III. JESUS DESIRED. "Oh that I knew where I might find him!"-JOB Xxiii. 3. A WHILE the woundings of Jesus are given in the dark, and we do not recognise the hand which smiteth us; but it is not always to be so. Incessant disappointments put us out of all heart with the former refuges of our souls, and renewed discoveries make us sadly aware of the superlative evil dwelling in our flesh; stripped thus of all covering without, and trembling at our own shameful impotence, we hail with gladness the news of a Saviour for sinners. As on the frail raft, the almost skeleton mariners, having long ago devoured their last morsel, raise themselves with all their remaining strength to catch a glimpse of a passing sail, if haply it may bring relief, so doth the dying sinner receive with eagerness the message of coming grace. He might have scorned the terms of mercy once, but like a city long besieged, he is now too glad to receive peace at any price. The grace which in his high estate he counted as a worthless thing, is now the great object of his combined desires. He pants to see the Man who is "mighty to save," and would count it honor to kiss his feet or unloose the latchet of his shoes. No cavilling at sovereignty, no murmuring at self-humiliation, no scorning the unpurchasable gifts of discriminating love; the man is too poor to be proud, too sick to struggle with his physician, too much afraid of death to refuse the king's pardon because it puts him under obligation. Happy is it for us if we understand this position of utter helplessness into which we must all be brought if we would know Christ! It is one of the strange things in the dealings of Jesus, that even when we arrive at this state of entire spiritual destitution, we do not always become at once the objects of his justifying grace. Long seasons frequently intervene between our knowledge of our ruin, our hearing of a deliverer, and the application of that deliverer's hand. The Lord's own called ones frequently turn their eyes to the hills, and find no help coming therefrom; yea, they wish to look unto him, but they are so blinded that they cannot discern him as their hope and consolation. This is not, as some would rashly conclude, because he is not the Saviour for such as they are. Far otherwise. Unbelief crieth out, "Ah! my vileness disqualifies me for Christ, and my exceeding sinfulness shuts out his love?" How foully doth unbelief lie when it thus slandereth the tender heart of Jesus! how inhumanly cruel it is when it thus takes the cup of salvation from the only lips which have a right to drink thereof! We have noticed in the preaching of the present day too much of a saint's gospel, and too little of a sinner's gospel. Honesty, morality, and goodness, are commended not so much as the marks of godliness, as the life of it; and men are told that as they sow, so they shall reap, without the absolutely necessary caveat that salvation is not of man, neither by man, and that grace cometh not to him that worketh, but to him that believeth on Him that justifieth the ungodly. Not thus spake our ancient preachers when in all its fullness they declared "Not the righteous, not the righteous— The words of a much calumniated preacher are not less bold than true: "There is nothing in men, though never so vile, that can debar a person from a part in Christ. Some will not have Christ, except they can pay for him; others dare not meddle with Christ, because they are such vile and wretched creatures, that they think it impossible that Christ should belong to such wretched persons as they are. You know not (saith one) what an abominable sinner I am; you look upon others, and their sins are but ordinary, but mine are of a deep dye, and I shall die in them: the rebellion of my heart is another kind of rebellion than is in others. Beloved, let me tell you freely from the Lord, let men deem you as they will, and esteem yourself as bad as you can, I tell you from the Lord, and I will make it good, there is not that sinfulness that can be imagined in a creature that can be able to separate or debar any of you from a part in Christ; even though you are thus sinful, Christ may be your Christ. Nay, I go further; suppose one person in this congregation should not only be the vilest sinner in the world, but should have all the sins of others, besides what he himself hath committed; if all these were laid upon the back of him, he should be a greater sinner than now he is; yet, if he should bear all the sins of others, as I said, there is no bar to this person, but Christ may be his portion. 'He bore the sins of many' (saith the text), but he bare them not as his own, he bare them for many. Suppose the many, that are sinners, should have all their sins translated to one in particular, still there is no more sin than Christ died for, though they be all collected together. If other men's sins were translated upon you, and they had none, then they needed no Christ; all the need they had of Christ were translated to you, and then the whole of Christ's obedience should be yours. Do but observe the strain of the Gospel, you shall find that no sin in the world can be a bar to hinder a person from having a part in Christ; look upon the condition of persons (as they are revealed in the Gospel) to whom Christ is reached out; and the consideration of their persons will plainly show to you that there is no kind of sinfulness can bar a person from having a part in Christ. Consider Christ's own expression, 'I came to seek and to save that which was lost; I came not to call the righteous, but sinners, to repentance; the whole need not a physician, but they that are sick;' here still the persons are considered in the worst condition (as some might think) rather than in the best. Our Saviour is pleased to express himself in a direct contrary way to the opinion of men. 'I came not to call the righteous, but sinners;' the poor publican that had nothing to plead for himself went away more justified than the proud pharisee, who pleaded with God, 'I thank thee that I am not such an one.' Men think righteousness brings them near to Christ; beloved, our righteousness is that which puts a man away from Christ; stumble not at the expression, it is the clear truth of the Gospel; not simply a doing of service and duty doth put away from Christ; but upon the doing of duty and service to expect acceptance with Christ or participa |