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Un des symboles suivants apparattra sur la dernidre image de cheque microfiche, selon le cas: le symbols —^ signifie "A SUIVRE", le symbole V signifie "FIN". Maps, plates, charts, etc., may be filmed at different reduction ratios. Those too large to be entirely included in one exposure are filmed beginning in the upper left hand corner, left to right and top to bottom, as many frames as required. The following diagrams illustrate the method: Les cartes, planches, tableaux, etc., peuvant dtre filmds d des taux de reduction diff^rents. Lorsque le document est trop grand pour dtre reproduit en un seul cliche, il est filmd d partir de Tangle sup^rieur gauche, de gauche i droite, et de haut en bas, en prenant le nombre d'images ndcessaire. Les diagrammes suivants illustrent la m6thode. 1 2 3 1 2 3 4 6 6 '1 ^ / H 3i^? PULPIT DISCOURSES EXPOSITOKY AND PRACTICAL, AND / -J,-.. COLLEGE ADDRESSES, '&a BY N MICHAEL WILLIS, D.D., LL.D., EMERITUS PUOFZS«OU OP DIVINITV AND PRINCIPAL O. KNOX' COLLEGF TOliONTO, AND FOR.MEItLY MINISTER OF RENFIELD CHURCH, GLASGOW, \ g9zo o LONDON PLLl^ JAMES NISBET & CO., 21 BEIINERS STREET. 1873. PREFACE. The author of these discourses is not without reason tot believing, that such a memorial of his labours will be acceptable to many respected friends in both hemispheres. Yet, he would hardly have allowed himself, on the ground alone of wishes kindly expressed, to venture either on the publication of those portions of the book never yet printed, or the republication of pieces already circulated in other forms, had he not thought that the volume so constituted as a whole might in some valuable degree subserve the cause of truth, and the edification of Christians. To members, still sumving, of his affectionately re- membered flock in Scotland, some of the Texts found here, and their illustrations, will recaU Sabbaths and Sacraments long gone by-and precious in the pastors remembrance as well as theirs. Transatlantic parties, he is also assured, are prepared mmm IV PREFACE. to welcome from the press a selection from those fruits of his sacred studies, to which they did him the honour to listen with attention when delivered from Pulpit or 'Chair. Nor can he forget, any more than they, precious seasons of spiritual enjoyment, in visits to congregations up and down the country which he made in the intervals of College labours — sui)plying, on occasion, the bread of life to such as had as yet no pastors, or assisting pastors in the administration of word and ordinances. Having been much among Students, their benefit has been largely in the author's view, as well in tlie pulpit discourses which bulk so largely in the volume, as in the college addresses proper. He submits them with some humble confidence as illustrations of rules which he was wont to insist upon. Not only would he show what he means by " preaching Christ," in connection with whatever special subject, but by preaching the "word." He has long been an advocate for more doctrinal preaching than has been common, or a fuller presenta- tion of the truths of systematic theology (not, however, using the term in its very technical sense), and the results of careful exegetical theology also; in other words, more frequent exhibition of the glorious truths of the Gospel in their own interesting relations to one PBEFACE. V another, with clear expositions of the scriptural grounds on which the preacher rests his statements — all this of course with a practical view, and for the strengthening of appeals to the conscience and affections. He believes it is according to the truest pliilosophy of the Art of preaching to expect moral effects in pro- portion as the unsearchable riches of Christ are set forth, — the Gospel being the power of God for sanctifica- tion as well as peace. Too often that instrument of power is weakly wielded, and the great truths of re- vealed religion either meagrely spoken out, but in hints and scraps — or taken for granted as if familiar to all, while the preacher hastens on to "the practical." He believes that he who is most deeply alive to the value of the Gospel truth, and who knows experimentally its value to the spiritual life, will be the most urgent in setting forth the claims of the divine law also, yea, most minute in its exposition. It may often be observed that a meagre Gospel is accompanied with a superficjial analysis of spiritual affections, and too vague or general — though oft and oft reiterated inculcation of the Chris- tian ethics. The author also — in connection with this — may be allowed (he will be excused, he hopes, if after fifty years' VI PREFACE. service of Christ, lie seems to speaks in an [inthorita- tive tone) to recomiaend preaching from whole verses, or from various verses, as the basis of discourse. He does not mean only passages chosen for exposition in pulpit lectures — though these are of great utility — but when " texts " of sermons proper are, as too often they are, founded on detached clauses, he thinks the temptation is frequently yielded to, of indulging in wire-drawn, weary, illustrations, in which opinions and speculations of the man bulk far beyond the dictates of the " word " itself. In this preference of a clause, as the motto of the essay, he has seen the context dismissed and the very associated clause, that at least might have been drawn upon for illustration, left untouched. Some students may remember the author's reference to a discourse he once heard on 2 Peter iii. 18 — "Grow in grace," in which the clause beside it was forgotten or ignored. An- oth' r preacher on Eph. iv. 30, set off at once on an elaborate dissertation on sinners' freedom ot will and respoL ibility for rejecting the Gospel, without observ- ing how it is primarily addressed to saints ! The effect is that hearers have too sparingly dealt out to them, what comes home to the conscience and heart with authority. It was the " reasoning out of the Scriptures," and the com- PIIEFACE. ^.}i paring of spiritual tilings with spiritual, ^vith frequent direct reference to the " Thus saith the Lord,"-it was this in the hands of the apostles, and our reformers, that wasi attended with effects so blessed ;-a,nd it is this, he Lelievea, that anywhere, will build up an intelligent piety, and a correspondingly high morale. Of course the book of creation to be drawn upon in fitting proportion, or nature in subordination to revelation. When he recommends passages of some length for exposition, or texts of whole verses, or two or three verses even, in preference to little clauses torn txom their context, he appreciates, not the less, concentration and drift in ser- mons ; and the preacher of fair logical power should know how to combine variety with unity. As has just been suggested, much reference should be made to well-selected Scriptures in the very words of the Spirit, that poor souls may have something stronger to lean upon than either the modest but uncertain "I think," or the confident " I hold," of a fellow man. The author should add, that— looking on this very much as a "Memorial " volume,-he has introduced into it several pieces neither coming under the head of pulpit discourses nor of college addresses. Speeches are repro- Vlll I'BEFA'CE. duceJ liere — delivered in Pj'et-lytery and Assembly, — refcrrin^f however to errors, •vvLicli itill come often to the surface. These he gives neaiilj ;i» fcmnd in the ordinary newspaper reports of the time : Hii tiliou^ht it best to let them stand in their naturalnesji, iim first person, or third person, as originally reported. A like remark applies to om: sermon — the second — which, after hesitation, he iaBertoi. In was preached at I'aris, in the absence of his mami*<'.ript, on brief warning. He was surprised at the accinracT <^ the short-hand re- porter ; and he felt not unwilling: itiO' preserve it as a sort of specimen of the author's exitiQiiLprjraneous preaching. But the " extemporaneous " — yih.km. fey this is meant un- premeditated — as this was not — fefe wf.th no one less favour than with the author : J^i let him take the opportunity of saying in the eai' od' itodenta, that he is no friend to absolutely extempore pnaBBDe prayer either. He respectfully asks a perusal of Im Letter on prayer in Appendix E. Finally, the Author should pei"liaf» apologise for insert- ing at the close of the volume, Trihiitt is a public church document, but prepared by himself m fti* capacity of con- vener of a committee of AssemMj, Though his main IX PREFACE. argiameBt for it3 insertion is tlie practical utility of tlie Bill, v.: han.IIe.!, he will not be hardly jud-ed, if he owns to at ,ert;un pleasure in perpetuating_so long as this xdmm lives-the remembrance of the honour so gener- ous?- .recorded to him by the fathers and brethi^n of the Canada Presbyterian Church, few of whom he is littlT ur see in the face again ; in their electing him the Moteator of their first General Assembly, notwiL^ End- ing Im notice given of his wish to retire from the charge he La.i hdd among them, and return to the part .it land, to ^ui there th > evening of life. The docuriicnt, though aJreadj a'rculated in pamphlet form, will thus be hotter pre£.eiTel for use :-and at home here, it appeared, being 60 pmtieal, no unsuitable accompaniment to the largely dcetjiijdl and polemical materials of tlie book. I\I. W. KEKibncCTiJS,. London, fime 1373. CONTENTS. I II, III, IV. V. VI. VII. VIII. IX. X. XI. XII. XIII, XIV. XV. XVI, XVII. PULPIT DISCOURSES. . The Pakable of the Laboukeiw (Matt. xx. MO) . Rest for the Weary (Matt. xi. 28) . . Conversion o. the Ethiopian, and his Baptism (Acts ' viii. 26) , . Mediatory Prerooatives of Christ (John v. 21) ^ The Messiah's Work and Reward (Lsa. liii. li) The Communion op Christ's Body and Blood (John vi. 55) . _ ^ The Fruit of the Spirit-Peace, etc. (Gal. v '>o 03^ ' Peculiar or Higher Privileges uf Believer's iv' Christ (2 Cor. i. 21, 22) The Sovereignty op God in Revivals (Luke x ' ^n ) Eternal Election no Discouragement to Faith, and" NO Excuse for Inaction (2 Thess. ii. 13.17) Walking with God, and its Happy Issue (Gen v ^\) ' Noah's Faith-Promise of the Seasons (Gen. viii 2U.2'>) Christ the Covenant op the People (Ina. xlix. 8, with Ivi. G, 7) , . , The Fountain Opened for Snr (Zech. xiii. \) ' , ' ' Adam and Christ-Eeign op Grace (Rum. v 17) The Duty or^ Mourning for the Siks of a Land (Ezek' IX. 4) . , _ The Mystery-Christ in us (Col. i. 27) PAdE 1 17 33 49 60 85 100 113 114 16;i 192 206 225 211 257 271 Xll CONTENTS. XVIII. Death made Tributary to the Glory of God (John xxi. 19) 285 XIX. The Marriage-Supper op the Lamb (Rev. xix. 9) . 304 COLLEGE ADDRESSES. I, A Standing Ministry, and the Relation of System- atic Theology to the work of the Pulpit . 319 11. On the Gospel Call — Its Ground . . . 340 III. New Testament Ethics : Questions Solved . . 351 APPENDICES. Appendix A.— Oiutuauy, or Monumental Part of Discourse XVIII. ...... 379 Appendix r>. —A Fragment of Criticism on the word "Ser- vant," BEING A Defence of cub Authorized Version . . . . .389 Appendix C. — Speeches in Presbytery, and General Assembly, IN THE Case of the (then) Minister of Free St. Mark's, Glasgow, . . . o'J4 Appendix D. — What is Religion ? Dr. Caird's Sermon Re- viewed ..... 4'25 Appendix E. — Letter on Public Prvyer : Desiderata in Pres- byterian Services .... 434 Appendix F. — Pastoral Address by a Committee of the Gene- ral Assembly of the Canada Presbyterian Church ..... 439 PULPIT DISCOURSES. THE PAEABLE OF THE LABOTTEEES. ■Tor the kingdo:^ „t leaven is like „„.„ a „a„ that i. an ho„,ehol,ler „h„ went out early in tl>e momingto laire labourer, into Li, vineyard Ami .„ the ta *all be tat, and the first last : for n,any be oaUed but few chosen."— Matt. xx. 1-16. ' These latter are solemn words: and as they close this dis- course of our Lord, I may say they introduce it also; for wo find m the concludiiig verse of the immediately pre- cecmg chapter the same statement, or, "many that are Lt shall ho last, and the last first,"_accompanied here with the affecting addition, "many be caUed, but few chosen " It seems plain that this concluding aphorism affords the best key to the meaning of the whole passage, since it is our Saviours own practical improvement of his discourse Ihe last clause fixing our attention on nominal in dis- tinction from real members of Christ's Church, in terms applicable to all times indiscriminately; and the accom- panymg clause distinguishing eariier and later economies [ and opportunitiesi combine to warrant a two-fold reference m i> THE PARABLE OF of the whole parable ; first, to tlic Jews and Gentiles com- paratively ; socondly, to nominal and real Christians comparatively. In the First view, our Lord is reproving self-righteous Israelites, — those "Jews outwardly" who boasted over other men on the ground of their long enjoyed national advantages, and who could scarcely persuade themselves that sinners of the Gentiles should inherit the hinudom of heaven, or, on equal terms witli themselves, possess the blessings of the covenant made with their fathers. In the other view, the parable reproves the spirit of self-righteous- ness whether in Jew or Gentile, and exhibits the certain connection between faith in Christ and salvation, as well in the case of a late or unlikely penitent as of the earlier subject of grace. These two views of the parable resolve, it may be seen, into one ; or, under the former view, we have just a particular exemplification of wdiat in the second is generalised. The Jew erred in erecting a fan- cied claim to exclusive or preferable rights on his earlier calling; the self-righteous formalist — Gentile as well as Jew — errs in trusting in external observances, and pluming himself on their number or bulk rather than their kind. Such may be shut out from the kingdom, or be behind in entering it, as compared with many who surpass as far in the substance of religion as they come short in specious demonstrations ; later, perhaps, in starting in the spiritual race, yet keeping better to the appointed course ; labourers, hearty and sincere though not boasters, putting forward no works of their own as the i^rice of eternal life, but thank- fully as sinners submitting to the righteousness of God. TUE LABOURERS. 3 o Attention to this design of onr Lord fit once removes two difficulties which some expositors have found in this passage ; one in reconciling what is said of the labourers faring alike in the end of the day, with the numerous inti- mations elsewhere of a variety in the distribution of final rewards ; the other that earlier debtors to grace should seem to grudge salvation to later : For that variety may consist with salvation being on one principle of grace, through the one meritorious righteousness of the IMediator; and so the passage, while asserting Divine Sovereignty in the choice of the vessels of mercy, in opposition to claims of human deserving, is quite in harmony with others, — for example, Luke xix. (parable of the servants entrusted with the money of their absent lord), — which assert pro- portionate rewards of greater or less diligence. Again, as to the second difficulty ; what seems strange, that persons called earlier by grace should here be found grudging the salvation of later converts, Avill be seen to be in harmony with what is the fact, that no really gracious persons do grudge at the extension of mercy to the chiefest sinners ; since the concluding words explain that the mur- murers are formalists only, — the ' called,' not the ' chosen.' — Such seeming but not real labourers under Christ, in pleading that they have borne the burden and heat of the day, and putting forward on the ground of this a claim to differ' 1. treatment, just identify themselves with the Pharisee mentioned elsewhere wlio despised others ; or with those whom Christ, in the house of Simon, spoke of as forgiven little, that is, having no adequate sense of their need of forgiveness, and so ^^■ho love little. 1 THE PARABLE OF How aptly do the various parts of this parable before iis fit into the former of these applications ! God, the great householder, going out early to hire labourers into His vineyard, first called the children of Abraham, L)' pro- phet after prophet, He addressed that people, rising up early and sending them. At length. He sent his Son, still to them lirst ; for Christ's commission also was prima- rily to the lost sheep of the house of Israel. Yet He was to be a light to the Gentiles as well. And strange that with so many intimations in ancient Scripture of a purpose of grace towards all nations, the Jewish people should have cherished prejudices so narrow and exclusive ! It is true we see a primary regard to them avowed in the commis- sion of the apostles also : " To you first, God having raised up His Son Jesus, sent Him to bless you," said Peter, in his sermon at Jerusalem at the Pentecostal time, — "To you first." But he reminds his Israelitish auditory, that, though first, they were not to be alone the children of the cove- nant. Nay, the parable enunciates that the last were to be the first, or, as Christ puts it elsewhere, the kingdom of God was to be taken from them, and given to others bringing forth the fruits thereof. So it has been. It was, indeed, no small advantage the Jews possessed in being so long privileged with a Divine revelation and a pure worship, Avhile others were enveloped in heathen darkness. "Of them were the covenants, and the service of God, and the promises." They were hired early, if we may so speak in the language of the parable ; not, however, that even under the Sinai dispensation, man was ever warranted to believe 1 THE LABOURERS. that eternal life was attainable by any sinner on the con- dition of his own works of righteousness. To buy or to earn the kingdom of God is alike impossible to Jew and to Gentile. It is not meant, therefore, by the householder enfTao'ino' the labourers, whether at the earlier or the later hour, that any man since the days of Adam could justify himself by the law or covenant of works. The description in the parable, as if of a contract between master and ser- vant, is an accommodation to ordinary customs as among men. But we may never foi'get that "eternal life is the gift of God through Jesus Christ our Lord." To Abraham the inheritance was by promise, — believed for, not earned. And it never was to Abraham's children, any more than to the Gentiles, held out as the meritorious reward of human righteousness. The promise early given was not made void by the law. The law entered that the offence might abound; — that man the sinner might feel the need of a Mediator, and be shut up to the faith. One way, and one way only, of sal- vation, was from the day of the fall possible to mankind. And so Israel, though profc ng to follow after the law of righteousness, did not attain to righteousness. "Wherefore ? The apostle answers (Ilom. ix. 32), " Because they sought it not by faith, but as it were by the works of the law : for they stumbled at that stumbling-r,tone. But the Gentiles, which followed not after righteousness, have attained to righteousness, even the righteousness which is of faith.' It is not meant that all Israel was rejected ; nor does the aphorism that the last shall be first imply that they were. There were multitudes among Israel according to the flesh who "obtained," though the rest were blinded. THE PAIIABLE OF Were they not men of Israel who lifted up their voices in grateful praises to God, because a door of faith was opened to the Gentiles ? The murmurers, as we have suggested, include those only — too numerous, alas ! — to wliom the cross of Christ was an ofl'ence ; who laboured at a work of lighteousness in their own way, and bore the burden and heat of the day rather in a superstitious observance of ex- ternal rites tlian in the reasonable services of a spiritual worship. These are justly reproved, in the end of the day, for their presumption and self-confidence. The grace to which every saved one must liold himself a debtor is repre- sented as making no dilierence between one class and another ; no dilierence, that is, in respect of the ground of justification, or way of access to God ; no difference in re- spect of tlie adaptation of the provisions of grace to the needs of one and aU. It was thus the apostle Peter as- serted at the council of Jerusalem (xicts xv.) the equal warrant to receive the Gentile as the Jew into the fellow- ship of the Churcli : " God hath given to them " — the Gen- tiles — "the Holy Ghost, even as He gave unto us; and put no difference between us and them, purifying their hearts by faith," And so Paul also makes the last to be the first when he says (Gal. ii.), "We, who are Jews by nature, and not sinners of the Gentiles, knowing that a man is not justified by the works of the law, but by the faith of Jesus Christ, even we have believed in Jesus Christ, tliat we might be justified by the faith of Christ, and not by the works of tlie law : for by the works of the law shall no flesh be justified." We have but to open the Book of the "Acts" to see how ■? ■ THE LABOURERS. 1 literally the men of Israel fulfilled the prophecy, as it ma)- be called, of this parable. Was it uot when they contra- dieted and blasphemed, on occasion of the gospel being preached at Antioch by Paul and Barnabas, that these apostles thus boldly declared the counsel of God? — "It was necessary that the word of God should first have been spoken to you : but seeing ye put it from you, and judge yourselves unworthy of everlasting life, lo, we turn to the Gentiles. For so hath the Lord commanded us, saying, I have set thee to be a light of the Gentiles, that thou shouldest be for salvation to the ends of the earth." Nor is the result less remarkable as noted by the sacred historian : "And when the Gentiles heard this, they were glad, and glorified the word of the Lord : and as many as were or- dained to eternal life believed." II. We have said that our second interpretation of this passage is not essentially different from our first. It only recognises the general application of principles which have a primary but not exclusive illustration in the relative states of Jew and Gentile to God's dispensation of grace. In this second view of the passage, then, we make our practical application of it to ths concerns of all in com- mon. Now, we speak of the gospel as addressing itself to men of all ages and characters — to older and to younger — to lesser sinners and greater ; and the parable in this view is still an assertion of God's right to do what He wills with His own. In this view, also, it needs to be explained that we are not to understand the engagement entered into witli the labourers as warranting the idea that we may make 8 ! * 1 • THE PARABLE OF terms with God, or that wc can now enter into life by a covenant of works. It does indeed teach that the Divine Master estahlifshes a oovenant with all whom He persuades to come into Ilis service ; tliat, whereas He might in abso- lute sovereignty command our obedience, He encourages us by promises. The parable, moreover, does teach that all men are called to labour for God, and that labour rightly done shall have its reward. j\Ien are called under all dispensations to labour. This is their duty by the law of their creation : redemption only increases the reasons, and multiplies the encouragements of obedience. P>ut it is the spirit of the parable, nevertheless, to teach us that we cannot by any amount of labour establisli a title meritorious of life, or a ground of glorying before God. It is not on the principle of so much for so much, or 'do this and live," that God deals with us now. And so the labourer entering on his service at the eleventh hour just fares as does his fellow-servant who toiled from morning onward. The thing intended to be impressed on us is, that salvation is free as well as precious, — so out of reach of human merit to deserve, or hum>an power to establish a right to it, that only they who, like the Gentiles, receive it by faith, receive it at all; that to be called early, or permitted to labour longer, is just so much greater privilege, and so much more enhances ou"»' debt of gra- titude to grace ; and, that under any circumstances what- ever, it is only when coming in the spirit of debtors to mercy, absolute mercy, that we are in case to appreciate the infinite benefit : for so truly infinite is the benefit, that THE LABOURERS. it reduces to nothing all human distinctions on which any man might plead even a comparative right. Accordingly, it has not been unusual to interpret the passage with reference to the difl'erent seasons of life, or to cases of early and late conversion. And this is a legitimate application of it, if we only beware again of supposing that our Saviour, because he disallows any difference in a cer- tain view, aflirms equality of advantage in every view. It does not follow, that, because the early convert and the late are alike debtors to grace, and are alike by faith justilied, tliat therefore it matters not whether we come to Christ early, or defer to another season. The parable gives no encouragement whatever to such an idea ; far less will the Scriptures permit us to entertain it. Early religion has great advantages — has special rewards, we may even say. It is not intended, by disallowing claims of comparative merit, to deny all distinctions, or to represent it as a mat- ter of indifference, whether we seek the kingdom first and chiefly, or indolently procrastinate. Why ; looking at this very passage, it may easily be seen that duty binds to im- mediate compliance with Christ's invitation. For, the householder goes out and seeks labourers at the third hour, and at the sixth ; however he in sovereignty accepts at the eleventh. It is in the language of reproof that He asks, "Why stand ye here all the day idle? " Xor are we to un- derstand the excuse, " No man hath hired us," as represent- ing a plea which God will sustain. Such excuse, in the case of repentance delayed, rarely has a foundation in fact. Still, M^e take it, that, for the purposes of the parable, it is not necessary to distinguish between persons who have •e^ipp 10 THE PALAtLE OP r ■ i only for tlio first time been plitj'il m-nE the gof>pol invitation, and tlio.su who liave remained rcmimpresaed under many messaj^es. The attenijtt made W ;3ome writers, to show that this discourse of our Lord Suit* arjchii:g of encourage- ment for the death-bed ]teuiteiit,ii7iJi!)»»aT3 to us to be as un- just to its design, as tlie iniereii.'; ".liir, delay is safe would be unwarrantable. Of course, aao* (encouragement is given here to count presumptuoublj cbu EieTcy at a future con venient season ; but neither may w*;3iltirm that mercy may not be dispensed late, — yea, to l\m, -vho has not been free from the guilt of presumptuous jiofttponement of his suit for mercy, if at length brought trmllj to repent of this pre- sumption also. I'or, if we insist lEuiC, in the parable, the labourers admitted at the eleveoaililu Buour could plead, " Be- cause no man hath hired us," •wihaiejis the very late peni- tent has resisted, generally speaikkt;;. many calls; we allow, indeed, that this habit of resistamtje increases the diiliculty and the improbability of convexsaQCE, humanly speaking; but, unless you maintain that mij one act of resistance forecloses all hope to the couveat g impossible with man ? or, if possible, may it not be attended with painful .egrets, for our having defrauded so long the revenue of the Divine praise, and having failed to accumu- late those blessed experiences, which, as the proofs of grace and the earnests of glory, might ha\ rendered our entrance into the kingdom not only safe but " abundant ?" And this leads to one more iiuportant reflection, founded on a correct interpretation of the parable. Works, let us be assured, are not undervalued, though boasting is ex- cluded. Nor is Christian labour without its rewards, — yea, its proportionate rewards ; because salvation is alike of grace to all. The person who should insist, on the ground that each labourer received the same hire, that there is no variety in the distribution of iinal blessedness, no degrees of glory, will be at a loss to explain how, according to another passage, he who traded with his lord's pound, and made tlie same ten pounds, was constit-uted lord over ten cities ; while he who made the pound five pounds, was made lord over five cities (Luke xix.) That there shall be a special and abun- dant liarvesi to him who sows abundantlv, is rendered probable by the tenor of many passages. All we insist on is, that there is nothing in a right interprcitation of our Lord's discourse here to conflict with the idea of a diversity. Yea ; whatever may 'be true of final rewards, plain it is that a difference obtains in the rewards of grace now, — in those spiritual enjoyments, I mean, which are the present rewards of spiritual labour. Who can say that God is not more enjoyed on earth by some than by others ? Are not some more honoured by the heavenly :Master than others ? 