of it, working upon the corrupt heart of man against others—the pride of men’s heart, who despised others because of their divinely isolated position; but apart from the evil use that Israel made of their separation, faithfulness to God then required it, and His will was in the thing itself. God was proving before the whole world the painful and humbling truth, that let a nation have ever such mercies, ever such privileges, ever such wisdom directing their movements, outward and inward, nay, everything pertaining to them, the issue of all is increasing enmity against God Himself.
The death and resurrection of Christ introduced a new thing in every sense. Now, Christians admit this in general, as to the work of Christ in its application to the need of the soul. There is no person, of ever so little spiritual intelligence, who does not confess, with more or less clearness and thankfulness of heart, the all-importance of the cross of Christ for his need before God. There may be a scanty perception of the extent of the deliverance; there may be feeble enjoyment of the perfect peace that has been made by the blood of Christ’s cross; but there is no believer who does not in some measure hold it, and enjoy it, and thank God for it.
But there is more than the sinner’s need met in the cross; and I direct your attention to what the Holy Ghost gives us in Eph. ii., as showing the place of the cross in the ways of God—not merely in the salvation of the soul. At the 13th verse it is written, “Ye who sometimes were far off, are made nigh by
