Our lovely ones departed I go to find again, And wait for you to join us; I hear the Saviour calling; His kingdom to inherit; Good-night till then. From the German CHAPTER XVIII. A SUMMARY - REMEMBER CHRIST-THE RELATION OF CHRISTIANITY, IN ITS PERSONAL CHRIST, TO ALL THE CIRCUMSTANCES AND CONDITIONS OF LIFE-ITS TEMPORAL AND ETERNAL BENEFITS -CHRIST EVERYWHERE-POETRY, "We are complete in Him."—Col. 2:10. HE most obvious as it is the most impor tant light in which Christ is to be viewed is that of a Saviour. His name is Jesus, which is Saviour. He came to save us from the wrath to come, to save his peo ple from their sins. This was the grand, crowning object of his mission. Hence the Supper is especially to remind us that we have "redemption through his blood." Whatsoever else we remember or forget, we should not fail to keep in memory that Christ died for 66 our sins, according to the Scriptures." Around this central fact cluster a multitude of others, showing how wide is the sweep of the Redeemer's incarnation, how it branches out in innumerable ways, how it connects itself with our entire earthly life; so that to remember Christ is to range over a vast field. Indeed, a work so profound as that of Christ in dying for our sins, affecting us as it does at the most vital points, involving so momentous a change in our character and relations, introducing so new and so powerful a principle of action into the sphere of human existence, cannot but have its important bearings on all the phases of our earthly life. It addresses itself to every faculty of man, and gives laws for its exercise. We have sins to be forgiven, guilt to be washed away, and justification to be secured; with reference to these fundamental points we must remember Christ. We have also earthly relations to sustain, duties to perform, a practical piety to cultivate, a conflict to maintain, temptations to meet, trials to endure, and a perfect holiness to strive for. Here we must remember Christ. In running the race set before us, we must "look unto Jesus;" in waging the Christian warfare, we must follow and trust in the Captain of salvation, during hardness, as good soldiers of Jesus Christ;' in the discharge of duty, we must recognize Christ 66 en as our Master, Teacher, Pattern, and Helper; in the midst of trial, the power which shall console us, and which shall convert our sorrows into a heavenly discipline, and thus dignify them into witnesses for God and the gospel of his grace, must come from the remembrance of the "Man of sorrows," our "compassionate High Priest;" in our efforts to advance in the divine life, in holiness, we must feel that "faith is our victory," faith in the Son of God, our Redeemer. There is indeed no situation, whether involving work or joy or trial, in which the presence of Christ is not indispensable to make duty a delight and a success, to heighten and chasten our joys, and lessen and hallow our griefs. In fine, "the life we now live in the flesh, we must live by the faith of the Son of God," by a remembrance of and reliance upon Christ. Remember me, Christ would say to us, as dying for your sins, as your Example, Guide, and Friend; as now and forever living, your Lord and Master and Intercessor, your "Wisdom, Righteousness, Sanctification, and Redemption." And Christ would teach us to look beyond our personal relations to him, and to view him in all his wide connections with the race, thus indicating the duty of his disciples to spread his knowledge among men, with reference to salvation and all the lawful pursuits of life. Remember me as the Being in whom all hearts should centre, to whom all affections should cling, on whom all weakness should lean, to whom all sin should be confessed and from whom all pardon sought; for whose glory all plans should be laid and all works performed; the substance of all hopes, the end of all desires, the consummation of all purposes, the answer of all prayers, the solution of all doubts, the key to all the enigmas of Providence, the harmony of life's contradictions and discords, the satisfaction and fulness of all love; the joy of earth, the light and glory of heaven; "by whom and for whom all things were created." Remember me as the guide of childhood, the energy of manhood, the solace of age. Remember me as the end and sum of science,1 1" Ritter-the most eminent geographer in the world—carried his religion into his scientific studies. The globe was to him but the place where God's kingdom should be founded; and in all his study of man, Christ became the middle point. In his most valuable scientific writings, the thought that underlies them all-whether his subject be mountain heights or dark valleys, heaths or cities-is, that everything in the world comes from the counsels of God, and has a relation to the kingdom of Christ. His great aim was to show the workings of the living God in the conditions of history. |