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Les diagrammes suivants illustrent la mAthode. 1 2 3 1 2 3 4 5 6 »l ■^: ; SERMONS, > A C3L5 SERMONS DOCTRINAL, DEVOTIONAL AND PRACTICAL, B7 TBS REV. JOHN CARRY, B.D., nrcnjiBBKT or tm HnsiOR of woodbbidqb, diooesb of torokto. (Sinebet: JOHN LOVELL, ST. ANN STREET. MD0C0L2. PEEFACE. Small as this Volume is, it was originally designed to be much smaller— to contain but the six Sermons on the Holy Eucharist. I was afterwards encouraged to add a few more on miscellaneous subjects. < It may, perhaps, be deemed fitting to explain why a Country Missionary should have ventured on pub- lication at all. My object is the instruction of my own people, in the first instance, and of others whom the volume may reach, in a few necessary points of Christian doctrine and duty, on some of which, at least, I have found mistakes to be very general. It may be ob- jected that better Sermons on all these subjects are already published. This is, no doubt, very true ; but it must be remembered that Sermons are only to a 0. \''X\lo VI PREFACE. very small extent read by the people, and that the works of the Masters of Israel are little likely to come into their hands. On the other hand, a volume, even of inferior merit, may naturally be expected to cause a little more interest, from the fact of its being pub- lished in our midst, and may thus become more in- strumental to edification. With one exception, the Sermons were prepared in the ordinary course of duty, without the least idea of publication, and just as the exigencies of the Christian Year or other circumstances required. Had it been otherwise, they might possibly have been worthier of acceptance. But poHsh and originality are not easily preserved by a busy Country Missionary. In the Sermons on the Holy Eucharist I trust ttiere is nothing which is not agreeable to the Sacred Scriptures and the mind of our own Church. I had no idea that in six Sermons such a subject could be exhausted. I have therefore only touched on the more obvious points, and the most necessary for Communicants to be familiar with. I am bound to thank the brethren through whose kind patronage this volume appears. If they find in PBEFAOE. vi{ it any help to piety, let me be bold to request that they will breathe one prayer to God for their servant in Christ Jesus, JOHN CARRY. WoODBRroOE, August, 1860. CONTENTS. Page. SEBMON I. GODLY SORROW. 2 Corinthians, \ii. 10. " Godly sorrow worketh repentant to ealvation not to be repented of : but tbo sorrow of the world worketh death." i SERMON II. JESUS WORKING THE WORK OP GOD. St. Mark, vi. 31. « And he said unto them, Come ye yourselves apart Into a desert place, and rest awhile : for there were many coming and going, and they had no leisure so much aa to oat." .' jO SERMON III. THE FRUIT OP CHRIST'S SUFFERINGS. Isaiah, liii. 11. " He Shan see cf the travail of His soul, and shall be satisfied," 20 SERMON rV. THE INTERMEDIATE STATE. St. Luke, xxiii. 43. " And Jesus said unto him, Verily, I say unto thee. To day sholt thou be with Me in paradise." , gQ X CONTENTS. SEEMON V. THE FIRST RESURRECTION. Revelations, juc. 6. " Blessed and holy is he that hath part in the ani resurrection : on **** Buch the second :!eath hath no power, but they jliall be priests of God and of Christ, and shall reign with Him a thousand years." 61 . SERMON VI. THE PLACE OF THE TRINITY IN PRACTICAL TEACHING. Psalm xvl 9— (Prater Book Version.) " I have set God always before me," 63 SERMON VII. THE MEDIATOR IS NOT PARTIAL. Galatians, iii. 20. " Now a mediator is not a mediator of one." fjfj SERMON VIII. DRUNKENNESS. Efhesians, v. 18. " Aud be not drunk with wine, wherein is excess ; but be filled with the Spirit.'' ^ gi^ SERMON IX. PROGRESS THE CHRI&TTAN'S DUTY. Hebrews, vi. 3. *' And this will \^e do, if God permit." , 99 SERMON X. THE SACRAMENT OF THii LORD's SUPPER I'OR A RB3iEMBRANnE. St. Luke, xxii. 19. " This do in remembrance of Me." , n2 k4 - ge. 61 or. 63 11 11 CONTENTS. xi SERMON XI. THE SACRAMENT A MEANS OF UNION WITH CHRIST. St. John, vi. 57. Paaeo " As the living Father hath sent Me, and I live by tiie Father : so he that eateth Me, even he shall live by Me." 124 SERMON XII. THE lord's supper AS A COMMUNION. 1 Corinthians, x. 17. " For we being many are one bread, and one body : for we are ail partakers of that one bread." , 140 SERMON XIII. OF EATING AND DRINKING UNWORTHILY. 1 Corinthians, xi. 27, 28, 29. " Wherefore, -whosoever shall eat this bread, and drink this cup of the Lord, unworthily, shall be guilty of the Body and Blooil of the Lord. " But let a ffian examine himself, and so let him eat of that bread, pnd drink of that cup. " For he +hat eateth and drinketh unwortliily, eateth and drjnketh damnation to himself, not discerning the Lord's Body." 151 SERMON XIV. OF WORTHY RECEIVING. 1 Corinthians, xi. 27, 28, 29. ' Wherefore, whosoever shall eat this bread, and drink this cup of the Lord, unworthily, shall be guilty of the Body and Blood of the Lord. " But let a man examine himself, and so let him eat of that bread, aud drink of that cup. " For he that eateth and drinketh unworthily, eateth and drinketh damnation to himself, not discerning the Lord's Body." 162 M Srii CONTENTS. SERMON XV. THE DUTY OP FREQUENTLY COMMUNICAflNG. 1 CORINTHUNS, Xi. 26. « For as often as ye eat this bread, and drink thia cup, ye do shew the ^***' Lord's death till He come." 172 SERMON XVI. NUNC DIMITTIS. St. Luke, ii. 29, 30, 31, 32. « Lord, now lettest Thou Thy servant depart in peace, according to Thy word : " For mine eyes have seen Thy Salvation, " Which Thou hast prepared before the face of all peo^ le ; " A Light to lighten the Gentiles, and the Glory of Thy people Israel." 188 'C LIST OF SUBSCKIBEKS. A. Rev. W. Agar Adamson, D.C.L., Chaplain, Leg. Council, 2 copies. Rev. A. A. Allen, M.A., 2 copies. John Adams, Gore of Toronto, 2 copies. Rev. J. G. Armstrong, B.A., 2 copies. Alexander Anderson, Sandhill, C. W. Robert Armstrong, Fitaroy. T. A. Agar, Esq., Burwick. Joseph Armstrong, Toronto Township. B. Jas. Bovell, Esq., M.D., Professor, Trinity College, Toronto, 4 copies. M. E. Brougham, Gore of Toronto. John Beard, Fitzroy. George Beard, " Samuel Beard, « Richard Bishop, Ottawa City. R. H. Brett, Esq., Mono, C. W. Rev. A. J. Broughall, M.A. John Brown, Esq., Burwick, C. W. J. Brunskill, Esq., Thornhill. Archibald Boyd, Osgoode. W. W. Baldwin, Esq., Larchmere, C. W. G. B. Baker, Esq., Riverdale, Cowansville, C. E., 2 copies. Rev. R. S. Birtch, Assistant of St. Peter's, Cobourg. Dudley Baxter, Esq., West Frampton, 2 copies. Mrs. G. S. Bagnall, East Frampton. Mrs. Barton, Vaughan. Mrs. Bellass, sen., Grahamsville. xiv LIST OP SUBSCElBERg. c. W. T. Cunynghame, Esq., M.D., Montreal, 2 copies. Rev. T. S. Chapman, M.A., 2 copies. J. M. Chafee, Esq., J.P., TulJamore, 5 copies. Rev. W. E. Cooper, M.A. Rev. H. C. Cooper, B.A. J. Carr, Thornhill. William Carry, Osgoode. Joseph Carolan, South Caledonia, C. W. D. Cameron, « « Richard Clarke, Gore of Toronto. E. J. Coulter, Tullamore. Richard Carr, " John Corkett, « Thomas Chamberlain, Tullamore, 2 copies. Francis Carr, « Robert Cowan, Fitzroy. Miss A. Cowan, Grahamsville. Hugh Carry, Esq., Fitzroy, 3 eopies. Williaia Craig, Tullamore. Rev. Isaao Constantine, M.A., 4 copies. James Craven, Vaughan. John Craig, Tullamore. D. Rev. L. Doolittle, M.A., 5 copies. H. Davidson, Esq., Riviere du Loup, en bas. Rev. F. De La Mare, M.A., 2 copies. John Dillon, Esq., East Frampton. Wm. Doherty, Inverness. R. B. Denison, Esq., Toronto. Rev. E. H. Dewar, M.A. Francis Dougherty, Thornhill. Michael Dixon, Tullamore. George Davis, Toronto Township. E. J. A. Ellis, Esq., Albion, 2 copies. J. Elliott, Tullamore. Henry Endacott, Tullamore. John Evans, « LIST OF SUBSCBQXBS. P. Xf Rev. M. M. FothergilJ. Rev. D. Falloon, D.D. A. Foote, Thornhill. John Fulford, Osgoode. Richard Featherstone, Fitzroy. William Featherstone, " G. J. J. Gibb, Esq., Montreal. Mrs. J. J. Gibb, <* Norris Godard, Esq., Inspector General's Department. Rev. J. Godfrey. E. Grainger, Thornhill. John M. Garland, South Caledonia, C. \V. M. Doroas Garland, *' Sarah Galer, « Mrs. Galer, « H. Gracey, Esq., Weston, 2 copies. William Glazier, Tullamore. Richard Groves, Fitzroy. Thomas Green, " William Green, Edward Green, Catharine Green, Allan Grant, Esq., Rev. S. Givens, R.D., Yorkville, 0. W. Thomas Graham, Esq., J.P., Toronto Township. Joseph Graham, « H. Her Excellency Lady Head, 5 copies. Rev. Charles Hamilton, M.A., 5 copies. Robert Hamilton, Esq., Quebec. Rev. G. v. Housman, M.A. William Henderson, Esq., East Frampton. Rev. Professor Hatch, Trinity College, Tcronto. J. Holliss, Thornhill. F. W. Holliss, Thornhill. Caroline Hurry, " William Hatch, Osgoode. (t tt ZTi tIBT OF SUB80&IBSB8. Thomas HoUiss, Pine Grove. Alexander Hall, Esq., Leeds, C. £. George Hogg, Tullamore. Joseph Howard, Fitzroy. Elizabeth Howard, " George Hunt, " William Hunton, Esq., Ottawa City. Thomas Hunton, Esq., « George Hamilton, Tullamore. Bev. George S. J. Hill, M.A. S. B. Harman, Esq., Toronto. J. Hamilton, Tullamore. Eichard Hamilton, Grahamsville. J. George Hodgins, LL.B,, Toronto. I. A. Von Iffland, Esq., B.A., Bishop's College^ Lennoxville, 2 copies. T. H. Ince, Esq., Toronto. Hugh L. Irvine, Toronto Township. William Irvine, r. No— ihere was too much of difficulty, of self- denial, i .u. cy, in all this, to allow us to suppose that it pro- ceeded frv^m aught but solid principle, firm determination, and settled definite aims. While inferior motives were not disregarded we feel assured that the Son of God aimed at men's salvation chiefly. The miracle of healing or of feeding was wrorght for the body, but the method of it was studiously managed, that it might be instrumental to the effecting of a similar mercy for the soul. We know better, too, than to confine the glorious design of salva^ tion to the multitudes of Judaea. That would be too small a result for the matchless love and divine activity of the Eternal 3on. It If H JBflUa WOaKINQ TH« WOBK of god. [ s«nn. II. Mercifully did Ho include the whole human ftuuily in the purposes of His grace ; so that all the labours of His life should have a deter- mined instrumentality in eflFecting the salvation of the world. He came into the world to save sinners. How many divine voices echo endlessly from shore to shore of revelation this world-reviving truth I It was a work undertaken from infinite love ; and how did the breast of Christ burn with a holy eagerness till it was accomplished I At the end of His pilgrimage of love there stood the bitter cross, and, stretching beyond it, the gloomy realms of death to be vanquished, ere salvation could be obtained for guilty man. But Jesus was eager to embrace the cross, and plunge into the dreary abysses of the dead, in full assurance of victory, and animated with the joy of presenting man again with his long- forfeited life and immortality. And so it was that He never onco faltered in His onward career towards that awful goal. His eye was constantly fixed on it, and His mind ran to it fast«r than the lagging hours of the allotted years, and the necessary, determined acts of His preceding life, would allow. Oh, what strange fervency, what awful longings, mark the Christ almost as soon as He has entered upon His three years' work, and bewilder His disciples 1 Though in every other thought and deed of His life He was so absolutely submissive to tlie allotments of the Father, here He seemed impelled by a sort of mysterious and sacred eagerness. " I have a baptism to be baptized with, and how am I straitened till it be accomplished I " " With desire have I desired to eat this passover with you before I suflFer "—because He rejoiced that not another passover was to delay Him from the long-wished-for mo- ment, when the great blow was to be struck which should break for ever the shackles of human guilt, and procure, amid the acclama- tions of heaven, an amnesty for man. But though this was the crowning act, yet all that went before was necessary too, and, being necessary, deserved and secured the active regard of the Redeemer. Let us consider His design in some of its main parts. In order that His great atoning act might give out all it? virtue it was necessary that there should be a Society in which, through appointed means, the efficacy of the Cross might be for ever com- municated ; in which men, as rational beings, might by precept Sem. II. ] JI8U8 WORKING THE WORK OF GOD. I5 and example be trained up for a happy immortality. To secure a Bohd basis for such a struoturo, and to secure the means of fuU instruction and perfect example to all Christians, to the end of time, the Saviour directed the labours of His life. He came not only to be a Sacrifice for sin, but also as a Teacher of all moral and spiritual truth, and an Example, of godly life. And therefore wo see an additional reason for the fulness of His divine instructions. 1. He was desirous of leaving a treasure of wisdom and knowledge to the world in His blessed sayings, and parables, and discourse ; and therefore He laboured ceaselessly, par i.u'arly as His end drew nigh. For the last week of His life, we find llim at day-break in the temple teaching the crowds who hung upon His words ; or arguing with the obstinate Pharisees ; and not till evening going out to Bethany for rest and food. And even the latter He seems sometimes to have neglected in His absorbing earnestness. For on one of those days going very early in the morning from Bethany to Jerusalem as He approached the fig-tree on which the miracle of blasting was wrought-we read that He hungered. And from thence onwards the Saviour has seen the happy fruits of His travail : from how many millions of hearts have gone up to God the warm utterances ' ot gratitude and praise for those "words of Jesus" which bring light and consolation and enlargement to the sin-burdened soul I Alas, that while we so indignantly denounce the unutterable im- piety which seals up His gospel from eyes that must be dark with- out it, so many of ourselves diould show our treacherous insincerity by our indifference to the hearing, reading, and meditation of it. 11. Again : as He was to be the great Exemplar of Christians so did It behove Him to leave for our transcription a perfect Pattern of devotedness to the work of God. We have aJready said enough to give some impression of this. We have seen how no labour or danger was shunned in His devotion to His work. Even His dis- ciples,-who were slow of heart to understand what the prophets had said, and who were never ready to see their predictions fulfilled in their Master,--could not help applying to Him one propheCT- The zeal of Thine house hath eaten me up." How resolutely does He sweep away every argument for even the shadow of rest with "I must work the works of Him that sent Me, whUe it is day I How wonderfully was the saying of His childhood exem- a i 16 JUm ■WOIlKINa THl WORK OT GOD. c 8«nB. If. plificd in ITis after life — " I must be about My Father's business I " Wearied with His journey, as Ho sat by the well in Samaria, Ho hardens Himself against the demands of natijre, and engages with life and energy in the conversion of a poor sinful woman. And when, meanwhile. His disciples bring Him food. Ho appears insen- sible to His want ; and His thoughts being abstracted from all things of the earth, save ita sins and its souls, Ho astoniHhes them by His answer — " I have meat to cat that ye know not of — mif meat is to do the will of Him that sent Mo, and to finish His work." Thank God, this glorious Example has not been without its fruit. Miserable as have been the short-comings of the universal Church, yet what a wonderful total do her annals present of dis- interested love, of beneficent activity, of dauntless duty, of uncon- querable zeal 1 And this is chiefly owing to the example of Christ, for it was while " looking unto Jeaus," that all those gentle deeds of \'nobtrusive goodness, which are registered only in the Book of God's Remembrance, and all those heroical acts which shed lustre on religion, were performed. Without the example of Jesus, it is to be feared that His precepts would be enervated of almost all their force. iii. His miracles, too, were not merely works of present mercy, but the future defences and demonstrations of His religion ; and, therefore, He was diligent in working them — that He might mani- fest His own glory, and cause men to believe in Him ; " that (afl He said on one occasion) the works of God should be made mani- fest ; " and therefore. He says, " I do cures to-day, and to-morrow, and the third day I shall be perfected." iv. The training of His apostles for the work of man's salvJition, was another main part of Christ's ministry. I need not dwell on the manner in which He executed it ; with what assiduous care He inculcated and ^eiter^.^!^A|he simplest lessons ; with what patience He bore their dulnes^:' spiritual apprehension; how gently He reproved their forgetfulnet ^^ want of faith ; how benignly He apologized for their failurr'^|^uty to Him; how compassionately He forgave their backsliding, unf' ^ceived them again to His love. ^Si^, And now, my brethren, before drawing to a conclus^. 'i, let me ask you to consider the inexpressible importance of that wo-'" tm. I!. ] JE8D8 WORKINO THl! WORK OF GOD. J7 Which 80 occupied the heart andhnndn of the Blessed Josus. When •xa t«d m H.H a.ms-how overpowering must be our conceptions ot ho importance of that which absorbed His whole bcine I It i^nU bo nothing loss than the mijhti.H work for the glory of Ood-the ultimate aim of all sublime intelligence : that n.>rk\,a» o«r mlvat^on Do wo not, brethren, feel abashed and confounded at our cold and meagre thoughts of the Christian salvation ? at the indifference which wo so often entertain about onr own salvation ? Oh, let us ponder the work of Christ till our hearts glow with ad- miration and thanksgiving ; till all the ardour of our souls is .nerged in the one desire of salvation; till every trace of guilty indifference I banished, and Christ's oracle, in all the hidden solemn depths of Its meaning, is revealed—" One thing is needful I " But the holy activity and zeal of our Lord concerns us most nearly m another respect also. Not only did he work for our salvation, but we are expressly told that in that work " He hath lett us an example that we should follow His steps " This too our Baptism represents: " It represents to us our profession' which IS, to follow the example of our Saviour Christ How diligent, then, should we be in the service of God, after the example we have been considering I Was Christ so diligent in preachiL the gospel of the kingdom-and shall we not m^ke some'exeS to hear It ? Did Chnst, fasting, at daylight, teach in the temple ; and did the very Jews come in crowds to hear Him-and canno Chris lans now, with every circumstance of comfort and convenience be induced to come to Christ's house to hear the words of eternal hfe ? Did he neglect the cravings of bodily hunger, that He might minister the bread ofhfe to hungry souls; andshallwe not eagerly labour for this meat that endureth to everlasting life?" What an example of zeal in all that pertains to the good of mr hrother have we here too. When we recollect how Christ was pressed and thronged and rushed upon, and wearied, and hamssed w), .t '°v . f ^ ' ''' ^* ^'"'°*' "^ ^ ^ fr«*f"l ^»d in-patient when the bodily or spiritual necessities of poor Christians make even large demands on our time, our attention, or our purses? Does It become the sickly sentimentalist, male or femafe ha weeps over the imaginary distresses of a romance, to flee with pain 18 JESUS WORKING THE WORK OP GOD. [ Serm. II. and loathing from scenes of actual misery, from the tattered rags, the squalid couch of straw, the pinched features of famine, the piercing sounds of anguish, or (even) the abodes of vice ? Chil- dren of sensibility they call themselves — rather call them truly, children of selfishness. Does it become the rich merchant, on whose brow the mark of the Crucified was traced, when his office is besieged by those who plead for the sculs or bodies of Christ's redeemed, — to fortify himself against the tale of want, and peevishly exclaim with Rebekah, " I am weary of my life," because of those unintermitted importunities : if they cease not thus to trouble me, " what good shall my life do me ? " — thou man of wealth, think of the Man of Sorrows — and become thou a man of love, large- hearted and open-handed 1 But this is an example which the Clergy incomparably beyond all men should feel themselves bound to imitate, because Christ has vouchsafed to give them a prime place among the instrumentalities of salvation : inspiration itself attests their dignity — " workers together with God ! " How, then, ought they to work, who " work together with God" — by Christ's side, who have His promise to be ever with them ; to whom so much is entrusted ; who are daily conversant with the great Example ? They should work like Christ, " in season and out of season," they should work while it is to-day, they should work mindful of the value of souls bought with the inestimable blood, they should work looking for " the recompense of the re- ward" to be given by the Chief Shepherd, and — in a word — labouring to transcribe the example of pastoral fidelity which He hath left them. Oh, my brethren, they tremble under the awful weight of their responsibility ! They are persuaded of their own insufficiency. Their only hope is in the promised aid of Christ, and in the prayers of Christians. This Ember week, then, do they call upon you — and the Church with authority calls upon you — to beseech God with your devoutest prayers, with your most penitential fastings, that He would pour down upon them abundantly the reviving dews of His grace, the Spirit of zeal and knowledge and devotion ; that so they may be wise builders, able ministers of the New Testa- ment, faithful stewards of divine mysteries. Serm. II. ] JESUS WORKING THE WORK OF GOD. 19 If St. Paul, the great Apostle of the Gentiles, the renowned champion of the cross, the converter of half the world, the favoured visitant of the " third heaven "-if he so earnestly be^eches Chris- tians, Brethren, pray for us,"_so that we may say of this request that It was " his token in evert, epistle,"-how can «,e help urgently asking your prayers ? And how can you deserve a faithful and successful ministry, if you do not think it worth praying for? The success of the ministry now seems nothing compared with Its ancient success-perhaps we have one reason here, in the neglect ot Christians to pray fervently and constantly for those who must always bear the brunt of the battle, who are the appointed leaders in the glorious war. If this duty were to be fully performed what great things might we not expect from it ! Secure of the prayers of Christian flocks, the Clergy would study, and preach, and pray and exhort, and travel, and labour, with the animating hope that all these would be done far more successfully, would not be barren of the most blessed results. Strength and courage, patience and joy, would animate their breasts, whether they entered the lowly hovel, or had to meet the face of pride, or had to brave in foreign lands the violence of the savage,-while they knew that millions of supphants were besieging heaven in their behalf. Nor would their strength be in mere feeling-the result of airy imagination. No- they would go forth to their several spheres of labour, accompanied wita more than kingly pomp and power; while followed by the mvisible bands of pious wishes and troops of faithful prayers In them they would not only be greatly glad, but they wouid be invincibly strong and triumphantly victorious. Then should the rapid and thick-coming conquests hapten the expected universal sway of our Saviour and our King. Then soon should the desert whether of the clergy or the other faithful, sunk down at his post whether hearing the shouts of victory, or in the midst of the unde: cided conflict-the kind and compassionate Master would say-noi as in our text, " Come ye apart into a desert place, and rest awMler but_ Come ye and rest for ever from your labours, in the ye^ region of rest, the Paradise above : come, inherit the rest ,re^Z lor the people of God I " preparea c2 SERMON III. THE FRUIT OF CIIRIST's SUFFERINGS. (Preached in the Cathedral, Quebec, on Wednesday in Passion Week, 1856.) ill U; Isaiah liii. 11. "/Te shall see of the travail of His soul, and shall be satisfied." We can scarcely conceive it possible for any member of a Christian congregation in the present day, to doubt for an instant that this whole chapter relates exclusively to our Blessed Saviour. The very instinct of Christians in all ages of the church, from the first century to the present moment, proves that it does so. For choose what period you will, and you find Christians, when they would describe the sufferings of our Lord, turn at once to this passage of Scripture. So plainly are those sufferings set forth, that the chapter looks more like a history than a prophecy ; it sounds more like a last chapter in the Gospels, than a prediction delivered seven hundred and fifty years before the event. Hence Isaiah, because of his remarkable clearness, more especially as contrasted with the obscure and enigma- tical style of the other prophets, is called " the Evangelical prophet" — a characteristic which was very early noticed ; , for St. Justin Mil tyr, about the middle of the second century, confuting a Jewish adversary from the holy Scriptures, says : — " These words have not been invented i>y me, nor have they been ornately composed by ari of man ; but David sang them ; Isaiah evangelized them."'^ In the part of the chapter preceding our text, the sufferings of Christ are depicted with as much force and variety of expression • 'Hao/of 6i ev?iyye?^lieTo. Dial, cum Tryph. 246. D. Ed. 1616. 8enn.ni.] THE PEUIT OP CHRIST'S SUPPERINaS. 21 as it is possible to conceive. Every species of painful and violent bodily infliction is included in the dark catalogue of woes which fell on that devoted and holy Victim : and overpowering as the impressions must be which those gloomy predictions make on our imaginations, we may rest assured that if they were not vastly transcended, they were fully equalled by the dread reality. ^ But yet, brethren, I apprehend that our text is calculated to give us a far more impressive view of our Blessed Redeemer's sufferings, than if we were to track His every footstep from the high priest's palace to Golgotha, and mark every instrument of agony, and observe its horrible operation. For. it opens to us a new scene ; it lifts us into a higher region -from the corporeal to the spiritual ; it hides the tortures of the body, but to display more awfully the agony of the soul. Yes, my brethren, it becomes us, as we are treading, this Passion Week, the dolorous way of the Man of Sorrows, not to forget the travail of His soul. The travail of His soul I this it was that completed His woes, that made his bitter cup run over with the very intensity of grief— and toithout which (we say it with reverence) many of His faithful disciples in all ages would, in their endurance for His Name's sake, have suffered as much as their Master. Reflect on all the supereminent and divine powers of spiritual perception and invincible endurance, which flowed into His soul from such intimate conjunction with Deity, while yet His human nature remained entire— infinitely exalted, but wholly undimin- ished. Reflect on this, and it may help to give you an insight into the travail of the Redeemer's soul. But it is after all only a fleeting gleam, the very vaguest conjecture, we can have of that mystery of woe— a mystery from before whose awful shrine not even Seraphim dare or can draw the unrending veil. Safer, better for us to pray with the ancient church, " By Thy unknoicn agonies, Christ, have mercy upon us I " than endeavour vainly to gaze into those dark, unrevealable abysses. But as His exalted human nature gave Him a boundless capacity for suffer- ing— and hence the weight of the expression in the text; so did It give Him an equally boundless idea of spiritual excellenco— and hence the heaven-high fulness of mea, ,.g in the following words— "and shall be satisfied." Oh, wha an immortal good, what aa 22 THE FRUIT OP CHRIST'S SUFFERINQS. [sem. III. eternal excellency, what a glorious result must that be, which equals the aspirations, the hopes, the exalted perceptions of the adorable God-man ! which compensates Him for the travail of His Boul ! What a>y was that, in whose radiant prospect He endured the cross, and despised its shame, and whose possession shall yet fill Him with a full, and entire, and undying satisfaction ! If we, with our limited faculties and perverted afiFections, can have such expansive ideas of moral excellence, and find it hard to be contented with the most perfect specimens which the world has ever afforded— how great an achievement, how magnifi- cent a result was that which satisfied Him, to whose spiritual gaze and divine desires, ours are less to be compared than the sight and motion of a mole to the sun-bright eye and the soaring flight of the eagle. Though the suffering and joy of Christ are equally subjects which we cannot presume to comprehend, but yet are necessarily compelled to meditate on ; let me endeavour to give your medita- tions a definite direction, and so perhaps aid your conceptions of this great theme. 1. " He sees of the travail of His soul, and is satisfied," in the free remission of sins to men. From eternity the prescient eye of the Son of God beheld mankind in infinite and (but for Him) abandoned misery. He saw them in enmity with God ; no power in themselves of making that reparation to justice, without which the righteous Governor of the worid, though all-pitying, could not extend to them mercy. He saw them withering away under the frown of God, and the infinite depths of His divine pity were moved. " He saw that there was no man, and wondered that there was no Intercessor : therefore His own arm brought salvation to Him, and His righteousness it sustained Him." By the single might of His own right hand and His mighty arm did He get Himself the victory (even in death) over death and the banded powers of hell— triumphing over them by Himself :— And lo ! Justice relaxes her frown, and flings away her sword, and becomes the very abettor of Mercy, who opens wide her arms, and, with a shout of joy that thrills through the universe, calls on the new- ransomed immortals to fly to her embrace ! 8erm.ni.] THE FRUIT OP OHRIST's SUPFEBINaS. 23 Yes ! the world is restored : it stands on a new footing, and in a new relation to God. " Redemption through His hlood, even the forgiveness of sins," is henceforth proclaimed to the oppressed vic- tims of sin : forgiveness — not clogged with conditions hard, or painful, or next to impossible to fulfil ; but offered on the sole condition of faith in our glorious Lord— a faith animated by the gentle spirit of love. Favour with heaven — peace on earth — good-will to men — oh, joyful burden of celestial song ! And forth go the heralds of this grace: beautiful upon every mountain, upon every stormy sea, upon every island coast, are the feet of the messengers that bring glad tidings, that publish peace. Is not this a magnificent achievement — a worthy result of such matchless sacrifice ' And does not the benevolent Redeemer well rejoice in the froeness of that grace now extended to the whole world — free to us because " it cost Him so dear" ? The true Christian, in order to know the misery of a world of rational creatures separated from the Fountain of Blessedness, has only to ask himself what would be his own condition were he de- prived of that knowledge and love of God, that trust and joy in Him, that felt nearness to Him, which he now possesses. How the serious thought of sui h deprivation sends a cold shudder through his soul ! how the bottomless depths of dark despair yawn at the thought of separation from the " God of .his joy and gladness ! " Yet how far short of the full desolateness of such a state do our most vivid conceptions fall ! But Christ knew it, saw it all ! And deep as is the abyss of desolation to whose lowest depth His eye penetrated ; so high rises His complacent, holy joy at having delivered man from going down to such a pit. 2. " He sees of the travail of His soul, and is satisfied," in the return of each single penitent to God. We are not to suppose that Christ so joys in the redemption of the world, as if all guilt belonged to men in their collective capacity. We should guard against such a supposition ; for I apprehend that most of us might, on examination, find some vague idea of this sort lurking within. Thus are we apt, if not completely to shift our individual guilt, at least to diminish it very much, by sharing it with an infinite number. And on the same ground, we deprive I > 24 THE FRUIT OF CHRIST'S SUFFERINGS. [genn. III. ourselves of much of that hope and encouragement to be derived from the faithful conviction that Christ did really redeem each one of us, not merely as parts of a whole, but as individuals also A conviction which the Church, with a tender solicitude for our com- fort as well as our salvation, is ever anxious to cherish-command- ing her ministers to deliver into the hands of each Christian com- municant the sacred elements, and to say to each separately, " The Body of our Lord Jesus Christ, which was given •. ' ■■> -the Blood of our Lord Jesus Christ which w^s shed for €. Let no sinner dream that he can merge his responsiiixaiy in tho universal guilt of our race. Each sinner is as much a sinner, as if he stood solitary and alone in the waste of an unpeopled universe— the guilt of each is no less formidable, his punishment is no less certain and dreadful,— than if he were the one dark spot upon which tlie eye of God rested, and on which His f-uy was concentra- ted. The principle by which companionship in human friendships lightens grief, is miserably raversed here— the communication of guilt and grief being no diminution, but a terrible aggravation of both. It is the case of ships in a storm— they are severally in imminent danger; but when brought together, the danger is pro- portionally magnified— for they become Instruments of mutual destruction, and safety is almost impossible. Let us see, then, what our Lord does in bringing individual sinners nigh unto God. We need not take for our specimen the very worst case — some old polytheistic Greek or Koman, with affections as debased and vicious as the gods they worshipped • nor some formal superstitious Jew, with a mind destitute of any spiritual perception, crawling on the clay, which he deemed it a enormity to mingle with spittle for medicinal uses, on his Sabbath • nor some fanatical devotee of Juggernaut ; nor some wretched nec^ro who adores his own shadow, nor looks higher for his God • nor some cannibal Fijian, who makes a religion of the cruellest mur- ders, and a feast of the horrible sacrifice ; no-nor some reckless scoffing sinner, who knew the commands of Christ, and dared to defy them ; no— we have only to take what may be often seen— a sober, discreet, and respected sinner, to see the mighty work of Christ. Sera. III.] THE PRL T OP CHRIST'S SUFFERINGS. 25 Contrast the condition of such an one, yet in his sins, with the condition of him who has been brought nigh unto God, and has at- tained His peace. In doing this I must appeal to the experience of any Christian here who can recollect when yet he was unrenewed and afar off from God. He knows how really wretched his state was ; how vainly he sought settled peace and contentment from the unsub- stantial shadows which were perpetually eluding his grasp; how dismal a dissatisfaction he felt in every coveted pleasure, after ho had tasted a few times of its sweetness ; and how speedily every pompous joy became a ghastly corpse. He knows too how fearfully he was alienated from that " God in whom we live, move, and have our being; " how he lived as if he owed Him no obedience nor love ; how, though unwilling to discard the semblance of reli- gion, his daily endeavour was to banish God from his thoughts, and live as though God were not. He knows how all his wishes were earth-bound, centered on unstable vanities— how his castles of hope were built on the vanishing rainbow. And surely it must add to the sombre shadows of this picture, to think of all the im- mortal energies, the noble powers, the wide capacities, the warm hopes, the priceless time, so mournfully wasted on the follies of a dream, and so fatally misdirected from those high aims, whoso earnest pursuit would have ensured present peace and future reward. Now, the Christian knows and can value what the suffering Saviour has done for him by the travail of His soul. By the grace which streams from the cross on which He was lifted up He has drawn him to Himself, and in this is included everything which the soul of man can need. He has purified his affections so that they no longer grovel in the mire of 8in,-a present plague and torture to the sinner. He has exalted his thoughts and his aims, so that now, instead of being absorbed in the low cares of the world and the flesh, his mind wanders through eternity, and expa- tiates with admiring and thoughtful gaze through the wide domain of creation. The happy soul now exchanges the base contentions of earth for a noble amb-'Hon that aspires to likeness to God, to the holiness of Christ, to the society of angels, to a throne in heaven, to the amaranthine rewards of immortality. The Christian feela within himself awakened capacities for divine and intense enjoy- •i ) II 26 THE PRUIT OF CHRIST'S SUFFERINaS. [sem. III. * ment ; new-kindled hopes, and loves, and aspirations ; intuitive anticipations and longings; which glow through his being, and carry him forward to a world and a time, when no hope of the heaven-born spirit shall be unrealized— but an ocean of blessedness satiate its boundless cravings. Yes, my brethren, and over our relation to even sensible things does the wonder-working cross throw a veil of heavenly magic. I think we may boldly say in sober, what the world will take for poetic, truth,— that, through the grace of Christ, the material world is invested, in the Christian's eyes, with a haze of additional loveliness.* To those eyes on which Christ's supernal light has been shed, there is seen a new brightness in the sun, a new glory in the stars, a more reviving verdure in the grass ; to those ears that have drunk in the harmonics of heaven, there is heard a more refreshing gurgle in the waters, and a more hilarious tone of praise in all the voices of animated nature. This is the achievement of that glorious Conqueror, who trod the wine-press alone, and who may now well rejoice in bringing many sons unto glory by the nevcr-to-be-told travail of His soul. And if to see souls thus rescued from hell and exalted to glory, fills the hearts of the saints with joy, and heaven with the rejoicino- songs of angels— what must be Ilis joy whose gracious work this is ? If we, with our defective power of spiritual apprehension, see such a superlative glory in this mighty spiritual revolution—what must be the sublime satisfaction of Christ, whose eye ranges over each universe of spiritual beauty and deformity, and pierces their profoundest recesses ? No philosophic mind of man, no intuitive gaze of archangelic intellect can ever fathom the unutterable guilt and ugliness and danger of sin : it is the Infinite One alone who possesses this awful prerogative, or who could enduref the spectacle ^ * Humboldt, in his 0080109, somewhere observes, that it is in the Chris- tian Fathers we first find minute notice taken ot natural sceneri/, and those sentimental and detailed doRcriptions of it, which form so prominent a characteristic in modern literature. f No eye but His might ever bear To gaze down all that drear abyss, Because none ever saw so clear The shore beyond of endless blis?. —Keble's Christian Year, 12th S. after Trinity. Serin. III.] TEE FRUIT Of CHRIBT's BUFFlRINaS. 27 in its unveiled horror. And impossible, too, for the holiest of creatures to conceive the delight, as infinite as His own nature, which the eternal God takes in holiness. In the eyes of that holi/, holy, holy Lord God, the very heavens are not pure ; and thoreforo the Son rejoices in having adorned His ransomed ones with His own spotless righteousness,— aware that in no other way could they endure the searching glance of uncreated Purity. Besides, brethren— and this is an important consideration— all that we see now in this present life is but the faint prelude of un- dying consequences, of endless developments ; the tiny germ of the coming harvest of weal or woe : yet I hope we feel enough to elevate our conceptions of the mighty and gracious work of Christ. But we shall have cause for yet more elevated, and yet more grate- ful appreciation of that work, if wo follow, in imagination, the impnitent soul, that would not be saved, to its own place. There we may behold the misery of evil passions let loose with- out any restraint; of corrupt desires, undestroyed by death, (against the delusive fancies of men,) yea, attaining a tre- mendous intensity, without any possibility of gratification ; that hatred of God and holiness, which was here fixed as a principle, though as yet not freely developed— expanded into a malignant and ferocious implacability, which frets itself for ever in impotent rage against the Blessed God ; and remorse, self-devouring remorse, growing and increasing in monstrous proportions, through an eter- nity measured by no cycles or revolutions of celestial orbs, but by the long groans and the suffocating sighs of the lost I I know, brethren, that your minds will more cheerfully turn to the ascending Saint, and mark his shining progress. Be- hold him, then, fixed in his orb, in some bright allotted station among the sons of God. See his soul filled to its capacity with the purest, sublimest, most satisfying joy ; and that capacity for ever expanding in the genial clime of heaven. See new thoughts, and higher conceptions, and more ravishing delights ever flowing in on his soul : behold, more dazzling glories ever glitter on his crowned brows ; while his anthem of ecstacy and praise swells evermore higher, louder, and more rapturous. His blessedness is a circle which widens interminably on the shoreless ocean of eternity. Behold, this hath God wrought ! 