The

6

and is 'vexed,' and 'grieved,' and 'quenched,' by your 'always resisting? Acts vii. 51. Why, above all, does Christ offer himself freely to every creature, why has he knocked at your door, and stretched out his hands to you all day long? Ah! read here the answer, which you will remember to your everlasting agony in hell, if you turn not, How often would I have gathered your children together, even as a hen gathereth her chickens under her wings, and ye would not!' Matt. xxvii. 37. O sinner! the Lord Jesus Christ is like the manna. It fell round about the tents of Israel every morning, so that no Israelite could go out of his tent without either gathering it, or trampling it below his feet. So the Lord Jesus is laid down at thy feet. Thou must either take him as thy Surety, thy Saviour, thy Lord, or trample him below thy feet.

Come ye weary heavy laden,
Lost and ruined by the fall,
If ye tarry till you're better,

You will never come at all,

Not the righteous, siuners Jesus came to call.'

TWENTY-SECOND DAY.-MORNING.

thou gavest me,' and he says, 'I pray for them, I | ministers, and in secret prayer? Is it not that the pray not for the world.' And yet it is equally holy loving Spirit desires you to turn to Christ, true that 'God will have all men to be saved, and to come unto the knowledge of the truth,' 1 Tim. ii. 4. He is 'long-suffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance,' 2 Pet. iii. 9: God was in Christ, reconciling the world to himself.' The gospel is truly and sincerely addressed to every creature under heaven.' The calls and invitations of God to wicked men are not mere words of course, far less are they deceitful and lying words; they are true as God is true. There is not even the shadow of falsehood in them. Hear the words of a master in Israel: 'There is all in God that is good, and perfect, and excellent, in our desires and wishes for the conversion and salvation of wicked men. As for instance, there is a love to holiness absolutely considered, or an agreeableness of holiness to his nature and will; or in other words, to his natural inclination. holiness and happiness of the creature, absolutely considered, are things that he loves. These things are infinitely more agreeable to his nature than to ours. There is all in God that belongs to our desire of the holiness and happiness of unconverted men and reprobates, excepting what implies imperfection. All that is consistent with infinite knowledge, wisdom, power, selfsufficience, infinite happiness, and immutability. Therefore there is no reason that his absolute prescience, or his wise determination and ordering what is future, should hinder his expressing this disposition of his nature, in like manner as we are wont to express such a disposition in ourselves, viz., by calls, and invitations, and the like.' O sinner! it is true that God has no pleasure in your dying, but had rather that you would turn from your wicked ways and live. God honestly, sincerely, and with all his heart, beseeches you to be reconciled through the blood of Jesus. He is willing this day to cover you with the blood and obedience of the Lord Jesus, so that he may consistently, with his just and holy nature, not impute your trespasses unto you. spared you out of hell to this day? 'he is not willing that you should perish.' Why has he followed you with personal and family mercies, comforts, deliverances? The goodness of God leadeth thee to repentance,' Rom. ii. 4. Why has he sent frowns of providence upon you, poverty, sickness, bereavements, disappointments, like wave upon wave? Is not this the answer: 'Whom I love, I rebuke and chasten; be zealous therefore, and repent,' Rev. iii. 19. Why has the Spirit striven with you in the Bible, through

I.

Now then we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God did beseech you by us: we pray you in Christ's stead, be ye reconciled to God,' 2 Cor. v. 20.

Meditate on the ground of the gospel message, ver. 21. He hath made him to be sin,' &c. What a remarkable description of Christ is here given, He knew no sin.' He was pure in his birth. The angel that came to Mary called him that holy thing which shall be born of thee.' He was pure in his life, 1 Pet. ii. 22. He did no sin, neither was guile found in his mouth.' He was pure in his death, 'He offered himself without spot unto God.' But here we are told he knew no sin.' He did not know the feeling Why has he of sin. He did not know the swelling of pride, Only because the burning of lust, the rankling of envy in his pure bosom. He knew suffering well, but he knew no sin. Learn, O my soul, the loveliness of Christ. He is altogether lovely.' His loveliness consists mainly in this, that he knew no sin. It is this that ravishes the hearts of the redeemed above while they sing, 'Who shall not fear thee, and glorify thy name, for thou only art holy?' Learn the suitableness of Christ. If Christ had had a spot of sin he could not have suffered for ours. 'Such an High Priest became us who is

holy, harmless, undefiled, and separate from up on high he sent his believing followers in his

sinners.'

