FROM THE LIBRARY OF 
 REV. LOUIS FITZGERALD BENSON, D. D. 
 
 BEQUEATHED BY HIM TO 
 
 THE LIBRARY OF 
 
 PRINCETON THEOLOGICAL SEMINARY 
 
 
 EXPORT BOOKSEUERS 
 32. GAY STREET 
 
 • H 
 

 
 
 
 Digitized by the Internet Archive 
 in 2013 
 
 http://archive.org/details/twelveafcOOfisk 
 
TWELVE 
 
 ASPECTS OF CHRIST; 
 
 
 PREPARATORY TO THE 
 
 3 1937 
 
 M NT H L Y COM M UNION; 
 
 (Original Spats, SJeJtttatioits, attb J^ragers. 
 
 BY THE REV. GEORGE FISK, LL.B. 
 
 PREBENDARY OF LICHFIELD. 
 AND MINISTER OF CHRIST CHAPEL, ST. JOHN'S V.'OOD. 
 
 ; Christ is all, and in all."— Colos. iii. 11. 
 
 LONDON: 
 SAMPSON LOW & SON, 47, LUDGATE HILL. 
 
 1853. 
 
LONDON: C. RICHARDS, 100 ST. MARTIN S LANE. 
 
iCoolnne, unto |jesns, 
 
 IX COMMUNION. 
 
 WHEN THOU REJOICESTIN THE SABBATH-DAWN, 
 
 SEND THY SOUL UPWARD TO THY RISEN LORD, 
 
 AND HAIL HIM AS THE THROND INCARNA1 E WORD,— 
 
 THE RICH, FULL FOUNTAIN FROM WHOSE DEPTHS ARE DRAWN 
 AND CIFTS THAT STRENGTHEN AND ADORN: 
 GIVE UP EARTH'S TRIFLES; — WELL CANST THOU AFFORD 
 TO YIELD THEM ALL — TO SCATTER THEM ABROAD. 
 
 AS ONE WHO SAINTED GARMENTS LONG HAST WOEN, 
 
 WHO, BY THE SPIRIT'S POWER, HAST BEEN NEW BORN— 
 TO HEIRSHIP IN THE REALMS BEYOND THE SKY. 
 
 WHERE SORROW COMES NOT WITH ITS PLAINT FORLORN. 
 i IT ALL IS BLISS AND REGAL DIGNITY; — 
 
 THRICE-HAPPY CHILD OF GOD — GAZE UP AND SEE 
 
 THINE ALL— IN THE INCARNATE MYSTERY! 
 
PREFACE. 
 
 I cannot pretend to judge how far a book 
 such as this, which I now offer to my brethren 
 in the faith of our Lord Jesus Christ, may be 
 either needful or desirable. I can only say, 
 that after the substance of it had been uttered 
 from the pulpit, in the way of meditations pre- 
 paratory to the monthly Communion, I was 
 much requested to set it forth in a more perma- 
 nent form ; and therefore, after making certain 
 allowance for the special kindness of members 
 of my flock, who may have overrated the value 
 of my endeavours for their welfare, I felt at 
 liberty to hope that what had been acceptable, 
 and I trust not unprofitable, to them, might 
 possibly have some good effect among others not 
 so nearly related to me ; for no doubt the wants 
 
vi Preface. 
 
 both of men and of Christians are very mnch the 
 same everywhere, and nnder all circumstances. 
 
 If, then, I seem to be needlessly adding to 
 the many works extant in the way of prepa- 
 ration for the Holy Communion, the foregoing 
 statement must be my apology; and will, I 
 trust, be the more readily -accepted when I 
 add, that my intention is not to enlarge upon 
 either the nature of the Lord's Supper, or the 
 benefits accruing to the devout and spiritual 
 communicant, but rather to present, in a very 
 definite manner, for the acceptance of faith, — 
 that Holy and Blessed One, who is the sub- 
 stance of all that the Sacrament symbolises ; — 
 that so, on every sacramental occasion, he may 
 be steadily contemplated in some one of the 
 many aspects in which he is most precious to 
 the soul graciously prepared and enabled to 
 receive him. For I have long had reason to 
 fear, that a want of definiteness in perceiving 
 the object on which faith is to make its hold, 
 commonly leads to the substitution of a senti- 
 ment in the place of a powerful apprehension of 
 
Preface. vii 
 
 a fact ; which may account for much of that 
 fluctuation of religious feeling, so commonly 
 complained of by sincerely-intentioned Christian 
 professors. In this respect, the earnest pastor, 
 who knows the wants of members of his own 
 flock, is not likely to be very far wrong in his 
 estimate of the wants of others. 
 
 In this small volume, it will be seen that I 
 have endeavoured to exhibit Christ in some of his 
 chief personal relations to believers; in which 
 relations he is to be regarded in the Communion 
 of his body and blood. These are all presented 
 in the most condensed form; — so condensed, as 
 to expose me, in some instances, perhaps, to the 
 charge of obscurity or inconclusiveness, if only 
 a hasty and superficial view be taken of my 
 statements. In which case I would, without 
 arrogancy, be allowed to suggest, that the fault 
 may eventually be found to rest more with the 
 hasty and superficial reader than with the writer, 
 who knows he has neither written rashly as a 
 man, nor without invoking, as a minister of 
 truth, the teaching, guidance, and direction 
 
viii Preface. 
 
 of the great Teacher — God the Holy Ghost. 
 
 I am quite aware that some familiar truths 
 will be thought to bear an aspect of novelty; 
 not, perhaps, as to their substance, for there 
 is no novelty in Bible-truth; but as to the 
 mode in which they are presented. I therefore 
 enjoin the Christian reader to search minutely, 
 and with a patient, candid spirit, into the written 
 Word — laying aside, for the time, any precon- 
 ceived view ; for many a statement contained in 
 a brief paragraph will, on fall investigation, be 
 found to contain the pith and essence of a large 
 breadth of Scripture testimony, which the size 
 of this volume forbade me to cite at length, 
 or even in the way of marginal reference. 
 
 My simple aim (so far as I know my own 
 motives and intentions) has been to exalt Christ ; 
 and I am persuaded, that any spiritually-taught 
 believer who may not exactly fall in with some 
 of my statements, cither at first or at all, will 
 not find ground for charging me with an attempt 
 in anywise to dishonour him; though I am 
 conscious of having everywhere fallen far below 
 
Preface. ix 
 
 what the dignity of the great subject demands. 
 May God mercifully forgive what is weak, and 
 graciously acknowledge what is true; that so 
 my endeavour may serve to promote the spiri- 
 tual progress of some of his people. 
 
 If complaint should be made that the several 
 topics called for much larger expansion, my 
 answer would be, that I designed them to 
 be suggestive, rather than expository; and 
 therefore as inducements to Bible searching 
 during the month preceding each Communion- 
 day, rather than as easy helps to supply the lack 
 of personal exertion and industry. If I had 
 intended full exposition, most persons acquainted 
 with Christian doctrine would know, that nothing 
 like it could be contained in reference to any 
 single topic, in a manual such as this. 
 
 Should it be also complained, that there is a 
 reiteration of statement and illustration amount- 
 ing to sameness, in several of the topics, my 
 answer would be, that they all proceed upon one 
 indispensable principle, (namely, the mystical 
 union between believers and Christ, as the 
 
x Preface. 
 
 second Man — the last Adam) ; which principle 
 seemed to me best kept in view by reproduction, 
 rather than by once stating and enforcing it in 
 a preliminary chapter, where possibly it might 
 be overlooked, and so cause each separate dis- 
 cussion to suffer loss. 
 
 I would only add, that, being aware of many 
 minds feeling satisfaction in having a great 
 truth of Scripture embodied in a metrical form, 
 I have cast the leading idea of each subject into 
 a pointed hymn, as energetic as I could make it ; 
 while at the end of each, I have appended a medi- 
 tation and a very brief form of prayer, intended 
 to suggest the state of mind and heart most 
 likely to be produced by a spiritual perception 
 of each aspect of Christ. And my hope, on the 
 whole, is, that if this book be used as intended, 
 with an earnest, patient, and humble 'purpose of 
 mind, in prayerful reliance on the teaching of 
 the Holy Spirit, it may help to clear the way, in 
 some minds and hearts, for a more intelligent, 
 and therefore profitable, participation of the 
 Sacrament of the Lord's Supper. 
 
1 
 
 CONTENTS. 
 
 PAGE. 
 
 Preface v 
 
 Christ our Peace 
 
 
 
 1 
 
 Chuist our Hope . 
 
 
 
 25 
 
 Christ our Way . 
 
 
 
 45 
 
 Christ the Truth 
 
 
 
 63 
 
 Christ our Life . 
 
 
 
 81 
 
 Christ our Wisdom 
 
 
 
 101 
 
 Christ our Righteousness . 
 
 
 
 119 
 
 Christ our Sanctification . 
 
 
 
 139 
 
 Christ our Redemption 
 
 
 
 161 
 
 Christ our Brother 
 
 
 
 181 
 
 Christ our Ransom 
 
 
 
 201 
 
 Christ our Beloved — Section I. . 
 
 
 
 221 
 
 Christ our Beloved — Section II. 
 
 
 245 
 
CHRIST OUR PEACE. 
 
 y j 
 
Forth to the bleeding Lamb, 
 My heart would humbly go ; 
 
 Poor, guilty, helpless, as I am, 
 Engulf 'd in sin and woe. 
 
 My God ! Thou wilt not smite, 
 Though I deserve to die ; 
 
 Thy mercy, robed in heavenly light, 
 Hath slain the enmity. 
 
 Now to the cross I turn, 
 
 Where mercy's work was done ; 
 In Jesus, I at once discern 
 
 Thy peace, and mine, in one. 
 
 And now, unto the feast 
 
 Which His dear hand prepares, 
 
 I go ; and on His loving breast 
 Pour out rejoicing tears. 
 
CHEIST OUR PEACE. 
 
 " He is our peace." — Ephes. ii. 14. 
 
 Christ is the substance of all that is symbo- 
 lised in the sacrament of the Lord^s supper. If, 
 therefore, we would enjoy the full benefit in- 
 tended to be conferred by the Holy Spirit, 
 through that strengthening and refreshing 
 means of grace, we must endeavour thoroughly 
 to apprehend Christ, in the various aspects in 
 which he is presented to us in holy Scripture. 
 It is not enough for us to reflect with emotion 
 on what he has done and suffered ; we must go 
 further, and realise what he is — to us who be- 
 lieve in his person, and in what he has wrought 
 out for us, as the sole mediator between God 
 and man. What Christ is — he is to and in them 
 who effectually believe; and the true Christian, 
 
4 Christ our Peace. 
 
 therefore, is lie, who by faith through the Spirit, 
 has Christ "revealed" and "formed" in him; 
 for Christianity is Christ manifested to, and 
 diffused among, the living members of his mys- 
 tical body. Christianity is neither knowledge 
 alone, nor sentiment alone; nor both combined. 
 It is Christ in us. There may be ample know- 
 ledge, but no Christ. There may be strong sen- 
 timent, but no Christianity. But where Christ 
 is indwelling, there will be also the know- 
 ledge and the sentiment ; and the sacrament of 
 the Lord's supper will then be both significant 
 and edifying. 
 
 In the text, let it be observed, our Lord is 
 spoken of by a very definite term of designa- 
 tion : He is said to be " our peace." Now this 
 is very different from saying that he is the 
 "Prince of peace," or a peaceful Prince. It 
 also differs from the expression in Colos. i. 20, 
 " Having made peace through the blood of his 
 cross." It goes also beyond the declaration in 
 Ephes. ii. 17, that Christ "came and preached 
 peace to you which were afar off, and to them 
 
Christ our Peace. 5 
 
 that were nigh." And it has in it more than is 
 contained in &om. v. 1 : " Being justified by 
 faith; we have peace with God, through our Lord 
 Jesus Christ." Observe well the expression in 
 the text. It contains two things: first, that 
 Christ is peace ; secondly, that he is our peace. 
 In all the passages just referred to, Christ is , 
 evidently spoken of as peace on God's side ; but 
 in the text, he is set forth as peace on man's side. 
 He is therefore God's peace, and he is our peace. 
 We are well aware that in human affairs, if two 
 persons at enmity are to be reconciled, and the 
 breach between them thoroughly healed, there 
 must be peace on both sides ; peace on the part 
 of the receiver of a wrong, and peace on the 
 part of the doer of the wrong. The peace on 
 the part of the receiver of a wrong, is a matter of 
 clemency, and therefore the originating act. 
 The peace on the part of the wrong-doer, is a 
 matter of humiliation and satisfaction, followed 
 up by right-doing, and is the conclusive act. 
 Where these things happen on both sides, there 
 is peace established. The breach is healed. The 
 
6 Christ our Peace. 
 
 act of clemency on the one side will not do 
 alone; the act of humiliation, satisfaction, and 
 right-doing on the other side, will not alone 
 avail. They must concur to one end ; and that 
 is peace. Without such concurrence, the breach 
 continues. It is upon this principle, then, that we 
 . are to receive the very definite declaration of the 
 text, that Christ is our peace. The gospel plainly 
 announces peace set up on God's side, as an 
 act of clemency. It reveals the ample provision 
 for peace on our side as well as on God's side, as 
 the result of Christ's personal humiliation, satis- 
 faction, and right-doing, on our behalf and in 
 our nature. And when a guilty sinner truly and 
 effectually believes, so as to avail himself of this, 
 he is at once, and by that act of faith, at peace 
 with God. The breach between him and God 
 is healed. There is then peace on both sides. 
 
 That Christ is God's peace, or peace on God's 
 side, there is no doubt or question, and I am 
 not announcing any new truth when I affirm it; 
 for it is on record that "God was in Christ, 
 reconciling the world unto himself;" (2 Cor. v. 
 
Christ our Peace. 7 
 
 19) and we remember that the angelic an- 
 nouncement of Christ's birth was the announce- 
 ment of Him as God's peace ; — not as the 
 herald of it merely — nor as the procurer of it 
 merely — but as the peace itself. He was the 
 personation of the Eternal God, in a peaceful 
 attitude towards Man — then in a state of 
 rebellion and disloyalty. When, ages and ages 
 before the coming of Christ in human flesh, 
 God declared his purpose that the seed of the 
 woman should bruise the serpent's head, the 
 declaration contained an intimation of purposes 
 of peace on His side. When Christ came and 
 " finished " his mediation work, those purposes 
 were manifested — developed by the act. It was, 
 therefore, because God had thus set himself at 
 peace with man, through Christ — his peace, that 
 he could make an offer, yea, more than that, — 
 could, and did make over, as a free gift in 
 Christ Jesus, eternal life for the acceptance of 
 every sinner; so that, by simply accepting that 
 gift of life, the sinner might " live by the faith 
 of the Son of God, who loved him and gave 
 
8 Christ our Peace. 
 
 himself for him." Now, it may be well here to 
 observe, that it was the essential deity of the 
 Lord Jesus Christ — the identity of his divine 
 nature with the Father's divine nature, that con- 
 stituted his qualification for being peace on 
 God's side. The reason why he was so qualified, 
 is the reason why neither angel nor archangel 
 could be. Every indication of clemency towards 
 the guilty must of necessity flow through Christ ; 
 and, if -he be not God's peace, then there is no 
 peace on the part of God j — He is yet a terrible 
 avenger. But Christ is God's peace; and if a 
 guilty sinner perish, it will be — not because God 
 is at enmity with him, but because he has finally 
 rejected God's peace, and preferred to maintain 
 enmity against a God of peace. 
 
 "We are now prepared for the statement, that 
 Christ is also our peace, or peace on the side of 
 man ; and that there is in him, for us, exactly 
 that which shall make the peace which there is 
 already on God's side — available to us. 
 
 And first, let it be remembered that he is our 
 peace, in regard to his person. If the possession 
 
Christ our Peace. 9 
 
 of proper and essential deity be his qualification 
 for being God's peace — that is, God manifested 
 unto peace, then, in like manner, his possession 
 of a proper, real, and substantial humanity, 
 "made of a woman, under the law," (Gal. iv. 4,) 
 is equally, and on the same principle, Iris qualifi- 
 cation for being our peace, or peace on the side 
 of human nature. In his august and mysterious 
 person, the extreme points are brought together, 
 till they meet; — the deity of the Lord Jesus 
 Christ takes up into it man's humanity. Hav- 
 ing God's holiness, he takes on him, by impu- 
 tation, man's sin, along with man's nature ; so 
 that the imputation of sin to man, which 
 God ceases to make, was directed against 
 Christ, on whom the whole imputation rested ; 
 in order that by dealing with it, as will here- 
 after be stated, he might righteously throw 
 it off, and so put away all cause of enmity be- 
 tween God and man. No being on earth or in 
 heaven coidd be our peace, or peace on our 
 side, who could not do this. Look steadily at 
 this point ; it is of unspeakable importance and 
 
10 Christ our Peace. 
 
 weight. It is surely manifest, that he who 
 could, on man's side, put away all enmity and 
 all cause of enmity, must needs be man's peace, 
 or peace on man's side. This, then, we affirm 
 Christ could do, and did. As God only, we 
 cannot conceive that he could have done it; 
 because, as God, he could not have had man's 
 sin imputed to him. But, as perfect and sinless 
 man, though "made in the likeness of sinful 
 flesh," he could do it; just because he could 
 have man's sin actually imputed to, and charged 
 against him. When, therefore, Christ took upon 
 him, by imputation, all the sin of all mankind — 
 so that, in point of fact, all sin became concen- 
 trated on him, and he so became " the Lamb of 
 God, which taketh (beareth) away the sin of the 
 world," — he plainly became our peace — that is, 
 peace on behalf of the whole human family, as 
 well as peace on the part of God; — so that peace, 
 on both sides, centred in him. Had it not been 
 so, we cannot conceive upon what principle God 
 could have made over eternal life in him as a free 
 gift for the acceptance of all who would accept it. 
 
Christ our Peace. 1 1 
 
 Let us not confound a treaty of peace, sealed be- 
 tween God and man, in the person and by the act 
 of Christ, with the gift of eternal life, made over 
 in Christ. They are quite distinct ; and the lat- 
 ter is consequent on the former. And let us be 
 careful against confounding peace with salvation, 
 and salvation with peace. It is because peace 
 has been established by Christ, as God's peace 
 and as man's peace, that God can, in full exer- 
 cise of his justice, as well as his clemency, be- 
 stow pardon, life, and salvation on man. 
 
 But our view of Christ's person will be still 
 more definite, when we remember that he is 
 spoken of in Holy Scripture as the " second 
 Man/' (1 Cor. xv. 47) ; and also as the " last 
 Adam," (1 Cor. xv. 45). These terms are ap- 
 plied to Christ in direct contrast with the first 
 man — the first Adam. Through this first man — 
 this first Adam, came in the transgression ; and 
 the transgression brought in the enmity. The 
 first Adam was Max's enmity against God. He 
 was the impersonation of all creature-enmity. 
 He was the " carnal mind" embodied; and the 
 
12 Christ our Peace. 
 
 " carnal mind is enmity against God." All the 
 enmity against God, which we have ever felt 
 in our hearts and in our flesh, has proceeded 
 from that enmity — like scions from a root. 
 The enmity which, after his fall, was the very 
 being, or mode of being of the first Adam, had 
 its seed within itself. It took root, grew, and 
 bare fruit. We have gathered of that fruit. 
 But the second man — the second Adam — 
 the " Lord from heaven," manifest in human 
 flesh — supplied a contrast. That " holy thing," 
 born of a virgin mother, could not be our 
 enmity too ; and yet he must needs be some- 
 thing. Between enmity and peace there is no 
 middle term; either enmity exists and prevails, 
 or peace exists and prevails; and therefore, if 
 the second man — the last Adam, could not be 
 enmity, then of necessity he must be peace; 
 and because man, our peace — man's peace, for 
 the purpose of suffering and doing all that 
 should be needful on man's part, for making 
 peace on God's side available to the bringing of 
 life, through Christ, into the souls of sinners — 
 
Christ our Peace. 13 
 
 reconciled sinners, yet " dead in trespasses and 
 sins." 
 
 Having tlms far seen that Christ is onr peace, 
 in respect to his person, let ns proceed to show 
 that he is so also by virtue of his personal 
 transactions. It would do no violence to lan- 
 guage if, in speaking of a person who had suc- 
 ceeded in his efforts to establish peace between 
 two others who had been at enmity, we were 
 to say that he was their peace — that he was 
 in fact the power that had brought them to- 
 gether, and is the link that keeps them together. 
 And we should associate with his success, the 
 recollection of all he had done in order to 
 ensure the success. We should then surely feel 
 more and more the aptness of the expression — 
 He is their peace. Now, let us follow out this 
 idea. 
 
 It has been already stated, that peace on the 
 side of the receiver of a wrong, is simply an 
 act of clemency; but that peace on the side 
 of the wrong-doer, must be a matter of humi- 
 liation, satisfaction, and right-doing. Christ's 
 
14 Christ our Peace. 
 
 personal transactions, as the second Adam, met 
 God's clemency, by all these three particulars. 
 Humiliation, — yes — "he humbled himself;" — he 
 did not just submit to be humbled, but it was 
 his own personal and deliberate act of humilia- 
 tion ; — " He humbled himself, and became obe- 
 dient unto death, even the death of the cross." 
 (Philip, ii. 8.) And here, observe, this was not 
 merely the humbling unto death of his own soli- 
 tary person, but the humbling unto death of the 
 second man — of the last Adam, who had taken 
 upon himself, by imputation, the sin, (which was 
 the cause of enmity) of the first man — of the 
 first Adam and his posterity. It was, therefore, 
 in effect, the humbling unto death, in Christ, 
 of the first man — of the first Adam and his 
 posterity; so that as soon as that humiliation 
 was complete, so much of peace on Adam's side, 
 — which was our side, was effected; and God's 
 clemency towards us, the descendants of Adam, 
 was so far embraced by Christ, as the second 
 man — the last Adam. 
 
 But, satisfaction in the way of reparation was 
 
Christ our Peace. 15 
 
 equally necessary, on the part of him who is 
 "our peace." And it does not diminish our 
 sense of God's clemency towards us, when we 
 find him demanding full satisfaction for our 
 transgression from the second man — the last 
 Adam, as our peace. We may now, perhaps, 
 be able to discern at once the force and value 
 of that expression in Col. i. 19, 20 — " It pleased 
 the Father that in him should all fulness dwell ; 
 and having made peace, through the blood of 
 his cross, by him to reconcile all things unto 
 himself." The satisfaction, therefore, made by 
 him who is our peace, on the cross, was a com- 
 plete act — reaching through all time, and to all 
 the posterity of the first Adam ; and by virtue 
 of it, so much more of peace on Adam's side, 
 which is our side, was effected. 
 
 But we have also said that right-doing was 
 equally necessary on the part of him who is our 
 peace, in order to the full establishment of peace 
 on both sides, so that God's justice as well as 
 his clemency might be glorified. We turn, then, 
 to the whole record — the biography of him who 
 
16 Christ our Peace. 
 
 is " our peace," and gaze with faith on the sin- 
 less perfection of his humanity, in which the 
 sovereign will of the Father was supremely 
 enthroned; — and to all the unwearied activity 
 in holiness, by which he magnified the law, and 
 made it honourable — showing it to be prac- 
 ticable, as well as pleasant; — in the light of 
 which we may perceive the force of the pro- 
 phetic epithet applied to him — "the Lord our 
 Righteousness " — especially when we behold in 
 him that righteousness "which is unto all and 
 upon all who believe." It is called "the Righte- 
 ousness of God; " not indeed as if it were a 
 righteousness wrought out and manifested by 
 the Divine, but by the human nature of Christ, 
 proceeding from the power and sanctity of the 
 law written on the fleshly tables of his heart. 
 It was the right-doing of the second man — of 
 the last Adam. It was his mastery over the 
 wrong-doing of the first Adam. It was the 
 bringing up of human nature to its primal 
 capability, and power of righteousness. And 
 thus, in the humiliation, satisfaction, and right- 
 
Christ our Peace. 17 
 
 doing, of the second Adam, we have the active 
 proofs of his being "our peace;" and in the 
 united effects of these three parts of the vast, 
 mediatorial transaction, we behold a lasting 
 peace, sealed and ratified between God and the 
 second man — the last Adam, on behalf of the 
 first Adam and his posterity. Christ is the 
 connecting link ; and because he is thus our 
 peace, God can and does, most honourably, 
 righteously, and bountifully, give — not peace 
 merely, nor reconciliation merely, but life eter- 
 nal — blessed, glorious life, to all who, believing 
 the ratification of peace, will accept the life in 
 all its grace and fulness. With this great truth 
 before us, may we not now more fully enter into 
 those words of St. John — " This is the record, 
 that God hath given to us eternal life, and this 
 life is in his Son. He that hath the Son, hath 
 life ; and he that hath not the Son of God, hath 
 not life." (1 Johnv. 11, 12). 
 
 We have now before us the key to the vo- 
 luminous treasure of truth contained in the text. 
 
 May Christ's true people have grace to use it 
 c 
 
18 Christ our Peace. 
 
 to their souls' health and comfort. May the 
 fulness of the peace flow down upon them. 
 
 And now, retiring within ourselves, and shut- 
 ting out from our minds and hearts every thing 
 but him "who is our peace," let us endeavour so 
 to meditate, that, by the blessed Spirit's aid, we 
 may be quickened in our approach to that pre- 
 cious feast, where he who is our peace now waits 
 to receive and bless us. 
 
 Oh my soul, there is peace ! The enmity is 
 slain ; and he who is thy peace binds thee and 
 thy reconciled Father together in bonds over 
 which neither time that wastes, nor the death 
 which kills, can have power ! Forth from him 
 who is thy peace comes life — the life eternal — 
 the well-head and spring of which are both in 
 him. Open thyself wide, to receive all its 
 fulness. Oh the enmity ! — oh the enmity ! — 
 slain in Jesus, let it die in thee; it is nailed to 
 his cross; — there let it hang, and writhe, and 
 blacken, till it shall echo his words, and say, "It 
 is finished." Ah my soul — the enmity shall say 
 this; the serpent within thee shall say this. 
 
Christ our Peace. 19 
 
 Every dying lust and appetite shall say this. 
 Spare it not, spare it not, oh my soul. Let 
 the nail wound it more intensely ; let the spear 
 pierce it more deeply, till the dying shall be 
 dead, and the triumph of the cross shall be 
 manifested in thee : for " they that are Christ's 
 have crucified the flesh with the affections and 
 lusts." Peace and undying corruptions, health- 
 ful spiritual life and unmortified sin, cannot 
 subsist together. If thou knowest Jesus as thy 
 peace, thou must know him also as the slayer 
 of thine enmity. 
 
 Oh my soul, let thy every faculty expand to 
 the full conception of what Christ is to thee. 
 If it pleased the Father that in him all fulness 
 should dwell, for the purpose of making peace 
 by the blood of his cross, remember that fulness 
 is for thee. Wouldst thou be content with 
 emptiness, or with partial filling? Will less 
 than the " fulness of God" satisfy thee? Oh 
 wait on him, till the fulness overpower thee, if 
 such may be. All is emptiness, but Christ ; — 
 none can fill thy vast capacity, but he ! 
 
20 Christ our Peace. 
 
 Now, draw near — nearer to him; he loves 
 thee — oh yes — loves thee ! By the mystery of 
 his holy incarnation; by his holy nativity and 
 circumcision; by his baptism, fasting, and temp- 
 tation; by his agony and bloody sweat ; by his 
 cross and passion; by his precious death and 
 burial ; by his glorious resurrection and ascen- 
 sion ; by the coming of the Holy Ghost, he hath 
 given proof — oh ! what proof — that he loves 
 thee ! At the sacred feast, thou wilt find no en- 
 mity on God's part. No ; — it is gone — gone for 
 ever. If Christ is indeed thy peace realized, thou 
 hast on thee the wedding garment, which is thy 
 sole worthiness, in which thou wilt assuredly be 
 accepted among the guests whom the King will 
 honour. Thou wilt find joy and gladness; for 
 love will be there, to embrace thee ; — and grace 
 will be there, to sustain thee; — and truth, to 
 give thee assurance, in the presence of thy re- 
 deeming, justifying, and sanctifying God, who 
 will hereafter be thy glory — the light of thy 
 salvation and the strength of thy life. 
 
PRAYER. 
 
 Oh God most merciful! Behold me prostrate 
 before Thee, — a sinner without one plea, but 
 that which Thou thyself hast graciously pro- 
 vided for me in the person and perfect sacrifice 
 of Thy dear Son. Oh, is it not enough ? God, 
 thou knowest its sufficiency — yes, for the chief 
 of sinners. Blessed Spirit, help me to urge it, in 
 simple faith ; and then, it will not fail. Though 
 my sins be as scarlet, they shall be white as 
 snow ; though red like crimson, they shall be as 
 wool. 
 
 Oh ! most righteous and holy God, thou wast 
 in Christ reconciling the world unto thyself, not 
 imputing their trespasses unto them. That 
 work of reconciliation is finished. The way of 
 access to thee is open. The guiltiest may ap- 
 
22 Prayer. 
 
 proacli thee through it, and behold thee fully 
 propitiated. 
 
 Jesus, Lord, thou art my peace; and apart 
 from thee, there is no peace. Thou hast, in thy 
 flesh, "abolished the enmity;" and hast come 
 preaching peace to them that were afar off, and 
 to them that were nigh — to the Gentile and the 
 Jew, that tlirough thee, both might have access 
 by one Spirit, to the Father. Graft me into 
 thyself, by thy Spirit, that as thou art accepted 
 of the Father, so I may be accepted in thee — 
 the Beloved. Oh! make me feel and know that 
 the enmity of my flesh is slain ; and that thou 
 art my peace, which no enmity can disturb ; so 
 shall my life, my death, my eternity, be peace. 
 
 Blessed Saviour — blessed Peace ! I would 
 know none other but thee. There is no other. 
 The God of peace hath centred all his thoughts 
 and purposes of peace in thee. So let me also 
 do, by an unwavering faith, tlirough thy Spirit. 
 
 Oh ! thou my peace — draw me to thy sacred 
 feast. There let me taste thy sweetness. There 
 let me be refreshed, with the abundance of 
 
Prayer. 23 
 
 peace, which is thine inexhaustible fulness. 
 Satisfy my soul, and conform me to thyself; 
 so that in this heart the Father's eye may trace 
 nothing but the sanctity of that peace which 
 passeth all understanding, whose full fruition 
 shall be a holy rejoicing in the hope of the 
 glory of God. 
 