'it 1 M THE PRTTIT OF OHRIST's BUPPERINQS. [s„„. ,„. Yo anpfols of ITis that excel in strensth and 8ong, praino our Ro,loem.n« Lord I Yo saints, nprinkled with His holy Blood adore Inn m the touching strains of a tenderer, soul-felt love ! We have the advantage of so blessed a work-let JESUS have tho JUS glory, and tho con.placent joy of benevolent affection satisfied wall a great accomplishment. Tn this cidless multiplication of good, then, wo mo a full illus- tration of our text ; and we also see tbe weight of obligation to no ordinary love to tho Blessed Jesus. Wo see, I think, the natural foundation of those thunderous words-'< If any man love n.,t our Lord Jesus Christ, IH him he amthana t " Oh, if your hearts do not give a full response to this, I fear for you-you should fear for yourselves. Wi^th yet " the sound of glory ringing in your ears," you may leel it hard to bo turned to sterner contemplations : but It must bo done. Wo are unwilling, brethren, to dismiss you without entreating you U) consider what must be the guilt of those so infinitely obliged who by c^shnate sin, mar, a. much as in them lies, the work which cost Christ so dear, and diminish His satisfaction in 'Z success. And oh, think too of its danger I llow dangerous it is for a weak subject to thwart the favorite designs of an absolute and powerful Sovereign, llemember, then, what our Sovereign Lord and Saviour has set His heart on, yea, given His hoart's blood for--and a.k yourselves, if you can, without trembling- whether It be safe to oppose the most cherished designs of Him to wliom dl power in lieaven and earth has been given ? We beseech you by the mercies of God, we warn you by the terror of the Lord-thwart not Chrisi in His designs of grace- mar not t^e completeness of His blessed triumph ; throw not upon Hun the dishonour of an unaccomplished work. If you do-tho very Gospel itself has terrors in store for you-for rejected love wU turn into the most intolerable fury, llemember that sentence of the sweet singer of the Old Law-" I will sing oi mercy and jrul,ment; unto Thee, Lord, will I sing: " and remember that the sentiment belongs also to the New Law : " Behold (says the Apostle) the gooJnes, and severlt,, of God : on them which fell severity ; but toward thee, goodness if thou continue in His good' ness. Mercy and Judgment-goodness and scverity-thiuk of Berm. HI.] THE FRUIT OF OIIBIST's SUFFERINQS. 29 thcni, brethren, and may God make your thoughts influential I Behold now with believing eyes and a loving lieart, the Lamb of God which taketh away the sin of the world : refuse to do bo, and prepare to meet Ilim aa the Lion of the tribe of Judah, deter- mined to rend your soul, when there shall be none to deliver. Slight now the compassion and love of a Saviour which you are besought to receive ; and in the day of just retribution, the spitting, and the buffeting, the scourge, the crown of thorns, the blasphemy,' the agony, the bloody sweat, and the death-throes of the cross, will every one bo laid to your account : and how will yyu endure' that load which crushed out the holy soul of Christ Himself ? Oh that the love of that gracious Lord might take possession of us I Oh that an everlasting gratitude might overpower our souls, and bind us fast to His cross in bands of indissoluble affection • that sharing the transforming influences of His grace here, we may hereafter bo partakers of His glory, and behold with our own eyes the full satisfaction of our Lord, and tho ever-growing blessedness wrought by the travail of His soul I SERMON IV. THE INTEllMEDIATE STATE. (Preached on Easter Even, Point Levy, 1867.) St. Luke, xxiii. 43. " And Jesus said unto Mm, Verily, 1 say unto thee, To day shalt thou be with Me in paradise." These words are the gracious answer of our Saviour on the cross to the humble request of the penitent and believing robber who was crucified by His side—" Lord, remember me when Thou comest into Thy kingdom." He believes in Jesus as the promised Messiah, who was soon to come in glory and set up the everlasting kingdom of God, and reign in it for ever. And Jesus grants more than his petition, as ever is the wont of our gracious Lord : " Not only will I remember thee when I come in My kingdom ; but verily I say unto thee. To day— when thou art not expecti'ng to be even freed from bodily anguish— thy soul shall accompany Mine and be with Me in paradise." ' From this answer we obtain information on two points, which, if not absolutely necessary to know, are at least in a high degree important and consolatory : ^ First, we have here the highest assurance that the soul is dis- tinct from the body, that it is able to subsist apart from the body, and docs so subsist after death, and that it sleeps not, but is sen- sitive and capable of immediate enjoyment: And, secondly, the words help us to determine the place and state of the soul between death and the resurrection. I I«nn. IV.] THE INTERMEDIATE STATE. 31 I To the«o two pointH we may most HuituMy direct our meditations on this Easter Kve, who.i tho niyMtcrious three-days separation of our Saviour's human soul from His body is the subject suggested by tho day and its services to the minds of all. In the discussion of the latter of these topics the proof of the former will incidentally appear. *^ 1.^ Tho 2>hce to which tho souls of the righteous depart, is called by Christ paradm: That this paradise is distinct from heaven, tho immediate abode of God, and the promised habitation of the blessed after the resurrection, we infer with certainty from our Saviour's own words. To Mary Magdalene, who saw Ilim directly after His resurrection, He said, " Touch Mo not ; for I am not yet aamiikd to My Father : but go to My brethren, and say unto them, I ascend unto My Father, and your Father ; and to My God and your God." It is well known that the Jews of our Lord's time called the receptacle of pious souls after death Gun Eden, that is, the Garden of Eden. And this name was represented by the word Paradise— a Garden, or Pleasure Garden— in the Greek version used by the Jews of our Lord's day. So that in its religi- ous signification it denoted a " place of spiritual delights." Hence it must have been in this customary sense that our Lord used the word; for otherwise He would not have been understood— and surely He spoke to be understood. A happy place, therefore. He promised to bring the robber to— a place which yet He plainly distinguishes from that heaven to which He was soon to ascend. If it be still affirmed, against this solid inference, that paradise is the same as heaven, and that the promise was fulfilled in that the penitent was there with Christ in His Divine Nature, though not yet ascended in His humanity :— then it would have been contrary to the order of grace and the words of Christ. It is contrary to the order of grace— hecmsQ it was not till « He had overcome the sharpness of death, that the gates of heaven were opened to all believers ;"* and not till He, as tho First fruits and the Forerunner,f had entered them, could any of His redeemed enter. Contrary to His word^ also : " No man hath ascended up to heaven, but He that came down from heaven, even the Son of Man which is in heaven." And even though these words should not be applicable • Te Deum. | Heb. ix. 8. V r: 32 THE INTERMEDIATE STATE. [senn. IV. to the present state of things, certainly they were literally true till Christ had ascended* Therefore paradise was not heaven. St. Paul's words, in 2 Cor. xii., confirm this distinction : " I will come to visions and revelations of the Lord. I knew a man in Christ above fourteen years ago, (whether in the body, I cannot tell ; or whethei o^it of the body, I cannot tell : God knoweth ;) such an one caught up to the third heaven. And I knew such a man, (whether in the body, or out of the body, I cannot tell : God knoweth ;) how that he was caught up into paradise, and heard unspeakable words." Here the difference of time and place is indicated not only by the words visions and revelations, not only by paradise and third heaven ; but specially by the repetition of "whether in the hody, or out of the body, I cannot tell ; God knoweth :" for if the visions and places were the same, the repeti- tion seems needless and unmeaning. The distinction of paradise from the third heaven, in this passage, is agreeable to " the opinion of all the ancient Christian8"t— a testimony which can hardly fail to convince, confirmed as it is by the most distinguished Protestant Commentators.^ What the locality of this receptacle of souls is, is beyond our knowledge and the scope of legitimate inquiry. But in reference to this locality, a difficulty will naturally occur to many, and it is one which we must not by any means pass over — How it can said in the Creed that He descended into hell, if He went to paradise ? This article of the faith of all Christians is based on the prophetical words of Ps. xvi., by which St. Peter (Acts ii.) proves the resur- » What exception Enoch and Elijah may be to this assertion, it is not of importance to enquire, as they were exempted from the operation of the curse. Nor is their being rapt into the heaven of glory (supposing that to have been the case) in their embodied spirits, any nore an objection to tho statement that disembodied spirits could not precede the Redeemer into the heavenly mansions ; than their exemption from death is against the Apos- tle's words—" It is appointed unto men once to die," f Whitby in loc. t Kai. . .Finge, ccelum tertium etparadisum plane esse synonyma; valde imminuetur nervus orationis Paulinse. Bengel, in 2 Cor. xii. 3. Haec migratio in paradisum differt quidem ab ascensione in ccelum, Joh. 20: 17, scd tamen docet, descensum ad inferos laute esse explicandum. Idem, in Luc. 23:43. Similarly Dr. Fairbairn, Hermeneutical Manual. Senn.ivj THE INTEEMBDIATE STATE. 98 rection of Christ—" Thou wilt not leave My soul in heU •" words which necessarily imply that His soul went into the place here called hell. Many of the learned have, indeed, maintained that these words mean nothing more than that He was dead and buried, because soul sometimes means simply life, and hell is often used to denote tte<;mz;e— not intending, however, by this to deny what we have been stating. But when we recollect that thus the same thing wiU be repeated which is before expressed in so short a summary as the Creed, and m far plainer terms ; when we find our church, in the Ihird Article of Religion, making an express difference-" As Christ died for us and was buried, so also it is to be believed, that He went down into hell ;" when we consider how natural it is to regard buried as setting forth the state of His body, and descended into hell as setting forth the condition of His soul meantime— we cannot, I think, without doing violence to the natural force of the words, suppose them to mean nothing more than mere death and bunal; we must believe them to declare a local motion of His soul to the region called hell. Now, in order to reconcile this with our text, we are to remem: ber that there are two words, though differing widely from each other m meaning, in the original, which are translated by the one word mil in our English version, viz., JIades and Gehenna.-^ trehenna is exclusively the plaoe of final punishment, but Hades IS a word of much more extensive application : it means the invisv. ble state of the dead— or, as we would commonly say, the other world; including the place where the wicked are tormented tiU the resurrection (as we read of the rich man, « In Hades he lifted up his eyes, being in torment ") • including also tLa place where the blessed are refreshed during the same period, which is paradise— that part of Hades or hell into which our Saviour went This large signification of the word Hades, exactly corresponds with the primary meaning of our English Hell, which denotes " a hidden or covered hole or pit;" while both Hades and its representative Hell, in the Creed, and St. Peter's speech, and in the Scriptures generally, stand for the unseen worid at large. Whereas that which IS exclusively the place of final punishment is never expressed in the original by ITades, but by Gehenna; and it is translating these 34 THE INTERMEDIATE STATE. r ' Serm. IV. two distinct words, which inean distinct things, by the same Eng- lish word, that creates such confusion and difficulty in the minds of unlearned readers. This is the notion which not only the Scriptures give us of Hades, but also the very heathens and Jews. A heathen poet* says — " In Hades there are two ways, one for just men, and another for the impious." Josephus,t a Jewish priest, says of the Sadducees, " They take away (i.e. deny) the rewards and punishments which are in Hades." " In vain, there- fore, (says Jer. Taylor) does St. Austin torment himself to tell how Christ could be in both places at once, when it is no harder than to tell how a man may be in England and London at the same time !" I shall mention just one passage more to shew this difference. In Kev. xx. 14, « Death and hell (Hades) were cast into the lake of fire"— meaning not that hell is cast into hell, but that the Saints being now exalted from paradise to heaven, the state of death is wholly abolished for them ; and, as a state of partial punishment for others, it is cast into Gehenna, where punish- ment is terribly perfected. | 2. You see then, brethren, how erroneous is the opinion, so pre- valent among us, that the souls of the faithful pass directly, on their departure from the body, into Jieavm, a state of ghri/, and the promised reward : and that the souls of the impenitent pass, in like manner, into hell-fire, their threatened everlasting portion. Let me ask your attention while I proceed to show how con- trary this is to the whole reason of our religion, and what evil re- sults flow from it. (1). First, then, not only is there not one place of the New Testament which declares plainly that the souls of the faithful de- parted pass du^ectly to heaven, but (2). It is everywhere intimated that the state which succeeds to death is only one of rest and peace and joy, not of heavenly glory. First, for the Old Testament. The prophc aiah § says, " He (the righteous man) shall enter inio peace : thi hall rest in their * Diphilus. f Jewish War, Bk. II. ch. viii. 14. X See the exact parallel of this verse in Eos. xiii. 14, " deUh I will be thy plagues ; Sheot, Hades, I will be thy destruction." § lea. Ivii. 2, Serm. IV.] THE INTERMEDIATE STATE. 35 beds, each one walking (or rather, who had walked) in his righteous- ness. In the ninth chapter of Zechariah, which is appointed as he First Lesson for Morning Prayer on Easter Even, we read. As for thee also, by the blood of thy covenant I have sent forth thy prisoners out of the pit wherein is no water. Turn you to the stronghold 3,e^Wer. of Upe : even to-day do I declare that I will render double to you." From this we infer that the grave of Chnst is the stronghold of the faithful departed, and that by the completion of His sacrifice, and by His entrance into para- dise. Its inhabitants-pn-so«m o/Aop._have now their happness immensely enlarged. They are no longer in a pit wherein no water IS. Their hopes are brightened, they have more communion with heaven they have stronger foretastes of the final blessedness. 11 this be not what our Church intends us to infer, I can discover no propriety at all in what is meant for a ^^m^^er Lesson How unreasonable, too, and against all our notions of the Divine economy, to suppose that the invisible Church received no improve- ment of Its circumstances, no accession to its happiness, by our Lord's precious sacrifice and His conquest over death ; while the visible Church, It IS allowed, received immense accessions of grace and' privilege both in kind and degree. Such is the incongruity neces sarily arising from the opinion that the faithful departed, from the begmmng of the world, have been in gloiy. Chn'' f J'"* °^ *!;'' ^'^^^^P'-^t^^i^^ «f her Easter-Eve Lesson, the Church affirms, in her Burial Office, that " the souls of the f;ith- ful, after hey are delivered from the burden of the flesh, are in joy and felicity." But this felicity is of an imperfect character It consists, first, in - deliverance out of the miseries of this sinful God, and knowledge of Him, and joy in Him, than this world could ver allow. Yet all this happiness, however great, is nothing m^e than preparatory te that of the kingdom reserved for the Saints ^^vl^^^r'^rr^""'' '^'^'^^ *^ '^"^^"^Pli* the number of Thine lect, and to Msien Thy Uhrg^ra; that we, with all those that are departed m the tnie faith of Thy holy name, may have oy^ perfect comrmmation and bliss in hody and soul in Thy eter- nal and ever^sting Glory." Thus are wo taught, that mt d2 86 THE INTERMEMATE STATE. c Se ir. ii resurrection of the body there Is no consummation 0/ bliss even for the soul — that what is properly called glory is not enjoyed. The New Testament has very few allusions to the Separate State — not more, perhaps, than half a dozen. But these allusions confirm the inferences which we have drawn from the Old Testa- ment, and justify the observation of Bishop Taylor—" The middle state is not it which scripture hath propounded to our faith, or our hope."* I call your attention to two places only. First, the raising of Lazarus : full of wonder and difficulty as it must be to us, however explained, — is not the difficulty almost intolerable, if we suppose his spirit called back, from the glory of God's presence, to this world of sorrow ? The whole tone of the narrative compels us to believe that Christ was performing an act of favour to Lazarus as well as to his sisters ; for Jesus " loved Martha, and her sister, and Lazarus ; " and He cannot be supposed to have done so unspeakable an injury to one whom He loved, as to deprive him of heavenly beatitude for thirty years (as tradition said). Would He not rather have rebuked the selfishness of sisters who could wish such a thing ? But, on our representation of the state of the faithful departed, before the Passion of our Lord, — being but prisoners of hope, — the harmony of our Lord's human affection with the exercise of His divine power in this wondrous act, be- comes sufficiently evident. The second place is one familiar to our ears : Blessed are the dead which die in the Lord from henceforth : yea, saith the Spirit, that they may re«< from their labours, and their works do follow them." Rest, refreshment — not glory, is the character of the in- termediate blessedness. The words " from henceforth " also imply that such high blessedness had not always been the privilege of the righteous dead before the all-enriching death of the Lord. (3.) The New Testament positively points to the Resurrection as the period of reward. I shall lay before you at large the positive declarations of Scripture touching this point. In Rev. xi. 18, the four -and -twenty Elders are represented as saying, " the nations were angry, and Thy wrath is come, and the time of the dead, that they should bejttdged, and that Thou shoxddst give reward unto Thy servants the prophets, and to the saints, and to * Life of Christ. THE INTSRMEDIATE STATE. 37 Semi. IV.] them that fear Thy name, small and great." The Judgment, therefore, is the time of reward for all the dead : even the prophets,' who died so long ago, are yet expecting their reward. St. Paul,' (2 Tim. iv. 8,) triumphing in prospect of death, says, " Henceforth there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will give me at that day : and not to me only, but unto all them also that love His appearing." Not even St. Paul receives his crown before that day— the day of Judgment. The appearing of Christ is the period of reward for all. Mean- time that reward is " laid up for them in heaven."* But if the happiness of the righteous is as full as it can be directly after death, save only as regards the body, there can be no good reason why they should expect, and wait, and long for— all which is included in loving— Christ'a appearing. Nay, how can that appearing be an object of desire, if they already possess the presence of Christ in the highest degree ? And— a« a matter of fact— those who hold the error we are combatting, do not look forward eagerly to His appearing ; their thoughts are bounded chiefly by the happiness which ensues on departure, and the Resurrection is entertained aa little more than a true speculation. I appeal to the experience of such of us as have held this opinion. Again : " When the Chief Shepherd shall appear, (St. Peter promises the Clergy— 1 Pet. v. 4,) ye shall receive a crown of glory that fadeth not away." " The in- heritance incorruptible, undefiled, and that fadeth not away, (i. 4, 5,) reserved in heaven for Christians, is ready to be revealed in tL last time"— only then revealed— so that before that time it is hidden from us. He further assures us, (i. 7,) that it is '« at tJie appearing of Jesus Christ that the trial of our faith will be found nnto praise, and honour, and glory." And St. Paul instructs us, (Rom. viii.' 18, 23, 24,) that the period of " the glory which is to be revealed unto us," is that of " the redemption of the body" from the grave— until which time (so far shall we be from a state of perfect reward and happiness) that we continue ^froamw^r— that is, earnestly long- ing for— that adoption, that final proof and completion of our fionship. In the 15th cap. of 1st Cor. not one syUable is said of the intermediate happiness as an encouragement to Christians under suffering, and in prospect of death for the Name of Jesus. The * Vide Col i n 38 THE INTERMEDIATE STATE. [serm. IV. glory of the resurrection body is elaborately dwelt upon as the Rrand inducement for being « steadfast, unmoveablo, and always abound- ing m the work of the Lord." And the Apostle goes so far as to say, that if there be no resurrection we are of all men most miser- able. So htt le stress does he lay on the preceding happiness, which consiste mainly m prelibations of resurrection gloiy; so that if there be no resurrection, then those intermediate antepasts them- selves have no existence. Even in this life it is the privilege of Christians to be with the J.ord; and it is certain that immediately after death, they shall be with him in a degree,* which, St. Paul says, " is far better ; " but mth the Lord, m the highest sense, it is clear we shall not be till the resurrection. Nothing can be more decisive than the words of bt. Paul, m his 1st Epistle to the Thessalonians.f Comforting them on the death of friends, he never alludes to tlie intermediate state, but declares more plainly and at greater length than is done elsewhere m Scripture, the mystery of the resurrection, the comino- oi the Lord, and our being gathered to Him. Then he concludes . discourse in these words-" and so shaU we ever be with the i^ord. Ihe inference is, that the enjoyment of the Lord's pre- sence IS previously partial and interrupted, but afterwards it shall be complete.^ This is the teaching of the beloved disciple also-'' Beloved now are we the sons of God, and it doth mt yet appear what we like Him '' "* '"' ^"'''' *'''* "'''"' ^' '^"^^ "■^■^'""' ^' '^"" ^« We have heard the words of the disciples-shall we not hear the great Master Himself? Or, had He, who alone of right has re-orossed the dark valley, nothing to tell us of the other side ? Yes, in our text He promised mueh-a mighty boon to a male- tactor. Yet He afterwards withdrew a friend from the same place - but to His dearest, highest, most favoured friends-tho privileged twelve-He never promised, or, so far as we know, even mentioned, * ah> Xpiv 'ABnaau ml rov ^e6v 'lean. kuI rov -dehv 'la^^/J, ol Kal Myov.c p) rlva. vLpL avacramv alhx afia r

^luv rac eiac^,^ovc Kal nowpa, h x^igovc, rov rij, ,piaeuc l^.h^oMhac XQ^val Tdre. See also IrenjEus, Adv. Her. V., c. 31, § 2, p. 831. t Sir G. Bahton's Funeral Sermon, to which I am indebted for some of the arguments and phrases of this discourse. LSerm. IV. Serm. IV.] THE INTERMEDIATE STATE. 49 According to this new opinion (flays ho) it will bo impossible to understand themoanin- of divers passuges of Scripture, [several of which I have alleged,] or iit all to perceive the economy and dia- pensation of the day of judgment ; or how it can bo a day of dis- cerning [t. e., separation] ; or how tho reapers (the angels) sliall bind up the wicked into bundles, and throw them into tho un- quenchable fire ; or yet how it can be useful, or necessary, or pru- dent, for Christ to give a solemn sentence upon all tho world; and how it can be, that that d.iy should be so formidable and full of terrors, when nothing can affright those that have long enjoyed tho beatific presence of God; and no thundero or earthquakes can affright them, who have upon them the bzggest evil in the world, T mean tho damned, who, according to tliis opinion, have been in hell for many ages : and it can mean nothing but to them that are ahve ; and then it ia but a particular, not a universal judgment ; and after all it can pretend to no piety, to no scripture, to no reason, and only can serve the ends of the Church of liovie:' Perhaps you may be a little startled by his last words. Let mo say something in explanation, by which it will appear that that, very notion, which it is probable many of my hearers entertain, •s the very basis of one of the most anti - Christian practices of Romanists— I mean the Imoaxtion of Saints. They hold that the Lvss perfect Christians go to a place which they have in- vented, and they have invented its name, too— Purgatory— where they remain till wholly cleansed, by fires as hot as those of hell ; and tlien they ascend to heaven, whither the more perfect saints pass at once from the hody. And because thoy thus reign with Christ in the beatific Presence, in a state of power and glory, therefore they invoke them, as being able to help their suppliants! They suppose, too, that the saints in heaven arc aware of the peti- tions offered them— as it is pretended that they see all things in specuh ?'n?u7a^is-in the glass of the Trinity-from behddingthe face of God.* Now the doctrine of the Intermediate happiness— * Obj. II. Sancti non cognoscunt preces nostras ; ergo frustra invocnntur K. JNeg. Antec. Quia Sancti omnia cognoscunt in Verbo, qua) ad eorum Btatum pertinent, adeoque preces nostras ad eos directas vident in Verbo Bive in Deo tanquani in *;,.c«/o omnia continente, sicuti Angeli preces nos! tros cognoscuat » TAeo^m Petri Dens, Tom. V.. N. 25. [Thi3 TIIR INTERMBDIATB STATE. is«m. ly. that all sainte aro b ossed, and rest from their labours in paradi«o: that none of the sa.nt« aro in heaven, beholding the fi^o of Ood and rcgning m H.s glory, but aro in a Htato of imperfection-this at one blow, demoliHhes purgatory, and the long train of „.a«so Tnl t '";r, ^'f '^"^^ '' ' P^'^y^'^ ^- -ff-"g -"*«. and invo at,ons of blessed souk I„ fact, according as these Ko nish sCo^ifr' " :^ ^'""* "^'^ ^'^^ '-*"- ^^ ^^« -*«™-d-t^ Btato of happiness till it was formally condemned in the Council first formally decreed the errors I have named-purgatory induL gences, masses, and olterings for the dead.* ^ Ji '^'ZT' 7 '^^'' "'' "^*'"« ^°"*""« *l^an tho sufficient answer which it furnishes to these and other dangerous errors this would be a good reason for all Christians undLtandinHt: Tf Rrr. "" """'• "" ""'"'^^'^'^ ^^^^"^^"^ ^" -^y Parti^^lar truth of Revelation yet it would not justify our indifference to it. God my have ends to serve by our belief of it which we cannot now divm. ThewordsofourLord-"yeknownotnow,butyeshaU know hereafter"-are applicable in such case. ^ Wo have before seen how necessary it is to a just appreciation of that prime doetnne of the Rcsuirection. Let me spend a very few words in showing its use in one or two other respects j,^^^';^^^''y 0/ the Lord, the presence of Je^us Christ with ms Church, IS evidently deoiared to bo her hope and her happi- m the New Testament. Does not the popular Popish and Vrl ttatl tr' ''""T *'" ' ""''' '' "^* ^'^' Christians forge" that the Body cannot be perfect without the Head ? Does it not make them forget that the joy of the Bride cannot be complete, ti ^e Bridegroom return, publicly espouse her, and receive hei to His own supernal home ? And does it not dim the Church's own This figment seems to be derived from Rabbinical vagaries-at any rate • Oabasutii Synopsis Conciliorum-Concilium riorentinum.~Tom. III. Ban. IV.] THB IKTERMEDIATB BTATB, recollection of her Lord, and retiird her in trimming her torcheu and making horsolf ready ? ' How griovously too does it tend to subvert the Communion of ^in<»— Christians ghrlfie^l one by one I Christ the Saviour— not " of the Body :^ but of individual unita I It is not thus that the great King will appear before principalities and powers ; but " with all His Saints." The head of Hin compacted Body, He will pre- sent Ilimsdi at last before the Father, with that Body in its com- pleteness, and say, " Behold, I and the children that Thou hast given Me I " As thoy were "called in one Body," so only shall they be "glorified together." There are so many interesting considerations relating to this doctrine yet untouched, that I might be tempted to go on ; but perhaps I have tried your attention enough. Now, in conclusion, let us recall with devout gratitude the love of a Saviour, who is, aa it were, this very day resting for us in the state of separated spirits. Through every state and every place that we have to pass. He has passed ; that He might bless and improve all to us. And as He has blessed every stage of our earthly condition, as He has deprived death of his sting, and the ' grave of its terrors ; so has he exalted the felicity of paradise itself— more blessed now than before His brief dwelling there. To the prisoners of hope He has rendered double. This is indicated by saying that the blessed souls are under the a?tor*— that is, " under the protection of Christ, under the powers and benefits of His priesthood, by which He makes continual intercession for us."t And this is surely more than to be, according to the Jewish phrase ". in Abraham's bosom." ' Finally, let us be thankful to that gracious Lord who has, in our text, given us proof that there is no dark, dismal extinction of the soul after death, that it is not asleep and insensible, but awake • Rev. vl. 9. t Jer. Taylor, in Funeral Ser. «< mpra. Hie interpretation is confirmed by 2 Mac. vn. 86, " For our brethren, who now have suffered a short pain are dead tm. Till then the devils think their torment to be before the time. It is " when He shall ap- pear we shall be like Him, and see Him as He is." That noted day is the day of being " presented faultless with exceeding joy." And divers things there are obviously enough to be reflected on, which cannot but be under- stood to contribute much to the increase and improvement of this inchoate blessedness. The acquisition of a glorified body ; for our vile bodies shall be so far transfigured, as to bo made like, conform to, the glorious body of the • [Viz., than those adyances upon the present happiness of the SainU which are to be made in the intermediate state.] 48 THE INTERMEDIATE STATE. L Semurv. M If: ll:J Sariour, the Lord Jeeua Christ : (fieTaaxvf^rbei, (T{,/i^op^. Phil, iii 20 21.) And this shall be when He shall appear from heaven, where saints here below are required to have their commerce, as the enfranchised citi- Hens thereof, and from whence they are to continue looking for Him mean- time. When He terminates and puts a period to that expectation of His saints on earth, then shall that great change be made, i.e., when He actually appears, at which time the trumpet sounds, and even sleepmg dust itself awakes; (1 Thess. iv. 14, 15, 16.) the hallowed dust of them that slept m Jesus, first, who are then to come with Him. This change may well be conceived to add considerably to their felicity. A natural con- grutty and appetite is now answered and satisfied, which did either lie dor- mant, or was under somewhat an anxious, restless expectation before : neither of which could well consist with a state of blessedness every way already perfect. And that there is a real desire and expectation of this change, seems to be plainly intimated in these words of Job, " All the days of ray appointed time will I wait, till my change come," [ch. xiv. 14 :) where he must rather be understood to speak of the resurrection than of death (aa his words are commonly mistaken, and misapplied ;) as will appear by set- ting down the context from the seventh verse, " For there is hope of a tree, if it be cut down, that it will sprout again, and that the tender branch thereof will not cease. Though the root thereof wax old in the earth, and the stock thereof die in the ground : yet through the scent of water it will bud, aud bring forth boughs like a plant. But man dieth and wasteth away ; yea, man giveth up the ghost, and where is he ? Aa the waters fail fl-om the sea, and the flood decayeth, and drieth up; so man lieth down and riaeth not ; till the heavens be no more they shall not be awaked, nor raised out of their sleep. that Thou wouldst hide me in the grave, that Thou wouldst keep me secret till Thy wrath be past, that Thou wouldst ap- point me a set time, and remember me ! If a man die, shall he live again ? All the days of my appointed time will I wait, till my change come. Thou Shalt call, and I will answer Thee ; Thou wilt have a desire to the work of Thy hands." He first speaks according to common apprehension, and sen- Bible appearance, touching the hopeless state of man in death, (as though it were less capable of separation than that of some inferior creatures,) unto the end of ver. 10, and then gradually discovers his better hope ; betrays this faith, as it were obliquely, touching this point ; lets it break out, first in some obscure glimmerings, {v. 11, 12.) giving us, in hia protasis, a simili- tude not fully expressive of his seeming meaning, for waters and floods that fail may be renewed ; and in his apodosia more openly intimating, man's sleep should be only till the heavens were no more ; which till might be supposed to signify never, were it not for what follows, (v. 13.) where he expressly speaks his confidence by way of petition, that at a set and' ap- pointed time, God would remember him, so as to recall him out of the grave ; and, at last, being now minded to speak out more fully, puts the question to himself, "If a man die, shall he Uve again!" and answers it, )\ Senn. IV.] THE INTERMEDIATE STATE. 49 " AU the days of my appointed time," i.e., of that appointed time which he mentioned before, when God should revive him out of the dust, « wHl I wait td my change come ;" U, that glorious change, when the corruption of a loathsome grave should be exchanged for immortal glory; which he amplifies and utters more expressly, (.. 15,) "Thou shalt call and I wm answer ; Thou shalt have a desire to the work of Thy hands-lThou w not always forget to restore and perfect Thy own creature Ji t^'^ '^'fX^^^' ^^'ti^g i« «ot the act of his inanimate sleeping dust • but though It be spoken of the person totally gone into kade!, into the invisible state, it is to be understood of that part that should be apable of such action; g.d. "I, i„ the part that shall be still alive, shall patiently await Thy appointed time of reviving me in that part also, which death anJ the grave insult over (in a temporary triumph) in the meantime ;" and so will the words carry a facile, commodious sense, without the unnecessary help of an imagined rhetorical scheme of speech. And then, that this wait- mg carries m it a desirous expectation of some additional good, is evident at first sight ; which therefore must needs add to the satisfaction a^d blessed, ness of the expecting soul. And wherein it may do so, is not altogether unapprehensible. Admit that a spi.'.t, had it never been embodied, mlh be as well without a body, or that it might be as well provided of a body out of other materials; it is no unreasonable supposition, that a connate apti ude to a body, should render human souls more happ; in a body sut ciently attempered to their most noble operations. And how much doTh ' rehtion and propriety endear things, otherwise mean and inconsiderable 1 Or why should it be thought strange, that a soul connaturalized to mat ! hould be more particubrly inclined t. a particular portion thereof so I that It should appropriate such a part, and say-it is mine ? And ^iU i not be a pleasure, to have a vitality diffused through what even more remote y appertains to me ; to have everything belonging to the sunpositZ perfectly vmdicated from the tyrannous dominion of d^ath ? The mZ of the spirits into a benumbed or sleeping toe or finger, adds a contentm nf o a man which he wanted before. Nor is it hence necessary the soul sh^d covet a re-union with every effluvious particle of its former body a desire implanted by God in a reasonable soul will aim at what is conve'nient, ^ot what shall be cumbersome or monstrous. And how pleasant will it be to contemplate and admire the wisdom and power of the great Creator in this so glorious a change, when I shall find a clod of earth, a heap of dust refined into a celestial purity and brightness ! When « what was sown in corruption shall be raised in incorruption ; what was sown in dishonour is raised m glory ; what was sown in weakness, is raised in power • what was sown a natural body is raised a spiritual body I When this corruptible shall have pu on incorruption, and this mortal, immortality, and Ch be wholly swaUowed up in victory I " So that this awaking may wel t understood to cany that in it, which may bespeak it the proper seas n of 60 THE INTEBMEDUTE STATE. [serm. IV. the Saints* consummate satisfaction and blessedness. But besides what it carries in itself, there are other (more extrinsical) concurrents that do fur- ther signalize this season, and impart a greater increase of blessedne&a then to God's holy ones. The body of Christ is now completed, the fulness of Him that fiUetb all in all ; and all the so nearly related parts cannot but partake in the perfection and reflected glory of the whole. There is joy in heaven at the conversion of one sinner, though he have a troublesome scene yet to pass over afterwards, in a tempting, wicked, unquiet world ; how much more when the many sons shall be all brought to glory together i " SERMON V. 'THE FIRST RESURRECTION. (Preached in the Cathedral, Quebec, on Tuesday in Easter week, 1851.) Rev. XX. 6. <* Blessed and My is he that hath part in the first resurrection : on such the second death hath no power, but they shall be priests of God and of Christ, and shall reign with Him a thousand years." We lately, brethren,, crowded in devout sadness to Golgotha, and beheld the awful mystery by which Justice and Mercy were re- conciled. We returned, smiting upon our breasts, and full of self- reproaches at the remembrance of the part which our sins bore in such a tragedy. We rested sorrowful, meditative, expectant, while ike sealed stone and the grim guards secured the rocky sepulchre of the Saviour. We have accompanied the devout and ardent Maries and the other holy women to the empty tomb — we have seen its brazen gates, its iron bars, broken for ever in sunder. We have seen the place where the Lord lay, and we behold Him now a glorious Conqueror over our most dreaded foe. •' He is risen ! " is the thrilling acclaim of His Church, caught from angelic voices while above all is heard His own solemn assurance— the immovable' foundation of faith—" I was dead, but, behold, I am living for evermore 1 " * May we not, at this time, like ransomed Israel on the shore of the Red sea, contemplating the overthrow of their great enemy in his final attempt, pause and wonder at what God hath wrought for * Rev. i. 18., Qr. e2 52 THE FIRST RESURRECTION. L Serm. V. Messiah and His Church, and thoughtfully consider .vhat must now be our future career, to what end we must now direct our steps ? We have in the Resurrection of our Lord a seal of His mighty power. His perfect veracity. His quickening grace; we are satisfied of he truth of our creed, " that all men shall rise again with their bodies : and-are we to stop here ? No, brethren ; this faith is in order to action. We lie by nature in the inactivity of spiritual ft' . ^l^\^««""-^«t^«" «f tte Living One from among the ranks ot the dead, has made a spiritual revolution-it becomes the dawn ot a new day It promises us resurrection now, and resurrection hereafter. It speaks Ufe to both souls and bodies. For we are admonished in our text, and in many other parts of Scripture, that the death of the body is not the only death, nor the resurrection of the body the only resurrection. There is the first and second death— there is the first and second resurrection. And our text teaches us that we must hrrc part in the first resurrection if we would have a happy share in the second-if we would be safe from the power of the second death-" Blessed and holy is he that hath part in the first resurrection : on such the second death hath no power. That we may value this first resurrection, and be ani- mated to seek its present and ever-during benefits I propose now to inquire — I. What this First Resurrection is ; and II. What arc Its Privileges. _ I. First, then, it is not a literal bodily resurrection of the saints with Christ personally reigning with them here on earth for a thousand years. Many, in the first three centuries, imposed this Iit..Tal meaning on the first six verses of this chapter, and my text in particular and an increasing number in the last three centuries- have followed them. But the notion is traceable to the carnal dreams of the synagogue, and has been confinned by misap- prehensions as to the nature and plan of the Book of the Apo- oalypse—According to distinguished interpreters, ancient and modern, this book is not one continuous prophetic picture of the fortunes of Christianity from the first Advent of Christ to the end of the world ; but a series of mch pictures. That is, having sketched the course of events to the end, the Apocalyptist returns to the be- ginning, and proceeds through tU same period and to the same THE FIRST RB8URBE0TION. 53 Serm. V. } terminus, in a different lino, and by a different set of symbols. The twentieth, twenty-first, and twenty-second chapters, therefore, instead of being a chronological continuation of the preceding part of the book, are only a summary of what had been previously set forth— a brief picture of Christianity from its rise on earth to its consummation in glory. Let us glance over the prophetic history. « And I saw an angel come down from heaven, having the key of the bottomless pit and a great chain in his hand. And he laid hold on the dragon, that old serpent, which is the Devil and Satan, and bound him a thousand years. And cast him into the bottomless pit, and shut him up, and set a seal upon him, that he should deceive the nations no more, till the thousand years should be fulfilled : and after that he must be loosed a little season." — Rev. xx. 1 3. This angel who binds Satan, is no other than Jesus Christ, the Angel of the Covenant, who came to destroy the works of the devil, to deliver those who were oppressed of ' im ; who gave His disciples power over unclean spirits and to cast out devils; who was indeed the Stronger than the strong one armed, and came upon . him, and disarmed him, and rescued the prey ; who vanquished him in the wilderness, and left him a disheartened foe to His weakest servants ; who, in a word, once rejoicingly said, " I saw Satan as lightning fall from heaven ! " It is this Angel of Jehovah alone who hath (as he says Himself) " the keys of hell and of death ; " who alone can vindicate mankind from such an aggressor, and effectually restrain his rage. This Angel is no other than the Seed of the Woman, who was to bruise the Serpent's head. The binding and imprisonment of SatJ.ii denote the curtailing of his power over men, the diminishing of that authority in the worid, which ho exercised with so little hinderance before the Incarnation. What blindness and ingratitude it is to deny, that since that Blessed Event he has indeed been bound— compared with the preceding ages of the worid, and the period which is to usher in the last great Day. Idolatry, the grand pillar of his kingdom, has been terribly shaken; nor are now men's bodies (may we not add, their minds too?) so possessed and controlled by evil, as before the Advent of the Great Deliverer. Let it be no objection against this explana. tion, that the Devil yet dacs temptr-for the expression " that he 84 THE FIRST RESURKECTION. L Sena. V. r ■- Should deceive the nations no more," does not mean that he was to be depnved of all power of tempting, but he was bound in or deadly, to slight with unbelieving worldly temper the glorious gift of God-Eternal hfe o&ZZ ftrough Chnsl and even begun in us by the graee of rrisen Savour; to value less than the pleasures or pain^of the r^Z hour, ho subhme privilege of rising with Christ to a UvelyC"! mmortahty; to negleet tho holy duties which He has annexed to the regenoruto stato; to eontomn the oultivation of those ~ 11 , '«'"»"'' P-etare of our stale of n>ind-in vL we .