But how did God deal with this sinless One? He hath made him to be sin for us.' In Isa. liii. 6. we are told, 'The Lord laid on him the iniquities of us all.' But here it is described in a more dreadful manner. The Lord heaped upon him the thousands and millions of our sins, till at last he was so covered, in God's sight, that nothing but sin appeared. He was looked upon, by his Father, as one entire mass of sin. He was dealt with by God as if he were all sin from the sole of the foot to the crown of the head. Learn, O my soul, the deep agonies of Christ; he knew no sin, and yet he was made sin. Nothing can be more agonising to a pure mind, than to have sins imputed to him. This was Christ's deepest sorHence the heart-rending cries recorded in the 22d. 38th. 40th. and 69th. Psalms; cries that often resounded through the silent vale of Kedron. Learn the amazing love of Christ; 'it passeth knowledge.'

row.

name, John xx. 21. 'Peace be unto you; as my Father hath sent me, even so send I you.' 'When he ascended up on high, he gave some apostles, and some prophets, and some evangelists, and some pastors, and teachers, for the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ.' 'Now then (all faithful ministers may say) we are ambassadors for Christ.'

1. This shows that ministers should speak with authority. The people were astonished at the doctrine of Christ, for he taught them as one having authority, and not as the scribes.' He spoke with a holy certainty and boldness, and so should ministers now. These things command and teach; let no man despise thy youth,' 1 Tim. iv. 11, 12. A faithful minister should' be like Jeremiah, (i. 18.) 'I have made thee this day a defenced city, and an iron pillar, and brazen walls against the whole land.' He should hear God saying to him as he did to Ezekiel, (ii. 7.) ‘Thou shalt speak my words unto them, whether they will hear, or whether they will forbear.' How fearful is the curse threatened if we alter the gospel of Christ, Gal. i. 8.; if we add to, or take away from, the message committed unto us, Rev. xxii. 18, 19.

But why was he made sin? It was 'that we might be made the righteousness of God in him.' Just as Christ was so covered with our innumerable sins that in the eye of a holy God he appeared one mass of sin, so the vilest of sinners who consents to be found in Christ, is so covered with his glorious righteousness, that in the eye of God he 2. Ministers should speak with divine tenderappears one mass of divine righteousness. The ness. 'God is love,' and so should his ambassasinner is lost and swallowed up in the righteous-dors be. There is in the heart of God the deepest ness of Christ. compassion for perishing sinners. Hear his words, Deut. v. 29. "O that there were such an heart in them, that they would fear me, and keep all my commandments always, that it might be well with them, and with their children for ever," (compare xxxii. 29; Ezek. xxxii. 11). When God was manifest in flesh he showed this holy tenderness through his whole life, Luke xix. 41. "When he was come near, he beheld the city, and wept over it,' (compare Matt. xxiii. 37). Such should be the heart of every faithful minister. Paul used to preach with many tears, Acts xx. 31. His tears often fell upon the parchment on which he wrote his epistles, Phil. iii. 18; 2 Cor. ii. 4.

O my sinful soul! what an amazing provision is here set before thee for thy complete pardon and acceptance with God. As truly as Christ was made the sin of men, so truly may I be made the righteousness of God. As truly as our sin covered him, so that none of his heavenly beauty appeared, so truly may his righteousness cover me that none of my hellish blackness may appear. Christ held down his head for shame on account of my sin, I may hold up my head in peace on account of his righteousness.

'Nothing in my hand I bring,
Simply to thy cross I cling;
Naked came to thee for dress,
Helpless look to thee for grace;
Foul I to the fountain fly,
Wash me, Saviour, or I die.'

II. Meditate on the gospel embassy, ver. 20 'We are,' &c. Christ was God's greatest ambassador. He was 'the messenger of the covenant.' He was sent to bind up the broken-hearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to them that are bound.' He was 'the faithful Witness.' He was sent to tell men the way to the Father.

