The Spiced Wine of My Pomegranate; Or, the Communion of Communication

The Spiced Wine of My Pomegranate;
Or, the Communion of Communication

I would cause You to drink of spiced
wine of the juice of my pomegranate.
Solomon's Song 8:2.

And of his fulness have all we received,
and grace for grace." John 1:16.

The immovable basis of communion having
been laid of old in the eternal union
which subsisted between Christ and His elect, it
only needed a fitting occasion to manifest itself
in active development. The Lord Jesus had forever
delighted Himself with the sons of men, and he
ever stood prepared to reveal and communicate that
delight to His people; but they were incapable of
returning His affection or enjoying His
fellowship, having fallen into a state so base and
degraded, that they were dead to Him, and careless
concerning Him. It was therefore needful that
something should be done FOR them, and IN them,
before they could hold converse with Jesus, or
feel concord with Him. This preparation being a
work of grace and a result of previous union,
Jesus determined that, even in the preparation for
communion, there should be communion. If they
must be washed before they could fully converse
with Him, He would commune with them in the
washing; and if they must be enriched by gifts
before they could have full access to Him, He
would commune with them in the giving. He has
therefore established a fellowship in imparting
His grace, and in partaking of it.
This order of fellowship we have called
"The Communion of Communication," and we think
that a few remarks will prove that we are not
running beyond the warranty of Scripture.
The word koinonia, or communion, is
frequently employed by inspired writers in the
sense of communication or contribution. When, in
our English version, we read, "For it has pleased
them of Macedonia and Achaia to make a certain
contribution for the poor saints which are at
Jerusalem" (Rom. 15:26), it is interesting to know
that the word koinonian is used, as if to show
that the generous gifts of the Church in Achaia to
its sister Church at Jerusalem was a communion.
Calvin would have us notice this, because, says
he, "The word here employed well expresses the
feeling by which it behooves us to relieve the
needs of our brethren, even because there is to be
a common and mutual regard on account of the union
of the body." He would not have strained the text
if he had said that there was in the contribution
the very essence of communion. Gill, in his
commentary upon the above verse, most pertinently
remarks, "Contribution, or communion, as the word
signifies, it being one part of the communion of
churches and of saints to relieve their poor by
communicating to them." The same word is employed
in Hebrews 13:16, and is there translated by the
word "communicate." "But to do good, and to
communicate, do not forget: for with such sacrifices
God is well pleased." It occurs again in 2
Corinthians 9:13, "And for your liberal
distribution unto them, and unto all men;" and in
numerous other passages the careful student will
observe the word in various forms, representing
the ministering of the saints to one another as an
act of fellowship. Indeed, at the Lord's supper,
which is the embodiment of communion, we have ever
been wont to make a special contribution for the
poor of the flock, and we believe that in the
collection there is as true and real an element of
communion as in the partaking of the bread and
wine. The giver holds fellowship with the receiver
when he bestows his benefaction for the Lord's
sake, and because of the brotherhood existing
between him and his needy friends. The teacher
holds communion with the young disciple when he
labors to instruct him in the faith, being moved
thereto by a spirit of Christian love. He who
intercedes for a saint because he desires his
well-being as a member of the one family, enters
into fellowship with his brother in the offering
of prayer. The loving and mutual service of
church-members is fellowship of a high degree. And
let us remember that the recipient communes with
the benefactor: the communion is not confined to
the giver, but the heart overflowing with
liberality is met by the heart brimming with
gratitude, and the love manifested in the bestowal
is reciprocated in the acceptance. When the hand
feeds the mouth or supports the head, the diverse
members feel their union, and sympathize with one
another; and so is it with the various portions of
the body of Christ, for they commune in mutual
acts of love.
Now, this meaning of the word communion
furnishes us with much instruction, since it
indicates the manner in which recognized
fellowship with Jesus is commenced and maintained,
namely, by giving and receiving, by communication
and reception. The Lord's supper is the
divinely-ordained exhibition of communion, and
therefore in it there is the breaking of bread and
the pouring forth of wine, to picture the free
gift of the Savior's body and blood to us; and
there is also the eating of the one and the
drinking of the other, to represent the reception
of these priceless gifts by us. As without bread
and wine there could be no Lord's supper, so
without the gracious bequests of Jesus to us there
would have been no communion between Him and our
souls: and as participation is necessary before
