Christmas Evans

“ Christ in heaven pleads for the reconciliation of sinners to God. The Holy Spirit on earth awakens sinners, convinces them of sin, draws them to the throne of grace, and breathes into them intense prayers for pardon. He renews them, and purifies them, and makes them temples of his grace, and heirs of glory. He opens the blind eyes, and unstops the deaf ears, and makes the lame man leap as an hart, and the tongue of the dumb to sing. All the true conversions ever effected on earth are the results of his gracious power. ”

“ The leprosy cleaves to him. Consumption is wasting him. Inflammation is devouring his vitals. Burning fever has seized upon the very springs of life. The destroying angel has overtaken the sinner in his sins. The hand of God is upon him. The fires of wrath are kindling about him, drying up every well of comfort, and scorching all his hopes to ashes. Conscience is chastising him with scorpions. See how he writhes! Hear how he shrieks for help! Mark what agony and terror are in his soul, and on his brow! Death stares him in the face, and shakes at him his iron spear. ”

“ We cannot “serve the living God,” without this preparatory purification of conscience. If our guilt is uncancelled—if the love of sin is not dethroned—the service of the knee and the lip is nothing but hypocrisy. “If we regard iniquity in our hearts, the Lord will not hear us.” Cherishing what he hates, all our offerings are an abomination to him; and we can no more stand in his holy presence than the dry stubble can stand before a flaming fire. He who has an evil conscience, flees from the face of God, as did Adam in the garden. ”

“ I was in the beginning with God, and possessed the same eternity of being. Like him, I am almighty, omniscient, and immutable; infinite in holiness, justice, goodness, and truth. All these attributes, with every other possible perfection, belong to me in the same sense as they belong to the Father. They are absolute and independent, underived and unoriginated—the essential qualities of my nature.
“His riches of grace are mine. I am the mediator of the new covenant—the channel of my Father’s mercies to mankind. I have the keys of the house of David, and the seal of the kingdom of heaven. ”

“ He saved me from the power and the dominion of sin. He cast out the devils out of my heart, and made that heart, which was a den of thieves, the temple of the Holy Spirit. I cannot tell you how much I love the Saviour. Jesus Christ is the foundation of my hope, the object of my faith, and the centre of my affections. I can venture my immortal soul upon him. He is my best friend. He is altogether lovely—the chief among ten thousand. He is my wisdom, righteousness, sanctification, and redemption. There is enough in him to make a poor sinner rich, and a miserable sinner happy. ”

“ The seasons when these blessings are vouchsafed to the churches of Wales, are to be noticed. It is generally at a time when the cause of religion is at a low ebb—all gone to slumber. This happy spirit of enjoyment, like the angel of the pillar of fire, appears when there is distress, and every thing at the worst. Its approach to the congregation is like the glory of God returning to the temple of old; it creates a stir among the brethren,—they have a new prayer, and a new spirit given them to worship God. ”

“ Rivers flowing from the rock!” Now the oxen are coming, the asses, the camels, the sheep, and the goats—coming in crowds to quench their thirst, and plunging into the streams before them. And the feathered tribes are coming, the turtle-dove, the pigeon, the swallow, the sparrow, the robin, and the wren; while the croaking raven and the fierce-eyed eagle, scenting the water from afar, mingle with them around the rock.
Brethren, this is but a faint emblem of the joy of the church, in drinking the waters that descend from Calvary, the streams that gladden the city of our God. ”

“ How cold and cheerless is the doctrine of the mere moralist, leaving the poor sinner wallowing in the mire, and weltering in his blood, with nothing but his own works to depend upon for salvation! But the doctrine of justification through the satisfying righteousness of Jesus Christ warms the heart, and quickens the soul of the believer into a new and heavenly life. Here is our deliverance from the curse of the law. Here the relation between us and Adam is annihilated, and another relation is established between us and Christ. Here is the sea into which our sins are cast to rise no more. ”

“ There is none like it flowing in human veins. It was the blood of a man, but of a man who knew no iniquity; the blood of a sinless humanity, in which dwelt all the fullness of the Godhead bodily; the blood of the second Adam, who is the Lord from heaven, and a quickening spirit upon earth. It pressed through every pore of his body in the garden; and gushed from his head, his hands, his feet, and his side, upon the cross. I approach with fear and trembling, yet with humble confidence and joy. I take off my shoes, like Moses, as he draws near the burning bush ”

