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The following diagrams illustrate the method: Les cartes ou les planches trop grandes pour §tre reproduites en un seul cliche sont film6es d partir de Tangle sup6rieure gauche, de gauche d droite et de haut en bas, en prenant le nombre d'images ndcessaire. Le diagramme suivant illustre la m^thode : 1 2 3 1 2 3 4 5 6 4 - •; 5> \ '•"■ 4 ^Vv\ ^ / i \ SERMONS BY THE REV. THOMAS FRASER, FORMERLY OF LANARK AND OTHER PLACES, ■^nd left hy him as a Memento of his presence and labours among- them. 7 PRINTED BY JOHN LOVELL, ST. NICHOLAS STREET. 1867. In these Discourses there are no pretensions to style or originality ; and therefore they are not adaiJted to the literary or fasliionable, but chiefly to humble-minded Christians in plain congregations. To such they are aftec- tionately commended, with the prayer that the blessing of God may attend them. CONTENTS. SERMON I. Romans vi. 23.— The wages of sin is death y SERMON II. .John iii. 14. — And, as Moses Uftcd up the serpent in the wildernci^s, even so must the Son of man be Hftedup 20 SERMON III. Romans v. 8. — Hut (iod commendeth his love towards us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us 30 SERMON IV. Philippians iii. 10. — That I may know the fellowship of his sufferings... 39 SERMON V. Galatians ii. 20.— I am crucified with Christ ; nevertheless I live, yet not 1, but Christ liveth in me ; and the life which I live in the flesh I live by the fivith of the Son of God who loved me and gave him- self for me 48 SERMON VI. Same subject continued 59 SERMON VII. II. Corinthians viii. 9.— Por ye know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, yet for your sakes he became poor, that ye through his poverty might be rich 70 SERMON VIII. John xviii. 11.— The cup which my Father hath given me, shall I not drink it? 82 * CONTENTS. SERMON IX. I'AOK Proverbs xvi. 1. — The preparations of the heart in man, and the answer of the tongue is from the Lord »;{ SERMON X. II. Corinthians xiii. 9 — And this, also, we wish, even your perfection. 10 1 SERMON XI. Revelation xiv. 13. — Blessed are the dead who die in the Lord 118 SERMON XII. IL Coi'inthians iv, 17.— Our light ailliction, whicii is Init for a moment, worketh for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory.. 130 SERMON XIII. Acts ii. 31.— And it shall come to pass that whosoever shall call on the name of the Lord shall be saved 112 SERMON XIV. Revelation fith and 7th chapters.— A lecture on the seals IS.'J SERMON XV. I. Timothy iii. 2.— Apt to teach ICS SERMON XVI. Revelation 8th, 9th and IGtli chapters.— A lecture on the tr ampets and vials 184 SERMON XVII. IL Corinthians xiii. ll.— Finally, brethren, farewell Be perfect, be of good comfort, be of one mind, live in peace and the Cod of love and peace shall be with you 207 SERMONS 1 -•■■' SERMON I. THE I'RESENT AND FUTURE CONSEQUENCES OF S SIN. Tho wages of sin is death. -Romans vi. 23. How different this verdict from those who live and die in sin Thej judge, in most instances, that it is a very harmless and innocent thing. Nay, they come to take pleasure in it as a very .joyous thmg, and even to glory in it, as if it were a very honour- able thmg. They do so against the most palpable evidence and conclusive testimony to the contrary. For death, that is the most appalling and judicial event that can befall us, is the most conclusive testimony to its evil and demerit. As the text says, " the wages of sin is death." Death temporal, spiri- tual and eternal. We will first speak of death spiritual. Death spiritual. Ah, how dreadful is this if it could only be properly apprehended ! The death of the soul,--not that its constitutional faculties are destroyed, but that they have become so stupefied and weakened as to become totally insen- sate to spiritual things. This arises from the departure of God's Spirit from the soul, and its possession consequently by him who hath enslaved it to himself. And how lifeless and dark must that soul become when He departs from it ! This was B 10 THE PRESENT AND FUTURE very evident in the case of our first parents when they sinned against Him. They slunk away from His presence when He came unto them, and endeavoured to excuse themselves on grounds the most unworthy and untenable. Besides, fear and the selfish passions come then to be generated, which always turn against God, and bring such a cloud over the mind that they can neither see him aright, nor feel aright even when he appears in mercy before them. Hence we read that the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God, neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned ; also that the god of this world hath blinded the minds of those who believe not. This, brethren, is the scrip- tural account of the introduction of sin into the world, which wise men and philosophers in every age have endeavoured to account for, but will always be unable on mere philosophical principles. But view it as a judicial act on the part of God, and an enslaving act on the part of the devil, and all mystery vanishes and becomes plain. The sinner, therefore, now left to himself, because left by God, and to the master whom he chose to serve, goes on as a slave from sin to sin till he becomes dead in sin, till by habit it becomes in him a second nature to sin. And now, dead in sin, what a race does he run in the career of sin, and what a fearful amount of wages does he earn in that career ! For every sin that he commits he draws a check, so to speak, on the bank of spiritual death, which checks are seldom disho- noured there, but repaid with increased drawing and ruin. Let us write for a little, if you please, some of the checks drawn, some of the instalments paid, that we may have some idea of their fearful amount, and be prevented, if possible, from CONSEQUENCES OF SIN. 11 labit id in lat a For ,k, on isho- ruin. lecks le idea from drawing any more. Every day of anguish, every night of sorrow, every rebuke of conscience, every pang of remorse are so many of the checks drawn, of the wages paid, as fearful omens of what farther is in store. But to be a httle more particular, look at the ravings and fooleries of that mind left to itself, Avhere reason is dethroned, and right judgment pro- scribed ; for we read, and it is true, that the imaginations and thoughts of the heart are evil, and that continually from our youth upward. But to be more particular still. Look at the destruction of every generous impulse, of every kind feeling on the part of the miser and the slanderer ; look at the ribald and blasphemous tongue of the profane swearer ; look at the lost character of the liar ; look at the beastly lust of the licentious, at the besotted countenance of the drunkard ; at the corroding dagger in the breast of the seducer ; at the fearful looking for of judgment that every sinner, notwith- standing his spiritual death, apprehends ; and what a fearful amount of wa^ does he reap in his spiritual death here ! what a fearful amount accumulating for his eternal death hereafter ! But, say some, these are only extreme cases on the part of our spiritually dead, who are lost to all shame and honour, but not on the part of our honourable men who are alive to character and virtue. Well, take it on the part of such who are so, but who depend on their own virtue for reward, to the rejection of Christ and his salvation. Let us do so, and we will see features of spiritual death in them more flagrant and revolting, though of ditferent hues, than in the more 0[)euly flagitious and profane. To see a fallen proud sinner valuing himself on his own character, in preference to the merits of 12 TUE PRESENT AND FUTURE Christ ; to see him proudly rejecting these merits, or con- temptuously neglecting them, to see him treating the Son of God who would be his Saviour, as if he were umvorthy of notice ; and I put it to you, if these are not features of character more infamous and revolting than those in the most degraded and flagitious, more indicative of spiritual death in the blind- ness and perversity of their minds than those who are lost to all decency and honour. So true on the part of all such are these words, " the light shineth in darkness, but the darkness comprehcndeth it not. How can ye believe who receive hon- our one from another, and receive not the honour that eometh from God only ? This is the condemnation, that light hath come into the world, but men love darh.ness ratlicr tlian the light, because their deeds are evil." But notwithstanding all the character that virtuous men so called may pretend to, there is evil reigning at the root if it could only be scon, if it was nothing more than overweening selfishness and nausea- ting pride disdaining to be dependent on another, even the Son of God, for merit and salvation. But, say some again, who cannot resist the fact of sin, of spiritual death, in some form or other, — " Oh all this is to be laid to the account of original sin, for which we are not responsible, but every one only for his own sin, and, therefore, not to be charged to him." But what is original sin, but a disposition from the first opposed to holiness, and inclined to evil, which the Scriptures assure us is enough to exclude from heaven ? while the fact also is that every one is a sinner, and shall be answerable for his own sins ; that all previous to conversion are dead in sins, and, unless quickened by a new life, shall inevitably perish in their sins. Oh, brethren, this If CONSEQUENCES OP SIN. 1'» spiritual death which we have all received as our wages, and which we show in our bhndness, insensibility, peiTersitj, pride and self-complacency, how we should seek to be saved from it, for be assured to bo dead in sin in spiritual death, is indeed to be dead in law for eternal death. But the wages of sin is, farther, temporal dtath, -temporal because after a time, to be succeeded by everlasting death.' Oh, yes, this temporal death in the decomposition and destruction of our bodies, we have all got to take ; for it is unreasonable to think God would give us such beautiful bodies and noble souls to allow them to turn against himself witiiout destroying them, even though it should seem to mar His own workmanship. Accordingly, He gave a commission to the destroyer to execute his sentence on our first parents in para- dise, dying thou Shalt die. He next stamped his signet on the whole race, and claimed them as his own. Thence he came in a deluge of rain on the antideluvians, and swept them all away. He came down in a fiery blast on the cities of the plain, and sunk them in the Dead Sea. He comes on the battle-field, and cuts down by thousands at a time. He comes to all in the ordinary diseases of life, and sweeps them all away. He even alighted upon Calvary, and made the Prince of Life bow his head, but that was rather a heavy blow as in its reaction it killed himself. Hence we read that through death he destroyed him that had the power of death, and also that he brought life and immortality to light. But it is lamentable to think how the multitude, notwithstanding these things, prefer to work for sins' wages, shewing that they love death rather than life. Alas ! they think not that in sowing the wind they only reap the whirlwind, and that they !n 14 THE PRESENT AND FUTURE are