the elements truly represent the meaning of the
Lord's ordinance, so is it needful that we should
receive His bounties, and feed upon His person,
before we can commune with Him.
It is one branch of this mutual
communication which we have selected as the
subject of this address. "Looking unto Jesus," who
has delivered us from our state of enmity, and
brought us into fellowship with Himself, we pray
for the rich assistance of the Holy Spirit, that
we may be refreshed in spirit, and encouraged to
draw more largely from the covenant storehouse of
Christ Jesus the Lord.
We shall take a text, and proceed at once
to our delightful task. " And of His fulness have
all we received, and grace for grace." (John
1:16.)
As the life of grace is first begotten in
us by the Lord Jesus, so is it constantly
sustained by Him. We are always drawing from this
sacred fountain, always deriving sap from this
divine root; and as Jesus communes with us in the
bestowing of mercies, it is our privilege to hold
fellowship with Him in the receiving of them.
There is this difference between Christ
and ourselves, He never gives without manifesting
fellowship, but we often receive in so ill a
manner that communion is not reciprocated, and we
therefore miss the heavenly opportunity of its
enjoyment. We frequently receive grace insensibly,
that is to say, the sacred oil runs through the
pipe, and maintains our lamp, while we are
unmindful of the secret influence. We may also be
the partakers of many mercies which, through our
dulness, we do not perceive to be mercies at all;
and at other times well-known blessings are
recognized as such, but we are backward in tracing
them to their source in the covenant made with
Christ Jesus.
Following out the suggestion of our
explanatory preface, we can well believe that when
the poor saints received the contribution of their
brethren, many of them did in earnest acknowledge
the fellowship which was illustrated in the
generous offering, but it is probable that some of
them merely looked upon the material of the gift,
and failed to see the spirit moving in it. Sensual
thoughts in some of the receivers might possibly,
at the season when the contribution was
distributed, have mischievously injured the
exercise of spirituality; for it is possible that,
after a period of poverty, they would be apt to
give greater prominence to the fact that their
need was removed than to the sentiment of
fellowship with their sympathizing brethren. They
would rather rejoice over famine averted than
concerning fellowship manifested. We doubt not
that, in many instances, the mutual benefactions
of the Church fail to reveal our fellowship to our
poor brethren, and produce in them no feelings of
communion with the givers.
Now this sad fact is an illustration of
the yet more lamentable statement which we have
made. We again assert that, as many of the
partakers of the alms of the Church are not alive
to the communion contained therein, so the Lord's
people are never sufficiently attentive to
fellowship with Jesus in receiving His gifts, but
many of them are entirely forgetful of their
privilege, and all of them are too little aware of
it. No, worse than this, how often does the
believer pervert the gifts of Jesus into food for
his own sin and wantonness! We are not free from
the fickleness of ancient Israel, and well might
our Lord address us in the same language: "Now
when I passed by you, and looked upon you,
behold, your time was the time of love; and I
spread My skirt over you, and covered your
nakedness: yes, I swore unto you, and entered
into a covenant with You, says the Lord God, and
you became Mine. Then washed I you with water;
yes, I throughly washed away your blood from you,
and I anointed you with oil. I clothed you also
with broidered work, and shod you with badgers'
skin, and I girded you about with fine linen, and
I covered you with silk. I decked you also with
ornaments, and I put bracelets upon your hands, and
a chain on your neck. And I put a jewel on your
forehead, and earrings in your ears, and a
beautiful crown upon your head. Thus were you
decked with gold and silver; and your clothing was
of fine linen, and silk, and broidered work; you
did eat fine flour, and honey, and oil: and you
were exceeding beautiful, and you did prosper
into a kingdom. And your renown went forth among
the heathen for your beauty: for it was perfect
through My loveliness, which I had put upon you,
says the Lord God. But you did trust in your
own beauty, and playedst the harlot because of your
renown." (Ezek. 16:8-16.)
Ought not the mass of professors to
confess the truth of this accusation? Have not the
bulk of us most sadly departed from the purity of
our love? We rejoice, however, to observe a
remnant of choice spirits, who live near the Lord,
and know the sweetness of fellowship. These
receive the promise and the blessing, and so
digest those who they become good blood in their
veins, and so do they feed on their Lord that they
grow up into Him. Let us imitate those elevated
minds, and obtain their high delights. There is no
reason why the meanest of us should not be as
David, and David as the servant of the Lord. We
may now be dwarfs, but growth is possible; let us
therefore aim at a higher stature. Let the
succeeding advice be followed, and, the Holy
Spirit helping us, we shall have attained thereto.

