1.A 12. LETTER XII

LETTER XII. Its possibility proved from the intercession of Christ This truth not insisted upon as much as its importance demands Essential to the Christian system Contrasted with heathenism Christ liveth in Godlike power Intercedes for his people- Sympathizes with them On this truth Paul founds his argument in favour of complete sanctification He is an almighty and living Saviour He sends the Spirit to cement the hearts of God’s people in love For this he prayed All proved from Charles Wesley’s Hymns. MY DEAR M : Having proved the possibility of attaining to this invaluable blessing from the design of our Saviour’s coming into the world, and from the promises of God made to believers in Christ Jesus, let us inquire if there be not another ground of possibility, arising out of the certainty of the continued intercession of the Lord Jesus. This truth, namely, that Jesus Christ continually liveth at the right hand of God, to make intercession for us, I have frequently thought, is not sufficiently insisted upon in our public administrations, or brought so prominently before the people as its importance demands. We dwell much, and very properly too, upon the death of Christ, by which he made an atonement for our sins. But suppose he had died upon the cross, and had been committed to the tomb : if we had no evidence that he now liveth, what possible benefit could we derive from his death? He would be but a dead Saviour a dead God! Nay, he would have been an impostor; for he had frequently declared to his disciples that he should rise from the dead; and, therefore, unless he had actually risen, and furnished them with indubitable evidence of the fact, all his predictions in relation to that momentous truth would has been fallacious; and hence the failure to demonstrate the reality of his resurrection would have proved him an impostor. But it was equally essential that he should ascend to heaven, that he might there enter upon the government of the world. For, allowing that he arose from the dead, where is he? No one ever pretended that he is on the earth. No one ever believed that he is still wandering up and down among men that he is now " going about doing good," a he did in tho days of his incarnation. But he must be either here or in the invisible world, if indeed he liveth at all.

Besides, if Jesus Christ do not now live, Christianity is stripped of one of its most striking peculiarities. It has, indeed, nothing to raise it above heathenism.

Wherein does Christianity differ from heathen ism? In addition to the purity and sublimity of its doctrines, and the morality of its precepts, it differs from it in this, above all other points : it proclaims a risen, a living Saviour an inter ceding High Priest one that can be touched with the feeling of our infirmities, and hence can sympathize with us in all our afflictions, temptations, losses, and disappointments; whereas heathenism taught its disciples to worship the manes of dead heroes, statesmen, philosophers, and poets. They never pretended that any of these ever rose from the dead, and that they now live to make intercession for men on the earth. Hence, the prophets and apostles accused them of worshipping idols, or nothings, as the word idols signifies, because the objects of their worship existed only in their imaginations, and there fore had no real existence, and therefore could neither hear nor save those who called upon them. In direct contrast with this barren, heartless theory, the apostles proclaimed an exalted Saviour, who lived in Godlike power, and who is deeply, permanently, and sympathizingly interested in the welfare of his people. He was not like the Jove of the heathen, whom they represented as lolling upon the clouds in indo lent inactivity, or with a malicious sportiveness darting down thunder and lightning upon the inhabitants of the earth, thus taking a diabolical delight in their miser}-; on the contrary, the ascended Lord whom they preached was seated at the right hand of God the Father, and, while armed with omnipotence, his heart is full of compassion for the lambs of his flock while wielding the sceptre of the universe, he is ever attentive to the minutrst wants of his people while upholding all things by the word of his power, he condescends to listen to the prayers of his saints, to deliver those who may be suffering temptations, to soothe their sorrows, and to comfort their hearts with the consolations of his Spirit.

Now it is upon this grand truth, this characteristic peculiarity of the Christian system, by which its claims rise high above the claims of all other systems of religion, whether of Jews or heathen, that the apostle Paul founds his argument in favour of the complete sanctification, and preservation in holiness, of the souls of God’s believing people. "Wherefore he is able to save them to the uttermost that come unto God by him, seeing he ever liveth to make intercession for them." Hebrews 7:25.

Here is the ground of strong confidence to those " who have fled for refuge to lay hold on the hope set before them." Why is he able to save to the uttermost? Because he ever LIVETH and he ever liveth to make INTERCESSION for them. He is not like unto the gods of the " heathen around about," whose bodies are mouldering in the dust, and whose souls, allowing that they exist in the Elysian fields, are incapable, from their finite and limited nature, of either knowing the necessities or helping the infirmities of men upon the earth. No; he LIVETH. His soul, body, and divinity, forming an indissoluble union, live in eternal unity, and he continually exerts his Godlike power, and exercises his unbounded love, in behalf of those who come unto God by faith in him, and will therefore save them to the uttermost.

Here is the stronghold of the believer. He does not worship a dead god. He does not believe in, nor pray to, a god that cannot hear, nor feel, nor extend help to those who put their trust in him. Neither does he worship a being who is indifferent to his interests. He trusts in an almighty Saviour, who can and will save him to the uttermost, even from all his sins will save him in the hour of temptation from the influence of all pernicious error and, finally, with an everlasting salvation.

