I am there shall also my servants be, and if any man serve me, him will my Father honour." And O the blessed reward of this service, Col. iii. 24, "Knowing that of the Lord ye shall receive the reward of the inheritance, for ye serve the Lord Christ." O faithful rewarder! O bountiful benefactor! I shall close all with the following meditation, by way of paraphrase, on the text which I have endeavoured to explain and enforce through the whole of this treatise.* The divine word informs me, and my own experience bears witness to the delightful truth, that “in his favour there is life." To this I can set my seal; so that what many others do but read, I, a poor sinful worm, am made to feel. Were I denied the sweet enjoyment of his favour, my heart would be pained; I should faint and languish. Had I never tasted the precious benefit, I should never have known how good it is. But I know in whom I have believed; I know whom I have loved; and how do I long that my weary soul may rest in the bosom of his love! His benignity is better than life. I long to have a full draught of his love, or rather, to be overwhelmed in this unbounded ocean. Absence from him, whose favour has won my heart, is the sharpest pain I now feel. O that the veil, which hides from me the bright vision of his face, were but once removed! I long to see him as he is. Since his love has warmed my once-frozen breast, my heart is not my own; I have given my warmest affections to him, and cannot forbear to cry, "When shall I come, and appear before God!" * Here the Editor takes the liberty of substituting Dr. Fawcett's paraphrase instead of the original. This however is the only instance in which he has ventured to take such liberty with his Author. Farewell, delusive world; my heart glows with an ardour which nothing beneath the sun could possibly inspire. The brightest things below the skies have no charms for me, in comparison with him who is the chief among ten thousands, and altogether lovely. The favour of the great, the riches of the wealthy, and the delights of the vain, are mean and despicable things. When the light of God's countenance is lifted up upon me, I can look on this captivating world with disdain, and deem the mightiest monarch poor, who knows nothing of the favour of the King of kings. How am I indebted to the riches of infinite love! The merciful Redeemer saw me, all wretched and forlorn, a helpless orphan, cast out in the open field, polluted in mine own blood, to the loathing of my person; he pitied my helpless case, took me up in his arms, cherished me in his bosom, washed me from my filthiness, adorned me with his comeliness, and said unto me, "I have loved thee with an everlasting love." O how great is his mercy! I am now emboldened to claim a personal interest in his favour, and to say, My beloved is mine, and I am his." His love is absolutely free. There was enough in me to provoke his eternal abhorrence; but he hath mercy on whom, and because he will have mercy. 66 Assist me, ye divine intelligences, ye angels of light, assist me to admire and adore his love. Teach me, in strains like your own, to celebrate the height, the depth, the length and the breadth of redeeming grace. The tokens of divine favour are sweet beyond expression. They banish the fears and disquietudes of the pained heart; they alleviate the crosses and afflictions of life, and brighten the horrors of death and the grave. Blest with the smiles of his face, who loved me, and gave himself for me, I can cheerfully submit to every chastisement of his hand; knowing that whom the Lord loveth he chasteneth, and scourgeth every son whom he receiveth. Welcome disease, welcome every pain, which indicates the speedy dissolution of this tabernacle, and portends the hour of my release from the burdens of the flesh. These breaches in the walls of my prison-house admit the rays of celestial light, and assure me, that my longing soul shall speedily gain her happy dismission, and fly to the bosom of her Saviour. Go on, O Lord, to accomplish in me all the good pleasure of thy goodness, and the work of faith with power. Let thy light shine brighter and brighter, unto the perfect day. Then farewell groans, and tears, and complaints; farewell darkness and eclipses of the Sun of righteousness; farewell glimmering hopes and gloomy fears; faith itself will then be turned into sight, and hope into everlasting fruition. Welcome ye pleasures which flow at God's right hand for evermore! When I partake of these I shall know, that "IN HIS FAVOUR IS LIFE!" |