It is certain that the delights of the past afford the
readiest means for exciting pleasure in the present,
we carry from the fires of yesterday burning coals
for the kindling of to-day. The ship hath more
provisions on board when it starts upon its voyage
than it is likely to have in a few weeks, and it then
showeth all its flags and streamers which must soon
be furled, and the canvas will be spread, which,
though more useful, is not so glorious for show.
The remembrance of the happy shore, and the gai
ety of the departure, will support the spirit of the
mariners when storms assail them, and the comforts
then placed on board will be found none too many



JOY AT CONVEIiSION. 205

for the greatness of their toil upon the wide and
stormy sea. Gurnal says that past experiences are
like cold dishes reserved at a feast, from which the
child of God can make a hearty meal when there
is nothing else on the table ; and when we consider
how long a time has sometimes elapsed between
one banquet and another, it is doubtless intended
that we should set aside an abundant provision
from the well-spread table which furnishes the
feast of the penitent s reception. Take thy first
joys, O little faith, and drink full draughts of cor
dial from them.

5. By the joy of his right hand. He put to flight
our hard thoughts of him. Deceived by the out
ward appearance, we thought his chastenings un
kind ; we attributed his wounds to cruelty and en
mity ; nor could our mistake be corrected until He
displayed the richness of his love in the most compas
sionate way by restoring our soul and renewing
our strength. Oh ! what a death-blow was his love
to all our unkind thoughts of him ; how were we
ashamed to look at the dear friend whom we had
so basely slandered ! We saw it all then, clear as
noonday, and wept at the recollection of our pre
mature judgment and rash surmises. The Lord
soon changed our thoughts concerning his dealings.
We said, " It is enough ; these things are not
against me : surely goodness and mercy shall fol
low me all the days of my life."



206 THE SAINT AND HIS SAVIOUR.

We might to this hour have been mindful of our
agonies, if the succeeding joy had not obliterated
all ; so that, like the woman after her deliverance,
" we remember no more the travail " for joy at the
result. If we had only felt the sore woundings of
his arm, and had never had a look at his sweet
loving face, we might have written hard things
against God as well as against ourselves ; but now
that he visiteth us in mercy, we gladly confess,
"Thou hast dealt well with thy servant, O Lord,
according unto thy word." When reaping the
fruit of that rough sowing, we repent most truly of
the impatience and unbelief which dared to lie
against the Lord, and accuse him of unkindness.
We retracted every word, and would have washed
those feet with tears which we had bespattered
with our vile suspicions, and kissed away every
stain which our unbelief had put upon his pure, un-
mingled love.

6. This cheering manifestation of mercy made
us full of love to the good ways of holiness, which
we then found to be exceedingly pleasant. Hence
forth we believe and know the king s highway to
be a path of peace ; and when at any time we lose
the happiness once enjoyed, we look back to the
time of love, and remembering how sweet was the
service of Jesus, we march forward with renewed
vigour. We had heard the vile calumny that reli
gion was a thing of misery and sadness, and that



JOY AT CONVERSION. 207

its followers were the companions of owls and
lovers of lamentation ; but the jubilant nature of
our reception into the house of the saints laid bare
the slander, and discovered the reverse of our
gloomy apprehensions. We thought that glens,
ravines, wildern esses, clouds, tempests, lions, dra
gons, and all kind of horrid things, were the sum-
total of Christian experience ; but instead thereof
we were " led forth with peace ;" where we feared
a wilderness we found a Sharon, and the oil of joy
was given us instead of the expected mourning.

We labour now to exhibit cheerfulness, since we
firmly believe that this recommends the way to the
wavering, and is the true method of honouring
the God of all consolation. " This world is a howl
ing wilderness to those alone who go howling
through it ;" but

" The men of grace have found

Glory begun below ;
Celestial fruits, on earthly ground,
From faith and hope may grow."

