THE FULLNESS OF CHRIST by Octavius Winslow

"A Full Christ for Empty Sinners"  or "The Sacks Filled with Corn"

"Then Joseph commanded to fill their sacks with corn, and to restore every man's money into his sack, and to give them provision for the way: and thus did he unto them." Genesis 42:25

How close to the fountain of their supply did these famishing brethren of Joseph now stand; yet how unconscious that he was their brother! Ignorant of this fact, they were awe-struck by his commanding presence, and were filled with fear and trembling by the authority and tone with which he spoke to them. It is thus with us. How often do we appear in the presence of God as these brethren in the presence of Joseph! He is our Father, and Jesus is our Brother, and all the fulness of Deity, and all the treasures of the covenant of grace are His. Yet, this fact of Divine relationship, so much concealed by the veil of unbelief, fettered by a legal spirit, and misinterpreting the providences of our God, we too frequently present ourselves in His presence- in communion, in supplication, in service- with the trembling of a servant, and wearing the manacles of a slave.
  And yet, what is the true spirit and posture of a child of God, of a brother of Christ? It is this, "You have not received the spirit of bondage again to fear; but you have received the spirit of adoption, whereby we cry, Abba, Father. The Spirit Himself bears witness with our spirit, that we are the children of God." Oh, if, in the case of these brethren, the veil had been but uplifted, and the astounding fact had burst upon them in all its startling truthfulness, "I am Joseph, your brother," what a revolution had taken place in their feelings- their confidence restored, their fears quelled, their hopes inspired, and overwhelmed with emotion, they would have fallen at His feet, bathing them with tears of contrition, gratitude, and love.
  In all this, do we trace nothing analogous to some of the holiest and sweetest experiences of our soul? In the prosecution of our subject, we have arrived at a most spiritually instructive part of the narrative- the ample supply meted out by Joseph in response to the pressing needs and appeal of his brethren. The points which will illustrate the great gospel truths, we pray the Eternal Spirit to unfold and apply, are simply these: THE SUPPLY- THE RESTORED MONEY- THE PROVISION FOR THE JOURNEY.
  Let us turn our attention, in the first place, to THE SUPPLY- "Then Joseph commanded to fill their sacks with corn." It was for corn they had gone down into Egypt, impelled by the grievous and sore famine which raged throughout their land, and corn they found and obtained. Now, to a spiritual mind viewing this part of the narrative in its gospel light, how full, instructive, and precious it is. Keep in view the fact, that Christ is our Brother, that as our Brother He is at the head, yes, that He is the Head, of all spiritual blessings, and you will be provided with a key to the gospel interpretation of this part of the story, so striking and instructive in its teaching.
  Now, the first remark under this head of supply is this, It was sheer necessity, urgent, pressing need, that brought these brethren into the presence of Joseph. Does any other motive, or principle, or errand bring us to Christ? Will a sinner in his unrenewed state ever go to the Savior not under the pressure of necessity? Will a soul ever betake itself to Christ without the conviction of its deep, spiritual need of Christ? Never! With all the sweet, powerful attraction of the Lord Jesus Christ- His love, loveliness, and grace- so completely depraved and dead is our nature, it is utterly insensible to the power of this great magnet, and will never repair to Christ until the Holy Spirit, awakening a conviction of sin, creates in it the pressure of need.
  Here learn what is the first stage of real conversion, my reader- it is the spiritual, enlightened conviction, sense and sight of our lost and perishing condition as sinners. None value a crucified, atoning Christ but the sick, the poor, the empty, the helpless; those who know the plague of their own hearts, feel their condemnation by the law, and are driven out of every refuge, and from every hope but that which meets them in these wondrous words, "This is a faithful saying, and worthy of all acceptance, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners."