Make every time of need a time of
embracing your Lord. Do not leave the mercy-seat
until you have clasped Him in your arms. In
every time of need He has promised to give you
grace to help, and what withholds you from
obtaining sweet fellowship as a precious addition
to the promised assistance? Do not be as the beggar
who is content with the alms, however grudgingly
it may be cast to him; but, since you are a near
kinsman, seek a smile and a kiss with every
blessing He gives you. Is He not better than His
mercies? What are they without Him? Cry aloud unto
Him, and let your petition reach His ears, "O my
Lord, it is not enough to be a partaker of Your
bounties, I must have Yourself also; if You do
not give me Yourself with Your favors, they are but
of little use to me! O smile on me, when You
blessed me, for else I am still unblest! You
put perfume into all the flowers of Your
garden, and fragrance into Your spices; if You
withdraw Yourself, they are no more pleasant to
me. Come, then, my Lord, and give me Your love with
Your grace."
Take good heed, Christian, that your
own heart is in right tune, that when the fingers
of mercy touch the strings, they may resound with
full notes of communion. How sad is it to partake
of favor without rejoicing in it! Yet such is
often the believer's case. The Lord casts His
lavish bounties at our doors, and we, like misers,
scarcely look out to thank Him. Our ungrateful
hearts and unthankful tongues mar our fellowship,
by causing us to miss a thousand opportunities for
exercising it.
If you would enjoy communion with the
Lord Jesus in the reception of His grace, endeavor
to be always sensibly drawing supplies from Him.
Make your needs public in the streets of your
heart, and when the supply is granted, let all the
powers of your soul be present at the reception of
it. Let no mercy come into your house unsung.
Note in your memory the list of your Master's
benefits. Wherefore should the Lord's bounties be
hurried away in the dark, or buried in
forgetfulness? Keep the gates of your soul ever
open, and sit by the wayside to watch the
treasures of grace which God the Spirit hourly
conveys into your heart from Jehovah-Jesus, your
Lord.
Never let an hour pass without drawing
upon the bank of heaven. If all your needs seem
satisfied, look steadfastly until the next moment
brings another need, and then delay not, but with
this warrant of necessity, hasten to your treasury
again. Your necessities are so numerous that you
will never lack a reason for applying to the
fulness of Jesus; but if ever such an occasion
should arise, enlarge your heart, and then there
will be need of more love to fill the wider space.
But do not allow any presumptive riches of
your own to suspend your daily receivings from the
Lord Jesus. You have constant need of Him. You
need His intercession, His upholding, His
sanctification; you need that He should work all
your works in you, and that He should preserve you
unto the day of His appearing. There is not one
moment of your life in which you can do without
Christ. Therefore be always at His door, and the
needs which you bemoan shall be remembrances to
turn your heart unto your Savior. Thirst makes
the deer pant for the waterbrooks, and pain
reminds a man of the physician. Let your needs
conduct you to Jesus, and may the blessed Spirit
reveal Him unto you while He lovingly affords you
the rich supplies of His love! Go, poor saint, let
your poverty be the cord to draw you to your rich
Brother. Rejoice in the infirmity which makes room
for grace to rest upon you, and be glad that you
have constant needs which compel you perpetually
to hold fellowship with your adorable Redeemer.
Study yourself, seek out your necessities,
as the housewife searches for chambers where she
may bestow her summer fruits. Regard your needs as
rooms to be filled with more of the grace of
Jesus, and suffer no corner to be unoccupied. Pant
after more of Jesus. Be covetous after Him. Let
all the past incite you to seek greater things.
Sing the song of the enlarged heart,�

