IMAGE EVALUATION TEST TARGET (MT-3) 4 // {./ % i/.A 1.0 I.I 1.25 '-iia |5 "1"= t IM I. , m M 1.8 U IIIIII.6 Photographic Sciences Corporation V (meaning "CON- TINUED"), or the symbol V (meaning "END"), whichever applies. Maps, plates, charts, etc., may be filmed at different reduction ratios. Those too large to be entirely included in one exposure are filmed beginning in the upper left hand corner, left to right and top to bottom, as many frames as required. The followinc diagrams illustrate the method: Les images suivantes ont 6t6 reproduites avec le plus grand soin, compte tenu de la condition et de la netteti de l'exemplaire film6, et en conformity avec las conditions du contrat de filmage. Les exemplaires originaux dont la couverture en papier est imprimde sont film6s en commenpant par ie premier plat et en terminant soit par la dernidre page qui comporte une empreinte d'impression ou d'illustration, soit par ie second plat, selon le cas. Tous les autres exemplaires originaux ^ont film^s en commenpant par la premidre page qui comporte une empreinte d'impression ou d'illustration et en terminant par la dernidre page qui comporte une telle empreinte. Un des symboles suivants apparaitra sur la dernidre image de cheque microfiche, selon le cas: le symbole —^ signifie "A 3UIVRE ", le symbole V signifie "FIN". Les cartes, planches, tableaux, etc., peuvent dtre filmds i des taux de reduction diffdrents. Lorsque le document est trop g^and pour dtre reproduit en un seul ciichd, il est filmd d partir de Tangle supdrieur gauche, de gauche d droite, et de haut en bas, en prenant le nombre d'images ndcessaire. Les diagrammes suivants illustrent la mdthode. 1 2 3 1 2 3 4 5 6 j SERMONS. A SERMONS, CHIEFLY Ul'ON CHAPTER XVII. OF ST. JOHN'S GOSPEL ; PREACHED IN THE PARISH CHURCH OF ST. PAUL, HALIFAX, NOVA SCOTIA. B¥ WILLIAM COGSWELL, M.A. CURATE OP ST. PAJl's, AND CHAPLAIN TO THE LORD BISHOP OF NOVA SCOTIA. LONDON : J. HATCHARD AND SON, 187, PICCADILLY. 183D. 11 ^1 ll LONDON: I'lUNTBD UY IDOTSON AND PALMRR, SAVOY STKEBT. TO Tu;.; HONORABLE HENRY II. COGSWELL, MliMUKll OF IIKU MAJESI'Y'b COUNCIL KOU TllK I'ROVIM.E OF NOVA .SCllTI.A , &0. &C. THIS VOLUME OF SERMONS, I'REACIIED TO THE CONGREGATION uF WHICH HE HAS so long been a MEMUEU, WITH SENTIMENTS OF LIVELY GRATITUDE, AND WITH I'EELINGS OF THE WARMEST FILIAL LOVE, AFFECTIONATELY INSCRIBED UY THE AUTHOR. 1 o1 6' i- ^ i I I PREFACE. However trite such an apology may be, the Autlior of tlie following- Discourses cannot but plead it for Inmscif, that they would not have been intruded upon the public notice, had it not been for the earnest advice and request of several friends, to whose judgment he defers. To the expression of their opinion, that the pub- lication of this volume was calculated to pro- mote the glory of God in the edification of souls, he felt bound to yield ; as he trusts such a mo- tive would have more weight with him, than any liopo of promoting his own interest, or any pros- pect of gaining for himself a name. He is not, however, unwilling to acknowlege the existence of a secret hope, that, at a time when the attention of the British public has been VJJl rilKFACE. favorably drawn towards colonial contrihu.^ions of other descriptions to the British press, some feeling of the same kind might gain an access for the plain truths of the Gospel to persons, -.vho, under other circumstances, would turn away from them. The fact that these Discourses were preached by a native colonist in a colonial puli)it might gain for them an interest which would not otherwise be felt 'in theui ; and who can tell the blessing, which, through the Lord's grace, may ensue from the perusal of the humbling and searching doctrines of the cross, by whatever motive an attention to them might be at first in- duced ? Yet, while for these reasons indulging the hope that his humble volume may not be with- out some circulation, nor, through the Lord's mercy, without some fruit, among British readers, the author, of course, looks with the fondest and most intense anxiety to the reception which his Discourses may meet with among those in whose hearing they were delivered, and for whose edifi- cation they were composed. Grateful as he is for the kind interest in his undertaking which was manifested on the part of the flock to whom it has been his privilege to minister the word of life, and for the su])port which enables Irin, PREFACE. IX without risk oF pociiniury loss, thus to solicit u more extensive attention, he feels that the i)urpose dearest to his heart will be but little answered, unless, by this means, the truths which he has felt it a duty and a privilege to proclaim, become more familiar to their minds, and, through the grace of God, more impressed upon their hearts, than could be expected from the mere delivery of those truths in the course of ordinary teaching. That tlie Lord of all grace would graciously bring this to pass, by His blessing upon the present humble means, is the author's earnest prayer, and would be his abundant reward. The Discourses contained in this volume have been principally delivered within the last twelve months. Tiie series upon the seventeenth chapter of St. John was preached upon the Sundays after Trinity of the year 1838 : and it was chiefly with regard to them that the desire was expressed on the part of the author's friends that they should be committed to the press. Thinkino- however, that that scries, being, from tlie very nature of the subject, confined in a great mea- sure to the deep, things of God and the mysteries of the believers experience, did not give a fair specimen of the general character of his tcachino- the author has added a number of occasional I rUEFACE. nl U \ sermons, ^n which he trusts something will be found suited to tlie case of all the varieties which compose a congregation. Before closing these prefatory remarks, the author is constrained to beg the indulgence of his readers for many deficiencies of style and composition which a more careful revision might have enabled him to supply or correct. While he was engaged in the active duties of his paro- chial ministrations, such a revision was imprac- ticable ; and the opportunity which was looked forward to, during the enjoyment of a short sojourn in England, has, in the good providence of God, been so broken in upon by the visitation of severe sickness, and deep domestic affliction, that he is compelled, in order to complete the' volume during his limited stay, to place his Discourses in the publishers hands, just as they were composed and delivered without any refer- ence to publication. For any errors of a more serious nature, should such appear, he feels that he is entitled to no indulgence, as the welfare of the souls entrusted to him is dependent upon the soundness of the matter set before them ; and he hesitates not to avosv his conviction, that they inculcate nothing " ;,s essential to salvation, which is not contained in the Scriptures, or may PREFACE. XI be proved thereby," and that thejt proclaim the doctrines of tliat Church, of which he is happy to profess himself a member and a minister, and concerning which he rejoices to express his confidence, that it is " built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ him- self being the chief corner-stone." Such as they are, the author would humbly place them in the Lord's hands, with lively gra- titude for any measure of usefulness which has been permitted to attend them in their delivery, and with earnest prayer that the name of the Lord Jesus may be magnified. His kingdom furthered, and the souls for which He shed PL's blood edified by tliis poor attempt of one of the weakest of His servants to set Him forth crucified for sinners. CONTENTS. SERMON I. THE NIGHT FAR SPENT; THE DAY AT HAND. Preached on the first Sunday in Advent, 1838. Romans xiii. If?.— The night is far spent ; the day is at hand ; let us therefore cast ofF the works of darkness, and let us put on the armor of light. . . Page 1 SERMON II. THE SCRIPTUnES WRITTEN FOR OUU LEARNING. Preaclied on the second Sunday in Advent, 1838. Romans xv. 4. — Whatsoever things were written aforetime, were written for our learning ; that we through patience and comfort of the Scriptures might have hope. . H) n XIV CONTENTS. SERMON III. MINISTERS AND STEWARDS. Preached on the third Sunday in Advent, 1B38. 1 Corinthians iv. 1 — Let a man so account of us, as of tlie ministers of Christ, and stewards of the mysteries of God. 39 SERxMON IV. THF LORD AT HAND. Treached on the fourth Sunday in Advent, 1838, Phimppians iv. 5.— The Lord is at hand. 67 fcl f SERMON V. THE LORD JESU3 AT PRAYER. Preached on the first Sunday after Trinity. St. John xvii. 1, 2.— These words spake Jesus, and lifted up His eyes to heaven, and said, Father, tlie hour is come : glorify thy Son, that thy Son also may glorify Thee ; as Thou hast given Him power over all flesh, that He should give eternal life to as many as Thou hast given Him. 75 SERMON VL the FATHER r.LQRIFYING THE "SON, St. John xvii. 1, S,-Jesus lifted up His eyes to heaven, and said, Father, the hour is come ; glorily thy Son, that thy Son also may glorify Thee ; as Thou hast given Him power over all flesh, that He should give eternal life to as many as Thou hast given Him. - . . \)(i CONTENTS. XV SEPMON VII. ETERNAL LIFE. St. John xvii. 3.--And this is life eternal, that they might know Thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom Thou hast sent. ... , ,^ • • • • • lib SERMON Vlir. Christ's mediatorial glory the reward of his work. St. John xvii. 4, 5.-1 have glorified Thee on the earth ; I have finished the work which Thou gavest me to do. And now, O Father, glorify Thou me with thine own self, with the glory which I l)ad with Thee before the world was. 135 SERMON IX. CHARACTERISTICS OF THE LORD's PEOPLE. St. John xvii. 6.— I have manifested Thy Name unto the men which Thou gavest me out of the world : Thine they were, and Thou gavest tliem me ; and they have kept '^^^^y^ord J55 SERMON X. NECESSARY FEATURES OF A SAVING FAITH. St. John xvii 7, 8.— Now they have known, that all things whatsoever Thou hast given mo arc of Thee : For 1 have given unto them the words which Thou gavest me, and they have received them, and have known surely that I came out from Thee, and they have believed that Thou didst send me. ... i-i XVI CONTENTS. SERMON XI. CHRIST INTEIUEDES FOR IPS PEOPLE. St. John xvii. 9, 10.— I pray for tliem : I r,-ay not for the M'orld, but for tlicm which Thou hast given nic ; for they arc thine ; and all mi. arc thine, and tliinc arc mine ; and I am glorified in them, . . . • . jog SERMON XII. THE savior's sympathy WITH HIS PEOPLE. St. John xvii. 11 — And now I am no more in tlie world, but these are in the world, and I come to Thee. Holy Father, keep througli thine own name those whom Thou hast given me, that they may be one, as we are. 213 SERMON XIII. the son of PERDITION. St. John xvii. 12.— While I was with them in the world, I kept them in thy name : those that Tliou gavest me I have kept, and none of them is lost, but the son of perdi- tion ; that the Scripture might be fulfilled. . 232 !«' SERMON XIV. Christ's joy fulfilled in his people. St. John xvii. 13._And now come I to thee : and these things I speak in the world, tliat they might have my joy fulfilled in themselves. o.^O CONTENTS. SERiVION XV. XVIl chhist's I'eopli: not of the world. St. John xvii. 14, 15, 16.-I have given them Tl.y word ; and the world hath hated tliem, because they are not of the world, even as I an, not of the world. I pray not that hou shouldest take them out of the world, but that Thou sl'-ouldcst keep then from the evil. They arc not of the world, even as I am not of the world. . . . yfjH SERMON XVI. THK WOUD or GOD THE MEANS OF SANCTIFICATION. ''^V'"' !"!''■ '^•-^^"^^'0' them through Thy truth: • 287 SERIVION XVII. Thy word is truth. CHRIST SENOrNG HIS DISCIPLES. St. John xvii. 18._As Thou hast sent me into the world, even so have I also sent them into the world. . . 305 SERMON XVIII. the savior sanctifying himself. St. .foHN xvii. 19.-And for their sakes I sanctify myself, that they also might be sanctified through the truth. 323 SERMON XIX. CHRIST PHAYFTH FOR ALL THAT SHALL BELIEVE. St. John xvii. 20. 21._Neither pray I for these alone, but for them also that shall believe on me through their word: that they all may be one ; as Thou, Father, art in me, and I in Thee, that they also may be one in us ; that the world may believe that Thou hast sent me. . . .342 XVlll CONTENTS. i' SERMON XX. THE GLORY GIVEN TO THE LORD'S PEOPLE. St. John xvii. 22, 23._And the glory wi.ich Thou gavest me, 1 have given them, that tliey may be one, even as we are one ; I in them, and Thou in me, tliat they may be made perfect in o 2 ; and tliat tlie world may know that Thou hast sent me, and hast loved them, as Thou hast loved me qq2 SERMON XXI. the savior's WILL IN BEHALF OF HIS PEOPLE. St. John xvii. 24.— Father, I will that they also, whom TIiou hast given me, be with me where I am ; that they may behold my glory, which Thou hast given me : for Thou lovedst me before the foundation of t'e world. 381 SERMON XXII. CONCLUDING PETITIONS. Sr. John xvii. 25, 26 — O righteous Father, the world hath not known Thee ; but I have known Tliee, and these have known that Thou has sent me. And I have declared unto them Thy name, and will declare it, that the "love wherewith Thou hast loved me may be in them, and I in tl"-^'" 401 SERMON XXIII. THE BRAZEN SERPENT. St. John iii. 14, 15 — As Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of man be lifted up; that whosoever bclievetii in Hiui sliould not i)cris!i, Lut have eternal life ^jeer Its path : but dacay and death are stamped upon those very ties, and embitter every one of tliem, which, not being based upon the love of God' and fastened " to tliat within the veil," * shall be dissolved, as the frail body sinks into its dust. One tie alone will survive,-that which binds souls in an union with Christ and with one another : and far sweeter is that tie indeed, when It unites in Christian bonds those that are dear to each other in tiie flesh as well as in the spirit: but to all other ties, the soul that cares for peace with God must sit loose, for * licb. vi. 1± \ Isa. Ixiv. G. ' ~ L. roR oyri learning. 35 it may meet tlie eye of the King, wlieii He Cometh in to see His guests. And these things, dear friends and brethren, are in the Bible, tliat neglected book. Tliese encouraging patterns of patience, these cheering grounds of comfort, are in the Holy Word. Nay, more; for this very gracious purpose were the Holy Scriptures written, that in thus supplying comfort to the spirit, and examples for the walk, they might impart and keep alive the hope of glory, cherished by every lowly follower of the Lamb of God. And yet this is the book, dear friends and brethren, which so many of you neglect, so many use but as a thing of form ; and even those, who know most of its value, are so far from regarding with the love and gratitude it calls for. Suffer me, then, dear friends, affectionately to remonsti-ate with you who neglect the word of God. Ye profess to have a hope of heaven ; and yet neglect that book which is the only charter of a well-based hope. Ye would pretend at least to be offended, if told that ye had no love for God ; and yet when God has been at the ])ains of committing His wishes to writing, of con- tinuing through successive ages the records of His people's lives, and preserving th.em through every kind of peril down to the present time, His book, if ye possess it, lies by you disregarded, its D n 1^ i .3G THE SCRIPTURES WRITTEN trutlis neglected, its threatenings flighted, its pro- mises abused, the Savior it reveals unknown. O ! judge ye yourselves, brethren, does this look like love for God ; or is it such conduct as gives evi- dence of any real hope of heaven ? Dear friends, i would urge you by your fears to take heed of the Lord's word ; for it is that word " which shall judge you at the last day."* I would appeal to your gratitude ; for when God has so graciously and at so much cost presented you with a revela- tion of the word of life, are ye not ashamed so to slight His gift ? I would piead with you by the value of your souls; for what can all your hopes of happiness be woitli, tliat are not based upon the Lord's own word ? I would urge on you even your present interests ; for where will you find a counsellor, a guide, a companion, a comforter, a friend, such as the Word of God ? By your fears, by your gratitude, by your sense of shame ; by your present interests, by your everlasting pros- pects, O, I beseech you, brethren, neglect not the book of God ! Yet what is your case improved, my poor fel- low sinners, who make a point of reading a cer- tain portion of the Bible as a thing of form, but without any spiritual perception of its meaning, or any lively interest in its truths ? Now, dear friends and brethren, have ye, in your formal * John xii. 48. L I ^ F ' 1 j » i- I FOR OUU LEARNING. 37 reading of the word of God, ever found it to be " the power of God to your salvation ?"* Have ye ever experienced its power in strengthening you amid temptation, in counselling you amid per- plexities, in guiding you amid dangers, in com- forting you amid troubles, in giving you the victory over your sins? Has it ever been really precious to you as a counsellor, valuable as a guide, cheering as a companion, comforting as a friend ? Have ye ever seen yourselves painted in it, learnt your own character in its pages, as lost guilty creatures, seen Christ in it as your Savior, found of Him the pardon of your sins, and learnt of Him the way of holiness. If not, to what profit is it that ye bring to God the mere formal offering of a stated perusal of His word ? Yet I would not discourage your reading that blessed book, even for form's sake; but charge you not to rest on that : but earnestly to seek the grace of God's Holy Spirit to apply it to your hearts, and write it out in your lives. O ! pray for grace to make the testimonies of the Lord your delight and counsellors, His word the joy and rejoicing of your hearts, His counsels a guide unto your feet, and His statutes your songs in this house of your pilgrimage if Once more. There are those of vou, dear brethren, blessed be God for it ! who know .ome- * Rom. i. IG. t Ps. cxix.L>4,.54; Jor.xv. 16. r= ^:i 38 SCRIPTURES WRITTEN FOR OUR LEARNING. thing of the value of the blessed Bible, who have experienced its consolations, have proved its faith- fulness, and tasted its power in " making you wise unto salvation through faith in Christ Jesus."* But, dear brethren, do you treat it with that reverence, tliat diligence, that earnestness, which become you in the use of such a precious boon ? And do ye bring always to it that humble and teachable spirit, which seeks only the knowledge of what the Lord says, desiring only to act according to his will ? Dear brethren, in these days of divi- sion, of variety, of false doctrine, what safe ground can ye have for your hopes but the simple word of God ? To that word bring every statement of trutli, every doctrine, every precept, to be tried ; " if we speak not according to that word, it is be- cause there is no light in us."t Come to that word continually for a pattern for patience, food 'or your comfort, and strength to your hopes ; and fear not to build upon the word of the promise and the oath of God an assured hope, and to de- rive from them " a strong consolation" in havino- " fled for refuge to lay liold upon the hope set be- fore you in the Gospel. ":j: . im. III. \ii. t Isa. viii. 20. X llfb. vi. 18. 39 SERMON III. MINISTERS AND STEWARDS. 1 Corinthians iv. 1. Let a man so account of us, as of the ministers of Clir'ist, and stewards of the mysteries of God. 3et be- It is not easy to estimate the mercy of the Lord in having- committed His " treasure to earthen vessels," and entrusted " the ministry of reconcilia- tion " to an embassage of sinners. It might at first sight indeed be thought, that it had been more worthy of the greatness and majesty of God, and a more striking proof of His love to man, if He had sent a commission of angels to bear to dying- men from age to age the precious tidings of salva- tion by Christ Jesus. It may be, too, that the souls of those who know but little of " the plague 40 MINISTERS AND STEWAIIUS. of their own heart?,"* and whose desire to hear tlie preaching- of the Gospel is little more than that of which the prophet speaks, as a desire to be pleased with " the song of one that hath a pleasant voice, and can play well npon an instrument ;"t it may be, that these would rather, that tlie harp, whose notes are charged with the songs of Zion, were strung by angels' hands ; and that they think the sweet persuasiveness of an angel's voice would lead them, even though it were against their will, to paths of self-denial, of holiness, and peace. But would ye estimate aright the mercy of the Lord's appointment, in having rather called on dying sinners to bear to their fellow-sinners the message of salvation, go to the restless couch of some awakened sinner, that writeth bitter things against himself; go to the closet of some poor tempted creature, whose soul is well-nigh over- wlielmed with the fiery darts of Satan ; go to the chamber of some afflicted one, whose heart is bleeding over the rent ties of kindred and affec- tion : and, sweet as then might be an angel's voice, say, is there not even greater sweet- ness in the sympathies of one, who has been tlie object of the same assaults, and has been borne by the sufficiency and strength of his God above them all. Go, listen to the bitter self-accusations * 1 Kings viii. 38. f Ezck. xxxiii. 32. MINISTERS AND STEWARDS. 41 of a sinner that has been aroused to see the evil of his ways, and who, in liis affrighted view of his transgressions against the law of God, his neglect of warnings, tiie Jiardness of his heart, cries out, that, whoever else may find mercy, there can be none for him; and when you hear a fellow sinner tell him, tliat Ms heart was once as liard, his neglect as awful, his sins as black as his, and see liim point to the Cross of Jesus, as a remedy whose sufficiency he hath himself experienced, will you not find a sweetness in the message, which could not be in that of one, who, having never sinned, could never have known the bitter- ness of a remorseful conscience, nor found the liealing virtue of a Savior's blood ? Go, listen to the tale of spiritual griefs, the record of temp- tations, the catalogue of fiery assaults, by which some fellow-sinner is permitted of the Lord to be buffeted of Satan ; hear him mourn his unbelief, groan over the pollutions of a sinful flesh, and cry out through the fierceness of the struggle between " the law of the Spirit of life," and " tlie law of sin that is in his members ;"* and say, what could an angel know of trials such as these ; and wliat such force could there be in his suggestions of consolation, as in those of one who can say to him, ' Here, take this sword of the Spirit, I have proved tlie keenness of its edge, and the temper * Kom. vii. :>4 ; vlii. -2. 42 MINISTERS AND STEWARDS. of its blade, and know it to be " mighty through God to the pulh'ng down of strong hohls," and to the conquest of Satan ; uplift this shield of faith, it has sheltered me from many an assault, and turned off harmless from my heart the hottest weapons of the Devil's rage.' Go, listen to the sobbings of the bursting heart, which mourns the bitterness of its bereavement in all the hopeless- ness of woe ; and say whether there is not a comfort in the sympathy of one whose heart has bled from the same wound ; whether there be not a consolation in the message of one, whose heart is elevated by the same sweet hopes, that he sug- gests to them, of meeting his lost ones near tlie throne of God, which the simple " weep not " of an angel's voice, however sweet its tones, could not supply. It is not merely an honor to them- selves, the highest with which a creature can be clothed, to be sent as the " ambassadors" of the King of kings, as " ministers of reconciliation,"* as messengers of grace ; surely it is mercy, also, to those to whom these tidings come, that the ministers of God are *' men subject to like pas- sions," men of like weaknesses, of like respon- sibilities, of like trials, of like hopes, with themselves, and are commissioned to set forth that which themselves have known, and felt, and tasted of the word of life. * 2 Cor. V. 18, i^H. MINISTERS AND STEWARDS. 43 It appears to have been tliouglit desirable by tlie Cliurch of our affections, to call the attention of her children occasionally to the consideration of the cares and duties of the ministerial office, and to put petitions into their mouths, and to direct appeals to their hearts, in behalf of those which are " over them in the Lord."* And who was more anxious to avoid, who more diligent to guard against, the awful mistake of preaching himself, instead of Christ Jesus his Lord,!" than the Apostle Paul ? Yet which of all the sacred writers so frequently presses upon his converts the due consideration of the office of those who watch for their souls ; and so continually and so urgently calls upon them to remember him and his fellow workers in their prayers, as the same great Apostle ? Speaking as he was " moved by the Holy Ghost," he hath left on record in the sacred word some of the most solemn exhibitions of the important relationship existing between ministers and people, and some of the most touching appeals to the sympathies and prayers of those whom he addressed, which that blessed book contains. We may hope, then, dearly beloved, to have the sanction of the Holy Spirit of God, as well as of the Church which desires to recog- nise His influences and His guidance in all her services, in inviting your attention this day to * I Tlicss- V. 12. -]- 2 Cor. iv. 5. m i m 44 MINISIEIIS AND STEWARDS. some of tho important considerations involved in the injunction of tlio text. Of ourselves, as men, we would speak as little as the connexion between an individual and the office he sustains will allow ; it is of the office which we have, the charge we have to keep, the message we are to convey, the duties to sustain, that we would desire chiefly to discourse. May the blessed Spirit of the Lord be now present with us, and enable ine so to speak, and you so to hear, as may tend to our mutual improvement in know- ledge, in affection, and in grace. " Let a man," then, yea, let each of you, dear friends and brethren, " so account of us, as of tlie ministers of Christ, and stew aids of the mysteries of God :" and, in so accounting of us, let him think of om frailty. There are those who seem to expect the ministers of Gud to be perfect men ; who note every imperfection, magnify every failing, dwell upon every inconsistency, as if they forgot tljat ministers are but sinful men, and as if every weakness of theirs were a sanction for all their own carelessness and worldlincss and pride. And most true it doubtless is, that they, to whom the message of salvation is entrusted, should have experienced the power of religion in their own hearts, should have known the awful evil of a state of sin, from which they call upon their fellow-sinners to escape, and have felt MIN'ISTKIIS AND STKWARDS. 45 the transforining power of a lively faith, worliing in tlioni by love, and niakino- thoni new creatures in Christ Jesus.* But a converted state is not a perfect state. The power of faitli in Christ does not annihilate the corruptions of a sinful nature, nor, though it destroys the power of sin in the heart, does it at once release the believer from the workings of his sinful propensities, or the struggles of his remaining corruption. What are the ministers of Christ in this respect but as other believers in Christ ? And thougli indeed every inconsistency and every sin of every be- liever inflicts a wound upon the body of Christ, burdens his own conscience, and endangers his peace, yet what excuse will all the incon- sistencies of all the ministers of God, thouo-h concentrated into one mass of sin, afford to any sinner for refusing the message of the Gospel ; how will they avert from him the consequences of his own ungodliness, or justify his rejection of tlie Savior, on whom he was invited to believe ? In accounting of us *' as the ministers of Christ and stewards of the mysteries of God," let a man also think of our temptations. I would speak here only of the temptations which are connected with our office. And must we not number among the first of these the temptation " to please men"f rather than God, to " say unto our lipnrers smooth * Gal. V. 6; vi. 15= I Gal. i. 10. 46 MINISTERS AND STEWARDS. . m i f i I things, to prophesy deceits,"* rather than set before them in its true colors a picture of their real state ? " The preaching- of the cross is unto them that perish foolishness :"t and "the truth as it is in Jesus is unwelcome to the carnal heart. The accursed state of every unbelieving sinner :.[: the hatefulness of the world and of all worldliness in the sight of God : § the natural depravity and desperate wickedness of every heart of man :|| the absolute necessity of the heart being changed by the powerful operation of the Holy Ghost, and the solemn impossibility of any one's entering the Lord's kingdom, except he be converted and become as a little child :% these are truths which the hearts of those we address like not to have pressed upon them ; truths which arouse their opposition and provoke their pride. What then must be the minister's temptation to soften these hard sayings, to qualify these unpalatable truths ; and rather to consult his own ease, and to lay to the souls of his hearers the soft and soothing unction of the Lord's tenderness to their imper- fections, and their own sufficient godUness ? Yet, in accounting of us " as the ministers of Christ," let a man think also, on the other hand, of our rcsponsihilitlcs. What can exceed the * Isa. XXX. 10. t 1 Cor. i. IK. § James iv. 4. 1 John ii. la. f Ezek. xxxvi. 2G, 27. Matt, xviii. 3. Jolin iii. .5 X John iii. 18. II Jcr. xvii. 9. AllNISTEKS AND STEWARDS. 47 the awfulness of those woes denounced against him, who, being set as the Lord's watchman, blows not the trumpet of ahirm in the ears of dying sinners ?* What can surpass the fearful fate held up in terror over those " that handle the Word of God deceitfully,"! that " heal the hurt of the daughter of the Lord's people slightly, ^aying, Peace, Peace, when there is no peace By their own souls must they answer for the souls of those to whom they are sent ; by their own hopes of salvation must they plainly, faithfully, affectionately, earnestly, set forth to their fellow sinners the corruption and depravity of their natures, and plead with them, as they love their souls, to " fly for refuge to lay hold on tlie hope set before them"§ in the Gospel. O ! who can con- template these responsibilities, and lightly think scorn of the earnestness, the frequency, the con- stancy, with which the ministers of Christ would warn the unconverted of their lost estate, and urge them to the remedy in the blood of Clirist ? Nay, who can think rightly of these things, and not wonder that any, who have such woes upon their souls, can be so cold, so slothful, so dis- passioned, in urging their fellow sinners to fly for their lives to Christ ? But from this view of that part of the minis- * Ezek. xxxiii. 2 — 8. I Jcr. viii. 11. t 2 Cor. iv. 2. § Ilcb. VI. 18. ■H 48 MINISTERS AND STEWARDS. 1' terial character, which is calculated, one would hope, to engage the sympathies of their flocks, let us turn and briefly consider that, which involves the duties of their people. " Let a man so account of us, as ministers of Christ and stewards of the mysteries of God ;" and in so accounting of us, let him think of the commission which we bear, and the name in which we come. As ministers of Christ, they " who are over you in the Lord" come to you, dear brethren, in the name of the Lord ; they approach you as His ambassadors : they bear to you His message. Yes, " we are ambassadors for Christ : and, as though God did beseech you by us, we pray you, in Christ's stead, be ye re- conciled unto God."* When sending his disciples abroad into the world, and charging them, as they went, to preach the Gospel of the kingdom, the Savior of the world added this solemn sanc- tion to enforce their message : " He that heareth you, heareth me : and he that despiseth you, despiseth me : and he that despiseth me, despiseth Him that sent me."i- However deep, then, their sense of their own vile unworthiness to be en- trusted with such great grace, the ministers of Christ are bound " to magnify their oflice :":j: not by claiming for themselves, who bear it, any out- ward privileges or respect; but by charging * 2 Cor. V. 20. f Lukcx. 16. + Rom. xi. 13. *i^S^! MINISTERS AND STEWARDS. 49 tlieir Iiearers to remember, that they come to them in the Lord's name, and that it is at the peril of their souls that they reject their message, or refuse their call. And though it is required of men who hold such a ministry, that they be found faithful, yet they are bound to esteem it " a very small thing how they should be judged," concerning their faithfulness, " of man's j'udg- ment:"* and to remember that it is " to their Master they must stand or fall."t As ministers of Christ, then, they are sent to press upon their fellow-sinners the importance and necessity of taking heed to their ways : they are sent to urge upon their notice the things that concern their peace, and are commissioned especially to set forth Christ Jesus and Him crucified, with all the im- portant truths connected with that wondrous revelation, and all the solemn consequen.es dependent upon His admission into the heart They are sent to tell you that it was your sins that crucified Christ : that the blood those sins have made to flow, is the only stream that can \vash their guilt away : and that the application of that blood to the soul, by faith, not only de- livers it from condemnation, but " purges the conscience also from dead works to serve the living God.":]: Th- y are commissioned then to * 1 Cor. iv. 2, 3. f Horn, ^iy, 4 t Heb. ix. 14. 