only treasuring up for themselves wrath against the clay of wrath. The greater number spend their days as if they were to live for ever, but a touch of the cold hand of death soon dissipates the delusion. They build, many of them, as if they were to stand for ever, but death writes decay on their strong- est superstructures. They find poison in the beverages they drink, corruption in the air they breathe, thorns on the pillows they rest upon, and stings in their most lively enjoyments 5 but these beverages, that corruption, these thorns and stings are death. In the race for life also, which most run, there is a victory, but that victory is death's. The multitude, oppressed with burdens, woes and cares, sink into a premature resting- place, but that resting-place is the grave. Oh ! yes, the grave is that wide realm into which every sinner must enter, the impenitent, particularly, with terror in their looks and despair in their hearts ; for the wages of sin is death. But not only in usual, but in most unusual and awful ways does death do his work. In the blast of the ocean, and the roar of the hurricane, how many thousands does he shipwreck every year ! In the lightning's flash and the thunder's peal, how many also ! He is with the terror also by night and the arrow that flieth by day, with the pestilence that walk- eth in darkness, and the destruction that wasteth 1 noon- day. Ee stalks abroad also, arm in arm, with gaunt famine, reels to and fro with the drunkard in his gait, gloats over the lusts of the debauchee, as he marks them as his own, and, as a furious enemy, rushes on imbattled hosts, himself a conqueror over all. The defiant shout, the groans of the dying, the last gasp of the dead, are his martial music, holding appa- rently carnival over all, to which he invites corruption, earth CONSEQUENCES OF SIN. 15 and worms. Oh ! death, is he not the high disbursing agent, paying unto all their wages ? for it is appointed unto all men once to die, and the wages of sin is death. This brings me to the next view of death, namely, eternal death. Oh ! brethren, this is the death of deaths, called in Scripture the second death. A sinner, in the very sight of the cross, plunged into eternity, and dead for ever. Who can describe the woe of those that are cast into hell, that are thrown into the lake of fire, into the blackness of darkness for 3ver, where their worm dieth not, and the fire is not qucAched ? Some idea may be had of it by considering the different feelings of the mind in diflferent states in this life ; for, example, have we not in all of us the elements of retri- bution and of future punishment ? Conscience and memory, you know, are ever ready to act against us as with scorpion's stings, in the view of the future. But to mention some particulars. Have we not all felt the tortures of some disease which no skill could alleviate » no time assuage ? What would it be, let me ask you, to bear them for a lifetime ? What for eternity ? We have all felt the burnings of remorse which no repentance could remedy, no hope alleviate. What must they be when despair kindles them up into a fiercer flame, and conscience into a keener agony ? We have felt, some of us, grief incon- solable at the loss of property which can never be regained. What must it be at the loss of heaven for ever, by those espe- cially who once lived by the waters of life, but never drank of the wells of salvation ? We have heard the profanity, the obscenity, the blasphemy of those who are lost to all self- respect, and given up to every excess. What must it be on 16 THE PRESENT AND FUTURE I :i the part of those whose tongues are ever venting themselves in blasplicmics and curses against themselves, and others, for otFences committed, for mercies despised, for salvation rejected? We have all felt the pressure of guilt, the emotions of shame, the sense of condemnation, yet mitigated with the hope that we might yet be redeemed. But what must they be when desi)air and remorse shall deepen their intensity, and foretell agonizingly their perpetuity ? Besides the capacities of the soul ever increasing (even in this life) to take in more increas- ing misery, and the powers of endurance keeping pace with that ca})acity, to bear a heavier load. But what must they be when they shall be coeval even with eternity, and reach- ing ever towards infinity itself ? Oh ! brethren, so true is it the elements of heaven or of hell are in our own bosoms, so that we may learn from the present what shall be the Avretchedncss of the future, when all our sins with all their penalties shall be brought before us, when all our feelings and all our experiences here shall be aggravated a hundred fold there, and all our wages which we have earned shall be paid to the last farthing, for such sins particularly as disbelief of God's word, contempt of Sabbaths, a resisting of the Spirit, an anxiety to find fault with the people of God, a post- ponement of repentance, an invention of excuses for delay, a loss finally of all moral responsibility — when these, I say, and all others shall be added up, oh ! then, what wages shall be paid ! what a terrible reward shall be given ! what an awful verifying of the words, " the sinner shaii be filled with his own ways and eat the fruit of his own devices. They consider not that I remember all their wickedness ; now their own doings shall beset them about ; their wickedness is ever before me." C0NSKQTJEN0R8 OF SIN. 17 Id to And now, my fellow sinners, let me ask yon hiw long shall sin's workmen bo in receiving their wages, what time will it take to pay them all up ? Will it be in a year, or a lifetime, or hundreds of years ? Oh I consider that the wages here were only temporary, and short-lived, and designed rather to shew the quality than the amount of the payment. Consider also that time afforded you, more precious than all eternity, has been misspent ; that your souls, more precious than a thousand worlds, have been neglected. Consider that you have been hurled from a platform of grace, on which an . arrangement could have been made to meet your liabilities, . but you would not. Oh ! consider that you spent your days in negotiating drafts on the treasury of hell, instead of making deposits in the bank of heaven. Consider, I entreat you, that these drafts can never be disiionoured there, that tJiore is no bankruptcy of credit in hell, but all must be paid to the very last ftirthing. What, I ask you, will hinder their payment ? what arrest the unceasing demands of justice ? what prevent even the increase of these demands ? Will the soul cease from sin ? Is the pit a place of moral discipline where purity can .be elaborated from the very sink of corruption ? Is it a state of preparation for heaven ? Is that awful blending, continuous howl of blasphemies and execrations a fit prelude for the sera- phi, anthems of the redeemed ? Does the Sabbath's holy light ey^r penetrate those clouds of darkness which hang over the blackness of darkness for ever ? Does one rivulet of the water of life ever enter into that lake of fire ? Are these writhing forms ever prostrate in prayer ? Does the voice of mercy ever reach over that impassable gulf ? Is there a Calvary among the hills of hell, where yet a bleeding Saviour can be 18 THE PRESENT AND FITTITRE seen and a veritable atonement offered ? Oli ! I ask you liow long, and the damned in liell may be imagined asking liow long, as the immeasurable ages pass away, while a reverbera- ting answer may also be heard coming over the fiery surges of hell, "As the tree falleth, so it shall lie. He that is filthy, let him be filthy still. And the smoke of their torment aseondeth up hr ever before the throne of God and of the Lamb." I will not urge this terrible subject farther. In conclusion, I would ask, is there any sinner after all this, that fools to repent and believe ? If so, let me tell you thai Jesus is ready to receive you and give you pardon and salvation. Nay, He stands ready with open arms to receive you, and in the most gracious manner to welcome you. Nay, His kind voice of invitation is always heard," Come untoTne. He that coraeth linto me, I will in no wise cast out." It is only to look unto Him who died for you, and to keep looking. And let me tell you that that look will always beget repentance and taith. Oh ! therefore, do not stand at a distance' from Him. Do not especially close your eyes upo. Him. Do not keep looking merely at yourselves and others. Do aot keep indifferent to love Divine, nor heedless to Divine exb ortation and expostula- tion. Do not, I entreat you, be in love with sin. Do not serve the devil. Do not be a captive of his through your own lusts, who will only be your pay-master at last. Do not set your heart on the world in its fashions, votaries and lusts, which will only be found in the end to be a treacherous enemy. Disown them, reprobate them all ; say resolutely, I wish above everything eternal life, and am wiling to sacrifice everything that I may have it. Well, thoi, listen to Christ when he says : " Seek ye the Lord while he is to be found ; call upon CONSEQUENCES OP SIN. 19 Ilim, while ho is near. Lot the wicked forsake his way and the unrighteous man his thouglits, and let him return unto tlio Lord, who will have mercy upon him, and to our God, who will pardon abundantly." «„t if you do not, but rather choose to serve sin, and the world, and the devil ; well, hear " the 'vagesofsin is death, indignation and wrath, tribulation and anguish upon every soul of man that doeth evil. As we sow we shall reap. He that soweth to the flesh shall of the flesh reap corruption ; for the wages of sin is death." A number of the above sentiments, and even expressions, were taken rom a discourse which an American Minister gave in this citv above two years ago, which so impressed tho author that he made as full an abstract of thorn afterwards as his memory would recall .( SERMON II. THE NECESSITY OF ClimsT'S CRUCIFIXION. I Hi And, !is Mosos lifted up tlio serpoiit in the wildornoss, cvon so must the Son of man bo lifted up, Hint whosoever boliovotU in hinj nii^ht not i)erisli, but might have everlasting Ufo.— John iii. It. There is no doubt but Nieodeinus would have understood what our Lord said, if he had had only a simple faith. 'The figure of being lifted up like the seri)ent, though obscure to us, would not bo to him, as the cross was a well-known mode of death in his day, which would readily be suggested by the cross pole, c(pially well known, on which the serpent was raised. But he would be puzzled to think how such a man as the Saviour could bo so lifted up, he being at that time such an applauded and popular man, whereas, such a death v/as only for the vilest and meanest men; and fhereforo no wonder he seemed bewildered and confused not knowing what to make of it. But had he rightly reasoned from lead- ing views of. the type, he might also to the Antitype. For instance, that as the Hebrews wero stung unto death, but were healed by simply looking to the serpent on the pole, so also sinners, by looking to Christ on the cross, would much more readily be so. But his Phca'isaic self-righteous spirit blinded him, that he saw not these or other things, and in all likelihood, therefore, would go away as blind as when he came. THE NECESSITY OF rillllST H CRUCIFIXION. 