a distance from Him.
Others may have been grieving the Holy Spirit. The Master has come (by
this death) and calls for thee. He is standing to-day at the door of thy
heart knocking and saying, "If any man hear my voice, and open the door,
I will come in to him, and will sup with him, and he with me." No friend
so forgiving, so gentle as he. Oh, wilt thou let Him depart? Patiently
waiting, earnestly pleading, Jesus thy Saviour knocks at thine heart. Is
there some idol that you are cherishing? Is there some secret, darling
sin to which you are clinging? Oh, what wilt thou do in the swellings of
Jordan without an interest in the atoning work of Jesus? Are you still
slighting the Saviour? He waits for thee. How tender the look. He says
unto you as he said to the inhabitants of Jerusalem, "How often would I
have gathered thy children together as a hen gathereth her chickens
under her wings, but ye would not."

Christ alone is our true Shechem, our City of Refuge. He is the living
well of Jacob and the rifled tomb of Joseph. Isaiah says, "A man shall
be as an hiding-place from the wind and a covert from the tempest, as
rivers of water in a dry place, and as the shadow of a great rock in a
weary land." What boundless resources are found in Christ. We are
guilty, but He atoned for our guilt; He paid the ransom price; He
engaged in the great work of paying the penalty due to our sin, for He
was made sin for us who knew no sin, that we might be made the
righteousness of God in Him. "We could never have been saved without
Divine interference, save from going down to the pit, for I have found
a ransom," was the declaration of the stupendous wealth of God's free
love. For it is a faithful saying, and worthy of all acceptation, that
Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, even the very chief.
The mysteries of redeeming love are solved at Golgotha.

Listen to the sweet singer of Israel as he surveys the administration
of mercy seen anticipatively at the Cross:

I love the Lord, because my voice
And prayer He did hear;
I, while I live, will call on Him
Who bowed to me His ear.

He was greatly encouraged to serve God in view of the alliance and
assistance of Jehovah towards the redemption of Israel. In the fortieth
Psalm he illustrates this thought still further:

I waited for the Lord my God,
And patiently did bear.
He took me from the fearful pit,
And from the miry clay,
A