SERMONS. SERMONS PREACHED IN ST. AxNDREW'S CHURCH, QUEBEC, By JOHN COOK, D.D., LL.D. MONTREAL. DAWSON BROTHERS, PUBLISHERS. 1888. (7P^ J- Entered according to Act of Parliament, in the year one thousand eight hundred and elghty-BBven, by Jubm Cook, D.D., in the office of the Minister of Agriculture, Ottawa. PBE88 0F John Lovell & Son, Montreal. / ; / era all ttili0 avt, ov liat»e bttn m^mbtva of ®t»tter, m^tvtvtv now otaittwb, i0 ixfftttionaitin inotvibttf, ao a memorial of » fUitttottrti ra^tenliiti0 omv mtii itifi^ nflti vtav0, Sf. Andrew's Manse, Quebec, i888. CONTENTS. I. CHRIST THE LAMB OF GOD. St. John i, 39. Behold the Lamb of God which taketh away the sin of the world. Page I II. CHRIST THE REVEALER OF GOD St. John i, 18. No man hath seen God at any time ; the only begotten Son, which is in the bosom of the Father, he hath declared him. 14 III. CHRIST THE LIVING SAVIOUR, AND LORD. Hbdrbws xii, 3. Looking unto Jesus. 28 IV. THE SPIRITUAL KINDRED OF CHRIST. St. Matthew xii, 46-50. While he yet talked to the people, behold his mother and his brethren stood without desiring to speak with him. Then one said unto him, behold thy mother and thy brethren stand without, desiring to speak with thee. But he answered and said unto him that told him, who is my mother ? And who are my brethren ? And he stretched forth his hand toward his disciples and said, behold my mother and my brethren ! For whosoever shall do the will of my Father which is in heaven, the same is my brother, and sister, and mother. 40 VI CONTENTS. V. CHRIST'S MISSION ON EARTH. St. Matthew xx, 36, aj, a8. Whosoever will be great among you, let him be your minister, and whoso- ever will be chief among you, let him be your servant, even as the Son of man came not to be ministered unto, but to minister, and to give his life a ransom for many. Page 53 VI. THE DOCTRINE OF REWARD. St. Matthew x, 41, ^u. He that receivcth a prophet in the name of a prophet shall receive a pro- phet's reward ; and he that receiveth a righteous man in the name of a righteous man shall receive a righteous man's reward ; and whosoever shall give to drink unto one of these little ones a cup of cold water only, in the name of a disciple, verily I say unto you, he shall in no wise lose his reward. 65 VII. THE WEIGHTIER MATTERS OF THE LAW. St. Matthew xxtii, 23. Woe unto you Scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites ; for ye pay tithe of mint, and anise, and cummin, and have omitted the weightier matters of the law, judgment, mercy and faith ; these ought ye to have done, and not to leave the other undone. 77 VIII. THE TWO GREAT COMMANDMENTS. St. Matthew xxii, 35-40, And one of them, a lawyer, asked him a question tempting him. Master, which is the great commandment in the law ? And he said unto him. Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. This is the great and first commandment. And a second like unto it is this. Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets. 90 IX. THE SEPARATE FUNCTIONS OF LAW AND LOVE. I. Timothy i, 9. Knowing this that the law is not made for a righteous man, but for the law- less and disobedient. 102 CONTENTS. VII X. CHRIST'S DOCTRINE, HOW TO BE TESTED. St. John, vii, 17. If iiny n)an will do his will, he shall know of the doctrine, whether it be of God, or wlietlicr I speak of myself. II4 XI. OUTER AND INNER CREED IN MEN. St. Matthew vi, 23. If, the.efore, the U\iht that is in thee be darkness, how great is that dark- ness. Page 129 XII. GOVERNMENT OF THE THOUGHTS. PsAuM cxix, I JJ. I hate vain thoughts : but thy law do I love. I40 XIII. INFLUENCE UPON OTHERS FOR GOOD OR EVIL. Psalm xl, 3. He hath put a new song in my mouth, even praise unto our God : many shall see it, and fear, and shall trust in the Lord. I53 XIV. CALLING EVIL GOOD AND GOOD EVIL. Isaiah v, 30. "Woe unto them that call evil good, and good evil ; that put darkness for light, and light for darkness ; that put bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter. 166 XV. THE DANGER OF RELAPSE INTO SIN. St. Matthew xii, 43, 44, 45. When the unclean spirit is gone out of a man, he walketh through dry places, seeking rest and findeth none. Then he saith, I will return into my house from whence I came out ; and when he is come, he findeth it empty, swept and garnished. Then goeth he, and taketh with himself seven other spirits more wicked than himself, and they enter in and dwell there ; and the last state of that man is worse than the first. 179 VIII CONTENTS. XVI. DO MEN GROW BETTER AS THEY GROW OLDER. Psalm xcii, 13, 14, 15. Those that be planted in the house of the Lord shall flourish in the courts oi our God. ITiey shall still bring forth fruit in old age ; they shall be fat and flourishing ; to shew that the Lord is upright ; he is my rock and there is no unrighteousness in him. Page 191 XVII. COMPARATIVE DANGER OF POVERTY AND RICHES. Philippians iv, la. I know both how to be abased, and I know how to abound : everywhere, and in all things, I am instructed both to be full and to be hungry, both to abound and to suffer need. 203 XVIII. THE IMMUTABILITY OF THE DIVINE WORD. Isaiah xI, 6, 7, 8. The voice said, cry. And he said, what shall I cry ? All flesh is grass, and i.W the goodliness thereof is as the flower of the field : The grass vvithereth, the flower fadeth ; because the Spirit of the Lord bloweth upon it : surely the people is grass. The grass withereth, the flower fadeth ; but the Word of our God shall stand for ever. 2l6 XIX. THE ABSENCE OF CHANGE GIVING RISE TO UNGODLINESS. Psalm Iv, 19. Because they have no changes, therefore they fear not God. 227 XX. WHY IS THERE NOT MORE EVIDENCE OF A FUTURE LIFE. Job xiv, 14. If a man die shall he live again ? 242 CONTENTS. IX XXL THE PURPOSE OF CHRIST'S DEPARTURE, AND THE PROMISE OF HIS RETURN. St, John xiv, 2, 3. In my Father's house are nany mansions : if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you unto myself; that where I am there ye may be also. p^g^ 257 XXII. THE WILL OF CHRIST THAT HIS PEOPLE BE WITH HIM. St. John xvii, 24. Father, I will that they also whom thou hast given me be with me, where I am ; that they may behold my glory, which thou hast given me. 27 1 XXIII. THE REVELATION AND EXECUTION OF JUDGMENT. Romans ii, 5. St. Jude xiv, 15. The day of wrath and revelation of the righteous judgment of God. And Enoch also, seventh from Adam, prophesied of these, saying, Behold the Lord Cometh with ten thousands of his saints to execute judgment upon all, and to convince all that are ungodly among them of all their ungodly deeds which they have ungodly committed, and of all their hard speeches which ungodly sinners have spoken against him. 285 XXIV. SELF EXAMINATION. 2 Cor. xiii, 5. Prove your own selves. jog XXV. COMMUNION WITH GOD. Exodus xxv, 22. I will commune with thee from above the mercy-seat. ii i X CONTENTS. XXVI. SENSE OF DIVINE LOVE PROMrTING TO OBEDIENCE. Psalm cxix, 32, I will run the way of thy commandments when thou shalt enlarge my heart. XXVII. THE FUTURE OF THE CHURCH EXPECTED BY ST. PAUL. Ephesians iv, II, 12, 13. And he gave some apostles t and some prophets : and some evangelists : and some pastors and teachers, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ, till we all come in the unity of the fa.th, and of the know- ledge of the Son of God, unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ- Page 337 SERMUNS. I. CHRIST THE LAMB OF GOD. St. John I. 29. Behold ike Lamb of God which taketk away the sin o/tki wo" 'd. It is a noble nature with which God has endowed us, the children of men. It would be untrue to ourselves and unthankful to God to disown or be insensible to the noble- ness of it. It has powers giving it such ample superiority in this lower world ; it has so many sources of large and exalted enjoyment opened up to it ; it can so observe, and remember and judge and combine; it has such capacities of social affection ; it has such apprehensions of moral rectitude ; it has such aspirings to the God and Maker of all. Verily, as said the ancient patriarch, " There is a spirit in man, and the inspiration of the Almighty giveth him understanding." Well might the Apostle claim honour for all so richly endowed by the God who gave them being. Well may we judge that Scripture saying true, that man — how far soever he may and must be from the Infinite was made in the image of God. Well might Paul found his reasonings with the Athenians, concerning God, on what certain of their own poets had said : " For we are also his offspring." Of all on earth the nature of man approaches the nearest to that of God. Then in the long course of the world's history, there are so many shining tokens and trophies of what man can do ; what labors he can undergo ; B 2 Christ the Lamb of God. what acts of magnanimity he can perform ; what works of genius he can produce ; what capacity there is for manly daring and womanly courage, constancy, and endurance, even more worthy of admiration. What stores of science has not man accumulated ! What treasures of art ! How loftily he has sung of nature and of nature's God ! To what noble harmonies has the immortal verse been joined ! How strong he has showed in the battle of life! How calm in the hour of death! Is it not much to feel that we are kindred with the great and good ones of our race, made of one blood, children of one stock, inheritors of a common nature, which they have proved to be so worthy ? Engaged in such contemplations, shutting out from the mind's view whatever might introduce a different train of thought and feeling — even, as in ancient times, it was a proud Doast for any one to be able to say — while recount- ing the victories and the achievements of the great republic, I also am a Roman ; so in view of the demonstrated powers and capacities of our nature, there might be felt a like exultation in saying : I also am a man — one of a race which God has endowed so richly. But is there no drawback to such exultation — nothing to check the self-complacent feeling so ready to spring up in man's bosom ; nothing to make him bow his head in shame ; nothing to shake his soul with terror ? Alas ! amidst the many powers and affections of man's nature, raising him so far above all other creatures here below, there is one root of bitterness. That is sin — the conscious- ness of sin — that is in every bosom, and though man often refuses to entertain it, or regard it, though he turns his eyes from it, and would fain think it is not, there it still is, ever ready, spectre-like, to spring up, filling the soul with remorse for the past, with apprehension for the future, and giving a humiliating sense of unworthiness and guilt. Ah ! it is no light thing sin, whatever a thoughtless world may venture to say of it. What does so degrade a man in his own apprehension, even when no eye sees him and no soul Christ the Lamb of God. 3 is conscious of the evil ? What would he so gladly conceal from the knowledge of others, and palliate to their appre- hensions, and his own ? What makes him fear death ? What gives a fearful looking for of judgment ? What gives terrible thoughts of the worm that never dieth, and the fire that is never quenched ? What is even now as a gnawing worm and a scorching fire ? What, but sin — the conscious- ness of sin ! Is it a light thing which does all this ? With all man's wisdom, is he able to counteract its working; with all his power, has he strength to dismiss it; with all his energy, can he set it at nought ? No. In the sober hours, when reason is allowed to have freest scope, let it be turned to the consideration of a man himself, and there will be the consciousness of sin. Whenever, from any cpuse, conscience is most acutely alive to moral distinctions, such consciousness of sin will be clearest and deepest. At every season, when God is most directly contemplated, this consciousness will rise up in the soul. And often when in the dissolution of soul and body, other thoughts and feel- ings pass away, // remains, filling the dark valley with images of terror and putting its sting into the hand of death. This consciousness of sin has respect to the past and to the future. In respect of the past, it gives the feeling of guilt, of danger, of desert of punishment. It makes a man feel that he has placed himself in opposition to God, the will of God, the law of God. It makes a man feel that he is subject to the penalties of the law he has violated. How shall he get out of a position so hopeless as that into which rebellion against God has brought him ? How shall he escape the execution of the sentence which the law of God pronounces with such emphatic decision on the sinner ? Will repentance do ? How does he know that it will do ? In every age there have been evident tokens of the appre- hension in man's spirit that it will not do. What else were the sacrifices which men were everywhere ready to ofifer — not withholding even the fruit of the body to make atone- 4 Christ the Lamb of God. ment for the sin of the soul ? Wherefore were such sacrifices offered, if there were no fear in the heart that the tears and even the change of a sincere repentance might not avail ? But even if repentance would avail, is it in man to repent, repent truly, repent of all sin, both in the sense of being sorry for it, and in the sense of forsaking it ? Is it in man's own power so to repent, as that even his very repentance shall not have a measure of sin in it ? If the sinner were to express his true condition — apart, that is, from the pro- visions of the Gospel — it would be in such terms as these: " I know not if repentance is all that the necessities of the Divine Government require to ensure the sinner's pardon, and, if it were, my repentance is not itself able to stand without challenge the judgment of God. How then may I become just with God ? How may I hope for acquittal at his bar ? How escape that condemnation from Him, which the condemnation of conscience foreshadows and foretells?" But the consciousness of sin has respect also to the future. I mean now the future of this present life. In respect of it, it gives the feeling of weakness, moral weak- ness, and inability to resist sin. The consciousness of sin in a man is not merely the feeling that he has sinned, but the feeling also that he is inclined to sin ; that the tendency is in him, and that unaided and alone he is unable to resist it. How, with any adequate idea of the demands of God's holy law, demands suited to the nature of man, and to disregard which, is not sin only, but folly, degradation and dishonour, to render to the law a perfect obedience ; how to keep the heart so that no vain thought shall lodge within it, and no evil affection rule over it ; how to set such watch upon the tongue, as that no word either idle or unprofitable shall be uttered by it ; how to regulate the whole tenor of every-day life in perfect accordance not only with honesty and truth, but w ith holy charity ; how to walk with God in habitual mindfulness, in peaceful communion and holy obedience ; how to do all this, as Christ the Lamb of God. 6 a good man should do, and find his delight in doing, the sinner knows not, nor can understand. If the sinner were to express his true condition, in this respect, apart that is, from the provisions of the Gospel, it would be in such terms as these : " I am burdened with guilt, but were it all taken away, and I left in the moral state in which I now am, I should speedily incur fresh guilt, and be as heavily burdened as before. Oh ! how am I to become holy in- deed ? How to be freed from the slavery under which I groan, to lusts and passions which I should not obey, but which I cannot control ? There is a * law in my members warring against the law of my mind, and bringing me into captivity to the law of sin, which is in my members. O wretched man that I am, who shall deliver me from the body of this death ' ? " In respect of the past, therefore, the necessities of the sinner require that something be done/(?r him ; something to alter the legal position in which he stands, as self- condemned, and God-condemned ; something that shall shield him from the penalties of the law ; something that shall lift the burden of fear and apprehension of conscious guilt from off his spirit, and make him able to see God loving and reconciled notwithstanding all his sins. And, in respect of the future, the sinner requires that something be done in him, giving a new turn to his inclinations and desires, imparting fresh energy and power to such moral purposes as he may be induced to form, inclining him to what is good, strengthening him to hold by what is good. Only thus could his sins be effectually taken away — so taken away as that he may hope to stand before God as an accepted child of the heavenly family now, and be finally received as a holy member of that great family here- after, in the kingdom of glory above ; and thus it is that Jesus Christ, the Lamb of God, takes away sin. As respects guilt, he takes it away by the sacrifice of himself. It is not only as expressive of his meekness and innocence, and perfect purity, that he is called the 6 Christ the Lamb of God. Lamb of God, but as betokening his voluntary sacrifice of himself; that sacrifice of which the ordinance of the Sup- per is a memorial, and the words in which he instituted it a sufficient intimation and evidence — "This is my body broken for you." " This cup is the new covenant in my blood, shed for many, for the remission of sins," — that sacrifice, by " the one offering of which he hath perfected for ever all those that are sanctified." Objections have been raised to this doctrine of the sacrificial offering of Christ. Why should one suffer for others ? How is it to be supposed that God would have pleasure in the sufferings of a holy and innocent person ? How should the sufferings of one atone for the sins of all ? These and questions such as these readily occur to most, and as it were counteract the Scripture doctrine of the Lamb of God taking away the sin of the world. Yet there is no real force in them, as if they presented difficulties from which our moral nature recoils, or represented what it could never be reconciled to. It is an act of virtue, to which, in the extent in which it appears in the world, we accord the tribute of approval and admiration, when one man takes on himself to bear the consequences of the faults of others, and so prevents or heals the sorrows which they would otherwise endure ? Such self-sacrifice for others the world, bad as it is, has ever admired and honoured, and when carried to a great and unwonted extent has seen in it the highest virtue. Did not Rome honour of old the hero who leaped into the gulf that the city might be saved, and does not all pos- terity ratify the judgment formed of his nobleness of pur- pose ? And in whom does this highest virtue, that which goes deepest into men's hearts, and gains most ready acknowledgment, appear more appropriately than in God's own Son ; one with God in respect of his divinity, perfectly holy and unspotted in his human nature ? The sacrifice of Jesus is the greatest act of virtue, the most marvellous in the extent of its condescension and love, which, not only the history of the world records, but which man's heart can Christ tJic Lamb of God. 7 conceive ; but it is in its nature akin to acts of virtue which all approve, and to which true Christianity is ever {giving rise. For does not St. John say : " Hereby perceive we the love of God, because he laid down his life for us ; and we ou^ht to lay down our lives for the brethren." It is ever to be remembered that the sacrifice of Christ was a voluntary offcrinj^r. It was in accordance with the Father's will indeed, we are taught, that he undertook the work of our redemption by the sacrifice of himself, but we are equally taught, that his will was in perfect accordance with the Father's will. "Then, said I," so he is represented as speakin<^^ in the prophetic Psalms : " Lo I come, in the volume of the book it is written of me : ' I deli<;ht to do thy will, oh my God ! yea, thy law is within my heart.' " No man could take his life from Him. He had power to lay it down and power to take it up again, and his voluntary humiliation and death for sinners is the most sublime act of virtue that the world ever saw, or can see. But why was it necessary, or what satisfaction could it be to God, that a holy Being should so suffer more than any man and be afflicted more than the sons of men ? Why should it appear strange, that it is not given us to know all the reasons which rendered necessary such a sacrifice ? It is enough for us to know that the law was magnified and made honourable by it, and is it not a great and worthy end to contemplate and accomplish, to give lustre and dignity, and a more sacred right as it were, of obliga- tion to that law holy, just and good, which is the ex- pression of God's will ! It is enough for us to know, as a matter of experience, that the faith of this sacrifice has served and does serve to slay the enmity of the natural mind, and create in the soul the very source and fountain of all virtue, the love of God. And as to God's taking pleasure in the sufferings of the holy Saviour, that the Scriptures say not. But he takes pleasure — as if there be any conformity in the moral nature of God with that of man, he must do, in the spectacle of virtue, exhibited 8 Christ the Lamb of God. amonp these sufTerinj^s, the patience, the fortitude, the meekness, the magnanimity of Him who jjave Himself for us. That was a spectacle the contemplation of which shall never cease to call forth the admiration and the praise of men and anjjels round the tiirone of God. Nay, antl it was and is an object of complacency to the Divine mind, as when the voice came forth from the excellent glory : "This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased ;" and in respect of this, that the suffcrinj^s of one atoned for the sins of many, it is to be remembered that the peculiar dignity of the person of Christ, the union in Him of the human with the divine, imparted a peculiar worth and value to His sufferings, rendering them an ample vindi- cation of the law, an ampler vindication of the excellence of obedience to it; as ample as if a sinful world had perished for its sin ; nay giving still more illustrious tokens of the obligation and the excellence of virtue. To the sinner thus sufi'ering under the consciousness of sin, oppressed with a sense of guilt, what says the Gospel ? It speaks to him in the language of the text : " Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world." Jesus, the Son of God, took on himself the burden of thy guilt. In the garden and on the cross He paid the penalty of thy sins. He has removed every obstacle in the way of thy return to God. The law hath no more claim against thee. God is waiting to be gracious. He beseeches you to be reconciled unto Him. Now, this language may fall on ears that will not listen, preoccupied with worldly vanities or cares. It may come to minds, unawakened or unbeliev- ing, and in either case prove ineffectual for any great or holy purpose. What matters it to a man what the message be, if he refuses to receive it ? But when such message from God comes to a soul awakened to a sense of sin, and long- ing to be freed from the burden of its guilt, and carried with power to the heart, by the good Spirit of God, it is received with faith, it makes a change in a man, the very change which he needs for his future deliverance from sin : Christ the Lamb of God. 9 insomuch, that while the sacrifice of Christ for sinners takes away the guilt of sin and places in a right relation to God, the faith of that sacrifice, comprehended in its origin, in its execution and in its results, takes away the disposi- tion to sin, and creates the new heart and the right spirit. If the sacrifice of Christ, in regard of God, renders possible, without dishonour to the law, his reconciliation to the sinner, the knowledge and faith of it works in the sinner reconciliation to God. All the obstacles under the holy government of Heaven, to the full reconciliation of God to the sinner we do not know. We know more about the obstacles which exist in the heart of the sinner to a full reconciliation with God. There is fear of God. There is enmity against God. There is a stubborn will opposed to the will of God. There are inclinations and desires drawing us in a direction the opposite of that which He would have us to take. What is it which has power to contend against all these and to gain the victory over them all ? No voice of terror could accomplish it. The thunders of Sinai could not accomplish it, nor the trumpet of the angel summoning the dead to judg ent, nor the voice of the Judge pronoun- cing sentence on the wicked. The evil heart would not by these become less evil. Nay it might cleave to its evil the more, fear and hatred, and the evil will all strengthening within it. But what these could not do, love can do — God's love, God's marvellous and unparalleled love. That dispels the fear. That does away the enmity. That moves to repentance. That inspires trust and grateful affection. That draws from the soul the earnest question, to be ever present and ever receiving fresh answer, "What shall I render unto the Lord for all his benefits to me " ? That makes the soul say : " Lord, what wilt Thou have me to do," and puts it on obedience. Even in alienations and strifes between man and man, the manifestation of love on either side does more to reconcile than power or wisdom can accomplish. And so it is, in respect of the alienation between God and man ; only the manifestation of God's 10 Christ the Lamb of God, love can clear it away ; such manifestation as the soul is no longer able to doubt or distrust. And sucii manifestation there is in the sacrifice of Christ to the believing soul. The faith of it works love. It makes a new creature. It begins a new life, a holy, a spiritual life, and so in another sense than before, yet not less necessary to the salvation of the sinner, Jesus, the Lamb of God, takes away the sin of the world. In such statements as have now been made, the thou^dit may readily occur : You speak as if all were done at once ; the removal of every j^uilty api)rehension, the removal of every sinful disposition — the moment true faith is exercised, the full assurance of forfriveness and a i)erfect sanctification communicated instantaneously. Does experience accord with the theory ? Is it so faith acts ? Were you overstating its power, and ^oin<^ beyond what the experience of believ- ers can attest ? We should not overstate the power of faith to do all this, if faith were always genuine, were always perfect, if it involved and embraced always an intelligent apprehension of all that is implied in the sacrifice of the Lamb of God for sinners. What in experience may be called in to correct the theory we have laid down, is not to dispute or deny the efficacy of such faith to produce even such results, but to admit the imperfection of the faith which believers exercise, and of their apprehensions of what Christian faith should embrace. Faith is founded on knowledge. We cannot believe what we do not know or apprehend. Now, nothing is more certain than that believers differ in the extent and clearness of their appre- hensions of Christ, and of his work ; that no believer does at once rise to the full apprehension of these ; that faith is therefore necessarily imperfect even in respect of what it should embrace, while it may be further imperfect, and often is, in respect of the confidence and the firmness with which it holds what it does embrace. It is nothing to the point, that men in the expression of their faith, and honestly, and without conscious reservation, make use of Christ the Lamb of God, 11 tlic same words. Words prc^niaiit with ^rcat and iiiiixMtaiit meanings, convey more or less of those meanings to differ- ent minds. The Lamb of God ! Mow various, how rising in ffreatness, liow increasing in extent the ideas wliich tiiis title suggests, as used by you or me in our state of imper- fect knowledge, or by a redeemed spirit before tlie tlironc, or by an angelic intelh'gcnce, wliicli has forages before the world's history began, been conversant with the ways and the working of (iod. And so it is, though to a less extent, as between different minds here below — minds in different stages of intellectual culture, of moral advancement, of religious impression. The truth is, while any true faith in Jesus, the Lamb of God, will so far tranquillize the con- science and exercise a sanctifying influence on the heart, it must itself advance to perfection, to do its work with per- fection. We are commanded to grow in the knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. But if we grow in knowledge, faith must also grow in regard of the extent of knowledge it embraces ; and it may also grow in the firm- ness with which it holds the truth. Let us not wonder then, that a faith often weak and imperfect, though genuine, works not at once the full result which is required. That will advance with the advance of Christian knowledge and faith. It is not. Behold once Jesus, by faith, the Lamb of God, and all fear of sin or love of sin shall flee away, and for ever. This might be so, if the soul comprehended at once and received at once all that the 'Lamb of God' implies, and so it may be in certain cases. For who shall limit the power of God to enlighten the mind, or in impart- ing the gift of faith ? But so it is not usually. Because of imperfect faith, there are recurring fears and doubts in regard of the soul's relation to God, and there are inclina- tions allowed to rise up again and plead for indulgence, and gain it, and so the admonition needed by the believer, is : Behold the Lamb of God ; day by day behold him ; in the exercise of faith, behold him, if thou wouldst have peace of conscience to dwell within thee, or holy tempers 12 Christ the Lamb of God, and dispositions to retain the ascendency in thy soul. Carry about with thee continually the dying of the Lord Jesus. Not in acts of devotion only, but amidst the world's business, thy believing thought must be of "God manifest in the flesh," the suffering, self-sacrificing Saviour. I have spoken, at the commencement of this discourse, of the nobleness of our nature, noble still even in its fall, and proving its nobleness in successive generations, so that it still appears, though the crown has fallen from his head, though the gold has become dim, and the most fine gold been changed, that man was created at the first in the image of God. But the highest token of the original noble- ness of his nature is that the Word that was in the begin- ning with God assumed it. The best proof of its worth is that Jesus died that it might be restored in believers to its original glory and honour. And if there be a glory even in man fallen, how much greater the glory there is in man redeemed and renewed. Will it destroy any power of reason or understanding ; will it destroy any social affec- tion ; will it shut up any avenue of enjoyment to a refined and elevated taste ; will it relax any exertion in which man's energies are put forth for purposes worthy of his nature ; will it chase away any smile that may legitimately play on a human countenance or any emotion of gladness which may legitimately rise in a human bosom ; will it make earth less a field for the forthputting of human ener- gies, if the spectral apprehension of guilt as before God, which ever and anon rises in thoughtful spirits, were forever withdrawn and the soul at peace with itself lived also in holy friendship and communion with its God ? Surely this would be the highest state of man here below. Peace with God, love to God, through the faith of Christ ; these har- monize all the powers and principles of man ; these give dignity to life in the humblest sphere ; these give hope and tranquillity in death ; these give meetness for heaven ; and they all flow into the soul, that beholds — beholds habitu- Christ the Lamb of God. 13 ally — and with true faith, "the Lamb of God which taketh away the sin of the world." In that higher state for which this is only the prepara- tion, and all its doings and sufferings only the needful discipline without which the soul cannot enter on it or enjoy it, it is, it would seem, by beholding the Lamb of God more clearly, more fully, more immediately and per- fectly, that the exaltation and refinement of our nature is to make advancement. For wherein is that exaltation and refinement to consist ? Is it not in likeness to that blessed Lamb of God himself? What perfection of which the human nature is capable dwells not in the human nature which He assumed, which He, the God-man, still has in union with the Divine ? And how is such likeness to be produced and to make progress ? St. John tells us, by seeing him as he is ; " It doth not appear," says he, "what we shall be, but we know when He shall appear, we shall be like Him, for we shall see Him as He is." That beatific vision is reserved for the saints above. But even here on earth it is given us by faith to behold the Lamb of God, and " beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord, we," all who believe, "are transformed into the same image from glory to glory as by the spirit of the Lord." II. CHRIST THE REVEALER OF GOD. St. John I. i8. A'o matt hath seen God at any time ; the only begotten Son, which is in the bosom of the Father, he hath declared him. TllK first clause of the text expresses a truth which no one thinks of disputing or denying. We are all familiar with the word " God," and with certain ideas which that word suggests we are also familiar. But no one pretends or professes to have seen God — God Himself — the Personal Deity, the Infinite, the Eternal, the Unchangeable, the Lord and Maker, the Ruler and Governor of all things ; to have looked on Him with the bodily eye, to have had Him revealed to the observation of the senses. We are cogni- zant of the works which establish the wisdom of His counsel and the glory of His power, but no son of man can discover His hand or trace His footsteps. He sits in inaccessible majesty behind the elements which He has made. He holdeth back the face of His throne and spreadeth His cloud over it. He dwells in light which no man can approach unto. Still the saying of the text holds true : " No man hath seen God at any time ; " and St. Paul puts it still further, " Him no man hath seen, or can see." There are states of mind in which the spirit of man is impatient of this concealment, this impenetrable mystery which shrouds the presence of the Godhead, however it rises out of the perfection of the Divine, and the weakness and necessary limitation of the human nature, and though it is impcssib'e that a spiritual and all pervading essence should be subjected to the scrutiny of the senses. ''There are time;' .vl en t'*^ ''e rises up irrepressibly in the mind the impatiexil \ ^estion : Where is this mighty Being with whom Christ the Rcvcalcr of God. 16 I have to do, to whose control I am every moment subject, by whose providence I am every moment sustained, at whose tribunal I must finally stand and be judged ? Oh, that I knew where I might find Him, that 1 might come even to His seat! — that mine ear could hear Him, that mine eye could look on Him, and that, fi'om the direct observation of the senses, I could gather that conviction of His being, and that knowledge of His nature and character, which these same senses bring unto me, in regard of others. His creatures ! I look on the unclouded sky, bright wherever the eye turns with stars innumer- able, or, as I am told, with suns, round each of which there are worlds rolling, — that in which we dwell being among them only as a leaf in the forest, or as a grain of sand on the sea shore ; but however intensely I look into the blue profound, striving to penetrate beyond what is immediately open to the senses, and to obtain a clearer, deeper, surer insight into heavenly mysteries, the eye can catch no token of the personal presence of God. There falls no sound on the ear which can be recognized as the voice of the Highest ! All is unbroken silence and in- scrutable mystery ; and in despite of all my longing and all my efforts to have the clearer convictions of sense, I am constrained to fall back upon the cold and unsatisfying deductions of reason, or the exercises and contemplations of that faith w^hich is the evidence of things not seen. And let it not for a moment be denied, there is unspeak- able difficulty in such conception of God as is to be formed and figured out of the conclusions of reason alone, — even the true conclusions of the highest reason. What can I know — that is, in any strict or accurate sense of the word "know" — of an invisible spirit, having a nature so diff"erent from that with which I am myself endowed, and all with whom I am familiar and associated ? How shall I com- prehend the conditions of a Being which had no beginning, and which never has been, and never will be, subject to change? Or what conception can I form of an essence 16 Christ the Revealer of God, pervading universal space ? It is probably impossible to combine more perfectly all the abstractions to which Reason and Revelation testify, as existing in the Deity, than in the memorable words with which we have been familiar from our childhood, " God is a spirit, infinite, eternal, unchangeable in His being, wisdom, power, holi- ness, justice, goodness and truth." But who can figure out to himself the Being in whom all these attributes meet and dwell ? The mind is fatigued and bewildered in the attempt to comprehend infinity of power, or of wisdom, eternal existence and all-pervading presence. " Who can by searching find out God ? Who can find out the Almighty to perfection ? It is high as heaven, what can we do ? — deeper than hell, what can we know ? The measure thereof is longer than the earth and broader than the sea." There may be the clearest conviction, or the most satisfying evidence, that a thing is, and at the same time the most perfect incapacity to comprehend how it is. An uninstructed peasant cannot for a moment doubt that thought and intelligence are conveyed by the electric wire, though he be profoundly ignorant, and incapable of com- prehending how it is done. And so it is with us in regard of God. His Being and perfections are certainly revealed to the reason and conscience of man. It is a necessity of our nature to believe in and have some thoughts and feelings in respect of Him. Yet is the mind lost and per- plexed when attempting to fathom the mysteries of His nature. With the most perfect conviction that He is, there is insuperable difficulty in comprehending what He is. And with the acknowledgment, which we are constrained to make, that He is hidden from the eyes of man, there is apt, as we have already said, to mingle a feeling of dis- satisfaction and complaining, — something of the temper of mind of the ancient patriarch, when he said, " Lo, he goeth by me, and I see him not ; he passeth on also, but I perceive him not." With such dissatisfaction there is naturally joined a Christ the Rcvcaler of God, 17 desire to have other and more perfect manifestation of God. More especially is such a desire felt, when, by any means, the sense of God, and of relation to God, and responsibility to God, and dependence on God, has been specially impressed upon the soul. And such clearer and better manifestation of God, the Gospel professes to give. The second clause in the text tells us by whom it is given : " The only begotten Son, which is in the bosom of the Father, He hath declared him." The only begotten Son, who is in the bosom of the Father, is obviously our Lord Jesus Christ. Now it is rather to what Christ has done in revealing and making known God, than to what He is Himself, that we have now to attend. Yet, be it observed in passing, that the loftiest ideas of His nature and union with God, are suggested to us by the terms in which He is here described. The expression " only begotten Son " plainly indicates a distinction between Him and all others, to whom in a looser sense the title " Sons of God," may be or has been applied. And the expression, "which is in the bosom of the F'ather," does also imply an altogether peculiar community of counsel with the Father, and enjoy- ment of the Father's complacency and love. But, as I have already said, our concern at present is with what Christ has done. It is the last words of the text we have to do with — " He hath declared," that is. He hath revealed, He hath manifested, He hath made known " God ;" so the text says. The question is now ; how has He done this — and has He done it effectually — and so, as in any measure, to satisfy the wishes of the anxious spirit striving after some adequate conception of God, and striving in vain. Now in proceeding to answer this question, let it be observed that it is most natural to consider the special manifestation of God which is here spoken of, that made by Jesus Christ, in the days of His personal appearance on the earth. And it is to that manifestation we are specially to attend. Yet it would be to disregard one important c 18 Christ the Rcvealcr of God. scriptural view of Christ, did we fail to recognize Him as the source of such manifestation of God as had been pre- viously vouchsafed. However imperfectly, as compared with our desires or our necessities, God is revealed in the arrangements of the natural world, all of which do, as the apostle says, bear testimony to his eternal power and God- head ; and however imperfect the revelation of God in the Old Testament times, compared with that brighter and better given under the new dispensation, no one can fail to see that it was a revelation for which there was abundant reason to be thankful, and in which the saints and people of God rejoiced and had cause to rejoice. Now it is according to the teaching of Scripture, to consider the only begotten Son, as having been in these as well as subse- quently under the Gospel, the Revealer of God. The Evangelist St. John in the preceding verses of this chapter identifies that Holy One who was born ofthe Virgin, with the Word that was in the beginning with God, and was God. And having so done, he expressly adds : " All things were made by Him ; and without Him was not anything made that was made." And this is in harmony with what is said elsewhere, that by Him God made the world, that He upholds "all things by the word of His power," and that "by Him were all things created that are in heaven, and that are in earth, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or powers; all things were created by Him and for Him." According to this apostolic view of the matter, in a sense far deeper and more extensive than may at first sight appear, it is true that " no man hath seen God at any time." The Eternal Father is to men invisible and unknown, even by the ma- terial world, except through the agency of the Son. He is the revealer of God, in that He is the Creator of all, and the Ruler of all. All on earth, whether in the works of creation or providence, which exhibits wise counsel, and glorious power, and incessant working, and abounding goodness, is His doing. By Him the earth was clothed Christ the Revcaler of God. 19 with beauty and the heavens with magnificence. He made all. He governs all. One spirit, His "Who wore the platted thorns with bleeding brows, Rules universal nature. Even as respects the knowledge of the being and great attributes of the Godhead, which is accessible to us through the things which are made, the only begotten Son, which is in the bosom of the Father, He hath declared it. And as it is with the revelation of God in nature and providence, so it is with the revelation of God made in former dispensations. If not by direct and explicit as- sertion, yet by plain inference from many passages of the Scriptures, we are warranted to identify the Jehovah of the Old Testament, with the Word that was in the beginning with God, and was God ; the Word that in the fulness of time became flesh and dwelt among men. And so every manifestation of God made to the patriarchs and holy men of ancient times, was also made by Him who is described in the text, as the "only begotten Son, which is in the bosom of the Father." He it was, who appeared to our first parents in the garden, to Abraham on the plains of Mamre, to Jacob on the memorable night which he spent by the brook Jabbok. He it was, whom Moses saw in the bush that burned, but was not consumed ; who brought the chosen people out of the land of their bondage with a high hand and an outstretched arm ; who went before them in a pillar of cloud by day and of fire by night ; who gave the law from Mount Sinai ; who brought Israel into the promised land ; who dwelt between the Cherubim ; who inspired the Prophets ; who was Lord of the Temple. All that was known, all that was published in those ancient times of the name and the memorial, the nature and character of God, was declared by Him. All the promises on which successive ages of the Church rested their hopes — all the precepts by which successive generations of believers regulated their lives, came from 20 Christ the Rcvcakr of God. Him. All the light which shone on the ancient Church, and that was more or less diffused over a world that was lying in wickedness, flowed forth from Him. Every ap- pearance of God was an appearance of the Word, the Revealer. Then as new the Eternal Father was shrouded in unapproachable mystery. No man had seen Him at any time: "The only begotten Son, which is in the bosom of the Father, he had declared Him." But we have already admitted the imperfection of all such revelations, how important soever they were, and however suited to the times in which, and to the persons to whom, they were made. We have also admitted that the human spirit craves more, longs for more ; — in all time when there is an awe and sense of God upon it, cries for more. Has then more been given? In these, called in Scripture, the latter days, has an ampler manifestation of God been vouchsafed — such as is better suited to the capacities of man's nature, and more satisfying to him in the immediate feeling, and while constrained to make acknowledgement of, his all important and ever enduring relation to God ? Did the Gospel give this ? Did Christ give it ? Does He give it still ? At least, it must be admitted, when we begin to consider these questions, that the Gospel professes to do it — that Jesus the author of the Gospel professes to do it. The disciple, whom Jesus loved, puts forth in the text a claim that he did it ; and the same claim is put forth by St. Paul, when he speaks of Jesus as the "image of the invisible God," and of "beholding the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ." But the claim is asserted still more plainly and distinctly by Jesus himself. For proof of which, I need only refer to the answer which he gave to the request of Philip, " Lord ; show us the Father, and it sufficeth us ; " " Have I been so long time with you, and yet hast thou not known me, Philip ? he that hath seen me hath seen the Father, and how sayest thou then. Show us the Father } Believest thou not, that I am in the Father, and the Father Christ the Rcvcalcr of God, 21 in me ? The words that I speak unto you, I speak not of myself: but the Father that dwelleth in me, he doeth the works. Believe me that I am in the Father, and the Father in me." Observe the intimate union, the oneness, which Christ tlius represents to exist between Him and the Father: "I am in the Father, and the Father in me. Believe me, I am in the Father, and the Father in me." And then as to the manifestation of the Father, which is what we are now specially concerned with, the words which He speaks, are He says, the Father's words — as much His, and as much indicating His will, character and purposes, as if He spoke them Himself — and who seeth and knoweth Him, seeth and knoweth also the Father : such is the union between Him and the Father. Now it is not our object at present either to question or to defend the divine mission of Jesus, or the authority by which He spoke. We assume both of these — and our concern is to know what manifestation of God He did give. One manifestation of God, the manifestation or intel- ligible knowledge of Him in the incommunicable attributes of His nature. He certainly did not give. Such mani- festation it is impossible to make to man or to created being. The eternity, the spirituality, the infinity of the Divine nature may be so known to us, as that we shall be constrained to acknowledge them as Divine attributes ; but they cannot be revealed so as to be fully understood, or conceived of, in all the height and depth of meaning which are involved in the words expressive of them. Nor can any adequate conception be given of the Being to whom such attributes belong. The finite cannot grasp the infinite ; the human cannot take in, in its largest concep- tions, the height and depth, and length and breadth of the Divine. Only a being with divine attributes can com- prehend these attributes. "What man," says St. Paul, "knoweth the things of a man, save the spirit of man which is in him .'' even so the things of God knoweth no 22 Christ the Rcalcr of God. man, but the Spirit of God." Of necessity therefore — necessity rising out of the h'mitation of man's natural powers and capacities, and the limitation of the powers and capacities of alJ creatures, the greatest and most exalted even of the Seraphim that are around the throne of God, such manifestation as we have now been speaking of is impossible. Nor did Christ profess to mnke it. Such manifestation is not indeed what man needs, or what he craves in seasons, when most visited with spiritual earnestness and anxiety. What he needs and desires to see and know in God, is an object of worship to which his affections may go freely forth, and yet which shall con- strain his adoring reverence. There is a longing for this in man's nature. Nowhere, do we find men long contented with worshipping the Eternal, the Infinite, the Incompre- hensible. In the absence of authorized manifestations of that in God which can be understood and loved, men have everywhere made gods to themselves, suited to their own fancies and wishes. And even among those to whom the manifestation of God in the flesh had been made, when in process of time the humanity of the Saviour was partially forgotten or disregarded, through which humanity. He made intelligible those attributes of the Divinity which are the proper objects of trust and love, and reverence and obedience, and Jesus had come to be thought of chiefly in His mysterious union with the remote and inaccessible God- head, more familiar objects of adoration were sought and found, in the Virgin Mother, and in the Saints. The weary spirit shrank from persisting in its vain efforts to reach the Infinite in the Son or in the Father, and reposed on the more intelligible character and sympathies of their most eminent, yet wholly human servants. Now it is such manifestation of God, as men need and long for, which Christ gave in His teaching and yet more in His own per- son and character — a manifestation meeting and satisfying man's wants, yet giving no countenance to his errors or superstitions, his idolatry or will-worship. Christ the Rcvcalcr of God. 23 Such manifestation Jesus gave, in the first place, in His teaching. To this He makes special allusions in the re- markable passage which I have already quoted : " The words which I speak unto you, I speak not of myself, but the Father that dwelleth in me. He doeth the works." Now one great peculiarity — rather, perhaps, I should say, tJic great peculiarity in the teaching of Jesus concerning God, is His representation of Him as a Father — the Father. He dwells not on His uncreated glory. His universal presence or His irresistible power, but on His paternal char- acter and His fatherly love. A wise Father God is, as Jesus represents Him, a holy Father, a Father whose will must not be resisted, but still a Father who is love and dwells in love. This is not the view of God which natural reli- gion gives. Nay, and in the Old Testament God is more set forth as a great God and a great King, than in the character of a Father ; though doubtless as the day of the Messiah was drawing nearer, and gleams of light shot across the moral atmosphere, from that Sun of righteous- ness, the period of whose rising was ever approaching, the sweet singer of Israel could testify : " Like as a Father pitieth his children, so the Lord pitieth them that fear Him." It is Jesus who constantly sets forth God as the Father, and claims that He be regarded as such. Now to this representation of God, man can respond. He can comprehend it, and his heart is won by it. It claims and obtains, when duly received, gratitude and trust, and love in return for love ; such love as makes it in the servant, the follower, the disciple, as it was in the Great Master, his meat to do the will of the Father and to finish His work. We have not to climb to the stars of heaven, nor to dive into the depths of ocean, to find an intelligible conception of the God we are to worship. Nor have we to seek it in difficult processes of abstract thought ; but in our memory of the fathers of our flesh to whom we yielded reverence, and in the consciousness of paternal tenderness in our own bosoms, we find whereon to graft a divinely authorized 24 Christ the RcvcaUr of God, conception of God, possible for man to entertain and dwell upon, and yet dravvin^^ iiini tf» God. Hilt not only by His words and in His teachinjj, yet more, I now remark, in the second place, in His own j)erson and character, did Jesus, "the only be«jotten Son, which is in the bosom of the Father," j^ive the desired and needed manifestation of God. God manifest in the flesii, the brif^htness of God's glory, and the express image of His person, who so seeth Him, seeth the Father also. He is in the Father and the Father is in Him. Who so comprehendeth Jesus, as He is set forth in the simple narratives of the Evangelists, comprehendeth the Father ; that, namely, in the Infinite, Kternal, Unchangeable God, as an object of worship, which he needs to know, which he can have in his mind, which he can understand and love. There is a marked and marvellous change, when from the contemplation of Him, whom no mortal eye hath seen or can see, and from the toilsome effort to reach to some- thing approaching, however imperfectly, to an adequate conception of His ineffable glory, the mind turns to Jesus, the human and yet the Divine Saviour, and dwells on the attributes of the Father as these are revealed in the Son who is one with Him. No man hath seen God at any time, nor can any man figure what God is. But on Jesus the eyes of men did look, and the pen of man, under the guidance of the good spirit of God, has recorded what man saw in Him. And from that record and by its help, it is still possible for us to call up before our minds, and to contemplate the Holy Saviour of m.ankind, as He appeared in the unruffled calmness of a nature, which was at once unspotted in purity and overflowing with tenderness. Divine power, wisdom and goodness, all in exercise for man's behoof, shone forth in the actions of His daily life, and in His whole execution of the great work for which He came. I cannot in the season of spiritual conflict, I cannot in the endurance of bodily pain and distress, I cannot when Christ the Rcvcalcr of God, 25 my soul b discjuictcil within mc by reason of sin, or when I have reason to think that I am about to walk through the dark valley, and to wrestle with the last enemy ; I cannot lay hold of the entirely spiritual — the Infinite — the Internal. The conception is too great, too difficult, too overwhelming for me to deal with ; nor can I draw from it the sus- taining power of which I stand in need. Ikit Jesus, the Father's Image! Him I can comprehend. To Ilim I can cleave. I can dwell on His gracious words and promises. I can think of His words of kindness, His tears of sym- pathy, His labours of love. I can remember the innumer- able tokens of a compassion and love, strong in life and death, which many waters could not quench, neither could the floods drown. Am I to see in these the manifest- ation, the divinely authorized manifestation of God, of the Father ? Ah ! then, I can know God — trust God — rejoice in God — seeing and recognizing God in Christ. Though I see Him not, and no mortal eye can see Him, yet I can rest with confidence in the manifestation of Him, by "the only begotten Son, which is in the bosom of the Father." Nor in all the universe of space, or throughout the whole history of time, is there token or record of any being who does so meet and satisfy the earnest longings of the human spirit, for an object of worship which it can at once un- derstand and love and trust in, with the full approbation of reason. And there is none that is or may be so well- known to us as Jesus. There was a simplicity in His character in its moral aspects, which makes it easy of com- prehension. Free from taint of moral pollution, there never was in Him any equivocal feeling or profession, any doubtful principle, any of that mixture of good and evil, which so often in the case of ordinary men renders it difficult to understand or to determine the character. The good in Him melted not, as too often it does in mankind, by slow and scarce perceptible degrees into evil, nor did evil pass away before the good. He was pure always — in 26 Christ the Revcalcr of God, motive, in affection, in action. And what He was, the Evangelical narrative sets him forth to us, with a simplicity suited to the divine simplicity of His nature. What do we know of the Virgin, of Peter, Paul, or John, of their inner life, their feelings, principles, affections, compared to what we know of Jesus ? Yea, and of these did we know more, that is, as they were on the earth, is it not according to all experience, and every sound view of human nature, that a more intimate knowledge, if it revealed to us much good, would also reveal to us a measure of sin and selfish- ness, which however, unhappily, intelligible to us, would repel instead of exciting love and trust ? Whereas every revelation of the inner life of Jesus deepens our reverence for His perfect purity, and gives increased ground of con- fidence in His u"=neakable tenderness. Assuredly of all the corruptions which have crept into the worship of the Church, none is more unreasonable than that which seeks the mediation of Saints or Angels, with that Great High Priest, who is still, even in His glory, touched with the feeling of our infirmities. Of all we know in earth and heaven, His heart is the most loving — His ear most open — His hand the readiest and the mightiest to save. Think not then, O thou weary and discouraged who art seeking after God, if haply thou may est feel after Him and find Him ; think not to comprehend the invisible Father, except through the manifestation of Him, by the only begotten Son, which is in His bosom. In Him, along with the portraiture of a perfect humanity, there was given an intelligible exhibition of the moral nature and attributes of the Godhead. Speak not any more of God as did the Patriarch of old, " O that I knew where I might find Him." Thou hast found Him in the Son, who is His Image. Let then thy heart go forth towards Him who is so revealed, in holy and confiding love. Does the word of exhortation fall without constraining influence or power, on many a listless ear and on many a cold heart ? It may be so. " But if our Gospel be hid, it is hid to them Christ the Revealer of God, 27 that are lost : in whom the god of this world hath blinded the minds of them which believe not, lest the light of the glorious Gospel of Christ, who is the Image of God, should shine unto them." In the long course of the Church's history, there have ever been those who rejected Christ, seeing in Him no form, nor comeliness, nor any beauty that they should desire Him. But there have been also unnumbered multitudes whose hearts the love of Christ had penetrated, and who gave themselves to Him with unreserved devotion of soul and spirit. And so there still are. Not in vain, has the Kingdom of Heaven been set up on earth. Not in vain, has God given unto Jesus a name which is above every name. Over all the world and in every section of the Christian Church, there are those who can and do express the genuine feeling of their souls in the language of the Apostle : " Lord thou knowest all things ; thou knowest that we love thee." Heaven is thronged with those who in their earthly pilgrimage did so feel and speak. And not till we can do so, shall we be meet to join them. III. CHRIST THE LIVING SAVIOUR AND LORD. Hebrews XII. 2. Looking unto yesus. Christianity coincides with other religious systems in this ; that it lays down certain propositions which it re- quires its disciples to believe, and certain moral duties which it requires them to perform. But it differs very remark- ably from other religious systems, in this ; that in addition to such faith in its revelations and such obedience to its moral code, it requires that continual trust and dependence be exercised in its author as a great ever living and all powerful Being. And it is to this difference, with a view to certain conclusions which as it appears to me may be drawn from it, partly doctrinal and partly practical in their nature, that I wish now to call your attention. The difference is a very plain and obvious one. Take Judaism, for example, and compare it in this respect with Christianity. It was introduced by Moses, whose charac- ter is perhaps the greatest; described in the Old Testament. A man of learning, a man of piety, a soldier, a statesman, a prince, a prophet, a legislator, he stands pre-eminent in the history of the Church of God, for the marks of the divine favour which he received, and the great and endur- ing effects which his labours were the means of accom- plishing. By his instrumentality, the law moral, municipal and ceremonial, was given to the Jewish people, that polity and system of religion and morals which impressed upon the Jews a character, that still, after the lapse of four thousand years, eighteen hundred of which have been spent in dis- persion from their own land, continues to distinguish them Christ the Living Saviour and Lord, 29 from all the race of man. It was natural that such a man should be regarded with admiration and reverence. In point of f^ict, the successive generations of the Jewish people have so regarded him. Nor, is it to any sincere and en- lightened Jew a matter of doubt, that he who led the fathers of the Jewish race to the borders of the earthly, is now himself a dweller in the heavenly Canaan, and enjoy- ing " the recompense of the reward," to which we have been told, he had respect while upon the earth. But it is no part of the theory of Judaism, to make Moses an agent in any measure or degree now, in the dealings of God with his people, or to claim for him, now that he has left the world, any measure of regard or trust. Neither in actual fact, has it been the result of Judaism to produce any such trust or dependence on him who introduced it to the world, as if his power or personal interference in the affairs of the Church or of the world, were to be at all regarded or expected. The Mosaic institute is perfectly indepen- dent of any living agency on the part of him who com- municated it to the Jewish people. It does not contem- plate any such agency. It is on the contrary, in its whole tenor and spirit, abhorrent of, and opposed to, any such notion, or to the feelings to which such a notion is fitted to give rise in the minds of those who might cherish it. Moses was a man — distinguished indeed — but only a man. When he died, his work on earth was done. Henceforth, in their regard or disregard to his system of religion and law, the Jews had to deal with God alone. They looked for no mediation or interposition, no exercise of power for good or for evil, on the part of Moses. His interference in human affairs was at an end. And any trust or depen- dence on him, would, both according to the theory of Judaism and the actually entertained opinions of its adher- ents, have been a species of idolatry in every way deserving of condemnation. Not unto Moses, distinguished as his place was, under the Old Testament economy, was the believer of old enjoined to "look" i.. his way to the 30 Christ the Living Saviour and Lord. heavenly Zion. Then it was : *' Look unto me, and be ye saved, all the ends of the earth ; for I am God, and there is none else." But there have been teachers of morals and religion, other than those mentioned either in the Old Testament or the New, and who by their teaching have made a profound and lasting impression on the world. The difference which I have named as existing between Christianity, as a religious sys- tem, and the moral and religious systems introduced by these, is as marked as in the case of Judaism. Take for example the teaching of Socrates, the Athenian, cer- tainly the wisest and most enlightened of all the Heathen world. The substance of his teaching, on the great sub- jects of religion and morals, has been preserved to us, by two illustrious disciples, both most affectionately attached to his person, and one of whom stands at the head of the literature and philosophy of ancient Greece. It was given to this great man to expound and illustrate the arguments for the being of God, and the immortality of the soul, with a clearness and cogency which have never been surpassed. And these great truths he appears to have held, not as speculative opinions, but with a depth and sincerity of conviction, which sustained him in the most trying circum- stances, and furnished him consolation in his last moments. He expounded too, and enforced the great duties binding on men as members of society, with a simplicity and purity, which no other uninspired teacher has equalled. The account of his death at the hands of a fickle and tyrannical people, is one of the most interesting and pa- thetic narratives which all antiquity has left us. It was natural that such a man, standing out so conspicuously for moral wisdom, in the darkness of heathenism, should attract the profound regard and reverence of those who were able rightly to appreciate his character and his instructions. And there are abundant tokens of such regard and rever- ence. But what we have specially to observe is the entire separation between the moral and religious teaching of Christ the Living Saviour and Lord. 31 Socrates, and himself. That teaching, the conclusions reached in it, and established by argument, and the moral duties enjoined in it, and which commend themselves as of obligation to the natural conscience, is perfectly indepen- dent of him, now that he has departed from the world. It is reasonable to receive that which he established. It is right to observe the duties which he enjoined. But no one thinks, or ever did think, or had any cause from anything, either he or his disciples ever taught, to think, that in any perplexity, or difficulty, or trouble, or temptation, to which the receiving of such truths, or the observance of such duty might lead, any help was to be derived from the departed moralist, any power of his to be looked to, any interposi- tion of his, to be expected. In this, the Gentile and the Jewish teachers, the Greek and the Hebrew, are precisely alike. They taught what it was given them to teach, the one in the exercise of his natural powers of reason and under- standing, and the other, by the express revelation of God. And then their work