21 Nevertheless our Lord assured hiiu in the most positive terms tlir it was the only way of salvation, and, therefore, to instruct him in it quoted the type, as what might bo a li^ht unto him if he only applied it. "As Moses lifted uj) the ser- pent in the wilderness, so must the Son of man he lifted up, that whosoever believeth on him might not perish, but might have everlasting life." I mean at present to stat. only the agreement that is ))ctween the stung Hebrews in the wilderness and the whole race of men as stung by that old serpent, the devil, or, rather, simply the fact that all are stung. But what is the poison which has been infused into our blood, and now does it work ! The poison is sin, and it works gen- erally in the way either of a spiritual inflammation or an insensate stupefaction. Look at the great multitude among us. Aie they not in general in a bewilderment of excitement, not knowing what to tbink or what to do with regard to their souls! Behold also their staring eye, their prou SERMON III. GOD'S LOVE TO SINNERS COMMENDED THROUGH THE DEATH OF CHUIST. But God commendeth his love towards us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.— llonians v. 8. Love is that affection of our nature which leads us to delight in those we love, and, as far as possible, to do them good. It must always, therefore, have an object to exercise itself upon. In th« mind of God love is His own infinite complacency and delight in himself as its object, or, it is delight in His creatures in so far as they reflect His own image and attributes. With regard to such, it is evident that He must love them wioh a great love — even the love of His whole heart, for taere is no such thing as loving much or loving little on the part of God ; for those whom He once loves, He loves unto the end, and when He once loves, He does so with His whole heart. According to these words of His, " I have loved thee with an everlasting love ; therefore, with loving-kindness will I remember thee." But it is not much of God in himself considered that we are able to comprehend, but of Him chiefly in His acts towards us. Thus, for instance, creation was a wonderful act of Divine goodness ; Providence is no less so. The daily supply of our wants from the productions of the earth god'8 love to sinners commended. 31 is greatly so ; but what are all these to the gift of himself ? What to His dying for our sins ? Do not these acts come recommended and enforced as infinite above all other acts ? for, after having bestowed these, when He bestowed himself, even to the giving up of life, is there anything greater or better He could do for us ? Does not the laudatory language of the text, therefore, come enforced to us with every commen- dation?" " God commendeth His love unto us in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us." There are three things which I wish to bring out from these words— the person who loved, the 7nanner of the love, and the objects of the love. First, the person who loved God and Christ, one and the same. True, God gave Christ, and yet it is God, in our nature, that was given to us, and, therefore, God that com- mendeth His love unto us. And what is it, let me ask you, to have God to love us ? We are pleased if we have the love of our fellows, our superiors, our governors ; but what a boon would we consider it to have the love of our king or ([ueen ? But what are all these to the love of God — the eter- nal, the infinite God, our Creator, our Sovereign ? Surely, this is a blessing, above all blessings, incalculably superior to all, and incomprehensively great. Why, if we can compre- hend the greatness of God, then we may of His love, for the one is equal to the other ; if we can measure the acts of God which call forth His greatness, then we may of His love. But what act specially ? Why, he gave us His Son Christ. He gave Him to be made of a woman, to be partaker of our very nature, with all its infirmities and liabilities, and as such presented Him as His best gift to sinners of mankind. And 32 aOD 8 LOVE TO SINNERS what moro could He do ? What farther or hi;];hor could lie go in this line of action ? lias lie not thereby identified himself with ua, married himself, so to speak, unto us, and became as nearly and tenderly related to us as He possilby could ? Has He not made our interests, in every respect, His own ; and has He not bound himself thereby to sec that they are secured as much to us as those of His own Deity ? Can anything, I ask you, equal this ? Can anything com- pare with this ? Is it not infinitely above all comparison ? If so, may He not then commend His love unto us — com- mend it to our attention, our admiration, our astonishment ? Well may God now say, " since thou wast precious in my sight, thou hast been honorable, and I have loved thee and given a man for thy life." Well may Christ as a man also say, *' I have declared unto them thy name, and will declare it, that the love wherewith thou hast loved me may be in them and I in them." But this will appear still more when we consider, secondly, the manner of the love of this God Christ. He died for us — died for us ! Who can enter into this ? Who can suffici- ently set it forth in the immensity of the sacrifice, in tl\e love of the act ? He died by His own act. Can you conceive any- thing greater than this ? He separated what must have been most near and dear unto Him — His soul and body. He broke up all their tender associations and sympathies. He forwent for a time their reflex actions and communications- He dis- solved, as it were, for a season their very existence. He did so upon the cross, Avhere the agony and ignominy of the sacrifice added inconceivably to the act. Could He have done more ? I ask you, could He have done greater ? And COMMENDED TIIROUail THE DEATH OF CHRIST. 33 what nmst have been the power that effected such a disso- lution ? Wliat the love that urged Him to it ? CouUi it have been anythin*.; less than omnipotence ? — could it be anything less than infinite ? Do not say that it was agony that forced it, for lie was calm and collected to the last ; nor say, either, it was exhaustion that produced it, for He was strong even in death. His loud and piercing cry, which He uttered beforehand, showed that life was still vigorous, and might have survived, many hours more ; and His expression, when He said, it is finished, accompanied with the act, that He bowed His head and gave up the ghost, declared plainly that it was all His own, without any compulsion or co-agency whatever. Could Ho have done more, I ask you again, or greater ? What can go beyond death ? What can be greater than the surrender of life by a voluntary all-powerful act ? As He himself said, " I lay down my life of myself. No man taketh it from me. I have power to lay it down, and I have power to take it again. Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends." Doth not He, therefore, commend His love unto us, as that that was far greater than in our creation and preservation — nay, in anything in the whole universe besides ? He died for us ! Havin'^ done all the rest in His goodness and providence, He super- added this as what was beyond His reach to do more, so that love here had its greatest bounds, its utmost stretch, its fullest exit. Well might Solomon say, " Love is strong as death ; the coals thereof are coals of fire, having an unquench- able flame. Many waters cannot quench love, neither can the floods drown it : though a man should give all the goods of his house for love, it would be utterly contemned." Is not the 34 god's love to sinners text, therefore, true wlieii it says— does it not como with an irresiHtiblc power of conviction upon us, " God commcndeth His love unto us in tliat Clirist died for us." Yes, brethren, it required Goa himself to commend it, as it was above all human utterance to do so, and He commended it in the act. It appeared, even in the mouth of Christ himself, to commend it as above any human language, and, therefore, makes use of the very smallest, yet most comprehensive word in our language to do so, " God 80 loved the world." Yes, it was a so without a such —an example without a parallel. Brethren, let us read it in the act ; let us endeavour to comprcliend it in the act, and we will see that there is a height and depth in it, a length and a breadth which passeth all understanding. But this will still farther appear, when we consider, thirdly, the persons, the objects for whom He died — namely, sinners. God commendeth His love towards us, in that while we were yet sinners Christ died for us. This the Apostle sets forth very strikingly in the way of contrast in the pre- ceding verses. " Scarcely,'' says ho, " for a righteous man will one die ; yet, peradventure, for a good man some would even dare to die ; but God commendeth His love toward us in that while we Avere yet sinners Christ died for us." Ah ! who would die for a sinner ? The greater number feel rather to despise the sinner, and to say, let the law take its course upon him. The greater number feel glad that he is sepa- rated from society, and has no longer the power to harm or molest. In all this there may be justice, but there is no love, nothing to save the sinner, but everything to make him feel his desert. Even if it should be that a righteous man were condemned to die, the greater number would leave him to his II!: -^^« COMMENDED THROUQII THE DEATH OP CHRIST. 35 fato, yes even though it wore a good man ; pointing out that there is not the least chance that any would die for a sinner. There is generally no love, no pity in the heart of any for such. " But God commendeth Ills love unto us, in that while we were yet sinners Christ died for us" — commendeth it as that which was altogether singular, spcc'^il, and peculiar. He died for sinners. What must have been in the breast of God which could have induced Him to such an act ? What could 80 have overruled justice as to have given scope to a love so extraordinary and peculiar ? What but that He might recom- mend it unto us as being so singular, so inimitable. Sin- ners, redeemed sinners alone will try to appreciate it, while the self-righteous and proud will altogether overlook it. But let us enter a little more particularly into our character, that we may see the commendation of His love for sinners. There is something fearful and appalling in this if we could enter into it — sinners against God, the eternal, the infinite — how presumptuous, how daring ; sinners against God, our Creator— how unnatural, how unkind ; against God our lawgiver, only requiring us to love Him and one another — how hateful, how malignant ; against God, our judge— how defying, how reckless. How all these combined, if we only consider the original circumstances in which it was committed ; in Para- dise, where was a profusion of goodness, only next to Heaven itself, and from a grandeur of nature and state that were next to God himself (man being in the image and place of God over the creation), sinners farther combining every ingredient of sin in our corrupt nature, every act of sin in our fallen state, every opposition of sin against His nature and cha- 36 GODS LOVE TO SINNERS racter, every malignity of sin against His throne and govern- ment — sinners, farther, in our