"All this is not enough: methinks I grow
More greedy by fruition; what I get
Serves but to set
An edge upon my appetite;
And all Your gifts invite
My prayers for more."

Cry out to the Lord Jesus to fill the dry beds of
your rivers until they overflow, and then empty
you the channels which have hitherto been filled
with your own self-sufficiency, and beseech Him
to fill these also with His superabundant grace.
If your heavy trials sink you deeper in the flood
of His consolations, be glad of them; and if your
vessel shall be sunken up to its very bulwarks, be
not afraid. I would be glad to feel the mast-head
of my soul twenty fathoms beneath the surface of
such an ocean; for, as Rutherford said, "Oh, to be
over the ears in this well! I would not have
Christ's love entering into me, but I would enter
into it, and be swallowed up of that love."
Cultivate an insatiable hunger and a quenchless
thirst for this communion with Jesus through His
communications. Let your heart cry forever,
"Give, give," until it is filled in Paradise.


Overcome with Jesus' condescending love for me,
Brought into sweet fellowship with Him,
And feasting with Him in His house of wine,
I am sick with His love for me.

And yet I pant for more dealings with You, my loving Lord.
Visit me with buckets full of Your choicest wine,
Pressed from Your heart upon Mount Calvary,
To cheer and comfort my love-conquered soul.

Lord Jesus, You alone I crave!
Your presence is my life, my joy, my heaven,
And all, without You, is rubbish to me.
Visit me with basketfuls of Your love,
My Savior, hear my cry.

Let Your promises, like apples, comfort me;
Apply Your atoning blood, and covenant love,
Until I see Your radiant face,
At the great eternal wedding feast."
-Joseph Irons (adapted)