^ne we have part in tho Krst Eesurr«tio„. Like the te'ib" bknee, we have neither part nor lot in the matter ; " and have need to repent and pray Ged, if ^i..,,, we may bo f rgivcn Z wUful eonlmuanee in sin, after having been made partakL of 'su^ blessings as ta^ the eloquence of inspiration to fxpri m.;.^ b^re T(^ , i ^^ ""^ °™'»'» *"' «- 'l-o Eternal badge of Christ, H.s eye beholds the humble and eontrito the pure .nd heavenly^ndod; HU seal is upon them; theya^taS Strra. V. 3 THE PIR8T EEHUttREOTION. 67 for His jewels ; they alone have effectual ami liappy part in the First Resurrection — they alone are his true Church, predeHtined to everlasting glory. For " Blessed and holy is he that hath part in the first ref urrcotion" — this is the character, this is the reward of those who .lOt only rise to, but live the life of the regenerate. Bksscd are they — happy — beyond all that the world deems happi- nesH ; beyond its trances of rapture — its most o<^!Stutio joys : happy, up to the height of those mysterious words — '' filled with al! the fulness of Ood I " And holi/ too — at once character and reward. For happy wo cann(*t be, if not holy ; since holiness is essential hap- piness. And, oh, holy in a sublimer strain than the world either exhibits or thinks ncicessary to exhibit. Those who have " a zeal of God" might well be indignant at its audacious pretences to holi- ness, but — it becomes us, wretched mortals, who would be " angry for God," to tremble and adore, when we remember the ^vithering displeasure of the Almighty at those empty shews of piety, whoso hypocrisy is scarcely veiled : — a few hurried words, a formal visit to His house, a solemn bow, a pleased departure, gil'ts which recognize His claims without satisfying them. This to have part in the First llesurrootion ? Oh, may God be pitiful to those who' are so wretchedly deceived I "As He who hath called you is holy, so be ye holy in all manner of conversation." Do not these words, as a falling mountain, crush all our vain, inflated hopes ? It was not that we might contentedly and safely grovel in the mire of the world, that the Incarnate God groaned out His soul on Golgotha, entered the regions of the deud, rose resistless, and tri- umphantly ascended the highest heaven : it was that we nr :,;ht die to sin and rise again unto righteousness, after the example ind by the virtue of His death and resurrection ; and thus partaking in the first Resurrection, might at length ascend where He is, and with Him continually d 8'oat sanctity that rfjould mar. and adorn the bishops and priests of Christ's Chureh who ministo the bread of life at our altars, who proclaim fte ThoT l"*'™""""™. -ko pronounce the absiving words who offer the sacnflce of your prayer and praises to God, You feel w,th unerring instinct that Ihe,, should not be of the earth TJ: »'-^"""»|0"-resand base pursuits, debased b^t ffithy passions: you feel that they should live in a higher region hole f d :■ I'"»?'"Osphere; that their souls should be the borne of devotion and holy meditation, so that they may ever come be&re the Lord with puie hearts and clean handsf and'ofe „n" exhorted to have in remembranee into how high a dilitv and to how weighty an office and chaise they Ire cS'^ t^i^ShM si::^;:: "■- n *^ '''-- -^ fn^ • , 2- confeistfe m ofermg sacrifices to God. A few s^.al offices are now restricted I their"^ n^inistry; bu1 pa IZZ' ", t' *^"P"^^^- ^""^ *---^ ^'^ once past, all are the equal Servants of God, every ransomed soul is a tigh-pnos and offers the same endless sacrifice of adoring love and most High God ! What care should mark all your ways ! What * De Civitate Dei, lib. xx. cap. x. if Senn • v.] THE FIRST RESURRECTION. 61 reverence and awe should you bring to your priestly offices I Wten you pray, when you give alms, when you commuuioate — remember that as priests you are sacrificing to God ; and how will this drive away sloth, negligence, indevotion, irreverence, and kindle love and zeal. As you passed through a defiling world, how careful would it make you to avoid its pollutions — to remember that you were invested with priestly robes — that you were the consecrated priests of God and of Christ ! and how would such meditations, too, on the love of God, in thus bringing you near to stand before Him, quicken your gxatitude — which thus quickened would become a triple protection from apostasy ! 3. Lastly, those who participate in the First Resurrection reign (says our text) with Christ — or, as in chap. v. 10, " We are made unto our God kings and priests : and we shall reign on the earth." " I saw thrones, and they sat on them, and judgment was given unto chem." With St. Augustine* I say, " We must not suppose that this is spoken of the last judgment ; but the seats of the pre- lates and the prelates themselves are to be understood, by whom the church is now governed," But, as he explains, not these only ; for all Christians, as members of the Great King, are kings and reign ; since Christians, by their union with Christ — their oneness with Him, share all His offices. " The Church (says Augustinef) is Christ's kingdom Therefore His saints now reign with Him They reign with Him who do what the Apostle says, * If ye are risen with Christ, seek those things that are above, where Christ sitteth on the right hand of God. Set your affisctions on things above, not on things on the earth.' Of such also the Apostle says, ' Their conversation is in heaven.' Finally, they reign with Him, who are in such wise in His kingdom that they are themselves His kingdom." In this interpretation Augustine agrees with the words of Christ, who declares that the judgment of Satan had begun with His own Incarnation. " Now is the judgment of this world : now shall the prince of this world be cast out — now is the prince of this world judged." And St. Pcul declares that "the saints judge the world — yea, angels." The authority which Christians exercise over their evil selves, and an evil world, and evil angels, is a real and kinsly one. But it is * De Civit. Dei, lib. zz. cap. ix. f Ut supra. 62 THE FIRST RESURRECTION. 11 ; [ Sena. V. only the faintest shadow of that royal rule— whose mysterious nature is as yet unknown to us— when we shall be " set down with Him in His throne." In connection with this, I will only beseech you, brethren, to ponder the weight of dignity and honour which God has graciously put upon you— to reverence yourselves— U) walk worthy of your high calling in Christ Jesus. Called to reign with Him now-to judge the world, to judge angels, (greater in power and might and nature,) to overcome in His name, and to sit down at last with Him on His throne— called to all this, shall you— the expectants the promised heirs of such glory, and already in part the posses^ sors— shall you mingle with ardour in the strifes of the world ? Shall you-forgetful of higher dignities-contend with breathless eagerness for the foremost place in its honours, riches, applause, or pleasures ? Shall you-the judges of angelic powers-be yourselves condemned by every scoffing unbeliever or worldling who beholds you, because you fall before every assault, are entrapped by every snare, of your infernal foes ? Shall you-the anointed kingly victors of the world and the flesh-be the wretehed slaves of sen- euahty, the captives of every dishonourable lust, and have your crowned brows abased to the mire of the world, on which your feet should trample with a strong disdain? Oh, why are we such Christians, but because we forget that we are not of the world because we forget our high calling, we forget that God has made us kmgs and priests, we forget the resurrection-state to which we have been exalted, and, forgetting, slip back (often hopelessly) from it! r j/ Oh, let new purposes animate us this Easte:--tide! Let us remember what a victorious Saviour we have. Let us remember the quickening Spirit, who loves to fan the feeble spark into inex- tinguishable flame. Let us remember the Father, who beholds us while yet a great way off", and runs to meet and embrace the repentant child. Remembering this-let us rise far above the world, rise with Christ-secure our place in the First Resurrection • for " Blessed and holy is he that hath part in the First Resurrec- tion: on such the second death hath no power, but they shall be priests of God and of Christ, and shaU reign with Him " the thousand years of eternity ! SEEMON VI. THE PLACE OF THE TRINITY IN PRACTICAL TEACHING. (Preached before the Clerical Asaociatiou of the District of Quebec, met at Sillery, 9th June, 1857.) Psalm xvi. 9 — (Prayer Book Version.) " / have set God always before me." These words strongly and clearly discriminate true religion from all its counterfeits. Morality, based on the maxims of a pagan or semi-pagan philosophy ; on decency, or fitness, or prudence, or the cold calculations of selfish policy, — has often usurped the venerable name of Religion ; but paganism itself has come to the rescue, by reminding us that Religio, a religare,^ to bind, is that which binds us in love and duty to God. Morality, on the contrary, and all that is falsely called religion, never soar so high ; they draw their motives from the earth, and are therefore of the earth, earthy. God, so far as He is known to us, and our relations to Him are comprehended, is and must be the one pregnant motive of religion — the motive that gives religion not only its activity and efiiciency, but its very being. God, as seen by the eye of reason in all the varied expressions of His creative power and wisdom, and as per- ceived by the dim instincts of our fallen humanity, — was this mo- tive before the book of revelation was opened. But after He had spoken with His chosen servants, face to face, as a man speaketh with his friends ; aft^r He had revealed His name and His attri- * Or, to the same effeat, if from relegere: the careful meditation of divine things. THE PLACE OF THE TRINITY [ Scrra. ▼!. s Ml I Hi ' fit 64 bntes, — " The Lord, the Lord Ood, merciful and gracious, long- suffering, and abundant in goodness and truth, keeping mercy for tlmusands, forgiving iniquifi/ and transgression and sin, and that will bjf nn means clear the guilty ; visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children, and upon the children's children, unto the third and to the fourth generation," — Ho filled the whole finnamcnt of religion with His liglit and His influence!— as the Sun in whose presence men were to walk, in whose absence they had to stand still, or, at best, walk with doubtful steps. Religion, then, is nothing else than making God the all in all of motive — doing everything with reference to His character and will, so far as they arc declired to us in His works, our moral constitu- tion, and His revealed word. And this is what is so .".Jmirably expressed in our text — " I have set God always before mc." Faith in Him will not suffer us to turn our backs upon Him, but it will make us over firmly and deliberately fasten our eyes on Him, as the centre that is to determine our orbit — we set Him before us. Before us — not only to regulate our movements, but to intercept from our vision all the vain delusive phantusm? of the world. We *' set Him before us" as the object of our contemplation, our love, our worship, oivr hojye, as our help, the rule and witness of our actions, and the scojye of our being. Our reason, a sparkle of immortal light, will have its proper tendency towards the Eternal Sun. The infinite attributes of God are the noblest, fittest object c-f man's contemplation, and indeed the only one of which he will not and cannot tire. It is in tht'. j^erfect ions of God that we find the only satisfying terminus of that capacity for love with which He has benignantly blessed us. Here we may love — nay, must study to love ; love without weariness, with ever-growing desire ; with ever-increasing admJjra- tiou of the divine excellences ; and be ever more and more enno- bled, according to the natural laws of love, by becoming assimilated to that which we love. We tolerate no love that does not perfectly coincide with this. We think it treason to worship with outward reverence or inward esteem any beside the Creator ; idolatry, to place our hope in aught else ; madness to expect aid from any other source. To set Him before us always, as the ceaseless vntness of our actions, is essential to true religion. The thoughtless IN PRACTICAL TEAOHINQ. 65 I Semo. VI.] temerity and irreverence of our minds require to be awed into sobriety and watchfulness by the recollection that there is ever upon us, spying out all our ways, that Eye which, as the Son of Sirach says, is " ten thousand times brighter than the sun • " that Eye which is too pure " to behold evil, and cannot look upon iniquity." The disregard of this is the most terrible flood-gate of sin, " The iniquity of my people (saith God by the prophet) is very great ; for they say. The Lord seeth not." While perhaps the very cause why the blessed mnnot sin, is that they shall always behold the face of God. But in this life we can only partake of that state by faith and consideration. And therefore ilie Lvuly religious man will exercise himself day and night in the remem- brance of an ever-present God. In a word, true religion, binding us inseparably to God, will constrain us to regard Ilim as the very end of our being : to keep ITim ever before us as tlie point towards which our tempers and acts should tend, for whose glory " we are and were created," whose sentence is to determine our destiny, and with whom to be for ever is the highest glorification ol* our being. k3uch, my brethren, was religion according to the old revelation. But when God, who had been known hitherto chiefly in His mys- terious Unity, drew aside the veil and disclosed Himself to our faith, in His no less mysterious Trinity ; there arose new duties from our new aiid enlarged knowledge of God— naturally and necessarily arising from the disclosure of new relations between us. WL^n the Eternal gon and the Holy Spirit were distinctly revealed to us, as our Redeemer and Sanctifier, it was not by any express and formal enactment that new duties arose on our part • but suitable feelings sprang up within us, and appropriate acts were performed by us, towards these Blessed Persons ; just as from the beginning it was natural to Ic vo and serve the Father and Creator of all. What thus arises from nature must surely be all- pervading in its influence, and must merit our most careful and reverent study. God never revealed Himself of old, even in tiie humblest degree, without. e;:.''.v,;'iag the sphere of duty to him who was so favoured; and ^ow ,rhen He has revealed His infinite nature to us, as far perh pj as our capncity admits, certainly as far 03 our necessKy requires, the bonds ol religion are at once P (t, 66 THE PLACE OP THE TRINITY [serm. VI. Stretched and strengthened. Wo cannot now say, with no more meaning than did the pious Jew,-" / am the Lord's ; " nor be content with those more simple exercises of piety which we have described. " / „„, tke Lord's;' expands into an awful and won- drous relationship-" I am that Lord's " who is " the holy, blessed and glorious Trinity!" dedicated in a divine Sacrament to thJ name of Jather, Son, and Holy Spirit. Their servant, yea, their very property I am. Their mark i. upon me. Their will is my law. 1 heir presence is my utmodt joy. This admirable mystery none deny who do not repudiate the essence of Christianity as contained in the Church Creeds, or think of refusing a place in speculative theology; but, alas I there are not a few, it is to be feared, who tiilrik it of no further use, who see It m no other light, than a speculation ; who think that one may be a very good Chri.silan-at any rate a pious man, without the least special reference t>^ this doctrine. But such thoughts are very mad and veiy guilty, if God has really revealed Himself as a Trinity of Persons. Indeed r, may gather our deep interest in this mystery from* " the faint image of it in our nature." " Man " says St. Augustine,t (who in this is supported by the very letter of scripture,) " consists of three parts-spirit, soul, and body ; and hence man is an im^ige of the Trinity: " an image, he remarks t elsewhere, " than which there is nothing nearer in its nature to God among ail His works." Can that relation be other than vital and all-pervading which began with our original ? Can that resemblance be insignificant which was announced in the amazing " Let us make man in our image, after our likeness ? " I hope that these considerations do, in a general way, show us how practical is this doctrine— how it must permeate our whole religious life, leaven all our thoughts, move and control all our activity, and be the deep hidden Fountain whence every rill of holiness is to flow. * W. A. Butler. t Tractat. de Symbolo. Homo habet tres partes, spiritum, animum. et corpus ; itaque homo est imago s. s. Trinitatis. X De Cir. Lib. xi. c. xxvi. Sub init. « qud (imagine) Deo nihil sit in rebua Bb eo lactis natura propinquiua " Serm. VlJ IN PRACTICAL TEACHING. 67 oolr''"', '^l ?f "* "^""' '' '^'' '^J^* ^''^''^ *« °^« i" tW« dis- course ; and yet I know not that I can produce a sinde proof that .not re,dyfa.martoyou; I canno^retend to S even an addjtxonal new illustration : in short, I do not know that there IS anything whatever within my power, save to stir up your minds by way of remembrance_to refresh your knowledge, and urge you, inent would be infinitely more advantageous to Christian people than any amount whatever of merely communicated knowledge ' IJe It, then, my task and high privilege to remind you Aa.; euHrely and exactly commensurate with our wUU y^irltull We is this most^ sacred doctnne of the Blessed Trinity, And I may here be permitted to remark, that, next to its Divine revelation, this lact IS the firmest basis of the doctrine-oertainly its strom^est corroboration. For no invention of error could possibly so fit and adapt Itself to, all the complexities of our moral being,i doe tMs capital article of revealed truth. "" ' nL^ul 1^°' T ^''*""' '^ '^' Trinity_or rather the inmty itself, ,s the great central sun of our INTELLECT AND AFFECTIONS. ^^^^J^i^iiJ^tl I need not do more than reminc" you that we are often admonished m_ Holy Scripture " to acquaint ourselves with God "-to know Him-to consider His character and ways. And how iust and instinct, than to exercise most of all with rcpect to the ^reat rttr:;f Th r '"' T''' "^'^ '''''"^^ -^-*-^"^ research ? These are noble powers, and the works of God give pread before us, I cannot but think it a grievous fault to hide them in a napkin, and keep them unused. I cannot but think it Will be one day found to be an offence of unthough^of magn ud How mighty a difference is there, intellectually, between Oit philosopher who has ranged through the heights Id depths of creation, and the poor man whose life is spentin grinding a pinl oThL wld 7k'. ^ ?^'— "^-' *^« ^-ft contem laTon IfanT'oT . '"''' ' di^re^mcj. The poor unlettered peasant or artizan, who is accustomed to think of his God with f2 I I t 68 THE PLACE OP THE TRINITY [8«nn. VI. devout feelings of awe and reverence and love ; who contemplates Him through the medium of a mind darkened by no proud theories, no turbulent passions; whose sight is strengthened by faith and sharpened by love;— will be found to have as true, as noble, as elevating, as comprehensive conceptions of God as 'the most admired professors of the world's wisdom. And where the mteUect is not expanded by noble conceptions of God, there is too good ground to suspect religion haa little place. Trust in God can hardly dwell with grovelling notions of Him. The contemplation of of God therefore is our sacred duty and privilege. But if the essence, the eternity, the self-existence, the infinite attributes of Deity, known only in His Unity, afforded questions all-absorbing to the reason, profitable indeed for modest meditation, yet never to be solved • now that we know " One God in Trinity, and Trinity in Unity,"-! the God with whom we hope to spend eternal ages— the God of nature and grace,~is it too much to ask that He should be in all our thoughts ? or that every meditation of inferior things should insen- sibly ascend to the Trinity ? Even though our meditations should stop short with creation, and we should neglect the more glorious displays of God in His works of grace ; yet we cannot now forget the Trinity. For though the eternal Father is the maker of heaven and earth, yet it is no less truly said of the Son—" all things were made by Him ; " and of the Spirit, moving, brooding upon the face of the waters, that from the dark and formless mass He brought forth beauty and order. If we would be truly great, if we would have our souls filled with the noblest, fittest, and most satisfying thoughts; we must dwell with God by devout contemplation. And if we would be humble, as becomes creatures— creatures who are balked and baffled by ten thousand things, we must ever gaze on this mystery of mys- teries, "dark with insufferable light." Here we may learn to abase our self-conceit, to cast in the dust our ambitious aspirings to restrain all forward and intrusive approaches towards the light unapproachable in which He dweUs,-in a word, to feel how small how weak we are, and with « those spiritual eagles, the quick and strong-sighted seraphim," cover our faces and adore. If this doctrine had no other practical aspect than this, yet how precious and necessary would it be ! " If there be anythin- more 8em>. VI.] IN PRACTICAL TEACIIINO. 69 than another (saya one of the greatest lights of the church in our century, the lamented Archer Butler*) in which the religious habits of our Age are peculiarly defective, it is in the feeling of awe. We are not satisfied unless wo have measured with the foot-rule of our understanding every side of every truth we profess; unless " our hands have handled of the Word of life." The finger must be seen w the print of the nails, and the hand in the side, or we will not beheve. We have (I fear it) too much of the spirit of the heathen victor who rushed into the Holy of HoUes to discover what was there; too often (I fear yet more) like him we return from our scrutiny, contemptuously assuming that there is nothing where we have seen nothing. How in our times the rapid progress of natural knowledge may, and does assist, this spirit of proud discontent it IS unnecessary to insist. But, for the tendency, in all its degrees the revelation of mysterious truths is the trial, and, duly improved, the remedy. In the old dispensation, religious awe was secured by raeans outward and occasional ; the solemn Temple Service, the frequency of miraculous interpositions, the prophetic teaching,' the very obscurity of that shadowy region of types and forms in which the ceremonial religion lay ;-in ours, where these things have been laid aside, the objection is provided for by those fuller declarations which we possess of the properties of the divine nature in itself and in its mystical communion with the spirit of man. And thus our God becomes more awfully unfathomable to the Reason in proportion as he draws more nearly, more lovingly, more blessedly to the Heart I" ^ _ But if the doctrine of the Trinity is the highest object of the intellect, no less does it fill the whole region of the affections. I shall instance but one particular. When we hear the Blessed Trinity saying, « Let us make man out of nothing. Let us recover him from sin and perdition. Let us crown him with joy and salva- tion ; with what feelings of supreme gratitude and love should we observe the Father designing such great things for us when as yet we were not; the Son executing them Himself, when we were and were m misery; and the Spirit making efl^-ectual for each of us in particular all His acts of redeeming grace ! 0, brethren, it is not a mere idea, an abstraction called Beauty or Goodness, that we are * Serm. iv„ vol ii. pp. 65-6, Am. Ed, 70 THK PLACE OP THE TPTNITT rl < i ■ ¥, IStrm. VI. called on to love and admire; but a Personal Creator, Redeemer, Sanctificr, whom, in their several offices towards us, we are most truly bound to consider and love. (1.) Wo* should set always before us ensh everlastingly " — not the presumptuous anathtma of the church, as some ignorantly think,— but the faithful echo of the recorded judgment of the Church's Lord. Those who are wil- fully ignorant or regardless of a triune God, shall perish— not only by the judicial penalty which their contempt or disregard merits : but they perish in the nature of things, necessarily, unavoidably; because the worship of this God (which includes knowledge, faith, love) is the only possible means of reviving our dead souls, and raising them to a new, spiritual, and immortal life. Not arbitrary therefore, but natural and necessary is this tremendous sentence. Kow important must that revelation be which shapes the wor- ship cf both heaven and earth ! " Holy, holy, holy," is the burden of even celestial soug ; and in the church below the angels' Tptadyim, is caught up, and echoed endlessly with every circling sun. Thanks be to God, we have holy and beautiful services, whose outward form has been moulded by the indwelling presence of His Three- fold nature, and whose heart is instinct with it. Perish the hand which would mar a single sentence that shrines the doctrine of a Triune God I without which the fairest appearance of a church is but in reality a putrefying corpse ! Ever amidst confessions, an^ Ssnn. VI.J IN PRACTICAL TEACHING. prayers, and litanies, and psalms, may our Gloria Patri's shine aa mysterious stars of the upper heaven — bright remembrancers of Father, Son, and Holy Spirit! In our worship, as Christians, brethren, we can never go a step beyond this doctrine, nor a step without it. And therefore our prayers conclude with that summary of aW that we can desire — " The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ," &o. — or, " The blessing of God Almighty — the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost" And as the summary of all doctrines and all mysteries, the Festival of Trinity Sunday is appointed at the end of that first half of the church's year, through which are distributed and celebrated in order the chief mysteries of the Christian religion. A similar vital presence has this doctrine in the Sacraments — those most solemn of all acts of worship. Not to mention that we are baptized in the name of the Trinity, w6 are made in Baptism " members of Christ, children of God :" and the Spirit is the agent of both effects. He grafts us into the Body of Christ, — He moves upon the face of the waters, and we are new-born. In the Lord's Supper, the Father " makes the feast." The Son declares — '- My flesh is meat indeed, and My blood is drink indeed." And the vital influence of the Spirit makes the earthly elements of bread and wine the spiritual food and sustenance of the soul — the body and blood of Christ. III. Not only does this doctrine regulate our worship, — which is the sublimest exercise of our whole nature, and the complex of all that is reasonable and spiritual in man ; but it alone discovers to us how we may be enabled to " worship the Lord with holy worship." We are not uncertainly taught that all the motives and means of righteousness are derived from the Trinity. " Whatsoever ye do, do all to the glory of God," is the general principle of action set forth in holy scripture. But we find every such rule modified by reference to the several Persons of the Trinity ; e.g. " Whatsoever ye dc, do all in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ." Is a motive for love to the brethren required ? " Be ye followers of God, as dear children : love even your enemies, that ye may be the children of your Father which is in heaven. ' And : " Ye know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ ; walk in love, as Christ also has loved us." And this love to the brethren is called " the love of the Spirit," because produced by Him. Do we seek a motive for holiness? Mil 74 THE PLACE OP THE TEINITY [serm. VI. ole/L \7 T ^'^^'" ^'^ ^y«- " ^ Ho which hath caUed you ,s holy, bo be ye holy in all manner of conversation." We are *« be holy also because Christ, who hath left us an example that we should follow Hi^ steps, was holy, harmless, undefiled-- and did no sin, neither was guile found in His mouth." We are to be holy also because our bodies are the temples of the Holy «liost. bo all motives are to be sought in the Trinity Thenco the means of holiness are also to be sought. " We must first seek to the Father, ''from whom cometh eveiy good gift and every perfect gift "-we must ask, and He wiU give Z' gL things, or that summary of them, " His Holy Spirit." It is by that Spirit we must mortify the deeds of the body. li is in Him we have our new spiritual exis^.nce; so it is in Him we must walk, If we would not fulfil the luste of the flesh. And yet the Son says "Without Me ye can do nothing." " If any man lack w.dom " he must ask " the Father of lighta who giveth to a^ Fair r ^"' ^'''■"''* ""'''" ^^* °« -- ^-^^tJ^ the Fa her i., ask from Him, " save the Son. and he to whom the Son nnof . r "^.r"^ '" *'^'^' '""^ fr^"^ ^^^"^ ^e have an unction, and know all things." Meanwhile we must not forget things of Christ," .s not only Christ's but the Fatiier's : - My doo- time ,s not Mine, ( saith He, ) but His that sent IVIe. " Thus in 7dl Unky ""' """'' *^'' ^'^''^ '^ ^''''°'' ""^'^ ^ *h« ^^^'^t^l'^ ij. Lastly aa the crown of all, the Triune God is our END. That we should be united with Him and enjoy Him for ever, was H 8 gracious design m our creation. But once separated from am by sin, what should bring together things infinitely distant- and migh I If ^deed we admit the possibility of such a wondrous reconciliation, we need stumble at no preparatory mystery for a mysterious effect can bo brought about only by mysteriouT means. And such were the means employed in our reconciliation. God becomes man, and is inseparably allied to humanity, in order liat L-- SemuVI.] IN PRACTICAL TEACHINO. 76 man may bo partaker of the Divine nature, and be eternally united to God. In the incarnate Son, accordingly, the chaem which separated divinity and humanity is bridged over— His flesh is a new and living way to God : He is the One Mediator— to the exclusion of all others— between God and man. But His lncarnatii>n was ac- complished by the Holy Ghost, in His Sacred Conception, to which alone we must restrict the epithet ImmacuLite, if we would not blaspheme. The Incarnation did not of itself unite us to God— it only removed the obstacles and cast up the highway. The same Holy Ghost has next to form Christ specially in the heart of each ; to beget us anew to God, and unite us to Him. He initiates the work in our Baptism, He continues and advances it to perfection, in our subsequent life, by the instrumentality of faith and love, in devout waiting on those Bethesdas — those houses of mercy, where He resides in tu i plenitude and energy of His grace — the ordinances of the church. Thus does the Spirit unite us to God, in preparation for our enjoying Him ; — And yet the Son too leads ^s to Him — " for no man cometh unto the Father but by the Son," — and He declares, with most solemn emphasis, " lam the WAT." What a union is this! a union which the Three Persons of the Blessed Trinity join in effecting I What voluminousness of comment could expand, with adequate reference to this great fact, the wise man's proverb — " a three-fold cord is not easily broken ! " Who or what, then, shall separate us, when so united ? To enjoy God, and for ever I To drink in from the light of His coun- tenance rivers of joy — to desire perpetually, and be perpetually satisfied ; to have capacities ever expanding, and so able to take in and enjoy more of God ; to be perpetually growing more Godlike — for ever nearer to Him — and since for ever infinitely below Him, having therefore an eternity of such joy in prospect— this is indeed bliss ! For this we worthily adore the Holy Trinity. K you would attain this happiness, (which it would be presumptuous in us to suppose we understood more than the minutest fragment of,) let us hold fast in practice as well as in speculation, the doctrine which, at this season, the church holds up for our reverence and faith. f r ' f * I 76 THE PLACE OP THE TRINITY, ETC. [serm. VI. Let US be careful to haye our inward eye duly purged, so that W9 may see it everywhere in God's church and God's word, lor, (in the words of one quoted before,*) « Wherever it is not asserted It is assumed ; it is not one thread in the web, but the ground of the whole texture. It is like the clouded sun at noon-day ; you cannot always see the orb, but you know it is there by the light it spreads ! " li "W. A. Butkr, vol ii. p. 68. >» U SERMON VII. THE MEDIATOR IS NOT PARTIAL. (18th Sunday after Triuity.) Gal. iii. 20. " Now a mediator is not a mediator of one." 6 6^ fiea'cTT/g ivbg ovk iariv, Thkre is not in the whole New Testament a sentence more difficult than the verse which furnishes us this text — " Now a mediator is not a mediator of one, but God is one." The meaning of these few words and their connection with the strain of the argument, have exercised the ingenuity of thousands of learned and pious men, and nonplussed their sagacity. The fact that as many as three hundred and four expositions of this verse have been collected, and two hundred and forty-three of them commented upon ..y a learned German, is at once proof of what I have affirmed, and also an illustration of a striking and well-known saying of St. Gregory the Great, namely, " That in the holy scriptures there are shallows where a lamb may wade, but also depths where an elephant may swim." ♦ It is not this intricate matter, however, which I now intend to investigate. The words of the text contain in themselves, * S. Greg. Mag. Epist Praefat. in Lib. Moral Sc. Exposit. in lib. dob, cap. 4. " Divinus enim eermo— habet in publico unde parvulos nutriat : Bcrvat in secrelo tmde mentes sublimium in admiratione suspendat. Quasi quidam quippe est fuviua, ut ita dixerim, planus et alius, in quo et agnus ambulet, et elephaa natet." 78 THE MEDIATOR IS NOT PARTIAL. [ genn. vil. altogether apart from the context, an important principle, which it is my aim to develope and expound, and, by the help of God, bring home with profit to the conscience of all. 1. The principle they affirm lies on the surface and is manifest to every eye, " A mediator is not. a mediator of one "—literally, "A mediator is not of one, or belongs mt to owe"— he is not connected with, acts not for, one party exclusively ; but is con- nected with, acts for, two parties. Indeed the single word mediator (and the Greek neahriq ) necessarily suggests as much— meaning one loho is in the midst of two, a middle man. The general idea, then, of a mediator is— one who forms a means of connection between two parties in some manner separated, and of themselves incapable of coming into union, or meetin"'. The mediator may be in some cases no more than (1) a mere intemuntius—a go-between, a messenger to carry backwards and forwards the words of the two parties. Such was Moses at the giving of the Law :* " I stood (says he) between the Lord and you at that time, to shew you the wr rd of the Lord : for ye were afraid by reason of the fire, and went not up into the mount." " Thus Shalt thou say unto the children of Israel "—is God's charge to Moses; while the people entreat him, " Go thou near, and hear all that the Lord our God shall say : and speak thou unto us all that the Lord our God shall speak unto thee ; and we will hear it, and do it." Moses reports this speech, and God answers : " I have heard the voice of the words of this people which they have spoken unto thee." To these events the Apostle refers in the verse pre- ceding the text, " the law was ordained (or dispensed) by angels in the hand of a mediator." ^ (2) But a mediator frequently acts for the reconciliation of par- ties at variance ; for the purpose of obtaining some favour from one party for the other ; for, in the case of God and man, inducing God to lay down His displeasure against us, and us to give up our enmity towards Him. A mediator in this case is a reconciler and intercessor. Such was Moses when he besought God to spare the people after having made the golden calf, and urged the people to returu to their offended God. * Deut. V. 6. B«nn. VII. ] THE MEDIATOR 18 NOT PARTIAL. 79 A mediator may offer himself voluntarily, and when both parties consent to abide by his decisions— in which case we should call him an arbitrator or umpire— his acts are of force with both sides ; if he should not be accepted, his interference is ineffectual, and may be no better than impertinent. Again, a mediator may be authorized by one of the parties. A king surely has power to determine who shall mediate between hhn and his revolted subjects— who shall convey their expressions of penitence and their petitions for pardon, who shall declare to them the intentions of their sovereign, and, in a word, bo the only one through whom he will treat with them. Surely subjects would be bound to use the ministry of such a one alone, nor can rebels bo thought to have the rinht of choosing who shall be their intercessor. 2. Such a mediator God hath appointed His Gon Jesus Christ to be between Himself and mankind. Sin made a wide and fear- ful gulf between God and man; so that it could no longer consist with the immaculate holiness of God— holiness that is a consuming fire to iniquity— to converse immediately with us. We had not only ceased to be worthy of such a sublime privilege, but we had lost the capacity to enjoy it. And consequently God, who, from the in- finite compassion of His nature, would not, in His just displeasure, cast us off, gave His own eternal Son as our mediator, through whom He might still keep up communion with us, without polluting the awful sanctity of His nature, or descending from the height of His strict justice ; through whom we might approach our incensed Father with confidence, and with the freedom of perpetual access. It is distinctly to be borne in mind that Christ is mediator ap. pointed by the Father. Unless we firmly believe this, what ground is there upon which to build confidence in His intercession, as acceptable to the Father, and prevalent witn Him ? If Christ's mediation could have been merely volunteered, without commission from the Father, then, however charitable and well-meant His endeavours, the Father would not have been bound to hear His intercessions. But if He acts by the power and appointment of the Father, then must the Father hear Him, unless He would oppose His own authority. 