50 MINISTERS AND STEWARDS. urge their fellow-sinners to fly to the blood of Christ for cleansing, and through Him to come and be reconciled to the Father ; and whether the graciousness or the importance, the simplicity or the solemnity of this commission be con- sidered, who can contemplate without trembling the fearful peril of those who will not hear ? Once more, however, iu accounting of us " as ministers of Christ and stewards of the mysteries of God," let a man think of the nature of the charge with ivhich we are so stated to he invested. The things of which we are to speak, and in which we are to minister, are called " the mysteries of God ;" they are those things, which, plain as they are to the simplest faith, are so sealed up from the natural heart, that it " receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God, neither can it know them, because they are spiritually discerned." * To a heart yet in the darkness of its natural ignorance, the eloquence of an angel could not explain them: nor could the might of an arch- angel apply them to a soul yet in the perverseness of an unregenerate state. " The excellency of the power" of making these things known to the sinner's soul, must be " all of God ;" f that His may be all the glory. His may be all the praise. To the uninitiated they must be mysteries still : while to those wlio have tlie simple principle of faith, * 1 Cor. ii. 14, -j. 2 Cor. iv. 7. "«,V MINISTERS AND STEWARDS. 51 whicli is - the gift of God "* by the operation of His Spirit, the secret of the Lord is made plain. AVhen, then, tlie ministers of Christ appear to their fellow-sinners to be stewards of mysteries, to come to them with a message which they cannot receive, to speak to them of things which they cannot understand, will their want of com- prehension be a sufficient excuse to them for turning away from the commandments delivered unto them ? O no ! indeed : but rather should It bring them, in a confession of their ignorance, and a sense of their blindness, to Him whose' power alone can open the blind eyes, whose light alone can illumine a dark heart, whose Spirit alone can teach the things that be of God. Suffer me now, dear brethren, to dwell a little upon this point ; and from the consideration of the duties and responsibilities of the ministerial office, to turn and enforce upon you the duties which relatively devolve upon you. And let me first warn you, dear friends and brethren, of a mistake too generally made, in supposing that there will be a different rule of judgment, as regards the ordinary course and tenor of their lives, for the minister and his people. For his conduct as a watchman, the minister of God has indeed an account to render : but his conduct as a man must be tried by the same rule to * Eph. ii. 8. E 2 52* MINISTERS AND STEWARDS. L the mulst, the unslumbering, the wutel,f„l, the ej-er ready help of all that seek him faithfullv . Or follow once more the steps of the true diseiple of the Lord, as, on some privileged oeeasion, he draws near the table of his Lord, and eon.es with those who have tasted that the Lord is graeious to feed upon the remembrance of His dying love • and what is it that then calls forth the steetes; emotmns of his soul,-what that deepens the contr,t,on of his heart,-what that pour' ove a stream of joy hut the remembrance that his Lord ,s peculiarly " at hand ; that He comes bidr.i:"/-T""'' """"■ " ' '>"'S S-i-. a"d b.d> , le fain ,„g, weary, wavering, doubting dis- c-pie, reach forth his hand and thrust it into His s.de and put his finger into the print of the nails and benot iauhless, but believing;". a„d .Jl' te heart „, the lively believer with the assurance hat He who was slain in weakness now liveth by the power of God,"t and " because He livs H.S people shall live also."J- O, know ye not' dear fnends and brethren, all of you; are any of * •'''''" "■'• ■"■ t 2 Cor. xiii. 4. t John xiv. 19. i THE LORD AT HAND. 6i) tin's day of ief that his md;" and >r three to I* has been tchfal, the aithfully ? le disciple asion, he nies with gracious, ing love ; sweetest pens the 'S over it that his e comes ior, and ing dis- into His le nails, J cheers surance V liveth fe lives, ye not, any of i. you ignorant of the comforts and tlie joys that spring from the knowledge that " the Lord is at hand ;" seemeth it strange to any of you to speak of peace amid the trials of life, and of joy amid ite pains, to speak of the Lord's sabbath as a day of delights, and of His worship as the richest feast the soul can know ? O where then is your fiiith ? What can ye have of godliness but the form, what of religion but the name, if the Lord ye j)rofess to believe in be unknown to you as a comforter and a friend, and your footsteps be strangers to the pleasantness and peace, which mark His paths ? Strangers to Jesus, O ! seek His presence and His blessing now, while He is a God at hand that vvaiteth to be gracious to all tliat seek Him. Friends of Jesus, O ! cultivate His friendship, and dwell upon His love ; for He is " a brother born for adversity ;" " a friend that loveth at all times ;" yea, " a friend that sticketh closer than a brother." HL To those who know the friendship and the love of Jesus, and who find, amid all the trials of their earthly pilgrimage, that the assurance that " the Lord is at hand" is a comfort and a stay to them; to these the announcement of the text, when viewed in a prophetic light, must be an elevating motive to diligence, to watchfulness, to prayerfulness, and praise. Look at the first 70 THE LORD AT IIANl', [f m i Christians, at those who under the teaching of the apostles were brought out of darkness into the marvellous light of the children of God, and see how eagerly they looked out for the corning of the Lord, and what a motive it was to them for self-denial, for diligence, and prayer. Scarcely did the faithful ones of olden time desire more eagerly to see tlie day of their Lord's advent in the «esh, than these looked out for the promise of His second coming to gather his people to Himself. And did not the apostles urge, impress, and minister to this state of anxious expectation • diu not they, in writing, not for one age alone,' but for generations yet unborn, press upon their hearers the assurance that the Lord was at hand • and even whle they cautioned them against calculating upon t/>e hour of His comino-, and m the eagerness of their expectation, negLting the necessary cares and duties of their trial state did they not reiterate the promise that the Lord was coming, and press those who loved the Lord to -look for and haste unto the coming of the day of Christ?"* And to what but the sickly, luke. ™n, half-hearted state of the professed believers of the present day can it be attributed, that there IS among them so little watchfulness, so little expectation, so little hasting unto the coming of this great event ? True, its fulfilment has been * 2 Pet. iii. 12. rt 1 THE LOUD AT HAND. 71 eaching of ss into the 1, and see corning of tliem for Scarcely iire more ent in tlie ise of His Himself. ess, and ectation ; ge alone, 3on their at hand ; against ig, and, glccting al state, he Lord he Lord the day Y, luke- clievers it there ) little ning of s been long delayed ; and, that the worldly should by this fact be led to greater carelessness and almost mockery of the hopes of those that are looking for their Lord, does not seem wonderful; but is it not the very character of faith to give a substance to the hopes of them that believe,* and to " endure, as seeing that which is invisible ?"(" It may be, that, wlien Noah laid the first timbers of the ark, and announced, as his reason for so doing, his expectation of a flood to sweep the world of its inhabitants, some of those who heard and saw him were transiently impressed. But when a century had passed, and still there were no more symptoms of a deluge than when the keel of the enormous ark was laid, we scarcely wonder, that the passing impressions of those who believed not the Lord soon wore away, and that they who first showed the most alarm were, as if to regain their character for courage, the loudest in their mockery of the old man's fears, " The Lord is at hand ;" and when the world shall just be in the same state as it was when the flood overtook the ungodly of that age : when all things shall be proceeding just in their ordinary course — the man of business surrounded by his cares, the man of pleasure in tlie full pursuit of his enjoyments ; when men shall be eating and drinking, buying and selling, plant- * Ilcl), xi I. f Ilcb. xi. 27. f Ai ^ '^-'^. IMAGE EVALUATION TEST TARGET (MT-3) jp- 1.0 I.I 1.25 2.2 1^ 10 1.4 1.8 1.6 '■^-.^^ '/a ^ -^/ ^' / ^ «^ ''W '/ Photographic Sciences Corporation 23 WEST MAIN STREET WEBSTER, N.Y. 14580 (716) 873-4503 iV \\ # 6^ % '^■^v «* ^.j,. <^ 72 THE LORD AT HAND. 2 a«d bu,!d,ng, carrying and giv;„g iu „ar- ■ag, even then the Son of Man shall come; tie eai th ? Where shall He find the Noahs of >"s age, that have prepared an ark for the saving of te house,, and, safel, housed in Jesus, .r! wa t,ng ,n solemn and anxious expectation for tlatlrrr'""^' O sur^y there is need that the Lord revive His work in this respect a^ong us; sural, there is reason for the prj^ tut He would ra,se up His power, and co ne would arouse those that profess to believe in Him trom the,r present state of carelessness and ease d seer them from the world, and mark tl L,' en bT h' -"^ r^"""""^ '"^« —" « watch ulness. of spirituality, which should hnd»"LV.°"''"',''^'""''''''"''-'^-disat hand Let the ungodly mock, let the unbelieving doubt, let the worldly care not, but let the be "■ever rejo.ce, that the Lord is at hand. "How long, ye simple ones, will ye love sim- P icty and the scorners delight in their scoruino-r How long, ye careless ones, will ye go „„'„, your thoughtlessness, and ye worldly conso 1 yourselves n, your unbelief? Are ye determined * Hcb. xi. 7. THE LORD AT HAND. 73 to admit no other evidence that the Lord is at hand, but that which burst upon the careless ones of Noah's days, when " the flood came and swept them all away ?" Will ye receive no other warning that the Lord is coming, but that which the fearful notes of the archangel's trump shall pour on your affrighted ears, when the day of grace shall have been spent, and the hour of judgment come? O! dear friends and fellow- sinners, not so ! Behold the Lord standeth at the door and knocks ; He knocks by every varied dispensation of His providence : He knocks by every evidence ye have that this is a dying world : He knocks by the solemn knell of every closing year: He knocks by the strivings of His Spirit, which tells you in your moments of re- flection that all is not well with you : He pleads with you to open your hearts to Him, and He will come in, and make His abode with you.* He is now at hand, a waiting, pleading, gracious Savior : He pleads with you to come to Him : He waiteth to be gracious. O come, for He is at hand also " a revenger to execute wrath upon all that do iniquity." But, dear brethren in Christ Jesus, " rejoice in the Lord alway, and again I say rejoice: for the Lord is at hand." Amid all your trials, your temptations, your M'eaknesses, your wants, the Lord is now at hand, and bids you " be careful for * Kcv. iii. i>0. rll 74 THE LORD AT HAND. nothing, but in everything by prayer and suppli- cation with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known unto Him," for He is at hand to succor and to bless you. Amid all the lets and hindrances of your prayers, and all the coldness and unworthiness of your praise, still rejoice in the Lord: for it is - by grace ye are sa.ed:"* and the Lord of grace is at hand to help and to deliver you. Amid all the corruptions of this mortal tabernacle, amid all the temptations of the world and the flesh, and all the fiery assaults of he Devil, still rejoice in the Lord: these shall last but for a little while; and the Lord IS at hand, to set you free from all your corrup- tions, and to present you pure and spotless to the Father, to redeem you from all iniquity, and to admit you to the glories of His heavenly house, where no sin shall ever enter, no temp- tat^n ever assail, nor any trace of iniquity defile O ! weary, mourning, downcast, struggling- toilworn Christian, look up: the Lord Is at hand. The enemy is but permitted to try you for a season : and even now he hath no power against you : resist him with the precious faith that your Lord is at hand, and look onward to His coming as the close of all your toils, and the consummation of your most glorious hopes. And " the Lord direct your hearts into the love of God, and into the patient waiting for Christ." * Eph. ii. .). 76 SERMON V. THE LORD JESUS AT PRAYER. St. John xvii. 1, 2. These words spake Jesus, and lifted up His eyes to heaven, and said. Father, the hour is come : glorify thy Son, that thy Son also may glorify Thee ; as Thou hast given Him power over all flesh, that He shoidd give eternal life to as many as Thou hast given, Him. The scene, and its attendant circumstances, wliich are brought before the mind's eye by the words I have now read to you, may be spoken of as of the most interesting character of all that are contained in the word of God. It was on that dark and doleful night, when the powers of dark- ness were about to be let loose in all their fury against the meek Redeemer : when the treachery mrn^ 76 THE LORD JESUS AT PRAYER. i. 4 I* I of one of His familiar friends whom He had trusted, the malice of those enemies whom His meekness and His holiness had incensed against Him, and the fiendish rage of the arch-enemy, who, baffled as he liad been in his many assaults upon Jesus, was now preparing one last, des- perate thrust, were all concentrating their forces, and aiming, in one deadly blow, at His destruction. It was on that solemn night when the soul of the Lord Jesus was "exceeding sorrowfid, even unto death:"* when all the shrinkings, with which the human nature which he had assumed, recoiled from torture and from wrath, seemed to be working in His breast; and the anticipations of that bitter hour, in which He should tread alone the winepress of Almighty ven- geance,t was agitating His bosom. All the sen- sibilities of the man appeared to be now in their liveliest and tenderest exercise in Him who in His humiliation was as completely human, as, in the right of His eternal station. He was essen- tially and entirely divine. Yes, it seems as if in tliis hour all the various mental trials beneath which any of our fallen race can be bowed down, were experienced by Him, who, a. our Represen- tative and Surety, endured them all for us, and who having Himself " suffered being tempted,'\j: * Matt. xxvi. 38. "^ Isa. Ixiii. 3. t Heb, ii. 18. THE LORD JESUS AT PRAYER. 77 and having been " in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin,"* knows how to sym- pathise with and to succour those that are tempted. The sad trial we have alluded to, and of which we cannot but suppose the Savior to have experienced all the bitterness which any man could have experienced from it; that is, the treachery of his companion, the anticipated denial of all knowlege of His name by one who had ever been foremost in professions of attachment, the coming separation from those to whom He had endeared himself, and upon whom the liveliest affections of His human nature, as well as the everlasting love of His divine nature, were set : the knowlege, too, of the aggravated circumstrmces of insult and op- pression, the refined preparations of bodily torture, and the full outpouring of Divine wrath, under which His frail and worn-out frame should ere long expire ;— all these things were at work at the same moment, harrowing up the feelings of the Redeemer's soul. It is at the time that these feelings have been, in some measure, finding vent in His last sweet converse with His chosen ones, when He has been un- bosoming Himself to them more fully than on any former occasion, and giving them more ample instructions concerning the treatment they • Heb. iv. 15. I mmm t I; 78 THE LORD JESUS AT PRAYER. should meet with at the world's hands, and the peace that He would leave with them ; at the time that after celebrating His last supper with His chosen ones, and giving- them every proof which tenderness could dictate of His love for them. He lifted up His eyes to heaven in prayer for them, and committed them in supplication to His Father's care,— that we are permitted in the text to be present and gaze upon the scene pre- sented to us. There were other portions of the Redeemer's history, which are, it may be, of deeper im- portance in the work which He came to ac- complish. The dark hour that lowered upon His entrance into the world, when He came an outcast and despised one into a world, which could provide him only a manger for His cradle, and some straw for his lowly bed : the moment at which, in His expiring agony. He exclaimed, " It is finished," and bowed His head and gave up the ghost : the early morn, at which the body that had lain its appointed time in the new tomb was raised arnid the homage of His heavenly attendants, and the quakings of His affrighted guard : these, or either of these moments, may be said to be fraught with a deeper importance to the great work of man's redemption ; but none, I think, to be invested with an intenser interest than the last scene we have been contemplating. THE LORD JESUS AT PRAYER. 79 as having taken place in an upper room at Jeru- salem. It has all the interest which we generally attach to the moments of the familiar intercourse of those whom we admire and vene- rate with their chosen friends. It has all the interest which is assigned to the dying com- munications of the great and good with those on whom their affections have been placed. It has all the interest which belongs to the private and confidential revelations of their most important secrets to those in whom they have reposed their trust. And besides these, it has an interest, all its own, arising from the characters of those who are present : from the consideration that it is the Lord of life and glory, the eternal Jeho- vah, the everlasting God, that thus in lowly guise and humblest form of fallen humanity is holding affectionate and instructive converse with his at- tached followers. This is an interest with which the whole period, the hour or more, which hath passed since Judas left the board, is invested; but the moment at which the text places us as it were in the midst, is one of still increasing in- tensity. The communications of His love to them are over. His assurances of the tribulation they should have in the world, and of their interest in all the victories He should achieve,* have been given. His warnings, His admonitions. His con- solations, His promises, His parting remem- * John xvi. 33. 80 Till': LOUD JKSUS AT IMIAYER. brances, have been given. He hath said all that aifection could dictate, or prudence suggest ; all that the foreknowlege of their trials called for, or their yet small attainments in knowlege and in grace would bear.* And having spoken these words, " He lifted up His eyes to heaven." He pours out his soul in ardent, earnest, fervent prayer. He turns from converse with his disciples to en- joy communion with His heavenly Father. He lays the contending emotions of His agitated bosom open to Him who careth for Him. He pours out the affectionate longings of His heart in behalf of those whom He loved, into the ear of Him who had given them unto Him.f And looking forward, b^eyond the little band now met around Him, te the millions that should through their instrumentality be gathered into His fold, He " who calleth those things which be not as though they were,":): gathers them into one com- pany in His petitions, and lays them in supplica- tion before His Father's throne. There is not a richer gem in the casket of pre- cious things, which the Lord, in giving us His precious Bible, has entrr.3ted us with, than is seen in the few verses which record the Savior's prayer on this occasion. Whether we regard the love stronger than death that prompted its peti- tions, or the richness of the revelations of divine truth that it contains, it is worthy of our most • John xvi. 1,2. ^ John xvii 6. t Horn. iv. 17. •^i Tirr, LORD JESUS AT IMlAYr.Il. f<{ art'ectioiiate, our most grateful, our most prayerful meditatious. Or whether we regard the depth of the solemn mysteries which are involved in it ; or the vast, we may say, the infinite, comprehensive- ness, with which it stretches from the eternal counsels of Almii2;hty love to the final consumma- tion of the Redeemer's glory, it demands our most reverent, most humble, and most spiritual coti templations. It is too rich a treasury to leave untouched, without an atiempt by prayer and meditation to draw out some of its riches : it is too peculiarly sacred a deposit to touch with un- hallowed hand, or to tliink of handling, or even gazing upon, without earnest supplication for that blessed Spirit's presence, who alone searchetli for us the deep^ljpigs of God,* and ij^^vealeth them to His people. Often, dear brethren, have I wished to invite your consideration to this solemn portion of Holy Writ, but have shrunk from it with fear, lest "a man of unclean lips"t should desecrate rather than improve it to your souls' benefit; nor do I now, brethren, in wishing to enter upoi^R consideration, pretend to one more quali- fication fjr making it profitable, than a somewhat deeper sense of utter insufficiency, and of de- pendance upon the power, the teaching, and the presence of that blessed Spirit, who takes of the * 1 Cor. ii. 10. f Isa. vi. 5. G I 7 , ( ih' 82 THE LOUD JESUS AT PRAYER. i l| presence of that blessed Spirit, who takes of th? things of Jesus, and shows tiicrn to the soul,* and speaks with and in them that speak in the name of Jesus.t O let me entreat you, brethren, to join in a prayer, that the promised presence of the Holy Spirit may be with him who speaks, and with you that hear; that He may take the matter mto His hand, and apply the words of Jesus, so that He, being held up, may draw you all unto Him ;l that we both one and all may, in dwelling upon the words of Jesus, imbibe His spirit, and enter into the enjoyment of that communion with His heavenly Father, which He has made as much the privilege of those that believe on Him, as it was His own. The services of our Church have led us rapidly through the consideration of the different most striking points in the great p^an of salva- tion, by celebrating the different circumstances of the Savior's life and death. His resurrection and ascension, and consequent outpouring of the Holy Spirit. She has finished this her course of in- struction by inviting our aUention, as on the Inst Lord's day, to the contemplation of the mysteri- ous Trinity of persons in the Oneness of the God- head, all bearing :.ome gracious part in redeeming the sinner's soul. She now aff^ords, as it were, a resting-place, upon which to stand and look back * Jolmxvi. 14. t Matt. X. 20. | John xii. 32. THE LORD JESUS AT I'KAYEH. 83 ujjoii the vast and wondrous field through which she hath led us, and to review the steps of our progress, and to make experimental apjjlications of different portions of the history, whicli, as we proceeded, we may have too slightly touched upon. It is my desire, my brethren, to occupy a portion at least of this ground with reflections drawn from that mine of truth presented for our search in the Savior's prayer ; and if, indeed, in the variety of subjects comprised in its petitions, we find ourselves engaged until we are drawn again to watch the symptoms of His blessed ad- vent, we may surely hope, that, tiirough the Lord's blessing, our meditations will not have been in vain in the Lord. The time which remains for the present prose- cution of our subject, may be sufficiently, and, we trust, profitably, occupied in considering, first, the Lord Jesus at prayer : secondly, the manner of His approach to the Father : and, thirdly, the privilege which His people have of coming in the same way to God. L We may venture to repeat the remark, that, while other parts of the Lord's history may appear fraught with an actually deeper impor- tance in the great plan of redemption, yet He on no occasion is presented to us in a more interest- ing light, than when engaged in prayer. Several of the most striking occasions of the kind are spe- G 'i i' \ n N 84 THE LOUD JESUS AT PRAYEIl. cially recorded, as when " He continued all night in prayer to God,"* and wlien, in the retirements of Gethsernane, He poured out the anguish of His soul, " with strong crying and tears ;"t but the mention of these occasions seems to lead us not to view these as extraordinary instances of devotion, so much as specimens of the manner in which He prized and used the privilege of communication with His heavenly Father. We sometimes heai' expressions of surprise, that the Lord Jesus, having "all the fulness of the Godhead ";{: dwelling in Him, and consequently no need of any fresh sup- plies of that grace of which the very fulness was treasured up in Himself, should have been so much engaged in prayer and supplication. But surely such surprise must indicate an ignorance, on the part of him that expresses it, of the very nature, not only of the 'Redeemer's prayer, hut of prayer hi general. It is, in its sweetest and most privileged enjoyment, not the mere expression of the soul's wants, but the entrance of a child into His Father's presence, to enjoy His converse, to be lighted by His smiles, to hear His voice, and to become conformed to His will. It is the very element in which the soul of a child of God has its healthy existence, and is peculiarly, therefore, the atmosphere, in which the beloved and eternal Son of the Most High God, in that separation wliicii, for the sake of guilty sinners, he willingly * Luke vi. IS. f Ileb. v. 7. t <-"ol. ii. 9. THE LORD JESUS AT PRAYER. 85 I endured, would find His sweetest and most cheer- ing moments of life. So far, then, from its being surprising, that the Lord Jesus Himself should have felt the necessity of prayer, and spent so much of His time in the employment, we may rather conclude, that, though each other moment of His life was cheered by the thought that He was " doing the will of Him that sent Him and finishing His work,"* yet He only had, as it were, the full enjoyment of His Sonship, when He was engaged in communion with His heavenly Father in prayer. He needed not, indeed, to work a miracle, to turn stones into bread, or to ride upon the wings of the wind, in order to prove His being the Son of God ; but if He had left off prayer, and ceased from the communications of His soul with His heavenly Father, we say not that His wants had been unsupplied, or His rights as the Son of God impaired, but He surely would have lost the sweetest evidence of His Sonship, and have surrendered the highest enjoyment which could cheer Him amid " the travail of His soul" in sinners' stead. There would have been, in such a case, an interruption of the intercourse, which, while on earth, He still maintained with Him with whom He was one : a failure, as it were, of the very atmosphei'e, in which, as the Son of (iod, and at the same time tlie Son of man, He lived, and moved, and had His being. * John iv. .'34. 8() THE LOUD JESUS AT PllAYER. Contemplate, then, the Lord Jesus at prayer, and instead of perceiving Him to be then in any pe- cidiar circumstances of humiliation, we shall find in Him, at such a time, the sweetest evidence, and the richest enjoyment, of the privileges of His heavenly nature. Then, surely, while most completely human, does He show himself also most truly divine, when, from amidst the trials and the crosses of His tempted and persecuted career, He lifts the eye and sends the voice to heaven, and pours out the soul in confiding and unhesitat- ing communications with His heavenly Father. Stand beside Him, as, having heard the request of some Gentiles that they might sjc Him, He lifts His voice in praise and prayer, and saith, " Father, glorify thy name;"* behold Him as, by the side of Lazarus' grave, he blesses God that " He heard Him," and expresses , His assurance that His Father " heard Him always ;"t draw near to Him, as, amid His chosen ones, to whom He has just been revealing the secrets of His soul. He turns His eyes to heaven, and utters the petitions we are now about to consider ; j: and once more hearken, where, amid the noise of liammer and of nails, and tearing sinews, and gushing wounds, a gentle childlike voice is heard, " Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do :"§ and say * John xii, as. t Ibid. xvii. I. t Ibid. xi. 41, 42. § Lake xxiii. 34. THE LORD JESUS AT PRAYER. 87 !-l if ever He appeared more truly divine, if ever, throughout the seasons of humiliation, and while exposed to common gaze. He seemed more to rise above the infirmities of the lowly nature he had assumed, and to manifest Himself the Son of God, than in His seasons of communion with His Father. O yes ! when He stood amid the tumult of the raging seas, and with a voice of power bade the waves be still, * or when He trode that treacherous element with unhesitating and un- sinking step ;t when He leaned over the couch of the diseased, and breathed freshness and health into their sinking frames ;X or when He burst the bonds in which the evil spirits held their wretched captives, and ordered the devils back to their foul abode ;§ when He took the sleeping damsel by the hand, saying, Maid, arise, || or touched the bier, and the young man of Nain sat up alive,^ or called in a loud voice, and Lazarus came forth from his corruption in renewed vigour and life ;** then, indeed. He proved Himself to tiie surround- ing crowd most evidently to be divine : but the sweetest enjoyment, and most delightful evidence, which His own spirit had, of His being the Son of God, was that which He experienced when His whole soul went up in loving and confiding aspira- * Mark iv. 39. t Matt. xiv. 25. % Ibid. iv. '23, 24. § Mark i. 34. || Luke viii. 54. f Ibid. vii. 15. ** John xi. 43, 44. =v, tl -if \l 88 TliE LOUD JESUS AT PRAYER. tioiis to His Fatlier, and with bended knee, and lifted hand, and upraised eye, and heaving breast, lie claimed the Lord God as His Father, and met the full communications of the Eternal Spirit, bearing testimony with His Spirit, that He was indeed the Son of God. n. But from considering prayer as tiius the very element in which the Lord Jesus lived, let ns turn and contemplate fur a few moments, more closely, the manner (^f His approach to God. We shall perceive that in all cases He dre.v near in the very spirit of a son, and addressed God in all cases as His " Father." Whether He would send up the tribute of praise to God for all that He had wrought,* or bend in moments of deepest l)rivation and dittress before the Lord ; whether, in the depth of His heart's feelings at the foretaste He had of the fruit of the travail of His soul, in seeing the Gentiles come to Him,-(- or in the un- utterable anguish in whi(;h He contemplated the full, the brimming cup of wrath that was prepared for Him, ;{: he cried to God ; in each and every case, He came to the Lord as His " Father." This consideration is more important and more pro- fitable, from our remembering that the chief temptations of the great enemy aimed at jiro- ducing i„ Him a doubt of His being the Son of * Jolin xi. 41 ; Matt. \i. -25. 1 .John xii. L>7, 1'8. I .AI:,tt. xxvi. IVJ. iL THE LOUD JESUS AT PRAYEll. 89 God ;* and that his suggestions would not have had the nature of temptation at all, if there had not been a necessity for the exercise of faith on the part of the Lord Jesus, in order to His keep- ing before His view the reality of His Sonship. The Lord Jesus did not show His perfect sinless- ness by His freedom from temptation to doubt His oneness with the Father, but by the manner in which He continually met such suggestions, by the way in which He detected the cloven foot of every such temptation, and, in tlie midst of every discouragement and every trial, still drew near to God unhesitatingly and confidingly, " crying, Abba, Father."* HL This view, my dear brethren, of the Lord Jesus drawing near to His heavenly Father in prayer, interesting as it is, possesses not merely the same interest, which the contemplation of those wondrous acts, which are for our admiration, not for our imitation, excites, but is peculiarly im- portant, as giving us a practical view of tlie privilege which the people of the Lord Jesus are permitted to enjoy in the exercise of prayer. For this (which was the third point proposed to your consideration) is the instruction to be ga- tliered from the example of Jesus, that every child of God lias the same privilege of access through Jesus, f and the same title to look * Matt. iv. (). I Gal. iv.(j. | Epii. ii. 18. < ■'. 90 THE LORD JESUS AT PRAYER. up to God as a Father for the Lord Jesus' sake, as He himself had on His own account and as His own right. The prayer of the be- liever in Jesus may be, and, while the soul is in a state of spiritual vigor, will be, cha- racterised by the saiue childlike spirit, and a means of the same enjoyment, in the kind, though not in the measure, of communion with God, as it was in the case of the Lord Jesus himself. We have spoken of prayer, as being, as it were, the very element in which Jesus lived in communion with His Father. So is it to the genuine believer in Christ the very atmosphere in which alone his soul can live, and be in health and vigor. Restraining prayer, he checks, as it were, by his own negligence, the communications of grace for which the Lord " will be inquired of;"* and his spirits languish, and his hands hang down, and his feet lose their speed, in running in the way of God's commandments. Restraining prayer, he closes, as it were, with his own hand the armory of God ; yea, he drops the weapon with which he was armed, and pre- sents himself nerveless and unguarded to the assaults of his enemy. Restraining prayer, he stops, as it were, the supplies of food on which alone his soul could be nourished ; and the word of God, and the ordinances of His house, and * Ezek. xxxvi. 