CHRIST OUR HOPE 
 
My soul hath long in darkness lain, 
 Shut out from God — estrang'd, alone ; 
 
 For sin, with sorrow in its train, 
 
 Hath rear'd within my heart its throne. 
 
 And in this rebel flesh appears 
 
 No self- created confidence ; 
 I dare not dry these bitter tears 
 
 By thoughts alone of penitence. 
 
 Hopeless I lie — till, through the gloom, 
 Some cheering ray of grace shall break ; 
 
 Oh Saviour ! from thy riven tomb, 
 Send forth that ray ; — of mercy speak. 
 
 Ah ! now I hear thee — now I see 
 My Hope, descending like a dove ; 
 
 Thou art my Hope! — I cling to thee ; 
 Despair is melted by thy love. 
 
CHKIST OUR HOPE. 
 
 The Lord Jesus Christ, which is our hope.'' — 1 Tim. i. 1. 
 
 If we know and possess Christ as our peace, 
 we are prepared for a further and most impor- 
 tant step in the Scriptural experience of the 
 true Christian. The knowledge and possession 
 of Christ as our peace, is a proof of the effec- 
 tual work of the Holy Ghost, the Comforter, 
 whose office it is to receive of the things that 
 are Christ's, and show them unto us. (John 
 xvi. 14, 15). If the Comforter has brought 
 us into possession of Christ as our peace, then 
 has he brought us into a new and positive rela- 
 tion to God ; and we are " begotten again to a 
 lively hope, by the resurrection of Jesus Christ 
 from the dead" — and that hope "maketh not 
 ashamed." 
 
28 Christ our Hope. 
 
 We are then entitled — yes, entitled to hope, 
 even to the end, for the glory yet to be revealed 
 in us. But our hope will be brighter and 
 more steadfast, when once we know, and know 
 that we possess, the substance of it. If the text 
 affirms Christ to be our hope, then it expresses 
 an essential quality of Christ, and of Christ in 
 us. If the Apostle, in various Epistles, speaks 
 of hope set up, and being active in the believ- 
 ing heart, he thereby refers to Christ and his 
 mediatorial work, as the ground on which it 
 rests, and as the spring which gives it activity. 
 But this does not come up to the full intensity 
 of the expression in the text. We may be "be- 
 gotten again to a lively hope, by the resurrec- 
 tion of Jesus Christ from the dead ;" we may 
 enjoy " patience of hope in our Lord Jesus;" 
 we may have "a good hope through grace;" 
 we may be " made heirs, according to the hope 
 of eternal life," having " fled to lay hold on the 
 hope set before us;" we may "abound in hope," 
 and "rejoice in hope;" we may live "in hope 
 of eternal life, which God, that cannot lie, pro- 
 
Christ our Hope. 29 
 
 mised before the world began;" — but still, the 
 utmost meaning of such expressions goes only 
 so far as to indicate how believers are acted on 
 by that "hope which maketh not ashamed;" — 
 that hope which is set up in the heart by the 
 Holy Ghost, through the knowledge and belief 
 of the truth. 
 
 A true evangelical hope cannot be a mere 
 desire of something excellent, matured into a 
 hope by a strong probability of its being rea- 
 lized. The end to which it looks, and the 
 interests that are involved in it, are so great, so 
 all-important, that it requires a solid founda- 
 tion ; not a probability, but an assurance ; — an 
 assurance arising out of some transaction — some 
 economy that has power to draw after it the re- 
 alization of the hope which it creates. Such 
 a transaction is Christ's mediation; such an 
 economy is the Gospel; and the assurance of 
 their efficiency becomes at once a foundation 
 on which the believing sinner rests, when be- 
 ginning, as a guilty creature, to feel the pulsa- 
 tions of hope within — a hope that is full of 
 
30 Christ our Hope. 
 
 immortality. Still, all this may be a matter 
 of actual experience, without our having once 
 arisen to the inquiry, in what particular sense 
 Christ himself is our hope ; for it is one thing 
 for Christ to be the ground or source of our 
 hope, but quite another for him to be the hope 
 itself; and it is the latter which the text affirms. 
 There are two texts, which may help us to 
 perceive the true meaning of the expression that 
 Christ "is our hope." In Heb. vii. 19, it is said 
 — " Tor the law made nothing perfect, but the 
 bringing in of a better hope did ; by the which 
 we draw nigh to God." There is a little obscu- 
 rity in this passage, as it stands in the transla- 
 tion, which is helped by the marginal reading. It 
 is better thus : "The law made nothing perfect, 
 but it was the bringing in of a better hope; 
 by the which we draw nigh to God." The law, 
 therefore, which could not justify, or "perfect" 
 a sinner, was intended to symbolize Christ, in 
 his real and effectual priesthood; and so to 
 introduce Him as the harbinger of a better hope. 
 The reference is evidently to Christ, in his per- 
 
Christ our Hope. 31 
 
 son and in his office. The other text is in Col. 
 i. 27 — " To whom God would make known what 
 is the riches of the glory of this mystery among 
 the Gentiles ; which is Christ in yon, the hope 
 of glory." In the first, we contemplate Christ 
 as the source and foundation of our hope ; and 
 in the second, as its fruition and substance. 
 Upon the first of these two texts, let it be re- 
 marked, that when Christ came into the world 
 to do that which the law could not do, he came 
 in as our hope, with all the purposes of God's 
 mercy towards us, depending on the reality and 
 sufficiency of his atonement, as a priest. All, 
 therefore, that man could hope for, as a means 
 whereby he might draw nigh unto God, was 
 in Him. He came into the world as the se- 
 cond Adam. The very fact of his so coming, 
 implied a purpose of restitution and recovery. 
 As soon as the first prophetic promise was felt 
 in the heart of man, hope began to awaken, 
 as it counted upon his coming to fulfil it. As 
 soon as it was understood that the head of the 
 serpent was to be bruised by the seed of the 
 
32 Christ our Hope. 
 
 woman, hope looked forth for the mighty seed 
 who should come to do it. It was in this sense, 
 that Abraham saw Christ's day afar off, rejoiced 
 in it, and was glad. In the first Adam, by rea- 
 son of the law, there was no hope for his 
 posterity. He, in fact, was their despair ; but 
 never their hope. Had they not looked out of 
 and away from him, they never could have hoped. 
 The marks of the law's condemnation were on 
 him; and reached down even to them and to 
 their children; and while these marks were 
 visible, there could be no hope. " But when the 
 fulness of the time was come, God sent forth his 
 Son, made of a woman, made under the law, 
 to redeem them that were under the law." 
 Then, hope dawned upon the desolate posterity 
 of the first Adam ; because on the second Adam 
 they saw no marks of the law's condemnation. 
 But, was he not made under the law? Yes, 
 truly ; but in the way of obedience, and not in 
 the way of personal guilt. He was under the 
 law, that he might endure and obey it ; and not 
 that it might crush him. If he met the curse, 
 
Christ our Hope. 33 
 
 and exhausted its power, it was because he 
 obeyed the curse. If he met the law's require- 
 ments by a steady and active compliance, it was 
 because he obeyed the Divine mind revealed in 
 the law. Thus the capabilities of the second 
 Adam inspired hope; and his achievement 
 made it active in the heart of man. A suffi- 
 cient reason or ground of hopefulness was 
 seen as soon as Christ was rightly and Scrip- 
 turally apprehended. Hope there could be 
 none, till the second Adam had, by satisfying 
 justice, called down mercy. Both justice satis- 
 fied, and mercy active, were revealed in Christ. 
 They were shown harmonising to one end, 
 though they were qualities totally opposite. 
 When Christ was born in Bethlehem, men felt 
 that they might hope. And when they under- 
 stood, as some did, that life was to spring forth 
 out of death, they began to feel that the reign 
 of hope was coming in, as they watched the pro- 
 gress of the second Adam's office, and listened 
 to his marvellous sayings. But when the sealed 
 tomb was riven, and gave up its dead, and the 
 
34 Christ our Hope. 
 
 second Adam came forth in the energy of an 
 achieved life, then it was that the effulgence of 
 hope was poured upon the guilty and the hope- 
 less. The pinions of hope were never so strong 
 as when they hovered over the empty grave, 
 and when from its deep solitude there came 
 forth a voice, saying : "I am the resurrection 
 and the life. He that believeth in me, though 
 he were dead, yet shall he live; and he that 
 liveth and believeth in me shall never die." 
 
 But the second text presents to us Christ, 
 as the fruition and the substance of the hope 
 thus awakened and called forth by the media- 
 torial office and work, which he fulfilled in the 
 cradle, on the cross, and in the grave. It speaks 
 to believers of Christ in them the hope of glory. 
 Here then is language which plainly indicates 
 an actual possession of Christ, by all his true 
 people. He dwells in them by his Spirit. They 
 are united to him ; they are one with him, and 
 he with them. The second Adam, with all his 
 mediatorial triumphs, is implanted in the be- 
 lieving posterity of the first Adam; and they 
 
Christ our Hope. 35 
 
 are engrafted into him. Have they a sense of 
 pardon? Then from him they derive it. Are 
 they at peace with God ? Then it is because he 
 hath brought in the peace, and is their peace. 
 Are they heirs of God ? Then it is he who hath 
 effected the relation, and secured the title of 
 heirship, in and by himself. Are they endued 
 with spiritual life ? Then it is from him that it 
 has flowed down upon them, and within them. 
 Are they spiritually risen? Then they have 
 risen with Christ. Have they hope, active 
 and strong within them? Then Christ is that 
 hope ; because he is also their wisdom, their 
 righteousness, their sanctification, and their 
 redemption. 
 
 The more we are enabled to perceive of the 
 personal relation of Christ to his church, and to 
 each individual member of it, the more do we 
 enter into the fact of his being the embodied 
 reality of all that God has mercifully and gra- 
 ciously provided in him, for our recovery from 
 the ruinous consequences of the fall. When we 
 have learned what Christ has done for us, we 
 
36 Christ our Hope. 
 
 must go on to learn and experience what he is 
 to us, and in us, by virtue of personal union and 
 mutual indwelling. The richest enjoyments of 
 the Christian state, are the fruits of such expe- 
 rience. We may draw great comfort from the 
 assurance, that through Christ we have a good 
 hope, that looks beyond the grave, and beholds 
 the mercy- seat : but oh ! how far more blessed 
 to feel and know it, as a truth of God, that 
 Christ himself in us, is the substance of that 
 hope ; that all he is, he is for us ; in like manner 
 as all he has done, has been done for us, and 
 in our nature. 
 
 Now if we cannot clearly discern how Christ, 
 as the second Adam, has linked himself to the 
 posterity of the first Adam, we shall not clearly 
 perceive how he is our hope. We may have 
 very saving and very comforting views of Christ 
 and his work of mediation, but we cannot go up 
 to the full blessedness of that experience, which 
 makes all the difference between a state of hope- 
 fulness through Christ, and a concentration of 
 all hope in Christ. 
 
Christ our Hope. 37 
 
 Then let me draw attention to a few plain 
 statements. The Lord Jesus identified him- 
 self with the posterity of the first Adam in all 
 things, except their indwelling corruption. He 
 identified himself so really, as that he could 
 and did receive their sin upon himself, in the 
 way of imputation, so that God might deal 
 righteously against him, as if a sinner. Now 
 two things stood in the way of man's hope, 
 which Christ, as the second Adam, was to put 
 away. The one of these two things was death, 
 the penal consequence of the first Adam's sin. 
 Till death should be overcome, man, as a sin- 
 ner, could have no hope against death. The 
 other thing was, the want of spiritual life, for 
 man had forfeited life by sinning. Till life 
 should be brought in, and its sources fully re- 
 opened, man, as a sinner, could have no hope 
 of life. Christ then, as the second Adam, 
 undertook to do, and actually did, these two 
 things; — he " abolished death;" he "brought 
 life and immortality to light." Remember, it 
 was as the second Adam, that he did these two 
 
38 Christ our Hope. 
 
 things. He then was the death of that death 
 which had forbidden sinful men to hope. He 
 also was the source of that life, the announce- 
 ment of which awakened and gave assurance to 
 their hope. Thus the Apostle Paul declares, 
 "For since by man came death, by man came 
 also the resurrection of the dead; for as in 
 Adam, all die; even so in Christ shall all be 
 made alive." (1 Cor. xv. 21, 22.) And further 
 — "The first man Adam was made a living soul ; 
 the last Adam was made a quickening spirit. 
 Howbeit, that was not first which is spiritual, 
 but that which is natural; and afterward that 
 which is spiritual. The first man is of the 
 earth, earthy : the second man is the Lord from 
 heaven. As is the earthy, such are they also 
 that are earthy; and as is the heavenly, such 
 are they also that are heavenly." (1 Cor. xv. 
 45 — 48.) And now, observe, " As we have 
 borne the image of the earthy, we shall also 
 bear the image of the heavenly," (1 Cor. xv. 49) 
 that is to say, as in the first Adam we were 
 corrupt and subject to death, so in the second 
 
Christ our Hope. 39 
 
 Adam, we shall assuredly, and beyond doubt, as 
 true believers, be eternally freed from corrup- 
 tion, and its consequent death, and invested 
 with all the fulness, perpetuity, and blessedness 
 of Christ's resurrection-life. In this sense, then, 
 Christ is our death, and he is also our life. He 
 is our death-conquering death, who by dying has 
 "abolished" death. He is our life, by which, 
 as believers, we are made spiritually alive unto 
 God. It is by his life that we live. And thus, 
 Christ has not only procured for us a ground of 
 hope, that we may be hopeful, but he is our hope; 
 — he is what we hope to be in him eternally, when 
 " this corruptible shall have put on incorruption, 
 and this mortal shall have put on immortality." 
 The first Adam ivas our despair; the second 
 Adam is our hope; and what an exalted view 
 does this present of the true believer's interest 
 in Christ. "What he is, as the second Adam, 
 resting in the Father's complacent love, they 
 shall be, when mortality shall be swallowed up 
 of life; for his prayer when on earth was, "that 
 they all may be one, even as thou Father, art 
 
40 Christ our Hope. 
 
 in me, and I in thee ; that they all may be one 
 in ns ; and the glory thou hast given me ; (that 
 is, as the second Adam,) I have given them, 
 that they may be one, even as we are one; I in 
 them, and thou in me, that they may be made 
 perfect in one ; and that the world may know 
 that thou hast sent me, and that thou hast loved 
 them, as thou hast loved me. Father, I will that 
 they also, whom thou hast given me, be with 
 me where I am, that they may behold my glory 
 which thou hast given me ; for thou lovedst me 
 before the foundation of the world. " 
 
 In this view we trace the ample nature both 
 of the remedy and restitution, which the free 
 grace of God provided in the second Adam, 
 for the believing posterity of the first. And if 
 we believe it, then thus let us meditate : 
 
 "Oh death, where is thy sting? Oh grave, where 
 is thy victory?" Oh life, where is thy fulness? 
 Death's sting spent its venom; the grave ex- 
 hausted its terrors; life pours out its fulness in 
 our Immanuel. He is our hope. Death is under 
 our feet; — life is in our souls, in him. Oh radiant 
 
Christ our Hope. 41 
 
 truth ! Oh unfathomable mystery; not the less 
 true because mysterious ! 
 
 Hath Jesus, the second Adam, the Lord 
 from heaven, so loved thee as to become thy 
 death, that he might be thy hope ; and shall 
 doubt invade the firm foundation on which he 
 bids thee stand, for the full fruition of every 
 hope embodied in him — brightly, assuredly, and 
 most blessedly? Oh my soul — thine is a Ml 
 cup of hope, for Jesus is its fulness. Out of 
 him, and away from him, all is emptiness; 
 there is no hope ! 
 
 Oh my soul ! — if thou hast indeed tasted and 
 found that he is gracious, review thy Christian 
 course, and his faithfulness. Be humbled at 
 thy shortcomings, — not that thou may est doubt, 
 but rather that thy hope may expand and 
 strengthen, by the contemplation of him who is 
 thy hope. The fulness of Christ is the only 
 bound which thy hope may recognise. Con- 
 template him as thou drawest near to his 
 sacramental table, in contrition, faith, and love. 
 There are the memorials — (blessed means of 
 
42 Christ our Ho}ie. 
 
 grace) of that vast achievement, whereby he 
 not only bade thee hope, but became thy hope, 
 enduring and prevailing. 
 
 If there be any who have not Christ in them, 
 the hope of glory, it is because they have not 
 yet brought their guilt to the foot of his cross. 
 They are " without hope, and without God in 
 the world." They will not meditate, therefore, 
 as believers do. It cannot be expected that they 
 should. They have no due motive. But yet, may 
 they not think and reflect ? Immortal beings ! 
 may they not this day begin to say within them- 
 selves — oh, my soul — art thou without hope, 
 because without Christ? Art thou content? 
 Art thou wise ? Art thou what thou wouldest 
 wish to be, when Christ shall appear ? Are sin, 
 death, life, eternity, hell, heaven, — trifles? If 
 hitherto they have awakened no concern within 
 thee, is it not time they should ? One thought, 
 such as these, may, by the blessed Spirit's aid, 
 cause the first awakening — by which sinners 
 may be induced to turn to the hope set before 
 them, and find it full of immortality and bliss. 
 
PRAYER. 
 
 Oh my offended God ! how could I look up 
 to thee, but through the intervention of Him 
 whom thou hast exalted to be a Prince and 
 Saviour, to give repentance and remission of sins! 
 My in-bred sin, no less than my myriad sins of 
 omission and commission, when viewed in the 
 light of thy holy Word, might well shut me up 
 in the darkness of despair. But, blessed be thy 
 name, there is hope for the most hopeless of the 
 children of men. Thou didst kindle a light of 
 blessed hope, when Thou declaredst that the 
 seed of the woman should bruise the serpent's 
 head. Thou didst set it forth in types and 
 shadows, in thy Sacred Word; and now, it 
 shines forth in rich effulgence from the risen 
 body of thy once crucified, but now living Son, 
 who, as our Great High Priest, u ever liveth to 
 make intercession for us." Oh my God ! guilty 
 
44 Prayer. 
 
 — guilty though I am, yet I will not despair. 
 Why should I ? Thou art faithful. Jesus is 
 sufficient to dispel the darkest cloud that sin 
 ever cast upon the human soul. 
 
 Oh Jesus — Immanuel — my Hope ! I cast 
 myself wholly upon thee. Not only dost Thou 
 make me hopeful, but Thou art Hope within 
 me. Make my union with Thee more perfect, 
 by filling me more with Thine own Spirit — the 
 Comforter. Lord, I will not doubt Thee, though 
 my heart, sometimes faint through sin, will 
 tremble. For ever let me hear Thy soothing 
 voice within me ; and when I walk upon the 
 troubled waters, shuddering at the depths be- 
 neath, stretch out Thy faithful hand, and brace 
 my faltering heart. Help — help mine unbelief; 
 and then, leaning on Thine everlasting arm, I 
 will go serenely forward. Thy sacred table is 
 radiant of hope. Thither let me go, with a 
 child's simplicity of purpose. There Thou 
 waitcst for the hopeful and the loving. There 
 Thou droppest the dews of Thy grace. There 
 thy banner over me shall be love. 
 
CHRIST OUR WAY. 
 
Oh, firm as adamant, the bar 
 That shut me out from God ! 
 
 Distant and dark, I gaz'd from far, 
 And trembled at his rod. 
 
 But when I heard the anguish-cries 
 
 Of Him who died for me, 
 I upward look'd, with streaming eyes, 
 
 And saw the way was free. 
 
 Jesus, my way! through thee I come 
 
 Rejoicing to the throne 
 Of him, who shows me there a home, 
 
 Provided by his Son. 
 
 Oft have I come ; and, as before, 
 
 Embolden'd by thy grace, 
 I'll share thy precious feast once more, 
 
 And see my Father's face. 
 
CHRIST OUR WAY. 
 
 I am the Way. 
 
 The access of a sinner to God must have its 
 origin in a Divine purpose, and must be the 
 product of sovereign grace alone. The uniform 
 teaching of holy Scripture is substantially this. 
 The first advent in the flesh, of the Lord Jesus 
 Christ, was the manifestation of a Divine pur- 
 pose. The working out of his mediatorial office 
 was the accomplishment of that purpose. The 
 application of Christ and his finished w r ork, to 
 the soul of a sinner, is the exhibition of the 
 sovereign grace. The access of the sinner to 
 God, in and through Christ, is its fruition. 
 Plainly then, the whole purpose, means, and end 
 of the sinner's privileged state and relation to 
 God, are irrespective of, and altogether out of 
 
48 Christ our Way. 
 
 himself : as much as the origin of his being was 
 out of, and irrespective of himself. Through 
 Christ Jesus, God deals with the sinner, as such. 
 The purpose of God was directed towards him 
 as a sinner. The work of Christ, and the suffer- 
 ings of Christ, as mediator, were wrought out 
 and endured for him, as a sinner. And the free 
 grace of God, by the Spirit, applying Christ and 
 his finished work, is bestowed on him, as a sin- 
 ner. It is as a sinner, therefore, that man can 
 ever be a candidate for, and a recipient of the 
 results of the purpose, means, and free grace 
 of God. And now, bearing in mind these great 
 and permanent truths, we turn to the brief but 
 voluminous words of the text. 
 
 It is plain, from the conclusion of the verse, 
 that our Lord uses the expression concerning 
 himself, in a single and unmixed sense; inti- 
 mating thereby, as is elsewhere abundantly 
 taught in holy Scripture, that he is the sole way 
 or medium of access, by which sinners, alienated 
 from God, and dead in trespasses and sins, may 
 return to him and live. And here remark, 
 
Christ our Way. 49 
 
 Christ does not merely declare that he has 
 opened a way of access, but that he is himself 
 the way ; — even as he is declared to be our peace, 
 our hope, and our life. 
 
 There are many who are, no doubt, clear in 
 their perception of Christ as a mediator who 
 has opened a way of access to God for sinners, 
 but who, perhaps, need to be informed how he 
 is himself the way; and certain it is, that the 
 more we are enabled to identify Christ in his 
 person and offices, as the concentrated revelation 
 of God's mercy, compassion, and love, the more 
 we shall be inclined to rest our every hope on 
 him alone ; and the more thoroughly shall we 
 perceive the importance of vital union with him 
 by faith, through the Spirit. 
 
 A very moderate amount of reflection may 
 serve to convince us, that the way of access to 
 God, for sinners, must be such as shall render 
 it, not only a merciful, but a righteous thing, 
 (according to the law) on the part of God, to 
 admit them to his presence and favour, on the 
 ground of reconciliation. If man as a sinner, 
 
50 Christ our Way. 
 
 could, by a sustained effort at well-doing, have 
 aimed at reconciling himself to God, it might 
 have been a merciful, but yet not a righteous 
 thing, on the part of God, to have admitted him 
 to favour. But if, by any means, such as the full 
 vindication of the law, — the reconciliation of 
 God and sinners could be so justly and right- 
 eously effected, as that the acceptance of such 
 reconciliation, on man's part, could so operate, 
 as to establish friendship between him and God, 
 then it would manifestly be both righteous 
 and merciful, on the part of God, to recognise 
 such friendship, and to put upon it the seal of 
 perpetuity. 
 
 This, then, is precisely what is revealed 
 in the Gospel plan of salvation. " God was in 
 Christ, reconciling the world unto himself, not 
 imputing their trespasses to them." The pri- 
 mary step in the way of reconciliation was on 
 God's part. The incarnation of Christ was the 
 manifest commencement of it. His death, resur- 
 rection and ascension, were its manifest com- 
 pletion. The closing, then, of Christ's first 
 
Christ our Way. 51 
 
 advent, was both the righteous and merciful es- 
 tablishment of an act of reconciliation on God's 
 part, towards the guilty race of the first Adam. 
 Ever since the ascension of Christ, the great 
 Gospel message has consisted of the news of 
 reconciliation — the declaration, on God's part, 
 that no hindrance lay between him and the 
 immediate return to him of the guiltiest sinner. 
 Nothing short of this could have been good 
 news, or Gospel, to a lost sinner. It would not 
 be good news to a sinner, if he were now told 
 that, through the transaction of Christ on the 
 cross and in the grave, God would eventually 
 be reconciled, on the performance of some mat- 
 ter of previous condition on the part of man, — 
 such as repenting, believing, and amending his 
 evil life ; — for he would feel that such a condi- 
 tion is precisely that which his fallen and 
 corrupted nature cannot by any means perform ; 
 and that therefore he and God must for ever 
 continue unreconciled. But, to be told that, 
 through the transaction of Christ, God had 
 actually reconciled the world unto himself, 
 
52 Christ our Way. 
 
 and that the reconciliation consisted simply 
 in not imputing sin to the guilty, would, 
 as soon as steadfastly believed by a sinner, go 
 very far towards filling him with the assurance 
 that he might, with the Spirit's aid, at once return 
 to God, with a certainty of gracious acceptance, 
 which should result in the fact of his full ac- 
 ceptance and complete salvation. The sinner 
 would then perceive that a way of access to God 
 was actually opened — and open for him ; and he 
 would conclude that God really intended he 
 should return to him and live. He would more- 
 over, if rightly instructed, begin at the same 
 time to perceive, that return to God would not 
 depend upon any fitness of character, on his 
 part, but on the amplitude of God's provision in 
 Christ, and the harmonization of his justice 
 and his mercy, in their several operations. 
 
 Now, let this be steadily borne in mind. It 
 is not the possession of a newness of character, 
 such as is implied by repentance, faith, and 
 amendment of life, that can give a sinner access 
 to God. The oidy access is by virtue of God's 
 
Christ our Way. 53 
 
 reconciliation of the guilty to himself — while 
 guilty, and before repentance, faith, and amend- 
 ment have appeared. That reconciliation con- 
 sists, as we have seen, in the non-imputation 
 of sin ; and, if God does not impute sin to the 
 guilty, what should stand in the way of imme- 
 diate return to God, as soon as the sinner be- 
 lieves that God has thus effected reconciliation ? 
 But, here an inquiry may be urged — Is it 
 according to the revealed truth of God, to say 
 that God has ceased to impute their trespasses 
 to sinful men, before they have repented and 
 believed? Our answer is in the affirmative — 
 and without the smallest qualification ; and we 
 add that, if the non-imputation of sin is to 
 depend upon repentance, faith, and amendment, 
 then repentance, faith, and amendment must 
 be regarded as conditions — the performance of 
 which is to lay the ground of a claim to the 
 favour of God. In other words, man, in that 
 case, would gain for himself access to God. But 
 such doctrine is not anywhere to be found in 
 the Bible. To maintain such doctrine, were to 
 
54 Christ our Way. 
 
 deny the completeness and efficiency of Christ's 
 mediatorial work. The Gospel is a remedy for 
 sin, and a destroyer of the penal consequences 
 of sin. As such, it is the fruit of Christ's finished 
 work — which is reconciliation on the part of 
 God. And, I repeat, it is simply because God 
 has thus reconciled the world to himself by 
 Christ, that there is a way of access opened, and 
 still open for us; and whosoever enters it, by 
 faith in Christ, becomes the friend of God — no 
 longer an alien and an enemy; no longer dead in 
 trespasses and sins, but alive unto God. If the 
 non-imputation of sin were the effect of our 
 faith, then faith would be the good work that 
 would justify us. But our justification is alto- 
 gether of grace, and not of works ; and there- 
 fore, the non-imputation of sin is the product of 
 Christ's work on our behalf. 
 
 Thus far, then, we see that Christ has opened 
 a way of access to God for us, by rendering it a 
 righteous and a consistent thing in God to cease 
 to impute sin to the guilty, just as it would be 
 a righteous thing in me to accept an insolvent 
 
Christ our Way. 55 
 
 debtor to my favour, as soon as I had, for suffi- 
 cient reasons, resolved no longer to charge his 
 debt against him. But the fact of Christ hav- 
 ing opened a way of access, does not come up 
 to the full sense of the expression — " I am the 
 way." Let us now go up to the full sense : and 
 first, observe, that so long as God imputes sin to 
 a sinner, and actually charges it upon him, the 
 sin lies as an impassable barrier, and cuts off the 
 sinner's access to God. There is no way of access. 
 The imputed sin is the way of hindrance. Now, 
 when Jesus, as the last Adam, undertook the 
 work of mediation, he took upon himself, by 
 direct and positive imputation, the sin which 
 hindered the sinner's access to God. In order 
 that God might no longer impute the sin to the 
 posterity of the first Adam, he laid it, with all 
 its guilt and consequences, upon Jesus — the 
 last Adam. In Him, the sin met its full 
 expiation. And being expiated, it could not be 
 retained and so charged against the sinner. 
 Christ, then, was the Lamb of God who took 
 away — took on himself for the purpose of taking 
 
56 Christ our Way. 
 
 away, the sin of the world. " He who knew no 
 sin was made sin for us, that we might be made 
 the righteousness of God in Him." In Christ's 
 person, then, there is presented to us the 
 actual removal of that which would for ever 
 have cut off our access to God. In this strict 
 and accurate sense, then, he is the way. The 
 fact of his having removed the way of hindrance, 
 is the fact which makes him the way of access 
 to God, for sinners. 
 
 Next observe, that Christ as Mediator, did, 
 by his own merits, obtain access to God, after 
 having removed the hindrance. Had not Christ 
 been able, by the sacrifice of himself, to put away 
 the sin imputed to him, he never could have 
 entered into the most holy place, as the great 
 " High Priest of our profession." But he was 
 able — and he did it ; just as, under the law, the 
 high priest was wont to make a ceremonial 
 expiation of sin by a suitable sacrifice; and 
 having actually made it, (and so, in a ceremo- 
 nial manner, put away sin), he entered into the 
 holy place, with the blood of atonement ; and 
 
Christ our Way. 57 
 
 the work of ceremonial reconciliation was com- 
 plete. The high priest under the law, was really 
 the way by which the Jewish people had cere- 
 monial access to God, after the expiation of 
 sin; for none but the high priest could enter 
 there in person; but his entrance was their 
 entrance. Now in Christ, our great High 
 Priest, we have the realisation of all that was 
 symbolised by the ceremonies of the law; — of 
 that law which had " the shadow of good things 
 to come/' What the high priest and his atone- 
 ment were, ceremonially, such Christ and his 
 atonement are, really and substantially. So 
 then, as the Jewish people had access to God 
 ceremonially, through the high priest, as their 
 way, so is access really offered in all gratuitous 
 freeness to us, miserable sinners, through Jesus 
 as our way ; for he said, " no man cometh to 
 the Father but by me." 
 
