Imatges de pàgina
PDF
EPUB

6. Now join to celebrate his praise,
Of judgment and of mercy sing;
Ye Saints! aloud your anthems raise
To Jesus, your eternal King.

Justice is that perfection of Deity, without the display and execution of which, he could not be, what the word describes him to be: "A just God and a Saviour." It is as necessary, therefore, for God to punish as to forgive. Could any thing more display the inflexibility of his justice, than the punishment inflicted on Jesus, his dear Son? He will by no means clear the guilty; viz. without a satisfaction equal to the offence; but who can give it? Not one of Adam's race: "Who is he that engageth his heart to approach unto me," saith the Lord. Now Jesus was such a Person as could suffer and atone: Jesus is the God-man: he had two natures when he was in our world, and he has them still,-consolatory thought! His human nature was taken into his divine nature in a most incomprehensible manner-Great is the mystery! The life of his human nature was that which he (Jesus) had to lay down, and of which he speaks: "I have power to lay down my life, and I have power to take it up again." This sacrifice was not merely human, for that would have been of no avail; nor

merely divine, for such a thing was impossible. It is the altar which sanctifieth the gift; it was the Divinity of Christ which gave a dignity to the offering, even a sweet smelling savour unto God.— Reader! pray to the Holy Spirit for an enlarged understanding of this most important subject, and thou wilt be preserved from the many, fatal errors of this cloudy day.

48.

THE VOICE OF JESUS TO HIS
CHURCH.

My Beloved spake, and said unto me, Rise up my love, my fair one, and come away.---Song ii. 10.

1. ATTEND, ye sons of Day!

[ocr errors]

The voice of Jesus sounds!

'My fair one! come away,

"My matchless grace abounds;
"Fear not the law, nor be dismay'd;
"The law's demands I freely paid.

2. Vindictive wrath pursu'd

"My suff'ring soul to death;
"In thy law-place I stood,
“Survey my wounds by faith:

"The sting of death by death I kill'd,
"And the divine decree fulfill'd.

3. "Now raise thy drooping head,

[ocr errors]

Though hell and sin oppose;

"I full atonement made,

"Triumphant I arose:

"Behold me now, ye sons of Day!
Arise, my love! and come away."

66

4. I come, with all my sin,

And all my vileness own;
Thy blood can wash me clean,

And thy dear blood alone:
Bath'd in the fountain of thy blood,
With boldness I'll approach my God.

5. Jesus! my only shield!

Thou art my All in All;
By thee I keep the field

When hell defies my soul:

No arm of flesh shall have the praise,
But ev'ry song to thee I'll raise.

From the voice and power of Jesus the believer receives his comfort, and obtains many 2 victory.-Believer! when Christ shews thee his kead, his side, his hands, and his feet, and gives

thee a faith's view of his incomparable beauties, thy soul is filled with holy wonder; praises ascend from the altar of thine heart like holy incense: Is it not so? In this sweet employ thou wouldest wish to pass thy remaining hours on earth; yea, to be growing up into Jesus Christ, thy living head, in all things. But though it is thus with thee, and thy enjoyments are real, and thy enlarged desires commendable, thou hast reason to lament the frequent drowsinesses attending thy path, arising from thy fleshly part, the old man, which is corrupt according to the deceitful lusts. Daily experience of thy heart's defilement proves to thee how low thou art sunk by sin, and helps thee to renounce all dependance in the flesh; and daily experience of the waters from the Fountain; of the oil from the true olive Tree; and of the comforts of Christ's love, amidst thy daily sorrows-are sufficient to assure thee that thy perfection is in thy Head.

49.

THE DANGER OF A FALSE, AND THE BLESSINGS OF A TRUE MINISTRY.

Cease, my son, to hear the instruction that causeth to err from the words of knowledge.---Prov. xix. 27.

1. THE sounds of Lo here! and Lo there!·
Bewilder, confuse, and dismay:
Salvation's by grace, they'll declare,
But still you must strive to obey.
I listen'd awhile to their tale,
Till sunk in the billows forlorn;
Benighted I trod the dark vale,

And sigh'd for the light of the morn.

2. The Spirit descending, proclaim'd
God's love everlasting to me;

My portion I instantly claim'd,
The gift of my Father so free!
Blest hour! I remember it well,
Nor shall I entirely forget
The time when he broke ope my cell,

And ransom'd my soul from the pit.

3. Deep sorrows and sighing and tears,
"Tis true, have attended my path;
But Jesus hath taken my cares,
And bore all my merited death:

« AnteriorContinua »