocked down to the highest bidder by the auctioneer's hammer. Thus the whole system, in its root, stem, and branches, manifests itself to a renewed and spiritual mind as part and parcel of that Antichrist and Babylon which the Lord foreshowed His servants should arise, and from which He calls them to come out and be separate.

As a member, too, of the University, and Fellow of the College, I am unavoidably and necessarily mixed up with many evils, which I am convinced are equally hateful to God. Thus, in this capacity, I must sanction the whole principle of a University, as needful to qualify men to become ministers of Jesus Christ. But who that knows experimentally the sovereignty of Jehovah in choosing His ministers will not feel it to be dreadful presumption thus to train up unregenerate men to stand forth in His holy name?

The call to the ministry is as sovereign as the call by grace. And Jehovah will take the tinker from his barrow, and the cobbler from his stall, and send them to preach His Word, as he took Elisha from the plough, and Amos from 'gathering sycamore fruit'. By continuing, therefore, a member of the University I tacitly set aside the gifts and graces of the Holy Spirit, which can alone qualify a man for the ministry, and substitute a knowledge of Latin and Greek, and such mere 'letter-learning' as is called Divinity. But by doing this I necessarily reject as ministers some of God's most eminent and deeply-taught servants, as Bunyan, Deer, and Huntington; and exalt in their room unregenerate men, who were never taught a single truth by the Eternal Spirit.

And as, by continuing a member of the University, I sanction its principle, so in some measure do I sanction its practice. What that practice is, let those testify who have passed through the various stages of Undergraduate, Bachelor, and Master of Arts. But where in all that practice do I see the marks of Christ, or 'the footsteps of His flock'? Can they be traced in the drawing rooms and dining rooms of the Heads of Houses? in the Common-rooms of the Fellows? in the breakfasts, wine-parties, and suppers of the Undergraduates? What, I would ask, is usually heard in the latter but shouting, and singing of unclean songs, or conversation on the boat-race, the steeple-chase, or the fox-hunt? And what is commonly heard in the former but the news and politics of the day, and all such trifling, and sometimes even unseemly conversation, as is the mark of the soul that is 'dead in sins'? Where among all these, either professed ministers of Jesus Christ or such as are training to be so, is the name of the Savior, or the voice of prayer heard? If anywhere, it is among a few despised undergraduates, who have enough religion to see the open evils around them, but not enough grace or faith to separate from the system altogether.

And who that knows the University will not allow the following to be a faint sketch of the course run by most of her children? Initiated in boyhood in wickedness at one of the public schools, those dens of iniquity, or at a private school, in some cases but a shade better and in others worse, the youthful aspirant to the ministry removes to College, where, having run a career of vanity and sin for three years, he obtains his degree. Fortified with this, and his College testimonials, procured without difficulty except by the very notoriously immoral, and those who have shown some symptoms of spiritual religion, he presents himself to the Bishop for ordination. Examined by the Bishop's Chaplain on a few commonplace topics of divinity, and approved, he is ordained amid a heap of other candidates, without one question of a spiritual nature, one inquiry as to his own conversion to God, or one serious admonition as to his motives and qualifications for so dreadful a work. The cold heartlessness and technical formality usually displayed by Bishop, Chaplain, Archdeacon, and Registrar, with the carelessness and levity of most of the candidates, can never be forgotten by one whose heart God has touched, and who has witnessed the solemn mockery of a semi-annual ordination.

But further, as a Fellow of a College, I am connected with a body of men, who, however amiable and learned they may be (and if I forget the kindness of some of them I would be ungrateful indeed), are yet ignorant of Jesus Christ. Their acts as a body I am a party to, and indirectly, if not directly, sanction. Thus I help to give away college livings to unregenerate men, though I may know in my own conscience that they are not even called by grace, much less to the work of the ministry. I am a party also to giving testimonials indiscriminately of good life and conduct to be presented to the Bishop by the candidates for ordination (the document requiring the college seal), as well as to the electing of Fellows and Scholars for their classical attainments, and thus thrusting them into the ministry, and, in a word, to the whole system of education pursued, which, as a means of qualifying men to be ministers, I believe to be hateful to God.

In short, I am mixed up with a society of men whose life and conduct, however amiable, moral, and honorable, are not those of 'the poor and afflicted' family of God. No other way, then, have I to escape these evils, to 'keep myself pure, and not to be partaker of other men's sins,' than by fleeing out of Babylon.

Lastly, I secede from the Church of England because I can find in her scarcely one mark of a true church. She tramples upon one ordinance of Christ by sprinkling infants, and calling it regeneration (the Word of God allowing no other than the baptism of believers, and that by immersion); and profanes the Lord's Table by permitting the ungodly to participate. The true Church is despised; but she is honored. The true Church is persecuted; but she is a persecutor. The true Church is chosen out of the world; but she is part and parcel of it. The true Church consists only of the regenerate; but she embraces in her universal arms all the drunkards, liars, thieves, and immoral characters of the land. She christens them, she confirms them, she marries them, she buries them. And she pronounces of all for whom she executes these offices, that they are regenerate, that 'all their sins are forgiven them', that they are 'the servants of God'.

If perhaps on a dying bed any doubts and convictions should arise that all is not right for eternity, she sends her minister to visit them, and 'to absolve them from all their sins'. And having thus lulled their fears, and deluded them to die in peace, she quiets the rising doubts of their friends at the mouth of the grave, by assuring those who 'this our brother is delivered out of the miseries of this sinful world', and is 'committed to the dust in sure and certain hope of the resurrection to eternal life'

Oh! could the dreadful veil that hides eternity be for a moment lifted up, we would see that thousands, whom the Church of England is blessing, God is cursing; and that tens of thousands whom she is asserting to be 'in joy and felicity', are at that moment 'lifting up their eyes in hell, being in torment'. And while she thus speaks peace and comfort to all that will call her 'Mother', although unregenerate and dead in sins, she in her canons excommunicates and pronounces 'guilty of wicked error' all that are enlightened of the Spirit to declare she is not a true church, and separate from her communion. What is this but to remove the ancient landmarks of truth and error; 'to call evil good, and good evil; to put darkness for light, and light for darkness, bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter'?

At the same time, she shuts up and seals the mouth of all her ministers, and ties them down to say what she says, and to deny what she denies, by compelling them to 'give their sincere assent and consent to all and everything contained and prescribed in and by the Common Prayer Book, and to promise that they will 'conform to the Liturgy as by law established'. And if any of them are haply taught of God the things of Christ in their own souls, and having grace and faithfulness to preach what they have tasted, felt, and handled; contradict in the pulpit what they assert in the desk, they are frowned on by Bishops, despised by the clergy around them, and hated by all the worldly part of their parish, until at length the powerful convictions of an enlightened conscience force them to deliver their souls by fleeing out of Babylon.

But I am told that the Church of England is the only true church; that she derives her sacraments and ministers in a direct, uninterrupted line from the apostles, and that to secede from her is to be guilty of schism. But where are the outward marks of this only true church? Where are the 'signs' of these successors of the apostles, as 'wrought among us in all patience, in signs and wonders, and mighty deeds'? (2 Cor. 12:12). Are they to be found in lordly Bishops, proud and pampered dignitaries, fox-hunting, shooting, dancing, and card-playing clergy? Or are they to be discovered in those mere moral and outwardly decent ministers, who, after their solemn vow 'to lay aside the study of the world and the flesh', busy themselves in classics, mathematics, history, modern languages, natural philosophy, divinity, and everything and anything but to know Christ in their own souls?

Where are the gifts and graces of the Holy Spirit visible in men, who, not being able to utter a word but what is written down, either copy their sermons from books, or forge out of their own heads a weekly lecture on stale morality? Where are the seals of their commission, whereby they 'approve themselves as ministers of God, by pureness, by knowledge, by kindness, by the Holy Spirit, by sincere love, by the word of truth, by the power of God, by the armor of righteousness on the right hand and on the left'? (2 Cor. 6 : 6, 7).

But, perhaps, these outward marks of the successors of the apostles may be discovered in the Evangelical clergy, by some esteemed so highly. What are these, however, as a body, now generally doing but making common cause with the worldly clergy, whom in their hearts they consider to be neither Christians nor ministers, to uphold an unholy system? They are for the most part compounding their sermons out of Simeon's dry and marrowless 'Outlines', looking out for preferment, buying and selling livings, training up their unregenerate sons for the ministry, and 'putting them into the priest's office that they may eat a piece of bread'.

Who among them can give a clear and decisive account of his call by grace, or of his call to the ministry? What description can they give of the entrance of the law into their conscience, bringing with it guilt, condemnation, and death, and of a deliverance by the inward revelation of Christ and the application of the 'blood of sprinkling'? The greater part are violently opposed to the fundamental doctrines of unconditional election, particular redemption, imputed righteousness, and man's helplessness. And those who do set forth the doctrines of free and sovereign grace preach them with such dryness and deadness as clearly show that they were never wrought into their experience by the blessed Spirit. Under their ministry the 'spiritual children' of God will not sit; for knowing little or nothing of the work of regeneration, and the trials, temptations, or consolations of the people of Christ, they cannot approve themselves to the consciences of the spiritual, either as called by grace or as sent to preach the gospel.

Thus, with perhaps a few and rare exceptions, the Clergy of the Church of England, whether Orthodox or Evangelical, correspond to that description given by the Holy Spirit, Micah 3: 11: "Her leaders judge for a bribe, her priests teach for a price, and her prophets tell fortunes for money. Yet they lean upon the Lord and say--Is not the Lord among us? No disaster will come upon us."

And need we wonder if, as is the priest, so is the people? The congregation of the High church, or Orthodox clergy, as they proudly call themselves, consists, with possibly a few exceptions, of none but open sinners, self-righteous pharisees, and dead formalists. In this 'congregation of the dead' the blind lead the blind, and all their weekly confessions, absolutions, prayers, praises, services, and sacraments are, as they will one day find, but one continual mockery of the blessed God, who requires of His worshipers that they 'should worship Him in spirit and in truth'.

Of those who sit under the ministry of the Evangelical clergy, the greater part in no wise differ from 'the congregation of the dead' described above, being attracted there by the superstitious charm of the Parish Church. Of the remaining part, there may be a few seeking souls who range over these barren heaths, until fairly driven from them by starvation, or brought off by tasting the green pastures and still waters of gospel grace under an experimental minister. The rest are mere formalists, with an evangelical creed in their heads, but without any grace in their hearts; or, if the minister be a high Calvinist, such 'twice dead' doctrinal professors as never felt the plague of their own hearts, never had their consciences ploughed up by the law, never loathed themselves in their own sight, and were never 'plunged in the ditch until their own clothes abhorred them'.

Humble, lowly, contrite souls, who are deeply acquainted with the workings of grace and of corruption, whose consciences have been made tender, and who have landmarks of the dealings of God with them, cannot long continue where they have fellowship with neither minister nor people. And, indeed, so opposed is the whole principle and practice of the Church of England to the work of grace upon the souls of the elect, and 'to simplicity and godly sincerity', that a minister, who is not a hypocrite or a formalist, must, when he has reached a certain point in Christian experience, either flee out of her or awfully sin against the convictions of his own conscience. He may remain in her as a presumptuous dead Calvinist; he may take the highest tone of doctrine, and preach Sunday after Sunday about assurance of personal salvation; but if once he describes the work of the Spirit on the soul he must, at a certain point, either come out of her or, by remaining contentedly within her pale, manifest himself a hypocrite in experience, of all hypocrites and of all hypocrisies the most deceiving and the most dreadful.

Can a man, for instance, who has known the work of regeneration in his own soul, and whose conscience is made tender by the blessed Spirit, go on long to lie unto God by thanking Him for regenerating infants? Can he who has been sprinkled with the blood of Christ, and been fed with His flesh, continue long to give the elements of His body and blood to the unbeliever, the self righteous, and the ungodly? Can he who has tasted the covenant of grace, and experimentally entered into the everlasting distinction between the sheep and the goats, go on long to mock God by declaring at the grave's mouth of every departed unbeliever, swearer, and drunkard, that he is a 'brother', and is 'taken to be with God'?

Notions in the head, however correct, doctrines, however high, a presumptuous confidence of salvation, however loud and lofty, may allow a man thus to trifle with the living JEHOVAH. But a tender conscience, a godly fear, and a trembling sense of God's holiness and majesty, such as the blessed Spirit works in the soul, must sooner or later bring a man out of this dreadful mockery.

From this worldly and unholy system I now SECEDE; and blessed be the name of God Most High, who has poured light on my eyes to see these abominations, and given me, I trust, a small portion of that faith of Moses whereby 'he was willing rather to suffer affliction with the people of God, than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season'. For sooner far would I die in a workhouse, under the sweet shinings-in of the eternal Comforter, and His testimony to my conscience that I am born of God, than live and die in ease and independence, without following Jesus in that path of trial and suffering which alone leads to eternal life.

But my long relationship with yourself, as Head of Worcester College, and with my brother Fellows, will not allow me thus to dissolve my connection with you without faithfully WARNING both you and them of your present state before God. What marks, then, are there in you, or them, of that new birth, without which none can enter the kingdom of heaven? What signs have you, or they, of a broken and contrite spirit? What marks of 'the faith of God's elect'? What inward discoveries have you, or they, had of the blood and righteousness of Christ? What testimony of the blessed Spirit to the pardon of your sins, and to your adoption into the family of God? 'If any man has not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of His', though a sound classic, an acute mathematician, or a learned divine. And to have been professed ministers of Jesus Christ will only add to your condemnation, if you and they live and die in your present state of unbelief and unregeneracy.

I am weak and ignorant, full of sin and compassed with infirmity, but I bless God that He has in some measure shown me the power of eternal things, and by free and sovereign grace stopped me in that career of vanity and sin in which, to all outward appearance, I was fast hurrying down to the chambers of death.

With all due respect to you as Provost of Worcester College,
Yours faithfully,
J. C. Philpot

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Looking unto the Lord (Arthur Pink, 1949)

1 Corinthians 13:12

“For 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.” 

Looking unto the Lord is an attitude of the soul, an act of the will, and the exercise of faith — a turning away from all that is of the creature, and relying solely upon the living God. It is tersely — but graphically, expressed in these words: "But our eyes are upon you!" (2 Chronicles 20:12), and blessed is the one who can really so aver. That is the language of all God's children, when they are in their right minds. At that time, they place no reliance upon self, have no confidence in the flesh, and expect nothing good from the world — but they put all their trust in the Lord. Their hearts are engaged with an almighty God, and, like Moses, they endure "as seeing him who is invisible" (Heb 11:27). It is this which characterizes those who are members of the Household of Faith:
in their need — they look to God for their supplies;
in their straits — they look to God for deliverance;
in their trouble — they look to God for comfort;
in their weakness — they look to God for strength.