was done. They left their testimony, and their disciples had to do with that. But from their spirits, disentangled from the body, and received into the unseen world, they hoped nothing, they feared nothing. With truth and duty they had to do. With the departed expositors of these they had nothing to do. As living powers and agencies, to be regarded or confided in or appealed to, they had, in as far as men were concerned, passed away for ever. Take again the religious system of the false prophet Mahomet. In that system, which has prevailed for so many hundred years, and which still prevails over a large portion of the earth, there is, as in Christianity, what pro- fesses to be the inculcation of religious truth and of moral duty. And no doubt a very great degree of reverence is claimed for Mahomet himself, as a messenger of God, and an expounder of his will ; insomuch that the two proposi- tions are constantly taught and affirmed together, as if they were of equal importance and equally incapable of 32 Christ the Living Saviour and Lord. being disputed or doubted, that there is no God but God, and that Mahomet is his prophet. Yet all the regard claimed for this great prophet, in the religious system of which he is the author, now that he has departed, is regard and obedience to the truths and duties contained in the writings which he left behind him, and for which he claimed a divine authority. No doubt his followers believe him to be in a high place of honour and happiness with God ; but they are not taught to look, nor do they look to him, as their helper and refuge in trouble and in difficulty. It is not from him they seek succour. It is not in him they ti ust. To do so, would equally in their apprehension, as in the case of the Jews in respect of their great Lawgiver, be to with- hold from the great God the honour which is due to Him, and idolatrously and impiously to lavish it on a creature. Now, Christianity might have been, in this respect at least, what these various systems are. It is perfectly easy to conceive it so. Our Lord taught religious truth, and en- joined moral duty, and He might have done no more. And had He done no more, He would still have stood un- speakably above all other teachers, not only uninspired, with whom we would not desire to bring him into compari- son, but with the most highly favoured of inspired teachers themselves. He spoke more clearly on the great points, on which it concerns the present happiness and the ever- lasting well-being of men to be informed. And He spoke with higher and better evidence of His divine mission. Both in respect of the subjects of His teaching, and the author- ity with which he spoke, the centurion's saying was true, — " Never man spake like this man ;" and what Christianity may thus readily be conceived to have been, while yet retain- ing its divine authority and a large and indisputable excel- lence, there are, who would fain make it out to be. They are prepared to say to its great author, with Nicodemus of old : " Rabbi, we know that thou art a teacher come from God ; for no man can do these miracles which thou doest, except God be with him." And they are willing to Christ the Living Saviour and Lord. 33 receive His testimony concerning the Father, and concern- ing the life to come, and concerning the resurrection of the body, and concerning the sum of human duty, as the testi- mony of one who came from God to bear witness of the truth, and whose testimony, it is, therefore, binding on all men to receive. But here they stop short. Nowise disputing that in that life which Jesus revealed, he exists himself, and that in a state of transcendent glory and honour, they yet imagine that it is with his testimony, not himself, that we have now to do, that the reverence which we bear to him should be simply such as is due to the divinity of his mission and the purity of his character, and that he stands in no other relation to his followers than that of a teacher and pattern, who has done his work, and departed to his reward. But what Christianity can readily be conceived to have been, and what Christianity is conceived by some to be, is it really? Is it nothing more? Is Christ only a Pro- phet of higher character than those who went before Him in the exercise of the prophetical office, revealing truth somewhat more clearly, and revealing somewhat more of truth than they did ? This will never be admitted by those who read the New Testament with a candid spirit, and who are willing to submit their minds to its teaching. Christ is spoken of as a Priest, as well as a Prophet. And a Priest is one who not only teaches truth, but who interposes between God and the people, offering sacrifice and making intercession. He is repre- sented as the one mediator between God and man. And throughout all Scripture, the Old Testament Scriptures which predicted His coming, and the New Testament Scrip- tures which record his history and explain the views of his disciples, his sufferings and death are connected with the salvation of men, and represented as having a bearing upon, and an efficacy in procuring that salvation, of which there is not the slightest appearance in regard of the suffer- ings and death of any other of the servants of God, even the D 34 Christ the Living Saviour and Lord. holiest and the most highly favoured. All this — all con- nected with the doctrine of the atonement, the doctrine of the substitution of Christ for sinners, the doctrine that God's righteous government admits not of pardon being, granted to the sinner without a reason — that God's most tender love to the sinner could not go forth in exercise, ex- cept through the medium of an expiation for sin, — undoubt- edly separates the Christian system from all other religious, systems, and in the extent to which it is apprehended and received, draws towards Christ Himself, the Author and Finisher of our Faith, an amount and degree of regard and reverence to which no other teacher of truth, however, im- portant, could possibly lay claim. It is not for truth taught alone that Christ is to be regarded and reverenced. It is. for a work done, it is for an agony endured, it is for an expiation made, it is for a redemption purchased. We may and must reverence Him as the great teacher of the Church, the light which lighteneth every man that cometh into the world. But it is a profounder emotion which must Ije experienced, an emotion of lively and unceasing grati- tude, when we contemplate Him as the Benefactor, the Deliverer, the Saviour, to an extent, which neither our views of the evil of sin in itself and its consequences, nor our partial knowledge of the glory and blessedness of complete and final disenthralment from its bondage,, enables us adequately to conceive. Even this vast difference in the Christian system from, all other religious systems, which does of necessity at- tract towards Christ personally and independent of His testimony as a messenger from God, the highest admira- tion and love of those who truly receive the Gospel, might be conceived to have existed, apart from that peculiarity in the Christian system, to which it is the special object of this discourse to call attention. We can conceive that there might not only be a testimony to be delivered, but a work to be done, a sacrifice to be offered, and yet that after these were all accomplished, then the agency of Christ Christ tJie Living Saviour and Lord. 35 might have ceased, and the feeling, the solefceh'ng required of His followers, have been, in addition to faith in His testimony and obedience to His precepts, gratitude for His interposition, such gratitude as we feel and delight to cher- ish towards a departed benefactor, a benefactor who had ceased to have the power to bless, but whose past benefits we could never forget. But is it so ? Is it thus we are taught to think of Christ in the New Testament ? Is it thus that the apostles and the early believers did think and feel in regard of Him ? Did they count Him in his glory either unmindful of His followers on the earth or unable to aid them ? Was it gratitude only to a de- parted benefactor which they claimed for Christ, or was it not also loyalty and affiance to him, as a living and loving Saviour, trust in and dependence on Him, as having all power in heaven and on earth, and exercising that power for the good of those who believed in His name. Why, let any one read the New Testament, and the answer is plain. The regard of the disciples towards their great Master, their looking to Him, their trusting in Him, their expectations from Him, were in no wise altered by His death, or by His departure from them, when He ascended into heaven from the Mount Olivet, or only altered into a more intense regard and a more entire confidence, inas- much as they knew and believed that God had "set Him at His own right hand in the heavenly places, far above all principality and power, and every name that is named, not only in this world, but also in that which is to come, and had put all things under His feet, and given Him to be head over all things to the Church, which is His body, the fulness of Him who filleth all in all." They regarded Him not as a Prophet alone, nor as a Priest alone, but as a King — a King ruling over all — a King subduing his people to- himself and restraining and conquering all his and their enemies — a King whose authority was ever in exercise,, whose help they could always claim, on whose power they might confidently rely. It was not, in regard of the Gos- 36 Christ the Living Saviour and Lord. pel, only the true testimony of a departed prophet. No; nor only the great sacrifice which had been oftered, or its blessed efficacy unto the salvation of men. It was also the actually and continually exercised power of a living though unseen Saviour, which they contemplated ; and constant trust and dependence in the power, not less than faith in the sacrifice, or the cordial reception of the testi- mony of Jesus, was necessary to constitute a Christian of the primitive age. It is this peculiarity in Christianity, both in the theory of it, and in the actual feelings of believers as called forth towards Christ, which gave rise, and which gives import- ance, to the questions that have been raised concerning the person of Christ. Had v/c only the doctrine of Christ to looK lo, the sole question would be its truth, the author- ity by which He spoke, and the evidence of His divine mission ; and comparatively speaking, it would be a matter of little consequence, a matter not immediately affecting our peace or well being, who He was, or is, or whether His nature was human, or angelic, or supra-angelic or divine. The truth of the testimony would in that case be the main thing. But it is a different matter altogether, when we are not only to rely on the testimony, but to trust now, to trust ever, to trust in life and death in Him who gave the testimony. Are we like St. Paul to commit to Him the keeping of our souls, — the keeping of them even to the day of the judgment. Are we in the whole conduct of life to labor that we be accepted and app.oved of Him, to labor as under His eye, and whatsoever we do, to do it heartily unto Him? In trial and temptation are we to look to Him for sympathy and succour? Is it His interposition which is to cause all the dispensations of Providence to work together for our good ? Is it He who is to send forth the spirit for our conversion and quickening ? Is it He who is to walk with us through the valley and shadow of death ? Is it in short — leaning on Him, like the Spouse in the song, leaning on Him, the great, the merciful, though unseen Christ the Living Saviour and Lord. 37 Saviour, that we are to ^o up through the wilderness of this world, and enter tlirough the gloomy portal of death into the wonders of another? Is this to be our attitude, amidst all the toils and the arduous labour of the Christian race, "looking unto Jesus" looking off, as the original word means, off and away from all other things and other persons unto Jesus, then surely are we interested to know who He is to whom such regard is to be paid, in whom such confidence is to be placed. We must not only receive His, as true testimony, but read in the testimony, the nature and the character of Him who delivered it. And there, there may be read the Humanity alike and the Divinity of the Saviour. It is indeed, I am persuaded, the amount of regard and love and trust and reliance which is to be exercised towards Christ himself, which is obviously required in the Scripture to be exercised towards Him, and which was actually exercised towards Him by the Apostles and the primitive believers, — so very differ- ent, from what had been ever required by or rendered to any other messenger of God, and so difficult, in the supposition of our Lord's simple humanity, to reconcile with the depen- dence that is to be placed in God, and the intolerance of the Scriptures of all idolatrous regard to the creature, which prepares the minds of believers for acquiescing in the plain declarations of our Lord's Divinity. That seems necessary to reconcile everything in the Christian system ; to make the duty claimed to Christ, in harmony with the duty which we owe to God. It is the sentiment not of one passage, but of all the New Testament, that men are to honour the Son even as they honour the Father. But how should or could this be done rightly and innocently, or without grievous derogation from the honour and glory of the eternal Father, were it not that the Father and the Son are, as Christ Himself said one ; and could not the believer " looking into Jesus " say to Him with Thomas after his doubts had been removed, " my Lord and my God." 38 Christ the Living Sainour and Lord. This conclusion — of the divine nature of our blessed Lord — is one which I was desirous of bringing out of this subject. I have only another, and that is entirely practical in its nature. If Christianity requires this continual regard to and dependence on Christ, as a living and almighty though unseen Saviour — if so to look to Christ and to trust in Him be as necessary as it is to believe Mis words, or to obey J lis commandments — if this is in short an essential element of true personal Christianity, then it behoves us to enquire whether it belongs to us ; whether we, in the actual con- duct of life, are giving such regard to and exercising such trust in the Saviour ? This is a matter which it cannot be very difficult to ascertain. A child is not unconscious — at least, he be- comes vividly conscious whenever his attention is called to the subject, of his continual trust in his parents — his constant reference to their authority — his dependence on the exercise of their power in his behalf. A servant is perfectly conscious of the power of his master and of the homage which in various forms he is ever rendering to it. Yes, and we can all be perfectly conscious of such homage of trust, dependence and obedience, when the person exercising the power is absent, unseen, and per- haps in such circumstances, that we can never hope to see him. In this respect, even in common and wordly matters, we walk often by faith and not by sight. Such homage then do we render unto Christ ? Is He present to our minds habitually — not merely as a departed worthy — or as a departed benefactor — but as an ever living Saviour and Lord ? Do we not only regard the testimony, but the delii'erer of it ? Do we not only look to the Saviour on the cross, bearing the burden of the world's transgressions, but to the Saviour on His throne guiding the destinies of the world ? Have we such regard to the Saviour that we take His will as our rule? Have we such trust in His ready sympathy and His ever present and watchful care, and His supreme and irresistible au- Christ the Living Saviour ami Lord, 39 thority, that in every season of temptation we look as it were instinctively to Him for help, and in every time of trouble we look to Him for consolation, and in every time of perplexity we look to Him for guidance? Is Christ in short, to us, the memory of one who is departed, or is He a living being, with whom, though unseen, in virtue of His divinity we have every moment to do, and in whom we do continually exercise trust ? These are questions which affect the very foundation of our claim to personal Christianity. Christians are not mere believers in abstract truth, however important it be. They are servants of a great Master. They are subjects of a great King. And in their hearts, there must be ever the sentiment of loyal affiance to Him, who though He was once the man of sorrows and acquainted with griefs, and has now departed from among us, and shall appear no more until the revela- tion of all things, when He shall come in the clouds of iheaven and every eye shall see Him, is yet Ruler of all, and Head above all ; at whose name every knee should bow, of things in heaven, and things on earth, and things zander the earth, and of whom every tongue should con- fess that He is Lord, to the glory of God the Father. IV. THE SPIRITUAL KINDRF:D OF CHRIST. St. Matthew XII, 46-50. While he yet talked to the people, behold his mother and his brethren stood nnthoiit, desiring to speak with him. Then one said unto him , behold thy mother and thy brethren stand without, desiring to speak with thee. But he answered and said unto him that told him, who is my mother? And who are my brethren ? And he stretched forth his hand toward his disciples and said, behold my mother and my brethren I For whosoez'er shall do the will of my Father which is in heaven, the same is my brother,, and sister, and mother. It is said of our blessed Lord in the Epistle to the Hebrews, that He is " the brightness of God's glory, and the express image of His person." And in the days of His humiliation, meek though he was and lowly in heart, He hesitated not to say, "Whoso hath seen me, hath seen the Father." Therefore are we entitled to point to Jesus as the levealer of the Godhead. Therefore, may we most certainly look for the "light of the knowledge of the glory of God, in the face of Jesus Christ." Therefore, do we turn with eager eye to the recorded life of the Saviour, for the manifestation of that divine attribute of love, through the believing apprehension of which alone, the sinful soul can find just ground of peace or hope. But Jesus was the Son of man as well as the Son of God. The same Epistle to the Hebrews which speaks of Him in the exalted terms I have just mentioned, does also declare, that " He became partaker of flesh and blood." "He took on Him," says St. Paul, "the form of a servant and was made in the likeness of men." There was thus a two-fold nature in the Saviour. There was the divine, which had been in the beginning with God, and was God. And there was the human, which at the season appointed The Spiritual Kindred of Christ. 41 in the counsels of heaven, was born of that Virgin Mother, of low estate, but lofty lineage, whom as the highly favoured of the Lord, all generations have agreed to call blessed. And in this human nature, Jesus was the exemplar and model of all virtues proper to men. Every holy temper, every good affection dwelt in Him, the Holy One of God, whose mission on earth was not only to reveal what God is, but to show also what man should be. He is the per- fect example, in whose steps it behoves all to walk. And amidst the virtues of His all perfect character, we may be sure, that of filial piety was neither absent nor wanting in depth and in tenderness. In proportion, mdeed, to the capacities of goodness in a man's nature, is his sense of maternal love-and through all life, the wiihng tribute rendered to it of grateful and reverential . tection. Nor may we doubt, that to Mary herself and to the brethren, with whom the Saviour associated in one home, before His public work on earth had begun, there did ever flow forth from Him, that regard and love, suitable to the relations in which they were placed to one another. And if that regard and love be warm, and tender, and trust- worthy and abiding, even in those whose hearts are defiled with sin and selfishness, how unspeakably more of all these qualities must have distinguished the filial and fraternal affection of Him, who was free from every taint of sm, and in whose holy nature, love dwelt and reigned, unchecked and unthwarted by the power of an evil passion, or the presence of an evil thought. There is indeed a just place to such affection in man's nature, beyond which it cannot pass, without disturbing the balance of virtues in it, and marring the general excellence of the character. And there are passages in the history of Jesus, which show that warm and tender as was such affection in Him, this due limit was set to the exercise of it. It was not permitted to take the place of higher principles. It was not per- mitted to call away from the discharge of sacred duties. The earthly mother might not claim the authority of the ■42 The Spiritual Kindred of Christ. heavenly Father, or expect that her wishes should stand in competition with His work. "Wist ye not that I must be about my Father's business ? " was a gentle yet decided assertion of higher claims than even a mother could establish — an acknowledgment of these claims, and a ready submission to them. Yet, under such restrictions, with such limitations, how blessed and how precious a thing must not the filial and fraternal love of Christ have been ! How warm, how pure, how free from all self-seeking ; how generous and self-sacrificing it must have been! And then the love of a Being, so exalted by His perfect moral excellence; so exalted by His designation to the highest offices, under the divine government of the world ; so exalted by His triumph over moral evil, in most tempting wise suggested to His mind ; so exalted by the possession of power and wisdom, such as His public ministry daily exhibited to that perverse generation which hated Him for the very perfection of His goodness, who can over estimate, or reach rather to a right and just estimate of the worth and preciousness of such affection. It is in the nature of woman to regard with affection, that comes at last to be reverential, truthful, humble, the noble and virtuous man- hood of the child she has nursed at her bosom, and who was once dependent every moment on her care, and obe- dient to every intimation of her will. And such must have been the affection of her who was blessed among women, to the great Being who stood to her in a relation of such sacredness, and yielded to her the love which the relation claimed, not only throughout all life, but even in the very agonies of death, when He commended her, with solemn earnestness to the care and tenderness of His best loved disciple. The filial love of Jesus is a trait in His human character which all can appreciate. Who would not desire to have been the object of love, like in degree, from a Being so exalted? Who would not desire to stand to Him in a The Spiritual Kindred of Christ. 43 relation claiming such special interest and tenderness, as that of the kinsmen who stood without with Mary desiring to speak with Him ? Who is not ready to say that would have been pledge indeed, of a love unequalled in purity and tenderness ? Who is not ready to look with something approaching to envy on the privilege of those who stood to Him, in relations so sacred and endearing ? O, had we but seen Him ; had we been permitted to dwell with Him and associate with Him ; had we known Him as the elder brother ; had we looked from day to day on that benign countenance, which no turbulent or unruly passion ever ruffled ; had that loving eye beamed on us and that sacred hand been laid upon us, and that voice •of melting tenderness been familiar to our ear ; and we •could count on the close, the special, the indelible relation which bound Him to those who were His kinsmen and His brethren, according to the flesh ; O how great would have been the honour, how unspeakable the comfort and the advantage, how sure would be our ground of trust, and how safe should we be under His protection. Do you indeed desire to stand in such relation to the Saviour ? Have you indeed learned to appre- ciate the greatness of His character, and to feel the importance of being united to Him, and having claim to the forthputting of His power and tenderness on your behalf? Has it ceased to be with you, as it was with the i unbelieving Jews, under the ministry of Jesus, who saw in H im no form nor comeliness, nor any beauty, that they should desire Him ? Has it ceased to be with you, as it is with multitudes still, by whom, under a profession of reverence for His divine character and mission and authority, He is practically rejected and despised? Would you like to have the love of Christ to trust to and to rejoice in? Would you like to know and believe that the love of Christ to you, is as warm and as tender and as much to be relied on, as if you had stood to Him in the closest of •earthly relationships; as if you had lived under the same 44 The Spiritual Kindred of Christ. roof, and sat at the same table, and been associated for years in the occupations and enjoyments of the same home ? Would you be as sure of love to you existing in that Blessed One, who though He hath entered within the veil^ and is now at the Father's right hand in the heavenly sanc- tuary, is the same in the tenderness of His nature, as when He was a man ' f sorrows upon the earth ? Would you be as sure, I say, of love to you existing in Him, as you are sure there was love in His heart to the weeping mother, who stood by the cross, when He said to John : " Behold thy Mother " ; yes, and even such love as He bore to her ? Is this an object of desire ? Is this what it would satisfy your utmost wishes to possess ? Is this what would fill your souls with the joy that is unspeakable and full of glory ? Then, listen to the text ! Listen to the Saviour speaking in these sacred words ! Listen, — not as you may have often done before without interest, or without an effort to realize the full meaning of what He says, — the full import of what is promised in the emphatic words, which He used, when stretching forth his hand towards his disciples — He said : " Behold My mother and My brethren ! For whosoever shall do the will of my Father which is in heaven, the same is my brother and sister and mother." There is a twofold love of Christ described in the Scriptures, and which it is quite possible for us to distin- guish. One is the love of pity, of compassion, not founded on moral qualities in those who are the objects of it, but existing independent of them. That is the love which prompted the Saviour to undertake the cause of us sinful creatures. That is the love which prompted Him to leave the glory which he had with God before the world was, and to become partaker of flesh and blood. That is the love which moved Him to endure the contradiction of sinners against Himself, to endure the agony of the garden and of the cross. That is the love, which prompted those words of pleading tenderness with which, still, as in the first ages^ he warns, entreats and encourages sinful and suffering men to The Spiritual Kindred of Christ, 45 -come to Him. That is the love which is the prime ground of hope and comfort to every believing soul. That is the love, in the faith of which the preacher of the word must bear His message to men. And the existence of it and the greatness of it, form the very burden of that message itself. Jesus pities thee ; O ! thou sinful man, Jesus loves thee, Jesus would not have thee perish in thy sins. He is stretching out his arms to receive thee to His mercy. To save thee, he endured the agony of the garden and of the cross. He would have thee come to him, poor and wretched and blind and naked as thou art, and He will do all for thee. He will pardon. He will sanctify. He will save. Thou canst have no access to the Highest but through him. But trusting in Him, the way is open for thee even to the Paradise of God. And washed, and justified and sanctified, thou mayst yet appear among the blessed that are around the Throne. But there is a special love of Christ, not thus universal in the objects of it, not thus independent of moral quali- ties existing in the objects of it, but confined to those in whom such moral qualities exist. This is a love arising from congeniality of nature, from community of sentiment and affection, from moral approbation, from a perception of qualities deserving and calling forth love. What if Christ impart these qualities ! What, though it be the work of His Spirit that they exist in the extent to which they ■exist in any soul ! What, though the faith of His divine compassion be the very source and fountain of them all ? What, though they express but faintly and imperfectly the image of Christ himself! Faint and imperfect though such image be, compared with the Divine original, even in the soul of the most advanced believer, yet of all things in the world, it is the best deserving to be loved. And Christ, who judges ever righteous judgment, and val- ues all things according to their true nature, cannot fail to love it, and to love those in whom it is. The existence of it — the existence of Christ's image in the soul — constitutes a 46 The Spiritual Kindred of Christ. binding relationship to Him, stronger and more enduring: than that constituted by any tie of blood or of earthly" kindred. They, in whom such image is, are the spiritual kindred of the Saviour, and He prefers them to all others.. "Who is my mother," said He, " and who are my brethren ?■ And He stretched forth His hand toward His disciples and said : Behold my mother and my brethren. For who- soever shall do the will of my Father which is in heaven,, the same is my brother and sister and mother." In these words, you have the character drawn shortly,,, but faithfully and sufficiently, of the disciples of Christ,, and you have declared the honour and blessedness of being disciples. First, I say, you have the character, drawn in few but faithful and sufficient words, of the disciples of Christ. They are such as do the Father's will. In the corresponding passage in the Gospel of St. Luke, they are such as hear the- word of God and do it. A description this, nowise incon- sistent with others in the sacred word, which give repen- tance, or faith, or love of Christ, as the token of discipleship.. For the Father's will embraces each and all of these. God would have all men everywhere to repent. It is the wish of God that we should believe in His Son Jesus Christ. It is the word of God, that whoso loveth not Christ is Anathema^ Maranatha. But it is on obedience to God's will, that, our Saviour dwells as being the end of all, the main thing sought by His teaching, and by His work, without, which all other things, if they could exist separate from it,, would be vain ; and to which all other things are only valuable as leading. He makes obedience to the Father's, will the token of discipleship, to shew the vanity of a pro- fession without practice, the vanity of a repentance that is. not followed with reformation, the vanity of a faith, which, without works is dead, the vanity of any religious excite-^ ment, which terminates not in sober and self-denying sub- mission to the will of God. All the means needful to pro- duce such submission — such moral conformity to God's The Spiritual Kindred of Christ, 47 will — it would be wrong to suppose that our Saviour meant either to contest or to disparage. In proportion to the value of the end desired is the value of the means neces- sary to the attainment of it. Yet must not the means be placed above the end, or spoken or thought of, as if they possessed an inherent and independent virtue. All the duties connected with the truth, — hearing it, receiving it, re- membering it, professing it, — are but preparatory to the great end of obeying it. It is a sentence familiar to us from our very childhood, but which it is of the last import- ance to have continually in our remembrance : " Not every- one that saith unto me. Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven ; but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven." Wouldst thou then try thyself by this description of Christ's disciples, and test thereby thine own discipleship ? Consider first, whether thou art careful to know God's, will. It can hardly be thought thou hast much concern about doing God's will, if thou art not at pains to know what it is He would have thee do. Some knowledge of His will thou hast engraven in thy very heart. Thou canst not shake thyself free of it. But thou hast the word of God also by thee, shewing clearly what God would have thee to do. Is then that word of His in thy hands ? Art thou concerned to know what it says ? The statute book of the kingdom, is it thy daily study ? Christ speaks of His. disciples, as they who hear the word of God. To hear it. from His lips was the privilege of the first disciples. To read it, from the book in which it is written down, is the priv- ilege of disciples now. Dost thou avail thyself of this privilege, or is the word of God, of all books, that which thou studiest least, and art the slowest to take up ?' This will give plain enough token, that thou art not yet of the spiritual kindred of Christ, — not yet of those of whom He says : " Behold my mother and my brethren ! " But secondly, consider whether thou art careful to practise what thou knowest. There is a vast importance attached 48 The Spiritual Kindred of Christ. to this, even should thy knowledge be far short of what it should be. For doing what we know, is the step — the most sure step — to knowing more. Doing the will of God, in so far as it is known to us, our Saviour makes the prepara- tion for becoming His true and genuine disciples in all things. "If any man will do his will, he shall know of the doctrine, whether it be of God, or whether I speak of myself." How is it with thee, then, in this res- pect ? Art thou from day to day wounding, resisting the conscience which God has put in thee ? Art thou from day to day, neglecting what thine own heart and God's word agree in teaching thee thou shouldst do ; or doing what they teach thee, thou shouldst not do ? Dost thou choose thine own will, and not the Father's will ? Then again thou canst not be of the spiritual kindred of the Saviour, nor canst thou rank thyself among those of whom he said : " Behold my mother and my brethren." No doubt, all moral good or evil is in the heart, in the inward feelings and disposition of the man. Words and actions are but the exponents of the inward temp- er and disposition. God looks into the heart ; and He can discern and judge its state, without regard to external practice, for he knows every motive that has power over it. He knows every feeling that dwells in it. And He can see, amidst all the complication of motives which tells upon a man's conduct, which is the real, the chief, the governing, the actuating one. And we can look into the heart too ; not into our neighbours, but into our own. And we may by the study of the heart — the thoughts that are habitual to us — the feelings and affections that are habitual to us — come to a judgment of its true state. Nor should we be justified in failing so to judge of ourselves, though it is not given us, thus to judge our neighbour. But after all such study and investigation of internal motives and principles, it is wise and safe to come to practice ; to come to what our Lord here fixes our chief attention upon — the doing of the Father's will. It is what we may call a The Spiritual Kindred of Christ, 49 rouffhcr way of coming to a judgment, less refined and philosophical, but on the whole the safest, and will pre- vent much self delusion. Good feelings are at the foundation of all good. But we are mightily in danger of deceiving ourselves about these same good feelings, if not about the reality of them, at least the strength of them, the value of them. Take now the second table of the law, as sacred in its authority as the first, as valid, as binding on every child of man. Take the love of our neighbour. " Why I wish him very well," a man may say : " I feel nothing but kindness to him, in his distress and difficulty. I heartily pity him. I have the most genuine sympathy with him. Poor man my heart bleeds for him." There is no consciousness of insincerity in this. There is no insincerity. The man is not pretending to a feeling which he has not. He is ex- pressing a feeling which he really has. Under the con- sciousness of this, he feels himself to be very charitable and kind, and thinks he is yielding obedience to the law of love. But though there may be no insincerity, there may be great self delusion. The man may be utterly mistaken, not as to the existence of the sentiment, but as to the strength of it, and the value of it. An easy way to test them is simply to come to practice, to get out of the region of feeling into that of action, and to consider what you are ready to do or to give this object of benevolence and sympathy. What trouble will you take for him ? What exertion will you make for him ? Ah ! the tree is known best by its fruits. Even our own hearts we shall judge most safely, and with least chance of error, by taking into very ^uU consideration, the kind of conduct in regard of God and man, to which they prompt The heart cannot be all right if the conduct be all wrong, And assuredly we can never be Christ's disciples unless we are ^* doing the Father's will." This is what Christ set us an example of. He knew the Father's wilL He did it — did it always — did it perfectly — did it cheerfully. It was His wish to do it. It was with Him a necessity. It was with Him a £ 50 The Spiritual Kindred of Christ. pleasure. In the volume of the book it is written of Ilim. — as the expression of His ruling principle — "I delight to do Thy will, O my God ; yea, thy law is within my heart." And, in a measure, so it is with all His disciples. They reach not here the perfection of the great Master; but they aspire to it. They tend towards it. They make progress towards it. They die daily unto sin, and live unto righteousness. They are like the morning light which shineth more and more unto the perfect day. Is this thy state and condition, O professing Christian ? Has thy faith in the love of Christ to sinners, and His work for them, and His promises to them, of free and full salvation, wrought in thee such temper and disposition ? Amidst all the sins and shortcomings, which thou hast reason to de- plore, and for which thou dost daily mourn and daily ask forgiveness, art thou conscious of growing in inclination and in strength, to do the Father's will ? Then, Christ doth own thee one of His family — of His kindred ; thou art nearer to His heart than any relationship of blood and lineage could ever have made thee. Thou art more the object of His regard, than any early association or domestic intimacy could have made thee. It was a natural excla- mation for the woman, while listening to the words of grace and wisdom which were falling from the lips of Jesus: " Blessed is the womb that bare thee, and the breasts which thou hast sucked." But what was the judg- ment of Jesus himself? " Yea, rather, blessed are they that hear the word of God, and keep it." And this is thy blessedness, this is thine honour, O Christian disciple, who being a disciple not in name only, but in deed and truth, art doing the Father's will. To thee and such as thee, Jesus doth still stretch out His hand saying as of old : " Behold my mother and my brethren ! For whoso- ever shall do the will of My Father which is in heaven, the same is my brother and sister and mother." " Note," says an old commentator on this passage, "All obedient believers are near akin to Jesus Christ. They wear His The Spiritual Kindred of Christ. 61 name, bear his ima^e, have his nature, are of his family. He loves them, owns them, converses freely with them, as his relations. He bids them welcome to his table, takes care o{ them, provides for them, sees that they want for nothing that is fit for them : When he died he left them rich legacies : Now he is in heaven, he keeps up a cor- respondence with them, and will have them all with liim at last, and will in nothing fail to do the kinsman's part, nor will ever be ashamed of his poor relations, but will confess them before men, before angels, and before his Father." Such honour have all his Saints. What honour or profit has the world to put in competition with this ? Keep it in thy mind, lay it to thine heart, O, believer! Christ is thy brother, thy kinsman, thy friend. He regards thee with greater tenderness than any earthly relation claims or calls forth. He will stand by thee in thy trouble. He will walk with thee through the valley and shadow of death. He will own thee in the day when He cometh in the clouds of heaven. He will take thee with Him into the kingdom of the Father. Thou mayest be of God's hidden ones here below and the world know thee not, even as it knew Him not. But thou art known and ac- knowledged now as of the heavenly family, and as such thou shalt be known and acknowledged hereafter. O be concerned more and more to make thy calling and election sure ; to have brightening evidence from day to day in exercises of piety and deeds of charity, that thou art indeed of the spiritual kindred of Jesus ; that thou hast His image engraven on thy heart ; that thou art a partaker of the nature that was in Him. And let this be thy motto, thy joy, thy comfort. "The Lord knoweth them that are his. Having loved His own, from the beginning. He loves them to the end." And you who may not claim this special and distinguish- ing love of Christ — which yet we must all have if we would be His — and should have, if ever we become His ; re- ^>2 The Spiritual Kindred of Christ member, I beseech you, that even to all sinful men, to all labourinjr and heavy laden, the heart of Christ is over- flo\vin<,r with compassion ; and this day His word to such is : " Come unto mo. Him that comcth unto me I will in no wise cast out." If He sees not in you now the heart and lineaments of God's true children, He is willing to impart them. If now ye be in a state of condemnation, if hereafter a verdict of condemnation be pronounced on you, it will be, because ye would not come to Him that ye might have life. May God in mercy make you willing, that so you may yet be loved and cherished members of Christ's spiritual family, heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ ; yea, and may this very day be memorable in your spiritual history, as the era from which you date a new and spiritual life. V. CHRIST'S MISSION ON EARTH. St. Matthew XX, 26, 27, 28. IVhosofier will be ):;reat amon^ you, let him be yoitp- minister, and ivhoscerer li'ill be chief amon^ you, let him be your sen\int, eren as the Son oj nian came not to be ministered unto, but to minister, and to give his life a ransom for many. No one can fail to remark, while perusing the Gospel history, how ignorant and inapprehensive the disciples were, and long continued to be, of the spiritual nature of that kingdom of heaven, which Jesus was about to establish. The idea of a spiritual reign was new to them, foreign to all their habits of thinking, opposed to the universally entertained expectations of their countrymen, and inconsistent with the literal import of the prophetic Scriptures. Except by miracle, it could only be slowly and by degrees, that their minds could become able to take in so magnificent a conception, or to follow it out in its details, and in its distinction from the notions which they had previously entertained. And ultimately it was by a miraculous illapse of the Holy Spirit, that they were delivered from their former narrow and mistaken views, and made capable of comprehending the spiritual nature of the new dispensation. But, meanwhile, during our Lord's own personal ministry, though they received such lessons, from time to time, upon the subject, as should, it may seem, have opened their minds to right apprehensions of the truth — such lessons as still serve to convey to us clear ideas of the nature and character of Christ's kingdom on the earth — they remained to a great extent ignorant of the truth. And if it was so with them, we need not wonder that it was so with the mother of James and John ; that 54 Chrisfs Mission on Earth. her ambition, like theirs, was a worldly ambition ; or that in the request which she made to Jesus on behalf of her sons, she had no other desire than to secure for them tem- poral honours, the highest places of rank and authority, in what she imagined was to be a temporal kingdom. We shall have less cause to be surprised at the dulness and incapacity of the disciples to comprehend the spiritual nature of Christ's kingdom, if we consider not merely the characte." of their understandings, not rising above the ordinary level, and the imperfect training which they had of necessity received in a remote province, among a proud and bigoted people, and in the humble class of society to which they originally belonged ; but also the difficulty which we have ourselves to conceive the spiritual king- dom of Christ, notwithstanding its actual establishment and existence for so long a period in the world. The words " Kingdom " and " Reign " still most readily sug- gest to our minds, the symbols, the subjects, the in- struments, the accessaries of temporal sovereignty ; courts and councils, in which a king presides ; countries over which he rules ; tribute which he levies ; armies which he leads ; wars which he wages ; conquests which he makes ; the crown, the sceptre, the sword, emblems of a temporal rule on the one hand, and a temporal subjection on the other. It is not easy to put aside these notions, and to conceive of a kingdom, which though established in the world, is yet not of the world, nor akin in its character, aspect, and purpose to earthly kingdoms. It requires a serious and sustained exercise of thought to contemplate Christ's kingdom, not that in Heaven, over the spirits of just m^n made perfect, nor that, of which the Scriptures speak, over all angels and men, but the king- dom which is actually established on earth. Amidst all the ignorance, sin and misery which yet prevail in the world, how real, how extensive, how great and growing a kingdom that is, though it be unsupported by material force, and far from having yet reached the measure of its predicted Chrisis Mission o?i Earth, 55 and promised power and glory. It requires a serious and sustained exercise of thought to take into the mind, and realize the truth, that One, once a wandering prophet of righteousness in a remote province, contumeliously rejected by the mass of his countrymen, and finally crucified amidst the execrations of the people, now reigns supreme in the hearts of unnumbered multitudes ; to whom obedience is rendered, not from fear, nor even constraint of conscience, but from love ; and that an obe- dience not of the outward life only, but of the heart and the affections ; one whose name now transcends every name of dignity and honour, which men have agreed to rever- ence; whose authority, though enforced by no visible power or temporal sanction, transcends all authority that is any- where known among men ; who has subjects in every condi- tion of mankind ; whose subjects are daily increasing ; whose right is acknowledged to rule in the minds and hearts of all ; and who does so rule, as to influence far more profoundly and permanently, the character and con- dition of mankind, than any earthly power can at all accomplish, regulating the inner life of those who are His true subjects, and largely affecting those also who may not be so considered. There is much as yet undoubtedly wanting to complete in actual fact, the full idea of the kingdom of Heaven among men. It has not yet extended over all the space in which it is destined to bear sway. It has not yet en- rolled all nations, or all of any nation, among its subjects. Those, who are its subjects, are often needlessly divided from one another, and see not nor acknowledge, the good there is in one another. And even the most loyal fail much and often in their allegiance and their duty. But yet with all these abatements, and notwithstanding all that is opposed to it, what has earth to shew in dignity or excellence, in power or promise, compared with the reign of Christ in men's hearts ? What has so effectually tamed the furious passions of men ? What has set us on so many noble enter- 56 Chris fs Mission on Earth. prizes ? What has accomplished so much of good ? What has communicated so much of happiness ? What has given rise to so many noble impulses, or moved to so much of virtuous exertion ? What has imparted so much purity in life, or so much of hope in death ? Or what could so effec- tually darken all this world's prospects, and destroy the brightest hopes of its best inhabitants, as the extinction of this spiritual kingdom, the great Head of which is to man invisible, and all his words and promises, the objects only of that faith, which is the evidence of things not seen and the substance of things hoped for ? We talk much in our day of public opinion, and are prompt to defer to it, as if it must of necessity be a safe and right guide, forgetful that public opinion has sanctioned the most palpable follies, and the most atrocious wickedness; that in enlightened Athens it sanctioned the execution of the most virtuous of the heathen sages, and approved in Jerusalem the crucifix- ion of Jesus. Let us rather think of Christian opinion, Christian sentiment — opinion and sentiment derived from the word and example of Christ ; and in whatever influence or authority they possess among men, we may discern the tokens and results of the reign of Christ upon the earth. It is not however to the extent or paramount authority of Christ's Kingdom on the earth, that I would desire now to call your attention, but rather to the light thrown on the nature of that kingdom, by the authoritative declaration here given, as to what that is, which in it con- stitutes true greatness. Jesus had spoken on the subject before, when the disciples enquired who among them should be the greatest in the kingdom of heaven, and he had clearly enough intimated by the form of his answer, that not pride, or ambition, or the effects to which they prompt, not rank, not power, not intellectual pre-eminence, not courage in war, nor proficiency in the arts of peace, all of which have a high place in temporal kingdoms, would give eminence in His, but an humble spirit. "Who so shall humble himself as this little child, the same is Chris fs Miss io ft on Earth. 57 greatest in the kingdom of heaven." What He then said of a temper of mind, he says in the text of a habit of action, implying indeed humility, but implying also self- denying benevolence. " Whosoever will be great among you, let him be your minister, and whosoever will be chief among you, let him be your servant." How different this is from what obtains in ordinary earthly kingdoms, our Lord Himself does specially notice. " Ye know," said he, " that the princes of the Gentiles exer- cise dominion over them, and they that are great exercise authority upon them, but it shall not be so among you." In ordinary kingdoms they who attain the chief place expect and constrain others to serve them. They require that their will be done, their inclinations consulted, their honour advanced, their happiness as much as possible in- creased. They are actuated by a regard to self, and gratify as much as in them lies, and in so far as the measure of their power extends, the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eye and the pride of life. This is their aim, and it gives the moral tone and character to all their proceedings, not the less that, in point of fact, they do serve others, and prove to be, without intending it, what Christians are, who choose and intend to be servants and ministers to the good of others. It is a token of l 'e wise and overruling government of God, that men are not able to gratify their own selfish desires, without contributing some thing, often largely, to the general good. The ends of a benevolent government are thus secured, though these ends be not at all contem- plated by those who serv'^j them, but only small and selfish ends of their own. There are among those who exercise authority in earthly kingdoms, some no doubt, who are subjects of Christ's spiritual kingdom, and who in the very exercise of their temporal authority are guided by Chris- tian principles. But Christ speaks here of the princes of the Gentiles — of those without the true religion, and th-- description we have given includes multitudes who have that religion only as a matter of speculation, and not of glad acceptance and willing submission. 68 Christ s Mission on Earth. But such is not the description of those who stand pre- eminent in the Kingdom of Christ. They are servants of all, and ministers of all. And they are so of deliberate choice and purpose, formed in a spirit of humility and of self- denying benevolence. In and to their choice and purpose they are guided by a great example, even the example of the Head of that spiritual kingdom itself, of which they are the subjects. The Son of man is the title by which our Lord did most choose to distinguish himself in the days of his humiliation. But He did not hesitate before the High Priest to avow himself the Son of the Blessed. One of his apostles testified of Him that He thought it no robbery to be equal with God, and another, that He was in the beginning with God, and was God. Yet He humbled himself. Yet He condescended to become par- taker of flesh and blood, and to dwell among men. And when He did so condescend. He came not as a King or a Conqueror. He came not clothed in the splendour of earthly greatness to exercise a temporal authority over subject nations. He came in meek humility, claiming no temporal honour, asserting no temporal pre-eminence, his only claim to pre-eminence appearing in the desire not that others should serve him, but that he should be the servant of others, his claim to pre-eminence established by his unparalleled self-sacrifice in life and death. Throughout his toilsome and laborious life he pleased not himself, sought no private or selfish ends, but with universal beneficence, and even when enduring the contradiction of sinners against himself, sought to promote the spiritual and temporal good of all. That was his continual end and aim. The bright example He, of that love which was to be the distinguishing characteristic of his disciples, and the badge and token of their connection with Him, the love which is the end of the commandment and the fulfilling of the law. And the love and the self-sacrifice which appeared throughout his life, shone most brightly of all in his death. That, though it seemed to be brought about Chrisfs Mission on Earth. 59 only by the violent passions of wicked men, was the result of his own choice. No man could take his life from him. He had power to lay it down and power to take it up again. And when He did lay it down, amidst the desertion of friends, and the execrations and insults of his enemies, and bruised and wounded in spirit, unspeakably more than in the body, which was nailed to the cross, and pierced with a spear, it was in abounding grace and love, that the great sacrifice was made. It was for others he died, for sinful men then, for sinful men now, that he offered himself to God, and gave his life a ransom for many. His death was not the sad debt of nature, which all must sooner or later pay. It was not even the martyr's death constrained to choose between the surrender of life and principle. It was a voluntary offering for others, the crowning demon- stration of divine and unparalleled love. Truly it appears from all the Gospel History, that " the Son of man came not to be miniscered unto, but to minister, and to give his life a ransom for many. " Was such self-denying benevolence the great character- istic of the Head of the kingdom of heaven on the earth, that which pre-eminently distinguished him, then it is plain that such kingdom was not to resemble the king- doms of the world. It was to be a kingdom of a dif- ferent kind, and its honours and rewards to be bestowed on other principles. That which the King valued and exem- plified most himself, he would most value and approve in others. The greater the abnegation of self, the more com- plete and decided the reign of benevolence, the more promptly selfish ease, selfish ends and interests could be sacrificed for others, the more steadily and habitually the good of others, their temporal good and their spiritual good was contemplated, the greater claim there would of necessity be to consideration and honour in a kingdom, of which the Sovereign had come to the world, not to be ministered unto, but to minister, and to give his life a ran- som for many. Nor was it to be thought that any other 60 Christ's Mission on Earth, could be the law of such a kingdom and such a Sovereign, than that which is laid down in the text : " Whosoever will be great among you let him be your minister, and whosoever will be chief among you let him be your servant." There are distinctions even in Christ's kingdom here. There will be distinctions in Christ's kingdom hereafter. That there shall be infinite variety even amidst great and strong resemblance seems to be a law of the Divine proced- ure in all things. How like in many things is one flower to another, but even in flowers of the same class, there is not one exactly and in all things like another. How like speaking generally is the human countenance in all, yet not even in members of the same family, is the count- enance of one exactly and in all things like that of another. How like are the great features of the human character, the tempers, capacities, and desires of men, in all the race. As in water face answereth to face, so doth the heart of man to man. Yet are no two characters exactly, and in all respects, alike. And as it is with human character generally, so it is with Christian character in particular. There is a general resemblance in all true Christians, but there is infinite variety too ; variety in knowledge, variety in attainment, variety formed from difi"erent opportunities of getting good, or of doing good, variety in the disposition to take advantage ofsuch opportunities, variety in the strength of Christian principle, variety in the performance of Chris- tian duty. All are not on a dead level here in Christ's kingdom below. All shall not be on a dead level in Christ's kingdom above. Variety gives a charm in the kingdom of nature. It imparts a charm to common society. It is not without its important uses in Christian society — where each, according to the measure of his gifts and graces, may find his proper work to do, and his fitting associates in the doing of it. Nor may we doubt that it will impart interest to the heavenly society, in which all, we knowi shall not be alike, but some shall sit on thrones, judging Christ's Mission on Earth. Gl the tribes of the spiritual Israel, and "every one shall receive his own reward according to his own labour." Ikit the distinctions in Christ's kingdom now and the distinctions in Christ's kingdom above are not such as will minister to the pride or the selfishness of the natural heart. They are the reward, — rather they are the pre-eminent existence — of the prime virtues of humility and benevolence. The humility and the benevolence con- stitute the distinction, rather than the ground of distinc- tion. But as the humblest, and the most self-denied and benevolent are the most distinguished in the kingdom of heaven, in the account, and according to the law and prin- ciple of judgment ordained by its great Head, and exhib- ited and sanctioned by his own illustrious example, so it is plain that to be subjects of that kingdom at all, it behoves that we be humble, and to others serviceable. I have had frequent occasion to speak of Christian humility — how excellent in itself, as according to the truth of things — and how excellent as a disposition, which prompts to seek, and makes willing to receive, and to which God has promised his heavenly grace. As well think to have light without the sun, as a Christian without humility. But now I would speak of actual usefulness. A Christian is a servant, a minister — another name for a servant. He is one who labours for others, Avhose heart is not engrossed with selfish aims and pursuits, but glows with social tender- ness for all mankind, whose religion is not of that selfish kind which contemplates only his own salvation, but which has regard also for the moral and spiritual good of others ; who does not say in regard of any object or enterprise of benevolence, with the wicked Cain, ** Am I my brother's keeper ? " but who gladly seeks to profit by and improve every opportunity of usefulness. I tell you, this disposition to serve, to minister, to be useful to others, useful in your day and generation according to the measure of your capacities and opportunities, useful when active exertion 62 ChrUfs Mission on Earth, is required, and useful when self-denial and sacrifice are required, is as essential to the Christian character, as neces- sary an attribute jf a true and faithful subject of Christ's kingdom on earth, as is humility. A selfish Christian ! a Christian taken up only with his own immediate interests I a Christian not prompt to minister to others, or not casting about to seek the means of usefulness in the world and in the Church, why the very idea is absurd. How should such a one be a follower or a subject of Him, who came not to be ministered unto, but to minister, and to give his life a ransom for many. I desire to press this upon the consciences of all of us. It is not enough to have some religious knowledge. It is not enough to have some value for such knowledge. It is not enough to be at times the subject of religious emotions more or less deep and earnest. It is not enough to be humble, as Christ requires, and as is suitable to our state and character and condition. It is not enough to be strict in personal duties and honest and honourable in business transactions. It is not enough to be free from malice or revenge, or to have a general feeling of good will. All this does not constitute a servant or min- ister, one who follows the example of Him who went about continually doing good, and who gave his life a ransom for many. There must be active benevolence towards others. There must be active exertion for others. It must be an aim and object settled and constant to be useful, to grow in usefulness, to mark our course in the world by earnest and self-denying exertion for others. For such exertion there is always ample room. God has not made men to stand isolated and apart from one another. They need each other's aid. Who gives aid at one time, may need it at another. Who needs it now may be able to give it at some other time. And as Christians we are bound in a special manner to consider ourselves as brethren, and to act to one another as such. How shall we belong to the heavenly kingdom, Christ's kingdom, if we Chris fs Mission on Earth. C3 would always have others serving and ministering to us, instead of ourselves serving and ministering to others? Is that to walk in the footsteps of the Son of man who came not to be ministered unto, but to minister, and to give his life a ransom for many ? There is a cold selfishness about many a one, who holds a respectable place in the world, and perhaps in the Church too, which is wholly inconsistent with the spirit of Christ. " I shall gain all I can, keep all I can, enjoy all I can, give nothing which I can withhold, do nothing for others that I can avoid, live to myself here, and get to heaven if I can at last, without regard to others." No one would say just that. But it is how many feel, and it does not mend the matter much, if in the gaining and keeping and enjoying and doing, a man takes in his own immediate connections, who are, as it were, only part of himself and from whom he cannot shake himself free. It is good that a man should do this, good that God has so made man, that he can scarcely, or seldom, help doing it ; good that in- born selfishness is so far broken in upon, good that even in such and so limited a degree, a regard to others should be entertained : that even on so small a scale he should be constrained to be, and in some measure by choice and through natural affection, a servant and a minister unto some. But the spirit of Christ goes far beyond that. It is far wider in its regard for others, far more noble and gen- erous and loving. And little indeed shall we understand the life of Him, whose servants we profess to be, if the believing contemplation serves not to melt and displace the cold selfishness of the world, and to substitute in its stead a spirit of warm and active and self-denying charity. But whom am I to serve, to whom am I to minister ? it may be said. To this, I answer : Wheresoever God gives thee opportunity, thou art to minister, to whomsoever thou canst be of real use thou art to be serviceable. Why should any one ask : Who is my neighbour ? when Jesus hath told us that every one is our neighbour, to whom our 64 Chrisfs Mission on Earth, power of doing good extends. Let a man have in his heart the benevolence of the Gospel, active and self-deny- ing, and he will not want objects or opportunities for bringing it into exercise, and only such exercise will pre- vent its dying away, and giving place to opposing and sluggish selfishness. There is a hatefulness and repulsive- ness about all selfishness, our own selfishness when we can be made to see it, and others' selfishness which we are quick enough to discover and to condemn ; our own or others* selfishness in respect of anything. But I know not if it ever appears more hateful and repulsive, than when con- nected with a certain kind and degree of religion. Some- times a man's religion consists in a simple desire to save his soul, or to have it saved, as if any misera- ble soul could be saved, that cared only for itself in time or in eternity; as if salvation did not very mainly mean deliverance from that very selfishness, and the im- planting of a higher principle of love ; supreme love to God, and love to our neighbour as ourselves. VI. THE DOCTRINE OF REWARD. St. Matthkw X, 41, 42. lie that receiveth a prophet in tht name of a prophet, shall receive a prophtt\ reward ; and he that receiveth a righteous man in the name of a righteous man, shall receive a righteous man's retvard ; and %vhosoei ,.ave been suggested, and dwelt on with (jS The Doctrine of Reward. such impressive energy and amplitude in the law ? But it is just as plain, that in as far as they were needed and had actual weight, the character of Jewish obedience was there- by lowered, being less the result of religious principle, and more that of sordid and selfish calculation. The truth is, that under the law, the Jews were, and were treated as children. This the Apostle expressly says in the Epistle to the Galatians. They were in a state of pupilage. They were not supposed to be capable of understanding or appreciating the highest motives to heavenly virtue. When you desire, for good ends, to make a child pursue a certain proper and desirable course of conduct, you do not expect that he is to be so led by the highest sentiments of morals or religion. These he is quite incapable of understanding or appreciating. And you have to act on his mind, and guide his conduct, and form his habits, by the, to him, more intelligible and stronger inducements of immediate reward or immediate punishment. These answer your immediate purpose, and you keep to Jiem, till in progress of time, he is capable of feeling and being acted upon by higher and nobler motives ; never, however, ascribing to conduct so produced, the character, in your estimation, due to conduct proceeding from the higher principles of religion and virtue. Just so it was with the Jews in their early history. Morally and religiously they were as children, and God dealt with them as such, putting them under a system suited to their moral condition, which required the pressure and strength of immediate and directly felt reward and punishment, that they might be influenced to the course of conduct laid down in the law. In the progress of their history, they rose to a state of higher and more correct moral apprehension, the traces and evidence of which are to be found in the Psalms and in the writings of the Prophets ; and higher in propor- tion was the virtue of their saints. Yet it is plain, were it but from the fact alone of the unrepealed ordination under the law, by which obedience was connected with TJic Doctrine of Reward, 69 temporal prosperity, and the reverse, the Jewish never reached the high standard of the Christian morality ; and when Christ came, it was not only by his own obedience to satisfy the demands of the law, and so to magnify it and make it honourable, but also in his doctrine and by his example, in the motives which he urged, and in the motives by which Himself was actuated, to illustrate the law, showing what the obedience it requires, and whence such obedience must proceed ; and so He raised incalculably in motive, in extent and purity, the standard of human duty. And why was not this done sooner, the objection rises ? Why were not such higher and juster views given in the early as well as in the more advanced periods, of the Jewish history ? That is really to ask : Why is not the whole order of the Divine Providence different from what it is ? That is a question with which man is manifestly incompetent to deal. It involves interests too great for him to comprehend. It embraces too great a sweep for his eye to take in. It is not for the children of a day to compute or settle what was most suitable in the eter- nity that is past, or what will prove most suitable in the eternity that is to come. But, assuming that order to be established, because the most accordant with an all perfect reason, and best fitted to carry out the designs and purposes of infinite goodness, we see in the gradual advance of the Jewish people from a state of pupilage, in which to use the Apostle's words, "they were in bondage under the elements of the world," to the light and freedom of the Gospel dispensation, a perfect conformity with the ordi- nary method of the Divine working. The plant springs not up in a moment to the full perfection of its beauty. The fruit comes not forth in an hour ready or ripe to be plucked. The oak becomes not in a day fit to be con- verted into the noble vessel, which shall bravely stand the buffeting of winds and waves. Man springs not into being in the full exercise of his powers either of body or to The Doctrine of Reward. mind. There is progress in the discoveries of science and in the march of civilization. There are tokens of progress going on through ages — to us innumerable, though they be but as yesterday when it is past, or as a w^atch in the night, to Him, with whom one day is as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day, — in the preparation of this great globe itself, for the accommodation and use of its present inhabitants. And God does only follow the same order, his own order, appearing in all his works, and in all his providential government of the world, in the moral and religious progress discernible in the world, discernible in the Jewish Church — which, though heir of the promises, was yet in a state of childhood and pupilage ; progress from the kind of obedience which flows from the relation of servants, subject to punishment and stimulated by wages, to the higher and better kind of obedience which flows from the afi'ection of sons, sharing the same nature, contemplating the same ends, and re- joicing in the same things with the great Father, to whom it is rendered ; progress such as Paul describes in these memorable words : " Now, I say that the heir, as long as he is a child, differeth nothing from a servant, though he be lord of all ; but is under tutors and governors until the time appointed by the Father. Even so we, when we were children, were in bondage under the elements of the world ; but when the fulness of the time was come, God sent forth his Son, made of a woman, made under the law, to redeem them that were under the law, that we might receive the adoption of sons ; and because ye are sons, God hath sent forth the spirit of his Son into your hearts, crying Abba Father." But the question rises does the Gospel, does the new dispensation, does its great Author originate and enjoin this higher, purer, nobler virtue, the virtue of obedience, flowing from the affection of sons, rather than from the hopes and fears of slaves ? Does not the New Testament speak of reward ? Does it not, in glowing terms, speak of The Doctrine of Reward, 71 the glory and honour which have all the Saints ? Did not Christ himself speak of reward ? Is not the doctrine of reward contained in the text ? Is not a promised re- ward urged in it to acts of charity and virtue? How else then can we understand such a passage as that before us : " He that receiveth a prophet shall receive a prophet's reward ; and he that receiveth a righteous man shall receive a righteous man's reward. And whosoever shall give to drink to one of these little ones a cup of cold water, in the name of a disciple, shall in no wise lose his reward." Indeed, the doctrine of reward is here taught. It would be absurd to deny it, and absurd to attempt, as some do, to slur it over, and if possible get rid of it, as if it were not consistent with the general doctrine of the Gospel ; as if it were not taught by Christ him- self; as if it were not obviously intended by Him, to tell and to tell directly and powerfully, on the hearts and lives of His disciples. We heartily receive the doc- trine, and acknowledge its authority. And how then, it next occurs to be asked, how do you acquit the Gospel of making application to that same sordid principle, which vitiates all exercises of religion, or acts of charity, as being purchased and paid fci, instead of flowing from right and pure principle ? We do so, not by denying that under the Gospel there is reward — not by denying the excellent nature of the reward — not by denying that the hope of it should be cherished — not by denying that if cherished, it must tell, and tell powerfully, on the motives and principles of action — but by setting forth what the na- ture of the promised reward is. That reward is set forth, doubtless, especially in the apo- calyptic vision, under material images, and by allusions drawn from earthly and material things. There are crowns of gold spoken of, and white robes, and palms of triumph. There is a heavenly city to dwell in, resplendent with all conceivable magnificence. There is a heavenly sanctuary in which to worship. There is the fruit of the tree of life 72 The Doctrine of Rcivard. of which to cat. There is the water of the river of life of which to drink, liut thes images — atui others such — are not intended to be understood in the letter, nor are they by the least instructed in the (jospel doctrine so under- stood, or once conceived of as cai)able to minister to any selfisii principle or sensual passion. Whatever be the glory of the visible Heaven, whatever the harmonies of its exalted worship, or the honour of angelic intercourse and society, the essence of the heavenly happiness, as described in the Gospel, is known and felt to be in its holiness — • knowing God — loving God — and loving those who are his children — being like Ilini. What theii if the heavenly reward, the reward which Christ promised, the reward which the Gospel holds out, be merely the increase of such sources of happiness — more knowledge of God, more love to God, more love to the children and the creatures of God! Dost thou delight now in the knowledge of God ? Dost thou find an exalted satisfaction in the contemplation of liis character, and in learning more of his wondrous ways, and of his i)erfect excellence? Hast thou pleasure in tracing the Creator's power and wisdom in his works ? 