3. We must observe the fitness of our Lord for the oflice of mediator. Since He acts on behalf of God and men, it was neces- 80 THE MEDIATOR 18 NOT PARTIAL. [ Serm. VII. sary that He should partake of the uature of both — that He should be both God and man : — this constitutes His Jttness. " There is one mediator hetween God and men, the Man Christ Jems." Why there is but one, is explained by the fact that there is but One Person who is God and Man in mysterious union ; and hence we see how effectually is overturned the anti-scriptural and dangerous doc- trine of the Romish church respecting the invocation of Saints, a multitude of mediators. By giving us a mediator who is expressly called " the Man Christ Jesus," Almighty God has shewn a pitiful regard to our infirmities, to the deep needs of our nature, and com- pletely confronted the argument on which those of that church chiefly rely, namely, man's lothness to approach directly to God, without the intervention of inferiors [or relatives]. The readiness of Christ irj hear His mother in our behalf, is deemed a sufl5cient argument for imploring her intercession, while it is deemed a sort of presumption to approach without it. But can God be better or 80 well pleased with any otie's intercession as with His own beloved Son's, whom He Himself has appointed as mediator ? What pre- sumption is it to approach God in the very way He has Himself prescribed — in the only way of which He has given us a hint ? Is not the eternal Son more dear to the eternal Father, than can be the human mother to the divine Son ? Can it be pleasing to the God-man Mediator to entertain the slightest shadow of doubt of His readiness to hear and receive us — who is of our own very nature, who is appointed in that very nature to receive us, who has given proofs of love to us surpassing all knowledge aYid all wonder ? Fit it was that He, our mediator, should be man, that we might come boldly to His gracious throne; fit that He should be God, that we might be persuaded of the success of His inter- cession with the Father. Fit it was that as He was to be our King, to subdue and rule us. He should be God — having all power, able to conquer all opposition, to bring down the rebellious by conversion or destruction. How could Buch knowledge or power as this required be fitly put into a mortal's hands, or how could a mortal capacity receive it ? Fit it wr^s that as Priest, to atone for our sins, He should do it in our Nature. It was man that had sinned, it was man who must atone. Christ took not on Him the 8«rm. VII. ] THE MEDIATOR IS NOT PARTIAL. gl nature of angels : for aught we know He could not atone for ua in flosh and bloody He also Himself took part of the same, that through death He might destroy him that had the power of death." Since by death the conquest was to be made, and His Divine Nature was incapable of suffering, He must assume a nature in T^hich He could die, and what so fit as ours f Hereby the punish- ment of our sms waa made as personal as it could b(v-for though our sins were not punished in our own persons, they were in our no^wre which is next to our persons. Moreover, us He who has suffered is very God, wo have the assurance that as certainly as our nature suffered, so is that suffering a full equivalent for our sins with an infinite merit and efficacy; for, as St. Paul says, « the church is bought with the blood of God." And, as was beibre ob- ^rved, this is what gives its prevalence to that intercession which He now makes in heaven for us-presenting and pleading that precious blood which is the blood of God. 4 We must observe, also, that as He is mediator, acting for both parties, so He came down to earth to treat in person with men, and has returned again to heaven to treat in person with God. The Father knew that there was no one who could have such an interest in upholding His holiness and authority as His eternal Son-to Him therefore He entrusts the wondrous mission of mediator. Forthwitii He begins to act j for though not actually assuming our nature till the fulness of time, He from the first in- fallibly purposed to do so, and, on the strength of this, acted be- tween God and us from the beginning. Hence it has always been the belief of the Church that the Angel ol Jehovah, who appears so otten and so conspicuously in the Old Testament, aeting for God in aJl His dispensations with men, is no other than our Lord Jesus Christ-in all time the " One Mediator between God and men " lo which we may add-that as we read of no crowd of inferior mediators then, much less are we to believe in them now that the Mediator has been fully manifested. He manifested Himself most graeiously by all the wonderful events of His life, from His most wonderful conception to His glorious ascension : not enduring immbly the punishment of our sins at the hands of evil spirits which He might have done, but, for our full satisfaction of/aith, Q w m wmm I 8fl TH« M«T>TATOTl M NOT PARTIAL, c 8«nB. Til. doinf» all openly, so that we have the amplcHt proof of Hia miiwion as mediator. Ho came to beseoch ub face to face to be reconciled to God ; and Ho has returned to heaven " now to appow in the presence, or, literally, before the/tc* of God, for ub." Should we not solemnly and tenderly consider what obligation this lays ufl under of ready oledionoe to our Lord ? If the lowest angel were Bent on an ombaasy of peace — with God's gracious offers of pardon to us rebels — with what humility and transport should he be received I But the only batten Son that is in the bosom of the Father, whom all the angels of God worship, how should we give the more earnest heed lest wo should at any time let slip the words spoken by Him / How should we fear the thought of indifference to His message I How shall wo escape if we do so ? 5. But it is to what I am now going to offer to your oonsiderar tion that I invite your most special attention. " A mediator is not of one " party, but acts for both. We, in our foolish self- love, in our blind and careless disr^ard of God and His honour, very generally, I fear, allow ourselves to look on our Saviour as wholli/ concerned for ns, and not at all, or very little, for His Father : as if His only work were to secu/re its. Do you not feel, my brethren, how inclined you are to this one-sided view ? Yet a moment's reflection shows you how contrary this is to the very idea of a mediator. He mediates with us to overcome our enmity to God ; He mediates with God, that He may remit His displeasure against us. By His mighty grace He subdues our hearts into penitence and obedience. He takes us by the hand, and leads us into the presence of God, assuring us that '* He is able to save to the uttermost all them that come unto God by Him : ' and, ever- living, He has an unchangeable priesthood, in which He maketh effectual intercession for us to His Father. Here you see His mediation in both its aspects. This is the essence of Christianity— a Godrman mediating between us and our heavenly Father. This doctrine alone it is which furnishes all the great motives and argu- ments for Christian practice. Motives drawn from other sources, however good and efficacious, are not Christian motives. Oh, how important, then, that we should not mistake or forget this ! But if we allow ourselves to suppose that He acts for one party only— or, with an easy selfishness, permit our minds to slide or 8«iD. VII. 3 THI MEDIATOR IS NOT PABTIAL. 83 even incline to this pewunMon— wc cncrmte every motive, wo ^ob it of its power to move U8. ConHidor what would bo the conaoqucnco, if we thought the mediator to aet /or Otd only. Ho would then have no care but how He might, in the mo8i Btriking andoflFectual manner, vindicate the insulted Majesty, the outraged authority, the awl'ul holiness of God. He would see to it, that the Almighty God should not be opposed with impunity by weak and puny man. He would see to It, that the supreme authority of the universal Ruler, exorcised with paternal mildness, and tlie strictest and most impartial justice, should not be opposed and spurned by Uwlats mortals, in their impious endeavours to " break His bands asunder, and cast away His cords from them." He would see to it, that that j^ nice and holiness which encompans God with reverence as a halo, should not be audaciously violated in the face of oil creation, without as ample amends, without adequate vengeance being exacted. Oh, could our eyes see the eternal Son leaving the throne of the Father' leaving the heavenly kingdom, armed and commissioned with all the power and authority of Deity, innumerable troops of angels crowding the celestial portals, shouting Him success in His great mission, and ready at His beck to foUow Him, and execute His commands on earth : if we saw all tUs, and heard not a whisper of mercy, saw the stern brow of inexorable vengeance— how would our hearts die within us I how would a frantic despair possess us I Then should we feel in sincerity what we are in reality- guilty, und deserving vengeance; impotent and unable to ward it off. Conscience of guilt would paralyse the tongue that would cry for mercy ; conscience of weakness would paralyse the arm that would rise against the Omnipotent. Here would be no argu- ment for piety towards God. Consider, on the other hand, the consequences of supposing the mediator to act for us only. He would come among us, telling us of His pity for us in our alienation from God, our banishment from paradise, our exposure to eternal death. He would tell us of His exceeding love to us, which indeed we might see in His leaving heaven and assuming our nature. He would teU us of His power with the Father, and His determination to employ it for us-^to deUver us from the curse of the law, and exalt us to everlasting 02 . ffT*-* ! iilii: il 84 THE MEDIATOR IS NOT PARTIAL. L Sens. ▼II. life, in body and soul. If all this were mixed with no word of our heinous guilt and ingratitude, of the dishonour and injury done to God before all His intelligent creatures by man's apostasy, of the necessity of an atonement to make reoonciliatiou with God, of the necessity of our being reconciled by actual repentance, reformation, obedience and holiness — where would be the argument for piety ? We might do as we please, would be the thought ; there was One who was able t/> save us, and was suflBciently interested in us to do so. Thus the nerves of the great motives for holy obedience to God are completely cut. Would to God that we did not so often see this verified — that we did not see reckless foigetters of God, in their dying hour, without any conviction of the guilt of sin, of their own guilt in particular, much less any agony of compunction, trust, as they say, in the merits of Christ. If, then, we acquiesce in the deceitful suggestion that " a mediator is of one " party, and that ourselves — will not an utjter indifference to all the interests of holiness ensue ? But our blessed Lord is a true Mediator — acting for both His Father and us with perfect impartiality, and so has provided against both the results we have described — despair and indifference. He enforces holiness ard duty upon us, by the most powerful mo- tives known to our nature — Hope and Fear. Of His love to us, the One Mediator has given us every proof that can be given or desired. That He will not fail to employ the power and authority of His office for us, we cannot doubt, when we remember that to fail to do so would be not only against the compassion of Christ, but would be against His duti/ — inasrmich as the Father hath ap- pointed Him mediator for vs ; inasmuch as the honour of the Father is promoted by the success of His mediation. But "spe- cially is our confidence in the zeal and efficacy of Christ's mediation confirmed by the consideration, thf t He Himself is n:"essarily so much concerned in its success. He is partaker of our Nature, and in pleading for us, pleads in a manner for Himself. We arc assured, too, that Josus Christ — " perfect man " — perfect in our nature, and perfect in all its affections, has, and must have, a mighty sympathy, a fellow-feeling for us — the very ground upon which the Apostle urges us to firmness in the faith, and confidence in prayer, saying — " Seeing then that we have a great High Priest Serm. VII. ] THE MEDIATOR IS NOT PARTIAL. 85 that is paased into the heavens, Jesus, the Son of God, let us hold fast our profession. For we have vot an High Priest which cannot he touched with the feeling of our infirmities ; hit was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin. Let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need." If, then, we turn from our sins by a true repentance, if we live in the practice of that holy obedience of which the great Mediator has left us an absolute Exemplar, if we seek to come unto God through Him— not by our own virtue, not by inferior and unau- thorized mediators that cannot help us ; is not our hope in God as solid as the basis of heaven, as immovable as the throne of God? What more can be done to make us ''joyful through hope ? " Again ; He is God— He cannot part with His Divine nature. He cannot forget or forego His claims on our obedience— even if He could forget His duty to the Father, who has entrusted Him with the care of His honour, and dignity, and rights, and commissioned Him as His representative to men. Though He is one with us He is one with the Father in a yet higher sense ; and to suppos^ that He could for a moment overlook what is due to the Almighty Father in His affection for us, is the greatest affront to Christ. What I do we suppose that Christ, however much He loves us, can iove us more than He loves His Father? and that to screen us, He wiU let our injuries and insults to God go unavenged ? No! He is bound to see every wrong done to God redressed— to see every rebel brought into peace and love and duty, or utterly cut off. For this He has received all powoi in heaven and in eartli', for this hath the Father put all judgment into His hands. So that Christ is by His very office of Mediator constituted as much the Destroyer of the undutiful and disobedient, as He is the Reconciler and Saviour of the penitent. " The Lord hath anointed Me " (Himself says) " to proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord, and— ^/le day of vengeance of our God;' (Isa. 61 : 1, 2). The very first promise of a Saviour gives Him rather the sole aspect of a destroyer of the wicked : " And I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed (the whole generation of vipers, all the ungodly,) and her seed ; It shall hruise thy head," (Gen. 3, 15). His work, thfin, you see, is no one-sided work: He is to be no less a Just 86 THE MEDIATOR TS NOT PARTIAL. [ Sena. YII. mediator for God, than a merciful mediator for as. God grant that this awakening thought may startle our souls from their deadly stupor of indifference, from their impious trust in Christ — impious and dishonourable to Him, because the companion and, doubtless, in many cases, the very stimulator of our sins. In the last dread Day — not of life, though the impenitent could wish it, but of this present Dispensation — when the Mediator has assumed His seat of righteous judgment, and when those who abused His Name and His office and His mercy as a cover for their sins, shall stand before Him, anticipating their just and dreadful sentence ; — how agonizing will be the reflection — " By disobeying the holy commandments of God, I proclaimed my rejection of Christ's mediation, and now I am undone. Jesus was once a living screen between me and death ; but now that I have incensed and rejected Him, the onli/^ one mediator, whither can I turn ? To which of the Saints or Angels can I flee ? The Mediator Himself will be my severe Judge, and" ^the soliloquy is cut short by the unalterable sentence — " Depart ! " May God give us grace practically to remember " a mediator is not a mediator of one I " May the Holy Ghost, who has given the precept, give the heart to obey — "Kiss the Son, lest He be angry, and ye perish from the way, when His wrath is kindled but a little. For blessed are all they that put their trust in Him" — the One Mediator between God and man I — Amen. SERMON VIII. DRUNKENNESS. Ephesians y. 18. ** And be not drunk toith mne, wherein is excess (aa<^ia) ; but be Jilled toith the Spirit." If drunkenness be deemed so ligktly of in the present day by Christian people, whose religion so much abhors it — no wonder that it had such allowance among the heathen, whose religion even adopted this vice into its rites of worship. So wise and pure a man as Plato could say, " that no man should be allowed to be drunk, but — at the solemnities of the God that gave them wine ! " * Needful, therefore^ was the exhortation of the text for the Ephesians, who had so often, perhaps, in the worship of Bacchus, been religiously drunk — horrid as that sounds in our ears. Eighteen hundred years have passed away since inspiration thus warned Christians, and yet this filthiness is not pui'ged out from among us. Let me, my brethren, while I expound our text, beg your most serious attention — for the subject is one in which all are interest- ed ; — the drunkard, (though God's house is not the likely resort of such,) if perchance he may be stirred up to make some effort for his deliverance; those who are beginning to be entangled, that they may have their eyes opened to their danger ere it be too late ; and those who as yet have escaped, that they may learn the way of real and permanent security. * Whitby in loc. 88 DRUNKENNESS. [ Sena. VIII. Our text contains— 1. A Prohibition from the sin of Drunken- ness ; 2, A Hcason for it ; and 3. An effectual Preventive. I. " Be not drunk with wine:' Wine here stands for all in- toxicating liquors ; and drunkenness is the result of an undue use of them. When their use becomes undue, a very little sense and a very little honesty will enable any one to determine. The use of wine and similar liquors is, like that of food, to refresh our minds and bodies ; and when our drinking goes beyond this, when it unna- turally excites or stimulates our mental or bodily powers, then it becomes drunkenness,--though we should not reach the last stage, in which our powers are not stimulated but prostrated— when we lose consciousness and memory, when we reel and stagger on the highway. Any degree of drinking which would unfit us for going directly' into God's presence, or engaging at once in the most solemn exer- cises of religion— in prayer or the Holy Communion, must be put to the account of drunkenness. Let us consider what recollected- ness, calmness, and sobriety of mind we should think proper to maintain, were we to have an interview with some great officer of state, on a matter of vital importance ; and let us not treat our God and Saviour with less respect and reverence. That measure of indulgence which we should deem excessive in a Christian Priest, suddenly called from a feast, to minister the Word and Bread of life to a departing soul, and which we should regard as unfitting him for so holy a duty— why should any real Christian suppose allow- able for himself? II. We come next to the Reason or grounds of this prohibition, assigned by the Apostle.— We are reasonable creatures, and the God that made us such is ever desirous of treating us agreeably to that character. He condescendingly says, " Come and let us rea- son together." He who might command, and give no account of His commands to any man, yet graciously moves us more by the gentle power of reasonable argument, than by the terrors of abso- lute authority. We are unworthy of our reason and of the God who bestowed it, if we show ourselves insensible to His conde- scending goodness. The argument of the text will be seen (though short) to hava the amplest scope and the most persuasive power. " Be not drunk Senn. Vin. J DRUNKENNESS. 89 with wine, wherein (i. c, not in wine, but in the being drunk with it) is excess." If we take excess here in its common meaning, we shall have a mere truism, no reason, no argument at all ; for every one knows that drunkenness is excess. But the Apostle has said here im- mensely more than the word excess conveys to our minds. The original word cannot be expressed (so far as I know) by any one word in English ; but the idea, which is quite clear, can be easily given : it implies nonrsaving, the impossibility of saving — the very opposite of saving or frugality — utter loss and unbounded waste- fulness. This is what the Apostle says is in drunkenness, and it gives (as you perceive) a new aspect to the text. This reason holds good as regards this life and the next. I. As regards the present temporal life. There is probably no one present, of my own age, who is not as fully aware as I can make him, of all the evils and inconveniences which drunkenness ordinarily produces in society, and therefore I shall not insist mainly on these topics ; since, if we are not influ- enced by those living arguments which we every day behold in all their frightful nakedness and force, it is not likely that a weak representation of them in words from the pulpit can have much effect. Take, then, but a short summary of the temporal evils. 1. How visible are they in the body I The first instances of indulgence are accompanied with a horrid nausea and a bestil sickness — which are nature's solemn warning, the body's protest against such abuse. Those warnings, being despised, cease ; the vital povers are undermined, and the foundation is laid of mani- fold disorders, which will one day exact a tsrrible revenge — sending the drunkard, before his time, into a dishonoured and infamous grave ; and making him, ere that fatal day arrives, a reproach to himself and humanity, in the bloated and bestial disfigurement of even his outward man. 2. His ^^ poverty" too, in the words of Solomon, " comes as one that travelkih, and his want as an armed man " — that is, unex- pectedly si'i'^ irresistibly it invades his dwelling, making it a scene of desolatioii , giving his wife the bread of affliction to eat, and plenteousness of tears to drink — or landing her in the same horrible 90 DBUNEENNE8S. [ Sera. VIII. pit with himself; clothing h ahildren with rags— aye, Qym filthy ''"gs, — altogether a just and i.arful picture to the outward eye of the inward ruins of the soul. I would to God that such spectacles were not so common in this Mission ! 3. What grossest and most detestable of all injustice is hereby done his children ! whom he refuses the first claims of natuie and duty— /ooti and raiment ; or, if not these, at any rate what is just aa valuable, and, in all higher views, more so — a good example, instruction, and superintendence. He throws them upon society, not only untrained for its duties, but positively vitiated, and un- fitted for any good or useful service. 4. I have some doubts in my mind about reckoning among the temporal evils of drunkenness shame and disreputation— wot be- cause I do not think it the most shameful and disreputable of vices j but because society at large seems to have well-nigh lost all such feelings. Men do not shun the drunkard's company ; they invite him to their houses ; if he is but rich, and in what is called good society, they think it a favour to be asked to his table and shai-e his hospitality : he is chosen to a seat in the legislature, or on the bench of sacred law ; he fills municipal or higher offices ; and when he dies, his having been a drunkard does not prevent all the cus- tomary demonstrations of respect being paid to his remains ; and— worst, and most shameful, and most horrible of all— the holy rites of Religion are asked and granted to adorn his departure from the visible Church, whose presence was its continual reproach ! Yet in spite of all this, I xoill reckon shame and disreputation as the drunkard's portion here ; for the wise and discerning and religious few, whose esteem alone is to be valued— they will withhold their respect— Ep, enl TT/v TtXeidTijra dicebatur quoque in ScholA Pythagorfc. Sed sensu hie legitur multo sublimiori, Valck. ap. Griuf. Scholia Helleniatiea.. in loc 8«rm. IX.] PROGRESS THE CHRISTIAN'S DUTY. 101 Unless, then, we intend to deny the whole aim of our religion, and to renounce our baptism, we cannot allow ourselves to linger at the starting-point, we must be continually pressing onward to the goal— 2)er/cctloti. "Be ye, therefore, perfect, even as your heavenly Father is perfect," is the lowest standard set by our Saviour : and what vigorous progress does this require in us all ! " Without spot, or wrinkle, or any such thing " — how far are we yet from such perfection 1 Yet it is to that end, and nothing short of it, that the " washing of water," which we have received, points and leads and pledges us. For my part, I do heartily take up the words of the Apostle, and say, " And this also we wish, even your perfection," 2. Oar own solemn promise and profession hinds ws to advance. Here, in God's house, in God's presence, before God's people, we professed the faith of Christ, we avouched the Lord for our God, we promised that we would evermore " keep His holy will and commandments, and walk in the same all the days of our life." Shall the promises made in worldly transactions, before selected witnesses, be deemed sacred and obligatory ; and shall we presume to make light of obligations whose solemnity nothing can surpass ; vows, which are registered in heaven before attesting angels, before Jesus, " the faithful and the true Witness ? " Draw back from euch vows ? " No ! " you should say, " though the pillars of the earth were removed, though I w€re involved in the ruin of uni. versal nature." " Promise unto the Lord your God, and keep it." Let the remembrance of that day on which you took the Lord for your God, be ever a safe-guard from sin, dissolving all its snares. 3. To advance towards this perfection is our highest, surest happiness. Sin is the greatest misery in the world — it is the parent of all miseries. If we are only free from it, we cannot be miserable, whatever evils we suflFer. Look at the closing hours of our holy Lord and Master, Jesus. Was there ever such an accumur lation of woes ? And yet would you not shudder at the thought of calling Him miserable ? Why? Because He was without sin. To fee the servant of sin includes everything degrading and iiiiserable 102 PR00RE8S THE CHRISTIAN'S DUTY. [3.™. ix. to which human nature is liable. Consider the Apostle's question tu the Roman converts—" What fruit had ye then in those things whereof ye are now ashamed ? " What ft-uit, save grief and shame t " for the wages— the just hire— of sin is d€atl^ "—a death composed of infinite degrees of grief and shame. Sut when we are '' made free from sin, we have our fruit unto holiness, and the end is everlasting life." To be the servants of God, to be free to follow holiness without any effectual opposition, is the noblest, most glori- ous, most elevated freedom in the world ; it is the grandest dignity of angels ; for holiness is the tjublimest attribute of God. Oh the misery and degradation of having to wade, against the ineffectual resistance of our weak and enslaved souls, in the mire of sin ! Oh the sweetness and nobleness of living perpetually in the blessed atmosphere of holiness, every pure breath inspiring us with joy, second only tc the thrill of the freed Spirit as it enters the immortal brightness of paradise ! Brethren, every step you take in that course on which you have professedly entered, is a step to joy, and happiness, and freedom ; and when you have advanced far on this blessed way, when you have won many victories, and subdued many sins, and overcome many temptations, and acquired many virtues— then will you be surrounded by a peace like that of heaven ; you will live in a region as unlike that in which the peo- ple around you live, as if you were separated from them by the immensity of worlds; you will be what Christ, by His Spirit, has anointed you to ho— kings, reigning over yourselves with the majesty and the solid happiness which belong only to celestial thrones. Therefore " follow holiness, without which no man shall see the Lord," or be a sharer in the Divine blessedness. ^ 4. Let us be stimulated to go on unto perfection by the con- sideration that this is the nature of life. Any living thing, whether plant or animal, whose vital energies are not seriously injured, will keep on growing till it attains its perfection. This is the necessary law of its being. But when it ceases to grow, it is cither because it has reached the perfection of its nature, or because its vital powers are damaged or destroyed. So it is with the Christian. He has received the Holy Spirit, a principle of new life infused into the decayed stock of our fallen nature. Increase is henceforth the law of our being. If we do m f 8«mi. IX.] PROaRESS THE CHRISTIAN'S DUTY. 103 not increase, then is it plain that we are doing violence to the Holy Spirit, that we are grieving Him, and that, if we go on so, we shall be sure to quench Him — thn* is, wholly destroy the germs of that new life imparted to us in baptism, and strengthened in confirmation. Have we been regenerated that we might for ever remain bales in Christ ? Does the Spirit, the Lord and Giver of Life, dwell in us that we may be stationary as dead stocks ? Has God multiplied the means of grace, and dispensed with bounteous hand the life-giving food of the soul, and yet designed no growth for our souls ? No I He says : " Crrow jn grace " — " as new-born babes, desire the sincere milk of the word, that ye may grc-.o thereby unto salvation " — "growing up into Him in all things, who is the Head." And of the whole Church it is said, " Ye, as living stones, grow unto an holy temple in the Lord, an habitation of Qod through the Spirit." The sum is. Growth has two opposites — ■perfection and decay ; and decay must be the inevitable alternative, if there be no progress towards perfection. And this brings us, in the — 5th place, to the awful argument for progress which the Apostle employs in the context, and which I shall go on to expound in the remainder of this discourse. " And this will we do, if God permit. For it is impossible to renew again unto repentance those who were once enlightened, and have tueted of the heavenly gift, and were made partakers of the Holy Ghost, and have tasted the good word of God, and the powers of the world to come, and have fallen away (Gr.) ; seeing they crucify to themselves the Son of God afresh, and put Him to an open shame." The Apostle plainly declares the danger of falling into this horrible state to be the argument for going on to perfection : " And this will we do," (he say' ,) "/or" if we do not, we are sure to incur those mischiefs which have just been mentioned. He implies that if there be not advance unto perfection, there is apostasy, that is, falling away from Christ — not the partial departures of smaller sins which may occur in the daily life of a Christian, but an entire alienation from Him : and this state he declares hopeless, (for any remedy known in the religion of Christ) — " it is impossible to renew theui again unto repentance." And what can this be but that sin against the Holy Ghost, which hath never forgiveness ? What more powerful 104 PROGRESS THE CHRISTIAN'S DUTY. . Isetm. IX. argument, then, can there be for advancement, than the certain prospect of this dreadful alternative-«posto«y, irremediable apos- tasy J ^ I have already partially shewn, from the nature oUife, how the neglect of growth must issue in decay. It would not be difficult to perceive the several steps of the process, were we to investigate It with a little care. If at first the impulses of our sinful nature are strong— the Holy Spirit works mightily in us, conscience is tender and active and habits of sin have not been formed. If we are surrounded by an unholy atmosphere, communion with God in prayer and holy recollection of His Presence preserves us from its deadlv taint. Hereby are cherished within us reverence, and watchfulness, and trust m God, and aspirations which carry us above the world. In the devout exercises of religion, in the solemnities of public worship m the reception of the blessed Sacrament, and, especially, in that without which public religion degeneratea into formality-private devotion, that is, the quiet, reverent study of thr Bible, meditation upon It, thinking much of God and spiritual things, examination ot our hearts, fervent prayers and praises to God ;-in all these our better nature is strengthened and improved; our souls by such converse and holy familiarity with God, are established in the l>ivine life, they instinctively and naturally grow up to God and become more and more fixed in union with Him; while in the same proportion sin loses its hold upon us. As the tastes of heaven, us delight in God, are felt to flourish • so pensh all sinful aflfections. * But reverse all this. Let our religion lose its heartiness and earnestness. Let us become infrequent in prayers and holy medita- tions, and converse with God. Or, while some of these duties aro outwardly maintained, let them be gone through as a sop to our conscience, m a formal, heartless manner: then how speedily van- ishes the vision of heaven ! Its glories go out as the stars behind the tempes^cloud of midnight; no hand beckons to us, or in our gloom we cannot perceive it; no voice calls to us, or our ears are dull of hearing; the thoughts, the words that used to thrill our hearts, and wake every chord of holy emotion, no more affect us- they have lost their power ; towards God and holiness fatal Apatlxy B«nn. IX.] PROGRESS THE CHRISTIAN'S DUTY. 105 seizes us, and reigns undisturbed on her slumbrous throne I But view another side of that world of mystery which exists within us— while sin is extending its usurped power. As the lights of heaven go out, the fires of hell glare luridly through the soul, and shed dreadful illumination on all its guilty inmates and all its dreary caverns. The storm of passion roars louder and louder, till the last feeble echoes of reason, and the still small voice of' the Spirit of God are no longer audible. God now is no more in all the apostate's thoughts, but sin is. With Sin he daily contracts a closer intimacy, and while it is often felt to be an oppressive friendship, yet is there a fearful fascination in it which the poor soul is unablo to resist>-for now is the Guide and Helper of souls, the Blessed Spirit, for ever expelled. Do not suppose, brethren, that all this requires, of necessity, some plain outward manifestation : as God's saint walks the earth, and appears like other men, there being little visible that may tell of the pure joy and the heavenly meditations within ; so may there be as little external index of the infernal tumult within the sinner's breast. Often it may be all covered over with practised smiles and well-dissembled calmness. But it often is not so. Often there is an open scorn for God and the restraints of His holy law. Christ and His salutary Passion serve for nought save to add point to the blasphemer's oath. The innocence, and purity, and meek- ness He has exemplified and enjoined, serve as matter for jest, and are fearfully renounced and derided ; and by some who received the mark of the Crucified, the drunkenness and debauchery which, at an earlier period, they had openly and religiously renounced' are, at a later period, no less openly and confidently professed! Where all inward spiritual life has ceased, where God is not, where sin is in absolute supremacy, where Christ is never thought of, or disesteemed— what is to hinder the most explicit, open denial of Christ before the world, if only occasion shall demand it from the sinner, if only the temptation shall be strong ? Every one sees what temporal disadvantages might result from an open, verbal denial of Christ in a Christian country— which is, therefore, ab- stained from by those who, without scruple, deny Him in works, and do their utmost to blaspheme Him in deed. Though, then, we may never proceed to the length of apostasy implied in the text, 106 PROORESa THE CHRISTIAN'S DUTY. [serm. IX. an express renunciation of Christ ; yet we may do it in reality, contract the whole guilt of it, while we retain the Christian name ; we may "crucify the Son of God afresh, and put Him to an open shame." merciful Lord, how great is our danger, the danger of recrudfying Thy Holy and Blessed Son / To drag the innocent, suffering Saviour once more to the cross, to bind and scourge Him, to nail and fasten Him aloft for scorn, to wag the head and mock Him, to number Him with the transgressors — this is to recrucify Him, to put Him to an open shame ; and this is what the impenitent do. After having been once consecrated to Him in Baptism ; having taken Him deliberately in Confirma- tion for our Master— if we then thro-r off His authority, if we refuse obedience ; do we not say, " Thou art not the Lord, Thou art not my Sovereign, I disown Thee, I reject Thee ; Thou art an imposter. Thou wast justly crucified I " This is the blasphemy of the disobedient and obstinate sinner, which makes the music of hell, but which the angels hear with horror. Again, I say, do not let us suppose that in order to do this we must shout in so many words, " Crucify Him I Crucify Him I " The Apostle will tell you of some " who pro/ess that they know God, but in toorks they deny Him, being abominable, and dis- obedient, and unto eveiy good work reprobate." A picture— how terribly exact ! of multitudes whom we every day meet. How many hundreds are there among us who have openly and solemnly professed the Crucified One, who yet shame by their ungodly lives and deeds Him and His Church ! of whom we hear with blushes, and confusion, and overwhelming shame ! And if we feel such shame, we, who have so little zeal for our Lord — what do the holy angels feel ? what does our Lord Himself feel ? what does the Father Almighty feel at the dishonour done to His beloved and eternal Son ? Put Him to an open shame ! make Him once more the laughing- stock of the ungodly and blaspheming infidel I make Him the sport of devils I make Him the pity of sorrowing angels ! overwhelm all who love Him with grief and dismay ! Oh, let us hope that no one here has gone so far in apostasy. But of this let us be well- assured, that every wilful siu, every moment we linger in a habit of sin, brings us nearer to this gulf of perditiou whence we cannot S«rm. IX ] PR00BE8S THE CHRISTIAN'S DUTY. 107 be extricated. Every lesser sin is an approach to the irromissible sin of " treading under foot the Son of God, and counting the blood of the Covenant, wherewith wo have been sanctified, an unholy thing, and doing despite to the Spirit of grace." Surely we nmst feel that these sins are in a very great degree committed, even where Christ is not professedly renounced ; surely we must admit that where the sovereign auuiurity of Christ, as a Lawgiver, is disobeyed, there He is trodden under foot ; that even where we trust in the blood of the Covenant, but only to make it a screen for our sins (and how often is that done I) there we most emphatically make It an unholy thing ; while every evil thought indulged, every ill thing done, is doing despite to the Spirit of grace. How terrifying, yet how merciful, the warning which accom- panies this ! " There remainefch no more sacrifice for sins, but a certain fearful looking for of judgment and fiery indignation, which shall devour the adversaries." " It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God." " Whosoever shall speak a word against the Son of Man, it shall be forgiven him " — the greatest opposers of Christ, yea. His very murderers, were brought to repentance, aiid obtained pardon : in their Baptism a full and absolute par Jon was given — a complete washing away of sin. But — " Whosoever shall blaspheme the Holy Ghost, hath never forgive- ness." Sin, before we have been made partakers of pardon, and the Holy Ghost, and the divine nature, is a very difierent thing from what it is afterwards. Who does not see this ? Sin, after we have been made the children of God, after we have received pardon, after the reception of the Holy Ghost — is sin aguinst all that is intended for the overthrow of sin, sin aggravated by all that can possibly add to its enormity and guilt ; it is henceforth always, in a certain degree, sin against the Holy Ghost. . And must not this sin, long persisted in, attain its completion ? The result of that completion you have heard — " it is impossible to renew them again unto repentance." When mercy is despised, f.nd the blood of Jesus made little of, the feelings of the heart deadened by long contact with sin , and made proof against the inspirations of the Holy Spirit — what hope is there ? All the instruments of grace become ineffectual — and salvation is impossible. i .'I'i I if IE" 108 PR00RE8S THE CnillSTIAN's DUTY. [setm. IX. Besides these reasons which arise from the nature of the case, there is another reason also assigned by the Apostle in vs. 7, 8, " For the earth which drinketh in the rain that amuth oft vpon it, and bringeth forth herbs meet for them by whom it is dressed, receivcth blessing from God : but that which beareth thorns and briers is rejected, and is nigh unto cursing : whoso end is to be burned." The fruitful field is rewarded with God's blessing, as well as man's culture, and becomes yet more fruitful. What an encourage- ment for us ! " To him that hath shall be given, and he shall have more abundance.' How beautifully arc the divine influences, which are poured upon our souls, described as 'Uhe rain that Cometh oft upon t<"— the bounty of heaven (as the original denotes) descending without compulsion, and continually resting upon the earth. The Holy Spirit is that " gracious rain " which God sends upon His inheritance, and whereby He refreshes and waters it, that it may abound in the fruits of holiness ; and a variety of phrases is employed to denote the several degrees of the Spirit's influence, and the several modes of its impartation 1. Christians are described as " those who were once enlightened, and have tasted the heavenly giftr For many ages after the Apostles, no word was so commonly used to denote baptism as ^lafihq, illumination. The initiatory Sacrament was so called, because of the light of divine knowledge received from instruction in the Gospel preparatory to Baptism, but chiefly on account of the inward and supernatural illumination of the Holy Ghost, who is the " heavenly gift" received therein. As light and life are kindred in their nature, and frequently joined in holy Scripture ; so is the sacrament of regeneration appropriately termed illumination. This, however, is but the entrance into life, the origination of the powers and faculties of the new creature ; who is further advanced towards perfection, by being 2. " Made partaker of the Holy Ghost." Not as though His presence and operation were not till now ; for without Him there is no life at all. But now by the Laying on of hands. His grace is imparted in fuller measure and mightier operation. This grace, Serni. IX. ] PB00RES8 THE CIIRISTUN's DUTY. 109 obtained by Layinj? on of hands, manifoHted itw ' ' miraculously in the extraordinary ministries of earlier days ; but thouj^'h these have failed, yet the same Energy still operates invisibly, and no less effectually in the ordinary and permanent ministries of the church. The Holy Spirit is still given as the riches of the soul, its safeguard and Sanctifier, who is to adorn and fit it for glory. Of the whole circle of His inward blessings, not one is withholden. 