THE CHRISTIAN WITNESS, AND CHURCH MEMBER'S MAGAZINE. JANUARY, 1846. Theology and Biblical Illustration. THE BLESSEDNESS OF THE RIGHTEOUS. THE righteous are the justified-they who are regarded and treated as righteous on the ground of Christ's righteousness: they are the men unto whom God imputeth righteousness without works. They are blessed, 1. Because their sins are forgiven. They were by nature the children of wrath, even as others; but they have become new creatures in Christ Jesus. The grace of God has arrested them and brought them back to their Father's house. They have fled for refuge to lay hold upon the hope set before them. They have felt the joys of pardoned sin. A new song has been put into their mouths, even praise to our God. 2. They have peace with God. They were once at enmity with him, but they have become reconciled. The Spirit has subdued the enmity of their hearts, and love now reigns in its stead. They have availed themselves of the mediation of Jesus; they have put their trust in him; they have believed; and being justified by faith, they have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. "Peace I leave with you," said the Saviour; "my peace I give unto you." 3. Their sins are not imputed unto them to their condemnation. When they first believe, all their past sins are blotted out, and remembered against them no more. But they are not thereby made perfect. Though the work of sanctification is begun, it is not completed. A principle of grace is implanted, but there is yet much remaining corruption. The experience of Paul is the experience of every Christian. "I delight in the law of God after the inward man; but I see another law in my members warring against the law of my mind, and bringing me into captivity to the law of sin which is in my members. O wretched man that I am! who shall deliver me from the body of this death?" There is a conflict between the old and the new nature. Sometimes one and sometimes the other has the mastery. This is a part of the Christian warfare-a conflict with evil in our own hearts. The Christian is constantly sensible of his shortcomings. He is pained with the remembrance of broken vows; burdened with a sense of his own unworthiness; ́oppressed with the consciousness of sins of omission and commission; and he feels the daily and hourly need of applying anew for pardon to Him who alone can forgive. But for his encouragement it is written: If any man sin, we have an advocate with the Father." Jesus ever lives to intercede. He repents, confesses his sins, forsakes them, and is forgiven. Repentance is with him a constant work; and so is faith; and God constantly renews his pardon, and continues to regard and treat him as righteous for Christ's sake. Hence the righteous are blessed, because the Lord does not impute to them their sins unto condemnation. "Even as David also describeth the blessedness of the man unto whom God imputeth righteousness without works, saying, Blessed are they whose iniquities are forgiven, and whose sins are covered. Blessed is the man to whom the Lord will not impute sin.' Hence, If 4. The righteous are blessed because they are safe. If their sins are forgiven and the Lord will not impute sin unto them; if he regards and treats them as righteous for the sake of Christ, and will not regard and treat them as sinners; then their salvation is certain. The Lord will keep them. they sin he will give them repentance. The change wrought in them is such that the love of Christ constrains them to live to the glory of God. They have no desire to depart from him. To them is fulfilled the promise,—“ I will put my fear in their hearts, that they shall not depart from me." 5. They enjoy the consolations of religion in life and in death. Having trusted their immortal interests to Jesus Christ, they are enabled to trust the Lord in all the vicissitudes of time. They have the promises for their support, and the grace of God is sufficient for them. As their day is, so is their strength. The Spirit of God dwells in their hearts; they are often enabled to rejoice in hope of the glory of God; and they look forward with joy to the time when they shall have done with sin and sorrow. When death comes, grace sustains them. They go down to the river leaning upon their Beloved; and he conveys them to the mansions ready prepared for them. 6. They shall have an eternal weight of glory. He that believeth hath everlasting life. The imputation of righteousness gives a title to eternal life. Justification is connected with glorification :-" Whom he did predestinate, them he also called; and whom he called, them he also justified; and whom he justified, them he also glorified." To the righteous the King will say, Come, ye blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world." And if the righteous are blessed on earth, who can describe their blessedness in heaven? 66 "Nor eye hath seen, nor ear hath heard, Nor sense, nor reason known, What joys the Father hath prepared To conclude, I remark: 1. Christians should live as expectants of glory, and show their gratitude to God in their lives. God has had mercy upon them; he has forgiven their sins; he has adopted them into his family, and made them joint-heirs with his Son. Their home is in heaven. Let them live as strangers and pilgrims on earth. Blessed of God, let them be blessings to the world, living not to themselves, but to Him who died for them and rose again. 