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But it will be well to note what class of people
takes comfort in the thought of God. Surely not that
perverse and crooked generation to whom it was said,
'Woe unto you that are rich; for ye have received
your consolation' (Luke 6.24). Rather, those who can
say with truth, 'My soul refuseth comfort' (Ps.
77.2). For it is meet that those who are not
satisfied by the present should be sustained by the
thought of the future, and that the contemplation of
eternal happiness should solace those who scorn to
drink from the river of transitory joys.
That is the generation of them that seek the
Lord, even of them that seek, not their own, but the
face of the God of Jacob. To them that long for the
presence of the living God, the thought of Him is
sweetest itself: but there is no satiety, rather an
ever-increasing appetite, even as the Scripture
bears witness, 'they that eat me shall yet be
hungry' (Ecclus. 24.21); and if the one an-hungred
spake, 'When I awake up after Thy likeness, I shall
be satisfied with it.' Yea, blessed even now are
they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness,
for they, and they only, shall be filled.
Woe to you, wicked and perverse generation; woe
to you, foolish and abandoned people, who hate
Christ's memory, and dread His second Advent! Well
may you fear, who will not now seek deliverance from
the snare of the hunter; because 'they that will be
rich fall into temptation and a snare, and into many
foolish and hurtful lusts' (I Tim. 6.9). In that day
we shall not escape the dreadful sentence of
condemnation, 'Depart from Me, ye cursed, into
everlasting fire' (Matt. 25.41). O dreadful sentence
indeed, O hard saying! How much harder to bear than
that other saying which we repeat daily in church,
in memory of the Passion: 'Whoso eateth My flesh and
drinketh My blood hath eternal life' (John 6.54).
That signifies, whoso honors My death and after
My example mortifies his members which are upon the
earth (Col. 3.5) shall have eternal life, even as
the apostle says, 'If we suffer, we shall also reign
with Him' (II Tim. 2.12). And yet many even today
recoil from these words and go away, saying by their
action if not with their lips, 'This is a hard
saying; who can hear it?' (John 6.60). 'A generation
that set not their heart aright, and whose spirit
cleaveth not steadfastly unto God' (Ps. 78.8), but
chooseth rather to trust in uncertain riches, it is
disturbed at the very name of the Cross, and counts
the memory of the Passion intolerable. How can such
sustain the burden of that fearful sentence, 'Depart
from Me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire, prepared
for the devil and his angels'? 'On whomsoever that
stone shall fall it will grind him to powder' (Luke
20.18); but 'the generation of the faithful shall be
blessed' (Ps. 112.2), since, like the apostle, they
labor that whether present or absent they may be
accepted of the Lord (II Cor. 5.9). At the last day
they too shall hear the Judge pronounce their award,
'Come, ye blessed of My Father, inherit the kingdom
prepared for you from the foundation of the world'
(Matt. 25.34).
In that day those who set not their hearts aright
will feel, too late, how easy is Christ's yoke, to
which they would not bend their necks and how light
His burden, in comparison with the pains they must
then endure. O wretched slaves of Mammon, you cannot
glory in the Cross of our Lord Jesus Christ while
you trust in treasures laid up on earth: you cannot
taste and see how gracious the Lord is, while you
are hungering for gold. If you have not rejoiced at
the thought of His coming, that day will be indeed a
day of wrath to you.
But the believing soul longs and faints for God;
she rests sweetly in the contemplation of Him. She
glories in the reproach of the Cross, until the
glory of His face shall be revealed. Like the Bride,
the dove of Christ, that is covered with silver
wings (Ps. 68.13), white with innocence and purity,
she reposes in the thought of Thine abundant
kindness, Lord Jesus; and above all she longs for
that day when in the joyful splendor of Thy saints,
gleaming with the radiance of the Beatific Vision,
her feathers shall be like gold, resplendent with
the joy of Thy countenance.
Rightly then may she exult, 'His left hand is
under my head and His right hand doth embrace me.'
The left hand signifies the memory of that matchless
love, which moved Him to lay down His life for His
friends; and the right hand is the Beatific Vision
which He hath promised to His own, and the delight
they have in His presence. The Psalmist sings
rapturously, 'At Thy right hand there is pleasure
for evermore' (Ps. 16.11): so we are warranted in
explaining the right hand as that divine and
deifying joy of His presence.
Rightly too is that wondrous and ever-memorable
love symbolized as His left hand, upon which the
Bride rests her head until iniquity be done away:
for He sustains the purpose of her mind, lest it
should be turned aside to earthly, carnal desires.
For the flesh wars against the spirit: 'The
corruptible body presseth down the soul, and the
earthly tabernacle weigheth down the mind that
museth upon many things' (Wisdom 9.15).
What could result from the contemplation of
compassion so marvelous and so undeserved, favor so
free and so well attested, kindness so unexpected,
clemency so unconquerable, grace so amazing except
that the soul should withdraw from all sinful
affections, reject all that is inconsistent with
God's love, and yield herself wholly to heavenly
things? No wonder is it that the Bride, moved by the
perfume of these unctions, runs swiftly, all on fire
with love, yet reckons herself as loving all too
little in return for the Bridegroom's love.
And rightly, since it is no great matter that a
little dust should be all consumed with love of that
Majesty which loved her first and which revealed
itself as wholly bent on saving her. For 'God so
loved the world that He gave His only-begotten Son,
that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish
but have everlasting life' (John 3.16). This sets
forth the Father's love. But 'He hath poured out His
soul unto death,' was written of the Son (Isa.
53.12). And of the Holy Spirit it is said, 'The
Comforter which is the Holy Ghost whom the Father
will send in My name, He shall teach you all things,
and bring all things to your remembrance, whatsoever
I have said unto you' (John 14.26).
It is plain, therefore, that God loves us, and
loves us with all His heart; for the Holy Trinity
altogether loves us, if we may venture so to speak
of the infinite and incomprehensible Godhead who is
essentially one. |