But when he ascended

bear. We pray you in Christ's stead, be ye or a more lucrative situation is offered to him. His reconciled unto God.' There is a quarrel between attention is a little diverted from eternal things; sinners and a holy God. God is angry with the he becomes more keen about the things of time. wicked every day.' The dark heavy clouds of He begins to lose his fresh hold of Christ. He divine anger are resting upon their heads, ready to is letting slip the things which he heard. So it break every moment. Sinners ara, angry at God. was with Lot. When he first came from Haran Their carnal mind is enmity against God. They he left all for God. He followed Abraham, a are night and day fighting against God. Now simple shepherd lad with staff in hand. But God sends his ministers with a white flag of when he got flocks, and herds, and tents, and truce, and he puts this word in their mouths, 'Be when he saw the plain of Sodom well watered ye reconciled unto God.' O my soul, hast thou everywhere, he went and pitched his tent toward heard and received the 'good tidings of great Sodom, Gen. xiii. So it was with Demas. joy?' Have I submitted to the way of pardon one time he seemed to leave all for Christ. He here revealed? Then in a moment God's anger became the companion of self-denying Paul. But is all turned away, and my heart is changed from soon his eye was caught with the glitter of gold. bitter enmity to love and praise. He lets slip the things which he heard. He bids farewell to the believer's joys and trials: 'Demas hath forsaken me, having loved this present world.' 2 Tim. iv. 10. O my soul, 'love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him.'

TWENTY-SECOND DAY.-EVENING.

'Therefore we ought to give the more earnest heed to the things which we have heard, lest at any time we should let them slip,' Heb. ii. 1. COULD we look into the secret history of believers, what woful declensions might be pointed out. How many, who began the conflict well, have fallen under the blows of Apollyon. How many are there of whom God complains: What iniquity have ye found in me that ye are gone far from me,' Jer. ii. 5. How many of whom Jesus complains, I have this against thee, that thou hast left thy first love,' Rev. ii. 4. The spring of all these sad declensions is to be found in 'letting slip the things which we have heard.' I. Meditate on the times when Christians are in danger of letting the gospel slip.

1. A time of worldly prosperity. An old divine says, 'Quails often make a lean soul.' 'He gave them their request, but sent leanness into their souls.' When a man is under conviction of sin, divine things often absorb every other anxiety. That text is ever before him, 'What shall it profit man to gain the whole world, and lose his own soul?' He becomes careless of his person, for he feels that he would be decking a body condemned to the burning. He becomes careless of his business, for the matter of his forgiveness is unsettled. He walks among the things of time, looking through them into the things of eternity. What a vain shadow is this world to an awakened soul. O! how that soul sickens at the vain companies of an unbelieving world; how he loathes their dances and wanton songs. But when that soul has found true rest in Christ, sometimes the world begins to smile again. He begins to launch out into business,

At

2. A time of persecution. For every ten bodies which persecution has killed, it has slain a thousand souls.' We are told of the seed that sprung up so quickly in stony places, that when the sun was up it withered away,' and Jesus explains this of those who, when tribulation or persecution ariseth because of the word, by and by they are offended,' Matt. xiii. 21. Some people are brought to Christ with little or no persecution. They attain to joy and peace in believing,' no man forbidding them. They begin to think that the offence of the cross has ceased, and that the solemn warnings of tribulation to the believer were intended for a bye-gone generation. Suddenly their sky is overcast. They begin to be hated, and buffeted, and opposed for their attachment to Christ. An awful prospect is before them. Either they must breast the tide of scorn and reproach that is now flowing in upon them, perhaps from their dearest friends, or else they must let slip the things which they have heard. Ah! how often, in such an hour, the soul shrinks back from an open confession of Christ before men, refuses to bear the cross, and falls into unholy compromise with an unbelieving world. Storms try the vessel, and persecution tries the believer. When Peter was in peace he could say, 'Though all men forsake thee, yet will not I.' But when the hour of trial came, he said with oaths and curses, 'I know not the man.'