  Have you thus been brought under sin's conviction by the Spirit? And will not this illustrate a humbling page of your own advanced history, saint of the most High? So weak is your faith, so languid your love, so worldly your spirit, at so great a distance, ofttimes, do you find yourself from Jesus, that but for pressure, but for a feeling of necessity, but for a conviction of some need, alas, with all the attraction of Christ, His beauty, His love, His graciousness, how seldom would you betake yourself to Jesus! Sorrow brings you to Him, perplexity brings you to Him, exhausted resources bring you to Him. Your heavenly Father, in the infinite wisdom and righteousness of His dealings, lays His hand upon you, and, under the heavy pressure of that hand, you arise and come to Jesus, and then learn the lesson of the rod in the necessity, the conviction of want, the pressure of trial and sorrow which has won back your truant heart into the blessed presence of your Lord.
  Secondly, What was it they brought to Joseph? They brought vessels- empty vessels. How many of these empty sacks, or of what size, is of but little moment, nor would it have been a matter of any moment to Joseph if they had brought all the sacks in Canaan-since his resources and his benevolence would have filled them. Enough for our present illustration that they brought empty sacks.
 What is the state, the moral, spiritual state of the soul that is spiritually brought to Christ, and that savingly receives Christ? Ah, we little know the process that soul has to pass through, the discipline it undergoes before it is fit to come to Christ, or before Christ is fit for that soul. One word, profoundly significant, expresses that condition- EMPTINESS! And this annihilates all those fancied and fanciful ideas which thousands entertain of some self-sufficiency, some previous moral fitness in their souls before they come to Jesus; that, before they avail themselves of His salvation, they must place themselves in a kind of salvable state, that is, that they must partially save themselves before they come to the Savior to be saved!
  But one word- oh, that the Spirit of God may write it on our hearts! -expresses the condition in which Christ expects a sinner to come to Him- EMPTINESS! And whether the soul is conscious of this emptiness or not, it is there! Spiritual blindness to the fearful fact does not invalidate its existence. The soul of man in its natural condition is empty of all holiness, of all righteousness, of all goodness, of all strength, of all love. It is a vast moral void, into which were you to empty the universe of created good, would remain a void still. As well might you attempt to extinguish the fires of Vesuvius by casting into its crater a drop of water, as to extinguish the burning cravings of the human soul with any good but GOD. God only can satisfy the soul of man; and happiness is a stranger to the human heart until it finds its way back to Him. "The Lord is my portion, says my soul, therefore will I hope in Him."
  But although we assert that there is this vast spiritual emptiness in the soul, deem it not paradoxical when we remind you that there is yet much of what that soul must be emptied before it is prepared to receive out of Christ's fulness. The soul of man is full to overflowing with self-righteousness, with rebellion against God, with the love of sin, and the reigning power of all iniquity. It is brimmed and overflowing with all the elements of destruction, which, if left to work their own results, will infallibly plunge the soul into the chambers of eternal darkness and despair. The idol self must fall, your own righteousness must be renounced, there must be the deep spiritual conviction of the plague of your own heart; you must feel that you are under the condemnation of the law, and that you have not one claim to God's mercy, nor one plea springing from yourself whereby He should accept and save you.
  Here let me pause and ask you, Have you thus been emptied? Or are you still filled to engorgement with self, and with the world, with sin, and with your own conceit, there being no room in your heart for the Savior? Dear reader, the lowly stable where the Incarnate God made His advent to our world images the spiritual state of that heart into which He enters, and with Him His "kingdom of righteousness, joy, and peace in the Holy Spirit."
  It is only a heart deeply, spiritually conscious of its poverty, lowliness, and uncleanness, and emptied and humbled thereby in the dust, that opens its doors to receive and welcome Him who came "not to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance," to "die for the ungodly," to "preach good tidings unto the meek, to bind up the broken hearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, to give the oil of joy for mourning, the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness." Oh, if your heart is lowly, empty and penitent, Jesus will make His gracious advent into it, and dwell there forever!
