Prayers: The Gift Unspeakable

The Gift Unspeakable

O God, thrice holy, infinitely blessed, we can meet Thee at the Cross. Thou art well pleased with Jesus, and so are we. Thy pleasure in Him is as constant as it is boundless. Our pleasure in Him increases every day. That is all our salvation and all our desire. With Thomas, we have put our hand into the great gash in His side, and we have cried "My Lord and my God!" Our very heart loves Jesus; oh that we loved Him more! Still do we delight in Him. Our happiest moments are in His company—Jesus the Well-spring and River of joy. We are our Beloved's, and our Beloved is ours.

Help us, we pray Thee, in spirit and in truth, to come near to the Cross of Him who hath redeemed us from death and hell by His death. We would first of all praise Thee. The heavens are telling of Thy glory; but not so loudly as the greatest providence declares Thy kindness, and not so sweetly as the cross. Here we behold Thine inmost heart. Here we see the love of God made manifest. Behold what manner of love is here! We could not have imagined it; but we do believe it. It could not have seemed true at first blush that Thou should pierce Thy Son with the sharpest smart, that we might enjoy the richest life; yet so it is, and we believe it. It pleased the Father to prove Him. Thou hast put Him to grief: Thou hast made His soul an offering for sin. Lord, we cannot praise Thee as we would for the Gift unspeakable: it is unspeakable, and so we must leave it. We can each one of us feel with emphasis how true this is: for me, unworthy me, God, the Lord of love and glory, the Eye of the Universe, the Jewel of heaven, died a villain's death for me! Lord we shall always wonder at it: we shall always feel we can never comprehend the height of this. Our heart is filled with the praise which shall make us sit silent—praise sits silent on our tongues. We can never sufficiently express Thy goodness. But we ask also that this morning in coming to the Cross, we might then exhibit before Thee a true repentance for sin. But what have we done? We have put to death the Son of God! What have we done? It seemed playing when we sinned, but it turns out to be dreadful work, work of the most solemn kind. We playfully brought ourselves into a mischief, out of which nothing could redeem us but His death. We laughed and sported when we transgressed, but it cost Him cries and tears and bloody sweat, and agonies unknown, to bring us back again from our foolish wandering. God forgive us—yea, Thou hast forgiven us! This sacrifice of Christ upon which we do rely is the assurance that Thou hast put away our sin—that we shall not die here. As the Scapegoat, He has carried our transgressions into the wilderness of forgetfulness: they shall not be numbered against us any more for ever. But Lord, whilst Thou dost forgive us, we cannot forgive ourselves. We would chide ourselves as long as we live for having cost our Lord so dear. Such love, and such an ill return!

Dear Saviour, wilt Thou so deal with us when Thou dost wash us, that Thou shalt not only take away the guilt of sin, but the power of it—that henceforth we may treat Thee better; that holiness and true reverence, and hearty loyalty may be our service all our days. O Thou, who didst hang naked on the cross, we pray Thee, we beseech Thee, take our whole body, soul, and spirit, and dwell in it and reign over it, and get to Thy glory from it, while we live and when we die, and when we rise again, and to eternity.

We would further ask, while we stand this morning at the foot of the Cross, that we may be crucified with Christ to all the world. Oh that the spear might go through our hearts; that the heart henceforth might be dead to all but Christ. And may hands and feet—the instruments of action and of motion—be fastened to His Cross, that we may stray no more, and serve no more the old masters, but may become henceforth wholly the Lord's. We desire, sweet Saviour, to feel the power of Thy Death, that we may know the power of Thy Resurrection. We ask that we may see the world crucified unto us, and that we may be crucified unto the world; that henceforth Christ only may live in us, and we may only live in Him. Lord, bless Thy people, that this high privilege—for we are persuaded it is a high privilege—may indeed become ours—to be dead with Christ, to be buried with Christ, to be risen with Christ, to be reigning in Christ, and henceforth to be in loving, living, lasting union with Him who hath redeemed us to God by His blood. But Lord, there are here this morning some who know nothing yet of the power of Jesus Christ; and our prayer is that they may look on Him whom they have pierced, and may mourn for Him, and be in bitterness for Him, as one that is in bitterness for his firstborn. And this day, may there be opened in the House of David, and for the inhabitants of Jerusalem, a fountain which shall cleanse them from sin and from uncleanness. Oh that to-day some might stop and ask: What is this? The Son of God in death 1 Why? May none of them pass by, as if it were nothing to do with them, but may a great multitude stand and look at Jesus—look till they live, until they weep, until they wipe their tears away with a holy joy because He died that sin might die.

Lord Jesus, work in the world more powerfully than Thou hast done of late. Our heart is often heavy as we see sin of every kind around us, and especially the insidious advance of error in the midst of Thine own Church, which makes the Cross of Christ of none effect. Lord Jesus, reign, we beseech Thee. O Son of God, we beseech Thee, reign from the Tree. Thou art gone up on high: Thou hast led captivity captive. All power is in Thine hands: exert that power, graciously exert it, for the salvation of myriads of men. Let the earth bow before Thee. What a little flock is still Thine! We beseech Thee, gather the nations; let the whole earth call Thee blessed. Our prayer is, "Let the whole earth be filled with His glory!" May "Hosanna" be our one cry, which shall make us forget every other prayer this morning. Oh, this one thing we do desire—that the hearts of all would acknowledge Thee; that every closed door should be opened to Thee; that every obstinate spirit could yield to Thee. Lord Jesus, reign in the hearts of our young children, of our husbands, wives, brethren, friends, and families. Lord, rule in the hearts of our neighbours. Lord Jesus, save London! Lord Jesus, look at this United Kingdom. Look at all the kingdoms and republics of the earth. May the whole earth know Thee, Thou exalted One. By the merit of Thy Passion, we beseech the Father to glorify Thee. Father, glorify Thy Son, that Thy Son also may glorify Thee. And unto Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, be glory world without end. Amen.

April 3, 1887.