I lay my sins on Jesus,
The spotless Lamb of God; He bears them all, and frees us
From the accursed load.
2. " He hath made to meet upon him the iniquity of us all." Yes ! and yet it is possible for a man included in the " all " to have to stagger along through life under his burden, and to carry it with him when he goes hence. " Be not deceived, God is not mocked," says the foremost preacher of the doctrine that Christ's death takes away sin. " Whatsoever a man soweth that shall he also reap. Every man shall bear his own burden." So your sins, taken away as they are by the sacrifice of Jesus Christ, may yet cling to you and crush you. There is only one way by which the possibilities open to all men by the death of Jesus Christ may become the actual experience of every man, or of any man — and that is, the simple laying of his burden, by his own act of quiet trust, upon the shoulders of Him that is mighty to save.
Sympathise with a murderer, feel as you would fain have him feel the misery of his condition, and, as the subtle fibres of a strange communion draw you together, as he responds, he begins to feel the softer grief, the contrition which already, in a sense, you feel for him. Your spirit passes into him. But this is only on the condition that he responds. Even so, to have the benefit of Christ's suffering we must consent to enter into His spirit, and to die with Him, that we may also live with Him. As many as are baptized into Christ Jesus are baptized into His death. He is made unto us wisdom, and righteousness, and sanctification, and redemption, when we surrender to His influences.^
> G. A. Chadwick,
ISAIAH 34^
Lord, dost Thou look on me, and will not I
Launch out my heart to Heaven to look on Thee ?
Here if one loved me, I should turn to see. And often think on him and often sigh, And by a tender friendship make reply
To love gratuitous poured forth on me,
And nurse a hope of happy days to be. And mean "until we meet" in each good-bye.
Lord, Thou dost look and love is in Thine Eyes, Thy heart is set upon me day and night, Thou stoopest low to set me far above : 0 Lord, that I may love Thee make me wise ; That I may see and love Thee grant me sight; And give me love that I may give Thee love.^
^ Christina G. Bossetti.
The Poor Man's Market.
Literature.
Alexander (J. A.), The Gospel of Jesus Christ, 332. Campbell (J. M.), Responsibility for the Gift of Eternal Life, 31. Fairweather (D.), Bound in the Spirit, 209. How (W. W.), Twenty-four Practical Sermons, 35. Jerdan (C), Pastures of Tender Grass, 327. Jowett (J. H.), Apostolic Optimism, 19. Kennedy (J. D.), Sermons, 131. Kingsley (C), The Water of Life, 116. Leeser (I.), Discourses on the Jewish Religion, 133. Levens (J. T.), Clean Hands, 44. Maclaren (A.), Expositions (Isaiah xlix.-lxvi.), 142. Maclaren (A.), The Wearied Christ, 113. Marten (C. H.), Plain Bible Addresses, 30 Price (A. C), Fifty Sermons, viii. 257. Smellie (A.), In the Hour of Silence, 118.
Spurgeon (C. H.), Metropolitan Tabernacle Pulpit, iv. No. 199 ; xx. No. 1161 ; xxix. No. 1726.
The Poor Man's Market.
Ho, every one that thirsteth, come ye to the waters, and he that hath no money ; come ye, buy, and eat ; yea, come, buy wine and milk without money and without price. Wherefore do ye spend money for that which is not bread ? and yoiir labour for that which satisfieth not ? hearken diligently unto me, and eat ye that which is good, and let your soul delight itself in fatness.— Iv. i, 2.
" Ho, every one that thirsteth, come ye to the waters, and he that hath no money " — well may Isaiah be called the Evan- gelical prophet. Where in the New Testament itself will you find a clearer gospel invitation than this ? Even the searching cry of our Lord on the great day of the feast, " If any man thirst, let him come unto me, and drink," what is it more than this ? It is simply Isaiah's call, its unique and moving power being due to no greater freeness or breadth in the call itself, but to the Person who now uttered it. " Come unto me," said Isaiah ; but he spoke in the name of another ; " Come unto me," echoed Jesus the Christ, and that day Isaiah's Scripture was fulfilled in their ears.
Isaiah is the gospel prophet. And what are the marks of a gospel ? These three : propitiation, pardon, purity. In the fifty-third chapter we have the propitiation, the putting of One in the place of others, and making Him to be sin for us. In this chapter we have the other two, the pardon and the purity. The assurance of pardon is given in vers. 6-9, beginning, " Seek ye the Lord while he may be found." The promise of purity goes from ver. 10 to the end of the chapter.
Samuel Kutherford has spoken of this verse as setting before us what he calls the poor man's market ; and, in like manner, William Eutherford, of Fenwick, of Covenanting faith, declares : " We have here a plain market, even the most pleasant, most substantial, and most glorious market that ever was." And