December 10

"He sunk beneath our heavy woes, To raise us to his throne; There's not a gift his hand bestows, But cost his heart a groan."

Worthy is the Lamb that was slain!

While this blessedness is the travail of his soul, so we find he can enjoy the sight of it. A child, when born, may be spared, and may grow up, and be acknowledged as the offspring of her who bare him; but if she dies, though others see the travail of the mother, she herself does not. She is laid low in the dust; and in vain her infant goes to her grave—His cries, if oppressed, cannot reach her ears, nor, if well treated, can the news gladden her heart—Her son comes to honour, but she knoweth it not; and he is brought low, but she perceiveth it not of him. So it was with Rachel: "Rachel travailed, and she had hard labour. And it came to pass, when she was in hard labour, that the midwife said unto her, Fear not; thou shalt have this son also." And she had a son, and he became a patriarch, and the head of a tribe; but she saw it not: for she only sighed out a name expressive of her disappointment and sorrow—she called his name Benoni, and expired. So would it have been with Jesus, had he not rose and revived. Whatever blessings he procured for us by dying, he could not have seen the application and enjoyment of them, had he remained in the grave. But he could not be holden of it. It was said of him, He shall live. A seed shall serve him. And he shall see his seed, he shall prolong his days, and the pleasure of the Lord shall prosper in his hand.

For there is a certainty in his realizing this vision—"He shall see of the travail of his soul." It is often spoken of as a reward insured by promise and stipulation. Thus it is said; "By his knowledge shall my righteous servant justify many; for he shall bear their iniquities. Therefore will I divide him a portion with the great, and he shall divide the spoil with the strong; because he hath poured out his soul unto death: and he was numbered with the transgressors; and he bare the sin of many, and made intercession for the transgressors." Let it not be objected, that he himself says, "I have laboured in vain, I have spent my strength for nought, and in vain." For here he complains as the moral agent, as the preacher of the word, as the minister of the circumcision. But this does not apply to the everlasting covenant ordered in all things and sure. This would not allow of his suffering at an uncertainty. Having performed the awful condition, it would have been unfaithful in God to have withholden the remuneration suspended upon it; especially as he died in dependance upon it, and in expectation of it. It was the joy set before him, for which he endured the cross, and despised the shame.—To which we may add, that he is fully in the possession of resources sufficient to enable him to acquire all his rights, and realize all his wishes. As yet we see not all things put under him, but we see him, for the suffering of death, crowned with glory and honour. We see him with power over all flesh: with all power in heaven and in earth—able therefore to counteract all the designs of his enemies, and to make them subservient to the accomplishment of his own—able to take the heathen for his inheritance, and the uttermost parts of the earth for his possession—able to subdue Paganism, and the false prophet, and the man of sin—able to take away the