Christ Ever with You

THERE were two farewells of our Lord on earth, and they formed two of the most touching and instructive epochs of His history. As the sun, setting amid a flood of liquid gold, invests the whole heavens with variegated tints of beauty long after the majestic orb has run its race, so there clustered around the two earthly sunsets of Christ the most divine assurances, the most precious promises, the most brilliant hopes that ever shed their light and glory upon the pathway of the Christian Church; and which will linger upon its spiritual sky in deathless splendor

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until He come again in ELis glory to set no. more for ever.

The first farewell of Christ was when He parted from His disciples on His return to heaven. To them it was a time of inexpressible grief. To part with Christ was to part with their all. Yet He would not leave them comfortless; nor will He, beloved, ever so leave you. Blended with His departure was the most precious promise and the most costly gift Heaven could bestow or the Church receive — the promise and gift of the Holy Ghost, as the Comfortei’, Teacher, and In dweller of the Church ‘-^ If 1 depart I will send the Comforter P What an hour of blessing was this! What a glorious setting of the Snn of righteousness! What spiritual benedictions, what resplendent hopes gather, like a glowing halo, around the sinking of this Divine Orb! And still the glow lingers. And still the settino rays tinse with unfaded light and glory the gloomy clouds which often drape in woe earth’s pilgrimage. We have abiding with, and dwelling in, us the Holy Ghost the Comforter, sent of Christ, to lead us to Christ, to testify of Christ, to assimilate us to Christ, and to sanctify us to dwell Avitli Christ for ever. Oh, could the personal departure of our Lord have been blessed and graced with an assurance more transcendantly great, precious, and glorious than this?

Our Lord’s second farewell was when He closed the sacred canon of Scripture, fencing it with the most solemn warning, and sealing it with the most illustrious promise. And, as the threatening of woe to them who should either take from, or add to, the perfect Word of God, resounded solemnly on the ear, it was succeeded and softened by words which will live and linger in the sweetest cadence until the promise they contain shall be fulfilled: ‘’Behold I come quicMy T Then shall all that is dark in providence and grace, be lucid, and all that is discrepant be harmonized; the bliss of the saints will be complete, the mystery of God will be finished, and God will be all in all. O believer in Jesus! long for that day that shall bring the Beloved of your soul arrayed in all His Father’s and Plis own glory. He will come quickly, suddenly, unexpectedly, — His advent surprising both the Church and the world — the one slumbering in the light, and the other in the dark. But let us who are of the day be sober, watchful, hastening unto His coming, prepared as a bride for her husband — loving and desiring Him with a single, ardent, wakeful affection. Come Lord Jesus come quicMy!’^^

But it was in connection with His first farewell that Christ spake the memorable and precious words — “Zt?, / am with you al’wayP It is not to a future, but to an ever-present Christ with His saints, that these pages will direct your thoughts. What the Lord has laid up for us, by what road He will lead us, what lessons He will teach us, by what discipline of trial He will mature us for present service and prepare us for future rest, we will not be too curious to divine. Enough that it is all in the covenant, and in His hands who administers the covenant. And whatever new lights and shadows may be pencilled upon life’s picture, though our song be of mercy and of judgment we will patiently wait and calmly trust its gradual and timely unfolding, assured that allt)ur trials will be shrouded blessings, and all those blessings will be bright stepping-stones aiding our progress in the divine life, our nearness to God, and our meetness for heaven. Embarking upon a new stage of your pilgrimage, I propose placing the pilgrim’s true staff in your hands, upon which, if you lean in childlike faith, you will be firmly upheld, safely led, securely kept, divinely strengthened, cheered, and comforted every step of your journey. It was left by our Lord for the use of His one and whole Church, when He exchaijged the scene of His humiliation for the throne of His glory. He himself placed it in the hands of His apostles, who, now that their pilgrimage is closed, have transmitted it to us. In the name of Christ, I now put this divine staff in your hand, and bid you firmly grasp it and set out anew for heaven.

“Lo, I AM WITH YOU ALWAY, [all days EVEN UNTO THE END OF THE WORLD.”

Let me for a moment concentrate your thoughts upon Him whose promise is thus pledged: ‘•/ am with youP Were you assured of the personal presence, ever attending, ever clinging, ever abiding, of a

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beloved friend selected from a wide and choice circle; and were that one friend the most wise, the most powerful, the m.ost true, the most loving, confiding, and sympathizing, would you not be content to link with him alone all your future lot — to make him the confidant of your bosom, the partaker of your every joy, the sharer of your every sorrow? That Friend is Christ! He occupies the preeminent position of being ever near to His people; everywhere, and at the same moment. His presence is the atmosphere that enfolds them, the shield that encircles them, the sun that guides and cheers their path to the celestial city, where His glorified presence fills each soul with inefi*able happiness, heaven with its sweetest song, and eternity with its transcendant splendor. When Jesus left our earth. He entwined the personal interests of His members around His heart, and bore them with

Him to heaven; leaving the gracious promise that, though personally and visibly withdrawn from the scene of their joiirneyings, trials, and conflicts. His spiritual pi-esence should ever and everywhere engirdle them, until like Himself they should exchange earth for heaven. “Lo! mark! behold! I the Incarnate God, I who opened my bleeding heart for your redemption on Calvary, I who am your dearest Friend, your Elder Brother, — I am with you always, in all places, and at all times, unto the end of the world.” Saint of God! this is the promise of promises, the richest pearl of all the promises, exceeding in its mightiness and preciousness, while it is the substance, sweetness, and pledge of all the rest. Christ is ever with you, and were this the one and only assurance of the Word of God upon which He had caused your soul to hope, you may gratefully and truthfully exclaim.

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