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SERMONS, LECTURES, & 
 
SERMONS, 
 
 36 1965 
 
 LECTURES, AND ORATIONS. 
 
 JOHN M. MASON, D.D.. 
 
 XATE OF THE ASSOCIATE REFORMED CHURCH, NEW YORK. 
 
 MEMOIR AND INTRODUCTORY ESSAY, 
 
 BY JOHN EADIE, D.D, LL.D. 
 
 PROFKSSOH O;-- BIBLICAL LITERATURE TO THE UNITED PRKSEYTERIAN CHURCH. 
 
 EDINBURGH: 
 
 OGLE & MURRAY, AND W. OLIPHANT & CO. 
 GLASGOW: M. OGLE & SON. LONDON: HAMILTON, ADAMS, & CO. 
 
 MDCCCLX. 
 
A. AND V. R. WlLSO?>, POINTERS, HIGH STRKET, EDISBURGH. 
 
CONTENTS. 
 
 Pagb 
 
 Memoir of the Author, ..... v 
 
 Sermon I. — The Gospel for the Poor, ... 1 
 
 II. — Divine Judgments, . . . . .20 
 
 III. — Mercy Remembered in Wrath, ... 48 
 
 IV. — Hope for the Heathen, . . .63 
 
 V.— Pardon of Sin, ..... 86 
 
 VI.— Living Faith, ..... 105 
 
 VII.— Messiah's Throne, .... 125 
 
 VIII.— Christian Mourning, . . . .143 
 
 IX. — Full Assurance of Faith and Hope, . . 168 
 
 X. — Evangelical Ministry Exemplified, . . . 186 
 
 XL— Salvation by Grace, ... . . 204 
 
 Lecture— Psalm XXIII. , 218 
 
 Psalm VIII. , 244 
 
 Matthew XXVII. 1-5, . . . .259 
 
 Sermon XII.— Ministerial Fidelity, .... 269 
 
 XIIL— The Christian Warfare, ... . .282 
 
 XIV.— Do. do. ... 297 
 
 XV. — Nature and Necessity of Regeneration, . 308 
 
 XVI.— Works of the Flesh and Spirit Distinguished, . 322 
 
 XVII.— True Honour, .... 336 
 
 XVIII. — Apostolic Commission, . . . . 349 
 
 XIX.— Nonconformity to the World, . . 359 
 
 XX.— The Fountain of Life, . . . .372 
 
 XXL— The Gospel Offer, .... 388 
 
 XXIL— The Gospel no Cause of Shame, . . 401 
 
 XXIII. — On Steadfastness in Religious Sentiment, . 415 
 
 Oration on the Death of Washington, .... 429 
 
 Oration on the Death of Hamilton, .... 440 
 
MEMOIR OF THE AUTHOR. 
 
 My late revered colleague Dr John Brown, had undertaken 
 to write a few introductory pages to this volume, and from 
 his admiration of the eloquence and genius of Dr Mason 
 he would have paid a grateful and ardent tribute to his 
 memory. But his last illness prevented him from even 
 beginning the task, and on his death-bed he earnestly 
 commended it, nay, virtually handed it over to me. 
 
 The fame of Dr Mason has not been eclipsed by any of 
 his successors in America, and it is almost superfluous to 
 say a word about one whose praise is still in all the 
 churches. He needs no " epistle of commendation." — no 
 herald to bespeak attention for him. Yet a few sentences 
 on his life, character, and.^opsition, may not be deemed 
 out of place as a preface to tne following discourses. 
 
 Dr Mason's father, the Rev. John Mason, was a native 
 of Mid-Calder. On leaving the University of Edinburgh, 
 he studied theology at Abernethy, under Moncrieff of 
 Culfargie, and himself taught for a period a class of 
 philosophy in the same seminary, in connection with 
 what was then called the Anti-Burgher or General Asso- 
 ciate Synod. On the 5th of August 1760, he was ordained 
 at Perth as minister of the Associate Congregatioa, New 
 
vi MEMOIR. 
 
 York; and in the following spring he sailed with two 
 other missionaries for the sphere of his labours. His 
 infant church rose rapidly in numbers and influence. The 
 place of worship was at first a small frame building in 
 Cedar Street, and this, in 1768, was succeeded by a stone 
 erection on the same site. It may be added that in 1837 
 the congregation moved " up town" to Grand Street, and 
 in 1853 moved farther " up town" still, to Fourteenth 
 Street, where they continue to worship under the care of 
 their fourth pastor, the able and excellent Dr M'Elroy. 
 The various sects of Scottish Seceders, though they had 
 changed their country, yet retained their minor denomina- 
 tional peculiarities in the New World ; but Mason and 
 others effected, after the Revolution, a union among a 
 portion of them, and Burghers, Anti-Burghers, and Cove- 
 nanters were merged into a new body— the Associate 
 Reformed Church. This new organization gave great 
 offence to the Anti-burgher Church at home, and Adam 
 Gib proposed in synod that Mr Mason "should be laid 
 aside from a seat among them." A letter of solemn 
 rebuke was sent across the Atlantic, and, in 1784, 
 Mason replied in a noble and masterly vindication, ad- 
 dressed to his Professor of Theology, the Rev. Wn>. 
 Moncrieff, and the Rev. John Heugh, father of the late 
 Dr Heugh of Glasgow. This rupture seems to have led 
 him to attach himself to the other or Burgher branch of 
 the Secession. 
 
 The elder Mason was a man of sound and vigorous 
 intellect. His learning was far above mediocrity, an 
 his style cf thought and utterance was in advance o - 
 his day. His prelections as tutor in philosophy at Aber- 
 nethy were always spoken of in high terms by his 
 students, such as the late Dr Young of Hawick, and they 
 were all delivered in Latin with remarkable fluency and 
 
MEMOIR. yji 
 
 correctness. Indeed, as Dr Miller of Princeton has said 
 of him, — " few ministers have ever lived in New York in 
 so high esteem, or died so generally and deeply lamented." 
 John Mitchell Mason, the subject of this brief sketch, 
 was born at New York, March 19, 1770. The influence 
 and training of his mother, Catherine Van Wyck, of one ot 
 the old Dutch families of New York, was one prime source 
 of what was good and great about him. Early impres- 
 sions, in happy union with the heart's desire of his parents, 
 led him to study for the ministry. Perhaps his most effec- 
 tive mental discipline was enjoyed under his father's 
 roof. In 1791, after passing through college in America, 
 he came over to Edinburgh, to pursue a more formal 
 course of literary and theological preparation, carrying 
 with him a long letter of instructions from his father, whom 
 he was never to see again — a letter which is full of minute 
 and sage counsels as to reading and study, composition and 
 delivery, conduct and prospects, andhaving this postscript: 
 "Read these advices once a-month; carefully preserve them 
 as a memorial of me." In the Divinity Hall of Edinburgh 
 University Mason had as his intimate companions such 
 men as the late Ewing and Dick of Glasgow, and Innes of 
 Edinburgh. He was noted in his class for his boldness of 
 speech, and for his keen and unsparing criticisms on such 
 of the discourses as indicated vicious taste, or which, with 
 literary pretensions, did not contain a distinct exhibition 
 of evangelical truth. His father having died during the 
 son's absence, the vacant congregation waited the youth's 
 return from Scotland which he left in August 1792. On 
 being licensed by the presbytery of Pennsylvania, he was 
 soon after ordained as his father's successor. The well- 
 known Mrs Isabella Graham says of him at this time, — " He 
 is reckoned a lad of great talents, and an orator, and many 
 of even the idle and careless go to hear him." The sub- 
 
viii MEMOIR. 
 
 ject of missions soon began to engross him, and to draw 
 out his eloquence ; and the third discourse which he pub- 
 lished was the famous one, " Hope for the Heathen," 
 preached before the New York Missionary Society in 1797. 
 Such was his growing fame, that his church found it neces- 
 sary to " swarm," as he phrases it, and both congregations 
 remained for some time under his sole pastoral care. 
 
 Preachers were still scarce in the States, and there were 
 hardly any means for training them ; while appeals to the 
 old country did not always induce students and ministers 
 to emigrate. It was, therefore, resolved by the synod of 
 
 the Associate Reformed Church to send " Brother Mason " 
 
 « 
 
 as a deputy to Scotland, in order not only to secure a sup- 
 ply of pastors for pressing vacancies, but also, to solicit 
 donations for the erection and support of a native theological 
 seminary. Dr Mason arrived in Scotland in October 1801, 
 met with a very cordial welcome, appealed to the Burgher 
 Synod, visited the Hall under Dr Lawson at Selkirk, was 
 delighted " with the correct principle, literary acquire- 
 ment, and pulpit talent exhibited among the students," 
 and used all his eloquence to induce some young men to 
 leave " their country, and their kindred, and their father's 
 house." He made tours into various parts of the country, 
 and preached with extraordinary popularity, particularly at 
 Stirling, where he " was more than usually affected by the 
 spot, the building, and the people, through their connec- 
 tion with Ebenezer Erskine." In consequence of a re- 
 cent Act of the General Assembly, through fright "at 
 the Tabernacle men," he was excluded from all the pul- 
 pits of the Establishment. In a letter to Mrs Mason, 
 he gives a graphic account of the epithets in which some 
 good men in the Church of Scotland condemned the Act 
 which " tied up their hands" — an Act yet unrepealed — 
 or rather repealed for a brief season and speedily re- 
 
MEMOIR. i x 
 
 Introduced. ' " That wicked Act ! " exclaimed Dr Balfour ; 
 "That stupid Act!" cried Dr Kemp ; " That nonsensical 
 Act!" added Mr Jones. "What a pity! how foolish! 
 how unkind!" said Mr Bonar, clasping his hands to- 
 gether, and lifting up his angel face toward heaven: 
 " I am a man under authority," uttered Dr Love, with 
 the profoundest gravity.' He also went up to London, 
 and preached, by request, the annual sermon for the 
 London Missionary Society, in Tottenham Court chapel, 
 to an audience of five thousand. This discourse, named 
 " Messiah's Throne," made a prodigious impression, and 
 he became an idol in the metropolis, followed by crowds 
 wherever he happened to preach. The late Dr Hamilton 
 of Leeds used to tell many anecdotes of his powerful oratory 
 on those occasions. "The grandeur of his conceptions," 
 says one of his auditors, u was equalled by the dignity of 
 his utterance." When in London, he writes his sister 
 that he had seen George the Third ; but, like a true re- 
 publican, he adds, " the king is a fine-looking man ; but I 
 sighed and felt proud when I recalled the majesty of 
 Washington." During his brief residence in this country, 
 his great fame induced some persons to publish a small 
 volume containing a few of his sermons and some minor 
 pieces already printed in America. This procedure an- 
 noyed him as a great injustice, especially as the volume 
 was accompanied with a brief and faulty biography. He 
 thus wrote to his friend Mr Hardcastle : " Your London 
 type-setters are sorry blades ; they make no more difficulty 
 of sporting with one's feelings than of trussing up a chicken. 
 It was surely enough to cabbage the goods without cari- 
 caturing the owner."* Dr Mason returned to America in 
 
 * The Yolume referred to is " First Ripe Fruits ; being a collection of 
 Tracts, to which are added two Sermons." By the Kev. John M. Mason. 
 With a short Memoir of the Author. London, R. Ogle, Great Turnstile, 
 Holborn; Ogle & Aikman, Edinburgh; and M. Ogle, Glasgow, 1803." 
 
x MEMOIR. 
 
 the autumn of 1802, taking with him six preachers, and 
 having collected nearly a thousand pounds for the pro- 
 jected Divinity Hall. He cherished a vivid recollection of 
 the Scottish and English friends he had met with, and 
 often corresponded with them — with Balfour, Dick, Hall, 
 Peddie, Waugh, Hardcastle, Davidson, and Hunter. 
 
 He was at once chosen professor in the new seminary, 
 which he had helped so powerfully to establish. His 
 labours had now become very onerous, for they included 
 his pastorate, his professorate, the advocacy of public 
 objects, the editorship of a religious magazine, the secre- 
 taryship of the New York Missionary Society, and the 
 larger proportion of the business of the growing ecclesias- 
 tical body to which he belonged — the care, in short, " of all 
 the Churches." 
 
 Though of a catholic spirit, he was no latitudinarian, 
 but held fast by the doctrine and discipline of his own 
 denomination. We enter not into his famous controversy 
 on Episcopacy with Bishop Hobart — an antagonist every 
 way worthy of him. Suffice it to say that he was not the 
 aggressor — that provocation called him into the field — 
 that he fought with gallant heart and brawny arm — that 
 his weapons were as sharp as they were massive — and that 
 the might of his argument was equalled by the point of his 
 invective ; for his whole nature was roused by the arro- 
 gance of a system which virtually deposed him and all 
 other ministers on whom no bishop's hands had been laid, 
 and unchurched all the congregations that did not submit 
 themselves to prelatic superintendence. 
 
 From a variety of causes, both personal and public, he 
 was led, in 1810, to resign his pastoral charge ; but another 
 church was speedily erected for him. His appearances at 
 the presbytery, when he tendered his resignation were cha- 
 racteristic of his high bearing and undaunted nature ; for he 
 
MEMOIR. x i 
 
 feared nothing but God and sin. Several bursts of eloquence 
 sped in torrents from his lips, when his statements were com- 
 mented on, or his sincerity seemed to be suspected. As he 
 raised himself to his full stature and lifted his arm, there 
 was a hush deep as death, and then rolled out those periods 
 of rebuke and self-vindication the thunder-tone of which 
 bore down all opposition, and commanded universal assent. 
 Thus he speaks, in one of his addresses, of himself, — 
 
 " Moderator, I have served this people for more than seventeen years. 
 Malevolent eyes have continually watched me, and I challenge the world 
 to produce a single plan or measure of mine to justify in the slightest degree 
 the gentlest of all those foul insinuations. Opulence and grandeur I have 
 sacrificed to the church of God, to this people, and they know it. Talent 
 in our country need not enter the pulpit without being in some degree 
 allied to the spirit of martyrdom. The road to wealth and honours takes 
 another direction ; other things being equal, the ministry, of all human 
 professions, is the most helpless and unfriended. Since the time of my 
 settlement here, lawyers, merchants, physicians, have made their fortunes ; 
 not an industrious and prudent mechanic but has laid up something for his 
 family. But should God call me away to-morrow, after expending the 
 flower of my life, my family could not show a single cent for the gain of 
 more than seventeen years' toil. And were it not for some private property, 
 quite insufficient for their maintenance and education, my wife and her 
 children would be set adrift upon the world, without bread to eat, or raiment 
 to put on. And yet, after my giving one of the strongest possible proofs 
 of disinterestedness, men who have been accumulating the good things of 
 this world, and enjoying their religion too, come forward to show their 
 Christian zeal, by charging me with motives not only selfish, but meanly 
 and basely selfish. One would hope that the charity which thinketh no 
 evil, might put a good construction where it is easy ; and not rack its 
 invention in search of an evil one, when it has first to get rid of bolh 
 presumption and proof to the contrary." — [Works, vol. IV. p. 284.] 
 
 In 1811, he was appointed Provost of Columbia College, 
 in addition to all his other duties; and he set himself at once 
 to liberalize the course of study, and make the literary 
 training more effective. He held this office for above five 
 years — attending three recitations of the senior class every 
 
xii MEMOIR. 
 
 week in the college, preaching three times a-week in his 
 rtew church in Murray Street, and lecturing five times 
 a-week as professor of theology. But these duties were 
 too heavy and multifarious, and in five years he resigned 
 the Provostship of the college, from failing health and 
 other causes. Those other causes were the perpetual 
 scenes of disunion at the Board — the one half being 
 Episcopalians and the other half belonging to other de- 
 nominations. The cautious, busy, and persevering Hob- 
 art was more than a matcli for the open, fervid, and 
 impatient Mason. To recover his health a voyage to 
 Europe was thought of; and as he had for eleven years 
 discharged gratuitously the duties of theological professor, 
 the synod voted him a gift of five hundred dollars. Ac- 
 cordingly, Dr Mason, his son Ebenezer, and Matthias 
 Bruen, came over to England in August 1816, visited 
 various parts of Scotland, and crossed to France, Belgium, 
 Switzerland, and Italy. He was greatly benefited by the 
 journey, and returned full of hope to New York in the end 
 of 1817. He had met, as on his previous visit, with very 
 great kindness, and had been received into wider society 
 He took to Csesar Malan at Geneva, and he heard Chal- 
 mers with rapture. Chalmers was equally captivated with 
 him, and spoke in high terms of his " colloquial talents," 
 his " masculine vigour," and an " eloquence which he had 
 rarely known surpassed." But the strong man was obliged 
 to bow, nay, the very impetus which had given such power 
 to his eloquence, and such passion to his unwritten dis- 
 courses, showed his constitutional liability to cerebral 
 disease. It was not so much incessant wear as periodical 
 excitement and effort strained to its maximum that wore 
 him out, — 
 
 All the soul in rapt suspension, 
 All the quivering, palpitating 
 
MEMOIR. xiii 
 
 Cords of life in utmost tension, 
 With the fervour of invention, 
 With the rapture of creating. 
 
 In the month of February 1820, his mind suddenly failed 
 in the pulpit, and his train of thought had vanished beyond 
 recall, — when, bursting into tears, he told the audience 
 of his mental prostration, and abruptly dismissed them. 
 He recovered, but very slowly, and though the measure 
 was like " tearhig the flesh from his bones," he purposed 
 to demit his charge. But before the period to which he 
 pointed had come, he received an invitation to the presi- 
 dency of Dickenson College, Carlisle, in the State of 
 Pennsylvania. He at once acceded to the request, saying, 
 " It will employ me usefully in a work to which I find 
 myself adequate, but which will not oppress me." The 
 College, which had been suspended for some time, im- 
 mediately revived, an able staff of professors was chosen, 
 and students flocked to it from all parts of the country. 
 But, in a few months, he met with an accident which 
 long confined him to his bed, and crippled him for life. 
 A paralytic affection, also, that " lurked about his frame," 
 awakened in his constitution the symptoms of a previous 
 malady. Domestic trials fell upon him at the same time, — 
 a married daughter died, and " the heart of a father over 
 his daughter responded to every moan of a husband's 
 heart over his beloved wife." Not many weeks after, a 
 promising son, James Hall, was also taken away by fever, 
 and this stroke shattered him. As the fellow-students of 
 the youth were about to take the first step in bearing his 
 remains to the tomb, the father, in the anguish of his heart, 
 suddenly exclaimed, " Tread lightly, young men, tread 
 lightly; you carry a temple of the Holy Ghost." — "My 
 heart bleeds," he wrote to a friend, " O pity me, I am very 
 weak: the blossom, the blossom of my hopes gone, cut 
 
x iv MEMOIR. 
 
 down in its richest bloom, yet I hope, and I hope not 
 without reason, to be transplanted to a kindlier soil, to shed 
 fresher fragrance in the paradise of God." Crushed so 
 sorely by affliction, his constitution fast losing its nervous 
 power, and a dimness gathering round his genius, he was 
 heard to say, "My morn was joyous, my noon was brilliant, 
 but clouds and shadows rest upon the evening of my days." 
 And they were never fully lifted, though they might be 
 raised for a moment to show the splendours which they 
 only veiled. He resigned his situation in 1824, and 
 returned to New York. But his great powers w^ere per- 
 manently impaired, and the last years of his life were 
 spent in comparative retirement. Now and then the old 
 spirit would flash up at the sight of a friend, and a happy 
 sentence or image would find a tremulous and imperfect 
 utterance. But his Bible was his treasure, and amidst all 
 his lassitude he never failed to enjoy it. What he had 
 known and preached as truths, he now felt and enjoyed 
 as comforts. He was able till within a very short time of 
 his death to conduct worship in his family, and usually 
 with correctness and ease. The time of his release came 
 at length and he died on the 26th of December 1829, in 
 the sixtieth year of his age. 
 
 The influence of Dr Mason during his life was very great. 
 His name was a tower of strength. Universally acknow- 
 ledged as the first preacher in the States, he gathered 
 audiences of the high and educated classes — lawyers, sena- 
 tors, merchants, and scholars — men who, as they receive 
 impressions themselves, naturally and unconsciously impart 
 them to those around them. His noble nature, unsullied 
 character, impulsive spirit, and tongue of fire, — his generous 
 patriotism and chivalrous love of spiritual freedom, gave 
 him a place far beyond the reach of vulgar ambition. 
 He lived and laboured for the Church, either in its pulpits 
 
MEMOIPv. xv 
 
 or colleges, with entire and self-denying devotedness, with 
 an energy which seldom paused, and with a zeal which 
 consumed him, wore out his nervous strength by repeated 
 strokes of paralysis, and eventually shortened his days. 
 He could not refuse his aid to any good work, and his ser- 
 vices were in continual requisition. So highly, indeed, 
 were his pleadings valued, and so constantly were they in 
 demand for all forms of benevolent and missionary enter- 
 prise, that, as we have seen, he fell a sacrifice to his 
 obliging temper and earnest love of usefulness, while the 
 plaudits of thousands were weaving the garland for the 
 victim which the patrons of charities and leaders of churches 
 were conducting to the altar. 
 
 Dr Mason took an intense interest in theological tuition, 
 — bent his whole mind to the discovery of the best plans, 
 and urged the Church to adopt and support them. His 
 sagacious addresses, in connection with Columbia and 
 Dickenson Colleges, exhibit correct and comprehensive 
 views of education, as being that harmonious culture by 
 which the entire nature is developed, so as to be qualified 
 in the highest degree for the service of the " great task- 
 master." He exposed the error into which so many insti- 
 tutions in his own country have since been betrayed — that 
 of hurrying a youth through his preparatory studies, and 
 sending him " deformed, unfinished," into the public arena. 
 Such premature dismissal from school, college, or hall, in- 
 evitably begets sciolism, one-sidedness, andsmartness with- 
 out solidity — acts as if precocity were a universal gift, and 
 saves pence in the meantime at the expense of pounds at a 
 subsequent period. In applying the sickle to the green ears 
 and cutting them down, it may boast of superior husbandry 
 in forcing an early harvest, but the garner will not be filled, 
 nor the hopes of the sower realized, " with the finest of the 
 wheat." Or, to give the figure an American aptness, all 
 
xvi MEMOIR. 
 
 structure of logs is soon erected, and timber is far more 
 easily shaped than marble ; but the edifice of stone, which 
 .rises slowly and with toil, preserves its stateliness long 
 after the other has been beaten down by the storm, 
 covered with fungi, or pierced with worms. 
 
 Dr Mason was not one of those men whose forms of 
 thought are stereotyped, who tremble at the idea of inno- 
 vation, and shrink from the prospect of opposition — who 
 take things as they are, and will not try to make them what 
 they should be — who may have impulses and convictions, 
 but stifle them, and ultimately coffin them in their torpid 
 bosoms ; who prefer ease to progress, and, on the pretext of 
 alarm at disturbing others, are only courting an ignomi- 
 nious quiet for themselves. He burst through the shackles 
 of his denomination, practised free communion, and pub- 
 lished an excellent treatise on the subject. Indeed, his 
 name is identified with that volume, and the practice which 
 it advocates. It is not remarkable for flights of oratory, but 
 it is cautious in its statements, though weighty in its argu- 
 ments, appealing to the facts and doctrines of Scripture, 
 and to the opinions and usages of the early Church, and 
 refuting such objections as sectarian bias and custom 
 were in the habit of offering w T ith no little petulance and 
 ingenuity. He pleaded for frequent as well as free com- 
 munion, and bears hard on those good people who would 
 not go to the Lord's table without observing a regular 
 number of preparatory services, and could not think of 
 lessening the full " tale of bricks " in any circumstances. 
 
 It is, however, as a Christian orator that Dr Mason is 
 chiefly known. Not a few of his sermons are masterpieces. 
 Their power lies in their directness — in their glowing ima- 
 gery and style. They are not elaborate disquisitions, better 
 fitted for study in the closet than recitation in the pulpit. 
 Nor are they pieces of meretricious declamation — empty. 
 
MEMOIR. xvii 
 
 tricksy, and gaudy — trading in oddities, and affecting dra- 
 matic variety and construction — crossing and recrossing 
 the boundary between licit humour and buffoonery. Neither 
 are they orations with a clause of Scripture prefixed for a 
 motto, but neither expounding its meaning nor enforcing 
 and illustrating its lessons. They are sermons, not aca- 
 demic treatises, subtle and erudite in structure, and pre- 
 supposing a high cultivation on the part of the audience. 
 It is not pathos which distinguishes them, though they ex- 
 cite emotion, nor yet is it fancy, though figures sparkle in 
 every page. They are not noted as chains of argument, 
 though every paragraph either furnishes premises, points 
 home a conclusion, or shows a wise and warranted deduc- 
 tion. They arepopularaddresses, and all about them partake 
 of this character. There is no technicality in the reasoning, 
 nor abstruseness in the argument; no glitter in the ornament, 
 nor mawkishness in the sentiment. Their power, indeed, is 
 clothed with splendour, as the most brilliant of metals is 
 the heaviest of metals. Dr Mason's eloquence was char- 
 acterized by power, not dull vigour, but the energy which 
 glows while it strikes, and coruscates while its forces are 
 developed. It was not like a well whose stillness must 
 be disturbed by a bucket, but a fountain fresh and over- 
 flowing, whose living waters gleam and sparkle as they 
 pour themselves through the rocky channel. What Dr 
 Mason preached was the gospel in its majesty, — truth 
 explained, argued, defended, adorned and urged out of a 
 heart on fire, and from lips touched with a live coal from off 
 the altar. He does not beat about, but his words are bold 
 and mighty. He spoke divine truth in a divine style, — 
 simple, without sinking into common-place, vehement, but 
 not evaporating into boisterous extravagance — original, but 
 scorning eccentricity, for the man stamped the image of 
 himself on his oratory. That oratory rose far above rhetoric. 
 
xviii MEMOIR. 
 
 The uniform rumour is, that his imprinted sermons were 
 his greatest ones. His son tells us that for the last twenty- 
 five years of his life he did not write one discourse for the 
 pulpit.* Those sermons delivered without the intervention 
 of manuscript are said to be but feebly represented by his 
 published works. Then he was untrammelled by any 
 effort to recollect and recite what he had composed. His 
 mind threw off its fervid thoughts in simple grandeur, and 
 in somewhat irregular profusion, borrowing imagery and 
 illustration from Scripture and also from common life, not 
 affecting classical allusions nor disdaining colloquial fami- 
 liarity, — now searching the objections of the sceptic with a 
 withering glance, and now denouncing the folly of the 
 worldling with the wisdom of a sage and the elevation of a 
 prophet, — calm and conversational these two minutes, and 
 then soaring into gorgeous description, or whetted into 
 vehement accusation, or melting in intense and final appeal. 
 Dr Mason had, moreover, the advantage of a princely 
 figure, — being six feet in stature, with a high forehead, and 
 a noble carriage. As we have heard from one who, for a 
 brief period, enjoyed his ministrations, his deep blue eye 
 was keen and expressive, and often more eloquent than 
 his tongue. As it glanced and kindled, darkened and 
 glowed again under every variety of emotion, it told more 
 of the inner world than the more passive periods rolling 
 from his tongue. " What lofty enthusiasm !" — " What 
 courage and confidence !" — " What entire self-abandonment 
 to his theme!" — "What bold conceptions and felicitous 
 words!" — "What a tender andgenerousbearing!" — "What 
 a solemn and stirring style!" — "What a subduing and 
 captivating address !" — "What a combination of sympathy 
 and power ! " — " What an atmosphere of love and majesty 
 he sheds around the gospel!" — were the frequent excla- 
 * Memoirs of J. M. Mason, D.D., by Jacob Van Vechten, New York, 1856. 
 
MEMOIR. x i x 
 
 mations of his hearers. His incidental remarks were like 
 flashes of fire, if he referred to anything indecorous in 
 appearance or manner in the house of God. More than the 
 offender winced, smitten as if by a careless back-handed 
 stroke. The biographer, one might almost say the idolater, 
 of Bishop Hobart, is forced to admit no little of what we 
 have said of Dr Mason's ready eloquence and intellectual 
 supremacy. Alluding to the quarrels at the Board of 
 Columbia College, he bears this testimony, — " Dr Mason 
 was a man well calculated to wield influence in either a 
 popular or an intellectual assembly. Powerful with his 
 pen, he was still more powerful in speech, for a command- 
 ing figure and stentorian voice such as he possessed, are 
 never without their influence in debate ; while, at the same 
 time, his truly great powers both of argument and sarcasm, 
 seemed to justify him in that disdainful tone and manner 
 with which he was wont to put to silence opponents of 
 whom he stood not in awe." Again, " His powers, how- 
 ever great, were roused into action more by impulse than 
 calm resolve ;" and again, " Towering in his strength, he 
 joined Warburtonian coarseness of manner to unquestioned 
 learning and overbearing talent. 1 ' * If we deduct the ele- 
 ment of exaggeration infused into these sentences by an 
 opponent, we have a strong and unpartial testimony to 
 Dr Mason's power and influence. 
 
 In short, the eloquence of Dr Mason closely resembles 
 that of the great Lord Chatham. It had the same grandeur 
 and opulence of unpremeditated sentiment and graceful 
 elocution — the same richness and variety of intonation, 
 though the trumpet note predominated — the same lofty and 
 generous style of thought — the same self-possession and 
 
 * Life of Bishop Hobart, by John M'Vicar, P.D., Columbia College, 
 New York. 
 
xx MEMOIR. 
 
 absence of all embarrassment — the same easy play of 
 whispered illustration succeeded by paroxysms of excite- 
 ment that subdued and entranced the hearer — the same 
 slight tone of exaggeration blending with assertion and 
 apostrophe, and perhaps the same consciousness of pro- 
 ducing and intending to produce overwhelming effect. 
 Dr Mason's style is in harmony. It is not smooth and 
 monotonous, but living and fresh — words fitting in to 
 the various thoughts with marvellous precision and power 
 — calm when the orator is didactic — eager when he is 
 impetuous — now like the crags and precipices through 
 which the river foams and leaps — and now like the green 
 banks fringed with willows and olives by which it glides 
 in its level course. 
 
 His oratory has thus a character of its own. It does not 
 resemble Hall's, which was characterized more by beauty 
 than by force — more by refinement than by depth and 
 vehemence ; his rigid taste keeping him at once from 
 tawdry embellishment and rugged coarseness. But while 
 he combines ease with elegance and fluency with preci- 
 sion, there is a monotonous tone in his sentences, little 
 variety in his cadences, and a want of relief generally 
 in his composition. There lacks the flavour of almonds to 
 his sweetnes : so that he sometimes resembles the placid 
 sameness of Isocrates — sometimes the gentle and graceful 
 rapidity of Cicero — rarely, if ever, like Mason, the abrupt, 
 argumentative, intense, and irresistible periods and in- 
 terrogations of Demosthenes. 
 
 No mean judge has said, indeed, that Hall's style 
 combines the beauties of Burke, Johnson, and Addison 
 without their defects. To this dictum we should demur. 
 The imperial fancy of Burke laid all nature under con- 
 tribution. He did not need to grapple with images and 
 agonize till he had enthralled them, for they crouched in 
 
MEMOIR. xxi 
 
 groups around him with oriental obeisance. These images 
 are inwoven with his abstract reasonings, and impart 
 vigour and stateliness to a style, which is not clipped and 
 trimmed, but spread out like the irregular boughs and foli- 
 age of a lofty tree. He rioted in this opulence ; but the 
 mind of Hall had not such a range, and was more fastidious 
 in its limited choice. Johnson was sonorous and solemn ; 
 his words adjusted into measured clauses, not unlike the 
 modulation and parallelism of Hebrew poetry. His huge 
 soul still kept its heights, and linked together its sounding 
 epithets, whatever might chance to be the theme. His 
 zephyrs play with sedateness, his squirrels have the un- 
 wieldy gambols of an elephant, his children have an old 
 head on young shoulders. Hall is vastly more natural and 
 never turgid. Still the influence of Johnson may be seen 
 not only in Hall, but in the laboured and rythmical con- 
 struction in which Mason sometimes indulges. Addison 
 was all ease and sprightliness, with graceful negligence ; 
 and Hall and Mason resemble him when they are off 
 their guard and give free and unrestrained expression 
 to their thoughts. Hall and Mason were both unlike 
 Chalmers in form of thought, style, and delivery. The 
 Scottish preacher seized upon a primary thought, and 
 held it and turned it in all its aspects, and still strug- 
 gled with it and dwelt upon it as he pressed it with 
 impetuous argument and luxuriant illustration on his 
 audience — heaving forth vehement words from his im- 
 passioned soul — his rhetoric, like a " rushing mighty 
 wind," carrying the fire of inspiration on its wings. 
 Hall wa3 ever calm and collected — Mason was not al- 
 ways under the afflatus, but often had a breathing time. 
 The three great orators have erected for themselves 
 imperishable monuments. If we should say that Hall's is 
 of Parian marble, polished with exquisite skill and chaste- 
 
xxii MEMOIR. 
 
 ness, then Mason's, though not of so fine and rich a 
 material, has a nobler sweep and freer outline, — while 
 that of Chalmers is of his own granite, wrought and hewn 
 after no order, but a massive structure set upon a bold 
 and rugged hill, where the eagle has its eyrie, and the 
 thunder-cloud its throne. 
 
 Of living orators we speak not. Nor does our space 
 allow us to refer to Massillon, Bourdaloue, or Saurin, nor 
 to Reinhardt, Draseke, Herder, or Schleiermacher. 
 
 The reader of these reprinted discourses of Dr Mason 
 will assuredly find delight and spiritual profit in them. 
 
 JOHN EADIE. 
 
 Glasgow, 
 13 Laxsdownk Crescent, 
 April 1860. 
 
SERMON 1. 
 
 THE GOSPEL FOR THE POOR. 
 
 LUKE VII. 22. 
 
 " To the poor the gospel is preached." 
 
 The Old Testament closes with a remarkable prediction concerning 
 Messiah and his forerunner : " Behold, I will send you Elijah the 
 prophet before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the Lord : 
 and he shall turn the heart of the fathers to the children, and the 
 heart of the children to their fathers, lest I come and smite the earth 
 with a curse.'' Accordingly, at the appointed time, came John 
 the Baptist, " in the spirit and power of Elias," saying, " Repent ye, 
 for the kingdom of heaven is at hand." In his great work of pre- 
 paring the way of the Lord, he challenged sin without respect 
 of persons. The attempt was hazardous ; but, feeling the ma- 
 jesty of his character, he was not to be moved by considerations 
 which divert or intimidate the ordinary man: name, sect, station, 
 were alike to him. Not even the imperial purple, when it 
 harboured a crime, afforded protection from his rebuke. His 
 fidelity in this point cost him his life: for having reproved 
 " Herod, for Herodias, his brother Philip's wife, and for all the evils 
 which Herod had done," he was thrown into prison, and at length 
 sacrificed to the most implacable of all resentments, — the resent- 
 ment of an abandoned woman. 
 
 It was in the interval between his arrest and execution that 
 he sent to Jesus the message on which my text is grounded. 
 As his office gave him no security against the workings of un- 
 belief in the hour of temptation, it is not strange, if, in a dungeon 
 and in chains, his mind was invaded by an occasional doubt. 
 The question by two of his disciples, " Art thou he that should come, 
 or do we look for another?" has all the air of an inquiry for per- 
 
2 SERMON I. 
 
 sonal satisfaction ; and so his Lord's reply seems to treat it. "Go 
 your way, and tell John what things ye have seen and heard ; how 
 that the blind see, the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed, the deaf 
 hear, the dead are raised, to the poor the gospel is preached." The 
 answer is clear and convincing. It enumerates the very signs by 
 which the church was to know her God, for whom she had waited ; 
 and they were enough to remove the suspicions, and confirm the 
 soul, of his servant John. 
 
 Admitting that Jesus Christ actually wrought the works here 
 ascribed to him, every sober man will conclude with Nicodemus, 
 " We know that thou art a teacher from God ; for no man can do 
 these miracles that thou doest, except God be with him." It is not, 
 however, my intention to dwell on the miraculous evidence of 
 Christianity. The article which I select as exhibiting it in a 
 plain but interesting view, is, the preaching of gospel to the 
 poor. 
 
 In scriptural language, "the poor," who are most exposed 
 to suffering and least able to encounter it, represent all who are 
 destitute of good necessary to their perfection and happiness; 
 especially those who feel their want and are disconsolate ; especially 
 those who are anxiously waiting for the consolation of Israel. Thus 
 in Ps. xl. 17 : "I am poor and needy, yet the Lord thinketh upon 
 me." Thus, in Is. xli. 17 : " When the poor and needy seek water, 
 and there is none, and their tongue faileth for thirst, I the Lord 
 will hear them, I the God of Israel will not forsake them." Thus 
 also, ch. lxi. i. : " The Lord hath anointed me to preach good tidings 
 to the meek ;" the same word with that rendered " poor ;" and 
 so it is translated by Luke, ch. iv. 18, " to preach the gospel to the 
 poor;" which is connected, both in the prophet and evangelist, 
 with healing the broken-hearted. Our Lord, therefore, refers 
 John, as he did the Jew r s in the synagogue at Nazareth, to this 
 very prediction as fulfilled in himself. So that his own definition 
 of his own religion is, a system of consolation for the wretched. 
 This is so far from excluding the literal poor, that the success of 
 the gospel with them is the pledge of its success with all others : 
 for they not only form the majority of the human race, but they 
 also bear the chief burden of its calamities. Moreover, as the 
 sources of pleasure and pain are substantially the same in all men ; 
 and as affliction, by suspending the influence of their artificial 
 distinctions, reduces them to the level of their common nature ; 
 
THE GOSPEL FOR THE POOR. 3 
 
 whatever, by appealing to the principles of that nature, promotes 
 the happiness of the multitude, must equally promote the happiness 
 of the residue ; and whatever consoles the one, must, in like cir- 
 cumstances, console the other also. As we cannot, therefore, main- 
 tain the suitableness of the gospel to the literal poor, who are the 
 mass of mankind, without maintaining its prerogative of comforting 
 the afflicted ; nor, on the contrary, its prerogative of comforting, 
 separately from its suitableness to the mass of mankind, I shall 
 consider these two ideas as involving each other. 
 
 I. With this explanation, the first thing which demands your 
 notice, is the fact itself — gospel preached to the poor. 
 
 From the remotest antiquity there have been, in all civilized 
 nations, men who devoted themselves to the increase of knowledge 
 and happiness. Their speculations were subtle, their arguings 
 acute, and many of their maxims respectable. But to whom 
 were their instructions addressed ? To casual visitors, to selected 
 friends, to admiring pupils, to privileged orders ! In some 
 countries, and on certain occasions, when vanity was to be 
 gratified by the acquisition of fame, their appearances were 
 more public. For example, one read a poem, another a history, 
 and a third a play, before the crowd assembled at the Olympic 
 games. To be crowned there, was, in the proudest period of 
 Greece, the summit of glory and ambition. But what did this, 
 what did the mysteries of pagan worship, or what the lectures 
 of pagan philosophy, avail the people t Sunk in ignorance, in 
 poverty, in crime, they lay neglected. Age succeeded age, and 
 school to school ; a thousand sects and systems rose, flourished, 
 and fell; but the degradation of the multitude remained. Not 
 a beam of light found its way into their darkness, nor a drop of 
 consolation into their cup. Indeed a plan of raising them to 
 the dignity of rational enjoyment, and fortifying them against 
 the disasters of life, was not to be expected : for as nothing can 
 exceed the contempt in which they were held by the professors of 
 wisdom ; so any human device, however captivating in theory, 
 would have been worthless in fact. The most sagacious heathen 
 could imagine no better means of improving them than the 
 precepts of his philosophy. Now, supposing it to be ever so 
 salutary, its benefits must have been confined to a very few ; the 
 notion that the bulk of mankind may become philosophers, being- 
 altogether extravagant. They ever have been, and, in the nature 
 
4 SERMON I 
 
 of things, ever must be, unlearned. Besides, the grovelling super- 
 stition and brutal manners of the heathen, presented insuperable 
 obstacles. Had the plan of their cultivation been even suggested, 
 especially if it comprehended the more abject of the cpecies, it 
 would have been universally derided, and would have merited 
 derision, no less than the dreams of modern folly about the per- 
 fectibility of man. 
 
 Under this incapacity of instructing the poor, how would the 
 pagan sage have acquitted himself as their comforter? His 
 dogmas, during prosperity and health, might humour his fancy, 
 might flatter his pride, or dupe his understanding ; but against 
 the hour of grief or dissolution he had no solace for himself, and 
 could have none for others. T am not to be persuaded, in 
 contradiction to every principle of my animal and rational 
 being, that pain, and misfortune, and death, are no evils; and are 
 beneath a wise man's regard. And could I work myself up 
 into so absurd a conviction, how would it promote my comfort? 
 Comfort is essentially consistent with nature and truth. By 
 perverting my judgment, by hardening my heart, by chilling my 
 nobler warmth, and stifling my best affections, I may grow 
 stupid ; but shall be far enough from consolation. Convert me 
 into a beast, and I shall be without remorse ; into a block, and 
 I shall feel no pain. But this was not my request. I asked 
 you for consolation, and you destroy my ability to receive it. I 
 asked you to bear me over death, in the fellowship of immortals, 
 and you begin by transforming me into a monster! Here are 
 no glad tidings : nothing to cheer the gloom of outward or inward 
 poverty. And the pagan teacher could give me no better. From 
 him, therefore, the miserable, even of his own country, and class, 
 and kindred, had nothing to hope. But to lift the needy from the 
 dunghill, and wipe away the tears from the mourner ; to lighten 
 the burdens of the heart; to heal its maladies, repair its losses, 
 and enlarge its enjoyments ; and that under every form of penury 
 and sorrow, in all nations, and ages, and circumstances ; as it is 
 a scheme too vast for the human faculties, so, had it been com- 
 mitted to merely human execution, it could not have proceeded a 
 single step, and would have been remembered only as a frantic- 
 reverie. 
 
 Yet all this hath Christianity undertaken. Her voice is, 
 without distinction, to people of every colour, and clime, and con- 
 
THE GOSPEL FOR THE POUR. 5 
 
 dition : to the continent and the isles ; to the man of the city, the 
 man of the field, and the man of the woods; to the Moor, the 
 Hindoo, and the Hottentot ; to the sick and desperate ; to the 
 beggar, the convict, and the slave. She impairs no faculty, 
 interdicts no affection, infringes no relation; but, taking men as 
 they are, with all their depravity and woes, she profilers them 
 peace and blessedness. Her boasting is not vain. The course of 
 experiment has lasted through more than fifty generations of men. 
 It is passing every hour before our eyes: and, for reasons to be 
 afterwards assigned, has never failed, in a single instance, when 
 it has been fairly tried. 
 
 The design is stupendous ; and the least success induces 
 us to inquire, by whom it was projected and carried into 
 effect. And what is our astonishment, when we learn, that 
 it was by men of obscure birth, mean education, and feeble 
 resource; by men from a nation hated for their religion, and 
 proverbial for their moroseness ; by carpenters, and lax-gath- 
 erers, and fishermen of Judea! What shall we say of this 
 phenomenon? A recurrence to the Jewish scriptures, which 
 had long predicted it, either surrenders the argument, or 
 increases the difficulty. If you admit that they reveal futurity, 
 you recognise the finger of God, and the controversy is at an 
 end. If you call them mere conjectures, "you are still to account 
 for their correspondence with the event, and to explain how a 
 great system of benevolence, unheard, unthought of by learned 
 antiquity, came to be cherished, to be transmitted for centuries 
 from father to son, and at length attempted among the Jews! 
 And you are also contradicted by the fact, that however clearly 
 such a system is marked out in their scriptures, they were so 
 far from adopting it, that they entirely mistook it ; rejected 
 it, nationally, with disdain ; persecuted unto death those who 
 embarked in it ; and have not embraced it to this day ! Yet in 
 the midst of this bigoted and obstinate people, sprang up the 
 deliverance of the human race. Salvation is of the Jews. Within 
 half a century after the resurrection of Christ, his disciples had 
 penetrated to the extremes of the Roman empire, and had carried 
 the daijspring from on high to innumerable tribes who were sitting 
 in the region and shadow of death. And so exclusively Christian 
 is this plan, so remote from the sphere of common effort, that 
 after it has been proposed and executed, men revert perpetually 
 
6 SERMON I. 
 
 to their wonted littleness and carelessness. The whole face of 
 Christendom is overspread with proofs, that, in proportion as they 
 depart from the simplicity of the gospel, they forget the multitude 
 as before, and the doctrines of consolation expire. In so far, 
 too, as they adapt, to their own notions of propriety, the 
 general idea, which they have borrowed from the gospel, of 
 meliorating the condition of their species, they have produced, 
 and are every clay producing, effects the very reverse of their 
 professions. Discontent, and confusion, and crimes, they propa- 
 gate in abundance. They have smitten the earth with curses, 
 and deluged it with blood ; but the instance is yet to be 
 discovered, in which they have bound up the broken-hearted. 
 The fact, therefore, that Christianity is, in the broadest sense 
 of the terms, glad tidings to the poor, is perfectly original. It 
 stands without rival or comparison. It has no foundation in 
 the principles of human enterprise ; and could never have existed 
 without the inspiration of that Father of lights from whom 
 cometh down every good and every perfect gift. 
 
 II. As the Christian fact is original, so the reasons of its 
 efficacy are peculiar. Christianity can afford consolation, be- 
 cause it is fitted to our nature and character. I specify particulars : 
 
 First. The gospel proceeds upon the principle of immortality. 
 
 That our bodies shall die is indisputable. But that reluctance 
 of nature, that panting after life, that horror of annihilation, of 
 which no man can completely divest himself, connect the death 
 of the body with deep solicitude. While neither these, nor 
 any other merely rational considerations, ascertain the certainty 
 of future being; much less of future bliss. The feeble light 
 which glimmered around this point among the heathen, flowed 
 not from investigation, but tradition. It was to be seen chiefly 
 among the vulgar, who inherited the tales of their fathers ; 
 and among the poets, who preferred popular fable to philosophic 
 speculation. Reason would have pursued her discovery; but 
 the pagans knew not how to apply the notion of immortality, 
 even when they had it. It governed not their precepts ; it 
 established not their hope. When they attempted to discuss 
 the grounds of it, ihey became vain in their imaginations, and 
 their foolish heart was darkened. The best arguments of Socrates 
 are unworthv of a child who has learned the holy scriptures. And 
 
THE GOSPEL FOR THE POOR. 7 
 
 it is remarkable enough, that the doctrine of immortality is as 
 perfectly detached, and as barren of moral effect, in the hands of 
 modern infidels, as it was in the hands of the ancient pagans. 
 They have been so unable to assign it a convenient place in their 
 system ; they have found it to be so much at variance with 
 their habits, and so troublesome in their warfare with the 
 scriptures, that the more resolute of the sect have discarded it 
 altogether. With the soberer part of them it is no better than 
 an opinion; but it never was, and never will be, a source of 
 true consolation, in any system or any bosom, but the system of 
 Christianity and the bosom of the Christian. Life and immor- 
 tality, about which some have guessed; for which all have 
 sighed; but of which none could trace the relations, or prove 
 the existence ; are not merely hinted, they are brought to light 
 by the gospel. This is the parting point with every other re- 
 ligion ; and yet the very point upon which our happiness hangs. 
 That we shall survive the body, and pass from its dissolution 
 to the bar of God, and from the bar of God to endless retribution, 
 are truths of infinite moment, and of pure revelation. They 
 demonstrate the incapacity of temporal things to content the 
 soul. They explain why grandeur, and pleasure, and fame, 
 leave the heart sad. He who pretends to be my comforter without 
 consulting my immortality, overlooks my essential want. The 
 gospel supplies it. Immortality is the basis of her fabric. She 
 resolves the importance of man into its true reason — the value of 
 his soul. She sees under every human form, however rugged or 
 abused, a spirit unalterable by external change, unassailable by 
 death, and endued with stupendous faculties of knowledge and 
 action, of enjoyment and suffering; a spirit, at the same time, 
 depraved and guilty; and therefore liable to irreparable ruin. 
 These are Christian views. They elevate us to a height, at 
 which the puny theories of the world stand and gaze. They 
 stamp new interest on all my relations, and all my acts. They 
 hold up before me objects vast as my wishes, terrible as my fears, 
 and permanent as my being. They bind me to eternity. 
 
 Secondly. Having thus unfolded the general doctrine of im- 
 mortality, the gospel advances further, informing us, that although 
 a future life is sure, future blessedness is by no means a matter of 
 course. This receives instant confirmation from a review of our 
 character as simiers. 
 
8 SERMON I. 
 
 None but an atheist, or, which is the same thing, a madman, 
 will deny the existence of moral obligation, and the sanction of 
 moral law. In other words, that it is our duty to obey God, and 
 that he has annexed penalties to disobedience. As little can it 
 be denied, that we have actually disobeyed him. Guilt has 
 taken up its abode in the conscience, and indicates, by signs not 
 to be misunderstood, both its presence and power. To call this 
 superstition, betrays only that vanity, which thinks to confute a 
 doctrine by giving it an ill name. Depravity and its consequences 
 meet us, at every moment, in a thousand shapes ; nor is there an 
 individual breathing, who has escaped its taint. Therefore our 
 relations to our Creator as innocent creatures have ceased ; and 
 are succeeded by the relation of rebels against his government. 
 In no other light can he contemplate us, because his judgment is 
 according to truth. A conviction of this begets alarm and 
 wretchedness. And whatever some may pretend, a guilty con- 
 science is the secret worm, which preys upon the vitals of human 
 peace : the invisible spell, which turns the draught of pleasure 
 into wormwood and gall. To laugh at it as an imaginary evil, 
 is the mark of a fool : for what can be more rational than to 
 tremble at the displeasure of an Almighty God. If, then, I ask 
 howl am to be delivered? or whether deliverance is possible? 
 human reason is dumb : or if she open her lips, it is only to tease 
 me with conjectures, which evince that she knows nothing of the 
 matter. Here the Christian verity interferes; showing me, on 
 the one hand, that my alarm is well founded ; that my demerit 
 and danger are far beyond even my own suspicions ; that God, with 
 whom I have to do, will by no means clear the guilty ; but on the 
 other hand, revealing the provision of his infinite wisdom and 
 grace, for releasing me from guilt. " God so loved the world, that he 
 gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever belie veth in him should 
 not perish, but have everlasting life." The more I ponder this 
 method of salvation, the more I am convinced that it displays the 
 divine perfection, and exalts the divine government; so that "it 
 became him, for whom are all things, and by whom are all things, 
 in bringing may sons unto glory, to make the Captain of their sal- 
 vation perfect through sufferings. ? ' Now I know where to obtain 
 the first requisite to happiness, pardon of sin. In Christ Jesus 
 tlic Lord, is that justifying righteousness, the want of which, 
 though I was ignorant of the cause, kept me miserable till this 
 
THE GOSPEL FOR THE POOR. 
 
 hour. I cling to it, and am safe. His precious blood purges my 
 conscience. It extends peace to me as a river, and the glory of 
 redemption like a flowing stream. My worst fears are dispelled : 
 the wrath to come is not for me : I can look with composure at 
 futurity, and feel joy springing- up with the thought that I am 
 immortal. 
 
 Thirdly. In addition to deliverance from wrath, Christianity 
 provides relief against the plague of the heart. 
 
 It will not be contested, that disorder reigns among the passions 
 of men. The very attempts to rectify it are a sufficient conces- 
 sion ; and their ill success shows their authors to have been 
 physicians of no value. That particular ebullitions of passion have 
 been repressed and particular habits of vice overcome, without 
 Christian aid, is admitted. But if any one shall conclude, that 
 these are examples of victory over the principle of depravity, he 
 will greatly err. For, not to insist that the experience of the 
 world is against him, we have complete evidence that all reforma- 
 tions, not evangelical, are merely an exchange of lusts ; or rather, 
 the elevation of one evil appetite by the depression of another ; 
 the strength of depravity continuing the same ; its form only varied. 
 Nor can it be otherwise. Untaught of God, the most compre- 
 hensive genius is unable either to trace the original of corruption 
 or to check its force. It has its fountain where he least and 
 last believes it to be — but where the omniscient eye has searched 
 il out — in the human heart : the heart, filled with enmity against 
 God — the heart, deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked. 
 " But the discovery being made, his measures, you hope, will 
 take surer effect." Quite the contrary. It now defies his power 
 as it formerly did his wisdom. How have disciples of the moral 
 school studied and toiled ! how have they resolved, and vowed 
 and fasted, watched and prayed, travelling through the whole 
 circuit of devout austerities ! and set down at last, wearied in the 
 greatness of their way! But no marvel! the Ethiopian cannot 
 change his skin, nor the leopard his spots. Neither can impurity 
 purify itself. Here again, light from the footsteps of the Christian 
 truth breaks in upon the darkness; and gospel again flows from 
 her tongue ; the gospel of a new heart— the gospel of regenerating 
 and sanctifying grace; as the promise, the gift, the work of God. 
 " I will sprinkle clean water upon you, and you shall be clean ; from 
 all your filthiness, and from all your idols will I cleanse yon ; a new 
 
10 SERMON T. 
 
 heart also will I give you, and a new spirit will I put within you ; 
 and I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh ; and I will 
 give you a heart of flesh ; and I will put my spirit within you, and 
 cause you to walk in my statutes, and ye shall keep my judgments 
 and do them." Here all our difficulties are resolved at once. The 
 spirit of life in Christ Jesus quickens the dead in trespasses and 
 sins. The Lord, our strength, works in us all the good pleasure of 
 his goodness, and the work of faith with power. That which was 
 impossible with men, is not so with him ; for with him all things 
 are possible ; even the subduing our iniquities ; creating us anew, 
 after his own image, in knowledge, righteousness, and true holiness ; 
 turning our polluted souls into his own habitation through the 
 Spirit ; and making us meet for the inheritance of the saints in light. 
 Verily this is gospel ; worthy to go in company with remission of 
 sin. And shall I conquer at last? Shall I, indeed, be delivered 
 from the bondage and the torment of corruption ? A new sensa- 
 tion passes through my breast. / lift up mine eyes to the hills from 
 ivhence cometh my help ; and with the hope of perfecting holiness in 
 the fear of God, hail my immortality. 
 
 Fourthly. Having thus removed our guilt, and cleansed our 
 affections, the gospel proceeds to put us in possession of adequate 
 enjoyment. An irresistible law of our being impels us to seek 
 happiness. Nor will a million of frustrated hopes deter from new 
 experiments; because despair is infinitely more excruciating than 
 the fear of fresh disappointment. But an impulse, always vehe- 
 ment and never successful, multiplies the materials and inlets of 
 pain. This assertion carries with it its own proof; and the prin- 
 ciple it assumes is verified by the history of our species. In every 
 place, and at all times, ingenuity has been racked to meet the 
 ravenous desires. Occupation, wealth, dignity, science, amuse- 
 ment, all have been tried ; are all tried at this hour ; and all in 
 vain. The heart still repines : the unappeased cry is, Give, give. 
 There is a fatal error somewhere ; and the gospel detects it. 
 Fallen away from God, we have substituted the creature in his 
 place. This is the grand mistake : the fraud which sin has com- 
 mitted upon our nature. The gospel reveals God as the satisfying 
 good, and brings it within our reach. It proclaims him reconciled 
 in Christ Jesus, as our father, our friend, our portion. It intro- 
 duces us into his presence with liberty to ask in the Intercessor's 
 name, and asking, to receive, that our joy may be full. It keeps us 
 
THE GOSPEL FOR THE POOR. 1 1 
 
 under his eve ; surrounds us with his arm ; feeds us upon living 
 bread which he gives from heaven: seals us up to an eternal 
 inheritance ; and even engages to reclaim our dead bodies from the 
 grave, and fashion them in beauty, which shall vie with heaven ! 
 It is enough ! My prayers and desires can go no further : I have 
 got to the fountain of living waters — Return to thy rest, my soul, 
 for the Lord hath dealt bountifully with thee ! 
 
 This gospel of immortality, in righteousness, purity, and bliss, 
 would be inestimable, were it even obscure, and not to be com- 
 prehended without painful scrutiny. But I observe again, 
 
 Fifthly. That, unlike the systems of men, and contrary to their 
 anticipations, the gospel is as simple, as it is glorious. Its primary 
 doctrines, though capable of exercising the most disciplined talent 
 are adapted to the common understanding. Were they dark and 
 abstruse, they might gratify a speculative mind, but would be lost 
 upon the multitude, and be unprofitable to all, as doctrines of con- 
 solation. The mass of mankind never can be profound reasoners. 
 To omit other difficulties, they have not leisure. Instruction to 
 do them good, must be interesting, solemn, repeated, and plain. 
 This is the benign office of the gospel. Her principal topics are 
 few ; they are constantly recurring in various connections ; they 
 come home to every man's condition ; they have an interpreter in 
 his bosom ; they are enforced by motives which honesty can 
 hardly mistake, and conscience will rarely dispute. Unlettered 
 men, who love their Bible, seldom quarrel about the prominent 
 articles of faith and duty ; and as seldom do they appear among 
 the proselytes of that meagre refinement which arrogates the title 
 of Philosophical Christianity. 
 
 From its simplicity, moreover, the gospel derives advantages in 
 consolation. Grief, whether in the learned or illiterate, is always 
 simple. A man, bowed down under calamity, has no relish for 
 investigation. His powers relax ; he leans upon his comforter ; 
 his support must be without toil, or his spirit faints. Conform- 
 ably to these reflections, we see, on the one hand, that the 
 unlearned compose the bulk of Christians ; the life of whose souls 
 is in the substantial doctrines of the cross — and on the other, that 
 in the time of affliction even the careless lend their ear to the 
 voice of revelation. Precious, at all times, to believers, it is 
 doubly precious in the hour of trial. These things prove, not 
 only that the gospel, when understood, gives a peculiar relief in 
 
12 SERMON I. 
 
 trouble, but that it is readily apprehended, being most acceptable, 
 when we are the least inclined to critical research. 
 
 Sixthly. The gospel, so admirable for its simplicity, has also 
 the recommendation of truth. The wretch who dreams of 
 transport, feels a new sting in his wretchedness, when he opens 
 his eyes and the delusion is fled. No real misery can be removed, 
 nor any real benefit conferred by doctrines which want the seal of 
 certainty. And were the gospel of Jesus a human invention! or 
 were it checked by any rational suspicion, that it may turn out to 
 be a fable, it might retain its brilliancy, its sublimity, and even a 
 portion of its interest; but the charm of its consolation would be 
 gone. Nay, it would add gall to bitterness, by fostering a hope, 
 which the next hour might laugh to scorn. But we may dismiss 
 our anxiety : for there is no hazard of such an issue. Not only 
 " grace," but " truth" came by Jesus Christ. The gracious words 
 ■which proceeded out of his mouth, were words of the Amen, the 
 faithful and true witness ; and those which he has written in his 
 blessed book, are pure words, as silver tried in the furnace, purified 
 seven times. His promises can no man deny to be exceeding great ; 
 yet they derive their value to us from assurances, which by satis- 
 fying the hardest conditions of evidence, render doubt not only 
 inexcusable, but even criminal. By two immutable things in which 
 it was impossible FOR GoO TO lie, ire have a, strong consolation who 
 have fled for refuge to lay hold upon the hope set before us. Now, 
 therefore, the promises of the gospel, which are " exceeding great," 
 are also " precious." We need not scruple to trust ourselves for 
 this life and the life to come., upon that word which shall stand 
 when heaven and earth pass away. Oh, it is this which makes 
 Christianity glad tidings to the depressed and perishing! No fear 
 of disappointment! No hope that shall make ashamed! Under 
 the feet of evangelical faith is a covenant-promise, and that 
 promise is everlasting Rock. / know, said one, whose testimony 
 is corroborated by millions in both worlds, I know whom I hare 
 believed, and J am persuaded that he is able to keep that which I 
 have committed unto him against that day. 
 
 Lastly. The gospel, as a system of consolation, is perfected by 
 the authority and energy which accompany it. The devices of 
 man originate in his fancy, and expire with his breath. Desti- 
 tute of power, they play around depravity, like shadows round 
 the mountain-top, and vanish without leaving an impression, 
 
THE GOSPEL FOR THE POOR. 13 
 
 Their effect would be inconsiderable, could he manifest them to 
 be true ; because he cannot compel the admission of truth itself 
 into the human mind. Indifference, unreasonableness, prejudice, 
 petulance, oppose to it an almost incredible resistance. We see 
 this in the affairs of every day, and especially in the stronger 
 conflicts of opinion and passion. Now, beside the opposition 
 which moral truth has always to encounter, there is a particu- 
 lar reason why the truth of the gospel, though most salutary, 
 though attested by everything within us and around us : by life 
 and death ; by earth and heaven and hell ; will not succeed unless 
 backed by divine energy. It is this. Sin has perverted the 
 understanding of man, and poisoned his heart. It persuaded him 
 first to throw away his blessedness, and then to hate it. The 
 reign of this hatred, which the Scriptures call enmity against God, 
 is most absolute in every unrenewed man. It teaches him never 
 to yield a point unfriendly to one corruption, without stipulating 
 for an equivalent in favour of another. Nov/, as the gospel 
 flatters none of his corruptions in any shape, it meets with deadly 
 hostility from all his corruptions in every shape. It is to no 
 purpose that you press upon him the "great salvation;" that you 
 demonstrate his errors and their corrective ; his diseases and their 
 cure. Demonstrate you may, but you convert him not. He will 
 occasionally startle and listen ; but it is only to relapse into his 
 wonted supineness : and you shall as soon call up the dead from 
 their dust, as awaken him to a sense of his danger, and prevail 
 with him to embrace the salvation of God. " Where, then," you 
 will demand, " is the pre-eminence of your gospel?" I answer, 
 with the apostle Paul, that it is the power of God to salvation. 
 When a sinner is to be converted, that is, when a slave is to be 
 liberated from his chains, and a rebel from execution, that same 
 voice which has spoken in the scriptures, speaks by them to his 
 heart, and commands an audience. He finds the word of God to 
 be quick and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword. 
 It sets him before the bar of justice ; strips him of his self-im- 
 portance ; sweeps away his refuge of lies ! and shows him that 
 death which is the wages of sin. It then conducts him, all 
 trembling, to the divine forgiveness ; reveals Christ Jesus in his 
 soul, as his righteousness, his peace, his hope of glory. Amaz- 
 ing transition ! But is not the cause equal to the effect ? Hath 
 not the potter power over the clay? Shall God draw, and the 
 
14 SERMON I. 
 
 lame not run ? Shall God speak, and the deaf not hear ? Shall 
 God breathe, and the slain not live ? Shall God lift up the light 
 of his countenance upon sinners reconciled in his dear Son, and 
 they not be happy.? Glory to his name. These are no fictions. 
 We speak that we do know, and testify that we have seen. The re- 
 cord, written not with ink, but with the Spirit of the living God ; not 
 in tables of stone, but in fleshly tables of the heart, is possessed by 
 thousands who have turned from the power of Satan unto God, 
 and will certify that the revolution was accomplished by his 
 word. And if it perform such prodigies on corruption and death, 
 what shall it not perform in directing, establishing, and consoling 
 them, who have already obtained a good hope through grace? 
 He who thunders in the curse, speaks peace in the promise ; and 
 none can conceive its influence but they who have witnessed it. 
 For proofs you must not go to the statesman, the traveller, or the 
 historian. You must not go to the gay profession, or the splendid 
 ceremonial. You must go to the chamber of unostentatious piety. 
 You must go to the family anecdote, to the Christian tradition, to 
 the observation of faithful ministers. Of the last there are many 
 who, with literal truth, might address you as follows : " I have seen 
 this gospel hush into a calm the tempest raised in the bosom by 
 conscious guilt. I have seen it melt down the most obdurate into 
 tenderness and contrition. I have seen it cheer up the broken-hearted, 
 and bring the tear of gladness into eyes swollen with grief. I have 
 seen it produce and maintain serenity under evils, which drive the 
 worldling mad. I have seen it reconcile the sufferer to his cross, and 
 send the song of praise from lips quivering with agony. I have seen 
 it enable the most affectionate relatives to part in death ; not with- 
 out emotion, but without repining ; and with a cordial surrender 
 of all that they held most dear, to the disposal of their heavenly 
 Father. I have seen the fading eye brighten at the promise of 
 Jesus : ' Where I am, there shall my servant be also.' I have seen 
 the faithful spirit released from its clay, now mildly, now tri- 
 umphantly, to enter into the joy of its Lord." 
 
 Who, among the children of men, that doubts this representation, 
 would not wish it to be correct? Who, that thinks it only probable, 
 will not welcome the doctrine on which it is founded, as worthy of 
 all acceptation t And who, that knows it to be true, will not set 
 his seal to that doctrine as being, most emphatically, gospel 
 preached to the poor ? 
 
THE GOSPEL FOR THE POOR. 15 
 
 In applying to practical purposes the account which has now 
 been given of the Christian religion, I remark, 
 
 1. That it fixes a criterion of Christian ministrations. 
 
 If he, who spake as never man spake, has declared his own 
 doctrine to abound with consolation to the miserable, then, cer- 
 tainly, the instructions of others are evangelical, only in propor- 
 tion as they subserve the same gracious end. A contradiction, 
 not unfrequent among some advocates of revelation, is to urge 
 against the infidel its power of comfort, and yet to avoid, in their 
 own discourses, almost every principle from which that power is 
 drawn. Disregarding the mass of mankind, to whom the gospel 
 is peculiarly fitted, and omitting those truths which might revive 
 the grieved spirit, or touch the slumbering conscience, they discuss 
 their moral topics in a manner unintelligible to the illiterate, un- 
 interesting to the mourner, and without alarm to the profane. 
 This is not " preaching Christ." Elegant dissertations upon 
 virtue and vice, upon the evidences of revelation, or any other 
 general subject, may entertain the prosperous and the gay ; but 
 they will not mortify our members which are upon the earth ; they 
 will not unsting calamity, nor feed the heart with an imperishable 
 hope. When I go to the house of God, I do not want amusement. 
 I want the doctrine which is according to godliness. I want to hear 
 of the remedy against the harassings of my guilt, and the disorder 
 of my affections. I want to be led from weariness and disappoint- 
 ment, to that goodness which filleth the hungry soul. I want to 
 have light upon the mystery of providence ; to be taught how the 
 judgments of the Lord are right ; how I shall be prepared for 
 duty and for trial — how I may pass the time of my sojourning 
 here in fear, and close it in peace. Tell me of that Lord Jesus, 
 who his own self bare our sins in his own body on the tree. Tell 
 me of his intercession for the transgressors as their advocate with 
 the Father. Tell me of his Holy Spirit, whom they that believe on 
 him receive, to be their preserver, sanctifier, comforter. Tell me 
 of his chastenings ; their necessity, and their use. Tell me of his 
 presence, and sympathy, and love. Tell me of the virtues, as 
 growing out of his cross, and nurtured by his grace. Tell me of 
 the glory reflected on his name by the obedience of faith. Tell 
 me of vanquished death, of the purified grave, of a blessed 
 resurrection, of the life everlasting — and my bosom warms. This 
 is gospel ; these are glad tidings to me as a sufferer, because glad 
 
16 SERMON I. 
 
 to me as a sinner. They rectify my mistakes ; allay my resent- 
 ments; rebuke my discontent ; support me under the weight of 
 moral and natural evil. These attract the poor ; steal upon the 
 thoughtless ; awe the irreverent; and throw over the service of the 
 sanctuary a majesty, which some fashionable modes of address 
 never fail to dissipate. Where they are habitually neglected, or 
 lightly referred to, there may be much grandeur, but there is no 
 gospel; and those preachers have infinite reason to tremble, who, 
 though admired by the great, and caressed by the vain, are 
 deserted by the poor, the sorrowful, and such as walk humbly with 
 their God. 
 
 2. We should learn from the gospel, lessons of active bene- 
 volence. 
 
 The Lord Jesus, who went about doing good, has left us an 
 example that we should follow his steps. Christians, on whom he 
 has bestowed affluence, rank, or talent, should be the last to 
 disdain their fellow-men, or to look with indifference on indigence 
 and grief. Pride, unseemly in all, is detestable in them, who 
 confess that by grace they are saved. Their Lord and Redeemer, 
 who humbled himself by assuming their nature, came to deliver 
 the needy, when he crieih, the poor also, and him that hath no 
 helper. And surely an object, which was not unworthy of the 
 Son of God, cannot be unworthy of any who are called by his 
 name. Their wealth and opportunities, their talents and time, 
 are not their own, nor to be used according to their own pleasure ; 
 but to be consecrated by their vocation as fellow- workers with God. 
 How many hands that hang down would be lifted up; how many 
 feeble knees confirmed ; how many tears wiped away ; how many 
 victims of despondency and infamy rescued by a close imitation 
 of Jesus Christ. Go, with your opulence to the house of famine, 
 and the retreats of disease. Go, deal thy bread to the hungry ; 
 when thou seest the naked, cover him ; and hide not thyself from 
 thine own flesh. Go, and furnish means to rear the offspring of 
 the poor ; that they may at least have access to the word of your 
 God, Go, and quicken the flight of the Angel, who has the 
 everlasting gospel to preach unto the nations. If you possess not 
 wealth, employ your station in promoting good will toward men. 
 Judge the fatherless ; plead fur the widow. Stimulate the 
 exertions of others, who may supply what is lacking on your part. 
 Let the beauties of holiness pour their lustre upon your distinc- 
 
THE GOSPEL FOR THE POOR. 17 
 
 tions, and recommend to the unhappy that peace which yourselves 
 have found in the salvation of God. If you have neither riches 
 nor rank, devote your talents. Ravishing are the accents, which 
 dwell on the tongue of the learned, when it speaks a word in 
 season to him that is weary. Press your genius and your elo- 
 quence into the service of the Lord your righteousness, to magnify 
 his word, and display the riches of his grace. Who knoweth 
 whether he may honour you to be the minister of joy to the 
 disconsolate, of liberty to the captive, of life to the dead ? If he 
 has denied you wealth, and rank, and' talent, consecrate your 
 heart. Let it dissolve in sympathy. There is nothing to hinder 
 your rejoicing with them that do rejoice, and your weeping with 
 them that weep; nor to forbid the interchange of kind and 
 soothing offices. A brother is born for adversity ; and not only 
 should Christian be to Christian a friend that sticlceth closer than a 
 brother, but he should exemplify the loveliness of his religion to 
 them that are without. An action, a word, marked by the sweet- 
 ness of the gospel, has often been owned of God for producing the 
 happiest effects. Let no man, therefore, try to excuse his inaction ; 
 for no man is too inconsiderable to augment the triumphs of the 
 gospel, by assisting in the consolation which it yields to the 
 miserable. 
 
 3. Let all classes of the unhappy repair to the Christian truth, 
 and " draw water with joy out of its wells of salvation !" As- 
 sume your own characters, ye children of men ! Present your 
 grievances, and accept the consolation which the gospel tenders. 
 Come, now, ye tribes of pleasure, who have exhausted your 
 strength in pursuing phantom^ that retire at your approach ! 
 The voice of the Son of God in the gospel is, " Wherefore spend 
 ye your money for that which is not bread, and your labour for 
 that which satisfieth not ; hearken diligently unto me, and eat ye 
 that which is good, and let your soul delight itself in fatness." 
 Come, ye tribes of ambition, who burn for the applause of your 
 fellow-worms ! The voice of the Son of God to you is, " The 
 friendship of this world is enmity with God ; but if any serve me 
 him will my Father honour." Come, ye avaricious, who pant 
 after the dust of the earth on the head of the poor ! The voice of 
 the Son of God is, Wisdom is " more precious than rubies ; and all 
 the things thou canst desire are not to be compared unto her" 
 —but " what shall it profit a man if he shall gain the whole world, 
 
 B 
 
18 SERMON I. 
 
 and lose his own soul ?" Come, ye profane ! The voice of the 
 Son of God is, " Hearken unto me ye stout-hearted, that are far 
 from righteousness ; behold I bring near my righteousness. Come, 
 ye formal and self-sufficient, who say that ye are rich, and in- 
 creased with goods, and have need of nothing ; and know not that 
 you are wretched, and miserable, and poor, and blind, and naked ! 
 The voice of the Son of God is, " I counsel you to buy of me gold 
 tried in the fire that ye may be rich ; and white raiment that ye 
 may be clothed ; and that the shame of your nakedness do not ap- 
 pear; and anoint your eyes with eye-salve, that ye may see. 
 Come, ye, who, being convinced of sin, fear lest the fierce anger 
 of the Lord fall upon you ! The voice of the Son of God is, " Him 
 that cometh unto me I will in no wise cast out. I, even I, am he 
 that blotteth out thy transgressions for mine own sake, and will 
 not remember thy sins." Come, ye disconsolate, whose souls are 
 sad, because the Comforter is away ! The voice of the Son of 
 God is, The Lord " hath sent me to appoint unto them that mourn 
 in Zion, beauty for ashes, the oil of joy for mourning, and the 
 garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness." Come, ye tempted 
 who are borne down with the violence of the law in your mem- 
 bers, and of assaults from the evil one ! The voice of the Son of 
 God is, "I will be merciful to your unrighteousness, and the God 
 of peace shall bruise Satan under your feet shortly." Come, ye 
 children of domestic woe, upon whom the Lord has made a 
 breach, by taking away your counsellors and support ! The voice 
 of the Son of God is, " Leave thy fatherless children with me ; I 
 will preserve them alive ; and let thy widows trust in me." Come, 
 ye, from whom mysterious providence has swept away the ac- 
 quisitions of long and reputable industry ! The voice of the Son 
 of God is, " My son, if thou wilt receive my words thou shalt have 
 a treasure in the heavens that faileth not; and mayest take 
 joyfully the spoiling of thy goods, knowing that thou hast in 
 heaven a better and enduring substance." Come, ye poor, who 
 without property to lose, are grappling with distress, and exposed 
 to want ! The Son of God, though the heir of all things, had not 
 where to lay his head ; and his voice to his poor is, "Be content 
 with such things as ye have, for I will never leave thee nor for- 
 sake thee ; thy bread shall be given thee, and thy water shall be 
 sure." Come, ye reproached, w 7 ho find cruel mockings a most 
 bitter persecution ! The voice of the Son of God is, " If ye be re- 
 
THE GOSPEL FOR THE POOR. 19 
 
 proaehed for the name of Christ happy are ye, for the Spirit of 
 God and of glory resteth upon you.'' Come, in fine, ye dejected, 
 whom the fear of death holds in bondage ! The voice of the Son 
 of God is, " I will ransom them from the power of the grave, I will 
 redeem them from death. death, I will be thy plagues ! 
 grave, I will be thy destruction ! repentance shall be hid from mine 
 eyes ;" — Blessed Jesus! thy loving-kindness shall fo my joy in the 
 house of my pilgrimage ; and I will praise thee while I have any 
 being, for that gospel which thou hast preached to the poor ! 
 
SERMON IL* 
 
 DIVINE JUDGMENTS, 
 
 HAB. ii. 3. 
 " Lord, iu wrath remember mercy." 
 
 At the time when our prophet directed to the throne of grace 
 that sublime and affecting petition of which our text is a part, 
 the circumstances of his country were calamitous, and her pros- 
 pects alarming. The Most High God, provoked at her un- 
 faithfulness, had withdrawn the smiles of his countenance, and 
 the protection of his arm. To make her know, by sad experience, 
 that it is indeed an evil thing and bitter to depart from God, he 
 commissioned his servant Habakkuk to foretel the speedy in- 
 vasion of the Chaldeans, and to declare that he would yield her a 
 helpless prey to this fierce and unpitying foe. The posterity of 
 Abraham, like all other sinners, were the authors of all the woes 
 which they felt or expected. Regardless of the first principle of 
 sound policy, that " righteousness exalte Ih a nation, but sin is a 
 reproach to any people," the generality of the Jews had abandoned 
 the God of their fathers, and turned aside like a deceitful bow. 
 Not only were they blind to the typical nature of their economy, 
 and the spiritual sense of their peculiar observances ; but they 
 threw off the restraint of moral principle, and indulged, with un- 
 blushing impudence, their criminal passions. To such an awful 
 height had impiety and profligacy risen, that they were chargeable 
 with " transgressing and lying against the Lord, and departing from 
 their God; speaking oppression and revolt, conceiving and uttering 
 from the heart words of falsehood. Yea, judgment was turned 
 away backward, and justice stood afar off; for truth was fallen in 
 
 *' Preached 20th September, 1793, a day set apart in the city of New York 
 for Public Fasting, Humiliation, and Prayer, on account of the Yellow Fever in 
 the city of Philadelphia. 
 
DIVINE JUDGMENTS. 21 
 
 the street, and equity could not enter ; yea, truth failed, and he 
 that departed from evil made himself a prey. In vain did God 
 warn by his providence ; in vain remonstrate by his prophets : these 
 sons of rebellion and obstinacy persisted in their crimes, till the sin 
 of Judah, no longer tolerable, was written with a pen of iron, and 
 with the point of a diamond. Abused patience aggravated, and 
 hastened, the doom of this guilty people. Since they hardened 
 their hearts against mild expostulation and gentle correction, the 
 Lord God thundered his threatenings, and in terrible indignation 
 said, " Shall I not visit for these things ? And shall not my soul 
 be avenged on such a nation as this ?" Pious Habakkuk, who 
 clearly saw the impending ruin, wept, in secret, over the infatu- 
 ation of his countrymen ; acknowledged the justice of Jehovah's 
 controversy ; and wrestled in fervent prayer for devoted Israel : 
 " Lord, I have heard thy speech," the sentence which thou hast 
 denounced against my people, " and was afraid : Lord," we 
 indeed deserve all the evils to which it condemns us : yet cast us 
 not, I pray thee, out of thy sight, but " revive thy work in the 
 midst of the years," these years of trouble which are coming upon 
 us ; " in the midst even of these years, make known" thyself and 
 thy tender compassions : " in wrath," merited wrath, " remember," 
 and testify, unmerited " mercy." 
 
 The words wrath, mercy, remember, which occur in the text, 
 must be understood and explained in a sense which will not 
 militate against the purity and simplicity of the divine nature. 
 It would be both ignorant and impious to ascribe to Jehovah 
 those emotions which agitate the bosom of a mortal. In the un-^ 
 created mind, there is, properly speaking, neither passion nor 
 affection, but all is pure act The wrath of God, then, as it 
 respects himself, in his holy determination to punish sin ; and, as it 
 respects his creatures, is the execution of that determination. 
 Mercy, in Him, is that perfection which is ever ready to relieve 
 the miserable ; and when it regards misery connected with guilt, 
 it is termed grace. 
 
 As everything is invariably present to the infinite mind, God 
 cannot be strictly said to forget: and therefore to remember mercy 
 is the same as to show mercy. And the prayer of the prophet is 
 briefly this, that the Lord would graciously remove from the 
 Israelites the punishment of their sin, or would soften, with kind- 
 ness, the rigour of his chastisements. 
 
22 SERMON II. 
 
 Let us not imagine, my brethren, that we have no concern in a 
 petition which refers immediately to an occasion that existed 
 many centuries past. To all who " discern the signs of the times," 
 the judgments of God, which are abroad in the land, furnish an 
 ample proof that this is a day of rebuke, and of the Lord's auger. 
 And, therefore, every one who is under the power of godliness, 
 will immediately see that the inquiries, and the exercises sug- 
 gested by the prayer of the prophet, are peculiarly adapted to the 
 serious purpose for which we have this morning assembled. " 
 Lord, in wrath remember mercy." 
 
 In applying these words to the service of the day, we are 
 naturally led to contemplate our situation and our duty. By ad- 
 verting to the former, we will find that wrath is upon us from the 
 Lord ; and therefore our duty is to plead with him for mercy. 
 
 First, with respect to our situation : the Lord is dealing with us 
 in wrath. 
 
 Here lend me your attention whilst I briefly prove the fact ; and 
 vindicate the divine procedure, by showing the righteous reasons 
 on which it is founded. 
 
 I. The Lord is dealing with us in wrath. 
 
 Let the careless, if they please, contemn the assertion as of no 
 importance ; or the profane deride it as the child of superstition ; 
 it is a solemn truth that Jehovah has a controversy with America. 
 Very suitable to her condition is the spirit of the prophetic ex- 
 clamation " Hear ye, mountains ; and ye strong foundations 
 of the earth ! for the Lord hath a controversy with his people, 
 and he will plead with Israel." For the confirmation of what 
 has now been advanced, it is not necessary to recur to scenes 
 which time has almost buried in oblivion, and which are nowhere 
 preserved but in the records of the historian. Those symptoms of 
 the divine displeasure on which I insist, are such as have recently 
 occurred, and must be fresh in the memories of all who have 
 arrived at the age of manhood. 
 
 It is not long since war desolated our country. We saw her 
 invaded by a numerous and disciplined army, trained to be 
 the tool of oppression, and hired to commit deeds of blood, in 
 order to insure success to schemes of iniquity — We saw our 
 suffering citizens driven from their homes by these sons of plun- 
 der, and obliged to seek, among strangers, an asylum from the 
 
DIVINE JUDGMENTS. 23 
 
 wintry blast, and relief from the miseries of poverty and exile — 
 We saw the temples of the living God wrested from the peaceful 
 worshipper; ravaged and wrapt in flames, by wretches whose 
 senselessness could be equalled only by their impiety — We saw a 
 part at least of the States overrun by banditti, whose conduct was 
 marked with perfidy and violence — We saw the sword of slaughter 
 drawn, and the fields of America drenched with the blood of her 
 children. For more than seven years did woe stream her bitterness 
 into our daily cup.* At length the Lord was pleased to remove 
 
 * The Author has learnt that some persons, whose partiality to Great Britain 
 will not permit them to enter into the views and feelings which ought to pre- 
 dominate in the breast of every American citizen, have taken umbrage at the 
 foregoing sentences, which allude to the devastation committed by the British 
 army. To make truth and duty the basis of his public discourses, is a maxim to 
 which he would preserve the most rigid adherence ; and if any are offended at 
 him for freely declaring the one or fulfilling the other, it cannot be helped. It 
 never has been, and he hopes never shall be, his practice to model his discourses 
 upon a previous calculation whom they may please, or whom displease, fie has, 
 however, reviewed with cool deliberation the obnoxious passages, and cannot 
 find, after the strictest examination, one assertion false, or uncharitable, or un- 
 seasonable ; and therefore is not at liberty to make the least alteration. But 
 while the consciousness that he has said no more than can be well defended, or 
 was exacted by fidelity to his trust, forbids him to apologize ; yet respect for 
 some whose judgment he reveres, and whose friendship he values, induces him 
 to explain. Such he assures, that nothing was further from his mind than an 
 intention to wound the feelings of any person whatever — that he throws no 
 national reflections : sensible that such reflections are at all times unjust and 
 illiberal ; and that among the disinterested, the judicious, and unprejudiced, 
 those who were ivell- informed, were, even in Britain, the friends of America — 
 that what he says, eveu of the army, is meant of the army in general. There 
 were, he is happy to acknowledge, some noble exceptions; and that he does not 
 enter into the merits of a political controversy, but simply states matters of 
 notorious fact. He must detain the reader a little longer, while he vindicates 
 the expressions themselves, as well as the spirit which they breathe ; and if he 
 advance any things which look like political discussion, it is not his fault ; he is 
 compelled to do it. 
 
 The army destined to subdue America, he styled, and rightly styled, a tool of 
 oppression. Such, standing armies have always been, and, in the nature of 
 things, always must be. It is nothing but the tameness of slavery, or the sot- 
 tishness of prejudice, which can inspire a thinking being with a different 
 sentiment. Their whole history, from their first institution till this hour, is 
 little else than the history of destructive machines in the hands of intrigue and 
 cruelty. And whether the standing army of Britain is noic guided by better 
 principles, or employed to better purposes, let the occurrences of every day attest. 
 That army, with respect to America, was "hired to commit deeds of blood iit 
 order to insure success to schemes of iniquity.'' Did they not fight for their 
 
24 SERMON II. 
 
 from us the rod of his anger ; to respite us from affliction, and to 
 give peace in our borders. The happy effects of a change so de- 
 
 pay, and because they were ordered to fight? Were they not sent for the express 
 purpose of cannonading and bayoneting, and burning the Americans into un- 
 conditional submission to arbitrary measures? And was not that scheme itself, 
 independently on any other sufficiently iniquitous ? Was it not iniquitous to 
 trample under foot every principle of natural right, in refusing the Americans a 
 voice when their own property was to be given away ? And to tear from their 
 hands the rewards of honest industry, with the imperiousness of masters, and the 
 rapacity of robbers ? If this is not iniquity, it will be hard to find a crime. 
 
 Were not multitudes of our citizens, whose only fault was the love of their 
 country, the love of justice, " driven from their homes?" Were they not strip- 
 ped of their all, and reduced from ease and affluence to extreme penury ? And 
 were not those by whom they were thrown destitute upon the world, and who 
 seized their possessions, " sons of plunder?'' In the name of common sense, 
 what were they ? 
 
 Were not " the temples of the living God ravaged and wrapped in flames ?" 
 Every one knows that the British troops betrayed, on almost all occasions, the 
 most implacable virulence against places dedicated to divine worship, and against 
 those servants of the Most High God, who there showed their flocks the way of 
 salvation. " In the course of the war they utterly destroyed more than fifty 
 places of public worship in these States. Most of them they burned ; others- 
 they levelled with the ground, and in some places left not a vestige of their former 
 situation ; while they have wantonly defaced, or rather destroyed others, by con- 
 verting them into barracks, jails, hospitals, riding schools, &c Boston, Newport, 
 Philadelphia, and Charleston, all furnished melancholy instances of this prostitu- 
 tion and abuse of the House of God. And of the nineteen plaees of public 
 worship in this city, when the war began, there were but nine fit for use when 
 the British troops left it. And were not the men who could be guilty of such 
 conduct " wretches?" Who can tell whether more " senseless'' or " impious." 
 
 Of what kind were the transactions of this same army when they traversed the 
 Jerseys? li Many thousands of the inhabitants received printed protections, 
 signed by order of the commander-in-chief. But neither the proclamations of the 
 commissioners, nor protections, saved the people from plunder, any more than 
 from insult. Their property was taken or destroyed without distinction of per- 
 sons ;" and this with their protections in their hands. The goodly example was 
 set by officers and general officers. " The soldiery, both British and foreigners, 
 were shamefully permitted, with unrelenting hand, to pillage friend and foe, in 
 the Jerseys. Neither age nor sex was spared. Infants, old men and women, 
 were left in their shirts, without a blanket to cover them, under the inclemency 
 of winter. Every kind of furniture was destroyed and burnt : windows and doors 
 were broken to pieces : in short the houses were left uninhabitable, and the 
 people without provision ; for every horse, cow, ox, and fowl, was carried off.'' 
 Was not the shameless violation of faith publicly plighted, "perfidy?" Were 
 not villanies like these, " violence ?" And the men who could perpetrate them, 
 in the fullest sense of the word, ''banditti ?'' It is plain, then, that the author, 
 while he has spoken truth, has not spoken half the truth. Many other feats 
 
DIVINE JUDGMENTS. 25 
 
 sirable, were immediately and sensibly felt. As soon as the 
 pressure of external calamity was taken off, languishing commerce 
 
 of a similar kind lie might have mentioned ; he might have adverted to the 
 butchery of prisoners in cool hlood ; he might have touched on the history of 
 sugar-houses and prison-ships, &c But he delights not to dwell on these scenes 
 of horror ; and therefore, as he could not, consistently with his duty, omit noticing 
 the miseries of the war, he expressed himself in general terms. It is to no pur- 
 pose to say, as it may be said, that this is a subject on which the best of men 
 have differed, and will ever differ. Granted ; but let it be remembered, that 
 those good men who were on different sides of the question, were also on different 
 sides of the Atlantic. Among the pious and devout in this country, there was, 
 generally speaking, but one sentiment. The opinions of the best of men, who 
 were 3000 miles from the scene of action, and whose confidence in their govern- 
 ment was abused by a perpetual slander on the principles and conduct of the 
 Americans, can be of no weight at all. Besides, the point before us is not a 
 matter of opinion, but of fact ; and the opinion of no man could either replace the 
 property, or restore the lives, of our citizens. 
 
 With respect to the spirit which the expressions under consideration breathe, 
 it is proper to remark, that they were designed not to provoke bitterness, or to 
 enkindle resentment, but to awaken recollection. They can be fully supported 
 by scripture principle, and scripture precept, and scripture example. The scrip- 
 ture principle on which they are advocated, is the wise improvement of God's 
 judgment and mercies. But how can they be improved, if we bury them in ob- 
 livion ? liow can we duly appreciate a mercy, if we do not preserve a lively 
 sense of the evil from which that mercy delivered us ? It is impossible. The 
 miseries, therefore, which we suffered during the war must be remembered, and 
 mentioned, and discoursed of; and the American who forgets or overlooks them 
 is a traitor to the God who saved his country. For this reason the lawless 
 behaviour of the British army was purposely described in forcible language. Since 
 the more horrible were their outrages, the heavier was the judgment upon this 
 land ; the more signal her deliverance, and of course the more criminal her 
 subsequent ingratitude. 
 
 Scripture precept, by which the author is warranted to speak as he has spoken, 
 may be found in Deut. vi. 12, 20, 23 ; Ex. x. 2 ; Deut. xxxi. 26, &c, and 
 scripture example throughout the Bible. And why any Britons, above all 
 others, should be offended, is truly mysterious. No people on earth record more 
 carefully, or repeat more frequently and feelingly, their own sufferings than they. 
 Do, reader, take the trouble to look into some of the revolution and fast-day 
 sermons, which have been preached in Britain ; and you will see the tyranny, the 
 cruelty, and the multiplied horrors of Popery, painted in colours black enough. 
 Hervey himself, in whom were united all those gracious tempers, and all those 
 gentle virtues which adorn and dignify the human character ; even the mild, the 
 meek James Hervey, speaks very strongly on this subject. Glance over the 
 speeches of some Honourahles and Bight Hbnourables in the British Parliament, 
 and some of the fast-day sermons occasioned by t; the rebellion in America," and 
 you may find not a few hard speeches uttered without any just provocation at all. 
 All this is good ; this is patriotic, this is glorious. But if an American ventures 
 
26 SERMON II. 
 
 recovered her vigour ; agriculture was prosecuted with safety and 
 success ; science resumed her wonted seats ; and all the arts of peace 
 were cultivated, and flourished. He who should compare our 
 unpromising condition with our miraculous preservation, would he 
 ready to conclude, that Americans, ahove all others, would most 
 affectionately remember a favour so great and unexpected. Yet, 
 to our shame be it spoken, when our enemies were gone, we ne- 
 glected the God of our deliverance. But he soon made it evident, 
 by another alarming providence, that he had not forgotten our past 
 transgressions, and that he did not overlook our present unthank- 
 fulness. The enviable blessings which his bounty bestowed we 
 had reason to fear would again be torn from us. The storm once 
 more thickened, and lowered, and threatened. Four years, from 
 the restoration of peace, had not elapsed, when the reflecting patriot 
 foresaw the rapid approach of danger more formidable than that 
 which we had escaped. The bond of general union proved too 
 feeble for the important purposes for which it was formed. Clash- 
 ing interests and turbulent spirits foreboded the introduction of 
 
 to mention what his country endured from the oppressions of a venal court, and 
 the depredations of an unprincipled soldiery ; this is mean, this is bigoted, this is 
 intolerable! Kind reader, if your property be pillaged, and your life destroyed, 
 what is the difference whether the mischief be done by a popish inquisitor, or a 
 British soldier. 
 
 The author feels persuaded, that what has now been said will satisfy the candid; 
 for no candid person will attempt to deny facts which are familiar to every child ; 
 or undertake the defence of what is wholly indefensible. Tt is really strange that 
 any, be their attachments to Britain ever so great, should so far make themselves 
 a. party in the vile proceedings of her agents, as to be offended when these pro- 
 ceedings are mentioned. If, however, they must be angry, let resentment fall 
 where resentment is due. Let them be vexed that the armies of a nation which 
 boasts her humanity and generosity, should stain, by a more than savage bar- 
 barity, the pretensions in which she glories ; but let them not unjustly quarrel 
 with Americans, for exposing in the blaze of day the wickedness which seeks 
 shelter in the dark thickets of oblivion. The author only remarks further, that 
 there was a period when America thought her sufferings of sufficient moment to 
 consecrate a day for the express purpose of publicly thanking the God of heaven 
 for her salvation ; and when some persons were happy in the safety they enjoyed. 
 But, tempora mutantur. It is now become a crime for an American so much as 
 to hint at the misfortunes of his country under British usurpation, and at the 
 goodness of God in delivering her — a crime in the eyes of men who, during the 
 time of her calamity, were her implacable foes ; who were afterwards protected 
 by her clemency ; and who have since grown luxurious and wanton upon the fat 
 of the land. 
 
DIVINE JUDGMENTS. 27 
 
 anarchy, with all the curses that follow in his train. But the 
 Lord, long suffering, did not pour out upon us the fury of his anger. 
 He shook the rod over us that we might observe it, and laid it 
 aside without chastising. Loth to make us the monuments of 
 his wrath, and willing to reclaim us from our guilty indifference, 
 he tried the arguments of mercy. He dissipated the blackening 
 clouds, and gave us a constitution which secures, to all ranks of 
 citizens, every species of right; which combines wisdom with 
 energy ; and connects the dignity of the government with the 
 safety and happiness of the individual. The prospect of evil had 
 awakened the sensibility of the public mind, and the prompt 
 salvation obliged even politicians to acknowledge " the finger of 
 God." But when the panic subsided, the devotion subsided with 
 it ; and America quickly relapsed into her former lethargy. 
 
 To chastise the hypocrisy, and cure the indifference which all 
 orders of men had betrayed, Jehovah commissioned his army, 
 against which valour and skill are no defence, to avenge his 
 quarrel. A host of destructive insects, sporting with the puny 
 efforts of human exertion, traversed the country, and mowed 
 down, in their march, the staff of life. " The land was as the 
 garden of Eden before them, and behind them a desolate wilderness." 
 Had they continued their devastations, we could have expected 
 little " but cleanness of teeth in all our dwellings." * Startled at 
 the alarming progress of this minute yet invincible foe, our 
 citizens, who were not wholly dead to religious principle, were 
 constrained to remark the judgment of the Most High, and to 
 implore the aid of him whom they had offended. But the pang of 
 penitence was no longer felt when the affliction ceased, and the re- 
 turn of prosperity was accompanied with a return of transgression. 
 
 To remind us of our sin and of our duty, the monitions of Pro- 
 vidence were again employed. In just indignation, God sent upon 
 our frontiers the Indian tribes. War lighted, once more, his hos- 
 tile torch, and death unfurled his banners. Our western brethren 
 were exposed to the indescribable horrors of a savage warfare, — a 
 warfare of which the unvarying maxim is an indiscriminate 
 murder of every age and sex. Elated with the persuasion that 
 their power was irresistible by the hordes of the wilderness, the 
 State resolved to crush at a blow the troublesome combination 
 which was formed against them. But they trusted in an arm of 
 * See the History of the Hessian Fly, vol. iv. \\ 302. 
 
28 SERMON II. 
 
 flesh ; the God of battles fought for their enemies, and what was 
 the issue ? Let the banks of St. Mary, and the adjacent grounds 
 which now whiten with the bones of our youth, tell the tale of 
 woe!* From that disastrous period to this, the vengeful bar- 
 barian has more or less committed depredations on our borders ; 
 pillaging the property and destroying the lives of our citizens. 
 What shall we say to the present aspect of Providence ? You all 
 know the deplorable condition of our neighbouring city. A few 
 weeks ago she was a city of prosperity and joy — Commerce crowded 
 her harbour and thronged her streets — Mechanic industry boasted 
 her useful though humbler toil — Literature saw, with delight, her 
 growing honours — Amusement led up her sportive train — Jollity 
 assembled the sons of mirth : All was life — all was ardour. But, 
 how sad the change ! The hurry of business has ceased — the hands 
 of industry are idle — Gaiety is fled. All faces gather blackness ; 
 and the theatre of pleasure is converted into one great house of 
 -mourning. " The mirth of tabrets ceaseth : the noise of them that 
 rejoice endeth : the joy of the harp ceaseth : They shall not drink 
 wine with a song : strong drink shall be bitter to them that drink 
 it: every house is shut up, that no man may come in. In the 
 city is left desolation ; and the gate is smitten with destruction." 
 Death has erected, in the midst of her, his gloomy throne. With 
 fury uncontrolled, he rages through all descriptions of men. In 
 all directions fly the shafts of this unerring archer. Every day he 
 multiplies his triumphs. The young, the old, the honourable, and 
 the vile, fall the undistinguished prey of this remorseless tyrant. 
 Vain, as yet, have been all human expedients to arrest his pro- 
 gress and baffle his power. He mocks opposition — He strews the 
 earth with slain — He numbers among his victims even the 
 " masters of the healing art." 
 
 * The affecting catastrophe here alluded to, happened on the 4th of November 
 1791. On that inauspicious day th« American army which General St. Clair 
 led against the western Indians was entirely defeated. The battle was fought at 
 the river St. Mary, about 15 miles from the Miami village. The army consisted 
 of about 1400 effective men. No less than 88 officers and above 1100 men were 
 killed : and it was with difficulty that the miserable remnaDt made good their 
 retreat. See General St. Clair's official letter, vol. 10, appendix. Quarter- 
 Master Hodgson's return of the officers killed and wounded, p. 28. The "Keport 
 of a Committee of Congress respecting the failure of the expedition under General 
 St Clair,'' ib. vol. 9, appendix 2d, p. 79—83 ; and also appendix 3d, p. 2. 
 