 If this simple, but greatly overlooked Scripture 
 truth, now stands clearly out before you, so 
 that you perceive the concentration, in Christ, 
 of the justice and mercy of God, on your behalf, 
 
58 Christ our Way. 
 
 then you will also perceive, that union with Christ, 
 by faith through the Spirit, is the step which 
 brings the sinner at once into the presence and 
 favour of God, as a reconciling God, whose 
 name is love. It is in order to this step, then, 
 that the sinner must at once seek for the need- 
 ful and promised grace, not for a moment 
 dreading that he has to do with a God at 
 enmity with him. And surely, while striving, 
 he may take the largest encouragement from 
 that precious text, in Heb. x. 19, &c. — "Having 
 therefore, brethren, boldness (or liberty) to enter 
 into the holiest by the blood of Jesus, by a new 
 and living way, winch he hath consecrated (or, 
 new-made) for us, through the veil, that is to 
 say, his flesh; and having an high priest over 
 the house of God, let us draw near with a true 
 heart, in full assurance of faith, having our 
 hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience, and 
 our bodies washed with pure water." 
 
 With a truth so clear, so simple, and so all- 
 essential before us ; with a doctrine so exactly 
 adapted to our necessity as sinners, surely the 
 
Christ our Way. 59 
 
 utmost encouragement is afforded to the sin- 
 burthcned rebels to look to the incarnate Son of 
 God; and in him behold the way to a loving 
 Father freely opened, — without one hindrance 
 on His part, interposing. Then thus let us 
 meditate : — Oh my soul ! be mindful how thou 
 regardest the precious token of a Father's com- 
 passion, and an elder Brother's love ! Thy sin 
 might have shut thee out for ever from the 
 Divine presence : but now in Christ, there is a 
 way of access, which is for thee. It is for thee — 
 it is thine, if thou wilt enter it. If thou reject 
 it, think what it is that thou rejectest. It is a 
 way open for thee now — a way, at the very en- 
 trance of which, lies mercy awaiting thee, and 
 love to greet thee; and at the end, glory to make 
 thee illustrious. It is the way by which patri- 
 archs and prophets, evangelists and apostles, 
 saints and martyrs, have entered into their rest; 
 and in which they are awaiting their final be- 
 atitude in the resurrection-triumph of Jesus. 
 There is no other way. Pride, self-righteous- 
 ness, philosophy, have sought to set up and 
 
60 Christ our Way. 
 
 establish other ways. But there is no other. 
 No man cometh to the Father but by Christ, 
 because he alone, by bearing away sin, hath made 
 return to God possible; and, by effectual faith 
 in him, certain. If thou art not enjoying full 
 access to God in Christ, then thou art wretched 
 indeed ! The legions of immortal men who have 
 perished without hope, and are now lifting up their 
 eyes in torments, perished because they despised 
 and rejected that way. Oh beware — beware! 
 
 But, oh my soul ! if thou hast indeed entered 
 — if thou hast realized free access to God, and 
 enjoyed the sweetness of reconciliation, and 
 the tenderness of his paternal love, give all the 
 glory to Christ, and stand on him as thy foun- 
 dation, till the shadows of time shall give place 
 to the realities of eternity. And day by day, in 
 the use of means — and now, especially in the 
 use of his own blessed sacramental-means — seek 
 for that increase of grace, that shall heighten 
 the bliss of thy present communion with God in 
 Christ, and promote thy meetness for the in- 
 heritance of the saints in light. 
 
PRAYER. 
 
 Infinitely separated from thee by sin, most 
 righteous Jehovah, I weep with joy to think, to 
 believe, to know — that the gulf is not impass- 
 able. There is a living way — a way conse- 
 crated — a safe and only way, on which my soul, 
 lost in itself, may upward go into thy very pre- 
 sence, accepted, healed, and beautified. That 
 way has been wrought out by travail, and is 
 marked with blood; not my travail — not my 
 blood. No, thou just and merciful God ! No, 
 thou compassionate Lord Jesus ! The travail was 
 that of a sinless humanity, created under the 
 law, to redeem them that were under the law, 
 that we (the lost posterity of the first Adam) 
 might receive the adoption of sons. The blood 
 was that of God manifest in human flesh. Oh 
 
62 Prayer. 
 
 blessed, consecrated, precious, all-effectual way ! 
 Let this be mine, and none other. 
 
 Jesus, Lord, Master, thou art my way ! In 
 thee, I enjoy access to the Father. Oh ! hold 
 me fast, and keep me steady in the way. Let 
 nothing allure me from thee. Let nothing ever 
 affright me. Keep me, like Mary, at thy feet ; 
 or, like John, reclining on thy bosom. Whom 
 have I, but thee ? To whom shall I turn, but 
 unto thee? What can satisfy me, but thyself? 
 Out of thee, I could not look up towards a holy 
 God. In thee, I behold him; and to me, his 
 name is love. He who hath seen thee, hath seen 
 the Father. What thou art to me, he will ever 
 be. Oh, keep me humble, while thou makest 
 me happy, holy, and rejoicing. 
 
 Show me the preciousness of thy blood, and 
 the efficacy of the travail of thy soul, when I 
 meet thee at thy sacramental table ; and though 
 the " accuser " may trouble me on account of 
 sins pardoned and foregone, let thy sustaining 
 Spirit tell my inmost soul, "The blood of Jesus 
 Christ cleanseth from all sin." 
 
CHRIST THE TRUTH. 
 
Oh, never did the Truth engage 
 
 My wayward heart, till forth it shone 
 
 Effulgent from the sacred page, 
 By God's own ministry alone. 
 
 I never knew its depth or height, 
 Till the incarnate, mighty Word 
 
 Stood out, array'd in glorious light, 
 Reveal'd, confess'd, and inly heard. 
 
 But now, within my heart He lives, 
 My Truth — expanding day by day; 
 
 In Him my heavenly Father gives 
 Joy that can never melt away. 
 
 Jesus — my Truth ! — Thy light shall guide 
 My erring soul along the road, 
 
 Where, but for thee, my steps would slide 
 Beneath temptation's heavy load. 
 
CHRIST THE TRUTH. 
 
 I AM THE TRUTH." Jolill XIV. 0. 
 
 Truth and error, shadow and substance, are 
 variously presented to the minds of men. 
 Truth, in order to be influential, must be defi- 
 nitely apprehended; or else error, fallacy, shadow, 
 will usurp the place which substantially it should 
 occupy. God's truth, is truth in its supremacy. 
 It can be apprehended in only one way, and 
 that is in Christ, who declares himself to be 
 " The Truth :" and I wish the definiteness of 
 that remarkable expression to be clearly per- 
 ceived, in its application to the incarnate Son of 
 God— the Eternal " Word." 
 
 To say that Christ — God manifest in the 
 flesh, was and is in possession of all truth, would 
 be only to assert that which no one believing in 
 
66 Christ the Truth. 
 
 Him would be prepared to dispute, or dis- 
 posed to question. The office of the Only Be- 
 gotten (who from eternity was in the bosom of 
 the Father) was to declare or manifest the 
 Father; and therefore was he privy to the 
 whole truth of the Father. When, therefore, 
 our Lord affirmed, " I am the truth," he plainly 
 meant something more than that he was in 
 possession of the truth. 
 
 Moreover, to say that Christ always spake 
 the truth — the truth of God, without any ad- 
 mixture of error, would be only to say that his 
 sinless humanity obeyed its proper bias, and 
 maintained its proper character and consistency. 
 It is, therefore, equally plain that our Lord 
 meant something more than this when he 
 affirmed, " I am the truth." It is one thing to 
 possess and speak the truth ; but quite another 
 thing to be the truth itself. 
 
 Still further, to say that Christ is truth, 
 would be just tantamount to saying that, as to 
 his Divine nature, the essential of Godhead was 
 within him — a matter of fact probable in a great 
 
Christ the Truth. 67 
 
 variety of ways; a matter of fact credible — 
 yea, always believed by every true disciple of 
 Christ. It is, therefore, plain that he meant 
 something more than this, when he affirmed, 
 " I am the truth." To possess, to speak, and to 
 be truth, is a lofty privilege; and this was 
 indeed the privilege of Jesus — God manifest 
 in the flesh; yet it was not of this privilege 
 that he was speaking, in the words of the 
 text. He was in fact announcing himself in 
 his true mediatorial character; not as truth, 
 but as the truth. Truth, though but one thing 
 essentially, yet takes a great variety of aspects. 
 Christ might have rightly called himself truth, 
 in regard to truth philosophical, or in regard 
 to truth moral, or physical, truth latent or 
 demonstrated; but in that case, he would not 
 have called himself "the truth." But we 
 observe, it was of himself as the truth, that he 
 spake; and the term is one of most definite 
 designation. 
 
 The proper key to this peculiar expression is 
 found in John i. 17, where it is said: "The 
 
68 Christ the Truth. 
 
 law was given by Moses ; but grace and truth 
 came by Jesus Christ." Most thoughtful readers 
 of the Bible have, no doubt, felt some obscurity 
 in the wording of our English translation of 
 this verse. The obscurity may, perhaps, be 
 removed by a paraphrase ; thus — The law which 
 cannot justify, but must condemn the sinner, 
 (for by it is the knowledge of sin, and through 
 it, the vengeance due to sin) — that law was 
 given by God to man, through Moses — that is 
 by his instrumentality; but grace and truth, 
 which can justify the sinner, which were in- 
 tended so to do, and which cannot condemn, 
 came into full exercise, on behalf of man, 
 through Christ — God manifest in human flesh. 
 Here you observe the person of Moses, and the 
 person of Christ, put in contrast. The law was 
 given in the person of Moses. Grace and truth 
 came in the person of Jesus of Nazareth. Thus 
 then, while Moses in person represented the 
 law, Christ in person was really the grace and 
 the truth. The apostle Paul has, by a bold 
 figure of speech, gone (mite up to what 1 mean, 
 
Christ the Truth. 69 
 
 when writing to the Corinthians abont the 
 Jews, and saying — " Bnt even unto this day, 
 when Moses is read, the veil is upon their 
 heart/' meaning thereby that the law, per- 
 sonated by the name of Moses, was read • and 
 embracing in the one expression both the moral 
 and ceremonial law. 
 
 But, in order to the better understanding of 
 our Lord's declaration, " I am the truth," let 
 it be remarked, that though we commonly use 
 the term truth, in simple opposition to the term 
 error, because they express the ideas of qualities 
 that are opposite, yet we are not limited to 
 that usage; for it is almost as usual, and is as 
 well understood, when by use of the term truth, 
 we mean reality, — the reality of a thing, as con- 
 trasted with the representation, the shadow or 
 picture of the thing. And we find expressions 
 equivalent to this, in the writings of St. Paid; 
 for instance, in Heb. x. 1, where the apostle 
 says, " For the law, having a shadow of good 
 things to come, and not the very image of the 
 things, can never, with those sacrifices which 
 
70 Christ the Truth. 
 
 they offered year by year continually, make the 
 comers thereunto perfect." In this case, the 
 law shadowed forth something that thereafter 
 was, in reality and in substance, to be evolved. 
 What the law thus shadowed forth, was, when 
 evolved, the truth, — that is, the reality. And this 
 truth was Christ; and the new dispensation, — the 
 gospel, all concentrated in his person. This was 
 what elsewhere is called " the truth as it is in 
 Jesus" — the aggregate of God's gracious purpo- 
 ses of mercy and love, to be fully developed in 
 and by him. And this you perceive was very 
 much more than Christ possessing the truth of 
 God, im&speaking the truth of God, and being truth 
 in the abstract. The truth, in the evangelical 
 sense of the expression, could be nothing less 
 than God's manifestation of himself in Christ. 
 In Christ's person, the truth concerning redemp- 
 tion and salvation was embodied, — made visible — 
 audible — influential, to the full extent of the end 
 proposed. In him, all the law's types found their 
 antitypes, that is, their realization. In him, all the 
 law's shadowings forth presented their substance 
 
Christ the Truth. 71 
 
 and their reality. Metaphors and figures, and 
 symbols, in him became living verities. Moses 
 and the prophets foretold of him; and in the ful- 
 ness of time he appeared, made of a woman, made 
 under the law. He was the manifested truth, or 
 substance of all revelation, and therefore the man- 
 ifestation of God; so that in him, men of all 
 nations and kindreds of the earth might even- 
 tually behold the salvation of God. Christ, then, 
 was the truth, in order that he might dispense 
 it, by dispensing himself. When he lay in the 
 manger of Bethlehem, he was the truth evolved. 
 During his three years' ministry, he was the 
 living, speaking, acting, influential truth, striking 
 the foundation of error, and preparing to estab- 
 lish truth's supremacy. When he died on the 
 cross, he was developing the power of the truth 
 against him who had the power of sin, and 
 therefore of death : and when he rose from the 
 grave, he declared the full and perfect triumph 
 of the truth over all that had ever crossed the 
 path of man with a fearful destiny. In him, 
 the truth crushed sin, abolished death, and 
 
72 Christ the Truth. 
 
 opened the kingdom of heaven to all believers. 
 In him, the truth was not merely a principle, but 
 a principle animated and personated ; a principle 
 that moved, and felt, and spake, and suffered, 
 and acted as a man, on whose nature sin had 
 made no ravages. His sympathies were the 
 sympathies of the truth; his death was the endu- 
 rance of the truth ; his resurrection-life was and 
 is the fruit of the truth. His obedience was all 
 along the obedience of the truth yielded to truth. 
 And if his mediatorial office, perfectly sustained 
 and fulfilled, is to avail us sinners anything, it is 
 because he as the truth, — the truth triumphant, 
 is the grand centre in which the purposes of a 
 God of truth will have all their fulfilment and 
 completeness. 
 
 Thus then, we may be enabled clearly to per- 
 ceive the definiteness of the expression, u I am 
 the truth," when used by Christ, in direct and 
 exclusive reference to himself, in his mediatorial 
 office and character ; and we may, in the same 
 light, perceive the exalted and august nature of 
 that wondrous Being who came to make us par- 
 
Christ the Truth. 73 
 
 takers of the truth, by being made partakers of 
 himself, through the Spirit — living members of 
 his glorious body. 
 
 All that we, as sinners, can need, is therefore 
 treasured up and to be found in Christ ; because 
 all the truth of God concerning us has been 
 manifested in him — manifested in order that it 
 might be dispensed ; — dispensed, in order that it 
 might be possessed by us. He, therefore, who 
 possesses Christ, possesses the truth of God ; and 
 that truth takes many forms — mercy, pardon, 
 peace, light, life, love, salvation, glory ; — all these 
 are streams flowing from one fountain, and that 
 fountain is — God manifest in human flesh. 
 
 In the compass of these condensed sacramental 
 exercises, we may not venture on any more minute 
 or expository view of this great subject. Details 
 may, however, be now advantageously sought in 
 the written Word, to show how the truth in 
 Christ was an achieving power — an enduring sub- 
 missiveness — a triumphing perfection — a God- 
 manifesting endowment; but I must forbear; 
 and leave it to your prayerful reflection in soli- 
 
T4 Christ the Truth. 
 
 tude, to trace out the particulars to which I 
 trust the key has been thus afforded; only 
 suggesting that Christ, as the truth, must be 
 the foundation on which alone you can stand, as 
 candidates for salvation; the only ground of a 
 hope that can shed its brightness beyond the 
 dark shadows of the valley of death. Philosophy 
 has its truth; science, art, nature, all have 
 theirs; arithmetical process declares truth, and 
 mathematical force demonstrates it; but let 
 them do their utmost, and the truth which saves, 
 emancipates, and glorifies the soul and body of 
 immortal man, must for ever be an unsolved 
 problem to the misguided one, who finds it not, 
 who seeks it not, who cares not for it, as brought 
 down from heaven to earth in the person of 
 Jesus, the eternal Son of God. 
 
 And now let us ask — Do we feci these things? 
 Have new thoughts been suggested, — new hopes 
 enkindled? Then, thus let us meditate. Oh, 
 my soul, what is truth in any form worth, to an 
 immortal being, unless it be that which thou 
 canst embrace, when enabled by the Spirit to 
 
Christ the Truth. 75 
 
 say, " My beloved is mire, and I am his.". All 
 truth, short of the truth as it is in Jesus, will 
 one day, oh how soon — cease to be truth to thee ! 
 Couldst thou fathom the truth as it lies hid in 
 the heart of every mysterious thing, and reduce 
 the philosophy of truth to a simple alphabet of 
 fixed science, why — an accident, an hour's fever, 
 some malady that mocks the physician, might 
 sweep the record away for ever. Alas ! what 
 bankruptcy, after a life of toil and demonstra- 
 tion. Oh, my soul, Christ must be thy truth, 
 as well as the truth to thee. Thou must have a 
 living interest in him, if thou wouldst escape 
 the delusion of shadows, and stand when every- 
 thing but God's Word, as developed in him, shall 
 be falling in ruins. All that is great and glo- 
 rious in this world, however true — its pride, its 
 pomp, its sovereignty, its wealth, its skill, its 
 ingenuity of art, the fruits of conquest and the 
 achievements of peace, — all shall pass away; 
 God's truth in Christ alone shall remain; and 
 that will be the power, in the exercise of 
 which will be seen the fulfilment of the divine 
 
76 Christ the Truth. 
 
 declaration, " Beloved, I make all tilings new." 
 Oh! my soul, my soul, — to possess the universe 
 during the poor span of human existence, and 
 to be destitute of Christ as thy truth, were to be 
 poor below all estimate. Therefore, seek thou 
 Christ. Love truth, when and wheresoever she 
 presenteth herself to thee, and in whatsoever 
 aspect arrayed. Seek her ; she will honour thee. 
 But, as an immortal being, seek the truth as it is 
 in Jesus, before all other truth. It will not only 
 honour thee here, among those who share it with 
 thee, but it will set thee among princes, and lift 
 thee beyond the stars, in the presence of thy 
 Father which is in heaven. 
 
 Shall Jesus, as the truth, be set forth among 
 men, still despised, still rejected? Alas— alas ! 
 for them. My soul, enter not into their coun- 
 sels; but, in the blaze of revelation which shines 
 around thee, apprehend Christ revealed to thee 
 as thy truth; and so, — dying thou shalt live, and 
 living thou shalt rejoice; and thy rejoicing spirit 
 shall carry, in its anthems, rich praises to the 
 footstool of thy redeeming God. 
 
PRAYER. 
 
 Oh heavenly Father — God of all grace ; — thou 
 knowest me to be a creature born in sin, and 
 therefore encompassed with error, delusion, and 
 uncertainty; and, in great compassion to my 
 many wants, hast set forth truth and certainty 
 by a full revelation of thyself in thy dear Son. 
 In thy holy Word thou dost reflect, as by a mir- 
 ror, thy divine perfections, manifesting them in 
 him who took our nature into his Godhead, that 
 he might be our truth — Thyself in us. I adore 
 and magnify thy holy name for this surpassing 
 act of grace and goodness ; and I pray thee that 
 thy blessed Spirit, with illuminating power, may 
 enable me to perceive the truth in its fulness, 
 by beholding it in Jesus; by beholding and 
 receiving him as " the truth," — thy truth and 
 mine. I would lie humbly and tcachably, like a 
 
78 Prayer. 
 
 child, before thy throne of grace; and would 
 have the pride of reason, and the power of will, 
 brought entirely in subjection — loving, adoring 
 subjection, to thy truth. This is all possible, if 
 thou wilt take me in thy gracious hands. And 
 surely I ought not to doubt thy willingness or 
 thy love, since thou hast so revealed thyself in 
 Jesus, as the truth. Oh, I will not doubt j but 
 will open my heart freely, and give up the power 
 of my intellect to thy teaching and guidance. 
 
 Jesus ! Redeemer ! thou art the truth for me. 
 Whether I have received thee fully or not, yet 
 thou art for me. I would receive thee at once 
 and altogether, by faith, through the Holy 
 Ghost; and I would live before God the Father, 
 and before men like myself, in the power of 
 truth, which is thyself. Oh, fill me, furnish me 
 with an inexhaustible supply; and let my spi- 
 ritual life be the manifestation of the truth, in 
 its constraining power, unto holiness of heart 
 and life. 
 
 In thee, my truth, I come to thy sacramental 
 table. There, give me increase of thyself, and 
 
Prayer. 79 
 
 of every grace that flows from thee. Worthless 
 and vile in myself, I come ; but — accepted and 
 acceptable in and tln'ough thee, who art my 
 worthiness, I cease to tremble, because I have 
 learned to believe, to love, and to adore thee. 
 Amen. 
 
CHRIST OUR LIFE 
 
I dreamed of Life while I was dead in sin, 
 But all avail'd not — for the Death reraain'd ; 
 
 I strove the sunny hill of Life to win, 
 
 But Death repuls'd me ere the height was gain'd. 
 
 I longed for Life — rejoicing in the thought 
 That it might come like waters gushing near ; 
 
 Yet, — whence I knew not, till my spirit caught 
 The voice of revelation, full and clear. 
 
 Then —then I prayd for Life, and forth it broke 
 In blessed fulness from my Saviour's grave ; 
 
 Death cowerd — and put aside his dreadful yoke, 
 And freedom beautified the abject slave. 
 
 Jesus — my Life ! — by whom alone I live, 
 Grafted and growing in thee let me be ; 
 
 Give all thou canst of grace — for ever give, 
 
 And make me yield the fruits of Life — to thee. 
 
CHRIST OUR LIFE. 
 
 Christ, wno is our life." — Col. iii. 4. 
 
 A state of death in trespasses and sins, is tlie 
 awful calamity which has overtaken the whole 
 posterity of the first and fallen Adam ; and in 
 man's nature there is no power of recovery or self- 
 restitution. The life by which alone he can live 
 unto God, lies altogether out of himself. If we 
 possess it not, we are of all creatures most miser- 
 able. The Gospel is a provision of life in Christ, 
 for the dead in trespasses and sins. 
 
 I wish, therefore, to make clear two things : 
 first, in what sense Christ is life ; and secondly, 
 how he comes to be our life, or life in us. 
 
 If wc contemplate the Divine nature, or 
 Godhead of Christ, the first simple idea that 
 suggests itself is, that, essentially, he must be 
 
81 Christ our Life. 
 
 life — not as possessing a derived existence, but 
 as self-existent. The incommunicable name, 
 " Jehovah/' signifies this — that the being who 
 is God, is essential life ; and, therefore, in and 
 of himself, is the source of all life. Hence, in 
 reference to Christ's Divine nature, St. John 
 declared — " In him was life." Now, John was 
 a Jew writing for the instruction of Jews, to 
 show them that Jesus of Nazareth was very 
 God, without which, a narrative of his life and 
 death as a man, would not have availed anything. 
 He therefore adapted his expression to the 
 Jewish mode of thinking ; and his statement is 
 equivalent to this — In him was Jehovah, that is, 
 essential life, or self-existence. The belief of 
 that fact would necessarily draw after it the 
 belief of his true Messiahship. St. John, there- 
 fore, prefaced his gospel by declaring, that Jesus 
 of Nazareth was actually Jehovah. This the 
 Jews in general could not, and at present, cannot 
 believe ; and by them therefore, with compara- 
 tively few exceptions, Christ and his claim to 
 be the true Messiah have been, and still arc, 
 
Christ our Life. 85 
 
 rejected. But the Christian faith is based upon 
 that fact ; and if we do not thoroughly believe 
 that Christ is essential life, and therefore God, 
 his mediation avails us nothing. 
 
 But the declaration that Christ is life, or our 
 life, is not limited to his Divine nature, but 
 extends to his whole mediatorial person — God 
 manifest in the flesh. In the human nature of 
 the Lord Jesus, there is also life. It is not 
 essential life, such as he possesses as God ; but a 
 derived life, which he possesses as Mediator — the 
 bestowal of God the Father : for " as the Father 
 hath life in himself, so hath he given to the Son 
 (that is, to his human nature) to have life in 
 himself." The efficiency of Christ's mediation 
 very much depended on the fact, that the 
 nature of man which he assumed in order to 
 redeem it, was invested by God the Father with 
 an indestructible life; a life, which, indeed, 
 admitted of suspension, so far as the human body 
 was concerned, but was sure of restoration j in 
 regard to which he himself asserted that he had 
 power to lay it down, and equal power to take it 
 
86 Christ our Life. 
 
 again. The human nature which he assumed 
 had, at the beginning, been created with the 
 same reality and fulness of life which Christ's 
 nature possessed ; and held it by the tenure of 
 obedience. The loss of it, then, was the conse- 
 quence of disobedience. When man sinned, the 
 tenure was destroyed ; and subjection to death 
 ensued. St. Paul, in the Epistle to the Hebrews, 
 while arguing out the efficiency of Christ's priest- 
 hood, in contrast with the priesthood under the 
 law, which (by reason of death) continued not 
 in any one man holding the office of high priest, 
 placed the priesthood of Christ in this pre-emi- 
 nent point of view, that he " was made, not after 
 the law of a carnal commandment, but after the 
 power of an endless life :" so that, possessing 
 in himself an endless life, which rendered suc- 
 cession impossible, the whole priesthood of the 
 New Testament must, of necessity, be concen- 
 trated in him. It was then by virtue of that 
 power, which the possession of an endless life 
 conferred on him as Mediator, that Christ alone 
 could be, and is, the great High Priest of our 
 
Christ our Life. 87 
 
 profession, whose one atonement avails for all 
 purposes, and readies to all time. 
 
 Bearing this steadily in mind, let us go on to 
 observe, that in regard to his human nature, 
 Christ came as the second man, or the last 
 Adam, (as he is also termed) to be the one 
 Mediator between God and man j and, " by the 
 power of an endless life " conferred on his 
 human nature, came also to assume and execute 
 the office of a mediating priest, whose office and 
 sacrifice should effect that which the priesthood 
 and sacrifices of the law coidd not possibly ac- 
 complish, except in a ceremonial and symbolical 
 manner. Now, it appears that God the Father 
 gave the "man, Christ Jesus" to have life in 
 himself, upon precisely the same tenure as 
 that by which it was conferred on Adam at 
 the first, when he was made " in the image of 
 God." We have already said, that that tenure 
 was obedience. And perhaps the epithets " the 
 second man," and " the last Adam," as applied 
 to Christ, are intended to direct attention to 
 this important truth. If Christ came on earth 
 
88 Christ our Life. 
 
 as a man; if he came as the last Adam, and 
 therefore, as to his human nature, as a created 
 being, in subjection and loyalty to God the 
 Father — he came that he might obey. And if, 
 as a living man, he came with the power of an 
 endless life, such as the first Adam originally 
 possessed, and, in like manner, by the donation 
 of God, then manifestly he held that life by the 
 tenure of obedience. If Christ, then, as the 
 last Adam, had not obeyed thoroughly, and 
 in every sense, he would not have laid down 
 his life and taken it again, but he would have 
 lost it, as the first Adam did ; and that would 
 have been the penal consequence of disobedience, 
 in the one case as well as in the other. 
 
 The tenure of obedience, by which the first 
 Adam held the power of an endless life with 
 which the sovereignty of God invested him, had 
 reference to the known will of God. That law 
 which said " thou shalt not," was simply restric- 
 tive, and implied that Adam's nature, then 
 sinless and unimpaired, would, as by an instinct, 
 be ever active and progressive in obeying, 
 
Christ our Life. 89 
 
 according to the knowledge which it possessed. 
 But the tenure of obedience by which Christ, 
 the last Adam, received the power of an endless 
 life, reached to two particulars : he was to obey 
 the curse, so as to exhaust it ; — he was to obey 
 the whole law, so as to magnify it. This he was 
 to do, as the last Adam ; and in order that he 
 might, as the result of his interposition, make it 
 a just, though no less merciful a transaction on 
 the part of the Father, to restore the power of an 
 endless life to the first Adam and his posterity, 
 whose lack of obedience to a Divine restriction 
 had worked the forfeiture of life, by destroying 
 the tenure on which its continuation depended. 
 Now the history of the life, death, and resur- 
 rection of the Lord Jesus Christ, is just a history 
 of the obedience of the last Adam, — the tenure 
 upon which his power of an endless life was 
 sustained; and the proof, therefore, that his 
 mediation has been effectual to the restoring to 
 man's nature, by obedience, what that nature 
 had forfeited through disobedience. Now a 
 clear perception of this foundation truth must, 
 
1)0 Christ our Life. 
 
 by the blessing of God upon it, help greatly to 
 establish the assurance which an inquiring sin- 
 ner needs, that Christ, as the last Adam, has 
 effectually, and in himself, provided the infallible 
 means, whereby the guiltiest child of the dis- 
 obedient first Adam, may, if he will, be reinstat- 
 ed in the favour of God, and be himself invested 
 with the power of an endless life, on the tenure 
 of free grace, to be manifested by the filial 
 obedience of a child, who knows that his best 
 portion is his heavenly Father's love. 
 
 Let it, in the next place, be now seen, how 
 Christ comes to be our life. That he has life in 
 himself, and is essentially life, is plain. But, 
 is the life which he has in himself, communi- 
 cable ? Surely. But, can Christ really become 
 our life ? Doubtless. He himself declared, " I 
 am come that they might have life, and that 
 they might have it more abundantly." This 
 answers the first inquiry. He also said, " I am 
 the resurrection and the life." This answers 
 the second. It follows, then, that Christ himself 
 is the very thing which he bestows, when 
 
Christ our Life. 91 
 
 we are made spiritually alive in and through 
 
 him. And to this the apostle refers, when he 
 says, "And you hath he quickened," (that is, 
 invested with the power of an endless life) "who 
 were dead in trespasses and sins." This, in fact, 
 is the reality of the Christian state. It begins 
 here; all that follows is the expansion of it. 
 St. John meant the same thing, when he said, 
 " this is the record, that God hath given to us 
 eternal life," (which is the power of an endless 
 life,) "and this life is in his Son." Out of Christ, 
 then, a sinner is in the same state as the first 
 Adam, when he had forfeited the tenure of an 
 endless life, by disobedience. Death has taken 
 the place of life in him; and Avhat he needs, 
 is to have the endless life restored to him. In 
 Christ, then, he experiences that restoration ; 
 and in Christ, therefore, he is invested with the 
 same endless life, that Christ, the last Adam, 
 possesses; because, as the disobedience of the 
 first Adam brought down the power of death 
 on him, so the obedience of the last Adam 
 brought down life, and placed it within his 
 
92 Christ our Life. 
 
 reach; and lie does reach — he does possess — 
 he does actually live, and shall live eternally, 
 by the power of it, when he accepts it as a gift, 
 freely tendered for his acceptance, in Christ, 
 who is our life, by the action of a simple faith, 
 which goes up to the effort of believing that 
 God is true in all that he has revealed — of 
 mercy, justice, and love, in Christ Jesus. 
 