14 THE PARABLE OF 5 ' I Are they not exalted above others in their opportunities of knowledge, of service, of blessedness in the fellowship of the one So^iour ? Do they not vary in the degrees of their sanctified conformity to His image and will ? It may be, then, that where all shall be satisfied when they awake, the joy pnd honour of one may exceed those of another ; as on earth, so in heaven also. Let us not forget that the murmurers in the parable are they who are called, but not chosen ; labourers for Christ in form or pretence only* That their pretensions are disallowed, or faith preferred to works, the late penitent to the early professor, is doubtless because, (besides that a true faith lays hold of the only righteousness which justifies), faith is the real spring of all good works, or of the new obedience that is cordial and acceptable to God through Jesus Christ. The last is first, not because it is alike pleasing to God that our works be many or be few ; but, rather, because till we believe in Christ our good works lack reality — they are as none. It is faith which purifieth the heart ; it is faith whicli worketh by love. It is not that the works late and few of a true believer equal, in the glory redounding to God, the abun- dant labours of another believer. But thai the works of the chosen and called, being works of faith and love, out- measure those of the outwardly called only. These last, proceeding from no principle of love,' and done to no end of glorifying the heavenly Master, amoant b.at to the * Some interpreters of the passaj^'e have felt a difliculty in this — tliat both classen of workers ai"e represented as actually having Ijeen hired, and having fiiliillcd their task ; but is this at all out of harmony -.vith tlie style of our Lord's discourses elsewhere ? Compare Matt. xiii. 12, with Luke viil. 18 : ♦'hare" is there to "seem to have." THE LABOUEEBS. 16 m- of forced service of the slave : — mean, as being the fruit of terror, and abominable, as a mercenary compromise with the Divine law ; the substitute of dross for gold ; the works of man yet unreconciled for the blood that atoneth, — of man yet in the flesh for the doings of the new creature. It is fitting, then, that we should conclude our improve- ment of this passage with asserting the duty of labouring for the Lord ; only affectionately admonishing you as to the spirit in which the works assigned you are to be done. Christ seeks labourers ; He calls us not to idle repose or inaction. " Labour," says he, "fcj the bread which endureth unto everlasting life." There is first the work, the business, of faith itself. " This," said Jesus, "is the work of God that ye believe in liim whom God hath sent." And there are the labours that follow on faith. These include not only the directly religious duties, — the offices of devotion by which the soul is kept in communion with the heavenly Father, and the spirit exercised unto godliness, — but the duties of justice and charity as well ; nay, we may rank under t]ie head of works done for Christ, the employment of our faculties in the business of our daily callings, the doing the duties of common life in all our relationships to the world as wel] as to the Church. Those very secular actions are hallowed which are done under tlie governing power of spiritual principle, with holy ends, and in observance of scripture rules and limitations. Such actions are not dis- tinct from religion ; they are a part of religion. We ad- mire the reply of tliat pious judge who, being interrogated as to liow he would prefer to be found occupied at his Lord's sudden coming, answered that he should not grudge w fe M I'/ 16 IHE PABABLE OF THE LABOURERS. f ;f ' to be found employed doing justice on the bench. Yet it is only they who seek the kingdom of God first who can afford thus to speak; whose peace of mind rightly founded, and not gained without anxious earnestness, has left them free to mind, with the things that are of God, the things also that are of men. To such the service of Christ is per- fect liberty. All labour is love, and the range of obedience is as extensive as the performance is cordial. Such a man does what he does in the name of the Lord Jesus; all in the spirit of a thank-offering. It is not rendered for life, but from life. Through the law he is dead to the law, that he may live unto Goc" ; dead to it as a covenant, that he may the more love it as a rule. Esteeming, as v/e have said, his most prolonged service in the light of enhanced privilege, he, instead of claiming justification more than others, only feels that he is beyond others a debtor. " Of Thine own have we given Thee," is the spirit in which he reviews his deeds and his sacrifices. And so, in the end of the day, at the last judgment, far from boasting of his works, he rather feels as one surprised and ashamed at the mention by his Lord and Saviour of his poor doings, and at the exalted esti- mate of them pronounced by Him who accounts what has been done to the least of His brethren as having been done to Himself (Matt, xxv.) i II. REST FOR THE WEARY. * " Con,e unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest."— Matt. xi. 28. The passage which I read to you j„.,t now (Matt. xx.)t dear faeuds, speaks of labourers: this passage speaks of rest Ihe very announcement of the invitation falls plea- santly on one's ear. How sweet is rest after bodily toil ; and how doubly pleasing is rest to the weary or over- -ouglrt spirit! No doubt, it is chiefly of spiritual rest hat o„ Saviour here speaks-the healing of the soul; and >vha He promises is that boon which is alone fitted to satisfy the e..pectations of a rational and immortal bein. I ^viU give you rest." From the connection it will aUo appear that He intends an immediate kind of .est, in con- ta is mction to that rest vainly sought, which men anticipate from their own laborious processes of self- justification, such as were common among the Jewish people .' Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me -for my yoke IS easy, and my burdi ■ . is light." It is worthy of notice how this invitation comes closely b^nt:^Z '"^""'^ '•" ''""' '™» "• "==• Taken do™ by . short. tioU'tX"*' " *"'"• "■• '^ "''■■ ^'^ » »-»*" -rfth the devo. B ,•0 'II' 18 BEST FOR THE WEARY. '\ I Kl f fl 1 ' after one of the most solemn assertions of the sovereignty of God to be found in all the Scriptures. We have seen that the householder demanded, "Is it nc ^ lawful for me to do what I will with mine own ? " Here Christ, lifting His eyes to heaven, uses language, not of submission simply, but of devout thankfulness and repose in the wisdom and faithfulness of God. He expresses His acknowledgment of the Divine sovereignty, believing it best that it should be in the Divine hands to give or to withhold : teaching that where finite beings — T do not speak of Christ, but of ordinary men — may see difficulties and discrepancies in the distribution of God's blessings, they may repose in the belief, after Christ's example, that all is rightly done : "Thou hast hidden these things from the wise and pruder^;" that is, those who imagined themselves such, who were wise in thei j own wisdom, following their own light ; " and hast revealed them unto babes," — simple ones, as compared with these. " Even so. Father : for so it seemed good in Thy sight." But, that we may know that no sovereignty on God's part is at all at variance with our immediate duty, and privilege, of accepting the common salvation which is proffered to us in the most unrestricted terms. He adds this word of encouragement, " Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest." Let me say a few words, as it may please God, on four points which may be 'observed here. First, The party thus addressing us, "Come uxxto me." Secondly, The parties addressed as " labouring and heavy laden." Thirdly, The *' rest " promised. And fourthly. The duty enjoined, — What is it? REST FOR THE WEARY. 19 '3> I. I need not say who it is that speaks to us. It is the Son of Man, but it is also the Son of God. It is He who declares in the previous verse, " All things are delivered unto me of my Father." It is He who says, in virtue of His dominion over all things, speaking now especially as delegated by the Father who sent Him, and as having committed to Him the distribution of the blessings which He has himself purchased : " As Thou hast given Him power over all flesh, that He should give eternal life to as many as Thou hast given Him." We need not, therefore, doubt our right to accept the blessings which are prof- fered to us by Him who was sent for the very purpose of announcing them, of intimating the will of God to bestow them ; and who died to obtain them for us and to make them sure. We always like to know the power of a per- son to accomplish his promise, if any good is offered. Christ here opens His commission. He tells us of His power and authority as the dispenser of heavenly blessings, while He says in the language of mercy and love, ' Come unto me." II. Who, then, are the persons invited? Indeed, my friends, who are they not ? The terms are comprehensive of all: all sinners, all sufferers. Sometimes they have been interpreted as applicable — and so indeed they are, but not exclusively — to persons who have been awakened by the terrors of the law to a sense of guilt ; who are con- vinced of their sinful and miserable condition. I have seen a sermon on this text by a Scottish writer, who regards it in that light, as an invitation addressed to con- mm h \ 20 REST FOR THE WEARY. h : m I / 1 ; 1 ■ ; 1 vinced sinners. Indeed, it suits them very well ; and if there be any of you under a conviction of sin, and asking how you can get rest, it suits you. But if there be any among you hard-hearted and far from righteousness, it suits you no less. Have you not a burden ? Does it fol- low that a man is not burdened, — I mean in the moral and spiritual sense, — because, by the habit of sin, by insensibility, or by some erroneous views of his relation to God, he is not aware of his danger ? Oh ! is it not burden enough to be far from God ? Are we not heavily laden if we are still under God's unmitigated displeasure ? If, for any- thing we have yet done or sought according to God's pre- scribed method, we are exposed to the danger of eternal perdition, can we say we are not heavy laden? There may be such persons who are labouring, but labouring in vain; trying to make peace with God, but acting on a wrong principle. How many in this interesting and far- famed city are labouring in their own way to obtain peace with their Maker — obeying the precepts of the priesthood, but not knowing whether to go right or left, not ki^owing what the result will be — whether the work will be finished in this life, or in some fancied purgatory hereafter ! There is labour, not small, I trow, labour willingly undertaken in some cases, though fruitless of present comfort. For nothing is more characteristic of a superstitious service, than a want of peace, a want of rest, and confidence towards God ; religion is not regarded as a cheerful service ; there is no joy with it. There may, indeed, sometimes be a hope built upon mere superstitious observances, but we may well doubt its genuineness. How can it be genuine ' i i. ^- REST FOB THE WEARY. 21 where there is no real faith in the Son of God ? Such faith may, I dare say, sometimes exist, mixed with super- stition ; I do not suppose there are no real Christians amongst those devoted to a superstitious and ceremonial worship ; but where there is nothing else but a reliance upon the result of labour — so much for so much — there can be no real rest for the soul. I remember hearing of a person who, like some of us, was travelling on the Con- tinent, I believe in Italy, and he met with an old woman who was worshipping devoutly in some temple; he ob- served that she was very attentive to her duty morning and night, and he asked her whether she found repose, and was sure of salvation. She simply shook her head and said, " Ko ! " She had nothing that she could call peace; and I believe that this is the true description of the state of mind of thousands of those who labour most sedulously according to prescriptions of human ritual, but in deviation from tlie simple letter of God's blessed word. I say all are labouring and heavy laden, although complying with the forms of religion, who are under the burden of sin and of God's displeasure ; not reconciled to Him, not at peace with Him, not possessing that blessed hope which comes from faith — the faith which unites us to the Son of God. III. This brings me to the third point : What is this rest ? " Come unto me all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest." It is not a rest which means inaction. You remember what we read about the labourers. Christ's design in bringing us into His vine- & I 32 HEST FOR TEE WEARY. ) r '. « / yard, and making us labourers, is not to put us to sleep, not to suffer us to live in inaction, not to make us suppose that because the work was wrought for us by another, there is therefore nothing to be done by us. No ; grace, as the hymn we have been singing shows us, only lays us under a greater obligation to work, seeing that we are redeemed with a price and are not our own. The angels of heaven are active beyond all creatures on earth. These, who have no sin adhering to them, have the highest rest ; but that rest lies, in part, in their harmony with the Divine will, and their consciousness of active employment in accomplishing the high behests of their Creator. So is it with the saints too. Their repose is not indolence, but it is peace — such a peace, such a happiness as inspirits action, and stimulates new obedience. I have no doubt that that is a part of our Saviour's meaning in the passage which I have formerly explained, " Many that are last shall be first, and the first last." That is, persons who have come simply to acknowledge the truth by faith in Christ, relinquishing all earthly reliance, will be more abundant in work, will labour more for God, and in that respect be first ; while he shall be last who stands on ceremonies, counts upon them, and finds some way of relieving his conscience by substi- tuting forms for substance. How fine a commentary upon this have we in that parable spoken in the house of Simon ! Christ was at table there, and you will remember how He supposed the case of a creditor having two debtors, one owing him fifty pence, and the other five hundred ; and He asked Simon, if both were forgiven, which would love most? Simon Z ^ime^ il REST FOB THE WEARY. 23 replied, " I suppose he to whom much was forgiven ; " and he answered rightly. Then Christ described the state of forgiveu sinners, as abounding in good works, obedience, affection, gratitude and penitence ; comparing them with this Pharisee's demeanour, who, counting himself righteous, had denied Him almost all the common courtesies of life. But this rest begins in the possession of confidence towards God. Of course, therefore, it supposes a ground of confidence, and that a better one than anything which the imperfect works of sinful creatures can supply. In other words, this rest begins in the belief of forgiveness ; in the acceptance of the offer of redemption through the blood of Christ ; in the apprehension of that righteousness which makes a sinner just : for the Gospel tells us not only of forgiveness, but of a righteousness brought nigh and proffered to us, which we may plead before God as if it were our own ; as if we had properly kept the law in our own persons, and kept it to the highest of God's require- ments. That righteousness is available for every man who believes in Christ. Thus the forgiven sinner, having redemption through the blood of Christ, may have peace and rest, in the sense of feeling a ground of confidence towards God, which all the creature doings of a long life could never bestow. It is a ground of security better than Adam had In his state of innocence and happiness in Eden, he possessed indeed the favour of God and com- munion with God, but he was not sure of its everlasting duration, and his righteousness, so to speak, was not yet perfect ; he possessed inherent righteousness, but noti that ; ' ) Ki I / 24 BEST FOn THE WTARY. which should establish his claiiu tO' t^Terlastint,' life, till he had fulfilled the terms of the ouTtrmunC he was put under. But the man who comes to (Shn^ aow is united by his faith to the second Adam, to oite who has perfected his probation, who has gained the tdlllt^ ttO' eternal life, who has fulfilled all the terms ; and theretf'Oidfr the righteousness of Christ, divinely excellent as it Ie, 'Oociiiies now to every poor believing penitent, as his ground 'Cutf luofe and confidence as to his possession of the favour oi' UmL But rest does not lie eutii'ely nm ttktt. As I have said, God does not call us to live in inatnaoiUL I have no hesita- tion in adding, that this rest ocHn*3kt* very nmch in our sanctification, not simply in what muj fee called our change of nature, the communication to na* y^d a right bias towards what is "ood ; but it lies vei'V mvA ii the exercise of the i ttraces conferred Siiclk » the relation of a i-nv.^v^kj yj^..^^^..^^^ upon us. fjuLuu ua iiiic iciulujh ui a rational being to the Creator, that itJluts- more the creature is exercised in doing the will of the CuteaCor, the greater will be his happiness and repose. Tht irent of the saints in heaven is, indeed, perfect; yet, u- -nse, "they rest not" — that is the language of StTcpture. Strange, yet true ! They have perfect rest, but "* ueat not ; " that is, they never cease from the praise and **«prEee, we know not in what way, of Him who has sanctifitid tlBierri, penected them, and made them His own. That peafetion ^evy much con- sists in disposing them to love and ihoiTe God, and to feel their happiness lying in that veiy teniiiffcyment. God is the centre to which every rational beint^ maiaat turn — on which he must depend. He is just like .ami mh of heaven, eccen- tric, and away from its proj)er BpLtjatfe^ aaad. will be as irregu- iji REST FOR THE JFEARY. 25 lar ia Mi movements, who has not his centre in God — who is not iie'vrjlving in that spliere, with constant reference to the k!u:L->r of his being, and the source of his blessedness. The Ciiiti-jtian religion brings man into this position ; commniMcates this new nature, — makes God the ob- ject <«i*T« #'"'■»',—-..«, 26 REST FOR THE WEARY. M *,« gation, in earth and sky ; ministers a doubly refined plea- sure to the mind that devoutly recognises God in all. Just as an author * has said, that a Christian may be at ease in poverty or wealth, for in the abundance of all things, he has God in all, or, in the absence of all things, he has all in God. That is, that in the abundance of earthly things, supposing him to be prosperous, his prosperity is enhanced, because he enjoys God in all; and in the other case, in the absence of all things, he has all in God. IV. What, now, is coming to Christ? for everything hinges on this. This is evidently another expression for believing, earnest application to Him, and accepting Him — just as faith ic sometimes described in the Bible to be. Too much may be made of definitions of faith ; and some have complained that ministers and theologians give too many definitions and descriptions of it. A great many definitions are no doubt perplexing ; but there is no sub- ject better worthy of diligent discrimination, and there is nothing more frequent than the substitution of a, wrong faith for a true one. Why then should not men try to analyse it ? Precious faith, the faith of God's elect, that works by love ; is it such a small affair, that, while men will search after all other knowledge, they will not try to distinguish between the true and the spurious here ? The Bible itself defines faith ; and surely that is not unworthy of our study which it employs terms so various to describe. "To as many as received Christ," — that is, more than , Serle. REST FOR THE WEARY. 27 simply entertaining a general opinion about Him, believing a narrative concerning Him, with something of an heredi- tary formal belief: "As many as received Him, to them gave He power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name." Our Saviour takes pains to express what this is, which some people find it so easy to understand, or think it absurd to define. He says, " If any man thirst, let him come unto me and drink." (John vii. 37.) He tells us that He is as water to quench thirst, that He is the bread of heaven, and that we must so believe in Him, that we must drink this water, eat this spiritual food, and digest it, if we would receive Him. By this variety of figure and illustration. He condescends to explain the thing, that we may not rest in a mere general belief. Simon Magus had that kind of belief: he was a prompt believer in a certain sense; but he was a child of Satan at that moment. My dear friends, we must not rest in simple historical belief, a mental enter- tainment of the message concerning Christ, though that is very precious and valuable, and nothing good can be got without it. We must not rest in a mere intellectual assent ; we must commit our souls to Christ, we must come to Him, we must rest upon Him, we must welcome Him to perform in us ill that belongs to His office as a Saviour, not only as having died for us, but as now teach- ing us by His word and Spirit, that He may reign over us and make us wholly His. That is the faith which gives life. " T ^ive by the faith of the Son of God," says Paul ; and Peter declares that God sees it important to try this precious faith, and that the trial of it, even by suffering, is 1 1 ',' J ]i I I 1 ' II 28 BEST FOE THE WEARY. more precious than the trial of gold. Therefore, my friends, let us see that we come to Christ, spiritually and effectually. There are a great many persons in the world who, when they hear the Bible spoken against would, no doubt, speak a word for it ; others would go a greater length, and not only speak well of the Bible, but go regularly to worship, and keep up the custom of going to the Lord's table so many times a year; and they have been baptized too. Well ; tliat is something of a credible faith in the case of those Av ho understand and approve of what they have been taught ; but still it may not be saving faith. We may come to tlij Bible, come to church, and to the sacramental table, and not, after all, liave come to Christ. What does He say ? He does not say, Come to the Bible, though Ho invites us to "search the Scriptures," but He says, " Come unto jNIe, all ye that lalx)ur and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest." A celebrated English writer, when caution- ing Christians against resting in the mere form of a sacra- ment, makes the remark that " sacraments are very valu- able ordinances, but their value lies in their being means of knitting to Christ, helps to communion with Him." In fine, let me make a practical remark or two for the improvement of all. I have spoken of the party who in- vites, of the parties invited, of the blessing promised, and of the invitation, " Come." Now the question occurs, How is it that Christ has promised rest, and that there should be so great a defect in the real experience of this blessing on the ] )art of Christians ; that there should be so little k^iowu of what is true, solid, rest and repose ? In the first place, REST FOR THE WEARY. 29 are we sure of this ? I believe it is the case, though it is not for lis to pronounce how many or how few liave not repose. The thing is here promised; let us solve the ques- tion, whence it is that Christians, who really believe in Christ, and in the Bible, and go regularly to the worship of God, have not, many of them at least, real peace ; and that many who have something of peace, so far from pos- sessing assurance, deprecate almost as presumption the idea of trying to acquire it. Why should it be so ? If peace comes by believing, it may be that the fault lies in our de- fective exercise of faith. We have taken the Saviour per- :. ^s by halves ; we are pleased enough to believe Him as a prophet, to rely on Him as a priest, and glad to think of His atonement; but, perhaps, we have not recognised Him as a master. To regard Christ as our Priest is indeed our first source of happiness and comfort, by the quieting of the conscience ; but, for full salvation and peace, we must have Christ wholly, and as He must be wliolly curs, so we must be wholly His. There is one thing, — with reverence be it said ! — that the Almighty Himself cannot do ; and it is no proof of His weakness, but rather of His perfection, that T-, Ci-' lot do it. The omnipotent God cannot make a sii.ut: i.'ppy until he give up his sin; He might as easily cea; • t<" be God, as to make a creature happy who lives habitually in sin and in the love of it. This may be tlie cause of the want of peace with many who pro- fess the gospel ; not that they are living in utter licen- tiousncFs, or gross sin, but there may be an allowance, to somo extent, of sin, there may be an omission of known HI IP 30 REST FOR THE WEARY. '' I 11 , V I rf duty, there may be an habitual trifling with something which conscience tells us we should give attention to ; and in proportion as this is the case, peace will be wanting. Christ bids us "take my yoke upon you ;" and does He not repeat the promise, "Ye shall find rest unto your souls?" — as if reminding us that we are never to expect to enjoy the fulness of repose unless we are, in a measure at least, sanctified ; unless, though not perfect, we press after per- fection, in obedience to the Lord's commandments, and as bearing His yoke? C','';st is indeed made to us "wisdom and righteousness," bui "sanctification and redemp- tion." Another reason, I fear, may be given why Christians have not all the peace they might expect ; it is that they are not taking God, in the sense we have explained, as their chief good. Their minds are too much in the world. This, with many sincere Christians, is one of the great hinderances to the progress of religion, and to the realisa- tion of a full peace. We cannot love God, and love the world, the Bible tells us ; that is, in the sense of being equally under the one and under the other. The man who, on the whole, has his heart on God's side, may be following the multitude, if not in what is evil, yet in what is doubtful, what is unfavourable to the cultivation of piety in personal intercourse, in the family circle, in society in general ; and the consequence may be a diminu- tion of peace ; because the effect of righteousness is peace, and the nearer there is actual conformity with God, the more will peace abound. "If I regard iniquity in my J-* — a. ,«w REST FOR THE WEARY. SI ace, the my heart, the Lord will not hear me," says David. Christ says, " If a man love me, he will keep my words, and I will love him, and my Father will love him, and we will come unto him, and make our abode with him." Never, indeed, let us put one passage against another. This does not teach that our love to Christ is always the first thing before God's love to us ; far from it, God's love is truly first, only Christ tells us that the more we manifest our love and gratitude to Him, and the more we walk in His commandments, the more will He visit us with the tokens of His love, the manifestations of His Spirit, and with all that contributes to a full and solid joy, and assurance of our saving interest in Him. I would further say, that as peace is found by coming to Christ, so the continuance of peace is to be found by a con- tinual coming to Him. One cause that may be assigned for the want of assurance, is, that Christians having got a good deal of contentment, even spiritual contentment, hav- ing some reasonable hope of salvation, may be too easily satisfied Tvith the knowledge which they have, instead of pressing on, not counting themselves to have attained, as already perfect, but striving for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus. While the invitation, as I have said, is addressed to all sinners and sufferers, we may in- clude among them Christians themselves. They are still " labouring and heavy laden," in some particulars ; not in- deed in the same sense as the unconverted ; they are not under the wrath of God : but if a Christian is burdened wiiih contentions on the side of unbelief, and an evil heart i I? hi IP' ' ^9 BEST FOR THE WEARY. as against his better nature, with the temptations and on- sets of the devil, with the pressure of earthly cares and even of lawful pursuits; to all such Christ says, to the saint as well as the sinner, "Come unto me, and IwiUgive you rest" To His name be everlasting praise ! Amen. \'} i I \ III. CONVERSION OF THE ETHIOPIAN, AND HIS BAPTISM. 