37. THE LORD JESUS AT PRAYER. 91 the preaching of His truth, are innutritious, and he starveth, and is at the point to die. If he have not supplies of strength from God, how can he encounter the trials, the self-denial, the tempta- tions, and the cross of the Christian warfare? Yea, if he have not communion with God, what evidence hus he of his even being a believer, or child of God ? The Lord Jesus had other evi- dences of His Sonship ; but what evidence has any believer in him of being in Him a child of God, but that which is afforded by coming to Him, and living upon Him, and holding communion with Him, telling Him of every occasion of thankfulness, and every subject of distress which occurs in this life, and deriving from His smile not merely enjoyment, but that which " is better than the life itself?"* For this childlike confi- dence in coming to the Lord, though of right belonging only to Jesus, has by Him been made the privilege also of all that believe in Him. He was from all eternity the Son of God : not so with them ; they are sons, not by right, but by adoption : but " because they are thus sons," sons on whom the Lord hath set His love in Jesus, therefore doth the Lord "send forth the Spirit of His Son into their hearts, crying, Abba, Father." t They too are privileged to come as the Lord Jesus came ; and in every trial, and in * Ps. Ixiii. n. t Gal. iv. G, :| i •( 92 THR LORD JESL'S AT PRAYER. every discouragement, and in every distress, to look up to God as a Father, and communicate with Him as a Friend. Wiiile they are in the lively exercise of this privilege, the enemy has no power against them ; he may tempt them, but he cannot overthrow them : it is only when he can insinuate a doubt of this privilege of adoption, and so draw them away from their strengtii, that he can succeed against them ; and only while he can keep them afraid to come in the exercise of this privilege to God as His ac- cepted children in Christ Jesus, that he can keep them in a low, and lukewarm, and worldly, and unfruitful state. The spirit of adoption is theirs, whether they will use it, whether they will .njoy it, or not : and if believers in Jesus will come to God as slaves rather than as sons, it is not be- cause they are straitened in God, but in tiieir own souls. For God hath not given any believer in Jesus " the spirit of bondage again to fear :" but He has given them " the spirit of adoption, whereby they cry, Abba, Father."* Dear brethren m the Lord Jesus, this privilege belongs to you, whosoever of you hath in earnest fled as a sinner to Jesus, and taken Him as " all your salvation and all your desire."! Notwith- standing all your corruptions, in the midst of all your infirmities, yea, as the remedy of all your * Rom. viii. 15. t 2 Sam. xxiii. 25. f r ,/' 1 V THE LOUD JESUS AT I'llAYEIl. i)3 shortcomings and your sins, ye are invited to come as children to your heavenly Father, and to use the privilege of adoption in pleading with Him for all ye need. And remember, that it is only as ye freely and confidingly use this privilege, it is only as ye come constantly and "boldly unto the throne of grace,"* that ye can walk at liberty, with comfort, and in peace. Ye may give other evidences to others, in the fruitfulness of your lives, by which they may discover, as those who witnessed the works of Jesus did of Him, that ye are the children of God : but ye can only have the comfort of this knowlege in your own souls, by your maintaining communion with God through the Spirit. Whatever others may think of you, ye can surely find no comfort in your- selves by thinking of any good deeds that ye have done : if ye do find comfort thus, it is a false and treacherous one : but in looking out of yourselves, and coming to the Father upon the warrant of Jesus' righteousness, and of the co- venant which is sealed with His blood, ye may find unfiiiling comfort and continual peace. Do not then, dear brethren, so reverse the matter, as to wait for some fruitfulness in yourselves, some freedom from sin, or warmth of affection, as your warrant to come to the Father ; but come to Him, through faith in Jesus, for the very supplies ve * Heb. iv. 16. "^ 94 THE LORD JESUS AT PRAYER. I « need to produce such a state in you. O I aim at keeping alive the spirit of adoption, by tlie faith- ful view of Jesus, and of His work in your be- half; for be assured it is only as ye are in the lively exercise of such communion with God, that ye can have peace in your own souls, or strength to run in the way of tlie Lord's com- mandments. But what reflections shall the view of the Lord Jesus at pra^ -r suggest to you, my brethren, who, yet ignorant of Jesus as a Savior, are ignorant of the privilege of communion with God ? Some of you, it may be feared, know not what prayer is, even in the form, are not afraid to lay your heads upon the pillow, without having even asked the pro- tection of the Lord, and are not ashamed to come forth from your chamber, morning after morning, in health and strength, without having even thanked the Author of your safety. O, my bre- thren ! what sign have ye of life, what evidence have ye of fitness for heaven, what ground to hope for it more than the beasts that perish.? Yea, the very " ox knoweth his owner, and the ass his master's crib ;" but ye do " not know,'' neither do ye " consider." * O, dear brethren, awake, arouse you from this awful state, lest ye awake in hell ! There are others of you who do go through the form : who acknowlege your duty * Isa. i. 3. THE LORD JESUS AT PRAYER. 95 *» to pray, and so draw near to God with tlie lips ; but who never have thought of prayer as a privilege, nor brought your hearts to Him as a real enjoy- ment. Nay, ye do not even lament that ye find prayer no pleasure; but are satisfied with the form, and contented with the earnestness of your petitions. O, dear brethren, what is your case, but that of those who have " a form of godliness, but deny the power thereof, "* and what will the form avail without the power? Ye have never known " the Spirit of God bearing witness with your spirits, that ye are children of God, "f have never known " the life of Jesus in your mortal flesh, ":j: have never had communion with the Lord as a Father and a Friend. How then can ye have any fitness for His presence, or any thought of enjoyment in His kingdom ? O, dear brethren, arouse you from this slumbering, this fatal, stele of deadly formality : seek the Spirit of the Lord, which He hath promised to all that ask ; § and come by Him, come through Jesus, || and claim access for His sake to the Father. If For, O ! remember, *' that if any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of His."** * 2 Tim. iii. 5. t Rom. viii. 16 I 1 Con iv. 11. § Luke xi. 13. II John xiv. 6. ^ Eph. ii. 18. ** Rom. viii. 9. Tir-" i. r [• P P SERMON Vr. I fr TIIK. FATUIuIl (JLORIFVING TIIK SON. John xvii. 1, 2. Jesus lifted up /as ei/es to heacen, and said, Father, the hour is come ; glorify thy Son, that thy Son also may ylorify 21iee ; as llmi hast given him power over all flesh, that he should give eternal life to as many as Thou hast given him. The great work wliich the Lord Jesus had to do, was uow drawing- near its completion. Tiie great trial of strength was now api)roaching, in which the Lord was about to enter single-lianded upon His great contest against the confederate powers of death and hell, and by dying to van- quish death, by entering into the grave to burst its dark domain, and in being bruised in the ■\ TIIK FATIIKR OLOIUFYrNO THK SON. 07 liccl, to crush at the same time the head* of the great serpent, that assailed Him. Behold the blessed Jesus, and see the calmness, and compo- sure, and confidence, with which He contem- plates the coming of this concluding conflict. We shall look in vain, if we desire to see in Him any of that vainglorious triumph, in which the imagination of the worldly loves to deck its heroes in the prospect of the approach of their last great struggle. We shall look in vain, if we would sec in Jesus any of that vaunted indiffer- ence to suffering and to death, in which they that labour for an earthly laurel pride themselves, and to which their ignorance of that world which is beyond the grave, and of that judgment at which both small and great must soon appear, principallv contributes. This spirit of the world found no harbor in the bosom of the blessed Jesus. He was keenly alive to all the intensity of the sufferings that were in store for Him ; and He tried not to conceal from His disciples the an- guish of spirit, with which He looked upon the full cup of torture and wrath which He soon must drink. But even while expressing to them the sorrows of His heart, and warning them of the tremendous nature of the agonies that were be- fore Him, lie discoursed to them with as much composure of " the decease: which he should ac- * Gen. iii. 15. K if^^ n- 98 THE FATHER GLORIFYING THE SON. complish at Jerusalem," as He had manifested, when on Mount Tabor He had held glorious conference with Moses and Elias ;* and gave them His parting admonitions with as much ten- derness and calmness, as if it were they only tliat needed strengthening, they only that r'^eded com- fort. No ! there was nothing in Him of tliat foolhardiness which braves danger, only because it is ignorant of the extent and nature of tlie danger : but while there was all the tenderness and weakness of the man, all the sensibility of suffering, all the shrinking from shame, all the consciousness of th-^ vastness of His peril, which could exist in the gentlest and most susceptible of human minds, there was the serenity, the calmness, the submission, the peace, which proved Him, even at these the weakest moments of His humanity, possessed of a spirit nothing- less than divine. See v^e not this spirit mani- fested at the moment, when, having finished the instructions and the consolation which His in- terest in His chosen ones prompted Him to ad- minister, He turned to Kis heavenly Father with this recognition of His approaching sufferings, " Father, the hour is come" ? O ! when we think of the anguish, the torture, and the ven- geance, that were poured out upon Him in the hour to which He was looking forward, and re- ♦ Luke ix. 31. THE FATHER GLORIFYING THE SON. 99 member that there was not one pang in prepara- tion, not one insult in reserve, not one ingredient in the cup of wrath, of which, and of whose bitterness, He was not fully aware ; does it not seem a spirit more than human, which calmly listens to that silent tread of the coming moments, whose echo, voiceless as it was to human ear, announced to His, who was divine, the an- guish that was approaching ? Does it not seem a spirit more than human, indeed, which, knowing the anguish of body, and the suffering of mind that were before Him, yea, and even knowing that the vengeance of His Father against sin was to form a part of the torment, calmly witnesses its coming, and announces His knowlege of its approach, " Father, the hour is come" ? Many a time, before the arrival of this hour, had the Savior been in circumstances of peril ; many a time had it seemed as though He was about to fall a sacrifice to the people's rage. Eagerly had they more than once grasped the ready means of execution which lay around their feet, and seized the stones that they might imbrue them in the blood of His lacerated body ;* madly had the citizens of His own city of Nazareth even hurried Him to the brow of the precipitous descent on which their city was built, that they might cast Him headlong down ;t but tlioir rage was power- * John viii. .)9 ; x. .31. f Luke iv. -29. H 2 100 THE FATHER GLORIFYING THE SON. less, tlieir fury vain. " His hour was not yet come."* The work which was given Him to do was not then finished. The cup of the people's iniquity was not then full ; the amount of suf- fering which He must endure not then complete : the whole measure of the obedience which He must render not yet made up : He passed then unharmed through the very midst of those bent on His destruction, and went His way.f But now He saw that the work was at its close ; that tlic will of the Father had been nearly fulfilled ; that the obedience which He was working out for others wanted but the closing act of His deatli to make it complete. He saw that His hour was come ; that the time of His suffering was at hand ; that the period appointed for His leaving the world and returning to His Father:): was drawing- nigh. And in that prospect He calmly commits Himself into the hands of Him, to whom while on earth He had " learned obedience,"^ and sur- renders Himself to the execution of His will, whose "determinate counsel"|| it was not to spare His own Son, but to give Him up in sin- ners' stead. There was a difference between the circum- stances of Jesus, and those of His believing j)eo- * John viii. 20. f Luke iv. 30. X Joliii xvi. L>8. § Hub. V, 8. II Acts ii. -J'.l. TliE FATHER GLORIFYING THE SON. 101 the pie, as to the knowlcge which they may have of the approacli of their appointed hour. But tliere is no difference in the actual fact of their times being just as much in the hand of the Lord,* as was the hour of Jesus' anguish. How sweet to them that believe must be, then, the as- surance, that "no evil can befal them,"! and that " no mpn can set on them to hurt them,":]: without the knowlege and permission of their Father. Not theirs indeed to lift their eyes to heaven, and say, Father, the hour is come ; but it is theirs to know that " the very hairs of their head are all numbered,"^ and that all the com- bined powers of death and hell can no more hurt them till the time of their departure cometh, and then can no more separate them from the love of God, II than they could injure Jesus, the Almighty Lord himself. Yes, it is theirs, their privilege by the purchase of Jesus' blood, to lift their eyes to heaven, and to see heaven opened, and Jesus "standing at the right hand of God"^ to succor and defend them ; and in every season of peril to say, " Father, my times are in Thy hand ; do with me even as Thou wilt. If to abide in the flesh is still needful for me, Thy will be done : if to depart and be with Christ is now appointed * Ps. xxxi. 15; Job vii. 1 ; xiv. 5. f Ps. xci. 10. ; Acts xviii. 10. () Matt. X. ;)(>. II Uom. viii. 38, U9. •[ Acts vii. 56. t: nil 4' « 11 __ M 102 IHE FATIlEll GLORIFYING THE SON. for n J, O ! this is tar better. To me, O Lord, to live is Christ, and to die is gain."* Yes ! dear brethren in the Lord Jesus, it is your privilege thus to live. It is your right, as Christians, thus to live hour by hour up to the strength of God, and as children to coniniit yourselves to Him. It is your privilege thus to know that all tilings are appointed for you while you live ; and to view death as a friendly messenger that calls you to your Father. O live up to these privileges. Aim at realising continually the faithfulness of Him who hath purchased them for you. So may your dying hours be not marked with worldly vainglory, or any pecuHar triumph, but stamped with the calmness, and serenity, and joy, and peace, that become a child falling asleep in its fond parent's arms. How fondly doth the memory of those that liave been bereaved of a loved one, who has gone home before them, delight to dwell upon the circumstances of the dying hours, to remember each expression of tenderness, and to recal each word which spoke of faith in Jesus, and the sure and certain hope of the inheritance that fadeth not away ! And with what peculiar fond- ness have the minds of those, that "love the Lord Jesus Christ in sincerity,"!' ever delighted to dwell upon the last expressions of His aficction * riiil. i. 21—24. f Eph. vi. 24. THE FATHER GLORIFYING THE SON. 103 for His chosen ones, and to trace the confidence in God, the submission to His will, the desire of His glory, which mingled with the hearty self- devotion to the great work which He had under- taken, and the overflowings of His love for the church which He was about to " purchase with His own blood,"* which breathe throughout that last affecting prayer, which, while yet in the midst of His disciples. He addressed to God. Sweet is it, moreover, to dv/ell upon that expression of the inmost feelings of His soul to God, not only on account of the tenderness and love which beam forth from it, but also as it is a rare pattern of the intercession, whicli, as the Advocate of His people, He unceasingly maintains in their bel alf at the right hand of God. His pleadings I'.v them ceased not witii His dying breath, but He " that died " is risen again, and is at the right hand of God," and there " He ever liveth, making intercession for them."t This is the great ground of their security ; this is the great w^arrant of their safety ; " they have an Advocate with the Fatlier, Jesus Christ the righteous, and He is the propitiation for their sins." :j: The petition, with wrhich the prayer of the Lord Jesus is commenced, appears to express His desire in one word for the accomplislmient of all * Acts XX. 28. + Rom. viii. 34 ; lleb. vii. 35. I 1 John ii. 1, 2. 104 THE FATHER GLORIFYING THE SON. tliat the Lord had purposed in the grcj^t plan of redemption. It expresses the one great object which was had in view in the original proposal of the scheme of salvation in the eternal counsels of the Triune Jehovah ; it expresses the object which is kept steadily in view throughout the whole his- tory of this world, from itscreation to its finalscene; it expresses the object whose fulfilment will form the good pleasure of God, and the joy of men and angels through eternity,— to wit, the purpose of God to glorify His Son Jesus. " Father," saith the blessed Savior, " the hour is come; glorify Thy Son, that Thy Son also may glorify Thee ; as thou hast given Him power over all flesh, that He should give eternal life to as many as Thou hast given Him," Let us endeavour, my brethren, in considering these words of the Lord Jesus, to contemplate them in this threefold view, as re- gards the purpose of God from eternity, the de- velopment of that purpose in time, and the full accomplishment of it in an eternity yet to come. And may the good Sjjirit of the Lord, whose office it peculiarly is to glorify Jesus,* be pre- sent witli us, and bless our meditations upon so important a subject to the profit of our souls. L Our Lord Jesus in this petition shews, that the purpose of tlie Lord fo glorify Him * John xvi. 14, i : THE FATHER GLORIFYING THE SON. 105 existed from all eternity, when He declares, that the Father Iiad "given Him power over all flesh, that He should give eternal life to as many as the Father had given Him." What tributes of praise and honor may be gathered in to the revenues of Jesus, as the King of glory, from the hosts of worlds that sprang at His almighty word into existence, we know not, as it concerneth us not to know; but as regards the world in which we dwell, we do know, on the authority of the word of God, that the great purpose for which it was called into being, for which it was peopled with our once happy, but now fallen, race, and for which it was permitted that sin and death should find an entrance into it, was, that Jesus might be glorified in gather- ing an elect people out of it, saving them from the universal ruin, and bringing thein to glory. For thus are the people of the Lord spoken of, as being chosen of God in Christ before the foun- dation of the world.* Thus is the Lamb of God spoken of, as " the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world." f And thus the Lord's children are heirs of a kingdom " prepared for them from the foundation of the world.":|: Yes, even before the foundations of the world were laid, were all the members of tlie body of Jesus * Epli. i. 4. f Ucv. xiii. 8. I Matt. XXV. 34. lofi THE FATHER GLORIFYING THE SON. written in His book;* and before one of them was called into being, before even the world was framed on which they were to be called, and separated, and " conformed to the image" of their Lord, were their names " written in the Lamb's book of life,"t and their souis given to Jesus, as the bright jewels of that mediatorial crown, which it is His peculiar glory to wear ujjon His honored brow. Thus was it from all eternity the purpose of the Lord to glorify His Son Jesus ; for this end did He give Him power over all flesh, that, gathering His own from amid the successive generations that should come upon the earth. He should bestow on them the most precious gift of eternal life amid the glories of His kingdom. IL While, however, we venture not but witii cautious and awe-struck step upon the myste- rious ground of the eternal counsels of the Lord of Hosts, we turn with confidence, and with joy, to trace the development in iimc of the Lord's gracious purpose, and find, in every page of the Woid of God, in every dealing of the Lord's providence, in every measure of His grace, evi- dences of one consistent design to glorify Christ. In this great purpose we perceive both the other persons of the blessed Trinity to have embarked * Ps. xxxix. IG. t liev. xxi. 27. THE lATHEll GLOIlIl'YiNG THE SON. ! 07 their own glory. For '« it hath pleased tlio Father that in Ilim," His Son Jesus, " all fulne*ss should dwell, by Ilim to reconcile all things to Himself'."* It hatli pleased iiim to " put all things under His feet,"i- and to command " tiiat all men sliould Iionor the Son, even as they honor the Father.":[: And it is the special office of tlie Holy Spirit to glorify Jesus ;§ this is the peculiar work upon wliich all His agency is employed, in all His operations in this portion of creation. Upon this great work of glorifying Jesus, the angels of God, too, are continually and delightedly attendant; for at His birth they joined their lofty chorus, " Glory to God in the highest, and on earth jjcace, good-will towards men, "II througliout His ministry on earth they were continually His attendants, sustaining and ministering unto Him in His hours of depres- sion,t[ and adding all the glory of their heavenly state to those portions of His hic:,ory in which He manifested Himself their God and King, as in His resurrection,** and His ascension into heaven ;ii- and still day after day they rejoice ami are glad, as each sinner is gathered into the fold of Jesus/H- and every fresh jewel added to * Col. ii. 9. I John V. 23 II Luke ii. 14. ** Matt, xxviii. -2. t Eph. i. 22. § John xvi. 14. f Matt. iv. 1 1 ; Luke xxii. 4;3. I Acts; i. 10. ti Luke xv. 10. 108 Tin; FATHER glorifying Tin: son. K: I !>■ ,i u r tlio Rc'(lccm(!r's crown, 'riicvcryciunnios of Jesus, also, are caused by tlic Lord to miuistor to His f;lory ; for tlioiigh tlicy moan not so, neither do their hearts think so,* the Lord turns their very fierceness to [lis praise, and makes tlieir very wrath to praise His name. And, again, throughout the whole work of the conversion of sinners, from the commencement to the close ; throughout the whole course by which the Lord's j)eoj)le are led from tlie darkness of the shadow of death to the full enjoyment of the light of heaven, the same blessed purpose is predominant, that Jesus may be glorified. It is the light of His blessed Gospel shining into their hearts that first enlightens them. I It is the abundant merit of His atonement that satisfies them of their pardon : it is the s]iotless robe of His righteousness thai" clothes and covers them ; it is His wisdom whici\ shines in them. His grace which quckens them, His love which constrains them, His sanctification which makes them holy. His ransom which re- deems them.j- The grand design of all their ti'ials, while they are in this state of pilgrimage, is to bring every thought into captivity to Jesus, to wean their aflections from everything to Jesus, to lead them to renounce every ground of trust, every * Isa. X. 7. -j- 2 Cor. iv. 6. ■j- John V. -21 ; Horn. iii. 22 -25 ; I Cor. i. SO ; 2 Cor. v. 14, 21. I THE FATIIRIl fiLOIUFYING TIIP: SON. 109 object of desire, every centre of affection, but Jesus, and to make tliem in all things conform- able to tlie image of Jesus. The terrors of the law, the sweet tidings of tlie Gospel; every blessing, every trial ; every dealing of ])rovidcnce, whether smiling or (hirk ; every dispensation of grace, whether cheering, or seemingly severe ; every temptation, every suffering, every calamity, every bereavement, in " working together for good to those tliat love God,"* works also .w tht; glory of Jesus in their souls' salvation. Yes! this was the object of the Redeemer's prayer, tliat God the Father would thus glorify the Son, tliat the Son also might glorify Him. III. Looking onwards beyond the present scene, and contemplating with tlie eye of that faith, which is " the evidence of things not seen, "I the vast and wondrous concerns of eter- nity, we find, that, in what has been revealed to us of the glories of the heavenly world, the same design is still manifested to glorify Jesus. Amid the courts of heaven, this is the voice which rises from ten thousand times ten thousand and thousands of thousands of the angelic hosts, " Worthy is the Lamb that was slain to receive power, and riches, and wisdom, and strength, and honour, and glory, and blessing;";}: and * Rom. viii. :>8. -]- Heb. xi. I. i \icy, y. lo no THE FATflF.R OLOIUFYrVO TIIF, SON'. m V* ;ia. these the notes in whieh every creature in heaven and in eartli, and under the earth, and in the sea, and all that are in them, join chorus with the angels* song, " IMessing, and honour, and glory, and power, be unto Him that sitteth upon the throne, and unto the Lamb for ever and ever."* Behold a multitude whom no man can number, out of every kindred, and nation, and tongne, and })eople, stand before the throne, and before the LLimb, clothed with white robes, and palms in their hands ; and hear them ascribe " Salvation to our God that sitteth upon the throne, and unto the Lamb."t These while on earth had " washed tiieir robes, and made them white in the blood of the Lamb :" when the time of their earthly probation was over, they had lain down in the dust; but now their bodies had been raised, made like unto Christ's glorious body, and, united to their souls which had before been made like Him, they ascribe the glory to Him by whose blood they have been redeemed, by whose Spirit sanctified, by whose grace saved. Yea, thus is the Father himself glorified by the honor put upon Jesus ; for He " hath highly exalted Him, and hath given Him a name which is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of things in heaven, and things in earth, and things under the earth, and that * Rev. V. 13. f Rev. vii. 10. THE FATIIEIl (iLOUIPYING TIIF, SON. Ill every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God tho Father."* From this brief and doFcient contemplation of 80 glorious a subject, suffer me, dear brethren, to turn, and to apply to your own souls flie momentous questions which its consideration suggests. Ye perceive tl at the great design of God, both in time and in eternity, is to glorify Christ Jesus. How important, then, the incpiiry of every individual soul that hears me, How art thou contributing to the glory of Jesus : what part dost thou bear in glorifying Christ ? J3efore applying the question more distinctly to dift'erent classes, let me press on you, as a motive to in- creased solenmity, the assurance that if Clirist be not glorified by you. He will be glorified in you : that if ye glorify Him not as His servants, His brethren. His friends, He will be glorified in you by " taking vengeance upon them that know not God, and obey not His Gospel,"! and by casting into outer darkness those that would not have Him to reign over them. With the remembrance of this awful truth, O ! let me ask of you, dear friends and fellow sinners, and let me entreat you to ask of yourselves, How are ye glorifying Christ, ye wliose hearts are unchanged, whose aflTections are set upon the * Phil. ii. 9—11. -t L>Tlicss. i. 8. 112 THE FATHER GLOUIFYING THE SON. world, whose desires are bent upon your own indulgence, your own pleasure, your own ease ? Suppose that ye are guilty of no immorality, and in your intercourso with the world keep strictly within the bounds of propriety and de- corum; granted that ye have never done any- thing that the world calls wrong, nay, are even such as the world in all respects approves ; yet in wliat are ye glorifying Christ, what are ye doing for His praise ? Alas I brethren, by yoi-.r love of the world ye show yourselves to be at enmity with Jesus :* by your following of its ways, ye are denying the Holy One and the Just, and crucifying the Lord of glory, f " No man can serve two masters,":[" least of all two such as Jesus and the world : ye are loving the world ; and there can be no other alternative, but that ye are at enmity with Christ. O ! think then, dear friends, how awful must be your state. What must be your condition, should the Lord arise to take vengeance ? But yet there is time. The Lord hath glorified His Son Jesus by exalt- ing Him " as a Prince and Savior, to give you repentance and the remission of sins :"§ only, then, do ye even now glorify Him by coming to Him for pardon and a changed heart, and then shall ye share His glories for ever. * James iv. 4 ; I John ii. 1.5. -}- Acta iii. 14 ; 1 Cor. ii. M. t Matt. vi. 24. § Acts v. 31. Ii . THE FATHEIl GLOHIFYING THE SON. 1 13 And how are ye glorifying the Lord Jesus, who, having been made to see something of the importance of eternity and the awful nature of the judgment-seat of Christ, are trusting to your own morality, your own religious duties, your own formal services, your own best endeavours for acceptance with God ? How are ye glorifying Christ ? Why, ye are robbing Him of all His glory to put it upon yourselves. Ye are making an idol of your own works, and bowing down to the work of your own hands. Yea ! the self- righteous setteth up another Savior, and places a rival upon the throne of Jesus. And how think ye, brethren, that tlie Lord Jesus will bear a rivalry such as this ? O ! " He hath trodden the winepress alone ;"* and He will stain His gar- ments in the blood of all that would usur]) His glory, and claim the honour of His work. Tremble, then, brethren, at the thought of your awful state, ye who are trusting to yourselves hat ye are good enough, and placing your own morality or righteous- esses in the stead of Christ. O " cast your idols to the moles and to the bats ; and go into the cleft of the Rock,"t and hide your- selves in Jesus ; dear brethren, " look to Him and be saved ;'':j: ''give glory to Him as the Lord your God ;"§ for " beside Him there is noSavior."|| * Isa. Ixiii. 3. t Isa. ii. 20, 21. § Jer. xiii. 16. t Isa. xlv. 22. Isu. xliii. 1 1. 1 14 THE FATHER GLORIFYING THE SON. And let the inquiry be pressed also upon you, dear brethren in the Lord Jesus, who have come out and separated yourselves from the world and joined yourselves to Christ, How are ye glorify- ing Jesus, what are ye doing for tlie glory of Christ ? O ! remember that the religion of Jesus is eminently practical ; that while on the one hand it will have none of your works as joint grounds of justification, but stamps " all your righteousnesses" as " filthy rags ;"* on the other hand, herein are Jesus and " the Father glorified, that ye bear much fruit. "f Jesus in all things glorified His Father, " doing always the things that pleased Him ;":]: in this hath He left you an example that ye should follow His steps. "§ Rest not satisfied, then, with mere profession ; for profession is not principle; but " give dili- gence to make your calling and election sure."|| " Fight the good fight of faith ; lay hold on eternal life ;"^ and aim by the simplicity of your dependance upon Jesus, by the consistency of your walk with Jesus, by the constancy of your hope in Jesus, and by the earnestness with which ye watch for His coming, to glorify Him. Yea, remember " ye are not your own, for ye have been bought with a price : wherefore glorify Him * Isa. Ixiv. G. J John viii. 29. 11 '2 Pet. i. Ifi. f John XV. 8. § 1 Pet. ii. 21. ^f 1 Tim. vi. 12. THE FATHER GLORIFYING THE SON. 115 that bought you in your body and your spirit, which are His."* Dear brethren, when the Lord " shall come to be glorified in His saints and admired in all tliem that believe," " may our God count you worthy of this calling, and fulfil all the good pleasure of His goodness, and the work of faith with power, that the name of the Lord Jesus Christ may be glorifir^l in you, and ye in Hini, according to the grace of our God and the Lord Jesus Christ, "t * 1 Cor. vi. 20. t 2 Thess. i. 10—12. I 2 im SERMON VTI. ETERNAL LIFE. John xvii. 3. And this is life eternal, that they might knoio thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom thou hast sent. There is a degree of solemnity connected with tlie confessions and declarations of persons lying upon a bed of death, by which few can fail of being at least for the moment impressed. We are far indeed from subscribing to the sentiment, that though men may live fools, yet fools tliey cannot die : for continual experience shows, that in too many cases the deathbed exhibits only an ex- change of one folly for another. Too fre- quently we find carelessness succeeded by a})athy, worldliness by self-justification, and the most perfect self-indulgence by an imperturbable i. ! ETERNAL LIFE. 117 self-com|)Iacency. These instances are melan- choly, botli from their number, and from the hopelessness of opening eyes which arc so blinded, and of reachi.ig- hearts which " have not understanding to say. Is there not a lie in my right liand?"