 But, we have not yet reached the full inten- 
 sity of the expression, that Christ is our life, 
 that is, the life of true believers. The apostle 
 had it in his mind, when he said, "for me to live 
 is Christ." He did not mean (as some have 
 supposed) for me to live to any good purpose, 
 is to live in imitation of Christ; but he evidently 
 meant — for me to be spiritually alive unto God, 
 is to have Christ in me as my life ; to have 
 Christ formed in me, and so diffusing spiritual 
 vitality throughout my whole personal being, 
 whereby I am enabled to live unto God ; " I 
 live — yet not I, but Christ liveth in me/' — His 
 life is my life, for I am one with him, as he also 
 is one with me. 
 
Christ our Life. 93 
 
 Thus, then, we perceive, it is one thing for 
 Christ to possess life/or us, or to bestow life upon 
 us ; but it is another and a deeper truth, that if 
 we are alive unto God, Christ is our life. It is 
 the result of a positive and personal relation 
 subsisting between Christ and a believing sinner, 
 who is enabled truly to say, "1 live by the faith of 
 the Son of God who loved me and gave himself 
 for me." If a rich man were to enrich me by a 
 present gift, and an annual pension for life, we 
 should all understand if I spoke of that person 
 as my wealth. If a sovereign grants a patent of 
 nobility and perpetuates the dignity, it would 
 not be thought too figurative to say, that the sove- 
 reign is the nobility of the subject. Both these are 
 results of relations subsisting between the rich 
 man and the poor man ; between the sovereign 
 and the subject. I repeat, then, that by virtue 
 of the actual relation between Christ the life, 
 and the believer who is the recipient of the life, 
 Christ is in the fullest sense the spiritual life of 
 the believer. Christ is the head of the body — the 
 church ; and so communicates himself to every 
 
94 Christ our Life. 
 
 member, whose membership consists in the fact 
 of his being made spiritually alive in Christ; — 
 not through him merely, but in him, by virtue 
 of mystical and spiritual union; which union is 
 cemented and perpetuated by the Spirit, through 
 a true participation of the sacramental means, 
 freely dispensed to all who are willing to receive 
 them, in faith, in contrition, in humility, and 
 love. 
 
 Let the inquiry now arise — Does Christ at 
 this moment stand forth to you in the distinc- 
 tiveness of his mediatorial character and office ? 
 Do the drawings of the Holy Spirit incline you 
 to look up to him, as invested with the fulness 
 of life for you ? Are you a partaker of that life 
 in him, so that you can say, with humble confi- 
 dence, — Christ, the last Adam, is my life, the 
 spiritual and eternal life which animates mc, — a 
 sinful descendant of the first Adam, whose for- 
 feiture had made me a spiritually dead and 
 destitute creature? If so, then thus let us 
 meditate : — Oh ! my soul, how profound is the 
 depth of God's tender compassion — how vast the 
 
Christ our Life. 95 
 
 expanse of his mercy, grace, and love displayed 
 in providing a remedy, by way of restoration, so 
 ample, for the penal death, which else must have 
 fallen on thee with its cmshing weight ! Vast 
 and wondrous truth ! — Jesus, the everlasting God, 
 has received life into his humanity; life — endless 
 life, with its power over death, that he might 
 dispense it to every believing member of his 
 body. 
 
 Oh ! my soul, if Christ be in thee, of a truth, 
 then art thou filled with the light which is life ; 
 and the darkness, which is death, shall never 
 prevail against thee. The life which he dispen- 
 ses to every believing one, is that against which 
 death lifts up no weapon. It is the life which 
 is hid with Christ in God. It is that life which 
 shall come forth in its eternal freshness from the 
 grave's gloom, when the dead in Christ shall hear 
 the voice of the Son of God, (at the first resur- 
 rection — the resurrection of the saints,) and shall 
 stand forth on the broad platform of redemption, 
 the living testimony to the fact that Jesus is the 
 resurrection and the life. 
 
96 Christ our Life. 
 
 Oil! my soul, this is the life which is now 
 sustained in thee by grace, and nourished by 
 blessed ordinances ; the life that shall expand, as 
 thou imbibest more and more of the preached 
 word of life; and kneelest in prayer, trustful 
 prayer, by the springs of life; and as thou feedest 
 sacramentally on the body and blood of thy 
 ever-living Lord and glorious head, who is thy 
 life; — that life, in the active energy of which thou 
 shalt fulfil duty, meet trial, endure affliction, 
 triumph against temptation, and bring glory to 
 him whose grace alone hath put away thy death, 
 and clothed thee with immortality. 
 
P R A Y E K. 
 
 My merciful and most compassionate God and 
 Father ! I bow before thee with adoring gratitude 
 and love, for that thou hast in and by thy dear 
 Son Jesus Christ, abolished death, and brought 
 life and immortality to light, by his Gospel, so 
 that the lost children of the first Adam, made 
 alive by grace through faith in the last 
 Adam, may be enabled to say with full confi- 
 dence, u I am crucified with Christ, nevertheless 
 I live ; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me ; and 
 the life which I now live in the flesh, I live by the 
 faith of the Son of God, who loved me and gave 
 himself for me." I bless thee for whatever 
 tokens I have, of a participation of the life which 
 is in Christ Jesus; and I pray unto thee, O 
 God the Holy Ghost, that thou wouldest enable 
 
98 Prayer. 
 
 me to manifest the power of that life, in right- 
 eousness and true holiness, to the glory of the 
 eternal Trinity! Keep me, I beseech thee, very 
 humble in the possession and enjoyment of 
 this inestimable gift of eternal life ; and never 
 let me forget that all I am and have, except my 
 sin, is the product and the bestowal of free and 
 sovereign grace. 
 
 Jesus, my living Saviour and my life ! I 
 know that all my springs are in thee. Sustain, 
 refresh, and bless me with the fulness of that 
 life which thou earnest to bestow most abun- 
 dantly on those who should believe. Lord, I 
 believe; help thou mine unbelief. Keep me 
 ever near to thee; and exercise in me, by the 
 force of thy illustrious example, every grace 
 which is the fruit of life eternal set up in my 
 soul by union with thee. To thy sacred feast I 
 come, for the renewal of that proper nourish- 
 ment by which my soul (alive unto God in thee,) 
 may be fitted for an eternal relation to thee, 
 in thy kingdom of glory, yet to be set up and 
 manifested. Enable me to shut out from my 
 
Prayer. 99 
 
 mind all things pertaining to this world and its 
 death and sin ; and while approaching, remaining 
 at, and returning from thy table, let me behold 
 only thee, and in thee find grace and strength 
 for the day, and for every day, till thou shalt 
 come to be glorified in the midst of a loving, 
 faithful, and waiting people. Amen. 
 
CHRIST OUR WISDOM. 
 
The shrine of Wisdom is on high, 
 
 Where Faith alone can penetrate ; 
 Deep in eternal sources lie 
 
 Its hidden springs immaculate, 
 Pouring their precious fulness down 
 
 On this poor world of dust and death, 
 Where Folly blinds and binds her own, 
 
 And mocks them with a fading wreath. 
 
 Pilgrims have drunk the gladd'ning streams, 
 
 And bounded on their heav'nward way, 
 Quitting the gay, delusive dreams 
 
 Of Folly's gorgeous — fleeting day. 
 Why should I thirst — but yet, in vain 
 
 When grace and goodness yield supplies ? 
 Close by the fountain I'll remain, 
 
 And wait, and watch with longing eyes. 
 
 Hither, at length the fulness flows, — 
 
 Sparkling and fresh — it flows for me ; 
 And now my thirsting spirit knows 
 
 How rich the grace — how full — how free. 
 Jesus — my Wisdom ! — Thou alone 
 
 Canst raise my soul, and bid me take 
 The lofty ground where God is known, 
 
 And Saints their thirst for ever slake. 
 
CHRIST OUR WISDOM. 
 
 Of him are ye in Christ Jesus, who, of God, is made vnto tjs 
 .Wisdom."—! Cor. i. 30. 
 
 There is a connexion, in the purpose of God, 
 between the Wisdom here referred to and the 
 Life which has already claimed attention; — so 
 that the one cannot be possessed without en- 
 suring possession of the other. We proceed, 
 then, to contemplate Christ as our Wisdom — 
 the Wisdom of all true believers. For what 
 Christ is, in himself, as mediator, such is he, as 
 the " head of his body, the Church," and as the 
 " head over all things to the Church, which is 
 his body ;" and such he is in every living mem- 
 ber of that body. If as mediator and head of 
 the Church, he is not only wise, but wisdom 
 itself, then he is, of God, (that is by God's 
 intention and gracious act) made unto every 
 true believer, Wisdom. 
 
104 Christ our Wisdom. 
 
 Now this statement may, to some minds, 
 appear more like a mystical theory, than a sub- 
 stantial reality experienced by multitudes, and 
 to be experienced by all who are true members 
 of Christ Jesus. We can understand how Christ 
 may be the source of Divine and heavenly wis- 
 dom to his people ; but it is not so obvious in 
 what sense he can be their wisdom. In like 
 manner, we can understand how one man may 
 enrich another; but it might at first seem 
 strange to speak of the benefactor as the wealth 
 of the person benefited. So, a physician may 
 instrumentally restore health to the afflicted, but 
 it might be thought a forced mode of speaking, if 
 we affirmed that the physician was the health of 
 the restored patient. You now perceive clearly 
 what it is that seems unusual in the statement 
 of the text, that not only does Christ make his 
 believing people wise, but that he is also their 
 wisdom. 
 
 Now, in the clearing up of this statement, 
 will be seen the particular point of doctrine, 
 which it is desirable to establish. 
 
Christ our Wisdom. 105 
 
 It is plain, in the way of inference, that 
 Clirist as mediator, is not only wise, bnt essen- 
 tially wisdom. In the twenty -fourth verse of 
 this same chapter, he is called " the ivisdom of 
 God" which is a very definite expression : and 
 it is well we should remark, that this is not 
 affirmed concerning the Divine nature alone of 
 the Lord Jesus, because no such thing needed 
 to be affirmed ; for being God, he was, and is, 
 assuredly, the Divine wisdom. But it is affirmed 
 concerning Christ's mediatorial person — " God 
 manifest in the flesh." It is affirmed of him 
 who was born in Bethlehem, grew up to man's 
 estate, wrought, suffered, died, rose and ascen- 
 ded. He, then, as mediator, is the wisdom of 
 God manifest in human flesh. If as mediator, 
 he was manifested in the flesh of man, as the 
 wisdom of God, then surely it was, that man 
 might be benefited through such a manifestation. 
 It clearly could not aim at any prospective 
 benefit for God himself. If Christ then was 
 the manifested wisdom of God, then it was in 
 order that he might be the diffused and the 
 
106 Christ our Wisdom. 
 
 communicated wisdom of God, to man, in such 
 a degree, and to such an end, as man might be 
 graciously made capable of receiving it. 
 
 The eighth chapter of the book of Proverbs 
 sets before us a beautiful impersonation of Christ 
 as the wisdom of God, — in the course of which, 
 we find him saying, in reference to God the 
 Father — " When he gave to the sea his decree, 
 that the waters should not pass his command- 
 ments ; when he appointed the foundations of the 
 earth, then I was by him as one brought up 
 with him, and I was daily his delight, rejoicing 
 always before him." And in reference to man, 
 he adds, — " rejoicing in the habitable parts of the 
 earth; and my delights were with the sons of 
 men. Now therefore, hearken unto me, oh ye 
 children; for blessed are they that keep my 
 ways. Hear instruction, and be wise, and re- 
 fuse it not. Blessed is the man that heareth 
 me, watching daily at my gate, waiting at the 
 posts of my doors: for whoso findeth me, find- 
 eth life." Findeth what ? Life ! He who findeth 
 Christ as wisdom, findeth him also as life; 
 
Christ our Wisdom. 107 
 
 and thus, as soon as Christ is made unto us wis- 
 dom, he becomes unto us, life. Herein then, is a 
 deep and blessed truth. Remember, wisdom in 
 a spiritual sense, is rectitude. A state of wisdom 
 therefore, is a state of justification; and he who 
 is freely justified by faith in Christ, is made 
 alive in Christ. In holy Scripture, sin and 
 death are repeatedly spoken of by the term 
 " folly;" and here we see, that justification and 
 life are spoken of by the opposite term wisdom. 
 Before Adam fell, he was wise. He fell, and so be- 
 came subject to folly; — he became also our folly. 
 We, his posterity, are all in like manner subject 
 to folly; but when justified freely by grace, we 
 are spiritually wise ; for Christ is then made unto 
 us wisdom, even as the first Adam was made 
 unto us folly. We may now be prepared to enter 
 into the meaning of those precious words of our 
 Lord, in John xvii. 3, " And this is life eternal, 
 that they might know thee, (that is, be wise in 
 thee,) the only true God, and Jesus Christ, 
 whom thou hast sent." Man may make great 
 attainments in the vast range of human know- 
 
108 Christ our Wisdom. 
 
 ledge; but after all is attained, there is limitation, 
 because there is death. This life ended, the 
 largest stores of knowledge avail us nothing; 
 for knowledge is not, in itself, wisdom. The 
 only knowledge that expands into wisdom, is 
 the knowledge of the only true God, and of 
 Christ — God manifest in the flesh, in whom 
 he stands fully revealed; and that wisdom, 
 whensoever attained to, becomes life eter- 
 nal in him who possesses it. This is another 
 deep truth, illustrative and confirmatory of the 
 former. Christ, set forth as the wisdom of 
 God, in the book of Proverbs, becomes life to 
 those who receive him; and, as set forth by 
 St. John, Christ, (sent to manifest the Father) 
 becomes life, as soon as he is known by the 
 believer, and as soon as the believer knows the 
 Father as revealed in him, which, together, con- 
 stitute the riches of Divine wisdom. The truth, 
 then, is, that all our right and saving knowledge 
 of Christ, as the result of faith in him, flows from 
 himself — is derived from him, and by him sent 
 into our souls. His spirit is conveyed into ours, 
 
Christ our Wisdom. 109 
 
 — a beam of himself as of the sun. The Sun of 
 righteousness, like the natural sun, is not seen but 
 by his own light; so that every soul that is made 
 wise mito salvation, that is brought to appre- 
 hend Christ, to cleave to him, and to repose on 
 him, is so by virtue of a going forth of Divine 
 light from himself, which shows him, and leads 
 unto him ; and thus it is that we know God in 
 him; thus we become spiritually wise, because 
 justified unto life : and Christ thus is made unto 
 us wisdom, and that wisdom is life. There is no 
 right knowledge of God the Father, but in the 
 Son. God dwelling in the man Christ Jesus, will 
 be found and known nowhere else : and therefore, 
 they who consider and worship God out of Christ, 
 do not know or worship the true God truly ; but 
 a false notion and fancy of their own — nowhere 
 revealed in Holy Scripture. If Christ then 
 dwells, by his Spirit, in the believing heart, he 
 dwells there as the communicated wisdom of God. 
 The justified sinner is in wisdom's way, which is 
 the way of practical holiness, as well as of life. 
 Is it not probable that the apostle had this great 
 
110 Christ our Wisdom. 
 
 truth in his mind, when he said in Col. ii. 9., 10, 
 " For in him (that is, in Christ) dwelleth all the 
 fulness of the Godhead bodily ; and ye are com- 
 plete in him, which is the head of all principality 
 and power ;" and when, in Ephes. iv. 22, &c, he 
 urged believers to put off, concerning the former 
 conversation, the old man, which is corrupt, 
 according to the deceitful lusts ; and to be re- 
 newed in the spirit of their mind, and to put on 
 the new man, which, after God, is created in 
 righteousness and true holiness; and when 
 again, in Col. ii. 2, he expressed his earnest 
 desire that the hearts of believers might be 
 comforted — being knit together in love, and 
 unto all riches of the full assurance of under- 
 standing, to the acknowledgment of the mystery 
 of God — even of the Father, and of Christ, in 
 whom (or rather in which mystery r , — that is, the 
 Gospel,) are hid all the treasures of wisdom and 
 knowledge ; and at the sixth verse — " As ye have 
 therefore received Clmst Jesus the Lord, so 
 walk ye in him." — What light do these passages 
 throw upon the subject which is now before us ; 
 
Christ our Wisdom. Ill 
 
 and how plainly do they teach, that if justification 
 through faith in Christ Jesus makes Christ our 
 wisdom, in the form of life, then by his in- 
 dwelling Spirit, he becomes also our wisdom, in 
 the form of practical holiness. The calamity 
 we derive from the first Adam, as the first father 
 — made unto us folly, has its full remedy in 
 Christ — the last Adam, who of God is made 
 unto us wisdom. 
 
 To sum up this statement in the briefest and 
 simplest manner, I will just add, that all we, as 
 sinners, personally derive from Christ, whether 
 it pertain to our justification, or to the forma- 
 tion and development of our Christian cha- 
 racter, is the effect of union with him. And 
 therefore it is, that he not only imparts to us 
 wisdom, in the sense which I have endeavoured 
 to express, but is, in fact, the wisdom which 
 he imparts. And if the wisdom of Christ as 
 mediator, results in our reinstatement in the 
 favour of God, then our becoming so reinstated 
 is, in truth, a partaking of the wisdom of Christ, 
 and a manifestation of the holiness of Christ, 
 
112 Christ our Wisdom. 
 
 dwelling in us, by the Spirit j — which holiness 
 is the fruit of spiritual life. 
 
 Without such a partaking of Christ, we are 
 still under folly, and have no wisdom at all, 
 whatever we may happen to know, and approve, 
 and admire, of the gracious provisions of the 
 Gospel j — for in the text it is said, " Of him 
 are ye in Christ Jesus, who of God is made 
 unto us wisdom." To be in Christ Jesus, is 
 therefore preliminary to his being our wisdom ; 
 and it is by faith through the Spirit, that sinners 
 are brought into union with Christ. He then 
 who has Christ as his wisdom, is endued with all 
 that can make life happy, and eternity blessed. 
 
 Then, thus let us meditate : — Oh my soul, be 
 humbled when reminded of the fact, that thy 
 fall in the first Adam brought thee down from 
 a state in which man walked with God, and 
 plunged thee in the depths of folly. Thy first 
 parent was formed in wisdom, and was wise. 
 The light of wisdom within him was obscured, 
 when the night of sin threw its dark mantle 
 around him. But God has graciously manifested 
 
Christ our Wisdom. 113 
 
 his wisdom, in Christ Jesus, which wisdom is 
 light and life. Whenever thou art drawn to the 
 cross of Christ, thou art invited to imbibe that 
 wisdom. When thou belie vest, it is thine ! 
 Oh ! blessed truth, coming down from heaven to 
 cheer and gladden thee ! Hath God provided, 
 and does he freely offer, thus much for thy 
 acceptance, in the way of remedy for thy folly — 
 then why should sin have dominion over thee? 
 Why should thy faith stagger, and thy hope 
 falter ? If thou canst believe — all things are 
 possible to him that believeth. If thy faith be" 
 but as a grain of mustard seed, its sincere and 
 honest exercise upon Christ, its proper and legi- 
 timate object, will bring Him into thine heart, 
 as thy wisdom ; and thou — even thou, shalt 
 walk in the light of life. 
 
 Oh my soul ! if thou hast toiled for the 
 attainment of the wisdom of this world, to the 
 forgetting of Christ as the true wisdom — the 
 wisdom that abideth and bringeth a blessing 
 with it — cease from thy toil, and look upwards 
 for a gift, even as it is written — " If any man 
 
114 Christ our Wisdom. 
 
 lack wisdom, let him ask of God, who giveth to 
 all men liberally, and upbraideth not, and it 
 shall be given nnto him." 
 
 If thou hast Christ as thy wisdom, lie will 
 never leave thee. Thy folly shall never return 
 upon thee, with power to destroy. 
 
 Wilt thou wait on him at his Sacramental 
 table ? Aye — wait — believe — hope — expect 
 great things ; and, if thou hast the wisdom 
 within thee, it will expand. Thou wilt daily 
 manifest thy wisdom more and more in the way 
 of holiness to the Lord ; and thy light, shining 
 before men, shall glorify thy Father which is in 
 heaven. 
 
PR A Y E R. 
 
 Jesus, my wisdom ! — I beseech thee send thy 
 Spirit down to draw my heart into blessed and 
 intimate commnnion with Thee. Thou art my 
 all; and apart from thee, there is nothing in this 
 world of ignorance, folly, and sin, that ought for 
 a moment to satisfy me. Behold ! it is all vanity, 
 and cannot but divert the soul of man from its 
 best and highest good. My Saviour ! I would 
 grow in wisdom, by growing up more thoroughly 
 into thee. Thou knowest (none so well), the folly 
 that is within my fallen nature ; and when thou 
 lookest into this frail heart, thou perceivest its 
 downward tendency towards the ways of foil}', 
 and the paths of sinful departure from thee and 
 from thy Father in heaven, unto whom thou 
 hast brought me, by a revelation of Him in 
 thyself. Oh my wisdom ! hold thou me by the 
 
116 Prayer. 
 
 hand, and by the heart, that I degenerate not 
 into the habitude of fools, who know not Thee, 
 nor the Father in and by Thee. Feed me with 
 thyself, at thy sacramental table ; and so shall 
 I be made strong in the wisdom which is life, 
 because strong in Thee. 
 
 Oh Father Almighty, — unsearchable in holi- 
 ness ! I cannot look up to Thee, but through 
 him whom Thou hast given to be my wisdom, 
 and who by thine own gracious act has been 
 made unto me, wisdom. The folly of my natural 
 heart would ever have kept me at a distance 
 from Thee ; and now, it often strives again to 
 alienate me from my true allegiance to Thee. 
 If left to myself, alas ! how soon should I 
 depart from the ground, on which Thy grace 
 hath placed me. Oh ! never let my trust be 
 in myself, but in Christ, my wisdom, alone; 
 so shall I walk securely before Thee; and, in 
 godly consistency of life, bring glory to thy 
 great name. This, oh my God, I desire to do, 
 even to the end of life ; and till I enter upon 
 that resurrection-state, into which folly cannot 
 
Prayer. 117 
 
 come, and where the true wisdom of thy beloved 
 ones, in Christ Jesus, shall shine forth like the 
 sun in the glory of his strength. Grant this, for 
 thy dear Son's sake, Jesus Christ. Amen. 
 
Oh, how shall I appear 
 
 Before the awful throne 
 Of Him whose judgment draweth near. 
 
 Who knows and seals his own % 
 
 Without one righteous mark — 
 
 A fallen, guilty thing — 
 I stand, with passions strong and dark, 
 
 And sins that round me cling. 
 
 I fain would weep away 
 
 The marks of sin and woe ; 
 Would strive and do — would fast and pray, 
 
 As through this life I go ; 
 
 But, in fche saltest tears 
 
 No righteousness is found ; 
 Nor in my best of works appear* 
 
 One virtue to be own'd. 
 
 Out — from myself, I look 
 
 To Him who died for me ; 
 Who, to restore — my nature took, 
 
 And rose to set it free. 
 
 Jesus ! — Thy work of grace 
 
 So perfectly is done, — 
 I plead before my Judge's face 
 
 Thy righteousness alone. 
 
CHRIST OUR RIGHTEOUSNESS. 
 
 " Of him are ye in Christ Jesus, wno of God is made unto 
 us ... . righteousness." — 1 Cor. i. 30. 
 
 , We are now to contemplate the wondrous 
 and most gracious provision of God for the jus- 
 tification of a sinner, who is altogether corrupt 
 and unrighteous in himself; and therefore with- 
 out any ground of claim to the favour and accept- 
 ance of God. Christ our Righteousness is that 
 provision — all-sufficient and availing. The true 
 believer is grafted into Christ Jesus ; and then — 
 and then only it is, that Christ is his righteous- 
 ness. If any spiritual benefit is to be derived 
 from Christ, it must be by the appropriating 
 power of faith, through the Spirit. Christ may 
 be, and is, righteousness — and righteousness for 
 us; — but not our righteousness, till we have 
 received him as he is revealed to us : just as if 
 
122 Christ our Righteousness. 
 
 riches were provided, for a poor man, who cannot 
 be thereby enriched till he has secured a real 
 and permanent possession of them. This weighty 
 and most important subject must be treated on 
 the same principle, and beheld in the same light, 
 as the preceding one, in which Christ was set 
 forth as our wisdom. The principle is, that 
 Christ is, personally, to all true believers, the 
 very thing which he communicates to them \ — 
 that he does not merely bestow a benefit 
 which flows from him as from a source; but 
 that he is, himself, as the last Adam, the 
 benefit which he bestows. 
 
 If we were not, by reason of our fall and 
 j apostacy in the first Adam, destitute of personal 
 1 righteousness, the interposition of Christ, as the 
 righteousness of God, would never have been 
 needed. But our destitution is positive and un- 
 qualified. We are not only destitute of righteous- 
 ness, simply from the want of it; but positively 
 unrighteous, by reason of our actual and personal 
 transgression. And since God is perfect in his 
 righteousness, it is impossible that we should be 
 
Christ our Righteousness. 123 
 
 accepted into His favour and complacent love, 
 without righteousness flowing from, and there- 
 fore harmonizing with, his righteousness. 
 Nothing in the sight and estimation of God is 
 righteousness, except his own. He is righteous- 
 ness; and Christ is the incarnate manifestation 
 of it. Righteousness can never he upon or in the 
 creature, except as the donation of the Creator. 
 If the first Adam was righteous at the moment 
 when God pronounced him to be " very good," 
 it was because he had received righteousness as 
 a donation, at the Creators hand. It was be- 
 cause the first Adam lost righteousness, that he 
 lost God; for righteousness was the Divine image 
 in which he was created. The restoration of 
 righteousness to man's fallen nature, is the re- 
 storation of God, therefore, to man's soul. 
 And if Christ be the manifested righteousness 
 of God, then union with Christ must be the 
 manner of the restoration; he is then made 
 unto us — (as the act of God's free grace) — 
 rigliteousness ; and so the sinner, accepted in 
 Christ Jesus, is counted righteous, by reason of 
 
124 Christ our Rigliteousness. 
 
 the rigliteousness of God in Christ, the second 
 Adam, who, by a Divine donation, is his righteous- 
 ness ; for what Christ himself is, he is to all them 
 that believe in him. Hence, "if any man be 
 in Christ Jesus, he is a new creature (or a new 
 creation) — re-created after a divine likeness; 
 and that is — righteousness. The sinner is then 
 the workmanship of God, created in Christ Je- 
 sus, unto good works, which he hath before 
 ordained that we should walk in them." (Eph. 
 ii. 10.) 
 
 These statements prepare the way for several 
 important remarks. And first, upon the defini- 
 tiveness of the expression, that Christ " is made 
 unto us righteousness." He is the righteous- 
 ness of God, of necessity ; but he is not our 
 righteousness, equally of necessity. If he is our 
 righteousness at all, he is made, of God, to be so. 
 Then, on God's part, it must be an act of grace ; 
 and our restoration to God, through Christ, our 
 righteousness, must be of grace also. 
 
 The next remark, is upon Christ, as the 
 righteousness of God. That he must be, ere he 
 
Christ our Rigliteousness. 1.25 
 
 can be made our righteousness. That Christ, 
 as God-inan-mediator, was righteous — right- 
 eous without spot or imperfection, needs not to 
 be proved. But to say that he was rigliteous- 
 ness itself, and God's righteousness, opens a 
 larger truth, which calls for illustration. 
 
 Righteousness in God, is of the very essence 
 of his Deity. It is exhibited in his legislation, 
 which is perfectly righteous. It is visible in his 
 vindication of the law, which was an act per- 
 fectly righteous. It shines forth in his minis- 
 tration of mercy to the guilty, an act as perfectly 
 righteous as the other two. Now the legisla- 
 tion, the vindication, and the mercy, are all 
 manifested in Christ Jesus, as the mediator 
 between God and man. By him, the righteous- 
 ness of Divine legislation was acknowledged ; 
 in him, the righteousness of the law's vindica- 
 tion was confirmed ; and through him, the right- 
 eousness of mercy to the guilty is confessed. He 
 was "made of a woman — made under the taw ;" 
 and so the law's righteousness was written on 
 his human heart, which was prepared to obey it. 
 
126 Christ our Righteousness. 
 
 He was " made under the law, to redeem them 
 that were under the law ; " and so, in him the 
 law had its full vindication. He was "made 
 under the law, to redeem them that were under 
 the law, that we might receive the adoption of 
 sons ; " and so the righteousness of mercy to the 
 guilty, found in him its full and sufficient 
 development. Now, if we ask what it was 
 that qualified Christ, as mediator, for all this — 
 our ready answer is, that he was God's right- 
 eousness ; and made that righteousness manifest, 
 by this three-fold transaction. 
 
 Christ, being thus the manifested righteous- 
 ness of God, was at once prepared to make that 
 righteousness effectual towards all of the pos- 
 terity of the unrighteous Adam, who should be 
 willing to accept it ; so that such acceptance 
 might restore to them the image of God, in 
 which the first Adam was created, but which he 
 lost by transgression. That image was the 
 righteousness of God, manifested in Christ 
 Jesus. And now, in Christ, " the righteousness 
 of God is unto all, and upon all who believe." 
 
Christ our Righteousness. 127 
 
 Christ, as the head of the body, the Church, 
 was cradled in the righteousness of God. And 
 it was in the power of that righteousness that 
 he came to suffer penalty, to endure temptation, 
 and to obey minutely. His righteousness — 
 the righteousness of God, unto and upon him, 
 was tested to the utmost — and it failed not. 
 The righteousness of the first Adam had failed 
 under temptation, and therefore under obedience. 
 The righteousness of the last Adam triumphed 
 over temptation, and became illustrious in obe- 
 dience. 
 
 Now, as the first Adam communicated un- 
 righteousness to his posterity, and thus became 
 their unrighteousness, so the last Adam became 
 and is, the righteousness of all true believers. 
 The unrighteousness from the one source, and the 
 righteousness from the other, were both matters 
 of transmission. Thus, then, you will perceive 
 that the righteousness of true believers does not 
 consist in the possession and exercise of a merely 
 moral integrity of principle and practice apart 
 from Christ, but in a righteousness that is 
 
128 Christ our Righteousness. 
 
 essential in Christ as the head ; and enjoyed in 
 the way of imputation, and manifested in the 
 way of holiness — by all who are in membership 
 with him. 
 
 Hence, it is in Christ that the believing sinner 
 is accepted by God, as righteous; and it is also 
 in Him, as a righteous head, that the believer 
 finds the well-springs of spiritual life, whose 
 streams flow forth in practical righteousness and 
 true holiness. 
 