DIVINE JUDGMENTS. 29 
 
 Let none consider this- dire calamity as an event in which only 
 the immediate sufferers are concerned. To punish their iniquities 
 it has, doubtless, been sent. But are they single in transgression? 
 Have we escaped because we are better than they ? No, in no 
 wise. A sovereign God has made them an example of his 
 righteous vengeance. The evil under which they languish is one 
 of those awful dispensations by which Jehovah speaks in thunder 
 to a guilty people. The destroying angel, who is now executing 
 upon our fellow-citizens and fellow-sinners the awards of Heaven, 
 looks terribly on us, looks terribly on all. Whether he will bend 
 his course hither, God only knows. 
 
 Now, my brethren, lay all these things together, and ask your 
 own consciences, whether the Lord has not been, and is not at 
 this moment dealing with us in wrath ? Assuredly, " for all this 
 his anger is not turned away, but his hand is stretched out still." 
 
 Philosophers may speculate and argue as they please. They 
 may pretend to assign merely natural causes for all these events. 
 But let it be remembered, that God actuates nature. Nature 
 without God is a word either destitute of meaning, or replete with 
 blasphemy. Jehovah accomplishes, by natural means, the wise 
 and holy ends of his moral government. By natural means he 
 preserves the righteous : by natural means he punishes the guilty. 
 " Shall there be evil in a city, and the Lord hath not done it ?" 
 But why accumulate arguments to prove that the affliction which 
 we deplore is not a chance, but a divine appointment? Your 
 very appearance in the sanctuary this morning is a public testi- 
 mony of your deep conviction that " this also cometh forth from 
 " Jehovah, who is terrible in his doing toward the children of men." 
 
 Since, then, the distresses under which we have formerly smart- 
 ed, and that which now afflicts some of our citizens, and threatens 
 more, is " the doing of the Lord," permit me, 
 
 2. To vindicate the ways of God to man, by showing what 
 righteous reasons he has for dealing with us in wrath. 
 
 We need not go far to look for causes : They are within us and 
 around us. W^e will find abundant reasons to justify the divine 
 procedure, if we advert to our ingratitude, our insincerity, our pride, 
 our obstinacy, and the prevalence of various hinds of moral evil. 
 
 It is but too evident to any one who cursorily inspects the con- 
 duct of God to us, and our conduct to him, that we have been very 
 ungrateful. 
 
30 SEKMON II. 
 
 There is no nation under heaven for which God had done so 
 much in so short a time as he hath done for America. In the 
 season of our danger, when our hope was almost as the giving up of 
 the ghost, and we felt ourselves unable to work out our own deliv- 
 erance, we supplicated his aid. Memorable, to distant ages should 
 be the 20th of July, 1775 :* when the injured millions of America, 
 prostrate before the throne of the Eternal, poured out their com- 
 plaint, and sent their cry to him that judgeth rightly. Jehovah 
 heard our cry. He bowed his heavens and came down. Our armies, 
 destitute of discipline, of arms, of ammunition, of food, of clothing, 
 fainting with hunger and freezing with cold, he crowned with 
 victory the most signal and decisive. He restored peace to our 
 borders : He blessed our commerce : He opened the windows of 
 heaven, and poured plenty into our dwellings : He kept us from 
 the confusion, and tumult, and miseries, of civil feuds : He has 
 preserved us, hitherto, from being involved in the broils and 
 bloodshed of Europe. He has sweetened all these mercies by 
 fixing us in the secure enjoyment of every privilege our hearts can 
 wish : He has given us the everlasting gospel, we trust, in its 
 purity ; and has been inviting, by the allurements of his love, to 
 the enjoyment of his rest. But where has been our gratitude ? 
 What have we rendered to the Lord for this profusion of benefits ? 
 Let us appeal to the most interesting, important, and solemn 
 business in which we have been engaged since our national exist- 
 ence. One would imagine that no occasion of making a pointed 
 and public acknowledgement of the divine benignity, could have 
 presented itself so obviously, as the framing an instrument of 
 government, which, in the nature of things, must be closely allied 
 to our happiness or our ruin. And yet that very constitution, 
 which the singular goodness of God enabled us to establish, does 
 not so much as recognise his being I \ Yes, my brethren, it is a 
 
 * Observed throughout the continent as a day of fasting, humiliation, and 
 prayer ; and one of the most solemn days she ever saw. 
 
 f While many, on various pretences, have criminated the federal constitution, 
 one objection has urged itself forcibly on the pious mind. That no notice what- 
 ever should be taken of that God who planteth a nation and plucketh it up at his 
 pleasure, is an omission which no pretext whatever can palliate. Had such a 
 momentous business been transacted by Mahometans, the}" would have begun, 
 "In the name of God.'' Even the savages whom we despise, setting a better 
 example, would have paid some homage to the Great Spirit. But, from the 
 constitution of the United States, it is impossible to ascertain what God we wor- 
 
DIVINE JUDGMENTS. 31 
 
 lamentable truth : a truth, at the mention of which shame should 
 crimson our faces ; that, like Jeshurun of old, we have icaxed fat 
 and kicked. " Of the rock that begat us we have been unmindful, we 
 have forgotten his works, and the wonders that he hath showed us. 
 
 There is a connection between crimes as well as between graces. 
 Never will we find, either in individuals or communities, a solitary 
 sin. In the conduct of America, particularly, there has been a 
 most unworthy combination. Little is necessary to prove, that if 
 we have been ungrateful, we have also been insincere. 
 
 Who does not remember the professedly penitential tears which 
 streamed from every eye, and the groans which burst from every 
 heart, when the hand of the Lord lay heavy upon us. Our rulers 
 and public men led the way to acts of solemn devotion, and invited 
 their fellow-citizens to join together in humbling themselves under 
 the mighty hand of God? Who proscribed, as far as their authority 
 could reach, those guilty amusements and practices which provoke 
 the Most High to pour out his fury upon a people ? Who repro- 
 bated, and exhorted others to discountenance that seminary of vice, 
 that corrupter of moral principle, that parent of profligacy, the 
 theatre? Wlw condemned games of chance, horse-racing* and 
 
 ship ; or whether we own a God at all. It is a very insufficient apology to plead, 
 that the devotion which political institutions offer to the Supreme Being, is, in 
 most cases, a matter of mere form ; for the hypocrisy of one man, or set of men, 
 is surely no excuse for the infidelity of another. Should the citizens of America 
 he as irreligious as her constitution, we will have reason to tremble, lest the 
 Governor of the universe, who will not be treated with indignity by a people, any- 
 more than by individuals, overturn, from its foundation, the fabric we have been 
 rearing, and crush us to atoms in the wreck. 
 
 * To some it may appear strange that games of chance, such as carets, dice, 
 &c, were ranked among the sins of the land. The usual pretext that they are 
 harmless pastimes, is very flimsy, and altogether inadmissible. Independently 
 of the odious consequences, with which they are generally connected, they are 
 much more criminal than many are inclined to allow. It may safely be affirmed 
 that they are palpable violations of the third precept of the decalogue. What is 
 a name? It is a distinguishing mark- What is the name of God ? It is any- 
 thing by which he makes himself known. Now he makes himself known as the 
 God of Providence; and therefore to sport with his providence, is equivalent to 
 sporting with his divinity. But with this all games of chance are chargeable. 
 If the providence of God extends to the faU of a sparrow, why not to the shuffle 
 of a card, or the cast of the dice ? But the former cannot happen without a divine 
 appointment (Mat. xii. 10) ; therefore the latter cannot. We are positively 
 assured that " the whole disposing of the lot is from the Lord." (Prov. xvi. 33.) 
 And all games of chance are lots. On some occasions it may not only be lawful, 
 
32 SERMON II. 
 
 other kinds of immoral behaviour? Did not the lepresentatives 
 of the community? Who, since the restoration of peace, have 
 been the first to throw off every appearance of respect for the 
 authority of the great God, and to treat his ordinances and his 
 word with contempt? Have they not too often been those to 
 whom the most important interests of the country were committed ? 
 
 but a duty, to refer certain cases, by religious lot, to the decision of God's tribunal. 
 This is a mode of acknowledging his supremacy, which he has honoured with his 
 approbation under the dispensation both of the Old Testament and the New, and 
 which, under the former, he expressly commanded. The religious lot, then, it is 
 plain, is an act of worship precisely of the same kind with the religious oath. 
 Both are solemn and direct appeals to Omniscience and Omnipotence. And 
 games of chance bear, in every particular, the same relation to the former which 
 profane swearing bears to the latter ; whence the conclusion, however uncom- 
 fortable, is inevitable, that if profane swearing is criminal, so are games of chance ; 
 nay, that these games are every jot as wicked as common customary imprecation. 
 It is foolish to say, "We mean no evil.'' Every cursing reprobate pleads the 
 same excuse. " This mode of arguing," it may be said, " draws very deep, and 
 involves in the guilt of sporting with Divine Providence, not only games of 
 chance, but all amusements of skill; and, eventually, all, even the most innocent 
 actions of our lives, since the issue of them all must be determined by the super- 
 intendence of Divine Providence ; and therefore, that either this dreadful con- 
 sequence must be admitted, or the principle on which games of change are 
 condemned given up ; and these games, of course, justified." But the objection 
 proves by far too much. No man will deny murder to be a horrible crime. Now, 
 as it can be, and often has been, demonstrated, that all spontaneous motion, to 
 which belongs all muscular and vital motion, is the effect of the immediate agency 
 of the Deity,* we must either, according to the doctrine of the objection, allow 
 murder to be an innocent action, or throw the blame of it upon God himself. 
 The truth is that the objection confounds two things essentially different. In 
 games of chance, the principle which makes them such, and without which they 
 would cease to be such, is the appeal to God: The decision is designedly put out 
 of the reach of human foresight; and should a man use any precaution to deter- 
 mine the chance in his own favour, he would be accused of unfair play. This forms 
 the character of the games in question, and distinguishes them from trials of 
 skill, and all the common actions of life, the issue of which depends upon the 
 providence of God. In the former, an appeal to God constitutes the nature of 
 the game. In the latter, there are only some circumstances which his providence 
 disposes : circumstances which necessarily attend our actions as the actions of 
 dependent beings. 
 
 As to horse-racing, it is a sin almost too flagrant to require any proof. God 
 gave us his creatures to use for our good, not to torment for our diversion. And 
 if the scripture says true, that " the righteous man regardeth the life of his beast," 
 he who can habitually indulge himself, or countenance others, in a wanton, cruel 
 abuse of one of the most generous animals that alleviate his toil and promote hia 
 comfort, has a wretched claim to the character of a Christian. 
 * Baxter's Matho. vol. i. p. 331—339. 
 
DIVINE JUDGMENTS. 33 
 
 Have not men in office, and numbers of our principal citizens, been 
 foremost to observe, in the face of day, that very conduct which 
 formerly they decried as unlawful in its nature and destructive in 
 its influence ? Is this carriage which becomes those who vowed 
 to live for God, if he would save them from their distress ? We 
 may see upon ourselves the black mark of Israel's duplicity and 
 treason. " When he slew them, then they sought him ; and they 
 returned and inquired early after God : and they remembered that 
 God was their rock, and the Most High God their Redeemer : 
 Nevertheless, they did flatter him with their mouth, and lied unto 
 him with their tongues ; for their heart was not right with him, 
 neither were they steadfast in his covenant." — " Be not deceived, 
 God is not mocked : These things we wickedly have done, and he 
 kept silence ; we thought that he is altogether such a one as our- 
 selves, but now, by his providence, he is reproving us, and setting 
 our iniquities in order before our eyes." 
 
 One who reflects upon the majesty of God, and the evil of sin, 
 will see, in such vile ingratitude and hypocrisy, abundant reason 
 to justify him for pleading with us in wrath ; and instead of won- 
 dering that we are chastised, will wonder that the divine patience 
 permits us to exist, when he surveys our unbecoming pride. 
 
 Have we not, my brethren, in numberless instances, acted as if 
 we were the sources of our own happiness, and the sovereigns of 
 our own conduct? As if we were neither subject to the jurisdic- 
 tion, nor amenable to the tribunal of " the God in whom we live, 
 and move, and have our being?" Has not America, in the fulness 
 of her prosperity, virtually said, " Who is the Lord that I should 
 obey him ?" Has she not said, " My power, and the might of my 
 hand, have gotten me this wealth?" Has she not said, with 
 imperious Babylon, " I shall be a lady for ever ; I am, and there 
 is none else ?" Is it anything strange then, that " mischief which 
 she is unable to put off, has fallen upon her ?" My brethren, God 
 is jealous of his glory. He will not suffer the creature to affect 
 independence on the Creator. He will make us know that " Jehovah 
 reigns, and, therefore, the people must tremble." 
 
 These abominations, too notorious to be denied, and too shocking 
 to be palliated, are rendered still more heinous by the obstinacy 
 which has uniformly characterized them. 
 
 What means have been neglected to show us our sin, to warn 
 us of our danger, and bring us back to our duty ? Has not God 
 
34 SERMON II. 
 
 spoken to us both in judgment and in mercy ? Has he not alter- 
 nately inflicted his chastisements, and lavished his bounties ? Has 
 he not " many a time turned his anger away, and refrained from 
 stirring up all his wrath ?" And have we not persisted in walk- 
 ing contrary to him. Have we not made our " neck an iron sinew 
 and our brow brass ?" Sins abound, but where are the penitent ? 
 Who " sigh and cry for the abominations done in the land ?" Who 
 appropriates to himself Ms share of the general guilt ? Where is 
 the humbled heart, where the contrite spirit, occasioned by such 
 an appropriation? Shall the abuse of God's amazing patience 
 and lenity, and our unfruitfulness under all the pains he has taken 
 with us, go unpunished ? No certainly ! We may forget, but the 
 Lord remembers : And if he sweep us not away with the besom of 
 destruction, it is because he is the Lord long-suffering. But woe 
 to him who argues from the divine forbearance, that he shall pass 
 with impunity. The longer Justice spares, the higher does she 
 lift her arm, and the heavier will be her stroke at the last. " He 
 that, being often reproved, hardeneth his neck, shall suddenly be 
 destroyed, and that without remedy." 
 
 Such has been our behaviour, and such behaviour has drawn 
 upon us the vengeance of Heaven. Here, then, our inquiries into 
 the cause of the Lord's displeasure might end ; but we may properly 
 go a step farther, and observe that he is justly angry with us on 
 account of the prevalence of various kinds of moral evil. 
 
 What respect is paid to those fundamental principles of moral 
 rectitude upon which is founded, not only the prosperity, but the 
 existence, of a commonwealth ? Is not truth between man and 
 man the basis of mutual confidence, and the life of society shame- 
 fully violated? Are not unmeaning professions, and gross 
 adulation, too general in the circles of fashion ? Is not the breach 
 of absolute promise, particularly among debtors and tradesmen, 
 become so common, that it is scarcely considered as a fault ? Is 
 not the bond of all civil union, the solemn appeal to Omniscience 
 by oath, fallen almost into contempt, from the irreverent manner 
 in which it is both administered and taken ? Is not the name of 
 the great and terrible God wantonly and outrageously blasphemed ? 
 Are not even children, who, it is probable, were never taught to 
 put up one prayer to the Author of their being, expert in the 
 infernal science of profane imprecation ? Do not our " streets re- 
 sound with this language of hell ?" Is it not heard even from the lips 
 
DIVINE JUDGMENTS. 35 
 
 of many who presume to call themselves by the name of Christ '? 
 Yes, my brethren, " Because of swearing the land mourneth." 
 
 What regard is shown to the important duties which are reci- 
 procally incumbent upon the different members of families ? Where 
 are the watchful, circumspect, conscientious, praying parents ? 
 Where the humble, dutiful, pious children ? What is become of 
 family devotion ? What, of family discipline ? What, of the 
 engagements into which parents at the baptism of their infants 
 entered to observe both? Is not neglect, in these particulars, a 
 fatal source of youthful dissipation ?* And what shall we say of 
 that profligacy of principle and manners which is everywhere 
 observable. Who " rises up before the hoary head, and honours 
 the face of the old man ?" On the contrary, are not the aged often 
 treated with disrespect ; the maxims of wisdom ridiculed, and the 
 counsels of experience despised? Are there not multitudes who 
 scarcely behave with common civility to the magistrate whom God 
 has commanded us to revere ? Are not intemperance, impurity, 
 and debauchery hardy enough to face even the light ? Do we not 
 hear repeatedly of the lawless rabble, and the midnight revel? 
 Are not these deeds of darkness and obscenity deemed, by too many, 
 the marks of a generous spirit ? And those who will not " run to 
 the same excess of riot," vilified as contracted bigots or superstitious 
 fools? 
 
 In what manner is the Sabbath observed? "Remember," is 
 
 * Families supply both church and state : and if genuine religion and strict 
 morality be wanting there, society is poisoned at the fountain-head. Through 
 disrespect to family religion, the young grow up profoundly ignorant of their 
 Creator, and unimpressed with reverence for his law ; and surely we cannot expect 
 that they who fear not God will regard man . Family discipline also is of the 
 utmost moment. Parental vigilance and care, form useful members of the com- 
 munity. We have no right to flatter ourselves that disorderly, disobedient, 
 uncontrolled children will become good citizens. To a criminal, a very criminal 
 inattention in these two particulars, maybe ascribed, in a great measure, that 
 trifling character, and that vicious conduct, which mark the fopling and the rake, 
 and of which the pious and observing so generally and so justly complain. Vain 
 are the wisest laws without virtuous habits; and these habits must be formed in 
 early life. Where the reverse obtains, the energy of law must necessarily be 
 enfeebled, and the arm of justice unnerved. But although the fear of public 
 ignominy should, in most cases (for sometimes it certainly does not), restrain from 
 the commission of enormous outrages, it will be but a slender proof of social 
 probity, that the terrors of penal statutes are barely sufficient to keep men from 
 the gallows. 
 
3G SERMON II. 
 
 the divine injunction, remember " the Sabbath day to keep it 
 holy." Is it indeed kept holy? Do men indeed " call the Sabbath 
 a delight, the holy of the Lord, honourable ?" Do they " honour 
 him, not doing their own ways, nor finding their own pleasure, 
 nor speaking their own words?" Do not many waste the day in 
 idleness ? Are not some so indolent or carnal, or both, that they 
 will not wait upon God, that day, in the ordinances of his grace? 
 Or that they too frequently allow their seats to be vacant at least 
 one half of the day? Or esteem any pretext weighty enough 
 to excuse their absence from the sanctuary ? Let none hope to 
 palliate their conduct by pretending that they improve themselves 
 at home. It is altogether incredible, that he who will not sanctify 
 the Sabbath in God's house, will sanctify it in his own. This pro- 
 fanation of the Sabbath is truly deplorable ; but in not a few 
 instances the profanation is still more gross. Do not some make 
 it a day of business ? Others a day of feasting ? And others a 
 day of visiting and amusement ? Have not salutary laws been 
 enacted to protect the Sabbath from this open and shameless 
 indignity ?* Do our citizens regard these laws ? Do our magi- 
 strates find fault with the breach of them ? Whatever be the 
 opinions of men, the Lord God will not suffer this iniquity to pass 
 unpunished ; for he has sworn " if ye will not hearken unto me to 
 hallow the Sabbath-day, then will I kindle a fire in your gates, 
 and it shall devour your palaces."f 
 
 * See, in the laws of tlie State of New York, an act passed Feb. 23, 1788. 
 
 f Jerem. xvii. 27. The enforcement of the observation of the Sabbath, by civil 
 authority, cannot be viewed as an unwarranted interference of the magistrate in 
 matters of religion, or an infringement of the rights of conscience. For respect 
 to this divine institution is a point in which all denominations of Christians are 
 agreed. Apart from Christian principle, the due observation of the Sabbath has 
 the happiest influence upon civil society as such; and therefore it merits the most 
 vigilant and uninterrupted attention of the civil magistrate. " It has been 
 observed by the wisest men, that were the celebration of this weekly festival 
 totally neglected, religion would not long survive its disuse.'' (Venn's Tracts, p. 
 170.) And no society can exist without religion ; because the members of it can 
 have no hold upon each other. On proper inquiry it would perhaps appear ; it 
 has, in fact, appeared, that a great majority of those unhappy men who are aban- 
 doned to infamy, or who terminate their days in a sacrifice to public justice, 
 commenced the career of their crimes with the violation of the Sabbath. " Consider 
 those who help to fill the jails, and furnish the gallows, and it will be found (upon 
 their own confession) they are such as have neglected the observation of the 
 Lord's day, by following their own pleasures.'' (Sabbat um redivivum, p. 660.) 
 
DIVINE JUDGMENTS, 37 
 
 What reception is given to the everlasting Gospel ? " Who 
 hath believed our report, and to whom is the arm of the Lord re- 
 vealed?" Who " fly as a cloud, and as doves to their windows?" 
 Who glories in the cross of Christ ? Who takes refuge from the 
 curse of the law in his covenant righteousness ? Who bends the 
 knee to a sanctifying Saviour? Whose holy ambition spurns the 
 dregs of earth, and soars to the kingdom above ? Where are those 
 " crowns of glory, the hoary heads found in the way to righteous- 
 ness ?" Where the hopeful youth who dedicate themselves to the 
 
 To these remarks may be added a short extract from a published pamphlet. It 
 is too much in point to be omitted, and too excellent to need an apology. " One 
 Christian Institution alone," says the ingenious author, " the sanctification of the 
 Christian Sabbath, diffuses a more benign influence on society, and has a greater 
 efficacy on the morals of mankind to purify and refine them, than all the institu- 
 tions of civil policy, or terrors of civil government, put together. The pauses it 
 creates in human transactions ; the interruptions it makes in our worldly cogita- 
 tions and earthly cares ; its fixing or keeping alive in the mind, the impressions 
 of a God infinitely great and dreadful, whose we are, and to whom we must be 
 accountable for all our ways ; and who will most dreadfully punish the wicked, 
 and plentifully reward the good ; its tendency to keep constantly in our view the 
 immortality of the soul, and a future state of retribution ; its being connected with 
 such religious services as reading the holy scriptures, in which the most august, 
 grand, and awfully sublime ideas of the Almighty are exhibited — its relation to 
 the infinite love of Christ to mankind — and the peremptory and awful injunctions 
 of this Divine Saviour, that men love one another — together with our joining in 
 solemn heartfelt supplications, confessions, and thanksgivings at the Throne of 
 Grace , these things, I believe, have had, and still have, an efficacy on the minds 
 of the great body of the people in Christian nations, I was almost going to say 
 infinitely great— and I firmly believe, that no man who ever became very vile 
 and profligate, could possibly be so, till he renounced all solemn and serious 
 attention to the Lord's day. A question has some time employed my thoughts, 
 what in human nature it is that will account, in a rational manner, for the gen- 
 erally extreme wickedness of soldiers and sailors ? The true solution of this 
 problem, I believe, is this. They do not carefully observe the Lord's day : they 
 have no opportunity, or very little, of attending the worship of God : consequently 
 the impressions of a God ; of the worth of their souls ; the evil of sin ; and the 
 infinite importance of a future state, are either very faint in their minds, or per- 
 haps in some scarcely existent. In this respect, the institutions of Christianity 
 have a most benign influence on society ; and wise rulers, who wish rather to 
 prevent crimes than to punish them, will take care, loth by precept and example 
 to promote the sanctification of the Christian Sabbath, — this is the best security 
 of our life, property, and liberty, This is like the wings of the Almighty spread 
 over us. No man who conscientiously, and with knowledge, sanctifies the Sab- 
 bath, will find a liberty in his mind to injure us through the week. — This is God's 
 shadow extended over us; it is Heaven's protection.'" (A concise and faithful 
 Narrative, &c, p. GS— 70.) 
 
38 SERMON II. 
 
 Lord God of their fathers : and who are not ashamed of Jesus and 
 his works before a crooked and perverse generation? 
 
 On the contrary, what is the frequent treatment of the Bible ? 
 This blessed Bible which unfolds the counsels of Heaven, and 
 proclaims the glad tidings of salvation? Is it not despised as the 
 parent of enthusiasm, and calumniated as the offspring of fraud ? 
 Are not the exercises of that serious godliness which it inspires, 
 which purifies the human mind, and ennobles the human character, 
 reviled as the whine of fanaticism, or the cant of imposture ? Is 
 not infidelity the fashion f Is not the profession of a Christian 
 thought to degrade the dignity of a gentleman f Is not the bold 
 blasphemer of the holy oracles admired by many as a man of 
 genius? Is not the rude and impious jeer, at all which the wise 
 and good hold sacred, applauded for wit? Is not the paltry witti- 
 cism, if it be but levelled against religion, complimented with the 
 name of invincible argument ? Does not every unfledged sciolist, 
 every ignorant retailer of the sophisms of a Hume, or the quibbles 
 of a Voltaire, set up for a philosopher, and think himself entitled to 
 laugh at the faith of the saint? Is not the progress of principles so 
 pernicious an awful symptom of deep degeneracy ? And is not the 
 fact as notorious as it is distressing? " If it be not so now, who 
 will make me a liar, and make my speech nothing worth ?" 
 
 When we turn our eyes from these miserable mortals who carry 
 the mark of hell on their foreheads, and survey the generality of 
 professed believers, is there not reason to fear that a large propor- 
 tion of them have only " a name to live, while they are dead ?" 
 How many call themselves Christians, while their whole deport- 
 ment proves that they are, in truth, the enemies of Christ ? No 
 subject so tedious and irksome as redeeming love, Speak to 
 them of the ideal scenes of a romance, and they are all attention 
 and activity. But speak of the sweet realities of the gospel ; of 
 the height, the depth, the length, the breadth, of the love of Christ, 
 and immediately they are languid and listless. Set before them 
 the fooleries of the stage, and their bosoms will be agitated with 
 alternate and violent emotions. Now they will be softened into 
 pity, or roused into rage : Anon, they will melt in grief, or be 
 transported with joy. But conduct them to Calvary : Show them 
 that real tragedy which clothed all heaven in sackcloth — show 
 them a bleeding Saviour — show him stretched on the accursed 
 tree ; bowing in agony his guiltless head ; and pouring out his soul 
 
DIVINE JUDGMENTS. 39 
 
 unto death, a victim to divine wrath, a sacrifice for sin ; and they 
 will be cold and unfeeling as a stone. Not a pang of remorse will 
 shoot through the flinty heart, nor a tear of contrition steal down 
 the iron cheek. 
 
 Do even the disciples of Jesus, who love him in sincerity, walk 
 as he also walked ? Do they live, as habitually as they ought, by 
 faith, and not by sight ? Do they improve, as they are bound, 
 the precious promises ? Do they apply to the fulness which is 
 laid up for them in their new covenant head ? Are congregations 
 entirely free from these iniquities for which the Lord is visiting 
 our land? Are there no ministerial transgressions? Yes, my 
 brethren, the humiliating truth must be told, " The Lord is righte- 
 ous, I and my people have sinned." 
 
 It is, therefore, undeniable that the Lord is speaking to us in 
 wrath, and that his controversy is holy and just. Let us, then, 
 attend, 
 
 Secondly, To the duty which our circumstances and our text 
 point out ; and that is, to plead with him for mercy, — " Lord, in 
 wrath remember mercy !" 
 
 Here it is requisite to elucidate some of those principles which 
 the petition implies ; and the temper with which we should em- 
 ploy it. 
 
 1. With respect to the principles of the petition. 
 
 It plainly implies that there is mercy, pardoning mercy, which 
 may, consistently with both the divine attributes and the divine 
 government, be freely communicated to the sinner. 
 
 Dreary, my brethren, would be our prospect, and miserable our 
 consolation, were it absolutely necessary for the God whom we 
 have offended to reward us exactly according to our deserts : Then, 
 indeed, might we close our eyes on peace, and lie down in sorrow. 
 " If thou, Lord, shouldst mark iniquity ; Lord, who could 
 stand ?" Certainly we could not stand ; ive, whose conduct has 
 been little else than a series of transgressions ; and whose crimes 
 have been attended with every hateful circumstance which can 
 aggravate guilt, or increase punishment. Unable to answer our 
 Judge " one of a thousand" of the accusations he may bring 
 against us, if we attempt to "justify ourselves, our own mouths 
 will condemn us." But, glory, eternal glory, be to God in the 
 highest! There is forgiveness with him that he may be feared. 
 There is a Saviour for ivhose righteousness' sake the Father is well 
 
40 SERMON II. 
 
 pleased. Through this Saviour we may safely approach that 
 inflexible justice, and unspotted purity, which are otherwise a 
 consuming fire. Our condition, therefore, though sad, is not hope- 
 less. We are guilty, indeed, but not wholly cast off: We are 
 afflicted, 'tis true, but not abandoned to despair. How great, how 
 unequalled soever our provocations have been, we are encouraged 
 to " hope in the Lord, for with the Lord there is mercy, and with 
 him there is plenteous redemption." 
 
 But, it may be asked, " Is there any reason for us to hope when 
 we are visibly the objects of the divine displeasure ? May we 
 repair to mercy's throne, when slighted mercy has kindled the 
 vengeful flame?" We may, for our text farther implies, That the 
 present wrath of God is no obstruction to the exercise of his mercy. 
 
 This, the very prayer of Habakkuk, which was penned under 
 the influence of the Holy One, manifestly supposes. This is sup- 
 posed by all the prayers which, the scripture informs us, were 
 directed to heaven for deliverance from affliction. This is supposed 
 by the design of all God's wrathful dispensations, which are 
 intended not only to correct man, with rebukes, for his iniquity, but 
 to humble the arrogance of his spirit — to teach him his entire and 
 universal dependence upon the one supreme — to create in his mind 
 religious sensibility, and bring the thankless prodigal back to the 
 God from whom he has deeply revolted. " I will go," says Jehovah 
 by his prophet, " and return to my place, till they acknowledge 
 their offence, and seek my face : In their affliction they will seek 
 me early." This same principle is supposed by his own positive 
 injunction, recorded in the prophecy of Joel : " Therefore also now, 
 saith the Lord, turn ye even to me with all your heart ; and with 
 fasting, and with weeping, and with mourning ; and rend your 
 heart and not your garments and turn unto the Lord your God ; for 
 he is gracious and merciful, slow to anger, and of great mercy, and 
 repenteth him of the evil. Who knoweth if he will turn and 
 repent, and leave a blessing behind him." — " Peradventure I shall 
 live" is higher encouragement than the best of us merits : Upon 
 this peradventure must a sinful man make an experiment of the 
 divine mercy for the salvation of his soul, and a sinful land for her 
 deliverance from trouble ; it is enough for us to know that God can 
 be just in pardoning the ungodly ; it is enough for us to know that 
 Jesus Christ, the propitiation for sin, hath broken down the barriers 
 which hindered our access to God, and the access of his mercy to 
 us, and hath opened, by the blood of Calvary, a new and living 
 
DIVINE JUDGMENTS. 41 
 
 way to the Father, From the invitation to this way of life, none, 
 no not the most worthless and vile, are excluded. Even those who 
 are slaves of corruption, and prisoners of the curse, are exhorted to 
 lay hold of the great salvation. No sins can surpass the merit of 
 our Lord Jesus. The grace of God, that reigns by his cross, is 
 never so gracious, never shines with such glorious splendour, as 
 when she holds back the arm of justice, rushes through the fire of 
 wrath, snatches the criminal as a brand out of the burning, and 
 heaps countless blessings on his head. 
 
 This doctrine, so rich with instruction and comfort, we should 
 never forget. It is at all times important ; at all times needful. 
 Particularly in seasons of wrath, it is the precious doctrine which 
 brightens the gloom of guilt, and revives expiring hope. The 
 prophet, by his own example, has taught us the truth, and how to 
 employ it ; for the text implies, 
 
 Lastly, That when the Lord is dealing with us in wrath, mercy is 
 our only plea. 
 
 As sinners we have no claim of right to any of God's benefits. 
 Fallen, by apostasy, from our state of probation, we cannot acquire, 
 by our own obedience, a title to the blessings which were promised 
 in the covenant of works. It is, therefore, of infinite moment to 
 our most valuable interests, not only to confess with our mouths, 
 but to feel in our hearts, that we lie at mercy. Above all, upon 
 a day of fasting and humiliation, it accords not with our circum- 
 stances and profession to foster the opinion that God will forgive 
 our iniquities, and receive us into favour, on account of our sincere 
 though imperfect services. Who is he that presumes upon the 
 sincerity and goodness of a heart which the spirit of inspiration 
 has pronounced "deceitful above all things, and desperately 
 wicked?" Who is he that would offer to his Creator a righteous- 
 ness which has been rejected already as filthy rags t Know, vain 
 man, that every expectation which does not rest upon mercy, mere 
 mercy, undeserved mercy, is more perishing than the fleeting- 
 cloud. Thou must bow to sovereignty. " The loftiness of man 
 shall be brought down, and the haughtiness of man shall be made 
 low, and the Lord alone shall be exalted." Every durable comfort ; 
 every solid joy ; every hope that will abide the rude shock of death, 
 or the burning trial of the judgment-day, is built upon this divine 
 assurance, not that with us there is merit, but that with the Lord 
 there is mercy. 
 
42 SERMON II. 
 
 With these principles, that are evidently implied in the text, is 
 intimately connected, 
 
 2. The temper with which it becomes us to present the prayer 
 of the prophet. 
 
 If we admit, (and who dares deny ?) that the Lord is speaking 
 to us in wrath, and that our only refuge is his mercy, we cannot 
 resist the conviction, that an essential part of the temper which 
 should influence us in suing for mercy, consists in an ingenuous 
 confession of guilt. 
 
 To frame excuses for our rebellion against the majesty in the 
 heavens ; or to soften down, by partial tenderness, our heinous 
 violations of the divine law, discovers an ignorant mind, and an 
 unhumbled heart : It is in effect to say, the ivays of the Lord are 
 not equal. We may, indeed, imagine ourselves hardly treated : but 
 if we compare the best of our fancied claims to the indulgence of Gcd 
 with the tremendous charges he may justly bring against us, the lips 
 of murmur will be silenced 5 the rising discontent suppressed ; and, 
 overwhelmed with deep confusion, we will be constrained to ac- 
 knowledge the rectitude of Jehovah's appointments. The " Judge 
 of all the earth," who invariably does right, must " be justified 
 when he speaketh, and be clear when he judge th." Before his 
 equal bar " every mouth shall be stopped, and all the world become 
 guilty." — " Woe, then, to him that striveth with his Maker." The 
 wisest, the safest, the most honourable conduct, in this hour of 
 peril, is to humble ourselves under the might?/ hand of God, and to 
 plead guilty to the heavy accusations which are written, in large 
 and luminous characters, on his providential dealings. He virtu- 
 ally addresses us in this piercing language, " Have I not nourished 
 and brought you up as children, and have ye not rebelled against 
 me ?" If we act honestly, we must reply, Truth, Lord ! Did I 
 not " make known unto you my holy Sabbath, and command you 
 precepts, statutes, and laws, and give you my good spirit to in- 
 struct you ; and have you not been disobedient, and cast my law 
 behind your backs, and wrought great provocations?" Truth, 
 Lord ! " Did I not deliver you, for your sins, into the hand of 
 your enemies, who vexed you : and in the time of your trouble, 
 when you cried unto me, did I not hear you from heaven, and, 
 according to my manifold mercies, give you saviours, who saved 
 you out of the hand of your enemies ; and after you had rest, did 
 you not do evil again before me ?" Truth, Lord ! " Thou art just 
 
DIVINE JUDGMENTS. 43 
 
 in all that is brought upon us ; for thou hast done right and we 
 have done wickedly : Neither have our " rulers, our magistrates, 
 our priests, nor our citizens, " kept thy law, nor hearkened unto 
 thy commandments ; for they have not served thee in the large 
 and fat land which thou gavest them ; neither turned they from 
 their wicked works." 
 
 But let us not suppose, my brethren, that we fulfil our duty by 
 a general confession of guilt. We plead not for mercy with a 
 proper temper, unless we individually bring home the charge of 
 guilt to our own consciences. Our national sins are enormous ; 
 their cry ascends to the very heavens : and we all have had our 
 share in them. Let us every one turn his eyes in upon his own 
 heart, and, willing to know the worst of his character, ask, with 
 solemn impartiality, "What have I done?" There is no citizen 
 present, who will not find, upon fair inquiry, that he has abundant 
 reason to say, not only as a man, but as an American, " God be 
 merciful to me a sinner." The public iniquity is, in fact, an ac- 
 cumulation of private transgressions. They are the drops of 
 individual contrition, which constitute the flood of national repent- 
 ance ; and if we expect ever to see a general reformation, we must 
 pray every one for himself, " Lord, in wrath remember mercy." 
 
 These reflections lead us directly to observe, that a part, the 
 chief part, of the temper which should predominate in our appli- 
 cations to the mercy-seat, is a fervent desire, that the Lord would 
 remove from us, first of all, the guilt for which he is now 
 punishing us. 
 
 If our humiliation, this day, proceeds from a dread of evil, 
 rather than from a cordial hatred of the sin which is the parent of 
 all evil, we mock God ; we wound our own souls ; we prepare for 
 ourselves a more terrible condemnation. The God of holiness will 
 never deem himself honoured by the feigned devotion of those who 
 roll sin as a sweet morsel under their tongues — who grieve, not because 
 he is offended and insulted, but because they are chastised — who 
 are deterred from the indulgence of their lusts only by the fear of 
 vengeance ; and who will probably return, when their alarm 
 subsides, to those unhallowed practices which they now affect to 
 renounce. Unpardoned sin is a perennial source of sorrow : and 
 it is but a small consolation to be freed from an existing plague 
 while an angry cloud, charged with ten thousand woes, hovers over 
 us, and threatens every moment to burst in curses on our heads. 
 
44 SERMON II. 
 
 Acquaint thyself now with him and be at peace ; haste, for pardon, 
 to the blood of sprinkling, and leave it to the wisdom and sov- 
 ereignty of God to remove, in his own good time, the rod of 
 affliction. 
 
 Finally : In pleading for mercy, we should be anxious that the 
 Lord would sanctify his providence : that is, would bless it as an 
 effectual means of rendering our hearts more tender, and our lives 
 more holy. 
 
 Chastisements unimproved swell, in proportion to their severity, 
 the guilt of an individual or a people, and are a prelude to cala- 
 mities doubly dreadful. If men will not learn righteousness when 
 God's judgments are abroad in the earth — if they will not behold the 
 majesty *of the Lord, and when his hand is lifted up, obstinately 
 refuse to see it — he may say in righteous indignation, Let them 
 alone : let them fill up the measure of their iniquities : And 
 what the consequence may be, none can tell but he who knows 
 perfectly the evil of sin, and the limits of his own forbearance. 
 Should we revert to our former sloth and impiety, after this 
 solemn warning from the God of heaven, our condition will be 
 worse, much worse, than before. He may, indeed, permit us to 
 enjoy tranquillity for a while ; but, in the meantime, he is storing 
 a magazine of fury. If his unexampled goodness do not lead us 
 to repentance, we will " treasure up to ourselves wrath against the 
 clay of wrath, and revelation of the righteous judgment of God." 
 For aught we can tell, the period may be near, when seven 
 thunders shall utter our doom ; and seven vials pour out upon us 
 their united plagues. In the day of our distress God may stand 
 afar off : " When we spread forth our hands, he may hide his eyes 
 from us, yea, when we make many prayers, he may not hear." 
 He may strike into our souls the chill of death, by addressing us 
 in this style of affronted patience, — " Because I called and ye re- 
 fused, I stretched out my hand and no man regarded ; but ye have 
 set at nought all my counsel, and would none of my reproof; 1 
 also will laugh at your calamity ; I will mock when your fear 
 cometh: when your fear cometh as desolation, and your destruction 
 cometh as a whirlwind ; when distress and anguish come upon 
 you." 
 
 The facts and the doctrines on which we have been meditating 
 suggest, very plainly, the improvement we ought to make of 
 them. 
 
DIVINE JUDGMENTS. 45 
 
 If wrath is upon us from the Lord every man of reflection will 
 feel that it becomes us to be very serious. 
 
 My brethren, God does not trifle with us, and he will not per- 
 mit us to trifle with him. His government is not a phantom, nor 
 his judgments a farce. Both are awful realities : Sooner or later 
 shall every accountable creature know, that the former cannot be 
 rejected, nor the latter despised, with impunity. The divine law is 
 a serious thing : sin, which is a transgression of the law, is also a 
 serious thing ; and that death, which is the wages of sin, is as 
 serious a thing as either : And now, that we have violated the 
 law; have made ourselves sinners; are obnoxious to the penalty 
 of the law, and have before our eyes a signal proof of the Lord's 
 anger against the very sins with which we are chargeable ; surely, 
 surely we ought to be serious. To be careless and indifferent 
 when the cry of anguish pierces our ears is cruelty : To frolic on 
 the brink of ruin is madness. The Spirit of God has marked it 
 as one of the last stages of human obduracy, when men have " the 
 harp, and the viol, the tabret, and the pipe, and wine in their 
 feasts ; but regard not the doing of the Lord, neither consider the 
 operation of his hands." God forbid that we should imitate the 
 folly described by the prophet ; " And in that day," a day of wrath, 
 " did the Lord God of hosts call to weeping, and to mourning, and 
 to baldness, and to girding with sackcloth : and, behold joy and 
 gladness, slaying oxen, and killing sheep, eating flesh and drink- 
 ing wine ;" a conduct which proclaimed more loudly than any 
 words the maxim of the libertine : " Let us eat and drink, for to- 
 morrow we die." May the woe denounced against such offenders 
 penetrate our inmost souls : " Surely this iniquity shall not be 
 purged from you, till ye die, saith the Lord God of hosts." 
 
 But let none mistake the intention of these remarks, or pervert 
 their use. If we are called from unseasonable inattention and 
 levity, we are not called to the sullenness, the gloom, the inaction, of 
 despondence. We must be serious, bntnot idle. And one of the most 
 profitable purposes for which we can improve the subject which we 
 have been considering, is a strict examination of our own characters. 
 My brethren, the dispensations of Divine Providence proclaim, 
 as with the voice of an archangel's trump, " Prepare to meet thy 
 God, Israel." Are we prepared to meet him in confidence, and 
 with comfort? Pause, ye votaries of pleasure — interrupt, ye gay, 
 the round of vanity — suspend, ye men of business, the anxieties of 
 gain, and retreat for a while into your own bosoms : summon 
 
46 SERMON II. 
 
 your consciences before that tribunal, the decision? of which are 
 all according to truth ; and ask, ask solemnly, for ye know not how 
 soon it may be asked at the bar of God, What arrangements have 
 ye made for an eternal world ? Amidst all your acquirements, 
 have ye obtained the one thing needful f Amidst all your pursuits, 
 have ye sought first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness f Are 
 ye in Christ Jesus f Are ye justified by his blood, and sanctified 
 by his Spirit ? Have ye devolved the whole weight of your ac- 
 ceptance with the Father, of your perseverance in holiness, and 
 your arrival at glory, on him " who is able to save to the utter- 
 most all who come unto God by him." 
 
 To these interrogations very different answers must be given by 
 two classes of hearers. To each of them our subject furnishes a 
 suitable exhortation. To those, who have a good hope through 
 grace, it addresses the command of the Apostle Peter, " Give all 
 diligence to make your calling and your election sure." In seasons 
 of wrath it is peculiarly needful for believers to have their faith 
 strengthened ; their title to their inheritance fully ascertained, and 
 their way to the possession of it freed from all obstruction. Trim, 
 then, your lamps, ye wise virgins, Gird on your armour, ye 
 soldiers of the living God : " Be sober, be vigilant." — " Watch 
 and pray, that ye enter not into temptation." — " Let your loins be 
 girded about, and your lights burning ; and ye yourselves like unto 
 men that wait for their Lord ; Blessed are those servants, whom 
 the Lord, when he cometh, shall find watching." And when ye 
 supplicate for yourselves, intercede for your fellow-citizens, with 
 whom you profess to sympathize. " The effectual fervent prayer 
 of a righteous man availeth much." Say, " Spare thy people, 
 Lord, and give not thine heritage to reproach." Say, " remem- 
 ber not against us former iniquities : Let thy tender mercies 
 speedily prevent us, for we are brought very low." — " Help us, 
 God of our salvation, for the glory of thy name : and deliver us and 
 purge away our sins, for thy name's sake." — " Let the sighing of the 
 prisoner come up before thee ; according to the greatness of thy 
 power, preserve thou those that seem appointed to die." Intercede 
 for your country : Say, " Turn us again, Lord God of hosts ; 
 cause thy face to shine, and we shall be saved." Say, " Forgive 
 our sin, and heal our land. Let thy work appear unto thy ser- 
 vants, and thy glory unto their children : and let the beauty of the 
 Lord our God be upon us, and establish thou the work of our 
 hands ; vea, the work of our hands establish thou it." Intercede 
 
DIVINE JUDGMENTS. 47 
 
 for the church of Christ : say, " Do good, in thy good pleasure, 
 unto Zion : build thou the walls of Jerusalem. Lord, revive 
 thy work in the midst of the years ; in the midst of the years 
 make known : in wrath remember mercy." 
 
 To those who are "aliens from the commonwealth of Israel, 
 and strangers to the covenant of promise," the dispensations of 
 Providence speak in a most alarming style, and the doctrine of 
 the text offers salutary counsel. Wherewithal, my brethren, will 
 ye come before the Lord, and bow yourselves before the Most High 
 God? Unprovided with that robe of righteousness, and those gar- 
 ments of salvation, without which none can enter the palace of the 
 king, what will ye do in the day of visitation ? Are ye able to 
 contend with your Maker ? Are ye able to abide the fierceness of 
 his anger f put not from you the evil day. Multitudes of your 
 neighbouring city, who were as careless and secure as yourselves, 
 have been hurried away with scarce a warning to the bar of God. 
 What assurance have ye that this shall notjvery shortly be your own 
 case? Death is now doing his work among our fellow-citizens ; 
 and before we are aware he may come up into our windows. 
 Perhaps — God grant that the fear be not realized ! — perhaps the 
 destroyer has already received his commission to clear these seats 
 of their useless possessors ; to cut down the cumberers of the 
 Lord's vineyard ; and to cast them into the fire. My brethren, 
 as your souls live, there is but a step between you and death : 
 critical is your condition ; and precious your time. Haste, then, 
 flee for your lives ; flee from the ivrath to come ! " But whither 
 shall we flee ?" Whither ? To the mercy-seat ! " To the blood 
 of sprinkling, which speaketh better things than the blood of Abel. 
 To Jesus, the mediator of the new covenant. Him hath God exalted 
 to be a Prince and a Saviour, to give repentance unto Israel and 
 remission of sins." This, this is the only channel through which 
 the mercy of God can flow to the sinner : " For there is no other 
 name given under heaven among men, whereby we can be saved." 
 The only alternative is, to receive the Saviour, or perish. Receive 
 him without delay. " Now is the accepted time ; now is the day 
 of salvation. To-day if ye will hear his voice, harden not your 
 hearts." He has said, that " them who come to him he will in no 
 wise cast out." Having such high encouragement, fasten your 
 hope on his atoning blood ; throw yourselves unreservedly upon 
 his precious merits ; and plead, " Lord, in wrath remember 
 
SERMON IIL* 
 
 MERCY REMEMBERED IN WRATH. 
 
 PSALM CHI. 10. 
 
 " He hath not dealt with us after our sins, nor rewarded us according to our 
 
 iniquities.'' 
 
 My Brethren, — The providence of God, which threatened the 
 speedy punishment of our sins, lately called us to humble our- 
 selves under his mighty hand. We came to his sanctuary in the 
 character of penitents ; we professed to afflict our souls for the evil 
 we had done in his sight ; we addressed his throne in the language 
 of contrition ; we implored respite ; we implored pardon. Absti- 
 nence from bodily food, in the self-denial of fasting, we employed 
 as the symbol of inward bitterness, and as an aid in the mortifica- 
 tion of sin. 
 
 For purposes of a different nature do we this day tread the 
 courts of the Most High. " The oil of joy succeeds to mourning ; and 
 the garment of praise to the spirit of heaviness. We come to offer 
 unto God thanksgiving : We come to celebrate his recent benefits : 
 We come to kindle on the altar of common gratitude the mingled 
 incense of our praise. 
 
 But where, may some ask, where is the propriety of bringing, at 
 this time, the sacrifices of joy fulness f Ts Jehovah's controversy 
 with our guilty land completely removed ? " Is his anger turned 
 away, and his hand stretched out no longer ?" Have our citizens, 
 " breaking off their sins by repentance, returned to him from whom 
 they have deeply revolted ? From his judgments, which are abroad 
 in the earth, do they appear to have learned righteousness ? And 
 has the Spirit of grace shed down the large effusion of his quick- 
 
 * The substance of this Sermon was preached on 19th February 1795, ob- 
 served throughout the United States as a day of Thanksgiving and Prayer. 
 
MERCY REMEMBERED IN WRA.TH. 49 
 
 ening and purifying influence? Would to God, my brethren, that 
 facts could warrant a prompt and exulting affirmative. But 
 truth obliges us to confess, with blushes, that we have little reason 
 to boast of rectified principle and new obedience. We are still a 
 " sinful nation, a people laden with iniquity, a seed of evil-doer's; 
 children that are corrupters ; we have forsaken the Lord ; we have 
 provoked the Holy One of Israel to anger ; we have gone away 
 backward. It is of the Lord's mercies that we are not consumed.'' 
 But this cannot supersede the necessity, nor lessen the propriety of 
 thanksgiving. It is rather one of the most cogent reasons for sing- 
 ing aloud of His mercy. Besides, we are to consider, that within a 
 short time the procedure of holy Providence, contrary to our most 
 distressing fears, hath, in matters intimately affecting our happi- 
 ness, assumed a more favourable aspect. Therefore, although we 
 are not authorized to conclude that the Lord is pacified towards us 
 for all that we have done, yet we may and ought to utter abun- 
 dantly the memory of his goodness; we may and ought to thank 
 Him, and thank Him publicly, that " He hath not dealt with us 
 after our sins, nor rewarded us according to our iniquities." 
 
 The text, which significantly describes our condition, asserts 
 that God hath not treated us according to our desert ; and strongly 
 implies that this dispensation is replete with singular kind- 
 ness ; subjects which lead to discussion profitable in itself, and 
 obviously corresponding with the design of this day. 
 
 1. Let us endeavour to be deeply impressed with the fact, that 
 the Lord hath not dealt with us after our sins, nor rewarded us 
 according to our iniquities. 
 
 How numerous our sins are, how black their atrocity, how peculiar 
 and malignant their aggravations, it is neither my intention nor my 
 business to state. This would lead us again over the ground of 
 which, not long ago, we had occasion to take a sorrowful review. 
 That we have merited those varied plagues by which the Eternal 
 scourges a rebellious and stiff-necked people, we may not deny, 
 for we have already confessed. The symptoms of their approach 
 startled the most thoughtless ; our hearts throbbed with painful 
 apprehension ; and we hastened to the mercy-seat to deprecate 
 those evils of which even the remote appearance filled us with 
 terror. That He hath had compassion ; that in wrath He hath re- 
 membered mercy, we are all witnesses; for we are all living 
 monuments of His forbearance. The gathering darkness hath not 
 
 D 
 
50 SERMON III. 
 
 been permitted to concentrate and pour down its tempest. It hath 
 ceased, in part, to overcloud our sky ; and, in some degree at least, 
 hath yielded to brighter prospects. 
 
 Without dwelling minutely on that kind interposition which 
 hath checked the ravages of disease, hath calmed the tumult of 
 the presaging breast, and recalled to languishing multitudes the 
 glow and the vigours of health — without expatiating on the suc- 
 cesses which have attended an enterprise against the western foe : 
 successes that make some amends for the dishonour and loss of 
 former defeats ; and encourage us to hope for a solid and perma- 
 nent peace, which may prevent the effusion of blood hereafter ; 
 without insisting on any of those things which, however estimable, 
 occupy a middle or inferior place in the scale of national benefit, 
 allow me to direct your attention to two distinguishing blessings : 
 preservation from foreign war, and deliverance from domestic 
 discord. 
 
 It is a mysterious arrangement of the government of God, by 
 which He makes one sin the corrective and the punishment of 
 another. If nation rise against nation, and kingdom against 
 kingdom ; if dissensions grow into animosities ; and animosities, 
 inflamed by mutual irritation, break out into open and destructive 
 hostility; let it not be supposed that such deplorable events proceed 
 merely from the jarring interests and jarring passions of men. 
 Ambition of power, the fascinations of grandeur, or the lust 
 of fame often set the world on fire, and swell the huge cata- 
 logue of human miseries. " Wars and fightings come from our 
 lusts." But in these disasters a higher agency is concerned. God, 
 who " sitteth upon the floods," — God, " whose kingdom ruleth over 
 all," — God, who causeth even " the wrath of man to praise him," 
 marks out the path of the warrior, selects the objects of his prowess, 
 and fixes the bounds of his triumph. His design may be evil ; Ms 
 aggressions unprovoked, and, from him, unmerited by those against 
 i they are directed, every step of Ms procedure maybe scored 
 with crimes ; and yet God, unimpcachably righteous, brings light 
 out of this darkness ; by such evil instruments accomplishes wise, 
 and good, and holy ends ; and when He has accomplished them, He 
 visits the iniquities of the instruments themselves, and breaks thein 
 to pieces with his rod of iron. The truth is painted in strong 
 colours, by the prophet Isaiah : " Assyrian, the rod of mine 
 anger, and the staff in their hand is mine indignation. I will send 
 
MERCY REMEMBERED IN WRATH. 51 
 
 him against an hypocritical nation, and against the people of my 
 wrath will I give him a charge, to take the spoil, and to take the 
 prey, and to tread them down like the mire of the streets. Howbeit, 
 he meaneth not so, neither doth his heart think so ; but it is in his 
 heart to destroy and cut off nations not a few. Wherefore it shall 
 come to pass, that, when the Lord hath performed his whole work 
 upon Mount Zion and on Jerusalem, I will punish the fruit of the 
 stout heart of the king of Assyria, and the glory of his high looks. 
 For he saith, By the strength of my hand I have done it, and by my 
 wisdom, for I am prudent : and I have removed the. bounds of the 
 people, and have robbed their treasures, and- 1 have put down the 
 inhabitants like a valiant man. And my hand hath found, as a 
 nest, the riches of the people : and as one gathereth eggs that are 
 left, have I gathered all the earth, and there was none that moved 
 the wing, or opened the mouth, or peeped. Shall the axe boast itself 
 against him that heweth therewith ? or shall the saw magnify itself 
 against him that shaketh it ? as if the rod should shake itself against 
 them that lift it up, or as if the staff should lift up itself as if it 
 were no wood. Therefore shall the Lord, the Lord of hosts, send 
 among his fat ones leanness ; and under his glory he shall kindle a 
 burning like the burning of a fire ; and it shall burn and devour his 
 thorns and his briers in one day." — Isaiah x. 5^8 ; 12-17. 
 
 This is one of those "terrible things in righteousness," by 
 which, when he " cometh forth out of his place, God punishes the 
 inhabitants of the earth." Thus sinners become to each other 
 angels of cursing ; and thus He delegates one guilty nation, as 
 ministers of His quarrel to another; and sends them to execute 
 His threatenings upon their brother in transgression. . The sword 
 never comes to devour, but when He appoints it ; for every fatal 
 thrust, it hath His high commission 5 and with the blood which 
 rushes through the portals of death, does He write the crimson 
 history of His wrath. 
 
 Brethren, need I remind you, that this dreadful plague was. at 
 our doors ? Have ye forgotten the chilling anticipations whiclt 
 lately obtruded themselves, unsought, on your minds ? Already 
 did the frenzied imagination re-display those scenes of horror of 
 which the remembrance will live with our memories ! Alreadr 
 did we hear the burst of hostile thunder ; already did we see our 
 temples desolated ; our dwellings sinking in the flames, and our 
 families fugitives from the burning ruin ! 
 
12 SERMON TIL 
 
 But the storm has blown over, and done no harm. The sound 
 *©f alarm, retreating from our shore, grew fainter and fainter, till it 
 -expired on the listening ear. No angry banner waves in our eye ; 
 no cruel foe ravages our possessions. All is serene ; all secure. 
 This day is witness that peace dwells in our land, and enjoys the 
 quiet exercise of her confirmed reign. Give glory to Him who hath 
 commanded the deliverance ! " bless our God, ye people, and 
 make the voice of His praise to be heard ; who holdeth our soul in 
 life, and suffereth not our feet to be moved." 
 
 Tremendous as foreign war is, it is yet preferable to domestic 
 discord. Internal union is the bond of social strength. When 
 mutual confidence hath fled ; and coldness, and jealousies, and 
 opposition come in its place ; when professed anxiety for the public 
 welfare degenerates into the strife of partial policies 5 and unanimity 
 of measures gives way to the violence of faction, the firmest sinews 
 of the national energy are cut, and the -richest veins of national 
 prosperity sluiced. 
 
 It was a serious thing, my brethren, for our country, to see, in 
 a neighbouring state, four large counties, including great numbers 
 of inhabitants, throw off submission to the law, and rise in the 
 contumacy of revolt. The season at which this ominous event 
 happened was peculiarly unfavourable. Pressed on one side with 
 savage depredations ; vexed, on another, with daring and shameless 
 encroachment ; fretted and soured with maritime insult and plun- 
 der ; torn, at the same time, with intestine feud ; and ill provided 
 with the means of defence, we invited the assaults of any adversary 
 who was in a condition to improve our disunion and perplexity. 
 Nor was it easy to calculate what would be the extent of the 
 calamity, or what its issue. Men of similar habits, and in similar 
 circumstances, readily unite in similar undertakings. Cherished 
 by the wicked assiduity of those sons of Belial, who had been 
 industrious in creating it, the dissension, spreading like a flame 
 through the dried leaves of autumn, might have divided the chil- 
 dren of Ameriea, not into the parties of opinion, but into the armies 
 of civil war. Despots would have exulted in this consequence, as 
 it would have ruined the fairest experiment which the sun ever 
 beheld, of a government reared on the equal rights of men. But 
 to their confusion, and our triumph, the tumult has subsided. 
 The temperate, yet firm ; the vigorous, yet unbloody manner in 
 which this rebellion was subdued, is fraught with delight to our- 
 
MERCY REMEMBERED IN WRATH £5 
 
 selves, and furnishes a useful lesson to mankind. It is the victory 
 of principle over passion, of order over confusion, of laws over 
 licentiousness. 
 
 Such a joyful issue of such an afflictive commotion, has filled 
 united America with admiration and applause. To those patriots 
 who, to enforce the sovereignty of the law, exchanged the comforts- 
 of domestic life for the rigours of military service, the tribute due- 
 to their spirited exertion is cheerfully paid. Above all, our eyes- 
 involuntarily fasten on that man, whose timely application of the- 
 severe but salutary discipline intrusted to his prudence, was the 
 happy means of restoring peace— on that man, whom God had. 
 honoured to be the instrument of countless blessings to this land ;. 
 whose name will live, and whose memory will be revered, when, 
 the blighting eye of malignity is sealed up in darkness, and the-- 
 tongue of calumny fettered with the irons of death. 
 
 The facts now mentioned are luminous events, which, at 
 present, absorb in their lustre all other political incidents relating- 
 to us. They cannot but fix in astonishment the gaze of the most 
 careless ; and impress the hearts of the most hardened. How 
 powerful obligations to gratitude to our God are created by such 
 benefits, will appear from contemplating the singular mercy of that 
 providential dispensation from which they flowed. The illustration 
 of this mercy is the 
 
 II. Second branch of our subject. 
 
 Sources of illustration are numerous and fruitful — you will all 
 acknowledge. 
 
 1. The divine clemency which has distinguished us from other 
 nations. 
 
 Several countries on the eastern shores of the Atlantic, have 
 scarcely time to breathe, much less to recruit, from the wounds 
 and sufferings of one war, before they are precipitated into another. 
 It is a foul stain on the civilisation of Europe, as well as an aw- 
 ful judgment for her sins, that she is almost continually weltering 
 in blood. Her infatuated sons fly to arms, and slaughter each 
 other, as the caprice or the politics of their tyrants ordain. Be- 
 sides two rash and formidable preparations* which began in 
 
 * The Russian and Spanish armaments in Britain : the former of which was 
 requipped to aid the Turks against Russia, and the latter, to fight the Spaniards of 
 the privilege of killing " whales in the South Seas, and wild cats at Nootka Sound." 
 
54 SERMON III. 
 
 bravado, and ended in expense ; the present * are two of six f 
 wars which, more generally or partially, have flooded their curses 
 on Europe in less than ten years. Wars, all of them wicked, 
 most of them mad, and none of them necessary. At this moment, 
 some of the fairest fields that ever rejoiced the eye, or repaid the 
 labour of man, instead of being cultivated by the husbandman and 
 the vine-dresser, are trodden down by the martial steed, and 
 strewed with the bodies of the slain. " Come, behold the works 
 of the Lord, what desolations He hath made in the earth. He 
 cuts off the spirit of princes : He is terrible to the kings of the 
 earth." 
 
 How preferable, my brethren, is our condition ! How gentle 
 the dispensations of God towards us ! It is now above one 
 hundred and sixty years since the chief settlement of this country ; 
 and, excepting Indian hostilities on the frontier, we have not been 
 engaged in war more than three or four times at furthest ; and 
 have never been compelled to it, but either by foreign connection, 
 or the rigour of foreign exaction. Why do we prosper whilst other 
 lands are covered with desolation ? Why does not the sword thin 
 our families, and hew down our gallant youth, their parents' pride, 
 and their country's hope? Why are we permitted to till our 
 grounds without molestation, and to eat the fruit of our industry ? 
 Why, through the medium of commerce, to keep up an amicable 
 and lucrative intercourse with distant places ? Why to foster the 
 arts of peace, which refine the manners, and improve the mind ? 
 Why to assemble, without interruption or fear, in the house of 
 God ; to sing his praises, to supplicate his favour, to learn the 
 words of everlasting life? Is it because we are better than 
 others ? No, in no wise. We merit a harsher lot ; but the Lord 
 hath not dealt with us after our sins, nor rewarded us according to 
 our iniquities. It is undeserved mercy ; therefore, Hallelujah ! 
 
 2. The eminent danger in which we lately were, highly exalts 
 the mercy of our deliverance. 
 
 * The war of France against the comhiDed powers; and of Poland against 
 Eussia and Prussia. 
 
 f In addition to the wars mentioned in the preceding note, there have heen — 
 
 1. The war of Sweden with Russia. 2. That of Russia and the Emperor with 
 
 the Turks. 3. That of the Emperor with the Netherlands. 4. That of Poland 
 
 and Russia, in 1792— all within the short space of eight years ; viz. from 1786 
 
 to 171M ! besides the troubles in Holland, and some disorders of less importance. 
 
MERCY REMEMBERED IN WRATH. 55 
 
 However imagination might depict the horrors of war, before 
 they had a real existence, jet the strong apprehension of their 
 approach was not chimerical : affairs, both abroad and at home, 
 were fast verging to a dreadful crisis. Various indignities and 
 spoliations, by land and sea, unprovoked, in the midst of painful 
 exertions to maintain our tranquillity, bespoke, too evidently, de- 
 signs unfriendly to our happiness. It is an agreeable dream of 
 benevolence to suppose, that if the plans of confederated oppres- 
 sion had succeeded, we should have been unmolested. When we 
 consider the grudge entertained by most of the establishments of 
 the Old World against these States, for breaking the political spell, 
 by which, for ages, man had been enchanted ; and showing him 
 what he is, and what he ought to be, in society ; it is a more pro- 1 
 bable conjecture, that the conquerors, flushed with victory, would J 
 have turned their arms hither, and endeavoured, by one mighty ) 
 effort, to crush the nursery of freedom, and extirpate from the/ 
 globe its generous plants. 
 
 Connectively with symptoms of disaffection abroad, we must 
 view the unruly and turbulent dispositions of many at home. In ] 
 every community there are multitudes who have a much greater j 
 share of good intention than discernment. Their honest credulity, 
 unguided by judgment and untempered with caution, draws them 
 into the plots of others whose less upright principles take an eager 
 advantage of their simplicity. An appeal to popular prejudice, cal- 
 culated to inflame popular passion, is an engine which craft always 
 employs, and generally finds effectual, for enlisting both under the 
 banners of intrigue. There will ever be some,, in all parts of the 
 world, to whom, from natural unhappiness of mind, or from less 
 venial causes, order will be imprisonment, and peace a torture — 
 some, who sicken to see the gallant vessel riding securely at 
 anchor, or flitting before the favouring gale, and who pray for an 
 adverse blast to dash her on the reef, that while the crew perish 
 in the waters, they may pillage the wreck. The mischievous 
 projects of such as these, aided by the imprudent zeal of others, 
 are sufficient, in ordinary cases, to force almost any nation into 
 war. And when we add to their machinations the external ex- 
 asperating treatment which gave union to their counsels, and 
 colour to their pretexts, it seems little short of a miracle that we 
 have escaped. We stand astonished at the precipice over which 
 we were nearly hurried— a precipice that would have plunged us 
 
58 SERMON III. 
 
 into evils for which their immediate authors could never have 
 atoned : no, not though they wept in sackcloth the remainder of 
 their lives : no, not though their heads were waters, and their 
 eyes fountains of tears; tears streaming in perpetual succession, and 
 every drop embittered with the gall of heart- wringing penitence. 
 It was God's unspeakable mercy that interfered to save us : and 
 the greater our danger, the more beneficent was the interference, 
 and the more precious the salvation. Surely He hath not dealt 
 with us after our sins,— therefore, again Hallelujah ! 
 
 3. The complicated evils which attend war, whether foreign or 
 domestic, show, in an amiable and affecting life, the mercy which 
 has prevented them. These evils, both political and moral, it 
 would require a volume fully to enumerate and to display. Nor, 
 were it possible, w r ould it be improper here to unfold them. I 
 might call your attention to its pernicious influence on the popu- 
 lation of your country, not only by increasing the difficulty of 
 comfortable subsistence, but by the shocking waste it occasions 
 of human life ; I might remind you, (for you would not demand 
 proof,) that it breaks up the happiest arrangements of society ; 
 that it arrests the progress of the arts ; that it retards and ruins 
 the improvements of science ; that it weakens, and often destroys, 
 the efforts of commercial, manufacturing, and agricultural genius ; 
 that it creates perplexing revolutions in the state of property ; that 
 it impedes, if it does not frustrate, the regular administration of 
 civil and criminal justice; that it frequently subjects many of the 
 citizens to the stern jurisdiction and the summary proceedings of 
 martial law; that, while it puts a stop to national improvement, it 
 dries up the ordinary streams of national resource : that it oppresses 
 the community with odious but necessary exactions, in order to 
 maintain their military establishments, and give energy to their 
 hostile operations ; and that it generally entails upon them a 
 burden which the wisdom and exertion of ages may be unable to 
 throw off. 
 
 The moral evils which spring from war are neither fewer nor 
 less baneful than the political. As it nurtures all the fierce and 
 violent passions, it wrests from society the benefit of many ad- 
 vances of civilisation, and drives it, in a retrograde motion, back 
 towards barbarism. By interrupting the quiet pursuit of enlarged 
 and generous education, it keeps the young in ignorance, and 
 withholds from them the means of respectability and usefulness. 
 
MERCY REMEMBERED IN WRATH. 57 
 
 In hindering general and uniform attendance on the social wor- 
 ship of God, it suspends the benign influence of the Christian 
 Sabbath, relaxes the bonds of religious duty; deadens the acute 
 sensibilities of conscience ; and tends to subvert the steady dominion 
 of moral principle. Standing armies, moreover, and navies, are 
 seminaries of vice. There are some examples, glorious examples, 
 of men who hold fast their integrity even here. But in general 
 the predominance of iniquity is so great, that the virtue of most 
 is quickly contaminated, and blended with the common mass of 
 corruption. Here the profligate and profane tutor each other 
 in the arts of impiety and debauch. Infrequency of pure example 
 lessens its efficacy ; while freedom from pious restraint gives the 
 rein to the more worthless propensions of the heart. Wickedness 
 generates infidelity, and infidelity emboldens wickedness. Hence, 
 as from a root, unbelief in speculation, and immorality in practice, 
 are propagated in every direction, and scatter their poison to a 
 prodigious extent- Besides all this, with men who are accustomed 
 to works of death, the life of man loses its value. And this is one 
 of the chief causes of that inexcusable, that atrocious, that detest- 
 able crime, the murder of single combat : a crime which bids equal 
 defiance to laws human and divine, and which spills the blood of 
 a friend, to maintain a point of frivolous honour, or to gratify the 
 impulse of diabolical revenge. To add no more, an army is al- 
 most as dangerous when disbanded, as it is expensive and trouble- 
 some when organized. Men who live in idleness when they are 
 not called to the activity of military duty, who are provided for 
 without any thought of their own, who have acquired habits of 
 plunder as well as of sloth, can with difficulty apply to laborious 
 occupations. These render us unsafe in the midst of prosperity : 
 these furnish the street with thieves, the highway with robbers, and 
 the dungeon with criminals. It is the ignominy of not a few who 
 escape the perils of the field, to fall under the stroke of the execu- 
 tioner ; and the laurels which the soldier won are entwined by 
 the ruffian round his gibbet.* 
 
 Such are some of the evils common to all wars ; but war among 
 brethren has peculiar miseries. Experience, that faithful monitor, 
 had shown that the wounds inflicted by civil war are far deeper, 
 and of more difficult cure, than any that can be received from the 
 
 * From this general censure, the body of the late revolutionary army of 
 America are entitled to an honourable exception. 
 
58 SERMON III. 
 
 hand of foreign violence. The murderous tempers which, in other 
 wars are indulged, in this are wrought up to the height of fury. 
 Resentments are more keen, revenge more implacable, and hatred 
 more lasting. The aggressor is more injurious, and the injured 
 more unforgiving. Amidst mutual reproaches and accusations of 
 violating the most sacred ties, they appear to each other wretches 
 unworthy of esteem, and incapable of faith. Reconciliation is hard 
 to be effected ; and, when effected, is scarcely ever sincere. The 
 body politic may, indeed, reassume its healthful complexion ; but 
 the poison, rankling within, is ready to burst out with renewed 
 violence : for we find, in fact, that when men have once broken the 
 cords of amity, they are easily impelled to repeat the sacrilege. It 
 is, moreover, a melancholy reflection, that it makes little difference 
 to the community at large how the quarrels of its contending 
 parties are decided. Whoever is victorious, or whoever is van- 
 quished, all suffer. "While they struggle against each other, they 
 rend the vital system by which all are nourished ; and the triumph 
 of any over the rest is but the success of a mad conspiracy against 
 themselves. Nor does the mischief end here. In silent ambush 
 the common foe marks the origin of disunion, its progress, and its 
 consequences. He patiently waits for the moment of opportunity ; 
 and when the combatants, exhausted and fainting, are iiK&pable 
 of resistance, he springs from his concealment, and seizes them for 
 his prey. We cannot be sufficiently thankful that the mercy of 
 God, in keeping the great body of our citizens united, has kept us 
 from self-procured ruin, 
 
 4. The divine goodness, which to-day we celebrate, is rendered 
 still more affecting, by contrasting it with our own stubborn and 
 rebellious conduct. 
 
 In the course of His providence, God has given us " line upon 
 line, and precept upon precept f but " line upon line, and precept upon 
 precept," were in vain. Alternate judgment and love, neither awed 
 into submission, nor allured to penitence. Hardened in transgression, 
 we persisted to provoke Him, to defy His threatenings, and trample 
 on His bounties. Nor have we any reason to believe that His former 
 dispensations, whether of terror or of joy, have been really sanc- 
 tified. Guilty, but not abashed ; afflicted, but not reformed ; neither 
 humbled by chastisement nor softened by kindness, we were entitled 
 to no favour at the hand of God. Pregnant with great futurities,, 
 the phenomena of His providence bid us to prepare for their deve- 
 
MERCY REMEMBERED IN WRATH. 59 
 
 lopment ; and each succeeding day, bringing with it new 
 discouragements, led us to contemplate an issue as mournful as it 
 was near. But while at a distance the thunders rolled ; while our 
 heavens blackened, and the woe-fraught clouds stretched over our 
 heads ; while our citizens, some in trembling, and others in sullen 
 suspense, were expecting their fate, God — for surely it was the 
 work of no created wisdom or power — God sent help from His holy 
 hill. The arm of vengeance, raised to hurl its wrathful bolt, He 
 suddenly arrested. Through the opening gloom, the light of His 
 deliverance beamed ; and so brilliant was the interposition, that 
 nothing but atheistic impiety could forbear exclaiming, "This 
 salvation is from the Lord !" Towards other nations He hath 
 exercised less patience. Their sin, in itself, was no greater than 
 our own ; their means of knowledge were inferior ; nor were they 
 so often admonished with solemn and pointed rebuke ; yet they 
 have perished by the frown of the Eternal, and their memorial is 
 blotted from under heaven. But we are spared, are protected, are 
 prospered ! Americans, the lenity is divine ! Because the Lord 
 delighteth to do us good, is He thus indulgent. He prevents us 
 with His mercies. He surrounds us with His compassions : He loads 
 us with His benefits. " Nay," said His reprieving sentence, " slay 
 them not. Let grace be magnified in their preservation. Though 
 they have richly merited the punishment which hangs over them, 
 and merited a thousandfold more, though they have hitherto set at 
 nought my instruction, let the dispensation of love heap coals of 
 fire upon their heads." My brethren, that heart which is not, in 
 any degree, melted by such goodness, must lie under the curse of 
 triple hardness ; and if it have no influence in leading to repent- 
 ance, every possible excuse will be taken from us ; and when God 
 arises to judgment, we will stand without an extenuating plea 
 before the bar of righteousness. 
 
 Finally, by the continuance of peace, numbers have access to the 
 privileges of the gospel, who, otherwise, would not only have been 
 deprived of them, but would have fallen a sacrifice to the sword of 
 war : and this is a display of the mercy of God, which, on the 
 present occasion, we may not overlook. 
 
 A sinner receives a boon for which he cannot be sufficiently 
 thankful, when he is permitted to have a nail in God's holy place, and 
 to attend on the ministrations of life : when his days are lengthened 
 out in the enjoyment of those precious means by which pardon is 
 
60 SERMON III. 
 
 communicated to the guilty, and purity infused into the vile : by 
 which the slaves of Satan are made Christ's free men ; and felons 
 of the pit, constituted citizens of heaven, and heirs of God. Had the 
 removal of providential restraint left us as ready to wage war as 
 the intemperance of some and the wickedness of others were to urge 
 it, many who now worship in the house of prayer would have been 
 numbered with the dead. Many, to whom the redemption of the 
 blessed Jesus and all the glories of His covenant were freely offered, 
 would have been this day writhing in the place of torment. Un- 
 prepared to die, multitudes would have gone to death, and in one 
 hour been swept, by hundreds, into the world of spirits ; all their 
 hopes of mercy blasted, and their immortal souls undone for ever. 
 
 And now, my brethren, since " the Lord hath done great things 
 for us, whereof we are glad," how shall we express our gratitude ? 
 What shall we " render to Him for all His benefits ?" Taking that 
 " cup of salvation," which His own hand hath tendered to us, let 
 us " call upon His name." This, beyond controversy, is an im- 
 mediate and essential part of our duty, to pay him explicit and 
 public homage : to recognise, by devout and marked acknowledgment, 
 our dependence in His favour, and the blessings we have reaped from 
 His protection. 
 
 There is a religion of society, as such, a tribute of reverence, 
 which it owes to the living God. Formed under His auspices, and 
 nurtured by His care, preserved by His power, and replenished with 
 His bounty, He requires from it, on these accounts, social worship 
 and the social vow. The honour of His sovereign rule He cannot 
 relinquish, and the confession of it we may not withhold. It is 
 true that our excellent chief magistrate, in those critical circum- 
 stances into which he was thrown, by the danger of foreign war, 
 and the madness of insurrection among ourselves, displayed, in a 
 conspicuous manner, those governmental virtues which are at once 
 the duty and the glory of his official pre-eminence. The other 
 magistrates, who acted, in concert with him, imbibed the spirit of 
 their station, and showed themselves " a terror to evil-doers." 
 The citizens by whose military co-operation their patriotic efforts 
 were carried into complete effect, brought into splendid action the 
 principles of men who enjoy true liberty, and know how to value 
 .ind defend it. They have all deserved well of their country ; but 
 their exertions, sublime and heroic as they were, would have been 
 .utterly fruitless without the countenance of Him who is the " gov- 
 
MEECY REMEMBERED IN WRATH. 61 
 
 ernor among the nations." Let us not, therefore, rest in second 
 causes, nor limit our praise to human instruments. Let us not 
 disregard them, but look beyond 4 them. Let us make our boast in 
 God, who, in the day of trouble, covered'us with the shield of His 
 omnipotence. " If it had not been the Lord who was on our side," 
 now may the Americans say, " if it had not been the Lord who 
 was on our side, when men rose up against us : then they had 
 swallowed us up quick, when their wrath was kindled against us : 
 then the waters had overwhelmed us, the stream had gone over our 
 soul : then the proud waters had gone over our soul. Blessed be 
 the Lord, who hath not given us as a prey to their teeth. Our 
 soul is escaped as a bird out of the snare of the fowlers ; the snare 
 is broken, and we are escaped. Our help is in the name of the 
 Lord who made heaven and earth." Therefore, " Give unto the 
 Lord, ye kindreds of the people, give unto the Lord glory 
 and strength. Give unto the Lord the glory due unto His name ; 
 bring an offering, and come into His courts. worship the Lord 
 in the beauty of holiness ; fear before him, all the earth!" 
 
 Another becoming expression of our gratitude to God, for the 
 goodness which we are met to commemorate, is to keep at a cautious 
 distance from the " arrogance of prosperity." 
 
 If we are elevated to a dignified rank among the nations of the 
 earth ; if our goodly heritage contains a larger proportion of free- 
 dom and happiness than has fallen to the lot of others ; if our 
 privileges — civil, religious, and political, secured " under the sha- 
 dow of the Almighty — have hitherto repelled the weapons of every 
 assailant, and have received recent and strong confirmation, let us 
 beware of dealing foolishly, and vaunting away our mercies. To 
 communities, not less than to individuals, insolence is the forerun- 
 ner of shame. " Pride," saith the wise man, " goeth before de- 
 struction, and a haughty spirit before a fall." 
 
 Interest combines with duty to enforce compliance with the 
 injunction of inspired prudence, — " Lift not up your horn on high : 
 speak not with a stiff neck, for promotion cometh neither from the 
 east, nor from the west, nor from the south : but God is the judge 
 — He putteth down one, and setteth up another." The rebellious, 
 who exalt themselves, He will teach to bend before His authority, 
 by the sad experience of His displeasure. Without His direction, 
 the sagacity of the profoundest politician is but another name for 
 stupid infatuation. He " turneth wise men backward, and maketh 
 
62 SERMON III. 
 
 their knowledge foolish." Without Him, the most intrepid " bow- 
 down under the prisoners, and fall under the slain." Abandoned 
 by Him, the most stable fabrics of earthly contrivance totter on 
 their bases, moulder into dust, and become the sport of every 
 wanton breeze. Let us not natter ourselves, that however others 
 suffer, we may safely walk after the imagination of our own 
 hearts. We have no charter of immunity in sin. Without dis- 
 crimination, " our haughty shall be humbled," and the fro ward 
 cut off; " for the mouth of the Lord hath spoken it !" 
 
 Once more : If we would demonstrate our gratitude to God for 
 averting those evils which we could not have shunned, let us 
 " study to be holy in all manner of conversation." 
 
 Sincere profession is best evinced by the simplicity of pure 
 obedience. Genuine gratitude will ever be accompanied by an 
 unaffected desire of pleasing, and a fear equally unaffected of offend- 
 ^ ing our benefactor. Be not deceived. If men love God, they 
 will keep His commandments ; if they are thankful for His benefits, 
 they will respect His law. Sins of enormous turpitude are still 
 chargeable upon us, and sooner or later the day of visitation will 
 come. More than once or twice we have confessed our guilt, and 
 vowed amendment. On this very subject does the Most High 
 expostulate with us. He calls us by His providence to realize our 
 confessions, to pay what we have vowed. Let us implore the 
 grace and attempt the duty of penitence, while space is given us 
 to repent. The Holy One of Israel will not be mocked with 
 empty promises. When the hour of judgment arrives, His ear 
 will be deaf to entreaty, and the pleadings of mercy will end. 
 Those floods of ruin, which are now held back by His forbearance, 
 will pour in their waters with augmented fury. Heaven will call 
 upon earth, and earth reply to heaven, in conspiring the destruc- 
 tion of the irreclaimable transgressors. Improve the means of 
 obtaining present peace and of insuring final salvation while ye 
 have opportunity. Before the season of acceptance expire, flee to 
 that Lord Jesus who is the " hiding-place from the storm, and the 
 covert from the tempest :" and prove that ye receive the Saviour 
 by walking in him. " He hath showed thee, man, what is 
 good; and what doth the lord require op thee, but to do 
 justly, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with thy god?'* 
 Amen. 
 
SERMON IV.* 
 
 HOPE FOR THE HEATHEN. 
 
 ISAIAH XXV. 6, 7. 
 
 ''The Lord of Hosts will destroy in this mountain the face of the covering cast 
 over all people, and the vail that is spread over all nations.'' 
 
 The exercise of divine mercy toward man is coeval with his need 
 of it. The shock of the fall was hardly felt ; remorse had only- 
 begun to prey upon the conscience, and guilt to rally his terrors, 
 when a hope, as consoling as it was unexpected, dawned from 
 heaven upon our revolted race. "I will put,'* said God to the 
 tempter, " I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and 
 between thy seed and her seed : it shall bruise thy head, and 
 thou shalt braise his heel." In this original promise were included 
 all subsequent revelations concerning the redemption of sinners. 
 The doctrine of Messiah's person, of his sacrifice, of his triumph ; 
 together with that vast system of prediction which extends from 
 the beginning to the end of time, and all the corresponding dispen- 
 sations of the new covenant, are nothing but its regular develop- 
 ment. But this being slow as well as regular, and all flesh cor- 
 rupting his way, the Lord selected the family of Abraham to be, 
 for ages, both the witnesses of His grace and the depositaries of His 
 truth. To them were committed His living oracles ; to them the 
 ordinances of His worship ; to them the symbols and doctrines of 
 the great atonement. Among them He deigned to dwell, and to 
 raise up an illustrious line of prophets, who should direct their 
 faith and hope to Jesus the Saviour. " To Him," saith Peter, 
 " give all the prophets witness, that, through His name, whosoever 
 believeth in Him shall receive remission of sins." 
 
 * Preached in the First Presbyterian Church, before the New York Miesionary 
 Society, at their Annual Meeting, November 7, 1797. 
 
64 SERMON IV. 
 
 But though the children of Israel enjoyed these privileges, while 
 other nations were " suffered to walk in their own ways," they 
 were taught that the covenant of peculiarity should one day be 
 abrogated, and be succeeded by a more general and more glorious 
 economy. " In thee, and in all thy seed, shall all the nations of 
 the earth be blessed," was the catholic promise to Abraham their 
 father. As the time of its accomplishment approached, the circle 
 of prophetic vision grew brighter and larger. Later prophets were 
 enabled to explain the enigmas of their predecessors, and to speak 
 with precision and clearness, both of the coming of the Messiah 
 and of the glory that should follow. Isaiah, in particular, appears 
 to have been favoured with the most liberal disclosure of the 
 divine purposes. Borne on high by the revealing Spirit, he sees 
 far beyond the common horizon. The extremes of the earth and 
 the ages of futurity are commanded into his view. He sees the- 
 " Sun of Righteousness" ascending the heavens, and breaking in 
 upon the thick darkness which enwraps the globe. He sees the 
 fiends of night stretch their foul wings, and fly from the spreading 
 day. He sees the tabernacle of God descending to dwell among 
 men ; his eye rolls ardent over the wondrous scene ; his bosom 
 heaves with mighty emotions ; and when utterance is granted, he 
 bursts forth in the language of the text, " In this mountain will 
 the Lord of Hosts destroy the face of the covering cast over all 
 people, and the vail that is spread over all nations." 
 
 The Lord hath not been slack concerning His promise, nor have 
 the words of His servant fallen to the ground. The elementary 
 dispensation of Moses is no more ; its shadows have received their 
 substance, and its types their truth, in the person and offices of 
 the Word made flesh. Millions of Gentiles, and among them be- 
 lievers of this assembly, who were once " afar off, are now brought 
 nigh by the blood of Christ," and are " no more strangers, and 
 foreigners, but fellow-citizens of the saints, and of the household 
 of God." 
 
 But though all this hath happened, according to the scriptures, 
 much is yet required to their complete fulfilment. Many families 
 of the earth are still unblest : These, too, are reserved for the 
 trophies of Emanuel's grace, and are to be subjected to His autho- 
 rity, by the same means which He hath ever employed in convert- 
 ting sinners— the gospel of His cross: three topics of discourse, 
 
HOPE FOE THE HEATHEN. 65 
 
 not less appropriate to the design of our meeting, than plainly 
 suggested by the text: for "in this mountain shall the Lord of 
 Hosts destroy the face of the covering cast over all people, and the 
 vail that is spread over all nations." 
 
 I. Many families of the earth are yet unblest. They are de- 
 scribed as destitute of spiritual and saving knowledge ; an idea 
 obviously conveyed by the figures of a vail and a covering — 
 darkness, thick darkness, enshrouds their minds, and conceals 
 from them those facts and principles which it most interests them 
 to know and to improve. 
 
 Of the nations thus under a vail we reckon four classes. 
 
 1. The families which adhere to the " man of sin : " Enticed by 
 his lying wonders, and given up to strong delusions, they have 
 deviated into the paths of apostacy ; they are under the vail of an- 
 tichristian error. 
 
 2. The families of rejected Israel: Having disowned their 
 Messiah when he came, and being disqualified, by judicial blind- 
 ness, for discerning the real sense of their Scriptures, which testify 
 of him ; the vail upon their hearts is the vail of obstinate belief. 
 
 3. The families which embrace the doctrines of Mohammed: 
 turned aside after fables, and amusing themselves with the belief 
 of lying vanities, they are under the vail of gross imposture. 
 
 4. The families which are usually called Pagan : With no other 
 instruction than the glimmerings of natural reason, and the 
 refracted rays of distant tradition; they are covered with the vail 
 of deplorable ignorance. 
 
 All these are characterised in the text. But our attention is 
 invited more immediately to those who are without any scriptural 
 revelation. Though true of all, it is of them pre-eminently true, 
 that they are under the double vail of a benighted understanding 
 and an erring conscience. 
 
 God is the source of intellectual light, for he alone is perfect 
 reason. Wisdom in natural things is his gift; much more that 
 wisdom which is spiritual and divine. Loss of ability to discover 
 the chief good, was at once the just reward and the native conse- 
 quence of revolt. For as all spiritual light in the creature beams 
 from the effulgence of the Godhead, whenever sin had intercepted 
 the communion of man with his Maker, the day which shone 
 
 B 
 
66 SERMON IV. 
 
 around him vanished; the gloom of the pit thickened on his soul; 
 and from that accursed hour to this, unless illumined from above, 
 he hath wandered out of the way, and his feet have " stumbled 
 upon the dark mountains." Does the assertion need proof? 
 Proofs innumerable are furnished by the unhappy heathen. Of 
 the very God who " breathed into their nostrils the breath of life," 
 on whose bounty they are continual pensioners, and at whose 
 tribunal they must shortly stand, they are fatally ignorant. The 
 " heavens may declare his glory, and the firmament show forth his 
 handiwork;" but the Pagans, unaccustomed to decipher their 
 language and to study their lessons, do not thence derive, in fact, 
 just and clear perceptions even of his eternal power and Godhead ; 
 far less of his moral character ; less still can they learn that he is 
 the only satisfying portion of rational beings ; and least of all, 
 that he is accessible to the rebellious. Those general notices of 
 his being which have prevailed in all countries and at all times, 
 have never sufficed to direct men aright in their inquiries after 
 him; nor do they now prevent the most foolish, the most extra- 
 vagant, the most abominable conceptions of his nature and of his 
 operations. 
 
 Mistake in the first principles of religion and of morals must 
 generate uncertainty in all the subordinate principles of both. 
 The rule of obedience is, therefore, at best, a subject of conjecture. 
 What is the genius, measure, and manner of acceptable worship? 
 What are the relative duties of society? Wherein they come 
 short ? and what shall be the fruit of transgression ? few of the 
 heathen ask, and none can tell. Yet they are under a law of 
 righteousness which saith, " the soul that sinneth shall die." The 
 origin of their wants and woes they are unable to explore. To the 
 demerit and wages of sin they are utter strangers : the conse- 
 quences of death they are equally unprepared to meet or to esti- 
 mate. All beyond the grave is impenetrable obscurity. Their 
 notions of immortality are less a speculation than a dream. When 
 called hence, they plunge into the world of spirits, unconscious of 
 their destiny ; and, till that consummation of sorrows, they grope, 
 at a venture, after the path of life, but grope, alas! in vain; 
 l " having the understanding darkened ; being alienated from the 
 life of God, through the ignorance that is in them, because of the 
 blindness of their heart." 
 
HOPE FOR THE HEATHEN. 67 
 
 Of this intellectual darkness the inseparable companion is an 
 erring conscience. 
 
 Although light in the understanding does not, of course, imply 
 moral excellence, yet, without the former, there can be none of the 
 latter. To this it is necessary not only that there be a law of 
 morals, but that it be obeyed from a regard to the authority of the 
 lawgiver. Both the lawgiver and the law must, therefore, be 
 known, or conscience will inevitably go astray. The general 
 sentiment of right and wrong, though sufficient, if violated, to 
 leave men without excuse, will by no means conduct to the proper 
 discharge of duty. The fact is notorious, and a glance at the 
 heathen will descry a thousand monuments of it. To those who 
 have the advantage of revelation, no truths appear more simple 
 and luminous, than that there is but one God, and that he only is 
 entitled to religious homage. Yet how dubious, on these points, 
 were the most celebrated heathen philosophers! how embarrassed 
 their research! how conjectural their opinion! And of that 
 spiritual devotedness which is the life of real religion, they had as 
 little knowledge as the sons of modern unbelief. If from them we 
 turn to the mass of their cotemporaries, or to those who are now 
 in a similar condition, we are startled and shocked to see them 
 " worship and serve the creature more than the Creator, who is 
 blessed for ever." One poor idolater bows to the " host of heaven ; " 
 another trembles before an evil spirit — Here, he finds his divinities 
 in birds, and beasts, and reptiles ; " there, he " changes the glory 
 of the incorruptible God into an image made like unto corruptible 
 man," and lies prostrate before a deity of stone or of wood, the 
 work of his chisel or his axe. " He heweth him down cedars, and 
 taketh the cypress and the oak ; he burnetii part thereof in the 
 fire; with part thereof he eateth flesh; he roasteth roast, and is 
 satisfied ; yea, he warmeth himself, and saith, Aha, I am warm, I 
 have seen the fire : And the residue thereof he maketh a god, even 
 his graven image: he falleth down unto it, and worshippeth it, 
 and prayeth unto it, and saith, Deliver me, for thou art my god. 
 And none considereth in his heart, neither is their knowledge 
 nor understanding to say, I have burnt part of it in the fire : yea, 
 1 have also baked bread upon the coals thereof; I have roasted 
 flesh, and eaten it: and shall I make the residue thereof an 
 abomination? shall I fall down to the stock of a tree?" 
 
SERMON IV. 
 
 The rites of paganism are worthy of its creed. Instead of a 
 worship— reasonable, reverend, and pure— it exhibits all the fright- 
 ful varieties of whatever is absurd, or blasphemous, or obscene. 
 Irs effects on individual and social character, are precisely such as 
 we might anticipate. Unrestrained by any just apprehensions of 
 God, of his law, or his government, the most baleful passions 
 domineer in the heart, and the most horrible excesses pollute the 
 life. Moral distinctions confounded, the sense of relative obliga- 
 tion extinguished, crimes the most atrocious perpetrated with 
 deliberation, and upon principle, are, among the heathen, the result 
 of being without God.* If, in the midst of this degradation and 
 these enormities, the thought should occur, "that they who do 
 such things are worthy of death," a secret horror creeps through 
 the blood ; conscience, the scorpion of guilt, strikes his sting into 
 the bosom; forebodings, equally dark and intolerable, the myste- 
 rious presentiment of judgment to come, harrow up the soul. 
 Whither, in this extremity, shall they turn for succour? All 
 around them is one dreary waste, — the reign of silence and of 
 desolation. No friendly voice is borne to the listening ear; no 
 tower of help rises up to the anxious eye. The Comforter, who 
 should comfort their souls, is afar off. They have not heard, like 
 you, of the name of Jesus. They have none to tell them of " re- 
 demption through his blood, even the forgiveness of sins, accord- 
 ing to the riches of his grace." And the termination of their 
 mortal course — brethren, how tremendous ? The heavens 
 blacken, the tempest roars, the whirlwind rushes by, down pours 
 the torrent, and without a refuge, and without a hope, they are 
 swept away in the ruin of the nations that forget God. 
 
 Exposed to this melancholy fate, the heathen claim our sym- 
 pathy; and we eagerly ask, is their doom to such woe irreversibly 
 scaled? Are they shut out forever from the divine compassions? 
 No ! To the praise of his grace, Jehovah hath thoughts of mercy, 
 rich mercy towards them. He will destroy, saith the prophet, 
 "the covering cast over all people, and the vail that is spread 
 over all nations" — a design, the contemplation of which forms the 
 d part of discourse. 
 
 i From the days of eternity, the Father has given to Messiah 
 
 ' Ward's History of the Law of Nations. 
 
HOPE FOR THE HEATHEN. G9 
 
 " the heathen for his inheritance, and the uttermost parts of the 
 earth for his possession." The whole earth, therefore, being in- 
 cluded in the covenant-grant, shall be filled with the knowledge, 
 and subdued to the obedience of Jehovah. On the maxims of 
 carnal wisdom, the fact is, indeed, impossible, and the expectation 
 wild. To extirpate prejudices implanted in infancy, nurtured by 
 habit, confirmed by example, and consecrated by tradition — to 
 enlighten the stupid idolater, and soften the ferocious savage — to 
 persuade men to despise as contemptible, and loathe as abomin- 
 able, the objects of their respect and veneration — in a word, to 
 change the opinions, the customs, the characters of nations, and 
 unite them in a religion, simple, holy, heavenly — a religion opposed 
 to every vicious principle, and every vicious act — a religion which 
 proscribes all human merit, and prostrates all human pride — this 
 is an undertaking which equally defies the policy and the power of 
 man. And the belief that it shall, at any time, be attended with 
 success, furnishes incessant matter of derision to the philosopher, 
 and of sneer to the witling. Their mistake lies in supposing the 
 God who made them to be as foolish and as feeble as themselves, 
 or as little concerned in the salvation of sinners. But we, accord- 
 ing to his promise, look for the interposition of his arm, by whirl], 
 however mean the instruments, this prodigious revolution shall be 
 effected with no less ease than certainty. For, 
 
 1. He directs the complicated movements of the universe. 
 However confused and contradictory things may appear to our 
 little minds, with him whose " understanding is infinite," there is 
 neither surprise, perplexity, nor chance. " Known unto the Lord 
 are all his works from the beginning of the world." Not only are 
 the laws of matter his sovereign will, and their operation his con- 
 tinual agency, but the whole system of intellect is under his 
 control. All the discordant passions, interests, designs, which 
 dash, in eternal collision, the affairs of men ; all the activities of 
 superior intelligences, as w T ell the enmity of fiends as the ministry 
 of angels, are combined, in the harmony of Providence, to produce 
 the result which he hath ordained; and hither every occurrence 
 irresistibly tends. " He doth according to his will in the army of 
 heaven, and among the inhabitants of the earth." He causeth 
 " the wrath of man to praise him, and the remainder of wrath he 
 will restrain." The unpromising situation, therefore, of the heathen 
 
70 SERMON IV. 
 
 is no obstacle to Israel's God, and should be none to Israel's faith. 
 Be the mountains of difficulty ever so impassable, at his presence 
 they flee away. Let the " nations rage, and the kingdoms be 
 moved," if he " utter his voice, the earth is melted." 
 
 2. The glory of Messiah is a chief end of the dispensations of 
 Providence. 
 
 The vicissitudes of kings and kingdoms, and all the stupendous 
 events which shine in ancient annals, were important chiefly as 
 they served to prepare the way, and to spread the triumphs of 
 him who was " a light to lighten the Gentiles." For this God 
 gave the learning of the world to Greece, and its empire to Rome. 
 Both contributed to facilitate and extend the victories of the 
 gospel. The same design is prosecuted in the events which, at 
 this moment, astonish the world. If "nation rise up against 
 nation, and kingdom against kingdom" — if establishments, impos- 
 ing from their antiquity, and formidable from their strength, be 
 undermined by the progress of opinion, or shattered by violent 
 explosion — if impiety and ambition, and all the infuriate passions, 
 be permitted to take their course, and scenes of desolation and 
 blood, such as history hath not learnt to record, nor imagination 
 to paint, be opened to our view ; it is, that God may destroy the 
 dominion of hell by her own chosen legions, and make them sub- 
 serve the introduction of that kingdom, which is "righteousness, 
 and peace, and joy in the Holy Ghost." Thus saith his high 
 decree, "I will overturn, overturn, overturn, until he shall come 
 whose right it is, and I will give it him." 
 