3, Christians are advanced still higher, in that " they have tasted the good imrd of God., and the powers of the world to come'' " The world tocoiae" is an established phraso in holy Scripture to repre- sent the new Dispensation, the Kingdom of Messiah, not only in its earthly but its perpetual duration. And though the " Word of God " was always a " good " word, yet is there no claim to this title of equal strength with the " Gospel of the Kingdom"— emphatically " the good word of God." It speaks hope and pardon and eternal life to the lost. To taste it daily, to eat its words and find them sweet, to derive strength from every gracious promise ; to penetrate their mysterious depths and find light flashing from every holy oracle ; to be nourished and fortified by the Bread of Life, to be refreshed and invigorated by the juice of the True Vine, — eaten and drunk in holy mysteries ; to be hereby enabled to resist all infernal powers, to dispossess Satan, to over-master sin — is, indeed in a noble sense, to " taste of the powers of the world to come." But whatever Spiritual strength or power we may now possess, is only a faint shadow of what we shall possess in that blessed " world to come," where there will be nothing to hinder the full development of our Spiritual nature, and the grace of our Lord bestowed upon us. All these spiritual influences have continued uninterruptedly in the church, are ministered to us in Baptism, in Confirmation, in Holy Communion, in Prayer, in the Word of God— from time to time, all our life through, according to our needs : — they are the rain that cometh oft upon us. If all these holy influences, the purchase of the blood of the Covenant, make us fruitful — then shall God's blessing come upon us, and make us bring forth more fruit. But if, in spite of all, we are barren — like the sand that yields nothing in return for the rain and dews and sunshine, or nothing but briers and thorns — 110 PROORE88 THE CnRWTIAN's DUTY. [.Strm, IX. then shnll wo bo rejerteAL On such soil tho great IIuHbandman will cciwe to expend tho kindly influoncos of UIh ill-recjuitod cul- ture — niiy, more, it will be mrned und devoted to iiia Jliimea. HhiiU not all of UH who have roeeived such favour from Ood, tremble at our roHponsibility, and fear Huch an end as thia ? Let me addroHB myself to those of you, brethren, who were confirmed years ago, and have not since gone forward towards perfection. Do you not hear within you a voice which verities what we proclaim ? As you recall in memory those days of com- parative innocence, do you not feel how much more open you were then to godly impressions than now ? how much more readily you listened to the voice of God and of conscience ? how each year your hearts are less interested in devotion, and more entangled in sin ? And then that one neglect, which is a sunmiary of all neglects — the neglect of the Holy (Vmmunion I being the neglect of God, of Christ, of His Blood, of His Spirit, of pardon, of eternal life— how shall I speak of that I Oh, what a miserable thought, that we should have so many continued, and so few communicants I Such neglectors confirm i ily their damnation. Onward I is not their motto : neverthelesM they have not stood still — they have been all this while posting to apo8t"sy — to the irremediable state ; they are still running hard to overtiike the sin that shall never be forgiven ! And we, brethren, who do wait upon God in this blessed Ordinance — ! let us take care to keep our hearts tender and holy — to grow in the love of God ; to keep up spiritual warmth within ; to banish all formality and coldness ; lest " having a name to live, we be dead," and the iXiore jniilty, and — for this reason — the more surely apostatize from the Lord. But of you, my young friends, who have lately been confirmed, we say, in the words of the Apostle, " Beloved, we are persuaded better things of you, and things that accompany salvation, though we thus speak." You, we hope, will not halt between two opinions, but, having confessed the Lord, will follow Him. You will not stop at this threshold of religion, as if it were the goal ; but will go on to know the Lord, and will follow the Lamb whithersoever He goeth. The voice of the Church is the voice of every faithful soul — " Tell me* • Cant. i. 7. IS ; Bcrm. IX .] PKOOUEHH THE CHRIHTIAN 8 DUTY. iir (sho says to Christ) Thou whom my soul loveth, whoro Thou focdcHt, where Thou makest Thy flock to rest ut noon : for why should I bo as one unknown* — a strungcr — beside the flocks of Thy companions ? " Sho asks after the green pastures and the Bwoct resting-places where the Good Shepherd leads Ilis flock — that sho may haunt them familiarly. lie answers : " If thou know not, thou fairest among women, go thy way forth by the footsteps of the flock, and ftnjd thy kids beside the Hhepherds' tents." Ho tells you to seek Him in the companies of His saints, under their appointed pastors; in the established ordinances of His church ; not to forsake the beaton tracks worn from the first by the feet of the flocks — there may the kids, there may the lambs of Christ feed in sa/eti/ — for there He will be ever near them. llemember I God's seal is upon you. Christ's banner waves over you. The Eternal Spirit is within you. Angels minister to you. The Saints look with hope upon you. Heaven awaits you I And, oh, remember too, that devils watch for you, the ungodly wait to rejoice over your fall — to see you rccrucify the Son of God, and put Him to an open shame ! What an object of interest are you to heaven, and earth, and hell I Can you, can you be careless of your ways ? The soldiers, the servants of Jesus, be it your one purpose to honour Him : be it your joy to love Him : be it your glory to confess Him : bo it your happiness to be united to Him. Jksus ! bo that venerable Name your watchword in life, your confidence in death ; and in that glad morn when the Sons of the Resurrection shall throng to Him in their robes of brightness, He will confess you before God and angels and the world — He will make you glad with the joy of His countenance, and crown you with an immortality of bliss ! * " ";?!'? (fern, part n^j?) teda, hinc occuUata, hino ignota." Maurer. in loc. I^li I III SERMON X. THE SACRAMENT OF THE LORd's SUPPER FOR A REMEMBRANCE. St. Luke xxii. 19. " This do in remembrance of Me.^* The most Holy Mysteries of the Body and Blood of our Saviour Jesus Christ are a subject in which, beyond all others, we have to trust to the guidance of faith — in which man's words and man's reasonings have least place. And therefore it is not without much diffidence, humility and reverence, we should venture upon such holy ground. If I have not as often perhaps as I ought, entered upon the full discussion of this great theme, I may assign this as my excuse ; and I may add another, which is perhaps a better one, and that is, my firm persuasion that no discourses however acute, however solid or devout, can come up to our brief Communion Service in these particulars. The Communion Office of our Prayer Books will, if duly studied, instruct us in everything that is neces- sary to be known or believed respecting the Lord's Supper ; every- thing that is to be done in order to make us worthy Communicants ; and in such an elevated, tender strain of devotion as we wonder at and reverence, but hardly hope to attain in an age so worldly and unspiritual as this. I wish, my brethren, that I could impart to you my own settled conviction, that the careful, meditative study of the Communion Office, word by word, at home — not the inconsiderate repetition of it, there or at church, would be an incomparably more edifying preparation for the Holy Communion, 6enn. X. ] THE SACRAMENT OF THE LORD's, ETC. 113 than any sermons you could hear in church, or any Communicant's Manual. However, I trust, by God's blessing, it will be found profitable for us aU to expand the more important of the several points embodied in the Communion Office— or, in other words, the mam parts of the whole doctrine of the Blessed Sacrament, as I purpose doing in this Sermon and some others, which will follow at mtervals, God willing. The text, if fully opened up, would exhibit the whole doctrine ; but we shall take only one or two points at a time. And First] let us dwell on that which is the most obvious view—\h., that the Sacrament is a Memorial. " Do this in remembrance of Me," or, mo'-o correctly, " Do this for My memorial "—dg t^ kf,f/v h.vhiivr)mv. Do what ? Set forth bread and wine— look upon them, eat them ? More than this. That memorial which Christ bids us make is the wUh action which He performed before the Apostles, which is described in the Gospels, and by St. Paul in 1st Corinthians, and which is separable into the following parts : — *' 1. The benediction and consecration* (by prayer and thanks- giving) of bread and wine. 2. The breaking of bread and hand- ling the cup. 3. The delivery and distribution of them to the persons present. 4. The declaration accompanying that delivery, that these symbolical things and actions did represent our Saviour's body given and broken for us, in sanction of the New Covenant. 5. ^ The actual partaking of those symbols, by eating the bread and' drinking the wine, done by all present." All this our Saviour bade us do in remembrance of Him. All this, and nothing less, constitutes the commanded memorial. But in setting before you this holy Institution, it would not be profit- able, nay, indeed, scarcely possible, to proceed to the full exposition of it, as if it existed alone, and were instituted without reference to anything that went before in the di\'ine dispensations. The whole contents of the Old Testament had reference to Christ : all the main rites and ceremonies and institutions of the old Church were symbolical of and preparatory to the great Act which our Lord pomts to in the Holy Supper. To pass over its ancient and divinely-established relationship, therefore, would be to miss the * Barrow, Doctrine of the Sacramenta. IfV p'i I i-^ 114 THE SACRAMENT OP THE LORD'S [ Senn. full view of divine wisdom and goodness, the full meaning of the holy rito, and the comfort it was intended to coumaunicate. All the many and very various appointments of the older dis- pensations were designed to set forth Christ. He is the fulfilment of them all. Christ, in all the diversity of His abounding grace, was too great to be fully represented by any one type or figure that man could receive from God ; and therefore there were many, to help us to a more adequate apprehension of that which even now, when the night of shadows is past, and the cloudless sunshine sur- rounds us, " passeth knowledge." Christ bears many relations to us. Accordingly, in one rite of the ancient Church we find Him presented in one aspect, and in another rite in another aspect. Let us at present fix our attention on that with which the Institution of the Holy Supper is most immediately connected — the Passover. You will remember that it was while our Saviour was celebrating with His Apostles the Feast of the Pass.ver, that He instituted the Sacrament of the Supper — yea, converting* that very meal of bread and wine, which the Jews religiously ate after the paschal lamb, into the great mystery of the New Covenant. Among the many wonderful works ul' power which God wrought for the deliverance of His people from Egypt, was the smiting of all the first-born of the Egyptians in every house, while the destroy- ing angel passed over the houses of the Israelites. On the evening which preceded this manifestation of wrath and distinguishing grace, the Israelites were commanded to kill a lamb for every house, to eat the flesh with bitter herbs and unleavened bread, to sprinkle the lintels and door-posts with its blood, and to keep within doors till the morning. The sprinkled blood was their pro- tection from the angel of death. Thus, says holy Scripture, did God separate between His people and the Egyptians. Tliat the thankful memory of so great a deliverance should never be lost, nor so great an assurance of the Divine favour and so powerful an argument for trust in it, be forgotten, God was pleaded to enjoin the annual celebration of the rites we have briefly described. But though a memorial of the past, it was doubtless intended to refer to the /atiire still more strongly, from the many marked points in which it had its fulfilment in our Blessed Saviour — pointing out • kadidvTm ai-ijv, " Aa they were eating." SUPPER FOR A REMEMBRANCE. 115 Serm. X. ] to believing and illuminated eyes in former ages, the glorious eternal deliverance of a greater Passover. Christ, by consecrating the Passover-meal as the Sacrament of His death, pointed Himself out as its end, and by this act silently confirmed the Baptist's ardent testimony—" Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world ! " So that with the Apostle we henceforth sing—" Christ our Passover is sacrificed for us." Yes— He proclaimed Himself by this solemn act as the Lamb without spot or blemish, whose precious death was our life • whose holy blood, sprinlded by faith upon our souls, was to avert the stroke of death eternal ; reconcile us to God, and cleanse us from all iniqmiy— thus separating between His believing Israel and the unbelieving world ; making life and gladness our portion, but death and lamentation theirs. After the eating of the paschal lamb, the bitter herbs, and the unleavened bread, there was a sort of appendix to or continuation of the meal, in which the master of the family took bread, and blessed God in solemn thanks for the fruits of the ground', and then added, with the unleavened bread in his hand, " This 'is the hread of afflictlonichich our fathers did eat in Egyjjt:' This form, no doubt, sufliced to prevent, in the Apostles' minds, the gross carnal meaning afterwards imposed on the words. This is my Body which is given for you. In neither case are the words corporeally true : but in both they most perfectly represented what the speaker meant. The bread of affliction— or unleavened bread- baked only yesterday, could not be that which was eaten in Egypt : the bread in the hands of our Saviour could not be literally that body given and broken which was yet uninjured, but which was soon to endure what He now signified— the wounds and breaches by which it became a slaughtered victim for the sins of the world. In like manner God himself says to Abraham of circumcision, This is my Covenant, though Abraham was not then actually cir- cumcised. And even when he was, circumcision was not the covenant, but the sign and seal of it, as St. Paul tells us. Moses, too, says of the paschal lamb. It is the Lord's Fassover—yvhen yet the Lord hi not passed over their dwellings, tiU the lamb was actually Vnicd, and their doors sprinkled with its blood. And afterward., the lamb could be nothing else than the memorial of i2 116 THE SACRAMENT OP THE LORD's [ Scm. X. u Ilia passing over them. So perfectly manifest is it, that the sign in holy scriptarc has often the name of the thing signified. This indeed is the very nature of a Sacrament, that under sensible and visible rites something spiritual should be understood. The words of the text, we might naturally suppose, "would, if anything could, prevent men from misinterpreting the preceding words and acts of the sacred ceremony. At the Paschal meal there were four cups of wine drunk by each person. The fourth was that over which the Hallel (a selection uf psalms*) was sung — corresponding to which are the words of tlie Gospel, " and when they had sung an hymn, (or psalm, marg.) they went out into the mount of Olives." (Matt. 26 : 30.) But the third cup was the most important. The Rabbins recount ten rites wliich were to be observed in drinking it. It was called the Cup of Blessing, because the master of the family, or the president of the feast, solemnly blessed it. This cupf it was which our Lord consecrated as the memorial of His precious blood shed for us. " This is My blood of the New Testament, which is shed for you and for many for the remission of sins." The observations that have been already made as to a corporeal meaning of our Lord's words, will apply here also. His blood was not actualhj shed yet, and consequently could not be corporeally identical with the wine poured out— it could only be represented by it. Here, then, we see our Saviour separating and sanctifying the elements of bread and wine to a religious use and signification — so that in this blessed Supper what were before only common food for the body, become holy memorials of our Bedemption, the means of strength and refreshment to our souls, a eucharist or feast of thanks- giving, prepared for us on God's own table. 1. That it was fit there should be some solemn instituted Memo- rial of the great deliverance thon achieved, reason would teach us, and the divine procedure in former dispensations would lead us to expect. Every great era was so inaugurated by a sacramental memorial. The Tree of Life was the Sacrament of the Covenant of Innocence, in the beginning of the world. The human race had, in a manner, a second beginning after the flood, and the covenant was altered, From cxT. to Cxviil. f 1 Cor. 3E. 16. Sonn* X. J SUPPER FOR A REMEMBRANCE. 117 -SO and tho Bow in the cloud became its sacramental seal and memorial. God covenanted with Abraham, making him the very promises of the Gospel, and lie gave Ilim the sign of Circumcision, a seal and sacrament and memorial in the flesh of Gwd's covenant. lie opened up to tho bond-slaves in Egypt a career of liberty, and the Passover was the memento of divine mercy. And how fit that now at the re-creation of our race, when tho floods of destroying wrath are made to subside, when the promises are fulfilled, when the slaves of hell are freed, and admitted into the liberty of the sons of God and heirs of heaven, when consummate deliverance is wrought, — how fit that there should be a new memorial, an unal- terable sacrament ; a perpetual stimulant to gratitude and praiso and love ; and, at the same time, a finger pointing forward to that Coming of the Lord when the imperfect memorials of earth shall pass away, and give place to the blissful Presence of Him whom they helped us to remember and to love. Such a memorial is tho blessed Sacrament of tho Lord's Supper. 2. There caii nothing whatever be conceived more fit, natural, and effectual to remind us of what our Lord pointed to — His violent death, on the cross for us, the day following. Constituted as we are, of a material and spiritual nature, and preponderant as tho material is all tho days of our earthly sojourn, wo need the aid of visible and sensible things in religion. He who knows what our nature and our need is, better than we do ourselves, has provided us with them, and in so doing has overlooked no part of our nature. Many suppose that Imagination has no place in Christ's reli- gion — that if it enter, it is a dangerous intruder. This is quite a mistake. No faculty of our nature is excluded from religion. All are God's handiwork, the result of His wisdom and goodness, and are embraced and sanctified by religion — nay, are necessary to her perfect work. So it is here. The bread broken into fragments ; the wine poured forth into tho chalice before our eyes, arc a lively figure of the bitter agonies of our loving Lord. They help our imagination in picturing the scene when He voluntarily ascended the cross, on which, from every part of His mangled and torn body, that precious blood flowed down which was the healing and tho redemption of the world -, when his brow was torn by thorns, His 118 THE SACRAMENT OP THE LORD's [ Scrm. X. I § I back with scourges, His hands and feet with spikes, His side with a spear. God forbid, my brethren, that I should lead you to suppose that a picture of this in the imagination, however affecting for the time being, is enough. Your hearts, without any visible incitements, can and do bleed at the bare idea or recital of the sufferings of our fellow-Christians in India^* and ye* this is no distinctive mark of Christimity— it is < r w ' .. anity. Why, then, is imagination furnished " ith aids in v ..uaristic symbols? The answer is, that the imagination may m turn become an aid io faith. 3. This leads us to observe the final object of the Memorial— what it is we are to remember. Not merely that the Man Christ Jesus suffered on the cross— ^Ao-^ may go no further than tho imagination, and produce no more spiritual impression, than would a good picture of Ihe Crucifixion. No — religion cannot go a step without faith : she begins in faith, and exists in faith ; and hero is the proper exercise of faith. In that suffering Victim, with whose sorrows our natural humanity symphathizes — sorrows which so forcibly impress our imagina- tion,— /taVA beholds the eternal God bearing the sins of His crea- tures, enduring the heavy strokes of relentless Justice, with every precious blood-drop washing away the defilements of transgression, with every sigh expiating our guilt, bringing us nigh unto God, and by His own death destroying death, and opening to us tho gates of everlasting life. Faith is reminded by the Sacramental symbols of that " cross and passion" which she believes to bo " meritorious," " whereby alone we receive rei 'ssion of our sins, and are made partakers of the kingdom of heave. .. " The sacramental act directs our faith to the cross, and bids her meditate on all the wonders there accomplished for the children of men— God reconciled, man redeemed, heaven opened, sin subdued, death vanquished, despair banished, hope quickened into joy and triumph— and all this by Christ alone. Faith sees in Him the great Delivi.'rer, the just claimant of all love, all gratitude, all homage— an eternity of generous devotion. Oh, blessed remembrance, freighted with such pervading joy, such tender sorrow, such ardent love, such calm, such holy, such assuring hope ! May our faith in the Cross be * Preached during the Indian mutiny. Serm. X .] SUPPER FOR A REMEMBRANCE. 119 ' ever worthy of the Apostle's definition — " the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen ! " May it each day become more eagle-eyed, till it behold in the earthly elements of bread and wine all the mysteries of redemption shining in the sun- light of heaven. When wo thus perceive the sacrifice which Christ has offered for us to the Father, we offer it too by faith, and plead it before Him, as that which merits and procures all good for our souls and bodies. And hence the remembrance made in the sacrament has a sacrifidul character. We not only call to remembrance therein what Christ has done for us, but w^ remind God of it too, and steadfastly believing in the efficacy of the death of Christ, we present and offer it to God as the only sacrifice for the sins of the world, the only basis of all our hopes, our only but sufficient plea when God enters into judgment with us. Thus is the sacrifice of Christ — for ever actually presented by Himself in heaven — here on earth also con- tinually offered by way of faiififul remembrance in the holy sacrament, which is for this reason called " a holy commemorative sacrifice" — looking back to the one offering of Christ, once for all, as the Jewish sacrifices were prospective, and looked forward to that sacrifice. This view is confirmed by the use of the word avafivj/atc, rememhrance or memorial, which occurs very frequently in con- nexion with sacrifice. There are two uses of this word in the scriptures ; the 1st, in reference to the act of human memory — our calling to our own mind anything past,* This is the sense in which I have taken the word, in reference to the eucharist, in the former part of this Sermon. Popularly it is the onlt/ sense allowed; but this is wrong ; for there is a second use in the scriptures, expressive of the act by which we are said to put God in mind of anything, to bring it to His remembrance ; this act being prayer or, usually, some sacrificial ceremony. Thus in Lev. xxiv. 7, *' And thou shalt put pure frankincense upon each row, \i. e., of the shew-bread,] that it may be on the bread for a memorial ek a.vafivr,aiv, even an offering made by fire unto the Lord." By this memorial sacrifice of the incense, they brought themselves into mind with God, caused Him to remember them, and besought * Gen. 9 ; 16, 40 : 23, and often. 120 THE SACRAMENT OF THE LORD'S [ gena. x. Him ever to bo gracious unto them. Such too is the intent of tho Tememlmnce made in the Christian Sacrifico-such supplication do we make to God the Father, when we in faith present unto Him that sacrifice made on tho Cross, and continued in the Sacrament by a perpetual representation and remembrance. By this appointed Memorial of the Lord's Supper we bring the sacrificed Lamb of Ood into remembrance with the Father, and ourselves in conjunc tion with Him and under His protection-and so we pray proa- perously. r J f Again, in Lev. ii. 2, the handful of flour which the priest was to take from the sacrifice and burn upon the altar, with the oil and the frankincense, as " an offering made by fire of a sweet savour unto the Lord," is called the memorial, in many places, that is a memorial to God, whom, after the manner of human speech, this puts in mmd of His covenant and promise to be gracious to His worshippers. A sacred meaning attached to this word in the original language throughout the East, being exclusively, or almost exclusively applied to the worship of God.* So the prayers and the ahns of Cornelius came up for a memorial before God— a sacrifice more acceptable, doubtless, than the costliest that ever burned on Jewish altars, because the sacrifice of the heart, not of tho hand — spiritual, not material j and thus effectually inclining the Lord to be gracious unto him. In Isaiah Ixvi. 3, what vre translate « he that burneth incense," is in the margin, agreeable to the Hebrew, " he that maketh a metnonal of incense." Once * Vide Lee'8 Heb. Lex. s. v. n??J« {az'earah). Rosenmuller, ap Bar- rett'9 Synopsis, on Lev. 2; 2, n^jm autem spectat ad cultum Dei ct com- meinomtionera laudis ejus : nam Arab, ^3T {dacbar) quod ejusdem est radicis et signifieationis cum ri^?[N peculiari quadam et absoluta signifjca- tione denotat celebrationem Dei, quae sive interna sive externa commemora- tione fit in cultu divino, adeoque ipsum cultum Dei." The whole note is worth reading. Sap. xvi. 6. cifij^^^at^ ixovrec trcrnQiac, elc ava^n>naiv tvToMiq v6iiov aov: ubi dvdfiv^mc non simpUciter recordationcramental one ; and this should be a strong argu- ment with all neglcctors of the Holy Communion to attend to it, and not to comfort their consciences by arguing that they do not wholly forget Christ. Enough to say, they do not remember Him m the xmy He has commanded; and can anything stand instead of obedience ? Briefly now let us consider the qualities and affections which befit the Communicant who would worthily make the memorial of the dying love of his Lord. First, and above aWjaith—m inwrought persuasion of the truth and reality of the sufferings of our Saviour, both God and Man, that those sufferings were for us, and that they were effectual— a sufficient sacrifice, oblation, and satisfaction for the sins of the whole world, both original and actual ; and that to the believing Communicant is imparted the whole benefit of that sacrifice. If our faith waver here, St. James's words apply to us, " Let not that man think he shall receive anything of the Lord." Faith is the hand which must be outstretched to grasp all those rich blessings. Then there should be, if not melting and vivid, yet steady and profound sorrow for those sins of ours which gave the thorns their sharpness, the nails their torture, death his power. Every remem- bered sin should be as hated, as if it were seen a living, fiendish shape, wielding the scourge or pushing the spear, or with the wicked Jews wagging the head or mocking the holy Saviour. The resolution should be felt, that death itself must be endured rather than the repetition of a single sin. There should be love and thanlcfulness. What have we tho faculty of love for,^ if not to love the most gracious and amiable How justly was it said, "If any man and adorable of beings ? ' il 8erm. X. ] SUPPER FOR A REMEMBRANCE. 123 lovo not our Lord Jesus Clirist, let him be Anathema IMaranatha I " How can wo refuHo to love Him while wo look upon His cross ! What have wo tho faculty of gmfUude for, if wo cannot bo thankful for an infinitely glorious benefit, to an infinitely generous Benefactor ? — Then our hearts, filled with love to our Redeemer, should let it overflow upon our brethren, partakers in the same benefit, and equally dear and near to our Lord as wc arc. All this, brethren, is meant by celebrating the Holy Communion in remembrance of Christ How far in advance of the few poor cold thoughts which, it is to be fc. red, so many Communicants never get beyond ! But what shall we say of those who scarcely o;ct so far ? who never think of Christ during the week — who never have one long- ing after Him — whoso minds wander during tho celebration, — even at the altar-rails thinking of their fellow-communicants, yea, uncharitable thoughts, rather than of the Cross — who, in a word, never remember Christ at all through the whole act. How terrible is this I May God bo merciful to those who thus " kindle His wrath against them, and provoke Him to plague them with divers diseases and sundry kinds of death." May He grant us, brethren, to rejoice with trembling ; to have Christ tho Lord in all our thoughts ; that Ho may bo all our Salvation and all our desire ; that He may be one with us and we with Him ; that we may bo strengthened and refreshed with the heavenly immortal food of His Body and Blood, and in the strength of that meat travel on with unfaltering step, with triumphant march, to the mount of God — to whom, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, be glory and honour, hence- forth and for ever. Amen. SERMON XI. THE SACRAMENT A MEANS OF UNION WITH CHRIST. St. John, vi. 67, "A8 the living Father hath sent Me, and I live by the Father : so he that eateth Me, even he shall live by Me." We have already, in the first of tliis series of discourses, spoken of the Sacrament of the Lord's Supper as a Kemembrance-m instrument for the perpetual commemoration and exhibition of the sacrifice of the death of Christ " for the redemption of the world. Wo now propose, by the help of God's grace, to declare unto you what gift it is which is hero presented for the apprehen- sion of our faith : it is continued union with Christ— a central sun holding within its orbit every lesser luminary which can shed light or grace or glory on man. Our whole race, in its present natural state, is dead— dead as to the exercise of those powers with which we were originally en- dowed, dead to those ends for which we were created. We were made to rise above this world, beautiful as it is, in holy contempla- tions of the Eternal, to be enriched and ravished evermore with His love, to shew forth His glory on a new theatre, and be our- selves ripened for a higher state of existence. But sin tcuched us with Its leprous hand, and every power was paralysed ; our new- born vigor was no more ; the immortal aims of our being were forgotten ; God, whom we were to glorify and who waa to glorify us, disappeared, or rather was shut out, from the scene of our contemplations: life was no longer ours, because we were without 8«rm. XI. ] THE SACRAMENT A MEANS, ETC. 185 Ood in tlio world ! An Apostlo tells ub, that d^uith entered by sin ; and a prophet tells us, that sin separates between tis and Ood; and hence we infer that our death amsists in separation frtym, God. Wo need not now pause to lament such a loss, or waste a breath in sorrow — rather should the joy of its restoration ontranco us, and engage every faculty to celebrate the praises of Him who saw us dead, and hath brought us life and immortality ! Who is this " Prince of Life ? " Jesus Christ — Ho is the Prince of Life I By Him alone we live. Of this the sure word certifies us. " Christ, who is our life," cries an Apostle ; " the Life," echoes another—" the Word of life." * " He that believcth on the Son hath everlasting life," is the Baptist's testimony; while the Son Himself proclaims, " I AM the Life I " — " because I live, ye shall live also ; " and in our text, " Ho that eateth Me, even he shall live hy Me" Now, as our death consists in separation from God, so must our life be restored by re-establishing our union with Him. Let us trace the method of this mystery of love — yes I we should trace it as far as God permits. The angels desire to look into it ; and so should we, that every high discovery may add new depths to our humility, and more swelling tones to the hymn of gratitude. In this majestic process we trace three great steps. The/r«< — how high, how awful it is ! — the Eternal Gene ration of the Son of God I This Himself points out in the text : " As the living Father hath sent Me, and / live hy the Father : " or, as we confess the mystery in the Nicene creed, " He is God of God," eternally deriving His Divine Nature from the Father. The second is. His Incarnation : " God sent forth His Son, made of a woman, made under the law, to redeem them that were under the law, that we might receive the adoption of sons." None but THE Son could bring us into the relation of sons. But that it might be possible for us to become the sons of God, He must become the Son of Man. And having become man, He humbled Himself to the death of the cross, and in His holy humanity made that full, perfect, sufficient sacrihce, oblation, and satisfaction for the sins of the world, which eternal Justice required. Every claim of Kighteousncss against sinners was satisfied, every barrier * CoL iii. 4 ', 1 John, i. 1, 2. if 126 THE SACRAMENT A MEANS [sera. xr. between man and his God was for ever removed, and a way to God was opened— a way that remains for ever « new and livin- " The Atonement did not of itself immediately give life, and unfon with God, but it removed all obstacles to such a purpose, and made provision for its actual accomplishment. This, then, is the second step 111 the mighty work— that the Son becomes our life, not simply as God, but as God incarnate— as entered into our ranks as par- taker of our nature. A perfect Man, the Eternal Son, in indis- soluble union with humanity, He appears a Second Adrwi, the new representative of the race, bearing their sins, exhibiting that righte- ousness in which they had failed— an elder Brother, taking al! the family under His protection ; who, being identified with Him, become the sons of God, inasmuch as He is the Son of God ; and as they are in the Son, they become heirs of God, joinl^heirs' with Christ. Our natural birth identifies us with the first Adam, to our death • but how are we identified with, united to the Second Adam, to our hfe ? For this is the third and final step of that process, whose first IS hidden in unsearchable eternity. By no natural birth, by no natural pperation : « that which is born of the flesh is flesh " By no mere ritual work : it is not " of the will of the flesh, or of the will of man," that we are united to Christ. Nor is it by any righteousness of works that we have done, nor by any merit to which we could ever lay claim. No ! the privilege is as gratuitoush granted as it was mysteriously procured. Let every human ear drink in with wonder and gratitude the announcement of a Savi- our's mercy :-" As many as received Him, to them gave He power (right, or privilege, marg.) to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on His Name." And he who thus, with all his heart believes on Him as the Son of God and the Saviour of the world' may, m virtue of his faith, say with the Eunuch, " What doth hin- der me to be baptized ? " And " no man can forbid water that he should not be baptized," and receive in the sacrament of the new- birth that privilege which Christ has accorded to His faith the privilege of becoming a son of God. « Hereby (according to' our xxvii Art.) as by an instrument are those who believe in Christ grafted into the church, the promises of the forgiveness of sins and of our adoption to be the sons of God by the Holy Ghost are X OP UNION WITH CHRIST. 127 Serm. XI.] visibly signed and sealed "—it is " a pledge to assure us thereof." And those who now, in like faith, look back to the baptism of their infancy, may entertain all that assurance of their being Christ's which words of inspiration can give, " For as many of you as were baptized into Christ, have put on Christ." So begins our Spiritual life, our union with Christ— BY faith ; in baptism. But, observe, only hegms. Engrafting is not the same with the ingathering of the ripe fruit. Ado^Hion is not quite the same as proving ourselves in holy deeds the true and worthy sons of God. " Inheritors of the kingdom of heaven " we be- come ; but we only " begin to possess " '^ the promised land. Our new birth to spiritual life is not one with the consummation of that life in glory. Faith, the foundation stone, is not one with " the head-stone," " Charity, the end of the commandment," and the perfection of our being. We nmst see, then, how the blessed gift of a new life is to be perfected, how our union with Christ is to be maintained till mortality be for ever swallowed up of life, and all the dangers which diminish it now and threaten to extinguish it, be themselves for ever extinguished. For this end our Lord has appointed His precious Body and Blood to be our spiritual food and sustenance ; by the constant and faithful reception of which we may repair the perpetual decays of the spiritual life, and more than repair them — grow up into perfec- tion. All this intermediate period, therefore, must the words of our Lord remain in force—" Vcrilij, verily, I my unto you, accept ye eat the flesh of the Son of Man, and drink Ilis blood, ye have no life in you; " f and positively, in our text, " he that ca'teth Me, even he shall live by 3Ic." Now, that thiu eating, by which we continue our spiritual life is not a bare faith apart from the sacrament, but the act of faith in the sacrament, a simple review of the context can htirdly fail to convince us. In the neighbourhood of the sea of Galilee, a great number of those who were going up to Jerusalem, to celebrate the Passover, waited on our Lord's ministry— whose bodily necessities He supplied, feeding five thousand men with five barley loaves and two small fishes. This miracle has an honour put upon it claimed by no other miracle— viz., that it is the only one related by all the Dcut, ■j- Juliu, vi. 63. 128 THE SACRAMENT A MEANS [senn. XI. Evangelists : the Holy Ghost hereby signifying some great thing. And a great conviction it wrought in the minds of many, who said, " Tilts is of a truth that prophet that should come into the world." On the next day, at the other side of the lake, our Saviour made the memorable discourse recorded in this chapter, to the same crowd, who still followed Him. Their motives were not absolutely disinterested—" Ye seek Me, (said Jesus,) not because ye saw the miracles, but because ye did eat of the loaves and were filled." And then, as ever was His wont. He turns their thoughts from the earthly to the heavenly, from the unreal and transient to the true and lasting. " Labour not for the meat which perisheth, but for that meat which endureth unto everlasting life, which the Son of Man shall give unto you." That he could give it, that He had a right to their attention and their faith,— the mighty miracle which He had wrought the day before was an all-sufficient demonstration — as it was the most fitting introduction to so weighty and divine a discourse. Accordingly, the language of our Saviour seems in- tended, among other uses, as an exercise of faith. There is a remarkable ascent in His words : first He speaks of mere bread what He had just multiplied, in the twenty-sixth verse ; then the bread of heaven, in the thirty-second ; then the head of God, in the thirty-third; the bread of life, in the thirty -fifth; the living bread, in the fifty-first ; and in the same verse He affirms Ifiin- self, yea. His fesh, to be this bread ; and then He rises a step higher, declaring that it is necessary to eat His flesh ; then His Jlesh and blood, in the fifty-third verse ; and lastly. He re-affirma the same thing, using a different word, strange and difficult, and repeated four times. This word is rp^yu. It is not properly applied to food prepared by man, and it expresses the eager appetite with which animals fasten on their food and devour it.* This was sa by many to be "an hard saying"— truly it waa ; and there m be little doubt that it was intended so to be. To faith it easy enough. Faith would say, " Lord I believe that Thy flesh neat indeed, and Thy blood drink indeed : I believe that we must eat, if we would live. / know not hoio it can be, but Thou knowest, Vfho hast said." But to carnal curiosity, it could not but be inexplicable : " Hoio can this man give us Hia * See Lidd. Or Lev. s, y„ nnd Wordswortli's Gr. Tcist. in loc. Serm. XI.J OP UNION WITH OHRIST. 129 flesh to eat ? " Because they could not understand the how, they would not bdieve the /act.* Now, how can we think that language so studiedly strange as our Lord's, was intended to mean absolutely nothing more than believing on Him, and receiving His doctrines? To eat and drink is a phrase undoubtedly used to signify receiving instruction, and ac- cepting another's teaching ; as in Prov. ix., « Wisdom hath builded her house, she hath hewn out her seven pillars : she hath killed her beasts : she hath mingled her wine : she hath also furnished her table." She proclaims : « Come eat of my bread, and drink of the wine which I have mingled." But we may boldly affirm that the whole world does not furnish an instance in which to bdieve in one and receive his doctrines is expressed by eating his flesh and drinJcing his blood. Are we not, then, constrained to apply our Lord's words to the spiritual eating of His body and blood in the holy Sacrament by faith ? Our Lord was not understood, nor was it possible that He could be, referring as He did to what as yet were only in intention— His death on the Cross, and the institution of the holy Supper as its perpetual memorial and the means whereby He would give Himself as " our spiritual food and susten- ance." Our Lord's hearers were not to be condemned for not nnderstanding Him, Can even we, with all the light of His after teaching and His after acts, understand the manner of our union with Him, take it how we will ? Their unbelief constituted their guilt ; and therefore our Saviour said, " there are some of you that believe not." And as their cavilling arose from unbelief, therefore He did not, when they murmured, make Himself clearer, but proceeded to use still more mysterious expressions. Faith received with open arms the glorious gift of immortal life through Christ, unbelieving curiosity stumbled at the inexplicable method of its impartation. Here it may be interesting briefly to observe, that while the other evangelists give us the institution of both sacraments, St. John omits all mention of the institution, but gives us that for which we are indebted to him alone— that is, the divine philosophy of those mysterious rites ; here, of the Lord's Supper, and in the third chapter of Baptism. Our Lord's similarity of method on both occa- * aaipfiQ ileyxoi amariac rb nug ne^l 0eov ?.eyuv. Justin Martyr. Exposit. Fidei de Rect^a Confess. S86. E. K it 180 THE 8ACRA1J VT A MEANS [_Senn* Xl« sions is remarkable. Objections do not make Him explain- -He only re-aflSrms ■with more confidence and more obscurity. Nico- demus stumbled exactly as the people at Capernaum, at the how of regeneration — " how can these things be? " — " how can a man be born when he is old ? " And our Saviour's only explanation is a more emphatic repetition and in more mysterious terms. Both these discourses agree also in that they are anticipatory or pro- phetical — spoken long before the actual institution of the sacra- ments. Some wrongly draw from this circumstance the inference that they do not relate at all to the sacraments ; — ^hereby practically denying the prophetical character of our Lord, and forgetting of how universal application are the words in the chapter before us, " Jesus Himself knew what he would cfo." Indeed if these dis- courses of our Lord's do not relate to the sacraments, then have we no explanation at all from Himself of His two most important institutions, and then has His church from the very beginning been universally under a grievous mispersuasion.