 Whenever we would learn what Christ is to 
 us, as the last Adam, in the way of gain and 
 advantage, we must endeavour to see it in con- 
 trast with what the first Adam is to us, in the 
 way of loss and disadvantage ; so that if we dis- 
 cover, from the teaching of Holy Scripture, that 
 the first Adam is our unrighteousness, we must 
 go to the same source for the assurance that 
 Christ, the last Adam, is our righteousness; 
 and we must learn moreover that as the un- 
 righteousness of the first Adam, imputed to us, 
 was the procuring cause of our condemnation 
 under the law, so the righteousness of the last 
 
Christ our Righteousness. 129 
 
 Adam, imputed to us, by grace through faith, is 
 the procuring cause of our justification without 
 the deeds of the law : for " He who knew no 
 sin, was made sin for us, that we might be made 
 the righteousness of God, in him." 
 
 One more remark is needful, in order to 
 set forth this subject clearly; and it is this. 
 Christ, as the last Adam, received the sins of 
 the first Adam and his posterity on himself, by 
 way of imputation ; and they were charged upon 
 him, as if they had been his own, though in 
 him there was no sin. But, being himself — as 
 God — essentially righteous; and, as God-man- 
 mediator, receiving, by donation, the righteous- 
 ness of God, he was able, by the power of that 
 righteousness, to throw off the imputation, by 
 meeting the justice of the law, so as to satisfy 
 it. He justified himself, therefore, as our surety, 
 by works. His suffering was work; his obe- 
 dience was work ; and when the work, in both 
 forms, was complete, the law had no farther 
 vengeance to execute ; no further claim to make. 
 When the believing sinner, therefore, is justified, 
 
130 Christ our Righteousness. 
 
 it is through the works of Christ as his righ- 
 teousness; which justification he apprehends by- 
 faith : so that " being justified by faith, he has 
 peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ." 
 And it is the faith which apprehends the justifi- 
 cation, that brings the believing sinner into 
 union with Christ as a righteous head, through 
 the operation of the Spirit. Thus, everything 
 that refers to our justification as sinners in the 
 sight of Him who "justifieth the ungodly," and 
 everything that pertains to our acceptance as 
 the children of God, is, in the light of revelation, 
 traced to Christ as the one mediator between 
 God and man — the head of the Church — the 
 last Adam, " who, of God, is made unto us — 
 Righteousness." 
 
 Such being the great foundation-truth of all 
 experimental religion, thus let us meditate : — 
 Oh my soul — be humbled — be stirred — be 
 aroused by the thought, that by nature thou art 
 destitute of all righteousness, in the sight of a 
 holy and heart-searching God ! The pride of 
 the human heart asserts righteousness, in some 
 
Christ our Righteousness. 131 
 
 form or degree, on behalf of man. But the 
 truth of God denies it. The arrogant assump- 
 tion of the natural heart must be subdued, 
 before thou canst consent to receive righteous- 
 ness, as the donation of God, through Christ, 
 and through faith in his name. Thine own 
 righteousnesses are but as filthy rags. They can- 
 not bear the scrutiny of God. They are loath- 
 some in his sight. Nothing but his righteous- 
 ness, imputed to thee, through Christ, can avail 
 thee any thing. What thou deemest to be 
 righteousness in thyself (and which sometimes 
 commends self to thyself) will be like a millstone 
 about thy neck, if the waves of perdition should 
 gather about thee. So then, if thou wouldest 
 enjoy peace with God here, and eternal blessed- 
 ness hereafter, thou must renounce all supposi- 
 tion of merit in the works of righteousness thou 
 hast done ; and find thy righteousness in Christ 
 alone. 
 
 Oh my soul ! arise to the contemplation of 
 the truth, that thine offended and dishonoured 
 God hath provided a righteousness for thee — 
 
132 Christ our Righteousness. 
 
 that lie hath manifested it to thee, in his own 
 dear Son ; that he tenders it to thee, for thine 
 acceptance, in him. Draw from this truth 
 another, — and never forget that God loveth thee ; 
 and, because he loveth, is prepared to justify 
 thee freely — though, in thyself, thou art nothing 
 but ungodliness. Look up — straight up to the 
 Lord Jesus as thy righteousness. Plead that 
 righteousness — build — rest — live — die upon it : 
 and thy resurrection shall be blessed and glori- 
 ous. It is a righteousness which cannot fail, 
 because it is of God. It is a righteousness 
 which cannot be disavowed, for God hath hon- 
 oured it. It is a righteousness which will be 
 always righteous, for it is divine. Possessing it, 
 thou shalt stand securely when the world 
 crumbles, and when the elements shall melt 
 with fervent heat. Without it, there is nothing 
 — nothing for thee, but the blackness of dark- 
 ness for ever. 
 
 Oh my soul ! if that righteousness be thine, 
 if thy faith has appropriated it, then art thou 
 " accepted in the Beloved ;" thou art in Christ, 
 
Christ our Righteousness. 133 
 
 and therefore a new creation. Thou wilt come 
 to the sacramental table of the Lord thy 
 righteousness ; and there feed upon the hidden 
 manna, that shall nourish thee, and refresh thee, 
 and sustain thee, as thou walkest through the 
 wilderness of this world, towards the city whicli 
 hath foundations — the new Jerusalem, which 
 cometh down from heaven. The sacred feast is 
 spread for thee. The Lord of the feast awaits to 
 welcome thee — and the Spirit and the bride say 
 — come ! 
 
 What shall thy answer be ? — " Lord, I have 
 waited for thy salvation ! n 
 
PRAYER. 
 
 Oh God ! holy and most righteous, who de- 
 sirest truth in the inward parts, but findest in 
 my corrupt nature nothing but sin, rebellion, 
 and folly, I adore and magnify thee, for that 
 thou hast provided a righteousness for me, in 
 which I may stand complete, and so be fully 
 accepted of thee in the Beloved. Other right- 
 eousness I have none ; and if this, of thy pro- 
 viding, be not mine, by the acceptance of faith, 
 through the Holy Ghost, then I have no plea. 
 I can only cry, " God be merciful to me a sin- 
 ner." This I do, and this I must do, — even 
 when thy grace shall have done its utmost. 
 But, if I have not thy righteousness, then, out 
 of the depths indeed must I cry unto thee. 
 Thou art the God who justifiest the ungodly, 
 
136 Prayer. 
 
 and therefore do I hope ; for thou hast revealed 
 thy righteousness in Christ Jesus. He is right- 
 eousness for me — thy righteousness — even thine. 
 My God, I believe this truth; and am willing 
 to rest my soul on it. It cannot fail me. It is 
 thine own truth. Thou wilt maintain it, for 
 thou art faithful and true; yea, true to the 
 veriest letter of thy word. But, oh! how feeble 
 is my faith — how imperfect my realization of 
 what I believe. I believe ; and yet sometimes 
 feel as if I had never believed. Oh ! put away 
 this sad inconstancy, by enabling me to look 
 more to the object of my faith, which is Christ ; 
 and less to the sinful self who so needs him : — 
 more to the righteousness, and less to the faith 
 by which it is to be apprehended. 
 
 Jesus, my righteousness ! Draw me, I beseech 
 thee, into the completest union with thyself, 
 that in thee I may stand before the Father, and 
 taste the full sweetness of that peace which is 
 the privilege of the justified sinner. I would 
 rejoice in thee; — be thou the helper of my joy. 
 I would love thee perfectly; — kindle my languid 
 
Prayer. 137 
 
 affections towards thee. I would be like thee ; 
 oh ! conform me by thy blessed Spirit ; and so — 
 perfect in holiness what has been commenced 
 by grace. 
 
 My righteousness ! At thy sacred feast I 
 would be a humble, devout, loving, rejoicing, 
 adoring guest. Thou thyself art my fitness for 
 appearing there. Put away from me all ill- 
 grounded fears, while I look to thee alone ; and 
 give me the assurance that in thee I have both 
 righteousness and strength; so shall the new 
 man, raised up by grace within me, expand and 
 grow up to the full Christian stature — nourished 
 by the living manna, and refreshed by the full 
 streams of thy love. Amen. 
 
CHRIST OUR SANCTIFICATION. 
 
Chosen and call'd, and set apart 
 
 For holy uses now, 
 I give to God my wayward heart 
 
 To fill and to endow. 
 
 And oh ! how richly He bestows 
 His grace — that I may be 
 
 Holy and pure, as one who knows 
 Life's end and ministry. 
 
 In Jesus separate I stand, 
 
 In Him am holy too ; 
 Upheld by His all-gracious hand, 
 
 I'll think, intend, and do. 
 
 " Meet for the Master's service," — I, 
 With ev'ry grace combinM. 
 
 Would in my Saviour's sanctity 
 My bliss and glory find. 
 
CHRIST OUR SANCTIFICATION. 
 
 " Or FTIU ARK YE IN CHRIST JESUS, WHO OF GOD IS MADE UNTO US 
 SANCTIFICATION." — 1 Cur. i. 30. 
 
 Sanctification is a subject of great breadth, 
 when traced out fully from the page of holy 
 Scripture. It is at once the cause and the 
 manifestation of the spiritual life of the believer. 
 Devotedness to God in affection and act, is the 
 fruit of it. It follows upon the apprehension of 
 Christ as o ur peace and our righteousness. If 
 he is both these to us, he will be sanctification 
 also. If he be rejected as our peace and our 
 righteousness, he never can become our sancti- 
 fication; and we therefore can never be the 
 possessors of a spiritual life, or feel the power of 
 devotedness to God. 
 
 To possess Christ as our sanctification, implies 
 a subsisting union between us and him. Such 
 
142 Christ our Sanctification. 
 
 is the plain teaching of the text. And in like 
 manner, in the second verse of the same chapter, 
 the apostle addresses himself " to them that are 
 sanctified in Christ Jesus, called to be saints ;" 
 or, (as agrees best with the original) called 
 saints, or holy people. 
 
 The words " sanctify w and " sanctification M 
 are used in Holy Scripture with diverse signifi- 
 cations — all of them to be determined by the 
 context in which they stand. The simple and 
 primary sense of the word " sanctify/'' is to 
 separate, or to set apart for a sacred use or 
 purpose ; and " sanctification," in that case, 
 expresses the state of a person or thing so 
 separated or set apart. In this sense, it im- 
 plies no change in the quality or character of 
 the person or thing. It refers only to the 
 higher use or purpose unto which the separation 
 has been made. This should be carefully borne 
 in mind. Out of the numerous instances in 
 Scripture, we may select Matt, xxiii. 17: — 
 n Whether is greater, the gold, or the temple 
 that sanctificth the gold?" Here the gold used 
 
Ch?ist our Sanctification. 143 
 
 in the decoration of the temple, was separated 
 from other materials unto that end ; and thongh 
 incapable of any change, yet it was said to be 
 sanctified — that is, to be in a state of separation 
 for a holy use. We may also refer to John xvii. 
 19, where our Lord says — " And for their sakes 
 (that is, for the sake of all true believers,) I sanc- 
 tify my self. v Now here also it is evident that the 
 word is used in the like sense. The Lord 
 Jesus Christ, as God-man-mediator, was in 
 every respect essentially holy. His deity was 
 holy. His manhood was holy. He therefore 
 did not mean to say, that, for the sake of true 
 believers, he made himself holy ; but rather that 
 for their sakes he separated or set apart himself 
 for a sacred use or purpose, the result of which 
 should be their separation or setting apart for a 
 holy use and purpose. It was as if he had said 
 — I sanctify or set myself apart to the office of 
 mediator, whereunto I have been called by the 
 Father. In this sense, then, Christ's sanctiiica- 
 tion was his state of separation, for the purpose 
 of mediating between God and man. 
 
144 Christ our Sanctification. 
 
 But there is another sense in which these 
 expressions are used, which needs to be men- 
 tioned. To sanctify, means also to purify, or se- 
 parate from pollution, either ceremonially, under 
 the Levitical dispensation ; or really and substan- 
 tially, by the offering of the body of Christ. 
 Of the ceremonial usage of the word, reference 
 may be made to one, out of many instances, — 
 in Levit. xvi. 19, where the mode of making 
 atonement (ceremonially) for the altar, is pre- 
 scribed. It is there said, — He (the high priest) 
 shall sprinkle of the blood upon it with his 
 finger, seven times, and cleanse it, and hallow 
 it,* (that is, separate by cleansing it ceremonially, 
 from pollution,) from the uncleanness of the 
 children of Israel." Of the usage of the same ex- 
 pression in a real and substantial sense, I may 
 refer to Heb. x. 10, where it is said, — " By the 
 which will, wc (that is, true believers) are sancti- 
 fied," (purified, separated from our natural pollu- 
 tion,) " through the offering of the body of Jesus 
 Christ, once for all." He therefore who has 
 
 * Sept. (tyiaati avrb. 
 
Christ our Sanctification. 145 
 
 from his sins, by the effectual application of 
 Christ's blood which cleanse th from all sin, is, 
 in this sense of the word, sanctified or made 
 clean ; and his " sanctification " is the state into 
 which he is then brought, as contrasted with 
 his carnal and polluted state, before Christ's 
 blood was applied. 
 
 There is a still higher sense in which the 
 same expressions are used; and in this sense, 
 to " sanctify," is to make holy ; — not merely to 
 cleanse from a state of uncleanness, but to com- 
 municate the quality of holiness to him who, 
 before his separation, was "common;" who, 
 before his purification, was " unclean ;V and who, 
 before he was made holy, was simply — not un- 
 clean, having been cleansed by the blood of 
 Christ. An instance of this may be seen, in 
 Acts xx. 32 — " And now, brethren, I commend 
 you to God, and to the word of his grace, which 
 is able to build you up, and to give you an in- 
 heritance among all them which are sanctified.^ 
 Here the context shows that the word is to be 
 taken in the highest sense ; — the desire of the 
 
 L 
 
146 Christ our Sanctification. 
 
 Apostle being, that those to whom he addressed 
 himself might attain to that personal holiness 
 which should make them, as separated and 
 cleansed believers, meet for the inheritance of 
 the saints in light. A similar instance appears 
 in Chap. xxvi. 18. A striking passage is also 
 found in Eph. v. 26, 27, where the apostle de- 
 clares that Christ loved the church, and gave 
 himself for it, that, as a body separated unto 
 God, he might e ' sanctify and cleanse it ;" and 
 that he might present it to himself a glorious 
 church, not having spot, or wrinkle, or any 
 such thing; but that it should be "holy and 
 without blemish." Here we notice the three 
 senses combined ; — the separation, the cleansing 
 from pollution, and the making holy. And the 
 Apostle, in 1 Thess. v. 23, while addressing those 
 who had been separated unto God, and cleansed 
 by the blood of Christ, says, "And the very 
 God of peace sanctify you wholly (that is, 
 make you as holy as he desires you to be) ; and 
 I pray God, your whole spirit, and soul, and 
 body be preserved blameless (that is, strong in 
 
Christ our Sanctification. 147 
 
 holiness) unto the coming of our Lord Jesus 
 Christ." And this he might well say, having, 
 in Ch. iv. 3, declared to them, " For this is the 
 will of God, even your sanctification" — your 
 substantial holiness; even as he taught the 
 Ephesians in Ch. i. 4, that God had chosen them 
 in Christ before the foundation of the world, 
 that they should be holy and without blame 
 before him in love j — that, in fact, they might be 
 (as he taught the Romans, Ch. viii. 29,) " con- 
 formed to the image of the Son of God, that he 
 might be the first-born among many brethren." 
 Enough has been now advanced to give the 
 attentive and intelligent reader an insight of 
 the three principal senses in which the words 
 "sanctify" and "sanctification" are used in 
 Scripture. It must now be borne in mind, that 
 these three senses are to be combined, when we 
 speak of a believer as a sanctified person or 
 saint ; because, first, he is set apart for a holy 
 use, by the elective grace of God; next, is 
 cleansed from his natural pollution; and then 
 invested with the principle and power of holi- 
 
148 Christ our Sanctification. 
 
 ness. And thus it is, that God's purpose of 
 grace and love has its fulfilment in him ; and he 
 has his title to an inheritance with the saints, — 
 and shall surely, in due time, possess and enjoy 
 the inheritance itself. 
 
 Now, all these statements are preparatory to 
 showing how Christ is made unto us — sanctifica- 
 tion; — how, in fact, he comes to be, (not merely 
 to procure, but to be,) our sanctification — the 
 sanctification of all who effectually believe. 
 
 Let it be ever borne in mind, that if Christ is 
 anything at all to us, it is by virtue of our union 
 with him by faith through the Spirit; and 
 therefore by virtue of that union, he is every 
 thing to us that God's grace, mercy, and love 
 intended he should be. Without that union, 
 though he may be the Redeemer of the world 
 from the curse of the law, yet he is nothing to 
 us as our personal Saviour. And hence it is, 
 that salvation is of faith ; for faith in Christ 
 results in union with Christ ; and that union is 
 salvation, because it is sanctification. 
 
 These statements prepare us for the intro- 
 
Christ our Sanctifi cation. 149 
 
 duction of a text containing the key-note of 
 the whole matter ; which, if understood by the 
 teaching of the Holy Spirit, will enable us at 
 once to perceive how Christ is made unto us 
 sanctincation. It is in Heb. ii. 11, where the 
 Apostle says — " For both he that sanctifieth, and 
 they who are sanctified, are nil of one; for which 
 cause he is not ashamed to call them brethren/' 
 Let it be remembered, that when Christ was 
 made " in the likeness of sinful flesh," he was 
 " conformed" to us — sin only excepted; and this 
 was in order that we might, according to the 
 eternal purpose of God, become " conformed" to 
 him — to his " image" the essential idea of which 
 is holiness. When he took our nature, he took it 
 as the last Adam, and as our brother; and there- 
 fore was not ashamed to call us brethren. And he 
 was the " first-born" (in the way of resurrection) 
 among many brethren, in order that he might 
 communicate to all his believing brethren the 
 holiness of his resurrection-state; — I say the 
 holiness of his resurrection- state, because he 
 went to his grave under the imputation of our 
 
150 Christ our Sanctifi cation. 
 
 sin, and was raised again, freed from that im- 
 putation, in order to our justification. (Rom. iv. 
 25.) When he rose as the first-born, he rose as 
 the head, and the type too, of all true believers, 
 who are said to be " risen with Christ," as soon 
 as they are truly partakers of Christ, by virtue 
 of their union with him by faith through the 
 Spirit. In this sense, then, " he that sanctifieth, 
 and they who are sanctified, are all of one," that is, 
 — of one family, of one likeness, of one relation to 
 God ; — they are living to one end, and shall share 
 one glory. What Christ is, as the head of the 
 body, the church, that he is to every true 
 member of his body. And thus he is their 
 sanctification. They were chosen in him before 
 the foundation of the world ; and so he is their 
 sanctification, in the way of separation to a holy 
 use. They are cleansed through liis blood ; and 
 so he is their sanctification in the way of purifi- 
 cation. They are, in him, sanctified unto holiness 
 of life ; and so he is their sanctification in the 
 way of conformity to a divine likeness. In 
 these respects, then, Christ who sanctifieth, 
 
Christ our Sanctifi cation. 151 
 
 and believers who are sanctified, (that is, set 
 apart for and unto God, cleansed and made 
 holy,) are all of one. Christ was not only the pro- 
 curing cause of their separation, their cleanness, 
 and their holiness, but the things themselves ; for 
 it is as they are in Christ, that God regards 
 them ; and therefore when accepted of him, we 
 are " accepted in the Beloved/' If then we lose 
 sight of Christ's headship, and of our member- 
 ship with and in him, we fail to perceive how 
 he is our sanctification ; nor can we then discern, 
 with any clearness, how, while a sinner is out 
 of Christ, he is destitute of all sanctity in the 
 way of separation unto God ; — of all sanctity, in 
 the way of purification; and of all sanctity, in 
 the way of personal holiness. And we appre- 
 hend that many of the obscure notions which 
 prevail in regard to the true Christian state, 
 have their origin in a confused perception, or no 
 Scriptural perception at all, of Christ's headship, 
 and of the benefits which accrue from it to all 
 the living members of his mystical body — the 
 church. It is on this account that I call for a 
 
152 Christ our Sanctification. 
 
 steady consideration of this weighty doctrine ; for 
 to believe something about Christ, will not avail 
 us ; but to believe into him, so as to be one with 
 him, as our sanctified head and the source of 
 our sanctification, is to believe according to the 
 will of God, even unto our full sanctification and 
 salvation. Let us now attend to those memorable 
 Vords in 1 Johniv. 15 — 17: — " Whosoever shall 
 confess that Jesus is the Son of God, God dwelleth 
 in him, and he in God." Of this union, Christ- 
 God manifest in the flesh, is the connecting link. 
 Then it follows, that God indwelling with us, 
 through Christ and in the person of Christ, is 
 our sanctification — our essential holiness; and 
 nothing short of this, or inferior to this, is, or 
 can be, holiness. Now mark the next two 
 verses — " And we have known and believed the 
 love that God hath to us. God is love ; and he 
 that dwelleth in love, dwelleth in God, and God 
 in him. Herein is our love made perfect, (or, 
 as the margin reads it, herein is love with us 
 made perfect,) that we may have boldness in 
 the day of judgment; because as he (that is, 
 
Christ our Sanctifi cation. 153 
 
 Christ) is, so are we in this world/' Let us not 
 overlook the force of this latter expression, — as 
 Christ is, so are we, as his believing and living 
 members, in this world. He is one with the 
 Father — we are one with him : and so we dwell 
 in God. He is separated unto God ; so are we — 
 in him. He is clean; so are we — in him. He is 
 holy ; so are we in him. As Christ the head is, 
 so are all his true members while in the world ; 
 and therefore they will have boldness in the day 
 of judgment. The ground of all their boldness 
 will consist in the assured — the experienced 
 fact, that he is their sanctification. 
 
 And now we have before us the materials out 
 of which, by the Holy Spirit's teaching, we may 
 come to a fall apprehension of Christ as our 
 sanctification, as well as our peace, our wisdom, 
 and our righteousness. It may have been 
 expected that I should speak of the Holy Spirit's 
 office as connected with a due experience of 
 Christ as our sanctification, but that topic 
 would be out of place just now ;-» the sole object 
 being to set forth Christ as the sanctification of 
 
154 Christ our Sanctification. 
 
 true believers. It may, however, be briefly 
 stated, that it is the Holy Spirit's office to lead 
 sinners to Christ, and to reveal him in his per- 
 fections — the perfections of his person and of 
 his mediation ; and then — having effected union 
 with Christ, as the sanctification of the sinner — 
 to develope the principle and power of holiness in 
 the believer. Thus, then, though the sanctification 
 is wrought out by the Spirit — still Christ is the 
 sanctification itself; and the Spirit's office and 
 Christ's office are distinct, yet co-operating to 
 one end — even the renewing us unto righteous- 
 ness and true holiness. 
 
 It is now time that we give ourselves to 
 meditation on the great truth which has occu- 
 pied our thoughts ; and therefore, thus let us me- 
 ditate : — Oh my soul ! remember — it is because 
 thou hast no holiness in thyself, but art altoge- 
 ther alienated from God by wicked works, and 
 by the power of sin within thee, that thou needest 
 a holiness flowing from a source that is beyond 
 thee. It is because thou canst not sanctify 
 thyself, that God, in the exercise of a free and 
 
Christ our S and ifi cation. 155 
 
 sovereign grace, hath provided a sanctification 
 for thee, and revealed it in the person of His own 
 divine Son — thy Redeemer. Be hnmbled on 
 account of thy sin. Be grateful for the inter- 
 position of a gracious and most compassionate 
 God, who deals not with thee through the 
 terrors of the law — but in the brightness of the 
 mercy-seat. If he hath provided, in Christ, a 
 sanctification for thee, in the power of which 
 he can delight in thee with all complacency, 
 surely it is because He hath already reconciled 
 thee unto Himself by Jesus Christ. Then, be 
 sure that this sanctification is free for thee : — 
 be sure — that if thou wilt, thou mayest be — 
 holy ; — holy in Christ — and so conformed to His 
 image, as the first-born among many brethren. 
 
 Oh my soul ! hast thou realized union with 
 Christ, as thy sanctification — by faith through 
 the Spirit? Hast thou let go thy hold upon 
 thyself, and found satisfaction in the fulness of 
 Christ, as thy wisdom and thy righteousness ; — 
 and does Christ, as thy sanctification, satisfy 
 thee and delight thee? Dost thou feel the 
 
156 Christ our Sanctification. 
 
 power of holiness within thee ? Does it stimu- 
 late and quicken thee to the production of those 
 fruits which testify that thou art alive in Christ, 
 and that he is thy holiness — and its power ? — 
 Thy loving God intends all this for thee. And 
 if thou art conscious of any deficiency of actual 
 experience, be encouraged to press forward, in 
 the use of means — of God's own appointed 
 means, till thou shalt attain to all the holiness 
 thou art encouraged to desire, and to all the 
 blessedness which must follow in its train. 
 
 Wondrous — oh my soul — wondrous is the love 
 that thus tends thee, and that thus waits on thee, 
 hour by hour, and day by day, and Sabbath by 
 Sabbath — that so Christ may be thy full sanc- 
 tification, and that thou may est reflect the elder 
 Brother's likeness! — Wilt thou respond to it? 
 Wilt thou not meet love with love ? Wilt thou 
 not love him who hath so loved thee, and still 
 loves thee? Canst thou love him — and leave 
 any means of grace unused ? Canst thou desire 
 Christ as thy full sanctification, and leave his 
 sacramental cup untouched, and the symbol of 
 
Christ our Sanctification. 157 
 
 his wounded body untasted ? Oh vain desire, if 
 there be a neglected sacrament ! Oh — blindness 
 of heart, if there be no desire ! Oh — astound- 
 ing peril of the soul — if the blindness of heart 
 remains — to shut out the Saviour from thee ! 
 
 Oh my soul — be found — like Mary, at the 
 feet of Jesus ; — like John reposing on his 
 bosom ; and ere long thou shalt be Tvith him — 
 like Moses and Elias on the Mount, beholding 
 and sharing his sanctification — resolved into 
 glory unspeakable. 
 
PRAYER. 
 
 Oh adorable and ever-blessed Lord Jesus — 
 my sanctification ! I look up unto thee, with the 
 fervent desire to be thoroughly separated unto 
 the Father, and made clean and holy, by a living 
 union with thee, through thy Spirit. Thou art 
 the sanctification provided for me, by the won- 
 drous grace of a compassionate God — who 
 beholds me, as I am in myself, altogether 
 unclean and unholy. In thee, He will behold 
 me renovated unto holiness. My mind, my will, 
 my affections, will then be holy. Oh ! I would 
 not be satisfied with anything less than this. 
 Look upon me in thy tender love, and draw me 
 up into thyself. I yield myself entirely unto 
 thee, and would make no reserves. En- 
 courage my feeble faith, and make it more 
 
160 Prayer. 
 
 steady and enduring. Let nothing shake it, or 
 constrain it to relax its hold on thee. At thy 
 sacramental table, be thou graciously present 
 to the perception of my soul. There enable me, 
 by thy Spirit, to imbibe more and more of the 
 power, as well as the quality of holiness, by a 
 more enlarged reception of thee. 
 
 And oh ! my heavenly Father, who knowest 
 what I am, and what I need — behold me, I pray 
 thee, in Christ, as my only sanctification ; and 
 look complacently on me, with thy unchangeable 
 love. Without this — alas ! how can I look up 
 to thee, who art infinitely holy, and before whom 
 unholiness can have no abiding-place. Thou 
 desirest that I should be like him, whom thou 
 hast set forth as my sanctification. Oh, make 
 me so ; and grant that such may be perpetuated 
 in me, throughout time, and when I behold 
 thee in eternity. Oh God! most gracious — 
 hear and answer me, for the sake alone of thy 
 dear Son, my Saviour, and my sanctification. 
 Amen. 
 
When Sin and Death had forg'd the dreadful chain 
 Which bound the ruin'd race of Adam down, 
 
 Hell seem'd to triumph, while with effort vain 
 The captives toii'd in fetters — heavier grown. 
 
 Stronger than hosts of Hell, Redemption rose 
 In God's incarnate — dying — rising Son : 
 
 Claiming the slaves — he bade the grave unclose, 
 And tell the world Redemption's work was done. 
 
 Redeemer and Redemption — both appear 
 In concentrated grandeur in His face ; 
 
 While distant heav'n now shines in prospect near, 
 And souls redeem'd, — rejoicing own His grace. 
 
 Fre —and for ever ! — let our spirits soar 
 In faith and love to the Eternal Throne ; 
 
 And wait until the pow'rless grave restore 
 
 The sheeted dead whom He hath made His own. 
 
CHRIST OUR REDEMPTION 
 
 But of Him are ye in Christ Jesus, who of God is made unto 
 
 . . . . Redkmption. "— 1 Cur. i. 30. 
 
 Having already contemplated Christ, as made 
 unto all true believers — wisdom, righteousness, 
 and sanctification, we are now to behold him 
 as being made unto us, Redemption also. 
 
