would but mock the dawn, and the sunlight would
deride their unneeded glimmerings; We despise
not the ceremonial law it was u the shadow of
good things to come," and as such we venerate it ;
but now that the substance hath appeared, we are
not content with guesses of grace, but we grasp
him who is grace and truth. How much more
highly are we favoured than the ancient believers,
for they by daily offerings confessed themselves to
be incomplete ! They could never stay their hand
and say, " It is enough," for daily sin demanded
daily lambs for the altar. The Jews were never
made complete by their law, for their rites " could
never make the comers thereunto perfect ;" but



224 THE SAINT AND HIS SAVIOUR.

this is our peculiar and superior privilege, that we
are perfected by the one offering on Calvary.

2. We are complete without the help of philo
sophy. In Paul s time, there were some who
thought that philosophy might be used as a supple
ment to faith. They argued, contended, and mys
tified every doctrine of revelation. Happy would
it have been for them and the Church had they
heeded the words of Paul, and kept entirely to
the simplicity of the Gospel, glorying only in the
cross of Christ ! The Christian has such a sub
lime system of doctrine that he never need to fear
the vain speculations of an infidel science, nor
need he ever call in the sophisms of the worldly
wise to prop his faith in Christ he is complete.
We have never heard of a dying believer asking
the aid of a worldly philosophy to give him words
of comfort in the hour of dissolution. JSTo ! he has
enough in his own religion enough in the person of
his Redeemer enough in the comforts of the Holy
Ghost. Never let us turn aside from the faith be
cause of the sneer of the learned : this Christian
will not, cannot do for we see that eternal evi
dence in our religion which we may call its best
proof, namely, the fact that in it we are complete.

No man can add anything to the religion of
Jesus. All that is consistent with truth is already
incorporated in it, and with that which is not true
it can form no alliance There is nothing new in



COMPLETE IN CHRIST. 225

theology save that which is false. Those who seek
to improve the Gospel of Jesus do but deface it. It
is so perfect in itself that all additions to it are but
excrescences of error ; and it renders us so com
plete that aught we join with it is supererogation,
or worse than that. David would not go to the
fight in Saul s armour, for he had not proved it ;
so can we say, " the sling and stone are to us abun
dant weapons ; as for the mail of philosophy, we
leave that for proud Goliahs to wear." One of the
most evil signs of our day is its tendency to ration
alism, spiritualism, and multitudes of other means
of beclouding the simple faith of our Lord Jesus :
but the Lord s chosen family will not be beguiled
from their steadfastness, which is the only hope of
an heretical generation ; for they know whom they
have believed, and will not renounce their confi
dence in him for the sophistries of the " wise and
prudent."

3. Complete without the inventions of supersti
tion. God is the author of all revealed and spirit
ual religion ; but man would write an appendix.
There must be works of supererogation, deeds of
penance, acts of mortification, or else the poor
papist can never be perfected. Yea, when he has
most vigorously applied the whip, when he has
fasted even to physical exhaustion, when he has
forfeited all that is natural to man yet he is never
sure that he has done enough, he can never say

10*



226 THE SAINT AND HIS SAVIOUR.

that lie is complete; but the Christian, without
any of these, feels that he has gained a consumma
tion by those last words of his Saviour " It is
finished !" The blood of his agonising Lord is his
only and all-sufficient trust. He despises alike the
absolutions and the indulgences of priest or pontiff;
he tramples on the refuge of lies which the de
ceiver has builded his glory and his boast ever
centring in the fact that he is complete in Christ.
Let but this sentence be preached throughout the
earth, and believed by the inhabitants thereof, and
all the despots on its surface could not buttress the
tottering church of Home, even for a single hour.
Men would soon cry out, " Away with the usurper !
away with her pretensions ! there is all in Christ ;
and what can she add thereto, saving her mum
meries, pollutions, and corrupt abominations."

4. We are complete without human merit, our
own works being regarded as filthy rags. How
many there are who, while waxing warm against
popery, are fostering its principles in their own
minds ! The very marrow of popery is reliance on
our own works ; and in God s sight the formalist
and legalist are as contemptible, if found in an
orthodox church, as if they were open followers of
Antichrist. Brethren, let us see to it that we are
resting alone in the righteousness of Jesus, that he
is all in all to us. Let us never forget that if we
are perfect in him, we are perfect only in him.