  With regard to the process of emptying, if any work ever proved itself Divine it is this. Not all the eloquence, the philosophy, the learning, the moral persuasion, of man or angel can produce it. The soul can attach itself to what is vile, can absorb into itself what is unholy, and can yield to what is contrary to God's truth, but it has not the moral power of an infant's strength to expel one solitary evil, to free itself from one dominant sin.
  My reader, it is the power of God alone that empties a man, that makes him clearly to see the imperfection of his own righteousness, his ignorance of truth, of God, and of Christ. It is the work of the Holy and Eternal Spirit to show to the poor sinner that all his righteousness is as filthy rags, that he has no spiritual strength, and not one pulse of love to God throbbing in his bosom. Oh, it is a power as great, as mighty, and as Divine as that which spoke this universe into being-which said, "Let there be light, and there was light,"-which alone can empty your soul of all its darkness, its rebellion, its ignorance, its love, homage of self, and bring you to the cross of Christ, to the feet of Jesus as a poor, empty beggar.
  The means by which God the blessed Spirit accomplishes this great work are various. To begin with the minor ones: it is often by trial, adversity, and sorrow, that God opens a man's eyes to see the emptiness of himself and of all created things. Travel through the Church of God, and ask, What was it that first led you to Jesus? What first awoke spiritual, solemn, serious, and devout reflection in your mind? What first embittered and beclouded to you the sweet, sparkling streams and rivulets of created good?
  The answer of thousands would be- God blighted my lovely flower, felled my stately cedar, laid low my heart's choicest treasure, blew on the accumulated earnings of many years, laid me on a sick and suffering bed. And thus was I brought to Jesus. Sorrow impelled me, the storms drove me, adversity led me to Him as the hiding-place from the wind, and the covert from the tempest. I sought the creature's sufficiency, the world's vanity, my own emptiness. He drew me with His love to seek and find all I needed in Himself. And now I can bless and praise Him blighting all, for blasting all, for ruining all, since it was but to make my soul His kingdom, my heart His home, my body His temple, and Himself more precious than countless worlds -my all and in all.
"In days when health and joy were mine,
And cloudless seemed my morning's shine,
I thought each bliss would still remain,
Nor knew how precious Christ was then.
But soon was dimmed my early light,
And sickness came with withering blight;
I turned to passed delights in vain,
But only Christ seemed precious then.
When sorrow sent her searching dart,
To probe and prove my erring heart,
Fainting beneath the bitter pain,
I felt that Christ was precious then.
And when before my startled eyes,
Sins past, and scarcely mourned, arise;
In vain my tears would cleanse the stain,
My Savior You are precious then.
And oh, when trembling near the tomb,
My spirit dreads the approaching gloom,
Then let the Cross my soul sustain,
And bid me think You are precious then."
  But the grand, the chief instrument of spiritual emptying, is the truth of God. The Holy Spirit, bringing home the truth with light and power to the sinner's heart, shows him the emptiness and sinfulness and darkness that are there. There is nothing so illuminating, so quickening, as the truth of God. "The entrance of Your word gives light; it gives understanding unto the simple." "The law of the Lord is perfect, converting the soul: the testimony of the Lord is sure, making wise the simple: the statutes of the Lord are right, rejoicing the heart: the commandment of the Lord is pure, enlightening the eyes."
  There is no light, no candle like that of the Lord's word, no truth like that of God's truth, when the Holy Spirit holds it up as a mirror, showing to a man his self-righteousness, ignorance, depravity, and worldliness. There is a Divine power going forth with God's word which all the opposition of the heart within, all the darkness that shades the mind, all the usurping power of evil dwelling in the soul cannot possibly resist. It is indeed and in truth "the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God." "Being born again, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible, by the word of God."
  Now this instrument of spiritual quickening, sanctification, and comfort God will honor. He has magnified His word above His name, and will have us magnify it too. He is jealous of the purity, honor, and glory of His revealed word. Heaven and earth shall pass away, but the word of God lives and abides forever. Reader, has God's word come to your soul with a life-giving, soul-emptying power? and is it sweeter to you than honey, and more precious than much fine gold?