It is this which distinguishes them from unbelievers, who lean upon the "arm of flesh" (2 Chronicles 32:8) and look to their fellows for help. In proportion, as we maintain this attitude of dependence on and expectation from our heavenly Father . . .
our hearts will be kept in peace,
our souls made to rejoice, and
our every need will be supplied.

For the sake of young preachers, we will topicalize our subject.

1. The look of salvation. "Look unto Me, and be saved, all the ends of the earth: for I am God, and there is none else" (Isa 45:22). Look not to the Law, the priest, nor to your baptism, nor church attendance. Look not to your sincerity and good intentions, nor to your prayers and good deeds; nor even to your convictions of sin. None but Christ can save you. This is very humbling to the proud creature: to have to look away from self — and be wholly indebted to Another. It is not a matter of what we are — how good or bad — but of what He is: namely, an all-sufficient Savior, freely offered in the Gospel to every hearer. If you look unto Him, as the serpent-bitten Israelites looked upon the divinely appointed object (John 3:14) — with simple but confident faith — He will save you. No qualifications are needed to entitle you to do so — the command of God and the invitation of the Gospel supply sufficient authorization. The viler you feel yourself to be — the more suited to Christ's cleansing blood. He is the great Physician — and can heal the foulest leper. Do you say, "But I am blind!" True — yet you are not bidden to "See," but "Look" — and sight comes by looking!

2. The look of illumination. "They looked unto Him, and were enlightened: and their faces were not ashamed" (Psalm 34:5). Faith's looking unto Christ is the grand means of blessing appointed by God: pardon and peace, light and liberty, are obtained thereby. Of old, Job said, "Lo, all these things works God oftentimes with man — to bring back his soul from the pit, to be enlightened with the light of the living" (Job 33:29-30). He does so by the power of His Spirit working in us, faith upon Christ. God announced concerning His beloved Son, "I will also give you for a light to the Gentiles" (Isa 49:6). And in due time, the Sun of righteousness arose "with healing in his wings" (Mal 4:2), putting an end to the night of darkness for many a soul. By His Gospel, He declares, "I am come a light into the world, that whoever believes on me should not abide in darkness" (John 12:46). Then look unto Him — and you too shall be divinely illumined: your faith shall not be confounded, nor your face covered with confusion.

3. The look of supplication. "But our eyes are upon you" (2 Chronicles 20:12). The setting of those words is very striking. A great army of the heathen had gathered together to do battle against Judah. When their king was informed, he "set himself to seek the LORD, and proclaimed a fast" (verse 3). Then, in the hearing of the congregation, he addressed himself unto the God of their fathers, saying, "O our God, will you not judge them? for we have no might against this great company that comes against us; neither know we what to do: but our eyes are upon you!" (verse 12).

It was an earnest appeal unto the omnipotent One by those in the place of conscious weakness and helplessness. It was likewise an expression of humble but confident faith. It was also an expectation of help from the Almighty. Nor was this simple but affecting supplication in vain. Of course it was not! Jehovah made answer: "Be not afraid nor dismayed by reason of this great multitude; for the battle is not yours — but God's" (verse 15). He caused the enemy to fall upon themselves, "and none escaped" (verse 24). There is the grand remedy for every strait. No matter how desperate the situation — nothing is too hard for the LORD! Turn unto Him the eyes of faith, of dependence, of reliance, of confident expectation — and you will not be disappointed.

4. The look of transformation. "But we all, with open face beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are changed into the same image from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord" (2 Corinthians 3:18). This "beholding" is not simply one of faith — but especially of holy ambition and resolve. As the believer contemplates the moral perfection and character of Christ as they are set forth in the Word — there is born within him a deep yearning to be conformed to His likeness and to "walk, even as he walked" (1 John 2:6). As that yearning persists and is accompanied by earnest prayer, the Holy Spirit works in him a deeper spirit of obedience, causing him to be increasingly regulated by Christ's example and precepts, and thereby "changes" him, little by little, unto the same image. The Greek verb for "change" here is rendered "transformed" in Romans 12:2, and "transfigured" in Matthew 17:2. As the will is brought into subjection to Christ — we drink into His Spirit and become partakers of His holiness. This lifelong process will be completed when "we shall see him as he is" (1 John 3:2), "face to face" (1 Corinthians 13:12).

5. The look of inspiration. "Looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher [better, "Leader and Captain"] of our faith; who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God" (Heb 12:2). In Hebrews 10:32, the apostle began to set before suffering, tried, and persecuted saints — a number of considerations calculated to nerve them for the conflict and stimulate unto the continued performance of duty. Throughout chapter 11, he showed how faith was what animated the Old Testament worthies. As a climax, he reminded them of the Savior, who supplied the perfect example of faith and fortitude under unparalleled suffering. When, then, you grow weary of running the race set before you — look unto your Leader and draw inspiration from Him — see Hebrews 12:3-4. Do as He did: look beyond the present sorrows to "the joy" awaiting you; see above the painful cross — an eternal crown prepared for him who "endures to the end" (Mat 10:22). It is by so looking unto our great Exemplar, by devoutly contemplating His spirit of self-sacrifice and steadfastness, that we obtain strength to bear the hardships of the way.

6. The look of expectation. "Looking for that blessed hope, and the glorious appearing of the great God and our Savior Jesus Christ" (Titus 2:13). That is a very different thing from having the mind engaged with signs of the times or charmed with the study of prophecy; or even being on the alert for the next appointed item on the divine program. It is concerned not so much with an event — as with the advent of a Person.

The second coming of Christ is ridiculed by the infidel (2 Peter 3:2-4) and dreaded by the world (2 Thessalonians 1:8); but it is regarded by the saints with great delight, for then will be the perfecting of their salvation (Hebrews 9:26). Titus 2:13 describes a spiritual attitude of heart. It is an attitude of faith — and faith is not influenced by sensational items taken from the newspapers! It is an attitude of hope — joyous anticipation of our being rid of sin. It is an attitude of love, so that we cry, "Make haste, my beloved, and be like to a roe or to a young deer upon the mountains of spices" (Song 8:14).

Such looking . . .
weans the heart from the world (Heb 11:9-10),
produces patience in trials (Jam 5:6-8), and
purifies the heart (1 John 3:3).

Therein we may behold the practical side of our blessed hope. Such an expectation of the returning Savior works in us a careful attention to our conduct, that we may "not be ashamed before him at his coming" (1 John 2:28).

7. The look of consummation. "As for me, I will behold your face in righteousness" (Psalm 17:15). That is the ultimate longing of every believer — to behold the King in His beauty and forever gaze upon His blessed features! Such too is His desire — to have us with Him, beholding His glory (John 17:24) — nothing less will satisfy the eternal Lover of our souls. In a real sense, believers discern something of the glory of Christ even now — but oh, how feebly and faintly! But hereafter, we shall look upon Him without hindrance or interruption. That will be the fruition of our hope — to have immediate communion with Him. That will fill us with joy, and make us overflow with praise. Oh, how altogether lovely will He appear, when we see Him no longer "through a glass, darkly [obscurely]" — but "face to face" (1 Corinthians 13:12)!

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Looking Unto Jesus! The Believer Gladdened on His Journey Zion-ward (John Ross MacDuff, 1856)

PREFACE
While the word of God is "profitable for correction and instruction in righteousness," it is also profitable for support and consolation. The Apostle speaks of "the comfort of the Scriptures," and the people of God, in all ages, have realized it in their own happy experience. They have "drawn water with joy out of the wells of salvation," and were enabled in consequence "to go on their way rejoicing."

The great central Object of revelation — in whom all its truths and promises meet, and from whom their vitality and preciousness are derived — is emphatically called "the Consolation of Israel;" and it is only as we look to Him, that we shall have "the oil of joy for mourning, and the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness." Hence, in endeavoring "to comfort those who mourn," great prominence must be given to his glorious person, and his atoning work. Whether we are dealing with the convinced sinner, or the doubting and disconsolate believer, we cannot do better than point him at once to Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith.

At the same time it must be borne in mind that the things concerning Him, in order to produce the fruits of joy and peace, must be applied to the soul by the power of the Divine Spirit. It is his special work to reveal the Savior in all his characters and offices, as "made unto us wisdom, and righteousness, and sanctification, and redemption." Thus, as the Spirit of Truth, and the Testifier of Jesus, He is the "other Comforter," who is to abide with his people forever.

In the following pages the writer has endeavored to set forth, in a clear and condensed form, some of those blessed truths which are calculated to minister to the consolation of the Savior's followers. Like the Israelites of old, they may be often discouraged because of the difficulties and dangers of the way; and it is hoped that these brief meditations may be the means of refreshing their spirits, and renewing their strength. May all the readers of this little work be led daily to "consider Him who endured the cross, and bore the contradiction of sinners against himself, lest they become wearied and faint in their minds." And may "our Lord Jesus Christ himself, and God, even our Father, who has loved us, and has given us everlasting consolation, and a good hope through grace, comfort their hearts, and establish them in every good word and work."

"Comfort, comfort, my people, says your God." Isaiah 41:1.

Heavenly Consolation

It is abundantly evident that God desires the happiness of his people. This is a very cheering and supporting truth, especially to those who are afflicted and distressed, whether in mind, body, or estate; and it is to such, that the gracious exhortation before us is particularly addressed.

In connection with this subject, let us think of the representations which are given of God in his word. In one passage he is emphatically called "the God of consolation;" and in another "the God of all comfort." Addressing the Corinthians, the Apostle says, "Nevertheless, God who comforts those that are cast down, comforted us by the coming of Titus." What an endearing view is that which is here given! He . . .
who is the high and lofty one who inhabits eternity,
who dwells in glory inaccessible,
who covers himself with light as with a garment,
who stretches out the heavens like a curtain,
who makes the clouds his chariot, and
who walks upon the wings of the wind —
He it is who comforts those that are cast down! How great his condescension, and how amazing his love!

In the prophecies of Jeremiah, the Divine Being represents himself as "the fountain of living waters." He thus shows that he is the only source of true and abiding consolation. And is not this the case? All the blessedness of the inhabitants of Heaven, is derived from him. In his presence, is fullness of joy; from his right hand, rivers of pleasure are flowing for evermore. And all the happiness enjoyed in this valley of tears, this wilderness of woe — emanates from the same source. He who is the fountain of glory to the church triumphant above — is the fountain of grace to the church militant on earth. Hence the cry of every sanctified soul is that of the Psalmist of old, "Lord, lift up the light of your countenance upon me!" And when that is done, he is enabled to say, "You have put gladness in my heart, more than in the time when the corn and wine of the wicked increased."

The mission of the Son of God confirms the same truth. In his first sermon at Nazareth this was clearly shown. He came from Heaven to this lower world; and he commenced his public ministry by stating the object for which he came. It was "to comfort all who mourn; to give them beauty for ashes, the oil of joy for mourning, and the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness." In full accordance with his opening address, were all his subsequent declarations. Did he not appear as the comforter of those who mourn when he said, "Come unto me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest?" He here invites the weary and wretched to come to him, that they might be made happy in the enjoyment of his redeeming love. He promises to . . .
fill their empty souls with heavenly peace,
subdue the evil passions of their nature,
bid the rising storm be still; and
bless them with those blessings
which no time can impair,
which no calamity can affect,
which no violence can ever destroy.
This is his special office — his divinely-appointed work; and it is one in which his soul delights.

That he might, as the Consolation of his people, be fully qualified for this high function, it pleased his heavenly Father that he should experimentally know what trials and temptations were. The Apostle speaks of the great Captain of our salvation, as being made perfect through suffering, that he might be able to sympathize with those who are in sorrow. "For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who has been tempted in every way, just as we are — yet was without sin." "For this reason he had to be made like his brothers in every way, in order that he might become a merciful and faithful high priest in service to God, and that he might make atonement for the sins of the people. Because he himself suffered when he was tempted, he is able to help those who are being tempted."

O believer, think of this. Whatever your trials may be — he knows of them; and he will sympathize with you, and impart help and support to you.

Are you struggling with the evils of poverty? Ah! he knows what they are. "The foxes had holes, and the birds of the air had nests, but the Son of Man had not where to lay his head." He was a poor houseless, homeless wanderer, in that world which his own hands had made, and which is preserved by his mighty power. "Although he was rich, yet for our sakes he became poor, that we through his poverty might be made rich."

Are you suffering under slanderous and unjust accusations? When he performed his mighty deeds, he was charged with having fellowship with the powers of darkness. When he wrought his works of mercy and love on the Sabbath, he was accused of breaking that law which he came to fulfill. When he mixed with sinners, they called him a glutton and a drunkard. Never did anyone experience, so fully as he did, the folly, the ingratitude, the betrayal, the malice, the madness of the children of men. "Consider him who endured such opposition from sinful men, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart."

Are you the subject of pining sickness? Are your days wearisome, and your nights restless? He can sympathize with you, for he took our infirmities, and bore our sicknesses. The pain which racks and pierces; the debility which unnerves; the disease which wastes away — he well knows what they are.

Is Satan casting his fiery darts at you? Those darts were cast at him!

"Touched with a sympathy within,
He knows our feeble frame;
He knows what sore temptations mean,
For he has felt the same.

But, spotless, innocent, and pure,
The great Redeemer stood;
While Satan's fiery darts he bore,
And did resist to blood."

O believer, for being cheered and supported under your sorrows, of whatever nature they may be — look to Jesus! Think of him as your sympathizing High Priest; and in his name draw near to the throne of grace, that you may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need.

Let us think again of the character and work of the Holy Spirit. He is emphatically called the "Comforter." And there are two ways in which he comforts the believer. He does so, in the first place, by revealing the person and offices of the Savior; and, in the second place, by assuring the believer of his saving interest in him. In reference to the former it is said, "He shall glorify me, for he shall receive of mine, and shall show it unto you." And again, "But when the Comforter has come, whom I will send unto you from the Father, even the Spirit of truth, who proceeds from the Father — he shall testify of me." He testifies . . .
of the perfection of his work,
of the value of his righteousness,
of the infinite merits of his sacrificial death.

And he testifies that from this source alone — from his stripes and bruises, from his bleeding veins and opened side — true happiness can flow.

There is an incident recorded of a poor Hindu, who sought for peace to his troubled conscience by performing the rites of that cruel system under which he had been brought up. He was convinced of his sinful condition, and in order to atone for his guilt, he had a number of sharp iron spikes driven through his shoes, with the points inward; and he undertook to walk a journey of 400 miles in this agonizing manner. One evening, being overcome by pain and fatigue, he sat down to rest. On a bank near him, a number of people were collected together. It was a Christian service; they were engaged in worshiping the true and living God; and a missionary was preaching to them. The subject of his discourse was Jesus Christ. He spoke of the atonement which the spotless Lamb of God had made on the cross; how he was wounded for our transgressions, and bruised for our iniquities; how he died the just for the unjust, that the wretched and guilty, might have life through his name. The attention of the Hindu devotee was attracted; he listened for his life, to the glad tidings which the man of God proclaimed; and before the sermon was over, he threw his spiked sandals away, exclaiming in an ecstacy of delight, "This is what I want! This is what I want!" He was led to embrace that blessed Savior, of whom he had now heard for the first time, and he found joy and peace in believing.

