A VIEW OF CHRIST. CHAPTER I. A VIEW OF CHRIST IN HIS ATONING SUFFERINGS. "Yet it pleased the Lord to bruise him."-Is. 53: 10. "For even Christ our passover is sacrificed for us.”. 1 Cor. 5: 7. WHEN we open our eyes upon the works of creation, we are met on every side by objects of contemplation of the liveliest interest. The sun, moon, and stars, the air and water, the earth with its inhabitants and productions, so infinite in number and variety, so various in form, beauty, and proportion, afford themes of contemplation which may task to the uttermost the mightiest intellect, while, at the same time, they may be viewed with intense interest and delight by those, whose feebler powers, though not able to grasp the lofty and sublime, are still designed by their Creator for great activity and enjoyment. The works of providence too, no less than those of creation, present to the mind subjects for meditation of equal variety and importance. Here we behold the Creator moving silently, but with great power and majesty, in the accomplishment of his eternal purposes. The work of redemption, as unfolding the great mysteries of godliness, furnishes themes for contemplation of still greater interest. Deep, boundless, and incomprehensible as it is, the mind that can be moved by all that is lofty in conception, or great in wisdom and knowledge, as well as by the richest displays of infinite goodness, mercy, and love, will dwell upon it with the profoundest delight. Through these works of an uncreated mind, we are led up to the Supreme Jehovah, the great Author and Possessor of them all. Here all is vast, incomprehensible, and glorious; God eternal and infinite-God everywhere, and all in all. Waving, however, for the present, these subjects of absorbing interest, I design, in this little work, to take a view of Christ, the second person in the Sacred Trinity, the brightness of the Father's glory, an object, surely, which fallen man should ever contemplate with the deepest reverence and the purest delight. It would be gratifying to contemplate the Saviour as he existed, prior to his incarnation, in that glory which he had with the Father before the world We might dwell with hallowed delight around that memorable spot, honored as the birthplace of the Prince of Peace, and view with intense interest the infant Jesus lying in a manger, as God manifest in the flesh, when he assumed the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of We might follow the Saviour with a glow of sacred pleasure, as he went about doing good; instructing the ignorant, heal was. men. |