 3. In the scriptures of the prophets, this spiritual revolution by 
 which the " kingdoms of this world shall become the kingdoms of 
 our Lord and of his Christ," is frequently predicted and strongly 
 marked. " All the ends of the world shall remember, and turn 
 unto the Lord ; all the kindreds of the nations shall worship before 
 thee. It shall come to pass, in the last days, that the mountain 
 of the Lord's house shall be established in the top of the moun- 
 tains, and shall be exalted above the hills, and all nations shall 
 How unto it : And many people shall go and say. come ye, and let 
 us go up to the mountain of the Lord, to the house of the God of 
 Jacob: and he will teach us of his ways, and we will walk in his 
 paths •.' , So that " from the rising of the sun even unto the going 
 down of the same, his name shall be great among the Gentiles; 
 
HOPE FOR THE HEATHEN. 71 
 
 and in every place incense shall be offered unto his name, and a 
 pure offering." Is there then a nation that yet " sit in darkness 
 and the shadow of death ;" for them " light is sown," and to them 
 shall "light spring up." Is there a nation "mad upon their 
 idols?" Jehovah shall "famish all the gods of the earth," and 
 teach their votaries that he is " the God of salvation," and that 
 "there is none beside him." Is there a nation enslaved to super- 
 stition, or abused by imposture? He shall "frustrate the tokens 
 of the liars, shall make the diviners mad," and convert the bondage 
 of their followers into the liberty of his dear children, " Rejoice, 
 therefore, ye Gentiles, with his people. Faithful is he that hath 
 promised, who also will do it." 
 
 But here occurs an important query. By what means are these 
 predictions to be fulfilled, and these prospects to be realized? 
 The means are prepared ; they are extremely simple ; they are in 
 your hands — even "the doctrines of the gospel of peace." And 
 this is the 
 
 III. And last topic which I proposed to discuss — In this moun- 
 tain, saith the prophet, "shall the Lord destroy *the vail that is 
 spread over all nations ?" 
 
 Mount Zion, to which Isaiah refers, is a figure, most familiar to 
 the Scripture, of the Church of Christ. The Apostle Paul, ad- 
 dressing believers under the New Testament, says, " Ye are come 
 unto Mount Zion." And the plain sense of the text is, that the 
 Lord will bless the heathen outcasts, by "causing them to pass 
 under the bond of his covenant," and to inherit the privileges of 
 his house : and this shall be effected, by diffusing among them the 
 glad tidings of salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ. " Be- 
 hold," saith the sure word of prophecy, " behold, thou shalt call a 
 nation that thou knowest not, and nations that know not thee 
 shall run unto thee, because of the Lord thy God, and for the 
 Holy One of Israel, for he hath glorified thee." 
 
 Our faith on this point will, indeed, provoke the ridicule of a 
 tribe equally vain and licentious, who claim to be the exclusive 
 benefactors of mankind. Rejecting, with opprobrium and insult, 
 the gospel of Christ, they hail, as they speak, a new order of 
 things, and the world is to be regenerated by a reason without 
 conscience, and a philosophy without religion. " No doubt ye are 
 
72 SERMON IV. 
 
 the people, and wisdom shall die with you." But after all the 
 ostentation and clamour of infidels, what reformation has been 
 wrought by their doctrines or by their spirit ? During forty cen- 
 turies, reason and philosophy had the world almost to themselves. 
 Where did they overthrow the reign of idolatry? From what 
 vice did they reclaim the nations ? One sect of philosophers rose 
 on the; ruin of another, to be itself the aggrandizement of a third. 
 But the world lay still in wickedness, its diseases rankled with 
 increasing fury, and struck deeper and deeper their poisonous 
 roots, under the successive treatment of these "physicians of no 
 value." Eighteen centuries more have nearly elapsed since " God 
 manifested in the flesh put away sin by the sacrifice of himself:" 
 and what has been done in elevating the character, in purifying 
 the morals, in ameliorating the condition of man, that has been 
 done without the aids of his gospel? What countries have the 
 priesthood of unbelief rescued from barbarism? Where have they 
 resisted the influence, or wiped off the shame of profligacy? 
 Where have they promoted either happiness or virtue in public or 
 in private ? Whom have they taught to " deny ungodliness and 
 worldly lusts, a*nd to live soberly, righteously, and godly? By 
 their fruits ye shall know them." 
 
 How different is the genius, and how different has been the 
 career, of the Gospel of Christ ! When it was promulgated to the 
 heathen, the philosopher pronounced it folly, and stalked disdain- 
 fully by the missionary of the cross : yet through the cross did the 
 missionary preach forgiveness of sins, and life everlasting; and 
 lo, the throne of darkness tottered to its fall; the Gentiles 
 " turned from idols to serve the living God." Abandoning, at 
 once, their prejudices, their delusions, and their lusts, they " fled 
 for refuge to lay hold on the hope set before them." The face of 
 the world was changed, and the worldling knew not how. No 
 deep speculations, no subtle reasoning, no displays of science, con- 
 verted the nations. The process was very short, and very simple. 
 Their guilt and their depravity — their certain destruction without 
 pardon and renovation — the grace of God in sending Christ Jesus 
 to die for sinners— his ability to save unto the uttermost ; and the 
 freedom of his salvation to the most worthless and vile, are the 
 truths which won the Gentiles to the obedience of Christ. It is 
 this same gospel which, at this hour, turns men " from darkness 
 
HOPE FOR THE HEATHEN. (o 
 
 to light," and which is destined to " carry the banners of the cross 
 victorious round the globe." Those refined moral disquisitions 
 which, under the garb of sermons, expel vital godliness from the 
 Church, will never introduce it among the heathen. Whoever hopes 
 to gain them to the faith must imitate the Apostle Paul. He 
 must " preach Christ crucified, to the Jews a stumbling-block, and 
 to the Greeks foolishness ; but to them who are called, both Jews 
 and Greeks, Christ, the power of God, and the wisdom of God." 
 Adapted to every clime of the earth, to every stage of society, and 
 to all descriptions of its members, unavailing their real misery, 
 and bringing near the only remedy, — discovering, at once, their 
 wants, and the means of supplying them ; and, seconded by the 
 energy of the quickening Spirit, this precious Gospel fastens on the 
 conscience, melts the heart, thrills the very bones and marrow, 
 and transforms the most obdurate rebel into a willing subject of 
 Jesus Christ. When the Lord " gives testimony to the word of 
 his grace," it shall have " free course, and be glorified." No 
 darkness too dismal for it to dispel — no prejudices too obstinate to 
 subdue. " Mighty, through God, to the pulling down of strong- 
 holds," this very Gospel shall force its way through every physical 
 and every moral difficulty; and in his name and strength shall its 
 messengers cast down imaginations, and every high thought that 
 lifteth itself up against the obedience of Christ. " Every valley 
 shall be exalted, and every mountain and hill shall be made low ; 
 and the crooked shall be made straight, and rough places plain. 
 And the glory of the Lord shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see 
 it together ; for the mouth of the Lord hath spoken it." 
 
 Come then, my brethren, let us ascend the hill of God; and, 
 aided by the torch of the skies, let us look through the surround- 
 ing gloom, to the glories that lie beyond. See ! an " angel flies 
 through the midst of heaven, having the everlasting gospel to 
 preach to every nation, and kindred, and tongue, and people." 
 The standard of Shiloh is reared : his banner waves on high : the 
 great trumpet is blown : the nations hear, and gather unto him. 
 From the east, from the west, from the north, from the south, they 
 press into the kingdom. On the one hand is the plundering Arab : 
 on the other, the pitiless savage. Here, are the frozen children of 
 the Pole ; there, the sable tribes of Afric ; and yonder, the long 
 disinherited Jew steals silently to his Messiah, weeping as he 
 
74 SERiTON IV. 
 
 goes. Hark! the din of arms, and the tumult of battle cease; 
 discord and war retreat back to hell; and again that hymn of 
 angels is heard below, " Glory to God in the highest, on earth 
 peace, good-will towards men." The redeemed of the Lord raise 
 their responsive song, " Now is come salvation and strength, and 
 the kingdom of our Lord, and the power of his Christ." Brethren, 
 'tis no illusion; 'tis "the sober certainty'' of truth divine. The 
 zeal of the Lord of hosts will perform this — Hallelujah ! 
 
 And now, dear brethren, shall not the first sentiment of our 
 hearts be a sentiment of gratitude for the grace of God manifested 
 unto us? 
 
 Let it never be forgotten, that we, in our ancestors, were among 
 the perishing outcasts. Yet to us hath the word of salvation been 
 sent. Without the gospel of Jesus, we should this day have been 
 burning incense unto idols : without the gospel of Jesus, we should 
 have been strangers to that blessed hope which gives to life its 
 best relish, and takes from death both his terrors and his sting. 
 Christian, Christian, remember, that if thou hast escaped the 
 wrath to come, and art made " an heir of God, and a fellow-heir 
 with Jesus Christ," it is to the praise of sovereign mercy. Thy 
 father was an Amorite, and thy mother a Hittite ; and thou 
 mightest have been left, with the Amorites and Hittites, to die in 
 thine iniquity. Yet thou livest; livest unto God; livest for 
 glory; and shalt never come into condemnation, and never taste 
 of the second death. Thrice blessed gospel, which " hath brought 
 life and immortality to light!" Thrice glorious grace, which hath 
 constrained any of us to receive "the truth in the love thereof:" 
 And thrice condescending Saviour, who hath "washed us from 
 our sins in his own blood, and hath made us kings and priests 
 unto God and his Father." 
 
 2. Since the Lord hath destroyed the vail that was spread over 
 us, by revealing to us the great salvation, let all who have hitherto 
 been indifferent about it be deeply impressed with the duty of 
 embracing it without delay; and with the sin and danger of 
 neglecting it. 
 
 " It is a faithful saying, and worthy of all acceptation, that 
 Christ Jesus came into the world to save the chief of sinners." On 
 the authority of the most high God, that gospel which we preach 
 tenders to you, my brethren, to every one of you, a free grant of 
 
HOPE FOR THE HEATHEN. 75 
 
 this Saviour, and, in him, of eternal life; and suffer me to add 
 with all solemnity, enjoins your acceptance of it at the peril of 
 your souls. This is his commandment ; this, therefore, is your 
 duty, your immediate, your indispensable duty, to believe on the 
 name of his Son, Jesus Christ, that you may be saved. A refusal 
 is the most aggravated crime which you can possibly commit. 
 For it not only approves, with deliberation, all your deeds of rebel- 
 lion against the God of your mercies, but pours contempt on the 
 riches of his grace, and throws scornfully away the only hope that 
 ever has been, or ever shall be, proposed to guilty men. The 
 experiment, therefore, is not less dangerous than sinful. For if 
 ye reject Christ Jesus, the Lord, " there remaineth no more sacri- 
 fice for sin." And when Jehovah writeth up the people, he will 
 count that ye "trampled under foot the Son of his love, and 
 deemed the blood of the covenant wherewith he was sanctified an 
 unholy thing ; and did despite unto the spirit of grace." Think 
 not that this is a matter of trifling moment. If the gospel, which 
 you hear from day to day, be not the instrument of your conver- 
 sion to God, it shall be the occasion of your more dreadful con- 
 demnation. If not " the savour of life unto life," most certainly 
 the savour of death unto death. The heathen will rise up in the 
 judgment against you, and will condemn you, for they never 
 shared your means of salvation. The devils will rise up in the 
 judgment against you, and will condemn you, for no Saviour was 
 provided for them ; and, therefore, whatever be their crimes, the 
 rejection of a Mediator's blood will be none of them. Now, then, 
 " as though God did beseech you by us, we pray you in Christ's 
 stead, be ye reconciled unto God." that ye may know, in this 
 your day, the " things that belong to your peace, before they be 
 hid from your eyes !" 
 
 3. In the assurance that Jehovah will destroy, by the prevalence 
 of his gospel, the vail spread over the nations, believers may see 
 how little they have to fear for the existence or for the triumph of 
 their religion. 
 
 Infidelity, it is true, prospers, and hath assumed a most effrontful 
 air, and a most imperious tone. Her threats are loud, and her 
 expectations sanguine. But threats as loud have, more than once, 
 been put to shame, and expectations as sanguine, more than once 
 been blasted. Seventeen centuries ago did the adversaries of the 
 
76 SERMON IV. 
 
 Church predict her speedy downfall ; but, unlike the prophets of 
 Jehovah, they proved to be the seers of a lie : she hath lived to 
 see their rage perish, the monuments moulder, their names sink 
 into oblivion : and such shall be the issue of her present conflict. 
 She can meet with no assault more furious and formidable than 
 those which she hath a thousand times met and a thousand times 
 foiled. " God is in the midst of her ; she shall not be moved ; 
 God shall help her, and that right early." Therefore, " no weapon 
 that is formed against her shall prosper; and every tongue that 
 riseth in judgment against her, she shall condemn." The tempo- 
 rary success of the infidel should, indeed, confirm our faith, because 
 it verifies the Scriptures. Our Master, Christ, hath told us, that 
 this shall be one of the signs of his approach : " when the Son of 
 man cometh, shall he find faith on the earth?" Every infidel 
 under heaven is, then, a witness for Christianity, and carries in 
 his forehead the proclamation that it is divine — Let him enjoy his 
 exultation. Under a control which he can neither elude nor resist, 
 he is really, though ignorantly, working his own destruction, and 
 the aggrandizement of Messiah. His progress shall be arrested, 
 and his boast confounded, whenever he shall have performed 
 the part allotted to him in the determinate counsel and foreknow- 
 ledge of God. In our patience, therefore, let us possess our souls. 
 What, though blasphemy display his columns in defiance to the 
 armies of the living God? What, though disorder spread from 
 pole to pole, and mingle the nations in universal uproar? What, 
 though the foundations be destroyed, their fabrics overturned, and 
 earth quiver under the falling wreck? That Jesus, whom we 
 worship, sitteth king for ever : he 
 
 "Rides in the whirlwind, and directs the storm." 
 
 With all power in heaven and earth, he will bring order out of 
 confusion, and light out of darkness. In the moment of decision 
 lie will arise and plead his own cause. When he appears, in 
 glory, to build up Zion, his enemies shall lick the very dust. The 
 infidel, to his astonishment, will find that, in planting the seeds of 
 unbelief, he was planting- laurels for the cross ; and the believer, 
 to his unspeakable joy, that all the trials of the Church, and all 
 the tumults of the world, were but preparative to the reign of 
 righteousness in the ages of peace. 
 
HOPE FOR THE HEATHEN. 77 
 
 4. The subject which has this evening occupied our attention, 
 places in a strong light both the obligation which lies on Chris- 
 tians to evangelize the heathen, and their encouragement to 
 attempt it. 
 
 If we count it life eternal to know the only true God, and Jesus 
 Christ, whom he hath sent, our bowels must yearn over those who 
 are acquainted with neither. But it would be more than unkind, 
 and worse than reproachful, were our best sympathies to evaporate 
 in empty words or empty wishes. We are called not merely to 
 condolence, but to action. A number of the families yet under the 
 vail are our neighbours. They border on our country ; they are 
 accessible to our enterprise. Prompt and spirited measures for 
 introducing among them the gospel of Christ, are our bounden duty. 
 
 Our duty — because we have the means of grace, and they have 
 not. The unsearchable riches of Christ have been poured in upon 
 us, while they are languishing in spiritual poverty. They must 
 address themselves for help to some more favoured than them- 
 selves : and to whom with a more imperious claim than to us ? 
 The very difference of our situation creates us their debtors : the 
 vicinity of our residence doubles the debt. The word and ordi- 
 nances were bestowed upon us, not only that ourselves might be 
 saved, but that we might minister to the salvation of others. Our 
 possession, therefore, of the glorious gospel, implies, in the very 
 nature of the privilege, an obligation to extend it as far as possible. 
 Freely ye have received, freely ye must give. This is the way in 
 which the gospel ever hath been and ever must be diffused. 
 Though the employment would dignify angels, God has committed 
 it to men. They who possess the treasure must impart it to 
 others, and these again to more ; till passing, in earthen vessels, 
 from people to people, and from clime to clime, it enrich the world. 
 An attempt to monopolize, or, which amounts to the same thing, 
 a refusal to circulate it, is treason against the law of the kingdom. 
 And let it not, my brethren, be our dishonour and our crime, to 
 betray both ingratitude to our Redeemer, and cruelty to our fellow- 
 men, by declining to communicate to them the mercies which, 
 through the instrumentality of others, he hath lavished upon us. 
 
 With the superiority of our privileges, the genius of our profes- 
 sion conspires to challenge our interference in behalf of the heathen. 
 As Christians, we profess that the glory of the Lord Jesus is the 
 
78 SERMON IV. 
 
 object most dear to our hearts, and most worthy of our pursuits. 
 We profess to believe that the redemption of the soul is precious, 
 and that, without the virtue of his blood, it ceaseth for ever. Is 
 this a sincere profession ? Can it at all consist with unwillingness 
 to use every means in our power for diffusing, far and near, the 
 sweet savour of his name ? Must not a guilty blush crimson our 
 faces, if we presume to pray " Thy kingdom come," when we are 
 conscious that we have done nothing, are doing nothing, endeavour 
 to do nothing, for the promotion of his kingdom ? Do we, in very 
 deed, believe that there is no salvation in any other — no other 
 name given under heaven whereby sinners can be saved, but the 
 name of Jesus Christ, and yet look coolly on, while multitudes of 
 the heathen are perishing within our reach, nor ever stretch out a 
 hand for their relief? Yes, my brethren, a generous and perse- 
 vering attempt to proclaim among them the glad tidings of a 
 Saviour, is a tribute to the decency of our Christian profession ; 
 and it is a tribute which their most afflicting necessities forbid to 
 be deferred any longer. 
 
 If you heard of a number of human beings shut out from every 
 sustenance, and falling, in rapid succession, the victims of famine, 
 and knew, at the same time, that vigorous exertion might rescue 
 the survivors, what anxiety would thrill every heart, what eager- 
 ness animate every countenance! How would the hand pour 
 forth its spontaneous benefactions ! How speedily would messen- 
 gers be despatched with the statf of life ! Alas ! my brethren, we 
 speak to you of a more terrible famine — a famine, not of bread, nor 
 of thirst for water, but of hearing of the word of the Lord. We 
 plead with you not for expiring bodies ; it is the spirit, the spirit 
 that dies ! To the heart of the Christian be our appeal. Sup- 
 pose thy Bible taken from thee ; thy Sabbaths blotted from thy 
 days ; the mercies of the sanctuary fled ; thy Fathers fellowship 
 denied ; thy hopes, full of immortality, vanished ; the shadows of 
 eternal night stretching over thy soul : and if the thought be more 
 intolerable than ten thousand deaths, think of yonder pagans 
 without God, and without hope. Ah ! while the sentence is on 
 my lips, they are passing, by hundreds, into that world unseen, 
 with no renewing spirit, and no atoning blood ! " that mine 
 head were waters, and mine eyes a fountain of tears," that I might 
 weep unceasingly over the mighty ruin ! 
 
HOPE FOR THE HEATHEN. 79 
 
 If any additional argument can be needed to render the proof of 
 our duty, on this point, completely triumphant, that argument is 
 supplied by the command of our Lord Jesus Christ. When he 
 left this world, and went unto the Father, his parting injunction to 
 his followers was,— "Go ye and teach all nations." And that the 
 precept is binding upon the whole Church to the end of time, the 
 promise of his presence and support most clearly evinces, — " Lo, I 
 am with you always, even unto the end of the world." The com- 
 mand, being express and full, leaves no room for evasion. It 
 either obligates all, or obligates none. If we may be exempted 
 without sin, the exemption must extend to every Christian society 
 under heaven ; and then the Master's commandment would be a 
 nullity, and his promise have neither grace nor meaning. In this 
 matter, therefore, my brethren, we are by no means guiltless. 
 With a single exception,* all denominations of Christians among 
 us have violated their faith to their Lord, and are now chargeable 
 with habitual disrespect to his authority. Instead of hastening, 
 with generous emulation, to the aid of the heathen, we have gone, 
 one to his farm, and another to his merchandise : we have cla- 
 moured for the shibboleths of party, and have been unanimous 
 (ah, shameful unanimity !) in declining, on carnal and frivolous 
 excuses, that work of faith, that labour of love. Now, therefore, 
 thus saith the Lord, consider your ways. If we persist in neglect- 
 ing these heathen, while we have the means of sending the gospel 
 to them, they shall die in their iniquity, but their blood may be 
 required at our hands. 
 
 Let no one object difficulties. f In a question of plain duty, a 
 
 * The honour of this exception belongs to the Moravian brethren. 
 
 f An objection to missions among the Indians, or other savages, which many 
 view as unanswerable, is, "that some considerable progress in civilisation is pre- 
 viously necessary to prepare a people for the reception of Christianity. You must 
 first make them men, say the patrons of this opinion, before you make them 
 Christians You must teach them to live in fixed habitations, to associate in 
 villages, to cultivate the soil, and then you may hope that they will hear and 
 understand when you unfold the sublime principles of the gospel."* 
 
 Plausible and popular as this objection is, it is equally unsupported by reason, 
 by scripture, or by fact. 
 
 If the gospel cannot succeed among the Indians, for example, the obstacle must 
 be either in their understandings or in their manner of life. 
 
 * Dr Hardy's (of Edinburgh) Sermon before the Society, in Scotland, for Propagating 
 Religious Knowledge, p. 14. 
 
80 SERMON IV. 
 
 believer is not to be deterred by difficulties. Thus saith the Lord, 
 is his warrant: and as long as there is nothing too hard for 
 
 The former opinion 'supposes a wider difference between the understanding of 
 the man of the woods and the man of the city, than what does, in fact, take place. 
 The human mind is not, in any country, below the reach of discipline and reli- 
 gious instruction. The American Indian, the Pacific Islander, and the African 
 negro, are shrewd men, whose intellectual capacity will not suffer in comparison 
 with the uneducated classes of people on the continent of Europe."* Why should 
 it, since it is culture, and that alone, which destroys the level of abilities naturally 
 equal ? Surely the Indian, whose necessities compel him not only to hunt and 
 fish for his subsistence, but to be, in a great measure, his own artificer, as well 
 as the guardian of his public and private right, must be superior, in point of 
 general understanding, to those vast bodies of Europeans whose intelligence the 
 division of labour has confined to a detached article of manufacture, or to the 
 merely servile operations of agriculture. Indeed, all the national transactions 
 with the Indians show them to possess great acuteness, and no small share of 
 what learning cannot bestow — common sense. How seldom will you find, I do 
 not say among the vulgar, but among the polished orders of society, better speci- 
 mens of well-formed idea, and of genuine eloquence, than are frequent in the 
 Indian talks ? 
 
 If, on the other hand, their manner of life be considered as presenting the 
 decisive obstacle, this opinion supposes it much more difficult to alter outward 
 habits than inward principles. Christians will not dispute that the gospel can 
 and does transform both the heart and the character ; yet it is thought unable to 
 overcome a propension to wandering from place to place The plain meaning of 
 the objection, therefore, is this, that some means more poicerful than the gospel, 
 must be applied to civilize the Indians, and prepare them for its reception. For 
 if it be admitted, that the gospel can civilize as well as save, the objection falls at 
 once to the ground. But if its power to civilize be denied, while its power to 
 save is admitted, it becomes the objectors to show the reason of this distinction, 
 and also what those more effectual means of civilisation are. Be they what they 
 may, since the gospel is excluded, they must be merely human ; and then the 
 principle of the objection turns out to be this, that the wisdom of man is better 
 adapted to civilize the Indians, than the wisdom of God. 
 
 Further : the objection supposes that savages are to be civilized without any 
 religious aid. For whatever arguments prove the utility, in this matter, of re- 
 ligion at all, conclude, with tenfold energy, in favour of the religion of Christ. 
 But to neglect the religious principle, would be to neglect the most potent 
 auxiliary which can be employed in managing human nature ; and to act in the 
 spirit of that wise philosophy which would erect civil society upon the basis of 
 atheism. 
 
 It would swell this note into a dissertarion, to state the various considerations 
 which militate against the idea of civilizing the Indians before we attempt to 
 Christianize them. But granting this, for a moment, to be necessary, who shall 
 
 * Dr Hardy's Sermon, p. 15. 
 
HOPE FOR THE HEATHEN. 81 
 
 Omnipotence, there is nothing to justify disobedience or demur. 
 Unbelief looks at opposition, and faints. Faith looks at the pro- 
 effect it ? Philosophers ? Merchants ? Politicians ? If we wait for them, the 
 sua will expend his own light, and the business be unfinished. The Indians have 
 had intercourse with the whites, in the concerns of trade and policy, nearly two 
 hundred years, and most of them are as wild as ever. To put off evangelical 
 missions to them, till, in the ordinary course of things, they become civilized, is, 
 therefore, equivalent to putting them off forever. 
 
 2. If the opinion that the gospel can succeed only among civilized people, 
 receives little countenance from reason, it receives less from scripture. 
 
 No such restriction of its influence is contemplated in prophecy. Its universal 
 reception is the subject of numberless predictions ; but they contain not a hint 
 that the want of civilisation shall be such a bar to its progress as is commonly 
 imagined. On the contrary, it is expressly declared, that the most roving and 
 untutored tribes shall rejoice in Messiah's salvation, even while they retain their 
 unpolished characters and manners. " Sing unto the Lord a new song : Let the 
 wilderness and the cities thereof lift up their voice, the villages* that Kedar doth 
 inhabit : Let the inhabitants of the rock sing ; let them shout from the top of the 
 mountains." Beyond all controversy, the general sense of the prophet, in the 
 words of that elegant scholar, Bishop Lowth, i3, that " the most uncultivated 
 countries, and the most rude and uncivilized people, shall confess and celebrate, 
 with thanksgiving, the blessing of the knowledge of God graciously imparted to 
 them."f And ke particularizes, as an example, those wild Arabs, who, in every 
 point of comparison, were as inaccessible to the gospel as the American Indians. 
 
 No such restriction was thought of by the Apostle Paul. He was a debtor 
 not more to the Greeks than to the barbarians. He maintains, that in the body 
 of Christ "there is neither Greek nor Jew, barbarian, Scythian, bond nor free.'' 
 A position which evidently assumes, that barbarians or Scythians might be 
 Christians no less than Jews or Greeks, bondmen or free. 
 
 No such restriction is to be found in the commission which the Lord Jesus 
 hath left his church. Thus it runs, ' ' Go and teach all nations — Go ye into all 
 the world, and preach the gospel to every creature," manifestly, every human 
 creature, for such only are objects of the gospel salvation. Not a syllable about 
 civilization. And unless it can be proved, that Indians, and other savages, are 
 neither nations nor human creatures, or, if they are, that they are in no part 
 of the world, the prejudice we are combating must be abandoned as in direct 
 opposition to the will and the commandment of Christ. 
 
 Such a restriction, moreover, effaces the chief character and glory of the 
 gospel, viz., " that it is the- power of Gcd to salvation." Were it what many 
 take it to be, a system of mere moral suasion, of cool, philosophic argument, the 
 case would be different, and the prejudice just. Indians and Hottentots are, 
 indeed, rather rough materials for a religion cantly styled " rational." But 
 whoever knows anything of real Christianity, knows that the conversion of a 
 sinner is the exclusive work of Jehovah the Spirit. It is this principle, and this 
 
 * Or tents. t, Translation ol Isaiah. Notes, p. 108, tto. 
 F 
 
82 SERMON IV. 
 
 mise of God, and conquers. In the strength of the promise, worm 
 Jacob thrashes the mountains, and beats them small as chaff. It 
 is the way of the Holy One of Israel to order his servants on diffi- 
 cult duty, without showing them immediately how they are to 
 succeed. Reserving to himself the manner and the praise of their 
 victory, he lays upon them a necessity of trusting his faithfulness ; 
 and they never did and never shall trust it in vain. 
 
 But why do I speak of difficulties ? The most formidable ones 
 which must be encountered in a mission to the heathen, have been 
 overcome, and are daily overcome, by the firmness and intrepidity 
 of carnal men. They can visit the savage tribes, can cross their 
 rivers, climb their mountains, traverse their forests ; can learn 
 their language, conform to their manners, acquire their confidence ; 
 
 alone, which makes the preaching of the word to men " dead in trespasses and 
 sins/' a reasonable service Now, to say that the gospel cannot succeed among 
 a people not previously civilized, is to say, either that it is not the power of God, 
 or that there are some things too hard for Omnipotence. 
 
 3. This opinion, dissonant from reason and scripture, is also contrary to fact. 
 
 "Was the world universally civilized when Christianity was promulgated ? or did 
 it prosper only in civilized countries ? What were the ancient Getulae, in Africa ? 
 the Sarmatians and Scythians, in Europe ? If we can credit history, they were 
 as remote from civilization as the American Indians. Yet among these, and 
 other nations equally uncultivated and savage, had the gospel, in the time of 
 Tertullian, established its reign * And in Britain it penetrated into those places 
 which Iioman arts and arms had never been able to reach.t 
 
 This general assertion might be amplified in an interesting detail, and might 
 receive additional force from the sanctions of modern history But either would 
 protract, to an immoderate length, a note already too long. We may, however, 
 ask, why the gospel should be unequal to the effects which it formerly produced, 
 and of which its friends made their just and unanswerable boast? Let us fairly 
 risk the experiment, whether the cross of Christ has lost its influence on barbarian 
 minds. Instead of waiting till civilization fit our Indian neighbours for the 
 gospel, let us try whether the gospel will not be the most successful means of 
 civilizing them. The grace of the Lord Jesus will do what philosophy and the 
 arts will never do — tame the wild heart : and there is no doubt of a corresponding 
 alteration in the conduct. One Christian institution alone, the holy Sabbath, 
 will go farther to civilize them, in a year, than all human expedients in a century. 
 Driven continually before an extending frontier ; their manners debauched by the 
 commerce of unprincipled whites ; their numbers diminishing by war and bj 
 vice ; the only alternative which seems to be offered them is, conversion or 
 extermination. 
 
 TertuU. ndversus Jtulujos, cap. vii. 
 
 t Inaccessa Rominis loca. Id. ib. A number of testimonies to the same facts are collected 
 in that learned work of Grotius, De veritate Religionis Christiana?. 
 
HOPE FOR THE HEATHEN. 83 
 
 can patiently submit to hunger and cold, fatigue and peril : — For 
 what ? To decorate earthly science, or to collect the dust of lucre 
 or the vapours of fame. They pretend to no divine command ; 
 they think of no divine support. Yet we, who talk familiarly of 
 both, turn pale at the mention of those obstacles which they con- 
 tinually surmount. Whence this resoluteness on the one side, and 
 this timidity on the othei ! The uncourtly truth is, that the men 
 of the world are in earliest, and we are not. And what must they, 
 what can they, conclude from our supineness ? Either that our 
 religion is false, or that we do not believe it. How long ere this 
 reproach be wiped away ? Duty urges, misery implores, thousands 
 of precious souls are the depending stake, and not a moment is to 
 be lost, In the work before us, in the immortal work of evan- 
 gelizing the heathen, let us rouse each latent energy, and brave 
 opposition like good soldiers of Jesus Christ. And certainly the 
 encouragement is as great as the call is pressing. As far as man, 
 with the lights of prophecy, can judge, the time is not far distant, 
 when God shall arise, and have mercy upon Zion. What mean 
 these dire convulsions ? this crash of kingdoms ? these torrents of 
 blood ? He who can here discover only the shock of human in- 
 terests, or the madness of human passions, hath not penetrated 
 beyond secondary and instrumental agencies. From the eminence 
 of scriptural prediction, a humble believer overlooks the mole-hill 
 of worldly politics, and descries the moving power, and the neces- 
 sary effect, of the machinery of Providence. To him it is evident 
 that Jehovah shakes the nations, and is shaking them, that " the 
 desire of all nations may come." And hence his faith derives an 
 establishment, and his hope an elevation, which earth is as unable 
 to destroy as to create. Impending calamity, then, should stimu- 
 late, and not dishearten, the disciples of Jesus. The walls of 
 Jerusalem are commonly built in troublous times. Nor hath the 
 career of the gospel been ever more ample and brilliant, than in 
 the days which were memorable for " distress of nations, with 
 perplexity ; the sea and the waves roaring ; men's hearts failing 
 them for fear, and looking after those things which were coming 
 upon the earth." In these circumstances of disaster and dismay, 
 the people of God are charged to look up, and lift up their heads, 
 because their redemption draweth nigh, and the Son of man is 
 coming with great power and glory. If these are, in any degree, 
 
Si SERMON IV. 
 
 the signs of the times, then now is the time for the armies of 
 Israel to gird every man his sword on his thigh, and follow David, 
 his king, to conquest and glory. 
 
 If from the sphere of politics we turn to that of religion, we 
 shall behold events which ought to convert every doubt into proof, 
 and every wish into a vow. While the spirit of discord rages in 
 the world, the spirit of union and of love descends upon the Church. 
 Beyond the waters of the Atlantic, our brethren in the faith and 
 patience of Jesus rejoice in his most benignant influences. As- 
 tonishing spectacle ! The spell of party is broken, the antipathies 
 of the cradle expire, the strife of ages ceases, and a sweeter har- 
 mony of heart and of measures, among Christians of different 
 name, is produced in an hour, than has been granted to the 
 intreaties, the labours, the prayers, of the best of men, for cen- 
 turies together! 
 
 Do you demand the cause of this gracious unanimity? It is 
 the doing of the Lord. Its object? It is the extension of the 
 Mediator's kingdom. Its fruits ? They are, already, embassies of 
 peace to the heathen. Great is the company who have gone forth, 
 with primitive zeal, to publish the word of life. The probability 
 is that Christ crucified, that Christ whom our souls love, is, at 
 this moment, preached to the barbarians of the southern seas ; and 
 that an evangelical mission is on its way to the interior of Africa? 
 Ye servants of the Most High God, who shows unto the Gentiles 
 the way of salvation, all hail! May the Breaker go up before 
 you ; even Jehovah on the head of you ; may he cheer you with 
 his presence, fill you with his spirit, clothe you with his blessing ! 
 And what more auspicious omen can we, my brethren, desire? 
 When the work is actually begun, when it has received the most 
 unequivocal tokens of divine approbation, shall we still linger, and 
 tempt the Lord by asking any further signs ? To him who is not 
 blind, the ringer of his providence points; to him who is not 
 deaf, the voice of his providence calls. Incitement of a more im- 
 perious kind would encroach on the province of miracle. 
 
 If to these encouragements we add the promise of our Master in 
 heaven, reluctance will be cut off from her last retreat. He hath 
 said, " that he will be with his people in their attempts to teach 
 the nations." If, on a design so truly Christian, we go in his 
 name, and in Ills strength, we have a right to expect his aid; nor 
 
HOPE FOE THE HEATHEN. 85 
 
 is it possible that he should abandon ns, or put us to shame, lie 
 hath bound himself, by the oath of his covenant, to beat down 
 opposition before those who, obedient to his authority, constrained 
 by his love, and confiding in his truth, enter upon arduous duty ; 
 and the glory of his crown is staked on the issue. With the Lord 
 of hos^s on our side, whom or what shall we fear? To him all 
 difficulties are alike. At his command the treasures of the 
 earthling shall flow in the service of the cross ; and hundreds shall 
 arise to solicit, as an enviable distinction, the office of a gospel- 
 herald to the savages. Clad in the armour of the sanctuary, and 
 conducted by the " Captain of salvation," they shall go forth 
 "conquering and to conquer." Ere his promise fail, the mountains 
 shall sink, the valleys rise, the rivers be driven back to their 
 sources, and ocean again divide his waters. Who, then, are on 
 the Lord's side ? Who prefer the salvation of men above their 
 chiefest joy? Who burn to hide the dishonour of the past in the 
 glory of the future, and aspire to the dignity of being fellow- 
 workers with God? Let them, with one heart and one soul, in the 
 faith of the gospel, in the good will of brethren, in the bowels of 
 Jesus Christ, forthwith pledge themselves to each other, to those 
 apostolical believers beyond the sea, to the heathen who are per- 
 ishing for lack of vision, that they will unite their efforts to fill the 
 dark places of the land with the light of God's salvation. Should 
 we succeed in the conversion of a single pagan, the acquisition 
 would infinitely repay our expenditure and our toil. For our Lord 
 himself hath pronounced the whole world, in comparison with one 
 soul, to be a thing of naught. But 0, my brethren, who shall 
 count the number, or define the extent, or limit the duration of 
 those blessings which our exertions may be instrumental in im- 
 parting to the heathen ! Who shall stop the river of life in its 
 course through their parched soil! Most transporting thought! 
 that thousands of believers whom we shall never see in the flesh, 
 and tens of thousands who shall come into being when we are 
 gathered unto our fathers, may trace their knowledge of the 
 Saviour to the execution of that plan in virtue of which I address 
 you this evening! and that its magnificent result may never be 
 fully disclosed, till the mystery of Providence be finished, the 
 election of grace brought in, and the shout of final redemption 
 thunder through the temple of God! 
 
SERMON V* 
 
 PARDON OF SINS, &c. 
 
 EPHES. i. 7. 
 
 " In whom we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sina. 
 according to the riches of his grace." 
 
 Whoever believe that they have sinned, and that God is just, 
 cannot be indifferent to their condition and their prospects. The 
 perfect development of his righteousness being reserved for a future 
 state, and every question concerning it involving an immortal 
 spirit and an eternal destiny, it would be madness not to inquire 
 what shall be our fate. Reason and conscience, pronounce, with 
 revelation, that " the wages of sin is death." And neither reason 
 nor conscience, neither the works nor the providence of God, can 
 discover the means or warrant the hope of escape. Dost thou 
 doubt? Make fairly the experiment. Retire into thine own 
 bosom, and ask, can God justify the ungodly? Thy reason 
 abashed declines to answer, while the voice of conscience pours 
 accusations into thine ears, and her fingers point to " the wrath 
 to come." Flee from thyself and thy fellow-sinners, whose reason 
 is as dark and whose conscience is as guilty as thine own. Explore 
 the works of the Creator. Thou wilt see order, beauty, magnifi- 
 cence, but not a trace of pardon. Go down now to the abode of 
 those rebel-spirits " who kept not their first estate." Ah ! here are 
 only " chains of darkness and vials of wrath." Hasten hence, and 
 consult the angels who surround the throne. Ask them if thou 
 mayst hope for more lenity than the apostates of their own family? 
 Ask them if the Holy One can save thee without prejudice to his 
 glory ? The heavenly hosts cannot solve the problem. Silence 
 seals up their lips of love ; and thou, thy soul unsatisfied, thy 
 
 * Preached in Philadelphia on the Evening of Sabbath, the 31st of May 1801. 
 
PARDON OF STNS, &c. 87 
 
 doubts redoubled, must return and pass the time of thy sojourning, 
 alternately shivering with the ague and burning with the fever 
 of despair. 
 
 On this darkness, which the lights of the creature serve only to 
 deepen, God hath caused the light of the gospel to descend. It 
 hath driven away those forms of horror which stalk around us in 
 reason's and in nature's gloom, and revealed his angel of peace, 
 the Word made flesh. He calls us this day into his sanctuary, not 
 to face his terrors, and to perish at his rebuke, but to embrace his 
 overtures of mercy, and to rejoice in his salvation. 
 
 This, then, is the message which we have heard of him, and 
 declare unto you, that to secure an honourable exercise of mercy, 
 God "spared not his own Son, but delivered him up to the death, 
 that he might purge away our transgressions." And we are com- 
 manded to announce to you these glad tidings of great joy, that 
 " in him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of 
 sins according to the riches of his grace." Astonishing words ! 
 More astonishing truths ! Forgiveness of sins ; forgiveness through 
 the redemption of the Saviour's blood; forgiveness according to 
 the riches of his grace. These are the sublime subjects of the 
 text ; and you see, in their order, the plan of discourse. 
 
 Spirit of grace and truth ! impart thine influence, that we may 
 speak of them and hear, as belongeth to those who speak and who 
 hear the oracles of God ! 
 
 I. I am to explain that "forgiveness of sins" which is declared 
 in the text. 
 
 To form a correct judgment on this point, we must ponder the 
 condition into which sin has brought us. In his moral gov- 
 ernment God has inseparably connected sin with punishment. 
 Exclusion from his favour, his communion, his presence: his 
 abhorrence in this world, and the damnation of hell in the next, 
 are its native consequences and its just reward. It is this obliga- 
 tion to punishment which we term guilt. The divine law ties 
 down the person of the sinner to the penalty of his sin. Forgive- 
 ness looses the wrathful bond. It dissolves the connection, not 
 between sin and suffering, which is as immutable as the holiness 
 and truth of God, but between sin and the destruction of the sinner. 
 His crimes are consigned to oblivion ; and the Lord, instead of 
 
88 SERMON V. 
 
 entering into judgment with him, acquits him from every charge, 
 pronounces him innocent, and crowns him with blessing. Forgive- 
 ness, then, produces a double effect. 
 
 1. It removes the curse which, till that moment, abides on the 
 sinner's person. 
 
 Justice had issued her sentence ; the law had arrested him, and 
 bound him for execution. Forgiveness steps in, takes the death- 
 warrant out of the hand of the law, breaks the seal and cancels the 
 authority of that fatal instrument, strikes off the fetters of the 
 condemned wretch, and bids him to go forth. 
 
 2. Forgiveness confers the favour and fellowship of God, and 
 the inheritance of his heavenly kingdom. 
 
 Pardon is the great preliminary to advancement. The Lord 
 forgives, that he may bless. A pardoned rebel passes into the 
 family of God's dear children. Accepted in the Beloved, the Spirit 
 of adoption descends upon his heart, and his countenance brightens 
 with the smile of reconciliation. Compassed about with favour as 
 with a shield, he walks in safety and in peace. No weapon that 
 is formed against him shall prosper. The eternal God is his 
 refuge, and underneath are the everlasting arms. Though his 
 transgression may be visited with the rod, and his iniquity with 
 stripes, yet "my loving kindness," saith God, a will I not take 
 from him ; nor suffer my faithfulness to fail." And while the 
 Lord is thus his shelter and his shade, his glory and the lifter up 
 of his head, manifesting covenant-mercy in giving that which is 
 good, he is admitted to the divifte fellowship. An open door into 
 the holiest is set before him, through which he is commanded and 
 qualified to draw nigh and commune with the living God. With- 
 out reluctance, without misgivings, with all holy boldness, it is 
 his duty to " go unto God his exceeding joy." The privilege is 
 most congenial with the principles of the new man. A pacified 
 conscience and a cleansed heart find their element in the presence 
 and enjoyment of God. " God, thou art my God ; early will I 
 seek thee : my soul thirsteth for thee, my flesh longeth for thee in 
 a dry and thirsty land, where no water is ; to see thy power and 
 thy glory, so as I have seen thee in the sanctuary. Because thy 
 loving kindness is better than life, my lips shall praise thee. 
 Thus will I bless thee while I live : I will lift up my hands in thy 
 
PARDON OF SINS, &c. 39 
 
 This state of friendship with God is the pledge of his eternal 
 kingdom. " We are no more strangers and foreigners, but fellow- 
 eitizens with the saints, and of the household of God." Whom 
 he translates into his family, he appoints to his rest : pardons and 
 adopts them, that they may be forever in the highest heavens, " to 
 the praise of the glory of his grace." Between sonship and the 
 kingdom, his covenant has fixed an indissoluble connection. " If 
 children, then heirs, heirs of God, and fellow-heirs with Christ in 
 glory." 
 
 These are indeed glad tidings. Every syllable is accented with 
 transport. "But oh!" cries the desponding spirit, "mock me not 
 with a fallacious hope. I sink under my guilt : I perish, behold, 
 I perish." 
 
 Nay, I preach not to you an idle tale. This gospel of forgive- 
 ness is faithful and worthy of all acceptation. It is the joint 
 message of mercy and judgment through the lips of truth. The 
 principle on which forgiveness is tendered hushes every tumult, 
 and relieves every doubt. That dread enigma, " how God can be 
 just and justify the ungodly," is unfolded in the text. All for- 
 giveness of sin flows through the blood of Jesus Christ. This 
 is the 
 
 II. Part of the discourse. " We have redemption through his 
 blood." 
 
 Here occurs a double inquiry. The one involving the doctrine 
 of redemption; the other, the nature of our interest in it. 
 
 1. The doctrine of redemption, as taught by the apostle, may 
 be reduced to the following propositions : 
 
 First. That sin cannot go unpunished : and, therefore, that a 
 forgiveness which implies its impunity is impossible. 
 
 Second. That it is altogether consistent with the divine righte- 
 ousness to inflict the punishment of sin upon a competent surety, 
 and to pardon sinners in virtue of his atonement. 
 
 Third. That no obedience or suffering of any mere creature can 
 atone for sin. 
 
 Fourth. That the redemption of the blood of Jesus, as it is the 
 only, so it is the all-sufficient reason of the pardon of sin. May 
 the Spirit of Jesus help us to understand and improve these 
 truths! 
 
90 SERMON V. 
 
 First Sin cannot go unpunished : and, therefore, a forgiveness 
 which implies its impunity is impossible. 
 
 The impunity of sin is incompatible with the nature, the 
 government, and the covenant of God. 
 
 His nature forbids it. An eternal contradiction to his perfec- 
 tion, it shall not dwell in his presence, but must be marked as that 
 abominable thing which he hateth. And if his very being is set 
 against it, this, in itself, is the most terrible punishment. All 
 other plagues are lost in the abyss of that curse, God is thine 
 enemy. Yes, brethren, his holiness is " a consuming fire, which 
 burns up his enemies round about ;" and, therefore, it forbids the 
 impunity of sin. 
 
 His government also forbids it. A great God, and a great king, 
 whose glory is the end, and whose will is the law of creation ; he 
 must be obeyed, and on him must be the visible dependence of the 
 universe. Sin is the attempt of a creature to throw off his inde- 
 pendence. And could he sin with impunity, his independence 
 would be effected. But an independent creature is an atheistical 
 absurdity. The punishment of sin, therefore, results necessarily 
 from the divine supremacy. 
 
 It equally results from the divine rectitude. God " sitteth on a 
 throne judging right." But a righteous governor who does not 
 punish crime is a contradiction. It is in giving every one his due, 
 or, in other words, in apportionate condition to character, that 
 righteousness consists. And the perfection of this apportionment 
 is the perfection of righteousness. If, then, God should permit 
 any sin to escape, his righteousness would be imperfect ; if every 
 sin, he would have none at all ; nor could the idea of righteousness 
 exist in the universe. Sin, therefore, is punished, because its 
 punishment is intrinsically just, and cannot be remitted by a just 
 God. Otherwise it would never be inflicted, or be resolved into a 
 question of mere expediency; and this would annihilate the dis- 
 tinction between right and wrong, and with it every moral attri- 
 bute of Deity. 
 
 Moreover, the protection which the justice of God owes to his 
 innocent creatures, as well as to the honour of his own holiness, 
 requires the coercion of transgressors. That a principle of ingra- 
 titude, rebellion, and enmity against him— a principle which defies 
 his wrath, and threatens his throne ; which hurls desolation and 
 
PARDON OF SINS, &c. 91 
 
 wretchedness through his world — should go uncontrolled or un- 
 chastised, is a thought infinitely shocking. Scripture coincides 
 with these views and this reasoning. The " wrath of God revealed 
 from heaven against the unrighteousness of men," it calls his 
 "judgments." — "As a judge with whom there is no iniquity," he 
 will determine their final state, by recompensing to some eternal 
 rest, and to others eternal tribulation. If he " rain upon sinners 
 snares, fire and brimstone, and a horrible tempest," it is because 
 he is " the righteous Lord who loveth righteousness." 
 
 To the consideration of God's general government we must add 
 that of his covenant with man. 
 
 The law of morals prescribed to our race is armed with penalty, 
 not only in the nature of things, but by the express declaration of 
 the lawgiver. Coupled, moreover, with a federal transaction, 
 which embraces, on the one hand, the threatening of death, and, 
 on the other, the sweet promise of life, it binds to the fulfilment 
 of their respective stipulations the fidelity both of God and man. 
 But the law is violated : the covenant is broken : the forfeiture is 
 incurred ; and fallen man is under a dispensation of wrath flowing 
 from the breach of the covenant of works. His sin is, therefore, 
 under a double obligation to punishment : the one arising from the 
 holiness and rectoral justice of God ; the other from that covenant- 
 threatening to which he consented, and which the divine veracity- 
 is pledged to execute. Accordingly, the law of God knows no- 
 thing of forgiveness. Encircled with terrible glory, she takes her 
 position on Ebal, and with her trumpet, which is " as the voice of 
 the Almighty God when he speaketh," issues her proclamation, 
 " The wages of sin is death ! "— " Cursed is every one that contin- 
 ueth not in all things which are written in the book of the law to 
 do them ! " 
 
 It appears, then, that the perdition of a sinner is inevitable, 
 unless some expedient can be devised which may conciliate his 
 pardon with the holiness, the government, and the truth of God. 
 Blessed be his name ! such an expedient is possible. For, 
 
 My second proposition is, That it is altogether consistent with the 
 divine righteousness to inflict the punishment of sin upon a com- 
 petent surety, and to pardon sinners in virtue of his atonement. 
 
 By atonement, taken in a large sense, is understood such an 
 obedience as shall fulfil the precept, and such suffering as shall 
 
92 SERMON Y. 
 
 exhaust the penalty, of the divine law; and thus, by satisfying the 
 claims of justice, remove every obstruction to the exercise of 
 mercy. 
 
 Atonement proceeds on the principle of substitution. The guilt 
 of men being transferred to an able, a voluntary, and an accepted 
 surety, their responsibility attaches to him, and they are released. 
 So that, by an intervention of an atonement, the righteousness of 
 God may be displayed in the punishment, and his grace in the 
 pardon of sin. Nor is the propriety of such a dispensation liable 
 to just exception. On the contrary, it is susceptible of the clearest 
 proof. For them who, without murmuring or disputing, receive 
 the testimony of God, it is sufficient that his word declares the 
 fact. The Lord Jesus, " his own self, bare our sins in his own 
 body on the tree." Jehovah " hath laid upon him the iniquity of 
 ns all ; yea, hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin ; 
 that we might be made the righteousness of God in him." 
 
 But in forming our judgment on this point, the nature of justice 
 and the works and providence of God come to our aid. 
 
 1st. Justice requires that the law be maintained, and, therefore, 
 that violations of it be punished. And, provided this end be 
 gained, that is, provided " every transgression and disobedience 
 receive a just recompense of reward," justice has no farther demand. 
 The reason why, in all ordinary cases, her stroke lights on the per- 
 son of the offender, is, that, in all such cases, she has no other way 
 of punishing his offence. It is plain that her quarrel is with sin, 
 and with the sinner solely on account of his sin ; but now, on the 
 supposition that his guilt can be separated from his person, so as 
 not to elude the sentence of the law, it is equally plain that her 
 quarrel with him ceases. For the sin which was the cause of it, 
 and to punish which she had arrested him, is, notwithstanding his 
 liberation, in her hands, to be punished to the uttermost. This 
 is the effect of suretiship. The same homage is yielded, the same 
 rights asserted, the same testimony against sin exhibited, the 
 same vengeance executed, in the obedience and suffering of a surety 
 as in the obedience and suffering of the principal. Expiation of 
 sin by a surety is, therefore, most agreeable to the nature of 
 justice. 
 
 2d. The part of the divine works with which we are most con- 
 versant, our own nature, gives strong confirmation to this doctrine. 
 
PARDON OF SI1SS, &c. 93 
 
 The principle of substitution, of the discharge of obligation by a 
 surety, is interwoven with the texture of the human mind and 
 with all the operations of human society. Even those who are 
 most hostile to it, when it appears in the form of imputed sin and 
 imputed righteousness, are constantly and necessarily governed by 
 it. The wisdom and integrity of their agent redound to their 
 advantage, and they must reap the fruits of his folly and his faults. 
 In short, it is the life-spring. of intercourse among men; nor could 
 the affairs of the world be carried on one moment without it. 
 Trace up, then, to its source, and pursue through its results, the 
 principle of the substitution of Christ Jesus in the room of his 
 people ; and when you find, as upon sober inquiry you will, that 
 it coincides with an essential character of man's moral constitution, 
 you will no longer contemn it as unreasonable, or revile it as 
 unjust. 
 
 3d. Upon this dispensation, which is founded in the nature of 
 justice, and has a counterpart in our own frame, the providence of 
 God furnishes an ample comment. 
 
 He has always dealt with men through the medium of represen- 
 tation. The fall of our first parent, who, as our surety, transgressed 
 the covenant of his God, " brought death into the world, and all 
 our woe." " In Adam all die :" for " in him all have sinned." In 
 his covenant with Israel, God urged the blessing or the curse 
 which he should bring on their posterity, as motives to deter them 
 from sin, and secure their obedience. He has revealed himself as 
 " a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the chil- 
 dren, unto the third and fourth generation of them that hate him, 
 and showing mercy unto thousands of them that love him, and 
 keep his commandments." In holy baptism parents are the sureties 
 of their infant children. The baptismal vow, (let the truth, 
 young people, sink down into your hearts !) the baptismal vow is 
 binding upon them, and if they despise it in riper years, especially 
 if they die unbelievers in that Saviour to whom they were dedicated, 
 God will plead with their souls for the profanation of that blood of 
 the covenant of which the symbol has been sprinkled upon them. 
 In the present crisis of human things the vials of his wrath are 
 poured out upon the posterity of those who betrayed his truth, and 
 slew his servants. He gives them blood to drink for the blood of 
 his saiuts which was shed by their ancestors. Nay, while the 
 
94 SERMON V. 
 
 sentence is on my lips, thousands of Adam's children, incapable of 
 action, are writhing in agony and sinking in death, the victims of 
 his curse, though not, by any personal agency, the partakers of his 
 crime. The world, then, is full of the imputation of sin. And 
 why shall it not as well be imputed to a representative for expia- 
 tion, as from a representative for punishment ? 
 
 From this strong ground we are not to be driven by the plea, 
 that righteousness and sin, being moral and personal qualities and 
 acts, cannot be transferred to a surety. We know it. Neither 
 do the Scriptures teach, nor we maintain, any such transfer. In- 
 stead of establishing, it would destroy our doctrine.* We admit 
 that personal acts cannot be transferred, but affirm that they are 
 imputed. Imputation lies in transferring to a surety, not the 
 qualities and acts themselves, but their legal connection. It is a 
 transfer of obligation and of right. The moral principle of this 
 transfer, or, in other words, of the imputation of sin to a surety, 
 enters into every case of representation, whatever be its objects or 
 modifications. And the question, How can sin be expiated by a 
 surety ? which stumbles all " the disputers of this world," has the 
 same embarrassments, and the same solution as the question, How 
 can the deed of my representative be sustained in law and equity 
 as my own? It is for these disputers to show why I may not as 
 well suffer as act by representation ? Our astonishment in every 
 other instance but that of the kinsman-Redeemer w r ould be, not 
 that the principle of imputation should be admitted but that it 
 should be doubted. As it continually recurs, we lose its diffi- 
 
 * For if my personal sin could be taken from rue, and made the personal sin of an- 
 other, he must then suffer for himself, and not for me, as I would be personally in- 
 nocent. He would not be under the imputation of my sin, because I would have 
 none to impute ; and I could not enjoy the benefit of his righteousness, because, 
 on the one hand, I would require none ; and, on the other, he, as suffering for 
 himself, would have none to offer. So that here would be no representation, 
 neither the substance nor the shadow of a vicarious atonement. Therefore, while 
 my personal demerit must for ever remain my own, the consequences of it are 
 borne by my glorious Surety. It is this which renders the imputation of sin to 
 the Lord Jesus a doctrine so acceptable to the conscience, and so consoling to the 
 heart, of a convinced sinner. And this simple distinction between a transfer of 
 personal acts to a substitute, and the transfer of their legal connection, which is 
 properly imputation, relieves the friends of truth from the embarrassment in which 
 an incautious manner of speaking has sometimes involved them ; and blows into 
 air the quibbles and cavils of its enemies. 
 
PARDON OF SINS, &c. 95 
 
 culty in its utility, and forget that it is mysterious, because it is 
 familiar. 
 
 A vicarious atonement being thus consistent with the divine 
 righteousness, the chief obstacle to our hope is surmounted, and 
 the apparent contradiction between the pardon and the punish- 
 ment of sin vanishes. But our joy is premature. We have dis- 
 covered that pardon, through an atonement is possible; but an 
 essential point remains to be settled. By whom shall the atone- 
 ment be made ? Here is a new and sad perplexity. In vain we 
 cast our imploring look upon the creatures : not one of them has 
 the love or the power. And this introduces my 
 
 Third proposition : which is, that no obedience or suffering of 
 any mere creature can atone for sin. 
 
 Conscience, wounded by guilt, groping in the glimmerings of 
 tradition, besotted with ignorance, and abused by imposture, has 
 tried various expedients to propitiate deity. Ablutions, pilgrim- 
 ages, penances, and a thousand other superstitions, abound in 
 pagan and antiehristian nations. Wealth is lavished in offerings 
 of peace, and the body is tortured for the relief of the soul. Lying 
 vanities all. " Will the Lord be pleased with thousands of rams, 
 and ten thousand rivers of oil? Shall I give my first-born for my 
 transgression ; the fruit of my body for the sin of my soul?" Ah 
 no ! The evil lies infinitely deeper than to be reached by such 
 remedies. That sacrifice which will be to God of a sweet smelling 
 savour, cannot be offered by men, nor by angels, nor by man and 
 angel united. Not by men — for the end of an atonement is to 
 deliver them from that very curse which must be borne in making 
 it. Not by angels — for this would be inconsistent with the truth 
 of God, which denounced the curse upon the human nature. Not 
 by an angel-man — because no combination of created natures can 
 sustain the wrath, or magnify the law, or vindicate the government 
 of God. An overwhelming difficulty, therefore, remains. Where 
 is the sufferer to be found ? Who shall yield an obedience to merit 
 heaven for millions, or offer up for their souls the redeeming sacri- 
 fice ? The mere possibility of relief without a friend to apply it, 
 only doubles our distractions. The light which was dawning upon 
 our darkness recedes, and leaves us to deeper horrors. But hark ! 
 it is the voice of the Deliverer ! " Lo, I come." Who art thou, 
 most gracious? "I, that speak in righteousness, mighty to 
 
96 SERMON V. 
 
 save!" It is the only begotten Son of God, who comes, clothed 
 with humanity, for the salvation of perishing sinners. Whence my 
 
 Fourth proposition is, That the blood of Jesus Christ, as it is the 
 only, so it is the all-sufficient, reason of the pardon of sin. 
 
 1st. It is, in itself, of infinite value. Whatever a sacrifice could 
 derive from the person of the sufferer : whatever detestation of sin, 
 or determination to punish it : whatever terror of perdition which 
 it involves : whatever impossibility of its expiation by a creature : 
 whatever consistency of its pardon by a surety, could be testified 
 by the spectacle of a humbled God ; all that is to be found in the 
 sacrifice of Jesus ; for it is the blood of the only begotten Son. 
 Being really man, when he endured the cross, the curse was exe- 
 cuted upon the very nature on which it was denounced. But being 
 unspeakably more than man, even the Father's equal, Jehovah in 
 the flesh, he was able to bear, at once, the whole weight of wrath, 
 and impart to his obedience and suffering a merit and efficacy pro- 
 portioned to the glory of the Godhead. The submission of the 
 Lord Jesus to fulfil the righteousness and bear the iniquities of his 
 people, reflected infinite lustre upon the divine government. It did 
 what never could have been done by the eternal obedience of 
 all sinless, and the eternal destruction of all sinful, creatures — 
 " magnify the law, and make it honourable.'' Now, the evil of sin 
 is demonstrated ; the threatening of God executed ; his truth pre- 
 served ; his justice vindicated ; his government maintained : and 
 what should hinder the release of the wretches for whom these 
 wonders have been wrought? What crime cannot the blood of 
 Jesus atone ? What stain can it not efface ? How is it not im- 
 possible that it should not " cleanse from all sin ?" Who shall set 
 the transgressions of man in array against the righteousness of 
 God ? Here the conscience may be at peace ; for here the divine 
 law is satisfied, and the fires of the curse extinguished. We surely 
 need ask no more. For, 
 
 2. Nothing more is required by the holy God. 
 
 " The Lord is well pleased for his righteousness' sake; and hath 
 set him forth to be a propitiation through faith in his blood, that 
 he might be just, and the justifier of him that believeth in Jesus." 
 AVith sinners who are willing thus to accept forgiveness, and to 
 choose life rather than death, he pursues his quarrel no longer, but 
 is " in Christ, reconciling the world unto himself, not imputing 
 
PARDON OF SINS, Ac. 97 
 
 their trespasses unto them, but forgiving iniquity, and transgression 
 and sin." 
 
 3d. What the atonement of Jesus is, in itself, and what his 
 Father has expressly declared it to be, millions of sinners have 
 found it to their eternal joy. All " the spirits of just men made 
 perfect," and all believers at this hour upon earth, have "washed 
 their robes, and made them white in the blood of the Lamb." 
 Search the records of the saved, and you will see the names of the 
 most atrocious offenders who were pardoned, and sanctified, and 
 are now with God. Ask them how they escaped the wrath to 
 come, and entered the everlasting rest? With one voice they will 
 exclaim, " He loved us, and washed us from our sins in his own 
 blood!" Ask all the family of grace who shall speedily join the 
 celestial throng how they obtained deliverance from the curse, and 
 access to that terrible God? With equal unanimity they will 
 reply, "We are accepted in the Beloved." There is, therefore, 
 " redemption through his blood." 
 
 Let us, then, proceed to our 
 
 2. Inquiry, which relates to the interest in this redemption which 
 is implied in the text — We have redemption, says the apostle. 
 
 Those who enjoy the dispensation of the gospel have, as sinners, 
 a common interest in the redemption of Jesus : that is, the Father 
 has made a grant of him in the gospel to sinners, as such, for their 
 salvation. I say, to sinners, as such ; for the grant of the Saviour 
 is absolutely free. Unshackled with conditions, it is presented to 
 them not as penitent, sensible, contrite, but as guilty, rebellious, 
 vile. This grant invests them with a right to the Lord Jesus, 
 whom they are to receive upon the authority of the divine warrant, 
 with the assured faith that, in thus receiving him, they shall be 
 saved. Do any of you, then, demand where you are to seek for- 
 giveness? The answer is short. You have it in the redemption 
 of the blood of Christ. There it is offered to you. There you must 
 apply. You shall not be sent away empty; for he hath said, 
 " Him that cometh unto me I will in no wise cast out." 
 
 Believers, who have fled for refuge to this hope set before them, 
 are in actual possession of redemption. 'Faith in the blood of 
 Jesus, that faith which is the grace of the Holy Spirit, has made 
 it their own. That w T hich is common to all in the indefinite grant 
 of the gospel, has become, by particular appropriation, their per- 
 
98 SERMON V. 
 
 sonal inheritance. Theirs it is with its whole train of blessings : 
 theirs arc the ordinances : theirs the promises : theirs the gracious 
 covenant: life is theirs: death is theirs: eternity is theirs: the 
 Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost are theirs— they " shall never 
 come into condemnation:" "neither death, nor life, nor angels, 
 nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to 
 come, nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to 
 separate them from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus their 
 Lord. 
 
 While our souls rejoice in this plenteous redemption, and the 
 forgiveness which it secures, let us lift up our eyes to the source 
 from whence both proceed. This is the 
 
 III. And last part of my discourse. We have redemption and 
 forgiveness according to the riches of Jehovah's grace. 
 
 Such is the plan of salvation, that while sinners are delivered 
 from going down to the pit, "the Lord alone shall be exalted." 
 In the pardon of sin, the voice of human pretension must not be 
 heard. Grace, mere grace, the riches of grace, is the burden of 
 our song. The text suggests infinite arguments of this truth. 
 
 1. Sin is such an evil, that nothing but the grace of God could 
 have projected its pardon. Sin ! ah ! my brethren, who can develop 
 the meaning of the horror-smiting term? Canst thou dive into 
 its depths, and display its hidden hells? One sin changed legions 
 of holy spirits into devils. One sin brought perdition on our 
 wretched race. Make thy suit to the benevolence of angels ; lay 
 before them, in its true colours, the least of thy provocations, and 
 thy best hope will be as the giving up of the ghost. Not one of 
 them would dream of mercy for thee. It belongs not to creatures 
 to show such forgiveness. Herein he is glorious, herein he is seen 
 to be God, that when he alone has a full view of the sinfulness of 
 Bin, he alone can think of its pardon. 
 
 2. As nothing less than divine grace could forgive sin, so the 
 purpose of it originated in no exterior cause. Many, whose affec- 
 tions are touched with the love of Christ, entertain forbidding 
 thoughts of the austerity of the Father. This is a great error. 
 Christ purchased not the Father's love, On the contrary, it was 
 the Father's love which appointed and sent the Son to be the 
 Saviour of the world. Grace is its own reason. He loved us, 
 
PARDON OF SINS, &c. 99 
 
 because he loved us. Here is the original fountain, here the over- 
 flowing ocean, from which forgiveness issues. Had it depended 
 upon anything external, no Redeemer had been known, no hope 
 revealed, no sinner saved. 
 
 3. The most ineffable effect of the Father's grace, its riches, its 
 infinite expression, is the forgiveness of sin at the expense of the 
 blood of Jesus. Had he given the universe beside, it would have 
 been little, it would have been nothing, in comparison of his Son. 
 With all holy reverence be it spoken, grace can go no farther. 
 Sinners, here is the very heart of God ! Here he has uncovered 
 the profound of his compassions. God so "loved the world that 
 he gave his only -begotten Son" — for whom? for rebels; for those 
 who were enemies to him by wicked works. For what? "That 
 whosoever believeth in him might not perish, but might have 
 everlasting life." 
 
 4. In the application of forgiveness through the redemption that 
 is in Christ Jesus, grace is exceedingly abundant. 
 
 Not only is it beyond our desert and expectation, but far above 
 all that we are able so much as to think. The, forgiveness which 
 the gospel reveals, is the forgiveness of God. We can form no 
 conception of the generosity, the extent, the riches of forgiveness, 
 unless we consider the wonderful redemption through which it 
 flows. Grace went every length in giving the Lord Jesus for an 
 atoning sacrifice ; and it goes every length in pardoning them that 
 believe in his name. 
 
 The doctrine which I have now laid before you, brethren, is not 
 a lofty speculation which you may admire without adopting: it is 
 truth of everlasting moment ; truth essential to your happiness ; 
 and for which you shall soon, very soon, give an account at the 
 bar of God. I address you as sinners who need forgiveness ; who 
 perish without it ; and shall never obtain it but through the re- 
 demption that is in Christ Jesus. In his great name, therefore, 
 allow me to demand what reception you will give to the gospel of 
 his cross. " Exalted to be a Prince and a Saviour, to give repent- 
 ance unto Israel, and forgiveness of sins, he waiteth to be gracious;" 
 and tenders to the chief of sinners, without money and without 
 price, all the benefits of his covenant. " Behold," they are his 
 own blessed words, "Behold, I stand at the door, and knock: If 
 any man hear my voice, and open the door, I will come in to him, 
 
100 SERMON V. 
 
 and sup with him, and he with me." Let no sinner, then, exclude 
 himself from mercy which is offered in the gospel, as directly to 
 him, as if there were not another sinner under heaven : and offered 
 with such marvellous grace, that nothing but his acceptance is 
 wanting to place him forever beyond the reach of the curse. The 
 corrupt heart will invent a thousand pretexts to palliate its neglect 
 of the great salvation, and has even the effrontery to charge its sin 
 upon the holy God. But be it known unto you, that if, after all 
 your means and opportunities of grace, you die in your iniquity, 
 you will be found, at last, to have been your own destroyers; and 
 the real, the guilty cause of your rejecting Christ Jesus, to have 
 been your own voluntary, cherished unbelief. " Ye will not come 
 to him that ye might have life ;" for the mouth of the Lord hath 
 spoken it ! 
 
 Some who have been religiously educated, and who add to a 
 general profession of Christianity all the exterior decencies of life ; 
 who are sober, just, humane; active in their temporal vocations • 
 at peace with themselves, and respected by others ; may consider 
 as inapplicable to them, remonstrances which imply an impious 
 character and a dangerous state. Supposing their religion to be 
 sufficiently correct, they give to the wind all their anxieties about 
 their present pardon or their future condition : while, at the same 
 time, they are strangers to the power of godliness, nor ever under- 
 stood the meaning, by enjoying the mercy, of " passing from death 
 unto life." Be not deceived. The salvation of God is not so 
 slight a matter, nor so slightly to be possessed. The Christian 
 name, the charitable opinion of men, the outward privileges of 
 God's people, embellished with the whole train of social morals, 
 fall far short of that " holiness, without which no man shall see 
 the Lord." All this will not prove forgiveness of sin, nor the 
 sanctification of the Holy Ghost. To a hope which shall not 
 become the mock of death, more, my brethren, much more is 
 necessary. You must be divinely convinced of your natural 
 enmity against God. This enmity must be slain, and you recon- 
 ciled to him by the death of his Son. You must receive, as con- 
 demned rebels, a pardon written in his atoning blood. You must 
 be renewed by his Spirit, and conformed to his image ; be united 
 with him by that faith which purifies the heart and works by love ; 
 he communicants in his death and the power of his resurrection ; 
 
PARDON OF SINS, &r. 101 
 
 and become, in virtue of this union and communion, fruitful 
 branches of the true vine, or — " ye have no life in you" 
 
 In some who congratulate themselves on their escape from the 
 bondage of superstition, and who remit religious care to minds 
 incapable of liberal research, this doctrine of forgiveness may per- 
 haps excite only a smile of scorn. Yet with all their contempt 
 for what they call vulgar prejudice, and all their superiority to 
 religious belief, they must allow me one moment to expostulate. 
 We rejoice in the salvation of Christ Jesus: it is our greatest 
 happiness that " we have redemption through his blood, the for- 
 giveness of sins according to the riches of his grace." You affect 
 to pity and despise us, while you reject our Redeemer's cross, and 
 " put him to an open shame." To justify this violence, your own 
 hope ought to be better founded and more animating than ours. 
 Is this the fact? Are you sure that you have committed no offence 
 which, without forgiveness, must ruin you for ever? Are you sure 
 that there is forgiveness with God in any other manner than 
 through the redemption of the Saviour's blood ? or that the gospel 
 which reveals it may not prove true at last? Are you sure that 
 your own sins are pardoned ? or that you run no hazard of any 
 judgment to come? Can you produce a single instance of par- 
 doned sin except through the obedience and sacrifice of the Lord 
 Jesus Christ ? On what, then, do you presume ? I shut up this 
 volume of inspiration, and challenge your hope. What is its 
 nature? and where is its warrant? Is it in these heavens? Is 
 it in that deep ? Is it inscribed on any page of creation's book, or 
 engraven on the tablets of conscience? Unbeliever! give glory to 
 God, and homage to his truth. Thou knowest that on all these 
 points, on all that awaits thee beyond the grave, thou art tossed 
 from conjecture to conjecture, and thy most flattering expectation 
 is, at best, but dread uncertainty. Upon such slender ground, in 
 the love and indulgence of a thousand lusts, thou art about to take 
 the adventurous leap into a world of everlasting retribution ! And, 
 with all this, thou art a man of reason, a philosopher, who never 
 believes but on evidence, nor acts but from conviction, and looks 
 down with disdain upon the Christian faith! God have mercy 
 on thee, poor fanatic ! Yet thou canst not altogether stifle thy 
 secret misgivings. There are times when, like Felix, thou 
 tremblest! Guilt, with all thy boastings, makes thee a coward. 
 
102 SERMON V. 
 
 Nor wilt thou ever find relief but in the precious blood of Jesus 
 Christ. Be persuaded to try this happiest of all experiments. He 
 is rich in mercy, and ready to forgive even thee. A refusal will 
 cost thee thy soul; and thou wilt perish under that most fearful 
 condemnation which will follow the rejection of eternal life, when 
 it was near, even at the door. 
 
 Here, then, we part, and I turn to a voice of anguish which 
 pierces my ear. Who is this that standeth afar off, with his eyes 
 downcast to earth, smiting his breast, and crying, in broken accents, 
 " God be merciful to me a sinner !" What aileth thee ? Have the 
 terrors of the Almighty seized upon thy spirit ? Are thy sins set 
 in order before thee? And while thou art compelled to sue for 
 pardon, art thou filled with apprehensions lest thy suit be refused ? 
 Come to a forgiving God in the name of Jesus, and dismiss thy 
 fears. Let no enormity of transgression be an obstacle to an im- 
 mediate acceptance of " his unspeakable gift." Sinners entertain 
 most injurious thoughts of forgiving mercy. They measure it by 
 their own contractedness. Be persuaded, brethren, that Jehovah 
 is as far above you in grace as he is in majesty. You profess to 
 believe that there is merit enough in Jesus to save you, but doubt 
 his willingness to apply it to such sinners. This is accursed 
 pride, vailed in the garb of humility. " Jf yon were not such atro- 
 cious offenders, you would more easily take courage." That is, if 
 you had less unworthiness, or, which is the same thing, were more 
 worthy. You wish to come with a price in your hands. You art' 
 not reconciled to a salvation of which Christ Jesus shall have all 
 the o-lory. Here is the secret. Men affect to doubt his willing- 
 ness, but they are not willing. Let them take eternal life as a 
 free gift, and it is theirs. brethren ! never question the super- 
 abounding grace of God in Christ. " Come now, and let us reason 
 together, saith the Lord: though your sins be as scarlet, they shall 
 be white as snow; though they be red like crimson, they shall be 
 as wool." This glorious forgiveness is too high to be reached by 
 carnal or merely rational apprehension. The mind will still shrink 
 back from it as more desirable than credible? "Is this the man- 
 ner of man? Is there any resemblance to it among the creatures? 
 How can it be true? How can it be possible?" No, it is not the 
 manner of man; there is nothing like it among the creatures; and 
 yet it is possible, and yet it is true. Hear the word of Jehovah, 
 
PARDON OF SINS, &c. 103 
 
 O ye of little faith : " Seek ye the Lord while he may be found, 
 call ye upon him while he is near : Let the wicked forsake his way, 
 and the unrighteous man his thoughts : and let him return unto 
 the Lord, and he will have mercy upon him, and to our God, for 
 he will abundantly pardon." — " Thou hast multiplied sins upon 
 sins," saith God, "and I will multiply pardons upon pardons." 
 Ah! Lord God ! I could not pardon with the ten thousandth part of 
 such goodness for my brother that is as mine own soul ; and how 
 canst thou pour down such pardons upon me ? " Because thou 
 art a man, and I am God. Let not the thankless objection again 
 pass thy lips, nor rise in thy heart." — " For my thoughts are not 
 your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, saith the Lord. 
 For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways 
 higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts." 
 Let the doubting, disconsolate sinner throw himself, with all his 
 guilt and vileness, into the arms of this forgiving mercy. It never 
 yet repulsed any who came in the faith of the Mediator's blood, 
 and it will not begin its repulses with thee. Go without delay ; 
 go with all boldness in this blood ; and thou shalt find as cordial a 
 welcome as grace can give thee. 
 
 This forgiveness of sins in the redemption of Jesus, imposes 
 infinite obligations upon them who have " believed it to the 
 saving of their souls." Whoever disparage the doctrine of sove- 
 reignty, it must not be such as owe to it all their present interest 
 in the salvation of God, and all their hope of his eternal glory. But 
 such are we. " By nature the children of wrath even as others ; 
 alienated from the life of God through the ignorance that was in 
 us ;" rushing madly on in the paths of death ; grace, unsought, 
 undesired, met us ; opened our eyes to our folly ; " hedged up our 
 way with thorns ;" turned us back into " the path of righteousness." 
 Our wounded consciences and wearied hearts found healing and rest 
 in Jesus Christ. His precious blood was the remedy of our guilt. 
 How soothing the voice which whispered to our troubled spirits, 
 " Thy faith hath saved thee ; go in peace I" Shall we ever forget 
 that we deserved everything the reverse of what we have received ? 
 u That our birth and our nativity was of the land of Canaan, our 
 father an Amorite, and our mother a Hittite ?" — " That we were 
 cast out in the open field to the loathing of our persons ? And 
 that the compassionate Saviour " passed by us, and saw us polluted 
 
104 SERMON V. 
 
 in our own blood ; and said unto us when we were in our blood, 
 Live : yea, said unto us when we were in our blood, Live !" If 
 we have fled "from the wrath to come;" if "we are no more 
 strangers and foreigners, but fellow-citizens with the saints, and 
 of the household of God ;" if we " have not received the spirit of 
 bondage again to fear, but the spirit of adoption, whereby we cry, 
 Abba. Father ;" all this, and all the " glory which is yet to be re- 
 vealed in us," are the blessed fruits of forgiveness through the 
 redemption of the blood of Jesus. Sweetly constrained by his love, 
 shall we not judge with the Apostle of the Gentiles, that we must 
 " henceforth live, not unto ourselves, but unto Him that died for 
 us, and rose again ?" The sum of our duty and happiness, 
 believer! is comprised in this precept — "As ye have received 
 Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk ye in him." The blood of sprinkling, 
 kept by faith in the conscience, is the sure preservative from guilt ; 
 the holy secret of a comfortable and familiar walk with God. In 
 this privilege let us go " from strength to strength," lifting up our 
 eyes to the " hills from whence cometh our help ; showing forth 
 the righteousness and the salvation of Jehovah all the day long :" 
 and waiting for that great consummation, when, all the sorrows of 
 earth's pilgrimage ended, and all its defilements washed away, 
 
 " Heaven lifts her everlasting portals high, 
 And bids the pure in heart behold their God !'' 
 
SERMON VI.* 
 
 LIVING FAITH. 
 
 ACTS xv. 9. compared with GAL. v. 6. 
 " Purifying their hearts by faith— faith which worketh by love.'' 
 
 The church of Christ, " chosen out of the world " to bear his cross 
 and to partake of his holiness, has, from the very nature of her 
 vocation, many obstacles to surmount, and many foes to vanquish. 
 A warfare, on the issue of which are staked her privileges, her 
 consolations, her everlasting hope, opens an ample field for exertion, 
 and ought to concentrate her strength and wisdom. Unhappily' 
 however, controversies about things which do not involve her 
 substantial interests, have at all times interrupted her peace and 
 marred her beauty. Weakness, prejudice, and passion found their 
 way into the little family of the Master himself; and, even after 
 the descent of the Spirit of truth, invaded and violated his sanc- 
 tuary. Disputes concerning the Mosaic ritual had arisen among; 
 Christians to so great a height, and were conducted with so much 
 ardour and so little love, that the power of godliness was in danger 
 of being stifled in a contest about the form, and the Head of the 
 church deemed it necessary to interpose his rebuke. " Whether 
 ye are called Jews or Gentiles, whether ye observe or neglect some 
 formulas of the typical law, are not questions which should kindle 
 your animosities, and exhaust your vigours. A more awful subject 
 claims your inquiries. While you are occupied in vain jangling, 
 the winged moments are hurrying your souls to their eternal state. 
 Are you ready to depart ? Is your title to the kingdom clear ? 
 Pause, listen, examine. ' In Christ Jesus neither circumcision 
 availeth anything, nor uncircumcision ; but a new creature ;' but 
 
 * Preached before the Society for the Relief of the Destitute Sick, on the 
 evening of Sabbath, the 1st of November 1801, in Bristo Street Meeting House, 
 Edinburgh. 
 
10G SEEMON VI. 
 
 a • faith of the operation of God ;' but a faith which ' purifies the 
 heart, and works by love." 
 
 To us, my brethren, not less than to those early professors of the 
 cross, is the heavenly oracle addressed. We, too, have our weak- 
 nesses, our prejudices, our passions, which often embark us in 
 foolish and frivolous litigation. We, too, have immortal souls of 
 which the whole world cannot repay the loss, and which are has- 
 tening to the bar of God's righteousness. Come, then, let us 
 endeavour to collect our wandering thoughts, to shut out the 
 illusions of external habit, to put a negative on the importunities 
 of sense, and try whether our religion will endure the ordeal of 
 God's word. If our faith is genuine, it " purifies the heart, and 
 works by love." Precious faith, therefore, in its effects upon spi- 
 ritual character; that faith which draws the line of immutable 
 distinction between a believer and an unbeliever, and without 
 which no man has a right to call himself a Christian, is the subject 
 of our present consideration. And while the treasure is in an 
 earthen vessel, may the excellency of the power be of God ! 
 
 Before we attempt to analyze the operations of faith, we must 
 obtain correct views of its nature. 
 
 Some imagine it to be a general profession of Christianity, and 
 a decent compliance with its ceremonial. They accordingly com- 
 pliment each other's religion, and are astonished and displeased if 
 we demur at conceding that all are good Christians who have not 
 ranged themselves under the banners of open infidelity. 
 
 Others, advancing a step farther, suppose that faith is an assent 
 to the truth of the gospel founded on the investigation of its 
 rational evidence. Without asking what proportion of the mul- 
 titudes who profess Christianity have either leisure, or means, or 
 talents, for such an investigation, let us test this dogma by plain 
 fact. Among those legions of accursed spirits whom God " has 
 delivered into chains of darkness to be reserved unto judgment," 
 and their miserable associates of the human race who have already 
 " perished from his presence," there is not one who doubts the 
 truth of revelation. Men may be sceptics in this world, but they 
 carry no scepticism with them into the bottomless pit. They have 
 there rational evidence which it is impossible to resist ; evidence, 
 shining in the blaze of everlasting burnings, that " every word of 
 God is pure." That faith, then, by which we are saved, must be 
 
LIVING FAITH, 107 
 
 altogethe different from a conviction, however rational, which is 
 yet compatible with a state of perdition. If any incline to set 
 light by this representation, as taking advantage of our ignorance, 
 and retreating into obscurity which we cannot explore, let him 
 open his eyes on the common occurrences of life. He may see, 
 for there is not even the shadow of concealment, he may see both 
 these good Christians of fashion, and these good Christians of 
 argument, " without God in the world " — He may see them be- 
 traying those very tempers, and pursuing those very courses, by 
 which the Bible describes " the workers of iniquity" — He may see 
 them despising, reproaching, persecuting that profession and 
 practice, which, if the scriptures are true, must belong to such as 
 " live godly in Christ Jesus." Of both these classes of pretended 
 Christians the faith is found to be spurious, and at an infinite re- 
 move from the faith of God's elect : for in neither of them does it 
 " purify the heart, or work by love." The scriptures teach us 
 better. 
 
 As faith, in general, is reliance upon testimony, and respects 
 solely the veracity of the testifier ; so that faith, which constitutes 
 a man a believer before God, is a simple and absolute reliance 
 upon his testimony, exhibited in his word, on this solid and single 
 ground, that " he is the God who cannot lie." It was not a process 
 of reasoning which ri vetted in Abraham's mind the persuasion that 
 " in his seed all the nations of the earth should be blessed," and 
 procured him the appellation of " the father of the faithful." It 
 was an act of naked trust in the veracity of his covenant-God, 
 not only without, but above and against, the consultations of flesh 
 and blood. Abraham believed God, believed him in hope, against 
 hope ; and it " was counted to him for righteousness." It is the 
 same at this hour. " The mouth of the Lord hath spoken it " — 
 must silence every objection, and cut short every debate. And 
 they who do not thus receive the scriptures, cannot give another 
 proof that they believe in God, as a promising God, at all. 
 
 The testimony of God which faith respects, comprising the whole 
 revelation of his will, centres particularly in the free grant which 
 he has made of his Son, the Lord Jesus Christ, to sinners of the 
 human race; assuring them, that " whoever believeth on him shall 
 not perish, but shall have everlasting life ;" that " he will be a 
 Father unto them, and they shall be his sons and his daughters;" 
 
108 SERMON VI. 
 
 that he "will dwell in them, and walk in them, and be their God, 
 blessing them," in their precious Redeemer, " with all spiritual 
 and heavenly blessings." Now that faith after which we are in- 
 quiring, consists precisely in " receiving and resting upon Christ 
 Jesus for salvation, as he is offered to us in the gospel," that is, in 
 the testimony of his Father. 
 
 This faith is not the creature of human power. It is a contra- 
 diction to suppose that men can argue themselves, or be argued by 
 others, into a reliance upon the testimony of God. Because this 
 implies a spiritual perception of his eternal veracity: whereas the 
 reason of man is corrupted by sin, and the natural tendency of 
 corrupted reason is to "change the truth of God into a lie." Nothing 
 can rise above its own level, nor pass the limits of its being. It 
 were more rational to expect that men should be born of beasts, or 
 angels of men, than that a principle of life and purity should be 
 engendered by death in a mass of corruption : and carnal men are 
 " dead in trespasses and sin." Cast it, therefore, into the fairest 
 mould, polish and adorn it with your most exquisite skill, that 
 which is born of the flesh will still be flesh ; weak, corrupt, abomin- 
 able; "enmity against the law of God," and, if possible, more 
 rank enmity against the gospel of Jesus Christ. From this source 
 it is vain to look for faith in his blood. We must seek it higher. 
 
 It is of divine origin. A gift which " cometh down from the 
 Father of lights:" "By grace are ye saved, through faith, and 
 that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God." 
 
 It is of grace — for it is one of those covenant-mercies which 
 were purchased by the Saviour's merit, and are freely bestowed 
 for his sake. It is given us, on the behalf of Christ, to believe on 
 his name. 
 
 Of grace— because it is a fruit of the gracious Spirit. As 
 Jehovah, the Sanctifier, he creates and preserves it in the soul. 
 For this reason he is called the Spirit of faith, which is, therefore, 
 of the operation of God." 
 
 From this faith there result two glorious effects. Let us con- 
 sider them, in their turn, as they are stated in the text. 
 
 I. It purifies the heart. 
 
 Human depravity is a first principle in the oracles of God. 
 From within, out of the heart, proceed those evil thoughts, and 
 
LIVING FAITH. 109 
 
 evil words, and evil deeds, which defile, disgrace, and destroy the 
 man. And he who refuses to admit the severe application of this 
 doctrine to himself, has not yet arrived at the point from which he 
 must set out in a course of real and consistent piety. He may, 
 indeed, " flatter himself in his own eyes until his iniquity be found 
 to be hateful," but " who shall ascend into the hill of God ? or 
 who shall stand in his holy place? He," and he only, " who has clean 
 hands and a pure heart." Now, as it is the grace of faith by which 
 a sinner obtains that purity which qualifies him for the fellowship 
 and kingdom of God, we are to inquire, in what the purity of the 
 heart consists? and what is the influence of faith in producing it? 
 
 The heart is a term by which the Scriptures frequently express 
 the faculties and affections of man. As the pollutions of sin have 
 pervaded them all, they all need the purification of grace. 
 
 At the head of the perverted tribe stands a guilty conscience. 
 Stern, gloomy, suspicious, it cannot abide the presence of a righ- 
 teous God, and yet lashes the offender with a whip of scorpions. 
 To render the conscience pure, pardon must intervene, and shelter 
 it from that curse which rouses both its resentments and its terrors. 
 This is effected by the " blood of the covenant, which, speaking 
 better things than the blood of Abel, sprinkles the heart from an 
 evil conscience. 
 
 The will is purified, when it is delivered from its rebellion 
 against the authority of God, and cordially submits to his good 
 pleasure. This, too, is from above : for " his people are made 
 willing in the day of his power." 
 
 The understanding is purified when its errors are corrected, and 
 the mists of delusion dissipated. When its estimate of sin and 
 holiness, of things carnal and things spiritual, of time and of eter- 
 nity, corresponds with the sentence of the divine word. This, also, 
 is from above. " The eyes of our understanding are enlightened, 
 that we may know what is the hope of his calling, and what is the 
 riches of the glory of his inheritance in the saints, and what is the 
 exceeding greatness of his power to usward who believe." 
 
 In fine, the affections are purified when they are diverted from 
 objects trifling and base, to objects great and dignified. When 
 they cease to be at the command of every hellish suggestion and 
 every vagrant lust — when they add to the crucifixion of those 
 profligate appetites in the gratification of which the ungodly man 
 
110 SERMON VI. 
 
 places his honour, his profit, and his paradise, their delight in a 
 reconciled God as the infinite good— when they aspire to " things 
 above, where Jesus Christ sitteth at God's right hand," breathe 
 after his communion, and are disciplined and chastened as be- 
 cometh the affections of a breast which the Holy Ghost conde- 
 scends to make his temple. Such affections are surely from 
 heavenly inspiration : for thus saith God, " I will sprinkle clean 
 water upon you, and you shall be clean ; from all your filthiness 
 and from all your idols will I cleanse you. A new heart also will 
 I give you, and a new spirit will I put within you ; I will take 
 away the stony heart out of your flesh, and I will give you a heart 
 of flesh." 
 
 While the purification of the heart, thus explained from the 
 Scriptures, is the work of the Divine Spirit, it is accomplished by 
 the instrumentality of faith. For he " purifies the heart by faith." 
 Under his blessed direction, the grace of faith possesses a double 
 influence. 
 
 1. As a principle of moral suasion,"* it presents to the mind 
 considerations the most forcible and tender for breaking the power 
 of sin, and promoting the reign of holiness. The presence, the 
 majesty, the holiness of God ; the sanctity of his law ; his ever- 
 lasting love in the Lord Jesus ; the affecting expression of that 
 love in " setting him forth to be a propitiation for sin;" the won- 
 ders of his pardoning mercy ; the grace of Christ Jesus himself in 
 becoming " sin for them, that they might be made the righteous- 
 ness of God in him ;" the condescension of the Holy Ghost, who 
 deigns to dwell in them as their Sanctifier ; the genius of their 
 vocation ; the connection of holy obedience with their own peace, 
 their brethren's comfort, and their Master's glory— these, and 
 similar motives which arise from the exercise of precious faith, 
 operate mightily in causing believers to " walk humbly with their 
 God."—" The love of Christ constraineth us," even as a rational 
 inducement, " to live henceforth not unto ourselves, but unto him 
 that died for us, and rose again." And while a graceless man is 
 deterred from the commission of crime, not by a regard to God's 
 
 * By moral suasion is Lore meant, not that kind of reasoning which one 
 graceless man may address to the understanding of another, but those persuasives 
 to holiness which the Spirit of God in his word addresses to his grace in the 
 heart. These faith applies and improves. 
 
LIVING FAITH. Ill 
 
 authority, or by gratitude for his loving-kindness, but by calcula- 
 tions of prudence, or fear of penalty, a Christian, acting like him- 
 self, repels temptation with a more generous and filial remon- 
 strance. " How can I do this great wickedness and sin against 
 God!" 
 
 But, brethren, I should wrong the Redeemer's truth, and en- 
 feeble the consolations of his people, were I to confine the efficacy 
 of faith in purifying the heart to the influence of motive. I have 
 not mentioned its chief prerogative ; for, 
 
 2. Faith is that invaluable grace by which we have both union 
 and communion with our Lord Jesus Christ. In the moment of 
 believing, I become, though naturally an accursed branch, " a tree 
 of righteousness, the planting of Jehovah, that he may be glori- 
 fied : " I am no longer " a root in a dry ground," but am " planted 
 by the rivers of water," even the " water of life which proceedeth 
 out of the throne of God and of the Lamb." I am ingrafted into 
 the true vine, and bring forth fruit in participating of its sap and 
 fatness. I am made a member of the body of Christ, " of his flesh, 
 and of his bones;" so that the spirit which animates his body 
 pervades every fibre of my frame as one of its living members. 
 His vital influence warms my heart. Because he lives, I live: 
 because he is holy, I am holy : because he hath died unto sin, I 
 reckon myself dead unto sin. This is the fruit of union. 
 
 Communion with him is, properly speaking, a common interest 
 with him in his covenant perfection. The benefits of this communion 
 flow into the soul in the exercise of faith. Whatever Jesus has done 
 for his people (and their sanctification is the best part of his work), 
 he conveys to them in the promise of the gospel, and that promise 
 is enjoyed in believing. It is by faith that I live upon the great 
 God my Saviour, and make use of him as Jehovah my strength. 
 By faith I am privileged to go with boldness into the holiest of all, 
 and, be it reverently spoken, to press my Father in heaven with 
 reasons as strong why he should sanctify me, as he can address to 
 me why I should endeavour to sanctify myself. Lord, am I not 
 thine ? the called of thy grace ? redeemed by the blood of thy dear 
 Son? Hast thou not promised? Hast thou not sworn? Hast 
 thou not pledged thy being, that none who come to thee in his 
 name shall be rejected ? Is it not for thy praise that my heart be 
 purified, and I made meet for walking " in the light of thy coun- 
 
112 SERMON VI. 
 
 tenance " among " the nations of the saved ?" Wilt thou leave me 
 to conflict alone, unaided, unfriended, with my furious corruptions, 
 and my implacable foes ? Wilt thou, though intreated " for thy 
 servant David's sake," refuse to work " in me all the good pleasure 
 of thy goodness, and the work of faith with power?" I cannot, 
 " will not let thee go except thou bless me." Such faith is strong ; 
 it is omnipotent; it lays hold on the very attributes of the God- 
 head, and brings prompt and effectual succour into the labouring 
 spirit. This is the reason why it purifies the heart. I know, that 
 to such as have never been brought under the bond of God's 
 covenant, I am speaking unintelligible things. Blessed be his 
 name, that, continuing carnal, ye cannot understand them. If ye 
 could, our hope would be no better than your own. But I speak 
 to some whose burning souls say amen to the doctrine, and rejoice 
 in the consolation ; who, in the struggle with corruption and temp- 
 tation, have " cried unto God with their voice, even unto God with 
 their voice, and he heard their cry, and bowed his heavens, and 
 came down ;" gave them deliverance and victory, and shed abroad 
 in their bosoms the serenity of his grace. These are precious 
 demonstrations of his purifying their hearts by faith. 
 
 It is obvious that the fruits of faith which have been now 
 enumerated, cannot be exposed to the eye of the worldling. De- 
 posited in the " hidden man of the heart," they are privileges and 
 "joys with which no stranger intermeddles." Shall we thence 
 conclude, that the faith from which they spring is unsusceptible of 
 external proof, and never extends its benign influence beyond the 
 happy individual who possesses it? By no means. This would 
 be an error too gross for any but the theoretical religionist. The 
 text ascribes it to a social effect : For, 
 
 II. It does not more certainly purify the heart, than it worketh 
 by love. 
 
 Love is the master-principle of all good society. It is the holy 
 bond which connects man with man, and angel with angel, and 
 and angels with men, and all with God. It is itself an emanation 
 from his own purity. For " God is love : and he that dwelleth in 
 love, dwelleth in God, and God in him." Consequently, the new 
 man, whom regenerating grace creates in elected sinners, and whose 
 activities are maintained by faith, must be governed by love. Its 
 
LIVING FAITH, 11 
 
 first and most natural exercise is toward that God who "hath 
 loved them with an everlasting love, and therefore with loving- 
 kindness hath drawn them." It is the apprehension by faith of 
 Jehovah's love to them in Christ, anticipating them with mercy, 
 forgiving them all trespasses, leading them with covenant-favour, 
 which softens their obduracy, melts them into tenderness, and ex- 
 cites the gracious reaction of love toward their reconciled Father. 
 " We love him," says an apostle who had drunk deeply into the 
 spirit of his Master, " we love him, because he first loved us." 
 
 As an enemy to God is, by the very nature of his temper, an 
 enemy to himself and to all other creatures, so one in whose heart 
 the " love of God is shed abroad by the Holy Ghost," not only 
 consults his own true happiness, but is led to consult the happiness 
 of others. " Charity," saith the Apostle Paul, " suflereth long, 
 and is kind; charity envieth not ; charity vaunteth not itself; is 
 not puffed up; doth not behave itself unseemly; seeketh not her 
 own ; is not easily provoked ; thinketh no evil ; rejoiceth not in 
 iniquity, but rejoiceth in the truth ; beareth all things ; believeth 
 all things ; hopeth all things ; endureth all things." The Scrip- 
 tures, indeed, mark love to the brethren as the great practical proof 
 of our Christianity. Nothing can be more peremptory than the 
 language of the beloved disciple — " If a man say, I love God, and 
 hateth his brother, he is a liar : for he that loveth not his brother 
 whom he hath seen, how can he love God whom he hath not seen?" 
 On this point, however, there will be little dispute. Men are in- 
 stinctively led to measure, by their social effects, all pretensions of 
 love to God. The question before us, and which the scriptural 
 decision will be far from uniting the mass of suffrage, is, how 
 faith works by love? 
 
 The apostle asserts, that the faith of a Christian, instead of be- 
 ing a merely speculative assent to the abstract truth of the gospel, 
 is an active moral principle, which cannot have its just course 
 without embodying itself in deeds of goodness. The reasons are 
 many and manifest — By faith in Christ Jesus we are justified 
 before God, our natural enmity against him is slain, and his love 
 finds access to our hearts. By faith we embrace the " exceeding 
 great and precious promises," and, in embracing them, " are made 
 partakers of the divine nature ;" so that " we are filled with all the 
 fulness of God ;" and out of the abundance of the heart, not only 
 
 H 
 
114 SERMON YI. 
 
 does the mouth speak, but the man act; by faith we converse with 
 our Lord Jesus Christ ; are conformed to him ; " follow him in the 
 regeneration ;" and learn to imitate that great example which he 
 left us when he "went about doing good." By faith we obtain 
 the promised Spirit who sanctifies our powers both of mind and 
 body, so that " we yield our members instruments of righteousness 
 unto God." By faith in Christ's blood, which redeems us from the 
 curse of the law, we are also liberated from the vassalage of sin : 
 for " the strength of sin is the law ;" and, receiving the law as 
 fulfilled and satisfied by his righteousness, come under its obliga- 
 tion in his covenant, and are enabled to keep it by his grace. Now 
 " the fulfilling of the law is love ;" love and kindness to God and 
 our neighbour, in all our social relations : It is, therefore, impos- 
 sible that faith should not work by love. 
 