O, my dear M., what a Saviour have you have we! for I too presume to claim an interest in his powerful, merciful intercession. Yes, it is through this intercession that my most un profitable life has been prolonged, that my sins have been pardoned, that my soul is now blessed with Divine consolation, and that my heart is strengthened, and moved to write these lines to my dear friend, whom " I love for the truth’s sake."

Forgive this piece of egotism. My heart, indeed, is so warmed with a consciousness of Divine love, that I can scarcely refrain from proclaiming it aloud, and saying with the sweet singer of Israel, " Come and hear, all ye that fear God, and I will declare what he hath done for my soul." In the mean time it is drawn out in such sweet attraction to all the friends of Jesus, and especially to the one whom I now address, that I feel such a spiritual oneness of soul as could only be cemented by the love of God. Is not this implied in the prayer of the Lord Jesus, " That they may be ONE; as thou, Father, art in me, and I in thee, that they may be one in us : that the world may believe that thou hast sent me?" John 17:21.

What a sacred mystery is here unfolded! And surely when this prayer is answered, and the promise of the Father is fulfilled, this oneness of spirit is felt in the heart, and such love one for another pervades, actuates, and over flows the sanctified soul, as is " unspeakable and full of glory." And all this is the effect of the intercession of our merciful High Priest.

What an indissoluble connexion is prayed for by our Divine Saviour in the above words! The love of the Father flows into the Son, and through him it flows in streams of consolation into the hearts of all who truly believe on Him whom God the Father sent to be the Redeemer of the world, running from heart to heart, circulating, like the blood in the body, through the veins and arteries, into every avenue of the soul, softening, vivifying, and sanctifying all its faculties, and moulding all these lovers of God into one common image the image of the heavenly. This is better felt than expressed. In deed, the apostle says it is " unspeakable and full of glory." And is not our divine Intercessor able to effect this? Will he not do it? Yes, with our consent he unquestionably will.

Now, my dear M., you perceive though not for the first time, for you have long seen and felt it that there is no other way into the holiest of holies, but by the blood and inter cession of Christ. Hence you have sung, and will continue to sing, in the language of the poet:

" He ever lives above, For me to INTERCEDE, His all-redeeming love, His precious blood to PLEAD; His blood atoned for all our race. And sprinkles now the throne of grace."

You will not, I am persuaded, pass these words over lightly, much less slightingly, on account of their commonness, or the frequency with which they are sung, but will mark their deep import, and put the most implicit confidence in their Scriptural truth, and you shall feel for yourself that the " Spirit answers to the blood, And tells you you are born of God." And if you want your faith strengthened, your hope animated, and your love increased, and your whole soul quickened into new life, turn to the 595th hymn, among the additional hymns, old edition, and read it through, and you will see how the soul of the poet swelled with gratitude to God, and how, by strong faith in Jesus Christ, he bid defiance to his spiritual enemies. In the name of Jesus, his great High Priest, his powerful Intercessor, he marches boldly up against his "gigantic foe," his "own besetting sin," hurls him from his seat, and prostrates him in the dust. Hear him nay, sing him in the following triumphant language :

" In the strength of Jesus name, I with the monster fight; Feeble and unarm d I am, But JESUS is my might; Mindful of his mercies past, Still I trust the same to prove; Still my HELPLESS soul I cast On his REDEEMING love."

What power and virtue did this sweet, this " feeble," this " helpless" singer in Israel find in the name and strength of Jesus, the " conquering King!" It would seem that while he felt himself weak as " helpless infancy," he felt at the same time such strong faith in his re deeming God, his living, omnipotent Intercessor, that he rises superior to all his enemies, arms himself with his strength, and goes forth to the warfare without a single doubt, nay, with the fullest confidence of a sure, certain, and triumphant victory but it is through Christ who strengtheneth him.

I cannot deny myself the pleasure of quoting one more verse from this song of triumph, in which I know not which to admire most, the beauty of the poetry, the purity of the sentiment, or the strength of his faith, they are all so exquisitely blended together, and expressed with the energy of that language, coming from the depths of a heart overflowing with gratitude and love, which bespeaks the earnestness and sincerity of his soul. Read, my dear M. f and let your glad heart go along with the words, the following lines, and I am sure your whole soul will be lifted above all doubt and fear, and you will feel yourself carried upon the wings of faith and love to the throne of the eternal God, and upheld in the arms of your heavenly Father :

" EVERY DAY the Lord of hosts His MIGHTY POWER displays; STILLS the proud Philistine’s bout, The threatening Gittite SLAYS : Israel’s God let all below, Conquror over SIN proclaim : O that all the earth might know The POWER OF JESUS NAME!" The more we feel of the power of redeeming, sanctifying grace, the more ardently do our hearts exclaim and therefore I know your heart exclaims, even while reading these lines " O that all the earth might know The power of Jesus name "