The Unspeakable Gift

“This is the rest luhcrcwith ye may cause the weary to rest, and this is the refreshing’’’’ —

“6ofi SO lobrti Juorlti, tfjnt ftjr gafar lis onig brgoltrn 5on, tfjat iuljosorbrr brlirbrtlj in pim sfjculi not prrisfj, but Jjafac tfatr* lasting lifr.” — John iii. 16.

ffiift.

There is nothing in this world which is not a gift of God. Every pahn-tree in the grove of created comforts and blessings: — every morsel of the bread which perisheth; the sunlight which gladdens us; the atmospheric air which sustains us; the fuel garnered deep down in earth’s storehouses to warm us; the succession of seasons; the living streams which fertilise our fields; the waving harvests which crown the year with their plenty; the thousand tints of loveliness and beauty in garden, and dell, and forest; far more, the blessings which rejoice and consecrate social life — the Elim-palms and Elim-fountains of gladness in our domestic circles; these are severally and collectively “gifts of God.” “Every good and perfect gift is from above.” And they are gifts and pledges, too, of love.

“God’s woild has one great echo;

Whether calm blue mists are curled,
Or lingering dewdrops quiver,

Or red storms are unfurled;
The same deep love is throbbing

Through the great heart of God’s world. ‘’

But what are these to the boon here pre-eminently spoken of — the Gift of gifts, “the Tree of Life in the midst of the garden “? a boon whose magnitude transcends all thought and illustration — the Son of the Highest to become ’ of human Virgin born, the Babe of Bethlehem’s lowly cradle; the God of Eternity condescending to be a pilgrim on life’s highway, — the great Leader of His spiritual Israel, with the rod of grace and power in His hand, with which to open living streams for the lost and perishing? “God so loved the world (and who can fathom or exhaust the meaning of that ’ so ‘?) that He gave His only-begotten Son.” God’s “Gift” — it was, unpurchasable by money, — the unmerited benefaction of Heaven: — free as the desert palm to the fainting pilgrim, who has only to repair under it for shade — free as the desert pool to the thirsty wayfarer, who has only to stoop at its margin and drink!

And this greatest and mightiest Gift, moreover, consecrates and sanctifies each minor one. As the sun glorifies with his radiance the tamest landscape, and transmutes the barren rock into a pyramid of gold; so are all earthly blessings glorified, beautified, sublimated, by the beams of the Sun of Righteousness. Christ has been well likened to the numeral, which, put before the unmeaning ciphers, invests them with peerless and untold preciousness. The very outer world of nature wears a new aspect when seen through eyes spiritually enlightened. Earthly discipline has a new meaning; and when subordinate comforts are blighted, or diminished, or withdrawn, there is ever the imperishable Gift remaining, beyond the reach of vicissitude; so that we can say, “Although the fig-tree shall not blossom, neither shall fruit be in the vines; the labour of the olive shall fail, and the fields shall yield no meat, the flock shall be cut off from the fold, and there shall be no herd in the stalls; yet

I will rejoice in the Lord, I will joy in the God of my salvation.”

While feelingly alive to God’s goodness in His diverse other mercies, can we heartily join in the transcendant estimate of the Apostle — “Thanks be unto God for His U7ispeakable Gift!” Truly, wnth this Gift, “having nothing,” we “possess all things.” In Christ’s glorified person, as the God-Man Mediator, “all fulness dwells.” No other earthly boon, no other trees in the palm-grove, can compensate for the want of this. But under the shade of these sheltering fronds, whate’er else may be denied us, we can say in the words of the Sacred Minstrel, “Because Thy loving-kindness is better than life, my lips shall praise Thee!”

“Bounteous Giver! to befriend me
None I have compared with Thee,
None so able to defend me;
Thou art all in all to me.

“What is life? a scene of troubles,
Following swiftly, one by one;
Phantom visions — airy bubbles,
Which appear, and then are gone.

“What at best the world’s vain fashion?
Quickly it must pass away,
Vexing care and whirlwind passion
Surging like the angry spray.

“Friends may fail, and bonds may sever.
Cherished refuges may fall,
But Thy friendship is for ever — It survives the wreck of all.”

“he that spared not his own son, but delivered him

up for us all, how shall he not with him

also freely give us all things?”