 All the directions of the book of God for the practice of the 
 moral virtues, consider them as the evolution of the principle of 
 love residing in a heart which has been purified by faith. Our 
 Lord's sermon on the mount, by the perversion of which many 
 have seduced themselves and others into a lying confidence in their 
 own fancied merits, was preached, not to the promiscuous multi- 
 tude, but to his " disciples," who professed " faith in his name." 
 And the scriptures of the Apostles, especially the Apostle of the 
 Gentiles, follow the same order. They address their instructions 
 to the church of God — to the saints — to such as have " obtained 
 like precious faith with themselves." Not a moral precept escapes 
 from their pen, till they have displayed the riches of redeeming 
 love. But when, like wise master-builders, they have laid a broad 
 and stable foundation in the doctrines of faith, they rear without 
 delay the fair fabric of practical holiness. It is after they have 
 conducted their pupils to the "holiest of all, through the new and 
 living way which Jesus hath opened," that you hear their ex- 
 horting voice, "Mortify, therefore, your members which are upon 
 the earth ; fornication, uncleanness, inordinate affection, evil con- 
 cupiscence, and covetousness, which is idolatry. Put off also all 
 these, anger, wrath, malice, blasphemy, filthy communication out 
 of your mouth. Lie not one to another, seeing ye have put off 
 the old man with his deeds, and have put on the new man which 
 i* renewed in knowledge after the image of him that created him; 
 where there is neither Greek nor Jew, circumcision nor uncircum- 
 
LIVING FAITH. 115 
 
 cision; barbarian, Scythian, bond nor free; but Christ is all and 
 in all. Put on, therefore, as the elect of God (for this very reason 
 that ye are his elect), holy and beloved, put on bowels of mercies, 
 kindness, humbleness of mind, meekness, long-suffering, forbear- 
 ing one another, and forgiving one another if any man have a 
 quarrel against any, even as Christ forgave you, so also do ye." 
 And above all these things, above bowels of mercies, above kind- 
 ness, above humbleness of mind, above meekness, above long- 
 suffering, above forbearance, above forgiveness, above all these 
 things, "put on charity, which is the bond of perfectness." If 
 the Apostles, then, understood their own doctrine ; or rather, if the 
 Spirit by whom they spake knows what is in man, we are not to 
 look for real love, i.e., for true morality, from any who are not " the 
 children of God by faith in Christ Jesus." And, on the contrary, 
 this faith is the most prolific source of good actions ; because it 
 purges the fountain of all action, and sends forth its vigorous and 
 healthful streams, "purifying the heart, and working by love." 
 
 I should be unfaithful, my brethren, to truth and to you, were I 
 to dismiss this subject without employing its aid for repelling an 
 attack which is often made upon the Christian religion ; for refut- 
 ing the calumny which pretended friends have thrown upon its 
 peculiar glory, the doctrine of faith ; for correcting the error of 
 those who, separating faith from holiness, have " a name to live 
 and are dead;" and for stimulating believers to evince by their 
 example both the truth of their profession and the power of their 
 faith. 
 
 The enemies of the gospel have invented various excuses for 
 their infidelity. At one time, there is a defect of historical docu- 
 ment ; at another, they cannot surrender their reason to inexpli- 
 cable mystery. Now, they are stumbled at a mission sanctioned 
 by miracle : then, the proofs of revelation are too abstracted and 
 metaphysical : and presently, they discover that no proof whatever 
 can verify a revelation to a third person. But when they are 
 driven from all these subterfuges : when the Christian apologist 
 has demonstrated that it is not the want of evidence, but of 
 honesty; that it is not an enlightened understanding, but a cor- 
 rupted heart, which impels them to reject the religion of Jesus, 
 they turn hardily round and impeach its moral influence ! They 
 will make it responsible for all the mischiefs and crimes, for all the 
 
110 SERMON VI. 
 
 sorrows, and convulsions, and ruins which have scourged the 
 world since its first propagation. 
 
 Before such a charge can be substantiated, the structure of the 
 human mind must be altered, the nature of things reversed, the 
 doctrine of principle and motive abandoned for ever. It is only 
 for the forlorn hope of impiety to engage in an enterprise so mad 
 and desperate. Say, can a religion which commands me to " love 
 my neighbour as myself," generate or foster malignant and mur- 
 derous passions ? Can a religion which assures me that " all liars 
 shall have their part in the lake which burnetii with fire and 
 brimstone," encourage a spirit of dissimulation and fraud? Can a 
 religion which requires me to " possess my vessel in sanctifieation 
 and honour," indulge me in violating the laws of sexual purity, in 
 breaking up the sanctuary of my neighbour's peace, in throwing 
 upon the mercy of scandal's clarion the fair fame of female virtue ? 
 Can a religion which forbids me to be " conformed to this world," 
 cherish that infuriate ambition which hurls desolation over the 
 earth, and fertilizes her fields with the blood of men ? Can a reli- 
 gion — But I forbear — " From whence come wars and fightings 
 among you? Come they not hence, even from your lusts ? Those 
 very lusts from which it is the province of faith to purify the 
 heart? The infidel pleads for his unholy propensions, on the pre- 
 text that they are innocent because they are natural : and when a 
 thousand curses to himself and to society follow their indulgence, 
 he charges the consequence upon a religion which enjoins their 
 crucifixion, and which, to give them their career, he trampled un- 
 der foot. But stop, vain man ! Was it the religion of Jesus 
 Christ which, on its first promulgation, " breathed out threatenings 
 and slaughter, shut up the saints in prison, punished them oft in 
 every synagogue, compelled them to blaspheme, and, being exceed- 
 ingly mad against them, persecuted them even unto strange cities?" 
 Was it the religion of Jesus Christ which, in its subsequent pro- 
 gress, illuminated the city of Rome with the conflagration of a 
 thousand stakes, consuming, by the most excruciating of deaths, a 
 thousand guiltless victims?* Was it the religion of Jesus Christ 
 which, at a later period, when the Tiber overflowed, or the Nile 
 did not overflow; when the earth quaked, or the heavens withheld 
 their rain ; when famine or pestilence smote the nations, ordered 
 * Tacit. Annal. lib. xv. cap. 44. 
 
LIVING FAITH. 117 
 
 its opposers to the lions?* Was it in obedience to the religion of 
 Jesus Christ, after the expulsion of pagan idolatry, that the 
 "mother of harlots and abominations of the earth became drunk 
 with the blood of the saints and with the blood of the martyrs?" — 
 Was it the religion of Jesus Christ which, after being rejected 
 with marks of unexampled insult, suggested to the knight-errants 
 of blasphemy the project of regenerating the world by the power of 
 atheistical philosophy? Was it this religion which taught them 
 to blot out the great moral institute of society — the Sabbath of the 
 Lord, to extinguish the best affections of the human heart, to break 
 asunder the strongest ties of human life, and to subvert the basis 
 of human relations by exploding the marriage covenant ? This, 
 which instigated them to offer up hecatombs of human sacrifices to 
 every rising and every setting sun; to hew down, with equal in- 
 difference, the venerable matron and her hoary lord, the vigorous 
 youth, the blooming nyiid, the sportive boy, and the prattling babe; 
 and, while they were thus writing the history of their philosophical 
 experiments in the blood of the dead and the tears of the living, to 
 boast the victories of their virtue ? But my soul sickens ; Ah, 
 no I " The wisdom which cometh from above," that wisdom which 
 the gospel teaches, " is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, and easy 
 to be entreated, full of compassion and of good fruits, without 
 partiality, and without hypocrisy." Such was its imposing aspect 
 in primitive ages. " Uive me a man," said a celebrated lather of 
 the church, the eloquent Lactantius, " give me a man passionate, 
 slanderous, ungovernable : with a very few words of God I will 
 render him as placid as a lamb. Give me a man greedy, avarici- 
 ous, penurious : I will give him back to you liberal, and lavishing 
 his gold with a munificent hand. Give me a man who shrinks 
 from pain and death ; and he shall presently contemn the stake, 
 the gibbet, the wild beast. Give me one who is libidinous, an 
 adulterer, a debauchee; and you shall see him sober, chaste, 
 temperate. Give me one cruel and blood-thirsty ; and that fury 
 of his shall be converted into clemency itself. Give me one ad- 
 dicted to injustice, to folly, to crime ; and he shall, without delay, 
 become just, and prudent, and harmless." f 
 
 Similar, in proportion to its reception by faith, are still the effects 
 of this blessed gospel. What has exploded those vices which, 
 * Tertull. Apolog. cap. 40. t Lact. De falsa Sapientia, lib. iii. cap. 25. 
 
118 SERMON VL 
 
 though once practised even by philosophers, cannot now be so 
 much as named ? What has softened the manners and refined the 
 intercourse of men ? What is it which turns any of them from sin 
 to God, and makes them conscientious, humble, pure, though at 
 the expense of ridicule and scorn from the licentious and the gay ? 
 What has espoused the cause of suffering humanity ? Who ex- 
 plores the hospital, the dungeon, the darksome retreat of unknown, 
 unpitied anguish ? The infidel philosopher ? Alas ! he amuses 
 himself with dreams of universal benevolence, while the wretch 
 perishes unheeded at his feet, and scruples not to murder the species 
 in detail, that he may promote its happiness in the gross ! On his 
 proud list of general benefactors you will look in vain for the name 
 of a Howard ; and in their system of conduct your search will be 
 equally fruitless for the traces of his spirit. Christianity claims as 
 her own both the man and his principles. She formed his cha- 
 racter, sketched his plans, and inspired his,, zeal. And might the 
 modesty of goodness be overcome, might the sympathies of the 
 heart assume visible form, might secret and silent philanthropy 
 be called into view, ten thousand Howards would issue, at this 
 moment, from her temples, from the habitations of her sons, from 
 the dreary abodes of sickness and of death. Tell me not of those 
 foul deeds which have been perpetrated in her name. Tell me not 
 that her annals are filled with the exploits of imposture and fanati- 
 cism ; that her priests and her princes have been ambitious, pro- 
 fligate, and cruel ; that they have bared the arm of persecution, 
 and shed innocent blood upon the rack and the scaffold, at the stake 
 and in the field; that they have converted whole nations into 
 hordes of banditti, and led them, under the auspices of the cross, to 
 pillage and massacre their brethren who boasted only the " simple 
 virtues " of pagans and infidels. The question is not what actions 
 her name has been abused to sanctify, but what have accorded 
 with her principles, and are prompted by her spirit ? It is no dis- 
 covery of yesterday that Satan " is transformed into an angel of 
 light;" and, therefore, no great thing if his ministers also be trans- 
 formed into ministers of righteousness. Ignorance and dishonesty 
 have often borrowed a Christian guise for the more successful 
 practice of knavery and rapine. But when they have violated all 
 the maxims of the Christian religion, when they have contemned 
 her remonstrances and stifled her cries, shall they be permitted to 
 
LIVING FAITH. 119 
 
 plead her authority? Or shall the scoffer insult her with the 
 charge of being their accomplice and adviser? No! In so far as 
 men do not study " whatsoever things are true, honest, just, pure, 
 lovely, and of good report," they evince not the power of faith, but 
 the power of unbelief; in other words, not the spirit of the gospel, 
 but a spirit directly opposed to it — i.e., the spirit of infidelity. If, 
 then, you think to justify your incredulity by showing a man, who 
 to a profession of Christianity adds a life of crime, the indignant 
 gospel tears the mask from his face, and exposes to your view the 
 features of a brother. Whatever be his profession, we disown his 
 kindred ; he acts wickedly, not because he is a Christian, but be- 
 cause he is not a Christian. His crimes conspire with his hypo- 
 crisy to prove him an infidel 
 
 Here we must part with some who have cheerfully accompanied 
 us in the detection and reproof of avowed unbelievers. For I am 
 to employ the doctrine of the text for refuting the calumny which 
 pretended friends have thrown upon the peculiar glory of Chris- 
 tianity, the doctrine of faith. 
 
 Multitudes — and would to God that none of them were found 
 among the teachers of religion — multitudes, who profess warm zeal 
 for revelation, are yet hostile to all those cardinal truths which alone 
 render it worthy of a struggle. Omitting the mockery of such as 
 call Christ " Lord, Lord," while they rob him of every perfection 
 which qualifies him to be the Saviour of sinners, let me call your 
 attention to those whose enmity is particularly directed against the 
 doctrine which has been preached to you this evening. Nothing, 
 to use their own style, can exceed their veneration for religion in 
 general ; but if you venture to speak of the righteousness of the 
 Son of God, "imputed to us, and received by faith alone;" if you 
 insist on the desperate wickedness of the heart, and the necessity 
 of Almighty Power to regenerate and cleanse it; if you rejoice in the 
 blessedness of that union with the Lord Jesus which places you be- 
 yond the reach of condemnation, so that " neither death, nor life, nor 
 angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things 
 to come, nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able 
 to separate you from his love," or shut you out of his kingdom, 
 you must expect to pass, with rational Christians, for a weak 
 though perhaps well-meaning enthusiast : nay, you must expect to 
 hear those blessed truths, which are the light of your soul, stigma- 
 
120 SERMON VI. 
 
 tized as relaxing the obligations of the moral law, as withdrawing 
 the most cogent motives to obey its precepts, as ministering incen- 
 tives to all ungodliness. Impossible ! Nothing but ignorance of 
 the grace of God in its saving energy could give birth or aliment 
 to such a slander. It proceeds on the supposition that a sinner 
 may be pardoned, and not sanctified ; that he may be delivered 
 from penalty, and yet retain an unabated affection for his lusts. 
 Were this the fact— did faith in Christ's blood set him free from 
 the condemning authority of God's law, and yet leave him under 
 the tyranny of sinful habits, there is no doubt that it would en- 
 courage him " to work all uncleanness with greediness." But the 
 reverse is true. The blood of Jesus Christ, applied by faith, does 
 not more certainly abolish guilt, than it paralyzes lust. " He is 
 made of God unto us," in a connection which nothing can dissolve, 
 "wisdom, and righteousness, and sanctification." — "Our old man 
 is crucified with him, that the body of sin might be destroyed, that 
 henceforth we should not serve sin." The grace of faith is the 
 leading faculty of that " new man, which after God is created in 
 righteousness and true holiness." Holiness is the proper element 
 of a believer, as sin is the proper element of an unbeliever. And, 
 therefore, although the notion of grace may be abused to licentious- 
 ness, the principle never can ; for it is that principle from which 
 we learn to " deny ungodliness and worldly lusts, and to live 
 soberly, righteously, and godly, in this present world." To in- 
 sinuate, then, that the doctrine of free and plenary justification by 
 faith in Christ Jesus tends to licentiousness, is to give the lie direct 
 to the testimony of the Holy Ghost, and to the uniform experience 
 of his people. Whoever cherishes such an opinion, however highly 
 esteemed by himself or by others, is not a Christian ; he is " in the 
 gall of bitterness and in the bond of iniquity." But there is no 
 cause of wonder. " The natural man receiveth not the things of 
 the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness unto him." It has been 
 so from the beginning, and will continue so to the end. The ob- 
 jection which he makes, at this hour, to the doctrine of grace, is as 
 stale as it is unfounded. It is the very objection which was com- 
 bated by the Apostle Paul. "What shall we say then?" ex- 
 claimed his adversaries, when he preached justification by faith 
 through the imputed righteousness of the Lord Jesus, and the 
 absolute certainty of being saved from wrath through him in virtue 
 
LIVING FAITH. 121 
 
 of believing ; " What shall we say then ? shall we continue in sin 
 that grace may abound?" Or, in modern language, does not this 
 doctrine of yours tempt men to throw the rein upon the neck of 
 their passions, by removing the fear of condemnation, and espe- 
 cially by furnishing them with the pretext, that the more they sin, 
 the more is grace exalted in their pardon, seeing that " where sin 
 hath abounded, grace doth much more abound?" The apostle 
 admits, that the depraved heart is prone to draw such a conclu- 
 sion, and that it was actually drawn by his enemies, who took 
 occasion from it to represent him as "making void the law." But 
 he repels it with the most indignant reprobation. "God forbid!" 
 The inference is absurd. " How shall we that are dead to sin live 
 any longer therein ?" That doctrine, therefore, which wicked men 
 never accuse of leading to licentiousness, is not the doctrine of 
 God's Word. That doctrine, on the contrary, against which, by 
 misrepresenting it, they bring this accusation, is the very doctrine 
 of the apostle. But its true and only effect, which we maintain, 
 which the Scriptures teach, and which all believers experience and 
 exemplify, is, that " sin shall not reign in their mortal body, that 
 they should fulfil it in the lusts thereof." 
 
 Of the same nature, and from the same source with the calumny 
 which I have endeavoured to refute, is the practical error of many 
 who, separating faith from holiness, " have a name to live and are 
 dead." The error must be rectified, for it is fatal. Some console 
 themselves with their doctrinal accuracy, while their hearts and 
 conduct are estranged from moral rectitude. They hope that their 
 faith, however inactive, shall save them at last. Others, in the 
 opposite extreme, disregarding faith in our Lord Jesus Christ, trust 
 in their upright intentions and actions. They know little of what 
 Christians call believing, but they are good moral men. Their 
 gospel is the trite and delusive aphorism, 
 
 " He can't be wrong whose life is in the right ;" 
 not considering that 
 
 'He can't be right, whose faith is in the wrong.'' 
 
 They talk, indeed, on both sides, with much familiarity of " our 
 holy religion," as if its best influences had descended upon them- 
 selves. Holy religion it is : but what made it yours ? One of 
 you does not pretend to "have received Christ Jesus the Lord;" 
 the other, notwithstanding his profession^ has no solicitude to 
 
122 SERMON VI. 
 
 "walk in him:" and both are equally far from the salvation of 
 God. Jesus Christ is "the way, the truth, and the life; no man 
 cometh unto the Father but by him:" no man entertains good 
 thoughts, or performs good works, without being a " partaker of 
 his holiness." Every plant which his heavenly Father hath not 
 planted shall be rooted up. At the great day of his appearance to 
 judge the world in righteousness, no virtue will be approved which 
 did not grow upon his cross, was not consecrated by his blood, and 
 nourished by his spirit. Such virtues, however they may be ap- 
 plauded here, are only brilliant acts of rebellion against him, and 
 will not for one moment reprieve the rebels from the " damnation 
 of hell." Nor let those whose belief does not purify the heart, nor 
 work by love, flatter themselves that their condition is better, or 
 that their doom shall be more tolerable. Whatever judgment 
 shall be measured to others, " they who know their Lord's will, 
 and do it not, shall be beaten with many stripes." Be not de- 
 ceived. The threatening bears directly upon you. You profess 
 to know God, but in works you deny him. Your inconsistency 
 reproaches his truth, and causes his enemies to blaspheme. You 
 lay stumbling-blocks in the way of the unwary. You multiply 
 the victims of that very infidelity against which you declaim ; and, 
 in as far as they have been seduced by your example, their blood 
 shall be required at your hands. For yourselves, if you die with- 
 out being " renewed in the spirit of your minds," your faith will 
 not save you. The farce of a mock profession will terminate in 
 the tragedy of real and everlasting woe. Oh, then, " while it is 
 called to-day harden not your hearts ! " To sinners of every class 
 and character, the forgiveness of God is preached. From his 
 throne in heaven the Saviour speaks this evening. " Unto you, 
 men, do I call, and my voice is to the sons of men ! Hearken 
 unto me, ye stout-hearted, that are far from righteousness : behold, 
 T bring near my righteousness." In him is grace, and peace, and 
 life. Now, therefore, " choose life that ye may live." And may 
 his blessed spirit visit you with his salvation, creating in you that 
 faith which purifies the heart, and works by love ! 
 
 Finally. Let Christians be admonished by the doctrine of my 
 text to evince, in their behaviour both the truth of their profession 
 and the power of their faith. 
 
 They cannot too often or too solemnly repeat the question of 
 
LIVING FAITH. 123 
 
 their Lord, " What do ye more than others ? " It is not enough 
 for them to equal, they must excel their neighbours. They have 
 mercies, motives, means, peculiar to themselves. They have a 
 living principle of righteousness in their own hearts; and in their 
 great Redeemer, they have, as the fountain of their supply, " all 
 the fulness of the Godhead." It is but reasonable that much 
 should be required of them to whom much is given. Let your 
 whole persons, believers, be temples of God. Set your affections 
 on things above, where Jesus Christ sitteth at his right hand. 
 Remember, that every one who hath the hope of seeing Jesus as 
 he is, " purifieth himself even as he is pure." Walk in love as he 
 hath loved you. Let this amiable grace shed her radiance over 
 your character, and breathe her sweetness into your actions. 
 Compel, by her charms, the homage of the profane. Cleave not 
 to earth, because your treasure is in heaven, Make use of it to 
 exercise the benevolence of the gospel, to glorify your Father who 
 is in heaven, to diffuse comfort and joy among the suffering and 
 disconsolate. " To do good and to communicate, forget not, for 
 with such sacrifices God is well pleased." This evening presents 
 you with an opportunity of showing that faith worketh by love. 
 The society, on whose account I address you, carry in their very 
 name a resistless appeal to the sentiments of men and of Christians. 
 Devoting their labours to " the relief of the destitute sick," they 
 have sought out and succoured, not here and there a solitary in- 
 dividual, but scores, and hundreds, and thousands of them that 
 were " ready to perish." Sickness, though softened by the aids 
 of the healing art, by the sympathy of friends, and by every ex- 
 ternal accommodation, is no small trial of patience and religion. 
 But to be both sick and destitute is one of the bitterest draughts 
 in the cup of human misery. Far from me be the attempt to 
 harrow your feelings with images of fictitious woe. Recital must 
 draw a vail over a large portion of the truth itself. I barely men- 
 tion that the mass of sorrow which you are called to alleviate 
 appears in as many forms as there are affinities among men. 
 
 Is there in this assembly a father, the sons of whose youth are 
 the stay of his age and the hope of his family ? In yonder cell 
 lies a man of grey hairs, crushed by poverty, and tortured by 
 disease. His children are scattered abroad, or have long since 
 descended into the tomb. The sound of "father" never salutes 
 
124 SERMON VI. 
 
 his ears : he is a stranger in his own country: his only companions 
 are want and anguish. 
 
 Is there here a wife of youth encircled with domestic joys ? or 
 is there one whose heart, though solaced with a thousand outward 
 blessings, calls back the aching remembrance of the loved relation ? 
 Behold that daughter of grief. The fever rankles in her veins. 
 She has no partner dearer than her own soul, on whose bosom she 
 may recline her throbbing head. Her name is Widow. Desolate, 
 forsaken, helpless, she is stretched on the ground. The wintry 
 blast howls through her habitation, and famine keeps the door. 
 
 Is there a mother here, whose eyes fill in the tenderness of bliss, 
 while health paints the cheeks of her little offspring, and they play 
 around her in the gayety of infantine simplicity ? I plead for a 
 mother, the toil of whose hands was the bread of her children. 
 The bed of languishing destroys her strength and their sustenance. 
 "The son of her womb" turns pale in her feeble arms, her heart is 
 wrung with double anguish, while unconscious of the source of his 
 pain, he cries for bread, and there is none to give it. 
 
 Is there here a man of public spirit who exults in the return of 
 plenty and of peace ? Let him think of those who suffer under the 
 stern arrest of hunger and disease. Ah ! let him think that this 
 wretchedness belongs to the wife and family of the soldier who has 
 fought the battles of his country. The messenger of peace arrives : 
 the murmur of the crowd swells into ecstacy : their shout echoes 
 through the hills. She raises her drooping head, and hears, not 
 that her friend and helper is at hand, but that herself is a widow 
 and her children fatherless. The blood of her husband and of their 
 father has flowed for the common safety — He shall never return. 
 
 Is there a Christian here who knows how to " do good unto all, 
 but especially to them that are of the household of faith ? Among 
 these afflicted who are sinking under their infirmities, and " have 
 not where to lay their heads,' ' are some to whom the celestials 
 minister, and who are "fellow-heirs with Christ in glory." I state 
 the facts; I use no arguments; I leave the result with your con- 
 sciences, your heart, and your God. 
 
SERMON VII.* 
 
 MESSIAH'S THRONE. 
 
 HEB. 1. 8. 
 
 "But unto the Son, he saith, Thy Throne, God, is for ever and ever." 
 
 In the all-important argument which occupies this epistle, Paul 
 assumes, what the believing Hebrews had already professed, that 
 Jesus of Nazareth is the true Messiah. To prepare them for the 
 consequences of their own principle — a principle involving nothing 
 less than the abolition of their law, the subversion of their state, 
 the ruin of their city, the final extinction of their carnal hopes— he 
 leads them to the doctrine of their Redeemer's person in order to 
 explain the nature of his offices, to evince the value of his spiritual 
 salvation, and to show, in both, the accomplishment of their eco- 
 nomy which was " now ready to vanish away." Under no appre- 
 hension of betraying the unwary into idolatrous homage, by giving 
 to the Lord Jesus greater glory than is " due unto his name," the 
 apostle sets out with ascribing to him excellence and attributes 
 which belong to no creature. Creatures of most elevated rank are 
 introduced; but it is to display, by contrast, the pre-eminence of 
 Him who is " the brightness of the Father's glory, and the express 
 image of his person." Angels are great in mind and in dignity ; 
 but " unto them hath he not put in subjection the world to come." 
 " Unto which of them said he, at any time, Thou art my son?" To 
 which of them " Sit thou at my right hand?" He saith they are 
 spirits, " ministering spirits, sent forth to minister unto them who 
 are the heirs of salvation, But unto the Son," in a style which 
 
 * Preached before the London Missionary Society, at their eighth annual 
 meeting, in Tottenham Court Chapel, on the evening of Thursday, 13th May 
 1802. 
 
126 SERMON VII. 
 
 annihilates competition and comparison, " unto tlie Son," he saith, 
 " Thy throne, God, is for ever and ever." 
 
 Brethren, if the majesty of Jesus is the subject which the Holy 
 Ghost selected for the encouragement and consolation of his people, 
 when he was shaking the earth and the heavens, and diffusing his 
 gospel among the nations ; can it be otherwise than suitable and 
 precious to us on this occasion ? Shall it not expand our views, 
 and warm our hearts, and nerve our arm, in our efforts to exalt 
 his fame ? Let me implore, then, the aid of your prayers ; but far 
 more importunately the aids of his own Spirit, while I speak of 
 the " things which concern the King :" those great things contained 
 in the text — his personal glory — his sovereign rule. 
 
 I. His personal glory shines forth in the name by which he is 
 revealed ; a name above every name, thy throne — God ! 
 
 To the single eye nothing can be more evident, in the 
 
 First place, than that the Holy Ghost here asserts the essential 
 deity of our Lord Jesus Christ. Of his enemies, whom he will 
 make his footstool, some have, indeed, controverted this position, 
 and endeavoured to blot out the text from the catalogue of his 
 witnesses. Instead of "thy throne, God," they would compel 
 us by a perversion of phraseology, of figure, and of sense, to read, 
 " God is thy throne ;" converting the great and dreadful God into 
 a symbol of authority in one of his own creatures. The scriptures, 
 it seems, may utter contradictions or impiety, but the divinity 
 of the Son they shall not attest. The crown, however, which 
 " flourishes on his head," is not to be torn away ; nor the anchor 
 of our hope to be wrested from us, by the rude hand of licentious 
 criticism. 
 
 I cannot find, in the lively oracles, a single distinctive mark of 
 deity which is not applied, without reserve or limitation, to the 
 only begotten Son. " All things whatsoever the Father hath, are 
 his." Who is that mysterious Word, that was " in the beginning 
 with God ?" Who is the " Alpha and Omega, the beginning and 
 the ending, the first and the last, the Almighty?" Who is he 
 that knows what is in man, because he searches the deep and dark 
 recesses of the heart ? Who is the Omnipresent, that has promised, 
 " Wherever two or three are gathered together in my name, there 
 am I in the midst of them ?" the light of whose countenance is, at 
 
MESSIAH'S THRONE. 121 
 
 the same moment, the joy of heaven and the salvation of the 
 earth ? who is encircled by the seraphim on high, and " walks in 
 the midst of the golden candlesticks? who is in this assembly? in 
 all the assemblies of his people ? in every worshipping family ? in 
 every closet of prayer? in every holy heart? "Whose hands 
 have stretched out the heavens and laid the foundations of the 
 earth?" Who hath replenished them with inhabitants, and gar- 
 nished them with beauty, having created all things that are in 
 both, "visible and invisible, whether they be thrones, or dominions, 
 or principalities, or powers ? By whom do all things consist ? 
 Who is " the governor among the nations, having on his vesture 
 and on his thigh a name written, King of kings and Lord of lords?" 
 Whom is it the Father's will that " all men should honour even as 
 they honour himself?" Whom has he commanded his angels to 
 worship? whom to obey? Before whom do the devils tremble? 
 Who is qualified to redeem millions of sinners from the wrath to 
 come, and preserve them, by his grace, to his everlasting kingdom ? 
 Who raiseth the dead, "having life in himself, to quicken whom 
 he will," so that at his voice, " all who are in their graves shall 
 come forth;" — "and death and hell" surrender their numerous and 
 forgotten captives ? Who shall weigh, in the balance of judgment, 
 the destinies of angels and men ? dispose of the thrones of paradise ? 
 and bestow eternal life? Shall I submit to the decision of reason? 
 Shall I ask a response from heaven ? Shall I summon the devils 
 from their chains of darkness ? The response from heaven sounds 
 in my ears ; reason approves, and the devils confess — This, 
 Christians, is none other than the great God our Saviour ! 
 
 Indeed, my brethren, the doctrine of our Lord's divinity is not, 
 as a fact, more interesting to our faith, than, as a principle, it is 
 essential to our hope. If he were not the true God, he could not 
 be eternal life. When pressed down by guilt and languishing fur 
 happiness, I look around for a deliverer such as my conscience and 
 my heart, and the word of God assure me I need, insult not my 
 agony, by directing me to a creature — to a man, a mere man like 
 myself? A creature! a man! My Redeemer owns my person. 
 My immortal spirit is his property. When I come to die, I must 
 commit it into his hands. My soul! my infinitely precious soul 
 committed to a mere man ! become the property of a mere man ! 
 I would not thus entrust my body to the highest angel who burns 
 
128 SERMON VII. 
 
 in the temple above. It is only the Father of spirits that can 
 have property in spirits, and be their refuge in the hour of transi- 
 tion from the present to the approaching world. In short, my 
 brethren, the divinity of Jesus is, in the system of grace, the sun 
 to which all its parts are subordinate, and all their stations refer — 
 which binds them in sacred concord, and imparts to them their 
 radiance, and life, and vigour. Take from it this central luminary, 
 and the glory is departed — its holy harmonies are broken — the 
 elements rush to chaos — the light of salvation is extinguished 
 for ever! 
 
 But it is not the deity of the Son, simply considered, to which 
 the text confines our attention. We are, in the 
 
 Second place, to contemplate it as subsisting in a personal union 
 with the human nature. 
 
 Long before this epistle was written had he " by himself purged 
 our sins, and sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high." 
 It is, therefore, as " God manifested in the flesh ;" as my own 
 brother, while he is " the express image of the Father's person," 
 as the Mediator of the new covenant, that he is seated on the 
 throne. Of this throne, to which the pretensions of a creature 
 were mad and blasphemous, the majesty is, indeed maintained by 
 his divine power; but the foundation is laid in his mediatorial 
 character. I need not prove to this audience, that all his gracious 
 offices and all his redeeming work originated in the love and the 
 election of his Father. Obedient to that will, which fully accorded 
 with his own, he came down from heaven ; tabernacled in our clay ; 
 was "a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief;" submitted to 
 the contradictions of sinners, the temptations of the old serpent, 
 and the wrath of an avenging God. In the merit of his obedience 
 which threw a lustre round the divine law ; and in the atonement 
 of his death by which " he offered himself a sacrifice without spot 
 unto God, repairing the injuries of man's rebellion, expiating sin 
 through the blood of his cross ; and conciliating its pardon with 
 infinite purity, and unalterable truth ; summarily, injiis performing 
 those conditions on which was suspended all God's mercy to man, 
 and all man's enjoyment of God, in these stupendous works of 
 righteousness are we to look for the cause of his present glory. 
 " He humbled himself and became obedient unto death, even the 
 death of the cross ; wherefore God also hath highly exalted him, 
 
MESSIAH'S THRONE. 129 
 
 and given him a name which is above every name ; that at the 
 name of Jesus every knee should bow, of things in heaven and 
 things in earth, and things under the earth ; and that every tongue 
 should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God, the 
 Father." Exalted thus " to be a Prince and a Saviour," he fills 
 heaven with his beauty, and obtains from its blest inhabitants, the 
 purest and most reverential praise. " Worthy," cry the mingled 
 voices of his angels and his redeemed, u worthy is the Lamb that 
 was slain, to receive power, and riches, and wisdom, and strength, 
 and honour, and glory, and blessing." " Worthy," again cry his 
 redeemed, in a song which belongs not to the angels, but in which 
 with holy ecstasy, we will join, " worthy art thou, for thou wast 
 slain, and hast redeemed us to God by thy blood." 
 
 Delightful, brethren, transcendently delightful were it to dwell 
 upon this theme. But we must refrain ; and having taken a tran- 
 sient glance at our Redeemer's personal glory, let us turn to the 
 
 II. View which the text exhibits — the view of his sovereign 
 rule — " Thy throne, God, is for ever and ever." 
 
 The mediatorial kingdom of Christ Jesus, directed and upheld 
 by his divinity, is now the object of our contemplation. To ad- 
 vance Jehovah's glory in the salvation of men, is the purpose of 
 its erection. Though earth is the scene and human life the limit, 
 of those great operations by which they are interested in its mer- 
 cies, and prepared for its consummation; its principles, its provi- 
 sions, its issues, are eternal. When it rises up before us in all its 
 grandeur of design, collecting and conducting to the heavens of 
 God millions of immortals, in comparison with the least of whom 
 the destruction of the material universe were a thing of naught, 
 whatever the carnal mind calls vast and magnificent shrinks away 
 into nothing. 
 
 But it is not so much the nature of Messiah's kingdom on which 
 I am to insist, as its stability, its administration, and the prospects 
 which they open to the church of God. 
 
 Messiah's throne is not one of those airy fabrics which are reared 
 by vanity and overthrown by time : it is (Ixed of old : it is stable 
 and cannot be shaken, for, 
 
 (1.) It is the throne of God. He who sitteth on it is the Omni- 
 potent. Universal being is in his hand. Revolution, force, fear, 
 
130 SERMON VII. 
 
 as applied to his kingdom, are words without meaning. Rise up 
 in rebellion, if thou hast courage. Associate with thee the whole 
 mass of infernal power. Begin with the ruin of whatever is fair 
 and good in this little globe — pass from hence to pluck the sun 
 out of his place — and roll the volume of desolation through the 
 starry world — What hast thou done unto him ? It is the puny 
 menace of a worm against him whose frown is perdition. " He 
 that sitteth in the heavens shall laugh." 
 
 (2.) With the stability which Messiah's Godhead communicates 
 to his throne, let us connect the stability resulting from his 
 Father's covenant. 
 
 His throne is founded not merely in strength, but in right. God 
 hath laid the government upon the shoulder of his holy child Jesus, 
 and set him upon Mount Zion as his king for ever. He has pro- 
 mised and sworn, to " build up his throne to all generations ;" to 
 " make it endure as the days of heaven ;" to " beat down his foes 
 before his face, and plague them that hate him. But my faithful- 
 ness," adds he, "and my mercy shall be with him, and in my 
 name shall his horn be exalted. Hath he said it, and will he not 
 do it? Hath he spoken it, and shall it not come to pass?" What- 
 ever disappointments rebuke the visionary projects of men, or the 
 more crafty schemes of Satan, " the counsel of the Lord, that shall 
 stand." The blood of sprinkling, which sealed all the promises 
 made to Messiah, and binds down his Fathers faithfulness to their 
 accomplishment, witnesses continually in the heavenly sanctuary. 
 " He must," therefore, " reign till he have put all his enemies under 
 his feet." And although the dispensation of his authority shall, 
 upon this event, be changed: and he shall deliver it up, in its 
 present form, to the Father, he shall still remain, in his substantial 
 glory, " a priest Upon his throne," to be the eternal bond of our 
 nnion, and the eternal medium of our fellowship, with the living 
 God. 
 
 Seeing that the throne of our King is as immovable as it is 
 exalted, let us " with joy draw water out of that well of salvation" 
 which is opened to us in the 
 
 Administration of his kingdom. ere we must consider its 
 general characters, and the means by which it operates. 
 
 The general characters which I shall illustrate, are the following : 
 
 (1.) Mystery. — He is the unsearchable God, and his govern- 
 
; MESSIAH'S THliONE. 131 
 
 raent must be like himself. Facts concerning both he has graci- 
 ously revealed. These we must admit upon the credit oi' his own 
 testimony; with these we must satisfy our wishes, and limit our 
 inquiry. " To intrude into those things which he hath not seen," 
 because God has not disclosed them, whether they relate to his 
 arrangements for this world or the next, is the arrogance of one 
 "vainly puffed up by his fleshly mind." There are secrets in our 
 Lord's procedure which he will not explain to us in this life, and 
 which may not, perhaps, be explained in the life to come. We 
 cannot tell how he makes evil the minister of good : how he com- 
 bines physical and moral agencies of different kind and order, in 
 the production of blessings. We cannot so much as conjecture 
 what bearings the system of redemption, in every part of its pro- 
 cess, may have upon the relations of the universe ; nor even what 
 may be all the connections of providence in the occurrences of this 
 moment, or of the last. " Such knowledge is too wonderful for us : 
 it is high, we cannot attain it." Our Sovereign's way " is in the 
 sea, and his path in the deep waters ; and his footsteps are not 
 known." When, therefore, we are surrounded with difficulty ; 
 when we cannot unriddle his conduct in particular dispensations, 
 we must remember that he is God ; that we are to " walk by faith;" 
 and to trust him as implicitly when we are in " the valley of the 
 shadow of death," as when his candle " shines upon our heads." 
 — We must remember that it is not for us to be admitted into tin: 
 cabinet of the King of kings ; that creatures constituted as we are 
 could not sustain the view of his un vailed agency ; that it would 
 confound, and scatter, and annihilate our little intellects. As 
 often, then, as he retires from our observation, blending goodness 
 with majesty, let us lay our hands upon our mouths, and worship. 
 This stateliness of our King can afford us no just ground of un- 
 easiness. On the contrary, it contributes to our tranquillity: For 
 we know, 
 
 (2.) That if his administration is mysterious it is also wise. 
 
 "Great is our Lord and of great power; his understanding is 
 infinite." That infinite understanding watches over, and arranges, 
 and directs all the affairs of his church and of the world. We are 
 perplexed at every step ; embarrassed by opposition ; lost in con- 
 fusion ; fretted by disappointment ; and ready to conclude in our 
 haste, that all things arc against our own good and our Master's 
 
132 SERMON VII. 
 
 honour. But this is our infirmity; it is the dictate of impatience 
 and indiscretion. We forget the " years of the right hand of the 
 Most High." We are slow of heart in learning a lesson which 
 shall soothe our spirits at the expense of our pride. We turn 
 away from the consolation to be derived from believing that 
 though we know not the connections and results of holy provi- 
 dence, our Lord Jesus knows them perfectly. With him there is 
 no irregularity, no chance, no conjecture. Disposed before his eye 
 in the most luminous and exquisite order, the whole series of 
 events occupy the very place and crisis where they are most 
 effectually to subserve the purposes of his love. Not a moment 
 of time is wasted, nor a fragment of action misapplied. What he 
 does we do not indeed know at present, but, as far as we shall be 
 permitted to know hereafter, we shall see that his most inscrutable 
 procedure was guided by consummate wisdom; that our choice 
 was often as foolish as our petulance was provoking ; that the suc- 
 cess of our own wishes would have been our most painful chas- 
 tisement, would have diminished our happiness and detracted 
 from his praise. Let us study, therefore, brethren, to subject our 
 ignorance to his knowledge; instead of prescribing, to obey; 
 instead of questioning, to believe : to perform our part without that 
 despondency which betrays a fear that our Lord may neglect his, 
 and tacitly accuses him of a less concern than we feel for the glory 
 of his own name. Let us not shrink from this duty as imposing 
 too rigorous a condition upon our obedience, for a 
 
 (3.) Character of Messiah's administration is righteousness. 
 " The sceptre of his kingdom is a right sceptre." If " clouds and 
 darkness are round about him, righteousness and judgment are 
 the habitation of his throne." In the times of old, his redeemed 
 " wandered in the wilderness in a solitary way ; but, nevertheless, 
 lie led them forth by the right way, that they might go to a city 
 of habitation." He loves his church and the members of it too 
 tenderly to lay upon them any burdens, or expose them to any 
 trials, which are not indispensable to their good. It is right for 
 them to "go through fire and through water," that he may " bring 
 them out into a wealthy place" — right to "endure chastening" 
 that " they may be partakers of his holiness" — right to " have the 
 sentence of death in themselves," that they may "trust in the 
 living God, and that his strength may be perfect in their weak- 
 
MESSIAH'S THRONE, 133 
 
 ness." It is right that he should " endure with much long-suffer- 
 ing the vessels of wrath fitted to destruction :" that he should 
 permit " iniquity to abound, the love of many to wax cold," and 
 the dangers of his church to accumulate, till the interposition of 
 his arm be necessary and decisive. In the day of final retribution 
 not one mouth shall be opened to complain of injustice. It will 
 be seen that " the Judge of all the earth has done right ; that the 
 works of his hands have been verity and judgment," and done 
 every one of them, in " truth and uprightness." Let us, then, 
 think not only respectfully but reverently of his dispensations, re- 
 press the voice of murmur, and rebuke the spirit of discontent ; 
 wait, in faith and patience, till he become his own interpreter, 
 when " the heavens shall declare his righteousness, and all the 
 people see his glory." 
 
 You will anticipate me in enumerating the means which Messiah 
 employs in the administration of his kingdom. 
 
 (1.) The gospel, of which himself, as an all-sufficient and con- 
 descending Saviour, is the great and affecting theme. Derided by 
 the world, it is, nevertheless, effectual to the salvation of them 
 who believe. " We preach Christ crucified to the Jews a stum- 
 bling-block, and to the Greeks foolishness ; but to them who arc 
 called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God, and the 
 wisdom of God." The doctrine of the cross connected with evan- 
 gelical ordinances ; the ministry of reconciliation ; the holy Sab- 
 bath; the sacraments of his covenant: briefly the whole system of 
 instituted worship is the " rod of the Redeemer's strength" by 
 which he subdues sinners to himself; rules even "in the midst of 
 his enemies ;" exercises his glorious authority in his church, and 
 exhibits a visible proof to men and angels, that he is King in Zion. 
 
 (2.) The efficient means to which the gospel owes its success, 
 and the name of Jesus its praise, is the agency of the Holy Ghost. 
 
 Christianity is " the ministration of the Spirit." All real and 
 sanctifying knowledge of the truth and love of God is from his 
 inspiration. It was the last and best promise which the Saviour 
 made to his afflicted disciples at the moment of parting,—" I will 
 send the Comforter, the Spirit of truth ; He shall glorify me, for 
 he shall take of mine and shall show it unto you." It is he who 
 " convinces the world of sin, of righteousness, and of judgment" 
 — who infuses resistless vigour into means otherwise weak and 
 
134 SERMON VII. 
 
 useless. " For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but 
 mighty through God, God the Spirit, to the pulling down of 
 strongholds." Without his benediction, the ministry of an arch- 
 angel would never " convert one sinner from the error of his 
 way.'' But when he descends, with his life-giving influence from 
 God out of heaven, then " foolish things of the world confound 
 the wise, and w r eak things of the world confound the things which 
 are mighty ; and base things of the world, and things which are 
 despised, yea, and things which are not, bring to naught things 
 which are." It is this ministration of the Spirit which renders 
 the preaching of the gospel to " men dead in trespasses and sins 
 a reasonable service." When I am set down in the " valley of 
 vision," and view the bones, " very many and very dry,'' and am 
 desired to try the effect of my own ability in recalling them to life, 
 T will fold my hands and stand mute in astonishment and despair. 
 But when the Lord God commands me to speak in his name, my 
 closed lips shall be opened ; when he calls upon " the breath from 
 the four winds to breathe upon the slain that they may live," I will 
 prophecy without fear — " ye dry bones, hear the word of the 
 Lord," and, obedient to his voice, they " shall come together, bone 
 to his bone; shall be covered with sinews and flesh;'' shall receive 
 new life, and " and stand up upon their feet, an exceeding great 
 army." In this manner, from the graves of nature, and the dry 
 iior.L's of natural men, does the Holy Spirit recruit the " armies of 
 the living God," and make them, collectively and individually, " a 
 name, and a praise, and a glory, to the Captain of their salvation." 
 3.) Among the instruments which the Lord Jesus employs in 
 the administration of his government, are " the resources of the 
 physical and moral world." 
 
 Supreme in heaven and in earth, " upholding all things by the 
 word of his powder," the universe is his magazine of means. 
 Nothing which acts or exists, is exempted from promoting in its 
 own place the purposes of his kingdom. Beings rational and 
 irrational; animate and inanimate; the heavens above and the 
 earth below ; the obedience of sanctified, and the disobedience of 
 unsanctified, men ; all holy spirits ; all damned spirits ; in one 
 word, every agency, every element, every atom, are but the mini- 
 sters of his will, aud concur in the execution of his designs. And 
 this he will demonstrate to the confusion of his enemies, and the 
 
MESSIAH'S THRONE. 135 
 
 joy of his people, in that " great and terrible day when he shall 
 sit upon the throne of his glory," and dispense ultimate judgment 
 to the quick and the dead. 
 
 Upon these hills of holiness, the stability of Messiah's throne, 
 and the perfect administration of his kingdom, let us take our 
 station, and survey the 
 
 Prospects which rise up before the church of God. 
 
 When I look upon the magnificent scene, I cannot repress the 
 salutation, " Hail thou that art highly favoured !" 
 
 She has the prospect of preservation, of increase and of triumph. 
 
 (1.) The prospect of preservation. 
 
 The long existence of the Christian church would be pronounced, 
 upon common principles, of reasoning impossible. She finds in 
 every man a natural and inveterate enemy. To encounter and 
 overcome the unanimous hostility of the world, she boasts no 
 political stratagem, no disciplined legions, no outward coercion of 
 any kind. Yet her expectation is that she shall live for ever. To 
 mock this hope, and blot out her memorial from under heaven, the 
 most furious efforts of fanaticism, the most ingenious arts of 
 statesmen, the concentrated strength of empires, have been fre- 
 quently and perseveringly applied. The blood of her sons and 
 her daughters has streamed like water ; the smoke of the scaffold 
 and the stake, where they won the crown of martyrdom in the 
 cause of Jesus, has ascended in thick volumes to the skies. The 
 tribes of persecution have sported over her woes, and erected monu- 
 ments, as they imagined, of her perpetual ruin. But where are 
 her tyrants, and where their empires ? the tyrants have long since 
 gone to their own place ; their names have descended upon the roll 
 of infamy; their empires have passed like shadows over the rock — 
 they have successively disappeared, and left not a trace behind! 
 
 But what became of the church ? She rose from her ashes fresh 
 in beauty and in might. Celestial glory be?med around her; she 
 dashed down the monumental marble of her foes, and they who 
 hated her fled before her. She has celebrated the funeral of kings 
 and kingdoms that plotted her destruction; and, with the inscrip- 
 tions of their pride, has transmitted to posterity the record of their 
 shame. How shall this phenomenon be explained ? We are at 
 the present moment, witnesses of the fact; but who can unfold the 
 mystery? This blessed book, the book of truth and life, has made 
 
136 SERMON VII. 
 
 our wonder to cease. " The Lord her God in the midst of her is 
 mighty." His presence is a fountain of health, and his protection 
 a " wall of fire. He has betrothed her, in eternal covenant, to 
 himself. Her living head, in whom she lives, is above, and his 
 quickening Spirit shall never depart from her. Armed with divine 
 virtue, his gospel — secret, silent, unobserved — enters the hearts of 
 men and sets up an everlasting kingdom. It eludes all the vigi- 
 lance, and baffles all the power, of the adversary. Bars, and bolts, 
 and dungeons are no obstacle to its approach : Bonds, and tortures, 
 aud death cannot extinguish its influence. Let no man's heart 
 tremble then, because of fear. Let no man despair, in these days 
 of rebuke and blasphemy, of the Christian cause. The ark is 
 launched, indeed, upon the floods ; the tempest sweeps along the 
 deep ; the billows break over her on every side. But Jehovah- 
 Jesus has promised to conduct her in safety to the haven of peace. 
 She cannot be lost unless the pilot perish. Why then do the 
 heathen rage, and the people " imagine a vain thing ?" Hear, 
 Zion, the word of thy God, and rejoice for the consolation. " No 
 weapon that is formed against thee shall prosper, and every tongue 
 that shall rise against thee in judgment thou shalt condemn. This 
 is the heritage of the servants of the Lord, and their righteousness 
 is of me saith the Lord." 
 
 Mere preservation, however, though a most comfortable, is not 
 the only hope of the church; she has 
 
 (2.) The prospect of increase. 
 
 Increase — from an effectual blessing upon the means of grace in 
 places where they are already enjoyed : for thus saith the Lord, 
 " I will pour water upon him that is thirsty, and floods upon the 
 dry ground : I will pour my spirit upon thy seed, and my blessing 
 upon thine offspring ; and they shall spring up as among the grass, 
 as willows by the water-courses." 
 
 Increase — from the diffusion of evangelical truth through pagan 
 lauds. " 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 seen upon thee. And the Gentiles shall come to 
 thy light, and kings to the brightness of thy rising. Lift up thine 
 eyes round about and see: all they gather themselves together, 
 they come to thee : thy sons shall come from far, and thy daughters 
 shall be nursed at thy side. Then thou shalt see, and flow together, 
 
MESSIAH'S TH» )NE . 1 :) 7 
 
 and thine heart shall fear, and be enlarged ; because the abundance 
 of the sea shall be converted unto thee, the forces of the Gentiles 
 shall come unto thee." 
 
 Increase — from the recovery of the rejected Jews to the faith 
 and privileges of God's dear children. " Blindness in part has 
 happened unto Israel;" they have been cut oil", for their unbelief, 
 from the olive-tree. Age has followed age, and they remain to 
 this hour, spread over the face of the earth, a fearful and affecting 
 testimony to the truth of God's word. They are without their 
 sanctuary, without their Messiah, without the hope of their 
 believing ancestors. But it shall not be always thus. They are 
 still "beloved for the fathers' sake." When the "fulness of the 
 Gentiles shall come in," they, too, shall be gathered. They shall 
 discover, in our Jesus, the marks of the promised Messiah ; and 
 with tenderness proportioned to their former insensibility, shall 
 cling to his cross. Grafted again into their own olive-tree, "AH 
 Israel shall be saved." It w r as "through their fall that salvation 
 came unto us Gentiles." And, "if the casting away of them be 
 the reconciliation of the world, what shall the receiving of them be 
 but life from the dead ?" What ecstacy, my brethren! the Gentile 
 and the Jew taking "sweet counsel together, and going to the 
 house of God in company ! the path of the swift messenger of 
 grace marked, in every direction, by the " fulness of the blessing 
 of the gospel of Christ — a nation born at once" — the children of 
 Zion exclaiming, "The place is too strait for me: give place to me 
 that I may dwell." The knowledge of Jehovah overspreading the 
 earth "as the waters cover the sea;" and all flesh enjoying the 
 salvation of God ! 
 
 This faith ushers in a 
 
 (3.) Prospect of the Church ; the prospect of triumph. 
 
 Though often desolate, and "afflicted, tossed with tempest and 
 not comforted," the Lord her God will then "make her an eternal 
 excellency," and repay her sorrows with triumph — 
 
 Triumph— in complete victory over the enemies who sought her 
 hurt. "The nation and kingdom," saith the Lord, " that will not 
 serve thee shall perish: yea, those nations shall be utterly wasted."' 
 —The sons also of them that afflicted thee shall come bending unto 
 thee; and all they that despised thee shall bow themselves down 
 at the soles of thy feet ; and they shall call thee the city of the 
 
138 SERMON VII. 
 
 Lord, the Zion of the Holy One of Israel." That great enemy of 
 her purity and her peace, who shed the blood of her saints and her 
 prophets, the man of sin " who has exalted himself above all that 
 is called God," shall appear, in the whole horror of his doom as 
 the "son of perdition, whom the Lord shall consume with the 
 spirit of his mouth, and shall destroy with the brightness of his 
 coming." The terrible but joyous event shall be announced by 
 an angel from heaven u crying mightily with a strong voice, 
 Babylon the great is fallen, is fallen!" Alleluia, shall be the 
 response of the church universal, " Salvation, and glory, and honour, 
 and power, unto the Lord our God ; for true and righteous are his 
 judgments; for he hath judged the great whore which did corrupt 
 the earth with her fornication, and hath avenged the blood of his 
 servants at her hand !" Then, too, " the accuser of the brethren ; 
 that old serpent which is the devil," shall be cast down, "and 
 bound a thousand years that he shall deceive the nations no more." 
 This will introduce the church's. 
 
 Triumph — in the prevalence of righteousness and peace through- 
 out the world. 
 
 " Her people shall be all righteous." The voice of the blas- 
 phemer shall no longer insult her ear. Iniquity as ashamed shall 
 stop its mouth, and hide its head. " All her officers shall be peace, 
 and all her exactors, righteousness. The kings of the earth 
 bringing their glory and honour unto her," shall accomplish the 
 gracious promise. " The mountains shall bring peace to the 
 people, and the little hills by righteousness." Her prince whose 
 throne is for ever and ever, " shall judge among the nations, and 
 shall rebuke many people ; and they shall beat their swords into 
 ploughshares, and their spears into pruning hooks : nation shall 
 not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war any 
 more!" Every man shall meet, in every other man, a brother 
 without dissimulation. Fear and the sword shall be far away, 
 " they shall sit every man under his vine, and under his fig-tree, 
 and none shall make them afraid." For thus saith the Lord, 
 " Violence shall no more be heard in thy land, wasting nor destruc- 
 tion within thy borders ; but thou shalt call thy walls, Salvation, 
 and thy gates, Praise." 
 
 Triumph — in the presence of God, in the communion of his love, 
 and the signal manifestation of his glory.'' — " Behold, the tabernacle 
 
MESSIAH'S THE ONE. 139 
 
 of God shall be with men. and he will dwell with them, and they 
 shall be his people, and God himself shall be with them, and be 
 their God." Then shall be seen " the holy Jerusalem descending 
 out of heaven from God, which shall have no need of the sun, 
 neither of the moon, to shine in it ; for the glory of God shall 
 lighten it, and the Lamb shall be the light thereof. And the 
 nations of them which are saved shall walk in the light of it, — 
 and they shall bring the glory and honour of the nation into it ; 
 and there shall in no wise enter into it anything that defileth 
 neither whatsoever worketh abomination, or maketh a lie : but 
 they which are written in the Lamb's book' of life." 
 
 Such, according to the sure word of prophecy, will be the 
 triumphs of Christianity ; and to this issue all scriptural efforts 
 to evangelize the heathen contribute their share. That mind is 
 profane, indeed, which repels the sentiment of awe ; and hard is 
 the heart which feels no bland emotion — But let us pause — You 
 exult, perhaps, in the view of that happiness which is reserved for 
 the human race ; you long for its arrival ; and are eager, in your 
 place, to help on the gracious work. It is well. But are there no 
 heathen in this assembly? Are there none who, in the midst of 
 their zeal for foreign missions, forget their own souls ; nor consider 
 that they themselves "neglect the great salvation?" Remember, 
 my brethren, that a man may be active in measures which shall 
 subserve the conversion of others, and yet perish in his own ini- 
 quity. That very gospel which you desire to send to the heathen, 
 must be the gospel of your salvation ; it must turn " you from 
 darkness to light, from the power of Satan unto God ;" it must 
 make "you meet for the inheritance of the saints," or it shall 
 fearfully aggravate your condemnation at last. You pray, " Thy 
 kingdom come." But is the "kingdom of God within you?" Is 
 the Lord Jesus "in you, the hope of glory?" Be not deceived. 
 The name of Christian will not save you. Better had it been for 
 you "not to have known the way of righteousness" — better to have 
 been the most idolatrous pagan— better, infinitely better, not to 
 have been born, than to die strangers to the pardon of the Re- 
 deemer's blood, and the sanctifying virtue of his Spirit. From his 
 throne on high he calls ; calls, my brethren, to you ; " Look unto 
 me, and be ye saved, for I am God, and there is none else. Seek 
 ye the Lord while he may be found; call ye upon him while he is 
 
140 SERMON VII. 
 
 near; let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man 
 his thoughts, and let him return unto the Lord, and he will have 
 mercy upon him ; and to our God, for he will abundantly pardon." 
 
 On the other hand, such as have " fled for refuge to lay hold on 
 the hope set before them," are commanded to be "joyful in their 
 King." He reigns, believer, for thee. The stability of his 
 throne is thy safety. The administration of his government is for 
 thy good; and the precious pledge that he "will perfect that 
 which concerneth thee." In all thy troubles and in all thy joy 
 "commit thy way unto him." He will guard the sacred deposit. 
 Fear not that thou shalt " lack any good thing." Fear not that 
 thou shalt be forsaken — fear not that that thou shalt fall beneath 
 the " arm of the oppressor." — " He went through the lires of the 
 pit to save thee; and he will stake all the glories of his crown to 
 keep thee." Sing, then, thou beloved, " Behold, God is my salva- 
 tion; I will trust, and not be afraid; for the Lord Jehovah is my 
 strength and my song; he also is become my salvation." 
 
 And if we have " tasted that he is gracious : if we look back 
 with horror and transport upon the wretchedness and the wrath 
 which we have escaped, with what anxiety shall we not hasten to 
 the aid of our fellow-men, who are " sitting in the region and 
 shadow of death?" What zeal will be too ardent; what labour 
 too persevering; what sacrifice too costly, if, by any means, we 
 may tell them of Jesus, and the resurrection, and the life eternal ? 
 Who shall be daunted by difficulties, or deterred by discourage- 
 ment? If but one pagan should be brought, savingly, by your 
 instrumentality, to the knowledge of God and the kingdom of 
 heaven, will you not, my brethren, have an ample recompense? 
 Is there here a man who would give up all for lost because some 
 favourite hope has been disappointed; or who regrets the worldly 
 substance which he has expended on so divine an enterprise? 
 Shame on thy coward spirit and thine avaricious heart ! Do the 
 holy Scriptures, does the experience of ages, does the nature of 
 things, justify the expectation, that we shall carry war into the 
 central regions of delusion and crime, without opposition, without 
 trial? Show me a plan which encounters not fierce resistance 
 from the prince of darkness and his allies in the human heart, and 
 I will show you a plan which never came from the inspiration of 
 God. If missionary effort suffer occasional embarrassment; if 
 
MESSIAH'S THRONE. 141 
 
 impressions on the heathen be less speedy, and powerful, and 
 extensive, than fond wishes have anticipated: if particular parts 
 of the great system of operation be at times disconcerted : if any 
 of the ministers of grace fall a sacrifice to the violence of those 
 whom they go to bless "in the name of the Lord;" these are 
 events which ought to exercise our faith and patience ; to wean us 
 from self-sufficiency; to teach us where our strength lies, and 
 where our dependence must be fixed ; but not to enfeeble hope, 
 nor relax diligence. Let us not " despise the day of small things." 
 Let us not overlook, as an unimportant matter, the very existence 
 of that missionary spirit which has already awakened Christians 
 in different countries from their long and dishonourable slumbers, 
 and bids fair to produce, in due season, a general movement of the 
 Church upon earth- Let us not for one instant harbour the 
 ungracious thought, that the prayers, and tears, and wrestlings of 
 those who " make mention of the Lord " form no link in that vast 
 chain of events by which he " will establish, and will make Jeru- 
 salem a praise in the earth. That dispensation which of all others 
 is most repulsive to flesh and blood, the violent death of faithful 
 missionaries, should animate Christians with new resolution. 
 " Precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of his saints." 
 The cry of martyred blood ascends the heavens ; it enters into " the 
 ears of the Lord of Sabaoth. It will give him no rest till he " rain 
 down righteousness " upon the land where it has been shed, and 
 which it has sealed as a future conquest for him who "in his 
 majesty rides prosperously because of truth, and meekness, and 
 righteousness." 
 
 For the world, indeed, and perhaps for the Church, many cala- 
 mities and trials are in store, before the glory of the Lord shall be 
 so revealed, that " all flesh shall see it together."—" I will shake 
 all nations," is the divine declaration — "I will shake all nations, 
 and the desire of all nations shall come." The vials of wrath 
 which are now running, and others which remain to be poured out, 
 must be exhausted. The "supper of the greal God" must be 
 prepared, and his "strange work" have its course. Yet the mis- 
 sionary cause must ultimately succeed. It is the cause of God, 
 and shall prevail. The days, brethren, roll rapidly on, when the 
 shout of the isles shall swell the thunder of the continent: when 
 the Thames and the Danube, when the Tiber and the Rhine, shall 
 
142 SERMON VII. 
 
 call upon Euphrates, the Ganges, and the Nile; and the loud 
 concert shall be joined by the Hudson, the Mississipi, and the 
 Amazon, singing with one heart and one voice, Alleluia ! Salva- 
 tion ! The Lord God omnipotent reigneth ! 
 
 Comfort one another with this faith, and with these words : 
 Now, " Blessed be the Lord God, the God of Israel, who only 
 doeth wondrous things. And blessed be his glorious name for 
 ever: let the whole earth be filled with his glory! Amen and 
 Amen!" 
 
SERMON VIII.* 
 
 CHRISTIAN MOURNING. 
 
 1 THESS. 13, 14. 
 
 "I would not have you to be ignorant, brethren, concerning them which are 
 asleep ; that ye sorrow nut even as others which have no hope. For if we 
 believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so them also which sleep in Jesus 
 will God bring with him. 
 
 Christianity founds her claim to general reception upon doctrines 
 most abasing to human pride, and facts calculated rather to repel 
 than to invite human credulity. Her cardinal doctrine, which all 
 the rest subserve, is the justification of a sinner, his deliverance 
 from the bondage of his sin, and perfect happiness in heaven, 
 through faith in a Saviour who himself fell a victim to his enemies, 
 and expired, as a malefactor, under the infamy of the cross. No- 
 thing more repugnant to their preconceived notions was ever 
 proclaimed in the ears of men. It is the object of their dislike, 
 their derision, and their scorn. " We preach," says the apostle, 
 " we preach Christ crucified ; unto the Jews a stumbling-block, 
 and unto the Greeks foolishness ! " So it was at the beginning ; 
 so it is at the present hour; and so it will remain to the end. 
 
 The cardinal fact of Christianity, without which all her other 
 facts lose their importance, is the resurrection from the dead of this 
 same crucified Saviour, as the prelude, the pattern, and the pledge 
 of the resurrection of his followers to eternal life. Against this 
 great fact the " children of disobedience," from the Pharisees of 
 Jerusalem down to the scoffers of New York, have levelled their 
 batteries. One assails its proof; another, its reasonableness ; all, 
 its truth. When Paul asserted it before an audience of Athenian 
 philosophers, "some mocked" — a short method of refuting the 
 
 * Occasioned by the death of Mrs Isabella Graham; and Preaohed on the 
 
 Evening of Sabbath, August 14, 1614. 
 
144 SERMON VIII. 
 
 gospel ; and likely, from its convenience, to continue in favour and 
 in fashion- 
 Yet with such doctrines and facts did the religion of Jesus make 
 her way through the world. Against the superstition of the mul- 
 titude — against the interest, influence, and craft of their priesthood 
 —against the ridicule of wits, the reasoning of sages, the policy of 
 cabinets, and the prowess of armies — against the axe, the cross, 
 and the slake, she extended her conquests from Jordan to the 
 Thames. She gathered her laurels alike upon the snows of 
 Scythia, the green fields of Europe, and the sands of Africa. The 
 altars of impiety crumbled before her march — the glimmer of the 
 schools disappeared in her light — Power felt his arm wither at her 
 glance ; and, in a short time, she who went, forlorn and insulted, 
 from the hill of Calvary to the tomb of Joseph, ascended the im- 
 perial throne, and waved her banner over the palace of the Caesars. 
 Her victories were not less benign than decisive. They were vic- 
 tories over all that pollutes, degrades, and ruins man ; in behalf of 
 all that purines, exalts, and saves him. They subdued his under- 
 standing to truth, his habits to rectitude, his heart to happiness. 
 In an appeal to that of which they were unexceptional judges, 
 their own experience, Paul thus exclaims to the believers of Thes- 
 salonica : " They themselves show of us what manner of entering 
 in we had unto you ; and how ye turned to God from idols, to 
 serve the living and true God; and to wait for his Son from 
 heaven, whom he raised from the dead, even Jesus, who delivers 
 us from the wrath to come." 
 
 The change from pagan to Christian character; from midnight 
 darkness to light in the Lord, was abundantly visible, and not to 
 be explained but upon the principles of Christianity itself. Yet 
 without detracting from its magnitude, or from the glory of those 
 divine influences which produced it, we may be allowed to question 
 whether we are not prone to look upon the primitive converts as hav- 
 ing reached an eminence in knowledge and purity, consistent, under 
 their circumstances, neither with the general laws of our nature, 
 nor with the testimony of holy writ. Falling short of them in 
 zeal, in love, in promptitude of action, in patience of suffering, we 
 regard them as a sort of human angels with whom we may not 
 venture to claim connection. But when emotion yields to thought 
 and reason balances facts, we recover from the fond illusion. We 
 
CHRISTIAN MOURNING. 14"» 
 
 see them to have been men of like passions with ourselves; sub- 
 ject to erroneous conceptions, to rash judgments, to groundless 
 fears, to irregular conduct. Let the Thessalonian Christians be 
 our example. Collected from Jews and Gentiles, they could not 
 rid themselves, at once, of their old prepossessions. Now and then, 
 the Jewish tradition or the pagan feeling would obtrude into the 
 sanctuary of their consolation in Christ. Some of them, led by a 
 then popular opinion, that their Lord was shortly to appear, and 
 tinctured with the doctrine of the Rabbins, mourned over the sup- 
 posed diminution of happiness to their friends who had died with- 
 out beholding the glorious advent of the Messiah's reign. Others, 
 through the recurrence of early impressions, the objections of their 
 heathen neighbours, and, it may be, the assiduities of false 
 teachers, seem to have been drawn into doubts concerning the 
 resurrection itself, and, of course, the safety of their friends who 
 had died in faith. The native tendency of such apprehensions 
 was to weigh down their spirits 5 to check their ardour ; to shake 
 their constancy under persecution ; and to make them, instead of 
 being " faithful unto the death," begin to think themselves " of all 
 men the most miserable." 
 
 To rectify their mistake and establish them under their trial, is 
 the design of the text. And although it was originally addressed 
 to the Thessalonians ; yet it is the common property of Christians, 
 and was " written for our learning, that we, through patience and 
 comfort of the Scriptures, might have hope." Let us, then, ponder 
 its import. In general it contains an affectionate counsel, with the 
 reasons thereof, against depression of heart at the death of believ- 
 ing friends. 
 
 1. The counsel of the text is, so to cherish the knowledge of the 
 gospel, as that our hearts shall not be depressed by the death of 
 believers; but that there shall be an immeasurable distance between 
 our grief and the grief of unbelievers. " I would not," says Paul, 
 "have you to be ignorant, brethren, concerning them which are 
 asleep ; that ye sorrow not even as others which have no hope." 
 
 That we may have a correct view of the importance of this 
 counsel, let us briefly develope its leading principle. 
 
 Death is, in itself, a most serious and distressful event. It is 
 nature's supreme evil— the abhorrence of God's creation— a monster 
 from whose touch and sight every living thing recoils. So that to 
 
146 SERMON VIII. 
 
 shrink from its ravages upon ourselves or upon those whom we 
 love, is not an argument of weakness, but an act of obedience to 
 the first law of being ; a tribute to the value of that life which is 
 our Maker's gift. 
 
 The disregard which some of old affected to whatever goes by 
 the name of evil; the insensibility of others who yield up their 
 souls to the power of fatalism ; and the artificial gayety which has, 
 occasionally, played the comedian about the dying bed of " philo- 
 sophy, falsely so called," are outrages upon decency and nature. 
 Death destroys both action and enjoyment; mocks at wisdom, 
 strength, and beauty ; disarranges our plans ; robs us of our 
 treasures ; desolates our bosoms ; breaks our heartstrings ; blasts 
 our hope. Death extinguishes the glow of kindness ; abolishes 
 the most tender relations of man ; severs him from all that he 
 knows and loves ; subjects him to an ordeal which thousands of 
 millions have passed, but none can explain ; and which will be as 
 new to the last who gives up the ghost, as it was to murdered 
 Abel ; flings him, in fine, without any avail from the experience of 
 others, into a state of untried being. No wonder that nature 
 trembles before it. Reason justifies the fear. Religion never 
 makes light of it ; and he who does, instead of ranking with heroes, 
 can hardly deserve to rank with a brute. % 
 
 Yet it is not the amount of actual suffering inflicted by the loss 
 of those who are dear to us as our own souls that constitutes the 
 chief pain of the privation. Death might "come up into our 
 windows ;" might rend from our embraces, and bear away, amidst 
 our unavailing lamentations, all that our tenderest affections cling 
 to here below ; and the stroke would fall with comparative lightness, 
 were its effect but temporary. It is from futurity that Grief, like 
 Consolation, derives her power. The tears of separation will the 
 more easily dry up, and be succeeded by the calm of cheerfulness, 
 when we expect to regain what we have lost. But when there is 
 no such expectation ; when the treasure ravished from us can 
 neither be restored nor replaced ; it is then that nature sickens, 
 and joy descends to the tomb. Ah ! who can paint the anguish 
 of the last look ! Who can endure, at parting, the distractions of 
 that word, "forever!" Who, that has any thought of hereafter — 
 that but inclines to the belief that man dieth not as a beast dieth, 
 can sustain the rackings of wild uncertainty, unable to surmise 
 
CHRISTIAN MOURNING, 117 
 
 whither the beloved one is gone, and to what condition of 
 being? 
 
 This was the state of the poor pagans; " others the rest, those 
 that are without," as the apostle terms them. In the death of their 
 friends they had no hope. Not that they were altogether without 
 the notion of the existence of a soul detached from its body, or of 
 happiness in a life to come. Tradition, fortified by the yearnings 
 of nature, had preserved among the vulgar, the poets, and a few 
 sober philosophers, something of distant kin to the truth. But all 
 their conceptions were so obscure, so unwarranted, and therefore 
 so unsatisfying, that they were rather the confused images of a 
 dream, than the clear representations of waking vision. They were 
 sufficient to agitate without convincing ; they possessed the tor- 
 ments of anxiety, without the possibility of certainty : and the hope 
 which they fostered, was, for every purpose of consolation and 
 peace, no hope at all. 
 
 1 . They knew nothing, whatever they might conjecture, of the 
 state of departed man. Whether his soul, his vital and rational 
 principle, survives the body ; whether it remains conscious after 
 death ; whether, if conscious, it possesses any power of retrospect 
 over earthly scenes; whether it is immortal; whether it enters, in 
 its new mode of being, upon a fixed state of sorrow or joy, of 
 shame or honour. On all these points the heathen were ignorant; 
 although many of them were not quite so unconcerned as numbers 
 who enjoy the pure light of the gospel, and boast of their liberal 
 attainments; but with whom, in that great and terrible day of the 
 Lord, the worst of the pagans would be unwilling to change places. 
 
 2. With the resurrection of the body the heathen was absolutely 
 unacquainted. Flesh and blood could not reveal it to them. 
 There are sighings, misgivings, reverential feelings towards the 
 dead, analogies of nature, which eagerly fall in with the doctrine 
 of the resurrection once made known ; but which could never lead 
 to the discovery, or even suspicion, of its truth. The apostles 
 who taught it, until God opened the eyes of their hearers, were 
 regarded as fanatics. In respect to the body, therefore Death 
 brought with him into every pagan house, dejection, horror, black 
 despondence. 
 
 Under these circumstances, what shall arrest the current <■( 
 "mourning, and lamentation, and woe? Where is the voice of 
 
148 SERMON VIII. 
 
 the comforter? or what bosom can find room for comfort, which 
 affords no entrance to hope ? Oh ! it is despair that kills ! 
 
 Such was paganism bending over the remains of a deceased 
 friend. Such, too, was Judaism, after it had rejected " the Hope 
 of Israel, and the Saviour thereof." Such are still the millions, 
 whether of Gentiles or Jews, who know not God. 
 
 And wherein have unbelievers among ourselves the pre-eminence? 
 W hat have they to gild their evening hour, to bind up their aching 
 head, to soothe their labouring heart ? What living hope descends 
 from heaven to smile on the sinking features, whisper peace to the 
 retiring spirit, and announce to the sad surrounding relatives that 
 all is well? There is none! Astonishment, dismay, melancholy 
 boding, are the " portion of their cup." Sit down, ye unhappy, in 
 the desolation of grief. Consolation heard the voice of your 
 weeping : she hastened to your door, but started back affrighted ; 
 her commission extends not to your house of mourning ; ye have 
 no hope ? * 
 
 But Christians, believers in the Lord Jesus, your condition is 
 widely different, and so must be your carriage. You, too, must 
 resign, many of you have already resigned, some of you very 
 recently, your believing friends to the stroke of death. You must 
 feel, have felt, the pang of separation. You are not forbidden to 
 mourn. The smitten heart will bleed ; the workings of nature must 
 have vent. It is right. Tears were not made that they should 
 never be shed ; nor the passion of grief implanted only to be 
 stifled. God's gifts to us in the persons of those whom he animates 
 with his love, beautifies with his image, and honours with his 
 communion, are too precious to be relinquished without emotion. 
 It would be a strange way of glorifying him for the best of his 
 earthly blessings, to behave, when they were removed, as if they 
 were not worth one thought. Nor could there be a fouler stain 
 upon the religion of the cross, than a tendency to extinguish 
 affections calculated, in a peculiar manner, to lessen the evils of 
 our miserable world. No! the "grace which bringeth salvation" 
 does not destroy, but restores the man. All that belongs to him, 
 excepting sin and its effects she acknowledges, regulates, exalts. 
 Jesus, the perfection of moral beauty, Jesus himself wept at the 
 tomb of his friend. He has dignified as well as vindicated, by his 
 example, the most sacred of our social feelings. And if we, sharing 
 
CHRISTIAN MOURNING. 1 19 
 
 his sympathy, weep at the tomb of those who are not less his 
 friends than our own. instead of falling beneath the level of profane 
 fortitude, we rise up to the grandeur of fellowship with the " Man 
 of sorrows." 
 
 Settle it, therefore, Christian brethren, as a principle not to be 
 shaken, that your religion disclaims alike all kindred with apathy 
 and with frenzy. Mourn you may when the " desire of your eyes" 
 goes down to the dust ; but you must not mourn as those " who 
 have no hope." For hope, even the sweetest hope that can lodge 
 in the human breast, is yours. Let your mourning, therefore, 
 be tempered, submissive, holy. Yield not to brooding sadness. 
 Transfer your tears from the cold face of your friend to the feet of 
 your Master, and there compose your souls to serenity and peace. 
 This is evangelical counsel; the counsel of my text. On what 
 grounds it is ottered; the reason why it, should have a complete 
 ascendancy over our minds, is the 
 
 II. Part of discourse. 
 
 " For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so them 
 also which sleep in Jesus will God bring with them." 
 
 The grounds of our consolation with respect to departed saints 
 are, the nature of their death ; their condition in and after it; and 
 the prospect of their glorious resurrection. 
 
 1. The very nature of death, as it comes to believers, is a source 
 of satisfaction ; an antidote to excessive sorrow. They sleep. 
 
 Not that we are to imagine, with some dreaming speculatists, 
 that the souls of the righteous remain unconscious and torpid 
 during the period which elapses between the death and resurrection 
 of their bodies. This cheerless doctrine, desirable to those only 
 whose hearts have never been warmed by the love of Christ, was 
 far enough from the faith and the theology of Paul. He had no 
 cause to congratulate the church, as he does in the twelfth chapter 
 of his epistle to the Hebrews, on her coming " to the spirits of just 
 men made perfect," if, instead of "beholding the face of God in 
 light and glory," they are inert and insensible as a clod. Nor 
 could he who longed to " depart and be with Christ," accounting 
 it the same thing to be "absent from the body, and to be present 
 with the Lord," suppose that all his faculties and affections were 
 to be suspended ; and all his opportunities of serving his adorable 
 
150 SERMON VIII. 
 
 Redeemer to be taken away, by death, for scores of centuries 
 together. The Lord have mercy upon them for whom such a 
 prospect has any charms ! 
 
 The apostle's words have quite another sound in the ears of 
 faith ; they are fraught with consolation fragrant as the breath of 
 the morning, refreshing as the dews of heaven. It is true — a 
 delightful truth — that the bodies of the saved, which at death their 
 souls leave in order to be with Jesus, do rest in their graves. But 
 it is chiefly in reference to their happy decease ; their safe and 
 comfortable departure, combined as it is with the death of the body, 
 that the scriptures say, They sleep. Blessed assurance ! Hear its 
 admonitions. 
 
 1st. Death brings no peril to a child of God, and ought to be no 
 more an object of his fear than the approach of sleep at the close 
 of day. I speak not of the physical pangs of dying, which relate 
 to our animal perceptions, and to which our animal part never can 
 nor should be reconciled, I speak of death as affecting our moral 
 being. In this view he is rightly named the "king of terrors; 1 ' 
 because, to ungodly men, he is the " wages of sin." It is from 
 guilt that he draws his terrifying power. He announces to the 
 wicked the end of their respite; the filling up of their cup; " a 
 certain fearful looking for of judgment and fiery indignation, 
 which shall devour the adversaries;" and if they be not alarmed, 
 if their faces gather not blackness, and their bosoms horror, it is 
 because they are " hardened by the deceitfulness of sin." Their 
 stupidity will only heighten the surprise and consternation of the 
 eternal world. But Jesus having delivered his people from the 
 wrath to come — delivered them by the blood of his cross — has for 
 them stripped death of his terrors, and given them authority to cry, 
 as he hands them over the threshold of life, " Death, where is 
 thy sting ? the sting of death is sin, and the strength of sin is the 
 law ; but thanks be to God who giveth us the victory through our 
 Lord Jesus Christ!" In such a case death deserves not the name. 
 It is but a sleep ; sleep in its most heavenly form ; sleep in Jesus. 
 
 2d. Death is to believers a cessation from their toils and griefs, 
 even as sleep is a repose from fatigue. 
 
 u We who are in this tabernacle do groan;" while the day lasts 
 we must bear its burden and its heat. I shall not dwell upon the 
 pains and endurances of a Christian soldier— his fight of faith— his 
 
CHRISTIAN MOURNING. 151 
 
 race for the prize — his conflict with flesh and blood; and, what is 
 more, with principalities and powers — his weakness, his weariness, 
 his wounds, his faintings. his falls, his recoveries; in a word, his 
 many and great vicissitudes. The point before us is, the end— it 
 is peace. So saith the Word of our God : " He shall enter into 
 peace ; they shall rest in their beds ; each one that walketh in his 
 uprightness." To others, death is, emphatically, the beginning of 
 sorrows— to a Christian, the termination. Grief and he have 
 parted. The hour of release is come. He bids adieu to the field 
 of battle. He puts off his harness ; and, " knowing that his labour 
 shall not be in vain,'' he lays his head on the bosom of the Captain 
 of his salvation, and goes quietly to sleep. " Blessed are the dead 
 who die in the Lord, that they may rest from their labours, and 
 their works do follow them." Thus, in the nature of a believer's 
 death there is ample reason why we should not be swallowed up of 
 over much sorrow. He sleeps. 
 
 2. His condition in and after death is another spring of our 
 consolation. He sleeps in Jesus. Here we ascertain two momen- 
 tous truths. 
 
 1st. Death, which dissolves every other tie, touches not our 
 union with the Lord Christ. Even then his saints are in him : as 
 much the " members of his body, of his flesh, and of his bones," as 
 when they were serving him in their mortal life. Seest thou that 
 breathless corpse ? It was, but a moment ago, the abode of a spirit 
 now glorified with Christ. It was also an abode of the Divine 
 Spirit. " Know ye not," saith Paul, " that your body is the temple 
 of the Holy Ghost?" The human spirit is dead : but shall death, 
 suppose ye, expel the Spirit of God from his own temple? No, he 
 still resides in it, and will keep it for himself. Change it shall. 
 The process of taking it down has already begun. It must descend 
 to dust. It must see corruption. But, notwithstanding, it is the 
 Saviour's property; a part of that whole person which is insepar- 
 ably one with him. It is an object of his care and love. He does 
 not scruple to call the Church's dead body his own body. This 
 makes their dust precious : and that which he values shall not be 
 worthless in our eyes. 
 
 2d. From their sleeping in Jesus, we ascertain that all the rights 
 and privileges which belong to believers in virtue of their union 
 with him, remain to them, after death undiminished and uttim- 
 
152 SERMON VIII. 
 
 paired. Dead they are, but they are dead in Christ. They are as 
 much comprehended in his covenant ; summed up in him as their 
 head; represented by him as their advocate, who has all their 
 claims in his hand for their benefit, as they possibly could be r 
 when, here on earth, they lived by faith, walked by faith, suffered 
 in faith, drew near to God by faith in his blood. Whatever is 
 meant by being in Christ is meant of them now they are dead, and 
 shall be made good to them at his appearing. They " sleep in 
 Jesus." 
 
 3d. We derive consolation under the death of Christian friends 
 from the prospect of their glorious resurrection. " If we believe 
 that Jesus died and rose again, even so them also which sleep in 
 Jesus God will bring with him." 
 
 Whatever have been the disputes about other doctrines of Chris- 
 tianity, no man can deny that it teaches the resurrection of the 
 body. The very gates of hell, in the shape of that unhallowed 
 philosophy which fritters away its most precious truths into eastern 
 metaphors and Jewish allegories, have not ventured to tamper with 
 the faith of the resurrection. This stands confest a Christian 
 peculiarity. Let us contemplate its nature and proof as displayed 
 in the text. 
 
 1st. This clay, which we commit to the grave under that uni- 
 versal sentence, — " Dust thou art, and unto dust thou shalt return," 
 — will be quickened again, and reassume, even after the slumber of 
 ages, the organization, the lineaments, the expression, of that self- 
 same human being with whom we were conversant upon earth. 
 Otherwise it were a new creation, and not a resurrection : and will 
 be reanimated by that self-same spirit which forsook it at death ; 
 otherwise it were a different being altogether, and not the one with 
 whom, under that form, we held sweet communion in this life, and 
 walked to the house of God in company. It has, indeed, been 
 questioned whether Christian friends shall know each other in the 
 world of the risen. But why not? Did not the disciples know 
 the Lord Jesus after his resurrection ? Did they not know him at 
 the moment of his ascension? Shall the body which he wore 
 upon earth be the only one recognised in heaven? If Peter and 
 P&ul, if James and John, shall not be able to distinguish each 
 other, upon what principle shall they be able to distinguish their 
 Lord ? And why should the body be raised at all, if the assccia- 
 
CHRISTIAN MOURNING. 153 
 
 tions with which its re-appearance is connected are to be broken 
 and lost ? It cannot be — But then, 
 
 2d. The body will be raised under circumstances, and with pro- 
 perties suited to the new state of being and action on which the 
 saints shall enter. God shall bring them with the Lord Christ. 
 
 They shall be found in Christ's train. He will set them on his 
 right hand in the face of heaven. He will present them to his 
 Father, as the " sons whom he was appointed to bring unto glory," 
 saying, " Here am I and the children whom thou hast given me." 
 
 They shall be adorned with Christ's likeness. " Beloved ! it does 
 not yet appear what we shall be, but we know that when he shall 
 appear we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is." The 
 change requisite for this exaltation shall pass upon their body 
 without destroying its sameness — as " flesh and blood, it cannot 
 inherit the kingdom of God." But every obstacle shall be sur- 
 mounted. If " it is sown in corruption, it is raised in incorrup- 
 tion ;" if " it is sown in dishonour, it is raised in glory ;" if " it is 
 sown in weakness, it is raised in power;" if " it is sown a natural 
 body, it is raised a spiritual body" — fit for the occupations and 
 enjoyments of the heavenly world. 
 
 Finally, believers, in their raised bodies, shall be " partakers of 
 Christ's glory " in the judgment of the quick and dead — 
 
 Know ye not that " the saints shall judge the world ? shall judge 
 angels ?" They " overcame by the blood of the Lamb," and " shall 
 sit down with him on his throne, even as he also overcame, and is 
 set down with his Father on his throne." 
 
 But how are these transformations to be effected? How? By 
 that same power which " calleth things that be not as though 
 they were." God shall bring his risen ones with Jesus Christ. 
 This is our short answer. I cannot open my ears to the objections 
 of unbelief. We are upon too high ground to stoop to the caviller 
 who marshals his ignorance and imbecility against the knowledge 
 and might of God. Let him puzzle himself with his theories about 
 personal identity— let him talk about one part of the body interred 
 in Asia, another in Africa, and a third in Europe— let him ask as 
 many questions as he can devise about limbs devoured by ravenous 
 animals, and become, by nutrition, part of their bodies; which 
 bodies again have passed, by the same process, into the flesh of 
 other animals ; and these, in their turn, consumed by man, and 
 
1 54 SERMON VIE 
 
 incorporated with the substance of a new human body — let him 
 ask such questions, and ten thousand like them. Has he done? 
 " Dost thou not therefore err, not knowing the Scriptures nor the 
 power of God?" It will be time enough to plead thy difficulties 
 when God shall commit to thee the raising of the dead. For us it 
 is sufficient that he who rears up the living blade from the rotted 
 grain will be at at no loss to rear up an incorruptible from a cor- 
 rupted body, through what forms and varieties soever it may have 
 passed. 
 
 The main question, however, is not what Omnipotence can but 
 what it will perform. That God should raise the dead, if so it 
 please him, will not appear incredible to any sober man. But 
 what proof have we that our faith on this head is not fancy, and 
 that our hope shall not perish ? The best of all possible proof. 
 
 We have, in the first place, the divine promise. God has 
 engaged to " raise his people up by Jesus, and to present them 
 together with him." Jesus himself has said, " I am the resurrec- 
 tion and the life ; he that believeth in me, though he were dead, 
 yet shall he live ; and he that liveth and believeth on me shall 
 never die." A thousand scientific demonstrations are not equiva- 
 lent, as the ground of our confidence, to one word of him " who 
 cannot lie." And so we shall find it in our last extremity. 
 
 We have, moreover, the accomplishment, in part, of the promise 
 already. For there are upon the sacred record many instances of 
 resurrection from the dead. 
 
 We have, as a sure pledge of its full accomplishment in due 
 season, the resurrection of our Lord Jesus himself. The fact is 
 indisputable, and its consolation full. 
 
 (1.) By his resurrection he vanquished Death He took away 
 whatever gave to Death not only his sting but his empire. There- 
 fore, saith the Scripture, he " abolished death, and brought life and 
 immortality to light through the gospel." 
 
 (2.) As the Lord Jesus died, so he rose again, the head and 
 representative of his redeemed. He bought them unto God by 
 his blood; and he came back from the grave to show that the 
 ransom was accepted, and to prosecute the claim which he pre- 
 sented to the throne of God, as he was about offering his soul in 
 their soul's stead : " Father, I will that they also whom thou hast 
 given me be with me where I am, that they may behold my glory." 
 
CHRISTIAN MOURNING. 155 
 
 His resurrection, therefore, is a pledge from the living God to his 
 church, to the universe, that all who die in faith shall rise in glory. 
 Christ is t lie first fruits; His people the harvest that shall follow; 
 " But every one in his own order, Christ the first fruits ; afterwards 
 they that are Christ's at his coining." For this hour of joy and 
 triumph is reserved the fulfilment of his gracious promise: "Thy 
 dead shall live — my dead body shall they raise." He owns them 
 as his body even in their state of death ; They shall hear his voice, 
 "Awake and sing, ye that dwell in dust!" They shall answer 
 him from their graves, and shall come forth, the sons and daughters 
 of immortality; resplendent in beauty, worthy of his kingdom. 
 For he shall " change their vile body, that it may be fashioned like 
 unto his own glorious body, according to the working whereby he 
 is able even to subdue all things unto himself." This is Christian 
 consolation; this is Christian hope; hope which all the crowns 
 and treasures of earth are infinitely too poor to purchase or to 
 balance. And it is hope that maketh not ashamed. " For I 
 would not have you to be ignorant, brethren, concerning them which 
 are asleep, that ye sorrow not even as others which have no hope. 
 For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so them 
 also which sleep in Jesus will God bring with him." 
 
 In this faith the apostles laboured, and the martyrs bled. Ages 
 have elapsed and it is still the same. It is not a distant wonder ■ 
 not a brilliant vision ; but a solid and present reality, under the 
 power of which at this moment, while the words are on my lips, 
 Christians, in various parts of the world, are closing their eyes to 
 sleep in Jesus. It has come home to our own business and 
 bosoms. It has chosen our houses to be the scene of its miracles. 
 13ut rarely does it fall to the lot of human eyes to witness so high 
 a display of its value and virtue, as was witnessed in that blessed 
 woman whose entrance into the joy of her Lord has occasioned 
 our assembling this evening. 
 
 As we are commanded to be " followers of them who through 
 faith and patience inherit the promises," we should have their 
 example before us, that we may learn to imbibe their spirit, to 
 imitate their graces, and be ready for their reward. With this 
 view permit me to lay before you some brief recollections of our 
 deceased friend. 
 
 It is not mv intention to relate the history of her life. That will 
 
15G SERMON VIIL 
 
 be a proper task for biography. I design merely to state a few 
 leading facts, and to sketch such outlines of character, as may 
 shew to those who knew her not, " what manner of person she was 
 in all holy conversation and godliness." Those who knew her best 
 require no such remembrancer ; and will be able, from their own 
 observation, to supply its defects. 
 
 Isabella Marshall, known to us as Mrs Graham, received from 
 nature, qualities which, in circumstances favourable to their devel- 
 opment, do not allow their possessor to pass through life unnoticed 
 and inefficient. 
 
 An intellect strong, prompt, and inquisitive— a temper open, 
 generous, cheerful, ardent — a heart replete with tenderness, and 
 alive to every social affection, and every benevolent impulse — a 
 spirit at once enterprising and persevering. The whole crowned 
 with that rare and inestimable endowment — good sense — w r ere 
 materials which required only skilful management to fit her for 
 adorning and dignifying any female station. With that sort of 
 cultivation which the world most admires, and those opportunities 
 which attend upon rank and fortune, she might have shone in the 
 circles of the great, without forfeiting the esteem of the good. Or 
 had her lot fallen among the literary unbelievers of the continent, 
 she might have figured in the sphere of the Voltaires, the Deffands, 
 and the other espiits forts of Paris. She might have been as gay 
 in public, as dismal in private, and as wretched in her end, as any 
 of the most distinguished among them for their wit and their woe. 
 But God had destined her for other scenes and services — scenes 
 from which greatness turns away appalled ; and services which all 
 the cohorts of individual wit are unable to perform. She was to 
 be prepared by poverty, bereavement, and grief, to pity and to 
 succour the poor, the bereaved, and the grieving. The sorrows of 
 widowhood were to teach her the heart of the widow— her babes, 
 deprived of their father, to open the springs of her compassion to 
 the fatherless and orphan; and the consolations of God, her 
 " refuge and strength, her very present help in trouble," to make 
 her a daughter of consolation to them who were "walking in the 
 valley of the shadow of death." 
 
 To train her betimes for the future dispensations of his provi- 
 dence, the Lord touched the heart of this chosen vessel, in her 
 early youth. The spirit of prayer sanctified her infant lips; and 
 
CHRISTIAN MOURNING. 157 
 
 taught her, as far back as her memory could go, to " pour out her 
 heart hefore God." She had not reached her eleventh year, when 
 she selected a hush in the retirement of the field, and there devoted 
 herself to her God by faith in the Redeemer. The incidents of 
 her education, thoughtless companions, the love of dress, and the 
 dancing-school, as she has herself recorded, chilled for a while the 
 warmth of her piety, and robbed her bosom of its peace. But her 
 gracious Lord revisited her with his mercy, and bound her to 
 himself in an everlasting covenant, which she sealed at his own 
 table about the seventeenth year of her age. Having married, a 
 few years after, Dr John Graham, surgeon to the GOth British 
 regiment, she accompanied him first to Montreal, and shortly after 
 to Fort Niagara. Here, during four years of temporal prosperity, 
 she had no opportunity, even for once, of entering " the habitation 
 of God," or hearing the sound of his gospel. Secluded from the 
 waters of the sanctuary, and all the public means of growth in 
 grace, her religion began to languish, and its leaf to droop. But 
 the root was perennial — it was of " the seed of God which liveth 
 and abideth for ever." The Sabbath was still to her the sign of 
 his covenant. On that day of rest, with her Bible in her hand, 
 she used to wander through the woods, renew her self-dedication, 
 and pour out her prayer for the salvation of her husband and her 
 children. He who " dwelleth not in temples made with hands," 
 heard her cry from the wilds of Niagara, and " strengthened her 
 with strength in her soul." 
 
 By one of those vicissitudes which checker military life, the 
 regiment was ordered to the island of Antigua in the West Indies. 
 Here she met with tljat exquisite enjoyment to which she had 
 been long a stranger — the communion of kindred spirits in the love 
 of Christ: and soon did she need all the soothing and support 
 which it is fitted to administer. For in a very short time the 
 husband of her youth, the object of her most devoted affection, her 
 sole earthly stay, was taken from her by death. The stroke was, 
 indeed, mitigated by the sweet assurance that he slept in Jesus. 
 But a heart like hers, convulsed by a review of the past and anti- 
 cipation of the future, would have burst with agony, had she not 
 known how to pour out its sorrows into the bosom of her heavenly 
 Father. Trials which beat sense and reason to the ground, raise 
 up the faith of the Christian, and draw her closer to her God. 
 
158 SERMON VIII. 
 
 how divine to have him as the rock of our rest when every earthly 
 reliance is "a broken reed!" 
 
 Bowing to his mysterious dispensation, and committing herself 
 to his protection as the " Father of the fatherless, and the Husband 
 of the widow," she returns with her charge to her native land, to 
 contract alliance with penury, and to live by faith for her daily 
 bread. That same grace under whose teaching she " knew how 
 to abound," taught her also how to suffer need. With a dignity 
 which belongs only to them who have treasure in heaven, she 
 descended to her humble cot, employment, and fare. But her 
 humility, according to the Scripture, was the forerunner of her 
 advancement. The light of her virtues shone brightest in her 
 obscurity, and pointed her way to the confidential trust of forming 
 the minds and manners of young females of different ranks in the 
 metropolis of Scotland. Here, respected by the great and beloved 
 by the good; in sacred intimacy with devout and honourable 
 women, and the friendship of men who were in truth " servants of 
 the Most High God," she continued in the successful discharge of 
 her duties till Providence conducted her to our shores. She long 
 had a predilection for America, as a land in which, according to 
 her favourite opinion, the church of Christ is signally to flourish. 
 Here she wished to end her days and leave her children. And we 
 shall remember, with gratitude, that in granting her wish, God 
 cast her lot with ourselves. Twenty-five years ago she opened, in 
 this city, a school for the education of young ladies, the benefits of 
 which have been strongly felt, and will be long felt hereafter, in 
 different and distant parts of our country. Evidently devoted to 
 the welfare of her pupils — attentive to their peculiarities of char- 
 acter — happy in discovering the best avenue of approach to their 
 minds — possessing, in a high degree, the talent of simplifying her 
 instruction and varying its form, she succeeded in that most diffi- 
 cult part of a teacher's work, the inducing youth to take an interest 
 in their own improvement, and to educate themselves by exerting 
 their own faculties. 
 
 In governing her little empire, she acted upon those principles 
 which are the basis of all good government on every scale and 
 under every modification — to be reasonable, to be firm, and to be 
 uniform. Her authority was both tempered and strengthened by 
 condescension. It commanded respect while it conciliated affec- 
 
CHRISTIAN MOURNING. 159 
 
 tion. Her word was law, but it was the law of kindness. It 
 spoke to the conscience, but it spoke to the heart ; and obedience 
 bowed with the knee of love. She did not, however, imagine her 
 work to be perfected in fitting her elevees for duties and elegance 
 of life. Never did she forget their immortal nature. Utterly- 
 devoid of sectarian narrowness, she laboured to infuse into their 
 minds those vital principles of evangelical piety which form the 
 common distinction of the disciples of Christ, the peculiar glory of 
 the female name, and the surest pledge of domestic bliss. Her 
 voice, her example, her prayers, concurred in recommending that 
 pure and undefined religion without which no human being shall 
 see the Lord. — Shall we wonder that her scholars should be 
 tenderly attached to such a preceptress ? that they should leave 
 her with their tears and their blessing? that they should carry an 
 indelible remembrance of her into the bosom of their families? 
 that the reverence of pupils should ripen with their years into the 
 affection of friends ? and that there should be among them, at this 
 day, many a wife " who is a crown to her husband ;" and many a 
 mother who is a blessing to her children; and who owes, in a 
 great degree, the felicity of her character to the impressions, the 
 principles, and the habits which she received while under the 
 maternal tuition of Mrs Graham ? 
 