* and still more melancholy, per- haps, from their not being exceptions to the ob- servation with which I set out, from the injurious tendency, 1 mean, which they have upon those who witness them. Yet, on tlie other hand, numerous are the cases, and extensive the influence which those cases have, in which both tliose that have lived careless and worldly lives have borne u dying- testimony to the vanity of all tlicy have pursued, and the worthlessness of all that the world can offer, and those that have loved the Lord, and served Him, and followed Him, have left their solemn seal " that God is true," f have attested His faithfulness, and been supported by His strength, and even triumphed in His all-suffi- ciency, in the full view of that eternity which was before them. The church of God hath long felt the import- ance of gathering the testimonies, which the deathbeds of avowed infidels have given, to the falsehood of all tlieir doctrines, the vanity of all their objections to the truth of God, and the * Lsa. xliv. 20. f John iii. 33. 118 ETERNAL LIFE. Ui) wretchedness with whicli they have been compelled to admit that eternity is an awful reality, God a holy and an awful judge, and the hell tliat already gnawed their spirits an awful foretaste of that pit that yawned for them. But there is far more in- fidelity than that which declares itself the daring opposer of God and of His truth, and blasphemer of His name. There is the sadly prevailing in- fidelity of those, who, " though they know God, yet glorify Him not as God,"* though they are called by the name of Christ, yet love and serve the world, though they acknowledge the Holy Spirit, yet live according to the flesli : and it is a solemn thing to witness the deathbeds of many such, and hear them call their friends, their com- panions, their dearest relatives, to witness that the way in which they have lived is not the way to die. Who can but be impiessed with the solemnity of the scene, and touched with the awfulness of the soul's concerns, where some dying one is breathing out his soul, and, as he witnesses the coming of his last moments, turns to those dear to him with the awful admonition : "Live not, oh, live not, as I have lived. I have loved the world, and now the world sinks under me ; I have had my portion in this life, and now the terrors of eternity surround me : I have neglected God wJiile I might have sough'., and served, and * Horn. i. 21, ETERNAL LIFE. 119 known Him as a friend : now I must meet Him as a lioly Judge ! O live not without God, lest you die without hope." A solemnity equally impressive, but of how far sweeter and more soothing a character, per- vades the scene where a dying Christian lies. We look not indeed for triumph, nor for rap- ture there : but can the heart, even of the most thoughtless, fail of being touched at see- ing or hearing some weak fellow-being like themselves, looking over the edge of eternity with calmness and composure, and calling upon those around, "O taste and see how gracious the Lord is!* Not one thing hath failed of all that He hath promised.f I bear my dying testimony that the Lord is faithful ; ;}: that His ways are ways of pleasantness, and all His paths are peace ;§ and that my light afflictions, which are but for a moment, || are not worthy to be compared with the glory that shall be re- vealed, ^Tf of which I have a sure and certain hope, through the blood of the everlasting covenant shed for my sins. O ! seek peace in Jesus : He is the Way, the Truth, a^id the Life :** give to Him each moment as it flies ; for never will you regret * Ps. xxxiv. 8. + 2 Thess. iii. 3. II 2 Cor. iv. 17. t Josh, xxiii. 14. § Prov. iii. 17. f Rom. viii. 18. ** .lolui xiv. G. 120 ETKIINAL LIFE. one moment tliiit you give to Him." While living, they might often have borne the same testimony, and urged the same admonitions, but been met with the look of indifference, tlie smile of contempt, or the reply of unbelief: but who can refuse a listening ear to the warning of a dying voice, who can turn carelessly away from the pleadings of a fellow-sinner just entering on the joys, to which this parting testimony would allure their steps? And if one word of Jesus can be supposed to be more important than another : if one declara- tion of Him who is tlie Trutli itself can be fraught with deeper interest or invested witli greater so- lemnity than another, surely such an increased interest will attach to His dying testimony, to His parting declarations. His dying words are left us; His deathbed declarations, as it were., are set before us : and this is the summing up of all His teachings and of all His truth, this t'^e concluding assertion, with M'hich, in the intercourse of His soul with God, and in the pre- sence of His beloved attendants. He puts tlie finish to His doctrines, "This is eternal life, tliat they might know Thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom thou hast sent." The testi- monies of believers, even in the solemn circum- stances of dissolution, even with the light of eternity breaking ujxm thcni, were but fallible ETERNAL LIFE. l'2l testimonies : there is a possibility that they miglit be mistaken. But this is tlie declaration of Him who is infallible, of Him who knew from all eternity the mind of God, and whose words are the revelation of the will of God ; this is an as- surance, in which, while there is no possibility of mistake, there is all i>he importance of a dying testimony, that " this is eternal life, to know Him the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom He hath sent." And O, my dear brethren, if eternal life be worth our care, and His testimony to its nature, whose gift alone it is, be worthy our consideration, let us entreat the present blessing and teaching of the Holy Spirit, that the way may be made plain before our face, and our scds quickened to walk in it till we attain its full en- joyment in the glories of heaven. A thousand wavs have been devised. m' bretliren, each bearing more or less resemblance to the true one, by which vain man, who would rather take any way than tlie one which God ap- j)oints, hopes to arrive as successfully as any of his fellows at the heavenly kingdom. Amid all the varieties of human character and conduct, iiow few should we find that would not profess a hope, though it may be they cannot furnish one reason for the hope, that they sliall go to heaven at last ! But this, on the authority of the dying Jesus, is the only successful way, this is alouc " eternal 122 ETERNAL LIFE. life, to know God, and His Son Jesus Christ." How important then tlic incpiiry, What is this knowlego of God ? I. In attempting a repl}^ to the inquiry, we perceive, first, that it is the knowlege of God as the only true God, as distinguished from all those vain objects of worship, whom gods the heathen falsely call. This, of course, lies at the very root of everything like true religion. The knowlege of the Eternal Jehovah, as the only self-existent and true God, the Creator of the Universe, the Authorof our being, the Maker, the Monarch, the Preserver of all things, is the very first step in enlightened piety. He that cometh to God must at least believe that He is ;* that He existeth from eternity to eternity ; and that He is the very and eternal God. We have nothing to do with the question of the possibility of eternal life being bestowed upon chose that have never heard of the true God, but have lived up to the natural light they had : for, as was well replied to one who made an inquiry of the kind, " if, through the grace of God, we should attain, ourselves, to the heavenly kingdom, we shall either find them there, or a good reason why they are not." But of this we cannot doubt, nor hesitate one mo- ment in professing our belief, that whosoever * Uvlh xi. (i. ETEUNAL LIFE. 123 would be saved, that is, whosoever, liaving heard of the salvation of the Gospel, asks, " What must I do to be saved "? * must first of all believe in the Lord God of Hosts as the only living and true God, beside whom there is no God, beside whom there is no Savior. i- II. This, however, is but a small part, the first step, indeed, of Christian faith ; nay, it is a belief which may exist without any reference to Christ ; so that the second point of our considera- tion will suggest to us the first part of that know- lege which is to eternal life, the knowlege of God, as revealed, in the harmony of all His attri- butes, in His Son Christ Jesus. The clearer and more accurate the knowlege which any sinner had of God, apart from Jesus Christ whom He hath sent, the greater would be the difRculties in the way, the greater would be the obstacles to the attainment of eternal life. A clear view of the holiness, the justice, the purity, the truth, to- gether with the power and eternity of God, would present an awful gulf in the way of the sinner's ever passing from hence to His kingdom ; and to a mind at all enlightened, even the infinite mercy of God, that general refuge of carelessness, un- godliness, self-righteousness, and worldliness, would present no counterpoise suflicient to over- * Acts xvi. 30. t Isa. xliii. 1 1. 124 ETKUNAI, HIE. 1' I balance tJKj demands of His justice and His truth. The more clearly any one saw the true features of the character of God, as viewed apart from Christ, the more clearly would He see that *' He will in no wise clear the guilty,"* and that nothing- else could be the sinner's portion but misery and -ternal death. It is only as God is seen in Christ that the knowledge of Him is eternal life. " To know the true God and Jesus Christ whom He hath sent," is to see those very attributes of God, which were seemingly most oj)posite, all reconciled in Christ. It is to see the justice of God, not giving up one j)article of its demands against the sinner, but claiming and receiving full satisfaction for all the offences which have been committed, by ])ouring out all its vengeance upon Christ, the sinner's substitute. It is to see the mercy of God, not setting aside His justice, or altering one declaration of eternal truth, but offering Jesus, the only, the well-be- loved Son of God, to satisfy the demands of justice in the sinner's stea ', to bear the curse in the place of him upon whom it was denounced, to die as the substitute of the soul that had sinned. It is to see " mercy and truth meet to- gether " upon the hill of Calvary ; to see " righte- ousness and peace kiss each other "f as reconciled beneath the cross, on which the blessed body of * E::. xxxiv. 7. t Ps. Ixxxv. 10. ETEIINAL LTFi:. 125 ' the Redeemer liang?!. This, my brctlircn, is the first point of a gospel faith—of faith which i« unto salvation— of faith through which the soul is justified. A belief that God hath given His Sou to die for sinners, that He " hath laid upon Him all the iniquities of all "* His people, that He hath given Him as their substitute and surety, and in Him freely '• given them eternal life," ( a])- pears to be alone that faith, through which the sinner is accepted, and admitted to an interest in that inheritance, which is the purchase of Jesus' blood for all His people. HI. The mere belief, however, even of these wondrous truths, may be merely speculative. It sometimes is so, that these precious truths are admitted with the understanding as generally correct, without being personally applied. That knowlege, then, which is " eternal life," we may further remark, is the knowlege of God as our God, our Father, and our Friend, as reconciled to us in Christ Jesus, having forgiven our iniquities, and cast our sins into the depths of the sea,. J: and now loving us as His children,§ and pledging Himself to preserve us to glory. || The natural reason exclaims, at hearing such language as this, " O what presumption is here !" But foith * Isa. liii. 6. f l John v. 11. § Gal. iii. 26. t Mic. vii. 19. 2 Tim. iv. 18. 126 ETERNAL LIFE, ri l(i says, " If it were not for the word of G .d, it were presumption indeed ; but His word is the ground of it, His own revelation the warrant for it. " And indeed, dear brethren, so far from such a belief as this being an evidence of presumption, it can only be found to exist, in its genuine features, in those whose views of themselves are of the most abasing nature, whose souls are most bowed down by a deep and overwhelming sense of their own corruption, and who sec no glimmer of hope, no ray of comfort anywhere, but in flying for refuge to the hope set before them in the Gospel.* And if we admit as true the declarations of the word of God, as regards the effect pro- duced by the atonement of Jesus, then surely such a faith as looks up to God as a Father, claims Him as a Friend, depends upon Him as an un- failing Benefactor, and looks to Him as the faith- ful giver of all that He hath promised in Christ Jesus, even to eternal life, is merely the applica- tion of those declarations to one's own soul, is merely the taking God at His word, and believ- ing that what He hath promised. He intended also to make good. And surely there is greater presumption in doubting God's word, in acting towards Him with coldness and reserve, and in ad- mitting just so much of his declarations as ac- cords with our own notions, than there is in trust- * Hob. vi. 18. ETERNAL LIFE. 127 ing Him to the full extent of all that He hath said, and taking to ourselves the full comfort of all that he hath promised. Yes, brethren, how- ever we may decide this point, this is the mes- sage which God delivers, that " He hath been in Christ reconciling the world unto Himself, not imputing their trespasses unto them ;" * this the entreaty which He addresses to sinners, that they will come and " be reconciled to Him," since " He hath made Him to be sin for them who knew no sin, that they might be made the righ- teousness of God in Him ;"t this the record which He delivers to believers, " that He hath given unto us eternal life, and this life is in His Son ;" J this the privilege which He assures them of, that He " hath not given them the spirit of bondage again to fear, but hath given them the spirit of adoption, whereby they cry, Abba, Father.§ That knowlege of Him, then, which is unto eternal life, is the belief in Him as thus revealed in Christ Jesus. It is the belief, by which the sinner looks up to Him, as having blotted out his sins with the blood of His Son Jesus ; by which, while knowing and feeling his own corruption, he yet glorifies that grace, by which he hath been freely accejjted in the beloved Jesus ; || by which he can even look to God himself as being en- *2Cor. V. 19. t 1 Jolin V. 1 I. t lb. 20, 21. §Rom. viii. 15. II Eph. i. 6. I li'8 ETERNAL LIFE. gaged to free him from his corruptions, to save him from liis sins, and to make liim meet for that inheritance which He hath provided for him in His eternal kingdom.* IV. One further and most important parti- cular in describing that knowlege of God which is *' eternal life," remains to be considered ; which is that knowlege of Him and of His Son Christ Jesus, by which the believer walks with them and has fellowship with them through the Holy Spirit. This was the beautiful description of those saints of old, " of whom we have this testimony that they pleased God," f that they " walked with God." " Enoch walked with God, and was not, for God took him.";}: " Noah walked with God."§ Abraham walked with God.|| This is St. Paul's description of the life of the believer ; " We have our conversation in heaven." ^ " We are dead, and our life is hid with Christ in God."** " I am crucified with Christ, never- theless I live, yet not I, but Christ liveth in me : and the life which I now live in the flesh, I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave Himself for me." ft And tiiis the * Jer. xxxi. 33, 34 ; Matt. i. 21 ; Col. i. 12. t Heb. xi. 5. § Gen. v. 24. + Ibid. vi. 9. II Gen. xviii. f Phil. iii. 20. ** Col. iii. 3. tl Gal. ii. 20. ETERNAL LIFE. 129 motive of the beloved disciple, in declaring to his fellow-sinners that which he had heard, and seen, and handled, and tasted of the word of lifei " that ye," as he saith, " may have fellowship with us; and truly our fellowship is with the Father, and with His Son Jesus Christ."* This knowlege of God it is which peculiarly distin- guishes a living and active, from a mere spccu- lative and dead faith. This it is, which not only assures to the soul of the believer his interest in Christ and His salvation, but forms also his racetness for the enjoyment of His kingdom. It IS that knowlege of God, through the commu- nion of the Holy Spirit, by which the soul is conformed to the image of God, and through which, as it daily increases in clearness and strength, the believer, " beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord, is changed into the same image from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord." f Nothing else is necessary to pro- duce conformity to God, than a thorough know- lodge of Him as He is in Christ Jesus, communi- cated by the Holy Spirit. The great character- istic of the unconverted is, that " they have no knowlege ;" " they know not God ;» He - is not in all their thoughts." J: But " God, who com- manded the light to shine out of darkness, hath * ' ^«'^" '• ^- t 2 Cor. iii. 18. X I's. .\iv. 4 ; 2 TliLss. i. 8 ; Ps. X. 4. K 130 ETERNAL LIFE. 1 > s UJr-f shinecl into the hearts " of believers, "to give them the light of the knowlege of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ." =* This knowlege of God recognises Him as the Supreme Disposer of all events, who numbers the very hairs of the heads of His people, and causes all things to "work together for good to them that love Him." f This know- lege of God recognises Him as supremely wise in all His arrangements, supremely loving in all His dispensations, and infinitely powerful to carry all His purposes into effect ; and it leads the soul into acquiescence with His will, submission to His dealings, and confidence in His promises. This knowlege of God in Christ perceives Him to be the centre of all true happiness, the source of all enjoyment, the fountain of all bliss ; and it leads the believer to find his joy in God, to seek his pleasures in Jesus, and to delight in communion with Him in prayer and praise. This knowlege of God in Christ, sees Him as the true object of every desire and affection of the heart, the right- ful Lord of all that His creatures are or have, and as liaving an especial claim on those wliom He hath " bought with a price;" and leads the be- liever to give himself to the Lord," to "present his body a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God in Christ," and to " glorify Him in his I N * S2 Cor. iv. G. t Matt. X. 30; Horn. viii. :i8. ETERNAL LIFE. 131 body and his spirit, which are His."* The faith, of which we have spoken, is the evidence of our interest in eternal life; but tliis knowlege is eternal life itself. It is heaven begun on earth ; It is the blessedness of eternity springing- up in time; it is eternal life commenced in the soul. Now we know but in part indeed; but that knowlege is a foretaste and a pledge of what the bcHever shall enjoy, when he shall know even as he is known."! Behold, then, dear friends and brethren, the way of life set before you in Christ Jesus. " This," upon His own dying testimony, " is eternal life, to know the true God, and His Son Jesus Christ." O ! then, - that the soul be with- out this knowlege, surely it is not good ;"-{: surely it is dangerous ; surely it is fetal. And yet, dear fellow sinners, do I not address many among you who are yet without this knowlege, ignorant of God, as ye are ignorant of your own souls? Let me entreat such of you to consider this awful fact, that, when the Lord Jesus shall come to judg- ment, the objects of His flaming vengeance will be those " that /mow rot God, and obey not the Gospel of His Son."§ The inquiry at that awful hour will not be, " Into what depths of ini- (puty have you fallen ; or with what degree of * Rom xii. 1 ; I Cor. vi. 20. t Prov. xix.2. t 1 Cor. xiii. 12. § 2 Thess. i. 8. K 2 (i 132 liTEIiNAL LIFE. ft . innocence have you enjoyed tlie world?" Search will not then he made, how much hetter ye may have been than some others, or what palliation ye can offer for your transgressions. But this will be the great inquiry, " Have ye known God; have ye known Him in Christ Jesus; known Him as a reconciled Father; known Him in walking with Him, serving Him, following Him ?" O ! my poor unconverted fellow-sinners, whose hearts are yet in the darkness of ignorance, in the blindness of your natural condition, awake from your fatal slumbers. Ye know not God as a friend now ; how will ye acquaint yourselves with Him when He enteroth into judgment? Ye know Him not so as to find your delight in Him, now that He pleads with you in love, and " waiteth to be gra- cious ;" how then do you expect to ivnow Him in eternity, but as an angry and avenging God ' The Lord .lesus is set before you, as the only way to the knowlege of God. It is in Him alone that God is revealed to you ; by Him alone can any of you come to the Father.* He is set forth be- fore you, crucified by your sins. He is exhibited to you, the Atonement of your transgressions. He is proposed to you, the way of peace with God. O! as ye would have eternal life, come to Jesus for it ; for " as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so has the Son of man been lifted up, * Joliii xiv. G. N m ETERNAL LIFE. 133 that wliosoever belioveth in Him sliould not perish, but have eternal life."* And, dear brethren in the Lord Jc :'us, what a motive doth the declaration of our Lord in the text propose to you, for seeking continual ad vancement in the knovvlege of Him, whom truly to know is everlasting life ! Without some know- lege of God in Christ, ye could have no title at all to eternal life; but, dear brethren, will ye rest satisfied witli such a measure of knowlege as will merely ensure your safety ? All that is need- fid for the peace, the happiness, the security, the comfort of your souls, is comprised in the know- lege of God and Christ Jesus. And when this knowlege is to be had for the asking, O ! will ye be contented short of the full measure of it that is offered you ? What is it that produces indistinct- ness in your views, and indecision in your con- duct ? What but the want of the knowlege of God. What is it that produces your fear of the world, your want of self-denial, your shrinking from shame for Jesu's sake, and your many in- consistencies in your daily walk: What but the want of the knowlege of God in Christ Jesus. What is it that keeps you in such a low and sapless state, with so little of the com- fort, the liberty, the spirituality of God's chil- dren ? What but the low attainments with * John iii. 14, 15. 134 v. ETERNAL LIFE. which ye satisfy yourselves in the knowlege of God? Dear brethren, let not the measure, with which tlie world of mere professors are con- tented, satisfy you ; but " forgetting- the things tliat are behind," reach forward, press onward, " that ye may know Christ, and the power of His resurrection, and the fellowship of His suffer- ings, being made conformable to His death, if that ye may attain unto the resurrection of the dead."* M ' ^i * Phil. iii. 10, 13. 135 iwlege of measure, are con- 16 things onward, power of is siifFer- deatli, if n of the SERMON VIII. CHRIST'S MEDIATORIAL GLORY THE REWARD OF HIS WORK. St. John xvii. 4, 5. / have glorified Thee on earth ; I have finished the work which Thou gavest me to do And now, O Father, glorifg Thou me with thine own self, icith the glory which I had with Thee before the world was. As the hour of His departure out of tliis world to the Father drew nigh, in His closing act of com- munion with His heavenly Father before His pas- sion, our Savior briefly reviewed the course He had fulfilled in His short and tried career upon the earth. Recalling to His mind that great pur- pose which was proposed in the eternal councils of the Triune Godhead, and the wondrous design \> i lu li \i 136 Christ's mediatorial glory which was Imd in view in His taking upon Him the flesl, and nature of man, he now, as the close of His earthly trials was approaching, declared that purpose to have been fulfilled, that design to have been accomplished. And surely, if the soul of the Divine Redeemer was "exceeding sor- rovful, even unto death,"* in the prospect of the Clip of anguish that was yet in store for Him, there was something to cheer and support Him in the reflection, that the glory of the Father, which was so precious to Him, had been exhibited in all that He had yet accomplished or endured, aiid would be still more displayed in the sufferings He now anticipated; that the will of the Father which He expressly came to do,t had been ful^ hlled; and the work which he had undertaken was but waiting for the closing act of His death of anguish and of shame, to make up its com- ])lete accomplishment. Yes, surely to Jesus alone belonged all tlie con- solation, which vain man in ignorance of himself would endeavour sometimes to appropriate, all the comfort, which is to be drawn from the retro- spect of a life, spent singly and entirely, without one feilure, without one exception, to the glory and the praise of God, and from the anticipation of a crown which was the due and well-earned * Mark xiv. 34. t John vi. 38; Heb. x. 7. I 2 Tim. iv. 8. THE RKWARD OF HIS WORK. 137 reward of a well-finished and completed work. His true disciples and faitliful followers may share some portion of this consolation, in ascribing en- tirely to tlie grace of God, tlirougli tlieir union with Jesus, the success of their combat against the enemies of God and their souls, and of their manifestation of the name of Jesus to the world as their only refuge and only righteousness, and in looking forward to the «' crown of righteous- ness," which is the sure, though entirely gra- tuitous, meed, the purchase of Jesu's blood, of all that are in Him, and " love His appearing.* But how vain, how deceitful, how flital, the comfort too frequently based by self-righteous man upon what he calls the review of a well spent life ; by which he means too generally a life characterised by the virtues of integrity and honesty, distin- guished by his having never, as he says, done harm to any one, but checkered by what he deems the little sins of selfishness, neglect of God's word. His sabbaths. His house, His name, and the absence of all interest in Jesus and His salvation. None but Jesus could ever look back with well- grounded satisfaction at the whole course of his life ; for of the children of men, " there is none that doeth good, no, not one." f None Init Jesus could ever mention his righteousness before God, with well -founded confidence; for "all the righ- * -2 Tim. iv. 8. f iJoin. iii. 10. I I 138 CHRIST S MKDIATOltlAL (;LOKY teousnesscs " of tlie cliildren of men ai-e but " as filthy rags." * The consideration of these reflections of the Lord Jesus at tlie close of Mis career, and of the prayer with which He accompanies them, may, through the Lord's grace, be profitable to our souls. May He, in His great mercy, pour out the same spirit of prayer upon us, that we may be enabled, by His Spirit, to enter into His mean- ing, and to derive those instructions which His words arc calculated to impart. L And, first, let our minds be drawn to the contemplation of the original station and character of the blessed Jesus, which is pre- sented to us in the Lord's petition, that the Father would " glorify Him with the glory which He had had with Fim before the world was." " Jn the beginning," that is, at the very furthest period of bygone ages, which our minds are at all capable of conceiving, before any being or any thing in creation had been called into existence, even then " the Word was, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God." t It is to this divine Word, that is, to the blessed Jesus, that the Father is rei)resented, on the authority of the Holy Ghost, as addressing these momentous words, " Thy throne, O God, * Isii. Ixiv. G. t .lolin i, I. I THE UEWAIIU OF HIS WORK. 130 as is for ever and ever ; a sceptre of righteousness is the sceptre of Tliy kino-dom ;" " and " Thou, Lord, in the beginning hast laid the foundations of the earth, and the heavens are the works ol' Thy hands : they shall perish, but Thou re- mainest : and they all shall wax old as doth a garment, and as a vesture shalt Thou fold them up, and they shall be changed ; but Thou art the same, and Thy years shall not fail."* We may gaze indeed upon the lowly man, now bending in meekness and devotion before the Father, and surrounded by a few outcasts from the world, unlearned, poor, despised men; and, if we judge merely by the eye of sense, we see nothing- there to indicate, that He is the Eternal God, the Creator of the universe, the Lord of all. But with the eye of faith, we see " Him, of whom Moses in the law and the prophets did write,"! as "the Mighty God, the Everlasting Father, the Prince of peace:":): "the Lord, or Jehovah, our Righteous- ness ;"§ the God, " beside whom there is no Savior ;"!| " the Man, that is Jehovah's fellow,"5[ Him "whose goings forth have been from of old, from everlasting." ** With the eye of faith we see Him, who, by His own testimony, '* came * Ps xlv. (5, 7 ; cii. 25—27 ; Ileb. i. 8—12. f John i. 45. \ Isa. ix. 6. c § Jer. xxiii. 6. || Isa. xliii. 11. f Zech. xiii. 7. ** Mic. v. 2. 140 CHRIST S MEDIATORIAL GLORY down from heaven,"* where He was from all pternity "in the bosom of the Father,"t and was "one with the Father;":]: who, "before Abraliam was," was the great " I AM ;"§ who had " all power in heaven and in earth ;"'|| " who had power to lay down His life and take it again ;"1[ " who was in the Father and the Father in Him," " so that he that saw Him, saw the Father."** With the eye of faith, we see Him, who, on the testimony of Evangelists and Apostles, was " God over all blessed for ever ;"tt " their Lord and their God :":j::j: who had been from eternity " in the form of God, and thonght it not robbery to be equal with God ;"§§ " who had made all things, and without whom was not anything made that was made ;"|||| "who was the true God and eternal Hfe,"trf " the Be- ginning and the Ending, the First and the Last,"*** "the King of Kings, and Lord of Lords. "tit This was the glory, to which the blessed Jesus was now contemplating a return : this the glory which He had with the Father be- : > * John iii. 13. :|: John X. 30. II Matt, xxviii. 18. ** John xiv. 9, 10. XX John XX. -28. \H\ John i. '■]. *** Hfv. i. S, II. f John i. 18. § Johnviii..')8; Ex. iii. 14. 5[ Johnx. 18. •j-j- Iloni. ix. 5. §^ Phil. ii. 6. ff 1 John V. 20. •!•! Ih. xix. i(i. Tin: RKWAllD OF HIS WORK. 141 fore the worlds were made, and to the possession of which He v/as now looking forward, as the close and compensation of His mediatorial work. n. From this, the glory of His everlasting godhead, the splendour of His heavenly s' ion. He had humbled himself, had taken upo. .im " the form of a servant ;"* and in that assumed form had been going through a training in obedience, and been accomplishing a great work which had been appointed for Him to do. O ! how, dear brethren, can we appreciate the con- descension thus displayed! What shall we render to the Lord for this His amazing love ! The text brings Him before our minds, as He is looking back upon the course through which He had passed, and suggests to us, secondly, the consideration of the manner in which He had executed His appointed duty, and of the nature of the work which He had now so nearly finished. " I have glorified Thee, O Father, upon the earth ; I have finished tlie work which Thou gavest me to do." We have the testimony of the Lord Jesus, on several occasions during Histried career, that " He sought not His own glory, but the glory of Him that sent Him."t He had laid aside His own glory : had * I'l''l- ''• 7. t Johnvii. 18; viii. 20. 14"2 Christ's mediatorial glory left it in the heavenly courts, whore he had en- joyed it from all eternity with the Father, and was bent now simply upon glorifying His Fa- ther's name. The wondrous acts of healing which he wrought ;* tlie benevolent displays of His omnipotence in feeding thousands of the hungry,! and setting the captives of the devil free from their dread possession;:}: the amazing exhibition of His power and grace combined, in restoring to his weeping mother the young man of Nain,§ and calling forth the now putrid La- zarus in renovated vigor from the grave :|| these things, though done in His own name, and by His own inherent power, were made occasions of glorifying His Father, the God of Israel.lf Far from seeking His own exaltation by these wondrous acts, He shrunk and hid himself away from those, in whose hearts He perceived a desire to take Him and make Him tlieir King.** Yet these, the miraculous acts of His divhiity, were not the principal means by which He glorified His Father on the earth ; they were not the chief part of the work which He was finishing. Tljey were not more wonderful, tliey did not tend more to the glory of God, than those daily and * Lukev.2G;xiii.l7;xviii.43. t Luke viii. 39. il Jolin xi. 41. *« t John vi. l4. § Luke vii. IG. !f Matt. XV. 31. •lolin vi, 1.5. THE REWARD OF HIS WORK. 143 hourly miracles by wliich the Lord's presence and power have been displayed from the creation to the present hour. The raising a diseased body from its couch of pain was not more wonderful tlian that continual exercise of power and good- ness, by which the bodies of His millions of crea- tures are kept in health and vigor ; the feedino- of five thousand upon a few loaves was not more miraculous, than is the continued bounty which pours forth from tlie lap of Providence the sus- tenance of myriads ; the raising a dead body from its tomb is no greater proof of Omni- potence, than is tliat daily, hourly, momentary outgoing from the essence of divinity, through which each successive generation begins to breathe, and live, and move, and have its being. These things were not peculiarly the work of Jesus upon earth ; they were the work in which He had from all eternity been engaged ; the acts of creating, sustaining, preserving power, in wliich He had for ever been employed.