1 last thou pleasure in studying the wise and gracious order of his Providence ? Above all dost thou desire to lo:>k into the wonders of redeeming love, and with all saints, to comprehend more and more the height, and depth, and length and breadth of that love of God which passeth knowledge ? Dost thou seek to know, and delight to know, the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ } Then, in that world above, and as the reward of thy search after such knowledge, and thy delight in such know- ledge now, thou shalt have thy capacities for acquiring such knowledge, and thy opportunities for acquiring such knowledge, immeasurably increased, so that it may be said of thee, that " in God's light, thou shalt see light, and thou shalt know even as thou art known." Dost thou now love God, and find thy delight and duty and happiness The Doctrine of Rczvard. 73 in loving God ? Tlicn shall tliy capacity of loving God be increased. Dost thou find happiness now in the love of thy neighbour, and in '•'' those acts of courtesy and kindness and self-denying charity, by which thou canst advance thy neighbour's happiness, and improve l.is con- dition ? Then, as the reward of such benevolence, thou shalt have given thee still greater largeness of heart, more of that divine princii)le by which thou art actuated. 71iou shalt be made more loving and more Christli,'bly be produced, of making them be supposed the weightier matters of the law, and others of less moment, and less deserving to be regarded. And if such were either no duties at all, or duties comparatively trivial and unimportant — compara- tively, I say, for no duty, however we may call or think it small, and however we may justly esteem it smaller than others, is to be regarded as trivial and unimportant — then would the teachers or systems, so dwelling on them and enforcing them, be as really chargeable with the guilt of giving forth erroneous views of duty, as if they did so in set terms. They do it in effect, and those that are guided by them are led to entertain and to act upon wrong views ot " the law," and of what are " the weightier matters of the law." For example, there are certain pure, right and holy affections which should exist in men's hearts, towards God and man, and in the manifestation of which in various forms, according as circumstances arise and occasions call for, consists the practical duty of life. And there are also certain external means and ordinances appointed to strengthen and stimulate them, and give them, from time to time, fresh impulse and power over the whole man — say with us, the sanctifying of the first day of the week ; the institution of the Christian ministry and of public wor- The Weightier Matters of the Lmi). 81 ship, and the observance of the sacraments ; should any one so dwell on these, the means, as that they were for- gotten to be, and ceased to appear means, and came to be considered in themselves ends, and to supersede in the mind those very ends which they were designed to pro- mote — in the apprehension of the mind to equal or to surpass them in value, being regarded not as duties to aid to the performance of other and higher duties, but as the highest and the most important duties themselves — then practically, however, it be occasionally disavowed, there is given as false a view of moral duty as if it were done in direct terms ; and in effect men are led utterly wrong and astray as to what are the " weightier matters of the law." There are other examples of a similar nature which might be given. There are moral systems, for example, in which little is said of any duty the creature owes to the Creator ; so little — though that little may be sound enough, and true enough — that the impression is left, that the common duties of man to man are all that are of any consequence to be regarded or practised. And there are religious works, in which the duty of stimulating and scrutinizing the affections towards God is so exclusively dwelt on, that there seems to be no place left for, and no importance attached to, the common business and the common duties in which so large a portion of every day of the life of every man must of necessity be passed. Each of these makes in effect, and leads others in opinion and in prac- tice, to make distinctions between classes of duties, attach- ing an importance to one class, which, if it does not deny, it fails to give to the other, which are not warranted by any- thing in the nature of these duties, or in the representation given of them in the Gospel. Now from any such tendency indirectly, as much as directly, the Gospel is altogether free. It does not place rites in the room of principles. It does not so dwell on or enforce those which it enjoins, as to make them seem of highest consequence. One page of the New Testament would contain all that is said of all a 82 The Weightier Matters of the Law. the external rites which it is binding on a Christian to ob- serve. And all the rest of it is taken up with inculcating holy principles and holy affections, and holy principles and affections to be carried out in a holy practice. No man will be a ritualist, contented with, or taken up with mere external observances, who submits himself to its teaching. The whole tenor and tendency of the teaching of Christ and his Apostles is opposed to such a dis- position, tending to make all those who receive it, and ponder on it, and place themselves under its influence, to know and believe that "the Kingdom of God is not meat or drink or any outward thing, but righteousness, and peace, and joy in the Holy Ghost." Neither does the Gospel in its moral teaching so dwell on one class of duties, that growing out of our relation to God, or that growing out of the different relations in which we stand to our brethren, as to displace either from the regard of those who receive it, or to make one weighty matter of the law exclude another as weighty, any more than it would make *' tithe of mint and anise and cummin " stand in stead of "judgment, mercy and faith." The Gospel teaches all, and teaches all in due place and proportion. Can any one follow Christ's teaching or example, without a due regard to God ; the teaching and example of him who said, " my meat is to do the will of Him that sent me and to finish his work." Can any one follow Christ's example or teaching without a due regard to the duties we owe to one another, the example and teaching of Him, " who went about continually doing good ? " It is in this its indirect tendency, as much or more than in its direct teaching, that the Gospel morality surpasses that of the Mosaic Law. In the Law, as in the Gospel, it was said : " Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind, and thy neighbor as thyself." But it will not be said, that amidst the multiplied provisions of the law, and the vast variety of ritual observances which it enjoined, these two The Weightier Matters of the Law. 83 great commandments hold the same prominent place in the one as in the other: or were so set forth as to gain the same place in the minds and hearts of men. It is not only in the greater distinctness and prominence which are given to these in the Gospel, but in the constant inculcation of them and of truths and considerations which lead to them, instead of the ritual observances of the law, that the supe- riority is to be seen of the Christian over the Jewish dis- pensation. In asserting this superiority, no objection is made to the Jewish dispensation, the amount of truth re- vealed under it, or the manner in which duty is taught, or the duties on which stress is laid, when considered in refer- ence to the time when, the people for whom, and the pur- pose for which, it was intended. For them it was no doubt suitable, nay the most suitable. But it can only be considered perfect in connection with these. In itself it was imperfect. And it did only lead the way to that brighter and better revelation, which setting no store by such rites as the Jewish people had found to be in nature and number a yoke too burdensome to be borne, did in its every part and page set forth "judgment, mercy and faith " to be " the weightier matters of the law." And while the true teaching of the Gospel of Christ and his Apostles thus transcends the teaching of a former, even a divine dispensation, it stands also remarkably dis- tinguished from the teaching and practice of the Church after it became rupt through the mystery of iniquity, which even in the time of the Apostles had begun to work. It is not that in the teaching and daily worship of the Roman Church, Gospel views of duty are not inculcated, but that they are so overlaid with other things, either unauthorized, or unimportant, or both ; it is that ceremony is regarded so much, and the attention is fixed on so many things which can but little concern the true well- being of the soul ; it is because so much is said of feasts and fasts, and Church observances, and Church autho- rity, and Church practice, and Church allegiance, that 84 The Weightier Matters of the Laiv. it becomes chart^eable with making the weightier matters of the law cease to appear so, or to have the place due to them in the common apprehension. And no doubt there have been, and there are Protestant Churches and Protestant teachers, who in overweening attachment to their own peculiarities of faith or worship, or outward ecclesiastical order, by the attention they give and call to these, by the length at which, they dwell on them, and the importance which they attach to them, do prac- tically the same thing, and too often substitute in effect things inconsiderable in themselves for "the weightier matters of the law." But for neither Roman nor Protestant errors in this respect is the Gospel accountable. Nor should any teaching be regarded which follows it not in the moral distinctions which it makes, and in the superiority which it invariably attributes to "judgment, mercy and faith," comprising, as they do, the sum of " these two great commandments, on which hang all the law and the prophets." But the moral character of individuals may also be determined very much by the distinctions which they are in the habit of making among duties. There are two great classes of duties, those which are strictly moral in their na- ture, and growing necessarily out of the relation in which man stands to God, and out of the relation in which God has placed men towards one another; and those that are positive — of express and special appointment. The former cannot in any circumstances be conceived of as ceasing to be binding. The latter may be altered or repealed. The love of God, or duty to a parent, are of the former class ; the insti- tion of sacrifice, and all such rites are of the latter class. It is characteristic of hypocrisy, either that gross form of it which seeks to impose on others, or that subtler and more dangerous form of it, in which a man seeks to impose on himself, to prefer the latter to the former ; to set a greater value on the positive thnn on the moral in religion ; to be taken up with the outward observances of religion, and The Weightier Matters of the Lazu. 85 regardless of its spirit and essence. The conduct of tlie Scribes and Pharisees whom our Lord had addressed with such severe reprobation, in the chapter before us, is a case in point. They paid tithe of mint and anise and cummin; that is they professed to be so zealous in their obedience to the law for the support of the priesthood and of public worship, that they would not fail in a matter so trifling that many doubted whether it were of obligation at all, and all knew it was of no consequence for the end proposed by the institution of tithe, whether it were so considered or not. And yet, while so scrupulous, either affectedly or really, about a matter of that sort, they disregarded the obligation of justice and mercy and faith. They distin- guished in the very opposite way from that divine distinc- tion made in the prophecies : "I will have mercy and not sacrifice : " Their distinction was : " We will have sacrifice, and not mercy." And He who knew what was in man de- nounces their hypocrisy. They were desirous by a show of scrupulous obedience to a law for the maintenance of reli- gion, to be regarded as religious, perhaps to regard them- selves as religious, while doing what the law of God and their own consciences condemned ; and in all time, and under any and every form of religion, either in or out of the Chris- tian Church, there have been men like them. What is the attendance of some upon the public ordinances of religion, the weekly worship on the Lord's day, or the more solemn service of the Communion, in principle and in effect, but the paying tithe of mint, anise and cummin, while omitting the weightier matters of the law. If these or similar duties, are put in the place of common honesty, or Supposed to atone or to make up for the want of it, or for the want of holy charity, or of real inward piety towards God, it is by wicked hypocrites, partly seeking to impose on others, and partly on themselves, but who can never hope to impose on Him who searcheth the heart. All those positive duties, with the observance of which hypocrites would satisfy themselves if they could for neglecting moral duties, were 8G The Weightier Matters of the Law. appointed more or less directly, with a view to enforce and render more sure and more easy the performance of those very moral duties ;.and to make rogard to them take the place of the other, is to convert what was intended by God for good into positive evil. And whoever, conscious to himself of fraud, or falsehood, or license of any kind, thinks to make up for it by saying : I will go more regularly to Church, or I will give more to a Bible or mis- sionary society, or I will be stricter in this or in that ob- servance — outward religious observance — should hear as addressed to himself, what our Lord with such solemn em- phasis addressed to those who shewed a like spirit of old : " Woe unto you, Scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites, for ye pay tithe of mint and anise and cummin, and have omitted the weightier matters of the law, judgment, mercy and faith." Even among these weightier matters of the law some would fain make distinctions ; and their nature, their char- acter, their besetting sin, their ruling propensity may be seen by the distinctions they make. One man is strictly honest. He would not wrong his neighbor a penny. He would pay to the last farthing, and he would submit to any degree of toil or of self-denial, to be able to pay what- ever was justly due. He does not omit "judgment." But he is selfish, he is hard-hearted, he is indifferent to the claims of others, he is indifferent to the claims of distress, he has none of the tenderness of Christ, he has no bowels of compassion. And to suit his case, he distinguishes among those which Christ calls the weightier matters of the law, and he says : Ah ! honesty is the main thing, mercy is but ornamental; I hold by the main point; at least I am honest, and that is enough for me, that will stand me in stead. And another, according to the constitution of his nature, takes a different course. He is sensitive to the claim of suffering and misery. He is benevolent and kindly disposed. But he is unscrupulous about justice and honesty and fair dealing. And so he places his main dependence on charity, The Weightier Matters of the Laiv. 87 and hopes it will bear him out for omitting judgment. Are there not such men amongst us, not saying these things in words, but who manifestly do and must say such things to themselves, who manifestly do and must think such things in their hearts ; honest men, without charity, given over to a hard, cold, engrossing selfishness ; and charitable men, without honesty, ready to defraud and take advan- tage. What are the latter class but knaves with all their charity, or what are the former but self pleasers and self worshippers with all their honesty. Neither the one nor the other is else than an abominable hypocrite, when he makes profession of Christianity, profession of discipleship to him who reckoned judgment and mercy alike among the "weightier matters of the law." Then again some are honest, and kindly disposed too, after a sort, but they are without faith. Faith has respect to the invisible, the unseen God, in whose hand our breath is, and whose are all our ways ; to the unseen Saviour, who gave himself for us, and who has passed into the heavens, our great High Priest and advocate with God ; and to the unseen world, into which we must all soon be removed. Faith implies right feeling, and right action in regard of all of these ; regard, love, obedience to God ; unfaltering trust in the Great Mediator between Him and us, and greater preparation for the world that is to come. Some, distinguishing among the weightier matters of the law, are fain to imagine that their honesty or their charity, or such combination as they can shew of the two, will do, without this active and influential faith in the invisible. What are such, with all the virtues to which they can lay claim, but those whom the Scriptures denounce as ungodly " living without God in the world ; "and who must be condemned hereafter, as having lived without re- gard to the highest and most sacred duties of the creature. Not now seeking to find, what yet might easily be found, defects in the character of any virtue, which stands iso- lated from others as important as itself, it may be said to such as place their dependence on virtues which stand apart SS The Weightier Matters of the Laiu. from others, as Christ said to the Scribes and Pharisees : "These ought ye to have done and not to leai'e the others undone." All are important, all are necessary. One will not do without the rest. No one must be omitted. True, right, honest, religious Christian principle must and will have respect unto them all. And observe, it is not of these weightier matters of the law, that Christ said : " These ought ye to have done, and not to leave the others undone." It was in regard of what were, and of what by implication. He pronounced lighter and more trivial matters, the tithe of mint and anise and cummin. Whatever might be the strict rule of the law in regard of these, if they thought such payment bind- ing, on them, it was binding. Even while distinguishing among duties, our Lord does not relax the obligation of any duty. Some duties must give place toothers. When two come in competition one must give way. And the weightier matters of the law must carry it over those that are less important. Mercy rather than sacrifice, said He who appointed sacrifice. But the obligation of all, great and small, must be acknowledged, practically acknov/ledged. Our Lord gives no countenance to the omission of what might be considered comparatively small duties, or the commission of small sins. " These ought ye to have done, and not to leave the others undone." " He that is faithful in that which is least, is faithful also in much : and he that is unjust in the least, is unjust also in much." "Whosoever shall break one of these least commandments and shall teach men so, he shall be called the least in the kingdom of heaven." While it is right, according to Scripture, and according to reason, that some duties should stand above others, as in their own nature superior, there is a special importance, because of their relation to those higher duties, which attaches to others of a different character. Thus it is with the ordinances of religion. If these are appointed, not to stand in place of the weightier matters of the The Weightier Matters of the Law. 89 law, that is the perversion of them, but to lead to and to ensure more effectually the performance of these, then disre^^fard of these ordinances becomes disre^^ard of all that is most sacred and binding in moral duty — our duty to God and to our neighbor. And thus too it is, with regard to what men will be inclined to count small and slight, perhaj)s doubtful, deviations from duty if they be so at all. The neglect of small duties, the commission of small sins, or what are thought such, tends ultimately to the neglect of great duties, and the commission of great sins. We may not hope, while yielding to small temptations, that we shall always be able to overcome great ones. It is not only right but prudent, not only duty but safety, to begin the battle of conscience and of reli- gious principle in small things. For only by doing so will strength be gained to overcome in greater things. It is hypocrisy to strain out a gnat and swallow a camel. But ^t is true wisdom and imperative duty, to scruple at the smallest fault, when, according to all experience, its commission prepares for the commission of more and greater faults. VI I r. THE TWO GREAT COMMANDMENTS. St. Matthew XXII. 35-40. And one of them, a lavyer, asked him a qtiestion tempting him. Master, which is the great commandment in the law? And he said itiito him, 'Jhou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and luith all thy soul, and with all thy mind. This is the great and first commandment. And a second like unto it is this. Thou shalt Iotc thy neigh/n nr as thy- self. On these two commandments hang all the law and the prcphets. Suppose a man, very anxious to obtain a comfortable and respectable position in the world, the ease and affluence of a well appointed household, and the means of gratifying his own tastes and those of his family, and as the result of such desire, engaging in daily and laborious exer*^ion ; you might see nothing to blame and much to approve in such a desire, and in the exertion and industry to which it gives rise. But you would hardly think of counting the man who feels it and acts on it, to be therefore a religious man. Nay, I think you would hardly do so, were you aware that he prayed to God every day in the week, and every hour in the day, to give success to his labours, and to place him in that worldly position in which his hap- piness would best be promoted. You would see alike in his exertions and his prayers, only the exercise of that self- love, which is not peculiar to the religious man, but is common to all men. And suppose the exercise of this principle combined with faith in a future life, and a man were to be anxious, as for a comfortable provision for this life, so also,for a happy condition in the next life, and willing as for the former, so also for the latter, to put forth exertion and offer prayer, and submit to sacrifice and self denial, would the case be in any material respect altered, in its moral or religious character } What would there be to approve in The Two Great Coviviandments, 91 the man but prudent regard to his own happiness ? And surely prudence — however much to be approved — is not piety, and does not necessarily imply regard either to God or man. Prudence has respect to self and self-inter- est. Now, though self-love is not to be run down or condemned, as if it were not a principle implanted by God and needful for our preservation in the world, as if it were a principle only given to be battled with, and mortified and expelled, yet it is not the religious principle, nor are its actings religion. Self-love is not, as we hr.ve already said, the characteristic of the religious man, but is common to all men. And though it would sound more godly and religious like, to hear a man praying to be admitted into the joys of Heaven, it need not really be more so than if he were praying for a comfortable house and an ample income. It may serve to illustrate what 1 mean, and answer my purpose to suggest the same case in another form. Suppose a man to feel in himself a strong inclination to commit certain crimes, say the robbery or the murder of his neighbour; if he were deterred from yielding to this inclination, simply by a regard to the certainty or the probability of the legal punishment, would you be therefore disposed to count or call him religious ? You would see in him only an exercise of prudence — to be approved of course — but no exercise of either moral or religious principle, to entitle him to the character of a good man. Or, suppose a man having given way to such evil inclinations, and committed the crimes to which they lead, and brought himself thereby under the ban of human law, and liable either to perpetual imprisonment or ignominious death ; suppose him, in such circumstances, told of a means by which he might escape the condemnation he has deserved and be set on fair ground again, as respects the laws of human society, and he takes advantage of those means ; would you see in his taking such advantage 92 2"he Two Great Commandments. anything more than a prudent regard to self, no wise to be blamed, on the contrary, very natural and very com- mendable, but never surely to be confounded with the exercise of moral and religious principle. Well, would the case be altered — altered that is in the principle of it — if the punishment which a man fears, and so fears that he is deterred from the commission of the crime which sub- jects to it, be a punishment, not in this life, but in the next ; or if the way of escape which he takes advantage of, be a way of escape, not from the punishment of man here, but from the punishment of God hereafter ? In either case, he is moved by fear — fear of misery to himself ; and while the fear is reasonable and leads to a course that must be pronounced wise, it is not surely to be confounded with the exercise of moral or religious principle. There is not, that is there is not of necessity, any more of such principle in a man's praying to be delivered from the pains of hell, than in his praying to be delivered from the pene- tentiary or the gallows. It does not require a man to be under the dominion of either moral or religious prin- ciple, to fear pain and wish to be free from it here and hereafter. That, like the desire of happiness, is common to all men, good and bad, religious and irreligious alike. A man might be at heart a rebel against both human law and divine law, and yet submit through fear. Observe that such desire of happiness and fear of pain in the future life are every way just and reasonable. And though not in themselves religion or religious, yet they are thus far connected with religion, that they imply faith in certain truths of religion ; and the power of God to give what is desired, and to deliver from what is dreaded, is also acknowledged in the prayers which such desire and fear prompt. But it is not the be- lieving in a state of weal or woe hereafter, or in the divine power to place in the one or the other, which makes a man religious. A man may believe in both, yea and in The Two Great Commandments, 93 desire for heaven and fear of hell, be moved to pray to God, and yet there may be in him nothing of what God requires in his moral creatures, but only the working of that self-love which is common to every human being, the same self-love, and nothing more, which makes the punishments of human law be dreaded, and escape from them desired. Against such self-love — the desire of happiness — the fear of pain and misery which spring from it — nothing is to be said when they are not confounded with what is of different and higher nature. Self-love is essential to our nature as God has constituted it. The Bible always assumes the existence of it and addresses itself to it. You wish to be happy. I will tell you how you may be- come so. You wish to escape condemnation and misery. I will tell you how you may do so. So the Bible, which is suited to all, speaks to all, making application to a prin- ciple which is common to all. If a man has faith in the Bible, nothing surely can be more wise or reasonable than to listen to what it says. No folly can be greater than to turn a deaf ear to what it says. How shall I attain the happiness of heaven ? How shall I escape the misery of hell ? These, to a man who believes in a future state of happiness or misery, are surely reasonable questions for him to ask — reasonable in the same way, though to an ex- tent inconceivably greater, as it is reasonable to ask, how he may enjoy this or that happine s, or escape this or that misery, here on earth. The happiness of heaven is un- speakably desirable. Should not then everyone desire it ? The misery of hell is unspeakably to be dreaded. Should not then everyone dread it and seek to escape it ? If there be a heaven and a hell, and a man thinks there is^ and has it in his mind as a subject of consideration that there is ; he can scarcely fail to have such desire and such tear. But are such desire and fear in themselves religion ? I say, No. They are neither more nor less than the actings 94 The Two Great Command mettts, of self-love. And the love of self is not religion. No ! Religion is the love of God and the love of man, the love of God with all our heart, and soul, and strength, and mind, and the love of our neighbour as ourselves. On these two, said the great Teacher, hang all the law and the prophets. The desire of happiness and the fear of misery hereafter, even when most truly and deeply felt, do not always prove the means of leading to this religion — to this, which alone deserves the name of religion, binding the souls of men to God, and binding men in the bands of brotherhood to one another. Sometimes, it is quite the reverse. When a man says — whether at the bidding of a corrupt church, or under the prompting of a corrupt heart, to which a cor- rupt church panders : I will say so many prayers ; I will submit to so much penance ; I will go through such a round of ceremonies ; I will give so much of my substance to the church ; and so I shall escape hell and reach heaven, instead of getting there by either love to God or love to man ; these are often the very things he wishes to escape, as much as hell itself. He does these things, for which he accounts himself and is accounted of others religious, simply that he may be comfortable without that love to God or man in which alone religion consists. Obviously there is no love to either God or man in bargaining for escape from future misery, and for the enjoyment of future happi- ness, on as reasonable terms as can be obtained. And to an attempted bargain of this sort, a Protestant and Evan- gelical cast may be given as well as a Popish. The evil heart everywhere tries to form a religion different from God's religion, which shall yet meet the demands of self love, gaining future happiness for the soul, and enabling it to escape future misery. There is faith in certain doctrinal articles, observance of certain outward ordinances, zeal for certain church organizations, perhaps occasional excite- ment of devotional feeling. And these it is supposed The Two Great Commandments, 95 will do for a man's wellbeing in eternity, while there is really neither love to God nor man in the one case more than in the other. It is only a matter of self-love. I want to escape hell. I want when I die to go to heaven. And I will do thus much for these ends. There is no more relig- ion in this, than there is in a bargain to obtain some desirable piece of property, or to get rid of some nuisance and annoyance. It is, as I have just said, self-love — not love either to God or man. And yet it were to be wished that we saw oftener this self- love having respect to the future life ; for assured faith in that life is a great thing, though it is not religion ; and earn- est desire to secure the blessedness and escape the misery of that life is also a great thing, though it is not religion. When such faith and such desire bring a man to Christ, He being the great Teacher, the Light of the world, tells man what true religion is. And being also ascended on high to bestow gifts on men, even on the rebellious. He does also impart the true religion ; and while desires that have their origin in self-love are gratified, other and nobler desires are created, and strengthened, and satisfied ; and in the establishment of the principle of piety towards God, and charity to men, that salvation from sin is begun, which, when made perfect, constitutes the blessedness — the essential blessedness — of heaven. It is to be feared, however, that neither the faith of a future life, nor the earnest desire to secure the blessed- ness and escape the misery of that life, is very common with us. At least the evidences of them are very small, either in those bargainings to which the corruption of the heart and misconceptions of divine truth, lead, or in the manifest reign of that supreme love to God, or that love to our neighbours as to ourselves, in which true religion consists ; that for which man was made, that which Christ gives by his Spirit ; and in which — the possession of it, and the exercise of it — is man's honour and happiness. 96 The Two Great Commandments, As to this latter religion — the true religion, Christ's reli- gion — the religion on which, He said, did hang all the law and the prophets — I put it to you, whether a fellow creat- ure, standing to us in any very close or intimate relation, would not have much and just reason to complain, if we gave him no more regard or love, no more consideration, no more community of feeling with what he desired, than is generally rendered to the great God in whom we live, and move and have our being. There is scarce a human and earthly relation, in which such regard would not be counted wanting ; and what then, if supreme regard is required and reasonable ? While, as respects the love of our neighbour, it is much, if selfishness refrains from overreaching and plundering, and sticks only to maxims and precepts which are more minded than are those of the Gospel, by many who are hearers of the Gospel. Let everyone mind himself. Trouble yourself about nothing, or nobody that you can help. There would be a miserable account of our religion, it may be feared, if tried by the standard of the text, either in that part which is God ward, or in that part of it which is manward. How should it be otherwise, if our very religion is often only the fruit of self-love, the sal- vation of the soul being all that is thought of, and that salvation, not meaning the reign of holy love in the soul, the establishment of that kingdom of God which is righteous- ness, and peace and joy in the Holy Ghost, but merely deliverance from anticipated misery, and admission into some fancied Paradise above ? And as to this selfish re- ligion — this human religion, according to which heaven becomes matter of bargain, in some form suited to Pro- • testant and Presbyterian notions — it cannot be said there is much appearance of it either ; and heaven must be con- ceived to be easily gained, and hell easily escaped, if heaven may be gained and hell escaped, through such measure of regard for religious ordinances as is generally shewn, or such obedience to Gospel precepts as is usually TJic Two Great Coviinandmcnts. 97 yielded. The truth is, the sad truth, that there is, what- ever of faith may be professed about a future life, little thought about it. The seen and temporal are so much the object of regard, that there is little left for the unseen and the eternal. Men are so much taken up about gain or loss in worldly things, that they have no leisure to think about their souls, or to seek after their future happiness, cither in one way or another ; either in God's way, or in ways of their own devising. To secure this or that worldly advantage, to escape this or that loss, is more thought of, more a matter of interest, by a thousand degrees, than the loss or gain of the soul. That is left to chance — left to a more convenient season — left to the most inconvenient of all seasons, when the body is weak, and the mind is weak, and death is near, and judgment is near, and the great leap must be taken in the dark, without just ground of hope, and only an extorted prayer or two to trust to. Now, be not satisfied, any of you, with either agreeing or disagree- ing with these general statements of mine — statements which I must make general. It is not given to preachers, as it was given to the Prophet in the case of David, to go from one hearer to another, and say, in respect of the charge made : " Thou art the man." Consider not whe- ther the statement be true of others, or of whom, if it be true, it is true. See if it be true, O man, of thyself. Listen if the Lord, the Prophet, who is also the Lord of Conscience, be not stirring up thy conscience now to speak to thee, judging, accusing and condemning thee. In this let self-love speak. Till thou hast true religion, seek it for thyself. When thou hast it, thou wilt seek that others have it too. And this true religion — the religion which Christ en- joined, which Christ exemplified, which Christ imparts — is the religion of love, love to God and love to man. When a man is brought to Christ, either through desire of rest, as being weary and heavy laden ; or through fear, consciousness of sin and the desert of sin, making even here H 98 The Tivo Great Commandments. a beginning of hell within him, Christ gives rest and peace. But how ? It is by the manifestation of God, such mani- festation as creates love to God. Christ manifests God in the grace and mercy of his nature. In his own person he manifests this grace and mercy ; in his teaching, in his miracles, in his sacrifice of himself, in his intercession, in his promises. So doing, it is not simply a selfish desire to which he ministers — as if he had said — You desire fut- ure happiness, and you shall have it — or you dread future misery, and you shall escape it. But he leads the soul out of and away from itself, and its own immediate inter- ests and hopes and fears ; and fixing its regard on the greatest and most attractive of all objects, he creates in it the noblest and purest of all affections — even the love of God, the love of infinite goodness and excellence. And the soul, escaping from self and thought of self, being occupied with the thought of God and the love of God as revealed by and in Christ, becomes at once happier and purer. For as self-seeking, for time or for eternity, is not religion, so neither is it nor does it lead to real hap- piness, liut then are we all happiest, then do we taste most of true pleasure — such pleasure as is at God's right hand for evermore — yea, and of such happiness as God himself forever enjoys — when losing thought of ourselves, our hearts are going forth in love to God and man. I say to God and man — and man. It is not only in the contemplation of the devout mind and in the affec tions of the devout heart, that this escape from self is gained, but, also, in the feeling and exercise of benevolence to our fellow-men. And such benevolence — part of our original constitution though weakened by sin — the Gospel enjoins, extends and consecrates, by the manifestation of the love of God and of Christ. " A new commandment give I unto you, that ye love one another : as I have loved you, that ye love one another." The Gospel reveals the most illustrious example of bene- volence and self-sacrifice for others. And the faith of it is The Tzvo Great Commandments. 99 ever strong to create a like temper and disposition. "Here- by," says St. John, expressing tile natural consequence as a matter of feeling and duty, of a full and believing apprehen- sion of the Gospel : ** Hereby perceive we the love of God, because He laid down his life for us ; and we ought to lay down our lives for the brethren." There is a constraining power in the example of Christ, which no true disciple of Christ can or does fail to feel, so that it is an axiom in the Christian system that " he that saith he is in the light, and hateth his brethren, is in darkness even until now." With the knowledge and faith of Christ such divine affection towards God and man begins to exist ; and the true Christian desire, that which is not the fruit of nature, but of grace, is that it may increase in strength and power, to control and to direct in all the life and conduct. The fear of hell is with the Christian fear of a state in which such divine affection does not exist. The desire of heaven with the Christian is the desire of a state in which this divine affection shall exist in all ; shall exist in himself unchecked and unrepressed by any meaner impulse ; shall have food whereon, as it were, to grow, in the ever brightening manifestations of the all perfect God, who is himself love and dwells in love ; and shall have full scope for its exercise amidst the pure beings that fill the courts of the heavenly sanctuary. In speaking and thinking of heaven, and hell and the soul's salvation, men often fail to think of what these really are, and attach to them ideas other than those, or at least less than those, that Scripture authorizes. Heaven, in its essence — and without noting what are its accessaries — is the reign, full and undisputed in men's souls, of love to God and to his creatures. Hell is the full and unchecked reign of sin. Salvation is deliverance from sin, its punishment, and its very being, with which punishment is inextricably bound up. To de- sire the happiness of heaven without regard to the holiness of heaven, is no religious desire. To desire escape from hell, and not from the sin which reigns in hell, is no religious 100 The Two Great Commaiidvients. desire ; and a man may be very earnestly seeking what he calls the salvation of his soul, and what may in one sense be properly so called, and not have one spark of religion. The young ruler, who came to Christ, had this anxiety about his salvation, without religion. A man desiring to enjoy the happiness of heaven, or to be freed from the pains of hell, may be one in whom nature alone is working ; but he in whom there is the desire of holiness — all holi- ness — holiness in heart and life ; he who is hungry and thirsty after righteousness, is one in whom grace is work- ing — is one in whom God's Spirit is working. That is no true religion where such desire does not exist, strong and growing in strength from day to day. Many have so little religion — either false or true — so little even of the aspect, pretence, or profession of either, that to speak to them of trying and testing it would be indeed a work of supererogation. Their difficulty would be to find any to try. But those who have some religion, something that bears the name and stands in the place of religion, would do well to enquire into the nature of it ; and specially whether it is only the religion of a selfish heart, desiring, as is natural and reasonable, to escape hell and have a happy heaven to dwell in for evermore, or whether it is the true religion of Christ — the religion of love to God and man — deficient only, in that such love is not perfect, according to the measure which is required, and which the heart is capable of; but making plain and clear its true nature, and heavenly origin, and heavenly destination, by its aspirations after such perfectness ; its confessions of shortcomings, and its longings andprayers, for advancement towards so glorious a consummation. Dost thou love God : dost thou desire to love Him more : dost thou grieve over the shortcomings of thy love, and the little power thou hast to show thy love to God ? Some will venture to say they do, whose love to God might justly be questioned, on the ground of these Scripture maxims — " This is the love of God" — the proof of it — the fruit of it — the natural devel- TJic Tiuo Great Cominandincnts, 101 opmcnt and manifestation of it, " that we keep his com- mandments." " He that saitli, I know God, and keepeth not his commandments, is a h'ar, and the truth is not in him. But whoso keepeth God's word, in him is the love of God perfected," developed — brought to its full consum- mation. Men can delude, and have deluded, and do delude themselves about a love to God, whom they have not seen. Well then, try your love to your neighbour whom you have seen. Dost thou mourn, as over the ungodliness, so over the remaining selfishness of thy nature, and dost thou see in every outbreaking of such selfishness, the token of what, if unremoved, will make a hell for thee, even though no place of darkness were prepared for the sinner ? Is this thy grief, that thou dost little for others ? Art thou willing to help thy brother in his need ? to have patience with him, and to be f^trbcarihg towards him ? Art thou sorry thou hast not more time, more opportunity, more ability, to do good to others ? Or, dost thou grudge any time ; dost thou neglect every opportunity ; dost thou fail to employ such power as thou hast to do good ? Art thou glad to escape an opportunity of helping on thy brother ? And dost thou wrap thyself up in a mantle of selfishness, through which no interest, which is not immediately thine own, can reach thy heart, awaken thy sympathies or call forth thine exertions ? Then, how shall it ever be said that thou lovest thy neighbour as thyself, that thou lovest thy brother, even as Christ loved thee ? " I am a man " — a hea- then poet puts the sentiment into the mouth of one of the characters whom he describes — "I am a man, and nothing belonging to man, do I consider foreign to myself." How much more is it the sentiment of a believer : " I am a Chris- tian, and nothing belonging to those for whom Christ died, can I consider without interest to me, I must work for men spiritually, temporally as I have opportunity." Heaven begins in these dispositions ; nor will the gates of the City which hath foundations, whose builder and maker is God, ever open to those who have them not. IX. THE SEPARATE FUNCTIONS OF LAW AND LOVE. I. Timothy, I. 9. Knowing this that the law is not made for a righteous man, but for the lawless and disobedient. It is said, that for some hundreds of years after the estab- lishment of the Roman republic, there existed no law; against the crime of parricide. And the reason of this was, not that parricide was not accounted a crime, but, that it was accounted a crime so monstrous and unnatural that it could not possibly occur. Nothing had yet taken place, in the simple state of society which then existed, to make the legislators who drew up the twelve tables of the ancient Roman iaw, think of parricide at all, or at least think of it as of sufficient importance to be made the subject of an express statute, and prohibited under special penalties. Nor was it till this happy state of things was altered, and the crime in question was perpetrated, that it became necessary to lay down a law upon the subject. In this case, to use St. Paul's expression to the Galatians, speaking of the moral law, " the law was added because of trangressions." The law was established only after actual proof had been given of the possibility of the crime, and a tendency in some to the commission of it. And the establishment of the law was proof, not of a more, but of a less virtuous state of society, in that the life of parents, which had before been accounted sufficiently safe, and sufficiently protected by the general moral principle and right dispositions which prevailed throughout the community, was now to be put under the more immediate guardianship of positive law, in order to ensure its preser- vation. Not that then, or at any period in the history of The Separate Functions of Law and Love. 103 the RotiKin state, or of any other state, the safety of parents from their children depended mainly or much on such positive law. No state of society could lon^ exist in which such was the case. Ikit, that in so far as it depended on it at all and such law was necessary, there was plainly indicated a lower state of moral feeling, and of domestic affection, than had existed before. Now, what took place in regard of parricide in Rome, takes place generally in regard of human laws. Laws are not usually made against crimes which have never occurred, and to which there is no observed and mani- fested tendency. So long as the right feelings of the community in regard of any point are sufficient to ensure right conduct, nobody thinks of legislation. It is not till this ceases to be the case, and there has been the plain manifestation of an evil tendency, likely like all evil tendencies, to spread and to be perpetuated, that the need of an express statute is felt, and the law must come in with its prohibitions and penalties. "The law," again to use the Apostle's words, " the law is added because of transgressions." And as it is so with human law, so has it been with the divine law. Consider the history of the law, as that is given us in the Scriptures. It does not appear that any system of moral law was imposed on Adam and Eve, in the paradise in which they were placed after their creation. It is very certain that the laws of the two tables, the ten commandments, could neither have been necessary for them, nor intelligible to them. Eight of these command- ments are prohibitions — prohibitions of certain things, to which they had no tendency, of which they had no know- ledge, of which indeed they could form but a very im- perfect idea. Of the other two, the one — the law of the Sabbath — is a positive rule, which might in some way be revealed to them, and the other — the law in regard of honour to parents — respected a state of society which had l04 The Separate Functions of Law and Love. not yet conic into existence. Wc do not even hear that any i)roniul}.jati()n was made to them of the hiw of love itself; the law that wc love God, with all our heart and with all our soul, and with all our strength, and our neigh- bour as ourselves. There was in truth no need for any such law. Got! had made man upright and after his own image, and when he viewed his own work he pronounced it good. This being the case, we are sure all his impulses, all his affections, all his principles were good. What was most worthy to be loved, he would love most. What was best to be done, he would be most inclined to do. It was no more necessary to command him while in this state to love God, or to love his neighbour, by a solemnly promul- gated law, than it was necessary to command him to open his eyes that he might see, or to eat and drink that his body might be nourished and sustained. In point of fact, he was subjected for the purpose of probation — such probation, as seems necessary to the condition and stability of a moral creature — to a positive rule only, the rule not to eat of the fruit of a particular tree in the garden. It was at a subsequent period that the law of the deca- logue — the moral law — was given by God ; and that in the existence of a very different state of things indeed, in the nature, and character, and conduct of men. It was after abundant manifestation of the tendency in man to each and all of these sinful things, the prohibition of which was solemnly promulgated on Mount Sinai. The law — ■ by which I mean, and it is the meaning of the Apostle in the text, when he speaks of the law as not made for a righteous man — the law, I say, by which I mean, the solemn promulgation of the Divine will, contained in the ten commandments, was added because of transgressions ; was rendered necessary by the inefficacy to produce right conduct, of the moral principles originally implanted by God, in the nature of man, but which had failed, in the case of our first parents, in that trial to which they had The Separate Functions of Laiv and Love. 10." been subjected, and had since, in them and in tlicir pos' terity, been weakened and corrupted by sinful jjassions and tempers and practices. Mad no tendency ever existed or been manifested towards idolatry and image worship, there had been no need of tiie first and second command- ments of the law. Had the name of God been ever properly reverenced, and the obligation of an oath held sacred, the third had been unnecessary. Had men from the beginning remembered the day of holy rest ; or had children, in the spontaneous exercise of the affections ever looked up with due reverence and yielded a due submis- sion to their parents, the fourth and fifth might have been dispensed with. And so with the remaining statutes of the moral law ; if in malicious and revengeful passion no man had ever shed a brother's blood ; if no one had ever given way to licentious indulgence, or disregarded the rights of property, or the sacred ness of truth, or coveted the possession of what was rightfully another's. It was actual sin on all these points which called for and rendered necessary the promulgation of express law. Such pro- mulgation did not render that sinful which was not so before, nor make that be regarded as sinful which was not so regarded before. It was proof in regard of all the points specially alluded to in the law of the Decalogue, that the moral principles of men were insufficient to regulate them> and there was need of a more direct and stringent rule, than was to be found in the mere unregulated impulses of the nature of man. It is the same in all legislation, human and divine. So long as the natural feelings and principles of men keep them in the desired course of conduct, express law commanding or prohib- iting is unnecessary. When this ceases to be the case, then the law is made — " added, because of transgressions." And the purpose of such law, what is it ? To restore the right moral feelings and principles again after they had been lost? To restore the power of these feelings 106 The Separate Functions of Law and Love. and principles after that power had been taken away or weakened ? Not at all. The law has not, cannot have, any such efificacy, is not intended to have it, is not sup- posed to have it. If, in a Roman of the third or fourth centuryof the republic, there was the heart of a parricide, and there was no power or efficacy in the pleadings of natural affection in his soul, or of moral principle, why he should not for the gratification of revenge or covetousness imbrew his hands in a parent's blood, would the simple promulga- tion of the authoritative law of the state, however accom- panied with threatening of pains and penalties denounced against such as presumed to violate it ; would that mere promulgation soften the heart of the murderer in inten- tion, restore the supremacy of filial tenderness in his nature, and make him the willing subject of right prin- ciple ? Never, — nor would any man think or expect that it would do so. The purpose was, through the medium of fear — fear of a known, recognized and formidable authority — to restrain the outward conduct, to lay hold of the hand, and turn it aside from wielding the weapon, which it had been intended to plunge in a parent's heart ; not to lay hold of the affections, and convert the bitterness and the unnatural passion of a depraved mind into love and tenderness again. And such in regard of the sins to which directly and indirectly the law of the Decalogue points, is the purpose of that law, and the limitation of its efficacy. TheApostle shows the purpose of the law very plainly b}/- the character he gives of the persons for whom it was inten- ded : — "the lawless and disobedient, the ungodly and sinners, the unholy and profane, murderers of fathers and murderers of mothers," and so on. It was designed to rest- rain, to restrain by means of fear, — fear of declared and deserved and dreaded penalties. Even in this, its natural and proper effect, it might, by reason of the strength of sinful propensity in man, fail. But other and more exten- sive efficacy it had not, and could not have. The Separate Functions of Law and Love. 107 So far from having efficacy to change the affections or to communicate new principles and desires — results which we do not see flc v from the prohibitions and penalties of human law — we are told in regard of the divine law, that " it worketh wrath," and that by it " is knowledge of sin." It worketh wrath, that is, it condemns the sinner and consigns him to punishment. And by it is knowledge of sin, inasmuch, as it furnishes a rule for men by which to try themselves, and so to understand more perfectly how far they do, or do not, conform to the true standard of right. Nay, the Apostle St. Paul goes still farther than this, and in perfect conformity with our own actual experience, represents the law — the very express law of God, which was designed to restrain and control — as becoming not the cause or the instigation, but the occasion of nitlaming and exciting the sinful passions of men. He speaks of " the motions of sins which were by the law." — " When we were in the flesh, the motions of sins which were by the law, did work in our members, to bring forth fruit unto death." And again he says : " I had not known sin but by the law, — for I had not known lust, except the law had said, Thou shalt not covet. But sin," that is sinful passion " taking occasion by the commandment, wrought in me all manner of concupiscence," — all manner, that is, of unlaw- ful desire. The Apostle does not in these passages mean to deny the intention or frequent efficacy of express law to control and restrain ; but he states the fact of the fre- quent effect of it also, to exasperate, to stir up opposition, to render more stubborn and obstinate. A heathen poet has said : " We always endeavour to obtain that which is forbidden, and desire that which is denied." And the wise man tells us *• Stolen waters are sweet and bread eaten in secret is pleasant." And thus the law, so far from having efficacy to direct aright, and to purify the affections and principles, does often serve to stir up to greater fury, and greater activity, the evil passions of the heart. 