THE GOSPEL OPPOSED TO SELFISHNESS.
It is the glory of the gospel that it was calculated and arranged on the principle of restoring to the world the lost spirit of benevolence. To realize this enterprise of boundless mercy, Jehovah resolved on first presenting to mankind an unparalleled exhibition of grace—an exhibition which, if it failed to rekindle the extinguished love of man, should, at least, have the effect of converting his angels into seraphs, and his seraphs into flames of fire. The ocean of the divine love was stirred to its utmost depths. . . . “God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.” He could not give us more; and the vast propensions of his grace could not be satisfied by bestowing less. He would not leave it possible to be said that he could give us more; he resolved to pour out the whole treasury of Heaven, to give us his all at once. “Herein is love!”—love defying all computation, the very mention of which should surcharge our hearts with gratitude, give us an idea of infinity, and replace our selfishness with a sentiment of generous and diffusive benevolence. Jesus Christ came into the world as the embodied love of God. He came and stood before the world with the hoarded love of eternity in his heart, offering to make us the heirs of all its wealth. He so unveiled and presented the character of God, that every human being should feel it to be looking on himself, casting an aspect of benignity on himself. “He pleased not himself.” He did nothing for himself; whatever he did was for the advantage of man. Selfishness stood abashed in his presence. “He went about doing good.” He assumed our nature expressly that he might be able to suffer in our stead; for the distinct and deliberate object of pouring out its blood, and of making its soul an offering for sin. He planted a cross, and presented to the world a prodigy of mercy of which this is the only solution, that he “so loved us.” “While we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.” He took our place in the universe, absorbed our interest, opened his bosom, and welcomed to his heart the stroke which we deserved. And in all he did he thought of the world. He loved man as man; he came to be the light and life of the world. He came and stood as the center of attraction to a race of beings scattered and dissipated by the repulsive power of selfishness. He proposed by the power of the cross to “draw all men unto him.” His heart had room for the whole race; and, opening his arms, he invited all to come unto him. The whole of his course was a history of pure and disinterested benevolence; one continued act of condescension; a vast and unbroken descent from the heights of Heaven to the form of a servant, the life of an outcast, the death of a malefactor. His character is a study of goodness—a study for the universe; it is the conception of a being of infinite amiableness; seeking to engage and enamor the heart of a selfish world. The world, having lost the original idea of goodness, and sunk into a state of universal selfishness, his character was calculated and formed on the principle of a laborious endeavor to recall the departed spirit of benevolence—to baptize it afresh in the element of love.—Mammon.