* Tliey were, then, but the credentials of P^is mission ; the testimonies, not of His assumed inferiority, but of His eternal equality with the Father ; the acts by which He exhibited liimself, not as " learning the obed;ence"i- of the man, but as possessing the full power of God. Tlie work which He came to do, was tlie great work of com- * Col. i. IG, 17. Hcb. i. 2, ;3. I lb. V.8. I 144 CIIKIST S MEDIATORIAL GLORY li, I plete obedience to the will of His heavenly Father,* of an unsinning and perfectly faultless observance of the commands contained in the law,t of a thorough fulfilment of all the righ- teousness, which the holiness of God demanded, and the creature owed ;;{: of the accomplishment, in short, of all that man should have done in order to his attainment of the promise of eter- nal life,§ of the endurance of all that man should liave suffered, as a transgressor of the law against whose infraction a curse had been denounced. || In the early years of the life of the Lord Jesus upon earth, when His anxious parents, who had missed Him from their company, found Him, after diligent search, in one of the courts of the Tem- ple at Jerusalem, this was His reply to the gentle reproof of his fond mother, " How is it that ye sought me ; wist ye not that I must be about my Father's business ?" And wliat was the business He had been engaged in ? llf. had been sitting among other pupils at the feet of the doctors of the law, meekly receiv- ing instruction in that very word, of which He liimself was the author.^ When, on another occasion, the Lord's disciples urged him to take * Heb. X. 7, 9, 10. t I Pet. ii. 24 ; 1 John liL o. I 2 Cor. v.2\. § Horn. x. 5 ; Gal. iii. 12. I Gal. iii. 13; Isa. iiii. 5, G, 11. ^ Luke ii. 42 — 49. THE REWARD OF HIS WORK. 145 eavenly faultless in the le righ- Tianded, shment, clone in of eter- 1 should against iced. II fid Jesus who had im, after he Tem- le gentle it that must be hat was in ? H- i at the y receiv- i^hich He another I to take ihn iii. o. ii. 12. 4:>— 49. food, his reply was, " My meat is to do the will of Him that sent me, and to finish His work." We look back to find how He had been en- gaged, and perceive, that the preceding hour liad been spent, not in any outward display of miraculous power, but in convincing a poor guilty creature of her sins, and leading her to the knowlege of the Christ.* And this, throughout His life, was the business on which He showed that He had come : this the great work He had in hand, this the duty, on whose performance He was bent, and by which He glorified the Father, even the obedience in every respect of His Father's will, the fulfilment of the commands of His law, the sinless and unfailing compliance with all His wishes. By this He "magnified the law, and made it honorable ;"t by this He "brought in everlasting righteousness;":]: by this He provided an obedience, which might be accepted from Him who owed it not on His own account, as if it had been rendered by those whom the Father Iiad given Him as His people.§ In the near approach of His final sufferings, in the certain anticipa- tion of that dying moment in which He should cry with a loud voice, " It is finished,'' || and give up the ghost, He spoke as if he had already * John iv. 31—34. I n;in. ix. -21. t Isa.xlii. '21. ^ Honi. iv. L>;3 — f?.5 10. .lolin xix. 150. L iiij ^ i m\. ,:l f? i f § ■ 14G fllRIST S MEDIATOIIIAT, OI.OUY completed it ; as if the work were already finished, to which the closing stroke was just about to be put,— a work by which a Morld's iniquities should be atoned,_a work, which guilty sinners might take hold of, and offer to God as if they had done it,— a work, on whose account, they, that should by faith bo interested in it, should be esteemed as righteous as if they hid never sinned, nay more, as righteous as if they had obeyed the law as perfectly as Christ himself did,* III. The blessed Jesus, in looking forward to the painful and ignominious close of His sinless work, looked onward also to the glory on which He should afterwards enter. He was sustained in the prospect of" enduring the cross" by the con- templation of " the joy that was set before Him."t Consider briefly, then, dear fi-iends, in the third place, the manner in which, as the text shows us. He put himself in subjection to the Father, and meekly prayed for, as the reward of His obedience, that glory which was His own inherent right, and in which He had from all eternity dwelt with the Father. " Now, O Father, glorify Thou me with thine own self, with the glory which I had with Tlieu before the world was." He had put himself in the stead of man : and, not until He had done all that was necessary for man, did * l^f"i'- ^ 4. j. Heb. xii. 2. i THE REWAIUJ OF HIS WORK. 147 He think of a return to His heavenly state. He had undertaken the sinner's case ; and not until He had completed the vicarious work on which He entered in their behalf, did He look forward to the glorious recompense. And then, as though He had been but man, He placed Himself in His Father's hands j He submitted all His claims to Him ; He brought His work to Him, as it were, to be ti'ied and approved ; and scMght, as a sup- pliant, that when approved, as He knew it must be, and completed, as He saw it soon would be, He should receive the recompense that was its due, in the glory that had been His for ever. And, infinite as had been the glory in which He had for ever dwelt, there was a crown, now beam- ing through the darkness of his coming woes, which never yet had decked His brow ; there was a glorious crown before Him, which He had never worn, whose splendors should replace the thorns by which ere long his temples should be pierced. The mediatorial crown was now in prospect, and glittering before His eyes ; a crown, before which angels and principalities and powers should bow down,* whose circlet should proclaim the van- quishing of Satan and his rebel hosts, f whose jewels should be the millions of redeemed souls.ij: This was the joy that was set before His eyes, * Phil. ii. 9, 10 ; Eph. i. 20—22. t Mai. iii. 17. t Heb. ii. 14. 1^ -t^ ^1/ i I m i 3 V 148 CIIIIISTS MEDIATOUIAT, GLORY tliis tlie glory which should bo the recompense of His obedience, this the crown of rejoicing which should outweigh the anguish He endured. For this He supplicates : ,br this He bends before the throne of God : for this He submits His claims, and, in the fulfilment of His obedience, leaves it in tlie hands of God to award the recompense that was His due. The contemplation of .lesus, in the circum- stances in which the text places Him before us, must not, however, be a mere matter of curiosity. Rather let it suggest to us, by way of application, several most deeply Important and practical truths. And the first that suggests itself is that which arises from the reflections just made, that, as the Lord Jesus claimed not the glory until He had completed a sinless and spotless work, so none can have any claim or title to eternal life, but those that have like Him rendered a com- plete and unsinning obedience to every precei)t and command of the law of God. If heaven be looked for as a reward ; if the glory of J- us be thought of as the recompense of what has been done, it can only be so claimed by those that have entitled themselves to heaven, as Jesus did, by an unfailing fulfilment of all the righteousness of the law. They that stand upon their own obedience in any measure, can find nothing in I ^ - i-W^-fMllj-??!' ^1 THK UEVVAUI) OF HIS WOUK. HO the word of God to warrant the idea tliat the Lord will accept sincerity instead of perfection, that He will admit their best endeavours in the room of uiisinning obedience, or that He will relax any one demand of the law,* in judging of their pre- tensions to eternal life. The self-righteousness of those that bear the name of Protestant consists not in supposing that they can claim heaven on the ground of their being perfect, or of their good deeds overbalancing their evil ones, but in ima- gining that the demands of the law have been mitigated, and that God will for Christ's sake accept their poor endeavours to do the best they can. But O ! be assured ; while yet there is time to seek another refuge, be assured, ye who are trusting in any vain self-righteous notion such as this, that in no such way can ye be justified. f If yourselves are to have any part in the work, ye nmst have the whole, for Jesus will not share Plis work with you ; and your whole work, all your best endeavours, your sincerity, your prayers, would be found at last to be nothing but sin. O ! away then, poor fellow-sinners, from such " refuges of lies ;";{: away from such false depen- dauces as the " filthy rags"§ of your own good- * Jam. ii. 10. I Isa. xxviii. 17. t Gal. ii. IG. § lb. Ixiv. G. 150 CHRIST S MEDIATORIAL GLORY I ness; and betake you to the finished work of Jesus as your only hope. A second consideration of deep importance suggested by the text is this, that tlie work whicli Jesus took in hand He has completely finished. He undertook the redemption of sinner^ ; that is, He undertook to pay down the full price of their deliverance from condemnation and the curse, and to provide for them a complete obedience, which should be accepted on the behalf of worth- less and polluted sinners, as if they had rendered it themselves. This work He undertook and finished by himself alone, and the honor of it He will not share, His glory He will not give to another. He hath "trodden alone the winepress " of divine wrath : He hath fulfilled alone the righteousness of the law for sinners. Yes ! He hath finished the work ; and now, poor sinners, whosoever of you " are weary and heavy laden," whosoever of you, in fact, admit the propriety of the appellation « sinners," come to Him, and by faith make His work your own. Ye are sinners ; He hath finished the atonement for your sins.* Ye are under condemnation ; He hatli made an end of condemnation to them that believe in Him, for He hatli borne all your condemnation for you.f Ye are full of pollution ; Jesus hath coni- * Heb. ix. 26. , Rom. viii. 1. 'I TIIK lUiWAUlJ Ol' HIS WORK. 151 plctod aa obedience to tlie liiw, whicli is yours it" ye will but have it,* Ye are continually sin- ning: Jesus hath " brought in everlasting righte- ousness," in which they that believe in Him are justified, sanctified, and saved. t Come then, dear fellow-sinners, come and trust to this finished work of Christ; renounce yourselves; renounce the thought of making yourselves better ; re- nounce the idea of recommending yourselves to Jesus; simply come as sinners, for " sinners He came to save,":}; and it is they who " believe on Him that justifieth the ungodly," whose " faith is counted to them for righteousness. "§ Another important truth suggested by the text is this, that as Jesus is the pattern as well as the atonement of His people, therefore as He glorified His Father upon earth, so must they who would share His glory be " conformed to His image," and follow Him, glorifying God. " If any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of His." II The sheep of Jesus "hear His voice, and know it, and follow Him."5[ What then must be the result of this trutli to those of you, beloved, who are yet living in conformity to tiie world, in uncon version, '* without God in the * Rom. iv. 2S, 24. t Hob, X. 14 t 1 Tim. i. 15. ^ Rom. iv. 5. jl Rom. viii. 9. f .John X. 4. I ' l'5*v^ (llllisrs MEDIATOIMAL (;i,()|IY world?"* Ve will profess a hope of going' to lioavo!!, that is, of dmring the glory of Jcsns in Ills heavenly kingdom. Yet how can this be, whde, BO far from being conformed to Mis image liore, ye are living "at enmity " witli llim, fol- lowmg the world, and not Christ, walking after the ways of your own ],earts, and not after the will of God ? Dear friends, the way which Jesus opened through His own blood to heaven, lies not in such a track as this. " Strait is the gate, and narrow is the way that leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it."-| But O, "strive to enter in at that strait gate;":|: come and join yourselves to Jesus. He does not pro- mise, indeed, to give you the pleasures of the world, and heaven too : but He does promise to give you double for all that ye give up, to give you ''peace which passeth understanding" in your life. His presence and blessing in your hour of death, and then the glories of His throne in an eternity of bliss. Come then, poor sinners, and take Jesus for your portion, and in Him all things that ye need. One more suggestion the text seems to offer to our notice, which is, that while salvation is of mere grace through faith in Jesus, it is only to * Epii. ii. 12. t Matt. vii. i4. I Luke xiii. 24. m THE UKWAiii) or his work, 153 tlioso that are "faitliful unto rlc'th," tuat He liath j)romisc(] *' the crown of ft/": Dear bretlircn in Clirist Jesus, my fi^ilow- .-L-istians, how important is the consideration r.f uAs truth to you ! It injplies no doubt whether they tliat arc truly Christ's shall be preserved unto the end; but it urges you to continual examination, by thj evidence which your hearts and lives afford, whether ye are in a state of grace, whether ye are tr.dy in Christ. Alas ! that there should be so many professed followers of the Lamb, wliose course makes it doubtful to themselves and others whether they have any interest in His work or not ! O ! let it not be so with you, my dearly be- loved ; but " as ye have received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk ye in Him, rooted and built up in Him, and stablished in the faith, as ye have been taught. "f Yea, we entreat you, brethren ! that " as ye have heard of us how ye ought to walk and to please God, so ye would abound more and more.":|: O - be not conformed to tlie world ;"§ nor cease your watch over your wicked and deceitful hearts; but live near to Jesus ; keep close to Him ; yea, live as much as possible in the very atmosphere which Jesus breathed on the occasion of tiie text ; for so only will ye be enabled to take up in any measure the * '^^'^- ''• !•»• I Col. ii. G, 7. t ITlicss. iv. 1. § Horn. xii. 2. J M- i I J 54 CIIUISTS MEDIATOlUAr. GI,01tY, words of Jesus, and, tlirougli the abounclirig grace of God, to say with Paul, *' I liave fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith : lienceforth there is hiid u]j for me a crown of righteousness, which tlie l.ord, the Righteous Judge, shall give me at that day."* ' * 2 Tim. iv. 7,8. II ^ 155 SERMON IX. CI I AliAC'I'KRISTICS OF THE LORD'S PEOPLfc). St. John xvii. 6. / have manifested Thy Name unto the men ivhich Thou (jaccst me out of the nwrld : Thine thcij ivere, and Thou gavcsi them me ; and they hare kept Thi/ tvo?'d. Thi: Lord Jesus Christ, making use of the mouth of tlie prophet Isaiaii centuries before the time of His own appearance upon earth, thus gives utterance to the reflections suggested by the contemplation of the fruit, or rather the seeming fruitlessness, of His work. " I said, I have labored in vain, I have spent my strength for nought, and in vain : yet surely my judgment is with the Lord, iind my work with my (lod."* >• isa. xiix. 4. 150 CHAUACTElllSl ICS OF {(4 h This doclaratiou of the Lord, through the in- spired medium of His holy prophet's communi- cations to Israel, prepares us for Avhat would otherwise be wholly inexplicable to us, the compa- rative fruitlessness of our Savior's personal labours among the people to whom He came. We per- ceive Him, indeed, in the prosecution of His ex- tended career of benevolence and love, attended at times by thousands ; but we hear those thou- sands charged, by Him who knew their hearts, with seeking Him, not from any conviction of His character, or love for His cause, but simply for the selfish reason that they had eaten of the loaves which His miraculous power had made so abundant for their supply.* We follow Him into scenes, into which they who had a love for His person, or a persuasion of His truth, would alone accompany Him, and we find but few in- deed, and those the unlearned and despised of the earth, evincing their attachment to Him.'l" The whole number of those, both male and female, that, after three years of His ministry, wei'e gathered together at Jerusalem to wait in c j- tinued prayer and supj)lication for the promised outpouring of the Holy Spirit, was but one hun- dred and twenty ; {: whereas the fruit of an half hour's preaching of one of this number, after .lulm \i. i'(i, Malt, xw i. y(), Ovc. ; .')' — 75, X Aclsi. lo. THE lord's I'KOPLR. 157 the Spirit, which had dwelt witliout measure in Jesus,* had been given in measure to His follower, was an ingathering of about three thousand souls into the granary of Christ. f In a humble search into the visible causes of this difference, we may perceive one to be, that the Savior during the course of His own ministry could but predict the atonement, which sliould be made ; while this apostle could point to tlie cross as already erected, and direct the eyes of sinners to it as an altar upon which had been actually offered the bleeding Lamb that beareth the sins of the world. It is " the preaching of the cross," which is " the power of God unto salvation ;";{: Je?us could but prophesy of His suf- ferings upon the accursed tree, while the apostles could urge upon their hearers the view of the anguish He had endured, and point them to the satisfaction which His woes had made to the jus- tice which required tiie sinner's death. How un- reasonable, then, are the objections which so many make to tlie undue preference, as they deem it, of the Epistles above the Gospels as the ground- work of instruction. From the rcvy nature of the case, the writings of the apostles mi; t be more full of " Christ crucified" tlian those of tlie Evan- gelists, who give the recor.l o^ His life hcfore His crucifixion; and tlie doctrinal statements con- l Jolin iii. :)4. I Acts ii. 41. X 1 c:()i-, i. is. 158 CHARACTERISTICS OF ( ,,. tained in tlie Epistles must be more express and clear, in referring simply to a crucified Savior, and to the effects of His sufferings and death, than could be those given in the narratives of the Savior's life, and in the accounts of discourses, whose general object was so to apply the law as to prepare the way for the Gospel. We may find another reason for the fact we have alluded to, in the gracious purpose of the Lord to commit His treasure to " earthen vessels," and to make poor, lost, but redeemed sinners, His honored instruments of bearing to their fellow- sinners the glad tidings of salvation through His blood. If any peculiarly powerful effects had attended the Savior's own ministry, then mio-ht His followers have been tempted to make His success either a cloak for indolence, or a Qround of despondency. But now the weakest may find encouragement to hope, that as it was nothing in the instrument, which gave any peculiar eflScacy to a preached Gospel in the early days of its ex- hibition, but, on the contrary, the most success- ful preachers of " the truth as it is in Jesus" were those unworthy ones, of whom one had denied his Master,* ':he other " persecuted Him even unto strange cities ;"(• so now the same operation of the Spirit, which made their words eft'ectual, can give effect to his, who, however unworthily, * Matu xxvi. 69— 73. f Acts xxvi. 11. THE LOUD S PEOl'LR. 15 J) liolds up the same Savior, and preaches the same cross. This, dear brethren, is our encourage- ment, this our only hope of success. The Gospel of Jesus is entrusted to the weakest and vilest of sinful creatures, and was from the first hour of its preaching ; but through the mighty power of the Spirit it was effectual then ; and the weapons of our warfare," though wielded by such carnal and polluted hands, " are not tliemselves carnal, but mighty," we trust, " through the power of God, to the pulling down of strongholds,"'* to the wounding of the consciences of the impenitent and ungodly, and to the comfort and establishment of weary souls. While, however, the apparent fruits of our Savior's personal ministry upon tlie earth were so few, in those few " He saw" of the travail of His soul, and was satisfied." f He appeared to liave bestowed upon those few^ loved ones tlie affections wliich comprised within their divine embrace the whole body of His believing people to tlie end of time. 1 he few disciples that sur- rounded Him, as, on the affecting occasion to which on the several last sabbaths we have re- ferred, He poured out His soul in communion with the Father, seemed to have been made ob- jects of the whole of that boundless love, which * 2 Cor. X, 4. I Isa. liii. 1|. H 'm r ft lib ii 160 CHAIIACTEIUSTTCS OF they, as " vessels chosen for tlic Master's use," * were to communicate and extend through the re- motest members of tliat body on which His ever- lasting love had been set. He recognises in their attachment to Himself, and in that preparation for their future work, through whicli He had been bringing them, a portion of the work which the Father had given Him to finish ; and He brings them as the sheaf of the first-fruits of His toil, and waves them before the Lord,t as an earnest of the harvest, which, according to the good pleasure of the eternal Jehovah, should in due time be gathered into tlie garner of heaven. " I have manifested Thy iiame," He saith, " unto the men which Thou gavest me out of the world ; Thine they were, and Thou gavest them me ; and they have kept Thy word." " Thus," would He say, "have I finished Thy work. I have glorified Thee, not by the mere exhibition of the bright- ness of Thy glory which dwelt bodily within me in the eyes of an ungodly world ; but by re- vealing Thee as ' a just God and a Savior,' to those whom Thou hast chosen for thyself. I have gathered to Myself the few dispersed ones of Thy flock, whom Thou hast given me, and I have glo- rified Thee in manifesting Thy love and grace to them, and in teaching, guiding, influencing them, that they should keep Thy word." * 2 Tim. n -21. ■\ Lev. xxiii 10. THE LORD S PEOPLE. 161 to There are many precious and solemn truths, dear friends, contained in tliese words of our now glorious Lord. They announce to us the pre- cious truth, that the glory of the Lord, instead of requiring for its full display the destruction of all those that had transgressed against Him, is rather promoted by the salvation from wrath and ruin of all that honor His beloved Son, and by making poor sinners themselves partakers of that glory, which hath been put into the hands of the Lord Jesus for all that believe in Him. They suggest to us particularly the following considerations; first, that the people of God wei-e given to the Lord Jesus to be redeemed by Him, by the sove- reign exercise of the Father's electing love; secondly, that they, as they came at different periods upon this scene of trial, are taught of the Lord, influenced by His grace, and sealed by His Spirit ; and, thirdly, that, while elect in the sovereign purpose of God, they are elect unto obedience,*— they " keep His word." May the Lord Jesus in mercy manifest Himself now to us, subduing the enmity of every natural heart here present, and " bringing every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ."! L And, first, dear brethren, we would remark, that the doctrine of the sovereign electing love of * 1 Peter i. 2. f 2 Cor. x. 5. M 162 CHAUACTEIUSTICS OF God, as displayed in choosing a people to show forth His praise, although frequently spoken of as drawn only from the Epistles, and even then without good foundation, is, if possible, even more distinctly stated on several occasions in the words of our blessed Lord himself. It is hard to assign any definite meaning to language, if the declarations of our Lord, both in the prayer from which the text is selected, and in His various dis- courses to the Jews, can have any other meaning than that the Lord hatli given to Christ a pecu- liar people, chosen out of the world, none of whom could have come to Christ except the Father had drawn them,* but for every one of whom, as chosen in Him, and given to Him, there is unfailingly laid up the gift of eternal life. The Father hath given to Jesus " power over all flesh, that He should give eternal life," not to all flesh, " but to as many as the Father had given Him."t " Tliine they were," saith the Lord Jesus in the text with reference to His chosen disciples ; '* thine they were, and Thou gavest them me." " Thine they were ;" and so are all mankind, so is every member of the fallen human family, as well as everyone of the countless crea- tures, that, from the heights of heaven to the depths of hell, from the most glorious intelligence to the most senseless atom, hath derived its being from * John vi. -44. t Ibid. '2. ' THE lord's people. 163 His Almighty Word. ♦« Thine they were :" but they have not all been given to Christ in the sense in which the Lord's people have been given : for, if they were so, every one must have eternal life, or else the will of God the Father and of God the Son be set at nought. For '« this is the Father's will," saith the blessed Jesus, " that of all whom He hath given me I should lose nothing, but should raise it up at the last day."* " Father, / will," saith the same blessed Savior, " tliat they whom Thou hast given me be with me, where I am : that they may behold my glory, which Thou hast given me."t We know, and it is a pain and grief to know, that this precious doctrine of the sovereign exercise of the Lord's electing love is abused by many sinners, to purposes of licentiousness ; by some, who make a pretended belief in their election of God a cloke for every sin ; by others, who charge their own iniquities upon the injus- tice of such a choice on God's part, as if He were even the cause and author of their sin : but we know also that " the carnal mind is enmity against God,":}: and it merely takes hold of this as the readiest excuse it can find for its iniqui- ties, which it would just as determinedly pursue if it had never heard one word upon the subject *Johnvi.3. t Verse 24. t Kom. viii, 7. 2 M k[0- 164 CHARACTERISTirS OF ill of God's electing love. The charging of such consequences as these upon that precious truth may not deter us from the continuiid exhibition of the same doctrine as the Lord Jesus set forth, and His apostles after Him continually pro- claimed, even though we could trace no benefits resulting from its proclamation ; but oh I how much more should we shrink from keeping back a part of the counsel of God, which comes with such a deeply humbling, and withal so richly comforting, an effect to the hearts of those, who receivo it as the word of God reveals it, and who deligliL lo trace all their comforts, all their serenity, all their peace, all their salvation, from the very first thought of godliness that was put into their minds to their entrance on the possession of their glorious inheritance, all to the utterly undeserved, the free, the sovereign exercise of the Lord's distinguishing grace and favour, by whom they were loved even from the foundation of the world ! II. But we proceed to consider, secondly, the manner in which those who were given to Jesus, and redeemed by His precious blood, are made acquainted with the Lord's gracious purposes towards them, and brought out and separated from the world, and manifested as the children of God. " I have manifested Thy Name," saith THE LORD S PEOPLE. 165 ' the Lord Jesus to the Father, " unto the men whom Thou gavest me." Tlie name of God is frequently, we may say generally, put in Scrip- ture for all the attributes and perfections of God's character. It is by the manifestation of the character of God, it is by the sinner's being made acquainted with God, that he is brought out of his sinful state, and placed in that con- dition which the Scriptures speak of as eternal life, even that eternal life which the believer in .Jesus has in possession, as an earnest of future glory, while yet in this scene of trial. To ac- quaint oneself with God is to be at peace.* But who shall reveal God to us in such a way as to give peace, but Christ Jesus? Who shall give the sinner any view of God which can tend to his well-grounded hope of life eternal, which can give him present peace, or open to him a prospect of eternal glory, but Christ Jesus ? It is only as He manifests the Name of God to the soul, it is only as God is revealed in Christ, that the view can quicken, sustain, comfort, or save the soul. It is in Christ Jesus, and in Him alone, that the Lord God can be revealed to us as " a just God, and yet a Savior;")- and it is only as this view of God is received and appre- ciated by the sinner's soul, that he can have any comfort or any peace in the remembrance of * Jobxxii, -Jl. -f- Zech. ix. 9. IMAGE EVALUATION TEST TARGET (MT-3) m^o Q>. ^ LP, V.x 1.0 I.I 1^ IIIIM 1^ i-ii M 2.2 KS I, 40 2.0 1.8 1.25 1.4 1.6 ^ 6" — ► . f Pliil. i. ;29. t 1 Thess. iv. 7. § Honi. iii. 24 ; iv. 5 ; Eph. ii. 8, 9. THE lohd's people. 169 u the Antinomian is, both by precept and example, everywhere condemned in the word of God. The faith through which the soul is justified, while it utterly rejects works of any kind as joint grounds of justification, yet invariably produces, as evi- dences of its own genuineness, fruits of love. TJiat very law of God, which writes nothing but condemnation against every one that has not " fled for refuge to lay hold of the hope set before him in the Gospel," is itself written, yea, bound by cords of love, upon the heart of every one that has received in Jesus the pardon of every transgression, the remission of every sin. Every attempt to keej) the word of the Lord, which is made by any one tliat has not been' accepted in Christ Jesus, is, and must be, a failure: it is self-righteous in motive, folse in principle, and full of sin in practice. They, and they only, who can perceive how God has loved them by " giving them eternal life, which life is in His Son,"* can truly love Him ; they only, that have known the value of salvation to their own souls by experiencing its preciousness, can truly love their neighbors as themselves; and they only, tben, can manifest that " love, which is the fulfilling of the law."t To them the word of God is precious, for it tells them of tlie love of God for them in Christ Jesus ; and they keep * ' •'»'"> ^'- "' t Rom. xiii. 10. 170 CHARACTERISTICS OF % i it in their hearts, that they should not sin against so loving and so gracious a God. To them the word of God is precious, for it is the only warrant of their faith, the only charter of their hopes ; and they keep it treasured up in their minds, lest at any time the enemy get an advantage of them, and spoil them of their confidence. To them the word of God is precious, for it affords them the only true standard of conduct, the only unfailing rule of life ; and, through the grace of God, they keep it in their lives, endea- vouring, through love to Jesus, to be in all things conformed to His holy will. Never can thet/ succeed in keeping the word of God, who attempt on this ground to gain the favor of God : for they, while professing to keep it, violate its whole principle at ouce ; but those, to whom the Lord Jesus has revealed the Father by the Spirit, as their reconciled Father and Friend, are made " willing in the day of His power"* to receive His precepts and obey His word, and render, because they are saved, that obedience, which the very attempt to render, in order to he saved, would nullify and pollute. It is not for you, nor for me, dear brethren and fellow sinners, to pry into the counsels of the Lord, and ascertain to whieli of you all the Lord entertains purposes of mercy and of <>race. But * Fs. ex. -'}. il ili- THE LORD S PEOPLE. 171 it' of this we are awfully certain, for it is the counsel of the Lord that makes it known, that as surely as there ai*e a heaven and a hell, so surely are all you who hear me either '* vessels of wrath, being fitted to destruction," or " vessels of mercy, prepared unto glory."* Dear friends ! the alter- native is an awful one : and it requires no searching into any hidden purpose of the Lord to decide on which side ye, at present at least, are, for this is His revealed purpose that " he that believeth in Jesus shall be saved : but he that believeth not shall be damned."t The Bible affords no sanction to that disguised in- fidelity, which, under the false guise of charity, would blunt the edge of the most solemn declara- tions of the Lord : but announces thus the solemn alternative, " He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life : and he that believeth not the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God abideth on him."| O then, dear brethren, " ex- amine," I entreat you, with seriousness and solemnity, " whether ye be in the faith,"§ whether ye are what the Scripture would call believers, or are still of the worldly, the unre- geuerate, the unbelieving. O ye, my poor fellow sinners, whose con- sciences tell you that ye are among the worldly, * Horn. ix. 22, 23. f Mark xvi 16. : Jolm iii. 36. § 2 Cor. xiii. 3. I 172 CHARACTERISTICS OF i' * I II I and the unbelieving, that ye have not received Jesus into your hearts, nor followed Him in your lives, behold, I set Him forth this day before you, crucified as He is by your sins. Behold Him in the anguished hour of His antici- pation of the cup of wrath ; behold Him, bend- ing and tottering beneath the weight of the accursed tree ; behold Him stretched in agony upon it, suspended by the bleeding hands and feet, while down His face there creep the clotting blood-gouts from His brow : and see what your sin hath done : see what the worldliness and unbehef ye make so little of have caused. Dear friends, behold " the Lamb of God that beareth the world's sins,"* bleeding for yours : yes, even for yours, ye worldly, ye self-righteous, ye moral, ye profane, ye careless, ye formal ; and O ! let Him who hath been lifted up draw you to Him as your only Savior, your only righteousness. We can speak to you but of one way of peace, one way of holiness, one way to heaven,— and that is Christ Jesus ; O ! believe in Him, and ye shall have life. Dear brethren in the Lord Jesus ! we call upon you solemnly to remember tiiat the Savior hath manifested the Name of the Lord to those that have been given Him. Have ye found this Name '' a strong tower into which ye run and * Jolin i. 29. THE lord's people. 