 Admonished, at length, by the infirmities of age, and importuned 
 by her friends, this venerable matron retired to private life. But 
 it was impossible for her to be idle. Her leisure only gave a new 
 direction to her activity. With no less alacrity than she had dis- 
 played in the education of youth, did she now embark in the relief 
 of misery. Her benevolence was unbounded, but it was discreet. 
 There are charities which increase the wretchedness they are 
 designed to diminish ; which, from some fatal defect in their appli- 
 cation, bribe to iniquity while they are relieving want ; and make 
 food, and raiment, and clothing, to warm into life the most poison- 
 ous seeds of vice. 
 
 But the charities of our departed friend were of another order. 
 They selected the fittest objects— the widow— the fatherless— the 
 orphan— the untaught child— and the ignorant adult. They com- 
 bined intellectual and moral benefit with the communication of 
 physical comfort. In her house originated the " Society for the 
 Relief of Poor Widows with Small Children." Large, indeed, is 
 
160 SERMON VIII. 
 
 this branch of the family of affliction ; and largely did it share in 
 her sympathy and succour. When at the head of the noble asso- 
 ciation just named, she made it her business to see with her own 
 eyes the objects of their care ; and to give, by her personal presence 
 and efforts, the strongest impulse to their humane system. From 
 morning till night has she gone from abode to abode of these 
 destitute, who are too commonly unpitied by the great, despised by 
 the proud, and forgotten by the gay. She has gone to sit beside 
 them on their humble seat, hearing their simple and sorrowful 
 s t or y — sharing their homely meal; ascertaining the condition of 
 their children; stirring them up to diligence, to economy, to neat- 
 ness, to order; putting them into the way of obtaining suitable 
 employment for themselves and suitable places for their children : 
 distributing among them the Word of God, and little tracts calcu- 
 lated to familiarize its first principles to their understanding; 
 cherishing them in sickness ; admonishing them in health ; in- 
 structing, reproving, exhorting, consoling; sanctifying the whole 
 with fervent prayer. Many a sobbing heart and streaming eye is 
 this evening embalming her memory in the house of the widow. 
 
 Little, if any, less is the debt due to her from that invaluable 
 charity the " Orphan Asylum." It speaks its own praise, and that 
 praise is hers. Scores of orphans redeemed from filth, from ignor- 
 ance, from wretchedness, from crime — clothed, fed, instructed — 
 trained, in cleanliness, to habits of industry — early imbued with 
 the knowledge and fear of God ; gradually preparing for respecta- 
 bility, usefulness, and happiness — is a spectacle for angels. Their 
 infantine gayety, their healthful sport, their cherub-faces, mark the 
 contrast between their present and former condition ; and recall, 
 very tenderly, the scenes in which they used to cluster round their 
 patron-mother, hang on her gracious words, and receive her bene- 
 diction. 
 
 Brethren, I am not dealing in romance, but in sober fact. The 
 night would be too short for a full enumeration of her worthy 
 deeds. Suffice it to say, that they ended but with her life. The 
 Sabbath previous to her last sickness occupied her with a recent 
 institution — "A Sunday School for Ignorant Adults;" and the 
 evening preceding the touch of death, found her at the side of 
 a faithful domestic, administering consolation to his wounded 
 spirit, 
 
CHRISTIAN MOURNING. Ut 
 
 Such active benevolence could hardly be detected in company 
 with a niggardly temper. Wishes which cost nothing; pity which 
 expires on the lips. " Be ye warmed and be ye clothed," from a 
 •cold heart and an unyielding gripe, never imprinted their disgrace- 
 ful brand upon Isabella Graham. What she urged upon others 
 she exemplified in herself. She kept a purse for God. Here, in 
 obedience to his command, she deposited " the first fruits of all 
 her increase;" and they were sacred to his service, as, in his 
 providence, he should call for them. No shuffling pretences, no 
 pitiful evasions, when a fair demand was made upon the hallowed 
 store ; and no frigid affectation in determining the quality of the 
 demand. A sense of duty was the prompter, candour the inter- 
 preter, and good sense the judge. Her disbursements were 
 proportioned to the value of the object; and were ready at a 
 moment's warning, to the very last farthing.* How pungent a 
 reproof to those ladies of opulence and fashion, who sacrifice so 
 largely to their dissipation or their vanity, that they have nothing 
 left for mouths without food, and limbs without raiment ! How 
 far does it throw back into the shade those men of prosperous 
 enterprise and gilded state, who, in the hope of some additional 
 lucre, have thousands and ten thousands at their beck ; but who, 
 when asked for decent contributions to what they themselves 
 acknowledge to be all important, turn away with this hollow ex- 
 cuse, " I cannot afford it ! " Above all, how should her example 
 redden the faces of many who profess to belong to Christ ; to have 
 received gratuitously from him, what he procured for them at the 
 expense of his own blood, " an inheritance incorruptible, and im- 
 defiled, and that fadeth not away;" and yet in the midst of 
 abundance which he has lavished upon them, when the question 
 is about relieving his suffering members, or promoting the glory 
 of his kingdom, are sour, reluctant, mean ! Are these the Christians f 
 Can it be that they have committed their bodies, their souls, their 
 eternal hope, to a Saviour whose thousand promises on this very 
 point of " honouring Him with their substance," have less influence 
 upon their hearts and their hands than the word of any honest 
 man? Remember the deceased, and hang your heads— Remem- 
 
 * The author knew her, when in moderate circumstances, to give, tin- 
 solicited, fifty pounds at once, out of that sacred purse, to a single most worthy 
 purpose. 
 
162 SERMON VIII. 
 
 ber her, and tremble— Remember her, and " bring forth fruits meet 
 for repentance." 
 
 In that charity also which far surpasses mere almsgiving, how- 
 ever liberal, the charity of the gospel, our friend was conspicuous. 
 " The love of God shed abroad in her own heart by the Holy 
 Ghost," drew forth her love to his people wherever she found them. 
 Assuredly she had in herself this witness of her having " passed 
 from death unto life," that she " loved the brethren." The epistle 
 written not with ink, " but with the Spirit of the living God ; not 
 in tables of stone, but in fleshy tables of the heart ; yet read and 
 known of all men : " that is, the Christian temper manifested by a 
 Christian conversation, was to her the best letter of recommend- 
 ation. Unwavering in her own faith as to the peculiar doctrines 
 of the gospel, she could, nevertheless, extend love without dissimu- 
 lation, and the very bowels of Christian fellowship, to others, who, 
 whatever might be their mistakes, their infirmities, or their differ- 
 ences in smaller matters, agreed in the great Christian essential of 
 " acceptance in the Beloved." Deeply did she deplore the conceit, 
 the bigotry, and the bitterness of sect. that her spirit were 
 more prevalent in the churches ! that we could labour to abase our 
 " crown of pride ;" to offer up, with one consent, upon the altar of 
 evangelical charity, those petty jealousies, animosities, and strifes 
 which are our common reproach ; and walk together as children of 
 the same Father, brethren of the same Redeemer, and heirs of the 
 same salvation ! 
 
 To these admirable traits of character were added great tender- 
 ness of conscience and a spirit of prayer. Her religion, not 
 contented to "justify her before men," habitually aimed at pleasing 
 " God who looketh upon the heart." It was not enough for her to 
 persuade herself that a thing might be right. Before venturing 
 upon it, she studied to reduce the question of right to a clear cer- 
 tainty. How cautious, and scrupulous, and jealous of herself she 
 was in this matter, they best can tell who saw her in the shade of 
 retirement, as well as in the sunshine of public observation. 
 Perhaps it is not going too far to say, that her least guarded 
 moments would, in others, have been marked for circumspection. 
 At the same time, her vigilance had nothing austere, gloomy, 
 constrained, or censorious : nothing to repress the cheerfulness of 
 social intercourse ; or to excite in others, even the thoughtless, a 
 
CHRISTIAN MOURNING. 1G3 
 
 dread of merciless criticism after they should retire. It was 
 sanctified nature moving gracefully in its own clement. And with 
 respect to the character and feelings of her neighbours, she was too 
 full of Christian kindness not to " keep her tongue from evil, and 
 her lips from speaking guile." 
 
 These virtues and graces were maintained and invigorated by 
 her habit of prayer. With the " new and living way into the 
 holiest by the blood of Jesus," she was intimately familiar. 
 Thither the " Spirit of grace and supplication" daily conducted 
 her ; there taught her to pray ; and in praying to believe ; and in 
 believing to have " fellowship with the Father and with his Son 
 Jesus Christ." She knew her God as the God that heareth prayer : 
 and could attest that u Blessed is she that believeth, for there shall 
 be a performance of those things which were told her from the 
 Lord. 
 
 Under such influence her course eould not but be correct and 
 her steps well ordered. The " secret of the Lord is with them 
 that fear him ; and he will show them his covenant — he will guide 
 them in judgment." Thus he did with his handmaid whom he 
 hath called home. Wherever she was, and in whatever circum- 
 stances, she remembered the guide of her youth, who, according to 
 his promise, "never left her nor forsook her; but continued his 
 gracious presence with her when she was " old and grey-headed." 
 
 You may perhaps imagine, that with such direction and support, 
 it was impossible she should see trouble. Nay, but " waters of a 
 full cup were wrung out to her!" She often ate the bread of 
 sorrow steeped in wormwood and gall. Her heavenly Father 
 " showed her great and sore adversities ; that he might try her as 
 silver is tried, and bring her forth from the furnace purified seven 
 times." It was during these refining processes that she found the 
 worth of being a Christian. Though her way was planted with 
 thorns and watered with her tears, yet the candle of the Lord shone 
 upon her head; and from step to step she had reason to cry, 
 "Hitherto hath Jehovah helped!" In a word, like Enoch, she 
 walked with God; like Abraham, she staggered not at his promise 
 through unbelief; like Jacob, she wrestled with the angel and 
 prevailed; like Moses, endured as seeing him who is invisible; 
 like Paul, finished her course with joy. Blessed were the eyes of 
 the preacher for they saw the victory of her faith ; and his ear.-. 
 
164 SERMON VIII. 
 
 for they heard her song of salvation. " You can say with the 
 apostle, ' I know whom I have believed, and am persuaded that he 
 is able to keep that which I have committed unto him!' " — " O 
 yes ! but I cannot say the other, * I have fought a good fight ; ' I 
 must say, ' I have fought a poor fight, I have run a poor race •/ 
 but ' Christ fought for me, Christ ran with me, and through Christ 
 I hope to win.' " — " But you have no fear, no doubts, about your 
 going to be with Christ?" — " Oh no ! not a doubt; I am as sure of 
 that as if I were already in my Saviour's arms." It was her final 
 conversation with children of the dust. The next day, " when her 
 flesh and her heart had so far failed" that she was incapable of 
 uttering a sentence, she still proved her God to be the strength of 
 her heart ; and knew him to be her portion forever. I said to her, 
 " It is peace." She opened her eyes, smiled, closed them again, 
 bowed her dying head, and breathed out " Peace." It was her last 
 word on this side heaven. The attending spirits caught it from 
 her lips ; and brought to her the next day permission to sleep in 
 Jesus. 
 
 From this review allow me, brethren, to urge the value of private 
 exertions in promoting general good. 
 
 In pursuing his gratifications, man is apt to look upon himself 
 as a being of great importance : in fulfilling his duties, to account 
 himself as nothing. Both are extravagances which it will be his 
 wisdom and happiness to correct. He is neither supreme in worth, 
 nor useless in action. Let him not say, " I am but one : my 
 voice will be drowned in the universal din : my weight is lighter 
 than a feather in the public scale. It is better for me to mind my 
 own affairs, and leave these higher attempts to more competent 
 hands." This is the language, not of reason and modesty, but of 
 sloth, of selfishness, and of pride. The amount of it is, " I cannot 
 do everything, therefore I will do nothing." — But you can do 
 much. Act well your part according to your faculties, your 
 station, and your means. The result will be honourable to your- 
 self, delightful to your friends, and beneficial to the world. I 
 advise not to gigantic aims, to enormous enterprise. The world 
 has seen but one Newton and one Howard. Nothing is required 
 of you but to make the most of the opportunities within your 
 reach. Recall the example of Mrs Graham. Here was a woman ; 
 a widow ; a stranger in a strange land ; without fortune ; with no 
 
CHRISTIAN MOURNING. 165 
 
 friends but such as her letters of introduction and her worth 
 should acquire ; and with a family of daughters dependent upon 
 her for their subsistence. Surely if any one has a clear title of 
 immunity from the obligation to carry her cares beyond the do- 
 mestic circle, it is this widow; it is this stranger. Yet within a 
 few years this stranger, this widow, with no means but her excel- 
 lent sense. Iter benevolent heart, and her persevering will to do 
 good, awakens the charities of a populous city, and gives to them 
 an impulse, a direction, and an efficacy, unknown before ! What 
 might not be done by men; by men of talent, of standing, of 
 wealth, of leisure ? How speedily, under their well-directed bene- 
 ficence, might a whole country change its physical, intellectual, 
 and moral aspect ; and assume, comparatively speaking, the face 
 of another Eden ; a second garden of God ? Why then do they 
 not diffuse, thus extensively, the seeds of knowledge, of virtue, and 
 of bliss? I ask not for their pretences; they are as old as the 
 lust of lucre; and are refuted by the example which we have been 
 contemplating ; I ask for the true reason, for the inspiring prin- 
 ciple, of their conduct. It is this ; let them look to it when God 
 shall call them to account for the abuse of their time, their talents, 
 their station, their unrighteous mammon. It is this : They be- 
 lieve not the words of the Lord Jesus, how he said, " It is more 
 blessed to give than to receive." They labour under no want but 
 one; they want the heart! The bountiful God add this to the 
 other gifts which he has bestowed upon them! I turn to the 
 other sex. 
 
 That venerable mother in Israel, who has exchanged the service 
 of God on earth for his service in heaven, has left a legacy to her 
 sisters ; she has left the example of her faith and patience ; she 
 has left her prayers ; she has left the monument of her Christian 
 deeds: and by these she "being dead yet speaketh." Matrons! 
 has she left her mantle also ? Are there none among you to hear 
 her voice from the tomb, "Go and do thou likewise?" None 
 whom affluence permits, endowments qualify, and piety prompts, 
 to aim at her distinction by treading in her steps? Maidens! 
 Are there none among you, who would wish to array yourselves 
 hereafter in the honours of this virtuous woman ? Your hearts 
 have dismissed their wonted warmth and generosity, if they do not 
 throb as the reverend vision rises before you — Then prepare your- 
 
165 SERMON VIII. 
 
 selves now, by seeking and serving the God of her youth. Yon 
 cannot he too early " adorned with the robes of righteousness and 
 the garments of salvation" in which she was wedded, in her 
 morning of life, to Jesus the King of glory. That same grace 
 which threw its radiance around her shall make you also to shine 
 in the beauty of holiness - T and the fragrance of those virtues which 
 it shall create, develop, and ennoble, will be " as the smell of a 
 field which the Lord hath blessed." 
 
 Yea, let me press upon all who hear me this evening, the 
 transcendent excellence of Christian character, and the victorious 
 power of Christian hope. The former bears the image of God; 
 the latter is as imperishable as his throne. We fasten our eyes 
 with more real respect, and more heart-felt approbation upon the 
 moral majesty displayed in " walking as Christ also walked," than 
 upon all the pomps of the monarch, or decorations of the military 
 hero. More touching to the sense, and more grateful to high 
 heaven, is the soft melancholy with which we look after our 
 departed friend, and the tear which embalms her memory, than 
 the thundering plaudits which rend the air with the name of a 
 conqueror. She has obtained a triumph over that foe who shall 
 break the arm of valour, and strike off the crown of kings. " The 
 fashion of this world passeth away." Old Time approaches 
 towards his last hour. The proudest memorials of human gran- 
 deur shall be food for the conflagration to be kindled when " the 
 Lord Jesus shall be revealed from heaven in flaming fire. Then 
 shall he be glorified in his saints, and admired in all of them that 
 believe." There are those, perhaps, in the present assembly, who 
 repute godliness fanaticism ; and the sobriety of Christian peace, 
 the gloom of a joyless spirit ; but who cannot forbear sighing out, 
 with the prophet of mammon, "Let me die the death of the 
 righteous and let my last end be like his." If they proceed no 
 further, their wish will not be granted. None shall die the death 
 of the righteous, unless by a rare dispensation of mercy, who do 
 not live his life. They only are fit to be with God, who love God 
 and keep his commandments. In that day of transport and of 
 terror which we shall all witness, how many of the thoughtless fair, 
 who now il sport themselves with their own deceivings," would 
 give all the treasures of the east and thrones of the west, to sit 
 with Isabella Graham on the right hand of Jesus Christ I If ye 
 
CHRISTIAN MOURNING. 167 
 
 be wise betimes, ye may. " Now is the accepted time ; to-day is 
 the day of salvation." The gospel of the Son of God offers you, 
 at this very moment, the forgiveness of your sins, and an inheri- 
 tance among them that are sanctified. The blessing comes to you 
 as a free gift' — Accept it and live. Accept it, and be safe. Accept 
 it, and put away the shudderings of guilt, and the fear of death. 
 Then shall you, too, like our friend, go, in due season, to be with 
 Christ. Your happy spirit shall rejoin hers in the mansions of the 
 saved. God shall bring you in soul and body with her when he 
 makes up his jewels — then shall he gather his elect from the four 
 winds of heaven, shall perfect that which concerneth them, and 
 make them fully and for ever blessed. Be our place among them 
 In that day! 
 
SERMON IX* 
 
 FULL ASSURANCE OF FAITH AND HOPE. 
 
 2 TIMOTHY i. 12. 
 
 " For I know whom I have believed ; and am persuaded that he is able to keep 
 that which I have committed UDto him, against that day." 
 
 If ever there was an unlikely subject of conversion to the Chris- 
 tian faith, it was Saul of Tarsus. His education, his habits, his 
 prospects, his ardent and active zeal against Christians, his 
 powerful intellect, his pride, his very conscience, all under the 
 influence of wrong impressions, rendered his perseverance in Juda- 
 ism morally certain, and the idea of his change, in the eyes of 
 thinking men, perfectly chimerical. Satan himself seemed not less 
 likely to become an apostle, than this fierce and intrepid Jew. 
 His active spirit, and his implacable malignity, " breathing out 
 threatenings and slaughter against the disciples of the Lord," 
 would, if permitted to take its course, have "made short work 
 with the dissenters" from the order established at Jerusalem; 
 would have crushed the infant church ; and scarcely left materials 
 for one paragraph of the general historian. But the Lord Jesus 
 had other views for his church, and other employment for the 
 persecutor. In the height of his career — in the very act of exe- 
 cuting the bloody commission of the high priest — when surrounded 
 by armed men, to enforce his orders — at mid-day — on the public 
 road — near a celebrated city — a burst of glory from the face of 
 Jesus Christ eclipses the brightness of the sun ; an invisible power 
 smites him and all his company to the earth ; and a voice, the 
 authority of which made him feel that his Creator was speaking, 
 
 * Preached as part of the ordinary ministrations in Murray Street Chuarch, 
 February 18, 1821, and published in the National Preacher, May 1829. 
 
FULL ASSURANCE OF FAITH AND HOPE. 169 
 
 addressed to him those memorable words,—" Saul, Saul, why per- 
 secutest thou me?" The high priest, the Sanhedrim, the nation 
 whose hopes all centre in him, his character, his commission, are 
 forgotten in an instant. Men have no leisure for anything else, 
 when they are conscious that God is speaking. " Who art thou, 
 Lord?" exclaimed the astonished and trembling persecutor: "I 
 am Jesus," answers the heavenly voice, " I am Jesus whom thou 
 persecutest." — " Lord," replies he, every disposition to cavil or 
 tamper being perfectly subdued, " Lord, what wilt thou have me 
 to do ?" — " Arise, and go into the city, and it shall be told thee 
 what thou must do." Gentle as a lamb, the high-spirited and 
 ferocious Saul obeys the mandate. Smitten blind by the light 
 which shone around him, he is Jed by the hand into Damascus : 
 where he remained " three days without sight, and did neither eat 
 nor drink." Under such tutelage as no other man ever enjoyed, 
 he passes through the process of conviction and conversion ; ex- 
 periences the second birth ; has a new heart put within him ; is 
 instructed in the mysteries of the kingdom ; is furnished with all 
 gifts and graces ; is taught the service which he is to perform, and 
 the sufferings which he is to endure ; and comes forth not a whit 
 behind the chiefest apostles, and straightway preaches Christ in 
 the synagogues, that he is the Son of God. Five and twenty 
 years had he tried the service of Christ, when he penned this 
 epistle to Timothy, proving, by turns, and sometimes all together, 
 the honours, the victories, the disappointments, the pains, the sor- 
 rows, of his apostleship. At this very moment he was a martyr 
 to the truth, and suffering unheard-of things for the word of his 
 testimony. Yet he utters no complaint; his tone is firm and 
 cheerful ; it is the voice of salvation from the belly of hell. " I 
 am not ashamed," says he, " for I know whom I have believed, 
 and am persuaded that he is able to keep that which I have com- 
 mitted unto him, against that day." 
 
 Brethren, there is something in the knowledge of Jesus Christ, 
 and that persuasion of his ability which belongs to his faithful 
 followers, which bears them up over every discouragement, and 
 will at length enable them to elude the great destroyer, and to fly, 
 on the wings of the morning, to the place of their eternal rest. 
 Paul was an example. But he was so, on principles which are 
 common to the household of faith. It was not as an apostle, but 
 
170 SERMON IX. 
 
 as a believer, that he cherished so triumphant a hope, and sung 
 so sweet a song, in the house of his pilgrimage. It will be of 
 advantage to us, if we take a nearer view of Paul's knowledge of 
 the Lord Jesus Christ ; and of that perfect confidence, which he 
 entertained, that all should be safe in his hands. 
 
 I. The knowledge which Paul had of his Redeemer : " I know 
 whom I have believed." 
 
 The apostle's knowledge of Jesus Christ was personal, that is, 
 it was a knowledge of Christ himself, and centred in himself; not 
 merely an acquaintance with his religion. Many people imagine, 
 that to know something about the Christian religion, to be able to 
 explain it, and ready to recommend it, is equivalent with knowing 
 Christ himself. Whencesoever they imbibed such a notion, it 
 was not from their Bible. This makes a very broad difference 
 between the knowledge of Jesus Christ, and every other sort of 
 knowledge ; and the Scripture does not deal in vain distinctions. 
 The knowledge and the love which accompany salvation go to- 
 gether, and are coupled by the Scripture to the person of the 
 Saviour. " That I may know him," saith Paul. " Whom, having 
 not seen, ye love," adds Peter. Now here is the parting point 
 with many a decent profession, yet the very point upon which 
 eternal happiness is suspended. Many a demonstration of the 
 Christian verity, and many a splendid panegyric on its excellence, 
 worth, and necessity, have flowed from lips which the fire of God's 
 altar never purified ; have been prompted by hearts which were 
 never touched by the love of Christ. Startle not, as if I had 
 preached an unheard of doctrine ; but go, if you are not afraid of the 
 experiment, summon the tongues of men and angels to speak the 
 praises of revealed truth ; and then stand aghast at discovering, 
 that without charity, that vivifying principle in the world of 
 grace, you are no better than " sounding brass or a tinkling 
 cymbal." In living religion Christ is all. The hearts of his 
 people are, without exception, drawn, in tender affection, to him- 
 self. The thought, " that he loved me and gave himself for me," 
 filled, and subdued, and melted the heart of one apostle ; and drew 
 from another the gracious declaration, " We love him because he 
 first loved us ;" and so do all his sincere followers find the fact to 
 be at the present hour. 
 
FULL ASSURANCE OF FAITH AND HOPE. 171 
 
 Now to both this knowledge and this love of Christ something 
 more is necessary than can be learned from human books, or 
 taught by human speech, or enforced by human example. That 
 which happened unto Paul must happen unto us. God must 
 " reveal his Son in us ;" the Holy Spirit must " take of the things 
 which are his, and show them unto us." Is it wonderful that 
 Christ Jesus was so glorious in the eyes of his apostles ; and is 
 now so glorious in the eyes of all who have an apostle's hope ? 
 
 1. Paul was enabled to take an enlarged and decisive view of 
 the glory of the Redeemer's person. He never dreamt that idiot 
 dream of a created Saviour. There was no doubt in his mind, nor 
 is there in the minds of any who tread in his steps, whatever there 
 be in the minds of those who pride themselves in their distinction 
 as philosophical believers, that he who is "the eternal Life" must 
 be the true God — " God over all, blessed for ever." He perceived 
 him to be, and he celebrated him, and taught others to expect him, 
 as the " great God our Saviour." It was, in his judgment a mys- 
 tery, the great mystery of Godliness — the very pillar and ground 
 of truth, without which the whole fabric of salvation falls to ruins 
 " that God was manifest in the flesh," and so became our Brother, 
 and has made us bone of his bone and flesh of his flesh. 
 
 In the person, moreover, of Jesus Christ all the counsels of the 
 Godhead centre. " In him are hidden all the treasures of wisdom 
 and knowledge " — " In him dwellelh all the fulness of the Godhead 
 bodily." If God " reconciles the world unto himself, it is in Christ 
 Jesus." If " the light of his glory shines unto us, it is in the face 
 of Jesus Christ." If he gathers together in one a new family, 
 composed of holy angels and redeemed men, he gathers them in 
 Christ. If every knee is ordered to bow, and every tongue to con- 
 fess, it is to " Jesus Christ, who has a name which is above every 
 name," and has it expressly for this purpose. In fine, the Father 
 hath committed all judgment to the Son, with this end, that "all 
 men should honour the Son, even as they honour the Father;" 
 and that under the fearful sanction, that whosoever shall refuse so 
 to honour the Son, shall find all his worship rejected : " He that 
 honoureth not the Son, honoureth not the Father who hath sent 
 him." 
 
 2. Paul had equally lofty views of the Redeemer's mediatorial 
 work; by whose perfect "obedience many shall be made righ- 
 
172 SERMON IX. 
 
 teous," — " who gave himself for us, to redeem us from all iniquity," 
 — "who is the propitiation through faith in his blood, that God 
 may be just, and the justifier of him that believeth in Jesus," — 
 " so that we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of 
 sins according to the riches of his grace," — "who has risen again 
 from the dead, and become the first fruits of them that slept," — 
 " who has gone into heaven, not with the blood of goats and calves, 
 but with his own blood, having obtained eternal redemption for us," 
 — " who is at the right hand of God, making intercession for us ; 
 and is able, therefore, to save unto the uttermost all that come 
 unto God by him." 
 
 3. Paul had, further, a view of the glory which Jesus Christ 
 has promised to his followers. For them death hath no sting — 
 over them the grave boasts no victory — nor the second death any 
 power. Their Saviour shall reclaim their dead bodies : " He shall 
 call, and they shall answer him out of the dust." Neither death 
 nor hell shall retain them for an instant. They shall spring up in 
 all the alertness of spiritual and incorruptible bodies — shall be 
 fashioned like unto his own glorious body, and go, in their whole 
 persons, to be for ever with the Lord. 
 
 All these things the apostle saw — saw them in the light and 
 with the eyes of that faith which is the evidence of things not seen, 
 and the substance of things hoped for. They left on his soul an 
 impression never to be obliterated: an impression as deep and 
 vivid as the seal of the Holy Ghost — as the image of the living 
 God. Whenever afterward, he speaks of his Redeemer, and of his 
 people's hope in him, his spirit catches fire. 0, how unlike the 
 men w T ho are cased in triple ice when they approach the throne of 
 the Son of God! He darts up into the heavens, and when he 
 descends again to the earth, it is to scatter 
 
 "Thoughts that breathe and words that hum." 
 
 Hear this child of faith and of the skies singing and shouting, 
 and welcoming the decease which was to take him home : " I am 
 now ready to be offered, and the time of my departure is at hand ; 
 I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept 
 the faith ; henceforth there is laid up for me a crown of righteous- 
 ness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, shall give me at that day; 
 and not to me only, but unto them also that love his appearing." 
 
FULL ASSURANCE OF FAITH AND HOPE. 173 
 
 Throughout his whole representation^ the glory, grace, and 
 promises of Christ, it will not fail to be observed, that there is not 
 so much as a hint of any doubt. The Christian religion is not a 
 religion of doubts. Doubting Christians there are, but doubting 
 faith there is none. And it is only when their faith is very low 
 that there is any place for doubt. " thou of little faith, where- 
 fore didst thou doubt?" The religion of which God is the author 
 cannot be a religion of doubts. He is the immutable Truth. 
 There is no room for conjectures, or mere opinions. It is a dis- 
 honour to its glorious Revealer, to say upon a subject of eternal 
 hope, " That is my opinion." Your opinion — and to what more 
 is it entitled than the opinion of another man ? But when you 
 speak peremptorily, "This is the truth of God," the ground is 
 entirely changed — then " to the law and the testimony." Accord- 
 ingly the declaration of Paul has no conjecture about it. He 
 speaks with the confidence of a man intimately acquainted with 
 Jesus Christ : " I know whom I have believed." A gracious bold- 
 ness, for an example of which you may in vain turn over the ten 
 thousand pages of philosophical Christians. They know nothing 
 of Jesus Christ, the Saviour. They have a great many notions ; 
 they sport their several opinions ; they are very wise in their own 
 conceit ; but about the Lord Jesus, his glory, and his grace, what- 
 ever they may prate, they know nothing, and have not the effron- 
 tery to pretend that they know anything : for the object of all their 
 philosophy is to strip him of his glory, and to fritter away his 
 grace, till it is not worth a sinner's acceptance. But what says 
 Paul? I know him: there is no uncertainty in the matter; I 
 know him, and am persuaded that he is able to keep what I have 
 committed unto him. 
 
 II. We are thus brought to the second point: which is the 
 apostle's confidence that everything is safe in the hands of Jesus 
 Christ. 
 
 Here two inquiries challenge our notice : First, what had the 
 apostle committed unto his Saviour ? Second, whence arose his 
 assurance that it was perfectly safe in his hands ? 
 
 1. What was the deposit which Paul had committed to Jesus 
 Christ? It was evidently something personal; something about 
 which, if his hope were deceived, he might be put to shame ; some- 
 
174 SERMON IX. 
 
 thing in which he peculiarly acted as a believer. What was this ? 
 What could it be but his immortal soul, his redeemed body, his 
 whole interest in the salvation of God? Men in health and spirits 
 may talk, and do talk, with lightness and gaiety of their own 
 decease, and affect to think it strange that any but a villain should 
 entertain the least apprehension about his appearance before God. 
 But when age, accident, or sickness proclaims their course to be 
 nearly run, and the stock of life to be almost exhausted ; when the 
 chill atmosphere of the grave smites them with the last ague, and 
 death's icy hand begins to lay hold upon their frame ; when the 
 world, with all its illusions, fades upon the sight, and possesses no 
 more the power of charming; when Eternity rises in all its magni- 
 tude — displays its dread realities — draws back the curtain from the 
 judgment-seat — announces the approach of the righteous Judge, 
 and the necessary and speedy appearance before him: 0, then 
 lightness and gaiety flee away. They have other thoughts alto- 
 gether about putting off this body. Nothing but the Christian's 
 hope ean sustain their spirits. Then there is seen an emphasis in 
 his words of faith, which was not comprehended before : his brow, 
 glittering in the death-sweat, is encircled with a glory which sheds 
 infinite contempt upon the baubles of earth, and commands them 
 to remove with their impertinence to a respectful distance. 0, I 
 have seen a believer preparing to resign his soul into the hands of 
 his dear Redeemer; have seen him make a practical comment 
 upon the declaration of Paul ; have seen how infinitely trifling and 
 foolish the world appears when she presumes to draw near him, 
 and to open her absurd lips. The very worldling could not endure 
 it. Then is the moment of the dying conqueror's triumph. He 
 commends his spirit to him that loved him and washed him in his 
 own blood ; commits his body to the Resurrection and the Life — 
 commits it " in sure and certain hope " of its being raised again to 
 eternal life : and, as the breath departs from his lips, he shouts, 
 Salvation! and is away, amidst the alleluias of angels, to the 
 "bosom of his Father and his God." What filled him with 
 ecstacy at the arrival of that event which is nature's terror, and 
 from which most of his race shrink and shudder ? It was this : 
 " I know whom I have believed, and am persuaded that he is able 
 to keep what I have committed to him against that day." And in 
 what light, think you, does this faith contemplate the Lord Jesus, , 
 
FULL ASSURANCE OF FAITH AND HOPE. 175 
 
 in trusting Kim with so precious a deposit ? As a creature ? a man ? 
 a mere man ? " frail and peccable ? " They who risk themselves 
 in such hands, may ; but they must sink down to hell with all the 
 faith they have. A man ! a mere man ! like myself ! I would 
 not thus intrust my body, nor a single member of it, to the 
 mightiest angel that God ever created. no ! no ! when a Chris- 
 tian anticipates his departure to the eternal world, he must have 
 other and better security. Heaven is not more distant from earth, 
 than is the ground of his confidence from such a broken reed. And 
 never did you hear, nor will you ever hear in future, Paul's lan- 
 guage from the mouth of one who makes such desperate experi- 
 ments with his immortality. Hut, 
 
 2. Whence arose the apostle's persuasion that all is safe in the 
 hands of Jesus Christ? He knew what the Redeemer is; what 
 lie has promised ; and what pledges he has given both of his ability 
 and faithfulness. 
 
 1st. Who the Redeemer is. The only begotten Son of God, the 
 brightness of the Father's glory, and the express image of his 
 person. The Lord of the invisible world, who was dead and is 
 alive, and lives for evermore, and has the keys of hell and death. 
 His word equally raised the dead and paralyzed the living. He 
 commanded the unclean spirits, and they obeyed him, with fearful 
 deprecations of his power. He trod upon the earth, as upon a 
 province of his government. The submissive elements performed 
 his word. He is now in heaven, at the right hand of God; angels 
 and principalities and powers being made subject to him. He is 
 given to be head over all things to the church, and makes all things 
 work together for good to them that love God, to them that are 
 called according to his purpose. The light of the Divinity is in his 
 eye ; the thunder of God's power is in his arm ; and he is most 
 worthy of all the confidence which our souls can concentrate. 
 
 2d. Paul knew what the Redeemer has promised. Hear — " I 
 , give to all my sheep eternal life," and " they shall never perish, 
 neither shall any one pluek them out of my hand."— " He that 
 believeth on me shall never perish, but I will raise him up at the 
 last day."—" Where I am, there shall also my servant be."—" To 
 him that overcometh will I grant to sit with me on my throne, 
 even as I also overcame and am set down with my Father on his 
 throne." Who that shares in these " exceeding great and precious 
 
176 SERMON IX. 
 
 promises," can dispute that Paul had the best reason in the world 
 to believe the " Amen, the faithful and true Witness ? '- — to believe 
 him without hesitation— to believe him with his whole heart and 
 soul? " Where is doubting then?" Who dares admit even the 
 thought, that the Lord Jesus will break his word ? Admit for an 
 instant the thought that God should lie ! Where is doubting then, 
 I repeat? It is excluded. By what law? Of works? Nay; 
 but by the law of faith. 
 
 3d. The Lord Jesus Christ had given very sufficient pledges of 
 his ability and faithfulness to keep what was committed to him, in 
 what he had done for the apostle ; and in what he had done in 
 him ; and he was multiplying the reasons of his confidence, by 
 what he was Ihen continuing to do for him. 
 
 1. What had Jesus Christ said or done for Paul? The same 
 that he has said or done for all the household of God. He became 
 Paul's surety ; obeyed perfectly the law of condemnation ; author- 
 ized him, in humble faith, to claim and plead that obedience, in 
 the room of his own disobedience. He clothed Paul with right-* 
 eousness ; the righteousness of God ; the righteousness of God by 
 faith; directing and enabling him to make it his own, and to 
 present it as such, where it would be properly valued and sure to 
 be accepted — at the bar of infinite Justice. He well knew what 
 place should be assigned to it in the justification of a sinner. He 
 placed it between himself and the righteous God : and glorified it 
 accordingly, as his perfect protection against the stroke of divine 
 justice ; as his only and unfailing title to eternal life ; as that pure 
 gold, in which the furnace of ultimate trial should not detect a 
 particle of dross, nor a single flaw. Not a syllable would he hear 
 of any works but the works of Jesus Christ, to justify him before 
 God. " That I may be found in him," exclaims he, " not having 
 mine own righteousness which is of the law, but that which is 
 through the faith of Christ, the righteousness which is of God by 
 faith." 
 
 This, indeed, is a vital part in the justification of sinful men. 
 Many seem to think that they have no need of anything but par- 
 don. How then can they be justified by a sentence according to 
 law, which enjoins perfect obedience? How can they become 
 entitled to eternal life, which was originally promised to such 
 obedience? What has overturned God's constitution? What 
 
FULL ASSURANCE OF FAITH AND HOPE. 177 
 
 has broken the connection, established by himself, between the 
 condition and the reward? Nay, that constitution stands; and 
 sinners, if justified at all, must be justified according to its terms — 
 by obedience, by perfect obedience ; but not by such obedience, be 
 it remembered, as you can perform. You are all as an unclean 
 thing, and all your righteousness as filthy rags. This renders the 
 plan of grace so wonderful in our eyes ; so infinitely worthy of the 
 wisdom of God. The second Adam, who is the Lord from heaven, 
 has stepped into the first Adam's place, and done what he as our 
 covenant-head ought to have done; he has fulfilled the righteousness 
 of the law. Thence his precious name, Jehovah our righteousness. 
 Of this Paul was very certain : and it was one reason of his 
 committing his eternal interests into the hands of Jesus Christ, 
 with the perfect assurance that they would be safe there. Do you, 
 my dear brethren, follow so blessed an example ? Cast away, in 
 your dealings with your Creator, " to the moles and to the bats," 
 everything, everything that can, by any possibility of construction, 
 be reckoned as your own righteousness. The very best of it, 
 trusted in, is no better than a mill-stone about your necks ; and 
 when God arises to judgment, will sink you to " bottomless perdi- 
 tion." Lay hold of that one righteousness of Jesus Christ, which 
 is able to cover all who take refuge in it, from martyred Abel 
 down to the last believer who shall cry, " Lord, save me, I 
 perish." 
 
 In the next place, Jesus Christ had paid Paul's debt. He owed 
 nothing less than his soul to the violated law of God : and had not 
 his Saviour interposed, the forfeit must have been exacted. But 
 Christ became his security for the amount of that forfeit. He put 
 his own neck under the sword of justice, and redeemed the life of 
 the disciple by the surrender of his own ; redeemed it, without his 
 wish or knowledge — redeemed it, while he was yet a blasphemer, 
 and a persecutor, and injurious ; that in his case, as a ringleader 
 of rebellion ; that in me first — in me as chief — " Jesus Christ might 
 show all long-suffering for a pattern to them who should afterwards 
 believe on him to life everlasting." — "For when the fulness of the 
 time was come, God sent forth his Son, made of a woman, made 
 under the law, to redeem them that were under the law, that we 
 might receive the adoption of sons." Thus, as their representative, 
 sustaining their persons, meeting all the claims which the righteous- 
 
ITS SERMON IX. 
 
 ness of God preferred, answering all accusations against them, facing 
 every adversary, did the beloved One, as their substitute, and for 
 their benefit, lay down his most precious life for the lives of his 
 chosen. The temptations of the evil one, the unbelief and contra- 
 diction of sinners, the insolence of his persecutors, and all the 
 degradations of his humbled state; the whole weight of the Cttrse 
 of God, which would have crushed a world of angels; did he- 
 endure, the just for the unjust, that he might bring us to God. 
 Then was the law magnified and made honourable — more magni- 
 fied and made more honourable, than it would have been by the 
 unsinning obedience of all the creatures to all eternity. Then he 
 " by himself purged our sins" — then he paid the price of redemp- 
 tion for an innumerable multitude of prisoners, whom he " bought 
 unto God by his blood ;" and having achieved the glorious work, 
 " entered into the holy place, and for ever sat down at the right 
 hand of God, the Majesty on high." There are some who imagine, 
 and who say, " that we know not, nor does it concern us to know, 
 in what manner the sacrifice of Christ is connected with the 
 forgiveness of sins." And grieved I am to find in this number a 
 writer who has done good service to the cause of truth, by stripping 
 the philosophical Christianity of the day of its borrowed plume, 
 and exposing to the abhorrence of every reasonable man all the 
 nakedness of its pretences to learning, to candour, to superior light, 
 and all the unbounded insolence with which it treats the Word of 
 God itself. I allude to Magee on the Atonement, whose words I 
 have quoted above. But our Lord has not left us in the dark on 
 this point, of the justification of a sinner. We thank his blessed 
 name, that we do know precisely, for he has explained to us, as 
 fully as any doctrine in the whole Bible, the connection which his 
 sacrifice has with the remission of our sins. Jt is because he was 
 "made sin for us," that we are "made the righteousness of God in 
 him ;" because he " bare our sins and carried our sorrows," that 
 " by his stripes we are healed." Had not Jesus been our repre- 
 sentative, we should have known nothing, and could have known 
 nothing, about the question, whether there is forgiveness with 
 God. But because he took our place, therefore our sins are ex- 
 piated. Because he bore the penalty due to us, therefore we are 
 freely forgiven for his name's sake, and we rejoice in hope of the 
 glory of God. believer, cling to this gracious connection between 
 
FULL ASSURANCE OF FAITH AND HOPE. 179 
 
 Christ's suffering and your release, as to the sheet-anchor of your 
 salvation. This and this alone will bear you up, when earth and 
 earthly things are sinking around you. Paul trusted mightily to 
 it. Therefore he was persuaded that there need be no fear of 
 anything committed to the Redeemer's hands. 
 
 2. Consider what Jesus Christ had done in the apostle. All 
 that he had done without, had its counterpart within his soul. He 
 had wrought out for him an everlasting salvation, arid it was 
 necessary that he should be put in possession of it — had purchased 
 for him a heavenly kingdom, and the next thing was to make him 
 fit for the enjoyment of it. Briefly, he turned Paul into a new 
 man — turned him from darkness unto light ; from Satan unto God ; 
 from sin unto holiness ; changed the relentless persecutor into the 
 suffering lamb ; gave to all his affections a holy bias ; to all his 
 faculties a heavenly point ; to all his pursuits a hallowed direction; 
 filled him with love to Himself and to the souls of men ; so that 
 he counted not his life dear unto him, that he might " fulfil the 
 ministry which he had received of the Lord Jesus, to testify the 
 gospel of the grace of God." This was, to Paul himself, the most 
 stupendous miracle in his history. Could lie afterwards question 
 whether the Lord Jesus has " power over all flesh ;" over all spirit; 
 when he had, within his own bosom, a living demonstration, no 
 more equivocal than the pulsations of his heart, that the word of 
 the Lord Jesus Christ can convert the fiercest enemy into the most 
 tender and faithful friend ? And could he be at a loss ; could he 
 hesitate a moment, about committing that soul of his, with all its 
 eternal interests, into hands which had done so great things for 
 him and in him? 
 
 3. Much as Jesus Christ had done for Paul, he had far more to 
 do for him, ere his work was finished ; and was every day giving 
 fresh tokens of his care and love. He was actually in the highest 
 heavens interceding for the apostle. His intercession we may 
 conceive to be an authoritative exhibition of his accepted sacrifice, 
 in behalf of his people. Whatever he had purchased for them, he 
 claims as a matter of right to be conferred upon them in such 
 manner, degree, and season, as the Infinite Wisdom shall deter- 
 mine. Thus he sympathizes with their sorrows : " We have not a 
 high priest who cannot be touched with a feeling of our infirmities." 
 And the secret communications of that sympathy are of infinite value. 
 
180 SERMON IX. 
 
 He supplies their present wants, both of body and soul. " He 
 who hangs creation on his arm, and feeds it at his board, will not 
 let slip a ransomed child, nor let it starve." It was not a vain 
 lesson that he taught his disciples : " Give us this day our daily 
 bread." Moreover, he holds their souls in life. The riches of 
 glory treasured up in Christ Jesus, are the fund upon which they 
 draw for their succour in every time of need. If their graces lan- 
 guish, he revives and quickens them. If they are scanty, he giveth 
 more grace. If they are hard beset in the spiritual warfare, he 
 throws around them "the shield of his salvation," and in the end 
 makes them " more than conquerors." 
 
 Jesus Christ sends down the Holy Spirit to instruct. He com- 
 pensates the personal absence of the Saviour. The monitions of 
 this heavenly teacher cause the most simple to be wonderful pro- 
 ficients in divine things. They " grow in grace, and in the know*- 
 ledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ." He sends him to 
 refresh : He is in them " a well of water springing up to everlast- 
 ing life." He sends him to invigorate : They are " strengthened 
 with all might by his Spirit in the inner man." He sends him to 
 console : His name is Comforter ; and his consolations are neither 
 few nor small. He sends him to prosper them in difficult enter- 
 prises : They succeed, " not by might nor by power, but by my 
 Spirit, saith the Lord," 
 
 Jesus Christ encircled Paul in his arms in the midst of personal 
 danger. His path lay through snares and treacheries, and deaths 
 unnumbered. If he fought with beasts at Ephesus ; if he was in 
 the lion's mouth at Rome ; if he was stoned at Lystra ; his kind 
 and faithful Lord delivered him from them all. "Fear not, Paul," 
 he had said, " no man shall set upon thee to hurt thee ;" and he 
 was true to his promise : and Paul was so sure of it, that he counted 
 confidently on his protection. " The Lord," says he, " shall deliver 
 me from every evil work, and shall preserve me unto his heavenly 
 kingdom." 
 
 By all these means Paul's sanctification was improved. He 
 became every day more meet than he was the day before, for an 
 abundant entrance into his Master's kingdom. He accounted 
 nothing done to purpose, while anything remained to be done. 
 Not even his past attainments, great and glorious as they were ; 
 not even the career of his services, though the most brilliant among 
 
FULL ASSURANCE OF FAITH AND HOPE. 181 
 
 the ranks of the saved, could check his ardour for further attain- 
 ment, for higher Christian distinction. " I count not myself," says 
 he, " to have apprehended, but this one thing I do, forgetting those 
 things which are behind, and reaching forward to those things that 
 are before, I press toward the mark, for the prize of the high call- 
 ing of God in Christ Jesus.' 7 
 
 Now put all these considerations together, and ask whether 
 Paul's confidence in the ability and grace of the Lord Jesus, to 
 keep what he had committed unto him, till the day of final decision, 
 was weak or chimerical ? Whether it was not the most sober con- 
 clusion, drawn from the firmest premises ? Whether it left any 
 possible room for misgivings and fears? And whether Paul has 
 not exemplified, in his own person, the privilege common to all 
 believers, and the true and proper effect of the religion which they 
 profess ? 
 
 Let us try if we cannot reap some profitable instruction from 
 this interesting subject. 
 
 1. Every real believer has direct and confidential transactions 
 with the Lord Jesus Christ. Like Paul, he has committed all that 
 he is, and all that he has ; whatever is most precious for time and 
 for eternity; his body, his soul, his hope, his reversion in heaven, 
 to the hands of his faithful Redeemer. Have you done so, my 
 hearers? Have you done it, professed Christians? Ah, how 
 wide a difference does this make between the formalist and the 
 genuine disciple ! Let me ask again, for the question is a vital 
 one : You who name the name of Jesus, who pass for the converts 
 of his grace, and have sworn fealty to his cause, what have you to 
 say? Did you ever give yourselves up formally, fully, irrevocably, 
 to be his property, and at his disposal? When, where, how, did 
 you make the blessed surrender? How do you prove the fact? 
 What obedience do you perform ? What self-denials do you en- 
 dure ? What sacrifices, even of the most worthless of your posses- 
 sions, the trash of this earth, do you offer? Who, of all the 
 numerous retainers of the Christian name, of all the decent 
 professors of godliness, will trust his Redeemer for to-morrow s 
 bread? Who of them would not rather rely on the respectable 
 signer of a bank-note, than upon all the promises of the faithful 
 God ? Were it put to the trial, who of them would not grasp the 
 paper, and let go the truth and the oath of a faithful God, who 
 
182 SERMON IX. 
 
 cannot lie, among the uncertainties of life ? And can any man ? 
 with such practical feelings, really dupe himself with the persua- 
 sion that he trusts the Lord Jesus for the kingdom of the just? 
 That he believes in that most generous sacrifice which Jesus 
 Christ made for him ; the blood of his cross ? Not a word ! Not 
 a single word ! He is as absolute an unbeliever in the Captain of 
 our salvation, and as absolute an idolater, in his own way, as any 
 poor wretch that ever threw himself under the wheels of Jugger- 
 naut. And that he will find, if death overtake him in his present 
 condition, when the stone which the builders rejected shall grind 
 him to powder. Bear with me, my friends, I may not prophecy 
 smooth things ; may not palliate ; I must declare the whole 
 truth, on the peril of treason to my heavenly Master. If any 
 of you find it cut deep, " there is balm in Gilead, and a Physician 
 there." I can do nothing but commend you to the Lord, the 
 Healer. 
 
 2. Let us remark a peculiar property in the Christian religion, 
 as it exists in the Bible, and in the hearts of those who are 
 thoroughly under its influence ; unwavering confidence of spiritual 
 and unseen realities ; " I know whom I have believed." 
 
 The religion of Jesus Christ is the religion of faith. It ac- 
 knowledges no conjecture, no ifurmises, no peradventure. It rest* 
 upon the surest of all foundations ; that impenetrable rock on 
 which the gates of hell can make not the least impression ; the 
 testimony of the living God. It demands the unhesitating consent 
 of our hearts. It contains no provision for doubts. Doubting, in 
 every possible degree, is an implied impeachment of the veracity of 
 its divine Author, and most signally dishonours his glorious name. 
 Every Christian in the world ought to say, as peremptorily as the 
 apostle, " I know whom I have believed ; " and to be carried by 
 his faith as fearlessly and triumphantly along as he was, through 
 duties, \litficulties, and death itself, perfectly sure that he shall find 
 it all safe at that day. Then why is the fact so different ? Why 
 is the world so full of doubts, and fears, and lamentations, even on 
 the part of Christians themselves, that there is scarcely heard any 
 more the Ck voice of joy and rejoicing in the tabernacles of the 
 righteous ?" The fact is indisputable ; and allow me to say it is 
 one of those high indecencies which disgrace your profession. It 
 tfbes not become you, Christians, to act and to talk as if your re- 
 
FULL ASSURANCE UF FAITH AND HOPE. 183 
 
 Kgion were nu better than a human speculation, and your Redeemer 
 an adventurer, who may or who may not fulfil the expectations he 
 has raised, as shall hereafter be found convenient. There is not 
 one of you who would not feel himself injured and insulted by the 
 twentieth part of that mistrust in his truth, which he himself is 
 habitually exercising, ('tis well that he does it ignorantly,) towards 
 Jesus Christ. 
 
 But still, how is the fact to be explained ? Very easily, though 
 not very honourably, for those who furnish evidence of its existence. 
 A neglect to cultivate grace already bestowed, opens the door of 
 the heart to a multitude of those evil doubts. An untender walk ; 
 more according to the fashion of this world, than according to the 
 will of God, than your duty, your privileges, your promises, your 
 obligations to redeeming love, exact ; grieves the good Spirit of 
 God ; mightily shakes your hope ; and brings your souls into bon- 
 dage and terrors. A guilty conscience and a settled peace, or an 
 unbending faith, cannot dwell together in the same bosom. Omis- 
 sions of known duties ; of opportunities of serving and honouring 
 our Master, when fairly put in our way ; do naturally and neces- 
 sarily invite this rebuke. We cannot expect to enjoy the comforts 
 of faith, while the uses for which it was given are unfaithfully 
 overlooked. # 
 
 But that which is the most common and extensive cause of the 
 criminal state and temper exhibited by the Christian community, 
 in the article of their confidence before God, is walking by sight, 
 and not by faith. Christians are formed for an immortality of 
 action, blessedness, and glory, in a future state and a better world. 
 Earth lias no principles from which to draw any conclusions, about 
 the employments or pleasures of heaven. The philosopher and 
 the clown ; the men of large or of little acquaintance with human 
 nature; the most refined reason and the most gross, are alike ig- 
 norant and foolish on this point We know nothing at all but 
 what God has been pleased to tell us. And he has told us no 
 more than is absolutely necessary for our present Christian being. 
 "Thus saith the Lord," contains the ground of all our convictions, 
 the elements of all our reasonings, upon the approaching condition 
 of the just. We must take his word for everything; and take it 
 solely because he hath said it. Yet our principal concern in this 
 world is with the invisible realities of the next, and with those 
 
184 SERMON IX. 
 
 affections, principles, and habits, which are linked in with them, 
 by a continuity of existence ; which are the great preparatives for 
 them ; and are nurtured, and strengthened, by means and influ- 
 ences as much depending upon our faith, as is our interest in the 
 realities themselves. 
 
 Now it is perfectly evident, that a life of mere sense, such a life 
 as is common to men who pretend to nothing more than sense can 
 give them, is utterly hostile to the Christian's hope and calling. 
 And yet what do we see, I do not say among those who profess, 
 but among those who, we must hope, experience the faith of God's 
 elect? What, but an incessant contradiction to their heavenly 
 vocation ? They believe strongly, when all their sensations go on 
 comfortably. But the instant anything happens to disturb these 
 sensations, their faith and their confidence flag. It is all well so 
 long as they feel comfortably ; but the moment anything untoward 
 happens to their bodily perceptions — if they do not feel well — if 
 their health is disordered — if their spirits are depressed — if the 
 east wind affects their nerves; melancholy forebodings invade 
 them ; their past experience is all a delusion ; their hope vanishes; 
 despair fills their minds : and so the whole of their confidence turns 
 out to be something which depend upon their physical health, or 
 some accidental circumstance.^ Do you call this believing on the 
 Son of God? Does his faithfulness rest upon the fickleness of 
 your frame ? Or is he to be insulted with your doubts, whenever 
 the mechanism of your body is disturbed ? Nay, if you ask for 
 better assurance than his words of promise ; if that will not fortify 
 you against the ills of life and death; if you have not learned, 
 with the father of the faithful, against hope to believe in hope, not 
 staggering at the promise of God through unbelief, make thorough 
 work of it; cast away his name, his badge, and his livery; take 
 all the comfort that sense can bring you ; but do not, whatever 
 else you pretend to, do not set up for a believer in Jesus 
 Christ. 
 
 Yet to those who can and do trust the faithful Saviour and his 
 unaltering word, I say, Fear not. Your Lord will perfect that 
 which concerneth you. Your interests are infinitely safe. Your 
 small concerns, as you may account them, are bound up with him 
 in the bundle of everlasting memory ; and will no more be for- 
 gotten than the concerns of a world. However seemingly worth- 
 
FULL ASSURANCE OF FAITH AND HOPE. 185 
 
 less your deposit, he will remember it to your unspeakable joy. 
 Give then your fears to the winds. Order all your doubts to be 
 gone. And let the gracious emotion pass from heart to heart, till 
 the shout of confidence shall df own the voice of repining ; and the 
 world and the church shall be surprised with the triumph of that 
 song : " I know whom I have believed ; and am persuaded that he 
 is able to keep what I have committed to him, until that day." 
 Amen. 
 
SERMON X.* 
 
 THE EVANGELICAL MINISTRY EXEMPLIFIED. 
 
 ACTS xx. 17-27. 
 
 "'' And from Miletus lie sent to Ephesus, and culled the elders of the church. 
 And when they were come to him, he said unto them, Ye know from the first 
 day that I came into Asia, after what manner I have been with you at all seasons, 
 serving the Lord with all humility of mind, and with many tears and temptations, 
 which befell me by the lying in wait of the Jews ; and how I kept back nothing 
 that was profitable unto you, but have showed you, and hare taught you publicly, 
 and from house to house, testifying both to the Jews, and also to the Greeks, 
 repentance toward God, and faith toward our Lord Jesus Christ. And now, 
 behold, I go bound in the spirit unto Jerusalem, not knowing the things that 
 shall befall me there : save that the Holy Ghost witnesseth in every city, saying, 
 that bonds and afflictions abide me. But none of these things move me, neither 
 count I my life dear unto myself, so that I may finish my course with joy, and 
 the ministry which I have received of the Lord Jesus, to testify the gospel of the 
 grace of God. And now, behold, I know that ye all, among whom I have gone 
 preaching the kingdom of God, shall see my face no more. "Wherefore I take 
 you to record this clay, that I am pure from the blood of all men. For I have not 
 shunned to declare unto you the whole counsel of God." 
 
 Next to our Lord Jesus Christ, the name of which figures most 
 gloriously "in the early stages of the Christian story, is that of the 
 Apostle Paul. The grandeur of his mind, his intellectual and 
 moral magnanimity, his heroic devotion, his patience in suffering; 
 his powerful genius, his decision, his eloquence, his zeal, shine in 
 every page of his writings, raise the admiration and awe the spirits 
 of his readers, and make them feel that they enter into communion 
 with a being of superior order. But it is not that peculiar great- 
 
 * Preached in Murray Street Church, December 2, 1821, on the occasion of 
 ling his charge of his congregation. 
 
EVANGELICAL MINISTRY EXEMPLIFIED. 187 
 
 ness which was inseparable from every act of the man, and excites 
 our veneration while it forbids our rivalship, that creates our 
 deepest interest in his character. Our understandings may be 
 penetrated with light which has no power of warming our hearts. 
 The most profound respect does not necessarily call forth our love. 
 Our affections must be won; they cannot be stormed. To this 
 principle of our nature God has been pleased to pay particular 
 regard, in the first heralds of the cross. However diversified their 
 qualities and attainments ; whatever be the zeal of one, the potency 
 of argument in another, the intrepid courage of a third, that which 
 bears the sway in all, is their loveliness. Our hearts are capti- 
 vated by the same process which subdues our understandings. 
 Nothing, for example, can be more fair and unanswerable, than 
 when Paul closes in his argument with the subtle philosopher; 
 nothing more terrible than when he deals out the thunders of God 
 among the gainsayers : and nothing more exquisitely tender, than 
 his carriage toward the timid and scrupulous disciple. If ever a 
 man knew how to wind his way into the human soul ; how to coil 
 around him its most sacred affections ; how to explore the secret 
 place of tears, and to put in motion ail its kindest sympathies, the 
 Apostle Paul was certainly that man. You know that this has 
 always been with me a favourite theme ; that my heart has 
 enlarged, my imagination brightened ; and my steps have trodden 
 almost upon fairy ground, when they have been roused and quick- 
 ened by the name of Paul. But on no occasion does he loom so 
 high, and shine so gloriously, as in the context. All his powers 
 are concentrated ; his feelings are condensed into a point ; the 
 covering is shoved aside from his breast, and you see, without dis- 
 guise, the workings of his ingenuous, his upright, his mighty 
 mind. This parting address to the elders of Ephesus, well deserved 
 a place in the holy volume ; and deserves it in our best regards, 
 in our most reverential remembrance. 
 
 I propose to give you, on this occasion, an analysis of part of 
 the apostle's discourse. You will find it to contain an account of 
 the manner in which he discharged his ministry among the 
 Ephesians, ver. 18-21 ; his extreme devotedness to the cause in 
 which he was embarked, ver. 22-24 ; and his presentiment of its 
 being the closing of his ministry, with an affectionate appeal to 
 their consciences, and the ground of that appeal, 25-27. 
 
188 SERMON X. 
 
 I. An account of the manner in which he discharged his min- 
 istry among the Ephesians, ver. 18-21. 
 
 1. He served the Lord with all "humility of mind." The 
 apostles, unlike many of their pretended successors, aimed at no 
 worldly honours, distinctions, nor titles. " Rabbi " is not to be 
 met with in their whole vocabulary. The name of lords bishops 
 was utterly unknown to them, nor would they have thought it a 
 meet appellation for the followers of a crucified Master. Whatever 
 be its origin or use, the spirit of the apostles disclaims it, and holds 
 no fellowship with the temper which it is calculated to cherish. 
 Servants of the Lord Jesus Christ, was their highest earthly 
 designation, and rank, and glory. Paul had talents, and powers, 
 and proficiency, which fairly entitle him to a pre-eminence among 
 his brethren ; but the only pre-eminence which he courted, was a 
 pre-eminence in dangerous service to the glory of his Master. Let 
 little men sigh after these trifles ; it suits their capacities ; it is fit 
 for their ambition ; but neither an apostle, nor an apostolic man, 
 wishes for any more dignified style, or holy occupation, than to be 
 known in the church as " serving the Lord." 
 
 There is a consideration which weighs much with every gracious 
 heart, and is not, cannot be, easily forgotten — the immense distance 
 between the Lord Jesus and his most faithful servants. He, the 
 living God; they, creatures low in the scale of being, when compared 
 with other creatures which " excel in strength, yet obey his command- 
 ments, hearkening to the voice of his word." — " The treasure is in 
 earthen vessels, that the excellency of the power might be of God." 
 The angels, who look, with studious anxiety, into the mysteries of 
 redemption by Jesus Christ, would thankfully have accepted the 
 appointment of ambassadors of the cross. But God has seen fit to 
 confer that honour upon men of like passions with others ; and 
 commanded the angels to be ministering spirits. When we add, 
 that these heralds of his truth were sinners like other men, called 
 by divine grace out of the common condemnation, and sent to tell 
 their fellow-sinners that "there is forgiveness with God," how 
 august the message ! how humbling to the messenger ! He cannot, 
 or ought not to, forget one single moment, that " by grace he is 
 saved ;" and the more profound and lively his sense of this truth, 
 the more completely will he enter into the feelings of Paul, who 
 served the Lord with all humility of mind. Could Paul need a 
 
EVANGELICAL MINISTRY EXEMPLIFIED. 189 
 
 monitor to remind him that he was once a blasphemer, and a per- 
 secutor, and injurious ; that he obtained mercy because the " grace 
 of our Lord Jesus Christ was exceeding abundant," and obtained 
 it for this end, that in him, first, the Saviour " might show forth 
 all long-suffering to them who should believe on him to life ever- 
 lasting? He could not open his lips to proclaim the riches of 
 redeeming love, without at the same time exhibiting himself as a 
 monument of that love. No wonder that his service was so strongly 
 tinged with humility. There is nothing, my brethren, which can 
 so humble and elevate a mans soul as a powerful experience of 
 the love of Christ. Nor is anything more unbecoming, more 
 desolating to the holy character — more indicative of communion 
 with the devil, than clerical superciliousness. 
 
 Unassuming as were the apostle's manners — innocent as was 
 his conversation — useful as was his whole life, his course was 
 nevertheless a course of trouble. For, 
 
 2. His ministry was marked by many tears, and many " temp- 
 tations, which befell him him by the lying in wait of the Jews." 
 
 The tears of an apostle have upon our minds a most melting 
 influence. Our own are disposed to mingle with them upon the 
 bare mention of his. But, after all, what called them forth ? You 
 do not hear of his weeping before the Sanhedrim at Jerusalem — 
 before the Roman governor, into whose presence he was brought 
 in chains. No ! there was a proper scene for a spirit which neither 
 the Sanhedrim, nor the Roman governor, in all his authority, 
 could subdue or bow. He appeared before them less as the 
 criminal than as the judge. His mind rose, his spirit towered, till 
 all before him seemed to be, what indeed they were, comparatively 
 very little men. What then could bring tears, and many tears, 
 from the eyes of a man who could make governors tremble on their 
 bench of justice ? The overflowings of his own benevolent heart ! 
 When he saw how men slighted their own mercies— how they 
 rejected, some with civil, some with contumelious air, as they do 
 at this hour, the salvation of God, and " put away from them the 
 words of eternal life f having before him the perils which they 
 encountered, and a full view of the ruin which they could not 
 escape, his whole soul was dissolved in tenderness, and he wept 
 his tears of bitterness over their infatuation. The terror of the 
 Roman government could not extort from his firmness a single 
 
190 SERMON X. 
 
 drop— the sight of an immortal soul, perishing in its iniquity, and 
 pleased with its delusions, altogether unmanned him, and suffused 
 his cheeks with tears, which in other cases would have been the 
 sign of weakness. 
 
 Objections and oppositions were not the only impediments of 
 the apostle's career. Many trials befell him " by the lying in wait 
 of the Jews." That Paul was their countryman, in whom they 
 had prided themselves ; that he was among the Pharisees, whom 
 the nation almost idolized ; that he had been their ringleader in 
 persecuting the new religion, all passed for nothing. He was now 
 a follower of the crucified Nazarene, and nothing but his blood 
 would assuage their wrath. All the world over, the disciples of 
 the Lord Jesus have been singled out as objects of ultimate 
 violence. It is not to be wondered at in a world under the influ- 
 ence of him who "was a murderer from the beginning." And if 
 their condition is better now, it is because the gospel has triumphed 
 over human madness, and hath put the abettors of wickedness to 
 shame. 
 
 Paul trod continually, not amidst vipers and scorpions, but, 
 what is infinitely worse, the snares of hellish men. Every sermon 
 furnished materials for a new conspiracy ; every step a track for 
 the bloodhounds. The cowards who shrunk from his eye, w T ould 
 yet venture to stab him from behind. It was only by lying in 
 wait, that the Jews hoped for success. But all this was not to 
 shake the resolution nor alter the conduct of Paul. Such as the 
 grace of our Jesus made him, both the church and her adversaries 
 always found him. 
 
 In the midst of these discouragements, nothing could arrest his 
 zeal, nor silence his testimony : " he kept back nothing that was 
 profitable to his Ephesian hearers." Neither the love of fame, nor 
 the hope of gaining a party ever called forth Paul's exertions. 
 His anxiety was to be useful; popularity at the expense of duty, 
 had no charms for him. Woe to that preacher who makes his 
 office subservient to the applause of his fellow-men. Whether his 
 bearers approved or disapproved; whether the doctrines coincided 
 with the popular prejudice, or were directly hostile to it, it was the 
 same thing to this wise and gallant apostle. He had to do with 
 " I rod, who searcheth the hearts;" human opinions dwindled away 
 into their native insignificance, before him "whose judgment is 
 
EVANGELICAL MINISTRY EXEMPLIFIED, 191 
 
 according to truth;" and therefore he kept back nothing that was 
 profitable to those who frequented his ministry. He showed them 
 that truth which admits of no compromise ; he had but one doctrine 
 which he "taught publicly, and from house to house." Be he 
 where he might, in the solemn assembly or in the domestic circle 
 (his instructions were the same. It is the very nature of truth that 
 it should be so. And it equally belongs to imposture to utter 
 things unpleasant in public, and fritter them away in private ; or 
 to utter them in private, and suppress them in public. His dis- 
 courses in the church he followed up with his explanations and 
 applications at home. From house to house the apostle might be 
 tracked upon this line of life. 
 
 This passage has been used as furnishing a divine warrant, and 
 proving a divine obligation, to what is termed parochial visitation. 
 Highly important it is no doubt ; but men must be careful that 
 they do not convert the sound of words into a divine warrant, and 
 not to require bricks without straw. To prove that apostolic 
 example establishes a precedent for imitation, we must be sure that 
 the circumstances to which it is applied are similar. But this is 
 far from being the case in the present instance. There are two 
 things in which the state of the churches now differs materially 
 from their state in primitive times. 
 
 In Ihe first place, they had inspired teachers; who could, there- 
 fore, spend the whole week in exhorting, confirming, consoling 
 their converts, without infringing on their preparations for the 
 Lord's day. Our situation is quite different : close and habitual 
 study are necessary for us. And if we cannot get time to attend 
 to it, our ministrations grow uninteresting, and our congregations 
 lean. As for those men who boast of working at the loom all the 
 week, and then acquitting themselves well on the Lord's day, I 
 shall say nothing but that their performances are such as might be 
 expected from the loom ; but as far as can well be conceived from 
 the labours of a " workman who rightly divides the word of truth." 
 
 In the next place, the primitive churches never permitted them- 
 selves to suffer for want of labourers. Their spiritual advancement 
 was, in their eyes, infinitely more valuable than all the pelf which 
 the maintenance of their ministers required. Look over the Acts 
 of the Apostles, and be astonished at the abundance of help which 
 the churches then enjoyed. Our economical plan is to make the 
 
192 SERMON X. 
 
 pastor do the work which was anciently done by three or four, and 
 the very natural consequence follows, the work is badly done, or 
 the workman is sacrificed. In our own city, from the accumulation 
 of inhabitants, and their very dispersed residences, if we were to 
 visit as much, or anything like it, as our people are good enough 
 to wish, and unreasonable enough to expect, we should not have 
 an hour left for our proper business ; we could make no progress 
 in the knowledge of the scriptures ; and not one would be able to 
 preach a sermon worthy a sensible man's hearing. The conclusion 
 is almost self-evident : if congregations will stint themselves in 
 workmen, they must have their work spoiled ; and if the work be 
 done at all, they must kill the mind or body of the workman, and 
 sometimes both. Let them not deceive themselves. If they im- 
 pose hardships which God never commanded, they must expect to 
 go without his blessing. 
 
 The burden of Paul's preaching, whether to the Jew or Gentile, 
 was " repentance toward God. and faith toward our Lord Jesus 
 Christ." 
 
 That their conceptions and feelings toward God were radically 
 wrong ; that these must be altered and purified ; and that all their 
 views must centre in our Lord Jesus Christ, as " the way, the 
 truth, and the life," in order to human happiness, his word 
 constantly declares, and the experience of men as constantly con- 
 firms. This great truth, " Christ, the wisdom of God and the 
 power of God, flowed alike from the tongue and from the pen of 
 Paul, and was, in fact, " the head and front of his offending," with 
 both Jews and Gentiles. This, however, must be the substance 
 of his testimony. And so it must be still. All who hope to win 
 sinners unto God, and to have them as " crowns of rejoicing" in 
 that day, must, like Paul, " determine to know nothing save Jesus 
 Christ, and him crucified." And cursed with all the curses which 
 are written in this book, be that ministry of which Christ is not 
 the all and in all. 
 
 Such is a very feeble outline of the nature of Paul's ministry. 
 happy, thrice happy, the man who nearly imitates it! We have 
 much reason to blush and be ashamed, when we compare ourselves 
 with this prince of preachers ; and have infinite need to address 
 you, my Christian friends, the request of this glorious man of God, 
 " Brethren, pray for us." 
 
EVANGELICAL MINISTRY EXEMPLIFIED. 193 
 
 II. We are next called to witness Paul's extreme devotedness 
 to the cause in which he was engaged. Tie was " bound in the 
 spirit to go to Jerusalem." The Holy Ghost put forth a con- 
 straining influence upon him to go to that city. He had often 
 heard, and well knew, the voice ; had often felt, and well under- 
 stood, the impression which signified his duty to go to the metro- 
 polis of persecution. Of the general nature of the impulse he was 
 well assured. He knew that it came from God, and could not lead 
 him astray. This was sufficient to mark out the course of his 
 obedience. What was to befall him at Jerusalem he could not tell ; 
 he only knew that no rest awaited him there. " The Holy Ghost 
 witnessed, that in every city, bends and afflictions abode him." 
 Go where he would, he was sure that his fidelity would be put to 
 the severest test — sure that whoever found the Christian cause a 
 cause of ease and comfort, it was to be no ease and comfort to him. 
 Well, how does the prospect affect him? He was not such a 
 fanatic as to court pain when he might have avoided it. The 
 school of Baccaria and Voltaire, which teach that the severity of 
 punishment multiplies the offence, was not then known 5 or, had 
 it been known, would hardly have caught the ear of Paul. He 
 did not dream of fitting himself for the duties of an apostle, by 
 proclaiming war upon the principles of common sense, and the 
 common feelings of human nature. He knew, and never shrinked 
 from the original condition of his Master's service : " Whosoever 
 denieth not himself, and taketh not up his cross, and folio we th not 
 after me, cannot be my disciple." Show me the cross, exclaimed 
 this magnanimous man ; spread out before me all the self-denials 
 I may be called to endure : be they what they may, I must be a 
 disciple ! He did not doubt that his Lord would make up all to 
 him in due season : " for he had respect unto the recompense of the 
 reward."—" None of these things move me ; neither count I my 
 life dear unto myself, so that I might finish my course with joy. 
 and the ministry of the Lord Jesus, to testify the gospel of the 
 grace of God." 
 
 One of the idlest of human efforts is, the attempt to frighten a 
 man who has deliberately resolved to sacrifice his life, or to succeed 
 in his undertaking. You have lost your hold of him. When you 
 have threatened him with death, you have done your worst, ami 
 have no terrors left. It is then that the great commander steps 
 
194 SERMON X. 
 
 on the scene, and says, " Fear not them that kill the body, and 
 after that have no more that they can do : but I will forewarn you 
 whom ye shall fear : fear him who, after he hath killed, hath power 
 to destroy both soul and body in hell : yea, I say unto you, fear 
 him." Paul entered thoroughly into this feeling : and therefore 
 all appeals to human power and human pains, — to the axe, the 
 o-ibbet, or the stake, were without effect upon him ; for " he endured 
 as seeing him who is invisible." And so, my friends, will it be 
 with us, in proportion as our converse is with eternal realities. 
 Reckon not, when the great trial comes, upon the strength, and 
 courage, and nerves, which have commanded human applause, and 
 secured human expectation. " I cannot argue for Christ," said a 
 female martyr, " but I can burn for him." Her faith was of the 
 same sort with the apostle's; and therefore she did not even count 
 her life dear unto herself, that she might finish her course with 
 joy. My brethren, how could you, the best, the most resolute of 
 you all, abide this test of the apostolic or female martyr ? I do 
 not say, that in a life of ease and comfort, which God has vouch- 
 safed to you, you are called to exercise the grace of martyrdom : 
 but I do say, that if, upon your deliberate choice, your pre- 
 ference lean to anything else than our Lord Jesus Christ, you have 
 nothing to expect but that he will cast you out of his kingdom. 
 The apostle was always practical; i. e. he never preached Christian 
 duties, or painted Christian trials, without a reference to the pos- 
 sibility of his being called to the performance of the one, or to the 
 endurance of the other. He now felt all the considerations from 
 both press hard upon him. One of his sweet enjoyments arose 
 from the presence and sympathy of his fellow-Christians. He 
 found that this was to be interrupted — to be closed: and that drew 
 from him, in the 
 
 III. Place, his presentiment of the present being the last op- 
 portunity of converse with his Ephesian friends. "And now, 
 behold, I know that ye all, among whom I have gone preaching 
 the kingdom of God, shall see my face no more!" 
 
 There is a relation, and a tenderness of relation, produced 
 between a people and the instrument of their spiri:ual blessings, 
 which nothing on earth can equal : something which identifies him 
 with all their affections, and which they cannot easily transfer : 
 
EVANGELICAL MINISTRY EXEMPLIFIED. 195 
 
 something which creates a soothing pillow for him in every bosom ; 
 and for which every exchange is little better than a pillow of 
 thorns. On this subject it is impossible for me to enlarge : could 
 I summon up apathy enough, your own feelings would not endure 
 it. Let me, therefore, rather invite you away from this touching 
 theme to Paul's appeal to the consciences of his hearers. Thus 
 runs its terrible but affectionate language : " Wherefore I take you 
 to record this day, that I am pure from the blood of all men : for 
 I have not shunned to declare unto you the whole counsel of God." 
 There is a most awful trust committed by the Lord Jesus to his 
 ministering servants. It is nothing less than the " blood of men. r 
 that they felt this trust more than they sometimes do ! You 
 would not see the pulpit converted into a stage for the display of 
 human ingenuity, or perverted to the display of human vanity. 
 These things are lighter than a feather, and lose all their impor- 
 tance in the eyes of a man who remembers that he has an account 
 to settle with God for " blood ;" and that he knows not the moment 
 when his account may be demanded. It is observable, and ought 
 to sink deep into your hearts, and especially into the heart of every 
 preacher of the gospel, that Paul accounted himself pure from the 
 blood of men, because he had not concealed from them any part 
 of God's truth. He knew not that poliey by which some pulpits 
 have been disgraced, of deferring the declaration of the whole truth 
 to a more convenient season. As if the native enmity of the heart 
 were to be softened by delay — as if it could be reduced by anything 
 but by the truth itself — as if men ever found their audiences more 
 tractable by this kind of forbearance ; or were themselves more 
 instrumental in bringing sinners to God : or had the answer of a 
 good conscience more complete in their own bosoms. God, my 
 friends, knows infinitely better than we, what truths are suited to 
 our circumstances, and has revealed them in his book; and 
 accursed be that prudence which suggests the propriety of sup- 
 pressing any one of them. If there is one trait of a faithful 
 minister more obvious than another, it is this, that he is not afraid 
 nor ashamed to say what God has said before him in his Word. 
 
 Here, my beloved friends, is a breathing place for every honest 
 messenger of God's truth : may I be permitted to say that I feel 
 it to be so myself ? When the ministry of Paul is the subject, 
 blushes and tears become the sense which I cannot but perceive of 
 
196 SERMON X. 
 
 the immense disparity. But in this particular, I can stand even 
 in the presence of God, and can say, that in so far as he has been 
 pleased to enlighten me, I have never shunned to declare his whole 
 counsel. You know that, in this matter, I have not " sought glory 
 of men;" have not made their applause, not even your applause, 
 how respectable soever, my object ; have never concealed a truth, 
 however unpopular • nor ever asked if it were acceptable or not. 
 It has always been enough for me to have the Word of God on 
 my side. And when that has been clear, you cannot forget how 
 frequently, nay, how habitually, you have been turned over to his 
 tribunal. On this ground I do stand in this awful day of my life. 
 Bear witness against me if I have not told you the truth. Very 
 feebly, I own ; very imperfectly, I do confess : but corruptly, never. 
 And, 0, my friends, remember that you have a heavy account to 
 render, an account for blood, for your " own blood." I call heaven 
 and earth, and your own consciences, to witness against you this 
 day, that if you perish, "your blood will be upon your own heads, 
 I am clean." With this cheering, but melancholy assurance, I 
 close my ministry among you. Yet let me say, are there any of 
 you to whom that ministry has been sanctified ? Bless the Father 
 of mercies ; and do not waste your anxieties upon the worthless 
 instrument. " Look unto Jesus, the author and finisher of your 
 faith, to complete in you all the good pleasure of his goodness," 
 till he bring you to his kingdom, shouting, " grace, grace !" 
 
 Are there none here, and those whom we respect and love for 
 their amiable and social qualities, yet who never knew what it is 
 to love the Lord Jesus Christ ? To whom his truth, proclaimed 
 day after day, has been like water poured into a sieve — all " spilled 
 on the ground, and not gathered up." Let me say to you, my 
 friends, perhaps it is the last time, the day of your reckoning 
 cometh ; and you will find that the things so lightly esteemed by 
 you, are not forgotten by your God. Who of you would escape 
 going down to the pit ? Who would not ? Then hear, and hear 
 it again, and hear it as for eternity : " There is forgiveness with 
 God!" The doors of his mercy are not closed! The very chief 
 of sinners may yet find acceptance with him through his dear Son. 
 " Whosoever will, let him take of the water of life freely ; yes, 
 freely;" with all the welcome of God's authority, and all the riches 
 of God's bounty, " freely, so iniquity shall not be his ruin." 
 
EVANGELICAL MINISTRY EXEMPLIFIED. 197 
 
 It may be expected that on this occasion I should deliver my 
 thoughts concerning the person who is to take my place, and con- 
 cerning your own p?rt in the selection. How unlit I am for the 
 discharge of these duties, I abundantly feel ; and particularly how 
 much easier it is to tell you what you should not do, than what 
 you should. Yet, such as I have, give I unto you ; and in that 
 name which you should never hear quoted with lightness or 
 irreverence — the name of Jesus. 
 
 I trust you will not choose a vain man, who occupies the pulpit 
 more to display himself, than to profit you. Of all the melancholy 
 things seen among men, this is perhaps the most melancholy ; 
 a poor sinful being complimenting himself upon the discharge 
 of his office, while the ministering angels look upon him with a 
 mixture of dislike, of shame, and of horror ; and while his Judge, 
 before whom he is shortly to appear, regards him with a frown, 
 of which the interpretation is, " 111 done ! thou bad and faithless 
 servant ; enter thou not into the joy of thy Lord !" 
 
 2. Do not choose a showy man. Many of these men there are 
 who have only outside. You will be as sick of him at last, as you 
 were enamoured of him at first. You will speedily find that he 
 cannot instruct nor edify you; and will be heartily tired of seeing 
 him show himself. 
 
 3. Do not choose a man who always preaches upon insulated 
 texts. I care not how powerful or eloquent he may be in handling 
 them. The effect of his power and eloquence will be, to banish a 
 taste for the Word of God, and to substitute the preacher in its 
 place. You have been accustomed to hear that word preached to 
 you in its connection. Never permit that practice to drop. Foreign 
 churches call it lecturing; and when done with discretion, lean 
 assure you, that while it is of all exercises the most difficult for the 
 preacher, it is, in the same proportion, the most profitable for you. 
 It has this peculiar advantage, that in going through a book of 
 Scripture, it spreads out before you all sorts of character, and all 
 forms of opinion ; and gives the preacher an opportunity of striking 
 every kind of evil and of error, without subjecting him to the 
 invidious suspicion of aiming his discourses at individuals. 
 
 4. Do not choose a man of dubious principles. The truth of God 
 was given to be proclaimed ; not suppressed. It is a "city set on 
 a hill ;" a light which must shine, and not be smothered under a 
 
198 SERMON X. 
 
 bushel. When I hear of a man's preaching for years together in 
 such a manner that his most attentive and intelligent hearers are 
 unable to conjecture what his sentiments are upon the cardinal 
 truths of revelation, I cannot avoid pronouncing him a traitor. 
 His business is to preach Christ ; and not to treat the gospel as if 
 it were a bundle of mere negations : and see his hearers sink down, 
 one after another, in death, uninstructed, unwarned, unprepared, 
 through his negligence : and himself following them with all the 
 " deep damnation " of their blood upon his soul. ! it is incon- 
 ceivably fearful ! 
 
 5. Above all things, it is devoutly to be hoped that you will 
 never invite to the " care of your souls," one who cares nothing 
 about them. I mean more particularly, for I would not be mis- 
 understood, a man who belongs to those who miscall themselves 
 "rational Christians." Against these men I have ever warned 
 you, as the enemies of our Lord Jesus Christ, and all that is valu- 
 able in his religion, and peculiar in his salvation. 1 know well 
 that this congregation is considered by them as the very focus of 
 what they term bigotry ; and I do rejoice that thus far I and you 
 have been counted worthy to suffer shame for his name. Long 
 may it continue so ! This pulpit, this church, were destined to the 
 glory of the Lord Jesus. Let them never be polluted by a foot, 
 nor profaned by a tongue, which are not moved by his honour. 
 
 I cannot better describe the character of a profitable ministry 
 than it is done to my hand in a work too little known, " The 
 Directory for Public Worship," under the head " Of the Preaching 
 of the Word." 
 
 " Ordinarly, the subject of his sermon is to be some text of 
 Scripture, holding forth some principle or head of religion, or suit- 
 able to some special occasion ; or he may go on in some chapter, 
 psalm, or book of the Holy Scripture, as he shall see fit. 
 
 " Let the introduction to his text be brief and perspicuous, drawn 
 from the text itself, or context, or some parallel place, or general 
 sentence of Scripture. 
 
 " If the text be a long one, (as in histories or parables it some- 
 times must be,) let him give a brief sum of it ; if short, a para- 
 phrase thereof, if need be : in both, looking diligently to the scope 
 of the text, and pointing at the chief heads and grounds of doctrine 
 which he is to raise from it. 
 
EVANGELICAL MINISTRY EXEMPLIFIED. 199 
 
 " In analysing and dividing liis text, he is to regard more the 
 order of matter than of words : and neither to burden the memory 
 of the hearers in the beginning with too many members of division, 
 nor to trouble their minds with obscure terms of art. 
 
 " In raising doctrines from the text, his care ought to be, First, 
 That the matter be the truth of God. Secondly, That it be a truth 
 contained in or grounded on that text, that the hearers may discern 
 how God teacheth it from thence. Thirdly, That he chiefly insist 
 upon those doctrines which are principally intended, and make 
 most for the edification of the hearers. 
 
 " The doctrine is to be expressed in plain terms ; or if anything 
 in it need explication, it is to be opened, and the consequence also 
 from the text cleared. The parallel places of Scripture confirming 
 the doctrine are rather to be plain and pertinent than many, and 
 (if need be) somewhat insisted upon, and applied to the purpose in 
 hand. 
 
 u The arguments or reasons are to be solid, and, as much as 
 may be, convincing. The illustrations, of what kind soever, ought 
 to be full of light, and such as may convey the truth into the 
 hearer's heart with spiritual delight. 
 
 " If any doubt, obvious from Scripture, reason, or prejudice of 
 the hearers, seem to arise, it is very requisite to remove it, by 
 reconciling the seeming differences, answering the reasons, and 
 discovering and taking away the causes of prejudice and mistake. 
 Otherwise it is not fit to detain the hearers with propounding or 
 answering vain or wicked cavils, which as they are endless, so the 
 propounding and answering of them doth more hinder than promote 
 edification. 
 
 " He is not to rest in general doctrine, although ever so much 
 cleared and confirmed, but to bring it home to special use, by 
 application to his hearers ; which, although it prove a work of 
 great difficulty to himself, requiring much prudence, zeal, and 
 meditation, and to the natural and corrupt man will be very un- 
 pleasant : yet he is to endeavour to perform it in such a manner 
 that his auditors may feel the Word of God to be quick and power- 
 ful, and a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart ; and 
 that, if any unbeliever or ignorant person be present, he may have 
 the secrets of his heart made manifest, and give glory to God. 
 
 " In the use of instruction or information in the knowledge of 
 
200 SERMON X. 
 
 some truth, which is a consequence from his doctrine, he may 
 (when convenient) confirm it by a few firm arguments from the 
 text in hand, and other places of Scripture, or from the nature of 
 that commonplace in divinity, whereof that truth is a branch. 
 
 " In confutation of false doctrines, he is neither to raise an old 
 heresy from the grave, nor to mention a blasphemous opinion 
 unnecessarily ; but if the people be in danger of an error, he is to 
 confute it soundly, and endeavour to satisfy their judgments and 
 consciences against all objections. 
 
 " In exhorting to duties, he is, as he seeth cause, to teach also 
 the means that help to the performance of them. 
 
 " In dehortation, reprehension, and public admonition, (which 
 require special wisdom,) let him, as there shall be cause, not only 
 discover the nature and greatness of the sin, with the misery at- 
 tending it, but also show the danger his hearers are in to be over- 
 taken and surprised by it, together with the remedies and best way 
 to avoid it. 
 
 " In applying comfort whether general against all temptations, 
 or particular against some special troubles or terrors, he is carefully 
 to answer such objections as a troubled heart and afflicted spirit 
 may suggest to the contrary. 
 
 " But the servant of Christ, whatever his method be, is to perform 
 his whole ministry. 
 
 " Painfully, not doing the work of the Lord negligently. 
 
 " Plainly, that the weakest may understand ; delivering the truth 
 not in the enticing words of man's widom, but in demonstration of 
 the Spirit and of power, lest the cross of Christ should be made of 
 none effect ; abstaining also from an unprofitable use of unknown 
 tongues, strange phrases, and cadences of sounds and words; 
 sparingly citing sentences of ecclesiastical or human writers, 
 ancient or modern, be they ever so elegant. 
 
 "Faithfully, looking at the honour of Christ, the conversion, 
 edification, and salvation of the people, not as his own gain or 
 glory ; keeping nothing back which may promote these holy ends ; 
 giving to every one his own portion, and bearing indifferent respect 
 unto all, without neglecting the meanest, or sparing the greatest, 
 in their sins. 
 
 " Wisely, framing all his doctrines, exhortations, and especially 
 his reproofs, in such a manner as may be most likely to prevail : 
 
EVANGELICAL MINISTRY EXEMPLIFIED. 201 
 
 showing all due respect to each man's person and place, and not 
 mixing his own passion or bitterness. 
 
 "Gravely, as becometh the Word of God; shunning all such 
 gesture, voice, and expression, as may occasion the corruption oi' 
 men to despise him and his ministry. 
 
 " With loving affection, that the people may see all coming from 
 his godly zeal, and hearty desire to do them good. And, 
 
 " As taught of God, and persuaded in his own heart, that all 
 that he teacheth is the truth of Christ ; and walking before his 
 flock as an example to them in it ; earnestly, both in private and 
 public, recommending his labours to the blessing of God, and 
 watchfully looking to himself, and the flock whereof the Lord hath 
 made him overseer : so shall the doctrine of truth be preserved 
 uncorrupt, many souls be converted and built up, and himself 
 receive manifold comforts of his labours even in this life, and after- 
 ward the crown of glory laid up for him in the world to come." 
 
 After all, be it never forgotten, that it is the Lord Jesus himself 
 who must send you a pastor after his own heart. The ministry of 
 the word is his ascension-gift ; and if there is one thing more than 
 another for which he will be inquired of by his church, this is the 
 important thing. Then look up to him for the Holy Spirit, as the 
 " spirit of grace and supplication." Pray for the effusion of his 
 heavenly grace. Pray in secret, in private, and in public ; in your 
 closets, in your families, in your social meetings, after such form 
 as you may find most suitable to your circumstances ; be instant 
 in your entreaties to the throne of grace, and give the Hearer of 
 prayer no rest, till he hear you from his holy heaven, and grant 
 you the hallowed desires of your hearts. 
 
 And now, my dear friends, the moment of so much trembling 
 anxiety, of which you and I have turned away from the sight : the 
 moment of severance is come. Yet in the midst of those agitations 
 which it excites, there are two considerations which comfort and 
 soothe my spirit — 
 
 1. I leave you in peace. 
 
 During the whole course of my ministration among you, it is 
 my happiness to be conscious that there has been no strife between 
 us. Never has there been any misunderstanding between my 
 people and myself. Harmony unbroken has marked my inter- 
 course with them all. Between officers and private Christians and 
 
202 SERMON X. 
 
 myself, not a shadow of collision has ever occurred. I part with 
 you without one unkind feeling. Many infirmities have you borne 
 with : and for the affectionate regards of so many years' continu- 
 ance, I return this day, all that is in my power, the thanks of a 
 grateful heart, which assuredly do not proceed from feigned lips. 
 Now, my beloved friends, for a recompense of the same, go on 
 cultivating the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. Take 
 care that the election of a new pastor do not become a source of 
 contention and heart-burnings. " Pray for the peace of your 
 Jerusalem. They shall prosper that love her. Peace be within 
 thy walls and prosperity within thy palaces. For my brethren 
 and companions' sakes, J will now say, Peace be within thee. 
 Because of the house of the Lord our God, I will seek thy good." 
 " And may the God of peace, that brought again from the dead 
 our Lord Jesus Christ, that great Shepherd of the sheep, through 
 the blood of the everlasting covenant, make you perfect to do his 
 will, stablish, strengthen, settle you." 
 
 2. The second consolatory thought is, that the Lord Jesus is the 
 living head, the centre of union, to all his people. 
 
 Their souls are bound up with him in the same bundle of life. 
 Nothing, my Christian friends, can ever part us from him. 
 " What shall separate us from the love of Christ ? shall tribula- 
 tion, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or 
 sword? (As it is written, For thy sake we are killed all the day 
 long; we are accounted as sheep for the slaughter.) Nay, in all 
 these things we are more than conquerors, through him that loved 
 us. For I am persuaded that neither death, nor life, nor angels, 
 nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to 
 come; nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able 
 to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our 
 Lord." 
 
 Well, then, though far asunder, we shall be still united: we 
 remove not one hair's breadth from the mercy-seat. There I shall 
 meet you, and remember you. There do you also remember me. 
 We may be abundantly happy in the light of his countenance. 
 Ever bear in mind that the Disposer of our lot is the Saviour of 
 our souls. 
 
 A word to the young people of my charge shall finish my dis- 
 course. My dear young friends, you are the hope of the Church ; 
 
EVANGELICAL MINISTRY EXEMPLIFIED. 203 
 
 " your fathers, where are they ? and the prophets, do they live for 
 ever?" Older Christians must be gathered to their rest, and you 
 must occupy their places. That terrible deposit, the truth of God, 
 must come into your hands. Ask your souls, how will you receive 
 it? The Lord Jesus has powerful claims on you. You were early 
 dedicated to his name, and cast upon his providence. This hand 
 has poured out upon most of you the symbol consecration to the 
 fear, the love, and the service of God. The oath of his covenant 
 is on your souls. Have your consciences felt the power of its 
 obligation? My ministry, which for more than eleven years I 
 have discharged among you, is at an end; but not so the conse- 
 quences. The good Lord knows with what fidelity and what suc- 
 cess my labours have been attended. The hour is not far distant 
 when I must deliver up my account, and you must deliver up 
 yours. 0, to deliver them up with joy! Thou blessed and 
 heavenly Judge, shall I stand before thy seat, charged with any of 
 their blood? Shall they stand before it charged with their own? 
 Shall all the offers of thy mercy, all the pathos of thy sufferings, 
 all thine inimitable patience, and all thy marvellous love, have 
 been preached to them in vain? Shall there be any here who 
 does not more certainly turn his back upon the closed doors of this 
 house of prayer, than he does upon the last lingering offer of thy 
 salvation? The thought is too overwhelming. Pardon me, my 
 friends.- — I can no more. 
 
SERMON XI 
 
 SALVATION BY GRACE. 
 
 EPHESIANS ii. 8- 
 
 " By grace are ye saved, through faith, and that not of yourselves : it is the 
 gift of God." 
 
 The apostle Paul was largely indebted to redeeming love ; and, 
 like all other debtors to that love, he was so far from being 
 ashamed of the debt, that he thankfully owned the obligation it 
 laid upon him, and exulted in it, as his happiness, his honour, his 
 glory. Fully convinced, that in opposing the gospel of Jesus he 
 ignorantly courted ruin, and rushed with mad precipitation upon 
 the thick bosses of Jehovah's buckler, he gratefully commemorates 
 that undeserved, unexpected, undesired grace, which came down 
 from the highest heavens — arrested him in his career of impiety — 
 unmasked him to himself— revealed to him the Saviour. This 
 grace is the affecting and dignified theme which melts his heart ; 
 which elevates his powers, and tunes his tongue to praise. When- 
 ever he mentions the endearing subject, his whole soul dissolves 
 in tenderness; the emotions which heave his holy bosom he 
 communicates in 
 
 "Thoughts that breathe, and words that burn." 
 
 " 'Tis a faithful saying; it is worthy of all acceptation, that Christ 
 Jesus came into the world to save sinners. I know, by expe- 
 rience, the cheering truth ; for he saved me, who am the chief of 
 sinners." Viewing now, from his rock of safety, the darkness, the 
 danger, the death, which environ the unconverted, he sighs for 
 their misery, and ardently covets the honour of being made instru- 
 
SALVATION BY GRACE. 205 
 
 mental in warning them "to flee from the wrath to come." Far 
 as his voice can be heard ; wide as his labours can extend • dis- 
 tant as his writings may reach ; he proclaims to perishing men the 
 deadly disease under which they labour, and the remedy which is 
 provided by the covenant, and is offered by the gospel of peace. His 
 
 invaluable epistles are a comment upon the prophetic declaration 
 
 " Israel thou hast destroyed thyself; but in me is thy help." For 
 all the evils which sin has introduced, he directs us to grace, reigning 
 grace, as the sovereign antidote. To abase pride, to confound pre- 
 sumption, to guard against the vortex of error which has sunk into 
 perdition millions who were caught in its whirl, he solemnly assures 
 us that our own deeds and dispositions, however important or holy we 
 may imagine them, have not the least influence, directly or indirectly, 
 in procuring our acceptance with God. " By the works of the law 
 shall no flesh be justified ; for by the law is the knowledge of sin." 
 But, to kill despair and quicken hope, he accompanies this alarm- 
 ing doctrine with the reviving intelligence that the "righteousness 
 of God without the law is manifested," and that " Christ is the end 
 of the law for righteousness to every one that believeth." Deeply 
 impressed with the magnitude of this truth, and thoroughly aware 
 of the deceitfulness and power of a legal propensity by which men 
 are inclined to connect with the work of the Saviour some work of 
 their own, he cautions us against the danger of yielding to its 
 suggestions ; he not only urges the caution by the weight of his 
 apostolic authority, but by arguments the most pointed and force- 
 ful, he demonstrates that if ever we be saved, our salvation must 
 be of free grace. This precious doctrine the preceding parts of the 
 epistle before us exhibit in a variety of lights ; but nowhere is it 
 asserted in terms more downright and unequivocal than in the 
 words of our text, — " By grace are ye saved, through faith, and 
 that not of yourselves : it is the gift of God." 
 
 To facilitate the discussion of this subject, it may be proper to 
 state the meaning of the words, grace, salvation, faith. Grace 
 evidently denotes free favour. It is often confounded with mercy, 
 but it conveys an idea more strong and impressive. Mercy is 
 kindness shown to the miserable: grace is mercy shown to the 
 worthless. 
 