natural state against Ilis own Son, whom He generously gave to become our Saviour — sin- ners that, in the pride and malignity of their hearts, would, like the Jews, if we hat been in their circumstances, have cried out, " Crucify him, crucify him" — sinners tliat would, like them, in the hellish revelry of their souls, have taunted — nay, oven reprobated him with these words, " He saved others, himself he cannot save. Pie trusted in God ; let him deliver him now if he will have nim" — sinners, farther, that were not content with one sin, or many sins, but with sinning all the time, sinning also against all manner of entreaty and expostulation, against every warning and threatening from their own consciences and the law, even in the face of hell itself — sinners called, therefore, in the text ungodly, that is every way unlike to God, and, therefore, farther enemies of God, fighting even against him with His own weapons, and turning them into instruments of rebellion against Himself. Yet for such sinners He died. Why are we nut altogether confounded and overwhelmed at the thought ? Could we for a moment have expected such a thing ? Would we not rather have been ready to say, let such sinners die a thousand deaths rather than that one should die for them ? Would we not be ready to think He could not spare such sinners, that it would not be right to do so, that every principle of law and justice required their condemnation, and that it Avas not fit that such sinners should live ? But instead of these, Christ died for them, even the very One against whom they siimed. What are we to say for such conduct ? Why, in the first instance, that Hehath commended His love to them — His COMMENDED THROUOH THE DEATH OF CHRIST. 37 love as far above His wrath and justice, that he hath clone what no other lawgiver would or could do, He not only spared, but died to save them. By so doing, it would seem that He passed over all their iniquities, and looked only to their deliverance — not only passed over their sins and provoca- tions, but became their propitiation, to satisfy for their sins. Ah ! it would seem as if the very enormity of their sin, bespeaking the enormity of their punishment, so moved the bowels of His compassion as to induce Him to say, you shall not die— so raised His love as to make Him resolve that, rather than they should die. He would die for them. Surely this was goodness, the height of goodness — you would say, the most illustrious goodness, and that God certainly com- mendeth His love to us by so doing. In the view of these things, Avell might John say " Herein is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us, and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins." Herein as if, comparatively, it was in nothing else, while everything else was also full of it. " Hereby perceive we the love of God in that he laid down his life for us." Well may we sing unto him that " loved us and washed us from our sins in his own blood — to him lie glory and dominion for ever and ever." Amen. Christ also hath loved us, and gave Himself for us. " He bare our sins in His own body on the tree. He was made, sin for us." To conclude — the subject, is the love of God in Christ. Brethren, what should we give or do to answer such love ? Why, to give Him our whole heart and lives. He gave himself wholly for us to die. Surely we ought to give our hearts and lives ..into Him, This only will be commensurate to his, and make a suitable return. To give anything less, 38 god's love to sinners commended. is, in a manner, to give nothing, or to show that we have never sufficiently appreciated His. Oh, therefore, endeavour to come as near to His as you can ; and with a view to this, be dwelling much on the magnitude and self-sacrifice of His love that He died for you. If so, you will soon come to have such a sense of it as to say, " What shall I render to the Lord for all His benefits unto me ?" You will be ready to say, " Here am I ; take my poor heart. I give it to Thee such as it is. No other God or rival shall ever possess me or set up their throne there ; but my purpose shall be to love Thee with my whole heart, and to serve Thee with my whole life." Brethren, the God man Christ gave himself and His kingdom besides. What have you to give corresponding to them ? Is it not, I ask you, your all ? Anything less will be nothing commensurate to His. Nay, it will come infinitely short of it ; but and if you do so, it will be returned manifold into your bosom, and have an abundant blessing even here. Nay, I Avould say, deny yourselves, that you may have some- thing to give. Sell of what you have, that you may bestow upon the Lord. Remember the case of the rich man in the parable, and of the young man \Nho went away sorrowing though he had great possessions. Honour the Lord, there- fore, with your substance, and with the first-fruits of your increase. Let your gold and your substance, as He hath said, be holiness unto the Lord, and in all your benefactions give evidence that the love of God is in you. ^ki. SERMON IV. THE BELIEVER'S DESIRE OF FELLOWSHIP WITH CHRIST IN HIS SUFFERINGS. That I may know hira and the fellowship of his sufferings.— Philippians iii. 10. It may seem strange, yet so it is, that it was the chief wish of the Apostle to know Christ in these things. And that he might be so, he disowned and gave up entirely every other kind of knowledge. Nay, ho counted all but loss that he might win Christ. Nor is it difficult to conceive why it should be so. What arc all others in comparison of Christ ? Wliat, when we have hira, though we have nothing else ; or rather when we have him, have we not everything else ? In having him we have saving knowledge, the most honourable knowledge, the most satisfying knowledge, the most elevating and rapturous knowledge. It is the knowledge of the Son of God which, for supereminency, is called the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus our Lord. It is the knowledge of the most honourable attribute, namely the righteousness of God in Him, and knowledge that is to be attained through the most affecting ways, namely fellowship with Him in His suffer- ings. Oh that we could say that we had the same wish, then we will find that it will lead us to make the same renunciations and also to have the same aspirations, " if," says he, " by any means I might attain to the resurrection of the dead." > I 40 THE BELIEVERS DESIRE OP FELLOWSHIP I propose to confine your attention chiefly to the fellowship of liis sufferings, liis suffering for us on tlie cross. Now there are two views I wish to give you of these, — the shame of tliem and the agony of them. The shame of them. lie was exposed, you know, in his nudity as a pubHo spectacle upon the cross between two thieves as if His -was^the greatest shame. And did he not suffer, thinkyou, through this exposure ? Had he not the feelings of delicacy as a man ; had he not the high feelings of respect for himself as a pure man ; did he not suffer also from the scorn, and contempt that Avas thus cast upon him as a dishonoured and despised man ? Bnt whatever his sufferings were, the eye of a spiritual beholder can discern sometlnng more than mere shame through tlicm, namely, a heroic magnanimity to prevent our exposure and yet a prac- tical aim to convict and to humble us of our nakedness and shame. And, brethren, do not we need something of this kind to convict and to humble us, for we vainly think we have no need of any such things ? In our own estimation we think we are rich and have need of nothing, and know not that we are poor and naked. But are we not destitute of everything? Have we not lost all in Adam, and inherited nothing but evil, so that nothing is left us but shameless nakedness and want. But if we will not be convinced, just look at Christ on the cross. Was that merely accidental, his exposure there ? AVas it a mere casual appendage of that kind of death, or was it of piu'pose and design ? Ah 1 if we knew it, there is nothing accidental in the government of God, much less hi the cross of Christ, but it was to expose us and set forth our nakedness and shame. It was to tear to tatters all our filthy rags of self-righteousness, and to reflect back upon ourselves our own WITH CHRIST IN HIS SUFFERINGS. 41 nakedness and shame. Why, just look at Him, and say if these were not the ends and the effects. Was He, the head exposed so, and were not Ave also the members? Did he suffer from such an exposure on our account, and ought not ,7e at least to seek to have fellowship with Him in his sufferings ? Oh, brethren ! do not shirk this question, but look at it so, and take it so. By so doing you will not only have fellowship with Him in His sufferings but will come to manifest a bocomino; conformity to Him in them in hanging down our heads in a spiritual blushing and shame, and as feeling as if we were rather dashed and abased, than proud and lifted up. Besides you will be led to exhibit such an assemblage of virtues of the most agreeable kind which will make you highly acceptable in His sight; namely, self-renunciation, self-denial, self-abasement and humility, even such as will be highly pleasing and acceptable in his sight. Oh, therefore, keep looking and you will be prevented from becoming vain and proud. Keep looking, and you will be reminded how poor and naked you are. Keep looking, and you will be enabled to put away from you every false ornament of conceit, of importance, and of arrogance. Keep looking, and you Avill be clothed Avith humility and godly shame. Keep looking in order to these, and, as you may see, you will have fellowship with Him in His suffer- ings. See all these things beautifully exhibited in the 2nd chapter of this Epistle, 8rd verse : " Let nothing be done through strife or vainglory ; but in lowliness of mind let each esteem other better than himself. Let the same mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus." But another view strikingly reflected by His sufferings I'M i,i I 42 THE believer's DESIRE OP FELLOWSHIP I! i I i 50 CRUCIFIXION WITH CHRIST. r.ation, " I am crucified Avith Christ," I would observe that it must be spoken of in the hght of the preceding verse, wliere it is said, " I, through the law, am dead to the law," the law in its executive and commanding authority, dead unto it eitlier as to any fears or any hopes I have from it. IIow so ! Because I am crucified with Christ ; in other words the law has executed its fullest sentence upon Him in llis crucifixion, and upon me in Him, so that I am dead to the law as to any fears I have from it, also having received its fullest demands from His cru cifixion as to any hopes I have from it, that is of r' .teousness by the law ; and also next, as I shall endeavour .to shew you if we are crucified with him, ^s to those sins Avhich avc com- mitted which brought down crucifixion upon him. First, we say we are crucified with Christ in having the full sen- lice of the law executed upon us in Him, and are therefore dead as to any fear we have from it. Ah ! brethren, you know our fears by the law of sin and death. Who is free of them ? Who hath not often been in terror of them ? Who in general hath not had the spirit of bondage unto fear ? How many are there who through fear of death are all their life time subject to bondage ? Yes, so long as sin exists we will fear, for our consciences tell us as well as the law, that " the wages of sin is death," and the Apostle tells us that the " sting of death is sin, and the strength of sin is the law." Ah! yes, the threatenings and execution of the law against sin receives awful confirmation from these words : " The soul that sinneth it shall die. Cursed is every one that continiieth not in all things that are written in the law to do them." But what of these ? The law hath taken its course. It hath done its utmost. It hath executed all its threaten- III CRUCIFIXION WITH CHRIST. 