Now as it was with this poor Hindu, so will it be with all who are truly convinced of their misery and guilt. O! when the Eternal Spirit reveals the Savior in the glories of his mediatorial character, the language of the oppressed and burdened conscience will be, "This is what I want!" When he unfolds the wonders of his redeeming grace and dying love; when he applies to the heart such words as those of the Apostle, "In whom we have redemption through his blood, even the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of his grace," the feeling will surely be, "This is what I want!" Having this, I shall be happy; my soul will then magnify the Lord, and my spirit will rejoice in God my Savior.

But another part of the work of the Spirit, is to assure the believer that he is a personal partaker of Christ. To possess a saving interest in Him is one thing; to have an undoubted assurance of it is another thing. But in order to realize substantial happiness, it is essential that this assurance be possessed. Now to impart such a consciousness of our acceptance, is the work of this Divine Agent; and in granting it, he is emphatically the Comforter. "The Spirit himself bears witness with our spirit, that we are the children of God: and if children, then heirs; heirs of God and joint-heirs with Christ; if so be that we suffer with him, that we may be also glorified together."

O how desirable is it that Christians should live up to their privileges! It is the will of God that they should be happy, and that, here as well as hereafter. Of this he has given the most abundant proofs, at some of which we have briefly glanced. If this is so, be not satisfied, O believer, to remain destitute of those rich enjoyments which he is infinitely ready to bestow.

All who are strangers to God, are strangers to true happiness. In his favor is life; and that favor, they possess not — being enemies to him by wicked works. There is no peace to the wicked; they are like the troubled sea which cannot rest, whose waters cast up mire and dirt. And those who seek happiness in any other way than that which the gospel reveals, are sure to be disappointed.

"Found peace this way alone who sought it else,
Sought mellow grapes beneath the icy pole;
Sought blooming roses on the cheek of death;
Sought substance in a world of fleeting shades."

"To the dear fountain of your blood,
Incarnate God! I fly;
Here let me wash my spotted soul,
From crimes of deepest dye!

"A guilty, weak, and helpless worm,
On your kind arms I fall;
O be my strength and righteousness,
My Jesus, and my all."

None but Jesus

"And when they lifted up their eyes, they saw no one but Jesus only!" Matthew 17:8

The concluding words in this passage may be profitably contemplated, apart from the interesting narrative in which they are found. They may be viewed, in the first place, in reference to the great subject of the sinner's acceptance in the sight of God. In order to possess that high privilege, we must rest upon Jesus only. He is the only way to the Father, and all whom He receives are received through him alone. We are accepted in the Beloved, to the praise of the glory of his grace.

Of this great truth, no one had a clearer knowledge, or a deeper conviction of its importance, than the Apostle Paul. There was a period when he knew nothing of it, and when his hopes of Heaven were built upon other objects. This he strikingly shows in his epistle to the Philippians: "though I myself have reasons for such confidence. If anyone else thinks he has reasons to put confidence in the flesh, I have more: circumcised on the eighth day, of the people of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of Hebrews; in regard to the law, a Pharisee; as for zeal, persecuting the church; as for legalistic righteousness, faultless. But whatever was to my profit I now consider loss for the sake of Christ. What is more, I consider everything a loss compared to the surpassing greatness of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things. I consider them rubbish, that I may gain Christ and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ — the righteousness that comes from God and is by faith." Philippians 3:4-9

It thus appears that what was formerly the Apostle's all — was to him now less than nothing. The privileges of his birth; the zeal he displayed as a Pharisee; his submission to ceremonial rites; his performance of moral duties — all these were now entirely worthless in his estimation, and his hopes for acceptance and eternal life were built upon Jesus, and Jesus only. To win Christ, and be found in him, were all his salvation, and all his desire.

Now all who are ignorant of God's righteousness, go about as Paul did, and as the Jews at large — to establish a righteousness of their own. Self-righteousness, in some form or other, is the great idol of the carnal mind. But, when the Spirit convinces of sin; when the spirituality of the divine law is perceived; and when the sinner, in the light of that law, has a proper view of his own character — oh! what a blow does his self-righteousness then receive! As it was with Dagon, the prostrated idol of Philistia, before the ark of God — so will it be with his idol. He may at first endeavor, like the priests of that false deity, to replace it in its former position; but as light increases in his mind, and the good work of grace advances in his heart — it will be toppled again and again. Not merely will the head and hands be broken, leaving the stump entire; but the whole framework will be shattered into atoms. And then, when his favorite idol is destroyed, all his long-cherished expectations will perish. Being shut up to the faith of the gospel, his hopes will be now fixed upon Jesus alone. In the sweet strains of the poet, his language will be —

"Nothing in my hands I bring,
Simply to thy cross I cling;
Naked, come to thee for dress,
Helpless, look to thee for grace;
Guilty, to the fountain fly,
Wash me, Savior, or I die.

Not the labor of my hands
Can fulfill thy law's demands;
Could my zeal no respite know,
Could my tears forever flow;
All for sin could not atone,
Thou must save, and thou alone!"

And not merely is the Lord Jesus the ground of the sinner's hope, but he is the only source of the believer's consolation. All his springs are in him. All his enjoyment and support flow from him. It is in the Lord, that he has righteousness, but it is also in him that he has strength. Without him, severed from him — the believer can do nothing; but he can do all things through Christ who strengthened him. His grace is sufficient for him, and he has promised to perfect his strength in weakness. All that concerns the believer in his daily course — his strength to suffer, and his will to serve, are derived from Jesus only.

But while such is the case in reference to his life, it is peculiarly so in reference to his death. At that solemn season, when the powers of nature are failing, and when the world is forever disappearing, it can be said of every dying saint, with the fullest emphasis, that he has nothing — nothing as the ground of his acceptance, and nothing as the source of his support and consolation, save Jesus only.

There is a striking harmony in the experience of all God's people; amid a circumstantial diversity — there is a marked identity. It is in grace, as it is in nature. Bruce, the traveler, says, that he heard the sky lark singing in Abyssinia, and its notes were the same there as in England. The circumstance, he states, simple though it was, solaced his mind, while pursuing his weary way through those distant and dismal wilds. Nature, through all her dominions, is essentially one; and so with grace — wherever it exists, in whatever regions or climates — its strains are always similar.

In confirmation of this, abundant evidence might be adduced. Some years ago there was a meeting in America, at which people were present from the four quarters of the globe. It was a service of a social and devotional character; and being struck with the circumstance that there were among its members, individuals from such widely different parts, it was proposed that one from each quarter should give an account of the rise and progress of religion in his soul. The occasion, as may be supposed, was particularly refreshing; and several remarks were called forth after each had concluded his narration. But what most struck and delighted the assembly, was the wonderful similarity which marked the accounts they gave. Their views were, in substance, the same; their emotions the same; their conflicts the same; their sorrows and joys, their hopes and fears, the same. There was an essential harmony in the experience of all — a harmony which furnishes a striking proof of the divinity of our holy religion.

But if there is one point more than another in reference to which this oneness holds true, it is the point on which we are insisting; and if there is one season in which it more prominently appears than another, it is the solemn season to which we have alluded. On the bed of death, the believer has but one note — it is, Jesus only! Go where you will in search of him, it will be found to be so. Is he one of the favored sons of Britain? With him, it is Jesus only! We do not ask by what name he was known among men, or what were his peculiar sentiments on minor matters; if he is a true Christian, this will be his experience — Jesus only!

Go to the islands of the distant seas, where heathenism of the foulest kind prevailed a few years ago; yet there — in Tahiti, and Raiatea, and Raratonga, and other places, living and dying exemplifications will be found of the fact that true religion is one, and that its essence is Jesus only. Go to Africa, to Greenland, to India — go wherever the gospel has gone, and where the Spirit of God, in his convincing and regenerating influences, has gone with it; and indubitable evidence will be furnished to the truth, that Jesus is the sinner's only hope, and the believer's only consolation.

We have this fact further confirmed, not merely in the experience of believers of all countries, but of all grades of intellect. The source of consolation to the Christian peasant and to the Christian scientist, is the same. It is so in life, and especially so in death. The greatest divine, either of ancient or modern times; though he may have traversed the whole round of theological learning; though he may have explored its depths, and scaled its heights; though he may have argued with metaphysical skill, and illustrated all its points with matchless eloquence; though he may have read, and have written volumes upon volumes; yet when he comes to die, after all his researches, he has found nothing that will then do for him, save Jesus only! Thus the rich and poor, the learned and the illiterate, meet together; the Lord being, not merely the Maker, but the Redeemer and Comforter of them all.

O Christian, seek to realize in your own experience more and more of the blessed truth on which we have been enlarging. Look to Jesus, to Jesus only. In all your duties and in all your trials — look to him only. In life and in death, let your watchword be, "Jesus only!"

The Christian's Solace in Distress

"Touched with a sympathy within,
He knows our feeble frame;
He knows what sore temptations mean,
For He has felt the same.

Then let our humble faith address
His mercy and His power;
We shall obtain delivering grace
In the distressing hour!"

"John's disciples came and took his body and buried it. Then they went and told Jesus!" Matthew 14:12

The conduct of John's disciples on the occasion here referred to, is worthy of our imitation. In all our distresses — we should go and tell Jesus. Whatever their nature may be — we are permitted and encouraged to unbosom ourselves to him, and that with the full assurance that he will listen to the voice of our supplication.

The sympathy of Christ should encourage us to disclose to him all our wants and woes. We do not have a High Priest who cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities. In all our afflictions he can feel for us, having been himself tried and tempted as we are, yet without sin.

Are we struggling with the evils of poverty? Do want and destitution stare us in the face? Jesus can sympathize with us. No home sheltered him; no daily table was spread for him. He was homeless, and, had it not been for the attachment of a few devoted friends, he would have been a poor houseless wanderer, during the whole course of his earthly sojourn.

Are we assailed by distressing temptations? Are we suffering under slanderous and unjust accusations? Are we deserted by our friends? Do those who ought to have supported and protected us, treat us unkindly? He was thus treated, and is therefore able to enter into our feelings on such occasions. Are we walking in darkness, and having no light? He can sympathize with us then. Never will he forget what he felt when he uttered the heart-rending cry, "My God, my God, why have You forsaken me?" In a word, He was in all points tempted like as we are; and if we resort to Him, we shall find him ready to listen to our tale of lamentation and woe.

Let the distressed believer draw from the sympathy of Christ, the consolation which the precious truth is so peculiarly adapted to impart. Although he is now exalted in the heavenly places far above all principalities and powers — yet he can sympathize with his suffering people still.

"Though now ascended up on high,
He bends on earth a brother's eye;
Partaker of the human name,
He knows the frailty of our frame.

Our fellow-sufferer yet retains
A fellow feeling of our pains;
And still remembers in the skies,
His tears, his agonies, and cries.

In every pang that rends the heart,
The Man of sorrows had a part;
He sympathizes with our grief,
And to the sufferer, sends relief."

Let us also think of the power of Jesus, as well as his sympathy. In earthly friends, these two qualities are not always united. There are many to whom we might repair in our distress, who clearly show that they feel for us; but it is beyond their power to relieve us from our difficulties. Were they able to assist, we have that confidence in them that they would; but, alas! they cannot. Here, however, is a Friend, whose ability is equal to his sympathy. Not merely can he feel — but he can help; not merely can he sympathize — but he can support and deliver. And it is the combination of both, which affords us such encouragement in going to tell Jesus of all our sorrows.

We have a striking proof of this in the Savior's dealings with the family of Bethany. The two sisters were sorely distressed on account of the sickness of their brother. And what did they do in their trouble? They went and told Jesus. They did not do so personally, it is true; but they sent a short and simple message to him, saying, "Lord, behold, he whom You love is sick."

The message was not attended to as soon as they expected; and, like the mother of Sisera, how anxiously would they be looking out for his return, saying, "Why is he so long in coming?" But the Lord's time is always the best. The delay was for the more striking manifestation of the glory of God, and that the Son of God might be glorified thereby. At length Jesus appears; and oh! what a combination of tender sympathy and Almighty energy did he display! With touching simplicity it is said, "Jesus wept." It appears to have been a weeping scene throughout; for Mary and Martha wept, and the devout Jews who came to comfort them wept, and Jesus also wept. Such was his deep sympathy with the devoted sisters whom he loved. But sympathy was not all. He had said a short time before, "I am the resurrection and the life: he who believes in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live; and whoever lives and believes in Me, though he were dead, yet shall he live; and whoever lives and believes in Me shall never die." And he was now going to establish his claim to that high character. And hence, after commanding them to remove the stone, he cried with a loud voice, "Lazarus, come forth!"

The command was at once obeyed. The corpse begins to move. The current of life instantly rushes through his veins. The rigid muscles relax. The stiff limbs become pliant. The powers of nature resume their usual functions. The eyelid is upraised; and instead of that dim and heavy eyeball which it before concealed, the bright index of intelligence beams forth; and he who was dead moves forward to salute his enraptured sisters and his astonished friends. Such was the power of Christ — a power by which he conquered death in his own dark dominions; so that the spectators of this amazing scene might have exclaimed —
"O death, your bands are burst asunder now,
There stands beside the grave a mightier power than thou!"

We do not mean to say that we have any grounds for expecting any such miraculous manifestation of power as that which was here given. The age of miracles is past. The Savior's power is, however, as great as it ever was; and if not in miraculous, yet in truly marvelous ways is it often exerted still. You downcast believer, fear not then to acquaint him of your wants and distresses. Say to him, Lord, if you will, you can remove my load; you can scatter the dark clouds which have gathered over me, and turn even the shadow of death into a gladsome morning.

We may again refer to the promise of Christ. He has assured his people that he will support them; He has given them his word that he will graciously interpose on their behalf. We have thus . . . .
His sympathy, which disposes him to help;
His power, which enables him to help; and
His promise, which binds him to help.

The time would fail us to go over those exceeding great and precious promises which, as a rich legacy, he has bequeathed to his people. One is, "Fear not, for I am with you; be not dismayed, for I am your God! I will strengthen you; yes, I will help you; yes, I will uphold you with the right hand of my righteousness." Another is, "Call upon me in the day of trouble."

It matters not what the trouble may be, whether bodily trouble, or spiritual trouble, or family trouble, or church trouble, or national trouble. Each and all are embraced; and the assurance given is, "I will deliver you — and you shall glorify me." And so with many more which encourage us, whatever our difficulties and distresses may be — to go and tell Him of them. Call upon him, then, O afflicted, tossed with tempest, and not comforted — call upon him, and the blessed consequence will be that you shall, not merely obtain mercy, but find grace to help in time of need.

