IN the Bible only is the full nature of man's ruin exposed and depicted; and there only is a perfect remedy-God's remedy-revealed. If there be any limitation of the extent and depth of the ruin, there must be a still greater misapprehension of the remedy, because the remedy is not merely equal to the measure of the ruin, but, as the remedy is the gift of grace through our Lord Jesus Christ, it must from the mere fact of its source be divine, and far beyond the expectation or sensible requirement of man. " It must be magnificent in every part.
Yet the remedy, however great, cannot, be appreciated unless the need of it be felt. Hence the need of man because of his ruin must be the first sense, in some measure, in the awakened soul. " The fear of God is the beginning of wisdom; " the awakening of the soul necessarily discloses to it its danger and its misery.
When the extent of the ruin is before- the mind of the evangelist; when his heart is yearning for, the good, of souls, he would feel himself straitened and incapable did he not know that the remedy could in every detail meet the misery before him.' If he see only a part of the misery, he contents himself with offering to and pressing on the sinner that portion of the remedy which will relieve that part. Hence the preacher must know the ruin not partially, for then he will present the remedy only partially. And very often the remedy known partially is, in the mind of the evangelist, that which indicates the ruin, instead of a knowledge of the ruin leading him to ascertain the divine remedy. It is when I am aware of the ruin that I look for the remedy; and, on the other hand, when I have true and right apprehension of the remedy and its scope, I must soon see the nature and depth of the ruin.
Let us take some examples of this in Scripture. There the remedy in divine measure covers the ruin. The famished prodigal son is not only kissed and clothed, but he is feasted in the Father's house. The evangelist must either leave him " a great way off," where the Father kisses him; or he must set him in the Father's house, beginning to be merry. Has his ruin been relieved-has the remedy reached the full measure of the ruin and the need, until he is in the Father’s house? One might say he was safe from judgment when the Father had kissed him; reconciliation had been effected; the terrible distance between God and the sinner had been Crossed by the love that had found a ransom; but the prodigal's ruin requires much more.
The question is:—Am h at liberty to propose to a prodigal part of the divine remedy and withhold the rest?
Take another case; that in Luke 10-the man who has fallen among thieves.
" A certain man went down from Jerusalem to Jericho, and fell among thieves, which stripped him of his raiment and wounded him, and departed leaving him half dead. And by chance there came down a certain priest that way: and when he saw him, he passed by on the other side. And likewise a Levite, when he was at the place, came and looked on him and passed by on the other side. But a certain Samaritan, as he journeyed, came where he was.; and when he saw him he had compassion on him, and went to him and bound up his wounds, pouring in oil and wine, and set him on his own beast, and brought him to an inn and took care of him."
Here man's ruin is fully depicted, and here we shall find the remedy is in divine perfection in every part. Where the ruin is sensibly felt, where the sinner is consciously awakened to his state, he feels he is painfully incapable to refuse any relief, and he feels he wants it. No state could be more deplorable. He needs relief„and yet he would refuse it if he could. If he were not so broken down he would not accept it, so that it is his very misery that makes him fit for grace. He has the wounds, and wounds only. He has nothing, to commend' him but his need.
And now he receives wine and oil into his wounds. Christ comes as the neighbor. Under the law, but not confining Himself to the limits of the law, He magnifies the law; and, while He meets man according to the measure of the law, He travels out beyond, it into the depth and breadth of God's love. He makes, the law honorable in the way He fulfills and. magnifies it.; whilst He meets with a divine remedy the entire state of the poor, sinner. He not only pours, oil and wine into his wounds-that is, cures him. This, of course, is the first thing; the man is cured. But were I to limit the remedy to this, while I admit much would have been done for the sinner, yet I should come very short of the remedy given me by God' for him.
If I am sent to a suffering person with three or four distinct gifts which the mind of the donor. (who is fully acquainted with the need. of the sufferer) considers requisite, am rat liberty to give him only one, because that-one gives great relief, and to withhold the others?' -Certainly not. I should err in a double way. I should' not fulfill the-commission intrusted to me, I should' misrepresent the donor, and should deprive the needy one of the favors given me. for him. The remedy reaches not only' to the cure of the sinner, not only to an, assured rescue from judgment, and unquestionable safety, but it meets him in his powerlessness, as we read, he sets him on "this own beast."