He who affirms that godliness is gloominess
knoweth not what he saith. The Lord desireth to
teach us, at the very beginning of our Christian
career, that he would have us be happy, happy
only in himself. He makes us glad when we are
but beginners, and little in Israel, that we may see
that we can be made blessed by simple faith, with-



208 THE SAINT AND HIS SAVIOUR.

out any other assistance. " Christians might avoid
much trouble," says Dr. Payson, " if they would
only believe what they profess that God is able
to make them happy without anything else. They
imagine, if such a dear friend were to die, or such
and such blessings to be removed, they should be
miserable ; whereas, God can make them a thou
sand times happier without them. To mention my
own case God has been depriving me of one bles
sing after another ; but as every one has been re
moved, he has come in and filled up its place ; and
now, when I am a cripple, and not able to move, I
am happier than ever I was in my life before, or
ever expected to be ; and if I had believed this
twenty years ago, I might have been spared much
anxiety." This is the very thing our very gracious
Jesus would teach us, if we were not so slow to
learn ; for, in the very first dawning of life, when
graces and virtues are not yet developed, he makes
himself so precious that we may ki.ow that he
alone is the fountain of delights, and the very soul
of rejoicing. He puts into us a constant love to his
ways, by that delightful advent which he gives us
at the very first step we take therein. It is of no
use for the infidel to tell us our course will not end
in bliss it began with it, and we are compelled to
believe that, if the same Jesus be Alpha and
Omega too, the end must be eternal happiness.
7. We may also regard these great delights as



JOY AT CONVERSION. 209

earnests of the future bliss of the righteous. A.
pledge assures the wavering, and confirms the
weak ; wisdom, therefore, bestows the earnest upon
the young believer that he may be rendered confi
dent of ultimate felicity. During our progress to
the celestial city, our Lord is pleased to refresh our
souls with sundry " drops of heaven," as the fore
taste of that glorious rest which remains for his
people, and this early joy is the first of a series of
antepasts of heaven which we hope to receive
while sojourning below. It is, so to speak, the
enlisting money wherewith the young recruit is
pledged to the king s service, and assured of his
bounty.

The Apostle Paul tells us that the holy spirit of
promise is the earnest of our inheritance. " The
original word, appaf3c,)v, seems properly to denote
the first part of the price that is paid in any con
tract as an earnest and security of the remainder,
and which therefore is not taken back, but kept till
the residue is paid to complete the whole sum." *
Such are the raptures of the newly -pardoned soul
tokens which he will keep for ever, as the first
instalment of an eternal weight of glory, and which
he may safely retain as a portion of his own inheri
tance. These spiritual joys are like the cluster of
grapes which, the spies brought from Eschol they

* Chandler.



210 THE SAINT AND HIS SAVIOUR.

are sweet in themselves, but they become more
delightful still when they are regarded as proofs
that the land of Canaan is fertile, and flowing with
milk and honey. Thus the rest of the Sabbath is
described by Stennet as " the antepast of heaven,"
and of its true enjoyment he says :

" This heavenly calm within the breast
Is the dear pledge of glorious rest,
"Which for the Church of God remains
The end of cares, the end of pains."

The last of the seers, whom we feel constrained
to quote in almost every page, makes " Hopeful "
victorious over the scoffing " Atheist " by the
simple expression, " What ! no Mount Zion ? Did
we not see from the Delectable Mountains the gate
of the city ?" These Sabbath mercies, delectable
views, and days of espousals, are a witness within
the believer which all the sneers of mail, the malice
of devils, and the doubts of corrupt nature cannot
disprove. Such things are designed to be the true
u internal evidence " of the power of the Gospel.

The ends and purposes of God which we have
mentioned are far from despicable, and when we
remember the marvellously pleasant process by
which such great effects are produced, we would
desire to ascribe honour to that eternal wisdom
which can use rich wines as well as bitter medicines
in the cure of souls.



JOT AT CONVERSION. 211

And now, reader, what dost thou say to these
things ? Hast thou tasted the " thousand sacred
sweets " which are afforded by the hill of Zion ?
Hast thou felt the " heaven begun below " of which
we have treated ? If thou hast not, then allow a
word of advice which may well be furnished from
the subject: "Never believe the falsehood which
pronounces true religion to le a miserable thing, for
a more ungrounded slander can never be imagined.
The godly have their trials as well as the rest of
the human family, but these are rather the effects
of sin than of grace. They find this world at times
a howling wilderness but then the manna from
above, arid the rock which follows them, combine
to prevent their howling as they pass through it,
and constrain the wilderness and the solitary place
to be glad for them. Some of them are of a sor
rowful countenance but their gloom is the result
of temperament rather than of religion, and if they
had more grace, the wrinkles upon their brows
might become fewer.

