Glimpses of the Truth as It Is in Jesus

How glorious is the nature, and what an inestimable blessing to man, socially and individually considered, is the Gospel of Christ! It is a revelation of the most stupendous expedient, and a solution of the profoundest problem that ever interested the heart, or engaged the thought of the Eternal Mind. The salvation of guilty man secured in a way consistent with infinite holiness — the claims of stern justice reconciled wth the pleadings of divine mercy — the moral government of God vindicated — and love, the favourite perfection of his nature, indulged — form the one sublime and precious theme of which it speaks in strains of new-born and unheard-of melody. “Well does the Holy Spirit entitle it, the ‘glorious Gospel of the blessed God.” Thus, while this Gospel is to the sinner the golden chain of grace lowered to the very depth of his wretchedness and woe, it is an all-encircling shield thrown around the purity and the honour of that Being to whose nature it assimilates, and to whose communion it lifts him.

And yet, strange to say, man, the only creature personally interested in this wondrous revelation, is of all intelligences the least astonished at its glories, or affected by its appeals. Angels scan its mysteries, and adore — devils believe its announcements, and tremble; but man, whom it most deeply concerns, and to whom it is especially sent, “will not hearken to the voice of charmers, charming never so wisely” May the Spirit of truth and love impart his own blessing, while we proceed to consider the nature of the gospel charm, and the guilt and consequences of its wilful neglect.

By every reflective and right-thinking mind, the gospel will be regarded as the most invaluable boon God ever bestowed upon our nation, while its withdrawal would be the greatest calamity that could arrest its prosperity and blight its happiness. The unenlightened philosopher, the political economist, and the wily statesman, may dispute the justness of this sentiment; but man’s unbelief cannot invalidate God’s truth. Let God be true, and every man whose opinions contravene His veracity, be a liar, rather than that God were false. The gospel has made us, as a nation, all that we are — great, privileged, and free. Her greatness, her privileges, and her freedom, Britain owes not to the wisdom of her legislation, to the influence of her letters, or to the prowess of her arms; but to Christianity, and to

Christianity alone. But for this, she had still been Massed with the idolatrous nations of the east. When the great apostle of the Gentiles planted his foot upon her shores, and, amidst the heathen fanes and idolatrous shrines consecrated to “Woden, to Thor, and to Tuesco, proclaimed the gospel of Jesus Christ, he laid the foundation of all her future glory. And although there have been periods in her remarkable history when the pale star of Popery has seemed in the ascendant, and the sun of gospel truth has for a while been obscured, yet the morning has again dawned — a “morning without clouds” — and emerging from beneath the veil of night, it has shone forth with increased power and splendour, covering with overwhelming defeat every attempt to banish it from the land. And so it will continue to confound its enemies until the last conquest it achieves shall usher in the coming of the Son of man. We might also adduce the history of the Western World as affording another evidence of the gospel as a national blessing. Contrast the present elevated moral, intellectual, and social condition of America, with the period, but recent, when the Indian paddled his canoe along her majestic waters, and the smoke of his rude wigwam, and the yell of his senseless worship, rose amid the stillness and the gloom of his unbroken forests; and to the inquiry, “What has so rapidly advanced and so far elevated her in the scale of civilized nations?” we unhesitatingly reply, “the glorious gospel of the blessed God,” planted upon her shores by the labours, and nourished by the prayers, the sacrifices, and the tears of the Pilgrim Fathers, “of whom’ the world was not worthy.” We have made and have given this prominence to these remarks, feeling their importance and necessity. There exists a marvellous tendency to undervalue the influence of Christianity as a great national blessing. Civilization, education, and science are thrust forward, as though all our greatness and true glory had been achieved by, and would be perpetuated through, them. It is alarming to think of the progress which these semi-infidel views are making. But as the gospel alone made, so the gospel alone can preserve us what we are. Christianity is the basis of our institutions, and the bulwark of our strength. Our very existence as a nation depends upon it. The setting of this sun, to change the figure, would be the precursor of a fearful night of moral and intellectual gloom, the signal for every foul spirit of darkness to emerge from his hiding-place, and stalk in triumph through the land. Let us hold fast the pure gospel. Nothing but its diffusion can retain it in our midst, lo civil power can preserve it. It must take hold on the masses, it must enthrone itself on the hearts, embody itself in the intellects, and incorporate itself with the habits of the people. To attain this end, we must circulate the Bible, sustain the divine institution of the Christian ministry, live the gospel individualh% and be more earnest and united in prayer for a deeper baptism of the Holy Spirit upon our churches. But it is of the relation of man to the gospel, as an individual, and not as a society, we are particularly to speak in the present chapter.

And in the foreground let us contemplate the eliarming Saviour whom the gospel reveals, — the Saviour of God’s providing, and in all points of view a gift worthy of so great and glorious a Giver. There are two passages of God’s word which convey to the mind the most forcible and exalted views of the personal excellence and dignity of the Lord Jesus, at which we may give a rapid glance. The first portrays his matchless beauty, the second his incomprehensible greatness. “Thou art fairer than the children of men: grace is poured into thy lips; therefore God hath blessed thee for ever,” Psal. xlv. 2. This doubtless refers to the perfection of his human excellence. As man his beauty transcends the comeliest of human beings — “fairer than the children of men.” Their beauty is mixed; his is pure. Theirs is derived; his is from himself. Theirs decays; his is imperishable. His body prepared by God; his mind filled Vv’ith all the wisdom, grace, and holiness of the Spirit, — he stands forth the “bright and morning star,” the perfect, peerless Son of man. O for an eye to see and admire his excellence! and not admire only, but to imitate. 0 for grace to lie at his feet, and learn from his meekness! to lean on his bosom and drink of his love; to set the Lord always before us, never moving the eye from this perfect model, but ever aiming to transcribe its lineaments upon our daily life.

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