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God’s purpose is to rule by a man. The King both of earth and heaven is to be son of David and son of Abraham. ‘The man Christ Jesus’ is heir of the throne of David as well as possessor of the throne of heaven. The crown of all the earth is to be placed on the head of a man. Human hands are to wield the sceptre of the universe .... God’s purpose is to link heaven and earth together by a man. It is in the man Christ Jesus that the reconciliation takes place between them. It is by this man that the nearness is to be maintained for ever. He is the bridge, the ladder, the chain, the golden clasp that is to knit together the heavenly and earthly regions and races. Round this human centre the universe is to revolve. Glad tidings! The woman’s seed has at length come to our rescue from the hands of our great enemy! Glad tidings! Unto us a child is born, unto us a Son is given. Glad tidings! Jesus, the son of Mary, of David, of Abraham, of Adam, is our Saviour; our prophet; our priest; our king. Oh, has not God loved man?

God’s purposes concerning earth have always unfolded themselves by election and selection,—of men, of places, of nations. Church-history is the record and manifestation of the electing and selecting will of a Sovereign God. There are elect nations and countries as well as elect souls. Israel was God’s elect nation of old, Canaan his elect land, Jerusalem his elect city, and Zion his elect hill. This national election began with individual election,—Abraham. From the day of his being chosen, God’s purpose centred in a nation,—the nation that was to spring from him. The Jew was chosen to be the first of nations,—to rise above the civilised Greek and the mighty Roman. The Jew was to be the centre of God’s workings and teachings. The Jew was to be the race with which Godhead was to be connected. Messiah was to be son of Abraham,—son of the great believer. And it was so; the seed of Abraham was that portion of the seed of the woman from which Messiah came. Jesus was a Jew; a son of Abraham; a scion of that race to whom God had committed his oracles and his covenant; in connection with whom the true history of our race is connected: ‘The book of the generation of Jesus Christ the Son of Abraham.’

He is of David’s royal stock, the God-selected family, for whom Israel’s crown was destined for ever. God first narrows the circle of humanity to Abraham’s race; then He limits that circle to the tribe of Judah; then he selects from that tribe David’s family. Kingship in Israel was to be connected with David and his line. Messiah came not only as the son of Judah, but as the of son David, heir to Israel’s crown, heir apparent to the throne of the world. Jesus of Bethlehem, Jesus of Nazareth is our King; son of David as well as son of Abraham. The crown of the world, nay, of the universe, is on the head of a Jew, a son of David, a son of Abraham.

He is of the same stock as we are, the same ancient root, the first man Adam, whom God created. He is bone of our bone, and flesh of our flesh … In everything that is truly human He is one of us. He “knew no sin”; He was ” that holy thing” yet was He all the more human because of the absence of sin for sin is not an original part of our nature. As man, then, He sympathises; He pities; He loves. As man, He “loved his neighbour as himself,” and so “fulfilled the royal law of love.” As man, He was born, He lived, He “grew in stature, and in wisdom, and in favour with God and man.” His was thoroughly a human body and a human soul; his was thoroughly a human life and a human death. His was human hunger and thirst, human sleep and waking, human weariness and rest. His words were human words, issuing from human lips, and the utterance of a human heart. His looks were human looks, his tones were human tones, his tears were human tears. He was man all over, yet sinless; man all over, living in man’s world, yet not partaker of that world’s evil; man all over in every step He took, and every word He spoke; man all over in his daily intercourse with his fellow-men, and in his fellowship with his Father in heaven.

He is son of David and Solomon, the last of a long line of kings. He is the root and offspring of David; the rod from the stem of Jesse, the branch from his roots. All that is regal in a human pedigree is here. In one sense this is but a small thing; yet it was befitting Him who is King of kings to be thus honoured, and to have his divine prerogatives symbolised by his human.