The Gospel is in itself "glad tidings of great
joy ; can you suppose that misery is the result of
that which is essentially joyful? The very pro
clamation of it is a theme for exulting song ; * how
much more the reception of it? If the hope of
reconciliation be a just ground of rejoicing, how

* Isa. Hi. 710



212 THE SAINT AND HIS SAVIOUR.

much more the actual agreement of the soul with
its God? "We rejoice in God through Jesus
Christ, by whom we have received the atone
ment."* To us there are express precepts given
to. "rejoice in the Lord alway."f And that the
exhortation might have its full weight, and not be
accounted hasty, it is solemnly repeated, " and
again I say, Rejoice." Hence, therefore, we may
safely conclude that the genuine right temper and
frame of a healthy Christian mind will be an
habitual joy fulness, prevailing over all the tempo
rary occasions of sorrow which in this life must
unavoidably beset us.

JSTo trial can be thought of so heavy as to out
weigh our great cause of joy; nor can the kingdom
of God ever be in its constitution, even when
attacked by the most furious assaults, anything
other than " righteousness, and peace, and joy in
the Holy Ghost." J " Nor," says Howe, in a letter
to the bereaved Lady Russell, "is this a theory
only, or the idea and notion of an excellent temper
of spirit, which we may contemplate indeed, but
can never attain to. For we find it also to have
been the attainment and usual temper of Christians
heretofore, that, 4 being justified by faith, and hav
ing peace with God, they have rejoiced, in hope
of the glory of God, unto that degree as even to

* Rom. v. 11. f Phil. iv. 4. \ 1 Thes. v. 16.



JOY AT CONVERSION. 213

1 glory in their tribulations also ; * and in the con
fidence that they should be kept by the power of
God through faith unto salvation, they have there
fore { greatly rejoiced, though with some mixture
of heaviness (whereof there was need) from their
manifold trials. But that their joy did surmount
and prevail over their heaviness is manifest, for
this is spoken of with much diminution, whereas
they are said to rejoice greatly J and with joy
unspeakable and full of glory. " f

If, when the believer is but a feeble thing, " car
ried away by every wind," he is, despite his weak
ness, able to rise to raptures of joy, who shall dare
to suppose him unhappy when he has become
strong in faith and mighty in grace ? If the porch
of godliness be paved with gold, what must be the
interior of the palace ? If the very hedgerows of
her garden are laden with fruit, what shall we not
find on the goodly trees in the centre ? The blade
yieldeth much, shall the ear be empty ? Nay, " the
ways of the Lord are right," and those who walk
therein are blessed. Think not otherwise of them,
but as you wish to share their " last end," think
well also of the way which leadeth thither.

May the Lord direct his children, by his Holy
Spirit, in reviewing this subject by prayer, to give
all the glory of their mercies to the adorable per
son of Jesus. Amen.

* Rom. v. 1, 3. f 1 Pet. i. 5, 6, 8.



TO THE TJNCOETEKTED KEADEK.



FKIEND, We have been answering questions
concerning a joy with which thou canst not inter-
meddle^for thou art, to thine own loss and shame,
a stranger from the commonwealth of Israel. But
thou too hast a question or two which it were well
to ask thyself. Whence that misery of which thou
art at time s the victim ? Why dost thou tremble
under an arousing sermon ? Why doth the funeral
knell grate on thine ear? What makes thy knees
knock together at the sound of thunder? Why
dost thou quiver at nightfall, though a leaf, all soli
tary, was the only thing which stirred within many
a yard of thee? Why dost thou feel such alarm
when pestilence is abroad ? Why so anxious after
a hundred remedies ? Why so fearful if thou art
but sick an hour ? Why so unwilling to visit the
grave of thy companion? Answer this, O soul,
without reserve ! Is it not that thou art afraid to
die ? It is ! thou knowest it is !

214



JOY AT CONVERSION. 215

But, O my friend, fear death as much as thou
wilt, thou canst not escape it. On his pale horse
he is pursuing thee at no lame pace, but at a rate
which thou mayst guess of by the wind or the flash
ing lightning. Noiseless is the wing of time, dumb
is the lip of death ; but time is none the less rapid
for its silence, and death not one whit the more
uncertain because he trumpets not his coming.
Remember, while thou art fearing, the messenger
is hastening to arrest thee. Every moment now
gliding away is another moment lost, and lost to
one who little can afford it x Oh ! ere the wax hath
cooled which is sealing thy death-warrant, list to a
warning from God, for if the book of thy doom be
once sealed, it shall never be opened for erasure or
inscription. Hear Moses and the prophets, and
then hear the great Jesus speak : " The soul that
sinneth it shall die." " He will by no means spare
the guilty." " Cursed is every one that continueth
not in all things that are written in the book of the
law to do them." " Behold the day cometh that
shall burn as an oven, and all the proud, yea, and
ALL THAT DO WICKEDLY, shall be stubble ; and the
day that cometh shall burn them up, saith the Lord
of Hosts, that it shall leave them neither root nor
branch." Regard then the voice of Jesus, full of
mercy : " The Son of Man is come to seek and to
save that which was lost"



216 THE SAINT AND HIS SAVIC0R.

" Sinner, is thy heart at rest ?
Is thy bosom void of fear ?
Art thou not by guilt oppress d ?
Speaks not conscience in thine ear ?

