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 1 2 3 
 
 6 
 
SERMONS, 
 
 PREACHED IN THE 
 
 PARISH CHLTRCH OF ST. PAUL, 
 
 HALIFAX, NOVA SCOTIA. 
 
 CHIEFLY DURING THE YEAR 1845. 
 
 SECOND SERIES. 
 
 BY 
 
 WILLIAM COGSWELL, M.A., 
 
 CURATE OF ST. PADl's, 
 AND CHAPI-AIN TO THE LORD BISHOP OP NOVA SCOTIA. 
 
 LONDON : 
 JAMES NISBET AND CO., 21, BERNERS-STREET. 
 
 1847. 
 
l\ls 
 
 ;i^5z. 
 
 O 
 
 V u^- 
 
 Ar,EXANDER MACINTOSH, 
 
 < PRINTFII, 
 
 C.tlFAT NRW-STRFFT, lONDON. 
 
 \ '■■ 
 
I'D 
 
 SIR CULLING EARDLEY SMITH, BART., 
 
 OK llEDWEIX I'AIIK, IIEKTS, 
 ETC., ECC, ETC., 
 
 THIS VOLUME OF SERMONS 
 
 IS AFFECTIONATELY iNSCRiBED, 
 
 IN UKATEFUL REMEMBRANCE 
 
 OF MANY ACTS OF CHRISTIAN KINDNESS 
 
 AND BROTHERLY LOVE 
 
 MANIFESTED TO THE ADTHOR, FOR HIS MASTER'S SAKE, 
 
 WHEN HE WAS " SICK " AND A "STRANGER" 
 
 IN A STRANGE LAND ; 
 
 AND WHICH, HE TRUSTS, WILL BE REMEMBERED BY HiM 
 
 who has said, 
 "Inasmuch as ye have done it 
 
 UNTO ONE OF THE LEAST OF THES^?,. MY BRETHREN, 
 YE HAVE DONE IT UNTO Me." 
 
 Matt. xxv. 40. 
 
PREFACE. 
 
 The declining state of the Author's health 
 obliging him to relinquish the task he had 
 fondly hoped to complete, of preparing this 
 volume for the press, the Sermons, xvi. to xxv., 
 have been entrusted to the revision of a friend,' 
 whose corrections, however, have been strictly 
 limited to verbal alterations. 
 
 The Lord prosper this—it may be the last^ 
 attempt of His servant " to testify of the Gospel 
 OF THE GRACE OF GoD ;" and may evcry reader 
 find the same consolation in its blessed and soul- 
 sustaining truths as the Author has experienced 
 on his "bed of languishing!" 
 
 E. M. 
 
 WjMBLliDO.V, 
 June, 1847. 
 
CONTENTS. 
 
 SERMON I. 
 
 GOD LEADING THE BLIND. 
 
 IsA. xlii. 16. — I will bring the blind by a way that they 
 knew not ; I will lead them in paths that they have not 
 known : I will make darkness light before them, and crooked 
 things straight. These things will I do unto them, and not 
 forsake them. Page 1 
 
 SERMON II. 
 
 REPENTANCE. 
 
 Matt. ix. 13. — I am not come to call the righteous, but 
 sinners to repentance ....... 20 
 
 SERMON III. 
 
 EVE BEGUILED. 
 
 2 Cor. xi. 3. — liut I fear, lest by any means, as the 
 serpent beguiled Eve through his subtlety, so your minds 
 should be corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ 38 
 
 I 
 
W^ ^1 
 
 • • • 
 
 vin 
 
 CONTENTS. 
 
 SERMON IV. 
 
 THEY FOLLOWRD IIIM. 
 
 Mark i. IR.—And straightway they forsook their .lets 
 and followed him . -o 
 
 • • . . . OB 
 
 SERMON V. 
 
 SINS POKOIVKN. 
 
 Luke v. 20.— And when he saw their faith, he sai<l unto 
 him, Man, thy sins are forgiven thee . . yo 
 
 SERMON VI. 
 
 NOT ALONE. 
 
 John xvi. 32._And yet I am not alone, because the 
 
 Fathe MS with me . . ,,,, 
 
 i()J 
 
 SERMON Vir. 
 
 HE DIED FOR ALL, 
 
 2 Cor. v. 15.— He died for all, that they which live should 
 not henceforth live unto themselves, but unto iiim which 
 died for them and rose again ... ,jq 
 
 SERMON VIII. 
 
 RISEN WITH OHRI>r. 
 
 Col. iii. 1.— If ye then be risen with Christ, seek those 
 
 things v/hich are above, where Christ sitteth on the rieht 
 
 hand of God . . f„„ 
 
 137 
 
 .?*v 
 
CONTENTS. 
 
 IX 
 
 SERMON IX. 
 
 THE SON LKABNINO OBEDIENCE. 
 
 Heb. V. 8, 9 — Though he were a Son, yet learned ha 
 obedience by the tilings which he suffered ; and being made 
 perfect, he became the author of eternal salvation unto all 
 them that obey him jgy 
 
 SERMON X. 
 
 OUR HIGH PRIEST. 
 
 Heb. X. 19—22. — Having tnerefore, brethren, boldness 
 to enter into the holiest by the blood of Jesus, by a new and 
 living way, which he hath consecrated for us, through the 
 veil, that is to say, his flesh ; and having an high priest over 
 the house of God ; let us draw near with a true heart in 
 full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled from an 
 evil conscience, and our bodies washed with pure water 178 
 
 SERMON XI. 
 
 the holv ghost. 
 
 Acts xix. 2— Have ye received the Holy Ghost since 
 ye believed ? 201 
 
 SERMON XII. 
 the love of the brethren a sign of life. 
 1 John iii. 14. — We know that we have passed from 
 death unto life, because we love the brethren . . 223 
 
 SERMON Xni. 
 sowing, growing, mowing time. 
 
 Mark iv. 29.— But when the fruit is brought forth, 
 immediately he putteth in the sickle because the harvest is 
 come ......... 242 
 
 b 
 
 I 
 
CONTENTS. 
 
 SERMON XIV. 
 
 THEY SPAKE OFTEN ONE TO ANOTHER. 
 
 Mal. iii. 16, 17— Then they that feared the Lord spake 
 often one to. another : and the Lord hearkened and heard it, 
 and a book of remembrance was written before him for them 
 that feared the Lord, and that thought upon liis name. And 
 they shall be mine, saith the Lord of hosts, in that day when 
 I make up my jewels 262 
 
 SERMON XV. 
 
 SPEECHLESS. 
 
 Matt. xxii. 12.— And he was speochless . . 282 
 
 SERMON XVL 
 
 THEY BEGGED HIM TO DEPART. 
 
 Matt. viii. 34.— And behold, the whole city came out to 
 meet Jesus ; and when they saw him, they besouglit him 
 that he would depart out of their coasts . . .303 
 
 SERMON XVIL 
 
 BE READY TO GIVE AN ANSWER. 
 
 1 Pet. iii. 15.— Be ready always to give an answer to 
 every man that asketh you a reason of the hope that is 
 in you, with meekness and fear 326 
 
 Ij 
 
 SERMON XVIIL 
 
 RETURN UNTO ME. 
 
 ISA. xliv. 22 — I have blotted out as a thick cloud thy 
 transgressions, and a.s a cloud thy sins : return unto me, for 
 
 I have redeemed thee . . oa^ 
 
 o4o 
 
CONTENTS. 
 
 XI 
 
 SERMON XIX. 
 
 HE ANSWERED NOT A. WOnP. 
 
 Matt, xv, 23. — But he answered her not a word . 366 
 SERMON XX. 
 
 THE ELEVENTH HOUR, 
 
 Matt. xx. 6, 7.— And about the eleventh hour he went 
 out, and found others standing idle, and saith unto them, 
 Why stand ye here all the day idle ? They say unto him,' 
 Because no man hath hired us. He saith unto them, Go 
 ye also into the vineyard ; and whatsoever is right, that 
 shall ye receive „gy 
 
 SERxMON XXL 
 
 YET THERE IS ROOM. 
 
 Luke xiv. 22.— And yet there is room 
 
 408 
 
 SERMON XXIL 
 
 PRAY ALWAYS, FAINT NOT. 
 
 Luke xviii. 1.— Men ought always to pray, and not to 
 *""'"* 426 
 
 SERMON XXIIL 
 
 NOW DARKLY — THEN FACE TO FACE. 
 
 1 Cor. xiii. 12.— Now we see through a glass, darkly ; 
 but then face to face : now I know in part ; but then shall L 
 know even as also I am known ■ • . . 447 
 
xu 
 
 CONTENTS. 
 SERMON XXIV. 
 
 THE VALLEY OF DECISION. 
 
 Joel iii. 14.— Multitudes, multitudes in the valley of 
 decision : for the day of the Lord is near in the valley of 
 decision . 
 
 468 
 
 SERMON XXV. 
 
 HOW OLD ART THOU ? 
 
 Gen. xlvii. 8, 9.— And Pharaoh said unto Jacob, How 
 old art thou ? And Jacob said unto Pharaoh, The days of 
 the years of my pilgrimage are an hundred and thirty 
 years j few and evil have the days of the years of my life 
 been, and have not attained unto the days of the years of 
 the life of my fathers, in the days of their pilgrimage 486 
 
 W 
 
 I \ 
 
 i 
 
 i 
 

 SERMON I. 
 
 GOD LEADING THE BLIND. 
 
 Isaiah xlii. 16. 
 
 Itvill brine/ the blind by the way that they knew 
 not: I will lead them in paths that they have 
 not known : I will make darkness light before 
 them, and crooked things straight. These things 
 will I do unto them, and not forsake them* 
 
 The principle of the Lord's dealings with His 
 creatures appears to be the same in every 
 dispensation, in every age. At one time, as 
 well as at another, may the Lord thus appeal 
 to His fallen creatures: " My thoughts are not 
 youK thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, 
 saith the Lord. For as the heavens are higher 
 than the earth, so are my ways higher than your 
 ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts." f 
 
 * Preaclied on the first Sunday of the year, 
 t Isa. Iv. 8, 9. 
 VOL. II. B 
 
*> - GOD LEADING THE BLIND. 
 
 And this resemblance between the Lord's 
 dealings at one time and at another may be 
 traced, not only in the wisdom that guides, and 
 the holiness that pervades, but also in the 
 mystery that envelops them. He ordereth all 
 things wisely, and docth all things well; but 
 " clouds and darkness are often round about His 
 throne."* " His path is in the deep waters, and 
 his footsteps are not known." f 
 
 And the mystery which thus envelops many 
 of the Lord's dealings with His creatures, and 
 hides the reason of His dispensations from our 
 view, even when the presence of His hand is 
 plain enough, seems peculiarly to screen the 
 future from our curious gaze. The events that 
 come, and the reasons that shall prompt them, 
 and the object they shall have in view, and the 
 purpose they shall answer;— who can pretend 
 to spread these out before us, and declare to us 
 the counsel of the Most High ? 
 
 And yet it is our privilege, as rational and 
 immortal beings, to look forward. As much as 
 it is our duty, as responsible beings, to look 
 upon the past, to trace the dealings of the 
 Lord's hand in all that has befallen us, .and to 
 examine the improvement we have made^of the 
 various dispensations, by which He has appealed 
 to us; so is it our privilege and our duty to 
 
 * Ps. xcvii. 2. j- Ps. ixxvii. 19. 
 
GOD LEADING THE BLIND. 3 
 
 look onward,— to anticipate in some measure 
 the events that may befall us, to apply the 
 lessons of our past experience to the guidance 
 of the future, and to seek unceasingly the grace, 
 which may prepare us, day by day, for whatever 
 the day may bring forth. Although, in wisdom 
 and in love, the particular trials, through which 
 each one of us may be caUed to pass, and the 
 particular dispensations by which God's dealings 
 with us may be marked, are hidden from our 
 view, yet the leading feature of the events that 
 are coming on may be anticipated, and the 
 r.ecessity felt and acted upon, of seeing the 
 Lord's hand in everything that cometh, and 
 aiming to profit by His dealings with our souls. 
 
 And such appear to be our duty and our 
 privilege at the present season. Placed, as we 
 are, in the good providence of God, at the 
 commencement of another year, it is our wisdom 
 to consider what it may have in store for us. 
 Taught, by the experience of the past, the 
 uncertainty and vanity of all earthly things, 
 and assured, that in this respect the future will 
 be like the past, who that is wise can set 
 out upon another year, resolved to live as much 
 as ever to the things of this passing scene ? 
 Knowing how wonderfully, in past times, the 
 Lord has overruled all things for the good of 
 those that put their trust in Him, and assured 
 
 B 2 
 
GOD LEADING THE BLIND. 
 
 
 I ; 
 
 that His wisdom and His love are just as much 
 engaged for the future good and blessing of His 
 people, who that is wise would not desire to 
 place himself in the Lord's hands, and to 
 commit the keeping of his body and his soul 
 to Him. Here then, beloved, 1 would urge you 
 to pause awhile, as it were, upon the threshold 
 of another year, and on this its first Sabbath 
 day, to consiuer what the Lord may have in 
 store for you during its coming seasons. Stand 
 here, as it were, upon your watchtower, and 
 look out upon the plain that stretches out before 
 you ; and watch, to see what the Lord shall say 
 unto you, and what answer ye shall give, what 
 improvement ye shall make, under the circum- 
 stances of the year that cometh. 
 
 For your guidance in this important new- 
 year's work, I would suggest the words of the 
 Lord by the prophet Isaiah, which I have 
 selected as my text. In their primary meaning, 
 they appear to have been intended to comfort 
 the Jews in their captivity at Babylon, by the 
 assurance, that, in the Lord's appointed time, 
 they should be brought out of their bondage,' 
 and that, however small might be the human 
 probabilities, and however dark the prospect of 
 their restoration to their own land, He had 
 means in His power which they knew nothing 
 of, and would overrule and order the most 
 
GOD LEADING THE BLIND. 
 
 5 
 
 seemingly conflicting events, so as to bring 
 about their promised deliverance. Yet, since 
 the general principle of the Lord's dealings 
 with His creatures is at all times so much the 
 same, we may apply the assurance of the text, 
 as a guide for our expectations concerning the 
 Lord's purposes in the period of our time that 
 Cometh, and believe that He will, as He has 
 done in times past, " bring the blind by a way 
 that they knew not, and lead them in paths that 
 they have not known ; that He will make dark- 
 ness light before them, and crooked things 
 straight." May the blessed Spirit of the Eternal 
 God be with us, and guide and bless and sane- 
 tify these our considerations to the good of our 
 immortal souls ! 
 
 I. And the first consideration, which a view 
 of the text suggests to our notice, is, that 
 
 THOSE, WITH WHOM THE LoRD DEALS IN HiS 
 SOVEREIGNTY AND IN HiS LOVE, ARE BLIND; 
 BLIND TO THE TENDENCY OF HiS PROVIDENTIAL 
 DEALINGS, BLIND TO THE PURPOSES OF HiS 
 GRACE. 
 
 I. Men are, first, blind by nature to the ptir- 
 poses of the Lord's (jrace. Clear as their view 
 may be of the things of this life, and distinct 
 their perception of their own interests in matters 
 of present advancement, yet how little do men 
 
6 
 
 GOD LEADING THE BLIND. 
 
 III! 
 
 III 
 
 seem to perceive the true nature of their position 
 here with regard to the things of Eternity, how 
 blind are they to their real condition as sinners 
 in the sight of God, how dark their under- 
 standings in the matter of their true interest 
 with regard to their soul's wellbeing. So has 
 it ever been from the time of Adam's fall. In 
 the day that "his eyes were opened, and he 
 became as a god, knowing good and evil;"* 
 in that day his spiritual sense was darkened, and 
 he became blind in the things of God. So was 
 it in the days when the lights of human science 
 shone brightest upon heathen lands, and men's 
 eyes seemed wide open to the pursuits of lite- 
 rature or art. By all this searching they could 
 not « find out God ; "f yea, they were " alienated 
 from Him through the ignorance that was in 
 them, because of the blindness of their hearts.":|: 
 So has it continued to be up to the present day. 
 Vast as has been the progress of worldly know- 
 ledge, and almost inconceivable the extent to 
 which the faculties of man have been developed 
 in the discoveries and improvements of the day 
 with regard to the things of tliis life, the mind 
 of man is naturally as dark as ever to the simple 
 truth of God's word, as blind, while unen- 
 lightened by the Spirit of God, as it ever was, 
 to the true interests of an undying spirit. Yet 
 
 ri • • • 
 <eii. III. 
 
 •J. 
 
 t Jobxi. 7. :[ Eph. iv. 18. 
 
GOD LEADING THE BLIND. 
 
 it is from among those who were thus blind, that 
 the Lord has in times past gathered out a people 
 for Himself; it is such as these that the Lord 
 has in time past enlightened, quickened, con- 
 verted, saved ; and from among these, we cannot 
 question. He will yet gather many, bringing them 
 out of this darkness of their unregeneiacy, and 
 leading them to the knowledge and the love of 
 His name. Who is there, that is now rejoicing 
 in the light of the glorious Gospel of Christ, 
 which has shone into his heart, that cannot look 
 back upon a period, in which he was ignorant 
 of the things of God, blinded by sin, sitting in 
 darkness and the shadow of death ; who is there, 
 that can apply to himself, in all humility, yet in 
 all gratitude to God, the thankful assurance " one 
 thing I know, that, whereas I was blind, now 
 I see,"* that may not rind reason to hope, that 
 may not take encouragement to pray, that, in 
 the coming season, the same enlightening and 
 quickening grace may awaken many more from 
 their slumber, and cause them to walk in the 
 light of life] 
 
 2. Men are blind, secondly, with regard to 
 the coming dispensations of God's providence. 
 " For all this, I consider in my heart," saith the 
 preacher, " even to declare all this, that the 
 righteous, and the wise, and their works, are in 
 
 * JoJin ix. 25. 
 
8 
 
 GOD LEADING THE BLIND. 
 
 the hand of God ; no man knovvcth either love 
 or hatred by all that is before him."* And 
 this, unlike the other, is a species of blindness 
 tor which we have reason to be thankful. 
 Anxious as man may sometimes be to lift the 
 veil which hides the future from his view yet 
 who, that rightly considers the matter, will' not 
 rather rejoice, that the events that shall befall 
 him are kept secret till they come. How often 
 should we have shrunk from the trials that 
 were approaching, could we have foreseen their 
 violence, and have sunk into despondency, or 
 been .errified into powerless inactivity at the 
 prospect that lay before us. How often should 
 we have been elated beyond measure, and have 
 forgotten our need of continual dependance upon 
 the Lord's hand, and of continual diligence and 
 exertion under His blessing, could we have 
 foreseen the blessings that were in store for us 
 the bounty that the Lord's hand was about to' 
 scatter over our path. Could we be assured of 
 the prolongation of life, would not the most 
 spiritual be in danger of relaxing his watch- 
 fulness, and slackening the diligence, which the 
 present uncertainty of the coming of the Son 
 of Man enjoins? Could we anticipate the hour 
 of our death, would not even more than do so 
 be disposed to postpone the soul's concerns to 
 
 lOcc'lcf 
 
 S. IX. 
 
COD LEADING THE BLIND. 
 
 9 
 
 the few moments that sliould precede it, and 
 
 others renounce the duties of their daily life, 
 
 that they might, as they would suppose, be 
 
 more fit for that hour's approach? It is in 
 
 love to us, then, and in mercy to our souls, that 
 
 the Lord hides from our view the events of the 
 
 hour that cometh. There was one thing kept 
 
 secret even from the Son of Man, while in His 
 
 humiliation upon earth; and how much more 
 
 then may we believe it consistent with the 
 
 wisdom and the love of God, that the future 
 
 should be wrapped up from our gaze. 
 
 11. Yet, blind as men are to the purposes of 
 God's providence, and blind as they naturally 
 are to the dealings of His grace, we notice, in 
 the second place, that it is the Lord's pur- 
 pose IN time to come, as it has been His 
 design in time past, to bring the blind bv 
 
 A WAY that they KNEW NOT, TO LEAD THEM 
 IN PATHS THAT THEY HAVE NOT KNOWN. 
 
 1. And this, we believe to be the Lord's 
 purpose, first, concerning those that are yet in the 
 darkness of their unconversion, yet blind to His 
 gracious dealings with them, and to the true 
 interests of their undying souls. So long as the 
 Lord Jesus delays His coming, so long, we 
 believe, are there souls yet to be gathered out 
 of the dark and benighted world, and to be 
 
 m: 
 
10 
 
 GOD LEADFNa THE HLIND. 
 
 numbered among Mis people. We trust that 
 He has much people in this place; that there 
 are many souls in this congregation, yet alienated 
 from God through the ignorance that is in them, 
 because of the blindness of their hearts, whom' 
 the Lord purposes, it may be, during the coming 
 year, " to turn from darkness to light and from 
 the power of Satan unto God."* Yet such is 
 not only the blindness, but the perverseness also 
 of the unconverted heart, that, could men per- 
 ceive beforehand the means or opportunity 
 which the Lord should use for their conviction 
 of sin, and conversion to the faith of Christ, 
 they would strive to put themselves out of the 
 way of the message of His Providence, they 
 would shun, if possible, that word of His grace, 
 which He designed to employ for the purpose. 
 And therefore it is that He will bring them 
 by a way that they Know not. They shall be 
 setting out perhaps upon some engagement of 
 worldly pleasure, with their hearts full of the 
 vanities of this life, and their spirits gay in the 
 anticipation of coming joy, when seme startling 
 providence shall arrest their steps, and bring 
 them to the serious inquiiy, What shall become 
 of their immortal souls? They shall be sitting, 
 it may be, in the house of God, Avliither a mere 
 sense of duty, or a compliance with custom mav 
 
 * Acts XX vi. \H. 
 
(iOD LEADING THE BLIND. 
 
 11 
 
 have guided their steps ; and, ir a moment when 
 they looked for no such thing, the great Master 
 of Assemblies, the Spirit of the laving God, 
 shall fix His word lik>^ a nail in a sure place,* 
 and bring them, aa sin-convinced sinners, to the 
 cross of Christ. They shall be lying, perhaps, 
 in sleeplessness upon their beds, and, in t!ie 
 multitude of their thoughts from the vision of 
 the night, when deep sleep falleth upon men, 
 fear shall come upon them and trembling, which 
 sliall make all their bones to shake ; then l still 
 small voice within them shall inquire, How shall 
 mortal man be just with God;f how shall I 
 appear before the judgment-seat of Christ? 
 Among the many that ran together in Jeru- 
 salem, on hearing of the wonderful thing that liad 
 happened in the outpouring of the lioly Spirit 
 upon the apostles of the Lord, how little did the 
 3,000 imagine, that they were running to receive 
 a message of life and peace and salvation to 
 their souls! J In the earthquake at Philippi, 
 when the foundations of the prison were shaken, 
 and the bars and locks of the gates were burst 
 asunder ; when the jailor in his terror was about 
 to plunge his sword into his heart, § how little 
 could any one have imagined that it was the 
 moment of mercy and peace and blessing to his 
 
 * Eccles. xii. 11. t Jobiv. 14 17. 
 
 § Acts xvi. 26, 27. 
 
 t Acts ii. 
 
12 
 
 GOD LEADING THE BLIND. 
 
 soul. And how many have been the instances 
 of a similar kind in the history of the conver- 
 sions of souls to God, in which the Lord has 
 been found of them that sought Him not, and 
 manifested Himself unto them that looked not 
 for Him.* And such, we doubt not, will be the 
 Lord's way still. O ! that He may have such 
 purposes of love towards many souls in this 
 assembly during the coming year; may He 
 bring many, who yet are blind to His truth, 
 by a way that they know not, and lead them by 
 paths they have not known, to pardon and to 
 peace through Jesus Christ ! 
 
 2. And such we believe to be the purposes of 
 the Lord, secondly, ivith regard to those ivho, 
 however enlightened by the grace of God, and 
 delivered fror.. darkness to light, are j/et blind as 
 to the future dealings of God's providence, and 
 cannot even yet perceive the leadings of His grace 
 concerning them. Happily for the children of 
 God, their times are in His hand. He ordereth 
 all things for them according to the counsel of 
 His own will.| And yet so blind are they, that 
 often they are ready to cry out at a dispensation, 
 which is an answer to their own prayer, and to 
 murmur at those dealings of His providence, by 
 which Lie is bringing about their conformity to 
 the mind and image of Christ. How often is 
 * ^sa. Ixv. I. f Eph. i. II. 
 
CiOD LEADING THE BLIND. 
 
 13 
 
 instances 
 ) conver- 
 iord has 
 not, and 
 ked not 
 il be the 
 ve such 
 in this 
 lay He 
 3 truth, 
 hem by 
 and to 
 
 poses of 
 ■ie who, 
 )d, and 
 >lind as 
 ■e, and 
 's grace 
 [ren of 
 'dereth 
 iisel of 
 h that 
 sation, 
 md to 
 ce, by 
 lity to 
 ten is 
 
 the prayer for patience answered by some 
 bodily affliction sent from the Lord's hand, 
 which in a manner compels the sufferer to 
 throw himself for comfort and for strength upon 
 the arm of God. How often is the prayer for 
 submission to the will of God answered by some 
 stroke of bereavement, which first convinces the 
 soul of its inclination to rebel, and then brings 
 it, wounded and bleeding, to the Lord's feet. 
 How often is the Christian taught to appreciate 
 more highly the blessings he enjoys, by having 
 some of them removed from him, that he may 
 feel their value in their loss. How often does 
 the Christian learn more fully than before the 
 need of his entire and ceaseless dependance upon 
 God, by being left for a moment to himself, and 
 sinking, as Peter did, amid the waves that foam 
 around him. Such have been the Lord's deal- 
 ings with His people in times past: such, we 
 may well believe, they shall be in time to come. 
 The ways of the Lord's providence may seem 
 dark : the paths, in which He leads His people, 
 may appear crooked and rough; but He will 
 make all things work together for the good of 
 those that love Him.* He will give them 
 strength according to their day, and grace ac- 
 cording to their need;t and He will cause the 
 most trying dispensati(>ns of His hand to produce 
 * Koni. viii. 2S. f Dent, xxxiii. 25 ; 2 Cor. xii. 9. 
 
14 
 
 GOD LEADING THE BLIND. 
 
 the peaceable fruits of righteousness in them 
 that are exercised thereby. * Let such, beloved, 
 be your hope and prayer concerning the time 
 that is before you: that, however dark and 
 mysterious may be the dispensations of the 
 Lord's hand, He may bring you through them 
 to an increased acquaintance with His will, and 
 experience of His faithfulness and truth ;' and 
 prepare you by them, day by day, for the full 
 enjoyment of His love in His heavenly kingdom. 
 
 in. And for the encouragement and comfort 
 of those who are thus taken under the Lord's 
 guidance, we would briefly notice, in the third 
 
 place, THE PURPOSE OF THE LoRD CONCERNING 
 
 THEIR FINAL PRESERVATION. For, howcvcr dark 
 may be His dispensations, however trying the 
 path in which He leads them, yet "These 
 things," He saith, " will I do unto them, and 
 not forsake them." 
 
 It is not easy for the Christian to realize the 
 Lord's protection and favor at a time when all 
 things seem to be going against him. The great 
 Adversary felt the advantage of such an oppor- 
 tunity as this for drawing near to the Son of 
 Man with his subtle insinuation, " If thou be the 
 Son of God, command that these stones be made 
 bread." It requires a measure of that same 
 
 * Heb. xii. 11. 
 
GOD LEADING THE BLIND. 
 
 16 
 
 grace, by which the blessed Jesus overcame the 
 enemy, to be able to reply, as He did, "Man 
 shall not live by bread alone, but by every word 
 that proceedeth out of the mouth of God."* It 
 was in order to teach the Israelites this great 
 truth, that He humbled them, and suffered them 
 to hunger, and fed them with manna, which 
 neither they nor their fathers had known.f 
 Often had they been tempted to murmur, as if 
 God had forgotten them, and left them to perish 
 in the wilderness. But, though He heard their 
 murmurings, and punished them, still "the 
 Lord would not forsake His people for His own 
 great name's sake.":}: 
 
 Such has been the Lord's way of old. And 
 such, we are assured, it will still be. We are 
 " confident of this one thing," at least, concern- 
 ing the children of God, " that He which hath 
 begun a good work in them will perform it unto 
 the day of Jesus Christ. "§ It may be, that, for 
 a small moment, He may seem to forsake them, 
 yet with great mercies will He gather them. 
 It may be, that, in a little wrath, He may hide 
 His face from them for a moment, yet "With 
 everlasting kindness will I have mercy on you, 
 saith tlie Lord thy Redeemer." (| However dark 
 however trying, however afflictive, may be the 
 
 * Matt. iv. 3, 4. f Deut. viii. 3. | 1 Sam. xii. 22. 
 § Pliil. i. (3. II Isaiah liv. 7, 8. 
 
16 
 
 GOD LEADING THE BLIND. 
 
 dispensations of the Lord's hand, they are not 
 proofs of His anger— they should not lead us for 
 a ^ moment to question His love. For " He 
 ^ knoweth them that put their trust in Him ; " * and 
 "He will never leave them nor forsake them."t 
 Bear this in mind, then, beloved, concerning the 
 events of the year that opens before you. Ye 
 cannot foresee the precise nature of those events 
 —ye cannot foretel the particulars of the Lord's 
 dispensations to youward ; but ye may know, 
 that, in His most trying dealings, He is bringing 
 you, by a way ye knew not, into closer com- 
 munion with Himself; ye may know, that, even 
 though He visit you with a rod, His lovdng- 
 kindness He will not utterly take from you, nor 
 suffer His truth to fail.+ 
 
 1. The considerations in which we have now 
 engaged, should lead us, beloved, first, to an 
 iNQuiKY CONCERNING THE PAST. It is the expe- 
 rience of the past which gives us, as it were, a 
 key to the understanding of the promise of the 
 text. It has been the Lord's way of old to 
 bring the blind by a way that they knew not, 
 and to draw them by dispensations of providence 
 and messages of grace, at a time at which, per- 
 haps, they were least looking for such a blessing. 
 How, then, beloved, should ye not inquire— How 
 have the events of the past year been applied to 
 * Nah. i. 7. t Heb. xiii. 5. J p«. ixxxix. 33. 
 
GOD LEADING THE BLIND. 
 
 17 
 
 you? There have been many mercies crowded 
 into its course. There have been some startling 
 providences calling to you at its commencement 
 and its close. How have these messages from 
 God unto your souls been received? Are ye 
 still blind, beloved? Still in the darkness of 
 your unregeneracy ; still in the alienation of 
 your hearts from God; still sitting in darkness 
 and the shadow of death ? O ! consider, ye who 
 forget God ! He has been continually pleading 
 with you. He now, by the remembrance of the 
 past, appeals to your hearts. It may be, that 
 the Lord yet has purposes of mercy concerning 
 you. We pray that, during the year that 
 Cometh, He may bring many of you by a way 
 that ye know not. Yet, O I think ! after the 
 many mercies, the many warnings ye receive, 
 what wHl be your soul's condition, shou.'d 1 
 sudden summons call you to his bar, and li^d 
 you unprepared to meet your God ! 
 
 2. These considerations should lead you, se- 
 condly, beloved, to a present submission of 
 yourselves, and all that concerns you, to the will 
 of our covenant God. What lesson is the 
 uncertainty of all earthly things so calculated to 
 impress, what truth does the experience of the 
 past so powerfully teach, as the blessedness of 
 being enabled to place yourselves entirely in the 
 Lord's hands, and to have no will but His? 
 
 c 
 
18 
 
 GOD LEADING THE BLIND. 
 
 m 
 
 M' 
 
 While there are many tliat say, Who will show 
 us any good ? the language which becomes the 
 believer in Jesus, the language which the pro- 
 mises of the Lord's grace and the dispensations 
 of His providence are well calculated to inspire, 
 is this: Lord, lift Thou up the light of thy 
 countenance upon us !* Do you desire riches 1 
 " The blessing of the Lord, that maketh rich ; 
 and He addeth no sorrow with it."f Do you 
 desire protection ] " The eyes of the Lord run 
 to and fro throughout the earth, to show Him- 
 self strong in behalf of those that trust in Him."+ 
 Do ye desire joy ? And who has such cause to 
 be of good cheer as he who has committed him- 
 self to Christ, and had his sins forgiven him for 
 His Name's sake ^ Surely, beloved, if ye have 
 not yet done so, the present is a good time to 
 begin to commit your way unto the Lord. 
 Place yourselves in His hands. Lay your sins 
 upon Jesus. Cast your care upon the Lord. 
 And He will bring you through all the darkness 
 and ruggedness of the way to His kingdom at 
 the last. 
 
 3. For the considerations we have engaged 
 in suggest to us, thirdly, confidence for the 
 FUTURE in the lovingkindness of the Lord. 
 "The Lord knoweth them that are Plis:" "He 
 
 * Ps. iv. 6. t Prov. X. 22. J 2 Chron. xvi. 9. 
 
 § 1 John ii. 12. 
 
GOD LEADING THE BLIND. 
 
 19 
 
 preserveth the feet of His saints, lest any hurt 
 them. He keepeth watch over them night and 
 day."* And having brought them out of their 
 blindness by a way that they knew not, He will 
 not leave them nor forsake them till He brings 
 them to the promised land, and gives them the 
 inheritance He had provided. Ask ye, beloved, 
 of the days that are past, who ever put their 
 trust in Him and were confounded ? And look 
 forward to the future with the assurance that, 
 whatever clouds and darkness may surround the 
 throne of God, f yet He who sitteth thereon will 
 make all things work together for the good of 
 those that love Him.+ Beloved, is the Lord 
 thus your confidence ; have ye thus committed 
 yourselves to Him? He may have trials in 
 store for you ; He may have sufferings to lay 
 upon you ; He may lead you through the wilder- 
 ness ; He may hedge your way up with thorns ; 
 but how light will all this appear, when ye look 
 back from the land of promise upon the way the 
 Lord hath led you, and see the bright side of 
 every cloud that here darkened your path ! 
 
 * 2 Tim. ii. 19 ; 1 Sam. ii. 9 ; Is. xxvii. 3. f Ps. xcvii. 2. 
 t Rom. viii. 28. 
 
 c 2 
 
SERMON II. 
 
 REPENTANCE. 
 
 'f>! 
 
 St. Matthew ix. 13. 
 
 lam not come to call the righteous, but sinners to 
 
 repentance. 
 
 "The Lord cannot be tempted with evil."* 
 And among the various evidences, by which 
 the blessed Jesus commends Himself to us as 
 the Lord our God, there are few more satisfac- 
 tory than the ease with which He detected the 
 subtle purpose, which lay hid in many of the 
 questions with which He was beset, and drew 
 from the cavils of His enemies an occasion of 
 edification, of correction, of reproof. 
 
 The Scribes and Pharisees continually assailed 
 Him with crafty questions, and perplexing cavils. 
 With a zeal and watchfulness worthy of a better 
 cause, they tracked His steps, as He went about 
 
 • James i. 13. 
 
REPENTANCE. 
 
 21 
 
 teaching " and preaching the Gospel of the 
 kingdom, and healing all manner of sickness, 
 and all manner of disease among the people;"* 
 and nothing seemed to escape their malicious 
 eye, on which they could possibly ground an 
 attempt to bring His character as a teacher into 
 disrepute, or to weaken His wide-spreading in- 
 fluence over the multitudes that thronged Him. 
 Alas ! for that perverseness, and alienation, and 
 enmity of the heart of man, which led them, 
 which induces so many in every age, to " reject 
 ihe counsel of God against themselves," f to 
 cavil at, rather than close with, the gracious 
 offers of salvation by Christ Jesus, and to shut 
 themselves up under the condemnation of those 
 who will not even come to Jesus that they may 
 have life.J 
 
 Yet, while we pity their perverseness, and 
 lament the blindness and self will, which 
 prompted their malicious treatment of the lowly 
 Saviour, what cause have we for gratitude to 
 God, that He has so overruled their wicked 
 purpose, as to make their cavils the occasion of 
 setting forth to us some of the most precious and 
 consoling truths, which the Gospel of the blessed 
 God contains. The objections, which they urged 
 with the malicious design of entrapping the 
 Saviour, are frequently suggested by the cor- 
 
 * Matt. iv. 23. t Luke vii. 30. X John v. 40. 
 
22 
 
 REPENTANCE. 
 
 ruption of the flesh, or the subtlety of the Devil, 
 to the minds and hearts of those who are anxious 
 about their soul's condition, and earnestly de- 
 sirous of following the Lord fully. With what 
 comfort may they dwell upon the precious state- 
 ments of the truth, with which our Saviour put 
 aside the captious question of the Pharisee, and 
 in v.'liicli He has left a message of love for every 
 poor soul, that desires the knowledge of salva- 
 tion through His Name. 
 
 How well are these reflections justified by the 
 circumstances, which called forth the gracious 
 assurance in the text! Our Lord had called 
 Levi from the receipt of custom; and he had 
 readily forsaken his money-table, and gone after 
 Jesus. Desirous of doing honor to the Master 
 who had called him, and of affording, at the 
 same time, an opportunity to many of his old 
 companions of hearing the gracious words which 
 ever fell from the lips of Him, who, as much at 
 the festal board as in the privacy of the Mount 
 of Olives, kept in view the great purpose of His 
 coming, the new disciple made a feast for his 
 Lord, and invited many publicans and sinners to 
 come and sit down with Jesus and with His 
 disciples. The Scribes and Pharisees, in that 
 self-righteous spirit which prompted the proud 
 "Stand by, for I am holier than thou," aff'ected 
 an anxiety for the character of Jesus, which 
 
REPENTANCE. 
 
 28 
 
 le Devil, 
 anxious 
 istly de- 
 ith what 
 us state- 
 our put 
 see, and 
 or every 
 >f salva- 
 
 1 by the 
 ^racious 
 [ called 
 he had 
 ne after 
 
 Master 
 
 at the 
 his old 
 3 which 
 luch at 
 
 Mount 
 of His 
 for his 
 mers to 
 th His 
 in that 
 
 proud 
 ifFected 
 which, 
 
 they thought was compromised by such associa- 
 tions as these. " Why eateth your Master," 
 said they to His disciples, " with publicans and 
 sinners?" "But when Jesus heard that, He 
 said unto them. They that be whole need not a 
 physician, but they that are sick. Go ye, and 
 learn what that meaneth, I will have mercy, 
 and not sacrifice ; for I am not come to call the 
 righteous, but sinners to repentance." Tuese 
 persons, by whom ye now see me surrounded, 
 are the very objects of my mission. I am come 
 to seek and to save that which was lost. And 
 then, when I am surrounded by a crowd of 
 sinners, of those whom the world casts out as 
 evil, and a pharisaic self-righteousness would 
 leave uncared for in their sins ; then, when I see 
 a throng of guilty, perishing souls, hanging upon 
 my lips, and drinking in the word of life,— then 
 do I see the great purpose of my coming in some 
 measure reaUzed; then do I see something of 
 the travail of my soul, and am filled with a joy 
 which thrills through the courts of heaven, and 
 wakens the rejoicings of angels' tongues.* Pre- 
 cious truth this to the poor sinner ; to him, that, 
 convinced of his guilt, and groaning over his 
 corruptions, is ready to exclaim with Peter, "De- 
 part from me, for I am a sinful man, O Lord !"| 
 Nay, saith the gracious Jesus, 1 came not to 
 
 * Isa. liii. 11 ; Luke xv. 10. f Luke v. 8, 
 
 I 
 
24 
 
 REPENTANCE. 
 
 condemn you but to save. (Jome thou to me; 
 and you shall find peace to your conscience and 
 rest to your soul. 
 
 I would desire then, beloved, to invite your 
 attention at the present time to the truths con- 
 tained in these precious words of the Lord Jesus 
 in the text. In the order of our Church's 
 services, which presents to us, in her yearly 
 round, now one and now another great doctrine 
 of the Scriptures, as the special subject of our 
 meditations, the great duty of Evangelical re- 
 pentance is, at this season,* urged upon our 
 special attention. The words of the text will 
 lead us, it may be hoped, to some profitable 
 reflections upon this important subject, and 
 guide us to the contemplation of tliat " repent- 
 ance which is unto salvation, not to be repented 
 of."t May the blessed Spirit of truth be out- 
 poured upon us, and sanctify our present en- 
 gagements to the awakening, conviction, con- 
 version, of each soul here present, as He may see 
 our need to be ! 
 
 In taking the words of the text, then, as the 
 guide of our present meditations, let us consider, 
 
 first, THE GREAT PURPOSE OF THE SaVIOUR's 
 
 coming; secondly, the persons to whom His 
 
 MISSION especially ADDRESSED ITSELF; and, 
 
 thirdly, the nature of the particular bless- 
 * Preached in Lent. | 2 Cor. vii. 10. 
 
REPENTANCR. 
 
 25 
 
 iNo to which He calleth them. And may He 
 teach us by His own Spirit, how to apply His 
 words to our souls' good ! 
 
 I. And in considering, in the first piace, the 
 
 GREAT PURPOSE OF THE SaVIOUR's COMING, We 
 
 observe, 
 
 1. That His mission was not one of venge- 
 ance OR condemnation. Who could have won- 
 dered if it had been so? He had come down 
 before to visit the earth. He had poured out a 
 « flood upon the world of the ungodly,"* and 
 swept away whole generations by the deluge of 
 His wrath. He had opened the windows of 
 heaven, and rained down fire and brimstone 
 upon the cities of the plain, and left, in their 
 smoking ruins, an awful monument of His hatred 
 against sin, and His vengeance upon the sinner. 
 And still men went on, only plunging deeper 
 and yet deeper into sin, and provoking Him yet 
 more to anger by their increasing abominations. 
 Who then could have wondered, had the time 
 now come, when the Lord should have sworn in 
 His wrath, that He would utterly make an end 
 of man upon the Earth? But no! His great 
 purpose in coming was, 
 
 2. One of unbounded tenderness and love. 
 The warnings of God's vengeance had been for- 
 
 * 2 Pet. ii. .5. 
 
 I 
 
26 
 
 UEPKNTANCE. 
 
 '1 
 
 I' 
 
 gotten, tlic messages of His grace been slighted 
 and despised. The servants, Avlioin tlie Lord had 
 sent with tlio remonstrances of His love, had 
 been persecuted and slain. And then, when the 
 cup of man's iniquity seemed full, and tlu cry of 
 his transgression rose up before the Lord, — then 
 he said, I have yet one Son, my well-beloved; I 
 will send Him unto them : it may be they will 
 reverence my Son.* And this was the last effort 
 of the Lord's love for a guilty world. He has 
 nothing so precious h^ft, by whi(;h He can again 
 appeal to the heart of rebellious man. His own 
 Son, His only-begotten, the beloved of His Soul, 
 " came not to judge, but to save the world ;"t 
 and how shall they escape, who neglect so great 
 salvation ?| 
 
 II. Let us consider, in the second plac(\ the 
 
 CHARACTER OF THE PERSONS tO wllOm tllO missioU 
 
 of the Lord's love especially addresses itself. 
 And hero the text guides us to the remark, 
 that, 
 
 1. Our Lord did not come to call the right- 
 eous. If there be such a person upon earth, 
 one who has kept all the connnandmcnts of God, 
 in the si)irit as well as in the letter, from his 
 youth up; — one who has loved God with all his 
 heart, and all his mind, and all his soul, and all 
 
 Luki w. 9. l;J. 
 
 .Icliii xii. 47. j; Ileb. ii. ;}. 
 
REPENTANCE. 
 
 27 
 
 his strength, and his neighbor as he lias loved 
 liimself ; — such an one has no need of a Saviour; 
 he can stand tlie judgment of the law, and claim 
 the promise of life upon the terms, " The man 
 that doeth these things shall live by them."* 
 But, tliough there be no such person upon 
 earth, there are too many who imagine them- 
 selves such, or nearly such; who plead, that, 
 though they may not have served God so per- 
 fectly as He requires, they have done the best 
 they could, and, as for their neighbor, they have 
 never done harm to any one. Shall we say that 
 these have no need of a Saviour ? In their own 
 estimation they need none. Shall we say, that 
 Christ came not to call them i Nay, not so ! for 
 in His sight they are vile, and, as such, are 
 appealed to by His love. But His call has no 
 suitableness, no interest for them. They are not 
 sick ; the invitation then of the physician has 
 no reference to them : they are not perishing ; 
 the offer of the gift of life, then, meets no 
 sympathy in their hearts. Tliink of this, be- 
 loved, I beseech you. If you have any righte- 
 ousness of your own ; if ye have any power to 
 do anything for yojv own salvation ; if ye are 
 anything better than lost sinners; the Gospel 
 provides no Saviour for you, the calls of the 
 blessed Jesus have no reference to you. For, 
 
 liou 
 
 I. X. O. 
 
28 
 
 REPENTANCE. 
 
 nm 
 
 2. He came to call sinners. 
 Nothing more than this would have been 
 necessary, one would suppose, to show us, thai 
 our Lord came to invite the whole world to 
 Himself. But, as we have already observed, 
 that, though there be none righteous upon 
 earth, there are many who .in their self-righte- 
 ousness turn away from the gracious offers of 
 the Gospel ; so we here perceive, that, though 
 all have sinned, all are not so conscious, so 
 convinced of sin, as to admit the suitableness of 
 the call to themselves, and to feel their need of 
 closing with its terms. While, then, the mes- 
 sage of the text has nothing in it calculated to 
 supply comfort, nothing in it likely even to 
 awaken an interest in any, " that say they are 
 rich and increased with goods, and have need 
 of nothing, and know not that they are wretched 
 and miserable and poor and blind and naked,"* 
 it comes as a word of love from the gracious 
 Saviour to every poor soul, that is bruised rnd 
 broken by a sense of sin, and writing bitter 
 things against itself, as condemned and forsaken 
 of the Lord. Who is there, that has sinned 
 against the Lord, that has gone on transgressing 
 His commandments, and provoking His wrath ; 
 beloved, the Gospel passes by those who trust 
 in themselves that they are righteous, to .-jk 
 
 * Rev. iii, 17. 
 
REPENTANCE. 
 
 29 
 
 ive been 
 
 us, that 
 kvorld to 
 )bserved, 
 IS upon 
 if-righte- 
 ofFers of 
 
 though 
 ious, so 
 eness of 
 
 need of 
 tie mes- 
 lated to 
 ;ven to 
 hey are 
 e need 
 retched 
 iked,"* 
 racious 
 ed fnd 
 
 bitter 
 irsaken 
 sinned 
 ressing 
 kvrath ; 
 trust 
 ) o-jk 
 
 you out ; it comes to you in your low, your lost 
 estate, and speaks to you of salvation : it points 
 you, as Moses directed the eye of the dying 
 Israelite to the brazen Serpent, to Him who was 
 lifted up upon the cross : it gives a voice to His 
 dying agonies, and says, " Look unto me and 
 be saved;" turn unto me and live! 
 
 III. Here, then, we are led, in the third 
 place, to consider the particular blessing, 
 to which the Lord Jesus calls the sinners, whom 
 He came to save. " I came," he saith, " to call 
 sinners to repentance;" not to save them 
 with all their sins upon them, not to admit 
 them just as they are to heaven; but to call 
 them to repentance as the way to heaven,— to 
 give them that repentance which is not to be 
 repented of. What then is this repentance 
 to which the Lord calls the sinner] 
 
 1. What is it not? 
 
 It is not a mere fit of overwhelming sorrow, 
 because of any sin, in which we may have 
 been detected, any grievous transgression, by 
 which conscience has been alarmed. This may, 
 indeed, be in the Lord's mercy overruled, and 
 made the commencement of a genuine repent- 
 ance ; but LOO frequently, alas! it partakes but 
 of the nature of that sorrow of the world that 
 
m 
 
 m 
 
 30 
 
 REPENTANCE. 
 
 worketh deatli.* The dread of the Lord's 
 vengeance, perhaps, still more, the dread of the 
 world's reproach, may, for the moment, bear one 
 down; but, too generally, the impression 
 speedily wears off, and leaves the soul just as 
 much in love with sin as ever. 
 
 It is not a mere femporan/ penance on account 
 of sin, by which, in the true spirit of popery, 
 many seem to think they are atoning for the 
 worldliness of the past year, and from which 
 they come forth, just as worldly, and as far from 
 the kingdom of God, as ever. This was the sum 
 and substance of their religion, who found fault 
 with the Saviour for seeking the salvation of 
 sinners; this is the mark of a Pharisaic spirit in 
 every age, and savors little of the true spirit of 
 the Gospel. 
 
 2. What is, then, an Evangelical repentance ? 
 
 AVhatever its leading features may be, we find 
 
 that it is put for the whole of that work in 
 
 THE sinner's soul, WHICH FORMS HIS QUALIFICA- 
 TION, OR MEETNESS FOR ENTERING INTO God's 
 
 KINGDOM. It is the Strait and narrow " way, 
 which loadcth unto life. " f It is " the new man,' 
 which after God is created in righteousness and 
 true holiness.":}: 
 
 Comprising, then, as it does, the whole work 
 
 * 2 Cor. vii. 10. t Matt. vii. 14. X Kpli- iv. 24. 
 
REPENTANCE. 
 
 31 
 
 e Lord's 
 ad of the 
 bear one 
 npression 
 1 just as 
 
 I account 
 ' popery, 
 for the 
 n which 
 far from 
 the sum 
 ind fault 
 ation of 
 spirit in 
 spirit of 
 
 ntance ? 
 we find 
 
 '^ORK IN 
 VLIFICA- 
 
 ) God's 
 
 " way, 
 
 vv man, 
 
 ess and 
 
 e work 
 
 iv. 24. 
 
 of God in the sinner's soul, we shall perceive 
 that repentance, a scriptural repentance, con- 
 sists of — 
 
 A deep conviction of sin. We have already 
 remarked, that, although all are sinners, all are 
 not so aware of— so ready to acknowledge their 
 condition— as to know that they are just the per- 
 sons, whom the Saviour says. He came to call to 
 repentance. It is the office of the Holy Spirit, 
 when He comes into the world, to convince the 
 soul of sin. It is His work to bring home to the 
 heart of the sinner, such a sense of the pollution 
 of his nature, and the corruption of his heart, 
 and the alienation of his life from the mind and 
 will of God, as to bring him, convinced of his 
 ruined state, to seek salvation for his soul, and to 
 lead him, aware that he is perishing, to turn the 
 eye of faith to Jesus, and to cry to Him for 
 deliverance. 
 
 When this conviction is the genuine work of 
 the Spirit, it leads to true contrition on account of 
 sin. "Fools make a mock at sin." The 
 worldly acknowledge that they are sinners, yet 
 make the acknowledgment with as little concern 
 as though there were no consequences annexed 
 to sin. The penitent is overwhelmed with a 
 sense of the exceeding sinfulness of sin; he 
 trembles at the thought how hateful sin is in the 
 sight of God ; he mourns over the wounds 
 
p; 
 
 )■ I; 
 
 32 
 
 REPENTANCE. 
 
 which he perceives sin to have inflicted on the 
 lowly Saviour; he is bruised and broken 'n 
 heart under the intolerable burden with which 
 sin presses upon his soul. There may, however, 
 be much sorrow for sin resembling this contri- 
 tion, which yet is no part of genuine repentance • 
 much that, like the bitter tears of Esau, or the 
 grief of Judas, is the sorrow of the world that 
 worketh death. It is not easy always to dis- 
 tmguish the precious from the vile at this stage 
 of the progress of the work. But genuine con- 
 trition for sin may be known, in that it always 
 leads to — 
 
 Conversion from sin. Whatever views we 
 may have of the sinfulness of sin ; however we 
 may be horrified by a dread of the awful 
 vengeance due to sin ; however we may mourn 
 over the evils sin has brought into the world 
 and even grieve at the wounds it has inflicted 
 upon Christ, there is no true contrition that does 
 not lead to conversion ; thore is no true repent- 
 ance, which does not involve the turning from sin 
 unto holiness, and « from the power of Satan 
 unto God." The repentance, which proceeds 
 from a godly sorrow leads unto salvation. It is 
 the ceasing to do evil ; and the learning to do 
 well. It is the renunciation of the world, and 
 the following of Christ. It is the denial of self, 
 and the taking up the cross of Christ. It is the' 
 
REPENTANCE. 
 
 33 
 
 casting off the bondage of the Devil, and the 
 presenting the body and the soul a living 
 sacrifice to God, acceptable unto Him through 
 Jesus Christ. 
 
 This, beloved, is the repentance of which the 
 Saviour speaks ; this is the repentance, to which 
 He came to call the sinners among whom He 
 walked ; this is the repentance which His Gospel 
 still urges upon all, that would enter the Lord's 
 kmgdom. Let the consideration of the subject 
 suggest to you now, beloved, one or two 
 practical reflections. 
 
 1. And first, what encouragement do the 
 words of the text hold out to the sinner to repent 
 and turn to God ! Here we have the gracious 
 assurance of the Lord Jesus, that sinners are the 
 special objects of His mission ; that He came 
 into the world for no other purpose, than " to 
 seek and to save that which was lost."* And 
 yet, to shew the depth of that darkness, in which 
 Satan enshrouds the minds of men-so long as 
 men are unconvinced of sin, they seem tc have 
 no fears about their salvation ; but, so soon as 
 they are convinced by the Spirit of God that 
 they are sinners, and therefore just the persons 
 whom Christ Jesus came to save, then they 
 begin to cry out as if the door of mercy was for 
 ever sliut against them. Yet it is a precious 
 * Luke xix. 10. 
 
 D 
 
34 
 
 REPENTANCE. 
 
 thing to hear that cry ; it is a joyful sound to 
 hear the mourning of a soul, that has become 
 aware of its captivity, and begun to feel the 
 galling of the chains, from which it fears there 
 can be no escape. Until this time, the message 
 of the Gospel seemed like an offer of bread to 
 those that were full, of medicine to those that 
 were in health. But now the soul is hungry, 
 yea, perishing for the food of life ; now the soul 
 is sick, yea, dying under the pressure of the 
 disease of sin. To such a soul, then, it surely 
 will be glad tidings, that the Saviour came to 
 save just such from death ; to such a soul the 
 invitation will surely be a welcome one, to come 
 and turn to Him who has redeemed it. Is the 
 soul conscious of its sins? He calleth it to 
 repentance. Has sin abounded, so that the soul 
 is overwhelmed by the swelling tide of its 
 iniquities? There grace does much more 
 abound, and the love of Jesus is yet more 
 magnified by saving such a soul from death. 
 Is there, then, such a soul here ?— One that has 
 been convinced by the Spirit of God of its lost 
 condition, and is writing bitter things against 
 itself, as though there could be no salvation for 
 one that has so grievously transgressed ? " To 
 you," beloved, "is the word of this salvation 
 sent." Arise ! behold ! He calleth you. If you 
 were not a sinner, there were no message in the 
 
RE ENTANCE. 
 
 35 
 
 Gospel for you ; but since you know and feel 
 that you are a sinner, behold ! Christ calleth 
 you ; turn unto Him and live. 
 
 2. How forcibly does the text impress upon 
 us the NECESSITY of turning to the Lord. This 
 necessity is surely pressed upon us by a view of 
 the amazing love of Christ. He loved the souls 
 of men so much, that He willingly came down 
 from the glories of heaven, and endured pri- 
 vation, suffering, and death, that He might 
 redeem them from destruction. Yet, even His 
 love could not procure for them an entrance to 
 God's glories, except they repent and turn to 
 God. Nay, even His love for them could desire 
 no other terms. Even had it been possible for 
 Him to have procured admission for a soul with 
 all its sins upon it into the purity of heaven, it 
 would have been no boon. It is even in love 
 to the souls of men, that He, who came to save 
 them calls them to repentance, or the conversion 
 of the heart to God, as the narrow way which 
 leadeth to salvation. Who, then, can enter 
 heaven, but by the way which Christ himself 
 points out ? Who shall deem himself meet to 
 dwell with God, but he that, convinced of sin 
 has been converted unto God, and made a new 
 creature in Christ Jesus ? There are those, alas ! 
 who cry out against the idea of salvation being 
 entirely of the free gift of God in Christ Jesus 
 
 D 2 
 
36 
 
 REPENTANCE. 
 
 Ill' I 
 
 ns tending to immorality, who yet think it not 
 
 strange that men should hope to go to heaven, 
 
 who give no evidence of grace or godliness. 
 
 Strange, that there should be so much difficulty 
 
 in understanding, that the very "goodness of 
 
 God leadeth to repentance."* Beloved, the 
 
 call of the text, coming as it does from the lips 
 
 of the loving Saviour himself, urges on you the 
 
 necessity of conversion to God in all that would 
 
 dwell with Him. He that came to save you 
 
 calls you to repentance as the path to heaven. 
 
 Have ye, beloved, who are hoping for salvation, 
 
 ever yet entered on that way ? Have ye been 
 
 yet convinced of sin ? have ye yet been bov/ed 
 
 down beneath its burden ? have ye yet laid that 
 
 burden upon Christ, and by Him been set at 
 
 liberty to keep the commandments of God ? If 
 
 not, O ! what but a miserable delusion can be 
 
 the hope of entering into God's kingdor.i ! 
 
 3. And, lastly, the call of the text points out 
 to you the only way, by which ye csn repent 
 and turn to God. It is, in fact, a call to Christ, 
 —to Him who is "exalted as a Prince and 
 a Saviour to give repentance and forgiveness 
 of sins."t The calls of the Gospel are all 
 invitations to come to Christ, as the fountain- 
 head of grace, the spring of all true godliness, 
 the treasury in which are laid up rich stores of 
 * Rom. ii. 4. f Acts v. 31. 
 
REPENTANCE. 
 
 37 
 
 blessing fo. His people. And this is especially 
 the case with regard to the call to repentance. 
 When the Spirit convinces of sin, He brings 
 home chiefly a sense of the iniquity of not 
 believing on Jesus.* There can be no true 
 sorrow for sin, except in him who looks upon 
 it as having nailed Jesus to the tree. There can 
 be no real turning from sin, except in him, who 
 finds pardon and peace for his soul through the 
 blood of Christ. There may be sorrow ; there 
 may be reformation; but there can be no ge- 
 nuine repentance, except in him, who has laid 
 his sins upon Jesus and found peace with God 
 through Him. When Jesus calls you to re- 
 pentance, then, He calls you to Himself, that ye 
 may receive the grace of repentance at His hands. 
 Who is there, then, of you, beloved, that 
 acknowledges the obligation, that admits the 
 urgency of the call to repentance? Strive not 
 to accomplish this work for yourselves: labour 
 not, like the ill-used Israelites, to make brick 
 without straw ; but go to Christ. He promises 
 His blessings to those that ask : and none, that 
 come empty to Him to be filled, are sent empty 
 away. Let Christ then, beloved, be your all- 
 in-all : whatever may be the grace ye need, go 
 to Him for it; and "of His fulness" shall ye 
 assuredly receive, even " grace for grace, "f 
 *Johnxvi. 8. t John i. 16. 
 

 SERMON III. 
 
 EVE BEGUILED. 
 
 2 Corinthians xi. 3. 
 
 But I fear, lest hy any means, as the serpent 
 heguiled Eoe through his suhtilty, so your minds 
 should he corrupted from the simplicity that is 
 in Christ. 
 
 There are few subjects brought before us in the 
 Scriptures of trutli, the contemplation of which 
 is more painful, and yet calculated, under the 
 Lord's blessing, to be more profitable to us, than 
 that of the fall of man. We see in it such an 
 evidence of the frailty of our nature, even under 
 the most favourable circumstances ; we perceive 
 in it such a proof of the subtilty and power of 
 the great enemy of souls ; we discover about it 
 such signs of the long-suffering, and forbearance, 
 and grace of the loving and merciful Creator ; 
 that the view is well calculated to humble us in 
 
EVE BEGUILED. 
 
 39 
 
 the dust of self-abasement, and yet to exalt in 
 our esteem the preciousness, and sufficiency, and 
 fulness of the grace that is in Christ Jesus. We 
 trace to it such fearful consequences to the 
 sinning pair themselves ; we perceive in it such 
 fatal results, as displayed in the natural bias to 
 evil of every one of their descendants ; we look 
 forward to such tremendous consequences, as 
 yet to be manifested in all that live and die in 
 their unregeneracy ; that we may well pore, 
 with wonder and with awe, over the momentous 
 record of that sad event, which the Bible, and 
 the Bible only, can supply. 
 
 The Apostle seems desirous, in the text, to 
 improve some of the solemn reflections arising 
 from a view of the successful assault of the 
 Evil One upon the mother of us all, by way of 
 warning to the Corinthian converts against the 
 danger they were in of falling away from Christ. 
 The history of that sad event is brought before 
 us in the reading of God's Holy Word this 
 day ; * and it may, in the Lord's grace, be pro- 
 fitable to us, too, to contemplate the perils which 
 still encompass the servant and follower of Jesus, 
 that, being not ignorant of the devices of the 
 great enemy, we may be the more on our guard 
 against his approach, the more watchful against 
 his suggestions of evil. Who is there, charged 
 * Sexagesima Sunday. 
 
^»V.'**» 
 
 40 
 
 EVE BEGUILED. 
 
 with the care of the souls of his fellow-sinners, 
 that can reflect upon the craft and energy and 
 perseverance of the Evil One, and not tremble, 
 lest, by his subtle insinuations, he may draw 
 some souls into his snare, and entrap them to 
 their ruin 1 Who is there, among the souls that 
 have been rescued from the bondage of the 
 devil, and gathered into the fold of Christ, that 
 has not cause to be continually on the watch, 
 lest he, who so fatally succeeded in his attempts 
 upon the yet guileless and unsinning Eve, 
 should be enabled to regain his hold upon a 
 heart which is prone continually to sin, and lead 
 those souls again captive, which have even been 
 delivered from his snare? The safety of the 
 believer's soul consists not in his despising the 
 craft or the power of the enemies that as- il 
 him; but in his being so aware of their subt y, 
 and so conscious of his own danger, that he 
 cHngs unceasingly for safety to the only Rock 
 of refuge, the only tower of defence. 
 
 The consideration of the Apostle's fears con- 
 cerning the Corinthians, viewed in connexion 
 Avith the successful temptations by which the 
 Evil One seduced our first parents into sin, may 
 afford matter for profitable reflection at this and 
 every period of the probationary condition of 
 the souls for which Jesus died. I would invite 
 your attention, beloved, to the subject, and pray 
 
EVE BEGtriLED. 
 
 41 
 
 v-sinners, 
 lergy and 
 
 tremble, 
 lay draw 
 them to 
 ouls that 
 ; of the 
 rist, that 
 le watch, 
 attempts 
 ig Eve, 
 
 upon a 
 md lead 
 en been 
 
 of the 
 sing the 
 at as' nl 
 subt y, 
 that he 
 ly Eock 
 
 irs con- 
 nnexion 
 ich the 
 lin, may 
 ;his and 
 ition of 
 d invite 
 lid pray 
 
 the Lord so to bless our meditations upon it, 
 that ye, being not ignorant of the devices of 
 Satan, may be led to be more watchful against 
 them, and to resist them " stedfast in the faith"* 
 of Him, who overcame him by His precious 
 bloodshedding. 
 
 The words of the text will suggest to us a 
 view, first, of the engagements of every 
 Christian's soul to Christ our Lord; se- 
 condly, of THE wiles with WHICH THE ENEMY 
 OF SOULS SEEKS TO DRAW AWAY THE SOUL FROM 
 
 ITS allegiance; and, thirdly, of the especial 
 
 DANGER, INTO WHICH THE SOUL IS LIABLE TO 
 
 FALL in listening for one moment to the sugges- 
 tions of the Tempter. May the Spirit of the 
 Living God be present with us to bless these 
 considerations to our souls' good ! 
 
 I. And in considering, in the first place, the 
 
 ENGAGEMENTS BY WHICH EVERY ChRISTIAn's 
 SOUL IS BOUND TO THE LoRD JeSUS ChRTST, We 
 
 remark, 
 
 1. That the very fears which the text ex- 
 presses seem to imply, that the souls thus spoken 
 of have been brought out of their natural state of 
 unregeneracy and corruption, and placed in a 
 state of grace, of acceptance, and of favour with 
 God. The expression of a fear, lest they should 
 
 * 1 Pet. V. 9. 
 
42 
 
 EVE BEGUILED. 
 
 be drawn away by temptation, would be un- 
 suitable concerning those who are yet in their 
 sins. The danger of being corrupted from the 
 simplicity of Christ can only exist in the case 
 of those, who have been brought into union 
 and communion with Christ by the exercise of 
 a lively faith in Him. We have our fears, in- 
 deed, and awful fears they are, concerning those 
 who are yet in their sins ; but those fears arise, 
 not from the danger of their being drawn away,' 
 but from their never having come to Christ,' 
 and, so, being still under condemnation. We 
 have our anxieties, indeed, and overwhelming 
 anxieties they are, concerning those who bear 
 the name, and have even been outwardly ad- 
 mitted into the Church of Christ, but are still 
 dead in trespasses and sins; but our anxieties are 
 awakened, not because they are the marks of 
 the temptations of the Devil, but because they 
 are already in possession of the strong man 
 armed, who keeps his goods in a fatal peace. 
 Too many such we find, who even make light 
 of the idea, that "the adversary, the Devil, 
 walketh about, seeking whom he may de- 
 vour;"* who look upon tlie notion of the 
 Devil's being continually at hand, piying the 
 soul with subtle temptations, as a mere enthu- 
 siast's dream: who, at least, to speak from their 
 
 * I Pet. V. 8. 
 
EVE BEGUILED. 
 
 43 
 
 own experience, know nothing of any so con- 
 stant temptation, have never found themselves 
 so beset with the suggestions of sin. Alas ! for 
 them ! The Devil has no need to tempt them, 
 when they are already just what he wishes. 
 The only effort, which he need put forth for 
 them, is to keep them blind to the chains with 
 which he binds them, and to soothe them in 
 the fatal sleep, in which they are already lying. 
 Alas ! for them indeed ! O may the Lord lighten 
 their eyes, lest they sleep the sleep of death ! 
 
 2. Yet we observe, secondly, that every soul, 
 awakened from the sleep of sin, and brought, by 
 the grace of the Spirit of God, into a state of 
 acceptance and peace [with God through Jesus 
 Christ, is espoused, as it were, to Christ, en- 
 gaged to Him by a perpetual covenant, pledged 
 to Him to be His for ever. Thus St. Paul, in 
 the verse preceding the text, says of those to 
 whom the Lord had blessed the ministry of the 
 word, "I have espoused you to one husband, 
 that I may present you as a chaste virgin to 
 Christ." This simile is one of constant use in 
 the Scriptures of truth ; and it is one, which, 
 in all ages and under all circumstances of the 
 world, presents to us the strongest illustration, 
 which the relationships of human life afford, of 
 the intimate nature of the engagements by which 
 the converted soul is bound to Christ, and of the 
 
44 
 
 EVE BEGUILED. 
 
 devotion of heart, of feeling, of affection, which 
 should be sustained continually towards Him on 
 the part of all that have pledged themselves to 
 Him. Who is there, that, in the transactions 
 of daily life, would be satisfied, in the case of 
 such an engagement as has been referred to, 
 with the most perfect correctness of outward 
 deportment, while yet aware that the heart's 
 aflPections were estranged and set upon another? 
 Who is there, with any delicacy of feeling, that 
 would be satisfied with an acknowledgment that 
 the engagement was a binding one, and would 
 desire that it should be fulfilled, while yet made 
 fully conscious that the feelings of the other 
 party had undergone a change, and the affections 
 grown cold? And can we suppose, that Christ 
 will be satisfied, in the case of those that are 
 espoused to Him, with a state of feeling or afiec- 
 tion which would be spurned in the engage- 
 ments of human life? Will He be satisfied, 
 that there is, on the part of those that have 
 joined themselves to Him, no glaring departure 
 from the outward conduct of a Christian, while 
 yet it is evident that the heart's aff-ections are 
 not set upon Him, but are engaged upon the 
 world? Will He be satisfied, that those who 
 bear His name, and are, outwardly at least, 
 espoused to Him, should be willing to enter 
 upon the glories of His kingdom at last, while 
 
 li;j:i;i!i 
 
EVE BEGUILED. 
 
 45 
 
 •n, which 
 ! Him on 
 selves to 
 nsactions 
 I case of 
 Ti-ed to, 
 outward 
 : heart's 
 mother ? 
 ng, that 
 ent that 
 I would 
 3t made 
 e other 
 Sections 
 ; Christ 
 hat are 
 )r affec- 
 sngage- 
 itisfied, 
 t have 
 parture 
 , while 
 3ns are 
 on the 
 le who 
 
 least, 
 
 enter 
 , while 
 
 yet they show no love for Him or for His cause, 
 if they are not even ashamed to profess that He 
 alone is worthy of their love ? Nay, surely, the 
 soul that gives itself to Christ, the soul that, 
 being really a member of His Church, becomes, 
 as Adam said of the newly-formed Eve, "a 
 member of His body, of His flesh, and of His 
 bones,"* is pledged to give to Him, not the 
 mere homage of an outward service, not the 
 tribute of mere indifference to His cause, still 
 less the estrangement of a worldly life, but the 
 best and warmest affections of the heart, a heart 
 in which He may reign, and reign alone. 
 
 3. And we may here, thirdly, observe briefly, 
 that these, and these alone, are they, who shall he 
 presented at the great day to the Lord Jesus to be 
 united to Him for ever, where there shall be no 
 further risk of estrangement or of change. " I 
 heard," saith the beloved disciple, " I heard, as 
 it were, the voice of a great multitude, and as 
 the voice of many waters, and as the voice of 
 many thunderings, saying, Alleluia: for the Lord 
 God Omnipotent reigneth ! Let us br glad and 
 rejoice, and give honor to Him: for the marriage 
 of the Lamb is come, and His wife hath made 
 herself ready. And to her was granted that 
 she should be arrayed in fine linen, clean and 
 white ; for the fine linen is the righteousness of 
 * Gen. ii. 23 ; Epii. v. .'50. 
 
 I 
 
j •• ' 
 
 46 
 
 EVE BEGUILED. 
 
 saints!"* And who then but the saints, who 
 but " they which are written in the Lamb's 
 book of life, "t who but they, that " are washed, 
 and sanctified, and justified in the name of the 
 Lord Jesus, and by the Spirit of our God,"$ 
 shall be admitted to this glorious and eternal 
 union with the Lord Jesus 1 Who but they are 
 truly members of His Church on earth? Who 
 but they shall have His glory put upon them in 
 the day, when His "glorious Church" shall be 
 presented unto Him, "not having spot or 
 wrinkle, or any such thing ] " § 
 
 II. The time of espousal, however, is, as it 
 were, a time of probation; and, during this 
 time, the enemy of souls puts forth all his efforts 
 to pluck if it were but one jewel from the 
 Saviour's crown, to ensnare if it were but one 
 soul, that has cast off his bondage, and taken up 
 the yoke of Christ. Let us proceed, iu tlie 
 second place, to consider some of the wiles by 
 
 WHICH HE CLOKES HIS ASSAULTS UPON THE PEOPLE 
 THAT ARE PLEDGED TO ChRIST. 
 
 It is not to be supposed, that any enlightened 
 soul, notwithstanding the corruption of nature 
 which remains even in the regenerate,|| would 
 listen for a moment to any suggestion, which 
 
 * Rev. xix. 6—8. f Rev. xxi. 27. X 1 Cor. vi. 11. 
 § Eph. V. 27. I) Ninth Article. 
 
EVE BEGUILED. 
 
 47 
 
 plainly bore the Devil's mar^. upon it, any more 
 than we can believe that Eve would have 
 hearkened to his voice, had she known him to 
 be the great Enemy of God. But, as he ap- 
 proached her in the form of a then lovely 
 creature, so does he even now assume the form 
 of an angel of light, and approaches the soul of 
 the believer, as he did our mother, with sugges- 
 tions calculated to lead — 
 
 1. To mere speculative enquiries upon the 
 word and truth of God. There had been little 
 danger of our first parent's fall, had she simply 
 held on to the command of God, and been con- 
 tent with the remembrance that He had said so; 
 and not ventured beyond her depth into any 
 examination of the propriety or reasonableness 
 of the command. And the soul of the Christian 
 walketh safely, so long as it is content to abide 
 by the Word of God, and to take what He says 
 as the truth, simply because He has said it. 
 Carnal reason, indeed, rebels against such sub- 
 mission as this, as if it were binding the human 
 intellect in intolerable bondage. The pride of 
 the natural heart revolts against such subjection 
 as this, as though it were derogatory to the 
 dignity of human nature, and unworthy of 
 a being so gifted as man. But there is field 
 enough for human speculations, there are sub- 
 jects enough for human investigation, without 
 
48 
 
 EVE BEGUILED. 
 
 ^ 
 
 i!i 
 
 attempting to subject the commands of God to 
 our puny questionings. " I do send thee to the 
 house of Israel," was the commission of the 
 Lord to Ezekiel, "and thou shalt say unto them, 
 Thus saith the Lord God."* The only enquiry, 
 which becomes the soul to which this message 
 comes, is this, What hath the Lord spoken ? If 
 there are secret things in human science, which 
 the uninitiated cannot understand ; if there are 
 depths in nature's mysteries, which the pro- 
 foundest philosopher cannot fathom ; how much 
 more is it to be supposed, there are secret things 
 in the purposes of God, and depths in the 
 mysteries of His dispensations, which " belong 
 to the Lord our Godf't To him that would 
 enquire, " Are there few that be saved V the 
 answer which God gives is, " Strive thou to enter 
 in at the strait gate."+ To him that would ask, 
 "Lord, dost thou wash my feet?" the Lord's 
 reply is, " If I wash thee not, thou hast no 
 part with rae."§ Let the world reject such sub- 
 mission of spirit as this ; the safety of the Chris- 
 tian's soul consists in his limiting his specula- 
 tions to the enquiry, " Lord, what wilt thou 
 have me to doT'lJ 
 
 If this wile be unsuccessful, the Enemy would 
 lead the soul of the believer — 
 
 * Ezek. ii. 4. t Deut. xxix. 29. | Luke xiii. 23, 24. 
 § John xiii, 6—8. 11 Acts ix. 6. 
 
EVE BEGUILED. 
 
 49 
 
 2. To questionings of the love and goodness of 
 the Lord. Such was his suggestion to our first 
 parent. He dares not, lest he should alarm 
 her, to charge God openly with unkindness to 
 His creatures ; but he would lead her to imply, 
 that there was somctliing needlessly withheld^ 
 which, if tasted, would confer the highest boon.' 
 Such, too, was the suggestion with* which He 
 first approached the second Adam. He would 
 have had Him imply, that a loving God would 
 not leave His Son to suff*er the pangs of hunger, 
 when He could so easily supply His wants.' 
 How many are the avenues, by which the 
 enemy of our souls attempts to introduce such 
 insinuations as these into the heart of the 
 follower of Christ! How various the dispen- 
 sations, both in providence and in grace, in 
 which the soul of the believer is tempted to 
 inquire, ' Can there be the hand of love in 
 this? His wisdom I cannot question; His 
 sovereign right to do with me just what He 
 pleases, I hesitate not to admit ; but is it love 
 to wound me thus? Is it in love to me, that 
 I am kept in penury ? Is it in love, that I am 
 bent with pain ? Is it love, that strikes from me 
 the dearest object of my fond regard ? Is it 
 love for me, that hides God's face from me, and 
 leaves me sitting in darkness, and having no 
 light?' These are enquiries by which the Enemy 
 
 E 
 

 60 
 
 EVE BEOUILED. 
 
 of souls would load the Christian's soul to doubt 
 
 the tenderness and loving-kindness of the Lord. 
 
 These are questions wliich, if once harbored, 
 
 would soon draw the soul away from God, and 
 
 give the enemy an ungodly triumph over those 
 
 whom the Lord redeemed. To him, that is 
 
 tempted to question the Lord's love in any of 
 
 the dispensations of His hand, docs not the 
 
 Lord hold out his bleeding hands, and say, 
 
 Behold how I have loved you? does He not 
 
 lovingly enquire, Have ye such proofs of love 
 
 abounding on every side of you, and yet, because 
 
 one thing is not as you had wished, will you 
 
 begin to question my regard ? Oh ! happy they, 
 
 who, like Eli, bow to the dispensations of God, 
 
 saying, " It is the Lord, let Him do what 
 
 seemcth Him good!"* and, like Job, under the 
 
 bitterest of bereavements can exclaim, " The 
 
 Lord gave, and the TiOrd hath taken away; 
 
 blessed be the name of the Lord I"! 
 
 If the Enemy can but gain an entrance into 
 the mind for any of these questionings, he will 
 not be slow in plying the soul of the Christian 
 with suggestions — 
 
 3. Upon flic hardship of hchig debarred from 
 manif things which the world enjoifs, and the difi- 
 culfies of a life of sclf-drnwl, iratrhf illness, and 
 prayer. Thus it was that he suggested to our 
 
 * ] Sam. iii. 18. f Job i. 21. 
 
EVE BEOUILKI). 
 
 61 
 
 first parent, tliat thougli she might cat freely of 
 every tree of the garden, there was soinetliing in 
 this tree especially to be desired ; and thus it 
 was that he tempted her to look upon the tree, 
 and see that it was pleasant to look upon, and 
 good for food, and a tree to be desired to make 
 one wise. And will any question whether the 
 soul of the believer can be exposed now to 
 temptations such as this, when he sees that even 
 the Christian's Lord was tempted by an offer of 
 the world's wealth and glory, if only he would 
 do homage for them to the Spirit of Evil? 
 Foiled as the Devil was in this attempt, he will 
 not often try the soul of an enlightened Chris- 
 tian with temptations to rush headlong into the 
 world's vanities ; but he will insinuate doubts as 
 to the necessity of being entirely separate from 
 the world ; he will suggest questions as to the 
 desirableness of a little more mingling with the 
 society of the world ; he will urge the propriety 
 of relaxing a little of that strictness which makes 
 religion repulsive; he will even tempt one to 
 think that there is a needless severity in so much 
 watchfulness against temptation, a needless dili- 
 gence in sc much prayer and meditation, a 
 needless earnestness in so striving to have the 
 conversation in heaven. Alas for those, who 
 give a moment's harbor to such suggestions! 
 'i'hey are opening a door, which will let in 
 
 E 2 
 
52 
 
 EVE DEOUILED. 
 
 matter for many an hour of bitter repentance; 
 if they be not even yielding themselves up to 
 the snare of the Devil, to be led cai)tivc by him 
 at his will. 
 
 III. But we proposed to consider, in the third 
 place, THE SPECIAL jANCER wliich tlic apostlo 
 apprehended for the Corinthians, and against 
 
 WHICH IT IS continually NECESSARY TO GUARD 
 
 THE Christian's soul. *' I fear," he saith, 
 
 " lest your minds should be corrupted from the 
 
 simplicity that is in Christ." 
 
 1. By "the simplicity that is in Christ," we 
 
 shall perceive to be meant, first, the simplicity of 
 faith in Him and dependance upon Him, as the 
 only ground of the sinner's justification in the sight 
 of God. There were false teachers crept in 
 among the Corinthians, who, like the subtle 
 serpent, did not attempt openly to assail the 
 foundations of the Christian's faith, but to urge 
 the mingling up of other things, such as the 
 ceremonies of the Jewish ritual, as the ground of 
 dependance. And can any doubt, that, in the 
 present day, the great effort which the enemy of 
 souls has put forth is marked, not by a direct 
 assault upon the fundamental doctrines of Chris- 
 tianity, not by an open denial of the great 
 doctrine of justification by faith only, but by the 
 suggestion to mingle up some other grounds of 
 
EVE BEGUILED. 
 
 63 
 
 dependance wi^li the simple one of the finished 
 work of Christ. Be the addition what it may, 
 whether ceremony or sacrament, wliether prayer 
 or alms, whether self-denial or good-works, if 
 anything can be added to the grounds of the 
 soul's salvation, the Enemy's point is gained. 
 He cares not how large a part the work of 
 Christ may form in the grounds of the soul's 
 confidence, so that it be not the whole and only 
 ground. The simplicity which is in Christ 
 teaches on this wise; "Whosoever believeth 
 in Jesus shall not perish, but have ever- 
 lasting life."* " Believe on the Lord Jesus 
 Christ, and thou shalt be saved. "f "All that 
 believe are justified from all things."+ «' A 
 man is justified by faith without the deeds of the 
 law."§ "To him that worketh not, but be- 
 lieveth on Him that justifieth the ungodly, his 
 faith is counted for righteousness. "|j " Therefore 
 being justified by faith, we have peace with God 
 through our Lord Jesus Christ, "^f How many 
 carnal reasonings are opposed to this simple 
 truth ! How many proud thoughts rise against 
 accepting salvation as thus a free gift in Christ 
 Jesus ! How open is even the believer's soul to 
 the suggestion, tliat there is something in his 
 prayers, his alms, his self-denial, or his diligence 
 
 * John iii. 1 " 
 § Rom. iii. 2S. 
 
 t Acts xvi. 31. 
 II Koni. iv. .). 
 
 t Acts xiii, 39. 
 f Rom. V. 1. 
 
54 
 
 EVE BEOUILED. 
 
 v^'- 11 
 
 which commends liim, for Christ's sake, to the 
 Father ! Yet how great the danger, how fearful 
 the peril they incur, who allow any one thing to 
 be mingled up, in however faint a manner, with 
 His work, who trod the winepress alone, and 
 will give no portion of his honor to another ! 
 
 2. By "the simplicity that is in Christ" is 
 meant, secondly, the consistencij of the Christian's 
 ivalk as a follower of the Lord Jesus. St. Paul 
 appeals to the Corinthians to bear him witness, 
 how " in simplicity and godly sincerity, not with 
 fleshly wisdom, but by the grace of God, he had 
 had his conversation in the world."* And 
 surely a leading feature in the walk of his 
 Master and ours was the simplicity that marked 
 Him in all His intercourse with the generation 
 amid which He walked. How often is the Chris- 
 tian tempted rather to be conformed to this world! 
 How often tempted to take for his guide the 
 maxims and opinions of the world, instead of the 
 simple inquiry, AVhat saith the Lord? How 
 often tempted to consider what the world ex- 
 pects of him, rather than simply to ask, Lord, 
 what wilt thou have me to do? How often 
 tempted rather to walk u., others walk, than to 
 follow Christ fully, and walk even as He walked! 
 And yet, though his obedience to the word, and 
 his imitation of the example of Christ form no 
 
 * 2 (or. i. Il^ 
 
EVE BEGUILED. 
 
 65 
 
 part of the grounds of his dependance, what 
 Christian can without peril of his soul neglect 
 one precept of the Saviour, and forsake in the 
 minutest particular the following of His steps ? 
 The true Christian is not more remarkable for 
 the simplicity of his dependance upon Christ as 
 the sole foundation of his hopes, than he is for 
 the earnestness of his desire and diligence of his 
 endeavor to be in all things conformed to His 
 image, in all things to be guided by His 11. 
 What cause has he then for watchfulness over 
 himself, lest in anything he be conformed to the 
 spirit of the world, and forsake the lovely 
 pattern which his Lord has left! What sim- 
 plicity of purpose, what singleness of eye, what 
 earnestness of affection, what devotion of heart 
 should be manifested by a soul, conscious of such 
 engagements to the Saviour, and anticipating 
 such happiness in Him! O! who can truly 
 realize that he has a portion in Christ Jesus, 
 that he is a " member of His body, of His flesh, 
 and of His bones,"* and not aim to be daily 
 more and more like Him, and more and more 
 prepared for His coming ! 
 
 Dearly beloved, the minister of God in every 
 age, whose heart is in his work, must share, in 
 some measure at least, the anxieties whicli St. 
 Paul experienced with regard to the souls among 
 
 * Kph. V. ao. 
 
5i5 
 
 EVE BEGUILED. 
 
 whom lie went preaching the Gospel of the 
 grace of God. And can we think of you, and 
 of the charge committed to us to watch for your 
 souls, and not earnestly and anxiously inquire 
 whether ye have truly come and joined your- 
 selves to Christ ? How many are there of you, 
 who yet know Him not ; who bear His name,' 
 but have no interest in His work; who call 
 yourselves Christians, but have no love for the 
 Saviour ! Beloved, the Lord still waiteth to be 
 gracious; Pie yet invites, He yet pleads with you 
 to come: but beware! His "Spirit shall not 
 always strive with man;"* beware, lest ye pro- 
 voke Him to swear in His wrath, that ye shall 
 not enter into His rest ! 
 
 Earnestly, beloved, and anxiously would we 
 plead with you, who have come and taken upon 
 you the yoke of Christ, to take heed, lest, by 
 any unwatchfulness of yours, Satan gain an 
 advantage over you. Ye are "not ignorant of 
 his devices."t His craft is to lead you to a 
 questioning, or murmuring, or worldly spirit, 
 knowing that, if once ye harbor these, ye will 
 fall an easy prey to his assaults. Be watchful 
 then, beloved, " be sober, be vigilant."+ Watch 
 especially over your affections ; guard well the 
 avenues of the heart. It is the heart the Lord 
 Jesus asks for ; and tlie costliest service, without 
 * f'en. vi. ;?. t 2 C'nr. ii. 2. | | iVt. v. 8. 
 
EVE BEGUILED. 
 
 57 
 
 the heart's affections, were abomination in His 
 sight. Beware, then, lest any man spoil you by 
 the traditions of men, which are not after Christ ; 
 beware lest Satan ensnare you by the subtilties 
 of a false faith ! "Ye are complete in Him, 
 who is the Head."* Hold on to Him, and ye 
 shall be safe. 
 
 Earnestly, beloved, and anxiously would we 
 urge on you a sense of your privileges in being 
 espoused to the Lord Jesus. Though ye are 
 black, in yourselves, yet are ye comely,f through 
 the comeliness which He puts upon you. The 
 life of our first parents was entrusted to their 
 own keeping, and they lost it ; yours is in the 
 keeping of Christ, J and it is safe. How should 
 this belief make you watchful over yourselves ; 
 how should this hope lead you to purify your- 
 selves, even as He is pure!§ How should ye 
 "set your affections on things above, not on 
 things on the earth ! For ye are dead, and your 
 life is hid with Christ in God. When Christ, 
 who is our life, sliall appear, then shall ye also 
 appear with Him in glory."|| Who can believe 
 tliis, and not " give diligence to be found of 
 Him in peace, without spot and blameless ?"^ 
 
 * Col. ii. 10. t Cant. i. 5. 
 II Col. iii. 4. 
 
 t Col. iii. 3. § 1 John iii. 3. 
 t 2 Pet. iii. 14. 
 
SERMON IV. 
 
 THEY FOLLOWED HIM. 
 
 iriiK ] 
 
 i = 
 
 St. Mark i. 18. 
 
 And stmightwaif they forsook their nets, and 
 followed Him. 
 
 As in the kingdom of nature, so in the kingdom 
 of grace, there is a resemblance in the main 
 features of the various phoenomena which abound 
 in them, whatever variety may exist in the de- 
 tails. The whirlwind, the earthquake, the storm, 
 the fire, however different may be the circum- 
 stances by which each may be attended, and the 
 scene in which it may act, are yet, in their lead- 
 ing characteristics, everywhere the same. And as 
 "the wind bloweth where itlisteth, and thou liear- 
 est the sound thereof, but canst not tell whence 
 it Cometh, and whither it goeth ; so is every one 
 that is born of the Spirit."* There may be 
 
 * John iii. ^i. 
 
THEY FOLLOWED HIM. 
 
 59 
 
 different circumstances attending each conversion 
 of a soul to God. The conviction of sin may be 
 stirred up by different occurrences in one case 
 and in another. The call of grace may have 
 fallen upon the ear, and been brought home to 
 the heart, through various channels. One 
 weapon may have brought down the strong 
 holds, behind which one sheltered himself, and 
 another have demolished the refuges of another. 
 Yet still, as regards the essential marks of con- 
 viction of sin, of the call of grace, of the conver- 
 sion of the heart, there is a resemblance per- 
 vading those phoenomena in the kingdom of 
 grace, wherever they may be traced. 
 
 And, on this account, while there is so vast a 
 difference in the situation and circumstances of 
 mankind, so great a variety of tastes and habits, 
 of professions and pursuits, of tempers and incli- 
 nations, of temptations and trials, distinguishing 
 one man from another, it will be found, that the 
 various cases, which occur from time to time, of 
 the conversion of the heart to God present some 
 leading trait of general resemblance. " As in 
 water face answereth to face," so, in the mirror 
 of the truth of God, the heart of man corresponds 
 with that of his fellow-man, in the leading cha- 
 racteristics.* 
 
 When, then, we find instances recorded in the 
 * Prov. xxvii. IJ). 
 
mM 
 
 60 
 
 THEY FOLLOWED HIM. 
 
 blessed Book, of the call addressed by the Word 
 of Jesus to the sinner's heart, and of the effect 
 which graciously accompanied the call, in bring- 
 ing the sinner to His feet, we may be sure that 
 there is something in the narrative which, inde- 
 pendantly of the pecuHar circumstances it de- 
 tails, is calculated to convey instruction, suited 
 to every age and every condition of mankind. 
 Because the first persons, to whom the word 
 that fell from the lips of the Lord Jesus was 
 made effectual, were called to be His apostles, 
 we may not thence imagine that their call has no 
 lesson for us. Because the grace, that acted 
 upon their minds and hearts, was such as fitted 
 them for the arduous work to which they were 
 especially called, and strengthened them for the 
 peculiar trials by which tlieir path was pre- 
 eminently beset, we may not thence conclude, 
 that similar operations of divine grace are not,' 
 according to the occasion, to be looked for in 
 ourselves. The call to be Apostles was peculiar ; 
 the call to be Christians is as applicable to 
 every one that should beHeve through their 
 word, as to them. The grace that qualified them 
 for the apostolic office was extraordinary; the 
 grace that disposed them to give up all for 
 Christ, and strengthened them to take up their 
 cross daily and follow Him, is the same that, in 
 the case of every true child of God, turns him 
 
THEY FOLLOWED HIM, 
 
 61 
 
 from his ungodliness, converts his soul, and 
 makes him a new creature in Christ Jesus. 
 
 We may take, then, such a case as that to 
 which the text refers,— the call of the two first 
 that the Lord Jesus numbered among His per- 
 sonal attendants,— and gather from its consider- 
 ation, if tlie Lord vouchsafe to bless it, some 
 material for the edification of our souls. Be- 
 loved, let us intreat that blessing, and pray the 
 Lord so to sanctify our present meditations to 
 our souls' good, that we may be led, each of us, 
 to examine whether we have yet heeded the call 
 which the Lord addresses to our hearts, whether 
 we have yet left all, and followed Jesus. 
 
 The particulars of the call of the two dis- 
 ciples, to whom the text refers, are given by 
 St. Matthew and St. Mark in nearly the same 
 simple terms. Shortly after the Lord Jesus 
 commenced His ministry, " preaching the Gospel 
 of the kingdom of God," " as He walked by the 
 sea of Galilee, He saw Simon and Andrew his 
 brother casting a net into the sea ; for they were 
 fishers. And Jesus said unto them. Come ye 
 after me, and I will make you to become fishers 
 of men. And straightway they forsook their 
 nets, and followed Him."* 
 
 I. In endeavouring to apply this call to our 
 
 * Mark i. 16 — 18. 
 
62 
 
 THEY FOLLOWED HBF. 
 
 own improvement, let us consider, in the first 
 place, beloved, the character and circum- 
 stances OF the persons called. 
 
 1. And, first, we perceive them to be un- 
 learned and ignorant men. This was fre- 
 quently charged upon them by the Scribes and 
 Pharisees of their day, in order to deprive their 
 teaching and their example of what little influ- 
 ence they might have had among the people. 
 Yet this same feature of their character con- 
 strained those, who, in after days, witnessed 
 their boldness in danger, their readiness against 
 argument, and their firmness against threats, to 
 " take knowledge of them that they had been 
 with Jesus,"* and had imbibed His spirit, and 
 were sustained by Hij strength. 
 
 It may be feared that too often, in the present 
 day, the appeals of the Gospel, urging the con- 
 Aversion of the heart to God, are put aside by a 
 remark upon the generally simple character and 
 low worldly attainments of those that profess to 
 feel the need of thus giving themselves to God. 
 Often do we hear it said, that the appeals of the 
 Gospel, calling for the renunciation of the world, 
 and the devotion of body and soul to th > service 
 of Christ, may do well enough for the excitable 
 temperaments and unsettled judgments of the 
 young, or for the tender sensibilities and nervous 
 
 * Acts iv. 13. 
 
 .'i-m 
 
THEY FOLLOWED HIM. 
 
 63 
 
 fancies of the female mind ; but tliat you will not 
 find strong-minded men, the learned, or the 
 worldly-wise, so easily drawn away by these 
 notions. Strange commentary this upon the 
 Apostle's assurance, that " not many wise men 
 after the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble 
 are called; but God hath chosen the foolish 
 things of the world to confound the wise, and 
 God hath chosen the weak things of the world 
 to confound the things that are mighty."* Be 
 it so, then, beloved, that the large proportion of 
 those that truly give themselves up to the fol- 
 lowing of Jesus, are simple-minded, and, in the 
 world's account, fools; how much better will it 
 have been to cast in our lot with them, and to 
 " become fools that we may be wise,"f than to 
 go on boasting of our wisdom, until « our feet 
 stumble upon the dark mountains," J and our 
 light goes out for ever ! 
 
 2. Secondly, we perceive the persons referred 
 to in the text to be needy men. They were 
 truly dependant upon their daily exertions for 
 their daily bread, and had seemingly no other 
 means, than those which the labor of their 
 hands aff"orded, for the supply of those that 
 looked to them for support. Yet He who calls 
 them "has not where to lay His head."§ He 
 
 * 1 Cor. i. 26, 27. t2Cor.iii. 18. JJer. xiii. 16. 
 § Luke ix. 58. 
 
64 
 
 THEY FOLLOWED HIM. 
 
 holds out to them no temporal inducements, 
 promises them no worldly ease, offers them no 
 present enjoyment, to dntw llieiu to His service, 
 but makes it plain to them, at the very outset, 
 that they must encounter poverty, privation, want. 
 There are many, who are willing to put them- 
 selves in the same class with these disriplcp, to 
 declare that they are needy, and living as it 
 were from hand to mouth, upon the fruit of 
 their daily toil, who yet urge these worldly 
 circumstances rather as an excuse for putting 
 away from them, for the present at least, the 
 call of the blessed Jesus. How often may we 
 hear it urged that, if there be such a renouncing 
 of tlie world, such a mortification of the flesh, 
 such a following of Christ necessary to constitute 
 the true Christian, such a Gospel will not do for 
 the men of business, at least for those who are 
 dependant upon their business for their bread! 
 Yet our Saviour, by addressing His call in the 
 first place to such men as those of the text, 
 would seem to teach, that there was something 
 in their condition, for which His Gospel was 
 specially adapted; and, for their comfort, He 
 has annexed a promise to His call, " Seek ye 
 first the kingdom of God, and His righteousness, 
 and all these things shall be added unto you.''* 
 Perhaps not superfluities, perhaps not wealth ; 
 
 * Mntt. vi. S3. 
 
 .'11 
 
THEY FOLLOWED HIM. 
 
 65 
 
 but those things, of which your heavenly Father 
 seeth that ye have need. It may be, however, 
 that the call of Christ is a call to choose between 
 His service with poverty, and the service of the 
 world with wealth. Let the conduct of the two 
 disciples show you, beloved, how the grace of 
 God should lead you to decide. 
 
 3. The persons referred to were moral men. 
 Such, at least, is the impression which we should 
 gather from the little that is told us concerning 
 them. Yet their morality did not exempt them 
 fromthenecessity of coming to Jesus, and following 
 Him. Nay, even after He had caUed them, and 
 they had joined themselves to Him, lest they should 
 think that an outward adherence to Him was all 
 that was necessary, He said to them, « Except ye 
 be converted, and become as little children, ye 
 shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven."* 
 And there are other cases in the New Testament 
 Scriptures, and none more striking than that of 
 Cornelius the centurion, which show us, that no 
 moral excellence, no exactness in living up 
 to the profession that one makes, will answer 
 instead of coming to Christ by a simple and 
 lively faith in Him. And it is not unfrequently 
 suggested as a difficulty now in the way of the ' 
 requirements of the Gospel, that there are per- 
 sons, who are amiable and exceUent in every 
 
 * Matt, xviii. 3. 
 P 
 
66 
 
 THEY FOLLOWED HIM. 
 
 relation of life, but who yet have never felt the 
 need of being converted to God, nor experienced 
 any change of heart ; and the question is 
 triumphantly asked. Will not these be saved? 
 Will such as these be cast out at last because 
 they have not been what is called converted 1 
 Yet both the doctrine and the example of the 
 New Testament show us the necessity, in any 
 and in every case, of coming to Jesus, and 
 taking up his cross, and following Him ; and 
 reveal to us no other way, by which a soul can 
 enter heaven, than through a lively faith in 
 Jesus. The charge of uncharitableness will be 
 often brought against those that insist upon the 
 necessity of a change of heart in all that would 
 be saved ; but take heed, beloved, lest ye include 
 in this charge even Him who has said, " Except 
 a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom 
 of God."* 
 
 II. Let us consider, in the second place, the 
 NATURE OF THE CALL, which was addrcsscd by 
 our Lord Jesus to the disciples referred to in the 
 text. 
 
 1. And it was, first, a personal call. It 
 was addressed to Andrew and Peter, and meant 
 expressly for them. And, beloved, not less per- 
 sonal is the call, addressed by the Gospel of 
 
 * John iii. 3. 
 
 i 
 
THEY FOLLOWED HIM. 
 
 67 
 
 Christ Jesus, to the heart of every ivrll-'i^'ial 
 sinner that has a soul to be saved. Thert is 
 indeed, too generally found an uuw ppy I'lcility 
 of putting away from ourselves the ^t .!• f the 
 Gospel, and of either escaping their forcf oy the 
 remark, how much we all need ' ^ more 
 religious than we are, or of evading their 
 application by discovering their exact suitable- 
 ness to some of our neighbors. " Yes, there are 
 many, for whom it would indeed be well that 
 they should forsake their sins, and be converted 
 to God ; but it cannot be necessary for us ! " 
 But, beloved, the call of the Gospel is a direct 
 and personal call to every one of you. To thee 
 —and to thee—and to thee,— to you, beloved, 
 and to me, is the call addressed by our blessed 
 Lord, Follow me ! It will avail you nothing in 
 the day of the Lord, to plead that you have gone 
 with the multitude, and have done as others did. 
 The question will be. Have you heeded the call 
 of Jesus : have you come and followed Him ? 
 
 2. It was, secondly, a distinct call — a call 
 to follow Jesus. It was no confused sound that 
 struck upon the ear ; no voice from the clouds, 
 no impression upon their fancy, that they were' 
 called to obey. There stood the Lord Jesus by 
 the sea-side ; in Him, as we may gather from 
 St. John's Gospel,* they recognised One, to 
 
 * John i. 35 — 42. 
 F 2 
 
68 
 
 THEY FOLLOAVED HIM. 
 
 whom their attention had been already called, as 
 " the Lamb of God, that taketh away the sins of 
 the world," and heard Him distinctly address to 
 them the call, Follow me ! And surely, beloved, 
 not less distinct is the call which the Lord Jesus 
 addresses to your hearts. He stands not, indeed, 
 by His bodily presence in the midst of you ; but 
 by the voice of His providence, by the ministry 
 of His grace. He appeals to your souls. Is not 
 the touch of sickness ; is not the stroke of 
 bereavement ; is not the pressure of affliction ; is 
 not the changing season ; is not the disappoint- 
 ment of our earthly hopes ; is not the lapse of 
 years; is not the approach of age ;— are not 
 these things, in one case and anotlier, loud and 
 distinct calls from the Lord Jesus, Follow me ! 
 Is not the profession of your baptism ; is not the 
 free access to the Bible ; is not the frequency of 
 the preached Word ; is not the commemoration 
 of the dying love of Christ ;— are not all and 
 each of these a distinct call from the Lord Jesus 
 Himself, Follow me ! O yes ! however ye may 
 put away the call, there can be none of you so 
 dull, as not to hear, in the various providences 
 and means of grace around you, the call to 
 follow Christ. 
 
 3. And this is, thirdly, an intelligible call. 
 In the case of the disciples of the text, it left no 
 doubt upon their minds of its meaning; no 
 
THEY FOLLOWED HIM. 
 
 69 
 
 question as to the nature of the duty to which it 
 called them. And this call is equally intel- 
 ligible now, however men may try to cover their 
 neglect of it by referring to the difference of 
 their circumstances from those of the apostles in 
 the text. Ye are not called upon, as they were, 
 to forsake your worldly calling ; but as their 
 worldly calling, if they had clung to it in pre- 
 ference to the Saviour, would have been sin, and 
 have caused their ruin, -o there may be many 
 things, in themselves as innocent as their fishing, 
 which yet, coming between you and the Saviour, 
 and keeping you away from Him, become sin to 
 you, and tend to your destruction. Now, there 
 can be few, if any, so dull as not to know what 
 there is in their lives that they would not like 
 the Lord Jesus to be privy to; what there is 
 about them, that must be changed before 
 they could be fit to dwell with God. The call 
 to follow Jesus is a call to renounce the spirit 
 of the world, its vanities and follies, its principles 
 and maxims, its joys and pleasures, as being 
 contrary to the mind and spirit of Christ, and 
 utterly unsuited to the enjoyment of His King- 
 dom. And there can be few so dull as not to 
 perceive, that there is a great diflference between 
 looking to Christ alone for salvation, and trust- 
 ing to ourselves ; between the most scrupulous 
 observance of outward ceremonies, and the 
 
' m 
 
 Hm- 
 
 mil 
 
 70 
 
 THEY FOLLOWED HIM. 
 
 religion of the heart ; between the scale of 
 religion which satisfies the world, and that 
 "holiness without which no man can see the 
 Lord."* The call to follow Jesus is a call to 
 give the heart to Him, to glory only in His 
 cross, as the sole ground of justification, and, 
 through faith in His cross, to crucify the world 
 and the flesh, and to walk in newness and holi- 
 ness of life. Beloved, is not this an inteUigible 
 call ? Do ye not understand it, if ye were only 
 willing to apply it to yourselves ? O ! beware, 
 then, how ye endeavour to put away its force, 
 lest ye be speechless in the day when the Lord 
 shall ask, "How camest thou in hither, not 
 having a wedding-garment V'-f 
 
 4. In the case of the disciples of the text, this 
 was, fourthly, an effectual call. By the 
 power of the Holy Spirit accompanying the call, 
 it was brought home to their hearts, and led 
 them at once to comply v(dth the Saviour's 
 demand. It is to the power of the Spirit alone 
 that this effect is to be ascribed. There was 
 nothing in the word even of the Lord Jesus 
 himself, that made His call peculiarly effectual ; 
 else why was it that, of so many yhom He 
 called, so few became His followers'? There 
 are instances expressly recorded, like that 
 of the rich young man, who, though called, as 
 
 * Heb. xii. 14. 
 
 t Matt, xxii, 12. 
 
THEY FOLLOWED HIM. 
 
 71 
 
 ? scale of 
 
 and that 
 
 n see the 
 
 a call to 
 
 ly in His 
 
 tion, and, 
 
 the world 
 
 and holi- 
 
 iitelligible 
 
 were only 
 
 ! beware, 
 
 its force, 
 
 the Lord 
 
 ither, not 
 
 text, this 
 
 By the 
 
 J the call, 
 
 and led 
 
 Saviour's 
 
 lirit alone 
 
 here was 
 
 )rd Jesus 
 
 effectual ; 
 
 horn He 
 
 There 
 
 ike that 
 
 Jailed, as 
 
 12. 
 
 these disciples had been, to forsake all and 
 follow Christ, went away grieved. And, surely, 
 these have been recorded in order to deprive the 
 world of any age of the excuse, that, if they had 
 heard the voice of the Lord Jesus himself, they 
 would have believed. The same power of the 
 Spirit was necessary to apply the word of the 
 Lord Jesus himself, as that of the weakest, 
 meanest of His instruments. The word of His 
 weakest instrument, spoken in His name, is His 
 word ; and the same power, if sought, will bring 
 it home, and make it a means of glorifying 
 Christ by bringing the sinner to His feet. 
 There are those who complain, perhaps sin- 
 cerely, that the read and preached word pro- 
 duces so little effect upon their hearts. Beloved, 
 do ye look for, do ye pray for, do ye wait for 
 that power of the Spirit which, if really sought, 
 will never be withheld, and whose promised 
 effect it is to " take of the things of Christ 
 and show them unto youT'* 
 
 III. In the case of the disciples we have 
 remarked, the call was effectual: let us observe, 
 in the third place, how its effect was shown. 
 
 1. It produced, first, an imme'TAte acquies- 
 cence. " Straightway/ they left tht^ nets and 
 followed Him." This was one great charm of 
 
 * Jolm xvi. 1 i \r. 
 
 S[.i.%i<f|M!., 
 
 rs^P 
 
m 
 
 72 
 
 THEY FOLLOWED HIM. 
 
 their obedience :— they obeyed at once. They 
 did not plead, as some did, that they might 
 wait till they had buried their father. They 
 did not ask for indulgence, that they might go, 
 bid them farewell that were at home.* No- 
 thing was allowed to come between them 
 and the Lord that called them. Straightway 
 they followed him. 
 
 This was a great beauty in Abraham's obe- 
 dience. CaUed as he was to a most painful 
 duty, he " rose up early in the morning"! and 
 set out. This was a lovely feature in the 
 Psalmist's obedience. " I made haste, and 
 delayed not to keep thy commandments." $ 
 And, gracious as the Lord is, can we suppose 
 it can be otherwise than provoking to Him, 
 to see those, who can no longer escape the 
 application of His calls to themselves, striving 
 to bargain, as it were, with Him for a little 
 longer delay : and, in the spirit of the sluggard 
 exclaiming, « Yet a little sleep, a little slumber^ 
 a little folding of the hands to sleep,"§ before 
 we awake up and set out to serve thee. Nay, 
 can we shut our eyes to the danger of delay? 
 What are we, that we should be speaking of 
 to-morrow, as a time for beginning to serve 
 God 'i What is our leasehold of life, that we 
 
 * Luke ix. 59, 61. f Gen. xxii. 3. J Ps. cxix. 60. 
 § Prov. xxiv. 33. 
 
THEY FOLLOWED HIM. 
 
 73 
 
 e. They 
 7 might 
 . They 
 night go, 
 e.* No- 
 rn them 
 aightvvay 
 
 m's obe- 
 ; painful 
 g"tand 
 
 in the 
 3te, and 
 nents.":}: 
 suppose 
 o Him, 
 ape the 
 striving 
 
 a little 
 uggard, 
 lumber, 
 \ before 
 • Nay, 
 ' delay? 
 king of 
 serve 
 hat we 
 
 ix. 60. 
 
 should be putting off from day to day the vast 
 interests of our souls? Beloved, the call of 
 Christ is a present, it is an urgent call. Neglect 
 it, turn away from it, —and it may never reach 
 your ear again. « Behold ! now is the accepted 
 time, behold! now is the day of salvation."* 
 Make haste, then, and delay not to come and 
 follow Christ. 
 
 2. The obedience, to which this call led the 
 disciples, was, secondly, a cordial and un- 
 reserved OBEDIENCE." " Thei/ left all, and 
 followed Him." Not only was there no pleading 
 for delay;— there was no remonstrance as to 
 terms, no clinging to some old habit, no bar- 
 gaining for some past indulgence ; they left all 
 and followed Him. And, beloved, though the 
 Lord indeed waiteth to be gracious, and bears 
 with all our backwardness, and hesitation, 
 and delay, till at last ungodly man begins to 
 think He will not execute His threatenings at 
 all, yet He allows no compromise with regard 
 to the fulness and completeness of the surrender 
 of the heart to Him. " Give me thine heart,"t 
 is His demand. A divided heart He will have 
 none of A partial and reserved obedience has 
 no favour in His sight. And yet, in asking a 
 cordial and entire obedience. He asks no more 
 than ye, than every one of you, have pledged 
 * 2 Cor. vi. 2. t Piov. xxiii. 26. 
 
74 
 
 THEY FOLLOWED HIM. 
 
 yourselves to pay. To renounce the pomps and 
 vanities of this wicked world, and all the sinful 
 passions and affections of the flesh ; to cast off 
 the yoke of the Devil, and renounce all words 
 and works which bear his mark ; and to keep 
 God's holy will and commandments, not in the 
 outward letter only, but in the inmost spirit ; — 
 this is what ye have promised ; this is what ye 
 must answer how ye have rendered to the Lord. 
 Beloved, He may not be trifled with ; He may 
 not be mocked. Ye may try to persuade your- 
 selves that ye have renounced the pomps and 
 vanities of the world, while yet your hearts are 
 set upon its trifling amusements and giddy joys ; 
 ye may try to believe that ye have renounced 
 the flesh, while yet the chief object of your lives 
 is mere self-indulgence : but think not, beloved, 
 that ye can deceive Him, because your own 
 hearts are willingly deceived. A change of 
 heart, manifested in the renunciation of the 
 world, and the hearty surrender of yourselves 
 to the willing service of the Lord Jesus;— this 
 is what the disciples in the text were called to ; 
 this is what the Lord demands oi you, when 
 He says to you. Follow me ! 
 
 3. The call addressed to the disciples was an 
 effectual call, in that it produced, thirdly, a 
 CONTINUED OBEDIENCE. " They followed Him." 
 
THEY FOLLOWED HIM. 
 
 75 
 
 Theirs was not a sudden burst, like that of the 
 scribe, " Blessed is he that shall eat bread in 
 the kingdom of God; "* but who would take no 
 l)ains to seek an entrance there. Theirs was 
 not a mere hasty profession, like his who ex- 
 claimed, "Lord, I will follow Thee whither- 
 soever thou goest!"t but who does not appear 
 to have followed Him at all. No ; they went 
 after Jesus; and though, doubtless, He had 
 much to bear with from their petulance, and 
 inconsistencies, and remaining worldliness, still 
 they appear to have adhered stedfastly to Him. 
 And, beloved, the only way in which the call of 
 the Gospel is proved to be an effectual call, is 
 the continuance of the disciple in the path of 
 godliness. We sometimes, alas ! see those, who, 
 while the call of providence or of grace is 
 sounding in their ears, profess themselves ready 
 to follow Christ, as soon as danger passes away, 
 or the pressure of sickness or calamity is re- 
 moved, giving themselves up again to the world. 
 We sometimes, alas ! see those, who for a time 
 seemed to run well, going back again to the 
 beggarly elements of the world, and forgetting 
 the professions they had made. Here, then, we 
 have no evidence, that the Spirit of the Lord 
 had been really at work. " If ye continue in 
 * Luke xiv. 15. f Luke ix. 57. 
 
76 
 
 THEY FOLLOWED HIM. 
 
 my word," saith the Lord Jesus, " then are ye 
 my disciples indeed."* There may be, alas! 
 many short-comings, many inconsistencies; the 
 Lord may have much to bear with in the cold- 
 ness, the petulance, the worldliness, even of 
 His disciples ; — but they that are such indeed, 
 still cling to Him, and make it the great desire 
 and purpose of their lives to follow Him. 
 
 Dearly beloved, wherever two or three are 
 gathered together in the name of Jesus, there 
 He is in the midst. f He is here then, beloved, 
 among you, just as surely as He stood by the 
 sea side, when Andrew and Peter were in the 
 ship; and, by the voice of His preached word 
 addresses to you, just as truly as by His living 
 voice He addressed to them, the call to follow 
 Him. Can it be as truly said of you. Ye have 
 forsaken all, and followed Him 1 
 
 What say ye, beloved, who are just in the 
 morning of your days, with the world and its 
 temptations enticing you, and your own hearts 
 pleading for indulgence; have ye heeded the 
 Lord's call, renounced the world, and set out 
 to follow Christ] My dear young friends, 
 the gracious Saviour pleads with you by His 
 dying love, not to reject His mercies, and for 
 the sake of the world's vanities, to cast off His 
 
 * John viii. 31. f Matt, xviii. 20. 
 
 «/itiiiii 
 
THEY FOLLOWED HIM. 
 
 77 
 
 claims upon your hearts. O ! sow not anguish 
 and despair against a dying hour, by now neg- 
 lecting His call of love ; and provoke Him not 
 to treasure up for you against the day of wrath, 
 the echo of your own reply to Him, " Depart 
 from me, I know you not." 
 
 How is it with you, beloved, who are engaged 
 in the very thick of the business and traffic of 
 the world ; how do ye act upon the spirit of the 
 call to come and follow Jesus? Ye are not 
 called upon to forsake any worldly calling, which 
 is not in itself sinful ; but there are few, if any 
 worldly callings, in which there are not abun- 
 dant temptations to sin. Do ye, in these cases, 
 show, that ye are determined to follow Christ ? 
 Is gain less precious to you than godHness ? Are 
 prayer, and the Sabbath-day, and the reading of 
 the Scriptures more prized, than the opportu- 
 nities of worldly increase ? Is heaven a dearer 
 object of pursuit than wealth 1 Be honest with 
 yourselves, beloved, that ye may know whether 
 ye are following Christ, or no. 
 
 And what will ye answer, beloved, whose 
 hearts are engrossed by the affections and ties 
 of earth? Have ye renounced these, and fol- 
 lowed Christ ? The ties of natural kindred were 
 designed by the Lord to twine closely round the 
 heart; and yet he cannot be a disciple of Jesus 
 
78 
 
 THEY FOLLOWED HIM. 
 
 who does not hate all the dearest objects of 
 affection, in comparison with his love for 
 Christ.* When one of the martyrs was at 
 the stake, and the flames were just about to 
 be enkindled, his wife and children were brought 
 before him to induce him to recant, and he was 
 asked, if he did not love them. " Love them," 
 he exclaimed, " Yes ! If all the world were gold, 
 and at my disposal, I would gladly give it for 
 the sake of living with them, even in a prison ; 
 but in comparison with Christ, I love them not." 
 Beloved, there may be no scene of martyrdom 
 to try you ; but how do ye show your love for 
 Jesus, when He tries you by the strokes of His 
 hand upon those dear to you ? Is it by repining 
 at the hardship of His thus dealing with you : 
 or is it by the meek bowing of your will to His, 
 Thy will be done "? Beloved, there are few who 
 can love their parents or their children more 
 '^an God would have them love them; but 
 when they come between your hearts and Christ 
 himself, then are they idols, which endanger 
 your salvation. O ! pray for grace to give up 
 all for Christ ! O ! beware, lest He say of you, 
 They are joined to their idols, let them alone !f 
 
 Dearly beloved, may the Lord Jesus accom- 
 pany and apply His call to each one of your 
 * Luke xiv. 26. f Hosea iv. 17. 
 
THEY FOLLOWED HIM. 
 
 79 
 
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 SINS FORGIVEN. 
 
 St. Luke v. 20. 
 
 And when He saw their faith, He said, Man, thy 
 sins are forgiven thee. 
 
 "Blessed are they whose iniquities are for- 
 given, and whose sins are covered. Blessed is 
 the man to whom the Lord will not impute 
 sin."* 
 
 So sang the Psalmist in old time, as, sur- 
 rounded with every thing that could gratify 
 ambition, or minister to luxury, or please the 
 fancy, or indulge the taste, he felt and he 
 exclaimed, that there was no happiness to be 
 compared with his, who is at peace with God : 
 that there is no true blessedness but his, whose 
 sins are pardoned, whose iniquity is forgiven. 
 And so, in later times, hath an apostle taken 
 
 Ps. xxxii. 1,2} Rom. iv. 7, 8. 
 
SINS FORGIVEN. 
 
 81 
 
 up the strain; and, as he traced with a pencil 
 of light the path which only leads to pardon 
 and to peace with God, joined in proclaiming 
 hrm the only happy being, who has found this 
 peace,-m pronouncing him alone truly blessed 
 that hath laid his sins on Jesus, and received 
 the assurance of forgiveness at His hands 
 
 And the heart of man in every age hath 
 borne witness to the truth of this announcement. 
 Whether it be that the soul is so immersed in 
 the cares and pleasures of the world, that scarce 
 a passing thought can be bestowed upon the 
 vast concerns of eternity ; or, on the other hand 
 the heart be given up to the pursuit of that 
 better portion, which shall satisfy its largest 
 desires throughout the longest hour of its im- 
 mortality; the passing thought in one case, the 
 devotion of the heart in the other, admit the 
 blessedness of those "that know the joyful 
 sound"* of pardon and of peace. There is a 
 worm at the root of the world's happiness, 
 which dooms its hapless votary to disappoint- 
 ment, even in the moment of anticipated iov • 
 there is a blight over the brightest prospect o^ 
 human enjoyment, that is lighted up only by 
 the false glare of earthly pleasure ; and that 
 worm IS the gnawing of an unsatisfied con- 
 science, that blight, the consciousness of unfor- 
 * Psalm Ixxxix. 15. 
 
82 
 
 SINS FORGIVEN. 
 
 .! ..ti 
 
 given sin, for which an answer must he given 
 at the great day of account. There is a peace 
 which passeth understanding, which often calms 
 and cheers the soul, whose earthly lot is one of 
 misery and distress : there is a joy, with which 
 the stranger intermeddleth not, which no worldly 
 pleasure can impart, no worldly trouble take 
 away; and that joy arises from the sense of 
 pardon and acceptance with God: that peace 
 flows over the soul, when tlie burden of its sins 
 has been removed, and the acquittance of its 
 amazing debt been signed and sealed. Beloved! 
 which testimony do your souls bear to the 
 precious truth ? Is it the witness of a hear^ 
 laboring to satisfy itself with the things of 
 earth, and flying from one pleasure to another 
 in order to keep up the excitement in which 
 alone your disappointment can be hushed ; yet, 
 still compelled reluctantly to admit, that there 
 is a something yet unfound, an ingredient of 
 happiness yet unattaiued, and without which 
 ye are not at peace? Or is it the testimony, 
 which the witness of God's Spirit ratifies and 
 confirms, that ye have carried your sins to Jesus, 
 have laid them upon Him, have heard His voice 
 speaking pardon and peace, and are enjoying in 
 your own souls the precious sense of God's 
 reconciled countenance, the confidence of His 
 favour, the assured hope of His glory ? Surely, 
 
SINS FORGIVEN. 
 
 83 
 
 there is a vast difference here! Which, dearly 
 beloved, is your case ? 
 
 These reflections seem naturally to arise from 
 hearing the gracious answer, with which our 
 Lord, as in the text, replied to the earnest 
 application of a poor paralytic for relief. Help. 
 less himself, unable to drag his palsied limbs 
 along, and totter into the presence of the lowly 
 Jesus, this poor creature was carried by his 
 friends when the crowd, that thronged the 
 doors without, marked out the house where 
 Jesus was. Yet even when arrived there, he 
 seemed little nearer the attainment of his hopes; 
 for the multitude crowded so around the door, 
 some, selfish in their sorrows, pressing on to 
 gain the eye of Jesus, some, eager in their 
 curiosity, elbowing their way to the immediate 
 scene of the wonders which He wrought, that 
 there seemed no prospect and no possibility of 
 gaining access for this poor paralytic and his 
 couch. Yet his faithful friends were not in- 
 clined so easily to give up hope. A thought 
 strikes them; and, as if despairing of reaching 
 the presence of Jesus, they enter a neighboring 
 dwelling, as if for a few moments' res.. They 
 bear their helpless load to the top of the house, 
 and, hurrying him along the flat roofs which in 
 those countries joined house to house, and were 
 places both of occasional retirement and of 
 
 G 2 
 
': > 
 
 84 
 
 SINS FORGIVEN. 
 
 public resort, until they came over where Jesus 
 was, they began to remove the tiling, and, 
 lowering him down into the midst of the 
 assembled crowd, laid him at the feet of Jesus. 
 The Lord saw in this act a proof of their per- 
 suasion of His power, their confidence in His 
 willingness, their trust in His benevolence and 
 love : and, His heart overflowing with a richer 
 blessing than was His wont to bestow upon those 
 who thronged Him for a cure, He said to him 
 at once, "Thy sins be forgiven thee." But 
 there were Scribes and Pharisees sitting by ; and, 
 though they saw one and another helpless being 
 crawl before Him to entreat His help, and beheld 
 Him touch the blind eyes of one and give him 
 sight, and heard Him speak to the dull ears of 
 another, and give him hearing, and thought not 
 of charging Him with blasphemy, however much 
 they envied Him this exercise of godlike power : 
 yet no sooner does He put forth another attri- 
 bute of God, and proclaim pardon to a guilty 
 soul, than they accuse him in their hearts of 
 blasphemy against God. Strange, that it was 
 no blasphemy to open the blind eyes, and bid 
 the deaf ears hear ; strange, that it was no 
 blasphemy to listen to the loathsome leper's 
 prayer, and by the word, " I will," to make him 
 clean; strange, that it was no blasphemy to 
 touch the helpless cripple's palsied hand, and 
 

 SINS FORGIVEN. 
 
 85 
 
 by the touch to send the vigour of renewed 
 youth vibrating through the frame; and yet, 
 when a word, requiring no greater power to 
 make it good,— when a word, which made 
 known the very purpose for which He who 
 uttered it had come,— when a word, whose 
 object it was to confer that healing on the soul, 
 which none but God could have bestowed by a 
 word upon the body;— when such a word was 
 spoken, forthwith the charge of blasphemy was 
 raised. Yet, well was it for the poor paralytic 
 that it was so. The evil of the Scribes' and 
 Pharisees' wicked charge was over-ruled for good 
 to him. For the same voice, that had spoken 
 pardon to his sinful soul, again utters its word 
 of power : his palsied limbs are strengthened ; 
 he rises a new man in body and in soul, and goes 
 his way glorifying G^d. 
 
 "Thy sins are forgiven ^hee!" O! what a 
 message of grace and love was this to that poor 
 decrepid creature. It may be, that he could 
 trace his sickness to some course of sin, in which 
 the vigor of his youth had been wasted, and 
 his strength consumed. It may be, that, as he 
 lay upon his couch of helplessness, and longed 
 to be as he had once been, the thought of his 
 sinfulness had ruslied upon him, and he had 
 written bitter things against himself, and 
 dreaded lest the weakness of his bed of suf- 
 
I'M 
 
 86 
 
 SINS FORGIVEN. 
 
 fering must be ere long exchanged for the pit 
 of everlasting anguish and despair. What joy 
 then must it have been to such a being to 
 hear the glad tidings of forgiveness and of peace. 
 What transport must have filled his soul, when 
 he listened to the sweet assurance, that the sin, 
 which had so pressed upon his conscience, was 
 removed, and should be remembered against 
 him no more for ever. Surely it could have 
 mattered little to him, that his body should 
 remain upon its couch of suffering, since now 
 his soul was reconciled and at peace with God. 
 Yes ! surely now he must have felt it would be 
 better to die than live, lest he should lose his pre- 
 sent enjoyment, and he was ready to take up the 
 words of the aged Simeon, and say, " Lord, now 
 lettest thou thy servant depart in peace, for mine 
 eyes have seen thy salvation."* Who is there, 
 that hath known in his own soul the blessedness 
 of forgiveness, that hath felt the precious stream 
 of peace and joy flow over his heart, as first he 
 realized the truth that he was a pardoned and 
 saved sinner, and cannot enter into this poor 
 cripple's joy, as the announcement of his sins 
 forgiven fell upon his delighted ear? The 
 worldly in their carelessness and unconcern may 
 think little of this blessing, and imagine that 
 they would far prefer to have their pains re- 
 * Luke ii. 29, 30. 
 
SINS FORGIVEN. 
 
 87 
 
 moved, their sorrows cheered, their wants 
 supplied, than hear the most gracious message 
 of forgiveness ; but there is no one, that has 
 known the burden of his sins, and felt the 
 pressure of unpardoned guilt upon his con- 
 science, who will not deem such a message as 
 that of the text, " Thy sins are forgiven thee," 
 the sweetest news that could strike a sinner's 
 ear. 
 
 The consideration of this answer of the Lord 
 Jesus to the implied request of those, that had let 
 down this helpless paralytic through the roof, 
 and laid him at His feet, may suggest to us, 
 beloved, several important lessons, which, by the 
 blessing of the Lord, may tend to our spiritual 
 edification and improvement. Let us entreat 
 His blessing, dearly beloved, wliile we en- 
 deavor to draw from this portion of His Word 
 some nourishment for our souls, and pray that 
 His Holy Spirit may be poured out upon us, 
 convincing us all of sin, and leading us to " he 
 Lamb of God, which taketh away the sins of the 
 world."* 
 
 I.„ In the tirst place, we may gather from the 
 words of the text an evidence of the value 
 OF INTERCESSORY PRAYER, We are told t^Pt 
 when He saw their faith, the faith of those that 
 
 * John i. 29. 
 
88 
 
 S1JN8 FORGIVEN. 
 
 had taken such pains to bring their palsied 
 friend, and lay him at His feet, He said to the 
 sick of the palsy. Thy sins are forgiven thee. 
 Doubtless in this case there was, on the part of 
 the sick man himself, a belief in the power and 
 willingness of the Lord to heal him: but the 
 great efFoii of faith seems to have been displayed 
 by those who bore him to the Lord's presence ; 
 it was in answer rather to their believing 
 exertion, that the Lord looked so graciously 
 upon the cripple whom they brought before 
 Him. And there are cases of a similar nature, 
 and teaching the same lesson, recorded in the 
 blessed book. It was in answer to the faithful 
 prayer of the nobleman, whose son was sick at 
 Capernaum, that the Lord gave the gracious 
 message, " Go thy way; thy son Hveth."* The 
 woman who came out of the coasts of Tyre and 
 Sidon cried after Jesus, not for herself, but for 
 her darling child ; and it was her daughter's 
 health that rejoiced her heart, when she heard 
 at last the gracious answer, " Be it unto thee 
 even as thou wilt."t And are not these things 
 written for our learning, and designed to teach 
 the followers of Jesus of every age, what a 
 means they have of doing good to the bodies and 
 the souls of those they love, in having access - 
 access with boldness through the mediation of 
 * John iv. 50. I Matt. xv. 28. 
 
SINS FORGIVEN. 
 
 89 
 
 Jesus— into the presence of a reconciled Father, 
 the God "that heareth prayer?"* 
 
 It is worthy of remark indeed, that in all the 
 cases thus recorded, the faith of those who 
 pleaded with the Lord Jesus on behalf of others, 
 was put to peculiar trials, and manifested its 
 strength in the most striking ways. The noble- 
 man at Capernaum might almost have thought 
 his request refused; yet still he continued to 
 entreat. The Syrophenician woman followed on, 
 though long He answered her not a word, and 
 was willing to crouch at His feet like a dog, if 
 only she might gather up the crumbs which His 
 more favored people dropped. The very mes- 
 sage of the centurion, that begged for his 
 servant's cure, was such as to call forth the 
 remark, ' I have not found so great faith— no, 
 not in Israel, "t And they, who brought this 
 poor paralytic to be healed, persevered amid dis- 
 couragements, and triumphed over obstacles, 
 which would have turned many a one away. 
 And so it is the effort of a strong faith, to bring 
 the souls of those we love before the Lord, not 
 in a mere formal way, but with a determination 
 to persevere until He shaU bless them and do 
 them good, and to hold on amid discourage- 
 ments, and to follow after, though He apparently 
 answers not a word, pleading for the souls' salva- 
 
 ♦ Ps. Ixv. 2. 
 
 t Luke vii. 9. 
 
90 
 
 SINS FORGIVEN. 
 
 tion of those that yet know not Jesus. It is an 
 act of faith, of strong faith, to come and plead 
 with God for our own souls, and, while we con- 
 fess our own utter vileness, still to entreat His 
 blessing, His favor. His love. It is an effort of 
 yet stronger faith to plead in earnest for the 
 souls of those we love, and to persevere, though 
 the Lord heareth not, in praying for His con- 
 verting and saving grace to turn them from their 
 sins, and bring them to His glory. Yet surely 
 there is encouragement for such an effort given 
 by the case of the text, encouragement to all 
 who know the value of their own salvation to 
 bring the souls of others in the arms of faith, 
 and lay them at Jesus' feet. Surely there is 
 encouragement here for the Christian parent to 
 bring his little ones to Jesus, even while yet they 
 know not, care not what he does, and entreat 
 for them the Saviour's blessing. We would 
 away with the idea, worthy of the dark age 
 from which it sprung, that the mere administra- 
 tion of an outward ordinance can regenerate a 
 child, and make it a new creature in Christ 
 Jesus. Yet surely they may hope, who prayer- 
 fully and faithfuUv bring their child to an 
 ordinance of Christ's appointment, and thus 
 place it in His arms, and who follow on entreat- 
 ing for His blessing, though He appear not to 
 hear or answer them, that, in His good time, the 
 
SINS FORGIVEN. 
 
 91 
 
 child of many faitliful prayers shall receive the 
 blessing from the Lord, and hear the gracious 
 Saviour's voice, Thy sins are forgiven thee. 
 Surely there is encouragement, here for the 
 Christian relative or friend to bring those whc n 
 he loves upon the arms of faith, and lay 
 them before Jesus. Often indeed will he be 
 discouraged, and think, as he perceives those for 
 whom he has pleaded going on as carelessly as 
 ever, that his prayers have not reached the 
 Saviour's ear ; but still let him persevere, still, 
 amid whatever discouragements, let him con- 
 tinue his entreaties for them, and his prayer shall 
 not return to him without a blessing. Beloved, 
 who are there of you that know the value of 
 your souls, and the blessedness of pardon and of 
 peace with God? Do ye carry those dear to 
 you to Christ? Do ye plead for them, do ye 
 " give Him no rest" until He bless them ? They 
 might ridicule your persuasions, and oppose your 
 arguments, and cast back your entreaties with 
 contempt; but they cannot check your prayers 
 for them. O! do not ye check them, whUe 
 yet their souls are within reach of mercy ; cease 
 not to pray for them, until at least they hear the 
 voice of love, " Be of good cheer ; thy sins are 
 forgiven thee ! " 
 
 n. In the second place, the Saviour's gracious 
 
92 
 
 SINS FORGIVEN. 
 
 n 
 
 b-h 
 
 words in the text would teach us, that the for- 
 giveness OF sins is a present blessing. " He 
 said unto the sick of the palsy, Man ! thy sins 
 are forgiven thee." He does not merely hold 
 out the hope to him, that, at some future day, he 
 may expect forgiveness : but He, who " hath 
 power upon earth to forgive sins," declares to 
 him the present, the immediate blotting out of 
 all his sins, and his admission to the favor and 
 the love of God. And in this case He gives us 
 a practical example of the truth, which is again 
 and again set forth as the doctrine of the Word 
 of life, that "he that believeth in Jesus hath 
 everlasting life;"* that "there is now no con- 
 demnation to them that are in Christ Jesus .-"f 
 but that, « being justified by faith, they have 
 peace with God,"t and "shall never come into 
 condemnation, but are passed from death unto 
 life."§ And yet, notwithstanding that this 
 precious truth is thus set forth by precept and 
 example in the blessed book, how slow are men 
 to receive it. The utmost that many can profess 
 is, that they hope they shall find mercy at the 
 last ; they seem to think it nothing less than 
 presumption, to entertain a belief that our sins 
 are already forgiven, and shall be remembered 
 no more for ever. Yet surely this persuasion, if 
 
 ♦ John iii. 36. t Rom. viii. 1. ^ Rom. v. 1. 
 
 § Joliii V. 24. 
 
SINS FORGIVEN. 
 
 93 
 
 based upon a lively faith in the Word of Jesus, 
 is no presumption. The voice of Jesus may not 
 indeed be heard with the bodily ears, announc- 
 ing the forgiveness of sins ; but His Word, His 
 true and lively Word, points to the sacrifice of 
 Jesus, as having been a complete and sufficient 
 satisfaction for our sins, urges upon us, as the 
 glad tidings which the Gospel brings, the news, 
 that " the Lord hath laid upon Him the iniquity 
 of us all."* I believe, then, in the forgiveness 
 of my sins, as ye all, beloved, have professed this 
 day to believe, not because of any voice I hear, 
 of any fancied message to my own soul; but 
 because the only ground of forgiveness has been 
 already laid, the atonement is completed, the 
 acquittance sealed. The only way which is 
 revealed for the forgiveness of sins is the 
 shedding of the blood of Christ. That blood 
 has been shed: and its " one offering," once 
 offered, " hath perfected for ever them that are 
 sanctified, "t The Gospel then, beloved, invites 
 you to believe, that your sins have been laid 
 upon Christ, and are blotted out with His blood. 
 It points you not to any fellow-creature, that ye 
 may receive absolution at his hands ; it bids you 
 not look out for any voice from heaven, to tell 
 you that your name is written there ; but it calls 
 upon you to " behold the Lamb of God," to 
 * Isa. liii. 6. f Heb. x. 14. 
 
94 
 
 SINS FORGIVEN. 
 
 
 iill 
 
 behold Him slain for you, bearing your sins 
 upon His bleeding head, blotting out your 
 iniquities with His streaming blood; it tells you, 
 that that sacrifice can never be repeated,* and 
 that, if satisfaction for your sins has not yet been 
 made, it never will be. It urges you then, 
 beloved, to come ; to come by faith to Jesus, to 
 look upon His dying agonies, as your sins meet 
 upon His head, and to hear His gracious voice 
 saying to you. Your sins are forgiven you. 
 Dear friends and fellow-sinners ! have ye thus 
 come to Jesus ; have ye thus found the pardon of 
 your sins; are ye at peace with God through 
 Jesus Christ ? 
 
 in. In the third place, the text suggests to us 
 the idea, that the forgiveness of sins is a 
 
 BLESSING, of WHICH THE PARDONED SINNER HAS A 
 SWEET CONSCIOUSNESS IN HIS OWN HEART. The 
 
 word of the Lord Jesus, "Man! thy sins are 
 forgiven thee!" fell upon the eager ear of the 
 poor palsied man; and can we believe, that it 
 did not pour joy and peace over his believing 
 soul? Could any one have charged him with 
 presumption, who heard him express his con- 
 fidence that his sins were blotted out ? Could 
 any one havo taxed him with enthusiasm, who 
 had heard him speak of the assurance which 
 
 * Ileb. ix. 25— 28; x. 10—26. 
 
SINS FORGIVEN. 
 
 95 
 
 sustained his soul in peace, and cheered him 
 with the sure and certain hope of everlasting 
 joy ? Surely as well might they have charged 
 him with presumption, if they had heard him 
 afterwards express his confidence, that his palsied 
 frame was healed, when the Lord said to him, 
 "Arise, take up thy bed and walk." As well 
 might they have charged him with enthusiasm, 
 when they saw him make the effort to get up, 
 and beheld him take up the couch upon which 
 he so long had lain, and carry it through the 
 midst. Did the voice, which spoke to him of 
 bodily heaU?ig, send the glow of conscious health 
 and vigour through his frame? And did not 
 the voice, which spake to him of sins forgiven, 
 send the sweet consciousness of peace with God 
 throughout his sin-stricken soul? Surely he 
 knew that his body was healed: did he not 
 know also, that his sins were pardoned and his 
 soul saved ? 
 
 There are many, who, though they cannot 
 question that in his case there was a conscious- 
 ness of his forgiveness and acceptance, yet seem 
 to doubt that in the present day there can be 
 any such assurance. And yet, beloved, if this 
 were so, would this not give an advantage to 
 those who lived in our Lord's days over those of 
 every other generation, which the Scriptures do 
 not warrant our assigning them ? Surely to such 
 
Ih 
 
 96 
 
 SINS FORGIVEN. 
 
 a case as this our Saviour's words to Thomas may 
 be applied, " Because thou hast seen me, thou 
 hast believed ; blessed are they that have not seen, 
 and yet have believed."* Because this poor 
 man heard the Lord's own voice assuring him 
 that his sins were forgiven, he believed : blessed 
 are they, who hear that same voice speaking in 
 His holy Word, and believe it, and are at peace. 
 That Word, the written Word, which testifies of 
 Christ, speaks to the sinner of pardon and of 
 peace, through his blood ;t it invites us to come 
 to Tesus, and find rest in Him ; + it assures us 
 that whosoever believeth in Jesus has everlasting 
 life;§ can it then be presumption to act upon 
 this invitation, and come to Christ ; can it be pre- 
 sumption to believe that our sins have been laid 
 upon Him, and blotted out in His blood, and 
 through faith in Him, to look up to God as 
 f*. Father and a Friend, and he at peace. Nay, 
 beloved, I am persuaded that, however men 
 may discuss the doctrine of assurance, there 
 is no one who really thinks about his soul, 
 that does not feel there can be no true peace 
 without a consciousness of forgiveness and ac- 
 ceptance with God; and that does not deem 
 those alone truly "blessed," who have this con- 
 sciousness, that their " iniquity is forgiven, and 
 
 * John XX. 29. 
 
 I Matt. xi. 28, 29. 
 
 t Eph. i. 14; Col. i. 20. 
 § John iii. 36, 
 
SINS FORGIVEN. 
 
 97 
 
 their sin is covered."* I would urge on you 
 then, the enquiry, Have ye this peace with God? 
 Have ye thus brought your sins to Jesus, and 
 heard His gracious voice saying to you, Be of 
 good cheer, your sins are forgiven you? If 
 not, can ye be happy without it? Happy, while 
 knowing that ye are sinners, and not hnowinq 
 that your sins are forgiven? Happy, while un- 
 forgiven sin still lies upon your consciences, 
 and, if It be not removed, must sink your souls 
 into hell? Impossible! But if ye have heard 
 and believed this gracious word, then how 
 should ye glorify God ; and « shew tbrth " in 
 your whole lives and conversation, "the praises 
 of Him who hath called you out of darkness 
 into His marvellous light ! " f Surely yours should 
 be a cheerful, a happy, a rejoicing walk; while 
 yet ye take good heed, that your rejoicing is 
 "m the Lord," J and your happiness such as is 
 a foretaste of heaven. 
 
 ly. Once more. The text suggests to us, in 
 the fourth place, a reflection upon the abound- 
 
 ING GRACIOCISNESS OF THE LoRD, to whom the 
 
 paralytic was brought for cure. He was brought 
 to Him to seek the healing of his body • he 
 found the health and salvation of his soul ' He 
 came to Him hoping that the Lord would by 
 
 *P«.xxxii. 1.2. tlPet.ii.9. tPhil.iv.4. ' 
 
 H 
 
98 
 
 SINS FORGIVEN. 
 
 < I ¥\ 
 
 a word or touch relieve him of a disease, which, 
 if it were not removed, must soon cease to 
 affect him ; he heard that word which an- 
 nounced to him the deliverance of his soul from 
 that curse, which, if not removed, must have 
 consigned him to the worm that dieth not, and 
 the fire that never shall be quenched. And is 
 not the g-yce he thus experienced a sample of 
 the Lord's dealings with all that truly come to 
 Him ? Is He not " more ready to hear than 
 we are to pray ; and wont to give more than we 
 either desire or deserve?"* How many a soul 
 that is now rejoicing in the favor and the love 
 of God, was led to utter its first ';ry to Jesus by 
 the pressure of some bodily calamity from which 
 it sought relief How many a sinner, that 
 perhaps had never bowed the knee to Jesus to 
 ask him for the pardon of his sins, has been 
 brought to his knees by some stroke of bereave- 
 ment, or some anguish of disease ; and has found 
 the comfort that he looked not for, in hearing 
 the voice of Jesus speaking to him of pardon 
 and of peace. When Jacob was flying from his 
 brother's face, and lay down desolate, friendless, 
 and alone, beneath the canopy of heaven, he 
 found a friend, "that sticketh closer than a 
 brother," t who unfolded to him the glorious 
 
 * Collect for the twelfth Sunday after Trinity, 
 f Prov. xviii. 24. 
 
SINS FORGIVEN. 
 
 99 
 
 gates of a heavenly Father's home. When 
 Hagar was flying from her angry mistress, and 
 had wandered into the weary wilderness, she 
 found the Lord whom yet she had not looked 
 after, and received the promise of His grace, 
 whom until then she had not sought. And 
 thus has the Lord ever shown us that His deal- 
 ings are all of grace; that "His ways are not 
 our ways, nor His thoughts our thoughts."* 
 How often has what seemed to be a misfortune, 
 been thus turned into a blessing; how often has 
 what was deemed a curse proved to be the 
 highest good. 
 
 Beloved! it is such a Saviour as this that ye 
 have to deal with; so gracious, so loving, so 
 abundant in goodness and truth. Who is there 
 among you, upon whom the Lord's afflictive 
 hand has ever been laid, whom the Lord would 
 not thus have drawn to His feet, and have gladly 
 made the afiiiction a channel of the richest 
 blessings, if ye would but come and receive 
 them. Who is there, that has ever been really 
 brought to his knees in faithful prayer to be 
 delivered from the calamities that oppressed him, 
 that has not found, in persevering in prayer, a 
 blessing, not perhaps just such as he had asked, 
 but richer ^.nd more precious far, enriching him 
 with present peace, and giving him a foretaste 
 
 * Isa. Iv. 8. 
 H 2 
 
100 
 
 81N8 FORGIVEN. 
 
 1/ f 
 
 of eternal rest. The dealings and dispensations 
 of God's providence, beloved, arc all designed, 
 whatever may be their character, to draw you as 
 suppliants for His grace. How many of you, 
 alas ! allow them to pass by you unimproved, and 
 confident in your own s^xccgth, will not go to 
 C/hrist to help you bear them, and to sanctify 
 them to you. How few of you, alas ! are drawn 
 by them to Him that healeth you, and wait at 
 His feet for the gracious message, Your sins 
 are forgiven you. 
 
 Yet, beloved, the same Jesus, whose voice 
 once poured such unexpected peace and joy over 
 the soul of the paralytic, now waiteth to be as 
 gracious unto you. The same voice now speak- 
 eth in His holy word to every one that will but 
 come to Him, saying to him, Th' sins be forgiven 
 thee. Beloved, have ye ever heard that voice ? 
 Have ye ever received this precious message? 
 Have ye ever appropriated these glad tidings, 
 and taken them home, and fed your souls upon 
 them 1 Surely, if not, it is because ye will not, 
 and not because Jesus does not speak. But 
 if so, then are ye blessed indeed. Ye may be 
 suffeiing, ye may be afflicted, ye may be be- 
 reaved, yet are ye blessed; for "blessed are 
 
 THEY whose unrighteousness IS FORGIVEN, AND 
 WHOSE SIN IS COVERED." 
 
SERMON VI. 
 
 NOT ALONE. 
 
 St. John xvi. 32. 
 
 And yet lam not alone, because the Father is 
 with me. 
 
 " It became Him, for whom are all things, and 
 by whom are all things, in bringing many sons 
 unto glory, to make the Captain of their salva- 
 tion perfect though sufferings."* The only 
 respect in which anything could be added to 
 the perfection of Jesus, was in His qualifications 
 to be the Advocate, the Intercessor, and the 
 Friend of sinners. As their Atonement, their 
 substitute, their Surety, He was, in His own 
 Divme nature, perfect and complete. Nothing 
 could be added to the perfection of His nature^ 
 who, being alone without sin, " suffered for 
 sins," and died, " the just for the unjust, that 
 
 * Heb. ii, 10. 
 
102 
 
 NOT ALONE. 
 
 m 
 
 He might bring us to God."* But it was neces- 
 sary, to complete the character of our Advocate 
 and sympathizing Friend, that He should % 
 experieiice have learnt how to feel for the suffer- 
 ing, and, by havinq ''Himself suffered being 
 tempted," should know how to minister consola- 
 tion and support to those that are tried, f 
 
 Perfect as the Redeemer was, His heart must 
 have overflowed with tenderest feeling, and His 
 soul have been filled with the deepest compassion 
 for perishing sinners. But we know, that it is 
 not merely a feeling heart which is necessary 
 to qualify one for ministering consolation to the 
 cast down and afflicted; that it requires some 
 acquaintance with suffering, some personal dis- 
 cipline in the school of trial, some practical 
 experience of the preciousness of those consola- 
 tions which abound in the Gospel, to fit the 
 most tenderhearted for success in gaining the 
 confidence of the afflicted, and pouring comfort 
 into their wounds. In this it Avas that the 
 sufferings of Jesus contributed to His perfection 
 as the Mediator and High Priest of His people; 
 they gave Him an experimental acquaintance 
 with the bitterness of the anguish, to which from 
 various sources our frail nature is exposed ; and 
 by having drawn, Himself, from the rich fountain 
 of comfort contained in the promises of God, He 
 
 * I Pet. iii. 18. f Heb. ii. 18. 
 
NOT ALONE. 
 
 103 
 
 learnt how to supply the same cordial to the 
 weary, the fainting, or the tried. 
 
 In the accomplishment, then, of this great and 
 gracious purpose of his coming, the Lord Jesus 
 appears to have partaken, to the full extent, of 
 all those weaknesses and sensibilities of our 
 nature, with which no sin was mingled, but 
 which laid Him open to the varied assaults of 
 temptation, the various approaches of trial, of 
 suffering, and of sorrow. In every form in which 
 temptation could assail Him, in which distress 
 could break upon Him, or poverty and privat.jn 
 bow His spirit down. He met, endured, and 
 overcame the assault; and there can be no 
 circumstances through which the believer in 
 Jesus is called to pass, in which he will not find 
 that the Captain of his salvation has led the way, 
 and has learnt by His own experience to succor 
 the distressed. 
 
 The most casual glance at the life of the 
 Wessed Jesus is sufficient to convince any one, 
 that He experienced to the full every species of 
 bodily privation, suffering, and distress, to which 
 He could have been exposed. A more careful 
 view of His character will enable us also to 
 perceive, that His sensibilities were such, that 
 He endured also, in its severest pressure, every 
 variety of mental suffering, by which any of our 
 fallen race can be bowed down. View Him 
 
104 
 
 NOT ALONE. 
 
 weeping at the grave of Lazarus, and see how, 
 even though He knew He was about to recall the 
 departed from the tomb, I'e yet felt for the 
 sorrows of those who mourned him lost; h^^r 
 Him groaning in spirit on the same occasion, 
 as the Jews enquired among themselves why He 
 did not prevent His friend's decease, and see 
 what mental agony He suiTered under those 
 suspicions of unkindness, which His next act 
 was about so triumphantly to remove * Observe 
 Him, as He communicates to His disciples His 
 knowledge of the awful fact that one of them 
 was about to betray Him ; and see if ever the 
 spirit of man was more bruised by the thought 
 of a friend's, a companion's, a brother's treach- 
 ery, than His was;t hear Him as He remon- 
 strates with the three peculiarly favored ones, 
 whom He had charged to guard His privacy in 
 the garden, " What ! could ye not watch with 
 me one hourr'+ and judge if He felt not 
 bitterly the coldness and want of interest in His 
 welfare thus manifested by His chosen friends ; 
 see Him, as, surrounded by the mockeries, and 
 assailed by the blows of His persecutors, § " He 
 looked, and there was none to help, and He 
 wondered that there was none to uphold ;''|) 
 and ask, if He felt not then, as any the 
 
 * John xi. 35—45. f John xiii. 21. J Matt. xxvi. 40. 
 § Ibid. fi7, 68. II Isaiah Ixiii. 5. 
 
NOT ALONE. 
 
 105 
 
 most desolate creature could have felt, tlie bit- 
 terness of their desertion who, in the hour of 
 trial, had all forsaken Him and fled.* Divine 
 as He was, He was also entirely human : He had 
 human sensibilities of the most exquisite nature ; 
 He partook of human feelings in their deepest 
 experience; and every circumstance in His tried 
 career, which could have been supposed capable 
 of wounding the feelings, and bruising the spirit 
 of any one endowed with the most tender sensi- 
 bilities, bore with its fullest force upon His gentle 
 soul. 
 
 It is this circumstance, which gives such im- 
 pressiveness to His example in the various con- 
 ditions of trial through which His followers may 
 have to pass. If He suffered not, being tempted; 
 if His Divine nature raised Him above the sensi- 
 bilities of His human nature, then His coT^duct 
 could not be urged as a pattern to those that 
 have such different feelings. But if He endured 
 all the mental suffering which poverty, or re- 
 proach, or treachery, or insult, or desertion, or 
 violence can inflict upon a sensitive spirit, then 
 may His conduct under those varied trials be 
 indeed an example to all, who profess to have 
 taken up their cross to follow Him. 
 
 It is this circumstance, also, which gives such 
 peculiar preciousness to the compassion and sym- 
 pfihy of Jesus. If He endured no pain under 
 * Mai'k xiv. 50. 
 
106 
 
 NOT ALONE. 
 
 I *» U(l 
 
 the various taunts and reproaches, the privations 
 and sufferings, the treachery and desertion, the 
 contradiction and persecution, which He en- 
 countered, how then could He truly enter into 
 their feelings, upon whose spirits these things 
 bear with such a heavy pressure ? But if these 
 things inflicted the severest anguish upon Him, 
 then what tried, or tempted, or suffering believer 
 can there be, that may not feel, in listening to 
 the consolations which the Word of Jesus offers, 
 that he is listening to the sympathizing tones of 
 one, who knows what sore temptations mean, for 
 He has felt the same, and who can have com- 
 passion on the tried, the fainting, and the weary, 
 since He " himself took our infirmities and bare 
 our sicknesses." * 
 
 These remarks may lead us to perceive how 
 sweet as an example, and how precious as a 
 consolation, is the assurance of the Lord Jesus 
 in the text. The circumstances under which 
 the words were uttered, may seem indeed pecu- 
 liar to the Saviour; for none could ever be 
 called upon to endure a desertion just such as 
 He experienced; but the feelings under which 
 they were uttered, are of a more general nature, 
 and the consolation which they suggest may be 
 extended to various circumstances, in which the 
 followers of Jesus may be placed. It is with 
 
 * Matt. viii. 17. 
 
NOT ALONE. 
 
 107 
 
 the view of deriving from them that consc^ation 
 and instruction, which they are calculated to 
 afford to us, that I would now invite your atten- 
 tion to them, dearly beloved; and would pray 
 that the teaching and blessing of the Holy 
 Spirit may apply and sanctify their lessons to 
 our hearts. 
 
 In approaching the contemplation of that 
 comfort, by which the soul of the Redeemer 
 was sustained in the anticipation of the unheard- 
 of woes through which He was about to pass, 
 and in endeavoring to apply it to our own 
 edification, we are led to observe, first, the 
 nature of the consolation itself, which supported 
 Him, and, secondly, the circumstances, under 
 which this comfort was enjoyed. Surrounded, 
 on the last occasion on which He would be so 
 attended before His death, by the chosen com- 
 panions of His ministry, and pouring out His 
 soul to them in the full enjoyment of confi- 
 dential intercourse. His brow becomes suddenly 
 clouded, and His spirit depressed, as He thinks 
 how these, His chosen ones, should forget their 
 past attachment to Him, and lose sight even of 
 their present professions of regard, and leave 
 Him in the hands of His bitter persecutors. 
 " Behold," He saith to them, " the hour cometh, 
 yea, is now come, that ye shall be scattered, 
 every man to his own, and shall leave me alone : 
 
108 
 
 NOT ALONE. 
 
 m 
 
 and yet," He continues, "I am not alone, be- 
 cause the Father is with me." 
 
 These words suggest for our edification the 
 inquiry, first, into the nature of the conso- 
 lation EXPRESSED IN THE ASSERTION, ThE FaTHER 
 
 IS WITH me: and secondly, a view of some of 
 
 the CIRCUMSTANCES, IN WHICH THE FOLLOWER 
 
 OF Jesus may be left alone, and in which 
 
 HE MAY experience THE SAME COMFORT, IN 
 KNOWING THAT THE* FaTHER W WITH HIM. 
 
 I. Under our first topic, then, which relates 
 
 to THE NATURE OF THE CONSOLATION THUS EX- 
 PERIENCED, we perceive, 
 
 1. That this cotisolation is derived from a sense 
 of reconciliation and acceptance ivith God in 
 Christ. It is not merely the belief, that God 
 is our Creator, our Preserver, our Benefactor, 
 which supplies the Christian with his brightest 
 consolation. This belief may be shared by 
 those who know not Christ; and may be 
 grounded, not upon the revelations of the 
 Gospel, but upon those convictions, which any 
 thoughtful mind cannot fail to derive from the 
 view of the beauties of God's providence so 
 abundantly shed around. The Christian is 
 permitted to look up to God as a Father and 
 a Friend in a far higher, and more consolatory 
 sense. Shut out as he had been from the Lord's 
 
NOT ALONE. 
 
 109 
 
 favor, so long as he continued in transgression 
 and in unbelief, he perceives that God has given 
 His only-begotten Son for him, to redeem him 
 from his transgressions, and to reconcile him to 
 Himself Through grace he has been led to 
 receive Christ Jesus as his Saviour, and through 
 faith in Him, he has become an adopted child 
 of God, and has received the Spirit of adoption, 
 crying, Abba, Father.* The Spirit of God 
 then bears witness with his spirit, that he is a 
 child of God ; and it is as a child, an heir of 
 God, andjoint-heir with Christ, f that he enjoys 
 the richest comfort in speaking of his Father 
 and his God. 
 
 This is, evidently, a confidence which is pecu- 
 liar to the lively and spiritual believer in Christ 
 Jesus. The mere nominal professor of Chris- 
 tianity knows it not ; he has never truly received 
 Christ as a Saviour; and through Him been 
 reconciled and at peace with God. The uncon- 
 verted worldHng, called though he be after the 
 name of Christ, knows it not; for, if he have 
 not received the Spirit of Christ, he is none of 
 His;t and, if he knows not Christ, how can 
 he know the Father, whom Christ only can 
 reveal. It is he, and he only, who, having 
 been convinced of his sinfulness, has truly and 
 earnestly fled to Jesus, and, by faith in Ilim, 
 * Rom. viil. 15. I Ibid. 17. + i,,i,i_ (J 
 
no 
 
 NOT ALONE. 
 
 been washed in His blood, clothed in His 
 righteousness, and sanctified by His Spirit, that 
 can truly say of the Lord, " He is my Father ; " 
 that can really look up with childlike confidence 
 and affection unto God, and in all trials and 
 tribulations comfort himself with the reflection, 
 "My Father is with me." 
 
 2. Yet the full comfort to be derived from 
 this assurance can only be enjoyed, as we may, 
 secondly, observe, by him who maintains com- 
 munion with God in Christ through the Spirit. 
 We may perceive in the history of our blessed 
 Lord, how necessary this communion with the 
 Father was to the comfort even of His soul. 
 Constantly do we find Him retiring from the 
 company even of His chosen disciples, that He 
 might draw near in supplication to His heavenly 
 Father; again and again do we find Him going 
 at the close of a wearisome day unto some moun- 
 tain, and continuing there all night in prayer 
 to God;* often do we hear of Him rising up 
 a great while before day,t that He might pour 
 out His soul before His Father, and derive 
 from communion with Him that strength and 
 comfort, which should fit Him for the trials and 
 engagements of the day. And who, that fol- 
 lows not His example, can expect to realize 
 His consolations? It is not enough to know 
 
 * Matt. xiv. 23 j Luke vi. 12. f Mark i. 3.5. 
 
NOT ALONE. m 
 
 that there is sufficiency in God, that in Him 
 there is comfort, and joy, and strength; this 
 mere knowledge will not sustain or cheer the 
 soul. The sick and suffering may know the 
 properties of some medicine, which would 
 relieve their pains ; the starving mendicant may 
 know that food would supply his cravings, and 
 relieve his want: but, if the food be not ob- 
 tained, if the medicine be not applied, what 
 avails to them this knowledge? The great 
 truth, that God is the Father of all them that 
 put their trust in Him for Jesus's sake, is the 
 great source of comfort to the tried ; but what 
 avails the mere knowledge of this truth to any 
 one, who has not known the enjoyment of com- 
 munion with this gracious God, and learnt by 
 precious experience of the Lord's faithfulness 
 to say, "My Father is with me!" O happy 
 they, who, in the exercise of a li.-ly faith, 
 maintain this blest communion with the God 
 and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ; and, 
 amid all their trials, their temptations, and their 
 dangers, can realizingly exclaim, " I am not 
 alone, because the Father is with me." 
 
 IL The second topic, suggested by our pre- 
 sent subject, leads us to consider some few of 
 
 THE CIRCUMSTANCES, IN WHICH THIS ASSURANCE 
 
 OP THE Father's presence anu support is so 
 
112 
 
 NOT ALONE. 
 
 FULL OF CONSOLATION. There are circumstances 
 in the life of every believer, in which he may, 
 or must, be left alone, as regards any other 
 presence or support than that of the Lord, and 
 in which the soul is abundantly sustained by the 
 assurance, " The Father is with me." 
 
 r How often is the child of God met, at the 
 very outset of a religious course, by circum- 
 stances, which require all the solace and sup- 
 port which such a conviction can supply. So 
 long as he joined in the amusements and vanities 
 of the world, so long as he lived without God 
 and without hope, it may be that he had com- 
 panions enough. But he has begun to perceive 
 the vanity of a course of worldliness ; he has be- 
 come convinced of his condition as a sinner, and 
 of the awfulness of that condemnation which 
 awaits the impenitent and unbelieving at the 
 bar of God ; he has been touched by a sense 
 of God's mercies in providing for him such a 
 Saviour ; and, constrained by His love, he has 
 resolved to renounce the world, to take on him 
 the yoke of Jesus, and to follow Him. Readily, it 
 may be, had he been followed before, while anxious 
 to take the lead in vanity and sin ; but who is 
 willing to accompany him now that he is anxious 
 to set out for Zion, and to enter on that strait 
 and narrow way, which leadeth to eternal life ? 
 The friends and companions of his former years 
 
NOT ALONE. 
 
 113 
 
 forsake him with the sneer of contempt for his 
 fanaticism; and too often, even the loved ones 
 of the domestic circle array themselves against 
 what so many deem, an unnecessary change from 
 the heartless vanity of the world to the cordial 
 service and the love of God. Whither then 
 shall he look for counsel and support in these 
 trying circumstances? Abandoned by those 
 who had hitherto been his friends ; and left to 
 set out alone upon a path, on which they have 
 no disposition to enter, what must be his trials 
 if he could not, in the strength of a humble, 
 yet well-grounded confidence, exclaim, "The 
 Father is with me ? " 
 
 The trial to which we thus allude, is one 
 whose bitterness can be but little estimated by 
 those that have not themselves passed through 
 it. O! there is nothing pleasing to flesh and 
 blood, in being constrained to set out alone upon 
 a course, which is opposed to the tastes and 
 habits of all the associates of one's past career, and 
 which provokes the taunts and sneers, the opposi- 
 tion and the enmity even of one's dearest friends. 
 But when the Christian contemplates the amazing 
 interests which are at stake ; when he thinks of 
 the dangers which surround a course of habitual 
 worldliness and unbelief and sin ; when he looks 
 forward to the prize of the high calling of God 
 
i 4 
 
 114 
 
 NOT ALONK. 
 
 .1 i 
 
 in Christ Jesus,* which allures him to the narrow 
 path of godliness ; may he no*; reply to all the 
 taunting charges of overmuch righteousness, as 
 David did to the reproachful Eliab, Is there not 
 a cause? t Who is there here, that is called 
 upon to undergo this trial? O ! are there any here, 
 that are desirous of truly setting out for Zion 
 with their faces thitherward, but who are met 
 by the sneers, the repro:;ches, the opposition, or 
 the desertion of those whom they have loved ? 
 Dearly beloved, ye may surely look upon this 
 as the cross which ye are charged to take up in 
 following Christ. Look steadily then to Jesus, 
 who, for the joy that was set before Him, en- 
 dured the cross, despising the shame; J and 
 learn of Him that precious confidence in the 
 midst of trials such as this, which will enable 
 you, whoever may oppose or forsake you, to 
 exclaim, "Yet I am not alone, because the 
 Father is with me!" 
 
 2. Again ; the Christian, exposed like other 
 men to the fluctuations and changes of the 
 present scene, is not unfrequently left alone hy 
 the dispensations of Providence. Some stroke, it 
 may be, of severe bereavement hath swept away 
 the precious ones, that erewhile twined them- 
 selves around the heart, and left the once happy 
 * Phil. iii. 14. t 1 Sam. xvii. 1. | Heb. xii. 2. 
 
I 
 
 NOT ALONE. 
 
 115 
 
 fireside, that rang with the cheerful voices of a 
 joyous circle, desolate and forlorn indeed: some 
 sudden blight upon the worldly prospects may 
 have put lover and friend far from the unfor- 
 tunate, and hid his acquaintance out of the 
 sight* of one, who not long since was sur- 
 rounded by obsequioubncss ; some slanderer's 
 tongue may have made enemies of his dearest 
 friends, caused those of his acquaintance to be 
 afraid of him, and made even those that see 
 him without to convey themselves from him.f 
 Desolate, then, and forlorn, whither could the 
 believer look for comfort in his trouble, but 
 unto the Lord that quickened him? What 
 support, what solace can be equal to that, which 
 may be derived by every true believer from the 
 assurance " I am not alone, because the Father 
 is with me." 
 
 It is in circumstances such as these, that the 
 religion of the Gospel see.ns peculiarly qualified 
 to pour in its precious consolations. It holds 
 out no promise of exemption from the trials that 
 befal mankind, as an induce-nent for any to 
 enter upon the narrow road; but it holds out 
 such offers of comfort to the cast-down, of 
 succor to the tried, of consolation to the 
 afflicted, of sympathy with the suffering, as seem 
 even more precious than would have been the 
 
 * Pa. Ixxxviii. 18. 
 
 I 2 
 
 t Ps. xxxi. 11. 
 
NOT ALONE. 
 
 offer of exemption from tliose woes. It is in 
 circumstances such as these, that the heart of 
 the believer is drawn peculiarly to the Lord ; in 
 these things he perceives more and more his 
 need of such a Friend ; in these things he more 
 and more experiences the preciousness of having 
 such a Father to flee to, such an arm on which 
 to lean. Dearly beloved, who among you have 
 been bowed down by the pressure of some pro- 
 vidential dispensations, in the midst of which ye 
 seemed, as it were, to be alone in the peculiar 
 bitterness of your woes ? How sweet mast be to 
 your souls the lesson, which the example of your 
 Saviour inculcates upon you ! Like Him, ye are 
 encouraged, in whatever trials, to draw near to 
 your Father in heaven ; like Him, ye are per- 
 mitted to enjoy the assurance of your acceptance 
 and peace with God; like Him, ye are invited 
 to "cast all your cares," of whatever kind, 
 "upon Him who careth for you;"* and from 
 Him ye may learn, undor whatever circum- 
 stances of bereavement, of desertion, of calamity, 
 to exclaim, " Yet I am not alone, because the* 
 Father is with me." 
 
 3. Once more, There is a period approaching 
 to the life of every one of us, in which, as regards 
 any human companionship, ive must stand alone. 
 There is one enemy, whom we must encounter 
 
 * 1 Pet. V. 7. 
 
NOT ALONE. 
 
 117 
 
 unattended; one conflict, on which we must 
 enter singly and separately. The voice of sym- 
 pathy and friendship may cheer and comfort us 
 through all the trials of life ; but we must die 
 alone. The dying bed-side may be surrounded, 
 indeed, by anxious friends, eager to anticipate 
 each wish, to soothe each pain ; the hand of love 
 may smooth the pillow, on which the dying 
 frame is resting, and the voice of tender sym- 
 pathy whisper its consolations into the ear, until 
 sealed by death's cold grasp ; the footsteps of 
 those, with whom we have taken sweet counsel 
 while on earth, may attend us to the very brink 
 of that Jordan, which separates us from the 
 world of spirits ; but no further. Alone we 
 must enter its dark waters ; alone must breast 
 the oft-tumultuous billows ; alone encounter the 
 powers of darkness, there leagued for their last 
 assault. Yet even there, how truly may the 
 Christian say, " Yet I am not alone, because the 
 Father is with me ! " " The Eternal God is my 
 refuge, and underneath me are the everlasting 
 arms."* "I know whom I have believed."f 
 " Though I pass through the dark valley of the 
 shadow of death, I will fear no evil; for thou, 
 Lord, art with me ; thy rod and thy staff they 
 comfort me.":}: 
 
 Dearly beloved, such is the confidence of 
 
 * Dcut. xxxiii, 27. f 2 Tim. i. 12. I Ph. xxiii. 4. 
 
118 
 
 NOT ALONE. 
 
 I 
 
 the lively believer in Jesus, when contemplat- 
 ing his coming conflict even with the last 
 dread enemy. That enemy ye must all en- 
 counter. Oh ! are ye prepared for his approach, 
 by having such a confidence as this in the 
 presence and support of our reconciled God 
 in Christ? Do ye thus know God; have ye 
 accepted "His unspeakable gift;"* do ye, 
 through the Spirit, draw nigh to Him as a 
 Father and a Friend ? Is it the great aim and 
 purpose of your lives to " win Christ, and be 
 found in Him, not having your own righteous- 
 ness," f but having put Him on as your righte- 
 ousness and strength? If so, then may ye look 
 up with confidence to Him under the pressure of 
 every woe, and in your last conflict, when even 
 father and mother must forsake you, shall ye be 
 sustained by the sweet assurance, " Yet I am 
 
 NOT ALONE, BECAUSE THE FatHER IS WITH ME ! " 
 
 * 2 Cor. ix. 15. 
 
 t Phil. iii. 8, 9. 
 
SERMON VII. 
 
 HE DIED FOR ALL. 
 
 2 Corinthians v. 15. 
 
 He died for all ; that they tvhich live should 
 not henceforth live unto themselves, but unto 
 Him who died for them, and rose again.'* 
 
 ** God forbid that I should glory," exclaims the 
 apostle, "save in the cross of our Lord Jesus 
 Christ !"t And with him this is not a mere 
 sentiment, an impassioned exclamation brought 
 in to give point to his argument,, and then left 
 to sink into forgetfulness ; but it is the leading 
 idea in all his writings, the leading principle 
 throughout his life. 
 
 And what worthier theme indeed can engage 
 a sinner's thoughts, can call forth the tribute of 
 a sinner's praise % The cross of Christ ! Scandal 
 as it was in the Jew's esteem, and foolishness 
 
 * Preached on Good Friday. f Gal. vi. J 4. 
 
tkl 
 
 120 
 
 HE DIED FOR ALL. 
 
 to the Greek, what is it but the power of God 
 unto the salvation of every soul that hears the 
 voice of Him, who died upon that tree !♦ How 
 well is it that we should meditate upon it ; that 
 we should weep over it; that we shouM trust in 
 it; that we should thank God for it; that we 
 should glory in it ! Yea, how well would it be, 
 that we should determine not to know anything 
 but Jesus Christ, and Him the Crucified ! How 
 well would it be, that we should adopt the 
 exclamation of the apostle, and aim at carrying 
 It out, as he did, in all our conversation, " God 
 forbid that I should glory, save in the cross of 
 our Lord Jesus Christ ! " 
 
 Our Church invites us, at this time especially, 
 to dwell upon this momentous topic. Not con- 
 tent with making it the prominent feature in all 
 her services and ministrations, she calls upon us 
 at this season to devote our especial meditation 
 to the glorious truth. Fearful lest her children 
 should be prone to dwell upon some one doctrine 
 of the Gospel in undue proportion to the rest,- 
 she brings them all in course before our minds • 
 and they, who will but follow the course of her 
 teaching, will find each great fact in the 
 Saviour's history, each prominent truth in the 
 Gospel's teaching, pressed in turn upon their 
 observation. Beloved, let us obey ],er hint this 
 
 * 1 Cor. i. 23, 24. 
 
 iN 
 
HE DIED FOR ALL. 
 
 121 
 
 day, and meditate upon the cross. Let us follow 
 with awe-struck step the mad crowd that is 
 hurrying Jesus to His death. Let us gaze, as 
 far as we can bear to gaze, upon the agonies in 
 which He gives up His spirit to the Father's 
 hands. Let us listen to the testimony of His 
 dying lips, as He declares the work "finished" 
 which the Father had given Him to do ; and 
 thankfully join in the exclamation of the amazed 
 centurion, " Truly this was the Son of God!"* 
 
 We could not have a better guide for our 
 meditations than the words of the apostle in the 
 text, "He died for all; that they which live 
 should not henceforth live unto themselves, but 
 unto Him who died for them, and rose again." 
 Let us first consider the great truth this day 
 peculiarly brought before us, as it is simply 
 stated in the former part of the verse. He died 
 for all ; and then make the practical statement of 
 the latter portion, a guide to our apphcation of 
 this momentous subject to our own walk and 
 conversation. And O ! thou blessed Spirit, pro- 
 mised by the Lord Jesus as the Teacher and 
 Comforter of His people after His departure to 
 the Father, come, we pray thee, and bear 
 witness of Jesus to our hearts ! Bring home to 
 us our need of Jesus ; convince us of His 
 suitableness, His preciousness, His sufliciency ; 
 
 • Matt, xxvii. .54. 
 
• ) 
 
 I' ) 
 i ! 
 \ 1 
 
 ■ J 
 
 122 
 
 HE DIED FOR ALL. 
 
 II 
 
 ' i ■ 
 
 1 < ■* 
 
 i-f Ji 
 
 II 
 
 sprinkle us with His blood ; cover us with His 
 righteousness; clothe us with His salvation; 
 baptize us into His Spirit ; fit us for His glory ! 
 
 I. In the first place, let us consider briefly, 
 under the four heads which the words them- 
 selves suggest, THE GREAT TRUTH, " He DIED 
 FOR ALL." 
 
 1. And let us first inquire, WHO died for all? 
 The answer is indeed a simple one : Christ died 
 for all. Yet how momentous again the question, 
 "What think ye of Christ? whose Son is He?"* 
 Who is this Son of Man? Trace Him to His 
 birth; and we find Him little better than a 
 pauper's child; born in a stable; wrapped in 
 swaddling clothes; cradled in a manger, because 
 there is no room for him and his poor mother 
 even in an inn. Follow Him through His child- 
 hood and youth; and we see Him in humble 
 circumstances aiding His reputed father in the 
 trade of a carpenter. Trace Him through His 
 years of manhood; and behold Him poor and 
 needy, despised by the rich and proud, hated by 
 the Scribe and Pharisee ; and, though at one 
 moment followed by a wondering crowd, left at 
 the next to hunger and privation, and without a 
 place where He may lay His head. And accom- 
 pany Him to His closing scene; and we look on 
 * Matt. xxii. 42. 
 
HE DIED FOR ALL. 
 
 123 
 
 a friendless unprotected man, against whom all 
 classes of the people have joined in a common 
 clamor for His death, and see Him led out as 
 a common malefactor, between two thieves, to 
 die a malefactor's death. Here, then, is not 
 much to wake the world's regard. Yet view the 
 picture from a brighter side. See in that lowly 
 babe, the child, whose coming birth was an- 
 nounced as "that holy thing" which "shall be 
 called the Son of God;"* and whose entrance 
 into this world of sin is heralded by an angelic 
 choir, singing, " Glory to God in the highest, 
 and on earth peace, good will towards men !"+ 
 See, in that suffering and outcast man, one in 
 whom a prophet of the Lord bids us "behold 
 the Lamb of God ;"$ and whom a voice from 
 the Eternal God Himself proclaims as His Well- 
 beloved Son, in whom He is well pleased. § 
 Follow Him, even for a few moments of His 
 tempted, persecuted life ; i>nd the works we wit- 
 ness, wrought by the motion of His hand, or in 
 obedience to the bidding of His voice, bear testi- 
 mony to Him, that He is " a Teacher come from 
 God;" II yea, that there dwells in Him the power 
 of God Himself. Go with Him to Calvary ; and 
 there, though no voice from heaven proclaims 
 thr truth, the voice of convulsed natum, the 
 
 ♦ Luke i. 35. | Luke ii. 14. $ John i. 36. 
 
 § Matt. iii. 17. 11 John iii. 2. 
 
H 
 
 i!^. A 
 
 i ' 
 
 lifli 
 
 124 
 
 HE DIED FOR ALL. 
 
 darkened sun, the shattered rocks, the quaking 
 earth, the opening graves, extort from us the 
 centurion's cry, "Truly this was the Son of 
 God!"* Here, then, is indeed enough to fix our 
 gaze. The sufferer we behold is a weak and 
 affli'^ted man ; but He is also the Eternal God. 
 He is " despised and rejected of men," " an out- 
 cast of the people "t among whom He dwelt; 
 but it is He whom angels worship and arch- 
 angels praise. He is a tried and tempted 
 creature, a mark for mockery and scorn ; but it 
 is He who clothed the heavens with beauty, who 
 gave the earth its being, and all created things 
 their lifj. This, this is He who is hurried amid 
 the hootings of the populace to a malefactor's 
 cross ; none other amid all His weakness than 
 the "King of kings, and Lord of lords." 
 
 2. And did He DIE ? We see Him indeed 
 hurried by a furious crowd to the scene of exe- 
 cution ; we see Him nailed to the accursed tree, 
 and lifted up in agony, suspended by the torn 
 and bleeding hands ; we see Him fainting with 
 anguish, parched with thirst, clammy with the 
 dews of death : but did He actually submit to 
 that penalty and curse of sin ? Most truly. Yes ! 
 The scene we witness upon Calvary this day was 
 no illusion of the senses. It was no dramatic 
 representation to deceive the eye, to excite the 
 
 * Matt, xxvii. .ll. 
 
 t Isa. liii. 3 ; Ps. xxii, 6, 
 
HE DIED FOR ALL, 
 
 125 
 
 feelings, to engage the mind. It was an awfully 
 real, a most solemnly authentic fact, that Jesus 
 died. No taunts of the surrounding crowd, no 
 false profession of their readiness to believe, 
 induced Him to come down from the cross, 
 where they had nailed Him. No agony, no 
 fainting, no distress, led Him to call in the aid 
 of the legions of angels, that waited but His 
 bidding, to save Him from the pains of death. 
 The Divinity of the nature which dwelt within 
 that lowly anguished form, raised not the frail 
 flesh which He assumed, above the liability to 
 death. He suffered, and He died! He waited 
 but the moment, when He could see that all 
 things were accomplished, which His Father had 
 commissioned Him to do; and when all the 
 Scriptures, which foretold a suffering Saviour, 
 had been literally fulfilled ; wher, all the types,' 
 which foreshadowed the dying Lamb of God, 
 had been in the minutest particular verified; 
 when the righteousness, which the law de- 
 manded of our race, had been in every respect 
 fulfilled ; and the penalty, which its curse 
 denounced against Adam and his sinful children, 
 waited but the closing act to receive its full 
 satisfaction : then with a loud voice He cried, 
 " It is finished!" and gave up the ghost* For 
 see, the Jews, whose consciences were easy 
 
 * John xix. 30. 
 
 T 
 
 
126 
 
 HE DIED FOR ALL. 
 
 i-'l 
 
 under the blood which they had invoked upon 
 themselves and their children, were troubled at 
 the thought of the body remaining upon the cross 
 on the Sabbath-day. They bring with them the 
 Roman guard to complete the work their malice 
 has begun, to break the legs of the sufferers, in 
 order to accelerate their death, that they may 
 be removed. But when they come to Jesus, 
 they see that He is dead. The eye is glazed ; 
 the pulse is motionless; the heavings of the 
 chest have ceased ; the convulsive writhings of 
 the limbs are over. All is still. Yet, to make 
 assurance doubly sure, behold ! a soldier thrusts 
 his spear into the side of the breathless Jesus ; 
 it pierces the region of the heart, where the 
 blood is not yet completely chilled ; there 
 issues from the wound thus made a mingled 
 stream of blood and water. Had there been 
 one spark of life remaining, that spear must 
 have finished the work. He suffered ; He was 
 dead. The Lord of life was crucified. The 
 incarnate God was slain. He died for us. He 
 died for all. 
 
 3. Yet how FOR all ? In what sense was 
 the death of Christ a death for others? Con- 
 vinced, that He who died was the incarnate Son 
 of the Eternal God; convinced, that in the 
 human nature He assumed He truly died ; it 
 becomes to us, thirdly, a most important ques- 
 
HE DIED FOR ALL. 
 
 127 
 
 tion, in what sense His dying was a death for 
 others. And, it must be feared, that it is a 
 question about which there is a great deal of 
 indistinctness in the ideas of many who profess 
 and call themselves Christians. Too often, alas ! 
 in approaching the sick bed of suffering feUow- 
 sinners to ask them of their faith and hope, 
 when the belief is expressed, the hope of salva- 
 tion professed, because Christ died for us, the 
 inquiry, " How can Christ's death save you from 
 dying?" is met with the stare of vacancy, or the 
 acknowledgment of ignorance. In what sense is 
 it, then, let us ask— how is it that Christ died 
 for all? And it was not, that, by His patience 
 and obedience unto death, He might set an 
 example to all of meekness and submission. It 
 was not, that, by His death. He might set the 
 seal to the truth of the doctrines He had taught, 
 and thus commend to all His heavenly message. 
 It was not, that He might, by dying, remove 
 some of the severity of the law, destroy its con- 
 demning power, and open for all an easier way 
 in which they might satisfy its demands, and 
 gain for themselves an entrance into heaven. 
 No ; but His death was a real and a full substi- 
 tution for the death of others. He died in the 
 stead of all. He died in their place, so that all 
 might be able to plead His dying as the reason 
 why they shall not die. The great truth which 
 
 «pf 
 
H . 
 
 128 
 
 HE DIED FOR ALL. 
 
 nn\ 
 
 ii9^ 
 
 m' 
 
 the Gospel teaches us concerning our state by 
 nature, is that we are under condemnation. We 
 are all, not merely prone to sin, not merely 
 sinners, but actually found guilty by the law of 
 God. Every child who is born into the world 
 is not only born with a sinful nature, but actually 
 comes into the world under sentence of eternal 
 death. Now, beloved, suppose a criminal brought 
 up before the bar of an earthly tribunal to re- 
 ceive sentence for the guilt of which a jury of 
 his fellow-men have found a verdict against him. 
 The judge inquires of him, " What have you 
 to say why sentence should not be passed upon 
 you, and the punishment which the law enjoins 
 inflicted?" Suppose such criminal to rejjly, 
 " I have already been punished for this same 
 offence. Sentence for this very crime has been 
 already passed upon me, and the punishment, 
 which was denounced, has been actually en- 
 dured." If this were true, would not such a 
 man at once go free ? Whatever his crime may 
 have been, if he had been already punished for 
 it, he could not be punished again. The very 
 same law, whose majesty required his punish- 
 ment for the offence, would now step in to 
 prevent a second punishment for the same trans- 
 gression. It was to put this plea into the 
 mouths of sinners that Jesus died. They, too, 
 are found guilty ; guilty, the merest infant, by 
 
HE DIED FOR ALL. 
 
 129 
 
 the Word of God ; guilty, the grown up sinner, 
 by the concurrent testimony of his own accusing 
 conscience. Suppose them too-suppose your- 
 selves, beloved, placed before the bar of God. 
 What have you to say, why sentence of eternal 
 death should not be passed, and your souls sent 
 away to endless woe ? The answer which the 
 death of Christ supplies, is this : We have been 
 punished for these sins already. A substitute 
 was offered and was accepted in our stead. The 
 vengeance due to us was poured out upon Him. 
 He « bore our sins in His own body on the 
 tree."* And the holy law of God itself requires 
 no more than that we should have been once 
 punished for our sins. Nay, more; the justice 
 of the law has been satisfied, and we can now 
 appeal even to the righteousness of God, to save 
 us from the punishment, which Jesus ha already 
 suffered in our stead. 
 
 4. But is there no limit to this plea ? Is it one 
 which all may offer? Yeo ; He died for ALL. 
 AU were dead. All are, by nature, under the 
 wrath and curse of God. All are guUty, and 
 exposed to, and awaiting the sentence of eternal 
 death. And universal as is this need, so univer- 
 sal is the supply. Extensive as is the disease, 
 equally extensive is the value of the remedy. 
 Vast as may have been the multitudes that have 
 * 1 Peter ii. 24, 
 K 
 
!!• 
 
 130 
 
 HE DIED FOR ALL. 
 
 applied, there is no diminution of the efficacy. 
 
 Countless as are the multitudes of dead, there is 
 
 no limit in His power to save. The natural 
 
 figures, by which our Lord represents His fulness 
 
 and sufficiency are intended to set forth this 
 
 truth. He " is the light of the world."* The 
 
 brightness, with which the sun may beam on us, 
 
 does not diminish his light to the rest of the 
 
 world. He shines as brightly now as on the day 
 
 that Adam fell ; and millions rejoice at the same 
 
 moment in his genial beams. In Jesus there is 
 
 " a fountain opened to the house of David for 
 
 sin and for uncleanness," f Thousands may come 
 
 and quench their thirst at the fountain-head, and 
 
 make no difference in its flow. The rills and 
 
 streams that run from it may be dried up ; but 
 
 the fountain bubbles still. Yea, vast as may be 
 
 the multitudes, countless the millions thac require 
 
 the blood of Jesus to wash them from their guilt, 
 
 and though no man may be able to number the 
 
 throng of those that have come and waf.hed their 
 
 robes, there is room still for more. He died for 
 
 all ; for all, at least, who are dead. If there be 
 
 any who are not dead, any who are not lost, they 
 
 need no Saviour ; for them He did not die. But 
 
 the truths may be mutually reversed. If He 
 
 died for all, then all are dead. If all are dead, 
 
 equally true is it, that He died for all. 
 
 * John ix. 5. 
 
 t Zc'oli. xiii, 1. 
 
HE DIED FOR ALL. 
 
 131 
 
 II. Let us proceed, beloved, to consider the 
 
 EFFECT WHICH THESE STATEMENTS, aCCOrding tO 
 
 the apostle's suggestion, should have upon our 
 HEARTS AND LIVES. " He died for all : that they 
 which live should not henceforth live unto them- 
 selves, but unto Him who died for them, and 
 rose again." 
 
 1. And the first remark which this truth 
 suggests is the sad and solemn one, that 
 
 THOUGH He DIED FOR ALL, ALL ARE NOT SAVED 
 
 BY His death. Although He died that all 
 might live, all shall not live through Him. But 
 why ? Because they will not come to Him that 
 they might have life.* The death of Christ, 
 then, while it is abundantly suflficient for the 
 salvation of all, is effectual only to the salvation 
 of a few. For " strait is the gate, and narrow 
 is the way, that leadeth unto life, and few there 
 be that find it."t Beloved! how solemn is this 
 thought. Vast as is the ruin sin has made, 
 equally vast is the provision which God's love 
 has made for the recovery of our ruined race. 
 Deadly as is the disease which the sin of our 
 first parents infused into the blood of all their 
 children, abundant is the means which the 
 death of Jesus has suppHed for the healing of 
 the soul. Wide as is the gulf which our sins 
 have made to separate between us and our God, 
 
 * John V. 40. f Matt. vii. 14. 
 
 K 2 
 
132 
 
 HE DIED FOR ALL. 
 
 tlie sacrifice that has been freely made is pre- 
 cious enough to close up the gap, and bring us 
 near to Him. Yes, there is no sin so deadly that 
 the bloc:^ of Jesus cannot wipe it out. There is 
 no sinner so inveterate, that he may not find 
 pardon, healing, life, in the sacrifice of Christ. 
 And yet sinners are not saved ; the ruined are 
 not rescued; the dying are not healed. And 
 why ■? Because they will not come ; because 
 they will not even look to Jesus that they may 
 be saved. Beloved, are there any such among 
 you, of whom it must be feared that ye have not 
 come to Jesus to be saved ] behold, He calleth 
 to you amid the agonies of His cross, Look unto 
 me! If he died for you, then surely ye are 
 dead. And if ye are dead, then ye must come 
 to Him that ye may Lve. Dearly beloved, the 
 Saviour calls to you, who yet are in your sins, to 
 look to Him and live. O ! look to Him, and 
 see what that wrath of God was which He bore 
 for you. If ye go not to Him ye must bear that 
 wrath yourselves. It was " a fearful thing," 
 even for Him, " to fall into the hands of the 
 Living God."* O! what then will it be for you, 
 if ye should n^t have found in Him a refuge 
 from the wrath to come ! 
 
 2. Who then are they, let us, secondly, 
 enquire, who are they that shall live? Those 
 
 * Heb. X. 31. 
 
HK DIED FOR ALL. 
 
 133 
 
 ONLY WHO BELIEVE. Faith is the principle of 
 life. « As many as received Him," saith the 
 Evangelist, « to them gave He power to become 
 the sons of God, even to them that believe on 
 His name. " ♦ "He that believeth on ne, " saith 
 our blessed Lord, "hath everiasting life; and 
 shall not come into condemnation, but is passed 
 from death unto life."t "I am cruc'fied with 
 Chnst," saith our apostle, " nevertheless I live : 
 and the life which I now live in the flesh, I live 
 by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me 
 and gave Himself for me.»$ Those, then, that 
 believe are they that live. AU that believe not, 
 still continue dead. There is no neutral state! 
 " He that believeth not is condemned already. "§ 
 He only lives, who truly and cordially believes. 
 Beloved, how important is then the inquiry. Do 
 ye believe ? How momentous the duty to " Ex- 
 amine yourselves whether ye be in the faith.'|| 
 It is no thing of course that ye believe, because 
 ye are called Christians. Do ye believe that, by 
 nature and by practice, ye are lost and guilty 
 sinners, and were dead in trespasses and sin ? 
 Do ye believe that Jesus bore your sins in His 
 own body on the tree, and hath made atonement 
 unto God for you? Do ye believe the record 
 which God hath given you concerning Him, tliat 
 
 * John i. 12. t John v. 24 ; vi. 47. f Gal. ii. 20 
 
 § -JoJ'^iii-lS. II 2 Cor. xiii. .5. 
 
iilil 
 
 
 134 
 
 HE DIED FOR ALL. 
 
 He hath given to you eternal life, and this 
 life is in His Son^* Do ye believe His gracious 
 message when He saith t^ you, Your sins are 
 forgiven you, go in peace ?t He that thus hath 
 the Son hath life : and he that hath not the Son 
 of God hath not life. ^ O then, beloved, make 
 this important enquiry. Are ye truly believers in 
 Jesus'? He calls to you amid His dying agonies; 
 He bids you turn the eye of faith to Him and 
 live. Life, then, and death are suspended upon 
 your compHance. Refuse His call, and ye are 
 dead. Obey His voice, only look unto Him, 
 and ye are saved. 
 
 3. Once more, let us observe the fruit Oi' 
 THIS PRINCIPLE OF LIFE. " He died for all ; that 
 they which live should not henceforth live unto 
 themselves, but unto Him who died for them and 
 rose again." The faith of which we spe is an 
 active principle. It recognises man's lost con- 
 dition; it perceives how wondrous was that 
 love, which brought the Saviour down to raise 
 him from his ruin ; it brings home to the heart 
 such a sense of that wondrous love, as engages 
 the affections and draws out the love of all that 
 in truth believe the record of it. Can it be that 
 I can know myself to have been dead, to have 
 been subject to the curse, an heir of hell ; can 
 I believe that Jesus came and put himself in my 
 
 * 2 John V. II. f Matt. ix. 2. | 1 John v. 12. 
 
 »: ii 
 
HE DIED FOR ALL. 
 
 135 
 
 place, bore in my stead the curse that lay on me, 
 and made me an heir of heaven ; can I believe 
 this in my inmost heart, and yet find no grati- 
 tude stirred up within, no love called forth to 
 Him who hath saved me from such a death, 
 raised me to such a life ? Not so judged the 
 Apostle. « The love of Christ," he saith, " con- 
 straineth us."* If we believe that we were 
 dead ; if we believe that He died that we might 
 live ; then will His love constrain us to live not 
 to ourselves, but unto Him. Away, then, with 
 the weak calumny that the belief of our being 
 freely saved through the blood of Jesus, of mere 
 grace alone, will lead to immorality and careless- 
 ness of life. No, beloved ; go, stand beneath the 
 cross on which our Saviour hangs this day. See 
 in His agonies the punishment of your sins. 
 Behold, in the darkness that enshrouds Him, 
 and the anguished prayer under the hidings of 
 His Father's face, how your curse was laid upon 
 Him. Hear in His dying cry the charter of 
 your life. And ye will not, cannot go from 
 thence, believing that it was your sin which 
 caused it all, and yet rush heedlessly into sin 
 again. And think, O think, ye who by faith 
 have laid your sins upon the dying Lamb, think 
 what should be your life of faith in Him ; think 
 how ye should seek His glory, and obey his 
 * 2 Cor. V. 14. 
 
136 
 
 HE DIED FOR ALL. 
 
 in 
 
 *if. M 
 
 precepts, and show forth his praise. Yea, think 
 how ye should live to Him. How many, alas ! 
 live unto themselves, seek their own pleasure, 
 follow their own ease, aim at their own honor, 
 walk in their own ways ! But ye who believe 
 how Christ hath loved you, ye ought to live to 
 Him. O come, then, this day, beloved ; come, 
 and beneath the cross, devote yourselves afresh 
 to Jesus. Look on His bleeding wounds ; gaze 
 on His writhing limbs ; behold His awful ago- 
 nies; hear His expiring cry ; and ask yourselves. 
 What can be too much to do or give for Him 
 who bore so much for you ? 
 
 ,i , 
 
SERMON VIII. 
 
 RISEN WITH CHRIST. 
 
 COLOSSIANS III. 1. 
 
 // ye, then, he risen with Christ, seek those things 
 which are above, where Christ sitteth at the 
 right hand of God* 
 
 " I AM the Resurrection and the Life," said our 
 Lord to the weeping sister of His departed 
 friend, whose dust was even now returning to 
 its dust ; "he that believeth in me, though he 
 were dead, yet shall he live; and whosoever 
 liveth and believeth in me shall never die."-f 
 
 These words of her gracious Lord our Church 
 puts into the mouth of her ministers, as they 
 meet the bier, whereon some departed brother 
 or sister in the Lord is laid, at the threshold of 
 the resting-place of the dead. The first words 
 which break upon the stillness of the mournful 
 
 * Preached on Easter Day. f Jolin xi. 25, 26. 
 
 MPPMa 
 
{»r?Tl 
 
 138 
 
 RISEN WITH CHRIST. 
 
 '* 
 
 train, that follow the lifeless clay of some kins- 
 man or friend to its last narrow home, are those 
 in which the Lord of life would withdraw the 
 thoughts from the cold grave to the brightness 
 of that resurrection-morn, where the dust of 
 sleeping millions shall awaken at His voice. 
 And they, who go to the grave to weep there 
 over the sod, that hides from their most anxious 
 gaze the remnant of what was once so precious 
 to their eyes, so dear to their inmost hearts, may 
 surely hear the gracious voice of Him, who 
 stood in the mysterious union of His meekness 
 and His might beside the grave of Lazarus, 
 " I am the Resurrection and the Life." 
 
 Gracious is, indeed, the assurance, consoling 
 indeed the promise, which these words of our 
 Lord contain, to those who have been called 
 upon in the good providence of God to commit 
 some loved, some precious one to the yawning 
 grave. Sorrow may overwhelm the heart just 
 conscious of the bitterness of that bereavement 
 which hath left the fireside desolate, and the 
 heart foriorn ; but they sorrow not, as those that 
 have no hope, who hear and can appropriate the 
 words of Jesus, speaking of himself as " the 
 Resurrection and the Life." All tliat was neces- 
 sary to render the warrant for this consolation 
 complete, we may now see to have been accom- 
 plished. C;ould Martha receive the words of 
 
RISEN WITH CHRIST. 
 
 139 
 
 Jesus as those of Eternal truth, and believe His 
 promise, when He addressed her as the Resurrec- 
 tion and the Life ; how much more, then, may 
 we receive and rejoice in them, who have the 
 proofs, to which our attention is at this season 
 drawn, that He has " become the first-fruits of 
 them that slept."* The comfort, which such an 
 assurance gives, is damped by no shade of 
 doubt concerning His truth who gave it ; nay, 
 more, the hope it cherishes is brightened, and 
 quickened by the light, which breaks upon the 
 bursting sepulchre, where our Lord was laid, 
 and stamps upon His brow, as He comes forth 
 from the short captivity of the grave, the living 
 characters, «I am the Resurrection and the 
 Life." 
 
 Consoling, however, as is the truth, to which 
 our thoughts are at this season turned, to those 
 who can in faith commit their beloved ones to 
 the cold grave; it is yet more important in its 
 bearing upon the faith, the hopes, the character, 
 and the conduct of those who are spendin," their 
 appointed day upon the eai'th, than it is in its 
 consolation concerning those whose course is 
 run. Sweet as consolation is, it is salvation 
 which is important. Precious as is to the 
 mourner tho hope of meeting those that have 
 gone to sleep in Jesus, when God shall bring 
 
 * 1 Cor. XV. 20. 
 
140 
 
 RISEN WITH CHRIST. 
 
 them with Him at His coming, that hope belongs 
 only to those, who themselves have an interest 
 in Him who is the Resurrection and the Life. O ! 
 would that men thought more of this ! How many 
 are there, that speak of some departed friend, 
 as if full of comfort in the thought of a reunion in 
 the world of light, who have never, it may be 
 feared, seriously examined the grounds of their 
 own confidence, have never clung in earnest to 
 the cross of Christ, nor experienced in truth 
 " the power of His resurrection."* How many 
 take up the language of the Christian's consola- 
 tion, and profess to dry their tears of sorrow for 
 some dear one's loss with the sweet hope of 
 recognition in the day of the Lord, to whom, it 
 must be feared from their present life, the voice 
 which wakes the dead must be a voice of terror, 
 and the glory of the resurrection morn, the con- 
 summation of their wretchedness for ever ! 
 
 It is to this important and practical view of the 
 resurrection of our Lord from the deaa that the 
 words of the text demand our attention. They 
 suggest to us the momentous bearing, which that 
 truth has upon the character and conversation of 
 the Christian ; they call our thoughts back from 
 the grave, where sleeps the dust of those rliat 
 have gone to their rest, to ourselves who yet rj e 
 sojourning in this dying world; they bid us 
 
 ♦ Phil. iii. 10. 
 
RISEN WITH CHRIST. 
 
 141 
 
 examine the foundation of our hopes, and 
 look into the structure of our conduct, as we 
 would share the glories of His resurrection, who 
 was " delivered for our offences, and raised again 
 for our justification."* 
 
 To this examination and enquiry, beloved, I 
 would desire this afternoon to direct your atten- 
 tion. In the light of the resurrection of Jesus, 
 I would desire to urge upon you the examina- 
 tion of your state and character in the sight of 
 God. Before Him who quickeneth the dead, 
 I would press upon you the enquiry, whether 
 ye are " dead with Christ from the rudiments 
 of the world,"f and with Him " raised again 
 through the faith of the operation of God."+ 
 May " the spirit of Him who raised up Jesus 
 from the dead"§ be present to aid and bless us 
 in the enquiry ! May He lay bare to you all the 
 secrets of your own hearts, and so testify to you 
 of Christ, that, having fellowship with Him in 
 His death, ye may partake with Him in the 
 glories of His risen life ! 
 
 In the prosecution of our subject, let us first, 
 briefly consider the great truth, to which the 
 mind of the whole Christian Church is at this 
 season directed, that Christ is risen : secondly, 
 
 * Kom. iv. 25. f Col. ii. 20. J lb. 12. 
 
 § Rom. vih. 11. 
 
142 
 
 RISEN WITH CHRIST. 
 
 THE IMPORTANT DOCTRINE, THAT THE TRUE BE- 
 LIEVER IS ALREADY RISEN WITH ChRIST I and, 
 
 thirdly, the practical result and evidence of 
 
 THIS DOCTRINE WHEREVER IT IS RECEIVED — THE 
 SEEKING THOSE THINGS WHICH ARE ABOVE, WHERE 
 
 Christ sitteth at the right hand of God. 
 May the Spirit of glory and of God rest upon us, 
 and sanctify these considerations to our souls' 
 good ! 
 
 I. And, in the first place, beloved, the great 
 truth, that Christ is risen from the dead, 
 stands forth upon the sacred page, encircled 
 with a clear and glorious light, such as shines 
 upon no one other fact in the blessed book. 
 
 1. The types and shadows of the Old Testament 
 prefigured it. To mention no others, the Apostle 
 refers us to the case of Is vac, as having been in 
 a figure received back from the dead,* as a 
 typical representation of Him, upon whom was 
 laid the wood for His own sacrifice, against whom 
 the Father stretched forth His hand to smite 
 Him for a world's transgression, but who re- 
 turned to the young men. His disciples, that 
 waited for His coming. And the prophet Jonah, 
 who was three days and three nights in the 
 whale's belly, is referred to by our Lord Himself, 
 
 * Heb. xi. 19. 
 
RISEN WITH CHRIST. 
 
 143 
 
 as a figure of His being the same time in the 
 heart of the earth, and coming forth again in the 
 freshness of renewed life.* 
 
 2. Our Lord Himself foretold it. "Destroy 
 this temple," He said to the Jews that asked of 
 Him a sign, « and in three days I will raise it 
 up." "He spake," saith the Evangelist, "of 
 the temple of His body."t When He came 
 down from the mount of transfiguration. He 
 charged the chosen three, who had been wit- 
 nesses of Plis glory, that they should « tell the 
 vision to no man, until the Son of Man were risen 
 from the dead." J And, often as He spake to the 
 twelve concerning His approaching sufferings, 
 He accompanied the announcement with the 
 promise of His resurrection ; saying, " The Son 
 of Man must suffer many things, and be killed, 
 and the third day rise again. "§ 
 
 3. Angels announced it. For when, with the 
 first streak of dawn, Mary Magdalene and the 
 other Mary were come to see the sepulchre, an 
 angel sat upon the stone now rolled away from 
 the grave's mouth, who said unto the women, 
 " Fear not ye : for I know that ye seek Jesus, 
 which was crucified. He is not here : for He is 
 risen, as He said."|| 
 
 4. Eye-witnesses beheld it. They saw not, in- 
 
 * Matt. xii. 40. f John ii. 18—21. % Matt. xvii. 9. 
 § Mark viii. 31. || Matt, xxviii. 5, 6. 
 
 ■pwalM 
 
^Itisk* 
 
 144 
 
 RISEN WITH CHRIST. 
 
 I 
 "J' 
 
 deed, the actual rising from the grave ; for none, 
 save the affrighted Roman guard, were by at 
 the moment. But the risen Lord appeared to 
 Mary Magdalene and called her by her name.* 
 He joined the two disciples on their walk to 
 Emmaus, and became known to them in break- 
 ing of bread, f He came into the upper chamoer, 
 where the disciples were assembled with doors 
 closed for fear of the Jews, and said unto them, 
 " Peace be unto you.":j: He came again in the 
 same manner, when the doubting Thomas was 
 among the number, and, showing him His hands 
 and His side, wrung from him the adoring ex- 
 clamation, " My Lord and my God."§ He came 
 among them by the sea of Galilee ; and, while 
 they yet believed not for joy, and wondered, He 
 took of the meat they offered, and did eat before 
 them, il And St. Paul assures us, that upwards 
 of five hundred brethren at once beheld Him, 
 that He was alive from the dead. ^ 
 
 5. His enemies could not deny it. For, while 
 they put into the mouths of the Roman guard the 
 impious tale, and paid them for the falsehood, 
 that His disciples came and stole Him away 
 while they slept,** no attempt was made to ex- 
 pose this pretended imposture to the people, no 
 
 * John XX. 14—16. f Luke xxiv. 13—30. 
 § John XX. 27, 28. || Luke xxiv. 41—43. 
 ** Matt, xxviii. 12, 13. 
 
 t John XX. 19. 
 IF 1 Cor. XV. 6. 
 
RISEN WITH CHRIST. 
 
 145 
 
 effort used to bring tlie disciples to punish- 
 ment for their offence. And enemies, from that 
 day to this, have assailed this truth, upon whose 
 minds the accumulated evidence which supports 
 it hath flashed conviction, and whose enmity has 
 been by the power of the resurrection turned 
 into love. 
 
 "Now," then, may we unhesitatingly take up 
 the language of the exulting Apostle, " Now is 
 Christ risen from the dead !"* 
 
 II. From the contemplation of this glorious 
 and most certain truth, pass we on to consider, 
 in the second place, a doctrine which the Word 
 of God has placed upon the same foundation, 
 
 that THE BELIEVER IN JeSUS, THE TRUE CHRISTIAN, 
 
 IS RISEN WITH Him. 
 
 I. The believer is risen with Jesus, hy virtue 
 of his federal relation to Him, his mystical union 
 with Him, as a member of the body, which 
 suffered, was buried, and rose again from the 
 grave. When Adam sinned, he sinned not 
 alone. The death which was denounced against 
 his transgression, embraced in its fatal grasp all 
 the descendants of that sinning man to the latest 
 time. «InAdamalldied."t When Jesus suf- 
 fered and died. His Church and people died in 
 Him. Those whom the Father had given Him to 
 
 * 1 Cor. XV. 20. f lb. 22. 
 
 L 
 
 W-^' 
 
 npip 
 
% 
 
 N tJ' L. 
 
 146 
 
 HI8EN WITH CHRIST. 
 
 be ITis people, stand to Him in the same relation 
 in which the body stands to the head. And, as 
 surely as the writhing, mangled body of the meek 
 Redeemer died at the same time that He bowed 
 His gentle head and gave up the ghost,* so surely 
 did His people suffer in His sufferings the pu- 
 nishment denounced against their transgressions ; 
 the curse which He sustained in their stead. And, 
 as surely as the body, which was laid in the new 
 tomb, came forth from the bonds in which it was 
 not possible it should be detained,t ^t the same 
 time that the glorious head burst forth from its 
 short sleep ; so surely did the Church of Christ, 
 the people of His love, and every individual 
 member of that people, come forth with Him, 
 their risen Head, delivered from the curse, justi- 
 fied, and saved. 
 
 Upon this great and momentous doctrine, the 
 Apostle continually dwells. Asserting to the 
 Romans, that " Christ, being raised from the 
 dead, dieth no more," he urges upon those, who, 
 he says, were " called to be saints," that they 
 should "reckon," or consider " themselves, as dead 
 indeed unto sin, but alive unto God through Jesus 
 Christ our Lord."+ He is here not so much incul- 
 cating a duty as setting forth their privilege. 1 o 
 the Ephesians he writes concerning the Church, 
 which is the body of Christ, the " fulness of Him 
 
 * John xix. 30. t Acts ii. 24. | Rom. vi. 9, 10, 1 1 . 
 
RISEN WITH CHRIST. 
 
 147 
 
 that filleth all in all,"* that this body was 
 quickened by the same power, and by the same 
 exertion of that power, which raised Jesus from 
 the dead. For " God," he saith, " who is rich in 
 mercy, for His great love wherewith He loved 
 us, even when we were dead in sins, hath 
 quickened us together with Christ, and hath 
 raised us up together, and made us sit together 
 in heavenly places in Christ Jesus."t He here 
 speaks of the Church, the believing people of 
 God, as being raised with Jesus when He rose ; 
 as having even ascended with Him to the hea^ 
 venly places, where now He sitteth at the right 
 hand of God. To the same pui^pose he speaks 
 to the Colossian Christians ; " You, being dead 
 in your sins and the uncircumcision of your 
 flesh, hath He quickened together with Him, 
 having forgiven you all trespasses."+ " Ye are 
 dead, and your life is hid with Christ in God. 
 When Christ, who is our life, shall appear, then 
 shall ye also appear with Him in glory. "§ 
 
 The true, the living members, then, of the 
 Church, the body of Christ, are not merely 
 looking forward to their resurrection ; they see 
 it already accomplished. They are " risen with 
 Christ." The frail flesh indeed must yet pass 
 through the grave and gate of death, and its 
 
 Fph. i. 23. 
 
 t Epli. ii. 4, 5, 6. 
 
 § Col. iii. 3, 4. 
 
 L 2 
 
 t Col. ii. 13. 
 
 r 
 
 Iti 
 
 ii 
 
 t s 
 
(< 
 
 fil 
 
 'J. 
 
 '■H ; 
 
 
 Ni 
 
 148 
 
 RISEN WITH CHRIST. 
 
 resurrection is yet ftiture. But the soul, the 
 important part, is already risen with Christ, and 
 sits with Him in heavenly places. 
 
 2. The union, of which we here speak, is, 
 however, a mystical, a mysterious union. Many 
 profess to believe themselves partakers of it by 
 virtue of some outward ordinance alone. Yet 
 we may trace its existence by observing, se- 
 condly, that the believer, the true Christian, is 
 risen with Christ, by virtue of an inward and 
 spiritual change wrought in him by the power of 
 the same Spirit which raised Jesus from the dead. 
 Unpalatable as is the truth to the pride of our 
 corrupt nature, it is one which the Word of God 
 makes but too plain, that every one, who is born 
 into the world, comes into it in a state of 
 spiritual death. The universal condition of 
 mankind is such, that they are all by nature 
 " dead in trespasses and sins."* And in this 
 state man continues, until by some mighty ope- 
 ration of the Spirit of the Lord, shadowed forth 
 by the sacrament of baptism, he is quickened 
 together with Christ. The change, which then 
 takes place in every one thus quickened by the 
 Spirit of God, is o change from darkness to 
 light, from death unto life, from the power of 
 Satan unto God. f It is an inward and spiritual 
 change, wrought in the heart by the power of 
 
 Eph. ii. 1. 
 
 t Acts xxvi. 18. 
 
RISEN WITH CHRIST. 
 
 149 
 
 the Spirit of God; as great as the return of an 
 aged man to a state of infancy ; as wonderful as 
 the resurrection of the dead body of Jesus from 
 the tomb ; as easy of demonstration by its 
 effects, as was the resurrection of Jesus capable 
 of proof to those who had seen Him dead, and 
 now saw and handled Him elive. It is a 
 change of principle, from the love of self and of 
 the world, to the love of God ; it is a change of 
 character, from that of a slave of e world, and 
 of the flesh, to being a servant a the living 
 God; it is a change of conduct, trom the v in 
 conversation of a sinful world, to the endeavor 
 in all things to please God. Faith in Christ is 
 its leading principle ; the love of Christ its chief 
 enjoyment; the glory of Christ its unceasing 
 aim ; the presence of Christ in His kingdom its 
 constant expectation. 
 
 Mysterious, then, as may be the union of 
 Christians, as the members of that body which 
 died upon the cross, was buried, and rose again, 
 here is an evidence, by which that union may be 
 ascertained. Mysterious was the resurrection of 
 the body of the Lord Himself; no eye witnessed 
 it ; no words can explain it ; but it was evident 
 to those who saw and spake with Him, that it 
 had taken place. And equally evident ^^ill it 
 be, in the case of all who are mystically members 
 of the body of Clirist, that they have undergone 
 
150 
 
 RISEN WITH CHRIST. 
 
 a spiritual change ; that they have truly died to 
 sin, and risen again with Jesus to newness and 
 holiness of life. O ! then, ye who profess to call 
 yourselves Christians, who trust that ye are 
 members of the risen body of Jesus, a portion of 
 His living Church, look to it whether ye have 
 undergone this change, whether ye have in 
 truth thus died to sin, whether ye have been 
 renewed in the spirit of your minds, and been 
 made new creatures in Christ Jesus. 
 
 III. We may perceive, under the third head 
 of our present subject, an evidence by which we 
 may ascertain this truth ; for we may be assured, 
 from the manner in which the Apostle enjoins it 
 in the text, that every one, who is thus risen 
 WITH Christ, seeks those things which are 
 above, where Christ sitteth at the right 
 hand of God. 
 
 What are the things of which the Apostle 
 speaks, " the things which are above ?" 
 
 1. We may first mention peace tvith God, a 
 continued sense of His favor and His love. It 
 is indeed the privilege of every one that truly 
 believes in Jesus, the very moment that he truly 
 comes to Him, that " being justified by faith, he 
 has peace with God."* And yet, alas! what 
 Christian can there be, who does not know how 
 
 * Rom. V. 1, 
 
RISEN WITH CHRIST. 
 
 151 
 
 many things there are, which continually assail, 
 which threaten to deprive him of, this peace? 
 The lusts of a sinful flesh are continually rising 
 against the suggestions of the Spirit. The 
 temptations of a wicked but ensnaring world are 
 constantly obstructing his path, and seducing 
 him to sin. The great adversary, the Devil, is 
 unceasingly watching his opportunity to in- 
 sinuate some evil thought, to lure him to some 
 sinful act. What wonder is it, if, under the 
 combined influence of these assaults, he is forced 
 at times to confess with the Apostle, " The good 
 that I would, I do not ; the evil that I would 
 not, that I do;"* and with him to cry out, " O ! 
 wretched man that I am ! who shall deliver me 
 from the body of this death T'f Where can he 
 find comfort? how can he maintain this peace, 
 unless, by the continual and the lively exercise 
 of faith, lie flies to Jesus, makes known to Him 
 all his conflict, lays upon Him all his sin, and 
 seeks that grace and strength, which shall make 
 him conqueror of these enemies of his peace ? 
 This peace is the gift of God ; it is freely and 
 graciously bestowed upon all, who close with His 
 offers of mercy in Christ Jesus ; and if there 
 were no temptations, if there were no sins, if 
 there were nothing to come, as a cloud, between 
 the soul of the believer and the Lord he loves, 
 
 * "vom. vii. I!). f lb. 21. 
 
152 
 
 RISEN WITH CHRIST. 
 
 there would be no interruption to this peace. 
 But the believer, so far from being free from 
 sin, because he is dead to its dominion, only 
 enters upon his conflict with it, when he begins 
 to believe in Christ. And, as he would hope 
 for success, as he would gain the victory, he 
 must seek continually, through the risen Jesus, 
 that peace and joy in the Lord, which shall be 
 his strength against corruption, his cordial in 
 the struggle against sin. 
 
 2. Yet, desirable as is the enjoyment of this 
 peace, the true believer in Jesus desires more 
 earnestly, and seeks more ardently, conformity to 
 His image. And herein is, above all things, 
 manifested the genuineness and reality of the 
 change, which is wrought in him who is risen 
 with Christ. Peace, on any terms, is all that 
 the worldly care for. So long as they can go on, 
 with consciences undisturbed, in the ways of 
 their own hearts, so long as they can cry. Peace, 
 Peace, to their souls, though it be in the ways 
 of sin, they are content. Not so the awakened, 
 the renewed soul. Sin is its great burden. Sin 
 is what it most hates. The great desire of the 
 believer's heart is to be made free from sin ; to 
 be delivered from its power, to be emancipated 
 from its chains. To this end he sets before him 
 the pattern of Christ Jesus. Content Avith no 
 lower standard, he steadily fixes his gaze upon 
 
RISEN WITH CiJRIST. 
 
 163 
 
 the " measure of the stature of the fuhiess of 
 Christ."* To this rule he desires to bring all 
 his purposes and all his pursuits. By this scale 
 he desires to measure all his conduct and all his 
 conversation. For this he prays, for this he 
 strives, to this he earnestly presses forward, that 
 he may be made like unto Christ ; that, being 
 conformed to His image here, he may hope to 
 share His glory hereafter. 
 
 3. Yes! here we have a third object of the 
 true believer's search — meetness for His glory. 
 And can we but not see here also the great, the 
 wide distinction between the Christian and the 
 world? What do the children of the world 
 think of heaven, but as a mere refuge from the 
 flames of hell, a mere preferable alternative to 
 the torments of the lost % They think not of it 
 as a pure and holy place, into which no sin can 
 enter, where no unholiness can dwell. They 
 hear of it as a happy land ; and, when they must 
 part with earth, they hope to go where happiness 
 abounds. But to the renewed soul, the chief 
 charm of heaven is its holiness. He looks upon 
 it as God's dwelling-place, with whom nothing 
 that is evil can dwell ; he thinks of it as the home 
 of Jesus, where He sits amid the glory of His 
 eternal state ; he hears of it as a scene of endless 
 worship, and unceasing praise, where angels and 
 
 * Eph. iv. 13. 
 
 i 11 
 
154 
 
 RISEN WITH CHKIST. 
 
 B 
 
 the spirits of the just raise an unending song of 
 " Glory to the Lord !" But how could such a 
 scene be a scene of happiness to him, if he be 
 not made holy ? How could he delight for ever 
 in God's presence, how join for ever in His praise, 
 if he be not transformed into His image, and 
 sanctified by His indwelling? This, then, he 
 seeks from God ; for whence, but from the Lord, 
 can come that grace which can fit the soul to 
 dwell with Him? For this he prays, he 
 watches, and he strives, that, sin being subdued 
 within him, and the Spirit dwelling in his heart, 
 he may daily grow in grace, and in meetness for 
 God's glory. 
 
 Dearly beloved, I would press upon you these 
 solemn truths. I would urge upon your atten- 
 tion these important features of the Christian's 
 character. I would entreat you to examine by 
 these tests whether ye are indeed dead with 
 Christ from the rudiments of the world;* whe- 
 ther ye are in truth risen with Him to newness 
 and holiness of life. 
 
 Beloved, how can ye abide this test, who must 
 be constrained to confess that your thoughts, 
 your affections, your pursuits, are all of the 
 earth, earthy? Too many such, it may be 
 feared, there are, who, while they call them- 
 selves by the name of Christ, and claim to be 
 
 * Col. ii. 20. 
 
RISEN WITH CHRIST. 
 
 165 
 
 members of that Church which is His body, 
 because they have been outwardly admitted into 
 its pale, yet have never in true earnest sought 
 " those things which are above, . heic Christ 
 sitteth at the right hand of God." Dear friends 
 and fellow-sinners, I would entreat you to con- 
 sider how plainly, throughout the Gospel, the 
 religion of Christ Jesus is shown to be the 
 religion of the heart, nd the death and resur- 
 rection of Christ are set forth as the pattern of a 
 spiritual change, through \> liicli every soul must 
 pass, that would enter iato His kingdom. Dead 
 as ye are by nature, and by practice too, in tres- 
 passes and sins, ye have never died to sin, and, 
 awaking, cast off its chains, and risen to newness 
 of life. How then can the promise of Him, who 
 is "the Eesurrection and the Life," pour any 
 comfort over your hearts 1 O ! beloved, seek, 
 let me entreat you, seek His grace and quicken- 
 ing Spirit now ; as ye love your soul's salvation, 
 pray to Him to quicken, to animate, to save you ; 
 for, be assured, that, unless ye experience the 
 power of His resurrection now, the voice, which 
 shall wake your sleeping dust, must wake you to 
 despair. 
 
 Dearly beloved, I trust there are those among 
 you, who, having " been planted together in the 
 likeness of Christ's death," have experienced also 
 " the power of His resurrection ;" who have in 
 
 i li 
 
iFr; 
 
 |.' 
 
 J|1 
 
 156 
 
 RISEN WITH CHRIST. 
 
 truth died unto sin, and risen again to newness 
 of life.* Let me urge upon you, beloved, the 
 remembrance, that this resurrection was but tiie 
 commencement of your renewed life. Before 
 that, ye were dead. Then only ye began to live. 
 Then ye began to seek for heavenly things ; then 
 ye began to value your soul's peace. Think not, 
 then, your work finished, when, perhaps, it is 
 but just begun. Seek still, O ! continue to seek, 
 O ! persevere and be earnest in seeking, " those 
 things which are above." Consistency requires 
 it. Ye profess to be acting on a different prin- 
 ciple from, and to be ruled by a higher motive 
 than, the world. Surely ye should aim at higher 
 objects than the world, and maintain a holier 
 conversation. Your own expectations demand it. 
 Ye are looking out for Him, who is now at the 
 right hand of God. Surely ye should have your 
 conversation there, and live as ye would wish 
 your Lord to find you at His coming. Aim, 
 then, at maintaining peace with God ; seek after 
 conformity to His image ; strive after raeetness 
 for His glory; and then, when « all that are in 
 the graves shall hear the voice" of Him, who is 
 the Resurrection and the Life, " and shall come 
 forth,"t ye shall enter on the gJ ries of that 
 " Kingdom, prepared for" His purchased people 
 " before the foundation of the world." J 
 * Rom. vi. 4, 5. t John v. 28, 29. ± Matt. xxv. 34. 
 
SERMON IX. 
 
 THE SON LEARNING OBEDIENCE. 
 
 Hebrews v. 8, 9. 
 
 Though He were a Son, yet learned He obedience 
 hy the things which He suffered; and being 
 made perfect. He became the Author of eternal 
 salvation to all them that obey Him. 
 
 " It became Him," saith our Apostle, " for whom 
 are all things, and by whom are all things, in 
 bringing many sons unto glory, to make the 
 Captain of their salvation perfect through suf- 
 ferings."* 
 
 And there is indeed something, which pecu- 
 liarly commends itself to the sympathies and 
 feelings of our nature, in the idea of a suffer- 
 ing Saviour. Our flesh is a suffering flesh. 
 Sin, which brought death into the world, 
 brought with it also a long train of pains and 
 
 * Heb. ii. 10. 
 
 •I 
 
 ! S 
 
158 
 
 THE SON LEARNING OBEDIENCE. 
 
 weaknesses, which are tlie various stages, as it 
 were, in our journey to the dark grave. And, ii. 
 its hour of suffering apr^ --oruish, there is some- 
 thing soothing to the frail fieah in having an arm 
 to lean upon, a hand to press against our aching 
 head, which has learned tenderness and sym- 
 pathy in the same school of agony. Our con- 
 dition in every respect is one of suffering. 
 "Man is born to trouble, as the sparks fly 
 upward."* Bereavement, poverty, affliction, 
 calamity in some of its various forms, distress in 
 some of its numerous aspects, privation in some 
 of its pinching approaches, tribulation in some 
 of its various hues, is at some period or other 
 the lot of frail mortality. And, when flesh and 
 heart are ready to fail, there is something cheer- 
 ing, comforting, sustaining in the word of sym- 
 pathy, the voice of consolation, when it is offered 
 by one, who has encountered trial in its every 
 form, and trod the very same path of suffering in 
 which we are called to walk. 
 
 Yet there is also something animating, elevat- 
 ing, inspiring, in the contemplation of a glorified 
 Saviour. 'Tis sweet, in the hour of weakness, 
 to think that the voice which whispers sympathy 
 is the voice of one, who is as able to succor, as 
 He is to feel for us. 'Tis cheering, in the hour of 
 tnbulation, to look upon the glory tliat should 
 
 * Job V. 7. 
 
THE SON LEARNING OBEDIENCE. 
 
 159 
 
 follow the trials through which our sympathizing 
 Friend has passed, and to learn, that through the 
 same path of tribulation lies the way to the same 
 glory. 'Tis animating, in periods of depression, 
 darkness, and despondency, to contemplate Him, 
 whose "soul was exceeding sorrowful, even unto 
 death,"* who was " troubled and very heavy," -j- 
 at the thought of the woes that were before Him, 
 exalted now as " a Prince and Saviour, to give 
 repentance and forgiveness of sins,"$ and to 
 hear His voice exhorting those " that walk in 
 darkness and have no light, to trust in the name 
 of the Lord, and stay upon their God."§ 
 
 Upon both these views of the preciousness of 
 Christ, it is the Apostle's great delight to dwell. 
 Proclaiming the cross of Christ, as the only 
 foundation of a sinner's peace with God, the 
 only ground on which can rest one solid hope 
 of salvation from the wrath to come, he sets 
 forth in touching light, the sympathy which 
 Jesus thus acquired with His people's sufferings, 
 he paints in glowing hues the value of His me- 
 diation, who can point to His own honored 
 wounds as the ground on which He pleads for 
 blessings on His people. And, O, how well would 
 it be for us, beloved, if we could fully enter 
 into the Apostle's views, and share the feelings 
 
 t lb. 37. I Acts V. 31. 
 
 § Is. 1. 10. 
 
 * Matt. xxvi. 38. 
 
160 
 
 THE SON LEARNING OBEDIENCE. 
 
 With which he contemplates the perfection of 
 Jesus. If, making the cross of Him, the cruci- 
 fied, the one and only ground on which we 
 looked for the forgiveness of our sins, we realized 
 the sympatiiy of Jesus, as a suffering Saviour, 
 with our every weakness and our every woe, and 
 simply leaned upon the strength of Jesus as our 
 exalted Saviour, for our success in every conflict 
 our deliverance from every danger, our victory 
 over every foe ; O, if we thus looked to Jesus, and 
 found Him pur salvation, our comfort, and our 
 strength, what more could we need for our pre- 
 sent peace, what more for our everlasting joy ? 
 Guilty sinner, here is pardon! sorrowing 
 mourner, here is comfort! fainting traveller 
 heve is strength ! What is the case, which is 
 not here met ; whose the necessity for which 
 there IS not here a supply; what the trial, for 
 which there is not here a deliverance ? «0 that 
 men were wise; that they understood,"* ij this 
 their day, « the things which belong to their 
 peace, before they are hid from their eyes."t 
 
 I trust it may be well, beloved, to make these 
 views of Jesus and His love the subject of our 
 present meditation. We may still linger, I should 
 hope with profit, near the cross, where we have so 
 lately seen the meek Redeemer lifted up a 
 sacrifice for His people's sins, and gather some 
 
 * Deut. xxxii. 29. f L„ke xix. 42. 
 
THE SON LEARNING OBEDIENCE. 161 
 
 of the lessons of sympathy and of comfort, 
 which the view of His agoP''c. -applies. We 
 may contemplate, I should !iupe, v .th profit, the 
 glory of His resurrection, uid le.^m, beneath its 
 beams, some lessons of cc..;d.- e, and gather, 
 in its light, some strength ana iielp for our pil- 
 grimage and our conflict V^'igh this sinful 
 world. But that it may be with profit, let us 
 entreat the presence and the blessing of God's 
 Holy Spirit. Let us pray Him^ to take of the 
 things of CJhrist, and show them to our souls. 
 Let us pray, that, by His mighty working, 
 "Christ" may be formed "in us, the hope of 
 glory;"* that, being "dead with Him from the 
 rudiments of the world,"t and risen with Him to 
 newness of life, we may walk with Him here, 
 and hereafter enter into His joy. 
 
 Taking the words of the text as our guide, let 
 us consider first, briefly, the glory of the fIrst 
 
 ESTATE, FROM WHICH THE LoRD JeSUS CAME ; 
 
 secondly, the state of suffering, to which He 
 CONDESCENDED, and the purpose of those sufferings 
 to which the text calls our attention; and, 
 thirdly, the state of perfection, to which 
 through sufferings He attained, and which 
 commends Him as a Saviour to a suffering and 
 dying world. And may the Lord awaken in 
 * Col. i. 27. f Col. ii. 20. 
 
 M 
 
162 
 
 THE SON LEARNING OBEDIENCE. 
 
 ■n- 
 
 »}i 
 
 some poor sinner's heart, here present, an in- 
 terest in these momentous truths ! 
 
 I. And, in the first place, the glory of His 
 FIRST estate is brought before our notice in the 
 words, " Though He were a Son." 
 
 We find, indeed, that, as being the creatures 
 of the Almighty Word, the angels are called 
 the sons of God. For when this beauteous 
 universe sprang into being at the word of God, 
 who " spake and it was made, who com- 
 manded, and it stood fast,"* " the morning stars," 
 we are told, "sang together, and all the sons 
 of God shouted for joy." j- 
 
 And we find also, that, from the time that the 
 Lord has had a Church upon earth, His 
 BELIEVING people havc bccu called the sons 
 of God. For thus said the Lord to Pharaoh, 
 "Israel is my son, even my first born; let my 
 son go, that he may serve me."$ And when 
 the Lord Jesus " came unto His own, and His 
 own received Him not, as many as received 
 Him, to them gave He power to become the 
 sons of God." § 
 
 Yet it is evident that the Scriptures speak of 
 the Lord Jesus as the Son of God in a far 
 
 * Pa. xxxiii. 9. 
 
 f Job xxxviii. 7. 
 $ John i. 11, 12. 
 
 I Exod. iv. 2.?, 23. 
 
THE SON LEARNING OBEDIENCE. 
 
 163 
 
 HIGHER SENSE than either of these. The title of 
 "sons of God" is given to the Lord's believing 
 people, simply because of their relation to and 
 their union with Him ; who is the only begotten 
 of the Father. And the superiority of the Lord 
 Jesus, as a Son, to the very highest angelic 
 natures, is made the subject of special argument 
 by the Apostle, whose words we are considering. 
 " He is made so much better than the angels, 
 as He hath by inheritance obtained a more ex- 
 cellent namp than they."* The calling His 
 angels " sons of God" is on the Lord's part an act 
 of kindnessand of grace. The title belongs to Jesus 
 as His inheritance. « And when He bringeth in 
 the first-begotten into the worid, He saith. And 
 let all the angels of God worship Him."t Yes, 
 the Son that is here spoken of is He, " whom 
 God hath appointed heir of all things, by whom 
 also he made the worids." " He is the bright- 
 ness of His glory and the express image of His 
 person." "He uphoMeth all things by the 
 word of His power." J He is as much superior to 
 Moses, who was a son of God, as the builder of 
 a house is superior to the house he builds. § 
 He is as much superior to angels and archangels 
 as the God who is worshipped is superior to the 
 beings that worship Him. 
 
 * Heb. i. 4. t lb. 6. f lb. 2, 3. 
 
 § Heb. iii. ^, 
 
 M 2 
 
 
 I'M 
 
i:; 
 
 liit 
 
 fC'lf ' 
 
 ^i 
 
 if" 
 
 < : 
 
 t 
 
 164 
 
 TFIE SON LEARNING OBEDIENCE. 
 
 Beloved, if this be so, surely we cannot too 
 often reflect, how vast, how amazing was the love 
 of God in giving up this Son of His love, His 
 only-begotten, in whom His heart delighted, to 
 sufiering and to death for guilty man. Herein 
 is love indeed, not that we loved God; but that 
 He loved us, and sent His Son, His only- 
 begotten. His well-beloved, to be the Saviour of 
 the world .♦ Sinner ! guilty, trembling, despond- 
 ing sinner ! look upon this love, and what more 
 encouragement can you require to warrant you 
 in coming to throw yourself for mercy at His 
 feet? Sinner! careless, worldly, hardened 
 sinner ! think upon this love ; and ask, how can 
 ye escape, if ye despise this mercy, and neglect 
 this great salvation ?t 
 
 Beloved, if this be so, can we too often reflect 
 upon the condescension and the love of Him, 
 who, though He were the Son of God, became 
 the Son of man, that He might suffer, bleed, 
 and die for us ? He looked down upon a dying 
 world ; He saw a world of sinners doomed to 
 death, and destined to the pit; He threw 
 Himself into the gap, and cried, " DeKver them 
 from going down to the pit : I T^ave found a 
 ransom. "J What must be the ..mner's heart, 
 that can really think upon the love of Jesus, can 
 gaze upon His agonies, can hear His dying cries, 
 • 1 John iv. 10. t Heb. ii. 3. + Job xxxiii. 24. 
 
 I 
 
THE SON LEARNING OBEDIENCE. 165 
 
 and yet go on in sin, « crucifying Him afresh, 
 and putting Him to open shame?"* 
 
 II. This view of the dignity of Jesus, as the 
 Son of God, is surely strengthened and confirmed 
 by the account which the Apostle gives us of the 
 purpose of His sufferings. This we are, in the 
 second place, to consider ;— the state of suf- 
 fering TO WHICH He condescended, and the 
 purpose of those sufferings, so far as He 
 Himself is concerned. 
 
 " Though he were a Son," saith our text, « yet 
 learned He obedience by the things which He 
 suffered." The whole force of this contrast con- 
 sists in the excellence of the nature of the Lord 
 Jesus, His dignity. His authority, His Divinity, 
 before He came into the world. If He had been 
 a created being, even though He were the 
 highest archangel that bends before the throne, 
 He would not have had to begin then to learn 
 obedience. The little that is told us concerning 
 the angelic hosts, reveals them unto us as 
 " ministers of God, that do His pleasure ;"t as 
 beings whose delight it is, as it were, to Antici- 
 pate the wishes of their Lord and King, and to 
 fly on the wings of cher^ful obedience to execute 
 their Maker's will. It ii,.o been nothing new 
 
 * Heb. vi. 6. 
 
 t Ps. ciii. 20, 21. 
 
IJJ. >'"t''U4&-uzX.-li 
 
 166 
 
 THE SON LEARNING OBEDIENCE. 
 
 '?;''] 
 
 B' 
 
 i I 
 ? 
 
 If 
 
 then to tlie highest angelic nature to do God's 
 will on earth, as it had been done in heaven. 
 
 But, to the blessed Jesus, it was something 
 new to obey. Accustomed from all Eternity— 
 from that period in Eternity at least, at which 
 the word had gone forth, and hosts of angelic 
 spirits peopled at once the vast immensity, 
 where, until then, the Eternal Three in One had 
 been alone in boundless happiness ; accustomed 
 from that peiiod to the homage and the service 
 of the beings He had called into life, He had 
 never known a superior, to whose will He must 
 bow, whose commands He must obey. But, 
 when He came into the world. He came to obey 
 the law of God for man. He came to assume 
 what was to Him an entirely new character ; to 
 place Himself in an untried position ; to take 
 upon Him a service and a yoke, to which, up to 
 this time, His neck had never bowed. He came 
 then, and placed Himself, as it were, at school. 
 He put Himself at once under the discipline 
 which was necessary to perfect Him in obedi- 
 ence ; He began to learn the lessons, through 
 which He should come forth "complete in all 
 the will of God."* ' 
 
 And O ! what a school of suffering it was, in 
 which He learned obedience ! O ! what a 
 
 * Col. iv. 12. 
 
THE SON LEARNING OBEDIENCE. 
 
 167 
 
 rigorous and painful discipline it was, by which 
 He was perfected for His work. Was not His 
 flesh like our flesh, which often pleads for ease, 
 indulgence, gratification? Yes! but He never 
 yielded to its pleadings ; He hungered and 
 thirsted ; He suffered cold and nakedness ; He 
 had not where to lay his head. Was not His 
 flesh like our flesh, which shrinks from pain, 
 from torture, and from death? Yes! but He 
 voluntarily encountered all ; was buffeted, 
 scourged, tormented, slain. These were painful 
 lessons indeed ; this was in truth a rigorous 
 discipline ; yet He, who was accustomed to 
 command the hosts of heaven, passed through 
 all this, that He might not only show His readi- 
 ness, but might also by experience learn what it 
 is, to obey. 
 
 How important, beloved, are the lessons, 
 which the contemplation of the school, in which 
 the Lord Jesus learned obedience to His Father's 
 will is calculated to impress upon us ! 
 
 1. Shall it not teach us, first, that the way in 
 which the Lord teaches tis submission to His will 
 is, hy placing us in the school of trial, and sub- 
 jecting us to discipline, from which our frail 
 nature shrinks. It is easy enough to submit to 
 the will of God, when His will is the same as 
 our own. When it pleases Him to favor us 
 with health, with abundance, with domestic 
 
 
 I ! 
 
 K f 
 
168 
 
 THE SON LEARNING OBEDIENCE. 
 
 happiness, with social peace, it is not difficult to 
 bow to His dispensation. Many of us, perhaps, 
 when all is thus going well with us, imagine, not 
 only that we are thankful for the blessings, but 
 that, if it should seem fit to the Lord, we could 
 cheerfuUy resign them all to His will. The 
 Lord then appoints the stroke. In the manner, 
 perhaps, in which we least expect it, some cloud 
 is brought over the brightness of our prospect. 
 Health fails; or poverty approaches ; or bereave- 
 ment wounds the heart, and makes the house- 
 hold desolate. Where is the submission then ] 
 ' Could I not liave borne anything better, than the 
 failure of my health? If the Lord's time hadcome, 
 I trust I could have met death as a conquered 
 enemy, and have commended my spirit to my 
 Father's hands. But to be thus laid aside ; to 
 be a useless and unprofitable thing ; a weariness 
 to myself, a burden upon others, and no good to 
 any one ; this is trying indeed.' Beloved, let 
 one, who has passed through it, assure you, this 
 is no easy discipline. Yet whatever may be the 
 trial, by just «uch reasonings is the heart ready 
 to persuade itself, that, if it had been any other, 
 it could have been better borne. 
 
 Conscious, then, as we may be of our state as 
 sinners, it is not until we have passed through 
 some trials, that we find out the hidden evils of 
 our hearts. Then it is that we discover what 
 
THE SON LEARNING OBEDIENCE, 
 
 169 
 
 pride, what rebellion, what waywardness, what 
 selfishness there is in us, and learn how hard it 
 is to have no will but God's. Who then can 
 doubt, that His way of teaching, painful as it 
 may be, is yet the best ? We ask for grace, 
 for patience, for submission to God's will. He 
 grants the prayer ; but how ? By placing us 
 in circumstances of affliction, which require the 
 grace ; by putting us in scenes of trial, which 
 work the patience ; by laying us upon beds of 
 anguish, which test our submission. Beloved! 
 this was the school, in which the Lord Jesus 
 learned. How well will it be, if, by jhe same 
 discipline, we learn to be like Him ! 
 
 2. Shall we not learn, again, from the disci- 
 pline through which He passed, that obedience is 
 a practical duty ? It is not a mere profession ; 
 it is not merely a principle; it is a principle 
 carried out into practice. It is the doing God's 
 will; not outwardly alone; it is the doing it 
 from the heart. It is the doing it, not merely 
 when it is pleasant to ourselves, but when it is 
 painful to flesh and blood to comply. 
 
 How many beautiful instances of self- 
 denying obedience do we perceive throughout 
 the suffering career of the Lord Jesus ! How 
 self-denying was His obedience, when, knowing 
 what He had been from all Eternity, He yet 
 remained for thirty years at Nazareth, subject to 
 
170 
 
 THE SON LEARNING OBEDIENCE. 
 
 the will of His reputed parents!* How self- 
 denying His obedience, when He submitted to 
 be led up into the wilderness to be tempted of 
 the Devil ; and, hungered as he was, would not 
 supply His wants, but fed upon the precept of 
 the Lordlf How self-denying His obedience, 
 when, at the close of His career, His flesh 
 shrunk from the cup of anguish that was brim- 
 ming at His lips, but the cry that it might pass 
 from Him was checked with the prayer, " Not 
 my will, but thine be done !"$ 
 
 Such, dearly beloved, is the obedience of the 
 true Christian. However the world may cry out 
 against the doctrine of salvation of mere grace, 
 as though it were opposed to good works, 
 assuredly he, who believes and lives upon that 
 doctrine, will aim at being the best servant, the 
 most obedient child, the most useful citizen, the 
 most tender parent, the most faithful friend. 
 And, yet more, he will aim at being like Jesus, 
 conformed in all things to God's will, and at 
 doing whatever he does, in word or deed, all to 
 the glory of God. § 
 
 III. Yet let us proceed to contemplate, in the 
 third place, the state of perfection, which 
 THE Lord Jesus attained through suffering, 
 
 * Luke ii. 51. 
 
 t Matt. iv. 1—4. 
 § Col. iii. 17. 
 
 J Luke xxii. 42. 
 
THE SON LEARNING OBEDIENCE. 
 
 171 
 
 AND WHICH COMMENDS HiM AS A SaVIOUR TO 
 A SUFFERING AND DYING WORLD. 
 
 "Being made perfect," saith our text, "He 
 became the author of eternal salvation to all 
 them that obey Him." Perfect, then, as the 
 Lord Jesus was from all Eternity as God, the 
 Creator of all things, the Lord of life, there was 
 a perfection as Mediator which He could only 
 attain by passing through a life of suffering and 
 a death of shame. In order to be the High 
 Priest our sinful souls require, it was necessary, 
 not only that He should be "holy, harmless, 
 undefiled, separate from sinners:"* but one in 
 whose compassion for the ignorant, whose ten- 
 derness to them that are out of the way,f whose 
 sympathy with the suffering, whose feeling for 
 the tried, we might place unhesitating confi- 
 dence. Surely the merest glance at the varied 
 trials of His life and death may show us, how 
 perfect He became in the experience of every 
 variety of temptation, every species of suffering, 
 and the bitterest form of death. The glorious 
 event, whose praises still linger on our lips, 
 gives us God's own certificate of His perfection, 
 and commends the risen Saviour as a perfect 
 Hediator — a High Priest for ever. 
 
 Having been thus made perfect, He became 
 the author of eternal salvation, 
 
 * Heb. vii. 26. f Heb. v. 2. 
 
172 THE SON LEARNING OBEDIENCE. 
 
 1. Because "by one oflFering" of Himself 
 once offered, "//<? hath perfected for ever them 
 that are sanctified."* In this, what a contrast 
 between His priesthood and that of the Jewish 
 High Priest! He made an offering for the 
 people's sins once every year. The blood he 
 offered could not wash out sin; it could not 
 purge the sinner's conscience; it could not 
 cleanse the sinner's heart. Year by year con- 
 tinually it must be offered ; for, as soon as it 
 had been offered, their guilt went on accumu- 
 lating again. But the blood of Jesus, once 
 offered, made complete satisfaction for the sins 
 of men, past, present, and to come. Once truly 
 sprinkled upon the conscience, it cleanses it for 
 ever. He who comes and washes in that blood, 
 is justified, is saved. He needs the continual 
 exercise of faith to keep alive his interest in 
 Jesus. He needs continual renewal by the 
 Holy Spirit to make him meet for glory. But 
 once washed in the blood of Jesus, he is clean 
 every whit, justified from all his offences, passed 
 from death unto life. 
 
 2. Because, having entered in with His own 
 blood into the Holy place, He there sits for ever at 
 the right hand of God pleading for His people, and 
 sending forth out of the fulness that is treasured 
 up in Him, the grace they need. "Wherefore 
 
 * Hcb. X. 14. 
 
THE SON LEARNING OBEDIENCE. 
 
 173 
 
 He is able to save them to the uttermost," or for 
 evermore, " that come unto God by Him, seeing 
 He ever liveth to make intercession for us."* 
 Unlike the Jewish High Priest, who held his 
 office for a little while, and then passed away. 
 He " hath an unchangeable priesthood, "f He 
 is "the same yesterday, to-day, and for ever;" J 
 and at whatever period, under whatever circum- 
 stances, in whatever need, the sinner goes to 
 Him, he finds Him still the same Almighty, the 
 same gracious, the same compassionate Saviour. 
 Into His hands, as High Priest, all things are 
 committed by the Father; and from Him flows 
 forth upon His people, upon them that obey 
 Him, a constant stream of grace, and tenderness, 
 and love, supplying all their need, sustaining 
 them in all their faintings, strengthening them 
 in every conflict, saving them out of every evil. 
 O! happy they who trust in such a Saviour. 
 Well might the Apostle say : « If, when we were 
 enemies we were reconciled to God by the death 
 of His Son ; much more, being reconciled, we 
 shall be saved by His life."§ 
 
 To resume, then, the reflections, with which 
 we set out, Let us endeavor, dearly beloved, to 
 learn, 
 
 1. From the previous glory of the blessed 
 
 • Heb. vii. 25. t lb. 24. | Heb. xiii. 8. 
 
 § Rom. V. 10. 
 
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174 THE SON LEARNING OBEDIENCE. 
 
 Jesus, THE VALUE OF HiS OFFERING. Beloved, 
 
 "We preach to you Christ crucified."* We 
 desire to know nothing else among you, as the 
 substance of our ministrations, but "Jesus 
 Christ, and Him the crucified."t But, when 
 we preach the cross of Christ, we preach that, 
 which is " the power of God unto salvation 
 to every one that believeth."+ And whence has 
 it this power? Surely, because He, who is 
 there lifted up in mortal agony, is the Eternal 
 Son of the Eternal God, the King of Kings, the 
 Lord of Lords. If He were not so, if he were 
 less than this, the sacrifice there off"ered could 
 have been of no value to a ruined world. But 
 being so, the blood He shed was abundantly 
 meritorious to blot out a world's transgressions, 
 precious enough to purchase the whole Church of 
 God, pure enough to wash His people clean from 
 sin. To Him, then, beloved fellow-sinners, ye 
 are invited to look. Yea! from His cross 'the 
 voice of His own love addresses you, " Look 
 unto me, and be saved ; for I am God, and 
 there is none else."§ O ! is there a sinner here, 
 convinced of His sins ; one, that has discovered 
 himself to be a lost, a perishing transgressor ; 
 one that trembles at the wrath of God revealed 
 against all ungodliness, and earnestly cries out, 
 
 • 1 Cor. i. 23. t 1 Cor. ii. 2. f Rom. i. jg. 
 
 § Isa. xlv. 22. 
 
THE SON LEARNING OBEDIENCE. 
 
 175 
 
 *' What shall I do to be saved?" To thee, my 
 fellow-sinner, even to thee, the voice of the Son 
 of God expiring on the cross appeals; " Come, 
 and let us reason together, saith the Lord: 
 though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as 
 white as snow; though they be red like crimson, 
 they shall be as wool."* 
 
 2. From His deep humiliation, learn the 
 
 PRECIOUSNESS OF HiS SYMPATHY. It is HOt 
 
 until we are in trouble that we feel the value 
 of a friend. In hours of sunshine and of ease, 
 there may be many of the passing acquaintances 
 of the hour, who are more agreeable in con- 
 versation, more attractive in person, more po- 
 lished in manner. But when the hour of 
 adversity draws nigh, then it is felt to be a 
 precious thing to have some friendly arm to 
 lean upon that is willing to bear the weight, 
 some friendly heart to which to confide our 
 grief, assured of feeling, sympathy, and love. 
 Yea, and how doubly precious at such times to 
 have a friend who has passed through the same 
 trials, encountered the same perils, experienced 
 the same woes ; and who can comfort us with 
 the same comfort, with which, in the same 
 tribulation, he has been himself comforted of 
 God.f What then must be the comfort, to a 
 sorrowing soul, of having such a friend as Jesus, 
 • Isa. i. 18. t 2 Cor. i, 4. 
 
176 THE SON LEARNING OBEDIENCE. 
 
 on whom to lean in hours of grief? What 
 trouble is there, through \vhich He has not 
 passed, and with which He has not learnt to 
 feel ? What sorrow can there be, which has not 
 pressed on Him, and with which he has not learnt 
 to sympathize ? Beloved, who is there of you that 
 is in any trouble ; who of you is cast down by 
 any tribulation? Surely to you, my fellow- 
 sinner, the sympathy of Jesus offers sweet con- 
 solation, since he has passed through the same 
 path of trouble, and encountered the same fight 
 of afflictions. He comes, then, a sympathizing 
 and a feeling friend, "a friend that sticketh 
 closer than a brother;"* He bids you trust 
 your griefs to Him ; He invites you to pour your 
 sorrows into His bosom. Go, then, go boldly unto 
 Him ; through Him approach a God of love : 
 yea, through Him "come boldly unto the throne 
 of grace, that ye may obtain mercy" to pardon, 
 and "find grace, to help in every time of 
 need."t 
 
 3. From the glory of His exdtation, learn 
 
 THE SAFETY AND THE SECURITY OF THOSE THAT 
 
 PUT THEIR TRUST IN HiM. The salvatiou which 
 He has provided is an eternal salvation. No 
 change afiects the value of that blood once shed 
 as the ransom of His people's souls. No time 
 shall diminish the power of His advocacy, who 
 
 * Prov. xviii. 24. I Heb. iv. 16. 
 
THE SON LEARNING OBEDIENCE. 177 
 
 pleads for Ilis people's safety at the right hand 
 of God. Yea, He is there Himself as the 
 earnest, the surety, the forerunner of His 
 people; and thence He sheds forth Plis grace 
 and loving Spait to keep, to strengthen, and 
 to bless them. O! what then must be the 
 security of those, who put their trust in Him! 
 Beloved, are ye of those who obey His voice ? It 
 is of His grace, that ye have been led to hearken 
 to Him ; it is of His grace, that ye are saved ; 
 and His grace pledges to you a salvation which 
 IS eternal. " I am the good Shepherd," ^aith 
 the blessed Jesus, « and know my sheep, and am 
 known of mine. My sheep hear my voice, and 
 I know them, and they follow me ; and I give 
 unto them eternal life; and they shall never 
 perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of 
 my hand."* 
 
 * John X. 27, 28. 
 
 N 
 
SERMON X. 
 
 
 OUR HIGH PRIEST. 
 
 Hebrews x. 19 — 22. 
 
 Having therefore^ brethren, boldness to enter into 
 the holiest by the blood of Jesus, by a new and 
 living way, which He hath consecrated for us, 
 through the veil, that is to say. His flesh ; and 
 having an high priest over the house of God ; 
 let us draw near with a true heart, in full 
 assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled 
 from an evil conscience, and our bodies washed 
 ivith pure water. 
 
 "See," said the Lord to Moses, when giving 
 him instructions concerning the service of the 
 tabernacle and sanctuary, " See that thou make 
 all things according to the pattern showed thee 
 in the mount."* The directions thus given 
 were most minute and circumstantial ; nothing 
 
 * Heb. viii. 5. 
 
OUR HIGH PRIEST. 
 
 179 
 
 
 to 
 \d 
 
 5, 
 
 id 
 
 r . 
 
 ill 
 ?d 
 
 le 
 
 what left to the judgment or the fancy 
 
 of the artist; but in the most seemingly triflin! 
 particulars, in the color of the thrSs tf 
 
 fringe, just as much as in the number of tls 
 in the breast-plate, everything must be in stri 
 accordance with the pattern, which the ul 
 had prescribed. 
 
 And there was a reason for this, beyond the 
 mere purpose of the Lord to test the obed.W 
 
 of th J T ^'"^ P"''"" °' «- -"ice 
 ot the Jewish sanctuary was intended to have 
 
 an ^POrtant significancy with reference to the 
 mo. spin ua. service of the Christian dispen! 
 
 given for the furmture of the tabernacle and 
 
 bat m the far larger proportion, we perceive a 
 shadowing forth of the leading features of the 
 covenant of mercy in Christ Jesus, which throw 
 ont m clearer and stronger light the glowing 
 characters, .n which the provisions of that cove! 
 nant^are wntten in the record of the dying love 
 
 In no respect, however, is the precision and 
 mmuteness of the instructions by which Moses 
 was gurded more remarkable, than in the di 
 ^ons which the lord laid down conceming he 
 office and functions of the priesthood. The 
 peculiar privilege, bestowed upon the famUy of 
 
 N 2 
 
^«p 
 
 ^«^!^^iiiWi 
 
 mt 
 
 180 
 
 OUR HIGH PRIEST. 
 
 Aaron, of coming into tlie presence of the glory 
 of th(? Lord on behalf of their fellow-sinners ; 
 the highly-important duty, which devolved upon 
 them, of receiving on the Lord's behalf the 
 confessions of the people's sin, and then, on 
 the people's behalf, laying this iniquity upon 
 the head of the harmless victim, whose blood 
 was offered in expiation of their guilt; the 
 restrictions, solemn in their character and fear- 
 ful in their sanctions, under which even this 
 favored family were laid, in the exercise of their 
 office of mediation between a sinful people and 
 the holy Lord ; these things are set forth to us 
 with peculiar distinctness in the directory of the 
 Jewish ritual, prescribed in the book of God. 
 
 The great object of the Apostle in writing 
 to the Hebrews, seems to have been tlie proof, 
 til at all these appointments, with regard to 
 the exorcise of the Jewish priesthood in the 
 family of Aaron, were intended as " shadows 
 of good things to come;"* that they all found 
 their accomplishment and their substance in 
 the priesthood of Him, who, though not de- 
 scended of the family of Aaron, is, by special 
 appointment and consecration of God, " a 
 Priest for ever after the order of I^Ielchi- 
 sedec.""!- Our view is at this time directed to 
 His entrance upon the priestly office. Com- 
 * Heb. X. 1. -f- Heb. vii. 17. 
 
 
OUR HIGH PRIEST. 
 
 181 
 
 bining in His own divine person the character 
 both of the sacrifice that was to be offered, and 
 of the priest that offered it, the blessed Jesus, 
 by His hfe of suffering and His death of shame 
 became the propitiation for our sins; and having 
 risen again, and ascended into the heavens, He 
 took on Him the office of the priest; and 
 bearing with Him His own precious blood, and 
 presenting the incense of His own intercession 
 He ever liveth at the right hand of God, as the 
 High Priest, the Friend, the Advocate of His 
 people. Yes! beloved, the services of our 
 Church at this time remind us, that " Christ 
 18 entered" as our great High Priest, " not into 
 the holy places made with hands, which are the 
 figures of the true, but into heaven itself 
 there to appear in the presence of God for 
 us.''* "Wherefore He is able to save them 
 to the uttermost that come unto God by Him 
 seeing He ever liveth to make intercession for 
 us."f 
 
 Was the office of High Priest, as sustained 
 by the family of Aaron, a deeply important, an 
 indispensable office under the Jewish economy? 
 How far more important, how yet more indis- 
 pensable, is the office of the High Priest, as 
 smtained by our blessed Lord, under the 
 Christian dispensation! How awful were the 
 
 * Heb. ix. 24. f Heb. vii. 23. 
 
182 
 
 OUH HIGH PRIEST. 
 
 sanctions, by which the Lord guarded the exer- 
 cise of the priesthood in Aaron's fiimily against 
 the invasion of those, who would claim an equal 
 right with Him to offer incense before the Lord! 
 And will the Lord's wrath be less fearful now 
 against those, who would substitute other Me- 
 diators in the place of the. Lord Jesus, or unite 
 the saints and angels with Him in His peculiar 
 work ? How fearful was the revelation of God's 
 wrath against any that should have dared to 
 approach the Holy of Holies, to make their 
 confessions or present their prayers, except in 
 the person and through the mediation of Aaron 
 or his sons ! And is the Lord less an avenging 
 God and a consuming fire against all chose, 
 that, rejecting the mediation of Jesus, think of 
 coming to God in their own way, and according 
 to their own devices? Yet how gracious, on 
 the other hand, was the revelation of the Lord's 
 glory in accepting the offering of the sprinkled 
 blood, presented on the great day of expiation 
 by the Aaronic priesthood ! And how yet more 
 gracious is the revelation of Himself, as a re- 
 conciled Father in Christ Jesus, which is now 
 made to every sinner, that pleads the offering 
 of the J^amb of God as the expiation for his 
 sins ! How cheering and consoling the promise 
 of the Lord, that He would come do>vn upon 
 the mercy-seat, and hold gracious intercourse 
 
 
OUR HIGH PRIEST. 
 
 183 
 
 
 at the appointed time with the Jewish High 
 Priest, and through Him, with the people 
 whose sins had been laid upon the victim's 
 head! How yet more comforting to the believer 
 m Christ Jesus the privilege of drawing near 
 at all times to the Father, and holding com- 
 munion with Him by the Spirit, pouring out 
 before Him the confessions, the cares, the con- 
 flicts, the sorrows cf the soul, and hearing His 
 gracious voice, speaking of peace in Jesus 
 hohness through the Spirit, happiness with 
 God! 
 
 The grace and love of God in Christ Jesus 
 m opening to the sinner such a way of access 
 to Himself; the consolation and the peace that 
 are to be found in the enjoyment of communion 
 with Him, through the mediation of our great 
 High Priest; the confidence and the comfort 
 with which the believer in Jesus is encouraged 
 to draw near, and accept fi:om the loving- 
 kindness of a gracious Father pardon for his 
 sinfulness, strength for his weakness, help for 
 his conflicts, and sympathy with his cares; these 
 are the topics suggested for our meditation this 
 day in the language of the text. Is there a 
 sinner here, that needs pardon ? I would invite 
 him to come, and contemplate the way of access 
 to a pardoning and gracious God. Is there a 
 sufferer here, that needs sympathy and comfort? 
 
184 
 
 OUK HIGH I'RIEST. 
 
 I would invite him to come, and meditate upon 
 the character of Him who is " a Friend, that 
 sticketh closer than a brother."* Is there a 
 timid cast doivn soul among us, that needs some 
 encouragement to draw near with confidence 
 to God ? I would invite such a one to come, 
 and behold the grounds there are, in the power 
 of the intercession of Jesus, for boldness of 
 approach to God. Is there a worn and weary 
 pilgrim here, whose heart is well-nigh over- 
 borne with the cares and conflicts of this life 
 of trial ? I would urge that one to draw near, 
 and see the warrant which he has for casting 
 all his care upon the Lord, and receive the 
 comfort which the word of Jesus gives, who 
 is now at the right hand of God to succor 
 and defend the soul, that flies in its distress to 
 Him. 
 
 Beloved, let us entreat His grace and blessing, 
 who "has ascended up on high, led captivity 
 captive, and received gifts for men, that the Lord 
 God might dwell among them ;"t let us beseech 
 Him to send forth His ascension-gift, the gift of 
 His Holy Spirit, upon us, to teach, to sanctify, 
 to comfort, to abide in us. Let us beseech Him 
 to manifest Himself novv unto us, as He doth 
 not unto the world, by coming and dwelling in 
 us by His Spirit, + that we may have fellowshij) 
 * Prov. xviii. 24. t Ts. Ixviii. 18. % JoJin xiv. 22, 23. 
 
OUR HIGH PRIEST. 
 
 185 
 
 with Him and with the Father, and daily grow 
 in meetness for His presence amid the glories 
 of His kingdom. 
 
 Three things seem to piesent themselves to 
 our peculiar notice in the expression of the text. 
 
 The first, THE PLACE, TO WHICH ACCESS IS OPENED \ 
 
 the second, the way, by which access is to be 
 had; and the third, the dispositions, with 
 which access is to be enjoyed. May our 
 meditation upon these points be sweet and pro- 
 fitable to our souls ! 
 
 1. And first, THE place, to which access is 
 opened, is spoken of in the text as the 
 holiest, or the Most Holy place. This por- 
 tion of the tabernacle and of the temple, which 
 was reserved for the sole ministrations of the 
 High Priest, and to which entrance was in 
 the most awful manner forbidden, not only to 
 the people generally, but even to the rest of the 
 priestly family, is a well-known type of that 
 holy place, which is the peculiar dwelling-place 
 of Him, who " dwelleth in the light which no 
 man can approach unto,"* and before whose 
 throne angels and archangels veil their faces, 
 while they worship Him. The privilege, how^ 
 ever, upon which the Apostle dwells in the text, 
 is the present privilege of the believer. The 
 * 1 Tim. vi. 16. 
 
186 
 
 OUR HIGH PRIEST. 
 
 im 
 
 most holy. place, then, to which access is now 
 opened to the Christian, is not merely the pre- 
 sence of the Lord's glory in the world of light, 
 but also that communion with God, which con- 
 stitutes to the believing soul a heaven upon 
 earth, which is to the lively Christian the earnest 
 and sweet foretaste of the blessedness of the 
 eternal heaven. 
 
 1. First, then, the place, to which access is 
 fi-eely opened under the Christian dispensation, 
 is the spiritual enjoi/metit of God's presence, the 
 communion of the soul with Him in exercise of 
 prayer and ^^raise, the witness of His Spirit in 
 the soul testifying to it of pardon, of peace, of 
 acceptance with God, of an inheritance laid up 
 for it with Him. Of this, whatever Abraham, 
 whatever David, whatever Daniel, whatever 
 Simeon may have enjoyed,— of this the people 
 of the Jews in general seem to have had but 
 little idea. Their religion was a service of forms 
 and ceremonies, of sprinklings and ablutions, in 
 the outward observance of which they generally 
 rested, to the due performance of which the 
 blessings of their temporal Canaan were an- 
 nexed. And of this, it may be feared, a large 
 portion of the nominally Christian world are too 
 content to come short, placing their dependance 
 also upon outward observances and ceremonies, 
 resting in the mere external services of a Chris- 
 
OUR HIGH PRIEST. 
 
 187 
 
 tian ritual. But the things, which "many 
 prophets and kings desired to see, and saw 
 not,"* were not the mere substitution of one set 
 of ceremonies for another, but the enjoyment of 
 that spiritual communion with God in all the 
 ordinances and means of grace, which they saw 
 not around them. The things, which " the eye 
 hath not seen, nor the ear heard, nor the heart 
 of man conceived,"t are not the mere formal 
 exercises of the Christian ritual, but the inter- 
 course of pardoned souls with a loving and 
 gracious God, the communion of sanctified spirits 
 with the Father of aU their mercies and the 
 God of all their comforts in Christ Jesus. And 
 this, beloved, is the holiest, to which access 
 ^s now opened to every believing soul. It is a 
 sense of God's pardoning love; it is a desire for 
 God s sanctifying presence ; it is the enjoyment 
 of a conscience purged from guilt ; it is a delight 
 m prayer and praise, as the outpouring of the 
 soul's desire and gratitude to Him who is our 
 Father ; it is the witness of His Spirit with the 
 believer's soul of its acceptance to His favor and 
 His love ; it is the sure and certain hope of an 
 inheritance amid His joys. Surely the enjoy- 
 ment of these things were heaven begun on 
 earth ; surely such communion as this with God 
 
 * Luke X. 24. 
 
 t 1 Cor. ii. 9. 
 
188 
 
 OUR HIGH PRIEST. 
 
 were a sweet, a blessed foretaste of the pleasures 
 that are at His right hand for ever. 
 
 2. Secondly, the place to which access is now 
 freely opened is the immediate presence of the 
 Lord in the enjoyment of eternal life in His 
 kingdom. And well may this be spoken of as 
 the Most Holy place. Thither, where God 
 dwells, " can enter nothing that defileth, neither 
 whatsoever worketh abomination, or maketh a 
 lie; but they only that are written in the 
 Lamb's book of life."* And can there, then, 
 be access there for any of our guilty race? 
 Conceived in iniquity, born in sin, going astray 
 even from the womb, and daily and hourly 
 transgressing against God, can nny of our sinful 
 generation find entrance there X O yes ! the 
 door is opened, the way of access freely set 
 before us. It is no mere earthly Canaan, that 
 opened its gates for our reception. Heaven 
 itself, the place where Jesus our forerunner is 
 entered. His Father's house, sets its wide portals 
 open; and there is access thither, and there is i-ooni 
 there, and there are pleasures there for evermore, 
 for all that will but come by the one way, by 
 which alone its gates can be approached. 
 
 II. The w y, by which access is to be had, 
 
 * Rev. xxi. 27. 
 
OUR HIGH PRIEST. 
 
 189 
 
 comes, in the second place, before our notice in 
 the words of the text. This way is one,— the 
 way which the Lord Jesus "hath consecrated 
 for us ; " but there are two particulars concern- 
 ing that way, to which our attention is drawn in 
 the text. 
 
 I. First, this " new way which He hath con- 
 secrated for us," is " through the veil, that is to 
 say, His flesh." And by this is represented to 
 us, that an essential, an absolutely necessary 
 part of the way of a sinner's approach to God, 
 is an atonement for his sins. The holy place of 
 the sanctuary of God, the spiritual presence of 
 tlie Lord on earth, the presence of His glory in 
 heaven, was veiled and clouded from the view of 
 our fallen race because of the sin of man. It 
 was sin, that caused the Lord to withdraw His 
 presence from that once happy pair in Eden, 
 with whom he He had walked and talked as a 
 Friend. It was sin, that veiled the mercy-seat 
 of God from the sight even of that people whom 
 He had chosen for His own, and which made it 
 necessary even for the High Priest, when he 
 once in the year approached the mercy-seat, to 
 sprinkle it with the blood of the slain bullock, 
 lest he die.* It is sin, which still hides the 
 light of God's countenance from the souls 
 of men, and causes even His believing people 
 
 * Lev. xvi. 
 
 i 
 
190 
 
 OUR HIGH PRIEST. 
 
 sometimes to walk in darkness and have no 
 light. But God " hath made Him who knew 
 no sin to become sin for us;"* and at the 
 moment when the agonies of Him, who hung as 
 an accursed thing upon the tree, were closed, at 
 that moment was the veil, which hid God's pre- 
 sence from the sinner, rent asunder, and the 
 mercy-seat stood open to the sinner's view. How 
 impressive must have been the sight to the 
 worshipping assemblage in the Temple at Jeru- 
 salem. It was the hour of evening sacrifice. 
 The priests were ministering at the altar of 
 burnt-oflfering. The people bending low before 
 the altar, in gazing upon which their eyes were 
 turned towards the mysterious veil, within which 
 they had never dared to look. Suddenly the 
 earth quaked beneath them ; the Temple walls 
 were shaken ; the veil burst asunder in an in- 
 stant from top to bottom; and all again was 
 still. And there stood revealed to every eye, the 
 ark of the testimony resting upon the mercy- 
 seat, above which the cherubim were bending 
 with veiled faces, poring over the mystery of 
 love, which that mercy-seat shadowed forth. 
 And, blessed be God, never hath that veil been 
 closed again. There stands the mercy-seat re- 
 vealed to the sinner's view, and open to his 
 approach; and thither, through the rent body of 
 
 * 2 Cor. V. 21. 
 
OUR HIGH PRIEST. 
 
 191 
 
 the crucified Jesus.-thither, through the aton- 
 ing blood of the slain, yet ever-living Jesus,- 
 thither, to the presence, the favor, the blessing 
 the love of the Eternal God, through the sacri- 
 fice of His dear Son, is the way opened, by 
 which every one that needs salvation may come, 
 and be reconciled and at peace. 
 
 2. A. second particular to be remarked in the 
 way of access now opened to the mercy-seat of 
 Crod is the mediation and intercession of Jesus. 
 The mercy-seat indeed stands open for the sin^ 
 ner's approach, but it must still be sprinkled 
 with the blood of the atonement. The way 
 into the holiest is no longer closed ; but, as even 
 the high priest under the old dispensation dared 
 not to pass within the veil, even on the appointed 
 day, without a cloud of incense covering him, 
 so neither may the sinner now venture near the 
 Lord, but through the mediation and intercession 
 of our great High Priest. God still sitteth upon 
 a throne, though it be a throne of grace; and 
 how shall a guilty rebel draw near the throne of 
 his ofiended King without some mediator to 
 present his plea, and sue for his acceptance? 
 Sm IS no less vile, because the Lord has pro- 
 vided so gracious a way for its pardon and 
 cleansing; and how can one, who is stained 
 with sin approach the holy God, without some 
 one to sprinkle the atoning blood upon hi^ con- 
 
192 
 
 OUR HIGH PRIEST. 
 
 science, and to present the confession of his 
 penitence to God? Sinful as we are, we need 
 rot only a prevailing plea for the pardon of our 
 sins, which we have in the blood of Jesus : we 
 need also some one to present that plea for us, 
 and assure us of its acceptance with the Father. 
 And THERE He stands, the Advocate, the 
 Intercesso: and the Friend of Sinners. He 
 has gone " to appear In the presence of God for 
 us."* He hath offered the Sacrifice, His own 
 flesh, upon the altar of the cross. He hatli 
 taken the blood and gone with it into the most 
 holy place. And there He pleads the merit of 
 His gaping wounds; there He urges the value 
 of His own finished work; there He presents 
 the sweet savor of His own intercession for lost 
 man ; and obtains from Him, who always hears 
 Him, salvation, holiness, and heaven for all, 
 " that come to God by Him."f 
 
 in. Such, beloved, is the way. Access to the 
 holiest is open. The atoning blood is shed. 
 The High Priest has gone to appear before God 
 for us. How shall we employ this privilege; 
 how shaU we use this liberty of approach to GodJ 
 We are, in the third place, to consider the dis- 
 positions, with which access to God is to be 
 enjoyed; the dispositions, which, beloved, in 
 * Heb. ix. 24. | Heb. vii. 25. 
 
ODR HIGH PRIKST. 
 
 193 
 
 greater or less degree, i„ weaker or more 
 v.gorous exercise, exist in aU, who have tru^ 
 St *::r " ^"^ -''-—<• father i^ 
 
 1. The first thing the Apostle speaks of is "a 
 
 petitions which we offer to the Lord. Our 
 T-ord gives a sad description of many characters 
 m His day, to wiiom He applies the words of 
 E a,^ ,ay .. tMs people draweth nigh unto 
 me w h their mouth, and honoreth me with 
 their lips ; but their heart is far from ml"' 
 The disposition, which the Apostle speaks of, is 
 the very opposite of this, the very opposite of 
 tha^ hypocrisy, that fo^mahsm, that'se^'atild 
 ynt, which too often mark the ceremonious 
 
 ea:::uhat T"- ^- '^^ l---" to dra: 
 near w th a true heart to God, who bends before 
 Him with the confession that he is a miserab e 
 dinner, yet has never been bowed down by the 
 consciousness of sin, nor truly felt i„iquL I 
 burden? Does he draw near with a true hiit 
 to God, who asks for the pardon of sin, yet goes 
 
 away unconscious of foreiveneo^, v„» , 
 
 and „„„„ , , "'fc'^n^ss, yea, careless 
 
 and unconcerned about it ? Does he draw neai- 
 with a .rue heart to God, who comes and asks 
 
 • Matt. XV. 7, 8. 
 o 
 
194 
 
 OUR TITGH TRIEST. 
 
 for grace to renounce the world, which yet he 
 has no wish, no purpose to give up ; for grace to 
 forsake sins, which yet he makes no effort, enter- 
 tains no intention to subdue ] Nay, surely this 
 is but a mockery of God. Gracious as the Lord 
 is. He will not be mocked. Hew then should ye 
 guard your thoughts, your desires, your hearts, 
 when ye go into the presence of the Lord, that 
 ye present not "the sacrifice of fools."* Are 
 ye conscious of your sinfulness ; do ye feel your 
 need of pardon ; do ye desire His grace to 
 sanctify and cleanse you? Then come, "come 
 boldly "-j* unto Him; the way is open; "ye 
 shall find rest unto your souls. "$ 
 
 2. " Draw near," the Apostle, secondly, urges, 
 " with the full assurance of faith ;" that is, come 
 to God with that full confidence m His love, and 
 that persuasion of His willingness to save, which 
 a lively faith in His promises and a trust in the 
 mediation of Jesus is calculated to inspire ; come 
 to Him with that full confidence, which faith in 
 Jesus alone can give. This disposition is 
 opposed to that doubting spirit, against which 
 St. James cautions those to whom he wrote. 
 " If any man lack wisdom," he saith, " let him 
 ask of God. But let him ask in faith, nothing 
 
 wavcnng 
 
 For he that wavereth is like a wave 
 
 * Eccles. V. 1. f Ileb. iv. 16. | Jer. vi. 16. 
 
 t 
 
OUR HIOH PRIEST. 
 
 195 
 
 of the sea. Let not that man think that he 
 «l.all reecvc anything of the Lord.- Can ,ve 
 wonder at this conclusion? Can wo wond 
 
 o h.s s,ns, knowing that God has promised him 
 pardon, yet doubting whether He will keep His 
 promise, goes away unpardoned ? Considet wh ' 
 
 --reconciL^rtrrsrhi: 
 
 sins n d „„, ,,^p ^.^ ^^^^_ ^^^ ^^ ven his 
 
 been laid upon "Him who knew no sin •■+ 
 
 hTmthe""^f""''"''^''^^^'-"-CiI 
 
 Adl find the Lord a pardoning and a gracous 
 Ood? Is he weak, helpless, suffering, prone to 
 
 St:;':C"T"^'^""^^ Heha'sInU 
 i^^riest who can be touched with the feeling of 
 
 h infirmities, one who, even when he sins^ . 
 
 tUl his Advocate with God.J and who "ever 
 
 liveth making intercession for us.^ wl 
 
 moi. then can he need to encourage L aTsu 
 
 ance rf pardon, of peace, of strength i„ the 
 
 3. A third particular, which the Apostle urees 
 spunkled from an evil conscknce." An evil 
 
 * T . ^ 
 
 * James i. 7. 
 
 t 2 Cor. \'.2\. 
 § Heb. vii. 25. 
 o 2 
 
 t 1 John ii. 1. 
 
I 
 
 196 
 
 OUR HIGH PRIEST. 
 
 conscience must be indeed an absolute impedi- 
 ment to any communion between the soul and 
 God. When conscience troubles us with regard 
 to any fellow-creature, we cannot be comfortable 
 in his society. When Adam's evil conscience 
 troubled iiim, he fled to hide himself among the 
 trees, when he heard the Lord's voice in the 
 garden, A.nd yet how are vile sinners, such as 
 we are, to draw near to God with a good 
 conscience 1 Conscience may acquit us indeed 
 of any injury against our fellow- man ; but how 
 dangerous must be our self-deceit, if conscience 
 makes no charge concerning our duty towards 
 God. How, then, can we get rid of an evil 
 conscience ] There is but one thing can cleanse 
 us — the blood of Jesus. And here how vast the 
 superiority of our High Priest to Aaron and his 
 sons. The sprinkling of the blood they offered 
 could never make the comers thereunto " perfect 
 as pertaining to the conscience."* But "the 
 blood of Him, who through the Eternal Spirit 
 offered Himself without spot to God, purges the 
 conscience from dead works to serve the living 
 God."t Beloved, has that blood been sprinkled 
 upon your conscience \ Has the blood of Jesus 
 cleansed you from all sin ■? Then may ye indeed 
 draw nigh with confidence to God, since Jesus is 
 the fourdavion of your hope. 
 
 * Heb. ix, 9. f Ibid. 14. 
 
OUR HIGH PRIEST. 
 
 197 
 
 4- And, once more, we are encouraged to 
 
 dw near to God, having "on, bodies washed 
 w th pure water." There is hero, an evitot 
 
 cor" !".""' "'"""''"' "'''^'^ P"- ^. "ho we 
 commanded to wash in the brazen W b fo e 
 
 as well a, „r ^ "«<'«»•</ i-mVj, o/«„rf„*, 
 
 serreihe Lor";™ Sot 'J °''^^"' '" ''"^ «'^' 
 t« « 1 ^^- -Barnes, encou-affinff u^ 
 
 11; y tn!: I'm"' "^'^""- >°" 
 
 ' ^*^ sk.ners, and purify your hearfs v« 
 donbIe.minded."t The idea of havtrcom 
 
 OatwLd r"r"' '' ^'*" "'^"^ blasphemous. 
 Outward punty of life indeed is not religion- 
 but there can be no religion of the heart "o' 
 
 "1:1""'"'°" " '"^ -"' -"-^ «ot 
 
 who doe „' 7 "° """"' "'"'^ «P«'' •" him 
 Who does not desire to shun even the " anne.r 
 ance of evil "+ fn i,„ u- . tppear- 
 
 "I evil, ^. to keep his hands from wickert 
 ness, and his lips from guile. 
 
 Apostle in the text, as some guide to the nature 
 of true communion with God, let me ask Are 
 there not those among ,ou who know nit'wt:: 
 
 * Exod. XXX. 18—21 + T 
 
 T James iv. 8. 
 t I Thes.s. V. 22. 
 
198 
 
 OUIl HlfiH rillKST. 
 
 it is to draw near to God in prayer? Some 
 tliere arc, it may be feared, who never even go 
 througli the form. Certain is it, that too many 
 are present at our public services, who do not 
 even join in the outward form of prayer ; and yet 
 tliese are persons whose only appearance of devo- 
 tion is limited to their attendance at the sanctuary. 
 Dear fellow-sinners, let me entreat you to ask 
 yourselves this one question, What would ye 
 do with yourselves, if by any possibility ye should 
 find yourselves in heaven — in the presence of 
 that God, whom ye have never worshipped, to 
 whom ye have never prayed 1 
 
 But it is not to these only, or chiefly, that we 
 would appeal. Are there not those among you, 
 who do go through the forms of public and of 
 private prayer, and are attentive to the exercises 
 of devotion, whose hearts yet testify to you, that 
 ye have never drawn near to God in full assur- 
 ance of faith, nor held communion with Him by 
 the Spirit ? Beloved, it is a mark of God's own 
 selecting, by which the change in St. Paul from 
 being the enemy of Jesus to being His servant 
 was attested, "Behold, he prayeth!"* And 
 there is nothing, which so distinguishes the 
 converted man from his former self, as the 
 difference between his once formal petitions, ana 
 
 * Acts ix. 1 1 . 
 
OUR W-SH PRIEST. 
 
 \i)a 
 
 he earnest outpourings of his heart to Ood. 
 lieloved, the way is open ; liberty of aecess is 
 set before you ; the rent body of Jesus reveals to 
 you the mercyseat; lie Himself stands waiting 
 
 Father; O- how long shall He wait in vain ? 
 Beloved. If ye do not now draw near to "the 
 hohest, If ye do not now enjoy eommunion with 
 a reconeiled God. through Jesus Christ, how ean 
 ye look forward to an entranee i .,to those joys 
 which flow from His right hand for ever ? 
 
 Dearly beloved, ye who know something of 
 the pnvdege of drawing near to God, do ye 
 make the most of this privilege, do ye live in the 
 enjoyment of it ? O ! how happy, and how holy 
 might they be. who, having sueh a Friend as 
 their High Priest and Advoeate above, betook 
 themselves to Him in every trial, ea.t upon Him 
 every eare. sought His strength against every 
 temptation, a^d fled to Him for eleansing from 
 every sm ! O ! what a foretaste might they thus 
 enjoy, in the intercourse of their souls with the 
 ascended Jesus, of the communion of the blest in 
 heaven ! Beloved, the way into the holiest 
 s ands open; Jesus is there to present your sun. 
 phcations and to plead your cause; "All power 
 - given to Him in heaven and in earth."* 
 
 * Matt, xxviii. 18. 
 
 IS 
 
 I 
 
 1 
 
 i 
 I 
 
•• f 
 
 200 
 
 OUR HIGH PRIEST. 
 
 Live upon Him now by faith ; draw continually 
 out of His fulness; and He will grant you an 
 abundant entrance to the many mansions of His 
 Father's house, whither He now is gone to 
 prepare a place for His people. 
 
■ 
 
 SERMON XL 
 
 THE HOLY GHOST. 
 
 Acts xix. 2. 
 
 Have ye received the Holy Ghost since ye he- 
 
 lieved?* 
 
 Next in importance to the enquiry, Have ye 
 received Christ Jesus? stands the momentous 
 question of the text, "Have ye received the 
 Holy Ghost?" To receive Christ is to receive 
 the only ground of justification for the sinner's 
 soul, to receive pardon, peace, acceptance with 
 God, and our only title to the inheritance of His 
 glory. To receive the Holy Ghost is to receive 
 the only means of sanctification, to receive the 
 moving spring of holiness within the heart to 
 receive our only meetness for the enjoyment of 
 God's presence in his heavenly kingdom. An 
 unpardoned sinner! how shall he stand before 
 * Preached on Whit-Sunday. 
 
202 
 
 THE HOLY GHOST. 
 
 I 
 
 the judgment-seat of Him " who will bring every 
 thought into judgment, and every secret thing, 
 whether it be good, or whether it be eviU"* 
 An unsanctified sinner ! even if it were possible 
 that such a one could have found the pardon of 
 his sins, yet how could he stand in the light of 
 His countenance, before whom " the heavens 
 are not clean ;"f how could he enjoy His pre- 
 sence, with whom nothing that is evil can 
 dwell] + 
 
 So important to this, and to every generation 
 of mankind is the question, Have ye received 
 the Holy Ghost 1 It was addressed by St. Paul 
 to some disciples, whom he met at Ephesus, and 
 who, having been attendants upon the ministry 
 of John the Baptist, and by him baptized with 
 the baptism of repentance for the remission of 
 sins, appear to have been uninstructed in the 
 further development of the Christian dispensa- 
 tion, except that they had been for some brief 
 period under the teaching of ApoUos. Paul, 
 returning from an extensive visitation of the 
 Churches of Asia Minor, found these disciples 
 at Ephesus; and referring, doubtless, to the 
 extraordinary gifts and operations of the Holy 
 Spirit, he enquired of them whether their faith 
 had ever been confirmed, their spirits cheered, 
 and tlieir powers adapted to the work of making 
 * Ecclos. xii, i;j. f Jol) XV. l.j. + Pt,. V. 4. 
 
THE HOLY GHOST. 
 
 203 
 
 known a Saviour's love, by their participation in 
 the Pentecostal gift of the Holy Ghost. We 
 need not enter into the nature of their reply ; 
 since it is not their answer, but our own to a 
 similar question, which most intimately concerns 
 us. 
 
 And weU may we consider the services of 
 our Church at this season, as addressing to us 
 all, and to all that come within the sphere of 
 her teaching, the very question of the text. 
 This day those services commemorate the out- 
 pouring of the Holy Ghost. This day our 
 Cliurch looks back upon the glorious season, at 
 which the blessed Jesus, her glorious Head 
 having " ascended up on high, and led captivity 
 captive, and received gifts for men,"* shed forth 
 upon His chosen few " the promise of the Fa- 
 ther,"! and bathed them with the fire of holy 
 inspiration to qualify them for their work as 
 witnesses for Jesus. This day our Church 
 looks back upon the wondrous result of tlie 
 Pentecostal gift, when, under the teaching of the 
 Holy Ghost, who, when He came, convinced 
 " the world of sin, and of righteousness, and of 
 judgment," t some thousands of souls were pre- 
 sentcd as a first-fruits unto God, and gathered 
 into the spiritual treasury of Christ. And can 
 she look back upon sucli things as liaviug 
 
 * Pa. Ixviii. 18. tAot.i.i. |Jolmxvi.8. 
 
204 
 
 THE HOLY GHOST. 
 
 marked her past, her early history, and not 
 derive from the review some present lesson for 
 her children? Can she look back upon the 
 out-pouring of the Spirit, as the characteristic 
 feature of the present dispensation, and not 
 earnestly enquire, whether those who are now 
 enclosed within her pale are partakers of this 
 glorious gift? Can she look back upon the 
 wonderful result of the first preaching of the 
 cross, when the Holy Ghost applied the sermon, 
 and brought home its message to poor sinners' 
 hearts, and not anxiously enquire of all, who sit 
 from Sabbath to Sabbath under the ministrv of 
 the word, whether the Holy Ghost hath ever 
 applied the message to their souls, and causing 
 the word to take root within them, hath 
 cherished it into fruitfulness unto the praise 
 and glory of the Lord? Nay! let us not so 
 charge our Church with neglect of the important 
 lessons, which the great features of this dispensa- 
 tion are calculated to enforce. She comes to 
 us in the name of her great and gracious Head, 
 and at this time addresses to us, to each and all 
 her children, the solemn question, " Have ye 
 received the Holy Ghost?" Believers in Jesus, 
 are ye bringing forth the fruits of the Spirit ? 
 Children of the world, hath not the Spirit yet 
 convinced you of sin ? Halters between the two, 
 are ye still going on to grieve the Holy Ghost? 
 
THE HOLY GHOST. 
 
 205 
 
 Cast down and desponding, has not the Comforter 
 yet come to you ? Lukewarm professors, have ye 
 received the Holy Spirit ? Humhle followers of 
 Jesus, does the Spirit of God bear witness with 
 your spirit that ye are the children of God ? 
 
 These are some of the enquiries, which, ac 
 cording to the different state and circumstances 
 of the persons addressed, may be considered as 
 included in the question of the text, Have ye 
 received the Holy Ghost? Beloved, can we 
 then over-estimate the importance of that ques- 
 tion ? Not unless we can over-estimate the 
 v«lue of our souls, the importance of Eternity 
 the necessity of holiness in all that would see' 
 the Lord. Let us consider it, then, I pray you 
 in Its bearing upon ourselves, and pray, that the 
 blessed Jesus will send forth the promise of the 
 Father upon us to guide, to direct to teach, and 
 to bless us in our meditations upon this important 
 subject. 
 
 It can hardly be necessary at this time to 
 dwell upon the divinity, and distinct personal 
 agency of the Holy Ghost. They, it may be 
 hoped, are few indeed who have any doubt upon 
 this momentous doctrine, compared with what 
 IS, it must be feared, the number of those who 
 are practically insensible of their need of His 
 agency upon their hearts, who are ignorant of 
 any operation of the Spirit of God upon their 
 
206 
 
 THE HOLY GHOST, 
 
 own souls. To this point, then, lot us direct our 
 attention, and consider, with a view to present 
 edification, first, the necessity; secondly, the 
 NATURE ; and thirdly, the effect of the opera- 
 tion OF the IToly Ghost, in carrying out that 
 momentous portion of the great scheme of man's 
 salvation, which is more especially committed in 
 the counsels of Eternity to His Divine agency. 
 And may the power of the Holy Spirit be among 
 us, to sanctify and apply the Word ! 
 
 I. Consider, then, beloved, in the first place, 
 the necessity which exists for your receiving 
 the Holy Ghost. 
 
 1. This necessity arises, first, from the utter 
 corruption of our natm-'', its entire alienation from 
 God, its total depravity. "The condition of 
 man after the fall," saith the Tenth Article of 
 our Church, " is such, that he cannot turn and 
 prepare himself, by his own natural strengtli 
 and good works, to faith and calling upon God." 
 So far gone is he from his original condition, 
 that he cannot even believe the message which 
 God sends to him in Hi3 holy word : he cannot 
 even pray to God, or with any acceptance call 
 upon His name. Such is the doctrine of our 
 Church ; and such, most cleariy and abundantly, 
 is the doctrine of the Bible. " We are all as an 
 unclean thing," says one prophet, " and all our 
 
THF HOLY GHOST. 
 
 207 
 
 rightoousnosscs are as filthy rags."* '« Can the 
 Ethiopian change his skin," asks another, " or 
 the leopard his .pots ? then may ye also do good, 
 that are accustomed to do evil."t For, says he' 
 again, " the heart is deceitful above all things 
 and desperately wicked; who can know itr'it 
 "That wliich is born of the flesh is flesh "§ 
 saith our blessed Lord to Nicodemus. "The 
 flesh," saith an Apostle, " lusteth against the 
 Spirit; "II yea, "they that are in the flesh can- 
 not please God."5[ 
 
 And yet, notwithstanding this impossibility in 
 the way of man's doing anything of himself to 
 make himself pleasing in the sight of God, it is 
 not less clearly stated, that man must believe he 
 must repent, he must obey, he must be made 
 holy,~or he cannot by any possibility enter into 
 the kingdom of God. The natural aversion of man 
 to the things of God must be subdued ; his enmity 
 must be changed into love; his indifference 
 warmed into aff-ection ; his unbelief give way to 
 a lively frith ; and his worldliness be supplanted 
 by an earnest and a purifying hope of an inhe- 
 ritance in God's glory. And how can this be 
 done ? Man is not only naturally miahle, he is 
 naturally indisposed to eff-ect this change in him- 
 self. Surely, then, here is a plain, a palpable 
 
 * Isa. Ixiv. 6. 
 § John iii. G. 
 
 t Jer. xiii. 23. 
 II Gnl. V. 17. 
 
 X lb. xvii. y. 
 IT Rom. viii. 8. 
 
208 
 
 THE HOLY GHOST. 
 
 necessity for a superior, a divine influence, the 
 influence of the Holy Spirit, to lay the very com- 
 mencement of such a work in the sinner's heart. 
 Man cannot even think a really good thought, 
 but as the Holy Spirit puts it into his heart. 
 How needful, then, how indispensable His in- 
 fluence to all that would be saved ! 
 
 2. Yet the enquiry of the text is addressed to 
 those, in whom the gracious influences of the 
 Holy Spirit had already been exercised, in lead- 
 ing them to faith in Christ ; and we may perceive 
 from it, secondly, a necessity for the gift of the 
 Holy Spirit, arising from the utter helplessness of 
 man, even the regenerate and believing man, to 
 do anything of himself to the glory of the Lord 
 that bought him. The question of the text may 
 indeed be said to refer to the miraculous opera- 
 tions of the Holy Spirit, and to have been 
 intended to ascertain, whether the Ephesian 
 disciples had ever yet been endowed with the 
 gift of tongues, and other extraordinary powers 
 vouchsafed to believers in that early age. Yet 
 the language of St. Paul, in writing to the 
 Ephesian Church, compared with his expressions 
 both to the Romans and the Corinthians, wherein 
 he speaks to them of having been, after they 
 believed, " sealed with the Holy Spirit of pro- 
 mise,"* may show us the propriety of such a 
 
 * Eph. i. 13. 
 
THE HOLY OHOST. 
 
 209 
 
 question ae every age of the Church, and the 
 necesa.ty of .o„,e larger and „ore ab„„d n 
 
 he::::":! f " '""^ '"'"' '<• •*-" - * 
 
 hearts, and to sanctify the lives of those t„ 
 Who., dy, Has heen given to heuS^' 
 was no. „„.y as a wonder-working power that 
 he presenee of the Holy Spirit wa! pro» L ^ 
 the discples, from whom the Lord Jesu wa^ 
 soon to be seDaratp,! r. ' ^^^ 
 
 should il I . ™' P-'omised, that He 
 
 should be with them as a teacher and re 
 membrancer,. that He should abide withlhem 
 
 them of Jesus, t that He should be in them a 
 
 S iX"a!e o^b? *^"--"^ '- 
 f o, tne ease ot believers m every aire 
 
 than It was for the immediate followers of le 
 
 blessed Jesus, that they should have the con! 
 
 ^nual teaching, and presence, and comfort, and 
 
 .ndwelhng of the .Spirit of God to carry ok the 
 
 Lords work within their hearts? Too ma„v 
 
 here are, who almost seem to think, that if"hev 
 
 have once believed in Jesus, the w'ork il dl 
 
 that. If they have only fled as sinners to the 
 
 Saviour, and by faith laid their sins upon H „ 
 
 mentlTthtrf ^T "'' '^ ""' "^« -"■"-"- 
 ment of that life of godliness, which is spoken of 
 
 - a struggle, a warfare, a race. And ifltling 
 
 § Rom. viii. 14, 15. 
 
 fl, 
 
210 
 
 THE HOLY GHOST. 
 
 but the gracious influence of the Holy Spirit 
 could have disposed them to enter upon that 
 conflict, to engage in that race ; much more can 
 nothing but the continual grace of the Holy 
 Spirit sustain them amid its trials, and bring 
 them out " more than conquerors, through Him 
 that loved them." 
 
 From first to last, then, in the work of salva- 
 tion, as carried on in the soul of the sinner, all 
 is of the operation of the Holy Spirit of God. 
 His grace alone it is, wliich puts into the heart 
 of any sinful man the first anxious thought about 
 his soul, the first earnest desire for salvation, the 
 first purpose and intention of seeking Jesus as a 
 Saviour. His grace alone it is, which carries on 
 the anxious thought, and turns the earnest 
 desire into a prayer ; which draws the sinner to 
 the cross of Christ, sprinkles upon his conscience 
 the atoning blood, and assures him of an interest 
 in the Father's love. H's grace alone it is, 
 which strengthens the believer to renounce the 
 world, enables him to cast off" fhe bondage of the 
 flesh, and gives him victory over the devices of 
 the Devil. How important then, beloved, on 
 the ground of its absolute necessity to your 
 salvation— -how important the enquiry, " Have 
 ye received the Holy Ghost ?" 
 
 II. Let us consider, in the second place, 
 
THE HOLY GHOST. 
 
 211 
 
 f 
 
 beloved, THE NATURE OF THE OPERATIONS OF THF 
 
 xioLY Ghost. 
 
 In that wonderful effusion of the Holy Spirit, 
 to which our thoughts are turned at tlie present 
 season of our Church, the mode of His operation 
 was as perceptible as its effects. For while the 
 disciples " were all with one accord in one 
 place, upon the day of Pentecost, " suddenly 
 there came a sound from heaven, as of a rushing 
 mighty wind, and it filled all the house where 
 they were sitting ; and there appeared unto them 
 cloven tongues like as of fire, and it sat upon 
 each of them."* But with regard to His more 
 ordinary operations, their nature is, as clearly 
 as we can comprehend it, set before us in 
 the words of our Lord to Nicodemus, " The 
 wind bloweth where it listeth, and thou hearest 
 the sound thereof, but canst not tell whence it 
 Cometh, nor whither it goeth ; so is every one 
 that IS born of the Spirit, "f 
 
 h And in taking this, our Loid's, exposition 
 ot the matter for our guide, we are led to 
 observe, first, the sovereignty of the operations of 
 the Spirit. The wind bloweth where it listeth 
 It knows no human control ; it can be brought 
 within no human regulations. It acknowledges 
 no will but His, who brings forth the winds out 
 of His treasures, and whose word the wind and 
 * ^«^'^ "■• ^- t John iii. 8. 
 
 p 2 
 
212 
 
 j-i% 
 
 THE HOLY GHOST. 
 
 stonn fulfil. ♦ And so, whatever varieties of gifts, 
 of operations, of ministrations there may be in 
 the Church of Christ, "all these worketli that 
 one and the self-same Spirit, dividing to every 
 man severally as He wiLL."t Such an ex- 
 pression as this, while it cleariy indicates the 
 distinct and personal agency of the Holy Spirit 
 in the work of the sinner's salvation, does not of 
 course intimate any distinctness of will from the 
 purpose of the Father and the Son. For just 
 as the blessed Jesus gave us one of the strongest 
 assertions He could employ to express His full 
 Divinity, when He said, "The Son can do 
 nothing of Himself, but what He seeth the 
 Father do;":j: so we may, without impropriety, 
 say of the Holy Ghost, The Spirit can do nothing 
 of Himself, but what He knoweth to be the will 
 both of the Father and of the Son. All the pas- 
 sages of Scripture, then, which speak of the sove- 
 reignty of God in the salvation of souls, may be 
 well applied as indications of the nature of the 
 operations of the Spirit. It is the operation of 
 the Spirit that is described, when St. Paul assures 
 the Philippians, that " it is God that worketh in 
 them both to will and to do of His good plea- 
 sure." § It is the operation of the Spirit, as the 
 Agent in the work of the soul's salvation, that is 
 
 * Ps. cxxxv. 7 
 X John V. 19, 
 
 cxlviii. 8. 
 
 t 1 Cor. xii, 11. 
 § Phil. ii. 13. 
 
THE HOLY GHOST. 
 
 213 
 
 implied in the assertion of the Saviour, that " as 
 the Father raiseth up the dead, and quickeneth 
 them, even so the Son quickeneth whom He 
 will. ♦ And if man be so corrupt, as we have 
 seen him described to be, if he be so powerless 
 even to think a good thought, what can it be but 
 an act of sovereign and of special grace, that 
 awakens the sinner to reflection, convinces him 
 ot his lost condition, and draws him in prayer 
 and supplication to the throne of grace ? 
 
 2 A second point, which our Saviour's parable 
 ot the wind suggests concerning the mode of the 
 ^pirits operations is, that they are invisible, 
 ^Nothing can be more secret, more hidden from 
 the observation of our fellow-man, than the rising 
 of the first thought about the soul's concerns in 
 the sinner's mind ; nothing more unperceived 
 and more unexpected by ourselves, and more 
 difhcult m many cases afterwards to trace 
 than the first real anxiety about our salvation' 
 the first small beginnings of grace, leading the 
 soul to Christ. The thought, perhaps, intrudes 
 among the multitude of other thoughts, that we 
 must die ; that there is an Eternity before us • 
 that we are unprepared to die ; that Eternity 
 holds out to us, in our present state, no prospect 
 but of endless woe. We strive to get rid of the 
 tliought; we try to hush it in the whirl of busi- 
 
 * John V. 21. 
 
i, ^ 
 
 m ■If, I 
 
 214 
 
 THE HOLY GHOST. 
 
 ness ; we try to drown it in the noise of worldly 
 mirth : but still it will recur ; it will not be 
 silenced ; it takes possession of the soul. Per- 
 haps some message from the preacher's lips stirs 
 up reflection. It may be that annoyance was at 
 first the chief feeling it excited ; that we were 
 vexed with ourselves for even allowing it to take 
 such a holu upon our minds; that we were 
 angry with the instrument whom the Lord 
 employed to address His word to our hearts; 
 that we were determined to put it from us, and 
 be disturbed by it no more. But the word 
 would still recur; the value of the soul would 
 force itself upon the mind ; the necessity of a 
 change of heart could not be gainsaid ; and the 
 soul at last, after resisting to the utmost, has 
 been constrained to foil low at the feet of Jesus, 
 crying, " What shall I do to be saved ? " These 
 thoughts are, at first, not only kept secret from 
 the world ; we try to hide them even from our- 
 selves ; but if they be the suggestions of the 
 Spirit, they will take deeper and firmer hold 
 upon the mind, till they produce at last the 
 complete surrender of the heart to God. 
 
 Such thoughts as these indeed, in their first 
 stage, are frequently the suggestions of mere 
 natural conscience, independently of any teach- 
 ing of the Spirit. At this early period, the 
 genuine operation of the Spirit is not easily dis- 
 
 
THE HOLY GHOST. 
 
 215 
 
 tinguished. It is by its permanence alone, by 
 Its continued and steady influence, that the 
 Spirit's work is seen. The mere scruples of 
 natural conscience are easily silenced in the 
 whirl of pleasure or of care ; the mere reason- 
 ings of the natural mind about eternal things 
 are soon superseded by the cares of this world 
 and the thoughts of other things ; but when the 
 Spirit is at work, the anxieties He awakens, the 
 fears He excites, the reflections He stirs up, go 
 on increasing their hold, till the sinner is sub- 
 dued to Christ. 
 
 3. For, a third thing, in which we may trace 
 the resemblance that has been referred to, is in 
 the effect produced. We know not beforehand 
 in what quarter the wind wiU next arise; we 
 see not the color of the blast, even when it is 
 sweeping over us; but wc doubt not that the 
 wind is blowing, though we see it not: we 
 perceive it often for a long time afterwards, by 
 the efi-ects it has produced. And we may trace 
 the operation of the Spirit, wherever He has 
 been truly at work in the sinner's heart, in the 
 effects which He produces. For we are " con- 
 fident of this one thing, that He, which hath 
 begun a good work " in the soul, " wiU perform 
 it until the day of Jesus Christ."* " His work 
 
 is perfect."t It is not like Him to awaken 
 
 a 
 
 * Phil. i. 6. 
 
 t D'3ut. xxxii. 4. 
 
216 
 
 THE HOLY GHOST. 
 
 soul, to quicken it, to lead it to Jesus, to 
 convert it by His Spirit, and then to leave it 
 to be cast out. 
 
 III. What the effects are, however, which 
 flow from the receiving of the Holy Spirit, we 
 come now, in the third place, to consider. 
 
 1. And the first we shall observe is the con- 
 motion of sin. When the Spirit of truth com- 
 mences His work in the sinner's heart, He 
 produces a deep and serious and abiding con- 
 viction of the exceeding sinfulness of sin. By 
 this I do not mean merely a state of terror and 
 alarm on account of the fearful consequences of 
 sin ; a. horrible apprehension and dread of the 
 vengeance due, and denounced against trans- 
 gression. This is a means, which the Spirit 
 sometimes uses for the accomplishment of His 
 gracious work ; but it is not unfrequently the 
 operation of mere natural conscience, which 
 quickly passes away with the circumstances that 
 awoke the alarm, with the sickness or the ranger 
 which aroused the fears. But the effect of the 
 operation of the Spirit is seen, even when he acts 
 this way first upon the fears, in producing in the 
 soul such a view of sin, of its exceeding vileness in 
 the sight of God, of the pollution with which 
 it has defiled the soul, of the anguish which it 
 has inflicted upon Christ, and the price at which 
 
THE HOLY GHOST. 
 
 to 
 it 
 
 217 
 
 alone He could redeem the soul from its bondage, 
 as to cause the sinner to roll himself in the dust 
 of self-abasement before God, as a loathsome 
 and poUuted thing. General as appears to be 
 the acknowledgment that we are all sinners 
 general as might appear to be in some sense thj 
 conviction of sin, there is nothing in which 
 man s views differ more than in their estimate 
 of the sinfulness of sin. For while one seems 
 to think all sin a light thing; another shrinks 
 only from those heinous sins, which invade his 
 neighbour's property or peace ; another would 
 see no evil in sin, were it not that it is threatened 
 with eternal punishment ;- the soul convinced 
 by the Spirit of God abhors even the thouc^ht of 
 sm, and loathes itself in its own sight for all its 
 unbelief, and hardness of heart before God. 
 
 2. Secondly, the Holy Spirit, where He is 
 
 carrying on His work in the soul, testijies to it of 
 
 Christ. Having, first, convinced the soul of sin 
 
 He next convinces it of righteousness. He 
 
 brings the sinner to the cross of Christ; He 
 
 subdues the enmity which exists in the natural 
 
 heart against the doctrine of Christ Jesus the 
 
 crucified; He applies to the trembling soul the 
 
 gracious message of a Saviour's love ; He enables 
 
 the sinner to bring the burden of his sins to 
 
 Jesus, to lay them upon His head, and go in 
 
 peace. All this may have been clearly perceived 
 
I.' I 
 
 
 .Sf 
 
 M 
 
 ■ 
 
 218 
 
 THE HOLY GHOST. 
 
 with the understanding; but it is the Spirit of 
 God alone, that can apply it to the heart. Men 
 may see and know that they are sinners; they 
 may see and know that there is no salvation for 
 the sinner but in the blood of Jesus ; they may 
 see and know, that the sinner who truly believes 
 in Jesus finds pardon and peace; but it is the 
 Spirit of the Lord alone, who can enable us, 
 each one for himself, to bring our burden to the 
 cross of Christ, and leave it there; and send us 
 on our way rejoicing in a sense of God's pardon- 
 mg mercy, and of our own acceptance in Jesus 
 the Beloved. 
 
 3. And, thirdly, wherever the Holy Spirit 
 thus testifies of Jesus, He also sanctifies the soul, 
 that under His guidance comes to Christ. And 
 this sanctification of the soul is what may in a 
 peculiar measure be spoken of as the work or 
 fruit of the Spirit. It is His work above all 
 things to subdue the evil that is in our nature, 
 to overthrow the dominion of sin in our hearts, 
 to set up the throne of God within us, to bring 
 every thought into captivity to the obedience of 
 Christ. It is His work, more especially, to 
 quicken the soul from its sleep of sin, to arouse 
 it and stir it up to a new and holy life, to im- 
 plant a new principle in the soul, to shed abroad 
 the love of Christ in the heart, to renew the soul 
 in righteousness after the image of Him that 
 
 |M, 
 
THE HOLY GHOST, 
 
 219 
 
 created it. It is His work, in short, since Jesus 
 by His death had opened to the sinner the way 
 to eternal life,--it is the work of the Spirit 
 to make the soul that comes to Jesus fit to 
 dwell in His presence, and to enjoy His love 
 for ever. 
 
 Is it net then, beloved, let me again enquire, 
 is it not an important question which the text 
 addresses to every soul among you, " Have ye 
 received the Holy Ghost?" Ye have seen, I 
 trust, the necessity which exists for the opera- 
 tion of this Holy Spirit upon your hearts ; ye 
 have traced in some measure the nature of His 
 operations ; your attention has been pointed to 
 some of the effects of His indwelling ; O ! let me 
 beseech you to enquire, as before the Lord, 
 Have ye received the Holy Ghost ? 
 
 What answer will your .=)ouls give to the 
 enquiry, ye who are going on in carelessness and 
 worldHness and sin ? Will ye point to the grace 
 of your baptism as the answer? Yet let me 
 remind you, beloved, of our Lord's own words, 
 " That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and 
 that which is born of the Spirit is spirit."* If, 
 then, ye have been truly born of the Spirit, ye 
 will have become spiritual, ye will bring forth 
 the fruits of tlie Spirit in your hearts and lives. 
 And is this so with you, beloved ? Is your care- 
 
 * John iii. 6. 
 
220 
 
 THE HOLY GHOST. 
 
 lessness about your souls a fruit of the Spirit ? 
 Is your love of the world, its vanities and toys, a 
 fruit of the Spirit? Is your weariness of the 
 Sabbath, your neglect of God's Word, your 
 backwardness to prayer, your coldness in the 
 pursuit of heaven— are these things fruits and 
 evidences of the Spirit's indwelling ? O no ! 
 beloved ! whatever may be your privileges as 
 members of a Christian Church, be assured, that, 
 "if ye have not the Spirit of Christ, ye are none 
 of His ;"* be persuaded to seek that Spirit from 
 Him, who « ascended up on high, and received 
 gifts for men, even for the rebellious, that the 
 Lord God might dwell among them."t 
 
 Are there not those among you, beloved, who, 
 if the question of the text were addressed to you,' 
 may readily be imagined adopting the reply of 
 the Ephesian disciples, - We have not so much 
 as heard whether there be any Holy Ghost."$ 
 Ye have heard of it with the hearing of the ear ; 
 ye believe the doctrine o^ His existence in the 
 Trinity of the Godhead ; but practically ye know 
 nothing of His influence, ye are ignorant of His 
 indwelling. It may be, then, that ye are going 
 on in heedless wickedness ; it may be that ye 
 are toiling on in your own strength, striving to 
 work out your own salvation. But in either 
 * Rom. viii. 9. t Ps. Ixviii. 18. J Acts xix. 2. 
 
THE HOLY GHOST. 
 
 221 
 
 case ye cannot be enjoying peace with God ; ye 
 cannot be truly united to Jesus ; ye can have no 
 witness in your heart of your being children of 
 God. Dearly beloved, let the enquiry of the 
 text awaken you to a sense of the importance of 
 the question, whether ye have received the Holy 
 Ghost. " As many as are led by the Spirit of 
 God, they are the sons of God." " If any man 
 have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of 
 His."* 
 
 Dearly beloved, are there those among you, 
 who can humbly trust that ye have received the 
 Spirit of God, convincing you of sin, testifying to 
 you of Jesus, sanctifying your souls? "The 
 fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, gentle- 
 ness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance. "f 
 By the fruit shall it be known, whether ye have 
 received the Holy Ghost or not. Beloved, the 
 Lord hath chosen you " to be a holy people to 
 Himself." J Jesus hath redeemed you to be " a 
 peculiar people, zealous of good works." § The 
 Spirit sanctifieth you, to be a spiritual people. O ! 
 " grieve not then the Holy Spirit of God, whereby 
 ye are sealed unto the day of redemption." || 
 "Walk in the Spirit: so shall ye not fulfil the 
 lusts of the flesh :"^ " the fruit of the Spirit is 
 
 * Rom. viii. 9, 14. 
 § Tit. ii. ] 4. 
 
 t Gal. V. 22. 
 II Eph. iv. 30. 
 
 I Deut. xxviii. 9. 
 f Gal. V. 16. 
 
222 
 
 THE HOLY GHOST. 
 
 in all goodness, and righteousness and truth "* 
 If ye are led by the Spirit of God, then are ye 
 the sons of God ; walk as children of God here • 
 that ye may be meet to dwell with Him as His 
 children for ever. 
 
 * Eph. V. 9. 
 
SERMON XII. 
 
 THE LOVE OF THE BRETHREN A SIGN OF LIFE. 
 
 1 John m. 14. 
 
 We know that we have passed from death unto 
 life, because we love the brethren. 
 
 "He that hath the Son hath life," saith the 
 same Apostle; "and he that hath not the Son 
 ol God hath not life."* 
 
 There surely cannot be a more important state- 
 ment, demanding the attention of immortal 
 beings, than that which is involved in the pro- 
 position here set forth. In the vast multitude 
 of human beings, that people the world which 
 we inhabit, there are some who are alive in the 
 fullest sense and meaning of the word ; there 
 are some who are dead while they live. And in 
 this difference in the condition of mankind, there 
 are consequences involved, which are not limited 
 
 * 1 John V, 12. 
 
224 
 
 LOVE OF THE BRETHREN 
 
 and determined by the narrow bound which 
 compasses mere earthly things, but stretch into 
 Eternity. They, who are dead while they live, 
 are in a state which leads to the worm which 
 dieth not, and the fire which never shall be 
 quenched. They who are alive unto God have 
 an earnest and a foretaste here below of that 
 eternal life, in which is joy and happiness un- 
 speakable for ever and ever. 
 
 Now, beloved, in one or other of these states, 
 and tending to one or other of these ends, is 
 every soul here present in this house of God this 
 day. Ye, dear friends and brethren, all of you 
 are cither alive unto God this day, or ye are 
 dead while ye live : ye are either in the narrow 
 pathway of heaven, or ye are on the broad high- 
 road, that lead«th to destruction. Awful alter- 
 native this ! And yet, if there be one thing, 
 which the Word of God sets before us more 
 plainly than another, it is this solemn truth. 
 And does it propose no tests, does it set up 
 no marks, by which we may ascertain in which 
 Stat J we are ; by which we may decide upon our 
 present condition ; by which we may verify our 
 hopes, concerning the future ? Most surely yes. 
 The tests by which these things may be ascer- 
 tained are abundant and plain, in proportion to 
 the vast importance of the matter that is to be 
 known ; the marks by which our condition may 
 
A RIQN OF LrPE. 
 
 225 
 
 be ,lccid„I, are clear as .ho.,e by which health 
 may be distinguished from disease, or life be dis- 
 cerned from death. 
 
 And there is none of the holy men of God 
 whose writings, according "as they were moved' 
 by the Holy Ghost,", are contained in the blessed 
 book, who has proposed more plain and search, 
 mg tests for this great purpose than the beloved 
 d.sc,ple of our Lord The text contains one, 
 which, though not perhaps as deep and asdiscri. 
 mmatmg as some others which the same Apostle 
 ha. set up, will be found of no trifling value in 
 determmmg the soul's condition before God 
 We know," saith the Apostle in the text, " we 
 know that we hare passed from death unto life 
 because we love the brethren." 
 
 In taking these words, however, as the guide 
 of our meditations this afternoon, I would not 
 limit your attention to the test of character thus 
 proposed, but would invite your serious and 
 attentive consideration to the whole subject thns 
 brought before us. It may be that there are 
 some, even in this nominally Christian congre- 
 gation, who yet need to be convinced of the 
 necessity and nature of the change that is re- 
 ferred to in the text. May the Spirit of the 
 l^ord bless our present meditation to their con- 
 vietion of the truth! It may be that there are 
 
 * 2 Peter i. 21. 
 
 Q 
 
226 
 
 LOVE OF THE DRETFIHEN 
 
 some here, who question the possibility of our 
 having a present consciousness of our salvation. 
 May the same blessed Spirit convince them of 
 this by friying them this knowledge in their own 
 inmost hearts ! It may be that there are some, 
 who, feeling the necessity of the change referred 
 to, desire earnestly to know whether they have 
 yet experienced it. May the same gracious 
 Spirit apply the subject before us to their hearts, 
 as one of many means of ascertaining, whether 
 they are among the children of the Lord, or no ! 
 The subject, then, beloved, which the text 
 brings before us, is, first, the change referred 
 to in the words, « We have passed from death 
 unto life ; " secondly, the Christian's conscious- 
 NESS OF THIS CHANGE, « We kuow that WO havo 
 passed from death unto life ; " and, thirdly, the 
 TEST, to which this consciousness must be brought, 
 " Because we love the brethren." May the God 
 of love and peace be with us, and fill us with 
 His Spirit to the glory of Jesus for ever ! 
 
 I. And, in the first place, let us consider 
 briefly the change expressed in the words, « We 
 have passed .rom death unto life." There is 
 implied in them a change of condition, and a 
 change of character. 
 
 1. And, first, a change of condition. The 
 death they speak of is a state of condemnation and 
 
A SIO^ OF LIKE. 
 
 227 
 
 of curs,., and exposure to the fearful vengeance 
 of a ju»t and jealous God. Tl.e life they speak 
 o -s a state of pardon and of peace with God, 
 of deliverance from condemnation, and of title 
 to he mheritance of eternal glory laid „p at 
 <^ods right hand for ever. Now, the believer 
 IS one, who, through faith in the Son of God 
 l.as been transferred from an accursed condition,' 
 n state of condemnation to everlasting wrath 
 into a state of peace with God, a condition in 
 which a nghteeusness has been provided for 
 him, which forms his abundant title to "the 
 mheritance of the saints in light." Our Lord 
 Himsdf uses the expression of the text in 
 descnbmg this change of condition. " Verily 
 verily, I say unto you, He that heareth my word 
 and beheveth on Him that sent me, hath ever-' 
 astmg life, and shall not come into condemna- 
 tion ; but IS passed from death unto life "• Let 
 It ever be remembered, beloved, that the state in 
 which man is born into the world is a state of 
 condemnation. The more popular notion is, that 
 the mmd of man at his birth is like a pure sheet 
 of paper, ready to receive impressions either of 
 good or evil ; that the soul of man is suspended 
 as It were, between two conditions, free to' 
 choose a state of condemnation or a state of 
 peace. But this notion, whatever the human 
 
 * John V. 24. 
 Q 2 
 
228 
 
 
 I I 
 
 LOVE OF THE BRETHREN 
 
 authority upon which it rests, is foolishness with 
 God. The mind of the new-born child is 
 already blotted and defrced by inclinations and 
 propensities to sin ; the soul of the merest infant 
 is already under condemnation, because of the 
 sin in which it is born. To come into condem- 
 nation, then, requires no effort, no choice, no 
 determination; let but the sinner go on, un- 
 changed, in his natural condition, and the state 
 of condemnation in which he lies will ere long 
 merge in the blackness of darkness for ever. 
 Would he be saved, he must come out of this 
 state; he must fly by faith to Jesus ; he must 
 be delivered by the power of God from this state 
 of condemnation; the blood of Jesus must be 
 sprinkled upon his conscience, cleansing it from 
 guilt ; he must put on the righteousness of 
 Jesus ; he must lay hold upon Eternal li T). This 
 is the change of condition expressc>. in the 
 words, « We have passed from death unto life." 
 
 2. And they, secondly, imply a change of 
 character. To pass from death unto life is to 
 pass from a state of spiritual slumber, of care- 
 lessness about the soul's concerns, of deadness in 
 trespasses and sins, into a state of anxiety about 
 the soul, of activity in the service of God, of 
 dcvotedness of body, soul, and spirit to the glory 
 of Christ ; it is, in short, to be converted to 
 God. The word of grace continually speaks of 
 
A SIGN OF LIFE. 
 
 229 
 
 this change in terms similar to those of the text. 
 And nature, especially at this season,* abounds 
 with Illustrations of the change thus described 
 Go, place yourself, for instance, beside the shal- 
 low waters of some running stream, and, as you 
 gaze into the pellucid rUl, you will often see 
 lying upon the sands over which it flows, what 
 looks like a small shapeless fragment of a shat- 
 tered tree. There is no sign of life about it, and 
 the only thing in it to excite a passing expression 
 of surprise, is that it lies there motionless upon 
 the sandy bottom, instead of flowing down the 
 surface of the stream. Look again in a few 
 days, and you will perceive this shapeless mass 
 mstmct with life. There is a living creature 
 protruding from the cumbrous casing, and strug. 
 ghng to shake ofl" the clog that keeps it down Yet 
 again a little while, and the clog mIU be shaken 
 off, and you wiU see the glorious insect expand- 
 mg Its transparent wings in the warm sun-beam 
 that tinges them with its prismatic hues. The 
 Spirit of God, that moved at the first upon the 
 deep, stm broods upon the face of the waters, 
 and causes them thus to teem with energy and 
 life. And just such the change, that is wrought 
 by the power of the same Spirit in the soul 
 that passes from death unto life. Until the 
 * The inoutli of June. 
 
230 
 
 LOVE OF THE BRETHREN 
 
 ,.'^- 
 
 Spirit of the Lord applies the Word of truth, 
 the man is dead. There is indeed the principle 
 of life, the living soul, within ; but it is blind to 
 its true interests, dead to the service and the love 
 of God, clogged with the cares and pleasures of 
 a sinful flesh and an ensnaring world. But 
 when the Spirit of the Lord begins His work, 
 the struggle of the soul commences. It groans 
 under the bondage of the flesh ; it struggles to 
 shake off" the shackles of the world ; it strives, 
 it pants, it labors to be free. Sometimes it is 
 a tedious struggle ; sometimes the deliverance is 
 more speedy ; but in the Lord's good time, the 
 liberated soul casts off" the bondage that so long 
 had chained it to the world, and rises on the wings 
 of prayer and praise, and Uves in the purer 
 atmosphere of heavenly communion, and enjoys 
 the sunshine of a reconciled Father's face. 
 
 Here then is a change, not only in privilege, 
 but in character and conduct. From being a 
 bondsman of sin, to be a willing servant of God; 
 from being the slave of the world, to be the 
 Lord's freeman ; from being dead in carelessness 
 and worldliness and sin, to be alive unto God, 
 a new creature in Christ Jesus;— oh ! surely here 
 is a change, which fits the soul for the inhe- 
 ritance prepared for it; which wakes rejoicings 
 among tlie angels of God ; and iu which the 
 
 ~Ji^^ i 
 
 u 
 
A SIGN OF LIFE. 
 
 231 
 
 blessed Jesus sees the travail of His soul, and, 
 seeing it, is satisfied.* 
 
 II. And can this change take place, let us, 
 next, enquire, can this change have taken place 
 in the soul, and the soul be unconscious of it? 
 No ! of those who have experienced the conver- 
 sion of the heart to God, it ia here affirmed, 
 " We KNOW that we have passed from death 
 unto life." 
 
 Let us first, briefly, ask. Is it not reasonable 
 that it should be so ? Can the gHttering insect 
 be unconscious, so far as its powers of conscious- 
 ness extend, of the difference between the life it 
 now enjoys, and the state of torpor and of death 
 from which it sprang t. Does not the reply of the 
 blind man in the gospel commend itself to us at 
 once, as a triumphant answer to all the cavils of 
 the Pharisees, " One thing I know, that, whereas 
 I was blind, now I seeV't Was not the leper, 
 that returned to give glory to God, aware of bis 
 having been cleansed ?+ Or was not Lazarus 
 aware, as he sat at table with Jesus in Bethany, 
 of the change that had passed over him, when, at 
 the word of this same Jesus, he had come forth 
 alive from the tomb, in which he had lain four 
 days, a lifeless corpse? § And is it less reason- 
 
 * Isa. liii. 1 1 . f John ix. 2.5. f Luke xvii. 12—19. 
 § John xi. aiidxii. 1, 2. 
 
HIM 
 
 I 
 
 I : I 
 
 232 
 
 LOVE OF THE BHETHUEN 
 
 uble to suppose, that a soul, which had been 
 
 bhnded by s.„, but has been enlightened by the 
 
 Spin ; which had been under the curse of God, 
 
 bu has found pardon and peace with Him; 
 
 wh.ch had been the slave of the world, and 
 
 dead in trespasses and sins, but has been led to 
 
 renounce the world, to follow after holiness, to 
 
 =eek the Lord, to live for eternity, to have he 
 
 conversation in heaven, should be conscious of 
 
 the mighty change wrought in him by the Spirit 
 
 of the I^rd ? O siirplv ie n,^ i. 
 
 m the change, the soul, that has passed through 
 It, must be aware of it. 
 
 2. And if it be reasonable to suppose thus, is 
 't not also scnpturalf " We know," saith the 
 Apostle " that we have passed from death unto 
 Irfe. Ihere are, alas ! those, whose aim it 
 eems to be to strike from the believer's lips the 
 cup of cheering consolation, whose sweetness is 
 deuved from the assurance of God's love for him 
 m Christ Jesus, from the enjoyment of a present 
 interest in Jesus, and the witness of the Spirit 
 with his spirit, that he is a child of God. But 
 he Lord Jesus Himself continually speaks of 
 the salvation of the soul as a present salvation: 
 Whosoever beheveth bath everlasting life ". 
 And His Apostles use the same language: "By 
 Him all that believe are justified from ejl 
 
 * John vi. 47. 
 
A SIGN OF LIFE. 
 
 233 
 
 things."* "Being justified by faith, we have 
 peace with God."t And they not only lay 
 down this doctrine, they enjoy the comfort of it 
 themselves, " The Spirit itself beareth witness 
 with our spirit, that we are the children of 
 God."+ " We know, that, if our earthly house 
 of this tabernacle were dissolved, we have a build- 
 mg of God."§ " We know that we are of God," 
 saith St. John, " and the whole world lieth in 
 wickedness."|| "Hereby we know that He 
 abideth in us, by the Spirit which He hath 
 given us."^ Surely then it is as scriptural, as it 
 is reasonable, that he who has passed from death 
 unto life should be conscious of the change; 
 that he, who has renounced the world and been 
 converted to God, should have some evidence of 
 his conversion ; that he, in whom the Spirit of 
 God has taken up His dwelling, should have 
 some witness of the Spirit, that he is a saved 
 sinner, and an heir of glory. 
 
 III. Yet, beloved, whOe the Scr'ptures of 
 truth minister this consolation in abundant 
 measure to the true bdiever in Jesus, they 
 supply us also with ample means of distin- 
 guishing between that living faitli on which 
 assurance should be based, and those delusions 
 
 * Acts xiii. 39. 
 § 2 Cor. V. 1. 
 
 t lioiu. V. 1. J Rom. viii. 16. 
 
 II 1 Jolm V. 19. f lb. iii.24. 
 
234 
 
 LOVE OF THE UHETHREN 
 
 of fancy, by which too many have at all times 
 been ready to deceive themselves into the idea of 
 their being accepted of the Lord. The Scrip, 
 tures warrant no assurance of faith distinct from 
 the fruits of faith ; they sanction no inward 
 evidence which will not stand those outward 
 tests, by which a genuine faith is proved. Let 
 your attention, beloved, be directed, in the third 
 place, to THE EVIDENCE which the text suggests, 
 by whicli our having passed from death unto 
 life may be ascertained : " We know that we 
 have passed from death unto life, because we 
 love the brethren." 
 
 I. And we remark, first, under this head, that 
 in general the love of others, the love of our neigh- 
 bor as ourselves, is a good sign of our having ex- 
 perienced a work of grace in our hearts. Self- 
 love is so strong a passion of our nature, and so 
 generally, so almost universally, prevalent 
 throughout our race, that the subduing of this 
 passion, and the setting up within ou. hearts of 
 a lively interest in the welfare of our fellow- 
 creatures, is in general an evidence that some 
 better principle has been at work than any 
 which our corrupt nature can supply. Yet 
 there is, on the one hand, in some cases, a kind- 
 ness and benevolence, the fruit of a nabr-cJl 
 amiability, whicli, j)leasing as it is, is no evi- 
 donee of the convoision of the heart; and it is, on 
 
A SIGN OF LIFE. 
 
 235 
 
 tlic other hand, easy to deceive ourselves w'th 
 the idea that we love others, as ourselves, 
 when perhaps, like the young man in the gospel! 
 we should go away grieved* from the very 
 first proof to which our love might be put. We 
 must therefore look ^or some clearer evidence 
 than a mere general amiability would supply, of 
 our being the children of God. 
 
 2. And such an evidence, we secondly observe 
 is supplied lis by the text, which points us to 
 the love of the brethren, as a proof of our own con- 
 version to God. And who are the brethren here 
 spoken of? Not merely brethren in Adam, but 
 brethren in Christ. The brethren are all that 
 have been begotten again of God ; " all that 
 love the Lord Jesus Christ in sincerity;"! all 
 that have the Spirit of God dwelling in them, 
 and are bringing forth the fruits of the Spirit in 
 their lives. He that is begotten again of God is 
 a new creature; and "every one that loveth 
 Him that begat, loveth him also that is begotten 
 of Him."+ There are those, alas ! who profess 
 to have passed from death unto life, who seem 
 willing to recognise none as brethren in Christ 
 Jesus, but those that bow down at the same 
 altar, and worship within the same walls. There 
 are those, alas ! who would shut out such men as 
 A\^itts, and Doddridge, and Baxter, and Whit- 
 
 * Mark X. 22. j Ephcs vi. 24. | 1 -Mu, v. 1. 
 
 IB? 
 
2S6 
 
 LOVE OF THK BRKTllREN 
 
 ! : 
 
 hold from the family of (iod, a.ul leave men who 
 have been bunn,,,, and »hi„ing lights, and at 
 whose feet they would do well to sit, only to the 
 un-vena„ted n.ercics of the Lord, to which the 
 
 't7 «" ™ " ""'''^"''- Yet surely 
 the lively behever will see a brother in the Lord 
 
 m every one who here dings to the same eross 
 
 and walks ,„ the same spirit as he does himself!: 
 
 shall sit down hereafter in the family of God 
 among the many mansions of our^Father's 
 "ouse. It .s a sign of a converted heart, when 
 we can love a Christian wherever he is found • 
 and hke the Apostle of the Gentiles, can eor-' 
 dmlly mvoke the grace and blessing of the Lord 
 
 ..Pon "all that love the Lord Jesus Cll^n 
 -ncenty ." Such fellowship as this con" 
 nearest to that union v.-hich our Lord d "red 
 among His followers, and to which He knew he 
 
 world would appeal for an evidence of he' 
 drsapleshn,. There may be much of outward 
 umty, where there is but little love in the s^ 
 It IS the mnon of hearts, the love which believers 
 have one ior another, their fellowship withT 
 lather and w.th His Sou Jesus Christ,, which U 
 «.^ev^„ee of our having passed from ^2 
 
 3- Yet we n.ust, thirdly, observe, that even 
 
 * I John i. (j. 
 
A STON OF LIFE. 
 
 237 
 
 the love of tho brethren is only an evidence of a 
 converted heart, when we love them because of 
 their being the children of God; when we love 
 that most in them, in which they most resemble 
 their Master. It may be supposed, that the 
 grace of God will have such an effect upon 
 the hearts of those under its influence, as to 
 soften any asperities of character that may have 
 before existed, and to deepen any amiable traits 
 by which the natural disposition was marked. 
 And it follows from hence that there may be 
 those among the true disciples of the cross of 
 Christ, who are beloved because of some natural 
 amiability or excellence by many who yet pity 
 their delusion in giving up the world for Christ's 
 sake, and are full of enmity against the humbling 
 doctrines of the cross of Christ, by which they 
 are led. But, beloved, the benevolence, which, 
 the Lord has said, shall not lose its reward, is 
 that, not merely which gives a cup of cold water 
 to a disciple, but that which gives it to him 
 because he belongs to Christ* And so, the love 
 of the brethren, which is an evidence of havin- 
 passed from death unto life, is a love which is 
 felt for them, not in spite of, but because of 
 their belonging to Christ. If I love a Christian' 
 because he loves Christ; if I love that best in 
 him, in which he is most like Christ ; if I love 
 * Mark ix. 41. 
 
" I I 
 
 238 
 
 LOVE or TFIE DHETIIKEN 
 
 him more, the more ho loves the Saviour ; then 
 I have some evidence that I love Christ Him- 
 self. But if, while loving a Christian, because 
 of some amiability I perceive in him, I yet dis- 
 like the Christian principles he professes, and 
 cry out against the fanaticism of his Ch istian 
 conduct, and feel no sympathy with him in his 
 Christian joys, then my love for him is but a 
 flimsy cover for the enmity which yet fills my 
 lieart against the cross of Christ. If I have 
 taken up my cross to follow Jesus, then shall I 
 have sympathy and fellowship and love for him 
 who follows the Lord too. And by this I may 
 have some proof that I love Him whom I have 
 not seen, when for His sake I love one that 
 loves Him too, and when our fellowship is such 
 as I can have good ground for hoping shall be 
 perpetuated in eternal glory. 
 
 And now, beloved friends and brethren in 
 the Lord Jesus, let me press these truths upon 
 your attention, and endeavor to apply them to 
 your hearts. 
 
 Are there not those among you, my fellow- 
 sinners, who do not even profess to believe that 
 ye have passed from death unto life ; who know 
 not what it is to have found peace with God 
 through the blood of His Son, nor have ex- 
 perienced the power of His Spirit, renewing 
 you after the image of Christ ? Alas ! that there 
 
A SIGN OF LIFE. 
 
 239 
 
 should be too many such careless ones in every 
 congregation, who, though they attontl, perhaps, 
 upon the outward ordinances of God, yet never 
 seem to enquire whether they have experienced 
 the inward grace in the conversion of their 
 hearts to God ! Dearly beloved, let me remind 
 you of the solemn alternative with which I com- 
 menced this address to you, and ask you. Are 
 ye prepared for the awful issue, which awaits 
 the caxeless world in the judgment of the great 
 day ? Have ye, through faith in Jesus, « passed 
 from death unto life?" O! how else shall ye 
 escape the death that never dies? Beloved, by 
 the value of your undying souls, by the terrors 
 of an eternity of woe,-nay, by His love in 
 bearing your sins for you, and by the joys and 
 glories of eternal life, the blessed Jesus calls 
 you to « awake, and arise from the dead !" O ! 
 beloved, rest not satisfied in the dangers of your 
 condition; cry not, "Peace, peace" to your 
 souls, "when there is no peace;"* but go to 
 Jesus; seek pardon and peace through His 
 blood; yea, come through Him, and "be re- 
 conciled unto God ! " 
 
 Beloved, ye who profess to have passed from 
 death unto life, and to have had the love of 
 Christ shed abroad in your hearts by the Holy 
 Spirit, can your profession abide the test which 
 
 * Jer. vi. 14. 
 
'?A0 
 
 LOVE OF THE BRETHREN 
 
 the words of the text pr.)pose ? Does the love of 
 Christ show itself in the love of all for wliom 
 Christ (lied I Do ye show that ye have been 
 begotten again of God, by loving every one 
 who gives evidence of being a new creature in 
 Christ Jesus ? Does your heart warm towards 
 every one, in whom ye can recognise the marks 
 of a disciple ot the Lord, and your affections 
 embrace all that love the Lord Jesus Christ? 
 O ! what a different aspect would the Christian 
 world present, if all who profess to be disciples 
 of Christ could appeal, in proof, to the love 
 they bear to one another. Once it was so, that 
 even a Heathen was compelled to exclaim, " See 
 how these Christians love one another!" Shall 
 it never be so again, until the world and the 
 lust thereof shall have passed away? O yes, 
 beloved, whatever may be the hatreds and 
 divisions among those that merely bear the 
 name of Christ, assuredly the heart, that is 
 truly alive to tne love of God, does warm with 
 love for every one that bears the cross of Christ. 
 Judge ye then, beloved, by this test, whether ye 
 have "passed from death unto life," or no? 
 
 And does not this subject suggest also to all, 
 who profess to have the witness of the Spirit 
 that they are the children of God, the impor- 
 tance of not only enjoying the privileges, but of 
 manifesting the spirit also of the Master whom 
 
A SIGN OF LIPE. 
 
 241 
 
 tliey lovo? Beloved, if ye are the brethren of 
 C^hrist, then is the love borne to you for Christ's 
 sake a sign, whether others have passed from 
 death unto life. But this love will be no test 
 unless ye manifest the temper, the spirit, the 
 mind that was in Christ. O! how important, 
 then, IS It, that ye should manifest in all your con- 
 duct the principles upon which ye act, the end 
 ye have in view; and that, by the consistency 
 of your conversation ye should commend the 
 cross of Christ to a careless and ungodly ^vorid 
 ' i^et your light so shine before men, that thev 
 may see your good works; and glorify the Fa- 
 ther .^,0 hath begotten you again, the 
 Saviour who hath redeemed you, the Spirit who 
 hath sanctified you; and that the love thev 
 bear to you may be, above all things, upon this 
 ground, "Because ye belong to Christ." 
 
 * Matt. V. 16. 
 
 R 
 
./ ■ 
 
 '5 r 
 
 If 
 
 SERMON XIII. 
 
 SOWING, GROWING, MOWING TIME. 
 
 St. Mark iv. 29. 
 
 But when the fruit is hronght forth, immediafeh/ 
 Heputteth in the sickle, because the harvest is 
 come. 
 
 m-fi 
 
 Among the various similitudes, by which our 
 Lord has illustrated the nature of the kingdom 
 of God, as exhibited in the present dispensation 
 of grace, there are none which strike us as more 
 appropriate or more forcible than those, in which 
 He likens it to some of the various processes of 
 husbandry. There seems to be so natural and 
 so exact a resemblance between the culti- 
 vation of the soil and the culture of the 
 heart, between the operations of nature upon the 
 seed sown in the ground, and the operations 
 of grace upon the word implanted in the heart, 
 that we can scarcely even describe the features 
 
 ■''*4.j 
 
SOWING, GROWING, MOWING TIME. 243 
 
 of the kingdom of grace in tlie soul without the 
 use of terms drawn from the corresponding 
 portions of the husbandman's toil. 
 
 There is at least no part of the kingdom of 
 nature, from which the Saviour has drawn more 
 frequent or more beautiful illustrations of the 
 work of grace, than this cf the culture of 
 the soil. On several occasions, and for the 
 explanation of different aspects of His king, 
 dom, has He referred to th owing of seed 
 in the earth; and in each we .ad scarcely any- 
 thing left to explain v/ith regard to the spiritual 
 process whose nature He would thus pourtray 
 At one time, in the sower sowing his seed, we 
 have a general view of the varied reception 
 which the word of truth meets with at the 
 hands of sinful man.* At another, under the 
 similitude of the wheat and tares growing up 
 m the same field together, f we have a picture of 
 the present imperfect state of the visibfe Church 
 of Christ, and our attention is drawn onward 
 to that solemn time, when the great separation 
 will be made, and the line of eternal severance 
 be drawn between those that only bore the name 
 of Christ and those that had imbibed His Spirit 
 And at another, we trace, in the gradual pro^ 
 gress of the good seed towards maturity, :|: an 
 exposition of the true work of grace in the 
 ♦ Matt. xiii. 3-S. T lb. 24_3(). ^ lb. 31, .32. 
 
 11 2 
 
■ I 
 
 i I 
 
 244 
 
 SOWING, GROWING, MOWING TIME. 
 
 genuine members of Christ's body, the living 
 branches of the True Vine, from the first im- 
 perceptible influence upon the yet carnal heart, 
 to the complete transformation of the whole 
 man into the image of Christ, and his meetness, 
 through the work of the Spirit of Jesus within 
 him, for tlie enjoyment of His presence in His 
 glory. 
 
 It is of a parable of tliis latter description 
 that the text forms a part ;— a parable in which 
 our Lord is describing, not the various recep- 
 tions which the Word of God meets with in 
 the world, but the progress which the good 
 seed, when received into a prepared soil, makes 
 towards maturity. Little as He has left re- 
 quiring one word of explanation even to the 
 simplest mind, He has yet embodied in this 
 parable some of the deepest and most important 
 experimental truths concerning the soul's pro- 
 gress from its state of corruption and darkness 
 to its state of purity and glory. Upon these 
 it may be profitable for the wisest as well as the 
 simplest to meditate, remembering that "the 
 wisdom of the wise is foolishness witli God," 
 but that the very " foolishness of God is wiser 
 than man."* And do thou, O blessed Spirit 
 of the INIost High God, vouchsafe to make this 
 meditation profitable to us, and by tliy presence 
 
 * 1 Cor. i. 25. 
 
 j't 
 
SOWING, (;i?OW!NG, MOWING TIME. 2]5 
 
 and by thy teaching, bless our employment to 
 the edification of our souls, and the glory of the 
 name of Jesus. Take, O ! take of the things of 
 Christ and show them to our souls; that the 
 Ignorant among us may be enlightened, the 
 slumbering awakened, the self-righteous con- 
 vinced, the believing strengthened, and all 
 saved ! 
 
 The parable, of which the text forms a part 
 suggests to our notice three important eras 
 in the history of the kingdom of God, and in 
 the history of each soul that is truly brought 
 out of the darkness and corruption of nature 
 mto the glorious liberty of the children of God 
 The first is sowing time, " So is the kingdom 
 of God, as if a man should cast seed into the 
 ground;" the second is growing time, "And 
 the seed should spring and grow up, he knoweth 
 not how; first the blade, then the ear, after 
 that the full corn in the ear;" and the third is 
 MOWING TIME, " When the fruit is ripe, imme- 
 diately he putteth in the sickle, because the 
 harvest is come." Upon each of these periods 
 let us meditate a little : and may the Lord the 
 Spirit guide, solemnize, sanctify, and bless us! 
 
 T. And the first period to which the parable 
 calls our attention, is sowing time : " So is the 
 kii.gdon: oi' God, as if a man should cast seed 
 
'4 
 
 246 SOWING, GROAVING, MOWING TIME. 
 
 into the ground." By the sowing time, however, 
 is meant in this parable, not so much the season 
 at which the sower shall scatter his seed, as that 
 at which the soil, being duly prepared, receives 
 the seed. It is, in short, not the history of the 
 ministry of the Gospel, that the parable sets 
 forth, but the history of the soul to which the 
 Gospel is ministered. 
 
 And, What is the seed time of the sonl? It 
 is as clear from this parable, as from other pas- 
 sages of Scripture, what it is not. It is not a 
 season of mere external privilege; it is not 
 invariably connected with the administration 
 of external sacraments ; it is not the period of 
 the outward washing in the waters of baptism ; 
 it is not the hour of outward and visible 
 communion with the Church of Christ. At 
 such times as this, the soul is brought indeed 
 into visible connexion with the body of Christ 
 upon earth. At such times it receives a pal- 
 pable seal of the faithfulness of God's covenant 
 engagements; a pledge, that "faith," if al- 
 ready possessed, "is," or, whenever possessed, 
 shall be, " imputed to it for righteousness." It 
 receives the sign of regeneration, the symbol of 
 the new birth, the seal of all the privileges 
 Nvhich belong to God's children. But can Iny 
 one venture to believe, that all who are bap- 
 tized are truly born again of the 8i)irit of God, 
 
SOWING, GROWING, MOWING TIME. 247 
 
 and made the living spiritual members of God's 
 family, "heirs of God, and joint-heirs with 
 Christ" of His glory] "That which is born 
 of the Spirit," saith the Saviour, "is Spirit;"* 
 and, although it were rash, indeed, to deny that 
 the fullest influences of the Spirit may, and in 
 some cases do, accompany the baptism with 
 water, can we .look upon the earthly, sensual, 
 carnal, worldly lives of too, too many who 
 have been partakers of the outward ordinance, 
 and believe that these are the true children of 
 the Spirit of the Living God ? Yet the Scrip- 
 tures leave us not to such inferences alone. 
 They tell us distinctly what the seed is. " The 
 seed," saith our Lord, " is the Word of God."t 
 " Of His own will begat He us," saith St. James, 
 " by the Word of truth. "$ " Being born again," 
 saith St. Peter, " not of corruptible seed, but of 
 incorruptible, by the Word of God, which liveth 
 and abideth for ever."§ " As many as received 
 Him," (that is, the Word incarnate,) saith the 
 Evangelist, " to them gave He power to become 
 the sons of God, even to them that believe on 
 His name." II 
 
 What then is the seed time of the soul ? It 
 is one purpose of the parable to teach us, that 
 the time cannot he precisely defined. Even in the 
 
 * John iii. 6. f Luke viii. 11. | James i. 18. 
 
 § I I't't- i- ^3. IIJoliii i. 12. 
 
248 
 
 SOWING, GUOWINO, MOWING TIME. 
 
 kingdom of nature, whose operations are com- 
 paratively open to the view, we eannot define the 
 pa txcular seeds that shall spring up, ,ve cannot 
 tell the preeise moment at which the seed, that 
 has been cast into the ground, shall send up its 
 tiny shoot, and spring up, and grow. We 
 cannot control, we cannot even define, the 
 precise a„.ount of the various influences of sun 
 and a . of moisture or of drought, iu quicken- 
 " S o delaying the sprouting of the buried seed. 
 And how much less, in looking around upon a 
 congregation of immortal souls, can we say 
 ilere IS a heart, in which the Word of God is 
 begmning to take root- 'Here is a conscience 
 
 m which the Spirit of God is begi„„i„r.o 
 awaken some alarms ;' ' Here is a soul, in which 
 some long buried lesson of Uivine truth, some 
 long past warning, or some recent providence, 
 some Sabbath-school instruction, some Christian 
 mothers teaching, or some Christian ministers 
 appeal, is beginning to take effect, preparing to 
 nke us roots, about to send up its springh.g 
 blade.- O! how well is it for us that w! 
 
 cannot Who could persevere in hoping agains 
 bope. If he were enabled to perceive what seed 
 would take effect, what seed would be as if 
 scattered to the winds? What Sabbath-school 
 teacher could persevere against the thousand 
 discouragements of the work, if he cuuUl see in 
 
SOWIiNG, GROWING, MOWING TIME. 1249 
 
 how many cases his toil would be in vain? 
 What Christian minister would not hang down 
 his head, and let his hands fall down amid his 
 work, if he could know in how many cases his 
 preaching would be ineffectual ? Yea, even what 
 Christian mother's love would have strength to 
 persevere in the fruitless task of training up her 
 children for the Lord, could she perceive that it 
 would be fruitless, and her efforts vain ? 
 
 What then is the seed time of the soul ? 
 Paul may plant, Apollos water; but "God 
 giveth the increase * Wliatever may be the 
 instruments employed; whoever may be the 
 fellow-laborers with God ; whatever may be the 
 striking providence, that has arrested the sin- 
 ner's step; whatever the "still small voice," 
 that has whispered to his soul ; the work of 
 grace in the soul is "God's husbandry;" and 
 the time which He sees best, the hour which He 
 appoints, the moment approved in His good 
 pleasure, is the soul's seed time. "The pre- 
 paration of the heart" to receive the seed; the 
 selection of the seed that shall take effect,' the 
 arrangement of the hour at which it shall burst 
 forth— all, all is of Him, " whose word shall not 
 return unto Him void, but shall accomplish that 
 which He pleases, and prosper in the thino- 
 wliercto He sent it."| To us the seed may 
 
 * 1 Cor. iii. 6. I fg,,. iv. ,,_ 
 
Ill 
 
 I 
 
 250 
 
 SOlVmc, OUOWING, MOWING TIME. 
 
 seen be oast, as it were, " upon the waters ;" 
 c-iiough for us the promise, that we shall "fi„d 
 .t after many days.". It i^ ours, then, "in 
 the moving to sow the seed, and in the evening 
 to withhold not our hand ; for we know not 
 whether shall, prosper.-f but it remains with 
 Him whose name is Love, whose eharaeter 
 Wisdom, whose dispensations Grace. 
 
 ir The next period in the soul's history, to 
 which this parable calls our attention, is oLw- 
 .NO TIME. " The seed shall spring and grow up, 
 he knoweth not how. For the earth bringeth 
 forth fruit of herself; first the blade, then the 
 ear, after that the full corn in the ear " 
 
 In tracing the resemblance between the 
 growth of com in the field, and the work of 
 grace m the soul, we remark, that they are 
 
 l.Ahke inexplicable. The seed "springeth 
 up he knoweth not how." The argument has 
 been often used to those, who refuse to believe 
 what they cannot understand, that in such case 
 tbey must deny the evidences of their senses 
 concerning things around tlicm, yea, they must 
 Icny their own existence. Where is the ph . 
 osopher that can explain the juaciple of life 
 that can even define precisely what it is » 
 Where is he, that can explain how it is, that' 
 
 * KC'CI. xi. I. + r, •, ^ 
 
 t Ibul. 6. 
 
SOWING, GROWING, MOWING TIME. 251 
 
 the seed, which has been cast into the ground, 
 and turned to corruption, begins ere long to 
 germinate, and sends up the tender shoot, that in 
 the process of time grows into the heavy laden 
 ear of corn ? It was not an unnatural difficulty, 
 therefore, which suggested itself to the mind of 
 Nicodemus in his interview with the Saviour, 
 " How can a man be born again ?" " How can 
 these things be?" Even our Lord Himself 
 illustrated, but did not explain it. " The wind 
 bloweth where it listeth, and thou hearest the 
 sound thereof, but canst not tell whence it 
 cometh, or whither it goeth. So is every one 
 that is born of the Spirit."* We can trace the 
 evidence of the new principle, by which, "if any 
 man be in Christ, he is a new creature ;"t we 
 can even define the mode of its operation, and 
 show how, being seated in the affections, it 
 influences the life : but the nature of the prin- 
 ciple itself, what it is within us that is changed, 
 we can no more explain, than we can analyze 
 the structure of the wind, or make plain to 
 mortal eyes the inward principle of life. 
 
 2. The growth of corn in the earth, and that 
 of grace in the soul, are alike spontaneous. 
 " The earth briiigeth forth fruit of itself." And 
 so grace springeth up in the soul of itself. By 
 tliis we of course mean, not that grace grows 
 
 * Joliii iii. 4, «, 9. I 2Cor. V. J 7. 
 
si : II 
 1 !' t 
 
 •J 3 2 
 
 »0W].\CI, lillOWlsr,, MOWING TIME. 
 
 naluraUy ,„ th • cor.upt nature of man, any 
 ■nore han com grows n.turally in the untii'ed 
 
 winch fits ,t for u., ,™„ih of the corn. It is 
 not the summer's sun, nor the genial shower, 
 which oonta „s the principle of life. For these 
 may 1 ave fallen upon the barren sand, and given 
 " "» f™' f"I"ess. It is not aloue the husband! 
 man s tod, which makes the earth producti™. 
 Foi If the same labor were expended upon the 
 hard rock, u would continue as fruitless as ever 
 
 that the work of grace must conimenee and he 
 earned on. It is „ot the application of the 
 varied means of grace that can effect the change : 
 for, alas! many use all these, and use them all 
 m vam It is not the reading of the Bible • it 
 
 IS not the ministry of the preached Word; i't 
 not the participation of sacraments, that can 
 make grace effectual. These, under God" 
 b essnig, minister, as do the genial influences of 
 he sun and sky to the growth of the corn • but 
 
 sln™"f "' """"'' ^'"'^' '^^ 'he iloly 
 
 Uste i ' fr " " "''""'""' «'"''«"' -here it 
 listeth, and how it will. 
 
 3. There is a third resemblance, in that tliey 
 aie ahie gradual. "First the blade; then the 
 
 ear ; after that the full corn in the ear." IIow 
 ^nmll, how almost iinpcireptible, ■„, „f,e„ the 
 
SOWING, GROWING, MOWING TIME. -253 
 
 beginnings of grace in the soul. There are 
 cases indeed, in which the revulsion of feeling, 
 the change of sentiment, the conversion of the 
 heart seems so sudden, so entire, that the differ- 
 ence, far from being imperceptible, is seen of all 
 men ; by some with scoffs of ridicule or distrust, 
 by some with praise and thanksgivings unto 
 God. These, however, are rather the excep- 
 tions, than the rule of God's dealings with the 
 soul. In the ordinary way, the soul has gone 
 on, perhaps, in heedlessness and indifference; 
 perhaps been marked by amiability and gentle- 
 ness : perhaps been diligent in the outward 
 duties of a religious life. But, in the Lord's 
 good time, some voice of Providence or grace 
 arrests the ear;- the soul is startled by the 
 thought ; All is not right with me ; there is a 
 work of grace, that I know nothing of; I see 
 the Word of God describe, I hear the people of 
 God speak of, a life of God within, a peace with 
 God, a love of God, a joy in God, to which I am 
 a stranger .-—there is a desire awakened in the 
 soul to live for better things, a longing after a 
 sense of God's favor and His love, an aspiration 
 towards God and Christ and heavenly things, 
 which was never known before. Often is this 
 desire feeble; this aspiration scarce breathed 
 into a prayer ; but, if it be the work of God, it 
 will go on. Like the shooting blade of corn,' it 
 
254 
 
 SOWING, GllOWlNG, MOWING TIME. 
 
 ! i; 
 
 I ' I 
 
 bends before every breeze, and the heavy shower 
 bespatters it with the earth again ; but, if it be 
 a genuine work of grace, it will again lift itself, 
 and gather nourishment and strength from the 
 very trials that tlireatened to overwhelm it. 
 
 In this stage of grace, it is not easy to dis- 
 tinguish between the genuine and the fictitious 
 work. There are some souls, which seem 
 sharply tried by convictions of sin, and, like 
 Herod, "do many things gladly,"* whose 
 " goodness is yet as a morning cloud, and as 
 the early dew it goeth away."t But the feeble 
 blade of genuine grace goes on, and ere long 
 advances to the ear of fruitfulness. If the dif- 
 ference between the Christian and the world 
 was at an earlier stage scarce perceptible, the 
 difficulty now no longer lasts. The principle of 
 a changed life is now seen in the conduct and the 
 conversation. He, who " is in Christ, is a new 
 creature; old things have passed away; behold, 
 all things have become new. "J Awakened to 
 perceive the sinfulness of sin, he has learned to 
 hate it; aroused to the danger of the friendship 
 of the world, he has been enabled to renounce 
 its principles, and forsake its ways ; taught by 
 the Spirit the preciousness of Christ, he has 
 learned to live wholly upon Him ; and, having 
 " the love of God shed abroad in his heart by 
 • Mark vi. 20. f Hos. vi. 4. J 2 Cor. v. 17. 
 
SOWING, GROWING, MOWING TIME. 255 
 
 the Holy Ghost,"* he has learned to "glorify Him 
 in his body and in his spirit, w.i.Ich are God's."t 
 Nor is the work station ry here. Having 
 given himself to Chrir thn believer finds that 
 there are daily temptatic- j encounter, daily 
 sins to subdue, daily gra )« to cultivate, daily 
 duties to discharge. 'n iweditation upon the 
 unchanging love of God, and in converse with his 
 own still rebellious heart, in the persevering con- 
 flict against the enemies of his soul, and in the 
 diligent cultivation of all the means of grace, he 
 goes on advancing in humility, in spirituality, in 
 heavenly-mindedness, in the " fruits of righteous- 
 ness which are by Jesus Christ unto the glory 
 and praise of God."+ So long as he is in the 
 world, he has still some enemy to encounter, 
 some good to do; for he will be the last to 
 think his own work finished, the last to consider 
 his fruitfulness complete, even when he appears 
 to others fit to be gathered as a full ear into the 
 granary of heaven. 
 
 III. The concluding period of the soul's his- 
 tory is that to which the text refers, mowing 
 
 TIME, OR THE TIME OF HARVEST. " For wllCU 
 
 the fruit is brought forth," or, as the margin has 
 it, " when the fruit is ripe, immediately He puts 
 in the sickle, because the harvest is come." 
 
 * Rom. V. 5. f 1 Cor. vi. 20. f Phil. i. 11. 
 
I : 
 
 256 
 
 SOWING, GROWING, MOWING TIME. 
 
 This portion of the parable may suggest to us 
 an important hint concerning the removal of 
 Christian friends, which does not seem generally 
 regarded. It teaches us, that the Lord is in- 
 fluenced, in the time of His removing any of His 
 people from this scene of trial, by what He 
 perceives to be their ripeness for His glory. So 
 soon as ever the fruit is ripe, immediately He 
 putteth in the sickle, because the harvest is 
 come. To every soul, that is called out of the 
 darkness of corruption into the family of God, 
 there is an appointed work, and an appointed 
 time; and so soon as the appointed work is 
 completed, then the appointed hour arrives. 
 The Lord could do nothing to the cities of 
 the plain, until Lot was safe in Zoar.* The 
 Lord can do nothing (with reverence we say 
 it), for the punishment of the world, until 
 He has accomplished the number of His elect. 
 The Lord can do nothing for the removal of a 
 soul from this trial state, until His own process 
 is completed by which the soul is ripened for 
 glory. But so soon as in His judgment it is 
 ripe, He keeps it no longer in the midst of 
 trials, but takes it to His joys. Now is the re- 
 moval of friends, even of Christian friends, gene- 
 rally regarded in this light ? Are we not more 
 apt to regard it as a judgment upon ourselves, 
 * Gon. xix. 22. 
 
 
SOWING, GROWING, MOWING TIME. 257 
 
 than as the completion of God's work of grace 
 m the soul that He has removed to Himself? 
 I me, there is a lesson to the living conveyed by 
 every stroke that numbers any Christian with 
 the dead; would that that lesson were more 
 profitably learnt ; but the great reason why 
 believers, of whatever age, are removed from 
 this world is, that the great Husbandman per- 
 ceives them to be ripe ; He has brought them to 
 the end of their appointed task ; and He has 
 taken them home to their reward. 
 
 What a consolation, then, is thus suggested to 
 the heart of the bereaved mourner in the con- 
 templation of their state, who are gathered, as 
 the shock of corn cometh in his season,"* to the 
 garner of the Lord. What friend, that has con- 
 signed a Christian relative or friend to the cold 
 ground ; nay rather,-for from this idea the mind 
 revolts,-what friend, that has watched the 
 departure of some Christian relative to the 
 glories of his home, can entertain one murmur- 
 ing thought, or indulge one selfish wish to have 
 the loved spirit back again amid the trials and 
 he woes of earth ] We may have seen one as 
 the blooming flower bending in the first glow of 
 loveliness beneath the stroke of decay • we 
 may have seen, as it were, the sturdy oak cut 
 down in the full vigor of its prime ; or the 
 
 * Job V. 26. 
 
■''1/1 
 i MM 
 
 Hi 
 
 •»i. I / 
 
 258 SOWING, GROWING, MOWING TIME. 
 
 bending ear of corn tottering by its own weight 
 into the grave ; and, as we know that ripeness 
 of grace does not depend upon maturity of 
 nature, we may trust, that, in one or in the other 
 case, they were gathered in their ripeness into 
 the garner of the Lord. And, O ! if we can 
 have this hope, this glorious hope, for them, 
 who would not rather praise the Lord, that there 
 are such things in store for His people, than 
 selfishly repine, because one, however dear to his 
 heart, has been gathered to such joys ? 
 
 Dear friends and brethren, beloved in the Lord 
 Jesus Christ, in whose hearts the Spirit of God 
 bears witness that ye are the children of God, it 
 is to such a portion as this ye are to look 
 forward, it is to ripen you into meetness for His 
 glory, that all the mercies and tlie blessings, the 
 trials and the toils, of your present pilgrimage 
 are sent you. The corn-field would not thrive 
 under the continual glare of sunshine; the 
 alternation of the heavy shower and the cloudy 
 sky is needful for its healthy growth. It were 
 not good for your souls to be basking in this con- 
 tinual glow of prosperity; it is needful for you 
 that the hour of trial or distr. s should some- 
 times arise upon you. Yet what is the trial that 
 ye would not rather welcome than repine at, did 
 ye realize continually that it is a part of the 
 Lord's process for increasing your fruitfulness, 
 
 i i 
 
 ilili^k. 
 
SOWING, GROWmG, MOWING TIME. 259 
 
 and maturing your soul for blessedness? "Blessed 
 IS the man that endureth temptation ; for, when 
 he IS tried, he shall receive the crown of life 
 which the Lord hath promised to them that love 
 him."* Whatever then may be the process by 
 which the Lord is ripening your souls, look 
 forward to the end, when the sickle shall have 
 gathered the ripe ears into the harvest ; and the 
 "righteous shall shine forth as the sun, in the 
 kingdom of their Father." f 
 
 Yet, dear friends and feUow-sinners, there is 
 an awful thought arising from the contemplation 
 of this parable, and which is more fully carried 
 out m the parallel parable in St. Matthew's 
 (gospel, + that, at the same time that the souls 
 of the Lord's children are ripening for glory, the 
 souls also of the careless, the worldly, ' the 
 ungodly are ripening for their ruin. It is not 
 alone of the abandoned, the dissolute, the pro- 
 fligate, that this is true; but equally so of the 
 amiable, the generous, the refined, who yet 
 belong to this unconverted world. For, assuredly 
 there shall be at the last day but the two great 
 divisions of those that have served God, and those 
 that have served Him not ; and all, that have 
 not been born again of the incorruptible seed of 
 the Word of God, ar. «^.I among the enemies 
 ot God, the chOdren of the Wicked One. Even 
 
 *Jamesi. 12. f Matt. xiii. 43. JMatt.riii 
 
 s 2 
 

 Ji 
 
 
 
 260 
 
 SOWING, GROWING, MOWING TIME. 
 
 the professing Church of Christ contains tares 
 mingled with the wheat ; and, sad to think, the 
 same providences, and the same means of grace, 
 the same trials and the same blessings, which 
 are ripening the one for glory, are maturing the 
 other for destruction. O ! beloved friends, what 
 an awful thought is this even in the abstract; 
 how still more awful, that there may be some 
 among you thus ripening for ruin! Mercies 
 surround you, but they do not soften you ; warn- 
 ings appeal to you, but they do not awaken you ; 
 the Bible addresses you, but ye heed noi its 
 voice; the ministers of God entreat you, but their 
 words seem to you as idle tales, and ye believe 
 them not. How long, beloved, O! how long 
 shall this be? Remember that ye have no pro- 
 mise how long ye shall be permitted to go on, no 
 measured scale, by which ye can so calculate 
 your steps as to retrace your ways in time. He 
 knows alone how many calls shall summon you, 
 how many invitations press you, how many 
 mercies plead wdth you in vain, before the com- 
 mand is given, "Cut it down." O! trifle no 
 longer, beloved, on the brink of such danger as 
 this ; lest the charge go forth, " Put ye in the 
 sickle, for the harvest is ripe," and the reapers 
 gather you, with all things that offend, into 
 bundles to be burned. 
 
 O ! may the Lord rather dispose your hearts 
 
) i 
 
 SOWING, GROWING, MOWING TIME. 261 
 
 to cast in your lot with the people of the Lord 
 
 t^\r ."i^J ^' ^"""^ ^P ^^^h them in the 
 bundle of hfe, and with them flourish in eternal 
 frmtfu Iness and glory in the garden of the Lord's 
 dehght ! 
 
 !![ - 
 
ill I 
 
 f: 1! I 
 
 SERMON XIV. 
 
 in 
 
 111 
 
 
 Id 
 
 yi i 
 
 THEY SPAKE OFTEN ONE TO ANOTHER. 
 
 Malachi III. 16, 17. 
 
 Then they that feared the Lord spake often one to 
 another, and the Lord hearkened and heard it, 
 a?id a book of remembrafice was written before 
 Him for them that feared the Lord, and that 
 thought upon His Name. And they shall be 
 mine, saith the Lord of hosts, in that day when 
 I make up my jewels. 
 
 If 
 
 " From the top of theTocks I see him," exclaims 
 the prophet, whom Balak the King of Moab had 
 sent for to curse the multitudes of Israel, that 
 were approaching his territory after their exodus 
 from Egypt, " and from the hiUs I behold him ; 
 lo! the people shall dwell alone, and shall not be 
 reckoned among the nations."* The Lord had 
 chosen Israel to be a separate people to Himself, 
 
 * Num. xxiii. 9. 
 
 -^f 
 
THEY SPAKE OFTEN, ETC. 
 
 263 
 
 and had declared, that, for the accomplishment 
 of His own gracious purposes toward them, they 
 should always be distinct from every other nation 
 of the earth. 
 
 And in how wonderful a way has this purpose 
 
 of the Lord been carried out. At this day, 
 
 when they are scattered over the face of the 
 
 whole earth, just as much as in the day when they 
 
 were planted first in the land of Canaan, they 
 
 are a distinct and a separate people. There 
 
 is in the very features of their countenances, 
 
 wherever they may be dispersed, a family like. 
 
 ness, which enables any one, at all acquainted 
 
 with the peculiarity, to decide, wherever he 
 
 encounters one. Here is a descendant of 
 
 Israel. 
 
 Typical as were in many respects, the de- 
 scendants of Jacob according to the flesh, of 
 that family which is the true Israel of God, 'the 
 children of Abraham by faith in Christ Jesus,* 
 they are so in this, no less than in other pecu, 
 liarities. The children of God are called upon 
 to be "a peculiar people ;"t and when the 
 world cry out against their '' peculiar" views 
 and feelings, they are bearing an unwitting tes- 
 timony, that these are the people whom the 
 Lord hath called. They are caUed upon to 
 " come out, and be separate"* from the customs 
 
 *Gal.iii.7. t lPet.ii.9. J 2 Cor. vi. 17. 
 
 ■**«» 
 
264 
 
 THEY SPAKE OFTEN 
 
 and habits, the vanities and follies of the world 
 to " take up their cross daily, and follow Jesus."* 
 And throughout the whole multitude of those 
 that do so, there runs a strong family likeness, 
 not less perceptible than if it could be traced 
 m the features of their countenances, not less 
 remarkable than that which severs the Jew from 
 all his fellow-men. Scattered as are the mem- 
 bers of the family of God over every portion of 
 the world, there is yet a family likeness per- 
 vadmg them, which speedily brings them under 
 the world's eye as persons that are over-much 
 righteous, which speedily unites them one to 
 another and brings them together, as members 
 of one family, in their mutual trials, perplexities, 
 and cares. 
 
 It is to one feature of this peculiarity that the 
 prophet draws our attention in the text. He 
 speaks of "them that fear the Lord;" he 
 describes them as persons, " that speak often 
 one to another" on the subject of their mutual 
 interests and their common hopes; he bears 
 witness, by the power of the Spirit, to the 
 approbation with which the Lord regards them 
 now; he proclaims, in the Lord's name, the 
 promise of His love concerning them in the day 
 when He shall come in his glory. 
 
 I would hope for God's blessing, beloved, upon 
 * Luke ix. 23. 
 
ONE TO ANOTHER. 
 
 265 
 
 the endeavor to draw your attention to this 
 subject. I would beseech Him to apply, as a 
 searching test, to your hearts, the character 
 given of the Lord's people in the text ; I would 
 entreat Him to impress upon you a lively sense 
 of the high privilege, which already belongs to 
 those that fear His Name ; I would pray Him 
 so to allure you by the precious promises, 
 which announce the glories of that heavenly 
 scene, to which the Lord Jesus has gone to pre- 
 pare a place for His people, as to make you 
 wilhng, with Abraham, to come out from country 
 and kindred, and even your father's house, and 
 set out for that land which the Lord hath told 
 you of.* 
 
 Let this, then, beloved, be the division of our 
 subject. Let us consider, first, the character 
 
 WHICH the prophet GIVES OF THE LoRd's 
 
 PEOPLE, « They fear the Lord and think upon 
 His Name;" secondly, their peculiarity, 
 "They speak often one to another;" thirdly^ 
 their privilege, "The Lord hearkened and 
 heard it, and a book of remembrance was written 
 before Him;" and fourthly, their prospects, 
 " They shall be mine, saith the Lord, in that 
 day when I make up my jewels." And O ! may 
 the Spirit of truth be present to sanctify and 
 
 * Gen. xii, I. 
 
266 
 
 THEY SPAKE OFTEN 
 
 apply our meditations to your present and eternal 
 good ! 
 
 t f 
 
 I. And, in the first place, beloved, the cha- 
 RACTER of the Lord's people is set forth by the 
 prophet in very simple terms ; " They fear the 
 Lord; they think upon His Name." Some are 
 perhaps ready to exclaim : If this be all that dis- 
 tmguishes the Lord's people, I need not be afraid • 
 I surely fear God ; I sometimes think upon His 
 Name. 
 
 Yet surely there is more in this brief descrip- 
 tion of the prophet's, than at once strikes upon 
 the ear. WTio are they that think upon the 
 Lord's Name ? Surely not they are thus 
 described, upon whose minds some transient 
 and unwelcome thought of Cxod intrudes - 
 upon whose lips His sacred Name is sometimes 
 borne m carelessness, in mockery, in jest,-by 
 whom that blessed Name is even taken in vain 
 by Its thoughtless mention, its unmeaning invo- 
 cation. Surely not they are thus described, who 
 sometimes think upon the Name of God but 
 rather in terror than in love; and who 'turn 
 away from the thought, as irksome and uninte- 
 resting, to the more congenial topics of this 
 world and its toys. 
 
 Nay, those that the prophet speaks of are they, 
 
ONE TO ANOTHER. 
 
 267 
 
 who make the Name of God, His goodness and 
 His grace, the theme of their constant and their 
 most pleasing meditations. They are those, who 
 have learned to think upon God as a Father and 
 a Friend, and whose delight it is to meditate 
 upon His love to them in Christ Jesus, and to 
 contemplate that amazing goodness, which has 
 prepared for them such glorious things in His 
 presence and kingdom. They are those, who have 
 learnt to see the hand of God in every dispensa- 
 tion of providence or of grace, and to think 
 upon His Name, as a Name of love, amid aU 
 their trials, their troubles, and their cares. They 
 are those, to whom the Word of God is precious, 
 and who make it " their meditation all the 
 day ; " * whose eyes "prevent the night watches,"t 
 that they may meditate upon His word. They are 
 those, to whom the thought of God is no intru- 
 sive or unwelcome theme ; but whose " medita- 
 tion of Him is sweet,"+ whose " deHght is in the 
 law of the Lord." § 
 
 And, surely, there is scarce one thing, which 
 more clearly indicates the state of our affections 
 and our hearts, than the manner in which we 
 think upon God. Some think of Him, as an 
 austere Master, a severe and dreadful God ; some 
 think of Him, as so mild and merciful on the 
 
 * Ps. cxix. 97. 
 
 t lb. 148. 
 § Ps. i. 2. 
 
 t Ps. civ. 34. 
 

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 M 
 
 
268 
 
 THEY SPAKE OFTEN 
 
 contrary, that they may trifle with His threaten- 
 ings, and, without danger, make light of His 
 commands. But they only think of Him aright, 
 who contemplate Him, as He is revealed in 
 Christ Jesus, as a God of awful justice, yet 
 unbounded love; and, looking upon Him as 
 reconcUed to them by the cross of Christ, think 
 of Him as a Father, love Him as a Friend, and 
 serve Him as their gracious God. 
 
 And who are they that fear the Lord? 
 Speaketh the prophet in the text of those, who 
 have a slavish dread of God, keeping them 
 indeed from violent outbreaks of iniquity, con- 
 straining them by their fears to go through some 
 task-work of religious service ; but who have no 
 real love for God, no pleasure in His service, no 
 delight in His ways ? O ! surely not ! The 
 fear of the Lord is often put in the Holy Book 
 for a description of the whole of true religion ; 
 and, when so used, is intended to represent to us 
 that childlike reverence, and filial fear, which 
 can only spring from love to God, and from a 
 sense of His mercies in Christ Jesus. The 
 service rendered to the Lord, because of the 
 mere terror of His wrath, is one in which He 
 can find no delight; it is the service of con- 
 straint, the obedience of a slave. The service, 
 in which He finds pleasure, is that of the heart.' 
 of him, who, touched by the love of Jesus! 
 
ONE TO ANOTHER. 
 
 269 
 
 yields up his affections to the Lord, and presents 
 his body and his soul " a living sacrifice, holy, 
 acceptable unto God by Jesus Christ."* Now, 
 such love as this casts out the mere slavish fear 
 of God, the mere dread of His wrath, from 
 among the motives by which the soul is 
 influenced ; but it deepens and confirms that 
 reverential feeling, which leads the believer to 
 tremble at the very thought of sin, because it 
 offends so kind a Father; to dread the path of 
 wickedness, because it is hateful to so loving, 
 and so good a God. 
 
 These then are they, beloved, of whom the 
 prophet speaks, as them " that fear the Lord." 
 They are those whose fear is the fruit of love ; 
 who, conscious of the amazing price at which 
 the Lord hath redeemed them, and constrained 
 by His mercies in Christ Jesus to give up their 
 hearts to Him, " walk in the fear of the Lord all 
 the day long,"t fearing, as would a loving child, 
 to disobey so kind a Parent's wishes— trembling, 
 as would an affectionate son, lest he should even 
 seem to come short of what so kind a Father has 
 enjoined. Beloved, let me ask. Do ye thus fear 
 the Lord ? Do ye thus think upon His Name? 
 
 II. The prophet remarks concerning those 
 who thus fear the Lord, as we would, in the 
 • Rom. xii. f Prov. xxiii. 17. 
 
270 
 
 THEY SPAKE OFTEN 
 
 second place, observe, that "they speak often 
 one to another." 
 
 1. In considering this peculiarity, let us 
 perceive, first, that the fear of the Lord, of which 
 we here speak, far from being unfriendly to, 
 rather encourages social intercourse among those 
 that think upon His Name. It is not unfrequently 
 an objection urged against the call, which is 
 made in the Name of the Lord, to " come ouc 
 and be separate" from the world, that, though 
 man is a social creature, such a call reqiiires 
 him to make a recluse of himself, to give up 
 society, and to mope in solitude and gloom. 
 And yet, on the other hand, inconsistently 
 enough, it is not unfrequently a taunt in the 
 world's mouth, that, while they, who profess to 
 have come out from the world, condemn the 
 world's follies, they seem to have quite as much 
 enjoyment of themselves in their own way, and 
 to be as happy among themselves, as are the 
 gayest of the world. The latter taunt, unreason- 
 able as it is, has far more ground on which to 
 rest, than the other objection. Surely it may be 
 asked, Is nothing worthy to be called "society" 
 but those assemblages in which the world's 
 vanity reigns supreme, and from which the 
 thought of God is carefully shut out ? And is 
 it not, on the other hand, peculiarly the privilege 
 of him, "who fears the Lord and thinks upon 
 
ONE TO ANOTHER. 
 
 2tl 
 
 His Name," to be cheerful and happy] Who 
 has such grounds for cheerfulness, as he who 
 has heard the voice of the blessed Jesus saying 
 to him, " Son, be of good cheer, thy sins are 
 forgiven thee?"* Who has such reason to be 
 happy, as he, who has God for his Father, Christ 
 for his friend, and heaven for his home ? 
 
 2. Yet, be the objections of the world what 
 they may, assuredly it is the privilege of those, 
 " who fear the Lord and think upon His Name," 
 to meet together in the enjoyment of social 
 intercourse, and to « speak often one to another." 
 But we remark, secondly, that the charm of this 
 privilege, as the prophet speaks of it, is, that 
 the topics of their intercourse are those of ..'dual 
 interest to their souls' well being, the theme of 
 their conversation such as the Lord Himself 
 would join in were He now walking amid the 
 cares of earth. Religion is not, with him whose 
 heart is in it, a mere article of Sunday's dress, to 
 be laid aside whenever the services of the Lord's 
 house are over, to be worn only at stated cere- 
 monies and on set occasions. It is the daily 
 habit, the dress that sits most comfortably upon 
 him, for which he gladly puts off the stiff 
 uniform that the world imposes, and in which 
 his hours of comfort and of happiness are passed. 
 And, if the heart be in it, if the heart be full of 
 
 * Mark ix. 2. 
 
 I . 
 
 ■ \ ' 
 
272 
 
 THEY SPAKE OFTEN 
 
 love for God, full of hope in Christ, full of joy in 
 the Holy Ghost, surely out of the abundance 
 of the heart the mouth will speak.* It may be 
 indeed, that, in the presence of those, who have 
 no sympathy with ais feelings, no fellowship 
 with his joy, and who cannot even understand 
 his views, the lips of one, whose heart yet over- 
 flows with love to their souls, may be sealed up ; 
 but surely, when they meet together, who have 
 found a common interest in Jesus, and have built 
 their common hopes upon the promises of His 
 love, they will delight to speak to one another 
 upon the things that concern their peace. 
 
 HI. What the nature of Christians' inter- 
 course with one another is, or ought to be, what 
 the theme of their conversation, what the topics 
 on which they delight to dwell, we may per- 
 ceive from considering, in the third place, the 
 prophet's description of the manner in which 
 THE Lord regards it. " The Lord hearkened," 
 he says, " and heard it, and a book of remem- 
 brance was written before Him for them that 
 feared the Lord and that thought upon His 
 Name." 
 
 Let us conceive the Lord Jesus to be walking, 
 as once He walked, amid earthly scenes, and to 
 be visiting, as once He visited, a family that 
 
 * Matt. xii. 34. 
 
ONE TO ANOTHER. 
 
 273 
 
 professed to love Him, and to think upon His 
 Name. Suppose Him to be but a listener, to be 
 sitting by in silence while the members of the 
 family, with some friends and neighbors, were 
 conversing freely together in the enjoyment of 
 social intercourse. What, might we well sup- 
 pose, would be the character of their conversa- 
 tion, while they were conscious that the blessed 
 Jesus was listening to their converse ; what 
 topics would chiefly be discussed; what themes 
 would be uppermost upon their tongues ? Is it 
 not a great fault even among the liveliest 
 believers, that they do not sufficiently realize 
 the presence of the Lord in the midst of them ? 
 Is not the Lord Jesus present, not only in the 
 house of prayer, but in the social circle, just as 
 much as though He sat in bodily form among 
 us ; does not He hear our conversation ; is there 
 an idle word escapes His <?ar? What, then, 
 may we well suppose, would be the character of 
 that conversation, which, when the Lord Jesus 
 hears, He thinks worthy of remembering, and 
 for which "a book of remembrance" is written 
 up before Him ? 
 
 It is not difficult to imagine what would be 
 the effect of the presence of the Lord Jesus, 
 should He come suddenly into the midst of a 
 scene of worldly intercourse and amusement 
 When the very mention of His Name would bo 
 
 T 
 
nilM 
 
 274 
 
 THEY SPAKE OFTEN 
 
 considered ill-timed and improper; when the 
 remembrance of His all-seeing eye would cast a 
 shade of gloom over the festive circle ; what 
 would the effect be of His coming in all His 
 dignity and purity, and standing in the midst ? 
 And must we not ask, not only, Are these 
 professed followers of Christ] but, Are they 
 even reasonable beings, who acknowledge the 
 truth that God's eye is upon them, who admit 
 that they know they are placed here to be made 
 ready for eternity, who know that " for every idle 
 word that men shall speak, they shall give an 
 account in the day of judgment ;"* but whose 
 only idea of recreation appears to be that of 
 banishing all thought and care ; whose only 
 scheme of happiness seems to be that of keep- 
 ing God out of the thoughts, and chasing away 
 death and judgment and eternity, till they can 
 be put off no longer ? 
 
 And should it be more difficult to conceive, 
 what would be the effect of the presence of 
 Jesus in the midst of a circle, composed of those 
 whose hearts are warmed with love to Him, and 
 filled with the hope of His glory f Would not 
 His coming draw forth from grateful hearts 
 the expression of their thankfulness and joy] 
 Would they not delight to recount to His praise 
 the many mercies of the way, by which His 
 
 * Matt, xii. 36. 
 
 irii 
 
ONE TO ANOTHER. 
 
 276 
 
 grace had led them on? Would they not de- 
 light to dwell upon the tidings of His love to 
 others, and praise the glory of that grace, which 
 here and there awakens sinners from their sins 
 and draws them to His cross? Would it not 
 be their joy to speak one to another of their 
 mutual trials and their mutual joys, to compare 
 their respective progress in the way to Zion, 
 to derive from each other's experience some 
 counsels for the road, to quicken and to stir 
 each. other up to increasing diligence, and de- 
 votedness, and love? Surely, these are things 
 which the Lord would be pleased to hear; 
 things, which, if recorded in the book of His 
 remembrance, we might hope to look back upon 
 as memorials of God's love to us, and of the 
 trials of the way by which He led us to His 
 glory. 
 
 IV. It is with a view yet more clearly to 
 perceive what should be the nature of Christians" 
 intercourse with one another, that we proceed 
 to consider, in the fourth place, the prospects 
 HELD OUT for THE FUTURE to thoso that fear 
 the Lord, and think upon His name. " They 
 shall be mine, saith the Lord of hosts, in that 
 day when I make up my jewels." 
 
 Here is a glorious prospect, indeed, set before 
 those that fear the Lord! In the world they 
 
 T 2 
 
mm 
 
 i\ 
 
 276 
 
 THEY SPAKE OFTEN 
 
 may have tribulation; in the world they may 
 be poor, despised, and cast out; in the world 
 they may be made a sport, a bye- word, and a 
 jest; but they are reserved among the Lord's 
 treasures, and shall be acknowledged as His 
 precious ones, and set as jewels in His crown, in 
 the day when " He shall come to be glorified 
 in His saints, and to be admired in all them 
 that believe."* "This is the heritage of the 
 servants of the Lord/'f "Such honor have all 
 His saint8."$ 
 
 And, looking on beyond the day, when the 
 Lord shall claim them as His own, we see them 
 admitted " to the general assembly and Church 
 of the first-born, which are written in heaven, 
 and to an innumerable compr.ny of angels, and 
 to God the Judge of all, and to the spirits 
 of the just made perfect, and to Jesus the 
 Mediator of the New Covenant." § Admitted 
 to such society as this, what shall be their 
 occupations? They learn the song, which no 
 man knoweth, of Moses and the Lamb : || and 
 "rest not, day and night, saying, Holy, Holy, 
 Holy is the Lord of hosts." ^f 
 
 Such is the happy scene, and such the chief 
 feature of the happiness, to which they that 
 have feared the Lord and thought upon His 
 
 * 2 Thess. i. 10. 
 § Heb. xii. 22—24. 
 
 f Isa. liv. 17. 
 II Rev. XV. 3. 
 
 I Ps. cxlix. 9. 
 f Isa. vi. 3. 
 
ONE TO ANOTHER. 
 
 277 
 
 Name shall be admitted in that day. And here, 
 in the present life, is the time of preparation, 
 the season of growing meetness for that joy. 
 And here, we are assured, do those who are led 
 by the Spirit of God, receive the witness of the 
 Spirit, an earnest and a pledge of the glory 
 that shall be revealed. What then will be the 
 topic of greatest interest to those, who have 
 the witness of the Spirit that they are the 
 children of God, and who are looking forward 
 to the enjoyment of His presence in His king- 
 dom ] Can the hope of heaven be a lively 
 hope, and yet the joys of heaven be a subject 
 banished from the conversation, or one, which, 
 if introduced, a cold assent alone will welcome ? 
 Can the society of heaven be one, whose occu- 
 pations we expect to delight in, in whose praises 
 and thanksgivings we hope to bear a part, and 
 yet, can we find no pleasure now in meditating 
 upon its blessedness, and in speaking one to 
 another concerning the nature of its joys 1 
 
 It is a test* of no trifling importance, by which 
 we may judge of our souls' condition, whether 
 we have now any such delight in serving God, 
 that it would be to us a joy to be transferred to 
 scenes where they serve Him without ceasing. 
 What, for instance, can we think of their fitness 
 to enjoy a perpetual Sabbath in heaven, to whom 
 the religious exercises of the Lord's day on 
 
278 
 
 THEY SPAKE OFTEN 
 
 earth are a weariness and a task ? How can we 
 suppose any one fit to enjoy the presence of 
 Jesus for ever in His kingdom, to whom the 
 Word of Christ, His precious volume, is a dull 
 and tedious book 1 And, beloved, how can we 
 imagine any one, how can we believe ourselves, 
 meet to enjoy the communion of the blest in 
 heaven, if we find no pleasure now in speaking 
 to one another upon the things of God, in con- 
 versing upon the love of Jesus, and maintaining 
 fellowship with one another in the Spirit of 
 Christ? 
 
 Suffer me then, dearly beloved, to apply this 
 test to you, to those of you who profess to hope 
 for heaven, but yet think it is going entirely too 
 far to expect you to be always preparing ibr 
 heaven. Beloved, let me ask you, what heaven 
 is ? Is it not a scene of happiness, and of holi- 
 ness, and of praise] Is it not the dwelling- 
 place of God, and of His Son Christ Jesus, and 
 of the glorious angels, and the spirits of the 
 just? . And is it not the great charm of this 
 scene of joy, that all who are admitted there 
 are full of love to Jesus, and of delight in 
 His presence; of th mkfulness for His redeem- 
 ing mercy; of praise for His wondrous love? 
 And ye hope to go to heaven. And ye think 
 ye could rnjoy such a scene as this. O ! what 
 thon is the mighty change which ye expect to 
 
 s i if 
 
ONE TO ANOTHER. 
 
 279 
 
 be wrought in you, before ye, who now think 
 religion may be overdone, and that a constant 
 musing upon Eternity would well nigh distract 
 you, can be fit to enjoy such a scene as heo,ven 
 is described to be 1 If the occupations of heaven 
 could be transferred to earth, ye would think 
 them a weariness and a burden; how can ye 
 carry these feelings to heaven, and not find 
 heaven itself an irksome and a weary scene? 
 Beloved, there must be, indeed, a mighty change 
 wrought in you, before ye can be fit to dwell 
 with God. But it must be wrought in you 
 here, before ye die ; for be assured on the word 
 of Jesus, that " except ye be converted, and 
 become as little children, ye shall not enter into 
 the kingdom of heaven."* 
 
 But it may be feared that even among those 
 whose hearts are in the matter, and who have 
 known Christ, or rather been known of Him, 
 as their Saviour, their joy, their hope, • there is 
 too frequently a backwardness and hesitation 
 about speaking one to another upon the things 
 which concern their souls. Beloved, why is 
 this] Is it that your faith in Christ is the 
 mere assent of the understanding, and not a 
 deep principle in the heart '? Is it that your 
 thankfulness for the mercies of His grace is the 
 mere expression of ceremony, the mere phrase 
 
 * Matt, xviii. 3. 
 
 1? ti 
 
iia 
 
 280 
 
 THEY SPAKE OFTEN 
 
 of compliment, and not the deep gratitude of 
 the heart ? Is it that your hope of heaven ra 
 the mere vague hope of the world, and not that 
 " anchor of the soul, which entereth into that 
 within the veil? "* I trust that the fault does 
 not lie so deep as this. And yet, beloved, if the 
 heart be full of love to Jesus, of gratitude for 
 His mercy, of praise for His great salvation, will 
 not the abundance of the heart overflow in the 
 language of the lips ? And if the soul be really 
 looidng out for Christ, expecting His presence, and 
 anticipating an abundant entrance to His king- 
 dom, will it not find it hard to refrain from speak- 
 ing of its hopes? Let me then entreat you, beloved, 
 to cherish a more realizing sense of the precious- 
 ness of Christ, and of your own interest in 
 His love. Aim more at living upon Christ by 
 faith, seek more to enjoy His presence by com- 
 munion with Him in prayer. Strive more after 
 conformity to His image, more after resemblance 
 to His likeness. Pray, too, that ye may more 
 have His love shed abroad in your hearts by the 
 Holy Spirit. For, if your own souls are in a 
 lively state of communion with God, as a re- 
 conciled Father in Christ ; then will ye be con- 
 strained, like the Psalmist, to call upon those 
 " that fear God," to hear " what God hath done 
 for your souls." ■]• 
 
 * Heb. vi, 19. f Ps. ixvi. 16. 
 
ONE TO ANOTHER. 
 
 281 
 
 Dearly beloved, we all need to be much stirred 
 up in this matter. While they, who have their 
 portion in this life, are full of the pleasures, and 
 business, and conversation of the world, let it be 
 the care of those that fear the Lord to think 
 and speak much upon His name. " For they 
 shall be mine, saith the Lord of hosts, in that 
 day when I make up my jewels; and I will 
 spare them, as a man spare th his own son that 
 serveth him." 
 
 |! i 
 
 t. 
 
SERMON XV. 
 
 SPEECHLESS. 
 
 St. Matthew xxii. 12. 
 And he was speechless. 
 
 " The law was given by Moses: but grace and 
 truth came by Jesus Christ."* 
 
 The parable of which the text forms a part, 
 gives us a view of the preparatory nature of 
 the law. It was not a system " which could 
 have given life ; " it was not itself " good tidings 
 of great joy;" it was on the contrary a heavy 
 yoke, which they to whom it was given were 
 not able to bear.f Yet was it designed as a 
 messenger to proclaim the sinner's need of Christ, 
 and to point the way to Him ; it was sent forth 
 by the Lord as a servant to announce the coming 
 marriage of Hio Son, and to call those that were 
 bidden to the wedding; it was a "schoolmaster, 
 * John i. 17. f Acts XV. 10. 
 
SPEECHLESS. 
 
 283 
 
 to bring unto Christ." * But its teachings were 
 unheeded ; its invitations were neglected ; its 
 message was in vain. And then, the gracious 
 tidings of salvation by Christ Jesus, " the grace 
 and truth" that were in Him, were proclaimed 
 far and wide, and offered to all the outcasts of 
 the Gentile world ; and they who were ignorant 
 of the law, " and strangers from the covenants 
 of promise," the " aliens from the commonwealth 
 of Israel," f were urged to come, "without money 
 and without price," and to " sit down with Abra- 
 ham and Isaac and Jacob in the kingdom of 
 Heaven. "J 
 
 These gracious tidings of salvation by Christ 
 Jesus have been proclaimed, beloved, unto you ; 
 and ye, who had no part nor lot in the covenant 
 made with Abraham and his sons, have been 
 invited to come and partake freely of the fulness 
 that is in Christ Jesus. " Ho ! every one that 
 thirsteth, come ye to the waters," is the gracious 
 invitation : " and he that hath no money ; come 
 ye, buy, and eat ; yea, come, buy wine and milk 
 without money and without price. "§ "The 
 Spirit and the Bride say, Come! and let him 
 that heareth say, Come! and let him that is 
 athirst, come ; and whosoever will, let him take 
 the water of life freely." |( 
 
 And, indeed, from the very first, there seem to 
 
 • Guliii. 24. t Kph. ii. 12. | Matt. viii. 11. 
 § Isa. Iv. 1. II llev. xxii. 17. 
 
 Ii 
 
I \ 
 
 i 
 
 284 
 
 SPEECHLESS. 
 
 have been those, who were willing enough to 
 accept the " grace" that is in Christ Jesus, but to 
 overlook His " truth," There have ever been 
 those, who are willing to receive the mercy of the 
 Lord, if they might have it on their own terms ; 
 but who like not the demand of the conversion 
 of heart, the spirituality of soul, the holiness 
 of life, which is made of all those that would be 
 saved of the Lord's mercy at the last. They 
 boast themselves in the name of Christians; 
 they pride themselves in the privileges ^f Chris- 
 tians ; they hope for the Christian's home here- 
 after ; but they like not, as a test of their being 
 in Christ, the examination whether they be 
 " new creatures," " created anew in Christ Jesus 
 unto good works, which God hath before or- 
 dained that they should walk in them."* 
 
 And to draw our attention to such a case as 
 this, is the chief scope and aini of the parable 
 before us. The eniiy portion of the story 
 reminds us of the unbelief and hardness of 
 heart, with which the Jews, the long-favored 
 people of God, turned away from the invi- 
 tations of the Lord's grace, made to them in 
 His Son Christ Jesus. It proceeds to con- 
 trast with their obduracy, the glad welcome 
 which the Gentiles gave to the message of 
 salvation, and the readiness with which the 
 multitudes of the heathen world flocked to the 
 
 * Eph. ii. 10. 
 
SPEECHLESS, 
 
 285 
 
 uplifted standard of the cross of Christ. But 
 the emphasis of the parable is laid upon the 
 entrance of the King, in whose name the invi- 
 tations had been given, to see the multitude of 
 guests, that were assembled to partake of His 
 hospitalities. There was a multitude, indeed, 
 gathered there. The servants, who had been 
 sent forth, had invited all, whatever their con- 
 dition, whatever their dress, to come. But it 
 was a provision of the feast, that every one who 
 entered should put on a robe provided for him. 
 at the cost of the Master of the feast, that all 
 who were gathered round the board might be 
 clad in the same spotless dress to do honor to 
 the King. Whatever differences there might 
 have been in their apparel when the invitation 
 reached them; though some were hung with 
 the tatters of abject poverty, some were dressed 
 sufficiently well to meet the world's eye, some 
 were bespattered with the filth of the highway, 
 and some, however poor their clothing, yet 
 manifested the utmost neatness in its adjust- 
 ment, — all distinction must be laid aside on 
 entering the doors, within which the wedding- 
 feast was to be held. A robe of purest white 
 was provided for each one that came, and as 
 freely furnished us the invitation had been freely 
 given. Yet, when the King came in, his eye was 
 caught at once by one among the guests, who 
 
r 
 
 286 
 
 SPEECHLESS. 
 
 had come in in the dress he wore when the in- 
 vitation reached him, and whose appearance was 
 not in keeping with the harmony and beauty 
 that prevailed throughout the apartment. The 
 sight struck painfully upon the view of the 
 King, who well knew how rich was the pro- 
 vision which had been made; and at once he 
 asks him, " Friend, how camest thou in hither, 
 not having on a wedding garment V Didst 
 thou not know the rule of such a feast as this? 
 Was not a garment offered for thine acceptance 
 at the door] But he was speechless. He 
 knew that he had but his own perverseness, 
 his own obstinacy, his own pride to cnarge with 
 his delinquency ; and, loud as he might before 
 have been in his professions of indifference, 
 loudly as he might have boasted, that, if not 
 well dressed enough for such a feast as this, he 
 would not condescend to put on the gift-dress, 
 which was offered to the filthiest beggar just 
 as it was to him, his tongue was silenced now. 
 Gladly would he now have recalled his words. 
 Gladly would he now have accepted the offered 
 robe. Gladly would he now have exchanged 
 his vaunted dress with the meanest and most 
 abject, that had urged him to comply with the 
 terms of the feast. But it was now too late. 
 The hour had arrived for the marriage-feast 
 to begin. Already the distant torches' glare 
 
SPEECHLESS. 
 
 287 
 
 announced the Bridegroom's coming. Away, 
 then, must he be cast. " Bind him hand and 
 foot," exclaims the King, whose rigor now seems 
 stern in proportion to His former graciousness, 
 " and take him away, and cast him into outer 
 darkness ; there shall be weeping and gnashing 
 of teeth." 
 
 The application of this parable, beloved, is 
 suffic'ently simple. Yet awfully solemn is the 
 truth, which it is designed to enforce upon 
 every professed member of a Christian Church ; 
 and deeply momentous the enquiry which it 
 should excite, on the part of every one who 
 calls himself a Christian, whether he be clad 
 with the marriage garment of the Lamb or 
 not. It would evidently be a perversion of the 
 purpose of the parable, to consider it as supply- 
 ing any scale nf the proportion, which the un- 
 believing and ungodly shall be found to bear, at 
 last, to the faithful followers of the Lamb. Even 
 among the professed disciples of the lowly Jesus, 
 it may be feared that far more than one shall 
 be found, whose profession was but pretence, and 
 whose robe was hypocrisy or self-righteousness. 
 But, even, if there should be but one ; if, when 
 the King comes in to see the guests, there 
 should be even one without the wedding gar- 
 ment ; if, at the last great day of account, there 
 should be even one among the professed followers 
 
288 
 
 SPEECHLESS. 
 
 of Christ, that shall be found unfit to enter 
 into His kingdom ; if there be even one against 
 whom the solemn sentence shall go forth, "Bind 
 him hand and foot, and cast him into outer 
 darkness ; " O ! should we not, beloved, each one 
 of us, seriously and solemnly enquire, Have I 
 any grounds for believing that I shall not be 
 that one i 
 
 The consideration of his case, to whom the 
 text calls our attention, is, I trust, well calcu- 
 lated to aid us in the enquiry. May the Spirit 
 of eternal truth be graciously vouchsafed to us, 
 and lead us into the truth ; may he be present 
 to apply His word, so that it may be sharper 
 than any two-edged sword, laying bare to us 
 the secrets of our hearts, convincing us of sin, 
 and leading us for the cleansing and che clothing 
 of our souls to the all-sufficient righteousness of 
 Christ! 
 
 In considering the case which is brought 
 before us in the text, and endeavoring to apply it 
 for our own instruction, we are led to notice, in 
 the first place, the information which the parable 
 
 supplies us of THE STATE OF THIS MAN BEFORE 
 THE COMING OF THE KiNG TO SEE THE GUESTS." 
 
 secondly, the defect in him, which at once 
 struck the eye of the King : and, thirdly, 
 
 THE reasons of HIS INABILITY TO PLEAD ANY 
 
 EXCUSE in answer to the King's enquiry. 
 
SPEECHLESS. 289 
 
 I. 1. And, in the first place, we observe con- 
 cerning this hapless guest, that he was, one 
 who had been called from the highways and 
 hedges of an ungodly world. And like him, we, 
 beloved, have been called from a state of unre- 
 generacy and pollution, and invited to become 
 "the sons and daughters of the Lord Almighty."* 
 The condition of the most abject wanderer about 
 the streets and lanes of the city, of the merest 
 outcast among the highways and hedges, is not 
 more pitiable, in relation to the comforts of the 
 present life, than is the state in which our 
 nature is left by original pollution and actual 
 sin. Conceived in iniquity and bom in sin, we 
 bring into the world with us a blinded under- 
 standing, a perverted will, a corrupted heart. 
 Growing up, too frequently, under the unsub- 
 dued influence of the carnal mind, we go on at 
 enmity with God ; we wander along the broad 
 and beaten path of worldliness and sin ; we hide 
 ourselves from God in any shelter, that the 
 streets or hedges of the world supply. But God 
 commendeth His love towards us, in that, when 
 He looked upon us in this abject state. He had 
 pity upon us ; He gave His Son to die for us ; 
 He sent to us in the name of His dear Son a 
 message of love, saying, Come, and "be ye 
 reconciled to God."t To whom among you, 
 
 * 2 Cor. vi. 18, 19. 
 
 lb. V. 20. 
 
 U 
 
290 
 
 SPEECHLESS. 
 
 beloved, has not this mercy been commended ; to 
 whom has not this message of His love been sent 1 
 2. The guest in the parable was, secondly, 
 one who admitted, hy his acceptance of the invita- 
 tion, that he was one of those for whom it was 
 designed. And it is the general confession of 
 those who call themselves Christians, that thoy 
 are by nature sinners, and that they need the 
 mercy of the Lord. There can be none so hardy 
 or so ignorant in the present time, as to deny the 
 corru -ition of their nature, and to refuse assent 
 to the truth, that they have by practice "left 
 undone the things which they ought to have 
 done, and done the things that they ought not to 
 have done," so that, in short, "there is no health 
 in them." Yet O ! who could have believed, 
 that a confession such as this should be so 
 generally made, and yet produce so little seem- 
 ing effect upon the conduct of those who make 
 if? How abject is the condition in which we 
 admit ourselves to be, in confessing that we are 
 sinners! Sin is the abominable thing which 
 God hates. Sin is the accursed thing, against 
 which His most fearful wrath has been de- 
 nounced. As sinners we deserve God's wrath. 
 As sinners we are at enmity with God. Who 
 can believe this of himself, and not fly at once to 
 the offered mercy, and accept the free salvation "i 
 3. The guest in the paiable was, thirdly, one 
 
SPEECHLESS. 
 
 291 
 
 who had done this. He had accepted the 
 gracious invitation that was given him : he had 
 come with those that came, and placed himself 
 among the guests that were awaiting the coming 
 of the King. And what member is there of i 
 Christian Church, that does not at least profess 
 to have done this too? Who is there, that by 
 baptism has been admitted within the pale of 
 the visible Church ; who is there, yet more, that 
 comes to partake from time to time of thf 
 precious memorials of the Saviour's love, tha 
 does not thus profess himself a lost and miserable 
 sinner, that does not thus declare himself a fol- 
 lower of Christ, and avow his trust in Him as 
 his great salvation? Some indeed go beyond 
 this ; some by an earnest acknowledgment of 
 their convictions of sin, and by their avowal of a 
 lively trust in Jesus and desire to follow Him, 
 make a larger profession of religion ; but there 
 is no baptized member of the Church of Christ, 
 that does not, by his very membership with the 
 Church, make acknowledgment of his lost con- 
 dition, and profess his need of Christ and His 
 salvation. 
 
 II. Upon such a profession as this the visible 
 Church of Christ is based ; and, so long as its 
 administration is in human hands, in the hands 
 of those, to whom has not been given the 
 
 u 2 
 
Hi 
 
 292 
 
 SPEECHLESS. 
 
 discerning of the heart, so long must all those 
 be considered members of Christ's Church, who 
 outwardly at leust, profess His Name. But ther" 
 is a day coming, in which more than this will be 
 required ; the time approaches, at which the 
 King Himself shall come in to see the guests ; 
 and '• who may abide the day of His coming, and 
 who shall stand when He appeareth V"* 
 
 His eye at once lighted upon the hapless 
 guest, to whom the text refers, and He addresses 
 to him the searching question, " How camest 
 thou in hither, not having a wedding garment ? " 
 Let us consider, in the second place, what is 
 THE DEFICIENCY which is here referred to ? 
 
 It is evident, this figure of the garment repre- 
 sents to us what constitutes the souVs meetness 
 for the presence and kingdom of God. We 
 cannot, therefore, limit its meaning to any one 
 point of Christian faith or practice, but must 
 consider it as referring to that which constitutes 
 the very essence of Christianity. This may 
 indeed be expressed by one word, " righteous- 
 ness," in the double sense in which that word is 
 used in the New Testament; let us consider, 
 then, what that righteousness is. 
 
 1. It is, first, the imputed righteousness of 
 Christ. Sinner that man is, he is under the 
 curse of God. And nothing, that man can do, 
 
 * Mai. iii. 2. 
 
 It 
 
SPEECHLESS. 
 
 293 
 
 can deliver him from the curse, or earn for him 
 the pardon of his sins. But, in the rich grace 
 and mercy of the Lord, there is a righteousness 
 provided, which is freely offered to every sinner 
 who deserves the wrath of God. It is not 
 pardon that is offered ; for solemnly has ^he 
 Lord announced, "The soul that sinneth, it 
 shall die !"♦ and merciful as He is, "He cannot 
 deny Himself," or make void His truth. It is no 
 promise that the Lord will overlook trans- 
 gression, or allow some sins to escape ; for " He 
 is of purer eyes than to behold iniquity ;"f He 
 will make no terms w^th sin. But it is righte- 
 ousness, the righteousness of Christ, which is 
 offered to the sinner, and which he is invited to 
 put on, as his complete justification in the sight 
 of God. Your sins have called down upon you 
 the curse of God; but He has been made a 
 curse for you, and borne it in your stead. The 
 wrath of God has been denounced against your 
 sins ; but " God hath made Him to be sin for 
 you, who knew no sin ;"+ He hath poured out 
 upon Him the punishment of your iniquity. 
 The broken law demands your condemnation; 
 but He has been "obedient even unto death" for 
 you. Sinners then as you are, the Lord offers to 
 clothe you with His righteousness, to assign to 
 you the merit of His obedience unto death, to 
 make ^ver to you, if you will but accept it, the 
 * Ezek. xviii. 4. f Hab. i. 13. J 2 Cor. v. 21. 
 

 Ml 
 
 i !i ;i 
 
 294 
 
 SPEECHLESS. 
 
 full benefit of His finished work. Beloved, have 
 ye put on this beautiful robe, this garment of 
 salvation ? Have ye accepted the gracious offer, 
 which the Lord makes to you sinners, of p 
 righteousness so spotless, so complete as this't 
 Have ye put on Christ by faith ? Are ye 
 clothed with Him ? O ! if not, though ye may 
 be called by the name of Christ, though ye may 
 be numbered among the guests at His sacred 
 feast, when He shall come to take account of 
 His servants, shall He not address to you the 
 awful question, «' How earnest thou in hither, not 
 having a wedding garment ? " 
 
 2. This garment is, secondly, the imparted 
 righteousness of Christ. The faith which puts 
 on Christ, . s the covering and righteousness of 
 the sinner, is invariably a " faith which worketh 
 by love." * Its fruits are the hearty renunciation 
 of the world and sin, and the earnest following 
 after " holiness, without which no man shall see 
 the Lord.^t For " if any man be in Christ, he is 
 a new creature ; old things are passed away ; 
 behold, all things are become new."$ And if 
 the sinner needs the righteousness of Christ to 
 deliver him from the curse and condemnation of 
 his sins ; if ho requires such a plea as this to 
 screen him from the wrath of God, such a 
 covering to hide him from the vengeance due to 
 sin ; surely not less does he require the cleansing 
 * Gal. V. 6. f Heb. xii. 14. J 2 Cor. v. 17. 
 
SPEECHLESS. 
 
 295 
 
 of his soul from worldliness and sin, the con- 
 version of his heart, the sanctification of his 
 spirit, before he can be meet to join the 
 " general assembly and Church of the first-bom," 
 and to " sit down with Abraham and Isaac and 
 Jacob" in the presence and the kingdom of the 
 pure and holy God. And this is no less the 
 gift of God than the justification of the sinner's 
 soul. Repentance is the gift of God. " A new 
 heart and a right spirit"* are His gift. Holi- 
 ness is His work alone. " Christ is made of God," 
 unto them that believe, "Wisdom, and Righteous- 
 ness, and Sanctification, and Redemption. "-I* 
 And this gift, beloved, is oflfered unto you. 
 This garment of holiness, the fruit of "the love 
 of God shed abroad in the heart" is pressed 
 upon your acceptance. Have ye put it on ? 
 Have ye been converted and made new creatures 
 in Christ Jesus ? Have ye "been created anew 
 in Christ Jesus unto good works] "J O ! if not, 
 though ye have been numbered among the 
 children, and come with them to seek admission 
 to the Father's table, how will ye answer the 
 momentous question, "How earnest thou in 
 hither, not having a wedding garment ?" 
 
 III. " And he was speechless." Loudly as 
 might before have talked this unhappy guest, he 
 * Ezek. xi. 19. f 1 Cor. i. 30. X Eph. ii. 10. 
 
mmm 
 
 296 
 
 SPEECHLESS. 
 
 was only silent now. Many as had been before 
 his reasons for declining the oflFered robe, he 
 had not one to urge now. His own conscience 
 testified, that he had not one excuse to give, 
 which did not carry with it its own reply. And 
 he hung his head in silent self-condemnation. 
 
 And shall it not be so wi^h the sinner, in the 
 day when the Lord bringeth him to judgment ; 
 shall it not be so with every one, that professes 
 the hope of heaven, but has not on a wedding 
 garment 1 
 
 Let us consider, in the third place, some of 
 THE REASONS by which we may suppose him to 
 have been influenced in declining the proffered 
 robe, and see how utterly untenable they will be 
 in the day of the Lord, 
 
 1. It may be, that, having been called in from 
 among the highways and hedges, he thought he 
 ought not to he expected to appear in better than 
 he could bring. Put into other words, how 
 frequent is this plea in the mouth of the sinner 
 now ! I am told, says he, I am a guilty and a 
 helpless sinner, that my nature is corrupt, and I 
 am utterly unable even to think one thing that is 
 good; and yet I am told that I cannot stand 
 before God, unless I am made completely 
 righteous, that I cannot enter into His kingdom, 
 unless I become holy, as He is holy. How 
 inconsistent, how unreasonable is this ! But 
 
 mm. 
 
SPEECHLESS. 
 
 297 
 
 who shall urge this plea, when he shall stand, 
 face to face, before the Lord 1 The guest in the 
 parable was silent, because he knew that the 
 garment, in which he was required to appear, 
 was provided for all that came. And will not 
 conscience reply to the sinner at the great day : 
 This might have been unreasonable, had not a 
 full and perfect righteousness been oiFered, been 
 urged on your acceptance. You were guilty ; 
 but Christ was offered as your righteousness. 
 You were helpless; but Christ was offered as 
 your strength. You were polluted ; but there 
 was a fountain opened for your cleansing. You 
 were lost ; but Jesus came to save. He came into 
 the world to save sinners ; He invited the weary 
 and the heavy laden unto Him ; and ye would 
 not even come to Him, that ye might have life ! 
 Beloved, is this your plea ; are there any of you 
 that thus reason now 1 O ! consider how this 
 plea shall stand you in the day of the Lord. 
 
 2. Or it may be, that this guest had been some- 
 what better dressed than those who were around him, 
 ard, vain of this superiority, had scorned to wear 
 a robe, which he looked upon as in some measure 
 the garb of charity. We can imagine him, 
 while awaiting the coming of the king, looking 
 round upon the other guests, and self-compla- 
 cently exclaiming: Let those that will, put on 
 this borrowed garb ; as for me, if the king is 
 
lil 
 
 298 
 
 SPEECHLESS. 
 
 not satisfied with me as I am, I will wear no 
 other dress ! But where is this vaunting, 
 when the eye of the king singles him out from 
 the assembled guests, and the question is asked, 
 " How camest thou in hither V And there are 
 many souls, to whom the very graciousness of 
 the offer of salvation by Christ Jesus is a 
 stumbling block in the way of their accepting it. 
 Surely, say they, we have done the best we 
 can. We have lived moral lives. We have 
 attended upon the ordinances of the Church. 
 We have been as religious as we could; and 
 must we be told, that all this is good for nothings 
 that we must renounce it all and put on the 
 righteousness of Christ 1 Nay, this may do for 
 the profligate and ungodly ; it may be well to 
 urge on them the necessity of conversion, and 
 to urge them to put on a better righteousness 
 than their own; but surely we may plead our 
 sincerity, our morality, our devotion, as sufficient 
 
 to ensure for us the mercy of the Lord. Yet 
 
 will not conscience, at the great day, hush all 
 such suggestions as these, by replying. Whatever 
 your goodness may have been, it was not the 
 Lord's righteousness; and how will you urge 
 your righteousness in the presence of the Holy 
 God, or plead your miserable works before Him, 
 "in whose sight the heavens are not clean?"* 
 
 * Job XV. 15. 
 
SPEECHLESS. 
 
 299 
 
 Beloved, are there any of you, who are now 
 hugging the sad delusion of doing something for 
 your own salvation, as a reason for not accepting 
 the righteousness of Christ ? Oh, how will this 
 delusion comfort you in the day of the Lord ] 
 
 3. Or it may be, that this guest had declined 
 the offered robe in mere carelessness how he should 
 appear. He had come because others came ; he 
 had entered with the multitude, when the door 
 was set open ; but he passed by the offer of the 
 wedding garment without a thought, and cared 
 not how he might appear, until the very question 
 of the king struck terror into his heart. And 
 there are thoss who are called Christians on no 
 higher ground. They were baptized in their 
 infancy, because their parents brought them to 
 the font. They have grown up in the knowledge 
 of Christian truth, and from their infancy have 
 been accustomed to attend upon the ordinances 
 of Christian worship. But it has concerned 
 them little to enquire, whether they have any 
 real interest in Christ ; they have never seriously 
 given it a thought, whether they are new 
 creatures in Christ Jesus, and so have been 
 made meet for the Lord's presence in His glory. 
 And what plea will carelessness such as this 
 suggest, in the day when the Lord shall bring 
 the soul to judgment 1 AVould not the coming 
 of the liOrd stiike terror into your hearts, ye 
 
e-'T- i-' 
 
 300 
 
 SPEECHLESS. 
 
 careless ones, and leave you without one word 
 of answer to the solemn enquiry He will make X 
 
 4. Or it may be, that this hapless guest was 
 one who knew the terms of the least, and that 
 none could sit down, but they that should be 
 clad in the marriage garment; but there was 
 some part of his former dress that must be put off, 
 and he clung to this remnant of his former self, 
 trusting that he should have time enough to give 
 it up before the King came in. And it may 
 be feared, that there are many such ; persons 
 who know their sinfulness ; who know they 
 cannot take their sins i,o heaven ; who know that 
 Christ is the only way, and that they, who would 
 dwell with God, must put on Christ. But the 
 gate is too narrow ; the way too strait. There 
 is still some cherished sin they love too well ; still 
 some worldly propensity, some sinful habit, some 
 unholy desire, on account of which they cannot 
 come with a whole heart to Christ. And they 
 go on, still trusting that the day may come, 
 when they can more conveniently give themselves 
 up to Christ, and at last the voice of the coming 
 Judge surprises them yet halting between the two, 
 knowing well that they ought to give themselves 
 to Christ, yet loving their sin too dearly to give 
 it up for Him. And what shall ye have to urge, 
 beloved, in that solemn day? What excuse 
 shall your then awakened conscience supply for 
 
SPEECHLESS. 
 
 301 
 
 your being found without the wedding garment 1 
 O ! that you would consider this before it is too 
 late ; and fly at once to Christ for cleansing and 
 salvation ! 
 
 Under one or other of these descriptions, 
 beloved, it may be feared, must the most of you 
 be classed. Are ye setting up your own righte- 
 ousness, and thus refusing to submit to the 
 righteousness of God ; or are ye hugging up 
 your sins, and refusing to give them up, for the 
 sake of heaven and its joys; are ye justifying 
 your worldliness by the plea of the difficulties of 
 godliness ; or are ye carelessly leaving your soul's 
 concerns to the peradventure of a dying hour 1 
 In either of these cases, beloved, ye are sowing 
 confusion for the hour of trial, and wretchedness 
 and despair for the Eternity that awaits you. O! 
 may the Lord awaken you to the enquiry, how 
 ye shall appear before Him at His coming ; and 
 lead you to seek Him and His righteousness, 
 who shall be your peace and jcy for ever ! 
 
 Or, are ye ot those, who are numbered among 
 the Lord's people, and profess to be looking out 
 for His appearing, but who yet love some sin too 
 well to give it up for Christ "? Ye may go on 
 deceiving yourselves, beloved, and deceiving 
 those around you ; but " be not deceived, God is 
 not mocked ; "* and how awful will be your state, 
 
 » Gal. vi. 7. 
 
I 
 
 
 i I 
 
 ii 
 
 302 
 
 SPEECHLESS. 
 
 when the light of the Lord's coming meets your 
 eye, and the question of His searching judgment 
 strikes upon your ear ! " If any man will come 
 after me," saith the Saviour, '^let him deny 
 himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow 
 me."* O ! that He may give you grace to fol- 
 low Him with a true heart now, that, in the day 
 when He shall come. He may ^oceive you to His 
 joys! 
 
 * Luke ix. 23. 
 
 ■i ! 
 
SERMON XVI. 
 
 THEY BEGGED HIM TO DEPART. 
 
 Matthew viii. 34. 
 
 Audi behold, the whole city came out to meet Jesus : 
 and when they saw Him, they besought Him that 
 He would depart out of their coasts. 
 
 " He came unto His own ; and His own received 
 Him not."* What a contrast between the 
 godlike condescension of the Lord of life, and 
 the corruption and rebellion of sinful man, is 
 presented to us in these words ! He, the eternal 
 Son of the eternal God, by whom all things 
 were made, and " for whose glory they are, and 
 were created ;"-|- He left the bosom of His 
 Father, and the glories which He had with Him 
 before the world was, and came down to this 
 earth which He had formed. He came to the 
 creatures of His hand ; to those, whom His 
 * Johni. 11. t Rev. iv. 11. 
 

 304 
 
 THEY BEOOED HIM 
 
 word had quickened, His power sustained, His 
 providence supplied ; to those, whose minds He 
 had endowed with reason, whose hearts He had 
 warmed with the affections of nature, whose 
 souls He had endued with a capacity of immor- 
 tality. He came, too, on a mission of love to 
 those who were rebellious ; on an errand of 
 mercy to those who were guilty ; on a message 
 of salvation to those who were lost. And yet, 
 notwithstanding all tliis, those He came to 
 "received Him not." They "would none of 
 His counsel;" they rejected the offers of His 
 mercy ; they despised the message of His love. 
 
 Surely, it is hard to say which most to wonder 
 at; — the grace, the tenderness, the love of God 
 in Christ, or the perverseness, the ingratitude, 
 the rebellion of lost and ruined man. Truly, 
 " God coramendeth His love toward us, in that, 
 while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us."* 
 Truly, man displays his corruption and alienation 
 from God, in that, when such a li>aviour is pro- 
 vided, he " will not " even " come to Him," he 
 will not even receive Him into his heart, that he 
 " might have life ! " f 
 
 The truth we here refer to is not, how- 
 ever, merely one of those vague generalities, 
 to be treated, as sermons so commonly are, — 
 made to fit every one but ourselves. It is not 
 
 * Rom. V. 8. t John v. 40. 
 
 [1 
 
TO DEPART. 
 
 305 
 
 merely one of those broad statements of thf? 
 truth whose theory may be readily admitted, but 
 of which it is difficult to bring any evidence 
 from facts. The history of the times in which 
 the blessed Jesus lived and walked on. earth 
 affords many illustrations of it, before we arrive 
 at that consummation of man's wickedness, the 
 nailing the Lord of glory to the accuri. d tree; 
 while the knowledge of our own days, and of 
 that which passes continually within us and 
 around us, is sufficient to convince us, that it 
 is still, as it was in days long since ; He cometh 
 to His own, and His own receive Him not. 
 
 The case which is recorded in the closing 
 verses of the eighth chapter of St. Matthew, 
 affords an instance, painfully in point, of the 
 kind of reception which the Lord Jesus met 
 with at the hands of those whom Ho came to 
 bless. It may be well for us, with the Lord's 
 blessing, briefly to consider, in the first place, 
 some of the circumstances of this case ; and 
 then to endeavor to apply it, as exemplifying 
 the tendency of man's corrupt heart in every 
 age ; and the sin and danger of rejecting Christ. 
 May that blessed Spirit, by whose gracious in- 
 spiration all Scripture has been written for our 
 learning, vouchsafe His presence. His teaching, 
 and His blessing; that our meditations upon 
 this portion of His holy word may be made 
 
306 
 
 THEY BEGGED HIM 
 
 unto US " profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for 
 correction, for instruction in righteousness."* 
 
 Scarcely had our Lord come down from tho 
 mount upon which He had delivered so hea- 
 venly an exposition of the truth of God, when 
 He became engaged in ministering to the wants 
 and sufferings of His needy creatures. The 
 miracles which He wrought drew around Him 
 a wondering multitude, who gazed with open- 
 mouthed astonishment upon the displays of His 
 power, but cared not to receive the doctrine 
 they were intended to confirm, nor the Saviour 
 whose divine mission they approved. Anxious 
 to escape for a little while from the pressure of 
 this intrusive crowd, the Saviour put off with 
 His disciples to go over the sea of Tiberias, 
 hoping thus to enjoy some precious intercourse 
 with those whom He had chosen. He came 
 into the land of the Gergesenes; where His 
 attention is soon arrested by objects well suited 
 to engage His sympathy, and call forth the 
 exercise of His power. There met Him two, 
 possessed with devils, who had long been a 
 terror to the neighborhood, and a torture to 
 themselves. No kindness could soothe, no force 
 restrain, these miserable beings ; but the moment 
 that their eye lights upon Jesus, the evil spirits 
 within them recognise a Master, and are con- 
 
 * 2Tim. iii. 16. 
 
 !: 
 
TO DEPART. 
 
 307 
 
 Strained to acknowledge the sovereignty of the 
 Lord. He bids them give up at once their foul 
 possession of the miserable beings they have 
 so long tormented; bu^ strange to say, they 
 remonstrate against His command. They beg 
 permission, instead of being peremptorily cast 
 out, to enter into a vase herd of swine, feeding 
 on tlie mountain side. Jesus complies with 
 their request. « And, behold, the whole herd 
 of swine ran violently down a steep place into 
 the sea, and perished in the waters." The poor 
 demoniacs, relieved of the horrible tenantry that 
 had so long defiled them, come and cast them- 
 selves at the feet of Jesus ; and there they sit, 
 and listen to His gracious words, and drink in, as 
 the parched land imbibes the grateful shower, 
 the precious doctrine that distils from His lips. ' 
 But lo! the tidings of the miracle thus 
 wrought have roused the city, in whose suburbs 
 it has been performed. The keepers of the 
 swine had fled, and told, in terms that doubtless 
 magnified the marvel of their tale, what had hap- 
 pened to the herd of which they were in charge, 
 and what had befallen those, that so long had been 
 the terror of the coast. The whole city then pours 
 out its inhabitants ; old and young, they flock 
 towards the tombs, which fright had long pre- 
 served in silence and seclusion. And there 
 what a sight meets their view ! There sits, amid 
 
 X 2 
 
IP I 
 
 nil 
 
 il 
 
 308 
 
 THEY BEGGED HIM 
 
 the tombs, the meek and lowly Jesus, the Lord 
 of life, surrounded by the mournful epitaphs of 
 death. And at His feet are sitting, clothed, 
 rational, meek, and gentle, the two whose 
 frantic violence had long banished them from 
 the haunts of men, and made their names a 
 sound of dread in children's ears. How touch- 
 ing, how overpowering the sight ! Surely, the 
 whole multitude will draw near to listen to the 
 teachings of this wondrous man! Surely, they 
 will join in one glad welcome to their city of a 
 Being who thus speaks the word to evil spirits, 
 and compels them to obey ; and will vie with 
 one another in doing honour to Him, of whose 
 mighty deeds they have seen so glorious a 
 proof. 
 
 Yet no ! some deep mysterious dread of this 
 gentle Being pervades the gathering tliong. 
 They mutter dark things one with another ; they 
 put one and another forward to make known to 
 Jesus their sullen purpose to resist His coming ; 
 and, at last, fearful lest He should misconstrue 
 their approach into an intention to give Him 
 welcome, they break out in one strong excla- 
 mation ; Depart from us ! we would have none 
 of Thee ! But O ! why, why is this 1 why thus 
 cast out so meek, so gentle a Being as the lowly 
 Jesus'? Why thus reject the Mighty One, at 
 whose feet now sit the trophies of His victory 
 
 lit 
 
 m^ 
 
TO DEPART. 
 
 309 
 
 over the powers of darkness? Why thus 
 refuse admission to their gates, to One whose 
 coming might be the harbinger of health to 
 their diseased, comfort to their distressed, life 
 even to their dead? Ah! surely conscience is 
 at work ! The message, that announced to them 
 the coming of the gracious Jesus, and told them 
 how His power had been displayed in bringing 
 the demoniacs to His feet, told also, that, by 
 Plis permission, the evil spirits which had so 
 long haunted them, had gone into the herd of 
 swine, and driven them with frantic violence 
 into the deep. They knew, that by the keeping 
 of the swine, an animal declared unclean by the 
 law of God, they had been violating the Lord's 
 commands ; and, when this act of Jesus brought 
 their sin to their remembrance, and struck from 
 their hands the guilty profit they had hoped to 
 gain by their forbidden traffic, they trembled, 
 as Felix did before St. Paul, and cried out to 
 Him, to depart. Alas! they knew not, they 
 cared not to know, that He, whose visit had 
 thus brought home to them their sin, was the 
 only One that could wash out their guilt, and 
 give them peace with God ; they saw not, they 
 cared not to see, in the cure of the demoniacs, 
 a proof that He, who thus had shown He could 
 have no fellowship with sin, was meek and mer- 
 ciful and mild, abundantly able to deliver them 
 
lli 
 
 m 
 
 310 
 
 THEY BEGGED HIM 
 
 from every evil, and as willing as He was able 
 to bless them and to do them good. No ! they 
 saw only the strictness and holiness of His cha- 
 racter ; they saw only that His presence would 
 be fatal to the hopes of their ungodly gain ; and 
 loving their sins too well to like the presence of 
 the holy Jesus, they begged, they besought Him 
 to depart. And, alas! He took them at their 
 word. He entered again into the ship, which 
 had but just deposited its freight of blessing 
 upon their shore to receive it back again. 
 He left their coasts, never again to visit the 
 benighted spot, never again to proffer to the 
 sick and dying in that land His precious gifts 
 of healing, never again to proclaim to that dark 
 city the glad tidings of salvation, and to offer 
 them peace and life through Himself. Doubt- 
 less He knew the hardness of their hearts ; He 
 saw the obstinacy of their unbelief; that their 
 "heart was not but for their covetousness ; " 
 and, by complying with their blind reqi ^st, 
 He pronounced on them the awful sen- 
 tence, " They are joined to idols ; let them 
 alone."* 
 
 Dearly beloved ! do ye believe this to be indeed 
 an awful sentenced Do ye feel that it would 
 be indeed a fearful thing, to be left by the loving 
 Saviour to the consequences of your own trans- 
 
 * Hosea iv. 1 7. 
 
TO DEPART. 
 
 311 
 
 gression, to be given up by Him to impenitence 
 and hardness of heart, to be by Him cast oif for 
 ever ? O ! I trust there can be none as yet so 
 careless, so hardened, so impenitent, that they 
 can willingly make up their minds to be given 
 up by the gracious Saviour, to be left by Him to 
 perish in their sins. Yet, beloved, let us en- 
 deavor to gather a lesson from the history of the 
 Gergesenes, and enquire whether we are not in 
 conduct, if not in words, rejecting the offers of 
 the Saviour, and bidding Him depart from us, 
 and leave us to ourselves. May the Spirit of 
 the living God be with us to aid us in the 
 attempt ! 
 
 ■f 
 
 I. Let us consider then, beloved, in the first 
 place, THE VISIT OF THE LoRD Jesus. Unso- 
 licited, unbidden, He came unto the land of the 
 Gergesenes; and there, by a miraculous act, 
 which at once conveyed a reproof of sin, and 
 exhibited the riches of His mercy. He announced 
 Himself as the Anointed of the Lord of hosts. 
 In like manner, unsolicited, unbidden. He visits 
 the souls of sinners ; for never does the sinner 
 seek Jesus, until Jesus has sought him; he 
 rather, like the fallen Adam, flies to hide him- 
 self from God, and if the voice of the Lord came 
 not to his hiding-place, saying. Sinner! where 
 art thou? he would even remain there till the 
 hail of God's judgment swept away his refuge, 
 
--*mr-^ 
 
 !U 
 
 i 
 
 II 
 
 312 
 
 THEY BEGGED HIM 
 
 and the rain of God's wrath overflowed his 
 hiding-place. 
 
 And how may the visit of the Lord be 
 recognised ? 
 
 There are many ways in which the Lord 
 visits both individuals and communities ; let us 
 at present observe only the two which bear 
 some resemblance to the case of the text. 
 
 1. And first, Jesus comes to visit you, when- 
 ever, hy some striking dispensation of His provi- 
 dence, He startles you in your security, calls 
 your sin to your remembrance, and terrifies you 
 by the intimations of His displeasure against 
 iniquity. 
 
 How often is the Lord's presence thus mani- 
 fested in a city or a parish, startling the com- 
 munity by some sudden dispensation, arresting 
 the purpose of ungodly pleasure, interrupting 
 the project of ungodly gain ! How often is the 
 Lord's presence manifested in one family or 
 another, by the stroke of sickness or the hand of 
 death, disturbing the thoughtless worldliness 
 that prevailed, and forcing eternity upon the 
 view ! What individual is there, that has never 
 throughout his life been called to recognise the 
 presence of the Lord, to hear His voice, to see 
 His hand, in the dispensations that have sur- 
 rounded him? Hast thou never been arrested 
 in any pursuit of pleasure, or project of gain, by 
 the thought : This night thy soul may be 
 
 ll''i| 
 
 %AmM 
 
TO DEPART. 
 
 313 
 
 required of thee, and then whose shall these 
 things be ?* Hast thou never watched the bed- 
 side of friend, of parent, or of darling child, and 
 traced with horror the approaching footsteps of 
 dreaded death, and been forced then to look 
 beyond death, and think of that Eternity that is 
 beyond ] Jesus was then visiting thy soul, and 
 urging on thee the offers of His love. Hast 
 thou never lain, thyself, upon a bed of sickness, 
 and as thy pains forced on thee the unwelcome 
 fear that death would soon claim thee as its prey, 
 been constrained to think : My course of vanity 
 is run ; what have I now to bear me up against 
 the terrors of the day of wraths The Lord 
 Jesus was then visiting thy soul, and calling 
 thee amid these alarms to seek His face and live. 
 O yes ! beloved, with whatever terrors the voice 
 of the Lord may seem laden in His providential 
 calls to you, whatever fears the whirlwind and 
 the fire may stir up within you, it is still a voice 
 of mercy, a visit of tenderness and love, in 
 which He would win you to Himself. 
 
 2. And, secondly, the Lord Jesus comes to 
 visit you, whenever hy the power of His grace. 
 He brings some poor sinner from among you to 
 His feet, a subdued, a converted, a sanctified 
 soul. 
 
 There are times, when, in the riches of His 
 
 * Luke xii. 20. 
 
 4 
 
314 
 
 THEY BEGGED HIM 
 
 grace, the Lord pours out largely of His Spirit 
 upon a whole community, awakening multitudes 
 from their sleep of sin, and causing hundreds 
 to set out at once asking their way to Zion. Oh, 
 how should His praying people among you, be- 
 loved, "ye that are the Lord's remembrancers," 
 cry unto Him day and night, " and give Him 
 no rest," till He vouchsafe thus to visit us in 
 mercy, and pour upon us the rich showers of 
 His converting grace! And yet there can 
 scarcely be any time, in a community in which 
 Christ is preached, when He does not manifest 
 Himself, now and then, in bringing home His 
 word to some poor sinner's heart, convincing 
 him of sin, converting him to God. Sometimes 
 the bold and careless profligate is arrested in 
 the very midst of his career of sin, and brought 
 in deep and heartfelt penitence to the cross of 
 Christ, and he whose life had manifested that he 
 was indeed possessed of the devil, is seen sitting 
 at the feet of Jesus, clothed, and in his right 
 mind. Sometimes the gentle, the amiable, the 
 moral, one of whom even an envious world was 
 saying, "yVhat could he lack more 1 if his were 
 not a lovely character, what could be 1 this man, 
 too, is brought to see that his heart has been 
 deceitful and desperately wicked ; he is led to 
 renounce the vanities of a delusive world, and 
 to give himself up as a follower of the cross of 
 
TO DEPART. 
 
 315 
 
 Christ. Thanks be to God, beloved, He does, 
 from time to time, thus manifest Himself among 
 you. One and another is awakened, is aroused ; 
 is led to see the vanity of the world, to renounce 
 its follies, to seek the Lord, to take up His cross. 
 And whenever it is so, the Lord Himself comes 
 to visit you. The purposes of His love are not 
 confined to the individuals whom He thus brings 
 to His feet. In them would He display to you 
 also His power. His grace, His tenderness, His 
 love. In them would He commend Himself to 
 you likewise as a Saviour ; by His graciousness 
 to them would He bid, nay urge, and entreat 
 you to come too, and taste and see how gracious 
 the Lord is. Yes! by His mercies to them, 
 " He stands at the door " of your hearts, " and 
 knocks," if any of you "hear his voice and 
 open the door, He will come in to you, and will 
 sup with you and ye with Him."* 
 
 II. Let us consider, in the second place, the 
 
 NATURE OF THE RECEPTION WHICH THE LoRD 
 
 Jesus meets with at the hands of those, 
 whom in His tenderness and love He comes to 
 visit. 
 
 When He visited the country of the Gerge- 
 senes, as soon as His presence became known, 
 " the whole city came out to meet him ; and 
 when they saw Him, they besought Him, that 
 
 * Rev. iii. 20. 
 
316 
 
 THEY BEGGED HIM 
 
 III 
 
 He would depart out of their coasts." There 
 was no violence, no railing, but a sullen, settled 
 purpose, that they would not have Him among 
 them. Is there not something fearfully resemb- 
 ling this in the conduct of the world towards 
 the gospel of a crucified Jesus at the present 
 day ? It is no day of persecution for Christ's 
 sake, of violent assault upon His followers, of 
 indignant rejection of His name. Nay, the 
 doctrines of the gospel, those which peculiarly 
 distinguish it as a dispensation of free grace, 
 meet with some measure of acceptance at the 
 world's hands : the multitude would seem even 
 to prefer the plain preaching of the cross of 
 Christ to that which prophesies smooth things, 
 and thus, as it were, they go out, like the Ger- 
 gesenes, to meet Jesus. But is it to welcome 
 Him into their hearts ? Is it to take up His 
 cross? Is it to invite Him to dwell within them, 
 and to be indeed their Saviour from their sins ? 
 Alas ! no ! Their conduct, their conversation begs 
 Him to depart. They wish for none of His 
 indwelling ; they will not have Him to abide 
 with them. 
 
 And why is this ? 
 
 The reasons of the reception which the world 
 gives the blessed Jesus, may be briefly stated to 
 be the same as those which influenced the Ger- 
 gesenes ; and of those we shall observe — 
 
 1. A dislike of that strait and narrow way^ in 
 
 i! 
 
TO DEPART. 
 
 317 
 
 which alone the soul can walk with Christ. The 
 Gergesenes perceived, by the lesson which the 
 juord had conveyed them by means of the swine, 
 that he would make no compromise with sin. 
 Already had one prospect of ungodly gain been 
 blighted ; they knew not what sacrifice He 
 might next demand, if He came to dwell among 
 them; and they loved their gains, they loved 
 their sins too well to give a welcome to so holy 
 a Saviour. And, *' strive to enter in at the strait 
 gate," is still the injunction of the Gospel of 
 Christ ; " for strait is the gate, and narrow is the 
 way, which leadeth unto life, and few there be 
 that find it."* However gracious are the offers 
 of salvation, which the Gospel brings, it is still 
 perfectly evident, that it makes no terms with 
 sin. It is better for thee to " pluck out a right 
 eye," to "cut off a right hand," thar "to be 
 cast into hell, into the fire that never shall be 
 quenched ; where their worm dieth not and the 
 fire is not quenched :"•]• this is the alternative 
 which the Gospel offers. Men are called upon, 
 then, to choose between God and Mammon, be- 
 tween the reproach of Christ and the pleasures 
 of sin, between the gain of godliness and un- 
 godly gain ; between the ways of God and the 
 ways of their own heart. And alas ! the choice 
 
 * Luke xiii. 24 ; Matt. vii. 14. 
 
 t Matt. V. 29, 30 ; Mark ix. 43—48. 
 
318 
 
 THEY BEGGED HIM 
 
 is too generally made in favor of their sins. 
 They can bear to hear of Christ; they can 
 approve of the doctrine of Christ; they like 
 to be called Christians ; but when it comes to 
 a choice between the cross of Christ and their 
 gains, their pleasures, or their sins, they cling to 
 their own vanities, and bid the Lord depart. 
 Dearly beloved, with how many of you is this 
 the case ? Ye like everything in the Gospel but 
 the cross. Ye like its pure morality ; ye like 
 its simple ordinances ; ye like the promises it 
 brings ; ye like the consolations it imparts ; ye 
 like the heaven it holds out;— all but the cross. 
 Ye like not to be obliged to choose between your 
 sins and Christ. Ye like not to be obliged to 
 choose between the pleasures of this vain worid, 
 and the love of Josus. Ye like not to bo 
 obliged to choose to give up your darling vanity, 
 your bosom sin, or else to give up heaven. Ye 
 will run your risk then. Go thy way, say ye, 
 for this time ; perhaps before I die I may think 
 differently ; when it is more convenient to give 
 up my sins, I wiU send for thee; but now 
 depart, depart ; I beseech thee, torment me not ! 
 2. Among the reasons for the world's recep- 
 tion of the blessed Jesus, may be mentioned 
 an ignorajice of the true character of Christ. 
 The evil spirits, by which the demoniacs were 
 possessed, cried out on seeing Jesus, " Art thou 
 
TO DEPART. 
 
 319 
 
 come hither to torment us?" The presence of 
 Christ is indeed a torment to the devil ; and he 
 has but too well succeeded in giving to the 
 sinner his own impressions of the Saviour. The 
 Gergesenes went out to meet Jesus as if He 
 were come to torment them ; and even the sight 
 of the rescued demoniacs sitting at His feet 
 could not convince them thai His purpose was 
 rather to bring peace and joy and blessedness in 
 His train. And so the chief pleasures of which 
 the world knows anything are the pleasures of 
 sin ; the happiest hours of unconverted men are 
 those from which the gloomy thoughts of death 
 and judgment are most completely banished, in 
 which God is forgotteu, and Jesus uncared for 
 and unnamed. They have no idea, then, of any 
 pleasure in the service of Jesus ; they look upon 
 the path of godliness as a gloomy and melancholy 
 walk; they think that the> are called upon to 
 choose between mirth and moping ; and that if 
 they become religious, they must give up all 
 idea of present happiness, for the sake of some 
 future good. The sight of those who are enjoy- 
 ing peace with God does not convince them to 
 the contrary ; for, in truth, if these seem to them 
 cheerful and happy, they rather cry out against 
 them as inconsistent, and reproach them with 
 the enjoyments they possess. How many a 
 parent has thus mourned over a beloved child. 
 
320 
 
 THEY BEGGED HIM 
 
 m 
 
 U 
 
 ^■nl 
 
 1 
 
 ^^^^^^^1 ■' 
 
 ■ 
 
 when he has seen that child devoting herself to 
 Christ : — Alas ! that I should have incurred so 
 much anxiety and expense in preparing her to 
 make a goodly appearance in the world ; and 
 now all these accomplishments are to be thrown 
 away for a moping, melancholy life ! How 
 many a worldly one has lamented over his 
 friend : — Alas ' that one so fitted to shine in 
 the world should have been so weak. See, he 
 is lost to the world, and become a gloomy 
 recluse ! This unhappy mistake keeps many a 
 one away from the cross of Christ. The young 
 are not prepared, just entering upon life, to give 
 up all idea of pleasure, even if they must risk 
 for it their soul's salvation. And they that have 
 had a larger share of this world's joys, embittered 
 as they have often been by disappointments, are 
 not willing to give up the things on which their 
 hearts are set, in exchange for gloom, and self- 
 denial, and melancholy, and seclusion. How 
 sad that they should so mistake the character of 
 Jesus, as not to know that " His ways are ways 
 •of pleasantness, and all His paths are peace ;"* 
 that there are peace and joy to be found in 
 Christ, such as the world can never give, and, 
 blessed be God ! can never take away. Yet, 
 under this mistake, they reject the Saviour ; in 
 this ignorance of His true character, they 
 
 * Piov. iv. 17. 
 
 niJ 
 
TO DEPART. 
 
 321 
 
 beseech Him to depart. He may do well 
 enough, say they, for a time of trouble ; we 
 should desire His consolations on the bed of 
 sickness; we shall hope for His support in the 
 hour of death, and to have Him for a friend in 
 the day of judgment. But now ! Oh no! Life 
 IS the time for enjoyment ; we cannot give it 
 all up for the melancholy strictness which the 
 cross enjoins! Dearly beloved, is not this the 
 anguage of full many a heart among you? 
 Determined to look upon the service of Jesus as 
 a g oomy service, ye turn away from the offers of 
 his love. Ye put ofl; at least to a more convenient 
 season, the admission of Christ into your hearts • 
 and seem to think, that though ye may reject Him 
 tor any vanity, and prefer before Him every folly 
 of the world, yet that when you grow tired of 
 these or they weary of you, ye have but to a.K 
 for Christ, and ye shall have at once the peace 
 which He alone can give. 
 
 HI. Let us notice, in the third place, the 
 
 DANGER OF REJECTING ChRIST. ThoUgh the 
 
 consequences to the Gergesenes of their rejection 
 of Jesus come not properly within the scope of 
 our text, I shall yet, very briefly, aUude to 
 them, for the purpose of endeavoring to urge 
 upon you, beloved, the danger that attends such 
 conduct. 
 
 Y 
 
322 
 
 THEY BEGGED HIM 
 
 I 
 
 Unhappily for the Gergesenes, the Lord Jesus 
 complied with their request : " He left them 
 and departed:" and we read not that He ever 
 visited that coast again. Poor creatures I they, 
 perhaps, rejoiced and danced for joy when they 
 saw His vessel on its way ; and though there 
 was many a sick one in their city, to whom His 
 touch would have given health, many a sor- 
 rowing one, over whose heart His voice might 
 have poured the sweetest consolation, these 
 unhappy beings gloried in thus having per- 
 suaded Christ to leave them to themselves. 
 Perhaps they never felt a wish to see him again 
 upon their shores; they went on hardened in 
 their indifference to Him, and died in darkness 
 
 and in sin. 
 
 Dearly beloved, is not the bare idea that surh 
 a thing may be, enough to impress upon you le 
 awful danger of trifling with the visits of the 
 Saviour and closing your liearts against Him? 
 There is a day of grace extended to you; but 
 who can say how soon that day may close 1 I 
 mean, not merely to remind you that your sun 
 may go down, even at noon-day, m the darkness 
 of death ; but that an often-rejected Saviour may 
 leave you to yourselves, rejoicing, perhaps, that 
 ye have quieted the scruples of conscience— 
 rejoicing, perhaps, that ye have silenced your 
 troublesome convictions, till ye lie down in the 
 
TO DEPART. 
 
 323 
 
 hopeless apathy of unbroken worldliness and 
 sin. O! beloved, can anything be imagined 
 more awful? Beware! I entreat you, beware! 
 lest by continual worldliness, ye heap up this 
 fearful treasure for yourselves! 
 
 The whole city came out to meet Jesus. 
 There were young and old there mingled in the 
 throng. And the youngest that was there, 
 among those rejectors of Christ, may, the longest 
 day he lived, have wished in vain to recal his 
 words; for Jesus visited those coasts no more. 
 And, my beloved, there are the young among 
 you, whom Jesus visits in His love, and by His 
 calls of providence and grace, invites you to 
 receive Him to your hearts. And will ye now 
 reject His offers, and refuse His caUs ? Beloved, 
 there maybe many days of life and health before' 
 you, ere you lie down in the cold grave ; but if 
 ye now reject the Saviour, if ye now resist the 
 struggles of your conscience, and desire Jesus to 
 depart from you, it may be. He will never visit 
 you in love again. O! surely "now is the 
 accepted time, now is the day of salvation."* 
 Delay not, I beseech you, turn not away, reject 
 not Christ; to-morrow it may be too late to recal 
 your words. 
 
 And, doubtless, the most prominent among 
 those that desired Jesus to depart, were those 
 
 * 2 Cor. vi. 2. 
 Y 2 
 
.^-^is3.:^- 
 
 famesfi 
 
 B taaa w 
 
 SRsr 
 
 324 
 
 THEY BEGGED HIM 
 
 whose gains He interfered with, whose pleasures 
 He disturbed. And it may be, that those among 
 you, beloved, who least welcome Jesus, and are 
 least willing to follow Him, are those with 
 whose pleasures or whose profits His service 
 would sadly interfere. Ye would gladly enough 
 be Christians, if it did not constrain you to give 
 up too much. And will ye follow after any 
 gain, upon which ye cannot ask the blessing of 
 Jesus ; will ye reject Him for the sake of any 
 pleasures, upon which His presence would cast a 
 gloom ] When will the convenient season come, 
 if that which makes it inconvenient now is your 
 love of pleasure or your love of gain 1 O ! 
 beware ! beloved, how ye for these things reject 
 the loving Jesus, and receive not His call. 
 FcUx sent again for Paul, not because it was 
 more convenient to hear him, but because, in his 
 yet deeper worldliness, he hoped for money from 
 him.* 
 
 Yet one there was that would have followed 
 Christ; he out of whom the legion had been 
 cast prayed Him that he might be with Him; 
 howbeit, Jesus suffered him not, but bade him 
 return and tell his friends what great tilings the 
 Lord had done for him.f And thus He would 
 teach you, beloved, whom He has brought as 
 convinced sinners to His feet, and given you 
 
 • Acts xxiv. 25, 26. f Mark v. 18, 19. 
 
TO DEPART. 
 
 325 
 
 peace, that He would have you abide in the 
 caUing wherein ye have been caUed. He would 
 not have every converted man renounce his 
 worldly calling, and become a preacher of the 
 cross. There are some who have greater oppor- 
 tunities of glorifying Him by abiding as they 
 are. Ye may be missionaries in your own 
 tamilies, or in the circle in which ye move. Ye 
 may, by your words and by your life, declare to 
 your fnends what Christ has done for you Has 
 He saved you, beloved ? Has He delivered you 
 from the bondage of the devil, and made you 
 free with the glorious liberty of the sons of God ? 
 O ! see that by your conduct and your conversa- 
 tion ye show how He has blessed you, and by 
 your heavenly and rejoicing walk, aUure all 
 those around you to come and taste for them- 
 selves, how gracious the Lord is ! 
 
 ' n 
 
. jm. Jii>-^ -jjjmuwijy^^ 
 
 SERMON XVII. 
 
 BE READY TO GIVE AN ANSWER. 
 
 1 Pet. III. 15. 
 
 Be ready always to give an answer to every man 
 that asketh you a reason of the hope that is in 
 you with meekness and fear. 
 
 This caution was penned for times of trial and 
 persecution. It was addressed to the Church at 
 a period when the profession of the name of 
 Christ involved danger to the professor, and the 
 " hope which maketh not ashamed" was enjoyed 
 in the midst of perils and assaults, well calcu- 
 lated to test the strength of the foundations on 
 which it rested. The whole passage in con- 
 nexion with my text speaks of the fiery trials 
 of various kinds to which the Christian was ex- 
 posed. It speaks of a " suffering for righteous- 
 ness' sake ; " it refers to believers as being " evil- 
 spoken of, as though they were evil doers;" it 
 
it 
 
 BE READY TO GIVE AN ANSWER. 327 
 
 suggests, how far "better it is to suffer for well- 
 doing, than for evil doing," as though reproach, 
 assault, and persecution were the natural and 
 necessary result of a consistent following of 
 Christ. 
 
 There cannot be a doubt, however we may 
 rejoice that the day for such persecution has 
 passed by, that the trials which surrounded the 
 profession of a love for Christ and an interest in 
 His salvation, tended much to make that pro- 
 fession a more deliberate and spiritual matter, 
 than it is in days such as these. When they 
 that would go after Jesus must literally " take 
 up their cross,"--a cross of outward persecutions 
 
 as well as of inward conflicts with sin, " and 
 
 follow Him;" when the profession of the faith 
 of Christ was the sure way to persecution, 
 suffering, and scorn ; when the faithful and 
 consistent disciple of the Lord Jesus must as 
 surely calculate upon perils and privations her«, 
 as he earnestly hoped for an inheritance un- 
 fading and eternal, laid up for him hereLrter; 
 then would it be no light thing to profess one's 
 self a follower of Jesus ; thea would men be 
 likely to count the cost before taking up the 
 cross of Christ ; then would it be indeed neces- 
 sary to ha\e some lively and animating and 
 sustaining hope to bear one up against the trials 
 that assailed the disciple of the Lord. 
 
328 
 
 BE READY TO GIVE AN ANSWER. 
 
 And the difference between those days and 
 the present is not so great, as at first sight might 
 appear, excepting as regards the profession of the 
 name of Christ. Then^ indeed, the mere profession 
 was attended with so many dangers, that it was 
 rarely made except' in cases where the faith 
 which was professed was a lively and genuine 
 principle, where the hope which was avowed 
 was that, which really " entered into that within 
 the vail ; " while now, on the contrary, the mere 
 profession of Christianity is so general, it is 
 rather a reproach and shame to any one not to 
 be in name at least a Christian, not to be a 
 partaker of those Christian ordinances, which 
 constitute one a member of the visible Church 
 of Christ. Still, as in the days in which the 
 Apostle penned the text, it was not profession 
 alone that excited the hatred of the world, but 
 the inward grace which was exhibited, the 
 " faith working by love," the renouncing of he 
 world, the following after holiness ; so, in 
 the present day, does a genuine profession of 
 vital godliness incur the world's contempt, and 
 the genuine following of Jesus involve the 
 taking up a daily cross, just as much as when 
 the cross of Christ became first "a stumbling- 
 block to the Jew," and was regarded as "foolish- 
 ness" by the Greek.* 
 
 • I Cor. i. 23. 
 
BE READY TO GIVE AN ANSWER. 329 
 
 If this be so, beloved, it cannot but be as 
 necessary now, as at any period of the Christian 
 Church, that every one, who truly comes out 
 and separates himself from the world, and in 
 singleness of heart takes upon him the yoke of 
 Christ, should be able and •' ready to give a 
 reason of the hope that is in him." The chil- 
 dren of this world, while they comprehend not 
 the principles on which the believer acts, yet 
 perceive the conduct and conversation to which 
 those principles lead. They see one, professing 
 to have discovered of himself that he is polluted 
 and vile, the chief of sinners, and yet, in con- 
 nexion with this knowledge, enjoying a sense 
 of God's favor, a consciousness of His love, a 
 hope, a confidence, of sharing His glory; ^d 
 they ask, some tauntingly, some sincerely, an 
 explanation of this mystery. They see one, 
 whose heart appeared to be set in a peculiar 
 measure upon the vanities and pleasures, the 
 honors or the gains of this world, suddenly 
 giving them aU up, and perhaps in the very 
 prime of life, when the pleasures of sin are 
 most enticing, when earthly prospects are most 
 bright, and earthly joys most sweet, forsaking 
 all these things ; seeking his pleasures in retire- 
 ment, meditation, and prayer; and casting in his 
 lot among those who are a separate and a pecu- 
 liar people. And with the contempt that this 
 
330 
 
 BE READY TO GIVE AN ANSWER. 
 
 i 1 
 
 / 
 
 change so frequently inspires, there is sometimes 
 mingled up a real anxiety to know, what it is 
 that can so check the stream of earthly vanity, 
 and lead the soul at once to find its happiness 
 and joy in things, which but a short time before 
 it counted foolishness. For the sake, therefore, 
 of such enquirers, as well as for his own sake, 
 and for the glory of his Lord, does it concern 
 the true follower of Jesus, as much at this day, 
 as at any period of the Gospel dispensation, to 
 *' be ready to give an answer to every one that 
 asketh a reason of the hope that is in him." 
 
 With the earnest desire, then, beloved, that 
 an examination of this subject may conduce to 
 the edification of those that love the Lord Jesus, 
 and may tend to allure some who are yet of the 
 world, by the sweetness of the hope which the 
 Christian enjoys, to cast in their lot with the 
 people of the Lord, I would invite your attention 
 this afternoon to a consideration of the admo- 
 nition, which the Apostle urges in the text. 
 And I would entreat your prayers, that the 
 grace and teaching of the Holy Spirit may be 
 poured out upon us, and enable me so to speak, 
 and you so to hear, as shall be for our mutual 
 profit and growth in godliness and grace. 
 
 In considering, then, the Apostle's admonition 
 in the text, let us notice, first. What is the 
 Christian's hope; secondly, What are the 
 
BE READY TO GIVE AN ANSWER. 331 
 
 WARRANTS FOR THIS HOPE; and, thirdly, his 
 
 DUTY TO BE READY TO GIVE A REASON OF THIS 
 
 hope; and may the Spirit of the living God be 
 with us to bless these considerations to our souls I 
 
 I. In the first place, let us observe the 
 
 NATURE OF THE ChRISTIAN's HOPE. 
 
 1. It is, first, a precious hope; precious, for 
 it concerns the things most important to the 
 soul's peace ; precious, for it is " fuU of im- 
 mortaHty," and lays hold, as it were, of the 
 glories, which are laid up at God's right hand 
 for aJl that love and serve Him. How different, 
 then, is it from the worldling's hope ! That is 
 chiefly set upon the things of this life, and is thus 
 as sure of disappointment, as the things of the 
 worid are sure to be fleeting, unsatisfying, and 
 vain. I mean not, that the worldling never 
 reaches the things on which his hopes are set ; 
 but when he has gained them all, he finds them 
 so unsatisfactory, that, like the African traveller, 
 who, after years of weariness and toil, arrived at 
 last at the source of the Niger, he weeps with 
 disappointment as he exclaims, "And is this 
 all ] " But the Christian's hope is set upon the 
 things which, though " eye hath not seen, nor 
 ear heard, neither have they entered into the 
 heart of man " to conceive,* are yet " revealed 
 
 * 1 Cor. ii. 9, 10. 
 
332 
 
 BE READY TO GIVE AN ANSWER. 
 
 I 
 
 by the Spirit," as surely laid up at God's right 
 hand for them that believe in Jesus. It is a 
 hope, then, beside which all the pleasures and 
 the joys of earth sink into insignificance; for 
 who, that had a lively hope of the pure and 
 spiritual joys which are at God's right hand foi 
 ever, could allow his thoughts to dwell, or his 
 affections to be engaged, upon the vanities of 
 earth? It is a hope, in the light of which the 
 trials and afflictions of earth lose their severity ; 
 for we « reckon that the sufferings of this pre- 
 sent time are not worthy to be compared with 
 the glory that shall be revealed in us.* For 
 our light affliction, which is but for a moment, 
 worketh for us a far more exceeding and eternal 
 weight of glory, "f 
 
 2. The Christian's hope is, secondly, Si present 
 hope ; a hope, I mean, which the soul enjoys in 
 its present state of trial, amounting to a confi- 
 dence of God's favor now, and of His glory 
 hereafter. " This hope we have," the Apostle 
 Paul saith, "as an anchor of the soul.";}: It is 
 not then a mere vague idea, that at the last our 
 sins shall be pardoned, our deficiencies over- 
 looked, and our souls made meet for the glory 
 of the Lord. This is not the Christian's 
 hope ; for a notion so vague as this could 
 neither strengthen him against the temptations 
 * Rom. viii. 18. t 2 Cor. iv. 17. J Heb. vi. 19. 
 
 ^MjiL.. 
 
BE READY TO GIVE AN ANSWER. 333 
 
 of the world, nor sustain him amid the trials 
 and afflictions by which he may be encom- 
 passed. But it is a hope, a confidence, of pre- 
 sent pardon and acceptance with God ; it is a 
 hope, a confidence, that our sins have been laid 
 upon Jesus, and blotted out with His blood, 
 and so shall be remembered against us no more 
 for ever ; and it is thus a hope, a confidence, such 
 as is itself a foretaste of the joys that are ant-- 
 cipated, of an entrance, in the Lord's good time, 
 upon the glories of the Redeemer's kingdom. 
 It was such a hope as this that sustained the 
 Apostles in their arduous work; it was such i 
 hope as this, that put songs of joy into the 
 mouths of martyrs, while the flames of per- 
 secution curled about their feeble frames ; it is 
 such a hope as this, a present hope, which cheers 
 the Christian now amid the trials of his earthly 
 pilgrimage, and enables him to make light, as 
 well of the smile, as of the frown, of an ensnaring 
 but ungodly world. 
 
 3. The Christian's hope is, thirdly, a personal 
 hope. The text speaks of it to those whom it 
 addresses, as "the hope that is in you." In 
 this, again, how very different is it from the 
 vague hope we too often hear expressed. Too 
 many seem to have little more than a general 
 idea that Christ died for sinners, and a hope 
 that they will stand as good a chance, as other 
 
334 
 
 BE READY TO GIVE AN ANSWER. 
 
 I 
 
 sinners do, of being saved by Him at last. They 
 are not, they think, worse than many others are, 
 who yet hope to be saved ; and they trust that 
 a merciful God will be as merciful to them, as 
 to thousands of others who are no more religious 
 than they. How weak, how foolish would such 
 reasonings be thought ^"n the concerns of this 
 life! Though all the world should be going 
 headlong to destruction, that does not in the 
 least affect my duty of fleeing from the wrath 
 to come. Though all the rest of the world 
 should be saved, that would not make it less 
 a truth to me, that except I believe, except 
 I repent, except I be converted, I cannot see 
 God. My salvation, the salvation of each one 
 of us, beloved, is a personal concern. And my 
 hope of salvation is not a Christian hope, unless 
 I have, for myself, laid hold of the only true 
 grounds of hope, and have personally become 
 interested in Christ's solvation. 
 
 4. It is only such a personal hope as this, 
 that can be, what the Christian's, fourthly, is, 
 a purifying hope. It is because the hope 
 professed by nominal Christians is so general, 
 so vague, so indefinite, that it has so little 
 effect upon their lives. Men are acted upon 
 in the same way by their hopes and fears in 
 spiritual as in temporal things. If some worldly 
 pleasure tempt me, I shall not be ready 
 
BE READY TO OIVE AN ANSWER. 335 
 
 to renounce it, unless I have some better hope, 
 
 some lively expectation of a far higher joy, with 
 
 which this worldly joy is incompatible, to aid 
 
 me in the choice. If some heavy trial bear 
 
 me down, I shall not be able patiently and 
 
 cheerfully to acquiesce in it, unless I feel that 
 
 it is laid upon me by the hand of Him who 
 
 loves me, and hope, yea, am confident, that it 
 
 is one of the ways in which He is fitting me 
 
 for His glory. " Every man that hath this hope 
 
 in Him purifieth himself, even as He is pure."* 
 
 He that has a Scriptural confidence that he is 
 
 a child of God will aim at walking like a child of 
 
 God. He that has a lively hope of dweUing 
 
 with Christ for ever, will desire and aim to be 
 
 conformed to the image of Christ, that so he 
 
 may be capable of enjoying His presence. 
 
 II. We are, in the second place, to consider 
 
 THE WARRANTS FOR THE CHRISTIAN 's HOPE; the 
 
 reasons which the Scripture furnishes for the 
 indulgence of this personal, this present, this 
 precious confidence of acceptance with God now, 
 and of a share in His glories hereafter. 
 
 And this warrant is three-fold, the pledge, as 
 it were, of the Eternal Trinity, viz., the Word of * 
 God, the work of Christ, and the witness of the 
 Spiirit. 
 
 * 1 John iii. 3. 
 
336 
 
 BE READY TO GIVE AN ANSWER. 
 
 1. And first, the Word of God ; by which I 
 here mean, the testimony, the promise, the assur- 
 ance of God, as contained in the revelation of 
 His will to man. For " God," saith the Apostle, 
 to the Hebrews, "willing more abundantly to 
 show unto the heirs of promise the immutability 
 of His counsel, confirmed it by an oath : that by 
 two immutable things, in which it was impossible 
 for God to lie, we might have a strong consola- 
 tion, who have fled for refoge to by hold upon 
 the hope set before us."* Now " this," saith 
 St. John, "is the promise that He hath promised 
 us, even eternal life."t And "this," saith St. 
 Paul, quoting from the Prophet Jeremiah the 
 words of the new covenant, which God hath 
 made in Christ Jesus, " this is the covenant that 
 I will make with the house of Israel after those 
 days, saith the Lord ; I will put my laws into 
 their mind, and write them in their hearts : and 
 I will be to them a God, and they shall be to 
 me a people ; for I will be merciful to their 
 unrighteousness, and their sins and their 
 iniquities will I remember no more."$ Here, 
 then, beloved, is surely some warrant for con- 
 fidence, some ground for ope. The God " with 
 whom we have to do ;" the God who made us, 
 and to whom we are therefore accountable ; the 
 God whom we have offended, and whose wvath 
 
 * Heb. vi. 17, 18. f I John ii. 2;). | Heb. viii. 10, 12. 
 
BE READY TO GIVE AN ANSWER. 
 
 337 
 
 we deserve, hath freely, graciously, promised 
 eternal life, hath covenanted present forgiveness 
 and everlasting joy, to every one that will but 
 take Plim at His word. ' Beloved, if any feUow- 
 man of acknowledged integrity gave us his word 
 of promise, we should feel that we were insulting 
 him, if we asked him to confirm it by an oath 
 But God, in His infinite condescension, has 
 confirmed His promise « by an or^h." What 
 more can we require ? 
 
 2. Yet, secondly, the Word, the promise, the 
 covenant of God is connected with, and in a 
 measure limited by, the work of Christ; and 
 this, the finished work of Jesus, finished when 
 He bowed His blessed head upon the tree, and 
 gave up the ghost, is the sure foundation of the 
 Christian's hope. For " all the promises of God 
 IN Him are yea, and in Him Amen, to the glory 
 of God by us."* It is the Word, the promise of 
 the Father, which encourages the sinner to draw 
 near to God with hope of present acceptance and 
 of future joy; but it is only through Jesus, that 
 any can come to the Father, t And what, then 
 IS the warrant, which the work of Jesus gives 
 for the believer's hope ? Even this : that it 
 provides the only way, by which the sinner's 
 soul can be at peace with God ; it opens the 
 only fountain, in which sin and uncleanness can 
 • 1 Cor. i. 20. I joh„ ^^ g 
 
 z 
 
f^^f 
 
 338 
 
 BE READY TO GIVE AN ANSWER. 
 
 be washed away ; it furnishes the only righteous- 
 ness, in which a guilty sinner can appear before 
 a holy God ; it supplies an abundant satisfaction 
 to divine justice for the multiplied iniquities 
 of man; and removes every impediment that 
 blocked up his way to God. Here, then, is a 
 warrant for hope. How can I have a good hope 
 that I am accepted with God, an object of His 
 favor and His love, while I am a guilty sinner ? 
 The Lord Himself hath laid mine iniquities upon 
 Jesus, and blotted them out with His blood. 
 How can I have a good hope of entering into 
 that pure and holy heaven where the Father 
 dwells, since I am so polluted 1 Jesus died ; 
 He died for me ; and His " blood cleanseth from 
 all sin."* 
 
 3. Strong, however, as are these grounds for 
 hop»j, there is yet necessary, thirdly, the witness 
 of the Spirit, to warrant that personal, that sure 
 and certain hope, which alone is sustaining, 
 purifying, precious. The promise of the Lord is 
 sure, and even " if we believe not, yet He 
 abideth faithful ; He cannot deny Himself," f 
 though we refuse to trust His word. The work 
 of Christ is precious ; and His blood does not 
 lose its value in the sight of God, though we 
 trample it under our feet. But they are only 
 warrants for our hope, as we believe and trust in 
 
 * 1 Jolui i. 7. t 2 Tim. ii. 13. 
 
BE READY TO GIVE AN ANSWER. 
 
 339 
 
 them ; and this we wiU not, cannot do, except 
 through the power of the Spirit of God, convinc- 
 ing us of sin, bearing witness to us of Jesus, and 
 sanctifying us through the springing of His 
 blood. In vain for us will have been the con- 
 descension of the Father in promising eternal 
 life, if we believe not His promise. In vain for 
 us will have been the shedding of the blood of 
 Jesus, if we come not by faith to Him, and are 
 not washed in His blood. By nature our hearts 
 are at enmity with God; the cross of Christ is 
 foolishness to the natural mind ; and nothing 
 but the Spirit of God can subdue this enmity, 
 and make the cross of Christ precious in our 
 eyes. But if the Spirit of the Living God hath 
 come, and taken up His abode within us ; if He 
 hath convinced us of our sin, and led us in deep 
 consciousness of guilt to cry out, "What must 
 we do to be saved ?" if He hath led us to the 
 cross of Christ, and there spoken peace to our 
 souls ; if He hath sprinkled the blood of Jesus 
 upon our consciences, thereby "purging them 
 from dead works to serve the Living God;" if 
 He hath drawn our souls into communion with 
 God, so that we can look to Him as a Father, 
 and lean upon Him as a Friend ; if He hath 
 taught us to delight in prayer and praise, to find 
 comfort and joy in God's Word, to esteem " His 
 Sabbaths a delight, the holy of the Lord, honor- 
 
 z 2 
 
(i 
 
 J * 
 
 a 
 
 !l 
 
 340 
 
 BE READY TO GIVE AN ANSWER. 
 
 able;"* if He hath filled us with a desire for 
 heaven as a pure and holy place, and made us 
 long for it even more because it is a holy, than 
 because it is a happy abode;— then surely we 
 have some warrant, some solid reason for the 
 hope— which yet we build upon the Word of 
 the Father and the work of Christ — that we 
 are indeed God's children, and "joint-heirs with 
 Christ" of His glory. 
 
 III. Now, if these are the warrants which the 
 true believer has for the hope that is in him, can 
 it yet be necessary to urge upon any one who 
 thus enjoys it, the duty, which we proposed in 
 the third place to consider, of being always 
 
 READY TO GIVE A REASON FOR THIS HOPE ? It is 
 
 SO indeed ; and that, because of the very feature 
 of this hope, which makes it so precious and so 
 influential ; its being, namely, a personal hope, 
 based, not only upon the Word of God and the 
 work of Christ, but also upon the witness of the 
 Spirit. So long as those who call themselves 
 Christians go on in the ways of the world, and 
 yet hope to be saved at last, the world does not 
 concern itself about their hopes, nor care how 
 weak, how groundless they may be. But when 
 one who professes to hope for heaven begins to 
 walk consistently with that hope, to renounce 
 
 • Isa. Iviii. 13. 
 
BE READY TO GIVE AN ANSWER. 341 
 
 what he believes would unfit him for heaven, 
 and interfere with his communion with God,' 
 and to seek above all things God's glory and the' 
 "things which accompany salvation," then the 
 world is ready enough to cry out against the 
 folly of such a course, and to demand the reason 
 for a conduct, which seems so strongly to con- 
 demn its own. And shall the Christian shrink 
 from such a demand ? ShaU he be ashamed or 
 afraid to give a reason for the hope that is in 
 him, and which leads him thus to renounce the 
 world and follow Christ ? O ! surely no ! Surely 
 it is his duty to " be always ready to give an 
 answer to every one that asketh him," and that 
 with boldness and consisicnct/. The true believer 
 now has as little reason as St. Paul had to be 
 " ashamed of the Gospel of Christ." He has 
 found it to be " the power of God to his salva- 
 tion."* He has found in it the pardon of his 
 sins, peace with God, a sanctifying principle of 
 conduct, a purifying hope of heaven. And shall 
 he be ashamed or afraid to avow the source of 
 all his confidence, to point out the ground of all 
 his comforts, to declare the principle which leads 
 him to renounce the world, to contend against 
 sin, to follow after holiness, to live for heaven ? 
 O ! who can tell the injury that has been done 
 to the cause of Christ and His Gospel by the 
 
 * Rom. i. 16. 
 
BE READY TO GIVE AN ANSWER. 
 
 backwardness of His followers to bear a faithful 
 and consistent testimony to the power of the 
 truth, in the face of the taunts, the sneers, the 
 hatred of the world ? 
 
 Yet further, the Apostle enjoins that the 
 Christian's answer should be characterized by 
 " meekness and fear." And this is but to urge 
 him, that he should show herein, as in every part 
 of his conversation, the mind which was in Christ. 
 How little indeed would it become one, who pro- 
 fesses to hope that he is saved by grace, to 
 answer taunts with taunts, and to reply to the 
 sneers or reviling of the world with angry recri- 
 mination. And what is the " fear," by which his 
 answers should be marked ? Is it a fear, lest, 
 after all, his hope may be deceitful and his 
 expectation vain I Is it a fear, lest God may 
 prove unfaithful, or his confidence in Christ mis- 
 placed, or the strictness of conduct, to which his 
 hope has led, unnecessary 1 Nay, surely not ! 
 But simply the fear, lest by any departure from 
 "the meekness and gentleness of Christ," he 
 may give the adversary an occasion of reproach, 
 and bring dishonor upon the cause he loves. 
 The trials of spirit, to which a believer is exposed 
 in this way, are among the most severe which 
 assail him. It were easy to give an account of 
 his hope to those, who in candor and sincerity 
 should seek the information ; but when the 
 
BE READY TO GIVE AN ANSWER. 
 
 SiS 
 
 enquiry is made in a taunting spirit, and accom- 
 panied by a suspicion of hypocrisy, or a chaige 
 of fanaticism, it is not easy to repress the idea, 
 that such a suspicion justifies some warmth, 
 such a charge warrants some indi<,'nation. Yet 
 at this would the enemy rejoice ; over this the 
 ungodly triumph. Herein, as in all things else, 
 the believer must take pattern from Christ, 
 "who, when He was rev.ied, r* viled not again; 
 when He suffered, He threatened rot, but 
 committed Himself to Him that judgeth 
 righteously;"* for thus will he best onsure 
 the peace of his own soul, and thus will he 
 give an answer, far better than words could 
 furnish, concerning the nature of the hope that 
 is in him. 
 
 Dearly beloved in the Lord, whosoever of you 
 are cheered and sustained by the " hope that 
 maketh not ashamed," let me urge on you the 
 admonition of the text. Let me urge on you 
 the duty, the solemn duty, of looking continually 
 to the foundation on which your hope is built, 
 and of being " ready to give an answer to eveiy 
 one that asketh you a reason of the hope that is 
 in you." Yet how vague, how pointless, will 
 those answers be, unless ye are really living 
 upon the hope ye profess, and, as ye hope for 
 heaven, are having your conversation there. 
 
 * 1 Pet. ii. 23. 
 
344 
 
 BE READY TO GIVE AN ANSWER, 
 
 The best answer to any enquiries concerning the 
 nature of your hope, is a godly life. Ye may be 
 unable to answer the caviller ; ye may be weak 
 in controversy upon the foundations of your 
 faith ; but, if ye have peace with God, and love 
 for Christ, and py in the Holy Ghost, ye have a 
 proof of the genuineness of your hope, of which 
 no cavil can deprive you ; if ye are " walking in 
 love, as Christ also hath loved you,"* and are 
 "purifying yourselves even as Christ is pure,"t 
 ye give an evidence of the scriptural nature of 
 your hope, which no sneer can weaken, no 
 argument can overthrow. 
 
 But are there not those of you, beloved, who 
 have no hope ; " no hope," because ye are 
 "without God in the world ?"$ And are ye 
 ready to give to Him, who shall call you to 
 account, a reason for your being without God, 
 and therefore without hope 1 O ! beloved ! if it 
 be difficult to understand how those, who pro- 
 fess the bright and glorious hope of the 
 Christian, can yet so often walk in a worldly, 
 careless manner, so inconsistent with that hope — 
 is it not yet more difficult to understand, how so 
 many of you can believe ye have immortal souls, 
 and yet go on satisfied with a vague and general 
 and powerless hope; in short, with no well- 
 grounded hope at all? Dearly beloved! let me 
 
 * Eph. V. 2. t 1 John iii. 3. J Eph. ii. 12. 
 
BE READY TO GIVE AN ANSWER. 
 
 345 
 
 entreat you to consider this. The time is 
 coming, that "judgment must begin at the 
 house of God; and if it first begin at us, what 
 shall the end be of them that obey not the 
 Gospel of GodV And O! "if the righteous 
 scarcely be saved, where shall the ungodly and 
 the sinner appear ?"♦ 
 
 ♦ 1 Pet. iv. 17, 18. 
 
}l 
 
 ji 
 
 SERMON XVIII. 
 
 RETURN UNTO ME. 
 
 Isaiah xliv. 22. 
 
 / have blotted out as a thick cloud thy trans- 
 gressions, and as a cloud thy sins : return unto 
 me, for I have redeemed thee. 
 
 ;/ •* 
 
 Of the salvation which is by Christ Jesus, the 
 prophets " enquired and searched diligently, 
 searching what, or what manner of time the 
 Spirit of Christ which was in them did signify, 
 when it testified beforehand the sufferings of 
 Christ, and the glory that should follow."* 
 
 And not only have prophets gazed in wonder 
 upon the mystery of redemption, as that mystery 
 lay before them in the dim perspective of the 
 distant future, and have blessed God for the 
 glimmer which caught their eye from the 
 dawning in coming times of the " Dayspring from 
 *i Pet. i. 10, 11. 
 
RETURN UNTO ME. 
 
 347 
 
 on high ; " the very « angels," as they fold their 
 wings above the mercy-seat, "desire to look 
 into"* the amazing plan of reconciliation be- 
 tween a lost world and an offended God, and 
 pore in mute astonishment over the wonders of 
 that love, which brought their Lord and King 
 down from the glories of His heavenly throne, 
 and prompted the surrender of His life upon the 
 accursed tree, for the salvation of lost man. 
 
 And yet, how strange the apathy with which 
 the ears of those to whom the message of this 
 great salvation comes, receive the tidings which 
 announce it ; how sad the listlessness, with 
 which a large proportion of the world pass by, 
 as a thing wherein they feel no deep concern, 
 the revelation of that mystery which was " hid 
 from ages and from generations, but now is 
 made manifest to His saints"! by Jesus Christ! 
 How sad the unconcern with which is put away 
 from them the question, What interest have 
 I in the "good tidings of great joy" announced 
 now to "all people?" J how painful the in- 
 difference, with which so many turn aside 
 unheeding from the call, " Come unto me, all 
 ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I will 
 give you rest."§ 
 
 Yet, still the message is repeated. Still the 
 
 * 1 Pet. i. 12. t Col. i. 26. $ Lukeii. 10. 
 
 § Matt. ix. 28. 
 
348 
 
 RETURN UNTO MB. 
 
 fll 
 
 invitation is given. Still the Lord Jesus stands 
 at the door and knocks. Still, in the soft 
 accents of His love, He entreats admission to 
 the sinner's hea^t. By the startling dispensa- 
 tions of His providence, calling the young, the 
 vigorous, the active, in a moment into His 
 presence; by the no less impressive, though 
 less startling lessons, which the more gradual 
 decay of youth, of manhood, of old age, and 
 the severance of those endearing ties which 
 have bound hearts together, are so well fitted 
 to inculcate; by the external ministrations of 
 the Word of life, which hold Him up upon the 
 cross, and cry in His name, " Look unto me, 
 and be ye saved ; "* and by the inward monitions 
 of a stricken conscience, in which the Spirit of 
 the Lord strives with man's sinful heart to lead 
 it to the Saviour; by these things the Lord 
 appeals to sinners, yea, beloved, by these He 
 appeals to you^ to come to Him for life. 
 
 It is a message from the Lord Himself which 
 is borne to you this afternoon in the words of 
 the text. Man's message may be disregarded ; 
 man's ministry despised : but here He who came 
 into the world to save sinners speaks to you 
 Himself. Man's views may be erroneous; his 
 interpretations of God's word unsound; but 
 here He speaks to you, who is Himself " the 
 
 • Isa. xlv. 22. 
 
RETURN UNTO ME. 
 
 349 
 
 Way, the Truth, and the Life."* Man's heart 
 may be cold and uncharitahk, nd thus his 
 report of his Master's :.^ay le tinged with 
 undue severity; but he' m speaks, whose 
 name is Love, and wlio So loved a guilty 
 world, a world of sinners, x i.o give Himself a 
 ransom for men's souls. Give heed, then, be- 
 loved, I pray you, to His call ; hearken to the 
 message of His love ; come and close with the 
 offers of His mercy, and accept His great sal- 
 vation. « I have blotted out," He says, " as a 
 thick cloud thy transgressions, and as a cloud 
 thy sins ; return unto me, for I have redeemed 
 thee." 
 
 The consideration of these words of our Lord 
 Jesus, addressed by the mouth of His prophet 
 in old time to the Jews, who, notwithstanding 
 the Lord's continued goodness, were prone to 
 depart from Him, and now addressed to every 
 sinner within hearing of the Word of life, 
 suggests to us a view, first, of the condition 
 OF THE persons ADDRESSED, as implied in the 
 language of the text; secondly, of the mercy 
 announced to them ; and thirdly, of the duty 
 enjoined on the ground of the mercy so freely 
 and so graciously proclaimed. May the blessed 
 Spirit of the Eternal God, whose office it is to 
 take of the things of Christ and show themf 
 
 * John xiv. 6. 
 
 t John xvi. 14, 15. 
 
^5HP 
 
 Mi 
 
 mm 
 
 350 
 
 RETURN UNTO ME. 
 
 to our souls, be graciously present to apply the 
 Word, and bring home the message of salvation 
 to many a poor sinner's heart ! 
 
 1 1 
 
 I. Consider, then, in the first place, beloved, 
 
 THE IMPLIED CONDITION OF THOSE TO WHOM THE 
 TEXT IS ADDRESSED. 
 
 1. The invitation, to " return," implies a state 
 of alienation on the part of those to whom that 
 message comes. The Jews, to whom in the first 
 instance the language of the text was addressed, 
 had, though favored with many privileges and 
 continual blessings from the Lord, gone astray 
 from His service into idolatry. Their hearts 
 had become estranged from Him by the vain 
 images which the heathen worshipped; and, 
 blinded in their sin, they cut down a tree, with 
 part of which they dressed their food, while to 
 part they bowed down in blasphemous ador- 
 ation.* And, though no outward idolatry 
 engage the external homage of the sinners of our 
 day, yet is there not a sad resemblance between 
 their natural condition and that of the apostate 
 Jews'? Favored with many blessings, both in 
 providence and grace, yet how are the vast 
 majority of nominal Christians alienated from 
 the spiritual service of the Lord Jesus Christ; 
 how do they give their heart's affections to " the 
 
 * Isa. xliv. 14 — 17. 
 
RETURN UNTO ME. 
 
 351 
 
 world, and the things that are in the world;" 
 how do they " worship and serve the creature 
 more than the Creator!"* "As soon as they 
 are born, they go astray .-"f they grow up amid 
 the vanities of the world, indifferent to God, 
 and careless of His will ; they go on, engaging 
 perhaps for custom or form's sake in the external 
 duties of religion, yet deeming the spiritual 
 service of the Lord a gloomy service, and 
 putting off, from day to day, and year to year, 
 the surrender oi their hearts to Him who bought 
 them with the price of His own blood. The 
 fascinations of the world strike them in tempting 
 contrast with the dulness of religion ; the cares 
 and business and pursuits of daily life engross 
 so much attention as to leave little time or 
 thought for God; the flesh pleads successfully 
 for indulgence and carnal ease, and the heart 
 settles down into indifference to God, and to 
 His claims upon its spiritual service. How many 
 are there of whom this is a true, however feeble, 
 description! They may be free from the' 
 grosser abominations of vicious indulgence; 
 they may be free from any open outbreaks 
 of abandoned iniquity ; but they have no love 
 for God; their hearts are indifferent to His 
 calls; they are in spirit alienated from His 
 service. To such the invitation of the Lord 
 Jesus comes, "Return unto me!" 
 
 * Rom. i. 25. | Ps. iviii. 3. 
 
L 
 
 352 
 
 RETURN UNTO ME. 
 
 2. The announcement which the text contains 
 implies, secondly, in the case of those to whom 
 it is addressed, a state of deep and deadly sin. 
 Their sin is as a cloud, their transgressions as 
 a thick cloud, rising up between them and the 
 Lord, hiding from them the light of God's coun- 
 tenance, shrouding them in the darkness of the 
 shadow of death. And surely, though there be 
 no outward adoration of a senseless idol, pro- 
 voking the Lord to His face, the condition of 
 the worldly, the unregenerate, the unconverted 
 to God, is a state of positive sin. Although we 
 may use the term indifference to God as de- 
 scribing what many conceive to be the state 
 of their own feelings towards Him, the Lord 
 admits of no such condition. His claim upon 
 His creatures' hearts is a claim of love. He 
 demands such love of Himself as engages all 
 the affections, engrosses all the understanding, 
 calls forth all the energies, takes full possession 
 of the soul ; * and everything short of this is 
 SIN. He that does not thus love God is looked 
 upon by the Lord as hating Him. " The carnal 
 mind is enmity against God."f A divided heart 
 is, as an offering, an abomination 1 His sight. 
 " Ye cannot serve God and Mammon."J 
 
 And who is there, then, that will place 
 himself in the light which this pure and holy 
 law of God pours forth upon him, and examining 
 
 • Luke X. 27. f Rom. viii. 7. J Matt. vi. 24. 
 
RETURN UNTC ME. 
 
 353 
 
 his thoughts, his words, his deeds by the measure 
 of the commandments, deny that his soul is 
 stained with deep and deadly sin against the 
 pure and holy God? Yea, who can there be, 
 that looks upon himself at all as the Lord 
 regards him, and does not confess and feel that 
 his sins have accumulated over his head, that 
 his transgressions have so multiplied, as to be 
 like a thick cloud, separating between him and an 
 oiFended God? The " imagination of the thoughts 
 of his heart has been only evil, continually;"* 
 his words have often been careless, idle, unpro- 
 fitable words; his actions have not aimed at 
 God's glory, nor been devoted to His praise. 
 O how necessary, then, to him the call to 
 "Return" unto the Lord; "so iniquity shall 
 not be his ruin."f 
 
 II. Let us proceed to consider, in the second 
 place, beloved, the mercy annodnced by the 
 Lord Jesus in the text. « I have blotted out 
 as a thick cloud thy transgressions, and as a 
 cloud thy sins." 
 
 1. And we observe, first, concerning the 
 mercy thus announced, that it is a costly 
 blessing. It is a blessing procured for a guilty 
 world in the way of redemp i.-ii or purchase. 
 It is a blessing, which, to speak it with all 
 
 * Gen, vi. 5. f Ezek. xviii. 30. 
 
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354 
 
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 reverence, the Lord Himself could not confer 
 upon our ruined race, except at an amazing 
 cost. He loved the world, He yearned over 
 his fallen creatures, and even when they were 
 "dead in sins," a loathsome object to a pure 
 and holy God, He longed for their salvation. 
 But that salvation could only be accomplished 
 by the payment of the full penalty incurred by 
 man's transgression; by the satisfaction, even 
 to the minutest tittle, of the claims which His 
 justice urged against our sinning race. For this, 
 then, He gave up His only Son, His well- 
 beloved, to insult, suffering, and death. For 
 this the blessed Jesus took on Him our flesh, and 
 "became obedient unto death, even the death of 
 the cross."* For this He was lifted up upon 
 the accursed tree, and by the blood that trickled 
 from His thorn-crowned brow, and gushed from 
 His wounded side. He proclaimed the penalty 
 of man's transgressions paid, and the Lord's 
 justice satisfied with all for whom that blood 
 was shed. Here, then, is mercy indeed ! Draw 
 near and look upon the sight, ye who enquire 
 how a merciful and gracious God can punish 
 with everlasting anguish the transgressions of 
 His offending creatures. See what the Lord 
 endured in order that He might not be com- 
 pelled to punish sinners. See at what a cost 
 
 * Phil. ii. 8. 
 
RETURN UNTO ME. 
 
 355 
 
 He opened the door of access to Himself, that 
 so He might invite sinners to come to Him and 
 live. No sinner need perish now, whatever his 
 transgressions may have been, who will but 
 accept the pardon offered, who will but put out 
 his hand to receive the acquittance sealed with 
 blood. And can mercy offer more than this ? 
 Can love do more than this ? Is God unmerciful 
 who taketh vengeance upon those, who will not 
 even flee for refuge from His wrath, to the cross 
 where bleeds the Lamb of God ? 
 
 2. The mercy announced is, secondly, a com- 
 plete and finished blessing. He who addresses 
 to sinners' hearts the invitation of the text, 
 bowed not His blessed head upon the tree until 
 with a loud voice He had proclaimed, "It is 
 flnished;"* and "by one offering. He hath per- 
 fected for ever them that are sanctified, "f The 
 work of atonement was completed. The price 
 required for man's redemption has been paid. 
 Justice has been fully satisfied. The hand- 
 writing of accusations against guilty man has 
 been nailed to the cross. + Nothing more is to 
 be done to procure man's pardon. Nothing 
 more is required to wash out his guilt. " I have 
 blotted out as a thick cloud thy transgressions, 
 and as a cloud thy sins." The work is done. 
 Nothing is left for the sinner but to accept the 
 ♦John xix. 30. f Fleb. x. 14. % Col. ii. 14. 
 
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 mercy offered. Nothing is required of him but 
 to embrace the great salvation. It is only in 
 such a view as this of the salvation which has 
 been accomplished, that we can understand or 
 reconcile with the remainder of God's Word 
 the invitation, "Be ye reconciled to God." 
 Estranged as man is by sin from his Creator, he 
 needs indeed to come, and give up his enmity, 
 and be reconciled and at peace with God. But 
 is this all he needs ? Is it only estrangement 
 that is to be overcome ; only enmity to be 
 subdued "? What becomes of man's guilt — the 
 accumulation of his sins, that rose up as a thick 
 cloud between him and the Lord ? It is all 
 taken out of the way. The Lord hath laid it 
 upon Jesus. " He hath made Him to be sin /or 
 us, who knew no sin."* There is nothing now 
 between the sinner and his God but his own 
 rebellious inclination, his own stubborn will, 
 keeping him back from God. Only let him 
 come, and seek reconciliation with the Lord, 
 and the beams of the Sun of Righteousness will 
 disperse the cloud of his sins, like the thick mist 
 before the morning sun ; he will find that his 
 guilt has been blotted out, his iniquity forgiven, 
 his sin covered. In an interesting sketch of a 
 deaf and dumb boy, who died at an early age 
 rejoicing in Christ Jesus, this account is given of 
 
 * 2 Cor. V. 21. 
 
RETURN UNTO ME. 
 
 357 
 
 his simple view concerning the application of the 
 atonement:— "I saw the books opened," he said, 
 " on the great day ; and there was one page 
 with my name at the head of it, on which were 
 written all the sinful thoughts, and words, and 
 acts of my whole life. I trembled when God 
 took this leaf into His hand ; but I soon saw 
 that even though He held it in the bright light 
 of the sun, He could not read one of the things 
 recorded there against me ; for Christ had taken 
 the book, and, passing His 'red hand' over the 
 page, had left nothing visible there but the 
 blood which had flown from His palm, when 
 pierced by the nails on Calvary." 
 
 3.*=We observe, thirdly, that the mercy an- 
 nounced is as free in its announcement, as it is 
 complete in its accomplishment. " Go ye into 
 all the world," is our Saviour's own command, 
 "and preach the Gospel to every creature."* 
 And what is this Gospel ? What are these " good 
 tidings of great joy?" Surely none other than 
 this proclamation of our text : "I have blotted 
 out as a thick cloud thy transgressions, and as a 
 cloud thy sins ; return unto me, for I have 
 redeemed thee." Behold an instance of the 
 preaching of this Gospel. When the jailor at 
 Philippi, trembhng and aifrighted, sprang in and 
 fell down before Paul and Silas, saying, " Sirs, 
 * Mark xvi. 15. 
 
 ;iW>«..;,i5ta*' 
 
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 358 
 
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 what must I do to be saved T' their answer was, 
 "Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou 
 shalt be saved." * Believe ; but believe what ? 
 Believe that Christ has blotted out thy sins; 
 believe that the scroll of thy transgressions has 
 been nailed to His cross ; believe " that God 
 hath given to thee eternal life, and this life is in 
 His Son;"f believe this, and be at peace; 
 believe this, and thou art saved. 
 
 And the glad tidings of the Gospel of Christ 
 Jesus address themselves now, in the same 
 strain, to the whole race of sinners. Believe on 
 the Lord Jesus Christ and ye, too, shall be 
 saved. But believe what 1 Believe the message 
 of the text, that Christ has blotted out your 
 sins ; that the Lord has laid your iniquities 
 upon Him ; that He has borne your sins in His 
 own body on the tree ; that your sins are for- 
 given you for His Name's sake. Believe this 
 message, and your behef of it makes the message 
 yours, with all the blessings in its train. Believe 
 it not, and your unbelief makes God a liar, 
 rejects His amazing mercy, casts back upon 
 Him the gracious offers of His love. The salva- 
 tion is accomplished ; the atonement is complete. 
 The message of mercy which announces it 
 speaks of it as a finished work, and urges upon 
 every sinner the acceptance of its blessings. 
 * Acts xvi. 30, 31. t I John v. 11. 
 
 i 
 
RETURN UNTO ME. 
 
 059 
 
 The message of the Lord is not, Come unto me, 
 and I will then blot out your sins; believe on 
 me, and I will then redeem you from your 
 iniquities. This would give man a part, as it 
 were, in his own salvation. But He speaketh 
 on this wise ; I have blotted out your sins ; 
 believe this, and be at peace ; I have redeemed 
 you from death ; therefore return unto Me. 
 
 III. We are thus led, in the third place, to 
 consider, as we proposed, the duty enjoined, 
 
 ON THE GROUND OF THE MERCY WHICH IS THUS 
 
 GRACIOUSLY ANNOUNCED. " Retum uuto me, for 
 I have redeemed thee." 
 
 1. This call urges upon the sinner, first, the 
 renunciation of those sins hy which his heart has 
 been enthralled. And what call can be so suc- 
 cessful as one based on such a plea as this? 
 We set before sinners the degrading, the 
 demoralizing nature of all sin, and the fatal con- 
 sequences to which sin will surely lead. And 
 they reply, that they know all this ; still sin is 
 too enticing to be so easily given up. We paint 
 to them the beauties of virtue, and urge on 
 them the cultivation of its graces, because it is 
 so elevating, so ennobling to the soul. They 
 join, perhaps, in a cold praise of its loveliness ; 
 and go on in sin as before. But when we hold 
 up Christ Jesus crucified by their sins — when 
 
360 
 
 UETURN UNTO ME. 
 
 He is set forth, pointing to His wounds which 
 their iniquities have pierced, and pleading with 
 sinners to renounce those sins, for which He has 
 bled, that He might save them from eternal fire 
 — though still there be many, alas ! who turn 
 away their eyes as though they could not bear 
 the sight, yet again are there others to whom 
 this message of the Gospel is " the power of God 
 unto salvation." And thus the Lord Jesus stands 
 and pleads with sinners now. Behold, He cries, 
 I have redeemed you, though it cost the shed- 
 ding of my blood to purchase you from death ; 
 look at my bleeding hands ; gaze on my 
 wounded feet ; see the spear plunged into my 
 yide. It was your sin that drove those nails ; it 
 was your sin that pointed that spear into my 
 heart; and will ye still hug the transgressions 
 which thus pierced me ; will ye still cling to the 
 iniquities which nailed me to the tree? Nay, 
 nay ; " return unto me, for I have redeemed 
 you." 
 
 2. The call of the text is, secondly, a call for 
 the full and cordial surrender of the affections of 
 the heart to God. Long since has the com- 
 mand been given ; long since the duty been 
 enjoined— "Thou shalt love the Lord thy God 
 with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and 
 with all thy mind, and with all thy strength."* 
 
 * Deut. vi. 5 ; Mark xii. 30. 
 
RETURN UNTO ME, 
 
 361 
 
 But sucli, alas ! lias been the estrangement of 
 man's heart from God, that the command, so 
 reasonable in itself, and so gracious in the pro- 
 mises annexed to it, has appealed to him in vain. 
 Yet surely, if anything can claim man's love, 
 and draw him from his enmity to God, it is such 
 an appeal as that of the text. See, says the bleed- 
 ing Saviour, see how I have loved you. Enemies, 
 as ye were, estranged from God and holiness,' 
 and given up to wickedness, yea, " dead in tres- 
 passes and sins," even then / loved you, and 
 came down to die for you. Come, see the 
 measure of my love for you. Come with me to 
 the anguish of Gethsemane ; stand by me as 
 they buffet and scourge me in the judgment- 
 hall ; gaze, among the women afar off, upon my 
 agonies on the accursed tree ; and hear my 
 bitter cry, for your sakes, " My God ! my God ! 
 why hast thou forsaken me ? " This I have done 
 for you. At such a cost as this, I purchased you 
 from destruction. And what is it that I ask of 
 you ■? Your hearts. " Return unto me, for I 
 have redeemed you ;" you are mine. Give me 
 your hearts ; and I shall " see in you the travail 
 of my soul, and shall be satisfied."* Too many, 
 alas ! treat even this appeal with indifference 
 and contempt. Yet who can heed it, and not 
 love Him who first so loved them ?t Who can 
 * Isa. liii. 11. f 1 Johniv. 19, 
 
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 believe it, and not desire to " glorify Him in 
 their bodies and their spirits, which are HisT'* 
 Who can apply it to themselves, and not be 
 warmed into such love for Him as will make 
 His service a delight, and bind them in happy 
 bondage to His will 1 
 
 Behold, then, beloved, the blessed Jesus comes 
 and pleads with every worldly and unconverted 
 sinner in this congregation. He stands beside 
 you, beloved, and pleads with you to forsake 
 your sins and live. He points you to His cross. 
 He bids you look upon the agonies He there 
 endured for you, and entreats you by His 
 bleeding wounds to turn to Him, to renounce 
 the world that crucified Him, to forsake the sins 
 that pierced Him, to give Him the hearts He 
 bought at such a price. Say then, my fellow- 
 sinners, shall He plead with you in vain 1 Are 
 you determined, for the sake of a few years' 
 vanity, to lie down at last in sorrow, rather than 
 come and be at peace through Him? The 
 Saviour comes not to you now, beloved, armed 
 with the terrors that shall one day surround 
 Him ; He comes a loving Saviour, pleading with 
 you by His love for you to come to Him and be 
 saved. O ! " how shall ye escape, if ye neglect 
 so great salvation r'j* 
 
 Again : the Saviour comes with the raessa^^o 
 
 * 1 Cor. vi. 20. t Heb. ii. 3. 
 
RETURN UNTO ME. 
 
 363 
 
 of His love to every sin-convinced sinner, who is 
 cast down beneath the burden of iniquity, and 
 who tremblingly and doubtingly enquires, 
 "What must I do to be saved?" He tells 
 you, that so far as relates to doing anything 
 for your salvation, all is already done. He 
 points you to the atonement which was com- 
 pleted on the cross ; He bids you listen to His 
 dying cry, "It is finished;" He urges you 
 simply to believe that the work has been thus 
 accomplished for you ; and believing this, to go 
 on your way, rejoicing in His love. And must 
 it be in vain, that the Lord thus assures you of 
 His love, and bids you to trust in His finished 
 work ? Is there any such comfort in a doubt- 
 ing frame of mind, anything so cheering in 
 despondency, that ye will still hold on to your 
 doubts, rather than simply trust His love ? His 
 mercy is for sinners. The message of the text is 
 for those that have been estranged from Him ; 
 the assurance of His pity and His love for those 
 that have been " His enemies by wicked works." 
 Fear not, then, beloved, only believe, and " all 
 things are possible to him that believeth."* 
 
 Again ; the Saviour comes and stands by the 
 sick and dying bed. He takes the sufferer by 
 the hand ; He bids him turn the eye of faith to 
 Him ; He saith, " Fear not, for I have redeemed 
 
 * Mark ix. 23. 
 
364 
 
 RETURN UNTO ME. 
 
 thee; I have called thee by thy name; thou 
 art mine."* What is it makes thy sick bed 
 gloomy; what is it that plants thorns in thy 
 dying pillow ? The thought of unforgiven sin. 
 But "I have blotted out as a thick cloud thy 
 sins ; return unto me, for I have redeemed thee." 
 How many a time of suffering is filled with 
 gloomy fears, how many a dying hour is worn 
 out in micery and wretchedness, because the 
 sufferer will not simply heed the voice of Jesus, 
 and accept and believe the message of His love ! 
 Who need be wretched, that will bat take the 
 Lord Jesus at His word ; who be afraid to die, 
 that will but turn to Him, who haS passed His 
 red and bleeding hand over the sins of all them 
 that believe 1 
 
 And once more : the loving Saviour comes to 
 the backsliding professor, and in His tenderest 
 tone of love pleads with him, to return to Him 
 who has redeemed him. He tells him indeed of 
 his danger; He warns him of the ruin he is 
 bringing upon himself: "O Israel!" He saith, 
 " thou hast destroyed thyself; but in me is thy 
 help." " O Israel ! return unto the Lord thy 
 God ; for thou hast fallen by thine iniquity."f 
 He takes him lovingly by the hand ; He points 
 the fingers to His bleeding wounds ; He reminds 
 the sinner how, by his returning to the world 
 
 * Isa. xliii. 1, 
 
 t Hosea xiii, 9 ; xiv. 1. 
 
RETURN UNTO ME. 
 
 365 
 
 and sin, he drives the nails afresh into His tor- 
 tured frame ; and He pleads with him to " take 
 with h^.ra words, and turn to the Lord, saying, 
 Take away all iniquity, and receive us graciously ; 
 so will we render the calves of our lips."* And 
 are there any such here, with whom He shall 
 thus plead in vain ; any who have tasted that the 
 Lord is gracious, and yet have forsaken Him for 
 the vain pleasures of the world again ? Beloved, 
 still He calls you; still He pleads with you,' 
 "Return unto me," He saith, "for I have 
 redeemed you." 
 
 * Hosea xiv. 2. 
 
SERMON XIX. 
 
 HE ANSWERED HER NOT A WORD. 
 
 , ti 
 
 St. Matthew xv. 23. 
 But He answered her not a joord. 
 
 *' Ask and it shall be given you ; seek, and ye 
 shall find ; knock, and it shall be opened unto 
 you ; for every one that asketh, receiveth ; and 
 he that seeketh, findeth ; and to him that 
 knocketh, it shall be opened."* These are the 
 gracious promises, these the solemn assurances, 
 by which He who knew the mind of God, and 
 understood the counsel of the Most High encou- 
 raged the needy sinner to pour r : his requests 
 before the Lord. And by His actions, no less 
 than by His words, He cheered the trembling in 
 their approaches to the Father, and comforted 
 these in trouble by the confidence with which 
 He inspired them in the never-failing loving- 
 
 * Matt, vii 7, 8. 
 
HE ANSWERED HER NOT A WORD. 367 
 
 kindness of the Lord. When was there an 
 instance of his casting out any that went to 
 Him, in their distresses, for healing or relief? 
 Where was there a case of sorrow or of suffering 
 that was laid before His feet, on which He did 
 not shed the ray of comfort, or pour the rich 
 consolation of His blessing and His grace? 
 Surely, whatever may have been the object in 
 view,, whether it was the pressure of bodily 
 anguish, or the pang of sore bereavement, or 
 the burden of unforgiven sin upon the conscience, 
 that drew the troubled soul to Him, we can 
 scarce find an exception to the truth or the 
 extent of His assurance, "Him that cometh 
 unto me, I will in no wise cast out."* 
 
 And yet, if even one exception can be found ; 
 if even one case can be named, in which the needy 
 suppliant has knocked at the door of mercy, and 
 received no answer; there is a self-torturing 
 ingenuity in misery which would lead every 
 tried and troubled soul to think that case was 
 his. If ever blind, or lame, or leprous man cried 
 unto Rim in vain, Thou Son of David, have 
 mercy on me; if ever among the multitudes 
 whom the different cities poured forth, at the 
 mention of His coming, to receive a cure, one 
 went away unhealed ; if ever among the thou- 
 sands that were ready to faint by the way, one 
 
 * John vi. 37. 
 
368 
 
 HE ANSWERED HER NOT A WORD. 
 
 1 '»' 
 
 H 
 
 went away unfed, unfilled ; then, surely, would the 
 ein-convinced and sin-burdened soul be ever readv 
 to exclaim, Just such a one am I ; just that one 
 may I be, for whom there is no healing, no 
 pardon, and no peace : just that one may I be, 
 for whom the provision of the Gospel supplies 
 no food, no cleansing, no salvation. Woe is me! 
 for I am undone ; I am guilty, corrupt, unclean ; 
 and if ever a sinner was passed by unsaved, 
 how can can I but fear, that I may be just that 
 one? 
 
 The case to which the text refers presents an 
 instance in which the Lord appears, for a time 
 at least, to have turned a deaf ear to the peti- 
 tions of one who eagerly sought his help. As 
 he was journeying along the coasts of Tyre and 
 Sidon, — which, though not any part of the Holy 
 Land, He seems to have visited, by way of inti- 
 mation of God's gracious purpose towards the 
 Gentiles, — a woman of that country, a Greek 
 or Gentile, (for the name of Greek was given 
 indiscriminately to the inhabitants of Pagan 
 cities,) a Syrophenician by nation, as St. Mark 
 informs us, came out of those coasts, and cried 
 earnestly after Jesus, as the Son of David, be- 
 seeching him to heal her child. Her daughter 
 was vexed with a devil, grievously tormented; 
 she had heard of the fame of Jesus, that He 
 was one at whose word the devils fled away, and 
 
HE ANSWERED HER NOT A WORD, 369 
 
 whose power was not greater than His tender- 
 ness and compassion in using it for the benefit 
 of the afflicted; she came, therefore, and pre- 
 sented her case before Him, with all the impor- 
 tunity of genuine distress. Here, then, was an 
 object, just suited, we might suppose, to awaken 
 the sympathies, and engage the help, of the 
 loving and merciful Saviour. But, « He 
 answered her not a word." Still she follows 
 Him with her petition ; still she cries earnestly 
 after Him; still she entreats His help. But 
 still He makes as though He heareth not ; still 
 He answers her not a word. His disciples inter- 
 pose, annoyed at the loudness of her cry, and at 
 the crowd which her entreaties were gathering 
 around them : " Send her away, for she crieth 
 after us!" But His reply is more bitter than 
 His silence. Unlike the gentle Jesus on all 
 other occasions. He seems, in this poor woman's 
 case, to be willing to reproach instead of comfort, 
 to give a stone instead of bread. " It is not 
 meet to take the children's bread, and to cast 
 it to the dogs." It was thus the haughty Jew 
 distinguished between himself and the nations 
 of the uncircumcised ; but can the lowly Saviour 
 adopt, and act upon, a distinction such as this, 
 and spurn this poor woman, a» a crouching dog' 
 from before His feet? Oh, what change can 
 have come over His gentle spirit; what cloud 
 
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 370 
 
 HE ANSWERED HER NOT A WORD. 
 
 can SO have darkened the face that hitherto 
 beamed tenderness and love? Yet, nothing 
 daunted, the poor voman catches at even this 
 reply as affording her some room for hope. 
 " Truth, Lord, yet the dogs eat of the crumbs 
 that fall from their master's table." Be it, then, 
 as thou sayest, I am a dog, unworthy of the 
 children's privilege, unworthy of the Master's 
 love; I would not rob the children of one 
 blessing; but there is a fulness, an abundance 
 in thy grace, which can spare this mercy without 
 a whit diminishing thy store. Give me but 
 one of the crumbs, that fall uncared-for from 
 the children's food ; I am content. The purpose 
 which the Lord had in view in His past treat- 
 ment of hev prayer is now fully answered ; and 
 commending the greatness of her faith, as the 
 root of the humility, the patience, the perse- 
 verance she displayed, He sends her away with 
 a rich blessing, rich even as her heart could 
 wish. 
 
 The consideration, then, of her case, of that 
 portion of it particularly which presents to our 
 view the gracious and compassionate Saviour 
 turning away His face from a poor suppliant's 
 request, may suggest to us some useful instruc- 
 tion concerning the nature of prayer, the 
 CAUSES WHICH OBSTRUCT, as may sometimes 
 appear, the rising of our prayers to God, and 
 
HE ANSWERED HER NOT A WORD. 371 
 
 the PURPOSES WHICH A LOVING SavIOUR HAS IN 
 
 VIEW, in sometimes hiding Jlis face from the cry 
 of wretchedness and woe. May the Lord in 
 His rich mercy vouchsafe His teaching and Ilis 
 blessing upon our present meditations; may He 
 80 bless to our souls the consideration of this 
 portion of His sacred word, that we may, 
 each and all of us, be edified, stablished, and 
 strengthened in the faith, which is unto the 
 saving of the soul ! 
 
 I. In considering, then, the history of the 
 poor woman in the text, the first question that 
 suggests itself for our improvement of her case, 
 is. What is prayer ? What, at least, were the 
 leading features of her prayer, and by which we 
 may judge, whether we really pray or not ? 
 
 It may be feared, beloved, that with regard 
 to too many of us this question is far from 
 unnecessary; that there are too many, who 
 could give but a sad answer to the enquiry, 
 Whether ye pray or not ? It is no answer, that 
 ye come hither. Sabbath after Sabbath, to this 
 house of prayer; for, to say nothing of the care- 
 less indifference shown by too many while sup- 
 posed to be joining in the voice of application 
 which is lifted up to God, it is evident that 
 ye may join in the services of the sanctuary, 
 with every appearance of devotion, and yet 
 
 B B 2 
 
!«■ 
 
 HE ANSWERED HER NOT A WORD. 
 
 never pray at all. It is no answer, that ye 
 kneel down morning and evening in the privacy 
 of your closet, and utter the words of suppli- 
 cation before the Lord ; for, though there may 
 be, alas ! too many who do not even thus acknow- 
 ledge that they are dependent creatures, yet still 
 we may draw near with our lips while our hearts 
 arc far away,* and may thus never pray at all. 
 Cases like these suggest no difficulty in answering 
 the enquiry, Why the Lord answers not a word 1 
 He answers not, because He hears no cry. There 
 is no prayer goes up into His ear ; how then can 
 He heed, much less, reply 1 
 
 In taking the poor Gentile woman of the text, 
 as an example to us of prayer, we perceive in 
 her petitions — 
 
 1. A deep sense of need. Hers was, indeed, 
 a need of a temporal blessing. Her daughter 
 lay at home grievously vexed by the assaults of a 
 foul spirit, that had been permitted in some 
 mysterious way to take possession of her; and 
 the mother's heart was drawn out in earnestness 
 and aiFection, on behalf of her darling child. 
 What was there she had to give, which she 
 '»vould not willingly have bestowed for the 
 healing of that beloved one? What was there 
 the whole world could offer to her acceptar je, 
 in comparison with her daughter's cure % There 
 * Isa, xxix. 13. 
 
 U^tei 
 
HE ANSWERED HER NOT A WORD. 373 
 
 are many, doubtless, who can say that in a similar 
 case they would have been just as earnest. Amid 
 the sufferings of those dear to thorn, their hearts 
 are quite as full ; beneath the pressure of their 
 own bodily afflictions, they c-y out as loudly as 
 any. But O! beloved, shall this be urged as 
 an excuse for our want of interest in our soul's 
 welfare ? Did this poor woman cry thus earnestly 
 to Jesus on behalf of a suffering child; do we 
 cry out ourselves under the pressure of bereave- 
 ment, or the touch of pain ; and shall we plead 
 the greater importance of those bodily afflictions, 
 shall we urge the greater value of bodily health, 
 as the reason why so little earnestness is felt in 
 crying to the Lord for the healing or the welfare 
 of our souls ? There can, surely, be no real 
 prayer, where the soul is not felt to be above all 
 things precious ; where salvation is not felt to be 
 above all things desirable, where sin is not felt to 
 be the greatest burden, and pardon and peace 
 with God the supreme object of desire. Men 
 may come and confess that they are " miserable 
 sinners " with far less interest in the confession, 
 than they throw into any one of their thousand 
 murmurings about the weather or their health ; 
 they may utter the cry for mercy to their souls, 
 with far less earnestness than they would apply 
 for relief for a throbbing finger or an aching 
 head ; but this, surely, is not prayer. Prayer is 
 
374 
 
 HE ANSWERED HER NOT A WORD. 
 
 lii 
 
 the earnest cry of the convinced sinner, conscious 
 of his lost condition, awrke to his soul's danger, 
 crying to the Lord for mercy, entreating only 
 that he may be saved. Beloved! do ye ever 
 pray? 
 
 2. That we may have the simplest possible 
 view of prayer, we will remark only one other 
 feature in this Syrophenician woman's case as 
 essential to the idea of prayer ; and that is, a 
 lively faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. It is not 
 easy tc understand the extent of the faith which 
 she displayed in the Divine character of Jesus, 
 when she addressed Him as the Son of David. 
 It is hard to say whether she meant thus to 
 profess her belief in his being the promised 
 Messiah, " of whom Moses in the law and the 
 prophets did write," the Son of David and yet 
 David's Lord. But whatever may have been 
 her understanding of the full meaning of this 
 expression, she manifested, as is sufficient for 
 our present purpose to remark, a full persuasion 
 in His power and willingness to grant her all 
 that she required. She had heard of Him at 
 least by the name by which she addressed Him ; 
 she had heard of Him as one who went about 
 doing good, and healing all that were oppressed 
 with the devil ; as one who would " not break 
 the bruised reed, nor quench the smoking flax."* 
 
 * Isa. xlii, 3. 
 
HE ANSWERED HER NOT A WORD. 375 
 
 snscious 
 danger, 
 ng only 
 ye ever 
 
 possible 
 le other 
 case as 
 at is, a 
 [t is not 
 h which 
 i Jesas, 
 l" David, 
 thus to 
 )roraised 
 and the 
 and yet 
 ve been 
 
 of this 
 ;ient for 
 irsuasion 
 
 her all 
 Him at 
 3d Him ; 
 it about 
 ppressed 
 ot break 
 5 flax."* 
 
 She believed that it was only needful to spread 
 out her case before Him to ensure His compas- 
 sion and His help. And can there be any real 
 prayer now, without the same kind of faith in 
 the power and grace of Jesus? It is neces- 
 sary to the very simplest idea of prayer, that 
 there should be a belief " that God is, and that 
 He is a rewarder of thern that diligently seek 
 Him."* And since Christ Jesus has been set 
 forth as the only way, by which any sinner can 
 draw near to God, there can be no real prayer 
 but that which thus lays hold of the mediation 
 of Jesus, and pleads His finished work as the 
 ground of acceptance before God. Conscious 
 of his own lost condition, the awakened sinner 
 looks to Jesus as a Saviour. Encouraged by 
 His word, he comes and casts his soul, with all 
 its sins and all its sorrows, upon Him. He 
 comes ; he cries to the Lord Jesus ; and trusts 
 to His own gracious assurance, "Him that 
 Cometh unto me, I will in no wise cast out." 
 Beloved, do ye ever pray ? 
 
 II. Yet, even those who do thus pray to God 
 through Jesus Christ, will sometimes find it to 
 be their case, as it was with the Syrophenician 
 woman, that He answers not a word. Let it 
 be, therefore, our object, in the second place, to 
 
 • Heb. ;.i. 6. 
 
I i 
 
 \', " 
 
 376 HE ANSWERED HER NOT A WORD. 
 
 discover some of the causes which may seem 
 
 TO INFLUENCE THE LoRD, IN LEADING HIM THUS 
 
 TO HIDE His face, as it were, from the cries of 
 those that seek Him. 
 
 The reasons which seem thus to prevail with 
 the Lord to change, as it were, His gracious 
 character, and to turn a deaf ear to the requests 
 of those that seek Him, appear to be twofold. 
 There are some arising from our own state before 
 Him. There are others which, as in the case 
 of the text, must be referred to the sovereignty 
 of the Lord's dealings with His people. 
 
 1. And among the first class of reasons, why 
 the Lord answers not a word to the petitions of 
 His people, may be mentioned, their having given 
 way to some temptation, and harbored some sin 
 within their hearts. Beset as he is, on every 
 side, with temptation, the Christian is bound, by 
 a regard for his own safety, as well as by a 
 respect for the continued injunction of his Lord, 
 to be continually on the watch. And yet, alas ! 
 there is no one evil, to which he is more Hable, 
 than a want of watchfulness. Having found the 
 pardon of his sins through the blood of the 
 Lamb, and peace with God through faith in His 
 dear Son ; having enjoyed a sense of God's love, 
 and the blessedness of communion with Him 
 through the Spirit, the believer is tempted to 
 think that his mountain stands strong, and shall 
 
HE ANSWERED HER NOT A WORD. 377 
 
 never be removed.* Then, finding for a while, 
 the power of sin subdued, he begins to fancy it 
 is dead ; and forgets his need of watching 
 against that which has ceased, he thinks, to 
 assault him. But the Enemy is watchful, if he 
 is not. He plies him v,^ith temptation in its most 
 subtle form ; and ere he is aware of danger, he 
 is ensnared in the toils of some evil temper, 
 some sinful inclination, some unholy desire, 
 which comes between him and the Lord. Per- 
 haps prayer itself has been more or less 
 neglected all this time ; not that the form of it 
 has been laid aside, but the spirit has been too 
 little regarded ; and when temptation assails 
 him in its regained power, he falls but too easily 
 into its snare. Aroused by some call of Provi- 
 dence or some word of grace, to a sense of his 
 backsliding state, he betakes him, as of old, to 
 the Lord in whom He has believed ; but is it 
 strange that his sins have hid the Lord's face 
 from him, that He will not hear] Dearly 
 beloved, is this the case with any of you, that 
 ye cry, but the Lord heareth not, even unto the 
 Lord, but ye receive no answer ? O let this lead 
 you then to deep searchings of heart. Let it 
 lead you to seek earnestly, whether there be no 
 unsubdued temper, no cherished indulgence, no 
 bosom sin, which has eaten the life out of your 
 * Psalm XXX. 7. 
 

 378 
 
 HE ANSWERED HER NOT A WORD. 
 
 devotion, and constrained the Lord, in mercy to 
 your souls, to hide his face from you, that so ye 
 may be brought to yourselves. 
 
 2. Again, among this class of reasons why the 
 Lord answers not a word to the prayer that is ad- 
 dressed to Him, may be mentioned a want of entire 
 self-renunciation on the part of those that come 
 to Him. There are frequently — would that there 
 were more frequently — those who are awakened 
 to a sense of their sinfulness, and to an earnest 
 desire to be at peace with God. They cry then 
 to the Lord for merc;y, they plead with Him 
 for salvation; and yet, like the woman in the 
 text, they receive no answer; they have no 
 peace in their consciences, they have no sense 
 of acceptance with God. And why is this? 
 Because, too often there is, mingled with the sin- 
 ner's cry for mercy, some secret trust in themselves, 
 in their penitence or their prayers, as forming 
 part of the ground of their acceptance with the 
 Lord. There is earnestness, indeed, arising from 
 a deep consciousness of need ; but there is some 
 dependence upon this earnestness, as if it formed 
 a ground of confidence before God. There is 
 a trust in Jesus, indeed, as the only source of 
 pardon, salvation, and peace; and yet there is 
 a leaning upon their own sincerity, or earnest- 
 ness, or repentance, or prayer, as forming, in 
 some measure, a recommendation to the Saviour. 
 
HE ANSWiiRED HER NOT A WORD. 379 
 
 Now this, beloved, may not be. Salvation is all 
 of grace. From first to last, it is all of merest 
 mercy. And it is no wonder the Lord answereth 
 not a word, when He sees His sinful creatures 
 thus secretly leaning upon themselves, instead 
 of casting themselves on Him, entirely, and 
 unreservedly. Is it thus, beloved, with any of 
 you ? Are ye cherishing a secret trust in the 
 sincerity of your repentance, your earnestness, 
 your devotion ; are ye looking about for some of 
 these things to bring, as it were, in your hands, 
 as a recommendation to the Lord ? Ye cannot 
 look for an answer from the Lord in peace until 
 ye cast off this self-trust, and throw yourselves 
 in utter self-renunciation upon the cross and 
 mediation of Christ. 
 
 3. Another reason why the Lord answereth 
 not a word may be the nature of the request 
 presented to Him and urged upon His attention. 
 Unquestionably the Christian is encouraged to 
 carry every anxiety, and every care, and every 
 sorrow to the Lord, and to pour out his requests 
 before Him in all times of tribulation, as in all 
 times of wealth. And this encouragement is 
 not limited to spiritual trouble, it extends to 
 every species of distress. " In every thing, by 
 prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let 
 your requests be made known unto God. " * And 
 
 * Phil. iv. 6. 
 
380 
 
 HE ANSWERED HER NOT A WORD. 
 
 still, forasmuch as wo know not, in this respect, 
 what to pray for as we ought, it may be that we 
 present a petition, which important and deep as 
 may seem to us the interests involved in the 
 reply, may yet appear to the Lord unsuitable, 
 and even dangerous to our peace. Are we 
 borne down by the hand of sickness; and, 
 shrinking from its touch, do we cry to the Lord 
 for renovated health? It may be, the Lord 
 sees that a state of continued weakness is better 
 for our souls ; and what wonder that He an- 
 swereth not a word. Are we pressed by the 
 hard gripe of poverty ; and do we trust that if 
 the Lord would hear our prayer for vvealth we 
 should use it to His glory ? It may be that the 
 Lord sees otherwise; and He answers not a 
 word. Beloved, is it thus with any of you ? 
 Think not that the Lord hears you not, regards 
 you not, because He gives you no reply. A 
 loving parent would not heed his child's request 
 however strongly urged, if to grant it would be 
 to endanger the child's life. It may be in truest 
 love to your souls, that the Lord answers not a 
 word. 
 
 III. But again there is another class of 
 reasons why the Lord answers not, or rather 
 appears not to answer, the prayers of them that 
 call upon Him, and these arise simply from t'^.e 
 
HE ANSWERED HER NOT A WORD. 381 
 
 sovereignty of His dealings with His people. It 
 may be that a believing soul may come through 
 Jesus unto the Father, and under the teaching 
 of the Spirit present a petition according to the 
 Lord's will, and yet the Lord may appear to 
 hide His face and answer not a word. 
 
 In the case of the text, then, let us seek for 
 some of the reasons why the Lord thus deals 
 with those that call upon Him, and consider His 
 GR.; CI0U8 PURPOSES towards them. 
 
 L And among these, we may notice, first, it 
 may be to try their faith. It is most true, 
 indeed, that the Lord knows what is in man, and 
 can tell the depth and power of our faith, 
 without putting it to any such test. But it is 
 equally certain that the Lord ordinarily puts the 
 faith of His people to the trial, as if He were 
 dependent upon the same evidence which we 
 require for proof of the existence of the prin- 
 ciple. And who can question, that when the 
 sinner calls upon God and the Lord heareth not, 
 when he cries unto the Lord for peace and the 
 Lord answereth not, that, then, faith is put into 
 the furnace ^ It is easy to believe that the Lord 
 loves us, when our souls are full of comfort, and 
 " the candle of the Lord shineth upon our 
 head," and our way is compassed about with 
 blessings, and our hearts are rejoicing in the 
 Lord. But when the waves and billows of 
 
382 HE ANSWERED HER NOT A WORD. 
 
 temptation dash over ou/ souls, and we cry unto 
 the Lord, but the heavens are black above us, 
 and there is no light ; when our souls are full of 
 trouble, and our lives draw nigh unto hell ; when 
 our sins rise up as a mountain between us and 
 God, a\.<l ihe Enemy draws nigh to us saying. 
 You a child of God, and thus cast down! 
 Where is now thy God ? when tribulation and 
 aifliction cometh upon us, and there is none to 
 help, and we cry in the day-time but He heareth 
 not, and in the night season also we take no rest; 
 then, to hope still in God, and to trust upon the 
 Rock of our salvation ; to believe that God 
 loves us, and in His good time will manifest 
 Himself unto us ; this, this is faith ; this is to 
 " walk by faith and not by sight ; " this is to 
 believe, though all things be against us, and to 
 trust because God is our hope: And surely it is 
 in love to our souls, that the Lord thus tries the 
 faith of His people. It is easy to persuade our- 
 selves that we are believers when there are no 
 trials in the way. Do we believe Him, do we 
 trust Him still, though He answer us not a 
 wordi 
 
 2. Another purpose which the Lord seems to 
 have in thus dealing with His people is to test 
 their humility. We perceive how this effect was 
 answered in the case of the Syrophenician woman. 
 How many a haughty soul would have gone 
 
* HE ANSWERED HER NOT A WOJ I^. 383 
 
 away oflFended at being thus compai^d to a dog. 
 But she was wKKny tc accept his mercy on His 
 own terms, if only Ho would have mercy on her 
 at all. And it may be feared that there ire 
 many who knock at the door of the Lord's 
 mercy rather as if they were cou^^escenuing to 
 the Lord, than as De^dv s^upplJaLts for ihe 
 merest grace. Too many, lik^ th:; Pharisees, 
 cannot bear the idea of beii g savid on the 
 same terms with the publicans ar.d sinners. 
 Too many, though they acknowledge themselves 
 sinners, yet like not to be classed rvith the mere 
 abjects of our race, as equally in need of mercy 
 with the vilest of them all, as only to be saved 
 of as free grace as the very outcast of mankind. 
 Yet surely, while this spirit remains, the soul 
 is yet unhumbled before God. The prayer 
 which the Lord hears is that of him who smites 
 upon his breast, and saith, " God be merciful to 
 
 me 
 
 a sinner."* Is the believer, he who has 
 found pardon and peace with God, tempted at 
 any time to forget this 1 Surely, then, it is in 
 love to his soul that the Lord hides His face 
 from him for a moment, that He may bring him 
 down again, and compel him to cry again for 
 mercy, even as the chief of sinners. 
 
 3. And once more, the Lord's purpose may be 
 to try the perseverance of His people in prayer. 
 
 * Luke xviii. 13. 
 
5;". 
 
 I 
 
 
 iJf 
 
 384 
 
 HE ANSWERED HER NOT A WORD. 
 
 Too many, it may be feared, pray as if they 
 looked not, cared not, for an answer. They 
 confess that they are sinners, they cry for mercy 
 to their sins ; and go their way and straightway 
 forget what manner of persons they have con- 
 fessed themselves to be. But "it is good that 
 a man should both hope and quietly wait for the 
 salvation of the Lord."* And " the trying of 
 faith worketii patience, and patience experience, 
 and experience hope."t It is for perfecting 
 these graces in the soul that the Lord sometimes 
 withholds the light of His countenance. If 
 there be a real consciousness of sin, if there be a 
 real faith in Jesus, and longing for His salvation, 
 the soul will not readily be discouraged in wait- 
 ing upon Him. But if the profession be insin- 
 cere, if the heart be not in the matter, if the 
 soul be not truly convinced of sin, nor in earnest 
 in seeking for salvation, it will soon weary of 
 crying after One who makes as though He heard 
 not, of waiting upon One who answereth not a 
 word. Surely then it is in love to the souls of 
 His people that the Lord thus tries their patience 
 in waiting upon Him. It is to humble them, 
 and to prove them, and to know what is in their 
 hearts, whether they truly desire the mercy of 
 the Lord or no ! 
 
 Dearly beloved, are there not those among 
 * Lam. iii. 26. f Jas. i. 3 ; Rom. v. 4. 
 
HE ANSWERED HER NOT A WORD. 385 
 
 you, who never pray at ain To you it may be 
 feared our present subject is one of little interest. 
 Ye know not the trials of those to whom the 
 Lord answers not a word, for ye present no 
 petitions, ye look for no reply. Yet however 
 trying may be the state of those with whom the 
 Lord deals as with the poor woman in the text, 
 how much more are ye to be pitied, who "care 
 for none of these things !" Oh, may the Lord 
 awaken you from this GaFio-like spirit, ere the 
 days come upon you, wh i ye shall caU and 
 there will be none to answer; and it shall be 
 too late to cry for mercy, when the time shall 
 have come for judgment. 
 
 Are there not those among you, beloved, who 
 go through the form of prayer, but have never 
 bent as humble sinners before the throne of 
 mercy, nor cried, out of the bitterness of a bruised 
 spirit, for pardon and for peace? To you too, it 
 may be feared, the idea of looking for, waiting 
 for, an answer to your prayers, will seem fanciful 
 and absurd. And yet, beloved, the salvation of 
 your souls is not a thing of form. As sinners, 
 ye are in need of mercy ; as polluted, ye are in 
 need of cleansing ; as perishing souls, ye are in 
 need of life. And how will it be with you 
 when the Lord shall enter into judgment with 
 you, if ye have never really cried for mercy, nor 
 sought, in heartfelt prayer, the pardon of your 
 
 c c 
 
'^ jii'l 
 
 n 
 
 I 
 
 
 !■ 
 
 386 
 
 HE ANSWERED HER NOT A AVORD. 
 
 sins, through the blood of Jesus ? Better that 
 ye should know now the hidings of the Lord's 
 face, if lie were thus pr*^naring you to enjoy 
 His presence, than that ye should go on uncon- 
 scious of your need of Him, and lie down in 
 those regions of despair, where no ray of His 
 presence light3 up the darkness of the lost. 
 
 Are there those of you, beloved, that are 
 mourning the hidings of the Lord's face"? who 
 cry to Him but He heareth not ; who call upon 
 Him but He answereth not a word? Dearly 
 beloved, let this lead you to deep searchings of 
 heart. Search well and look whether it be any 
 secret sin that hath hid His face from yoa, that 
 He will not hear.* And let the example of this 
 poor Gentile woman encourage you to follow on. 
 Let your souls follow hard after the Lord ; let 
 your motto be that of the warriors of Gideon, 
 Faint, yet pursuing, f And " though now for a 
 season, if need be, ye are in heaviness through 
 manifold temptations," yet " the trial of your 
 faith, being much more precious than of gold that 
 perisheth, though it be tried with fire, shall be 
 found unto praise and honor and glory at the 
 appearing of Jesus Christ.":}: 
 
 • Isa. lix. 2. \ Judges viii. 4. f 1 Pet. i. 6, ?. 
 
SERMON XX. 
 
 THE ELEVENTH HOUR. 
 
 Matthew xx. 6, 7. 
 
 A:d about the eleventh] hour he went out, and 
 found others standing idle, and saith unto them, 
 Why stand ye here all the day idle ? They 
 say unto him, Because no mm hath hired us. 
 He saith unto them. Go ye also into the vine- 
 yard; and ivhatsoeve^ is right, that shall ye 
 receive. 
 
 The leading ^ioctrine, which our Lord intended 
 to inculcate by the parable of which the text 
 forms a p?.rt, seems contained in the enquiry 
 with which the great householder reproved the 
 murmurings of the discontented laborers : " Is 
 it not lawful for me to do what I will with mine 
 ownV' The great truth here implied, is one 
 which runs through the whole volume of the 
 Word of God, and is in many passages, par- 
 
 c c 2 
 
\^/-^ 
 
 ii: 
 
 ; I 
 
 i: ! 
 
 I 
 
 ^;i 
 
 
 388 
 
 THE ELEVENTH HOUR. 
 
 ticularly of the New Testament, stated in explicit 
 
 terms ; namely, that in the dealings of God with 
 
 the souls of men, all is of free and sovereign 
 
 grace, all " according to the purpose of Him 
 
 who vvorketh all things a . the counsel of His 
 
 own will."* There is, alas ! no truth in the 
 
 blessed Book, which, though we should suppose 
 
 it almost self-evident, is so much resisted by the 
 
 mind of unregenerate man, or which awakens 
 
 such enmity in the hearts of those whose high 
 
 thoughts have not been brought " into captivity 
 
 to the obedience of Christ." There is something 
 
 so humbhng to the pride of man's heart in the 
 
 idea of his being not only unable by any doings 
 
 of his own to deserve the favor of the Lord, but 
 
 indebted to the purest grace for every mercy 
 
 shown him, for every blessing vouchsafed to 
 
 him, for the very power to think, the will to 
 
 choose, the grace to do any one thing that is 
 
 good ; — there is in all this something so 
 
 humbling, that the soul untaught, unsanctified 
 
 by the Spirit of the Lord, can by no means 
 
 receive it. And yet, so necessary is it to the 
 
 due exaltation of the Saviour, that, as the work 
 
 of saving souls is solely His, unshared by angel 
 
 or by man, so the choice of the saved, the gift of 
 
 the grace nteded for their salvation, the award 
 
 of eternal life at last to all that believe in Him, 
 
 * Eph. i. 11. 
 
 Wf 
 
THE ELEVENTH HOUR. 
 
 389 
 
 should be solely according to the good pleasure 
 of His will. So important is this truth, so 
 essential to the glory of God in the work of 
 man's salvation^ that we have no need to wonder 
 at its being continually insisted upon as the rule 
 of His dealings with His creatures. 
 
 In filling up the lines, however, of a picture 
 whose great object it is to set forth in striking 
 prominence the momentous doctrine here ad- 
 verted to, we perceive other important topics, 
 connected with the scheme of man's salvation, 
 brought out to view. And among these, few 
 are of a more awakening, a more touching, a 
 more affecting nature, than those contained in 
 the portion selected as our present subject. The 
 gracious call addressed, even at the eleventh 
 hour, to those who had not yet entered into the 
 vineyard ; the solemn thought of their having 
 been all the day idle, when the Lord had so 
 much work for them to do, and this because no 
 man had hired them , the gracious rule by 
 which it is promised that their few and late 
 labors shall be recompensed at the great day of 
 reckoning ; these are topics worthy of our most 
 serious attention, bearing upon our most im- 
 portant interests, interwoven with the most 
 momentous considerations affecting our soul's 
 salvation. It may therefore be well, beloved, if 
 the Lord shall vouchsafe to bless us, that wo 
 
m 
 
 4:- 
 
 I: 
 
 lii lii 
 
 ^ lii s^f, 
 
 390 
 
 THE ELEVENTH HOUR. 
 
 make these topics the subject of our present 
 meditation. Oh ! let us, then, entreat that 
 blessing ; let us pray the Lord to vouchsafe His 
 presence and His teach, ig; let us place our- 
 selves at His feet, to hear what He will say unto 
 us, and hearken to the lessons of that blessed 
 Word which maketh wise unto salvation through 
 faith in Jesus Christ. 
 
 Let us first dovote a brief attention to the 
 general ocope and bearing of the parable, and 
 then proceed to the more particular examination 
 of the portion now before us. 
 
 At the close of the previous chapter, after 
 inculcating the solemn lesson, drawn from the 
 case of the rich young man, concerning the diffi- 
 culties which impede the reception of the Gospel 
 message by the rich ; and after assuring His 
 disciples of the gracious recompense with which 
 their devotion to Him should be rewarded, at 
 the resurrection of the just ; our Lord announces 
 the important truth, that " many who are first 
 shall be last, and the last shall be first."* 
 Many, that is, who have had every advantage of 
 talent, of education, of situation in life — many, 
 who have been surrounded from their earliest 
 youth with the ministry and means of grace, 
 shall be found to have profited little, if at all, by 
 their many privileges, and shall even be cast out 
 * Matt. xix. 30. 
 
 H 
 
THE ELEVENTH HOUR. 
 
 391 
 
 as unprofitable servants ; while many, on the 
 other hand, who have been destitute of all these 
 advantages, who have been lowest on the scale 
 of intellectual endowment, and least in the esti- 
 mation of the world on the score of station, 
 influence, or education, shall yet so eagerly 
 embrace the message of a Saviour's love, and so 
 unreservedly give themselves up to Him, that 
 they shall be first among the Lord's people, the 
 greatest in the kingdom of heaven. For this 
 " kingdom of heaven," our Saviour proceeds to 
 say (meaning evidently, in this passage, the king- 
 dom of His grace here, as the introduction to, 
 and preparation for, the kingdom of His glory 
 hereafter), "is like unto a householder, hiring 
 laborers into his vineyard." He went out early 
 in the morning, and engaged those whom he 
 then found in the market-place, at the stipulated 
 wages of a Roman penny a-day. His bargain 
 with them was express ; they engaged to labor 
 for a certain sum ; and whatever others might 
 receive, they were entitled to no more. Again, 
 at later periods of the day, he went out ; at the 
 third, the sixth, the ninth, and even at the 
 eleventh hour, and sent into the vineyard all 
 whom he found in the market-place waiting for 
 employment, promising to give them for their 
 labor, not any stipulated sum, but whatever he 
 might think right. When the time of reckoning 
 
i 
 
 ! 
 
 
 392 
 
 THE ELEVENTH HOUR. 
 
 arrived, and the laborers were assembled to 
 receive their hire, the last that had been 
 engaged received the full amount which had 
 been agreed on with the first. When the turn 
 therefore of these came, and the wages they had 
 bargained for were tendered them, they mur- 
 mured against the lord of the vineyard, as 
 though the favor shown to others had increased 
 the merit of their work. Their conduct then 
 called forth the indignant reproof of the master 
 in whose service they had been engaged, and the 
 assertion of his right to give to the last and 
 lowest laborer in his vineyard just as much as he 
 had agreed to give to them. In this, as in 
 many other of our Lord's parables, there are 
 various circumstances introduced which are 
 merely for preserving, as it were, the keeping of 
 the picture, and are not to be considered as 
 inculcating any truth. It is the leading scope 
 aid aim of the parable, which should alone be 
 dwelt upon. In the present case our Lord is 
 supposed to refer primarily to the case of the 
 Jews and Gentiles. The leaders of the Jews in 
 our Lord's day were indignant above measure at 
 every hint which was given of an intention to 
 admit the Gentiles to equal privileges with those 
 which they, the chosen people of the Lord, had 
 so long exclusively enjoyed. Trusting, as the 
 Jews did, to their descent from Abraham as 
 
THE ELEVENTH HOUR. 
 
 393 
 
 giving them a sufficient claim to all the blessings 
 of the covenant made with him and with his 
 seed, and regarding their long possession of the 
 worship of the true God in the light of a title to 
 His continued favor, instead of an obligation to 
 peculiar devotedness, they were jealous of every 
 intimation of the Lord's purposes of mercy towards 
 the benighted Gentiles. But the Lord would have 
 them to know, that the darkness and ignorance 
 in which the Heathen world had been per- 
 mitted to lie, and the long exclusion from the 
 worship and service of the true God, to which, 
 in His sovereign purpose, they had been doomed, 
 should not operate any longer as a bar to their 
 admission to all the blessings of the covenant ; 
 and that, on the contrary, the eagerness with 
 which they should accept the message of salva- 
 tion, whenever it vas announced to them, the 
 readiness with whici. they should obey the call, 
 whenever it should reach them, the joy with 
 which they should glory in the light which the 
 rising of the Day Star upon their benighted 
 lands should shed around them, were intimations 
 of the Lord's purposes of grace towards them, 
 and pledges of His loving design to bring them, 
 of His own good pleasure, to all the glory and 
 the joy laid up as the inheritance of His people. 
 This lesson, however, instructive as it is in 
 itself, and frequently as it formed the subject of 
 
394 
 
 THE ELEVENTH HOUR. 
 
 our Lord's parables, by which He taught the 
 people, does not seem to me to be the special 
 purport of the oue now before us. Our Lord's 
 instructio is were always not only pre-eminently 
 excellent in themselves, but also peculiarly 
 appropriate to the circumstances which seemed 
 to call them forth. Now He was not, in the pre- 
 sent case, surrounded by the haughty chief priests 
 and rulers of the people, nor by the self-righteous 
 and cavilling Pharisees ; but was instructing His 
 own disciples in the peculiarities of His king- 
 dom. He had given them a gracious intimation 
 of His purpose to bestow upon them the richest of 
 its honors, just after they had seen one, who had 
 been favored with every advantage of birth, of 
 education, of religious privilege, turned away by 
 his lurking love of the world, from the service 
 of the self-denying and lowly Saviour. He taught 
 them, that this difference in their favor resulted 
 not from any superiority in their natural dispo- 
 sition, nor any greater claim they had in any 
 respect upon the loving kindness of the Lord ; but 
 that it arose simply from the free grace of Him, 
 who " will have mercy on whom He will have 
 mercy, and will have compassion on whom He 
 will have compassion."* The day, then, which 
 forms the period of the transactions of the 
 parable, is the day of grace, under whatever 
 
 * Rom. ix. lo. 
 
THE ELEVENTH HOUR. 
 
 395 
 
 lught the 
 le special 
 ur Lord's 
 sminently 
 peculiarly 
 h. seemed 
 a the pre- 
 lef priests 
 righteous 
 cting His 
 Bis king- 
 itimation 
 richest of 
 who had 
 birth, of 
 away by 
 e service 
 [e taught 
 ■ resulted 
 al dispo- 
 l in any 
 <ord; but 
 of Him, 
 mil have 
 I'hom He 
 n, which 
 of the 
 ^vhatever 
 
 dispensation, at whatever era of the world; 
 while the different hours of the day represent ♦^o us 
 the different amount of religious privileges which 
 different individuals at all times have enjoyed ; 
 and the nature of the reckoning sets forth to us 
 that as it is entirely of grace that any soul is, at 
 any time, led to renounce his sins, to take up 
 the cross and follow Jesus, so eternal life at last 
 shall be the free gift of God, according to His 
 own good pleasure, to those to whom it has been 
 " given to believe" in Christ. 
 
 In this view of it, then, the lesson which the 
 parable is intended to inculcate is just as appli- 
 cable to our own, as to any other, day, in which 
 there are sinners to be invited to the Saviour, or 
 souls to be saved through His blood. And we 
 may thus proceed to consider that portion of it 
 which the text contains, in its bearing upon 
 our own day of grace, in its reference to 
 the privileges of our own vocation, in its illus- 
 tration of Lhe gracious nature of the Lord's 
 dealings with those who give themselves up to 
 Him. 
 
 Let your present attention then, dearly 
 beloved, be engaged in considering, first, the 
 ENQUIRY addressed to those who were found 
 unemployed even at the eleventh hour : " Why 
 stand ye here all the day idleT' secondly, the 
 excuse: " Because no man hath hired us;" and 
 
396 
 
 THE ELEVENTH HOUR. 
 
 thirdly, the engagement : "Go ye also into the 
 vineyard, and whatever is right, that shall ye 
 receive." And let us pray the continued pre- 
 sence and blessing of the Lord upon these con- 
 isiderations. 
 
 lii' 
 
 I. And, in the first place, the enquiry 
 addressed by the householder to the laborers 
 standing in the market-place is one which might 
 well be addressed to multitudes in nominally 
 Christian congregations ; Why stand ye here all 
 the day idle ? 
 
 If it was the dying lamentation of one,* who 
 had labored much in the cause of Christian truth, 
 but who felt at last how vain were all his labors 
 in comparison with the faith of the most 
 illiterate peasant : Alas ! I have wasted life in 
 taking great pains to do nothing !— what might 
 well be the confession of multitudes of nominal 
 Christians, with regard to the service in which 
 their lives are spent! How many are there, 
 who having received the talent of time to 
 be employed for God (even if no other), could 
 give no better account of it now than this : Here 
 it is. Lord, laid up in a napkin, and hidden in 
 the earth. There may be much hurrying hither 
 and thither about the business of the world ; 
 much " rising early, and late taking rest, and 
 
 * Grotius. 
 
THE ELEVENTH HOUR. 
 
 397 
 
 eating the bread of carefulness," in providing for 
 the wants of this frail body, and laying up 
 treasure in the storehouses of earth ; there may 
 be much of the most wearying of all pursuits, a 
 devotion to the gaieties and pleasures of the 
 world ; but where is the surrender of the heart 
 to the service and thfi love of Jesus, where 
 is the zeal for the honor of Christ, where is 
 the daily taking up of His Cross, where the 
 steady and consistent evidence of a life of god- 
 liness that the soul is truly alive to God ? Many 
 there are indeed, who, if remonstrated with on 
 their want of love for Christ and devotion to 
 His service, with the enquiry of the text, Why 
 stand ye all the day idle ? would stare in amaze- 
 ment at the question. Idle, they would say, 
 why stand I idle ? No! It is because I am so busy, 
 that I have so little time, so little power, to 
 attend to my soul's concerns. Scarcely have I 
 a moment I can call my own. The cares of 
 the world, the anxieties of my profession, the 
 difficulties of the times so entirely engross me, 
 that I am compelled to neglect the service of* 
 God, and to postpone the care of my soul to a 
 more convenient season. And are not they then 
 bartering their souls for the things of this life ? 
 Is it not to them that the question of the Lord 
 applies with awful force, " What shall it profit 
 a man, if he shall gain the whole world and lose 
 
 u, 
 
398 
 
 THE ELEVENTH HOUR. 
 
 Wt 
 
 1 1 lii 
 
 his own soul? or what shall a man give in ex- 
 change for his soul?"* 
 
 It is well that we should bear in mind tuat in 
 those parables where our Lord sets forth to us 
 the future condemnation of the lost, He describes 
 them, not as having been marked by any pecu- 
 liar features of ungodliness, but simply as having 
 been "unprofitable" servants. In the parable 
 of the talents,t it is he who c-^uld give no better 
 account of himself, and against whom no worse 
 charge is brought, than that he had buried 
 his talent in the earth, whose condemnation 
 is to outer darkness, where is weeping and 
 wailing and gnashing of teeth. In the parable 
 of the rich man and Lazarus,:}: there is no other 
 charge mentioned against the unhappy Dives, 
 who lifted up his eyes in hell, being in torments! 
 tlian that he had been clothed in purple and fine 
 linen, and fared sumptuously every day. He 
 had been a selfish, sensual man ; he had lived to 
 himself; he had not been "rich towards God." 
 In the parable of the ten virgins, § the five who 
 were foolish even made a profession of religion ; 
 but they were not watching for their Lord, they 
 were not ready with their lamps trimmed for 
 His coming; and the door was shut against 
 them for ever. And he is standing idle, who, 
 
 * Mark viii. 36, 37. f Matt. xv. 14—30. 
 
 :j:Lukexvi. 19—31. § Matt. xxv. 1—13. 
 
 M Jl 
 
THE ELEVENTH HOUR. 
 
 399 
 
 however he may be engrossed by the cares and 
 business of the world, however pressed he may 
 be by the hurry and bustle of life, is unprofitable 
 towards God, has never really given his heart 
 to Christ, and taken up his cross to follow Him. 
 Why then, Oh, why ] we would ask the men of 
 this world, the slaves of business, the servants of 
 pleasure, why stand ye all the day idle ? The 
 business of your soul's salvation is yet unat- 
 tended to ; the service which the Lord demands 
 of you is yet unpaid ; und your day is wearing 
 away ; which of you can say whether even its 
 eleventh hour is Lot now rolling over you ? Why 
 will ye trifle with its fleeting moments'? Oh, 
 why stand ye all the day idle 1 
 
 111 
 
 II. Can ye offer the excuse, which the 
 laborers in the parable had to urge in their 
 behalf in reply to the enquiry of the householder, 
 " No man hath hired us r' 
 
 This excuse, with which, alas! in its literal 
 meaning our ears are but too familiar at this 
 season among our own laboring people, appears to 
 refer, in its spiritual meaning, to the calls which 
 the Lord addresses to the hearts and consciences 
 of sinners, urging on them to take up the cross of 
 Christ, to forsake their sins, and give themselves 
 to God. 
 
 And can anv urcre the plea of the labor 
 
 any urge 
 
 ers in 
 
400 
 
 THE ELEVENTH HOUR. 
 
 the text, when remonstrated with about their 
 soul's salvation, who are surrounded as ye are, 
 beloved, by the mercies and loving kindness of the 
 Lord ? Who is there among you, beloved, that 
 can look back upon the way which the Lord our 
 God hath led you in the wilderness, that can 
 compare his present circumstances with what he 
 might reasonably have looked for at the Lord's 
 hands, and not be constrained to say. Surely 
 goodness and mercy have followed me all the 
 days of my life ! And docs not such confession 
 then involve an earnest call from God, a claim 
 from Him upon the devotion of your hearts to 
 Him who hath dealt so lovingly with you ? 
 
 And can any say. No man hath hired us, who 
 have sat, as ye have, beneath the ministrations of 
 the Gospel, have heard from Sabbath to Sabbath 
 the word of Salvation, been urged by the terrors 
 of the law, been appealed to by the invitations 
 of His love, been called by the preaching of a 
 crucified Saviour, been charged, as ye love your 
 souls for which He died, to give yourselves to 
 God and live? Surely, there was a voice of 
 mercy in the call. Except ye repent, ye perish. 
 Surely, there was a voice of love in the invita- 
 tion. Come unto me, and I will give you rest. 
 Surely, there is tenderness, yet power, in the 
 appeal, Look unto me, and be saved ! And can 
 these things have sounded in your ears, and yet 
 
THE ELEVENTH HOUR. 
 
 401 
 
 have involved you in no responsibility; yet 
 have you the plea to urge, No man hath 
 hired us! 
 
 And can any urge this plea, who have been 
 appealed to, as the most, may I not say all of 
 you, at some period or other have been, by the 
 afflictive dispensations of the Lord's providence ? 
 Who is there among you, that hath never been 
 bowed down by the touch of sickness, or racked 
 by the throb of pain^ Who is there among 
 yv-u, that hath never been startled by some fatal 
 accident, awed by some sudden death % Who is 
 there among you, that hath never been called to 
 mourn some dying relative, to weep beside the 
 bier where lay some cherished dear one \ And 
 have these tilings passed by, and left no call 
 behind them to give heed to your souls' con- 
 cerns ; have ;hese things appealed to you, and 
 still left you the excuse. No man hath hired us ! 
 Or can any urge this plea, who have been 
 striven with, as ye have been, by the monitions 
 of conscience? May I not confidently ask, 
 whether there be one among you, who has not 
 thus been striven with? What! have mercies 
 from -the Lord's hand surrounded you all your 
 days, and never awakened the enquiry, How am 
 I serving Him, who has done so much fcr me ? 
 Hath the message of salvation been again and 
 again sounded in your ears, and never aroused 
 
 D D 
 
 :lli 
 
11 
 
 IffKB ! 
 
 >ii 
 
 402 
 
 THE ELEVENTH HOUR. 
 
 the self-enquiry, Am I at peace with God'? am 
 I washed in the blood of Jesus 1 Am I fit for 
 heaven'? Have the warnings of God's provi- 
 dence fallen thick around you, and never made 
 you ask ; Suppose it should be my turn next ; 
 am I prepared to meet my Godl Surely, the 
 heart must be hard as the nether mill-stone, 
 that hath never been stirred by such thoughts 
 as these; and who that hath had a monitor 
 within to sound the note of warning in his soul, 
 can say : No man hath hired us ! 
 
 III. Proceed we, however, to notice, in the 
 third place, the engagement which the Lord 
 makes with those who had been thus unem- 
 ployed; "Go ye also into the vineyard, and 
 whatsoever is right, that shall ye receive." 
 There are sever: il important topics, which 
 suggest themselves under this head, and to some 
 of these let me now entreat your attention. 
 
 1. And, first, it is worthy of remark, that it 
 was at the eleventh hour, not at the twelfth, 
 that the last oifer was made to the laborers who 
 had been standing idle. For as the day had 
 waned, there was yet a portion of it left in 
 which work might be performed. Though the 
 day was nearly gone, there was still one hour in 
 which those who then received the call might 
 glorify the Lord that called them. Whatever 
 
THE ELEVENTH HCUR. 
 
 403 
 
 encouragement, then, men may attempt to draw 
 from some passages in the word of God for 
 delaying repentance to ti dying hour, there is 
 no such encouragement to be drawn from the 
 parable now before us. It is not when life is 
 ebbing fast away, when the sight has become 
 dim to the gaudy color of earth's vanities, when 
 the creeping step of death hath chilled the 
 heart's love for the follies by which it had been 
 engrossed, and the pleasures of this life have 
 lo£t their sweetness only because the senses 
 have begun to fail; it is not then that the call 
 of the text is addressed to the sinner's soul, Go 
 ye also into the vineyard. No ! whatever hope 
 the messages of God's mercy may whisper to 
 the mourner's ear in the case of those who even 
 at the last moment have turned the eye of faith 
 to Jems, there is not one word in the blessed 
 book which encourages a sinner to delay his 
 own soul's concerns to the uncertain moment of 
 a dying bed. And yet, how many speak of the 
 eleventh hour, as though it meant but the few 
 last struggles of expiring life ; as though the 
 sinner had yet time to seek for mercy, when 
 the call is even now upon his ear; Pre- 
 pare to meet thy God ! Oh ! which of you can 
 say, whether even his eleventh hour is not 
 nearly gone, and hath but a few sands to run, 
 before the time of reckoning sh 
 
 
 arrive 
 
 D D 2 
 
THE ELEVENTH HOUR. 
 
 2. For, secondly, we perceive that in the case 
 of the laborers in the text, the eleventh hour, late 
 as it was in the day, was the first at which the 
 invitation to labor in the vineyard had sounded 
 in their ears. They could say with truth, No man 
 hath hired us ; and as soon as the engagement 
 offered they closed readily with its terms. This 
 we may observe, also, concerning the case even 
 of the dying thief He had seen nothing of 
 Jesus before he met Him as a scorn of men 
 and the outcast of the people, condemned like 
 himself to an ignominious and accursed death. 
 But even then, in circumstances so little favor- 
 able to the encouragemt it of faith in Jesus, on 
 the first occasion on which the Saviour was held 
 up before his view, he looked to Him and lived. 
 Who then that from his infancy hath been 
 nurtured up beneath the ministry of gospel 
 salvation, who that from day to day, from year 
 to year, hath had the voices of the Lord's provi- 
 dence and grace urging him to fly to Christ, and 
 hath gone on in carelessness and sin, can draw 
 encouragement from cases such as these to put 
 off to a dying moment the vast, the awful 
 matters, of his soul's concerns ? Nay, beloved, 
 surely the call of the text is rather a solemn 
 appeal to you to come at once to Christ. It 
 may be that the last message of the Lord's 
 mercy is now sounding in the ears of some, — 
 
 ,_./%', 
 
THE ELEVENTH HOUR. 
 
 405 
 
 of which ?— of you. It may be that your day 
 of grace is nearly closed ; O ! seize the fleeting 
 hour on its flight ! " Behold, now is the accepted 
 time ; behold, now is the day of salvation !"* 
 
 3. Yet again, we observe, with regard to those 
 who even at the eleventh hour close with the 
 offers of God's mercy in Christ Jesus, there is a 
 reward promised of mere grace, not of works, 
 but of Him that called them. " Whatsoever 
 is right," said the householder to the waiting 
 laborers, " that shall ye receive." The recom- 
 pence they did receive was one of pure favor, 
 not what they had earned. And so, while on 
 the one hand we are told that sin receives only 
 what it has earned in being punished with 
 death, eternal life is on the other hand the free 
 gift of God to all them that believe. St. Paul, 
 in looking forward to the crown of righte- 
 ousness, anticipated it only as the gift of God ; 
 and that not a gift reserved for him because of 
 his labors in the Church of Christ, but prepared 
 for "all them also that love His appearing."f If 
 we regard eternal life as a recompence, of what 
 is it the reward % Of what we shall have done 
 for God I No ! but of what He has done for 
 us ! It will be but the recompence of His own 
 grace, the reward of His < vvn mercy vouchsafed 
 ♦ 2 Cor. vi. 2. t 2 Tim. iv. 8. 
 
406 
 
 THE ELEVENTH HOUR. 
 
 • 
 
 I* ■'' 
 
 i'i 
 
 to our souls. It is the Lord's own grace that 
 at last makes the call effectual to those that 
 believe. It is God himself, that by His Spirit 
 worketh all their works in His people that serve 
 Him. Since then God's is all the work, surely 
 it is of His merest mercy that He brings any 
 child of grace to glory. Oh ! who is there that 
 knoweth anything of himself as a sinner and of 
 Jesus as a Saviour, that will not be ready even 
 now, amid all the weakness of the flesh, to 
 ascribe every particle of his salvation to the free 
 grace and mercy of the Lord ; rnd at the last, 
 amid the glories of the kingdom, to cast his 
 crown at the Redeemer's feet, saying, "Thou 
 art worthy, O Lord !" Thine is all the work: to 
 Thee be all the glory ! Oh ! are there any here, 
 that after years of carelessness and sin, strug- 
 gling against conscience, resisting God's Spirit, re- 
 jecting His word, have been brought low by some 
 message of His love, and had grace given them 
 to take up their cross and follow Christ ? Let 
 ;hem take encouragement, from His word, to go 
 on unto the end. " Whatsoever is right," He 
 saith, " that shall ye receive." It is right, we 
 cannot doubt, that they should receive whatever 
 He has promised. And His promise is this : 
 " Verily, I say unto you, there is no man that 
 hath left house, or parents, or brethren, or wife, 
 
THE ELEVENTH HOUR. 
 
 407 
 
 or children, for the kingdom of God's sake, 
 who shall not receive manifold more in this 
 present time, and in the world to come life 
 everlasting."* 
 
 * Luke xviii. 29, 30. 
 
 ;i' > 
 
 ^H 
 
^1 
 
 i 
 
 f 
 
 SERMON XXL 
 
 YET THERE IS ROOM. 
 
 Luke xiv. 22. 
 And yet there is room.'* 
 
 Few parables of our blessed Saviour are more 
 comprehensive in the view they present to us 
 of the whole Gospel scheme, than this of the 
 marriage feast. It sets before us at once the 
 free and sovereign mercy of the Lord, from which 
 proceeds the invitation to come and feast upon 
 thu bounties of His grace. It reveals to us the 
 great suitableness of the Gospel as a message of 
 peace and love to the poor, the maimed, the halt, 
 and the blind, the spiritually diseased, the help- 
 less, the corrupt ; and shows us that while "not 
 many wise men after the flesh, not many mighty, 
 not many noble, are called, God hath chosen 
 the foolish things of the world to confound the 
 * Preached in 1838, and now inserted by request. 
 
 
 1 
 
 5 
 
 
 1 1 i ' 
 
 
 ' < i 
 
 
 1 ' 
 
 Ill 
 
 11*8 
 
YET THERE IS ROOM. 
 
 409 
 
 wise ; and the weak things of the world to con- 
 found the things which are mighty; and base 
 things of the world, and things which are 
 despised, hath God chosen, yea, and things which 
 are not, to bring to nought things that are."* 
 The latter part of the parable, that from which 
 the words of the text are taken, appears peculi- 
 arly full of comfort and encouragement to poor 
 lost perishing sinners. When they who first 
 were bidden refused to come, and went their 
 way one to his farm, another to his merchandise, 
 the master of the house said to his servant, Go 
 out quickly into the streets and lanes of the city, 
 and bring in hither the poor and the maimed, 
 and the halt and the blind. And the servant 
 said, " Lord, it is done as thou hast commanded, 
 and yet there is room." The servant had gathered 
 all that he could find, he had assembled together 
 all the poor creatureshe had met with in the streets, 
 and yet there was room. And is it not so with 
 the oflFers of the Gospel 1 Is there not yet room 
 for all that will but heed the call, and come ? Is 
 there not yet room for all the poor sinners of the 
 present generation, for all that shall have their 
 being upon the earth to the latest time ? O yes ! 
 dear brethren, there still is room. Still do the 
 servants of the great Householder return to their 
 Lord and say, " And yet there is room;" Thy 
 * 1 Cor. i. 26—28, 
 
 ! i 
 
 iiri 
 
 MA 
 
J: 
 
 410 
 
 YET THERE IS ROOM. 
 
 message of salvation has been proclaimed ; Thy 
 invitations of free grace been given ; and some 
 have attended to the invitation ; some have 
 believed the report; but yet there is room. 
 Still do the servants of the Householder bring 
 back the same message from the Lord to their 
 fellow-sinners, " Yet there is room." The invi- 
 tation of the Lord is still held out to you ; His 
 call is still addressed to you ; your day of grace 
 still shines ; the door is stiU open ; yet there is 
 room. When there is no more room, the door 
 will be shut ; the trumpet will sound, and the 
 Lord shall come in to see the guests. But the 
 door still stands open, and while it is so, no poor 
 sinner, no wanderer in the highways and hedges 
 of a weary world, need fear but that there is 
 room for him; he need only come upon the 
 invitation he has received, and be welcome to 
 the blessed fellowship of those that shall, ere 
 long, sit down with Jesus in His heavenly king- 
 dom. Dear brethren, upon the graciousness of 
 this assurance we would desire to dwell a little ; 
 in the humble hope that your souls may be 
 quickened by the contemplation, and by the 
 thought. How rich in mercy, how plenteous in 
 redemption, how free in the invitations of His 
 grace, how rich in the stores of precious things 
 provided for those that come, the Lord our 
 strength is ! May the Lord God the Holy 
 
YET THERE IS ROOM. 
 
 411 
 
 Ghost be present, to sanctify our considerations 
 of the subject ; and so exhibit to our souls the 
 riches of God's mercy in Christ Jesus, that the 
 heart of every poor sinner here may be drawn 
 out in ardent longings for an interest in Him 
 who is so gracious and so good, so faithfiil and 
 so strong, in behalf of all that trust in Him ! 
 
 Let us then, dear brethren, having heard that 
 yet there is room, enquire where there is room, 
 AND for whom? 
 
 I. And in answer to the first question, Where 
 THERE 18 ROOM "? WO shall find that — 
 
 1. There is, in the first place, room in the 
 heart of God. Though " God is a Spirit, without 
 body, parts, or passions," as our Article ex- 
 presses it, yet in His tender condescension to 
 our limited capacif s, He has been pleased to 
 describe Himself to us figuratively in terms 
 drawn from our own nature. Thus we speak of 
 the arm of God as stretched out in protection of 
 His people, and in vengeance against His foes. 
 Thus we speak of the hand of God as pouring 
 out blessings upon the children of men, and 
 laying the rod of fatherly chastisement upon 
 those whom He loves. And thus we speak of 
 the heart of the Lord as the seat of those affec- 
 tions and feelings in the character of the invisible 
 God which, in their dift'erent degree, have their 
 
 1 
 
 1 . 
 
 i.^ 
 

 I 
 
 
 If ^^ 
 
 412 
 
 YET THERE IS ROOM. 
 
 habitation in the heart of man. Now the heart 
 is the seat of the affections, the abode of love 
 and tenderness, in those persons in whom these 
 feeHngs are found. Love is not a notion of the 
 head, an effort of the understanding, a principle 
 of the mind ; but it is an affection of the heart. 
 In saying, then, that there is still room in the 
 heart of God, we would assure you that His 
 love is not exhausted, that His tenderness, His 
 affection, is still waiting for objects on which to 
 exercise itself. We speak not — for we have but 
 little to guide us — of the manner in which, and 
 of the length of time for vhich, the love of the 
 Almighty Lord of all has been displayed in those 
 countless bright and glorious worlds that hold 
 their course in the heavens above. But we 
 know with regard to ourselves, that for nearly 
 6,000 years has the love of God been exhibiting 
 itself in every variety of form among the inha- 
 bitants of our earth. For that length of period 
 hath an unceasing succession of mercies and of 
 visitations, all equally displaying the tenderness 
 of God, continued to manifest the loving kind- 
 ness of His providence, and shown the gracious 
 feelings of His heart, toward the creatures of 
 His hand. But hath His love contented itself 
 with such displays as these ] Oh no ! He hath 
 not merely showered good things upon His 
 creatures, and been content to leave them to 
 
YET THERE IS ROOM. 
 
 413 
 
 enjoy these good things for a season, and then 
 to lie down in sorrow beneath the vengeance 
 which he could not withhold from their sins. 
 His heart hath yearned for their eternal welfare. 
 He hath longed to bestow upon them a full 
 measure of his own happiness and glory, and to 
 bring them to the full enjoyment of that favor 
 which « is better than life itself." The sin of 
 man, his obstinate rebellion, and perverseness in 
 transgression stood in the way. The Lord had 
 denounced vengeance against sin ; He had 
 threatened death against transgression; and 
 consistently with His own holiness and truth, 
 He could not let one sinner escape the ven- 
 geance due to sin. But His love had from all 
 eternity devised a plan by which this impediment 
 should be removed. His graciousness prompted 
 the surrender of what was dearest to His heart, 
 His owii, His well-beloved Son, that He might 
 suffer the vengeance which was due to the sin of 
 man. That love has been displayed. These motions 
 of Almighty love have been accomplished in the 
 agonies of Gethsemane, and the tortures in which 
 the Son of man expired upon Calvary. Thus 
 was man's sin atoned for, and by the same 
 amazing agonies was purchased for our rebel 
 race the gift of God's Holy Spirit, to turn the 
 hearts, to purify and sanctify the souls, of those 
 who, without His gracious influence, must have 
 
414 
 
 YET THERE 18 ROOM. 
 
 IWi 
 
 gone on still in ignorance and sin. And although 
 the love of God hath thus been shown, although 
 it has been displayed in such wondrous ways, 
 still it is not exhausted. All the gifts indeed 
 which are necessary to make man happy have 
 been thus provided for his acceptance ; but God's 
 love is still manifested in His long suffering 
 and patience, in the manner in which If e waits 
 for sinners to come and be reconciled to Him. 
 Surely any love but His would long since have 
 been exhausted by witnessing the manner in 
 which so many treat the offers of that love. 
 Surely any love but that of God would have 
 been long since worn out by the carelessness 
 and thoughtlessness of many, the self-satisfied 
 neglect of many more, the profligacy and sin 
 with which many more still, cast back the 
 offers of His love. But His love is not ex- 
 hausted. His tenderness is not worn out, His 
 heart is not yet closed. Even "yet there is 
 room." Yes, in the heart of the loving Lord, 
 there is room still. The number of His people 
 is not yet made up ; else would the world soon 
 come to an end. The overflowings of His love 
 have not yet filled all the vessels that are 
 designed for the Master's use in His kingdom 
 above. Dear brethren, in the heart of God. 
 believe it, " there yet is room." 
 
 2. But there is room is the second place, in 
 
 t^fe-- 
 
YET THERE 18 ROOM. 
 
 415 
 
 the fountain of Jesus' blood. There was, in 
 former times, at Jerusalem, by the sheep-market, 
 a pool named Bethesda, having five porches; 
 and indeed recent travellers assert that the 
 remains of those poiches, or of some of them at 
 least, are still to be discovered there. Its name 
 Beth-esda, or the house of mercy ^ was given to it 
 because of some miriculous virtue in the waters 
 of the pool, which was every now and then 
 imparted to them by the descent of an angel, 
 and which conveyed health to iin^ body of 
 that one among the poor sick multitude lying 
 in the porches, awaiting the angel's coming, 
 who first, after the troubling of the waters, 
 stepped in. Yes, the first one that was put 
 into the pool was healed, but there was no 
 room for more. The basin of the pool indeed 
 was large enough ; there was space enough in 
 it for fifty to have bathed ; but as regarded any 
 healing virtue it could impart, there was only 
 room for one. One only could receive a cure 
 at a time ; and that only once in a while. Was 
 it the gracious design of the Lord in maintain- 
 ing such a miracle, which ceased after the Lord 
 Jesus had paid His visit to Bethesda, to magnify 
 by the contrast the rich abundance of that pre- 
 cious stream which is ever suflScient, and always 
 open, to wash away the sins, and heal the soul's 
 disease of every sinner that applies? Behold, 
 
 'W 
 
 id 
 
 ■•!: 
 
YET THERE IS ROOM. 
 
 there is "a fountain opened" in the house of 
 David; it is "opened to the house of David, 
 and to tiie inhabitants of Jerusalem;" — that is, 
 it is opened alike for the Queen and for her 
 subjects; for the royal family and for the 
 beggars' children ; for the nobleman and for the 
 peasant ; for the rich and for the poor ; for the 
 soldier and for the citizen ; for the seaman and 
 for the landsman ; for parent and child, husband 
 and wife, master and servant; it is open to all 
 — "for sin and for uncleanness,"* One and 
 another, from the highest to the lowest, from 
 the richest to the poorest, " all have sinned, and 
 come short of the glory of God ; " f but, as " there 
 is no difference" in this matter, so neither is 
 there any respect of persons as regards the 
 abundant sufficiency of the fountain that has 
 been opened to waf their sins away. The 
 dying thief rejoiced to see that fountain in his 
 day ; and there he washed away the guilt and 
 the pollution of his sinful soul. The depth of 
 his iniquity was not so deep as the fountain of 
 the blood of Jesus; the corruption of his soul 
 was not so black, but that the stream from 
 Jesus' heart could wash him white as snov/. In 
 that same fountain, have all those been washed 
 that from the time of Adam's fall to this present 
 hour have been placed by faith amid the Lord's 
 
 * Zech. xiii. 1. 
 
 t Rom. iii. 23. 
 
YET THERE IS ROOM. 
 
 417 
 
 redeemed. All that with sinful and polluted 
 souls have come to this fountain to be washed, 
 have found it sufficient for their cleansing. All 
 the diseased and dying sinners that have come to 
 this precious fountain for recovery, have found 
 it a well of water springing up in them to ever- 
 lasting life. All that, at the present moment, 
 over the whole surface of the globe, are washing 
 by faith in that healing stream, are now expe- 
 riencing its virtues, and find it a stream to 
 cleanse and wash their guilt away ; and all the 
 Lord's people that are now upon the earth, that 
 liave as yet been called and justified, are washing 
 continually in that stream. And yet, there is 
 room. The space is not yet occupied ; its 
 virtues not exhausted. The blood of Jesus hrs 
 the same power now as when it <^rickled fresh 
 beneath the thorny crown, to cleanse from all 
 iniquity ; the stream that gushed from His side 
 was an infinite stream, capable of filling all 
 space, and of extending its virtues as far as the 
 stars of heaven roll in their courses, to as many 
 as would be reckoned by the sands on the sea 
 shore. It hath not lost one particle of its 
 virtue ; and is yet as free of access, as if not 
 one had come. Dear brethren, the blood of 
 Jesus hath washed away the guilt of thousands, 
 yea, of millions of our race ; but it can wash 
 
 E E 
 
 I 
 
 y ! 
 
 !■., 
 
 VA 
 
 m 
 
 'If; 
 
I? if 
 i 
 
 lit di i 
 
 , iMIl 
 
 1! 
 
 lifri 
 
 418 
 
 YET THERE IS ROOM. 
 
 the guilt away of a thousand times as many 
 more. Yet, then, there is room for you. The 
 stream that flows from Jesus hath satisfied the 
 thirst of millions of needy, fainting, sinners ; 
 and it is sufficient to satisfy the wants of as 
 many millions more. Yet, then, dear brethren, 
 there is room for you. The sun that shines 
 on you hath shone upon all the millions that 
 have walked upon the earth ; but its beams are 
 as bright as ever, its light and heat as abun- 
 dantly imparted to you as to the first man that 
 saw and felt it. The boundless ocean hath 
 floated a thousand waves in its day, and is now 
 traversed from end to end by countless ships ; and 
 yet we might cross it to our father-land, and not 
 discover that there was one vessel but our own 
 upon its waste of waters. Such is the fountain, 
 nay, the ocean of the blood of Jesus. Thousands 
 have sailed through it to heaven. Thousands 
 are now under the Lord's pilotage pursuing their 
 voyage thither. And yet there is as much room 
 for us to follow by the same way to heaven, as 
 if there were none beside ourselves on a voyage 
 to a heavenly home. Thousands, too, have 
 been gladdened in their voyage, and found 
 their vigor and their health by the beams of the 
 Sun of Righteousness ; and yet there is as much 
 warmth and light, and life, and healing, in His 
 
YET THERE IS ROOM. 
 
 419 
 
 wings for you and me as for the first of Adam's 
 race that was saved from Adam's sin. Oh, yes, 
 dear brethren, even yet, there is room. 
 
 3. And, thirdly, as there is room in the blood 
 of Jesus for your salvation here, so is there yet 
 room in heaven to receive you hereafter. In that 
 vision in which the beloved Apostle of our Lord 
 was permitted to gaze upon things that shall be 
 hereafter, he saw " a great multitude which no 
 man could number," out of every nation under 
 heaven. This multitude was made up of the 
 Lord's children, of those that had " washed their 
 robes and made them white in the blood of the 
 Lamb."* And though this countless multitude 
 were there, yet was there room still. There was 
 room for the Apostle to stand and gaze with 
 wonder upon the throng of the redeemed. Yea, 
 he saw there room enough, not only for those 
 that had thus been gathered out of all the 
 world, but room enough for all the inhabitants 
 of the world itself. If the whole world are not 
 admitted, then, it will not be for lack of room to 
 admit them, if they would but apply for ad- 
 mission. Shall the Gospel be preached to every 
 creature in all the world, and shall there not be 
 room in heaven for every creature to enjoy the 
 promise of the Gospel, if they will but heed the 
 message and receive it into their hearts ] Oh, 
 
 * Rev. vii. 9—14. 
 E E 2 
 
 i na 
 
 hi 
 
 I:. 
 
 ^r< 
 
 ill' 
 
 T 
 
I L ! 
 
 I'ii 
 
 420 
 
 YET THERE IS ROOM. 
 
 yes ! yet there is room. Many that while on 
 earth were sheltered in Jesus, have, long ere 
 this, been landed on the heavenly shore. Thou- 
 sands that have profited by the Lord's message 
 in their state of trial, and have received and fed 
 upon the manna of His Word, have, long ere 
 this, arrived at the heavenly Canaan, and 
 exchanged the manna of this wilderness for the 
 bread of everlasting life. Y^a, millions that 
 by faith have washed their robes and made them 
 white in the blood of the Lamb, are, long ere 
 this, before the throne of God, and serving Him 
 day and night in His temple ; and daily is their 
 number added to. And yet there is room. " In 
 my father's house," saith the Lord Jesus to the 
 twelve, and through them to all that should 
 believe on Him through their word, "In my 
 Father's house are many mansions ;"* yea, as 
 many as there are souls to be saved. The Lord 
 has gone thither to prepare a place for His 
 people, and until He comes again He will still 
 be preparing for them. Yet, then, there is 
 room. Dear brethren ! the time is short. The 
 Lord is at hand, even at the doors ; but so long 
 as He withholds His step, there yet is room. 
 It may be, that it is only for a moment ; but, for 
 the moment, there is room ! Yes ! Oh, fly then to 
 the door : it is not yet shut : there yet is room. 
 
 * John xiv. 2. 
 
 ! 
 
YET THERE liS ROOM. 
 
 421 
 
 IS room. 
 
 II. There is room yet. But for whom ] Is there 
 any poor sinner here that asks, Is there room 
 for me? Is there any poor sinner that shuts 
 the door against himself, and says, There is no 
 room for me? Let us ask, then, again, For 
 
 WHOM IS THERE ROOM ? 
 
 1. There is room and welcome, in the first 
 place, for eve ty poor sinner that feels his ungodli- 
 ness, that mourns his sin, that earnestly asks, 
 What must I do to be saved ? Yes ! there is 
 room and welcome for every poor sinner, that is 
 but made willing by the Lord's grace to forsake 
 his sins, and be saved. " Ho, every one that 
 thirsteth, come ye to the waters," is the gracious 
 invitation still addressed to you; " come ye, buy 
 and eat ; yea, come, buy wine and milk without 
 money and without price."* « The Spirit and 
 the bride say, Come ; and let him that heareth 
 say, Come; and let him that is athirst come. 
 And whosoever will, let him take the water of 
 life freely. "t Dear brethren! do ye feel sin a 
 burden ; do ye faint unde- it ; and long to be 
 free from if? Come! there is room for you 
 and welcome, in His redemption, upon whom 
 your burden has been laid. Do ye find that 
 after all your draughts of worldly comfort, ye 
 still thirst ; and do ye long for that well-spring, 
 tliat floweth to everlasting life ? There is room 
 for you, and welcome, at that stream, of which 
 * Isa. Iv. 1. f Rev. xxii, 17. 
 
 ffl 
 
 If: 
 
 Jr-i 
 
 

 I 
 
 1',! 3 
 
 ' ii 
 
 422 
 
 YET THERE IS ROOM. 
 
 whosoever drinketh shall never thirst. Have ye 
 been given up in a complete slavery to the 
 world's customs, and pleasures, and sins 1 There 
 have been a thousand such that have turned 
 from the world to God; and there is room for 
 you on the same terms. Have ye ever been 
 given up to open sin 1 There are a thousand 
 such, that have been turned from their sin and 
 been saved. The dying thief, the adulterous 
 woman of Samaria, the persecuting and mur- 
 derous Saul, found, on turning to the blood of 
 Jesus, that there was room for them to wash 
 there : and there is room still ; yes ! there yet is 
 room for you. The door of heaven is indeed too 
 narrow to admit one of your sins with you ; but 
 there is abundant room and abundant virtue in 
 the stream in which ye may wash your sins 
 away. Yes ! poor sinner ! whosoever thou art 
 that art weary of sin, and thirsting for grace and 
 holiness and heaven, come ! " there yet is room ;" 
 room e\Qn for 1/ou. 
 
 2. And again, there is room and welcome 
 even for the backslider that returns to God. For 
 thus saith the Lord : " O Israel ! thou hast 
 destroyed thyself ; but in me is thy help." * 
 " Return, thou backsliding Israel, and I will not 
 cause mine anger to . ,Il upon you."-j' And 
 again, " I will heal their backslidings ; I will 
 love them freely. "J Who so great a backslider 
 
 * Ho8. xiii. 9. 
 
 t Jer. iii. 12. 
 
 I Hos. xiv. 4. 
 
 6* 
 
 a M i teMw 
 
YET THERE IS ROOM. 
 
 423 
 
 as Peter, who with oaths and curses denied that 
 he even knew his Master ! Yet F eter turned, 
 with deep repentance and bitter tears, to the 
 Lord; and the Lord had mercy on him, and 
 exalted him among His most devoted servants. 
 And what nrofessing Christian could sink deeper 
 than the incestuous Corinthian? And yet the 
 Apostle Paul encourages the hope that, by the 
 Lord's blessing upon the discipline used with 
 him, his spirit might be " saved in the day of the 
 Lord Jesus."* And are there any brethren here, 
 who, after witnessing a good confession, have gone 
 back to the world ; but who now are mourning 
 their ingratitude, and asking if there can be 
 room for them to hope that the Lord will look 
 upon them again? Dear brethren! there is 
 room even for you in the heart of God ; there is 
 room even for you in the precious fountain of 
 Jesus' blood. Only come to it by faith. Come 
 to it with dust upon your heads, with tears in 
 your eyes, with deep abasement and repentance 
 in your hearts, and you will find that there is 
 still room, even in heaven, for you. 
 
 But are there any here, who, through the 
 corruption and perverseness of their hearts, are 
 inclined to turn such gracious promises and 
 assurances as these into an encouragement for 
 their sin X Alas ! there always are, there always 
 have been such ; but we may not withhold their 
 
 * 1 Cor. V. 3— .5. 
 
 !i 
 
424 
 
 YET THERE IS ROOM. 
 
 bread from the Lord's children, because there 
 are some who would abuse it to purposes of 
 sensuality and sin. We may not withhold the 
 drop of wine from the weak and wounded sinner, 
 because there are some who drink to drunken- 
 ness. We may not hold back the precious 
 declarations of the fulness and the freeness of 
 salvation through the blood of Jesus, because 
 there are some who will conclude they may 
 therefore " continue in sin that grace may 
 abound."* Oh, no ! There is room, we repeat, 
 for every penitent sinner, however vile his sins 
 have been. There is room for every backsliding 
 sinner, that returns with deep abasement to the 
 Lord whom he has crucified. But, brethren ! 
 there is no room for the impenitent transgressor ; 
 no room for the ungodly worldling; no room 
 for the self-righteous Pharisee ; no room for the 
 hardened sinner. There is no room for you who 
 make light of these things, and follow your own 
 ways of worldliness and sin. There is no room for 
 you, who have nothing of religion but the name 
 and form, and in whom the Spirit of God has never 
 dwelt. There is no room for you, who think ye 
 are good enough, and will not come as poor 
 polluted sinners to the cross of Christ. There is 
 no room for you, who, though ye are living in 
 sin, yet try to palliate your sins, and think the 
 liord is too merciful to punish your trans- 
 
 * Roin. vi. 1. 
 
YET THERE 18 ROOM. 
 
 425 
 
 gressions. Said I, there is no room ? Oh ! let 
 me withdraw these words, and say, Yes, " there 
 is room" room even for you still to repent, still 
 to wash in the blood of Jesus, still to be saved. 
 There is still room for you to turn and forsake 
 these ways ; still room for you to seek the grace 
 of the Lord Jesus, and to be cleansed by His 
 Holy Spirit. But while ye refuse to hearken 
 to these calls, wliile ye go on in ways of world- 
 liness and sin, while ye continue impenitent 
 and unconverted, there is no room for you in 
 heaven ! O my friends, while the door is still 
 open, while Jesus still invites, while the Lord 
 still waits, Oh ! come, and ye will find that as 
 yet "there is room." But, Oh! tarry not; the 
 door will soon be shut, and then there will be 
 room no more. And when the door is shut at 
 last, if ye be shut out, whom can ye blame but 
 yourselves ? No one ; but your own perverseness, 
 and worldliness, and sin. None keeps you from 
 the door but your own evil heart; none holds 
 you back from the way of life but your own 
 perverse will. O brethren, arouse you and 
 flee to the ark of safety ; for, "Now is the 
 accepted time, now is the day of salvation."* 
 It may be that this is the last time your ears 
 may hear the assurance, that " Yet there is 
 room ! " 
 
 * 2 Cor. vi. 2. 
 
 i 
 
 
 I 
 
 
 ; C 
 
 I H ; ; 
 
 4 
 
 tt 
 
SERMON XXIL 
 
 PRAY ALWAYS, FAINT NOT. 
 
 Luke xviii. 1. 
 Men ought always to pray ^ and not to faint. 
 
 "O THOU that hearest prayer," exclaims the 
 Psalmist, "to thee shall all flesh come!"* 
 There runs throughout the animal creation an 
 instinctive feeling of dependence upon God. 
 " The eyes of all wait upon thee, O God, 
 and thou givest them their meat in due season. 
 Thou openest thine hand, and fiUest all things 
 living with plenteousness."t Man alone sets 
 up himself to be independent of his Maker, and 
 dares, in the pride of his heart, to inquire, 
 "Who is lord over usV'J 
 
 The popular axiom by which his self-com- 
 placency is flattered, that Man is a religious 
 creature, is one which seems contradicted by 
 
 * Ps. Ixv. 2. t Ps. cxlv. 15, 16. X Ps- xii. 4. 
 
PRAY ALWAYS, FAINT NOT. 
 
 427 
 
 every page in the history of the human race. 
 The first impulse of his fallen nature impelled 
 him to fly and hide himself from the presence 
 of the Lord God among the trees of the garden. 
 And so now, the voice of Providence may have 
 startled the careless one in his neglect of God, 
 and brought him, anxious and alarmed, to his 
 knees, crying out for mercy to the Lord he has 
 offiended ; yet, no sooner is the pressure of the 
 Lord's hand removed, than he forgets coo fre- 
 quently the vows of his hour of trouble, and 
 strives, by rushing further than ever from the 
 Lord, to blot out the remembrance of his 
 weakness. And, even when the voice of grace, 
 the still small voice of God's Spirit within the 
 soul, has convinced the sinner of his sins, and 
 brought him humbled to the foot of the cross, 
 and led him to look up to God through Jesus 
 Christ as to a father and a friend; there is, 
 nevertheless, no trial against which the rege- 
 nerate soul has more frequently to contend, than 
 its backwardness to prayer, its tendency to for- 
 mality in devotion, and the reluctance with 
 Avhich it has to drag itself, as it were, into the 
 presence of its gracious God. 
 
 Yet reason and revelation combine in urging 
 upon us, as the great duty of our dependent 
 condition, and the highest privilege of which 
 the soul is capable, that we should draw nigh 
 
 lit 
 
 H 
 
428 
 
 TRAY ALWAYS, FAINT NOT. 
 
 ^1 
 
 ■t'fj 
 
 unto God. '' It is," indeed, " good for us to 
 draw near to God,"* and to pour out our 
 hearts before Ilim, who is tlic I^ord of all. It 
 is good for us that we should feel and should 
 acknowledge our dependence ui)on God. It is 
 good for us that we should come, as dependent 
 creatures, unto Ilim, and draw out of the rich 
 supplies of His goodness and grace, the strength 
 and the support we need. It is good for us, 
 that we should be brought, as needy creatures, 
 unto Him, to sue for mercy, to plead for pardon, 
 to entreat His grace. It is good for us, indeed, 
 that we should be privileged to come to Him, 
 who knoweth those that trust in Him, and 
 should enjoy, in communion with Him, a pre- 
 cious foretaste of that blessedness which fills 
 the souls of the ransomed Church in heaven, 
 wherein is, " in His presence, the fulness of 
 
 joy."t 
 
 And no lovelier example can be found of the 
 blessedness of this great duty, of this great 
 privilege, than He who in the text enjoins the 
 exercise of it upon all who hear His word. 
 Who could, as we might suppose, have had 
 less need of prayer, than He in whom, even 
 in His lowliest state, there dwelt " all the 
 fulness of the Godhead bodily?" J Yet, where 
 shall we find a brighter illustration of the pre- 
 
 * Ps. Ixxiii. 28. t lb. xvi. 11. J Col. ii. 9. 
 
PRAY ALWAYS, FAINT NOT. 
 
 429 
 
 cept, " that men ought always to pray and not 
 to faint]" It was the rcfroshmont of his weary 
 body, as well as of His tried and tempted soul, 
 to draw near to His Father in heaven. When 
 they who had been endeavouring to compass 
 His desfniction went every man to his own 
 house, Jesus went unto the Mount of Olives.* 
 When His disciples were seeking the repose 
 they needed at the close of a day spent with 
 Hira in going about doing good. He went up 
 into a mountain to pray.f And when they whom 
 He had taken with Him to guard His privacy 
 in the last hours of His earthly ministry were 
 overpowered with sleep, He was on His knees 
 before His Father, crying in His agony, and 
 not fainting nor discouraged in His prayer, that 
 if it were possible the cup might pass from 
 Him.:}: Look then, my beloved, upon Jesus, 
 and see in Him a pattern of the great precept 
 to which I would now invite your earnest atten- 
 tion, " Men ought always to pray and not to 
 faint," Let us give heed to the precept now, 
 by entreating His presence and His blessing 
 in our present engagements. Let us lift up 
 our hearts to Him, that He may pour forth 
 upon us the grace of His Spirit, teaching 
 us the true meaning of prayer, filling us with 
 the Spirit of prayer, and giving us the rich 
 
 * John viii. 1. f Matt. xiv. 23. | lb. xxvi. 37 — 44. 
 
 
 U1 
 
 Mii 
 
 I 
 I 
 
430 
 
 PRAY ALWAYS, FAINT NOT. 
 
 blessing of prayer, in the enjoyment of com- 
 munion and peace with our Father which is in 
 heaven. 
 
 The words of the text will suggest to us a 
 consideration, first, of the duty enjoined, to 
 pray always; secondly, of the reasons why 
 men ought to pray always; and thirdly, of 
 
 THE discouragements AND DIFFICULTIES agaiust 
 
 which they must bear up, if they would not 
 faint in prayer. And may the Lord teach us 
 how to pray ! 
 
 u.i 
 
 I. Let us consider, in the first place, what is 
 meant by praying always. 
 
 L And, first, it means, at least, that we 
 should prai/ at regular and stated seasons. The 
 pealing of the Sabbath bell calls us at stated 
 times to draw near and worship in the sanctuary 
 of God ; and surely they do not " pray always," 
 who allow any plea but one of necessity, arising 
 from some providential impediment, to keep 
 them at such seasons from the public service 
 of the Lord's house. The need of family 
 blessings, and gratitude for family mercies, call 
 upr^n us to set up our altar in our households, 
 and to unite, morning and evening, in the social 
 exercise of prayer and praise ; and they do not 
 " pray always " who never, or only occasionally, 
 assemble as a family to bless the Lord for all 
 
 ^11 
 
 Stb^. 
 
PRAY ALWAYS, FAINT NOT. 
 
 431 
 
 His goodness, and to commit themselves to the 
 guidance of His providence and grace. The 
 sense of individual dependence upon God for 
 " life and breath and all things," a remembrance 
 of the many dangers to which we are continually 
 exposed, and of our daily, hourly need of pardon 
 and of grace, these should prompt at least the 
 morning and evening sacrifice of prayer and 
 praise in the secrecy of our closets ; and they, 
 surely, do not '' n-ay always," who do not regu- 
 larly as the moi ^ g dawns upon them, and when 
 they retire to rest, pray to their Father which 
 seeth in secret, and commit themselves, their 
 bodies and their souls, and all for whom they 
 ought to pray, to Him who alone can bless them. 
 9. To pray always, means to pray on particular 
 occasions, in every emergency wliich seems to 
 call for especial guidance and especial grace, 
 in our pilgrimage through this world of un- 
 certainty and change. How many are the 
 occasions, which seem calculated to draw the 
 Christian's spirit to communion with the Father 
 of mercies in Christ Jesus! Hath some tide 
 of unexpected prosperity flowed in upon usi 
 and shall we not go at once to Him who 
 alone can keep us from falling, and pray tliat 
 we may not be ensnared by it into forgetfuhiess 
 of God, or the neglect of our undying souls'? 
 Hath any stroke of sudden adversity borne us 
 
 *Sl' 
 
 1,1 /■ 
 
432 
 
 PRAY ALWAYS, FAINT NOT. 
 
 down ? and shall it not lead us to Him who alone 
 can bless it to us, with the prayer that He will 
 sanctify it to our soul's good, and bring us forth 
 out of the furnace purified and refined ] Are 
 we entering upon any business, setting out upon 
 any journey, contemplating any engagement 
 which may have an influence upon us in time 
 and in eternity 1 and shall we not make every 
 such season an occasion for drawing nigh unto 
 God, seeking diligently to know His will, desiring 
 to be guided by His Word, beseeching that we 
 be not led into temptation, entreating that we 
 be kept from evil? Oh! surely to "pray 
 always " is to make God the repositary of all 
 our cares, the guide of all our steps, the guar- 
 dian of all our interests, the source of all our 
 joys ; and " in everything " — whether in gladness 
 or sorrow, whether on temporal or spiritual 
 matters, whether in life or death, — "to make 
 known our requests unto God ! " * 
 
 3. To pray always, means to keep alive within 
 the soul the spirit of prater. Without this the 
 utmost regularity in going through the stated 
 seasons of public, family, and private worship 
 were, after all, but lip-service. Without this, 
 the habitual use of special thanksgivings and 
 special petitions, according as the oocasion calls 
 for them, were mere formalism or hypocrisy. 
 
 * Phil. iv. 6. 
 
PRAY ALWAYS, FAINT NOT. 
 
 433 
 
 Without this, whatever may be the frequency 
 of outward exercises of devotion, not only do 
 men not - pray always," they do not pray at 
 aU. It IS the keeping up of a devotional spirit, 
 the constant lifting up of the heart to God, the 
 pouring out of the soul before Him at all times 
 which is really the fulfilment of the duty to 
 " pray always." It is not needful, then, in order 
 to obey the Saviour's precept, that we should be 
 always on our knees. In the bustle of business, 
 in the exercise of domestic duties, in the crowded 
 thoroughfare, in the home circle, in the mart of 
 commerce, in the pursuits of literature, in the 
 halls of peace, and in the field of war, the Chris- 
 tian may enjoy a sense of God's presence, and 
 hold communion with his Father in heaven. 
 And there can be no better test than this of the 
 nature of our engagements and their consistency 
 with the will of God. Are we present at a 
 scene of pleasure, with which the recognition 
 of God's presence is evidently inconsistent, and 
 in which we shouM feel it ourselves to be a 
 mockery to ask God to bless it to our good; are 
 we engaged in any pursuit, upon which we' can- 
 not, dare not, ask God to look, and on which we 
 cannot seek His presence with our souls; are 
 we so far immersed in the world, that we cannot 
 lift up our hearts to God ; do we so order the 
 arrangements of our families, that, if Jesus were 
 
 V F 
 
 f 
 
 i ) 
 
 ! 1 
 
■f%^,— ^. 
 
 434 
 
 PRAY ALWAYS, FAINT NOT. 
 
 to visit US as He visited the sisters at Bethany, 
 everything would be felt to be unsuited to His 
 presence? Then, surely, our pleasures or our 
 pursuits, our home arrangements or our out-door 
 cares, are such as are endangering our souls, 
 and showing, too plainly, that we " mind earthly 
 things," and have not our affections "set on 
 things above." 
 
 II. Such is, in some measure, the duty en- 
 joined by our blessed Lord in the charge that 
 " men ought always to pray." Let us consider, 
 in the second place, some of the reasons, why 
 men ought to pray. 
 
 1. And, first, what other reason can we need 
 than this, It is the command of God? We need 
 not search far into the Word of God to find 
 abundant precepts, by which He inculcates 
 upon all that would enjoy His favor, the drawing 
 near with the voice of supplication unto Him 
 who made and who redeemed them. Our 
 Lord Jesus, Himself the only channel through 
 which prayer can ascend to God, continually 
 enjoins it. " Ask, and it shall be given you," 
 he says, " seek, and ye shall find ; knock, and 
 it shall be opened unto you. " * " Watch ye," he 
 enjoins on his chosen ones, " Watch ye, and 
 pray always." t And the Apostles, in the spirit 
 
 * Matt. vii. 7. 
 
 f Luke xxi. 36. 
 
PRAY ALWAYS, FAINT NOT. 
 
 435 
 
 ethany, 
 to His 
 or our 
 lut-door 
 i: souls, 
 earthly 
 ' set on 
 
 uty en- 
 'ge that 
 onsiuer, 
 
 Ns, why 
 
 ^e need 
 ^e need 
 to find 
 culcates 
 irawing 
 Lto Him 
 . Our 
 through 
 itinually 
 3n you," 
 9ck, and 
 1 ye," he 
 ye, and 
 he spirit 
 
 of their Lord and Master, unceasingly urge the 
 same great duty, « In everything, by prayer and 
 supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests 
 be made known unto God."* "I will," says 
 St. Paul, " that men pray everywhere." j- " If 
 any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God," $ 
 saith St. .Tames. " Draw nigh to God, and He 
 will draw nigh to you," § 
 
 2. Every precept, however, in which the duty 
 of prayer is enjoined, involves a second reason 
 why men ought to " pray always," as it con- 
 tains in connexion with it the j)romise of good to 
 those ivho pray. The Lord has not^ indeed, 
 bound Himself under any obligation not to do 
 good to any who do not pray. We know that 
 He acts according to His sovereign purpose and 
 grace, and frequently arrests the sinner in the 
 midst of his carelessness and sin, and leads 
 Him to pardon and to peace with Him. Yet, 
 assuredly, there is no promise in Scripture, of 
 any blessing, except to those who ask it ; while 
 we learn from the very words of Him who 
 cannot lie, that "every one that asketh re- 
 ceiveth, and he that seeketh findeth, and to him 
 that knocketh it shall be opened." Who is 
 there, then, that desireth good to his own soul ? 
 Prayer is the appointed channel through which 
 alone that good can come. Who is there that 
 
 * Phil. iv. 6. t 1 Tim. ii. 8. % Jas. i. 5. § Ibid, iv, 8. 
 
 F F 2 
 
II 
 
 i 
 
 11 
 
 ! 
 
 ij 
 
 pifHl 
 
 436 
 
 PRAY ALWAYS, FAINT NOT. 
 
 has been convinced of his condition as a sinner, 
 and feels his need, his abject need, of mercy, 
 pardon, salvation 'i God sitteth upon a throne 
 of mercy. Christ Jesus standeth at His right 
 hand, the Friend, the Advocate of sinners. Let 
 the guilty soul draw near, and looking unto 
 Jesus, pour out the sighings of his contrite heart 
 before the Lord : and he shall have the pardon 
 and the peace he needs. Who is there, that, 
 having fled to Jesus and put Him on as his 
 righteousness and peace, yet finds himself beset 
 with perplexities, encompassed with temptations, 
 assailed by sins ] The refuge is before him, the 
 way is open, the reception sure. For " God is 
 faithful, who will not suff'er him to be tempted 
 above that he is able ; but will with the 
 temptation also make a way to escape, that he 
 may be able to bear it."* Who is there, that, 
 desirous of walking with God through faith in 
 Christ Jesus, is yet encompassed with cares, 
 surrounded with trials, damped by disappoint- 
 ments, pressed down by bereavements, stricken 
 with calamity, overwhelmed with suff'ering and 
 sorrow ■? He is invited to cast all his care upon 
 God, who careth for him;-]- he is urged to bring 
 every sorrow and every suffering to his gracious 
 Father, who pitieth him " as a father does his 
 children ; " he is assured that the Lord knoweth 
 * 1 Cor. X. 13. t IPet.v. 7. 
 
cares, 
 
 PRAY ALWAYS, FAINT NOT. 437 
 
 them that put their trust in Him, that " He also 
 will hear their cry and will help fhem."* 
 Who, then, is there who desires the good of his 
 own soul t. Who that desires comfort in sorrow, 
 strength against temptulion, sympathy in suffer- 
 ing, support in trial, pardon of sin, grace to 
 overcome corruption, and the Spirit of God to 
 sanctify to him every dispensation '? Surely, he 
 ough;. to pr,^; to " pray always;" to keep up a 
 spirit of prayer; for prayer opens the windows 
 of heaven, so that showers of blessings are 
 poure( forth; prayer mounts upon the wings 
 of the angels of God, that ascend and descend 
 upon the Son of man,t and brings down by 
 their ministry the grace which He sees needful, 
 who hath Himself " borne our griefs and carried 
 our sorrows," and on whom our iniquities were 
 laid.$ 
 
 3. "Men ought to pray always," because 
 believing prayer not only has the promise of 
 good to the soul of him that offers it, but is 
 also the most effectual means which any Chris- 
 tian can employ for doing good to the souls of 
 others. Our Lord Himself, in his treatment of 
 the Apostle Peter, affords us a lovely example 
 of the value of intercessory prayer. He cau- 
 tioned Peter, He warned him of his danger. He 
 reproved Him for his self-sufficiency; and He 
 
 * Ps. exlv. 1 9. t John i. 5 1 . J Isa. liii. 5, 6. 
 
 1h 
 
 (I 
 
438 
 
 PRAY ALWAYS, FAINT NOT. 
 
 : 
 
 M 
 
 prayed for him that his faith should not fail.* 
 His cautions were unheeded ; His Avarnings only 
 led the disciple on to greater self-confidence and 
 boasting ; His reproofs seemed to mortify Peter's 
 feelings without abating his pride. But His 
 prayer for him was heard ; and the self-confident 
 Peter, while he learnt by his fall his own utter 
 weakness and worthlessness, was yet sustained 
 and recovered by the grace which his Master 
 had entreated for him. The Christian is a 
 member of a family, of a community, of a 
 Church. There are members of his household 
 whom he cannot influence by his warnings ; 
 there are members of the community whom his 
 remonstrances cannot reach ; there are brethren 
 and sisters in Christ Jesus, whose trials he may 
 feel for, but cannot relieve; whose inconsistencies 
 he may mourn over, but cannot remedy; but 
 for all these he can pray: and He who has 
 commanded that " intercessions be made for all 
 men,"t will assuredly bless His own ordinance, 
 and do good, as He seeth besv, to those whose 
 cases are thus brought before Him. And Oh ! 
 who is there, that has found the door of access 
 open to tlie r>resence of the Lord, our Father in 
 Christ Jesus, that is not deeply responsible for 
 the use he makes of this great privilege ; and 
 who ought not diligently to employ it in pleading 
 
 ♦ Luke xxii. 31, 32. 
 
 t 1 Tim. i. 1. 
 
PRAY ALWAYS, FAIKT NOT. 
 
 for blessings upon those who pray not for them- 
 selves, for grace for every one that is near and 
 dear to him, for peace to all them that love the 
 Lord Jesus, for the conversion of the ungodly, 
 the comfort of the afflicted, the support of the 
 tried ; for the success of every effort for the 
 good of man, and the coming of God's kingdom 
 of grace and glory in every nation, in every 
 land! 
 
 III. So reasonable seems the duty, so high the 
 privilege, so manifold the encouragements, so rich 
 the blessings of believing prayer, that we should 
 suppose the Christian, at least, would require 
 little urging to persevere in " praying always." 
 Yet, alas ! the hindrances, the discouragements 
 are many, and we, therefore, propose to consider, 
 in the third place, some of the difficulties 
 against which men must bear up, if they would 
 not faint in prayer. 
 
 1. And, first, there are impediments in the 
 way, which keep tis hack from prayer. The cares 
 and business of this present life often discompose 
 the mind, and fill it with such earthliness, that 
 he who desires his prayer to be a spiritual offering 
 and not a mere formal service, shrinks from thus 
 drawing nigh to Him who "is a Spirit," and must 
 be worshipped "inspirit and in truth."* The 
 
 * John iv. 24. 
 
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 440 
 
 PRAY ALWAYS, FAINT NOT. 
 
 anticipated engagements of business or pleasure 
 leave us, perhaps, but a few moments for prayer, 
 and v'f are ready to admit the suggestion, that 
 it U lirtter to postpone it altogether, than to offer 
 such a hasty sacrifice. Our great Adversary, 
 the Devil, desirous above all things to keep the 
 soul from prayer, assumes the form of an angel 
 of light,* n,nd urges us by a sense of the holiness 
 of God not to venture into His presence, unless 
 the heart be right with Him, and the mind be 
 free from distractions ; and raises such difficulties 
 in the way as tempt us to think it were better 
 to wait for some more prayerful season, and to 
 let the present occasion pass by. Yet, surely, 
 these are all temptations, against which the 
 Christian must bear up. If we allow the Avorld- 
 liness and distraction of our minds to keep us 
 away from prayer, are we likely, when we have 
 given the enemy such an advantage, to be less 
 beset with these imaginations at any future 
 timel How are we to get rid of our earthly- 
 mindedness, how to get the better of our coldness 
 and distraction, how to acquire a frame of mind 
 more suited to communion with the Lord but by 
 going to Him for it ; and, in spite of every im- 
 pediment, throwing ourselves upon His mercy, 
 and pouring out our perplexities before Him. 
 2. Again, there are difficulties in the way of 
 * 2 Cor. xi. 14. 
 
PRAY ALWAYS, FAINT NOT. 
 
 441 
 
 the spiritual worshipper even when he is engaged 
 in prayer. The mere formalist may go through 
 his exercises of devotion, and be unconscious of 
 any such impediment; but who that has been 
 taught the real nature of prayer, and led to 
 draw near to God in spiritual communion with 
 Him, has not found the time of prayer a time 
 at which all the vanities of the world and sin, 
 and all the temptations of the flesh and of the 
 Devil peculiarly beset him? How often will 
 the memory be then thronged with thoughts of 
 the merest trifles that have ever engaged the 
 mind ; and the plans and projects of the coming 
 day spread themselves out before the mental 
 view, when the heart should rather be fixing its 
 affections upon God, and the soul be pouring 
 out its sorrows and its need into the bosom of its 
 loving Saviour ! What Christian has not been 
 constrained to cry out with horror of himself, and 
 to admire the forbearance and long-suffering of 
 God in not abandoning him to a reprobate mind, 
 when he remembers how his imagination has 
 been defiled and his soul polluted with evil 
 memories or desires, perhaps at the very moment 
 when he has been bending at the table of His 
 Lord, to show forth his dying love ? Yet, despite 
 these temptations, " men ought always to pray, 
 and not to faint." Give way to these suggestions, 
 let tliem dri\ e you from a throne of grace, and 
 Satan's victory is gained. Resist them, strive against 
 
 . I 
 
442 
 
 N |) 
 
 11 
 
 fiti w 
 
 PRAY ALWAYS, FAINT NOT. 
 
 them, persevere in spite of them, faint not, nor 
 be discouraged by them, and the enemy shall flee 
 from you, and the Lord will manifest Himself to 
 you and give you peace. 
 
 3. And, thirdly, there are difficulties keeping 
 down the soul of the believer after he has been 
 engaged in grayer. He does not truly pray who 
 does not wait for the answer. Yet, perhaps, no 
 sooner does he come forth from his closet, than 
 some worldly conversation claims his attention, 
 or some worldly care intrudes itself into his 
 mind; perhaps, no sooner does he leave the 
 house of God, than the trivial remark or the 
 worldly project distracts his thoughts and en- 
 grosses his feelings. It may be that the subject 
 of his prayers is one for which he has again and 
 again besieged the throne of grace, and the evil 
 one is ready with the temptation, that it is of 
 no use for him to pray. It may be, that the 
 mind has been peculiarly harassed during prayer, 
 and the suggestion is readily made, that it were 
 presumption to expect an answer to such wander- 
 ing requests. Or, it may be, that the heart has 
 been lifted up by the exercise of the gift of 
 utterance and fluency in prayer, and the mind, 
 carried away by the current of its performances, 
 well-nigh forgets its dependance upon God. 
 Who is there that has ever prayed at all that 
 has not experienced some of these impediments 
 in the way of his watching unto prayer X Yet, 
 
 ittwu.. 
 
PRAY ALWAYS, FAINT NOT. 
 
 443 
 
 who is there that is not charged, despite all these 
 discouragenr . ts, > pray and faint not, remem- 
 bering th ai it n of grace from first to last, that 
 the Lord bestf ws the mercy that is needed, 
 and that no l/i , would more rejoice the Enemy 
 of souh' tha*? that he should succeed by these 
 temptatio'iS, in keeping the soul back from 
 prayer, and driving it from the mercy-seat of 
 God? 
 
 Let me now enquire of you, beloved, what 
 know ye of prayer 1 
 
 1. Prayer is thejirst symptom of spiritual life. 
 For when the Lord would encourage Ananias to 
 visit the once persecuting Saul, he announces to 
 him that " Behold he praycth."* Often had he, 
 who, after the straitest sect of his religion, had 
 lived a Pharisee, gone through the form of long 
 and stated prayers ; but it was only now, that 
 the grace of God had touched his heart, that he 
 really prayed. And how many of you, beloved, 
 may have gone through the outward service of 
 devotion, and yet, may never have offered up 
 a prayer to God? Have ye, like Saul, been 
 convinced of your condition as lost sinners, and 
 thrown yourselves for mercy upon the loving- 
 kindness of the Saviour Jesus % Have ye cried 
 out of the depth of your corruption unto Him 
 who died for you, and pleaded with Him for 
 
 * Acts ix. 11. 
 
 m 
 
 ! i 
 
444 
 
 PRAY ALWAYS, FAINT NOT. 
 
 't 
 
 ■if 
 
 'Wv 
 
 mercy, pardon, and peace ? If so, pray always ; 
 persevere, faint not, nor be discouraged. It may 
 be, that the Lord may keep you waiting, to see 
 what is in your heart ; but let your soul follow 
 hard after Him, and He will lift up the light of 
 his countenance upon you and give you peace. 
 
 2. Secondly, prayer is the best test of spiritual 
 health; for the soul can no more be in health with- 
 out continual prayer, than the body can flourish 
 without constant respiration. Prayer is to the 
 soul, what the play of the lungs is to the body. 
 There may be a sickly life while the respiration 
 is oppressed and the lungs diseased; but the 
 moment their action ceases, life is fled. And so 
 there may be something like spiritual life in the 
 soul, while yet prayer is heartless, and supplica- 
 tion cold; but let prayer be entirely given up, 
 and the soul will surely sink into the slumber of 
 death. Then only is the soul prospering and in 
 health, when prayer is in vigorous exercise, and 
 the spirit is continually panting after God, de- 
 siring more and more of His presence, seeking 
 more and more to be conformed to His will. 
 Beloved, how do your souls prosper ? Is prayer 
 to you a spiritual service "? Are the breathings 
 of your soul directed towards God "? Uo ye in 
 everything pour out your hearts before Him; 
 engaging in nothing upon which ye cannot ask 
 His blessing; anxious about nothing which ye 
 
PRAY ALWAYS, FAINT NOT. 
 
 445 
 
 cannot commit to Him, coming to Him at all 
 times as a Father and a Friend, and casting all 
 your care upon Him who careth for yoni 
 Pray always then, beloved, faint not nor be 
 weary, and in His good time your petition shall 
 be changed into thanksgiving, and your prayt r 
 be turned to praise. 
 
 3. Lastly, prayer is the highest state of spiritual 
 privilege ; for it is the enjoyment of com- 
 munion with God our reconciled Father. The 
 great privilege of Adam's state of innocence, 
 was his enjoyment of the presence of the Lord 
 God; his walking and talking with Him as a 
 friend. The highest privilege of man's rege- 
 nerated condition, when he has been "delivered 
 from the power of darkness, and translated into 
 the kingdom of God's dear Son," is his being 
 permitted to draw near to God, and hold com- 
 munion and sweet intercourse with Him, through 
 the mediation of Jesus. Surely, to pray in 
 earnest, with acceptance, with favor, is to enjoy 
 a foretaste here below of the blessedness of the 
 saints above. And yet, how often is the believer 
 constrained to drag himself to prayer, when he 
 should rather fly to it as his privilege, his 
 delight. Beloved, how is this with you? Is 
 your backwardness to prayer a pain and grief to 
 you X Docs your soul long after communion 
 with God? Have ye any enjoyment of His 
 
446 
 
 PRAY ALWAYS, FAINT NOT. 
 
 presence, any sense of His love, any fellowship 
 with Him ■? Oh ! if not, beloved, what is your 
 hope of heaven, what your interest in its 
 blessings, what your meetness for its joys ? But 
 if ye have indeed tasted that the Lord is 
 gracious, and have experienced the blessedness 
 of communion with Him, ye surely will scarce 
 need to be urged to pray always, to faint not, 
 nor be discouraged. So shall your " loins be 
 girded and your lights burning, and yourselves 
 like unto men that wait for their Lord, when 
 he will return from the wedding, that when 
 He cometh and knocketh, they may open unto 
 Him immediately. Blessed are those servants, 
 whom the Lord when he cometh shall find 
 watching."* 
 
 * Luke xii. 36, 37. 
 
SERMON XXIII. 
 
 NOW DARKLY— THEN FACE TO FACE. 
 
 1 Cor. xiit. 12. 
 
 Now we see through a glass darkly ; hut then face 
 to face : now I know in part ; hut then shall I 
 know even as also I am knoivn. 
 
 " Our light affliction," saith the Apostle, again 
 writing to the same Church of the Corinthians, 
 " Our light affliction, which is but for a moment, 
 worketh for us a far more exceeding and eternal 
 weight of glory; while we look not at the 
 things which are seen, but at the things which 
 are not seen : for the things which are seen are 
 temporal ; but the things which are not seen are 
 eternal."* 
 
 Oh! would, then, that we had a more realizing 
 senre of the nearness and the vastness of Eter- 
 nity! vTould that we brought its hght to bear 
 
 * 2 Cor. iv. 17, 18. 
 
 I 
 
 \m^-kM 
 
448 
 
 NOW DARKLY — 
 
 
 II i 
 
 IP 
 
 1;^ 
 
 more than we do upon the things of time and 
 sense ! How different would be our estimate of 
 the joys of this vain and fleeting world, did we 
 look upon them in some measure as we shall 
 do when we look back from an eternal scene ! 
 How different would be our view of the trials 
 and sorrows of this brief pilgrimage, if we 
 regarded them as parts of the process by which 
 the Lord prepares His people for Himself, and 
 contrasted them with the glory which shall be 
 revealed in His faithful ones ! 
 
 There are times when the Lord seems, in a 
 peculiar manner, to open upon us a view of 
 Eternity ; when He causes the glare of its awful 
 realities to startle the sinner in his path ; or a 
 beam from its glories to shine upon the tried 
 and afflicted walk of those whom He is bringing 
 through the furnace. There are times when the 
 rapid summons of one and another from the very 
 circle in which we move seems to call upon 
 young and old to pause and to consider, as they 
 too are hurrying towards the narrow line which 
 divides the visible from the eternal world, and 
 to enquire what fitness they are provided with 
 against the moment when their own call shall 
 come. There are times when the dying voices 
 of those that fall asleep in Jesus, bearing testi- 
 mony to the peace which sustains them amid 
 nature's agony, and to the hope which cheers 
 
THEN PACE TO FACE. 
 
 449 
 
 we 
 
 them amid the pangs of parting with all that 
 has been precious and beloved on earth, appear 
 like the messages of redeemed spirits bending 
 down from the joys on which they have already 
 entered, while they call upon the worldly 
 to believe that there is a truth, a substance in 
 the Christian's consolations, and urge those that 
 believe to give increasing diligence "to make 
 their calling and election sure." And who can 
 doubt that we, brethren, are fallen upon such 
 times as these? Within the one short month 
 which has gone with its account to God since the 
 new year dawned upon us, how many and how 
 various have been the calls which the voice of 
 God's providence, speaking from the death-beds 
 of the young and old, has addressed to this 
 community. Yea, even since the morning of 
 the last Sabbath, how thickly and how fast have 
 the visitations of the Lord's hand appealed to 
 us on one side and another, startling us, as it 
 were, by the tidings that the angel of the Lord 
 is among us, either warning us of the need to 
 put our house in order, lest his hand be 
 laid upon us suddenly in an instant, or 
 cheering us with the assurance of the victory 
 which the grace of the Lord Jesus gives over 
 the pains of death, of the peace with which His 
 promises sustain the soul, in the prospect of a 
 blessed and a glorious eternity. Beloved, shall 
 
 G G 
 
450 
 
 NOW DARKLY 
 
 these calls pass by us unimproved ? Shall these 
 dispensations leave us as worldly, as careless, as 
 unbelieving as before] The Lord forbid it! 
 The Lord accompany by His grace, and apply 
 by His Spirit the teachings of His providence ! 
 The Lord, whose hand is abroad among us, in 
 mercy, enable us to "hear the rod and who 
 hath appointed it !"* The Lord touch and soften 
 the hearts of such as look upon the afflictions of 
 those around them, as if they conveyed no lesson 
 to themselves ! The Lord console the wounded 
 hearts of those whom the stroke of His hand 
 hath bowed down in bereavement and distress ! 
 The Lord quicken the souls of His people, and 
 lead them to maintain a closer walk with Him, 
 and to cherish a livelier hope and more earnest 
 expectation of an inheritance amid His coming 
 glories ! 
 
 I would desire, beloved, to suggest for your 
 improvement of this solemn season, the words 
 of the Apostle, in the text. The dispensations 
 of the Lord's hand will surely suggest, even to 
 the unthinking, some reflection upon the con- 
 trast between the present and the everlasting 
 portion of those that love the Lord. The darkness 
 which enshrouds many of His dealings with His 
 creatures, and veils the motives which direct the 
 arrows from His hand at one rather than another, 
 
 * Micah vi. 9. 
 
THEN FACE TO FACE. 
 
 451 
 
 will surely constrain the thinking to admit the 
 sovereignty of His dispensations, and lead them 
 to look forward with joy to that brighter scene, 
 where everything that is now hidden shall be 
 revealed, and all that is now dark shall be made 
 light before His people. I would pray the Lord 
 to dispose you all, by His Spirit, so to contem- 
 plate His dealings, that ye may be ready to 
 " be still and know that He is God : " * and so 
 to dwell upon the contrast which the text sug- 
 gests, that ye may be continually looking for and 
 hasting unto that glorious kingdom, where there 
 shall be no more night, but the Lord shall be the 
 everlasting light, and God the glory of His people. 
 The text suggests for our consideration, be- 
 loved, a view, first, of the present condition of 
 the Christian, so far as concerns his knowledge 
 of the purposes and dealings of the Lord in 
 providence and in grace; and secondly, the 
 contemplation of the future glories that await 
 the true follower of Jesus in the world of light. 
 "Now," saith the Apostle, "we see through a 
 glass darkly ; " " now, I know in part." " Then 
 we shall see fece to face ; " " then I shall know, 
 even as also I am known." May the Lord enable 
 you to perceive, beloved, how far this is your 
 present condition ; and how far ye may look for- 
 ward to that glorious expectation ! 
 
 ■* Ps. xlvi. 10, 
 G G 2 
 
 ^' 
 
452 
 
 NOW DARKLY — 
 
 I 
 
 I. In considering the present condition of 
 the Christian, we are led to observe, 
 
 1 . That, there is a difference between even his 
 present state^ as an enlightened follower of Jesus, 
 and the state in which he lay hy nature^ until the 
 Spirit of God enliglitened him. " Now," saith 
 the Apostle, " we see through a glass darkly;" 
 but there was a time when we did not see at 
 all. By nature we are in darkness and in the 
 shadow of death; by nature we are blind, 
 ignorant, beclouded. 
 
 Simple as is the plan which the Lord has set 
 forth for saving sinners, plain as is, to one whom 
 the Spirit of the Lord has tauglit, the way of 
 salvation through faith alone in a crucified Jesus, 
 yet what a mystery does it appear to the natural 
 man ; yea, what a stumbling block in the way 
 of the carnal and unconverted heart. And plain 
 as is frequently the purpose which the Lord has 
 in view in many of His dispensations, yet how 
 slow is the unconverted man to perceive the 
 hand of God in every, the most trifling, event 
 that befals him ; how strange, how revolting to 
 His feelings the idea, that in the severest strokes 
 of the Lord's hand, there is not only wisdom, 
 but also love. Even the child of God, indeed, 
 may be unable, while under the heavy pressure 
 of affliction, to realize this truth for his comfort 
 and support; but to the unconverted the very 
 
THEN FACE TO FACE. 
 
 45a 
 
 idea seems harsh and grating, that the wound 
 which makes his very heart to bleed, is inflicted 
 in love and tenderness. 
 
 It may be feared, that this is unsavory truth 
 to the natural man, more especially to him 
 whose mind is enlightened with the wisdom of 
 the world, whose understanding is furnished with 
 the treasures of earthly lore. Yet, unpalatable 
 as it is, it is no less a plain and an important 
 truth, that the most cultivated intellect is dark 
 as chaos, with regard to the things of God, until 
 it be enlightened by the Spirit of God, and 
 taught by wisdom from on high. 
 
 2. We, secondly, observe, that he, who has 
 been thus enlightened from on high, is enabled 
 to perceive and know something, at least, of the 
 purposes and the glory of God, even in this 
 probationary state. He is " turned from darkness 
 to light."* "For God, who at the first com- 
 manded the light to shine out of darkness, hath 
 shined into his heart, to give the light of the 
 knowledge of the glory of God in the face of 
 Jesus Christ, "f 
 
 He sees the glory of God displayed in the 
 wondrous plan of salvation, by which the sinner 
 is saved of mere grace, accepted freely in Christ 
 Jesus, delivered from the bondage of corruption, 
 and adopted into the family of the heirs of 
 
 * Acts xxvi. 18. 
 
 t 2 Cor. iv. 6, 
 
454 
 
 NOW DARKLY — 
 
 r< 
 
 heaven. The cross of Christ, which was to the 
 Jew a stumbling-block, and to the Greek foolish- 
 ness ; * which still offends him who cannot see 
 that all his good works are good for nothing as 
 grounds of acceptance with God, and which is 
 still foolishness to him who cannot bear to be 
 told that there is but the one way of salvation 
 for him and for the most ignorant or the most 
 abandoned of his fellow-men ; this cross of Christ 
 is the glory and the joy of him who is spiritually 
 enlightened. He reads in the print of the nails, 
 from which the gushing blood of Jesus flowed, 
 the truth that " without shedding of blood, there 
 is no remission" of sin ;f he hears in the dying 
 cry of Him who hung upon the tree, the assu- 
 rance that his sins have been remitted, and his 
 iniquities borne away. He sees in the darkness 
 which surrounds the cross a testimony of that 
 dread hatred of sin which constrained even the 
 loving Father to hide His face from His beloved 
 One for sinners' sakes ; he hears in the rejoicing 
 cry, " Father, into thy hands I commend my 
 spirit," a proof of that wrath having passed 
 away from all who are in Christ Jesus, and that 
 in Him, their Surety, they are at peace with 
 God. He perceives, then, in the cross, how 
 " mercy and truth are met together, righteousness 
 and peace have kissed each other;" J how the 
 * 1 Cor. i. 23. t Heb. ix. 22. t Ps. Ixxxv. 10. 
 
THEN FACE TO FACE. 
 
 455 
 
 Lord can be " a just God," and yet "a Saviour;"* 
 how he himself, vile and polluted as he is, can 
 yet be thus reconciled and at peace with God, 
 can yet be the friend of Jesus, and an heir of 
 heaven. 
 
 And as he thus sees something of the glory of 
 God in the great scheme of man's salvation, so 
 he is enabled also to perceive the traces of God's 
 loving hand in the various dispensations of His 
 providence. It is the precious privilege of the 
 Christian, and a thing which distinguishes him 
 from the mere child of the world, to see God's 
 hand in every thing, and to trace His footsteps 
 even upon the great deep. Where men in 
 general see but the course of nature, he sees the 
 finger of the Lord. Where the world would 
 dwell upon mere second causes, he looks up, 
 through them all, to the sovereign and dispos- 
 ing hand of God. Where the children of the 
 world recognise but the pressure of a hard fate, 
 he sees the presence of a loving and gracious 
 Father, who "doth not afflict willingly, nor 
 grieve the children of men."-]' When others are 
 calculating upon the chances of life, and arraign- 
 ing fortune for the calamities that oppress them, 
 he knows that his times are in the Lord's hands, 
 and that all things are ordered of Him. And 
 the blessedness of his privilege is this ; he 
 
 * Isa. xlv. 21. 
 
 -j- Lam. iii. 33. 
 
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 NOW DARKLY 
 
 knows that the hand which apportions him his lot 
 is the hand of a Father and a Friend ; he is 
 assured, that whatever be the Lord's dispen- 
 sations, they are guided by wisdom and by love, 
 and knows, that when the pressure of His hand 
 is most painful, its chastening is still inflicted 
 " for his profit, that he may be partaker of God's 
 holiness."* Beloved, if this be the condition, 
 this the character of the enlightened follower of 
 Jesus, who would not desire to share its com- 
 forts, and to partake its blessings ? 
 
 3. Yet we observe, thirdly, concerning his 
 present condition, that there are limits to the 
 knowledge which the Christian now enjoys 
 concerning the purposes, in providence and in 
 grace, of our loving and gracious God. He sees 
 indeed, but it is " through a glass, darkly ;" he 
 knows, but it is only " in part." 
 
 How true is this concerning the knowledge 
 which even the enlightened soul enjoys, with 
 regard to the mystery of godliness! He sees 
 and knows something, indeed, concerning that 
 wondrous mystery ; but yet how little, compared 
 with what there is to be known. He knows, 
 in connexion with the great scheme of his salva- 
 tion, something of the deceitfulness of his own 
 heart, the depravity of his nature, the corruption 
 of his soul : yet, who can fathom the depths of 
 
 * Heb. xii. 10. 
 
THEN FACE TO FACE, 
 
 467 
 
 desperate wickedness that lie hidden in his 
 heart; nay, who can even "understand his 
 errors," or tell the thousand sins of thought, 
 of word, of act, that continually defile him? 
 He knows something, indeed, of the plan by 
 which his sins are transferred to Christ, and the 
 righteousness of God imputed to him : but who 
 can comprehend the mystery of the manifesta- 
 tion in human flesh of Him who is " God over 
 all?" who can understand the way in which the 
 Christian dwells in Christ, and Christ by His 
 Spirit dwells in him, subduing his iniquities, 
 renewing his nature, comforting him in tribula- 
 tion, sustaining him in death ; who can explain 
 the wonders of that "love which passeth know- 
 ledge," or sound the depth and height, or 
 measure the length and breadth of the fulness 
 that is in Christ ? He knows, indeed, something 
 of the nature of that portion which the Lord 
 has provided for His ransomed ones in His 
 eternal kingdom ; yes, he has even tasted some- 
 thing of its blessedness, and caught a glimpse 
 of the celestial city: but who can sing the song 
 of Moses and the Lamb, who tell the glories 
 that surround the throne of God, who even 
 picture to his ardent mind the joys that are at 
 His right hand, the scenes of glory and of light 
 in which the people of the Lord pass that 
 eternal Sabbath wherein there is no end of 
 
' 
 
 458 
 
 NOW DARKLY — 
 
 thankfulness and praise ? Yet, if the part be so 
 entrancing, if the little that we know of peace 
 with God, and of the anticipated glories of His 
 people be so elevating, so glorious. Oh! who 
 that believes the record that we bear, can go on, 
 as so many do, ignorant of Jesus, and unin- 
 terested in His glory 1 
 
 And how limited is the Christian's knowledge 
 concerning the purposes of the Lord's dispen- 
 sations, and the rule of his providential dealings ! 
 He sees indeed, the general purpose of the 
 Lord; he knows that His dealings with His 
 people are all in love ; he is assured, that His 
 dispensations with himself are all designed 'o 
 profit him, by weaning his affections from the 
 world, and leading him to greater spirituality, to 
 more frequent communion with the Lord, to 
 a more ardent longing for His glory, and greater 
 diligence to be made meet for His kingdom : 
 yet, if he allows himself to ask, Why this par- 
 ticular dispensation 1 if he ventures to enquire, 
 What is the gracious purpose that the Lord has 
 specially in view in this dealing of His provi- 
 dence ■? how often will he find himself at fault. 
 He sees one taken from a scene of usefulness, 
 just at the moment when, as far as he can judge, 
 the cause of God would have been most 
 promoted by his stay ; he sees another kept 
 lingering upon a bed of sickness, in uselessness. 
 
THEN FACE TO FACE. 
 
 459 
 
 80 far as man can discern, a very burden, it may 
 be, upon those around ; he sees the young struck 
 down, perhaps in a moment ; and the aged, in 
 the prolongation of their stay enquiring, " Why 
 tarry the wheels of his chariot V he sees the 
 pr 3nt, just at the moment when a parent's care 
 is most important, taken from r. helpless charge ; 
 he sees the husband bereaved of the desire of 
 his eyes with a stroke ; he sees the child called 
 away from a widowed mother, who was leaning 
 upon him as the prop of her declining years ; and 
 though he sees the hand of God in this, and 
 knows the motive of all these dispensations is 
 love to His people's souls, yet he sees but 
 "darkly" the wisdom which has so ^ranged, 
 and is constrained to be dumb and not open his 
 mouth, because it is the Lord that has done it.* 
 "Clouds and darkness are round about Him;" 
 yet " righteousness and judgment are the habita- 
 tion of His throne."! " His way is in the sea: 
 and His path in the grpat waters, and His foot- 
 steps are not known. "J 
 
 II. Yet, let us proceed, beloved, to consider 
 in contrast with this present darkness, which still 
 remains even upon the mind of him who is 
 taught of God, the light of the knowledge 
 OF the glory of God which awaits him in his 
 * Ps. xxxix. 9. fPa. xcvii. 2. | lb. Ixxvii. 19. 
 
460 
 
 NOW DARKLY- 
 
 eternal state. Then shall he see " face to face : " 
 then shall he know " even as also he is known." 
 1. How glorious this expectation, with regard, 
 first, to the wonders of redeeming love. The eye 
 hath not seen indeed, nor the ear heard, neither 
 hath the heart of man conceived " the things 
 which God hath prepared for them that love 
 Him." Yet, though we cannot comprehend 
 their fulness and extent, we can form some idea 
 of their nature ; for " God hath revealed them 
 to us by His Spirit :"* and we know in this way 
 that the chief joys of a redeemed soul are the 
 possession of peace with God, the enjoy mert 
 of communion with Him by the Spirit, the 
 realizing the presence of Jesus with the inmost 
 soul, the out-pouring of the heart to God as a 
 reconciled God and Father in Christ Jesus. 
 "Now," how many things disturb this peace ; how 
 many are the interruptions to this communion 
 with God; how frequent the clouds which rise 
 between us and the light of the Saviour's 
 countenance ; how many the clogs which keep 
 down the aspirations of the soul, and wr' ^h 
 down the wings of prayer and praise ! Lat, 
 " then," there shall be none of this. Then we 
 shall see the blessed Jesus as He is. Then 
 shall we behold the loving Saviour face to face, 
 and know Him as well as we are known. Faith 
 * 1 Cor. ii. 9, 10. 
 
THEN FACE TO FACE. 
 
 461 
 
 now sustains the soul in peace with God, and 
 as faith becomes weak its peace is disturbed ; 
 but what shall disturb its peace, when it rests 
 not on faith, but sight, when we shall see Him, 
 and be with Eim, beholding His glory, feasting 
 on His love? Hope now supports the soul 
 amid the faintings and the fears of this tried 
 pilgrimage, and as hope flags, the comforts of 
 the soul decay. But what shall affect its 
 blessedness, when hope is exchanged for enjoy- 
 ment, and the soul shall have entered on the 
 full possession of the glories of our Father's 
 house ? To be with Jesus, to behold Him face 
 to face, to see Him as He is, to gaze upon the 
 glories of His eternal state, to comprehend the 
 vastness of His love for man, to pore over the 
 depth of His humiliation, to be clothed with the 
 brightness of His glory, to be changed into a 
 complete resemblance to His image, to know 
 Him as intimately as He knows us, and this 
 without any risk of change, this for ever, and 
 for ever ; Oh ! who can thinli of this as the 
 portion of the Lord's ransomed people, and not 
 desire to know and be assured that he is among 
 the number? 
 
 2. And how precious is the expectation which 
 the text holds out, secondly, concerning the 
 view that then shall break upon the Christian of 
 the nature of the Lord's dealings with him while 
 
462 
 
 NOW DARKLY- 
 
 passing through this vale of tears. The Israelite 
 was charged by Moses, to remember when he 
 should have arrived at the promised land, all 
 the way by which the Lord had led him in the 
 wilderness ; how He had suffered him to hunger, 
 and fed him with manna; how He had chas- 
 tened him as a father doth his children ; in what 
 manner He had sustained and comforted him 
 amid all the trials of his way.* And how clear 
 will be the retrospect which the Christian, 
 arrived at the heavenly Canaan, will be enabled 
 to take of the various trials of the pilgrimage 
 through which he was prepared unto glory. 
 How completely will the cloud which now hangs 
 over the dealings of the Lord's providence be 
 then cleared away ; how brightly will the light 
 then shine upon every dark corner of the path, 
 which here often terrified and affrighted him. 
 How clearly will he then perceive the whole 
 process by which all things have worked toge- 
 ther for his good ; how plainly discern the love 
 that guided every step by which he advanced in 
 meetness for God's kingdom ! The providences 
 which here seemed so mysterious, — how trans- 
 parent will they then appear ; the strokes, which 
 were not more painful than they were unac- 
 countable, — how well timed will they then seem, 
 how exactly suited to accomplish what the Lord 
 
 * Deut. viii. 1 — 5. 
 
THEN FACE TO FACE. 
 
 463 
 
 would have had done. How important will 
 then seem the bearing of many a trifle, as he 
 here considered it, upon his usefulness or his 
 peace; how momentous will he then perceive 
 to have been the mere casual word, which here 
 he thought could have little influence for either 
 good or evil! The dispensations, which he 
 hoped would have been blessed to others, but 
 was disappointed of his hope,— he will then see 
 to have been arrows shot at a venture, which hit 
 just where the Lord directed them ; the trials by 
 which his own path was beset, he will perceive 
 to have been the thorns by which the Lord 
 hedged up his way to keep him from straying to 
 the right hand or to the left. And Oh ! how 
 wonderful shall then seem to him all the way 
 by which the Lord hath led him; how sweet 
 shall it then be to trace the hand of love, when 
 here he shrunk as from the anger of the Lord ; 
 how glorious the confirmation he shall then 
 enjoy of the truth, that neither life nor death, 
 nor things present nor things to come, could 
 separate him from the love of God in Christ 
 Jesus his Lord ! * 
 
 How cheering, then, how animating the ex- 
 pectation thus held out in the prospect of the 
 dark valley, whose shadows now seem as i*^ were 
 to be flitting around us. The thought of death 
 
 * Rom. viii. 38, 39. 
 
464 
 
 NOW DARKLY 
 
 is usually a fearful and a painful one. Men 
 commonly regard it as a dreaded visitant, clothed 
 with terrors, whose coming is enough to make 
 the stoutest heart to quail. Yet how differently 
 would it be viewed, if men looked upon it 
 simply as the line which separates the present 
 time of darkness, of doubtings, and of fears, from 
 an eternity of glory, and of joy, and peace ; 
 the step which transfers the Christian from the 
 prison-house of the sinful flesh to the glorious 
 mansions of eternal liberty. Dearly beloved, 
 have ye this hope, this confidence in Christ? 
 Do ye believe that your sins are blotted out in 
 the blood of the Lamb, that your soul is recon- 
 ciled and at peace with Godl Do ye believe 
 that Christ has gone to prepare a place for you, 
 and that when He comes again He will receive 
 you to Himself, that where He is, there ye may 
 be also 1 * Then surely if ye believe this, 
 though there may be some natural shrinkings 
 from dissolution, ye cannot dread the messenger 
 which comes to call you to your glory, nor start 
 back in terror from the passage which, albeit 
 dark in itself, yet opens upon the glories of your 
 heavenly home. Why are men afraid to die? 
 Is it not because their sins are unforgiven, or 
 their hearts are set upon the world ? Oh ! surely 
 if ye have laid your sins upon Jesus, and set your 
 
 * John xiv. 2, 3, 
 
THEN FACE TO FACE. 
 
 465 
 
 afFcctions upon things above, ye cannot so dreiid 
 the way which Jesus passed before you, and 
 which leads to the glories and the joys of Eter- 
 nity. 
 
 IIow comforting, how elevating the hope 
 which the text supplies, concerning the present 
 condition of the blessed, to those who are called 
 upon to mourn the stroke of bereavement ! We 
 see not indeed what comfort either reason or 
 religion can supply concerning those who died, 
 but gave no sign, either in their life or in their 
 death, of their being the accepted children of the 
 living God. But have they whom the Lord has 
 taken to Himself given any warrant for the hope 
 (as we trust some at least of those have done, upon 
 whom the cold earth has closed during the week 
 just past), that they fell asleep in Jesus, then 
 who can think upon the glorious change which 
 an instant made in their condition, who can 
 realize, in however faint a measure, the blessed- 
 ness and joy on which their souls have entered, 
 and yet repine beneath the stroke which bore 
 their beloved ones to glory ? How are they now 
 rejoicing in the unclouded smQe of the Saviour's 
 face ; how are they now feeding upon His love ; 
 how are they now tuning their harps to His praise ! 
 How are they now resting from the pains of this 
 wearisome pilgrimage, how are they praising 
 the love which led them on their way ; how are 
 
 H H 
 
466 
 
 NOW DARKLY 
 
 they rtvjoicing that their toils arc over, and that 
 their crown is won ! And can the heart that 
 smarts most bitterly beneath the stroke which tore 
 them from its fond embrace, indulge one wish to 
 bring them back again from the glories of their 
 Father's house, or mourn with unavailing grief 
 their removal from the sins and sorrows of this 
 painful scene 1 Be not ignorant, then, beloved, 
 "concerning them which are asleep, that 
 ye sorrow not, even as others who have no" 
 such "hope, that them which sleep in Jesus 
 will God bring with Him."* Look not back 
 upon the stroke which has severed, but for- 
 ward to the hour which shall reunite, you. 
 Think of the joys on which they now have 
 entered ; think of their white robes and everlast- 
 ing palms; and aim at following in the path 
 they trod, that ye too may come, as " the ran- 
 somed of the Lord to Zion, with songs and ever- 
 lasting joy upon your heads ; and may obtain joy 
 and gladness, and soi/ow and sighing shall flee 
 away." t 
 
 Yet, beloved, the realities of Eternity are not 
 comforting to all. There are some who "then 
 shall know even as also they are known ; " but 
 who shall know the truth of the terrors they 
 made light of, shall know the preciousness of 
 salvation by its irreparable loss. And who are 
 
 » 1 Thess. iv. 13, 14. f Isa. xxxv. 10. 
 
 ] 
 ( 
 
 ? 
 c 
 
 c 
 
 1 
 
 f. 
 
 <] 
 
 V 
 V 
 
 b 
 
THEN FACE TO FACE. 
 
 467 
 
 these ? They who are not in Christ ; they who 
 believe not that He is the Saviour, and who die in 
 their sins. Oh I then, beloved, shall not the 
 warning lessons of God's providence, shall not the 
 messages of His love, which speak from many a 
 dying bed at this season, lead you to search dili- 
 gently, whether ye are Christ's or no ? Have ye 
 closed with the offers of His love ? Have ye ac- 
 cepted His great salvation 1 Has He washed you 
 in His blood ? Has He sanctified you by His 
 Spirit? Oh ! put not off the decision of these 
 questions till the solemn hour is past, and ye 
 wake up to find it is too late ! that there is " a 
 worm which dieth not, a fire which never shall 
 be quenched." * 
 
 • Mark ix. 44. 
 
 H H 2 
 

 SERMON XXIV. 
 
 THE VALLEY OF DECISION. 
 
 Joel hi. 14. 
 
 Multitudes, multitudes in the valley of decision : 
 for the day of the Lord is near in the valley of 
 decision. 
 
 The prophetic Scriptures, generally, appear to 
 have had a double meaning; one referring to 
 some speedy accomplishment, another predicting 
 some more distant issue. The prophecies of the 
 Old Testament have for the most part a reference 
 to some purpose of the Lord, with regard to the 
 immediate circumstances of the Jev/ish people ; 
 and a more remote, hut not less palpable, appli- 
 cation to the then future day of Gospel privi- 
 leges and blessings. Some of them indeed, in 
 addition to their primary reference to the cir- 
 cumstances of the Jews, relate to two distinct 
 portions of the Gospel dispensation ; the one, the 
 
THE VALLEY OF DECISION. 
 
 469 
 
 coming of the Lord Jesus Christ in great 
 humility, the other, the coming of the same 
 gracious Being amid the clouds of heaven, 
 attended by His saints and angels. 
 
 In the chapter of the text, the prophet Joel 
 gazes, in prophetic vision, upon some vast 
 harvest-field, in which the nheat and the tares 
 have grown up together, and the season has 
 drawn nigh, in which the one portion has 
 ripened for the destruction that awaits the ene- 
 mies of the Lord, the other for the full accom- 
 plishment of all the Lord's gracious purposes in 
 the deHverance and exaltation of His saints. He 
 beholds the various kings and people, that have 
 been from time to time arrayed in enmity against 
 the Israel of God, assembled by their hosts in the 
 vaUey of vision; and sees them, as each one has 
 answered the purpose for which the Lord com- 
 missioned them against His people, cut down, 
 one after another, by their successors in the 
 scale of earthly dominion. When Israel rebelled 
 against the Lord, the Assyrian was permitted to 
 vex them; and " howbeit he meant not so, 
 neither did his heart think so,"* yet he was 
 but an instrument in administering the Lord's 
 chastisements to His people. Soon as his rage 
 against the Hebrews had reached the bounds 
 where it was said, Hither shalt tliou come, but 
 
 • Tsa. X. 7. 
 
470 
 
 THE VALLEY OF DECISION. 
 
 no further, the Medes and Persians checked his 
 ambitious course, and became in their turn the 
 " arm of the Lord," by which He punished his 
 rebellious children. They, again, were restrained 
 by the Macedonian conqueror, who also, in his 
 turn, was the means of correcting the back- 
 sliding Jews ; and his power again was divided 
 and weakened in the persons of his successors, till 
 finally the Grecian arms were compelled to yield 
 to the conquering Eomans, who, once more, 
 were the Lord's agents in visiting and correcting 
 His people. All this passed in review before 
 the Prophet's astonished gaze ; and he beheld 
 multitude after multitude assembled for the cor- 
 rection of rebellious Israel, and one after 
 another passing away when the day of the Lord 
 came near. 
 
 But, though the first glance of the Prophet's 
 eye may have rested upon such a scene of speedy 
 downfall to the enemies of Israel, " the day of 
 the Lord," of which he speaks as near, must lead 
 our minds onward to a scene of far deeper solem- 
 nity and more fearful judgment than ever yet 
 has fallen upon any of the inhabitants of earth. 
 Dimly, it may be, yet surely, did the eye of the 
 inspired servant of the Lord behold, through the 
 mists of coming years, the approaching glory of 
 the Lord of Hosts, and view the gathering of 
 small and great in the vast valley of judgment. 
 
THE VALLEY OF DECISION. 
 
 471 
 
 before the throne of Him who made, and who 
 shall judge, the worlds. Dimly, it may be, but 
 surely, did his enraptured spirit take in the pro- 
 mise of the Lord's appearing for the blessing 
 of His people and the confusion of His foes ; and, 
 catching the glad tidings which announce the 
 day of the Lord, in which the Lord of life should 
 manifest Himself in humbled form for man's 
 redemption, still run on in its anticipations of the 
 yet future day, when He, having received to Him- 
 self the kingdom of His purchase, shall return to 
 reign in Zion and before His ancients gloriously, 
 having put all enemies beneath His feet. 
 
 The things which thus were but dimly seen, at 
 best, by kings and prophets of the olden dispen- 
 sation, supply to the Church of Christ, at the 
 present period, the theme of either thankful 
 remembrance, or joyous expectation. The day 
 of the Lord, which was most nearly within 
 the range of the Prophet's view, the day on 
 which the Lord should come in great hu- 
 mility, has now passed by to us; and our 
 Church, regarding the event that da> brought 
 forth, as the subject of her children's most grate- 
 ful celebration, would fix their minds upon it at 
 this season, and call upon them, by devout and 
 thankful meditation, to prepare their minds and 
 hearts for a due commemoration of the natal day 
 of her Redeemer and her Lord. The dav of the 
 
472 
 
 THE VALLEY OF DECISION. 
 
 Lord, to which the words of him who speaketh 
 under holy inspiration, in the chapter of 'the 
 text, refer, the day, in which our blessed Lord, 
 surrounded by His mediatorial glories, attended 
 by His subject hosts, shall come again in the same 
 manner, perhaps on the same spot on which He 
 parted from His chosen ones, and was received up 
 to heaven — this is now the subject of continual 
 expectation ; and our Church, knowing how pro- 
 fitable is a state of watchfulness, would keep her 
 children's minds upon the stretch and encourage 
 ihcra te be " looking for, and hasting unto," the 
 coming of that day of God. The signs which 
 herald its approach may be signs of terror to the 
 multitudes of the earth, to those that in the 
 coming Lord shall recognise Him whom they 
 have pierced, but in whose wounded side they 
 have not found a shelter, in whose flowing blood 
 they have not washed their robes, nor blotted 
 out their sins ; but the same signs must fill their 
 hearts with joy, who are bidden, " when these 
 things begin to come to pass, to look up and lift 
 up their heads, because their redemption draweth 
 nigh ;" * who anticipate, at their Lord's return, 
 the full display of the glories He hath put upon 
 His Church, and the consummation of all the 
 blessed hopes with which His people have 
 looked forward to His presence in His kingdom. 
 * Luke xxi. 28. 
 
THE VALLEY OF DECISION. 
 
 473 
 
 As each year rolls round, and, at the recurrence 
 of this gladdening season of our Church's festi- 
 vals, our minds are again and again directed to 
 the anticipated coming of our Lord, the eye of 
 faith is enabled to perceive a gradual accumula- 
 tion of the symptoms of His near approach, and 
 to trace with re-awakened interest in the foot- 
 steps of the long-scattered Israel, and with m- 
 creasing joy in the spread of the Gospel of Jesus 
 among the long-benighted Gentiles, the signs of 
 the fulfilment of the Lord's predictions concerning 
 the time when He shall come again. 'Tis true, 
 indeed, that scarcely has there been a period in 
 the world's history, since the ascension of the 
 Lord Jesus to His Father's right hand, at which it 
 could be said, The Lord cannot yet return, for He 
 must wait the accomplishment of such and such 
 predictions, and there is no appearance of the signs 
 by which His coming was to be forerun ;— yet 
 'tis no less true that, within later days, the fulfil- 
 ment of prophetic intimations, concerning the 
 things that shall immediately precede His 
 coming, has been so much more plain, as almost 
 to constrain the most careless to admit that we 
 live in times of deep and awful moment, and 
 that at least some mighty crisis is approaching 
 unto all that dwell upon the earth. 
 
 In immediate connexion with the declaration 
 
 I 
 
474 
 
 THE VALLEY OF DECISION. 
 
 lU 
 
 of the text, the Prophet pours forth a strain of 
 lively predictions, concerning the blessings which 
 the coming day of the Lord shall restore to the 
 long-scattered and neglected Israel. To the 
 present condition, and the promises which set 
 forth the future prospects of that extraordinary 
 people, your attention has been but little, at any 
 time, invited; and I therefore would desire, 
 beloved, by the Lord's blessing, to present it for 
 your consideration, on some of the succeeding 
 Sabbaths of this Advent season. Upon the 
 solemn event itseJf, the coming of the day of God, 
 and the vision which met the Prophet's view as 
 he looked forward to that day, let our present 
 meditations be engaged ; and may He, who having 
 come to save, will come again to judge, give you 
 all so to make Him your salvation now, that 
 when He shall come again, this song upon your 
 lips shall welcome His return, " Lo, this is our 
 God, we have waited for Him, and He will save 
 us : This is the Lord : we have waited for Him ; 
 we will be glad and rejoice in His salvation." * 
 
 "Multitudes, multitudes," saith the prophet, 
 " in the valley of decision ; for the day of the 
 Lord is near in the valley of decision." What 
 
 IS THIS VALLEY? WhO ARE THEY THAT SHALL 
 BE GATHERED THERE 1 HoW IS IT THAT THIS DAY 
 
 * Isa. XXV. 9. 
 
THE VALLEY OF DECISION. 
 
 475 
 
 OF THE LORD APPROACHETH in the Valley of de- 
 cision ? May the Spirit of the Lord guide and 
 bless us in these enquiries ! 
 
 I. The valley of decision, where is it spread 
 forth ? Even in his primary meaning, the 
 Prophet appears not to have had any particular 
 spot in view, but to have pictured to himself 
 some wide-spread vale in the neighborhood of 
 Jerusalem, in which his fancy could behold the 
 multitudes of Israel's enemies assembled for 
 their doom. Still less can the spot be fixed upon, 
 on which the great events that shall close the 
 world's history shall be enacted ; enough for us 
 to know, that the throne shall be set up, and 
 judgment be administered, and all nations be 
 gathered to receive their final award. 
 
 It is not difficult, however, to perceive the 
 suitableness of the name by which, the spot is 
 designated, "The Valley of decision." 
 
 1. For there, in the first place, shall be de- 
 cided the great questions hy which the world has 
 been divided, and the judgment given between 
 the two great principles that have actuated 
 mankind. We wait not indeed the coming of 
 that awful day to receive the rule by which this 
 momentous decision shall be given. The Word 
 that has been spoken, the Word which prophets 
 and apostles have proclaimed, the Word which 
 
 : 
 
476 
 
 THE VALLEY OF DECISION. 
 
 the Lord Jesus has Himself set forth, that is the 
 Word which even now decides the strife, and 
 according to which at the great day, the solemn 
 judgment shall be pronounced.* Yet, though the 
 same guide is in all our hands, the same test for 
 the trial of our principles within reach of all; 
 is it not sad to think how widely different are 
 the rules of conduct which men pretend to draw 
 from the same source"? He whose heart is in 
 the world, whose principles are earthly, and whose 
 conversation carnal, yet professes to reverence 
 the Word of God, and to take it for his teacher 
 and his guide, and deems he has its authority 
 for pronouncing them " righteous over-much," 
 who would renounce the world, and devote 
 themselves wholly unto God. He whose whole 
 efforts in the matter of sa^ ^ation tend to the 
 establishment of his own righteousness, and 
 whose principles reduce Christ to the mere 
 make-weight in the scale of his claims upon the 
 fa\or and the love of God, yet flatters himself 
 he has the authority of God's Word for seeking 
 to be justified by his obedience to the law, and 
 for condemning those of breaking down the 
 barriers of virtue, who announce justification 
 freely, of mere grace, to even the vilest sinners 
 that come by faith to Christ. And he, on the 
 other hand, who knowing his own vileness, has 
 
 * John xii. 48. 
 
THE VALLEY OF DECISION. 
 
 477 
 
 in 
 
 renounced all hope in himself, and cast himself in 
 all his wretchedness upon God's mercy in Christ 
 Jesus, trusting only to His righteousness, plead- 
 ing only His finished work; he vho, recognising 
 the Lord's claims upon his iovi , desires to re- 
 nounce the world with its vain toys, and to crucify 
 the affections of the flesh ; he, coo, appeals for 
 the soundness of his pj^Li^f'^leG; and the pro- 
 priety of his walk, to the ^ame WrJrd of the 
 Lord Jesus Christ. Can both be right ? Not 
 unless light and darkness can be reconcUed. 
 Who shall decide the point between them? 
 The day of the Lord is near, and multitudes 
 await His judgment in the Valley of decision. 
 Oh! happy they, whose consciences beai them 
 witness that they have truly, earnestly, prayer- 
 fully, made the Lord's Word their guide; 
 derived from it their principles, based upon it 
 their hopes, drawn from it their consolations, and 
 guided by it their walk. 
 
 2. For there, in the second place, shall be 
 decided according to its judgment, the everlasting 
 fate of all that shall he gathered there. Before 
 the decirion of that great day is pronounced, 
 seldom doth the Lord interpose by any visible 
 tokens to declare who are His people, and who 
 are not. At present, this is a matter of faith, 
 and not of sight. So far from the true followers 
 of the Lord being marked out by outward tokens 
 
 I 
 
478 
 
 THE VALLEY OF DECISION. 
 
 of prosperity from tlie careless and ungodly 
 world, the prosperity in which the wicked have 
 been seen to flourish, has often proved a trial to 
 the faith of his afl[licted people.* But in the 
 Valley of decision shall be pronounced the in- 
 evitable and eternal doom of all that shall there 
 be assembled. No longer shall ungodliness 
 flourish ; no longer shall vice rest in impunity ; 
 no longer shall self-righteousness fold itself in 
 its narrow cloak, and the haughty look of pride 
 disdain the lowly and the poor. No longer shall 
 the meek be overborne ; no longer shall the 
 godly weep over the prevalence of sin against 
 them ; no longer shall the cast-down penitent 
 mourn, nor the sorrowing believer shrink f'-om 
 the trials to which his faith has been exposed. 
 Beyond the Valley of decision, there stretches on 
 one side a deep, a fathomless abyss of woe ; 
 there rises on the other a scene of inconceivable 
 and boundless joy. The one receives into its 
 awful gulph the ungodly, the impenitent, the 
 unbelieving ; the othe^ welcomes to its glorious 
 plains, the faithful followers of Jesus, and thence- 
 forth there shall be no change. The wicked 
 "shall go away into everlasting punishment, 
 but the righteous into life eternal.f " 
 
 II, Who are they that shall be gathered 
 
 * Ps. Ixxiii. f Matt. xxv. 46. 
 
THE VALLEY OF DECISION. 
 
 479 
 
 IN THE VALLEY OF DECISION? Multitudes, 
 multitudes crowded upon the Prophet's view ; 
 multitudes, multitudes indeed! The millions 
 that from the first dawn of Eden, down to the 
 last glimmer of the failing sun shall have ever 
 opened their eyes upon this world of sii:, shall 
 be assembled in the spot where the last doom 
 shall be pronounced. "I saw," saith the 
 prophet, with whose apocalyptic vision the 
 records of inspiration close, " I saw the dead, 
 small and great, stand before God; ad the 
 books were opened; and another book was 
 opened, which if^ the book of life : and the dead 
 were judged out of those things which were 
 written in the books, according to their works. 
 And the sea gave up the dead which were in it ; 
 and death and hell delivered up the dead which 
 were in them."* Multitudes, multitudes in- 
 deed ! Yet it is not alone, because there shall 
 be such a crowd, that our interest is awakened in 
 that mighty gathering. We may have seen and 
 mingled with some throngs on earth, and gazed 
 in wonder upon the moving sea of living heads ; 
 but it is not because of the far vaster number, 
 that such crowds as these sink into insignificance 
 beside the multitudes that shall be gathered in 
 the Valley of decision. It is that in that great 
 assemblage we shall all bear a part. You, my 
 *Rev. XX. 12, 13. 
 
480 
 
 THE VALLEY OF DECISION. 
 
 II 
 
 beloved, and I shall be there among the multi- 
 tudes that throng the Valley of decision. All 
 that have occupied these seats before you, and 
 all that shall ever listen within thi^se walls to 
 the Word of the living God ; ye that now hear 
 the solemn announcement of the decisive day ; 
 all that have been already summoned from their 
 seats around the family hearth ; all that now 
 claim your parental, your filial, your fraternal 
 love; all whom your counsel hath warned to 
 flee from the wrath to come; all whom your 
 example or advice may have led to paths of 
 ungodliness and sin ; all, all shall be tliere. 
 Oh! solemn gathering indeed! Multitudes, 
 multitudes shall be there, in the Valley of dr 
 cision. Beloved, where shall be your place, 
 when that decision shall be given 1 
 
 III. The day of the Lord draws nigh in the 
 valley of decision. How is it that this day 
 OF THE Lord dr^.^^s nigh 1 
 
 I. This day may be said to draw nigh to all, 
 because there is but a step between us and death ; 
 and after death shall come the judgment. Cen- 
 turies may pass, as centuries have passed, between 
 the death of any of our race, and the sclenm 
 hour when they shall stand in the vast Valley of 
 decision ; but as far as any power of changing 
 the condition in which death hath overtaken them 
 
I 
 
 THE VALLEY OF DECISION, 
 
 481 
 
 is concerned, it h as though the soul had but 
 passed from the chamber of dissolution to the 
 scene of judgment. Thousands, alas ! have lain 
 down and perished in their sins ; and in their 
 sins, with all their guilt upon their heads, shall 
 they awake to stand before the judgment-seat 
 of Christ. No place for penitence, no ground 
 for prayer, no offers of salvation shall be found 
 in the grave whither thou goest. Thousands, it 
 may be hoped, have commended their souls by 
 faith into the Redeemer's hands, and after all 
 their trials and temptations, have fallen asleep 
 in Him ; and in Him shall they awake, and clad 
 in His righteousness go forth to meet Him at the 
 first notes of His approach. No tempting world, 
 no sinful flesh, no subtle foe shall have assailed 
 them in the grave; and as they lie down to 
 sleep, so shall they wake, in Jesus, on ^hc great 
 day of His appearing. Thus, then, is the day 
 of the Lord at hand to every one of us ; for 
 which of us, dying fellow-sinners, shall pro- 
 nounce, whether our next waking shall not be 
 in Eternity ? 
 
 2. Yet, again, the day of the Lord draws 
 nigh; for who shall say how speedily the cry 
 may hurst upon our ears, ''Behold, the Bride- 
 groom Cometh /" From the time of the ascension 
 of the Lord Jesus, and the announcement which 
 then was made to His np-gazing disciples that 
 
 I I 
 
482 
 
 THE VALLEY OF DECISION. 
 
 He should "so come again," hath the attention 
 of His Church with more or less intensity been 
 directed to the signs of His promised coming. 
 So long a time, as man computes it, has passed 
 by since the announcement of His int • ed 
 return, that there are scoffers ready to reply to 
 all such messages as that the text conveys, 
 "Where is the promise of His coming V* Yet, 
 though the Lord, in Hie long-suffering, puts off 
 the time of His return till all His redeemed be 
 gathered into His fold, so soon as He shall have 
 accomplished the number of His elect, He shall 
 hasten His kingdom. And who shall say how 
 many yet remain to make up the number of His 
 people'? Who, of the careless and ungodly 
 world, that makes light of these announcements, 
 hath any promise that the coming of the I ord 
 shall be delayed until he shall have taken his 
 fill of sin, and become ready to give up the 
 refuse of his life to Godi Who, among the 
 lukewarm and the wavering, the halters between 
 two opinions, can venture on the hope that no 
 startling symptoms of the day of God shall break 
 in upon his indecision, and hurry him, ere yet 
 his mind has been made up, to meet the coming 
 Judge ] '' Behold," beloved, " He cometh 
 with clouds ; and every eye shall see Him, and 
 they also which pierced Him ; and all kindreds 
 
 * 2 Pet. iii. 4. 
 
THE VALLEY OF DECISION. 
 
 483 
 
 of the earth shall wail because of Him.'"* Who 
 but the single-hearted follower of Jesus can hail 
 this announcement with the joyful exclamation, 
 "Even so! Amen!" 
 
 Dearly beloved! Are there not some of 
 you, who instead of taking for your guide and 
 counsellor, now, that Word which shall judge you 
 at the last great day, are content to fall in with 
 the opinion of the world, to be guided by the 
 maxims of the multitude, and to walk in the 
 broad road which is beaten by the footsteps of 
 its many travellers] There are multitudes, re- 
 member, in the Valley of decision; and their 
 doom shall be determined, not by the numbers 
 that have followed in any path, but by the prin- 
 ciples on which they have lived. It may be 
 feared the multitudes will be found at last to 
 have been the enemies of God ; to have been 
 those that have walked after the carnal mind ; 
 to have been those that would not have Jesus to 
 reign over them. And what comfort a\ ill it give 
 you, beloved, at the last, to reflect that in all 
 your sins, the multitude has been with you, in 
 all your carelessness and ungodliness ye have 
 been following tho current of the world ] Mul- 
 titudes cannot save you in the day of the Lord ; 
 multitudes cannot alleviate your anguish, should 
 you fall beneaih the curse of the coming Judge. 
 
 * Rev. i. 7. 
 I I 2 
 
;ft 
 
 
 I 3J 5 
 
 484 
 
 THE VALLEY OF DECISION. 
 
 Oh ! then, cast off this bondage of the world ; dare 
 to be singular, if to bear the yoke of Christ 
 expose you to this rebuke : for " strait is the 
 gate, and narrow is the way, which leaded unto 
 life, and few there be that find it."* 
 
 Beloved, are there not those of you, who yet 
 are halting between two opinions ; who are con- 
 vinced there is no peace in ways of worldliness, 
 and assured that there is happiness only in Christ 
 Jesus, and yet are waiting in an undecided state 
 between the world and Christ 1 How long thus 
 halt ye, fellow-sinners '? Will ye wait till the 
 day of the Lord hastens you to the Valley of 
 decision] That will be no time, remember, to 
 make ^owr decision between Christ and the world ; 
 it will be the day of the Lord's decision upon 
 the multitudes that shall be gathered before 
 Him. There have been those who were " not 
 far from the kingdom of God," of whom we 
 hear not that they ever entered it. There have 
 been those that have trembled under their con- 
 victions of sin, of whom we find not that they 
 ever brought their sins to Jesus and washed 
 them out in His blood. Let their case warn 
 you, beloved, to flee at once " for refuge to the 
 hope set before you " in the Gospel ; for the 
 day of the Lord is near in the Valley of de- 
 
 cision 
 
 Matt. vii. 14. 
 
THE VALLEY OF DECISION. 
 
 485 
 
 upon 
 before 
 1 "not 
 
 Dearly beloved in the Lord, are there not 
 those among you whose hope is in the Lord Jesus, 
 whose sole trust is in His word 1 How quicken- 
 ing, how elevating, how animating a motive to 
 watchfulness and faithfulness and zeal is pro- 
 posed to you by the announcement, that the 
 day of the Lord is near ! Whatever terrors may 
 surround the coming of that day to those that 
 know not Jesus, to you who look for Him and 
 love His appearing, it should be a theme of con- 
 stant thankfulness and joyous expectation. The 
 day of the Lord is near, the day in which " He 
 shall come to be glorified in His saints and to 
 be admired in all them that believe."* Oh! 
 see that ye now have your conversation "in 
 heaven, from whence also ye look for the 
 Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ," f that so ye 
 may be meet, whenever He shall come, to be 
 transferred from the expectant to the glorious 
 Church. If truly ye are looking for these 
 things, ye will "be diligent that ye may found 
 of Him in peace, without spot and blameless; J 
 and show by all holy conversation and godliness 
 that, though your pilgrimage is here, your home 
 is with the Lord. May "the Lord direct your 
 hearts into the love of God, and into the patient 
 waiting for Christ !"§ 
 
 * 2 Tliess.i. 10. t Phil. iii. 20. f 2 Pet. iii. 14. 
 § 2 Thessi. iii. 5. 
 
SERMON XXV. 
 
 HOW OLD ART THOU? 
 
 Genesis xlvii. 8, 9. 
 
 And Pharaoh said unto Jacob, How old art thou ? 
 And Jacob said unto Pharaoh^ The days of 
 the years of my life are an hundred and thirty 
 years : few and evil have the days of the years 
 of my life been, and have not attained unto the 
 days of the years of the life of my fathers, in 
 the days of tueir pilgrimage. 
 
 The patriarch Jacob, when now advanced in 
 years, is sent for by his son Joseph, whom he 
 had long mourned as dead, and invited to come 
 and end his days in the comfort which he could 
 promise him in the land of Egypt. A c-tranger, 
 as the patriarch had long confessed himself to 
 be, and a pilgrim upon the earth, he quickly 
 strikes his tent which he had pitched in the land 
 of Canaan, and sets out with all his family to go 
 
J 
 
 1 
 
 HOW OLD ART THOU? 
 
 487 
 
 and greet once more his long-lost son. No 
 sooner had he arrived in Egypt, and poured out 
 the overflowings of his long pent-up affections 
 upon the neck of his beloved, than Joseph, 
 anxious for his comfortable settlement in the 
 land, brings him in before Pharaoh, and presents 
 him at his throne. The monarch is surrounded 
 by the pomp and state that became the sovereign 
 of the greatest kingdom then upon the earth, 
 but the aged pilgrim quails not before all the 
 splendour, that might have dazzled one less 
 accustomed to estimate at their true value the 
 gaudy toys of earth. Nay, conscious that as a sub- 
 ject of the King of kings, and as a steward of the 
 mysteries of His grace, he had more to give than 
 to rf^ceive, in the simplicity of his heart he pours 
 forth an old man's blessing upon the head of 
 him in whose dominions the long lost son of his 
 old age had found a shelter and a home. 
 Struck by the venerable aspect of the good old 
 man, yet wondering at the energy and vigor 
 which sustained his frame and gave such life to 
 his address, the monarch asks the patriarch of 
 his age, " How old art thou? " And how can 
 such a question be entertained, without calling 
 up before the memory's glance a glimpse, at 
 least, of the chequered sceue of trial and of 
 joy, of suffering and of peace, of sin and of for- 
 giveness, of despondency and of hope, through 
 
488 
 
 HOW OLD ART THOU 1 
 
 )S M 
 
 <■ ) -■ jI- 
 
 which his life had passed. " The days of the 
 years of my pilgrimage," he replies, " are an 
 hundred and thirty years : few and evil have the 
 days of the years of m} life been, and have not 
 attained unto the days of the years of the life of 
 my fathers." 
 
 There let us leave the patriarch again invoking 
 blessings upon the head of Pharaoh, in whom he 
 not only saw the sovereign beneath whose sway 
 the providence of God had now cast his lot, but 
 whom he regarded also as the saviour and 
 restorer of his long-lost son ; there let us leave 
 him for r.while, and think of the interview with 
 a greater King, into which we, the lowliest 
 among us, are this day brought, and of the 
 enquiry which He addresses this day to each 
 one of us. Here are we assembled, beloved, in 
 the presence-chamber of the King of kings ; for 
 " this is none other but the house of God, and 
 this is the gate of heaven;"* and " where two 
 or three are gathered together in His name, 
 there is He in the midst, "f And as this last 
 Sabbath of another year goes by, its fading 
 moments take to themselves a voice, yea, He 
 " in whom we live and move and have our 
 being," gives them a solemn sound, and by their 
 means addresses to each one of us the question, 
 How old art thou ? A question this, often but 
 * Gen. xxviii. 17. f Matt, xviii. 20. 
 
 
i 
 
 
 How OLD A RT THOU ] 
 
 489 
 
 lightly put; a question, this, often as lightly 
 answered ; but one which, addressed as it is this 
 day, to every ear by God Himself, and gathering 
 an importance as it does from the fast-closing 
 history of another year, is calculated, one would 
 think, to call up before the view full many a 
 recollection of misspent hours, and unprofitable 
 days, of scenes of sorrow and of seasons of joy, 
 of warnings of providence, and of calls of grace, 
 which have crowded not only into the history of 
 our past lives, but even into the record of the 
 year now near its close. And upon whom can 
 this question be pressed, and not call forth some- 
 thing at least of the patriarch's reply? How 
 many soever may have been the days of the 
 years of your pilgrimage, have not the days of 
 the years of your lives been few and evil ; have 
 they not come far short, not in number only, 
 but in profxtableness, in spirituality, in blessed- 
 ness, of the days of those fathers in Israel, who 
 " confessed that they were strangers and pil- 
 grims on ^he earth V * 
 
 We rannot suppose the patriarch in the text 
 to be indulging in language of repining and 
 complaint ; but must listen to him as giving ex- 
 pression to the estimate which the teaching of 
 the Spirit of God, and the lessons of a long ex- 
 perience, had led him to form of the character of 
 
 * Heb. xi. 13. 
 
 I 
 
 ■»';: 
 
490 
 
 HOW OLD ART THOU ? 
 
 human life. Before applying, then, to ourselves 
 the question which the dying accents of another 
 year would urge upon our notice, let us consider 
 Jacob's estimate of life, and pray the Ix)rd, the 
 Spirit of all grace, to so impress its truth upon 
 our minds and hearts, that we may not in words 
 alone confess that we are strangers and pilgrims 
 upon earth, but show that we realize the import- 
 ance of the confession, by earnestly seeking that 
 " city which hath foundations, whose builder and 
 maker is God." * 
 
 " Few and evil," replies the aged Jacob, 
 " few and evil have the days of the years of my 
 life been." He spoke of course by comparison ; 
 and viewing our days by the same light, who 
 may not well exclaim, Few and evil, alas ! have 
 my days been'? 
 
 I. 1. Are not my days few? may the most 
 aged among us well enquire, when looking hack 
 upon the longest life that is allotted as the period 
 of our sojourn here. How short the longest 
 day that is now drawing to its close ! It may be 
 that as life passed on, there was much to make 
 its passage seem painfully tedious. It may be, 
 that laid upon a bed of anguish, we have been 
 " made to possess months of vanity, and weari- 
 some nights have been appointed to us ;" that in 
 
 * Heb. xi. 10. 
 
HOW OLD ART THOU '? 
 
 491 
 
 the morning we have said, Would God it were 
 even ; and at even wc have said, Would God it 
 were morning; and we have been "full of 
 tossings to and fro, until the dawning of the 
 day." * It may be that in some hour of eager 
 anticipation, when we were looking out for the 
 arrival of some promised pleasure, or fondly 
 watching for the coming of some cherished dear 
 one, the moments seem to lag on leaden wings, 
 and the heart hath well-nigh sickened under the 
 pressure of hope long deferred. But how brief 
 will now appear the period thus marked in days 
 gone by, by hopes or fears, by joys or sufferings. 
 Where is the year now near its close ] Whither 
 are its moments fled 1 Where are its hours laid 
 up 1 Ah ! surely the record of them is on high, 
 and when the books are opened, the memory of 
 them shall be found faithftiUy written there; 
 yet what a moment are they now in our remem- 
 brance ; how much quicker than the flight of the 
 weaver's shuttle, or the speed of the post that 
 hasteth by, has been the passage of the year now 
 sounding its dying kn'^ll ! Oh, that men were 
 wise; that they would regard the pleasures of 
 the passing moment as they shall estimate them 
 when they come to look back upon their flight ; 
 and who is there that would be willing to barter 
 eternal joys, for the momentary pleasure which 
 
 * Job vii. 3, 4. 
 
492 
 
 HOW OLD ART THOU 1 
 
 scarce even leaves a trace upon memory's dark 
 waste ? 
 
 2. Are not my clays few "? may the longest lived 
 among us well enquire, when looMng forward to 
 that Eternity which is before him. What is 
 Eternity? The lifetime of the Lord. For 
 " from everlasting to everlasting He is God."* 
 " Thou, Lord, in the beginning hast laid the 
 foundation of the earth, and the heavens are the 
 works of thine hands : they shall perish ; but thou 
 remainest ; and they all shall wax old as doth a 
 garment ; and as a vesture shalt thou fold them 
 up, and they shall be changed ; but thou art the 
 same, and thy years shall not fail."f And so 
 long as He shall continue the same unchanging 
 God, so long shall the souls which He has gifted 
 with His own immutability exist amid the bound- 
 less glories of His presence, or suffer the awful 
 vengeance of His endless wrath. Compared 
 with that period of boundless happiness or end- 
 less woe, what is the moment of our being here ; 
 what are the centuries winch were summed up 
 in the lives of those that were before the flood ; 
 still less, the threescore years and ten, or at most 
 the fourscore years, that now form the limit of 
 man's brief career'? There stands upon our 
 church's walls the marble record of one aged 
 man, who full of honors and of years went 
 
 * Ps. xc. 2. t Ps. cii. ; Heb. i. 10—12. 
 
HOW OLD ART THOU ■? 
 
 493 
 
 down into a peaceful sleep, just as a century 
 had closed over his head. How many of us have 
 gazed upon his hoary locks, and followed with 
 wondering eye his firm elastic step, long after 
 he had passed the Psalmist's bound, and thought 
 what a long, long time must pass ere we should 
 come near unto the number of his years ! Yet 
 what must have seemed to him upon his dying 
 bed, as in the simplicity of a little child he clung 
 to Jesus as his only hope, the length of days he 
 then looked back upon ? Yea, what now seems 
 to us, since the cold grave has hidden him from 
 our view, the century of his existence, compared 
 with the centuries yet stretching out before us, 
 with the ages upon ages yet in store, ere yet the 
 lifetime of our souls will have passed the stage 
 even of its infancy ! Few, indeed, are the days 
 of the years of our pilgrimage ; few, even, when 
 compared with the amount of days to which the 
 first fathers of our race attained ; and Oh ! how 
 few when compared with that endless limitless 
 Eternity, which stretches out it. changeless sea 
 before us. Oh! that men would but weigh 
 against the things of time the momentous inte- 
 rests of that endless scene ! Could they, then, 
 set so much store by the trifles of the passing 
 hour, and go on careless, or at least uncertain, 
 of their portion in the vast Eternity that cometh ■? 
 3. Are not my days few ? may the most aged 
 
 I 
 
494 
 
 HOW OLD ART THOU? 
 
 well exclaim, when compared with the vast^ the 
 amazing importance of the work that is to be done 
 in them. " I must work the works of Him that 
 sent me," saith the blessed Jesus, " while it is 
 day ; the night cometh when no man can 
 work."* And is there not to every man an 
 appointed time ; and to every season its proper 
 work; is not man's business a preparation for 
 Eternity; and is not the time short in which 
 that preparation may be made ? Alas ! how 
 little do men seem to estimate the importance 
 of time by a reference to the bearing which 
 everything now said or done shall have upon our 
 eternal condition ! The heir of large estates, or 
 lordly rank, is educated with a view to the 
 station he shall hold, and the wealth that shall 
 be placed at his disposal : yet, how often does 
 he who professes to believe himself a child of God 
 and an heir of heaven live in utter disregard of 
 the expectations thus implied ! Nay, who could 
 engage with any prospect of success in any of 
 the varied businesses of life, without having 
 served his time to acquire a knowledge of its 
 elements, and applied himself diligently and 
 painfully to the attainment of its mysteries 1 And 
 yet, how often do men speak of sharing the 
 employments of heaven, who look forward to the 
 few troubled moments of a sick and dying bed, 
 
 * John ix. 4. 
 
u 
 
 HOW OLD ART THOul 
 
 495 
 
 as quite enough for their atainment of the know- 
 ledge of that Infinite and Eternal God with 
 whom they have to do; for an acquaintance 
 with tiiat meek, yet gracious Jesus, through 
 whom alone they can be saved ; for the subduing 
 of every sinful passion and propensity and habit, 
 which they know is inconsistent with t!ie purity 
 of heaven ; for the attainment of that holiness 
 of mind and heart and conduct, without which 
 no man shall see the Lord ! The heir of heaven 
 is placed here to be at school, that he may learn 
 the dispositions, and acquire the habits which 
 may fit him for the company of the saints above; 
 he is here at his apprenticeship, as it were, that 
 he may, umler the teaching of the Lord the 
 Spirit, become meet to enter, when his time is 
 up, on the occupations of the blessed in heaven. 
 He has much to unlearn of the evil teachings of 
 his corrupt and carnal heart ; he has much to 
 learn concerning God and Christ, concerning the 
 way of salvation and the path of godliness ; he 
 has much to undo connected with the state of 
 his unregeneracy ; he has much to do to glorify 
 God, to show His love for the Saviour ; to be- 
 come like unto the image of his holiness, and 
 meet for His glorious appearing. Undoubtedly 
 the salvation of the sinner is all of grace ; yet 
 that same " grace of God, which bringeth sal- 
 vation," teaches, also, " that denying ungodliness 
 
496 
 
 HOW OLD ART THOU 
 
 m 
 
 and worldly lusts, we should live soberly and 
 righteously and godly in this present world."* 
 Here is work enough for the longest life, yet 
 how many think that they can crowd it all into 
 the brief perad venture of a dying Irour ! Oh ! that 
 men would but view aright the momentous 
 
 nature of the work that is set before them ! 
 
 I- ♦ 
 
 Surely, they would feel that the days allotted 
 them are too few to waste in sin, or to spend in 
 the vanities of earth ! 
 
 II. And few as our days are, they are 
 EVIL DAYS too. ' Jacob said not this in a spirit 
 of unmeaning complaint, or of ungodly mur- 
 muring at the trials which had befallen him ; 
 but in a true estimate of the vanity of life : and 
 who is there that rightly regards his position 
 here, that must not admit the call tipon him " to 
 redeem the t\me, because the days " of his life 
 " are evil."j- 
 
 1. Are not the days of our life evil, because 
 of the cares and trials which surrmmd us here ? 
 " Although affliction cometh not forth of the 
 dust, neither doth trouble spring out of the 
 ground, yet man is born unto trouble, as the 
 sparks fly upward." J Constantly as men try to 
 drown the remembrance of this unpleasant truth 
 in the noise and vanity of the world ; constantly 
 
 ♦ Titus ii. 11, 12. t Eph. v. 16. % Job. v. 6, 7. 
 
"""-ff' 
 
 HOW OLD ART THOU? 
 
 497 
 
 to 
 
 as men come forth from the pressure of affliction 
 as careless, as worldly, as unconcerned as ever ; 
 still are there very few who have not, at some 
 time, found by experience, what the word of 
 truth had continually urged upon them, that 
 this life is a state of trouble and anxiety and 
 care, of suffering, of 1)ereavement, of death.. 
 And are not these things evil : are th^y not to 
 him, even, who receives them as the dispensation 
 of the Lord, and seeks His grace to sanctify 
 them to the soul, not joyous but grievous things, 
 afflictions, calamities, evils? Oh! happy they 
 who so regard the evils of the^ present life, as 
 to make them an occasion for more diligently 
 seeking their true happiness in God. Happy 
 they who so feel the pressure of the evil of these 
 days, as to be drawn for all their comfort and 
 their joy to Him who has redeemed them from 
 the evil, and opened to them an inheritance of 
 glory! Beloved, how many of us can look back 
 upon the year now near its close, and trace the 
 evil days of trouble, bereavement, suffering, or 
 distress! Oh! can we in looking back upon 
 them see that good has been brought out of the 
 evil ; that the sting of calamity has been with- 
 drawn by our having an interest in the love of 
 Christ; that our trials have been turned into 
 blessings, by advancing us, under the Lord's 
 grace, in submission to our Father's will, and 
 
 K K 
 
498 
 
 HOW OLD ART THOU ? 
 
 I 
 
 producing in us those " fruits of righteousness, 
 which are by Jesus Christ unto the glory and 
 praise of GodT'* Beloved, in the view of 
 this closing year, I would put these questions to 
 myself as well as to all of you. May the Lord 
 give us grace so to answer them now, as we 
 shall wish to in the day when we must give in 
 our account ! 
 
 2. And are not the days of the years of our 
 life evil, when we consider how much sin there is 
 defiling our every thought, polluting our every action 
 and our every word ? Alas ! there are too many 
 whose lives in this respect are one unmingled evil. 
 They are yet the bondslaves of the world ; yet the 
 slaves of their own evil hearts ; yet the willing 
 servants of the Devil ; and so, of course, the 
 enemies of God. It may be they are not flagrant 
 sinners ; it may be, even, that, measured by the 
 world's scale, they are good enough ; but they 
 are yet unconverted, yet ignorant of Christ, yet 
 alienated from God ; and their lives in His sight 
 are nought but evil. Mercies have appealed to 
 them, but have not drawn them ; afflictions have 
 pressed upon them, but have not brought them 
 to the Lord ; the word of the Lord's grace has 
 called to them, but they have refused to return. 
 Surely, the days of an unconverted man are evil. 
 They may not be marked by much calp-rity or 
 
 *Phil.i. 11. 
 
 
HOW OLD ART THOU? 
 
 499 
 
 distress: they may be free from much of what 
 the world deems evil : but they are evil, because 
 they are spent in enmity to God ; they are evil, 
 because they are spent under the curse of the 
 Lord; they are evil, because, unless their course 
 is changed, their sure progress is to the endless 
 evils of a world of woe. Oh ! that men would 
 so consider this, that they would flee in time, 
 for refuge from the wrath to come ! 
 
 Yet even the favored Israel could feel that, 
 in this respect, his days were evil. And what 
 child of the true Israel can there be, that can 
 look back even upon a closing year, even unon a 
 closing day, and not feel that, by reason of the 
 defilement of sin, it has been full of evil ? How 
 many mercies have appealed to him too, and left 
 his heart still cold and ungrateful ; how many 
 messages of grace have sounded upon his ear, 
 and yet left him worldly, inconsistent, and unfit 
 for heaven; how many evil tempers remain 
 yet unsubdued; how many sinful imaginations 
 have mingled with his sacrifices to God; how 
 many unworthy motives have prompted him 
 even in his charities ; how much of self-seeking 
 has there been in his conduct, even when he 
 was professing to follow Christ ! What cold and 
 'brmal things have his prayers too oft( n been ; 
 what a heartless and unmeaning oflfering too 
 frequently the ascription of his praise; how 
 
Pl. 
 
 600 
 
 HOW OLD ART THOU "? 
 
 i ifl 
 
 little delight has he found in the study of 
 God's Word ; what a weariness has the Sabbath 
 often been to him, or how many of its sacred 
 hours have been wasted on frivolous conversation 
 or trifled away in listlessness and sloth; how 
 many opportunities has he lost foif doing good to 
 those around him ; how often has he seemed 
 well-nigh ashamed of Christ, in his intercourse 
 with those that knew Him not ; how frequently 
 has he given occasion to the enemies of the cross 
 to sneer and place a stumbling-block in the way 
 of his brethren by his inconsistencies, and short- 
 comings, and transgressions ! Oh ! who can look 
 back upon a life thus marked by continual 
 mercies on God's part, and ingratitude and 
 carelessness upon his ; who can look back upon 
 the mass of evil which even one short year has 
 accumulated upon his soul, and not feel that his 
 days indeed are evil, so evil that there is not one 
 moment of them that has not been stained by 
 sin, so evil that his very best and holiest hours, 
 his moments even of prayer and praise, need 
 washing in the blood of Jesus, lest they prove 
 his ruin ? Assuredly, so long as man continues 
 in this polluted tabernacle of the flesh, so long 
 are the days of his pilgrimage evil. Oh ! happy 
 they who, washed in the blood of Jesus and 
 sanctified by His Spirit, have a good hope, that 
 " when their earthly house of this tabernacle shall 
 
HOW OLD ART THOU ] 
 
 501 
 
 be dissolved, they have a building of God, a 
 house not made with hands, eternal in the 
 heavens."* 
 
 Since, then, we see the patriarch's estimate of 
 life was so correct, since so few and so evil are 
 the days of the years of our pilgrimage through 
 this world of care, let me engage you, beloved, 
 to weigh by this standard the importance of a 
 plain and common question, " How old art 
 thou?" It is no question now, beloved, of idle 
 curiosity; it is one which the Lord himself 
 seems this day to address to you, by the last 
 accents of another year. Let me press it upon 
 your attention, and pray God to apply it in 
 seriousness to your hearts. 
 
 How old art thou, my younger friend? 
 enquires the closing year of you, beloved, who 
 are yet in the morning of your days. Some ten, 
 sqme fifteen, some twenty, and some five-and- 
 twenty years have passed over your heads, and 
 have you yet begun to live, or must the closing 
 year be added to the pile of wasted days, that 
 shall cry out against you when He who has 
 bidden you "occupy till He comes" shall call 
 you to account? Short as your life has yet 
 been, beloved, it has been too long to have been 
 spent in sin, and under the wrath of God. Few 
 as your days have been, they are too many to 
 
 *2 Cor. V. 1. 
 
502 
 
 HOW OLD ART THOU ? 
 
 have been thrown away in vanity, in pleasure, 
 in the world. And are ye so old as ^.his, and 
 have yet scarce begun to remember that ye have a 
 soul to be saved; so old as this, and have not 
 yet even begun the great work for which the 
 Lord sent you here ; so old as this, and yet trying 
 to put off the hour when ye will fulfil the 
 pledges of your baptism, and take up your cross 
 and follow Christ? What warrant does the 
 closing year afford you for the confidence that 
 there is yet time enough? One marble record 
 has a century inscribed: go to the place where 
 sleep the silent dead, and ask, for this one, how 
 many are there which recount the blight of 
 youth, the sinking of the young and gay into an 
 early tomb. And are ye not old enough to die ? 
 And if so, Oh, are ye not old enough to live ? 
 Not old enough yet to heed the call of God, 
 when He bids you seek His face and live: not 
 old enough to listen to the gracious voice of 
 Him who stands at the door and knocks, and 
 pleads to be let in that He may bless you : not 
 old enough to have found out the vanity of 
 oarthly joys, and to see that there is no true 
 happiness but in the love of God! Another 
 year at least has now been nearly added to your 
 store : Oh, heed its dying voice, and begin, if ye 
 have not yet begun, to live. 
 
 2. How old art thou, my friend ? enquires the 
 
HOW OLD ART THOU? 
 
 503 
 
 closing year, of you, beloved, who are now in the 
 full vigor of your days, in the very prime of health- 
 fulness and life ? Some thirty, some forty, or 
 some fifty years have passed; another is even 
 now on the wing, bearing its record to the 
 remembrance book; and what account does it 
 convey of you to Him, before whom its testi- 
 mony shall be brought forth? Still halting, 
 beloved, between two opinions; still striving to 
 serve God and mammon; still aiming after a 
 portion in this life, and hoping that ye may have 
 an inheritance in heaven too X Oh! surely, beloved, 
 the voice of the departing year, no less than the' 
 voice of God Himself, is calculated to convince 
 you, that such a hope as this is vanity and 
 vexation of spirit. There have been mercies 
 poured around many of you, to lure you to the 
 Lord ; and have they appealed to you in vain ? 
 there have been trials sent in love to many 
 among you ; and have they left you as deep in the 
 world's vanities as ever ? Ye are older in days ; 
 are ye older in iniquity? Ye are nearer to 
 eternity; are ye no more fit for its employments 
 than ye were a year ago? Beloved, there is a 
 great, a momentous work before you ; and has 
 another year passed by, and left you still too 
 busy to attend to it; still too much immersed in 
 pleasure to have time for its concerns? Oh! 
 heed the voice of the departing year, ere yet it 
 
504 
 
 HOW OLD ART THOU? 
 
 ir> 
 
 -!:■; 
 
 r 
 
 cease to sound: seize on its few remaining 
 moments, ere they are gone for ever ; and charge 
 them not with mere intentions of doing better, 
 but give them this record for the Lord— The 
 time passed of my life shall suffice me to have 
 lived in the world and sin; here, Lord, I give 
 myself to thee, Oh, make me thine forever. 
 
 3. How old art thou, my aged friend? en- 
 quires the departing year of you, beloved, upon 
 whose heads some threescore years or threescore 
 years and ten have left their mark ? Have not the 
 evil days indeed drawn nigh to you, in which ye 
 begin to say, I have no pleasure in them ?* And 
 have those days found you sheltered in Christ, 
 devoted to His service, living to His glory? 
 Surely, beloved, the increased rapidity with which 
 as ye advance in age each succeeding year takes 
 to itself wings and flies away, gives to its parting 
 notes the peculiar solemnity of even a voice from 
 the dead. How old are you ? it says ; and are 
 ye as old in grace as ye are in years ? or, have ye 
 not even yet been born again, and become babes 
 in the kingdom of grace ? Oh ! surely, beloved, 
 if time be precious, if each moment be im- 
 portant to us all, it is so peculiarly to you, 
 whose days must be near to their close. Do ye, 
 on looking back upon a long life, feel the patri- 
 arch's confession, '' Few and evil have the days 
 
 *Eccles. xii. 1, 
 
HOW OLD ART THOU? 
 
 605 
 
 of the years of my life been." Oh ! have ye as 
 good a hope as he, that when your pilgrimage 
 is over, and your tent struck, ye have a house 
 in the bosom of your God, "a house not made 
 with hands, eternal in the heavens V* 
 ^ Beloved, the sun of the last Sabbath of the 
 ■year is set. The Lord grant that should 
 our next Sabbath be in the spring time of 
 the Eternal Year, we may sit down with 
 Abraham, and Isaac, and Jacob, in our Father's 
 kingdom ! 
 
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?'! 
 
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 I n 
 
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