sun may us early; and so often as our sky is overcast, it is only that the afterwards shine on us with more welcome and vivifying splendor. And in the darkness itself there is a blessing, a salutary seed in affliction. The church of God is like a palm-tree, which flourishes the more vigorously the more it is pressed down. Every embarrassment is to her but as the weight to the clock, which keeps it going; and the most violent storms are to the church but a brisk wind in the sails, which impels the vessel more rapidly towards the harbor. And beyond her strength she is never tried-beyond her own, indeed, she may be, but not beyond that which He lends us- -and as for the desolation of Zion, it is not for a moment to be thought of. The city stands fast and immovable, like the Mercy on which it is founded, and the Faithfulness which bears it up. "Not a bone of Him shall be broken," is it written of our Immanuel. This word is in force even unto this day. We are "bone of His bone :" who shall hurt us? May the Lord strengthen us in the faith, that we may walk cheerfully under the dark sky of this world, looking up to the glorious stars of promise that He has placed amid the clouds! In this faith may He inclose us as in a fortress, so long as we weep in this vale of fogs and storms! In this faith we repose amid the waves of temptation, like Noah in his Ark. In this faith we are secure like a hero in his armor. Who will venture to attack us? A ship by winds and waves in vain assailed; DISCOURSE XIV. THE BELIEVER'S CHALLENGE. "Who is he that condemneth? It is Christ that died; yea, rather that is risen again; who is even at the right hand of God; who also maketh intercession for us."-Rom. vili, 3. THIS rings, indeed, fresh and lively, brethren; this is Eastermusic, and the resurrection jubilee. Oh, that we could, one and all, conclude this festival with such a shout of triumph! Behold the sum of all the consolation brought to us by Passion-week, Good Friday, and Easter, expressed in these cheerful and cheering words. Let us then examine their meaning more closely, and direct our attention to three points. We shall consider, I. The defying challenge: II. Who may join in it: III. Upon what it is founded. I. "Who is he that condemneth?" Hold! who cries there? We look round, and, behold, there stands before us a man with a cheerful countenance, and uplifted head; he stands there, firm as a battlement, his arm resting on his side, as if he would say: "Who will venture now to try it with me?" His eyes sparkle; victory lies in his features; great confidence in his attitudes; and serene defiance on his brow. Who is He? It is one from Judah-a Christian. How a Christian so daring? Oh, yes; these people are lambs and lions too; like the Captain of their salvation, of whom it is said: "And as a sheep before her shearers is dumb, so He openeth not His mouth." And in another place: "The Lion hath roared, who will not be afraid?" Yes, indeed, Christians can be very daring and very proud; and they dare to be; for is not that pride, when they cast your honors back in your face, and say: "O, world, thine honor I want not?" And is that not daring, when they bind your reproach and shame about their head, like a princely diadem, and parade therewith as with a crown? Is not that pride, when, in utter indifference, they pass by your places of amusement, as those that are accustomed to something better than your empty pleasures? And is not that daring, when, in chains and bands, and amid storms of fiercest persecution, they can laugh and sing, to the chagrin of the world and the devil, as Paul and Silas did in their prison? Yes, Christians are free and courageous people, for the Lord is their boast and their pride. But if they look off from Him, and upon themselves, aye, then their glory shrivels together, and there is an end of their daring and their proud carriage; then the head reclines down as a bulrush; the eyes are cast down, and the man becometh tame as a lamb, and dares not open his mouth through shame and confusion. But where have we left our man of defiant tone? There he stands, and looks about with sparkling eyes, as if he had something against heaven and earth, and calls till every ear tingles : "Who will condemn ?" That rings bold. Who is the man that dares thus to boast? By nature, one godless without parallel; an enemy to Jesus Christ and His saints; a persecutor and murderer of the churches, who, with a malicious joy, can feed on the blood of the innocent; a proud, self-righteous disciple of the Pharisees, and a fearful instrument of Antichrist. There you have him as he was; and would you know what he is? Hear it from his own mouth: "I am the chiefest of sinners; oh, wretched man that I am! who shall deliver me from the body of this death? I see a law in my members warring against the law of my mind, and bringing me into captivity to the law of sin. The good that I would, I do not; but the evil which I would not, that I do. And, lest I should be exalted above measure through the abundance of the revelations, there was given to me a thorn in the flesh, the messenger of Satan, to buffet me, lest I should be exalted above measure." Now you know him. What, then, is the man about? What rash act would he perform? Oh, incomparable daring! Behold, there he goes. -Whither, then ?—Yes, ye well may wonder! Behold, there looms up in the distance a high mountain towards heaven; the whole mountain as a flame of fire; dark vapor-clouds around it; thick smoke and thunder and lightning upon its top; and the tone of a mighty trumpet, so that the rocks do quake! And the Lord descends upon the Mount Sinai; but upon its peak there blazes a fire, and the smoke thereof mounts up like the smoke of a furnace, so that the whole mountain trembles:-and now hark: "I am a jealous God, and a consuming fire !" And again: "Thou shalt, and thou shalt not! Thou shalt, and thou shalt not !" And again: "Cursed is every one that continueth not in all things that are written in the book of the Law to do them." "Whosoever hath sinned against me, him will I blot out of my book." "Tribulation and anguish upon every soul that doeth evil." And again: "He that offendeth in one point is guilty of all." And again: “A fire is kindled in mine anger, and shall burn to the lowest hell; and all the people shall say, Amen." And, behold, there is a great eye over the mountain, like a torch of fire, which looks and watches that no tittle of this eternal law may fall; and a dreadful sword glitters like lightning beside it, against the transgressor; and the mountain itself is so holy that God forbids even to touch it: "Take heed to yourselves, that ye go not up into the mount, or touch the border of it; whosoever toucheth the mount shall surely be put to death." But let it be so-so holy and so dreadful as it will, yon man advances straight towards it; he touches it, climbs up, makes straight into the darkness, looks without trembling into the roaring din, and cries, as if he would outery both thunder and trumpet: "Who is he that condemneth?"-And the Eye of flame consumes him not !—and Moses accuses him not! All is dumb, as if a Deity had cried! -What mean these things? He quits Mount Sinai, and goes-whither? Oh, presumption! He plants himself on the abyss of hell; oh, spectacle of horror a burning lake; a fire which never is quenched; monsters who never die; a rattle of everlasting chains; howlings of the damned! Whew! A shudder comes over the frame-the hair stands on end!--but he looks in, as into a magic lantern, or into a painted picture, from which one has nothing to fear. Presumptuous man! Behold, he walks amid a thousand devils; their prince is the fallen Morning-star; the Old Serpent, Satan a deceiver, and cunning without equal; the accuser of men, who day and night eyes their sins in order to bring them before God; a crafty fellow, who sees astonishingly far into the human heart; who does not suffer any to dissemble to him; whom the strictest external religion cannot deceive; but who, as we see from the history of Job, is able to hunt out whether one serves God for naught, or for the sake of profit. A dreadful enemy who should not be afraid of him? But our audacious friend looks him courageously in the face; glances around boldly upon the fiendish hosts, opens his mouth, and shouts into the abyss below, so that a hundred echoes ring along the gloomy vaults: "Who is he that condemneth ?"-And,-oh, wonder ! -the devils gnash their teeth-and are dumb! Now he steps into the habitations of the dead. Oh, see, whole hosts of accusers, of witnesses, against him. Paul, Paul! dost thou not quake into nothing at such a sight? Behold, here is one whom thou hast murdered; another, and that one there, thou castedst into chains and bonds; this one thou lockedst up in the night in a dungeon; and that one thou laidst upon the rack, and tookest delight in the streaming of his blood. |