Gentiles and Jews are alike indebted- they never were hell-deserving, neither it is equally true of infants and the can they be held to be heaven and aged, the moral and the felon saved at glory deserving. Their age and inthe last hour and in the condemned capacity shut them out alike from blame cell.' There is no difference in their praise, or praise, from good and evil. On the because all are conscious of having one hand, God's justice can never be been in the same condemnation, and supposed as punishing them, and on equally anxious to express their abso- the other, it would not appear before lute and measureless obligations to the universe a reasonable and equitable their common Redeemer. Let it be thing, nor consonant with the principles distinctly understood, that as the most of Divine moral government, to adamiable and beneficent of natural men vance to such transcendent honours and need to believe on the Lord Jesus felicities; beings possessed of no moral Christ in order to be saved, so the character, and who have passed through most holy and useful saint can only no moral training, or probation, to hope to pass into paradise through the qualify them for that sublime positionsame redemption, in virtue of the one which Adam knew not, which precious blood. No one presents him- angels even shall perhaps never attain. self before the Divine presence but as Had we been left to our own imagin a sinner saved, washed. The thief ings, we might have conceived of little from the cross, and Paul with his children translated to some happy myriad converts sparkling as jewels on world where they might go through the Redeemer's diadem, and John em- some brief course of trial, if not anala balmed in love divine, and breathing as gous to that through which angels may his native air the very atmosphere of be supposed to have passed, or through heaven-all these are there, only as which we pass, yet equally harmonious 'brands pluckt from the burning; with the principles of Divine govern confessing with equal sincerity and ment, and equally declaratory of the emphasis By the grace of God I am righteousness of the Divine award what I am.' To Him that loved us,' which might eventually crown that &c. Christ is all to Paul and John, preparatory stage of their being. But whom all ages shall call blessed, as he is we have Divine light to guide us in to the thief infamously nameless for his this matter, and we know God has career of crime. Are we of this self- been pleased to abound towards us in renouncing, Christ-cleaving to spirit? all grace, and since Jesus died for all, Said the dying Adelaide L. Newton for infants as well as practical sinners, shortly before dying, and quoting and since by dying for all He has ac Titus iii. 5, slowly repeating it, Acquired a right to all, purchased all, and cording to his mercy, if I can say no more, angels and devils too shall hear me say mercy-mercy! According to his mercy, He saved me!' Yes, and this is the spirit of every one who shall be accounted worthy to obtain that world and to swell that immortal chorus. · Let it also be remembered that infants are there solely through the blood and mediation of Christ. Not that they ever sinned or contracted personal guilt. They never did, for they were incapable of becoming children of wrath,' and therefore it is impossible that they can use the words in precisely the same sense as we shall. But if not personally guilty, they are also not personally righteous-if they have no crime they have no merit become Lord of the living and the dead, the Head of redeemed humanity, it is distinctly stated to be the Divine will that infants shall be raised to 'the glory,' the obtaining of the glory of Jesus Christ. And as they are without personal title, and in order that God may illustrate both his righteousness and his kindness in the matter, He is pleased to take them home-to Him. self for Jesus' sake, and to confer on them all the blessedness of which we read, by way of showing how much He loves His Son for his great love towards us, and how infinitely meritorious is His redeeming work. Every babe in heaven is a demonstration of Christ's universal saving love, and of the illimitable and inconceivable efficacy of His mediation founded on his cross. One-half of our race die in infancy, | too is alone 'good' and so 'worthy.' and of such is the kingdom of heaven,' and of such its choristers. Babes thither caught from womb and breast, Claim right to praise beyond the rest, Because they've found the happy shore, They neither sought nor knew before. I expect too, to meet some heathens there. A few; I fear very few-but O what myriads of children! When I think of this, I don't wonder to find Jesus hugging little children to his bosom, blessing them, and pouring out his exultant recognition of the condescending grace Of such is the kingdom of heaven.' Hitherto, heaven has been mainly peopled by children. But any heathen who may enter there, will see clearly, and be impelled by intuitive conviction and constraining and wondering gratitude to ascribe their presence there to the blood of the Lamb. They will sing as loudly and barmoniously as any-will vie with Paul and John in saying Worthy is the Lamb that was slain,' &c. Their