they heirs with Christ. Christ is God's heir by nature, as he is the Son of God by nature; whatever is God's is his, and they are heirs with Christ. They are members of him, and shall be heirs with him, 1 Cor. iii. ult. All is yours, and ye are Christ's, Eph. i. 11. In him we have obtained an inheritance; we are the heirs in his right. O blessed Jesus! How endearing are our obligations to thee! All that we have is from thee, by thee, and in thee! We are chosen in thee, justified by thee, sanctified through thee, and shall be glorified with thee.'* How glorious! A joint heir with the great Redeemer! A part of his inheritance, and yet an heir with him!† How mysterious, and yet how plain is the great plan of redemption! 'He that spared not his own Son, but delivered him up for us all, how shall he not with him also freely give us all things?' As we proceed in our labor, glory on glory beams upon the soul. A writer remarks, that 'this heirship is the most extraordinary of all: it is not an heirship of any tangible possession, either in heaven or earth; it is not to possess a part, or even the whole, of either it is to possess Him who made all things-not God's works, but God himself: heirs of GOD through Christ.' How happy is the lot of the believer! He may not only claim God as his Father, but he may even call himself his heir. He may look to Jesus and claim heirship even with him! What vast, what boundless * Expository Notes upon the New Testament. By WILLIAM BURKITT, M. A. New Haven, 1794. † All having our share in this glorious inheritance, though Jesus, as the eldest brother, hath a double portion.-WHITBY. Rom. viii. 32. possessions lie before him. The 'heir of all things' has gone home. home. He has entered upon the enjoyment of the blessings that flow from his Father's throne. We are his inheritance, and must follow. And we may even now by faith enter upon our great possessions. Finally, we shall be with him, and he with us, for God has promised us the 'inheritance which is incorruptible, undefiled, and that fadeth not away, reserved in heaven for us.' + XXXVII. HIDING-PLACE. 'And a man shall be as an hiding-place from the from the tempest; as rivers of water in a shadow of a great rock in a weary land.' wind, and a covert dry place; as the Isa. xxxii. 2. THIS phrase presents itself in three other instances, and is applied to the Supreme Being twice, and to signify a place where the wicked had secured themselves. Psa. xxxii. 7. cxix. 114. Isa. xxviii. 17. A more beautiful assemblage of ideas was never presented to the mind. We hardly know where to begin, or where to end; but we shall pursue our regular plan of considering one appellative at once. We need not stop for definitions. We will make a single remark in reference to the application of the word to Jehovah. "Thou art my hiding-place,' says the Psalmist, xxxii. 7. How pleasing to contemplate God in this light. The same idea is expressed in another form: 'God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble. Therefore will not we fear, though the earth be removed, and though the mountains be carried into the midst of the sea.'* In all the trials of life we may go to our Father in heaven, and he will save us, and 'compass us about with songs of deliverance.' David often experienced this in his eventful life. He was delivered from 'the lowest hell.' Often did he express his confidence in * Psa. xlvi. 1, 2. God, and flee to him as to an hiding-place from the storms of trouble. There is the same hiding-place for us all. There is one Being who will never change, who will never forsake us; for, we are told, 'The Lord will not cast us off forever.'* In trouble, we may go to his promises and find security. But we must turn from the Father to the Son, as he is the personage alluded to in the passage under consideration. In what sense then is Jesus an hiding-place? He is an hiding-place for the mourner. See how many came to him in affliction when he was on earth. The leper came to be cleansed, the lame to be made whole, the deaf to hear, the blind to see, the bereaved to be comforted. Never was there so much disease and affliction presented before one individual since the world began. Yet all were cured. Jesus was an hiding-place for every one. He gave out an invitation broad enough to cover every case of affliction on earth. Come unto me, all ye that labor, and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me: for I am meek and lowly in heart; and ye shall find rest unto your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.'t The widow of Nain, the sisters of Lazarus, and Jairus, all found Jesus to be an hiding-place. And even the weary sinner came, laden with guilt and wo, and found security in Jesus, not as one who would approbate his iniquity, but who came with power to cleanse and sanctify. His language was that of peace and comfort. Hear him in a certain case. An adulteress was brought before him by those who seemed eager † Matt. xi. 28-30. *Lam. iii. 31. to condemn her at once. 'Woman,' said he, 'where are those thine accusers? hath no man condemned thee? She said, No man, Lord. And Jesus said unto her, Neither do I condemn thee: go, and sin no more.'* But we need not multiply instances. They lie every where upon the eventful page of the history of the life of Jesus. All may go to him and find rest. There is room enough in this hiding-place for every sinner, and for all the afflicted on earth. Blessed be God for this hiding-place. We will go to it. Are any afflicted? Look to Jesus. Behold him persecuted even unto death. Are any tempted? Fly to Jesus. 'He was tempted in all points as we are, yet without sin.' Are any poor? Look to Jesus. Though possessing all power in heaven and earth,' yet 'he had not where to lay his head.' Are any dying? Go to Jesus, and find an hiding-place. He came to show man how to live and how to die. Indeed, man can be in no situation where he will not find Jesus to be an hiding-place for him. We must look away from ourselves unto him, and we shall find that peace and security which the world cannot bestow nor take away. 'When dread misfortune's tempests rise, Where, unconcerned, we hear the sound, * John viii. 1-11. |