PREFACE.
To all who love and relish the simple gospel of the grace of God, I would earnestly recommend the following "Notes on the Book of Genesis." They are characterized by a deep-toned evangelical spirit. Having had the privilege of reading them in MS., I can speak as one who has found profit therefrom. Man's complete ruin in sin, and God's perfect remedy in Christ, are fully, clearly, and often strikingly, presented, especially in the earlier chapters.
To Christ's servants in the gospel sound, forcible statements as to what sin is and what grace is, are deeply valuable in the present time, when so much that is merely superficial is abroad.
The gospel of Christ, as perfectly meeting man's nature, condition, and character, is comparatively little known, and less proclaimed. Hence, the numerous doubts, fears, and unsettled questions which fill the hearts and perplex the consciences of many of God's dear children. Until the soul is led to see that the entire question of sin and the claims of divine holiness were all and forever settled on the cross, sweet, quiet rest of conscience will be but little known.
Nothing can meet the urgent cry of a troubled conscience but the one perfect sacrifice of Christ; offered to God for us, on the cross. "For even Christ our passover is sacrificed for us." There, and there alone it will find a perfect answer to its every claim; because there it will find, through believing, all ground of doubt and fear removed, the whole question of sin eternally settled, every divine requirement fully met, and a solid foundation laid for present, settled peace, in the presence of divine holiness: Christ "delivered for our offences, and raised again for our justification," settles every thing. The moment we believe the gospel, we are saved, and ought to be divinely happy. "He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life." (Rom. iv. v.; John iii.)
We see the greatness of God's love to the sinner in his judgment of sin in the person of his own dear Son on the cross. There God, in perfect grace to us, dealt with sin according to his infinite holiness and justice. He went down to the depths of our ruin and all our sin, measured it, judged it, and put it forever away, root and branch, by shedding the precious blood of the spotless Victim. "He condemned sin in the flesh;" that is, he there condemned the evil root of sin which is in our flesh—our carnal nature. But he also "made an end of sins,"—of the actual sins of every believer. Thus, between God and Christ alone the entire question of sin was gone into, and finally settled on the cross. "Simon Peter said unto him, Lord whither goest thou? Jesus answered him, Whither I go thou canst not follow me now." Just as Abraham and Isaac were alone on the top of the mountain in the land of Moriah, so were God and Christ alone, amidst the solemnities and solitudes of Calvary. The only part we had in the cross was, that our sins were there. Jesus alone bore the full weight of their judgment. (Comp. Dan. ix. 24; Rom. viii. 3; 2 Cor. v. 21; Heb. ix. 26, 28.)
Whenever this blessed truth is learnt from God's own word, and maintained in the soul by faith, through the power of the Holy Ghost, all is peace, joy, and victory. It takes the believer completely away from himself, from his doubts, fears, and questions. And his eye now gazes on One who, by his finished work, has laid the foundation of divine and everlasting righteousness, and who is now at the right hand of the Majesty in the highest, as the perfect definition of every true believer. With him, with him alone, the believer's heart is now to be occupied.
Faith is fully assured that when God puts away sin, it must be put away entirely; that, when Jesus exclaimed, "It is finished," the work was done—God was glorified, the sinner saved, the whole power of Satan completely destroyed, and peace established on the most solid basis. Hence, we find, "The God of peace brought again from the dead our Lord Jesus, that great Shepherd of the sheep, through the blood of the everlasting covenant." He was the God of judgment at the cross. He is the God of peace at the opening grave. Every enemy has been vanquished, and eternal peace proclaimed, through the blood of his cross. "He was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father." He rose "in the power of an endless life," and associates every believer with himself, in the power of that life in resurrection. Having been cleansed by his blood, they are accepted in his person. (See Eph. i. 6; Col. ii. 10; 1 John v. 20.)
Jesus, having thus fully accomplished the work that was given him to do, and gone up on high, the Holy Ghost came down as a witness to us that redemption was finished, the believer "perfected forever" and Christ glorified in heaven.
The apostles then began to publish the glad tidings of salvation to the chief of sinners. The subject of their preaching was, "Jesus and the resurrection." And all who believed on him as risen and glorified were immediately and eternally saved. "And this is the record that God hath given to us eternal life, and this life is in his Son: he that hath the Son hath life, and he that hath not the Son of God hath not life." (1 John v. 11, 12.) There is no blessing outside of, or apart from, the person of Christ—the heavenly Man; "for in him dwelleth all the fulness of the Godhead bodily." Ever since that time, God has been placing before the sinner, in connection with his gospel, a risen living Christ, as the ALONE object of faith, and "the end of the law for righteousness to EVERY ONE THAT BELIEVETH." (Rom. X.)
When the eye is kept on this heavenly Christ, all is light, joy, and peace; but if it be turned in on self, and occupied with what it finds there, and what it feels, or with any thing whatever that may come between the heart and Christ, all will be darkness, uncertainty, and unhappiness in the soul. Oh, how blessedly simple is the gospel of the grace of God!
The burden of its message to the lost sinner is, "Come, for all things are now ready;" the question of sin is not raised—"Grace reigns through righteousness unto eternal life by Jesus Christ our Lord." Christ, having perfectly satisfied God about sin, the only question now between God and your heart is this: Are you perfectly satisfied with his Christ as the alone portion of your soul? This is the one grand question of the gospel. Christ has settled every other to the glory of God; and now the Father is going to "make a marriage for his Son,"—to honor, exalt, and glorify him. Is your heart in full harmony with God's on this point? Work is not required at your hands; strength is not needed; fruit is not demanded. God has provided every thing, and prepared every thing. It is all grace—the pure