* That it is no carnal eating which is here mennt, I will not now stop to assert. It is impossible, unless for those who are unduly biassed, not to perceive thai faith is the hand which alone does or can apprehend Christ in the sacrament, the mouth by which He is received into the soul, and becomes to us the food of immortality. His own words shew that His presence is not carnal — " What and if ye shall see the Son of Man ascend up where He was before ? " If He has ascended in body, His natural body is not eaten carnally — for it is not here. We return now to a more particular consideration of our text. " As the living Father hath sent Me, and I live by the Father ; so he that eateth Me, even he shall live by Me." This is the conclusion of His great discourse. How wonderful in itself, how important to us ! We are infallibly told how our long-forfeited life may be restored, and more than restored, secured for ever : It is br/ communion with Christ, and mutual indwelling in Him. " He that eateth my flesh and drinketh my blood dwelleth in Me and I in him." But how does this save us — how give us life? Our Saviour explains in the next words, i.e., our text: * On the matter of this paragraph vid. Plaiu Commentary on the Holy Gospela, WordBWorth'a Annotations, and Bengel's Gnomon. OF UNION WITH CHRIST. 131 3enn. XI.] " The living Father hath sent Me, and / live by the Father." The Father who hath sent Me is the living God, the original fountain of life ; that life, undiminished, is in Me : for " I live dii Tdv naripa — bi/ reason of the Father:" i.e., as He says elsewhere, " the Father is in Me and I in Him." There is between the Father and the Son a mutual indwelling; and our Saviour goes on to make the amazing declaration, that as He lives from all eternity on account of the Father dwelling in Him, so we live on account of Himself, the Son, dwelling in us. " He that eateth Me, the Life, and so hath received the very Life into him- self, he shall live by reason of Me." Here is a life for us transcending that of angels— a participation in the divine life of Christ, flowing down to us from the very Fountain of Deity. We eat His flesh and drink His blood— and Himself declares " we dwell in Him and He in us," and His Church adds, " we are one with Him and He with us." How strong the foundation of our life, the life that is originally in the Father I How certain its derivation to us ! As truly do we live by the indwelling of the Son, as He by the indwelling of the Father. Of that infinite life does He impart to us, and lo ! we live for ever. We said, at the outset, that not simply as the Son of God is He our life, but as God incarnate ; and therefore it is that He speaks of His bodi/ and blood. His Humanity, enriched by indissoluble union with His Divinity, is the well-spring of life and blessing to us. Apart from it we are dead : " Verily, verily, I Bay unto you except ye eat the flesh of the Son of Man, and drink His blood, ye' have no life in you." And St. Paul, in 1 Cor. x., gives us an in- fallible interpretation of our Lord's words — he shows us, beyond power of mistake, by what means we are so to receive His body and blood : " The cup of blessing which we bless, is it not the communion of the blood of Christ ? The bread which we break, is it not the communion of the body of Christ ? " Communion— « oivo>via, i.e., either the participation of it, or, the means of imparting it to us. In this mystical union with Christ are included all the blessings required by our souls— which, in the Catechism, are summed up in two Yfovda— strengthening and refreshing. k2 ,'r 182 THE SACRAMENT A MEANS [serm. XI. There is FoEaiVENESS. This stands first— it is what the sinner needs to remove the very first barrier in his way to God and life. And our Saviour has given it prominence : " This cup is the New Testament in my blood, which is shed for you and for many, for the remission of sins." God who admits us to His table, will not regard us as enemies. He who gives us His Son, will not be slow to forgive us our sins. What strmgth is this to the soul 1 Is not sin the weakness of the soul ? Is not this the parent of aU its diseases and infirmities ? Is not the consciousness of sin the agony that eats away its vigour ? And when sin is forgiven, and God gives us " a pledge to assure us thereof "—our strength is renewed : " the joy of the Lord is our strength." The blood of the sacrifices always made holy whatever it touched— much more this blood, " which clcanseth from all sin." This blood of sprinkling cleanses the conscience from dead works, and refreshes the soul with the consciousness of restored purity. The weary soul shakes off its burden, and rises on the wings of hope and bve towards its native clime. Jot is another blessed fruit of it. The three hours' darkness of the Crucifixion has illuminated the heavens for ever. Faith now sees no frowning thunder-cloud of wrath, but the whole firmament gilded with the brightest rays of mercy. God is atoned. There is access for man. Yes— much more. It is not now merely that we may come to God— but He comes to us, and dwells in us, and we in Him, God, the Life, within us I Let us but once realize this, and the world could not furnish tongues enough to proclaim our joy, to express the ocean of transport within. We shall be fain to ask the angqls to help us in so delightful yet impossible a task ; yea, we shall invoke the sea with its sounding tones to join our hymn, the mountains and hills to break forth into singing, and all the trees of the field to clap their hands. The joy of the Church from the beginning has burst forth in that most ancient (I will not say tiftinspired, for probably it is an inspired) hymn, " Glory be to God on high, and in earth peace, good-will towards men. We praise Thee, we bless Thee, we worship Thee, we glorify Thee, we give thanks to Thee, for Thy great glory, Lord God, heavenly King, God the Father Almighty." No words seem adequate to express the thankful ranture of him who receives into the temple of his Senn. XI.] OP UNION WITH CHRIST. 133 heart the God that inhabiteth eternity. " They are things won- derful which he feeleth, (says our holy and venerable Hooker,) great which he seeth, and unheard of which he uttereth, whose soul is possest of this Paschal Lamb, and made joyful in the strength of this new wine," Here have the prophetical words their full accomplishment — " How great is His goodness, and how great is His beauty ! Corn shall make the young men cheerful, and ncF wine the maids ! " (Zech. ix. v. ult.) Energy is another of its blessed products. In how great an enterprise is the Christian embarked ! an enterprise involving escape from the greatest of evils ; the attainment of the greatest good ; a conflict with the most powerful, vigilant, and subtle foes. Yet how languidly is the great work of salvation prosecuted ! One would suppose, to judge from the conduct of the mass of professed Christians around us, that Christianity was the euiiest religion in the world, the most favourable to seli-indulgenoe — that it required no sacrifices whatever of mind, body, or estate ; that the mind might soar to heaven in a delicious dream, the body pampered by indul- gence, and not a farthing or an acre of the estate be left behind. Enemies, battles, ambushes, difficulties, indeed ! What nonsense, they think, to say such things belong to our religion ; or, if they do believe them, they say with the old banqueting Greek, " Serious matters to-morrow ; " and, like him, they often see not the morrow. Oh, how lamentable is it to see the frightful deadness and indif- ference of those bearing the Christian name, in all things relating to Christ ! But what wonder, when they come not in contact with that Jlesh of Christ which is a quickening Spirit I What wonder, when Christ Himself says, that if we eat not His flesh, we have no life in us I " But he that eateth Me, even he shall live by Me ; " and partaking of a divine life, it shows itself in every appropriate expression — zeal in devout and religious acts, fervour of affection to Christ and Christians, readiness and forwardness to every good work. Little difficulties do not appal and paralyse the possessors of such life, whether in their own private course to heaven, or in their exertions for the good of the Church at large : they feel a divine energy within them, buoying them up above the waves of despair, and impelling them irresistibly onward to success. And though we cannot, dare not say, that all communicants como say, up I .: 134 THE SACRAMENT A MEANS I Scnn. XI* to their high privileges— yet we can feariessly say that, in every congregation, (with very few exceptions, indeed,) the communicants are the persons who feel and show the greatest interest in religion, and make the greatest exertions for the good of the Body. And if our congregations, instead of furnishing a mere handful, gave a goodly proportion, we should soon, as a church, put on a new aspect. The Dead Sea, with the sullen plash of its dark waters, would be exchanged for the river of life, proceeding out of the throne of God ; its waters dancing in the sunlight of heaven, the soothing murmur of their endless ripple bringi.-?g to the ear and the soul assurance of undecaying life and untiring activity. I come now to the last sublime effect of the Sacrament, which seals and consummates all others— thk Kesurrection of the BODY. It is the true creed of the Catholic Church, that " All men shall rise again with their bodies in the last day ; " yet not in the same way. Christ ip the first-fruits, and the dead in Christ shall rise first. Then the wicked— who shall be raised by the simple omnipotence of God, and for tho simple purpose of being judged for the deeds done in the body ; that in soul and body they may suffer for those deeds in which both were participators. But the case of the righteous is not simply parallel : they, too, shall be raised by Omnipotence, it is true, that they too may be rewarded in soul and body for the deeds in which both shared ; but not sokly for this reason— Scripture gives another. In Bom. viii. 11, St. Paul says, " If the Spirit of Him that raised up Jesus from the dead dwell in you, He that raised up Christ from the dead shall also quicken your mortal bodies (according to the mar- gin, which follows the best reading) became of His Spirit that dwelleth in you." And two verses before our text, our Lord says, " Whoso eateth my flesh and drinketh my blood, hath eternal life ; and I li'ill raise Him up at the last day." This He had twice before asserted in the same chapter. In the 5th chapter He had declared that all that are in the graves should hear His voice, and should come forth, some to the resurrection of life, and some to the resurrection of damnation. His power is indeed concerned with both. But in a peculiar manner is He the Baiser of the Saints, and for a special reason,— because of their union with Himself, through tho participation of His body and blood. With this He Berm. XI.] OP UNION WITH CHRIST. 135 connects our Resurrection — making it most plainly a cc^ sequence and effect of the sacrament — " Whoso eateth my flesh and drinketh my blood hath eternal life," not only a spiritual life for the soul, but for the body too ; for He adds, to show the intimate connexion, " and I will raise him up at the last day." Hero I may adduce the luminous and well-known words of Hooker,* to illustra*<} and confirm this teaching : " Our souls and bodies quickened to eternal Life are effects, the cause whereof is the Person of Christ ; His Body and Blood are the true well-spring out of which this life floweth. So that His Body and Blood are in that very subject whereunto they minister life, not only hy effect or operation, even as the influence of the heavens is in plants, beaste, men, and in everything which they quicken ; but al«o by a far more divine and mystical kind of union, which maketh us one with Him, even as He and the Father are one." And again : f " Our general consolation departing this life is, the hope of that glorious and blessed Resurrection which the apostle St. Paul nameth i^avdaraoiv, to note that as all men shall have their av&araaiv, and be raised again from the dead, so the just shall be taken up and exalted obove the rest, whom the power of God doth but raise, and not exalt. This Life, and the Resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ, is for all men, as touching the sufficiency of what He hath done ; but that which maketh us partakers thereof, is our particular communion with Christ ; and this Sacrament is a principal mean, as well to strengthen the bond, as to multiply in us the fruits of the same Communion. For which cause St. Cyprian termeth it ' a joyful solemnity of expedite and speedy Resurrection ; ' Ignatius, * a medicine which procureth immortality and preventeth death ; ' Irenaeus, ' the nourishment of our bodies to eternal life, and their preservation from corruption.' " I would simply add, that those three, whom Hooker quotes, are the most illustrious and venerable names in the times immediately following the Apostles, as is his «wn in the Church of England, since the Reformation. How entirely agreeable this is to the express teaching of our Church you will perceive from the following passage, taken out of the first purt of the Homily " Concerning the Sacrament " — which, on several accounts, it will be profitable to quote. Treating of the 136 THE SACRAMENT A MEANS l_Scnii. XL hnmDhdge required in worthy Comniunioants, it says : " Neither need we to think that such exact knowledge is required of every man, that ho bo able to discuss all high points in the doctrine thereof : but this much we must he sure to hold, that in the supper of the Lord there is no vain ceremony, no bare sign, no untruo figure of a thing absent : But, as the scripture saith, the table of the Lord, the bread and cup of the Lord, the memory of Christ, the annunciation of His death, yea, the communion of the body and blood of the Lord, in a marvellous incorporation, which by the operation of the Holy Ghost (the very bond of our conjunction with Christ) is through faith wrought in the souls of the faithful, whereby not only their souls live to eternal life, hut they surely trust to win their hodics to a resurrection to immortality. The true understanding of this fruition and union, which is betwixt tho body and tho Head, betwixt the true believers and Christ, the ancient Catholic fathers both perceiving themselves, and commend- ing to their people, were not afraid to call this Supper, some of them, the salve of immortality and sovereign preservative against death ; other, a deifical communion ; other, the sweet dainties of our Saviour, the pledge of eternal health, tho defence of faith, the hope of the resurrect ion ; other, the food of immortality, the health- ful grace, and the conservatory to everlasting life. All which say- ings, both of the holy scriptures and godly men, truly attrihuttd to this celestial banquet and feast, if we would often call to mind, how would they influence our hearts to desire the participation of these mysteries, and oftentimes to covet after this bread, continually to thirst for this food 1 " As we contemplate this list of benefits, so glorious, commu.,':".ted through this blessed Sacrament, surely we are well reminded that " it is our duty to render most humbla and hearty thanks to Almighty God our heavenly Father, who, for the perpetual remembrance of the exceeding great love of our Master and only Saviour Jesus Christ in dying for us, and the innumerable benefits which by His precious blood-shedding Ho hath obtained to us, — hath instituted and ordained these holy mysteries, to our great and endless comfort." This Sacrament, is thus an open, visible demonstration of His intention — apledi/e, addressed at once to the sight of our eyes and the faith of our minds, of His gracious purposes towards us — of all Barm. XI ] OF UNION WITH CHRIST. 137 that Ho binds Ilimsclf to acoomplish for us. What faithlcflsnesa, then, to doubt not only His word^ but that word oonfirmcd by Ilia solemn seal, a pledge like this I Happy is ho who believes simply in God, and, in the Church's thanksgiving, expresses his own per- suasion that " God docs Jurehi/ anurc us of His favour and good- ness towards us, and that wo are very members incorporate in tho mystical body of His Son." To the contrite, humbled soul how welcome, how consoling an assurance I How much more stable and secure than the varying testimony of our fickle, uncertain feelings — the deluding witness tf) which so many wholly trust in a mattfir of such eternal moment. If penitent and troubled souls, instead of searching for the marks of their being Christ's among the jumble of mere feeling, according to the directions of some un- skilful guides, — were rather to go on in tho ways of penitence, were to wait patiently for God in the holy Sacrament ; He would, in His good time, grant them the assurance which their hearts long for. He v:ould say to ihaiv faith in audible tones — " Go in peace ; thy sins are forgiven thee ! Fear not I thou art mine ! Thou art in Me, and I in thee. By Me thou livest, and I will raise thee up at the last day." Here also let me add what the Ilomily lately quoted says on this point : " Thus much more the faitliful see, hear, and know the favourable mercies of God sealed, the satisfaction by Christ towards us confirmed, and the remission of sins established. Here they may feel wrought the tranquillity of conscience, tho increase of faith, the strengthening of hope, the large spreading abroad of brotherly kindness, with many other sundry graces of God. The taste whereof they cannot attain to, who be drowned in the deep, dirty lake of blindness and ignorance. From the which, beloved, wash yourselves with the living waters of God's word, whence you may perceive and know, both the spiritual food of this costly supper, and the happy trustings and effects that the same doth hring with it." * * Milner observes, " well-disposed persons who often gain both spiritual comiort and strength through sermons, gain nothing from the Sacrament. Why is this ? They are in too lazy a posture of soul ; thoj do not reverently esteem, as they should, this precious mean of grace, as the channel in which the comforts of Salvation may be expected richly to flow. Our Reformers Bpeak differently of the importance of this Institution. From the expression, ['doat 138 THK SACRAMENT A MEANS [Hmn. XI. To Communicants I would say a parting word. Are wo so closely united to the eternal Lord and Saviour, that we as truly live on account of Him dwelling in us, as He lives on account of the Father dwelling in Him from eternity — and shall wo not feel bound to a thankfulness beyond tho world's poor measure, and a holinem somewhat more than a step removed from tho morality of a pagan ? Can wo believe ourselves one with Christ, that He i$ one with us, and allow ourselves to continue in sin, in aiiy sin ? " As He who hath called you is holy, so bo yo holy in all manner of conversation," is St. Peter's exhortation : wo may go higher than this — As He who is in you, and dwells in you, and is your life by His indwelling, and is one with you — so that you are " mem- bers of His body, and of His flesh, and of His bones" — as He is holy, so bo ye holy in every thought, and aspiration, and act. These souls, inspired by His Spirit, and sprinkled with His blood, and living by His life — how shall they ever admit a thought of revolt I Shall they not follow, with the eagle-eye of faith, their ascended Lord, and aspiro to an ever - increasing conformity to Him ? Shall they not pant and sigh to receive more of His ful- ness? to represent more exactly His every lineament? to thrill with ecstatic delight at his every command ? to glow with the fer- vours of that divine love which, kindled here, shall flame immortal in ihe heavens ? These bodies, on which He has set the seal of the Resurrection, and which are yet to shine in the dazzling lustre 'dost assure thereby of Thy favour and goodness towards ua, and that we are very members incorporate in the mystical body of Thy Son,' it is evident that the hle»»ing of asmranee was in their idea connected with the right reception of this ordinance." Bxokirhtkth's Treatise on the Lord's Supper, Pt ii. chap, iv., near the end. The following is from W. Bates, D.D., a Nonconformist Divine of tbo v<3ry highest and most deserved reputation : " His body and blood are tho feast of love upon His saciifice, the clearest assuring sign of God's being reconciled to us!' " How many drooping souls have been raised, how many wounded spirits have been healed, how many cloudy souls have been enlightened in that ordinance !" Spiritual Perfection, Chap. xii. This Treatise is published by tho London Religious Tract Society. Matthew Henry says, " We here receive the earnest of our inheritance; that is, we here receive tlie assurance of it." Communicant's Companiou, Cbap. ix. V. Bmn. XI .] or UNION WITH CHRIST. 189 of His own glorified body — in which IIo intends to reveal to prin- cipalities and powers the might of His mercy and the fulness of His redemption — which are to take no obscure place among tho brilliant throngs that now look forward to our acoession, — these bodies, on which Christ has lavished tho stores of His glorious mercy, and which Ho destines for such great things — take them and defile them with tho grossness of tho earth ? Oh, my God, is it possible, all heaven reclaiming against the frightful sacrilege I The gentle Dove ceases His unavailing remonstrances, and quits His desecrated temple ; and Christ, with awful outraged justice, severs from Himself the branch that is fruitful only in dead works. Oh, brethren, it is not from above and around you merely that you hear the cry " Bo ye holy" — from within evermore its echoes pro- ceed. Blessed voice I lot it never cease, till every thought of tho Communicant's heart and every action of his body is " ilOLiNESa TO THE Lord." Amen. SERMON XII. THE lord's supper AS A COMMUNION. 1 Cor. X. 17. " For we being many are one bread, and one body : for we are all partakers of that one bread." I HAVE already, in two former Sennons, treated of the Lord's Supper — first, as a Remembrance, and, secondly, as a means of continued Union with Christ. I now propose to view it as a Communion. God, my brethren, is not the author of confusion or dissension. He cannot be ; for so He would contradict the eternal unity of His own nature. In His glorious works of creation there is a beautiful diversity, but a diversity in Unity — the impress and Symbol of the Godhead. And so it is in the moral creation. But sin entered — and disunion was the result. Sin separated God's creatures from Him, and from each other too. Such is its repellant nature, that it is ever striving to overcome all the bands and laws which hold together the works of God and secure their unity, while it would reduce the glorious whole to its original atoms. What mournful instances of this does each day furnish ! Na- tions are perpetually at variance, desolating whole countries with every evil that man can fear. And, as individuals, men are still more dreadfully separated ; so much so, that scarcely two persons can be found, however connected by the tics of nature, affection, or Senn. XII. ] THE LORD's SUPPER AS A COMMUNION. 141 interest, between whom something may not spring up to interrupt or mar their union — ^yea, which will not be sure to do so without the exercise of a pious and prudent vigilance. Such are the un- happy, wide-spread effects of that disturbance which sin has caused in the very frame-work of human nature and human society. There is just enough of our original nature left, to make us feel the misery of our disorders, and long for their correction. As the outgrowth of this feeling, we may perhaps regard those many associations, in all ages and countries and states of society, in which men have sought that more intimate union which their souls naturally crave, but which a universal society, disturbed by sin, could not afford. And so it has been in regenerated society, the church, when the vital principle languishes, and the bonds of the divinely-instituted community are relaxed through prevailing ini- quity. Then is the tendenc_) greatest to draw off into societies or sects more or less select and secret. We read of no such clubs, meetings, associations, or societies among Christians in the early days of Christianity ; for then the spirit of new-born love was strong, its glow suffused the whole church : in that regenerated society the discords of earth found no abiding home, and the human spirit found all its cravings satisfied. Vain, ever vain, are all the efforts of mortals to supply the needs of their fallen nature by their own independent efforts, or from any earthly source. From loiihout them, from above them, must they look for relief. " From the hills, the everlasting hills, cometh all their help." And, therefore, God hath built us a city, whose foundations are upon the holy hills — " the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem" — cheered with His presence, filled with His love, where we have fellowship with Him and with His Son Jesus Christ, with angels, with the spirits of just men made per- fect, and with one another. This fdlowship one with another, as it has a more than human origin, so has it a basis stronger and more stable than the weak foundations of our human nature. It is altogether of God, through Christ ; whose merit procured it, whose incarnation is its everlasting foundation, and who has ordained the Holy Sacrament of His body and blood as the in- strument by which His Spirit presents it to our faith. In the text the Apostle afiirms the Church's union — " we being many are 142 THE lord's supper AS A COMMUNION. [ Senn. XII. I ; one bread and one body ;" but to shew how utterly this is of Christ's grace and gift, he first says (in the preceding verse) " the cup of blessing which we bless, is it not the communion of the blood of Christ ? The bread which we break, is it not the com- munion of the body of Christ ? " In which words the Apostle asserts our union with Christ, by the participation of His Body and Blood in the Sacrament ; and then, by virtue of that union, our communion with one another, as expressed in the text; in which he reiterates the cause — "for we are all partakers of that one bread,^^ which is the Body of Christ. This union which we have with one another through the Sacra- ment, or Communion, is two-fold : I. It is real and internal ; II. It is outward. 1. 1. It is real and internal, since, as I have already partially indicated, we are hereby made partakers of Christ. For the bread and cup are respectively asserted to be the Koivwia, communion or participation of the body and blood of Christ. Hereby He dwells in us and we in Him. We become very members incorporate in His mystical body. Hence, being engrafted into the one Lord Jesus Christ, abiding in Him, deriving life and nourishment from Him, our union with one another in Him is of the most real character. We become, in the Apostle's language, " members of His body, of His flesh, and of His bonesj" and, consequently, in the words of the same Apostle, " members one of another" — than which nothing conceivable by the human mind could express a more close and real union. This is by our eating that one bread : " we being many are one bread and one body : for we are all par- takers of that one bread." Instead of our assimilating It to our discordant minds, as our bodies assimilate their food to their own substance ; It, working by a supernatural law, the direct opposite of that natural law which prevails in our bodily nourishment, con- forms our discordancy to Christ's own unity. As that bread is one, so it makes us one. Such is the omnipotent power residing in the Lord's Body. What elevated, ennobling views does this give us of our mutual relationship — of its sacredness and closeness ! " Te are all one in Christ Jestis ! " 2. Our confidence in the reality of this union and our reverence for it, must be enhanced by considering the agent of it — who is Serm. XII. ] THE LORD'S SUPPER AS A COMMUNION. 143 the Holy Spirit, It was He who first united us to Christ; " for (says the Apostle) by one Spirit are we all baptized into one body ; " and every additional bond of union with that body — our continuance in it, our nourishment by it, is by and through the Blessed Spirit. It is by the mighty operation of the Spirit alone that earthly elements of bread and wine become the celestial life- giving food of the soul— the body and blood of Christ. Hence our union in Christ is the work of the Spirit, and our union with one another is called " the Unity of the Spirit : " for we are all made to drink into One Spirit." And hence — 3. Another view of this internal union — that harmony of thought and feeling wrought in the hearts of Christians by the Holy Spirit herein. However discrepant our tempers and judgments may be by nature, how is it possible that they should continue so when they come under the transforming influence of the Framer and Teacher of all hearts ? The same lessons are taught, the same motives are presented, the same grace is at work, the same plastic hand is upon all — henceforth dissension is expelled, and " with one mind and one mouth'' God is glorified. In faith, and hope, and charity, and judgment, and will, and purpose, their minds are con- formed to one blessed standard. Oh, were Christians but all united to Jesus Christ by faith and charity, and with one another in the constant reception of the Holy Communion, how speedily would heart-burnings and quarrels in daily life, and all schisms in religion, vanish, and for ever I No wonder that there should be so much disunion when we have so few Communions, and so few Communicants at them I No wonder there should be so many bitter diversities of religious belief, when men allowed themselves first to part company at this point. Were they to continue devoutly communing together, might they not more reasonably have hoped that God would equally illuminate both sides, and in the end perfectly unite them, as with Christ, so with one another ? Now we hear of this Communion, and that Communion — instead of all partaking of that One Bread, in the communion of all Christians. But as the communion of Christians in the reception of the Blessed Sacrament is real and internal, so is it — II. Outward too. 1. Inasmuch as it is the Lord's Supper. The very name imports communion. It is the Feast made by 144 THE lord's supper AS A COMMUNION. [ Serm. XII. 1)^ It' the great Head of the Church. The food is that Divine humanity which was given for all — which tusted death for every man — that blood which was shed for many for the remission of sins. Consequently there are no private rights or interests at this table. Christ made distribution to all alike. " Take, eat — drink ye all of this," are His words. Hence all baptized Christians, of what condition soever, if they do not deny their Baptism by an ungodly life, have right of access to this Supper, and should not fail to enjoy their right. It is a Supper, then, not made for a few, but common to all — and hence, in some sense, its very name, Communion. 2. Again — Christians have an outward and visible communion with each other, by partaking of the one bread or loaf. From the beginning one loaf or piece of bread used to be consecrated in the Sacrament, because it was the symbol of Christ, who was one and undivided, and because it was to symbolize our union with Him and with each other — " that we are all one in Christ Jesus." There is an aptness in the thing itself to represent unity : for as the one loaf is compounded of many separate grains ; so we being many, and partaking of Christ's Body, which possesses a divine transforming power, are incorporated into His one Body — and so become one in the sublimest sense. We learn from ancient authors* that the eating of a loaf of bread, after breaking and distribution, was a mode of contracting friendship in use among the aucionts. And the Jewsf of a parti- cular neighborhood used to enter into friendship by each contribut- ing a loaf, of which, after one had pronounced a blessing, all imme- diately partook. But nothing could be so impressive a symbol of unity as the partaking of one loaf, and that itself the symbol of Christ's Body. And here we may observe how far the Church of Kome has de- parted, in her celebration of this Sacrament, from the institution of Christ, the express words of Scripture, and the meaning of the rite, in that she both consecrates and administers it in separate wafers. There is no one bread or loaf (as the original properly means, and as it is translated in the narratives of our Lord's mira- • Vide Whitby, Com. on 1 Cor. x. t Liglitf. Hor. Heb. in 1 Cor. s. It. XII. Sera, XH. ] THE LORD'S SUPPEE AS A COMMUNION. 145 cles) to be a symbol of that One Divine Bread which came down from heaven, of our incorporation into the one body, and of our becoming thereby " one bread and one body." There is no " break- ing of bread"— one of the very names by which the sacrament is indicated in Scripture, which also our Lord commanded and delivered to be received, in token of His body broken for us ; and consequently no distribution of the same loaf, indicative of the equal interests of aU in the common supper of the common Saviour. And these are only part, as you know, of the many grievous cor- ruptions with which that Church has encompassed this holy sacra- ment. It is to be lamented that among ourselves, too, there is great misapprehension as to the mystical import of the one ha/ of our text : for I have observed that most of our people, when they pre- pare the bread for the Holy Communion, cut it or break it up into fragments— thereby destroying aU the significancy of setting forth one whole piece of bread, and afterwards breaking it in the act of consecration, which is, of course, the peculiar office of the priest. If you were to read carefully the accounts of the institution in the Gospels, and in the tenth and eleventh chapters of St, Paul's First Epistle to the Corinthians, and compare them with our Communion Office and the Rubrics, you could not fail to have a much fuller and more satisfactory view of the doctrine and uses of the Sacra- ment than people commonly have, 3. The Communion of Saints is also evidenced herein by the mutual intercessions which are made in this celebration. This in our office, is done in the prayer " for the whole state of Christ's church militant here on earth: " in which we make prayers, sup- plications, and give thanks for all men, especially for all Christian kings, states, and people— for all in trouble, sorrow, need, sickness, or any other adversity. Nor do we forget our brethren departed this life, and who have entered into rest : for them we give thanks to God, and beseech Him to give us grace so to follow their good examples, that with them we may be partakers of His heavenly kingdom. T is is a noble instance of the Communion of Saints. If, then, there are any for whom we would make most special inter- cession, whom we would make mention of in all our prayers, who are specially dear to us, or specially intrusted to ua— when can we 146 THE lord's supper as a communion. [ Serm. XII hope so devoutly or so effectually to recommend them to the Divine mercy, as in the celebration of this feast of love and unity ? And, as in the Sacrament the church opens wide her heart of love, and prays for all, so ought our hearts to be more than ever expanded with universal charity, particularly to all Christians throughout the world, and embrace in our private prayers every part of the great household. In these suggestions probably all communicants will be able to recognize their own continual practice. 4. Another sign of the love and fellowship of the Saints, as witnessed in the Holy Communion, existed in the apostolical and ancient Church, but being corrupted in the course of ages, was finally abolished— I mean what St. Paul calls " the holy Jciss," St. Peter " the kiss of charity," and the ancient Church " the kiss of peace.'' After the preliminary prayers were over, just before the celebration, a deacon said aloud* — " Receive one another ; salute one another with an holy kiss : " whereupon the clergy saluted the bishop, the laymen of the congregation the men, and the women the women.f A kiss is the natural token of peace and unity, of love and friendship ; and it is called holy by the Apostle, to show how unfeigned and sincere and pure and fervent should be that charity which we profess thereby. For what could be a viler hypocrisy than, Judas-like, to give our brother the token of love, while our hearts were actuated by bitterness and hatred ? Let those who come now to the Sacrament remember that though the kiss of charity is not practised, yet all that it imported is required — in a word, the heart of -charity. And those who come to the very Sacrament of tmion with hearts full of strife and envying ; who entertain uncharitable thoughts over the very Body of their Lord, and while celebrating the most amazing love— love at which all heaven stands by in wonder, cannot but eat and drink damnation to themselves. There can be no doubt that the very frequent reception of the Holy Communion in the primitive ages — at first (as most think) * Suiceri Thes. Eccles. 8, v. (^ikrifia, or Binrjham's Eccles. Aatiq. B. xr. cap. iii. sec. 3. \ The men and women, iu the piimitirc Church, sitting not intermingled toKGther, but each class apart by th;;iii';e]vss. I, as and was 'St. Senn. XII. ] THE LORD'S SUPPER AS A COMMUNION. 147 daily, for several centuries three times a week, and certainly at least every Sunday— must have been one of the chief causes of that strong and ardent piety, that fervent love to one another which so distinguished the first disciples, and made the very pagans exclaim, " Behold how these Christians love one another I " Those con- stant communions, that oft-recurring kiss of charity, left no time for hatreds to grow inveterate and invincible; they nipped them m the bud. How should we pray for the return of such a spirit I 5. There is another way by which, in the Sacrament, the ancient Christians did illustriously prove their mutual communion and fellowship, and which still remains among us— in form at least, (thank God, in some instances a grand reality,)— and that is, the offering of alms. We have nothing certified to us on better authority than that all the offerings made to religion, for all pur- poses—the support of the clergy, the relief of the poor and destitute, the maintenance of the widow and the orphan, the burial of the dead, the redeK-ition of captives, assistance to Christian brethren in foreign parts— were, in the apostolical and first days, ordinarily made in the Holy Communion. An apostolical injunction probably originated the custom, but Christian instinct would also have probably led to it. For when may we so naturally offer to God of our possessions, as when we receive from Him the sublimest gift of all, the gift of His Son, and feel that that gift ia the cause of all other gifts ; when we most feel that all we have is His gift ; when our hearts are most opened in love to Him, and affection and sympathy towards our brethren ? Giving in this way becomes what the Scriptures design it to be— a religious deed, an act of loorsMp due to God, an acknowledgment of His sovereign ownership, as well as an expression of lave. Very different this from giving as practised in the present day— under the stimulus of sermons, and meetings, and speeches, and subscription lists, and collectors. How perfectly worldly are most of our schemes of the present day ! In many cases our giving can by no means be denominated religious, or be looked upon as within the limits of religion. I must say that I fear this is especially the case with what are so favourably regarded by multitudes— I mean hazaars. If the eating of our common food is a worldly act and unlawful for a Christian, until it « is sanctified by the word of l2 148 THE lord's supper A8 A COMMXTNION. [ a«rai. Xll. IP ■ ipi God and prayer,"— how can that giving be deemed religious, or bo acceptable to God, which is bo far from being sanctified by prayer, that it ia coupled with all the accompaniments of ordinary traflSc ? And every now and then, too, you hear of a soirie or a teormeeting, held in the very houses of worship I Alas, that Chris- tians should ever have come to this I It WBB said to Cornelius, " Thy prayers and thine alms have come up for a memorial before God." Our Saviour joins alms with fasting and prayer. The primitive Christians offered all their ahns in the Holy Communion, and our own Church teaches us to do the same ; for in the prayer " for the whole state of Christ's church militant," after the alms have been reverently placed on the Holy Table, and the oblations— that is, the bread and wine for the Holy Communion*--8olemnly offered to God by the priest, we beseech Him to accept our alms, and oblations, and to receive our prayers. You see, then, in what sacred conjunction alms are placed, how solemn an act of religion they should be regarded. One thing ia extremely remarkable in the epistles of St. Paul, viz., that, to express alms, (the aasistance afforded by Christians to one another,) he never uses 'a^rmoaimi, the word which was ordinarily in use, and is common in that version of the Old Testament (the Septuagint) which the Jews and Christians used— though it is a most appropriate and expressive word, implying mercy amd pity. He uses a far higher, nobler word, expressive of the new, and close, and loving relation into which men have come by their union through Christ— «oiv(>«) are sent upon them ; and they are, consequently, more a proof of mercy than an act of vengeance. That the idea of eternal damnation has no place here, further appears most evidently from verse 31 — " If we would judge our- selves, wc should not be judged." That is, (taking the word judge in its ignorant mis -acceptation,) if we would damn ourselves, we should not be damned — a horrible and nonsensiciil interpreta- tion. But how reasonable and coiifortable its true meaning — If wo would treat ourselves with a holy severity, we should not be treated severely by God. The Translators of our blessed English Bible have been often blamed for employing here a word which has given rise to so mis- chievous a mistake. But they are not to be blamed. They have used the words damnation and condemnation, in the passage l)i;foro us, with scrupulous exactness, according to their signification two hundred and fifty years ago. In this particular instance, that they aimed at such exacl^ness is evidenl to every scholar. For damnation represents the vighterword in Greek, condemnation the severer — a relation that is now entirely reversed in these two Er.