Morning journal and courier., 1883-11-05
Calvary Baptist Church.

The Satisfaction of Christ with the Re-
 suits of His Work.
 Rev. T. s. Samson, pastor of the Calvary Baptist church, preached last evening from the words in the ffty-third chapter of Isaiah, the eleventh verse: 'He shall see of the trs- vail of his soul and shall be satisfied"
 Thought cannot conceive nor can language express the suffering of Christ when he en- tered alone the valley of humiliation and death. Keen as were the bangs of his physi- cal suffering, keener far was the exceeding sorrow of his soul, and we shall never know, at least until we see him as he Is, how much he suffered in the garden or what is involved in these words of the prophet, ''the travail of his soul" How could he thus demean himself? He was in the beginning with God and was God, and yet he made himself of no reputation, took upon him the form of ser- want and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross If this is mysterious to us it is not to him. If we are disappointed 1 at the result of his suffering the prophet es- sures us that he is content
 It is one thought, at least, of the text that Christ will be satisfied with the result of his | suffering so far as the spiritual welfare of l our race is concerned. These words of the prophet are true as to the number that shall be saved by the death of Christ. The old question sometimes arises in our minds, | sLord, are there few that be saved?" During the long years that preceded the coming of | Christ the number of those like Abraham, who reioiced to see Christ's day, seems to have been comparatively small And yet we l may underestimate the number. There Is casual mention of Melchisedech and Job. | How many more there were we do not know. We do know that in the degenerate days of the later kings of Israel, when the poor diseour. aged Elijah said, ''I, even l, only am left, 1 God said, s'Yet have left me '. 1000 in Israel all the knees that have not bowed unto Baal :" l When Christ came, although his own received him not, wise men came from the far
 East to worship him, and when the they gladly received it. And so too there may be many in heathen lands like Abraham and Job and Melchisedech. There is another phase of this subject. It has been estimated that more than one-half of all the human race die in infancy, the number being greater in hsathen lands than in Christian countries Reason and scripture unite to en- courage our Christian hope and to confirm our Christian faith that this large proportion of the human family has 8 share in the atom ing death of Christ. David, weeping for his dead boy, said: ''I shall go to the child, d. though the child shall not return to me." And vet he is the same David who said, "Behold I was shapen in iniquity and in sin did my | mother conceive me-" Christ took the little
 children in his arms and blessed them and l said: s'Of such is the Kingdom of heaven
 Again the prophet says, speaking of Christ:
 "He shall prolong his days" The death of
 Christ may seem to us to have accomplished 1 little as yet towards the redemption of the
 race-but he shall prolong his days, how many generations, how many centuries, how 1 many ages in the unveiled future we do not
 know. but we do know that 1t shall be until
 the pleasure of the Lord shall prosper in his hands. The knowledge of the Lord shall cover the earth as the waters cover the sea. , All nations shall call him blessed.
 Again, as to the character of those who are 1 saved Christ will be satisfied with the result l of his suffering. Human nature in you and
 me is not in it's primitive integrity, but Christ l has redeemed us from the curse of the law | and he shall gee of the travail of his soul and
 be satisfied because, as the prophet says, he | shall bear their iniquities Gods ancient peo- pie were imperfect, and so are we. Abraham, ! David and Pstsr sinned and so do we. but every true Christian is progressing constantly toward the attainment of 8 perfect character.
 We climb the mountain of holiness as we l climb the Matterhorn slowly and by steps. l The history of the church shows that there | been continual elevation of the standard or plety. The knowledge of the truth which sanctlfies us is constantly unfolding We ought to be and I believe that we are better men than the patriarchs. The Old Testament era was 1 an improvement upon the patriarchal and the New testament era is an improvement upon | the old The churches today are far better, in many respects, than the churches to
 which Paul and James and John and Peter
 wrote. The glory of Christs work has been
 steadily increasing, the knowledge Of hla truth has been steadily diffused throughout the world.
 Consider, then, the dignity of our Chris | tian calling The Lord Jesus Christ, the ere ator of the universe, lived as we live and went about doing good that we might inherit eter- l nal life, To secure this result he endured
 such suffering of body and travail of soul as l no human tongue can tell or haman m!nd I conceive. He calls upon us to follow him, to contribute by our personal life and work | to that satisfaction with which he shall see of
 the travail of his soul. Let us stand contin-
 ualIy in his presence in an attitute of readi- , ness. to do his will Let us in spirit of honest and searching self-inquiry ask, l am one in whom he shall see of the travail l of his soul and be satisfied? When we think 1 of his suffering and remember that 1t was | endured for us gratitude should inspire us to | adore his matchless love and to yield him our hearts He said to the Jews who sought to
 take his life, "Ye will not come unto mo that l ye might have life," and it is only when we
 neglect and at last refuse to come to him that ] God stays his hand and leaves us with our 1 own sweet wills to ourselves.