The Sun Eclipsed

‘’^ To put out a ca7idle is no great 77iatter; but to have the stm eclipsed, which is the fou7itai7i of light, that sets the world a-wonderi7ig! For poor creatures to lose their co77iforts is no great wonder, who, though they live iti God, are so many degrees distant f?’om hiin; bict for Christ, who was God-7na7i 17t one person J to be forsaken of God, that is a diffictdty to otcr thoughts ajid a wo7ider 17ideed, for by this 7nea7is he was so far deprived of so7ne part of hi7nself” Yes, indeed, this is the wonder of wonders, the miracle of miracles, at which, my mind would for ever stand amazed. That the thrice Holy One should take the sinner’s place, and, coming under the sinner’s doom, should be smitten of God, is a mystery past finding out! Hell is horribly amazing, but the death of Jesus is far more astounding, and especially that in death he should cry, “My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?” Only the Son of God could endure this great grief; yet is it a mystery of mysteries, that so divine a person should be capable of enduring it. The marvel is thought to be that a man should be able to suffer so much; but the real marvel is that, being God, he should suffer at all that which was the very essence of his grief — the being forsaken by the Father.

My soul, adore and love; understand thou canst not. Behold the eclipse of thy soul’s Sun, and know that, had not this been, thou wouldst have been in the dark for ever.