January 25

JANUARY 25.—“We are the Lord’s.”—Romans 14:8.

By the Lord here we are to understand the Lord Jesus: witness the words immediately following: “For to this end Christ both died, and rose, and revived, that he might be Lord both of the dead and living.”

Now it we examine, we shall find that He has every kind of claim and right to us.

He has a right, derived from his creating power. If “all things were made by Him,” He made us, and not we ourselves. In consequence of this, he has a propriety in us, not only such as no man can have in a fellow-creature, but such as even no father has in his own children. They are his in a subordinate and limited degree; but we are the Lord’s absolutely and entirely. He brought us out of nothing; framed our bodies; covered us with skin and flesh; fenced us with bones and sinews; and formed our spirits within us. Suppose we were to return to him all that we received from him—what would be left as our own?

He has a right, derived from his providential care. He has not only given us life and favour, but his visitation hath preserved our spirits. Why died we not from the womb? Who sustained us when we hung on our mother’s breast? Whose mercies have been new every morning? Who has given his beloved sleep? Who has inspired our connexions with all the tendernesses they ever expressed towards us? Whose are we but His, in whom we live, move, and have our being? How vile and mean to enjoy the light of his sun—to breathe his air—to eat constantly at his table—to be clothed from his wardrobe—and not own and acknowledge our obligations to Him!

He has a right, derived from his redeeming mercy. We are not our own, but bought with a price, and He paid it. To feel the force of this claim, it will be necessary for us to weigh three things. First, the mighty and dreadful evils from which He has delivered us; sin, the power of darkness, the present evil world, death, and the wrath to come. Secondly, the state to which He has advanced us; its blessedness, its glory, its safety, its duration, its immensity. Even the beginnings of it here, its earnests and foretastes, are indescribable and inconceivable—even now the joy is unspeakable and full of glory; and the peace passeth all understanding. Thirdly, the way, the infinitely expensive way in which he has thus ransomed us. All comes free to us; but what did it cost Him! Owing to our slight views of the evil of sin and the holiness of God, we are very little struck with the greatness of redemption and the difficulties attending it. It was easy to destroy man; but to restore him, in a way that should magnify the law which had been broken, and display God as the just, as well as the justifier, was a work to which the Lord Jesus only was adequate—and what does it require even of Him? Not a mere volition—not a mere exertion, as when he delivered the Jews from Egypt, and spake the world into being. He must assume flesh and blood. He dwelt among us. For thirty-three years he was a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief. Let us go over his history; let us survey his sufferings; let us meditate on his agony in the garden; his shame on the cross; his abasement in