He has an imperfect ancestry … Even these holy men from whom he sprang were very imperfect, as we see in the sins of David and Solomon … Among his ancestors are many open sinners and idolaters, kings of Judah such as Rehoboam, Ahaz, and Jehoiakin, … of whom it is said that they did evil in the sight of the Lord. Yes; his genealogy is a very mixed one; but all the more on that account indicative of that which He had come to do, and of those whom He had come to save,—the ungodly, the chief of sinners, the lost, the unrighteous .... These all died. Their connection with him did not make them immortal. Whether shepherds, or patriarchs, or kings, or carpenters, they were mortal. For out of the mortal was to come the immortal; life out of death; the everlasting One out of those whose life is a vapour; the resurrection and the life out of those who were dust and who returned to dust. Thus He is linked with our sin, though He is sinless; with our curse, though He is the blessed One.

His whole ancestry is as thoroughly human as ours can be. Every link of the chain is human … It is a long chain, sometimes almost broken or worn through; but thus all the more thoroughly human. He is the seed of the woman; the man Christ Jesus. He is very man, out of the loins of Abraham, and of the substance of the Virgin; son of Mary and son of Adam.

Thus is Jesus in all respects fitted for his mighty work of redeeming. He is very man and very God. He is the seed of the woman, the seed of Abraham, the seed of David, the son of Mary, yet God over all, blessed for ever. Thus He can bear our sins; He can sympathise with our sorrows; He can fight our battles; He can love as a man, a fellow-man, bone of our bone, and flesh of our flesh.

An appeal to the well-recognized fact that it was thus and thus only that Timothy received his call from God, is nothing other, then, than to cast him back on the Almighty arms and to make him poignantly realize that it is God and not he who is conceived as carrying through the work so begun. ‘O Timothy,’ says Paul, in effect, ‘Faint not! It is not your own strength—or rather weakness—that is here in question; it is the power of Almighty God. Do not you remember how you were brought into relations with this God? Was it of yourself that you were called with this holy calling? Nay, no works of your own entered in. It was of His own purpose that He called you; the grace that has come to you was given you from all eternity. What has come to you in time is only the manifestation of what was eternally done. It is this Almighty God who is using you as His instrument and organ. Nothing depends on your weakness; all hangs on His strength. Take courage and go onward.’ Thus Paul strengthens Timothy for the conflict before him.

As we take Matthew’s history literally, so do we take that of John. If we allegorize the first chapter of the one evangelist, we must allegorize the first of the other. If John does not mean that Christ was very God, Matthew does not mean that He was very man. The divine side of Christianity is as strongly shewn in the one evangelist as the human side in the other. He whom we call Lord and Master, Saviour and Redeemer, is one in whose Person the extremes of all being unite. All Godhead and all creaturehood are in Him; the fulness of the finite, and the fulness of the infinite; all the excellence of the created and the uncreated.

Man is born to trouble: and it is of the greatest importance to him that he should know where to turn his eyes in the day of adversity. The Gospel directs us to a reconciled God in Christ Jesus, who has engaged to be our support and comfort under every distress. The Christian has many trials peculiar to himself: but the Gospel is fully adequate to his necessities. Its power to support him may be seen in the passage before us. St. Paul is exhorting Timothy to steadfastness in the cause of Christ: and, for his encouragement, he tells him what was the ground of his own consolations under the heavy afflictions which he was now enduring for the sake of Christ. He tells him, that, notwithstanding he was immured in a dungeon, and in daily expectation of a violent and cruel death, he was neither ‘ashamed’ nor afraid: for that he had a firm persuasion of God’s ability to keep him; and that persuasion afforded him ample support.

Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob are not great or mighty men; they are but shepherds, dwelling in tents. So was David a shepherd boy, taken from among the flocks. So was Joseph, and so was Mary,—poor in this world; a carpenter and his wife. There is a singular mixture of the high and low, of the rich and poor. For He is the Saviour of rich and poor. His gospel is equally for both.

Verse 1

Every morning mercies new,
Fall as fresh as morning dew;
Every morning let us pay
Tribute with the early day:
For Thy mercies, Lord, are sure;
Thy compassion doth endure.

Verse 2

Still the greatness of Thy love
Daily doth our sins remove;
Daily, far as east from west,
Lifts the burden from the breast;
Gives unbought to those who pray
Strength to stand in evil day.

Verse 3

Let our prayers each morn prevail,
That these gifts may never fail;
And, as we confess the sin
And the tempter’s power within,
Every morning, for the strife,
Feed us with the Bread of Life.