 Salvation contemplates its objects as labouring under evil, and 
 exposed to danger. The salvation of the gospel contemplates its 
 
206 SERMON XI. 
 
 objects as sinners ; as ruined by their own transgression ; as con- 
 demned by the sentence of a righteous law, and liable to the 
 tremendous penalty which the sentence includes. Faith, in its 
 general acceptation, is reliance upon testimony. The faith of a 
 Christian — that faith from which he obtains the honourable deno- 
 mination of a believer — is the cordial reception of the record which 
 God hath given of his Son, upon the credit of his own veracity. 
 The doctrine, then, of our text is briefly this, that we receive, by 
 faith of divine operation, the salvation which is provided by grace. 
 You will not deem a few minutes unprofitably spent in meditat- 
 ing upon the blessing which is here exhibited ; upon the source 
 from which it originates ; and upon the instrument by which we 
 are instated in the possession of it. 
 
 I. The blessing is "salvation:" a blessing of large and joyous 
 extent; implying deliverance from guilt — reconciliation with God, 
 the restoration of our nature, and a right, an unalienable right, to 
 eternal life. 
 
 1. Salvation confers deliverance from guilt. The punishment 
 to which our fallen nature is liable, is commonly styled the penalty 
 of the law — is death, in the widest signification of the word and is 
 the just award of sin, " for the wages of sin is death." With 
 this death Adam was threatened in case of disobedience, when 
 God enjoined abstinence from the tree of the knowledge of good 
 and evil, as the pledge of his fidelity. Now since he stood in a 
 federative character, and neither the precept nor its sanction was 
 confined to the person of Adam, but embraced in him those who 
 should spring from him, it follows, that " all his posterity, de- 
 scending from him by ordinary generation, sinned in him, and 
 fell with him, in his first transgression." So saith the Scripture : 
 " In Adam all die. — By one man sin entered into the world, and 
 death by sin, and so death passed upon all men, for that all have 
 sinned ; and by one offence judgment is come upon all men to 
 condemnation." Therefore, our deplorable condition is, that " we 
 arc by nature children of wrath." Born under a broken law, 
 eternal justice attaches our persons, and binds us over to all the 
 evils which the curse of that law contains. And till we become 
 the sons of God by faith in Christ Jesus, the actions of every day 
 augment our guilt, and in the same proportion our woe. But the 
 
SALVATION BY GRACE. 207 
 
 salvation of the gospel delivers from the curse. It dissolves for 
 ever our connection with the law as a rule of life : it dissolves this 
 connection by bestowing upon us a justifying righteousness, — a 
 righteousness in which we are complete, — a righteousness which 
 Jehovah himself will pronounce unblemished,— a righteousness 
 not wrought out indeed by ourselves, but by our surety. Our 
 rejoicing is, that Messiah " has magnified the law, and made it 
 honourable," and, therefore, that " Jehovah is well pleased for his 
 righteousness' sake." The Father " made him to be sin for us, 
 that we might be made the righteousness of God in him :" and in 
 accomplishing this work, the amazing work, which was given him 
 to do, he has redeemed from the curse of the law, and " forever 
 perfected them who are sanctified." 
 
 God is angry with men, not because they are finite, but because 
 they are wicked. It is sin which renders them the objects of his 
 abhorrence. If, then, a righteousness which provides at once for 
 the safety of the criminal and for the glory of the Lawgiver, — 
 which pays to justice her full demand, — which repairs the indig- 
 nity done to the law, blots out every aspersion upon God's char- 
 acter, and vindicates the rights of his government ; if such a 
 righteousness can be imparted to the sinner, and can be pleaded 
 by him, his guilt is removed, and with it must be removed the 
 Lord's holy displeasure. The gospel-salvation, therefore, in pro- 
 curing for sinners a justifying righteousness, procures. 
 2. Reconciliation with an offended God. 
 
 The necessity of such a reconciliation has been felt by the con- 
 sciences, and owned by the practice of men in every age. This 
 invaluable blessing was typified by all the expiatory sacrifices, 
 and by all the sacerdotal employment of the Levitical economy. 
 This enviable blessing, Christ, the apostle and high priest of our 
 profession — Christ, the author of eternal redemption, has obtained : 
 he " has made peace by the blood of his cross :" he has " made re- 
 conciliation for iniquity ;" " and God was in Christ, reconciling the 
 world to himself, not imputing their trespasses unto them." It is in 
 Christ, that the Father considers the heirs of salvation. Accounting 
 the work of Christ as theirs, and the satisfaction of Christ as theirs, he 
 says of them, "they are all fair, there is no spot in them." This bene- 
 fit of the covenant, sealed upon the heart by the Spirit of promise, de- 
 livers from the terrors and the misgivings of an unappeased conscience, 
 
208 SERMON XI. 
 
 and fills with that divine peace which passeth all understanding. By 
 virtue of this reconciliation, we can view with composure the high 
 demands of the violated law; we can look forward with confidence 
 to the tribunal of our Judge. The Judge is our friend, who has 
 blotted out with his own blood, the black and heavy accusation 
 which was marked against us. Thus reconciled, we, " who were 
 once afar off, are brought nigh unto God, and joy in him, through 
 our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom we have received the atonement." 
 
 This doctrine of justification and acceptance, by which Christ is 
 declared to do everything, and we to do nothing, is reprobated by 
 many as encouraging sloth, and promoting immorality. Were it 
 possible, indeed, to be freed from the condemnation of sin, and yet 
 to remain under its power, there can be no doubt that men would 
 be induced to "commit all uneleanness with greediness;" and the 
 doctrine which should assert a deliverance of this kind, would 
 unquestionably lead to licentiousness, and would be supremely 
 execrable : but let it not be forgotten, that with freedom from guilt 
 and reconciliation to God, is inseparably connected, in the 
 
 3d Place, The restoration of our nature. 
 
 God can be pleased with nothing but excellence ; and there is 
 no moral excellence but what resembles himself. The restoration, 
 then, of our nature, termed in Scripture the being "born again," — 
 the being "renewed in the spirit of our minds," — the being "created 
 anew in Christ Jesus," — consists in the recovery, by Christ the 
 moral excellence (the divine image), which we have lost (lost in 
 Adam). What that excellence (what that image) is, we can be at 
 no loss to determine, when unerring truth has declared that the 
 "new man is, after God, created in knowledge, righteousness, and 
 true holiness " In knowledge, that we may discern the true end 
 of our being ; the true source of our happiness ; the true value of 
 things temporal and things eternal. In righteousness ; not that 
 righteousness which justifies the sinner. This is widely different 
 from the righteousness which forms in believers a part of their 
 Father's image. The latter is purchased by the former ; the one, 
 that by which we are justified ; is a righteousness imputed ; the 
 other is a righteousness implanted. The one is a righteousness 
 without us; the other is a righteousness within us. The one is 
 absolutely perfect ; the other is not, cannot be, perfect, till that 
 which is in part is done away. It is, properly speaking, a "recti- 
 
SALVATION BY GRACE. 209 
 
 tude of nature ;" a rectitude which expresses and exerts itself in 
 sanctified acts, and sanctified habits : and these acts and habits 
 are what the apostle terms " true holiness." Let it not then be 
 wondered at, that they who live under the influence of the belief, 
 that there is, that there can be, " no condemnation to them who 
 are in Christ Jesus," are most afraid of sin, and most " adorn in 
 all things the doctrine of God their Saviour." This fact (and let 
 men argue as they please, it is a stubborn fact which no ingenuity 
 can explain away), this fact is an inexplicable riddle to the world- 
 ling : but the easy solution of it is, that they have another nature ; 
 and holiness is as much the element of the new creature, as sin is 
 the element of the old. The name Jesus, was given to the Medi- 
 ator because he " saves his people from their sins." " Sin," says 
 the apostle, " sin shall not have dominion over you, for ye are not 
 under the law, but under grace : and he that is born of God sinneth 
 not, because his seed abideth in him, and he cannot sin, because 
 he is born of God." 
 
 Heaven is the proper abode of innocence and holiness. It is 
 the abode which Christ hath prepared for them who love him. 
 They, therefore, who are delivered by his righteousness from the 
 guilt of sin, whom he has reconciled to God, and whose nature the 
 Spirit of truth has renovated and restored, must enjoy, 
 
 4. As a part of their salvation, a sure title to everlasting life. 
 For these (favoured ones) there is reserved in heaven, an " in- 
 heritance incorruptible, undefiled, and that fadeth not away." This 
 is the record of God, that " he hath given to us eternal life ; and 
 this life is in his Son. He, therefore, who hath the Son, hath 
 eternal life." Eternal life ! how big the expression ! Eternal life ! 
 Who can tell, who can think, its glories? If it is desirable to be 
 forever free from fears and fightings; from sin, and pain, and 
 sorrow — If it be a comfort to have all the graces of the Divine 
 Spirit, which at best can but bud in this cold and frozen clime; to 
 expand in their native soil ; to shed the fragrance, and bloom in 
 the beauty of Paradise— If it be pleasant to mingle in familiar 
 society with holy angels and holy men ; to admire with them the 
 countless wonders of creation and providence; and the superior 
 wonders of redeeming love— If it be delightful to be honoured 
 with the unclouded communion of a triune Jeh ovah ; to have pure 
 streams from the fountain of uncreated joy flowing perpetually 
 
 o 
 
210 SERMON XI. 
 
 into the gladdened soul; If these things can constitute bliss, 
 blessed is the son of adoption ; blessed is the heir of Christ ; he 
 has eternal life, and eternal life comprehends them all ! 
 
 If you enquire whence proceeded a salvation so great, so in- 
 valuable, so divine ? The answer, which brings us directly to the 
 
 II. Branch of our subject, is, that it flows from graee, free grace I 
 So saith our apostle, " By grace are ye saved." This is the in- 
 variable doctrine of the Bible. " Not unto us, Lord, not unto 
 us, but to thy name give glory." — " Not for your sakes do I this, 
 house of Israel, be it known unto you, saith the Lord God, but 
 for my holy name's sake ;" so that " salvation is of the Lord," and 
 therefore it is by grace ; yes, it is all of grace. It is grace in its 
 origin ; grace in its execution ; grace in its application. 
 
 1. The origin of salvation is vainly ascribed to any other cause 
 than free grace. 
 
 There is not, in the oracles of God, a point ascertained with more 
 precision, nor corroborated with testimonies more frequent and 
 irrefragable, than this, that electing love is the fountain of salvation. 
 " I will have mercy," says Jehovah to Moses, " I will have mercy 
 on whom I will have mercy :" whence our apostle draws the solid 
 and undeniable inference, " So, then, it is not of him that willeth, 
 nor of him that runneth, but of God that showeth mercy." It 
 were easy to accumulate the proofs of this doctrine : but we need 
 go no farther than the first chapter of the epistle from which our 
 text is taken. There we are told, in language which all the efforts 
 of violent criticism cannot torture into any other meaning, that 
 God has chosen us in Christ " before the foundation of the world : 
 having predestinated us to the adoption of children, by Jesus Christ, 
 according to the good pleasure of his will." 'Tis true, many who 
 are too proud to be indebted for their eternal salvation to the free 
 favour of God, insist that the election by which he distinguishes 
 sinner from sinner, is grounded upon good disposition, upon faith 
 and holiness foreseen in the objects of that election. But if men 
 be allowed to interpolate divine revelation, and to add to the oracles 
 of Jehovah the figments of their own invention, we may lay aside 
 our Bibles. The fashionable tenet which was just now mentioned, 
 some may deem an ingenious interpretation of the apostle; but 
 sober inquiry will say, that instead of explaining it contradicts 
 
SALVATION BY GRACE. 211 
 
 Him, The apostle asserts that God hath chosen us in Christ, that 
 we should be holy ; or which is the same thing, we are holy because 
 he hath chosen us. But the doctrine against which I contend is 
 exactly the reverse, viz. that he has chosen us because we are holy. 
 Upon whatever principle the election proceed, it will hardly be 
 denied that God chooses men to salvation, and that by Jesus Christ. 
 But if good dispositions, if faith and holiness foreseen, are the 
 cause of election, then sinners are saved before the Lord chooses 
 them: for faith and holiness undoubtedly constitute salvation; and 
 where, upon this plan, where is the obligation to grace? The 
 same plan requires, as a previous qualification for receiving Christ, 
 the very thing which is the effect of receiving him ; for it is the 
 office of Jesus to save his people from their sins, i. e. beyond con- 
 troversy to make them holy. Moreover, the apostle roundly affirms 
 that " whatsoever is not of faith is sin," and that " they who are 
 in the flesh cannot please God." But how a man can become holy 
 by accumulating sin, is a point which deserves better elucidation 
 than it has yet received. Salvation, then, originates in grace ; and 
 not only so, but, 
 
 2. It is grace in its execution. 
 
 The meritorious executor of the new covenant is the Lord Jesus. 
 And what but grace, large, unbounded grace, could have prompted 
 him to become "a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief?" 
 To obey perfectly, as the covenant head of his people, all the pre- 
 cepts of the righteous law? To endure as their substitute, the 
 tremendous evils which are included in its penalty? Infinitely 
 happy and glorious in himself, he needed neither our services, nor 
 ourselves ; he might have left us to perish in our wilful apostasy, 
 and his justice would have shone in our eternal destruction. Thus 
 he treated the angels who kept not their first estate. But while 
 in the exercise of sovereignty he passed by the angelic nature, in 
 the exercise of the same sovereignty "he took on him the seed of 
 Abraham, and made his soul an offering for sin. The universal 
 Lord, he can suffer no compulsion : and those for whom he inter- 
 fered had nothing to merit his condescension. They were not in- 
 nocent creatures in distress ; but thankless, wanton rebels against 
 the God of their mercies ; in their crime, without excuse ; in their 
 characters, supremely vile. It was, then, free love; it was his 
 voluntary act by which he entered into covenant with his Father ; 
 
212 SERMON XI. 
 
 when, before all worlds, the " counsel of peace was between them 
 both." In virtue of that counsel, " Lo, I come," said he, " to do 
 thy will, God." In virtue of that counsel, he " laid down his 
 life for the sheep." — " No man took it from him ; but he had power 
 to lay it down, and he had power to take it again ; this command- 
 ment had he received from his Father." Well, therefore, might 
 our apostle remind the Corinthians of the " grace of our Lord Jesus 
 Christ, who though he was rich, yet for our sakes he became poor, 
 that we through his poverty might be rich." 
 
 Nor does the grace which reigns in the origin and purchase of 
 salvation, exceed the grace which, in the 
 
 3d. Place, we find to characterize its application. 
 
 By the application of salvation, I mean, that preternatural and 
 supernatural work of the Holy Spirit, by which he creates in 
 (elect) sinners, the temper, and bestows on them the privileges, of 
 God's dear children — privileges which were bought and secured 
 by the unblemished obedience, and the vicarious suffering, of their 
 Elder Brother. Without deep reflection upon the nature of things, 
 or the experience of every believer, the least veneration for the 
 oracles of God is enough to convince all who are not blinded by 
 the god of this world, that the work of the Holy Spirit, of which 
 we are speaking, is entirely of grace. It is grace in its com- 
 mencement ; grace in its progress ; grace in its completion. 
 
 To the commencement of this work, may be referred all benefits 
 of redemption, which, however different in their natural order, take 
 place, in fact, at one and the same moment. We can barely 
 mention some of them. One of them is justification; and we are 
 "justified freely by his grace, through the redemption that is in 
 Christ Jesus. Another, is the infusion of spiritual life. " When 
 I passed by thee," they are the words of Jehovah, " when I passed 
 by thee, and saw thee polluted in thine own blood, behold, thy 
 time was a time of love : and I said unto thee, when thou wast in 
 thy blood, Live : yea, I said unto thee, when thou wast in thy 
 blood, Live." With these we may connect "regeneration, pardon, 
 and adoption."—" Not by works of righteousness which we have 
 done, but according to his mercy he saved us, by the washing of 
 regeneration, even the renewing of the Holy Ghost."—" I, even I, 
 am he that blotteth out thy transgression for mine own sake" — 
 and in Christ we have " forgiveness of sins, according to the riches 
 
SALVATION BY GRACE. 213 
 
 of his grace" — and we were " predestinated unto the adoption of 
 children, according to the good pleasure of his will." And if 
 salvation begin with grace, it must proceed by grace. The apostle 
 tells us that when we are united to Christ, we arc made new 
 creatures; one of the first ideas that will occur to the mind when 
 reflecting upon the wants of a living creature, is, that it cannot 
 thrive unless it be properly fed. And as the new creature is of 
 heavenly birth and spiritual kind, what food is adapted to its 
 nature, but that which is supplied by the gracious Spirit ? It is not 
 the Lord's method to furnish his people with a stock of grace, and 
 then leave it entirely to their good management. Were this the case, 
 like witless prodigals, they would soon squander away not only the 
 earnest of their inheritance, but the inheritance itself. No, he deals 
 with them more tenderly and wisely. It is in spiritual, as in tem- 
 poral life. The food which sustains our nature to-day, was not in- 
 tended to serve us to-morrow ; and therefore it is our duty to be no 
 less mindful of our souls than of our bodies, when we offer up our 
 petition for our daily bread. " The branch cannot bear fruit except 
 it abide in the vine." It is the fulness of Christ from which we 
 receive " grace for grace." The advocate whom he hath promised 
 — the Lord, the sanctifier, dwells in his people as a well of living 
 waters. He purifies their affections; he encourages their hope; 
 he nerves their exertion. From the effect of his mighty working, 
 he is denominated the " Spirit of grace ;" and for the same reason, 
 progress in those holy tempers of which he is the immediate author, 
 is called " growth in grace." 
 
 Equally free, equally unmerited, is the completion of our salva- 
 tion. " He who begins the good work, performs it until the day 
 of Jesus Christ." — " He hath given to us eternal life." The in- 
 heritance of believers is an inheritunce already purchased. The 
 full price was paid by their surety, and it is kept, by the faithful- 
 ness of God, till they become of age, when they shall enter with 
 exceeding joy, into "the kingdom prepared for them before the 
 foundation of the world." 
 
 As the great salvation is, in all its parts, the offspring of gratuitous 
 bounty, so the manner in which we acquire a property in its bene- 
 fits, corresponds to its nature. Which leads us to consider, in the 
 
 III. Place, the mean or instrument by which salvation becomeg 
 
214 SERMON XI. 
 
 ours. This is faith. "By grace are ye saved, through faith." 
 Genuine faith, as has been remarked already, is a cordial assent to 
 the testimony of God, and a firm reliance upon his new covenant 
 faithfulness. It views him as a promising God, and as a God wjio 
 performs what he promises. Thus " Abraham believed God, aiVj 
 it was counted to him for righteousness." The love of God pro-\ 
 poses Christ Jesus as the "propitiation for sin;" as the peace- 
 maker between God and man; as the only foundation of our hope 
 and confidence. We are told that " God so loved the world, that 
 he gave his only-begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him 
 should not perish, but have everlasting life." The offer of his 
 salvation is made in style the most tender and terms the most 
 unlimited: "Hearken to me, ye stouthearted, that are far from 
 righteousness. Behold, I bring near my righteousness." Eternal 
 Truth has sworn that no sinner, be his character what it may r 
 if he flee to this righteousness, shall ever be rejected. " Him that 
 cometh to me," saith the Redeemer, I will in no wise cast out." 
 " Amen," says the believing soul, with her eye fixed on the ex- 
 ceeding great and precious promises, " it is enough : these are all 
 my salvation, and all my desire. I wish for no other, no better 
 security. Christ is offered to sinners freely and indiscriminately., 
 Here is my ample warrant to receive him : 1 am a sinner : I ap- 
 propriate to myself the general offer: I take Jesus to be my 
 Saviour and portion, and God to be, in him, my covenant God. 
 Henceforward I am not my own, but bought with a price; I am 
 bound to serve God with my body and with my spirit, which are his." 
 In thus receiving the divine testimony respecting the Redeemer, 
 we set to our seal that God is true. And that he may mark with 
 an indelible stain the pride of all human glory, the apostle takes 
 care to inform us that even this faith by which we embrace the 
 Saviour does not originate in our will; is not effected by our 
 power: "Ye are saved through faith, and that not of your- 
 selves, it is, the gift of God. The Scripture is decisive on this 
 head. "It is given us to believe in Christ." It is God who 
 " deals the measure of faith." It is he who fulfils in his people 
 " the work of faith with power." 
 
 The subject we have been considering affords matter for copious 
 and interesting meditation. We shall very briefly improve it, for 
 correcting a very common but destructive error ; for inviting the 
 
\ 
 
 SALVATION BY GRACE. 215 
 
 imcr to lay hold on eternal life ; and for quickening the believer 
 m his way to glory. 
 
 1. We may correct, from what has been said, a common but 
 destructive error. Multitudes who would gladly break down the 
 hedge of distinction which God has planted around his chosen, and 
 reduce them to a level with the carnal world, are fond of the notion 
 that the faith which constitutes a Christian is but a rational assent 
 to the truth of the gospel — a notion, my brethren, which will ruin 
 eternally the man who dies under its influence. An assent to his- 
 torical fact and to rational proof is an exercise of the mind which 
 belongs to us as intellectual beings. It is an essential property of 
 a reasonable creature. Destroy this property, and you destroy his 
 very nature. But it is by no means necessarily connected with 
 good moral qualities. And who does not know that it is moral 
 state and character which distinguish the believer from the world ? 
 Intellectual powers necessarily belong to us: but the faith of a 
 Christian is not born with him, nor is he born with powers which 
 can produce it : if he were, it could not be a faith of God's opera- 
 tion. A speculative and a saving faith are, therefore, specifically 
 different. The difference, and an important one it is, lies here : 
 the one is the fruit of arguments addressed to the understanding 
 merely, and may be possessed, in a very high degree, by the devil 
 himself. The other is the proper effect of the sovereign and 
 almighty agency of the Spirit of truth, not only upon the under- 
 standing, but upon the heart and upon the will. And it is 
 the more needful to be decided in this matter, because men, as 
 long as they indulge the idea that they are able to believe at their 
 pleasure, will slumber in security, and dream of bliss, but will 
 not, cannot be solicitous about salvation by grace. But a free 
 — an absolutely free salvation is the substance of the gospeL 
 While, therefore, we may properly improve our subject for alarm- 
 ing the fears of men by showing them their utter inability to help 
 themselves, we must not forget to improve it. 
 
 2. For encouraging their hope, by inviting them to lay hold on 
 eternal life, through the medium of a gracious salvation. Hear it, 
 and rejoice, ye sons and daughters of Adam : Grace reigns ! Her 
 throne is erected on the blood of the atonement, and she proclaims 
 to dying mortals life and pardon, acceptance, peace, and glory. 
 Her wide commission extends to the most worthless and vile 
 
216 SERMON XI. 
 
 Before the tribunal of God, all are guilty : and, therefore, before 
 the throne of grace all are on a level. At this throne, by which 
 we are introduced to the favour of Jehovah, there is no respect of 
 persons. Grace makes not the smallest difference between the 
 rigid pharisee and the rapacious publican; between the severe 
 moralist and the abandoned libertine. If she did, she would cease 
 to be grace. Be persuaded, then, wretched sinners, to come to the 
 living God through Jesus Christ. Every difficulty which guilt 
 and defilement can create is completely removed : for grace reigns. 
 Say not, "I have sinned too long and too heinously to be forgiven. 
 I dare not; it would be presumption, to hope for acceptance 
 with a holy God." The answer to every objection is, Grace 
 reigns ! Grace has made ample provision for all your wants. She 
 has provided righteousness for the guilty; purity for the filthy; 
 faith for the unbelieving ; repentance for the impenitent ; strength 
 for the feeble. The more worthless and impoverished thou art, the 
 fitter subject art thou for the operation of grace. All the mercies 
 of the new covenant, all that Christ purchased and we can want, 
 she offers without money and without price. While she addresses 
 you in the name of Jesus, listen to her voice, yield to her entrea- 
 ties. Children of pride, bow the knee to this amiable sovereign ! 
 Prisoners of death, touch her friendly sceptre and live! Whoso- 
 ever will, let him take of the water of life freely. " I," says Jesus, 
 " I am the resurrection and the life : he that believeth on me, 
 though he were dead, yet shall he live." 
 
 Lastly. Let us improve our subject for quickening the believer 
 in his way to glory. 
 
 Is salvation by grace? then let boasting lips be for ever silent. 
 What have we, Christian, that we have not received ? Every- 
 thing bad in us is our own : everything good is the gift of divine 
 bounty. And why did the Lord fix his love upon us, when he has 
 passed others in their iniquity? Were we in any respect better 
 than they ? Oh no ! We all belonged to the same lump of perdi- 
 tion. Sovereignty, adorable sovereignty, made us vessels of 
 honour. Even so, Father, for so it seemed good in thy sight. 
 Surely, then, it becomes us to be clothed with humility, and grate- 
 fully to own our obligations to that love of God which called us 
 from darkness into his marvellous light. 
 
 Is the progress of salvation by grace ? Why, then, believers, 
 
SALVATION BY GRACE. 217 
 
 should our hands be weak or our soiils cast down ? In every trial, 
 in every danger, our unfailing consolation is, that grace reigns. 
 We are authorized to come boldly to our Father's throne, and to 
 ask at once, with the affection and the confidence of children, for 
 all the benefits which we need. Our Jesus, our brother, has all 
 things at his command. " For it hath pleased the Father that in 
 him should all fulness dwell/' As the administrator of the new 
 covenant, he is the treasurer of heaven ; and he has promised his 
 people to send down his Spirit, to unlock his storehouse, and un- 
 lock their hearts, and pour them full of blessings! 
 
 Is salvation completed by grace? Who, then, or what shall 
 hinder the holy warriors that fight under Immanuel's banners 
 from arriving in triumph at the heavenly Canaan? Did Jesus 
 ransom them by his blood? Did he quicken them by his Spirit? 
 Did he purify them by his grace ? Has he given them the pledge of 
 the promised inheritance ? And shall they not persevere ? Absurd 
 idea! They shall ! Kept by the power of God, they shall go from 
 strength to strength, till every one of them appear before him in Zion. 
 "Let us gird up, therefore, the loins of our faith, and run with patience 
 the race set before us!" Let us look forward, with exultation, to 
 the blissful period when the mystery of God shall be finished. 
 Then the Redeemer shall complete the temple of mercy which was 
 built on his blood, and reared by his Spirit ; and every stone of 
 the sacred pile shall bear the motto of redemption ; a motto en- 
 graved by the finger of God, and emblazoned by the light of 
 heaven, " To the praise of the glory of his grace !" 
 
LECTURE. 
 
 PSALM XXIII. 
 
 " 1. The Lord is my shepherd ; I shall not want. 
 
 " 2. He maketh me to lie down in green pastures : he leadeth me beside the 
 f>till waters. 
 
 "3. He restoreth my goul : he leadeth me in the paths of righteousness for his 
 name's sake. 
 
 " 4. Yea though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear 
 no evil : for thou art with me ; thy rod and thy staff they comfort me. 
 
 "5. Thou preparest a table before me in the presence of mine enemies: thou 
 anointest my head with oil ; my cup runneth over. 
 
 " 6. Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life : and I 
 will dwell in the house of the Lord for ever." 
 
 The pastoral life, which is one of the most ancient and simple 
 forms uf society, and has furnished the groundwork of this psalm, was 
 prevalent and honourable among the eastern nations. Flocks and 
 herds were their chief possessions, and the character of a shepherd 
 was not beneath the dignity of their patriarchs and princes. An oc- 
 cupation so innocent and useful, so familiar with their habits, and so 
 friendly to reflection, had a natural influence upon their thoughts 
 and language. It supplied the poet with beautiful images, the 
 moralist with insinuating lessons, and the scripture itself with 
 materials for sacred allegory. Of the last, there cannot be a more 
 apposite example than the psalm which we are now to consider. 
 Under the easy and elegant figure of a shepherd's care over his 
 flock, it represents the love of God toward his chosen. He is their 
 shepherd, and they are " the people of his pasture, and the sheep 
 of his hand." " The Lord," said the psalmist, in verse 1, " the Lord 
 is my shepherd." 
 
 There is no difficulty in ascertaining the person here intended ; 
 for the description agrees to no other than our Lord Jesus Christ, 
 
LECTURE. 219 
 
 who is at once Jehovah and the Shepherd promised to thy fathers. 
 He has ever delighted in this character, which, from the beginning, 
 has supported the faith of his church, and animated her worship. 
 The testimony which Jacob, with his dying breath left to the 
 Shepherd of Israel, she has perpetuated and improved. " Give 
 ear, Shepherd of Israel, thou that leadest Joseph like a flock. 
 Feed thy people with thy rod, the flock of thine heritage which 
 dwell solitarily in the wood." With these petitions concurs the 
 promise, " He shall feed his flock like a shepherd : he shall gather 
 the lambs with his arm, and carry them in his bosom, and shall 
 gently lead those that are with young." It was also predicted, 
 that in discharging his engagement, he should become a sacrifice 
 for the benefit and in the room of his flock. " Awake, sword, 
 against my Shepherd, and against the man that is my fellow, saith 
 the Lord of hosts; Smite the Shepherd, and the sheep shall be 
 scattered, and I will turn mine hand upon the little ones." He 
 owned the relation, and confirmed the oracle, when he " laid down 
 his life for the sheep." The name and office descended with him 
 into the grave ; and that same " resurrection from the dead," which 
 declared him to be " the Son of God with power," declared him also 
 to be the " great Shepherd of the sheep." We know him, at this 
 hour, "as the Shepherd and Bishop of our souls;" and recognize 
 our fellowship with his servant David, breathing the same senti- 
 ment in the same words, the Lord is my shepherd. 
 
 Here is obviously a claim of personal interest in the Lord Jesus. 
 For the faith of his people is not a cold assent to abstract proposi- 
 tions. " The substance of things hoped for and the evidence of 
 things not seen," it appropriates to itself a common good, and 
 applies general promises to particular use. We shall reap little 
 advantage from " the redemption that is in Christ Jesus," if he be 
 not to us individually, whatever he is to his people at large. My 
 shepherd, my own shepherd, are words of life as well as of assurance. 
 And when I can utter them believingly, my bosom swells with joy, 
 and all my soul is on my lips. It is thus that the psalmist, mingling 
 with the Redeemer's flock, takes refuge in his protection, exults in 
 his favour, and reposes upon his truth. The choice was wise and 
 happy : for as it terminated upon the Creator and not upon the 
 creature, it incurred no danger of disappointment. " My shepherd," 
 saith David, "is Jehovah." Ancient believers were better in- 
 
220 LECTURE. 
 
 structed than to be ignorant of Messiah's divinity. Their good 
 " confession " was not dishonoured by the dream of a created 
 Saviour, nor the atheism of a secondary God. They did not 
 perceive, the impossibility, so plain to modern refiners, of conciliating 
 essential godhead with covenant-office. On the contrary, they 
 saw, as all true believers now see, that without the former, there 
 could be no place for the latter. He who is not divine, cannot be 
 their shepherd. The force of their reasoning, their consolation, 
 their life, depend upon this principle, "My shepherd is Jehovah." 
 Hence the psalmist infers, " I shall not want." The argument is 
 short, but firm. It is the argument of a man who knows his God. 
 Less than the all-sufficient can neither ftti <mr capacities, nor ac- 
 complish our desire. We should soon exhaust the highest angels, 
 and find them to be, like every other creature, when embraced as 
 our portion, a broken cistern, and a lying vanity. " The portion 
 of Jacob is not like them." His attribute is infinity. The father 
 and fountain of all being and blessedness, when he condescends to 
 bind himself to men by covenant relation, and to sanction his 
 promise with his oath, they have obtained the last security for 
 their happiness. As impossible is it for him not to give that 
 which is good, as it is impossible for him 1o lie. Not everything, 
 indeed, which would gratify their wishes, often impatient, and ill- 
 directed, but everything seasonable and proper, everything con- 
 ducive to their benefit, everything which they themselves would 
 ask, were they perfectly free from error, shall they leceive at his 
 hand. " For the Lord God is a sun and shield : the Lord will give 
 grace and glory; no good thing will he withhold from them that 
 walk uprightly." This David believed, and he reasons accordingly : 
 " The Lord is my shepherd ; I shall not want." 
 
 An illustration of the position contained in this introductory 
 verse, and of its effect upon a gracious mind, occupies the rest 
 of the psalm, and divides it into two corresponding parts — the 
 first, (verses 2, 3, 4, and 5,) unfolds the nature of Christ's pastoral 
 office ; and the second, (verse 6,) is the psalmist's tribute of faith 
 and gratitude. 
 
 I. The pastoral office of Christ is represented to consist in making 
 provision for his flock, in its direction and defence. 
 
 1 . The good Shepherd porvides for his flock. Verse 2. " He 
 
LECTURE. 22 1 
 
 maketh me to lie down in green pastures : he leadeth me beside 
 the still waters." 
 
 A flock of sheep feeding securely in rich pastures and by the 
 cooling stream, is a pleasing spectacle in any country. But under 
 the sultry skies, and amidst the burning sands, of the East, it 
 awakened exquisite emotion, and was a lively emblem of temporal 
 and spiritual felicity. Most significantly does it depict the condi- 
 tion of believers. The world around them is a land of deserts and 
 of drought, which yields nothing to " satisfy the longing soul." 
 Sooner shall the body be nourished by whirlwinds and the dust, 
 than the spirit with things of mere time and sense. But from this 
 land of deserts and of drought, does the gracious Shepherd lead 
 his flock to green pastures, and gentle waters ; that is, he provides 
 enjoyments for them as suitable to their nature and circumstances, 
 as the best of pasture and of water are to the literal sheep. Let 
 us, therefore, inquire what these enjoyments are, and where they 
 are to be found. 
 
 In general, they are the mercies of the new covenant, established 
 in his hands as in the hands of a mediator. He delivers his people, 
 by faith in his blood, from the inquietudes of an evil conscience ; 
 puts them beyond the reach of the curse, " for there is no condem- 
 nation to them who are in Christ Jesus ; and rescues them from 
 the bondage of sin and Satan. He reveals to them his excellence, 
 admits them into his friendship, " sheds his love abroad in their 
 hearts, introduces them to his Father as their reconciled God, 
 intercedes for them within the vail, supports them by his grace, 
 gives them " an inheritance among them that are sanctified," and 
 is Himself their all. 
 
 Now these are enjoyments adapted to the nature of an immortal 
 soul, and commensurate with its faculties. Here " the meek eat 
 and are satisfied." The void in the bosom is filled up. They have 
 found the " pearl of great price," and are enriched for ever. Secured 
 in the possession of everlasting good, they may say, " Return to 
 thy rest, my soul, for the Lord hath dealt bountifully with thee." 
 Till the pastures of God wither, and the river of life fail, they 
 cannot want : and it is their own fault, if " the peace of God, which 
 passeth all understanding, do not keep their hearts and minds 
 through Christ Jesus." 
 
 These spiritual blessings are dispensed in the Church ; for she 
 
222 LECTURE. 
 
 is the " Church of the living God," without whose pale there is no 
 revealed way of salvation. He has committed to her, as a sacred 
 deposit, his word and ordinances, by which sinners are convinced, 
 converted, and made heirs according to " hope of eternal life." 
 
 The original of all saving truth is in the person of Jesus Christ ; 
 and the exact transcript of it, in his word. " His word is truth," 
 and truth is the food of the soul. All its principles, and precepts, 
 and promises, are designed to convey supplies of grace out of the 
 fulness of our Lord Jesus. Even the scandal of the cross, and the 
 sublimer doctrines of religion, are adapted to the taste of the new 
 man, and promote his growth. And as they all have a practical 
 use, not one of them, however odious to carnal wisdom, can be 
 taken from the Bible without depriving believers of a means by 
 which they receive from God out of heaven both the bread of life 
 and the water of life. Hence the testimonies of the psalmist and 
 the prophet : " How sweet are thy words unto my taste ! yea, 
 sweeter than honey to my mouth. Thy words were found and I 
 did eat them ; and thy word was unto me the joy and rejoicing of 
 my heart." And hence, too, the reverence of believers for the holy 
 scripture. It is the language and the voice of their God and Father, 
 " speaking peace to his saints," which is " better to them than 
 thousands of gold and silver." His sentence is creation ; and when 
 it has gone forth to bless them through the medium of his word, 
 neither earth nor hell shall hinder them from " rejoicing with joy 
 unspeakable and full of glory." 
 
 With the word of God we are to connect his ordinances, com- 
 prehending the whole system of instituted worship. They bear 
 the image and superscription of the Lord our lawgiver, and are 
 instruments by which he both maintains his authority, and imparts 
 his grace. To these ends, beside the devotion of the closet and 
 family, the public homage of the church on his own day, the holy 
 sacraments, the ministry of reconciliation, all contribute. In 
 preaching the word, and in the other functions of their calling, the 
 under-shepherds obey the commandment of the Chief Shepherd, 
 " Feed my sheep — feed my lambs." Precious as are the divine 
 truths in themselves, and at all times, they are clothed with less 
 majesty, and, ordinarily, accompanied with less power, in the exer- 
 cises of private religion, than in the service of the sanctuary. 
 For " the Lord loveth the gates of Zion more than all the dwellings 
 
LECTURE. 223 
 
 of Jacob." Next to the Holy Spirit, the ministry of the Word is 
 our Redeemer's principal ascension-gift ; a standing pledge to the 
 church, and proof to the world, that he is now " in the presence of 
 God for us." Accordingly, he puts a distinguished honour upon 
 this ordinance ; for " the preaching of the cross," which is " to 
 them that perish, foolishness," is " to them who are saved, the 
 power of God." This explains the attachment of true Christians 
 to the house of God. Many resort thither from the impulse of 
 habit, of fashion, of curiosity, or, it may be, of less reputable mo- 
 tives ; but " they see his power and his glory." There are the 
 " goings of their God, their King : and there he abundantly blesses 
 Zion's provision, satisfies her poor with bread, and clothes her 
 priests with salvation, so that her saints shout aloud for joy." 
 " Happy is the people that is in such a case : yea, happy is that 
 people whose God is Jehovah." 
 
 2. The good Shepherd exercises a vigilant superintendence over 
 the steps of his flock. Verse 3. " He restoreth my soul : he 
 leadeth me in the paths of righteousness for his name's sake." 
 
 This branch of his office includes the double grace of recovering 
 his people from their errors, and shaping the course of their renewed 
 obedience. 
 
 1st. Recovery from their errors. "He restoreth my soul." 
 
 Sheep are proverbially prone to wander ; and the farther they 
 proceed, the more are they bewildered, and the more unlikely to 
 return. Alas ! the resemblance is but too exact. To exchange 
 obedience for transgression, that is, to exchange peace for anguish, 
 is superlative folly : but such folly has existed, does exist, and may 
 be ours. Christians, although " renewed in the spirit of their 
 mind," carry about with them, in the remnant of corruption, a 
 principle of " departure from the living God." Take away, or 
 suspend the influence of his grace, and the work is done : the most 
 enlightened and tried believer goes astray the next moment. The 
 examples proposed in Scripture for our humiliation and warning, 
 are not of obscure and dubious professors, but of men eminent for 
 their faith, and eminently favoured of God. How far the regene- 
 rated may go, it is not for us to conjecture, and it would be mad- 
 ness to try. That they shall not finally perish, is one of the 
 plainest promises of the Bible. But between the circumspection 
 of grace and the damnation of hell, there is ample room for sinning 
 
224 LECTURE. 
 
 and for chastisement. To lose your comfort it is not necessary 
 that you should lose your soul. Even within the boundaries of 
 pardon, there are a thousand deviations from duty sufficient to mar 
 your peace, and bring you under the rod. No inconsistency can be 
 traced between the Lord's forgiving his people, and his taking ven- 
 geance of their inventions. How many afflicted have borne 
 witness to these truths ! How do our hearts smite us for our 
 aberrations from the straight path of God's commandments ! And 
 how sad is the condition of those who, duped by the deceitfulness 
 of sin, have "left their first love," and gone away after vanity! 
 Lost attainment, forfeited joy, withering graces, barrenness, lean- 
 ness, lameness, and a long train of kindred miseries, follow the 
 6teps of disobedience. If the end be not destruction, it is because 
 " the issues from death belong unto the Lord our God." The eye 
 of the Shepherd is continually upon the track of his wandering 
 sheep ; and in the critical moment when they are ready to be torn 
 or dashed in pieces, he interposes for their help, takes them up in 
 his arms, and carries them back to his pasture and his fold. 
 
 The manner in which he conducts this interposition may be 
 concisely stated in the three following particulars : 
 
 (1.) He comes upon them, for the most part, by surprise. In a 
 course of backsliding, and often in the very acts of provocation, 
 when nothing is farther from their thoughts than his presence and 
 reproof, he speaks to their consciences. "What dost thou here?" 
 with a voice which recalls the memory of a thousand mercies, and 
 awakens them from their slumbers. Their eyes open, and the 
 dream is at an end. The seducing vision has fled, and the realities 
 around them are realities of guilt and horror. They stand before 
 him abashed and petrified, unable either to escape or to apologize. 
 (2.) He communes with them about the nature and aggravation 
 of their sin. His former kindnesses come into remembrance, and 
 are contrasted with their ungenerous requittal. His forgotten love, 
 his injured sacrifice, his grieved Spirit; their own experience, and 
 profession, and vows, rise up, and present each a separate accusa- 
 tion. Ah ! who can tell the amazement which then seizes them ? 
 the bitterness of their self-reproach ? the depth of their self-abhor- 
 rence? " 0, my God," is their contrite moan, " 0, my God, I am 
 ashamed, and blush to lift up my face to thee, my God." Hapless 
 prodigal ! " Hast thou not procured this unto thyself, in that thou 
 
LECTURE. 225 
 
 hast forsaken the Lord thy God when he led thee by the way?" 
 Sin with impunity we cannot. Our remorse and compunction 
 belong to the discipline of our Father's house : for he hath said, 
 that " if his children forsake his law, and walk not in his judg- 
 ments ; if they break his statutes, and keep not his commandments ; 
 then will he visit their transgression with the rod, and their iniquity 
 with stripes : Nevertheless, his loving-kindness will he not utterly 
 take from them, nor suffer his faithfulness to fail." These chasten- 
 ings, therefore, of the Lord, though painful, are in mercy, that we 
 may not " be condemned with the world." Their degree and con- 
 tinuance are regulated by his wisdom ; but whenever they have 
 accomplished their purpose, when they have vindicated the purity 
 of the gospel, have turned the sweets of iniquity into wormwood 
 and gall, have shed new charms over the beauty of holiness, the 
 way is prepared for binding up the broken heart ; and then, 
 
 (3.) The good Shepherd "restores peace to his mourners." For 
 he leads them, by faith, to a renewed application of his blood for 
 pardon : and he pardons most freely. "lam pacified," saith he, 
 " I am pacified towards thee for all that thou hast done." This, 
 
 this melts the heart. Such patience ! such compassion ! such 
 forgiveness ! All the springs of eontrition are opened at once ; 
 " Rivers of waters run down their eyes ;" they throw away with 
 disgust the idols which they had laid in their bosom, and " turn- 
 ing their feet unto the divine testimonies," say, "Behold, we 
 come unto thee, for thou art the Lord our God." They now regain 
 the " fellowship of their Saviour's death, and crucify the flesh with 
 the affections and lusts." Their languid graces revive ; " precious 
 faith," and all the other powers of the new man resume the sway 
 and their " smell is as the smell of a field which the Lord hath 
 blessed." — " I will heal/' saith he, " I will heal their backsliding, 
 
 1 will love them freely : for mine anger is turned away from them." 
 " I will be as the dew unto Israel : he shall grow as the lily, and 
 cast forth his roots as Lebanon." — "His branches shall spread, 
 and his beauty shall be as the olive-tree, and his smell as Lebanon." 
 The blessed influence extends through them to their fellow-believers 
 and their fellow-men : " they that dwell under his shadow shall 
 return ; they shall revive as the corn, and grow as the vine ; the 
 scent thereof shall be as the vine of Lebanon." Jesus had, from 
 the beginning, "prayed for them, that their faith should not fail;" 
 
 p 
 
226 LECTURE. 
 
 and now that "they are converted," they are qualified, by the 
 varieties of Christian experience, to " strengthen their brethren." 
 
 Thus he restoreth their souls, and when restored, does " not turn 
 away from them to do them good." For, 
 
 2d. He conducts them in the course of their future obedience. 
 
 " He leadeth me in the paths of righteousness for his name's sake." 
 
 Here we must satisfy an inquiry embracing the nature of that 
 
 course which the restored of the Lord pursue ; his interference to 
 
 preserve them in it ; and the reason of his interference. 
 
 (1.) The nature of their course is indicated by the phrase, 
 11 paths of righteousness." 
 
 Right, righteous, righteousness, are terms borrowed from sensible 
 objects, and express the combined ideas of a rule perfectly exact, 
 and of correspondence with the rule. Whatever coincides with it 
 is straight, or right ; whatever does not coincide with it, is crooked. 
 Transferred to moral subjects, this figurative language marks the 
 distinction between good and bad, whether in doctrine or practice. 
 Accordingly we consider the law of God as the rule or standard to 
 which every principle and action must be referred. All its precepts 
 are righteous ; conformity with them is righteousness ; and, con- 
 sequently, "paths of righteousness" signify that habitual and 
 actual holiness which they prescribe both for the heart and life. 
 Hut, then, we must remember that the divine law as regulating 
 I Christian obedience, is, in a very peculiar sense, the law of Christ. 
 For, as the representative of his people, he has, on the one hand, 
 divested it of its covenant-form by fulfilling its injunctions in the 
 righteousness of his life, and extinguishing its penalty in the 
 sacrifice of his death, so that it neither justifies nor condemns 
 them. And, on the other, he has given them, as the test and 
 measure of their sanctification, this very law, to keep which they 
 are both required by his authority, and constrained by his love. 
 Thus connected, its precepts ascertain and promote evangelical 
 purity, and are transcendently " paths of righteousness." 
 
 In the first place : like a palh literally straight, they lie directly 
 before us, and cannot be missed without perversion of the will. 
 "The wayfaring men, though fools, shall not err therein;" and 
 though " a scorner seek wisdom and find it not, yet knowledge is 
 easy to him that understandeth." 
 
 Unlike the circuitous paths of sin, they contain no deception. 
 
LECTUPvE. 227 
 
 When the sinner takes one step he cannot see the next. Gayety 
 dances around him; Flattery whispers in his ear; Promise 
 enumerates joys at hand : and thus, by little and little, he is 
 seduced into a labyrinth where he is bewildered and lost. The 
 smiling scenery is blasted ; Promise has proved a liar ; Flattery 
 tills her tongue with imprecation ; and Gayety is transformed into 
 a fiend at the threshold of hell ! Not so the paths of righteousness ; 
 Light from above shines on them, and our view reaches even to 
 their termination. "Mark the perfect man, and behold the upright : 
 for the end of that man is peace." 
 
 Secondly. As a straight or right line is the shortest distance 
 between two points, so the obedience of faith is the shortest road 
 to comfort. " They who turn aside after their crooked ways, only 
 weary themselves with vanity ; till at length, their days consumed, 
 and their mercies gone, " God leads them forth with the workers 
 of iniquity." But "wisdom's ways are ways of pleasantness, and 
 all her paths are peace." Here is no painful retrospect. Lost 
 time, and wasted powers, shall never reproach the service of God. 
 They belong to the folly of sinners and the wages of sin ; while 
 every act of holy obedience brings present satisfaction, and gains 
 upon ultimate hope. This, my brother, is no illusion : no empty 
 boast to cover a damning conscience and a tortured heart. It is 
 the sobriety of bliss, sealed in the experience of millions besides 
 the psalmist. " Thou hast put gladness in my heart, more than 
 in the time that their corn and their wine increased." Gladness, 
 which grows large with use, and more exquisite with age. "Adding 
 to their faith, virtue ; and to virtue, knowledge ; and to knowledge, 
 temperance; and to temperance, patience ; and to patience, godliness -^ 
 and to godliness, brotherly-kindness ; and to brotherly-kindness, 
 charity ;" believers are " neither barren nor unfruitful" now, and 
 at last shall have " an entrance ministered unto them abundantly, 
 into the everlasting kingdom of their Lord and Saviour Jesus 
 Christ." 
 
 (2.) They owe their preservation in these paths of righteousness 
 to the interference of their Redeemer. " He leadeth me," saith 
 David. He leadeth us,* say all who, like David, have known his 
 restoring grace. The metaphor is taken from the custom of the 
 eastern shepherd, who did not drive, but lead his flock; going 
 before them, and calling them after him. Applied to our Lord 
 
228 LECTURE. 
 
 Jesus and his redeemed, it instructs us in many precious truths : 
 for instance — That all our practical holiness lies in imitating him, 
 " who hath left us an example that we should follow his steps." — 
 That the most self-denying duties should he attempted with cheer- 
 fulness, as they have been sanctified by the experience, and are 
 softened by the sympathy, of our Elder Brother. "Though he 
 were a son, yet learned he obedience by the things which he suffered." 
 He has not left a thorn in our path which did not pierce his own 
 blessed foot : not one, of which his blood will not counteract the 
 poison, and heal the wound — That in all the opposition which his 
 people have to encounter, he is the first to perceive the foe, and to 
 sustain the onset ; for " their King shall pass before them, and the 
 i^ord on the head of them ; that he enlarges their hearts to run 
 the way of his commandments :" his love constraining them, both 
 as a motive and a principle, to " live not unto themselves, but unto 
 him that died for them and rose again ;" a constraint which libe- 
 rates their will, so that they " walk at liberty," and without which 
 they would infallibly revert back into bondage. Summarily, they 
 know nothing, perform nothing, and are nothing, but in their 
 Leader's might. He is the " Lord their strength, who guides them 
 with his counsel," as a pledge that he will " afterward receive them 
 to glory." 
 
 (3.) The reason of this, his interference to keep his people in 
 the paths of righteousness, is assigned in the last clause of the 
 third verse — It is " for his name's sake." 
 
 The name of Jesus includes all the excellencies of his person, 
 offices, and work. To display them in the redemption of sinners, 
 and to acquire the glory which had been promised to its accom- 
 plishment, was the end of his incarnation, his sorrows, and his 
 death. " For the joy that was set before him, he endured the cross, 
 despising the shame ; and because he humbled himself, and became 
 obedient unto death, even the death of the cross ; therefore God 
 also hath highly exalted him, and given him a name which is above 
 every name." Whatever grace, love, truth, wisdom, power, belongs 
 to the Lord Jesus as the " Captain of salvation," it is comprehended 
 in that name for the sake of which he leads believers in the 
 paths of righteousness. Its lustre shines forth in his regard for 
 + hem. 
 
 As the "first-born among many brethren," of whom he is not 
 
LECTURB. 229 
 
 ashamed ; and for whom he " is entered as the forerunner within 
 the vail.'' 
 
 As u the high priest of their profession," through whose blood 
 they " have boldness to enter into the holiest ;" and who, being 
 their " advocate with the Father, ever liveth to make intercession 
 for them." 
 
 As the author and pattern of their perfection ; drawing more and 
 more strongly the lines of their resemblance to himself ; evincing 
 his omnipotence in the transformation of their minds ; and exhibiting 
 to holy angels and spiritual men, the rudiments of that beauty 
 which is to receive its finish " when he shall come to be glorified 
 in his saints, and to be admired in all them that believe." 
 
 The praise thus derived to his name bears directly upon the 
 consolation of his people in two important points. 
 
 First, it shows the safety of their state. 
 
 By leading them in the paths of righteousness, he connects their 
 preservation with his own glory. And the question, whether they 
 may fall into complete and final apostacy ? is answered by another, 
 whether the Son of God shall tarnish the honour of his own name ? 
 In virtue of his covenant-engagement, he must either keep them, 
 or deny himself: and, therefore, not one of them, no, not the 
 feeblest of them all, can perish without the ruin of his glory. 
 The alternative is awful, but sure; and while it stands on the 
 heavenly record, let no heart faint, nor any joints be loosed. Here 
 is the refuge of the church of God; here the assurance of her 
 children's peace. 
 
 Secondly. The name of Jesus, for the sake of which he leads 
 his people in the paths of righteousness, furnishes them with 
 argument before the throne of grace. " Me," may the tempted and 
 disconsolate say, " me he might overlook and contemn, but will he 
 contemn or overlook his own name?" No, thou afflicted: the 
 charge of indifference toward his name, or those who trust in it, 
 shall never be attached to God thy Saviour. To repose such 
 confidence in his name as couples it with thine eternal salvation, is 
 that boldness of the gospel which never went ashamed from the 
 mercy-seat. This was well understood by the " elders who obtained 
 a good report through faith." Let us plead in their spirit and lan- 
 guage, " For thy name's sake, Lord, pardon mine iniquity for it 
 is great." If we die when suing for the mercy of the covenant, or 
 
230 LECTUEE. 
 
 be deserted while our eyes are toward thee for guidance in the 
 paths of righteousness, the seekers of thy face will be discouraged : 
 thine enemies will triumph, " and what wilt thou do to thy great 
 name?" We are, indeed, most criminal and vile: " but there is 
 forgiveness with thee that thou mayest be feared." Our appeal is 
 to the proffers and promises of thy word. " Do not abhor us, for 
 thy name's sake; Do not disgrace the throne of thy glory ; remem- 
 ber, break not thy covenant with us." 
 
 But the shepherd's care does not end with the direction of his 
 flock : he supports and defends it also, both under the pressure of 
 calamity, and in the enjoyment of privilege. The proof of this 
 point is in verses four and five, which describe the 
 
 3d Part of his office. " Yea, though I walk through the valley 
 of the shadow of death, I will fear n6 evil, for thou art with me : 
 thy rod and thy staff they comfort me. Thou preparest a table 
 before me in the presence of mine enemies ; thou anointest my 
 head with oil ; my cup runneth over." 
 
 The psalmist shows the support and protection which believers 
 may expect from their Redeemer, in the most grievous calamity. 
 For, having put an extreme case in relation to himself, he declares 
 his security, and then assigns the reason of it. 
 
 The case, which is extreme, he puts in these words : " Tea, though 
 I walk through the valley of the shadow of death." 
 
 That we may rightly understand the whole passage, we must fix 
 the meaning of the expression, " valley of the shadow of death." 
 It does not signify dying: for it is not the valley of death, but of 
 the shadow of death ; and the shadow of an object cannot be the 
 same thing with the object itself. The psalmist speaks of walking 
 through this valley : which is a scriptural term for a habit of action, 
 or a course of suffering. But death is neither the one nor the other ; 
 it is a single event. Accordingly the scriptures use the similitude 
 we are now considering in a quite different sense. Two or three 
 examples will suffice : Psalm xliv. 19. " Thou hast sore broken 
 us in the place of dragons, and covered us with the shadow of 
 death." Psalm cvii. 10-14. " Such as sit in darkness, and in the 
 shadow of death, being bound in affliction and iron ; because they 
 rebelled against the words of God, and contemned the counsel of 
 the Most High: therefore he brought down their heart with labour; 
 they fell down, and there was none to help. Then they cried unto 
 
LECTURE. 231 
 
 the Lord in their trouble, and he saved them ont of their distresses. 
 He brought them out of darkness and the shadow of death, and 
 brake their bands in sunder." Jer. ii. G, 7. " The Lord— led us 
 through the wilderness, through a land of deserts and of pits, 
 through a land of drought and of the shadow of death, through a 
 land that no mau passetli through, and where no man dwelt; and 
 I brought you into a plentiful country," &c. As a shadow bears 
 to the mind an obscure image of the appearance and proportions 
 of its object, together with the idea of its being present or near: 
 and as darkness is gloomy, and death dreadful, the " valley of the 
 shadow of death," is a scene of great and uncommon distress — of 
 such trials as overpower the soul; throw it into amazement; break- 
 its purposes; fill it with alarm and horror like that which invades 
 trembling nature at the approach of the "king of terrors." This 
 condition may arise from one or both of the following causes : 
 
 (1.) Temporal calamity. Acute and lingering disease ; strokes 
 upon family, or fortune, or fame ; the rod of oppression ; the rage 
 of persecution, when men of blood hunt for the precious life; have 
 taught thousands of whom the world was not worthy, what is 
 meant by walking in the valley of the shadow of death. 
 
 (2.) A similar effect may be produced by spiritual conflict, 
 whether it be with the " plague of the heart," or with " the accuser 
 of the brethren." The apostle Paul had experience of the former, 
 when " the law in his members, warring against the law of his 
 mind, and bringing him into captivity to the law of sin which was 
 in his members," forced from him that exceeding great and bitter 
 cry, " wretched man that I am ! who shall deliver me from the 
 body of this death ;" and of the latter, where "there was given to 
 him a thorn in the flesh, the messenger of Satan to buffet him :" 
 with respect to both, most, if not all believers, are sooner or later, 
 his " companions in tribulation." They often go in the bitterness 
 of their souls through the power of " sin that dwelleth in them," 
 and often are summoned to the field in the " whole armour of God." 
 The name of our foes is " legion ; for they are many." In what 
 manner they act upon our spirits, it were idle to conjecture ; but 
 their existence and operations being matter of clear revelation and 
 sober experience, it were still more idle to dispute. " The fiery 
 darts of the wicked," are well known to those who " fight the good 
 fight of faith." And when he is permitted to assail them by minis- 
 
232 LECTURE. 
 
 tering fuel to their corruptions; by obscuring their graces; by 
 distracting their minds with blasphemous suggestions ; the most 
 resolute among them are liable to faint, and are sometimes driven 
 to such extremities, that their " souls choose strangling and death, 
 rather than life." 
 
 From the necessity of thus walking through the valley of the 
 shadow of death, God has not promised an exemption to any of 
 his " dear children ;" and they ought not to " think it strange 
 concerning the fiery trial which is to try them, as though some 
 strange thing happened to them. For they are called " to deny 
 themselves, to take up their cross, and follow their Lord ;" and are 
 warned from the beginning, that they " must through much tribu- 
 lation enter into his kingdom." The doctrine is as old as that of 
 redemption, and is exemplified in the history of all the redeemed. 
 In the verse before us, David considers it a very probable case, 
 that he might himself shortly walk through the valley of the 
 shadow of death. With his eye fastened on the prospect, he stands 
 firm and collected, in the persuasion that he shall come off without 
 ultimate loss. " I will fear no evil." Not to fear evils against 
 which we are unprotected, savours more of stupidity than of 
 courage. But there is often safety without security : for as there 
 may be great danger where there is no apprehension, so there may 
 be much apprehension where there is no danger. Thig frequently 
 happens even to the " Israel of God," who, judging by delusive 
 rules and " according to the outward appearance, are afraid where 
 no fear is." But the psalmist, who at this time saw his objects in 
 a true light, and measured them by a correct standard, was as free 
 from dread as from danger. " The good man," saith he " can have 
 no cause to shrink back from tribulation. Horrible as is that 
 valley of the shadow of death which lies across my path, I will not 
 turn aside to avoid it. Deaf to the report of inward feeling and 
 outward circumstance, I will hold on my way, and fear no evil." 
 But was the psalmist a madman ? Had he learned to contemn 
 the counsels of reason, and to stifle the emotions of nature ? Did 
 he court woe in the work of useless mortification ? Or had religious 
 discipline soured him to life, and wrought him up to the frenzy, 
 that the agonies of body and mind are beneath a wise man's care ? 
 None of all these. He resolves his confidence into a principle 
 which humbles the pride of the world, and is unapproached by the 
 
LECTURE. 233 
 
 maxims of philosophy ; and that is, the presence and guardianship 
 of his Redeemer. " I will fear no evil, for thou art with me ; thy 
 rod and thy staff they comfort me." Behold the source of Christian 
 magnanimity! Behold the charm which controls the mischief, 
 and lightens the gloom of the shadow of death ! " I will never 
 leave thee nor forsake thee," is one of the " gracious words which 
 have proceeded out of his mouth," and which shall not fail, though 
 earth and heaven be sacrificed to its accomplishment. Thou art 
 wilh me ! My trials pass under thine eye, are apportioned by thy 
 wisdom, and softened by thy love. Thy hand ministers help in the 
 season of need : and it is thine to cause all things to work together 
 for my good. 
 
 The rod and staff, by which the shepherd assisted his flock arid 
 kept off the beasts of prey, are emblems of those means which in- 
 dicate the presence of Jesus : comfort his people, and awe their 
 enemies ; especially his word, his providence, and his Spirit, all 
 which conspire in their preservation and support. Encouraged by 
 such company, and backed by such aid, the language of David is 
 both natural and modest : while it expresses a pre-eminence which 
 believers will ever have over carnal men. In a world of sin we 
 must look for sorrow ; but without the faith of Jesus we shall look 
 in vain for consolation. Peace of conscience and the repose of the 
 heart ; the light of God's countenance and an imperishable hope, 
 belong not to the wicked, even in their best estate. And when 
 they are to enter the valley of the shadow of death, their idols 
 broken and their glories gone, who, ah, who would step into their 
 place ? But out of that dreary vale there issues a voice : "I will 
 fear no evil for thou art with me." The voice is Christian, and 
 Christ is there ! His gracious presence compensates the keenest 
 suffering. Who has not heard of the wonders which it has wrought ? 
 It calmed the spirit of Daniel in the den of lions : it called forth 
 the song of Paul and Silas from the dungeons of Philippi: it 
 has borne ten thousand of the faithful above persecution and the 
 persecutor : and at this hour, after the lapse of ages, it instructs 
 ten thousand more to " glory in tribulation ;" so that " they may 
 boldly say, the Lord is my helper, and I will not fear what man 
 shall do unto me." Encircled thus with mercy, and "walking by 
 faith," they " endure as seeing him who is invisible." Patience 
 has her perfect work, and they " go in the strength of the Lord 
 
234 LECTURE. 
 
 God," waiting till their deliverance come, and "the shadow of death 
 be turned into the morning." 
 
 This happy reverse, which repays sharp affliction with sweet 
 enjoyment, is not uncommon in the life of faith. The psalmist has 
 noticed it in verse 5, where he introduces his Redeemer under the 
 new emblem of a most hospitable friend. 
 
 Verse 5. " Thou preparest a table before me in the presence of 
 mine enemies ; thou anointest my head with oil : my cup runneth 
 over." 
 
 These words, in very simple and impressive figure, celebrate, 
 
 (1.) The bounty of the Lord Jesus. "Thou preparest a table 
 before me." 
 
 The allusion is to that hospitality of the East, which entertained 
 even strangers with the fattest of the flock, with wine and oil, and 
 with the most precious fruits of the earth. And these kind offices 
 were the more grateful, as travellers had often no other accommo- 
 dation than what was furnished by private munificence. But to 
 invited guests, and on festive occasions, the preparations, according 
 to rank and condition, were most liberal and sumptuous. Now 
 believers are " strangers and pilgrims " who pass through this 
 world, a land of wilderness and drought, in search of " a better 
 country, that is, a heavenly." Exposed to fatigue, alarm, and 
 conflict, they would faint without the refreshments provided for 
 them by their Lord and Master. There are intervals in which he 
 " deals bountifully with them." Taking them by the hand, he leads 
 them from the valley of the shadow of death into his " banqueting 
 house, and his banner over them is love." Instead of that awful 
 reserve which they might anticipate in the "King of glory," 
 he treats them with the most gracious familiarity. "Eat, 
 friends; drink, yea, drink abundantly, beloved." Here their 
 spirits are recruited, and their toils forgotten. They "delight 
 themselves in the abundance of peace," and have the best of all 
 proof that it is not " vain to serve God." Thus does he bestow 
 upon his Church collectively, and upon her members individually, 
 periods of prosperity and joy. When the one is favoured with 
 "quietness and assurance," in the possession of his truth and ordi- 
 nances, and the other flourish under the " light of his countenance," 
 he has " prepared a table before them." 
 
 (2.) The circumstances which attend this privilege enhance its 
 
LECTURE. 235 
 
 own value and the glory of its author. ''Thou hast prepared a 
 table before me," saith the text, " in the presence of mine enemies:' 
 
 Like David, every believer is compassed with those who seek 
 his life. And when to him, as to David, the Lord has " given rest 
 round about from all his enemies," they are made the reluctant 
 witnesses of his comfort. It greatly heightens our mercies to 
 know, not only that they are from the hand of our Redeemer, but 
 that he maintains us in the possession of them, against both 
 earth and hell. This truth, which we are never to forget, should 
 be asserted with more than ordinary zeal, when " many deceivers 
 are entered into the world." We hear much of the philosophical 
 character of the day: "that the ages of intolerant bigotry arc 
 succeeded by an age of liberal forbearance ; that the rights of con- 
 science are too well understood and established to be in danger 
 hereafter; and, therefore, that the reign of persecution is over." 
 But let no Christian be thrown off his guard by these " good words 
 and fair speeches, which deceive the hearts of the simple." That 
 we may, at present, worship our God without molestation of person 
 or property, is true : and it is an inestimable privilege. But let us 
 refer it to the right cause, and not array a philosophy " falsely so 
 called," in honours which are due to our Redeemer alone. Enmity 
 against his cross and followers, as implacable and active as ever, 
 is limited by that sovereign control which makes " the wrath of 
 man to praise him, and restrains the remainder of wrath." Let 
 that control be taken off, and the next hour thousands will arise 
 to "mingle your blood with your sacrifices." No! we ascribe 
 nothing, for we owe nothing, to the mitigated spirit of the world. 
 But we owe everything, and therefore ascribe everything, to the 
 grace of our Lord Jesus. We thank Him, and not the liberality of 
 the times, that our gospel-table is spread, and we surround it 
 " without fear." The foe stands by and burns with rage, that he 
 must look on but may not disturb. Under his eye, and within his 
 reach, we safely break our bread and pour out our wine. Blessed 
 Jesus! We adore thee for thy protection! Thou alone "hast 
 prepared a table before us in the presence of our enemies !" 
 
 (3.) This bounty of our Lord is likewise accompanied witli 
 marks of singular condescension. " Thou anointest my head with 
 oil."- 
 
 Here, again, we must recur to a custom prevalent in the East — 
 
236 LECTURE. 
 
 the custom of anointing the head with scented oil. In those hot 
 climates this was a most agreeable service, refreshing to the guest, 
 and perfuming the apartment ; while it was performed, if not by 
 the hands of the " good man of the house," at least by his direction. 
 Anointing the head with oil is, therefore, an emblem of happiness 
 arising from the kindest offices of friendship. Scriptural usage 
 applies it to the Holy Spirit, who is, emphatically, "the oil of 
 gladness " wherewith the Saviour himself was anointed, and with 
 which he anoints the heads of his people. In other words, the 
 Holy Spirit, who rested without measure upon the Lord Jesus, 
 and, by this measureless communication of all divine gifts and 
 graces, constituted him the Christ, the Anointed, rests likewise 
 upon all the members of his mystical body; communicating to 
 them, out of his fulness, a suitable measure of gifts and grace. 
 For they " have an unction from the Holy One," on account of 
 which God calls them his Anointed, his Christs,* and by the effi- 
 cacy of which they become Christians. This David knew and has 
 expressed: this all believers know and experience. The Holy 
 Spirit, as the " Spirit of the Son," God " sends forth into their 
 hearts, crying, Abba, Father." He, therefore, dwells in them as 
 the " spirit of grace and supplication," and the immediate efficient 
 of all their spiritual character and joy. " Receiving of that which 
 is Christ's, and showing it unto them," he mortifies their corrup- 
 tions, quickens their graces, enlightens their darkness, dispels their 
 fears. His name is Comforter ; and when he descends upon them 
 in his exhilarating power, solacing them with his love, beautifying 
 them with his salvation, and breathing around them his fragrant 
 grace, they have all that is signified by the emblem of the text : 
 their heads are " anointed with fresh oil." 
 
 (4.) To conclude his animated description, " My cup," saith 
 David, " runneth over." 
 
 Wine distributed in a cup, by the master of the house, among 
 his guests, closed a Jewish entertainment; and hence, both in 
 Scriptural and common language, an overflowing cup is the symbol 
 of complete satisfaction, or, as the subject requires, of consummate 
 
 * 1 Chron. xvi. 22. Psalm cv. 15. The word in Hebrew "rritftt equiva- 
 lent to the Greek X^«rr«j (Christ), and, like it, signifying Anointed, is applied 
 primarily to the Redeemer, and secondarily to believers, on account of their union 
 with him, and participation of his Spirit. 
 
LECTURE. 237 
 
 woe. There can be no dispute about its meaning in the present 
 instance. It proclaims the " blessedness of the man whom God 
 hath chosen and caused to approach unto him. This, their com- 
 munion with him in the Lord Jesus ; this defence against their 
 enemies; this participation of the Holy Ghost, fills up their souls. 
 "Jehovah is the portion of their cup :" they know it, they rejoice 
 in it, and they ask no more. 
 
 Such " marvellous loving-kindness " from the " Hope of Israel," 
 may find, but cannot leave, a hard and unbelieving heart. The 
 psalmist, therefore, follows the enumeration of his mercies with the 
 tribute of his faith and gratitude, which is in verse 6, and composes 
 the 
 
 II. Part of the psalm. 
 
 " Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my 
 life ; and I will dwell in the house of the Lord for ever." 
 
 1. The tribute of his faith. " Surely goodness and mercy shall 
 follow me all the days of my life." 
 
 That this is an exercise of faith, and not an expression of mere 
 feeling, is plain from the confidence with which he anticipates 
 futurity : thus answering to the apostle's forecited definition : " Now 
 faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things 
 not seen." Let us, then, consider what this exercise of faith con- 
 tains, and upon what it is founded. 
 
 (1.) It contains a testimony to the propriety of the Lord's dis- 
 pensations. 
 
 The psalmist had visited the "green pastures" and "still 
 waters:" he next surveyed the "valley of the shadow of death," 
 under the impression that he might shortly "walk through it:" he 
 afterwards turns his eye from the " ten thousands that set them- 
 selves against him round about," to the "table prepared before 
 him in their presence ;" and gives his judgment. " It is all right," 
 saith he. "It is just as it ought to be. I have nothing to 
 diminish, to add, nor to alter. My soul owns it as ' goodness and 
 mercy ' throughout," 
 
 (2.) It contains an act of implicit trust, that whatever might be 
 his own unworthiness, this "goodness and mercy" should never 
 be withdrawn. " It shall follow me," saith he, " in all my wan- 
 derings: it shall tread in my very steps, and not leave me a 
 
238 LECTURE. 
 
 moment till my warfare be over : it shall follow me all the days of 
 my life." This is strong persuasion, but it rests on a strong 
 foundation. Our God and Saviour, who " keepeth the covenant 
 and mercy to them that love him," will neither disown his people 
 nor break his word. Admit the possibility of his casting them off; 
 that his gifts and his calling are " not " without repentance," and 
 you cut the sinews of their rejoicing. No more must words of 
 confidence be heard from their lips. I will walk through the valley 
 of the shadow of death, and fear no evil ! is a vain boast, because 
 I have no assurance that the Lord will be with me. Nor is it any 
 relief to tell me that I shall have his presence, provided I be faith- 
 ful in my obedience. Without his presence to secure my fidelity, 
 I am put upon the performance of an impossible condition. A very 
 little acquaintance with myself, will teach me that if it in the least 
 depended on my own strength, my claim to the continuance of the 
 Lord's goodness and mercy, though ever so valid the present hour, 
 would be forfeited the next. But this is not, and never can be, 
 the case. My Redeemer is " Jehovah who changes not," and 
 therefore, I am neither consumed, nor forsaken. All this is practical 
 truth, which the psalmist has recorded as his own experience; and 
 which is substantially the experience of other believers. " The 
 Lord," saith he, " who is my Shepherd, actually makes me to lie 
 down in green pastures ; he actually restores my soul, and leadeth 
 me in the paths of righteousness; he actually is with me in the 
 valley of the shadow of death, and has prepared a table before me 
 in the presence of my enemies." Here is no room for cold and 
 wavering speculation : for here is nothing but plain fact as the 
 fulfilment of covenant-promise. The psalmist declares what he 
 had seen, and heard, and felt. He had, therefore, in his own 
 bosom, a comment upon his Lord's veracity, and a pledge of future 
 bounty, more solid and satisfying than a thousand arguments, 
 though from the mouth of an angel. He placed his foot upon the 
 rock of eternal truth; and " as he believed, so he spake." — " Surely!" 
 exclaims he, " it is not vague opinion, nor fluctuating hope ; it is 
 sweet reality, it is blessed certainty." — " Surely goodness and mercy 
 shall follow me all the days of my life !" that our souls knew 
 more of the precious exercise ! how would it silence our murmurs, 
 and hush our tumults, and swell our joy ! Happy psalmist ! may 
 1 learn with thee to weigh all things in the balance of the sanctuary; 
 
LECTURE. 239 
 
 and to sing, with thee, of goodness and mercy which have followed 
 and shall follow me, all the days of my life ! 
 
 2. As none who have ventured their souls upon the Lord's 
 promise make an evil report of his ways ; and as their only return 
 for his benefits is devotion to his fear, the psalmist, who speaks 
 their mind, has added the tribute of his gratitude to that of 
 his faith. " I will dwell in the house of the Lord for ever." The 
 same resolution, with a slight variety of phrase, occurs in Psalm 
 lxi. verse 4. " I will abide in thy tabernacle for ever:" and they 
 both express the most unreserved and hearty dedication to the 
 service of God. Particularly, 
 
 (1.) A deliberate choice, on the part of Christians, of the inte- 
 rests of God's glory and of God's Church as their own most 
 valuable interests. 
 
 Nothing less can be signified by " the house of the Lord " as the 
 object of their affections. They approach him not with the dry 
 compliment of occasional visitors, but with the dispositions of those 
 who mean to be constantly under his eye and obedient to his will. 
 They " cast in their lot " with his people ; they join themselves 
 unto his family ; they live in his house, and everything belonging 
 to it is clear to their hearts. 
 
 (2.) Waiting upon God in all the ordinances of instituted 
 worship. 
 
 To know him, and not to worship him, is a contradiction. To 
 pretend to worship him, and not wait upon him in his ordinances, 
 is to stand self-convicted of slandering his wisdom and slighting 
 his grace. In Christians such conduct is impossible. They "love 
 the habitation of his house, and the place where his honour dwel- 
 leth:" thither they repair, that they "may behold his beauty and 
 inquire in his temple;" may hear from his own lips, and find in 
 his own appointments, solutions of difficulties which would other- 
 wise dishearten and distract them; may be "satisfied with the 
 goodness of his house," and with the communion of that " loving- 
 kindness which is better than life." 
 
 (3.) An open confession of his name. 
 
 There is nothing in the service of God to create a blush ; and a 
 heart renewed by his grace is too honest to play the hypocrite. 
 Worldlings often show a fair face to religion, while their souls 
 overflow with enmity against it, and they secretly plot its ruin. 
 
240 LECTURE. 
 
 But to pretend affection for the world, while the " hidden man of 
 the heart" cleaves unto God, is repugnant to every principle of the 
 Christian calling. And such a deception would be not less im- 
 practicable than absurd. A living Christian can no more refrain 
 from giving indications of his life, than light can refrain from 
 shining in the dark. Carnal men quickly discern and avoid those 
 who " run not with them to the same excess of riot," and are seldom 
 backward to "speak evil of them." So that if we take up our 
 abode in the house of the Lord, it cannot be long a secret to the 
 world ; nor do we wish it to be so. We pursue different objects 
 in a different manner: we "come out from among them, and are 
 separate," as belongeth to " the sons and daughters of the Lord 
 Almighty." And having learned to "esteem the reproach of 
 Christ greater riches than the treasures in Egypt," we can have 
 neither reason nor inclination to conceal, that " we had rather be 
 door-keepers in the house of our God for a single day, than to 
 dwell a thousand in the tents of sin." 
 
 (4.) As this devotion to the Lord Jesus is voluntary and open, 
 so it is irreversible. I will dwell, saith David, in the house of the 
 Lord for ever ; or as he has interpreted his own words " all the 
 days of my life." 
 
 Christians make no experiments with their religion ; and it is 
 incredible they should. Having " passed from death unto life," 
 how can they waste a moment in considering which is preferable? 
 Their choice being for eternity, and necessarily including the re- 
 mainder of their days in time, they " are not of them who draw 
 back unto perdition, but of them that believe to the saving of the 
 soul." Consequently, there can be "no place for repentance." 
 For who would exchange the favour of God for his displeasure ? 
 his blessing for his curse ? his kingdom for the bottomless pit ? 
 Of those who walk " according to the course of this world," thou- 
 sands have expired with curses on their folly. But among all who 
 " have made the Lord their trust," not one has recalled his choice, 
 nor regretted that he was too early, too closely, or too long attached 
 to the house of God. A believer's condition affords present enjoy- 
 ment, and a happy presage of his end." — "My soul," cries he, 
 " has regained her rest. Here I am satisfied, and here will I 
 remain. ' While I live, will I praise the Lord ; ' and when I am 
 to 'finish my course,' I will expect in glory the consummation of 
 
LECTURE. 241 
 
 what is begun in grace. For both worlds, it is my resolution and 
 my hope, to "dwell in the house of the Lord for ever." 
 
 Out of this review of the psalm, there arises a question deeply 
 interesting to him who speaks, and to them who hear. " What 
 acquaintance have I with its truth, and what share in its consola- 
 tions ? The latter spring out of the former, and are inseparable 
 from it. To aim at their separation, as many do, is the wicked 
 and vain attempt to " put asunder what God has joined." Be it 
 written on the tables of our hearts, " as with a pen of iron, 
 and with the point of a diamond," that none who are strangers to 
 the grace of the gospel, have any right to its comforts. Through 
 any other channel, all pretensions to them are false, for all enjoy- 
 ment of them is impossible. Take heed, professor of religion, that 
 thou " sport not thyself with thine own deceivings." It is easy to say 
 Lord, Lord ; to yield verbal assent to the doctrine of this psalm 
 concerning the mutual relation of Jesus and his people ; to pre- 
 serve such a " form of godliness " as shall obtain credit among thy 
 fellow-mortals ; but without something more, and something better, 
 thou shalt not "see God." That religion which shall survive the 
 grave, and go with thee into the eternal world, results from union 
 to Jesus, as the Lord thy Life. It is not enough that he is the 
 " Shepherd of the sheep ;" he must be thy Shepherd, and thou one 
 of his flock — not enough that he saves sinners ; he must save thee, 
 even thee in particular, "with an everlasting salvation" — not 
 enough that he supplies the wants of the saved ; he must enable 
 thee to live by faith upon him for thine own soul, and to receive 
 out of his fulness " grace and mercy to help in the time of need." 
 Whoever stops short of this, stops short of life. His services are 
 rejected, because his person is under condemnation. Till Christ 
 be " formed in him the hope of glory," not only is he shut out from 
 the blessings described in this psalm, but all his penitence, devo- 
 tions, virtues, are of no avail. He wants the original principle of 
 all genuine virtue and all acceptable obedience, which is laid in 
 the " renewing of the Holy Ghost." His hope is the hope of the 
 hypocrite, which shall perish, and "the wrath of God abideth on 
 him." 
 
 Yet the condition of unregenerated men, though dreadful, is not 
 desperate. Lost they are ; but " the Son of man came to seek and 
 
 Q 
 
242 LECTURE. 
 
 to save that which was lost," and is now " exalted to the right 
 hand of God to be a Prince and a Saviour, for to give repentance and 
 forgiveness of sins." In the days of his flesh he " was not sent but 
 to the lost sheep of the house of Israel ;" but, at parting with his 
 apostles, he informed them, " other sheep I have, which are not of 
 this fold : them also I must bring, and they shall hear my voice ; 
 and there shall be one fold and one shepherd." He has been 
 gathering them, ever since, " out of every kindred, and tongue, and 
 people, and nation:" they have crowded, by thousands, into his 
 fold : they are pressing into it at this very hour, and yet there is 
 room,: there is room, perishing man, for thee. The very cir- 
 cumstance of thy being forlorn and destitute, instead of keeping 
 thee from the Saviour, should impel thee to flee to him as thy 
 refuge from the approaching tempest. Art thou criminal and base ? 
 "Are thine iniquities increased over thine head, and thy trespass 
 grown up unto the heavens?" This only renders the salvation of 
 Jesus the more indispensable, and his grace in proffering it the 
 more alluring. His work is with sinners, the chief of sinners 5 his 
 delight, to pluck them as "brands out of the burning 5" and there- 
 fore, guilty man, his overtures are to thee. Exclude not thyself 
 from his kingdom by voluntary unbelief; seeing that he is able, 
 and hath promised, " to save them to the uttermost that come unto 
 God by him." 
 
 " Christians, who alone have a right to claim, and a taste to 
 relish, the consolations of this psalm, should improve it to " their 
 furtherance and joy of faith." No sweeter song can they sing "in 
 the house of their pilgrimage." Their Redeemer, whom it cele- 
 brates, is rich, and mighty, and bountiful, and vigilant, and 
 gracious. They are "complete in him;" they "have all and 
 abound." Be satisfied, then, believer, with thy portion! Let 
 not an emotion of discontent stir in thy bosom ! " Be not envious 
 at the foolish, when thou seest the prosperity of the wicked." 
 Thou hast a better inheritance, and better company, and all thy 
 concerns shall come to a better issue, than theirs. Repress every 
 hard thought of thy munificent Shepherd. Believe his truth; 
 believe it against the objections of sense and the calumnies of 
 Satan ; believe it without staggering, and thine eyes shall see his 
 salvation. Whatever be the judgment of thine own ignorance 
 
LECTURE. 243 
 
 and of the world's malice, he is leading thee by " a right way ;" and 
 this thou shalt confess, with wonder and praise, when he shall 
 have brought thee to thy "city of habitation!" Go on, then, 
 in his strength; set up thy banners in his name, and inscribe 
 them with this triumphant motto : " The Lord is my Shepherd, I 
 shall not want." 
 
LECTUliE 
 
 PSALM VIII. 
 
 " 1. Lord, our Lord, how excellent is thy name in all the earth ! -a Iio hast 
 set thy glory above the heavens. 
 
 "2. Out of the mouth of babes and sucklings hast thou ordained strength 
 because of thine enemies, that thou mightest still the enemy and the avenger. 
 
 "3. When I consider thy heavens, the work of thy fingers; the moon and the 
 stars, which thou hast ordained ; 
 
 "4. What is man, that thou art mindful of him ; and the son of man, that 
 thou visitest him ? 
 
 '■ 5. For thou hast made him a little lower than the angels, and hast crowned 
 him with glory and honour. 
 
 " 6- Thou madest him to have dominion over the works of thy hands ; thou 
 hast put all things under his feet : 
 
 "7. All sheep and oxen, yea, and the beasts of the field ; 
 
 "8. The fowl of the air, the fish of the sea, and whatsoever passeth through 
 the paths of the seas. 
 
 " Lord, our Lord, how excellent is thy name in all the earth ! " 
 
 On what occasion this psalm was penned, interpreters are not 
 agreed, nor is it material for us to know. It seems probable, how- 
 ever, that it was composed by David, before God called him from 
 the cottage to the crown, and whilst, in the exercise of the pastoral 
 employment, he watched his flocks by the light of the moon. But 
 whether this is really the case or not, it is of high moment that we 
 should rightly understand and duly improve its important instruc- 
 tions. A little reflection discovers that the redemption by Christ 
 Jesus is the endearing theme to which our attention is invited. 
 For we shall find, in the course of our discussion, that, after pro- 
 posing in general terms the illustration of God's glory in the 
 victories of the gospel, it informs us, particularly, of the instru- 
 ments who were to carry on the wondrous plan — ascends to the 
 original source of the blessing — tells us how it should be purchased 
 
LECTURE. 245 
 
 for men — and what provision is made for its security and success 
 to the end of the world. 
 
 The mind of pious David was deeply affected by this interesting 
 view. How did his heart burn within him while he mused on the 
 endearing topic! How did his spirit exult when he saw with 
 prophetic eye the honour of his Redeemer spreading to the east 
 and to the west, to the north and to the south ! Dazzled with the 
 brightness, and overwhelmed with the immensity of the prospect, 
 he loses himself, and, as the mouth of those millions who should 
 flock to the Shiloh, exclaims, in the language of admiring gratitude, 
 
 1. " Lord, our Lord, how excellent is thy name in all the 
 earth; who hast set thy glory above the heavens!" 
 
 By the "name" of God we are to understand, in general, 
 anything which he makes known of himself; and, therefore, 
 we find that his different attributes are called, in different parts of 
 Scripture, his name. Here, and in some other passages, it signi- 
 fies the divine glory, or the assemblage of the divine perfections as 
 they shine in the dispensation of grace. 
 
 That the psalmist is not speaking of the divine perfections as 
 they are displayed in the works of nature, is manifest ; because it 
 is Jehovah, whose name he says is " excellent in all the earth," — i. «., 
 in all the habitable parts of the earth, where there are rational beings 
 to know, to feel, to celebrate its excellence. Now, though nature 
 peaches that there is a God, and teaches something, too, of his 
 character, yet nature teaehes neither the name nor the whole cha- 
 racter of Israel's God. We are not to suppose that the psalmist 
 means to exclude any part of the divine character from a share in 
 this excellence ; and how could Jehovah's character appear excel- 
 lent where it was not known ? We are also to reflect that when 
 the Scriptures mention the knowledge of God's name as a ground 
 of reverence, fear, trust, delight, &c, they always refer to a know- 
 ledge derived from revelation. Farther; excellence is a high 
 degree of good, and cannot but attract love. But the apostle Paul 
 declares that " the carnal mind is enmity against God," and, there- 
 fore, cannot love him, nor deem his perfections excellent. Now if 
 unrenewed men are unable to love God, even with the help of 
 revelation, they certainly cannot learn to love him, without it, 
 from the works of nature. If they think they can, it is a proof of 
 their ignorance and self-deceit. The God whom they love is a 
 
24G LECTUKE. 
 
 God of their own making. Nature and philosophy discover nothing 
 of Jehovah, but as an absolute God. They may, and if they do 
 him justice they will, represent him as clothed in majesty : but it 
 is the majesty of terror. A flame goeth before him — the whirl- 
 winds play around him — his voice is thunder, his look, the light- 
 ning's flash. It is only in Christ Jesus that God reconciles the 
 world to himself; it is in him alone that all the divine perfections 
 appear excellent ; and it is in the view of the universal preaching 
 of the gospel that the psalmist could with any propriety say, " 
 Lord, our Lord, how excellent is thy name in all the earth." 
 
 To the earth, however, the praise of God's excellent name is not 
 confined, for he " has set his glory above the heavens." Not in 
 the heavens : an expression which might lead us to think of the 
 glory of creation and providence as exhibited in the heavenly 
 bodies : but above the heavens, far beyond the reach of mortal 
 observation. That by this phrase is meant the highest heavens, 
 that glorious place which Christ has prepared for his people, and 
 in which, with the angels, they adore redeeming love, will be 
 abundantly clear if we attend to another of a similar kind. In 
 the 113th Psalm, we read thus, "From the rising of the sun unto 
 the going down of the same, the Lord's name is to be praised." 
 "The Lord is high above all nations, and his glory above the 
 heavens." The parallel passage in Malachi i. 11, " From the rising 
 of the sun unto the going down of the same, my name shall be 
 great among the Gentiles" makes it plain that the glory mentioned 
 in the psalm just quoted, is the glory of God in the salvation of 
 men ; and this is the glory which is there said to be " above the 
 heavens." And the words which we are considering, present to 
 our view the august and solemn scene formed by the church 
 militant and the church triumphant, joining in one general chorus 
 of praise to the Father of mercies. We may therefore rest satis- 
 fied, that the immediate and only object of this verse is to extol 
 the grace of God in sending his Son to redeem sinners. Well may 
 we wonder at the immensity of such love : and our wonder will be 
 increased if we follow the psalmist. He not only bids us admire 
 the salvation itself, but tells us, 
 
 II. What instruments should be employed in carrying on the 
 amazing plan, as in 
 
LECTURE. 247 
 
 Verse 2. " Out of the mouth of babes and sucklings hast thou 
 ordained strength because of thine enemies, that thou mightcst 
 still the enemy and the avenger." 
 
 That the words we are now considering are prophetical, we are 
 not allowed to doubt, for so they were viewed by Him who could 
 not mistake the meaning of scripture. We are told, by the 
 evangelist Matthew (ch. xxi.) that when our Lord, according to an 
 ancient oracle, made his public entry into Jerusalem, the multitude, 
 actuated, it would seem, by a divine impulse, cried out, " Hosanna 
 to the son of David ; blessed be he that cometh in the name of the 
 Lord ; Hosanna in the highest !" When he passed to his house 
 of prayer, authoritatively purged it from impious intruders, and 
 performed, in the sight of admiring crowds, some of his most 
 benevolent miracles, the sacred ardour flowed in every breast, and 
 even the children who were sporting in the temple caught the cry, 
 " Hosanna to the son of David !" On this occasion, the blind, 
 envious, unprincipled Pharisees, nettled at one of the most delight- 
 ful and sublime scenes that can interest a reasonable nature, asked, 
 in the spirit of discontented petulance, " Hearest thou what these 
 say?" — "Yea," replied the Saviour, quoting the very words of 
 David, " Yea : have ye never read, Out of the mouth of babes and 
 sucklings thou hast perfected praise ?" This circumstance clearly 
 shows that the passage before us refers to the times of the gospel ; 
 and if it received an accomplishment in the fact just related, it 
 was more abundantly accomplished in the ministry of the first 
 preachers of the gospel. These were characterized by the spirit 
 of prophecy as babes. " Whom shall he teach knowledge ? and 
 whom shall he make to understand doctrine?" — "Them that are 
 weaned from the milk, and drawn from the breasts." (Isaiah, 
 xxviii. 9.) They were termed babes by Christ himself: for when 
 he upbraided with ignorance and hardness of heart " those cities 
 wherein most of his mighty works were done, he answered," the 
 historian tells us, "and said, I thank thee, Father, Lord of 
 heaven and earth, that thou hast hid these things from the wise 
 and prudent, and hast revealed them unto babes." This passage, 
 with the correspondent one in Luke, makes it manifest that the 
 disciples are intended : for that evangelist informs us, that these 
 words were spoken when " the seventy returned again with joy, 
 
248 LECTURE. 
 
 saying, Lord, even the devils are subject unto us through thy 
 name." (Luke x. 17.) 
 
 The disciples of Christ, though adult in years, were babes in 
 knowledge and improvement : plain, simple men, unfurnished with 
 that erudition to which the affluent had access. With respect to 
 the great work also, in which they were to be employed, they were 
 as feeble in themselves, and as unfit for it, as babes are for per- 
 forming the duties of active life. To the world likewise, they 
 appeared contemptible iu their birth, in their connections, in their 
 fortune, in everything about them. And the project of reforming 
 mankind, in their hands, carnal wisdom, which would think such 
 a task proper for statesmen only and philosophers, would pronounce 
 as silly as the charge of an empire committed to an infant. And 
 yet, " from the mouth of these babes and sucklings," (let proud 
 philosophy take a lesson from the fact,) God, the psalmist assures 
 us, " ordained strength : such strength, as shook to its centre the 
 kingdom of darkness, and made Satan fall as lightning from 
 heaven. The great Mediator, during and especially after his own 
 ministry, crowned with abundant success the preaching of his 
 word. The apostles went forth in the name of Jesus ; Jehovah's 
 arm was nerved in their cause ; and, by the might of that arm, 
 " worm Jacob thrashed the mountains, and beat them small as 
 chaff." In thus ordaining strength, God " perfected praise :" for 
 the weakness of the instruments, compared with the miraculous 
 effects they produced, showed to all who were not " given up to 
 the lusts of their own hearts, that the excellency of the powers 
 was of him." 
 
 The strength of which we are speaking, God, the psalmist in- 
 forms us, ordained " because of his enemies : that he might still 
 the enemy and the avenger." 
 
 " Enemies," in the former part of this clause, seems to compre- 
 hend all who were unfriendly to the cause of Christ, whether 
 secretly or openly. Enemy and avenger perhaps refer chiefly to 
 Satan ; for these characters unquestionably are his : or if not to 
 him solely, to Satan and the persecutor. If this distinction be not 
 admitted, if the whole clause be considered as a general description 
 of the foes of the Redeemer, the truth which it inculcates will yet 
 remain the same ; viz. that these foes were so strong as to yield to 
 nothing less than almighty power ; or as the psalmist expresses it, 
 
LECTURE. 249 
 
 that such power was necessary to enable the disciples " to still the 
 enemy and the avenger." And did they still him? Yes. Their 
 preaching silenced the heathen oracles — they refuted the arguments 
 — they detected the sophistry — they stopped the mouths of their 
 adversaries. The Jews, we are told, " could not resist the Spirit 
 and wisdom by which Stephen spake." And of the disputes which 
 Paul had with his antagonists, the issue frequently was that they 
 replied with reproach and persecution, the sure tokens of a baffled 
 cause. In the triumphs which the apostles and fellow-labourers 
 gained, they found their Lord faithful to his promise, that " he 
 would give them a mouth and wisdom, which all their adversaries 
 should not be able to gainsay nor resist." In fact, nothing else 
 could have supported them : for no sooner was the trumpet of the 
 everlasting gospel blown, than hell, alarmed, mustered its legions : 
 earth joined the conspiracy : and the resistance, to human ability, 
 must have been invincible. But the sword of the apostles (the 
 Word of God, the doctrines of the cross) was of heavenly temper : 
 it shivered the weapons, it mowed down the ranks, of their enemies ; 
 and they became " more than conquerors through him that loved 
 them." If we are duly affected with a sense of the precious 
 favours that flow from the gospel of peace, and of the divine wisdom 
 and energy employed in propagating them among men, we will be 
 prepared for attending the psalmist whilst, in the 
 
 III. Place, he directs us to the original source of these blessings. 
 This is the good pleasure, the free grace of God, as we are taught 
 in verses 3 and 4. 
 
 " When I consider thy heavens, the work of thy fingers ; the 
 moon and the stars which thou hast ordained ; what is man that thou 
 art mindful of him ? and the son of man, that thou visitest him ?" 
 
 I remark, in passing, that it is from his omitting the sun, while 
 he speaks of the other heavenly bodies, that David is thought to 
 have composed this psalm when he watched his flocks at night. 
 
 Difference of sentiment appears in the answers which have been 
 given to the question, who are meant by " man, and the son of 
 man ?" That these words cannot relate to mankind in their state 
 of innocence, is perfectly clear. The word here rendered man, 
 conveys an idea of frailty and misery ; neither of which belonged 
 to our first parents before the fall : besides, there would be neither 
 
250 LECTURE. 
 
 propriety nor sense in denominating them the " son of man;" for 
 there was then no son of man in existence — and, to add no more, 
 the psalmist is lost in wonder, at God's being mindful of man, and 
 visiting him. But it is no wonder at all, that God should notice, 
 and kindly visit, innocent man. Nothing which he saw fit to create, 
 while it continues as he created it, does he judge below his attention. 
 It is moral deformity alone that renders a creature odious and 
 loathsome in the sight of a holy God. 
 
 On the other hand, men, valuable for their erudition, and vener- 
 able for their piety, have supposed that the words man and the son 
 of man, or at least the latter, refer to the Redeemer in his state of 
 humiliation. We know that he is frequently, though not exclu- 
 sively, styled "the Son of man." We know, likewise, that he 
 speaks of himself in terms of the lowest abasement. "lama worm, 
 and no man ; a reproach of men, and despised of the people." But, 
 with all deference to the respectable authority of those who think 
 that Christ is meant in the verses before us, I hope I shall be par- 
 doned for deviating a little from their opinion. What striking 
 proof did Jehovah give that he was mindful of the person here 
 mentioned, and visited him? The psalmist tells us in the very 
 next words, it was by making his Son " a little lower than the 
 angels." But, according to the hypothesis to which I object, Christ 
 was already in a state of humiliation ; so that God could not express 
 his being mindful of him, and visit him by bringing him into that 
 state. And where was the wonder that God the Father should 
 thus visit the humbled Saviour? He was, even in his lowest 
 humiliation, the Son of Jehovah's love. Divine faithfulness was 
 pledged to the suffering Redeemer ; and is it any wonder that God 
 should keep his word ? 
 
 I therefore conclude that the psalmist has his eye p upon mankind 
 in their lost, their wretched condition. When I look, says he, at 
 thy heavens ; when I contemplate the immensity of thy works ; 
 when I consider the boundless theatre on which thy glory is dis- 
 played; that thou needest neither us nor our services; that we 
 would hardly be missed were we blotted from the page of existence ; 
 particularly when I consider our guilt and vileness, I cannot but 
 exclaim, what is man, insignificant, worthless man! what is he? 
 what has he to attract thy notice ? Nothing at all. That thou 
 shouldst be mindful of him, and visit him with thy salvation, is of 
 
LECTURE. 251 
 
 sovereign grace ! Well might the psalmist be astonished ! well 
 may we be astonished ! and our astonishment will rise if we ac- 
 company him while he tells us, in the 
 
 IV. Place, how the great salvation was provided for men ; it 
 was by the humiliation and exaltation of the Son of God in the 
 character of our Redeemer. This is what the psalmist means 
 when he says, verse 5, 
 
 " For thou hast made him a little lower than the angels, and 
 hast crowned him with glory and honour." 
 
 We commonly hear those words interpreted of man as he came 
 originally from the hands of his Creator. But this interpretation 
 proceeds from a negligent view of the subject. No criticism can 
 torture the psalmist's expression into such a meaning, and make it 
 consistent with the rest of the psalm, and the rest of the scripture. 
 
 The verse plainly tells us, how the Most High testified that he 
 was mindful of man, and with what honour and favour he visited 
 him. But the very idea of being mindful of him and visiting him, 
 supposes that he was created before, for it is not easy to see how 
 one can visit a nonentity. 
 