^-lish 'vords. We must therefore blame the mvtability of lan- guage, not the carelessness or incompetency of our venerable Translators. I trust that I have now shewn with sufiicient clearness, that the V . ,->; r opinion, which makes eternal damnation the proper and iiic itable punishment of receiving unworthily, is utterly mistaken «iad is directly against the intention of the Apostle's discourse. But yet the penalty th'-.^atenod is great enough to make ua fear ; aw 160 EATING AND DRINKING UNWORTHILY. [ Senn. XIII. for, in the language of our Communion Office, which truly ex- presses the Apostle's meaning, " if we receive unworthily, we kindle God's wrath against us ; we provoke Him to plague us with divers diseases, and sundry kinds of death." And then if we aro not amended by His fatherly chastisements, if we are obstinate in our impenitence and irreverent contempt for the mysteries of our salvation, — the paternal rod will be exchanged for the executioner's sword, the refiner's fire for the unquenchable flames, and the death of the body will but prelude the death of both soul and body for ever. There is little need, I am persuaded, to remind you that though the grossness of Corinthian irreverence is now all but impossible, there are oviiar forms of unworthy receiving which belong to all times. All degrees of that irreverence, unbelief, and uncharitable- ness which the Corinthians exhibited, are degrees of unworthiness, md bring corresponding guilt, in reference to the Lord's Body. Any 'loficiency in repentance, faith, charity, and thankfulness, represents proportionately our indisposition and unworthiness ; and if we are wholly destitute of these gracious " preparations of the heart" when we partake of the Sacrament, we do, without doubt, partake unworthily ; we comport ourselves unbecomingly to the inward part of the mystery, whatever may be the decency or reverence of the outward celebration. I intend on another occasion to set forth what is requisite to a worthy receiving ; but now, to conclude — Are there any present who have, in years past, been kept back from the reception of this most comfortable Sacrament, and so from fulfilling the law of Christ, by those groundless mispersuasions which I have endeavoured to remove ; who yet, it may be, have left God's house Sunday after Sunday, and turned their back vpon that ordinance of our Lord, where He Himself is most blessedly present, with many regrets, with sorrow of heart that they could not venture to obey, without adding to the score of disobedience ? We pray you, brethren, lay to heart what this day God has caused you to hear for your comfort and joy of faith ; that the great Memorial of Mercy, a Saviour's tenderest and most loving approach to us, may no longer be to you a frowning Sinai, muttering but wrath ; that as heretofore, with St. John, you have fallen at the B«m. XIII. ] EATING AND DEINKINO UNWORTHILY. 161 feet Of the Son of Man, as one dead-you may henceforth hear Him saying unto you, as He did to that favoured Seer, " Fear not Let this day end the " agony of wavering thought" which has hitherto racked you, often as you heard the invitation, " Come for all things are ready "-"Draw near with faith." Will vou not even this day thus conclude— " It is my Maker—dare I stay f My Saviour— dare / turn away f " Oh, that God would give our congregations more of that only ^ue reverence which dares not disobey, of the fear that is tem- pered with faith and hope I And would that habitual Communi- cants became habituated to a tenderer sense of God's presence- more assimilated to His image, with every occasion of communion with Him ; that, with every approach to these overflowing cisterns ot grace, they drank larger and more satisfying draughts I And why should it not be so, brethren ? If we starve at the liords Bamjuet, if we grow lean in t'.ie midst of Divine abun- dance-must it not argue some rooted malady of soul, some secret dangerous perversion? But we bless God, that the penitent, the desiring soul, has here " medicine to heal his sickness, ' as well as faith-of faith that believes the reality and desirableness of the things unseen ; let us come hungering and thirsting after them. M SERMON XIV. OF WORTHY RECEIVING. 1 Cor. xi. 27, 28, 29. *' Wherefore, whosoever shall eat this bread, and drink this cup of the Lord, unioorthily, shall be guilty of the Body and Blood of the Lord. " But let a man examine himself, and so let him eat of that bread, and drink of that cup. ** For he that eateth and drinheth unworthily, eateth and drinketh damnation to himself, not discerning the Lord^s Body." In my last Sermon, on this text, I showed the nature of that particular instance of unworthiness of which the Corinthians had been guilty, and that the punishment of unworthy receiving is not the inevitable loss of the soul. Having thus, I hope, removed some of the chief misp.pprehensions which keep many amongst us from communicating, — I shall now endeavour, for the guidance of those who are or intend to become Communicants, the conditions of receiving worthily. First of all, it is necessary to bear in mind that the danger of receiving unworthily is no reason at all for entirely and perma- nently neglecting the Communion. For there is danger in mis- using any Divine grace or privilege. We cannot sever the gifts of God, whether in nature or grace, from responsibility on our part and the possible guilt of abuse. Neglect of the Sacrament, there- fore, is not the proper contrary to the danger of " eating and drinking damnation to ourselves ; " but knowledge of our duty, and a pious and diligent care to perform it. Hence the Apostle i S«nii. XIV. ] WORTHY RECErVINO. 163 did not peremptorily forbid the profane among the Corinthians to como to the Sacrament For profane men away from the Sacra- ment are no nearer eternal life than profane men at the Sacrament, though they may be farther from temporal death. But, after warning them of the danger of coming unworthily, ho directs— " Let a man examine himself, and so let him eat of that bread, and drink of that cup,," Let him prove or try himself, as if by a touchstone ; and if he find his mind fitly disposed, then, no matter what his past guilt, let him come. In aU trial, proof, or examination, there must be some standard or rule with which comparison must be made. What is that standard (in the present case) by which wc are to try ourselves? by conformity to which our fitness for receiving the Loid's Supp«^ IS to be estimated? It can be no other than th^ ohjects o/itt Institution. We must therefore examine ourselves faithfully for the purpose of discovering if we honestly and purely keep, those objects in view. And if we embrace and consent to thciu if we smcerely aim at prosecuting them-then, it is evident, a'oorres- pendency exists between the Sacrament and our soufe. And this is the fitness or worthiness "required in those wh«.come to the Lord's Supper." Of this worthiness w«e ourselves are constituted the main judge» For our Lord did not reject Judas from participation in the first supper, but warned him of his danger. St. Paul says "Let a man examine himself ^'^and come or not as himself should decide In like manner our Church excludes none absolutely but the scandalously and openly wicked. She, however, tells them, first to examine themselves, and if they find they are unat, then to excUdt themselves, by staying away-" repent yoa of your sins, or else come not to that Holy Table." Now the objects of the Sacrament are the rale by which we are to measure our fitness. They are, briefly— To be a perpetual Memory of the sacrifice of the death of Christ and of the benefits which we receive thereby; To be a means of communicating those benefits to us ; of nourishing us up in living Union with Christ ; and To be both an instrument and a demon- stration of love and unity amongst Christians. m2 164 WORTHY UEOIIYINO. [ Sotib. XIV. The tfliiipers and mental acts which correspond h these ob- jects are obviously the preparation required. ' ''hat they are, our Church haa repeated in four wjveral places — three times in the Communion Oflice, and once in the Catechism. I shall take them as they are expressed in the Exhortation at the time of the celebration. (1) *^ Rkpkut you truly /or 1/our stint past." This is not the occasion to discourse at large of Repentance. It is enough to say, that Repentat;co is a hearty detestation of our sins, grief for their commission, shame for their pollution, and a faithful warfare of extermination against them. (2) " Have a lively and steadj' H v AIT \' in Christ our Saviour." Believe that God's eternal Son, in uur flesh, died on the cross " us men, and for our salvation." Believe that His death is an all-suflBcient atonement for all the sins of all the world, both original and actual. Believe that it is His great purpose and His gracious desire to bestow remission of sins, through the merits of His most precious blood-shedding, on all whi in this faith surrender them- selves to Him. Believe that to the penitent and longing soul He does grant, as by the great seal of His kingdom, such pardon in this Sacrament, and whatsoever else may be necessary or conducive to our perfection. Believe what He says to our eyes nnd our ears and our heart in this Sacrament — " Whosoever cometh unto Me, I will in no wise cast out." (3) " Amend your lives, and be in perfect charity with all men." Of amendment of life we have spoken in connection with repentance. With it here is conjoined a large and iiiiportant part of our preparation — " Charity, without which whosoever liveth is counted dead before God " — Charity, which is the greatest of all the abiding graces of the Church's life — Charity, which is the end and aim of the Commandment — Charity, which is the temper and work of heaven — Charity, in a word, the only temper shared by man by which we can adequately describe the Eternal — which, in its fullest sense, is the most glorious, the most truly divine descrip- tion of Deity— for " God is love I " This Charity, which is the salt of every Christian sacrifice, and without which the holiest things turn in our hands into putrefac- tion, — is a pure, unfeigned, reverential love of God, and, flowing WORTUy KXOKITIMO. 166 8«m. XIV.] from that, a hearty aftection for alt our brethren in Christ. Charity baniihes from the heart envy an*' malice towards our brother makeB uu tender of his happiness, aud ready to promote it by every means in our power. If ho be unkind and injvn. us to us—yet Ghnr J rem ambers he is •till a 6ro/Aer— redeemed of Christ, and if not for his own sake, yet for our common Fatuer's nuke, ho 10 loved and benefitted. Charity remembers the goodness of our Father to u» uuworthif, and will not nicely w i^h the merits of a brother before allowing; goodwill to rest upon him. And, in a less degree, Charity loves ail men — our brethren by nature, though not in Christ. (4) '^ And above aU thingt, ye mutt give most humble and hearty rnANKS to God, the Father, th: Son, and the Holy Ghost, for thi .lemption of the world by the death and passion of our Saviour Christ, both Gvd and man" Yes— Thou one God ! Holy, Blessed, and Glorious Trinity I Father, Son, and Holy Spirit I most fitting it is, that " at all times, and in all places," we should give thanks unto Thee ; but chiefly are we bound to praise Thee with thankfulness that can never bo enough, when we celebrate this blessed Memory of Thy love I We remember, Lord, that we were miserable sinners, who lay in darkness, and the shadow of deatL We remember, Father, how Thou didst not spare Thine own Son. We remember, Eternal Son, how Thou didst humble Thyself to the death of the cross, that Thou mightest deliver us firom the horrible pit, make us the children of God, and exalt us to everlasting life. We remember, Blessed Spirit, how Thou hast always striven to communicat<> these blessings to our souls, to unite us to Christ, to conform us to the likeness of our Father above, and fit us for dwelling in His house and in His presence for ever— and we give Thee unutterable thanks, Father, Son and Holy Spirit 1 It is not without reason, brethren, that the Church says to you, " a6o«e all things " you must thus give thanks. Such thankfulness is the fitting climax to all other preparation. Without it, our presence at the Communion is an absurdity as well as an impiety. The Sacrament is for the memory of those glorious benefits— and he who can remember such benefits without thankfulness, has not yet made the first step towards a worthy reception— is at an IMAGE EVALUATION TEST TARGET (MT-3) // 1.0 I.I 1.25 ■ 50 "^ ■AO 2.5 iiiii 2.0 !U 1.8 1.6 c.t ^^' v^// A^m /a W f /A ^Jh .sS^ <^» •^i '// °w Photographic Sciences Corporation 23 WEST MAIN STREET WEBSTER, N.Y. 14SS0 (716) 873-4S03 \.V/ ^ .d> 166 WORTHY REOEIVINO. L Berm. XIV. ;m' infinite distance from Christ—is infinitely provoking to God— is as yet fit only for that place where there i^ no love and no thanks — and is to angels and fiends alike an enigma and a wonder ! But when you have these qualifications in however small degrees — mark, I say deliberately, in however small degrees, provided you have them, then God's Church says to you—" So shall ye be meet partakers of these holy mysteries." If repentance, and faith, and charity, and thankfulness to God, are the settled principles of our hearts, and give to our lives their prevailing bent,— then nothing should keep us back from the Sacrament. It is not a sufficient reason for our absence, that as yet these principles have not their full force, that our lives are as yet but imperfectly governed by them. The Sacrament was intended as an aid for such, and to them it will be the chief means of perfecting their weak religion— the religion of hahes in Christ. But we are to take good heed that, because God's mercy receives those of imperfect piety to the Holy Sacrament, we do not therefore rest content in our imperfection. We must on every account, and especially out of gratitude, endeavour to go forward, to make con- tinual approaches to the completeness of a true Christian character. The oases in which habitual communicants do not aim at this, the true end of communicating, are, alas, lamentably many— to the great scandal and the great injury of religion. If Christians will come to this holy solemnity, with (or, it may be, without) a few pious thoughts, purposes, and prayers, on the morning of the cele- bration, or the previous day; and then for a whole month are strangers to godly thoughts and emotions, have no solemn abiding impression of God's presence or grace upon their hearts; if they are worldly and undevoui in their conversation, and careless in their daily walk,-— how Is it possible but that religion will be dis- honoured ? Nay, is there not even a darker picture than that just sketched ? Is it a thing unknown among us, for communicants to be bitterly uncharitable in their speeches and behaviour to others ? to be audaciously irreverent and profane, debasing themselves to the level of the vulgar swearer, if meeting only a slight provocation ? to defile that mouth which has received the Truth, by the words of falsehood ? and— to put the cup of hell to those lips which have, taated the cup of Salvation ? to stagger with the drunkards in th* Bene ZIV. ] WORTHY EEOEIVINO. 167 way to perdition, instead of walking with the upright in the paths of life ? Oh, let me beseech such erring brethren, by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, to consider what dishonour they do our Lord ; what hurt they do the young, the weak, and the unsettled ; how much they harden the openly and avowedly irreligious. It is an exceedingly common argument, and deemed an unanswerable one, for not coming to the holy Communion : " I am as good as many who go." Thank God, this is by no means as extensively true as it is confidently used ; but yet how great must be the siu of those who give even a slight occasion for it I In great insincerity and perversity of heart is this objection urged, I am convinced ; but were, it ever so true, it would not excuse those toho urge it — let them mark that ! " For every man must give account of himself to God." For one who has for many years, or a whole lifetime, frequented the holy Communion, or who even occasionally com- municates, — to be seen (if no worse, yet) no better than his neighbours, who irreligiously neglect it — cannot but prove a sad stumbling block. In love to such, and in zeal for the Lord's House, I would beseech them to remember the dreadful words of that Lord, " Woe unto them by whom offences come I " But to return — Let us be thoroughly assured that the least degrees of a real piety (where the heart, though in much weakness, resolutely de- termines for God) will qualify us to come acceptably to the Lord's Table. But let us not suppose that one who is destitute oi" the principle of godliness can come worthily in any other way than by casting away his ungodliness. To dream that "a Week's Preparation " (consisting of religious reading, prayer, forced efforts to feel some compunction, some poor purposes of amendment which there is no purpose to fulfil) is enough for such an one, is a positive insult to religion. It is a libel on the character of the holy God ; — as if He could be put off— imposed upon, by mere shadows ; as if He could not detect hypocrisy, or — worse still — as if He required no more than a mere word and show of homage ; as if He did not require " truth in the inward parts." This week's dressing for the Lord's Banquet is more ghastly than would be the adorning of a corpse, with all the pomp of dress, for the brilliant ball-room. r ^ ill 168 WOBTHY BEOir/'INO. [ Semi. xiy. But on the otbdr hand, to snppose that no one muBt, under any oiroumstanoes, come without this preliminaiy, formal notice and pre- paration, though an error arising from reverence, is still an error, and one of very widespread and hurtful consequence. Where Communions are monthly, or even seldomer, and due notice is had, nothing can be more proper and natural, or more promotive of piety, than careful examination of ourselves, meditation on the Lord's death, and special efforts to revive and fan into strength the flame of sacred devotion. It is but ordinary respect to the Master that, when He makes a feast, we should come in festive attire—." in the beauty of hoUness." But since the Sacrament ig to be viewed as our necessary bread as well as a Feast,— -if we have the wedding garment of habitual religion, we must not refuse to partake, though it want special adorning. Remember— the neces- sity of special preparation io not absolute, but only jprudmt. If you have this habitual preparation, which consists in the godly tenor of every-day life— come ; even on sudden and unforeseen occasions. If you are mre that you have it not, you must un- doubtedly stay away till you repent and amend. You must no* come at Christmaa or Easter (aa some think they may do),— yoa must not come at all. But take the middle case, which (I apprehend) is no uncommon one among a large number of constant, attentive, and apparently devout worshippers in our congregations, whose lives too are careful and conscientious. They are sure they are not profane, but they are uncomfortably uncertain whether they have that degree of faith, repentance, charity, which will fit them to communicate worthily. They wish to do <>— they have a high estimate of the blessings of the Sacrament, but doubt keeps them ba«k. Is this cafie incurable ? God forbid I Let such pray earnestly for light from above. Let them seek His guidance who leads into all the Truth. Let them examine themselves honestly. Let them be faithful to their measure of light, and the perfect day will ere long shine on their path, and enable them to avoid the obstacles which the darkness alone made dangerous. But if, through infirmity or ignorance, doubt and discomfort stiU remain, so that they cannot come to the Holy Communion with a quiet conscience— for even this unhappiness a help is graciously provided in the Church of •WORTHY BECXIVINO. 169 Pcra* XlVa I God. Such are pennitted and invited to come to their o^n spiritual guide, or to any learned and discreet minister of God's word, and open their grief— so that if it be only groundless scruples or ignorant apprehensions that trouble them, and not downright impenitence, their conscience may be quieted, and their scruples and doubtfulness removed, by the ministry of God's word, con- ferring tha benefit of absolution, together with ghostly counsel and advice. Thus shall they come with comfort to the Table of their Lord — the God of their joy and gladness. I candidly confess I know not how to account for the neglect of this help, by those who profess that uncertainty as to their fitness is the cause of their absence from the Lord's Table. There is a supposition which would explain the neglect, but which I am most unwilling to make, namely, that they are not sincere. In mat- ters of worldly consequence, where great interests are at stake,* and the removal of a doubt would admit to important privil^s, no stone is left unturned to get at the truth. Why then should not Christirns, who doubt their fitness for th? Jacrament, and cannot settle this matter for themselves, have recourse to the help (for it can be but the help) of those whose vory office it is to minister this aid, who ao this by a Divine commission, and who have the promise of the special presence and assistance of Christ in this work ? To assist your memory, I would here briefly repeat the warnings needed on both sides. Let those who come without preparation, who never employ a thought upon the inquiry whether hey are 3t or not, who rush into the banqueting house and sit down at the table of the Lord with a rude familiarity— let such be assured that their presumption will meet with the repulse it deserves. But let those who allow their thoughts to dwell exclusively on the danger of such irreverence, beware lest hereby the devil take occa- sion to obscure fatally their views of the paternal character of God. They have need to beware lest that arch-sophist delude them into the apprehension that their Father in Heaven has no bowels of mercies towards His redeemed children, that He intends His Table to be to the weak and imperfect, what the table of the wicked is to them— a snare and a trap to draw them to destruction. Do not too many talk and act as if this notion had already pos- 170 WORTHY REOEIVINO. [ Serm. XIV. seased them— than which what could be more horrid ? 0, be per- suaded rather, that this table is spread in love, to feed thw hungry, to assure the repentant prodigal, to help the weak, to enlighten the ej/fes of those who are fainting in the way— to be the declaration of all the love of a Father's heart to unworthy but yet trusting children. I shall conclude with a few remarks addressed to those who have all their lives kept from the Sacrament on the plea of unworthiness, who are making no effort to remove this plea, and who yet have (it may be, with some conscience) very regularly attended the public preaching of ihe Word, and the public prayers of the Church. Evidently they must have thought they could worthily hear and pray, or, we are bound to believe, the same scrupulousness which keeps them from the Sacrament would keep them from these as well. But how great, how shocking a mistake is theirs I The man who is destitute of repentance, faith, charity, is an unworthy communicant — and he is just as unworthy a worshipper in our public assemblies. What 1 is he a worthy hearer of the Blessed Oospd, who does not believe it ? Is he worthy to say Our Father, whj has no love to the brethren ? Is he worthy to be heard when he prays forgive m our trespasses, who does not repefnt of— does not cease to love and repeat his trespasses? Is that hymn of praise and thanksgiving worthy to rise up and mingle with the anthems of angels, and be accepted of the glorious God, which proceeds from the lips of him in whose heart is not a spark of genuine gratitude ? We should rather think, « If I regard iniquity in my heart, the Lord will not even hear me" — any more than He will accept me as a worthy communicant. Let none, then, vainly suppose that God will accept unholy prayers, while He rejects the unholy from His Table. Let no one suppose that a life-long observance of one Divine institution will profit, while a still more solemn one is disobediently slighted. Let none, out of a mocking pretence of reverence, defraud God of the obedience which He claims. And let all reoember, that if he who " eateth and drinketh unworthily, eateth and drinketh damnation to himself" (even though we take that damnation in its heaviest sense); just as surely does he who eats not at all ensure his spiritual death — first, by disobedience, and secondly, by the vmf fff .„ 0«im. XIV, .] WOETHT REOMVINO. 171 force of the Law of Life — " Vorily, verily, I say unto yon, except ye eat the flesh of the Son of Man, and drink His blood, ye have no life in you." SERMON XV. THE DUTY OP FREQUENTLY COAlMUNICATING. 1 Cor. xi. 26. "For as often as ye eat this bread, and drink this cup, ye do shew the hordes death till Me come." Havino in five preceding Sermons on the Sacrament of the Lord's Supper treated of those points which are of prime importance to every Christian, I shall conclude this short series by setting before you, in the present discourse, the bounden duty of a frequent reception. This duty rests upon two chief grounds — 1. The Character of the Sacramental Rite in its several parts: and 2. The Institution of Christ, the supreme Lawgiver of the Church. I. The Character of the Sacramental Rite in its several parts. That there should be solemn assemblies for the public worship of God, no Christian denies, and therefore it does not come into dis- pute. If, then, we find in the celebration of the Sacrament all the acts of worship which are deemed essential in public assemblies, and those acta having an additional aid and heightening in the Sacrament, we shall ha-^ at once an irresistible ailment for the frequency of Communions and their reception. For those acts we need not search far. For 1. Confesmn of sins is indispensable in the public assemblies of the Church, and in our own offices comes first in order. Now, we toMLZV.] THf DUTY or FREQUENTLY COMMUNIOATINa. 173 have oonfeMiot) in the Commnnion rite — nor was there ever a Oommanion Office of the Catholic Church without it. I lay no stress upon the fact, that the form with us appropriated to the Sacrament, is much more solemn than that in the Daily Prayer (for they might he made arbitrarily to change places) ; but it is of the highest moment to consider, that the barest celebration of the Saerament of the Lord's death implies a confession necessarily — is an acted confession. By celebrating a Sacrifice for sins, and by sharing the Memorial of it, we acknowledge that we are sinners, and need and desire " remission." By thus acknowledging the death of Christ for us, we admit ourselves worthy of death, and doomed to death for sin. Thus also is the demerit of sin fully declared. And since the rite of celebration calls up a mighty train of remembrances of the most moving character — the most calculated to beget the very spirit of confession ; gathering round the cross the sin of the world, and pic- turing in that scene its history from its beginning to its end ; awing the soul by the most alarming demonstration of God's indignation against sin, and melting it by the most amazing assurances of His love ; — surely it must be believed that the Sacrament is the most suitable occasion for confession, and is itself the most real act of confession. In this Sacrament we acknowledge our sins, and lay them on the head of that holy Victim — the Lamb of God, that taketh away the sin of the world. 2. Prayer is another essential of public worship. And what is the Sacrament but a ritual prayer — a more solemn form of beseech- ing God ? What were the sacrifices of the Old Law but rites of prayer, by which the worshippers intended to supplicate God ? Was not the Sacrifice of Christ on the cross a prayer — a meritorious prayer, by which pardon was asked and obtained for sinners ? Is it not in the strength of that prayer, that we have courage now to address an offended God ? In the mental ejaculation, in the out- pourings of the closet, in the Litany of the Congregation — is it not that great Prayer of Sacrifice that gives us " boldness and access with confidence?" "The Blood of the Lord!" What would our prayers be without that f What, but presumption. And if pleading thus in our own words be effectual — if " through Jesus Christ, our Lord " secure acceptance ; how much more shall we 174 THB DUTY OP FRBQUBNTLT OOMMUNIOATINO. [stm.XV. preyail in tho conjunction of our own words nnd that Act which tho Lord appointed aa tho perpetual Memorial of His effectual Prayer. Hence, too, tho Sacrament is oalicd an impetrative mcri- /cc— that is, that obtains from God by prayer. Because Christians forget this, and degrade the Sacrament into a mere recollection of tho death of Christ, they think not of celebrating it as a means of effectually imploring God for such blessings as they require. This very week I have soon it stated, in a religious newspaper, that it would bo utterly unsuitable and absurd to celebrate the Com- munion at those meetings for prayer held lately, " to supplicate the outpouring of the Holy Spirit." As if, where union is at all times pre-eminently necestjary,* the Sacrament of Union were im- proper I As if, when the highest gift is asked, the most solemn mode of asking were not indispensably proper ' Temporal blessings were sought (and rightly) in olden times through this solemn intercession. How much more should spiritual, since the Sacrament itself is the Church's and tho Christian's great Prayer. 3. Is Thanksgiving a necessary part of all service done to God ? Behold it here in its earthly perfection. Where and when else is so gratefully, so triumphantly sung—" We praise Thee, we bless Thee, we worship Thee ? " Is not i^wc/iamf— Thanksgiving- one of the best known, as it is one of the most ancient, names for this holy Sacrament ? Where the most illustrious displays of divine benignity are made, and the most certain " pledges " and " assurances " of our interest in it are given us ; " the sacrifice of praise and thanksgiving " must surely be most pure and precious, as well as most timely. Oh, would to God we saw more of those Eucharists I that there were not such a dreary dearth of praise I such a proof of our little gratitude, our little sense of obligation I 4. Again. Does all devotion imply in its very name the offering of sacrifice to G*o(^devoting to Him ? Most specially, most expressly is it done here. We dedicate our substance in alms ; " and here we offer and present unto God ourselves, our souls and bodies, to be a reasonable, holy, and lively sacrifice unto Him." What more can we offer ? What more have we to offer ? And is this likely to be done at any time so utterly as v hen we see with • Matt, acviii. 19. ■Ill iwm.XV.] THl rUTT OF PRIQUKNTLT OOMMtTNIOATINO. 1Y5 the most aided faith and in a divino representation, the Lord giving Iliinsolf for us ; the Father giving His Son to us, and " with llim freely giving us all things"— yoa, even our very selves ? 6. Is Preaching an important object of public assemblicB? In the Sacrament is the plainest, the most powerful, the truest, and most touching of all preaching. Preaching is, strictly, the Betting forth, the proclaiming of divine mercy to sinners, through the perfect Sacrifice of our Lord — His offering of Himself to justice in our belialf. — Where is, where can that procla- mation be so plainly, so affectingly made, as in the Sacrament ? If Christ crucified be the great theme of Christian preaching — then "He is hero before our eyes evidently set forth cruci- fied among us." What preaching so softens the heart, so kindles devotion, so stamps every tone and feature with awo, BO thaws the fountains of joy or penitence, as those blessed words, " The Body of our Lord Jesus Christ which was given for thee "— " The Blood of our Lord Jesus Christ which was shed for theo ? " For many centuries, where there was very little preaching but that of the Sacrament, Christianity was kept alive ; but where there are harangues from the pulpit, without this great Preaching Act, it is not prophecy which says that faith in a crucified Lord will die, but history. Nor is it at all too much to say. That the little band which, in the face of the world's desertion and contempt, celebrates the Sacrament of the Lord's death, does more to keep alive in the world the memory of that fact, and faith in its power, than eloquent preachers and their crowded auditories, where the Sacrament is put aside. Our text implies all this. " As often as ye eat this bread, and drink this cup, ye do shew the Lord's death" — KarayytXkiTi — announce, declars, publish; and in the completest manner, too, as the composition of the Greek word denotes. Else- where we translate it preach, as in St. Paul's words, " Bo it known unto you, that through this Man \b preached unto you the forgive- ness of sins." The Sacrament, therefore, is emphatically a Preach- ing of the Lord's death, and of the benefits which we receive thereby. You see, Brethren, that this holy Celebration comprises all the acts deemed essential in assemblies for the service of Qod — mmKHmm 176 THB DUTT or FRRQTJENTLT OOMMUNIOATfNa. fB«m.XT. Confession of sins, Prayeri, Thanksgivings, the Offering of Sacrifice, and IVeaching ; and that with rites of special ordination aud higher solemnity, and with oiroumstances of heightened de- votion. Can you then doubt the benefit of Frequent Ileceiving ? If it bo both reason and duty, to employ tho aptest and most efficacious moans for accomplishing a great end, then are wo most sacredly bound to celebrate this Sacrament with frequency, to hunger and thirnt after this celestial food. IT. The second and all-sufficient argument for what I am now urging, is the Institution of Christ. He is the supreme Lawgiver, not bound to give a reason for His institutions to any, and it is by obedience to Him that our character as Christians is to be deter- mined. God has always tested men's faith and obedience by positive institutions ; and they are a natural and necessary test. For, in regard to those laws and institutions the full grounds of which we suppose ourselves to understand, (and which are therefore called moral,) our own reason furnishes ut with some arguments for obedience — an obedience which may be as much paid to our reason as to God ; but in a matter of positive institution, obedience is wholly of faith— it is a sacrifice to God of the best wo have, our will and our reason. We now inquire what bearing the Institution of this Sacrament by our Lord has on the duty of frequent reception. 1. It was " ordained (our Church Catechism says) for the con- tinual remembrance of the Sacrifice of the death of Christ, and of the benefits which we receive thereby;" and in the prayer of Consecration, similarly, it is said that God " hath commanded us to continue a perpetual memory of His precious death, until His coming again." Now continual and perpetual mean unbroken, un- interrupted, without ceasing. Can a yearly, or a quarterly, or even a monthly commemoration be deemed such, in the natural signifi- cation of those words ? We are commanded to pray without ceasing. Would a monthly prayer fulfil such a command ? Such huge gaps as now exist between our Communions, can hardly con- sist vfitYi perpetual memory — they are much more likely to allow a perpetual forgetfulness. The language of the Old Testament, respecting the rites of divine worship, throws light on the force of the word continual XV.] THl DTTTT OT FRlQtTlNTLT OOMMUNIOATINO. 17T oniployod by our Church. Two lambs were oHainod by God to be offered daily-ono in tho morning, and ono in tho ovcnine; in- tended doubtlc*,, to typify porpotaally to His people " tho Lamb of Ood that taketh away tho «n of the worKl." Now th« phra«o which was early appropriated to this rito, and which remained in UM to the end, wa« " the rontimud Bacrifico." * Waa the Actual Socrifloo of tho Lamb of God worthy of a dadjf-^t, ihublo, daily prefiguration, and is it not worthy of at oast, a v>eckl„ commemoration ? f Surely anything scldomer than the grand stated days and occasions of tho most numerous assem. bhes, comes up neither to tho force of tho word "continual " the meaning of the typos, tho importance of the Sacrifice commemorated the necessities of our spiritual life, nor tho prompt and thankftil remembrance whioh befits tho obligation of a Christian to h« ivedcemor. 2. But, again, this is the only rite n/ jrMic, nnited wonUp or^ ^^nfh our Lord, and therefore it is the only ro^tlly disHncHverit^ of (7Am- 80 necessary for the unity of the Church in a worid of sin a^ disorder-that the Lord Jesus would leave His Church without such prescribed mode of access? No, Ho did not-this holv Sacrament is His prescribed mode; and-hear it, ye neglectful Christians, and tremble! those who have wilfully neglected it, have * Ex. xxix. 42 ; Numb, xxvlii. xxix ; Ezra iii. 6 ; Kehem. x. S3. _ t It may be said, Why not a daily Commumon. as the type eeems to md,cate ? I. reality it does not. I think, indicate this. On fhe Sabbath the saonfices were double the daily one (Numb. 28 : 9. 10)-wh ich armte daily sacnfice would be represented by the Church's Daily Prayer-the continuation of the Sunday Eucharistio worship. One thingfs certo n i^t l^:-'-. •>:. t. :. * i 178 THE DUTY OP PRBQUBNTLY OOMMTmieATING. [swmXV. never offered to God a truly and distinctively Ghriatian act of public homage I In sacraments only have we pledges and assurances of God's working. By the Sacrament of Baptism He puts us in a position to say "the children's" prayer — "Our J?ather;" and, without this, our joining in the prayers of the Church for a whole life, would be p .norribl^ anomaly — a miserable nonsense. By the other Sacrament does He establish and continue this union with the Body ; and it is only by virtue of this union that we have a right to participate in the prayers and sacrifices and hope of the Body. Willie therefore we neglect to maintain our Communion with the Body, we are rendering ourselves unworthy of it, we are incapacitat- ing ourselvfco for it, and we disqualiiy ourselves for any part in its holy Services to God. It is only as members of the Body, and not merely as inuividuals, that we can draw near to God, and find Christ a Saviour and In^rcessor ; for " He is the Saviour of the Body." It is only as He comes to tis ia His own way that we can " touch" our Lord — either to derive "virtue" or to offer homage* The ordinary and occasional services and pravers of the Church, therefore, are but the maintenance and conti^iuance of this Com- munion wita our Lord, the extension of the Eucharistic — the distinctively Christian worship. And were the Eucharist wholly thrown aside, those ordinary acts of worship would cease to have any truly Christian character — the ground of them being removed j and in the same proportion as the Euchaiist is laid aside, ordinary worship ceapep to be Christian. If there be any truth in all this, one inference is inevitable, and that is — that the public worship of God, as it is conducted in most parts of the Christian Church in. the present diy, labours under a grievous defect, 3. That such a defect real'y exists, approaching to a sfecies of apostasy, the notices of the original practice in the apostolical and primitive times will demonstrate. That the Eucharist was cele- brated by the Apostles daily, and that too, s'^cording to the Divine intention, has been the opinion of most Christian* divines for many * As a specimen, let the following divines, -who were most thoroughly conversant with Christian antiquity, suffice : Saicer. Thes, Eccles. s. v. SenaXV.] THE DUTY OP FREQUENTLY COMMUNICATING. 179 centuries past throughout the world, and especially in our own Church J and even those who deny* the fact, yet admit that such IS the general impression. On the daily celebration, therefore, in the Apostles' days, since it is not absolutely/ certain, I build nothing. But that the Sacrament was celebrated on Su7idai/8, from the beginning, as an essential part of the Church's pubUc devotions-there is neither dispute, nor doubt, nor gainsaying. Nothing in Christianity is more certain, or agreed upon.f The Church's conviction haa imprinted itself for ever in the name by which the Communion Office was called—^ ?^eiTovpyia—TJie Liturgy, or 2)t«me Service, The lessons from Scripture and the preaching, which, to a greater or less extent, always accompanied the celebration, were accounted edifying and important adjuncts; but they had not, as now unhappily is the case, engrossed the name of the Liturgy or Divine Service, and usurped its place. Mw the Holy Communion is the occasional circumstance ; its ancient ap- pendages are now the Liturgy. That word, so often in our mouth is a solemn rebuke of our apostasy. ' How are we instructed and rebuked, also, by the simple nar- rative of holy Scripture: St. Paul and St. Luke were staying for seven days at Troas; "and (St Luke narrates |) upon the first day of the week, when the disciples came together to break bread, Paul preached unto them, ready to depart on the morrow." The celebration of the Holy Communion, denoted here by the breaking of bread, was the work for which they assembled; and this is me more striking when a great and venerable apostle was to preach his last to them. Good and glorious aa was his preach- ing, it was not to hear it they assembled. Even St. Paul's preach- ing is but an inferior thing where his Lord's death is to be declared <^.vva XLX, O, f. n2 180 THE DUTY OF FREQUENTLY COMMUNICATING. [senn.XV. in the Lord's own way. St. Paul would be the last to let his own preaching jostle aside the Lord's Sacrament. The evidence of the Sunday celebration grows more decided and abundant within a few years. In the beginning of the second century we find a Roman governor informing his imperial master, from the voluntary and extorted confessions of Christians, that (as the whole sum of their guilt) they were used to meet before light on a stated day, (doubtless Sunday,) and sing a hymn to Christ as God, and bind themselves by a Sacrament against the commission of any sort of wickedness. Persecution could not stop them from this ; for it was to avoid persecution that they secretly held their assemblies before day-light. Justin Martyr,* in the middle of this century, describes the Sunday Service of the Church : " All who dweh in towns or country assemble together ; the Scriptures are read ; the president (either the bishop or presbyter) makes a sermon or exhortation ; prayers are said ; bread and wine are consecrated, and received by every one present ; while a portion is sent to the absent — the sick or the otherwise inevitably detained — by the hands of deacons." Here again we perceive how the Eucharist was the Liturgy of the Church, and what an anxiety was manifested that not one Chris- tian should be without a share in it. Ample evidence also exists that the Eucharist was celebrated three or four times in the week, besides festival days, in various parts of the Church, throughout the East and West, and in some parts daily, within the first three centuries ; while, from the earliest times, the Church allowed none but penitents (that is, those who were under public censure and discipline) to omit the Sunday cele- bration, under the heavy penalty of excommunication. The unvarying practice of the Church in Sunday Communion must strike us the more forcibly in contrast with the considerable diversity which existed in week-day celebration. Now, I ask, can the nearly universal departure from the practice of the apostolical and primitive Church, the neglect of the one dis- tinctively Christian ordinance of public worship, be regarded as anything short of a grievous apostasy from Christ, a serious cor- ruption of His religion ? Can it be wondered at that all the talk- * 2d Apology, § 87. Hi ;i fienn.XV.] THE DUTY OP FREQUENTLY COMMUNICATING. 