'And -.e angel of the Lord spake unto Philip, saying. Arise, and go toward the south unto the way that goeth down from Jerusalem unto Gaza, which is desert.' — Acts viii, 26. This passage of Scripture relates to an interesting event in the early history of Christianity. It belongs to alransition period of the Church, when the gospel was now going forth, under a more extensive commission than heretofore, beyond the circle of Judea, or the narrow range of the Israelitish people. By an over-ruling providence, the persecution that arose about Stephen gave occasion for the word of the Lord hav- ing freer course. Accordingly ; in the preceding context, we read of Philip going down to the city of Samaria, and preachmg Christ there, not without great spiritual effects It IS related also that Peter and John went down to that region, and having preached the word in many viUa-es returned to Jerusalem, ° ' It appears to have been under a special heavenly direc- tion, that these early messengers of the gospel chose their fields of labour, whether in visiting districts aud com- munities of men, or in seeking out particular individuals We see that the Spirit of God concerned Himself in arrang- 'I w I'll 34 CONVERSION OF THE ETHIOPIAN, I ing the means teiuling to the gracious ends designed; and we may observe the hand of God in bringing together the various opportune occasions and agencies, beyond wliat any mere human foresight could have calculated upon. Tlius, the Spirit of God directs Philip to go toward the south, on the road from Jerusalem to Gaza. He obeys ; and lo ! an ill'istrious stranger, of much authority in the country to which he belonged — Ethiopia, apjiroaches, pursuing his journey towards his home. He would appear to have been a proselyte to the Jewish religion, who had come so far as to Jerusalem to worship. He seems to have been in a measure instructed in the Old Testament Scriptures, though not yet established in the faith of Christ. It is remarkable that he was in the act of reading a rart of Isaiah's pro- phecy, which speaks in very affecting terms of the suf- fering ]\Iessiah, at the moment when the evangelist by a Divine impulse is directed to approach him, and to proffer his assistance as an interpreter. It was in no obtrusive manner, we mnv be sure, that Philip accosted him and in- quired, 'Unders.andest thou what tliou readest?' And it was no doubt under the guidance of the same Spirit who marked out this duty to the teacher, that the catechumen so promptly welcomed his aid. Modestly confessing his need of instruction, he invites Philip to sit with him, and receives from the evangelist a solution of his difficulties. We are not to understand the Ethiopian's words here, though amiably expressive of his consciousness of ignor- ance, as if implying the absolute necessity of human interpreters ; far less as justifying the monstrous doctrine that a right of private interpretation does not belong to AND niS BAPTISM. 35 [•offer ■ 1 usive 1 in- ^ [id it who ■ '.-'T linen \ his and ( \ iS. lere, nor- [nan line I to 1 ■is; each individual reader of Scripture. Supposing this man not to have met with Philip, who shall say, that, by the blessing of God on his own diligent search, he might not have attained to the understanding of that very passage which was now the subject of his anxious thought? But, God is pleased to hoi: our the preaching as well as the read- ing of His word, especially the exposition of that word by those whom He has qualified and appointed. So, the evangelist improves the opportunity "to preach Christ;" for, the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy. It is said, "he began at the same scripture," not limiting himself to this passage, but comparing it witli others, "and preached unto him Jesus." The confession made anon by his in- teresting disciple shows that the teacher had wisely ex- plained one part of the sacred scripture by another ; had connected the testimonies to the man Jesus with the tes- timonies to the God-inan. For, one could not, from the fifty-third chapter of Isaiah alone, demonstrate the divinity of the Saviour, marvellously explicit as tliat chapter is on the character and work of Christ, on the variety of his sufferings, the meekness of his demeanour under persecu- tion from men, and his unresisting surrender of Himself as i;he victim of sacrifice at the altar of God. But, the evangelist had not far to seek, in the very same book of prophecy, for evidence that the Man of sorrows was Im- manuel, God with us ; that, though springing up as a tender branch, without form or comeliness, this "child born" was, not the less. The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace. Or, if, beginning at the same scripture, he referred his in- genuous inquirer to other prophets, he could show, from ^ mmw 36 CONVEliSION OF THE ETHIOPIAN, \l i Daniel, — that one like the Ancient of days was the Messias "to be cut off, but not for himself;" that Isaiah's lamb led to the slaughter was also Jeremiah's King of righteousness, yea, " the Lord our righteousness ; ' or, in the words of another prophet still, " The shepherd smitten was Jehovah's fellow." (Zecb. xiii.) We are informed what were the very verses in Isaiah which the Ethiopian desired light upon. The place of the scripture which he read was this, " He was led as a sheep to the slaughter :" ... "In his humiliation his judgment was taken away." There is a variation, it may be observed, in these words, as quoted fiom the Greek version, compared with the words in our Old Testament, which read thus, " He was taken from prison and from judgment." We can easily understand that the Greek or Septuagint Bible was likely to be more familiar to a native of Ethiopia, a country near to Egypt, whence the Greek version emanated. It might seem doubtful whether the verse refers more to the humi- liation or exaltation of Christ. Probably it is to the for- mer rather, or to the violence and wrong to which in his humiliation Christ was subjected; for the expressions fol- owing naturally apply to His humbled state — ' Who shall declare his generation ? ' as if. Who can describe the wickedness of the men of that age ? Some, indeed, think the question rather refers to the triumph of Christ's cause, or to the innumerable spiritual race, of which He should be the head — an idea enlarged upon in the seqiiel, and often occurring elsewhere in the descriptions of the Mes- siah's glory. At any rate, whatever obscurity may rest on this one clause, the testimony to the Messiah by the pas- i AND HIS BAPTISM. 37 He sage as a whole is so clear, that it may seem strange that a proselyte to the Jewish religion, returning from the city where our Lord had been so lately crucified, should need to learn of whom the prophet spake. But, if we remember how blinded by prejudice were the Jews themselves, wo may less wonder at a stranger from afar requiring to be instructed. It is possible that, among those into whose society he was thrown while at Jerusalem, the subject may have been little mentioned, or may studiously have been kept from him. See, however, the effect of Divine teaching in the speedy surrender of the mind of the inquirer to the truth as now set before him ! It was an eflect worthy of so manl- iest an interposition of Heaven. Not surely to the power of mere human persuasion are we to ascribe the result, but to the sovereign and effectual grace of God. Yet, as usually, grace operated in connection with appointed means, not without them. The Spirit could as easily have com- municated the knowledge directly by revelation, as moved Philip to approach the traveller, or the traveller to invite the evangelist's aid. But, not by angels, but by men of like passions with others, does He bring the mes- sage near to their fellow-men. We may conceive the earnestness with which the evangelist pressed on the atten- tion of the inquirer a subject of such momentous interest : not expounding only the meaning of his text, how he would expatiate on the love of God that provided the Saviour ; on the marvellous wisdom as well as goodness of the plan of mercy ; on the necessity of Christ's obedience and death to the fulfilment of the wondrous design ; on the blessed hopes unfolded by His resurrection as well as T M mm I 35 CONVERSION OF THE ETHIOPIAN, death ; on the resulting henefil/fe, iiiii the justification now, and the ghjrification hereai'tei; ctf all who savingly know God's righteous servant ! "WitHituJt aa appears from the sequel, he doubtless iulurmed lur i.acet-humen of the duty of confessing Christ, anc" j»rocluiiaa.i;iig His salvation to others. Hence tlie request of lib* cioavert as here narrated. It is that he may be allowed io» pri:*'esa his faith in the Saviour by baptism, and that Ike ifiwDoId thus be enrolled among the number of the avo-wei 'JimA pledged followers of the Lamb. So we read (ver. 36), " ^Vnd a? ft^ey went on their way, they came unto a certain wa,tei' : jubikI the eunuch said, See, here is water; what doth hiud^T mrjS' to' be baptized? And Philip said, If thou belie vest -vrhh all thine heart, thou mayest." Their respective parts m tins %vi&i colloquy are alike honourable to the disciple and to his instructor. The evangelist, in the spirit that beciatniiDea every shepherd of Christ's flock, rejoicingly meet« tHntfe very first indication of a wish so honourable as that oi' ©QUiliessing Christ. And his catechumen, at the same tiiiie,. i* not in haste, though he speedily recognises the duty ©If Jfoining himself to the visible Church. He was not liOkte those who indolently say, 'It is enough to have the gG»Gi(i tfeeling in the heart; or, If we know Christ, what signiiie!? an whether we be known to His church or not ? ' No ; ^mwin^ that it is Christ's command not only to believe witli ttfcie heart, but with the mouth to make confession: "Go, ic-udii aE nations, baptizing them." The administrator of dkisfs ordinance omits not to charge the inquirer's conscitsiaiifi; fiaithfully as well as AND HIS BAPTISM. 39 affectifloateljT. Believing first, confession also: nor is it fv^'iT kind of believing that suffices ; " If thou believest ttitli r^!! thine heart, thou mayest." Just as Paul states the matlOT: •" If thou shalt confess with tliy mouth tlie Lord .TesiuL*, aniiiife33 after a sort. Simon ^lagus believed and won- dei't"! The very devils believe that Jesus is the Son of Go i-h'itual change was a fact already ; tlie union with Chr t, — if a true faith is the bond of union — already existed. ])a])tism was tlie sign and seal, rather than the means, of this spiri- tual engrafting. It was the external token of admission to the church, and visible form of the acceptance of the m^^^m^m^rm I I w ■ I « \ i \\ ill! 42 CONVERSION OF THE ETHIOPIAN, covenant. So, in tlie house of Cornelius afterwards, upon the Gentiles came the gift of the Holy Ghost, with the word alone, — with the preaching of the gospel by Peter. It waited not for the baptism ; the baptism waited for it. " Can any man forbid water (said the apostle) that these should not be baptized, which have received the Holy Ghost as well as we ?" 2. The confession was required before baptism ;. being the case of an adult person. It does not follow that bap- tism may not be dispensed to infants, — though incapable personally of confessing, — on the confession of the believing parents. Nothing is more natural than that we should read more explicitly of the conditions laid down in the case of grown persons ; tlie gospel in the first instance ad- dressed itself to such. We have the formula, " He that believeth sliall be baptized," or, " Repent, and be baptized." But, in the very same way, the necessity of faith to salva- tion is asserted in the formula, " He that believeth shall be saved," — as if the sacred writers were thinking of adult persons alone. Now, just as they did not mean by the one formula to exclude infants from salvation, though incapable of actually or personally believing; so, neither does the condition of confession expressed in the other formularies applicable to adults, decide against child baptism. Salva- tion might come to the liousc of a believer ; children re- ceiving the blessing in connection with the faith and prayers of parents, previous to their own capability of faith aiul prayer: and it is but in keei)ing with this, a thing most congruous, that the sign and seal sliould not be with- held, simply because of that incapacity. Nor is it more AND HIS BAPTISM. 43 surprising that the special warrant for infant baptism should not be set forth in so many words, than that the special manner of infant salvation is not set forth. The saving change can be effected by the operation of the Holy Ghost, anterior to any power of believing. '* He thatbelie- vetli shall be saved " is the rule ; yet tlie kingdom of heaven is largely of those who knew not to believe. So the general rule was and is, He that believed and confessed was to be baptized ; but not to the prejudice of the interest of infant children in the covenant. Indeed, the absence of any positive command to baptize the tender offspring of believing parents may be ascribed to its being the recog- nised and undoubted privilege of the cliild, according to all previous associations, to receive the seal of the covenant, and to be counted among the constituency of the Churcli. liather it was to be expected that, if the time-hallowed privilege was now to be withdrawn, we should find a dis- tinct ordinance of repeal, or prohibition of administering it to the infantile subject.* The command to give llie seal of the promise was not necessary to those who had always under- stood that the promise was to them and to their chilli. on. Finally, the children of believers are called 'holy,' — though born in sin (1 Cor. vii.) ; — and while we cannot atlirm the actual presence of saving grace with every ba[)tized infant, how can we understand this as importing less than that those born into religious families are in some sense within the bond of the Church covenant ? If the promise is to believers and to their children, as an apostle declares, — if God has promised to be their God and the God of their * So Lightfoot unci others have well reasoned. li mmmm ^ I i I 44 CONVERSION OF THE ETHIOPIAN, seed, surely it is but consistent with these declarations, warranting at least the hope of saving grace, and implying God's claims of propriety in children as His heritage, that, as of old, tlie sign should not be withheld by wliicli such hope may be confirmed, and such claims devoutly recog- nised. 3. Xor does this case of the converted Ethiopian rule the question as to tlie mode of baptism, though it is said that Philip went down into the water. The word " into" in the original often means simply " to," or close to. It is the same word which is used elsewhere, when it is said, Jesus came to the mountain — of course not into it. It may de- scribe simple contact; but even taking it, as it doubtless may be taken, in the sense of more than contact, or, as trans- lated here " into," it does not follow that the water was of adequate depth for immersing. Indeed, if travellers who have visited those places may be believed, there was no water at this point in which baptism could have been ad- ministered by inmiersing. And, how unlikely that a traveller, with no anticipation of sv.ch a thing, was pre- pared for receiving the ordinance in that mode ! whereas; the very circumstance that he was travelling — no house of his own at liand — rendered the going down to, or into, the stream, natural, if, by the applicatluu of water in the mode of sprinkling or affusion, the ordinance was to be dispensed at all. How much less likely that baptism was admini- stered universally by immersion, — where whole households were baptized indoors, and where often the means must have been wanting for such a method of administration ; in fact, where no convenient or decent accommodation was •j AND HIS BAPTISM. 45 ■-f to be obtained ! It is no small confirmation to our mind of the warrantableness of " sprinkling," that this is the term so often used, or the kindred one of " pouring," to denote that application of the blood of Christ, or washing of re- generation, which gives to the ordinance all its significancy. Xor may we fail to observe that, in the immediate context of the passage in Isaiah discoursed upon by Philip, these words occur : ' So shall he sprinkle many nations : ' (Isa. lii. 15), words variously interpreted indeed, but most reason- ably, as it appears to us, to be understood * of the willing subjection of the nations to the sceptre of Immanuel; and suggesting the method and form of confession we now defend. 4. The joy of the baptized, as he went on his way, warrants the reflection that the blessing of God is ready to crown consistent and avowed discipleship. Another argu- ment this for a full confession of Christ ; and a reply to the indolent and selfish plea, ' We may have the good thing in our heart though we make no profession. What use of sacraments ? What use of joining any visible church V The eunuch's joy sprang mainly, no doubt, from what he believed. Good cause had he to rejoice in having found the pearl of great price — enriching him far more than could all the treasures of Ethiopia : but his joy may also have sprung, in part, from the consciousness of having been ad- mitted to the communion of saints, — God's sacramental host in the world ; and, beyond doubt, to confess Christ and to own Him, yea, to suffer for Him, has tlie promise of a present and a future reward. Yet, see in the close of * See Alexander on Isaiah. 4G CONVERSION OF THE ETHIOPIAN, the narrative tlmt, as if to hide pride from the human in- strument of his liappiness, and to teach that the virtue of ordinances rests not in the administrator, " the Spirit caught away Philip, tliat the eunuch saw him no more." The convert would naturally desire more of the company of his spiritual father ; but He who had, by the interven- tion of his servant, brought him to the faith, could, by His power, preserve and perfect the good work, and more than supply the lack of an earthly guide * The eunuch went on his way rejoicing. Happy day for him — the day of his spiritual birth ; or of his spiritual es- pousals ! He had found Him of whom the prophets spake ; and, doubtless, as Andrew with Peter, or Philip with Nathanael, he longed to communicate to others of his new- born joy. The probability, that the Etliiopian convert carried the gospel to his countrymen, is favoured by the in- teresting historical fact, that an Ethiopian or Abyssinian church has existed in those parts from the early ages — a church long remarkable, too, for its steady attachment to the pure doctrines and rites of Christianity. A few reflections may be added in the way of improving, practically, our subject of discourse. 1. Let us mark the care of the Divine Shepherd in seek- K, ! 1 * " JIow atlmirablo," it is well remarked by a pious author, " how perfect are the works of God ! These two are brought together by the agency of an angel, and now they are parted asunder by a miracle ; but a miracle of wisdom as well as of power. For this sudden and supernatural removal of the preacher was a powerful confinnation of the doctrine which he taught, and had an obvious tendency to impress on the mind of the new convert this important truth, that although a man had been t ■^ployed as the instru- ment of his conversion, yet the work itself was truly divine, and the glory of it due to God alone." — He v. K. Walkj£B, Edinburgh, colleague of Blair. 1 . ! i AND niS BAPTISM. 47 ing out His own. " Them also I must bring," He elsewhere says. He has all means, all agencies under His control ; and see here the value of one soul in the eyes of the Saviour. See heavenly as well as earthly messengers em- ployed ; yea, the Spirit of the Lord concerning Himself directly in the spread of the gospel of the kingdom ! Can we doubt his interest in the gospel still, or his deliglit in glorifying Christ by taking of the things that are His, and showing them unto men ? 2. Shall we not commend the example of this humble inquirer, and his diligence in seeking more light; his care to redeem time, his making a chosen companion of the Book of Heaven, even in his journeying hours ? — which leads us to retlect : 3. Thirdly, how precious is the privilege of free access to the sacred Scriptures ! How manifestly is it the will of Christ tliat we should search them ! How criminal the policy, by whomsoever ])erpetrated, which would withhold the light of Divine revelation from any, in the face of the Saviour's command ! But wo see too that, though to the law and to the testi- mony everything must be brought, a blessing also stands connected with the preaching of the gospel, especially the exposition of the word itself. AVe have a fine proof here that, to them that have, more shall be given ; that they wlio, with humble mind, seek to know the will of God more fully, shall find Him ready to meet them 'n the way of righteousness. 4. Shall we not test ourselves by tiie example of the Ethiopian's faith, and his respect for positive Institutions ? T 48 CONVERSION OF THE ETIIIOriAN ■ I Let us judge ourselves by the character of his faith as a faith with the heart — a faith which engaged his affections, — wliich wrought in him a love of Christ, and a desire to obey Him. Is our faitli no more than a cold assent to truth ; is it but an educational tiling ? Is it of heaven or of men 1 Does it rest on a Divine Saviour ? Do we feel, like this convert, that it is founded on a perception of the glory and sufficiency of the Son of God? He, this confessor of Christ, was able to give a reason for his belief. Though faith is not mere knowledge, it is no blind prin- ciple : It is declared, " He that seeth the Son, and believeth on Him, shall have eternal life." Finally, shall we not find cause of blame in ourselves, if aught earthly afford us greater joy, as we go on in the journey of life, than to liave found the kingdom of heaven, or to have known the true God, and Jesus Christ whom He hath sent ? Our Saviour himself supplies us with a standard of judgment, by which we are to estimate present and eternal things comparatively when He likens the kingdom of God to a man who findeth a treasure hid in a field, and who goeth and selleth all he hath — undervalues it comparatively, that is — and buys that field : Or, with Paul, he counts all things loss for Christ ; eager ' to win Him, and be found in Him.' ! I , I I IV. MEDIATORY PREROGATIVES OF CHRIST. " For as the Father raiseth up the dead, ami quickeneth them ; even so the Son ([uickeneth whom he will." — John v. 21-29. In these verses, the Saviour continues the discourse con- cerning His claims as the true ^lessiah, into Avhich He had been led by some fault-finders among the Jews. While He vindicates Himself from their reproaches, in connection with a work of mercy performed by Him on the Sabbath day, He asserts his authority in terms only appropriate to one who was conscious of possessing Divine attributes in common with God the Father, and at the same time, who in his mediatory capacity as the Messenger of the covenant, owned obedience to the Father's law. Various expressioi s in this discourse, accordingly, apply to Him in respect ot His original or underived power as the Son of God : imleed this very appellation is used by Him in a high and peculiar sense, as che Jews rightly understood the term. Other ex- pressions apply to Him more in respect of his delegated autliority ; but even these latter describe powers and pre- rogatives which imply divinity, or are such as only a divine person is competent to wield. Thus, at verse twenty-first. He challenges as his prerogative the power of giving life, or cxuickeniug Lhe dead. ' For as the Father N 60 MEDIATORY PREROGATIVES raisctli up the dead, and quickencth them; even so the Sou quickenetli whom he will.' We may understand this either of Ilis power to convey spiritual life to tlie spiritually dead, or to restore natural life to tliose ill whom the natural life has been extinguished. lUit, taken either way, how great and how far exalted ahove creature power is the prerogative asserted Ly him ! AVho can give life hut God only ? If the Son, then, gives life, and even .as the Father gives, lie must l)e God. For, this is something f t greater than the power which prophets and apostles exercised in the name of God, and in the name of Jesus ; — a power which they did not pretend to exercise at will, and the glory of wliich they ascribed to God entirely. This power which lie lays claim to \\..^ no limit, it appears, hut his own will, or the Father's, as one with his own ; and it is said here to be so exercised by Him as that the glory is his in fellowship with the Father, or that all men, even as they honour the Father, are to honour the Son. In the twenty-second verse, in like manner, "all judgment " is said to be committed to the Son. This, like the (quickening of the dead mentioned in the former verse, may comprehend the spiritual judgment which he exercises even in this present state, — in superin- tending the kingdom of grace, dispensing its privileges, and determining the condition of its subjects, — as well as the final judgment; for the latter is more particularly referred to in the subsequent verses, as is also the general resurrection. "We do not, therefore, consider this as mere unnecessary repetition. In the following verses, where He touches so # OF CHRIST. 51 7.V '/i solemnly on the resurrection find the judgment, we undcr- stiiiid liini as particularising what in the twenty-tirst and twenty-second verses He exf)resses more generally ; or, He descril)es, as concerned in those great iinal events, the same power, which before He has described in the more compre- Jicnsive sense as exercised in deciding on the spiritual states of men. And so, before going on to these particular assertions of hia autliority in respect of the resurrection of the body, and the final judgment, our Lord declares another impor- tant truth, which implies in it no less really and conclu- sively his claim to Divine attributes ; that is, that believing on Him as the sent of God is the means of eternal safety for the soul. And mark the emphatic manner in which this is declared : " Verily, verily, I say unto you (ver. 24), He that heareth my word, and believeth on hira th.at sent me, hath everlasting life, and shall not come into condem- nation ; but is passed from death unto life." A glorious declaration ! and one which, as we shall afterwards see, affords the most delightful encouragement to sinful creatures ; but which we notice now chieliy as containing an implied testimony to the Divine character of Christ. For, wlio that reflects upon the frequent mention of this as the great, the decisive condition on which man's eternal wel- fare depends, this trust in Jesus, — but must see that such language would have been altogether unsuited to any mere creature, the hiost exalted ? A confidence so firm, so im- plicit, so unreserved, and accompanied with a supreme esteem of the Saviour, — such devotion to Him as we ever find connected with the scripture delineation.^ of faith, — ti i^B* RTF t; 02 MEDIATORY HiEMfJATirES could not oe reposed in any arau '(A flesh, without according to it that honour whicli .ScTijirtnnirte' forbids to be given. " Cursed is lie who trusteth im nrasin, or maketh flesh his arm :" is one of the immutable la'r* iiward, from the time of believing, they live ; they E^te m the sense of being justified, they are accepted with Oto4; and they live in the sense also of being sanctified, qmtkfrneil to spiritual con- sciousness and capacities of fjpmCaal enjoyment. So accepted are they, that from 1M«^ htstt& of justiKcation they never can utterly fall ; so quickenuicidt tfiat this new life can never be extinguished. Not inentellj shall such have life ; they already, He declares, have it ItJ h not only said " they shall pass," but "they are passed* Ifitom. death unto life. Thus it is that, indeed, the So»m <'j_ui(^keneth whom He will, or that the second Adam i$ •" a quickening spirit;" and in the twenty-fifth verse, w^t may consider Him as still speaking of a spiritual resxmttie'tliion, though He comes anon to speak of the resuiTectic>ii xd the body also. Ver. 25. — ' Verily, verily, I saj umtio you, The hour is OF CHRIST. 63 He r IS i ccimiiig, and now is:" — there were instances of this already in the conversions of souls which were t. :ki"g place, and also, already, in the reaniniati.)n of dead bodies, as an earnest and pledi^^e of the final rising of the dead from tLd: _Tav^:H( ;— " when," says lie, " the dead shall hear the voioe ) as the Father hath life in Himself; so hath \{^ ;pv5»«oken of in the next verse as the Son of ^Man : " And haiL ;:'iven him authority to execute judgment also, be- cau:-* \vft L.^ the Son of man." N ;:ideed, but a God could judge the world; yet Ijei-e 'A IS -aid, " Because He is man, judgment is committed iiiito Mm,'' For, our Hedeemer possesses a human as well as a divme nature : As man alone, indeed, He could not have been '."rmpetent to such a trust or prerogative ; yet it was moel iBiiat he who is to be the judge should also be man. It vra? naett that He should have a human nature who was to In.