 Farther, the Apostle Paul, in the second chapter of his epistle 
 to the Hebrews, cites this passage to prove the divine glory of the 
 Lord Christ : but if it relates to man, the apostle would argue very 
 strangely, in asserting that Christ was above the angels, because 
 man was below them. 
 
 The phraseology, however, both of the psalmist and of the 
 apostle puts the matter beyond doubt and forbids reply. The 
 word which we translate made lower, has not the smallest refer- 
 ence to creation, but signifies in both the original languages, to 
 lessen, to diminish, to bring from a superior to an inferior station : 
 and the word which we render little, refers, not to degrees of dig- 
 nity, but to length of time. 
 
 Now, if the glory of Christ suffered a diminution by his being 
 made (as the margin very properly reads) for a little while lower 
 than the angels ; the inference is strictly logical, that prior to this 
 event he was above them, and therefore was God. In this view 
 the words are not at all applicable to man ; for when was he 
 higher than the angels ? In any other, the apostle's quotation is 
 impertinent, and his argument ridiculous. 
 
252 LECTURE. 
 
 The only difficulty which can remain, is, that the psalmist should 
 introduce the Redeemer so abruptly, by the relative " him," with- 
 out any previous notice of the person whom he meant. But this 
 difficulty will vanish, if we allow ourselves to reflect that this 
 psalm was composed in the hours of retirement — that it is a devout 
 effusion of gratitude to God. Surely the psalmist knew whom he 
 meant, and as surely God could be at no loss to understand him 
 — nor will this circumstance prejudice the general use of the psalm, 
 for we must farther reflect not only that the manner in which the 
 sacred penman speaks precludes uncertainty about the person to 
 whom he alludes, but that the faith of ancient believers pointed 
 perpetually to a promised Saviour, like the needle to the pole — 
 that they were so frequently engaged in meditating upon his char- 
 acter and offices, as not to be taken by surprise when he was suddenly 
 mentioned without any formal intimation. In truth they knew 
 much more of their Eedeemer, and thought much oftener upon him, 
 than we are willing to believe — they knew much more of him, and 
 thought much oftener on him, than many who are inclined to pride 
 themselves on their superior light. 
 
 When, therefore, the psalmist says, " thou hast made him for a 
 little while lower than the angels," nothing else can be intended 
 than God's sending his own Son to assume our nature, to sojourn 
 in our earth, and to submit to all that train of afflictions which are 
 comprehended under the term of his "humiliation." But this 
 scene of suffering was of short duration: for having "finished the 
 work which was given him to do," — having, by his obedience and 
 death, made " reconciliation for iniquity, and brought in ever- 
 lasting righteousness;" he rose from the dead, he ascended up 
 into heaven, " he sat down at the right hand of the majesty on 
 high;" or, as the psalmist expresses it, he was "crowned with 
 glory and honour." 
 
 That Jehovah should be at such vast expense to rescue perish- 
 ing men from everlasting ruin, is a thought too big for our little 
 souls ; but the fact is as certain as the thought is transporting : 
 and to complete our consolation, the inspired psalmist not only 
 assures us of the reality, and tells us how the blessing was pro- 
 cured for men, but informs us, 
 
 V. What provision is made that it shall not be lost, but 
 
LECTURE. 253 
 
 shall be continued and experienced in the world till the end of 
 time. 
 
 The provision of which I speak, is the supreme and uncontrol- 
 lable authority of the Lord Jesus ; an authority which he con- 
 stantly exerts for the benefit of his church, so that " all things 
 shall work together for good to them that love God, to them that 
 are called according to his purpose." 
 
 Of this authority we have a description in the 6th, 7th, and 8th 
 verses. " Thou madest him to have dominion over the works of 
 thy hands : thou hast put all things under his feet. All sheep and 
 oxen ; yea, and the beasts of the field: the fowl of the air and the 
 fish of the sea, and whatsoever passeth through the paths of the 
 seas." 
 
 No argument is necessary to show that the whole of this passage 
 belongs to the same person : and the beginning of it is expressly 
 applied to Christ by the Apostle Paul, 1 Cor. xv. 27, and Ephes. 
 i. 22. In the latter, after declaring that God the Father had ex- 
 alted Christ " far above all principality and power, and every name 
 that is named, not only in this world, but also in that which is to 
 come," he sums up his description of the Kedeemer's authority, in 
 the general expression of the psalmist, " and hath put all things 
 under his feet." The very same application is made in the epistle 
 to the Hebrews, where the apostle proves from the fact, that the 
 psalmist could not mean the dominion which man exercises over 
 the creatures : " for," says he, " we see not yet all things put under 
 him:" yet, after so long a time, after all his advantages, and im- 
 provement, and labour, we see not yet all things put under him : 
 " but we see Jesus, who was made a little lower than the angels — 
 crowned with glory and honour." 
 
 It is perfectly clear that all the works of God, are not now, and 
 never were, and never will be, under our government : but to our 
 Redeemer is "given all power in heaven and earth." His unlimi- 
 ted rule extends to even the meanest thing that swims in the 
 waters, creeps on the earth, or flies in the air. But by his com- 
 mand, even the beasts of the field shall espouse his quarrel : the 
 veriest reptile shall be to his enemies a messenger of wrath ! 
 
 After this brief, but comprehensive and delightful view of the 
 dominion of the Messiah, David concludes the psalm as he had 
 begun, by expressing his reverence, gratitude, and admiration : 
 
254 LECTURE. 
 
 and all who are governed by the same spirit, will cordially join his 
 note of praise — " Lord, our Lord, how excellent is thy name in 
 all the earth!" 
 
 Let us dwell upon a few of the practical reflections which this 
 psalm suggests. 
 
 1. The brightest and most endearing illustration of the divine 
 glory, is in the scheme of redemption. 
 
 Tis true God has sketched, if I may so speak, the outlines of 
 his character upon his works. They all unite in proclaiming, — 
 
 " The hand that made us is divine." 
 
 But 'tis equally true that our understandings are darkened, and 
 our wills corrupted ; so that of ourselves, we can neither perceive 
 Jehovah's character as we ought, nor love it if we could. The 
 misfortune, however, is that multitudes, and of those too who are 
 called philosophers, think they can derive from the works of crea- 
 tion all the knowledge of God which they need : and thus we hear 
 them talk of rising from nature up to nature's God ; and at the 
 same time they totally disregard, as below their notice, his revealed 
 will. But it is an eternal truth that the God of nature is the God 
 of grace : and he who never saw his glory shining in the face of 
 Jesus Christ, never yet saw it aright in the system of nature. To 
 assert the contrary, would be to assert, that a man who is stark 
 blind at noon-day, can see clearly at twilight. Give philosophy 
 every advantage, and she can teach nothing but some abstract 
 general attributes of the deity; his goodness, his justice, &c. 
 Whatever matter they may afford for sublime speculation to the 
 reasoning mind, they can impart no peace to the sinner. In vain 
 is it told to him that God is the Father of mercies, and pours down 
 his blessings upon his children. He sees that the blessings of 
 providence fall alike upon the evil and the good ; so that, notwith- 
 standing these tender mercies, he may perish eternally. Philosophy 
 is mute at questions like these : " Wherewithal shall I come before 
 the Lord, and bow myself before the Most High God ? How shall 
 justice be exalted, and the sinner sheltered from wrath? She 
 never yet enabled, and never will enable, any one to use the lan- 
 guage, " My Lord and my God." The gospel of Jesus can alone 
 satisfy our doubts, and fill us with joy and peace in believing. 
 Let us never then hear of putting our hope in God ont of Jesus 
 
LECTURE. 255 
 
 Christ. We have nothing to do with an absolute God. Every 
 attribute of his nature thunders into the bosom of guilt ten thou- 
 sand terrors. It is our Emmanuel alone who hath opened a new 
 and living way to the Father, and in him alone we have boldness 
 and confidence in approaching the throne of grace. I would 
 not be understood to discredit philosophy: but let her keep her 
 proper place, the place of a handmaid. Let not her votaries 
 strip the Son of God of his honours to decorate this idol of their 
 vows. 
 
 2. When the love of God is shed abroad in the heart, the lips 
 will show forth his praise. This part of the Christian temper is beau- 
 tifully illustrated by the example of David. What are his psalms 
 but the holy breathings of his devout soul? "Be not deceived: 
 out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaketh." Impudent 
 are that man's pretensions to piety, from whose closet and family 
 the incense of prayer and praise never ascends— equally impudent 
 are their pretensions, who can see, with coolness, the Saviour 
 slighted ; who can hear, without an indignant emotion, his name 
 reviled. If God is our Father, we cannot be indifferent to his 
 glory : if Jesus is our Redeemer and Friend, every blow aimed at 
 him will be as a sword within our own bones. 
 
 3. Since God has thought proper to " ordain strength out of the 
 mouth of babes and sucklings," let us improve the fact for instruc- 
 tion, for admonition, for consolation. Let us improve it for 
 instructing ourselves in the ways of divine providence. In every 
 age, God has conducted, and protected, and prospered his church, 
 by means which carnal wisdom would pronounce utterly insufficient 
 for the mighty task. When the gospel was about to be published 
 to the world, did he call in the aid of philosophers and kings ? 
 Quite the reverse ! Rather than employ them he wrought miracles. 
 He committed the amazing trust to men, most of whom were in 
 every respect contemptible, and whose undertaking could appear 
 little else than the wild reverie of a delirium. Yet, through Christ 
 strengthening them, they triumphed over all opposition. The his- 
 tory, too, of later periods, has recorded more than one example in 
 which the plainest truths of the gospel, told in the plainest manner, 
 have entirely confounded the acutest reasoner. This is exactly 
 the apostle's doctrine. " Ye see your calling, brethren, how that 
 not many wise men after the flesh, not many mighty, not many 
 
256 LECTUEE. 
 
 noble, are called : but God hath chosen the foolish things of the 
 world to confound the wise ; and God hath chosen the weak things 
 of the world to confound the things which are mighty; and base 
 things of the world, and things which are despised, hath God 
 chosen, yea, and things which are not, to bring to naught things 
 that are : that no flesh should glory in his presence." In a word, 
 God has not only chosen such instruments to gather in his elect, 
 but has commonly the greatest number of his children among 
 people of a similar description. Let us therefore improve the fact 
 for admonition. 
 
 That Christians should be abused, and mocked by those who 
 are open enemies to their Lord, is nothing strange : it is no more 
 than they expected. But sooner or later, the great Redeemer will 
 have with such persons a very solemn reckoning. This admoni- 
 tion, however, is not intended for them alone. There are many, 
 with shame, with grief, with indignation be it spoken, there are 
 many who profess the name of Jesus, and yet do not blush to 
 vilify those who love him in sincerity. What more common than 
 to hear the truly pious, especially those who are in the humbler 
 walks of life, branded as hypocrites, enthusiasts, the fanatic rabble, 
 and the like : and this too often by those from whom we had a 
 right to look for other and for better .things ? Is it not enough, that 
 they are careless about the important concerns which relate to God, 
 eternity, heaven, and hell : but must they condemn as superstitious 
 fools, all who are not willing to be as indifferent as themselves ? Is 
 it not enough, that they can see no beauty in the exalted Saviour — 
 that they feel not the value of his righteousness, and think they 
 need no supplies from his fulness : but must they reproach as idiots 
 all to whom he is altogether lovely, and who desire nothing so 
 anxiously as to " live a life of faith upon the Son of God ?" What- 
 ever persons who act thus may think of their own characters, they 
 are the most implacable enemies of Christ. He hath said that he 
 considers as done to himself, every indignity done to the least of 
 his brethren : and he hath said, " that whosoever shall offend one 
 of the little ones that believe in him, it were better for him that a 
 millstone were hanged about his neck, and that he were drowned 
 in the depths of the sea." Such conduct, however, shall not 
 materially injure the weakest believers — it shall end in disappoint- 
 ment and shame for it fights against God, who has determined 
 
LECTURE. 257 
 
 f* to ordain strength out of the mouth of babes and sucklings." 
 We may, therefore, improve the fact for their consolation. 
 
 Our Lord has told his followers that in the world they shall have 
 tribulation : and one of the bitterest ingredients in their cup of 
 sorrow, is the hatred and insult of professed friends. But let them 
 remember that their mean appearance in the eyes of men 5 and the 
 obloquy which is heaped upon them, are no barriers to the grace 
 of the Saviour, and cannot depreciate them in his esteem. Let 
 them remember that he has promised to put " their tears into his 
 bottle, to write them in his book :'' and that in due time he will 
 raise their voices, though now feeble as the voice of babes and 
 sucklings, to sing the high praises of their redeeming God; when 
 the mirth of the scorner shall be turned into horror and howling, 
 and his name be covered with deathless infamy. 
 
 4. Whilst we magnify that rich grace which provided a redemp- 
 tion for man, let us admire the stupendous method by which it was 
 accomplished. Lost in wonder, let us stand still and see this great 
 sight, the incarnation of the Son of God ! Behold ! the Creator of 
 the ends of the earth becomes an infant of days — humbles himself 
 to death, even the death of the cross ; and descends to the silent 
 tomb ! death, how great was thy triumph in that awful hour ! 
 and had the triumph been perpetual, where were our hopes of 
 heaven? But let every heart rejoice that it was not possible our 
 Surety should be kept the prisoner of the grave. God had sworn 
 that his Holy One should see no corruption. He therefore burst 
 the bars of death ; and having thus proved himself to be the Son 
 of God, he ascended, a complete conqueror, into the highest heavens. 
 Brethren, if the Lord Jesus so loved sinners of our race — if for 
 them he emptied himself of his glory — if for them he became " a 
 man of sorrows and acquainted with grief" — if for them his blood 
 streamed on Calvary — if the sufferings he endured for them, ex- 
 torted from him that expiring cry which pierced the heavens, shook 
 the earth, and rent the caverns of the tomb— if for them he bowed 
 to the dust of death — if for them he spoiled principalities and 
 powers, and reassumed the splendours of his former state — if to 
 them he offers, freely, the " redemption purchased by his blood ;" 
 the least return we can make, is to devote ourselves wholly to this 
 celestial friend. Let every faculty of our souls, every member of 
 our bodies every action of our lives, be inscribed with this motto. 
 
 R 
 
258 LECTURE. 
 
 " Holiness to the Lord !" It is his own command, " My son, give 
 me thine heart." We may cheerfully obey ; for no guilt, no un- 
 worthiness, no vileness, can equal the multitude of his compassions. 
 He is able to " save to the uttermost all that come unto God by 
 him ;" and he hath promised that " them who come to him, he will 
 in no wise cast out.'' Let such as either openly or practically 
 deny his divine glory, and the necessity and virtue of his atoning 
 blood, solemnly reflect, that if they do not find, by happy experi- 
 ence, that he is almighty to save ; their certain, their fearful, their 
 irretrievable ruin will furnish a tremendous proof that he is al- 
 mighty to destroy. 
 
 Finally, "Let the children of Zion be joyful in their King." 
 Christians, it is a delightful truth, that Jesus the Saviour lives, 
 Jesus the Saviour reigns ; and lives and reigns for you. Let hope, 
 then, lift up her fainting head — Let faith stretch her pinions, wing 
 her flight to the third heavens, and view the Redeemer enthroned 
 in all the glory of incarnate Deity. Invested with infinite power, 
 he is able and faithful to "keep what you have committed to him." 
 " Looking, therefore, unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our 
 faith, let us lay aside every weight and the sin that doth most 
 easily beset us, and let us run with patience the race set before us." 
 Let us pray for the influences of his good Spirit, that we may 
 continually grow in grace, till the arrival of that happy hour when 
 " there shall be ministered unto us abundantly an entrance into 
 his kingdom." Then we shall join with saints and angels in sing- 
 ing the high praises of God our Saviour ; and this shall be the 
 heavenly anthem : " To him that loved us, and washed us from 
 our sins in his own blood, and hath made us kings and priests 
 unto God and his Father ; to him be glory and dominion for ever 
 and ever. Amen. 
 
LECTURE. 
 
 MATTHEW XXVII. 1—5. 
 
 " 1. When the morning was come, all the chief priests and elders of the people 
 took counsel against Jesus to put him to death. 
 
 "2. Arid when they had bound him, they led him away, and delivered him to 
 Pontius Pilate the governor. 
 
 " 3. Then Judas, which had betrayed him, when he saw that he was condemned, 
 repented himself, and brought again the thirty pieces of silver to the chief priests 
 and elders, 
 
 u 4. Saying, I have sinned in that I have betrayed the innocent blood. And 
 they said, AVhat is that to us? see thou to that. 
 
 "5. And he cast down the pieces of silver in the temple and departed, and 
 went and hanged himself." 
 
 The deed is done ! Treason has accomplished hie work. The 
 Son of man is in the hands of sinners. He has been arraigned 
 at their bar, convicted of blasphemy, sentenced to death ; and, as 
 if that were too little, reviled, ridiculed, abandoned to the coarsest 
 effusions of malignity, and the most vulgar insolence. All this in 
 the presence and by the hands of ministers of religion ! of ministers 
 assembled in solemn council, acting in the name of God, and 
 professing to guard the interests of his truth, and to maintain the 
 purity of his worship ! Of all the forms of depravity, there is 
 none so desperate and execrable as that which reigns in wicked 
 ecclesiastics. No heart is so hard, so pitiless, so entirely estranged 
 from all " compunctious visitings 5" no conscience so seared ; no 
 spirit so fertile, refined, persevering in barbarity; no thirst for 
 blood so insatiable; no vengeance so cool, so cruel, so devilish, as 
 are to be found in a priest who has sold himself to work iniquity. 
 Whatever it is, it was permitted to take its full sweep, to put forth 
 its whole force, against our Lord Jesus Christ. " He had done no 
 sin, neither was guile found in his mouth." But this was the 
 " hour of sinners, and the power of darkness." " The dunnest 
 
260 LECTURE. 
 
 smoke of hell" enwrapped their minds; the foulest spirit of the 
 pit swayed their measures ; and the malice of the devil and of the 
 priesthood, expended all its treasures upon Him " who was fairer 
 than the sons of men." Why, Saviour, was all this shame and 
 sorrow poured into thy cup? Why was thine Almighty power 
 held in abeyance ? Where were thy distracting thunders, and 
 thine obedient lightnings ? Where those twelve legions of angels, 
 any one of whom could have blasted these conspirators into death? 
 Where the divinity of that eye which in a moment could have 
 looked them into hell? Ah, "How then should the scriptures 
 have been fulfilled that thus it must be!" If the Lord Jesus 
 Christ had exercised his power, he would have hurled instant 
 confusion and perdition among the rebels ; and appeared in all his 
 glory as the sinless One. But where, then, would have been the 
 sacrifice for our sins ? What the hope of our souls ? All thanks 
 be to thee, thou patient Son of God, that thou didst not refuse 
 " the cup which thy heavenly Father gave thee to drink !" The 
 glory of the divine government was to be maintained and vindi- 
 cated, and his people to be redeemed by the blood of his covenant : 
 therefore, " when he was reviled, he reviled not again ; when he 
 suffered, he reproached not ; but committed himself to him that 
 judgeth righteously, and went as a lamb to the slaughter; and as 
 a sheep before her shearers is dumb, so he opened not his mouth." 
 
 Let us trace the sequel. 
 
 The Roman governor had taken away from the Jews the power 
 of inflicting capital punishment. This explains the circumstance 
 mentioned in verse 1. That "when the morning was come, all the 
 chief priests and elders of the people took counsel against Jesus to 
 put him to death." Of their inclination there can be no doubt ; 
 they had already declared him to be " guilty of death ;" and had 
 nothing but their mercy stood in the way, they had executed their 
 sentence upon the spot. But considerations of prudence interposed 
 to check the course of malice. Had they ventured to take into 
 their own hands the execution of their own sentence, it would have 
 been such an act of rebellion as might have brought down upon 
 their heads the whole weight of the Roman governor's resentment. 
 It is wisely ordered, in the providence of God, that personal fear 
 often restrains those who are lost to every sense of righteousness 
 and humanity. Here is one of the principal guards which he has 
 
LECTURE. 261 
 
 placed over the order and peace of civil society. Villains, who are 
 not deterred by the atrocity of their designs, and who make no 
 account of the misery which would follow their success, are often 
 kept within bounds by the fear of consequences to themselves. 
 They do not commit crimes from pure disinterestedness. They 
 wish to see the issue and enjoy the fruits. The certainty, or even 
 probability, of losing their own lives, is a mighty damper on their 
 courage. Accordingly, the result of the counsel which the chief 
 priests and elders of the people held, was to deliver Jesus up to 
 the Roman governor ; not doubting that their own influence, aided 
 by such representations as it would cost them no trouble to make, 
 would succeed in destroying their victim, with perfect safety to 
 themselves. In all this there was nothing to be seen but human 
 wickedness, and the ordinary principle of human nature. Who 
 thinks of questioning whether the Jews followed the bent of their 
 own corrupted will ? Who thinks of any apology for their sin ? 
 Yet there was an invisible hand overruling and guiding their free 
 and criminal actions to the very point which divine pre-ordination 
 had fixed, and divine prescience had declared. The " Messiah was 
 to be cut off" by a death unknown to the Jews. Crucifixion was 
 exclusively a Roman punishment. Yet the Messiah could die in 
 no other way. For this the prophetic spirit had pointed out. It 
 is minutely described, because it could not be named ; as the Jews 
 had not a term to express it in their whole language. Thus saith 
 the Messiah himself, in the twenty-second Psalm : " They pierced 
 my hands and my feet." For this purpose was the empire of the 
 world given to the Romans. Following only their own ambition, 
 they, in the progress of their conquest, annexed Judea to their 
 provinces, established their laws, abolished the Jewish right of life 
 and death, and substituted the Roman in its stead. Here was 
 proof that the Messiah had come ; because " the sceptre was de- 
 parted from Judah, and the lawgiver from between his feet." Thus 
 all circumstances, brought about by men's pursuing their own 
 devices, conspired to accomplish the purposes, and fulfil the promises 
 of God. Thus all were rendered subservient to the kingdom, the 
 salvation, and the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ. It is no other- 
 wise at the present hour. The nations rage — the kingdoms are 
 moved— revolution after revolution shakes the earth— plans of 
 aggrandizement are formed for perishing worms— alliances, called 
 
2G2 LECTURE* 
 
 holy, are framed for their security — daring spirits break the peace 
 of the world — crimes and horrors multiply. What, brethren, is to 
 be the end? Why, "God standeth in the congregation of the 
 mighty : He sitteth upon the flood ; He sitteth King for ever." The 
 potentates, the revolutionists, and the multitude of the world, are 
 doing nothing but "what his hand and counsel determined beforehand 
 to be done." And while he avenges with blood his dreadful quarrel 
 with bloody men, he is "judging with righteousness for the meek 
 of the earth," and causing all things to converge to that centre of 
 his providence, to that magnificent consummation, in which that 
 Jesus who stood as a malefactor before Pontius Pilate, shall appear 
 in his glory, " as the Prince of the kings of the earth, having on 
 his head many crowns." 
 
 Before the completion of this tragedy, in which the chief priests 
 and Pilate were conspicuous actors, the traitor Judas, terrified by 
 the view of his crime which then bursts upon his mind, hastens to 
 the chief priests and makes a voluntary confession: "I have 
 sinned, in that I have betrayed the innocent blood." His Master's 
 uniform goodness and grace stand unclouded before him ; his own 
 ingratitude and baseness crowd upon his soul; the wages of 
 treason have lost their charm : shame, remorse, despair, rack his 
 bosom; and he swells his crime by rushing, unbidden, into the 
 presence of his Judge. 
 
 Let us recover ourselves from the terror of this frightful spec- 
 tacle, and look into the lessons which it preaches to us. 
 
 I. The sins of men often lead to results which they do not anti- 
 cipate. 
 
 Judas appears to have flattered himself that no eventual harm 
 would arise from his treason. He had often seen, and perfectly knew 
 the power of Jesus Christ. He could not imagine that he would 
 suffer himself to become a victim to his enemies. With infinite 
 ease he could extricate himself and baffle their designs, as he had 
 done before, and thus give a new display of his own superiority, 
 and acquire fresh reputation among the wondering millions, while 
 himself would enjoy his ill-gotten gold. Thus he seems to have 
 reasoned ; and if you ask me why he did not reason in the same 
 manner as to himself, when he was negotiating the fall of his 
 Master, I answer, because sinners against God are universally but 
 
LECTURE. 2G3 
 
 half reasoners. Tliey are sharp-sighted and ingenious in espying 
 out every circumstance which may extenuate or conceal their sin, 
 and always blind to some things which may lead to their detection 
 or punishment, or may conduct their sin to uncomfortable issues. 
 It was the "condemnation" of our Lord Jesus Christ which 
 Judas had not expected, and which awakened him to a fruitless 
 repentance. 
 
 Let men, therefore, when they are about committing any known 
 sin, pause a moment and reflect, 
 
 1. That they know not the natural connections of that sin. 
 They can form no idea of the crime and consequences to which 
 
 it is nearly or remotely allied. They cannot even guess at the 
 length of the chain with which they propose to entangle them- 
 selves, nor how deep a hold they take of hell when they adventure. 
 They know not to what a mine of miseries to their persons, to their 
 fame, to their friends, to the church of God, to the world, to the 
 present race, to generations yet unborn, that sin may be the spring, 
 and which shall explode at their touch. 
 
 2. They know nothing of the secret providence of God respecting 
 that particular sin. 
 
 You promise yourselves pleasure, honour, profit ; you cannot see 
 that it will produce any disastrous effects. If they should be 
 naturally connected with it, you flatter yourselves that something 
 shall intervene between you and them to ward off their mischief 
 and leave you in the enjoyment of all their advantages. Perhaps 
 you have already had some hairbreadth escapes. Are there none 
 here whose consciences bear witness that they have been delivered, 
 as if by a miracle, from their best grounded fears ? God gives many 
 infallible proofs that he is gracious and long-suffering. Do not 
 abuse his goodness. Do not presume upon impunity ; imagine not 
 yourselves to be exceptions from his rule of dealing with sinners. 
 The very next offence may be your ruin in both worlds. Your 
 hands may even now be weaving the net for your own feet. God 
 may arrest you in a moment when you think not ; when you sup- 
 pose yourself to be perfectly secure from his visitation ; and let the 
 example of Judas warn you that it is no trifling thing to " fall into 
 the hands of the living God." 
 
 3. We see exhibited in meridian light the accursedness of that 
 maxim, that " the end sanctifies the means." 
 
264 LECTURE. 
 
 Was there ever equal benefit to the world, to the universe, to 
 that which redounded from the death of our Lord Jesus Christ? 
 Prophecies fulfilled — God glorified — hell vanquished— sin expiated 
 — sinners saved — angels instructed — the intelligent universe edi- 
 fied, were its immediate and progressive fruits. Did all this 
 diminish the sin or the punishment of Judas the traitor? Was his 
 horror the less? the wrath of God more mitigated? his place of 
 torment the more tolerable ? You easily accede to the reprobation 
 of Judas. But hold ! " Thou that judgest another, condemnest 
 thou not thyself?" No good to be effected could justify Judas in 
 his sin. But do you never, in infinitely smaller matters, set up for 
 your own justification the very principle which you have rejected 
 in his ? What means the defence, found in the mouths of cele- 
 brated moralists, for an imitation of the devil in one of his worst 
 attributes — the practice of telling deliberate lies? Is not evil to 
 be prevented, or good to be effected, the very pith and marrow of 
 that defence? I blush when I think that such a doctrine has crept 
 into our seminaries of learning to corrupt our youth. What 
 reconciles men's consciences to perjuries in the custom-house, and 
 the daily frauds which are glossed over by false pretences, but the 
 consideration of their paltry gain? I pursue not the subject. 
 " Let the stricken deer go weep." But be it remembered that the 
 maxim, " Let ns do evil that good may come," by whomsoever 
 adopted, in whatever case or to whatever extent, is the maxim of 
 those " whose damnation is just." 
 
 4. Observe the hardening power of sin. 
 
 Judas comes to the chief priests with his ill-gotten wealth in his 
 hand, and acknowledges in most pathetic terms his unprovoked 
 treachery: "I have sinned, in that I have betrayed the innocent 
 blood!" Does not the confession chill their blood? Does it not 
 instantly stop their proceedings, or at least compel them to pause, 
 and inquire whether they were not about shedding " the innocent 
 blood?" No such thing. With cool malignity they deride alike 
 the majesty of justice and the misery of the traitor. " What is 
 that to us, see thou to that!" What is that to you? the ministers 
 of law! the professional maintainers of truth! the protectors of 
 innocence ! the commissioned agents of a righteous God ? Is it 
 nothing to you that the very wretch who had delivered his Master 
 into your hands hastens to you with horrible compunction, declares 
 
LECTURE. 265 
 
 your prisoner guiltless, and wishes to restore the hire of his own 
 infamy? Can you get rid of your share in the crime by throwing 
 all the responsibility upon the distracted traitor ? " See thou to 
 that!" Shocking infatuation ! But these men had trained their 
 minds by long practice to familiarity with sin. They had neglected, 
 resisted, slandered, persecuted the truth. They had exercised 
 themselves in all the arts which envy, guile, and hatred can 
 suggest, to entrap the Just One. Being constantly foiled, they 
 become intriguers for blood, and seize with avidity the opportunity 
 which the bad faith of a disciple afforded, of glutting their ven- 
 geance. Jesus is in their hands ; it is enough ; they have gone 
 too far to recede; the ultimate crime caps the climax of their 
 iniquity I 
 
 ye who tamper and trifle with the truth of God, look well to 
 your feet! You are upon a declivity which grows steeper the 
 farther you advance. There is an intimate connection between 
 falsehood in principle and criminality in action. God may in 
 righteous judgment give you up to your delusions, till, " hardened 
 by the deceitfulness of sin," you shall advance from crime to crime, 
 and at last reach that point where you will hold fellowship with 
 the murderers of the Prince of life, and plunge yourself into bot- 
 tomless perdition. 
 
 5. The power of a guilty conscience, when fully aroused. 
 
 During the whole time Judas was seeking an opportunity of 
 perpetrating his treason ; and until he had completed the execrable 
 deed, and had seen it terminate in his Lord's condemnation, the 
 soul of the traitor was callous ; his moral sensibility was stupified ; 
 with the pleasure of covetousness he was contemplating " the wages 
 of unrighteousness:" but his career was over, his work finished; 
 God had abandoned him ; his conscience awakens from its stupor; 
 his crime is set before his eyes in its unalloyed horrors. Racked 
 with remorse and despair, he throws down the abhorred gold, and 
 departs in agony, unpitied and distracted. Unhappy man ! Thy 
 repentance, such as it is, comes ton late. It availeth not to arrest 
 the hand of violence against thy Master, nor to save thyself. The 
 furies are pursuing " thee to thine own place," where thou shalt 
 know the full meaning of thy Master's words, " It were good for 
 that man if he had never been bom " He retires to his house ; he 
 seeks relief by self-destruction ; nature sinks under the insupport- 
 
266 LECTURE. 
 
 able load ; throes of agony stifle his breath and dissolve his frame ; 
 " all his bowels gush out," and he dies accursed of God, and " an 
 abhorrence to all flesh!" 
 
 It is not in order to produce a mere stage effect — to agitate the 
 stronger passions of our nature for the sake of agitating them — 
 that this odious and terrifying spectacle is set before you. Many, 
 too many, of those within my hearing at present have a fearful 
 interest in the story of Judas. They are living in the love and 
 the practice of sin. Their consciences were once tender, and did 
 not fail to admonish them upon the recurrence of their aberrations 
 from the path of known duty. Its admonitions have been disre- 
 garded, they grew fainter and fainter, and perhaps have ceased to 
 trouble them. They go on in their sinful course, undisturbed by 
 painful reflections ; they hear with indifference, it may be with a 
 smile of contempt, the remonstrances of God's word, the warnings 
 of his providence, the threatenings of his laws. All these pass by 
 them " as the idle wind which they regard not," and they confirm 
 themselves in the persuasion that " they shall have peace though 
 they walk after the imaginations of their own evil hearts." Hear, 
 then, once more, ye despisers, a little plain truth : it may be the 
 last time before some of you " go to your long account." 
 
 You have within your bosoms and carry about with you, just 
 such a faculty, with the same sleepless observation, the same 
 power of recollection and reproach, the same capacity of inexpres- 
 sible horror, as that which inflicted its punishment upon Judas 
 Iscariot. If, then, you are resolved to persevere in your rebellion 
 against God, why then you must go on, and, if you can, abide the 
 consequences. The day of reckoning will come ; it is at hand ; it 
 is very near ; when all restraints shall be removed from off thy 
 conscience, and all its sensibilities sharpened, and thou shalt feel 
 what it is to grapple with its might and its vengeance. Now thy 
 communion is with the matter of thy sin, which fills thee with 
 intoxicating joys ; then, when the vision of truth shall make thee 
 sober, it shall be with the guilt of thy sin. Then conscience arises 
 in his majesty to do the work of God's vicegerent. The moment 
 he begins, the stoutest heart trembles. With a precision there is 
 no evading: a determination which can neither be repelled nor 
 postponed ; severe integrity which no promises can bribe, and no 
 pleadings mollify, he sets thy sins in order before thy face ; not an 
 
LECTURE. 267 
 
 aggravation nor a circumstance forgotten ; excuses and apologies 
 are at an end ; every mask is stripped off; the laughter of fools 
 yields no relief; thou must look upon thy sins as disembodied 
 spirits look at them ; as the ministering angels who have been 
 their witnesses always looked at them ; as they are seen in the 
 light of Jehovah's countenance. Thou art now where thou canst 
 not shuffle; under the power of that eye which penetrates thy 
 being, and annihilates the consideration of everything but itself 
 and thy own crimes. Profaned Sabbaths ; the despised Bible ; the 
 neglected sanctuary ; lost opportunities ; abused mercies ; ridiculed 
 convictions ; crowd in upon thy mind. As they pass by thee in 
 slow and solemn procession, the hand of each presses thine heart 
 like a millstone. Each one utters in a tone of coming vengeance, 
 " Let me sit heavy on thy soul to-morrow !" Thus circumstanced, 
 conscience overcomes the love of life, and what is often more than 
 life, of reputation. It rips up and discloses sins which had not 
 been suspected, and would never have been known. To be dis- 
 graced or honoured before men cannot command a thought. Equally 
 unable to endure or escape its terrors, he sinks into despair. What 
 aileth thee, thou man of boasting ? Is this the son of successful 
 sin? This the gay and gallant youth who laughed at the sim- 
 plicity of his serious friends, at the fables of the Bible, and the 
 croakings of a faithful ministry ? What is become of thy courage ? 
 Where is the pleasantry with which thou usedest to sport with 
 that bug-bear, conscience ? Ah, he has no reply ! He has other 
 employment than to attend to his pitiable figure in the eyes of 
 men. He has " fallen into the hands of the living God !" It is 
 the hour of the Lord's vengeance ! He has nothing but the shriek 
 of despair. The mountains and the rocks flee from the face of his 
 Judge. What shall he do ? His profit lost ; pleasures lost ; fame 
 lost; soul lost; God himself hath nothing to do but to punish him. 
 Oh, may some of you say, oh that one from the world of spirits, 
 that some good angel, would interpose to show to men their peril, 
 and reclaim them from their folly? what are you wishing? They 
 have more than apparitions of the dead ; more than an angel voice ; 
 more than if he were to rend asunder the curtains of death, and to 
 make visible the secrets of the eternal world. More sure than all 
 this, more close and powerful is the warning of God's word. In 
 accents more terrible than the thunder that shakes the heavens ; 
 
268 LECTURE. 
 
 more gentle than the dew-drop upon the springing herb; more 
 tender than a mothers love, does he remonstrate with the rashness 
 of sinners. Hear ye " despisers, and wonder and perish !" — " Look 
 unto me and be saved all the ends of the earth !" — " As I live, 
 Baith Jehovah, I have no pleasure in the death of the sinner." — 
 " How shall I give thee up, Ephraim ? How shall I deliver thee, 
 Judah? How shall I make thee as Admah? How shall I set 
 thee as Zcboim?" — " Mine heart is turned within me, my repent- 
 ing;; arc kindled together." Now is the day of the divine forbear- 
 ance ! Now does God wait to be gracious. Now he pleads forcibly, 
 plainly, loudly. Then " To-day, if ye will hear his voice, harden 
 not your hearts." Do you shudder at such an interview as has 
 been exhibited with your own consciences? We proclaim the 
 only method of escape, by having sprinkled upon them the precious 
 blood of Christ, that they may be purged from dead works to serve 
 the livimr God. 
 
SERMON XII. 
 
 MINISTERIAL FIDELITY ILLUSTRATED AND 
 VINDICATED. 
 
 JOHN xviii. 23. 
 
 "If I have spoken evil, bear witness of the evil: but if well, why smitest 
 thou me ? " 
 
 All men, of all sects, agree that the treatment of our Lord Jesus 
 Christ, immediately before the close of his course, exhibited the 
 very highest injustice, and the most cool and consummate depra- 
 vity. When a criminal is arrested and put upon his plea for life 
 and death, there is something within a man which involuntarily 
 softens down his feelings into those of tenderness. Nor can there 
 be a greater insult offered to the common sympathies of our nature, 
 nor one which would be more speedily and roughly resented, than 
 any gratuitous indignity : anything which tends to render his 
 situation more painful. In the case, however, of our Lord and 
 Saviour, all the courtesies of life, and all the kindlier attentions of 
 humanity, were denied, with a barbarity which shocks us in the 
 recital. Not one kind action was performed, not one generous 
 sentiment expressed, during the whole of his trial. He seemed to 
 be interdicted from the common rights, even of those who were 
 destined to public execution. The sanhedrim forgot their ma- 
 jesty, and the high priest his dignity, when Jesus of Nazareth 
 stood before them — forgot themselves so far as to permit vulgar 
 insolence to inflict personal violence upon their prisoner without 
 provocation, and in circumstances which entitled him to protection. 
 On an interrogation about " his disciples and his doctrine," Jesus 
 referred the high priest to those who had attended his ministry ; 
 and a more fair or respectful reference could not have been required. 
 The only notice taken of it, was a blow from " one of the officers 
 who stood by," with a question after the blow, " Answerest thou 
 
270 SERMON XII. 
 
 the hisch priest, so?" Jesus, who knew perfectly well what was 
 due to a court of justice, and those who were arraigned before it, 
 meekly replied, " If I have spoken evil, bear witness of the eTil : 
 but if well, why smitest thou roe?" 
 
 I have chosen to discourse on these words, because they convey 
 a general instruction, both to the official witnesses for truth, and 
 to those who hear their testimony. The one are taught to deliver 
 their message firmly and courageously; and the other to refrain 
 from hasty and especially from passionate judgments. 
 
 I. The duty of official witnesses to the truth. It is to speak 
 well. And my first remark is, 
 
 1. That they have a high and responsible duty to perform, which 
 cannot be slighted or evaded. 
 
 God is carrying on in our world the most important design that 
 he was ever pleased to unfold to the contemplation of the universe, 
 the manifestation of his own glory in the salvation of sinful men, 
 A salvation in which his only begotten Son, our Lord Jesus Christ, 
 acts the principal part, and forms the great point of re-union both 
 to his own infinite perfections, and the adoration of all holy beings 
 in his empire. Is is the object of their study, and the theme of 
 their praise. The minutest portion of its development, such as 
 the repentance of one sinner, puts all heaven in commotion, and 
 creates a new allotment of the services of those who are destined 
 to be mini-tering spirits. The visible execution of this design he 
 has seen proper to commit to the hands of men — men of like pas- 
 sions with others — involved in the same ruin, redeemed by the 
 same means, and heirs of the same inheritance, with all those who 
 shall sec the King in his beauty. The treasure is indeed put into 
 earthen vessels, that the excellency of the power may be of God. 
 Hut though they are earthen vessels, made of dust and returning 
 to the dust, they are raised to the dignity of " fellow-workers with 
 God." They have his commission in their hands — his promises to 
 animate, and his Spirit to help them. Who that rightly considers 
 the employment would not tremble to undertake it? Who that 
 undertakes it. with a due sense of his own insufficiency, and an 
 humble trust in the support of that God whose he is and whom he 
 serves, will not fed himself infinitely above the fears, the favours, 
 the frowns, the applauses, of fellow-worms, and all the petty calcu- 
 
MIJTCSTERIAL FIDELITY. 271 
 
 lations which find a place in the minds of those who can stoop to 
 be the servants of men ? 
 
 Commensurate with this mighty trust is the responsibility at- 
 tached to it. Life for life, blood for blood, in the case of all who 
 perish through carelessness or unfaithfulness, is a terrible alterna- 
 tive ; but yet that to which the ministers of God are subjected. 
 " Son of man," is the divine mandate to Ezekiel, " Son of man, I 
 have made thee a watchman unto the house of Israel : therefore 
 hear the word at my mouth, and give them warning from me. 
 When I say unto the wicked, Thou shalt surely die ; and thou 
 givest him not warning, nor speakest to warn the wicked man from 
 his wicked way, to save his life ; the same wicked man shall die in 
 his iniquity ; but his blood will I require at thy hand." There is, 
 you perceive, no room left for discretion. The man has a message 
 to deliver, and it must be delivered, as it was given to him, on the 
 peril of his soul. God has taken the issue of his truth into his 
 own hands ; how it shall be received, and what the end shall be, 
 is not for us to inquire. The aids of human prudence, and all the 
 expedients of human wisdom, are but the efforts of human imper- 
 tinence to direct his infinite wisdom, or to assist his almighty 
 power. We have but one concern to mind, and that is, that we 
 be found faithful. Now as all God's messages to sinful men are 
 messages of the Infinite Sovereign to his deluded subjects, who 
 have revolted far away from their allegiance, my next remark is, 
 that 
 
 2. In discharging his duty, the minister of God will come into 
 habitual collision with the predilection, the opinions, the habits of 
 many who hear him. 
 
 It seems to be an established point with some who profess 
 Christianity, that they have a right to entertain and publish what 
 opinions they please. The first part of this proposition is, with 
 respect to human control, above contradiction. But do they not 
 often forget that the jurisdiction of divine authority spreads itself 
 as much over the province of thinking as over the province of 
 acting ? that the world of spirits is as really a part of the divine 
 government as the world of matter, only much larger, more com- 
 prehensive, and more important ? We may then ask, who gave 
 them a right to think contrary to the thoughts of God their Maker ? 
 to think what he has forbidden them to think? to cherish in their 
 
272 SERMON XII. 
 
 bosoms direct rebellion against him? and to imagine that all shall 
 pass off unnoticed ? In so far as God has revealed himself, he 
 has not only decided what is truth, i. e. what is to rule the inward 
 parts, but he has enjoined his servants to declare it. " He that 
 hath my word, let him speak my word faithfully."—" What is the 
 chaff to the wheat? saith the Lord." And as thoughts are much 
 more numerous than actions, as they are equally efficients of 
 character in the sight of God, and reach over an immense field of 
 agency, which actions can never touch, they furnish precisely the 
 ground in which truth must have her most desperate conflicts with 
 error ; and on which man feels his pride great, and his responsibility 
 little or nothing. To maintain here the truth of God, and to expose 
 every deviation from it, are among the highest of the high duties 
 which the man of God has to perform. It is here that the trans- 
 gressor is to be convinced, humbled, converted, and made to sit in 
 his right mind, clothed, and at the feet of Jesus. It is here that 
 the fidelity of those who profess to be teachers of the gospel is 
 chiefly tried ; and that the true disciple of Jesus Christ is to keep 
 his ground, unmoved, unshaken, though he stand alone, the single 
 witness for his Saviour, among a faithless and perverse generation. 
 He must encounter, as his Lord did before him, the contradiction 
 of sinners; and the worst and most obstinate of all contradictions, 
 that of philosophical sinners, who claim a bolder privilege than 
 any others to make free with the Word of God, to contradict its 
 language, to fritter away its sense, and to expunge everything 
 which does not accord with the dictates of their corrupt, and falsely 
 called, enlightened reason. 
 
 They who are the objects of evangelical instruction and remon- 
 strances, are also distinguished by their habits of transgression. 
 God commands one thing, and they practice another. The moral 
 law, in all the extent of its obligation, as a spiritual law, lies across 
 their path. They are vastly fond of moral preaching, but that is, 
 when it shuts out the salvation and the Saviour.of God's providing ; 
 when it opens to them some avenue, something which lets in a 
 glimpse of hope that they may be saved by works of righteousness 
 that they have done. And to quote the words of one who was 
 much abused for preaching the gospel of the grace of God, "0 
 that men were as fond of doing good works, as of being saved by 
 them!'' But to urge upon them such moral conduct as the law of 
 
MINISTERIAL FIDELITY 273 
 
 God requires, and the Spirit of God suggests, is at once to put. 
 them at variance with the world that lieth under the power of the 
 evil one ; is to call them to come out from among them, and be 
 separate, and touch not the unclean thing: and the promise of God 
 himself, that he will be a Father unto them, and they shall be his 
 sons and his daughters, falls lighter than a feather upon their ear. 
 It cannot be but that this contrariety between the commands of 
 God and the practices of men, must produce a strong, though very 
 possibly a smothered hostility, against the plain declarations of the 
 one, and denunciations of the other. Sinners do not love to be 
 told that the end of these things is death. They love, under a 
 Christian garb, to be soothed, and flattered, and be assured that all 
 shall be well at last. And though conscience side with the truth, 
 they will rather side with the flatterer, and agree *o count as an 
 enemy him that tells them the truth. Their feelings are like those 
 of the king of Israel, who hated Micaiah the son of Imla, because 
 he never prophesied good to him, but always evil, Micaiah" was a 
 prophet of Jehovah ; and Ahab a prince of pre-eminent wickedness 
 who sold himself to work iniquity. There was therefore no room 
 to " prophesy good to him," for there was nothing good about him ; 
 and it was the work of the prophet to " withstand him to the face." 
 The case was not much different with the apostle of the Gentiles. 
 For a while the Gentile converts were enthusiastically attached to 
 Paul. "They received him as an angel of God, even as Christ 
 Jesus." So great was their affection, that " if it had been possible, 
 they would have plucked out their own eyes, and have given them 
 to him. But after false and smooth-tongued teachers had crept in 
 among them, and had gained their ear, all this blessedness disap- 
 peared : and the faithful apostle was suspected, traduced, treated 
 as an enemy. It is doubtless no easy matter to declare the whole 
 counsel of God when your doctrine must sear, and scathe, at cveiy 
 step, men highly useful in the community, men of amiable and 
 generous tempers, men with whom you are in the habit of personal 
 intimac}', and who may be in many respects your kindest and most 
 valuable friends. I speak not of invidious personalities, nor of 
 discourses so constructed as to be aimed at individuals; than which 
 nothing can be more mean and cowardly, nor more unworthy of a 
 minister of the cross. But in stating and urging general truths, 
 in describing characters as they appear in real life, and of which 
 
274 SEEM ON XII. 
 
 the originals meet you by thousands in every crowd, principles, 
 affections, habits, must be touched in a manner that will be very 
 Bore to some, and those whom you think not, in every assembly 
 that can be collected. And the more plainly and faithfully you 
 perform your duty, the more frequently will this recur. But blows 
 often repeated, however unintentionally as to the individuals, excite 
 first pain, next irritation, and then alienation. It is not in human 
 nature, where the conscience has not become callous, and is not 
 driven to Jesus Christ, to endure patiently those flagellations which 
 ii is the business of truth to inflict upon every form of error and ill 
 conduct. Even zealous friendship at length gives way, and is 
 succeeded by dislike, if not by hatred. These things are exceedingly 
 distressing, especially to minds of a softer mould : and they beset 
 ;i man with more dangerous snares than can be laid by open 
 hostility. The appeals which they make to kindness, to tenderness, 
 to gratitude, though altogether misplaced, will go much farther 
 to stagger resolution, and to undermine fidelity, than the most 
 vehement direct attacks. Against an avowed adversary, it is 
 comparatively easy to hold your position. The mind braces itself 
 up, and the very principle of resistance furnishes both resource and 
 energy. But against the gentle, the friendly, the humane, it is 
 very hard to keep up a warfare, and very natural to relax what 
 may be thought the harder features of truth. Yet this must be 
 done: done steadily, done without respect of persons, by him who, 
 in the language of the text, " speaks well." His anxiety must be, 
 and is, not to commend himself to men's notions, to their prejudices, 
 to their wishes, but to their " consciences in the sight of God;" 
 and to acquit himself, not as one that pleaseth men, but God who 
 cheth the hearts. Infinitely more valuable in his eyes, than 
 all the applauses of perishing judges, is his ability to say to his 
 is. tk I take you to witness, that I am pure from the blood of 
 all nien.'' And more deep and lasting is the respect given to such 
 a declaration, backed by the testimony of conscience, than by the 
 loudest peals of popular applause. 
 
 Such is the duty and such the present recompense of them who 
 "■ speak well." Lei us now turn to the 
 
 U. Point of consideration, the duty of those who hear, to refrain 
 rom hasty and intemperate judgments. "If 1 have spoken evil. 
 1,1 '■■"■ • ; the e\ il : but if well, why smitest thou me ?" 
 
MINISTERIAL FIDELITY. 275 
 
 The earth scarcely furnishes a more interesting spectacle than 
 an assemblage of sinful men met together in the presence and for 
 the purpose of worshipping God. The glorious majesty of their 
 King — the contrast between his infinite holiness and their un- 
 worthiness — his wonderful condescension in treating with them at 
 all — the nature of their employment in the house of prayer — the 
 homage which they are to render to him as the universal Sovereign 
 — their sins to be confessed — their complaints to be poured out 
 before him ; their wants, their weaknesses, their perils, to be spread 
 before his gracious notice — that exhibition of his doctrine — that 
 correction of their errors — those rebukes for their faults; that 
 instruction in righteousness for which his AVord is profitable and is 
 intended to convey ; the tremendous consequences which hang upon 
 them ; what calmness, what tenderness, what a subdued spirit, 
 what candour, what docility, do they not require and imply? 
 Surely we have a right to expect a disposition like that of the 
 centurion's friends, when Peter as a minister of grace visited them. 
 " Now therefore we are all here present before God, to hear all 
 things that are commanded thee of God." 
 
 But the depravity of men abusing their great privileges, the 
 frequent recurrence of divine worship, has perverted this majestic 
 scene to quite other ends, has almost driven the thought of God 
 out of their minds, and to account the assembling of themselves 
 together to be little else than a means of their own gratification. 
 To entering within themselves and there instituting a fair self- 
 examination they are utter strangers ; but are either fond admirers, 
 or listless hearers, or fastidious critics and imperious judges. Yet 
 every one expects that his particular humour shall be pleased. 
 The consequence is exactly what might have been anticipated. No 
 man who intends to be faithful, can possibly perform an exercise- 
 without displeasing somebody. 
 
 When the pulpit arraigns prevailing sin, calls it by its own name, 
 and points the divine denunciations against it, some, whom the 
 remarks of the preacher happen to strike, immediately take fire. 
 They cannot deny the truth, but think "there was no necessity for 
 being so particular." They even imagine that he must have 
 received some information concerning them, and that he has been 
 exposing them to the whole congregation. 1 he affair becomes 
 personal ; the hearer is not profited, and the preacher is abused. 
 
276 SERMON XII. 
 
 In the meantime he was perfectly innocent of the design imputed 
 to him, and his angry auditor does not suspect or wish to conceal 
 the fact that the supposed informer has never been out of his own 
 bosom. And although, "in drawing his bow at a venture," the 
 Bpeaker may not exactly hit an individual, yet his shaft may fly 
 farther, and do severe execution among a class, whom some present 
 reckon among their friends ; and forthwith the feelings of friendship 
 are kindled, and a man deems it necessary to be highly indignant 
 because his friends are touched. Their offences may be very 
 flagrant, the general description very just, and the censure indis- 
 putably scriptural, yet the zeal of friendship cannot be satisfied 
 without lighting, if possible, a fire of high, flaming resentment. 
 against the preacher. It is indeed setting a high value upon his 
 friendship to suppose that it shall stop the mouth of truth, and 
 en the most notorious sinners from reprehension, because they 
 are his friends. If he could arrest the arm of Justice, and protect 
 them from the notice and curse of his Maker, his jealousy would 
 be of some moment. Till then it is as foolish as it is impotent. 
 
 Sometimes sins of great atrocity in civil transactions become 
 very frequent in the community, and from the numbers who are 
 involved in them, are scarcely thought to be a reproach. Their 
 turpitude is merged in their frequency, and men begin to think they 
 may sin with impunity, when they can sin without disgrace. If 
 then a minister of the gospel lay hold of these fashionable trans- 
 gressors; If he bring them to the bar of God, and show them that 
 in his sight numbers are no apology for crime, and from his hand 
 cannot effect an escape ; if he dispute the Christianity of all who, 
 under whatever pretext, live in the commission of deeds which they 
 know to be contrary to the commandments of God, and insist that 
 they must be new men in heart, and lead lives of new obedience, 
 b lore they can make the least claim to the possession of eternal 
 life, why then the provocation assumes a different shape. They 
 who smart under the fair application of the rod, discover that the 
 preacher has travelled out of the limits of his commission ; that he 
 injures himself and his cause by meddling with things which do 
 not belong to him; "Let him," is their practical language, "let 
 him online himself to the doctrines and duties of Christianity, 
 and not thrust himself into concerns which are out of his sphere, 
 •Ad where nobody thanks him for his intrusion." What storms of 
 
MINISTERIAL FIDELITY. 277 
 
 wrath have men excited in this way, when, for example, they have 
 ventured to touch the sinful party politics of the day, or to bring 
 the power of truth to bear upon a favourite political sinner ! How 
 impatient is a party-man under the rebuke of his iniquities ! How 
 strenuously does he argue against the impertinence of Christianity 
 interposing to check his most flagrant transgressions, or even 
 against the divine law itself undertaking to control his excesses, 
 and to dictate his moral course ! Of all this you are yourselves 
 sufficient witnesses. 
 
 On the other hand, when a man teaches boldly the doctrines of 
 the Gospel; when he presses them home upon the conscience ; 
 when he exposes to just detestation those " damnable heresies '' 
 which subvert the whole "gospel of the grace of God," and people 
 the regions of despair with the victims of their seduction, how loud 
 is the cry against his "bigotry," his " uncharitableness," his " un- 
 christian temper," his " pride," his " ferocity," his " damning 
 spirit," and the other amiable attributes in which rational Christi- 
 anity is ever ready to array him. 
 
 All these forms of treating the minister of religion are very 
 common, and they fall to his lot nearly in proportion to his honesty. 
 And what are they but " smiting " him for " speaking " well ? 
 He has set men at variance with their own conscience, and they 
 try to make themselves amends by reviling him, and casting out 
 his name as evil. But the facts remain as they are. Doctrines of 
 devils will be doctrines of devils still, though all the friends and 
 servants of the devil fret and rave. Sinful habits will be sinful 
 habits still, and as much exposed to the righteous judgment of 
 God, though a whole world of sinners conspire to excuse them and 
 to uphold one another, and rend the air with their clamours against 
 him that reproveth in the gate. God's holy truth is still his holy 
 truth, though it be rejected and scorned by the wretched unbelievers 
 whom it was revealed to save, and involves as terrible a responsi- 
 bility on their part. Considering these things, the hearers of the 
 gospel are not to form rash and hasty judgments. It is unwise, 
 unfair, and may be ruinous. When their consciences get a prick 
 — when their notions or opinions are condemned— when their 
 practices are severely arraigned, they are not forthwith to fly into a 
 passion, to flout at the preachers doctrine, to resent it as a personal 
 insult, and to heap injurious epithets upon him. This refutes 
 
278 SERMON XII. 
 
 nothing, establishes nothing but your own unreasonableness and 
 obstinacy. If you think that he " has spoken evil," the Lord Jesus 
 ( Ihrist has prescribed the proper course, " Bear witness of the evil." 
 The AVord of God is the universal and infallible standard of truth, 
 by which every opinion, principle, and practice, must be tried; and 
 according to which it must stand or fall. The testimony by which 
 yon are to show that a preacher of righteousness has spoken evil, 
 is the contrariety of his doctrine to the divine word. Bring his 
 declarations most freely to this ordeal. Lay your finger upon any 
 part of what God is pleased to teach, and demonstrate to the 
 preacher, and to all the world if you please, that he has contra- 
 dicted the teachings of inspiration. When you shall have proved 
 that he has not spoken " as becometh the oracles of God," you will 
 convict him, to some purpose, of having " spoken evil." You will 
 be yourselves more established in the faith of the gospel ; you will 
 edify your brethren ; will do good service to the Christian cause ; 
 will bid fair to correct the mistake of the man himself, leading him 
 to sounder views, promoting his own growth in grace, and subserv- 
 ing his usefulness in the church of God. I submit to yourselves, 
 my brethren, a much more rational, dignified, honourable, and 
 profitable proceeding, than the common method of growing angry, 
 and indulging in ill-natured and bitter remarks. You may possibly 
 discover that what you reject as false or resent as improper, may 
 turn out, upon investigation, to be the very truth of God. And 
 you may have been all the while revenging a supposed affront upon 
 your Maker himself. And this may draw after it serious conse- 
 quences to your everlasting welfare. For you must remember 
 that when the preacher has laid before you the truth of God, he 
 has delivered his message ; and he has delivered his soul. Not a 
 drop of your blood shall be found in his skirts, in that day of 
 reckoning. The moment he has done, responsibility ceases with 
 him, and it passes over to you. Take heed, then/ that in your 
 displeasure against him, you be not found fighting against God. 
 I would recommend the same course to you, when you happen to 
 be much pleased. Do not take it for granted that everything 
 eable is therefore safe. Apply the touch-stone; ask your 
 counsel at the mouth of the Lord as he has spoken in your Bible. 
 dventure this pleasing thing may be only the craft and sleight 
 of deceivers. You may have been drinking poison for the pure 
 
MINISTERIAL FIDELITY. 271) 
 
 water of tlie river of life ; and may correct your error in time to 
 save your own soul, and to testify against the evil speech and the 
 evil speaker. 
 
 In the next place, sit down and commune with your own heart, 
 open your eyes upon the scenes that are passing around you : and 
 inquire whether that with which you are disgusted may not only 
 be true, but seasonable truth. 
 
 It is freely conceded, that there may be much unprofitable 
 preaching where there is no error. Every syllable may be scrip- 
 tural truth, and yet the effect be positively bad. Truth it is, but 
 not the truth suited to the time and place. It is pitiable to think 
 of the mischiefs which proceed from the want of a little ministerial 
 prudence. But these are cases which excite contempt rather than 
 animosity. They lower respect for a man's understanding, and 
 seldom expose him to hatred and reproach. What mankind per- 
 ceive to be absurd, they generally account harmless. But it is 
 different where they are vexed, and show themselves to feel very 
 sore. It is truth ; the refuting or condemning present error ; re- 
 proving some present sin; detecting some gross self-deception; re- 
 proving some lawless affection ; making men feel criminal while 
 they resolve to adhere to their crimes that rouse the malevolent 
 tempers. Their consciences are disturbed, while their lusts are 
 exposed ; and they endeavour to pacify the one and to screen the 
 other, by quarrelling with the doctrine, or the preacher who has 
 been unceremonious enough to interrupt their repose, or embitter 
 their gratifications. When the fire of divine truth has been well 
 directed, it is the wounded that cry out. As surely as there is any 
 tender spot, any vulnerable point, they who are conscious of its 
 being theirs, shrink and wince, as the surgeon-touch approaches 
 the disordered place, and he begins to apply the medical knife. So 
 then it may and often does happen, that the doctrine which gives 
 most pain, and causes most displeasure, to some hearers, is not 
 only truth, but the very truth which the occasion calls for. The 
 preacher would have been faithless had he concealed it or softened 
 it down. He might have pleased a part of his audience, and have 
 fallen at the same moment under the displeasure of God. And 
 while lie was puffed up with the praises of his fellow-worms, he 
 might for the same deed, be transfixed with the spear of the Al- 
 mighty. Nay, my friends, we cannot afford to purchase your 
 
•280 SEEMON XII. 
 
 favour upon such terms — the price is too enormous. Our souls are 
 infinitely too precious to be so wantonly and so cheaply thrown 
 u way. 
 
 Before then any of you begin to smite the man who has discom- 
 posed you, seriously inquire whether his stroke was not only well- 
 deserved, but well-timed. He may have been doing nothing but 
 his duty: may have been performing a work of real benevolence, 
 of Christian chanty, towards you : resembling the skilful physician, 
 who, disregarding the cries, the threats, or the anguish of his 
 patient, is intent upon one thing, performing his operation well. 
 remember that the wounds of a friend are faithful, but the kisses 
 of an enemy deceitful. That he wounds you for your good; such 
 smiting will not break your head: it will rather be a precious oil, 
 both healing by its virtue, and refreshing by its fragrance. 
 
 I may, in drawing to a close, be permitted to remark, 
 
 1. That a spirit of criticism, especially of captious criticism, is 
 one of the worst possible frames of mind in which a hearer of the 
 gospel can place himself. God is dishonoured, his awful majesty 
 affronted, his truth accounted suspicious, the soul is not edified, the 
 church not unfrequently scandalized, her most faithful ministers 
 persecuted, by its prevalence. One would be almost tempted to 
 imagine that some persons attend the church as a very convenient 
 place for getting angry, Like restive steeds who are always on 
 the look-out for something to be frightened at, they seem to be 
 constantly on the watch for something which may discompose and 
 irritate them. If there be any such present, let me affection ately 
 warn them that they are themselves the greatest enemies of their 
 own salvation. The gospel has done and is doing them no good : 
 the Sabbath is employed to draw tighter around them the cords 
 of their spiritual bondage; and the great means which God 
 has provided for breaking their thraldom and setting them at 
 liberty, are rendered fruitless by their own fault. How much 
 better to take your seats in his house, humbly, reverentially, dis- 
 posed to submit the pride of your heart and your understanding to 
 his high authority, inquiring "what the Lord saith unto his ser- 
 vants." This is the way of waiting at wisdom's doors, and in 
 which you may expect to receive blessings from the Lord, and 
 righteousness from the God of your salvation. 
 
 2. How little reason ministers of the gospel have to shrink from 
 
MINISTERIAL FIDELITY. 281 
 
 the duty in order to avoid the rash and passionate judgments of 
 their hearers. 
 
 Like Paul, they are to declare as far as they know it, the whole 
 counsel of God ; if, like him, they hope to be pure from the blood 
 of all men. Their only concern in this matter is to see that they 
 speak the truth of God, and speak it seasonably, and properly : 
 about all the rest, as regards themselves, they are to be perfectly 
 indifferent. They have spoken well; and the gainsaying, and 
 abuse, and slander, of men of corrupt minds, reprobate concerning 
 the faith, ought to be, in their eyes, lighter than vanity. It is a 
 small thing, says faithful Paul, for me to be judged of you, or of 
 man's judgment; he that judgeth me is the Lord Of all his hasty 
 critics who cannot endure sound doctrine, there is not one who will 
 take our Lord's advice, and " bear witness of the evil." Well, 
 then, let them pursue their own course. They have done with the 
 minister, when he, as a man of God, has finished his message. 
 But they have not done with the consequences of his ministration. 
 The question is now between God and their souls, and an awful 
 question it is ; as they will find it to be when he shall summon 
 them to his bar, and deal with them in righteousness ; when all the 
 small excuses which pass current on earth, will be utterly annihi- 
 lated, for slighting and rebelling against his living oracles. When 
 they shall call in vain to the rocks and mountains to hide them 
 from the face of Him that sitteth upon the throne, and the rocks 
 and mountains shall flee away and leave them naked to his eye, 
 then shall the preacher of righteousness lift up his head with joy, 
 and have an inconceivable recompense in that approving voice and 
 those cheering words of his righteous Judge, " Well done, good and 
 faithful servant, enter thou into the joy of your Lord." 
 
SERMON XIII. 
 
 THE CHRISTIAN WARFARE. 
 
 1 TIM. vi. 2. 
 " Fight the good fight of faith." 
 
 Whoever has read the records of truth, must frequently have 
 remarked that the life of a Christian is almost always mentioned 
 in metaphorical terms. This fact is so far from being a blemish in 
 divine revelation, that it is a shining beauty in itself, and an in- 
 valuable blessing to us. We are so immersed in sense, that it is 
 impossible for us to speak without speaking more or less figuratively, 
 and equally impossible to feel the propriety of any discourse which 
 does not abound with allusions to sensible objects. Even that 
 language which we employ in expressing our thoughts on im- 
 material things, is borrowed from the material world. As this 
 disposition appears to result inevitably from the connection between 
 soul and body, and the influence which external objects have upon 
 both, it must remain while our present circumstances remain. And 
 the most honourable end to which we can direct it is to make it 
 subservient to our knowledge and experience of eternal realities. 
 We are happy in having before us an example which we may 
 ly follow, for this is the use which God himself has designed to 
 make of it. He graciously adapts himself to our frailty, and 
 addresses us in language calculated to rouse attention and animate 
 exertion. He summons all nature to our aid. He represents the 
 unties, the difficulties, the dangers, the delights of our heavenly 
 calling, by figures which tend to make the deepest impression; 
 which lend at once to chase away sloth and enkindle ardour, to 
 humble our pride and exalt his grace. He holds up our progress 
 unto his kingdom of glory under the ideas of a journey, a pilgrim- 
 a race, a wrestling, and as in our text, a warfare— a warfare 
 too of the most formidable kind— a warfare in which courage, 
 
THE CHRISTIAN WARFARE. 283 
 
 firmness, fortitude, diligence, patience, and perseverance must be 
 kept in continual and vigorous exercise. But while our Lord shows 
 us the hardships, he shows us also the advantages of his service, 
 and the means he has provided for our safety, our comfort, our 
 success. Let us, therefore, in the order which the text points out, 
 view the Christian life as a fight, as a good fight, and as the good 
 fight of faith. 
 
 I. Let us consider the Christian life as a fight. 
 
 Yes, believer, you are surrounded with foes whom you cannot 
 shun. You must vanquish them, or they will destroy you. Inaction 
 will cost you dear. Put on, then, the whole armour of God. Gird 
 yourselves for the battle. And that you may feel the necessity of 
 " quitting yourselves like men," come, let us climb the heights of 
 Zion, and reconnoitre our enemies. Skilfully are their encamp- 
 ments formed, and strongly intrenched. A triple league is com- 
 bined against you ; a league consisting of the powers of darkness, 
 the world, and the corruptions of your own hearts. 
 
 1. The powers of darkness. 
 
 Every day's experience furnishes a practical proof of the enmity 
 which subsists between the seed of the woman and the seed of the 
 serpent. Satan and his host of apostate angels, actuated by the 
 same spirit which lost them heaven and hurled them into hell, are 
 constantly and indefatigably employed in scattering misery through 
 the works, and attempting to subvert the government, of God. 
 Their rage is particularly excited against the honour of Christ and 
 the triumphs of his grace. Whenever the Holy Spirit commences 
 his saving operations in the souls of men, and the Redeemer with 
 his almighty arm shakes to its centre the kingdom of destruction, 
 all the legions of hell are roused into action. They combine their 
 joint and furious efforts to render ineffectual a work that shall 
 infallibly succeed. And though they well know this, yet so 
 implacable is their spite against the Lord Christ, that if they cannot 
 counteract the power nor arrest the progress of his grace, they will 
 exert all their strength in disturbing the peace and tormenting the 
 hearts of the objects of his love. Nor, when the soul is united to 
 the Mediator and safe for eternity, do they either lessen their malice 
 or remit their activity. The moment, therefore, that a sinner flies 
 to Jesus Christ, he proclaims war against all the fiends of darkness ; 
 
284 SERMON XIII. 
 
 and if lie once draw the sword, he must throw away the scabbard. 
 As Christ has no concord with Belial, he will not allow it in his 
 followers. They must enter into no reconciliation, no truce, no 
 parley with their enemies, but are bound, are sworn to maintain a 
 sore and perpetual conflict. That in this conflict they receive many 
 a wound, and many a fall, and are forced to utter many a groan, 
 Christians can well attest, and no wonder that this often happens, 
 for 
 
 (1.) Their adversaries are very powerful. 
 
 Intelligences of a superior order possess abilities and powers 
 considerably greater than those of an inferior nature. Unincum- 
 bered, too, with bodies, they enjoy no small advantage over those 
 whose movements are impeded by a load of gross and corruptible 
 matter. Their agency in the material worlds notorious fact proves 
 to be very astonishing. Their influence upon the persons and the 
 minds of men is neither less extensive nor less undeniable ; and did 
 not the restraining providence of God tie up their hands, we should 
 fearfully experience their strength. These reflections are supported 
 by the authority of Scripture. The devil is there compared to a 
 roaring lion — to a strong man armed — to a great dragon vomiting 
 a flood of waters. He is called the prince of the power of the air. 
 We are said to wrestle not with flesh and blood, but with princi- 
 palities and powers, and believers are commanded to put on the 
 whole armour of God. All these things indicate enemies formidable 
 and powerful. 
 
 (2.) They are not only powerful but numerous. 
 
 " My name is Legion," said the hellish tribe which had seized 
 the poor demoniac ; " my name is Legion, for we are many." 
 Think you, then, that the Christian can proceed in his way to Zion 
 without fierce opposition? Quite the reverse. He no sooner takes 
 a step in the heavenly journey, than he is attacked by a host of 
 enemies, who unite their forces in the attack. He must dispute 
 every inch of his ground till he reach his Father's house. Often 
 must he travel with a sad and heavy heart, while his foes beset 
 him on every side, and lay siege to every avenue of his soul. Ah, 
 Christian, you would soon fall a prey to their teeth, was not your 
 " help laid on One who is mighty to save." 
 
 (3.) They are as malicious as they are numerous. 
 
 It is the very essence of malignity to commit injury without the 
 
THE CHRISTIAN WARFARE. 285 
 
 smallest prospect of advantage. This is the precise case of the 
 devil and his angels. They hate the Lord Jesus, and let slip no 
 opportunity of testifying their hatred. But as they cannot mount 
 up into heaven, and vent their malice against his blessed person, 
 they endeavour to strike at himself by vexing those who bear his 
 image. Although they know that they cannot destroy the children 
 of God while their Redeemer lives, yet they do not desist. Although 
 they are sensible that they are preparing for themselves a more 
 terrible condemnation, they still persevere. Although they were 
 foiled by the Captain of salvation, and are foiled by those who fight 
 under his banners, they still renew the combat. Do not dream, 
 then, Christians, of peace, while you are on this side heaven. Your 
 adversaries will press you with the utmost virulence in every part 
 where they find you vulnerable. They showed no quarter to your 
 Lord, and they will be far from showing any to you. 
 
 (4.) In addition to their malice, they possess great knowledge 
 and equal art. 
 
 Not to mention that evil spirits are naturally capable of grasping, 
 in one view, more objects than we can imagine, the practice of 
 near six thousand years must have furnished them with a large 
 stock of experience. Veterans in rebellion against God, and trained 
 to the ruin of man, they cannot but be expert in deeds of wicked- 
 ness. The Scripture, therefore, speaks of " the depths of Satan " — 
 of " the snare of the devil" — and the apostle Paul says, "we are 
 not ignorant of his devices." They are indeed devices which are 
 neither understood nor suspected without illumination from on high. 
 Satan is well acquainted with the tempers and circumstances of 
 mankind, and can tell, often more exactly than themselves, " the 
 sin that doth most easily beset them." He accordingly adapts 
 himself to the taste of those whom he tempts, and plans his strata- 
 gems so as to render them most effectual. " Be sober," then, 
 Christians, "be vigilant," that your understandings be not blinded 
 by the craft, that your feet be not caught in the snare, of your 
 enemies ; but in all cases let your appeal for instruction be to the 
 " law and to the testimony ;" and your recourse for aid to Him, 
 who hath all power in heaven and in earth. 
 
 (5.) These adversaries of God's people are indefatigable. 
 Never was chemist more indefatigable in scrutinizing the com- 
 position and qualities of bodies, than is Satan in studying the 
 
286 SERMON XIII. 
 
 human heart. Never was an active and able general more assiduous 
 in striving to vanquish his antagonist, either by superior force or 
 by surprise, or by drawing him into an ambuscade, or by over- 
 reaching him in any other military manoeuvre, than is Satan 
 in attempting to gain the victory over the children of light. With 
 an eagle's eye he watches all their motions. If the sons of God 
 present themselves before him, Satan never fails to present himself 
 along with them. If they go to the house of prayer, Satan goes 
 too; and when he is there he is never idle, however many of the 
 hearers may be. Whence comes it to pass that such a multitude 
 of memories, which are very faithful and retentive in the affairs of 
 life, grow so very treacherous as scon as people enter a place of 
 public worship, that they can scarcely carry away a single truth 
 which concerns their eternal peace ? It is because that arch-thief 
 steals away the word from their hearts, and most of the hearers 
 permit him to steal it very quietly. Why are the minds of those 
 who truly seek the Lord often more distracted with vain, wandering, 
 blasphemous thoughts, wmile they wait upon God in his ordinances, 
 than at other times? It is because Satan is then most busy in 
 trying to keep them from contemplating the person and feeding 
 upon the fulness of their Saviour. He does not stop here. When 
 Christians retire to their secret devotions, Satan is at their heels; 
 and what chamber so close as to shut out the fiend ? If they quit 
 their solitude, and mingle with the society of their friends, Satan 
 is sure to make one of the party. Ah ! believers, you cannot suffi- 
 ciently know the importance of your Lord's command to watch, nor 
 the necessity of observing it. The devil sets his gins in every 
 spot, and if you are so happy as to avoid one that is designed for 
 you now, you cannot take the next step ere he will fix another. 
 W the good hand of God prevent you from falling into the pit, 
 which he has prepared for you here, he will speedily dig one 
 yonder. If you escape both the net and the pit, he will plant your 
 path with thorns, and render painful every step you take. One 
 would suppose that opposition like this is enough to shake the 
 most courageous faith ; but formidable as it is, it is only a part of 
 that which he has to encounter. He finds 
 
 2. A host of enemies in the world. 
 
 J5y the world, in Scripture, we are sometimes to understand the 
 men of the world, and sometimes the things of the world. In both 
 
THE CHRISTIAN WARFARE 287 
 
 these senses the world is a mortal enemy to the peace of the 
 Christian, and to his comfortable progress in the divine life. 
 
 (1.) The men of the world are decided and uniform enemies to 
 the Christian. 
 
 It is long since One who could not err told us, " In the world ye 
 shall have tribulation." His first followers experienced the truth 
 of this information in its most tremendous extent. Like their 
 brethren of old, (for the righteous have always resembled each 
 other as well in their fate as in their character,) " they had trial of 
 cruel mockings and scourgings ; yea, moreover, of bonds and 
 imprisonments. They were stoned, they were sawn asunder, were 
 tempted, were slain with the sword: they wandered about in sheep- 
 skins and goatskins, being destitute, afflicted, tormented." These, 
 and every other species of torture which malignity can invent, or 
 barbarity execute, they endured for their faithfulness to Christ and 
 his gospel. The history, too, of later ages, and men from whose 
 profession and knowledge we might have expected other conduct, 
 records many a horrid tale of the sufferings of those who held fast 
 the testimony of Jesus. 
 
 But though God, in his kind providence, has wrested from the 
 hand of persecutors the murdering sword and the blazing faggot, 
 so that his people no longer bleed on the scaffold nor fry at the 
 stake, yet we must not imagine that the carnal world and they are 
 on better terms than formerly. Since the first promise was given 
 to Adam, " He that was after the flesh has persecuted him that 
 was after the spirit," he does so yet, and will continue to do so 
 while the devil has a particle of empire upon earth. It cannot be 
 otherwise ; for the righteous and the wicked differ so widely in 
 their characters, in their motives of action, in their joys and sor- 
 rows, in their interests, in their objects, and in their prospects, that 
 an agreement between them is simply impossible. The Scripture 
 is decisive on this point. " The carnal mind," says Paul, " is 
 enmity against God," and, therefore, cannot love anything that 
 looks like him. The case of some whom Christ calls to follow him 
 exactly tallies with the case of Abraham. How often has it hap- 
 pened that God singles out from a graceless family one of its 
 members to be an heir of eternal life. He speaks in the powerful 
 application of his word " Get thee out from thy country, and from 
 thy kindred, and from thy father's house." But mark the conse- 
 
288 SERMON XIII. 
 
 quence. No sooner does the Holy Spirit arrest the attention of 
 this chosen vessel, embitter to him the pleasures of sin, and excite 
 -» serious concern for his immortal soul, than his impious relatives 
 use every exertion to stifle in their birth those blessed convictions, 
 which they affect to esteem a disease or a madness. Authority, 
 entreaty, stratagem, threats, are alternately employed. Every 
 principle of human action is artfully plied with arguments calcu- 
 lated to make the deepest impression; and nothing is omitted 
 which promises either to soothe or frighten the soul from Christ. 
 They who have been thus tried know it to be a sore persecution. 
 But they are not alone. All who profess Christ must be perse- 
 cuted in some shape or other; for they "who will live godly in 
 Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution." In no age have they been 
 exempted. But to some will appear unaccountably strange what 
 I am going to assert, that, notwithstanding the high panegyrics 
 which we constantly hear on the rapid progress that mankind are 
 making in a noble and happy liberality in religious sentiment, 
 there never has been, since the expulsion of Adam from paradise, 
 a period in which a certain species at least of persecution was 
 exercised, with more bitterness and rancour against the people of 
 God, than at this moment. Many, indeed, will swell with indig- 
 nation at what they may deem a groundless calumny, and exclaim, is 
 it possible that the fair character of our polite, our liberal, our philo- 
 sophic day, is stained with persecution? You may startle, but it 
 is a truth; and the most noisy pretenders to enlightened philosophy 
 are the most active in the unworthy pursuit. What is their boasted 
 liberality? If a judgment might be formed from their conduct, 
 one would imagine that it consists in freedom from the influence of 
 principle and the restraints of decency. Look around you. Is it 
 not a fact that everything serious and sacred is ridiculed with the 
 most shameless effrontery by multitudes of those who affect to be 
 the geuteeler world? Is it not a fact that the doctrines of God's 
 holy Word arc the mirth of the licentious, and that they who wish 
 to regulate their hearts and lives by its salutary precepts become 
 the mockery of the profane? Nay, is not the infection so general 
 and so deep, that even the young, whose purest happiness and 
 most exalted honour lie in consecrating their powers to the Lord 
 Jesus, are so ashamed of their glory, so glory in their shame, as to 
 commence their career of liberal philosophy by opening their 
 
THE CHRISTIAN WARFARE 289 
 
 mouths against the heavens? If any begin to " remember their 
 Creator in the days of their youth," and are not willing to go to 
 hell with the crowd, what do their gay acquaintances think and 
 say of them? They laugh at and despise them as poor, weak, 
 melancholy, crazy fools. Yes, young Christians, you in particular 
 must expect to be the scoff of impiety ; you must endure the mor- 
 tification to be branded with the opprobrious epithets of madmen, 
 enthusiasts, hypocrites, and the like ; nay, to " be the song of the 
 drunkard." I know you will find it hard to bear ; you will feel the 
 force of the psalmist's petition to be kept from the strife of tongues. 
 But be not disheartened, young believer, your Lord met with no 
 better treatment ; and " if they have called the Master of the house 
 Beelzebub, how much more they of his household ?" Oh ! see that 
 you add not to the number of those unhappy mortals, who, though 
 they gave their names to Christ, can hear him reviled, and never 
 utter a syllable for his honour ; who shrink at the sneer of malice ; 
 whose faith is blown away by the breath of profanity : who barter 
 their souls and heaven for a jest. 
 
 But the Christian's danger does not arise from those only who 
 are open infidels. His graceless connections, who are more sober 
 in their principles, and more decent in their practice, are no con- 
 temptible snare, A pleasant temper and engaging manners, 
 especially if joined with polished education, with opulence and 
 honours, steal upon the affections, throw the heart off its guard, 
 and not only render it liable to be surprised by other temptations, 
 but insensibly draw it into forbidden paths. This enemy to your 
 peace advances under a form so sweet and smiling, that it is hardly 
 possible either to suspect her treachery or resist her persuasions. 
 Here you have need of continued watchfulness, great self-denial, 
 much of that wisdom which cometh from above, and unfailing- 
 supplies of strength from Christ your head. 
 
 2. The Christian is not only opposed by the men, he is tram- 
 melled also bv the things of the world. 
 
 Immersed in sense, and imperfect in his graces, the most expe- 
 rienced saint requires to b3 often reminded that here he bas no 
 continuing city, but is a pilgrim and a stranger. We are more 
 prone 10 nothing than to misplace our blessings. When God 
 showers down upon us the bounties of his providence, we too fre- 
 quently give them that affection which belongs exclusively to the 
 
290 SERMON XIII. 
 
 Lord Christ. Every new comfort is apt to twist a new cord round 
 our hearts; and they tie themselves so firmly that nothing but 
 almighty grace can loosen the knot. Divine is the lesson, and 
 they alone who are divinely taught will practise it, to abound in 
 this world's goods, and yet to set their affections on things above. 
 Far different is the effect which prosperity has on the multitude of 
 those who enjoy it. It is recorded of Israel, that when the Lord 
 " slow them then they sought him." But no sooner did he visit them 
 with peace and plenty, than " Jeshurun waxed fat and kicked." In- 
 stead of raising higher his hymn of gratitude, he u tempted and 
 provoked the most high God, and turned aside like a deceitful 
 bow." Prosperity has detected many a rotten professor; and it 
 becomes the affluent not to forget what our Lord has said of the 
 deceitfulness of riches, especially since he has so solemnly declared 
 that "it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle, 
 than for a ricli man," or as he himself explains it, " them who trust 
 in riches, to enter into the kingdom of heaven." Often do we see 
 his curse fearfully verified. " Woe unto you, ye rich, for ye have 
 received your consolation." Mistake me not, brethren. I mean 
 not to rail against wealth as a thing evil in itself, nor to insinuate 
 that the enjoyment of it is a crime. All the creatures of God are 
 good ; and if he has distinguished you by opening his liberal hand 
 and poured plenty into your dwellings, these gifts of his bounty 
 are to be received with thankfulness and improved with care. But 
 that they expose you to dangerous temptations, that they have 
 actually proved a fatal snare to many, you must acknowledge ; and 
 if you belong to Christ, it will not be difficult to convince you that 
 you need more watchfulness and more grace than others, and that 
 there is much necessity for this divine caution, " If riches increase, 
 sot not your hearts upon them." 
 
 The same may be said of the honours of the world. Hurried 
 with the business of office, surrounded by the irreligious, and flat- 
 tered by the obsequiousness of those who court their favour, men 
 of high station are in circumstances very unfavourable to warm 
 and humble piety. And although it may be thought superfluous to 
 enlarge on this topic, as there appear to be but few of the Lord's 
 people who fill places of earthly dignity and power, yet it is not 
 superfluous to entreat them to guard against an anxiety for a situ- 
 ation that will lay them open to the hazard of many sinful com- 
 
THE CHRISTIAN WARFARE. 291 
 
 pliances — that will cool their ardour in pressing forward toward 
 the mark, the prize of their high-calling in Christ Jesus — and be 
 to them hereafter a fruitful source of bitter regret. Whilst the old 
 leaven remains, they will sometimes feel the workings of a temper 
 which a loves the praise of men more than the praise of God ;" and 
 as they are required to " run with patience the race set before 
 them," they should listen to the voice from heaven, commanding 
 them " to lay aside every weight," and not incur the guilt of dis- 
 obedience by tying new ones about their necks 
 
 If riches — if honours are hostile to the travellers who are march- 
 ing to Zion, surely carnal pleasure cannot be their friend. The 
 desire of ease and sensual gratification is so interwoven with man's 
 present frame, that he seldom makes a resistance so feeble and in- 
 effectual as when attacked in this quarter. Never does he commit 
 such egregious blunders, as when he undertakes to value the en- 
 joyments of sense. Viewing objects through a false and jaundiced 
 medium, he must inevitably pronounce a false and pernicious 
 judgment; whilst unhallowed propensities giving him frequently 
 no time for reasoning or reflection, urge him into rash and destruc- 
 tive actions. We cannot advance far in the ways of Christ, with- 
 out knowing the painful struggle which is necessary to withstand 
 the allurements of pleasure. Let those who profess the religion of 
 Jesus fix it in their minds as a most important truth, that we must 
 employ continued vigilance and prayer if we would escape her en- 
 tanglements. To those particularly who are in the bloom of life I 
 address myself, Flee from her blandishments. Her cords are 
 silken, but they are strong, and draw to ruin. Taste not the mix- 
 ture of her cup ; 'tis sweet, indeed, but fraught with death. Trust 
 not her innocent and enchanting appearance : it is the cloak of 
 treachery ; and whilst you listen to her syren tongue, and are fas- 
 cinated with her bewitching smiles, she is aiming at your bosoms 
 a mortal blow. 
 
 What think you now, brethren, of the Christian life ? Is it not 
 a life of toil, of hardships, of peril ? Is the representation now 
 given of it widely different from that which your experience has 
 realized? Has the profession of the gospel cost you no lightings, 
 no fears, no trouble ? Then, brethren, deceive not yourselves, you 
 have serious reason to doubt your relation to the Lord Jesus ; and 
 this alarming id.a will be confirmed when I tell you that you have 
 
292 SERMON XIII. 
 
 not yet heard the whole of those trials which fall to the lot of a be- 
 liever. He finds a 
 
 Third class of terrible enemies in the corruptions of his own 
 heart 
 
 A Christian is a singular phenomenon— he has within him two 
 moral principles directly contrary to each other, both in their na- 
 ture and in their operations. They must, therefore, and do keep 
 up an unceasing conflict. " The flesh," says Paul, " lusteth against 
 the spirit, and the spirit against the flesh, and these two are con- 
 trary the one to the other, so that ye cannot do the things that ye 
 would." On this text, the daily experience of God's people is the 
 best commentator. Every rising and setting sun furnishes them 
 with some new proof, that though implanted grace, when succoured 
 from on high, overcomes, it cannot extirpate corruption. Their 
 old man is indeed crucified, but he still lives. He is dying, 'tis 
 true, but he dies a lingering death ; and, in struggling for life, he 
 will make many violent exertions before he expires. Followers of 
 Jesus, you can easily enter into my meaning. However the 
 apostle's language may have puzzled speculative men who de- 
 cided concerning their own hearts, you comprehend him without 
 difficulty when he. says, " I see another law in my members, war- 
 ring against the law of my mind, and bringing me into captivity 
 to the law of sin and death which is in my members." You know 
 the truth of that humiliating declaration : " The heart of man is 
 deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked." You know 
 what it is to groan under the workings of pride, ingratitude, in- 
 sensibility, impurity, unbelief, and all the other evil affections 
 which are expressed by the term of indwelling sin. You know 
 that there is in your souls, notwithstanding all the goodness and 
 ;ill the love of your Redeemer, such a propensity to depart from 
 the living God, that were not the everlasting arms continually un- 
 derneath you, your feet would soon slide into the paths, would sink 
 m the mire, of the grossest sin. Distressing situation ! To be sur- 
 rounded with foes thirsting for our blood is painful enough, but to 
 harbour in our own bosoms traitors who are leagued with these 
 foes, is beyond measure afflicting. How sweetly and serenely 
 would the Christian's days glide on were it not for the power of 
 inward corruptions. These are the combustible materials which 
 the fiery darts of the devil kindle into a blaze. Since the fall none 
 
THE CHRISTIAN WARFARE. 293 
 
 except our blessed Lord was ever without them Him, it is true, 
 Satan tempted and the world allured. But the world allured, and 
 Satan tempted, in vain. Happily for us, he could say, " The prince 
 of this world cometh and hath nothing in me." 
 
 After the view which we have taken of the Christian's danger, 
 one who has never tasted the consolations of the gospel will be 
 ready to ask, " Where, then, is the blessedness of which you 
 speak ? If such are the enemies, such the snares, such the sor 
 rows of those who are travelling to Zion, what do you mean by 
 telling us, that wisdom's ways are ways of pleasantness, and all 
 her paths peace?" This objection will be fully obviated when we 
 come to consider the other parts of our subject in a subsequent 
 discourse. In the meantime, your attention is called to the prac- 
 tical improvement of the doctrine which has been exhibited. 
 
 1. Are the powers of darkness, the world, and the natural 
 principles of the heart, combined to oppose the Christian's growth 
 in grace, and prevent his arrival at heaven? Let us hence learn 
 the " viieness of sin." Obedience to the law, and resemblance to 
 God, are at once the happiness and the glory of rational creatures. 
 All created intelligences came from the hand of God, shining in 
 beauty, and perfect in bliss. Love to their kind benefactor was 
 their highest principle, and their love to everything else was pro- 
 portioned to the likeness which it bore to their heavenly Father. 
 This is still their duty, and would be their temper, had there not 
 been a dreadful revolution in the moral world. How inexpressibly 
 hateful must that be which is diametrically opposed to holiness, 
 and justice, and goodness, and truth, and every perfection of Deity ! 
 How inexpressibly hateful must that be, which prompts a reason- 
 able being to cherish malignity against the God in whom he lives, 
 and moves, and breathes ! How can one show greater malignity 
 against a parent, than by venting spite against his children for his 
 sake ? How can one give a more pointed proof of enmity against 
 God than by tormenting his ransomed ones ? It is because they 
 resemble him, that men and devils view them with a malicious eye : 
 and the more they resemble him. the more furiously will the malice 
 of their enemies be exerted. Now what has introduced this hor- 
 rible confusion ? What has thus defaced the beauty of God's 
 creation ? What has reversed the lovely order which originally 
 
294 SERMON XIII. 
 
 prevailed ? It is nothing but sin ! And shall we think it a trifle ? 
 " do not that abominable thing which I hate," says Jehovah : 
 and shall any of us indulge ourselves in the commission of it ? Ye 
 " who make a mock of sin," pause, reflect, tremble ! It made the 
 devil ; it kindled hell ; and unless your opinions respecting it be 
 essentially altered, it will plunge you into that lake of fire, and 
 keep you there for ever. 
 
 2. Let us remark the plain manner in which God deals with 
 men. He calls us to his service, but tells us at the same time, that 
 he calls us to suffering. li If any man," says the Saviour, " if any 
 nan will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross 
 daily and follow me." He promises to his faithful followers a rich 
 inheritance in the heavenly Canaan : he promises them also supplies 
 of grace from his abundant fulness to maintain them while they 
 are here : but he informs them likewise that the path to glory lies 
 through difficulty and danger. He holds up to their hope an un- 
 fading crown ; but he lets them know that it is the crown of victory, 
 and therefore that they must fight for it. Whatever then be the 
 hardships which distress them, they cannot reproach their Lord 
 with deceiving them. Ere they advance a step towards the New 
 Jerusalem, he shows them without disguise what they must expect, 
 and thus addresses them : " Behold ! I have told you before ! " 
 Far different is the manner in which the devil treats his servants. 
 He promises them pleasure and profit, but says not that he neither 
 intends nor is able to perform his word : nor that Almighty God 
 may blast in a moment their most flattering prospects. He presents 
 the rose but he covers the thorn— he strews their way with flowers, 
 but never hints that it leads to the bottomless pit. Deluded men ! 
 who listen to his suggestions. Recollect that he is the father of 
 lies. Recollect that these sinful pleasures which you may enjoy 
 for a season, will not, cannot, compensate for everlasting burnings. 
 Ply to the Captain of salvation, and you shall be safe. 
 
 .5. Learn the value of the Christian's inheritance. God does 
 not sport with his people : surely, then, it must be a glorious reward 
 which awaits them beyond the grave, when their God, who loves 
 them with more than a father's tenderness, thinks it a sufficient 
 recompense for aU their trials. Were it not unspeakably great, 
 and infinitely desirable, it would not be worth so much sorrow and 
 
THE CHRISTIAN WARFARE. 2&5 
 
 suffering. ye careless ones, who neglect Jesus and the benefits 
 of his purchase, stand still, and ask yourselves, Is there not a 
 reality in religion ? May not the scripture be true in declaring that 
 4< it shall be well with the righteous, and ill with the wicked ? " 
 Indeed the question merits your most serious attention. An 
 immortal soul is the depending stake : an error here ruins you 
 eternally. 
 
 4. Learn the necessity of watchfulness, and the danger of sport- 
 ing with temptation. Is all your vigilance sometimes too little to 
 guard you against the wiles of your enemies, and all your strength 
 too feeble to secure you against their power ? How then will you 
 stand when you neither watch nor fight ? A slothful Christian is 
 a sentinel sleeping on his post! A slothful Christian is a mariner 
 slumbering in a storm ! A slothful Christian is a sheep composing 
 itself to rest in the sight of hungry wolves ! But what shall we 
 say of those who, besides being negligent, throw themselves into 
 the way of their adversaries ? " Avoid all appearance of evil," is 
 the divine command. But if they will disobey, they must abide 
 the consequences. If they will take coals in their bosoms, they 
 must expect to be burnt ! If they will stray into the enemy's 
 ground, they must expect to be caught! If they will run into the 
 mouth of the lion, they must expect to be worried : and no thanks 
 to them that he does not worry them to death : thanks to the great 
 Shepherd who gives " to all his sheep eternal life, so that they 
 shall never perish, neither shall any pluck them out of his 
 hand." Christians, watch and pray, that ye enter not into 
 temptation. " Put on the whole armour of God. Quit your- 
 selves like men : be strong." But while you are thus active and 
 cautious, remember, 
 
 Finally, the insufficiency of your own strength. 
 
 What are the weapons of your warfare ? Do you intrench your- 
 selves behind your good frame ? Alas ! one puff of temptation 
 will blow away this ideal refuge. Do you trust to your own firm- 
 ness? Satan laughs at the shaking of this pointless spear. To 
 leave Satan out of the question, what are your resolutions when 
 opposed to inward depravity? Mere chaff before the whirlwind. 
 He is a raw Christian who is not sensible of this. No ! believers ! 
 you must neither lean to your own understanding, nor confide in 
 
2% SERMON XIII. 
 
 your own ability. You must "be strong in the Lord, and in the 
 power of his might." You must " run with patience the race set 
 before you, looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of your 
 faith." His grace alone is sufficient for you. With his heaven in 
 your eye, and his word in your hearts, go up " from the wilderness, 
 leaning upon your Beloved." 
 
SERMON XIV. 
 
 THE CHRISTIAN WARFARE. 
 
 1 TIM. vi. 12. 
 " Fight the good fight of faith." 
 
 When men engage in any arduous enterprise, we naturally con- 
 clude that they have in view some object, which, upon plausible 
 grounds, they deem an equivalent for their labour and self-denial. 
 To renounce our ease and comfort; to plunge into difficulty ; 
 cheerfully to endure fatigue of body and anxiety of mind ; to sub- 
 mit to varied suffering without the prospect of remuneration of any 
 kind ; is conduct from which nature shrinks ; is a sacrifice which 
 neither reason nor religion requires us to make. Not less ignorant 
 than malicious are the calumnies which many think themselves 
 entitled to heap upon the religion of Jesus, because it enjoins mor- 
 tification to the world ; that is, the corrupt world ; and assures the 
 Christian that he must maintain with his foes, while on earth, a 
 painful and perpetual conflict. How preposterous is the judgment 
 of carnal men ! They contemplate with blind admiration the war- 
 rior, who, impelled by a passion for military glory, or fired by the 
 enthusiasm of freedom, rushes to the field of blood, courts the post 
 of danger, and, in the grim face of death, shakes his martial steel. 
 What does he hope to gain by these heroic exertions? His ambition 
 centres perhaps in the plume of victory. He sighs for fame : " a 
 fancied life in others' breath;" the empty plaudits of a fickle mul- 
 titude. Or should he fall, his high reward is to have his name 
 enrolled in the historian's volume, and his memory embalmed with 
 the eulogies of the brave. Give him his due ; call his passion 
 noble if you please— recapitulate his services — celebrate his achieve- 
 ments—and hold up his example to animate the rising patriot. 
 
298 SERMON XIV. 
 
 But here we must stop. Pause — remember that these objects, for 
 the attainment of which, the shout of acclamation rends the 
 air, are confined to this world — remember that these coveted 
 glories are fading, fleeting, momentary — not one of them 
 can pass the verge of time : not one of them can cross the 
 threshold of that dark house appropriated for all the living ; no 
 respect is paid to them beyond the grave ; and, oh ! how killing 
 the thought, that the man who has won the applause of his fellow- 
 men may have lost his own soul, and be excluded for ever from the 
 kingdoms of God ! Shall we then lavish praises on a son of earth 
 who sheathes his sword in a mortal cause ; and shall we dart the 
 glance of scorn on the Christian soldier who fights for the crown 
 of immortal life ? Shall we extol the valour of him who coolly 
 meets a man like himself; and shall we despise as a coward him 
 who faces undaunted not only earth but hell? Shall we say that 
 any earthly foe is to be named in comparison with those enemies 
 against whom the Christian wages war? For you will recollect, 
 that in the last discourse on this subject we showed that the powers 
 of darkness who constantly oppose him are strong ; are numerous ; 
 are malicious; are skilful; are indefatigable. We saw that the 
 men of the wgrld are his uniform and decided foes. We saw that 
 the riches and honours of the world have a dangerous tendency to 
 warp his judgment and pervert his heart, and that the pleasures of 
 the world spread on every side their fatal snares. We saw, finally, 
 that his own corruptions often rage with violence and reduce him 
 to great extremities. 
 