right to enter and stand before the throne will be as perfect as ours, because it will be altogether this- He loved me and gave Himself for me.' Their cleansing and righteousness are of the Lord, and will be as perfect as ours, because they, equally as we, will be able to say Jesus, Thy blood and righteousness and to challenge the universe, 'Who is be that condemneth? It is Christ that died,' &c. And their happiness will be as full and overflowing as ours, because it will be the joy of purity and love, the joy of the Lord-God's our joy, the joy of his glorious presence. But it is most instructive to remark that this song-this ecstatic burst of joy-this sublime ascription of praise this seraphic worship, is all directed to one glorious Personage, here as elsewhere throughout this book, designated 'the Lamb. This of course strongly implies his Supreme Divinity-his proper Godhead. None but God Himself can be the centre of universal religious worship, for he is jealous for his glory, and will not give it to another, and he But all this blessing and praise is poured out without limitation, or reserve, or qualification, on the Lamb, and indeed the original words are capable of being rendered 'God even the Lamb,' therefore constituting the passage a direct and absolute proof of the Divinity of the Lamb. Who the Lamb is, not even our children need God to be told. The Son of Man who is also the eternal Word-the incarnate God who bore our sins in his own body on the tree, who by Himself purged our sins, who gave Himself for us, and by his one perfect oblation took away the sin of the world,' He is the Lamb. For the suffering of death He is crowned with glory-for his poverty, endured for our advantage, he is exalted and shame, and agony, spontaneously above every name, exalted to the throne of God, and is the inspiration and theme of the everlasting song; and infinitely is He' worthy of this infinite recompense. adjudges Him worthy, and so do angels and men. There is too an obvious congruity and propriety in the man Christ Jesus' being the centre and immediate object of the worship of human beings. For aught we know, He will be the Sheckinah-the medium of Divine The incarnmanifestation for ever. ation will not terminate on man's salvation, but will extend to other orders of beings, and for ever and ever be the out-beaming of the ineffable glory, the express image of the Divine Person'-to angels and men, through whom they shall draw nigh to, and in whom they shall see God. Accordingly He in conjunction with the Lord God is styled [Rev. xxi. 22.] The Temple' of the New Jerusalem-the shrine and focus, so to speak, of the glory of God. In him the infinite Majesty becomes, makes Himself knowable to his creatures and by Him they climb up, so to speak, to Him the infinitely lofty one. He is the point of contact between the Infinite and the finite, between the Creator and the creature. Most accurate then is the representation of the hosts of the saved worshipping and glorifying 'God even the Lamb.' But this worship to the Lamb is not to the overlooking, much less disparage ment of the Father. Because, first, | system which represents some special He enjoins such honours to be given. and miraculous work of the Spirit, Worship Him all ye angels,' is His (granted by an arbitrary decree to some own command, as also that every but withholden from the great bulk of knee should bow and every tongue con- men,) as still more important than fess to Him." Second, this itself is to even Christ's death, because of itself the glory of God the Father-the saving-exclusively saving, is not God's Father accepts it as such, for whatever truth, nor yet reconcilable with clear was the achievement for which Christ and enlarged views of it. Those who is thus sublimely praised-extolled hold that doctrine are always wont to and made very high,' he did it at the dwell with peculiar fondness, and fulFather's bidding, and as His servant. ness, and frequency on Eternal PreAnd third, He and the Father are one; destination, and on the sovereign work so that whatever praise is given to the of the Spirit consequent on and a fruit Lamb is equally given to the Lord God of it. These are themes which seem to Almighty, so that there is nothing out elicit more delight and praise than the of order, nothing of impropriety here. common salvation' by our Lord Jesus Neither is the Spirit overlooked or Christ; and in their creed certainly unhonoured; because, while the Lamb assume larger proportions, and are specially receives the entire homage more vital to the eternal glory of the and praise, it is at His own request and saints. Those of this party who admit command, for His delight is to glorify Christ died for all, shed his blood for Christ, and that all men should honour all, use language respecting Christ's the Son even as they honour the Father. personal-His specific official work, Second, it is to the Spirit's glory-the which virtually exhibits Him shorn of song is His own inspiration, and sung half His glory, and leaves the impresby those whom He (the Spirit) has sion that the Spirit is really more defilled with Christ's love and on earth serving of the grand and descriptive brought to Him to be sanctified in title