""Tis eternal life to know Him Oh, how He loves! Think, oh think, how much we owe Him-- With His precious blood He bought us, To His fold He safely brought us— Oh, how He loves!" I shall never forget that meeting in Paris. There were people of different nations, and when I spoke to them of the good Samaritan, of His love and grace, they received Him with delight; and in their own tongues confessed Him. I am reminded of a scene which took place at Geneva. Three persons, as it were, accidentally met. They were from different countries, and could not speak to one another; but it is singular there are words which are the same in almost all languages, and will be understood in all lands, no matter what part of the world you may be in. One of the three, in simple love to the Lord and to the other two, said, "Jesus ;" and the second said, "Hallelujah ;" and, singular as it may seem, the third said, " Amen." How beautiful it was! One saying the word which contains the whole gospel; for what is the meaning of Jesus" He shall save his people from their sins;" or, as George Herbert says, IES U, that is, I ease you of all your sicknesses, sorrows, and sins. Is not that the gospel? The other, Hallelujah; that is, praise the Lord; the eternal occupation of heaven, in all its many mansions. And the third, Amen; the response of the glorified, throughout all ages, world without end. Jesus Hallelujah Amen ;-three words, but a body of truth, a world of divinity-the Alpha and Omega of Salvation, Redemption, Heaven, Glory, Eternal Life, Service, Worship, and Praise. Beloved people, I wonder if you know this gospel ; or if you care to know it! Do you know this Good Samaritan? Have you ever felt Him lifting you up from where Satan left you, robbed and wounded, with nothing but an outward name and profession?-Christianity without Christ-for many have this; they are being lost religiously, having no vital, living knowledge of Jesus. Oh! is it so with you? May God give you calmly to ask yourselves-Do I know Jesus, or have I been trying to get salvation, by going to the Priest, or to the Levite? You owe Divine righteousness a debt-What is it? It is your life, you must die! But the Son of Man died! and if you "believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, you shall be saved;" you will have no debt to pay. No human tribunal would demand payment a second time. Jesus has died, and so I can live. "He that believeth hath everlasting life, and shall not come into condemnation, but is passed from death unto life." Because He died, I can live, and shall no more come into judgment, having been judged in the person of God's own Son. Oh! may that blessed Samaritan-for is He not here now?-take the dust and stain of sin from off your ruined, maimed, and plundered self! May He pour in the wine of His truth, and the oil of His healing. You know the wine takes effect at once. I one day said to a young man who was looking very gloomy"What's the matter?" 66 Sir, my sins!"" "What about your sins?" "I shall be lost." "Can you read?" "Yes." "Will you read this verse- All we like sheep have gone astray.' Have you gone astray?" "Yes"-" And are unhappy?" "Yes""And we have turned every one to our own way.' Each one to his own way? A drunkard has turned to his way, an infidel has turned to his way, and God says, All have turned to their own way.' He "Now," I said, "will Lord hath laid on Him Is that true?" "Sir, told me with tears, he had. you read the next line- The [Christ] the iniquity of us all. may I believe it ?" "You will be lost if you do not." He said, "I understand, I believe ;" and that face, so long and so tearful, became like the face of an angel. "You are saved then?" "Yes." "And happy?" "Yes." "And at peace with God?" "Yes." He had drunk the wine of the Good Samaritan. And the healing oil had been applied. Precious wine! blessed oil! I know it in my own experience. I remember well how I was troubled about my sin; and how the Word of God told me I must die; but when I saw what Christ had done for me; when I saw that I had not to take the punishment, for that He had taken itwhat joy I had, what peace it gave me Thus, beloved, is it "He that hath the Son hath life." May the Lord, through the power of His own Spirit, bless you with a sight of Jesus, that you may know that He is your Saviour and your Friend-that Good Samaritan! ADDRESS VI. THE TAKING UP OF THE SAINTS. "I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you unto myself; that where I am, there ye may be also."-JOHN xiv. 2, 3. Ir is respecting the Lord's promised return for His saints, to take them out of this world to Himself, that I now wish to speak, and not so much of His actual advent to the earth, or of His predicted coming to judg ment. That He will come to " judge the quick and the dead at his appearing and kingdom," all true Christians implicitly believe. But all Christians do not readily distinguish the fact that He has promised to come simply and specially for them-in other words, to receive them unto Himself, that where He is, they may be also. This promise I hold to be quite distinct from His coming to judgment; at which solemn time all His saints, whom He will have previously gathered to Himself, will come with Him. I also hold that this promise to come for us may be made good in this our own age, just as the promise of His first coming was to be made good in the Jewish age; and that as it was perfectly consistent throughout all the Jewish dispensation for any pious Jew to be always looking for the Messiah to come, so it is equally consistent for a Christian, in all this present age, to be looking, as did Paul, and the Thessalonians, and others, for the return of the Lord Jesus, so specially promised to them. Let the hearer, then, for the present, throw from his mind all thought of the great appearing of our God and Saviour, which, indeed, is a solemn truth, and which none of us doubt, whilst we show the special ground we have for believing, that ere that event shall occur, the Lord, in a less public manner, will come for us. The promise finds its root in John xiv. But before going into its meaning, let me premise, that as a rule, the Bible must be taken to mean what it says, else it is not a book for the ordinary reader. That God never meant it to be considered otherwise, is evident from the fact, that in stating its truths, He never, as do human authors, resorts to any definition or explanation of terms, the terms used being those that, to the ordinary reader, carry with them their own meaning. Hence the literal meaning may be safely taken, excepting where it is not only obviously not intended, but obviously otherwise; such as where the Lord is spoken of as a door, or a vine. Thus when He speaks of "nations," He surely means nations; or of Israel," He means Israel; or of "the Church of God," He means the Church of God. How comparatively easy, with such a rule of interpretation, is even the study of prophecy. Hence reading of the Messiah being born in Bethlehem means what it says; also that His feet will stand on the mount of Olives; or that Christ will again come; and also Antichrist; and that as Christ is a person and not a system, so also is Antichrist. Thus a single passage of the Word to the eye of a child will convey a ready and comprehensive meaning, when volumes of books, |