COMPLETE IN CHKIST. 227

"While we would diligently cultivate works of holi
ness, let us be careful lest we seek to add to the
perfect work of Jesus. The robe of righteousness
that nature spins and weaves is too frail a fabric to
endure the breath of the Almighty, we must, there
fore, cast it all away creature doings must not be
united with, or regarded as auxiliary to Divine
satisfaction.

We would be holy, even as God is, but we are
still confident that this will not be supplementing
the great righteousness which is ours by imputa
tion. ~No ; though compassed with sin and sur
rounded by our depravity, we know that we are so
complete in Jesus that we could not be more so,
even were we free from all these things, and glori
fied as the spirits of just men made perfect.

Blessed completely through the God-man, let our
unbelief be ashamed, and let our admiration be
fastened upon this interesting and delightful state
of privilege. Arise, believer ! and behold thyself
" perfect in Christ Jesus." Let not thy sins shake
thy faith in the all-sufficiency of Jesus. Thou art,
with all thy depravity, still in him, and therefore
complete. Thou hast need of nothing beyond
what there is in him. In him thou art at this
moment just, in him entirely clean, in him an
object of divine approval and eternal love. Now,
as thou art, and where thou art, thou art still com
plete. Feeble, forgetful, frail, fearful, and fickle in



228 THE SAINT AND HIS SAVIOUK.

thyself, yet in Him thou art, all that can be
desired. Thine unrighteousness is covered, thy
righteousness is accepted, thy strength is perfected,
safety secured, and thy heaven certain. Rejoice,
then, that thou art " Complete in him." Look on
thine own nothingness and be humble, but look at
Jesus, thy great representative, and be glad. Be
not so intent upon thine own corruptions as to for
get his immaculate purity, which he has given to
thee. Be not so mindful of thine original poverty
as to forget the infinite riches which he has con
ferred upon thce. It will save thee many pangs if
thou wilt learn to think of thyself as being in Him,
and as being by his glorious grace accepted in him,
and perfect in Christ Jesus.

II. YE ABE FULLY SUPPLIED IN HIM. Having
him, we have all that we can possibly require. The
man of God is thoroughly furnished in the posses
sion of his great Saviour. He never need to look
for anything beyond, for in him all is treasured.
Do we need forgiveness for the past ? Pardons,
rich and free, are with Jesus. Grace to cover all
our sin is there ; grace to rise above our follies and
our faults. Is it wisdom which we lack ? He is
made of God unto us wisdom. His finger shall
point out our path in the desert ; his rod and staff
shall keep us in the way when we walk through
the valley of the shadow of death. In our com-



COMPLETE IN CHRIST.

bats with the foe do we feel want of strength f Is
he not Jehovah, mighty to save? Will he not
increase power unto the faint, and succour the
fallen ? Need we go to Assyria, or stay on Egypt,
for help ? Nay, these are broken reeds. Surely,
in the Lord Jehovah have we righteousness and
strength. The battle is before us, but we tremble
not at the foe ; we feel armed at all points, clad in
impenetrable mail, for we are fully supplied in him.
Do we deplore our ignorance ? He will give us
knowledge / He can open our ear to listen to mys
teries unknown. Even babes shall learn the won
ders of his grace, and children shall be taught of
the Lord. No other teacher is required ; He is
alone efficient and all-sufficient. Are we at times
distressed ? We need not inquire for comfort, for
in him, the consolation of Israel, there are fats full
of the oil of joy, and rivers of the wine of thanks
giving. The pleasures of the world are void to us,
for we have infinitely more joy than they can give
in Him who has made us complete.

Ah ! my reader, whatever exigencies may arise,
we shall never need to say, "We have searched.

/ >

but cannot find what we require ; for it is, and ever
shall be, found in the storehouse of mercy, even 1n
Jesus Christ." " It hath pleased the Father that
in him should all fulness dwell ;" and truly none of
the saints have ever complained of any failure in
Him. Tens of thousands of them have drawn from