 To redeem, is an expression used in Scripture, 
 to signify the act of buying back, or retrieving 
 by a price, persons or things which had been 
 alienated. It is applied to the transactions of 
 the sabbatical or redemption-year, under the law. 
 when mortgaged possessions, and persons in a 
 state of poverty and servitude, were restored, 
 through the intervention of the next of kin, 
 who was the redeemer for that purpose. This 
 redemption was no doubt intended to be typical ; 
 and we find the word " redeem " applied to the 
 
164 Christ our Redemption. 
 
 mediatorial act of Christ, on behalf of the fallen 
 posterity of Adam. Hence it is said, by 
 St. Paul to the Galatians, (Chap. iv. 4,) that 
 " when the fulness of time was come, God sent 
 forth his Son, made of a woman, made under 
 the law, to redeem them that were under the 
 law" And in writing to Titus, he also declared, 
 (Chap. ii. 14,) that Christ gave himself for us, that 
 he might redeem us from all iniquity. Christ, 
 then, is the next of kin to the posterity of Adam, 
 for the purpose of redeeming them — having been 
 made in all things like unto his brethren, sin 
 only excepted. In the exercise of his office as 
 Redeemer, he redeemed them from the penalties, 
 as well as from the bondage of the law ; and 
 this act extended so far, also, as to redeem them 
 from the enslaving power of iniquity and sin. 
 The effect of this wondrous transaction, was the 
 emancipation of the posterity of Adam, in order 
 to their acceptance of all the privileges of free- 
 dom, in and through him — namely, life eternal, 
 renovation of mind and heart, and a participa- 
 tion of a glorious inheritance, as members of the 
 
Christ our Redemption. 165 
 
 family of heaven; — heirs of God, and joint-heirs 
 with Christ. Thus, then, Christ became, by his 
 own personal act, our death unto sin ; our life 
 unto righteousness ; and our resurrection unto 
 eternal glory : for what he effected, in the way 
 of redemption, he effected, not as an individual, 
 but as the head of a believing race — a people who 
 were in him from all eternity, according to the 
 sovereign grace and purpose of God the Father. 
 From the word " redeem," we find the sacred 
 writers derive another word — namely, redemp- 
 tion ; which is used in two senses, each having 
 direct relation to the other. The first of these 
 two senses, we find expressed in Ephes. i. 7, 
 where it is said — " In whom," that is, in Christ, 
 "we have redemption through his blood, the 
 forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of his 
 grace." This mode of expression is elsewhere 
 several times used by St. Paul, particularly in 
 Heb. ix. 11, 12, where it is said — " Christ being 
 come an high priest of good things to come, by 
 a greater and more perfect tabernacle, not made 
 with hands, that is to say, not of this building ; 
 
166 Christ our Redemption. 
 
 neither by the blood of goats and calves, but 
 by his own blood, he entered in once into the 
 holy place, having obtained eternal redemption 
 for us." The word redemption, thus used, sig- 
 nifies, therefore, the positive effect and result of 
 Christ's act as Redeemer. He came to redeem; 
 and he accomplished, and so" obtained" — redemp- 
 tion. What, therefore, a believing sinner receives 
 when he rests by faith on Clnist alone, is re- 
 demption — a state of redemption, or a redeemed 
 state. He is safely purchased away from all 
 that had ever kept him apart from God, and 
 is reinstated in the family and favour of God, in 
 Christ Jesus, his Redeemer. In this case, then, 
 not only has the redemption been effected, but 
 it has also been embraced by faith ; — effected by 
 Christ — embraced by the sinner; and the sinner 
 who has embraced it, is called the Lord's " free- 
 man ; " — he has partaken of the liberty, where- 
 with Christ alone can make us free. He is, 
 therefore, in the sight of God, as free from the 
 law's terrors, from the law's bondage, and 
 from the condemning power of sin, as his Re- 
 
Christ our Redemption. 167 
 
 deemer himself is free. He is free to serve God 
 in the newness of the Spirit ; — free to seek and 
 obtain holiness, as an inward and spiritual power ; 
 — free to perfect holiness in the fear of the Lord ; 
 — free to the enjoyment of the fulness of the 
 covenant of grace, in time and in eternity. 
 
 The second sense of the word redemption, 
 we find expressed in Rom. iii. 24, where it is 
 said — " Being justified freely by his grace 
 through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus." 
 Here, it evidently signifies the redemption- 
 price paid for our deliverance ; which price was 
 Christ himself — his person — his life — his pre- 
 cious blood. It is equivalent to the word 
 " ransom," used in 1 Tim. ii. 5, 6 : — " For 
 there is one God, and one mediator between 
 God and man, the man Christ Jesus, who gave 
 himself a ransom, (that is, a full and effectual 
 redeeming-price) for all:" — which passage is 
 based upon our Lord's own saying, in Mark x. 
 45 : — " For even the Son of man came not to be 
 ministered unto, but to minister, and to give 
 his life a ransom for many." 
 
168 Christ our Redemption. 
 
 These passages may be sufficient to show that 
 the word " redemption/' as used in the text, is 
 of very large and extensive application ; and may 
 prepare the way for our apprehending clearly, 
 how Christ is — not only our Redeemer effecting 
 redemption for us, but the redemption itself, the 
 state, and the price of it too ; — by virtue of which, 
 a believing sinner eventually triumphs over sin, 
 death, and hell, and goes up to the glorious 
 inheritance of the saints in light. 
 
 It is in no wise difficult to perceive how 
 Christ becomes our Redeemer. The fact of his 
 undertaking to be so, is the proof that he is so. 
 Before we accept him as such, by faith — he is 
 so provisionally ; as soon as we accept him, he is 
 so beneficially; — we are then not only redeemed, 
 but we have — we possess, redemption ; — we are 
 in a redeemed state. 
 
 But the text goes beyond this. It does not 
 declare that Christ is of God made unto us a 
 Redeemer, but redemption; he is our redemp- 
 tion. Every thing that God's grace and mercy 
 intends for us, is in Christ ; and must therefore 
 
Christ our Redemption. 169 
 
 be possessed and enjoyed by virtue of our union 
 with him, through faith by the Spirit. Now, 
 let it be observed, that Christ, as Redeemer, took 
 our position under the law, and under sin; — being 
 under the law, by the fact of his incarnation in 
 Adam's flesh ; being under sin, by imputation. 
 As the last Adam — the second — the redeem- 
 ing head of a fallen race, he wrought out re- 
 demption from the law and from sin; and it 
 became his possession. It became his, that he 
 might communicate it, as a possession, to all, 
 who by faith should become united to him. In 
 possessing him, they possess it, in him. And 
 moreover, tins redemption being a derived re- 
 demption to those who possess it in and through 
 Christ — he who was the procurer of it on their 
 behalf, is, in the simplest view we can take of 
 the matter — their redemption. 
 
 In like manner, if Christ, in his own person, 
 was the ransom or redemption-jonce, on the pay- 
 ing down of which, our emancipation depended ; 
 and if the offering of himself up once for all, 
 was such a paying down of the redemption-price, 
 
1 70 Christ our Redemption. 
 
 as the exigency of the case required, then, in 
 this view also, it becomes scripturally true, when 
 we say that Christ is our Redemption. The 
 price paid, being the equivalent for the tiring 
 received, — it follows that the redemption effected, 
 and the personal sacrifice of Christ — the effec- 
 tive cause of it, are both understood in the one 
 word, " redemption." 
 
 Now — to some minds, statements such as 
 these may seem like refinements in theology ; — 
 or as matters of intricacy and difficulty — better 
 let alone. But indeed they are not so. They 
 are truths revealed to us, and therefore intended 
 to be known, understood and experienced. And 
 my wish is — as God shall enable me — to draw 
 your minds up from the common-places of evan- 
 gelical statements — to the loftiest realities; — to 
 make you dissatisfied with vague and gene- 
 ralising views of Christ, which we so commonly 
 find among certain Christian professors, who 
 search not into the Bible for themselves as a 
 mine of precious treasure, but are content with 
 scraps and selections — a few favourite texts. 
 
Christ our Redemption. 171 
 
 They know that Christ and Christ's work must 
 "be their sole dependancc ; they are ready to say, 
 and do say, Christ is all ; and that nothing but 
 Christ will do. We are thankful when we hear 
 as much as this from those around us. But we 
 would have them perceive clearly how it is, that 
 these truths which they avow, have come to be 
 truths. To them, at first sight, it may seem 
 like a matter of very small importance, whether 
 Christ be regarded simply as our Redeemer, or 
 emphatically our Redemption. And they may 
 say, "If I am really and sincerely living by 
 faith on the Son of God and of man — Jesus 
 Christ — how can it matter, whether I call him 
 my Redeemer or my redemption ? " 
 
 The simple answer I have to give, is, that if 
 I have Christ in me as my redemption, and 
 therefore Christ in me the hope of glory (for 
 such he must also be) — then do I realise the 
 fact of my salvation, as one who has seemed 
 his redemption by securing Christ ; — as one who 
 has found in Christ the purchase-price and the 
 thing purchased j — the redemption-price, and the 
 
172 Christ our Redemption. 
 
 redemption effected and perpetuated for eternity ; 
 so that bondage can never return upon the 
 soul, either under the law or under sin : and so 
 that eternal life set up in the believing soul, can 
 never be extinguished or overpowered. What 
 " the man Christ Jesus " is, as my redemption, 
 such I know I shall be ; for it is promised, that 
 when he shall appear, I shall be like him ; for I 
 shall see him as he is. (1 John hi. 2.) As the 
 " Son of Man " is, so shall I be ; for he has de- 
 clared, "To him that overcometh will I grant 
 to sit down with me in my throne, even as I 
 have overcome, and am set down with my Father 
 in his throne." We enter upon the experience 
 of grand certainties, when we have experience of 
 Christ in us as our Redemption. While we 
 regard him simply and vaguely as a Redeemer, 
 from whom we may obtain all blessings we 
 have need of, the utmost we can enjoy is a 
 state of hopefulness, that all may be well with 
 us at last. And can this satisfy the wants or 
 quell the fears — can it chase away the gloom, 
 and bring in peace and joy to the heart that has 
 
Christ our Redemption. 173 
 
 groaned under the conviction of being naturally 
 dead in trespasses and sins, and subject to the 
 terrible condemnation of the law ? It cannot ; — 
 at least it ought not. Many a sinner, it is to 
 be feared, has failed of enjoying the Christian's 
 safety and the Christian's peace, because he 
 would not lift up his heart or stimulate his in- 
 tellect to the investigation of the deep things of 
 God, which have their foundation and their root 
 in the person and in the offices of Jesus Christ, 
 the one mediator between God and man. We 
 would have Christians take large and compre- 
 hensive, as well as minute and particular views, 
 of Christ : and we would not have them con- 
 tented till the Holy Spirit shall have thoroughly 
 performed his office in them ; till he shall have 
 taken of the things of Christ, and shown them 
 unto them : till, in fact, he shall have interwoven 
 with their very being, a perfect revelation of 
 a perfect Christ — perfect in himself and to 
 them — perfect as his own — and equally as their 
 wisdom, righteousness, sanctifi cation, and re- 
 demption. 
 
174 Christ our Redemption. 
 
 For this, it behoves us to be instant in prayer. 
 God gives without measure to those who, in the 
 patience of faith, wait upon him at the foot-stool 
 of his mercy-seat. And as meditation helps to 
 clear our views, to quicken our desires, and to 
 aid the exercises and the far-reaching of our 
 faith — thus let us meditate : 
 
 Oh my soul ! — The revealed purpose of God 
 in Christ Jesus, is, that thou mayest be the free 
 man of Christ; that the Law may neither 
 crush, nor fetter thee; that sin may not 
 enslave thee ; and that death may not destroy 
 thee. Grace hath gone forth on thy behalf, and 
 had its full manifestation in the offering up of 
 Jesus once for all. The Redeemer hath come 
 with deliverance in his hand. He hath come 
 — himself the redemption-price, and the re- 
 demption. If thou art still living under a sense 
 of bondage, surely it is because thou art un- 
 believing ; because thou lovest the fetters more 
 than thou desirest liberty. The redemption is 
 wrought out; and when thou believcst, it is 
 thine; for then, Christ is thine — and not till then. 
 
Christ our Redemption. 175 
 
 Oh my soul ! it is to a work finished for 
 thee by Christ, that a God reconciled would 
 have thee look : it is from a work finished in 
 thee by Christ — thy redemption, that a God 
 reconciled would have thee draw all thy sense of 
 safety, peace, and joy. Is the mystery of re- 
 demption vast and deep ? Then seek to fathom 
 it by the Holy Spirit's guidance, and with the 
 light of the revealed word in thine hand and in 
 thy heart. Is the blessing to which it leads 
 unspeakable — and does a sense of thine un- 
 worthiness of it humble thee? Then, remem- 
 ber, it is of grace — that God may be exalted ; it 
 is his free gift, that thou mayest indeed be 
 humbled. Oh ! seek to have Christ in thee as 
 thy Redemption; and thou shalt descend into 
 the grave with the power of an endless life : and 
 the achieved and bestowed redemption shall 
 show forth its triumph on the morning of the 
 resurrection, when the cry shall be, " O death 
 where is thy sting ! O grave where is thy 
 victory ! " 
 
PRAYER. 
 
 Oh God ! most merciful, forbearing, and 
 compassionate, I would fain draw near to thee 
 in Christ Jesus, — as my redeeming God. Thou 
 foundest me in bondage under the law, under 
 sin and death, helpless and hopeless, a fallen 
 child of a guilty parentage; and thou hast in 
 great love to my soul and body, provided, 
 announced, and fully revealed unto me, redemp- 
 tion, in thy dear Son, Jesus Christ. In his 
 cross and passion I behold the wondrous means, 
 whereby deliverance hath been wrought for me ; 
 and now, I adore and magnify thee, for that, in 
 Irim, thou dost permit and encourage me to look 
 up to thee, in the realization of that liberty, 
 wherewith he alone could make free the guilty 
 and the lost. Oh ! let not doubt or unscriptural 
 
1 78 Prayer. 
 
 fears invade the faith, with which I would 
 endeavour to apprehend and embrace Christ 
 fully, as my redemption. 
 
 My God ! if I am free, I would fain serve 
 thee " in newness of the spirit/' and no longer 
 " in the oldness of the letter." Give me, I pray 
 thee, the dignity of freedom, by investing me 
 with its power ; and let my whole life be spent 
 in the exercise of that power to thy glory. 
 Make me, by the constant grace of thy holy 
 Spirit, watchful and guarded against every thing 
 that would sully that dignity, or undermine 
 that power. 
 
 And oh ! thou loving and faithful Lord Jesus, 
 who art both my Redeemer and redemption, 
 reveal thyself to me more fully, that I may live 
 assuredly in the full enjoyment of that blessed 
 state, into which thou hast brought me, in 
 thyself. Make me more sensible of my entire 
 dependance on thee; and never let me seek or 
 desire anything that may not be found in thee. 
 Fill me with thyself; and let the sacred feast to 
 which thou dost so lovingly call me, be the 
 
Prayer. 1 79 
 
 honoured means for working in me that fulness. 
 Oh my redemption ! I adore thee — I choose 
 thee beyond all inferior good. Let my free 
 spirit repose itself on thee, and never let me be 
 again entangled with the yoke of bondage. 
 Amen. 
 
CHRIST OUR BROTHER. 
 
I have a Brother ; — and his name 
 
 Is Jesus — Christ — Immanuel ! 
 His love is ev'ry day the same ; 
 
 Its depth and fulness none can tell. 
 There's not a sorrow of my heart, 
 
 But he hath felt it in his own ; 
 There's not a wound from Satan's dart, 
 
 But he its bitterness hath known. 
 
 He's not asham'd to own the tie 
 
 By which he bound himself to me, 
 When he beheld me hopeless lie, 
 
 And took my flesh — to make it free — 
 Free from the grasp of sin and death — 
 
 Free from the law's vindictive power ; 
 And gave me, with his parting breath, 
 
 A token for my dying hour. 
 
 Jesus, my Brother! — on thy love — 
 
 Thy faithful love, I build my hope — 
 The hope which dares to look above, 
 
 And knows no limit to its scope. 
 Oh ! tenderer than all the ties 
 
 That bind poor earthly hearts — is this 
 On which my grateful soul relies, 
 
 For heav'n, and home, and endless bliss. 
 
CHRIST OUR BROTHER. 
 
 He is not ashamfp to < w.i. them brethren." — Heb. 
 
 Inasmuch as things spiritual transcend our 
 natural powers of perception, God, with great 
 condescension, sets them before us by symbols 
 with which wc are familiar. The symbolical 
 language of Holy Scripture, then, is not used 
 for the purpose of adornment, but in order to 
 accommodate deep mysteries to our very limited 
 capacities. Hence every symbol has a definite 
 and positive signification. Those symbols, drawn 
 from human relationships, arc at once the most 
 expressive and touching. Thus, the church of 
 Christ, which he has purchased with his blood, 
 is called " the whole family in heaven and 
 earth*' (Eph. iii. 15); than which, nothing can 
 be more expressive of the tender and abiding 
 
184 Christ our Brother. 
 
 relationship subsisting between God and the 
 church, and between all true members of the 
 church. The members are brethren ; and God 
 is the Father of all, above all, through all, and 
 in them all. (Eph. iv. 6.) But this symbol 
 would be incomplete without the introduction 
 of Christ — God-man-mediator — the only be- 
 gotten Son of the Father, into the family. 
 Therefore he is set forth to us in the relation of 
 a brother. " Whosoever," said he, " shall do 
 the will of my Father which is in heaven, the 
 same is my brother and sister." The reason of 
 this is assigned very simply, when the apostle 
 says, " Both he that sanctifieth and they who 
 are sanctified are all of one (that is, all of 
 one heavenly parentage — children of the same 
 Father) ; for which cause he is not ashamed to 
 call them brethren" (Heb. ii. 11.) And again, 
 " Wherefore in all things it behoved him to be 
 made like unto his brethren, that he might be 
 a merciful and faithful high priest in things 
 pertaining to God, to make reconciliation for 
 the sins of the people." (Heb. ii. 17.) 
 
Christ our Brother. 185 
 
 Let it not then be supposed that the thing 
 signified by this symbol, is in any degree less 
 than the symbol actually expresses ; but let our 
 faith go fully up to the fact, that between true 
 believers, avIio are born of God, and between 
 them and Christ, the only begotten of the 
 Father, full of grace and truth, — there is a 
 positive and real fraternity existing; as positive 
 and real as that which subsists between the 
 members of a human family — the children of 
 one father. The mystery of such a relation 
 doubtless lies very deep ; we cannot fathom it ; 
 and we may suppose that it is for this reason 
 the symbol is thus applied. We can all easily 
 understand and feel the relation of brotherhood ; 
 and we have only to lift up our minds to the 
 most exalted sense in which it can be experienced, 
 in reference to our spiritual state, in order to 
 bring the fact (though not the mystery of it) with- 
 in the grasp of our faith. There is no need for us 
 to fathom the mystery, so long as wc thoroughly 
 embrace the fact. When it is so embraced, then 
 indeed do our consolations in Christ abound. 
 
186 Christ our Brother. 
 
 There are several particulars which now 
 require to be stated in detail; the first of 
 which is, that those who are brethren partake 
 of one nature. Thus then it is said of Christ 
 — "Forasmuch then as the children (that is, 
 God's children — the family of heaven and 
 earth) are partakers of flesh and blood, he also 
 himself likewise took part of the same; that 
 through death (or, through dying) he might 
 destroy him that had the power of death, that 
 is, the devil; and deliver them who, through 
 fear of death, were all their life-time subject to 
 bondage. For verily, he took not on him the 
 nature of angels ; but he took on him the seed 
 of Abraham." (Heb. ii. 14 — 16.) It is also 
 said of Christ, that he " was made in the like- 
 ness of men ; and being found in fashion as a 
 man, he humbled himself, and became obedient 
 unto death, even the death of the cross." (Phil. 
 ii. 7, 8.) And further, "what the law could 
 not do, in that it was weak through the flesh, 
 God, sending his own Son in the likeness of 
 sinful flesh, and for sin, condemned sin in the 
 
Christ our Brother. 187 
 
 flesh; that the righteousness of the law might 
 be fulfilled in us, who walk not after the flesh, 
 but after the Spirit." (Rom. viii. 3, 4.) 
 
 Thus, then, we have the fact clearly revealed 
 to us, that Christ laid the foundation of brother- 
 hood, by actually assuming the nature of those 
 whom he condescends to call brethren. He 
 became our Brother indeed, at the very moment 
 of his incarnation, according to the eternal pur- 
 pose of God ; and in such a relation does he 
 now stand to every true child of God. 
 
 The next particular to be mentioned is, that 
 mankind, as brethren, are so by natural birth, 
 or become so by adoption into a family. The 
 ancient laws relative to adoption, from which the 
 symbol is taken, enabled the adopted children of 
 a family to share the estate with the naturally- 
 born children, and to assume the family name 
 of him who adopted them. In every respect 
 they participated all the privileges of the family 
 circle. Now, no simple descendant of Adam 
 can, by virtue of his birth in the flesh, be a 
 member of God's family; nor can he be adopted, 
 
188 Christ our Brother. 
 
 unless "born again/' "born of water and ol 
 the Spirit." But, being born again, his adop- 
 tion follows in the way of simple consequence. 
 And thus — becoming in Christ a new creature, 
 the bond of fraternity between him and Christ 
 is cemented. He possesses the spirituality ol 
 Christ, as Christ possesses his human flesh. It 
 is plain, that the purpose of God in Christ Jesus 
 reached forth quite to this end; for it is said 
 that he " predestinated us unto the adop- 
 tion of children by Jesus Christ. " (Eph. i. 5.) 
 Again — "When the fulness of the time was 
 come, God sent forth his Son, made of a 
 woman, made under the law, to redeem them 
 that were under the law, that we might re- 
 ceive the adoption of sons. And because ye 
 are sons, God hath sent forth the Spirit of his 
 Son into your hearts, crying Abba, Father. 
 Wherefore, thou art no more a servant, but a 
 Son ; and if a son, then an heir of God through 
 Christ" (Gal. iv. 4 — 7.) All which texts make 
 quite plain the statement of St. John, that " As 
 many as received him, to them gave he power to 
 
Christ our Brother. 189 
 
 become the sons of God, even to them that be- 
 lieve on his name." (John i. 12.) That, there- 
 fore, which is impossible with man in his natural 
 state, becomes at once practicable in and through 
 Christ ; and the bond of brotherhood, originated 
 by Christ in his incarnation, becomes, under 
 God, and by the operation of His Holy Spirit, 
 the procuring cause of the adoption of the rege- 
 nerate believer into the family of God ; who, by 
 virtue of the adoption, is an heir of God, and a 
 joint-heir with Christ. 
 
 The next particular is, that between those 
 who are brethren in heart, as well as in fact, 
 there is family likeness and sympathy. Hence, 
 believers are enjoined to let this mind be in 
 them which was also in Christ Jesus (Philip, 
 ii. 5) ; and are said to have put on the new man, 
 which is renewed in knowledge after the image 
 of him that created him (Col. hi. 10). Thus 
 also, Christ is revealed to us as one who can 
 have ' compassion on us ; and as one touched 
 with a feeling of our infirmities (Heb. iv. 15). 
 He became like us in the flesh, that he might 
 
190 Christ our Brother. 
 
 communicate his likeness to us, as the adopted 
 children of God : and it is likeness to Christ in 
 some degree attained to, that marks the mem- 
 bers of the family of God. The sympathy, 
 however, is all on the side of Christ. God 
 created a human sympathy in Christ, at his 
 incarnation ; the exercise of which helped on the 
 work of redemption, and sweetens the bond of 
 brotherhood, which binds into one body Christ 
 as the elder Brother, and the adopted ones, whom 
 he is not ashamed to call brethren. 
 
 From these three particulars we infer that 
 Christ, becoming our Brother by taking on him 
 our nature, and linking it on to his Deity, had 
 power over that nature, first to redeem it ; and 
 then, by his Spirit, to infuse life — his own 
 spiritual life, into it. Next, that as the elder 
 Brother, he had the disposition as well as the 
 power to put aside every obstacle in the way of 
 our full and free adoption into his Father's 
 family; and to make sure the adoption, to all 
 who by grace, through faith, should receive 
 him j so that — knowing him as their Brother, 
 
Christ our Brother. 191 
 
 they might exercise the spirit of adoption, 
 when received, and call God Father. And 
 lastly, that as a sympathising Brother, com- 
 municating his likeness to all the members of 
 the household of faith, he must be the great 
 object of our faith, and the foundation of all 
 our hope, as members of the family of God. 
 
 Thus, then, is Christ set before us in that 
 very aspect which is the most attractive. But 
 when we see all his offices proceeding out of this 
 central fact of brotherhood; — when we spirit- 
 ually know that the great Prophet of the Church 
 is our brother ; that the great high priest of our 
 profession, is our brother j that the king of an 
 unspeakably glorious kingdom, is our brother : 
 — then we are assured, that the teaching of the 
 prophet is the teaching of our brother ; that the 
 sacrifice offered by the priest, was the sacrifice 
 of our brother ; that the blood which was shed 
 for us, was the blood of our brother ; that the 
 grave wherein death became powerless, and from 
 which emerged life and immortality, was the 
 grave of our brother, — what a ground do we 
 
192 Christ our Brother. 
 
 stand on for the realisation and enjoyment of 
 the blessings of salvation ; and for looking for- 
 ward to the coming of that glorious king, who 
 with all the tenderness of a brother's faithful 
 love, shall gather together the whole family 
 of heaven in a manifest union with himself; — 
 so working out the stupendous objects of his 
 petition, while a supplicant on earth before the 
 Father's throne — " Neither pray I for these 
 alone, but for all them which shall believe on 
 me through their word ; that they all may be 
 one, as thou Father art in me and I in thee, 
 that they also may be one in us ; that the world 
 may believe that thou hast sent me. And the 
 glory which thou gavest me I have given them ; 
 that they may be one, even as we are one. I 
 in them, and thou in me, that they may be 
 made perfect in one; and that the world may 
 know that thou hast sent me, and hast loved 
 them, as thou hast loved me. Father, I will 
 that they also, whom thou hast given me, be 
 with me where I am ; that they may behold my 
 glory which thou hast given me; for thou 
 
Christ our Brother. 193 
 
 lovedst me before the foundation of the world." 
 Therefore, when a poor sinner is awakened 
 by the Spirit of God to a sense both of his guilt, 
 and of the peril consequent on guilt, it is to a 
 Brother he is counselled to look for the full and 
 sufficient remedy ; and God's word declares that 
 his elder Brother's blood " clean seth from all 
 sin." If he bewails the distance which seems to 
 be between him and an offended God, he is di- 
 rected to the elder Brother, by and through 
 whom he has liberty of immediate access. (Heb. 
 x. 19 — 22) — If he trembles at the stern justice 
 of God — the vindicator of a violated law, he is 
 reminded that it is the elder Brother who hath 
 redeemed him from the curse of the law, being 
 made a curse for him. (Gal. iii. 13) — If he looks 
 up despairingly to the gates of heaven, as if closed 
 against his entreaties, he is told of the elder 
 Brother, who by his own death and resurrection 
 hath "opened the kingdom of heaven to all 
 believers." Let him once compass the great 
 central fact of Christ's brotherhood — beholding 
 it in the Spirit's light, and receiving it by faith 
 
194 Christ our Brother. 
 
 through the Spirit's teaching, and the heaven- 
 ward path lies straight before him. It is opened 
 up for him in Christ. His elder Brother is the 
 way. And what awaits the tried and tempted 
 believer, but the sympathy of a Brother — his 
 tenderness and his love ? And that dear Brother 
 is now at the Father's right hand j and c< ever 
 liveth to make intercession for us." 
 
 Oh blessed, sustaining, consolatory truth ! 
 Let us enter into its depths, and draw up from 
 it all we need, as sinners, for salvation; — as 
 brethren, for consolation. Then, according to 
 our faith, thus let us meditate : 
 
 Oh my soul ! the Lord of heaven and earth is 
 thy near kinsman in the flesh — thy Brother ! 
 Thou art guilty; but he is righteous. Thou art 
 polluted ; but he is spotless. Thou art weak, 
 because of sin. He is strong, because of right- 
 eousness. Yet, he is not ashamed to call thee 
 brother ; for he is " the first-born among many 
 brethren." Shall thy Brother call thee to life 
 and blessedness, and wilt thou lie down in 
 death, and in the winding-sheet of despair? 
 
Christ our Brother. 195 
 
 Shall lie call thee to the strait path of wis- 
 dom, and wilt thou wander in the broad way 
 of folly ? Shall he show thee the fountain of 
 his precious blood lying deep in the tenderness 
 of his human heart, and wilt thou prefer the 
 defilement of sin ? Shall he bid thee look up 
 to heaven's starry gate, thrown open for thy 
 admittance, and wilt thou dally on the confines 
 of hell? Shall he invite thee to the Father's 
 adopting love, and wilt thou think hard thoughts 
 of God, and flee from him as an avenger ? 
 
 Oh my soid ! hear thy tender Brother's voice, 
 and follow as he is ready to lead thee. Can he 
 mislead — can he disappoint thee ? When have 
 his sympathy and love ever failed towards those 
 who have once ventured to trust him with 
 undoubting confidence ? The records of heaven, 
 of earth, and of all time, present no instance. 
 
 Oh my soul ! it is to thy Brother's sacramental 
 table thou art now graciously invited. Shall 
 he spread his feast, and wilt thou forsake it V 
 Shall he oiler himself to thy faith, and wilt 
 thou meet him with unbelief? Hast thou in 
 
196 Christ our Brother. 
 
 times past there tasted, and found that he is 
 gracious ? There seek him now, and his banner 
 over thee shall be love. Thy heavenly Father 
 will meet thee there ; and the blessed Spirit will 
 vouchsafe his gracious unction. The triune 
 Godhead waits to bless thee. That Godhead is 
 thy heaven, thy home, thy inheritance. 
 
 " Come unto me all ye that are weary and 
 heavy laden, and I will give you rest." This is 
 the elder Brother's voice now speaking to thee 
 from his heart's tenderest depths. Oh my soul, 
 answer — answer. Let faith dictate the answer ; 
 and let adoring gratitude and love bring thee 
 prostrate at his feet. 
 
PRAYER. 
 
 Oh God, most merciful ! I praise and mag- 
 nify thy holy name, that thou hast entrusted 
 the deliverance of my soul from sin and death, 
 to One, who, by taking my nature into his God- 
 head, has become my Brother in the flesh. But 
 for this wondrous provision of grace, goodness, 
 and power, I must have sunk into the lowest 
 depths of hopeless perdition. Never let me 
 doubt thy compassion, or question thy loving- 
 kindness thus shown to me as one of the chief 
 of sinners. Through Jesus, my Brother, I 
 would now approach thee, beseeching thee to 
 look on his all-prevailing merits — both of suf- 
 fering and obedience, as the procuring cause of 
 my acceptance into thy favour, as a pardoned 
 and justified sinner. Humbly at thy footstool 
 
198 Prayer. 
 
 I lie — waiting for him alone to bring me near 
 unto thee. Lord, I pray thee, send thy Holy 
 Spirit into my heart — even the Comforter ; and 
 by his blessed aid enable me to find all the 
 wants of my soul satisfied in Jesus, my Brother. 
 
 And oh, thou sympathising and compassionate 
 Saviour ! own, I pray thee, the tender relation- 
 ship into which thou didst condescend to bring 
 thyself towards me, when thou didst assume 
 my nature, and becamest a man of sorrows 
 and acquainted with grief. Thou art not 
 ashamed to call the posterity of the fallen Adam, 
 brethren : — oh, be not ashamed of me, though, 
 apart from thee, my sins might well cause me 
 to sink down in shame and despair. Oh, glad- 
 den my heart with the assurance of what thou 
 art to me ; and lead me to the fullest participa- 
 tion of thy matchless love. 
 
 I long to have the light of thy countenance 
 ever shining on me ; and to have my new-born 
 soul aspiring after a full conformity to thee in 
 all things. Oh, my loving and most tender 
 Brother ! — feed me at thine own table with thv 
 
Prayer. 199 
 
 precious body and blood spiritually given and 
 received; and nourish me unto all godliness of 
 heart and life. Keep me, with my thoughts, 
 affections, and desires — always heavenward; 
 and, in the day of thy glorious reappearing, 
 raise me from the dead in thine own perfect 
 likeness — "meet for the inheritance of the 
 saints in light." 
 
