Is Christ a Bundle of Myrrh to You?

"A bundle of myrrh is my beloved unto me." -- Cant. 1.13

Ralph Robinson, Christ All in All, pp. 338-339:

Is it so with you? is Christ a bundle of myrrh to you or no? Every man thinks he doth prize Christ, but most deceive themselves.

Try, therefore, by the five following notes:

1. Who reigns in your hearts? He that is sovereign Lord and commander, he it is that is esteemed. Hath Christ the throne? or hath sin, the world, the throne? Do you lay that charge upon your souls which the Church doth? Psal. xxiv. 7, 8. If Christ be not principal in your hearts, if all things do not bow to Christ, he is not esteemed.

2. Who hath your thoughts? Do you meditate on Christ, do you study Christ, or do you study the world? That of the apostle is excellent to this purpose, 1 Cor. ii. 2. There was nothing so much in his thoughts as Jesus Christ was. Desire of much communion is a true argument of esteem. Anima est ubi amat. Can you say, as the Church in this chapter, ver. 7, Set me where thou feedest? If so, then Christ is high in your hearts indeed.

3. What opinion have you of his members? Do you value them? Are they precious in your eyes because of their relation to Christ, and because of their similitude to Christ? See 1 John v. 1; he that loves not saints in their meanest dress, before sinners in their best robes, prizeth not Christ truly at all. 

4. What do ye do to bring others to Christ? Do you woo souls to marry with Christ? Do you make it your work to cause others to be enamoured of him? Then you may conclude you esteem him indeed. But if you be careless whether Christ be without disciples or have disciples, he is not rightly prized of you.

5. Do ye mourn for his dishonour? David saith, Psal. lxix. 9, 'The reproaches of them that reproached thee fell on me.' Can you say so? You are haters of Christ if you can hear or see him dishonored, and not lay it to your heart.

Christ All and In All

Where there is neither Greek nor Jew, circumcision nor uncircumcision, Barbarian, Scythian, bond nor free: but Christ is all, and in all (Col. 3.11).

And when all things shall be subdued unto him, then shall the Son also himself be subject unto him that put all things under him, that God may be all in all (1 Cor. 15.28).

Ralph Robinson, Christ All, and In All, pp. 4-5:

If Christ be all in all, then is nothing anything at all without Jesus Christ. All the world, the riches, pleasures, honours of the world, is but emptiness without Christ. 'Vanity of vanities; all is vanity,' Eccl. i. 2. That man hath just nothing that hath not Christ, who is all things; the world is but nigrum nihil [trans.: a thing of nothing]. Thy wisdom, thy parts, thy children, thy offices, thy preferments, thy lands and revenues, all thou hast, if thou want him that is all things, can amount to nothing. They are but ciphers without a figure. Oh that men would consider this!

Philip Henry, Christ All in All, pp. 363-364, 368:

I am this day, from this text, to show you, he is our all; or, as the apostle expresses it, our all in all. Twice, and but twice, is this phrase found in all the Bible; here, and in 1 Cor. xv. 28. Here, it is spoken of Christ, what he is in this world; there, of God the Father, what he will be to us in the other world, -- our complete happiness alone, without any other person or thing to help. -- And the one follows upon the other. If Christ be all in all with us now, the Father will be all in all to us to eternity; -- else not.

Doct. That Jesus Christ is a Christian's all, or his all in all.

There are two other Scripture phrases to the same purpose, -- The root of the matter, Job xix. 28, and The one thing needful, Luke x. 42. He alone is sufficient, himself without any other, to make us happy, and without him nothing else can do it.

What is a sick man's all in all? A physician. -- A condemned man's? A pardon. -- A captive's? A ransom. -- A hungry man's? Food. -- A thirsty man's? Drink. -- A man's in debt? A surety. -- This, in all respects, is our condition, and all this he is to us.
...

"Si Christum noscis, satis est, si caetera nescis.
Si Christum nescis, nihil est si caetera noscis."*

* If you know Christ, it is enough, if you are ignorant of other things. -- If you are unacquainted with Christ, it is nothing if you know everything else.

Katherine Savage (daughter of Philip Henry and publisher of her father's sermons on Christ All in All), Diary, in J.B. Williams, The Christian Lady of the Seventeenth Century; or the Life of Mrs. Savage, quoted in Philip Henry, Christ All in All, pp. x-xi:

1697. Sabbath. January 10. This day and the evening before I spent some time in reading my dear father's sermons on Col. iii. 11, 'Christ is all and in all.' With this he concludes that subject which he was so long upon, namely, what Christ is to true believers in forty particulars. He is their Foundation, Food, Root, Raiment, Head, Hope, Refuge, Righteousness, &c. What can be added? He is our all -- our all in all -- both in respect of the benefits we have by him -- election creation -- conversion -- justification -- consolation -- teaching -- redemption -- strength -- at death -- in judgment -- to eternity. In all these Christ is all in all. Further, as to duty to be performed to him. He is all in all to be known, chosen, loved, desired, delighted in, trusted, thought of, followed, preached. He is all in all in the Scriptures, in the sacraments, in sabbaths, in praying. Blessed be God for these sweet, wholesome truths to be food for my pour soul. He 'being dead yet speaketh.' And what is it, he says, but that which his heart was always full of? Christ -- Christ -- Christ. Methinks I hear him still: Oh, make Christ your all!

Christ Is That Excellent Wine

Ralph Robinson, Christ All in All, p. 171:

Christ hath, in a spiritual sense, all the good properties of the vine and of all the fruits of the vine.

He hath all the excellencies of wine. I name four.

(1.) Wine nourisheth. It helps digestion. Christ is a great nourisher; the soul would decay and dwindle to nothing if Christ did not continually nourish it and feed it.

(2.) Wine is a comforter, Psal. civ. 15. Jesus Christ is the great comforter of the soul. When the soul droops and languisheth, when it is cast down and dejected, the love and presence of Christ doth cheer it again, Psal. xxi. 6. David confesseth it in Psal. xxiii. 3, 'He restoreth my soul.' Jesus Christ is the soul's restorer.

(3.) Wine emboldeneth. Being a spiritual creature, it doth raise the spirits; and being moderately used, puts courage into the fearful. Jesus Christ doth embolden the soul. His presence and his grace fills the soul with holy courage; he that was fearful dares now speak for God and act for God; the very tidings of Christ's coming expels fear from the hearts of his people, Isa. xxxv. 3, 4. There is no true valour in the soul till Christ be there. All the soul's confidence is built on Christ, and on Christ alone. We have no boldness in prayer, no boldness in approaching to God in any ordinance, but is communicated by and from Jesus Christ, Heb. x. 19.

(4.) Wine is healing. Some kind of wines are prescribed for the healing of inward distempters, &c. The Samaritan poured oil and wine, Luke x. 34. Christ is a great healer, he heals broken hearts, and wounded spirits, and all inward distempers whatsoever. There is no health in the soul till Christ be there. 'Unto you that fear my name, shall the Sun of righteousness arise with healing in his wings,' Mal. iv. 2. Christ is the tree of life whose leaves are for the healing of the nations, Rev. xxii. 2. Christ is an excellent and precious person. Never look upon the vine, never see the fruit of the vine, but meditate on Jesus Christ.