We see, from what has been said, that the believer has a refuge in distress, and we see what that refuge is. False refuges, there are in abundance — refuges of lies! O reader, never, never, repair to any of them! Let others go to the world, to its amusements and pleasures — hoping to forget their sorrows there. Let others go and tarry at the wine, and mingle strong drink — seeking to drown their sorrows there. Let others go to the haunts of superstition, to penances and pilgrimages — to seek relief there. On the contrary, be this your language, "Lord, to whom shall we go, but unto You?" In reference to all other sources of relief, it can be said, "Miserable comforters are you all! But in repairing to Jesus, the result will be unspeakably blessed; for he gives beauty for ashes, the oil of joy for mourning, and the garments of praise for the spirit of heaviness.

And so with the convinced sinner. Do you feel your inward wretchedness? Are you mourning over your manifold transgressions? Are you convinced that the world, and the things of the world, can never make you happy? If so, go and tell Jesus! Abundant encouragement have you from his tender sympathy, his boundless power, and his unfailing promise, to do so. O apply to him, then, and peace and pardon will be yours!

The Holy Mount

"Sweet the moments, rich in blessing,
Which before the cross I spend;
Life, and health, and peace possessing,
From the sinner's dying Friend!

Here I sit, with transport viewing
Mercy's streams, in streams of blood;
Precious drops, my soul bedewing,
Plead and claim my peace with God."

"The place which is called Calvary." Luke 23:33

No spot connected with the Savior's history, can be devoid of interest to the Christian. Every place which he honored with his presence, is consecrated ground. And often does the believer, in the exercise of faith and of devout meditation, visit the scenes which are associated with the life and labors of his incarnate Lord. He thus often repairs to Bethlehem, and with the eastern sages he presents his gifts, and with the angelic hosts he pays his homage to the Holy Child. He visits Bethany beyond the Jordan, where he was baptized, and as often as he does so, he hears the voice proclaiming from the excellent glory: This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased. He visits Tabor, where the Redeemer's countenance beamed like the sun, and where his clothing was white and glistening. And so with Bethany, where, retired for a while from the noise of the busy world, the Savior enjoyed, with the family whom he loved, the sweets of hallowed communion.

But over and above such places, there is one which has to the Christian an interest all its own — it is "the place which is called Calvary." And there we would now conduct the reader, and may the visit not be in vain! Calvary was a small eminence on the north-west of Jerusalem, a short distance outside the city. The name, which signifies a skull, or the place of a skull, was given to it, either because its shape resembled that part of the human frame; or, which is more probable, because of the skulls which lay scattered there, it being the place where criminals were generally executed. The evangelists frequently call it Golgotha, a word of the same meaning — Golgotha being the Hebrew, and Calvary the Latin term.

But it is in connection with the sufferings and death which the Savior there endured, that we have now to regard this memorable place. And that we might have, in some measure, a realizing view of the sorrowful scene, let us imagine ourselves to be present on the occasion, to witness all that is transpiring:

There is the crowd rushing out through the gates of the holy city. It is a motley throng, and various are the emotions of those who compose it. There are priests and scribes, with a smile of triumph on their countenances; but there are others, especially a group of females, on whose cheeks may be discerned the big tears flowing down. The Roman soldiers, with their gleaming helmets, and their waving plumes are there, some of them heading the procession, and others marching to and fro, for the purpose of preventing any tumult or disorder. But the chief object of interest in the dense throng is One in the center, of whose person we can catch an occasional glance, as the multitudes pass hither and thither. We can see his dress; he has on a long flowing robe, girded about his loins, a robe without seam from top to bottom. He carries a large piece of crossed wood upon his shoulders, and wears on his head an unusual ornament, even a crown of thorns. He appears exceedingly faint, as if ready to sink under the heavy burden he bears; so much so, that, fearing lest he should die on the way, the cross is taken from his shoulders, and a certain stranger, whose color proclaims him to be an African, is made to carry it in his stead. But though faint, he is perfectly composed; and while the females behind him are lamenting his fate, he chides their sorrows, saying to them, "Weep not for me, but weep for yourselves, and for your children."

The summit of the mount, the appointed place of execution, is at length reached. And there the Roman guards are busily engaged in keeping the crowd back, that an open space might be left for the executioners to perform their duty. The first thing they do is to strip the holy sufferer of his garments, and that is done in the rudest and roughest manner. His body, it will be perceived, is quite raw, and streaming with blood from his recent scourging. In this state he is thrown down upon his back on the cross which is laid on the ground, and his hands and feet are nailed thereto. Iron spikes, strong enough to bear the weight of a man's body, are hammered through them — through nerves and tendons, and the most sensitive parts of his frame. The wood is then uplifted, while the lower end is sunk into a hole which has been dug for the purpose; and the sufferer appears a spectacle of shame and agony — naked, wounded, and bleeding, before the thousands who are assembled together.

The death of the cross was distinguished by two peculiar features. In the first place, it was shameful and ignominious. It was a punishment inflicted upon none but slaves, and those criminals who had committed the most enormous crimes. The degradation it involved appears from the fact that Cicero, in one of his orations, brings it as a most solemn charge against a certain Consul, that, unawed by the majesty of the Roman Commonwealth, he had caused a Roman citizen to be nailed to the cross. "It is an outrage," is his language, "to bind a Roman citizen; to scourge him is an atrocious crime; to put him to death is almost parricide; but to crucify him — what shall I call it?" And yet that death, with all its infamy, did the Son of God endure!

But it was, secondly, a death preeminently painful. It appears to have been devised, with savage ingenuity, to cause as much suffering as possible. Hence the vital parts are left untouched; the wounds are inflicted upon the extremities of the body, iron spikes being driven, as we have seen, through the hands and feet; while the poor sufferer has to hang in a position which admits of no change or rest, and burning inflammation works its way gradually to the seat of life. It was doubtless a death painful in the extreme; so much so, that the strongest term we have for expressing intense agony, the term excruciating, is derived from it.

In addition to the shame and suffering of the cross, the Savior while stretched thereon, was mocked and reviled in the most inhuman manner. Those who passed by, while wagging their heads, in mock imitation of his convulsive agonies, addressed him in the language of sarcastic scorn. "You who destroy the temple," did they say, "and build it in three days, save yourself. If you are the Son of God, come down from the cross. Likewise also the chief priests mocking him, with the scribes and elders said, "He saved others, himself he cannot save. If he is the King of Israel, let him come down from the cross, and we will believe him. He trusted in God, let him deliver him now if he will have him; for he said, I am the Son of God. The thieves also who were crucified with him, cast the same in his teeth." He had thus to bear the contradiction of sinners against himself; he had to endure the cross, with all its insults, and all its shame.

The scoffs of the Savior's enemies at his crucifixion, have been repeated by their infidel successors in every age. Thus Celsus, one of the earliest and most violent of the adversaries of Christianity, after representing Christ as despitefully treated, arrayed in purple robes, crowned with thorns, and nailed to the tree, asks, "Why, in the name of wonder, does he not now act as God, and hurl his vengeance on the authors of his insults and agonies? Any madman on earth, or fury in Hell, is capable of anger and revenge!"

If it be the glory of a man to pass by a transgression, and the noblest triumph to overcome evil with good, then he died gloriously beyond all example.

But the outward sufferings which the Savior bore on Calvary were nothing, when compared with his inward sufferings. His bodily agonies, as great as they were, were as light as a feather, in comparison with the agonies of his soul. The sufferings of his soul — were truly the soul of his sufferings. But of those sou-lsufferings, what can we say? We may, in some measure, describe what was going on without — but who can describe what was passing within? We may describe the derision of the Jews — but who can describe the desertion of his Heavenly Father? We may describe the soldiers spear — but who can describe the arrows of the Almighty? We may describe the nails piercing his sacred flesh — but who can describe eternal justice piercing both flesh and spirit? We may describe the cup of vinegar which he tasted — but who can describe the cup of wrath which he drank to its lowest dregs? We may describe the accursed tree on which he hung — but who can describe the curse of the law which made it so? In such an attempt language fails, and it is felt how poor is thought, and how impotent are the most emphatic representations. Truly, his soul-sufferings are unfathomable!

We have regarded "the place which is called Calvary" as one of shame and suffering; but there are many other aspects in which it may be viewed. It is a place of conflict and victory, for He spoiled principalities and powers and made a show of them openly, triumphing over them on the cross. It is a place of heavenly instruction. The truth of God's word is there confirmed; all the attributes of his glorious character are there manifested; the way of salvation is there opened. It is a place of blessed consolation. It was at the cross that Bunyan's pilgrim lost his burden; and it is there, and there only, that our mourning can be turned into joy. Reader, would you have your heart softened, and your love inflamed? Go to Calvary, to gaze on the wondrous spectacle which is there presented. While so doing let your language be,
"Was it for crimes that I have done,
He groaned upon the tree?
Amazing pity! grace unknown!
And love beyond degree!"

It is also a place to which we should repair in order to learn our obligations, and where, by feeling and acknowledging them afresh, we should resolve, by the help of his grace, to devote ourselves unreservedly to his praise. We there see what he has done for us, and there we should ask ourselves in return: What are we doing for him? While prostrate at the foot of the cross, our language should be that of the awakened persecutor, "Lord, what will you have me to do?"

And the sinner should pay a visit there. The Son of God is bleeding and dying for you. And can you still rebel against him? Can you continue to despise his offered grace, and neglect so great salvation? O that his matchless love might subdue your stubborn will, and draw your affections to himself!

The Covenant of Grace

"Since you, the everlasting God,
My Father have become;
Jesus, my guardian, and my friend.
And Heaven my final home.

Your covenant in the darkest gloom
Shall heavenly rays impart,
Which, when my eye-lids close in death,
Shall warm my chilling heart."

"He has made with me an everlasting covenant, ordered in all things and secure; for this is all my salvation and all my desire." 2 Samuel 23:5

The Scriptures inform us that God has entered into a covenant with his Son; who is called the Mediator of the new covenant. The language of Christ as the covenant Head of his church is, "All whom the Father gives me shall come unto me; and him that comes to me, I will never cast out."

But God enters into an engagement, which is expressed by the same term, with each of his people. "I entered into a covenant with you," is his language, "and you became mine." This covenant, every believer lays hold of; its gracious terms he embraces; and, as the blessed consequence, God becomes his God; a covenant relationship is formed between them; a relationship which neither life nor death can destroy.

In entering into a covenant with man, the condescension of God strikingly appears. This is evident if we consider, in the first place, his INFINITE GREATNESS. If one who is a little exalted in the world becomes familiar with those who move in the lower walks of life, it is looked upon as a great thing. But what is the distance between the loftiest prince and the meanest peasant — when compared with the distance that exists between God and us! He is the high and lofty One who inhabits eternity; and for him to enter into a covenant with poor dust and ashes — who can conceive the amazing condescension which such an act involves!

If we think, in the second place, of the HOLINESS of God, his condescension will appear still greater. Not merely does the infinitely great God make a covenant with poor, insignificant man — but the infinitely holy God makes a covenant with sinful and rebellious man. In the old covenant God had to do with man as a creature; but in the new covenant, the covenant of grace, he has to do with him as a sinner, which makes the condescension far more amazing.

And then, in the third place, there is the ALL-SUFFICIENCY of God. Though he is thus great and holy, yet he does not require our services — as the mighty of this world stand in need of the services of their inferiors. To this the Psalmist shall reply. "O my soul, you have said unto the Lord, You are my Lord" — here the covenant relationship is declared. But what of that? Can you be of some great value to him in consequence? Not so; for it is instantly added, "My goodness extends not to you." All the goodness, all the benefit is on the other side. Our goodness, truly, extends not to God — but unless his unmerited goodness is extended to us, we shall be undone forever. O that his condescension may have its due influence upon our minds! "But why am I so favored, that the mother of my Lord should come to me?" was the language of Elizabeth. How much more may the believer say, "But why am I so favored, that the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ should not merely come to me, but enter into a gracious covenant with me?"

This covenant is variously represented in the sacred records. It is called an EVERLASTING covenant. In its CONTRIVANCE, it is so. It is in time, that the believer lays hold upon it; but it existed before the foundations of the hills were laid. "I have loved you with an everlasting love; therefore with loving kindness have I drawn you." And it is everlasting in its CONTINUANCE. All its blessings reach beyond the bounds of earth and time, and will enrich their possessors forever and ever!

It is also a covenant ORDERED in all things. Everything pertaining to it is properly arranged. There is nothing redundant, incongruous, defective. It is perfectly harmonious in all its parts, and fully adapted to accomplish the great ends designed. It is a covenant, consequently, in which the infinite wisdom of its adorable Author conspicuously appears.

There are two leading desires in the heart of every believer. One is that God's name may be glorified, and the other that his own soul may be saved. He cannot be satisfied with the one, without the other. To desire the glory of God, in his own destruction is impossible; and to desire his own salvation in a way that would dishonor God, is equally so. But, oh! to have some contrivance whereby both objects might be accomplished — whereby God may be glorified, and his own salvation secured. Now such a contrivance is that of which we are speaking. It is so ordered as to harmonize the glory of God, and the well-being of man. Hence when the wondrous plan was announced by angelic messengers, they spoke of "Glory toGod in the highest," in connection with "peace upon earth and good-will to men."

And it is an arrangement which secures, not merely that one of the divine perfections should be glorified — but that they should all shine with united luster. Had God damned the world for its sins, his justice would have been infinitely glorious, for it would be nothing but what the world deserved; but mercy in that case could not make her appearance. On the other hand, had God saved the world in its sins — that is, had he granted pardon to sinners without any satisfaction being rendered to that holy law which they had violated; his mercy would then be glorified, but by such an act, justice would be under an eternal cloud. But, oh! wondrous plan! Here mercy and truth meet together, righteousness and peace kiss each other. Here God appears a just God, and a Savior; he is just, while the justifier of those who believe in Jesus.

Another feature belonging to this covenant is its SURENESS — a feature which should lead the soul to repose with full confidence upon it. That such is its character, is evident from the fact that God is its author. On this, the Psalmist lays the greatest stress. "He," the rock of Israel, who is not a man that he should lie, nor the son of man that he should repent, "He has made with me an everlasting covenant, ordered in all things and secure; for this is all my salvation and all my desire."

This truth is strikingly set forth by the Apostle Paul, when addressing the Hebrews. They had to suffer much on account of their attachment to Christ and his cause; therefore, he endeavors to console them under the painful circumstances in which they were placed; and it is by directing their thoughts to this unfailing covenant that he did so. "When God made his promise to Abraham, since there was no one greater for him to swear by, he swore by himself, saying, "I will surely bless you and give you many descendants." And so after waiting patiently, Abraham received what was promised. Men swear by someone greater than themselves, and the oath confirms what is said and puts an end to all argument. Because God wanted to make the unchanging nature of his purpose very clear to the heirs of what was promised, he confirmed it with an oath. God did this so that, by two unchangeable things in which it is impossible for God to lie, we who have fled to take hold of the hope offered to us may be greatly encouraged. We have this hope as an anchor for the soul, firm and secure. It enters the inner sanctuary behind the curtain, where Jesus, who went before us, has entered on our behalf. He has become a high priest forever, in the order of Melchizedek." Hebrews 6:13-20

Such were the Apostle's sentiments; sentiments which had yielded support and consolation to his own soul, and which he could therefore recommend with full confidence to others.

