Think of the enterprise on which Jesus came, and the cost at which that enterprise was achieved. The enterprise! think of that; it was the salvation of man. The devils saw him, and exclaimed, "What have we to do with thee" as if they had said, "thou hast not come to save us." No, they had nothing to do with him; but we have every thing to do with him; since he came for us once as our salvation.The enterprise - and then the cost - those sufferings which destroyed his life, though they could not destroy his love - think of these, and how are you affected? "Christ," says Peter, "hath once suffered for sin, the just for the unjust;" but in that once, what sufferings were not concentrated! Ah! miserable sinner! from eternity had the only-begotten reposed in the bosom of the Father, and now see him leaving that bosom and taking the form of a servant for you. From eternity had the fairest among ten thousand and altogether lovely, been rich in the glories and hosannas of the skies, and now see him becoming poor for you; - so poor, that living he had not where to lay his head, and dying he would, but for charity, have been buried like a common malefactor, by the highway-side. Follow the adorable Jesus from scene to scene of ever-deepening insult and sorrow. Trace his footsteps, marked by his own blood. Behold his sacred face swollen with tears and stripes. And, last of all, ascend Mount Calvary, and view there the amazing spectacle; earth and hell gloating on the gashed form of the Lord of glory; men and
[p. 33]
devils glutting their malice in the agony of the Prince of life; and all the scattered rays of vengeance, which would have consumed our guilty race, converging and beating in focal intensity upon him, of whom the Eternal twice proclaimed, in a voice from heaven: "This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased." After this, what are our emotions? Can we ever be cold or faithless? No, my brethren, it is impossible, unless we forget this Saviour, and lose sight of that cross on which he poured out his soul for us.
========[From Joseph Belcher, editor, The Baptist Pulpit of the United States: Eloquent and Instructive Passages . . ., 2nd edition, 1853, pp. 32-33. Document from Google Books On-line. Scanned and formatted by Jim Duvall.]
More on Baptists: Various Subjects
Baptist History Homepage