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Testimonies for the Church Volume 2
man, when, in the last soul struggle, the blessed words were uttered
which seemed to resound through creation: “It is finished.”
Many who profess to be Christians become excited over worldly
enterprises, and their interest is awakened for new and exciting
amusements, while they are coldhearted, and appear as if frozen,
in the cause of God. Here is a theme, poor formalist, which is
of sufficient importance to excite you. Eternal interests are here
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involved. Upon this theme it is sin to be calm and unimpassioned.
The scenes of Calvary call for the deepest emotion. Upon this subject
you will be excusable if you manifest enthusiasm. That Christ, so
excellent, so innocent, should suffer such a painful death, bearing
the weight of the sins of the world, our thoughts and imaginations
can never fully comprehend. The length, the breadth, the height, the
depth, of such amazing love we cannot fathom. The contemplation
of the matchless depths of a Saviour’s love should fill the mind, touch
and melt the soul, refine and elevate the affections, and completely
transform the whole character. The language of the apostle is: “I
determined not to know anything among you, save Jesus Christ,
and Him crucified.” We also may look toward Calvary and exclaim:
“God forbid that I should glory, save in the cross of our Lord Jesus
Christ, by whom the world is crucified unto me, and I unto the
world.”
Considering at what an immense cost our salvation has been pur-
chased, what will be the fate of those who neglect so great salvation?
What will be the punishment of those who profess to be followers of
Christ, yet fail to bow in humble obedience to the claims of their Re-
deemer, and who do not take the cross as humble disciples of Christ
and follow Him from the manger to Calvary? “He that gathereth not
with Me,” says Christ, “scattereth abroad.”
Some have limited views of the atonement. They think that
Christ suffered only a small portion of the penalty of the law of
God; they suppose that, while the wrath of God was felt by His
dear Son, he had, through all His painful sufferings, the evidence
of His Father’s love and acceptance; that the portals of the tomb
before Him were illuminated with bright hope, and that He had
the abiding evidence of His future glory. Here is a great mistake.
Christ’s keenest anguish was a sense of His Father’s displeasure.
His mental agony because of this was of such intensity that man can
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