Yes, it is a covenant that is sure. All its blessings, all its promises, all its consolations — are sure. He who rests his hopes upon it, shall not be ashamed nor confounded, world without end. With unfaltering assurance can he sing,

"My God, the covenant of your love,
Abides forever sure;
And in its matchless grace I find,
My happiness secure!"

How great then is the blessedness of true believers! God says, "I will be their God — and they shall be my people." 2 Corinthians 6:15. This is a promise in which every other is included. Sometimes God says to the Christian, I will be your strength, your righteousness, your deliverer, your shield, your reward; but these are nothing but modifications of the former. Believer! endeavor to realize something of the blessedness involved in having God for your God. For this purpose think of the representations he gives of himself in his word. Think of him in all the perfections of his nature — in his unsearchable riches — in his unspeakable glory — in his omnipotent power — in his universal dominion — in his spotless purity — in his eternal veracity — and, above all, in his infinite grace and mercy. And having viewed him thus, you may venture to say, with unwavering faith and adoring gratitude, "This God is my God forever and ever, and he will be my guide even unto death!" Psalm 48:14

From God's everlasting covenant, let all our consolation be drawn. It was from this source that David drew his; and hence he calls it all his salvation, and all his desire. And no wonder, for he found in it, everything he required. And what he found in it — we may find. Here is . . .
supply for every exigency,
the pardon we require for our innumerable offences,
the grace that can reach to the extent of our unworthiness,
the fountain in which we can be washed from all our stains, peace for the troubled conscience,
hope that makes not ashamed,
victory over sin, and death, and Hell,
a present Savior, a powerful Advocate, an everlasting Friend!

Should we not make it, then, all our salvation, and all our desire?

In seasons of sorrow or distress, whether in mind, body, or estate; whether arising from the condition of our families, as it was with David, or whatever its, nature may be; we should especially repair for consolation to this blessed covenant. It was to those who were tossed with tempest, and not comforted, that God applied the consolations of his covenant through the Prophet Isaiah: "For a small moment have I forsaken you; but with great mercies will I gather you. In a little wrath I hid my face from you for a moment; but with everlasting kindness will I have mercy on you, says the Lord your Redeemer. For the mountains shall depart, and the hills be removed, but my kindness shall not depart from you, neither shall the covenant of my peace be removed, says the Lord that has mercy on you.'

In every sorrow, then, let us rejoice in this well-ordered, this sure, this unfailing covenant. If we are the people of God, it is at once our duty and our privilege to do so.

Those who are strangers from the covenant of promise are in a fearful condition. They have no hope, and they are without God in the world. To be uninterested in God's covenant, is the concentration of all miseries into one. But He is willing to receive returning prodigals, and take them into a covenant relationship with himself. "Ho, every one that thirsts, come to the waters, and he who has no money, come you, buy and eat; yes, come, buy wine and milk without money and without price. Why do you spend money for that which is not bread? and your labor for that which satisfies not? Hearken diligently unto me, and eat you that which is good, and let your soul delight itself in fatness. Incline your ear and come unto me: hear, and your soul shall live; and I will make an everlasting covenant with you, even the sure mercies of David." Reader, this blessedness will be yours, if you hear the voice of God, submit to the terms of God, and make an unreserved surrender of yourself to God. O be persuaded so to do, and that without delay.

Divine Mercies Called to Mind

"Only fear the LORD, and serve Him in truth with all your heart; for consider what great things He has done for you." 1 Samuel 12:24

The things which God did for his ancient people were, in some respects, more marvelous than what he is doing for his people now. Yet his interpositions on our behalf, call for our devout contemplation, and our fervent praise. He has, truly, done great things for us; and we should be guilty of the basest ingratitude if we permitted —
"The wonders he has wrought,
To be lost in silence, and forgot."

Let us think of what he has done for us in his providential dispensations. The reader may remember the language of good old Jacob, a short time before his death, when blessing his son Joseph. "And he blessed Joseph and said unto him, God, before whom my fathers Abraham and Isaac walked; the God who fed me all my life long unto this day, bless you and your children." How touching the representation which he here gives of that great and gracious Being, whose benediction he now implored on behalf of his favorite son! He speaks of Him as the God who fed him all his life long until that day. Chequered had been the course of this patriarch's pilgrimage. It was not with flowers that his path had been strewed. And yet this is the testimony he gives to the divine goodness and care, now that that pilgrimage was about to close. And can not you, O Christian, raise up a similar Ebenezer? Has not he who fed Jacob, fed you? Are not you a living demonstration of the truth of the promise, "Your bread shall be given you, and your water shall be sure!"

O look back upon the past years of your life — have they not been all years of mercy? How many days of peace and comfort have you enjoyed? Through how many nights of ease and security have you passed, when, sunk in the arms of repose, there was no one to keep you, but he who keeps Israel, who never slumbers nor sleeps? And every night has he kept you — every night has he given charge to his angels concerning you. Have you enjoyed health? It was God who gave it. Have you been visited with sickness? It was he who gave that too; but, oh! how light was the stroke, and how short was its stay! From the bed of languishing he raised you up, and brightened your pallid countenance with the bloom of returning health! In reviewing many a long year, can you not say, God never forgot me, for a single day, during them all. My life, he has spared; my needs, he has supplied; my poor labors, he has blessed. Truly goodness and mercy have followed me, from the drawing of my first breath even to the present hour.

How truthful, as well as graphic and touching, are the well-known strains of the poet:

"When all your mercies, O my God,
My rising soul surveys;
Transported with the view I'm lost,
In wonder, love, and praise!

Your providence my life sustained,
And all my wants redressed,
When in the silent womb I lay,
And hung upon the breast.

Unnumbered comforts to my soul
Your tender care bestowed,
Before my infant heart conceived
From whom those comforts flowed.

When in the slippery paths of youth
With heedless steps I ran;
Your arm, unseen, conveyed me safe,
And led me up to man.

When worn by sickness, oft have you
With health renewed my face;
And when in sins and sorrows sunk,
Revived my soul with grace.

Ten thousand thousand precious gifts
My daily thanks employ,
Nor is the least a cheerful heart,
That tastes those gifts with joy.

Through every period of my life
Your goodness I'll pursue;
And after death, in distant worlds,
The glorious theme renew!

Through all eternity to you
A joyful song I'll raise;
But oh! eternity's too short
To utter all your praise!"

But, after all, what are God's providential interpositions, when compared with those of his grace! Christian, what has he done for you, as the God of salvation? Did he not send his Son to suffer, bleed, and die for you? And can you tell how great a thing that was? Think of the dignity of the person he sent — not one of those bright seraphs which surround his throne — but One who is co-equal and co-eternal with himself. Think of the unspeakable glories he possessed before the worlds were made. Think of his infinite condescension in assuming our nature, and that in its very lowest form, sin only excepted. Think of the unknown agonies he endured in the garden and on the cross. O think of these things, and then say, if you can — what great things were done for you!

Had we a realizing view of this glorious subject, our language would be, "Herein is love, not that we loved God, but that he loved us, and sent his Son to he the atoning sacrifice for our sins!" He sent him, not as a mere ambassador to make known his will; not merely to tell us of mercy if we repented, and of a blessed immortality if we returned to him from whom we had wandered; not merely to present a perfect pattern of obedience for our imitation; but he sent him to be an atoning sacrifice; to bear our sins, as well as to carry our sorrows; to pay to divine justice the dread penalty which we had incurred.

But what, Christian, has God done for you in his grace? Not merely has he sent his Son to die in your stead, but he has made you a personal partaker of those blessings which flow from his atoning work! What has he done for you? He has blotted out your sins from the book of his remembrance; he has regenerated your sinful nature, and made you a new creature in Christ Jesus; he has destroyed the enmity of your carnal mind, and shed abroad his love in your heart, by the Holy Spirit which he has given you; he has delivered you from the tyranny of Satan, and translated you from the kingdom of darkness into the kingdom of his dear Son; he has, in a word, reconciled you to himself, justified you freely by his grace, adopted you into his family, and given you a name and place in his house, better than that of sons or of daughters!

The account given by the Evangelists of the demoniac is highly instructive, and may be applied to illustrate our present subject. He was possessed with an unclean spirit, and had his dwelling among the tombs. Such was his ferocity, that he burst the chains which bound him in sunder, and no man could tame him. There he was crying out in doleful strains, and cutting himself with stones night and day, among the tombs and in the mountains. But one day Jesus came to that coast, and, coming in contact with this miserable object, he displayed his power over Hell and her legions, by commanding the evil spirit to depart. His orders were instantly obeyed; and he who had been so long tormented, was now seen sitting at the feet of Jesus, clothed and in his right mind.

In a short time, the Savior set out to depart from the place; but to this the poor man could by no means give his consent, not, at least, unless he should accompany him. "And when He got into the boat, he who had been demon-possessed begged Him that he might be with Him. However, Jesus did not permit him, but said to him, "Go home to your friends, and tell them what great things the Lord has done for you, and how He has had compassion on you. And he departed and began to proclaim in Decapolis all that Jesus had done for him; and all marveled." Mark 5:18-20

Christian, have you not in this history a type of your own? Was he possessed with an evil spirit? So were you; you were under the power of Satan, and led captive by him at his will. Did he dwell among the dead? So did you. Although now among the living, you were once sitting in darkness and the shadow of death. Was he in a state of utter wretchedness, naked, houseless, friendless? And was it not so, spiritually, with you? Were you not wretched, and miserable, and poor, and blind, and naked? But a mighty and glorious change has been effected, and that by Him who performed the miracle of which we have been speaking. And to you would we say, Go and tell what great things the Lord has done for you, that your friends and companions may be led to marvel at the miracle of mercy which has been wrought.

In connection with this subject, how appropriate is the question, "How much do you owe unto your Lord?" How much reverence, how much homage, how much gratitude, how much service, how much love? While contrasting your condition with that of thousands around you; and while regarding what God has already done as the pledge of all he will yet do, in the boundless future which stretches before you — you may well inquire what returns you should yield for such matchless benefits!

God's Care for His People

"Casting all your care upon him; for he cares for you." 1 Peter 5:7

"What you shall today provide,
Let me as a child receive;
What tomorrow may betide,
Calmly to your wisdom leave.
'Tis enough that you will care,
Why should I the burden bear?

As a little child relies
On a care beyond its own;
Know's he's neither strong nor wise,
Fears to stir a step alone;
Let me thus with you abide,
As my Father, Guard, and Guide."

That God cares for his people is a truth capable of the most abundant confirmation. It may be clearly inferred from the general care which he has for all his creatures, even the feeblest and most insignificant. The Lord is good to all, and his tender mercies are over all his works. The eyes of all wait upon him, and he gives them their food in due season; he opens his hand, and satisfies the desire of every living thing. He gives to the beast his food, and to the young ravens which cry. However disregarded by men, he whom the Heaven of heavens cannot contain, cares for them, and that with a constant care.

Now, from the general care of God for these lower creatures, with what confidence may we infer his special care for his people, who are his by so many close and tender ties! This argument is urged by the Savior in one of the earliest of his discourses, in a very beautiful and conclusive manner. We refer the reader to the latter part of the sixth chapter of Matthew. The representations which are there given, and the inferences which are there deduced, are cheering in the highest degree. "Look at the birds of the air, for they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns; yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they?" Matthew 6:26

Are the birds of the air fed? Do they find their food provided by a hand which they cannot recognize? Does He who gave them being, and who has assigned to them their appointed place in the ranks of creation, supply their daily needs, so that none of their species perish for lack of sustenance, but continue, from age to age — a standing monument of his providential goodness? And will he feed his birds — and starve his children? Will he care for the one — and neglect the other? It cannot possibly be! The Savior refers to their comparative value, and asks, "Are you not of more value than they?" You are rational creatures, spiritual creatures, immortal creatures, yes, redeemed creatures — and therefore unspeakably more important than they are. If he then cares for them — oh! will he not care for you?

"Which of you by worrying can add one cubit to his stature? So why do you worry about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin; and yet I say to you that even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. Now if God so clothes the grass of the field, which today is, and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will He not much more clothe you, O you of little faith?" Matthew 6:27-30

And as regards clothing, only look at the lilies — observe how they grow — into what grace and beauty; and though they neither toil nor spin, yet so splendidly are they adorned, that Solomon himself, in all his pomp and glory, was not arrayed like one of these! And if God so clothe the lilies — shall he not much more clothe you, O you of little faith?

In connection with the above consideration, we may refer to the relationship that exists between God and his people. He is their Father — and they are his sons and daughters. Now a kind father has it in him, as a natural instinct, to care for his children. His heart is set upon helping, supporting, directing, comforting, and blessing them. Such a concern has he for their well-being, that scarcely any sacrifice is deemed too costly by which that concern shall appear in practical manifestation. And should his concern for them be repaid by nothing but ingratitude, as, alas! is often the case — yet even this cannot destroy his affections and feelings.

And if earthly fathers care for their children, will not our heavenly Father care for his? If they are full of concern for their offspring — then is it to be supposed that He, who implanted those kindly principles in their hearts, can be unconcerned about his offspring? Can that be in the stream — which is not in the fountain whence the stream, flows?

In the discourse to which we have already alluded, the Savior strikingly refers to this point: "Which of you, if his son asks for bread, will give him a stone? Or if he asks for a fish, will give him a snake? If you, then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children — how much more will your Father in Heaven give good gifts to those who ask him!" Matthew 7:9-11

How clearly and forcibly is the principle we have stated, applied here! Are there any of you, he asks, so cruel, so destitute of natural feeling, as to refuse what your children crave from you, or to give them instead what would be useless or injurious? On the contrary, will not your hearts be drawn out to them in the tenderest concern, and be disposed to meet, as fully as you can, all their wishes? "If you then being evil" — possessing a nature that is corrupt at best, and having therefore much imperfection cleaving to all your doings, "If you, then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children — how much more will your Father in Heaven" — in whom no defect exists — in whom nothing in the shape of imperfection can be found, "how much more shall He give good gifts to those who ask him!" To the question — How much more? Our reply is: As much more as God is higher, and holier, and better, and kinder than man — so much more will he grant all needful things to those who ask him.

That God cares for his people appears, in a manner the most conclusive — from what he has done for their redemption. And what has he done in connection with this great object? He has done that which fills Heaven with amazement, and that which will fill unending ages with praise. O mighty mystery of unexampled love! He gave the Son of his bosom, the brightness of his glory, and the express image of his person, whom all the exalted intelligences of Heaven delighted to honor and adore — he gave him to suffer, bleed, and die, in their stead. Oh! could he have done, could he have given more?