230 THE SAINT AND HIS SAVIOUR.

this sacred well, yet is it as full as ever, and all
who come to it are supplied with the full measure
of their necessities. Jesus is not one single sprig
of myrrh, but " a bundle of myrrh is my beloved
unto me ;" * not one rnercy, but a string of mer
cies, for " my beloved is unto me as a cluster of
camphire." " In Christ is a cluster of all spiritual
blessings, all the blessings of the everlasting cove
nant are in his hands and at his disposal ; and
saints are blessed with all spiritual blessings in
heavenly places in him. He is the believer s wis
dom, righteousness, sanctification, and redemption.
There is not a mercy we want but is in him, or a
blessing we enjoy but what we have received from
him. He is the believer s all in all. 1 " f The
word translated " complete " is used by Demos
thenes in describing a ship as fully manned and
truly the Christian s ship, from prow to stern, is
well manned by her captain, who himself steers the
vessel, stills the storm, feeds the crew, fills the sails,
and brings all safe to their desired haven. In
every position of danger or duty, Christ himself is
all-sufficient for protection or support. Under
every conceivable or inconceivable trial, we shall
find in him sufficient grace: should every earthly
stream be dried, there is enough in him, in the
absence of them all. His glorious person is the

Sol. Song, i. 13, 14. f Dr. Gill.



COMPLETE IN CHRIST. 231

dwelling-place of all-sufficiency. " In him dwell-
eth all the fulness of the Godhead bodily ;" as the
fulness of Deity is sufficient to create and sustain a
universe of pondrous orbs, and whole worlds of
living creatures, can it be supposed that it will be
found unable to supply the necessities of saints ?
Such a fear would be as foolish as if a man should
tremble lest the atmosphere should prove too little
for his breath, or the rivers too shallow for his
thirst. To imagine the riches of the incarnate
God to fail, would be to conceive a bankrupt
God, or a wasted infinite. Therefore, let us set
up our banners in his name, and exceedingly
rejoice.

III. A third reading is YE ARE SATISFIED IN
HIM. Satisfaction is a jewel rare and precious.
Happy is the merchant-man who finds it. We
may seek it in riches , but it lieth not there. "We
may heap up gold and silver, pile on pile, until we
are rich beyond the dream of avarice, then thrust
our hands into our bags of gold, and search there
for satisfaction, but we have it not. Our heart,
like the horseleech, crieth, " Give, give." We may
erect the palace and conquer mighty nations, but
among the trophies which decorate the hall, there
is not that precious thing which worlds cannot buy.
But give us Christ, let us be allied to him, and our
heart is satisfied. We are content in poverty we



232 THE SAINT AND HIS SAYIOPK.

are rich ; in distress we have all, and abound. We
are full, for we are satisfied in him.

Again, let us explore the fields of knowledge / let
us separate ourselves, and intermeddle with all
wisdom ; let us dive into the secrets of nature ; let
the heavens yield to the telescope, and the earth to
our research ; let us turn the ponderous tome and
pore over the pages of the mighty folio ; let us take
our seat among the wise, and become professors of
science : but, alas ! we soon shall loathe it all, for
" much study is a weariness of the flesh." But let
us turn again to the fountain-head, and drink of the
waters of revelation : we are then satisfied. What
ever the pursuit may be, whether we invoke the
trump of fame to do us homage, and bid our fel
lows offer the incense of honour, or pursue the
pleasures of sin, and dance a giddy round of merri
ment, or follow the less erratic movements of
commerce, and acquire influence among men, we
shall still be disappointed, we shall have still an
aching void, an emptiness within; but when we
gather up our straying desires, and bring them to
a focus at the foot of Calvary, we feel a solid
satisfaction, of which the world cannot deprive
us.

Among the sons of men there are not a few of
restless spirit, whose uneasy souls are panting for
an unknown good, the want of which they feel, but
the nature of which they do not comprehend.



COMPLETE IN CHRIST. 233

These will hurry from country to country, to do lit
tle else but attempt a hopeless escape from them
selves ; they will flit from pleasure to pleasure,
with the only gain of fresh grief from repeated dis
appointments. It were hard indeed to compound
a medicine for minds thus diseased. Yerily, the
aromatics and balms of Araby, or the islands of
the sea, might be exhausted ere the elixir of satis
faction could be distilled, and every mystic name
in the vocabulary of the wise might be tried in vain
to produce the all-precious charm of quiet. But in
the Gospel we find the inestimable medicine al
ready compounded, potent enough to allay the most
burning fever, and still the most violent palpita
tions of the heart. This we speak from experience,
for we too were once, like the unclean spirit " seek
ing rest and finding none ;" we once groaned for an
unseen something, which in all our joys we could
not find, and now, by God s great love, we have
found the water which has quenched our thirst it
is that which Jesus gives, " the living water " of his
grace. We revel in the sweets of the name of
Jesus, and long for nought beside. Like Naphtali,
we are satisfied with favour, and full of the bless
ing of the Lord. Like Jacob, we exclaim, "It is
enough." The soul is anchored, the desire is " sa
tiated with fatness," the whole man is rich to all the
intents of bliss, and looketh for nothing more. Al
len, in his Heaven Opened, represents the believer