108 The Separate Ftrxtions j Law and Love. The law then is not d^ ..cined to make the sinner rigrht- ecus, farther at least, than is implied in that property of it, which is stated in the passage already quoted : " By the law, is the knowledge of sin." No doubt, such knowledge by the sinner of his own sin, as the law interpreted and understood aright gives, is one part of repentance ; is the first step in the progress of the sinner to a better state ; is prior to contrition for sin, and confession of sin ; and is necessary to his apprehending the majesty or the suitable- ness of the Gospel scheme of salvation. It is in this sense, and in this way, that the law becomes a schoolmaster to bring men to Christ. It is in this way, that the believer can say with the Apostle: "I through the law, am dead to the law, that I might live unto God." And it is because of this, as well as of its directing and restraining uses, that the Apostle says, in the verse immediately preceding the text : " We know that the law is good, if a man use it law- fully." In this way, the law performs an important part in the conversion of the sinner, though not the part of turning the heart to God, of making righteous. That is the province of the Gospel of the grace of God, received with true faith. But not only is the law unable to make righteous : — "It is not" the Apostle further adds, in the first Epistle to Timothy, "it is not made for a righteous man," By a righteous man is to be understood here, a perfectly pure and holy man ; one whose moral nature is in a right state, who is free from tendency to evil ; whose tendencies on the contrary are all to what is right and good ; who resembles Adam before the fall, when created in the image of God and pronounced good. For such a one, the estab- lishment of express law, and the promulgation of its prohibitions and penalties is not needed. He does by nature, under the impulse of affections and principles that are natural to him, that require no prompting and no stimulus, any more than the natural appetites do in a The Separate Functions of Law and Love, .109 healthy state of body, the things contained in the law. His state, in respect of all moral duty, we can all readily see exemplified, even in our present imperfect state, in respect of some duties. There is a law that parents shall love and care for their children, and that children shall love and honour their parents. The sad necessities of a depraved nature have rendered necessary the estab- lishment and promulgation of such a law. But in the case of those whose parental and filial natures are in a right state, as, at least,to a great extent, is the case, happily, with most, it is not the force of the obligation, or even the idea or remembrance of this law, or of its sanctions and penalties, which tells, or has any efficacy to produce that which is required. In the spontaneous exercise of the affections, without any remembrance of law, or any con- straint of conscience on the subject, the parental and filial affection and duty are rendered. And what is the case with such affection and duty, would be the case with all others, if in regard of them, the heart were equally in a right moral state. In point of fact, ever as the moral regen- eration of man's nature proceeds, the restraints of law are felt less, while yet the law is obeyed more ; and even the authority of conscience is less appealed to, while yet its supremacy is morefirmly established. And thus it is, that " the law is not made for a righteous man." In his perfect- ly virtuous state, he feels and acts virtuously, and in accordance with the will of God, in the spontaneous exercise of his powers and affections, without requiring the control, restraint, or guidance of positive law, and, without a feeling even of the putting forth of the authority of conscience as a law upon the conduct. The h'story of the Bible, in regard of our first parents, lead : lis back to a time when such was the case with man. He r.j^ded and had received no express moral law, nor vas moved by regard to sanctions or penalties in respect M moral duties. And the words of the Apostle teach us 110 The Separate Functions of Law and Love. to anticipate a period when it shall be so again ; when the renewed soul having recovered the original perfection of its nature, and having more . than that original perfection (seeing alike by the express promise of God, and through the means of that moral discipline, to which in its way to such recovery He has subjected it, it has acquired a stability of moral condition, a permanence and power of moral principle, greater than at first) it shall need no more the guidance or the restraints of law ; but without danger t3 its ever overstepping the limits of what is right and good, and according to the will of God, be free to follow its own impulses and feelings. Such, it is very certain is not the case in this present life, even with the best, although, even in this present life, under the influence of the truth of the Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ, the believer is ever advancing towards such perfection. If we attach to the term 'righteous' the sense of perfect virtue, there is none righteous — not one. The old corrupt nature, with its affections and lusts, is not finally extirpated, even in the believer, till death breaks down the earthly house of his tabernacle. And so long as he lives therefore, there are tendencies to be repressed ; there has to be the exercise of self-denial, self-government, self- control ; there must be more or less a continual regard to the law, for guidance and for restraint. The Christian life is a warfare between contending principles. "The flesh," says the Apostle, "lusteth against the Spirit, and the Spirit, against the flesh : and these two are contrary the one to the other. " And in this strife the law must be appealed to, and conscience must assert its authority and power to control and restrain other and evil principles. But, out of this struggle and the repeated victories of conscience, gained through God's grc.ce, and the constrain- ing influence of the motives of the Gospel, there shall finally come forth another, and higher and better state, when the battle shall be ended, when the lower and The Separate Functions of Law and Love. Ill evil tendencies shall not only be subdued but eradicated, when the believer shall be like the Great Master himself, " holy, harmless, undefiled, and separate from sinners," and every feeling shall be pure, and every impulse to what is noble and good. A blessed and soul-inspiring pros- pect surely, well fitted to cheer the fainting spirits of the Christian in his warfare with sin and with temptation, and to encourage him to boldness and perseverance in that warfare. The season of final victory shall at last arrive. Then cometh the rest which remaineth for the children of God. Not the rest of torpid inactivity ; not rest from the exertion of the intellect and the working of the affections ; not rest from exalted employments, from social converse and communion ; from continual affiance in the Saviour, or unceasing adoration of God ; but rest from the inward strife with sin, the rest of souls, that thoroughly sanctified and pure, may yield, without apprehension for the results to the unchecked impulses of their own nature. It is the duty, and it is the interest of the Christian — for duty and interest are ever combined — to seek to attain some what of heaven in this state, even while he remains upon the earth. And he shall never reach to heaven above, whose desire and effort it is not, to have as much as may be attained of heaven here below, to have in himself as much as may be attained of heavenly tempers, heavenly affec- tions and dispositions. And how may this be done ? Let it be considered wherein the essential characteristic of the heavenly state is placed. That is the state not of law, but of love ; not the state in which the soul acts under the constraint and terror of law, but under the impulse of love, that love of all that is excellent and good, which supremely placed on God, is in a lower measure, and according to the degrees of their likeness to Him, directed to his creatures. The present is a state in which these two — the constraint of law, and the impulse of love — do both tell on the believer; and now the one is felt, 112 The Separate Functions of Law and Love. and now the other. The believer is not so righteous as not to need the controlling and restraining efficacy of law. Nor is he so imperfect in his moral feelings and apprehen- sions, as not to be under the impelling power of that holy charity, which is the end of the commandment and the fulfilling of the law. The more this latter principle pre- vails, the more there is of heaven in him — the more likeness to the blessed that are in heaven — the more meetness for the full enjoyment of heaven. What then produces, what strengthens, this holy principle in the soul ? Surely, it is the Gospel of the grace of God, received and contem- plated continually with earnest and believing mind. It is the Gospel, which enables believers to say : " We have known and believed the love that God hath to us : God is love." And the twofold apprehension of God as loving them, and of God as love in Himself — essentially and eter- nally — creates the corresponding sentiments of gratitude and of moral esteem, which are comprehended in the love of God — the love of God which dwelling now in believers is made fully and for ever perfect in the heavenly state. To the Gospel then, it behoves the soul to look that desires this love, that desires to have more of this love ; to the Gospel in the grace and the mercy of the provision for sinners which it reveals ; to the Gospel, as manifesting at once the holiness and the infinite benignity of God ; yea, to the great Author of the Gospel, the Author and Finisher of our faith — the Lamb of God which taketh away the sin of the world. Would any one have the reign of heavenly love established in his heart, and his meetness for heaven advanced ; let him contemplate Christ, His divine charac- ter, the object of his mission, the message he commu- nicated, his instructions and promises to his disciples, — his atoning death for sinners, his glorious resurrection. It is by the faith of these, the soul is renewed after the image of God. It is by the habitual contemplation of these, that the soul is transformed into the same image from The ScparaU Functions of Law and Lo7)c. 113 glory to glory, as by the Spirit of the Lord. The efficacy to win, to transform, to sanctify, which the law has not at all, the Gospel has. He who receives it is saved ; he who rejects it, is condemned already ; condemned in the reign within him of that natural enmity which only the Gospel can slay and do away. What then — let each one now say to himself — what is the Gospel to me, and what has it done in me, and for mc ? Is it seldom in my thoughts ? Does it occupy little of my concern ? Do I but submit to hear of it occasionally in the public ordinances of religion ? Does it seldom, in its facts, doctrines, principles, promises and responsibilities, mingle with or influence the ordinary train of my thoughts — the ordinary current of feeling in my soul ? Or, on the other hand, is it in the distinct apprehension of my mind, yea, and in the deep — though through the infirmity of my nature and because of the temptations to which I am exposed, the fluctuating conviction of my soul — the all in all, that on which my hopes rest, in looking up to the Great God, and forward to the great day of judgment and the eternity that is to follow the awards of that day ? Does the truth of it commend itself to my understanding ? Does the grace of it commend itself to my heart ? Is the great and blessed Author of it the Saviour whom I love, the Master I serve, the Pattern in whose holy steps I seek to walk ? Can I say, as being habitually occupied with such thoughts and actuated by them, that I live by the faith of the Son of God ? It is, according to the answers we can honestly give to these two series of questions, that we can determine, whether we are in the broad way that leadeth to destruction, or in the narrow way that leadeth unto life. CHRIST'S DOCTRINE, HOW TO BE TESTED. St. John VII. 17. If any man will do his will, he shall know of the doctrine, whether it be of God, or whether I speak of myself, THE doctrine spoken of in the text is Christ's doctrine, the doctrine contained in the Gospel records. It is undeniable that that doctrine respects matters of the high- est importance, and on which sure information is unspeak- ably desirable — the character and purposes of God, and the duty and destiny of man. At the time when the text was spoken, it was only in process of being delivered. Now, it has existed for ages, and that, not merely in books, but as a recognized and mighty power in the world. It is not, nor has ever been, a mere abstraction. It has largely influenced the thoughts of the most thinking portion of mankind. It has largely contributed to form their opinions, to guide their conduct in this life, and to direct their expectations in respect of another life. All this it is daily continuing to do ; all this, independent of the question of its divine origin and authority, and, judging solely from past experience of its inherent power over the spirits of men, all this, we cannot doubt, it will long continue to do ; and viewing it simply in this light, that is, of a living and efficient power in the world, there can be no more interest- ing question than this : Whence does it originate ? Is it a revelation from God, or is it the invention of man ? the interest of the question being, however, unspeakably heightened when we further take into consideration the immediate importance of the Christian doctrine, to our- selves personally and individually, as moral and immortal, — as sinful and yet responsible beings. Chris fs Dcctriue, haiv to be Tested, 115 Nothing, it is plain, stands out more clearly on the face of the Gospel record than the claim of the Christian doc- trine to be from God ; nor is anything more peremptorily demanded than the admission of this claim, as absolutely essential to the salvation of those to whom the doctrine is made known. And there is good and solid reason why the admission should be held and represented as of so much moment. The admission of the divine origin of the Christian doctrine implies the obligation to receive it; and when received, its tendency is to purify the moral nature of men, to guide them in this life, and to prepare them for another. The necessity of faith, as enjoined in the Scrip- tures, rises out of the necessity there is, that truth of any kind, in order to its having efficacy according to its nature, should first be believed, and the fact of the efficacy of Christian truth, when believed, to renew and sanctify the soul. To the believing reception of this truth, the admis- sion of the divine origin of Christianity is a step ; and hence the importance of the point suggested to our con- sideration by the text, whether, namely, the doctrine of Christ was only his own, as man, or whether it is entitled to be considered and received as of God who sent him. That this was from the beginning a point in dispute among those to whom the doctrine was made known, there is nowhere any attempt made in the Gospel history to conceal. That history never denies, or seeks to g'oss over, the prevailing unbelief of the Jews, as to the divine mission and atithority of Jesus. Even while the Evange- lists record the miracles which Jesus wrought, and while they portray the unrivalled example of moral excellence and goodness which Jesus himself exhibited, they yet acknowledge the ineflRcacy of these to command the con- victions of by far the larger portion of their countrymen. And it is not to be wondered at, that in later times there should be the same manifestation of unbelief, as appeared in the primitive age of the Church, or that among those 116 Christ's Doctrine ^ hoiv to be Tested. to whom the Gospel comes, there should be the same division into believers and unbelievers. If the cause of unbelief be, as the Gospel represents, in the evil heart, in the tendency of some to love darkness rather than the light their deeds being evil, this is only what was to be expect- ed. The like result follows from the operation of the same cause, and whatever be the cause the fact is certain. Unbelief does prevail — unbelief only too plainly mani- fested, amidst all the outward forms and established decen- cies of a professedly Christian community, by such pre- vailing disregard of the plain maxims of Christian duty, as is inconsistent with a thorough conviction of the truth and authority of the Gobpei. Evidently, there is want- ing in many, such assurance as is needful to its practical efficacy, that the doctrine of Christ is from God. There is a distinction however, to be made among un- believers in respect of their minds and feelings towards the Christian doctrine. Some are repelled from it by its very moral and spiritual excellence, unsuitable as they feel that to be to their own individual tastes and habits ; and while of such it must be said, that they do not believe the Gospel, it may be further said that neither do they desire to believe it. Others again, whose moral nature is in a different state, whatever be the cause of that differ- ence, are attracted to the Gospel by their sense of its inherent excellencies, and by their value for the represen- tations which it gives, of the character and purposes of God ; to which, for men's comfort, in life and death, they feel there is nothing wanting, if there were but sufficient evidence to give them authority ; and while of such too, it must be said that they do not believe the Gospel ; in this respect, unlike the former class, it may be said, that they wish to believe it. There is much difference between those two classes, though both are infidel ; yea, and though the latter, from their very consciousness of a desire to believe, and their apprehension of its biassing and mis- Christ s Doctrine, hozv to he Tested, 117 leading them, are perhaps as difBcult to be persuaded, as the former, from their innate aversion to the Gospel. And according to the difference, it is meet there should be a corresponding difference in the means to be used, for bringing them to an assured conviction that the doctrine of Christ is divine. That, which would not tell at all on the one class, might be powerful to reach the minds, and hearts and consciences, of the other class. Now, it is main- ly to the latter class of unbelievers — those who are attract- ed to the Gospel by a sense of its excellence, and of whom it may be said, that they desire to believe, if they could do so honestly and truly, and with full conviction, — it is, I say, mainly to such, that the peculiar method which the text points out, for attaining an assured conviction on the ques- tion, whether the doctrine of Christ be of God, or whether he did but speak as man, unauthorized and uninspired, can be hopefully exhibited. That method proceeds on the assumption of two things in men, a sense of right, and a sense of obligation to God to do, what is felt to be right. These, our own con- sciousness and our observation and knowledge of others, — the only means we have of judging of human nature, and coming to conclusions concerning it — enable us to recognize, as essential characteristics of mankind. The moral sense, however originated, conveying the peculiar idea of right and wrong; and the sense of God, of a great and presiding Superior, are common to all men. Even among the most ignorant of the Gentiles, there is the manifestation of the moral sense : " These," as the Apostle says, " These having not the law, are a law unto themselves, which shew the work of the law written in their hearts, their consciences also bearing witness, and their thoughts the meanwhile, accusing or else excusing one another." Even among the most degraded idolaters, there is still manifest the tokens of a nature, which looks out of, and above itself, for objects of veneration and worship ; and how- 118 Christ's Doctrine^ hozu to be Tested. ever stran^'cly, the sense of moral obligation and the sense of Divine power and authority are sometimes divorced the one from the other, yet usually, and as the general rule in our nature, the two stand connected ; and what is judged right, is also judged to be a part of duty to God to do ; what conscience approves and commands is held to be according to the will of God, and as such of indefeasible obligation. Everywhere among men, this is a sentiment prevailing : " Such and such it is my duty to do, because it is th'j will of God that I should do it." Of this sentiment, we are conscious in ourselves ; we see the evident tokens of it in others. It is in human nature to have this senti- ment. It has been put into it by the Author of that nature. It is safe to calculate upon the existence of it in man ; in all ordinary circumstances, an appeal to it, is an appeal to a characteristic of our common humanity. I have said this sentiment of duty to God everywhere prevails. In the expression of it, men of course differ, according to the apprehensions which they have reached cf the divine character and perfection ; and great differ- ences do also exist both in regard of the practical power, which such sentiment possesses over the conduct of life, and in respect of those things which are held to be of obligation, and to do which is accounted a matter of duty to God. On this latter point especially, there is a marked difference. While there are some general duties, which are all but universally acknowledged, there is yet great dis- crepancy, as to the amount and character of the duty which God requires. Some minds take hold of one duty and disregard others : with some, the amount of duty required is more limited, with others more extensive. It is very singular how a man's conscience shall be deeply affected with the obligation of some one duty, or the evil and shamefulness of some one sin, while it continues torpid in regard of other duties, equally clear as it might seem, and of equal authority, and in regard of other sins, of as Christ's Doctrine t hoiv to be Tested, ITJ it would seem as unquestionable criminality. But, admit- ting all this difference in rejjard of men's views of duty, — not their speculative views, but the views which they take practically and in the actual conduct of life, — there is yet t)ne point, in which all a^ree ; and that is in having, whether it be practically influential or not, the sentiment of duty in respect of some things, if not in respect of the same things. There is no man, that is no man raised above the lowest forms of savage ignorance and barbarism, but feels, that in duty to God, there arc certain things which it behoves him to do, and certain things which it behoves him not to do. Now, it is at this point, in which men arc alike, that the text takes them, when it proposes a means of ascertaining the true origin of the Christian doctrine ; whether it be, as Jesus said, from God, or whether he did but speak of him- self, — a means too, which it declares to be infallible. Let a man, it says — Christ himself says — Let a man be minded, be disposed, be sincere in purpose and effort, to do the will of God — to do that is and can only be what he acknow- ledges, what he believes, what he inwardly judges and feels himself, to be the will of God that he should do ; and he shall be thoroughly and certainly resolved on the great question, of the origin and authority of the Christian doc- trine. The text does not intimate how, or hoiv soon, the resolution of the question is to come ; but it affirms positive- ly that it will come ; and no man can be said to have fully and fairly tested the Christian doctrine, or exhausted the subject of its evidence and authority, or to be entitled honestly to hold lightly its claims to a divine original, who has not taken up the challenge of the text, and tried in good earnest, to ascertain the origin of the Gospel, by this way which its great Author points out. For surely, it may be safely held that there are sufificient presumptions of truth about Christianity, to leave a man without excuse who neglects to test the authority of it, by 120 Christ's Doctrine ^ how to be Tested, any fair or reasonable method which it proposes. There were such presumptions certainly in the Apostolic age, if we accept the testimony of the sacred writers, when signs and wonders, indicative of the power and interposition of God, attended the announcement of it ; presumptions quite entitling any teacher of the Gospel to call on any iiearcr of it, to enter on any reasonable course he might suggest, in order to come to a definite conclusion concern- its divine origin. And though the age of miracles has passed away, there are presumptions of a similar kind still, in the excellence and power of the Christian doctrine itself, in the beneficial effects which it has produced on society, in the number of enlightened men who in successive ages have acknowledged its divine authority, and reposed their hopes on its revelations of God and of the life to come; in the coincidence between predictions made of it, or made in it, with actual fact, the instances of which are far too numerous and remarkable to admit of an easy explanation, oh the ground of chance alone ; and finally in the record of the manner of the introduction of Christianity into the world. On the ground of these and similar presumptions, Chris- tianity is fairly entitled to call on men to test its claims, and to test them in the way which itself points out ; even though that were a way involving difficulties and sacrifices, which might otherwise be avoided. But, in point of fact, the way which Christianity does point out — which in the text, the Author of Christianity does himself point out — is one which does not involve any difficulty, or any sacrifice, which, altogether independent of Christianity or the evidence of Christianity, can be innocently or lawfully avoided. It is a way to which there can be no just or reasonable objection ; for it does only prescribe to be done, in order to the attainment of a solid and assured conviction of the divine origin of the Gospel, what, independent of any such end or purpose, men feel in their hearts and consciences, that they are Christ's Doctrine, how to be Tested, 121 bound to do, and that they will be justly condemned if they fail to do. What the text states is simply this : — " Honestly purpose, honestly seek and strive to do, what you feel and believe to be the will of God ; and in so doing, you shall come to a sound conclusion on the question, if you enter- tain it, whether the doctrine of the Gospel be of God or man." But who does not feel, that so to purpose and so to seek and strive, is the duty of all men, in all circumstances and at all times; and for the neglect of which their own hearts will condemn them, even as God will hereafter con- demn them ; without reference to this specific question at all. It is on the ground of this obligation — evident and inde- feasible- -that without attempting to show how the temper of mind, indicated in the honest desire and effort to do God's will, leads ultimately to assurance of the divine origin of the Gospel, we do yet feel entitled to press the trial of this method of ascertaining that point. The settlement of the question of the divine origin of Christianity is, in res- pect of what is required, an incidental thing, however important a thing. To do what we believe to be the will of God that we should do, is a duty of primary and indepen- dent obligation, except when performing which, we cannot be safe ; while neglecting which, we are self-condemned. The unbeliever in Christianity — that is the unbeliever in in Christianity, who is yet a believer in God, and in the moral government of God — cannot object when we take him on this ground, and keep him to it. For it is ground which he himself admits ; it is common ground, on which the believer and the unbeliever are agreed. The unbeliever, thus far, is not called to believe on the ground of evidence which he tiiinks doubtful or insufficient, or to yield assent in the face of difficulties which stumble his re; son. He is only called to do honestly, what his reason and con- science tell him ho is bound to do. It is for those who are doubters of Christianity, or un- believers, to consider whether, or how far, they listen to 122 Chrisfs Doctrine, how to he Tested. this call ; to consider whether they have tested the auth- ority of the Christian doctrine in this way ; whether their consciences bear them witness, that they are truly and honestly minded to do the will of God, all the will of God known to them ; or, whether all their lives, they have been and they are now, clinging to pursuits, and practices and habits, which, in their inmost souls, they feel to be wrong, to be opposed to the will of God, and neglecting duties, which whatever they may believe or disbelieve, they have no sort of hesitation in acknowledging to be binding. It is, we maintain on the authority of the passage before us, it is one result in the case of unbelievers, of this state of their minds and practice, in regard of known and acknowledged duty to God, that they continue in unbelief. But though they, not acknowledging the authority of the text, should deny this, not seeing how it can be, or how errors in practice can tell upon the convictions of the understanding, they cannot deny that it is a state immora in itself, and which cannot but be offensive to God. Nothing is more admirable about the teaching of Jesus than the practical character of his precepts, — their appli- cability, so to speak, to all persons, and all circumstances, and the immediate hold which they take upon the con- science. Here now is the question, whether his doctrine was divine or human, came direct from God, or was the result of the working of the human understanding alone. That might have been made a matter of speculation and reasoning. There are occasions, indeed, when it must be so. But see, how He leaves the points which are dis- putable, and on which a war of words might have arisen, terminating in no sure or stable conviction, and fixes on that, on which no dispute can be raised ; on a man's doing what a man himself acknowledges to be right and his bounden duty to do; and will have no discussion, till that be a-doing, which conscience is without any hesitation enjoining. Christ's Doctrine, how to he Tested. 123 But granting, it may be said, as indeed it must be granted, the obligation to do the will of God so far as it is known, and that there ca i be no inward peace or ultimate safety in any case, while habitually refusing to yield to that obligation ; how is it that this doing of the will of God — this being truly and honestly minded to do it — can tell on the point, whether Christ's doctrine was human or divine ? To this, what if we should simply answer : Try ; put the matter to the test of experiment. There can be no harm in trying. There is positive good in trying ; it is a positive duty to try. The required disposition, the required effort, may have a bearing on this great matter ; nay, it may have just such bearing on it, as the text indicates, though no one should be able to tell hoiv. To try, costs a man only to give up sin — sin against God and his own conscience. There will be gain in that, even though his doubts should not be resolved. But they will be resolved. He was the Truth who spoke the text, and He came for the revelation of the truth. His words will not fall to the ground ; and he, who is honestly minded to do the will of God, will not fail ultimately to come to an assured conviction in regard of the doctrine of Christ ; and to the conviction, that it was not Christ's as man, but the Father's who sent Him. It is not the purpose of this discourse to enter at length, on the question to which we have suggested the answer given now ; — the question, how the disposition honestly to do the \\'ill of God is calculated to tell on the convictions of the mind, in regard of the origin and auth- ority of the Christian doctrine. And certainly the imme- diate and practical lesson of the text is not dependent, in any measure, on our coming to a correct understanding on this matter. Yet the question need not be altogether passed over ; and it is thus, that an answer to it might be indicated. The Christian doctrine is addressed to the understandings, to the hearts, to the consciences of men. But the understandings, the hearts, the consciences of men 124 Christ's Doctrine^ hozv to he Tested. may be in a state, which disqualifies them from doing justice to the appeal which Christianity makes to them, or giving it the fair and unbiassed reception, which is neces- sary to a right conclusion. The understanding may be perverted by piejudice; the affections may be led astray by prevailing passion ; the conscience may be seared by habitual opposition to its dictates. In such a case, it is not to be supposed that a sound view will be taken of the Christian doctrine, or a right impression of its evidence, S excellence, or its authority. Let a man look through a tel . cape, the different parts of which are not properly construct- ed, or not properh' -arranged ; and however fair and beautiful the landscape r y be, to which the instrument is directed, it can only be dim and distorted views of it that he will receive — views which will in nowise qualify him, for form- ing or expressing a judgment in regard of it, its extent or beauty, or the objects of interest which it includes. Or, let not the telescope, through which the eye looks, but the eye itself, be in a diseased and disordered state ; and there will of necessity, be the same inaccurate apprehension of the landscape, and the same incapacity to judge of it correctly. And, as it is with the telescope and the eye, in regard of external nature — it being necessary that both be in a right state in order to see and judge of it aright — so it is, with the understanding, the heart, the conscience, in regard of moral and religious truth. They are the mind's instruments doubtless, for apprehending such truth, and judging of it. But let them be deranged and disordered, and they will no more apprehend rightly, or judge fairly, in regard of such truth, than the inflamed or diseased eye will see clearly, or judge fairly, of external objects. Now, the understanding, the heart, the conscience are deranged and disordered by the prevalence of a sinful temper and disposition. They are not in a right or normal state and condition while subject to such temper. Yea, there is the knowledge and conviction that they are not in a right state. For conscience, though itself injuriously Christ's Doctrine, how to be Tested. 125 affected by the existence and prevalence of sinful tempers and passions, docs nevertheless testify that they are sinful, and that the tendency of them is to lead astray. In favour again, of the prevailing and efficient disposition to do the will of God, both reason and conscience testify, that it indicates a right state of the mind ; and in that state, the views which it takes of the Christian doctrine, and the conclusions concerning it to which it comes, will be as different, and as much more just and correct, as the appre- hension of the landscape taken by the eye in a sound, will be more just and correct, than that taken by it, in a diseased state. It is to the intellectual and moral nature of man, in this right — at least comparatively right and sounci state — that the Christian doctrine approves itself divine. Then, it appears to the soul, as it really is, suitable for God to reveal, and necessary for the wants of men. Christ says it does this. Experience says it does. Would that every man to whom the Gospel comes, every man in a Christian land, would put this matter to the test of his own experi- ence. " If thine eye be evil," said our Lord, in reference to this very matter : ** If thine eye be evil, thy whole body shall be full of darkness ; " but " if thine eye be single," be, that is, in a sound and healthy state, " thy whole body shall be full of light," Think not to see Christ's holy doctrine aright through the medium of a prevailing sinful temper or passion. Such temper or passion will distort it, will present it in a false light, will deprive it of its real power to command your convictions, will prevent you from coming to a right judgment in regard of it. It will be wholly different, under the prevalence of a disposi- tion to do right. Then you will see aright, and judge aright, and know that the doctrine of Christ is the doctrine of the Father who sent Him. And observe in what I have said of such know- ledge — of such conviction of the Divine origin of the 126 Chris fs Doctrine, Jiow fo be Tested, Gospel — I speak not of the sort of speculative conviction into which some people reason themselves, as to the truths of the Gospel, but which conviction implies no personal or hearty reception of the Gospel, nor any actual experi- ence of its saving and sanctifying power. I speak of the way, which our Lord here points out, as the way to true faith, that faith which cordially embraces the truth and is unto the saving of the soul. I look to the consummation of the soul heartily receiving the Christian doctrine, as the very truth of God ; reposing its hopes on it, guiding its conduct by it, drawing from it the peace which passeth understanding, and rejoicing in it with joy that is unspeak- able and full of glory ; and, as the beginning to this blessed consummation, I look to the disposition, to the pre- valence of the disposition indicated in the text — the honest purpose to do the known will of God. — even though that disposition should in certain cases, be connected with but an imperfect knowledge of that will. Inward conflict and agitation, doubts and difficulties, alternate hopes and fears, there may be, ere the progress be accomplished, from this commencement to that consummation. But let the required and commended, and as our consciences testify most justly commendable, disposition reign in the soul, and the consummation will be reached ; even the full assu- rance of a faith, that gives peace to the conscience, and that sanctifies the affections ; a consummation, however excellent and desirable, which is itself but a commence- ment of what will terminate in a glorious immortality. For, as surely as the honest disposition to do the will of God is connected with the ultimate attainment of assured faith in the Gospel, so surely is that faith connected, with the ultimate attainment of the heavenly blessedness. And what is any faith worth, which does not prepare for that blessedness now, and terminate in that blessedness here- after. ? The thoughtless and heartless assent, which multitudes give to Christian truth, does not make them followers of Christ's Doctrine y how to he Tested. 127 Christ, nor will it entitle them to be partakers of his glory. One great part of public preaching and teaching has long been to distinguish, and to make the distinction to be felt and acknowledged, between such careless assent, and the honest convictions of the understanding and the heart, which alone can sanctify and save. But circumstances seem to be arising, which will do this better and more effectually, than the lessons of the pulpit. Christianity to all appearance is approaching to another great crisis in its now long history. The revival of faith in the end of the last century, is giving — perhaps we should rather say, has given — place to a revival of the old scepticism, — old though appearing in new forms ; and hosts of learned, and subtle and inveterate enemies are striving to destroy the founda- tions of Christian faith, and seem delighted with the prospect of a result, which will throw men back, for any solution of the mystery of this life or the hope of another, on the uncertain and unsatisfactory conclusions of human reason, instead of the positive declarations of a Divine Apostle. All this enmity, covert or avowed, Chistianity will doubtless overcome, as // has overcome in former conflicts. It is safe, under the protection of its great Head, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. But while it will not fail, the faith of many in it may fail ; and the time is perhaps nearer than we think of, when the vast multitudes of the careless and nominal professors of Christianity shall be scattered and disappear ; when there shall be, as sharp a distinction, as in the primitive age, between those who reject and those who receive the Gospel ; and, the gulf of neutral and nominal Christianity being closed, there shall appear but two companies, the company of unbelievers, who proudly reject the doctrine of Christ; and the company of believers, who having been honestly minded to do the will of God, have ascertained the Gospel to be from God, and have proved it, in their happy experience, to be the power of God, and the wisdom 128 Chrisfs Doctrine, hoiv to be Tested, of God, unto salvation. God grant, that we be found in the latter company, earnest to us now of standinjr on the Judge's right hand, when another and final separation shall be made. Meanwhile, let every true hearted Christian rejoice in this ; that what Christianity claims as necessary to the apprehension of its excellence and authority, and lying at the root of all true faith in it, is not the learning of the schools; not lofty powers of reason and understand- ing; not the accumulation of knowledge ; but what the conscience of all acknowledges should be in all, and acknowledges the excellence of in any,-the upright mind, honestly disposed to do the will of God. XI. I OUTER AND INNER CREED IN MEN. St. Matthew VI. 23. If, therefore, the light that is in thee be darkness, how great is that darkness. Bv the word ' light ' in the text, I apprehend we are to understand the views and principles which men adopt as the rule of their conduct, and by which in actual practice they are influenced and guided. It is not, it may be observed, the same word in the original with that which our translators have also rendered * light,* in the first clause of the twenty-second verse. That word properly denotes a ' lamp ; ' but this, with which we are now spe- cially concerned, denotes the light itself which the lamp gives. The first clause directs our attention to the med- ium, through which religious views and principles do, as it were, flow into the soul ; and the importance of such medium being in a sound and right state, in order to these views and principles proving accurate and right. But this clause regards those religious views and principles themselves, which have been introduced into the mind, and which are followed in the practical conduct of life. Now, so understood — and it appears to me to be the only sound way of understanding them — our Saviour's words in the text are very remarkable, and justly de- serve our serious consideration. They imply, be it observed, first, that there is " light in every man," or, in other words, that every man has some views, maxims, and principles, by which, morally and religiously, he is guided. They imply, secondly, that such views, maxims, and principles, though entitled to the name of * light,' as actually leading and guiding the course of him who enter- J 130 Outer and Inner Creed in Men, tains them, may yet be in reality 'darkness,' because having the same effect as darkness, to mislead and guide into the wrong way. And, thiidly, they imply the mis- chievous result of entertaining views and principles in themselves erroneous and unsound. I shall not at present enter on any particular consider- ation of the last two propositions I have stated as con- tained in the text. My object, now, is to fix your attention on the first of them, namely ; that there is light in every man ; or, in other words, that every man has some views, maxims, or principles, by which, morally and religiously, he is guided. And I would so fix your attention for this purpose, that you may be led to inquire what these are in your own case. In the case of others, it is a very difficult thing to find out what the light in them is ; what that is, their real religious principles are. You come to no right judgment concerning them, by ascertaining merely what Church a man belongs to, and what the creed of that Church is. A man may belong to a Church, and know very little about its creed. Many Presbyterians would be sadly puzzled, if obliged to give account of the articles of their Church's faith. And a man may belong to a Church, and knowing its articles of faith, reject some of them as unsound. Can we calculate for example on every member of our Church receiving the doctrine of predestination, as the Church has laid it down ? And still further — and to show still more the difficulty of which we speak — a man may hold, or think he holds, certain religious views and principles, and be prepared to defend them stoutly against any one who should venture to call them in question, and yet these be not at all " the light within him," according to the sense of that expression as used by our Saviour in the text ? because they do not lead him — they do not practically guide and influence him. The truth is, that you get not at all to the " light in a man " by these means — ascertain- Outer and Inner Creed in Men, 131 ing the Church to which a man belongs — the creed which that Church holds, or the creed which he himself professes and is ready to argue in defence of. You must penetrate into the recesses of the man's nature, so to speak, to come to "the light within," in which he walks; the real views of m.oral and religious truth and duty, by which he is practically guided. And few men like to let others look so far and so closely into their hearts and minds. Nay, few men like to look into these recesses themselves, to drag to view, even their own view, the maxims on which they habitually act in the conduct of life. Many know not, nor could tell, what the light in them is ; and Jiow, then, shall others come to the knowledge of it ? It has sometimes occurred to me, to consider whether such knowledge could not be got from the study of a man's life ; whether his creed, his real creed, that is his real, true, influencing opinions and views and principles, might not be learned from his conduct. It would be worth while to consider somewhat in detail the conclusions that wouW thus be derived, not from a man's judgment or his memory, but from his life. In the case of multitudes of professing Christians, it would be a very strange one indeed, and would stand in very remarkable contrast with that which they avowedly hold, and probably think they do hold. Suppose, now, we were to take the doctrine of the observance of the Sabbath. The creed of our Church is very plain on that point. You have it briefly expressed in these words of the catechism : " The Sabbath is to be sanctified by a holy resting all that day, from such worldly employments and recreations, as are lawful on other days, and spending the whole time in the public and private exercises of God's worship, except so much as is to be taken up in the works of necessity and mercy." But this is not at all the creed which would be gathered from the conduct of very many among us. Just as surely as a stranger, seeing a Hindoo falling down before the idols of 132 Outer ami Inner Creed in Men. his country, would reason to his idolatrous creed ; so surely woultl a stranger, secinfr the conduct of many among our- selves, judge the following to be the nature of the creed, commonly entertained about the Sabbath. "The Sabbath is to be observed by going to church once a day, and then employing the whole time in recreations and amusements, and unprofitable conversation, carefully avoiding any fur- ther exercise of God's worship, in private or in public, whatever opportunity the day affords for either." What creed, equally different from the avowed one, would con- duct give the key to, in regard of other matters ? Repent- ance, say, for example. Why, it would be this : " Repent- ance is not necessary, till there be some appearance of the approach of death. It is safe and right to delay it till then." Or of the reading of the Scriptures ? It would be this : "It is not necessary to search the Scriptures. It is necessary to read newspapers, and such ordinary works as approve themselves to the taste of individuals. But the Scriptures may be unopened, except in church, or for a few minutes on Sundays." What would be the creed which conduct would indicate in regard to prayer ? It would be this : " Ordinarily prayer need not be offered, or, at all events, the form of it will be sufficient morning and evening." What in regard of the Lord's Supper? It would be this : " The Lord's Supper should not be observed ex- cept by such as are properly prepared ; but if a man is not so prepared, he need not give himself any trouble to pre- pare." It would be a curious creed we might construct in this way — a confession of faith for Presbyterians, very different from that framed by the divines at Westminster — yet every clause of it attested, not by texts of Scrip- ture, like the Westminster one, but by people's own re- corded doings in daily life. I do not say that such is exactly the creed of any here. But I suspect it is nearer to being so than many are aware of. It is nearer to being their real creed than is the Westminster one. And if so — if Outer and Inner Creed in Men, 133 such be tho light within thorn — may it not, in all rea- son and on the testimony of all Scripture, be said to be darkness, misleading as much as any darkness could ; and in regard of conduct, and the final results of that con- duct, how entire and how deplorable must that darkness be ; how fatal the errors, how irretrievable the conse- quences, to which it must lead ! Of course, it would not be at all safe or right to reason to a man'f. speculative opinions on morals or religion, from his practice ; for often these are diametrically oppos- ed, and in none are they in continual and in perfect harmony. Neither would it be right to renson from the con- duct of a man, to his convictions of duty. Often the con\ ic- tion is deep, strong, clear one way ; but unhappily, inward inclination, appetite, passions, are stronger still for another way ; and the conviction is overborne, and inclination triumphs. And so there may be discrepancy very great and marked, between a man's avowed creed and his practice. Therefore it is that the method of coming to the knowledge of the " light within a man," in the sense in which that expression is used in the text, namely, by a reference to conduct, is not to be always trusted. A man may believe one course to be according to divine truth and divine law, and yet take another that is opposed to both. It is to be observed, however, that even when under the influence of passion and appetite, a man does not act independent of opinions and principles. He must at all times have a light within him, though o^ten that light is darkness, and always when passion predominates. A man's views and principles, in matters of morals and reli- gion, will not long remain even speculatively right, that is in inward speculation — for he may not choose to openly acknowledge his defection — unless his practice be in accord- ance with them. These right views and principles must govern the passions, or else the passions will corrupt them. This is the process which usually takes place. Take the 134 Outer and Inner Creed iti Men. sanctification of the Sabbath for an example. A man holds a sound principle in regard of it. But through the strength of temptation, he is again and again led to act in opposition to the conviction of his own mind on the point. By degrees, the conviction alters; the principle of duty in the matter is not so clearly perceived ; finally, another is taken up ; and at last, even when a man had started with the principle of the catechism in the matter, he ends by holding, not only practically, but in opinion, that which I stated reversing and parodying the catechism. Take another example, from those who give way to licentious- ness. That, at first, is regarded as exceedingly sinful, as God's word represents it really to be, declaring that even because of it, "the wrath of God cometh on the chil- dren of disobedience." And if it be indulged in, it is indulged in against conviction, and with conscience of evil, and it is followed by remorse. But by and by, the evil passion that overmastered conscience contrives to cor- rupt conscience ; and at last, that which at first had been judged so evil, is either judged only a light evil, or no evil at all. Therefore it is, that while I dare not reason from conduct to creed, with perfect assurance that there will be a consistency between the two in every case, yet I do say, that the creed which conduct suggests, is nearer to the real creed, than perhaps people themselves are aware of. Either it is the real creed, or it is in the way of becoming so. It is the tendency of indulged sin to vitiate the moral apprehensions of the mind. Then the light that is in us becomes darkness, and how great is that darkness. Why, take an illustration of the mischief of a man's adopting views, maxims, principles, in regard of morals and religion which are unsound — an illustration suggested by the figurative language in the text. Suppose a man travelling in the night, and he must have a light to guide him. And he has such a light — a light which precedes him in the right way — the very way he should walk in ; Outer and Inner Creed in Men. 135 but through some misconduct of his own, he contrives at one and the barrie time to quench that light, and to fix his eye and whole attention on another light, which, if he fol- lows it, will lead him off his way, lead him into danger and difficulty, and effectually prevent his ever reaching the desired consummation of his journey. This is the very case of the man who adopts unsound views and principles. Even because of these, he goes further, and with less of remorse, and less chance of return, from the right way. In the glare of the false light, he misses not the true light. Satisfied that he is following his opinion, he recks not that it is a false and eroneous one; that it is a light which " leads to bewilder and dazzles to blind." Scripture gives some examples of this inner creed, held under profession of another creed — this light within a man which is darkness, and the result of following which must be great darkness. And Scripture is the testimony of One, who can and who does look into the heart, even its inmost recesses ; and who discerns all its thoughts and all its purposes, however secret from others, and undefined even to itself. You may think some of the articles of that creed which I stated, as the one that conduct would sug- gest, as the real creed of very many, too absurd to be really entertained. But judge whether those mentioned by the Scriptures be not quite as open to this charge. John the Baptist indicates one of them, commonly held by those whom he denominated a 'generation of vipers,' when he says to the Pharisees and Sadducees, who came to his bap- tism : " Think not to say within yourselves, we have Abraham to our Father." The real governing, influencing religious opinion of these men was, that because of this natural relationship to Abraham, and the promise of God to him and to his seed, they were safe, notwithstanding any wickedness they might perpetrate. But nobody is to suppose that they avowed this opinion. Outwardly, they no doubt held the sound creed of the Old Testament — the 136 Outer and Inner Creed in Men. Pharisees particularly ; nor would they, either Pharisees or Sadducees, have ventured openly to set aside the authority of those ten words, which- God spake on the Mount Sinai, and wrote on the two tables of stone. Yet the eye of the prophet detected the true creed they held ; and that effec- tually did so. Within, as it were, the professed creed, which was a sound one, they had another, which though unsound was the one they were really guided by. That inner creed was, what the Saviour calls here " the light within them." And it was darkness, and their character and conduct manifested how great was the darkness. Another example of the same kind is given in the prophe- cies of Zephaniah, when Jehovah says of the corrupt Jews of that age : " It shall come to pass that I will search Jerusalem with candles, and punish the men that are set- tled on their lees, that say in their heart," — in their heart, observe — "the Lord will not do good, neither will he do evil." There is not a word said against the avowed creed of these Jews. For any thing we know, that was quite as sound as their nation ever held. And, no doubt, it con- tained an article, that God does really govern the world, rewarding the righteous and punishing the wicked. This they would have asserted as their creed. This they would have defended as their creed. But then they just held it, as many among us hold the doctrine of the catechism concerning Sabbath observance. And their inner doc- trine was not one whit more contradictory of the avowed one, than that I have ascribed to some of ourselves is of their avowed one. That inner doctrine was ; that the Lord would not interpose at all in the affairs of men ; that good and evil, vice and virtue, would for any interposition of His fare alike. This was the light within them, by which they were guided and influenced. And plain it is, that the more they walked according to it, the greater would be their darkness ; the more firmly they held this false prin- ciple, the more likely they were to wander ; and to wander Outer and Imier Creed in Men. 137 further, and without check in the paths of sin and wicked- ness. There is another example of the same kind in the book of Psalms : "The fool hath said in his heart there is no God." There are some foolish enough to say with their tongues, ** There is no God ; " to avow that they discover no traces of a designing mind in the natural world. But there are not many so daring in their folly. Usually the Atheism that really prevails is disclaimed — is hardly ad- mitted by men even to themselves. There is an outer creed of sound Theism ; an inner of real Atheism, at least of doubt and darkness as to the being and character of God. In such a case, surely it will be admitted that the light within is darkness, and great is that darkness. While the Scriptures thus furnish us with example*' of men's inner and influencing creed, held under the shelter of another which has no influence, I may remark further, that sometimes men, in moments of confidence and frank exposure of themselves, when something has opened their hearts and disposed them to speak, or perhaps to think mce definitely than they are wont to do on such matters, will give you an idea of this inner creed in themselves, by some hearty but honest exclamation, in regard of themselves or of others. " Such an one," you will hear a man say, " Such an one is a very honest man, and let people say what they will, honesty is the best passport to heaven. That's my creed." Or, " Such an one is a very charitable man to the poor ; and if charity will not take a man to heaven, I do not know what will." It is in such speeches that the real creed for a moment appears; and it is curiously dif- ferent from that which the man avows as a church member — curiously different from that which he hears, and expects to hear, and would be disappointed, perhaps enraged If he did not hear, from the pulpit ; above all, strangely and utterly different from the plain statements of the Bible, the authority of which is yet all the time verbally acknow- ledged and reverenced. 138 Outer and Inner Creed in Men. A minister of religion does good service, when he is able in his public discourses, to exhibit the articles of this inner creed, and make those who hold them, look at them and examine them. Generally, they cannot stand to be examined, or even regarded, their folly, their groundess- ness is so apparent. To exhibit them is, to a certain ex- tent, to destroy them. It is obvious, however, that a minister cannot always get at them. They are hid too deeply in the bosom to be seen and known, except by him whose 'light,' such as it is, they constitute; — his light and guide, and influencing views and principles. But surely he .lay know them ; he may find out, if he will be at pains, what his views on religion, the importance of iti the degree of attention necessary to be given to it, and the nature and amount of the influence it should have, really are. He can, by self scrutiny and self examination* know these. He has them — real influencing opinions on all these matters — whether he thinks of them or not. That he may be sure of. The * light,* in that sense, is in him. But when the Lord Jesus Christ says plainly, that the light in a man may be darkness ; is it not right and reason- able for every man to enquire : What is the light in me, and is it or is it not darkness ? What are the opinions on religious matters which really guide my conduct, and are they right or are they wrong ; are they in accordance with reason and Scripture, or are they not ; are they leading me on the path of duty, or are they leading me further and further from it, smoothing the way to the soul's utter ruin, and its final and everlasting destruction ? Have I taken them up at hap-hazard, or because I like them ; or on grounds which my reason and conscience did, or do still, approve ? Do I hold them, after examination by all the lights, which God hath put within my power ? Do I hold them as a thinking and reasoning man ? Do I hold them, as knowing that I am responsible to God for the manner in which I came to hold them, and the tempers and Outer and Inner Creed in Men. 139 dispositions I manifested, in considering and adopting them ? Would to God we did all betake ourselves seri- ously and patiently to such enquiry. First, What is the light in us ; the real opinions we hold on religion ? Second, Is that light, or is it not darkness ? Are these opinions true a'^ 1 sound, according to right reason and God's word, or are they not ? No one can ever be a practically reli- gious man, or reach ultimately the happiness that here and hereafter is the portion of such, without thinking of religion, and making it a subject of anxious concern. Yet this is just what many will not do. In half an hour's time, it may be feared, the word, the true and awakening word of the Lord Jesus Christ, which has now been brought before them, and all the considerations which it has suggested, will have passed away from their minds. And when will there be any proof, that the seed of the word has been permitted to take root or to spring up in their hearts at all ? Who believeth our report ? To whom is the arm of the^Lord revealed ? Arise, O our Gov. ! Plead thine own cause with us. Visit us with the spirit of repentance. Give us light to know the truth, and grace to value it, to love it, and to obey it. Arise for our help, and redeem us for thy name's sake. XII. v GOVERNMENT OF THE THOUGHTS. PSALM CXIX, 113. \ I hate vain thoughts : but thy law do I love. Thkre have been many questions started, in regard of the power which a man has over his own thoughts. Some would almost have it that he has no power over them at all ; that they pass through the mind independent of the will ; being either suggested by outward things, or when originating in the mind itself, guided by laws of association, so rigid and invariable, that in virtue of them, the character of successive thought is determined with the same certainty and regularity, which attach to the results of mechanical contrivance. It would be idle to enter here on any metaphysical discussion of this matter. We assume the popular impression on the subject, which is the reverse of that we have now expressed, and involves a belief in the power of the mind to exercise at least a certain control over its own action, and to determine the subjects of that action. In dealing with the consciences of men, we may safely proceed on the existence and strength of this impression. The Apostle evidently did so, when announcing the importance of habitually remember- ing the truths of the Gospel, and the danger of forgetting them ; he called upon the Hebrews to give the more earnest heed to them ; and so to prevent them from slipping out of the mind. It is undoubtedly true, that very much of the thought which does actually pass through our minds, is little if at all, influenced by any exercise of power in the mind over that thought. A very large portion of our mental activity Government of the Thoughts. 141 is called forth by objects and events, which immediately strike our senses, independent altogether of any volition on our part — the sights and sounds of the material world around us, or the remarks addressed to us, by the members of the society in which we move. And even when thought is not so suggested, and, as we may say, compelled, by external things and persons; when the mind retires within itself and is employed in sober reflection, there are long intervals in which there is no conscious exercise of power over the subjects of thought. One thought succeeds another, connected by links and laws having power, according to the constitution of our nature, so to guide the operations of the mind. But then it is possible for the mind to break the train of associated thought. It can, whether by set- ting at defiance the laws by which thought is connected, or in virtue of other principles of association than those which ordinarily guide the operations of the understand- ing, suddenly call up another subject of thought and con- sideration. It can, from being comparatively passive, assume the attitude of a judge of the train of thought which has been passing through it ; and whether under the promptings of conscience, which may condemn such train of thought as wrong, or of reason which may pronounce it foolish, or of prudence which may declare it to be dangerous, or of wisdom which may suggest another, better and more profitable exercise of the understanding; it can apply itself to new matter of thought, and set all its faculties in busy operation, on the new subjects thus presented to them. Now, if this power we have, it is of infinite consequence, surely, that we should exercise it aright; that we should exercise it under the guidance of moral and religious principle. Assuredly, we shall be held most solemnly responsible for our exercise of it. It is the thoughts of the man which make the man, which determine his char- acter and the character of his actions ; and how important then the power of suggesting, altering, modifying, guiding 142 Government of the Thoughts, these. Christianity claims the government of the thoughts, that it be ordered in conformity with its own precepts and principles. It never professes to hold the actions of the external life, as of account in themselves. It proposes to purify the external life, by first purifying the thoughts which are the immediate source of moral life in man. It tells of a great and blessed Agent, whose work of condescension and mercy it is, so to purify the thoughts ; and thereby to prove the quickener of the dead in trespasses and sins, and the strengthener of spiritual life in those, to whom spiritual life has been already communicated. But in this work of the Spirit of God, the moral and intellec- tual powers of men are also to be exercised. When God works, He works in men, to z£////and to do; not for men, that they may remain in tranquil idleness and inactivity. That God works in us is a just ground of comfort and encour- agement : for if He be our helper, how can we fail of success ? That God works in us is a ground too, for fear and trembling, for awe and apprehension ; for if we obstinately refuse to cooperate with him, thus working in us, how much guilt must we of necessity contract ? But it is no ground at all for us to refuse putting forth all our energies ; on the contrary, it should be felt as an inducement to us to put them forth to the uttermost, in the doing and accomplishment of all that, to which God calls us for His glory, and for our own good. And specially should we do so, in regard of the government of the thoughts, in the exercise of the power which we have of guiding them, and of turning them to right and proper subjects. Now, in any consideration of the proper exercise of such power, one thing will very speedily appear; that there is a class of subjects, namely, which it is the tendency of the natural man to drop out of mind altogether, and which it is the temptation, even of the spiritual man, to have in his mind far too seldom. That class of subjects is religious subjects — the great truths, principles, precepts of religion, — Government of the Thoughts. 