PREFACE
The object of these pages is simple, clear, holy. It is
to arouse attention to the blessed truth, that Christ pervades all
Scripture, as salt all waters of the sea, as light the
brightest day, as fragrance the garden of choice flowers.
To see this is my prime delight. To testify it is my
happiest duty. Devoted loyalty to Him who is the first and last, the sum and
substance of all Scripture, impels me. Earnest zeal for the undying souls of
men constrains me. I know, and am intensely persuaded, that all peace,
all joy, all salvation, are in Jesus. My eyes are widely open to the
fact that men are blessed, and are blessings, just in proportion as they
live, ever gazing on Christ, ever listening to His voice.
Shame, then, and guilt and woe would be my portion, if I
should leave any effort untried to unfold His glorious image. Let me rather
use every power of life and pen to magnify and exalt Him葉o
beseech men to ponder Him葉o search for Him葉o receive
Him葉o love Him葉o follow Him葉o serve Him葉o
commend Him葉o live in Him, and through Him, and for Him. I would
thus strive, the Spirit helping, to assail and melt and conquer hearts, that
Christ may there be enthroned, in all His rightful majesty, a beloved and
adored Lord.
There can be no excess in the faith and love and
adoration and obedience of the only Savior, the King of kings and Lord of
lords! Has there ever lived the saint, whose moan it has not been, that,
always striving to learn, he still was miserably ignorant in the full
purpose of the Bible? What is there comparable to the profit of this
knowledge? It is helpful to men in everything, hurtful in nothing. Whatever
be the station or employment, if the duties are performed with loving eye
intent on Jesus, with mind rejoicing in His discovery, with heart
luxuriating in His riches, then toil will be no toil, because of the
constant refreshment.
Who will deny that the happiest man on earth is he who is
most enriched with enlightened views of Christ, and acts out most devotedly
this faith? He lives at heaven's high gate. He holds close communion with
Him, through whom his transgressions are forgiven, his sins are covered, his
person accepted, his soul saved. He knows in whom he believes. He discerns
the glories of His person, the redeeming worth of His wounds, the ransoming
efficacy of the pierced hands and feet, the sheltering shadow of the cross.
He reads the assuring language of Calvary. He sees his name written on the
God-man's heart. To him the morning sweetly dawns, because it awakens to the
renewed light of Jesus' grace. To him the day gladly speeds on, because its
advance is progress in divine instruction. To him the night is calm repose,
because he rests on the pillow of atoning love. The darkest cloud is fringed
with rays of joy, while he meditates on salvation's Lord, and all events
drop gladness. Can I know this, and not beseech men to make Christ their
All?
Until this is truly done, how dreary is the present
state, and the future prospect! Without Christ, religion is a sunless
sky; public service a casket without the jewel; life is a dreary passage to
a dreadful end; the home is no abode of peace; the family has no strong bond
of lasting love; the trade yields no returns of worthy profit; death is a
downfall into the unfathomable abyss; eternity is a prolongation of
unutterable woe.
Without Christ, prosperity is an adverse tide, and
adversity is a foreshadowing of deeper misery. Birth is no benefit, if
Christ is never born within. Life is no gain, except to live is Christ.
Without Christ, God is an adversary; Scripture sounds condemnation; and
Satan is waiting for his victim, which his prison-house is ready to receive.
Can I know this, and not beseech men to make Christ their All?
We live, too, in days when countless fallacies court men
in garb of truth. How shall we meet, expose, expel them? Wisdom is needed,
for theological error is shrewd and bold. It often is opposed by error, and
then victory leaves darkness more dark. The conquering champion's panoply is
full intelligence of Christ. Christ is the sword, before which Roman
frauds and novel sophistries fall low. He is the shield which guards
the heart from all the poisoned arrows of the deceiving and deceived. In Him
there is reply for every error's every wile. Christ truly seen is an
impregnable fort. Christ well applied smashes all falsehood's weapons. He is
God's wisdom in the highest. The man is safe on wisdom's high ground who is
well versed in Him.
Therefore my desire in these pages is to turn minds to
clear discoveries of the Lord Jesus. The Father's eye moves not from
Him. The Spirit never wearies to reveal Him. Angelic intellect
pants to dive more into His depths. The saints in light find Him
increase of everlasting light. May the unfolding Spirit help each reader to
glean more in the golden field of Scripture; and may the Pentateuch be found
a boundless treasury of Christ!