234: THE SAINT AND HIS SAVIOUK.

as soliloquising in the following joyous manner :
" O happy soul, how rich art thou ! What a booty
have I gotten ! It is all mine own, I have the
promises of this life, and of that which is to come.
Oh ! what can I wish more ? How full a charter
is here ! Now, my doubting soul may boldly and
believingly say with Thomas, My Lord and my
God. What need we any further witness ? We
have heard his words. He hath sworn by his holi
ness that his decree may not be changed, and hath
signed it with his own signet. And now return to
thy rest, O my soul ! for the Lord hath dealt boun
tifully with thee. Say, if thy lines be not fallen to
thee in a pleasant place, and if this be not a goodly
heritage ? blasphemous discontent ! how absurd
and unreasonable an evil art thou, whom all the
fulness of the Godhead cannot satisfy, because thou
art denied in a petty comfort, or crossed in thy vain
expectations from the world ! O my unthankful
soul, shall not a Trinity content thee ? Shall not
all-sufficiency suffice thee? Silence, ye murmur
ing thoughts, for ever. I have enough, I abound,
and arn full. Infiniteness and eternity is mine, and
what more can I ask ?"

Oh may we constantly dwell on the blissful sum
mit of spiritual content, boasting continually in the
completeness of our salvation IN HIM, and may we
ever seek to live up to our great and inestimable
privilege ! Let us live according to our rank and



COMPLETE IN CHKIST. 235

quality, according to the riches conveyed to us by
the eternal covenant. As great princes are so
arrayed that you can read their estates in their
garments, and discern their riches by their tables,
so let our daily carriage express to others the value
which we set upon the blessings of grace. A mur
mur is a rag which is ill-suited to be the dress of a
soul possessed of Jesus ; a complaining spirit is too
mean a thing for an heir of all things to indulge.
Let worldlings see that our Jesus is indeed a suffi
cient portion. As for those of us who are continu
ally filled with rejoicing, let us be careful that our
company and converse are in keeping with our
high position. Let our satisfaction with Christ
beget in us a spirit too noble to stoop to the base
deeds of ungodly men. Let us live among the gen
eration of the just; let us dwell in the courts of
the great King, behold his face, wait at his throne,
bear his name, show forth his virtues, set forth his
praises, advance his honour, uphold his interest,
and reflect his image. It is not becoming that
princes of the blood should herd with beggars, or
dress as they do ; let all believers, then, come out
from the world, and mount the hills of high arid
holy living ; so shall it be proved that they are
content with Christ, when they utterly forsake the
broken cisterns.

IV. The text bears within it another meaning



236 THE SAINT AND HIS SAVIOUK.

YE are FILLED IN HIM : so Wickliffe translated it,
"QUtfc v ben filltfr in $nm." A possession of
Jesus in the soul is a filling thing. Our great
Creator never intended that the heart should be
empty, and hence he has stamped upon it the
ancient rule that nature abhors a vacuum. The
soul can never be quiet until in every part it is
fully occupied. It is as insatiable as the grave,
until it finds every corner of its being filled with
treasure. Now, it can be said of Christian salva
tion, that it, and it alone, can fill the mind. Man
is a compound being, and while one portion of his
being may be full, another may be empty. There
is nothing which can fill the whole man save the
possession of Christ.

The man of hard calculation, the lover of facts,
may feast his head and starve his heart ; the senti
mentalist may fill up his full measure of emotion, and
destroy his understanding ; the poet may render
his imagination gigantic, and dwarf his judgment ;
the student may render his brain the very refine
ment of logic, and his conscience may be dying :
but give us Christ for our study, Christ for our
science, Christ for our pursuit, and our whole man
is filled, In his religion we find enough to exercise
the faculties of the most astute reasoner, while yet
our heart, by the contemplation, shall be warmed
yea, made to burn within us. In him we find
room for imagination s utmost stretch, while yet his