143 the religion of the Bible — the religion of Christ. In them- selves, these are unspeakably important and sublime. To men, all men, if they did but know or feel their true position, they are of overwhelming interest. It is not desired that they should constitute the only subjects of thought. The necessities of life, which, being of God's ordination, are not to be condemned, either in themselves or in the results to which they directly lead, render that impossible. We may, nay we must, think of common business, common duties, yea and common, if innocent, recreations. There is much wisdom in the saying, as applied to the Divine government, that a good and wise father desires to see his children at proper times in the playground, as much as he desires to see them in the school room and at their studies. But then, there is an utter derangement of the true order of things — the order of things rated at their real value and importance — when worldly business, worldly duties, and worldly recreations displace subjects of religious thought from the mind alto- gether, or when the only place allowed to such religious subjects of thought is a very humble and a very limited one. It is plain, from their own nature, that these subjects are entitled to be often, habitually, and solemnly consi- dered. It is plain, that men need to be influenced by these truths, for the sobering of their minds, for the purifying of their hearts, for the guidance and sanctification of their lives. It is plain, too, that men cannot be suitably influenced by them, except they are often present to the mind, and often taken into earnest and serious considera- tion. There is not very much difference, morally and spiritually, except in the greater guilt which one may have, between the man, who has never heard of a Saviour, and him, who having heard of Him., never thinks of Him. But how little are the truths and duties of religion the subject of men's thoughts ! Take those not making, nor 144 Government of the Thoughts, entitled to make, any special profession of religion, and enquire of them how much time, in a day, or week, or year, is occupied with the serious contemplation of such matters ; and if they answer you according to conscience and truth, it will soon appear how utterly insignificant the heed — the attention — which they give to the subject of reli- gion. In the great majority of cases, it would be only vague and fleeting thoughts of that subject, to which they could at all lay claim; even these, perhaps, suggested and forced on them from without, and implying no sustained, or habitual, or anxious contemplation of them. From morning to night, and from one year's end to another, the immortal mind, which God has endowed with such powers and capacities, is busied with subjects of thought and consider- ation, among which, the thought of God, His will, or His salvation, has seldom any place, if indeed it has a place at all. Take those again, who, neither in hypocrisy nor without reason, do make some profession of religion ; who have on their spirits an awe of the majesty and authority of God ; who have in their hearts some sense of the love and grace of Christ; and though, of course, they can- not make such a confession, as that which truth compels others to make, because they must have more frequent and earnest thought of Divine things; yet even they would, on any searching enquiry, be compelled to make very humbling acknowledgments. It would, in very many cases, appear that the mind turned but too seldom and too reluctantly, to the consideration of these very truths, which do yet stand connected with its enjoyment of present peace and with its hopes of ultimate glory and blessedness. It would appear that the world, its occupa- tions, and interests, and pleasures, and cares, not only occupied the place legitimately due to them, but had given to them, a far larger portion of time and attention, than could be reasonably so conceived of, and such a portion as entrenched materially upon, and often alto- Government of the Thoughts, 145 gcthcr engrossed, the time and attention, which are due to religious truths. It would appear, that the tendency was not so much to exchange ordinary for religious subjects of thought, as religious for more common and ordinary; and that the things which they have heard, and with joy received from the Gospel of Christ, they were very prone to let slip from their minds. Now, if there be such complete absence, or almost complete absence of religious thought — serious that is, and sustained religious thought — in the one class, and such confessedly partial presence of it in the other, what must of necessity be the result ? In the one case — the former case — it can only be the continuance of an impenitent and sinful state, in which neither the authority of God is recognized, nor the grace of Christ, nor the terrors of the judgment to come. To be religious a man must surely think of religion. To repent, to believe the Gospel, to live as a Christian, in any sense, which any man has who reads the Bible or has any knowledge at all of true Christianity, requires thought, thought of religious truth, and much of it too, serious and earnest and continued. The very first part of the change which must come over an ungodly man, in order to his becoming a true Christian, is a change in the subject of his thoughts. He must think of religion ; he must give his mind to the thoughts which religion suggests of God, of judgment, of eternity, of the Saviour's work, and love, and power, of the way of obtaining an assured and personal interest in the Saviour, and the method in which a sense of the Saviour's love is to be manifested and proved. In the other case, the latter case, the case of the believer acknowledging his want of spirit- uality of mind, it is obvious that deficiency in such spirituality, in regarci of his subjects of thought and medi- tation, must occasion slow progess in the graces and virtues of the divine life. Such subjects of thought furnish the very food of the soul, in the life of faith K 14G Govern7nent of the Thoughts. and godliness. The truth is the grand instrument pro- vided by God and made use of by His Holy Spirit, for the moral renovation of men. But what is truth, any truth, if unthought ot', or little thought of? It is only in pro- portion, as it is regarded, weighed, considered, dwelt upon, that it can exercise its proper power and influence over the heart and mind. Our blessed Lord connects great spiritual blessings with the abiding of his words in the minds of his disciples; not their knowing them merely, not their receiving them merely, but their having them "abiding in them ; " which can only mean their having them habit- ually present to the mind, and making them the subject of their thought and consideration. Again, therefore, we insist on the unspeakable import- ance of exercising, and exercising rightly, the power the mind has to choose its Ovvn subjects of thought, so that religious subjects of thought may be considered in propor- tion to their importance. In such exercise of power, constraint will be necessary. The thoughts will require to be turned out of that channel in which they habitually run, and into another, to which there is often a strong natural disinclination. But such constraint, if we are impressed with a sense of the importance of it, the duty of it, or the necessity of it, is possible ; and if it be per- severed in for a time, there will come into operation a law of our nature, which will lessen the necessity for constraint, and make that, which at first was difficult become at last easy, and as of nature. That is the law of habit, the law according to which, that which we do often and regularly, we come to do easily and as a matter of course, scarcely requiring any exertion of the will. The power of habit, in matters requiring active exertion, we are all familiar witli. But the power of habit extends to thinking as well as acting. If our thoughts are, by constraint of will or by constraint of circumstances independent of the will, often turned to certain objects, there is found at last a habit of Government of the Thoughts. \ 47 contemplating such objects, Independent altogether of the original force wliich acted on the mind, so as to lead it to such contemplation. The mind, in any interval of ease and freedom, when sensible things are not immediately pressing on it, takes willingly and naturally to these its accustomed subjects of contemplation, and continues the consideration of them till some necessity arises for a change. It is possible for a man therefore, in virtue of the power which he can exercise over the subjects of his thought, to render any particular class of subjects, habitual subjects of meditation; to make them so in the end, without the necessity of much, perhaps, of any conscious exercise of constraining power ; to make them so, even in seasons when the mind is left free to wander at will, choosing its own subjects of thought and consideration. This can be done, and often is done, in regard of subjects of thought not religious. But it can equally be done in regard of religious subjects. The degree of constraint, of i ower to be exercised, may be greater, because of the greater reluc- tance of the mind to dwell frequently and habitually on the? 2. But the same law which has operation in regard of other subjects has operation also in regard of these. And how unspeakably desirable it is, to have such habits of religious thought and religious meditation formed and established ; to have the great truths and topics of religion so familiar to the mind, that the mind shall, in its moments of most unrestrained freedom, naturally revert to the consideration of them, and they shall have the like place in the musings and reveries in which all men indulge, as his gold and his possessions have in the thoughts of the miser, or his home and his family circle in the mind of the man whose heart is warm with domestic affection ; that a new channel of thought be, as it were, formed in the mind, and instead of the heretofore engrossing concern, on which the mind, disengaged from outward things, was wont to fall back, of what is to be enjoyed of sensual 148 Government of the Thoughts. pleasure, or what is to be gained of worldly possession, or what is to be known of common business, or what is to be learned of science respecting only things earthly and material, there be as ready and natural a turning of the mind, to the contemplation of God, the high attributes of His character, the great principles of His government, the various revelations of His will, the manifestations of His grace and love — above all, in the person and work cf Jesus Christ the Saviour. Such frequency of religious contem- plation might not make a man religious, that is give to religious principle ascendency over the will and motives of action, so that all shall move in willing subserviency to it, as of right entitled to the supremacy in man's nature. But it would be a step towards it, and a necessary one, and an important one. Religious truth has power over man's spirit fallen as it is, and enslaved by evil passions as it is, if it can only have access to it. Nor is it easy tc resist that power. In point of fact men do resist it easiest and oftenest, not by meeting it directly in open combat, but by dropping reli- gious truth out of their minds, and avoiding the occasions and circumstances in which it would be pressed on them. Then in the case of those who are under the influence of religion, and have any honest desire to grow in grace and godliness, it is plain that such frequency of religious medi- tation, such, often recurring thoughts of divine truth, must tend to their advancement in the divine life. The benefits resulting from an established habit, a confirmed tendency of the mind to revert to the consideration of moral and religious subjects, are twofold. First, evil thoughts — vain, foolish, unprofitable thoughts tending to evil — are thereby excluded. The mind must be occupied with something. Such thoughts cannot be dismissed and the mind left a blank. They can only be displaced by other thoughts, better and holier ; and they can only be kept out, prevented from returning, by keeping the mind so occupied with better and holier thoughts, the presence Government of the Thoughts. 149 of which, by excluding sinful and frivolous thought, would save also from the sinful and frivolous actions and course of life, to which such thought if habitual leads, and to which in all cases it tends. But secondly, the habit of moral and spiritual contemplation does not only benefit by excluding evil and preventing evil, but by doing posi- tive good. It excites good and holy feelings ; I't strength- ens pure and holy affections ; it confirms right principles ; it leads to a right discharge of duty ; it forms, what is so desirable, habits of duty, giving to the right course of conduct, not only the authority of conscience and the arguments of reason, but in the end, the advantage also of habit, to secure its being steadily pursued. To have such habitual tendency to the contemplation of moral and religious truths is to be spiritually minded ; and to be spiritually minded, says an Apostle, is life and peace. Whoever, then, has any sense of duty to God on his spirit, or any concern for the salvation of his own soul, or any desire to make advancement in Christian virtue, should see to the establishment within him of such habits of religious thought. That is a thing which can be done ; but it requires the forth-putting of all our energies ; for in the case of all, there are many obstacles to be overcome, in the antipathies of the natural mind to the religious obliga- tion, which the contemplation of religious truth exhibits and enforces, and in the existence of other habits of thought, by which the mind is already enchained. But in the honest forth-putting of our energies towards the accom- plishment of a good and wise end, there is no cause for despair. God himself, who in the control and government of his vast empire, overlooks not the cares nor despises the necessities of any of his creatures, is ready to help us. The blessed Saviour, who though now exalted, is still touched with a feeling of our infirmities, is willing to make his grace sufficient for us and to supply all our need. And we have the promise of the Spirit, whose province it is to 150 Government of the Thoughts. make willing, and to work in the soul, to will and to do. This is one of the very ways in which we are to obey the Apostle's precept : " Work out your own salvation, with fear and trembling ; " and in regard of which, there is both caution and encouragement, in the statement " that God worketh in us." I have spoken of one law of our mental nature, of which it behoves us to take advantage in seeking after spirituality of mind — the law of habit. There is another, which should also be made use of ; that by which a particular train of thought can be so associated, with external things frequently appearing to us, or external circumstances frequently occurring around us, that the one inevitably suggests the other. With the objects of material nature around us, with the events of daily occurrence, trains of serious thought may be so associated, as that the appearance of those objects, the occurrence of those events, shall as a matter of course suggest religious reflection. It is a wonder that such is not more the case, independent of any effort of our own, or the establishment of any habit, through means of such effort often repeated ; a wonder that the beauty and skill and goodness, so apparent in the material world, should not be more suggestive to us of the great Creator ; that the mind should not rise from the work that is seen, to the unseen Worker, and by easy steps pass to the consideration of His character. His government. His laws. His Gospel of grace and mercy to the fallen children of men ; a wonder that the events of Providence often so impressive and furnishing such fruitful subject for serious reflection, should pass away, without reminding us of the unseen hand which guides all, of the infinite mind which contrives and arranges all, and of the great ends which that infinite mind appears to have in view in such contrivance and arrangement, and the lessons which we should le.^rn, from what we are permitted to see of them Too plainly, does it appear from this very circumstance, that Government of the Thoughts. 151 man, in his natural state, likes not to retain God in his knowledge. But if he would pass from that state, he must do so. If he would advance to the perfection of his nature he must ; and so it behoves him by active effort, such as he is competent with God's help to make, to establish such associations of things seen and temporal with things unseen and eternal, and daily to increase the strength and number of them. In this, as in all things, our Lord Jesus Christ is the great Exemplar; and if we diligently and carefully peruse His history, we shall see both how rooted and established in Him was the habit of religious reflection, and how the most common and ordinary events seemed to suggest such reflection. Examples of this must readily occur to all. The water at the well of Samaria suggested the grace of the Holy Spirit. The loaves, which the greedy multitude sought for the sustenta- tion of their bodies, suggested the meat which endureth unto everlasting life. The presence of a little child suggt ted the tempers necessary for admission into the kingdom of God. And so in innumerable instances — so much so that this peculiarity of " drawing his doctrines from the occasion," as it has been called, is a marked character- istic of the teachings of Christ. But it is a characteristic which could not have existed without an established habit of religious thought, and of connecting that thought with familiar and visible objects. As we regard our own moral and spiritual well-being, it behoves us to make conscience of this matter. It is recorded, that in the time of the English Commonwealth under Cromwell, when certain persons, then called Triers, were appointed \.o make enquiry into the qualifications of the ministers of the Gospel for their work, and to test them, not so much by the ecclesiastical community to which they belonged, or the form of worship they preferred, or their attainments in learning and science, as by the evidences they could give of their own personal conversion to God, 152 Governvtmt of the Thoughts. and their holy living as His servants and children, a certain eminent minister of the Puritans was brought before the Triers, and asked the evidence he could give of his character as a genuine Christian. His only answer — all that was required of him indeed, for it gave immediate satisfaction — was : " I make conscience of my thoughts." Then only may we count ourselves Christians, when we do the same ; when we feel that we are giving to con- science — and to conscience enlightened and guided by Christian truth — the guidance and government of our thoughts. XIII. INFLUENCE UPON OTHERS FOR GOOD OR EVIL. PSALM XL. 3. lie hath put a nnv soitg in my mouthy even praise unto our God: many shall see it, dud fear ^ and shall trust in the Lord, Next in order of importanc- to the gift of speech, by which thought is expressed, and one mind is enabled to have direct intercourse and communion with another, is the art of writing, by which thought can be communica- ted to the distant in space and the distant in time, and made the common property of the world. And it is by the latter, very greatly more than by the former, that power and influence can be exercised by any one mind over others. It could be only a small and inconsiderable iiumber, whom either reverence for David's kingly dignity, or sympathy with his poetic feeling, or his religious expe- rience, could attract to listen to the detail from his own lips, of his spiritual distress and his spiritual deliverance, compared to the innumerable multitude of willing auditors, which the record of these, in this sacred song, has gained for him. By that record, he has been enabled to speak, not merely to a sympathizing crowd around him, but to the whole Church, Jewish and Christian — the Church in every age — all thoughtful spirits, in all time, touched and impressed with a sense of their relation to God, and desirous to know and comprehend the mystery of His dealings with the children of men. The history of the mental conflicts and troubles of the Piralmist, and the song of praise which God put into his mouth, when the season came for his deliverance, lose not their interest nor their moral efiicacy, with the lapse of ages. They who fear God still listen to 154 Iiifliiaice upon others for Good or Evil, what God did for his soul ; and still, as he said they would, they are moved thereby, to " fear, and to trust in the Lord." There is something very noble and sublime in the idea thus suggested, how the thoughts and the feelings of one mind, may, in consequence of the powers and capacities with which our nature is endowed, be enabled to exercise an influence over all succeeding generations. In David's case, it is true, there was more than any mere natural gift, to give value to the workings of his mind. In addition to his devotional temper and his poetic genius, he was en- dowed with the prophetic spirit. He spoke, as he was moved by the Holy Ghost, of Him who was to be a Light unto the Gentiles and the Glory of Israel. And it is reasonable to believe that the same Divine Spirit, which dictated his words, should take the necessa./ means for preserving them, and diffusing the knowledge of them, in so far as were required for the edifying and comforting of the Church. But it is not only to men under such direct inspiration from God, to whom it is given to transmit their thoughts to distant ages, and in virtue of such transmission to exercise a never ending influence, on the successive generations of mankind. This is the high prerogative of genius, to communicate an immortality of power to its own reflections and imaginings, so that these, clothed in winged words, shall be circulating from mind to mind throughout the world, long ages after the spirits which gave them birth have passed away for ever from this mortal scene. In proportion, however, to the greatness of the power bestowed is the greatness also of the responsibility in- curred. Such power, as we have spoken of, may be used and has been used, both for good and for evil. And as in the one case, it is justly the object of admiration and reverence, so in the other case, it is as justly the object of abhorrence and fear. Genius can instruct, but it can also corrupt. It can lead in the straight path, but it can also lead astray from it. It can kindle noble aspirations in the Influence upon others for Good or Evil. 155 soul, but it can also fan the flame of evil and degrading passions. It can be the servant of heaven, but often it is the minister of hell. And, as it is delightful and elevating to the soul to trace the thoughts of a single mind, richly furnished and endowed of God for that very end, in their progress over the world, enlightening and purifying — giving life and power to social affection, to moral principle, or religious feeling — and in their progress down wards through successive generations, still serving the same beneficent purpose, increasing the sum of human virtue and human happiness; so is it saddening and fearful, to trace the progress of thought degrading and demoralizing, and confirming or raising up, from age to age, a succession of slaves to sin and Satan, ard to contemplate the responsibility of him, who gives birth to such corrupting reasonings and reflections • It is a fearful thing to corrupt even one human spirit. The evil done is so great, and it is, by merely human means, so irreparable. But how much more dreadful it is, to set in operation a means of corruption to which no limit can be assigned either in regard ofextent or of duration; and which may be as efficacious, or more efficacious for evil, a thou- sand years, after he who originated it has been sleeping in the dust, as when it was first thought of. We can conceive it one reward of a glorified spirit, to be able to trace the results of the thoughts, which in the days of its earthly being, it had given to the world; and as we know% in the moral regeneration of mankind, the exalted Saviour him- self reaps the fruits of his mediation, sees of the travail of his soul, and is satisfied ; so, though in lower measure, may one of his servants, while no wise taking the glory to him- self, but humbly rendering all to God, have unspeakable satisfaction — increasing even the joys of heaven, and giving nw impulse to its songs of praise — in witnessing the ex- tending and permanent influence, of what he had been honoured and enabled to do for the world. And however it is, it might be one fearful part of the punishment of a 156 Influence upon others for Good or Evil. lost and outcast soul, to trace in the same manner the results of its labours in the world ; to see one after another brought under their malign and withering influence ; and to feel, that during all time, it is in effect at least, a corrupter and a destroyer. Such a contemplation might, it would seem, thicken the gloom and aggravate the woe, even of that place of darkness, where the worm dicth not, and there is weeping and gnashing of teeth. It is impossible to disconnect great powers from great responsibility. Of them to whom much is given much also will be required. Yet, would it be unfair to measure the amount of guilt contracted, by the amount of mischief done; or to judge, in contemplating the ungodliness or immorality, that are sometimes connected with great powers that these surpass in degree or in guilt, what is to be found in less highly gifted minds. It is the sad prerogative of genius to give currency to its thoughts, to give expression to its feelings, such as shall live in men's minds and influ- ence them, even when those feelings and thoughts are evil and corrupting. And so in effect they are more mischievous, than if they had perished in the mind and heart in which they arose. But we are not to suppose that because some have this power, or from their exercise of it, that such thoughts and feelings are of necessity more frequent in them, than in persons of humbler abilities. The evil thoughts, wicked in regard of God or man, the dissolute imaginations, the impatient complainings, which the one class may have expressed, the other may equally have felt and cherished. And it may be a difference, not of moral guilt, but only of mental power, which exists between the two. The inten- tion to corrupt would of course, in either case, aggravate the guilt. But apart from this, which is not always to be inferred from the expression any more than from the thought of evil, the indication of an evil and corrupt heart may be the same in both ; a state of the affections, which we are constrained to believe, a holy God must condemn, and which unrepented of, can only terminate in misery. Influence upon others for Good or Evil. 157 The power of genius, giving clearness to the conception and force to the expression of what is evil in a man, can give us fearful revelation, of the wickedness which exists in other minds than our own. liut it is not needed, either to the existence of such wickedness in ourselves, or to our knowledge of it. We can look into our own hearts. Though the door of our neighbour's heart may be shut unto us, there is one open, through which we can penetrate into our own. If the evil thoughts that have found access there, and encouragement to lodge and linger there, could be written down, with the precision and the energy which genius can communicate ; were such expression given, to the feelings which conscience testifies have both risen and been cherished within us ; would we have reason to boast of ourselves, as compared with those whom we condemn ? Might we not be overwhelmed with shame and confusion of face, and forced to confess that the absence of power, rather than the presence of principle, has saved us, from being as much as others, originators of moral mischief and corruption ? And originators of moral good — of what shall tend to the spiritual well-being of men — or of moral mischief, tending to their corruption and misery, we must and shall be, to some extent ; however short we may come of the lofty powers with which some are gifted, and by means of \vhich they can speak, not to the few, but to the many, not to the men of our age only, but to the men of all ages. This is the point to which I wish to direct your attention, because it is the practical point in which we are all interested. It is not lessons for genius, or for those gifted with extraordinary powers, which we need to lay down, but such as suit the case and condition of or- dinary men. And this is such a lesson ; that every man, how humble soever his gifts or attainments, how lowly soever his position in the world, or how limited soever the sphere in which he moves, is capable of influencing others ; 158 Injluencc upon others for Good or Evil. and not only others around him, but others that shall come after him, in the lapse of time. And he may influence them for good or for evil. And he may do it, and to some ex- tent he will do it, in the very way, and on the very prin- ciple, according to which the Psalmist expected, that many seeing the history of his spiritual experience, and the song of praise which God put into his mouth for his deliverance would be moved thereby to '• fear and to trust in the Lord." It was by revealing the workings of his mind, in regard of God and of divine things — it was by expressing his religious convictions and impressions, declaring how he had felt towards God, and how God had acted towards him — that he expected to exercise a beneficial influence upon others. And he did so, and has done so, and will con- tinue to do so, as others also have done, in the same way. It is purifying and strengthening to a man's fear of God and faith in Him, to be permitted thus to enter into the secret mind of another, and to discern there, the sure tokens of religious faith and reverence. As there is no greater trial to a man's own faith, than the conviction that others — others in whom perhaps he had trusted — are liars, destitute of moral and religious principle, so it is a source of strength to witness the true feeling of religion, and listen to the record of a real and true religious experience. There is a sym- pathy which we cannot help feeling, even when it condemns ourselves, with the impressions and convictions in others, which are thus communicated to us. It is this sympathy which gives the charm and power to religious biography ; to the accounts more especia y of the workings of men's minds,in remarkable periods of their lives,or on the approach of death. And such sympathy, a religious man can and will call forth, by the expression of his own feelings and convictions, though such expression should be given only to few, and never communicated to writing at all. It is very greatly, we do believe, by such sympathy that reli- gious feeling is, as it were,propagated and perpetuated, from luJluc-Hcc upon others for Good or Evil. 159 one generation to another. And thus it is, that a truly religious man's experience, though in humble lifeand of hum- ble gifts, may, though less extensively, yet equally surely, and abidingly, continue to have influence, not as written down in a book which men may study, but as communicated directly to other human hearts, and influencing them, while they in their turn influence others ; and so the suc- cession of God's people is kept up in the world. ILxercisc an influence for good. You cannot tell when or where that influence shall cease, or indeed, if it ever shall cease. Less diiectly and extensively, but as surely and as permanently, as the experience of the great King, who could embody it in the noblest strains of poetry, and who was honoured to combine it with the revelations of prophecy, the exper- ience of the humblest believer, may, simply by the honest, and often perhaps the undesigned expression of it, have its place in bringing many to " fear and to trust in the Lord." And there is a like efiicacy, like in power, though miserably unlike in result and tendency, in the revela- tion of the workings of an evil and sensualized nature. Unhappily there is that in all, which is but too prompt to sympathize with evil, and to find pleasure in the details of the workings of whatever passions do most influence us. But, as it is out of the abundance of the heart that a man speaketh, whether the heart be renewed or unrenewed, he that is under the influence of evil passions will give expres- sion to them ; and by this very expression, whether he designs it or not, prove to others a source of corruption. These others may be few, because his influence may ex- tend to few. It may perhaps extend no further than to his own family, that is to those very individuals, in re- gard of whom he is most sacredly bound to see to it, that no such influence, but the very reverse, be exercised. But it may be not the less effectual, or the less abiding, inasmuch as they, in their turn, may exercise the same injurious in- fluence and so the example of evil keep up the practice of 100 Influence upoii others for Good or Evil. evil, and each servant of sin, however humble, have his share in building ui)the kingdom of Satan, and increasing the number of his subjects in the world. Whoever proves the means of corrupting the principle of a man, converts that man into an accessory of Satan, to instil the same moral poison which has been infused into himself, into the hearts of other men. It is in this way the moral pestilence spreads among the membersof our race, and is transmitted from one generation to another, in perpetual succession. It is ever the tendency of moral evil to perpetuate itself. Give it a beginning, and there can be no limits set to its growth or its duration. Jereboam, the son of Ncbat, we are told in the sacred history, caused Israel to sin ; and he and his family were therefore cast off from the throne of Israel. But did the sin cease with them ? Why, we are told that it continued to be practised, till the throne of Israel was itself overthrown, and the children of Israel were car- ried aw^ay into a captivity, from which they have never since been gathered ; and the record, of each of the guilty successors of Jereboam, is summed up, with the em- phatic and often repeated sentence, that "he departed not from the sins of Jereboam, the son of Nebat, who made Israel to sin." And so it is, in a greater or lesser degree, with all sin. It is a contagion spreading itself and transmitting itself. Many see it, and know it, and are thereby tempted and corrupted. .. . > ^ The influence, which men have and exercise upon the moral and religious condition of others, for good or for evil, appears most striking when we witness the exemplifica- tion of it in men gifted with lofty powers, and placed per- haps in circumstances giving full scope to the exercise of these powers. But it is an influence of precisely the same kind which men of humbler powers exercise, and for the exercise of which they are equally responsible. Nor can any man shake off this responsibility. It is not allowed to any man to say : ** Am I my brother's keeper ? " as if he Iiijlucncc up m others for Good or Evil, 1 <»!■ had iK.tliiiig to do with the question, of the moral wcll- bciiij; of others. God has not bound us so loosely totjethcr, that we can tluis isolate ourselves from other men. M.m lives not to himself alone. He lives so as to affect and influence others also, and he is bound to see to it, that such influence be ^ood, good in the intention with which it is exercised, wise in the manner, and as far as in him lies, good, too, in the result which is produced. We have spoken generally of the influence of a man's life and conversation, be that good or evil, on the moral well-being and principles of others, and the responsibility wliich the possession of such influence involves. It may be wise, however, to consider the amount of influence which may be exercised, the amount of good or of evil which may bo done, not by the general tenor of a whole life, but by such parts of a man's life and conduct, as include only a very small portion of the time allotted him in the world. It was but a small fragment, so to speak, of the moral and spiritual history of David, which was to work with such happy efficacy on the souls of m<:n, leading them to wor- ship God, and to trust in Him. And it may equally be, where an evil influence is exerted, the doings or the sayings, not of months or years, but of idle hours and unguarded moments, which prove pernicious. It is important and awakening to consider the effects — the extent of the con- sequence in men's minds — which may be and which often are produced by witnessing, not a life-long exercise, but somewhat, of good or evil in another. An act of genuine benevolence may thus prove to others a stimulus to unnumbered manifestations of the same temper. An act of self-denying virtue may strengthen in innumerable bosoms the spirit to resist temptation. A word spoken in season, and on the side of reason or religion, may operate to con- firm the faith, and render stable the principles of many who were almost beginning to waver. While, on the other hand, a rash expression of infidel or ungodly sentiment, L ]G2 Iiijlucncc upon others for Good u.' Evil. or an act of moral weakness and inconsistency, may serve to unsettle the principles and ^\\'q loose to the passions of those, who hear the one or who witness the other, to an extent which he who utters the one, or is guilty of the other, takes not at all into account. I put the matter in this way, because it serves to shew the responsibility which attaches to every portion of our conduct, and how we can never shake ourselves free from the restraints of principle and prudence, in a well founded, apprehension that no mischief shall be done— mischief by us irreparable — in tempting or defiling the consiences of our brethren. This responsibility, our Lord has emphatically expressed, when He said : " Every idle word that men shall speak, they shall give account thereof in the day of judgment." And the view of this responsibility is in a very high degree impresssive and awakening — impressive and awaken ing, even to such as are comparatively little moved by other considerations. It is true, that a man who is immoral and ungodly, impenitent and unbelieving, sins against his own soul. He puts in peril his highest interests for time and for eternity. But sometimes, he can less be moved by the con- sideration of his own guilt and danger, than by the con- sideration of the guilt and danger in which, by his ungodli- ness and unbelief, he is a means of involving others — it may be others that are near and dear to him. It should be indeed a bitter reflection to any man, that he has proved, and is proving, by preceptor example, a means of misleading and corrupting others, and making them choose and travel in the way that leadeth to destruction. Every heart responds to the sentiment so strongly expressed by our Lord. " Woe unto the world because of offences ! for it must need be that offences come ; but woe to that man by whom the offence comcth. It were better that a millstone were hanged about his neck, and that he were drowned in the depth of the sea." And let not any one lightly dismiss from his mind tne Injiucnce upon others for Good or EviL 163 thought that he may be one by whom the offence has come. We may offend another, in the Scriptural sense of the term, by directly soliciting him to sin, directly soliciting him to forsake what appears to him the path of duty, and to act in some point in opposition to the dictates of conscience ; or we may do so, by instilling into him erroneous and wicked principles ; but it is quite possible, as we have seen, to become, to use the expression of St. Paul, " partakers of other men's sins " indirectly, by the force of our example, by the influence of the station in which we are placed, lending it to the side of what is vicious or dangerous ; by tacitly conniving at faults, which we are bound to reprove and to testify against ; or by withholding that necessary instruction, which, from the relation we bear to others, we are bound to give them. Is there no one here self-condemned when this view of the matter is pressed upon his conscience ? Are all here free from that co apting, or strengthening and increasing the moral corruption of others, which is necessary to the indulgence of licentious passion ? Are all here free from the guHt of having initiated others into habits of profligate indulgence, and encouraged them to get the better of those scruples of conscience, by which they have long continued to be annoyed and restrained ? Has no one here helped to do away the reverence which another had been taught in his native land and in his father's household, to entertain for the duties of the Sab- bath and the sanctuary ? Is there no one here, who by sneers or taunts, at any conscientious scruple in another, has sought to weaken the power of conscience in that other, and to make him ashamed of doing what he thinks right ? Is there no one here, who has encouraged another m the excesses of intemperance, or taught or encouraged another to utter a convenient falsehood, when the truth would not have suited for the moment ? It is for each to press these, and such questions, on his own conscience, for his trial in this matter, and for bringing him to repentance if he be therein guilty. 164 Influence npoti others for Gocd or Evil. It is the good and happy influence, however, which one man may exercise on other men, which the text specially calls us to contemplate, the influence which one man's testimony to the power, and reality, and blessedness of true religion, has to bring others to fear God and to trust in Him. This is an influence as delightful, as the other is grievous to contemplate. We tremble at the inextricable closeness of the bonds by which men are knit together, when ^ve think of the sins of each encouraging others to sin ; but it is delightful to think of the same union when the result is to communicate, from soul to soul, the sentinient of piety and the power of principle. If there be a doom pro- nounced on those by whom offences come, it is also said of those, who turn many to righteousness, " that they shall shine as the stars in the firmament for ever and ever." Are we then, the question rises, are we in the condition to bear this testimony to religion, a testimony in substance the same with that of David, when the new song was put into his mouth, even praise unto our God ; to bear it from our own experience, from our own deep convictions, to bear it openly and honestly ; to bear it not in words only, but by deeds giving the uncontrovertible stamp of a holy life to the sincerity of a religious profession ? The experience of David, as recorded in this psalm, while it foreshadows the subsequent experience of a greater than David, even of Him who was David's Lord as well as David's son, is but an example of the ordinary experience of a true believer. The horrible pit and the miry clay represent to us the condition of a sinner, convinced of sin and the danger of sin, and seeing no way of deliverance, and find- ing no footing on which he can hope to stand in the judgment ; all the delusive notions which the evil heart suggests, and which pass current in the world, vanishing away before the new light, the light of divine truth, which has dawned upon his mind. David's cry, and his patient waiting for the Lord, suggest the resource, to which the Influence upon others for Good or Evil, 105 awakened soul is constrained to betake itself. The setting of his feet upon a rock and establishing his goings, indi- cate the courage and confidence of the believer, when, by- faith, he sees and receives Christ as all his salvation and all his desire. And the new song is the glad expres- sion of holy gratitude, which a sense of God's grace and mercy calls forth in every believing soul. Has such awakening been vouchsafed to us ? Has such light from heaven dawned on our spirits ? Have such prayers to heaven ascended from our hearts ? Has Christ been so revealed to us ? Have we had the new song, bursting from our hearts and lips, even praise unto our God, because of the great salvation ? If we are strangers to all this, how shall we hope, not fearing or trusting in God ourselves, to be able to bring others to do so. If of this wc are conscious, then surely our very experi- ence should animate, as it will also enable us to lead others to the same merciful God and Saviour, who has so abundantly blessed us. It is not meant that the moral regeneration of any soul should terminate with that soul. The principle of life and love is to spread and be com- municated from heart to heart, till the desire of the Lord be finally accomplished ; till the people whom God hath chosen be all redeemed out of the enemy's hand ; and Christ hath presented them to Himself, " a glorious Church, not having spot, or wrinkle, or any such thing." XIV. CALLING EVIL GOOD AND GOOD EVIL. Isaiah v. 20. JVce viito tleni that call evil good, and good e7'il ', that pit darkness for light, and light for darkness ; that fut bitter for siceet, aicd sxcett for litter. Among the natural endowments of mankind, next to the gift of reason and understanding, is that of speech. The latter gift indeed, if it does not give its chief value to the former, does at least unspeakably enhance the impor- tance of it. This 't does, both by extending the range of thought in individual minds, and the power of thought over the general mind. Even the highest intellect would not be able to proceed far in processes of reasoning on any subject, without the use of words. Words serve as signs of thought, and fix and concentrate thought, and preserve it in a way the mind can most easily grasp and remember ; and when reproducing thought which had passed through the mind, again to be considered or dealt with, they do so in a way more orderly, and by which the mind loses less of the fruit of its former exertions than could otherwise be accomplished. Thus they enable individual minds to make advances otherwise impossible in the appre- hension of truth, and in the apprehension of the relations of one truth to another. And then how inconsiderable would be the advance, which any one mind, even if it were of the highest order, could make in any of the mani- fold subjects of thought to which the human mind applies itself, if it could not compare the results of its exertions, with those of other minds like itself? Or how could the race advance, if in successive ages, each individual mind had to begin at the same starting point, instead of at that which had been attained and communicated by previous think- ers ? But while speech is of this paramount importance to the Calling Evil Good and Good Evil. 1C7 general or individual exercise of thought, it is nevertheless to be remembered that it is not without certain disadvan- tages. Words help the mind in thinking ; but often they play strange tricks with the mind, either serving it instead of thought, or leading it very far astray from sound and just conclusions. Nor is it difficult to see how this may be. A word is not always the representation of one simple thought or idea. Often it represents a cluster, so to speak, of associated thoughts or notions. And, if in the outset of any process of reasoning, the mind fails to take in all these, or having taken them in, in the progress of such reasoning, drops out some of them, the conclusions though verbally, will not be really correct, or just. The mind, towards the end, has been thinking of something different from what it thought of at the beginning, though, because of the continued use of the same word or words, it is uncon- scious of the change. So it is in reasonings between one man and another. Nothing is more common, than for the one to attach to certain words a meaning which the other docs not — a meaning more perfect or less perfect — at all events different ; and so they come to no agreement, and marvel each, at the want of logical discernment in the other, because they are all the while thinking of different things, at least of things not quite the same, but blind to the fact, because they are making use of the same words. It is thus, that w^hile words do greatly help thinkers, they do also some- times hinder them, and prove occasions of many unsound conclusions and of much needless and unprofitable debate. It would not be entirely out of place here to enlarge on this power to hinder in the investigation and attainment of truth ; or in the consequent need there is, of watching words, and making sure, what we and others mean by those we use, since words wrongly used or understood may lead to wrong conclusions, in regard of religious, as well as of any other truth. But such is not the subject to which I wish now to call your attention, at least not wholly 16.R Calling Evil Good and Good Evil. nor strictly — that being not so much the power of words to lead astray logically, in the apprehension of truth, as their power to lead astray morally, in the apprehension of duty. This is what the prophet suggests to our considera- tion in the text. He speaks in it, of those who "call good evil, and evil good ; " and on all such, he pronounces * woe ; ' evidently intending to represent such misuse and misapplication of words, as criminal and dangerous, and tending to confound moral distinctions, both in the appre- hension and practice of men. Observe accurately what that is, of which the prophet speaks. It is a use of words. It is calling good evil, and evil good. Now this may, or it may not, imply the, at the same time, thinking the evil good, or the good evil. There are persons in whose apprehension moral distinctions are to a greater or less extent confounded. Under the influ- encc of education, of long habit, of sinful passions, or of sophistical reasonings and speculations occurring to them- selves or suggested by others, they mentally apprehend evil for good, or good for evil. The moral sense or faculty in man is not such, that it cannot be thus deadened or perverted. It often is. It was so among the heathen of ancient times ; it is so among the heathen of our own day. And it is so among those in Christian coun- tries, who remain ignorant and inapprehensive of Chris- tian truth. Hence the need of divine revelation to the heathen. Hence the need of instruction in the truths of revelation to those who might know them, but do not. One proper designation of the Gospel is ' light.' It casts light on duties, which the mind had not previously ap- prehended to be such. It exposes, in their true character sins which the mind had not previously apprehended to be such. In all countries in which this divine light has shone, the standard of duty generally acknowledged, is raised vastly above what it had heretofore been. In every heart into which this divine light has penetrated, there is an Calling Evil Good and Good Evil. 169 apprehension of duty, deeper, clearer, and more extensive than that which generally prevails. Much that the world counts good, it apprehends to be evil. And somewhat of that the world counts evil, it apprehends to be good. The correspondence of our own moral convictions, come to under Christian influences, with the plain statements of Scripture, is what gives the highest certainty, as to what is truly good and truly evil, in a moral point of view. It is natural to suppose and easy to shew, that innu- merable and grievously evil consequences arise from mis- takes on this matter — thinking evil good, or good evil. Take the former of these — thinking evil good. You have an example of this, in the case of persecution for conscience sake, constraining a man by violence to adopt another's views of religion or his mode of worship, or punishing him in person or property, if he will not. What, in one view of it, can be more absurd and unreasonable — as if any man's thoughts and feelings could be so constrained ? What, in another view of it, can be a more atrociously evil and wicked violation of the rights of individual consciences ? Yet it has always been more or less practised. And men, imprison- ing and murdering their fellow men, because holding different views of religion from themselves, have thought themselves right, judged the intolerable evil of persecution good, and counted that thereby they were doing God service. Our Saviour warned his disciples that the time was coming, when whosoever killed them would think that he was doing God service. They would be persecuted and put to death, not by men acting in opposition to con- science, but acting in obedience to a conscience perverted and misled. And so it came to pass. The Church was first persecuted. Then it began itself to persecute ; and who can recount or imagine the cruelties and the horrors which have proceeded from this mistaken sense of duty ? Or, take the latter statement of the text — thinking good evil. You have an example of this, in the notions which 170 Calling Evil Good and Good Evil. the ancient Church early took up, and to which the great body of those nominally Christian do still adhere, of the intrinsically superior holiness of the state of celibacy. It could were not be more clear or certain, if it were written on the heavens above us, by the finger of God, and lo be read every hour of every day by all his creatures, that such was not the state which God intended for man gener- ally. How could anything be more disastrous, than to set a stigma on the virtues and charities which grow out of the conjugal and parental relation, as was done by a mistaken, though no doubt, conscientious morality. The results of persecution are more patent, but not less evil. In later times, we have been accustomed to think, as connected with this mistaken notion, of the evils of monastic institu- tions for male or female. What then, if great as these have been and are, such institutions themselves were a re- form — and an important one — on the practices which grew out of the Church's counting God's good ordinance evil, or if not exactly evil, yet so much less good, as to be, in the common apprehension, a proof, in those who submitted to it, of inferior principle. This single false notion tended to and went far to produce a general laxity of morals, and in particular to lower that very purity, which it was sup- posed to exait. Sound views of Christianity have, to a great extent, at least amongst Protestant nations, extir- pated these special mistakes in regard of moral duty. But there may be, nay we cannot doubt but there are others, under which the general mind of the Church still labours, and which only a more correct understanding of Scripture, and a more earnest and enlightened application of Divine truth to matters of duty, will ultimately do away. And it is a great service which a man renders, who by such correct understanding and earnest and enlightened application, makes plain to the general mind, and causes to take hold of the general conscience, a duty before unknown or neglected, or who Calling Evil Good and Good Evil, 171 clears away the conscience of evil, from doing what is in itself ri^ht and good. The Reformation did this on a great scale ; and there is room for it still — room for en- larging and correcting the general views of duty, according to Scripture rule and Scripture principle. Such more perfect accuracy of moral apprehension is at least a step to improvement in moral practice, and to the averting of those evils, which follow as the natural consequence under the government of God, from the general acquies- cence in mistaken views of right and wrong — the morally good and the morally evil. But while there are who misunderstand duty, and are chargeable with no insincerity, but on the contrary speak, as they really do think and judge, while yet calling what is really evil good, and what is really good evil, the text seems specially to point to another class of persons — those, namely, whu without any such mental misapprehension, knowing, if not so well as they should do or might do, yet knowing very well, the distinction betvveen good and evil, vice and virtue, right and wrong, do nevertheless, in conversation and intercourse with their fellows, presume to alter in words, the distinction which they at heart acknow- ledge, and "to call evil good and good evil ; to put dark- ness for light and light for darkness ; to put bitter for sweet and sweet for bitter." It is, as I think, a sin of the tongue, which the prophet condemns, not a mental mis- apprehension of things in morals, but a knowingly and intentionally misnaming them — naming them, not accord- ing to their true nature, or even according to their appre- hended nature, but the reverse. There is evil intended in doing this, by him or them who do it first. There is evil in following in the wake of those who do it. And there is evil accomplished by the doing of it first or last. There is in so misnaming good and evil respectively, a disposition to corrupt, by confounding men's views of right and wrong ; to lead them from the practice of duty, and to the 172 Calling Evil Good and Good Evil, practice of sin ; and too often the corruption is accomplish- ed. False views are taken up first, and evil practice follows next, by those who habitually hear such misnaming of good and evil. In the text, the prophet seems to speak of a complete reversing of moral distinctions — people calling good evil, and evil good, without limit or reservation in what they said. And so it may have been in his day ; and so it was, we can readiiy suppose, in respect of the worship of Jehovah, and the worship of idols. ]kit in matters of the morally right and tlie morally wrong, where the decalogue is well known, and the authority of the Cliristian exposi- tion of the decalogue is professedly at least acknowledged, men do not just venture to reverse the ordinary designa- tions, and in so many words to say, that obedience to what the moral law given in the Bible commands, is ' evil,' or doing what the moral law given in the Bible forbids, is 'good.' That would be going too far. It would probably shock themselves. It woulc' certainly shock their neigh- bours hearing them do it. It would not answer the purpose either of comforting themselves in evil, or corrupting their neighbours to evil ; and while the thing to be done is in substance the same, it has to be done, in a more covert and less offensive way. The word ' evil ' must not be directly applied to what is 'good,' but some other word or words, which answer the same purpose, lowering it, condemning it, ridiculing it, all tending to loosen the con- viction that it is, or can be, of any serious consequence, whether it be or be not disregarded — all tending to do away any conviction that it is of binding obligation. The word 'good' must not be directly applied to what is 'evil,' but some other word or words, tending as much as possible to diminish its evil, or the guilt of committing it ; making it appear a light thing, nay going farther than this, and making it out to be what a man would rather be guilty of than not. It is the intention of such words, so applied, Calling Evil Good and Good Evil, 173 to lower in men's minds the excellence and the obliteration of what is good ; to lower in men's minds the aj)pichen- sion of the demerit and guilt of what is evil. And use of words, in such ways, covertly yet really calling good evil, and evil good, has the effect contemplated ; ami they, who without direct intention to produce such effect, do yet in thoughtless levity lend themselves to such use of words, contribute to produce the effect and fall with others more criminal, under the sentence spoken by tlie prophet in the text : " Woe unto them that call evil good, and good evil ; that put darkness for light, and light for darkness ; that put bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter." I suppose one might go over the commandments and find in respect of each of them, some of this depreciation of good and softening of the guilt and enormity of evil, in the current language of society. Chiselling and jobbing stand in the new and comfortable vocabulary of the world, for cheating, stealing, plundering. Indulging a little, social habits, taking a drop too much, stand for the low besetting vice of drunkenness. The fast, the gay, are the soft terms for the licentious ; those whom the Bible calls "whoremongers and adulterers, whom God will judge." When a man is about to lead a woman into immediate guilt and degradation and ultimate shame and misery, it i' taking her under his protection. To get into debt to tradesmen, without means to pay, is to be a little extravagant; instead of to be a selfish, unprincipled scoundrel, as if a man should not break stones on the road, live on bread and water, and beg them, if they cannot be otherwise honestly obtained, rather than incur debts which he has no prospect or means of paying. And so in respect of other vices. The hard word which expresses the plain truth, as both human and divine law view it, is set aside for one which expresses more sympathy with the offender, and less condemnation of the offence. And the effect is just this : I do not think so ill of the sin ; do not 174 Callins; Evil Good and Good Evil. ' that I sin not with my tongue. I will keep my mouth with a bridle while the wicked is before me." Heart sin is our own sin. Kept there it stops with ourselves. But sins of the tongue affect others, disturb or corrupt others. And no sin is greater than to lower a man's standard of good, and lessen his apprehension of the guilt and evil of disobedience to God's plain law, as is done by giving smooth names to mortal sins. The prevalence of such a smooth phraseology of evil is token of the prevalence of a lax morality, and tends to make it laxer still. It comes of evil and produces evil. Every good man should set his face against it, and all should keep habitually in mind 'le Prophet's words — nay they are God's words — in the text : " Woe unto them that call evil good, and good evil ; that put darkness for light, and light for darknesi ; " that put bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter. XV. THE DANGER OF RELAPSE INTO SIN. ^ St. Matthew XII. 43-44-45. WAen th: unclean spirit is gone out of a man, he ivalketh through dry places, seeking rest, and findeth none. Then he saith, I xuill return into my house from ivhence I came out ; and when he is come, he findeth it empty, swept and garnished. Then goeth he, and iaketh with himself seven other spirits more wicked than himself, and they enter in and dwell there; and the last state of that man ts worse than the first. There can be no doubt that the doctrine of the influence of evil spirits is taught in the New Testament ; and the fact of such influence being exerted against us should be a motive to watchfulness, and to prayer for the promised aid of a higher, even a divine, influence to be employed in our behalf. But I would not choose to refer to the passage before us, as having been intended to explain the nature of that influence, or the manner of thinking and acting among evil spirits. For, for anything I know, our Lord may in that passage be only adapting the style of his instruc- tions to the notions that were commonly entertained by the Jews, in respect of such spiritual beings. And it may be. He is to be understood as speaking, not literally, but parabolically. At all events, it is not speculative notions about spiritual beings, that we are concerned to gather from the passage, but the sentiment of it — the moral lesson which it is intended to convey, for the guidance and regu- lation of our conduct. And that is what I desire now to seek and to set before you. That we may come to a knowledge of this, let us take the passage literally. There is an evil spirit dwelling in a man ; so dwelling in him that he counts the man his house, his home. But he goes out or he is driven out. In some way be is dispossessed of this house or home. Restless and dis- satisfied, he purposes to return. And when he does return, 180 The Danger of Relapse into Sin. he finds the man ready for the reception of such a visi- tant. Yea, and in such a state, that thart evil spirit sees that more such visitants might find room and accommoda- tion , and so in the exercise of the diabolic temper, which rejoices in extending the reign of sin and misery, he goeth and taketh with him seven other spirits more wicked than himself, and they enter in and dwell there, and the last state of that miserable man is worse than the first. He is in more abject bondage to sin and Satan than he was before the evil spirit first left him. Now surely, keeping strictly to the phraseology of the text, we are not to suppose that in every instance in which an evil spirit goes out of a man, or is driven out of a man, this is a description of what follows. If that were so, the going out of evil spirits at our Lord's word, from these poor afflicted persons who ex- perienced His grace and power, when He was upon the earth, was no blessing, but rather the reverse of a blessing; and instead of thereby overthrowing Satan's kingdom, He was preparing the way for the extension of that kingdom. Plainly the passage could never be intended to convey that idea. But, as plainly it does teach, that sometimes that does happen which it describes ; that sometimes such result is produced. There are circumstances in which such result, doleful and disastrous, may be expected. And what we are concerned to know is : What are those circumstan- ces ? Does the text give us any key to the knowledge of those circumstances ? But take the passage not literally, as we have done now, but as having been spoken parabolically, figuratively, in accommodation to Jewish notions and Jewish opinions. Then it might be thus understood. An evil passion that has dwelt so long in a man's heart, ind that has been yielded to and indulged so much, that it has acquired the force and power of habit, is, by some influence brought to bear upon the man, made to give way and resign its old place and power in the heart. There is the sin of it. There is The Danger of Relapse into Sin. 181 the shame of it. There is the misery of it. There is the danger of it. And the thought of one or all of these so weigh with the man, that he feels constrained to seek to expel it from within him. And to all appearance it is expelled from the heart where it has dwelt and ruled so long. But by and by it returns, that evil passion which had seemed to be forever banished. By and by it revives, that evil passion which had seemed to be dead and buried. The old habit resumes its old ascendency. Yea, and conscience and all its auxiliaries in a man's reason, reflection, and experience, are so wearied, and weakened, and exhausted, and overborne in the unavail- ing effort which they have made, that evil passions spring up in the heart other than had been known before, and the last state of the sinner is worse than the first. He is tenfold more the slave of sin, than he was before the tem- porary freedom which he hoped to enjoy, from the evil passion that had first had rule over him. Now surely it is not thus that the mortifying of an evil passion, the expelling of it from the heart, the throwing off the chains of a sinful habit, does always terminate. That would be contrary to truth and to experience, inconsistent with both the precepts and the promises of God's word. But the text teaches this most certainly, that so it does some- times terminate. Such is sometimes the miserable result of moral effort, and moral effort follov/ed with some mea- sure of success. And in so teaching, it stands opposed neither to truth nor to experience. There are circum- stances in which such result, sad and deplorable as it is, may be expected. And as before, so now we say again, what we are concerned to know is, what are these circum- stances ? Does the text give us any key to the know- ledge of these circumstances ? I have just said that such result does sometimes follow. In teaching that it does, the passage before us stands not in opposition either to truth or to experience. I 182 The Danger of Relapse into Sin. appeal to yourselves if such is not the case. Who has not seen cases of such result ? A man begins to fight with some indwelling and besetting iniquity. And for a time he does so manfully. Conscience moves him to do so, conscience roused by providential dispensations or by the preaching of the word; and it seems as if the man were changed, and as if the shackles of his bondage had fallen from off him. The old enemy seems to be out of him ; the evil spirit ousted from the circle of the heart's sympathies, and desires and affections, to be away, as the text has it, in the dry desert, seeking rest and finding none. When lo, there is re-action. There is a resurrection of the old sin. There is the introduction of new sins. Conscience loses its temporary supremacy, and is weaker now than it was at the first. It happens to the sinner, according to the true proverb ; " The dog is turned to his vomit again ; and the sow that was washed to her wallowing in the mire." Cases of this nature all of you must have observed, who are capable of observation. Aye, and some of you. in your own persons, may have had experience of all that has been said, and be able to testify from such experience to the deplorable termination of a repentance and reformation, that once gave fair, but flattering and deceitful promise, of a new heart and a better life. Assuredly, there is no denying the truth of the teaching in the text, when that is understood to declare, not what is always, but what is sometimes, perhaps often the case. And again the ques- tion recurs, what makes it the case, and how is such result to be avoided ? I say how is such result to be avoided ? Assuredly it is only the result, that we should desire to be avoided. The b^inning is every way to be wished for. One is glad and should be glad always, to see an unclean spirit going out of a man, a proud spirit, a greedy spirit, a sensual spirit, a lying, cheating, defrauding spirit, an envious, malignant, revenge- ful spirit, an irreligious, worldly, unbelieving spirit. Who The Danger of Relapse into Sin, 183 would forbid a min striving with devils such as these an. I seeking to cast them out ? Who would not wish him God- speed in the conflict, and hope well of him if the conflict seemed to terminate successfully ? Assuredly the begin- ning of any good work, any work of God in the soul, must be the expulsion of such devilish tempers and dispositions. In a sense higher and more extensive, than as applying only to the Ordinance of the Supper, men cannot drink of the cup of the Lord and the cup of devils ; they cannot be partakers of the Lord's table, and of the table of devils. " What fellowship hath righteousness with un- righteousness ? and what communion hath light wi»:h dark- ness ? and what concord hath Christ with Belial ?" Truly it is a joyful sight to see a man wrestling with sin, his sin, his special sin — the unclean spirit that hath found its house and home within him — and dismissing it to the dry places of the desert. But as it is said : " Let not him who gird- eth on his harness boast himself as he that putteth it off; " so let us not think of him who but begins to fight, as if he had won the victor's crown. The battle may terminate in a disgraceful overthrow and a bitterer bondage. The fairest promise of goodness may pass away like the morn- ing cloud and the early dew. But how to avoid this ? The danger of it is very great. The unclean spirit does not like the dry places of the desert. It wandc's about there seeking rest and finding none. It has a vivid recollection of the house it has left. It would fain return, fain have its home again i.'