^*: those who are of the human nature. It is fitting thai, a,- a Judge, He should be visible to the senses : " Every eye sball see him." Besides, " the Son of man" denotes him the ^raietv and the Saviour incarnate ; and there is a fitnes* tiut He who was to be the Mediator between God and njiit-n should have the power of adjudging to happiness the willing subjects of His grace, or to misery the recusants of His authority. To be a Saviour fully, it is necessary He filn&iild be a judge as well as a prophet and a priest — a 'M j T 64 MEDIATORY PREROGATIVES i i 1 priest to atone : a proplicc to instruct ; a judge to award blessing or curse, death or life. How suitable that He wlio is the author and finisher ot i'aith, the deliverer of the spiritual captives from the power of Satan, should also be empowered to see to the idtinuite acquitta^ of His ran- somed ones, and himself introduce them with gladness to their rest and inheritance ! It was fitting as a part of his mediatory reward, that having humbled himself low. He should thus be exalted very high ; and, hence, so often we read of the Son of man coming •' in His glory," and " in the glory of the Father," as opposed to His original coming in liis humiliation. How to his own who look for Him will the majesty of the scene be thus attempered with grace ! liow it will enhance their joy to recognise in the Judge the same glorious One whom they have trusted as their Savi- our ! And how fitted to enhance the terriblenoss of the judgment to the heirs of damnation, to see Him the Inistower of crowns whose cross they refused to bear ! Him the acknowledged Lord of the dead and the living, wjiom they rejected as tlie man of sorrows, and the root out of a dry ground ! So, he adds emphatically (ver. 28), " jMarvel not at tliis : for the hour is coming in wliich all that are in the graves shall hear His voice, and shall come forth ; tliey that have done good, unto the resurrection of life; and they that have done evil, nnto the resurrection of damnation." What tremendous words these ! Who can exaggerate their im- portance ? All shall hear His voice, — all, all, each one, every one, shall hear the voice of the Sou of God ! The trumpet shall sound ; and at that sound, the generations T OF CUBIST. 55 I. I 1 that have slept their long sleep shall spring forth from the bosom of corruption. That sound shall penetrate the deepest recesses of earth, and the lowest caverns of ocean. None sliall fail to hear, none refuse to answer. None shall he able to elude His all-seeing eye, nor decline His all- powerful mandate. The dead in Christ will arise with gladness; they look uj:), and know that the day of their re- demption has come ; the others cannot refuse obedience to the summons, though tliey would. Before the power of Christ, what resistance shall avail ? In vain will they in- voke the mountains to cover them from His sight; the graves to which they would cling will not conceal nor retain them; nor shall one conceal or deliver his fellow. In that great day " we must," says the apostle, " all appear before the judgment-seat of Christ : every one of us shall give account of himself to (Jod" (Rom. xiv. ; 2 Cor. v.) He will judge the secrets of men by Jesus Christ. In acting thus, then, the Son is not alone. He comes in the glory of the Father. In his mediatory character, He will execute the Father's high and sovereign mandates. He hath committed all judgment to the Son, and ///.s judgment is final. Of Christ's .acquittal of the righteous there shall be no reversal; from His coudemnation of the unbelieving no appeal ! m m l! ; ruACTiCAL iMi'HO^'r.MKNT. — The practical lessons of the whole passage are such as these : — How pn.'cious is faith ! how reasonable ! How mucli depends on it for the future; for everlasting; and for the present also ! The alternative, even now, is condemuatiou or salvation, • rt (in tliy sins), and arise from the dead, and Christ snail give tliee light." The Son of man had power on earth to forgive sins ; and now, as surely, and elfectually, to all of you who hear His word, and who trust in Him, He shall .separate between you and yroir sins, between you and tlui vrath tiiat lies on you, as He will at length surely pro- nounce your admission to life everlasting, or seal the unbe- liever's doom. Is He to come in the glory of the Father 1 Air !ady He comes in that glory, llefusing Him, child of disobedience, you refuse CJod. His name is in Him. He sent him ; He sealed him ; from the heavens He has said, "Hear ye Him." He himself declares, "I am the way, and tlie truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father but by me." And tlie Spirit saith, Come, lie glorifies Christ; He communicates no saving life apart from Him. Further; how well warranted, sinner, is your faith in this Saviour, the ambassador of God, yea, Himself very God of very God ! At once God and man, your hope in Him v.ill not disappoint you. The faithful and true wit* ness, He assures you of the terms of life : He has the right ■^PIP ■89 OF CHRIST, 57 to propose tliese terms. ITow encoura^^nng arc thoy, how simple, how suitable to you! He asks no price, He im- poses no burden, He prescribes no penance. Hear, believe, and your soul shall live. " 7/'; that hearetli." " miosocrcr helieveth in Him." It is as individuals He deals with us ; as individuals he addresses himself to us. Is life eternal so sniaii an interest that we can treat the invitations of Christ with cold indifTcrence ? Is His authority such as we may with safety despise ? Unbelief is rebellion ; and to have refused to obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ is proounced to have, for its end, " everlasting destruction." In proportion to the greatness of the salvation offered to us will be the judgment against gospel despisers. Clrace abused is followed l)y wrath, yea, the wrath of the Lamb. Again, the passage teaches \is that not oidy the judg- ment is now, but that the resurrection is now. Xo resur- rection of the body, I mean no blessed resurrection, without a resurrection — a j^uickening of the soul ! Xor do we realise experimentally the extent of our moral necessity, or the value of the salvation that we have in Christ, if we Jind not, with faith in Him, a regeneration to a new life. H' you have truly passed fiom your death of condemnation by believing on Christ, you will also have passed from your death in trespasses and sins. Happy are they in whom this change has been effected ! A new life has entered your souls ; you are new creatures ; you were contrary to (Jod as well as separate from God, You now live and have your being in Him not as creatures only, but new creatures; your life is hid with Him, is by Him, and unto Him. No formal thing now your obedience to Christ; If 5 f i i 58 MEDIATORY PREROGATIVES there is life in it: no forced thing; it is yonr second nature. You breathe as in a new element. One Llood with Adam, you are now as really one spirit with Christ, It is not His lavour only, it is His image which is restored to you. "j'liis is the resurrection of the soul, and an indis- pensable antecedent to the blessed resurrection of the body. Those only are worthy of that hope, the children of the resurrection, whose souls alive now are conversant with the things unseen of a spiritual world, and who are en- dued with the new capacities, breathe the new desires, and follow the new aims and ends of spiritual men. Finally, realise the certain prospect of a judgment and resurrection day as here so solennily announced. The day, the hour comcth : See how emphatic are His words : fitted to summon attention, to reprove security, to inspire joy. Blessed prospect ! Let the children of God exult in the anticipation ; let them be looking and hastening to the day of God ; let them, amidst trials of faith, possess their souls in ])ationce. Though the vision tarry, wait for it ; it will not always tarry. And let not others jiresumptuously ask, " Where is the prondsc of his coming? — all things con- tinue in the same course, the same evenly round." If the Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as men count slackness, neither is he slack concerning his threatening ? Every hour is bringing that hour nearer, which is laden with issues so portentous. Let the unbelieving and un- godly know that their judgment lingereth not, and their damnation slumbereth not. Let not the patience or long- suifering of the Lord mislead them. He hath appointed a day : it will certainly come. And, oh, how precious are s ■A % OF CHRIST. 59 tliose opportunities still with us, but so brief and so uncer- tain, on which, according as tliey are well used or lost, the question turns of acceptance, or rejection, by the righteous Judge of all ; of a resurrection to life, or a resurrection to damnation and shame ! The door is yet open ! It will — who knows how speedily ? — be shut ! u > I ll f i! I V. THE MESSIAH'S WORK AND REWARD. ' Hi; sh.all see of the travail f)f his soxil and shall be satisfied : By his know- ledge shall my righteous servant justify many ; for He shall bear their iniijuities.' — Isaiah liii. 11. This book of prophecy lias been justly accounted remark- able for the clearness and fulness of its predictions con- cerning the Messiah. The references in the Xew Testament to this very chapter, place beyond all doubt the application of the prophecy to Christ: though, if these had been less explicit, tin delineations both of Christ's sufferings and of His glory are so minute that wo. may well wonder, now at least, that with any it should be a question :— Of whom speaketh the prophet this ? Only the veil of Jewish pre- judice, or the spirit of a wayward criticism, can hide the tniLii from Jew or Gentile. It is not in one verse only that Christ is pointeu to as onr atoning Priest, and as Himself the victim of sacrifice. The sul)ject fills the chapter ; and what a variety of par- ticulars concerning the character and object of His suffer- ings, and the demeanour of the glorious sufferer, may be gathered from these few verses ! Here is touchingly de- scribed the humble manner of His advent, — 'He shall grow up before Him as a tender plant, and as a root out of THE MESSIAH'S WORK. 61 a dry groand ; " the ungrateful reception given to Him by His own, or a world He came to save, — " we hid as it were our faces from Him:" Then, tlie intensity of His sufferings, and their variety — I'rom the hand of man — from the hand of God — sulierings of body, sufferings of soul ; the evidence of His own will being concerned, as of one consecrating Himself, not dragged reluctant to the altar, " led as a sheep to the slaughter " — " pouring out His soul unto death:" The agency of the Divine lawgiver in the exaction of the award from the surety, — " It pleased the Lord to bruise Him ; " the relation of His sufferings to our sins as their cause, and to our reconciliation as their design : withal, the blessed fruit, in the Saviour's exaltation, and the redemption of His people. All these momentous points are here as- sembled, and in liow brief space ! The scenes of the Saviour's humiliation, thougli future, pass belbre the pro- phot's eye as if present, and they are described by him in tlie glowing, yet tender, language of an interested and affected spectator. Like a fifth evangelist, as Isaiali has sometimes been termed, he miglit seem as if standing beside the forerunner of Jesus, when he exclaimed, pointing to the AVord manifested in the llesh, " Behold the Lamb of God ! " The words of our text combine a reference at once to the humiliation and exaltation of Christ. We propose, in dependence on the Divine blessing, to speak : — I. Of the ollice which Christ sustains, as here denomi- nated Jehovah's servant : IL Of His suffering work as here described, the " travail of His soul:" m m 1 i I 11 G2 THE MESSIAH'S WORK III. Of tliG blessed result as here affirmed, and IV. Lastly, Of the manner or means of our partici- ]>atin<,f in that result; " Ijy the kuo\vled;.,'e of Ilim, shall my righteous servant justify many." I. We invite attention to the denomination here applied to the ^Messiah, Jehovah's " righteous servant." It may at once be seen that the covenant of redemption is implied. It is only by a voluntary arrangement that He — Jeho- vah's equal or fellow — was to appear in a subordinate capacity. But though he was a Son, He condescended to be obedient — a servant and sullerer for our sakes. In this capacity we find the Eternal Fiither, in other parts of pro- phecy as well as here, connnending Him to the faith and admiration of men: " lieliold my servant whom I uphold, mine elect in whom my soul deligliteth (Isaiah xlii.);" and again, " JJohold, I will bring fortli my servant tlie Branch." It is surely confirmatory of our fait]\ to hear the Eternal Lawgiver, ages before the Saviour's advent, thus evincing interest in his great undertaking, and confidence in his sufficiency. He who by a voice I'rom the excellent glory avouclied Him His beloved Son, no less owns Him in the humble capacity He had assumed as the messenger of the covenant : for Him hath God the Father sealed. And so it is not only as "servant," l)ut as Jehovah's " righteous servant " He is spoken of. Either His inherent moral excellence is here meant ; for such an high priest became us, who was holy, harndess, undefiled, " needing not first to olfer for Himself;" or, His fulfilment of all righteousness iu his capacity of surety may be in view < AND llEJf^ARD. 63 and it concerns our comfort to hear from the lip.s of the Soverei^Hi Lawgiver this testimony to liis fiilclity — like !^^oses — to llim wlio appointed him, — this assurance that in nothing wouhl he fail to render to the hxw's precept the rL'(|uired oljedience, nor witlihokl auglit of the exacted sub- nussi(3n to its penal award. In the Xew Testament, as in tlie Ohl, He is denominated " the just one." "A faitliful as well as merciful high-priest in thhigs pertaining to God," is the (pialihcation ailirmed of Him hy one apostle ; and an- other characterises Ilini "Jesus Christ the righteous " — so the beloved apostle denominates llim, in the act of direct- ing the sin-stricken soul to His propitiation and advocacy. II. Let us next, then, look at the description, by the prophet, of the Messiah's work. It was no liglit labour tiiat devolved on llim. They form a very inadecpuite idea of the cost of redemption, who think only of what was bdibly and visible in tlie Saviour's sufferings, licdemption, our tt'xt tells us, was "the travail of His soul." How litted this to recall His own words: "Now is my soul trou'uled ! and what shall I say ? Father, save me from this hoiu'!" Nor need we limit his soul travail to tlie hours of his agony, usually so called ; for, throughout His entire course on earth, though relieved by intervals of j'oy in the consciousness of the Father's presence, and the prospect of the reward set before him, He was " a man of sorrows," familiar witli grief; from birth to deatli fullilling the work given him to do, under the weight of the incumbent curse. Lut, then espuciidly, did He travail as in birth fur a world's regeneration, when He bowed his head under the imme- I =ac ■| i !l G4 riiE MESSIAH'S jroiiK (liate pressure of JelKn'ah's IkukI, and drank to its dregs the bitter cup \vliicli tliat very hand had mixed. Who can tell the import of those sorrowful words uttered in His latest hours ? "Who can fathom the depths of that ani^uish which ut) words were adeipiati; to exjjress, and which sought expi -ssion in the blood-like sweat, and in the sore crying and tears ? No wonder that earth shook, and that the sun, as ashamed, retired from the sight, when the very Sun of righteousness went down in bhjod, and the beloved One of the Father, as one Ibrsaken, was heard to invoke the Father's interposition, and, as it might seem, invoked it in vain ! — yet, not in vain. For "He was heard in that He feaii'd." Even then lie saw of the travail of his soul — He saM- it and was glad. As the dying coniiueror shuts his eyes in peace, and smiles on the wound that is mortal, when the banners of victory are waving over his head; or as the mother forgets her toils for joy tliat a man-child is born into the world ; so that hour of darkness and of wrath, which closed the eyes of the sufferingSaviour, was brightened by the inward satisfaction, the conscious triumph of victory. lie exclaimed, " It is finished !" and the (quaking earth, and the rending rocks, echoed back the sound ! TIT. The text declares, accordingly, the result of Christ's sulferings, the success of His undertaking. Xorisit man's salvation alone that was designed. "When, in the context, we read of the "pleasure of Jehovah prospering in His hand," a still higher object must be considered, as in the contemplation of (lod's righteous servant. AVe learn what was his highest ain], from Christ's own words. Hear His AND REWARD. 65 I declaration in his prayer to tlie Father : " I have glorified Thee on the eartli ; " and in connection witli the words al- ready quoted, uttered in all but ] lis latest hour: "Now is my soul troubled : and hat shall I say ? Father, save mo from this hour : " let us mark what lie adds : " but for thi.^ cause came I unto this hour. Father, glorify thy name." IIow full of interest the fact, that on the very eve of the great crisis, — in the prospect of llis iiual encounter with the powers of darkness. His eye is fixed only on the gi'cat end, as if looking past all that was between : " leather, glorify thy name ! " Sin had tarnished the Divine glory. The devil, in se- ducing man from God, and in turning into a theatre of rebellion and misery a world formed to be the abode of innocence and bliss, might seem to have triumphed, or defeated the Almighty's purpose. Hence it is said : " The Son of God was manifested, to destroy the works of the devil." H' it be inquired, How ? our answer is, — As sin was the occasion of his usurped power, its expiation was the destruction of that power. The hour when sin was condemned in the flesh of the Son of God, was the knell oi Satan's thraldom : then was the head of the serpent bruised; God's rightful dominion re-established. And, surely, if the Saviour rejoiced in spirit when He beheld Satan fall as lightning from heaven, on occasion of the release of indi- vidual souls from the grasp of the oppressor ; much more did He see of the travail of his soul, and rejoice, when He spoiled princijjalities and powers, and made a show of them openly in his cross ! So, also, if the glory of God was tar- nished in the law being set at nought, its honours were re- X '; I I i CG THE MESSIAirS WORK tricvcci by an obedience diviuelT fitrfect, and a sacrifice of priceless value. Here deatk, t'lr-. !rK:i;i:Lveif -a innocent one being subjected to sufl'ering — and such i^tmlffeTring ! — if the sufferer stood in no relation to the sinner, nrnTolving obligation to a AND IlEWARD. 67 recon- in re- s the dicate being ifferer n toa violated law ? The otiier theory leaves us almost as per- ]>Ifcx<:^i It supposes a demonstration of God's hatred of {•in nec-ulUition of guilt, it is not easy to see ; nor, what ira- j)res.'^ion it could make on the universe as to God's rectoral justic-e, if no acquittal on the one part was to be secured, any uaoife than a transfer of sin to the surety recognised. On this theory of a general demonstration, Christ seems scaiL'fclv more identified with sinners of mankind than with sinning aii;;;;els ; and it seems impossible to explain how, if no claim of righteousness reqiiired to be satisfied, the effect sliou] PiiACTiCAL T^rmovEMENT. — The subject sugg; sts valuable instruction as well as to our duty as to our privilege. It may be observed that the woixls of out text bear the form of a jn'omise ; saying nothing of man's ]tart, or any activity of his own. Tt is a characteristic of the method of grace, that the very faith on which his salvation depends is secured by covenant. The promises to Christ by the Fatlusr em- brace the part re([uired of His ])eople. " To Jlim shall men con)e." "Tliy people shall be willing in the dayof thy power." Nevertheless, faith is a duty as well ns a grace, a duty of imperative obligation. The i)r(miise is designed to stimu- late, not to KUi)ersede, activity. Man must toixw- -mnst ivitt. It is not by violence to his rational nature his obfMlience of laitli is secured ; and, that knowledge is here put fur faith, only manifests the more that Cod's saving purpose takes effect through the eidiglitenmeut of the AND REJFABD. 71 11 of [y of •er.' y of iini- /// II, 'it liis loro the i i iinderstnnding, and its appreciation at once of the sinner's need, and tlie Saviour's sulliciency — ' with the heart man believetli unto ri<^liteousne.ss.' If the connuand to believe is urgent, the danger of unbelief is great. Examine your- selves whether ye be in the faith, is the counsel of inspired wisdom. ^Vllile we are Justiiied by faith only, yet faith it- self niust lie justiiied by the works that How from it. A sal- vation so based on righteousness implies, that any faith is false that issues not in the establishing of the law in the conscience, and the love of the law in the heart. • Hcaveu'8 cawy, artless, umncuinboreil plan" * docs not mean, that salvation by giace is "easy" in tlic sense that there can be no miscarrying, no believing in va!iL i!0 need for earnest solicitude, Nay, rather, what cost tlie travail of his .soul to the surety may well wan.uit fear and trembling on the part of him who would make sure of a])pro'T'iating the benefit ; yet, when the Son of !Man cometh. shall He find faith on the earth ? Such, it seems, is man's i)ronbness to cling to self-righteous hopes — his av(!rsion to submit to the righteousne.ss of God — that it may be our consolation that faith is here promised as to many. The strength (A the gospel preacher, in plying the ministry of reconciliation, lies not in any pre-supposed power of man's depraved will ; l)ut in this, that C'lirist SHALL see of the travail of Hi.; .soul, and shal) not have died in vain. JJut; he only acts tb? rational pa'-t who gives all diligence to make his calling and election sure ; yea, who gives no resl to his eye.s, nor slumlx-r to his eye-li(!.s, till \Mi km>ws himself amor.g the justiiied, and ceases to be * C'owixir. :'l^ m li 1? ii!yjU|niiii^|||jI.ijlUl|i|!IUHaUlk»>aiUI .^JIIBKI H>..ILII JKH.llJUNk. U-. i %? I 72 THE MESSIAH'S WORK AND llEJVARD. of tlie condemned ; — till God is glorified, till Christ is satis- fied, in his salvation. Finally, we would urge the great truth implied in our text, as an incentive to your actjuiescence in the method of gi'ace : God is glorified by it. And as well as the Son, the Father is satisfied, ^lercy and truth meet together here. Tlie Lawgiver rests well pleased with the olicdiencc of His righteous servant. He grudges Him not his reward ! He remembers his gifts ; accepts his sacrifice. Yea, His own love, as well as the Son's, is in the matter ; providing the surety, honouring Him, exalting Him ; loving llhu the more, that He laid down his life for the sheep. All divine persons are harmonized, and all divine perfections. The Spirit and tlie bride say, Come. And, " whosoever will, let him take tlie \vater of life freely." m v VI. THE COMMUNION OF CimiST'S BODY AND BLOOD. " For my flesh is meat indeed, and my blcod is drink indeed." — JoHU vi. 55. That a si)iritual participation of Clirist is here meant, it will Le our first object to show ; or, in otluT words, that not only is no mere eorjjural or carnal ]>nrticipation of His lle.sh and blood intended, sucli as .some explain tlie Lord's Supper to 'imply, but that not even a sacramental partici- pation at all is the subject discoursed of. Our second object is to illustrate the real meaning of the passage, as setting foilh in figurative terms the nature of the life of faith ; or, faith's conmiunion with the Savi- our, in its preciousncss as thus represented in respect of its object, its nature, and its blessed effects. n Kr- y I. When we say that the passage is wrongly interpreted of the Lord's Supper, we do not mean, of course, that the communion of faith here described may not be enjoyed in that ordinance. The Apostle Paul expressly says (1 Cor, X. 10), "The bread which we l»reak, is it not the com- munion of the body of Christ ? The cup of bles.sing which we bless, is it not the communion of the blood of Christ i? " We certainly have, thus, apostolic authority for lielieving i! n (' ■ ■• ' I It * 74 THE COMMUNION OF tliiit tlio oreliiiance of tlie Lord's Sup])or is a means — yea, an (Miiineut moans — of onjoyin^f the connnuniou with Christ liere insisted on ; or that the ordinance sacrament- ally re])iesents, seals, and ai)i)lies Clirist and His benefits to the l»c!liever. It is one tliinj,' to assert tliis ; it is (|uito another tliinj^' to say that on. Lord is here imnieuiately treating' of that sacrament. He is si)eakinL; of a spiritntd communion, for wliich tlie ordinance of the supper alfords a choice o])i(ortunity and advantiige, and without which it is of little value; which connnuniou, however, is not limiteil to any one ordinance ; nay, ought to be known and ex]»urienceil in substance by every one who would be saved, before he takes the syndjols of Christ's body luid blood into his hands, and whether he may ever have opportunity for observing that sacred ordinance* or not. First of all, one may see a strong presumption against a literal interpretation, in the fact that the sacrament of the supi)er halood are not to be identitiud with, or h'niited to, any ontward or sacramental participa- tion, is, that both wliat our Saviour sets forth of the benefit on the one hand, and of the danger or loss on the other, would conilict with fact, if understood of observing or neglecting the sacramental rite. Can we for a moment suppose that Christ meant to saj, that whoever fails to take the sacrament of His body and blood }»erislies ? Yet He does s:iy, " Except ye eat the tlesh of the Son of ^lan and drink His blood, ye have no life in you : " i)rovhig that the words must be s])iritually mcfuit. Or, is it not equally incredible that, when the Saviour asserts that he tliat eateth of this bread shall live for ever, He means to assure every one, who simply complies with the sacred rite, of eternal life ? How evidently, we say, wi-uld both the declarations, so understood, conflict with facts ! Have not thousands of persons who never sat at the table of the T.ord — many of tiiem never liaving enjoyed even the opportuiiity — young persons, for example, dying in non-age — have they n«jt yet exhibited un([uestiouable evidence of having a saving part in Christ ? Can we refuse to believe the same of some wlio iiave departed in adult years, having neglected this ordinrmce — to their loss, (bnibtless, — yet who repented of this as of other sins of omission, and wel- comoil, though late, the message of mercy ^ Then, who touchis tho subjivt i)f tln! Hiicranu.nt till hu conits to the •■lul. Hut Calvin, aa well aa Au^Mistinu, uUowh that Christ vvoulil have the sacraiiniit of the sujip'^r to b(j a sigii aud seal of this spiritual participation : ' Et certe inop- turn fuiiwet ac iuteuipestivum de cuua tunc disserere, <|uam nmduni iimtituerat.' n Li. 7T ; ' '■ 76 THE COMMUNION OF knows not that many have used tho sarrod rite to no savin},' purpose; yea, liave eaten and (h'ank to their con- demnation, — only complyin<< witli custom; or, worse, taking into tlieir hands, avowedly for mere secular ends, the memorials of a Saviour whose cross they despised, and whose yoke they scorned to bear ? TI. What, then, it may be asked, was the design of using siu!h words, if something spiritual, not carnal, is intended ? Now, we shall see a fitness in the language emp/loyed ■worthy of the great Teacher, if we interpret it in the light of the si!n])ler terms elsewhere used as to the foundation of a sinner's hope, and tlie means of the soul's fellowship with (lod. It is no violent .straining of language to apply tho metaphor (»f eating or drinking to intellectual exercise'.; nor is it ]ieculiar to this ])assage of Srri])ture to represent spiritual desire and satisfaction by language taken from the bodily senses or appetites. " Wisdom " invites to "come, eat of her bread, and drink of the wine which .she lias mingled " (Prov. ix.) In similar wt)rds, the Trophot Lsaiah (chap. Iv.) commends the true food, or spiritual dainties, in distinction from tliat which is "not l)read, and satisfieth not," — meaning, by this last, worhijy or creature good, apart from (Jod. Tt is nothing alien, then, to the style of Scrijjture, when the Saviour here says, " I am the living bread, the bread of God which conn?th tlown from heaven." Ciiristis, to the soul, as indispensable, for its sj)iritual life and strength, as the bread whicli ])erishes is needful to the life of the body. Nor is it this general truth alone that our Lord expresses, lie ac(|uaints us how i CIIRISrS BODY AND BLOOD. 