“ Thus, while the law reveals the righteousness of God, the gospel brightens the revelation of his righteousness, and adds the revelation of his grace. While the law imprisons the sinner, the gospel liberates him, yet liberates him according to law. While the law shows the malignity of sin, and dooms the sinner to death, the gospel assents to both, but conquers the one and counteracts the other.
The law convinces us of our fall; the gospel assures us of our redemption. The law shows us what we are, and what we ought to be ”

“ There is no knowledge like the knowledge of Christ, for the excellency of which the apostle counted all things but loss. Christ is the Sun of Righteousness, in whose light we see the tops of the mountains of immortality, towering above the dense clouds which overhang the valley of death. All the wisdom which philosophers have learned from nature and providence, compared with that which is afforded by the Christian Revelation, is like the ignis fatuus compared with the sun. ”

“ Take courage, ye fearful saints! Your king is the Almighty God. He shall conquer all your enemies. The victory of Calvary is the pledge and earnest of his universal dominion. You shall soon be more than conquerors, through him that hath loved you, and given himself for you. He is able to protect you against the combined powers of earth and hell. Omniscient, he is well acquainted with all the plots of his enemies; Almighty, he can at any moment frustrate them. The prince of darkness, with all his hosts, cannot impede the progress of his kingdom. ”

“ The law makes known our duty; the gospel aids us to perform it. The law plunges us in the ditch; the gospel opens to us the purifying fountain. The law is a mirror in which we behold our own filthiness and deformity; the gospel is a mirror which reflects the glory of God in Christ, and transforms the believer into the same image.
The law has no fellowship with the sinner—offers no pardon to p. 233the sinner—cannot cure the love of sin in his heart—cannot give a spark of life, without perfect obedience, and full satisfaction for past offences. ”

“ Thus the Prince of Peace has triumphed over your foes, and you may conquer through faith in his conquest. “Whatsoever is born of God overcometh the world; and this is the victory that overcometh the world, even our faith.”
John in the Apocalypse saw the army of the victors—a great multitude, out of all nations, and kindreds, and peoples, and tongues—standing before the throne, and before the Lamb; clothed with white robes, and palms in their hands; and crying with a loud voice—“Salvation to our God, who sitteth upon the throne, and unto the Lamb!” ”

“ Courage, ye friends of Zion! “Lift up your hearts and rejoice, for your redemption draweth nigh.” Take the whole armor of God; quit you like men; be strong; for the decisive conflict is at hand. Behold your General, clothed with a garment white as snow, girt about the loins with a golden girdle, his feet as fine brass burning in a furnace, his countenance as the sun shining in his strength, his eyes as a flame of fire, his voice as the sound of many waters, a sharp two-edged sword proceeding out of his mouth, seven stars in his right hand, and at his girdle the keys of death and hell. ”

“ A man of common sense will not think of making a long speech to the jury, without adducing any evidence of the truth of his statements. My fellow sinners, if your cause is good, why do you not prove it? Why not bring forward your evidence? Why not act in this supremely important case as in every other? If you have justifying faith, let us see the fruit in a sanctified life. “Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven.” ”

“ Who is willing to die for sinners to-day? There is the tree. There is the executioner, with hammer and nails. Who will offer himself a sacrifice there, for the redemption of man? None but Jesus. None but Jesus was able; none but Jesus was willing. “Here am I,” said he; “if ye seek me, let these go their way.” And without the gates of Jerusalem, he honored the law, spoiled principalities, and redeemed his people. He suffered the curse in the sinner’s stead, and swallowed up all its plagues in himself. As your representative, he endured all the agony and ignominy you justly deserved. ”

“ Trouble and sorrow press him forward to the tomb. All the world, except Noah and his family, are drowning in the deluge. A storm of fire and brimstone is fallen from heaven upon Sodom and Gomorrah. The earth is opening her mouth to swallow up alive Korah, Dathan, and Abiram. Wrath is coming upon “the Beloved City,” even “wrath unto the uttermost.” The tender and delicate mother is devouring her darling infant. The sword of man is executing the vengeance of God. The earth is emptying its inhabitants into the bottomless pit. On every hand are “confused noises, and garments rolled in blood.” ”

“ The reformation includes not only the abrogation of the old, but also the introduction of the new. It gives us a new Mediator, a new covenant of grace, a new way of salvation, a new heart of flesh, a new heaven and a new earth. It has established a new union, by a new medium, between God and man. “The Word was made flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the Only Begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth.” “Forasmuch as the children were partakers of flesh and blood, he also himself likewise took part of the same.” ”