Verse 4

As the morning light returns,
As the sun with splendor burns,
Teach us still to turn to Thee,
Ever-blessed Trinity,
With our hands our hearts to raise,
In unfailing prayer and praise.

Verse 1

Jesus is God! the glorious bands
Of holy angels sing
Songs of adoring praise to him,
Their Maker and their King.

Verse 2

He was true God in Bethlehem’s crib,
On Calvary’s cross, true God;
He who, in heaven, eternal reigned,
In time, on earth abode.

Verse 3

Jesus is God! there never was
A time when he was not;
Boundless, eternal, merciful,
The Word the Sire begot.

Verse 4

Backward our thoughts through ages stretch,
Onward through endless bliss;
For there are two eternities,
And both alike are his.

Verse 5

Jesus is God! oh, could I now,
But compass land and sea,
To teach and tell this single truth,
How happy should I be!

Verse 6

Oh, had I but an angel’s voice,
I would proclaim so loud,
Jesus, the Good, the Beautiful,
Is everlasting God.

Verse 1

Angels rejoiced and sweetly sung
At our Redeemer’s birth;
Mortals! awake: let every tongue
Proclaim his matchless worth.

Verse 2

Glory to God, who dwells on high,
And sent his only Son
To take a servant’s form, and die,
For evils we had done!

Verse 3

Good-will to men; ye fallen race!
Arise, and shout for joy;
He comes, with rich abounding grace
To save and not destroy.

Verse 4

Lord! send the gracious tidings forth,
And fill the world with light,
That Jew and Gentile, through the earth,
May know thy saving might.

Verse 5

William Hurn, 1813.

Verse 6

1O3 Salvation Morning, 7s & 6s.

Verse 7

God’s Salvation Morning.

Verse 8

What means this glorious radiance
Across Judea’s plain?
Those white-winged angels singing
In such exultant strain?

Refrain

The King of glory cometh,
Earth’s broken hearts to bind,
And God’s salvation morning
Hath dawned for all mankind.

Verse 9

What means this wondrous story
The holy angels tell?
Of one who reigned in heaven,
And now on earth would dwell?

Verse 10

Why bend these Eastern sages
To one of lowly birth?
What means this heav’nly message
Of love and peace on earth?

Verse 11

Ye wand’rers in earth’s darkness,
On ocean deep and land,
Hail! hail! the joyful tidings,
The morning is at hand.

Verse 1

One sweetly solemn thought
Comes to me o’er and o’er;
I’m nearer home to-day, to-day,
Than I have ever been before.

Verse 2

Nearer my Father’s house,
Where many mansions be;
Nearer the great white throne to-day,
Nearer the crystal sea.

Verse 3

Nearer the bound of life,
Where burdens are laid down;
Nearer to leave the cross to-day,
And nearer to the crown.

Verse 4

Be near me when my feet
Are slipping o’er the brink;
For I am nearer home to-day,
Perhaps, than now I think.

Verse 1

What means this glorious radiance across Judea’s plain?
These white-winged angels singing in such exultant strain?

Verse 2

What means this wondrous story the holy angels tell?
Of one who reigned in heaven, and now on earth would dwell?

Verse 3

Why bend these Eastern sages to one of lowly birth?
What means this heavenly message of love and peace on earth?

Verse 4

Ye wanderers in earth’s darkness, on ocean deep and land,
Hail! hail! the joyful tidings, the morning is at hand.

Verse 1

All things praise Thee, Lord Most High,
Heaven and earth and sea and sky;
All were for Thy glory made,
That Thy greatness, thus displayed,
Should all worship bring to Thee.
All things praise Thee, all things praise Thee:
Lord, may we!

Verse 2

All things praise Thee; night to night
Sings in silent hymns of light:
All things praise Thee; day to day
Chants Thy power in burning ray:
Time and space are praising Thee,
All things praise Thee:—Lord, may we!

Verse 3

All things praise Thee; heaven’s high shrine
Rings with melody Divine:
Lowly bending at Thy feet,
Seraph and archangel meet:
This their highest bliss, to be
Ever praising:—Lord, may we!

Verse 4

All things praise Thee; gracious Lord,
Great Creator, powerful Word,
Omnipresent Spirit, now
At Thy feet we humbly bow;
Lift our hearts in praise to Thee,
All things praise Thee:—Lord, may we!