77 it is tliat He is our life, or by what means: 'The hread that I will j,'ive is my ilesh, which I will ^ive for the life of tlio world' (ver. 51). We learn here, as to the spiritual counmmion, how hu^jcly the doctrine of Christ's substitu- tion and sacrilice enters into the object of faith ; and also have presented to us an instructive view of the nature of failli itsell", or how it is to be exercised, as well as on, or about, what. Who can fail to see, that Christ is a Saviour specially or primarily by His atoning work as our Triest'^ Tile lan^fuage here employed is all suitable to this view, and consistent with no other. How is it possible to acconnaodate it to the low and attenuated meaning, tliat we must receive and digest Clirist's precepts, and receive into our minds the message of immortality which He brouglit ? — A c(jld interi)retation sought to be forced on our Lord's words by those who would evade the great central article of our iaith, so prominent in the teachings botii of our Lord Himself and His apostles! Wlien we know, from His own declarations, that He came to hiy down His life a ransom for many; when we hear one apostle glorying in this, as the prime article of his ])reacli- ing, — Christ crucified, the power of God, and the wisdom of (lod unto salvation; another declaring tliat He is the inopitiation for the shis of the whole world; a third tliat Clirist redeemed us by 1 lis precious blood, as of a lamb witli- out blemish and without spot; — how can we understand our Saviour as meaning less tlian tliat this doctrine is vital to the life of our souls ; that this we must receive and digest as the essential aliment of our spiritu;d being ? The great mastery of godlineas, God mauifciit in tho lletih, rr I '.i ii \ M 78 r///:; COMMUNION OF though a stuinblinMrtaker and that whicli is particii)ated of, so is it here. We are douljtless nnninded, by sueli a conijjarison, how very dif- ferent a thini,' saving appropriating beliei" is from a vague, cold, assent to the gospel message. We must tasU- as well as hear, or inlellectuidly know, that (Jod is good ; \\v. must receive and use the living bread ; we must be in Christ, and Clirist in us. J/aith is reitresented in Scripture l)y a diversity of words and metajihors, in allusion to each bodily sense. It is hetiring, seeing, touching, smelling ; but no analogy is more expressive, more fitted to suggest what faith effects as the bond of union with the Saviour, than this of "eating" the bread: tliat wiiich is eaten becomes iden- tified with our body, yea, by assimilation, a part of our very selves. Some would say, with Calvin, that not faith sim])ly is meant by tlie eating and drinking, but I'aiih together with the sense of enjoyment, which is scarcely separable i 'om it; or, if we rigidly distinguish faith from its accompaniments or effects, it is only more confirmatory of what has been said by us against the sacranu;ntarian inter- pretation ; that the effect which is in some verses described in iigurative lanj^uage, is in another verse of the sanu; dis- cour.se simply attributed to a "coming to Christ;" and this "coming" is made identical with "believing" (ver. 35), "lie that conuith to me shall never hunger ; and he that be- lieveth on me shall never thirst.' III. llow great, then, is the blessedness which accom- 1 % 4 IMAGE EVALUATION TEST TARGET (MT-3) // / (/. (/j ^ 1.0 !ifi^ IM I.I 11.25 Vi £; us 12.0 1.4 11 1.6 Photographic Sdences Corporation 23 Wit:ST MAIN STREET WEBSTER, NY. 14580 (716) S 72-4503 .'%' J^^ i/.J. mmmmBfirwir. 80 THE COMMUNION OF ' '< I panies or flows from union with the Saviour, or communion with Him ! No more hunger, no more thirst : satisfaction, content, is signified ; something which no earthly things can minister to the mind. These, at the best, leave the mind restless. In vain all human specifics to relieve the conscience, or to fill the heart ! Only he who eats of wis- dom's bread can say, I have found that which is good. Not, certainly, that in every sense of the word the believer shall cease to hunger or cease to thirst ; for " blessed are they that hunger and thirst after righteousness." But the meaning is, nothing shall be desired in comparison with Christ and His salvation; nothing instead will content; here is what will satisfy, yet never sate ; the conscience, the heart, are no more restless; nothing is left to be desired in comparison ; nothing for the sake of which this would be parted with. Having tasted of this bread, the Christian says, " Ever give me of this ; " having drunk of this wat€r, this wine, he only longs to drink it new and more abundantly in his Father's kingdom. Again, the blessedness is described thus: "He hath eternal life," — " hath," not simply " shall have." And ex- tending the meaning of " life " to the resurrection of the body, as well as to the blessedness of the soul, the Saviour adds, " And I will raise him up at the last day." Well might the heavenly Teacher say, looking at these effects of spiritual communion with Christ's body and blood : " My flesh is meat indeed, and my blood is drink indeed ! " as if to assure us that, though the language is figurative, the meaning is gloriously real; no mere figurative or hyperbolical utterance of what, when stripped of metaphor, a.-': 82 THE COMMUNION OF Assuredly we need not. For of this heavenly bread it may be affirmed, it multiplies in the breaking ; and how freely is it dispensed ! "My Father," said Jesus, "giveth you the true bread from heaven." Yet, as of the living water, (John iv.) so also of the heavenly bread He would say, " If thou hadst asked of him, he would have given thee." And see how he exhorts, " Labour (more than anything earthly) for the bread which endureth unto eternal life." " Labour for it ; " — not that labour can earn it, not that money can purchase it, but that pains as well as prayers, through faith in Christ, are necessary to secure it. Make earnest work of it, he means. True faith, as we have seen, is ap- propriating. What would earthly bread avail us if simply talked about, looked at, handled ? We must " receive " the Lord Jesus. And religion begins in the sense of need: "blessed," Jesus himself said, "are they that hunger." Happy are they who art emptied of themselves : we must become poor that we may be rich. N"ot till we see that we are sinners ready to perish will we value the spiritual provision. But, once truly convinced of sin and misery, then in proportion to our sense of helplessness, will be our dili- gence in working out our salvation, in making our calling and our election sure. Strange that so many, while alive to bodily wants, look so little to their eternal! How much more rational to forget all lower interests in com- parison ! " Labour not for the bread that perislieth, but for that which endureth unto eternal life." It is com- paraiively meant : He does not seek to discourage industry'. But here, — He would say — is the chief field for industry ; here is the one object to be lived for, or to which every ' CHRIST'S BODY AXD BLOOD. 83 m i- re r other should be subordinate*! Instead of leaving the kingdom of God to be sought, after all other necessities are provided for, account this your chief necessity : " Seek first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness." Then, another lesson of this passage is that of daily dependence on Christ for spiritual life, and strength, and comfort. Bread is of daily nK-essity : it is not once, it is often you must recur to it: use ; othervvise you languish, you pine away. So it is not once, it is not at conversion only, tliat Christ will be estieemed precious. We must abide in him : w^e must be coming to him daily : our life must be by the faith of the Son of God, from day to day, from hour to hour. And how nee»ifiil is it that we beware of so turning aside to other objects as to lose our relish for this spiritual food, or, even of so resting in grace received as that thus, like the manna reserve^ in the neglect of fresh gathering, our very virtues should keep us from Christ ! Nor will we conclude without adverting to the subject of the Lord's Supper in its true design and use : the rather that in the commencement of c ur discourse we felt it to be incumbent on us to rescue the passage before us from mis- interpretation ; and, in so doing, denied that our Lord is here speaking of that ordinance at alL Just the more, would we now assert its preciousness in its proper place In one passage already refened to, we do read that the bread which is broken is the commnnion of the body, and the cup of blessing is the commumon of the blood of Christ, — significant of them as emblems — our partaking of them significant of our believing reception of Christ and his benefits. Not however that the real participation is to be \ I • / 84 THE COMMUNION, ETC. identified with the external observance — though the latter may assist and subserve the former; nor that the spiritual eating and drinking is limited to the eucharist : but let it be conceded, nay let it be affirmed and urged, that this sacred ordinance is singularly adapted to minister to that communion with the Saviour in which the quickened soul delights, and which by every likely means it should cherish. Here the senses come eminently to the aid of faith. And where may the presence of tlie Lord be expected ? Where may the spiritual affections be likely to flow forth, the spices of the graces to yield their fragrance, and Christ himself to draw near and eat his pleasant fruits, — if not at that table spread in remembrance of Him ; where tlie covenant is sealed anew, and the devout wor- shipper, in obedience to Christ's endearing command, takes into liis hands the affecting symbols of his cross and pas- sion, the pledges of his love, and of his coming again ; the token also, on the Christian's side, of his love and fidelity to his absent Lord, in whom, though not seeing him, he believes, and with whom he hopes to dwell for ever, and to behold his glory, in the mansions He has gone to prepare ? > I A I I VII. THE FRUIT OF THE SPIRIT— PEACE, ETC. " But the frviit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance ; against such there is no law." —Gal. v. 22, 23. I * As with most of his other epistles, the inspired writer occupies the first part of this with doctrine ; the latter with inculcations of duty. And it is worthy of remark that in none of the sacred writings are the obligations of morality, or the duties of life, insisted on with greater minuteness, than in those which contain the fullest asser- tion of the doctrines of grace. It is not uncommon for the adversaries of these doctrines to demand, Wliere is the security for holy living, if men are to be told that salvation is not at all by human works ? If no righteousness of man can avail to justify him before God ; if his own good works are to be held to be destitute of merit ; what induce- ment remains to regulate our lives studiously by the moral law ? Unquestionable it is that nowhere is it moie un- compromisingly laid down that justification is by faith alone, than throughout this same epistle : yet where — we may ask — is there to be found in all the writings of heathen moralists anything approaching to the exalted and 86 THE FRUIT OF THE SPIRIT— I refined rule of Christian virtue here exhibited ? See here what cognizance Christianity takes of the whole man ; — his tempers, his affections, as well as his outward conduct ! What a revolution in the human character is here sup- posed to be effected in every one who believes the gospel ! Ic is not in one summary word that the influence of faith on the life is described. What detail in this enumeration of the graces ! what accumulation of terms ! what various ■degrees and shadings of virtuousness ! — love, joy, peace, fidelity, temperance, meekness ! Who does not see, that, if these be the certain fruits of Christian regeneration — and it is here affirmed that they are such — the Gospel is indeed the friend of good morals, and that the moral structure whose foundation is laid in a true Gospel faith is as surpassing in. its breadth or height, or the comprehensiveness of its range, as the foundation itself is deep-laid in a change of our very nature ? W^e would, therefore, invite attention to the designation applied to the graces or virtues here enumerated : Secondly, we would analyse one (or more) of these, and exhibit its relation to the rest. U I. The expression " fruit " of the Spirit is fitted to instruct us, considered whether in the relation in which the word stands to the preceding context generally, or to what are termed the works of the flesh enumerated imme- diately before. 1. That the Christian graces are called "fruit," suggests their right place in the Christian scheme, and in Christian experience. They do not go before, but follow our accept- f iS m l1 PEACE, ETC. 87 ance with God. They are not the conditions of our justi ficatioD ; they presuppose it : they are the evidence, the effect, hut not the cause of our being in a reconciled state. 2. Again, while called the fruit " of the Spirit," they are not the less to be reckoned fruit growing on the true vine, Christ himself. " Every branch in mc " — he says — " that beareth fruit" ..." without me ye can do nothing." From Him truly is all our fruit found : " abide in me, and I in you " are his precious words. The apostle does not forget this dependence of the graces on Christ : in the very bosom of this passage he reminds us of it. He says, "They that are Christ's have crucified the flesh" (ver. 24) — what is of the Spirit efficaciously is of Christ meritori- ously. This relation of the Son to the Spirit is often brought before us by the sacred writers. In treating of the work of grace, they may be found referring to both, or to one and the other Divine person indifferently, — inter- changeably; the Spirit being the immediate agent in sanctification, yet so acting from Christ that what is attri- buted to the one is also in another respect attributed to the other. The Saviour, in promising the Holy Ghost, leads us to expect in this the fulfilment of the promise of His own presence. " Yet a little while, and the world seeth me no more ; but ye see me : because I live, ye shall live also " (John xiv. 19). And as a remarkable illustra- tion of the same thing, we may note how Paul, in one verse of the eighth of Eomans, speaks of the Spirit as dwelling in Christians, and, almost in the next clause, says, " If Christ be in you." Such is the effect of the undivided unity of Persons in the glorious Trinity — such 88 THE FRUIT OF THE SPIIilT— i their oneness, as in essence, so in their operations in the economy of grace. 3. Again, the fruit of the Spirit is emphatically con- trasted with " the works of the flesh." We might perhaps have expected the phrase, " works of the Spirit : " but the contrast is so put — "ivories of the flesh; fi'uit of the Spirit : " as if to remind us that this latter is altogether different from what is innate or indigenous. The one — the evil tempers and passions are our own — our native works — the appropriate development, alas, of our vitiated nature. Nothing else, nothing spiritually good, comes from it. Not that each of these is in each man developed ; but there is none righteous : not one. "NVliatever is spiritually good is attributed to the Divine sanctifier — supposes an engrafting into the new stock ; it is an exotic, not indigenous. Hence it is not so much as called the " work " of the renewed man, but rather the work of the Spirit in the man ; though indeed also the working, the development of the new life imparted to him. Not one of these spiritual dispositions or acts belongs to the old nature ! 4. Which again, suggests the remark, that, though there may be resemblances of these virtues in natural men, and some of the very names here given to spiritual graces are, in "nr popular language, given to certain qualities found in unregenerated persons ; these qualities, whose value is not to be denied, are yet entirely different from, and inferior to, the corresponding constituent elements of the renewed nature. You may find in natural men, we readily admit, specimens of comparative virtuous excellence ; fidelity or honour; meekness; temperance; charity, in I i I I PEACE, ETC. 89 1 i J certain forms of it ; and amiable philanthropy. J hit, ^vllat is implied in the apostle's words here, is, that you cannot find whether a pure charity, whether a comprehensive self- control, or temperance, or meekness, or whether a genuine and refined integrity, but not only in the new or heaven- born man. They are but superficial resemblances or counterfeits of any of these graces that are to be found in " the ilesh." " That which is born of the flesh," the Savi- our declares to be — but " flesh." For, observe, the word " flesh " is evidently used there, and here in our text also, of the carnal mind, and not of the hochj alone. We have but to name some of the works or passions liere enumerated, " wrath, emulations, heresies ; " — to prove that not gross bodily appetites only are so designated. !Now, when the utmost is allowed to our fallen nature that can be claimed ; even when it is admitted, as we cordially admit, that you will find in unconverted men specimens, say, of meek- ness, of honour, and of charity or philanthropy, praise- worthy, and to society as well as to themselves highly profitable ; nay, more, such specimens as may seem to equal or surpass the developments of th*^ new life in corresponding features of the character of renewed men : yet, so far from this fact yielding any just inference to the disadvantage of Christianity, — however it may be to the deserved reproach of Christians— it will be found, we affirm, on a fair analysis, that, first of all, these virtues of natural men are but a reflection of Christianity itself, an effect of an unacknowledged cause, or largely due to the presence and influence of believers among those who ignore their faith; and, secondly, when examined, these ^/^ ll.< I I 90 THE FRUIT OF THE SPIRIT— virtues, so called, rivalling the efflorescence of real Chris- tian principle, but lacking the root, arc found, in the long- run, to come as far short of the graces of which they arc the imitation, as the heavenly may be expected to excel the earthly, " Love " is the first element of the spiritual nature here enumerated. Now, though a natural or un- spiriiual man may love virtuously, — may love parent, or child, or wife; or the woman her husband, her sister: — this i,« little more than may be conceded as to inferior animate.' 1 Injings, But, admit more; — suppose this man of ■natural virtue to be liberal in his aims ana largesses, bej'ond the family circle ; a man of generous philanthrop)y and lofty patriotism : still, bring the Scripture test to bear ou this show of excellence; we ask. Is this love, which often may be found in separation from the love of God, to be com- pared wii\\ that love of man, and of the brotherhood, which is basei on obedience to the first and great commandment ? Is that truly to be called love ? — at least, is it love in its highest kind, which cares indeed for the bodily wants of chil- dren or servants, but neglects the necessary provision for the perishing souls of either ? Or, are good faith, honour, gratitude, though worthy of praise by all means — are these in their manifestations toward fellow men, while limited to t\as sphere, to be counted equivalent to the faith and the iiratitade which look to the claims of the Creator as well as of the creature ? Xaj" ; take one more admission — Say that now and again, you shall find among the children of nature instances of self-government, meekness, temperance, equalling those spiritiml developments, in some Christians, included under i ■ 1 1 i PEACE, ETC. 91 [in, of )se ler •s? the names of meekness and temperance — nay, not equalliniy ler 36, If And so we may not restrict peace to justification as the ground on which it rests. Coming of a believer's adoption as well as justification, nay, of sanctification as well as either, it is that satisfaction of soul which can point as its warrant not only to the blood of atone- ment, but to the covenant sealed with that blood : it is the natural concomitant of a sure interest in all the promises of a reconciled Father's love, and of a consciousness of begun and progressive conformity to that Father's will. Happy, indeed ! — at peace with his God, the spiritual man is at peace with himself: he is at peace with all holy beings : his soul is in harmony with the harmonies of creation : he lives, he walks as in a Father's world ; sees God in everything, tastes God in every mercy. Everything was cursed to him before ; everything is blessed to him now. Heaven shines more radiant; earth looks greener, fairer to his eye. The sun beams on him unreluctant ; the trees and fiowers give forth their sweetness without a grudge. The grandest, the most formidable of nature's elements — there is nothing in them to alarm. As surely as in the rainbow spanning the heavens, he sees the token of a covenant of peace — even so, in the thunder, he hears his Father's voice, but the still small voice. The everlasting arm that guides the lightning is the arm that is under- neath him — the beasts of the field are at peace with him — the stones of the field are in league with him. — And espe- cially with his brother man, he who is first reconciled to God is at peace : — The word peace includes the mean- ing, doubtless, of peaceable, " easy to be reconciled," de- clared elsewhere to be an attribute of the wisdom that is 96 THE FRUIT OF THE SPIEIT— from above. Glory to God joins with peace on earth, and good will to men. The good man reflects this union. How can he but love much, who has been forgiven much ? So, love, in our text, while including love to God, is most surely also love to our neighbour — our brother — to the household of faith — to all men : not a love to their sins — not a love that fails to reprove for sin ; but a love of bene- volence to the very worst — to enemies, as well as special love to good men. And appropriately, accordingly, do we find here, not love only, but " gentleness, long-suffering, and goodness," l)y the side of peace, or peaceableness. Eeasoning even from earthly analogies — whom do you expect to be most con- siderate of his neighbour, most forbearing, most forgiving ? Is it not the man who is satisfied from himself — who is content at heart ? not the man who is fretful and ill at ease ; — either filled with so J'-reproach, or discontented with the allotments of Providence ? You would not, if desiring another's favour, go to a man in the moment of his discon- tent to urge your suit. You approach him with greater confidence in the hour of his prosperity and gratitude. You expect of him that, when jubilant amidst his own successes, he will prove open-hearted — large-hearted — to his fellows. Can it be, then, that he, whose heart is at rest in God, — his conscience pacified, his soul satisfied, — shall be other than peaceful, loving, generous, to his fellow- creatures? — long-suffering, slow to anger — like as his Father in heaven is ? — " good " to all : the " goodness " here meaning not inoffensive only, but beneficent, " ready to distribute, willing to communicate." I t PEACE. ETC. 97 Finally, if faith here, besides the faith of Christ, includes fidelity, as seems likely, from the place it holds in this description of the Spirit's fruit — fidelity, honour in all transactions; where should this be found so surely, so naturally, as in the soul that rests in Christ, that has God for its portion ? What is left to be desired, especially what to be basely coveted, by him to whom it is said, " All things are yours ? " In riches, or in poverty, he has suffi- ciency. In prosperous or adverse fortune, abounding or suffering lack, he either has G«3d in all, or all in God. While permitted, yea bound, to provide things honest in the sight of all men, he, the heir of God, need take no anxious thought for to-morrow, far less need defraud his brother or go beyond. This were not only to belie his faith; it were to cross his nature, and grieve the Holy S'):.i'it whir I dwsileth in him. >g le. rn Application. — The subject has been so largely practical, it will be enough to suggest a few thoughts, in the review, as inferential lessons. 1. If the grace of the Spirit, distinct as He is from the Son, is yet of the Son meritoriously, how evidently is union to Christ by faith essential to sanctification as well as to justification ! It is the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus that makes as free from the law of sin and death (Kom. viii. 2). " We are saved," Paul says again, by " the washing of regeneration shed on us abundantly through Jesus Christ our Saviour " (Titus iil 6). 2. If all spiritual graces imply a supernatural source, let us be careful not to confound with these the partial G I 98 THE FRUIT OF THE SPIRIT— ameliorations of character which too many mistake for grace. The water can rise no higher tiian its source : the tree must be made good ere the fruit shall be good. Ye must be born again ! 3. If graces may be unequally developed, to the Chris- tian's loss, and to the derogating from the effect of his ex- ample, our efforts should specially be directed to growth and amendment in those points in which our Christianity is defective. It is not enough to believe in the Holy Ghost generally, nor to have received the Holy Ghost to general saving effect ; surely we ought -to cherish the com- munion of the Spirit, by faith and prayer and watchfulness, in reference to what in our character is most lacking or weak. "He is given to them that ask," says Christ — " Your Father in heaven shall give the Holy Spirit." This is to be still putting on the new man, 4. If the influence of the truth through the Spirit is so moralising as well as comforting to the individual man, and influential through him upon others., how valuable must needs be the Gospel to society also ! How precious the Scripture element in any schemes of human education, from which we would expect large moral results ! No power biit that of the Spirit of God can regenerate human nature : whatever may be allowed as to certain restraints on human passion, or a certain degree of social ameliora- tion by means affecting the outward habits, nothing assuredly will go to the root of the evil, nor influence inter- nally and permanently depraved man, but God's appointed instrumentalities. Let other influefl^jes have their praise : but how far mere intellectual culture will secure moral PEACE, ETC. 99 3r- led le: U amelioration, let Greece and Rome, let India and China witness! "The world by wisdom knew not God. It pleased God by the foolishness of preaching " to effectuate what the wise of this world failed, if they indeed ever seri- ously aimed, to accomplish, for raising the mass of humanity from degradation. It is the truth that sanctifies — with the truth and by it does the Almighty Spirit operate: " Received ye the Spirit," demands the Apostle, " by the law, or (not rather) by the hearing of faith ?" His ques- tion is an appeal with confidence. Would we, then, see men not only loving G^d, but one another ; — would we see society adorned with the amenities of life ; — would we see the breath of social intercourse sweetened by what is gentle in temper, and speech, and act, not humane only : see here that this adorning of life and of man comes of that Gospel being known and be- lieved, of which the Psalmist says, — when replying to the question. Wherewithal shall a young man purify his way ? — " By giving heed thereto according to thy word." " The law of the Lord is perfect, converting the soul : the testi- mony of the Lord is sure, making wise the simple." VIII. PECULIAR OR HIGHER PRIVILEGES OF BELIEVERS. " Now he which stablisheth us with you in Christ, and hath anointed us, is God ; who hath also sealed us, and given the earnest of the Spirit in our hearts."— 2 COK. i. 21, 22. The religion of the believer is not a thing possessed by him as an uncertainty. He is able to give a reason of the hope which is in him, though with meekness and fear. " The sceptic may wrangle, and the mocker may blaspheme, but he knows that his confidence is not misplaced, by an evidence that, to their minds, is indeed incomprehensible, but to his own, is overwhelming, irresistible, and divine." How beautifully is this sentiment expressed by the apostle in the preceding verses ! — " As God is true, our word toward you was not yea and nay. For the Son of God, Jesus Christ, who was preached among you by us, was not yea and nay, but in him was yea," that is, sure, infallible, and to be depended on. For (says he) " all the promises of God in him are yea, and in him Amen, unto the glory of God by us." And the like character of stability that belongs to the word of God, belongs also to his works, especially his work of grace in the soul. It is God's work, and it is worthy of him. It speaks for itself, or is mani- i PECULIAR PRIVILEGES, ETC. 101 fested Ly a peculiar and indubitable evidence, so that the Christian, when his faith is in proper exercise, or when the Spirit of God shines upon the grace of His own im- planting in the soul, is enabled to say in triumph, as one resting upon a Divine foundation — " He who stablishetli us with you in Christ, and hath anointed us, is God ; who hath also sealed us, and given the earnest of the Spirit in our hearts." Let us consider the Christian's privileges here described, in the order in which they are mentioned in the text : — I. "He who stablishetli us with you in Christ," says the apostle, that is, establisheth us and you in Christ, is God. This supposes, as you may see, union to Christ by faith, for that is the beginning of the enjoyment of every new covenant privilege. It is when we unite with him that we are justified, adopted, and sanctified; the last blessing being ours in part as soon as we are united to him, and our growth in sanctification being promoted by influences derived from him as the head of the body — the church. Our justification is perfect at once. There is no con- demnation to them who are in Christ Jesus. Their perfect freedom from condemnation is founded on Christ's perfect righteousness, which, once imputed to us, remains on us for ever. We are stablished in him as to the ground of our peace, firmly and immoveably, so that though, as to the comfortable knowledge of his interest in Christ, there may be a variety in the Christian's case and frame, his state in Christ remains always the same. i 102 PECULIAR PRIVILEGES But the staUishment may be understood in reference to sanctification as well as justification. He is introduced by union to Jesus, into communion with him, in all the ful- ness of his grace. He receives the sanctifying Spirit by degrees only, it is true ; but as the grace of holiness is pur- chased for him by the blood of Christ, it is sure to him ; and, laid up in Jesus as his head, it cannot be lost. It is not committed to his own keeping. He receives it as he needs it. But the promises of God provide surely and infallibly for its seasonable communication. Believers are the "pre- served in Christ Jesus." They have access by faith into the grace wherein they stand ; and by the intercession of Christ, and the seasonable supply of the Spirit, they are enabled to be active in the life of faith, and in the exercise of holiness. They are kept by the power of God through faith unto salvation. They are strengthened in the Lord, and enabled to walk up and down in his name. II' b II. "Anointed us," says the apostle: one of the most honourable and most valuable of the Christian's privileges. It marks strongly, also, his union to Christ, and conformity to him. The name Christ, we ought to know, signifies anointed. The name Christian denotes that believers also are anointed. How ? By the same Spirit with which Christ w^as anointed. To him, he was given without measure — to them, in measure. On his head, as the great High Priest, it was poured copiously, as on Aaron's of old, running down to the skirts of his garments : On them sprinkled, as the other, the common priests, were sprinkled. "God, even thy God (it is said of the Eedeemer), hath OF BELIEVERS IN CHRIST. 