  Let us now advert to the replenishing of these empty sacks, "Then Joseph commanded to fill their sacks with corn." Observe from whom the supply of corn came, -it was from Joseph. A more vital, important, and precious gospel- truth could not be illustrated than this. Let us dwell upon it- the FULNESS of our Lord Jesus Christ.
  We select, as the groundwork of our statement, the remarkable words of the apostle, "It pleased the Father, that in him should ALL FULNESS dwell." More precious, or more pregnant words are not to be found in the Bible than these. Of whom does the apostle speak as the Depositary of this fulness? "In Him,"- the Son of God, our Lord and Savior, it pleased the Father that all fulness should dwell. This fulness is not deposited in angels or in men, but in Him who, in the preceding passage, is spoken of as "the image of God," "the firstborn of every creature," in Him, "by whom were all things created that are in heaven, and that are in earth, visible and invisible," as "before all things, and by whom all things consist," as "the head of the body, the church," as "the beginning, the first-born from the dead; that in all things He might have the preeminence."
  In Him, this Divine, this wonderful Being, ALL FULNESS dwells. In whom could all the fulness of the Godhead- all the mediatorial fulness of the Church dwell, but in the Son of God! But take the "fulness" particularly spoken of in this passage, the mediatorial fulness of Christ; and in whom, other than a being essentially God, could all fulness of merit, all fulness of righteousness, all fulness of grace, all fulness of pardon, all fulness of sanctification, all fulness of wisdom, all fulness of love, all fulness of sympathy, all fulness of compassion, in a word, all fulness of all supply, possibly dwell?
  But all this fulness dwells in Christ! And who can comprehend this fulness? What plumb-line can fathom, or what scale can measure the height, the depth, the length, the breadth, of this fulness of salvation for sinners- the inexhaustible stores; the vast supplies, the incalculable abundance from which countless myriads have drawn, are drawing still, and yet the sacred treasure, the precious fulness, remains unexhausted by a drop, unsunk by a hair's-breadth? Infinity alone can give us its dimensions and sound its depths.
  In Christ, essentially, there is all "fulness of the Godhead bodily;" and in Christ communicatively there is all the fulness which it pleased the Father should dwell in Him. The one He possesses in virtue of His absolute Deity- He being essentially one with the Father; the other He possesses in virtue of His covenant relation to the Church- He being her Mediator, Head, and Redeemer. It is in the light of the latter we are more especially to interpret the fulness which it pleased the Father should dwell in Christ. It is, distinctly and emphatically, a mediatorial fulness.
  The same thing is spoken of by the evangelist John, "Of His fulness have we all received, and grace for grace." Behold, then, our true Joseph! It was the good pleasure, the sovereign will, the gracious purpose of the Father, that all the treasures of His love, all the riches of His grace, all the fulness of the covenant should be placed in the hands of Christ, to be dispensed by Him according to the collective and individual necessities of His Church.
  And in what does this fulness consist? A fulness of dignity to atone, a fulness of life to quicken, a fulness of righteousness to justify, a fulness of virtue to pardon, a fulness of grace to sanctify, a fulness of power to preserve, a fulness of compassion and sympathy to comfort, and a fulness of salvation to save poor sinners to the uttermost;  in a word, ALL FULNESS; a fulness commensurate with need of every kind, with trial of every form, with sorrow of every depth, with sin of every name, with guilt of every hue, yes, with every conceivable and possible necessity in which the children of God may be placed; fulness of grace here, and fulness of glory hereafter; a fulness which the Church on earth will live upon; and boast of until time be no more; a fulness which will be the delight and glory of the Church in heaven to behold, until eternity shall end. In whom could all this fulness be enthroned? In a mere creature? Preposterous thought!