" Can this world afford thee bliss ?
Can it chase away thy gloom ?
Flattering, false, and rain it is ;
Tremble at the worldling s doom.

" Long the Gospel thou hast spurn d,
Long delay d to love thy God,
Stifled conscience, nor hast turn d,
"Woo d though by a Saviour s blood.

" Think, sinner ! on thy end !
See the judgment-day appear ;
Thither must thy spirit wend,
There thy righteous sentence hear.

" Wretched, ruin d, helpless soul,
To a Saviour s blood apply ;
He alone can make thee whole
Fly to Jesus, sinner, fly." *

* Waterbury.



YI.
COMPLETE IN CHRIST,



" Ye are complete in Him." COL. ii. 10.

THE pardoned sinner for awhile is content with
the boon of forgiveness, and is too overjoyed with
a sense of freedom from bondage to know a wish
oeyond. In a little time, however, he bethinks
himself of his position, his wants, and his pros
pects: what is then his rapture at the discovery
that the roll of his pardon is also an indenture of
all wealth, a charter of all privileges, a title-deed
of all needed blessings ! Having received Christ,
he hath obtained all things in him. He looketh to
that cross upon which the dreadful handwriting of
ordinances hath been nailed; to his unutterable
surprise he beholds it blossom with mercy, and like
a tree of life bring forth the twelve manner of
fruits yea, all that he requires for life, for death,
for time, or for eternity. Lo ! at the foot of the
once accursed tree grow plants for his healing, and

10 m



218 THE SAINT AND HIS SAVIOUR.

flowers for his delight; from the bleeding feet of
the Redeemer flows directing love to lead him all
the desert through from the pierced side there
gushes cleansing water to purge him from the
power of sin the nails become a means of secur
ing him to righteousness, while above the crown
hangs visible as the gracious reward of persever
ance. All things are in the cross by this we
conquer, by this we live, by this we are purified,
by this we continue firm to the end. While sitting
beneath the shadow of our Lord, we think our
selves most rich, for angels seem to sing, " Ye are
complete in him."

" COMPLETE IN HIM !" - precious sentence !
sweeter than honey to our soul, we would adore
the Holy Spirit for dictating such glorious words
to his servant Paul. Oh ! may we by grace be
made to see that they really are ours for ours
they are if we answer to the character described in
the opening verses of the Epistle to the Colossians.
If we have faith in Christ Jesus, love towards all
the saints, and a hope laid up in heaven, we may
grasp this golden sentence as all our own. Reader,
hast thou been able to follow in that which has
already been described as the " way which leads
from banishment?" Then thou mayst take this
choice sentence to thyself as a portion of thine
inheritance ; for weak, poor, helpless, unworthy
though thou be in thyself, in Him, thy Lord, thy



COMPLETE IN CHRIST. 219

Redeemer, thou art complete in the fullest, broad
est, and most varied sense of that mighty word,
and thou wilt be glad to muse upon the wonders
of this glorious position. May the great Teacher
guide us into this mystery of the perfection of the
elect in Jesus, and may our meditation be cheer
ing and profitable to our spirits ! As the words
are few, let us dwell on them, and endeavor to
gain the sweets which lie so compactly within this
little cell.

Pause over those two little words, " in Him "
in Christ ! Here is the doctrine of union and one
ness with Jesus a doctrine of undoubted truth
and unmingled comfort. The Church is so allied
with her Lord that she is positively one with him.
She is the bride, and He the bridegroom ; she is
the branch, and He the stem ; she the body, and
He the glorious Head. So also is every individual
believer united to Christ. As Levi lay in the loins
of Abraham when Melchisedek met him, so was
every believer chosen in Christ, and blessed with
all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in him.
We have been spared, protected, converted, justi
fied, and accepted solely and entirely by virtue of
our eternal union with Christ.

