Lord, scorned by sinners, shall be turned into wrath. Shown by a simile and an example. ceeds in bringing matters to a conclusion, and is insulted and abused by the unsuccessful party for whose sake he has chiefly undertaken the business, and whose case was evidently a lost one from the first, what think you, my dear brethren, would be his feelings under such circumstances? Oh ho! he would think, is that the way in which you treat me? I meant very well towards you; I took a deal of trouble to help you out of the mire into which you were sunk, but you will have to wait a long time before I espouse your cause again; I shall rather turn your accuser and publicly prove that your claim is unjust, and wo to you if I should be appointed your judge! We read in the fourteenth chapter of the Second Book of Kings how Absalom, after having murdered his brother, was forced to fly; Joab, the general of the army, succeeded, partly by the help of others and partly by his own immediate efforts, in reconciling him with his angry father, so that the latter recalled him, under the condition, however, that he was not to see him any more. But when that undutiful, disobedient son again rebelled against his father and set fire to the field of Joab, he had no more determined enemy than that same Joab who was before his warmest patron and advocate. Joab had neither rest nor peace until, even against the express command of David, he pierced the heart of Absalom with his lance. So fierce does anger become in one whose fidelity and friendship are despised.
Christ has served the sinner most faithfully during life. My dear brethren, the Mediator and Advocate between God and men, as we have seen already, is according to St. Paul, “One Mediator of God and men, the Man Christ Jesus: who gave Himself a redemption for all.”[1] If we sin, we have an Advocate and Intercessor with the angry Father, who, if we only wish, will regain for us our lost cause, and that is the same Jesus Christ. “My little children,” writes St. John, “these things I write to you that you may not sin.” But he adds for our consolation: “But if any man sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the just, and He is the propitiation for our sins.”[2] O sinner! how often have you not during your life experienced His faithful and loving desire to help you? I will say nothing of the benefits that are common to you with all
- ↑ Unus et mediator Dei et hominum, homo Christus Jesus, qui dedit redemptionem semetipsum pro omnibus.—I. Tim. ii. 5, 6.
- ↑ Filioli mei, hæc scribo vobis, ut non peccatis; sed et si quis peccaverit, advocatum habemus apud Patrem, Jesum Christum justum; et ipse est propitiatio pro peccatis nostris.—I. John ii. 1, 2.