This is the only covetousness which is allowable:
but this is not merely beyond rebuke, it is worthy
of commendation. O saints, do not be straitened in
your own affections, but enlarge your desires, and so
receive more of your Savior's measureless
fulness! I charge you, my soul, thus to hold
continual fellowship with your Lord, since He
invites and commands you thus to partake of His
riches.
Rejoice yourself in benefits received. Let
the satisfaction of your spirit overflow in streams
of joy. When the believer reposes all his
confidence in Christ, and delights himself in Him,
there is an exercise of communion. If he
forgets his psalm-book, and instead of singing
is found lamenting, the mercies of the day will
bring no communion. Awake, O music! stir up
yourself, O my soul, be glad in the Lord, and
exceedingly rejoice! Behold His favors, rich,
free, and continual; shall they be buried in
unthankfulness? Shall they be covered with a
winding-sheet of ingratitude? No! I will praise
Him. I must extol Him. Sweet Lord Jesus, let me
kiss the dust of Your feet, let me lose myself in
thankfulness, for Your thoughts unto me are
precious, how great is the sum of them! Lo, I
embrace You in the arms of joy and gratitude, and
herein I find my soul drawn unto You!
This is a blessed method of fellowship. It
is kissing the divine lip of blessing with the
sanctified lip of affection. Oh, for more
rejoicing grace, more of the songs of the heart,
more of the melody of the soul!
Seek to recognize the source of your
mercies as lying alone in Him who is our Head.
Imitate the chicken, which, every time it drinks
of the brook, lifts up its head to heaven, as if
it would return thanks for every drop. If we have
anything that is commendable and gracious, it must
come from the Holy Spirit, and that Spirit is
first bestowed on Jesus, and then through Him on
us. The oil was first poured on the head of Aaron,
and thence it ran down upon his garments. Look on
the drops of grace, and remember that they distill
from the Head, Christ Jesus. All your rays are
begotten by this Sun of Righteousness, all your
showers are poured from this heaven, all your
fountains spring from this great and immeasurable
depth. Oh, for grace to see the hand of Jesus on
every favor! So will communion be constantly and
firmly in exercise. May the great Teacher
perpetually direct us to Jesus by making the
mercies of the covenant the handposts on the road
which leads to Him. Happy is the believer who
knows how to find the secret abode of his Beloved
by tracking the footsteps of His loving
providence: herein is wisdom which the casual
observer of mere second causes can never reach.
Labor, O Christian, to follow up every clue which
your Master's grace affords you!
Labor to maintain a sense of your entire
dependence upon His good will and pleasure for the
continuance of your richest enjoyments. Never try
to live on the old manna, nor seek to find help in
Egypt. All must come from Jesus, or you are
undone forever. Old anointings will not suffice
to impart unction to our spirit; your head must
have fresh oil poured upon it from the golden horn
of the sanctuary, or it will cease from its glory.
Today you may be upon the summit of the mount
of God; but He who has put you there must keep
you there, or you will sink far more speedily
than you dreams. Your mountain only stands firm
when He settles it in its place; if He hide His
face, you will soon be troubled. If the Savior
should see fit, there is not a window through
which you see the light of heaven which he
could not darken in an instant. Joshua bade the
sun stand still, but Jesus can shroud it in total
darkness. He can withdraw the joy of your heart,
the light of your eyes, and the strength of your
life; in His hand your comforts lie, and at His
will they can depart from you. Oh! how rich the
grace which supplies us so continually, and does
not refrain itself because of our ingratitude! O
Lord Jesus, we would bow at Your feet, conscious of
our utter inability to do anything without You, and
in every favor which we are privileged to
receive, we would adore Your blessed name, and
acknowledge Your unexhausted love!
When you have received much, admire the
all-sufficiency which still remains
undiminished, thus shall you commune with Christ,
not only in what you obtain from Him, but also in
the superabundance which remains treasured up in
Him. Let us ever remember that giving does not
impoverish our Lord. When the clouds, those
wandering cisterns of the skies, have poured
floods upon the dry ground, there remains an
abundance in the storehouse of the rain: so in
Christ there is ever an unbounded supply, though
the most liberal showers of grace have fallen ever
since the foundation of the earth. The sun is as
bright as ever after all his shining, and the sea
is quite as full after all the clouds have been
drawn from it: so is our Lord Jesus ever the same
overflowing fountain of fulness. All this is ours,
and we may make it the subject of rejoicing
fellowship. Come, believer, walk through the
length and breadth of the land, for as far as the
eye can reach, the land is your, and far beyond
the utmost range of your observation it is your
also, the gracious gift of your gracious Redeemer
and Friend. Is there not ample space for
fellowship here?
Regard every spiritual mercy as an
assurance of the Lord's communion with you. When
the young man gives jewels to the virgin to whom
he is affianced, she regards them as tokens of his
delight in her. Believer, do the same with the
precious presents of your Lord. The common bounties
of providence are shared in by all men, for the
good Householder provides water for His swine as
well as for His children: such things, therefore,
are no proof of divine complacency. But you have
richer food to eat; "the children's bread" is in
your wallet, and the heritage of the righteous is
reserved for you. Look, then, on every motion of
grace in your heart as a pledge and sign of the
moving of your Savior's heart towards you. There
is His whole heart in the affections of every mercy
which He sends you. He has impressed a kiss of
love upon each gift, and He would have you
believe that every jewel of mercy is a token of
His boundless love. Look on your adoption,
justification, and preservation, as sweet
enticements to fellowship. Let every note of the
promise sound in your ears like the ringing of
the bells of the house of your Lord, inviting you
to come to the banquets of His love. Joseph sent
to his father donkeys laden with the good things of
Egypt, and good old Jacob doubtless regarded them
as pledges of the love of his son's heart: be sure
not to think less of the kindnesses of Jesus.
Study to know the value of His favors.