Now the giving of his Son to die for his people, clearly proves that everything else shall be given them that they really require. "He who did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all — how will he not also, along with him, graciously give us all things?" Romans 8:32. As infinitely dear as that Son was, yet he spared him not, but delivered him up to pain and reproach, to unparalleled sufferings, and to an excruciating and ignominious death. This was truly a proof, a proof altogether overwhelming, of the greatness of God's regard for us! And

"Since his own Son for us he gave,
 What else can he withhold?"

Is not the bestowal of the greatest favor — an ample guarantee for the bestowal of those which are less? Is not the unspeakable gift of his only-begotten Son a sure pledge, an unfailing earnest, of every other gift that can contribute to the Christian's well-being?

And it is not his soul only, which is redeemed — but also his body. As both soul and body are forfeited by sin, so both are ransomed by the Savior. "What! Do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God? You are not your own; you were bought at a price. Therefore honor God with your body." 1 Corinthians 6:19-20. The body and spirit are his, and that not merely by creation, but redemption. Both are bought, and therefore with both, the Apostle shows, should God be glorified. Now if the bodies of the saints are thus the purchase of the Savior's priceless blood, it cannot be supposed that even their needs will be disregarded.

We may observe, once more, that God's care for his people appears from his actual dealings with them in all ages. He has done great things for them; things which we cannot contemplate without exclaiming, "Who is a God like unto you? — a God who does wonders!" Have they been afflicted with sickness? He has said to diseases, to plagues and pestilences, Go! — and they have gone at his orders. Have they been oppressed with poverty? He has furnished them with angel's food; he has given them manna from Heaven from day to day; he has even sent the voracious ravens to feed them. Have they been thirsty? He has commissioned his servants to strike the flinty rocks; and streams of water have abundantly flowed. Have they been lodged in dungeons? He has sent his angels to deliver them; and their fetters have fallen off, and the iron doors of their prisons have opened of their own accord. Have they been in perils of waters? The winds and waves have obeyed his voice; he has merely said, Peace, be still! — and the roaring winds have been hushed, and the proud billows have at once been calmed. Have they been exposed to ravenous beasts? He has stopped the mouths of lions. Have they been cast into burning fiery furnaces? He has quenched the violence of the flames, and enabled them to walk in the midst thereof, uninjured and undismayed.

These are some of the great things which God wrought for his people in former generations. With truth could the Psalmist say, "Our fathers trusted in you, and you delivered them: they cried unto you, and were delivered; they trusted in you, and were not confounded."

Such miraculous interpositions, it is true, are not now to be expected. But although the age of miracles is past, God frequently interposes still in behalf of his people in ways truly marvelous. And hence all the wonders he performed of old are adduced by the inspired writers, as so many arguments to lead us, upon whom the ends of the world are come, to put our trust in Him as the Lord Jehovah, in whom there is everlasting strength!

Child of God, in all your circumstances however peculiar, in all your difficulties however great — cast your care upon your heavenly Father! Do so, as the saints of old did, by a spirit of implicit confidence in him. "Trust in the Lord, and do good; so shall you dwell in the land, and truly you shall be fed. Delight yourself also in the Lord, and He shall give you the desires of your heart. Commit your way to the Lord" — or, as the margin reads, "Roll your way upon him" — implying that the burden may be so heavy that it cannot be carried; all that can be done is to roll it. "Roll then your burden upon the Lord; trust also in Him, and he shall bring it to pass; and he shall bring forth your righteousness as the light, and your judgment as the noon day." Psalm 37:3-6

And with a spirit of trust, connect a spirit of prayer. "Do not be anxious," inordinately "about anything; but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known unto God. And the peace of God which passes all understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds, through Christ Jesus." O blessed man! who thus casts all his anxieties upon God, by earnest and constant prayer to him. Peace, perfect peace will he enjoy. Every irritating passion, and every corroding care, will be allayed. The soul will be serene and calm — as calm as the sea upon a fine summer's evening. The storms will be all hushed, and the golden beams of the great Sun of Righteousness will be shining in heavenly radiance upon it. Reader, may such a blessed state of mind, in life and death, be yours!

The Robe of Righteousness

"But whatever was to my profit, I now consider loss for the sake of Christ. What is more, I consider everything a loss compared to the surpassing greatness of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things. I consider them rubbish, that I may gain Christ and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ — the righteousness that comes from God and is by faith." Philippians 3:7-9

"No more, my God, I boast no more
Of all the duties I have done;
I quit the hopes I held before,
To trust the merits of your Son!

The best obedience of my hands
Dares not appear before your throne;
But faith can answer your demands,
By pleading what my Lord has done."

It is said of all the unregenerate, that they are without a saving interest in him — without love to him, faith in him, or any longing after him. This is the state of nature; and an inconceivably fearful state it is. Those who are without Christ are without hope, and without God in the world.

We read of others that they are "with Christ." That is the state of the perfected spirits in the abodes above. In their happy experience, the Savior's intercessory prayer is answered, "Father, I will that those also whom you have given me, be with me where I am; that they may behold my glory which you have given me."

But between these two, there is an intermediate state — the state of grace; the distinctive feature of which is, that all its subjects are in Christ. And it befits us to be fully assured of this, that none but those who are in Christ here — shall dwell with Christ hereafter.

The principal thing involved in being found in Christ, is a vital union of the soul with him. Our connection with our first progenitor is set forth by the same expression. The whole human family are represented as being in Adam. He was their covenant head, and what he did in performing or transgressing the conditions of the covenant which God made with him, was done, not in a personal, but public and representative capacity. Hence the curse and condemnation, in consequence of his disobedience, became ours. "For as by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin; so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned."

Now of a similar nature is the connection, between Adam and his seed as that which is formed between Christ and his seed. "For as in Adam all die; even so in Christ, shall all be made alive." "For as by one man's disobedience many were made sinners; so by the obedience of one, shall many be made righteous." We have thus fallen in virtue of our union with the one, and can only be restored through our union with the other.

This doctrine of the union between Christ and believers prominently appears in the Scriptures. It is there repeatedly shown that they are so in him, that they are said to have done what he did for them. When he died — they died with him; when he was buried — they were buried with him; when he rose again — they rose again with him; and when he ascended to Heaven — they ascended with him.

"God," says the Apostle, "even when we were dead in sins, has quickened us together with Christ, and raised us up together, and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus." In harmony with this, are the many passages in which the Savior is shown to identify himself with his people. He who touches them — touches the apple of his eye. When the members are wounded on earth — the Head feels it in Heaven: "Saul, Saul, why persecute you Me?" In opposing those despised followers of mine — you are, however unconsciously, opposing Me. And so with the views given of the judgment of the great day. "I was hungry — I was naked — I was sick — I was in prison; and forasmuch as you did it unto one of the least of these my brethren — you did it unto Me."

Of all important things, to be savingly united to Christ is the most important. This will appear if we only think of what a saving interest in him secures. It secures our deliverance from condemnation; it secures our acceptance with God; it secures, in a word, our full and final salvation. It is to this that the words before us have immediate reference. The Apostle was now in a state of grace, and had been for many years; and yet he says, "That I may know him, and the power of his resurrection, and the fellowship of his sufferings, being made conformable unto his death; if by any means I might attain unto the resurrection of the dead" — or that full perfection both of soul and body which all the saints shall then enjoy.

But an interest in Christ secures our present acceptance, as well as our final salvation. And in no other way can this blessedness be attained. Paul had once thought otherwise, and there are many who think otherwise still. There is a natural bias in the heart of man, which leads him to seek acceptance by the works of the law, or by his own deeds and deservings. Bunyan, aware of such a bias, in his matchless allegory, represents Christian, in an early stage of his pilgrimage, as coming in contact with a Mr. Worldly Wiseman. Ascertaining the distress that Christian was in, he said to him, "In a village, not quite a mile from this place, there resides a person whose name is Legality; upon application to him, he will relieve you of your burden, and remove the pain which it occasions you. His practice in this way is considerable, and his success has been very great. The name of the village is Morality; and as the houses there are very cheap, and many of them now unoccupied — it would be advisable for you to send for your family, and to settle there. Provisions also are cheap and good, the neighborhood is respectable, and you may live in credit and good fashion." In his distress, Christian listened to Worldly Wiseman's advice, and complied with his directions. But he had not gone far before he had bitterly to bewail his folly, and call himself a thousand fools, for having done so. He expected nothing but instant destruction when he came to that terrific mountain, from whose summit lightnings were flashing, and at whose base earthquakes were heaving. He sweat profusely, and quaked for fear, thinking that the mountain which projected above his head, would have fallen upon him, and crushed him into a thousand atoms. He was met, however, by Evangelist, who, restoring him from his wanderings, again pointed him to the Wicket Gate.

Now it is with many still, as it was with this pilgrim. They look to the law for peace, but they look in vain. From Sinai there is no voice to be heard but the dread anathema, "Cursed is every one that continues not in all things which are written in the book of the law, to do them." How welcome then to those who are almost sinking under the burden of their guilt, must be the glad tidings of the gospel, which tell of Him who is the end of the law for righteousness to every one who believes. To have an interest in Christ will be regarded by such a one, as all his salvation, and all his desire. He will have but one prayer to offer, and that prayer will be, "That I may win Christ, and be found in him, not having my own righteousness."

The reason why our righteousness is unavailing, is because of its imperfection. Nothing less than sinless obedience, will the law of God accept. Now the Savior's obedience was perfect. It was perfect in respect to every individual precept; nothing was committed by him, which was forbidden — and nothing omitted, which was required. It was perfect in respect to the principle from which it flowed — his heart was altogether right, being full of love to God and love to man. It was perfect in respect to the ends at which he aimed — his eye being simply fixed on the divine glory and our good. It was also perfect in respect to its constancy and perseverance — there being nothing of fits and starts, nothing of occasional ardor, followed by seasons of lukewarmness; but there was a holding on, through every toil and trial, until he exclaimed on the cross, "It is finished!"

If any proof of the fact, that the obedience of Christ was a perfect obedience, were required — what ample proof might be produced!

Ancient prophets testified of his spotless purity, saying, "that he had done no violence, neither was any deceit in his mouth."

Angelic messengers, descending from the skies to announce his incarnation, proclaimed to his virgin mother, "That holy One who shall be born of you, shall be called the Son of God."

"I do always those things which please the Father," he could say of himself; and again, "The prince of this world comes, and he has no claim on me."

His Apostles, ever and always, represent him as being "holy, harmless, undefiled, and separate from sinners."

Even his most inveterate enemies, who were brimful of prejudice against his person and claims, when they received the challenge, "Which of you convinces me of sin?" had nothing to do but hold down their heads in shame and silence.

Judas, who had been thoroughly acquainted with his most secret privacies, having been behind the scenes from the beginning, under the agonies of bitter remorse, exclaimed, "I have sinned, in that I have betrayed the innocent blood."

His judge Pilate, too, who with a singular mixture of weakness and inconsistency pronounced his doom, and delivered him up to death, declared, "I find no fault in this man."

Pilate's wife also, in great distress of mind, came to the judgment seat, saying, "Have you nothing to do with that just man, for I have suffered many things this day in a dream because of him."

The centurion likewise, who presided over the crucifixion, on witnessing the strange convulsions which had seized universal nature, cried out, "Truly this was a righteous man."

And finally, even fallen spirits from the nether spheres, acknowledging his supremacy, were forced to confess, "We know you who you are, the Holy One of God!" It is thus abundantly manifest, that the Savior's character was altogether stainless, and, consequently, that his obedience was perfect and complete.

But with the perfection of that obedience which he rendered during his life — we are to connect the wondrous scenes connected with his sufferings and death, when he gave himself as an offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweet smelling savor. He who knew no sin — who was free from the least taint of moral pollution — was made sin for us. By a strange and mysterious transfer, our sins were charged against him; our iniquities were laid upon his holy head. But this first transfer was made, that a second transfer might follow; for as the blessed consequence of our transgressions becoming his, through faith in his name — his perfect obedience becomes ours. The glorious outcome of his being made sin for us is, that we might be made the righteousness of God in him!

Reader, what are your feelings in reference to what Jesus did and suffered? Can you say with Paul, "Yes, doubtless, and I count all things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord; for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and do count them but dung, that I may win Christ and be found in him?" Is he your life, your hope, your refuge? Is his cross, your crown; his love, your great attraction; his glory, the supreme object of all your pursuits?

O how blessed is the present state, and how inconceivably glorious are the future prospects of the believer!
His person is accepted in the Beloved;
his life is hid with Christ in God;
to his charge, nothing can be laid;
his sins are purged in the Lamb's atoning blood;
to all the glories of Heaven, he has a rightful title; and there he will be presented before long — without spot, or wrinkle, or any such thing. Such being the case, he may well join in the song of triumph, and say with the church of old, "I will greatly rejoice in the Lord; my soul shall be joyful in her God; for he has clothed me with the garments of salvation, he has covered me with the robe of righteousness, as a bridegroom decks himself with ornaments, and as a bride adorns herself with her jewels." Or in the sweet strains of the poet, he can join in singing —

"Jesus, your blood and righteousness,
My beauty are, my glorious dress;
'Midst flaming worlds in these arrayed,
With joy shall I lift up my head.

When from the dust of death I rise,
To claim my mansion in the skies;
Even then shall this be all my plea,
Jesus has lived and died for me!"

God's Darling Attribute

"Though my sins as mountains rise,
And swell, and reach to Heaven;
Mercy is above the skies,
And I shall stand forgiven!

Mighty is my guilt's increase,
But greater is your mercy's store;
Love me freely, seal my peace,
And bid me weep no more."

"Unto you, O Lord, belongs mercy." Psalm 62:12

The mercy of God may be viewed, in order to having a correct view of its nature — in relation to those kindred attributes which are more immediately connected with it. It may be especially considered in reference to the love and grace of God. In the second chapter of the epistle to the Ephesians, we find the three strikingly linked together; although it is evident that the Apostle regarded them as distinct. "Rich in mercy", "his great love" — and "the exceeding riches of his grace."

The LOVE of God signifies his good-will towards those who are the objects of his choice, and the special delight and approbation with which he regards them. The GRACE of God signifies that the objects of his favor are altogether undeserving — that there is nothing in them to merit the blessings they enjoy. But the MERCY of God denotes, not merely that its objects are undeserving, but also that they are in a state of misery and wretchedness. Grace, in a word, is love to the undeserving — and mercy is love to the miserable.

The mercy that belongs unto God possesses several striking properties.

It is a mercy which is SOVEREIGN in its source. The language of God to Moses was, "I will be gracious to whom I will be gracious, and I will show mercy to whom I will show mercy" — that is, I will do it how and when I please, according to my own will and pleasure.