2. The blessedness of the righteous is offered to sinners, but they put it from them. Jesus Christ with all his benefits is freely offered in the gospel; and when Christ is rejected, all the blessings of his salvation are also rejected. The sinner who refuses to come to Christ, refuses to be made happy: he chooses to be miserable-decides to remain in a state of condemnation, with the wrath of God abiding upon him! What infatuation! How miserable must such be in another world! O sinner, seek the blessedness of the man unto whom God imputeth righteousness without works! Behold the Lamb of God! THE LORD'S DAY. THE Lord's day will be esteemed`an honour and a delight by all who possess any measure of a devotional spirit. This day was made for contemplation and devotion. No word can describe, no imagination conceive of the loss which the Christian would sustain by having this blessed day struck out of the calendar. As the rest of the night recruits the body fatigued, and the spirits exhausted by the labours and cares of the week, so the rest of the weekly sabbath equally seems to refresh and re-invigorate the pious soul. How delightful, to have one day in seven separated by Divine appointment from the vexatious concerns of this lower world, and consecrated to the immediate service of God, our Creator and Redeemer ! There are three sets of objects which demand the thoughts, and are calculated to excite the devotional feelings of the sincere Christian on this day. First, the works of God in the created universe. This was the thing which originally occasioned the sanctification of a sabbath. God having been employed six days in the creation of the heavens and the earth and all which they contain, and having finished the work and pronounced it good, very good, he ceased from his work and rested from his creative exertion, and, therefore, "he blessed the sabbath-day, and hallowed it." This was no doubt done for the sake of giving an example to the newly formed man. God, the Creator of the ends of the earth, cannot be weary, nor does he need refreshment. "Hast thou not known, hast thou not heard, that the everlasting God, the Lord, the Creator of the ends of the earth, fainteth not, nor is weary?" Isa. xl. 22. As man was made to glorify his Maker, it was meet that he should have some certain portion of time consecrated to the devout contemplation of the wonderful works of God. And this duty of praising God for his wisdom, power, and goodness manifest in creation, is as obligatory now as it ever was. We are as much the creatures of Divine power as Adam. The same works which he had set before him are exhibited to our view. The same sun, moon, and stars which he beheld, shine upon us. The same earth on which he trod is under our feet; and the truly devout man will not be disposed to forget the glorious work, of creation on this holy day. "The heavens still declare the glory of God, and the firmament still showeth his handy work." "Oh that men would praise the Lord for his wonderful works! generation shall praise thy works to another, and shall declare thy mighty acts." "All thy works shall praise thee, O Lord, and thy saints shall bless thee." "One But the first day of the week was appointed to be the Christian sabbath, on account of another and a greater work than the creation. This day commemorates the resurrection of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ from the dead. This event is the most interesting and important which ever occurred in our world, as it gave full evidence and confirmation of the completion of the glorious work of redemption. As on the morning of this auspicious day Jesus arose to life, is it not meet that the soul redeemed by atoning blood from sin and death should be all alive with the glow of sacred gratitude? Ought not the Christian to be early at the sepulchre with his believing thoughts and meditations? Ought not his heart to be joyful in the Lord all the day long? Angels descended and rejoiced at a Saviour's birth; and they were not absent when he arose. They were thick around the sepulchre. They announced to the pious women the joyful fact, "He is not here; he is risen." Let every Christian then commence the Lord's day with joyful emotions; let his heart burn with the fire of devotion; let his tongue resound the praises of Emmanuel. Here, O Christian, is a theme which should ever occupy your warmest thoughts. Be not sluggish nor careless on the morn of the holy sabbath. It is the day of your Saviour's triumph, and his triumph is yours. As he died for you, so he rose for you. It But there is a third object with which the sabbath has a close connection. has not only a retrospective aspect, bringing to our minds great events which have occurred in the history of the world, but a prospective aspect, for it is the type of another rest which is to be enjoyed in the world to come. "There remaineth a rest, a sabbath keeping for the people of God." The return of this sacred day is, therefore, intended to bring to our view that eternal sabbath which the saints shall enjoy in heaven; where all toil and labour, all tears and sickness, yea, all sin and temptation shall cease for ever. O Christian, your sabbath devotions here, though sweet and invigorating, are but a prelude of the joys to be revealed hereafter. Sometimes you get a transient glimpse of your Redeemer's glory, but then you shall see him face to face. "Weeping may endure for a night, but joy cometh in the morning." Let your sabbath exercises, then, be associated with the thoughts and hopes of heaven. What you now see distantly and dimly shall ere long burst upon your vision without an intervening cloud. While you tune your feeble voices here in the praises of Emmanuel, think that soon you will mingle your melodious notes in the grand chorus of saints and angels; but especially in that song which none can sing but redeemed sinners. These stand on Mount Zion, clothed in white, with palms in their hands, and cease not to sing a new song, "Thou hast redeemed us to God by thy blood, out of every kindred and tongue and people and nation. Unto him that loved us and washed us from our sins in his own blood, and hath made us kings and priests unto God and his Father, be glory and dominion for ever and ever. Amen.' A. A. SAINTS COMPLETE IN CHRIST. Ir is a great consolation, when weighed down beneath a sense of our own ignorance, weakness, sinfulness, and unworthiness, to think of that text, "You are complete in him." It is a good text for the poor and the ignorant, the despised and afflicted. You may be in want of everything, but you are complete in Christ. You may be ignorant of everything that the "self-approving world" calls knowledge, but, if you love