صور الصفحة
PDF
النشر الإلكتروني

words which every Christian minister has preached upon, and which I now use with the hope of inspiring you with the same prospect. "Oh, that my words were now written—Oh, that they were printed in a book-that they were graven with an iron pen and lead in the rock for ever: for I know that my Redeemer liveth."

His pious wish was accomplished-his words were written in a book—aye, in ten thousand thousand books now circulated all over the world—that men may know their Redeemer liveth and hope to see Him at the resurrection. We cannot help admiring and adoring that infinite wisdom which sustains a sinking soul against all the evils of this life with the hope of justice and mercy in the Redeemer :

"When my friends and kindred forsake me, the Lord taketh me up. I will not fear what man can do unto me, for the Lord sustaineth me. Whom have I in heaven, O Lord, but thee; and whom have I on earth but thee.

Even when my father Lord is my friend." If

and mother forsake me, the Job could feel this and be animated with the prospect of a joyful resurrection fifteen hundred years before Christ came, how ought we to be persuaded that He liveth when we know that He has been to this earth, died upon the cross, rose from the dead, and ascended into heaven, and has promised to come again and receive us unto Himself! Oh, that these subjects, these thoughts, these doctrines, animated us more frequently than they do! Oh, that they filled us with such hope that we might never despair; for we have far more abundant proofs-far greater means of knowing that our Redeemer liveth! The whole Gospel of God is before us all, and all

that is necessary for us to know is within our reach. We may read of Him "who spake as man never spake," follow Him in His ministry, hear His doctrine, behold His miracles, pursue His steps, and see the rage of all men against Him! Job was a type of Christ-all men forsook him and fled: but he had consolation in the sufferings of Christ for him; whilst our Saviour, left alone of all men, had the consciousness that He was about to suffer for all. But do we know that our Redeemer liveth? Are you all persuaded of this and do you all feel that He alone is your life? It is this that ought to sustain your existence and your dying hour. "I know that my Redeemer liveth." Consider what a thing this is to know. Men may attain a knowledge of the most abstruse sciences. We live in the age of a discovery even of a new planet, whose very position was calculated before it was itself discovered: we live in an age of such wonderful mechanical powers that the human mind seems to expand in great works. But all these things may be known without the knowledge of Christ—He is only to be discovered spiritually. Man may, with his carnal eye, read the whole of the Bible-he may, by force of memory, tell you what has been done in every age from the foundation of the world as recorded in those Scriptures; and yet he may not be able to feel and say with Job, "I know that my Redeemer liveth." To know this in the sense in which this wise patriarch knew Him is to feel within you that He is your friend-your only cherished hope your future prospect: to feel that you can rely upon Him though all the world may forsake you to love Him in your heart as your Re

deemer that is, as one who has redeemed you from the penalty of death, the wrath of God, and from being an outcast, a prisoner to the devil, and, but for Him, doomed to destruction-Oh, that we can, that we may, always say in such sense, "I know that my Redeemer liveth." This will be found the most permanent knowledge-the one thing needful for us in this life for the attainment of the life to come. But we must know Him as our hope of a resurrection to life eternal: it is not enough to know that there shall be a general resurrection in the last day; but we must know that Jesus is the resurrection and the life. Martha said to Jesus, who told her that her brother Lazarus should rise again, "I know that he shall rise again in the resurrection at the last day : (but) Jesus said unto her, I am the resurrection and the life: he that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live; and whosoever liveth and believeth in me shall never die believest thou this?" This is the doctrine of life, that Jesus Christ, even though we were dead, will not permit us to be lost; but will not only raise us up from the grave, but provide for us that we shall never die eternally. He will justify us before God and take us unto His everlasting kingdom. Well may I ask if such is the character of your you faith? We are told that we shall see Christ descend from heaven even as He went up-that every eye shall behold Him-that He shall stand upon the earth; and, though after our skin worms destroy this body, yet hereafter we shall see Him in our flesh, as Job declares, "Whom I shall see for myself and mine eyes shall behold, and not another, though my reins be consumed within me." Wonderful as it may

seem to us that we shall each see Christ for ourselves with our own eyes-yes, with the self-same eyes which we may call our own, and the very same body, though our reins be consumed within usyet so it is to be-so must it be-so is it declared, not only three thousand years ago, but in the very latter times of the Gospel. We know that the seed sown in the earth springs up into a green plant-it is produced from the very identical body—and that, unless it were planted in the earth, it could not assume that new green body and bring forth fruit. So our body is sown in the earth a natural body, and raised a spiritual body. There is a natural body and there is a spiritual body: and so it is written, "The first man Adam was made a living soul: the last Adam was made a quickening Spirit. Howbeit, that was not made first which is spiritual, but that which is natural, and afterwards 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: and as we have borne the image of the earthy, we shall also bear the image of the heavenly. Now this I say, brethren, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God, neither doth corruption inherit incorruption" (1 Cor. xv.)

This is the doctrine of the resurrection, with which I pray God our minds may be fortified for a sublimer or more heavenly subject cannot come under human contemplation. Only see that no man deceive you in this matter, or persuade you that you shall not give account to Him who is ready to judge the quick and the dead. I am well assured

that as sinners we must one and all tremble at the thought of that awful day when the secrets of all hearts shall be opened. Pray God earnestly and sincerely that we may then have no secrets to be disclosed- -no sins which have been hidden in the depths of our souls and thought lightly of as if they would never be heard anything more of-never be noticed in judgment. By every concealed sin, I do not mean concealed from me, my neighbour, the priest, deacon, or bishop; but confess your sins to God every one of you: conceal them not by saying, "Tush, God does not see them." Oh, let not such foolishness destroy your comfort! Every sin concealed and unrepented of will torment you at the last, and rise up in judgment with you when you behold your God. But sins truly repented of whilst yet your day of grace is not past—whilst yet the hour of repentance is your own-while with an honest and true heart you bring it before the Lord and ask forgiveness for His dear Son's sake-is blotted out, is forgiven, and the blood of Christ cleanseth you from all sin. This is the doctrine I would sound in every ear, and, if I could therewith, I would prepare both you and myself for judgment. If you have wronged one another confess your faults one to another-pray for one another: but, if a man sin against the Lord, who shall entreat for him? Jesus Christ only! Know, therefore, that your Redeemer liveth, and that you shall see Him coming in the clouds of heaven : though after your skin worms destroy your body, yet in your flesh shall you see God, whom you shall see and whom your eyes shall behold, and not another, though your reins be consumed within you. It is said that I do not sufficiently hold forth the terrors

« السابقةمتابعة »