Never can the convinced soul obtain peace until,
like Ruth, she finds rest in the house of her kins
man, who becomes her husband Jesus the Lord.



220 THE SAINT AND HIS SAVIOUR.

An eminent pastor, lately deceased,* said in one
of his sermons, " Now, I am as sure as I am of my
own existence that wherever God the Holy Ghost
awakens the poor sinner by his mighty grace, and
imparts spiritual life in his heart, nothing will ever
satisfy that poor sinner but a believing assurance
of eternal union with Christ. Unless the soul ob
tains a sweet and satisfactory consciousness of it in
the exercise of a living faith, it will never < enter
into rest this side eternity."

It is from oneness with Christ before all worlds
that we receive all our mercies. Faith is the pre
cious grace which discerns this eternal union, and
cements it by another a vital union ; so that we
become one, not merely in the eye of God, but in
our own happy experience one in aim, one in
heart, one in holiness, one in communion, and, ulti
mately, one in glory.

This manifest union is not more real and actual
than the eternal union of which it is the revela
tion ; it does not commence the union, nor does its
obscurity or clearness in the least affect the cer
tainty or safety of the immutable oneness subsist
ing between Jesus and the believer. It is emi
nently desirable that every saint should attain a
full assurance of his union to Christ, and it is ex
ceedingly important that he should labour to main

* Rev. Joseph Irons, CamberwelL



COMPLETE IN CHRIST. 221

tain a constant sense thereof; for although the
mercy be the same, yet his comfort from it will
vary according to his apprehension of it. A land
scape is as fair by night as by day, but who can
perceive its beauties in the dark ? even so we
must see, or rather believe, this union to rejoice
in it.

E~o condition out of Paradise can be more
blessed than that which is produced by a lively
sense of oneness with Jesus. To know and feel
that our interests are mutual, our bonds indissolu
ble, and our lives, united, is indeed to dip our
morsel in the golden dish of heaven. There is no
sweeter canticle for mortal lips than the sweet
song, " My beloved is mine, and I am His :"

" E en like two bank-dividing brooks,
That wash the pebbles with their wanton streams,
And, having rang d and search d a thousand nooks,
Meet both at length in silver-breasted Thames,
Where in a greater current they conjoin ;
So I my best beloved s am, so he is mine."

Yerily the stream of life floweth along easily
enough when it is commingled with him who is our
life. Walking with our arm upon the shoulder of
the beloved is not simply safe, but delightful ; and
living with his life is a noble style of immortality,
which may be enjoyed on earth. But to be out of
Christ is misery, weakness, and death in short, it



222 THE SAINT AND HIS SAVIOUK.

is the bud, of which the full-blown flower is dam
nation. Apart from Jesus we have nothing save
fearful forebodings and terrible remembrances.
Beloved, there is no Gospel promise which is ours
unless we know what it is to be in Him. Out of
him all is poverty, woe, sorrow, and destruction :
it is only in him, the ark of his elect, that we can
hope to enjoy covenant mercies, or rejoice in the
sure blessings of salvation. Can we now entertain
a hope that we are really hidden in the rock ? Do
we feel that we are a portion of Christ s body, and
that a real union exists between us? Then may
we proceed to unfold and appropriate the privi
leges here mentioned.

Ye are complete in Him. The word " complete "
does not convey the whole of Tre-nvb/pw/zei oj. It is
upon the whole the best word which can be found
in our language, but its meaning may be further
unveiled by the addition of other auxiliary read
ings.

I. YE ARE COMPLETE IN HIM. Let us consider
the meaning of the phrase as it thus stands in our
own authorised version. We are complete. In all
matters which concern our spiritual welfare, and
our soul s salvation, we are complete in Christ.

1. Complete without the aid of Jewish ceremo
nies. These had their uses. They were pictures
wherewith the law, as a schoolmaster, taught the
infant Jewish church; but now that faith is



COMPLETE IN CHRIST. 223

come, we are no longer under a schoolmaster, for
in the clear light of Christian knowledge wo need
not the aid of symbols :

"Finished are the types and shadows
Of the ceremonial law."

The one sacrifice has so atoned for us that we need
no other. In Christ we are complete without any
addition of circumcision, sacrifice, passover, or
temple service. These are now but beggarly ele
ments. They would be incumbrances for what
can we need from them when we are complete in
Christ? What have we to do with moon or stars,
now that Christ hath shone forth like the sun in his
strength ? Let the dim lamps be quenched they