Saviour' than the Lamb. Nay, and glorified with Christ. And third, the some of them have not hesitated to Lamb and the Spirit are one, that is-speak disparagingly of a substitutionary the Holy Spirit is one of the Trinity-death which yet does not absolutely as truly Divine as the Father and the Son, and therefore is truly worshipped and glorified when either of those adorable persons is. The Song of the Redeemed therefore, though specially directed to the Lamb as He who himself died and by his own blood bought us-washing us from our sins and justifying us-is yet as truly an act of worship of both the Father and the Spirit, as though they were specially named and their several parts in the economy of Redemption rehearsed. I think, however, the words of this song have a signification which bears upon one of the great questions which have unhappily divided and sore troubled the Christian church. The Lamb or Christ Jesus is specially praised, and salvation is ascribed to his blood, and this tends to affix to the sacrifice,-the substitutionary work of Christ-his vicarious life and death, an importance and an individual efficaciousness which, to my mind at least, amounts to a presumptive proof that that religious and necessarily secure the final salvation of its objects. This is the natural tendency of their system, and here its unscriptural and dangerous character painfully crops out. It represents the scenes of calvary as subordinate to and only exceptionally connected with the inward work of the Spirit, and so converges all, or at least our highest gratitude on the Spirit as the only efficient Saviour, to whom principally and directly our praise is best due. The Song of the Redeemed in Heaven is quite incongruous with their notion, and involves something which their system denies-nay, it is absolutely inconsistent and at variance with it, at least in its modern form. of conceding a world-wide atonement but contending for a limited work of the Spirit. This song is only intelligible, only harmonious with Christian feeling, and with the facts of the case, on the supposition that Christ by dying for us virtually became the Saviour of all men ;' took away the sin of the Christ the head over all things. world, and procured for all eternal life [1 John v. 10-11]; and that His death secured for all the Spirit's work a real, powerful, efficacious work of the Spirit-a work which although resistible may yet save and has salvation for its design. If the Spirit was in effect given to all, in consequence, and as a fruit of Christ's death for all; and if Christ's death removed the only barrier against Divine grace busying itself with a view to the world's salvationunloosed God's hand (so to speak) to lay hold of every sinner and draw him to Christ, and warranted the Spirit to deal with all our apostate and condemned race, then is the song consonant with fact and a faithful utterance of the feeling it evokes-there is no omission in it, and Christ's death occupies its own place, and is seen in its own relation and proportion. The song too justifies the usage both of the scripture and of the Christian church, in attributing to Christ personally and pre-eminently the glorious appellation, which is not given, and in the full sense cannot be given to the Spirit. Much therefore as we are indebted to that gracious Divine agent, and difficult and dangerous as it may be to speculate on the subject of the preponderating obligation, we are bound by the scriptures themselves, and by the precedent of the temple worshippers above as given us by the apostle, to regard Christ Jesus as the Saviour,' and that in His work was involved or guaranteed whatever was necessary in order to effect our salvation. True, the Spirit is one of the agents in it, but He has been pleased to subordinate Himself to Christ in that work, and works graciously and earnestly on all for whom Christ undertook to die. The Spirit's work is included in the benefits which Christ's death absolutely obtained for all its objects, just as the greater includes the lesser. So we find Paul glorifying, not in special privilege as to the Spirit's work, but in the cross, and determining to preach only Christ crucified, and describing the gospel as the power of God unto salvation, which as an inspired man he could not have done, had certain doctrines been true. Notice too the special relation in 135 which Christ is specifically praised -88 a Saviour, but as a Saviour through His own blood. The glory of creation is great, and to Christ, as the Creator, universal and perfect praise is due. God created all things by Jesus Christ,' and without him was not anything made.' And all His works praise him, and as being very good,' they are the mirror of His perfections. Creation is in some sense a revelation, a display of God-His eternal power and Godhead-and angels ascribe the glory of creation to Christ, who is the A and the a, the Lord of all, shedding on all His own beauty. But this mundane creation at least being defiled by sin passes away- the world and the works therein shall be burned up, as a vesture shall He fold them up, when He comes to make all things new. Material creation is only a veil in which God shrouds His glory, showing only His back