Images de page
PDF
ePub

1

The second thing we are taught, is, that love is. a treasure which must be opened; that is, we must present it to the Lord. If we have received his love into our will, we must return it back again, by every duty of piety, worship, and service. The wise men came from the East to Jerufalem, to present their offerings, and do homage to the newborn Saviour. We are not to think any service too great, or any duty too burthensome, which we are called upon to render-it is love, as the poet says,

"That makes our cheerful feet in swift obedience move."

It is this that makes all worship, as prayer, praise, thanksgiving, and the like, not only easy, but defireable and pleasant. It is our meat and our drink to do the will of God. Thus we open our treasures, and present all our affections to the Lord, in every duty of piety, religious worship, and spiritual service.

But, secondly, the next thing the wife men offered was frankincense; that is, as the word imports, FREE-INCENSE.

You will fee this mentioned in several places of the holy word; in Lev. ii. 1, "And when any will " offer a meat-offering unto the Lord, his offering "shall be of fine flour; and he shall pour oil upon " it, and put frankincense thereon." See also verses 15 and 16.

Now as every thing in the word corresponds to something spiritual, so by frankincense that which is spiritual

9

spiritual is signified. As gold, therefore, corresponds to, and signifies the celestial principle; so frankincense corresponds to the spiritual principle; or, as gold applies to goodness and love, so frankincense applies to truth and faith-and as the former respects the will, the latter respects the understanding.

The meaning therefore is, that as the wife men offered to the Lord the highest principle of love, goodness, and affection in the will; so they united with it, the spiritual principle of truth and faith in the understanding. Their faith was grounded in love, and their truth in goodness. It is evident they were directed by divine truth, and influenced by a divine faith, or they never would have come so far to worship the Lord Jesus Christ.

Had they not known, by the word, that Jehovah would come to save mankind, and had they not believed that the child born at Bethlehem was the manifested Jehovah, they would not, they could not, have worshipped him; for that very worship implied their firm belief that he was God as well as man. It was, therefore, frankincense, or a FREEINCENSE, which they offered; being convinced that Jesus was the Christ, and the Lord their God. Their will, therefore, was not only under the influence of heavenly love, but their understanding, also, was directed by truth, to believe in Jesus Christ as their Redeemer, and the object of their adoration.

And here, I presume, you will fee the absolute neceffity of uniting these two principles, in order to

render

i

render an acceptable offering to the Lord our God. For take them separately, and what is their value ? Why the gold becomes dross, and the frankincense a disgusting smell. A profession of love to God, without a knowledge of him, and faith in him, cannot be an acceptable facrifice; and a knowledge of God, and faith in him, without love to him, must be equally unacceptable. How many are there. who pretend an affection for the Lord, and have much of this love upon their tongues; appear very devout and fanctified in their worship, and at the fame time have not in truth that love to God which causes them to do his will, and keep his commandments; are almost totally ignorant of his nature and perfections, and destitute of a sound spiritual faith? These may imagine they offer gold to the Lord; but they will fooner or later be convinced, their gold was dross and dirt.

Again, how many are there who have acquired a confiderable knowledge of God, his word, and the doctrines and truths thereof; and who boaft much of, and depend greatly upon, faith in his name, his merits, and facrifice; and at the fame time this faith is ALONE? It is not derived from, or connected with, PURE LOVE to the Lord, and his holy commandments. Can this offering be acceptable to the blessed God? Will he, who knoweth the beart, and requireth the heart, be pleased with such a facrifice as this? No, the frankincense has lost its perfume, and stinks in the noftrils of the Most High. The offering is not grounded in love, nor rooted in

the

the will, and therefore it ascends not to heaven, but is dispersed, and vanishes away.

And I am forry to say it; yea, I do fincerely lament that I have so much reason to say, that this is too much the state of professing christians in our day. By fome means or other, the doctrine of justification by faith alone, has almost universally prevailed; and more than ever, I believe, within these twenty or thirty years past. Whereas one would think it must be evident, both from reason and scripture, that faith, if it be not grounded in love, and productive of good works, or true obedience to divine laws, can be of no value or use, nor in any sense acceptable to that God, who has told us by his apostles, that a "faith which can re" move mountains is nothing, without love;" and that "faith without works is dead."

Let us, my christian brethren, give up, relinquish, and explode such a faith as this; it is of no use, will do us no good, nor ever be acceptable to the Lord Jesus. No facrifice can please him, but that which arifes from the heart; a facrifice of pure love, founded in the knowledge of divine truth, and united with a found operative faith.

Proceed we further, to notice the other part of the offering the wife men presented to the Lord. They presented unto him gifts, gold, frankincense, and MYRRH. Myrrh is an Arabian gum, extracted from the myrrh tree, and is frequently mentioned in the facred scriptures. Exod. xxx. 23, "Take thou also unto thee principal fpices, of pure " myrrh

;

" myrrh five hundred shekels;" as a part of the compound which was to anoint the tabernacle. And Pía. xlv. 8, "All thy garments smell of myrrh, " and aloes, and caffia, out of the ivory palaces." And John xix. 39, "Nicodemus brought a mix"ture of myrrh, and aloes, about an hundred " pounds weight," to anoint the body of Jesus.

Now as the word of the Lord is in itself spiritual, we may be assured these things have a spiritual fignification, and what they signify can only be known by an acquaintance with the science of correspondences, by which that word is written. This science leaves us not to mere conjecture, concerning the true meaning of this thing and the other; but opens that meaning from its spiritual ground. As there is a trinity in the Lord, of Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, in one person, so there is a trinity in the word, as it contains a celestial, spiritual, and natural sense; there is also a trinity in man, as he possesses a body, a foul, and an operation; there is likewise a trinity in his internal, that is, a will, understanding, and action. Gold applies to his will, principle, or affection; frankincense to his understanding principle; and myrrh to his active principle, or conduct. Or gold signifies his love and goodness; frankincense, truth and faith; and myrrh, charity and good-works. The whole meaning of the text, therefore, in its internal and spiritual sense, is, that the wife men presented unto the Lord pure love, true faith, and fincere obedience. This was the treasure they possessed, and which they had received

« PrécédentContinuer »