61 ings : and pray what more can it do ? What is your answer, what ought to be your answer ? It is this, we are crucified with Christ. We have met the full execution of the law in Him; and therefore what have we now to fear from it ? We read of death as the sentence of the law, but not the manner of the death ; but as no death could be more ignominious and terrible than crucifixion, we are warranted to say that we have met the sentence of the law in its fullest infliction upon Him. But what about hell and everlasting misery, some of you may be ready to say. We would answer that hell and everlasting misery are not essential to the penal sanction of the law, otherwise there could have been no atonement, no salvation. These arise out of the nature and consequences of sin itself, which, beinr' hereditary and constitutional, till it is supplanted by a new nature of which we read nothing in the Bible, must necessarily be everlasting. But what the law strictly requires is death. Dying thou shalt die. And this, we say, has been executed in all its extent in his crucifixion ; and what more, I ask you again, can it do ? It can do nothing surely upon a dead per- son ; and therefore we, who are in Christ, what have we to fear from it ? But the (question is, are we really crucified with Christ ? I would answer it, hy asking you, do not you say you are crucified with Him, which you are when you accept the punishment of your iniquity in Him in a sympathetic and believing manner ? Then are you crucified with Him, and then can say, I am set at liberty from, the sentence of the law, and from all fear. Just as we look upon Him, whom we !S in Him on the cross in subjection liath redeemed us from the curse of ours( the law, being made a curse for us. |l !• 52 CRUCIFIXION WITH CHRIST. i '! , I But, secondly, we are crucified with Christ iu having met in His crucifixion the fullest demands of the law, in the way of righteousness ; and therefore are dead to the law as to any hopes we have of righteousness from it by our own doings or sufferings. This is not as clearly known and acknowledged as it ought to be ; and yet it is evident that the law is as righteous in executing its threatenings as in enforcing its commands ; nay throughout the Bible it is held out as the crowning part of righteousness, being at once the upholding and magnifying of the law. Curious how prone we are to our own self-righteousness, even though we are getting evidence continually of our want of it, through innumerable failures and sins. Mark it in the case of the self-righteous Jews who were so punctilious in le observance of its smallest ceremonies only that they might attain righteousness. Mark it in the case of our virtuous and honourable characters who pride themselves on a name of perfect justice, of charitable doings, and generous sympathies as if these met the full demands of the law. See how near even the Jews came to it in their covering up all their delinquencies by sacrifice and atonement as if the blood of brute beasts would compensate for the whole, and answer for the whole. But the great error, the great defect in all this is their overlooking entirely of the past, and their fanciful providing for the present and the future. Even though they could have been righteous for the future, what was to stand for the past ; what righteousness had they for unrighteousness then ? But the great mistake with all such persons is this, that they forget or overlook that they are not under a law of life for right- CRUCIFIXION WITH CHRIST. 53 eousness in their present state, but under a law of death for death ; so that if they really want righteousness by the law, their course ought to be to go to death for death, that they might meet the law of death, and to do this in such a manner as not to break any other commandement by so doing. And even granting that they did go forward to meet the law of death, and that without violence, what, after all, would it amount to ; what, after all, would have been the worth of it ? Why, it would have been nothing better than the death of a sinner always to continue under the power of death. And where then under death would have been the life to work out further righteousness to the law ? Oh ! if we could but see it, it would be as death under death all over as the wages of sin, without any hope, any remedy. And what then ? Why, to exclaim with the Apostle, when thus convinced, " I was ahve without the law once ; but when the commandement came, sin revived, and I died ;" and again, " the law which was ordained unto life I found to oe unto death." Well then, if this is all that is to be looked for from the law ; if I am to have no hopes from it, of anything I can do for myself, methinks I hear you saying, I may as well go to hell at once ; for the longer I am out of it, the worse it will be for me. No doubt, if you continue as you are, it will be the worse for you ; still that is not what you ought in reason to say, whicli is the language only of proud desperation ; but in reason to say, well, if I can get no hope from the law, I'll renounce the law, I'll say that the commandment which was ordained to life I found to be unto death. I will say with the Apostle here, "I, through the law, am dead to the law." And, having renounced the law, the next thing you ought to say is this, or to enquire rather, Is vr li. I'; 64 CRUCIFIXION WITH CHRIST. ■ I if there any hope for me at all in any other way ? Is' there anything else from which I can have righteousness ? Well, now, we are brought to the text. Say with the Apostle, " I am crucified with Christ ? Then you will have righteousness. How so ? Because it was crowning the final part of His righteousness, even His obedience unto the death by which He magnified the law, and made it honourable, by which He satisfied the justice of God, and made it honourable for Him, though just to be the justifier of the ungodly who believe in Jesus. It is only necessary farther to know that all the former acts of His life were righteous, as He could not go to the cross as a sinner to make satisfaction. And were they not all so ? Who could convince Him of sin, was His own unanswereble challenge even to his enemies. In every act of obedience he could say, " thus it becometh us to fulfil all righteousness." And, satisfied that he went to the cross as a righteous person, it was only necessary farther to know that all his deportment on the cross was righteous, if it was to be the turning crowning part of his righteousness, for a flaw here would disfigure, and upset the whole. And who will say that there was any unright- eousness in Him in it ? Look at His full submission. His mar- vellous patience. His undisturbed magnanimity, His faithful endurance to the end, till he could say, " it is finished." Yes, his obedience, Avhich was unto the death, was finished. His ever- lasting righteousness, which he now wrought out, Avas finished, and was unto all, and upon all them that believe ; so that we have only to say that we are crucified with Him to have that righteousness which will deliver from hell and bring to heaven, that that will present us unblameable and unrebukeable CRUCIFIXION WITH CHRIST. 55 beforo God at his appearing.* Let us view these as submis- sion and obedience to the threatening executive part of the law. Let us have fellowship with Him in his sufferings by looking only on the cross. Then shall we be able to say, we have a righteousness that will both satisfy and adorn, a righteousness that Avill get a ready admission into the fellow- ship and favour of (^od. Acting, so, we shall be enabled also to say, as the Apostle says in the 16th verse : " 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, that we might be justified by the faith of Christ, and not by the works of the law ; for by the works of the law shall no flesh be justified." Acting so, we can repel also the in^l u- ation or accusation that we frustrate the grace of God. in rejecting righteousness by the law, and seekin^^ it only by His obedience unto death, according as he says in the last verse, " I do not frustrate the grace of God ; for if right- eousness come by the law, then Christ is dead in vain," pointing out that righteousness can come only by his death. But, farther, we become crucified Avith Christ when we feel the moral influence of the cross on our old man as a death or crucifixion to all sin. We are more or less under the influence of every object around us, and that as we are interested in those objects. So the Apostle reasoned when he said : " For in tha^ he died, he died unto sin once, but in that he liveth, helivoth unto God. Likewise reckon ye also yourselves to be dead, indeed, unto sin, but alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord." May he actually assumes it as a fact that we are dead. Knowing this, says he, that our old man is crucified with Him, that the body of sin might be destroyed, that hence- 56 CRUCIFIXION WITH CHRIST. ■vi ' '■ forth Ave should not serve sin. * Nor is it difficult to see and to feel the moral influence of the cross upon us as the death of our sin. For instance, in the light of the cross, Christ hanging thereon, how calculated to kill our levity, our thought- lessness. Christ giving himself for us such an instance of pure generosity, how can we, if we look upon it. but feel dead to all our own selfishness and nearness ? In the light of His sufferings and agony to all our deadness and insensibility, in the light of his patience and endurance to all our fretfulness and peevishiness ; in the light of His shame to all our vain glpry and ostentation ; in the light of His magnanimity and heroism to our meanness and cowardice ; In the light of His great love to our regardlessness and carelessness ; in a word, in the light simply of his death to our own natural love for life. Oh ! brethren, such is the power of the cross when we give ourselves up to its influence that we become like to it, and it to us; that we become crucified to the world, and the world to us. But nothing but the cross, remember, will do this, the cross, in some view or other, suited to our sin. Thus it is that at every commission, we flee to that view of it, that will be its antidote and cure, till, in the course of time, it will come to be our death and crucifixion. But to be a little more particular on this vital and practical point, the agony and death of the cross for sin in its moral influence on our death. The agony for sin ! What an evil and bitter thing does sin appear to us in this light. His, agony hanging on rugged nails, every motion making him writhe, his agony bearing our sins in his own body on the tree ; what a burden ! what an anguish ! surely, if we estimate the evil of a thing by the punishment it endures, then, what CRUCIFIXION WITH CHRIST. 