Sermons of Christmas Evans Part 36

{44b} Isaiah ii. 3.

{45} Hos. xiv. 2.

{53} Such an accident is said to have occurred at Shrewsbury, in England, a few fears ago.

{56} The three are since dead; the first two named died before Mr.

Evans, and Mr. Thomas since.

{71} 1 John i. 13.

{73} Rom. vi. 17.

{74} The eighteenth.

{75} Dr. Edward Williams, of Rotherham, author of some abstruse inquiries on the Divine Sovereignty.

{94} This paragraph is one of the celebrated "Specimens of Welsh Preaching," printed in England some years before the publication of any of these sermons. We give the first English version verbatim. Ed.

{114} The substance of this transcendent pa.s.sage Christmas Evans often repeated in his preaching, and of course with considerable variation on different occasions. There are two other versions of it in English. One of them, translated many years ago, and published under the t.i.tle of "A Specimen of Welsh Preaching," has been everywhere justly admired, as one of the finest productions of sanctified genius. The other, which we give below, was taken from the lips of the preacher, and rendered into English, by one of his frequent hearers and intimate friends. "All the stores of his energy," says the editor of the English memoir, "and the resources of his voice, which was one of great compa.s.s, depth, and sweetness, seemed reserved for the closing portions of the picture, when he delineated the routed and battered hosts of the pit retreating from the cross, where they had antic.i.p.ated a triumph, and met a signal and irretrievable overthrow."-EDITOR.

"Methinks I find myself standing upon the summit of one of the highest of the everlasting hills, permitted thence to take a survey of our earth.

It shows to me a wide and far-spread burial-ground, over which lie scattered in countless mult.i.tudes the wretched and perishing children of Adam. The ground is full of hollow's, the yawning caverns of death, while over it broods a thick cloud of fearful darkness. No light from above shines upon it, nor is the ray of the sun or moon, or the beams of a candle seen through all its borders. It is walled around. Its gates, large and ma.s.sive, ten thousand times stronger than all the gates of bra.s.s forged among men, are one and all safely locked. It is the hand of Divine Justice that has locked them, and so firmly secured are the strong bolts which hold those doors, that all the created powers even of the heavenly world, were they to labor to all eternity, could not drive so much as one of them back. How hopeless the wretchedness to which the race are doomed, and into what irrecoverable depths of ruin has the disobedience of their first parent plunged them!

"But behold, in the cool of the day there is seen descending from the eternal hills in the distance, the radiant form of Mercy, seated in the chariot of the divine promise, and clothed with splendor, infinitely brighter than the golden rays of the morning when seen shooting over mountains of pearls. Seated beside Mercy in that chariot is seen another form like unto the Son of man. His mysterious name is the 'Seed of the Woman,' and girt around him shines the girdle of eternity, radiant with the l.u.s.tre of the heaven of heavens. 'He has descended into the lower parts of the earth.' I see Mercy alight from that chariot, and she is knocking at the huge gate of this vast cemetery. She asks of Justice: 'Is there no entrance into this field of death? May I not visit these caverns of the grave, and seek, if it may be, to raise some names at least of the children of destruction, and bring them again to the light of day? Open, Justice, open; drive back these iron bolts and let me in, that I may proclaim the jubilee of deliverance to the children of the dust.' But I hear the stern reply of Justice from within those walls; it is,-'Mercy, surely thou lovest Justice too well, to wish to burst these gates by force of arm, and thus obtain entrance by mere lawless violence.

And I cannot open the door. I cherish no anger towards the unhappy wretches. I have no delight in their eternal death, or in hearing their cries as they lie upon the burning hearth of the great fire kindled by the wrath of G.o.d, in the land that is lower than the grave. But I am bound to vindicate the purity, holiness, and equity of G.o.d's laws; for, 'without shedding of blood there is no remission.' 'Be it so,' said Mercy, 'but wilt thou not accept of a surety who may make a sufficient atonement for the crime committed and the offence given?' 'That will I,'

said Justice, 'only let him be duly allied to either party in this sad controversy, a kinsman, near alike to the injured Lawgiver, and to the guilty tenants of the burial-ground.' 'Wilt thou, then,' said Mercy, 'accept of the puissant Michael, prince among the hosts of heaven, who fought bravely in the day when there was war in heaven, and also vanquished Apollyon upon the summit of the everlasting hills?'