They are no ordinary things, no paste jewels, no
mosaic gold: they are every one of them so costly,
that, had all heaven been drained of treasure,
apart from the precious offering of the Redeemer,
it could not have purchased so much as the least
of His benefits. When you see your pardon,
consider how great a boon is contained in it!
Bethink you that hell had been your eternal
portion unless Christ had plucked you from the
burning! When you are enabled to see yourself as
clothed in the imputed righteousness of Jesus,
admire the profusion of precious things of which
your robe is made. Think how many times the Man of
sorrows wearied Himself at that loom of obedience
in which He wove that matchless garment; and
reckon, if you can, how many worlds of merit
were cast into the fabric at every throw of the
shuttle! Remember that all the angels in heaven
could not have afforded Him a single thread which
would have been rich enough to weave into the
texture of His perfect righteousness. Consider the
cost of your maintenance for an hour; remember that
your needs are so large, that all the granaries of
grace that all the saints could fill, could not
feed you for a moment.
What an expensive dependent you are! King
Solomon made marvellous provision for his
household (1 Kings 4:22), but all his beeves and
fine flour would be as the drop of the bucket
compared with your daily needs. Rivers of oil, and
ten thousand rams or fed beasts, would not provide
enough to supply the necessities of your hungering
soul. Your least spiritual want demands infinity to
satisfy it, and what must be the amazing aggregate
of your perpetually repeated draughts upon your
Lord! Arise, then, and bless your loving Emmanuel
for the invaluable riches with which He has
endowed you. See what a dowry your Bridegroom has
brought to His poor, penniless spouse. He knows
the value of the blessings which He brings you,
for He has paid for them out of His heart's
richest blood; do not be you so ungenerous as to
pass them over as if they were but of little
worth. Poor men know more of the value of money
than those who have always reveled in abundance
of wealth. Ought not your former poverty to teach
you the preciousness of the grace which Jesus
gives you? For remember, there was a time when
you would have given a thousand worlds, if they
had been your, in order to procure the very least
of His abundant mercies.
Remember how impossible it would have been
for you to receive a single spiritual blessing
unless you had been in Jesus. On none of Adam's
race can the love of God be fixed, unless they are
seen to be in union with His Son. No exception has
ever been made to the universal curse on those of
the first Adam's seed who have no interest in the
second Adam. Christ is the only Zoar in which
God's Lots can find a shelter from the destruction
of Sodom. Out of Him, the withering blast of the
fiery furnace of God's wrath consumes every green
herb, and it is only in Him that the soul can
live. As when the prairie is on fire, men see the
heavens wrapped in sheets of flame, and in hot
haste they fly before the devouring element. They
have but one hope. There is in the distance a lake
of water. They reach it, they plunge into it, and
are safe. Although the skies are molten with the
heat, the sun darkened with the smoke, and the
earth utterly consumed in the fire, they know that
they are secure while the cooling flood embraces
them. Christ Jesus is the only escape for a sinner
pursued by the fiery wrath of God, and we would
have the believer remember this. Our own works
could never shelter us, for they have proved but
refuges of lies. Had they been a thousand times
more and better, they would have been but as the
spider's web, too flail to hang eternal interests
upon. There was but one name, one sacrifice, one
blood, by which we could escape. All other
attempts at salvation were a grievous failure.
For, "though a man could scourge out of his body
rivers of blood, and in neglect of himself could
outlast Moses or Elias; though he could wear out
his knees with prayer, and had his eyes nailed on
heaven; though he could build hospitals for all
the poor on earth, and exhaust the mines of India
in alms; though he could walk like an angel of
light, and with the glittering of an outward
holiness dazzle the eyes of all beholders; no (if
it were possible to be conceived) though he should
live for a thousand years in a perfect and
perpetual observation of the whole law of God, if
the only exception to his perfection were the very
least deviation from the law, yet such a man as
this could no more appear before the tribunal of
God's justice, than stubble before a consuming
fire." How, then, with your innumerable sins,
could you escape the damnation of hell, much
less become the recipient of bounties so rich and
large? Blessed window of heaven, sweet Lord Jesus,
let Your Church forever adore You, as the only
channel by which mercies can flow to her. My soul,
give Him continual praise, for without Him you
had been poorer than a beggar. Be you mindful,
O heir of heaven, that you could not have had
one ray of hope, or one word of comfort, if you
had not been in union with Christ Jesus! The
crumbs which fall from your table are more than
grace itself would have given you, had you not
been in Jesus beloved and approved.
All you have, you have in Him: in Him
chosen, in Him redeemed, in Him justified, in Him
accepted. You are risen in Him, but without Him
you had died the second death. You are in Him
raised up to the heavenly places, but out of Him
you would have been damned eternally. Bless
Him, then. Ask the angels to bless Him. Rouse all
ages to a harmony of praise for His condescending
love in taking poor guilty nothings into oneness
with His all-adorable person. This is a blessed
means of promoting communion, if the sacred
Comforter is pleased to take of the things of
Christ, and reveal them to us as ours, but only
ours as we are in Him. Thrice-blessed Jesus, let
us never forget that we are members of Your
mystical body, and that it is for this reason that
we are blessed and preserved.
Meditate upon you gracious acts which
procured your blessings. Consider the ponderous
labors which your Lord endured for you, and the
stupendous sufferings by which He purchased the
mercies which He bestows. What human tongue can
speak forth the unutterable misery of His heart,
or describe so much as one of the agonies which
crowded upon His soul? How much less shall any
finite comprehension arrive at an idea of the vast
total of His woe! But all His sorrows were
necessary for your benefit, and without them not
one of your unnumbered mercies could have been
bestowed. Do not be unmindful that�

"There's never a gift His hand bestows,
But cost His heart a groan."

Look upon the frozen ground of Gethsemane, and
behold the bloody sweat which stained the soil!
Turn to the hall of Gabbatha, and see the victim
of justice pursued by His clamorous foes! Enter
the guard-room of the Praetorians, and view the
spitting, and the plucking of the hair! and then
conclude your review upon Golgotha, the mount of
doom, where death consummated His tortures; and
if, by divine assistance you are enabled to
enter, in some humble measure, into the depths of
your Lord's sufferings, you will be the better
prepared to hold fellowship with Him when next
you receive His priceless gifts. In proportion
to your sense of their costliness will be your
capacity for enjoying the love which is centered in
them.
Above all, and chief of all, never forget
that Christ is your. Amid the profusion of His
gifts, never forget that the chief gift is
Himself, and do not forget that, after all, His
gifts are but Himself. He clothes you, but it is
with Himself, with His own spotless righteousness
and character. He washes you, but His innermost
self, His own heart's blood, is the stream with
which the fountain overflows. He feeds you with
the bread of heaven, but do not be unmindful that the
bread is Himself, His own body which He gives to
be the food of souls. Never be satisfied with a
less communication than a whole Christ. A wife
will not be put off with maintenance, jewels, and
attire, all these will be nothing to her unless
she can call her husband's heart and person her
own. It was the Paschal lamb upon which the
ancient Israelite did feast on that night that was
never to be forgotten. So do you feast on Jesus,
and on nothing less than Jesus, for less than this
will be food too light for your soul's
satisfaction. Oh, be careful to eat His flesh and
drink His blood, and so receive Him into yourself
in a real and spiritual manner, for nothing short
of this will be an evidence of eternal life in your
soul!
What more shall we add to the rules which
we have here delivered? There remains but one
great exhortation, which must not be omitted. Seek
the abundant assistance of the Holy Spirit to
enable you to put into practice the things which
we have said, for without His aid, all that we
have spoken will but be tantalizing the lame with
rules to walk, or the dying with regulations for
the preservation of health. O you Divine Spirit,
while we enjoy the grace of Jesus, lead us into
the secret abode of our Lord, that we may sup with
Him, and He with us, and grant unto us hourly
grace that we may continue in the company of our
Lord from the rising to the setting of the sun!
Amen.