d, the unspeakable
gift of God to a lost and ruined world; after the accomplishment of
His work on the cross He left the earth, He had created, as the
Firstborn. As the Firstbegotten He is now in the highest heaven and
as the Firstbegotten the Man of Glory He will be sent back to this
earth and rule in power and glory. Paul wrote to the Philippians "to
write the same things to you, to me indeed is not grievous but for
you it is safe" (Phil. iii:1). Peter's preaching in the opening
chapters of the Acts might have been called monotonous, for he knew
but one theme. The Spirit of God filling him gave but one message
and that was, the rejected Jesus of Nazareth risen from the dead. In
the Gospel of the Glory of the blessed God (1 Tim. i:11), as
revealed to the Apostle of the Gentiles we have one theme, one
abiding, ever satisfying, eternal object and that is Christ who died
for our sins, risen from the dead, as Firstborn in Glory and our
blessed union with Him. Paul who knew Him as the Firstborn so well
found it not grievous to write the same thing. Indeed the more He
knew Him the more His heart cried out "that I may know Him" (Phil.
iii:10). There is an attraction in Him which is supernatural. Every
child of God will increasingly enjoy the contemplation of this old
yet ever new and blessed theme, the Firstborn from the dead. Only in
this our hearts can find perfect rest and abiding joy. And if your
heart, dear reader, is not attracted and absorbed by Himself, it is
because there is a broken communion between you and your Lord. Oh,
return unto thy rest, my soul! The drifting masses of Christendom
have no use for such a theme. The words written in 2 Cor. iv:3-4
find a fearful application in our time. "But if our gospel be hid,
it is hid to them that are lost: In whom the god of this age hath
blinded the minds of them which believe not, lest the light of the
glorious gospel of Christ who is the image of God, should shine unto
them."

How little of the Gospel of the Glory is preached! It is not wanted.
All the present day preaching of ethics, of doing good, self
improvement and self culture is anti-christian. The preaching which leaves
out the cross of Christ, the resurrection of Christ, the Glory of
Christ, differs not in the least from the ethical-philosophical
jumble of Buddhistic and other oriental heathen teachers. It
is an awful thing which is done in Christendom today, this
rejection of the Lord, the Firstborn. Some da