The Farewells

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.

“Lord! it is enough! with this staff I will travel onward; and if through fire and through water Thou dost lead me, upheld by Thy power, and soothed by Thy sympathy, I will press forward until Thou shalt bring me into a wealthy place.”

Christ’s presence with His people was once, though not now, corporeal. He was bodily in the midst of His Church. Oh, it is a marvelous truth, the belief of which imparts a conviction of verity to the whole Gospel, that, eighteen hundred years ago, the incarnate God actually tabernacled upon this earth, trod its soil, sailed upon its lakes, drank of its springs, admired its flowers, bedewed it with tears, and consecrated it with blood. That babe of Bethlehem smiling in its mother’s arms — that mechanic of Nazareth shoving the plane and plying the saw — that young man, pale and thoughtful, standing at Pilate’s bar, — that victim of woe impaled upon the central cross — listen, O heavens, and be astonished, O earth — was ‘Hhe fulness of the Godhead todilyP^ It is written by the pen of the Holy Ghost, and let no profane hand dare attempt its erasure — ‘The Word was made fleshy and dwelt among us.^^ Yes! your flesh, O believer! laden with infirmity, sorrow, and woe. And He wears it still in a spiritual and glorified form, and is with you in suff’ering and weakness and infirmity, ever sympathiziag, ever sustaining. Try your spirit, whether it be Christ-taught, Christ-loving, Christ-trustful, by its firm, realizing faith in this cardinal and precious truth, for, every spirit tJiat confesseth that Jesus Christ is come in the fieh is of Gody

In addition to this, there is Christ’s representative presence with His people in the embassy, fulness, and preaching of the Gospel. The Gospel is glad tidings of Christ, chuist ever with yotj. 15

it is the message of His grace, the proclamation of His love to lost sinners. The Gospel is Christ first, Christ last, Christ midst, Christ without end. Christ is the prophet of the Gospel, teaching His people His doctrines. Christ is the priest of the Gospel, bearing and making atonement for their sins. Christ is the Icing of the Gospel, reigning in the hearts of loyal and loving disciples. Thus, Christ is present wherever and whenever the good tidings of that Gospel are preached, to ‘’hind up the hroTcen-hearted to proclaim liberty to the captive to give heauty for ashes the oil of joy for mourning the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness to comfort all that monrnP Remember, O thou neglectful, unbelieving hearer of Christ’s Gospel, that it is not the minister you slight nor the message you scorn — it is Christ Himself. ‘’We beseech you IN Christ’s stead” — as though Christ

Himself were pleading with tears and blood ‘’ ie ye reconciled to God.” O blessed yet solemn thought, that, whenever my ears are saluted with the joyful sound, infinitely sweeter than angels’ chimes, it is Christ’s voice I hear, it is Christ’s presence I feel, it is Christ’s love that thrills and warms my soul, it is Christ’s invitation to my weary spirit, Christ’s words of sympathy to my sorrowful heart, Christ’s promises of grace and strength and hope to my depressed and desponding mind. Oh, welcome, thou divine and precious Gospel! bringing with thee Christ’s presence with a realizing power so personal, so conscious, and so soothing to the soul.

ILLUSTRATIONS.

We can bid farewell to things most near and dear to us for the sake of Christ. The following was related in the Fulton Street Meeting, by a gentleman from Boston. It reveals the power which the love of Christ has over the heart of the young believer:

He heard a French sailor relate his own religious, experience very briefly. He came into Boston from off a French ship. He was so bad, and wild, and undutiful, that his father had sent him to sea. He belonged to a rich family, and was “heir apparent” to a large property. He was well educated and intelligent. He went some time ago to a prayer meeting in Boston, where the place was so crowded that he turned to go away. But as he turned some one beckoned him to come forward to a seat on the pulpit stairs, which he took. That little gesture of a stranger’s hand was God’s instrument of the man’s conversion. He said that if he had gone he should probably have never come again. He felt it to be a great kindness. 2^

He could understand but little English, but he continued to attend. He found that the meetings were “all about Jesus.” The more he heard, the more he wanted to know, and the truth soon found its way into his heart. He found that he was a sinner doomed to die, but that through the blood of Jesus Christ his sins would be washed away. At length, in one of the prayer meetings in North Street Chapel, he experienced a consciousness of sins forgiven. He wrote home of the great change. His father, who was a Roman Catholic, in his wrath disinherited him at once. But the son continued to write home and tell them of his love of Christ. He kept sending forward his letters, and praying for his parents; and as a result he soon had the unspeakable joy of finding that his father and mother, and one sister, had been converted. They have since written him the most urgent letters to come home, assuring him of a most hearty welcome, desiring, above all things, to see him once more. ‘’And he has resolved to go,” said the gentleman giving this relation.” I heard him make his last address to that prayer meeting. It was touching in the extreme, as with eyes streaming with tears, he said, ‘It was on this floor I was kneeling when Jesus spoke peace to my soul. I here look on those who first told me of Jesus, who first begged me to come to Jesus, who first rejoiced with me when I had found Jesus. And oh! how my heart is grieved, that I am come to bid you all farewell, to see your faces no more. The very boards in this fioor are dear to me, no place is so dear to me as this. Will I ever forget these dear brothers, these dear sisters? No — no — no — my heart tells me no. Oh! I am grieved that I have to go away from you.’ And then his voice became almost inaudible, and his fine intelligent face became overcast with sadness; but all at once he seemed stirred with a new sensation. He smiled and said, ‘It will be only a little parting and for ever meeting. I shall soon see you all — every one — and we shall see Jesus, whom I love. And we shall sit at His blessed feet, under the smiles of His glorious countenance. Oh! if I had lano:ua£:e. Oh I if I could tell it,’ — as he stood gazing up into heaven — but I cannot tell how I love Him, and how I will praise Him.’ And then looking on the wall, whereon hung the card, in large letters, Stand up for Jesus.’ — ‘Tes, I’U stand up for You, blessed Jesus, though they mob me, though they strive to kill me. I will stand up for Jesus, I will never be afraid, I will never turn my back, I will confess Him everywhere, I love Him, and I know He loves me. All power is committed to His hands — He will take care of me. No power shall pluck me out of His hands.’ ‘’

And he sat down amid a flood of tears, with all the audience weeping around him.