CHRIST OUR RANSOM. 
 
It was of Ransom that they sang, 
 
 When o'er the heights of Bethlehem, 
 
 Glad angel-voices loudly rang, 
 And echoed to Jerusalem. 
 
 That Ransom in the manger lay, — 
 God's sacred Lamb, without one stain ; 
 
 And smiling mercy hail'd the day, 
 When Adam's race might hope again. 
 
 That Ransom — rack'd upon the cross, 
 Show'd forth its fullness to atone, 
 
 In drops that have repair'd the loss 
 
 Which kept us from the Father's throne. 
 
 Jesus, my Ransom ! — from this hour, 
 What shall withhold my soul from Thee ? 
 
 Death's tyrant-grasp hath lost its pow'r ; 
 In Thee I live ;— by Thee am free. 
 
CHRIST OUR RANSOM. 
 
 Who gave himself a ransom for all.'' — 1 Tim. ii. 
 
 He who became our Brother, by assuming our 
 nature, is now presented to us as our Ransom. 
 It is needful that our views of this subject should 
 be both definite and accurate, if we would draw 
 from it all the comfort it is capable of imparting. 
 It is common, with some minds, more to regard 
 Christ' s transaction, as qur Ransomer or Re- 
 deemer, than his person, as our Ransom. In 
 this, as well as in all previous subjects, my desire 
 is and has been, to fix attention upon the person 
 of Christ. Under the law, the person of the 
 Goel, or kinsman-redeemer, was of primary 
 importance. (See Levit. xxv.) A Jew — simply 
 as a Jew, could not redeem the property or 
 
204 Christ our Ransom. 
 
 person of another Jew; but he alone who was 
 near of kin, whether brother, uncle, or uncle's 
 son. As the law and practice of redemption by 
 the near kinsman were typical, there is no diffi- 
 culty about perceiving why it was necessary 
 that Christ should become our near kinsman 
 — our brother. The incarnation of the Lord 
 Jesus met this necessity, by establishing, in his 
 person, the requisite relationship; as it is writ- 
 ten — " Forasmuch then as the children are par- 
 takers of flesh and blood, he also himself likewise 
 took part of the same ; that through death he 
 might destroy him that had the power of death, 
 that is the devil ; and deliver them who, through 
 fear of death, were all their life-time subject to 
 bondage." (Heb. ii. 14, 15.) The act of redemp- 
 tion, therefore, was the act of a brother; and 
 that brother was himself the Ransom, or price of 
 redemption. To ransom, is to pay down a 
 sufficient price on behalf of a captive. But to 
 redeem, is to set free ; that is, to make sure, in 
 the way of direct and personal application to a 
 captive, the benefit or advantage which the 
 
Christ our Ransom. 205 
 
 ransom or price paid is sufficient to procure.* 
 There is, then, an important distinction between 
 the words ransom and redeem ; and also between 
 ransomer and ransom. Christ is both our Ran- 
 somer and our Redeemer ; but it is desirable that 
 exclusive attention be now given to the fact, that 
 he himself, in his own person, is our Ransom. 
 This may be shown in three points of view. 
 
 Christ, as our Ransom, is, in himself, the price 
 actually paid for — that is, in order to, our re- 
 demption. The word translated "ransom" in 
 the text has a special and direct signification. 
 It is used only in that one place in the New 
 Testament. The fact of a ransom-price paid is, 
 as is well known, abundantly stated in Scrip- 
 ture; and the particular word here used does, 
 in a most remarkable manner, apply to Christ 
 as our Ransom — the price paid for our deliver - 
 
 * There is a passage in Josephus (Ant. lib. xiv. cap. 14, 
 § 1,) which exactly marks this distinction. "Herod, not 
 knowing what had happened to his brother, hastened to 
 redeem him {XrrnwaaaOai} from the enemy, and was willing 
 to pay for his ranso7)i(\vTpov) a sum of money, to the amount 
 of three hundred talents." 
 
206 Christ our Ransom. 
 
 ance. In order to have a clear perception of its 
 precise signification, in reference to Christ, we 
 mnst fix our minds steadily upon the nature of 
 the captivity from which the ransom-price was 
 to effect redemption for the posterity of Adam. 
 Our real captivity was under the power and ty- 
 ranny of death. Death is the central idea. And 
 though we read of redemption from the curse of 
 the law, and of deliverance from the dominion of 
 sin, yet death, and captivity under the power of 
 death, were the proper and direct consequents 
 that followed upon human transgression. " In 
 the day that thou eatest, thou shalt surely die ;" 
 that is, shalt be delivered over to a state of 
 captivity under death. Such was the divine 
 decree against transgression, in the way of penal 
 consequence. Now, the particular word translated 
 "ransom," has a direct reference jto this ; and not 
 only properly signifies a price by which a captive 
 is redeemed from the power of an enemy, but 
 involves the idea of that kind of exchange, in 
 which the life of one is delivered by giving up to 
 death, the life of another. There is a passage in 
 
Christ our Ransom. 207 
 
 Caesar's Commentaries, which informs us that 
 the ancient Gauls practised human sacrifices — 
 upon this very remarkable principle, that the 
 anger of their gods could not be otherwise ap- 
 peased than by paying the life of one man for 
 that of another.* In this custom we trace a 
 perversion of the primary idea of human re- 
 demption by the seed of the woman — the offer- 
 ing of life for life. And was it not principally 
 from a like perversion of the same blessed truth, 
 that the heathen world in general offered human 
 victims; and that the Canaanites, Moabites, 
 and others, practised the horrid rite of sacrificing 
 their own children, especially their first-born ? 
 
 Now, as it was the life of man, as a sinner, 
 that was given over to the captivity of death, 
 we perceive that it was the purpose of God to 
 redeem it by the power of a sinless human life; 
 — a life that should have power to abolish death, 
 and bring life and immortality to light ; and so 
 
 * "Quod pro vita hominis nisi vita hominis feddatur, non 
 posse alitor deorum immortalium numen placari arbitrantur." 
 I ar. Comment., lib. vi. § 15. 
 
208 Christ our Ransom. 
 
 " deliver them, who, through fear of death, were 
 all their life-time subject to bondage." That 
 life could be given in the way of ransom — only 
 by dying. When Christ had died on the cross, 
 he had in himself, and by his own personal life, 
 laid down the ransom. This was in order to re- 
 demption. But it was not redemption itself. 
 The assertion of the power of Christ's endless life, 
 by the fact of the resurrection from the grave, 
 was the redemption : — it was the realised eman- 
 cipation of human life from the thraldom of 
 death; so that — human nature, in Christ, and 
 by the Spirit of life in Christ — being made free 
 from the law of sin and death, was made capable, 
 not only of living eternally, but of living unto 
 God. And, agreeably with this view of the 
 subject, the text affirms, — not that Christ gave 
 himself as a Redeemer — but that he gave him- 
 self a Ransom — a price of redemption ; the pos- 
 session of which made him capable of being our 
 Redeemer, and of effecting our redemption. The 
 paying down of the price, which was his own 
 life — his own person — himself, was that which 
 
Christ our Ransom. 209 
 
 gave him, as the last Adam, his right, by the 
 power of his resurrection, to deliver from the 
 power of death the posterity of the first Adam, 
 whom he was not ashamed to call brethren. 
 His resurrection was, in fact, the earnest and 
 assurance of resurrection of the human species ; 
 inasmuch as it was as the last Adam, and not as 
 an individual, that he rose. (1 Cor. xv. 22 — 45). 
 He rose, as our kinsman-redeemer: — and his 
 resurrection, therefore, was the consummating act 
 of redemption — giving full proof of the adequate- 
 ness of himself as the Ransom. The giving 
 himself a Ransom was a personal act of purchase. 
 He had a reversion in himself, of the price paid ; 
 and the assertion of it, on the brink of the riven 
 grave, was the liberty wherewith he hath made 
 us free. The paying down of the ransom, by 
 dying, was a voluntary act — indispensable, if 
 redemption was to be made sure. And the 
 resurrection was the taking into his own pos- 
 session that to which he had acquired a title, by 
 the voluntary payment of a price. 
 
 Let it be observed, in the next place, that 
 
210 Christ our Ransom. 
 
 Christ, in his own person, is the effect produced 
 upon God the Father, who gave to death its 
 power over man's life, as a sinner. His death, — 
 the paying down of the ransom, was the satis- 
 faction of God's violated legislation, and there- 
 fore a satisfaction rendered unto death. In 
 the whole matter of redemption, God regarded, 
 not us, but Christ. In us, there was no 
 ransom. We had it not. Our life was forfeit. 
 We could not ransom life, by paying down life. 
 The payment on our part, could have been only 
 the payment of a debt, due to death. But in 
 Christ, there was not only a powerful, but a merit- 
 orious life. Between him and death, there was 
 no matter of debt. Personally, he owed death 
 nothing. ' If death took possession of his life, as 
 the price of our redemption, it was on Christ's 
 part, a matter of donation and surrender. Then, 
 what was the true nature of the transaction? 
 The life of the first Adam and his posterity was 
 in forfeiture to death. The life of the last Adam, 
 offered and received as a ransom for all, wrought 
 out a reversal of the forfeiture. If, in the sight 
 
Christ our Ransom. 211 
 
 of God the Father, it was a just and righteous 
 thing, that the first Adam and his posterity should 
 be in captivity to death, by reason of sin; it be- 
 came equally a just and righteous thing, in the 
 sight of the Father, that Christ, the Ransom ef- 
 fectually rendered, should dissolve the captivity ; 
 and that life eternal, blessed and glorious life, 
 should be, through his resurrection, accessible to 
 all who believe. If it was the righteousness of 
 God that gave to death its power over man's life, 
 as a transgressor ; it is equally the righteousness 
 of God that ensures redemption from the power 
 of death, as consequent upon a due ransom paid. 
 The value of Christ, then, as our Ransom, is 
 traceable in its effect; inasmuch as it brings 
 out the righteousness of God, in the way of 
 mercy towards the guilty. 
 
 The last particular to be noticed is, that 
 Christ in his own person, is himself the benefit 
 resulting, to all them that believe. He is our 
 Ransom. As such, he ever interposes himself 
 between us and death ; so that the captivity of 
 death can never more return upon us. The 
 
212 Christ our Ransom, 
 
 charter of our redemption lias the seal of his 
 precious blood upon it j and the seal was affixed 
 when the ransom was laid down. Christ as our 
 Ransom, is our death as well as our life. Christ 
 is not only a ransom for us, but he is a ransom 
 in us ; and all who by faith, accept him as such, 
 have, as redeemed and justified creatures, the 
 power of his endless — his ransoming life, within 
 them. When Christ offered himself once for 
 all, he was a ransom for us. When we become 
 united with him, through faith, by the Spirit, 
 he is a ransom within us. There is, then, on 
 our part, if believers, an actual appropriation of 
 Christ. We are not only ransomed, but we 
 have the ransom in us : so that our emancipa- 
 tion from the captivity of death, is as perma- 
 nent as the power of an endless life can make 
 it. Hence, it is plain, that so long as we regard 
 only what Christ has done for us, we may be 
 destitute of the benefits procured by his doing. 
 We must go on, and appropriate Christ to our- 
 selves by the power of faith ; — not only believing 
 in a fact, but also trusting in a power. For it 
 
Christ our Ransom. 213 
 
 is out of a positive spiritual relation established 
 and subsisting between him and believers,, that 
 the real benefit springs. A ransom for us, avails 
 but little, until we make it ours; — until, as 
 believers, we plead it, and take our stand upon 
 it, and behold our charter of freedom established 
 by it. If Christ be in us — the hope of glory, it 
 is because he is in us, as a powerful and suffi- 
 cient Ransom. If I can say, O death, where is 
 thy sting ! — O grave, where is thy victory ! it is 
 because Christ, my Ransom, hath loosed the 
 bonds of death ; because it was not possible that 
 he should be holden by them. Thus, it will be 
 perceived, we should go far below the teach- 
 ing of holy Scripture, if we- were only to declare 
 that Christ hath given himself a Ransom for sin- 
 ners, without going on to declare that he who hath 
 ransomed, is himself the Ransom — the possession 
 — and the power over death, of all them that 
 believe. Deep mysteries; but blessed truths; 
 not the less true, because mysterious. Do they 
 arrest and fix our attention ? Do they touch — 
 do they move us ? Then, thus let us meditate : 
 
214 Christ our Ransom. 
 
 Oh! my soul, canst thou comprehend the 
 power of death by reason of sin? Dost thou 
 shudder to think of a captivity under the grasp 
 of death, which nothing less than the life of 
 God incarnate could dissolve ? Hast thou ever 
 thought lightly of sin, that could bring such 
 direful consequences in its train? When thou 
 hast felt sin bearing rule within thy heart, and 
 giving law to every thought, emotion, feeling, 
 word and act, hast thou failed to discover that 
 it was working death in thee, whilst thou wast 
 rejecting the Ransom paid for thy deliverance, 
 treating it as if a fable ? Hath the love of sin, 
 cherished and indulged, blinded tliine eyes both 
 against captivity and redemption? Hath thy 
 Ransom been paid, and hast thou forborne to take 
 up, in Christ, thy charter of freedom, and — as a 
 candidate for life eternal — to plead it at the bar 
 of God's justice ? Thou art under captivity to 
 death, through unbelief; or thou art walking in 
 the light of life, through the redemption that 
 is in Christ Jesus. Between these, there is no 
 middle ground. Thou art a slave, or a free man ! 
 
Christ our Ratisom. 215 
 
 Oh! my soul, caust thou fathom the love of 
 Christ, which constrained him to give himself a 
 Ransom for all? Dost thou love thyself less 
 than he loved thee ? Alas ! alas ! How much 
 did he love thee ! The not being ashamed to 
 call thee brother ; the taking into his Godhead 
 thy poor nature; the poverty of his life; the 
 shame and bitterness of his death ; the hidings 
 of the Father's face which he endured; the 
 power of the resurrection, which he triumphantly 
 asserted — and all, as thy Ransom and thy re- 
 demption — these are proofs that his love to thee 
 was stronger than death. How do they tell 
 upon thee ? Do they draw thee to him ? Art 
 thou at this moment filled with an adoring con- 
 sciousness of his love? Does a full sense of 
 freedom from death's captivity, through faith in 
 him and the power of his love, fill thee with 
 rejoicings and breathings after holiness ? 
 
 Wilt thou pass his sacramental table, and 
 turn thy back on him — wilt thou? Bethink 
 thee, oh! my soul. Yet, if he is not (as thy 
 Ransom) infinitely precious to thee, do not the 
 
216 Christ our Ransom. 
 
 sacramental occasion and its symbols reproach 
 thee ? Do they not warn thee of thy sin and 
 thine unbelief? If sin prevail to-day, dost thou 
 dream that it will be less powerful to-morrow? 
 What hast thou to do with to-morrow ? 
 
P R A Y E R. 
 
 O Lord Jesus Christ — God manifest in 
 human flesh ! — I would fain approach thee with 
 adoration and love, as it becomes one who has 
 been set free by the ransom-price which thou 
 hast paid down for my redemption. Vast is the 
 debt of gratitude I owe thee : how can I ever 
 discharge it ! My holiest purposes, and my 
 most devoted services would all, and at the 
 utmost, be too little. What have I, that is not 
 thine already ? what can I hope for, that does 
 not come from thee ? I have been <e bought 
 with a price;" and that price is thyself — my 
 ransom. I would therefore glorify thee in my 
 body and in my spirit, which are thine. But 
 this I cannot do, except by the fulness of thy 
 blessed Spirit dwelling within me, and sane- 
 
218 Prayer. 
 
 tifying me wholly. Oh ! my ransom ! bestow 
 on me that earnest of my redemption; and in 
 the power of the Holy Ghost, enable me to 
 yield unto thee continually, my "reasonable 
 service." Let me not be conformed to this 
 world, but transformed by the renewing of my 
 mind, that I may prove what is that good, and 
 acceptable, and perfect will of God. I desire to 
 approach thee at thy sacramental table — there 
 to seek those renewed supplies of grace which in 
 body and soul I so greatly need, that I may run 
 with patience the race that is set before me — 
 looking unto thee — Jesus, the author and fin- 
 isher of my faith. Oh ! draw me thither ; and 
 there vouchsafe thy gracious and loving pre- 
 sence. Form and cherish within me all fitting 
 dispositions and affections ; fill me with holy 
 thoughts, desires, and resolutions; and 
 strengthen me both for the resistance of evil, 
 and for activity in all that is lovely and of good 
 report. May I spiritually feed on thee, till I 
 grow like unto thee. May I loathe every thing 
 that thou hatest ; love all that thou approvest ; 
 
Prayer. 219 
 
 and do what thou enjoinest, while I have 
 strength to pray, and power to believe, and 
 grace to love ; so that — this life ended, I may 
 enter gloriously on the rest which remaineth 
 for the people of God. Amen. 
 
CHRIST OUR BELOVED 
 
 (SECTION I, 
 
Where shall I look, amidst the sons of men. 
 
 For one so loving, tender, and so true, 
 As He who stoop'd to death, and rose again, 
 
 To open all heav'n's glory to my view ? 
 There breathes not one on whom my heart can rest, 
 
 With such deep confidence of joyous love ; 
 There is not in the warmest human breast, 
 
 Such influence to draw my soul above. 
 
 Often, when sorrow casts its darkest cloud, 
 
 His beams of faithful love are shining through ; 
 And when temptation's storm is harsh and loud, 
 
 I hear his voice proclaiming peace — anew. 
 Faintly I go, but he sustains my heart ; 
 
 Feebly I fight, when hellish hosts combine : 
 But, most I feel, while longing to depart — 
 
 Jesus — oh, best-beloved — Thou art mine! 
 
CHRIST OUR BELOVED. 
 
 (SECTION I.) 
 
 ?.Iy beloved is mine, and I am his."— Song of Solomon, ii. ]6. 
 
 Christ is "The Beloved" of the Church:— 
 and justly so do we feel, when bearing in 
 mind the relation in which he stands to us, and 
 the aspects in which he has hitherto been pre- 
 sented. If, then, Christ be any thing at all to 
 us — a substance and not a shadow ; — a Saviour 
 indeed, and not a mere abstraction — we are en- 
 titled to say, and our Christianity is worth but 
 little, if we do not say — " My beloved is mine." 
 
 AH evangelical expositors are agreed that the 
 Song of Solomon shadows forth the espousals of 
 Christ and his Church j and wc have, therefore, 
 no difficulty about applying the words of the 
 text in the way of direct reference to the con- 
 
224 Christ our Beloved. 
 
 jugal relation which subsists between Christ 
 and all true believers. St. Paul, in the seventh 
 chapter of his epistle to the Romans (ver. 4) 
 distinctly recognises and teaches the doctrine of 
 such a relation, when he says — " Wherefore, my 
 brethren, ye also are become dead to the law by 
 the body of Christ ; that ye should be married 
 to another, even to him who is raised from the 
 dead, that we should bring forth fruit unto 
 God." 
 
 Our views of Christ, and of the benefits de- 
 rived from him, must of necessity be very nar- 
 row and unsatisfying, if we limit them to what 
 he has done on our behalf, as sinners. Angels 
 may wonder and adore on account of what he 
 has done, while charged with the destinies of 
 all living men ; — and so may we. But, if we go 
 no further ; — if we do not trace out and expe- 
 rience what he is to us — 1 that is, to them who 
 believe — there is danger of our Christianity 
 being only a sentiment in the mind, instead of a 
 power in the heart. And this, we fear, is not 
 uncommon. If Christianity be not a power 
 
Christ our Beloved. . 225 
 
 within us, then we have no power either against 
 sin, or on the side of holiness; and if we have 
 not Christ interwoven with our being, by the 
 Holy Spirit, we have only the sentiment and not 
 the power. The sentiment —Satan will blow to 
 the winds. The power is that which shall even- 
 tually raze the very foundation of his kingdom. 
 
 The text leads us to meditate on a two-fold 
 appropriation. The true believer has appro- 
 priated Christ to himself; and he says — "My 
 beloved is mine." Christ is then no longer an 
 object of external contemplation ; he is actually 
 possessed. In like manner, the believer is 
 conscious of an act, on his part, of actual sur- 
 render to Christ, and of acceptance on the part 
 of Christ. He therefore adds — " and I am his." 
 Each, then, has a property in the other; — a 
 property which follows on possession. 
 
 We will now state, a little more in detail, the 
 first of these two particulars; reserving the 
 second for the next section. 
 
 I may observe in the world about me, many 
 an object that is desirable and suitable; and 
 
226 Christ our Beloved. 
 
 which, if actually possessed, might be serviceable 
 and useful ; but if I have it not in possession, 
 it can be only suitable and desirable — no more. 
 Suppose it to be a noble estate, with its broad 
 acres and waving forests, intersected by streams 
 irrigating the whole, and clothing it with luxu- 
 riance and beauty; I may admire — may desire it, 
 and imagine what temporal advantages the posses- 
 sion would ensure; but so long as I only admire 
 and desire, not the smallest amount of benefit 
 accrues to me. But, let the generous owner of 
 that estate (acting from motives satisfactory to 
 himself) duly sign and seal a deed of gift to me, 
 of all that I have admired and desired, accom- 
 panied by an expression of deep and self-denying 
 affection towards me, how differently do I sur- 
 vey the rich territory. The deed of gift has 
 vested in me a title to every acre — to every leaf 
 of every forest tree, and to every rich stream 
 gushing forth with its songs of fertility and 
 beauty. But why are my feelings so changed ? 
 Is it not because I have exercised an act of faith, 
 upon the intention of a generous benefactor, 
 
Christ our Beloved. 227 
 
 and upon the deed of gift, which is the record 
 and the evidence of his intention ? But for such 
 an act of faith, I should, practically, be but a 
 poor man still. But, believing the intention, as 
 evidenced by the deed of gift, I should begin to 
 bid the feeling of poverty retire to a distance, 
 and should be prepared to show my deed of gift 
 to all the world — at least to those around me 
 who might be disposed, ignorantly, still to class 
 me with the poor. But, suppose I were to find 
 it difficult to believe the existence of such a 
 generous intention towards me, and still further, 
 were to doubt the genuineness oi the deed of 
 gift — what then ? Why, simply for want of faith 
 in both, I should have all the sensations of a 
 poor man; while others, knowing the transaction, 
 would be wondering at my stupid incredulity, 
 and charging my poverty on myself. 
 
 Then, what is necessary in order to my be- 
 coming otherwise than a poor man ? It is the 
 act of appropriation, as the proper result of the 
 act of faith. I believe in the intention that the 
 gift should be mine. I believe in the deed of gift 
 
228 Christ our Beloved. 
 
 that makes it mine ; and now I feel it is mine, 
 as I exercise every right of ownership insepa- 
 rable from a legal possession, grounded on a 
 legal title, which stands good, and will be main- 
 tained in every court of law — against all the 
 world. I am, then, not a rich man, just because 
 entitled to riches ; but I am a rich man, in virtue 
 of the possession of riches. The estate is mine. 
 
 Now this will explain what we mean, when we 
 speak of the appropriation of Christ, and of all 
 that is treasured up in him, for a believing 
 heart. And unless we have so appropriated him, 
 we are still hemmed in by our spiritual poverty 
 and degradation. 
 
 It is possible for you to dream through a 
 whole life ! about the desirableness and suitable- 
 ness of Christ; to imbibe all the sentiment of 
 Christianity ; to talk in the phraseology of the 
 day ; to feel a certain kind of pleasure in exer- 
 cises that savour of the religious ; to hear ser- 
 mons about Christ and Christianity, so that they 
 are pleasantly preached, and yet be only like a 
 poor man surveying a princely domain, and 
 
Christ our Beloved. 229 
 
 imagining and telling others how suitable it is 
 for him, and how desirable, in his estimation. 
 
 It is equally possible to have the deed of gift 
 — the Bible — with God's own seal and signature 
 upon it — making over to you Christ, and every 
 rich blessing in him, and yet fail to find in it 
 such a title as shall draw after it a sure and 
 lasting possession of Christ. It is greatly to be 
 feared that numbers, who profess to read the 
 Bible with seriousness of intention, do not re- 
 gard it as God's own deed, — solemnly making 
 over to them, as a free gift, Christ, and the un- 
 searchable riches of Christ. They read it rather 
 as a record of probabilities than of a fact ; ra- 
 ther as affording an intimation of what they may 
 experience, if all turns out well, than of what — 
 on God's veracity— they must experience if they 
 will only believe, and take him at his word; 
 that is, if they will but read it as they would 
 read a deed of gift, signed and sealed by an 
 earthly benefactor. No man mistakes the mean- 
 ing of such a deed or gift ; — why then should we 
 mistake the Bible— God's deed of gift? The 
 
230 Christ our Beloved. 
 
 substance of God's deed of gift is, that God hath 
 given — hath given (not will or may, under 
 some certain or uncertain, possible or probable 
 circumstances give — but) hath given to us eter- 
 nal life — and this life is in his Son. This is the 
 Gospel ; the only fact — the only donation that 
 can be good news to men " dead in trespasses 
 and sins." It has in it the pith and the sinew 
 and the power of salvation. It is life given in 
 Christ to the spiritually dead — because they are 
 dead. 
 
 To be "dead in trespasses and sins/' then, 
 and to be aware of it, is to be in a condition 
 both to need and to receive the deed of gift and 
 its gracious announcement — not as a problem 
 and a difficulty — but as evidencing the gratui- 
 tousness of God's love in Christ, to the guilty 
 and the lost. If you were not by nature, and in 
 fact, dead in trespasses and sins, the Bible could 
 be no deed of gift making over eternal life to you. 
 You would not need what is there set forth, as 
 having been freely given to you in Christ. Then 
 let not any one assert, with his Bible open before 
 
Christ our Beloved. 231 
 
 him, that he is not -at this moment entitled to 
 appropriate to himself Christ, and eternal life 
 in him, as a snre possession. And let not any 
 one dare to dishonour God's word by assuming 
 that the title to appropriate Christ depends 
 upon some previous change in his own character 
 or condition, when God declares, in his deed of 
 gift, that he "hath given." I am thoroughly 
 persuaded, on the experience of years of inter- 
 course with individual minds, that great numbers 
 whose faith fails to take possession of Christ, as 
 God's gift of life, are restrained — not by an un- 
 willingness to believe, but by a want of spiritual 
 clearness in their perception of what they are to 
 believe. They believe (what in fact is the truth 
 of God, and necessary to be believed) — the incar- 
 nation, life, death, resurrection, and ascension 
 of the Lord Jesus Christ; and that he is the 
 one, the only mediator between God and man : 
 but they do not go on to believe as the result 
 of all this — that to them God hath actually 
 made over eternal life, as a free gift in Christ 
 Jesus. They think it probable he may; and 
 
232 Christ our Beloved. 
 
 they hope he will : but they do not perceive 
 that he has already done it, and that the gift 
 just awaits their simple acceptance — as a man, 
 with a deed of gift in his hands, accepts pos- 
 session of the estate to which a title is created 
 by the deed of conveyance. And while this 
 state of mind lasts, men may believe much that 
 is perfectly true about Christ, but yet not be- 
 lieve so as to have possession of him, and the 
 eternal life that is freely given to us in him ; 
 and they will do well to remember it is written, 
 " He that hath the Son, hath life ; and he that 
 hath not the Son of God, hath not life ;" and we 
 may add, they never will have it, until they tho- 
 roughly believe that God has actually made it 
 over to them as a gift, and that it just awaits their 
 acceptance. The acceptance therefore of Christ, 
 and of eternal life in him, on the simple veracity 
 of God's deed of gift, — the Bible, is the only 
 commencement of the Christian state. Any- 
 thing short of which, that is called Christian 
 life, is an unscriptural delusion; just as we 
 should say that the taking possession of the 
 
Christ our Beloved. 233 
 
 estate on the authority of the deed of gift, 
 signed by an earthly benefactor, is the only 
 commencement of a poor man's state of enrich- 
 ment; and that anything short of snch an 
 enrichment is but a delusive disguise of his 
 poverty. 
 
 Now, let it be observed, if a poor man, with a 
 deed in his possession, professing to be a deed of 
 gift, were, on perusing it, to find a clause stating 
 that the benefactor proposed not exactly to give, 
 but rather, to make over the estate to him on the 
 payment down of some price, however inade- 
 quate, however disproportioned to the actual 
 value, he would believe according to the inten- 
 tion of that clause. He would say, here is a 
 conditional title ; and my possession is dependant 
 on my fulfilling the condition. But, I am 
 pennyless. I cannot fulfil such a condition. I 
 must not, then, attempt to appropriate the 
 estate to myself. Now, many read God's deed 
 of gift, as if his free donation of Christ Jesus 
 and eternal life in him, were clogged by some 
 such condition. They deem it presumption to 
 
234 Christ our Beloved. 
 
 believe that the gift is free, though God abso- 
 lutely declares it to be so; and though not a 
 single clause of condition is to be found in the 
 deed. And because they do not believe, they 
 fail to appropriate what can be possessed only by 
 faith in the veracity of the deed of gift. 
 
 Now, whether we believe, or do not believe 
 the fact, that God hath given to us eternal life, 
 and that that life is in his Son, it makes no 
 difference in regard to the fact itself. God 
 does not give, because we believe, and as soon as 
 we have believed. But he has given ; and just 
 bids us believe the fact, in order to come into 
 possession of its benefits. As the possession of 
 what God has freely given us in Christ, is salva- 
 tion, so the want of taking possession of what is 
 given, is eternal perdition. As the possession 
 of Christ is life ; so the failure to possess Christ 
 is death. The death in trespasses and sins, is 
 perpetuated on the unbeliever, because he will 
 not possess liimself of the life that is given to 
 him. So our Lord said to the Jews, " Ye will 
 not come unto me, that ye might have life;" 
 
Christ our Beloved. 235 
 
 implying that had they been disposed to accept 
 the gift of life, by accepting Mm, there it was for 
 their acceptance; and in accepting it, they 
 would have lived by the faith of Him who loved 
 them and gave himself for them. 
 
 If, then, we can truly say, " My beloved is 
 mine," then we can also say — Life is mine, salva- 
 tion is mine, heaven is mine — glory is mine. 
 But we can truly say this, only where we have 
 taken God at his word, in the exercise of simple 
 faith on his veracity, and sincerity of intention. 
 
