Keep a fixed eye upon a bleeding Christ
(Brooks, "The Golden
Key to Open Hidden Treasures")
Has Jesus Christ suffered such great and grievous things
for you? Oh then, in all your fears, doubts, and conflicts
with enemies—within or without—fly to the sufferings of
Christ as your city of refuge!
In every temptation let us look up to a crucified Christ,
who is fitted and qualified to support tempted souls. Oh
my soul, whenever you are assaulted, let the wounds of
Christ be your city of refuge where you may fly and live!
Let us learn, in every trouble which presses us—whether
it be sin, temptation, or any other evil—to translate it
from ourselves to Christ! And all the good in Christ—let
us learn to translate it from Christ to ourselves!
Do your sins terrify you? Oh then, look up to a crucified
Savior, who bore your sins in His own body on the tree!
When sin stares you in the face, oh then turn your face
to a dying Jesus, and behold Him . . .
with a spear in His side,
with thorns in His head,
with nails in His feet,
and a pardon in His hands!
Oh, remember that there is nothing in heaven or earth
more efficacious to cure the wounds of conscience, than a
frequent and serious meditation on the wounds of Christ!
Ah, Christians, under all your temptations, afflictions,
fears, doubts, conflicts, and trials—be persuaded to
keep a fixed eye upon a crucified Jesus! And remember
that all He did—He did for you; and that all He suffered
—He suffered for you! This will be a strong cordial to
keep you from fainting under all your distresses. Oh,
that Christians would labor, under all their soul-troubles,
to keep a fixed eye upon a bleeding Christ;
for there
is nothing which will ease them, quiet them, settle them,
and satisfy them, like this!
Many, may I not say most, Christians are more apt to
eye their sins, their sorrows, their prayers, their tears,
their resolves, their complaints—than they are to eye
a suffering Christ. And from hence springs their great
woes, wounds, miseries, and dejection of spirit. Oh,
that a crucified Christ might be forever in your eye
—and always upon your hearts!