173 are safe,"* safe from the power of temptation, safe from the dominion of your evil lusts ? His people are given to Him out of the world : are ye proved to be His by having come out, and being really separate from " the world that lieth in the Wicked One ?"t His people keep His word : is it written upon your hearts, and copied out into your lives, through the power of the Spirit enlightening, guiding, quickening, sancti- fying you. Dear brethren ! if ye are the sheep of Jesus, ye " shall never perish, nor shall any pluck you out of His hand :»:{; but remember, that the only evidence, by which ye can ascertain your being His, is your living from moment to moment upon Him, honoring His Name, keeping His word. He is your only strength, as well as your only righteousness : and it is only as ye live near to Him, and are kept in the lively exercise of faith in Him, as your Savior of mere grace, that ye can haye any strength in keeping his word. To the Lord Jesus the whole work belongs; to Him, then, O! give all the praise : and then when He shall come to receive to Him- self those that the Father hath given Him, shall ye join in the ascription of praise and glory and thanksgiving to Him that sitteth upon the throne, and unto the Lamb for ever and ever. * Prov. xviii. 10. f 1 John v. 19. I John X. 28. 174 NECESSARY FEATURES OF SER MON NECESSARF FEATURES OF A SAVING FAITH. John xvii. 7, 8. Now they have known, that all things whatsoever thou hast given me are of Thee : For I have given unto them the words which Thou gavest me, and they have received them, and have known surely that I came out from Thee, and they have believed that Thou didst send me. It is very sweet, and at the same time very pro- fitable, to the believer in Christ Jesus, to trace all the privileges and the comforts which he enjoys up to the source I'rom which they flow, the sovereign love of God. It is profitable ; for it cannot but be humbling to the soul to acknow- lege and to feel from what a state of complete corruption and utter worthlessness the free and y A SAVING FAITH. 176 sovereign grace of the Lord hath raised it, and to what utterly undeserved mercy and grace it is indebted for the very first thought of anxiety about its eternal welfare, and for ev(;ry subse- quent step of progress which it has made towards a state of meetness for the heavenly inheritance. And it is surely sweet to the believer's spirit, to know and feel, that, as it was an utterly unde- served love which was set upon him from all eternity,* and having chosen him, called and quickened him " even when he was dead in trespasses and sins,"t so the same love assures him of deliverance amid all the trials and temp- tations by which his path of probation is assailed, and of preservation through all dangers unto the final enjoyment of the heavenly kingdom.:}; The apostles of our Lord and Savior, in ad- dressing the various bodies of Christians, who, through the grace of the Lord Jesus, had been led to believe on Him through their word, de- light to lead them, in the first place, to an as- cription of praise and blessing to the God of grace, because He had, in His sovereign pleasure, chosen them to the enjoyment of those privileges and blessings in which they now rejoiced. They thus follow the example of their Lord himself, who, in the first mention which He makes of His * Eph. i. 4. t lb. ii. 1. X 2 Tim. iv. 18. ( F * ' .<■ 176 NliCLSSAIlY FKATUllKS OK disciples in tlio affecting prayer contained in tin; chapter of my text, ascribes their Iiaving followed Him, their union with Him, and their keeping of His word, all to the sovereign grace of God, by which they, having of right belonged to God, were given by Him to Jesus as His people. This we observed in the consideration of the verse immediately preceding those of my text, which led us on the last sabbath to dwell upon the sovereignty of the Lord's good pleasure, in giving tc the Lord Jesus the people whom He should redeem by His blood, and make partakers of His glory through His Spirit.* The words of the Savior, which we then con- sidered, seemed to be exactly equivalent to the concise definition which an apostle gives of the condition and character of true Christians, when he speaks of them as being " elect "nto obedi- ence."t This description of them, however, while it sets before us the source of all the be- liever's blessings, his " election of God," and also the effect, and, at the same time, the evi- dence of that election, his obedience or *' keeping the w^ord," yet does not convey to us the neces- sary intimation of the means through which he becomes assured c^ the love of God towards his soul, of the channel through which the grace of God is conveyed to him, and of the principle * Ver. 6. f 1 Pet. i. 2. A SAVING F.MTir. 177 throiig-l, which one tiiat is naturally averse from God, and at enmity witli His will, is brought into so different a state as to keep the word in the love of it. But doth the Savior, on so solemn an occasion as that on which we have lately been considering Him, and in which we still find Him in the text, omit to drop the necessary instruction on so important a point ? Or do His apostles, in stating with so much gratitude and praise the privileged condition of His people, neglect to mention so momentous a matter as that of the means through which these privileges become assured to them, and they become partakers of the blessings wJiich the Lord hath prepared for them ? Surely far otherwise. For thus dcth the Apostle Paul fill up the outline which he had before so briefly given : " We are bound to give thanks alway to God for you, brethren beloved of the Lord, because God bath' from the beginning chosen you to salvation, through sanctification of the Spirit antf belief of the truth, whereunto He called you by our Gospel, to the obtaining of the glory of our Lord Jesus' Christ."* And thus doth our Lord Jesus Him- self, after having acknowleged the gift which the Father had made Him, of a people to be saved by His blood, proceed to describe the evidences, by which it appeared that those who * '2 Thess. ii. 13, 14. N 178 NECESSARY FEATURES OF now surrounded Him were of that number ; " Now they have known, that all thing-s whatsoever 'I'hou hast given me are of Thee. For I have given unto them the words that thou gavest me ; and they have received them, and have known surely that I came out from Thee, and they have believed that Thou didst send me." Faith in Jesus, then, appears thus to be the great principle of life in the true Christian : the principle, by which his soul is assured of the gracious purposes which the Lord has enter- tained towards him : by which he is brought into tlie actual enjoyment of the blessings, which, independently of himself, the Lord hath freely provided for Him in Christ: and by which, being made '* a new creature" through the operation of the Holy Spirit, he performs those works of obedience and love, " which God hath before prepared for him to walk in,"* " unto the praise of the glory of that grace by which he is made accepted in the Beloved."t If it be a correct view of Scripture, which traces the believer's salvation entirely to the sovereign exercise of the grace of God,— and we would desire, brethren, to have that view tested by the word of God,— then faith in Christ cannot be correctly spoken of as a condition of salvation : for the performance of a condition implies an * Eph, ii. 10. f ih i. (}. A SAVING I'AITH. 179 obligation to bestow a reward after it is per- formed, and the salvation of the believer would then be a matter " not of grace, but of debt." On the contrary, the bestowal of faith itself upon the sinner is one act of that unmerited grace, through which, and through wiiich alone"^ any one can be saved,* that the praise and glory may be all the Lord's. It is, however, as neces- sary to the salvation of the sinner, as if it were the one condition on whicii alone that salvation depended, since it is the way which the Lord him- self hath appointed, and which He hath deter- mined to honor, of conveying to the soul a sense of its interest in that finished work of Jesus which has been accepted in its behalf: of keeping it in the enjoyment of that love, which has provided, and will accomplish, its salvation : and of bringing it unto complete conformity to Him, in being made like whom consists all the true felicity of earth, all tlie unspeakable enjoyment of the kingdom of heaven. To fliith, as tiie Lord's appointed way, are assigned all the various acts which make up the wliole condition and cliaracter of the people of the Lord. It is through faith, as applying the Savior's rigiiteous- ness to the soul, tliat the sinner is justified.t It is through faith, appropriating the promises, that the believer is sanctified.;!; It is by iaith ■j\>l\. u. Roiii. i Acts xxvi. 18. X Q 4 180 NKCESSARY FEATUFtES OF that the believer walks with God,* lives upon Christ Jesus, t and has communion with the Holy Spirit.:!: How important then, my brethren, the consideration of the nature of this saving faith ! The words of the Lord Jesus himself, with reference to those believing ones whom He saw around Him on the occasion with which the text is connected, may be expected to give us all the necessary descriptions of a true believer, and to supply us all the requisite intimations of the nature of genuine faith. And indeed, dear brethren, we need not go beyond them to find what faith is, and to perceive, by the effects which are there described, the practical workings of that principle in the heart. Let us then entreat the promised blessing and teaching of the Holy Spirit, that, through His gracious influence, we may not only discover what faith is, but may be enabled to exercise it " to the saving of our souls." Whatever degree of darkness may have ex- isted in the conceptions which the Lord's chosen disciples entertained concerning the nature of their Redeemer's kingdom, whatever the incon- sistencies of their daily conduct in their disput- ings for supremacy, and whatever the weak- * Gen. V. 24 ; Heb. xi. .5, 6. f Qal. ii. 20. 1 I John iii. 2-'}, 24, 4 A SAVING FAITH. 181 iiesGes into which tliey were coiitinuully betrayed : yet it is evident that the Lord speaks of them as believers in Him, as having that faith, throug-h which their sonls were justified, and by which they were proved to be of the number of those whom the Father liad given to Clirist. Tlie indistinct- ness of their views of the Lord's kingdom was the effect of ignorance ratjjer than unbelief, and only proved tlieir need of " adding to faith know- lege ;"* tlieir inconsistencies were the result of that corruption, which, as St. Paul and the article of our Church testify, " remaineth even iu them that are regenerated ;"t their weaknesses the consequence of their connexion with that frail and decaying tabernacle in which they still abode, and of unwatchfulness against the temp- tations of the enemy; not of indifference towards the Lord in whom they believed. With all their weaknesses, and all their inconsistencies, they were still believers : believers often giving pain to the heart of the Lord they loved : often giving occasion to the careless and worldly to draw an excuse from them for their own pride or passion, often destroying, but for the Lord's overruling in- Huence, the work which, for His sake, "was nearest their hearts :-but still believers. Dearly beloved, let this observation of their character botli make you siuw in condemning others on * :.' Pet. i. t Koni. vii. ; Article ix. 182 NECESSARY FEATURES OF F It ,| t account of inconsistencies in their conduct, as if they therefore could not be Christians ; and increase your watchfulness over yourselves, lest, though your salvation might not be forfeited, ye should pain the heart of Jesus, " grieve the Holy Spirit,"* wound the body of Christ, which is His Church, and "give occasion to His enemies to blaspheme."! Perceiving, however, that the beloved disciples of the Lord were, at the time at which He speaks^ of them, believers in Him, let us proceed to con- sider briefly some of the particulars by which their faith is described, in order to our ascertaining what the absolutely necessary features of a true faith are. I. And let us observe, in the first plp/'e, that a true faith is concerned in having correct views of the person and character of the Lord Jesus Clirist. " They have known," saith the Lord in the text," " that all things whatsoever thou hast given me are of Thee ; they have believed tliat Thou didst send me." If it be the very first part of faith wiiicli has any trace of genuine- ness at all, to believe in the existence of God, it is surely the first part of Christian faith to believe what is revealed to us concerning Christ. Of the existence of God there are many evidences besides those which are contained * Ei)li. iv. yo. t - ■^iiiii Nii. I !. A SAVING FAITH. 183 in the Word of God, such that even the un- tutored lieathen will be convicted by their own conscience of wilful ignorance of Him, whoso glory the heavens display, and wliose handiwork the firmament sets forth.* But concerning Christ we have no evidence but that which is contained in the Word of God. Neither could the imagina- tion of man have conceived the idea of such a being, neither could his invention have suggested such a character, nor his wisdom have discovered such a plan, as that which is revealed in Christ Jesus. To the written word and its testimony must be the only resort for discovering anything concerning Christ. On the very same ground may be urged tJie necessity of receiving all the testimony which that record gives concerning Him and His sal- vation. The arbitration of reason cannot be fairly or correctly exercised, except upon matters which are in some measure within the limits of reason to discover. The faith of tlie Chris- tian is something above reason. Jts very exer- cise involves the supposition of the insufficiency of reason to discover, or to sit in Judgment upon, the truths which it receives : and, deposing rea- son from its place of pride, fiu"th sim})ly takes revelation as its guide, and humbly bows to all the discoveiies which the written record of reve- lation makes. Unable, then, to know anvthing of •^ lioni. i. 20. 184 NKCESSAIIY FEATUUi:s OI' Clirist f'rcm any other source, the soul of tlie hc- liever receives in simplicity all that is testified of Him in His word. It admits the trutii, wliich it could have nowhere else discovered, and which, if sense and reason alone were listened to, would bo deemed an impossibility, that the Lord Jesus Christ, the Savior of sinners, is " God and man ; God, of the substance of His Fatlier begotten before the worlds : and man, of the substance of His mother born in the world ; perfect God and perfect man, of a reasonable' soul and human flesh subsisting; who altluugh He be God and man, yet He is not tsvo, but one Clirist."* It receives, as jiart of this belief, the truth, tliat thougli this blessed Jesi.s was from all eternity " equal,"! jca, " one" with the Father,^ yet He- voluntarily submitted to an inferiority to Him, and placed Himself, as it were, in His hands, to be sent by Him on the work of redemp- tion ; and was sent as the " one Mediator between Cod and man, "§ the only " daysman betwixt them, that might lay his hand upon them both.-|! And so it may be said of all true be- hevers in Jesus, as it was said by Him of His immediate followers, " they have known that all things which Thou hast given me are of Thee ; * Atliiuiasiiii) Creed. I Joiiii X. yo. I, Job ix. ;J;>. i I'liil. ii. 6. i^ I Till!, ii. 6. "7\ A SAVING FAITH. 185 they have believed that Thou didst send me." The things of which we have spoken : the union of the divine and human natures in their fullest perfection in Jesus, and His bearing, in that union of natures, the office of Mediator between God and man, are so clearly revealed in the word of God : thiit a belief of them appears to form the very first point of Christian faith. A man may believe many things contained in the word of God; lie may exercise faith in many of the wondrous facts, and the momentous truths, re- vealed in its pages ; but he, who withholds his assent from these things concerning Christ, can- not be said to have the faith of a Christian. II. This belief in what the word of God re- veals concerning the person and character of the Lord Jesus Christ being laid down as an abso- lutely essential feature of a true Christian faith, let us, secondly, observe, that a true faith not only receives this testimony, but receives also "the record that God gave concerning His Son." This record refers not merely to the person of Jesus, but to the nature of His ivork- It not only testifies the amazing dignity of His person, who was " the brightness of the Father's glory and the express image of His person, and ui)hekl all things by the word of His i)ower,"* but * Ilcb. i. 3. t1 186 NECESSARY FEATURES OP declares also the object for which He laid aside the glories of His eternal station, and states the full accomplishment of that purpose in the com- pletion of the work which was given Him to do. " I have given unto them," saith the blessed Savior, " the words which Thou gavest me ; and they have received them." Now this is the record which God hath given concerning His Son, and which Jesus, having received from the Father, giveth unto them that believe, " that God hath given to us eternal life, and this life is in His Son. He that hath the Son hath life ; and he that hath not the Son of God hath not life."* This the Lord Jesus had in effect con- tinually declared to His disciples : this hau been the continual burden of His message to them ; and in such a measure had they received and believed it, that when asked by our Lord, after the desertion of many of His professed followers, whether they " also would go away," one of them, more ready than the rest, answered in behalf of all, " Lord, to whom shall we go? Thou hast the words of eternal life.^f A true faith in Christ implicitly receives this testimony concerning Jesus and His work ; and the soul of him who exercises such a belief receives, on the warrant of God's word, the assurance of the forgiveness of his * ! John V. J I, 1:>. John vi. as. il A SAVING FAITH. 187 sins through the blood of Jesus,* of the accept- ance of liis person for the sake of the righteous- ness of Jesus,t of his sharing with Jesus in tlie kindness and love wherewith the Father reg .rdetli Him,:]: and of his destined enjoyment of the ful- , ness of that glory, which Christ Jesus had with j the Father before the worlds were made.§ If the mere natural sense and reason suggest impossibi- lities in the way of a belief in the mystery of the holy incarnation of the Son of God, still more does it seem to enlist the opposition of the natural heart, with all its prejudices and all its pride, against the reception of this testimony of the Lord. On the one hand, the unwillingness of man to acknowlege the depth of corruption and state of helplessness, which are implied in the necessity of such a provision for his salvation ; on the other hand, the fears of the self-righteous and formal, lest the provision of such a free sal- vation of mere grace, without works, should en- courage the workings of licentiousness and loosen the obligations of morality, are engaged to resist the reception of a truth so simple and so beautiful as this, " He that believeth on the Son of God hath everlasting life."|| But faith, the Christian's faith, the fruit of that Spirit whose " weapons are mighty, through God, to the cast- * Col. i. 14. t Eph. i. G. I Verse 23, 2(i. Z...- § Verses 22, 24. || John iii. .%. 188 NECESSARY FEATURES OF ing down of iiMuginatlous, the pulling down of strongholds, and the bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ;"* this faith receives the record, and trusts the word. The believer takes the testimony of the Lord, as greater than that of man ; and finding, in His book,afirnj foundation of promises and assurances, given on the word of the Lord, " confirmed with' His oath,"t and sealed with His Son's blood, he builds on hem the peace of his soul; trusling that though he has sinned, Jesus " has borne his sins;";|; though he was accursed, Jesus has been "made a curse" for him;§ though he has been rebellious, Jesus hath " made peace" for him; though he has been " an enemy," Jesus " hath reconciled" him to the Father ;|| though he has been, and is, in himself, so full of corruption, that there " dwelleth no good thing"^ in him, yet he has in Jesus, through union with Him, " a robe of righteousness,"** in which even the search- ing eye of the law of God can detect no blemish, nor discern a spot. Sucl), my dearly beloved, appears to be the most limited combination of ingredients which is suiiicient to make up anything like a '* 2Cor. X. 4, 5. f Heb. vi. 17. X 1 Pet. ii.24. § GjI. iii. 13. II Col. i. 20,21. f Rom. vii. 18. ** Isa. Ixi. 10 ; Rom. iii. 22 ; viii. 33, 34. A SAVING FAITH. 189 definition of a Christian's faith. There may be varieties in the manner in whicli these great truths will fasten and maintain their hold upon the mind, and differences in the measure of as- surance with which they are received ; but there surely can be no true Christian fkith which does not receive the testimony that the word of God gives concerning the person and charac- ter of the "one Mediator between God and man," the God-man Christ Jesus, * and believe « the record which God hath given of His Son," to wit, that -God hath given to us eternal hfe, and this life is in His Son."t And yet while thus necessary as the ingredients of the simplest faith : the reception of these truths or rather of this, for it is but one, truth, appears to constitute the whole belief to which the most ad- vanced Christian has attained, and by which he lives. Through the belief of this truth, the soul IS justified. Through this belief the soul is «anc tified. By this belief God is honored, and Christ exalted ; and the life which " the believer in Christ" now lives in the flesh, he lives by the faith" of the simple truths thus announced, that Christ " loved him and gave himself for him "t Suffer me, then, dear brethren, to ask, Have ye this faith in the Lord Jesus Christ ? *lTim.ii.5. tlJohnv. 11. j Gal. ii. 20. 190 NECESSARY rEATUHES OP It is, 1 trust, evident, tiuit the faith which is the mark of a true disciple of Jesus, who is " ac- cepted in the Beloved,"* is something, simple though it be, far different from the mere profes- sion of the Name of Jesus, and from that nomi- nal adherence to Him, on which men claim to be called Christians. It is the distinct personal reception of the record given of Christ, the personal application by each sinner to himself of the testimony that the Lord Jesus " bare his sins in His own body on the tree," that he that believeth in Him, " being dead to sins, should live unto righteousness."! Have ye, then, dearly beloved, such a faith as this? I ask not, Have ye been born in Christian lands, baptized into the Christian profession, educated in Christian principles ? These things are well in their place and proportion ; but, instead of sav- ing you, they do but increase your responsibility and your danger, if ye are without that '- one thing" which yet " is needful.":]: Have ye, as sinners, fled to Jesus, and heard His blood, "which speaketh better things than that of Abel,"§ speaking pardon and peace to your souls ? Have ye, in your enmity, heard the invitation of * Eph. i. G. 1 Luke X. 42. I 1 I'et. ii. 24. 5; lieb. xii. i>4. A S.WIVO FAITH. 1J)1 IH ac- t 1 Josus, and come and been reconciled to Cfod by Him ? Have ye, while dead, " jieard the voice of the Son of Man," and been (iiiiekened, and lived?* Have ye thus spiritually applied fl^e blood of Jesus to your souls for yolir pardon and cleansing, and received through Him the assur- ance of your forgiveness, and the evidence of your salvation? O ! if ye have not, be persualed, dear brethren, at least to ask yourselves this ques- tion, To whom will ye go, to whom are ye going, for the peace ye need ? Jesus alone " hath the words of eternal life."t What can ye be pro- fited by the world ye love, the flesh ye indulge, the devil ye serve, in that day when eterntty shall stare you in the face? To which of them will ye then go for strength and consolation ? i forsake them, and go to Jesus; for He alone " hath the words of eternal life." Remember this also, and cling to Him, ye who have known anything of peace in Jesus through faith. While ye ascribe all your blessings to the sovereignty of God, remember that It IS only through faith in Jesus that ye have re- ceived, or can keep, the enjoyment of them. Amid either the blandishments, then, or the frowns of the world: the temptations of the flesh : or the assaults of the devil : turn but the eye of a simple faith to Jesus ■ and listen to the record " -^oh" "■' 25. t Jolin vi. (i8. ^1 I 192 NECESSARY FEATURES OF FAITH. given you concerning Him. Live, dear brethren, in the continual, the watchful remembrance of this solemn truth, " Jesus loved you, and gave Himself for you."* * Gal. ii. 20. 1 i;iM& rethren, •ance of id gave SERMON xr. 4 CHRIST INTERCEDES FOR HIS PEOPLE. St. John xvii. 9, 10. Iprm/ for them : I pray not for the world, but Pr them which Thou hast given me ; for they are thine; and all mine are thine, and thine are mine ; and I am cjlorified in them. In contemplating the Lord Jesus, while em- ployed in the outpourings of His soul before God, m observing His tried career and ministry on earth, the attention and interest of Christians are drawn towards Him, not only on account of the delightful and instructive light in which He is at such moments presented to their regard, but also, and more especially, because His prayers on earth give an outline, as it were, of that advocacy and intercession, wl.ich Ho unceasingly keeps up m ii 194 CHRIST INTERCEDES FOR HIS PEOPLE. at the right hand of God. Tlie warrant for the awakened sinner's confidence of forgiveness and acceptance with God is this, that Jesus " is ahle to save them to the uttermost that come unto God by Him, seeing He ever Hveth to make in- tercession for them."* The authority for the believer's boldness and importunity in coming to the throne of grace is the same ; for having as '* an high priest," interceding for him, not one •' who cannot be touched with a feeling of our infirmities," but one "who was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin," therefore doth he " come boldly to the throne of grace, that he may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need."t The ground of the Christian's assurance that nothing shall ever separate him from the love of God is this also, that " Christ who died, and is risen again from the dead, is at the right hand of God, where he also maketh intercession for us.":]: Yea, and the grand means of recovering the believer who has at any time fallen into sin : the grand motive, by which to appeal to the heart of the backslider, urging his return to Godj and the great consi- deration, by which there is a hope of warming the cold affections of those wlio liave grown indolent and lukewarm in the service of God is this, that " if any man sin, he has an Advocate with the * Heb. vii. 25. f Heb. iv. 15, 16. | Rom. viii. 34. ^> v\... CIIIIIST INTERCEDES FOR HIS PEOPLE. 195 Father, Jesus Christ the righteous, who is also the propitiation for iiis sins."* The consideration, then, of the advocacy and intercession of Jesus seems necessary in order to our obtaining a full view of His completeness as a Savior. It is not that we would presume to suppose any deficiency in the work, which the Lord Jesus himself, at the close of His agonies upon the accursed tree, pronounced to be " finished ;"— that work we rejoice in believing to be a complete, a perfect work, to which nothing can without peril be added, from which nothing can without danger be diminished :— but the all-sufliciency and completeness of Christ is seen in His being the priest as well as the sacri- fice, in His being Himself the person appointed to present this oflTering of Himself to God as a complete atonement for the sins of His people, and in His continually oflTering up the incense of His own intercession, as the medium through which alone the persons, the prayers, and the services of tliose who have believed in Him unto salvation can be regarded with acceptance by God. The view of His advocacy with the Father is precious, not as adding anything to the com- pleteness of the work of atonement, which was already in every respect perfect; but as suggest- ing to us the delightful refiection, that Jesus, * 1 John ii. I, :ii, o Q rii-' i 196 CHRIST INTERCEDES FOR HIS PEOPLE. ha ing finished a work of righteousness for the sii aer, does not thenceforth cease His interest m him. He does not leave the sinner to apply that work to himself, but is " the Author and the Finisher" of that faith through whicli the sinner is made partaker of the benefits of that work. He does not leave the believer to maintain his own interest in that great salvation, but un- ceasingly watclies over him, prays for him tliat his faith may not foil, and intercedes for his recovery, whenever, through the power of temp- tation and his own unwatchfulness, he has fallen into sin. If the Lord Jesus, after having finished the work of atonement for man's sin upon the cross, had then left man to do the rest: yea, if He had left him simply to find In's own way to the cross, or even to accept, of his own in- clination, tlie oflfers of salvation made him, how helpless still, how hopeless, had been the poor sinner's state ! So deep is the corruption and depravity of the heart of man, so utter its alien- ation from God and from His will, that the most gracious oflfers of salvation, and the clearest re- presentations of the completeness of tliat work by wliich salvation has been effected, would have failed of influencing one single dinner, and of drawing out one emotion of gratitude and love from his heart, if the Lord Jesus were not still present by His Spirit, subduing the corrui)t CHRIST INTERCEDES FOR HIS PEOPLE. 197 enmity of the soul to God, and opening the heart to attend to the things that are spoken.* And so complete is the weakness, so utter the help- lessness even of the believer in Jesus, as far as he himself is concerned, and so continual his proneness to depart from God, that all the pre- ciousness of the work of Jesus, and all the com- fort and the peace he has experienced in resting upon it, would not be sufficient to keep him close to Jesus, if it were not that He himself keeps up a continual interest in those whom the Father hath given Him, and knowing how " Satan desireth to have them that he may sift them as wheat," prays and intercedes for them '' that their faith fail not."t So important apart, then, does the advoct.'y and intercession of the Lord Jesus bear in the view of His completeness and all-sufficiency as a Savior, that any view of Him, while in the exercise of His ministry upon earth, which can throw any light upon that portion of His precious character, must surely be full of interest and importance to the believer's soul. And how can he look upon the Savior, as he bends in lowly supplication before His Father's throne, and pours out before Him the overflowings of His lovino- heart's affections towards the disciples whom He had ciiosen ; how can he listen to the fervent intercession, which, now that He is about to be * Actsxvi. 14. t Luke xsii. 31, 32. r '\ t 108 CnUIST INTERCEDES FOR HIS PEOPLE. taken from tliem, He presents on their beluilf to His God and tlieir God, without deriving from the consideration the comforting assu- rance, that His earnest pleadings on behalf of those who were surrounding Him on this so- lemn occasion upon earth, are but a pattern, and, as it were, an earnest, of the intercession which he continually keeps up on behalf of His disciples now that He is at the right hand of God, where He is gone " to appear in the presence of God for them."* There was not a miracle performed by the Almighty power of " God manifest in the flesh."t during the time of His sojourn in this lowly tabernacle, which was not designed, not alone for the generation among whom He walked, but to convey instruc- tion and encouragement, to teach sin-diseased souls the efficacy of His word, and to encourage the vilest to come, and those that had known His salvation to bring their sin-sick relatives and friends by faith to Him, even to the latest time. There is not a discourse delivered by the blessed Jesus while He taught on earth, which is not designed to testify to all believers in Him, to the latest time, that there is the same sufficiency in Him for the guidance and instruction, the sus- tenance and peace of His |)eoplo, now that He is at the right hand of God, as was found in Him while He bore with all the ignorance and weakness of * 'I.'b, ix. 24. t I Tim. iii IG. CHIIIST INTERCEDES FOR IIIS PEOPLE. 