COMPLETE IN CHRIST. 237

kind hand preserves us from wild and romantic
visions. He can satisfy our soul in its every part.
Our whole man feels that his truth is our soul s
proper food, that its powers were made to appropri
ate Him, while He is so constituted that he is
adapted to its every want. Herein lies the fault
of all human systems of religion, they do but sub
jugate and enlist a portion of the man ; they light
up with doubtful brilliance one single chamber of
his soul, and leave the rest in darkness ; they cover
him in one part, and allow the biting frost to be
numb and freeze the other, until the man feels that
something is neglected, for he bears a gnawing
within him which his false religion cannot satisfy.
But let the glorious Gospel of the blessed Jesus
come into the man, let the Holy Spirit apply the
word with power, and the whole man is filled
every nerve, like the string of a harp, is wound up
and gives forth melody every power blesses God
every portion is lighted up with splendour, and
the man exclaims

" There rest, my long divided soul,
Fixed on this mighty centre, rest."

"Shaddai," the Lord all-sufficient, is a portion
large enough to afford us fulness of joy and peace.
In Him, as well as in his house, " there is bread
enough and to spare." In the absence of all other
good things, he is an overflowing river of mercy,



238 THE SAINT AND HIS SAVIOUR.

and when other blessings are present, they owe all
their value to Him. He makes our cup so full that
it runneth over, and so he is just what man s insa
tiable heart requires. It is a fact which all men
must acknowledge, that we are never full till we
run over the soul never has enough till it has
more than enough ; while we can contain, and
measure, and number our possessions, we are not
quite so rich as we desire. Pauperis est numerare
pecuswe count ourselves poor so long as we can
count our wealth. We are never satisfied till we
have more than will satisfy us. But in Jesus
there is that superabundance, that lavish richness,
that outdoing of desire, that we are obliged to
exclaim, " It is enough Tm filled to the
brim"

How desirable is that state of mind which makes
every part of the soul a spring of joys ! The most
of men have but one well of mirth within them ;
according to their temperament, they derive their
happiness from different powers of the mind one
from bold imagination, another from solitary medi
tation, and a third from memory ; but the believer
has many wells and many palm-trees, for all that is
within him is blessed by God. As the waters cov
er the sea, so has Divine grace flooded every por
tion of his being. He has no " aching void," no
"salt land, and not inhabited," no " clouds without
rain ;" but where once were disappointment and



COMPLETE IN CHRIST. 239

discontent, there are now " pleasures for evermore,"
for the soul is " filled in Him."

Seek then, beloved Christian reader, to know
more and more of Jesus. Think not that thou art
master of the science of Christ crucified. Thou
knowest enough of him to be supremely blest ; but
thou art even now but at the beginning. Notwith
standing all thou hast learned of him, remember
thou hast but read the child s first primer; thou
art as yet on one of the lower forms ; thou hast not
yet a degree in the sacred college. Thou hast but
dipped the sole of thy foot in that stream wherein
the glorified are now swimming. Thou art but a
gleaner thou hast not at present handled the
sheaves with which the ransomed return to Zion.
King Jesus hath not showed thee all the treasures
of his house, nor canst thou more than guess the
value of the least of his jewels. Thou hast at this
moment a very faint idea of the glory to which thy
Redeemer has raised thee, or the completeness with
which he has enriched thee. Thy joys are but sips
of the cup, but crumbs from under the table. Up
then to thine inheritance, the land is before thee,
walk through and survey the lot of thine inherit
ance ; but this know, that until thou hast washed
in Jordan, thou shalt be but as a beginner, not only
in the whole science of Divine love, but even in
this one short but comprehensive lesson, " COMPLETE
ra HIM."



TO THE UNCONVERTED READER.



FRIEND, "We will venture one assertion, in the
full belief that thou canst not deny it tJiou art not
entirely satisfied. Thou art one of the weary-foot
ed seekers of a joy which thou wilt never find out
of Christ. Oh ! let this chapter teach thee to fore
go thy vain pursuit, and look in another direction.
Be assured that, as hitherto thy chase has been a
disappointment, so shall it continue to the end un
less thou dost run in another manner. Others have
digged the mines of worldly pleasure, and have
gained nothing but anguish and despair ; wilt thou
search again where others have found nothing?
Let the experience of ages teach thee the fallacy
of human hopes, and let thine own failures warn
thee of new attempts.

But hark ! sinner, all thou needest is in Christ,
He will fill thee, satisfy thee, enrich thee, and glad
den thee. Oh ! let thy friend beseech thee, " Taste
and see that the Lord is good."

840



VII.

LOVE TO JESUS.