67 evil like to this which could only be expiated by such anguish ? What a colour does this agony also give to the wrath of God ! What a lurid flame does it cast upon hell ! What an example this of sin and suffering ; what a warning to flee from it ! What a terror ; what a restraint ! Who, in fact, can venture to sin in sight of the cross ? It is for the pleasure of it, generally, that any sin ; but if anything can destroy that pleasure, it is the sight of agony, such agony as was endured on the cross on its account . We cannot act unbe- comingly in the view of the agony of others, especially for us ; much less can we of the Son of God, our Creator, our elder brother, our Redeemer. The sight of agony may harden some, but the sight of agony for ourselves, just as we realize it, will soften and break the hardest heart, and crucify to sin. Let us only say, we are crucified with Christ, and we are crucified unto sin. For what more fatal influence can anything have upon it than death ? When a near relative dies, we feel as if we would die with him, particularly if he died for us ; but if there was agony in his death, how we die with him ! There would be no longer any life, any pleasure in that which brought to death, especially if it was the death of the cross, but a hallowed revenge upon it, that it shall die. Believers ! Hve in the view of His crucifixion. His death, for your sins, and you will become crucified, become dead to sin. Have fellow- ship with Him in His sufferings, and you will be conformed to Him in His death. It may be slow, lingering, and agonizing, like crucifixion in cutting convictions, cruel mortifications, severe strugglings, painful sense of sin and shame, but not the less sure unto the death of sin than His crucifixion was to death. I'll ■ 1 fii ' ■ 1 1 -if. 1- '>! f E ■I ■ 58 CRUCIFIXION WITH CHRIST. h ! I ^ ' I I ■ i I Brethren, become familiar Avith the cross of Christ, and endeavour to identify yourselves with it. If you are to be crucified with Him, surely it ought to be most prominen^^ly and habitually before your minds. If you only can have right- eousness by it to justify, how dear ought it to be to you in the view of the judgment. If only you can have hope by it and freedom from fear, how you ought to regard it, and live by it. But how humbling and grieving to think that we will live hours and days without any due consideration of it. This shews evidently we do not prize it much, do notfuse it much for the purposes for which it was set up. Oh ! brethren, how does Christ, think you, think of his people, who view it so little, and make use of it so little ? Would not the reflection come often to His mind, " it would appear as if I had suffered in vain, seeing that many of my people hardly think it worthy of a thought, or at least of much thought, and make apparently very little use of it." Oh ! brethren, do not you give occasion to Him to think so or to speak so, but be dwelling upon it night and day, and valuing it above everything for justification and righteousness. We ought even, like the Apostle, to say : " I am determined to know nothing but Jesus Christ, and him crucified." It is the only knowledge worth knowing to know it assuredly in the light of justice, sin, death, and judgment ; for what will give righteousness in the view of judgment but it ? Oh ! brethren, ■ you value your hope, if you wish to be free of fear, if you want good courage in the view of death and heaven, study to say : " I am crucified with Christ." SERMON VI PPTTriTTTTTniM XVITFT nnr.!.-.-^ I am crucified with Christ ; nevertheless I Uve, yet not I, but Christ iiveth ni rae ; and the life which I live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God that Iiveth in nie.— Galatians ii. 20. A STRANGE compound kind of life this, dead yet alive, dead to all sin, after the manner of the crucifixion, but alive unto all righteousness. Yes. there is now life in him in all holy feelings and exercises which formerly was not the case, a felt movement, a sensihle direction, an indication that there is a principle of life, and not the stillness of death. The Apostle does not however say what this life is ; but as there can be no life without its movement, it may be as well to say, confining ourselves to the context, that this is a renunciation of self, a death to the law, a sympathy and identity with Christ, and a dependence on him for all that we need. By these things we know that we live, and can assuredly say, I know that I am both crucified and alive at the same time. Yet, after all, he confesses it is not he that lives but Christ that Iiveth in him, passing, evidently, from the life itself unto the Agent of this life. " I Uve, yet not I, but Christ that Iiveth in me." Strange confession to say we live and yet do not live, to say that we live, and yet the life is not our own but another's. True, we live, but how very 60 CRUCIFIXION WITH CHRIST. ! 1) feeble and imperfect often is that life. Nay, how often and how long may we be said not to live at all ? How many hours and even days have we no consciousness of life ? How often when it would seem we do live, we live in mere habit and form. Nay, is it not the fact that we live only as we are enabled to live, and that our feeling often is, that when we would live it is rather to die? As the • Apostle frankly confesses, " when I would do good evil is present with me. wretched man that 1 am, who shall deliver me from the })ody of this death ?" Thus it is, that though the principle of life may be in us, yet it is often so dormant, so paralysed, that we may be said to Uve and not live at the same time. Often, to confess also as a general truth, we are not sufficient of our own selves to think anything as of ourselves, — a confession that for lono; used to sta^ijer me, and to acknowledge after a while the truth of Christ's saying, ** without me ye can do nothing ;" and, therefore, no wonder that the Apostle who was ivell taught by Him, acknowledged, as in the text, " I live, yet not I, but Christ livoth in me." Wmderful confession, we again say, to make of self-renuncia- tion, of life, of grateful acknowledgment with a view to Christ, and yet such a confession as we find great and good men in every age making. Luther, the great reformer and good man, who confessed that he needed to pray three hours every day to get along, used frankly also to confess that he felt too often hke a mad dog, but that when he read the Bible he felt tender and pure at the same time. Another good man acknowledged that when he came from the church he could not compose his mind for fifteen minutes together to reflect on what he heard, that is, without wandering or distraction. CRUCIFIXION WITH CHRIST. 61 Only, brethren, try the matter, try what you can do without Clirist, witliout praying to liim, depending upon him, and you will have to confess to miserable failures aud insufficiency. I have often tried it, but as often failed. Thus we come to feel our frailty, to see our dependence and to readily acknow- ledge with the Apostle, " I live, yet not I, but Christ liveth in me." This, I haye no doubt, seems strange to many who, con- stitutionally, it may be, have strong affections, ardent wills, industrious perseverance, and vigorous action. Yet many of these have confessed that they were only constitutional, that they were exercised when Christ was not the spring or the spirit of them, and that when they wanted to act purely with regard to Him, they had to put themselves into His hands that He would act in them, and enable them to do all in His name, and by His strength. Thus confessing that they were nothing, and could do nothing efficiently without Him, and that when any real life was in them, it was only when Christ himself was living in them, and acting by them. The chief peculiar life, be it remembered, that we should assume, is this, but in many respects so difficult to assume, candid confession, acknowledged inability, humble dependence, believing prayer that Christ would work in us, both to will and to do of his good pleasure ; forms of life, I say, which peculiarly befit us. And yet as much his as any other, for there is no life in us of any kind, but what He is pleased to bestow, and keep up in us. As he says, " Abide in me and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, except it abide in the vine, no more can ye except ye abide in me. As the living Father hath sent me, and I live by the Father, so he that eateth me, even he shall live by me." ■pra t' 1 • I' I 62 CRUCIFIXION WITH CHRIST. M ii The question therefore is, how does He do so ? We answer, by His word, llis presence and spirit. " It' ye uhide in me," says He, " and my words abide in you, ye shall ask what you will and it shall be done unto you. I will dwell in them and walk in them," &c. To dwell in them, is to show his life-giving presence ; and to walk in them, his action and pro- gress, these, being in the soul, tend to stir up its faculties, and excite its affections to himself, in those great views in which he presents himself, namely, as our righteousness and strength. Then it is that when we think of Ilim as our righteousness, we have a sensible evidence that He live til in us, and when we trust in His strength, that we arc made to experience its reality. It is true we cannot distinguish always between His exercises and our own ; nor is it necessary that we should, for assuredly such exercises are not our own, not being natural to us ; much less are they from the devil, who does all in his power to prevent them, neither from the Avorld, which has no sympathy with Him ; so that when the mind is thus exercised upon Him, it is by himself, who is the spring and strength of our life. True, he comes occasionally by such powerfiU excitations as that there is no mistaking his agency, as when he fastens a truth powerfully upon our minds, or raises a full flow of affection in our souls ; but it is the same as when he excites our minds ordi- narily to himself ; it is ever Christ in us, Christ living in us. Oh, brethren ! I wish you would realize the great truth, Christ living in you, by His word and spirit, Christ, the Son of God the Saviour of souls, stirring you up and engaging you upon himself, Christ your life, by his own life and action within you. Then you would often court his approach, you would 11 CRUCIFIXION WITH CHRIST. 