199 His disciples, and patiently instructed, and gently I'^d, and tenderly rebuked, and fondly cheered and sustained them as they followed Him. And, surely, on the same principle of the unchange- able character of Jesus, of His being " the same yesterday, and to-day, and for ever,"* we may be confident, that the petitions witii which Jesus approached the Father's throne while upon earth, in behalf of those who were so dear to Him as the gift of His Father to Him, and who were exposed to so many trials, and difficulties, and temptations in their course, are designed to show us the nature of the intercession which He ever maketh at the right hand of God in behalf of those that are now dear to Him on the same ground as His immediate disciples were, as being the Father's gift, and who are exposed to the same trials from a treacherous heart and lustful flesh, from an opposing or alluring world, and from the vile seductions and suggestions of the devil, as they were. Yes, blessed be the name of the Lord Jesus, the same affectionate earnest- ness, the same lively interest in the welfare of His chosen ones, the same comprehensive view of their best interests, and the same desire for their present peace and everlasting blessedness, which marked His supplications for them in the days of His flesh, still, we may rest assured, charac- " Ik'b. xiii. 8. 4 r ^f 200 CHlilST INTEIICEDES lOIl HIS PEOPLE. terise His advocacy witli God, now tliat, as the one Mediator between God and man, the great High Priest of His people. He bears their names upon His breast, and presents His blood as their atonement, and the incense of His intercession for their continual preservation. The few petitions at the commencement of the chapter of the text seem to refer to the support which He needed and anticipated for Himself in His approaching conflict with the mahce of disappointed, and prejudiced, and infuriated men, and the rancor of the combined powers of darkness, who, hopeless though they were of conquering the lowly man, in whom " the ful- ness of the Godhead"^ dwelt, yet would take a malicious satisfaction in adding their fullest possible contribution to the brimming cup of His distress and woe. The whole of the remain- ing supplications, from the verse of my text to the conclusion of the chapter, are devoted to the expression of His fond desires in their behalf for whom His blood was to be shed, and who were yet to form the glory of His mediatorial crown, •' in that day when He shall make up His jewels."t The varied aspects, then, in which He presents them before God, and the several particulars of His supplication in their behalf, will form the subject of the remaining discourses * ^"'•''•^- t Mal.iii. 17. Hi jhalf. CHlllST INTERCEDES FOR HIS PEOPLE, 201 of the present series; and let me, dear brethren, entreat your earnest petitions to the " God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory," that He will pour out upon you and me " the Spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowlege of Him, the eyes of our understanding being en- lightened, that we may know what is the hope of His calling, and what the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints,'' and that we " may be able to comprehend, with all saints, what is the breadtii, and length, and depth, and height, and to know the love of Christ, which passeth knowlege, that we mr.y be filled with all the fulness of God."* Let our present attention be directed, dearly beloved, to the consideration of the subjects of our dear Savior's gracious intercession on this occa- sion, and to a brief suggestion or two arising from this view ; and also to the contemplation of the solemn distinction wiiicli the Lord himself nmkes between those for whom He prays, and those for whom He prayeth not. And O ! may these considerations be undertaken, through the blessing of the Lord the Spirit, with a deep and impressive remembrance how vast is the import- ance of knowing what our state is now, before we are fixed m that condition by a sentence of which there is no revocation, from which there can be * Kpli. ii. 17, 18; iv. 18, If). I..V i ill (■-■ u 1 1 il I ■» . 202 (IIUIST INTKHCi'DES FOR HIS PEOPLE. »o appeal. - 1 pray fur tlieni," saitli tl.c Lord Jesus : " 1 pray not for the world ; but for those that Thou Iiast given me; I'or tliey are thiiio." I. We may observe tlieii, dear brethren, in the first ])hice, that thos(>, for whom tlie Lord Jesus intercedes, are His own peculiar people, thos(; who have been given to Him l)y the Fatlier. Our lust consideration of the manner in which the Lords speaks of those whom the Father hath given Him has shown us, that the evidence by which they may know themselves, and may be known by others, as His people, is a simple, confiding, child-like faith in Jesus ; that while the purpose of God's elrction is hidden in the Lord's own counsels, yet that the existence of that purpose towards any sinner is shown by his b-lieving the record which God hath given of His Sou. The sinner needs no other evidence of the Lord's gracious purposes towards him, no other autho.. rity for ai)plying to himself the promises made in Christ Jesus to the people of God, than his be- lieving them; for such is the a])propriating nature of a simple faith in God's word, that it gives to Him that exercises it a covenant right and title, as it were, to everything in the Word of God which he believes. This^ith in Jesus, which gives the soul its interest in the finished CnillST INTEUCEDKS FOR HIS PEOPLE,' 203 work of Ills salvation, and tliroiigh which the sinner is "justified from all thinfrg,"* admits him also to an interest in the continual intercessiGii of Jesus. It is for believers, and for them alone, that the Lord Jesus intercedes with the Father ; for those that have from all eternity been g.ven to Him, and whom, tiiough not yet having even come u])on tiie scene of time, He who " calleth things which be not as though they were,"t sees actually before Him and around Him as His peo- l)le, the members of His body, whose names were all written in His book. But may it not be asked, how it could be neces- sary for Jesus to pray for those, whom He knew as His people, and of whom, from His being partner in the eternal councils of the Godhead, He must have known that as " His sheep " they " should never perish, neither should any pluck them out of His hand ?":(: Yet even those that ask this que^.tio^ must acknowlcge, as part of the attributes of His divinity, that Jesus must have foreknown the eternal safety of His disciples ; that He must at least have forcknoicn it, even if He had not pre- determined it; and we need then make no other re- lily to those that ask how it was necessary for Jesus to pray for their salvation, than this, that Jesus, knowing them as the Father's gift to Him, did pray for them. " 1 pray for then]," He saitli to * Acts xiii. 09. -1 Ko.n. iv. 17. % John x. 28. i 204 CIIIIIST INTEHCRDES FOll HIS PEOPLE. tlio Fallkr, " (or they arc; tliiue." There are those [»oor misguided creatures, who carry the spirit of this objection so far as to insist, that because " our heavenly Father knoweth what things we have need of, before we ask Ilini,"* therefore there is no necessity for our troublino- IJini with our petitions. How woefully hath Satan blinded their hearts, that they cannot see that our Savior makes tln"s very knowlege which God has of their wants, the very reason and ground for diligence and importunity in ask- ing. '« Y^our heavenly Father," saith the Lord Jesus, " knoweth what things ye have need of, before ye ask Ilini : after this manner therefore pray ye." But there are those who with better feeling, and from conscientious difiicultics, ask, What can be the use of prayer, or what spirit or energy can there be in prayer, if we believe that God has chosen Ilis people, and has determined to make " all things work together for good to them that love Him ?"t Yet is it not a sufficient re])ly to this question, that Jesus foreknew both all tliut He should himself endure, and all that should betal His disciples; yet He " offered up prayers and suj })lications with stnmg crying and tears" t for Himself, and earnestly interct-ded with the Lord for his chosen people. The Lord hath dis- * .Matt. vi. i^. ■j Koni. viii. '2^. llcb. CHRIST INTERCEmCS FOR HIS I'COI'LK. ^05 tinctly roveulcd Ills purpose of lioariiig and answering the prayers of Hi. people; ; and, that there may be no inconsisteney between their prayers and His purposes, He gives His Holy Spirit to teaeli them what to pray for as they ought, and He niaketh intercession in them ac- cording to the will of God.* The Lord "knowcth what things we have nee ' of, before we ask ;" He knoweth, also, what things He designs to grant; He suggests, by His Spirit, to the minds of His people, the things for which they should pray ; and does it make prayer an unmeaning duty, does it destroy the energy and spirit of prayer, to be convinced that the Lord hath so arranged, that " whatsoever" a believer in Him " asketh according to His will, He heareth him ?"t Surely that is not truly a spirit of prayer, which can desire anything contrary to the will of God : and that believer in Jesus would acknowlege the fullest answer had been given to his prayer, who should perceive no other result from his petitions than the disposition and the habit of sub- mitting his every re(iuest to the will of God, and of having, in fact, no will but His. The know- lege which the Lord Jesus had, that His disciples belonged to God, formed, as it were, the very ground of His requests on their behalf; and the assurance which believers have, that all their * Rom. viii. 20,27. -j- 1 John v. 14. .'OG CHRIST INTERCEDES FOR IIIS PEOPLE. ^ -a times and all their concerns arc arranged by the Lord, and that He has already determined to make " all things work together for their good," instead of diminishing the fervor of their prayers, is their stronger moti^ o for coming with boldness, and perseverance, to entreat of Him the fulfil- ment of His gracious purposes towards them. The ground, then, on which the Savior presents his disciples in supplication before God, and on which believers themselves may be confident of the success of His intercession in their behalf, is tlie everlasting love of God towards them ; but in order both to humble the sinner more, and, at the same time, to increase his confidence in the ad- vocacy of the Savior, the Lord Jesus adds, as another ground of his supplications, the declara- tion that "He is glorified in them." The glory of Jesus is above all things dear to the Father. No other motive need be urged to draw forth the richest blessings from His hand, than the con- sideration that Jesus is glorified by them. And as the glory of Jesus is inseparably connected with the present well-being and future salvation of His people, therefore may they confidently trust, that there is nothino; which the Lord Jesus asks for them, in order to the promotion of His glory in them, which the Father can withhold. Did the intercession of Moses prevail with God, when He entreated him not to destroy His sinning people. CHRIST INTERCEDES FOR HIS PEOPLE. 207 lest the adversaries of His name should rejoice, and deny His power, and calumniate His good- ness;* and shall not the intercession of Jesus prevail for the deliverance and salvation of His saints, when their destruction would so spoil the beauty of His mediatorial crown, and give the devil and his fiendish hosts such cause for exul- tation at robbing Christ of His sheep? It was not, indeed, for the sake of anything in rebellious Israel that the Lord spared them, and dealt so tenderly with them, but "for His holy name's sake, that it should not be polluted ;"t and it is not for the sake of anything in His sinful children, that the Lord deals so graciously with them, for they are nothing but corruption, " there dwelleth no good thing "J in them ; but because their de- liverance glorifies Jesus : because He is honored by their salvation, and the crown of His king- dom is brightened and made precious by the number of redeemed guilty ones, that are brought " from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God." § II. These, then, are they for whom the Savior prays. His own believing people ; and these are the grounds on which tliey may be confident that * Num. xiv. II — 21. Iloni. vii. lb. f Ezek. XX. 9, 14. § lb. viii.2(. 208 CHRIST INTERCEDES FOR HIS PEOPLE. His intercession on their behalf prevails, becau^se tlie Father himself loveth them, and hath jriven them to Jesus, and the glory of Jesus is itself in- volved in their salvation and eternal glory. How awfully solemn is the reflection which the text suggests to us, that there are some for whom the Savior did not pray, some for whom He did not intercede. " I pray not," He saith, " for the world." Is not then the question a deeply im- portant one, what is meant here by " the world ?" It is clear, that the Lord Jesus, on the present occasion, speaks of all mankind as the world, save those only that believed in Him ; — and that the great distinction, therefore, between His people and the world, is that living faith in Him, producing union with Him, and the following of Him in the heart and life, which was manifested by His faithful few. St. John, however, the be- loved disciple, who records our Savior's words on this occasion, gives us, in liis general epistle, an express definition of what the world is. '* All" he says, "that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world." -nd, " If any man love the worhl, the love of the Fatiier is not in him."* We say not, my friends, — the Scrij)tures do not authorise us to say, — that * 1 John ii. ir>, IG. CHRIST INTERCEDES FOR JUS PEOPLE. 209 those that arc in this state must remain so, and die in their sins : on the contrary, all* the people of God have been at some time in the world, and Iiave been drawn out of it, and separated from it; but, so long as they continue in this worldly state, they are enemies of God, and are not partakers of the benefits of Christ's interces- sion. The Lord Jesus, indeed, couhl discover His own people, even througli tlie dark covering of enmity and sin whicli marked their present conduct towards Him ; for even Paul, the furious persecutor of Jesus for so long a period of his life, declares of himself, that, though so lately called by the grace of God, yet he was " separated even from the womb."* But the word of God pro- nounces upon man's present state according to the evidence the life affords, and declares that the friends of the world are the enemies of God ;t and those who are yet in a worldly and uncon- verted state are not even prayed for by Him, who is the great Advocate and Intercessor for sinners that have come to Him. O ! then, dear friends, and fellow-sinners, who yet are of the world, let me entreat you to reflect with solemnity upon your awful state. Often do those seem to you to speak with un- necessary harshness of your condition, who tell you of the curse of God under whicli * t^a'- '• '•''• 1 James iv. 4. rl » ■I ■i: 210 CHRIST INTERCEDES FOR KIS PEOPLE. you lie, wlio speak to you of the hatefulness of the world in the sight of God, and charge you with your alienation from God and enmity against Him, in order that you may be led away from the world to God : but O ! what has ever been said to you which can present to you such an awful picture of your state, as these words of Jesus, " I pray not for the world "? While ye are still worldly, ye are not even the objects of the Redeemer's prayers ; as ye are without any evidence of being Christ's, so are ye without any interest in His petitions. What, then, poor sinners, must be your state, if Jesus does not take your part ; what must be your state, if ye have no Savior ! O awake, arouse you, and think of your condition. There yet is time for you to come out of the world, and join yourselves to Jesus ; — if there were not, we should not call upon you, as we would not add to your woes "the sa- vor unto death " of neglected warnings ; — but thereyet is room in Jesus for you : O ! come out then and be separate from the world, and take Christ Jesus as your all in all. Dear friends, if ye heed not these warnings, and come not to Jesus now, but should " die in your sins," then, O ! remem- ber the fearful truth from His own lips, that " where He is, thither ye cannot come."* If ye have no interest in Jesus now, ye can have no * John viii. 21. m CHRIST INTERCEDES FOR HIS PEOPLE. 211 heaven with Jesus hereafter ; and while ye are of the world, ye can have no interest in Jesus. He does not even pray for you. If anything were wanted to enhance the value of your privileges, dear brethren, " to whom it has been given to believe in Christ," surely the consideration of the awful condition from which ye have been rescued, will serve to set off the preciousness of the privileges with which ye have been invested. Ye have been gathered out of a world, which is at enmity with Jesus ; ye have been placed, through faith, among the number of those who are in Jesus reconciled to God, and made the objects of His love and fond regard for Jesus' sake, and are now even so much connected with the glory of Christ, that He is glorified in your being kept amid temptation, delivered from your enemies, and preserved unto the heavenly kingdom. Will not the bare mention of these privileges serve to quicken and animate you, dear fellow-Christians, and lead you to desire to live more near to Jesus ? " He ever liveth to make intercession for you;" and the love wherewith "the Father himself lovetli you," and the glory of Jesus, which will be great in your salvation, are a pledge to you, that His intercession shall prevail.* O ! then, dear brethren, live more by faith upon Jesus ; commit your cause, and all that * John xvi. 26, 27. p 2 212 CHRIST INTERCEDES FOR HIS PEOPLE. concerns you, simply into his hands ; for " He is faithful that promised,"* and " ye know in whom ye believe, that he is able to keep that which ye commit unto Him against the great day."t Dear brethren, who believe in Jesus, ye are of those for whom the Lord Jesus prays : O ! then, keep up your communication with Him by earnest supplication ; wait upon Him for all ye need, for He is glorified in supplying you ; yea, " our God shall supply all your need, according to His riches in glory by Christ Jesus ;";{: yea, " He will deliver you from all evil, and preserve you unto His heavenly kingdom." § • Heb. X. 23. f 2Tim. i. J2. t Phil.iv. 19. § 2Tim iv. 18. i ;l SERMON XII. THE SAVIOR'S SYMPATHY WITH HIS PEOPLE. St. John xvii. 11. And 7101V I am no more in the world, but these are in the world, and I come to Thee. Holy Father, keep, through thine own name, those whom Thou hast given me, that they may he one, as we are. The Lord Jesus was contemplating a return from the trials of this earthly pilgrimage, to the joys and glories of His heavenly home. He was now looking forward to the full fruition of His glorious godhead ia the presence and communion of the Father. He had "finished the work which had been given Him to do. He had wrought out the work of reconci- liation, had acconijjlished the way of salvation for His i)eoplc ; and He was now about to enter upon I 214 THE savior's sympathy w ml' I I the reward of His spotless work, and to be ])iit in fnll possession of tliat glory which He had with the Father before the world was made, whose beams were brightened, if we can conceive what is infinite to be increased, by the honors of His mediatorial work. And in the prospect of those approaching glories, in the contemplation of those coming joys, which, even tiiouo-h the way to them lay through the agonies and torture of the cross, He thought and spake of, as if absorb- ing all His thoughts, and even now cheering His spirit by the foretaste which He had of them, could there be anything to detain His affections upon earth ; could there be anything to check the full tide of " joy unspeakable," at the thought of His return to His Father's home ? Looking back to the few years He had spent in the ac- complishment of His great work upon the earth, what was there to meet His memory's gaze, but one dark picture of contempt and scorn, persecu- tion, penury, and wrong ? What could He look back upon, but the perversion of His most be- nevolent actions, the misconstruction of His most gracious designs, the rejection of His kind- est instructions, the misrepresentation of His tenderest words, and the wilful misunderstanding of the whole purpose of His mission ? What could He remember, but the persecution of un- provoked enemies, the neglect of pretended I WITH HIS PEOPLE. 215 friends ; the taunts of kinsmen according to the flesh, and the bitter malice of those whose pride His meekness reproved, whose prejudices His humility assailed ? What could He trace, but days of weariness and painfulness, and nights of watching, and fasting, and houseless wandering, in which He had been indebted for the supply of His wants to the mere refuse of that bounty with which His hand had clothed the earth, and filled the storehouses of those that despised Him, and had rarely known other shelter than the dark canopy which His own hand had spread over the earth, whose dews descended on His weary head, and chilled His aching limbs ? And what spot was there in such a picture on which His eye could fix one lingering look, when invited rather to look onward to the glory that was to be re- vealed in Him ? True it was, indeed, that all had not tracked His steps with the same enmity, all had not burned towards Him with the same hate, nor manifested the same blackness of in- gratitude. There had been a few given to Him by the Father, with whom He had occasionally held sweet conversation upon the mysteries of the kingdom of God ; to whom He had made known the gracious purposes of His coming, and laid bare many of the secrets of His heart. But what was there even in these to draw one feeling of His heart to earth, in the so near prospect of His 210 THE savior's sympathy ■ I Ik heavenly glory ? His intercourse even with tliem had been one of continual trial. He had been compelled incessantly to labor to overcome their prejudices, to instruct their ignorance, to check their ambition, to reprove their worldliness, to correct their misunderstanding, to chide their unbelief; He had been obliged to bear with their continual frowardness, to raise them from con- tinual falls, to support them amid frequent temptations, to endure even their contradictions and rebukes, and, looking forward a little mo- ment, to contemplate their denial of Him, and abandonment of Him to His enemies. Yet amid all this He loved them. Little as they deserved His love. He of His own good pleasure had set His love upon them. And even in the near ap- proach of His glorification, or rather, in the near termination of His earthly sufferings, and in the view of the opening door-way to His eternal dwelling-place, these few disciples, perverse though they had been, slow of heart to believe, and cold of heart to return His affection, yet still beloved with a boundless love, formed a bright spot on which His memory loved to linger, a chain which still bound His heart to the scene of His so many trials, privations, and dangers. 'Tis surely sweet, in contemplating '* the Hioji Priest of our profession,* who is now j)assed into * llcl). iii. 1. WITH HIS PEOPLE. 217 tlio heavens" to appear in the presence of God for His people, to view Him thus yielding to the tender sensibilities of that human nature which He assumed for their salvation, and in which He now " standeth at the right hand of God." 'Tis surely sweet to view Him thus, as man, yearning witli liveliest affection over the associates of His tried career, whom, from the midst of the people that the Father had given Him, He had chosen as the eye-witnesses of His miracles, the depositories of His doctrine, and the companions of His most familiar intercourse upon earth. May we not deliglit to gather from this view an indication of the interest with which He still regards His tried and tempted ones, of the sympathy with which He enters into all their sorrows, the tenderness with which He bears with all their weaknesses, the love with which He takes them in his arms, and lays them continually at the Father's feet in earnest supplication for them ? Dear friends and brethren, do ye want a friend ? O I is not here " a brother born for adversity," " a friend that sticketh closer than a brother?"* Yes ! though the review of the treatment He had met with on the earth presented such a scene of well-nigh unmitigated and unmingled woe, and thougli the prospect of the glory that awaited Him was one of sucli attractive splenilor, * IVov. Nvii, 17 ; xviii, iM. ■ 4 ',1 V i 218 THE SAVIOR S SYMPATHY such uiiiiiixi'tl delight, still do \\w feelings of His heart linger in fond anxiety about the loved ones He was leaving on the earth, and vent themselves in earnest supplication to the Father who had given them to Him. The point at which we have arrived, in the consideration of the solemn prayer with which His tender communion with His dis- ciples upon earth was closed, presents the Savior to us thus yearning over His chosen ones, con- templating their further stay in the world, by which He had been so tried, and committing them to the gracious keeping of His Holy Father. May the Lord God the Holy Spirit enable us to draw from this contemplation something profit- able to our souls, and glorify Jesus in us by re- vealing to us more and more of the tenderness of His sympathies, the value of His love, the pre- ciousness of His salvation ! I would invite you, dear brethren, to consider, first, how Jesus was leaving His disciples, — " in the world ;" secondly, to whose keeping He com- mitted them,— His " Holy father's;" thirdly, the end of His petitions for them,— their oneness with the Father and the Son. May the Spirit of Jesus teach me wliat to say to you on each of these points ! I. " And now," saith the blessed Jesus, " I am no more in the world . but these arc in the WITH HIS I'KOI'LE. 2ia world ; and I come to Thcc." It was not alone the thouglit of leaving His beloved disciules, which tonchcd the heart, and excited the tender feelings of the Savior towards them, in so pecu- liar a manner, at the present time. He knew, tliat, when a few short years were over, they sliould be witli Him for ever, sharing the glories of His kingdom, yea, sitting with Him upon His throne.* But it was the thought, where those years, short to Him who is eternal, but lono- enough to those who were to spend them upon earth, were to be passed ; it was the thought of their continued exposure to the trials which He was about to be delivered from, of the privation, the penury, the temptation, and the persecution, which they must endure in the world, that now called forth His tenderest sympathy towards them. He was leaving them in the world, whose mali- cious hatred of Him, on no other account than the holiness of His character. He had so bitterly experienced, and which. He well knew, would hate His image, as reflected in His chosen ones, with the same hatred with which it hated Him. He was leaving them to the same misconstruc- tion of their motives, the same cavilling at their instructions, the same mistaking of their words, the same hatred of their persons, the same oppo- sition to their principles and their cause, as He * Luke xxii. :i9, ao. THE SAVIOR S SYMPATHY liad Iliniscif experienced. lie was leaving tliem to be tried by the same poverty of circu-nstances, the same temptations of tlie devil, the same neglect and hatred of their kinsfolk and acquaint- ances, the same determined persecution of those who would think that, in killing them, they were doing God service,* which had formed so large a portion of that cup of bitterness which He him- self had drunk. He, to whom the Spirit was given without measure, f had " suffered, being tempted; ":]: He had groaned in spirit at the blindness and unbelief which He had encoun- tered :"§ He had been " exceeding sorrowful even unto death," || at the anticipation of the coming anguisli that was in store for Him; what then must He feel and fear for those whom He was leaving to the same tempta- tions, and for whom He foresaw the same trials, the same bitterness of anguish, the same excess of woe ? Whatever was the depth of His feeling, vnIuiI;. ever the intensity of afibctionate interest with which He regarded those whom He was thus leaving in the world,— and who can attempt to de- scribe those feelings without injuring them in the; description ?~we may be sure of this, that He * Juliii xvi. '1 I lid), ii. IS. f John iii. ;}4. § .Idliii xi. ;3i', ;JS. Malt. \x\i. JJt*. WITH HIS TEOPLE. 221 lias not lost a particle of Ilis interest in those that believe in Ilim. Still they are " in the world," exposed to all the trials, temptations, and dangers to which the more immediate followers of Jesus were exposed. Still they are a tried and tempted, and, in some cases, a persecuted people; they have been called npon to come out and be sepa- rate from the world, even while living in it, and, while doing so, are exposed to misrepresenta- tions, cavils, reproaches, and tribulation, just in proportion to the closeness of their conformity to Jesus, and the firmness and consistency of their devotedness to His name. Fightings without, and fears within;* the rancor of the devil, the seducing lusts of the flesh, and the opposition of the world, still surround, oppose, and endanger them. And, surely, He who died for them, and lives again, and is at the right hand of God, re- gards them with the same tender interest winch He has ever felt in His believing people. He knows that they are "in the world;" and He feels for them in all the trials, and sympathiocs with them in all the temptations, and succors them in all the dangers, to which, while in the world, they are exposed. H. The Lord Jesus was leaving His disciples, with the full knowledge of alf the trials and * 2 Cor. vii. 5. % THE SAVlOU's SYMPATIIY ■■ fh the difficulties to wliich their stay in the world would cx])ose them. But He leaves them not alone, any more than He was left alone when they abandoned Ilim. " I am not alone," He saith, "but I and the Father that sent me;"* and to the same giacious Father doth lie en- trust His loved ones. "Holy Father, keep, through thine own name, those whom Thou hast given me. The title, by which our Savior thus addresses the Father, while committing His disciples to His care, is well worthy of our attentive remark. He (•alls Him " Holy Father ;" and we may gather from His mention of this attribute of God, that He considered His holiness to be now engaged, as much as His love or mercy, in preserving those that honor His beloved Son. And how could this have been, but for the work which .lesus had now so nearly finished ? Surely it is the holiness of God, which makes it so impos- sible for Jlim even to look upon sin. It is the holiness of God which makes it absolutely neces- sary for Him to keep His declared purpose of punishing transgression, and which gives the sinner such awful reason to expect the full mea- sure of that wrath which He had denounced against inicjuity. The Holy Father cannot be reconciled to trangression ; neither can He * John xvi. S-2. W WJTII HIS PEOrLE. 223 permit "any evil to dwell with Him."* But when He hatli punislied the transgressions of sinners, in punishing His beloved Son ; when He hath poured out his wrath against sin, by treating Him as a sinner who knew no sin ;(• then even His holiness becomes engaged to take no more vengeance upon those whose sins have been punished in Jesus, but to accept and bless, to love and to keep tliose, whose transgressions have been atoned for by His blood. Yes, even that Holy God, who can in no wise be reconciled to iniquity, who can " in no wise clear the guilty," 13 bound by His very holiness to spare those, whose guilt IiPs been washed away by the blood of a sufficient substitute, whose iniquity has been borne away to a land not known, on the head of His own beloved Son.;]: The very mercy and love of God, infinite as they are, and delightful as it is to dwell upon them, would not have formed a sufficient security for the believer's safety, unless the holiness of God had also been satisfied, and enlisted with His other attributes in His salvation. But the Lord Jesus, knowing that He had now " finished the transgression, and made an end of sins, and made reconciliation for iniquity, and brought in ever lasting righteous- * Ps. V. 4. I o Cor. V. 21. I Sec Lev. xvi. 21, 22. • f 224 THE SAVIOR S SYMPATHY iff ... ' I ness,"* could appeal to tlic holiness of God for the salvation of those who had been given Ilim, and engage the awful justice of God itself on the side of the sinner that believeth in Him. And, but for the work of Jesus, and the indi- vidual application of that work to His own soul, what sinner could ever " give thanks at the re- membrance of the holiness of God?"'!' Tlic worldling, the careless, the unbelieving, will speak of the goodness and mercy of the Lord, and think that they can trust to a merciful God not to punish them as they deserve ; but they cannot think of the holiness of God without apprehen- sion and alarm. They can trust to His mercy to prevail over His holiness and truth ; but His holiness itself is, in fact, a ground of terror to their souls. But, blessed be the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, the believer in Him, who simply and heartily receives the record which God hath given concerning Him, can rejoice at the remembrance of His holiness, and find His name, as the "Holy" God, a staff' and shield to him. " God is holy," may the believer in Jesus now say, " and therefore will He faithfully perform all that He hath promised. He hath covenanted to forgive mine iniquities, and to remember my sins no more. He hath covenanted to give me a * Dan. ix 24. "1 Ps. XXX. 4. WITH HIS PEOPLE. 