Christ, you are complete in him. You may be despised of the world, and your name cast out as evil; but if you are a child of God, the despite of the world cannot harm you, you are complete in Christ. Your friends may all be taken from you, or may all desert you, but you are not the less perfect for that; you are complete in Christ. Your property may be taken from you, and you may have to beg your bread, or to suffer from hunger and nakedness, but still you are complete in Christ; in him you are perfect and entire, wanting nothing. You may lose your health, may suffer with lingering and painful disease, may be helpless and bedridden, but still you are complete in Christ. If you be a child of God, and stay yourself on Christ, nothing can take away from this completeness, nothing can diminish it. Nor can anything add to it. If you had all the wealth of the Indies, it would not make you any more complete in Christ. If you possessed all the thrones of Europe, or could sway the sceptres of the world, it would not add to your completeness in Christ. If you had all the learning of the wise, it could add nothing to the perfection of your character as a child of God; it could not make your robe whiter, or your hope brighter-it could not make you more complete in Christ. In him, and not in the world, are hid all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge. And ye are complete in him. Let this be the saint's triumph and independence, that he is complete in Christ. Let him say within himself, as the gaudy shows of the world pass by him, Well, after all, what matters it though I be so poor and ignorant? in Christ I have all riches and knowledge. What matters it who knows me here, or who knows me not; who cares for me here, or who despises me? if Christ deigns to know me, I am complete in Christ, I care not for anything else. I want nothing else, if Christ be made unto me of God my wisdom, my righteousness, my sanctification, my redemption. Complete in Christ! O how delightful is the thought! There is nothing in this wide world that we need, but just Christ. We are perfectly independent of the world, in Christ, Though having nothing, we are as possessing all things, in Christ. In him we have riches, food, drink, light, and life. He is our bread, our wealth, our health, our sun, our shield, our rock, our refuge, our exceeding great reward. Let the Christian go about the world singing, Complete in Christ, Complete in Christ! shall occasion to me the least inconvenience or hinderance in my business. "Wherever I go, I will first pray to God that I may commit no sin there, but be the cause of some good. "I will every evening examine my conduct through the day by these rules, and faithfully note down in my journal how often I have offended against them." RESOLUTIONS. THE usefulness of farming and writing down good resolutions depends very much upon the state of heart and mind with which such an act is done. If we act from a spirit of self-righteousness, or self-dependence, or vain-glory--if we proceed ignorantly, or without due reflection-if we resolve to do what it is impossible for us ever to accomplish, we will but entangle our own consciences, and display our own folly. Yet very few cases of amendment ever occur without a purpose to that effect. If such a purpose may be properly formed, we see no reason why it may not be recorded, and often reviewed. The following are the daily resolutions formed by Lavater : "I will never, either in the morning or evening, proceed to any business, until I have first retired, at least for a few moments, and implored assistance and a blessing. "I will neither do nor undertake anything which I would abstain from doing if Jesus Christ were standing visibly before me; nor anything of which I think it possible that I shall repent in the uncertain hour of my certain death. I will, with the Divine aid, accustom myself to everything, without exception, in the name of Jesus Christ, and as his disciple, to sigh to God continually for the Holy Ghost; and to preserve myself in a constant disposition for prayer. "Every day shall be distinguished by at least one particular work of love. Every day I will be especially attentive to promote the benefit and advantages of my own family in particular. "I will never eat or drink so much as GOD OVER ALL. GOD is the controller of all events. Every change through the universe wears the impress of his agency. The most important and the most minute results point unerringly to him. The birth of an insect and the creation of a world are alike the effects of his power. He extends that great central law which binds a planet in its sphere to the dew-drop that trembles on the leaf of the rose. He heaves the ocean and curls the surface of the sleeping lake. He plunges the cataract down its depth of thunder, and leads the gentle rivulet through the quiet vale. He unbinds the earthquake that is to overthrow cities, and lends music to the lay of the morning lark. From the seraph that kneels on the footsteps of his burning throne, to the pebble that paves the sunless caverns of the deep, all is seen and all is heard. No note of happiness or sorrow escapes his ear. The wail of a nation and the The cry of the young raven come up together before him. He hears the soul-sick confessions of the pampered monarch and the sighing of the desolate captive. He marks the distress that wraps the palace in weeds, and the disappointments that invade the simple hopes of the cottage. He is by the side of departing age and the dying couch of infant life. tears of the great and the small, the rich and the poor, are mingled in one cup before him. And this God is ours; our father and our friend; our guide and protector in life; our only refuge in death. To love and serve him is our happiness, duty, and highest moral dignity. THE LIGHTNING'S FLASH. THE flash at midnight!-'t was a light That gave the blind a moment's sight, Then sunk in tenfold gloom; Loud, deep, and long the thunder broke, Then closed as in the tomb: So life appears;-a sudden birth, So fame the poet's hope deceives, |