Page images
PDF
EPUB

They have no hope, no comfort, no pleasing prospect. This I have often seen. May I never witness such scenes again!

3. The future punishment of sin is eternal fire. It is the just element of sin; God hath decreed it, and will execute his own sentence to its fullest extent. Is it fit that the offender should be judge of his own cause? Who is so able to judge what is eternally fit to be done, as he who is eternal? "Fire is the portion of their cup."* Impenitent sinners suffer the vengeance of eternal fire.† It burns to the lowest hell. These are everlasting burnings:§ and that fire never can be quenched.¶

The godly are brands plucked from these fires. Angels sing "Glory to God in the highest, on earth peace, good-will towards men." Saints adore him that loved them, and washed them from their sins in his own blood. Even the wicked say, "The Lord hath done great things for them."

But the Great Advocate gives a public proof and a general declaration of it in the court of heaven; in the church on earth it is recorded; and in the saved sinner's conscience it is confirmed and sealed by the Holy Spirit.

Now should my brand acceptance find,
And should I have but strength of mind,
From it I would a branch should shoot

With bud, with bloom, and ripen'd fruit!

* Psa. i 6.

† Jude 7.

Deut. xxxii. 22:

Isa. xxxiii. 14.

Matt. xxv. 41.

MR. EDITOR,

THE FRUITFUL BOUGH.

Wooburn, Bucks.

My brand, notwithstanding what I said on the subject of its being plucked from the fire, is still burning; formerly with the fire of sin, now it is a subject of the fiery trials peculiar to God's people: now it is a part of the "burning bush," with Christ in it, and therefo e remains UNCONSUMED.

The saved sinner is no

"JOSEPH is a fruitful bough."* longer lifeless, black, and wasting away in sin; he is now become "a branch in the true vine; a bough in the tree of life; a graft in the good olive." The Lord Jesus is the root in his Godhead, the body of the tree in his manhood, and the branches are his members; they are born by his body, and the body is sustained by his Godhead. "Ye are Christ's and Christ is God's." This divine union is explained fully by our Lord in his sermon on the vine;† and it is one great aim, yea, the principal and ultimate object he has in view in his prayer of intercession. St. Paul pursues the same beautiful idea with a varied figure, borrowed from the human body.§

2. This union is the fruit of the covenant. The Holy Spirit is promised, whereby they are one with Christ, by the will and determination of the most high contracting powers and persons of the Eternal Three. Every official character and relation of the Lord Jesus exemplifies this endeared union; it is seen in his prophetic, priestly, and kingly relations; in his fraternal, Pastoral, and conjugal characters."

Gen. xlix. 22.

† John xv. 1-5.
$ Eph. iv. 12--16. Col. i. 18.

John xvii, 21-23:

3. This union is the consequence of his human nature; as "he is flesh of our flesh, and bone of our bone," he is just the character Job wished for,* "in God's stead; one formed out of the clay, in whom dwelt all the fulness of the Godhead bodily (or substantially.") As God, he acts for and with God; as man, he acts for and with man; and being both God and man, he suits the relations of both, and is able to bring about the glory of the one in the happiness of the other. To know God fully, is peculiar to Deity; to sympathize with human infirmities is proper to humanity. There must be similarity and suitableness of character to know and treat with both the parties.

4. This union is spiritual. The tree is spiritual; the graft is made so by the spirit that gives life to it; and it finds its kindred life in Christ. As soon as the branch comes into contact, the union commences; like two drops of water brought near to each other, they cannot rest until they unite; their mutual influence on each other soon make them one. "Draw me, and I will run after thee," says the soul. "I, even I (saith Christ) if I am lifted up, will draw all men unto me." Many were prepared to receive Christ in the days of his flesh, and others immediately as they heard the gospel. They knew that he was such a Savior as they wanted; and found that the gospel just suited their condition. John was sent to prepare a people for the Lord; and his disciples followed Jesus. The eunuch, and Cornelius, and many others, embraced the gospel; the loadstone had touched them, and they (like the

*Job xxxii. 6.

needle) were powerfully and effectually drawn; and they became one with Jesus.

The graft is bound round with an external bandage; so there can be no state here in which outward means can be dispensed with. The Lord could do without them; but we are commanded to be in the constant use of them. The law of union within; may be, yea, will be, effectual, where it really takes place; but the outward obligations are enjoined and blessed by the Lord. The lawless professor must have a stock of self-wisdom, self-importance, and self-righteousness; but a sense of our extreme poverty will endear the all-sufficiency of him who is all in all.

The real branch in the true vine is one with him in judgment, their views are alike; one in desire, the same objects are fixed on: they are one in will; "Not my will, but thine be done," said Christ; and so says the Christian. Christ was truly, essentially, and habitually perfect in his judgment, desire, and will; but his followers are only so in part. They feel their deficiencies, and are humbled, that in all things they come short of his glory.

5. The immediate effect of union is communication, the imparting a Divine influence. The root sends its sap through the body into all the branches, to every twig, bud, leaf, and blossom; it gives also flavor, richness, and perfection to the fruit. This vital union is the spring of our new estate, the winter being past, the buds are put forth; they are holy and good desires, the longings of the soul after Christ and his salvation.

"God will bless the springing thereof;* the bud he will watch, guard, cherish, and bring forward; and its blossom shall appear in all the encouragement of a holy hope; and, in due time, the fruits of faith, love, and obedience, in all their variety, will be found to the praise and glory of God. Then, like the wonderful rod of Moses, this fruitful bough will be ever budding, blooming, and bearing fruit; graces will be ever forming new buds, they will be bringing forward blossoms, and the blossoms shall not fail to give fruit in their season. "By their fruit ye shall know them." They bring forth the fruits of the Spirit;† the fruits of righteousness; the fruits of holiness. These scriptures express the universality of that devotedness to the will of God which is exemplified on the hearts, lips, and lives of those who are united to the living, life-giving, and true Vine. "Joseph is a fruitful bough, even a fruitful bough by a well, whose branches run over the wall."

THE PEELED BOUGH.

Wooburn, Bucks.

SIR,

My Fruitful Bough has passed under more than an autumnal change since my last communication. "The summer is over and gone;" and my once flourishing Bough is lamenting, "I am made white, I am peeled, I have no fruit, or blossom, or bud, or bark,” yet UNCONSUMED.

"He hath laid my vine waste, and barked my fig-tree; he hath made it clean bare, and cast it away; the branches

Isa. xliv. 3. God's blessing on our buds. See the old Bibles. It may apply as well to our graces as to our offspring.

† Gal. v. 22.

James iii. 13.

$ Rom. vi. 22.

« PreviousContinue »