Verse 1

What grace, O Lord! and beauty shone
Around thy steps below!
What patient love was seen in all
Thy life and death of woe!

Verse 2

Thy foes might hate, despise, revile,
Thy friends unfaithful prove;
Unwearied in forgiveness still,
Thy heart could only love.

Verse 3

Oh, give us hearts to love like thee;
Like thee, O Lord! to grieve
Far more for others’ sins, than all
The wrongs that we receive.

Verse 4

One with thyself, may every eye,
In us, thy brethren, see
That gentleness and grace that springs
From union, Lord, with thee.

Verse 1

We may not climb the heavenly steeps
To bring the Lord Christ down;
In vain we search the lowest deeps,
For him no depths can drown.

Verse 2

But warm, sweet, tender, even yet
A present help is he;
And faith has yet its Olivet,
And love its Galilee.

Verse 3

The healing of the seamless dress
Is by our beds of pain;
We touch him in life’s throng and press,
And we are whole again.

Verse 4

Through him the first fond prayers are said
Our lips of childhood frame;
The last low whispers of our dead
Are burdened with his name.

Verse 5

O Lord and Master of us all,
Whate’er our name or sign,
We own thy sway, we hear thy call,
We test our lives by thine!

Verse 1

Oh, what are you going to do, brother?
Say, what are you going to do?
You have thought of some useful labor,
But what is the end in view?
You are fresh from the home of your boyhood,
And just in the bloom of youth!
Have you tasted the sparkling water
That flows from the fount of truth?
Is your heart in the Saviour’s keeping?
Remember He died for you!
Then what are you going to do, brother?
Then what are you going to do?

Verse 2

Oh, what are you going to do, brother?
The morning of youth is past;
The vigor and strength of manhood,
My brother, are yours at last:
You are rising in worldly prospects,
And prospered in worldly things:—
A duty to those less favored,
The smile of your fortune brings.
Go prove that your heart is grateful—
The Lord has a work for you!
Then what are you going to do, brother?
Say, what are you going to do?

Verse 3

Oh, what are you going to do, brother?
Your sun at its noon is high;
It shines in meridian splendor,
And rides through a cloudless sky.

Verse 1

A pilgrim through this lonely world,
The blessed Savior passed;
A mourner all his life was he,
A dying Lamb at last

Verse 2

That tender heart which felt for all,
For us its life-blood gave;
It found on earth no resting-place.
Save only in the grave.

Verse 3

Such was our Lord; and shall we fear
The cross with all its scorn?
Or love a faithless, evil world
That wreathed his brow with thorn?

Verse 4

No, facing all its frowns or smiles,
Like him obedient still,
We homeward press, through storm or calm,
To Zion’s blessed hill.

Verse 1

Art thou weary, art thou languid,
Art thou sore distressed?
”Come to Me,” saith One, “and, coming,
Be at rest.”

Verse 2

Hath He marks to lead me to Him,
If He be my Guide?
”In His feet and hands are wound-prints,
And His side.”

Verse 3

Is there diadem as monarch,
That His brow adorns?
”Yes, a crown in very surety,
But of thorns.”

Verse 4

If I find Him, if I follow,
What my future here?
”Many a labor, many a sorrow,
Many a tear.”

Verse 5

If I still hold closely to Him,
What hath He at last?
”Sorrow vanquished, labor ended,
Jordan past.”

Verse 6

If I ask Him to receive me,
Will He say me nay?
”Not till earth and not till heaven
Pass away.”

Verse 1

How beauteous were the marks divine,
That in thy meekness used to shine;
That lit thy lonely pathway, trod
In wondrous love, O Son of God!

Verse 2

Oh, who, like thee, so calm, so bright,
Thou God of God, thou Light of Light!
Oh, who, like thee, did ever go
So patient through a world of woe?

Verse 3

Oh, who, like thee, so humbly bore
The scorn, the scoffs of men before?
So meek, forgiving, godlike, high,
So glorious in humility?

Verse 4

E’en death, which sets the prisoner free,
Was pang, and scoff, and scorn to thee;
Yet love, through all thy torture glowed,
And mercy with thy life-blood flowed.