225 new heart, and put a right spirit within me, to. put His laws in my heart, and write them in my inward parts: He hath covenanted to be my God, and to make me one of His people ; * and though I see in myself nothing but the most ab- ject unworthiness of any such grace, yet, seeing the Lord my God is holy, I believe that what He hath promised He surely will make good." Thus doth the Father keep through His name those whom He hath given to Christ ; thus doth He answer the prayer of Jesus in their behalf, and preserve them by His holiness, and pledge to them His justice and His purity itself, as a guarantee for their salvation. ni. How different, however, was the object of Jesus' prayer on their behalf, from that low stan- dard with which professing believers are but too ready to be satisfied ! They are too easily con- tented with such a state, as they think gives them a hope of safety, and too readily acknowlege, that, so as they are saved, they care not much about anything beyond this. But Jesus prays to the Father, not only that His disciples may be kept, but " that they may be one, as He and the Father are one." How large, how vast, a measure of christian at- tainment is involved in the petition, that believers * ITel). viii. 10—12. 226 THE savior's sympathy I!) (I should be one, as God the Father and the Son are one. Consider, dear brethren, the objects expressed in this petition. It asks, that beh'evers should have no will but God's. " I came down from heaven," saith the blessed Jesus, " not to do mine own will, but the will of the Father that sent me."* " I do nothing of myself," saith He again ; " but as my Father hath taught me, I speak these things: and He that sent me is with me : the Father hath not left me alone ; for I do always those things that please Him."t And if believers truly had " fellowship with the Father and the Son,":]: would not such be their case too ? Would it not be the object of their lives, too, to do, not their own will, but His who hath sent them here, and to do al- ways such things as please Him? Yes, even such a conformity to the will of God as this doth Jesus pray for in behalf of His disciples, anu hath taught themselves continually to seek, in asking that the will of God may be done on earth, as it is done in heaven.§ And what doth the Lord Jesus ask for His peo- ple, as regards their conduct to one another? Still « that they may be one, as God the Father and the Son are one." Wliat continual stress doth He lay upon the mutual love and unity • John vi. 38. t 1 John i. 3. t John viii. 28, 29. § Matt. vi. 10. ii-li. '-n WITH HIS PECPLE, 227 of His disciples witli one another. " By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples,' He saith, " if ye have love one towards another."* And how are they to love one another ? Even as the blessed Jesus loves those for whom He shed His blood.t Oh, if there were more of this spirit among Christians, what a foretaste in- deed of heaven miglit they enjoy on earth? How would the Father be honored, "how would Jesus be glorified, how would the Spirit bear comfort- ing witness with their spirits that they are God's children, and feed them on the rich pastures of His grace ! Such conformity as this to the will of God, such love and union with one another, doth the Lord Jesus pray for, for His people : O ! that He would so stir up the hearts of Christians, that they would pray and strive for these things more earnestly for themselves ! We talk of being satisfied with mere safety ; but what safety can there be, except in conformity to the will of Jesus? It is not such conformity, indeed, that makes their salvation : but their being saved would surely produce such conformity ; and though it is the covenant of God, sealed with Jesus' blood, which makes the believer safe, that covenant pledges also such grace as would make him like Jesus. And O ! who shall dare to plead with Jesus His pro- John xiii. 8.5. t Jolin XV, \), ]•>. Q 'J 11 J i I ♦228 THE SAVIOR S SYMPATHY raises of forgiveness while habitually neglecting His promises of grace ? We have been privileged to enter in sonic measure, I trust, into the feelings of the blessed Savior, as He thought of leaving His disciples to the cruelties of an unbelieving world, and com- mitted them for safe keeping into His Father's care. And are not the feelings of Jesus in some faint measure shared by every one of His true disciples, when they too are drawing near the close of their pilgrimage, and each moment ex- pecting their summons to their Father's house? While weeping friends and relatives surround their couch, may they not take up the words of Jesus, and say, Weep not for us, but weep for yourselves and for your children.* And, surely, if at such an hour their hearts, in the midst of joyful hope, linger with fond anxiety about those dear ones whom they are leaving to all the trials and temptations, from which they are almost de- livered, they may look up to Jesus, confident of His sympathy, and commit those dear to them to Him in prayerful hope. Who would not wish to live so as thus to die ? Who would not wish so to " pass the time of his sojourning here," that when he lies upon his bed of death, and friends and relations cannot but weep their loss, his only subject of anxiety, his only cause of grief, may be the thought of the evils through which those * Luke xxiii. 28. WITH HIS PEOPLE. 229 dea'r to him must pass, before they can be landed on the heavenly shore. Dear Christian brethren; would ye thus die as Jesus died? Then must ye live as Jesus lived. He hath not only given Himself a sacrifice for your sins ; He hatli also " left you an example that ye should follow His steps."* And more than this ; as " He knows your frame, and re- membereth that ye are but dust,"t and as He knows the power of temptation, and the force of the world's hatred and opposition. He is still at the right hand of God pleading for your souls, and giving forth out of His own fulness to all that come as empty vessels to be filled. Only live by faith continually upon Him, and then will ye daily become more like Him, till ye see him as He is. Well doth He know indeed the trials and temptations to which ye are ex- posed; for what can ye have to encounter, by which He was not assailed 1^ -And knowing them, He has committed you for safe keeping to His Fatlier's care, and " none is able to pluck you out of the Father's hand."§ Yet, while the holiness of the Father is a pledge to you, dear brethren, of His faithfulness to His engagements, and the truth of His word, forget not also the as- surance it conveys of the necessity of holiness in * I Pet. ii. 21. I Heb. iv. 15. t Ps. ciii. 14. § Jolin X. 29. 230 THE savior's sympathy M^ tliosc tliat would dwell with Iliiii. Wliereforc " gird up the loins of your mind, be sober, and hope to the end for the grace that is to be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ; as obe- dient children, not fashioning yourselves accord- ing to the former lusts in your ignorance : but as He ' hich hath called you is holy, so be ye holy in all manner of conversation; because it is written, Be ye holy, for I am holy."* But, if " without holiness no man shall see the Lord," I" what must be your case, my poor fellow sinners, who are so far from holiness, that ye are following the ways of that world which hateth holiness, walking after your own hearts, which are enmity against God, living in sin by which Jesus was crucified ? Much as ye may console yourselves by thinking of the mercy of God, yet O ! remember that it is an infinitely holy God with whom ye have to do, with whom no evil can dwell, and whose kingdom, except ye be born again, ye can in no wise enter.;}: Be j)ersuaded then, dear friends, to give yourselves to Jesus, in whom alone the holiness and mercy of God are reconciled, and through whom alone ye can have life or peace. Surely the anxiety of Jesus, at leaving His disciples in the world, may show you in what a state of wickedness and * I IVt. i. 13— Ki. t Heb. xii. 14. i Jolin iii. 3. and WITH HIS PEOPLE. 231 enmity it lies. O ! come out, then, and be se- parate from it, wliilo tlie Lord .Jesus stands ready to receive you; and then, though ye may en- counter trial, and even persecution, at its hands, yet, when a few years at most are past, and ye are going the way whence ye sliall not return,* ye shall deem all your light afflictions unworthy to be mentioned in the prospect of the glory that shall be revealed in you.f * Job xvi. U'J. f Rom. viii, 18. S?3l> SERMON XIII. Tin: SON OF rEllDiriON. i iH i * I'"' 1 St. John xvii. 12. While I teas with them in the world, I hept them hi Thy name : those that Thou gavest me I have kept, and none of them is lost hut the son of perdition ; that the Scripture might be fulfilled. •' Like as a fatlier pitieth Ijis own cliildren, even so is tlie Lord merciful unto tliem that fear Him."* And what but the tender feelings of a parent, yearning over the loved ones whom God has given him, and, in the anticipation of the many trials for his little ones tlirough which he has himself been brought, committing them, * Ps. ciii. 13. \ THE SON OF I'KUDITION. 233 ■ 4 s I 'tept me the be en, ear Fa rod the ich \ us his own guardianship is about to be withdrawn, to tlie care and keeping of his heavenly Fa- ther, can give us any conception of the feelings which filled the heart of Jesus as He contemplated his separation from His chosen ones? With the tender solicitude of a fond parent, he had traced each symptom of their dispositions, had watched the gradual progress of their minds, as they opened day by day to the reception of the truth, Jiad checked their frowardness, had met their prejudices, had controlled their ambition, had engaged their love. The very weakness and frowardness, which had rendered necessary the utmost watchfulness and care, lest the enemy should get an advantage of them, and lure or entrap them to their fall, had served also to endear them the more to His heart, to call forth its more tender sympatliies in their behalf, and to increase the fond anxiety with which He would contemplate His removal from them. " While He had been with them in the world, he had indeed kept them" from the evil, kept them " in the Name " of the Lord. The care which He had exercised over them had so far been suc- cessful. His ready hand had been outstretched to deliver ti.em from peril. His wisdom had been exerted to guard them from the snares, laid to entrap them as well as Himself. His love had been ever ready tenderly to overrule, to check, 234 THE SON OF PERDITION. and to subdue their mutual strivings witli one another, their ebullitions of temper, their irre- gularities of feeling. His aptness to teach had been continually in exercise in exhibiting to them the evils of their hearts, and illustrating to them the necessity of their complete humiliation, their entire, their thorough change. And His watchfulness for the Father's glory had been in- cessantly in occupation, as He led their minds away from Himself to the Father that sent Him, kept down the imaginations of His temporal sovereignty, and led them to the gradual, the very slow perception, that His object was not an earthly throne, but the establishment of the Father's glory, and His own dominion in the hearts and souls of His spiritual people. His care had so far been successful. He had kept His disciples in the Name of the Father. The hatred or the allurements of the world, and the malice of the devil, had been unable to pluck them out of His hand. Yet the experience which He had had of the difficulty of keeping them; His knowlege of their Lailty, of their frowardness, of their ignorance, and their pre- judices, could not but excite an anxiety, lest they who had needed so much watchfulness, and been guarded with so much care, should, when that care was withdrawn, be seduced into danger, or tempted into sin. THE SON OF PERDITION. 235 In committing them, however, into the gra- cious keeping of His Holy Father, we repeat, the Lord Jesus was enabled to say, that, notwith- standing all the difficulties of the undertaking, not- withstanding all the obstacles presented by the state of the disciples themselves, and notwithstanding all the malice and hatred of the arch-e emy cf souls. He had, through His Almighty p( r. His wisdom, and His love, succeeded in keeping them in the Name of the Father. He had kept all that had been given Him. He had preserved and sus- tained all that the Father had bestowed upon Him. But in looking round upon His little flock, He saw a vacant seat. A place, which had till now been occupied by one of His twelve followers, was now deserted. And must He then, in commending to the Father's care the souls of those whom He had chosen and given to the Son ; must He, in remembering this false one's absence, lament before the Father, that one of His sheep had perished ; that the evil of the heart, and the malice of the devil, had been too strong for Him who is Almighty, and had robbed the Savior of one of the jewels of His crown ? Oh no ! not so indeed ! There was indeed a vacant place ; there was indeed a seat unoccu- pied ; there was indeed an absent one, who had, to outward sight, been one of the Lord's chosen •i 236 11 M Tff THE SON OF PERDITION. ones, but he had never been a child of God but "the son of perdition." Never had he been' one of those given by the Father as a precious gift to Christ, as His peculiar people ; but had been outwardly numbered among His followers, an awful instance of the corruption and depravity ol the human heart, and of the utter insufficiency of the greatest gifts, and highest privileges, to convert or keep a soul, which the Fatlier hath not chosen, the Son redeemed, nor the Spirit sanctified. A sad exception is indeed apparent in the Savior's words ; " those whom thou gavest me," saith He to the Father, « I have kept, and not one of them is lost; but" there is one lost of those who have been with me, one of those who have followed with me ; yet He has only returned to his own place : for he is - a son of perdition." ^ The lesson taught us by this sad exception in the number of the immediate personal follow- ers of the Son of God, is indeed of a far more pamful, but scarcely less necessary or less pro- fitable nature than that on which we have hitherto dwelt,-tlie serenity, the comfort, and the peace of His faithful disciples. The very considera- tion, indeed, of this lesson itself involves some of the most precious views of the security of believers : for though we find, indeed, a triitor H THE SON OF PERDITION. 237 among the immediate disciples of the Lord, we find him expressly excepted from the number of those given to the Savior, and described in terms which mark him as having been, from the first, all that the full development of the hidden evils of his heart proved him to be. We would desire to approach the considera- tion of the case of this wretched man, whose painful treachery and awful fall are set forth to us as a warning that we should shun his steps, with a spirit of deep solemnity ; and I would entreat the Lord, and beseech you, brethren, to join the prayer, that He will so bless our meditations upon the subject, that, being convinced of tlie depravity of our own natures, and of the mere grace that maketh any one of us to differ from this "son of perdition," we may be humbled as regards ourselves, and drawn to prize more highly, and to cling more closely to, those pro- mises, which in Christ Jesus are Yea, and Amen, to the glory of the Father.* L Let me invite you to consider, dear brethren, In the first place, what Judas was, that the examination of his outward privileges and pro. fession may giv . all professors warning, and lead them to inquire what they have more than * 2 Cor. i. 20. 238 THE SON OF PERDITION. the profession of the Name of Christ. We liavc no other account of the calhng '-f Judas, tlian that which tliree evangelists give us of his being numbered among the twelve. We have no account of his individual call to follow Jesus : but we see that he was outwardly at least a professor of attachment to His name and cause. We know not from what line of life he had been withdrawn, from what course of sin he had been called away to follow Jesus : but this we know, that he was baptized unto His name, and pro- fessed himself His disciple, and outwardly fol- lowed His steps. He was thus far, then, similarly circumstanced with the nominally Christian world of the present day, whose Christianity consists in having been baptized, in having been taught some of the Gospel truths, and gone, when others went, to worship in a christian house of prayer. Yet Judas was more than this. He had not been merely numbered among the crowd, that were attracted by the miracles, and pleased with the words, of Jesus : he had not merely been one of those that had come for instruction to Christ, and had sat at His feet to hear His words : he had been admitted to the private teachings of the Savior, when He made known to the few the mysteries of the kingdom of God, of which others THE SON OF PERDITION. 239 heard but in parables. Yet more than this, he had been endowed with the power of working miracles : he had shared in the delegated powers of the commission " to preach, and to have power to heal sicknesses, and to cast out devils;"* and had been one of those that with exultation had returned to Jesus, and " told Him all things, that they had done and taught."! And what a warning is he, then, to those who bear now the same commission to preach the name of Jesus, and to assail the kingdom of Satan with weapons " mighty through God to the pulling down of his strong holds !" Through the power of the Name they preach, the souls of sinners may be freed from the chains with which Satan binds them : but O ! how sad their case, if their own spirits have not been rescued from their bondage, their souls not built upon the foundation of the Lord, their "names "not " written in heaven!" But the measure of the wretched Judas's privi- leges stopped not here. He was not alone endued with honors of so high a character as these ; but was admitted to the secret communion of the Savior with His loved ones, when, in the pros- pect of those woes, to which the treason of this wretched man was about to deliver Him up, He broke the bread and poured out the wine with • Mark iii. 14, 15. f Mark vi. 30. l^ ■} 240 THE SON OF PERDITION. i \ i His disciples, teaching them, and all that after- wards should love Him, thus to " show forth His death " as a sacrifice for sinners, " till He him- self should come again." * Yes, even on this solemn occasion was Judas present ; even of this blessed and most solemn feast was he permitted to partake; and while his covetous heart was meditating the betrayal of his Master, he tasted of the symbols of those sufferings, for which his own treachery was preparing the way, and of which, determined though they were by God, yet the guilt lay upon his soul. As He who knew the heart forbade not Judas to partake this feast, so neither can they who cannot see the heart forbid the approach of those, who hide their enmity under the profession of love to Christ ; but O ! what an awful lesson should the case of Judas teach all, who draw near to taste the sacred me- morials of a Savior's dying love, in showing them that they may be partakers even of such a feast as this, and yet be, after all, but children of per- dition ! H. Thus highly privileged was the wretched Judas, partaker apparently of every advantage which the most favored of his fellow disciples enjoyed, admitted to the same opportunities of * 1 Cor. xi. 2fi. THE SON OF PERDITION. 241 instructions, endowed with the same wonder-work- ing powers, and broiiglit into the same intimate comni union with tlie Savior, which the others had. Sucli he had been ; but turn we, secondly, to the sad contrast of what he thus had been with what lie had not been. Tliougli outwardly called, and placed among- the Lord's disciples, and, as His follower, a i)ro- fessor of His religion, yet it is evident that he had not been a believer. His case in this re- spect presents a view of the distinction between that belief which the nominally Christian world has, and that faith through which the soul is justified and " at peace with God." * The fact of Judas being a follower of Christ shows that he believed many things concerning Him. Doubt- less he ackno,vleged to the full extent, as a matter of history, the claims of Jesus to be the Messiah ; he recognised the fulfilment in Him of the pro- phecies which spake of the coming Christ, " who should be ruler in Israel ;"i- and acknowleged that the Spirit which dwelt in Him, through which He did so many mighty works, and " spake as never man spake," was the eternal Spirit of the Lord of Hosts. But he had not that faith, which applied to his soul the merits of the Savior ; he believed with the understanding, but he believed not with the heart ; his faith was merely an his- U I m i i I:; H s k Hii: ^ 242 THE SON OF PERDITION. torical faith, uninfluential, powerless, dead. While professing a belief in Jesus, and even join- ing with the lips in tl at full confession, by which the ardent Peter acknowleged Him to be "the Christ, the Son of the living God,"* he yet knew not Jesus as a Savior, nor had that faith in him whicli is unto salvation. And will not ye be ■warned by his case, my dear friends, whose belief is nothing more than the acknowlegement of cer- tain truths which ye have learned in the cate- chism ; but who are without that living faith, which worketh by the love of Jesus, t which clothes the sinner with the righteousness of Jesus, :{: and brings the soul into a living spiritual union with Him.§ What will it profit you, though ye say ye have faith, if your faith have not those fruits, by which a genuine living faith is known ? || Yet ye may say, ye have these fruits. Let as then further observe, in considering what Judas had not been, that, though outwardly moral in his conduct, he had not been at peace with God, had not been delivered from the carnal mvid, nor become in truth a servant of Jesus. Though so little is said in the word of God concerning Judas, yet we may easily perceive that there could have * John vi. G9. 1 Kom. iil. 22. t Gal. V. 6. § John xiv. 23, 24. James ii. 14. THE SON OF PERDITION. 243 you, have i been no glaring inconsistency between his pro- fession and his conduct. A measure of confi- dence was unanimously reposed in him, as he was the treasurer of the little funds of their so- ciety : and so little had any suspicion attached to his character, that the eleven could not under- stand the application of the Savior's words to him, when urging him to be speedy in the ac- complishment of the evil designs of his heart.* As far, then, as outward morality went, and the apparent propi-iety of his conduct, there was no inconsistency between his profession and his practice : but his heart was still unchanged, it was still at enmity with God, and in bondage to sin. And can the mere observance of however strict morality and decency of conduct be all the evidence, then, that is necessary to prove the genuineness of faith ? Nay, surely these have been found in those who had never heard of Jesus; but the faith which is in Him "purifies the heart," " worketh by love " to God, His word, His sabbaths, His house. His people ; withdraws the aflfections from the world, and centres them in Jesus ;t subdues the pride, corrects the tem- pers, keeps a watch over the tongue, and makes every false way, and every idle word, and every unholy thought, a loathsome thing to the soul of * John xiii. 29. f Col. iii. 2. II 2 J • ... •244 THE SON OF PERDITION. the believer. Judge thrn, donr friends, not by mere outward deccmcy, but by these inward and spiritual tests, whether ye have indeed that faith which justifies the soul. But, to come to more minute particvdars, we observe, that though Judas had been possessed of high religious privileges ; though he had been in profession a Christian, and, in outward conduct, not an inconsistent one ; though he had so much faitli as to have power over the devils ; yet he had not resisted the devil in his own heart ; he had not combated, nor mortified his besetting sin. We need look no deeper for a motive to that dark and dreadfal act of treachery, which closed his connexion with the followers of Jesus, than to the influence of the prevailing sin of his heart, the sin of covetousness. This was the seed, the treachery was the fruit ; and awful as was his treason, awful in every aspect in which we can regard it, it was but the natural fruit of un- checked covetousness, of the unmortified " love of money, the root of all evil."* And what could all his professions amount to, what all his privi- leges avail, what all his outward moralities advantage him, when there was a secret sin wil- fully indulged, a secret lust unchecked, a hidden evil raging uncontrolled ? Yoa, and what will * 1 Tim. vi. 10. THE SON OF PERDITION. 245 the highest amount of profession avail any one now, while the heart is still in bondage to some cherished sin, still tender to some favorite passion, though every other be cut ofF? O ! let this ques- tion be one of solemn impressiveness with those who are professors of something more than the world cares for, professors of a living faith and lively hope in Jesus. He that in truth enlists with Him, as the captain of His salvation, de- clares war against every passion, every sin, every propensity to evil, though it may have been dear to him as a right hand, or cherished as a right eye.* He can hold no terms with sin, with any sin, with any one sin : and though, the more he sees and knows of himself, the more full of sin he knows himself to be, yet he wages an exterminating warfare against all his cor- ruptions, never to lay down the arms of faith and prayer, till victory is declared. Be the sin what it may, my brethren, be it covetousness, or lust, or drunkenness, or excess ; be it pride, or malice, or envy, or hatred, or revenge; be it strife, or slander, or falsehood, or evil speak- ing ; if it be willingly indulged, if it be che- rished, if it be secretly hugged to the heart, it is a worm at the root of the must flou- rishing professions, which will cause them all to * Matt. V. 29, 30. ' f 246 THE SON OF PERDITION. witlicr and decay at the heat of temptation, or the fire of trial. r( ' 1 ¥ ir^ III. Yet there are one or two suggestions, arising from the melancholy case of Judas, whose consideration, by way of application, may be pro- fitable to our souls. Consider, then, dear friends, that, though Judas is called the son of perdition, he is by this description simply spoken of as one left to himself, and to the evil workings of his own natural heart. From the time that Adam fell, every one of his descendants is by nature a child of perdition, and there is nothing but the sovereign grace of God giving any of them to Jesus, which makes them to differ from their fellow-sinners. Yet observe, that Judas was so far from being de- creed to perdition, or kept away from believing in Jesus, that, on the contrary, he had every privi- lege, every advantage,— but the freedom of his corrupt will chose the evil and refused the good. There are but too many — are there none of you, my poor fellow-sinners, among the number?— who are ready to charge your own obstinacy, and world- liness, and sin upon God, as if ye were willing to return to God, but He prevented you ? O ! be- ware, how ye thus make God the author of your sins. The Lord has provided you an atonement in the blood of Jesus ; He has furnished you with THE SON OF PERDITION. 247 ^ i means of grace, and given you opi orturitics of coming to Him through Jesus. Li y-- 111 not return, if ye refuse to hearken, if yr will still go on in worldliness and sin, sure' ' )rv blood must be upon your own heads. How awful is this thought ! Dear friends and fellow-sinners, spend not your precious time in calculating whether ye can come or not ; but come : " ho ! every one that thirsteth, come ye to the waters, and he that hath no money ; come ye, buy and eat, yea, come, buy wine and milk without money and without price."*" Consider again, dear friends, from Judas' case, into what awful depths the indulgence of a single secret sin may plunge the soul. Judas was covetous; through covetousness he betrayed his Master ; and, in the bitterness of unavailing re- morse, became his own murderer. And are ye quite sure, my fellow-sinners, that such may not yet be your case ? Oh, ** let him that thinketh he standeth take heed lest he fall."f Yet, indeed, what else are ye doing daily, whosoever of you, while professing the name of Jesus, are yet cherish- ing any known sin ? Are ye not thus betraying Jesus ; are ye not thus crucifying Him afresh ; are ye not thus murdering your own souls ? Ye may not so expose yourselves, as Judas did, to the execrations of the world, as the open traitors, the * Isa. Iv. 1. t 1 Cor. x. 12. H i 11 I, •248 THE SON OF PERDITION. inurderoTs of your Lord : but, if left to yourselves, what can ye be, if ye go on in indulged sin, what can ye be, but children of perdition ? O ! guard then, dear brethren, each avenue of your heart, watch every motion, check every trace of sin ; for " behold how great a matter a little fire kindleth."* Yet, once more, consider, that though there is so much in the case of Judas to cause the mere professor to tremble, and to load every one to search out the hidden evils of his heart, yet there is nothing in his fall to lead the humble believer, the single-hearted follower of Jesus, to doubt the security and final preservation of every child of God. None of those that were given to Jesus was lost ; he only perished who was the " son of perdition." Fear not, dear brethren in the Lord Jesus, to trust sim])ly , unreservedly, to Jesus. Do ye know His voice ; do ye follow Him as your shepherd ? Then be assured, " His sheep shall never perish, neither shall any pluck them out of His hand."t Only remember that your security is not of yourselves, but only in the grace and promises of Jesus. Lie, then, in Jiumility at His feet ; cling in simplicity to His cross ; for " they that trust in Him shall want no manner of thing that is good :":j: and " the foundation of God * .Taines iii. 5. .| Jolm x :>M. ,' Vs. xxxiv. 10. m if '> THE SON OF I'ERDITION. 249 selves, , vvliat guard heart, P sin ; e fire still staiideth sure, having this seal, The Lord knoweth them that are His; and, Let every one that nameth the name of Christ depart from iniquity."* * 2Tini. ii. 19. lere is mere ne to there iever, bt the did of Jesus on of Lord . Do your shall 3ut of Mirity and t His ' they thing God 250 SERMON XIV. t'lIRTSrS JOY FULFILLED IN HIS PEOPLE. St. John xvii. 13. A7id noiv come I to thee : and these things I speak in the world, that they might have my joy ful- fiUed in themselves. The mention of their Lord's intended departure out of this world to tlie Father, and the thouo-ht of their own desolate condition when He should be withdrawn from them, were calculated ^ im- press tlie disciples with melancholy and giooni. The intercourse which they had been permitted to enjoy with one so full of tenderness, of grace, and love, as the Lord Jesus, could scarce have failed of exciting in their bosoms an ardent and grateful affection for His person. The tears, tl of natural sorrow, shed at the thought of separa # t • CHRIST S JOY FULFILLED. 251 1 tion from one dearly loved, must doubtless have flowed freely from the eyes of those who now heard Him speaking of His departure, and pre- paring, as it were, for the close of His earthly communion with them. But there were causes, deeper than their mere feelings of personal friendship and grateful at- tachment, which, it may be supposed, were work- ing together iv their bosoms to produce mingled sensations of apprehension and distress at the contemplation of their Lord's decease. Not merely would they apprehend in such an event the death of alt their fondly-cherished hopes of temporal advancement, but they must have been indeed ignoran*, of themselves, not to have dis- covered their own incompetency to meet the various trials, to which their being taken know- lege of as having been with Jesus* v.ould expose tliem, and not to have felt that those very dis- positions, which were so great a cause of an.x"^tv to their beloved Lord, — their frowardness, their prejudices, and their pride,— disqualified them sadly for self-guidance, self-direction, and self- keeping. While, then, die heart of the Loid Jesus him- self was supported, in the anticipation of His coming conflict, by the vu v, which His eye, l)iercing through the daiK clouds tliat hung im- * Acts iv. 1.3. iSP 4 i u. ■ i i ! 252 CmtlSl's JOV FULFILLED "•cdmte y aro„,„l Him, could take of that bright heaven beyond, ia which Ho should bo ".kri- fied wuh the glory which He had had with the Father before the world was," and should share H,s glories with those whom He was now leaving >n such a perilous condition,_a«V prospect^ hounded as it was by the limits of their present lior.zon, seemed to present nothing but one view of wretchedness, desolateness, and woe. A se- vered friendship, shattered connexions, broken ties of depeadance and affection, oatward hatred, mutual jealousies, and inward fears, were all that with the eye of sense they could look upon as the eonsequeaces of their Lord's decease. Strong, then, must have been the consolations suggested to a spirit of faith, which, mingling with such topics of distress as these, could give a eoloriag of joy to the pictare, on which the eye of the disciples was restiag at such an hour as this Deep must have been the well-spring „f comfort, which could supply them a draught of eonsolatioa, aad even of peace and joy, when the eup presented to their lips was brimming with the apparently anmiagled distresses of these pamtul moments. Yet it is of joy that the Savior speaks, as being even now ,n preparation for His cliosen ones; of a joy, which, uatouched by the maay causes of 1.0 i.l JrlillM i^-5 S Ua IIIII20 12.2 1.8 1.25 1.4 1.6 .< 6" - ► V2 ^ /}. ^;j o ^2 em /A <$>. Photographic Sciences Corporation 23 WEST MAIN STREET WEBSTER, NY. 1458C (716) 872-4503 ^^ V \^^ \ ^9) y ^. ^:;. ;\ \j --b" ^ V ^