103 anointed thee with the oil of gladness above thy fellows." " Ye have," says an apostle to Christians generally, " an unction from the Holy One whereby ye know all things." Now, what purpose did the anointing of Christ serve ? It served to mark him the appointed and approved Savi- our. It also qualified him for his great work, in replenish- ing his human nature with all needful gifts and graces. It made him joyful, for it was the oil of gladness. It adorned him, and made him to shine in all the beauties of holi- ness. It perfumed the garments of his human nature, according to that beautiful address to the ^Messiah in the 45tli Psalm — " Of aloea, myrrh, and cassia, A smell thy garments had." In other words : having descended from heaven to earth, and clothed thyself with the vestments of a human nature ; yet so enriched with all heavenly graces was the holy humanity thou didst assume, that the God was easily discernible by the spiritual beholder in the man Christ Jesus ; the only begotten of the Father was beheld among us, full of grace and truth. Oil, even in its common use, beautified the countenance, and it is a suitable emblem of health, and of vigour, and of excellence ; but the holy oil of anointing was peculiar, it was reserved for sacred use ; the Israelites were forbidden to compound anything like it. A happy symbol this of Christ's pre-eminence in all things, and also, as regards the fellowship of his pjeople with him, of their peculiar character and privileges. On the chosen and called alone is the Spirit bestowed ; in the peculiar people only are the blessed effects of his presence visible : •^p 104 PECULIAR PRIVILEGES ( ill and how wonderful are these effects, and how incapable of bein^g produced by any otlier cause or agency ! Grace makes their faces to shine in some resemblance to Jesus. Grace imparts to them a spiritual and heavenly fragrance. It softens and subdues, and yet strengthens them. As the oil of gladness, it diffuses an inward peace and joy. As precioDS eye salve, it illuminates their understandings, enabling them, as by a new sense, to apprehend spiritual things. This last idea seems very particularly to be intended. For, the believer's establishment in Christ had just been mentioned; and we learn elsewhere, (1 John ii. 27), that on the anointing of the Spirit, as the means of their super- natural and effectual illumination, the stability of Chris tians depends. "The anointing which ye have receivet of him," says the apostle John, " abideth in you, and ye need not that any man teach you : but as the same anoint- ing teacheth you all things, and is truth, and is no lie, and even as it hath taught you, ye shall abide in him." This ■was the apostle's confidence with respect to those believers, at a time when great endeavours were made to seduce them from the faith. The anointing abideth. Once in- structed by divine and effectual grace, the power of the truth continues for ever to be felt. The mind never alto- gether loses the savour of spiritual things. Its convictions can never be totally eradicated. How vain, accordingly, all the efforts of earth and hell to overturn the confidence, or extinguish the love, of the heaven-born and devout soul! The Christian, weak in himself — the unlettered Christian, little capable of giving a reply to every cavil of i OF BELIEVERS IN CHRIST. 105 the unbeliever, still, — though he may lose the battle of argument, loses not his hold of the truth. He krows it is no lie. lie experiences its influence deep in his soul. All the engines of infidelity are insufficient to counterwork the work of God. III. A privilege closely connected with these others is the scaling of believers : " Who hath also sealed us," says our text. As the Holy Spirit is the unction, or the anoint- ing, so he is also the seal, according to that statement in the epistle to the Ephesians, (1st chapter), "After that ye believed in Christ, ye were sealed with that Holy Spirit of promise." Some refer the scaling to one distinct operation of the Spirit, others to his presence and inhabitation in general. The m( .uing of the expression may be so far collected from the phras' s immediately preceding and following, as well as from thi common uses of a seal among men. The Apostle is setting forth the ample security of the Chris- tian's great interest, as being established in Christ, anointed; and, in very natural connection with this, he adds, " sealed," and that to the day of redemption. Just as men seal, by ■way of securing and authenticating, property and deeds, so does God, by the Spirit, seal his people — set them apart — distinguish them from others — and make evident to them- selves, as in part also to those around them, their peculiar character, and distinguished happiness. It is not incon- sistent to understand this, more generally, of all that com- munion of the Holy Ghost which the Christian enjoys by faith, and also, more strictly, of certain of His higher opera- 7 ■ il V ■ ut no such imper- fection or weakness can belong to one of infinite excellence. Holiness, wisdom, truth, and mercy, belong to the great Kuler of all, no less than power. His will therefore, though limited by nothing without Himself, is, if we may so say, limited by his justice and wisdom ; or rather, is never exercised but in full harmony with all his moral perfec- tions. Tiie apostle, while representing to the Ephesians the absolute freeness of the grace of Uod, says (i. 5-9, 1 1, 12), " He hath predestinated us according to the good j^lcasure of his ivill,tQ the praise of the glory of his grace, whorein ho hath made us accepted in the Beloved : In whom we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, ac- cording to the riches of his grace ; " " wherein," ho adds, " He hath abounded towards us in all wisdom and pru- dence;" and again, "having made known unto us the mystery of his will, according to his good pleasure, which he hath purposed in himself;" and again, "in whom also we have obtained an inheritance, being predestinated ac- cording to the purpose of Him who worketh all things after the counsel of his own will ; that we should be to the praise of his glory." The inspired apostle speaks, you see, largely of grace, and of the purpose of God's good pleasure which he hath purposed in himself; but he speaks of Him who worketh all things in wisdom, and to the best end, after the counsel of his oiun will. It is not without counsel, but it is counsel with himself. For loho hath knoivn the mind of the Lord, and who hath been his counsellor ? God rh^^ftiar\^9^ »«r-<«ik2i« 118 THE SOVEREIGNTY OF M . } s never acts without a wise end, though he may not disclose that end to us further than tliat we surely know, of all his procedure, that it accomplishes tlie manifestation of his glory ; and to us it is not the needful defence of what He vnWi that the thing is seen by us to be wise ; it is the proof that it is wise that He wills it. Neither is the sovereignty of (Jod ever exercised at the expeose of justice. The righteous Lord cannot but love righteousness, and cannot but do righteously. I know that on the subject of election and reprobation this is the per- fection tljat is most apt to be arraigned by the pride of man ; but we may ask boldly, while looking at what may be accounted the severer instances of his government, Are not His ways equal ? Were we to say that God is the author of sin, we should indeed give occasion to the objector to take offence. And in the coarse way in which the objections to Divine sovereignty are often stated, this .seems to be taken for granted, even that God create i many men to damn them, "^ut let not the creature become a falje accuser of his Creator : ^^. ' "'^rnot tempt any man to evil However, then, it is to be acknowledged that sin is in the world by Divine permission ; and while we hold that the sovereignty of God is manifested even in choosing to permit moral evil ; on this the Scripture is express, that hy man did sin enter: "By one hion sin entered into the world." And, however unable we may be to reconcile this with the holiness of God, assuredly it is only of a holy and wise permission we are to understand whatever passages seem to connect the sin of moral and rational agents with any cansal influence on the part of the Creator. Thus m GOD IN REVIVALS. 119 M 1 when our Saviour here recognises the Divine sovereignty in Iiiding tlio gospel from the wise find prudent, while it is revealed unto babes, we should err were we to consider him as meaning that God directly c-auses the blindness of uuliclievers. AVherever He is said to visit men with a s})irit of blindness or strong delusion, it is not in mere sovc'i'cignty, but in righteous judgment. Sovereignty, however, as well as judgment, is concerned in such dispensations thus far ; that, while He might, if he pleased, reveal the truth to those from whom he liides it, he does not will to interpose in the gracious and saving nianil'estation of himself to every sinner. That is, in other wovtls, he is sovereign in the exercise of his mercy ; not arbitrary, however, but righteous, in his retributive judg- ments. "Thou hast hid these things from the wise and prudent, and revealed them unto babes : Even so, Father, for so it seemed good in thy sight." This leads me to observe, that sovereignty in respect of sinners of the human race is chiefly displayed in the exer- cise of His n; cy and grace : And that it is not with God's mercy as with his justice, that the exercise of it must be uniform and invariable. God must be just ; He is just to all : But it is a presumption altogether unwarranted, to suppose that God must be merciful to all ; I mean merci- ful in pardoning and saving every sinful and miserable creature. He declares otherwise. He said to j\Ioses, " I will be gracious to whom I will be gracious, and will show mercy on whom I will show mercy." Thus is the grand distinction between these two attributes of the Divine nature clearly indicated. You never hear Jehovah speak- > ^fmmif>f»!mwmmi-*iipii^' ' 120 TEE SOVEREIGNTY OF \ ing thus of his justice. He never says, " I will be just to vhoni J will Ob just." But though he cannot, as the judge of the earth, do but what is right, he claims to show mercy on whom he pleaseth. God forbid I should hide the mercy of God, or conceal his goodness ! We know he is ricli in mercy, ready to forgive ; yea, we know that it is a great part of the glory of God to forgive. I go farther ; I hold that in the perfect freeness and sovereignty of the Divine mercy is found tlie very best refuge of the sinner. For, if the mercy of God were not sovereign, or He not sovereign in the exercise of it, the sinner wh^ moet needs mercy might most despair of it. It is the glory of God that he can he merciful, to the very greatest sinner, as well as to the least. There is this comfort hidden in the declaration, I will show mercy on whom I will show mercy. Enough that God wills it. It does not go by the rule or principle of human merit at all ; and therefore if God has promised, as we are sure he has, that the chief of sinners who be- lieveth on his Son, shall be saved, the chief of sinners needs not despair; yea, may certainly believe that God will forgive him, since he has said he loill, and his will is ever exercised in harmony with his faithfulness. For we are not claiming for Jehovah, under the plea of vindicating his sovereignty, a power of dispensing with his promises. But what we affirm is that, except by his word and gracious promise, he is not obliged to exercise compassion to the sinner. Therefore his words, " I will be gracious to whom I will be gracious," while they speak blessed comfort to the sinner who flees to the provided refuge, rebuke at the same time the presumption that God must provide a re- mn mm GOD IN REVIVALS. 121 fiige to every one who is guilty, or a lielp for every self- ruined one. The glory of his justice requires that sin be punished. He who passed by and proclaimed his name, " The Lord, the Lord God, merciful and gracious," declared he would " by no means clear the guilty," So truly if, this principle acted upon; that, wherever mercy is extended at all, it is only on the basis or through the medium of satisfaction rendered to Divine justice. Now, as it was entirely of himself to provide that satisfaction by a Surety, so it rests with himself to apply the benefit of it. To how many, or to how few, is a question only to be determined by liimself. And here it is that sovereignty is very specially con- cerned. God will manifest his goodness in such a way as shall not only be glorif\'ing to his justice, bu b illustra- tive of his absolute and uncontrollable right to give or withhold his favour as seemeth good to him. It is striking to observe that, even in answering favourably !Mo3es' prayer, who imploringly asked (Exod. xxxiii. 18, 19), "I beseech thee, show me thy glory," He said indeed, " 1 will make all my goodness pass before thee ; " but added, as de- fining its exercise, " I will be gracious to whom I will be gracious, and will sliaw mercy to whom I will show mercy :" as if the glory of God were not sufficiently seen in his dispensations of goodness, but when tliat goodness is seen to be exercised in his mere good pleasure ; given or with- held in no consideration of the relative merits of the elect on the one hand, or reprobates 07i the other, but because ' oO it hath pleased him." Many of the objections to the doctrine of sovereignty 122 THE SOVEREIGNTY OF C I would vanish, were it kept in mind that the decree of Election does not merely contemplate mankind as such, but as sinners ; not men absolutely considered, but sinful men, meriting the wrath of God. This is what in ordinary conversation on the subject is often kept out of sight ; but it is what the Bible never fails to keep foremost and pro- minent. And, this being taken into the account, the whole question, as far as the character of God is affected, assumes a different complexion. It is no longer the case of a supreme arbitrary Being deciding upon the fate of millions of rational creatures, and clioosing them to happiness or consigning them to damnation, without rule Oi reason. It is the case of a Just and Holy Governor of all, contemplat- ing a sinful and lost race of his creatures ; and, while the purity of his nature and the honour of his throne rendered retribution necessary ; nay, Avhen in strict justice that retribution might have been universally exacted ; never- theless, desiring to glorify his mercy in the salvation of some, yea, many, at the same time that, for the glory of his other attributes, he awards condenmation to the rest. There is here no act of injustice to complain of, but an act of mercy to admire. The murmur must not be that many perish, when all have sinned; — what througli eternity will be matter of wonder and praise is that many arc saved ! Hence, too, a difference may be stated here between the ground of the condemnation of a sinner, and the ground of his reprobation or of his being passed by in distinction from others who obtain mercy. It is of the utmost importance to recollect that it is not sovereignty that is the cause of '4 GOD IN REVIVALS. 123 condemnation, though election is the cause of salvation. No reason can be given for the salvation of sinners but that so it hath pleased God. It is not so with those who perish ; the ground of their condemnation is their sin. Yet, when again you ask, what is the reason why, when all have sinned, some perish and others are saved ? (tliat- is, not, what is the ground of condemnation, but, wliat is the reason of any being passed by ?) our answer must then refer to sovereignty as well as justice : " So it hath pleased Him ! '' This is the only solution our Saviour gives here. He refers it to the will of God. He might doubtless have said, that from many these things are hidden, because they love not the truth, or that, being sinners, it is what they deserve, to l)e left to perish ; but, because he is here giving the reason, not of tl eir condemnation, but of some being saved and others passed by, among those who in common arc sinners, his explanation is, " Even so. Father, for so it hath seemed good in thy sight." We ordy add that the same explanation is given by the Apostle to the lioraans, in that memorable passage in the Olh chapter of that Epistle, where he is holding discourse «<(' the deep judgments of God. Having shown that all 'io not Israel who are of Israel, and that the children of .' Ue (.romise are counted for Abraham's seed, not by natural bi ui, but by grace, he refers back to the words of God to Koses, a little ago quoted ; adding, " So then it is not of him that willeth, nor of him that runneth, but of God that showeth mercy." And, then, taking up the objection against absolute sovereignty as necessarily leaving the blame of our perdition at the door of God himself, he asks, V i 3' i J 124 TEE SOVEREIGNTY OF " Nay, but man, who art thou that repliest against God ? Shall the thing formed say to him that formed it, why hast thou made me thus ? Hath not the potter power over the clay, of the same lump to make one vessel unto honour, and another unto dishonour ? " It is observable that he here takes the high ground of absolute sovereignty ; not, however, but that the cause of Israel's condemnation was their own sin, eypecially unbelief, as he afterwards shows ; but when he would say, wherefore God, out of the one sinful mass i ^^ ^ aie to be a vessel of mercy, while on another he sho\. >s wrath, as a vessel of wrath, he seeks no other reason, he gives no other explanation, than that " So it hath pleased him." II. The whole history of redemption, through all its unfoldings, manifests free and sovereign grace. I confine myself, in the present discourse, to the displays of God's sovereignty in the salvation of men; though it were easy to show that Creation and Providence, so full of the illus- tration of the wisdom and goodness of God, abound also with satisfactory testimony to His absolute dominion. Creation ! to what can it be attributed but to the will of God ? He was under no necessity to give being to any creature : " Thou hast created all things, and for thy plea- sure they are and were created." Providence ! the whole scheme of the Divine government in heaven and on earth, is just the development of the counsel of the Lord. Even a heathen king could say (Dan. iv. 35), " I blessed the Most High — he doeth according to his will in the army of heaven, and among the inhabitants of the earth ; and none « GOD IX REVIVALS. 125 can stay his hand, or say unto him, "What dost thou ? " " Our God is in the heavens," says an inspired song, " He liath done whatsoever he hath pleased" (Ps. cxv. 3). " Whatsoever the Lord pleased, that did he in the heaven, and in earth, in the seas, and in aU deep places." Paul preached at Athens the sovereignty of God in the allot- ments of the time of life, and place in the world, of each individual : " He hath determined the times before ap- pointed, and the bounds of our habitation." But as the absolute sovereignty of God, as instanced in the dispensations of grace, is most affecting, so the proof of it is most ample. It is one grand object of the revel- ations, both of Old Testament and of Xew, to make it mani- fest. Grace ! grace ! is the constant theme — free, un- solicited, undeserved mercy, in opposition to every claim or pretension of human merit — sovtni^n grace, in opposition to any compulsion or necessity on the part of the Giver, or any supposed ground of preference in one guilty creature as compared with another! — This, the whole history of redemption, in its contrivance, accomplishment, and appli- cation, commends to our humble faith, and our grateful admiration. 1. The salvation of men, not of angels, illustrates it. That a Saviour was provided for sinners at all, was of the love of God, or his mere mercy : " Herein God com- mendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us " (Rom. v. 8). " Not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to his mercy he saved us " (Titus iiL 5). Thus do we see r/race asserted in opposition to all human merit. But lest any ■ ,. ) i V 126 THE SOVEREIGNTY OF one sliould tliiiik that while Divine grace thus provided or tlie salvation of the guilty, it could not possibly have been otherwise ; behold the same gracious God passing by a nobler race than that of man, and fixing his regards upon an inferior rebel family ! " Verily, he took not upon him the nature of argels, but he took hold of the seed of Abra- ham " (Ueb. il IG). Those sons of God, those morning stars, are suffered to go into everlasting darkness, while worms of the dust no less vile morally, far inferior intel- lectually, are exalted to the dignity of children, and inherit all things. But then, among the human race themselves, look at the distinction a<;ain ! " He showed his word unto Jacob, his statutes and judgments unto Israel. He hath not dealt so with any nation" (Ps. cxlvii. 19). Wherefore this dis- tinction ? can it be referred to merit ? can it be traced even to a comparative merit ? So far from this, the Jews were a nation singularly perverse and foolish. They were foreknown by Jehovah as a people who would deal treach- erously : " I knew," says he, " that thou wouldst deal very treacherously, and wast called a transgressor from the womb" (Isa. xlviii. 8). "They did worse than the heathen, whom the Lord had destroyed before them : " so testifies the sacred historian (2 Chron. xxxiii. 9). When God set his love upon them, he saw in them no moral beauty; nay, rather pollution, as well as helplessness : " Thou wast cast out in the open field to the loathing of thy person, in the day that thou wast born," says Jehovah by his prophet (Ezek. xvi. 5). It was not that they were better than other nations in their origin. Lest they should think so. GOD IN REVIVALS. 127 Tovided ly have ising by ds upon >oii him if Abra- aiorning s, while )r intel- l inherit k at the icob, his dealt so .his dis- e traced he Jews ley were L treacli- eal very •om the heathen, testifies God set ty; nay, vast cast n, in the prophet ter than ;hink so, He addresses them thus : " Thy birth and tliy nativity is of the land of Canaan ; thy father was an Amorite, and thy mother a liittite." It was not for their virtuousncss they were singled out from among the nations : " Not for thy righteousness, says Moses, or for the uprightness of thine heart, dost thou go in to possess tlieir laud ; " and he adds what strikingly illustrates our position a little ago stated, " for the wickedness of these nations the Lord thv God dotli drive them out from before thee;" election bein'j; held forth as the sole cause of Israel's salvation and blessedness, but the destruction of the Canaanites as no less a demonstration of justice than of scvereignty. In fine, as little can we refer the distinction to their number or //rt'«^^?c.s5 as a people : "The Lord did not set his love upon you," says Moses, " nor choose you, because ye were more in number than any people ; for ye were the fewest of all people : but because the Lord loved you, and because he would keep the oath which he had sworn unto your fathers " (Deut. vii. 7, 8). The faithfulness of Jehovah, or his adherence to his word of promise, is introduced as ex- plaining his wondrous interpositions in behalf of Israel : but his gratuitous love is the cause or spring to which the promise itself must be traced up ; for there is no promise of God, which mercy was not as nmch concerned in the making as truth in the fulfilling. " He loved you because he loved you," is the short sum of the matter. It might be shown, too, how, in the forbearance of God with that people of Israel, and his returning to them in the manifestations of his favour and reviving presence after seasons of controversy with them for their sins, 128 THE SOVEREIGNTY OF sovereign mercy still appears in a most affecting manner. See in proof of this Isaiah Ivii. 17, 18 : Thus he speaks of Israel, " I have seen his ways and will heal him : I will lead him also, and restore comforts nnto him and to his mourners." One would think, to hear such a promise, that it must be meant that Israel had so amended their ways, as that Jehovah could again return with favour without injury to his glory ; but how stands the fact ? The pre- ceding words are (ver. 17), " For the iniquity of his covet- ousness was I wroth and smote him : I hid me, and was wroth, and he went on frowardly in the way of his heart." No amendment — yea, progress in declension ! yet in this very connection occur the words, " I have seen his ways, and wdll heal him." Let w not mistake. It surely is not meant that, without reformation and independently of it, the tokens of Jehovah's complacency could be realised to the full. Reformation must, in the order of things, pre- cede the external blessings promised ; and hence these are often represented as hingeing upon national righteousness : " If ye be willing and obedient, ye shall eat the fruit of the land" (Isa. i. 19). But let it not be forgotten, nor the proof we are referring to be unobserved, that the very re- formation of national manners is itself a fruit and mani- festation of grace ; and that the healing of the people takes rank among the unmerited and unsolicited gifts of sove- reign love : " I have seen his ways, and will heal him!" The twentieth and thirty-sixth chapters of Ezekiel may be consulted for illustrations of the same thing: "I wrought for my name's sake, not according to your wicked GOD IN REVIVALS. 129 manner. Deaks of : I will d to his ise, tliat iir ways, without Che pre- is covet- and was s heart." it in this lis ways, sly is not tly of it, salised to ngs, pre- these are jousness : e fruit of I, nor the J very re- nd mani- ple takes of sove- vill heal jkiel may ling : " I ir wicked ways, nor according to your corrupt doings, ye house of Israel, saitli the Lord God." Kow, Israel was typical, in its election by God, of the election of grace everywhere ; and although the choice of that nation as a nation is irrevocaltle — and their preser- vation to this day is a proof that the gifts and calling of God, in this respect also, are witliout repentance — yet the apostle reasons tliat the particular and individual election, Loth of Jews and Gentiles, is that chiefly in which this great national election terminates. There existed all along, as he shows, this special gracious election of in- dividuals as distinguished from the nation in general. God had reserved to himself, out of that people, seven thousand men, in the days of Elias : "And even so," he concludes, " at the present time also, there is a remnant according to the election of grace." How striking is the display of grace and sovereignty in the families of the patriarchs ! We might go back to the earliest of tliem. In the family of Adam himself we see a distinction made — Abel accei)ted, and Cain passed by ! Faith, indeed, constituted the grand point of difference ; but what is faith but a gift of God? Again, special favour rests on the line of Seth. But his descendants sink into degen.eracy. Then Noah found " grace " in the eyes of the Lord. Again, in the family of Noah, the line of Shem is chosen. It was long after, that God was to pensuade Japheth. In the family or line of Shem, at length per- mitted to lapse into idolatry, mercy rests upon Abraham. He is singled out from amidst an idolatrous world — him- self, for aught that appears, an idolater. What peculiar, ( '• 130 THE SOVEREIGNTY OF 'I V U ■; \ ! yea infinite, favour, bestowed upon him for no other reason but that so it pleased God ! " Who raised up the right- eous man from the East, called him to His foot, gave the nations before him, and made him rule over kings ] Who hath wrought and done it ? I the Lord, the first and the last ; I am He " (Isa. xli. 2). Again, in the family of Abraham, see Ishmael passed by, and Isaac chosen : " ^ly covenant will I establish with Isaac." But of all early examples, the case of Isaac's family sets in the most impressive light the Divine grace and sovereignty. This ii the apostle's chosen illustration. Jacob and Esau, twin children of common parents; the same mother as well as the same father; of one birth as well as one womb ; enjoying the like advantages of re- ligious culture — behold, of these one is loved of God, the other hated ! that is, passed by — hated comparatively — not loved with the same peculiar favour as he — hated, not as a creature, but as a sinful creature : " For the children, being not yet born, neither having done good or evil, that the purpose of God according to election might stand, not of works, but cf him that calleth ; it was said unto her. The elder shall serve the younger," In immediate connection with this illustration the sacred writer introduces the mention of Pharaoh (Rom. ix. 17). In him God would show his power and make his name known. In His holy and sovereign dispensation He hardened his heart ; or, if it is thought safer so to ex- press it, permitted Pharaoh to harden his own heart, and to become the victim of his guilty obduracy ; mercy not interposing to dispel his illusion or to prevent the judg- GOD IN REVIVALS. 