Verse 5

Oh, in thy light, be mine to go,
Illuming all my way of woe!
And give me ever on the road
To trace thy footsteps, Son of God!

Verse 1

Praise the Lord, His glories show,
Saints within His courts below,
Angels round His throne above,
All that see and share His love:
Earth to heaven, and heaven to earth,
Tell His wonders, sing His worth:
Age to age, and shore to shore,
Praise Him, praise Him, evermore.

Verse 2

Praise the Lord, His mercies trace;
Praise His providence and grace,
All that He for man hath done,
All He sends us through His Son:
Strings and voices, hands and hearts,
In the concert bear your parts;
All that breathe, your Lord adore,
Praise Him, praise Him, evermore.

Verse 1

How sweetly flowed the gospel’s sound
From lips of gentleness and grace,
When listening thousands gathered round,
And joy and reverence filled the place!

Verse 2

From heaven he came, of heaven he spoke;
To heaven he led his followers’ way;
Dark clouds of gloomy night he broke,
Unveiling an immortal day.

Verse 3

“Come, wanderers, to my Father’s home;
Come, all ye weary ones, and rest;”
Yes, sacred Teacher, we will come,
Obey thee, love thee, and be blest.

Verse 1

Songs of praise the angels sang,
Heaven with alleluias rang,
When Jehovah’s work begun,
When He spake, and it was done.

Verse 2

Songs of praise awoke the morn,
When the Prince of Peace was born:
Songs of praise arose, when He
Captive led captivity.

Verse 3

Heaven and earth must pass away,
Songs of praise shall crown that day:
God will make new heavens, new earth,
Songs of praise shall hail their birth.

Verse 4

And can man alone be dumb,
Till that glorious kingdom come?
No: the Church delights to raise
Psalms, and hymns, and songs of praise.

Verse 5

Saints below, with heart and voice,
Still in songs of praise rejoice,
Learning here, by faith and love,
Songs of praise to sing above.

Verse 6

Borne upon their latest breath,
Songs of praise shall conquer death:
Then, amidst eternal joy,
Songs of praise their powers employ.

Verse 1

The radiant morn hath passed away,
And spent too soon her golden store;
The shadows of departing day
Creep on once more.

Verse 2

Our life is but a fading dawn;
Its glorious noon how quickly past:
Lead us, O Christ, when all is gone,
Safe home at last.

Verse 3

O by Thy soul-inspiring grace
Uplift our hearts to realms on high;
Help us to look to that bright place
Beyond the sky,

Verse 4

Where light, and life, and joy, and peace,
In undivided empire reign,
And thronging angels never cease
Their deathless strain;

Verse 5

Where saints are clothed in spotless white,
And evening shadows never fall,
Where Thou, Eternal Light of Light,
Art Lord of all.

Verse 1

Angel voices, ever singing
Round Thy throne of light,
Angel harps, for ever ringing,
Rest not day nor night;
Thousands only live to bless Thee,
And confess Thee Lord of might.

Verse 2

Thou who art beyond the farthest
Mortal eye can scan,
Can it be that Thou regardest
Songs of sinful man?
Can we feel that Thou art near us,
And wilt hear us? Yea, we can.

Verse 3

Yea, we know Thy love rejoices
O’er each work of Thine;
Thou didst ears and hands and voices
For Thy praise combine;
Craftsman’s art and music’s measure
For Thy pleasure didst design.

Verse 4

Here, great God, to-day we offer
Of Thine own to Thee;
And for Thine acceptance proffer,
All unworthily,
Hearts and minds, and hands and voices,
In our choicest melody.

Verse 5

Honor, glory, might, and merit,
Thine shall ever be,
Father, Son, and Holy Spirit,
Blessed Trinity:
Of the best that Thou hast given
Earth and heaven render Thee.

Verse 1

Oh, turn ye, oh, turn ye, for why will ye die,
When God, in great mercy, is coming so nigh?
Now Jesus invites you, the Spirit says, “Come!”
And angels are waiting to welcome you home.

Verse 2

How vain the delusion, that while you delay;
Your hearts may grow better, your chains melt away;
Come guilty, come wretched, come just as you are,
All helpless and dying, to Jesus repair.