The Martyr Lamb

There is no superfluity of Biblical Discourses, at least of those in which the great doctrine of Christ being our representative, stands pre-eminent, casting a light upon all others. It was this consideration which overcame the hesitation I felt in publishing the following contemplations. It is with earnest seriousness I send them forth to the world, and I entreat my readers to study them with attention before pronouncing on their merits; and not to cry at random, “Enthusiasm! Hyper-orthodoxy!” I believe that I have drawn from the well of Scripture all that I have taught; and out of Scriptifre, let those who think I have erred correct me, for I am willing to learn.

It has been said, “As there is nothing so absurd but what some philosopher has taught; so there is nothing presented to a philosopher’s attention which he should refuse to try and examine, ere he takes upon him to reject it. Disgust without reason, is a proof either of a diseased appetite, or of an over-indulged and fantastic imagination.” The same voice from the desert says,” Hyper-critics are always inquiring what truth is, but at the same moment have their hands

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on the door; for they will not wait to receive an answer to their question.” Again, “Our reason resembless the blind Theban soothsayer, to whom his daughter Man to described the flight of birds; and he prophesied according to her description.” In another place, “Since great part of Scripture was written under the direction of God by the humble, the low, and the uneducated, putting to shame the talent and ingenuity of profane writers; so it requires men enlightened by the Spirit of God, whose eyes are jealous as those of a friend, to discern the rays of heavenly glory in such a guise!” These remarks are for the consideration of critics: meanwhile I may assure those who are earnestly seeking after salvation, that many branches of the tree of life are interspersed through this book, from which the Author, during his labours, plucked sweet fruits ripened under other suns. Oh! that the same harvest might be reaped by each of his readers! then the only wish with which he sends forth this book would be granted, and to God on high should be ascribed the glory!

Pastor in Gemarke.

11 Hosanna!” Thus let us rejoice to-day, with the multitude who at Christ’s entrance into Jerusalem went forth to meet him, with branches of palm in their hands, and strewed their garments in the way! Let us transport ourselves into the midst of the joyful crowd, and witness the scene of our Lord’s advent. The cry is already heard, “Who is he that cometh?” And the words, “Help us! Take pity upon us!” resound, on every side. Jesus comes, the sinner’s Friend — the promised One whom many prophets and kings desired to see, but had not seen. In the name of the Lord, in the place of God, he offers peace and joy to a lost world. He comes as Israel’s King to destroy the kingdom of darkness, and to raise a throne of grace upon its ruins. Never did one come like unto him. “What are all the triumphal entrances of the great and powerful of this world, when compared to his! Verily, had the people been silent, the stones would have opened their mouths, and the very tiles upon the house-tops would have called out “Hosanna!”

Hosanna! resounds among the people. Why is it that they shout and rejoice in this manner now? Because he never came before in such pomp and glory. He comes from the grave of Lazarus, as he who has the keys of hell and of death. He comes as described t in an ancient prophesy, which is at this moment remembered by the people: “Rejoice greatly, O daughfter of Zion; shout, O daughter of Jerusalem; behold, thy King cometh unto thee; he is just, and having salvation j lowly, and riding upon an ass, and upon a colt the foal of an ass!” Glorious anticipations stir within the soul of the multitude, and it is these anticipations make them cry out “Hosanna! Hosanna!”

The voices of his friends are heard, for they rejoice to behold their King in such beauty and glory. The voices of his enemies are heard, though they have a sad presentiment that He is the person who shall one day trample them in the dust. Thus the various voices resound together in one mighty chorus, “Hosanna! blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord! Hosanna in the highest!”

Hosanna! had often been cried already. Through every age, from the beginning of the world, we hear the sound of the advent-bell greeting the coming Christ. Let us now employ the present season of Advent profitably, and lend an attentive ear to those beautiful tones throughout the various periods of God’s government. Our plan is this. We shall consider Christ as the desire and refuge of sinners — in the infancy of our racein the still and quiet patriarchal times — in the age of Moses and the giving of the law — during the time of kings and prophets — and lastly, in those latter dayg which kings and prophets desired to see but only saw afar off. May the blessing of God accompany our meditations!

Genesis iv. 1.

“And Eve hare Cain, and said, I have gotten a man from the Lord.”

Our journey to-day leads us back to the far-distant, dim, and misty past. The words of the text carry us to the commencing point of the history of our race — to the very threshold of the scarcely closed Paradise. In spirit we pay a visit to our great ancestors; not to be a witness of their misery, but for another and more joyful reason. Though their first glory has passed away, yet a new one shines forth to-day, and casts a halo over their existence. Hark! the advent-bells are chiming over the lost earth! “Christ and the first sinners” is the title of this day’s contemplation. To this Christ let us now direct our eyes, and consider him — in the hope of our first parents — in their supposed possession of him — and in their longing and desiring love.

Where is it that we meet our first parents? Alas! we need no longer knock at the gate of the garden of Eden. No longer does the voice of man sound from within; but instead we hear the words thundered forth, “Away from hence!” and the flaming sword of the cherubim presents to us a fearful barrier. The Fall, which draws along with it such disastrous consequences, has taken place; the light of the divine image has been turned into darkness; the decree of Eternal Justice has interposed, and the “murderer from the beginning” is now rejoicing at his own manifold and gigantic triumph. The whole human race have fallen into his snaYe, and a world lies exposed to his machinations on the lost field of combat. The first created of our race dwell no more in the holy place of God: driven from their Father’s house, we meet them to-day upon a soil, over which the Almighty has pronounced the curse of his fierce anger. They rest no longer like beloved and confiding children on the bosom of their Creator; for, alas! sin has been committed; and heaven is now gathering its black clouds over their heads. They who a short time before were the lords of earth and of all that therein is, are now exposed to the fury of the elements; and all the powers of nature seem leagued against them. They who had personal intercourse with Jehovah, who were nourished by his hands, and who received from his table those fruits of life which no earthly tree can now bear, — they must by the sweat of their brow compel the fields to afford them the bread of sorrow; cultivate the stubborn earth, which is more inclined to produce thorns and thistles than the wholesome grain; and, weighed down by cares and sufferings, they must struggle and toil to procure every temporal gratification. Everywhere the sword of the cherub is to be seen. Everywhere they must use force to protect their own lives; and they cannot even defend themselves from the beasts of the field but by destroying or subjecting them. Alas! a curse is upon all, and the universal misery may well give occasion to the wise man’s complaint, “For what hath a man of all his labour, and of the vexation of his heart, wherein he hath laboured under the sun? For all his days are sorrows, and his travail grief.”

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