 If, then, in the foregoing subjects, I have 
 succeeded in my attempts to show you Christ as 
 our peace, our hope, our life, our way of access 
 to the Father, our truth, our wisdom, our 
 righteousness, our sanctification, our redemp- 
 tion, our brother, and our ransom — then, re- 
 member he is ours, and became ours, and now 
 is all these things to us, and in us, according to 
 the purpose of God, by virtue of our acceptance 
 of him by faith through his Spirit, as God's 
 precious gift. The acceptance of Christ, is the 
 appropriation of all that is in him for us. If, 
 
236 Christ our Beloved, 
 
 then, the Beloved is not our Beloved ; if we be 
 not, by grace through faith, united to him, what- 
 ever we may think, or hope, or desire, we have 
 no peace, no real hope, no life, no way of ac- 
 cess to the Father; no truth, no wisdom, no 
 righteousness, no sanctification, no redemption, 
 no brother — no ransom. Awful destitution; 
 and yet, the destitution of multitudes ! 
 
 What shall we say to these things? Shall 
 we put them aside as discouraging? Nay — 
 they are most encouraging. Shall we say they 
 are disquieting? It is well they should be so, 
 if you are slumbering in the shadow, instead of 
 embracing the substance, of God's revelation of 
 himself in Christ. If they have power, by the 
 blessed Spirit's application of them, to shake 
 you out of a mere profession, into the glorious 
 reality of the Gospel state, it is well they should 
 be, not only disquieting, but disturbing. Time 
 is passing on — eternity is at hand. The judg- 
 ment will soon be set, and the books opened : 
 therefore let us not trifle — God forbid it. Then 
 thus let us meditate : — 
 
Christ cur Beloved. 237 
 
 Oh my soul ! it is true — it is the truth of the 
 everlasting God, that he hath given Christ for 
 thee, in order that he might give Christ to thee, 
 and all the fulness of eternal life, in him. He 
 gave him unto death, so that by dying he might 
 abolish death, and bring life and immortality to 
 light, by his Gospel. The risen Saviour, filled 
 with the resurrection-life and its power, is made 
 over to thee, and now knocks at thine heart, 
 craving acceptance and admittance. 
 
 Oh ! hear the voice of him that raiseth the 
 dead. Thou art, by nature, under the power of 
 a spiritual death, and unless raised to a state of 
 spiritual life, through faith in him who is revealed 
 to thee as " the resurrection and the life," the 
 power of that death must bear thee downwards. 
 Thou art obeying the law of death, so long as 
 thou delayest to accept the free gift of eternal 
 life, which is in Christ, and winch is Christ. 
 Oh my soul ! if thou couldst deserve the gift, 
 thou wouldst, by deserving, be the purchaser of 
 the gift. But thou hast deserved only death, 
 and by thy sin hast "earned or purchased death ; 
 
238 Christ our Beloved. 
 
 " for the wages of sin is death ; " while " the gift 
 of God is eternal life, through Jesus Christ, our 
 Lord." 
 
 Oh how tender are the mercies of thy God 
 towards thee, in averting the terrors of the 
 death which thou hast earned ; and in bestowing 
 on thee, as a free gift in Christ, the life which 
 thou never couldst have procured for thyself. 
 Why shouldst thou be destitute of life, when it 
 is so freely given ? Why shouldst thou fail of 
 possession, when thou hast the deed of gift in 
 thine hand — to read daily, with a prayerful and 
 understanding heart ? Why shouldst thou doubt 
 God, when thou wouldst at once act faith on the 
 deed of gift of an earthly benefactor — making 
 over to thee a title to a few acres of a possession 
 on this perishable and perishing earth ? If thou 
 art yet unsaved ; if Christ is not thy beloved, is 
 it not a monstrous incongruity, when infinite 
 love has poured out salvation at thy very feet, 
 and opened up the fountains of life whose 
 streams flow to thee and around thee ? Were 
 it not as incongruous as for a poor man to starve 
 
Christ our Beloved. 239 
 
 in hopeless indigence, with a deed of gift in his 
 possession, making over to him a title to an 
 abundant inheritance ? 
 
 Christ is made over to thee, and awaits thy 
 acceptance in the sacrament of his death, as well 
 as in the record of eternal life. If thy faith 
 hath faltered before, let it go forth firmly now. 
 Approach him in the sacred mystery of his 
 table. If false reasoning has ever blinded thee 
 against revelation, pray now for the Holy Spirit's 
 enlightenment. Avert thine eyes from death, 
 and look steadily to the life set forth for thee in 
 Christ. Take God at his word, as thou wouldst 
 have thine own word taken by another; and 
 surely the Spirit in thine heart shall enable thee 
 to say, " my Beloved is mine." 
 
P R A Y E R. 
 
 Oh blessed Lord Jesus, who gavest thyself 
 for me, a poor lost sinner, — that I might live 
 through thee, and stand accepted in thy right- 
 eousness, in the presence of thy Father and my 
 Father, who is in heaven ; I look up to thee as 
 the " chiefest among ten thousand," and " alto- 
 gether lovely." My Yaith hath rested on thee ; 
 and thou art my beloved. Oh, wondrous con- 
 descension ! — that thou shouldest consent to be 
 mine, and that the Father should accept me in 
 thee — his own beloved, as well as mine ! Hence- 
 forth I would live to thee; and to that end 
 would have this rebellious flesh crucified daily, 
 and my new man ever bringing forth the fruits 
 of the Spirit. Bestow on me thy Holy Spirit 
 
242 Prayer. 
 
 largely, that it may be so ; and at thy sacred 
 feast, minister to me every grace whereby I may 
 adorn my Christian profession. Keep me from 
 the self-deception of the hypocrite, and the dead- 
 ness of the formalist. Separate me entirely 
 from the tempers, affections, and habits of the 
 nngodly > enable me to bear witness for thee 
 wherever I go, and in what circumstances soever 
 I may be placed. In every relation of life let 
 me show forth the virtues of my beloved, dwell- 
 ing in me by the Spirit. 
 
 Oh gracious God and Father, I would lay 
 aside all dread of thy fierce wrath, while draw- 
 ing near to thee in my beloved — who is thine j 
 for in him, thou art revealed to me as love. I 
 would fear thee with a reverential fear, while 
 humbly and heartily endeavouring to serve and 
 obey in the newness of the Spirit — crying, 
 Abba, Father, at every step I take in the way 
 of daily obedience. Oh Lord, keep me in the 
 right way. Sustain me with thine everlasting 
 arm. Deliver me from all needless fear, by the 
 assurance -that thou art on my side; and in 
 
Prayer. 243 
 
 patience and peace enable me to possess my 
 soul, even unto the end, — when conflict shall be 
 past, and the crown shall be awaiting me. 
 
CHRIST OUR BELOVED. 
 
 (SECTION II.) 
 
Among the lilies doth He feed — 
 The one Beloved, who is mine ; 
 
 He ministers to all my need, 
 
 And tow'rds me gently doth incline ; 
 
 Redeeming Brother ; — oh the bliss ! 
 
 He owns me — loves me — calls me his. 
 
 He is a fountain full and free, 
 
 And living waters from Him flow ; 
 
 And all His freshness flows for me, 
 Poor pilgrim in a world of woe. 
 
 Sustaining Brother ; — oh the bliss ! 
 
 He owns me — loves me — calls me his. 
 
 He is a crown of matchless light, 
 
 And now with jewell'd grandeur glows, 
 
 To glorify me in the sight 
 
 Of all who would my joy oppose ; 
 
 Exalting Brother ; — oh the bliss ! 
 
 He owns me — loves me — calls me his. 
 
 Soon shall I lay this body down, 
 
 And wait His voice to call me home ; 
 
 Ev'n to that latest hour He'll own 
 The ransom'd dust within the tomb ; 
 
 My risen Brother ; — oh the bliss ! 
 
 He'll make me then for ever — his. 
 
CHRIST OUR BELOVED. 
 
 (SECTION II.) 
 
 My beloved is mine, and I am His."— Song of Solomon ii. 
 
 It has been already remarked, that in the 
 Christian state, there is a two-fold appropria- 
 tion j — the trne believer appropriates Christ, so 
 as to be enabled truly to say, " my beloved is 
 mine;" — and, because the believer is in like 
 manner appropriated by Christ, he is enabled 
 with equal truth to say — "and I am his." 
 
 These subjects are of unspeakable importance; 
 because a right apprehension of them serves to 
 invest the Christian state with a character of 
 solidity and permanence. The Christian state 
 is too commonly regarded as the product of 
 sentiments cherished, and of performances ren- 
 dered, according to the power of the sentiments; 
 
248 Christ our Beloved. 
 
 when in truth, it is the product of a positive 
 and very definite relation set up and maintained 
 by grace, between Christ and the believer; out 
 of which springs the time sentiment, the power, 
 and the performance. If this be true — then, how- 
 ever we may approve the sentiments which are 
 peculiar to Christianity, and however inclined 
 we may be towards performance, in the way of 
 outward duty — yet we fail in the power, because 
 there is no Christian state realised, till we can 
 say, " my beloved is mine, and I am his;" — for 
 that declaration, uttered by the heart of a true 
 believer, is the grateful and complacent avowal of 
 a relation, which is cemented for eternity, be- 
 tween the soul's Saviour, and the saved soul ; — 
 and that is the Christian state. All that comes 
 short of it, however excellent in itself, is not 
 Christianity; — but something by which Satan 
 deludes the soul into a false peace, which cannot 
 result in any thing but disappointment and dis- 
 comfiture in the end. If Clnist be the " head 
 over all things to the church, which is his body;" 
 and if he be indeed " the head of the body, the 
 
Christ our Beloved. 249 
 
 church/' then — in those deep expressions, we may 
 perceive the substance of the relation between 
 Christ and every true believer; and understand 
 that the believer is actually a member of Christ's 
 body, and that Christ is the head with which 
 every individual member is vitally connected. 
 So then, when the church affirms — " My be- 
 loved is mine, and I am his/' it is but saying, 
 in other words — Christ is my spiritual and glo- 
 rious head, and I am his living and spiritualised 
 body. 
 
 Now, in order to perceive clearly the nature 
 of Christ's appropriation of all true believers, 
 we must observe, first of all, that they have 
 been the objects of a Divine donation; — they 
 have been made over, and actually given to him 
 by the Father. This our Lord himself expressly 
 declares in John xvii. 6 : " I have manifested thy 
 name unto the men whom thou gavest me out 
 of the world ; thine they were, and thou gavest 
 them me." In the ninth verse also he says — "I 
 pray for them ; I pray not for the world, but for 
 them which thou hast given me; for they are 
 
250 Christ our Beloved. 
 
 thine." Again — in the eleventh verse — "Holy 
 Father, keep through thine own name, those 
 whom thon hast given me, that they may be one, 
 as we are." Also, in the twelfth verse— "those 
 that ihougavest me, I have kept, and none of them 
 is lost but the son of perdition; that the Scrip- 
 ture might be fulfilled." Thus, we perceive, 
 that between the Father and the Son, there has 
 been a positive transaction on behalf of every 
 true believer, from before all time, in order that 
 these might be, on the part of Christ, an appro- 
 priation of all whom the Father had given to 
 him; so that there might be set up between 
 him and them an actual relation — the result of 
 possession obtained. And here we may remark, 
 that there is surely nothing to be found in Scrip- 
 ture that goes more forcibly than this, to con- 
 firm the truth — that every thing, from beginning 
 to end, that concerns a sinner's salvation through 
 Christ and in Christ, is of the free and sovereign 
 grace of God ; — for donation is doubtless an act 
 of grace. It is always so — even when human 
 generosity only is concerned. If God, then, 
 
Christ our Beloved. 251 
 
 gave sinners to Christ, it was, manifestly, in or- 
 der to their salvation ; and, therefore, their sal- 
 vation must necessarily be of grace, — altogether 
 and exclusively of grace. Hence the apostle to 
 the Ephesians declares, u By grace are ye saved 
 through faith ; and that not of yourselves, it is 
 the gift of God; not of works, lest any man 
 should boast." (Ephes. ii. 8.) If, therefore, the 
 true believer is entitled and enabled to say, 
 " My beloved is mine and I am his" — then, the 
 mutual appropriation is the product of Divine 
 grace, according to the most gracious and mer- 
 ciful purpose of God. 
 
 But, because, in order to make an act of 
 donation effectual in its results and consequences, 
 it is necessary that the thing given should be 
 brought into actual possession, by some definite 
 act of appropriation, it behoves us to consider 
 Christ's redemption, (the redemption wrought 
 out on the cross, by him who was delivered for 
 our offences) as the definite act by which he 
 appropriated to himself all true believers, who, 
 by an apt of sovereign grace and goodness, had 
 
252 Christ our Beloved. 
 
 been made over to him by the Father. As 
 between the Father and the Son, the covenant 
 of donation was also the covenant of redemption ; 
 for, till redeemed by Christ, those whom the 
 Father had given, could never have been appro- 
 priated, so as to have been made partakers of 
 life eternal, as members of Christ's mystical 
 body — the church. And that such possession 
 of life eternal, as the result of the divine dona- 
 tion, was the gracious purpose of the Father, is 
 plain from our Lord's own words at the beginning 
 of John xvii. — "These words spake Jesus, and 
 lifted up his eyes to heaven, and said, Father, 
 the hour is come ; glorify thy Son, that thy Son 
 also may glorify thee : as thou hast given him 
 power over all flesh, that he should give eternal 
 life to as many as thou hast given him." 
 
 The redemption effected by Christ reached 
 to two particulars : First, it was redemption 
 from the condemnation and bondage of the law, 
 to which those given to him by the Father were 
 subject. Thus St. Paul to the Galatians (ch. iv. 
 4, 5,) says, " When the fulness of the time was 
 
Christ our Beloved. 253 
 
 come, God sent forth his Son, made of a woman, 
 made under the law, to redeem them that were 
 under the law, that we might receive the adop- 
 tion of sons." And again, (ch. iii. 13,) " Christ 
 hath redeemed us from the curse of the law, 
 being made a curse for us." In the epistle to 
 the Hebrews, (ch. ix. 15), St. Paul teaches, 
 " For this cause, he is the mediator of the new 
 testament, that by means of death, for the 
 redemption of the transgressions that were under 
 the first testament, they which are called might 
 receive the promise of eternal inheritance." And 
 again, in ver. 11 and 12, "Christ being come 
 an high priest of good things to come, by a 
 greater and more perfect tabernacle, not made 
 with hands, that is to say, not of this building ; 
 neither by the blood of goats and calves, but by 
 his own blood, he entered in once into the 
 holy place, having obtained eternal redemption 
 for us." 
 
 But Christ's redemption also reached to the 
 bondage of human iniquity, and therefore to 
 that of the carnal mind and its enmity against 
 
254 Christ our Beloved. 
 
 God. Thus St. Paul to Titus (ch.ii. 14) declares, 
 1 ' that Christ gave himself for us, that he might 
 redeem us from all iniquity; aud purify unto him- 
 self a peculiar people, zealous of good works." 
 
 Though freely given to Christ by God the 
 Father, it is plainly taught in Scripture, that we, 
 as sinful creatures, could not be possessed by 
 Christ, as a "peculiar " people, so long as we 
 continued subject to the condemnation and 
 bondage of the law, or subject to the bondage 
 of sin, ruling us, and ruling in us as a tyrant. 
 The possession of us by Christ, so as to be worth 
 anything, must be a sole, an undivided pos- 
 session; a freedom from every other service, 
 and from every other relation. This could be 
 only by virtue of Christ's own redemption- act ; 
 to call forth which, the prior donation on the 
 part of God the Father, was made. 
 
 The donation by God the Father, and the 
 redemption by God the Son, invested the Son 
 with a right and title to possess all those who 
 were given ; — but the right and title to possess, 
 did not amount to an actual possession. The 
 
Christ our Beloved. 255 
 
 right and title were sure and infallible in them- 
 selves; — but they availed nothing till actually 
 put in force, by a gracious drawing on the part 
 of Christ, by his Spirit, and by a personal sur- 
 render on the part of believers. Thus our Lord, 
 (in John xii. 32, 33), said— "And I, if I be lifted 
 up from the earth, will draw all men unto me;" 
 — that is, all who had been given. And the 
 Evangelist adds, " This he said, signifying what 
 death he should die ;" plainly implying that there 
 should be an attractive energy in the death of 
 Christ, as the redeeming-act which should effec- 
 tually put in force the right and title acquired 
 by donation and redemption. 
 
 In like manner, we find our Lord (in John 
 vi. 37, &c.) clearly teaching how that attractive 
 energy should bring about an actual surrender 
 — a full, personal unqualified surrender, on the 
 part of every one included in the Father's act 
 of donation. He says, "All that the Father 
 giveth me shall come .to me; and him that 
 cometh to me, I will in no wise cast out. For 
 I came down from heaven, not to do mine own 
 
256 Christ our Beloved. 
 
 will, but the will of him that sent me. And 
 this is the Father's will which hath sent me, that 
 of all which he hath given me, I should lose 
 nothing, but should raise it up again at the last 
 day. And this is the will of him that sent me, 
 that every one which seeth the Son and believeth 
 on him may have everlasting life ; and I will 
 raise him up at the last day." 
 
 An obedience, then, to the attractive energy of 
 Christ's death (the effect of faith through the 
 Spirit, in the heart of the sinner) is the personal 
 surrender, which completes Christ's actual 
 possession of all whom the Father hath given to 
 him; — which possession is maintained through- 
 out the whole course of the believer's life on 
 earth ; and, after death, it reaches into the 
 grave's darkest depths, where its full force is to 
 be asserted in the believer's resurrection, and in 
 his investiture with everlasting life, which, in 
 him, by virtue of his union with Christ, shall be 
 both a possession and a power ; and thus, the 
 redemption by Christ, from the condemnation 
 and bondage of the law, and from the bondage 
 
Christ our Beloved. 257 
 
 of iniquity, shall result in final and eternal 
 emancipation from the thraldom and domination 
 of death — that sad concentration of all the con- 
 sequences of transgression. 
 
 You perceive, then, how much depends on the 
 surrender on the part of a sinner — that surrender 
 which is the soul's act of obedience to the 
 attractive energy of Christ's death. The dona- 
 tion of the Father, as an act of sovereign grace, 
 is complete. The redemption by the Son is 
 equally complete, in fulfilment of the covenant 
 between the Father and the Son; but until you 
 have made that personal surrender, Christ's 
 redemption avails you nothing — the Father's 
 donation avails you nothing; — you cannot say, 
 u my beloved is mine, and I am his ; " and if you 
 cannot truly say that, you are still alienated from 
 God, and have not the life of God in your soul. 
 You may have knowledge, sentiments, desires, 
 and hopes; but — they are all in vain; — you 
 have not yet passed from death unto life. 
 
 This subject cannot be pressed with too much 
 urgency ; for multitudes will go all lengths in the 
 
258 Christ our Beloved. 
 
 way of profession, except to the extent of an 
 actual surrender to Christ. Like Herod, while 
 giving heed to John the Baptist — they will "do 
 many things;" but they will not do this. Some 
 do not clearly perceive that it is the first — the 
 decisive step in the way of salvation. Their 
 minds are filled with a misty theology — a web 
 spun by the imagination, or the reasonings of 
 the natural mind. They imagine that the 
 personal surrender to Christ is to come after 
 other things (such creature-amendment, and 
 creature-service) have been accomplished. They 
 do not understand that as sinners, and without 
 a single inward or outward virtue to recommend 
 them, they are to come to Christ in the fulness 
 and reality of a personal surrender, as soon as 
 they have knowledge of the gospel of his incar- 
 nation and the gospel of his death and resurrec- 
 tion — intended, with attractive force, to draw 
 them unto him. Nor do they perceive, that the 
 power of religion in the soul commences only with 
 this surrender to Christ. They do not perceive 
 that out of Ohristj and apart from him, they can 
 
Christ our Beloved. 259 
 
 do nothing, and are like dry and soar branches — 
 in which there is no sap, no vital energy. They 
 talk about Christ, and read about Christ, and think 
 about Christ ; but still resort to every expedient, 
 rather then yield themselves up to him. Much 
 that is called Christianity is a mere paganism, 
 having the sound of Christ's name blended with a 
 thousand other sounds, with which Christ and 
 his finished work have nothing whatever to do. 
 They might as well talk, and read, and think 
 about Jupiter, or any other deity of an outworn 
 mythology — as thus talk, and read, and think 
 of Christ — (God manifest in flesh for the pur- 
 pose of redemption,) and all the while keep at 
 an immeasurable distance from him, — and hold 
 off from that union with him by faith through 
 the Spirit, which alone can entitle and enable 
 them to say, " My beloved is mine, and I am 
 his." 
 
 But once this personal surrender is made, the 
 mutual appropriation, which is the essence of 
 the Christian state, is complete ; and then it is, 
 that in the language of St. Paul to the Colos- 
 
260 Christ our Beloved. 
 
 sians, we can say to true believers — "ye are com- 
 plete in him, which is the head of all principality 
 and power." (Colos. ii. 10) Then it is, that the 
 Christian life begins to expand, by the power of 
 the Holy Ghost, indwelling ; then it is, that the 
 living member of Christ's body, as a fruitful 
 branch of the true vine, begins to yield those fruits 
 of the Spirit, whose essential quality is "holiness 
 to the Lord;" and then the substantial and abiding 
 happiness of the Christian state has its true com- 
 mencement. Then, thus let us meditate : — 
 
 Oh my soul ! reflect with adoring gratitude 
 on those riches of free and sovereign grace, so 
 manifested in the person and office of the Lord 
 Jesus Christ, thy Redeemer — the one mediator 
 between God and man. Though sunk in rebel- 
 lion and sin, God has not forsaken thee. While 
 helpless, and without remedy in thyself, God has 
 laid help for thee on one who is mighty; and 
 brought out for thee, as a remedy, the precious 
 blood of atonement and redemption. God hath 
 come down to succour thee, in the person, and in 
 the work of his own dear Son. The revelation 
 
Christ our Beloved. 261 
 
 of his compassion and love to thee, is complete, 
 in Christ Jesus. Thy God is no mysterious and 
 terrible avenger. He hath reconciled thee to 
 himself, by the blood of the cross ; and amply 
 provided that thou mightest, in Christ, triumph 
 over sin and death, and embrace the power of an 
 endless life. Hast thou been given to the Son for 
 the purpose of redemption ? Doth the stirring 
 of grace within thee give proof of it? Hath not 
 the redemption been effected for thee ? Did not 
 the law's fetters, and the law's curse, and the 
 law's sentence unto death, — did not iniquity's 
 bondage fall powerless at the foot of thy Re- 
 deemer's cross ? Did not his lip — his parched 
 lip, quivering with death-throes, declare — "It 
 is finished" — that the purposes of the Father's 
 grace and love towards the guilty and the 
 lost, at that dread moment had their fulfilment ? 
 Did not the dying Redeemer assert his right 
 and title to thee ? Was he not then lifted up, 
 that he might draw thee unto him ? And wilt 
 thou — oh faithless ! — wilt thou hold back ? Wilt 
 thou make no surrender to him who, having 
 
262 Christ our Beloved. 
 
 purchased thee with his blood, now offers to 
 thee life, peace, joy, blessing, (the result of 
 so wondrous an achievement) freely, lovingly, 
 without money and without price ? "Wilt thou 
 not take him at his word — his own gracious 
 — faithful word? Wilt thou be content to say, 
 " He is not my beloved, and I am none of his" ? 
 Oh my soul, though millions of immortal ones be 
 so content, yet be not thou ! Should anything con- 
 tent thee, — out of Christ and away from Christ ? 
 If thou canst truly say, " my beloved is mine, 
 and I am his," how serenely wilt thou look on 
 life — on death — on judgment, and on eternity. 
 How thou wilt live by the faith of him who 
 loved thee and gave himself for thee ! How 
 thou wilt seek to glorify him by obeying, in 
 holiness, the motions of his blessed Spirit within 
 thee. If he is thine and thou art his, how then 
 wilt thou adore, and love and rejoice at his 
 sacramental table; but if not, thou wilt turn 
 thy back on that sacred feast ; and give in thy 
 sad testimony, that, as yet, Christ's precious 
 death has brought in no life to thee ! 
 
PRAYER, 
 
 My adorable Redeemer, I desire to be entirely 
 thine ! Thou hast fulfilled the covenant, for the 
 purpose of making me so. Thou hast been 
 lifted up, that thou mightest draw me unto thee. 
 On thy sacramental table are the memorials of 
 that stupendous act of redemption, which has 
 satisfied justice, overpowered death, and van- 
 quished sin ; and which, if believed in with a 
 simple, confiding faith, has equal power to tran- 
 quillize my conscience, and to fill me with peace 
 and joy. Oh ! draw me by the power of the Holy 
 Ghost ; and constrain me, once and for ever, to 
 surrender myself to thee ; that so, knowing my- 
 self to be thine for time and for eternity, I may 
 approach thy sacred feast, and there bind myself 
 to thee. Oh ! thou compassionate Saviour, call 
 me thine own; write thine own new name upon 
 
264 Prayer. 
 
 me; and let me never dishonour that sacred 
 name by suffering sin to reign in this mortal 
 body, that I should obey it in the lusts thereof; 
 but let me yield myself unto God, as one who 
 is alive from the dead, and my members as 
 instruments of righteousness unto God; for if 
 thou art indeed my beloved, and I am thine, 
 then I may trust thy word, which declares, " Sin 
 shall not have dominion over you; for ye are 
 not under the law, but under grace." 
 
 Oh! my God — hast thou given me over to thy 
 dear Son ? Blessed be thy name ! Perfect in 
 me, I pray thee, the work of thine own free 
 grace; and enable me to go up to the true 
 dignity of a child of God — an heir of God — a 
 joint-heir with Christ, my beloved. Hold me 
 with thy right hand. Guide me by thy counsel; 
 fill me with thy Holy Spirit ; strengthen me for 
 all trial; nerve me for every duty; brace me 
 for the resistance of evil; and, in the coming 
 day of the glory of thine own dear Son, let me 
 be found of thee in him — at peace, without spot, 
 and blameless. 
 
COMMUNION-SABBATH. 
 
 The Cherubim around the Throne 
 
 Are singing ! 
 Wake up, and let the drowsy zone 
 
 Of sleep be all unbound, 
 
 And thy free heart be found 
 Sharing the deep, melodious tone 
 
 With which all heav'n is ringing. 
 
 The Angels round the Lamb once slain 
 
 Are thronging ! 
 Oh, thou redeem'd one, on whose stain 
 
 The Lamb's blood rests with pow'r. 
 
 This is thy joyous hour ; 
 Cast in thy lot with them, and gain 
 
 Thy place, with holy longing. 
 
 The spirits of the just are there — 
 
 All praising ! 
 Brace up thy soul, and freely bear 
 
 Thy fond, adoring part, 
 
 And let thy happy heart 
 Bound with the thought — that ev'rywhere 
 
 Love's anthem is upraising. 
 
 So shall thy earthly Sabbaths be 
 
 All brightness ; 
 And thou — in sweetest harmony 
 
 With holy ones above, 
 
 In exercise of love, 
 Shalt walk the way thy Saviour won for thee- 
 
 In robes of snowy whiteness. 
 
BY THE SAME AUTHOR. 
 
 A PASTOR'S MEMORIAL OF THE HOLY 
 
 LAND, &c. 
 
 Post Svo.. 7s 6d.; Fifth Edition. 
 
 A SEVEN-FOLD ASPECT OF POPERY. 
 
 Foolscap 8vo., 4s. Nisbet & Co. 
 
 A VOLUME OF SERMONS 
 
 PREACHED AT ST. BOTOLPH's, CAMBRIDGE. 
 
 8vo., 10s. 6d. Seeleys. 
 
 AN ORPHAN TALE, TOLD IN RHYME. 
 
 Published in aid of the Funds for enlarging the School of Industry 
 for Female Orphans. St. John's Wood. 
 
 4s. Silk ; 2s. 6d. Fancy Boards. Sampson Low & Son. 
 
 By the Rev. R. W. Clarke, Boston, U.S.A., 
 
 HEAVEN, 
 
 WITH ITS SCRIPTURAL EMBLEMS: 
 
 A RELIGIOUS GIFT HOOK. 
 Splendidly illustrated and elegantly bound, 8vo., 16s. 
 
 By Samuel Hanson Cox, D.D., 
 
 Pastor of the First Presbyterian Church, Brooklyn, U.S.A., 
 
 INTERVIEWS MEMORABLE AND USEFUL. 
 
 From Diary and Memory reproduced. 
 
 Including much that is original and characteristic of 
 
 Dr. Chalmers. 
 
 In 8vo., Cloth, 9s. 
 
 By the Rev. J. L. Bernays, A.M., 
 
 Late Fellow of St. John's College, Oxford, 
 
 THE CHURCH IN THE SCHOOL-ROOM: 
 
 SERMONS SUITABLE FOR BOYS. 
 Foolscap 8vo., 5s. 
 
 London : Sampson Low & Son, 47, Ludgate Hill. 
 
Ey the Rev. Charles Dent Bell, M.A., 
 Curate of St. Mary's, Hastings, 
 
 FAITH IN EARNEST : 
 
 Exemplified in the characters of Abel, Enoch, Noah, and 
 
 Abraham. 
 
 18mo., Cloth, Is. 6d. 
 
 Also published in separate Tracts for distribution, 2s. per 
 
 dozen, soi'ted. Known as the Hastings Tracts. 
 
 By W. P. Strickland, 
 
 HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN BIBLE 
 
 SOCIETY, 
 
 FROM ITS ORGANIZATION TO THE PRESENT TIME. 
 
 One Vol., Svo., 10s. 6d. Cloth. 
 
 By the Rev. H. W. Pierson, M.A., 
 THE AMERICAN MISSIONARY MEMORIAL, 
 
 Including Biographical and Historical Sketches. 
 "With numerous Illustrations. Demy 8vo., Cloth, 12s. 
 
 By Dr. Lee, Bishop of Delaware, 
 THE LIFE OF THE APOSTLE PETER, 
 
 IN A SERIES OF PRACTICAL DISCOURSES. 
 
 Foolscap, Cloth. «>s. 6d. 
 
 BY THK 
 
 Revs. H. M. Villiers, Edward Garbstt, Robert Bickersteth, 
 Thomas Nolan, Samuel Garratt, and John IVTacGregor, Esq. 
 
 MOTIVES FOR MISSIONS: 
 
 A SERIES OF SIX LECTURES, DELIVERED TO YOUNG MEN. 
 
 With a Preface by the Rev. Thomas Nolan. 
 
 In One Vol., 12mo., Cloth, 3s. 
 
 Also, the Lectures as separate Tracts, adapted for distribution 
 
 for the encouragement of Church Missions at Home 
 
 and Abroad. 
 
 London : Sampson Low & Son, 47, Ludgate Hill. 
 
o 
 
! £ 
 
 IB 
 
 I