  Now, as from Joseph these empty vessels of his brethren were replenished, so from Christ, and from Christ alone, our spiritual supplies are to come. The Church of God has but one Spiritual Head, the sinner but one divine Savior. God has not distributed the treasures of His grace, or delegated spiritual authority and power in its communication to others, but has deposited all grace, and all power, and all glory solely and only in His Son.
  No Church, no minister, no ecclesiastical body has one particle of this grace in its power to bestow. The sole possession and power of spiritual interpretation, of God's Word is delegated to no Church under heaven. The authority and the power to absolve from sin, and to communicate the grace of pardon to the soul belongs to no priesthood on the face of the earth. The fulness of merit, and of grace, and of power necessary to the salvation of one sinner, is exclusively in the Lord Jesus Christ.
  His Church has no legislative, no administrative power whatever to rule, and govern, and supply- all, all is invested in her one Divine, spiritual, glorious Head- the Lord Jesus Christ. And don't we find all we need in Him? What is the demand? Is it the pardon of sin? "In whom we have redemption through His blood, even the forgiveness of sin." Is it righteousness to justify? "We are made the righteousness of God in Him." Is it spiritual life? "I have come that you might have life, and that you might have it more abundantly." Is it grace to subdue the power of sin? "My grace is sufficient for you." Is it compassion and sympathy in times of trouble, in seasons of sorrow? "We have not a High Priest who cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities." Oh, what is the need which shall not find in our full Christ its own commensurate supply?
  And what will our true Joseph give us? With what will He replenish the exhausted vessel? It was corn, real food, with which Joseph filled the empty sacks of his brethren. Our Lord Jesus gives His brethren "the true bread from heaven." There is no mockery, no delusion in His gifts. We shall receive nothing at His hands but what will enrich, strengthen, and advance our soul's well-being. It may come in a disguised form- a rebuke, a reproof, a warning, a lesson difficult to learn, a cross heavy to bear; it may empty us from vessel to vessel, may fill us with shame and self-abhorrence, may lay us low in the dust, nevertheless, it is the true bread He gives us, and just in that form which our soul's necessities required?
  "He fed them with manna in the wilderness that He might humble them." The truth of God is humbling, the grace of Christ is self-abasing; and the soul that is the most emptied of self, self-dependence, self-seeking, self-will, who walks the nearest and the most softly with God, gathers the most abundantly of this divine, this heavenly, this precious manna. Oh, there is nothing so promotive of our soul's abasement, so humbling to self, as living by faith, poverty, and nothingness, upon the fulness and sufficiency of a crucified and present Christ.
  The gospel is humbling, faith is humbling, grace is humbling- the place, the circumstances in which we are found, are humbling; and He feeds us with this manna in the world's waste howling wilderness that He might humble us.
  Oh, blessed discipline this! "You shall remember all the way which the Lord your God led you these forty years in the wilderness to humble you." "And He humbled you, and allowed you to hunger, and fed you with manna, which you knew not, neither did your fathers know; that He might make you know that man does not live by bread only, but by every word that proceeds out of the mouth of the Lord does man live."
  As Christ is taken into our hearts by faith, He becomes a part of our moral nature, an integrated element of our spiritual being. Consequently we grow Christ-like, or rather, Christ grows in us. We become more holy, more meek, more gentle, more humble; in a word, the image of our Lord is more developed in us, and we grow less man-like and more God-like; and the quietness of our spirit, and the courtesy of our demeanor, and the lowliness of our minds, and the gentle, winning sweetness of our whole carriage and speech are but the image and reflection of Christ.
  In view, then, of this statement of Christ's fulness let me exhort you to bring your needs, your sins, your trials, your case, whatever its character, to Christ. He will not send you back to a creature-power, or to human compassion for that which will replenish and solace you, but will unlock the hidden treasures, the full fount of His own resources, sympathy, and compassion, and pour it like a tide into your soul, and your heart shall abound with joy. Come when, or where, or how you may, He will cast into your emptiness, nothing but His own infinite and unwasting fulness- nothing but Himself! And then, with Mary, you shall exclaim- "My soul does magnify the Lord, and my spirit has rejoiced in God my Savior. He has filled the hungry with good things; and the rich He has sent empty away."