The ruin of the sinner is only partially relieved if he be only cured. It 'is undoubtedly most necessary; but it is not enough for a perfect remedy, which God in His grace supplies. The cured one is set upon a new power-the power of Christ; he is now to be borne along by the power of Christ, entirely in a new way, not according to man's power or ways. He has tasted of the bitter end of all of man, and as a cured one he enters upon a new course—a new life and a new ability are given him. He may very partially avail himself of it, but this new power is as much part of the remedy as the cure is.
I must not limit it. The sinner should be impressed and convinced of the fullness and largeness of grace. Not only, is a, cure for the heart's misery sent through the work of Christ, but the life and power of Christ are also given to meet the powerlessness of his state. Otherwise, as we often see, a soul may be assured of cure-of forgiveness of sins-and.yet have no idea of the power or walk which should characterize him now as a cured tone. This part of the remedy may never have been made known to him. The remedy is one whole, though divided into parts, and I am not at liberty to insist on one part of it, namely, the cure, and he silent, about the other parts of it.
Were I sent to minister medicine, money, and a home to any indigent person, should I consider I had properly executed my work because I had given the medicine? Surely I should, in such a case, have deprived the invalid of two very important items necessary for his state. No one with any integrity would excuse himself for so grievous a defalcation of service.
Now, in ministering to souls, there is not only the loss of the benefits of the remedy if any part be omitted or withheld, but there is a correspondent deficiency or lack of testimony to the grace of God in the life and ways of the convert.
Suppose I tell a sinner that Christ, through His work, will cure his sin-distressed soul, and he receives this truth in faith, he is cured. But, if I say no more about the remedy, this cured soul seeks to drag on in his weak, powerless state, the only real improvement in him being that he has been relieved of the fear of judgment-the penalty of his sins. How differently such an one would feel were I to insist that the same One who had cured him would now confer upon him His own power. For his ruin would not be adequately relieved unless he were given new power.
And this power is not the power merely of restored health; such as might be the effect of the cure. It is an entirely new kind of power a power unknown before-the power of our Lord. Jesus Christ, which necessarily would lead him into His line of things, outside and apart from man, to, walk here as Christ walked.
And this power is not only offered; it is conferred. Thus it is shown in this parable. The: relieved sufferer is set on " his own beast," the-figure of the power in which Christ walked here. He brings him to an inn and takes care of him. Then his miserable condition is entirely met: cured, carried, and cared for. If the ruin have been terrible, the remedy is most effectual in every point.
Every convert may not enjoy the greatness or perfection of the remedy, yet it is important to assure every perishing soul of the full nature and scope of the- remedy, so that he may be convinced, at least, that there is no limitation on the part of God, though he have not faith to grasp it. There is a vast difference between the state of the soul of the one who, though converted, never heard of the fullness of the remedy as set forth in these parables, and, the one who, though he have heard it, has net sensibly entered into it. In the former there is no exercised conscience; there is no sense of failure, because not enjoying what has been conferred upon him; but there is a sense of lack continually—a,feeling of wanting something to render him fully happy; for, he does not know and has never heard of the fullness of God's remedy for him, and thence he turns to earthly mercies to fill his cup. But the one who has been taught the fullness of God's remedy, seven though he do not enjoy it, is continually warned-by his conscience of the greatness of the mercy vouchsafed to him. The one may not have, as far as his knowledge goes, the land from which he could produce all he requires while the other knows he has the land, and that, if he would but till it, he would have all he needs.
How differently each must feel,! The one 'craving and pining because he does not know what would fully satisfy his heart and' relieve him of all the consequences of his ruin; the other knowing it, and as he uses the gift through Jesus. Christ, appearing before men in a new and wonderful condition. Intensely happy, because not only cured of his wounds,' but invested with the power of Christ; thus set in superiority to all 'that affects and overwhelms man here; and consciously, under the care of Christ while pursuing his pilgrimage through this dreary world, he is a beautiful testimony on the earth of what Christ has done,-of God's remedy for man's ruin; so every one seeing him will greatly marvel:-and glorify God. J. B. S.