parts. It is the hiding of His power.' The glory of Providence is greaterChrist is made the head over all things. All power is given to Him. God has set Jesus over all the works of His hand, and His providence reaches from the sublimest to the minutest, and takes in all things and all their laws, and all men and all their actions. He makes even man's wrath to praise Him, and all events to work together for good to His church. Herein is a glory altogether divine, and shall call forth the universal acclamation. Our Jesus has done all things well.' But this theatre of Providence is but for a season, and shall give place to another, one more perfect, and therefore more permanent, wherein His perfections shall have fuller and more glorious scope. But the glory of redemption is greatest of all. 'Twas great to speak a world from nought, 'Twas greater to redeem.' The one was an exercise of power and wisdom, giving free course for their acts; but the other was not only this but much more, an exercise of mercy and love in unison with truth and righteousness, and these so harmonized and glorified by their blending as to acquire additional and absolutely unique glory-constituting a mystery' of In finite wisdom, holiness, and goodness which angels desire to look into. The Apostle says 'God has abounded towards us in all wisdom'-hascommended His love towards us,' so that 'by the Church is exhibited to angelic orders the manifold wisdom of God. While John calls on all to gaze, and wonder, and adore with his Herein is Love!' And all this fathomless, eternal, unimaginable wisdom and love have their manifestation aud embodiment in Jesus. Of all the crowns Jehovah wears, tion of His glorious example; nor yet by the persuasive and quickening power of His teaching does He save. These all are inadequate, and in our deep and dire ruin would be incommensurate and unadapted to the end. God knowing we were without strength,' has stooped down to the horrible pit and its deepest mire of our fall, and come all the way to meet us in our actual circumstances, adapting Himself to our utter and absolute helplessness, and this in a way which nothing but His own grace could devise. Nothing less or other than His atoning death could or does save. All other seeming ways of salvation are satan's counterfeits-laden with God's curse (Gal. i. 8), and soaked with the blood of lost souls. Not too strong therefore is the prayer found in the hymn The Unitarian flend expel, Aud drive his doctrine back to hell,' Observe then here, Christ is praised for Redemption by blood. It is to Him that washed us from our sins.' The only delivering, renovating, and heaven qualifying virtue is in the blood. Hence the entire salvation is ascribed to the incarnate One, the slain Lamb, a prayer which many dying have had and in such character He is chiefly, not occasion to adopt, who in their last to say exclusively celebrated. We can hour found that nothing but the atoning not too earnestly learn this fact, and blood could embolden the guilty to meet ponder it in our hearts. It is the a holy God. The song of Unitarianism throne of God, even the Lamb' they may be sweet to proud reason and selfcircle. It is God as the Saviour they righteousness, but it is the Syren's song glorify. It is the precious blood of the alluring to perdition. That salvation Lamb they extol. That blood has is only by blood, and such blood, sprinkled the heavenly places which shows the loathsomeness of sin-all, else had been desecrated even by the the least sin. 'Ye that love the Lord, tread of regenerated and loving hate evil!' Shows the inexorable humanity. Only that blood obtained justice of God. Those who despise the pardon, and by thus slaying the enmity blood must endure the 'sorer punishand winning love, brought about sancti- ment. Stand in awe and sin not, by fication (2 Cor. v. 14-15-Acts xxvi. 18,) even neglecting, or postponing the great or holiness which is the qualification salvation.' And shows the vastness, for paradise. And only that blood energy, and glory of God's love. He opens the gates of heaven and entitles spared not His own Son, and that Son any, even the holiest, to right of entry. gave Himself, His life, His all, for us. The entire economy of salvation centres This tends to draw all hearts to Him in and is built upon the blood-the in grateful, adoring love. This song substitution of Christ, His infinitely is ever new. New as a secret to others meritorious death in our stead. And ac--peculiar to the Redeemed-demons cordingly He as the church's Redeemer cannot sing it-Popery and Unitarianis represented as a Lamb that has ism cannot, without abjuring their been slain,' and having His vesture destructive tenets. New as being most dipped in blood.' excellent, surpassing all others. Poets Observe then, not by the beauty of talk of the music of the spheres,' but His character, immaculate and superla- this articulate, grateful, adoring ascriptively lovely as it was, does Christ save tion from the blood-washed throng -not by the obvious reasonableness infinitely exceeds it. New because the and self-commending character of His benefits of the blood are ever developprecepts: not by the force and attrac-ing themselves. God is ever disclosing |