The exercise of divine justice differs materially from that of divine mercy. In the former there is no sovereignty displayed. Justice requires that every sin should be punished. Were God in any case to treat sin with impunity, he would cease to be what he is — the infinitely perfect Jehovah, the just governor of his universe — and there would be an end of his moral government, which consists in ruling his intelligent creatures according to a law of perfect rectitude, holiness, and truth. The existence of sin is a sufficient reason why punishment should be inflicted; but the existence of misery is no reason why mercy should be dispensed, for misery is richly deserved as the just consequence of sin. God would have been the infinitely perfect Ruler of the universe — if he had never extended mercy to a single sinner; and this will be his character when thousands and millions will be adjudged to endless punishment on the last day.

God's mercy is also BOUNDLESS in its nature. Hence we read of God being plenteous in mercy; and of his keeping mercy for thousands, forgiving iniquity, transgression, and sin. There is a fullness in the divine mercy which is inexhaustible. It is an ocean without a bottom or a shore!

Its greatness will appear if we think of the sins which it pardons. Take the guilt of a single individual. Who can form a proper estimate of the crimes he has committed, in their number, their hideous nature, and their awful aggravations! If we daily sin against God — and his word declares that we do, either in thought, word, or deed — oh! what must be the total amount of guilt contracted during the course of a long life? "To write down the pardons," says an old writer, "which have been granted to one heir of salvation — would soon tire the hand of the strongest archangel!"

And if the sins of one of the redeemed are so innumerable; if the errors of a single individual cannot be computed; what must be the sins of those countless myriads whose robes have been washed, and made white in the blood of the Lamb! And yet all those sins, divine mercy has pardoned! How boundless then must its nature be. Every saved sinner can say,

"My sins are many, like the stars,
Or sands upon the shore;
But yet the mercies of my God,
Are infinitely more!"

And then God's mercy is PERPETUAL in its duration. The mercy of man is, at best, but frail and fleeting; but the mercy of God is like himself — it is immutable, eternal, and divine! The Psalmist makes this mercy, the theme of his almost constant adoration; and there is no feature of it which he more devoutly celebrates, than its continuance. "As for man, his days are like grass, he flourishes like a flower of the field; the wind blows over it and it is gone, and its place remembers it no more. But from everlasting to everlasting, the LORD's mercy is with those who fear him, and his righteousness with their children's children —  with those who keep his covenant and remember to obey his precepts." Psalm 103:15-18

"Mercy," it has been strikingly observed, "dwelt in the bosom of God from eternity; it glowed in his sacred breast countless ages before the first seraph was formed. At the dawn of time, when the morning stars sang together, and the sons of God shouted for joy — it appeared in our lower world. It entered the garden of Eden, and dwelt there with our first parents. It followed them from Paradise, when they were expelled from its peaceful bowers on account of their sin, and supported their drooping spirits by the promise of One who would appear to regain their lost inheritance. It was an inmate with Noah and his family in the ark. To the patriarchs it was exhibited in a manner the most gracious and benign. It was with Joseph in Egypt — with Elijah in the desert — with the poor widow when the barrel of meal wasted not, and when the cruise of oil did not fail. It attended the ark of God during its wanderings in the wilderness. It settled with the Israelites in Canaan, and followed them to the land of their captivity. It appeared again in all its glory, when, in the fullness of time, God sent forth his Son. It was seen in all the lessons he taught — in all the miracles he performed — and especially, in the sufferings he endured, and the death that he died! Since then, nearly twenty centuries have rolled away, but mercy has not taken its flight. It has shed its rays over thousands and millions of benighted souls — their despairing spirits, it has gladdened — their broken hearts, it has bound — their misery, it has removed — their dying chamber, it has irradiated with celestial brightness — and they have gone down to the silent grave in the blessed hope of seeing it again. And see it again, they shall! On the morning of the resurrection, its notes will be heard in the archangel's trumpet. On the day of judgment, it will shine with rays that will eclipse the brightness of the sun, for its triumphs will be then displayed before assembled worlds. And in those Heavenly mansions to which the redeemed will then be conducted, mercy will reign forever. It will shine in the celestial diadem with unfading radiance, while endless ages will be rolling their mighty rounds!"

What should the feelings of the believer be, in contemplating this mercy! God has, according to his abundant mercy, visited him; he has plucked him out of the horrible pit, and the miry clay; he has set his feet upon a rock, and established his goings. He knows, by happy experience, that to the Lord belongs mercy — pardoning mercy, renewing mercy, preserving mercy, preventing mercy, comforting mercy. With what propriety then, may he adopt the strains of the Psalmist, and exclaim, with a heart full to overflowing, "Bless the LORD, O my soul; And all that is within me, bless His holy name! Bless the LORD, O my soul, And forget not all His benefits: Who forgives all your iniquities, Who heals all your diseases, Who redeems your life from destruction, Who crowns you with lovingkindness and tender mercies!" Psalm 103:1-4

O how great the blessedness of the individual who can say with the Apostle, "But I obtained mercy!" Paul had been a persecutor and blasphemer, but he was made a trophy of God's mercy, that He may be feared. And the feeblest believer can exult, as he exulted, in the possession of the same precious blessing.

Reader, have you scriptural grounds for concluding that you have obtained mercy? Then you have nothing to fear. Have you obtained mercy? Then there will be no sting in the last enemy for you; no terrors at the judgment bar; no exclusion from Him in whose favor is life; no lake of fiery woe; no doleful shadows where hope and rest can never come. But there will be indescribable blessedness — a blessedness which it has not entered into the heart of man to conceive. Eternal happiness, eternal purity, eternal peace, eternal liberty, eternal love, eternal life — will be your portion. O happy man! who, with humble confidence, and adoring gratitude, can exclaim, "I obtained mercy!"

But if the reader has not obtained mercy, his state is an awful state, and his prospects are inconceivably fearful prospects. To have no mercy from God, is to have no shelter from the storm of wrath that is coming; it is to have no friend in the time of the most urgent need; it is to have no support in the hour of death, and no plea to offer on the day of judgment; it is to have no security in time, and no hope for eternity. You may have riches, and talents, and, perhaps, many amiable qualities; but the solemn fact of having no mercy from God, will render the possession of such things unavailing.

We have, however, something to say to you besides telling you of the dreadfulness of your state, and the danger to which you are exposed. We have to tell you that mercy may still be obtained. To the God, against whom you have rebelled, there belongs mercy; and from no returning prodigal will his mercy be withheld. The gracious language of his word is, "Let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts; and let him return to the Lord — and he will have mercy upon him; and to our God, for he will abundantly pardon." O seek that mercy through Jesus Christ. Cry with the publican, "God, be merciful to me a sinner!" Draw near thus to the Divine footstool, and you will not be frowned upon, nor driven empty away!

Confidence in Christ

"Jesus, my God! I know his name,
His name is all my trust;
Nor will he put my soul to shame,
Nor let my hope be lost.

Firm as his throne his promise stands,
And he can well secure
What I've committed to his hands,
'Till the decisive hour."

"I know whom I have believed, and am persuaded that He is able to keep what I have committed to Him until that Day!" 2 Timothy 1:12

The sufferings of the Apostle Paul were truly great. His whole life was almost one unvaried scene of persecution. But what were his feelings under the multiplied and protracted distresses which he had to endure? His own language clearly shows: "For which cause I also suffer these things; nevertheless I am not ashamed." As if he had said: Never have I felt a single pang of regret in consequence of the path I have pursued, and the object to which my life has been devoted.

And what was it that supported his mind, and enabled him to rise superior to all the difficulties to which he was exposed? It was the fact that he knew whom he had believed, and the full persuasion he felt that Jesus was able to keep what he had committed unto him, against the great day. It was his unwavering confidence in the Lord Jesus which inspired his soul with such feelings.

Believing in the Savior is variously represented in the scriptures; and by attending to those representations we may be materially assisted in ascertaining whether we truly believe in him or not. It is represented as coming to Christ: "Jesus said unto them, I am the bread of life; he who comes to me shall never hunger, and he who believes on me shall never thirst." It is here clearly shown that coming to Christ, and believing on him, signify the same thing. His gracious invitation is, "Come unto me, all you who labor and are heavy laden; and I will give you rest." Have we then listened to his voice? Have we gone on our bended knees to his footstool, earnestly supplicating the blessings he has promised to bestow?

Believing is also represented as receiving Christ. "He came to his own, and his own received him not; but as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to those who believe on his name." He is freely offered in the gospel as an Almighty Savior; but the great point is: Have we embraced him in the face of those offers?

Believing is again represented as committing the soul to his care and keeping. Such is the view given in the passage before us. Now the question is, Have we done so? Have we made an unreserved surrender of ourselves unto Him? Has our language been, and is our language still —

"Here, Lord, I give myself away,
 'Tis all that I can do!"

It is evident that the Apostle regarded believing in Christ, and committing his soul to the keeping of Christ, as synonymous; or, if not actually identical, yet so closely connected, that the one may be taken as a sure indication of the other.

Having thus committed his spirit into the Savior's hands, he felt, in consequence, that he had nothing to fear. As if he had said, Whatever may be the fate of this perishable body — my deathless soul is in secure custody. My soul is in the hands of Him who sits upon heaven's throne, and who has at his belt, the keys of death and Hell. My soul is in the hands of Him who can crush my adversaries to the dust; who can break them as with a rod of iron, and dash them in pieces like a potter's vessel. My soul is in the hands of Him who has all power in Heaven and on earth; and therefore my mind is at ease. Come what may, my life is hid with Christ in God!

O how blessed, how truly enviable a state! Reader, are you fearful that such a state is not yours? If so, be persuaded to do what the Apostle did — commit your soul, with all its vast concerns, into the Savior's hands; and then you will be safe — safe in life, safe in death, and safe forever. By committing the keeping of your soul unto Him in well doing as unto a faithful Creator, you will realize the blessedness that Paul enjoyed.

The importance of this matter may be shown by a familiar illustration. Let it be supposed that we had to travel through a certain country, which was infested with robbers, and that we carried with us a jewel of inestimable value. Suppose that the robbers knew of us, and that they lay in wait to take away our life, that they might become possessed of our treasure. Suppose, as we were about entering on our journey, that some distinguished personage, who had power to repel every attack, should offer us his guidance and protection; and that he promised to take charge of our jewel, and guaranteed to deliver it up to us in safety when we reached the place of our destination. Now if we had full confidence in him, with what joy would we accept his proposal, and how would we rejoice in the prospect of arriving at the end of our journey in safety, with our treasure uninjured and secure!

The application is obvious. We are traveling through the wilderness of this world. We carry about with us a gem more costly than all the gems of the East put together. That gem is the never-dying soul. There is a mighty One who offers his assistance; it is Jesus Christ, who asks us to commit our gem to his care, and who promises that it shall be kept secure. And all who accept of his offer will find him fully qualified for the task he has undertaken. Reader, accept of his offer, and then to whatever danger you may be exposed, all will be well.

But the Apostle's faith had special reference to a certain period, which he emphatically calls "that day." He looked forward to it because then his faith would receive its full accomplishment, even the salvation of his soul. He looked forward to it because the great object of his faith would be revealed in all the glories of his Godhead, to his ineffable satisfaction, and unspeakable joy. It will be the day of the revelation of Jesus Christ, in prospect of which believers are exhorted to gird up the loins of their minds, to be sober and hope to the end for the grace which will then be brought to them. And he looked to it because his own character would be cleared, and his enemies be brought to see that the opprobrium they had cast upon him, was cast upon his great Master; who will then publicly vindicate his insulted majesty, and make it manifest to assembled worlds, that no weapon formed against him shall prosper.

And so with the whole family of the redeemed. They are all looking forward to that day. It will be the day of their complete redemption — the day of their full acquittal from every charge. What must have been the emotions of the Jews looking forward to their Jubilee! How frequently would they be thinking of it! How ardently would they long for it! Now what the Jubilee was to the Jews — that the day of the revelation of Jesus Christ will be to his people. Should they not then be looking for that blessed hope, and the glorious appearing of the great God, and our Savior Jesus Christ? When the Apostle says, that "the Lord himself shall descend from Heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trumpet of God," there is evident allusion to the Jubilee. As the sounding of the Jubilee trumpet was the signal for the captives to be released from their bondage; so at the judgment trumpet will the whole body of the faithful be released from the captivity of the grave; their forfeited inheritance will be fully restored; and being caught up to meet the Lord in the air, they shall dwell eternally with him.

Tried and afflicted child of God, look forward to that day! Is your cross hard to be borne? There will be no trace of it on that day. Are your storms many? They will all have been blown away on that day. Are your enemies malicious and powerful? They will all be vanquished on that day. Lift up your head therefore, and rejoice in the blissful prospects which are before you; and reckon, as did the distinguished individual whose words we have been considering, that "the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which will then be revealed!"

The Future Blessedness of the Believer

"Content, obscure, I pass my days
To fame and rank unknown,
And wait till you your child shall raise,
And your adopted own.
No name, no honor, here I crave,
Well pleased with those beyond the grave.

When Christ, in robes divinely bright,
Shall once again appear,
You, too, my soul, shall shine in light,
And his full image bear!
Enough! I wait the appointed day;
Blessed Savior! haste, and come away."

"Beloved, now we are children of God, and it has not appeared as yet what we will be. We know that when He appears, we will be like Him, because we will see Him just as He is." 1 John 3:2

We have here a striking view given of the future condition of the believer. That view is two-fold, namely, negative and positive. The former is in beautiful harmony with the many analogies employed by the sacred writers when setting forth the coming glory of the saints. The Christian's state on earth is that of childhood — but his future state will be that of perfect manhood. A child is weak, ignorant, inexperienced; but what he may eventually become no one can tell. Think of those who have risen to eminence in the church and the world. Think of our Luthers, our Baxters, our Owens, our Howes — of our Bacons, and Newtons, and Miltons — of them it might have been said in their childhood and youth, that it did not yet appear what they would be. Some indications of genius might, it is true, have early appeared, which betokened that they were destined to become something; but what that would be did not, until the full development of their powers, become apparent. And so with the Christian. He is now a child — he thinks, speaks, and acts as a child; but the period will arrive when he shall attain to the complete manhood of his being. It is, however, at present unrevealed what that manhood will be.

Let us think again of the hour of early dawn. Who could infer from it, if otherwise uninformed, what will follow in the course of not many hours? The few faint rays which streak the eastern horizon afford no indication of that flood of living splendor which is diffused over the fair face of creation, after the monarch of day has fully emerged from his chamber, and is careering his majestic course in the skies. Let a person, if we could suppose such a case, who was altogether ignorant of what was coming, be conducted to some mountain summit to gaze upon the scene to which we have referred. As he witnessed the break of day, he could not but exclaim, How beautiful! Yes, might his companion say to him, beautiful indeed! — but it does not yet appear what it will be. As the day gradually advanced — as the sky became tinged with a ruddy glow, the beauty would become more apparent, and the admiration of the observer become more intense; but still it does not appear what it will be. He must wait until the noon-day, when the shining orb will be seen in all his pomp and splendor, pouring forth the fullness of his beams on every hand, filling all nature with smiles, and clothing her with the richest beauty.