68 lay yourselves open to his ap;ency, you -would often invite it by your own attempts to mcditute upon Ilini, and by your prayers that it would be granted sensibly to you. Nay, you would be encouraged to do so by His own words and promise to tliat effect. " If a man love me, he will keep my words, and I will love him, and come unto him and manifest myself unto him. If a man hear my voice, I will come in to him, and sup with him, and lie with me." The Apostle next informs us, what the spring or principle of this life is which he lives by Christ living in him. It is faith. " And the life," says he, " which I live in the flesh, I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me." But, as we can hardly speak of faith as a principle, without reference to the life of which it is, so we observe in general that it may be said to be the whole Christian life, more particularly the life of self-renunciation of his own righteousness and strength with humble dependence on him for these. This is evident; for what would be the use of living by the faith of another, if we still clung to something of our own. Oh, no, faith and self-confidence are manifest con- tradictions, so that if we hold to the one, wo must always be . renouncing the other. Accordingly the believing Christian, living by Christ is always living out of himself, and therefore is self-distrustful, self-denied, humble and poor, little in his own eyes, and living only by faith on the Son of God, for all that he needs for time and eternity. Is it righteousness for justification that he wants ? then he lives on Him by faith for righteousness. Is it strength for the mortification of sin he wants ? then he lives on Him by faith for strength. Is it strength for sanctification he wants ? Ijl V 64 CRUCIB'IXION WITH CHRIST. then he lives on Him by faith for sanctification. Is it the hfe for universal obedience he wants ? then lie lives on Him by faith for obedience. And in all these it makes use of Him, as the Apostle says, " as our wisdom, our righteousness, our sanctifi- cation and redemption." But to mention other things no less necessary in their place. Is it to endure conflict, to resist temptation, to bear suffering, to press toward the mark, to die triumphantly, to rejoice in hope of the glory of God, — then it is to live by faith on Him for one and all of these things. Thus you see something of the range of faith, the full life of faith on the Son of God, which, however, we are afraid, is put forth by very few, the greater number contenting themselves with a mere faith of salvation, and letting most of the rest go, as not so necessary or available. But whether on a limited or extensive range, whether for few or many things, it is comfortable to think that it is efficacious as far as it extends, and receives supplies from Christ, as far as it lives upon him and makes use of Him. For what is faith, brethren, but applying and receiving ; and what is living by faith, but on what we receive from him ? It views him evidently as our fulness for all, and makes use of him for all. Nor does it do so in vain, for its experience is, that according to their faith 80 it is ; as Christ says, " if thou believcst with all thine heart, all things are possible to him that believeth." True, many of us are not taking in a large scope of faith just because we have narrow views of Christ and our own wants ; but as 0'"'' views enlarge and our wants increase, so gene- rally does our faith, for we soon come to know that we have no sufficiency of our own, but that Christ must do all in us CRUCIFIXION WITH CHRIST. 65 and also all for us. Hence it is that faith comes to be our sole spring of action, and not only so, but after a while our sure spring of action, finding by experience that He co-opo- rates with us, and never fails us, nor forsakes us. And is it not in itself, in many cases, a sure spring of action ; for what will more readily prompt to action than the faith that it is obligatory ? What more readily will give strength for action than the faith that it will be successful ? what more readily, pleasure in the action, than the faith that it will be rewarded and accredited ? Hence we read that faitli workcth by love, purifieth the heart, and over- coineth the world, f\iith by the Son of God, who in us and by us worketh out all and in all by us. A person without faith is the same as one going to an action without the will to it ; but with faith hath both the spirit and power for it, so that in itself it is a sure spring of action. But for this we have the surest and strongest grounds laid down in the text ; for it is said He loved us and gave himself for us, and therefore faith reasons, that if He so loved us as to give himself for us, what is there not farther that He will not do for us ? Therefore, it is, that we believe on Him for all, and that we live by faith on Him for all, as without Him we can do nothing. As these are important considerations, we wish to dwell a little farther upon them. A great many persons are per- plexing themselves about the grounds and assurances of faith, as if they were beyond their reach, and could not get the benefit of them. The error in their case is, they are looking for these in themselves when they should be looking for them chiefly in Christ ; they are judging too much ■if If |! :, 'f ,---»»■ 66 CRUCIFIXION WITH CHRIST. inw.ardlj and not enough outwardly. If, instead of judging matters from themselves, they would from Christ, who so loved them as to give himself for them, then they would not only get such grounds as would encourage them to believe, but to believe assuredly for all that they need. Did He love them, for instance, when they were enemies opposed and unreconciled to him ; and shall he not love them more when they are friends, though trembling and doubting ? Did He so love them as to give himself to death for them, even death upon the cross ; and shall He not much more love them when he has resumed life again for them ? If He gave them all he could in his death, will He not much more in his life ? These things so approve themselves to our common sense, and are so congenial to our reason, that we cannot resist them, cannot gainsay them, and therefore give us every ground for our faith, which we can loasonably desire, and every encouragement to believe that if we only live by the faith of Him, we shall live triumphantly laid happily. Oh ! therefore, if instead of looking into yourselves or about yourselves for grounds for encouragement, you would but look to Him who so loved you as to give himself for you, then you would have a faith large as the love and great as the gift — a faith that would assure you all things are yours, because Christ is yours — a faith that would assure you that if He died for you. He will live lor you — then also you shall understand and believe these words, " He that spared not his own Son but delivered him up for us all, how shall he not with him also freely give all things ?" And what now, you may be ready to ask, is it nothing but faith, fiiith the spring of action for all things ? Yes, my CRUCIFIXION WITH CHRIST. 67 brethren, faith now, faith always, faith in life, faith in death. And what else would you have ? what else can you exercise ? what else would you exhibit ? You have no works of your own that you can offer ; you have no good about you that you can present, no meric of any kind that you can plead, nothing; about you but wreck and ruin. Well, then, what is left for you but faith, faith in the merit and ability of another ? and how thankful you ought to be that this much is left ; faith in One who has all willingness and ability, and who will never fail us nor forsake us. There- is no other we can have faith on, for they are all broken reeds ; but He has proved himself worthy of it, for He so loved us as to give himself for us. It is therefore nothing but faith, for we are constantly in need of mercy and grace. But what then, you may be ready to say, is to be made of good works, of good principles, of good affections ? Oh ! if you have faith you will have these ; but if not, you will not, for these only come of faith. Oh ! then, be believ- ing, bo so all the time, and be thankful that you have the privilege, the ability to believe ; for many sincere Christians, I assure you, are not able to believe. But many do not like this, they want something in immediate ])ossession, something better than faith, namely, vision. Well, I hope some of you may get something of this, some foretaste, some prclibation, some perfection even in advance of faith. But I think at the same time that you will be highly privileged if you can but keep and exercise faith to the end, if you can but say at all times, I am believing. I hear a great deal occasionally about people telling their experience, and how good they feel, &c., and how strongly they purpose, &c. ; but I will ■fHl— I' 68 CRUCIFIXION WITH CHRIST. I W tell you the experience I would like you all to tell — " I am seeing more and more of Christ, in something or other about His character and work. I am coming nearer and nearer to Him in a simpler and fuller faith. I am feehng more and more encouraged and strengthened to believe on Him. I feel I could trust him with a thousand of souls, even if I had them all. I am seeing that he would sooner deny himself than a humble oelieving soul that trusts in Him." Such is the experience I would like ; then it would be the preciousness and work of Christ we would speak about, and nothing of our own. If so, then I can only exhort you, grow in grace, and in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. Be rooted and built up in Him, and established in the faith, as ye have been taught, abounding in Him with thanksgiving. There are some here who are not living this life of ftiith upon the Son of God. They are living only upon themselves and for themselves, and what a poor life that is ; how soon it will end and come to nothing ! Even though vou were guilty of no outward sin, nothing that could be charged against you as a dishonour, yet is there not something awful in living in the neglect of the Son of God, and not giving Him your faith. He was crucified for you to save you from hell, and He would now live for you to bring you to heaven, and yet you won't give Him your confidence that He might do so. But how think you does He, your Creator and Redeemer, consider such conduct ? How does He feel under it ? How will He act towards you at the last day ? Will He receive you ; will He consider you his friends ; will He invite you to come and enter into the kingdom with Him ? Ah ! if you have neglected Him here, or rather wil- ,l: CRUCIFIXION WITH CHRIST. 69 fully withheld your confidence, what may you expect, but that He will reject you hereafter ? If you have robbed Him of your faith, what may you look for but that He will order you from Him ; and where then ? — to the devil and his angels in hell. And oh ! what a state that shall be ! what compa- nions these shall prove to you ! Be persuaded, I entreat you, to think of Christ, what He is, what He did for you, and what He reasonably requires of you. He is, as you have heard, the Son of God, and became the Son of man that He might be crucified for you ; and as He is now exalted in honour as ruler over all. He only requires for your own good that you believe on Him, that you love and serve Him. Will you do so, or will you not ? If you do so. He will save you with an everlasting salvation ; but if you do not, He will allow you to perish with an everlasting destruction. You have but a short time to decide the matter, for death is near at hand, and the judge is at the door. It may require some trouble, some resolution to decide ; but depend upon it, it is the only happy and honourable life ; for " them that honour Him, He will honour ; but they that despise Him shall be lightly esteemed." r 111 SERMON VII. IIIE GRACE OF CHRIST THROUGH HIS POVERTY THE PROCURING CAUSE OF OUR RICHES. ! . t For ye know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, yet for your sake^< ho became poor, that ye through his i)overty might be rich. — II. Coritithiiins viii. 1). There is not a saying in the world more true than it is common, that example hath more weight than precept- This is evident, not only from the evidence it gives us of the sincerity of him who delivers it, but from the force and weight which it gives to the precept when exhibited in example. Wheresoever, and by whomsoever example is exhibited, it speaks more powerfully than even precept itself; for if men cannot resist the obligation of duty when held out to them in the light of precept, much less can they resist it when they see it embodied in example, and consistently followed out in practice. Accordingly we see example imitated and followed Avhen precept is neglected ; and how often does it not, by awakening the most just and glorious emulation, and by quickening us from the fear of shame, stir us up to the most laudable and disinterested services ? As thus example has more weight than precept, ought we not to expect that those who have been benefited by example, would in their turn exemplify the same according to their ability for the good of others ? If a person in the uepths of f:' i 1 THE GRACE OP CHRIST. 