131 re- good ection it was the (Rom. make isation to ex- rt, and 3y not judg- ments which he provoked from taking their course upon the haughty oppressor, " So then," reasons the apostle, " it is not of him that willetn, nor of him that runnetli, hut of God that showeth mercy. For the Scripture saith unto riiaraoh, Even for this purpose have I raised thee up," — " Angels must be here," says one, speaking of the sovereignty of God's dispensations, " to show the reach of God's sovereignty to heaven. So, as extending to the liighest and most glorious among men and angels, Beel- zebub and Pharaoh must be here ! "* But, in every case of conversion or revival, the same fact holds. It is not in the consideration of the moral worth or the excellency otherwise, of any individuals, that we are to find the reason of their salvation : it is in God's sovereign appointment. And that the will of the creature is as little the cause of salvation as the merit of the creature, what a proof have we in Saul of Tarsus, in Lydia, in the members of the Corinthian Church ! Saul, exceedingly zealous of the traditions of the Jews, and furious in his opposition to the cause of the gospel, becomes a thankful, humble, vessel of mercy ,and zealous preacher of the faith he had destroyed. See too in what circumstances he was chosen — on his way to Damascus, in company with others embarked in the same impious design, but himself the very ringleader of the band! It is he who is "the chosen vessel!" Him +■ ? voice of Christ addresses. The others, less guilty it would seem, hear a voice, but see not who speaks. They are amazed, but Saul is converted. " It pleased God," says he, (no wonder he thus speaks !) "who separated me from my * Blackwell's Sacred Scheme. I: 132 THE SOVEREIGNTY OF mother's woml), find called mc by his grace, to reveal his Son in me" (Gal. i. 15, IG). "Nor thieves, nor covetous, nor ciriiiikards, nor revilers, nor extortioners, shall inherit the kingdom of God. And such were some of you : " says the apostle to the'se reclaimed ones; "hut ye are washed, but ye are sanctified, but ye are justified, in the name of the Lord Jesus, and by the Spint of our God " (1 Cor. vi.) On the same principle we may perceive that the sub- jects of conversion still are in many cases the most un- likely persons ; <^r, wlien a day of divine power is experi- encerl, let it not appear surprising that you behold or hear cf scoffing infidels receiving the humbling truths of the gosi>el with obedient minds. God chooses some of sucli, the more to impress ns that all is according to his purpose. He reveals these things to babes, persons illiterate it may be, comparatively foolish, very simple ones : " Even so, Father, because it seemeed good in thy sight." The wise man glorying in his wisdom may stand by amazed or incredulous : the thing revealed to others may be hidden to \Am. There is partly justice and judgment in this, it is true ; God thus punishes human presumption : " For judg- ment am I come into this world, that they which see not might see; and that they which see might be made blind." But let us not view it as an act of judgment alone: it is mercy, mere mercy, which chose the one; it is in sovereignty, pure sovereignty, that God, who could, did not choose the other: "Not many wise men after the flesh, not many mighty, ncu many noble, are called ; but God hath chosen the weak things of the world to confound +he things which are mighty; and base things of the world, and GOD IN REVIVALS. 133 tilings which are despised, Imtii God chosen, yea, and tilings wliich are not, to bring to nought things that are : that no llesh should glory in his presence " (1 Cor. I 2G-28). Sovereignty appears in the cho(jsing of the ^daccs where He is pleased to manifest the power of Iiis grace. The aposHes or ministers of the word are directed to go to one people or country, and forbidden to go to another. Just as, for a long period, "He showed his word unto Jaccjb," :ind as the preachers of Christ and of his kingdom were not at once permitted to go " into the way of the Gentiles ; " so again the Gentiles, despised by the Jews, are chosen to inherit the blessing when Israel is in righteous jucgment "blinded:" "the diminishing of the one" becomes "the riches" of the other. Again, among the (.entiles, in one city rather than another, the apostles are appointed to labour, the Lord having "people there." Mark how the suggestions of the sovereign Spirit of God overrule the purposes of Paul and his companions : " When they had gone throughout Phrygia and the region of Galatia, and were forbidden of the Holy Ghost to preach the word in Asia, after they were come to ^Mysia, they as'=^ayed to go into Bithynia : but the Spirit," says the sacred historian, " suffered them not ! " (Acts xvi. G, 7). Asia (proconsular) indeed afterwards received the word — the time to favour it came. Meanwhile, the appointed season for its entrance into Europe had arrived; and Paul obeys the signal to pass inlo Macedonia. Further : sovereignty appears in the means and instru- mentality by wliich conversion or revival is accomplished. It is ever the word which God honours, but it may not ill ^1 i : 134 THE SOVEREIGNTY OF tt always 1)C the likeliest exhibition of that word. The man of eloquence may be blessed, and has been blessed ; but the simple statement of the truth of God, in unostentatious style, may prove the weapon of greater power. It has often been so from the beginning. It is so still. " Not by might, nor by power, but by my Spirit," " Paul may plant, and Apollos may water; but it is God alone that giveth the increase." And, that no man may glory, not the same word only, but also ministered by the same person, is the power of God to one, inid falls ineffectual on another. Under tlie ministry of Paul himself, " Some believed the things which were spoken, and some believed not " (Acts xxviii. 24). "The wind of the Spirit bloweth where it listeth.*' To humble the pride of man, too, it has sometimes hap- pened that the same individual minister, blessed to gain many souls to Christ in one place, has proved himseli' com- paratively fruitless in another. The celebrated Living- stone, so successful in his ministrations at Shotts, found liimself without sense of his Master's presence, and almost without power of utterance, when mhiistering elsewhere sorje time after. It is said of Dr. Stewart of Dingwall, that he perceived little or no effect of his preaching the same kind of doctrine at Dingwall, which God had owned so much at Moulin. And when I speak of doctrine, I must add that, even as •we have already shown, that sovereignty is never exercised at the expense of justice ; so, although God does bless sometimes an imperfect ministration of his word, and, it may be, at the same time or in the same place, may seem to honour with success those who differ in sentiment on mi GOD IN REVIVALS. 135 certain articles of tlio faith, as well as differ in their mode of stating the truths in which they agree ; this is no proof, nor ever ought to be so interpreted, that soundness in the faith is of little importance. AVe are to beware of deducing sweeping conclusions from scanty premises. God may bless the fidelity of an Episcopalian, without setting His seal to Episcopac}' : but I must not, in forming my esti- mate of the truth or error of the system of Episcopacy, look to the blessing attending a faithful minister here and there; I must look at its workings on the whole, and, above all, compare its pretensions with the Scriptures. God may bless an Arminian. I believe, some who conceal or deny the very doctrine I now preach — that of divine sovereignty — have done good : but I cannot compute the harm they have done. And I think it probable that they might have elfected tenfold more good, had they declared the whole counsel of God. I the rather touch on this point, because of the sensitive jealousy of some, lest the exhibition of the doctrine of election should prove a hinderance to conversion, by stumbling and discouraging those who may happen to misunderstand it. Away with such time-serving policy ! If God may sometimes bless those who in ignorance withhohl this doctrine, I believe He will frown upon those who thus advisedly dissemble or keep back his counsel. Are we wiser than God ? No doubt, the doctrine requires to be hanr jd with caution; but, I know too, it may be preached ao as to prove con- solatory and confirming to tlie saints of God, and a means of awakening and stimulating sinners. I am happy to add here the testimony of that good man, Mr. Robert Hal- I;„ h )\\ l| n i J \ » ■!( )!| i ^15^ II II! 136 THE SOVEREIGNTY OF dane ; who, .speaking of some partial revival on the con- tinent of Europe a few years ago, says, " Tliere was nothing brought under the consideration of the students of divinity who attended nie at Geneva, which appeared to contribute so effectually to overthrow their false system of religion, founded on philosophy and A^ain deceit, as the sublime view of the majesty of God presented in the concluding verses of tho 11th chapter of Iiomans, ending thus, ' Of liim, and through him, and to him are all things ' — Here God is described as his own last end in everything that he does. Judging of God as such an one as them- selves, they were at first startled at the idea, that He nuist love himself supremely, infinitely more than the whole universe, and, consequently, must prefer His own glory to everything besides. But when they were reminded that God, in reality, is infinitely more amiable and more valu- able than the whole creation, and that, consequently, if he views things as tliey really are. He must regard himself as infinitely worthy of being more valued and loved, they saw that this truth was incontrovertible." The time of conversion and revival manifests sovereignty : The time, I mean, both of its occurrence, and, in the case of a revival, of its continuance. It is true of the individual believer, that the spiritual comfort or grace which he seeks may not be bestowed at the time expected. It may be delayed till hope deferred maketh the heart sick. So also the prayers of churches may be so long in being answered, that M'hen the answer comes they may be like men that dreamed. A good and eminent minister of God has been found to labour long in his place in the vineyard with :maana!nm GOD IN REVIVALS. 137 Of little success, tliougli -with mucli prayer : Another has scarcely begun the work when a full reward is given into his bosom : Again, wliile means are being plied by the same individual with equal industry, or, it may be, greater, Clirist may seem to have withdrawn himself and to be gone. As regards conversion, tlie time of its occurrence has often been not the least impressive proof to the individual tliat the mercy of God is exercised sovereignly. Xot only has the scoffer become the subject of converting grace, but sometimes in tlie very scene of his contemptuous manifes- tations. It was thus, if we may credit history, in the experience of some individuals, who went, in past i)eriods of revival, to scoff at the word which was to be addressed to assembled multitudes, but were apprehended of Divine grace, and became the willing captives of the Saviour they despised. What more expressive instance, indeed, than Paul's conversion on the way to Damascus ? The furious persecutor might, if it had so pleased God, liave been made to yield to the sceptre of the Lord Jesus before. His journey to Damascus might have been prevt nted ; his very plans anticipated: but it is not till he is in the mid-^L of their execution that mercy arrests him. Surely the very first of our practical reflections on all this ought to be — What gratitude, what unbounded grati- tude and praise, is due to God, from those to whom lie has given reason humbly to feel assured that grace has triumphed through righteousness in their salvation ! that a boon so unspeakable, withheld from many, is conferred on them, not more deserving ! I hi' ¥.1 i h I t. t I ' !. il f ; ) * i^ : 138 THE SOVEREIGNTY OF Our very next reflection may well be — AVliat humility becomes tliem ! for " who maketh thee to differ ? " Let pride be for ever far from the vessels of mercy ; neither let any, under the garb of humility, of professed humility, judge hardly of God, or his mercy, as being too sparingly manifested through a scheme which does not effectually secure the salvation of all men and all angels. Remember that salvation is not the only end, nay, we are justified in saying, it is not the chief end of the scheme of Providence. God's ultimate end in all his counsels is his own glor}'. He doth all things for himself; nor can lie who is infinite do otherwise. AVhat an affecting view does the whole subject present of man's dependence, and of Jehovah's supremacy ! How does the creature a[)pear nothing, and God all in all ! And yet is not this the fitting station for the creature to occupy in the presence of the Creator — the worm of a day, before the Eternal ? " What is man, tliat God should be mindful of him ? Behold, all nations are before him as nothing ; yea, less than nothing, and vanity ! " Is it fitting then, that in the arrangements of infinite wisdom, or in the dis- pensation of an infinite bounty, the fancied merits of any creature should be of serious account ? Who can define the rights of the creature but lie who made it ? AVhat rights has the sinful creature ? Is it not the due homage to the Almighty that man should feel and confess his de- pendence ? Pride, a desire to be independent of God and his will, has been the spring of all misery. It is the pur- pose of God to hide pride from man ; to subdue this tower- ing spirit of self-sufficiency; and to bring him to see that, GOD IX REVIVALS. 139 as the glory of God is the creature's chief end, so the will of the Creator should be his onlv ultimate rule. Nor does this end of all the Divine dispensations subserve more surely the vindication of the rights of Jehovah tlian the interest and well-being of man himself. It is when most abased before the Lord ; it is when most brought off from self-dependence ; it is when most denied to his own wis- dom, his own righteousness, and his own strengtli ; and clinging the most to God as his stay, liis hope, his portion; it is when seeing himself to be nothing, his interests and his glory utterly insignificant, as viewed apart from the glory of God ; it is then man is most truly blessed. By pride came destruction ; and by humility is the pathway to honour acjain. But while the appropriate use of the whole subject is to lead us to see that God is in all things to be glorified, it is necessary to guard against the practical abuse of the doc- trine : and the explanations which have been given may enable us to see how ill-grounded are those prejudices which are taken at the Divine sovereignty, or the jtleas founded on it, whether to extenuate an indolent neglect of the means of salvation, or a heartless despondency and distrust. It is not indeed for us to pretend to clear up the dark mystery of God's ways. He giveth not account of His matters. If all were plain and intelligible to the human mind, the Apostle had not exclaimed, " the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God ! " But though we cannot fathom the depths of the Divine purposes, we may remove some of the adventitious difficulties which owe their existence to human misconception. (^ I [I I \ J ' \>i % I i ! 140 TILE SOVEREIGNTY OF First of all, sin is of man, not of God. In vain we seek to charge it upon our Creator : He disclaims it. Our con- sciences pronounce in accordance with this ; they accuse and condemn us ; and men accuse and condemn one anotlier. If our wills are not free to choose the good till they are made free, it is sin that has hound and enslaved them. Let this he remembered. And again, the grace of God in the manner .of its operation, or the decree in the manner of its acom- plishment, harmonises witli our rational nature. It does no violence to our real liberty. It neither super- sedes the exercise of reason and understanding, nor the habits of attention, and least of all, our duty of obedience to the calls and commands of God that are addressed to us. And this leads to the remark, that it is the invitations, the promises, the precepts of Scripture, that constitute our rule of duty and warrant of faith and hope. It is with these, not with the decree and purpose of God, that we have, in tlie first instance, to do. Xot that the decree is to be disbelieved, nor the doctrine of the decree to be concealed ; but it is all-important to bear in mind, that the invitations to faith in Christ are addressed to us freely and particularly, and, beyond all doubt, sincerely and in- genuously ; and it is not for us to neglect compliance with these in a dependence on the promised aids of grace, on any pretence of our ignorance of God's purposes. The secret purposes of God, we may rest assured, will ever be found to be in harmony with his revealed purposes ; and the word, the very oath of God, r akes it certain that he GOD IN REVIVALS. 141 that cometli shall not he cast out. And let this give lieart to the preacher. The deplorable opposition of men to the word of salvation need not discourage him who helieves that the ministry of reconciliation is the divinely appointed method of hringing men to God; and with which the grace of the Spirit mny be expected to be concurrent to the effect of bowing the sinner's will by an influence as welcome as irresistible. The decree may give confidence; for the sovereignty of that decree, while it calls fur a humble reference of the whole effect of his ministrations to the Divine purpose, assures him, at the same time, tbrt wherever God has a people, no resistance from. hell or earth shall hinder their conversion ; nay, their own hard and obdurate Mills shall yield ; and though not against their consent, yet without their previous preparation, and independently of their merits, the most degraded captives of Satan may become willing in a day of the liedeemer's power. Of course, diligent preparation in waiting on God belongs to our duty, and is indispensable. But, often is God found of them who sought him not. His ways are not our ways. Again, the sovereignty of God is misunderstood, when Christians are supposed to have any reason in this doctrine for relaxing,' in their watchfulness against sin. On the contrary, it supplies an urgent motive to Christian dili- gence. Holiness is the evidence of faith, as faith is the evidence of election.* Whom God has foreknown he has predestinated to be conforimd to th^ image of his Son. This is the end of God's electing ^ arpose ; and, just in so far as they discern the evidences of this progressive confer- 142 THE SOVEREIGNTY OF ' ' ! I ( matioii, can the heirs of promise be assured of their happy interest in the everlasting covenant. It is not the doc- trine of our dependence on sovereign grace which teaches men to be content with a low standard of duty ; it is rather that which, presuming on human power and suffi- ciency, is driven to bring down the rule, to meet and ac- commodate tlie offers of self-sufficient righteousness. lie who believes that his salvation is according to God's eter- nal purpose and love, will find himself urged by the very thouved of the Lord, because God hath from the beginning chosen you to salva- tion through sanctification of the Spirit and belief of the trtith : wherc- unto he called you by our gosjiel, to the obtaining of the glory of our Lord Jesus Clirist. Therefore, brethren, stand fa.st, and hold the tra- ditions which ye have been taught, whether by word, or our epistle. Now our Lord Jesus Christ himself, and God, even our Father, which hath loved us, and hath given us everlasting consolation anu good hope through grace, comfort your hearts, and stablish you in every good word and work."— 2 Thess. iL 13-17. The preceding verses contain one of the plainest predic- tions of the rise of the ^Man of Sin, and most striking delineations of the character of that apostasy, to be found in all the Bible. The general consent of Protestant in- terpreters has referred tlie passage to the Church of liome ; and its agreement with history as to the manner in which the great antichristian system attained to sucli formidable infiueuce is certainly confirmatory of this interpretation. It may be observed that the apostle speaks of the subject as one with whicli the Christians at Thessalonica were familiar, and on which he had discoursed when present with them - " Eemember ye not that when I was yet with you, I told you these things; and now ye know what ETERNAL ELECTION, ETC. 145 witliholdeth that he mi|^fht be revealed in his time. For the mystery of inir^iiity doth already work : only he who now letteth will let, until he be taken out of the way." The prophet iJaniol liad foretold the rise of the great spiritual usurpation as coincident witli ' the dismember- ment of the Itoman Empire ; and tlie apostle had no doubt pointed the attention of the Ciiurch to so remarkable a prediction, since lie supposes those to whom lie wrote to understand what was yet the " let " or hinderance to the full development of the apostasy. Home Tagan — the empire — still stood, of whose dismemberment when it should occur the Pa[)al power was to take advantage. It is in dreadful terms that the havoc this antichristian system should make of men's souls is here described, as well as the dia- bolical policy by which it sliould insinuate itself: "Even him whose coming is after the working of Satan, with all power and signs and lying wonders, and with all deceiv- ableness of unrighteousness in them that perish ; because they received not the love of the truth that they might be saved." It is not necessary, indeed, to take these words and the following — " that they all might be damned," as necessarily importing that every adherent of the Tapacy is doomed to certain destruction.* But surely it is a very solemn warning of the danger of wilful de[)a.rture from the truth ; since the ajjostle at least affirms that, where error ^\ork3 its full effect in enslaving the mind and ci)rru}»t- ing the heart, it is indeed deadly or damning. Xor are the fulal cousef[uences the less certain, that in righteous * The wortl literally means " judged," — yet iu the sense of " condemned," as our English Version takes it. r. ! r 146 ETEllNAL ELECTION NO 1:^ judf,inent a holy God mpy have permitted the victims of deally error to be deceived, yea, has " sent them strong delusion that they shoukl believe a lie : " For still it is, because they received not the love of the truth, and, first of all, had pleasure in unrighteousness. 1 low relieving it is to find such an awful statement accompanied with so clear a testimony to the certain connection between faith and salvation ! — " they received not the love of the trutli, that they might be saved." This implies tliat salvation is in very deed brought nigh. How relieving it is also to find, along with this prediction of the dismal night of error that was soon to set in upon the church, so distinct an in- timation of its destined close also, or of the sure decline of antichri.stlanism, and its destruction in due season : — " that wicked one, whom the Lord shall consume with the spirit of his mouth, and destroy with the brightness of his coming ! " The apostle, moreover, comforts himself with the assured expectation which he felt warranted to entertain, that faithful witnesses should not be wanting in the darkest time, and that these, his converts at Thessalonica, should stand fast in the hour of temptation. It is well, however, to l>e warned against even the beginnings of spiritual de- clension; and it is just when one is contemplating the dismal effects of error in those who have never been truly enlightened, that the most intense gratitude should be felt to a gracious Providence, if it has preserved us from the seducing and corrupting influences which might have proved fatal to us no less than to others. This is the spirit that characterizes the apostle's expressions in the verses we have selected for exposition : DISCOURAGEMENT NOR EXCUSE. Ul the j,ve the the Ver. 13, " But we are bound to give thanks alvvajs to God for you, brethren beloved of the Lord." He does not so much praise or flatter their constancy, as ho gives thanks on their account. ]>ut neither does he hesitate to tell the elect of their safety. He spoaks of all believers as of that number ; all wlio love the truth are saved. In the beginning of tlio former epistle he had told his Thes- salonian converts how he knew tlieir election of God. It ■was not by any sight granted to him more than to others of the book of the decrees, or of the names written in the book of life ; it was by the reception they had given to the gospel, and the fruits it had produced in their lives. But it is very instructive to observe, that Paul rests his confidence of their final well-being and steadfast preserv- ance on God's unchanging purpose. Nor does he dream of its being unsafe to assure tliem of their interest in that prrpose. We shall see immediately how he guards against an abuse of this doctrine. But mark first, how, so far from concealing his belief of their interest in the decree of love, when he would give expression to his firmest hope of their constancy, it is with this he begins , "' Breth- ren, beloved of the Lord." Such is the designation ho applies to them, recognising in this the surest guarantee for their abiding in the faith : — they were interested in that special love or grace which, having eternally chosen them to everlasting life, would not fail to carry on the good work to its consummation. Few passages appear to us more explicit than this, in proving a decree of election, and in demonstrating that the election has been from everlasting ; that it respects individuals j that it is free. ^\l 148 ETERN4L ELECTION NO \ ' ! uncaused, I mean, by the foresight of tlie faith or good works of some as compared with others ; tluit it is holy withal, including provision for the sanctificatioii as well as salvation and final hap[)iness of the chosen. " From the beginning," says the apostle, " he hath chosen you." This is undoubtedly exprcssi . . of the eternity of the choice. It was before all time. It is in vain that it lias been attempted to give another meaning to the M'ords, as if denoting the begiiuiing of the gos[)el only : for it is matter of history that tlie Thessalonians liad not received the (lospel from "the beginning," in that sense of the words.* Tliey were later than many others in receiving it. Any readtn" of " tlie Acts " may remember that the apostles had largely prosecuted the work of tlieir mission in otlicr parts before tliey were beckoned to go into ^lacedonia; and Tliessalonica was one of the famous ^Macedonian churches. Lesides, the expression — " from the beginning," * The interi)rtt:iti()n Kouu'lit to Ik- forced on tlio uunls, "in tlie lieyin- ning," — thotiyh KUitported )iy Mitli;it;lix, has bt-en rejected on critical grounds, hy Schott, Ellicott, Ipleiiieiitary exinvs^iou with urrUe. (as in Phil. iv. lij), or obviously involved in the context (as in ] John ii. 7, 2i^. See also 1 )r. Kailie 'on Eph. i. ' ), who justly marvels at Adam ( 'larke finding an allusion in the phrase "from the foundation of the world" to tiie coni- mencei'ieiit of the Jewish Htate. Neander trifles with the siibjeet in a like manner. ( 'alvin rightly saw, long ago, that the apostle's object wiis to comfort the elect in all time, us well as Christians of the earliest age of the C.ospel. Indeed no relief is found fnmi the supposed diflieulty of those subjects in any theories that suppose a reference merely to a general choice of the Gentiles to the privilege of a (iospel state ; for sovereignty must still on this hypothesis be coinVssed. All nations have not been chosen, anil masses of the outwardly called reject the ofTered salvation. Surely it Wt-vs not for a thing of so uncertain result that the ajwatlc breaks forth in thanksgivings and blessings so fervent ! ;■ ; DISCOURAGEMENT NOR EXCUSE. 