May 31

"For when we were yet without strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly." Romans 5:6.

CHRIST is the grand figure in the picture of the Gospel; the learning and eloquence of ministers are not colors to adorn it, but as the dark ground of the picture, to set it forth more clearly. Christ crucified is the theme of our ministry. We are here led to the contemplation of his death. Here is

A DEPLORABLE STATE DESCRIBED. It is twofold, negative and positive; the one is the want of power, the other is the existence of enmity. "Man is," says Birkett, "without power to resist justice, and without affection to desire mercy; so weak that he trembles at the appearance of a worm, and yet so wicked that he lifts up his head against heaven."

A state of absolute weakness. "We were yet without strength;" that is, deprived of all power to rescue ourselves from the miseries into which our sins had plunged us. Man has incurred the Divine displeasure by sin, and he is without strength to obtain the favor of Heaven; he is polluted in his iniquities, and he is without strength to cleanse his spotted soul; he is far from his Maker by wicked works, and he is without strength to draw near for succor.

A state of actual wickedness. "Ungodly." Man is not only weak and impotent, indisposed towards that which is good, but striving with his Maker, rising up in rebellion against him, and setting him at defiance. His sins had swelled like a mighty deluge, higher and higher, and there were the foamings of rage and passion, and every hateful feeling, till at length they reached to the very heavens, and loudly called for the judgment of an avenging God; but there was no cry for help, there was no expression of sorrow, there was no contrition of heart: "none of them repented of his evil, saying, What have I done?" But there was mercy in the heart of God; behold in the midst of those black clouds that portend the gathering storm, a star piercing through the thick darkness; it is the star of Bethlehem, and is the harbinger of a bright and glorious day; see the mantled heavens, gilded with the first rays of the Sun of righteousness that now rises with healing in his wings; the clouds are dispersed, the impending tempest is averted, the sky is serene, the heavens open, and a voice is heard, "This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased." "For when we were yet without strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly."