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I ^ I A HIDDEN GOSPEL THE CAUSE OF THE LOSS OF SOULS TO THE READER This little Treatise has been written for the glory of God in the desire to draw men to the Saviour, and to maice believers "cleave to the Lord with full purpose of heart." The object of the Writer has been to set forth the simple elemen- tary truth of the Gospel, the apprehension of which gives clearness of faith and assurance of hope ; and to remove some of those false views or impressions that often interpose, as a dark cloud, between the soul and the blessed « Sun of Righteousness." The Reader will perceive that this Treatise only enters in part on the topics embraced in the text. The VViifer, however, hopes, that if circumstances permit, he may be enabled to jirosecute the enquiry still farther, and consider some of the causes existing in the sinner why the Gospel is often hid. Believing Reader, do pray with me that this little woik ma> be owned of God in turning sinners from "darkness to hght," and "from the power of Satan unto God," and to His name be all the glory. ^^ 7 / ^ cx,y Ir ipm^ WIT TO THE CONCiREG ATION THAT USUALLY ASSEMBLE IN THE THIS I.ITTLE TUEATISE WITH EARNESr PRAYER THAT, UNDER THE BLESIJNO OF GOD, IT MAY BE INSTRUMENTAL IN THE CONVERSION AND SANOTIFIOATION OF SOULS. BY THEia VERY AFFECTIONATK PASTOR. c "^ yc Mi of anc pos re a sin ohj the sat car sto ob( sue he: to ] eitl plii sys the yet or of ser A HIDDEN GOSPEL THI CAUSE OF THE LOSS OF SOULS. 'J Cor. iv. 3.— '• K our Gospel be hid, it ia liid to them that aro lost !" Man, since the fall, in relation to the government of God, is a rebel. He has violated the " holy, just, and good law of his Creator and consequently ex- posed himself to i's righteous, but awful penalty. In restoring such a being — one who is under the guilt of sin, and naturally in love with it, it is evident that two objects require to be i\ccomplished. There must, in the first place, be some hoLourable ground, perfectly satisfactory to the sr- • 3me Lawgiver, on which He can remit the penalty, acquit the transgressor, and re- store him to all the blessings connected with perfect obedience ; and, in the second place, there must be such an influence brought to bear on the mind and heart of the sinner, as will be fitted to win him back to love and obedience to God. A scheme that lacked either of these great requisites, would fail to accom< plish the end contemplated. Were it possible that there did exist any truth, or system of truths, or any other conceivable inHaence in the universe, fitted to rtstore man to love pnd obedience, yea, perfect obedience, yet were there no honourable or consistent groHnd on which the past transgressions of the sinner could be forgiven, it is evident that the sentence of exclusion from heaven would remain final A HIDDEN GOSPEL. Hi and eternal. Or, on the other hand, did there exist a suitable satisfaction to the holy government of God, grounded on which he could justify the guilty trans- gressor, yet were there no influence arailable in its sufficiency or adaptation to destroy the natural enmity of the human heart, and bring man into a state of re- conciliation with God ; however much the desire, on (xod's part, would be illustrative of His love and mercy, yet the object to be derived would still remain im- accomplished ; the sinner would remain unsanctified, and consequently unsaved ; for " without holiness, no man shall see the Lord."— Heb. xii. 14. Let us bleso God, however, and let the earth rejoice, that the Divine plan of mercy, whilst it contains a perfect and glorious satisfaction to God's law, also un- folds to man such an influence as is fitted to *' restore his soul, and lead him in paths of righteousness"— Ps. xxiii. 3. And while the scheme, as a whole, is the grandest display of God's love, it also strikingly bears the impress of His wisdom, in the simplicity a^nd verity of the arrangement : for' such is its complex character, that the very same work or Expedient which gives satisfaction to the divine moral administration, is the very instrument which, as a great truth, the Spirit employs to enlighten, convert, sanctify, and save the souls of men. That which removes the legal ob- :itaclej da God's part, to man's salvation, is the very thing which, in its exhibition, is adapted to remove the moral obstacles on man's part. And thus it is, that although there is now an adequate atonement for the sin^ of men, the actual salvation of the sinner is not accomplished, till he come under the means intended to convert and save him. «'He must come to the knowledge of the trutu and be saved/'~l Tim. ii. 4. A HIDDEN GOSPEL. 3 5re exist a nt of God, lilty trans- ble in its •al enmity- ate of re- desire, on nd mercy, main un- sanctified, liness, no th rejoice, ontains a , also un- " restore iss"— Ps. vhole, is strikingly licity and complex nt which istration, ruth, the and save egal ob- the very nove the is, that for the r is not intended > to the ■J In a word, lie must believe the Gospel. The Spirit employs Gospel truth as the only instrument to save. He may employ other truths in the word, to influence the soul, and the influence produced may correspond with the nature of the truth employed ; but no other truth is saving truth, but Uospel truth. And, there- fore, it follows, that " if the Gospel is hid, it is hid to them that are lost." Souls are in a lost state till they know the Gospel, and they will be finally and eter- nally lost if they do not come to a knowledge of the truth of ihfe Gospel. And thus^ also, it results, on the other hand, that those to whom the Gospel is known — those who come to the knowledge of the truth — are saved souls. " Blessed are the people that know the joyful sound." — Ps. Ixxxix. 15. Oh ! how important that ministers, in preaching, be sure that they preach the Gospel — Christ's Gospel — the glorious Gospel of the grace of God. My dear readers, do you know the Gospel ? Are you sure it is the Gospel? Can you show, on God's authority, that what you are believing and trusting in, is the Gospel 1 Or are you yet in doubt, darkness, and perplexity ? Be assured, then, that you are in a dangerous condition. Oh ! throw not this little trea- tise aside, which has been written to guide you into " the way of peace," without making its subject a matter of deep concern. My heart's desire and prayer to God for you is, that you might be saved. The passage of Scripture to which our attention is solicited, embraces three important considerations : I. What is the Gospel ? II. Hoio the Gospel may be hid! III. The awful consequence resulting from a hidden Gospel — souls are lost ! A HIDDEN GOSPEL. SECTION I. WHAT IS THE GOSPEL? h This is an inquiry that swallows up all other inqui- ries. It is one of everlasting importance. The mind of man cannot be directed to a subject of greater mo- ment — of more vital consequence to his present and eternal weli-being, than this. " What must I do to be saved ?" is the most important question that man, as a sinner, can put. It is one very seldom put. There is nothing more common in the world, than asking ques- tions ; but it is far from being common to put this great question — to make the way of salvation an object of serious investigation— to be "seeking the Lord while he may be found." — Isa. Iv. 6. 1st. Whatever the Gospelis, it is ^* good news.^^ It is "glad tidings of great joy ;" it brings "peace ort earth, and good will to men." The word " Gospel" is a Saxon compound, signifying " good news." It is something fitted to give peace, to produce joy, to en- kindle hope, to awaken holy love. It is "news;" something new, new in the history of the world, new in the history of the universe. It is a new feature in the moral government of God, a new manifestation of His infinite perfections. It is " news" in which all intelligent beings are more or less interested. Even the Godhead is deeply interested ; it is called " the pleasure of the Lord,"— Isa. liii. 10;— "the Lordde^ lighteth in mercy." Holy beings who may have ex» isted for ases nrior to the rrrmfJon nf tha •,nnl>^A '^t-^^mm -v* l/lAi^ ¥» \JtA aU| C^lXVft A HIDDEN GOSPEL. whoso enlarged and enlarging capacities have been employed in the contemplation and enjoyment of God, regard the Gospel as news, wonderful news : " angels desire to look into these things." The Gospel has produced a " new song" in heaven. — Rev. v. 9. But more particularly it is " good news" to man, good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people ; it is a Gospel " for every creature ;" therefore for you, oh ! reader — yes ! for you. Whatever the Gospel is, then, it is good news, fitted to occasion joy. Hence, " be- lieving, we rejoice with joy unspeakable, and full of glory." Hence, the Ethiopian Eunuch, when he be- lieved, " went on his way rejoicing ;" and the Philip- pian Jailor " rejoiced, believing in God, with all his house." Those, then, who im 3 religion a gloomy thing, are sadly mistaken ; an* persons profess to have received Christ's Gospe id appear gloomy, censorious, and morose, be asoured it is something else than religion that makes them so. " The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace," &;c. The Gospel is the Gospel of peace, and by it " God fills us with all joy and peace in believing." — Rom. xv. 13. 2nd. Whatever the Gospel is, the knowledge of it by the sinner is necessary to his salvation. Our condition, as violators of God's law, exposes us to all the dread- ful consequences of sin — eternal perdition. The Gos- pel makes known the only way of salvation. Faith in this Gospel is necessary to the possession and enjoy- ment of eternal life. Gospel truth, alone, can make us wise to salvation. " He that believeth, shall be saved ; he that believeth not, shall be damned !" " Without faith, it is impossible to please God." If the Gospel be hid trom us, wte are lost : and thus did A 2 6 A HIDDEN GOSPEL. when he beheld the city, and wept over it, saying " Oh ! that thou hadst known, in this thy day, the things which belong to thy peace, but now they are hid from thine eyes."— Luke xix. 42. Hence, the impor- tance of the great commission, " Go ye into all the world, and preach the Gospel to every creature" Mkrk xvi. 15. Gospel truth is not like any kind of histo- rical, political, moral, or philosophical truth, which we mayor may not know without any particular detriment or benefit to our personal interests. It is either " a savour of life unto life, or of death unto death." Reader, do you know the truth T" 3rd. Whatever the Gospel w, it is something very simple. The word of God does not come to propound some problem for man's solution, and whoever is able to solve it shall be saved. It does not come with some high, abstruse, and intricate subject, requiring the grasp of mind of a Newton, the philosophic research of a Bacon, or the splendid imaginative powers of a Milton. It does not propose something requiring years of unremitting and laborious toil and study. The Gos- pel does not propose, as a question, " How shall man be just with God ?" " Wherewith shall I come before the Lord, and bow myself before the high God? shall I come before him with burnt offerings ; with calves of a year old ? will the Lord be pleased with thousands of rams, or with ten thousands of rivers of oil ? shall I give my first-born for my transgression— the fruit of my body for the sin of my soul ?" The Gospel does not ask, but it answers the question. When man, as a condemned criminal, under the curse of God's law, is led to cry out under the pressure of an awakened con- science, « What must I do to be saved ?"— how shall I escape the just judgment of God? it does not leave A HIDDEN GOSPEL. laying— day, the ^ are hid e impor- • all the '— Mkrk of histo- hlch we striment ther " a death." ing very •ropound ' is able ith some iRg the esearch eirs of a tig yeaFs 'he Gos. all man e before d? shall lalves of tousands I? shall fruit of )el does lan, as a law, is led con- >w shall Dt leave him to the varied and conflicting opinions of men ; it does not require him to rest on man's authority or judg- ment, to see who will make known the most reasonable theory ; who will devise the most ingenious expedient. No, no, blessed be God ! there is no such uncertainty — no such difliculty. The Gospel is the answer — not the question. God has solved the problem, executed the task, removed the difficulty, and the Gospel is the simple proclamation of what He has done, and what we are to believe. The Gospel is a development of God's wisdom — not man's ; and His wisdom is seen in its simplicity, and thus it is adapted to be preached to every creature, whatever their amount of intellectual or moral cultivation. Yea, even individuals who, when compared with others, naay be termed " babes," have often rejoiced in the truth, when to the " wise and the prudent" the Gospel was still hid ; " out of the mouths of babes and sucklings thou hast perfected praise." Mat. xxi. 16. The Eunuch learned the Gospel from a conversation with Philip, in a chariot ; the Jailor, the same hour in which he cried out, " Sirs, what must I do to be saved 1" rejoiced, believing in God. Oh ! reader, are you thinking the Gospel something awfiiUy intricate and abstruse ? Oh ! " who hath bewitched you, that ye should not obey the truth." — Gal. iii. 1. 4th, Whatever the Gospel is, it is something very powerfuL " I am not ashamed of the Gospel of Christ," says the Apostle, « for it is the power of God unto salva- tion to every one that believeth." The preaching of the Cross is to them that perish foolishness, but, to us who are saved, it is the power of God. It is not only " news," bm It makes new. It transforms — renews. If any man be in Christ, he is a new creature. — 2 Cor. v. 17. It is the great instrument employed by the Spirit in con- A HIDDEN GOSPEL. version. Believera are begotten by " the word of truth ;" they are born, not of corruptibi • seed, but of incorrui>- tible, by the word of God ; and this is the word which, by the Gospel, " is preached unto you." It is thus the Apostle says, « in Jesus iiavs I begotten you through the Gospel."—! Cor. iv. 15. The Gospel works effectually in those that believe. It turns «« from dark- ness to light ;" « from the power of Satan to God ;" by faith of it we "pass from death unto life," from the bondage and servitude of Satan, ''iivto the glorious liberty ot the children of God." Reader, have you undergone this saving change, can you say, that whereas you « were once blind, now you seel" If you are yet unchanged, it is because you know not, you have not obeyed the Gospel. 5th, Whatever the Gospsl is, it cannot be believed without bringing t/ie believer into a state of peace with God. This is a truth clearly taught us in the Word of God ; and not only taught us as a truth, but exemplified m the diversified experience of true believers mentioned in Scripture. <« Being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ." Some think that they know the Gospel, but all they want is faith to believe it; others think that they are believing the Gospel, but they have not peace with God. Both of these are mistakes. A man cannot know the Gospel to be true, without believing it. What you are believing is not the Gospel at all ; it is something else. It may be something near the Gospel, round about the Gospel, or like the Gospel ; it may ba as like it as a painting is like the object painted ; but the picture of anything is very different from the thing itself. The picture of a fire will not warm you ; the picture of a loaf will not nourish you ; the picture of a bag of gold will not enrich you : A HIDDEN GOSPEL. 9 80 a mere picture of the Gospel, something like it, will not enlighten, convert, and save you. You must believe ihe Gospel ; you must «♦ know the joyful sound ;' you must know that it is no mere theory, no mere abstrac- tion ; but a reality, a glorious and gracious truth. You may have a perception of what the Gospel is, but you may not believe it to be true. You may have an appro- hension of it, as you would of some of the doctrines of the Koran, were you to study them, but yeu fail to realize it as truth^mmUe truth. You do not see your vileness as a sinner, your condemnation as a criminal, your danger as exposed to the infliction of the wrath of God, and, consequently, you realize not, a real Gospel , 6th, Whatever the Gospel is, there is only Une. "One name given under heaven and among men, whereby we may be saved f one « door" by which we enter ; one « way" in which me must walk ; one refuge to which to flee ; one « fountain open for sin and un- cleanness ;" one « foundation" on which to bmld ; « one Mediator between God and man;" "one sacri- fice" that can take away sin ; one « High Priest passed into the heavens, who ever liveth to make intercession for us ;" one Shepherd, who is « the chief Shepherd," « the great Shepherd of the sheep," « the good Shepherd, who giveth his life for the sheep." In a word, there is but me Gospel, it is the Gospel ; the Gospel of God ; the Gospel of the grace of God ; the glorious Gospel of Christ. Paul and Timothy, who send this Epistle, call it mr Gospel—" if owr Gospel be hid," You recollect how deeply the heart of the Apostle was stirred when at one time he suspected that some of the Galatians were likely to be drawn aside to another Gospel, "which is not another," adds he. There are not two. Another 10 A HIDDEN GOSPEL. Gospel is a false Gospel, and a false Gospel is no Gospel ; therefore, in removing to another Gospel, they were removing to no Gospel, for there is not another. (See Gal. i. 7, 8, 9.) Man is apt to believe a lie ; to be in- fluenced by Satan's devices. If, in a state of in- nocency, he was led to believe the Serpent, and dis. believe God, 0, how prone is he now to be '< led captive by him at his will," when the heart, as well as Sata.,, is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked. 0, remain not, then, in darkness ; rest not on a mere presumption or a peradventure. Do you know the Gospel — the only Gospel ? Are yoii sure it is the Gospel, and nothing else ? Have you « received it not as the word of man, but as the word of God ?" Are you satis- fied that it is not merely this or that man's opinion, but that it is God's truth, and that, in believing it, " you have set to your seal that God is true?"— John iii. 33. Do you take it as if fresh from the lips of God, « as if God did beseech, and Christ prayed you, be ye recon- ciled to God ?"— 2 Cor. v. 20. Were the question to be put to each individual of our large congregations who may have often heard the word of God, What is the Gospel ? a great variety of answers would probably be given, not at all agreeing one with another. One would answer one thing, and another, another. But there are not twenty Gospels, nay, there are not Ivm; and the same Gospel by which one is saved, must be the same by which arfy other must be saved, and therefore they must know the Gospel — the same Gospel, and will be "ready always to give an answer to every man that asketh a reason of the hope that is in them."— 1 Peter iii. 15. All that know the Gospel will be able to tell what the Gospel is ; they will give an intelligent answer of the ground of their hope for A HIDDEN GOSPEL. 11 eternity. Bring a true believer from tlie north, or fronn the south, from Lapland, or Madagascar, or the South Seas, or China, or Central Africa, as well aa from the more enlightened parts of Europe or America ; question them from the richest to the poorest, from the greatest in rank to the meanest, from the most learned to the most unlettered, whether from the frigid or the tropical zone ; ask those who know the Gospel, and they will give a similar ansv/er. Each may use his own words, idioms, phraseology, but the Gospel will be seen and expressed in all. I have no doubt, for all that some have read and heard of Divine truth, and who take for granted that they believe in the Bible, that they are yet ignorant of the Gospel. It often happens, as has been attested by facts, that to some who have been regular at church on Sabbaths, irequent at the communion table, occasionally or regularly at prayer meetings, consistent as moral men, and even looked up to as religious men, yet, after years in this course, when they were saying « peace, peace," and thinking all was well, yet the Gospel has been a hidden Gospel. They thought they were believing, and so they were, but it was not the simple gospel ; and yet, when they have come to know the truth, the truth that" sets free"— John viii. 32— they have received it as something new, as " good news ;" they had not known it before ; they were looking to and trusting to something else. It came (o them with all the freshness of something new, and all the importance of sqmething that wals real. Does not the occurrence of such eases teach us a most serious lesson, and propose a most solemn inquiry ? If such> instances do occur (and that they do, cannot be questioned), if persons who have long sat under the teaching of the church, and been rejceived as members, 19 A HIDDEN GOSPEL. and regarded as moral and even religious, if they, by coming to the knowledge of the truth, praoiically own that they were in darkness and under condemnation, O, surely it speaks loudly to vast multitudes, in pro- fessedly Christian churches, who have a name to live and are dead (Rev. iii. 1), who seem "ever learning but never able to come to the knowledge of the truth" (2 Tim. iii. 7), who live in continued perplexity and doubt, and would be puzzled to say what they are really believing ! la not the inquiry solemnly enforced, Do I know the Gospel—the Gospel by which alone sinners are saved .' O, reader, have you considered what you are believing, not what you are presuming upon or taking for granted, but what you are truly believing ; is it the Gospel, or is it not ? Is it the same Gospel Paul preached, and by believing in which he was saved ? Is it Christ's Gospel 1 « Examine yourself whether ye be in the faith, prove yourself, know ye not yourself how that Christ Jesus is in you, except ye be reprobate." — 2 Cor. xiii. 5. 7th, Whatever the Gospel is, it is not ant or every truth in the Bible. The Bible is, indeed, the only authoritative exhibition of Gospel truth, it is chiefly for this purpose it is given to us ; it is in it that the Spirit takes of the things of Christ and shows them to us, John xvi. 14. But it is not any truth that is Gospel truth. There are many of the statements of Scripture that are simply historical, preceptive, prortissory, fiic., and it is not the belief o(any one of them that is saving faith. Nor does Gospel truth comprehend every truth in the Scriptures. If it did, who would really believe the Gospel 1 Who could say that he really knows every statement contained in the Bible ] How long would it take for a man to know the Gospel, and even, after years of unremitting toil, could he say that he knew every A HIDDEN OOSPBL. 18 truth in the somewhat voluminous book— the Bible? The Gospel, we are to believe, is essentially the same that all believers in every age of the world believed, and there are vast portions of the Scriptures, both in the Old and New Testaments, about which the Patriarchs and Prophets could know nothing. Besides, how could the Eunuch know the Gospel in a brief conversation with Philip in the chariot, and the Jailor learn it in an hour, and the three thousand at the day of Pentecost in a day, Acts ii. 41, if the Gospel included everij truth in the Scriptures ] It is necessary that we distinguish the Gospel from other truths or facts that surround the Gospel, or are connected with it. For example, in Rom. iii. 23, it is stated, « all have sinned and come short of the glory of God ;" but that is not the Gospel ; it ia entirely distinct from it. In Gal. iii. 10, it is said, " Cursed is every one that continueth not in all things written in the book of the law to do them." Here, then, is our condition, we are sinners ; here is our condemnation, we are cursed ; but that is not the Gospel, and believing this truth will not save us. This is no good news ; it is truth fitted to agitate and alarm. If you were confined in a dungeon, and under sentence of death, and waiting the day of execution, the knowledge of this would be no good news to you ; it would fill you with dismay and despair. There are a great many truths in the Bible intimately connected with the Gospel ; they are important for us to know, but they are not all the Gospel. We are first to believe the Gospel, the Gospel by which we are begotten again, and thus, " being born again," " as new-born babes, we are to desire the sincere milk of the word that we may grow thereby." — 1 Peter ii. 2, 0, reader, do not be contented with knowing any of B 14 A UIDDBN GOSPEL. the truths of the Bible, see that it is Gospel truth ; and do not suppose that before you can be a believer you must know every truth. 8th, Whatever the Gospel is, it is a message ad- dressed to mankind-sinners alone, and therefore cannot be received as such by any other intelligent beings in the universe. Gospel truth is not truth existing in thevv^orld, arising out of the relationship of moral beings to the Great Lawgiver. It is not some attribute in the Divine cha- racter, or some truth more latent among the glories of the Godhead, that required only deeper investigation or growing enlargement of capacity for angels or archangels to discover. Gospel truth is not even a truth that re- quired merely a simple word or sentiment from the unfathomable depths of the Divine Wisdom. The God- head does not reveal it simply in the character of an instructor, though infinite in knowledge. No ! Gospel truth is a ♦' new creation,"— Eph. ii. 10, 2 Cor. v. 17 — a creation that required more than the simple fiat of the Almighty voice ; it required, on the part of the Godhead, toil and suffering, ignominy and agony. Apart from this there is no Gospel truth. Gospel truth thus partakes of a historical character. It has reference to a great work — a great event ; take that away, and there is no truth in the universe fitted to save a single soul. Gospel truth is no mere theory, it is no abstraction, it is a great fact ; a real event, apart from which it has no abstract or separate existence. There are many truths which man, in common with other intelligent creatures, may know, and may grow in the knowledge of them. This is strikingly set forth by James (ii. 19.) in reference to the great truth, that there is one living and true God, when he says, « Thou be- lievest that there is one God; thou doest wellj the i A HIDDKN 00gP£L. 15 ith ; and Bver you mge ad- j cannot f J in the le world, le Great ne cha- lories of ation or changels that re- rom the he God- ;r of an Gospel V. 17— It of the odhead, rom this takes of work — truth in 1 truth is at fact ; jtract or on with grow in forth by at there hou be- ill; the dcvils'also believe and tremble." Saving faith is some- thing else than this. Again, we are told in Mark i. 23, 26, of an unclean spirit that cried out on seeing Christ, " Let us alone ; what have wo to do with thee, thou Jesus of Nazareth ; art thou come to destroy us? I know thee who thou art — the Holy One of God." Here was a knowledge of Christ, here was an acknowledgment of his Holiness and his Divinity. The unclean spirit believed all this ; and this shews us that angels and de- vils may believe much in reference to the Gospel ; but the great truths of his Gospel is something that man- kind-sinners are to receive, and it cannot be received in the same way by angels in heaven, or by devils in hell, because it is not addressed as good news to them. Holy beings in heaven may see, and no doubt do see, in the Gospel scheme, a great and new manifestation of the Divine glory which excites their admiration, increasi's their love, and strengthens their obedience. — Eph. iii. 10. Fallen spirits in the place of wo, may see, and do see in it a great exhibition of God's power, wisdom, and love, in controlling and counteracting their own mali- cious designs, and putting limits to the inroads and ex- tension of rebellion in the udiverse. " The seed of the woman bruized the head of the serpent. — Gen. iii. 15. But 0, fellow-sinner. Gospel truth is fit to save you, and it is not fit to save devils ; it is the power of God to salva- tion, to every one that believeth. 0, then, believe and live, there is something in it Intended and fitted for sin- ners of mankind, and fitted and intended for none else, and every believer enjoys its power, it^ blessing and its grace. This brings the great question before us, — What is the Gospel 1 within nari-ower limits ; nay, to the very point. This tends to distinguish it from other truths that may or •♦-i' . , 16 A HIDDEN GOSPEL. may not be connected with it, whether in nature or reve- lation. This brings us to the great eementary or essen- tial truths *of the Gospel. What, then, is the Gospel? 0, fellow-sinner, if you know it not, if you cannot answer the question, listen to God's word. It answers the question ; " Hear and your soul shall I'-ve."— Isaiah Iv. 3. N t THE QUESTION, WHAT IS THE GOSPEL ? ANSWERED. PAUL ANSWERS THE QUESTION. He answers it for himself , when he says, Gal. ii. 20, '' The life I now live in the flesh, is a life of faith on the Son of God who loved me and gave himself for ME." But Paul was not merely a believer, but a preacher of the Gospel and an Apostle. Now, let us hear what Paul preached to other&, as well as believed for himself i because the Gospel is " for every creature.'' The question is answered by the Apostl-^. 1 Cor. XV. 1,4. " Moreover, brethren, I declare unto you, The Gospel which I preached unto you, which also ye have received, and wherein ye stand, by which now ye are saved, if ye keep in memory what I preached unto you, unless ye have believed in vain. For I deliv- ered unto yon, first of all, that which 1 also received ; how that Christ died for our sins according to the Scrip, tures, and that he was buried, and thai he rose again the third day according to the Scriptures." Now, here ia something that neither angels nor devils can believe. They cannot say, Christ died for our sins; but we can say so. He died for our sins, and in so doing, he has made a perfect satisfaction to God's law and government, A HIT>DEN GOSPEL. 17 80 that God can and does remit the penalty of the law to every sinner that believes in what Christ has done and suffered for him, and who is thus led to see the honour- able and safe way in which the infinitely Holy God can receive guilty and polluted beings into favour and fellow- ship, and restore ihem to the blessings connected with perfect personal obedience. Nor is it true, merely, that Christ died for the sins of believers, else we might ask, what Gospel did they oelieve, and by believing which, they became believers 1 and still farther, what Gospel would we have to address to unbelievers'? — a Gospel which must be true before it is believed, and, in order to be believed, and will be true, even although it should be rejected and disobeyed. But, observe, this Gospel was what Paul preached first of all — the first chief truth which he made known when he went among the Corin- thians. He did not wait till they believed, before he says, Christ died for our sins, but he made known this as the Gospel which he first preached, and those that believed it were saved. Hear, then, O fellow-sinners, the Gospel, Christ died for our sins ; yes, for ours ; for yours, 0, reader, and for mine ; believe and live ; believe and rejoice. Is not this good news? — glad tidings of great joy ? Here is a truth to us, and to no other beings in the universe ; none in heaven, or in the place of wo, can say what we can say — Christ died for our sins. Here, then, is the elementary truth of the Gospel. And here let me point you to the remarks of the great Luther, which are very appropriate here: — ^'« But weigh diligent. ly every word of Paul, and especially mark well this pro- noun our ; for the effect altogether consisteth in the well applying of the pronouns, which we find very often in the Scriptures ; wherein, also, there is ever some vehe- mency and power. Thou wilt easily say and believe In I. B tr*vi I4J 18 A HIDDEN GOSPEL. I k that Christ, the Son of God, was given for the sins of Peter, of Paul, and of other saints, whom v\e account to have been worthy of this grace ; but it is a very hard thing that tliou who judgest thyself unworthy of this grace, shouldst, from thy heart, say and believe, that Christ was given for thine invincible, infinite, and horri- ble sins. * * • Learn this definition dili- gently, and especially so exercise this pronoun our, that this one syllable being believed, may swallow up all thy sins ; that is to say, that thou mayest know assuredly, that Christ hath taken away the sins, not of certain men only, but also of thee ,• yea, and of the whole world. Then, let not thy sins be sins only, but even thy own sins indeed ; that is, to wit, believe thou that Christ was not only given lor other Qnen's sins, but also for thine. Hold this fast, and sufler not thyself, by any meanrf, to be drawn away from this most sweet definition of Christ, which rejoiceth even the very angels in heaven." Again, Paul answers the question in 2 Cor. v. 20,21 : " Now, then, we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God did beseech you by us ; we pray you in Christ's stead, be ye reconciled to God. For he hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin, that we might be made the righteousness of God in him." God is seeking to reconcile the worid unto himself, not in)puting their tres- passes unto them. God beseeches sinners, and Christ prays them, be ye reconciled to God. Now observe the ground on which this is eflPected ; for he, (that is God) hath made Him who knew no sin (that is Christ) lo be 8in for us, that we might be made the righteous- ness of God in him. Christ took our sin and we are to take his righteousness. All our own righteousness is but as61thyrags (Is. Ixiv. 6.); but here is Christ's rigliteous- ness, a perfect righteousness ; we are treated and regarded A HIDDEN GOSPEL. 19 ! sins of ;ount to ry hard of this /e, that (1 horn- ion dili- ur, that ) all thy isuredly, ain men : world. )vvn sins was not e. Hold :?, to be ^ Christ, 20,21 : s though Christ's lade him be made Peking to beir tres- d Christ serve the (that ia 3 Christ) ighteous- ve are to ess is but igljteous- regarded by God as perfect in Christ, by faith in Christ we are accepted in the Beloved.— E^ih. i. 6. 0, believe, then, in what Christ has done for you— has become for you — yes, for you, O, sinner, however vile, and guilty, and hell- deserving you are, and you will be received by the Father for his Son's sake : you will be made " the righteous- ness of God in Him." Is not this " good news" for poor, perishing sinners, such as we. " Believe, then, in the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved."— Acts xvi. 31. Listen still farther to the same Gospel by Paul, Gal. i. 3^ 4. — « Grace be to you, and peace from God the Father, and our Lord Jesui Christ who gave himself for our sinSf that he might deliver us from this present evil world." Here is the good news — Christ gave himself for our sins, and if you look to what follows, you will perceive that the Apostle immediately proceeds to ex- press his grief and surprise, that they should be at all likely to remove from this Gospel to another Gospel, which is not another, for there is no other. Again, Titus ii. 13, 14, '« Looking for that blessed hope, and the glorious appearing of the great God, and our Saviour Jesus Christ, who gave himself for us, that he might redeem us from all iniquity." Again, Eph. v. 2, " Christ hdh loved us, and hath given himself for us on offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweet smelling savour.^'* Still farther, listen to the «' good news." — 1 Tim. i. 15. " This is a faithful saying, and worthy of all acceptation, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am chief." How wide the word «' sinners," how co-extensive with the whole human family. Christ'a mission has an aspect of love towards the whole world ; Christ's fullness is adequate to the wants of the whole Ii . .'in 1^ =-. J. 20 A HIDDEN' GOSPKL. world : he came to save sinners. Who are sinners ? ^*Ml have sinned," is the reply of Scripture, and the whisper of conscience is its echo. 0, reader, are not you a sinner ? You are, and therefore Christ's work is suffi- cient for you ; you may rest on it, you may build on it. It is a rock strong enough on which to rest ail your hopes, and broad enough for you — yes, for you. Again hear the Gospel : ITim.ii. 1 — 6. — The Apostle exhorts that prayers should be made for all men, for Kings, &c. " For'' says he, ver. 3, *« this is good and accep'able in the sight of God our Saviour, who will have all men to be saved, and to come to the knowledge ot the truth. For there is one God, and one mediator between God and man, the man Christ Jesus, who gave himself a ransom for all.''' We are, then, to pray for all. Why ? Because God desires the salvation of all j and therefore, you, O, reader. And how do we know that he will have all men to be saved? Because Christ gave himself a ransom for all. O, listen, then, to the "good news :" there is a Saviour for you ; there is a ransom paid for you ; there has been precious blood shed for you ; for we are not redeemed with corruptible things such as silver and gold, but with the precious blood of Christ. —1 Pet. i. 18, 19. "The good news" is still farther made known by the great Apostle of the Gentiles, in 2 Cor. v. 14. For the love of Christ constraineth us, because we thus judge that if one died for all, then were all dead, and that he died for all, that they who live should not hence- forth live to themselves, but unto him who died for them, and rose again. The Apostle states in this chapter, thato// must appear before the judgment seat of Christ. Now, all are spiritually dead : all are naturally under condemnation — under sentence of death. He knows A HIDDEN GOSPEL. 21 and states this, not merely because sin is so universal, but he knows it, and infers it from the general aspect of Christ's work and death ; he judges that all are dead, because Christ died for all. The greatness of the remedy pre-supposes the greatness of the disease, the universality of the remedy pre-supposes the univer- sality of the disease. " If Christ died for all, then all were dead." This is our condition as sinners, we are Jead — " dead in trespasses and sins." How, then, do we live : how do we get spiritual life f By believing the Gospel of our salvation ; by believing in what Christ has done in dying for us ; by seeing the perfect atonement which he has made for our sins. We de- serve to die, but he died for us ; we were cursed, but he became a curse for us, and thus by believing in him, we are justified ; there is now no condemnation to us, being in Christ Jesus. We live by faith of the Son of God who loved us, and gave himself for us — Gal. ii. 20. iii. 13. Or, as our Saviour says, John v. 24, 25. " Verily, verily, I say unto you, he that heareth ray word, and believeth on him that sent me, hath everlast- ing life, and shall not come into condemnation, but is passed from death to life. Verily, verily, I say unto you, the hour is coming, and now is, when the dead Bhall hear the voice of the Son of God ; and they that hear shall live.'' The Saviour, in this passage, is not referring to the general resurrection of the bodies of men, he refers to this in the subsequent verses 28, 29 ; but he is speaking of the influence of Gospel truth on the souls of men, by which they " are quick- ened ;" " made alive from the dead ;" " rise to newness of life ;" "become new creatures ;" "are born again," and are represented in the passage before us as living, that they who live should not henceforth live to thera- ' al I I II 1 F ■■:, 22 A HIDDE.V GOSPEL. selves, but to Him who died for them and rose again. — Fellow-sinner, have you yet believed ? Do you see the love of God to you, and the death of Christ f&r you ? If so, you are no longer dead, you are alive to God through Jesus Christ. O, live to Him who died for you. Are you yet in unbehef? You are dead, under condemnation, exposed to the wrath to come. Believe that Christ has made a perfect satisfaction to the lovo of God ; see that he died for all, therefore, for you, and believing, you will have peace and joy. Again, read the "good news" in Rom. iii. 24,25, <« Be- ing justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom God hath set forth to be ^propitiation, through /«?YA in his blood, to declare his righteousness for the remission of sins that are past, through the forbearance of God ; to declare, I say, at this time his righteousness; that he might be just, and the justifier of him that believeth in Jesus." Again, iv. 23 — 25, « Now it was not written for his sake alone (viz., Abraham's), thai it was imputed to him; but for us also, to whom it (that is, righteousness or justification) will be imputed, if we believe on him that raised up Jesus from the dead, who was delivered for our offences, and was raised again for our justifica- tion." Once more. Read the " good news," so strikingly implied in the triumphant exclamation of believers. Rom. viii. 33, 34, " Who shall lay any thing to the charge of God's elect? It is God that justifieth. Who is he that condemneth ? It is Christ that died, yea, rather, that is risen again, who is ever at the right hand of God, who also maketh intercession for us." Who is there that will condemn the believer, sinner though he has been? Will any angel that has kept his first estate A HIDDEN G08PKL. 23 stand up and say, " you are a sinner, you have no right to enter heaven, to enjoy the blessings connected with perfect obedience?" The belit^ver can exclaim, it is all true, I have sinned — I deserve not to be here ; but I am not here at the expense of law ; I enter here with a perfect righteousness, a finished and an everlast- ing righteousness, Dan. ix. 24. Sinner though I am, yet who is he that condemneth ] Christ died. Christ loved me and gave himself for me ; and angels as well as saints will join in the new song, Worthy is the Lamb that was slain to receive honour and glory, dominion and blessing for ever and ever, Rev. v. 9 — 12. Will any devil in hell stand up at the great day of accounts, and when the Judge says to believers, " Come ye blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world," Matt. xxv. 34, will he cry out. " Hold, hold, these have sinned, these have merited hell." O hear the triumphant exclama- tion that magnifies God's law — satisfies God's justice — vindicates God's attributes — " Who is he that con- demneth? It is Christ that died." Christ has died, and died for us, and therefore we live — we have etenial life. " Not unto us, not unto us, but unto thy name, Lord, be all the glory," Ps. cxv. 1. O sinner, there is nothing between you and an eternal hell but the work of Christ ; nothing between saints in heaven and eternal perdition, but the death of Christ ; nothing throughout eternity, but what Christ has done in dying for us. There is no other plea — no other confidence — no other ground of boasting, but this, " if is Christ that died." Now Christ's death is sufficient for you, O sinner, yes, for you ; he came to save sinners ; he gave his life a ran- Bora for all ; he died for all, 2 Cor. v. 14, 15. There ia no proper reason why you should not acknowledge and Ui u A HIDDEN GOSPEL. believe the validity of Christ's work — appropriate its benefits — rejoice in its blessings — employ it as an un- answerable plea, yea, as your plea, and your only plea ; and that though Satan rages, " hell opens her mouth," the world sneers, the wicked scoflf, though your own heart would give vent to dark suspicions, and your con- science would be like to accuse, and your sins seem like mountains, yet, in the face of a frowning world, an accusing conscience, and a yawning hell, you will tri- umphantly exclaim, " Who is he that condemneth ? it is Christ that died.^^ " To him that loved me and washed me in his own blood, to him be dominion and blessing for ever and ever. Amen." It is thus Paul answers great questions. Many other passages might he cited. For example, Rom. v. 6= — 8. " For when we were without strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly^ for scarcely for a righteous man will one die, yet peradventure for a good man some would even dare to die. But God commendeth his love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.^^ Heb. ix. 26, " But now once in the end of the world hath he appeared, to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself. ^^ THE APOSTLE PETER ANSWERS THE QUESTION. 1 Pet. ii. 21 — 24, " For even hereunto were ye called ; because Christ also suffered for vs. * • * Who his own self bore our sins in his own body on the tree." Also, iii. 18, " For Christ also hath once suf. fered for sins, the just for the unjust, that he might bring us to God." 2 Pet. i. 1, " Simon Peter, a ser- vant and an apostle of Jesus Christ, to them that have obtained like precious faith with us, through the right- eousness of God and our Saviour Jesus Christ."*^ And A HIDDEN eoSPEL. 25 while the Apostle thu^ states the great elementary truth of the gospel, he also shows its sufficiency for all as im- plied in the statement, 2 Pet. iii. 9, « The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some men count slack- ness ; but is long-suffering to usward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance.'* Here, then, fellow-sinner, see the only ground of your acceptance before God. It is not, and cannot be any- thing bm what Christ has done and suffered for you. Believf and live. THE APOSTLE JOHN ANSWERS THE QUESTION. 1 John ii. 1, 2, « If any man sin, we have an advo- cate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous, and he is the propitiation for our sins ; and not f&r ours only, but also for the sins of the whole world :^' iv. 9 10, " In this was manifested the love of God toward us, because that God sent his only begotten Son into the world, that we might live through him. Herein is love, not that we loved God, but that he loved us, and sent his Son to be the propitiation far our sins." Attend carefully to that important passage in chap. v. 10—12, " He that believeth on the Son of God hath the witness in himself; he that believeth not God, hath made him a liar,'''* Now, observe the reason why he makes God a liar. '« Because he believeth not the re- cord that God gave of his Son." But does any one ask, But what is the record ? John replies, " And this is the record, that God hath given to us eternal life, and this life is in his Son." Do you say, What I are we to believe that God hath given to us eternal life? As- suredly, this is the record, by not believing which we make God a liar, and any doubt or unbelief in regard to this is an impeachment of God's veracity. The record 2« A HIDDEN OOSPEI. la, « God halli given to ws," to us sinners, eternal life ; that is, he has made a gift of it to us. He actually olTers this great boon— offers it gratuitously—" without money and without price ;" and he tells us how to get it — " this life is in his Son." It is bestowed in and through Christ, and this accords with what Paul says, " the gilt of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord," Rom. vi. 23. We arc to receive and enjoy this gra- cious and glorious gift by receiving Christ, as it is God's procedure in grace, " He that hath the Son hath life, and he that hath not the Son, hath not life ;" or, in other words, " God gave his only begotten Son, that whoso- ever believeth in him should not perish, but have ever- lasting life ; and he that believeth not shall be damned," Mark xvi. 16 ; " yea, is condemned already, because he hath not believed on the name of the only begotten Son of God."~John iii. 18 and 36. Sinner, you deserve death ; " the wages of sin is death." — Rom. vi. 23. God is now making you an ofler ; a great ofler. He tells you how to receive the offer : it is by believing in Christ ; believing in what he has done for you. O believe and live. If you believe not, you are making God a liar. how truly does John's gospel accord with Peter's and with Paul's ; it is the same gospt' you must believe, and by which you will be saved. JOHN THE BAPTIST ANSWERS THE GREAT QUESTION. He came to prepare the way of the Lord, Matt. iii. 3. He preached the baptism of repentance, Acts xiii. 24-. And thus we are told of the multitudes—" they were baptized of him in Jordan, confessing their sins.'^ This acknowledgment of guilt was preparing the way for a Saviour. The Spirit first convinces of sin. — John xvi. 9. This was the true method to lead them to Christ. Reader, A HIDDEN OOSPEL. 27 do you confess that yon are a sinner ; that you are " guilty before God." — Rom. iii. If. Listen, then, to the good news made known by John " before he ful- filled his course." John i. 29, The next day John seeth Jesus coming unto him, and saith, " Behold the Lamb of God that taketh away the sin of the world ;" and verses 35, 36, Again the next day after, John stood and two of his disciples, and looking upon Jesus as he walked, he saith, " Behold the Lamb of God.'^ Here, then, is a sacrifice of God's providing, one of infinite value ; here is " the precious blood of Christ as ol a lamb without blemish and without spot." Here is the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world. — Rev. xiii. 8. It is a sacrifice that can take away sin — not mere ceremonial pollution ; it does not merely sanctify to the purifying of the flesh, Heb. ix. 13, but it takes away sin — actual guilt. But what sin? Whose sin is it valid to remove? John answers, " the sin of the world.'''' Therefore, O reader, it is sufficient for you. Here is precious blood for you ; a sacrifice for you. O come to his sacrifice ; confess over it your guilt. Believe that it is ofiered for you, and that it is accepted for you, and you will enjoy r ,Lice with God. Observe it says sin. Now, it docs not say what kind of sin, whether great or small. No, it is the generic term sin; and, therefore, though your sin be as moun- tains, though <' red as crimson," by beholding the great sacrifice, they will all be taken away. Thus does John the Baptist preach the gospel ; the same gospel as Paul, who says, Heb. ix. 20, " but now once in the end of the world hath he (Christ) appeared to take away sin by the sacrifice of himself;" and as Peter, " we are re- deemed with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot." — 1 Peter i. 19. 38 A HIDDEN GOSPEL. THE ANGEL ANSWERS THE GREAT QUESTION. Luke ii. 10, 11, "And the angel said unto them, Fear not ; for behold 1 bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people, for unto you is born this day in the city of David, a Saviour, who is Christ the Lord." Unto you is born a Saviour. Not merely to you shepherds — to you Jews; but the tidings are for all people. Therefore, I say to you, reader, there is a Saviour born for you. There is " a Captain of salva- tion ;" and he was " made perfect through suffering." — Heb. ii. 10. It was not merely his being born that con- stituted him a Saviour, but he became perfect as a Sa- viour by what he suffered. He could not save us with- out suffering for us. But he did suffer, and now he is " mighty to save."— Isa. Ixiii. 1. See, then, this per- fect Saviour, " perfect through suffering." To you there is a Saviour born. THE ANCIENT PROPHETS ANSWER THE QUESTION. Isaiah liii. 5, He was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities, the chastisement of our peace was upon him, and by his stripes we are healed. Verse 6, The Lord hath laid on him the ini. quities of us all. Verse S, For the transgression of my people was he stricken. Verse 11, By his knowledge shall my righteous servant justify many, for he shall bear their iniquities. Daniel ix. 24, Seventy weeks are determined upon thy people and upon thy holy city to finish the trans- gression, and to make an end of sins, and to make re- conciliation for iniquity, and to bring in everlasting right- eousness, and to seal up the vision and prophecy, and to anoint the Most Holy. Verse 26, And after threescore A HIDDEN OOnPKL. 20 nnd two weeks shall Messiah he cut off, but not for himself. OUH HLESSED SAVIOUU ANSWEUS THE UUESTION. The Apostle, after mentioning the great cloud of wit- nesses, conies at last to the Saviour, and tells us, as we run, to keep " looking to Jesus the author and finisher of our faith." — Hcb. xii. 2. Let us, then, hear the Great Teacher ; Him who is at once the High Priest and the sacrifice, and also our Great Prophet. John iii. 14, *' And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of man be lifted up, that whosoever believcth in him should not perish, but have eternal life.'' how remarkable for simpli- city the words oi Christ. We are bitten by Sr.tan, the old serpent: we are subject to everlasting death; but Christ has been lifted up. What is meant by this ? Hear the explanation elsewhere in Scripture. John xii. 32, 33, " Now I, if I be lifted up from the earth will draw all men unto me. This he said signifying what death he should die." The meaning, then, is-— By Christ's being lifted up, i. e., by Christ's dying, by what he does for sinners in dying for them, " whosoever believeth shall not perish." It is the same Gospel which Paul preached, " Christ died for our sins." But observe the next verse, 16, " For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son, that who- soever believeth in him should not perish but have ever- lasting life." Can anything be plainer 1 Do you not Bee yourself, O reader, in that wide word " world," and that impartial word '^ whosoever." But we cannot multiply passages. It is in pointed emphasis to the absolute necessity of his obedience unto death as the ground of our salvation, and the indispen- c2 t»»t If i K. ir 30 A HIDDEN GOSPEL. i»l gable necessity of faith in him on the part of the sinner^ that he gives such striking figurative rbpresentations of the truth. " I am the Hving bread, which came dovi^n from heaven ; if any man eat of this bread, he shall live for ever, and the bread that I will give is my flesh, which I will give for the life of the world" — John vi. 51. I am the light of the world, he that followeth me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the I'ght of life — viii. 12. 1 am the door; by me if any man enter in, he shall be saved—x. 9. I am the good shepherd and know my sheep, and am known of mine — ver. 14. I am the resurrection and the life ; he that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live ; and who- soever liveth and beheveth in me, shall never die — xi. 25, 26. I am the vine, ye are the branches; he that abideth in me, and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit ; for without me ye can do nothing — xv. 5. I am the way, the truth, and the life ; no man cometh to the Father but by me — xiv. 6. Oh ! how true it is, then, and what good news it is for poor perishing sin- ners, that Christ, in what he is and has done for them, is held up to them as « light" for them, " life" for them ; a source and support of spiritual fruitfulness to them ; « a way to the Father" for them, a « door" to heaven for them, a « good shepherd" for them. Oh ! dear fel- low-sinner, the word of God holds Him up to you as such. He holds Himself up as all this for you ; will you come to Him, burdened and guilty as you are ; or will you force Him, with tears of pity, to ex- claim : Ye will not come to me, that ye might have life ?— John v. 40. 0, that thou hadst known, in this thy day, the things that belong to thy peace, but now they are hid from thine eyes.— Luke xix. 42. How often would I have gathered you^ ss a hen gathereth her A HIDDEN GOSPEL. 31 chickens under her wings, but ye would not. — Mat. xxiii. 37. THE GOSPEL ESSENTIALLY THE SAME IN ALL DISPENSA- TIONS. The Gospel by which we are saved, is essentially the same in all dispensations. The great object of revealed truth is to set Christ forth to the attention of the sinner. Gospel truth seeks, by shewing that Christ has been lifted up — that is, by what death he died, John xii. 32, 33 : " to draw all men to him." It seeks that Jesus Christ be " evidently set forth before our eyes, crucified among us." Gal. iii. 1. Christ is the great Sun — the central orb ; all divine truth radiates from Him, as the great centre, and around Him, as the great object. But it is not merely to Jesus, in the two-fold aspect of His character, as God and man, as once humbled and now exalted, once crucified and now glorified. Though these are both prominently brought before our attention, and require to be viewed unitedly ; yet there is a prominence in the Scriptures to the death of Christ, as that which is to draw the sinner's attention, and the great foundation of his ac- ceptance before God. It is not so much His life, as His death ; His example, as His atonement. His glory, as His cross. All dispensations harmonize in this— all Divine truth concentrates and converges towards this great point. The former dispensations looked forward to this — the new dispensation looks back to it. To all there is a common centre — there is but one foun- dation. It is thus that our Saviour, after His resurrec- tion, in upbraiding his disciples for unbelief, says, " O, fools, and slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken. Ought not Christ to have suffered these rl III' • I l*i L_. ) n 32 A IIIUDEX GOSPEL. things, and to enter into His glory? And beginning at Moses, and all the prophets, he expounded to them in all the Scriptures the things concerning Himself.'' Luke xxiv. 25-27. It is thus Paul, as well as the other Apostles, could say, " I continue witnessing, both to small and to great, saying none other things Uian those which the prophets and Moses did say should come : that Christ should suffer, and that he should be the first that should rise from the dead. — Acts xxvi. 22, 23. Look to the first promise made to our first parents. That first ray of hope in the darkness of despair was a ray from that same Sun of righteousness, that has now arisen with healing under his wings. — Mai. iv. 2, Christ, in bruising the head of the serpent, was to have his heel bruised by the serpent. Here was a pointed reference to Christ's sufferings. If we look to the whole system of sacrifices, we shall see there is a pointed and emphatic reference to what Christ did in dying for us. He is the Lamb of God — the great sacrificial victim provided by God for the sins of men. Whether we look to sacrifices under the patriarchal dispensation, when they might be presented by any person, at any place, or at any time ; or under the Mo- saic, when they were restricted to particular persons, places, and times, we see a pointed prospective allusion to the same great truth. It is thus that it is not merely what is written in the prophets, but the emblematic or typical language of sacrifices that made the whole of tlie former economy converge to the great essential truth of the Gospel. That prophecy harmonizes in the same great end, has been seen in the extracts we have already made J and this is still farther beautifully seen, in the case of Philip and the Eunuch. The man of Ethiopia, A HIDDEN GOSPEL. 33 as he sat in his chariot, read Esaias the Prophet. The particular passage is mentioned : He was led as a sheep to the slaughter, and as a lamb, dumb before his shearer, so he opened not his mouth; in his humiliation, his judgment was taken away ; and who shall declare his generation? for his life is taken from the earth. — Acts viii. 32, 33. We are told that Philip opened his mouth, and began at that same Scripture, and preached unto him Jesus. He did not need to begin elsewhere, but he began at the same Scripture ; and, surely, in preach- ing Jesus from that Scripture, there was prominent im- portance to His death, and whr y he did in dying. The same prominence to the same great truth, is seen in the great subject-matter of John the Baptist's dis- course : « Behold the Lamb of God !" We see it, too, most strikingly exhibited by our Saviour. His own death stood out before His own mind with that prominence which it occupies in the scheme of grace. The great sign that was to be given, was to be the sign of Jonas : For as Jonas was three days and three nights in the whale's belly, so shall the Son of man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth Mat. xii. 40. It was thus He was led to say : I have a baptism to be baptized with, and how am I straitened till it be accom- plished — Lukexii. 50. And I, if I be lifted up, will draw all men unto me : this spake He, signifying what death He should die. — ^John xii. 33. Yea, even at that important period, when on the mount of transfiguration, when " His face was as the sun," and " His raiment white and glistening, behold there talked with Him two men, which were Moses and Elias, who appeared in glory, and spake of the decease which he should ac- complish at Jerusalem." It is thus that the period of His sufferings is designated with marked peculiarity — r f§ :^a] ■mr % 34 A HIDDEN GOSPEL. " the hour" — <' His hour." Now is my soul troubled, and what shall I say ? Father, save me from this hour ; but/or this cause came I unto this hour. — John xii. 27. Father, the hour is come, glorify thy Son, &c. — xvii. 1. Did not the quaking earih, and the rending rocks, and the darkened sun, and the opening graves, proclaim that " this was the hour and the power of darkness ?" Do not the preaching and Epistles of the Apostles concentrate to the same great truth ? The preaching of " His Gospel," and the preaching of " the Cross," are the same, as seen in 1 Cor. i. 17, IS. Paul was deter- mined to know nothing but Jesus Clirist and Him cru- cified. God forbid that I should glory, save in the Cross of our Lord Jesus Christ. — Gal. vi. 14. He preached, first of all, how that Christ died for our sins. — 1 Cor. XV. 3. It has seemed fitting to the wisdom of God not to do away entirely with emblematical exhibitions of the truth, so long as we live by faith, and not by sight ; and this shall continue till grace give place to glory, till we see " God face to face," and enjoy the blessedness of the beatific vision. Even under the new and better dispen- sation, we have emblematic rites or institutions. We have two important rites, baptism and the Lord's suoper. Now, observe the important design of the latter, as statec^ by Paul, 1 Cor. xi. 26. " For as often as ye eat thiu bread, and drink this cup, ye do shew the Lord's death until he come." There is a striking unity of design between this ordinance and the whole system of revi aled truth. There is a wonderful harmony between it. and the ancient sacrifices. They speak essentially the same language ; they pi/mt to the same great truth, the one retrospectively, the other prospectively. The broken bread, and poured out wine, direct to the same truth to A HIDDEN GOSPEL. 35 troubled, this hour ; ,n xii. 27. — xvii. 1. ocks, and :laim that 3?" Apostles caching of 'OSS," are /as deter- Him cru- the Cross preached, .— 1 Cor. not to do the truth, , and this 1 we see ss of the 3r dispen- ns. We 's supper. , as stated ! eat thiu d's death of design >ev< aled en it. and the same , the one d broken truth to which the shed blood of the lamb, or the goat, or the bullock, pointed. The sacrifice of old could not, in it- self, take away sin — real guiU. — Heb. x. 4. Neither does the observance of the Lord's supper, merely as a rite, take away sin now. But they both point to the Larnb of God that taketh away sin ; they both point to that "blood which cleanseth from all sin." And the spiritual worshipper of old as really needed to look through the type to the great sacrifice typified, in order to realize actual pardon, as we require to look through the elements of bread, and wine to the broken body and shed blood of Christ. There are four things strikingly set forth in the ancient worshipper's coming with his sacrifices, and these are the same in the believer's observance of the Lord's supper : 1st. There is implied an acknowledgment of guilt. This was the loud language of the spiritual Israelite when he came with " the blood of others." This is the same confession of the believer before the symbols of the broken body and shed blood of Christ. 2d. There is an acknowledgment of the deseri of guilt. In this the devout worshipper under both dispen- sations speaks alike. In presenting the Lamb or sacrifice to be slain, he emphatically said : " I deserve to die ; I have sinned ; the wages of sin is death." And as he saw the blood of the innocent victim shed, could he fail to realize what he deserved ? and when its flesh was taken and put on the altar, and the fire was consuming the sacrifice, was it not an awful exhibition of what he deserved, and what the infinitely holy God would be to him, were he to come before him in his own righteous- ness, viz., " a consuming fire ?" — Heb. xii. 29. And such, too, is the acknowledgment before the emblematic repre- sentation in the bread and wine. f ii' I . i 36 A HIDDEN GOSPEL« 3d. But more particularly, there is faith in the sacri- fice as an atonement for this guilt. « This blood is shed instead of my blood ; it is an atonement for my sin j the life is in the blood ; it is an atonement for my soul ; it is life for life." But the typical sacrifice could not take away sin ; it was but typical of that which does take away sin. So the language of the believer, as he par- takes of the emblems at the communion feast, is : « This body was broken for me, this blood was shed for the re- mission of ray sins." And he is warranted to say and believe this, because Christ is saying to him : « This is my body broken for you ; this is my blood shed for you, for the remission of sins." — Luke xxii. 19. And, lastly,— There is implied the knowledge of being pardoned and accepted by God, by coming to Him through the "one sacrifice." The true spiritual wor- shipper of old, when he came with his sacrifice, and presented it, looking to the great anti-type, was warranted to believe that his sins were taken away, that his sins and iniquities God would remember no more Heb. x. 17. So it is now ; by faith in the same great truth, whether set forth simply as a truth, or seen emblematically through an ordinance, v^^e are warmnted to believe that <'our sins', which are many, are i;" that we are par- doned for Christ's sake ; tha. ^3 enjoy the blessedness of those whose sins are covered, and to whom the Lord imputeth not iniquity. — Ps. xxxii. 1, 2. It is thus, then, that all believers, in all ages, under all dispensations, are justified and accepted by God, in the same way, by believing in the same Saviour, and re. joicing in the same essential trulh. This great truth is the ground or basis of union among all believers. Whatever may be the varying development of Divine truth, whatever the varying rites and ordinances which A HIDDEN GOSPEL. 37 God may see, and has teen, fit to appoint in His church, whatever the varying conditions of manltind, there is but one great work sufficient for man, one great truth, essentially by faith of which all are justified and saved ; and thus God's procedure in grace has been, still is, and will continue to be, He that believeth shall be saved, he that believeth not shall be damned. — Mark xvi. 16. It was thus that hy faith Abel offered unto God a more ex- cellent sacrifice than Cain, by which he obtained wit- ness that he was righteous, God testifying of his gifts, Abel offered of the firstlings of his flo^k, in which was recognised the great doctrine of the atonement; — Cain brought only of the fruit of the ground. — Gen. iv. 3, 4. And thus it follows, that from the first believer "who saw Christ's day afar off*, and was glad," down to the latest posterity, the Gospel is the same, essentially the same ; all are one in Christ Jesus. — Gal. iii. 28. And even when we shall no longer ** see through a glass darkly, but face to face ;" when faith shall give place to sight, and hope to fruition ; when the believer is translated from grace to glory, he will not require to turn his atten- tion and affections in a new direction ; he will behold the same Saviour that he beholds now ; he will rest on the same work that he rests on now ; he will rejoice in the same truth that he rejoices in now. When John, in apocalyptic vision, saw heaven opened, h^ saw the throne of God : And I beheld, and lo ! in the midst of the throne, and of the four beasts, and in the midst of the elders, stood a Lamb as it had been slain. — Rev. v. 6. He listened, too, to the ascriptions of praise ; and though he beheld there a multitude which no man could num- ber, of all nations, and kindreds, and people, and tongues, who were standing before the throne, and before the Lamb, clothed with white robes ; though they were there t >] WnA ii fill 'f f i,' !« aii mi iM 38 A HIDDEN GOSPEL, # Irom every age, and from every nation, yet there was one harmonious chorus of praise, and the object and the subject were the same : « Thou wast slain, and hast redeemed us to God by thy blood, out of every kindred, and tongue, and people, and nation." And angels, too, united in the new song : Worthy is the Lamb that was slain to receive power, and riches, and wisdom, and >^trength, and honour, and glory, and blessing. And Rvery creature which is in heaven, and on the earth, and such as are in the sea, and all that are in them, heard I saying, blessing, and honour, and glory, and power be nnlo Him that sitteth upon the throne, and unto the Lamb tor ever and ever. — Rev. v. 9-13. Dear reader, do you not see that " there is no other name given under heaven or among men, whereby we must be saved," but the name of Christ? Doyounotsee there is only one door, one way to the Father, and « no man cometh to the Father but by Christ?" Does not all Divine truth concentrate in this point ? Do not God's institutions point in the same direction, whether under the new or the old dispensations? Do you not recog- nize the one great principle of God's procedure in grace, to receive sinners only through Christ, and to justify those only who believe, and who believe substantially and es- sentially the same great truth—Gospel truth. ' Fellow- sinner, flee from every other refuge, as a refuge of lies. — Lsa. xxviii. 17. Be assured that ^ncei'ity will not save you, unless you know the truth. Many think that sincerity will do. Paul was sincere when he was a per- secutor, but his sincerity did not compensate for want of truth. Acts of generosity will not save you. You may give all your goods to feed the poor, see 1 Cor. xiii. 3. Morality will not save you. There is a morality where A HIDDEN GOSPEL. 39 love to Christ is not the principle, where the work of Christ is not the basis. It will not do. Paul was blame- less before his conversion Phil. iii. 6. Observance oj ordinances in themsehes will not save you. There must be the apprehension of the great essential truth. You may go to Church, prayer-meet- ing, the communion, but if you are looking and trusting to any thing else but the great work of Jesus, you are wrong. Paul was a Pharisee — a great stickler for re- ligious forms and observances, but he knew not the truth till he believed in Christ. O, there is a danger at the present time of trusting in forms, in rites, in ob- servances. Performances of religious duties will not save you. Phil. iii. 5., Gal. vi. 15. Zeal for religion will not save you. Paul tells us, before his conversion, " as concern- ing zeal he persecuted the Church ;" and, in writing to the Romans, he says of the Israelites, who were still unbelieving : " I bear them record, that they have a zeal of God, but not according to knowledge" — -Rom. x. 2. Nothing, nothing, O, sinner, but the great doctrine ot the Cross, the great truth as it is in Jesus, will set you free from the bondage of Satan, and introduce you into " the glorious liberty of the children of God." 0,how true it is, then, " one thing is needful ;" have you chosen the good part that shall not be taken from you — Luke X. 42. " If our Gospel is hid to you, you are lost." But observe farther, THE GOSPEL-WAY, A NEW WAY TO HEAVEN. The usual procedure of God in the relationship sus- tained by moral beings to Himself, as the Great Gover- nor, is this : — Those who enjoy eternal felicity, do so by continued perfect personal obedience to his immut- able law ; and those who by sin have been cast out of rvi !l 'i-- ■r 40 A HIDDEN GOSPEL. 1^1 Heaven, remain out. An inipassahlo gulflios between them and glory— Luke xvi. 26. Their sins are niouu- tains of inaccessible height between thoin and God Isa. lix. 2. The walls of Heaven are to them a "wall of fire round about." This is the usual way. This is his procedure, so far as the great principle of his Law is concerned. But the Gospel reveals a new plan. It tells of a ''ladder" to glory— Gen. xxviii. Ii2. It tells of a "door that has been opened into Heaven," that was never opened before ; of a " new way" that has been cut through these adamantine walls, and these mountains of iniquity, at the inconceivable expense of the toil and suftL-ring, the ignonuny and agony of no less a personage than the only begotten Son of God." No other was competent to the tash. But he was " mighty to save." He travelled in the greatness of his strength.— Isa. Ixiii. 1. "Ho was the Wonderful, Counsellor, the Mighty God, the Prince of Peace." In leading many sons to glory, he was made "perfect through suffering."— Heb. ii. 10. This new door into the enjoyment of everlasting fe- licity, has been opened for mankind-sinners, and for them alone. Sinners get in by ihis new way " by faith without the deeds of the law."— Rom. iii. 28. It is not by what they do, but by what they believe. This is an entirely new plan of justification : of receiving sinners, and treating them as if they had never sinned. It is a plan never heard of before— never thought of before, but it as assuredly leads to the blessing, as perfect obedience does. It is a sure, open, and safe way, as well as a new way. But does any say : « Why, this new way acts under the old way j the Gospel makes void the law"— Rom., iii. 31. No, by no means. The law of God was never ▲ HIDDKN UOSI'KL. 41 :-i:J ao honoured as it is by this new way. In order to open up this new way, Christ came under the law, he obeyed the law — Gal. iv. 4t. Prophecy represents him as say- ing : <» So I come, in the volume of the book it is written of me ; to do thy will, God, I take delight"-— Ps. xl. 7, 8 ; and th.s he reiterated when he said, my meat and my drink is to do the will oCmy Heavenly Fatlier— John iv. 34. ; and even in the dark hourof iiis suirerings, when it pleased the Lord to bruise him, he cried out. "Not my will, but thine be done."~Luke xxii. 42. There never had been such honour thrown on the recti- tude and benignity of the Divine law before. It was more honoured by the subjection and obedience of Christ to its requirements, than it would have been by the per- lisct personal obedience of those for whom he died, and for whom this new door has been opened. Yea, it was more honoured by Christ's obedience than it has ever been by the obedience of angels and arch-angels during the whole period of unvarying rectitude since their crea, lion. O, no, no, the Gospel does not set aside the law, it honours and magnilies the law — Isa. xlii. 21 : it establishes the law. — Rom. iii. 31. The penal sanction of the law was highly honoured by the suflerings of Christ, as its requirements were by his obedience. He suflered for sin, he died for our sins. The awful, but righteous penalty of the law was never exhibited with more force. The rectitude, the necessity, the justice of the penalty, were never seen so impres- sively and powerfully as in Christ's suflerings and death. " It pleased the Lord to bruise him and put him to grief, he was making his soul an offering for sin." — Isa. liii. 10 The penal sanction of God's law is seen more forcibly in what Christ suflered for sinners, than it would have been seen in the eternal perdition of all fur whom he D 2 i' ■f\ 43 A MIDDEN GUSI'EL. died, yea, than in the present sunbrings of fallen angels who are now suffering the vengeance of eternal fire. — Judo 7. Do you not see, then, that this new way to glory does not lower God'n law, it relaxes neither its principles, ita precepts, nor its penal sanction. Nay, "it magnifies the law and makes it honourable." — Isa. xlii. 21. It does not unsettle the principles of the Divine government ; no, it consolidatea those principles, *' it establishes tbo law," and thus it is that " God is just, while he justifiei* the believer in Christ ;" " justice and judgment are stdl the habitation of his throne, even while mercy and truth now go before his face." — Ps. Ixxxix. 14. O I this new way is a safe way, it is safe fur God's government, as well as for man's eternal interests. The sinner, in getting through this door that has been opened, has to acknowledge that he is a sinner, that God's law is holy, just, and good ; that he deserves to die, to be for ever shut out from Heaven ; and therefore, with such an acknowledgment, he must believe that it ia only through what Christ has done and suflered, only through the righteousness of Chribtthat he is, and can be, and asks to be, accepted by the Holy God. He is justi- fied by faith, and being justified by faith he has peace unto God, and rejoices in hope of the glory of God — Rom. V. 1,2. O, fellow-sinner, think not to get salvation, to enter in by " the door," by thinking that you are not so bad as others, that you have some good qualities, some amiable virtues. No, no, you must come as a poor perishing sin- ner, as a hell-deserving sinner, as " wretched and miser- able, and poor, and blind, and naked, and destitute of ail things." — Rev. iii. 17. You must ask pardon for ChrisV^ sake, you must ask to be received in the name of Christy and thus coming to God through tlie atonement of Christ, A IIIDDKN G08rEL. 49 believing in that, trusting to that, you are warranted to believe that your sins, wliicli arc many, are forgiven, that, like Christian, in John Bunyan's Pilgrim's Progress, the burden of your guilt has fallen from your shoulders, that you may nov\' enjoy the " liherti/ whercwhh Christ makes hid people free,' and, like the Ethiopian Kunuch, you may " go on your way rejoicing." In what way are you trying, O reader, to get to heaven 1 You, no doubt, desire to get there. Are you saying that you are trying to do the best you can ; you are resolving to do so and so ; you have left off such and such sins; you are performing such and such duties. O, be assured, that if you are trying to get there by what you have done, or are doing, or intend to do, you will find a flaming sword at the gate of paradise that turns every way to keep you from the tree of life. — Gen. iii.24. God, to you, will be a " consuming fire" — Heb. xii. 29. The walls of heaven will be " a wall of fire" to you. 0, "turn ye, turn ye, why will ye die?" Take the " new way ;'''* you must " enter by the door;'' you must enter into the holiest of all hy the blood of Jesus; by that new and living way which has been consecrated for ua through the rent vail of his flesh Heb. x. 19, 20. There is no other way, no other door for you, O sinner ; but you need no other way. This way is safer, it is accessible. It is free ; enter, then, in at the strait gate, " for strait is the gate and narrow is the way that leadeth to everlasting life, and few there be that go in thereat." i., ■•I ■ \ ^■• m > f f' >'^i THE GOSPEL FARTHER STATED. The Gospel does not come to tell you what you are to do, but what you are to believe. It points you to what has already been done, and it tells you that Christ said, when about to give up the ghost, " it is finished."— Joho n -ii 44 A HIDDEN GOSPEL. MW 14 <^ xix. 30. It does not come to tell you what penance you are to suffer, but it tells you what has already been suffered — that Christ suffered^ the just for the unjust. — 1 Peter iii. 18. It does not come to tell you how you are to reconcile God, but it tells you that God is in Christ reconciling the world to himself, and he beseeches you, be ye reconciled io God. — 2 Cor. v. 20. Some of old put the question to the Saviour, '' What shall we do that we may work the works of God ?" and Jesus answered and said unto them, " This is the work of God, that ye believe on him whom he hath sent." — John vi. 29. At- tend, then, fellow-sinner, to the great Gospel truth which the Spirit employs as the sword to slay the enmity of your heart and reconcile you to God, that you may renounce your " own righteousness, which is but as filthy rags," and be clothed with " the best robe," even the righteousness of Christ; that you may put off the old man, and put on Christ. Christ took our nature, Heb. ii. 16, that we might be " partakers of the Divine nature." — 2 Peter i. 4. *< He bore our griefs and carried our sorrows " Isaiah liii. 4 ; " that his joy might remain in us, and our joy might be full." — John xv. 11. lie drank the cup of bitterness which we deserved to drink, and 0, it was such as made him cry out three times, *' Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me ;" — Mat. xxvi. 39 ; that we might drink of the water of life, that flows from the throne »f God, clear as crystal. — Rev. xxii. 1. Though the Son of God, he became the Son of Man, that we, the sons of men, might become the sons of God. He came under the law, Gal. iv. 4, that we might come under grace. — Rom. vi. 14. He endured the curse, Gal. iii. 13, that we might enjoy the blessing. The Luke xxiii. 21, that multitudes in heaven might rejoice A HIDDEN GOSPEL. 45 over a sinner that repenteth.—Luke xv. 7. He was condemned before an earthly tribunal, Luke xxiij. 24, that sve might be openly acknowledged and acquitted at the bar of God. His soul was exceeding sorrowful, even unto death, Mat. xxvi. 38, that believing, we might rejoice with joy unspeakable, and full of glory.— 1 Peter i. 8. He was crowned with thorns, that we might be crowned with glory. He made himself of no reputation, and took on him the form of a servant, Phil. ii. 7, that we might be mada kings and priests unto our God. — Rev. i. 6. He cried out on the cross, <'My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me f ' Mat. xxvii. 46, that we, who deserved to be forsaken and cast off by God, might be brought near to him, and be able to say, « truly our fellowship is with the Father and with his Son, Jesus Christ."—! John i. 3 His heart was pierced by the malice of man, John xix. 34, that ours might be pierced by the love of God. " He suffered without the gate" of the Jerusalem below, Heb. xiii. 12, that we might have " pleasures at God's right hand" in the Jerusalem above. He tasted death for every man, Heb. ii. 9, that every man might taste and see that God is good. — Ps. xxxiv. 8. He came down from heaven, that we might go to heaven. He came from the Father, John xvi. 28, that we might go to the Father— xiv 6. Though he was rich, yet for our sakes he became poor, that we, through his poverty, might be made rich. — 2 Cor. viii. 9. His body was broken for us, 1 Cor xi. 24, that it might be spiritual bread— liv- ing bread, John vi. 51 ; his blood was shed for us, that it might be spiritual drink, that whoso eateth his flesh anddririketh his blood, may have eternal life, John vi. 54; or- as n« pvnloina iuitli/->iif f,r,%-,v.i^ Kq ♦K-* \^A'- --l ^„ «, — J, !„.,,.. „,.,,^^5^ ii^uixjy lie luoi UCiiCVClU on me hath everlasting life — verse 47. it- 46 A HIDDEN GOSPEL. II -:---'U O, dear reader, do you not see that you can get salva- tion only through the blood of the cross ; only by believ- ing on what Christ has done and suflered for you; that you are unworthy, yea, hell-deserving, but that Christ is worthy, his work is meritorious, his sufferings were vicarious— he died for you ? Do you not see that God's law is magnified and made honourable by the obedience unto death of our Lord Jesus Christ, and that now, by faith in that work, in the great propitiation, though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as snow, though red as crimson, they shall be as wool. — Isaiah i. 18. Listen, then, to his voice, " Luok unto me and be ye saved, for I am God, and besides me there is no Saviour." — Isaiah ilv. 22. Hearken unto me ye stout-hearted, that are far from righteousness, behold I bring near my righteousness unto you, and my salvation shall not tarry. — xlvi. 12. Sinner, there is no absolute necessity that thou shouldest die ; eternal life is in thy otter. He that hath the Son hath life, 1 John v. 12 ; that thou shouldest go to hell, there is a door opened into heaven, and a voice ad- dresses sinners with this important invitation, and it is the voice of Christ himself, " By me if any man enter in, he shall be saved." — John x. 9. "Hear and you shall live." THE GOSPEL EXEMPLIFIED. It is not an uncommon thing to talk of Christian ex- perience, of conversion, of a change of heart, &c. O, that such conversation were more general, and that millions more were " ready always to give an answer to every man that asketh a reason for the hope that is in them, with meekness and fear." But, in all such de- tails of conversion and change of heart, let it always be applied as the great test, the great touchstone. Are they looking to Christ ? are they looking and trusting to no- A HIDDEN GOSPEI.. 47 thing else but what Christ has done for them ? Are they drawing their peace and sense of safety dire tly from Jesus ? Is he the Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end of their confidence ? This is the main, essentia] element in all true Christian experience; there can be no superstructure where Christ is not the founda- tion, and the only foundation, and chief corner stone. If, however, you find them swimming in the fluc- tuatmg waters of agitation and uncertainty, shifting with "theebbings and flowings" of excited "frames and feelings," tossed too and fro with winds of hu- man impulse and passion, seeking for peace amid the mstable elements of their own affections, then, however contentedly they may float on these fluctuating frames and feelings, it is evident, that whatever hope they enter- tain, if it be not an anchor of the soul, sure and steadfast, entering mthin the vail where Jesus is, if Christ is not in them the hope of glory. Col. i. 27, then it is a false hope, it is a hope that will make ashamed. Reader, apply this great test to yourself, and to all cases of de- tailed conversion, and if you see that they draw not their peace and safety directly from the « finished" work of Jesus, but are seeking it from themselves, let their error be made apparent ; let it be seen that men may as soon expect salvation from their works as from their feelings ; nothing, nothing lies between any sinner and hell, but the great work of Christ 5 nothing, nothing opens a door in heaven to the sinner, but the work of Christ. It is He that opens and no man can shut ; it is he that shuts and no man can open—Rev. lii. 7. Hear Martin Luther—" It is impossible for a man to be a Christian without having Christ; and, if he has Christ, he hns all that i«s in nhi.;^* ixru_* _: to the conscience is, that, by believing, our sins are no If fe: *■ 4.S A HIDDEN GOSPEL. 4 \\ ' more ours, but Christ's^ upon whom God has laid them all ; and that, on the other hand, all Christ's righteous- ness is ours. Learn to know Christ and him crucified. Learn to despair of yo'jrself, and sing to him such a song as this, < Lord Jesus thou art my righteousness, but I am thy sin; thou has taken to thee wha* s mine, and given me what is thine.' " Hear John Calvin— In his last will, written a few days before his death, he says, " I testify also and pro- fess, that I humbly seek from God, that he may so will me to be washed and purified by the great Redeemer's blood, shed for the sins of the whole human race, that it may be permitted me to stand before his tribunal under the covert of the Redeemer himself." Hear John Wesley — <' I the chief of sinners am, But Jesus died for me." John Knox. — When he lay a-dying, he was much in prayer, ever crying, " Come Lord Jesus, sweet Jesus into thy hands I commend my spirit." Oft-times, after some deep meditation, he would say, " O, serve the Lord in fear, and death shall not be terrible to you. Blessed is the death of those who have part in the death of Jesus.^^ John Lambert, as he was burning in Smithfield, and his legs were quite consumed by the fire, he lifted up his hands, his fingers flaming like torches, but his heart abounding with comfort, crying out, " JVone but Christ, none but Christ /" Dr. Harris, long time ago head of Trinity College in Oxford, when friends visited him m his last sickness, he used to say, "I cannot speak, but J. can hear." Being asked where his comfort lay, he answered, " in Christ, and in the free grace of God." One telling him that he might take uiiich comfort in «jia labours, and tuo A niDUEir OOSFBL. 49 aid them ighteous- crucified. ch a song but I am ind given 3n a few and pro- ly 30 will ledeemer^s ce, that it nal under s much in eet Jesus mes, after e the Lord Blessed of Jesus^ ifield, and lifted up t his heart ut Christ, ty College t sickness, an hear." ^ered, " in teUing him ■an «« tr^ 4-« AW d^ [S} aiiu iiio good he had done, his answer was, " Ml is nothing without a Saviour, without him my best works would condemn me." In all the letter-wills which he made, he inserted this legacy, " Item, I bequeath to all my children, and to their children's children, to each of them a Bible, with this inscription, < JVowe but Christ." " The pious Halyburton, when dying, commended Christ to all that came to soe him. When he was advised to be quiet, he said, *' Whereon should a man bestow hia last breath, but in commending the Lord Jesus Christ, God clothed in our nature, dying for our sins^ David Dickson, once professor of Divinity in Glasgow and also in EJinburgh, when on his deathbed, was asked how he found himself, replied, " I have taken all my good deeds and all my bad deeds, and I have thrown them together in a heap, and fled from them both to Christ, and in him I have peace." When Mr. M'Laren, of the Tolbuoth Church of Edinburgh was dying, his colleague visited him, and asked him, answer was, am gathering together all my prayers, all my sermons, all my good deeds, and all my ill deeds, and I am going to throw them all overboard, and swim to glory on the plank of free grace." Samuel Rutherford. — This great and good man, when near his death, kept saying to some ministers, "Dear brethren, do all for Christ, pray for Christ, preach for Christ, feed the flock for Christ, visit and catechize for Christ, do all for Christ," When some spoke to him of his former painfulness and faithfulness in the work of God, he said, " I disclaim all that ; the porch I would be in at is redemption and forgiveness of sins throuf^h Christ^s blood.^^ " What are you doing, brother V His «< I'll tell you what I am doing, brother ; I I i M 5^ E h I! 50 A HIDDEN GOSPEL. ^m It 'ii Dr. GoNGE. — Tliis eminent and lioly minister, when any of his friends would have comforted him on his deathbed, with telling him of his eminent gifts and ser- vice in the ministry, would answer, " I dare not think of any such thing for comfort; only Jesus Christy and ■what he hath done and endured, is the ground of my sure comfort. Mr. Hooker, a minister in New England, when one that stood weeping at his bedside, as he lay a-dying, said to him, " Sir, you are going to receive the reward of all your labours;" he replied, "Brother,! am going to receive mercy.^^ John Eliot, the first missionary among the Indians in New England. — His biographer thus writes of his deathbed: « He was so full of peace, of hope, of a calm and full trust in God, that nothing could shake ; but his humility, like a guardian angel, ever hovered round his heart and kept it in safety. < What was the word I spoke last,' said the dying man after a pause ; * I re- call that word ; I spoke of what I had done. O, child of the dust, lie low, it is Christ that hath triumphed.' " Hear the great George Whitefield in one of his addresses. — >" I know, by sad experience, what it is to be lulled asleep with a false peace ; long was I lulled asleep, long did I think myself a Christian, when I knew no- thing of the Lord Jesus Christ. I went, perhaps, farther than many of you do ; I used to fast twice a week, I used to pray sometimes nine times a day, I used to receive the sacrament constantly every Lord's day, and yet I knew nothing of Jesus Christ in my heart. The most of you may have peace, but, for Christ's sake, examine upon what this peace is founded : see if Christ be brought home to your souls, if you have had a feelir application of the merits of Jesus Christ A HIDDEN GOSPEL. 51 when and brought home to your souls, so that you could say, * Now I know that God is my friend, that Jesus is my Saviour ;' now I call him ' my Lord and my God ;' now I know that Christ hath not only died for others, but I know that Jesus has died for me in particular." Mrs. JuDsoN, the eminent missionary to Burmah, thus writes in reference to her conversion : — " I felt myself to be a poor, lost sinner, destitute of everything to recom- mend me to the Divine favour. This view of myself humbled me in the dust, melted me into sorrow ajid con- trition for my sins, induced me to lay my soul at the feet of Christ, and plead hib merits alone as the ground of my acceptance. I felt that if Christ had not died to make atonement for sin, 1 could not ask God to dishonour his holy government so far as to save so pol- luted a creature ; and that, should he even now condemn me to suffer eternal punishment, it would be so just that my mouth would be stopped, and all holy beings in the universe would acquiesce in the sentence and praise him as a just and righteous God." Again, she writes, *' May I ever flee to the bleeding Saviour as my only refuge^ and, renouncing my own righteousness, may I rely entirely on the righteousness of thy dear Son." In the account of James Laing, a boy in Dundee, whose conversion and death are narrated by the Rev. R. M'Cheyne, we have the following : — " Towards night he came to the other end of the cottage, and put this question, ' Have I only to believe that Jesus died for sinners % Is that all V He was told ' Yes.' ' Well ! I believe that Jesus died for me, for I am a poor, hell- deserving sinner. I have been praying all this afternoon that when Jesus shed his blood for sinners, he would sprinkle some of it upon me, and he did it.' He then turned up Rom. v. 8, and read, < While we were yet 52 A HIDDEN GOSPEL. r-i.. sinners, Christ died for us.' His sister wept for joy, and James added, * I am not afraid to die now, /or Jesus has died f 07' me.^ " Hear the striking statement of William Mills, a criminal who was executed at Edinburgh in 1785, in giving an account of his conversion when in prison. " Gentlemen,'' said he, pointing to his bed, ♦' I have been tossed there all night, and shed tears and prayed, and never could get near to God; all was darkness, and, had I continued in this way, it would have ended in despair, and the loss of my reason. But it pleased God that a gentleman came to me, and, when I told him what I had been doing, and the distress I was in, he told me I could not get relief in that way, for Christ had finished on the cross that work which was only able to save me ; that God sent his Son to die for sinners, that whosoever believed this would be saved ; and that I would find peace with God, and only could find it, in believing this. He marked out some passages of the Scriptures, and desired me to attend to vi^hat the Word of God declared, and reject everything contrary to it. And now, I have considered these things, and find them just as he de- scribed. I see that ' God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeih on him should not perish,' &c.; and, since I believed this, I am changed ; I am happy now, I can get near to God now ; I can pray to him with pleasure ; uiy heart now is light, for 1 feel that weight, which I thought would have sunk me for ever, taken away ; everything is new to me ; I pass the night easy, and, indeed, I cannot de- scribe the change I feel." Hear some of the heathen converts: — Vara, was an idolater in the South Sea Islands. His function was to provide human sacrifices. After his A HIDDEN GOSPEL. 53 joy, and fesus has IlLLS, a 1785, in I prison, ive been ,'ed, and and, had despair, 1 that a what I )ld me I finished ive me ; iiosoever uld find ingthis. res, and eclared, , I have 3 he de- that he !veth on 'ed this, r to God lart now it would ; is new nnot de- ls. His ifter his conversion, when on his deathbed, the missioiTary asked him, " Are you sorry that you cast away your lying gods ?" With tears of pleasure he exclaimed, " Oh ! no, no. What ! can I be sorry for casting away death for life ? Jesus is my roek^ the fortification in which my soul takes shel-ter." He was again asked, " On what do you found your hopes of future blessed- ness ?" He replied, " The blood of Jesus is my founda- tion." Me, was a great heathen warrior, but among the first converts in Raiatea. When his days were numbered, Mr. Williams asked what vi^ere his views of himself in the sight of God, and what liis hope rested uj^on ? Mark his reply — " I have been in great trouble this morning ; but I am happy now. I saw an immense mountain with precipitous sides, up which I endeavoured to climb ; but when I had attained a considerable height, I lost my hold and fell to the bottom. Exhausted with perplexity and tatigue, I went to a distance and sat down to weep, and, while weeping, I saw a drop of blood full upon that mountain, and in a moment it was dissolved. That mountain was my sins, and the drop which fell on it was one drop of the precious blood of Jesus, by which the mountain of my guilt must be melted away." Of Mahendra, a convert in Calcutta, Dr. Duff thus writes — " Never can I forget the peculiar tone and em- phasis with which he repeatedly exclaimed, ' I am not afraid to die — oh ! no ; I know in whom I have be- lieved. I am ready to die — to die without any regret, resting on my Saviour.^ " Mr. Wingate, a missionaiy among the Jews at Pesth, writes thus of a converted Jewess — " During her sick- ness, while she was meditating on the state of her soul, Mr. W. asked her, ' Where will you go now, in the £2 'I P' - 54 A HIDDEN GOSPEL. fWf event of your death — to hell or to Christ in glory f * I believe,' she replied, ' on Christ, and that he has poured out his blood, even for we.' " The experience of another Jewess the same mit?- sionary briefly details. — " After reading and prayer," says she, " 1 began to feel uneasy in my soul ; my sins alarmed me, and sometimes I could get no sleep from fear of eternal damnation. I cried earnestly to the Lord for deliverance. The Lord showed me the love of Jesus in laying down his life for poor miserable sinner* like me. I am now enabled to rest on his oll-sufiicient righteousness and strength. Since this has taken place, I am full of joy and hope, and read the Bible with daily thirst and delight. The meaning of the Scriptures ia opened up to me with great light and clearness." Hear the confession of Tupe, of the island of Rara- tonga — " I have no dread of death. Christ is my re- fuge.^^ Then, in a little time he added, " Salvation is all of grace, through the blood of Christ.^* Again the missionary went to see him: " How is it with your Boul ?" " All is well." " Do you find your Saviour your support in death ?" *' He is." " Is the pathway clear?" " No obstruction ; the way is clear.'* "Have you any fear f " None ; Christ is mineJ*'* Hear the Christian Negro. To the question, what do you believe about Jesus Christ and your own soult he replied, *' Me believe, that Jesus Christ came into the world to save sinners ; and though me be chief of sinners, yet Jesus will save rne, though me be only poor black Negro. O yes, sir, me believe that Jesus die Tor poor Negro. What would become of poor wicked Negro, if Christ no die for him. But he die for the chief of sinners, and dat makes my heart quite glad." Hear, in conclusion, the simple experience of one A UIDDBM GOSPEL. 55 »» who, though deficient in intellect, yet knew the truth. When " poor Joseph" heard the glad tidings, " This is a faithful saying and worthy of all acceptation, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am chief," he was led to reason — Christ came to save sinners, therefore poor Joseph. 0, dear reader, do you sec that he came to save you? Do you see that there is but one " way" — one '* door" — one '* name ;" and that all who are sived, are saved by believing in the same essential truth, and resting on the same great work. Believe, then, and live ; rest on the same great work; and " neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers," • • « ghall separate you from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord." — Rom. viii, 38, 39. 4^ rf Hi m 56 A HIDDEN GOSPEL. SECTION II. now THE GOSPEL IS OFTEN HID. This is a most important department of our subject. How many thousands are there in professedly Cliristian countries to vvliom the simple Gospel of Christ is yet a hidden Gospel. How many are at this present moment wandering in the mists of spiritual ignorance, and in the intricacies of religious error. How many are now seek- ing for light, struggling to be free, wading in the dark waters, seeking some rock on whicii their feet may rest. Here, for example, is an individual who has been toil- ing for years to get salvation ; to get as ntuch peace to an uneasy conscience as enable him to die with a com- fortable hope. At last, he comes to the knowledge of the truth, and " rejoices in hope of the glory of God." But observe: How, after all, does he reach this condi- tion of peaceful assurance ? Was it necessary that he must grope, and toil, and struggle for a considerable peniod, as if this were the necessary " dark valley'* through which he must pass? Must he make a | ilgri- mage of toil and penance to reach the " great rock in the weary land ?" O no, no. The work of Christ, on which he is led ultimately to rest, and rest alone, as a ground of pardon and acceptance, was a work on which he might have rested years before, had he known the truth. " The truth as it is in Jesus," was as true when he was ignorant — as true when he was in the maze of error, as it is when he was led to rest on it. 0, is it not a sad sight to contemplate, that there are many souls now i * A iiiodi:n oosprl. 57 hovering about on the troubled waters of religious error, seeking, like the dove, a resting place, where none is to be found. that they could be led to see that there is no resting place for the soul but the ark — but Jesus Christ, who is '* the covert from the storm, and the re- fuge from the tempest.' 0, it is a pity that so many should be groping, and struggling, and thinking that Christ's salvation was something afar off, when, in reality, " the word is nigh them, in their very mouth ;'* and that instead of their hearts being so long full of doubt, they were not full o( love ; instead of sighs and groans, they were not singing the new song, even praise to our God (Ps. xl. 3.) ; instead of expending their strength on a useless labour, they were "^ot living to Him who died for them and rose again, it is in order to guide the feet of sinners into " the way of peace," and to remove some of those mists and obstructions that are apt to lie in the path of inquirers after truth, that the present little treatise has been written. that the Lord would bless what has already been written in the exhibition of the simple Gospel ; and O that the Lord may make whatever of what follows that is agreeable to his will, a means of removing those countless ob- stacles that keep sinners from seeing " the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ I" From the manner in which the verse which we have selected as the foundation of our subject is connected with the preceding and succeeding context, it will appear that the causes whereby the Gospel is a hidden Gospel, may result from two great sources. There may be causes existing in those who make known the word of God, and causes in those to whom it is made known, whereby the Gospel is a hidden Gospel, and souls are lost. Now the professing church is the great human agency ■ I 58 A HIDDEN GOSPEL. for making known the Gospel ; and, therefore, we would classify the causes thus — I. Causes existing in the professing Church, whereby the Gospel is hid, and souls are lost. II. Causes existing in the sinner, whereby the Gospel is a hidden Gospel. We readily admit that the Apostle here states that the general reason why the Gospel was hid to those to whom he preached and wrote, was, because the god of this world had blinded the minds of them that believe not, &c. But the preceding context plainly implies that causes had existed, were existing, and would exist, in those who professed to make known the word of God, whereby the Gospel would be hidden, and souls would be lost. We come, then, to consider, in the first place, SOME CAUSES EXISTING IN THE PROFESSING CHURCH WHEREBY THE GOSPEL IS HID. The Apostle states, in his own and Timothy's name, in the verse preceding, " We have renounced the hid- den things of dishonesty, not walking in craftiness, nor handling the word of God deceitfully ; but by mani- festation of the truth, commending ourselves to every man's conscience in the sight of God." This language plainly implies, that were he and Timothy, in making known the word of God, to employ dishonesty or craf- tiness ; were they to handle the word of God deceitfully, they would be guilty of causing a hidden Gospel, and tlivj blood of soula would be required at their hand. But as they did not do so, their blood was upon their own head. He tells us, moreover, in ii. 17, " We are not as many, who corrupt the word of God." Now, A HIDDEN GOSPEL. 59 ^e would Churchy mis are reby the that the those to le god of t believe imphea lid exist, I of God, Is would •st place, HURCH "^s name, the hid- ness, nor y mani- to every language making r or craf. ceitfully, spel, and ir hand. pon their We are ' Now, this plainly shows us that a great responsibility rests on the Church in this matter; and if the Gospel is hid, there may be causes in the Church as well as in the world, whv it is hid, and souls are lost. That a great responsibility rests on the Church as to this, and more particularly on ministers in the Church, is plainly implied here, and a great number of other passages might be cited in corroboration of this. Let us cite a few : Ezek. iii. 17, " Son of man, I have made thee a watchman unto the house of Israel, therefore hear the word at my mouth ; and give them warning from me. When I say unto the wicked, thou shalt surely die ; and thou givest him not warning, nor speakest to warn the wicked from his wicked way, to save his life ; the same wicked man shall die in his iniquity ; but his blood will I require at thy hand." Also to the same purport, xxxiii. 7, 8. Ezek. xxxiv. 2, " Wo to the shepherds of Israel that do feed themselves. Should not tlie shepherds feed the flocks," &c. See verses 3 — 10. Isaiah ix. 16, " For the leaders of this people cause them to err; and they that are led of them are destroyed :" Ivi. 10, " His watchmen are blind, they are all igno- rant ; they are all dumb dogs, they cannot bark, sleep- ing, lying down, loving to slumber ; yea, they are greedy dogs, which can never have enough, and hey are shep- herds that cannot understand, they all look to their own way, every one for his gain from his quarter." Jer. xxiii. 11, "Both prophet and priest are profane; yea, in my house have I found their wickedness, saith the Lord." See also verses 14 — 22, " But if they had stood in my counsel, and had caused my people to hear my words, then they should have turned them from I - M CO A HIDDEN GOSPEL. »5 See I ■f' • t$ if their evil way, and from the evil of their doings.' also Hosea iv. 1—13, Malachi ii. 7—9. Acts XX. 26—30, « Wherefore I take you to record that I am pure from the blood of all men ; for I have not shunned to declare unto you all the counsel of God:^ It was in this way he was pure of their blood. « For 1 know this, that after my departing shall grievous wolves enter in among you, not sparing the flock. Also • of your own selves shall men arise, speaking-perverse things, to draw away disciples after them." Gal. i. 7, « There be some that trouble you, and would pervert the Gospel of Christ." 2 Peter ii. 1—3, " But there were false prophets also among the people, even as there shall be false teachers among you, who privily shall bring in damnable . heresies, even denying the Lord that bought them, and ' bring upon them swilt destruction ; and many shall fol- low their pernicious ways ; by reason of whom the way of truth shall be evil spoken of." See also Mat. xv. 9 and 14 ; xxiii. 13, 16, 23, 24 ; Eph. iv. 14 ; 1 Tim. i. 7 ; 2 Tim. ii. 16—18 ; Titus i. 11, 14. Having thus shown from the Scriptures that a great responsibility rests on the professing Church as to the dissemination of the word of God in its simplicity and purity, we are now prepared to advert to some causes whereby the Church has been guilty of obscuring or hiding the Gospel. 0, this is a most fruitful field of investigation— pro- lific in weeds of the rankest growth, and the most un- sightly appearance. The corruptions, abominations, superstitions, and selfish spirit of the professedly Chris- tian Church for many hundred years, form one of the darkest and most melancholy pages in the world's his- tory. Alas ! how often « has the gold— the Gospel A HIDDEN GOSPEL. 61 " See record I have • God.'' « For ;rievous . Also • aerverse il. i. 7, pervert prophets be false imnable em, and shall fol- the way Mat. XV. 1 1 Tim. a great as to the icity and le causes curing or on — pro- most un- linations, lly Chris- ne of the ji'ld's his- le Gospel gold— become dim, and the most fine gold been changed." But it would be beside our purpose to look back on the past ; it will be more for our advantage to contemplate the present. And even with this restriction of view, it would probably be of little use to dwell on that great system— that Hierarchism— ihat has existed, and still exists, and spreads a wide and benighting influence over the souls of millions of our fellow-beings. Who that knows the Gospel, the simple Gospel of the grace of God, does not feel his heart stirred vvithin him, wh^n he looks back on the past, and looks around on the pre- sent ; when he beholds how sadly and awfully the truth of God has been corrupted, <' making the command- ment of God of none effect by the traditions of men, and teaching for doctrines the commandments of men." —Mat. XV. 6, 9. Christ is indeed acknowledged ; his ol)edience and death are confessed ; but he is almost' hid among the numbers that throng, and surround, and perplex the attention of the worshipper. The Virgin Marv receives almost as much attention as the Saviour, and perhaps more— a most singular incongruity with the whole tenor of revealed truth. John the Baptist, Michael the Archangel, Gabriel, Angels, the Apostles, and a host of canonized Saints, all are to act as media- tors, as intercessors, while the great work and office of the one Mediator between God and man are but partially regarded. Amid a vast multiplicity of images— pre- tended rehcs, rites, and ceremonies— penances, good works— works of supererogation— indulgences, and all the externals of a punctilious and ceremonial worship, it iB almost as improbable that the eye o( faith will dis- cover the simple « truth as it is in Jesus," as it is im- possible for the eye of sense, to discover the real pre- sence of Ciuist m me wait-r unci u uao utv... wiv,«-sv^ »j V 3i * 62 A HIDDEN GOSPEL. 'Kl the priest. He that truly apprehends the Gospel in its simple, sublime, and powerful import, cannot but re- gard the relics, images, crosses, penances, and fasts, as so much rubbish under which the Gospel is buried, and is a hidden Gospel. Like the person that admires the architecture of a monument more than the hero or event which it commemorates; so in Popery, man's work — the commandments and traditions of men — those things of human device, are more regarded than the plain but powerful doctrine of " the Cross." O ! how many souls have been deprived of the rays of the Sun of Right- eousness by that priestly system, that interposes not only between man and God, but between man and the only Saviour — the one Mediator — the Great High Priest, who is now passed into the heavens, even Jesus who maketh intercession for us, — Heb. iv. 14. It is a blessed truth, dear reader, lor which we ought to bless God, that we are not dependent for God's truth on the fluctuating opinions of man ; that the glorious " Truth that sets free," as originally given by the Holy Ghost through the Apostles and Prophets, comes down to us, not through the changing, distorting, and adulte- rating medium of tradition ; but that the word of God is a written word ; that it stands at tliis day, as it did when tirst delivered ; that it " is the same yesterday, to-day, and for ever." Instead, therefore, of requiring to look to the last Council or conclave of ecclesiastics, we can 2(0 back to the very fountain-head of truth, to the words which the Holy Ghost teacheth, 1 Cor. ii. 13 ; that we can receive " doctrine, reproof, correction, and instruc- tion in righteousness,*' 2 Tim. iii. 16, fresh from the lips of Christ and the alHatus of the Spirit ; that we can learn the law at God's mouth. — Mai. ii. 7. Let us prize the Holy Scriptures which are able to make us wise A HIDDEN GOSPEL. 63 unto salvation. — 2 Tim. iii. 15. " To the law therefore and to the testimony, if they speak not according unto them, it is because there is no truth in them." — Isaiah viii. 20. It is quite possible, however, that we may be con- vinced of the errors, superstitions, and idolatries of that system to which reference has been made, and yet we may be destitute of a saving acquaintance with Christ. There is every reason to believe that there are thou- sands and tens of thousands vk^ho, under a professed Protestantism and an adherence to a sect, under that wide term, are yet without Christ, without God, and without hope in the world. — Eph. ii. 12. A hidden Gospel is etill fearfully prevalent even among Protestants, throughout all the branches of that great system. There is reason to fear that to many, many who make a pro- fession of religion, the Gospel is still hid. Let us be charitable, but let us be faithful : there is a spurious charity which may only impart the warmth of love to that which may "bite like a serpent and sting like an adder." THE IMPORTANCE OF APPREHENDING THE ELEMENTARY TRUTH OF THE GOSPEL. Whatever obscures the great elementary truth of the Gospel, throws a cloud on the whole scheme of grace. There is one great personage which the Bible sets forth to view, it is Christ ; one great work, it is his " obedi- ence unto death ;" one great duty, it is faith in the work of Christ. This is the great central part. All Gospel truth centres in Christ. As all rivers run into the sea, so do all doctrines, precepts, promises, types, and ordinances, run into Christ. Each may not run by a direct course, but it will be found to be a tributary to f I4i 64 HIDDEN GOSPEL. i, some other that flows thither. There is no doctrine, precept, or promise, however distant it may seem from the cross of Christ, but derives its vitality from its con- nexion with him, just as the uiost distant leaf that quivers on the most distant bough derives its nourish- ment through the root as well as the nearest. Christ is the great object to which the sinner's attention \s first to be directed : " Believe in the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved." He is the great object to whom he is to keep looking during his whole life ; he is to live by faith of the Son of God — " to him to live is Christ" — as he runs the race that is set before him, he is to keep " looking to Jesus, the author and finisher of his faith." He is the great object to whom he looks last in the hour of death : "I will not fear," says he, " for thou art with me, thy rod and thy staff comfort me." — Ps. xxiii. Or, as the dying Stephen, " Lord Jesus, receive my spirit." He falls asleep in Jesus ; and, when the believer passes from grace to glory, he finds his attention and ascriptions of praise directed still " to the Lamb that was slain." He is the great object whom ministers are to preach ; they are to know nothing but Christ and him crucified. — I Cor. ii. 2. "Behold the Lamb of God." God forbid that I should glory save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ. — Gal. vi. 14. As all Gospel truth centres in Christ, and all Gospel hopes flow from him, it is therefore necessary that in all evangelical doctrine "the Cross of Christ" must occupy the foreground. There must be no truths, doctrines, dutiiN , or promises standing between the eye of faith and the crucified Saviour. No doctrine must assume the same position or prominence as the great doctrine of the Cross ; and no doctrine or truth, when proclaimed, ought to be seen in any other way than in consistent con nexioa A HIDDEN GOSPEL. 65 and harmony with the Gospel. Anything thai would interpose between the view and Christ, so as to hide or eclipse Him, will hide the Gospel ; or anything thai would draw the attention of the sinner away from Christ to other truths, unless these are seen in the same field of vision, and in relationship to Christ, will tend to hide the Gospel. Christ must be seen in the centre of the spiritual system, as the sun is in the solar system. It is His power that attracts all— His light that illu- mines all — His love that warms and vivifi ;s all. And while in the material system, planet is so arranged with planet, that while all are connected with the sun, yet they do not come in the way of one another, so as to intercept its light and heat ; so in the spiritual system, whil3 all truths circle round "Christ crucified," yet there is no truth that, properly contemplated, comes in the way of another, so as to intercept the light and love of the blessed Sun of Righteousness from the believing soul. It is of vast importance, dear reader, that you have a perception of the great fundamental truth of the Gospel that you have so learned Christ as to see the founda- tion on which to build— the rock on which to rest, that your goings may be established, and the new song put into your mouth.— Ps. xl. 2. Unless this is clearly apprehended, there will be a greater or less obscurity resting on the whole scheme of grace, and even the whole system of revealed truth. But when this is per- ceived, it throws the whole into arrangement and beauty. There was a time when it was supposed that the sun and stars revolved round the earth. The theory was pro- ductive of obscurity and perplexity ; there were many things which, on this assumption, were unaccountable and contradictory. But when the simple elementary F 2 i 1 itJ 66 A niDDHX GOSPEL. principle in the arrangement of tlie solar system was perceived, namely, that the sun was in the centre, the discovery threw light on the whole economy of nature. So also in reference to the great law of gravitation, which is of comparatively recent discovery. The per- ception of this great principle did much to bring order out of confusion, and threw an extended light over the arrangement of the whole universe of matter. So it is in grace ; if the simple elementary " truth as it is in Jesus," the great truth of what Christ did in dying for i.is, is not clearly apprehended, there will be in the mind of the inquirer obscurity, perplexity, and uncertainty. There may be the observance of facts, and truths, and combinations of truths; but these will not be seen in their relative position and importance ; and in all systems there must not merely be the apprehension of separate truths, but the perception of them in their proper adjust- ment and proportions. As in a building there must be a proper disposition of material to give stability and sym- metry — as in a painting there must be a proper arrange- ment according to perspective; so it is in grace, there are arrangement, stability, and beauty of the highest or- der. The more accurate our views, the more clearly will the Gospel be seen to be the manifold wisdom of God. — Eph. iii. 10. And, on the other hand, ignorance, or false and perverted notions of it, or confounding some- thing else instead of it, or mixing something else with it, will throw a cloud over all, and other doctrines will be confused, conflicting, or contradictory. A hidden Gospel imparts darkness to the whole system of grace ; a revealed Gospel gives light and life, beauty and stability to the whole. When Christ is hidden, the sun is eclipsed, the soul is darkened, for we cannot have the knowledge of the glory of God but in the face of Jesiia IS A HIDDEN GOSPKL. 67 Christ. — 2 Cor. iv. 6. It is only when the sinner, as a condemned criminal in himself, is led to see the pro- pitiatory nature of Christ's obedience unto death as a perfect satisfaction to God's law and government for him, that, resting on this " finished" work, he feels that he is safe — that so long as he cleaves to Christ, as the Rock, he is safe, he is under the covert of atoning blood, he touches the sceptre of God's Majesty, and presents his petition and lives. It is tlien, freed from the bewil- dering sensation of alarm at his guilt, and exposure to everlasting destruction, having fled to Christ, he has rest ; he feels, in taking the Lord as his shepherd, the first thing he can say is, " he maketh me to lie down." — Ps. xxiii. 2. He takes Christ's "yoke which is easy;" " the love of Christ constrains him to live not to himself, but to Him who died for him." " He rejoices in Christ Jesus, and puts no confidence in the flesh." 0, fellovv.sinner, if you have fled to the refuge— if you know in whom you have believed — if you are really resting entirely on the work of Christ, then you are safe, your heart will bound with gratitude and joy, your soul will be lit with the light of truth, and your heart warmed with the love of God. Are you so, reader, or are you not? Are you still groping in darkness, not knowing whither you are going ? O, be assured, that these clouds and mists that come between your soul and Christ are not put there by God, or God's word ; they arise either from your own carnal, deceitful, and desperately wicked heart, or they are the mists and clouds of religious preju- dice and error. Be assured that the great Sun of Righteous- ness shines constantly with unclouded glory, and the clouds and fogs that obscure His face, and hide his rays, are not his^ but ours. It is, indeed, a most lamentable fact, that while " the i ¥^ n 68 A nFDDKN GOSPEL. god of this world blinds the minds of them that believe not," the church, which is i>rofe.ssodly called by Christ's name, and professes to reflect His glory, should so often, in various wajs, have done much to hide the simple Gospol from the view of perishing souls. The Gospel lias often been hid by the doctrines of the church, by the discipline of the church, by the ignorance of the church, by the indolence of the church, by the incon- sistencies of the church, by the worldlincss of the church, by the bigotry of the church, and by the divisions and controversies of the church. We cannot overtake such a wide and barren tield as this presents to our view, either by reviewing the past, or contemplating the present; but we wish to point your attention, O sinner, to some of the causes in the churcli's teaching, whereby the Gospel is often hid, and perhaps is at present hid from you. We begin with THE DOCTRINES OF THE PROFESSING CHURCH. It is a lamentable fact that the church, which should be the e,rtd\ iUsu aentality for extending the Gospel of Christ, should often, by the intervention of truths be- tween the soul and Christ, or the perver.sion of them, have placed obstructions before Him who is " the door," so that " those that were entering in, it hindered." On the necessity of the pure and simple Gospel's being taught, and constantly held forth, perhaps the following analogy will serve as an introductory illustration : — When a farmer takes seed and sows it in his field, if there should prove to be no harvest, or a scanty one, or if there should spring up a large quantity of tares with the wheat, he will be desirous to know the cause, or combination of causes, for this result. The failure may arise from the particular nature of the soil, being A HIDDEN GOSPEL. 69 too hard or too rocky, or from want of cultivation, or being very imperfectly cleared. But there are other causes to which the failure may be attributed : the ■eed sown may have been bad seed— seed with the element of life either very feeble, or entirely awant. ing ; the seed also may have had an admixture of tarea when it was sown. So it is in the great field of the Gospel ; our blessed Redeemer presents a most strik- ing parable on this subject, and tells us that when the "good seed," the " word of the kingdom," is sown, if it fails to bring forth fruit, it is by reason of the inat- tention, hardness of heart, deceitfulness, and worldli- ness of those to whom it is preached ; or, in other words, "the god of this world blinds the minds of them that believe not." But it is plainly implied in our Saviour's parable, as it is in the Apostle's statement, that the unproductiveness— the admixture of tares- may result from the badness or imperfection of the seed, not being the pure word of God, the word which is spirit and life, John vi. 63, and being also mixed with religious errors and sectarian prejudices. The farmer knows the importance of sowing good seed ; 80 does the true, spiritual husbandman. The priest's lips must keep knowledge, he must learn the law at God's mouth, he must not be as many that corrupt the word of God, he must, by manifestation of the truth, commend himself to every man's conscience, in the sight of God.— 2 Cor. iv. 2. And thus, if the word should be unproductive, the fault will lie with those that hear; and if errors should spring up and abound, to the inquiry, " Sir, didst not thou sow good^ eeed in thy field? from whence, then, hath it tares ?" he will be able to reply, " An enmy hath done this." Mat. xiii. 27, 28. 70 A HIDDEN GOSPEL. In dirocting attention to the doctrines of the church, let it be can' fully noted, that <»ur tjljjocl is not to analyse creeds or confessions, not to speak exclusively of any portion of the protessing church, ])Ut simply to take notice of false religious views and impressions which prevail in the religious world, and which have mostly had their origin there, by which its atmosphere, which should be pure and serene, is rendered dark and ha/v by floating mists and lowering clouds, so that the light of the glorious Gospel of Christ is greatly ob- scured, 60 that our Gospel comes often oidy "in word, and not in power, and in the Holy Ghost, and in much assurance."—! Thes. i. 5. It is rather, then, with vague and false opinions that exist in the mind, as known to us by attentive observation and experience, that we have to do, than with doctrines or dogmas in works of theolog}', or in human testimonies. In this way, we deal with erroneous notions, not in the ab- stract, but with them in their oj)erativo influence, as false impressions. And here l(;t us disentangle our- selves from mere human authority ; lot us commit our- selves to God, and the word of His grace, which is able to build us up. — Acts xx. 32. And while we may listen with deference, when we are told, " thus saith Martin Luther," " thus saith John Calvin," " thus saith John Wesley," yet let us remember that "thus saith the Lord" is the only infallible authority. " To the law then, and to the testimony." He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches. — Rev. ii. 7. The first doctrine to which we invite attention, is the great Scripture doctrine of ELECTION. We have great reason to fear, that the way in which A HIDDEN GOSPEL. 71 thiij (locirino is sometimos taught and understood, very aoriously hides the h)vo of God in Christ Jesus. It is to many a very darit doctrine, and not only darii, but interposes a darii cloud between Christ and the soul. It is not improbable, dear reader, but you may have found it " oven darkness which might be felt." — Ex. x. 21. And here, let it bo observed, that it is not the doctrine itself that hides the Gospel — no, it is a blessed and gracious doctrine, full of comfort ; but it is the vague and loose way in which it is sometimes held, that makes it either partially or completely intercept •' the glory of God in tho face of Jesus." The doc- trine in rpiestion is sometimes represented as denoting that God has, from all etoriiity, under a decree of elec tinn, chosen a certain number of the human family, and that under a decree of reprobation, He has doomed all others to everlasting destruction ; and that this dif- terenco between the two conditions of mankind is en- tirely attributable to the decree, and that God reveals to us no principle of procedure by which He is guided in this matter, that Ho chose tho one and rejected the other, without letting us know any principle or rule of action ; that tho redeemed in heaven, and the lost in hell, are, and will be there, just because God, irres- pective of any known principle of procedure, decreed the one to everlasting felicity, and by a similar decree devoted the other to irremediable wo; that their doom was thus unchangeably fixed from all eternity, even before they were born — before they sinned, and before they heard the word of God. Let who will believe such a doctrine as hero stated, I, for one, cannot, for I see no such exhibition of truth In the word of God. T can see how it is fitted to agitato the sinner, and fill him with distress and dismay. I can see how it rises " fi 72 A HIDDEN GOSPEL. r < up as an exceeding high mountain between the soul and Christ; but I cannot see it in harmony of rela- tionship with the simplicity and freeness of the Gos- pel. It is fitted to introduce a complete fatalism ; and O, how many souls has this doctrine not darkened 1 How many inquirers after truth has it not stopped in the middle of their search ? Instead of their minds being directed to the " truth as it is in Jesus," they have wandered in the bewildering mazes of this mis- understood doctrine, and have been led to reason ; " Unless I am one of the elect, I cannot be saved. If I chance to be one of the number chosen from eler- nity, I shall be saved ; the matter does not lie with me, but with God ; I cannot change an eternal, irreversible decree. If, then, I am elected, I shall be saved ; if not, I shall be lost, and that without remedy. I fold my hands, and await, with all the trembling anxiety of suspense, the mighty result." We venture to affirm that this is a fair deduction from the view which has often been given to this blessed doctrine. Oh ! how dark, intricate, and uncertain is our condition, if this were so. No wonder there are so much darkness, uncertainty, and perplexity among professing Christians as to an interest in Christ, ii such ideas arc floating in their minds. Sinner, are you sheltering yourself under this refuge of lies ? Has the voice of conscience been hushed, and the strivings of the Spirit been resisted by this fatalism 1 Oh ! flee from this refuge ; you cannot see the fullness and freeness of Gospel grace, you cannot with open face behold, as in a glass, the glory of the Lord, if such a vail is upon your heart.— 2 Cor. iii. 15. Oh ! flee from this refuge, under which you shelter yourseii m me i;ugn;v;i ui x.^^ gr,.«v .,