. the man's nature, and have its hold again over his motives, and feelings, and principles of action. In other words the evil passion in a man is not extinguished, extirpated, dead. The flame of it can be fanned again into life. It is easily restored to activity and to supremacy ; and its victory over the conscience makes conscience easier overcome of temptation, weaker and less powerful to resist the seductions of evil. How then to escape falling 18-4 The Danger of Relapse into Sin. into a worse, instead of risingj to a better condition I How to liave the door of tlie heart sliut against its old occupant, and the evil company it brings with it ! How while prom- ising myself liberty, to escape becoming the servant of corruption ! How having thrown off the yoke of a sin- ful bondage, to escape being entangled therein again, so that the latter end shall be worse than the beginning ! Does the Saviour in the text give any intimation, where the danger lies and how it may be avoided ? I know not that He dots ; unless it be in that place where He teaches us how the unclean spirit, when he returned from the desert, found the house which he had left. It was empty, swept and garnished. There was no ^ occupant ; there was none to dispute his entrance ; there was none having prior possession, and prepared to fight to retain the possession. The citadel of the heart was with- out a garrison. It was swept and garnished, fitted by nature for a garrison ; but there was none in it. And so the enemy had but to walk in and sit down. Now to express this plainly, it is simply to say that no feeling, no principle, no affection, had taken the place in the heart, of the evil passion which had been for the time expelled. The heart was empty ; it was swept and garnished, fitted and furnished by its natural constitution and appurtenances, to have some ruling affection. It needed such ruling affec- tion ; it craved it, it could not do without it, and rather than be without it, it took back the old affection that had been tried, condemned and banished. Now this is a sound view of our nature, and points to the manner by which the return of the unclean spirit — a relapse into evil — may be prevented ; without which, such return and relapse are unavoidable. It does not signify what the ruling passion in a man has been or is ; you can never be sure of displacing it effectually and permanently, except by the introduction of another. One spirit may go out ol a man, but it can The Danger of Relapse into Sin. 185 only be kept out, by another taking its place. Take drunk- enness, for example — the devil of drunkenness. That is an unclean spirit, if any be such, and there are ten thou- sand ar^Tuments of force and weight, why that devil should be expelled. But are you sure of its expulsion by setting forth such arguments alone ; or, if they prove strong enough to make a man abstain for a time, are you sure of his permanent reformation, unless some other taste take place of that which is surrendered — taste for intellectual occu- pation, for social converse, for the pursuit of wealth, or for the principle and the exercises of devotion ? Leave him without such taste, strong in him as that he has forsworn, and it would be utterly unsafe to trust him with the means of indulgence, or in circumstances of temptation. Say to a man, who has the passion for intoxicating liquors in him, say to him simply, Thou shalt not drink ; and although the command be backed and enforced by the most stringent and powerful motive?, it will not effect a reformation with- out the introduction of a new taste. For a season it may ; but if the unclean spirit returns and finds not its place occupied, so that admission cannot be gained, it will have a firmer hold than ever. Who has not seen a drunkard rush back again, after some temporary reformation, with fresh zeal and eagerness, into the indulgence of his degrad- ing passion, becoming more a slave to it and to the evil which it brings along with it, than he had been before ? There is frequent experience in mankind of one passion or principle displacing, and permanently displacing, another which had once, and for a long season too, had ascendency in the heart. You see this happen with passions or prin- ciples which are both evil in themselves. You shall see a base love of sensual enjoyment, that has reigned for years in a man, succeeded by as base, if not a baser, meaner, more sordid avarice. Or you see the pursuit of pleasure surrendered for the pursuits of ambition, both followed perhaps with little regard to the claims of duty or of con- 186 The Danger of Relapse into Sin, science. There is often a happy change in such displacing of one passion by another ; that introduced, if not religious, if not moral, according to any high standard, yet being less inconsistent, more congenial with religion and morals, and standing less in the way of a greater and more favor- able change. The spirit that comes in is, if not good, at least less evil and unclean than that which goes out. It may however be the reverse, and an evil passion be succeed- ed by one worse, more powerful and less easily dislodged. But what we are concerned to notice now, is how it is that any one is dislodged effectually. It is not by mere force of will or of authority, so to speak. It is not by a simple action of ejectment that you are to clear the tenement of the heart of its objectionable occupant. Keep the house empty, and the tenant will return ; you must put another tenant into it, who will keep possession against all intruders. This principle Is but of late beginning to be practically re- cognized, in the schemes that are formed for raising and Im- proving the condition of mankind. In former days, legisla- tors and statesmen contented themselves with the prohibi- tion and the punishment of vice and crime. Then punish- ment was the only means thought of, or at least extensively employed, to work on a man, to expel and keep out any un- clean spirit, to resist and subdue any evil passion. Now it is felt that it will not do to leave the house empty, when such occupant is removed. Both to expel and to keep expelled, there must be other occupants provided. By moral and educational means, other and higher tastes must be intro- duced — tastes inconsistent with the old and evil ones. And this principle should be regarded, not only in the case of crimes, which society is constrained to punish, but in the case of frivolities and follies, which religion according to any high standard condemns. It is easy to denounce the evil passions that are roused by gambling. It is easy to denounce the immorality that seems to be almost insepara- bly connected with theatrical entertainments. It is easy to The Danger of Relapse into Sin. 187 denounce the extravagance and vanity of the ball " am But to supplant these, no mere prohibition will do ; no mere demonstration of either their silliness or their sinful- ness. You must give people something better. You must put in them tastes for something better. You must raise, the standard of excellence, and infuse capacities and pro- vide opportunities, for other and higher enjoyment. A man will not be won upon to give up his present enjoy- ment, unless you provide him another. He may under certain influences do so for a time, but the unclean spirit will return, and more potent and more formidable than before, bringing with it seven spirits worse than itself. Now it is always on this principle that Christianity pro- ceeds. It is never satisfied with a mere forbidding of evil, the mere ousting, under the action of fear or of any motive whatever, of an unclean spirit. It enjoins, it implants, it imposes positive good. It does not put the virtues it re- quires, in the form even of the decalogue — Thou shalt not kill — Thou shalt not steal- -Thou shalt not covet. It puts it positively : Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart. Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself. It never calculates for a moment on the heart being empty. If the love of sin goes out, the love of God comes in. If the love of the world is expelled, the love of a higher and better world is introduced. It furnishes what the affer^^ions may lay hold of, and attach themselves to, and work upon as vigorously as ever. If, when the unclean spirit goes out, the spirit of Christ comes in. He can keep good the house against its old tenant. Only when the house is empty can the evil spirit return, bringing seven worse and wickeder spirits than himself to dwell there. Take the case of a real conversion, the case of St. Paul. With all the honesty and conscientiousness to which he testified, as having always belonged to him, there were in him, who owned himself afterwards to have been a blas- phemer, a persecutor and injurious, unclean spirits more 188 The Dafigcr of Relapse into Sin. than one. There was the devil of Pharisaic pride and bigotry, the devil of intolerance, the devil of persecuting cruelty, setting him on a journey from Jerusalem to Da- mascus to harass and molest those, who agreed not with him and with his cct. When these evil spirits were expelled, as there shone around him a light from heaven, above the brightness of the sun, and he heard the remonstrance of the glorified Saviour, " Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou me?" was his heart left empty and unoccupied ? Was he thence- forth in a state o{ philosophic indifference, abstracted frcm anything in which the heart took interest, negatively good ? No. In any man such state may not be counted on long. In that fiery nature it could not exist at all. The love of Christ took the place of those evil spirits that were sent to the dry places of the desert. And it became a passion. The whole soul was filled with it. And there was no room for the old occupants in that always noble, now humble and holy heart. They might wander in dry places for ever. There there was access for them never more. And so it must be with thee, O man, who desirest to have some evil spirit go out of thee, and stay out of thee. It is not enough, in nowise is it enough, that thou dost put forth thine utmost strength for its expulsion. Reason, conscience, and God's word, commanding and threat- ening, all enjoin thee so to do. Thou mayest seem to be successful ; yea, thou mayest succeed for a time. But if thou art content with the expulsion of an enemy, it will prove only a seeming and temporary success. Thou must introduce a friend. Thou must not leave thy heart empty. Thou must seek to have Christ live in thee by his Spirit. Thou must have the new affection to take the place of the old ; the love of Christ, as it was in Paul, taking the place of the love of thy sin whatever it was ; the desire to please Him taking the place of the desire to indulge it. Other- wise the old affection will revive in new strength. And conscience, beaten in the struggle, will present a less The Danger of Relapse into Sin. 189 formidable barrier to the introduction of new evils. Thy temporary escape from the domination of an evil pas- sion will but place thee more at the mercy of it. and of others like it. That is no real, abiding or effectual change, in which the love of Christ takes not possession of the soul. Could such a change be permanent, it would not suffice for thy soul's present or future happiness. For whoso loveth not Christ is Anathema, Maranatha. But it will not even be permanent, such as it is, but lead rather to a state worse than the first. Look high then, and seek for high things^ thou who art struggling with sin. Seek not only to be free from sin, but to become the servant of God. Seek not only to have the evil spirit expelled, but to have instead the indwelling of the good Spirit of God. And there is one thing more which may be said. If not founded on what is taught in the passage before us, it is founded certainly on other Scriptures and on the lessons of experience. Hitherto I have dwelt on this, that to keep out an unclean spirit, we must have the heart occupied by a better spirit. The house must not be empty. Now I add, the new occupant must not be idle. The good affection must not be dormant. It must be active. It must have play and scope and gather size and strength by exercise, so as to fill the soul. It is the neglect of this, which often renders the preaching of God's word and other means of grace, so little effectual. Under some of these means, a good affection is excited in the heart, a movement at least towards the love of God or the love of man, say the latter of these two. A man says, and feels as he says it within himself: "The charity of the Gospel is a noble virtue, and that is no religion which fails to in- spire it ; and he is a noble being who acts under the influence of it ; and earth would almost become a para- dise again, if all were actuated by a principle so high and pure. Would that it were in me. Surely I do feel some- thing of it. And I will, more that ever I have done here- tofore, act upon it. I will not henceforth be so selfish and 190 The Danger of Relapse into Sin. selfseeking, so taken up with what concerns my own im- mediate interests, so indifferent to the condition and the interests of others. I will do seme good. How can I be a follower of Christ, unless I make it a business to do good. It was His great business in the world. Surely it should be mine too, if I would count or call myself a disciple of His." Such thoughts have passed through some of our minds I have no doubt. And for a little, it might seem as if the old spirit were not only gone out, but a new one come in, to take its place and guard against its future intru- sion. But the new spirit is not al'owed to work. And if it has not exercise it will die, and the house of the heart be euipty again, swept and garnished for the reception of its old occupant and seven others worse and more wicked. Say that this day week, some one, not become insensible to noble motives, not insensible to the duties enjoined in the Gospel and the high motives which it urges to the performance of them, had some such thoughts, formed some such purposes, as those I have expressed ; and that now he were called to account, or called himself to account for the week's performance of the Sabbath's promise. What if all he could say was : *' I have all the wc ek sought as usual my own comfort. I have looked after and enjoyed my ordinary pleasures. I have minded my ordinary busi- ness. I have taken care that nobody wronged me. I have taken such measures as I could for future gain. But I can- not say I have sought to do good to anybody. I have re- lieved no one in distress. I have comforted no one in sor- row. I have encouraged no one in difficulty. I have taken no interest in any benevolent enterprise. I have exerted myself in no good work. I have simply in a variety of forms been minding myself." What sentiment of benev- olence could stand this? Alas, the unclean spirit of selfish- ness has prevailed over it. It had a momentary admission -, into the heart ; but the stronger principle resisted action, i; and smothered it. Be assured, a man cannot be truly benevolent and not act out his benevolence ; any more than the heart can be empty of some occupants good or bad. xvr. DO MEN GROW BETTER AS THEY GROW OLDER. Psalm xcii. 13, 14, 15. Those that be planted in the house of the Lord shall flourish in the courts of our God. They shall still bring forth fruit in old age ; they shall be fat and flourishing; to shew that the Lord is upright: he is my rock and there is no unrighteousness in him. Occasionally, one hears a remark in common conver- sation, which though passed over at the time, remains in the mind and forms subject for much future and serious reflection ; and one such remark, coming from a man of sense, observation, and large experience of the world, impressed me not a little some short while ago. It was to this effect : " I am not of those who think men get better as they get older." And the question has often occurred to me since, is this really the case ? Is it the case, not universally, that of course it is not, but is it the case gene- rally ? Is it the case so much as to make it the rule, instead of the exception, or the rule with comparatively few excep- tions ? Nor was it easy to think seriously of such a remark, without giving a more immediately personal direc- tion to the consideration of it, as I hope each of you may be inclined to follow me in doing, and saying " Is it the case with myself ? " Take the remark as true, and it is the saddest possible view which can be taken of human life. The advance of age is necessarily accompanied with many mournful remembrancers of human frailty. The spirit and glow and vivid expectation of youth have passed away. The capacity and the relish for the exertions of active manhood are daily diminishing. There are sad blanks in the circle of family and friends. There are the ever increasing signs 192 Do Men groiv Better as they grow Older. and tokens of bodily decay, and nearer and plainer, day by day, appears th*) prospect of departure and dissolution ; all sad enough in themselves, if apart from views and considerations which can sustain and console amidst what- ever in them is fitted to humble and to depress. But let there be added to the manifest and inevitable accompani- ments of age, a growing departure from the acknowledged rule of right, a gradual weakening of moral principle, a decay of religious sensibility, a hardening of the heart against good impressions, a firmer resistance of charitable or holy impulses, a more quiet and tame submission to evil tempers and evil habits ; let in short the man be becoming morally worse instead of better ; what more deplorable subject of contemplation can be presented to the mind, on any view of the future, which includes the contin- ued life and activity of the soul ? For take the view, that the soul on its departure from the body, goes without inter- vening interval, before God its Judge ; take the view, that it is called to account and must without fail enter on a state of retribution ; is it not, in the case supposed, becoming every day less fit to stand the issues of the judgment, less fit to enter on the reckoning to which it is to be brought ; that it is accumulating fresh sins to be visited with a more aggravated condemnation, in the words of the Apostle, " treasuring up to itself wrath against the day of vi^rath, and revelation of the righteous judgment of God ?" Or take the view, that the soul does simply live on, there being in the new region in which it finds its appointed dwelling, no more immediate intervention of a Divine voice to pronounce, or of a Divine hand to execute judg- ment, than there appears now, in the settled order which pervades the universe, the law of Heaven being left to work out in each of the moral creatures of God the destined reward or punishment ; is not such soul becoming daily more a slave to passions, principles, habits, the existence and reign of which, from their very nature and Do Men gron^ Better as they grow Older. 193 according to the constitution of things in which we are placed, must inevitably ensure its future wretchedness. It is not possible, be it observed, to stand still morally ; to keep the same position, in respect of the power and prevalence of moral and religious principle. If that principle is dominant, it does also advance in strength, and becomes more inaccessible to the force of evil influences. If that principle is disregarded, it becomes weaker, and yields more readily to temptation. If men as they are getting older are not also getting better, they are getting worse. And what more deplorable view of mankind can be taken or suggested, than that life, which should give wisdom and has had experience of the vanity of the world and the deceitfulness of sin, brings not amend- ment with it, and presents a spectacle of moral deteriora- tion, rather than of moral improvement. But is it so, or if it is to some extent so, need it be so ? These are matters for us now to enquire a little into. Now, as to its being so, with the mass of men, not taking into con- sideration, for the present, those who are or claim to be specially under the influence of Christian principle, but con- sidering men, as men are generally to be found,with no more Christianity than the world is satisfied that men should have and perhaps requires them to have, there is some- thing to be said on both sides. For suppose one to take the side that men as they grow older grow better, he might point in a multitude of cases to fopperies and follies which had been laid aside ; he might point to ab- stinence from sinful license, which had once been indulged in ; he might point to greater staidness and decorum of be- haviour J he might point to greater regularity in external religious observances ; he might point to activity in enter- prises by which society is benefitted ; and, bidding you compare the settled and respectable member of society with the youth through which he had passed, he would perhaps triumphantly claim that a great moral improve- N 194 Do Men grow Better as they grow Older. ment had been effected. Or suppose one to take the other side, and hold that men do not get better, that they get worse as they get older, he might show how a certain tenderness of conscience, by which the youth had been distinguished, had gradually become blunted ; how the glow of virtuous resolution, which nad once been so often and powerfully felt, had gradually cooled and passed away ; how the heart had become harder ; how the world's evil maxims were in speculation judged less severely, and practically more adopted ; how habits of selfish indulgence had been acquired ; and how the man had sunk down to the level of the prevailing morals of the community, and sought less and less from day to day to rise to that higher standard, to which the lessons and the aspirations of his youth had tended. No doubt, if such statements were made, there would be a certain amount of truth in both of them. That there is the outward and visible improvement which the one exhibits, and on which he founds his conclu- sion, and that in multitudes of cases, is what we all know to be true. And that there is the real depravation which the other exhibits, is what the general conscience, and the general observation, and the general experience, will also testify. To what conclusion then does the argument tend ? Not I apprehend to the favorable view of human nature. For the improvement, in the one case, is more seeming than real, and the deterioration, in the other, is not seeming but real. Suppose, as is no doubt the case in multitudes of persons, the improvement and the falling off to be both exemplified in the same individual, the improve- ment necessarily indicates nothing more than that certain passions are worn out, and that, released from their thraldom, there is a more decorous submission to the proprieties and decencies which the world requires ; while the other involves a falling off in extent and earnestness of virtuous purpose, in the sensitiveness of conscience, and the power of moral principle. The man who judges Do Men grow Better as they groiv Older, 195 favourably looks on the surface of things and is pleased with the fair show which it exhibits. The man who takes the other side judges unfavourably, because he looks deeper into the heart and sees more of its evil and deceitfulness. I fear, that apart from the existence and actual reign of Christian principle in men, the unfavourable view must be taken, even that very sad view which we set out with contemplating. Where Christianity does not reign among us to whom it has been revealed and published, it has been defied. It has been with the knowledge of what it says, what it inculcates, what it promises, that it has been slighted. There has been a conviction of the reason- ableness of its claims, and a resistance of them not the less — conviction often and often felt, but as often resisted and dismissed. And this cannot be done without a moral depravation, a weakening generally of the power of con- science. The result of which is that at a later period of life, a man who has so acted in respect of religious con- victions, will do things, and begin and hold on in courses which at an earlier period of life he would have been in- capable of, and would have resented the imputation of being capable of, with some such feeling as Hazael expressed, when he said : " Is thy servant a dog that he should do this ihing ? " While often the improvement which seems to take place is only the exchange of one evil pas- sion or one evil habit for another ; avarice for example taking the place of sensuality ; an insensate love of money, without reference, or with but little reference to its uses and responsibilities, assuming the lead in the soul instead of the pursuits of pleasu''e or ambition. I desire this day to speak to the consciences of all. And first I desire to speak to the consciences of those who know and acknowledge to themselves that they are not Christians in the true and high sense of the word, having never received the love of the truth into their hearts ; who cannot so impose on themselves as to believe that 196 Do Men grow Better as they grow Older. they arc ; who know very well, that judged by the Christian standard of faith and practice, they are in a state of condemnation ; and who, perhaps for this very reason, ab- stain from making more of a Christian profession than can be avoided. Are there not such here ? Are there not who feel that they are such ? Are there not who are now acknowled[ ing to themselves that they are such ? And if such there are, known or unknown, with them we have to do ; our ministry is to them as well as to others, perhaps specially to them rather than to others. We have to warn them, to exhort them, to entreat them. We have as knowing the terror of the Lord, to persuade them. We have as knowing the tender mercy of our God, to win them to repentance. And now, to such we have to say, how is it your con- sciences testify in regard of the question which has been under consideration ? Do they say, do they allow you to say, that you are nearer to becoming Christians than you were ten or twenty years ago ? Or do they constrain you to acknowledge that you are further from it than ever ; that your hearts are less moved by, and less susceptible of, religious influences ; that like the ungodly Jews, of whom the prophet Zephaniah speaks, you are settled on your lees, and disposed to let the dregs of life be spent, as all the rest of it has been spent, not in the fear or love of God, but in the love and indulgence of self, and self it may be, in its lowest and least worthy form. It is very possible that such may be the sad and desponding testimony of some, and it is very possible, that nothing that any man can say shall be able to effect a change. Nay, it is very certain, that without the grace accompanying the truth of God and giving it power and efficacy, no change will ever take place. And that grace may not be vouchsafed. It may have been so often rejected that it will no more be offered. The Spirit may have been so done despite unto, that it will not again return. And if the human eye could Do Men grow Better as they groiv Older, 197 look on the soul and discern its symptoms, as it can look on and discern the symptoms of the body in its dis- ease and decay, there might be perceived the tokens of spiritual disease which no healing influence shall ever remedy or remove. But such is not the case when the heart is yet agitated with religious emotion ; whiMi con- science is awake and bearing true testimony ; when the truth of God is acting according to its proper nature ; when there is fear of sin, and fear of the wrath of God, and fear of being shut out from His presence ; when there is the desire of God's favour, and an inward conviction that such favour is life and better than life. Then there is token of the Spirit's presence, and His help may be expected. And if there be who are so moved now, let them be entreated to submit to the gracious influence, and inwardly and heart- ily, as soon too as may be, openly and publicly, give them- selves to God and to His service. Let this very day, this very hour, nay, this very moment, be the turning point in their history, the beginning in them of a new life, not to degenerate like the former, but to advance like the dawn of the morning to the resplendence of the perfect day. Would that there were even one so influenced and moved. But why say one, why not say many, why not say all who stand in need of change ? Has the Gospel lost its power ? Is the Spirit of the Lord straitened ? Has judgment no terrors ? Has the love of Christ no efficacy on the sinful soul ? Have His words of tender invitation no force to drav the heavy laden to Him. God of mercy! Rend thy heavens and come down, and work in each and all of us to will and do of Thy good pleasure But hitherto we have been speaking of and to men not claiming to be specially under the power of Christian • principle. Now let us consider, how it is as respects \ progress for good or for evil with thosc^, in whom it may be hoped and believed that there is genuine Christian prin- ciple. I am afraid that even in their case, there might be 198 Do Men groiv Better as they groiv Older, argument as before, and with some show of truth and reason on both sides. For let us suppose one to take the side, that Christians as they grow older, do not grow better ; he could point to the less vivid emotion produced by religious truth, in the aged as compared with the young believer, and the comparative absence of enthusiasm in the work of faith and labour of love, although the work and the labour might not be neglected. He would bid you compare the promise of the first sense and assurance of God's love in the soul, with the ultimate performance, and bid you mark how deplorably short the performance comes. He would point to outbreakings of evil, of which at the first commencement of the spiritual life there were no traces to be found. He would bid you listen to con- fessions of frequent backsliding, and of long intervals in which religious principle seemed to be dormant, if it existed at all in the soul ; confession of sin, confession of shortcoming in obedience to God's law, more full, and more humble, than in the glow of a new sprung devotion, were felt to be called for or thought of, as if they would ever be needed. And he might ask, with some measure of triumph in his argument, however sadly the gist of it might tell against Christian steadfastness and Christian progress. Is it of such it can be said, that their last love is greater than the first ; that they are ever following on to know the Lord ; or that they are like the morning light which shineth more and more unto the perfect day ? And take one again on the other side, who holds of Christian people, that they do get better as they become older, he might point to the greater strength and steadfastness, which by long exercise, moral principle and religious principle have acquired in the aged as compared with the young believer ; he might point to the stability of virtuous habit, as making up, for the diminished vividness of religious emotion and for the warmth of a newly created enthusiasm. He might point to the mellowing influence of Christian Do Men groiv Better as they gnnv Older, 199 principle on the temper ; to sound views on the power of the world to satisfy the wants of the soul and fill up the measure of its aspirations and desires, which are j^radually entertained with more of clearness and consist- ency ; and to the more abundant exercise of that Christian charity "which thinketh no evil, which rejoiceth not in iniquity but rejoiceth in the truth, which beareth all things, believeth all things, hopeth all things." He would account for the growing depth and solemnity of the soul's acknowledgments of sin, by its very progress in the divine life, its growing apprehension of the extent of the duty which God requires, and the increasing sensitiveness of the conscience to what is evil. And he would hold, that even in such confessions, and in the prayers and pains to which they would lead, in the resisting of evil and doing good, there was token of advancement and of growing meetness for a heavenly life. Nor would there be wanting truth in either representation. Undoubtedly the aged Christian comes not up to what in the fervour of his first love he had promised, and there seems a superiority, in the greater warmth and zeal and life of the young believer. But the superiority is more seeming than real. The vivid- ness of emotion is not to be compared in value with the strength of principle and stability of habit, in the old and advanced Christian. It is to lead to, and by exercise to produce, such strength of principle and stability of habit in what is morally true, and lovely, and honourable, and of good report, that the vividness of emotion in regard of religious truth is given. That is its purpose, and when that purpose is served it becomes less necessary. Where true Christian principle is in a man, he docs^ in all that is essential, grow better as he grows older. That principle is like the leaven in the parable. Lodge it in a man, and it gradually but surely subordinates all within him to its influence. It makes him more humble, more thankful to God, more charitable to men. It assimilates 200 Do Men grcnu Better as they grozv Older. his temper, his disposition, his whole life, more and more to the temper and dispositions which prevail in the world above, to which he aspires and to which he is advancing. He is less engrossed with the world. He thinks more of God. He meditates more on the mission work and love of Christ. The Bible is oftener in his hands, and he seeks more to have communion with God in prayer and suppli- cation. Nor is it only with the commandments of the first table of the law that he concerns himself. The law of love to men stands connected with the law of love to God, in his apprehension and in his practice, even as they stand connected in the sum of human duty which is given in the Scripture^. His is the feeling of the Apostle, when he said to the Philippians : " Not as though I had already attained, either were already perfect : but this one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forth unto those things v/hich are before, I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus." Certainly there should be such a state of feeling, such a state of progress. There is no reason why there should not be. All needful help is promised, and there is at all times access to the throne of grace. God is willing to supply the wants of the believer ; and Christ says to each soul that truly seeks His aid, as He did to St. Paul : " My grace is sufficient for thee, my strength is made perfect in weakness." Is there then such state of feeling and of progress amongst those of us who make a Christian profession. Desiring to speak this day to the consciences of all, I do now desire to speak to the consciences of such. I would put them on enquiry whether or not they are thus affected, thus advancing in the divine life ; and I would have them to question, and to doubt, the reality of a principle of Christian life in them at all, if it is not so influencing them. What is, or can be, that Christianity worth, which does not make a man better, better in regard of duty both to God 4 Do Men groiv Better as they grow Older. 201 and man ? What can that Christianity be worth which lets a man grow worse, less spiritual, less holy, less heavenly- minded, as he is drawing nearer to the grave and the judg- ment ? Must not the Christianity which is to take a man to heaven inspire into him heavenly tempers and disposi- tions ? And must it not so inspire him the more as he is advancing nearer to heaven ? Hear what David said of old in the text : " Those that be planted in the house of the Lord shall flourish In the Courts of our God. They shall still bring forth fruit in old age ; they shall be fat and flourishing ; to shew that the Lord is upright : he is my rock, and there is no unrighteousness in Him." " That is," says Matthew Henry in his commentary, First, " They shall grow. Where God gives grace He will give more grace. Second, They shall flourish in the credit of their profession, and in the joy of their own souls. Third, They shall be fruit- ful, bringing forth the instances of a lively devotion, and useful conversation by which God is glorified and others edified. The last days of the saints are sometimes their best days ; their last work their best work, and all because, of God's promise, whom all who trust in find faithful and all-sufiicient." In conclusion, while urging self-examination, I would say, See that it be self-examination, not examination of others, whether they are becoming better or not, bringing forth fruit or not. It is a device of the devil to make people search into the character of others, when they should be scrutinizing their own. Let not any one say. Is my neighbour becoming better or becoming worse, as he becomes older ? but let each say, giving to the whole of this discussion the practical and personal direction which was suggested at the outset. Am I becoming better or worse myself? This is what each is concerned to know, and no idle speculation about others should turn away his attention, in this respect, from his own case. Happy they, whose abiding sense of God's love and animating hope 202 Do Men grow Better as they grow Older. of future glory is ever urging and ever enni-'inj: ^: iiave their life and conversation as becometh th^- Go^ . j1, making the enquiry easy whether they be in Chr'^'- and Christ in them ; warranting the appeal from each, " Lord thou know- est all things, thou knowest that I love thee," and the posi- tive declaration, "O Lord, truly I am thy servant; I am thy servant: thou hast loosed my bonds." Yea, and happy they too, who having learned the truth concerning themselves, though it be sad truth and mortifying truth, are moved thereby, in penitence and faith, to betake themselves to Him, who hath said of His people, " I will heal their backsliding, I will love them freely." .■M . * .! y XVII. COMPARATIVE DANGER OF POVERTY AND RICHES. Philippians IV, 12. I knnv both how to be abased, and I know how to abound: everywhere, and in all things, I am instructed both to be full and to be hungry^ both to abound and to suffer need. It is a bold declaration which the Apostle makes in the text, and there are few indeed who durst venture to make it, with the same confidence. " I know, I am prepared," such is the import of the declaration, " I know, I am pre- pared to act and feel aright, in either extreme, in which the allotments of Providence may place me, in affluence, or in poverty." From any ordinary person, we would be inclined to receive a speech like this with some degree of doubt and distrust. It implies so much ; it involves so great a proficiency in Christian virtue. It lays claims to so much both of moral discernment and of stable princi- ple. From St. Paul however, we may receive it without hesitation, as expressing not merely his own conviction, but the actual truth. And that, not only, because in speak- ing of himself, as well as when he speaks of other persons or of other things, he speaks under the immediate guidance of the Spirit of God, but also from the terms which he uses in regard of this high Christian attainment, and from which it appears, that he laid no claim to personal merit on account of it. Whatever of wisdom it implied, he ascribed to the teaching of God. Whatever of moral strength or steadfastness it implied, he ascribed to the grace of Christ. " I have learned," he says " in whatsoever state I am therewith to be cor ' cpt. I have been instructed both to be full and to be hungry. I can do all things, through 204 Comparative Danger of Poverty and Riches. Christ which strcngtheneth me." And moreover, the vi- cissitudes of St. Paul's life had put his Christian principles to the test, and had enabled him to speak of them from actual experience of their power. It is, however, to the attainment itself that I would now call your attention, not to the evidence there is that St. Paul had reached it. Consider again, I beseech you, how great is that attainment — knowledge and strength both to judge and act aright, to judge and to act according to the high and holy principles of the Gospel, either in the state of prosperity, or of adversity, in affluence, or in poverty. In either of those states, and arising out of the peculiarities of them, there are powerful adversaries to the exercise and the reign of right principle in the soul. In either state, there are formidable obstacles to entering in at the strait gate, and travelling in the narrow way which leadeth unto life. In either state, there are tempta- tions, powerful in too many cases, to blind men to the path of duty, to lead them aside from that path, even when they know it, and to render them indifferent about returning to it and persevering in it. So many are those adversaries, so formidable those obstacles, so strong and numerous those temptations, that it is difficult to tell which state is the more dangerous of the two. In the book of Proverbs, there has been a prayer recorded, which expresses equal apprehension of both. " Give me neither poverty nor riches ; feed me with food convenient for me : Lest I be full and deny thee, and say. Who is the Lord ? or lest I be poor and steal, and take the name of my God in vain." And truly, though strong things are oftener said in the Scriptures, and especially by our Lord himself, concerning the danger of riches, than concerning the danger of poverty, to right and holy principle, this does probably arise, less from the greater danger of riches, than from the greater inclination of men to expose them- selves to that danger, rendering admonition and remon- Comparative Danger of Poverty and RicJics. 205 strance in regard of it more necessary. Experience puts them, very much as Agur's prayer puts them, on a level. Yet, through the grace of Christ, was the Apostle able in both states to comport himself as a Christian man ; in each of them maintaining an even and contented mind, and a pure and heavenly conversation. " I know," he says, " I know both how to be abased, and I know how to abound : everywhere, and in all things, I am instructed both to abound and to suffer need." Now, I wish to speak to you for a little of these two kinds of danger — danger arising from two different conditions, in one or other of which we are or we may, by the dispen- sations of Providence, be placed. Think however, a little before we go further, of the two states themselves from which the danger arises, danger to the existence and the vigorous exercise of holy principle. These we call the state of poverty, and the state of riches, rightly enough, scripturally enough. They are so called in Agur's prayer which I have already quoted to you. But we must take care while we use right words, and scriptural words, that we attach to them right and scriptural ideas — the ideas, which in the Scriptures they are used to express. Poverty and riches are words having with different persons very different significations. The man who is accounted poor by one class is accounted rich by another. I daresay there are many of us who have no idea of calling or accounting ourselves rich, to whom nevertheless, there are multitudes looking up, as to rich people. And others, I doubt not, from the possession of an amount of wealth, which falls but to the lot of few, are looking down on some as poor, who do not by any means class or consider them- selves among the poor. But the point is not what a man thinks of his own worldly circumstances, or what another thinks of them. The point of importance — in considering Scripture declarations concerning the rich and the poor, is to whom the Scriptures themselves apply these epithets, 20G Comparative Danger of Poverty and Riches. and who are to apply to themselves individually, the admonitions and warnings, which are addressed in the Scriptures to each of those classes. Now, I apprehend that the state of poverty, according to Scripture views of it, is described in the text. The expressions of the Apostle define and describe it — " to be abased, to be hungry, to suffer need." It is not the state of the labourer or the mechanic, who by his industry and exertion, is able to procure for himself and for those depending on him, the food and clothing and shelter which are necessary for the wants of the body. That is no state of abasement. That is a state of honorable exertion. That is the state in which God has so ordered it, that the great proportion of mankind must ever be. That is the state which the Son of God dignified and ennobled, by living in it Himself, during the greater portion of that time in which He dwelt upon the earth. Neither is the state of poverty, according to Scripture views of it, the state of men who are pinched and wretched, because they have not wherewith to obtain for themselves this or that luxury, this or that expensive indulgence of the lust of the ey^, the lust of the flesh, or the pride of life, which they have set their hearts on, or to which they have become accus- tomed from the habits of society in which they move. The Apostle's words 'need' and 'hunger* point expressly to things of absolute necessity — the food which nourishes the body, the raiment that clothes it, the house that shelters it from the elements ; the things in short that are necessaryto prolonged life, activity and usefulness. He is poor, in the Scripture sense and in the Apostle's sense, and in the sense implying imminent danger to holy prin- ciple and to a holy life, who has not these, or who has them not to the extent that is necessary ; who is unable by his own independent exertions to obtain them ; who is constrained to look to others for support, and 'abased to seek it at their hands, or else be in daily * need ' of all Comparative Danger of Poverty and Riches, 207 that is required for the comfort, and of almost all that is required, for the very preservation and life of the body. This is the state of poverty to be dreaded as dangerous, almost if not altogether as dangerous to a right state of mind \\\ regard of religion, as the state of riches. This is the state in which multitudes are placed, partly of necessity, arising out of the arrangements of that artificial state of society in which we live, often no doubt in consequence of direct and unavoidable dispensations of the Divine Provi- dence, and oftener still, in consequence of their own vice and misconduct. This is the state of which St. Paul could say, after frequent and personal experience of it, that he was prepared for it, and knew how to guide and govern him- self in it, according to the dictates of Christian principle. Then again as to the state of riches, the Apostle's words do I think give the key to that also, — what it is, which according to the Scriptures, we are to understand by it. He speaks of 'abounding,' and ' being full ; ' of abun- dance and fulness, in contradistinction, to ' being hungry,' and ' suffering need,' abundance and fulness therefore, in regard of things necessary for the body. Such abundance and fulness both in regard of the real necessaries of life, and in regard of thefeelittg of wealth, because of the ample possession of these, may exist and do exist, amidst ten thousand varying degrees of worldly possessions. They may and they do exist in all the various grades, into which society is divided. We are not to look for ' the rich ' those, that is, to whom the term as used in the Scrip- tures applies, to the highest classes of society only, or to individuals in possession of large pecuniary means. We are to look to this abundance, this fulness, wherever it exists, and in whomsoever it exists. The state of riches is not therefore so uncommon as many would have it to be ; nor are the warnings and admonitions of the Scrip- tures, in regard of that state, so limited in the range of their application as some would have theoi. It is the 208 Comparative Danger of Poverty and Riches. simple and natural idea of riches which the Scriptures contemplate, not the special and factitious idea, that may be attached to the term, in an artificial state of society or by a grasping, and ambitious and covetous temper of mind. The state of hunger and of fulness, the state of need and of abundance, these are what the Apostle places in contrast ; these are the states of danger to holy principle — danger of different kinds, yet equally perhaps to be dread- ed ; these are the states in which it requires so much of the grace of God, and so much advancement in the divine life, to be able to say with the Apostle, " I know both how to be abased, and I know how to abound ; every- where and in all things, I am instructed both to be full and to be hungry, both to abound and to suffer need." But what, it may be said, what is there in the state of poverty, even such as you define it, which is so very adverse to holy principle, and which renders the vigorous exercise of such principle in that state, so signal a proof of the divine grace in the soul. It is a grievous state no doubt. It is a painful state. It is a state, of sad privations. It is a state calling for commiseration and for aid. But where- in is it a state of danger, such as you represent it to be ? Any one may find an answer to this question, who will make himself personally familiar with the condition and the privations of the poor, in the sense in which we now understand the word. Let him look, with his own eyes, on whole families crowded together in one room, amidst the squalor and the riot of which there can neither be bodily comfort nor mental quiet. Let him note the gradual degradation of intellect and feeling, which inces- sant and grinding poverty tends almost inevitably to produce ; and how the appetites and instincts of nature, plead with a voice that can hardly be resisted, that the nearest way be taken for their indulgence. Let him consider whether it can be easy to keep fast hold, either of moral principle or religious trulli, amidst the Comparative Danger of Poverty and Riches. 209 cries and pains of a family perishing with cold and hunger, and only subsisting on a scanty and precarious charity. Is there not temptation in such circumstances, to resort to the easily spoken falsehood which a careless world requires, in order to be induced to part with some of that superfluous abundance which the miserable petitioner stands so much in need of? Is there not temptation to put forth an unobserved hand to the unlawful attainment of what is so little to its possessor, and would be so much to him who is in want ? Is there not temptation to obtain through means of an intoxication, which ultimately aggra- vates the ever pressing evils under which the poor sufferer is groaning, a temporary forgetfulness of those evils ? Is it possible almost in such circumstances, to be devoted to the duties and exercises of prayer, and meditation, and reading of God's word, which are essential to the life and vigour of religious principle in the soul ? Will not hard thoughts too readily suggest themselves of God him- self, and his eternal Providence ? Who would not pray to be preserved, if it were God's will, from so fierce and fiery a trial, as religious faith and moral principle are subjected to in such a state ? Who does not feel, that in such cir- cumstances to keep by the holy principles and the holy practice of the Christian, to cleave to the word and ordi- nances of God, to live by faith, to keep a conscience void of offence towards God and man, to walk at once humbly, and holily, and trustfully, and submissively with God, is really, and should be considered, a manifestation of principle as strong and of grace as abundant, as ever appeared in the martyrs or confessors of primitive times ? In such circumstances too, when religious principle does not exist, it is a hard and difficult enterprise on which he is set, whose work is to inculcate and to implant it. There is difficulty in getting even a hearing for what he has to say, and still more for that patient consideration of the truth, without which it can neither be apprehended 210 Comparative Danger of Poverty and Riehes. by the mind nor produce any impression on the heart. Assuredly, even in the state which we have described, religion has unspeakable consolations to impart ; and in all reason it should be regarded and its consolations sought after. But, oh, is there not in the state itself, its privations and temptations, acling along with the ungodli- ness that is natural to all human hearts, a most grievous and almost insuperable, nay, except by God's special grace, an insuperable obstacle, to its being so regarded, or to the experience of its power and prcciousness ? Why do we say these things ? Why do we bring them before you ? It is in the first place, that they may give us a lesson of thankfulness — thankfulness to God, who has placed us in more favorable circumstanv.cs, who has not called us to the endurance of such grievous trial of principle as the state we have described implies ; but, feeding us with food convenient for us,is giving us opportunity to serve Him with gladness of heart, and to occupy ourselves with the consideration of that precious truth, which when received with the obedience of faith sanctifies and saves the soul. It is in the second place, that they may give us a lesson of compassion, deep and tender compassion, for those who are in a state so wretched ; all the more wretched, and the more calling for commiseration, if it is by their own guilt and folly they have fallen into it. For such guilt and folly furnish new elements, and these the greatest, both of present misery and of danger for the future. It is in the third place.that they may suggest to us a lesson of charity, — charity in judging and charity in acting ; charity in judging, not harshly to reckon up the vices of the wretched poor, their falsehood, their intemperance, their dishonesty, their disregard of things sacred, without taking into account the grievous temptations to all these, to which they are subject ; not to think of ourselves as beings of a different make or mould, because having never suffered under their temptations, we have never fallen into their Comparative Danger of Poverty and Riches. 211 sins ; and charity in acting, not merely to pity such cases, and to give an immediate benefaction, but, as we have opportunity, to endeavour to bring people out of circum- stances so unhappy and dangerous, rather than merely to keep them alive in them ; to use every means to incline and enable them by independent exertion, to rise to a safer state, as well as a more comfortable and more honour- able, — safer as respects society, and safer as respects them- selves, their moral principles, their religious faith, their eternal salvation. In this respect, he who regards only the economical well-being of society, and he who looks only to the moral reform of society, as for example its deliver- ance from the vice of intemperance, and he, who with Chris- tian wisdom, zeal, and love, contemplates in addition to both and as unspeakably transcending both, the good, in the highest sense, of immortal souls, — their being redeemed to God and restored to his favour, and renewed after his image — should all act together ; each endeavouring to improve the temporal condition of the poor, and to place them in some measure beyond the reach of temptations, which prove so fatal, and which with any knowledge of ourselves, or of human nature generally, we cannot reason- ably wonder, prove so fatal, as being so far the most rational way, to procure the attainment of the ends which they have severally in view. Finally, we bring forward those things as suggesting a lesson of prudence, — prudence, to those whose state is such, that by a little less of industry, a little yielding to indolence, or to intemperance, they would speedily fall into it. Surely it should put them to exertion, and self-restraint, and self-denial, to consider not only the physical misery, but also the moral and spiritual danger, danger not respecting time only but also eternity, to which they would so expose themselves, and those con- nected with and dear to them. It is, we uphold it, as sacredly binding a duty on a man, to avoid such circum- stances by all fair and honourable means, as it is to act 212 Comparative Danger of Poverty and Riches. rightly in them, when they cannot be avoided. There is a divine command to the Christian, to enter not into tempt- ation, as well as to resist it when it comes ; yea, and we may extend the lesson of prudence farther, making it have respect to spiritual as well as temporal provision, and applying it to all. No man is sure of continued prosperity. Riches take to themselves wings and flee away. We daily witness and hear of remarkable vicissitudes in the history and fortunes of individuals. We have more than once seen in our own city, how thousands may rise in comfort, and in the enjoyment of abundance in the morning, and before night be in destitution and misery. Is it not then the dictate of Christian wisdom, since we are so weak in ourselves, and the tenure so uncertain by which all we have here is held, to seek the establishment within our souls of that holy principle, which alone can stand and enable us to stand, such changes as may be in store for us, and so to be built up in the faith of Christ, and so to be partakers of the consolations of Christ, that we should be able to say with the Apostle in the text, " I know both how to be abased, and I know how to abound : every where and in all things, I am instructed both to be full and to be hungry, both to abound and to suffer need." I have dwelt so long on the dangers of the one state, that I can but shortly advert for the present to those of the other — the state of fulness, the state of abundance. These however are obvious enough. There is the danger of overweening pride, there is the danger of being engross- ed and satisfied with worldly things, the danger of ceasing to look beyond them for happiness, the danger of idolizing them and thinking that because they can do much, they can do all which man stands in need to have done for him ; the danger of setting the heart on them, the danger of ever increasing desire after a larger share of them, the danger of the total occupation of the mind about them — this latter is perhaps the greatest of all — the entire devotion Comparative Danger of Poverty ami Riches. 213 of all mental energies to the sole object of increasing or enjoying wealth. And it is remarkable how near akin it is to the greatest danger of the state of need. In the one case, the spirit is incessantly occupied with making provision for the necessities of life. In the other, the spirit is incessantly occupied with making provision for worldly gratification, either after a quiot and regular, or a more gay and extravagant fashion. In both, God is exclu- ded from the mind. There is not time or inclination to think of Him, or to allow the thought of Him to influence the affections. The result spiritually is the same, the same in the habits of ungodliness which it produces, the same in the misery to which such ungodliness must of necessity lead. It is because of the danger of such result, it was because of the strength of the temptations to the disposi- tion and the conduct which lead to such result, that our Saviour has so solemnly said that it is easier for a camel to pass through a needle's eye than for a rich man to enter into the kingdom of God. And how shall this danger be met, be avoided, be counteracted ? by prayer ? by reading the Word of God ? by waiting on religious ordinances ? by the exercises of devotion to which Christians are called ? I tell you, not by any or by all of these together, while keeping fast hold of the earthly mammon and refusing to share it with others who are in need ; while willing to lay it out only on ourselves or on the members of our family, whom we count but as a part of ourselves ; while willing to spend it only in luxurious feasts, or costly furniture, or extravagant dress, or else accumulating it, for we know not whom, who shall do with it we know not what. While holding it fast, no one of those religious exercises, nor all of them together, will disarm it of its power to ensnare and ruin us. We must part with it, when occasion requires to do good with it, or we must perish with it. I remember an old and excellent minister of the Church of Scotland, long gone 214 Comparative Danger of Poverty and Riches. to his account, and I trust to his reward, telling me of his having been once consulted by an old, and in his situation in life a wealthy man, wlio deplored his own growing spirit of greed and worldliness, and wished to know how it might be repressed or removed ; and of his having admonished him to counteract that spirit, as he valued his eternal salvation,and always and especially hy giving. It is by such giving, not merely with intention to do good, or with a vague hope that good will be done, but of course also with as much as possible of Christian wisdom, so that good shall not only be intended to be done but be really done, that we can, according to the admonition of our Lord " make to ourselves friends of the mammon of unright- eousness." It is only while willing and ready, according to the admonition of St. Paul, to do good, to distribute, to communicate, that the religious exercises which I have mentioned, can prove enlightening to the mind or sanctify- ing to the heart. There is a connection established by God and declared by Christ himself, between a right use of the good gifts of God's providence, and our receiving the higher and better gift of the Divine grace. " If ye have not been faithful," said our Lord, " in the unrighteous mammon, who will commit to your trust the true riches ? And if yc have not been faithful in that which is another's, who shall give you that which is your own ? " I have referred to the Saviour's admonition : " Make to your- selves friends of the mammon of unrighteousness ; " and I have indicated how the admonition is to be obeyed. It would be easy to tell, how you could most surely and effectually make foes of the same mammon. Keep it, cleave to it, hoard it up, refuse it to the widow and father- less. Part with it for no cause, in which either the glory of God or the good of man is concerned. Part with it only, or almost only, for the indulgenceof your own selves. Never part with it when you can decently keep it, decent- ly in the eye of the world, except for the gratification of Comparative Danger of Poverty and Riches. 215 pride, vanity, sensuality. And then in either case, so spending it or so keeping it, you may be assured, it shall prove your bitterest foe, and in the language of St. James the Apostle, "eat your flesh as if it were fire." These remarks, it behoves each of us to apply to himself and to his own case. It is an old and common error to apply the lessons of the pulpit, not to ourselves but to our neighbours who may be sitting round us, and specially is it so, when the giving of money is concerned. Then it is, such a one might and should give with liberality — not I should give with liberality myself. It would be an easy matter indeed to proceed with any public or charitable enterprise, had people the right to fix the amount of liberality with which others were to give, instead of the amount of liberality with which they were to give them- selves. There would be no difficulty then, either in building churches or in maintaining the poor. I entreat you^ to leave ofi" the wholly unprofitable employment of thus judging for others. I call you to the work in hand, the work of judging, according to Christian principle and Christian feeling for yourselves, ever bearing in mind that it is by wise schemes and generous giving to relieve and raise the condition of the poor, that the special spiritual danger of riches can be most effectually overcome. '.r-^-ii !