is, and
suffering himself to be bound upon the pile, not only by the cords
that tied his limbs, but by the cords of obedience and submission,
and in both we have to bow before the Apocalypse of divine love.

II. So, secondly, look at the power of this divine surrender to bring
with it all other gifts.

'How shall He not with Him also freely give us all things?' The
Apostle's triumphant question requires for its affirmative answer
only the belief in the unchangeableness of the Divine heart, and the
uniformity of the Divine purpose. And if these be recognised, their
conclusion inevitably follows. 'With Him He will freely give us all
things.'

It is so, because the greater gift implies the less. We do not expect
that a man who hands over a million of pounds to another, to help
him, will stick at a farthing afterwards. If you give a diamond you
may well give a box to keep it in. In God's gift the lesser will
follow the lead of the greater; and whatsoever a man can want, it is
a smaller thing for Him to bestow, than was the gift of His Son.

There is a beautiful contrast between the manners of giving the two
sets of gifts implied in words of the original, perhaps scarcely
capable of being reproduced in any translation. The expression that
is rendered 'freely give,' implies that there is a grace and a
pleasantness in the act of bestowal. God gave in Christ, what we may
reverently say it was something like pain to give. Will He not give
the lesser, whatever they may be, which it is the joy of His heart to
communicate? The greater implies the less.

Farther, this one great gift draws all other gifts after it, because
the purpose of the greater gift cannot be attained without the
bestowment of the lesser. He does not begin to build being unable to
finish; He does not miscalculate His resources, nor stultify Himself
by commencing upon a large scale, and having to stop short before the
purpose with which He began is accomplished. Men build great palaces,
and are bankrupt before the roof is put on. God lays His plans with
the knowledge of His powers, and having first of all bestowed this
large gift, is not going to have it bestowed in vain for want of some
smaller ones to follow it up. Christ puts the same argument to us,
beginning only at the other end of the process. Paul says, 'God has
laid the foundation in Christ.' Do you think He will stop before the
headstone is put on? Christ said, 'It is your Father's good pleasure