181 ing and preaching and bustle about reformation should end in such miserable results, so long as men " speak not a word about bringing the King back"— so long as they contentedly neglect the chief legacy and institution of Christ, their Saviour ? With the majority of Protestant sects the Sunday Eucharist haa dwindled into an anntial or quarterly one. Among ourselves few think of anything beyond a monthly reception. And though in the Romish Church there is a Sunday mass, yet that mass is only a private reception by the priest, while the people ordinarily com- municate but once a year, and ther of a mutilated Sacrament. Here I may suitably observe, that jjrivate masses, one of the worst corruptions of the Romish Church, took their rise in that very course of neglect, of which most of you, my hearers, are guilty. For the Sacrament was continually celebrated on Sunday, from a sense of the apostasy implied in abandoning it ; while, as faith decayed, communicants decreased in numbers, till the priest was left alone: and then, in evil days, the gift of life degenerated into a rite of superstition, and was perverted into an engine of even filthy lucre. See what neglect, similar to yours, has wrought I Consider its guilt. It is not likely that the same result will or can be brought about in our own Church, with the warnings of the past before us ; but another, no less anti-Christian, must occur, without our amendment. As in the one case, the priest engrosses the whole worship of God ; so in the other, the tendency is to give all to the preacher. Thank God, in our truly Catholic Church there are checks on this, but the tendency is none the less certain j while, among the sects, that tendency has produced its legitimate result-^ human inventions, no less human than the devices of Popeiy, have wholly supplanted the pure worship of God. The Almighty, rejecting the corrupted and dishonoured rites of the old law,*' declares the evangelical worship which should be offered to Him in Christian times by " the holy Church throughout all the world : " " From the rising of the sun even to the going down of the same My Name shnll be great among the Gentiles ; and in every place incense shall be offered unto My Name, and a pure offering : for My Name shall be great among the heathen, saith the Lord of * MaL i. 10, 11, 182 THE I>UXr OP I'BEQUENTLT OOMMUNIOATINa. [aerm-XV. Hosts." This " incense " and this " pure offering," by which it is the will of God His great name should be universally honoured and celebrated, are, according to the unanimous interpetation (rfthe Catholic Church, hdy prayera and the holy Eucharist. Alas, that any who profess themselves zealous for the faith of Christ, and who value the faithfuj preaching of it, should neglect, and further the n^lect of the Sacrament I Can there be any way of preaching Christ so effectual as that which Himself ordained for declaring His death ? 4. Consider aJso another danger which this neglect incurs losing the lively faith of the Lord's Second Coming. "As often as ye eat this bread, and drink this cup, ye do shew the Lord's death— «i7/ He come I " This Sacrament, you see, connects the beginning and the end of the Christian Dispensation together. li acts as a mighty bond~md without it, does not Christianity fall asunder ? The Lord, by this Sacrament, would not only k^ep ua in mind of His death, but direct our thoughts continually to His reappearing, the consummation of His glorious designs. He would hereby keep Himself for ever present to and with us. " Whatever (says a pious Commentator*) we seem to lose by the departure of Christ, is repaid us, as if by a sort of equivalent, in the holy Supper ; so that from the departure of the Lord out of the sight of believers, unto His visible and glorious Advent, we yet have Him whom, meantime, we see not. ' What was visible of our Redeemer; says St. Leo the Great, 'has passed into the Sacra- ments.' " ^^Q should be thankful for the testimony which the English Church bears to primitive practice, as well as to the primitive doc- trine of the Eucharist. « The Collects, Epistles, and Gospels, to be used at the ministration of the holy Communion, throughout the year,"t indicate her desire of conformity to the ancient stan- dard. Also the Proper Prefaces, in the Communion Offics, for certain important festivals, and eight days after, show that she contemplates the continued celebration of the Sacrament. Then, there is her solemn injunction J (alas, how despised by her owa • Bengel, in 1 Cor. xi. 26. f Table of Contents of the Prayer Book. X Rubi'ic ia Com. Office. 8«ni.XV.] THB DOTT Of FfiSQUKNTLT OOMMtJKWATmO. 183 ungrateftU children I) that " every parishioner ehaU communicate at least three times every year, of which Easter to be one." Now that each might communicate so often, would reouire a much more frequent celebration than three time&— as a variety of circumstances would be sure to hinder many on those three occasions. Then, in Cathedral and Collegiate Churches, all prieste and deacons are bound to receive every Sunday at the least.* Then, she encourages the rec^tion of the Communion on the more important occasions of life, as Marriage and the Chunjhing of women— or soon after, by the persons concerned. On some occasions the Communion is enjoined, as Ordinations to all degrees, and the Consecratiou of the Sovereign. Following her better instincts, too, without the stimulus of law,t we find the Communion celebrated on all occasions of special or general interest in our Church. And, thank God, the time has never been when we had not a goodly number of even weekly cele- brations, in every part of the Churoh. J ^ > My brethren, we can all do something for God and His Church— for the revival of religion, by amending our own neglects. Let us use to the full the small opportunities which we now possess ; but let us not be content with tiiem— with nothing less than the Church's first standard, whieh is Christ's appointment. Remember there is nothing in reason, nothing in Scripture, that erects monthly Communions into a rule, any more than the annual Communion, which Calvin (perhaps not so untoruly) denominated " a device of the devil." If we are to follow a rule at all, let it be the rule given by Christ, our Ruler, and followed so long by His undefiled Bride. What that rule is, enough has been fcdid to shew. i But if a weekly eelebration and reception is the rule of the Christian Church, what shall we say of those who never, commu- * Rubric io Com. Office. t " The laws of the Church mu8t be hU least measure. The custom of the Church may be his usual measure; but if be be a devout person, the epirit of devotion will be his certain measure," Jer. Tayhr't Worth/ Communieaat X In an ill time, and bj a person whosr . -nirers of the present day would hardly suspect of it, a weekly Communion was beg»n aad roaJntaJBed in London—I mean the well-known Mr. Bomaine, I ^i 184 THE DtJTY OP PREQUBNTLY C0MMUN2CATIN0. is«na.iv. nicate at all? Surely, their danger must be great 1 and it is great, experienxje testifies it as well as the Word of God. I would alarm the negleotors of the Communion among you, by the danger of what I have bo often seen myself— not merely the danger of hardneso of heart and contempt of this holy Commandment delivered to us, but of superstitious repugnance, of invincible unwillingness at the laet— instances which I really shudder to think of. I know many, many, many at this time of the very oldest people in the Mission, who never have received the Communion, and who most probably (I might almost say, certainly) never mil '< They (said the greatest master of Holy Living in our Church*) that delay their Communion that they may be Hurer, do very well, provided that they do not stay too long ; that is, that their fear do not turn to timorousness, their religion do not change into superstition ; their distrust of themselves into a jealousy of God ; their apprehension of the greatness of their sin into a secret diffidence [distrust] of the greatness of the Divine meroy." One word respecting the only objection that has a shadow of plausibility — namely, that such frequent reception would beget irrevermce. Are there any so made irreverent V Let not such receive at all ; for surely their hearts must be wholly wrong, who grow profane by their admission to the ahriue of the temple— in whom life turns into death. If this objection be oireal force, we should pray little, and hear little of God. No, no I Where there is a spark of grace, it is communion with God through prayer, and Hia word, and the Sacrament that awes as well as consoles and purifies the spirit ; and, as we try to catch a glimpse of the brightness of mingled majesty and mercy, the more abased do we fall before it. It is not indeed to be denied that there is danger of irreverence. It is inseparable from that gracious nearness to God, to which, in Christ, it is our awful privilege to be admitted. But it is part of our trial, and it is even highly valuable as a constant stimulus to watchfulness and attention. May it please the all-merciful Saviour to visit His fallen Church j to awaken or chastise her into repentance and doing her first works ; to kindle within her bosom such love to her glorious Lord, that * Jer. Tayloty Worthy Communicant, chap. v. sect. iv. r Ihc Lwnl hath ooniforteJ IIIh people, lie Imth redeemed J.irusaletn. Tlie Lord huth niade bare Ilia holy una iu tlie eyes of nil the imtioDi (or Qontilrs) ; A nd all the endt of the earth thall »t$ the SAtVATioir ofow ffodl"— lil. 9, 1 0. These wore the glowing visions on which the heart of Simeon had long loved to dwell, which nourished his vigorous faith, which kindled his longing desires, and fitted him for that instance of DIvino favour — tho promise that ere ho died he should see with his bodily eyes, what by faith ho had so long loved to contemplate. By tho impulse of the Holy Ghost, he camo into tho temple at tho very instant that Christ was being presented by His mjthcr, according to the law, and ho takes Him in his arms. Never sight so welcome met mortal eyes, since tho new-formed world glowed in tho freshness of its beauty and lustre upon tho gaze of its first beholder. Tho hopes, tho wishes, the aspirations of four thousand years were met in Simeon, and in* tho Babe ho embraced found at length their object. Oh, we can but faintly conceive with what rapture was beheld that Blessed Deliverer, who, as a vision of heaven, had for forty centuries floated before the entranced imagination of prophets, end filled every pious soul with ecstatic hope I How natural is the Saint's abruptness — " Now Thou dismissest Thy servant, Lord, according to Thy word, in peace I for mine eyes have seen Thy Salvar tion." Like as Israel said to Joseph in Egypt — " Let me now die since I have seen thy face." He not only saw with his eyes, but embraced in his arms, thi Word of Life, Him who had created the world, and was come to redeem it; and having thus wit- nessed tho fulfilment of God's promises to his nation, and specially to himself, there remained nothing which he ctavoii either to know or enjoy. " Now has come the aim of my life, the fulfilment of my expectations— my work is done— what more have I to live for ? Now indeed as a gracious Master dost Thou dismiss in peace Thy favoured servant." In peace, to denote how the sight had consoled and quieted his spirit — to shew what a holy craving, what a rest- less desire he had uft» . tLs \. onsohtion of Israel. Tfwu dismissest — 80 abundantly sati.lii>a v t^ vhe Pivine mercy, that he thinks of I«n>. XVL ] NUNC DIMITTU. 191 liumediaU) departure, foreaoelng that ho should nover tnor« fiiul comfort ia any other object that this world oould miniitor. Is it thus, my brethren, we .opeat these burning worda ? embracing the Salvation of God, the Consolation of Israel, the Lord Jesus, in the arms, not indeed of the body, but of our faith ; beholding Ilim with the eyes, not indeed of our body, but with those of faith ? with the same fervent delight, and thankfulness, and peace V Ah I it will be ill-departing with us, if wo have not firMt aeon the Lord's Christ, and rejoiced in Ilim r ilWeparting vJth m, if wo havo not first obtained that peace which comes from tho faithful and loving embrace of the holy child Jesus I But let us havo soon this sight, and obtained this peace— and oh I how changed both this world and the next I The eyes that havo scon tho Lord's Anointed, arc themselves anointed, and they see things in their true colors. The brightest joys of earth become luatreless and unattractive; their hold upon the heart is relaxed ; and it is felt to be not only the worst of profanar tions, but a thing imposdhU, to allow aught that could here be named to stand as rival in our r^ards with the Incarnate Lord tho Desire of all nations. Tho next world too appears in other hues. Tho shadows of death brighten into clouds of golden light. That valley from which nature, unoheered and unsanctified by a Saviour, shrinks with dismay, the Saint, with God's peace in his heart, longs to tread. The splendors of heaven shine in their changeless glory on eyes purged by faith and love, and which, by looking upon Christ, tho Sun of Righteousness, are fitted to bear the blaze of eternal day. Oh, lot us take heed how we fall short of tho sublime and noble happiness, the heavenly elevation which God haa designed for us, and oflFers through Christ— the peace, the joy the transport of holy Simeon ! God Ahnighty grant us, brethren,' to aing with joy this our evening hymn when the last shadow of life's evening is departing into the night of death I " Lord, now letteat Thou Thy servant depart in peace ; for mine eyes havo seen Thy Salvation." This Salvation, he says, God had prepared before the face of ''all peoples"— tot so it is in the Greek, and not peopU. Herein giving us that first view of the Gentiles' share in the Saviour, which, as I have said, has endeared this hymn so specially to ail tl i || ! Hi: 192 NUNC DIMITTIS. [ Sem. XVI. the Gentile churches ; — and hercm, too, echoing the predictions of the very Psalm which follows in the Prayer Book ; " Let the peoples praise Thee, O Gcd ; Yea, let all the peoples praise '^h( e." Ipt the nations rejoice and be glad ; For Thou shalt judge the folk righteously, And govern th a nations upon earth. Let the peoples praise Thee, God ; Yea, let all Ihe peoples praise Thee."~lyvi]. 3, 4, 6. And similarly in man j places of the Psalms, particularly in one place, quoted by St. Paul : " praise the Lord, all ye nations, or Gentiles : Praise Him, ah ye peoples." — exvii. 1. And so the Evangelical prophet : " In this mountain shall the Lord of Hosts make to all peoples a feast of fat things." " My house shall be called an house of prayer for all peoples." Salvation is the subject of the hymn ; salvation expresses the whole work of Christ — all that God had prepared for the world — salvation for all. With what thankfulness and joy should our minds dwell on this highest of all subjects, and to us most awfully interesting and im- portant. Salvation — the burden of so many ancient prophecies, the end of so many wonderful and divine arrangements, the climax of infinite goodness I " Salvation 1 oh, the joyful sound 1 What pleasure to our ears t " If long and obstinate habits of sin had not blunted our percep- tion of spiritual danger, and dulled our sensibilities, what a tumult of happiness and adoring gratitude would the bare mention of Salvation raise in our souls ! When we think of the abyss of guiltiness from which we are delivered, of the pit of punishment from which we are snatched as brands ; of the light which streams upon the dense ignorance which encompaaees our souls ; of the unknown and unimagined glories and felicities of a future state ; — when we think of these things, ought we, can we think of anything else in comparison ? Bum. XVI. ] NUNC DZMIZTI8. 198 It warms old Zwhariah into a teptuM of gratefol blessing. In the mighty Salvation raised up in the house of David he beholds salvation from enemies, and from the hands of all who hate US ; the fulfibnent of every gracious promise since the world began • a fearless seourity; perpetual hoUness and righteousness ; remission . of sms; hght to Oie dwellers in the shadow of death; and peace through the tranquil ages of an immortal existence, Maiy, the "blessed," found in it, and proclaimed, the secret of ti:ue blessedness, Which made ber "spirit rejoice in God Jier Saviour." Henceforth "His mercy," without let or Umit,' "is upon thflm that fear Him, throughout: all generations." Tiireugh Christ He evermore " fiUetb the hungry with good things." WeU might they say, « Blessed be the Lord God of Israel '^-- « My soul doth magnify the Lord." WeU may men and angels unite to adore that « mercy which is great above the heavens " and which sent us such Salvation. The Son of God is sent to redeem and, lo I « for us men and for our salvation He came down /ror^ heaven, and was inccmuUe, twd wa& made m^n, and was crucijkd also /or MS," The prophet that spoke so much of Christ as the Salvation of aU the ends of the earth, the Light of the GentUes the Glory of Israel,— predicted as clearly by what means He should become so. He foretold how Ho was to be born of a Vii^n ; how the Lord was to bruise Him, to put: Him to grief; and how His Soul was to make an offering for sin. Dear-bou-ht salvation! Simeon comprehended, by divine iUumination, the whole amazing process. He saw in the Babe his arms ombraoed, not only the Salvation that aU the prophets had been speaking of from the be- ginning; but he saw, as he gazed into the cakn, awful face of divine Infancy, tiie Sacrifice that every bloody rite, from Eden downward, had prefigured. From ike Presentation in the Temple he looked forward with prophetic vision to that tremendous Pre^ citation on the Cross, which the Man of Sorrows, as Israel's great High Pnest, was to make— tiie presentation of Himself for the perfect propitiation of the sins of the world. Simeon saw in Him the Rook on which faUon but beUeving Israel would rise again to higher glory, but the stone of stumbUng, the rook of offence, against which the unbelieving would be dashed, never more to rise. He saw, in a word, that atoning sacrifice which is to all a savour of 194 NUNC DmiTTIS. L Senn. XVI. death, or a savour of life. A few words reveal the completeness of Simeon's illumination : " Yea (said he to the blessed Virgin) a sword shall pierce through thy own soul also." He knew how pierced her holy soul would be when she saw her divine Son " a sign spoken against ;" but most, when standing at the foot of the Cross, she saw the last triumph of human guilt, unconsciously instrumental to that death, which was the guarantee of endless life. It is not guilt merely that is now cancelled, but the triumphant tyranny of the devil is broken, the captives tied and bound with the chain of their sins are loosed, the long, long reign of righteous- ness is at length inaugurated. The Victim is become a Victor, and His cheerful proclamation to His redeemed is, " Sm shall NOT HAVE DOMINION OVER YOU," "HOLINESS BECOMETH Mine house for ever," and its rightful ascendancy is decreed. But it is not possible here to exhibit this Salvation in all its manifold aspects ; for these fill up the Sacred Volume. We can only follow Simeon, as he proceeds to describe its aspect towards each of the two great divisions of the human race. This he does in the concluding words, " A light to lighten the Gentiles, and the glory of Thy people IsraeV Of the salvation, Light is given to the Gentiles, Glory to Israel. The words light and glory are in themselves and their use mainly synonymous, while glory more grandly represents the superior privileges and honours of the ancient people of God. It cannot of course for an instant be supposed that the essential and permanent blessedness of Jew and Gentile, in the One Body, is various. The Apostle of the Gentiles, himself an ardent Jew, will tell us, that " in Christ Jesus there is neither Jew nor Gen- tile — that we are all one in Christ Jesus." But yet there may be adventitious advantages very precious and very honourable. Some of these we snail notice as we proceed ; and what further instances, in favour of ancient Israel, the future may disclose, it is not for ua to conjecture. However, before we attempt to define those terms of eternal grace which we are now considering, let us see how they are used ond distinguished by Isaiah long before : Sera. XVI. ] NUNC DIMITTIS. 195 " I have giren Thee for a Covenant of the people, A Light of the Gentiles."— xlii, 6. " I will give in Zion Salvation ; To Israel I wil? give My Glory." -xlvi. 1 8, (Lowth.) " It is a Ught thing that Thou shouldest be My Servant To raise up the tribes of Jacob, And to restore the desolations of Israel : I will also give Thee for a light lo the Gentiles, That Thou mayest be My Salvation to the ends of the earth."— xlix. 6. " Arise, be enlightened : for thy light is come. And the glory of the Lord is risen upon thee. For, behold, the darkness shall cover the earth, And gross darkness the people : But the Lord shall arise upon thee, And His glory shall be sebn upon thee. And the Gentiles shall come to thy light, And kings to the brightness of thy rising."— k. 1, 2, 3. In all these passages we see light allotted to the Gentiles as their share in the promised grace; while the Jewish participation is spoken of in warmer terms, as a C(yvmant; a raising tip of the tribes of Jacob, a restoring of the desolations of Israel; and where light is promised, it always rises to something more— to ghry. Thus is given the chosen people, in the hymn before us the highest gift. ' Now, if we consider the meaning and propriety of this dis- tribution, in the case of the Gentiles it is not hard to be seen. The whole worid outside the Uttle enclosure of Jud»a was, in all moral respects, a wilderness, a mighty sepulchre, a very knd of the shadow of death. Even where civilization and arts and sciences had made the greatest progress, and the most elegant hterature, that the worid has yet had to boast of, arose the moral darkness was only the more dreadfully visible from contrast with the brilUant Ught of mere inteUect. Alas I it was not some savage tribes that laboured under this palpable darkness of all that man cannot be safely ignorant of. No, "the worid bt/ wisdom knew not God "-their very boasted wisdom became an instrument of bhndness. " Professing themselves wise, they became fools (emphatically fools, fools to the very utmost extent of human 02 m NUNC DIMlT!rl8. [ 8«nn. XVI. possibility, in that) they changed the glory of the incorruptible God into an image made like ^o corruptible man, and to birds, arid four- footed beasts, and creeping things." And as the just punishment of this insulting folly, they were giveti up to a mind void of judg- ment, to the belief of a lie, and to the absolute control of passions the most degrading and worse than bestial, which are not to be named except in the words of Holy Scripture. If you would see the truth of Isaiah's words — " darkness covers the earth, and gross darkness the people" — ^read St. Paul's description of the most enlightened heathens in the first chapter of his Epistle to the Romans. They had lost all true notion of God, the soul, and its future state ; almost all just distinctioas of morality ; and, as a matter of course, every gleam of spiritual perception, and all comprehension of the nature of that spiritual worship which is due to the Holy and Blessed God. Everywhere in tho New Testament heathenism, or Gentilism, is called darkness, as is im- plied in those places of the prophet I have quoted, — and LigTit is the great blessing which the Gospel proposes to them. Light Was indeed what they wanted in the first instance. So the Lord Jesus to St. Paul, at the moment of his conversion — " Delivering iihee from the people and from the Gentiles, unto whom ndW I send thee, to open their eyes, and to turn tk^m ftom darkness to Ught, and from the power of Satan uiito God" So St. Paul himself-^" What communion hath light with darkness ?" that is, Christianity 'with Gentilism. Again, to the Ephesiaiis — " Ye were sometimes darh- 7iess, but now ye are light in the Lord" — that is, Ye Were once ionorant pagans, but ye are now Christians, illuminated by our Lord Jesus Christ. In the same epistle, he speaks of " the Gentiles walking in the vanity of their mind, having the understanding darkened, being alienated from the life of God, through the ignorame tliat is in them, hecause of the blindness of their 'heart." The words and turn of the Original of our text, will, when literally observedj help us to understand the manner of this illundfta- tion : they are — " a light FOR THE REVELATION of the Geintiles" — or, still more literally— "/or the unveiling, tJllobvERiNa o/fitc Gentiles." Here their spiritual ignorance is figured as a close, im- penetrable veil of cloud and mist completely enshrouding them, and utterly concealing from their moral vision the moral universe in Swm. XVI. ] NUNP DIMITTI9, 197 as a whwh they dweU, their place and relations in it, and the lights and splendours that glow above them ; or more briefly, and very beauti- fully described, in the words of Joel, u. 2, « As th» morning spread upon the nrnmtaim." And now He comes forth who hath suxd I am the Light of the world," He " who lighteneth every man that Cometh into the world"— " the Sun of Bighteousness "-and darts forth His bright beams with resistless force, disperses the clouds and misis which, concealed heaven from the earth, and brings out all the landscape below, and aU the glory of the sky in their proper lustre, without a single interposing speck of envious cloud Ihen the new-enlightened inhabitants walk in the day, and stumble mi, because they see " the everlasting Light" of the New Creation • they behold the path of duty in the sunshine of heaven; they see fM- off in the distant horizon its glorious termination in thereahns ot immortaUty; they read the proclamations of eternal love and mercy m glittering characters; their "eyes see the King in His l>e^^ty; they behold the land that is very far ofl;" and, despising the mfenor attractions of the present scene, they fly to the dazzUng prospect opened before them, and attain its substantial and unfading bliss. This interpretation of the revelation of the Gentiles, is in close agreement with a celebrated prediction of Isaiah, in the 25th chap, and v. 7, « He will destroy in this mountaiu (JerusaJem) the face of the coverir^ cast over all people, and the veil that is spread over all nations"— that is, by the glorious light of Christ's gospel he wUl destroy (or as it is literally in the Hebrew, swallow wp— as the light seems to swaUow up the darkness) the ignorance of the nations of mankind. Oh what hosannas are due to the Father of Lights and Mercies for the accomplishment which thus far this glorious promise has received I Over how wide regions, upon what countless mil- lions has that cheering light sho al What loads of despair has It removed, what anguish has it soothed, what passions has it vanquished. What multitudes of noble martyrs, of hermit saints of active Christians has it guided to the portals of paradise ' Is the veil, brethren, the face of the covering, sufficiently removed from our hearts to enable us to see, to rejoice in these effects ? to feel as warm a transport in the very view of these glorious achievements, as Simeon felt in the prophetic anticipation ? im NIJNO DIMITTI8. [ Sena. XVI. ifc Ir', hi Let us no«v, at last, consider the predicted lot of the chosen people in that salvation which is for all peoples. It is Glory. I need not repeat again these several places of Isaiah before quoted, in which, when light is promised to the Oentiles, glory is assigned to the Jews ; or when light is promised the Jews, immediately ghry is added, as a heightening of the gift. The Jews, as a nation, were supposed to know God, to be acquainted with His will — as un- doubtedly they might have been from His revelations made to them ; and therefore it was not light absolutely which they wanted — but increase of light, indicated by glory. This word is used to denote the greatest splendor and eflfulgenoe of light — flight in its most pure and dazzling form. Thus St. Paul (Acts xxii. 11) describ- ing the appearing of Christ to him on the way to Damascus, says, " when T could not see for the ghry of that light." It is used of the celestial light which surrounds the angels of God — of the glori- fied Messiah and His saints — but particularly of the splendor, the divine effulgence, the dazzling majesty, the radiant glory, in which God sits enthroned, and which the Jews called the Shechinah. Ghry was a sort of technical word with the Jews — a name for their God, who was theb glory ; but with reference chiefly to that visible presence of Himself which He vouchsafed in the tabernacle and temple, over the mercy seat — a bright cloud, in which He was said to dwell. Hence, when the ark (with which this cloud was connected) was lost to them, (being taken by the Philistines,) they said " THE GLORY wa» departed." So in a place of Isaiah, which I have not yet quoted, (k. 19,) " The Lord shall be unto thee an everlasting Light, and thy God thy Glory." In Zechariah ii. 5, again, " I, saith the Lord, will be unto her a wall of fire round about, and will be the ghry in the midst of her." So is her God spoken of in Jeremiah ii. 11, " Hath a nation changed their gods, which are yet no gods ? but My people have changed their Ghry for that which doth not profit." A reference to the 24th Psalna will also help us much to understand what ideas the Jews would attach to this expression. There the Lord of Hosts is called " the King of ghry," because to them His visible d\?elling was in the cloud of glory which we have described, and which first entered the tabernacle after its construction by Moses. He was their con- fidence, from whom they looked for victory, the Lord of HostSj LIST or BUBSOAIBXBS. Rev. J. Travers Lewis, LL.D., 2 copies. John Lovell, Montreal. H. Lemon, Thomhill. William Long, Burwick. Thomas Little, jun., TuUamore. Irwin Little, « David Lyons, Fitzroy. Mr. Livingston, Grahamsville. ^ M. Rev. A. W. Mountain, M.A., 2 copies. Rev. T. W. Musson, B.A., 2 copies. Rev. A. J. Morris, M.A., 2 copies. Rev. J. De Mouilpied, M.A., 2 copies. Rev. G. Mihie, M.A., R.D., Gaspfc. T. Moss, Esq., Toronto. James McGrath, Esq., J.P., Springfield, C. W. Huson Murray, Esq., Toronto. Captain McLeod, Drynoch, C. W. Joseph Mulligan, Esq., J.P., Tullamore, 2 copies. Robert Morrison, « James Morrison, a Thomas McConnick, Fitzroy. James Mills, » George May, Ottawa City. Martin Morrison, Esq., Toronto Township. Robert Moore, « William Monds, Tullamore. Matthew Morrison, « Robert Mitchell, « James Morrison, '* J. A. Mackay, Esq., M.D., Gore oi Toronto, 5 copies. Thomas G. Melrose, « Rev. J. G. D. McKenzie, M.A., Hamilton. William A. McCuUoch, Tullamore. Robert McCaffery, Grahamsville. N. Rev. J. H. Nicolls, D.U., Principal of Bishop's College, LennoxviUe, 4 copies. John Neil, Esq., Fitzroy. * Lin or BUBIOBIBIBS. John Orr, Tallamore. Edward Owensi Fitzroy. Kobert Ovrensy *' P. Bev. H. J. Petry, B.A., 4 copies, Kev. R. G. Plees, 2 copies. Rev. T. A. Paraell. Joseph Patterson, Inverness. R. 6. Parks, «* William Parsons, Thomhill. Samuel Parsons, « George Paxton, Esq., Thomhill. Mrs. Pyper, Osgoode. Henry Pyper, ** T. 6. Phillips, Esq., Af/D., Chiaguiaooasy. Michael Peram, Tullamore* Henry Parr, Gore of Toronto. Alexander Price, Toronto TownBhip. The Lord Bishop of Quebec, 6 copies, R. Sir J. B. Robinson, Chief Justice of Upper Canada, 2 cc^est Rev. Henry Roe, B.A., 5 copies. Rev. D. Robertson, Cha;Main to the Forces, Quebec, 2 coptM. G. C. Reiffenstein, Esq., Receiver General's Dept. Mrs. Emma Rubidge, Riviere du Loup, en bas. T. P. Robarts, Esq., Lxspector General's Dept., 2 copies,. William Walker Roe, Esq., Georgetown, 6 copies, Charles Roe, Esq., St. Thomas, C. W. Rev. C. P. Reid, M.A. Peter Roe, Esq., St. Thomas, C. W. Andrew Ross, Esq., West Frampton. Joseph Rockingham, Inverness. Henry Rolph, TuUamore. James Robinson, TuUamore* Mrs. Robinson, « Thomas Robinson, " LIST Of SraSOWBlRS. •allt Archibald Riddle, Esq., Fitzroy. Key. E. G, W. Roes, M.A. S. Robert Sample, aen., Esq., Point Levi, 2 copies, John Smyth, East Frampton. Michael Stevenson, Esq., Quebec. John Sturgeon, Inve''nes8. Rev. R. L. Stephenson, M.A., 2 copies. Vice-Chancellor Spragge, 2 cqpiea. R. Sadler, Thornhill. Rev. E. W. Stewart, M.A. Rev. H. W. Stewart, B.A. James Spence, Albion. James Stephenson, Fitzroy, Matthew Serson, *< Arthur Shaw, TuUamore. Matthew Stewart, Tullamore. James Shipley, Gore of Toronto. James St. John, « George St. John, « J. W. Stewart, Toronto Township. T. The Lord Blahop of Toronto, 6 copies. The Provost of Trinity College, Toronto, 4 copies. John G. Thomas, Esq., M.D., Rividre du Loup, en has. "'*" 'ton Tencarre, Inverness. Koi » Tencarre, " Rev. ,.- 'Thompson, Bishop's College, Lennoxville, 2 copies, Thoma Esq., Melbourne, 0. E. William Taylor, Albion. John Toppin, Gore of Toronto. U. Charles Unwin, Esq., Toronto, 2 copies. V. Rev. W. S. Vial. Rev. G. P. R. Viner, M.A. Rev. Jacob Van Linge, B.D. * 2 SI LIST Of SUBSOIUBIBS. w. RaT. R. G. Ward, 3 copte*. Rev. J. B. Worrell. R. Wiles, Thornhill. W. Watson, « Herbert Williams, £flq., Leeds, C. E. Rev. A. J. Woolryohe, 4 copiea. Rev. J. P. White. Y. The Venerable the Archdeacon of York, 3 copiea. i XVI, .] NXWO DIMITTI8. 190 Strong and mighty in battle— and henco they brought with thorn into battle, as -n inMiblo means of victory, the Ark of His Prasence. The cloud of glory, however, was, after all, but a nftnbol of God's presence. They were taught by their prophets to look for a higher manifestation, a Presence more real and more consolatory in the Blessed Messiah, Iramanuel, God with us, an Incarnate God, a Child born as well as a Son given unto us— of whom the Psahnist sang, in our Christmas psalm, in woidi once before recited, "Surely His Salvation is nigh them that ti-or Him, that glory may dwell in our land"— wondrously fulfilled when " the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us (more properly tabernacled in u») (and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father) full of grace and truth." Yes, « he that hath seen Him hath seen the Father," for "He is the brightness of His Glory, and the express image of His Person." All then that the Sheohinah, that glory visible to mortal eyes (and which they lost in the Babylonish captivity) was to the Jews of old— the object of their hoUest reve- rence, the basis of their highest hopes, the strength of their hearts, the centre of all sacred emotions, the pledge of safety, the procurer and preserver of all their ghrj—that is the true ShecMnah, the Son of God, tabernaeling in human flesh, to believing Israel. Here is the key to that careful distinction of terms observed throughout the prophet Isaiah, and retained so markedly by Simeon. If the burth of the Lord in our nature has bestowed such a superlative honour upon mankind, and raised believers to a super- angelical dignity ; if His birth of one highly-favoured woman, has made her blessed beyond aU the daughters of Eve— how can we suflioiently esteem the favour shewn to that special race which the Son of God vouchsafed to call " His Own," and in which, when He would manifest the infinitude of His' " philan- thropy," it was His good pleasure to enter the ranks of humanity ? Unless we undervalue the Incarnation, how can we think little of this favour, or think it aught but the highest glory ? This is specially noted by St. Paul, whose words are an apt comment on Simeon's : " Israelites, to whom pertaineth the adoption, and the glory, and the covenants, and the giving of the law, and the service of God, and the promises j whose are the fathers, und (as the climas I 200 NUIfO DIMITTIS. [ 8mi. XVL of all pofwible privilegeH) of whom a* ooncerwing the Jkih Chritt come, Who is twer all, Ood bleued/or ever. Amen,'' But whatever spiritual blossings Qod has in store for His ancient people, are not to be had or enjoyed by them in thoir old isolation. " Together with all the saints" they are to have their lot; and that lot, wo have abundant roaaon to believe, will, in the day of their conversion, have ample heightenings of glory — however little we may be able low to define thoir precise character. Light He bostows on the Gentiles: Glory He procnres for and gives to Israel. What glory ? Not victory over the nations of Canaan, and the proud Philistines; but complete conquest over their spiritual foes — the world, the flesh, and the devil : not settled peace in a land flowing with milk and honey ; but spiritual peace ?rithin the borders of His church, the peace of God and the com- fort of the Holy Ghost ; not estimation in the eyes of surrounding nations, as a prosperous and powerful people ; but the applause of angels, the admiration of saints, the approbation of their God, as accepted candidates and heirs of " a kingdom thai cannot be moved, an inheritance incorruptible, undefiled, and that fadeth not away." Glory th-'t Is rightly so called I May our hearts long and bum for it I " Bemember me, Lord, with the favour that Thou bearest unto Thy people : visit me with Thy salvation ; that I may see the good of Thy chosen, that I may rejoice in the gladness of Thy nation, that I may glory with Thine inheritance 1 " But, woeful reflection, Israel has forgotten this her own prayer. Israel doth not yet know, the chosen people do not consider. While long since the Gentiles have been enlightened — while long since " all the ends of the world have remembered, and turned nnto the Lord, and all the kindred of the nations (or at least some out of all) have worshipped before Him" — Israel, His own, still receive Him not, still obstinately reject Him. Upon them has fallen the dark veil of Gentile ignorance, a double veil upon their hearts, so that they see not their King and their Glory. inscrutable are the ways of God I mysterious is the heart of man I From the faithless heart fade away, as a vision of the night, the awful predictions of prophecy, or, if believed, how apt is it to com- plain, just like a very scoffer, " All things continue as from the beginning ! " But peace I God hath spoken 1 " Hath He said, XVI, .] UTTNO DmiTTIB. saoi »nd shall He not do it ? hath He Bpoken, and shall Ho not make it good ? " Glorious and glowing as are tho predictions of Israel's ftiture, we look fbr a full realiiation, a majestic completion. Cold ind impassive as we may hear of this, we know not how near it may bo to us, nor how much it may touch our interests. 8t. Paul warns us Gentiles not to be wise in our own conceits on this subject, for that blindness has happened in part unto Israel, until the fulncM of the Gentiles be brought in, and then (it is said expressly) " all Israel thall be iaved." And is not this hinted by Simoon, when he speaks of light to tho Gentiles be/ore glory to Israel ? Tho effect of this event upon tho Gentiles St. Paul des- cribes in startling terms : " through their fall (that of the Jews) salvation is come unto the Gentiles for to provoke them to jealousy. Now if the fall of them be tho riches of the universe, and their loss* the riches of tho Gentiles ; how much more their fulness ? " " If the casting away of them be the reconciling of the world, what shall tho receiving of them be, but life from the dead." Lifefnm the dead I Can this mean anything less than such a revival and increase to the Gentile churches as shall quench the lustre of all that went before in Christianity, in comparison— as though now, for tho first time, light and life did in reality visit the Gentiles. May God hasten the happy day I He will hasten it— it is His work. Nor let our faith be disheartened by the present unpromising appearances. It is true that it is impossible to conceive anything more utterly spiritually dead, than the stock of Judaism. Not a pulse, not a sign of life can be perceived. But should this make us despair ? Rather the contrary. Man's necessity is God's opportunity. It is in the hour of extremest need that God ever interposes, that the glory may be visibly His. Never were the pulses of the national life of Israel more feeble than just before their deliverance from Egypt— the great, standing, authorized Type of God's deliverances. Never is the darkness deeper than before the rising dawn. And now, (as we ardently and not unreasonably hope, from prophetic signs,) should the dry bones begin to move— an unbelieving world will be awakened to faith by the visible working of God again, or the more awfully condemned to their own place. How should we endeavour by prayers and gifts and personal exertions, to realize Uie sublime * Margin. 202 NUNC WMITTIS. L Serm. XVI. consequences beheld by Simeon's faith, that Christ may be known as the Light of the Gentiles, and the Glory of His people Israel I How should we recognise, by faith, in every lesson of Sacred Scrip- ture, that Saviour whose grace is endlessly celebrated by the holy church throughout all the world ! XVI. nown irael ! Scrip- holy