-i . J . • XVIII. THE IMMUTABILITY OF THE DIVINE WORD. Isaiah xl., 6, 7, 8. The voice said, Cry. And he said, what shall I cry? All flesh is grass, and all the goodliness thereof is as the /lower of the f eld : The grass wither- eth, the flower fadeth; because the Spirit of the Lord bloiveth upon it : surely the people is grass. The grass withereth, the flower fadeth : but the word of our God shall stand for ever. It is not to the frailty of man, so affectingly set forth in these words of the Prophet that I desire in the first instance to call your attention, but rather to the immutable and enduring word, which is here put in contrast with that frailty. And here let it be observed, in what sense I take the expression, "word of God." I understand by it an expression of the will of God. It is probable that the Prophet in using it had some special, and as it would seem, gracious expression of the divine will in view. And it is certain that the Apostle Peter, quoting in his first Epistle the language of the Prophet, applies it to the Gospel. " This," says he, " is the word which by the Gospel is preached unto you." But the text holds true in the general as well as in the restricted sense, with reference to every expression of the divine will, as well as to any special expression of that will. The word of God is a law, and a law, which for the time He wills it to continue in operation, nothing can alter, nothing modify, nothing supersede or turn aside. Heaven and earth may pass away. But the word of God cannot pass away. It must stand. It must prove faithful. It must have a sure and infallible efficacy. So it appears to us all, in regard of those natural laws which God has impressed on the material universe. The Immutability of the Divine Word. 217 It is from "a word of God," an expression of his will, that all these laws take their origin and have their efficacy ; such a word as God spoke in the beginning, when He said, '* Let there be light, and there was light." It is because the word of our God doth stand for ever, that these laws are all so stable and immutable. Therefore it is, that in all that concerns this world in which we dwell, we are able to calculate with such unfailing certainty, on the per- manence of that order which has been established, and on the production of like results by like causes. Therefore it is, that in the immensity of space, the glorious orbs of heaven move with a regularity which nothing can hinder nor disturb. So we find it written in the devodt acknow- ledgment of the Psalmist : " For ever, O Lord, thy word is settled in heaven. Thy faithfulness is unto all genera- tions : Thou hast established the earth, and it abideth. They continue this day according to thine ordinances : for all are thy servants." There can be no possible doubt, of the beneficent design of all these laws, to which a " word of God " has given being, and efficacy, and permanence. The general result of them, in so far as we are capable of knowing and judging of it, is greatly beneficial. And there is abundant reason to believe, that if our knowledge of their operation and their results were more extensive and perfect, we should have our convictions confirmed and deepened of their benevolent purpose and their beneficial tendency. Yet it is to be observed, the direct and immediate operation of them is not always what we should call beneficial. Often that operation leads to consequences the most painful and agonizing. It is according to established laws, laws estab- lished by a " word of God," that the touch or the breath of a fever patient communicates disease and death to others, to others, it may be, who are kindly ministering to his bodily or spiritual wants. It is according to establish- ed laws, that the mountain side, loosened from the place 218 The Immutability of the Divine Word, which it has occupied for ages, overwhehns in its resistless course the families which have been living in peaceful security below. It is according to established laws, that the fierce element of fire proves so often, in regard both of man's property and life, so terrible a destroyer. It is according to established laws, that the winds and waves have so many victims, and that so many gallant and loving hearts sleep in the depths of the ocean. In the sweeping operation of these general laws, individjal suffering, is as it were, disregarded. Young and old, rich and poor, the gentle and loving as well as the selfish and hard-hearted, those who are beginning a career of useful- ness and activity, as well as ♦•^ose who have run that course, the son and stay of a .dowed mother, as well as the man who stands alone in the world without any to cleave to him or to depend on him, all suffer alike under the operation of the natural laws which God has estab- lished. These having their force and efficacy in the " word of God which standeth for ever " are in no wise affected in their operation by the calamity falling upon such, or on others through them. It is while witnessing such calam- ities in the case of others, or while suffering under them ourselves, we receive perhaps the deepest impression of the enduring and immutable nature of the word of God, and of the laws which it expresses, and th' utter weak- ness also, and inefficiency of man's will or wishes, when brought into opposition to them. Truly in such seasons of mourning and misery, the frailty of man stands in con- trast, as in the text, with the immutable counsel of God ; the weakness of man, with the resistless potency of those laws which God has established. And though in different circumstances from those of the Prophet, and with a far different application from that which he made, there natu- rally rises to our lips the same solemn acknowledgment which the text contains : " All flesh is grass, and all the goodliness thereof as the flower of the field. The grass The Immutability of the Divine Word. 219 withcreth, the flower fadeth ; but the word of our God shall stand for ever." We make one good use of the impression, often the very strong and solemnizing impression, which in such cir- cumstances we receive of the unswerving operation of these physical laws, according to which, as standing in the word of God, the universe is governed, when we transfer the impression so received, to the nature and operation of those moral laws, which are equally of divine appointment, and which, we are expressly taught, are as unchangeable in their nature and efficacy. These laws, in as far as we are at present concerned to consider them, are of two kinds ; the one relating to the ruin caused by sin, the other relating to the method of recovery from that ruin. In reference to each of these, equally as in reference to any physical law, it behoves us to take into account the say- ing of the text, that "the word of God shall stand for ever." We have in Scripture and in experience abundant demonstration of this as respects the first of these classes of moral laws, those, namely, which relate to the conse- quences of sin. A word of God connected sin and death. " In the day thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die." The great deceiver endeavored early to instil doubts into the minds of our first parents, as to whether such a constitution of things did really exist. " Ye shall not," said he, "ye shall not surely die." But who can entertain such doubts now ? Has not that word of God stood — stood unrevoked, through the long ages of the world's history ? And is it not still standing ? Who can form any adequate idea of the amount of pain and suffering pro- duced under this constitution of things ? Yet has any contemplation of the consequences, or any experience of the consequences that follow in the working of it, availed to set it aside ? Is it not the truth which the Apostle has stated to us in his Epistle to the Romans : " By one 220 The Immutability of the Divine Word. man sin entered into the world, and death by sin ; and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned." From age to age that saying has been verified : "The soul that sinneth, it shall die." And every instance of death that presents itself to us, in whatever form it may appear, is fresh proof, not only of the first part of our text, that " all flesh is grass, and all the goodliness thereof as the flower of the field," but of the latter part of it too, " that the word of our God shall stand for ever." It is thus with all the moral laws of the divine govern- ment. They have an abiding force and efficacy, which no one can ever hope to escape or to elude. That which the word of God connects with shame and misery does ever stand so connected. The sufl'ering, which is the result of such appointment, stands not at all in the way of its steady, unvarying, unflinching execution. And what we see, and know, and feel of this immutable action of the word of God, should lead us confidently to expect the same immutability in regard to all that is to come. If there be a word of God connecting future misery with impeni- tence and unbelief; what is there in all our experience of the working of the divine laws, what in all our expe»"ience of the stability of the divine determinations, to encourage the hope, far less to warrant the conviction, that such word shall be altered or repealed ? Certainly it is not the purpose, the ultimate purpose, of the word or of the will of God to produce sufl'ering. Nay, it is the very reverse. It is its purpose to prevent sufl'ering ; to prevent it to the greatest extent that it is possible to prevent it. Yet is not that word or will to be turned aside, because leading to sufl'ering ? So it may be with the purposes of man, who is as grass, and his goodliness as the flower of the field ; but so it is not, with the purposes of God who changeth not. The physical laws which He has appointed act with unvarying regularity. So do the laws of his moral administration. In either case we must conform The Ivnnutability of the Divine Word, 221 to them, or suffer by them. If we voluntarily, or invol- untarily, come into collision with the former, if we place ourselves in opposition to the latter, wv, must yield, not thy ; we must suffer, not they be in aught infringed. In regard of both, it holds alike true, that " the word of our God shall stand for ever." ' ' How vain then for us to disobey a law of God, and to go on from day to day in such disobedience, and yet to expect, that in our particular case the sanctions of that law shall not take effect. How vain for us, in defiance of all we see and experience of the rigid determinations of the divine will, to expect an interference in our behalf, that shall in our case separate sin from its ordinary conse- quences, and give to us the indulgence and practice of the one, without the ruin and misery of the other. We may speak of the mercy of God. And true it is the tongue of man or angel cannot enough commend the mercy of God, nor can any one measure its length, and breadth, and height and depth. But His is a mercy which is manifested in the establishment of laws, not in the disregard of them ; in the original nature and steadfast execution of these laws, not in the occasionally setting them aside for the answer- ing of a temporary purpose, or to prevent an incidental evil. Often it might seem to the apprehensions of men a befitting time and occasion, for the exercise of such mercy as should set aside the physical laws which God has established, when the operation of such laws is carrying desolation and distress into unnumbered families, or hurrying souls without warning into eternity. But to the mind of God it seems not so ; and neither, though to man's limited and imperfect apprehension, it might appear befitting that the divine mercy should interfere to prevent the established consequences of a moral law, when that law carried into execution is producing suffering — neither in that case, does God so judge. In neither case are the counsels of heaven so flexible to the wishes of man. In 222 The Immutability of the Divine Word. regard of both it holds true, ** the word of our God doth stand for ever." But there is a word of God which has gone forth, not merely in regard of the ruin which follows sin, but in regard of the method of recovery from that ruin ; and to that word, as to every other of the expressed determina- tions of God, there attaches the same character of un- changeable faithfulness. Every declared provision of the Gospel of the grace of God has the force and efficacy of law. It stands for ever. It may be trusted implicitly, and the believing soul may calculate, with as entire an assu- rance, on the connection between faith, true faith in Jesus, and the enjoyment of eternal life and glory, as it can calculate on the stable order of the universe. There is a comparison between such order, and the unfailing faith- fulness of the promises of God to his people, in the prophecies of Jeremiah. And very impressive indeed are the terms of the comparison. " Thus saith the Lord ; if ye can break my covenant of the day, and my covenant of the night, and that there should not be day and night in their season, then may also my covenant be broken with David my servant." The promises of God in his word are thus represented as standing on the same footing with his cove- of the day and the night, his divine appointment that is, that there shall be day and night in their season. They are put on a level with the physical laws, of the stability of which we have such unvarying experience. They have the same regularity and efficacy. They are words of God, and partaking not at all of the frailty and mutability of man, who is grass and all his goodliness as the flower of the field, they stand for ever. And, how precious are those words of God which have this immutable force and efficacy. They tell of the blood of a great sacrifice which purges away the sin of every believing soul. They tell of a Saviour whose power and love extend to the guiltiest that will come to The Immutability of the Divine Word. 223 him. They tell of a new and living way that has been opened up for sinners, even to the holiest of all. They tell of a fountain opened for sin and uncleanness, in which all may wash and be clean. They tell of that water of life of which whosoever will may take freely. They tell of a connection which no power in earth or hell can dis- turb, between penitence and peace, the faith of Christ working by love, and the life everlasting. They tell of mercy to the sinner, not according to the vague and un- authorized fancies of men speaking as they affect, in which to repose any confidence is to build a house upon the sand, but flowing to the sinner in an appointed channel, according to an appointed and divinely devised plan, and that plan fixed and unchangeable as the ordinances of heaven. Surely, if we stand in awe, as it is natural and reasonable we should, while contemplating the irresistible action and efiicacy of the physical laws by which the universe is governed, and the still more terrible operation and result, either now appearing or revealed to our faith as hereafter to appear, of the moral laws of the divine government, well may we take comfort and rejoice with exceeding joy, in those gracious revela- tions of the Gospel, which have a like stability, which stand also among the unrepealed statutes of heaven, and can never pass away. Well may we rejoice in the decla- ration of the Apostle, while testifying that the word of the Lord endureth for ever, when he adds, "and this is the word, which by the Gospel is preached unto you." Such is one use to which it behoves us to turn the im- pression we derive of the stability and irresistible eflficacy of the natural laws which God has appointed, while witness- ing some dire calamity which befalls under their operation. It is to transfer that impression to all the known expressions of the will of God ; it is to entertain it habitually in regard of the moral laws which God has established for the government of his creatures, as much as in regard of the 224 The Immutability of the Divine Word. physical laws, which he has appointed for the material universe. The sinner impenitent, continuing in his sin, and persisting in the indulgence of it, may see, in the unsparing execution of a physical law, the token and evidence that equally unsparing shall be the operation of those moral laws, to which his moral condition renders him amenable, and equally vain, all hope or expectation of a mercy that shall save him, otherwise than through the medium of those laws, which having been spoken by God shall stand for ever. And the believer may rejoice in the equal stability vvhich attaches to the gracious provisions and promises of the Gospel, from which his hope and happiness are derived. But there is another use, to which we should turn our impression of the unswerving and irresistible operation of the natural laws which God has impressed upon the universe, and that a directly practical one. It is to bear in mind that since we can have no assurance that the oper- ation of these laws may not at some unexpected moment be against us, and hurry us away from this life, it behoves us to make sure continually,that we are within the range and protection of those moral laws, that word of the Gospel, which has been preached to us for the salvation of our souls and fo r their admission into that heavenly state,which Christ has gone to prepare for His followers. It is very obvious that the stability of the laws of nature, however fatal in its consequences at times, is essential to the ordinary regulation of our conduct, to our safety and preservation in the world. Thus, if the action of fire or water were capricious and according to no settled law, if in the same circumstances it were sometimes safe and sometimes the reverse, we should have no rule to go by. As it is, there is room for prudence, prudence that shall in the great multitude of cases prove effectual. But what I would have you to consider is, that there is a limit set to the efficacy of any prudence which it is competent for an The Immutability of the Divvie Word, 225 individual to exercise. No prudence in one can insure prudence in all with whom in the daily intercourse of society he may be connected. And in the fullest exercise of all the prudence and foresight of which God has made him capable, a man may yet at any moment, by the im- prudence of others, or by accidents over which no one can have any control, be placed in circumstances in which the world and all the world contains is nothing to him, and he must leave it for ever, for the presence and the judgment of God. It is thus that every one walks from day to day through life, amidst contingencies against which it is impossible to provide. In the midst of life we are in death. The very stable operation of those natural laws, which is essential to life, may yet at any hour hurry us from life. We never can be certain — positively and infallibly certain — of another day or another hour. At any moment the great crisis may come. Against such con- tingency no earthly wisdom can provide. But there is a wisdom which cometh down from above, and which is able to provide against all the evils of such contingency, yea and to convert it, if it comes, into a speedier entrance into the light and glory of our Father's house. That is the wisdom which inclines the heart to God and to His Son. That is the wisdom which feels, and acts upon the feeling, that now, now only, is the accepted time and the day of salvation. That is the wisdom, which seeks a present portion in the favour of God. That is the wisdom which will not defer till to-morrow, what God appoints as the work of to-day. That is the wisdom which leads the soul to Christ, and makes it live from day to day by the faith of Him. That is the wisdom, which listens reverently, and listens habitually, to the voice that is ever coming forth from the providence, as from the word of God, " Be ye also ready, for ye know not the day nor the hour. Boast not of the morrow, for thou knowest not what a day or an hour may bring forth." That is the P 226 The Immtitability of the Divine Word, wisdom, which lays up Christ's words, as its richest trea- sure and its ever abiding ground of hope. That is the wisdom, which looking habitually to the grave, as soon to become the resting place of the body, and to the coming of death, as an event which may happen at any moment, does yet also look with confidence to the Saviour, who takes the sting from death and gives the victory over the grave. Oh ! for such wisdom — true heavenly wisdom, the wisdom without which all else is vanity and folly. That wisdom, reason approves, and conscience approves. And there is not one of us would like to think that he should die without it. That wisdom, how powerfully, and sternly, and awfully does not God teach us in the events of his providence, that we should seek, and seek now, and have always in exercise. And how lovingly and graciously in his holy word does He promise to bestow it, saying, " If any man lack wisdom, let him ask of me ; I give to all liberally and upbraid not." And yet how little is it regarded or sought after. " Wisdom crieth without ; she uttereth her voice in the streets ; she crieth in the chief places of concourse, in the opening of the gates ; in the city, she uttereth her words saying, How long ye simple ones will ye love simplicity ? and the scorners delight in their scorning, and fools hate know- ledge ? Turn you at my reproof : behold I will pour out my spirit unto you ; I will make known my words unto you." Oh ! let not her testimony be still as it was of old : " I have called, and ye refused ; I have stretched out my hand, and no man regarded. But ye have set at nought all my counsel, and would none of my reproof." And may God make it to us all a ground not of terror, but of ever- lasting consolation and good hope, that his word endureth for ever. XIX. THE ABSENCE OF CHANGE GIVING RISE TO UNGODLINESS. Psalm LV.-19. Becami they have no changes, therefore they fear not God. There are two kinds of changes, the absence of which may, each in a different way, give rise to ungodliness. One is general, affecting the universal government of G^d ; the other is special, having respect to families and indiv- iduals. It is obviously the latter which the text has in view. But the words used may naturally enough suggest the consideration of both. And first, the absence of change or changes in the government of God. There is nothing which stands out in a more marked and manifest manner to any sober thinker, than the stability of what we are accustomed to call the laws of nature. The fluctations of human society, the changes which take place from the caprice of human passions or the growth of human knowledge, have no parallel in the sure and steadfast operation of these laws. One generation of mankind passes away after another. But alike over the living world and the graves of the dead, the great forces of nature continue the same action. The sun rises and sets, the tides rise and fall, with undeviating regularity. The seasons return in due course. We can calculate with perfect certainty, on the heat of summer and the cold of winter, the soft showers of the spring, and the appointed weeks of the harvest. The laws by which these are regulated are of continual efficacy ; and so it is with all the elementary substances of which the earth is composed, every one of which is so under law, that in similar circumstances and combinations the same effect 228 The Absence of change givifig rise to Ungodliness, is unavoidably produced. And this law of stable uni- formity, which pervades all the arrangements of the earth on which we dwell, extends with equal force to the bright heavens which are stretched over our heads. Every plan- etary body moves, and has been known for ages to move, according to unchanging law. Nor can it be doubted that it is the same with the hosts of suns and systems, that are scattered with such boundless profusion through the uni- verse of space. Now what should be the effect on us of such observed absence of change in the arrangements of the universe, such steady and systematic action throughout every portion of the universe^ which we have an oppor- tunity of observing ? How should we be moved by the contemplation of this undeviating order, this all constrain- ing and all controlling law ? How in respect of ourselves, sojourners for a time, amidst the action of so many natural forces which admit of no alteration ? How in respect of the great Being, who has set them in operation, and keeps them in operation, and has affixed them bounds and limits, beyond which they cannot pass ? Why, as far as we are ourselves concerned, we should be bound to acknow- ledge, that only in virtue of such stability in the laws of nature, could man have life upon the earth. All his safety, all his comfort, is dependent on it. Without it, all his powers of body or mind would for these prove unavailing. If some wild caprice, such as a poet's fancy might con- ceive and describe, were to have place among the forces of nature, so that what has one effect this day, or hour, or minute, should have another the next, all provision for the common necessities of life would be impossible. Even if such change were contemplated, as of possible occur- rence in the ordinary course of things, the apprehension of it would disturb and derange the whole frame of human society. If capricious change, if even frequent change, had place in the government of God, it would simply bring destruction on mankind. And then in regard of The Absence of change giving rise to Ungodliness. 220 God, should not the contemplation of the stability of natural law deepen our reverence both for his Almighty- power and his infinite wisdom, while constraining us also to see in the exercise of these attributes, the tokens of his unspeakable goodness. Behold, all the forces of nature which in such terrible action, or unrestrained a:tion, as we can readily conceive, might plunge the whole race into instant destruction, are in his hand, and He does so wield and govern them, as that in their ordinary working, they prove just occasion for the acknov 'edgment, that the tender mercies of God are over all his works ; He does so wield and govern them, that there is in effect a covenant in regard of them, between God and man — such covenant as in regard of some of them, He does Himself call in the prophecies, my covenant of the day and of the night ; in which covenant men trust, to which covenant God is faith- ful, the stability of natural law being the condition or promise of the covenant. This is that peculiar faithfulness celebrated in the hundred and nineteenth Psalm, together with the Almighty power of God, to whose word or law, the stable order of all things, in heaven and earth is ascribed. " For ever, O Lord, thy word is settled in heaven ; thy faithfulness to all generations : Thou hast established the earth and it abideth. They continue this day according to thine ordinances ; for all are thy ser- vants." But while such was the feeling of the Psalmist, his just and reasonable feeling, such as it behoves us all to enter- tain while contemplating the stable order of the universe, is it with such feeling that that order is contemplated by all ? Why with some, especially in these days of unbelief, the effect produced is very different, and of a nature rather to shake or destroy their faith in the principles both of natural and revealed religion. ~" " ^-^■" — ^ ~7 What reason, says one class, what reason is there to think that things were ever otherwise than they are ? 280 The Absence of change givi7tg rise to Ungodliness. Why may not the same laws of nature, which have been in operation so long, have been in eternal operation, and producing an eternal succession of such results as we now witness ? Looking back through the vista of long ages past, they discern no change, no tokens of change, ex- pressive of will, only the incessant working of inflexible and unvarying law ; and so either speculatively, they accept the melancholy dogma of atheism, in some one of the forms which atheism assumes, or practically, God is so far removed out of and beyond the limits of ordinary thought and consideration, that He ceases to be an object of regard or reverence. Thus that very stability of natural law, which is indicative of the Divine perfection, which shews that the nature of God is altogether free from anything approaching to the weakness or capricious- ness of man, and that in it almighty power and infinite wisdom appear as the agents and instruments of abound- ing goodness, is converted into ground and occasion both of speculative and practical ungodliness. " Because they have no changes," none that they can discern, "there- fore they fear not God." What reason again, says another class, not now looking back on past ages, but looking forward to the dark and mysterious future, not questioning now the first and fun- damental truth of all religion natural or revealed, that God is, but regarding the predictions, whether couched in the form of promise or warning, that are contained in the Christian Scriptures, of the coming of a state of things vastly different from what obtains now, both in the physical and in the moral world — of a change so great in respect of the one that this earth and these heavens shall be dissolved and pass away, before another creation in which sin shall have no place, and in respect of the other that the season of probation shall be ended, and the season of retribution begun ; what reason, say they, can there be for anticipating the fulfilment of such predictions at all ? Do The Absence of change giving rise to Ungodliness. 231 not all things continue as they were from the beginning of the creation ? Why suppose that they v/ill cease to do so ? Who ever heard of such changes in the time past ? Why should we expect them in the time to come ? Is not all our experience and all the experience of all our race, in favour of the stability of nature as we now see it ? Why should we dream of the overthrow of that stability ? Where is the promise deemed so true, That spoke the Saviour near ? E'er since our fathers slept in dust, No change has reached our ear. Years rolled on years, successive glide, Since first the world began ; And on the tide of time still floats Secure, the bark of man. Thus that very stability of nature to which is owing the safety and enjoyment of life, the life that now is, is converted into a ground and occasion of distrusting and disbelieving the revelations of Scripture, concerning the future of life; a ground and occasion for evil-minded men to scoff at divine truth, and to walk after their own lusts. And so it may be said again, " Because they have no changes," because they neither experience nor appre- hend them, " therefore they fear not God." Now, in regard of these two classes of unbelievers, those whose views of the stability of nature in time past dispose them to lay aside as unnecessary to be entertained, the notion of an all-creating and all-sustaining God, and those whose expectations of the same stability in the time to come, derived from what they know and have learned of the past, dispose them to distrust and disbelieve the pre- dictions of Scripture, there is the same general argument to be used. Their argument is shortly this. In the words of the text it is "they have no changes ; " they see none, they experience none ; therefore the one concludes there never were any, and the other that there never will be any. It may be true, and it is true, that in our short day 232 The Absence of change giving rise to Ufigodliness. of mortal life no change has taken place in the constitution and course of nature. Nor for long ages, during which many generations of our race have lived, and died, and been mingled with the dust, has there been the occurrence of any such change. But what is our time upon the earth, or what arethe periods, measured by the lifetimes of men, in the working of that great Being, with whom one day is as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day, whose goings forth have been of old from everlasting ? Or what are they in comparison of the eternity which the one class of sceptics contemplates as past, and which the other contemplates as to come ? There have been changes, though neither we nor our fathers were witnesses, nor could have been witnesses of them. The indications of such changes are inscribed with clear and unmistakable hand, on the very materials of which this solid earth is composed, indications of a state of things in which cur present order could not have existed ; indications of a period when man did not and could not have existed on the face of the earth ; indications of a period when the races that peopled the earth or sea were wholly different from what they are now ; indications of a period, when there could have been neither vegetable nor animal life, in the burning masses which gradually cooled into the rocks of the primitive formation. All this science teaches with unfaltering voice, reading the revela- tion of it on the broad page of the material world. Nor so far does any intelligent student of nature doubt its teaching. v Well, then, we say to the first class of unbelievers, if in the absence of changes in the order of nature, you see no intervention of will, here, in the presence or sure evidence of them, you may certainly perceive that intervention, and taking into consideration the nature of the changes, the intervention of Divine will, the will of an Almighty and all-wise God. What but the Sovereign will of such The Absence of change giving rise to Ungodliness. 233 a Being could effect the changes which must have taken place ? What else could have transformed the chaotic mass in which matter was first created, into the various forms which there is evidence and proof of its having since assumed ? What else could have placed it, in the various circumstances and under the special conditions, in which there is proof anr evidence that it has since existed ? What else could scatter the darkness that brooded over it, cover it with the rank vegetation which, dug out of the earth now in its fossilized state, is a main source of national wealth, and of individual warmth and comfort ; filled it with tribes of living beings of various organiza- tions, yet ever advancing to greater complexity and perfection, and finally placed man upon it, in body and mind the head and lord of this lower world. Surely if there was a time, and science as well as Scripture speaks of such a time, when man was not upon the earth, then when he was placed on it, such as he now is, intellec- tual and moral, and capable of rising in thought and affection to the Creator of all, no matter whether by direct creation or gradual evolution, there took place a change, in which only those blind to all reason can fail to trace the will, discern the hand, and adore the trans- cendent perfection of God. And the same line of argument, argument founded at least on the same ground, the ground of changes which, though not under our eye must certainly have taken place, may be addressed to the doubter or disbeliever of the scripturally predicted changes that are yet to come — addressed to him, not for the purpose of establishing that such changes there shall be ; that such changes shall be stands on the authority of the Scripture and the Scripture writers — but addressed to him for the purpose of shewing at least the possibility or probability of such changes. What has been may be again. The Power that interposed before may once more interpose. The Power 234 The Absence of change giving rise to Ungodliness. that accomplished what has been already done may accom- plish all that is predicted to be yet done. And He, who has brought this earth through so many stages of progress, may bring forth the new heavens and the new earth, in which righteousness is to dwell and to have unchecked and unbroken ascendency for ever and ever. Not on the ground of no changes, may either atheist or scoffer, the sceptic of bewildered understanding or of evil heart, defend his unbelief, or justify himself for casting off the fear of God. But leaving this view of the subject, we now proceed to the other, more immediately suggested to us by the text, and having a more extensive practical application. The Psalmist is speaking of the worldly and the ungodly, those whose ungodliness originates, not in any speculative views of the unchanging order of things in nature, but which originates in a long continued course of prosperity in their own case. You can readily conceive the case of such a course of prosperity, extending over a long period, — not long, nay but of the very briefest duration, as com- pared with those periods of time of which we have just been speaking — but long as compared with the usual term of man's life, or as compared with such periods of prosperity, as are in the general run of cases vouchsafed. There are individuals and families who for years and years are thus exceptionally prosperous. They continue in the enjoyment of health. Wealth flows in upon them ; they hold a fair, perhaps a conspicuous, place in society. They possess the respect, perhaps the good will, of their neigh- bours. The circle of friends and relations continues un- broken. The sun shines brightly on them ; time passes gently over them ; all goes smoothly with them ; there seems some wall drawn around them, through which disease or death, or adverse fortune cannot penetrate, and life in their case seems divested of all the fluctuation and uncertainty which usually attach to it. The Absence of change giving rise to Ungodliness, 235 Now, here, as before, we ask, what should be the effect of such absence of change or changes, such lengthened and unbroken periods of worldly prosperity ? Undoubt- edly we might expect the result to be, and the result in all reason should be, a lively sense of gratitude to the giver of every good and perfect gift, a glad and habitual recognition of the abounding goodness of God. Where should we look for such a spirit with greater reason ? In such a family, along with the melody of joy and health, which the Psalmist speaks of as to be found in the dwel- lings of the righteous, there should be heard also, and that from day to day, the melody of thanksgiving and praise. Whence if not from the members of it, or from whom, with the full tide of devotional sentiment, if not from them, should come the holy strains of the Psalmist, " Bless the Lord, O my soul, and all that is within me, bless His holy name. Bless the Lord, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits." Nor should such recognition of God be confined to devotional sentiment. Micjht it not reasonably be expected, that such sentiment should be accompanied with the exercise of those holy and chari- table dispositions which God approves.and which the appre- hension of divine love originates ? Certainly so it should be. And we say not, but that so it often is. It is so indeed in all cases, in which the better blessings of grace are prized with and above the bounties of Providence, and God is recognized as the Saviour and Redeemer, as well as the Preserver and Benefactor. And no doubt, when such is the case, it is in such thankful and believing house- hold, now enjoying God's gifts and living in the hope of glory with God hereafter, that earth presents its fairest type of heaven. But while such should be the case, nay sometimes is, is it always or is it oftenest ? Perhaps, in the majority of cases, it is the very reverse. The stability of fortune seems to give at length a sense of independent right to the en- 236 The Absence of change giving rise to Ungodliness. joyment of it. The regular and long continued enjoyment of prosperous fortune seems to quench the aspiration to anything above or beyond it. In the enjoyment of God's best worldly gifts, God himself is forgotten. The gifts occupy all the mind and all the heart, and the Giver is un- thought of. In the easy flow of a prosperous life, the thougiits and desires of man's higher nature are apt to be repressed, kept down and smothered. Amidst ease and indolence, the soul comes to be satisfied with what is, what it has, what it enjoys. It is not subjected to changes. It comes not to look for them ; and in contented self indul- gence, it ceases to feel any claim on it, for the exercise of veneration or gratitude. " Because it has no changes, therefore it fears not God." This is the danger of prosper- ity, and of prosperity long continued, the prosperity of the rich man in the parable, who was clothed in purple and fine linen and fared sumptuously every day ; the pros- perity from which Agur prayed to be delivered, lest he should be full, and deny God ; the prosperity which renders it difficult for a rich man to enter into the King- dom of God ; the prosperity of those, whom the Apostle emphatically charges not to be high minded, nor to trust in uncertain riches, but in the living God, who giveth us all things richly to enjoy, and to be rich in good works, ready to distribute, willing to communicate. This is the prosperity which stands in need of warning ; and God gives it in his word and in the dispensations of his Pro- vidence. For long as changes may be of coming to some of us, they do come at last to all. Troubles come of var- ious kinds, sickness comes, death comes, to break up the self indulgence and self satisfaction, which grow so naturally in and out of a prospe/ous life. Well, when these have efficacy to recall and revive a sense and fear of God. Eut, Oh, it is better far, when they find in the soul such sense and fear established. It is difficult to compute the benefit of such changes The Absence of change giving rise to Ungodliness, 237 religiously, or in the way of stimulating the religious feel- ings, and keeping up in the human spirit a sense of the unseen and the eternal. Above all, the change which the presence of death makes — the carrying out of that sen- tence announced in the beginning after man's transgres- sions. Dust thou art, and unto dust shalt thou return — that is the change which makes the deepest impression. It is a very terrible arrangement of Providence by which each and all of us must, in our turn, undergo the pangs of dissolution. It is a very terrible arrangement of Provi- dence, by which we must again and again, when God so wills it, witness such dissolution in those dear to us. It is most terrible of all, when it breaks up a long course of prosperity and enjoyment. But it is an arrangement which has good and beneficent ends in view, ends which could not, so far as we can see, be answered so effectually in any other way. What gives so deep and indelible an impression of the unseen Power to which we are all sub- ject, and over which we can exercise no sort of control, as the presence of death among us ? What more surely bows down the proud spirit of man to humble supplica- tion ? What makes us look so keenly, and with such earnestness of regard, into the world of spirits ? What compels us to think so seriously of our responsibility to that God, in whose hand our breath is, and whose are all our ways ? Why it is not perhaps too much to believe, that but for the continual recurrence of this great change among us, and that not only among those with whom we are but little connected and in whom we have little in- terest, but in the narrower circle of those who are specially near and dear to us, there would be, comparatively speak- ing, but little religious feeling in the world. The aliena- tion of the natural mind from God is marked and manifest enough as things are now, the proneness of men to forget God, and to drive away all thought and consideration of responsibility to God. But who does not feel, that but 238 The Absence of change giving rise to Ungodliness. for the presence of death among us, that disregard and forgetfuhiess of God would assume the form and bear the fruits of a still more high-minded and high-handed opposition to His will? There are many memorials of God against which m^n can shut their eyes. There are many teachers of God, to whose lessons men can turn a deaf ear. The heavens declare the glory of God, and the firmament sheweth his handiwork. Day unto day uttereth speech, and night unto night sheweth knowledge of God. But how often is all they say or indicate of God unheeded or disregarded, by men busy in the pursuits of the world, and seeking only the gratification of their own appetites and passions. But when death comes with resistless potency into a house, Oh, how it speaks to the soul, of the weakness of man and the greatness of God ; how it compels acknowledgment of the Power above us, and gives a character of interest and importance to the truths and considerations of religion, which in other circumstances had been contemplated with indifference and unconcern. When was it, in the history of the world, that the sense of religious obligation was the weakest ; that men had reached the highest degree of ungodliness, and least regarded the will of their Creator ? Was it not in the ages, before the flood, when the imagina- tions of the thoughts of men's hearts were only evil, and that continually ? and was not that the period, when death was least familiar among men, and was removed from them at the greatest distance ? " Because they had no changes, therefore they feared not God." There is warning, solemn warning, in the very verse from which the text is taken, to those who do so give way. " God will afflict them," it is said, " even He that abideth of old." If warnings will not be taken, judgments will come. The course of prosperity may take a sudden turn. The desire of the eyes may be taken away, God may lay his hand upon thee, thou worldly and ungodly, who The Absence of change giving rise to Ungodliness. 239 wilt not fear and honour Him. Nay, but do thou turn unto God, and he will yet have mercy upon thee. And though changes may and must come, changes involving bereavement and bitter anguish, they will come, not in the character of punishment with which God afflicts, but as discipline, with which He will prepare thee for the life of blessedness with Himself. What hope can any one have without the fear of God in him ? The fear of God is the beginning of wisdom. The fear of the Lord is a fountain of life, to depart from the snares of death. The secret of the Lord is with them that fear Him. The eye of the Lord is on them that fear Him. The angel of the Lord encampeth about them that fear Him. There is no want to them that fear Him. The fear of the Lord tendeth to life; a holy life here, a life of everlasting blessedness in the world to come. Yea, and that which under the old dispensation, as was suitable to its darker nature, was called the " fear of the Lord," rises unto a higher sentiment, under the new and better dispensation of these latter days, and bears a nobler name, even " the love of God." For now hath God revealed to men, that He is love and dwells in love. Now He has enabled us to comprehend the moral attributes of his nature, through the character and doings of that merciful Saviour, who, though He dwelt for a season in meek humility on the earth, was yet the brightness of the Father's glory and the express image of his person. Now hath God given us, in the sufferings of his own Son, a measure of the unspeakable tenderness, with which he regards us sinful creatures, and his desire for our recovery, from the estate of sin, and of misery by reason of sin. Now hath God spoken to us, his children on the earth, by the pleading voice of Jesus, spoken words of promise, words of encouragement, words of divine com- passion. Now He sendeth forth his Spirit, to enable us to discern spiritual truths, and to receive the things that be 240 The Absence of change giving rise to Ungodliness, of God. And if we turn not away with cold and unbe- lieving indifference from all the Gospel teaches, there should be in us a sense and assurance of God's love to us, creating in us a love to him, in some measure corresponding to his love to us, and inspiring into the soul the joy that is unspeakable and full of glory. This revelation of divine love to sinful men is the Gos- pel, the glad news of great joy to all people. It is what imparts its chiefest value to the writings of Apostles and Prophets. It is that which should ever form the burden of the Christian ministry. Yet such is man, there is much to be done, to induce him to listen to it and to receive it ; and much of instruction, warning and encouragement needed after he has received it, which must also form part of the work of that ministry. Some doubt it, and there must be set forth the evidence of its authority. Some shrink from it, because of the very weight of obligation, which they cannot but feel that the faith of it must and does impose; and some cannot easily be taken off from their ordinary cares and employments, to give heed to it. Therefore there must still be the preaching of the law, to prepare the way for the reception of the Gospel. The austere lessons of the Baptist must still precede the tender message of Jesus. But that the soul should receive, rest, rely on, rejoice in the love of God in Christ, that is the end of all. Wherefore do we preach, or you hear, but that this end may be gained ? And how shall it be gained, as far as human instrumentality goes, but by declaring and setting forth that love, which is so to be trusted and so to be rejoiced in. And so now to each and all, and to my- self, to every soul in this assembly, I say, as warranted by God's word, yea and as ambassador of God, and in Christ's stead, God loves thee, oh, sinner, and would have thee back again into his fold and family, and a partaker in due time of the heavenly glory and blessedness. God loves thee, and He has testified his love by his long for- Tlie Abscmc of change giving rise to Ungodliness. 241 bcarance towards thee, by gracious promises, and by an oath, wherein as He could swear by no greater, He swore by Himself. God loves thee, and He has revealed the greatness and the tenderness of his love, in that he sent his Son to die for thee. liut He loves not thy sin. He will not have thee, full of evil thoughts and base affections. He will not have thee to enter into his kingdom, except as penitent, except as believing, except as penetrated with that divine principle of love, which consumes as with fire from heaven, every base and unworthy principle and passion, and raises the aspirations of the soul to the enjoyment of himself. Yea, because He loves thee, He will have thee to be free from that sin, which it is impossible even for Him to make other than a source of misery to thee. Turn not then away the eyes of thine understanding from the contemplation of this love of God. Pray for a better knowledge of it. Pray for a deeper sense of it. It is the faith of it which sanc- tifies and saves. Who has the faith of it dwelling in his heart will gain the victory over the world, and over sin, even the besetting sin, his worst and deadliest foe. It will enable him to say in the words of the hymn : Father, I know that all my life Is portioned out for me ; And t!ie changes, which will surely come, I do not fear to see. And it will make the last and greatest change of all, a change from life on earth to life in heaven. XX. WHY IS THERE NOT MORE EVIDENCE OF A FUTURE LIFE. Job XIV. 14. If a man die shall he live again ? It is not so much the question of the text which I propose at present to consider, as another which in many minds grows out of it ; that is, why is there not more evidence of a future Hfe, such evidence as would render the denial of it, or indeed any doubt or uncertainty about it, impos- sible ? This is a question which occurs at times to the minds of some who are neither disposed to deny the truth of a future life, nor to cast any disparagement on the nature or amount of the evidence which we actually hpve for it. It is recorded of the great English moralist, John- son, that when expressing on one occasion much interest in some supposed supernatural appearance, as throwing light on the question of a future state, and being reminded of the evidence which we actually have for that state, he said, " Yes, but I would like to have more ;" and the feel- ing thus expressed was not, I am persuaded, peculiar to him, or to persons of his peculiar temperament and con- stitution of mind. It rises up occasionally in most minds, and there is a certain uneasiness and dissatisfaction that God has left so great a matter liable to any possible doubt or suspicion at all. The question I have mentioned is therefore one by no means unsuitable or unnecessary to be taken up and seriously considered. Before, however, taking up this question, it may be useful to advert, very shortly, to the evidence for a future state which we actually have. There is a certain presumption for a future state, W/ijy is there not more Evidence of a Future Life. 243 in the very fact of our being so constituted that we cannot he'p entertaining the question, and being agitated by hopes and fears in regard of it. That we are so constituted is certain. The subject of a future existence enters into the musings of the roaming savage, as well as into the specu- lations of the philosophic sage. Now, why were we con- stituted so, if there be no ground, no real and just reason, to anticipate or to apprehend it ? There is presumption still further for a future state, in the capacity of the human soul to advance indefinitely in knowledge and in excellence. To such advancement there seems to be no limit affixed, if only time and opportunity be afforded. And why should such high capacity of indefinite progress be con- ferred on man, if the time and opportunity for bringing it into exercise are not a'so to be vouchsafed ? There is presumption again in the natural and reasonable appre- hension which we all entertain, that the soul is something distinct from the material organization in which it is now placed, and through which it now acts, and that it is not composed of parts, but is essentially one ; for if such apprehension is founded on truth, then the decay and dissolution of the body does not necessarily imply the destruction of the soul, nor is there in all nature any appear- ance of total annihilation, though there be constantly going on changes in the arrangement of things. And all these presumptions are strengthened by the conviction, to which, with more or less of hesitation we are led by the moral nature within us, that for the manifestation of the righteous government of God over the world, there is needed a future state of more exact retribution than the present. Then Christianity comes in to affirm positively what on other grounds appears to be probable. And in the attest- ed fact of the resurrection of its great Author from the dead, it gives not only assurance of the divine authority by which He spoke, but proof experimentally that the nature of man can survive the shock of death and enter another Stat o existenc.\ 244 IVAy is there not more Evidence of a Future Life. Now what, it may be said, is wanting to this evidence ? Notliinj; certainly, to a reasonable conviction, sucli as it is wise to act upon, and folly to resist or disregard. Ikit it is not such conviction only, that the question under con- sideration indicates the desire of. Not disputing the presumptions of the natural reason, nor denying the authority of the Christian revelation, it calls for what neither of them gives, such evidence as would prove irresistible, such evidence as would render any degree of doubt or of uncertainty impossible. Now, in regard of any truths of which we are not ourselves immediately con- scious, there are only two kinds of evidence by which this can be done, and one of them is inapplicable to the case before us. The one is that demonstrative evidence which obtains in arithmetic or geometry, in virtue of which we can say of a proposition proved by it, not only that it is true, but that it must be true, and that doubting would be absurd. But this is a kind of evidence which we can have only for abstract truths, not for any actual existence, unless it be the existence of God himself, 'ihat two and two make four is not only true, but the denial of it would be absurd. That there is a future state may Le true, but the denial cf it is not absurd ; at most it is only false. This kind of absolute certainty, attainable in regard of certain abstract truths, is not attainable then in respect of a future state, liut there is another kind of evidence, which communicates the same impression of certainty. And that is tiie evidence of the senses. Though not coming like the former, tii rough the channel of pure reason, it is equal in its power to command our convictions, to remove our doubts. We feel certain in regard of what we can see, and hear, and touch. Now, it cannot be denied, that in respect of a future state such evidence might have been given. For anything we know, or can tell, the evidence of sense might have been superadded in this great •natter, to the deductions of reason W/^y is tJicrc not more Evidence of a Fntnre Life, 245 and the declarations of the Scriptures. l"\jr anything we can tell, men nii^ht have been made capable of visiting the unseen world, into which the spirits of all are at death removed, of looking with the bodily eye on its now hidden and inscrutable wonders, and of bringing back from the view the same sense and conviction of the reality of that world, as we liave of the reality of the actual world in which we dwell. For anything we can tell, it might have been made possible for the disembodied spirit to revisit the world which it had left, and to convey the same impression of its own existence, and the same certainty as to the place of its abcide in the new state of being, as is communicated by a traveller returning from a residence in a distant land. I'^or anything we know, it miglit have been possible to have established some such communication between this world and the next, as to make the latter as much as the former a matter of sense and of observation, and so leave it beyond the possibility of doubt, that death, with all that is distressing and alarm- ing about it, is only a pathway from the one unto the other. And why, says the impatient spirit of man, why is it not so? Why should such convictic^n of the senses be denied me, as I stand by the cold remains of a departed friend, or while I anticipate the moment of my own dissolution ? Why, in sucii trying circumstances, should I be obliged to walk by faith only, and not by sight ? Such enquiries we would be entitled to meet, with the words of the Apostle in regard (^f yet deeper mysteries : "Nay, but who art thou, man, who repliest against God ? Shall the thing formed say to him who formed it, why hast thou made me thus?" Such is the state in which God hath placed tli_e. Such is the amount of knowledge which God hath given thee. It is not for thee to murmur or be dissatisfied with the conditions of tliat state. It is not for thee to complain that such knowledge is not more extensive. It is for thee to conform to these 246 W/iy is there not more Evidence of a Future Life, conditions, and to act on what it has been given thee to know. Thou must not shut thine eyes upon the light, because that light might have been made to shine more brightly. Thou must not disregard the evidence which God hath given thee of a future life, because it might have been made clearer and more overwhelming. Be content. There are reasons, whether thou canst or canst not find them out, why thou shouldst now see but darkly, as through a glass, and why thou art required all thy life below, to act upon that faith, " which is the evidence of things not seen, and the substance of things hoped for." But it is not exactly in this way, that we wish now to meet such enquiries. We would rather entertain them, and see whether there be accessible to us any reasons, why even for our own behoof, the conditions of our present state of being should not, in respect of a future state, be different from what they are ; reasons why we should be not only resigned to those conditions, but satisfied with them. Now, there is one consideration in respect of this mat- ter, which readily presents itself, and is not without an important bearing on it. That is, that for anything we know, nay more than this, very probably such sensible revelation of the future world as is thus desired, would very materially interfere, and very injuriously, with the duties and the enjoyments of this world. In the knowledge and clear apprehension of more exalted and extensive powers, hereafter to be bestowed, there migh" be generated an indifference about the use of those which we do actually possess. In the knowledge and with the clear apprehen- sion of the more exalted employments and pleasures of t!"