  Ah! none are sent away from Christ, except the rich, the full, the self-sufficient. But the empty, the poor, the hungry, the penniless are filled out of His fulness of grace and dismissed, rejoicing in Christ Jesus, having no confidence in the flesh, and magnifying His great name.
  But to proceed to the second point, THE RESTORED MONEY- "And Joseph commanded to fill their sacks with corn, and to restore every man's money in his sack." You will observe, my reader, in the first place that, they brought with them this money. They had no conception that corn could be obtained without it, and took care, doubtless, to supply themselves with the current coin of the realm; and with this came down into Egypt, and presented themselves in the presence of Joseph.
  What a deep-rooted principle of our nature does this illustrate- the principle that would purchase the salvation of the soul, that brings the price of human merit in its hand, and with this rushes into the presence of the Savior! Self-righteousness is as natural, as innate a principle of our fallen, sinful nature, as any principle within us! No, more so, it is the strongest and most powerful. The very first idea of a conscience-roused, a soul-awakened sinner, is to bring a price in his hand to Christ- something that will merit the Savior's regard- that will commend the case to Christ's notice- something that will be a kind of return for, or an acknowledgment of, the boon thus asked- something that will be a barter between Christ and the sinner- some previous fitness, previous self-preparation; in a word, money in the empty sack.
  Oh, how few of us, when first we came to Christ, came entirely without money! But this principle must be up-torn, root and branch. This part of our subject may just meet the spiritual condition of some of my readers. Why are you not rejoicing in Christ Jesus? Why have you not found Him whom you have been so long seeking? Why are you not happy in a sense of pardoned sin? Why are you not knowing your adoption into the family of God? You have been seeking Jesus for years, why have you not found Him? Because, perhaps, unconscious to yourselves, you have been waiting to find some money, some feeling or condition with which you can come to Christ with a degree of dignity and self-respect; not to receive the boon He has to confer as a sinner, as a beggar, not to receive the good He has to bestow as a poor mendicant, or as a starving man receiving bread- but as a purchaser, and not as a receiver, as a claimant, and not a recipient, as a thing merited and not a gratuity bestowed.
  But all this, as I have said, must be torn up root and branch before Christ will pour His fulness into your soul. What says the Scriptures?- "Ho, every one that thirsts, come you to the waters, and he that has no money: come, buy and eat; yes, come, buy wine and milk without money, and without price." "Being justified FREELY by His grace, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus." "For by grace are you saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God not of works, lest any man should boast." "It is of faith that it might be of grace." "Whoever will, let him take the water of life FREELY." "And when they had nothing to pay, he frankly forgave them both."
  Thus it is written as with diamond, that salvation is of free grace; that we are justified and pardoned without any works of righteousness, or human merit of our own; that none are rejected by Christ who come empty and poor. He only is spurned who brings his money with his sack; his coin in his hand with which to purchase that which is unpurchasable; his price with which to purchase that which is above all price- the bread of life -the fulness of Christ's salvation.
  Take another spiritual truth here illustrated. Joseph returned the money, commanding it to be replaced in the sacks' mouths. It is the glory of God that He is not only a prayer-answering, but also a prayer-exceeding God. We never go to Christ with the most enlarged desires, supplicating the greatest blessings, but He gives us more than we ask. You have gone with limited requests, circumscribed petitions, and stinted desires, but so full is Christ, so large is His heart, He has given you far beyond all that you asked or thought. Blessed, precious encouragement this to go to Jesus with our utter emptiness, to arise and give ourselves to importunate prayer. What encouragement is this to draw near to God and ask what we will; to make known to Him our needs, great and pressing as they are.