149 if has its obvious interpretation in parallel passages \vliere we have the same idea, only in different words. Thus in Eph. i 4, " before the foundation of the world," is the phrase used in the very same relation to electing love : " IJlessed be the God and Fatlier of our Lord Jesus Christ, wbo hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heaveidy jdaccs in Cln-ist : according as he hath chosen us in him before tlie foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before liim in love." Tiien, further, the election is " to salvation." It is not merely to the opportunities or means for salvation. To these also, no doubt: tlicy are mentioned anon. lUit sal- vation itself is here, and here first — the end before the means. For, that final salvation is to be uiulerstood, is plain from this, that the salvation is inclusive of " the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ" mentioned in next verse, as the end both of the election and of the calling; and because, moreover, it is distinguished from sand ificat ion M'liich, though itself a part of the salvation, is here raid\ed as a means to the complete end, — "through sanctificatiou of the spirit, and belief of the truth." llow interesting to observe the relation among these things ! Salvation is first stated comprehensively as the fruit of electing love. But, lest any one should exclaim : Is our safety then irres[)ective of our holy living? — So essential, says the Apostle, is sanctificatiou, that it is no less provided for, no less certainly related to final glory, than is the belief of tlie truth : nav, so essential is sancti- fication, that whatever of salvation is enjoyed in the pre- sent life may be comprehended under that very word or 150 ETERNAL ELECTIOX NO t ' \ V 1 name. And this Gospc;! lioliiicFs is as inucli deeper and more tliorough than any mere virtue of man, as the Divine person Avho undertakes for it is greater than a mere creature : the love of the Father is carried into effect by "the love of the Spirit." "SVe seem to miss here "redemption" hy the Son. But, besides that " the glory " to be obtained is called the glory of OUT Lord Jesus Christ, I doubt not tlie word " sanctifica- tion" here is to be taken in its largest extent of meaning, including all that the Spirit as the applier of redemption works in the soul, from its first enlightenment in the i'vnowledge of Christ and union -with liini, to its highest advances in conformity to his image. Redemption, then, or reconciliation by the cross, is implied. And next to sanct.fication of the Spirit, comes here "belief of the truth :" before it, no doubt, in the order of our experience. As belonging to the external means, it is, in its own place, as essential as the agency of the Holy Ghost. Let no one say, then, If we are so passive in the hands of God, and if salvation, as it would appear, is so independent of us, we may leave ourselves to fate, or wait inactive the will of our sanctifier. Xo ! lie who ai>[)lies redemption — He Avhose work sanctification is, retpiires faith as m-cU as in- clines us to exercise it. Nor does he pass by the under- standing, but acts through the medium of it, presenting the truth to the mind, and enabling us to receive it, and love it : — " tl\rough belief of the truth." Not to perceive that truth — by so clear a light does it shine — is repre- sented in the preceding context as the evidence of a heart ill affected to the matter of the truth ; and, so, they who DISCOURAGEMENT NOR EXCUSE. 151 perish arc said to pcrisli because " tliey have not received the love of the truth that they might be saved." Sad doom! Eut tlieir coudemnatioii, observe, is connected with their sin ; and how inscrutable so ever to us the decree M'hich abandons uubelievers to their choice, or leaves chem to believe a lie. even these darkest words of the jiassage or its context ini}>ly the most comforting assurance against any mere arbitrary procedure on God's part, or such exer- cise of absolute sovereignty as n)ight render faitli or dili- gence vain. The election does not take effect but througli faith ; and none who believes perishes. Eifectual calling is the very evidence of electing love ; and we need no more than the outward call, the gospel invitation, to warrant faith : — " whercunto he called you by our gospel." " lie called you," and " by out Gospel." The "calling" is inclusive, dciibtless, both of tlie external and internal or eifectual call. The Apostle undoubtedly refers to both in the case of those to whom he was writing — they ere such as had believed. lUit the outward call or invitation had been addressed to them just in common with others. The secret decree of God's love could oidy be aftlrmed of them when that outward or common call was complied with. And how expressive of conversion this word " called ! " IIow expressive of the power as well as the sovereignty of grace concerned in that change ! He hni calls ; he speaks to the heart — and it is doiie. "][e hath saved us arid called us (2 Tim. i.) with an Iioly calling, not according to fair works, but according to his own purpose and grace, which was given us iu Christ Jesus, before the world began." i m erson ! The Apostle lingers on the Saviour's name, every letter in which is precious, as connected with so blessed a prospect : — " the glory of our Lord, Jesus, Christ ! " The conclusion of the paijsage contains an exhortation and a prayer : very suitable both, as following his words of congratulation or thanksgiving. Just as if the final salvation were uncertain, or conditional, ho enj'oins "standing fast" as a duty; and, knowing that for all duty assisting grace is needful, lie commends his converts to tliat grace. " Therefore, Ijrethrcn, stand fast" Yes, he urges as a motive to diligence and steadfastness, the very knowledge of their interesl in the «livine love on which he had con- gratulated them. This is ever the way of the sacred writers. The same Apostle who tells us that the founda- 154 ETERNAL ELECTION NO ;: \ ! I- tion of God staudeth sure, liaving tins seal, " The Lord Iviiowetli tlieni that are His," adds unhesitatingly as on the obverse, " Let every one that nanieth the iiarie of Christ depart from ini([uity " (2 Tim. ii. 10). Pi'id does not ^vait to reconcile tliese things, or to satisfy every caviller how it can be that the certainty of an interest in the divine love influences the Christian not to abate, but to increase his watchfulness. So John as I'aul. lie who says (1 P'p. ii. 27), "The anointing which ye have received of Jiini abidelh in you," says again (v. 28), "And now, little cliildren, abide in llini;" and again (2 Ep. v. 8), "' Look to yourselves, that we lose not those things which wq have wrought, but tliat we receive a full reward." lioth things are true — throughout all Scripture are recognised as true — the adequacy of tlie provisions of the covenant of grace, or the unconditioiud nature of the promises, as concerns the end; yet, the n» efTiictually is, our Saviour himself tells us, of the word of God instrunientally : — " Sanctify them through tliy truth : thy word is truth." And the Apostle, like his blaster, tells Christians that they are clean through tlic word as v.'ell as through the blood of Ciirist (Eph. v.) Clnist " loved the Church and gave himself for it ; that ho might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of water by the word." "Hold tlie traditions." — I need scarcely exidain that there are no other traditions recognised by Paul than the oral or written words of inspired men : what was after- wards written was yet partly oral, lie explains himself — " whether by word or our epistle." The canon being not yet complete in thnt day, be naturally charges it on these Thessalonians, who had enjoyed his personal ministrations, to have his doctrines in remembrance. The quarnd of Protestants is not with the word "tradition," which signi- fies what has been delivered to the Church, and committed to it as a sacred deposit to be guarded and handed down from one generation to another. All Scripture is a " tradi- tion " in this LTOod .sense. It is unauthorised traditions and uncertain, which we decline ; such as have too often been substituted for tlie word of tlie living God. And the very command to hold fast the Apostolic tradition, oral once, now written, and well authenticated, is what renders imperative the avoiding the mere commandments of men. Finally, — tlie prayer of this passage — how much is it in keeping with the doctrine and with the precept foregoing ! The matter of the prayer; how much in few words! tlie manner, how assured, and how assuring! The apostle I I I i I i i ^ ^ ■'] 156 ETERNAL ELECTION NO insinuates the ample grounds for expecting tlie blessings prayed for, in his introduction, or description of the source M'hence lie invokes them. " Now our Lord Jesus Christ, and (j!od, even our Father." lie lingers again on the pre- cious names of the Saviour, in this instance mentioned before the Father, as if to remind us that he is no less than the Father, and Avitli the Spirit, the fountain of grace; as \vell as especially, and so most frequently represented, the channel througli \vliicli it flows: — "our Lord," — divine Master; "Jesus," Saviour; " Clnist," anointed : No vain tautology, since each name is suggestive of grounds of en- couragement in prayer. ]}ut, just as the IVFaster himself tauglit his disciples to comfort tliemselves -with this also, "The Father himself loveth you" (John xvi. 27) ; so does the apostle add, "and (Jod, even our Father, who hath loved us." And both from what he is, and from what he hath done, he draws the cheering inference as to what he will do : " may he comfort your hearts ! " His is the power to reach the heart ; no other can soothe it effectually : "and stablish you in every good word and work." Lehold here the far-reaching morality of the Gospel ! See the help provided for every faithful and obedient disciple ! Thus, as the apostle does not the less enjoin the duty of standing fast, that he has just told them of the securities of the covenant ; so, not the less does he plead for stablish- ing grace, that such grace is promised. Tiie promises are our warrant to plead ; and the Spirit of adoption teaches Christians to guide themselves by all God's revealed will. Enough for them to know that lie will be inquired of for these things to do them for them. They use without gain- II DISCOURAGEMENT NOR EXCUSE. 157 saying tlie appointed instrumentality ; and the Llessing comes only sweetened the more, that what was rendered suro by love is seen to be accomplished in laitldulness : — the gift at once of preventing grace, anle of Samaria to lier who first guiiU-'d thcni to Christ: " Xow we believe, not because of your word, but we have leard him ourselves." So, however led by pareu, <, or led by pastors, bless (Jod if you liavo heard and proved the word to your own cont(;nt. And to him wlio would say — "Had you been born amouL,' ;^^aho- nietans, you would have been a ^Mahometan ; liad you been trained a lionianist, you mi.uht have lived and died u Ilomanist;" let it bo your reply: " Possibly so it mij^lit have been ; but it is not less cause for -ly humble grati- tude to Him who makes me to differ, that the Uible and not the Koran came into contact witli mv mind, and that I was trained to know the true traditions of tlic inspirid word of life, and to turn a deaf ear to those inventions of men which might have corruptcil my lieart, and perilled my soul." Do men less value civilisation because it may bo true that, if born in other times or in other circumstances, they might have been contented with what now they would esteem as barbarism ? Is liberty the less prized, or is the distinction between freedom and bondage less real, because the degraded vassal of tyranny loves his chains, or in other circumstances luight have been as free as we are? Our thanksgiving for distinguishing grace is to in- clude the circumstances of our lot, tiie means, the appli- ances, the Providential arrangements, whereby the result on which we congratulate ourselves was brouglit about. Paul blesses God for electing love ! We can do this with- out despising others, and without extolling ourselves. 2. "We see how eternal election, so alarming to many, ICO ETERNAL ELECTION NO may be viewed as a iloctrine fraii^L^lit witli comfurt. Only know your election ; wliat is this but to know that God loves you, tliat his covenant is establislied witli you ? "What a repose to the soul, and what a stimulus to s[)iritual action, that every j,'ain nuulo in the si)irituid life is the development of an eternal purpose of fjracc ! — that every step taken in the 8i)iritual journey is a nearer ai)})ro;uh to a blessed consummation infallibly secured ! Only let our election be once made sure by our calling; and let our calling be proved by the appropriate tests. And hence, 3. We may observe how different a thing election is, in its connection with life and practice, from what by many it is supposed to be. It is no less an election to holiness than to glorv. AVe cannot know that God hath chosen us or others, apart from the consciousness or perception of the fruits of faith, and progress in sanctilication. Wiiat a motive liere to holy diligence ! what an answer to every plea of indolence, or false security, as if once elected and knowing ourselves the elect, we may conclude to live as we list ; On the contrary, the value of holy deec^s is en- hanced by this, that they are proofs indispensable of a title to heaven. Xor, surely, are Ciiristians less likely to love God, — and love is the fulfilling of the law, — when they have once attained to the knowledge that God has first loved them. Surely the certainty, as well as the greatness, of the provisions Divine love is seen to have made for our safety and happiness, must operate by a sufficiently natural and intelligible law to induce a grate- ful ingenuous obedience. And we see that the passage just expounded proceeds DISCOURAGEMENT NOR EXCUSE. IGl il3 '11- a to leu lias llie ivo a te- ds I ; on this : " Tlierefore" says the apostle, " stand fast ; " just as elsewliore he makes tliis practical appeal to the hearts of Christians (Col. iii. 12) : " Put on therefore, as the elect of Ciod, holy and helovod, howels of mercies, kindness, humhlencss of mind, meekness, ... If any man have a quarrel against any : oven as Christ forgave you, so also do ye." 4. In its aspect on the inquirer as well as on the man alreadv leading the Christian life, the decree of love has really nothing to discourage. Election is not God's taking one and refusing another, of those who seek, and seek perhaps with like earnestness. So some picture the matter, and others wantonly misrepresent it. Election is the cause of any one seeking — it hinders none who seek from finding. So that, as wo cannot know our election but by our calling, the very first or incipient desire God- wards and heavenwards is a symptom of the Divine favour for us. The decree bars the access of none who would come, nor docs the condemnation of any sinner rest on non-election. The invitation is indefinite to all. Instead of being discouraj^ed because God has not alike loved and chosen all, oh, let it encourage and excite us, that God has loved any of our race whatever, yea, many ! and that sure as the connection established between God's plans and their accomplishment, is the connection between faith and salvation, between holiness and heaven, between seeking in earnest and finding ! The very sovereignty connected with the freeness of God's choice is calculated to inspire hope into the breast even of the chief of sinners. For, since it is not foreseen faith or holiness that determines »ll 162 ETERNAL ELECTION, ETC. the Divine decree, or is acknowledged as the cause of the Divine choice; seeing that out of a condemned world God saves whom lie will, and llis decree of salvation is a decree to save by 'anctifying ; the unsanctified may venture to hope — the most unsanctified need not tlespair. " I will be gracious to wIiott. I will be gracious," silences every claim of comparative merit ; but it should equally prevent every feeling of despondency. Jehovali may will your salvation, oh sinner; and who shall let it ? Nay, take not merely hope, but certainty, from his pi'omise, if only you lay hold on it believingly, penitently. Tlie husbandman may sow and never reap ; yet on the general probability of gatluiring he goes fortli, bcjaring the precious seed Had yoii no more ground of liopo than he, tlie part of wisdom would be to seek, to try — to knock at the door of mercy. Ikit you have greater ground of confidence than this : " they that sow to the Spirit" ever reap; "they that seek shall find." " All tliat the Father hath given to me shall come to me ; and him that comuth to me I will in nowise cast out." f XI. WALKING WITH GOD, A.v'D IT.S HAPPY ISSl'E/ I " And Knoch walked with r.od : aud he w^as not ; fur God took him." — Gen. V, 24. " Vanity of vanities ! " siiioses/nV/uM?)). Now, tliere is no way of coming to the Father but bv the Son. God is reconciled to us in him only, and it is when we are AXD ITS UAVPY ISSUE. 167 incliiicMl by the Holy Spirit to rest on Iliin alone that we can feul ourselves at i)eaco with Heaven, lie it is who has "made i)eace by the blood of his cross." Accordinj^'ly, the apostle nicjitions Enoch among tliose worthies wlio obtained a good report throtiqh f'uth. "By faitli Kiioeh was translated tliat lie should not see death ; and was not luund, because God had translated him: lor before his translation he had this testimony, that he pleased (Jod." " But," adds the apostle, " without faith ii is impossible to please him." Thus we see that, even in the case of the ')iitriarchs, faith in God through the coming jMessiah, was the grand first principle of all acceptable religion. The saciitices which they were accustomed to ofler were a C(jn- stant monitor of sin, and of the necessity of a mediator: and had they not found peace of conscience in the believ- ing expectation of that sacrifice by which in the end of the world Ciaist should put sin away, there could liave been no haj[)py fellowship with God for thcni. They must have lived and died untlcr that spirit of bondage, that slavish fear of the Almighty, which renders the unre- conciled sinner averse to the tlioughts of God, and induces lum to drown, if possible, all retlection upon eternity. U is of grea,t moment to have distinct ideas of saving faith. In the man who walks with God, it is another sort of thing than that v.i^Mie and general belief of the Scrip- tures in which, it is lu be tiMnd, too many rest satisiied. It is geneniUy i»r« . by a deep conviction of sin, some- times l)y great alarm and agitation , the awakened sinner being made to .^aa, like the jailor at riiilippi, " What ii' it L(M' [!■ i.. \l m '! 1G8 WALKING JFITH GOD, shall I do to be saved ? " Though it renders the man willing to know the whole mind of the Lord, yet it ter- minates especially on Christ and the doctrines that more immediately respect his person and work. It includes in it a persuasion of his ability and willingness to save, and, along with a persuasion of this, an actual relying upon Him and the proni'.'.es of the Gospel as given us in him. Hence it is that faith is sometime:^ .spoken of as a receiv- ing of Christ. And, in truth, however, it may be conceded that, metaphysically si»eaking, the faith which is unto salvation is the sanif.; act of mind that is denoteil by be- lieving in its ordinary and uniform in>})ort ; we do well never to lose sight of that distinctive cliaracter which, as a grace of the Holy Ghost, the Scrijjtures assign to it. Then; it is Avith great fre(pu;ncy exhibited as taking a peculiar character from its source, its object, and its effects: so that there is a myslerious and spiritual union formed between Christ and every believer — a union so intimate that in virtue of it, Christ is said to be in believers, and they in him. To the reality of this union the Scrii)tures largely bear testimony: and without it there is no com- inuni(.M. *' / inll come viio him ami sup with hifii " — " Abide Ml me and 1 in yt)U." And why is it that the mystery of communion with Clirist is so little valueil, but because this mystery of the union with him is so little considered ? But, search the record.", of those men who have been, distinguished for fellowship with God — take their sense of this nuitter. Why, the union of which I speak they considered to lie at the foundation of every- thing : and such a faith as does not receive Christ into n //AT) ITS UAPPY ISSUE. 1G9 the soul, to dwell there hy his Spirit, they considered as •" no faith at all. As agreeing with this, we may notice how the writer to the liehrews speaks of faitl;, in that cliapter to wliieh I have already referred as containing the record of the worthies of former times. " Faith, ' says he, " is the sub- stance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen." Tt is the substance of them — it brings spiritual and eternal things near — gives tliem a presence, a sub- stance, a convincing evidence in the mind, so that they are seen to be important and momentous beyond all otliers. And to a like purpose arc the words of John, " He that believeth on tiie Son of God hath the M'itness in himself." I am the more particular in urging these views, because much of the soul's conjfort depends o!i them ; and to loose or hiaccurate conceptions on this subject may be ascribed thttt want of spiritual enjoymcEt in life, and that want of assurance in (U^ath, whicli many amiable professing Cliris- tians have so often to deplore. In the second place, walking with God, iiicludes liabilual fellowship with Clod, consequent upon this faith in liini. To tliose in whom deep convictions of sin have led the way to a peaceful reliance on tlie promises of the (Jospel, it is not wonderful that udigion should appear the principal end and business of tlu^ir lives. They who have not that convincing impression of s[)irilual things whicli true faith implies, may regard as fanaticism the fblloving hard atter God : but, on the part of believers, tliere is a blessed traffic carried on with heaven, wliich yields the most certain and iflorious returns. AMiile Ml\ in any 'ho ill 170 WALKING JriTII GOD, will sliuw us any gouJ ?" their prayer is, " Lord, lift ou us the light of thy countenance" — "the desire of our souls ia to thy name, and to the renienihrance of thee." Head the cxjierience of ])avid, — read the Sonj,' of Solomon, — and learn there that God deals familiarly with men ! And if some in every age, encouraged by these delineations of true godliness, have made it a i)rincipal aim of their lives to experience much of the gracious iireaence of Christ — if, not contenting themselves wilh superficial views and at- tainments in religion, they have longed to bo brought into the ban(pieting-house, and to behold the glory of the L(jrd; have sought to come near to a reconciled God, ami to have the joyful experience of feeling llim coming near to their souls — if they have exulted in the near access and delight- ful communion ; or have mourned when the God in whom was all their desire, has seemed to cover the face of his throne with a cloud, or, in the language of the Song, when their "beloved has withdrawn Himself, and has gone" — call it not enthusiasm ! L*!t God be true, and every man a liar. There is such a fellowship, — there are these views of the glory of the Lord — there is the stirring of the gracious affections, and the melting of the soul, ami the joy unspeakable, and the heavenly transjjort. And, ou the other hand, there is the withdrawing, the cloud as well as the sunshine, the painful experience of deadness, and darkness, and distance. If there is sometimes the blessed satisfaction, " Lord, it is good for us to bo here ; " there is, too, the mournful cry, " Ihing my soul out of prison." If there is the boast in God, there is also the complaint, "Lord, how long! — God, my soul is cast down in me." I \ AND ITS HAPPY ISSUE. 171 tlui lio on •ell iiii'l Jblid 1) is, If jut, In this various expciicuco, lies mucli of wliat is pi rly tornu'd " walkiuj,' with fJod." And lot it not be thought tliiit this i.s a kind of religion whi(!h may do for the closet of the man \\\\o lives retired from the bu-stle of th(! world, but is not i)racticable to other n..eji. I say not that every true believer has equal opportunity of holding high converse with Heaven, in meditation and prayer. Often sincere Christians are contented with scanty measures of spiritual enjoyment ; and the con- sequences are mournful ; but it is a vain plea that there is not time or place. God is noi confined to temples made with hands. It is not oidy in the hours sacred to devotion thai the ('hristian realises it : It may be on the road as well as in the closet. The mo.st striking experience of this kind that ever I read of, was that of an eminent Christian to whom God appeared when he was on a journey, and accomplished the jiromise, "I will mani- fest myself unto him;" accomplished it in such a signal and overpowering manner, that he ever afterwards tlunight of that as a day of heaven, illustrating to him what (iod is, and what are his riches in glory, more than all his former reading, and study, and prayer. ]>ut ordinarily, it is just in the diligent use of the word, and in a diligent waiting on insVituted ordinances, j)ublic, private, and secret, according to our opportunity, that this fellowship is to be nuiiutained, and the .seals of th(i Divine love en- joyed. Of these ordinances it is that the believer says, " lie maketli me to lie down in green pastures : he leadeth me beside the still waters. Tell me," .savs the church, at. Idressing herself to Christ, " thou whom my bO ul la j\' 172 WALKING WITH GOD, lovetli, where thou fecdest, wlicre thou niakcst thy flock to rest at noon : for why shoukl I be as one that turneth aside by the flocks of thy companions?" The reply is, " If thou know not, O tliou fairest among women, go thy w.ay forth by tlie footsteps of the lloek, and feed thy kids beside the shei)lierds* tents." Ask the Christian, where he lias met with Christ, where he has walked in com- munion with him ? " In yonder church, or in yonder ground," will he say, " while I listened to the tidings of the Gospel, or while I joined in the songs of Zion : how my heart was enlarged ! how my affections were moved ! how my spirit rejoiced in God my Saviour!" or "yonder, at the communion table, I was brought into the Itanrpiut- ing-housc, and his banner over me was love. Nay, in that little r(jom, where I met with those men of prayer, and as I bowed the knee along with them, how my soul was wafted to heaven, and my eyes moistened with tears!" Ah, the joy of those tears, and the delights of that spiritual elevation ! " Nay, yonder also," says the Cliris- tian, " as I walked by the way and was sad, Jesus drew nigh to me, as to the two disciples of old, and opened to me the Scriptures. While I mused on the words of life, rid on the hopes of heaven, he gave me to see a glory in these subjects I neve saw before." " I found Him whom my soul loveth : I held him, and would not let him go." But, thirdly, walking with God, includes unreserved devotedness to him. It is a great mistake to think of that spiritual enjoy- ment which is found in communion with God, as if it were not of practical value in its influence on the heart and the m AND ITS HAPPY ISSUE. 173 i life. It cannot be tliat a man may bo mucli in the Divine presence, anil not take on soniethin;,' of tlie Divine likeness 1 No ; true converse witli Ciod lias invariably a sanctilVin"' efl'ect. In tlie communications of men with one another, how great is tlie intluunce on each which their converse reciprocally produces ! " Kvil communica- tions corrupt good manner.^ — He that walkcth with wise men shall be wise." Oh then, though our goodness e.xtendt'th not to God, yet, on the othi.'r part, how can the person who is much with llim fail of being the most devoted in holy obedience ? Tiiere are views and feelings that come into operation in tlio believing ami renewed soul, to which the mere formalist, and the mere moralist, are strangers — views and feelings whose tendency it is to make the Cliristian most jealously watchful against sin, not only against outward acts of sin, but even the thought and the i)urposc of it. The impression which he has of the evil of all sin, as opposed to the holy nature and will of God; his very experience of its effects, in interrupting that communion with Heaven which he values above all earthly enjoyments ; his desire to abound in the fruits of faith, and to keep his evidences clear : these are habitual feelings and desires with the renewed man ; and these, converse with God is calculated to strengthen and con- firm. Accordingly, when we look to the Scripture saints, or to the recorded experience of those who have walked with God, in later times ; we find them as much exercised unto practical godliness as to comforting fellowship. Of what kind are those longings after his Almighty Father and Ad ^^\.^% <> A^ ^w. IMAGE EVALUATION TEST TARGET (MT-S) y SL/. :/ 1.0 I.I 1.25 !f IM IIIIIM 12 2.0 18 U III 1.6 V] %