(Continued from p. 98.)

But some trembling believer may say, "I believe all that has been said as to the love of Christ, but I find so much in myself which is contrary to God that I sometimes wonder whether Christ loves me"

This brings us to consider what I will call the

PERSONAL LOVE

of Christ. In Galatians 2:20 we read:

"I am (I have been) crucified with Christ; nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me."

Now to be crucified was to be brought to an end in judgment as unfit for life among men. So it was that Christ was reckoned in the sight of men, and thus it was that a cross of shame became His portion at their hands; but in His death, as we know with thanksgiving, He was made an offering for sin on our behalf. There on the cross He "bare our sins in His own" holy body. All that we had done came under the righteous judgment of God, and in result,

"All our sins, so great, so many, In His blood are washed away."

But not only so:There was the deeper question of what we were in ourselves as children of a fallen Adam. Our state as well as our guilt must be met. And on the cross He was "made sin for us." Thus all that we were in ourselves as in our sinful state was brought to an end under the righteous judgment of God.

To illustrate this an old preacher used to say that he had taken three looks at the cross of Christ. The first was what one may call the Historical look. He saw one named Jesus of Nazareth nailed to a gibbet there outside Jerusalem's wall. To him then Christ was only as a great figure passing over the stage of life, like a Washington or Wellington, or a Grant or Gordon. But that was all. It did not concern him much.

Again he looked, and now it was with the tear-dimmed eyes of penitence, for he had learned that he was a sinner guilty before God, and he longed now for rest and peace of conscience. Then finding that all his own righteousnesses were but as filthy rags in the sight of God he looked away from himself and his sins to the Saviour of sinners upon the cross. That we may term the Salvation look. It brought him relief as he saw that the precious blood of Christ was shed for him and that it cleanseth the believer from all sin.

But as years rolled on their way he discovered more and more of what he was in himself, and began to wonder whether it could be possible that he could be a child of God at all, seeing that such thoughts of infidelity and evil of other kinds filled his mind. Then after many vain attempts to improve matters he learned that the believer may say, "Our old man has been crucified with Him (with Christ) that the body of sin might be destroyed (annulled) that henceforth we should not serve sin" (Rom. 6:6). Then it was that taking his third look at the cross he saw that not only was Christ, the Son of God, there bearing his sins but he saw that he was there crucified with Christ. He knew now that he need not try any longer to improve the flesh, for it was a judged thing in the sight of God, and that he as a believer upon the Son of God was now alive in Him as the Risen One, and that he was now therefore to reckon himself "dead indeed unto sin and alive to God" in Christ Jesus. This we may call the Delivering look.

Making it his own by faith the apostle could say, "I have been crucified with Christ (all that I was as a sinner was ended in the cross of Christ); nevertheless I live (I am still a living individual), yet not I (no longer the old Saul of Tarsus), but Christ liveth in me (Christ was now his life), and the life which I now live (as an actual man still upon earth) I live by the faith of the Son of God (faith that had the Son of God as its object and that drew all its power from Him) who loved me and gave Himself for me."

He could now rejoice that the One who knew all about him had loved even him and had given Himself for him.

Paul is seen here rejoicing in the personal love of Christ as though he were the only object of that love. And happy is the one who can isolate himself for the time and delight in that love as though it were all his own. It is the privilege of the feeblest of those who are Christ's to do so. The story is told of a servant of the Lord calling upon an aged Christian. He quoted the verse of which we are speaking-"The Son of God who loved me and gave Himself for me." With equal pleasure the old Christian went over the words saying, "The Son of God who loved me, and gave Himself for me." As she did this she felt a tug at her dress; turning to her little grandchild, who was swinging to and fro in the rocking-chair beside her, she said, "What is it, child?"

"And me too, grandma," said the little girl. She had been listening to the conversation and had felt rather left out; but she too could say that Christ was her Saviour, and therefore was entitled to claim the love of Christ as her own as well as those who were older.

Let me ask the Christian reader of these lines whether he has thus appropriated the love of Christ as his own. If not, let him do so at once, knowing that all that he is as well as all that he has done, is known and provided for in the death of Christ.

Before leaving this part of my subject let me pass on a statement which has helped many. It is this:"When Christ went to the cross, you went too." With Him you died, and now in Him you live beyond judgment and beyond the dominion of sin, and power is given to you in order that you may walk in happy liberty in the warmth and blessedness of the love of Christ.

Let us go on to the Epistle to the Ephesians. In 3:19 we find:"And to know the love of Christ which passeth knowledge." This we may speak of as the

PAST KNOWING LOVE

of Christ. The apostle has presented some of the great thoughts of God's plans and purposes for the glory of Christ, and has spoken of the breadth and length and depth and height of these. In the consideration of such a theme we might be overwhelmed. But we come back to that which ever gladdens the believer, the glorious fact that He for whom all this glory is counseled is none other than the Son of God, our precious Saviour. And thus in the midst of the wide realm of glory we may place our head upon His breast, and nestling there, like a wearied child does upon his mother's bosom, may delight in His search less love.

That love we know and delight in, though hi its fulness it passeth knowledge. It is known, and yet it is unknowable. That it passeth fully being known need not hinder our enjoying it more and more.

We sit and revel in the rays of the sun on a bright day in the Spring, glad that the Winter is past and gone. But what do we know of the sun itself? Astronomers tell us of gaseous flames of two or three hundred thousand miles in length, but even they, who have spent year after year in the study of the matter, know but very little of its component parts; and they will go to the ends of the earth to witness an eclipse which may add to their limited stock of information concerning the great orb of fire. Meanwhile the millions of the earth's population profit by and delight in the unceasing light and warmth which its rays impart to the wide world. Never can the human mind understand all the love of Him who made the sun. It is infinite, and therefore beyond the grasp of the finite; but it is for our increasing enjoyment as we learn more and more concerning it. Inglis Fleming

(To be continued, D. V.)