71 poverty and distress should be visited by another person who not only supplied all his present need, but raised him above the fear of future want, how would he not be struck at such enlarged and disinterested benevolence, and bo under all the ecstacy of gratitude at such liberality? Moreover the deep sense ^vhich he had of his poverty with his conferred eleva- tion above it, would cause him, even in honour of his benefoctor, to imbibe the same spirit, to imitato the same example, and to rejoice in relieving the wants of others. But the ca-^e goes far beyond our conception, and becomes too weighty for our feelings when we consider that a superior whom we had offended and whom we might justly consider our enemy, should so empty himself of all his riches and treasures as voluntarily to make himself poor that we might be rich. Such an instance of self-denied and enlarged liberality as this would do some- thing more than excite our gratitude, it would kindle into traus[)ort all the higher feelings of our nature; and no appeal to our generous affections and sympathetic feelings in behalf of others would be more touching and irresistible than the remembrance of such unmerited and unbounded liberality in behalf of ourselves. Well, then, this was the very exa^mplo and argument which the Apostle made use of when urging the Corinthians to liberal contributions on the behalf of others. They had been partakers of the grace of the gospel, but they had hitherto failed to support it with their temporal substance. They had also been behind in their contribution for the saints, so that the forwardness and liberality of other churches were set Defore them as a chiding example. Bat the Apostle had a much more powerful argument in reserve than either the , t .' !i 72 THE GRACE OF CnRTST THROUGH HIS POVERTY rMt necessities of the saints or the example of other churches ; and to make it the more effectual he for a moment loses sight of these, and by barely reminding them of their once spiritual poverty and distress, which, when properly understood, were much more overwhelming and depressive than temporal poverty, but which were completely supplied and ou*-dono by the riches and the poverty and the liberality of Christ, he founds an argument upon them for liberal relief to others whose appeal was too touching to be resisted, and too powerful to fail of its effect. For, says he, " ye know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, yet for your sakes he became poor, tliat ye through his poverty might be rich." By grace we generally understand favour to the unde- serving, but here it is favour from the purest and the highest love. In illustration therefore, farther, of its character, I observe, that it is unbounded, self-denying, unmericed, efH- cacious, and enriching. First, we say that it is unbounded. To be unbounded is to be beyond all limits and restraints. Now this the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ was, whether we consider it as an attribute of His nature, or in its manifestations unto us. As an attribute of His nature it was manifested in all its extent, so that though holiness and justice stood in the way of its exercise, it was manifested in such a way as to illustrate holiness and. to satisfy justice, and therefore was manifested in all its extent as the reigning attribute of His nature, without limit, without control. Hence we read of His grace, of the riches of His grace, of the exceeding riches of His grace, of His grace being more abundant, and of grace reigning through righteousness unto eternal life. hi THE PROCURING CAUSE OP OUR RICHES. 73 tning But it will still farther appear to bo so from its different manifestations unto us. It is said " though he was rich he became poor, that we through his poverty might be rich." Though He was rich in his eternal existence and fulness, He became poor. He condescended to be made of a woman, made under the law, and in this state to become poor and empty, even to the giving up of life itself. Now, if He who was in possession of all things, condescended for a time to give up all things, where can any limits be set to His grace ? It was neither restrained by the fulness of possession on the one hand, nor dirainislicd in its exercise by the endurance of want or anguish of suffering on the other, but rather magnified and increased. The sense of riches on the one hand, coupled with that of poverty on the other, would but give scope to the higher exercise of grace, as rejoicing that the impoverished sons and daughters of humanity would be gloriously enriched thereby. Therefore His grace will still farther appear to be so from the design and effect of His poverty. " He became poor that we might be rich." To put us in ine way merely to become rich, would have been a great instance of grace, but to enrich us wholly by means and at the expense of him- self would be a clear evidence that His grace was unbounded. Those riches also, because they are suited to the nature of the soul, and commensurate with its fullest desires and capacities, and with the utmost extent of its being, reaching to eternity, show clearly also its infinite character, and give us occasion to say, the more we consider it, " Oh, the depth and the height, the length and the breadth of the love of God in Christ Jesus, it passeth all understanding. Of his fulness I'llf M . hi 74 THE GRACE OP CHRIST TIlROUaH III8 POVERTY have all wc received and grace for grace. And the grace of God was exceeding abundant by faith and love which is in Christ Jesus. And great grace was open to them all." But, secondly, the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, who was rich, but became poor, is self-denying grace. Here wo enter upon a difficult and mysterious subject, how Ho who was independently and unchangeably rich could become poor, so diflicult that some emhicnt men have been h^ into the notion of the pre-existence of Christ's human soul, and they say that it was it that was made poor, at the time of its union with the body, and continued to be so till after His resurrection from the dead. But even granting that the soul of Christ did live in a prc-existont state, we know of no poverty to which it was subjected in conseciucnce of its union with the body. It was always in full possession of the image of (?od, the full enjoyment of His favour, and could at all times command the resources of the Deity for miracle work- ing or divine teaching. Better therefore to allow the diffi- culty to remain in all its extent than have recource to an hypothesis which we neither consider scriptural nor reasonable. But though we cannot show fully how He who was rich became poor, yet certainly we may bo able to see so much of it as to show that it was self-denying. Thus, for instance, though He was rich in His eternal and unchangeable self- existence, yet when, for the sake of enriching us also, He united himself to a finite and dependent nature ; who will not say that this was a great act of grace and that it was self- denying ? When He was rich also in His original glory and blessedness, but to enrich us also, united himself to a weak suffering humanity ; who will not say that this also was self- :h THE PROCURING CAUSE OP OUR RICHES. 75 Aiffi- an iiible. rich icli of auce, ic self- o,He ^vill 8 self- |ry and a weak as self- deiiying? and finally, when for the sake of enrichinf]; us, thoii-^h lie was rich as the Creator and proprietor of the universe, yet chose to deny himself of all and even of life in our nature, who will not say that as an instance of grace it was of the purest and most self-denying kind ? Now the question in all this is, not how he, who was unchangeably rich could become poor ; but the question is, when there are two distinct natures yet but one person, how it is possible not to attribute to the one what is done and submitted to by the other. Besides, when we consider that it was the divine nature that engaged and gave all its efficacy and merit to the human, then we can longer resist perceiving how He who was rich became poor, but that Ilis act in so doing was of a self-deny- ing character. This character also is strongly set forth in these words, " who though he was in the form of God, and thought it not robbery to be equal with God, yet took upon him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of sinful flesh." Here the whole significancy of the ex[)rcssion rests on these few little words, ''yet took upon him," and they are words of unfathomable condescension and self-denial. We may overlook them ; but if a high and wealthy person were to take to himself a mean and poor one, what a public cry would be raised against him, particularly by his compeers and rela- tives ! How he had demeaned himself, dishonoured himsel<^' cast contempt on all his relations, &c.; but Christ the Son of God took upon himself our 'ow and fallen humanity, and gave evidence of his self-deny'-ig grace thereby. And so we read that he humbled himself and made himself of no reputa- tion, that he was found in fashion as a man, and was despised and rejected^of men. 7r, TIIK QRACE OP CHRIST TIIROnoiI HIS POVERTY i plj i^l :: I{ut, in the last place, I remark, that lli.s grace, as we read in tho text, was oiirichiii;^ ;4race, onrichiu^ for body and soul, for time and eternity. Hero wo enter on a delight- ful suhjoct, one calculated to engage our attention and to excite our desires. Well, it is His grace alone that maketh rich and addeth no sorrow. For instance, first, with regard to every good thing in this life, food, raiment, shelter, protec- tion. We have these l)y covenant, right and [)romise, and the blessing of a thankful heart with them. " Thy bread shall be given the(3, and thy water shall be sure. The young lions may lack and suffer hunger, but they that seek the Lord shall not lack any good thing." Therefore the exhortations, ♦' take no thought for the morrow." And again, " be careful for nothing." But, as some may say, God's people, the most of them arc poor; but we re[)ly also, that many of them are rich. As God himself saith, it is He that givoth thee power to get rich, and as he said of Cyrus of old, and of many others, I will give thee the treasures of darkness an