By the late Rev. D. MACDONALD, Shieldaig.
THE rose does not send forth its fragrance merely when it is growing, it sends it forth specially when it is bruised; then its perfume fills the air. And so, when Christ in His humiliation went forward to atone for the sins of His people, and was bruised in soul and body in their room and stead, the sweet odour that arose from that bruising filled the heart of Jehovah with indescribable satisfaction and delight. Spices were laid on the Old Testament sacrifices, so that when the sacrifice was burned on the altar the odour of the spices filled the air. When the fire of Divine wrath kindled by Divine Justice took hold of the blessed Sacrifice on Calvary, the spices of holiness, of love and of submission, that dwelt in the holy soul of the ever-blessed Victim, sent forth such a fragrance as that it reached the very Throne of God. Jehovah inhaled that fragrance and was satisfied, yea, Jehovah feasted with joy on that sweet fragrance! The holy angels who ever worship and adore, felt that fragrance and sought “to look into” whence it arose. The saints in glory who had been redeemed and saved in virtue of that coming Sacrifice were refreshed by that sweet odour. A wave of wonder and praise filled their glorified spirits. And the Church of God on earth when it is under a gale of the Spirit, it too apprehends something of that fragrance. Yes, friends, the Spirit of God sometimes has wafted something of this sweet odour to poor longing souls in seeking access to the Lord; yea, has wafted to some souls in Scotland even in our day, a savour of that very fragrance that arose from Calvary to the heart of God! Oh! did a breathing of it ever pass through your soul?