  So full, so gracious, and so loving is our spiritual Joseph, He will never give us less, but always infinitely more than we ask at His hands. Well may we- and who should louder swell the note? - unite in the glowing doxology, "Now unto Him that is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that works in us, unto Him be glory in the Church by Christ Jesus throughout all ages, world without end. Amen."
  Joseph gave his brethren, too, provision for the way. How like a brother this! Not only did he fill their sacks with corn and replace their money, but he also gave them an extra provision for their personal necessities, until they arrived at home. How thoughtful and how kind was this of Joseph! These brethren had injured him. Yet he forgives all, forgets all, and returns them a blessing for their wrong. Now that they are in distress and need, the ocean of his love rolls over all the past, and hides and obliterates it forever. What a type of Jesus! Though we have sinned against Him, crucified Him, wronged Him a thousand times over, yet He loves us still. Hear Him in His dying agonies praying for His murderers, "Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do." Sinner! will not your rebellion, your unbelief, your impenitence give way before this matchless love? Bow the knee, bend the heart, and crown Him with your faith, your love, your life!
  But take another truth here shadowed forth. Where were these brethren traveling? what was the end of their journey? They were journeying homeward, home to their father's house. If, believer in Jesus, we are the children of God, we, too, are journeying toward home- home to our Father's house. Through this world of famine, of sin, of suffering, and sorrow, we are journeying to the family home! Sweet thought, could we but realize it!
  O believer, cherish amid all the weariness and roughness, the toil and battle, the privation and disappointment, the suffering and sorrow of this life, the sweet, the holy, the soothing reflection, "it is my way home; it is my path to my Father's house. I am going home to be with God and with Christ forever! This sickness, languor, and decay- is but opening wider the door through which the light and glory of heaven beams in upon my soul, and by which I shall, before long, pass to my ineffable and eternal rest above!"
  Study your pilgrimage in this light, and it will chase many a shadow from your brow, pour sunshine into many a dark nook of your heart, and smooth many a rough stage of your journey. Every step, be it in darkness or light, grief or joy, is bringing you nearer, and still nearer, to the bright, blissful, happy home Christ has gone to prepare for you!
   Then mark, there is provision for this journey. Do you think that your blessed Lord has left you to take this journey at your own cost? relying upon your own resources? Do you think that He will not meet all its necessities, sustain all its trials, anticipating every incident and circumstance of that journey? O beloved, we little know Christ if we do not receive this truth in all its fulness. When you lift your head from your pillow in the morning, let this be the first thought to occupy your mind- "for all this day's history, my covenant Head, my Joseph, my Savior has provided. Then, I will bring to Him the needs that press, the perplexities that embarrass, the anxieties that chafe, the disappointments that grieve, the temptations that assail, the sins that wound me. I will bring my fears, my infirmities, my griefs, yes, every circumstance as it occurs to Jesus, and I will draw from His fulness of grace, sympathy, and strength, by prayer and faith, provision for this day's travel home to my Father's house."
  Keep this truth constantly in view- a full Christ for an empty sinner. With no other will He have dealings; the rich He will send away empty, the poor He will send away full. The only sinner whom He rejects is he who comes with a price. His salvation is for the lost- His blood is for the guilty- His grace is for the poor. Come now- come as you are- come though you have been a thousand times before; yours shall be all the blessing- His all the praise.
"A fulness resides in Jesus our Head,
And ever abides to answer our need;
The Father's good pleasure has laid up in store,
A plentiful treasure to give to the poor.
"Whatever be our wants, we need not to fear,
Our numerous complaints His mercy will hear;
His fulness shall yield us abundant supplies,
His power shall shield us when dangers arise.
"Whatever distress awaits us below,
Such plentiful grace will Jesus bestow
As still shall support us, and silence our fear,
For nothing can hurt us while Jesus is near.
"When troubles attend, or danger, or strife,
His love will defend and guard us through life;
And when we are fainting, and ready to die
Whatever is lacking His hand will supply."