THE UNSEARCHABLE RICHES OF CHRIST.

to bow with thankfulness to the revelation of the great Jehovah, by whose unsearchable wisdom and mercy the plan of our redemption was formed: we are ready to acknowledge with reverence, that "great is the mystery of godliness; God was manifest in the flesh."*

3. Intimately connected with this consideration is the recollection of God's exceeding love towards us, in that "while we were yet sinners Christ died for us."† In our very state of guilt and rebellion it was, that He came into the world; that He did and suffered so much, "to seek and to save that which was lost." Suppose that man had never transgressed; and that God had sent an angel, to shew him the way to a happier and higher condition, than that in which he was created: this would have been an act of free and undeserved mercy; but that He should have sent His beloved Son, to" suffer for sins, the just for the unjust," to be born and to tabernacle in a world of guilt and

1 Tim. iii. 16, † Rom. v. 8. 1 Pet. iii. 18.

THE UNSEARCHABLE RICHES OF CHRIST.

sorrow; to be exposed to rejection and scorn, to indignity and cruelty ; to endure the conflicts of Satan and the bitterest agonies of death; this was indeed an act of love, surpassing the bounds of thought; a mystery of goodness "into which angels desire to look," but cannot penetrate. Every believing soul must be overpowered by such a contemplation; must be lost in wonder, love, and praise.

4. Nor can we learn the manner or degree, in which our merciful Lord is at this moment bestowing blessings upon His Church, and upon every individual believer. When He ascended up to heaven, His work of mediation was not finished; He then took upon Him the office of interceding for His people in all ages: presenting their prayers, and desires, and all their services, for acceptance at the throne of grace; pleading His merits for them; observing all their necessities and wants; and sending His holy spirit and His holy angels, to minister to their infirmities: not a wounded spirit, but He is still ready to

bind up and heal; not a sigh from a contrite heart, but He knows and answers; not a child of ignorance, but He is willing to instruct; not a returning prodigal, but He meets; not a prayer or thanksgiving, not a godly thought or wish, of a sincere worshipper and pious servant, but He accepts and blesses: He is ever with us, though unseen; with us by His providence and grace; "about our bed and about our path;" pouring his benefits upon us, temporal and spiritual: yea upon all His people, at every moment of time, throughout the whole world. We are lost in this mystery of mercy-we can but believe, and gratefully apply the benefit to our souls.

5. And what are the privileges of Christ's redeemed people? What their present state, what their glorious inheritance? How unsearchable both the one and the other! The humble believer, the repenting sinner, the sincere and faithful servant derives, from the fountain of mercy which is opened unto him, a perpetual stream of

THE UNSEARCHABLE RICHES OF CHRIST.

increasing satisfaction and delight; he finds, that "there is no end thereof;" that it is a fountain, which he never can fathom. The sense of pardon and reconciliation with God affords a comfort to his soul, which flows the more abundantly, the longer he dwells upon it; as he journies onward in the way of salvation, his hopes are more enlivened, and his fears more calmed; even when he began to walk with his God, he felt that all around him was joy, and deemed his recompence in this life amply sufficient; but, at every step he advances in communion with his God and Saviour, he perceives more and more that "His ways are ways of pleasantness and all His paths are peace;"* and this experience will be enlarged the longer he lives, even beyond his present anticipation. The word of God has fresh stores for him every day; of knowledge, of comfort, and of grace: the Spirit of God has fresh supplies; to succour his infirmities, to elevate him in Prov. iii. 17.

prayer and meditation, to guide him in perplexity, to strengthen him in trial, to console him in trouble and affliction, to raise him above the world, and place his affections in heaven. Thus will his joy in the Lord increase, till he comes to the end of his pilgrimage: and, in the end, the riches of redeeming love will be infinitely enhanced: who shall number or declare them? Which of us can now understand the preciousness of a Christian's hope, the comfort of a Christian's peace, at that hour, when his soul is struggling for departure? Who can now enter, as the dying man does, into the vast difference between the bright hope of being saved, and the gloomy fear of being lost; between the prospect of being for ever with the Lord, and the dismal foreboding of the terrors of the evil one? We have now but a slight conception of the feelings and views, in that momentous hour; but we shall one day know: God grant that the knowledge may be peace!