II. Meditate on the remedy. We ought to give the more earnest heed,' &c.

1. Increase thy diligence in the means of grace.

ambassador from God, and with all the certainty that come upon us which is spoken of in the and confidence of one who knew what he affirmed, prophets;' Behold! ye despisers, and wonder and and testified what he had seen; Let all the house perish!' The house of Israel have beheld, and of Israel know assuredly, that God hath made wondered, and perished-perished from their that same Jesus, whom ye crucified, both Lord land; and thereby exhibited an irrefragable testiand Christ.' His crucifixion may be to you a mony to the truth of his Messiahship, whom they stumbling-block, and all the more so, that ye despised and rejected:-perished in their sins in yourselves inflicted it. But let all the house of other lands; and thereby exhibited a painful tesIsrael know assuredly, that the cross hath timony to the guilt and inveteracy of an unbebecome a crown. That same Jesus whom ye cru- lieving heart. But are the house of Israel the cified is Lord—the Lord of all. God hath only despisers that believe not, but wonder and highly exalted him, and given him a name which perish? To the impenitent and unbelieving of is above every name; that at the name of Jesus every age and nation, it may be said, Know assurevery knee should bow, of things in heaven, and edly that God hath made that same Jesus, whom things in earth, and things under the earth; and by your unbelief and sin ye crucify afresh, both that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ Lord and Christ;—both Lord and Christ, to save is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.' His cru- in this the day of mercy-both Lord and Christ, cifixion, you thought, had disproved his Messiah- to destroy with a fearful aggravated destruction, ship, and you cruelly and tauntingly reviled him, if ye neglect so great salvation. God hath spoken: saying, 'Let Christ the King of Israel descend ye may deny it, but ye cannot disannul it. God now from the cross, that we may see and believe.' hath spoken: ye may deny it, but the denial can'But Him, being delivered by the determinate not take away your sins, or give you comfort counsel and foreknowledge of God, though ye have under them. God too hath done it, and who taken, and by wicked hands have crucified and can hinder? Who can resist his will? He hath slain, God hath raised up, having loosed the pains made that same Jesus both Lord and Christ; and of death; because it was not possible that he 'all his works are done in truth,' 'his work is should be holden of it: and being by the right honourable and glorious, and his righteousness hand of God exalted, and having received of the endureth for ever.' Ye may cavil at his work, Father the promise of the Holy Ghost, he hath but your cavilling is sin; and it can no more affect shed forth this which ye now see and hear.' the certainty and stability of what he hath done, Therefore let all the house of Israel know assur-than the impatient petulance of the blear-eyed edly, that God hath made that same Jesus, whom ye crucified, both Lord and. Christ. He is Messiah the Prince,'—the Lord and his Anointed.' But who is this that is so highly and so assuredly exalted? He is that same Jesus, whom the angel of the Lord so named, because he would save his people from their sins-that same Jesus, in crucifying whom, the Jews unwittingly fulfilled the purposes of the merciful Jehovah. "For it became him, for whom are all things, and by whom are all things, in bringing many sons unto glory, to make the Captain of their salvation perfect through suffering.'

'He died to bear the guilt of men,
That sin might be forgiven;
He lives to bless them and defend,
And plead their cause in heaven.'

He is the Expectation of the Jews, the Consola-
tion of the Gentiles, the Saviour of all-a light
to lighten the Gentiles, and the glory of God's
people Israel.'

child can arrest the rising of the sun, or bring a cloud upon his mid-day brightness. Why do ye not understand my speech?' said Jesus to the perverse Jews; even because ye cannot hear, that is, bear my words. They are too pure, too offensive, too self-denying. If any man will do his will, he shall know of the doctrine, whether it be of God, or whether I speak of myself.'

TWENTY-THIRD DAY.-EVENING.

، None, achen they heard this, they arere pricked in their heart, and said unto Peter, and to the rest of the apostles, Men and brethren, what shall we do?' Acts ii. 37.

WE may be brought to a conviction of sin and the felt necessity of a Saviour, by a prayerful inquiry into the truth as it is in Jesus. But this is not the only means. Providence, by his angry Precious truth! More precious than gold, dispensations, sometimes thunders forth at once, yea, than much fine gold! For what is a man as from mount Sinai, the condemnatory sentence profited though he gain the whole world and which scripture contains, but does not force upon lose his soul! Oh! then, let us beware lest | the attention, much less upon the faith of men.