'No,'-said Justice, 'I may not, for his goings forth are not from the beginning, even from everlasting.' 'Wilt thou not then accept of the valiant Gabriel, who compelled Beelzebub to turn and seek safety in flight from the walls of the heavenly city?' 'No,'-cried Justice, 'for Gabriel is already bound to render his appointed service to the King Almighty; and who may serve in his place while he should be attempting the salvation of Adam's race? There needs,' continued Justice, 'one who has, of right belonging to him, both omnipotence and eternity, to achieve the enterprise. Let him clothe himself with the nature of these wretches. Let him be born within these gloomy walls, and himself undergo death within this unapproachable place, if he would buy the favor of Heaven for these children of the captivity!'

"But while this dialogue was held, behold, a form fairer than the morning dawn, and full of the glory of heaven, is seen descending from that chariot. Casting, as he pa.s.ses, a glance of infinite benignity upon the hapless tenants of that burial-ground, he approaches, and asks of Justice: 'Wilt thou accept of me?' 'I will,' said Justice, 'for greater art thou than heaven and the whole universe.'

"'Behold, then,' said the stranger, 'I come: in the volume of the book has it been written of me. I will go down, in the fulness of time, into the sides of the pit of corruption. I will lay hold of this nature, and take upon me the dust of Eden, and, allied to that dust, I will pour into thy balance, Justice, blood of such worth and virtue that the court of heaven shall p.r.o.nounce its claims satisfied, and bid the children of the great captivity go free.'

"Centuries have rolled by, and the fulness of time is now accomplished; and see, an infant of days is born within the old burial ground of Eden.

Behold a Son given to the dwellers of the tomb, and a spotless Lamb, the Lamb of G.o.d, is seen within that gloomy enclosure. When the hour came at which the ministers of the Divine Justice must seize upon the victim, I see them hurrying towards Gethsemane. There, in heaviness and sorrow of soul, praying more earnestly, the surety is seen bowed to the earth, and the heavy burden he had a.s.sumed is now weighing him down. Like a lamb, he is led towards Golgotha-the hill of skulls. There are mustered all the hosts of darkness, rejoicing in the hope of their speedy conquest over him. The monsters of the pit, huge, fierce, and relentless, are there. The lions, {116a} as in a great army, were grinding fearfully their teeth, ready to tear him in pieces. The unicorns, {116b} a countless host, were rushing onwards to thrust him through, and trample him beneath their feet. And there were the bulls of Bashan, {116c} roaring terribly; the dragons {116d} of the pit are unfolding themselves, and shooting out their stings, and dogs {116e} many are all around the mountain. 'It is the hour and power of darkness.' I see him pa.s.sing along through this dense array of foes, an unresisting victim. He is nailed to the cross; and now Beelzebub and all the master-spirits in the hosts of h.e.l.l have formed, though invisible to man, a ring around the cross. It was about the third hour of the day, or the hour of nine in the morning, that he was bound as a sacrifice, even to the horns of the altar. The fire of divine vengeance has fallen, and the flames of the curse have now caught upon him. The blood of the victim is fast dropping, and the hosts of h.e.l.l are shouting impatiently: 'The victory will soon be ours.' And the fire went on burning until the ninth hour of the day, or the hour of three in the afternoon, when it touched his Deity,-and then it expired. For the ransom was now paid and the victory won. It was his. His h.e.l.lish foes, crushed in his fall, the unicorns and the bulls of Bashan retreated from the encounter with shattered horns; the jaws of the lions had been broken and their claws torn off, and the old dragon, with bruised head, dragged himself slowly away from the scene, in deathlike feebleness. 'He triumphed over them openly,' and now is He for ever the Prince and Captain of our salvation, made perfect through sufferings. The graves of the old burial-ground have been thrown open; and from yonder hills gales of life have blown down upon this valley of dry bones, and an exceedingly great army have already been sealed to our G.o.d, as among the living in Zion."

{116a} Allusion to the language in which Psalm xxii. predicts the Saviour's sufferings. The Psalm which our Saviour himself quoted upon the Cross, when he cried, "My G.o.d, why hast thou forsaken me."

{116b} Ditto.

{116c} Ditto.

{116d} Ditto.

{116e} Ditto.

{132} Was it the amount of suffering, or the dignity of the sufferer, that gave merit to the sacrifice sufficient for the world's redemption?

ED.

{148} Dan. xii. 11, 12.

{185} This sentiment, in different forms, occurs very frequently in these sermons. It is questionable theology.-ED.

{205} Acts iv. 4.

{223} Rom. i. 1921.

{224} Acts xvii. 2228.

{256} James ii. 1726.