° future state, there might grow up in the soul a distaste for those which are most suitable for it now. The conviction of a future state is a very important one, very necessary for many good ends, very strengthening to good principles, very comforting amidst troubles and trials. But such sensible acquaintance with that state, as the evidence W/i_y is there not more Evidence of a Future Life. 247 required implies and involves, might it is easy to conceive, have an opposite effect, unfitting us for the duties of that state in which it is God's will, and for our good, that we should at present be. If it should be said in answer to this, that such injurious effect on the common duties and employments of the world might or might not follow, that such effect cannot be spoken of as certain, but only as possible or probable, that the feeling of certainty communicated by the informa- tions of sense might, in respect of the now unseen world, be given without such further and extensive knowledge of that world, as might give rise to imaginations and desires inconsistent with the conditions of our present state of being, while on the other hand such sensible evidence would be of unspeakable value, and have an almost irresistible force to lead men to a religious life, we would interpose a doubt as to the probability of any such result. No doubt such is the end, which it is thought that better, or at least more overwhelming evidence, would serve. But would the end be attained ? Would it give more effective influence to religious truths and considerations ? Would it prove a stronger and more persuasive argument for repentance, than any which the soul has now to deal with. Why, I think it may be fairly doubted. For what is it, I ask you, which stays any man now from repentance, from leading a life such as the Bible re- quires ? Whatever it be, this at least is certain, it is not doubt as to whether it is a wise thing to persist in sin. It is not doubt, as to whether it is a right thing to live with- out regard to God, and to His will. How many, who are still leading a worldly and careless life, will readily admit their full conviction of the sinfulness and folly of so doing, will profess with perfect sincerity, that they wish they could lead a godly and religious life, as they know they ought to do ; will freely acknowledge their belief and as- surance that so to do would both make them happier now, 248 W/ij/ is there not more Evidence of a Future Life. and lead to future happiness. The soundness of the arguments, with which the word of God urges them to enter on the service of God, they do not dispute. On these points the certainty of their conviction would not be at all in- creased by any increased evidence of the unseen world, would not be increased, though they could visit that world themselves, or though an inhabitant of that world should visit them, and in personal intercourse make them ac- quainted with its wonders. How then, should such evidence have greater efficacy to lead them to repentance ? Is the mere sight of the supernatural to change the heart, to re- new the will, to overthrow sinful passions reigning in the soul, to break the chains of evil habit, and implant the love of what is holy and good ? That is to suppose an effect without any adequate cause to produce it. No, if men will not hear Moses and the Prophets, Christ and the Apostles, even when these are speaking to their own con- victions of what is true, and right, and of binding obliga- tion, and of undeniable expediency, " neither will they be persuaded though one did rise from the dead" — neither will they be won upon, or gained from sin to holiness, from Satan to God, by any brighter or more sensible evi- dence of future life. But suppose it were otherwise ; suppose such sensible evidence of a future state as would leave no possibility of doubt as to its existence, any more than there is doubt of the existence of this present state ; suppose, I say, that it would have the effect which is expected by some ; suppose it gave such weight, and power, and urgency to every argu- ment for repentance and for a religious life, as no soul could be hardy enough, or wicked enough to resist, and men were acted on thereby with the force and certainty of a mechanical impulse ; is that a state to be desired for man, in which such evidence should be given ? I say No, for the more certainly and completely we should thus be acted upon by external and sensible things, the nearer should we W/ry is there not more Evidence of a Future Life. 249 approach to the condition of mere unreflecting, unreasoning, passive machines. Change so wrought would be change, not according to the laws of our nature, but overpowering them and setting them at defiance. It would be change, not of a sinful man into a holy man, so that thence- forth he should freely will and do of the good pleasure of God, but it would be change of the nature of man, a change of man into a lower and less gifted being. It is the noble characteristic of our nature to be capable of con- templating and being influenced by the unseen, the fu- ture, the distant, as well as by what is visible, present, near. If, in the moral treatment of a man this character- istic be disregarded, if he be acted on only by application to the senses, he is obviously treated as a child, and as being subject only to those influences which can be brought to bear upon childhood. Yea, and such treatment will tend to keep him a child, to lower altogether the style of man, and make him a far less noble being than God intended him to be. If it had pleased God so to act upon men from the be- ginning, not through the medium of truth more or less clearly revealed to the understanding and the conscience, and through them acting on the affections, but by the surprise and the terror of things supernatural, revealed in sensible manifestations, He might have preserved our first parents from sinning at all. He might have preserved the whole race from sinning. But then our first parents would have been different from what they were, the whole race would have been different from what it is, different, not only in the accident of sin, but different in essential nature. There would in that case have been an inferior race of beings in the world, not sinful, nor subject to become sinful, but inferior in character and capacity to man. But so God willed it not to be. His purpose was, that at the head of this lower world there should be beings of a higher order, and acted on by higher and nobler impulses. And 250 IV/ijy is there not more Evidence of a Future Life. we must not start back from the conditions and the res- ponsibilities of the higher nature which God has given us, or once imagine that at one and the same time we may have the capacities, and anticipate the destiny of men, and be dealt with as rrachines, or as children. It is with th.. other great doctrines of religion, both natural and revealed religion, as it is with the doctrine of a future stj te. There is evidence of them, evidence to satisfy, but not evidence to overpower, not sensible evi- dence, not such as would leave no room or opportunity for any manifestation of the feeling, with which truth is regarded. So it is with the being and the Government of God himself, the invisible Father of all. So it is with the mediation of the Saviour, who though once revealed has now entered within the vail. So it is with the working and influences in the world and in the hearts of men, of the Holy Spirit, the Comforter. So it is with the agency and the temptation of evil spirits. So it is with the ministry of angels to those who shall be heirs of salvation. So it is with the history of God's interposition in the times that are past. So it is with the predictions and promises of things that are yet to come. There is no such power or force, in respect of any of these exercised over the mind, as would be produced by an application to the senses. There is evidence for them all, yet not the evidence of sight or sense. In regard of them all, essentially as the sense and conviction of each and all of them are connected with a right moral and religious state, men have to act upon that faith which is the evidence of things not seen. In regard of each of them, there have been it is true, at particular times, in particular circumstances, for particular ends affecting individual and general good, sensible and supernatural manifestations ; but to make these the regular, the common, ordinary course of things, would be to change the whole order of the heavenly government, and to render it un- suitable to the nature, capacities and destinies of creatures, such as men are and are designed to be. W/ij is there not more Evidence of a Fntnrc Life. 251 In respect of these great objects of faith, there is ob- viously a twofold purpose on the part of God, to try- men, their disposition towards the truth, and to discipline men by means of the truth. And neither of these purposes could be attained by such sensible manifestations as would render doubt or difficulty impossible. One purpose is to try men, their disposition towards the truth. When He who was Himself the Truth came into the world, it was said of Him, by the aged Simeon, " Behold this child is set for the fall and rising again of many in Israel, and for a sign that shall be spoken against, that the thoughts," evidently here, the moral temper and dispositions, "of many hearts may be revealed." And every part and portion of Divine truth revealed to man, yea, and with more or less of evidence, in different ages and under different dispensations, serves the same end, to reveal, make manifest, in regard of Divine truth generally and the duties which it involves, the thoughts of many hearts. The amount of truth for this end signifies comparatively little. " The moral experiments of the world," says a recent author, " may be tried with the smallest quantities. The searcher of all hearts, may make as ample a trial of you in your conduct to one poor dependent, as of the mar who is appointed to lead armies and to admin- ister provinces. Nay, your treatment of some animal entrusted to your care may be a history as significant for you, as the chronicles of kings for them." Of such truth, there has always been enough revealed to serve the purpose of trial. In every age some have been prom'pt to receive it, to love it, to long for more of it, to manifest an affinity to it, and a sympathy with it. These have been the saints and the excellent of the earth, the men of whom the world was not worthy, seeing the promises only afar off, but being persuaded of them, and having embraced them. In every age too, there have been who have rejected the truth, turned from it, cared not to know it or to pursue 252 IV/if is there not more Evidence of a Future Life. and seek after it or the traces and indications of it. These are they who have loved darkness rather than the iij^ht their deeds being evil. Account for this difference in men how we will, it exists;- it always has existed. And it seems the design of Providence, by the way in which divine truth is revealed, to bring out and to make mani- fest the difference, and to separate men into two great classes, those who receive the truth in the love of it, and those who believe not the truth, but have pleasure in unrighteousness. It is not revealed so as to carry men's convictions as it were by storm, by force, independent of the will ; but it is so revealed as to be discernible in itself and in its evidence, to those whose hearts are prepared to receive and to welcome it. It were well that we all should examine our own characters, by this very test which God himself applies to us. It is not the amount of truth we know or receive, but our disposition towards it, which reveals character. Do we value it ? Do we reverence it ? Do we yield to it in so far as it manifests itself to our reason and our consciences ? The true answer to these questions will reveal our true moral state, and show how, if unchanged, we shall stand hereafter, on the right or on the left hand of the Judge, who is to pronounce the final destiny of all. But it is also the purpose of God to discipline men by means of the truth. The order of Providence in regard of man is not merely to make him do or leave undone certain things. It is the formation of character which is contemplated, the establishment of principles within him, to which, by frequent acting upon them, there shall be given at length the force and stability of habit. And these circumstances are to be considered the most suitable and the most favourable for man; viewed as a moral and immortal being, which conduce most to form in him the highest character and give rise to the purest virtue. But such are not the circumstances, in which all is smooth and W/if is there not more Evidence of a Future Life. 253 easy to be done, in which no darkness overhangs the path to be trodden, and every motive to tread it acts as with the force of a law of matter. It is amidst difficulties and perplexities and troubles that the highest powers of the soul are called into action, so that these, how grievous soever they be at the time, prove in the end to have been blessings, and are ground of thankfulness to the soul that has been purified and ennobled by means of them. Thus it is with the highest style even of the worldly char- acter. Thus it is with the religious character. Not in vain has it been said, that it is through much tribulation we must enter the kingdom of God. Now this order of Providence, in its purpose and in its result, extends to the manifestations of truth as well as to the events of life. Which, I ask you, would give rise to the most earnest efforts, bring out the highest qualities, and form the most perfect character ; a state in which all truth to be known, moral or religious, should be conveyed to the mind, with the ease, and the certainty, and the com- pleteness of a sensible manifestation, or that in which the soul does but partially see it, and must seek with all earnestness, if haply it may feel after it and find it, and must watch every indication of it, and live and act by faith in what is revealed to the understanding, though unaccompanied by the irresistible evidence either of demonstration or of sense ? We uphold it that it is the latter of the two ; that out of the struggle and the search after truth, and the life of faith in the unseen, and hope of what is to be hereafter revealed, there will and must emerge, a character far higher and nobler than cou'd ever be formed under the compulsion and pressure, so to speak, of more sensible manifestations. And more sensible evi- dence now of a future state would tend to disturb and deteriorate the preparation which is needful, for entering on the full glory and blessedness that are destined for men in that state. , 254 IVAj' is there not more Evidence of a Future Life. Nay, and this state of things in which truth is but partially revealed, and the soul has to struj^^le for clearer manifestations and take much on trust, is what we do believe, shall continue for ever. It is true, that in a certain sense in the future life, believers shall see God face to face. It is true, that in respect of many things now hidden from us and inaccessible to us, we shall know even as we are known. But so it shall not be of all things. So it cannot be of all, of much, nay of most. Only the Divine mind can contemplate and comprehend fully, perfectly, and for ever, the whole of range infinity, all the past, all the present, all the future, all the actual, all the possible combinations of things. The highest efforts of the loftiest of created minds shall after a lapse of eternal ages be still at a dis- tance beyond all conception, from this fulness of divine wisdom and knowledge. And the highest angel, who stands the nearest to the throne of the Eternal, shall, in contemplation of a government which extends over all the worlds that roll in space, and over every moral being that inhabits them, be still as ready, and find it still as reasonable, as do we poor children of a day, to take up, in humble and devout acknowledgment, the sublime exclam- ation of the Apostle, " O the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and the knowledge of God ! how unsearch- able are his judgments, and his ways past finding out! For who hath known the mind of the Lord ? or who hath been his counsellor ? or who hath first given to him, and it shall be recompensed to him again ? For of him and through him, and to him, are all things : to whom be glory for ever." We may safely hold that man in the future state, as here in this present state, will contemplate this heavenly government, will study its order, moral and material, striving ever to become better acquainted with it, finding in such efforts a source of purest happiness, and becoming in consequence of them a nobler and a more godlike being. JV//}' is there not more Evidence of a Future Life. 255 We may hold tin's simply because there is no iiUiniation that in that state the ess'jntial nature of man is to be changed. Man in it will be sanctified, glorified, but he will still be man. He cannot be as God knowinj^ all. lie will not b " reduced to the level of the inferior animals, whose range of attainment has a limit which is soon reached, and can never be overpassed. The perfection of man is not that of a being who has reached the utmost limit of knowledge and worth, nor that of God which is infinite. His nature admits of a continual progress ; his glory is to be making it, striving, even amidst difficulties, to make it. And difficulties there will be in the mighty field that is before him, difficulties from our notion of which, we may properly abstract every idea of pain or of sorrow, but which shall task the utmost energies even of the renewed and redeemed spirit. There will ever be mysteries to be solved and faith to be exercised. Truths will be seen but partially, and as one brightens into more perfect manifestation, another will appear behind it dimly and in the distance, like one mountain range rising after another. And so there will ever be scope and occasion, for the exercise of every power with which the great Creator has endowed the human understanding. This is heaven, to be ever loving and ever learning ; to have the affections ever called into greater warmth, for all that is excellent and good ; to be ever growing in knowledge, yet ever standing on the threshold of mysteries, which are being gradually unveiled to the eager and enquiring soul. Let us not then complain that in respect of the future life, the conditions of our being are not different from what they are. God has arranged them well and wisely. He has given us evidence of that life which it would be the extreme of folly to disregard ; evidence which carried the convictions, and guided the conduct, and raised the hopes and expectations of innumerable multitudes, who are now around the throne on high, dwelling in that city, 256 W/ij/ is there not more Evidence of a Future Life, whose builder and maker is God, and worshipping in that heavenly sanctuary, which needeth no light of the sui' x of the moon to lighten it, for the glory of God doth lighten it, and the Lamb is the light thereof. Far from us be the epicurean sentiment denounced by the Apostle, " let us eat and drink, for to-morrow we die." Let us strive, with the help of God and as constrained by the love of Christ, to live as become those who expect to live forever, and to live with God, and with Christ, in the heavenly kingdom. XXI. THE PURPOSE OF CHRIST'S DEPARTURE, AND THE PROMISE OF HIS RETURN. St. John xiv. 2, 3. In my Fatho's house are tunny mansions : if it zvere not so, 1 7vould have told you, I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come againy and receive you unto myself ; that where I am there ye may be also. The special trouble, which when these words were spoken, was afflicting the hearts of the disciples, was the prospect of the speedy departure of their Master from among them, an event which no previous warning had in- duced them seriously to anticipate, but which now they could not help considering as at hand. And the special ground of comfort which our Lord suggested to them, under the painful feelings caused by the prospect" of such bereavement, was, first, the purpose of his going " I go to prepare a place for you " ; and, second, the promise of his return and of their re-union with him : " If I go and pre- pare a place for you, I will come again and receive you unto myself, that where I am, there ye may be also." It is not to be supposed, that either the purpose or the promise could be very adequately or accurately comprehended by the disciples. What did Jesus mean, by his Father's house ? What, by the many mansions which he said were in it ? What, by the need of preparing a place for his followers ? What the nature of the preparations required ? Such are questions, which the words of Jesus, in the passage before us, having refer- ence to the purpose of his going, would naturally call forth in the minds of the disciples, and to which neither their own reflections, nor any revelation which they had received could enable them, any more than the same R 258 The Purpose of Christ's Departure, sources of information enable us, to give a full and satisfy- ing answer. Then again as to the promise of return, it can hardly, I think, be doubted, that they would look for a greatly more speedy fulfilment of it, than actual experience has shewn to have been intended. Very possibly the expectation that would ri^e in their minds would be of a return, after a few days, or months, or years, a return which they would live to witness and to rejoice in. Nor were they likely to be visited with the imagination, that after well nigh two thousand years had passed away, the time and manner of the Messiah's second coming would still be matter of mystery and of expectation to believers. Were then our Lord's words, because of such incapacity on the part of the disciples fully or accurately to compre- hend all that they implied, unsuited to the end of impart- ing consolation, for which they were spoken ? Or did they therefore necessarily fail to attain this end ? Certainly not. That in them, which the disciples did comprehend, served the needful end. That in them, which successive genera- tions of believers have comprehended, has continued with blessed efficacy, to serve that end. They would be treasured in the remembrance of the chosen disciples till their last hour, and not least by that beloved one, who has recorded them, and whose privilege it was, not only to listen to the tones of tenderness with which they fell from the Master's lips, but to lean on his bosom while they were being spoken. And heaven is now thronged with spirits of the just made perfect, whose hearts in the days of their earthly pilgrimage, while yet unreleased from the burden of the flesh, those words of Jesus swelled with lofty hopes and joy unspeakable and full of glory. The truth is, Christ's words, — God's words in the Scrip- ture that is, for is not Christ one with God, even the Father —are not only, as the Psalmist says, "pure words, as silver tried in a furnace of earth, purified seven times," not only, as the Apostle says, "faithful words," and worthy of all Afid the Promise of His Return. 2.39 acceptation, on which the immortal spirit, even in its bitter- est troubles and in its last hours, may rest with unhesitating confidence. They are also both plain words, havinf^ true meanings, which even a child, or he whom his intellectual and moral training has left with but childish powers of rea- soning and reflection, can readily and profitably apprehend ; and deep words, pregnant with meaning, from which the contemplative and believing mind may be ever drawing fresh treasures of wisdom and knowledge. It is this union of the plain and the deep in meaning, in Christ's words, which gives to them their peculiar suitableness to all ages, all classes, all generations of mankind. Take the words of the text for example. No doubt the questions which we before mentioned as likely to have been called forth in the minds of the disciples, by our Lord's declaration of the purpose of his going away from them, remain still matter for reflection, high, purifying, and profitable reflection, to the mind that is studious of divine truth and longs to catch every ray of light that comes from the uncreated source of all light ; and so also the question remains, as to when the Saviour shall come again. But on the very sur- face, as it were, there is expression, patent to the humblest, precious to the loftiest in understanding, who will receive the truth of the tender and unceasing care of Jesus over his followers, and assurance of an everlasting union with him in a new and glorious life. And what purer or better source of consolation can any believing soul desire ? Nor let it be supposed, that in so speaking of Christ's words, we do represent them as of doubtful or enigmatical import, or as partaking of the nature of riddles, in which the thought intended is designedly concealed, or like the heathen oracles of old, which might be understood in differ- ent ways. It is not common to all language to have such large and deep meaning as Christ's. But it is common to all language to convey more or less, according to the capacity of comprehension in the mind to which it is 260 The Purpose of Christ's Departure, addressed. And the same words, as that capacity advan- ces by reason of advancing age, or better training, or deeper thinking, will convey not perhaps different or contradic- tory, but yet more and deeper meaning. Take for exam- ple such simple, in one sense at least simple, proposition as this : " God made the world." A child, of even a few years, apprehends meaning in that, meaning satisfying to his reason, which will have a cause of all, and raising in him wonder, awe, and worship ; true meaning, therefore, im- portant meaning, sublime and solemn meaning. But no one can suppose that it will convey to his mind the same ideas, the same fulness of meaning, as to one whose mind has been long exercised in contemplating the attributes and perfections of the Deity ; as to one, to whose enlightened and cultivated mind, the word " world " suggests such infinite combinations of wise and benevolent design, carried out with all the resources of omnipotence ; as to him, to whom science has unvailed the slow — to us children of a day that is — slow and gradual process, in which through a succession of ages, a world at last emerged from the primi- tive chaos, ready for the reception of beings, created in the image and after the likeness of God. Each word, God — made — the world — has to the one a depth of meaning,which it has not to the other, but to which the other may ultimately reach, under the training of mind and heart, which the more advanced in wisdom and knowledge has undergone. Just so it is that the words of Scripture, while conveying impor- tant meaning to all, may carry unspeakably more to some than to others. Just so it is, that the same words may convey to the same mind unspeakably more and deeper meaning now, than they did at some less advanced period of its progress in knowledge and spiritual understanding. It is not then the understanding which we may suppose, reasonably suppose, the disciples had of these words of our Lord, at the time they were spoken, or even subsequently, with which we have to do, as if we were limited to that And the Promise of His Return. 2G1 Even when Prophets and Apostles spoke themselves of things future and unseen, they did not always comprehend the full meaning of what they were co-^missioned to reveal to the Church. Often it required the revolution of long time, and much further unfolding of the divine purposes, to make clear what these revelations meant. It is not their understanding of Christ's words, but Christ's words them- selves, in all the amplitude of meaning which is to be found in them., which we have to consider; never limiting his meaning by their understanding, but seeking to ascertain, the fulness of truth which is contained in the words them- selves. Take first then the avowed purpose of our Lord's departure from among his disciples. In stating that pur- pose, he speaks of his Father, God that is, the source and fountain of Deity, and whom he calls not only " the Father," the common Father that is, to enable us to look up to him with filial confidence, and to judge warrantably, and most comfortably,of the Divine Nature,by the instincts and affections of our own, but his Father, to indicate the special relation in which he, the Son, stood to him, as the Word that was in the beginning with God, and one with him. There was no doubt comfort then, there would be more after- wards to the disciples, when they knew more perfectly this high nature, in the tender and loving Master, who had chosen them for his special companions and servants ; and it is the conviction of the high and divine nature in the Saviour, which both magnifies the love of God in the redemption, and gives assured hope of the ultimate restora- tion of those who are by faith united unto Christ, and have, as it were, one common, inner and spiritual life with Him. He speaks too, of "his Father's house," and of the many mansions that are in it. In common language, a house means a man's dwelling place, his habitual residence. What then can be said to be God's house — the Father's house — or dwelling place ? " Behold," said Solomon in his 262 The Purpose of Chris fs Departure , sublime prayer at the dedication of the temple, "Behold, the heaven of heavens cannot contain Him." And in so sayint^, he did but follow the spirit of those noble strains in which David his father had celebrated the praises of the Godhead. "Whither shall I go from thy Spirit, or whither shall I flee from thy presence ? If I ascend up into heaven, thou art there ; if I make my bed in hell, be- hold thou art there ; if I take the wings of the morning and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea, even there shall thy hand lead me, and thy right hand shall hold me." Wheresoever space is, God is, always was, always will be. His presence pervades the universe. Is not then the uni- verse his house ? and the rooms, the separate mansions, what can these be but those glorious systems, like the leaves of the forest, or the sand on the seashore innumera- ble, with which the firmament of heaven is studded, and of which, it may be, only a small portion is in any way revealed to the eye of man, among which our sun and its revolving worlds have their appointed place. Take it that it were so, we may not say it is so, then the import of the Saviour's words would be : Think not that this earth which I am about to leave, how beautiful and glorious soever, and ample in its provision for the accommodation of man, is the only mansion in the universe which is fit for the in- habitation of God's children. The universe is filled with such. If I leave one, it is to go to another. If you, in your turn, are to be withdrawn from this known familiar world and all that it contains of what you have admired and loved, it will be to be introduced into another. Your removal will not be the extinction of being, of life, of sensibility, of happiness. It will be change only, from one to another of the many mansions of your great Father's dwelling place. " If it were not so, I v.ould have told you." Not by me, will you be lured by false expec- tations, or bid to cherish groundless hopes. " I go to prepare a place for you." And the Promise of His Return^ 263 And what place then, according to these views of the subject ? what may we suppose of the nature of it ? Why, think of what we are told elsewhere of the future of the redeemed, and of what we are told, of the working of Christ, not as the Mediator only, but as the Eternal Word who was In the beginning with God. In respect of the future of the redeemed, St. Peter in his second Epistle, after declaring that the day of the Lord would come as a thief in the night, in which the heavens should pass away with a gre^.t noise, and the elements melt with fervent heat, ar J the earth also, and the works that are therein be burned up, adds : " Nevertheless, we, according to His promise, look for new heavens and a new earth, wherein dwelleth righteousness ; " the promise referred to, being probably that in the sixty-fifth chapter of the pro- phecies of Isaiah, " Behold I create new heavens and a new earth ; and the former shall not be remembered nor come into mind." And St. John in the Apocalyptic vision, des- cribing the glory of the redeemed, after the day of final judgment was passed, says, " I saw a new heaven and a new earth : for the first heaven and the first earth were passed away, and there was no more sea." May we not then suppose, that it is this new heaven and new earth, this new and glorious mansion in God's house, to make use of the phraseology of the text, which Jesus went to prepare, and which He is now preparing for the final dwelling place of his redeemed ? And here we may properly take into account, both what Scripture teaches and what sciences teaches, concerning the formation of these glorious orbs, some of which are to pass away having served their destined purpose, and others, more bright and glorious still, to come into exis- tence. Scripture speaks of God as the maker of all things. But then it also teaches, that while the energy of the undivided Godhead was put forth in the work of creation, it 264 The Purpose of Christ's Departure, was through the immediate agency of the Son — the Word who was with God and was God, and in the fuhicss of time became flesh and dwelt among men — that the work was accomplished. " Ky him " that is the Son, it is said in the Epistle to the Hebrews, " God made the worlds." In the Gospel of St. John it is said : *' All things were made by Him, that is by the Word, and without Him was not any- thing made, that was made." And in the Epistle to the Colossians, Christ, that is as before the Son, or Word, is said to be the first born or Lord of the whole creation ; " for by Him were all things created, that are in heaven, and that are in earth, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones ; or dominions, or principalities, or powers ; all things were created by Him and for Him." What more natural then, than to suppose that He who created the heavens and the earth that are now, and which are destined in the purpose of heaven to pass away, shall be also the Creator of the new heavens and the new earth, which are never to be defiled or degraded by the presence of sin, but righteous- ness to have its abiding place in them for ever ? And to such creative energy, about to be put forth, and for the special benefit of his people, is it not natural to suppose that he had reference, when he said, as in the text, " I go to prepare a place for you." But "prepare," what does he mean by the use of the word prepare? Does not that word seem to imply time, labour, anxiety to put all things right ? And is it, can it be necessary, for God to say more than "let it be done," to have all that is desired, accomplished ? Here it is that science comes in with its teachings on the subject of creation. Of the first creative act, it can indeed say nothing, except reason that it must have been. But it does find and give ample proof, that to prepare this earth for the inhabitation of man, was a work of time, a work accomplished during a long succession of ages, in which at intervals there were peculiar interventions of the Divine And the Promise of His Return, 265 power. It Is not how God might have done, with which we have to do, but with what he did, if we desire to judge by analogy with the past of his future doings. And geology, if it teaches anything at all with certainty, teaches this, the long period of preparation which this earth under- went before man was placed upon it. And why may we not suppose, that some analogous preparation is now going on, and under the same agency as the Scriptures reveal in the former case, of the new heaven and the new earth, where the redeemed of the Lord are to have their final and glorious dwelling place ? Or, that as in the first creation, there was a space of time for the elimination of light, and a space for the separating of earth and sea, and a space for decking the earth with tree, and shrub, and flower, and a space for bringing into view the bright lamps of heaven, and a space for filling air, and earth, and water with life, before man was created in the image and placed in the paradise of God ; so in regard of the second creation, which is to have place when the first has passed away and shall no more be remembered or come in mind, a still more glorious preparation may be going on, and under the direction of the same hand and mind — His, who said to the sorrowing disciples in the text, " I go to prepare a place for you." It is not for us to say. Why does not God speak and it is done. That is not God's way of working. God is patient, says a German proverb, because he is eternal. We poor children of the dust, dwelling in cottages of clay, and crushed before the moth, because our time, our time here, is all we think of or care about, we are impatient, eager to have, to clutch, to enjoy what we can, lest in the lapse of our short allotted time we should altogether lose our chance. But so it is not with God. The con- ditions of his being are altogether different. Time, in our sense and in our divisions of it, has no place with him. With him one day is as a thousand years and a thousand 266 The Purpose of Christ's Departure^ years as one day. He is not Impatient to have his work completed. A thousand years, or a thousand centuries of years, are the same to him. He can afford to wait, and so he works by slow degrees, yet with glorious result ; giving time through centuries to the acorn to grow up into the magnificent oak ; giving time through successive millen- niums to the primitive chaos to become the well ordered system, in the enjoyment of the unnumbered blessings of which, we live and move and have our being ; giving time, too, through successive ages for the Gospel leaven to work a regenerating influence in the moral world. And so we may suppose, in some region yet unvisited and unknown of the universe of God, under the eye and by the agency of the creating Word, there may be in process of formation, brighter skies and lovelier scenes than imagination ever pic- tured, and the new heaven and the new earth be becoming meet field for the energies, and fully furnished for the enjoyment, of the redeemed ; not the small weeping band of disconsolate disciples who sat around the Saviour, on the night on which he was betrayed, but the whole glorious company of the sanctified and saved, who through their word and testimony did after believe in his name. No reason is there to suppose that the work of creating, or the carrying on, in worlds already formed, the work of pre- paration for higher and more exalted orders of beings, does ever cease throughout the universe. Astronomers tell us that stars which once shone in the firmament have ceased to appear, and that new stars are coming into view, either their distance having rendered them hitherto inacces- sible to our senses, or because they are but of recent crea- tion. " My Father worketh hitherto," said Jesus, " and I work." The same view of the eterr.ity of God, and the same analogy of his mode of procedure by degrees, in which time, as it is measured by us, is but little regarded, will stand us in stead while considering his promise of return, Afid the Promise of His Return. 267 as well as his purpose in going. The disciples might well imagine that the promise, and the exhortations con- nected with it, were exclusively for them. And they might expect a speedy fulfilment of the promise. But it was not so that Jesus intended either. The intercessory prayer, at the conclusion of the long discourse from which the text is taken, shows clearly that he had regard to all his disciples in all time. " Neither pray I for these alone," said he, "but for them also which shall believe in me through their word." And the result has shewn the general bearing of the word and promise, in this remark- able discourse, since in every country to which the Gospel has penetrated, and to every heart which has felt its power, such word and promise have been precious, in all time of trouble, upholding and comforting. In partic- ular the special promise of the second coming was not specially for the immediate disciples of the Lord. It had, and was intended to have, reference to all his followers, being to them, in every age, a ground of joyful expecta- tion. Neither are we to think the interests of the disciples of the first or of succeeding ages overlooked or disregard- ed, because the fulfilment of the promise is delayed ; nor because of that delay, to doubt of the fulfilment of the promise at all. The true disciples of Christ, when they depart from this life, enter into glory. They are with Christ, and are partakers of his blessedness and glory. They are in a state in whir i there is no sin, in act or tendency, and so no sorrow. And if the constitution of man's nature be not wholly changed, which there is no reason to suppose, for man redeemed and glorified will still be man, a new creature as free from sin, but not new as respects the essential elements and capacities of his nature, if, I say, the constitution of man's nature be not wholly changed, the excitement of hope in respect of this still more perfect and exalted state of being, on which they shall enter after the resurrection, and when 2G8 The Purpose of Chris fs Departure^ Christ shall have presented to himself, the whole body of the redeemed, a glorious Church, without spot or wrinkle or any such thing, must add to their present happiness. It is not much we know, of th*^ intermediate state of the saints between death and the resurrection. But This much, (and this is all) we know. They are completely blest ; Have clone with care and sin and woe, And with their Saviour rest. And as to the delay in the fulfilment of the promise, it is to be considered, that the promise having respect to all Christ's true servants, its fulfilment must be delay- ed till the number of the elect is completed, the whole Israel of God gathered into one. It .^^eems long to us, the time needful for the accomplishmeni of this great object. But what is it to Him, who is from everlasting to everlasting ? " Beloved," says St. Peter, " Be not ignorant of this one thing, that one day is with the Lord as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day. The Lord is not slack concerning his promises, as some men count slackness." No doubt the faith of the ancient Church was tried by the long delay in the fulfilment of the promise of die first coming of the Messiah. But in due time the fulfilment came. And so the Church now is tried in respect of the second coming of the Lord. The lapse of eighteen centuries has shewn how mistaken were the views of those early converts, who hoped to be witnesses of it themselves before they died. One generation of believers has passed away after another, the Church has proved all vicissitudes of fortune, and been visited alike with pros- perity and adversity. Still does she wait the second coming of her great Lord. Nor shall she wait in vain. When the plan of Providence is completed, when the number of the redeemed is made up, when ^11 the sheep of Christ have been gathered into the fold, there shall appear in heaven the sign of the Son of man. Then shall A?id the Promise of His Return. 269 the blessed hope be fulfilled. Then will the glorious appearing take place, to which the saints of each succes- sive age looked forward with devout and confident expec- tation, and they, whose lives were hid with Christ in God here, shall rise and reign with Him in glory. With Him, — observe, it is said, that union with Christ, that being with Him, — whatever be the external glory of the dwell- ing place of the redeemed, and however it be suited to the tastes of its inhabitants — that is to be its great and highest charm. Such Jesus knew to be the feeling of the disciples who were gathered round, in these last moments of his life on earth. And it is the feeling still of all believers. Him having not seen they love. Apart from him, there could be no heaven for them. This is heav^en, to be with him. and as far as the capacities of our nature admits, to be like him. Is this thy feeling, O professing Christian ? Does thy heart thus go forth in love to Him who was the man of sorrows and acquainted with grief? Dost thou see God in him ? and man, too, in the original purity of his nature "i Art thou willing to be his now? Hast thou given thy soul into his keeping ? Art thou his willing servant ? Wouldst thou have thy will brought into conformity with his ? Is this the burden of thy prayer, to be so conformed to him now, that thou mayest be meet for being with him for ever ? Then is Christ doing a work in thee, as well as for thee. He hath gone to prepare a place for thee. But by his promised Spirit, present in thy soul, he is also pre- paring thee for the place. This is a work of which it behoves us all to be conscious. What Christ is doing in the glory to which he is now exalted ; what, in some distant region of space, in which he may be causing a new heaven and a new earth to become a meet abode for the family of the redeemed ; v/hatever, in short, he is doing in the preparation of the place, we can but imperfectly conceive of. Nor is more perfect understanding 270 The Purpose of Christ's Departure, &c. necessary. The interests of believers are safe in Christ's hands, and what they know not now they shall know hereafter. But of what Christ by His Spirit is doing within us, we should ha,ve knowledge. It is not place or circup stances, let us remember, which ensures happiness, however favourable or excellent these be*m themselves, but the suitableness of our disposition to them, the conformity between them and our tempers and desires. And so while Christ prepares a place for his followers, he does also prepare them for the place, working in them, so that there shall be a congruity between the two, a suitableness in the one to minister to the happiness of the other. Now, much of the future dwelling- place of the saints is hid from us. It is indeed but little we know of it. Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, nor hath it entered into the heart of man to conceive it. But this we know, it is a place of pure and perfect holiness. In the new heaven and new earth dwelleth righteousness. Christ is there, and nothing entereth that defileth. And so it behoves, that we become holy and Christ-like, or heaven can be no heaven to us. And Christ's work of making his people holy by his Spirit, they should be daily conscious of. Growing humbleness of mind, grow- ing trust in the gracious promises of God, growing meek- ness of temper, grov-ing submission to the Divine will, growing delight in exercises of piety and works of charity these are tokens and results of the work. Oh , let us seek for them, and pray for them. What matters it that Christ prepares a place, resplendent beyond all our present conception, with the glory of the Divine workmanship. It will not be a place for us, unless we be inwardly pre- pared for it. XXII. THE WILL OF CHRIST THAT HIS PEOPLE BE WITH HIM. St. John xvii-24. Father^ I zvill thai they also 7vhom thou hast given me be 7inth me, where I am ; that they tiiay behold my glory, which tkjn hast given me. It was one part of the work of our blessed Lord upon the earth, to set before his followers an example of all righteousness, and by the exercise of every right disposi- tion towards God and man, to shew, of how much that is excellent and lovely the nature of man is capable ; and this part of his work he did so accomplish, that his is the only perfect character on record, and in their spirit and essence, all virtues proper to men appear, as the occasion called for In the life of him who was holy, harmless, undefiled and' separate from sinners. Among these virtues, the devo- tional temper, which leads the soul to have converse and communion with God, could not fail to be present. And so, in the midst of his life of active beneficence, we find it said of him, that " he was alone prayin g," that " he went up into a mountain apart to pray," and "of his continuing all night in prayer to God." Towards the end of his life on earth, and as his work was drawing to its bitter close, we have some of his very words of prayer receded, and they are singu y suggestive, both of the divine excel- lence of his character, and of the marvellous union in him of the human and the divine. In some of these, it is the human element which is most conspicuous, as when in the prospect of that season which he called himself, " the hour and the power of darkness," he said, as we have it in the twelfth chapter of St. John, " Now is my soul troubled and what shall I say? Father save me from this hour," and 272 TJie Will of Christ that His People he with Him, again, and still more remarkably, when in his agony in the garden, "he fell upon his face, and prayed, saying, "O my Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me." Un- doubtedly it is the apprehension and the anguish of a human spirit, which is to be discerned in these words of imploring earnestness, as it is equally, the endurance, the magnanimity, the resigned submission of a human spirit, which appear in the words which on either occasion fol- lowed the prayer. " But for this cause, came I to this hour." " Nevertheless, not as I will, but as thou wilt." " If this cup may not pass away from me, except I drink it, thy will be done." In this prayer again, in which there is given us most insight into the inner nature of Jesus and his relation with God, while, of course, from the very fact of its being prayer at all the human element appears, yet it is scarcely possible, that we should not be impressed with the greater presence of the Divine. There is through- out it the sublime composure of one, who, in addressing the Father, is conscious of an altogether peculiar relation to him, feels that he is one with him, having a common nature and having been the object of his love " before the foundation of the world." He speaks of a glory which he had with the Father "before the world was," He speaks of a work, which in the pre-existent state, he had given him to do and which was now finished. He speaks of those who had believed in him, that he was sent of God ; and of those, who in after time should believe in him through their word, and says he had given them glory, " the glory which thou hast given me, I have given them." In all this, there is token of the higher nature of Jesus, and most of all is it so, in the text, when as conscious of the perfect unity of purpose between him and the Father, speaking less with words of entreaty than of authority, he says, " Father, I will that they whom thou hast given me be with me, where I arn." In considering these words of our blessed Lord, what The Will of Christ that His People be with Him. 273 does perhaps first strike us is, that there is a people given to Christ, a special people, given in the destination of the Father, and obviously, that they may be sanctified and saved, — an act thus of divine grace and love^ to which our Lord often refers, speaking both of the gift, and of the certainty of the ultimnte safety of those g!\"^n As when he said, " A i that the Father giveth to me, shall come to me ; " and again, " This is the Father's will, that of all which he hath given I should lose nothing ; " and again, " My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me. And I give unto them eternal life, and they shall never perish, neither shall any pluck them out of my hand. My Father, which gave them me, is greater than all, and none is able to pluck them out of my Father's hand." Nor does he, of whom it is said, that as the Father knoweth him, so he knoweth the Father, whose knowledge therefore, of the divine procedure, and of all that constitutes the reason for such procedure, was a per- fect knowledge, ever express dissatisfaction with what he thus affirms, as if the gift were unnecessarily limited or might have been extended to all. Yet, no doubt, to us poor children of mortality, who see so short away into the pur- poses of the divine government, and are so little capable of judging why one method of procedure should be adop- ted rather than another, this very act of divine grace and love is suggestive of inscrutable mystery. For it raises the question, why were not all given to him — a question involving difficulties, which it is impossible to solve or to clear away ; a question, however, which not Christ's words only, but actual facts against which we may not shut our eyes, suggest, for no one can think that all are given to Christ, while so many openly reject him, and so many more reject him practically, neither receiving his word nor submitting themselves to his will. But this question must be left in abeyance. It is not given to us or to our children to understand the deep things of God. It be- S 274 The Will of Christ that His People be with Him, hoves the child to have trust in the Father's wisdom. Our part is to think all right that God does, because he does it. Christ whose love was unspeakably greater and more tender than ours, complained not of the Father's will. Neither must we. Rather let us rejoice, that joined to the very word which testifieth, " All that the Father giveth me shall come to me," is the comforting assurance, " Him that Cometh to me I v/ill in no wise cast out." And, that as sealing up the vision and the prophecy, there are written these words of wide and generous invitation, "The Spirit and the bride say, Come ; and let him that heareth say, Come. And let him that is athirst come. A nd whosoever will let him take of the water of life freely." What obsta- cle to obedience, if obstacle there be, is in ourselves. And who may plead against God his own evil heart and wicked will ? But, secondly, In considering the words of our Lord in the text, it readily occurs to ask, how are Christ's to be known, they whom the Father hath given to Christ. And this raises the double question, how may they, who are Christ's, know it of themselves, and how may this be known of them by others. Now, in respect of the first of these questions. No man reads his own name in the book of Scripture, as one of those given to Christ. Neither can any man ascend up into heaven to read his name in the book of life. Yet God, who has access to all hearts, can reveal it to his children, and does so reveal it, that they cannot choose but know and feel it. Still can it be said of a true believer, " Flesh and blood have not revealed it unto thee, but my Father, which is in heaven." To the soul, to which grace is given to apprehend clearly the freeness and fulness of the salva- tion that is in Christ and that is offered in the Gospel, to the soul humbly accepting that offer, to the soul hearing with faith the invitation to come to Christ, and that comes just as it is, without one plea, but that for it the blood of TJic Will of Christ that His People be with Him. 275 Christ was shed, there is given such sense of divine love, there is so imparted of the peace of God which passeth understanding, that it cannot but know and acknowledge its adoption into the family of God, and its actual partici- pation of the privileges of his children. And so that be- lieving soul can say : By grace I am sa\ ^d. I know that my Redeemer liveth. I know, whom I have believed. Nothing shall separate me from the love of God. And it has inward peace, everlasting consolation and good hone. And then in respect of the second question, How may this special relation to Christ be discerned by others ? It is by the same way in which, to a certain extent, it is con- firmed to the believer himself. And that is by the pre- sence of holy tempers and dispositions, such as lead to holy living, and such as the Scriptures declare to be the fruit of the working of the Spirit of God in the soul. If there be knowledge of divine truth ; if there be the unfaltering ex- pression of trust, humble yet confident, in the mercy of God flowing through the channel of the Saviour's media- tion ; if there be token of genuine and undissembled humility ; if there be the manifestation -of a patient and submissive spirit, that murmurs not at any sufferings which may have to be borne, but rather discerns grace and mercy in the providential dealings of God, however for the time grievous ; if there is readiness to forgive, as knowing how much there needs to be forgiven ; if there is the appreciation of good in those in whom there are tokens of spiritual life ; if there is overflowing love to all ; if in the conduct of life, or in the conflict with death, such be the state, such the dispositions of the soul, are not these the letters with which Christ writes his new name upon his servants, and by which they become his Epistle known and read of all men. We reject Scripture, and refuse the encouragement and consolation it is designed to give, if we own not these as the handwriting of God, if we discern not in these the testimony of the Spirit, bearing witness 27 G The Will of Christ that His People bezuith Him. of those who have them, that they are the children of God, and of those whom the Father hath given to Christ. " He that bclievcth in the Son of God," says the Apostle, " hath the witness in .himself." And " hereby know we, that we dwell in God, and God in us, because He hath given us of his Spirit." In the third place, while considering the words of our Lord in the text, we may take into account his purpose, with respect to those who have been given him by the Father. It is, that they be with him where he is. And this is in conformity with what he says elsewhere in the same Gospel : " If any man serve me, let him follow me ; and where I am, there shall also my servant be." In res- pect of which purpose of Christ, be it remarked : First, that it did not, when expressed by his immediate disciples, and it does not now, when bearing en those, who through the word of his disciples have believed in his name, imply tlieir immediate removal from this life. The disciples, as the chosen Apostles of the faith, had a work to do in the world, even to carry the Gospel of Christ over the world, and everywhere to bear witness to his resurrection from the dead. And like all other Christian people, they had a work of sanctification to be wrought in them, by the Divine Spirit, and through the dealings of Providence, without which they could not be prepared to be with Christ in his glory, and yet, which in his administration of grace, God causes not ordinarily to be wrought at once, but through the alternations of a spiritual conflict, in which the flesh lusteth against the spirit, and the spirit against the flesh, out of which the believer comes at last conqueror and more than conqueror. And as it was with them, so it is with all who are given to the Father. They have to be disciplined by the divine Providence. They have to be purified by the grace and Spirit of God, and so a meetness be wrought in them for their ultimate destination. And they have a work, too, in the world, in discharging the The Will of Christ that His People be with Him. 277 duties of which they can honour Christ and make ad- vancement themselves in the divine Hfe. But in due time the inward work is accomplished, and when God sees meet, the outward work too comes to an end. And then of this one, and that one, who has been washed and justified and sanctified in the name of the Lord Jesus and by the Spirit of our God, Christ says, as in the text, Father I will that he, or she, whom thou hast given to me, be with me where I am, and the believing soul so spoken of, departs to be with Christ. To be with Christ now, that is not merely at the resurrection, but on its departure from the body. To be "absent from the body" was equiva- lent with St. Paul, in the case of Christian believers, to be- ing " present with the Lord." And again " to depart," that is from this world, was, he said, " to be with Christ." It is inconceivable to some that there should be life, thought, feeling, apart from the body, which has fallen into corruption and decay. But some material organization, if neces ary as it seems, there may very well be conceived to be, in the interval that elapses between death and the repairs and restoration of the body at the resurrection. And some such thing seems to be intimated by St. Paul in the fifth chapter of his second Epistle to the Corinthians •when he speaks of the soul earnestly desiring " to be clothed upon with its house which is from heaven." Is not this some dwelling place of the soul, prepared for it till the resurrec- tion, in virtue of which it will not be found naked, but clothed upon and capable of being joined with Christ, in the glory to which he is now exalted. However this be, the soul of the believer will be with him where he is, and with the believers that have cast off the burden of the flesh. " To- day," said our Lord to the penitent thief on the cross, " To- day thou shalt be with me in Paradise." What reason can there be for thinking, that it was to be different with him from others ? Then again, in the third place, in respect of Christ's 278 The Will of Christ that His People be with Him. j)urpose expressed in the text, it shall be fully and per- fectly carried out, at his second and glorious coming. For then not only shall the spirit be with Christ, disem- bodied, or rather it would seem according to St. Paul, not in a state of nakedness, but clothed upon and dwelling in a house from heaven, suited to its circumstances in the in- termediate state between death and the resurrection, but the whole renewed and redeemed nature shall be with Christ, the body formed and fashioned like unto his glorious body, and soul and spirit, bearing the image of God, in which man was at first created. Then, when Those bodies that corrupted fell Shall incorrupted rise, And mortal forms shall spring to life Immortal in the skies — the last enemy shall be destroyed, and death shall be sswallowed up in victory. In the fourth place, while considering the words of our Lord in the text, we may take into account the result of the carrying out of his purpose therein expressed. And that result is two-fold. It may be considered in respect of those who remain, and in respect of those who depart. And first, in respect of those who remain. They who are given to Christ to be his, his in a special and peculiar sense, his as the object of tender love or as the subject of continual provision and care, given to him, to be his inalienably and for ever, have in a lower sense been also given to others ; a sense which while vastly lower and less momentous in its consequence, does yet imply and produce, if not love like Christ's love, yet such love as men can feel, and love such as grapples as with hooks of steel one cliild of man unto another ; and no doubt, when Christ's loving purpose comes to be carried out, it rends and saddens many a heart. Death is a terrible visitant even when he comes in subjection to Christ, and to carry out his holy and loving purpose. It is a bitter trial, when the daughter of a tender and unbroken affection is laid in the The Will of Christ that His People be with Him, 210 dust ; when a wife and mother, loving and beloved, leaves a desolate husband and a weeping family ; or when the bright intellect, the warm affection, the noble instincts of early manhood, strong for the world's work and for God's work in the world, pass away and are lost, as far as all life here is concerned, in the silence of the grave. But such is the rule, under the government of God, which will have no union here of hearts which finds not here an end. And we must not murmur at it. We need to be impressively taught that this is not our rest. We need to be made to look for better things than the World can give, and to establish connections and relationships, which shall outlive the shock of death and the silence of the grave. Christ's way of taking to himself, to be where he is those who h ave been given to him of the Father, is not wanting in wisdom or in love. Nay, it is in tender love for those who remain, and in wise provision for their good, that it has been chosen ; and good does and will come out of it, how grievous so- ever it be for the time, if they, who suffer under it, are moved to be followers of those who through faith and patience are now inheriting the promises, and to cleave to that blessed Lord and Saviour, who having loved his own from the beginning loves them unto the end. But in the second place, and as what chiefly concerns us to consider, is the result, the result, that is of Christ's carrying out the purpose expressed in the text to those who depart. And first, they are with Christ. Now how much of meaning, comfortable and glorious meaning, is im- plied in that short and simple statement. It does not in- deed tell us, where or how glorious that heaven to which the risen Saviour ascended ; where or how glorious that Paradise to which he bore from earth the dying felon by his side ; but there is implied in it all imaginable provision for the soul's honour and happiness. Where in earthly society are we inclined to look for such ample provision ? Is it not to the palaces of kings, in which all that wealth or power 280 The Will of Christ that His People be zvith Him, can do to gratify the tastes of men and fill up the measure of their enjoyment, are at command ? But what are earthly kings or courts to Him, who is the King of Kings and Lord of Lords, who has all sources of every pleasure that is refined and pure at his disposal, and whose loving nature will dispose him to throw them open unto all, whose happy destiny is to be with Him. Can it be once supposed, that the words of the Psalmist should fail to apply to the place, where is the personal presence of Christ ? " In thy presence there is fulness of joy : at thy right hand there are pleasures evermore." Again, they shall behold, they do behold, the glory of Christ. That they may do so, is indeed the reason speci- fied why they should be with Christ. " Father I will that they whom thou hast given to me be with me where I am ; that they may behold my glory, which thou hast given me." They behold the glorious body which Christ has taken with him into heaven. They behold the glorious hosts, by which he is surrounded. Nay, and the material glory of that place of blessedness, may be such as nothing in this lower region of the divine works can enable us to have any adequate conception of. While doubtless,there will be given to them a far clearer apprehension of the glory of Christ, both in work of creation and of redemption, there shall ever be matter for study, matter to call forth admiration, to bow the soul in reverential worship, to deepen affiance to Christ, and to quicken the sentiments of gratitude and love. But still further, it is not only given to them to see, either as a matter cf sense or of understanding, the glory of Christ. It will be given them to participate in that glory. To see, or to behold, is sometimes used with that latitude of meaning in Scripture. Thus it is said by our Lord, In the third chapter of this Gospel, " Ex- cept a man be born again he cannot see the Kingdom of God," that is evidently, he cannot participate in its glory The Will of Christ that His People be with Him. 281 and blessedness ; and so it may be understood to be used here. Besides, it is expressly stated in a former verse of this chapter : " The glory m hich thou hast given me, I have given them, that they may be one, as we are one. I in them, and thou in me, that they may be made perfect in one," — one, that is, in holy feeling and holy principle. In being with Christ then, the soul of the believer shares in the honour and dignity that have been accorded to him. Lastly, we cannot rightly judge of Christ's glory, with- out taking into account his supreme and perfect moral ex- cellence. That indeed constitutes his supreme and highest glory — the glory to which the redeemed and renewed soul will be most alive, and which it will regard with ever growing admiration and love. Now such study and love of moral excellence has a special effect upon the soul. There is thereby wrought in it a moral resemblance to the excellence which it loves and contemplates ; a resemblance ever growing, as the study is pursued, and the opportunities for pursuing it are ample. Such result, even the contem- plation of Christ, which is possible for the believer in this life, does to a certain extent accomplish ; so that " beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord, we are transformed into the same image, from glory to glory, as by the Spirit of the Lord." And such result shall be yet more extensively and effectually accomplished, hen the renewed spirit shall have ampler opportunities of knowing and contemplating Christ, and greater desire to take advantage of them. So says the beloved disciple, " It doth not yet appear what we, the sons of God, shall be, but we know, when he shall appear, we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is." Likeness to Christ then, likeness to Him in that which constitutes his chiefest glory, likeness too ever growing, that is one result of being with Him where He is. And can a nobler or more gloiious, enter into the contemplation or the desires of any soul, which has learned rightly to dis- tinguish between things that differ, and to approve most 282 The Will of Christ that His People be ivith Him. that which is 'most excellent. Ah, there is no cause to mourn those, whom we have reason to hope and to believe that Christ has taken to be with Him where He is. It is well with them, and it will be well with us if we seek to follow them. They are beholding Christ's glory. They, in the sphere allotted them, are doing Christ's work, and are blessed in the doing of it. Their sun doth no more go down neither doth their moon withdraw itself ; for the Lord is their everlasting light, and the days of pain and sorrow and suffering are forever ended. And now, I would conclude with the remark that it is in the proportion we have learned to turn our minds to the contemplation of Christ, that we advance in the divine life. In Christ, the Gospel is, as it were, em- bodied — the divine love which it reveals, the human duty which it enjoins,the gracious promises it makes. There is much no doubt, in connection with the Gospel, which may legitimately form subject of the Christian's thoughts. There are the credentials of Christ's mission ; there is the abstract truth he taugiit ; there is the establishment and order of his Church ; there are the predictions of its fortunes, and of the second coming of its Lord ; there are the histories and experiences of the saints. But ever in its hour of need, aid when is it not an hour of need, it is to the personal Saviour, the earnest and believing soul cleaves, and from him it obtains the grace and strength which it requires. Nothing, in the time of trouble, must stand between the soul and Christ. " Lord," it says, " to whom can I go, but unto Thee. Thou alone hast the words of eternal life." "Lord, Thou knowest all things. Thou know- est that I love thee." "Jesus, thou Son of David, have mercy upon me." " Without thee I cannot live, without thee I dare not die." Why is it that in his trouble, the believer does, as if by natural instinct, turn to the discourses and prayer of Christ, from which the text is taken ? It The Will of Christ that His People be with Hint. 283 is because Christ, the living, loving Saviour, stands so prominent through them, and it is, as if through the inter- vening centuries, the words of Divine consolation still reached the believer's ear, in those tones of tenderness with which they were uttered at the first. There is an old story of a great conqueror, who asked a captive king at what price he would redeem the liberty of his wife. At the price of my own life, was the answer. The conqueror kindly released them both, with honours and presents. And when afterwards the conversation turned on him who had been so generous, and the question was asked of the wife, what she thought of him, " I did not observe him said she. " Not observe him, on what then was your attention fixed? " On that dear and generous man, said she, " who offered his own life as the price of mine." It is thus that the believer's eye should be fixed on Christ* on Him, who not only offered but gave his life a ransom for us, so fixed, as to exclude the contemplation of meaner objects, that might win the soul from its duty and alle- giance to Him who is its King and Lord. And so it behoves the believer to set forth Christ to his children, and to all over whom he has influence, and plainly to teach the way of acceptance by him. It is much to have clear views of divine truth, when the time comes that there is a felt need of that truth. Fill the water pots with water. What knowest thou, O Christian, how soon it may please Christ to turn the water into wine ? Give them knowledge of God and of His Son. What knowest thou, how soon it may become that saving know- ledge which is life eternal ? Specially it is our duty from this place, so to set forth Christ, and to teach the way of acceptance, to those who know it not or know it but dimly and imperfectly. To those who are in such plight, let St. Paul himself, the great Apostle, be the preacher now, and in the very words he addressed of old to the Roman Church. Thus you have it in the tenth chapter of his Epistle. 284 The Will of Christ that His People be with Him. " Moses describeth the righteousness which is of the law, that the man which doeth those things shall live by them."' No doubt this is a divine rule, firm and stable as every word of God is. Take the comfort of it, O man, whoso- ever thou art, whose conscience bears thee witness, that thou hast kept all the law at all times. But if this thou canst not claim to have done, then for thy comfort learn thou this :— "The righteousness which is of faith speaketh on this wise : If thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised Him from the dead, thou shalt be saved. Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to every one that believeth." Christ apprehended by faith, stands instead of that righteousness of the law, which thou hast not rendered. '^Whosoever believeth on Him shall not be ashamedj' XXIII. THE REVELATION AND EXECUTION OF JUDGMENT. EoMANS II.5. St. Jude XIV.15. The day of wrath and rn