Well, just so with the Christian. "The night," says the Apostle, "is far spent, and the day is at hand." It has already dawned. But as no conception can be formed from the natural dawn of the splendor of the natural day; so no conception can be formed from the spiritual dawn of the splendor of the eternal day. The difference in the one case is but a faint emblem of the difference in the other. We should magnify the name of our God and Savior for the dawn, it being the prelude and pledge of day: but what that day, in its meridian splendor, will be, does not now appear.

To these analogies others of a similar kind might be added. Such as that of winter in contrast with the beauties of the coming spring; such as that of the stream, in the insignificance of its source, in contrast with the majestic river, bearing stately vessels upon its broad bosom; and such as that of the paltry hamlet in contrast with the mighty city, commanding, like ancient Rome, the destinies of the world.

The negative view here given evidently arises from the greatness of the glory to be revealed. "It does not yet appear what we shall be;" it being so surpassingly glorious that no representation can adequately set it forth. Well may it be said, "That eye has not seen, nor ear heard, neither has it entered into the heart of man to conceive — what God has prepared for those who love him!" The eye has seen many wondrous things; it has seen all the wonders of the ancient and modern world. The ear, again, what has it not heard? It has heard the most enchanting sounds, and the most ravishing melodies, and the music of the spheres. But the mind, above all, what cannot enter there? What cannot the heart of man imagine? It can imagine, what no language can express; to give utterance to its amazing conceptions, the most emphatic strains are altogether inadequate. But what God has prepared for his people, infinitely transcends the loftiest imaginations of the most soaring and seraphic minds.

But although there is so much that is unknown, yet all is not unknown. While, in reference to not a little that pertains to the future blessedness of the believer, we are profoundly ignorant; there is something we know notwithstanding — and what that is the Apostle, under the influence of the inspiring Spirit, reveals. "We know that when He," the great Head, "appears, we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is!"

The first thing here specified, is full conformity to the image of Christ, "We shall be like him." O wonderful words! And having such an assurance, we need not complain that so many things are hidden from us. We ought to be satisfied to remain in ignorance concerning them, since we are thus so explicitly assured concerning this.

To aspire after conformity to Christ should be the believer's great object here below. He is called upon to have the same mind in him which was also in Christ Jesus, who has left us an example that we should follow his steps. It is said of a certain Grecian mother, that when Alexander the Great was passing by, with his gleaming helmet and waving plumes, followed by his captains and guards, that she raised up her child in her arms, and exclaimed, "There, my child, that is Alexander, and you must be another such as he!" Well, similar to this is the language of God's Word to us in reference to the great Captain of our salvation. It says, "There is Jesus — and you must be another such as he!" There he is . . .
in his spotless purity,
in his submission to the Divine will,
in his lowliness of mind,
in his deadness to the world,
in his unwearied compassion and benevolence, going about doing good continually — and you must be another such as he!

Now the true Christian cannot be unconcerned about complying with such a call — about aspiring after the imitation of such an example. He feels that, as a follower of Christ, he ought to possess the mind of Christ. But alas! as he looks at the perfect pattern on the one hand — and his own blotted, disfigured copy of it on the other — he deeply feels that shame and self-abasement befit him! Great indeed, as far as the most eminent saint is concerned, is the disparity between the one and the other.

But, O sweet thought! when Jesus shall appear, we shall be like him! The outline which, through divine mercy, is marked here, but which, in the very best, is faint and feeble in the extreme, will then be filled up, and the coloring will be complete. We shall be as pure as he is pure, and as perfect as he is perfect. The resemblance will be entire — as entire as their respective natures and capacities will admit of.

A full view of the glory of Christ, is connected with conformity to his blessed image. There is such a thing as beholding the Savior's glory on earth. And among the many feelings which have a place in the heart of all true believers, there is not one more powerful than that which leads them to say with those of old, "Sir, we would see Jesus!" Nor is the wish altogether ungratified. There are times when they can say, whether in the public means of grace, or in their more private exercises, "We have seen his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth." But what is seeing him by faith on earth — compared to seeing him with open face in Heaven! Here the vision is obscure; there it will be clear and unclouded. Here it is only in occasional glances; there it will be uninterrupted forever and ever.

Think then, O child of God, of the view here given of the blessedness that awaits you. You shall see the Savior as he is! Not as he was — a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief — the object of human hatred, the victim of human scorn — mocked, buffeted, crowned with thorns, covered with the scarlet robe, and pierced with the soldier's spear. But you shall see him as he is — in the beauty of his person, and in the dazzling splendors of his throne — with ten thousand times ten thousand, and thousands of thousands of angels and archangels, bowing before him, and hymning his praise! And what, oh what will that be? The time, however, is coming, if you are one of those who see him by faith here, when you shall know what it is by blessed experience. You shall know what it is "to see the King in his beauty, and to behold the land that is very far off." You shall know what it is "to behold his face in righteousness, and to be satisfied when you shall awake with his likeness!"

Such are the chief elements of the future blessedness of the saints, as here set forth. They will be fully conformed to the image of Christ, and they will be favored with a complete view of the glory of Christ. And there is a close connection between the one and the other, for the Apostle represents the latter as the cause of the former. "We shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is." The vision will be transforming! It will be the perfection of that gracious process which is commenced here, to which another Apostle refers, when he says, "But we all, with open face, beholding 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."

There is, however, another connection referred to — a connection upon which all we have stated will depend. It is that between our present state and our future prospects. The question: What is our present state? is of all others the most important. "Beloved, now are we the sons of God," the Apostle could say, when speaking of himself and of his Christian companions. Reader, is that your character. If not, be assured that you have no part nor lot in this matter. O examine yourself with the view of ascertaining whether you are in the faith — whether you truly are one of the accepted and adopted children of God or not.

If you are fearful that such is not the case, and if you are anxious to be of the number of those who have God for their Father and Friend — allow the word of exhortation, while we endeavor to point out the way whereby you may be brought to the possession of that glorious relationship. "He was in the world, and the world was made by him, and the world knew him not: but as many as received him, to them he gave power to become the sons of God, even to those who believe on his name." O then receive Jesus Christ as he is freely offered in his word — receive him as your prophet, as your priest, and as your king. His gracious language is, "Behold, I stand at the door, and knock; if any man hears my voice, and opens the door, I will come in to him, and will sup with him, and he with me."

May God grant that your instant response may be, "Come in, blessed of the Lord; why do you stand outside?" Do this, and instead of being an alien — you will become a friend; from being a stranger and foreigner — you will become a fellow-citizen with the saints, and be adopted into the family of Heaven.

Finally, let the Christian exult in the blessedness of his present state, and of his future prospects. Here is sufficient to support the mind in every scene of sorrow. Here is sufficient to animate us to the performance of the most arduous duties. Here is sufficient, whatever be our outward circumstances, to reconcile us to the divine will. Here is sufficient to keep us from coveting the condition of the most prosperous of the children of this world. Whatever they may be able to say, of their treasures and dignities, of their pompous titles and large estates, of their high birth and noble pedigrees — let us be satisfied, and more than satisfied, if we can truly say, "Beloved, now we are children of God, and it has not appeared as yet what we will be. We know that when He appears, we will be like Him, because we will see Him just as He is!"

Look and Live!

"Look upward in the dying hour,
And live, the prophet cries.
But Christ performs a nobler cure
When faith lifts up her eyes."

"And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of man be lifted up, that whoever believes in him should not perish, but have eternal life." John 3:14, 15

The scheme of salvation, as revealed in the gospel, as strange as it may appear, is opposed by many on account of its simplicity. They suppose that there is something great and arduous to be done by them, in order to secure their eternal well-being. When it is said to them, "Only believe!" they seem confounded, and are ready to exclaim: Can that be all that is needed? It is true that the enjoyment of the divine favor is a blessing so transcendently momentous, that no effort should be thought too great to procure it. Were the requirements of the various false systems of religion binding upon us — however painful and self-denying, however expensive and inconvenient — yet we ought cheerfully to comply with them all, if by so doing, we could propitiate an offended Deity, and obtain the remission of our sins. Were we required to set out on a pilgrimage to Rome, to kiss the feet of his Holiness, the vicar of Christ, the viceregent of God, the infallible Head of the only true and infallible church; were we required to take a voyage to the distant continent of India, in order to wash away our spiritual pollutions in the sacred streams of the Ganges River; were we required to journey across the Arabian desert, even to Mecca, for the purpose of paying our homage to the great prophet; in a word, were we required to go to the uttermost ends of the earth to seek an answer to the all-important question, "With what shall I appear before the Lord, and bow myself before the high God?" — so vast are the interests which are at stake that, without any consultation with flesh and blood, such toils and travels would at once be undertaken.

But that is not required. There is no need to ask "Who shall go over the sea, and bring it unto us, that we may hear it, and do it? For the word is near you, even the word of faith which we preach; that if you shall confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus, and shall believe in your heart that God has raised him from the dead, you shall be saved."

Thus while many are disposed to say, with Naaman of old, that they expected to be called to do some great thing; it may be observed in reply, in the language of his servant, that if they had, would they not have done it? How much more then should they be ready to comply when they are exhorted merely to "Wash and be clean!" — when they are simply directed to believe, and be saved!

God's thoughts are not as our thoughts, nor his ways as our ways. Hence the children of men in all ages have neglected the plan of salvation which God has devised — and have had recourse to some scheme of their own. But it would be well for those who reject the counsel of God, to consider what the consequences are likely to be. Of one thing we should be well assured, that the blessings which God bestows are only to be obtained in his own way.

Take the case of the Israelites when bitten by the fiery serpents. Moses was commanded to set a serpent of brass upon a pole in the midst of the camp; and those who were bitten were told that if they only looked at it, that they would at once be cured. But let it be supposed that someone among them should reason with himself somewhat as follows: Of what use can this strange contrivance be? I cannot see what connection there is between my looking at this serpent of brass, and obtaining the promised relief. Why cannot I address myself personally to God? If I cry to him in sincerity, I will be far more likely to succeed than in this way. To do so would be more rational in itself, and more consistent with proper views of the character of Him, who is rich in grace, and plenteous in mercy. I will arise and go to him. I have sinned; I am suffering; I am dying. But I will approach even to his seat; I will prostrate myself before him; I will entreat him to forgive the iniquity of my sin, to ease me of the pains under which I groan, and remove this awful malady which has seized me.

Now, such an one might go, and do as he had determined; but is it likely that God would hear him? Most assuredly not. The poison would continue to burn through his fevered frame; and even while wrestling with God in prayer, he might die — and his death would be nothing but what his impious rejection of God's plan, and his pertinacious adherence to his own — richly deserved.

But while he thus perished, another, quite as ignorant as he of the reason and adaptation of the appointment, but who believed the testimony respecting it — would look at the brazen figure, and looking, he would live. Honoring God's method, God would honor him, and bless the means for the accomplishment of the end designed. O reader, beware of setting yourown wisdom against the wisdom of God. Submit to his plan; comply with his conditions — and salvation, rich, full, free, overflowing, everlasting, will be yours!

When referring to the lifting up of the serpent in the wilderness as an emblem of the lifting up of himself upon the cross, the Savior says, "That whoever believes on him should not perish, but have eternal life." As those who were bitten among the various tribes, were cured by the mere act of turning their languid eyes to the one — so those who are bitten by the "old serpent" will be healed by looking with the eye of faith upon the uplifted Jesus.

To the command of "Look and live," there was no limit — for "it shall come to pass that every one who is bitten, when he looks upon it, shall live;" neither is there any limit to the command, "Believe and be saved." "That whoever believes" — oh, sweet word! Whoever — let him he the humblest peasant — or let him be the highest prince; whoever — let him be learned — or let him be barbaric; whoever — let him be young — -with the ruddy glow of health upon his cheeks, and with his limbs full of vigor — or let him be sinking under the infirmities of declining years; whoever — let his outward character be fair and decorous — or let his whole life be stained with immoralities the most revolting, with crimes and excesses the most degrading. Blessed be God for this word whoever — a word full of hope and encouragement!

The writer may fill it up with his name; the reader may fill it up with his. Each may fill it up with each; all may fill it up with all. Here none are excluded but those who, in their unbelief and impenitence, willfully exclude themselves. We bid you then, reader, to look to Jesus! He is able to save to the uttermost — and "who but a God can tell how far the uttermost of a God can go!"

Do you want some proof of his power? Think of David, who was guilty of the double crime of adultery and murder. Think of Manasseh, that cruel idolater, who made his children pass through the fire unto demons, and led the Israelites to the commission of the vilest abominations. Think of the thief who reviled him even in death, but who, notwithstanding, was taken at once from the ignominy of the cross, to the joys of Paradise. Think of Saul of Tarsus, who, from a blasphemer and persecutor, became one of the brightest ornaments of that faith which he once endeavored to destroy. These, and countless myriads besides, furnish indubitable evidence to the truth of the character ascribed to him as One "mighty to save."

Is the reader conscious of his danger, and concerned about being delivered from the wrath to come? There is only one quarter from which the light of hope can dawn upon his dark and benighted soul. When we think of such an one — in himself altogether helpless and miserable, laden with guilt, covered with pollution, bound under the chains of sin, a rebel against God, an outcast from his favor — to what object can such a character turn his eyes? If he looks upward, God — that God whom he has so often offended, meets his wandering eye. If he looks downward — Hell from beneath seems ready to enclose him in its quenchless flames. If he looks back upon the past, his sins, more numerous than the hairs of his head, stare him in the face, and cover him with confusion. If he looks onward, the great white throne appears; the day of judgment, with all its unutterable terrors, torments him before the time; the sentence of damnation appears to sound upon his ears, while his awakened conscience, with unbribed fidelity, acknowledges the justice of that fearful and final doom.

O! there is one object, and only one, in the wide universe to which he can turn, and that object is Jesus, the bleeding Lamb of God, who died on the accursed tree, the just for the unjust, the sinless for the sinful, by whose stripes all our wounds may be healed, and in the fountain of whose atoning blood, our filthiest offences may be washed away!

To Him, then, as the only, but all-sufficient Savior, let us be constantly looking. If we resort to some other refuge — it will be a refuge of lies. If we build upon some other foundation— it will be a foundation of sand. If we cherish some other hope — it is a hope that will perish. There is salvation in no other, neither is there any other name given among men, whereby we can be saved.

Let the reader, therefore, beware of neglecting "the salvation which is in Christ Jesus." While so many judge themselves unworthy of everlasting life, and are thus guilty of a foolish mistake which will require eternity to comprehend, and eternity to deplore; be it yours, on the contrary, to comply with the gracious call, "Look unto me, and be saved, all the ends of the earth; for I am God, and there is no other!"

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