 To encounter such a terrible combination of adversaries not only 
 demands more than human boldness, but demands also great en- 
 couragement; but here the Christian is not left destitute. His 
 Lord not only requires them, as we saw in the first place, to fight, 
 but, 
 
 If. From the advantages which this warfare has over all others, 
 it is termed with peculiar propriety a good fight. And why may 
 the Christian be said to "fight a good fight?" The answer is 
 obvious; he fights in a good cause; he fights upon good support; 
 he fights in good company ; and shall be infallibly victorious. 
 
 1- He fights in a good cause; the cause of God. 
 
 Sin made sad divisions in the family of heaven. It rent from 
 
THE CHRISTIAN WARFARE. 299 
 
 the honour and bliss of the divine presence, and from every hope 
 of pardon, those sons of pride who rose in rebellion against their 
 Creator. The iniquity of every succeeding day has widened the 
 breach between the persevering and apostate angels and multiplied 
 the grounds of Jehovah's quarrel. It is both our shame and our 
 misery that we so basely forget the duty which we owe to our 
 Benefactor, as to desert his laws, to league ourselves with hell, and 
 become a party in those plots of wickedness in which the fiends of 
 darkness are ever busy. Can anything be more degrading and 
 reproachful than to lift up our heel against the God " who fed us 
 all our lives long ?" Can there be a more vile prostitution of our 
 souls, or bodies, and all the blessings which mark our lot, than to 
 employ them as materials and instruments in abetting the devil to 
 carry on his works of treachery ? Yet this is the hateful character, 
 this the devilish pursuit, of all whose hearts are not renewed by 
 the spirit of Christ. And shall not the Christian exult that divine 
 grace has opened his eyes to see the filthy drudgery of his former 
 life, and enabled him to abandon the cause and camp of Satan, to 
 renew his allegiance to his rightful Lord, and thankfully to take up 
 his station behind Emmanuel's banner? In rectitude there is 
 something which gives a divine firmness to resolution; which 
 smooths the rough features of difficulty ; and even in the midst of 
 danger sheds through the untrembling soul a heavenly calm. If, 
 therefore, to be engaged on the side of all that is honourable and 
 glorious ; if to be engaged on the side of truth, and righteousness, 
 and purity, and faithfulness, and love, and all the excellencies 
 which constitute the happiness of Jehovah himself, can alleviate 
 suffering, can originate comfort, can repay self-denial, the Chris- 
 tian's warfare has an unrivalled title to be called a good fight. And 
 the title will shine, if possible, more fair, when we consider, not only 
 that he fights in a good cause, but, 
 2. That he fights upon good support. 
 
 By support I mean the promises of the covenant, the supplies of 
 grace, and all that rich variety of wisdom which our spiritual 
 Joshua has made for the wants of his church. The wisdom of our 
 leader, the affection of our brother, neither requires nor permits us 
 to war upon our own charges. Great is the variety of trouble 
 which we must encounter in our march, but it is not greater than 
 the variety of comfort. In this Bible, this magazine of our military 
 
300 SERMON XIV. 
 
 stores, there is everything necessary for our laborious expedition. 
 To fit us for resisting and defeating the foes who always hover 
 about us, here is the " whole armour of God." Here is the " girdle 
 of truth" to strengthen our loins. Here is the "breastplate of 
 iron " to cover our hearts. Here is the " preparation of the gospel 
 of peace " to secure our feet from burning sands, and the thorns 
 and spikes which our adversaries may plant in our path. Here is 
 faith's impenetrable "shield to receive and extinguish the fiery 
 darts of the wicked. Here is the " helmet of salvation " to defend 
 our heads, and here the " sword of the Spirit," whose divinely- 
 tempered edge not all the host of hell could ever withstand. When 
 we are obliged to pass, though shrouded in darkness, between the 
 craggy precipice and the wily snare, here is the torch of celestial 
 fire to show us at once our danger and escape. It is this lamp of 
 heaven which David tells us was "a light to his feet." When 
 worn out with fatigue, here is " the water of life " to recruit our 
 spirits. Here is the food with which our Redeemer covers our 
 table in the wilderness — food of every kind, from milk to strong 
 meat, suited to all ages and all degrees of strength, and set before 
 us in all the vast profusion which a God can furnish. The weary 
 traveller who has passed through an inhospitable wild, and is 
 exhausted by the scorching sun, does not more relish the cool 
 refreshing stream, the fragrance of the opening flower, or the 
 luxuriant fruit, than does the Christian that divine repast which 
 his Lord has prepared for him. None but they who have been 
 filled with the fatness of God's house can conceive the rapture of 
 the believer's soul when his faith is enabled to grasp the promises 
 of the covenant, and to press from them unutterable sweetness. 
 It is when the great Dispenser of new covenant bliss " satisfieth 
 their mouths with good things " that " their youth is renewed like 
 the eagle's." When he makes them " sit down under his shadow 
 with great delight "—when his fruit is sweet to their taste— when 
 his Holy Spirit descends in the dew of his sacred influences, and 
 gladdens their dejected hearts— these moments of love, these drop- 
 ping of his myrrh, repay a thousandfold their sorrow and their 
 Buffering. This, indeed, is not their common privilege. They 
 "walk by faith and not by sight," and therefore their brethren 
 who dare not lay claim to such distinguished honour, and whose 
 trembling knees totter while they follow in the footsteps of the flock, 
 
THK CHRISTIAN WARFARE. 301 
 
 should not be discouraged. Christ looks with peculiar tenderness 
 Upon these lambs ; and if in sovereignty he does not think proper 
 to feast them so highly as others, yet he holds around them his 
 almighty arm, and keeps from them the roaring lion and the rav- 
 enous wolf. He puts them into his bosom, and carries them, they 
 know not how, through difficulty and danger, sets them in a plain 
 path, and enables them to run with cheerfulness the way of his 
 commandments. Nor let those stronger disciples, whom the King 
 has dignified with peculiar marks of his favour, indulge a slothful 
 temper. It is after these seasons of joy that they may look for 
 some of the rudest attacks of their enemies. The combat is still 
 before them, and many a terrible wound may they receive ere it be 
 ended. But shrink not, Christian ! shrink not from the conflict ; 
 wounded you may be, but not mortally. No blow can be so fatal 
 as to be incurable by the balm of Gilead. The great Physician of 
 souls, whose judgment never errs, whose skill never fails, hastes 
 to the relief of his people, pours into their painful wounds his 
 sovereign balsam, and not only applies but blesses his own pre- 
 scription. Thus we see that the believer's hardest trials are softened 
 with a consolation and a joy with which a stranger to his life can 
 never intermeddle. There is not within these walls a child of God, 
 (and I hope there are a goodly number,) who will not join issue in 
 the bold assertion. Try the experiment if you please. Watch the 
 Christian in his most afflicted hours. When beset with his spiritual 
 enemies, his agonizing soul is almost overwhelmed, ask him, in this 
 moment of anguish, to part with his Redeemer — promise, as the 
 reward of compliance, all the sensual delights that can enter into 
 a voluptuary's heaven. Know, vain man, that he would spurn 
 thy most splendid offer — he would cleave more closely to the cross, 
 and tread thy baubles in the dirt; and indeed it cannot be otherwise, 
 for the circumstances of the Christian and the carnal man are 
 exactly the reverse of each other. In few of the wicked is the cry 
 of conscience so completely stifled as not to fill the soul occasionally 
 with serious alarm. The hopelessness of the sinner's cause cannot 
 but imbitter his joy, and give to all his griefs their most corroding 
 venom: whilst the enjoyment of the Christian, cheered with the 
 goodness of his cause, carry with them an unutterable relish, and 
 soften all the pains of his pilgrimage. Surely, then, he has every 
 reason to pity those who affect to pity him, and to triumph in the 
 reflection that he fights a good fight. 
 
302 SERMON XIV. 
 
 But 3. The Christian fights a good fight because he fights in 
 good company. 
 
 Agreeable society prevents despondence, lightens toil, and in- 
 spires courage. Let the believer then look around him, and see 
 how many excellent ones of the earth, even in this day of coldness 
 when multitudes have left their first love, are seeking with him 
 "a better country, a city which hath foundations, whose builder 
 and maker is God." Let faith's keen eye glance over the field of 
 action, and view the bright, the numerous bands that appear on 
 the Lord's side. View them, believer, pressing towards " the mark, 
 the prize of their high calling of God in Christ Jesus." View 
 them, and refrain, if thou canst, from congratulating thyself at 
 being enrolled in the list, and sharing the labours of the blissful 
 throng. View them, and say, does not a holy emulation burn in 
 thy bosom ? Does not the animating sight impart fresh vigour, 
 and stimulate thee to strain every nerve in order to keep pace with 
 those soldiers of Christ? But these are not your only companions : 
 the angels of God are never absent. " Are they not all ministering 
 spirits, sent forth to minister unto them who shall be the heirs of 
 salvation?" This has been their delightful employment from the 
 commencement of the gospel to the present hour. It is true, they 
 do not now, as in former times, visibly interfere for the people of 
 God, but their agency is not the less real nor effectual. It is as 
 much a promise of the covenant as any other : " He shall give his 
 angels charge concerning thee, to keep thee in all thy ways ; and 
 in their hands they shall bear thee up, lest thou dash thy foot 
 against a stone." From a thousand evils which we never sus- 
 pect, do these heavenly friends protect our souls. About thee, 
 Christian, these armies of heaven have many conflicts with the 
 hosts of hell — conflicts which thou never shalt know till thy warfare 
 be ended, and the hallelujahs of eternal victory fill the temple above. 
 What a thought is this ? That Jehovah shall despatch, to support 
 our faltering steps, the shining messengers of his will ! and let the 
 grateful soul swell with emotions too big for utterance, when we 
 reflect that not only the angels, but the Lord of angels, the Angel 
 of the covenant, is at our side Those lips which knew no guile, 
 have said, " I will never leave thee nor forsake thee." This is the 
 marrow of our consolation. Who shall vie in dignity with the 
 favoured ones that walk in company with Jehovah-Jesus ? Who 
 
THE CHKISTIAN WARFARE. 303 
 
 shall harm the child of blessing that marches towards Zion with 
 his arm locked in the arm of his Redeeming God ? Ye glittering 
 toys of earth, where is your brightness, where your worth, when 
 ye come in competition with an honour and a happiness like this ? 
 Let these glow-worms of the night sink into their native obscurity, 
 when the Sun of Righteousness beams around us the splendours 
 of his glory. Triumph, believer, in the grace and goodness of your 
 Lord. And ye who have no interest in his salvation, take care 
 how ye meddle with these beloved Jacobs. In unchanging faith- 
 fulness, God has drawn around his chosen, a sacred circle. Stand 
 back, thou profane ! Touch not, with an unhallowed hand, these 
 monuments of mercy. It is the command of him, whose frown is 
 worse than hell, " Do my prophets no harm;" and all his saints 
 are as dear to him as his prophets ; he " who touches them, touches 
 the apple of his eye." Indignant thunders murmur over your 
 heads, and the vengeful lightning is impatient to chastise your 
 temerity. Who then dare say that the Christian does not fight a 
 good fight? What will the scorner have to reply, when to the 
 precious privileges that have been already mentioned, we add, 
 4. That the believer fights a good fight, because victory is sure- 
 There is not, my believing friends, a promise in the whole Bible, 
 (and it is full of promises) which does not belong to you. There 
 is not in the Bible a promise which does not, either directly or 
 indirectly, insure to you strength to overcome your enemies. Many 
 of them are express to this very purpose; what words are these? 
 " No weapon formed against thee shall prosper." — " Thy enemies 
 shall all be found liars unto thee." What though they tell you 
 that the difficulties in the way are insurmountable ? You have 
 nothing to do with difficulties : your inquiry is, What saith the 
 Lord ? Your reply must be, " Get thee behind me, Satan ! The 
 God who hath commanded, will support: the God who hath pro- 
 mised, will perform. I know I am unable of myself to emerge 
 from my trouble ; but I know also that the " Lord will provide." 
 He hath said, " Fear not, for I am with thee ; be not dismayed, for 
 I am thy God : I will help thee, yea, 1 will uphold thee by the 
 right hand of my righteousness." Are not these promises sealed 
 with the blood of your Redeemer ? And who dares question his 
 veracity ? Is it not he who " is a liar, and the father of lies ?" Is 
 not the arm of Omnipotence bared to execute what immutable 
 
304 SERMON XIV. 
 
 truth engaged? And who are these spiritual Philistines that defy 
 not the armies, but the Son of the living God ? Are they not the 
 creatures of his hand ? Did he not foil them on the cross ? Did 
 he not, at his resurrection and ascension, chain them as captives 
 to his chariot-wheels, and make a show of them openly? And 
 shall they be too strong for him now when he is " set down at the 
 right hand of the majesty on high T Absurd idea ! Face, then, 
 the fiercest of your foes, and let this be your song of battle, " In 
 the name of our God we will set up our banners." But while you 
 rejoice in the advantages of your Lord's service, see that you keep 
 things in their proper connection : break not that harmony which 
 he has established : and to preserve this harmony, you will find it 
 of high moment to be under the practical influence of the principle 
 inculcated in the 
 
 III. Part of our subject, which assures us that the Christian's 
 warfare is not only a good fight, but the good fight of faith. 
 
 It is this important grace which gives life and vigour to all the 
 rest. Not that it has any merit in itself; but it is the instrument by 
 which the Holy Spirit applies the benefits of redemption. It is 
 faith which keeps us close to Christ, and receives continually 
 supplies from his fulness ; and what cannot this faith effect ? 
 What difficulties can she not endure? What temptation not 
 trample under foot? What corruption not subdue? Look over 
 the long list of worthies whose names shine in the annals of re- 
 demption, and see what faith has done. As she has the same 
 object, and the same support, she has done nothing but what she 
 can yet do. She is as able as ever to " stop the mouths of lions ; 
 to quench the violence of fire; to escape the edge of the sword; to 
 make you valiant in fight; to turn to flight the armies of the aliens," 
 and to perforin all those other deeds of wonder, which few, very 
 few amongst us, would think of imitating. Ye faint-hearted 
 ( In istians, why do ye stare astonishment when ye read the achieve- 
 ments of Old Testament saints? These were men; you are but 
 dwarfs— in the divine life. Blush that they outstripped you so far. 
 Look up to the cloud of witnesses who bore testimony to the 
 faithfniness of a promising God, and who have now "received the 
 end of their faith, even the salvation of their souls." Set their 
 example before you, and "go ye and do likewise." In marching 
 
THE CHRISTIAN WARFARE. 305 
 
 to the battle, let faith lead the other graces, while she follows the 
 Redeemer, and thus tread in the " footsteps of them who, through 
 faith and patience, are now inheriting the promises." 
 
 In improving the subject on which our thoughts have been 
 employed, let me exhort believers to be of good courage. Ar- 
 duous is the work, but glorious is the cause, and unspeakably 
 great the encouragement. And when you equip yourselves for 
 the combat, see that every part of your armour, from your helmet 
 to your sandals, be instamped with the name of Christ. No wea- 
 pon which does not come from his armoury, and bear the impress 
 of his name, will in the least intimidate your daring foes. It is 
 this name (for they well remember it since the defeat of Calvary), 
 it is this name which strikes dismay into their hearts and confusion 
 into their ranks. And to banish every fear, be careful to recollect 
 that you fight not only in the name, but under the eye, and with 
 the aid, of your Lord. Young Christian, here is encouragement 
 for you. You have just put on the harness of your celestial war- 
 fare. You are just beginning a career of glory, in which you may 
 lay your account with meeting opposition the most determined and 
 unremitted. You are in that stage of your life in which your own 
 corruptions are most powerful and active; in which the allurements 
 of a depraved world are most fascinating ; in which the smiles 
 and the frowns of men most deeply affect the mind. You, above 
 all others, are marked out to feel the malice of wicked men, and of 
 those evil spirits by whom they are governed. But fear not, you 
 fight under an invincible Leader. Jesus, the Author and Finisher 
 of your faith ; Jesus, who has all power in heaven, in earth, and 
 in hell too, goes before you. He lifts above the necks of them 
 who hate you his glittering sword, which shivers all hostile armour, 
 and mows down the thickest ranks of his and your enemies. Be 
 assured he will strike tbe blow of your deliverance at the very 
 moment when you most need it. Gird up, then, the loins of your 
 faith. " Run with patience the race set before you." Look con- 
 stantly unto Jesus ; for though you can do nothing of yourself, 
 yet " through Christ strengthening you, you can do all things." 
 Remember that his faithfulness is pledged to bear you through. 
 " He will perfect that which concerneth you." He will make you 
 not only a conqueror, but more than a conqueror ; and when your 
 warfare is finished, he will receive you to himself; his own hand 
 
 u 
 
306 SERMON XIV. 
 
 shall twine about your brows the wreath of victory, and it shall 
 bloom for ever in all the glories of Paradise. 
 
 Old Christian, here is encouragement for you. Since you gave 
 your heart to the Redeemer you have had many a bitter hour, and 
 endured many a terrible conflict for his sake. But sure I am that 
 you do not repent your choice. All your afflictions have been 
 amply compensated by his love and his presence. He promised 
 you at first that he would dwell in you, and walk in you, and walk 
 round you, and be your God. Has he not been as good as his 
 word ? Is it not because you have obtained help of him that you 
 continue to this day ? And will he forsake you now ? He will not, 
 he cannot. If he was the God of your youth, he will be the God 
 of your declining years. He has said even to " old age, I am he ; 
 and even to hoary hairs, I will carry you." How comforting the 
 thought that when your heart and your flesh fail, " this God is the 
 strength of your heart and your portion for ever." Courage, then, 
 old friend ! A few more sighs, a few more sorrows, a few more 
 sufferings, and all shall be well for ever. Now is your salvation 
 nearer than when you believed; now are you approaching the 
 borders of your promised inheritance. Lift up your eyes and view 
 the heavenly Canaan. 'Tis true you cannot enter till you have 
 passed through the swellings of Jordan, but your Lord hath 
 promised, when thou " passest through the waters I will be with 
 thee, and through the rivers they shall not overflow thee." 'Tis 
 true you must grapple with the "king of terrors." Hastily he 
 advances upon you. But startle not at his grisly appearance. It 
 is the mimicry of danger— the mock terror of an enfeebled, a 
 mless foe. It is, too, your concluding struggle, "for the last 
 enemy that shall be destroyed is death." When you have 
 vanquished this enemy (and vanquish him you shall), you will 
 understand, far better than you can now, the meaning of these 
 triumphant words, " 7 he ransomed of the Lord shall return, and 
 come to Zion with songs and everlasting joy upon their heads : 
 they shall obtain joy and gladness, and sorrow and mourning shall 
 ■\ay." 
 
 To them who are unacquainted with the Christian's life I have 
 nothing to say, You, my brethren, are fighting ; but did you ever 
 take the pains to ask yourselves in what cause? A cause beyond 
 descnption degrading and hopeless. You are fighting with the 
 
THE CHRISTIAN WARFARE. 307 
 
 devil, and for the devil, and against the God of your mercies, and 
 against your own happiness. You are treasuring up to yourselves 
 wrath against the day of wrath, and if you are resolved to remain 
 on the devil's side, you must share at last the devil's fate. You 
 are engaged against infinite odds ; there is not any hope that you 
 shall succeed. It is a dreadful thing to " fall into the hands of 
 the living God ;" and if he spared not the angels that sinned, he 
 certainly will not spare you. We invite you to a warfare better 
 in itself and better in its end Come, cast in your lot with us, 
 and " fight the good fight of faith." Besides the consolation of a 
 righteous cause and divine support, you will have the best of 
 company. The saints will be your friends, angels will be your 
 friends, a triune God will be your friend, heaven your eternal 
 home, and a crown of life your rich reward. 
 
SERMON XV. 
 
 NATURE AND NECESSITY OF REGENERATION. 
 
 JOHN iii. 5. 
 
 " Verily, verily, I say unto you, Except a man be born of water and of the 
 Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God." 
 
 In the preceding part of the chapter, our Lord had inculcated 
 upon Nicodemus the absolute necessity of a new birth, in order to 
 a sinful man's even perceiving the kingdom of God. The candid 
 Pharisee, to whom such a doctrine appeared as uncouth, incredible, 
 and absurd, as it does at this day to many who call themselves 
 enlightened Christians, expressed his astonishment, as if the Re- 
 deemer had uttered a physical contradiction : " How can a man be 
 born when he is old ? can he enter a second time into his mother's 
 womb and be born?" Without stopping to notice the grossness 
 of his conceptions, our Lord Jesus, with the majesty of " a teacher 
 sent from God," repeats his assertion with a slight variation in the 
 form, which might lead Nicodemus to some general idea of his 
 meaning : " Verily, verily, I say unto you, Except a man be born 
 of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of 
 God." 
 
 The " kingdom of God " means that gracious establishment in 
 our world of which he is the author, which derives all its principles 
 and efficiency from him, of which the design is to destroy the 
 works of the devil and bring back, with increased beauty, the 
 order originally set up; in a word, to make such a display of his 
 righteousness, truth, grace, and love, in and towards our rebel 
 world, as should command the admiration of all holy beings, and 
 be an eternal exhibition, in all places of his dominion, of the per- 
 fection of his government. 
 
NATURE AND NECEvSSITY OF REGENERATION. 309 
 
 This "kingdom of God," so stupendous in its effects, is yet bo 
 pure and spiritual in its process, as to be invisible not merely to 
 eyes of flesh and blood, but even to the eyes of intellect in cor- 
 rupted man, until they have undergone a renovation, and have 
 received a power suited to the nature of the objects which they 
 are called to contemplate. " Except a man be born again, he 
 cannot see the kingdom of God." 
 
 If such a change is necessary to just perceptions of that king- 
 dom, how much more clearly is it necessary to become its subject, 
 to enjoy its privileges, and share in its rewards ! So necessary, 
 lay it well to your hearts, that the eternal truth has pronounced, 
 "Except a man be born of water and of the spirit," — i. e., of the 
 purifying Spirit — "he cannot enter into the kingdom of God." 
 
 As the doctrine is laid down from the lips of Jesus himself, it is 
 an individual concern, and should strike us with a sacred horror, 
 lest, after all our professions of the truth, our standing in the house 
 of God, and our hopes of heaven, we should be found destitute of 
 that qualification without which he has declared that not a man 
 of us shall enter into the kingdom of God. 
 
 Let us, then, as we do not wish to deceive our own souls, and 
 sink down to hell in the full sight of heaven, investigate more 
 narrowly what it is to be born again, and whence the indisputable 
 necessity arises to enter into the kingdom of God. 
 
 When a human being is born, he is introduced into a world of 
 which it is not possible he should have any previous conception. 
 He exists by a new medium, and by new means. His growth 
 proceeds in a new manner — his faculties experience. a new develop- 
 ment — he acquires new relations and tastes, relishes preferences, 
 pleasures, pursuits, adapted to and growing out of his new state of 
 existence. " Old things," literally, " are passed away, and all 
 things are become new." Were he remanded back to his first 
 mode of life he would immediately expire, because it contains no 
 provision for the perpetuity of that life which belongs to his new 
 and improved state. 
 
 In natural things all this is undeniable ; and as our Lord has 
 employed the figure of a birth, by calling it a being " born again," 
 to shadow forth that change which passes upon a sinner when he 
 " enters into the kingdom of God," there must be a resemblance 
 between them. The figure must correspond, in its essential points. 
 
310 SERMON XV. 
 
 with the thing figured, or it is no illustration of the subject. The 
 natural must represent the spiritual birth. The entrance into thi* 
 world by being born, an entrance into the kingdom of God by 
 being born again, or our Lord's solemn and impressive language, 
 gives us no assistance in forming any just ideas of the change 
 which he asserts to be necessary. We may, therefore, without 
 pushing the analogy of natural and spiritual things to an indiscreet 
 length, safely maintain that our Lord holds up an introduction into 
 the kingdom of God as an entrance upon a new state of being, 
 involving a thorough change of perceptions, feelings, and habits : 
 so that "if any man be in Christ Jesus, he is a new creature;" 
 and with him " old things are passed away ; behold, all things are 
 become new." 
 
 1. Man, by his new birth, enters into the kingdom of God as a 
 kingdom of light. 
 
 There is no figure in the Scripture more commonly used to 
 depict the difference between our old state of nature and our new 
 one by grace, than the opposition between light and darkness. 
 Christians were "once darkness, but are now light in the Lord" 
 — "God hath called them out of darkness into his marvellous 
 light."— "They that follow after Jesus Christ" shall not "walk in 
 darkness, but shall have the light of life." — "The eyes of their 
 understanding being opened, they see wondrous things in God's 
 law," and see them most clearly where they least expected to find 
 them. They see " the light of the knowledge of God shining in 
 the person of Jesus Christ," and that it cannot possibly shine any- 
 where else, to refresh, and console, and invigorate the sinner. 
 They see that Christ Jesus, who was to them not only " without 
 form or comeliness," but even "a stone of stumbling and rock of 
 offence," is the perfection of beauty, the "very brightness of the 
 Father's glory, and the express image of his person"— is the 
 " corner-stone, elect, precious, which God hath laid in Zion," as 
 the sure and only foundation, upon which whosoever "believeth 
 shall not be ashamed." They sec the most divine consistency and 
 excellence in that which was formerly incomprehensible and con- 
 tradictory to their mind; the union of truth and mercy, of right- 
 eousness and peace, of redemption by the blood of Jesus, and the 
 forgiveness of sins according to the riches of his grace, so that the 
 just God is the Saviour. They see that this way of salvation and 
 
NATURE AND NECESSITY OF REGENERATION. 311 
 
 no other " became him for whom are all things and by whom are 
 all things, in bringing many sons unto glory," and that it is in- 
 finitely impossible they should be deceived in trusting it. " 1 
 know," says an assured believer — " I know whom I have believed, 
 and am persuaded that he is able to keep that which I have com- 
 mitted unto him against that day." They see that sin is folly, and 
 the wages of sin death — that the cup of sinful gratification, in 
 which they formerly took pleasure, is charged with poison, and was 
 actually working their destruction. They see that wisdom's ways 
 arc ways of pleasantness, and her paths the only ones " that lead 
 to glory and to God." They see, in an inverted order and propor- 
 tion, the things of time and sense, and the things which are eter- 
 nal ; in one word, they see what they never saw before — " the 
 kingdom of God!" 
 
 2. When a man enters into the kingdom of God, he exists by a 
 new medium. 
 
 This new medium is the Spirit of God in his gracious influence. 
 He is universally the " Spirit of life." In him we live, and move, 
 and have our being. All the created life in the universe is from 
 him. But he dispenses it agreeably to the nature of the constitu- 
 tion under which he acts. The vegetable, animal, and intellectual 
 worlds have their lives such as the Spirit of God gives them for 
 the purposes they are intended to answer. It is no otherwise in 
 the world of grace, the kingdom of God. There too, " it is the 
 Spirit that quickeneth, and that which is born of the Spirit is 
 spirit." He bestows and maintains a life answerable to the part 
 which the saved sinner has to perform, the affections he is to 
 cherish, the blessedness he is to enjoy, the glory which awaits him. 
 As one who is made alive unto God, not a faculty of the new man 
 is unfolded, not a function exercised, not a motion performed, but 
 by the Spirit of God. His very faith, the elementary principle of 
 his life, is from the Holy Spirit ; so that " he lives by the Spirit, 
 he walks by the Spirit, he is led by the Spirit." By the Spirit the 
 Christian mortifies the deeds of the body ; he brings forth fruit 
 unto God-, he cultivates his love, enjoys his fellowship, is "spir- 
 itually minded." All this is manifestly a new life, infinitely 
 removed from any merely intellectual attainment, however refined 
 or exalted. A life for which earth has no atmosphere, and which 
 can exist nowhere but in " the kingdom of God." 
 
312 SERMON XV. 
 
 3. He who is born again lives by new "means." 
 
 These are, the word, the ordinances, and the grace of our Lord 
 Jesus Christ. No sooner is the babe of grace born into the king- 
 dom of God. than he cries for the " sincere milk of the word." The 
 speculations of men, and their discoveries, even of truth, however 
 elegant or lofty, are at best but " dry breasts ;" they afford no 
 nutriment to his soul, nor can satisfy the cravings of his appetite ; 
 and in every after stage of his existence, it is the bread of God 
 which came down from heaven — it is the meat which endureth to 
 everlasting life — that can either fulfil his desires, or refresh and 
 invigorate his frame. Then the word of God is found of him, and 
 he eats it, and it is unto him "the joy and the rejoicing of his heart." 
 The "judgments of the Lord are," to his taste, "sweeter than the 
 honey and the honey-comb." In the ordinances of Christ he finds 
 those green pastures and those gently flowing waters which de- 
 lighted the psalmist and equally delight him. These ordinances 
 are thus precious and powerful, because they are channels through 
 which the Redeemer's grace pours into his heart. Christ himself 
 is his life. " His flesh is meat indeed, and his blood is drink in- 
 deed." His words are verified in a believer's experience. " He 
 that eateth me, even he shall live by me. So that the life which 
 he now lives in the flesh is by the faith of the Son of God." Thus 
 fed and nourished, and filled with the fulness of God, he " grows 
 in grace and in the knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus 
 Christ," until that which is perfect is come, and he is admitted into 
 his presence with exceeding joy. 
 
 4. In consequence of his " new birth," his faculties acquire a 
 new development. 
 
 The eyes of his understanding are enlightened, so that he per- 
 ceives what is " the hope of the calling of God, and what the riches 
 of the glory of his inheritance in the saints." As a "natural man 
 he received not the things of the Spirit of God, because they were 
 foolishness unto him." But being " born of the Spirit," he has 
 " spiritual discernment, so that what things were " foolishness " to 
 him appear to be " the wisdom of God," and " the power of God to 
 his salvation." 
 
 His will, which before was all enmity, is now made pliant and 
 ductile to the will of God. It is the rule and reason of his duties 
 and of his submission. Show a Christian that what he is called 
 
NATURE AND NECESSITY OF REGENERATION. 313 
 
 to do or to endure is agreeable to the will of his heavenly Father, 
 and you do infinitely more to nerve his resolution or to calm his 
 spirit — to render him courageous, inflexible, persevering, or to 
 soften or subdue his soul — to repress every rising murmur and 
 bend his mind into meek and cordial acquiescence — than by a 
 thousand arguments drawn from the necessity of the case, from the 
 dignity of virtue, from the fitness of things, from the good of the 
 universe, or any of those sterile topics which ignorance addresses 
 to vanity. It is the will of God! forms a short summary of a 
 regenerated man's ethics, and disposes of all the objections of flesh 
 and blood, and sinful appetite, and earthly decencies, interests, and 
 passions, with a celerity somewhat proportioned to the majesty of 
 Him who has spoken. In short, " to do the will of God from the 
 heart " is the perfection after which the new man habitually 
 aspires. 
 
 The affections also undergo a renovation. Once they were "set 
 on things on the earth ;" the love of this present world occupied 
 and filled their hearts with the lust of the flesh, the lust of the 
 eye, and the pride of life." But being born again, they are taught 
 to " set their affections on things above, where Jesus Christ sitteth 
 at the right hand of God." Disregard and despise the good gifts 
 of God's providence they do not, they cannot. They are the only 
 people on earth who know how to assign them their proper places ; 
 to use them according to the intention of the blessed Giver, and 
 to be unfeignedly thankful for them. Gratitude to God is a con- 
 spicuous feature on the face of the new man ; it forms a family 
 likeness, by which the members are identified. " Be ye thankful " 
 is a precept which none but a Christian obeys. But when the 
 question is concerning their supreme and ultimate preference, the 
 soul of a believer fastens upon other objects, and he values the 
 things of this transitory life, whatever they may be, quite as low 
 as, when viewed in their proper relations of the gift of God, he 
 values them highly. " What things were gain to me, those I 
 counted loss for Christ; yea, doubtless, and I count all things but 
 loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus, my Lord." 
 The principle of love, which has its perfect reign in the kingdom 
 of God, and binds together the society of holy beings, is " shed 
 abroad in his heart." He loves the Lord Jesus, the Redeemer, 
 tenderly, intensely, fervently. He joins, without a qualification, 
 
314 SERMON XV. 
 
 in that sacred curse of the apostle, " If any man love not the Lord 
 Jesus Christ, let him be Anathema Maran-atha. He loves the 
 God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ as the original fountain 
 of all saving mercies, and can, from his inmost soul, re-echo that 
 benediction of Peter, " Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord 
 Jesus Christ, who of his abundant mercy hath begotten us again 
 unto a living hope, by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the 
 dead." He loves that Holy Spirit, the Comforter, the Advocate, 
 who comes as the representative of the risen Saviour, to dwell in 
 them, to abide with them forever, as the Spirit of holiness, as the 
 Spirit of grace and supplication, to make the petitions of their 
 breast a counterpart of the intercessions within the vail. An 
 argument drawn from the "love of the "Spirit" touches every 
 spring of ingenuous emotion within him. How can he but love, 
 with his purest affections, that gracious Friend, who was deputed 
 by his glorified Lord to woo him and win him to blessedness and 
 God : to take possession of him in the Conqueror's name ; to put 
 the seal of heaven upon his forehead; to subdue and finally to slay 
 all the enemies of his own peace and of his Master's glory, and in 
 the mean time as " the Holy Spirit of promise," to be in him " the 
 tamest of the purchased possession," and to "seal him up until 
 the day of redemption." 
 
 Finally, he loves the children of God. " By this we know that 
 we love God, when we love the children of God. Every one that 
 loveth him that begat, loveth him that is begotten of him." For- 
 merly they were no more to him than kindred, business, or the 
 common offices of humanity made them. Now there is a feeling 
 of brotherhood, a community of interests, and instincts. He has a 
 fellowship with them which is founded upon their " fellowship with 
 the Father and with his Son Jesus Christ." All the children of 
 God are like him. They are renewed after his image ; and one of 
 the first etlects of the Holy Spirit's agency is to draw the lines of 
 that image deep and indelible. It has tints which speak the 
 beauty and colouring of the skies. It is accompanied with the 
 rudiments of that language which sounds barbarian in uncircumcised 
 ears, but which is common and peculiar to renewed men, and is 
 spoken perfectly and alone at thecourt of the great King. " Their 
 speech bewrayeth them," and marks a dignity, for which, were it 
 possible, the monarchs of the world would do well and wisely to 
 
NATURE AND NECESSITY OF REGENERATION. 315 
 
 barter their crowns and kingdoms. They may be obscure and 
 contemptible to outward view. Lazarus lies at your palace-door, 
 perhaps hated and disregarded. But he has a life-guard of a 
 celestial Prince. Ministering spirits are in attendance, and wait 
 for the signal to convey him away to the regions of light. You 
 may perhaps see him there one day, when a drop of water to cool 
 your tongue will be of more value to you than all that earthly 
 grandeur which now pampers pride, and, it may be, shuts you out 
 from the kingdom of God. But that "love of the brethren," of 
 which I speak, depends not upon external things. It looks to the 
 image of God, which can send forth the rays of its glory through 
 the poverty, and meanness, and misery, of earthly beings. It is 
 not ashamed of those rags of which God himself is not ashamed, 
 and which comport with a heavenly inheritance. ye, who bear 
 the image of the heavenly as ye have borne that of the earthly 
 Adam, whatever be your condition here, I will call you my brothers, 
 my sisters, by a dearer tie than ever bound flesh and blood together 
 — the tie of the Saviour's grace, of which the whole beauty and 
 strength shall be reserved for our rapturous discovery in the king- 
 dom of our Father ! 
 
 Lastly, The regenerated sinner has new relations and tastes, 
 preferences, pleasures, and pursuits, adapted to and growing out 
 of his new state of existence. 
 
 1. He has new relations. 
 
 To God the Father. In his natural state, his relations were 
 those of a rebellious creature under sentence of death, ftow he 
 is " reconciled to God by the death of his Son." The sentence 
 which was passed against him is reversed, and he stands adjudged 
 to life, by a sentence which there is no power in the universe to 
 cancel. "Who shall lay anything to the charge of God's elect?' 
 " It is God that justifieth !" His relations as a rebel are replaced 
 by those of a dear child, and God is become to him a gracious and 
 loving Father. 
 
 To God the Son, who has redeemed him by his blood and sub- 
 dued him by his grace to the obedience of the faith. He is accepted 
 in the Beloved, who makes intercession for him ; who is gone up 
 on high to prepare a place for trim, and shall show him, at last, 
 among that ransomed family, of which he shines in the honours 
 of the first-born. 
 
31G SERMON XV. 
 
 To God the Holy Ghost. No longer to him the Spirit of the 
 curse but of blessings manifold, who is now his companion, his 
 guide, his protector— who shows him the path of life, and will be 
 with bim to the end, crowning him with ultimate and complete 
 victory over all adversaries, and introducing him at last into the 
 presence of the blessed One with exceeding joy. 
 
 To the divine law. Armed no longer with destructive penalty, 
 but commissioned to be his preceptor, to guide his feet into the 
 way of peace, that his path, being the path of the just, shall shine 
 brighter and brighter unto the perfect day. 
 
 To the providence of God, which shall permit no ill to befall 
 him — nothing which shall endanger his substantial interests — 
 nothing which shall not promote his sanctification — working an 
 increase of grace— producing the peaceable fruits of righteousness, 
 and causing all things to co-operate for his final and perfect good. 
 
 To the holy angels, with whom he is united into a new family 
 under Christ the Head, who love him for the sake of his Elder 
 Brother, and always behold the face of his Father in heaven, 
 waiting to do him good, and glad to be employed at his command 
 in acts of kindness to him as the heir of salvation. 
 
 2. Regenerated men have new tastes, preferences, and pleasures. 
 For those things which were once their delight they have lost their 
 relish. " They that are Christ's have crucified the flesh with its 
 affections and lusts." They taste that the Lord is gracious. They 
 prefer the company and condition of fellow-heirs. Like Moses, 
 they had " rather suffer affliction with the people of God, than en- 
 joy the pleasures of sin for a season ; esteeming the reproach of 
 Christ greater riches than the treasures of Egypt."—" The Lord 
 puts gladness into their hearts more than in the time when corn 
 and wine," the best sensual joys, abound to the men of sin. 
 
 3. Regenerated men have entirely new pursuits. 
 
 Like other Gentiles they once walked in the vanity of their 
 minds— committing iniquity with greediness— minding only the 
 things of time and sense— neglecting, despising, hating whatsoever 
 looked farther than the sphere of their purblind vision, and aimed 
 at an inheritance beyond the grave. Now that their eyes are 
 opened, and their hearts changed,*they cast their glance back with 
 shame and horror, upon the practices and the perdition they have 
 escaped. 
 
NATUKE AND NECESSITY OF REGENERATION. 317 
 
 God hath called them into the fellowship of his Son Jesus 
 Christ, and they " no longer run to the same excess of riot." — 
 " They have chosen the better part, which shall not be taken from 
 them." They have cast in their lot with the strangers and pil- 
 grims, who, though in the world, are not of it, but are marching 
 through it to the place of their destination, to the land of the 
 shining ones. " They seek a better country " than earth, " even a 
 heavenly : therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God, 
 for he hath prepared for them a city." With their eyes fastened 
 on that city — " the peace of God keeping their hearts and minds " 
 — and with the hope of seeing Jesus as he is, strong in their 
 bosoms, they press toward the prize of their high calling, till, 
 every duty fulfilled, every obstacle surmounted, every enemy van- 
 quished, they are welcomed by the shout of the holy ones, into the 
 presence of their Father. 
 
 Recollecting and comparing the remarks which have been made 
 on the change, commonly called regeneration, or more scripturally, 
 the " being born again," you may form something like a just idea 
 of those who " enter into the kingdom of God — in other words, of 
 true Christians. They are brought into a world where they see 
 and discern spiritual objects in a spiritual light. They exist by a 
 new medium— the Spirit of God. Their life is maintained by new 
 means — the divine word and ordinances. Their faculties undergo 
 a new development — understanding, affections, will, all are directed 
 to new and holy things ; particularly a sanctified charity, exerting 
 itself in love to God and man, rules in their hearts — and, finally, 
 they have new relations, tastes, preferences, pleasures, and pursuits 
 — all marking a complete and radical change in the ruling principles 
 of the soul. 
 
 This description of the new man rests not upon human fancy, 
 but on the divine testimony : every part and portion of it being 
 supported by clear scriptural authority, and conies to your con- 
 sciences with " Thus saith the Lord." I have not said that every 
 believer is at all times an example of this character, in the whole 
 variety, extent, and power of its graces ; nor that he may not fall 
 short, now in one and then in another. But I say that these 
 graces, of their own nature, belong to that new life which the Holy 
 Ghost implants in the new birth — that they are elements which 
 enter into the composition of that new character which is more or 
 
318 SERMON XV. 
 
 less unfolded here, and shall be seen in all its proportions and 
 perfections in the future life— I say that they all of them belong 
 substantially to every one who " enters the kingdom of God." 
 That he will study to be a living proof of their presence and pre- 
 valence — and that in fact they are expanded, the seed of God 
 which contains them being gradually developed, in size, strength, 
 and beauty, as the several circumstances of his lot render their 
 proper exercise necessary. We are now to enquire, 
 
 II. Into the absolute necessity of such a change before a man 
 can enter into the kingdom of God. It arises, 
 
 1. From the divine determination. Without it, says the Re- 
 deemer, "he cannot enter into the kingdom of God." Be your 
 religious connections ever so pure — your external privileges ever so 
 great — your outward profession ever so decided — your moral con- 
 duct among men ever so exemplary — the question still remains, 
 have you been " born again ?" Without this all other advantages 
 are nothing ; all other recommendations are of no avail ; " except 
 a man be born" — lay it well to your hearts that there be no fatal 
 mistake — " except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he 
 cannot enter into the kingdom of God." Our Lord Jesus Christ, 
 who is the eternal Truth, has settled this point beyond the possi- 
 bility of reconsideration. Never hope that it may be reversed ; 
 that it may be revised ; that some favourable judgment may be 
 passed, which shall admit you at last, however unqualified ; for, 
 in the 
 
 2. Place, this necessity arises from the " very nature of the case." 
 For this purpose was the Son of God manifested, that he might 
 
 destroy the works of the devil. Now the devil's principal work in 
 our world is the apostasy and corruption of man. It is in the 
 human soul that his abominable triumph is to be seen and felt. 
 There he has effaced the glorious image of his Creator, and has 
 drawn his own hideous likeness in its place. There he has entered 
 in as a foul usurper ; he makes the heart the citadel of his rebellion ; 
 and marshals under his command all the faculties and affections, 
 to resist the authority of his rightful Sovereign. Can a man thus 
 forsworn to his allegiance, thus allied to the prince of darkness, 
 thus sharing with him in all the tempers and principles of his 
 revolt ; can a man thus circumstanced, suppose ye, be admitted 
 
NATURE AND NECESSITY OF REGENERATION. 319 
 
 into that kingdom which is set up for the annihilation of Satan's 
 power, and supposes a renunciation of his cause, and a desertion 
 of his standard, in every one who joins himself to Messiah the 
 Prince, and becomes a loyal subject of the King of kings ? Must 
 not the thieves be expelled, and their den purified by celestial 
 ablution — be converted into a temple of the living God ? Must 
 not the faculties be restored to their original use, and ability 
 imparted to perform the duties and to relish the pleasures of this 
 new and sacred state? And as the kingdom of God here is pre- 
 paratory to his kingdom hereafter, or rather is but a part of that 
 same dispensation, shall any who are not qualified for the kingdom 
 of glory be acknowledged as the real subjects of his grace ? " Shall 
 any thing that defileth, or that worketh abomination" find a place, 
 do ye imagine, in the regions of the just ? And shall a sinner, 
 laden with guilt, steeped in pollution, his heart filled with enmity 
 against the Holy One, and himself, at best, whatever be his 
 appearance in the eyes of men, but an accomplice in the treasons 
 of the pit ; shall such an one find his way into the number of those 
 " whom the Lord knoweth to be his," and claim his place in the 
 ante-chamber of the King's palace ? The bosom of every sanctified 
 one, of all who shall see the King in his glory, swells with 
 abhorrence. The faces even of those who are yet strangers to the 
 commonwealth of Israel, redden with shame at the impudence of 
 the expectation ; and every un seared conscience is appalled at the 
 blasphemy. No, no, the thing is impossible ! " Ye must be born 
 again." All the principles, affections, tastes, and habits, of your 
 natural state, must be changed; a revolution, internal, holy, 
 complete, must be effected, or you bid an eternal adieu to the 
 " kingdom of God.'' It is a terrifying thought, a fearful utterance 
 to be proclaimed in the ears of professed Christians, yet an utterance 
 of imperious necessity, except ye be thus changed, except ye be 
 washed, justified, sanctified by the name of the Lord Jesus, and 
 by the Spirit of our God, ye never see his kingdom — not a soul 
 of you. 
 
 Allow me then, with all plainness and fidelity, to press this point, 
 and to ask you, who pass in the world as Christians, do you know 
 from experience, what is this new birth, this transition from death 
 unto life, without which the gates of the kingdom of God are 
 barred against you here, and will be so forever hereafter ? Do 
 
320 SERMON XV. 
 
 you know anything about it? I do not mean what >ou can say 
 about it. There are many who have been well instructed by man, 
 on this as on other peculiar doctrines of the gospel, and who can 
 make long, luminous, and eloquent dissertations on their abstract 
 truth ; yet never knew their grace, nor felt their power, nor set 
 their foot in the "kingdom of God." My friends, this is not 
 enough. You may have abundance of intellectual light — as much 
 speculative wisdom as the most distinguished spirit of the pit — you 
 may believe the truths of this Bible upon conclusive external 
 evidence — you may be exemplary in your moral deportment toward 
 your fellow-creatures— participate in all the outward privileges of 
 the Christian church— be accounted a believer of high degree 
 before mortal tribunals, and yet the renewing spirit of God has 
 had nothing to do with you. "The world," says the beloved 
 John, " knoweth us not." Is not the Christian character a riddle 
 and a mystery, containing something which you cannot unravel ? 
 When he speaks of the blood of Jesus Christ " cleansing the con- 
 science from dead works to serve the living God — of that peace 
 which passeth all understanding— of setting his affections on 
 things above— of looking for the blessed hope, the appearing of 
 the great God our Saviour" — does he not speak a foreign language ? 
 Are you not sensible there is something here which you do not 
 understand? which has no counterpart in your soul? It is dread- 
 fully ominous. There is every ground to fear that when God shall 
 judge the secrets of men by Jesus Christ, you may prove destitute 
 of the only thing which can entitle or qualify you 1o enter his 
 heavenly kingdom — all your knowledge, gifts, profession, and 
 privileges notwithstanding. 
 
 And is it so indeed? Must we admit the overwhelming 
 thought, that many whom we knew in the flesh, whom we loved 
 for their amiable properties, whom we hailed as brethren in the 
 common salvation, must at last sink down before our faces in bot- 
 tomless perdition ? Shall any pass from their seats in this sanc- 
 tuary into the place of despair? what a sweet relief to the 
 foreboding heart, that still there is hope ! It has not yet come to 
 the dreadful extremity. then, what shall we do to be saved? 
 Who utters that agonizing cry? The way is but one, and it is 
 short. " Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be 
 «»ve<l."— " The mouth of the Lord hath spoken it." There is no 
 
NATURE AND NECESSITY OF REGENERATION. 321 
 
 peradventure in the case. Thou shalt be saved ! had I but 
 that precious faith, this unbelief would not weigh me down, like a. 
 mill-stone of death. Go to " Jesus, the author and finisher of 
 faith," who has it to give, and who gives it freely. Go to him 
 with your stony heart, with your death " in trespasses and sins,' 
 and plead with him for the quickening Spirit. Never quit him till 
 you get an answer of peace ; throw yourself at his feet, and lie 
 there where sinner never yet perished, till he be gracious unto 
 you. He hath said, " Him that cometh unto me, I will in no wise 
 cast out." 
 
 A word to the children of God, and I have done. Beloved, now 
 are we the sons of God. Born of his Spirit, and introduced into 
 his kingdom, " What manner of persons ought we to be in all holy 
 conversation and godliness ?" Exemplify the beauties, breathe the 
 tempers, speak the language, cherish the loftiness, of the kingdom. 
 It is not for those who are of such high descent and such infinite 
 expectations, to stoop to those toys which the children of earth mis- 
 take for riches, nor to defile themselves with the pollutions which 
 they miscall pleasures. Keep unspotted that white robe in which 
 you were clothed on the day of your new birth, the day of your 
 espousals, and of the gladness of your heart. Know ye that the 
 very angels of God can tell you, as the heirs of the kingdom, only 
 by your " walking as Christ also walked?" It is the light of the 
 divine image shining out in its brightness that renders your names 
 visible in the catalogue of God's elect. Ponder much your obliga- 
 tions to the grace of the Lord Jesus, who loved you with an ever- 
 lasting love — so loved you as to give himself an offering for you. 
 The bitterness of Gethsemane and the anguish of Calvary, the 
 rage of hell and the curse of God, could not shake his loving pur- 
 pose, nor make him flinch from his resolution to save you. From 
 the sentence of God's righteous law and the danger of eternal death 
 — from the filth and power of your depravity — the service, the 
 communion, and the recompense of the devil — he hath called you 
 to a rank above the angels, and to all the blessedness of the king- 
 dom of God. Oh ! " We will remember thy love more than wine." 
 — " To him that loved us, and washed us from our sins in his own 
 blood, and hath made us kings and priests unto his God and 
 Father; to him," with all affection?, "be glory and honour, 
 dominion and power, for ever and ever, amen." 
 
 v 
 
SERMON XVI. 
 
 WORKS OF THE FLESH AND SPIRIT 
 DISTINGUISHED. 
 
 JOHN iii. 0. 
 
 " That which is born of the flesh is flesh ; and that which is born of the Spirit 
 
 is spirit." 
 
 The doctrine of the new birth, which the Prophet of the Church 
 has declared to be the original of all spiritual character, and 
 all heavenly hope, and without which, he has decided most 
 peremptorily, a man " cannot enter into the kingdom of God," 
 sounds most uncouth in the ears of corrupted reason. It is so 
 entirely out of the way of human wisdom — it contains a fact so 
 utterly anomalous, or rather so repugnant to the known constitu- 
 tion of either physical or moral nature, that even "masters in 
 Israel" have pronounced the plain meaning of the terms in which 
 it is proposed, to be absurd and fanatical, and have had recourse 
 to a monstrous figure in order to make our Redeemer's language 
 intelligible, and vindicate him from the charge of Puritanism. 
 Men, to whom " the things of the Spirit of God," in their obvious 
 construction, are foolishness, love to take refuge in this system of 
 figuring ; and when they have so strained and altered the phrase- 
 ology of the Bible as not to leave standing a syllable which savours 
 of its sense, or from which you could by any possibility guess at 
 its propositions, they please themselves with having made it speak 
 a rational Christianity, when they have only destroyed every cha- 
 racter which can alarm the guilty or give peace to the alarmed. 
 Thus it has fared with the doctrine of regeneration. The words of 
 our Lord are so very simple and plain, that it requires some effort 
 
WORKS OF THE FLESH AND SPIRIT DISTINGUISHED. 323 
 
 of ingenuity to mistake them. Yet they have not been able to 
 escape. Criticism has laid her foul hands upon them, and, by the 
 aid of that machine called a figure, had at one time diluted them 
 into baptism of water by the hands of a regularly ordained priest, 
 and at another has made them typical of outward reformation, 
 though always in such a form as to bespeak something clearly 
 within the power of corrupted man, and effectually to exclude the 
 similitude of a birth. But it is so palpable as to need no proof 
 that our Lord designates every effect produced by the agency of 
 man flesh, and the effects produced by the agency of the Spirit of 
 God spirit — that these effects are essentially contrasted — that they 
 allow of no mixture, no concurrence, in the formation of the new 
 birth — that they are, and necessarily must be, as different and 
 opposite as flesh and spirit are — that alter, modify, refine, as much 
 as you will, that which proceeds from the flesh, it is flesh still and 
 nothing else, partaking exclusively of the nature of its author — so 
 alter, modify, debase, if you can, that which proceeds from the 
 Spirit of God, it is spirit still and nothing else, partaking exclu- 
 sively of the nature of its blessed Author. He therefore denies 
 that in this new birth there can be any copartnership, co-opera- 
 tion, or concern whatever, of the power of man with the power of 
 the Holy Spirit. They who become the subjects of it u are born, 
 not of flesh, nor of blood, nor of the will of man, but of God." 
 
 Our unrenewed nature, with all its propensities and habits, acts 
 and inclinations, the Scripture emphatically terms flesh ; using it 
 as equivalent with our " old man " — with the *' body of sin," which 
 is to be put off, to be crucified, to be destroyed, but never to be 
 amended. There is not such an idea to be found in the whole 
 Bible, nor any thing which contains a shadow of it, as that of 
 reforming the works of the devil. The Lord performs his graciou- 
 work by creating a " new man in Christ Jesus," not by repairing 
 the " old man." Yet it is a common and ruinous error for a sinner 
 to imagine that, if he cannot do all that is requisite to insure the 
 kingdom of heaven, he can do much. If he cannot completely renew 
 his heart, and make himself meet for the inheritance of the saints 
 in light, he can do a great deal — or if not a great deal, can do 
 something towards forwarding this desirable work. So that the 
 Spirit of God, though he may have a large or even principal share 
 in the glory, shall not have it all; but he shall himself receive due 
 
324 SERMON XVI. 
 
 credit for improving the opportunities he had. Without taking up 
 your time in exposing the ignorance and arrogance of such a pre- 
 tension, I shall briefly observe, that it finds its way into the heart 
 of every unconverted man, and has wound its insidious coil so 
 firmly around many hearers of the gospel, that nothing short of a 
 divine deliverer can set them at liberty. 
 
 To counteract so pernicious but natural a mistake is the mani- 
 fest design of the text. Hear it, professed disciple, and let it stir 
 thee up to* a rigorous examination of thy exercise and attainments : 
 " That which is born of the flesh is flesh ; and that which is born 
 of the Spirit is spirit." 
 
 Let me entreat you to accompany me through a short inquiry 
 into those religious phenomena which, however specious, may rise 
 no higher than corrupt nature, and wherein the work of the Spirit 
 of God is to be distinguished from them. 
 
 I. Those religious phenomena to which corrupted nature is 
 equal. " That which is born of the flesh is flesh." 
 
 1. Early impressions of serious things in a religious community. 
 
 Where a reverence of the gospel is established — where it per- 
 vades all the social habits, and especially where our own friends 
 are under its influence — nothing is more natural or certain than 
 that, under such circumstances, the religious feeling should become 
 characteristic, and that many persons should imagine themselves 
 to be true Christians, who know of no other power operating upon 
 their minds than the power of imitation. How far this may be 
 carried it is impossible to tell, but it is lamentable to think how 
 deep and how extensive are the delusions which accompany it, and 
 how immensely difficult is the recovery of persons involved in it. 
 They were brought up in the profession of the Christian religion — 
 it may be in the very exact and austere performance of religious 
 duties. Their parents, their ancestors, were all most exemplary in 
 the same way, and who, if not themselves, should have a claim to 
 the Christian character? I shall not admonish my hearers that 
 there is no such thing as prescription in Christianity for a man's 
 personal interest in its privileges. Unhappily, the argument is 
 very short, very plain, and brings us directly to the conclusion of 
 the text. 
 
 W»' happen to have known some who had no other religion than 
 
WORKS OF THE FLESH AND SPIRIT DISTINGUISHED. 325 
 
 an hereditary religion, and who were reported as religiously in- 
 clined, but whose course soon proved how untrue was this opinion 
 respecting them. We have seen numbers of them gradually 
 throwing off their religious inclinations, and becoming perfectly 
 content with the reputation of honest men. This reputation, in- 
 deed, they keep up, and it is highly honourable in them to do so; 
 but for any resemblance to our Lord Jesus Christ — for any evi- 
 dence that they pay the least regard to his authority or his glory — 
 for any that they ever think of him — you might as well, to use a 
 comparison of the ancients, you might as well look for a knot in a 
 bulrush. I speak of all those who have been religiously educated, 
 and have turned their backs upon that holy name which they were 
 early taught to fear. I bring into my remonstrance millions of 
 facts, and, what is infinitely more terrible, millions of immortal 
 souls, that have sunk down to hell with all the beneiit of a tradi- 
 tionary faith. If you will not hear me, hear them who have 
 perished, and who can testily, by the most tremendous of all expe- 
 rience, that the religion of the father will not save the son; and 
 that all in which they trusted was nothing more than the doings 
 of the flesh, which never brought them out of the condemned 
 world, nor ever enabled thern to see the kingdom of God. 
 
 2. There are not a few among the men of more inquisitive minds, 
 who hold the previous class of religionists in sufficient contempt. 
 To inherit their faith as they would a tract of land or a bag of 
 money; to be taught religion as they were taught their alphabet; 
 or to join the cry and follow in the course of the multitude around 
 them — appears to them ignoble and base, a sort of swindling for 
 reputation upon the credit of more honest men. Christianity, they 
 are told upon the highest of all authority, is a " reasonable service.'' 
 and they cannot conceive how any man, who consults his reasonable 
 nature, can make an intelligent profession of a religion of which he 
 has not examined the proofs ; and he finds no difficulty in explaining 
 the apostacy of those whom change of climate, of company, or the 
 habits of society, have introduced into a scene where their former 
 principles and profession, if not disreputable, were at least of no 
 advantage. For themselves they are satisfied upon mature ex- 
 amination, that revelation is true, and furnishes the only solid 
 ground of present peace and future blessedness. Demonstration is 
 always the same; conviction founded upon it never alters-; and 
 
326 SERMON XVI. 
 
 consequently, go where they will, they carry their religion with 
 them. Christianity is never insulted, nor Christians put to the 
 blush, by their infidelity. 
 
 We are not now to learn that belief arising from personal re- 
 search and conviction, is in matters of reasoning of a much higher 
 order than any persuasion induced by the authority or example of 
 others. And as there is no necessity, so we have no inclination, 
 to disparage the rational evidence for Christianity, and the con- 
 viction growing out of it. We maintain, on the contrary, that 
 genuine conviction of revealed truth is the most rational thing 
 imaginable; and that they who reject it, labour under disordered 
 intellects. But it is still a most serious inquiry, whether the 
 merely rational belief in the truth of the scriptures, such as has 
 been described, has any connection with the salvation of the soul; 
 or involves in the least degree the favour of God ; or rises any 
 higher than what our Lord calls the flesh ; i. e. whether it any 
 more secures than can be attained by mere carnal reason, or 
 is experienced by the "carnal mind, which is enmity against 
 God." 
 
 Tn his dispensations towards sinners, the Most High deals with 
 t em as with rational creatures, in whom their reason, though 
 d 'praved, is not destroyed. He has therefore fortified his revela- 
 tion by every sort of moral proof; so that his servants may always 
 be "able to give a reason of the hope that is in them ;" that every 
 attack upon their faith and hope maybe successfully repelled, and 
 unbelievers left without excuse. But who does not see, that in 
 order to accomplish its purpose, this must proceed upon principles 
 common to the friends and the enemies of his Gospel ; upon prin- 
 ciples strictly within the reach of the unsanctified mind ! Accord- 
 ingly, a man by the use of his natural though corrupted reason, may 
 easily arrive at the conclusion that the Bible is the Word of God ; 
 nay, that every particular doctrine therein revealed, not excluding 
 the very doctrines on which the salvation of the soul depends, are 
 undeniably his word, and maybe quite as sound in his speculative 
 opinions as the believer who stands highest in the records of life. 
 All this is nothing more than drawing fair conclusions from simple 
 and well-established premises ; and were this enough to con- 
 stitute a true Christian, the best logician would certainly be the 
 soundest believer. But what is the fact? Are the most humble, 
 
WORKS OF THE FLESH AND SPIRIT DISTINGUISHED. 327 
 
 tender, spiritual Christians to be found in the ranks of these men 
 of reason ? Does their religion ever stand in the way of those 
 tempers and passions, which, the Scripture being judge, shut them 
 out of the "kingdom of God?" Do we not see them to be as 
 careless of their immortal souls, and of the things that accompany 
 salvation, as if going to heaven were a matter of course? or let 
 men live as they please, there were no possible risk of being re- 
 fused an entrance? Do we not often see them reproaching, 
 reviling, persecuting, those who do not choose to be cast at last 
 among " the devil and his angels," for the sake of company ? Do 
 they not deal as freely in that courtly vocabulary which finds no 
 more respectful epithets for those who " give all diligence to make 
 their calling and election sure, than " enthusiasts," " fanatics," 
 "priest-ridden," "hypocrites," as the veriest infidel in the land? 
 Do they not all the while retain their religion, profess to be un- 
 doubted believers, and inveigh loudly against those spiritual 
 ruffians who would snatch away from us our faith and hope? 
 What shall we now say to these things, with the proofs of which 
 the whole face of the community is overspread ? Shall we say 
 that these men are, in a scriptural sense, Christians ? that they 
 have any mark about them of the " new creation ?" that vou 
 could so much as suspect them to be " God's workmanship, created 
 in Christ Jesus unto good works?" The question is almost a libel 
 upon human understanding, corrupted as it is ? No, my friends, 
 the utmost which this Christianity can pretend to, is a persuasion 
 of the fact that the scripture is the Word of God, and every one of 
 its doctrines a part of his testimony, But between believing that 
 they are his word, and believing " the testimony of God," there is 
 as wide a difference as between being in the kingdom of God and 
 being out of it. Apostacy does not prevent clear perceptions of 
 abstract truth. The wickedest man upon earth may have his 
 head filled with right notions. Suppose ye that the devil doubts 
 of the divine original of Scripture, or that he is not well versed in 
 their sense ? It is his puny disciples here, who, swelled with the 
 pride of their philosophical character, murder and mangle it in a 
 way of which Satan himself would be ashamed. There is, therefore, 
 nothing in all we have been considering, that may not be the fruit of 
 depraved principle — nothing that at all requires a better or holier 
 parentage. It may be, it often is, " born of the flesh," and as 
 
328 SERMON XVI. 
 
 worthless and unholy as the source from which it springs — " it is 
 flesh." 
 
 3. Some men's affections are much engaged in religious things 
 — they undergo strong excitement, and these pass for evidence of 
 a divine change. 
 
 In drawing this conclusion, has due allowance been made for 
 the excitement of the preacher ; for the energy, the pathos, the 
 eloquence, of his manner ? Have you not known some hearers of 
 the word to be awed into seriousness, softened into tenderness, 
 melted into tears ? to experience these effects repeatedly, and yet 
 manifest to the entire conviction of every observer, that they were 
 only for the moment — a shower upon a rock; copious while the 
 cloud poured, and instantly dried off. Has due allowance been 
 made for the occasion, often of itself so touching as to subdue the 
 feelings of the heart? for the time of life, or for the natural tem- 
 perament, which, in minds of gentler mould, is extremely suscep- 
 tible of soft impressions ? for the power of sympathy, which the 
 strongest nerve cannot always resist? and which bears down alike 
 him who came to pray, and him who came to scoff? What multi- 
 tudes of conversions, as they have been hastily called, has our day 
 seen, which were to be referred to groanings, and screechings, and 
 fallings, and faintings, and other extravagancies of a heated 
 imagination, which have yet been extolled as the work of the 
 Spirit of God, and which have left behind them nothing but that 
 animal lassitude which follows a fit of great excitement, or it may 
 be something worse ? To this general remark upon the effects of 
 high-wrought feeling, ministers of the gospel ought to pay some 
 attention. When God bestows a peculiar talent, he intends that 
 it shall be employed, and the employment is generally obvious. 
 The power cf strong reasoning— of rousing the secure— of com- 
 forting the afflicted — of animating exhortation— of pathetic per- 
 suasion, he has distributed as it pleased him ; to some after this 
 manner, to another after that. Employ what he has given you for 
 the glory of the Giver. Reason— rouse— comfort— exhort— per- 
 suade, as he hath enabled you ; he will take care that his own 
 gifts, properly used, shall do no harm. But never attempt, by 
 unhallowed means, to stir up artificial emotions. Violent intona- 
 tions, vehement utterances, furious gesticulations, irreverent 
 boldness, you may put off for zeal, but you must not father your 
 
WORKS OF THE FLESH AND SPIRIT DISTINGUISHED. 329 
 
 absurdities, nor its effects, upon the Spirit of God. Sooner or 
 later he will bring you into disgrace, and show the spiritual children 
 whom you think you have " begotten in the gospel," to be indeed 
 born " after your own image." There is nothing in all this com- 
 motion of the affections, nor all the religion which is ascribed to it. 
 that the flesh may not produce. Benr in mind the parable of the 
 stony-ground hearers, and the pungent lamentation over ancient 
 failures. " Ephraim, what shall I do unto thee? Judah, 
 what shall I do unto thee ? For your goodness is as the morning 
 cloud; and as the early dew it goeth away." 
 
 4. Among the professors of Christianity, are some who lay a 
 stress upon their works and their zeal. 
 
 It is quite an aphorism in religion, that " faith without works is 
 dead, being alone :" and when the world is so full of lip-service, of 
 Pharisees who " say and do not," it is some relief to find any who 
 "do as well as say;" and it seems harsh to question any thing in 
 the shape of practical piety. We might, however freely admit the 
 amount of what is done, and yet tax the age, much as its liberality 
 has been celebrated, with great niggardliness in promoting the 
 kingdom of Jesus Christ. It is by the contributions of poor people, 
 swelling the mass by their number, that those mighty operations 
 which are now shaking the nations, have been chiefly commenced 
 and carried on. To hear wealthy men, wearing the Christian name, 
 pleading their inability to do what the twentieth part Af their means, 
 in the hands of those whose hearts lie in the right place, would do 
 without difficulty, without complaint, without touching on a single 
 earthly comfort, does not give a very high idea of prevailing 
 bounty ; and the complacency with which they talk of the won- 
 derful occurrences of the day, looks very like a petition to the poor 
 for a scrap of reputation. But passing this: allowing as much 
 credit as is claimed on the score of alms and other good works ; 
 are there no donations to pious and charitable purposes given but 
 from a motive which the Searcher of hearts approves, and will 
 reward? This question, it is true, lies between the donor and his 
 God. But to him, it is awfully serious. How much is done from 
 mere constitutional generosity ? How much from the influence of 
 example ? How much from the force of importunity ? How much 
 from sectarian pride ? How much from sheer vanity ? all of which 
 is set down to the credit of religion; but not a farthing of which 
 
330 SERMON XVI. 
 
 • 
 
 will be allowed as such in that day when the Son of man shall 
 appear in his glory, to give to every one according to his works ! 
 In this great inquiry, the quantity will be of no account; the widow's 
 mite will not outweigh the rich man's treasures, if the motive of 
 both be alike reprehensible: and neither will be of any value, 
 where evangelical charity was wanting. You " may give all your 
 goods to feed the poor," or to do the community any other service, 
 yet without that heavenly grace, charity, you will be nothing. 
 How many splendid monuments are at this hour in existence of so 
 false and delusive a liberality? It is very true, that few churches 
 are now built, or hospitals founded, or colleges endowed, by the 
 death-bed legacies of men, who seek to compensate in the last 
 moment by such acts of equivocal piety, whole lives of iniquity 
 and rapine, and to bribe the keeper of purgatory by the tender of 
 gold which they cannot retain ; but there are other, cheaper, more 
 Christian-like forms of deception, where the light of truth has 
 driven popery with her monks, penalties, pardons, and the whole 
 rabble of her imposture from all respect in the public opinion. 
 
 We live at a time when the zeal for diffusing Bibles and for 
 sending missionaries swallows up almost every other species of 
 religious zeal, and when mere men of the world — judges, generals, 
 politicians — are among the foremost in seconding and sometimes in 
 leading the popular enthusiasm. It is good — it is glorious — it is 
 the doing of the Lord. The silver is his — the gold is his — and he 
 is pressing it into Messiah's service. But do none of those who 
 are engaged in this holy work lay upon it an unscriptural stress ? 
 Is there not a righteousness fabricated from it of no firmer texture, 
 nor valuable material, than the giving a Bible to a pauper or a 
 dollar to an Indian mission? Do not many deceive their souls 
 with a notion that to be a member of a Bible society is nearly if 
 not quite equivalent to entering the kingdom of God? And, 
 though the idea is too gross to be formally avowed, is there not a 
 fancy lurking about the heart, that a five-dollar bill is about enough 
 to purchase the kingdom of heaven ? If we should judge from the 
 reluctance with which some men part with a little money for a 
 purpose confessedly the most noble that is prosecuted upon earth, 
 our conclusion would not be far from the fact. It will be well if 
 individuals, who are trusting to such performances as these, do not 
 at last meet with that fatal and final repulse : " I know you not; 
 
WORKS OF THE FLESH AND SPIRIT DISTINGUISHED. 331 
 
 depart from me, ye workers of iniquity!" All such things can be 
 explained without the supposition of a particle of preternatural 
 grace. They may all at best proceed from the workings of a cor- 
 rupted principle ; they can be no better nor purer than their source, 
 " for that which is born of the flesh is flesh." 
 
 This train of reflection might be carried out into a long detail ; 
 but I forbear, and call your attention to notice by what, in the 
 
 II. Place, a real work of the Spirit of God may be distinguished 
 from every work of the flesh. " That which is born of the Spirit 
 is spirit." 
 
 1. Where the Spirit of God performs his gracious work, he in- 
 troduces into the soul a new principle altogether. This he has 
 himself called a new man — a new creature — a being created anew 
 in Christ Jesus. It is more than an improvement of our old 
 faculties or affections. It partakes of the nature of its blessed 
 Author. It is spirit — all spirit — nothing but spirit. It can re- 
 ceive no aliment from the flesh. It is supported by its immediate 
 intercourse with the eternal Spirit. It brings into a fellowship, of 
 which "flesh " has no manner of conception, with the living God. 
 It is hidden — a sacred secret — hidden with the Lord Jesus Christ 
 — with Christ in God — as perfectly impervious to the observation 
 and inexplicable to the understanding of carnal men, as are the 
 thoughts and affections of Christ himself. " The world knoweth 
 us not because it knew him not." When you can find out Jesus 
 Christ, you can find out a Christian, but not till then. He is 
 utterly out of your world, the scene of your investigation. He is, 
 as a Christian, where your researches never penetrated, and never 
 can penetrate. I undertake not to explain his interior and spiritual 
 life. I have no language that can describe him, nor have strangers 
 to his peculiarities any ideas to comprehend him. But I bless the 
 Lord my Saviour, that when the simple proposition is announced, 
 " that which is born of the Spirit is spirit," there are some within 
 these walls whose yearning hearts fly into his meaning, and can 
 attest the fact. They have just as good evidence of its existence 
 as they have of their own — their consciousness. I cannot impart 
 this evidence to the mind of another man ; but to me it is para- 
 mount to all others. " The Spirit of God also witnesses with their 
 spirits that they are the children of God;" giving such percep- 
 
332 SERMON XVI. 
 
 tions and consciousness of the fact as set all disputation at defi- 
 ance. These indeed are favoured moments even to the most 
 favoured disciples. But there are other things, other conscious- 
 nesses, which, in the midst of general doubt, and under the black- 
 ness of temptations, show infallibly the operation of the Spirit of 
 grace, a new life, a new principle, and order of living, for, 
 
 2. That which is born of the Spirit believes the testimony of 
 God. 
 
 It was suggested above, that to believe that the Bible is the 
 testimony of God, and to believe the testimony itself, makes all 
 the difference of being in the kingdom of God and being out of it 
 — all the difference between being real believers in Christ Jesus 
 and believers in name only — between having the form of godliness 
 and its power also. This is a peculiarity common to all that have 
 been " born of the Spirit." It is the idiom of their character, 
 which the men of mere rational conviction can never learn. A 
 plain Christian believes every jot and tittle of divine revelation 
 because God hath said it, and looks no farther for the ground of 
 his faith. Arguments from miracles, from prophecy, and the w T hole 
 stock of moral proofs, external and internal, have, properly speak- 
 ing, nothing to do in forming his persuasion. He has higher, 
 holier, more perfect ground, on which to build his faith, than the 
 most conclusive reasoner the world ever saw is able to furnish. 
 He "believes the witness of God " because it is his witness. He 
 has got up to the fountain-head of truth— the most victorious evi- 
 dence that can shed its light into the created mind. When he 
 perceives the authority of the ever-blessed God in its glory and 
 majesty, no mathematician was ever half so sure of a demonstra- 
 tion in Euclid as he is of the truth of that portion of the word of 
 grace thus divinely attested. This explains at once why Chris- 
 tians, though without any learning— though extremely limited in 
 their capacities of attaining it— are yet so firm in their faith, and 
 are not to be circumvented by those who " speak lies in hypocrisy," 
 nor by the " craftiness of those who lie in wait to deceive." They 
 may catch in their toils, as we see every day, the witty, the wise, 
 the disputer, the reasoner, of this world, but they lay not their 
 sacrilegious hands upon God's elect. He has given them by the 
 regenerating Spirit an understanding to know him that is truth, 
 and has made them so one with him " as to be in him that is true^ 
 
WORKS OF THE FLESH AND SPIRIT DISTINGUISHED. 333 
 
 even in his Son Jesus Christ." This Jesus Christ is the true 
 God, therefore he is the eternal life. Nor is there any power in 
 hell or out of it to move them from that ground. Seest thou that 
 man ? He walks by faith, not by sight. He is one of those guile- 
 less souls who cannot argue for Christ, but he can burn for him ; 
 and, while the flames are consuming his body, can commit it to 
 the Lord Jesus, with infinite confidence of its being raised up in 
 glory to an incorruptible inheritance. How came he by his faith? 
 Does it rest upon your reasoning, or anything of the sort? Upon 
 your reasoning? — a poor, feeble, blundering creature like himself! 
 Why, he would not burn one of his fingers for a string of your 
 syllogisms long enough to belt the earth ; and a rare fool would 
 he be if he should. Other influence has been at work. The 
 " Spirit, of faith " has touched his heart. He has revealed Christ 
 Jesus in him the hope of glory, and made his " faith to be the 
 evidence of things not seen, the substance of things hoped for." 
 — " Through " this " faith the elders obtained a good report," and 
 the same faith must possess, and fill, and rule, in every bosom that 
 entertains a Scriptural expectation of seeing God. 
 
 3, That which is born of the Spirit cherishes the highest esteem 
 of our Lord Jesus Christ. "He shall glorify me," said the Sav- 
 iour, "for he shall take of mine and shall show it unto you." 
 
 There are people, with great professions of religion, that take 
 much pains to hinder the world from thinking too highly of Jesus 
 Christ. They even try to degrade him below his own angels ; and 
 if that were not enough, can feed their vanity by a comparison be- 
 tween him and themselves, in which they have quite the advantage. 
 A ringleader in one of these sects did not scruple thus to qualify 
 his commendation, that " Jesus Christ was a very good man, but 
 no philosopher." He claimed to be a philosopher himself, and who 
 then was the more important personage, in his eyes, is manifest 
 enough. (Such blasphemy, which treats our Lord Jesus Christ 
 with less respect than does the devil himself, never came from the 
 Holy Spirit, nor fouled the mouths of any who were born of him.) 
 The scriptures, on the contrary, magnify him with every form of 
 elevated and high-wrought expression. There he has a name 
 which is above every name. He is seated at the right hand of 
 God. He sends forth the angels to do his will, and glorious as 
 they are, they are commanded to worship him even when he was 
 
334 SERMON XVI. 
 
 an incarnate babe. He sits arbiter of the fate of men and devils 
 The great empire of the grave is under his control. The gener- 
 ations of the dead come forth at his bidding, and not one of them 
 shall escape his righteous doom. In short, every name proper to 
 the true God ; every term by which the attributes of Deity can be 
 expressed ; the whole stock of human language is exhausted to 
 heap up epithets of glory upon Jesus Christ. There are things 
 with which the soui of a believer is in perfect accord. They delight 
 him, even to rapture. Nothing good and glorious is too good and 
 glorious for his gracious Redeemer. Has he loved me and given 
 himself for me ? Do I owe my place among the ransomed of the 
 Lord to his unmerited, unutterable grace ? Come, fellow-citizens 
 of the saints, ye household of salvation, strike all your harps at 
 once ! Come, ye holy ones on earth, and ye holy ones in heaven, 
 tune up your sweetest anthems ! Lift up your grateful hands, 
 and crown him Lord of all! Thus a Christian feels towards his 
 Redeemer. It is that which is born of the Spirit, breathing the 
 air and enjoying the elasticity of the spiritual world. 
 
 4. That which is born of the Spirit makes incessant use of the 
 Spiritual Saviour. 
 
 He has said, " without me ye can do nothing ; " and so a 
 Christian finds it. His attachment to his Redeemer, is not to 
 make a parade on a gala day, and have done with it ; it is neces- 
 sary for his habitual walk. The blood of Christ, which has 
 washed away his sins — the merits of Christ, from which he gets 
 his title to eternal life, must every hour exert their virtue upon his 
 soul. He cannot go to the throne of grace without the blood of 
 sacrifice; and the interceding priest— can perform none of his 
 duties, endure none of his trials, face none of his foes, but in the 
 strength of his heavenly leader—" but through Christ strengthen- 
 ing him he can do all things." This man is a Christian, born of 
 the Spirit; all his characteristics are spiritual, and with him 
 " Christ is all and in all." 
 
 Now, friends and brethren, who and what are ye ? To whom 
 do you belong, and whither are ye going ? Search and look : for 
 upon the decision of these questions hangs your eternity ; and you 
 may be just upon the brink. Do not deceive yourselves. A 
 Christian is not of earthly materials or manufacture. Flesh and 
 blood, with all its powers, attainments, and persuasions, can do 
 
WORKS OF THE FLESH AND SPIRIT DISTINGUISHED. 335 
 
 nothing for you. The Spirit of God must do the work ; he must 
 open your eyes, must renew your hearts, must lead you to Jesus, 
 must do everything ; for if you are his, you are " his workmanship 
 created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before 
 prepared that ye shonld walk in them." But " if any man have 
 not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of his ;" and whatever may be 
 his security, his hope, or his presumption, will be disowned in that 
 day, when one word of approbation will be worth more than a 
 thousand worlds. 
 
serm;on xvii. 
 
 TRUE HONOUR. 
 
 JOHN v. 44. 
 
 " How can ye believe, which receive honour one of another, and seek not the 
 honour that coraeth from God only?" 
 
 Next to a being perfectly holy, there is nothing so indefatigable 
 as a mind given to wickedness. Let the life of Jesus Christ 
 supply the proof. From the beginning to the end of his public 
 course, he encountered the contradiction of sinners ; walked among 
 their snares; and sustained, in every shape, ceaseless conflict with 
 their hatred and hostility. That they were invariably foiled, ex- 
 posed, disgraced, did not in the least deter them from repeating 
 the same hopeless experiment. In fact, having all shared in their 
 turn, the same fate, the ignominy of their defeat was too much 
 divided to be a reproach. The Pharisee could not point at the 
 Sadducees, nor these at the Herodians, because the finger of scorn 
 could be pointed back again. There was no public opinion which 
 they regarded, to frown them into decency. It came to be a prac- 
 tical maxim with them, that to be defeated and silenced by Jesus 
 Christ was no disgrace ; and they were too closely united in the 
 brotherhood of guilt to suffer any abatement of their rancour. (The 
 professing world affords, so far as I know, but one parallel of their 
 malevolence and persecution; and that is to be found among the 
 self-styled rational and philosophical Christians.) They seized the 
 occasion of his curing the impotent man on the Sabbath-day to 
 accuse him as a breaker of God's laws; and when he vindicated 
 himself on this principle, "My Father worketh hitherto and I 
 work," they heightened theiraccusation into a charge of blasphemy, 
 and " sought the more to kill him, because he had not only broken 
 
TRUE HONOUR. 337 
 
 the Sabbath, but said that God was his Father, making himself 
 equal with God." What wrongs and insults did the Lord Jesus 
 endure at the hands of these ancient Unitarians! (Wrongs and 
 insults to be surpassed only by those from the heirs of their unbe- 
 lief, the modern Unitarians.) Their imputation of blasphemy he 
 repels, by claiming such prerogatives, powers, and honours, as are 
 proper to God only ; and winds up his defence, by giving thefe 
 hypocrites a sensible proof that he was all what they deemed it 
 blasphemy in him to pretend to be ; gave them this sensible proof 
 by breaking open the recesses of their hearts, bringing into light 
 their secret principles of action, and proving to their faces the base 
 and abominable motives of their conduct. The applause of men 
 lay at the bottom of their zeal for God, and effectually excluded 
 all love for him, and all faith in his testimony. " How can ye 
 believe who receive honour one of another, and seek not the honour 
 which cometh from God only." 
 
 This rebuke to pharisaical pride, and explanation of pharisaical 
 unbelief, contains a principle of universal application ; the " incon- 
 sistency of receiving honour from men, with the faith of our Lord 
 Jesus Christ." They are such eternal opposites, that they cannot 
 live in the same heart. Whoever cleaves to the one must let the 
 other go. We cannot, indeed, determine the existence in this 
 matter of a corrupt propensity with the precision of our Lord 
 Jesus Christ, nor could any of his apostles ; because we have not, 
 nor had they, like him, the faculty of searching the heart. But 
 availing ourselves of his declarations, and pursuing the path which 
 his spirit has marked out for us in the Word, we shall, by his grace, 
 be enabled to assist others in the important and difficult work of 
 searching their own hearts. Let us therefore, try to fix by this 
 rule, the reigning principles of men " who receive honour one of 
 another ;" and why they produce an " impediment, amounting to 
 an absolute impossibility, of believing on our Lord Jesus Christ?" 
 
 I. What are the reigning principles of men who receive honour 
 one of another ? 
 
 " A good name," saith the Scripture, " is rather to be chosen 
 than great riches." He who has once discarded it from the number 
 of his inestimable things— who is at no pains to keep it up — who 
 would as soon commit an act from which his character is sure to 
 
 x 
 
338 SERMON XVII. 
 
 lose as one from which it is as sure to gain, has found his place 
 among the off-scourings of human nature, and is one of the most 
 dangerous enemies to human peace. It is a false indulgence, a 
 pernicious liberty, which permits a man to go at large who has 
 forgotten to blush. We should sadly mistake the Redeemer's 
 meaning, if we supposed that he intends to untie the bands of civil 
 society, or those ruffian hands which would gladly engage in the 
 detestable work. His own people guard their characters with the 
 utmost vigilance, and are the foremost to cultivate "whatsoever 
 things are of good report." To have therefore a good name — to 
 be well reported of for good works — to enjoy the praises of other 
 men, for upright principles and worthy deeds, is no obstacle to our 
 faith ; it is its natural consequence. 
 
 But the Scriptures, while they set its just value upon a fair fame 
 in the eyes of men, never purpose it as the end, or as the recom- 
 pense of actions substantially correct. They refer every thing to 
 the authority of God as its reason, and to its approbation as its 
 reward. Their design throughout is to bring us back to the God 
 from whom we have deeply revolted ; to break the power of all 
 meaner influences and motives ; to elevate our views to him, the 
 only source of duty, honour, and happiness ; making him the centre 
 of all our affections, as he is of all holy intelligences ; and turning 
 all our thoughts to "him first, him midst, him last, him without 
 end." 
 
 The character of the Pharisees was precisely the reverse of this : 
 and so is the character of all who, like them, " receive honour one 
 of another." Good things they did, many of them — good things 
 for number and kind, which far outstrip the deeds of some who 
 think that they sufficiently prove their faith by their works. The 
 Pharisee, who thanked God that he "was not like other men, 
 extortioners, adulterers, unjust, nor even like the poor sinner of a 
 publican that stood beside him, who fasted twice in the week, who 
 gave tithes of all that he possessed," leaves far behind him in the 
 race both of negative and positive virtues, many a gallant and 
 many a grave professor of Christianity. could we bring them 
 to but the half of the Pharisee's liberality, there should never be 
 any lack of means for religious purposes. Yet he who "knew 
 waht was in man," has planted his anathema upon the Pharisee's 
 glory, and lias told us most explicitly, that "except our righteous- 
 
TRUE HONOUR. 339 
 
 ness shall exceed the righteousness of the Scribes and Pharisees, 
 we -shall in no case enter into the kingdom of heaven." Why, 
 what was it that spoiled so fair a show ? What made so rich a 
 stockholder a bankrupt in the wealth of the skies, and exhibited 
 him to the eyes of holy angels and men, a more wretched pauper 
 than the beggar whose rags were his wardrobe, and his seat a 
 dunghill? This: he "loved the praise of men more than the 
 praise of God." All his devotions were performed, all his virtues 
 displayed, all his distinctions sought, for the ostentation of human 
 notice, and the breath of human applause. " God was not in all 
 his thoughts"— that which he coveted, he obtained— he got " his 
 reward, and lost his soul." — " So shall my heavenly Father do also 
 unto you," if your "inward parts," like his, are found to be "very 
 rottenness." Let us take this dreadful character, enlightened as it 
 is with the curse of God, and carry it round among the religious 
 community, to see if it warns none to fear an equally terrible fate. 
 Let us see whether its brand of reprobation is not upon many a 
 profession which cries " Lord, Lord," with the air of a disciple, and 
 confidently calculates upon a triumphant issue. 
 
 A marked revolution has taken place within a few years in the 
 public sentiment. Most of us can remember when scepticism, like 
 an overflowing stream, rushed through our land. It penetrated 
 alike into the cabinet, the office, the shop, the employments of 
 agriculture; the circulation of the Bible was stopped; the bench, 
 the bar, the schools of medicine and of merchandise, the mechanic 
 and the farmer, were infected with the mania. Our boys must set 
 up for free-thinking before they were capable of thinking at all. 
 To laugh at the Scriptures was quite as necessary for a fine gentle- 
 man as to defraud his humble creditors by petty acts of dishonesty. 
 A scrap of Paine's stolen ribaldry was a sufficient answer to the 
 Christian bigot. In short, a vast multitude of people in I 
 United States agreed in crying down the Bible, and crying up the 
 philosopher of infidelity, 
 
 The transition was too violent. The shock to national habit 
 and the national conscience altogether insupportable. People, 
 awakened from their dream, discovered that when they threw away 
 the Bible they were " without God," and that without God they 
 were " without hope in the world." 
 
 A revulsion, forcible in proportion to the extreme into which 
 
340 SERMON XVII. 
 
 they had been driven, was the natural result; and the tide of 
 opinion set in strongly in a contrary, i. e. in a Christian direction — 
 a direction in which it continues to run at this day, and so may it 
 continue to run till that day when our Lord Jesus Christ " shall 
 take to him his great power and reign." 
 
 To the current of public opinion, returning into its wonted 
 channels there was another cause, which powerfully co-operated in 
 aiding the same general effect. 
 
 In some parts of the country infidelity was found to be intimately 
 associated with odious politics, and straightway those very men 
 who, if left to themselves, had been thorough infidels, became 
 vigorous Christians, that they might be removed as far as possible 
 from every point of communion with "Jacobins;" insomuch that 
 in a great town, among the descendants of the pilgrims, whose 
 public worship had fallen into disrepute, and was much neglected 
 among the higher orders, it became a fashion to go to "church," 
 which fashion has continued : though whether the ministrations 
 which they support have anything in common with the faith of 
 their fathers or with the Word of God, or can in any manner assist 
 a sinner who desires to know what he shall do to be saved, is a 
 question on which none but the most melancholy negatives can be 
 given. Besides, in many sections of the land, there have been 
 manifest effusions of the Holy Spirit of God. He has been as the 
 rain, and he has been as the dew— sometimes more powerfully and 
 sometimes more gently influencing the hearts of men. Many, we 
 have reason to hope, were brought safely under the bond of God's 
 covenant; and many, we have reason to fear, have turned like the 
 "dog to his vomit, and like the sow that was washed to her 
 wallowing in the mire." 
 
 These things concurred in giving to the public feeling an 
 irresistible impulse. With all the secret enmity which prevails 
 against true religion, as implacable and bitter as ever, there is 
 great external respect shown to the forms and professions of 
 Christianity. " Infidel" is now a term of reproach. Such being 
 the state of society, can we imagine that all who name the name 
 of Christ do it in simplicity and truth? from the constraining 
 power of his love? Among the ten thousand hail masters which 
 fill our ears arc there no Iscariot voices ? No lips which convert 
 the token of tender affection into the medium of treason? No 
 
TRUE HONOUR. 341 
 
 hearts which are apparently with the disciples and in reality with 
 the adversary? No hand which meets the hand of Jesus in the 
 dish, and is prepared to make merchandise of his blood? Should 
 a " mighty wind" from heaven " shake our fig-tree," would not the 
 ground be strewed "with her untimely figs?" 
 
 To speak plainly, are there not multitudes among professed 
 Christians, whose sole or chief motive is the reputation which they 
 enjoy ? Who are held to their allegiance purely by the tie of 
 popularity? There is some credit attached to the Christian name ; 
 and while that credit lasts, none are more strenuous Christians. 
 But should the times change — should God in his providence permit 
 the enemy again to come in like a flood — should Christianity be 
 accounted infamous, or be subjected to heavy worldly sacrifices or 
 personal perils — alas! alas! for the visible church! How would 
 her ranks be thinned by desertion ! and the Captain of salvation 
 be left with those few followers to whom he has " given the white 
 stone and the new name !" (Those synagogues, indeed, nicknamed 
 rational churches, would lose nothing, limes of apostasy are 
 always propitious to the recruiting service of Satan, and apostates 
 the first to grasp at his bounty-money, and to cry, " Who is like 
 unto the beast?" — "Who is able to make war with him?" But) 
 How many of whom we had reason to "hope for things that 
 accompany salvation would draw back unto perdition?" Examine 
 quickly, while the hour of forbearance is not yet exhausted ye who 
 are allured by the respectability of religion into a profession of the 
 faith. You who are at best receiving honour one of another, and 
 your name at present must be erased from the album, the list of 
 those who believe on the Son of God. 
 
 In the next place, our Lord Jesus Christ, when he " ascended 
 up on high, received gifts for men," which he distributes in his 
 sovereignty as it hath pleased him. Among these corruption finds 
 much fuel for unhallowed profession. To particularize: 
 
 1. The ministry of the Word. 
 
 By the very nature of the case, as well as by the institution of 
 the Redeemer, this office exercises a powerful influence upon the 
 Church and on society, and has a proportional degree of honour 
 connected with it. True, where it is stripped of the support of a 
 civil establishment, it can seldom boast any golden charms. A 
 man may often shave more gold out of a block of timber than he 
 
342 SERMON XVII. 
 
 can from his services in the ministry ; but there are men not a 
 few, whose ambition lies in another direction, and who regard as 
 dross all money beyond the supply of their immediate necessities. 
 Now, to such men of a literary turn and of decent moral habits, the 
 pulpit presents what would be called a fair object of secular ambi- 
 tion. To appear once or twice a week in a marked distinction — to 
 enjoy prerogatives which custom at least has rendered inviolable 
 (the effectual and only safeguard of many a preacher) — to exhibit 
 the resources of intellect with the attractions of taste and the cor- 
 ruscations of genius — to enforce valuable moral truth by eloquence, 
 which shall be followed in the public assembly by silent admira- 
 tion, and out of it by applause and celebrity — and a respect and 
 influence unattainable in ordinary stations — what carnal heart is 
 proof against these temptations ? It is woeful to consider that the 
 devil has, through these means, succeeded in planting his servants 
 down in stations which were intended for Zion T s watchmen. Love 
 to the souls of men and to the Saviour of their souls — a sense of 
 their dire responsibility for the blood of men, and an honest desire 
 to be faithful, never entered the minds of some who have yet 
 rushed fearlessly into the ministry. The calling is reputable : 
 they wish to sustain its repute in the eyas of the world ; they re- 
 ceive honour from men ; it is the aliment of their hope, and the 
 object of their anxiety, Faith in our Lord Jesus Christ they have 
 none. Not a thievish publican nor a strolling harlot who are not 
 nearer the kingdom of God than they, and their ultimate reckoning 
 will be dreadful beyond description. 
 
 Besides the pulpit, there are other talents of which our Lord 
 shall exact an account. It is distressing to think that for the most 
 part he will exact it of those who never fairly brought them into 
 exercise; and on the other hand, that many whom he never em- 
 ployed have industriously run into forbidden paths. I know not a 
 more unchristian doctrine, nor one more pregnant with practical 
 mischief, than the doctrine which takes the part of the gifted 
 brethren. These brethren, if they invade not your pulpits, which, 
 thanks to the good order established in some churches, they cannot 
 do, nevertheless lay hold of the public praying societies. On all 
 occasions they are ready— on all occasions foremost. They are 
 nod with the ministry, and sometimes not to the advantage of 
 the latter. In process of time they begin to try their hand at ex- 
 
TRUE HONOUR. 
 
 hortation— next at preaching — and whore, do they say, is the 
 mighty dift'erence? And thus with self-complacency do they edge 
 onwards, until the ministry is surprised by the intrusion and pol- 
 lution of those to whom God never gave talent nor man cultiva- 
 tion. Mistake me not. I am no enemy to prayer nor to praying 
 societies. But I am an enemy to that withdrawing of men out of 
 their proper place. I am an enemy to whatever would fill them 
 with an improper conceit of themselves. I am an enemy to this 
 giving undue honour to those to whom it is not due, and to con- 
 verting the worship of God into a vehicle for the vanity of man, 
 and of the smallest of men. There is much ground to fear that 
 many a man's condemnation will be found on his distinction at a 
 praying society. He wished to be noticed — he was noticed. To be 
 talked of — he was talked of. To be praised — he was praised. He 
 sought honour of men — he got it, and it is all he is likely to get. 
 He " sought not the honour that cometh from God only," and will 
 be found at last to have not been even a believer in Jesus Christ. 
 I have not time to trace the different forms in which, under re- 
 ligious pretences, "men receive honour one of another," to the 
 detriment of all sound principle and the destruction of their own 
 souls. It remains to show, 
 
 II. Why the prevalence of such a temper is inconsistent with 
 the faith of our Lord Jesus Christ. 
 
 1. It involves a principle essentially sinful. 
 
 God alone is the universal monarch, the single fountain of true 
 honour, throughout the universe. When we seek our honour in 
 any other quarter, to the neglect of that which cometh from him 
 alone, we enter into a conspiracy against his throne. We exalt 
 into his place, and give the glory due to his name, to creatures, to 
 men, and often to bad men. We love, we pursue, we worship a 
 phantom. We set up the stumbling-block of our iniquity in our 
 hearts— commit that high rebellion which he has visited from age 
 to age, and now visits, and will continue to visit till the consum- 
 mation of all things, with his sharpest rebukes, his heaviest 
 curses. To "receive honour from one another, while we seek 
 not the honour that cometh from God only," is to cherish in our 
 hearts the very core of corruption, to identify ourselves in our 
 characters and interests with the fallen spirits, and to expose our- 
 
344 SERMON XVII. 
 
 selves infallibly to their fate. What can he conceived more hor- 
 rible, more utterly at variance with the faith of our Lord Jesus 
 Christ, more deserving of eternal damnation, than to declare prac- 
 tically that we have found a more bountiful benefactor — a nobler 
 object of our praise — a more sufficient portion for our hearts — a 
 richer source of good, than the living God. And what do they do 
 less, who seek their " honour one of another," in preference to that 
 '• which cometh from God only?" 
 
 2. Receiving honour from men necessarily implies criminal con- 
 formity to the world of sinners. 
 
 That which we most respect, admire, and love, we are prone to 
 imitate. It is a law of our being, and has its place, and exerts its 
 force, in the formation of spiritual as well as other character. If 
 you receive honour from the world, as contradistinguished from the 
 honour which cometh from God only, you must of necessity be like 
 the world — i.e., be most unlike God, who calls "his people into 
 the fellowship of his son Jesus Christ." The world also exercises 
 a stern, despotic power over its votaries. You must obey its 
 maxims ; you must adopt its modes ; you must speak its language ; 
 you must cultivate its temper; you must be the friend of its 
 friends, and the enemy of its enemies ; or its honour will be denied 
 to you, and you will be excommunicated from within its pale. The 
 world will not throw away its honours upon those who undervalue 
 them : and why should it? I do not mean that you must abjure 
 a religious profession : profess what you please, but go no farther, 
 or not so far as to war with its doctrines, and renounce its prac- 
 tices. You may have as much of a religious air, and be as devout 
 in your religious observances as you think proper, and lose none 
 of your honour from men. The world knows that you may have all 
 these— often more of their appearances than many whom it cannot 
 endure— and be sound in its interests all the while. Keep it 
 company, and wear its image, and it will never quarrel with you 
 for walking in the broad way with a Christian mark. But the 
 moment you open your heart to one particle of the love of God, 
 or faith in our Lord Jesus Christ, you are ruined, you are hated, 
 despised, proscribed. Now, how can this friendly correspondence 
 with the world, without which it is vain to look for its honours, 
 consist with the condition and character of a true believer? How 
 can it admit that gracious singularity which is mocked on earth, 
 
TRUE HONOUR. 3 1 5 
 
 but displays unutterable glories before the angels of God? How 
 does it accord with being " pilgrims and strangers, who Beek a 
 better country, that is, an heavenly?" How with that state of 
 separation which their God hath commanded : " Come ye out from 
 among them, and be ye separate, and touch not the unclean thing, 
 and I will receive you, and be a father unto you, and ye shall be 
 my sons and my daughters, saith the Lord Almighty ?" Brethren, 
 the thing is impossible. And so it is decided, " if any man love 
 the world, the love of the Father is not in him." As receiving 
 11 honour one from another" is, by the terms of the text, in oppo- 
 sition to " seeking that honour that cometh from God only," and 
 as it implies a participation of all those tempers and feelings which 
 are exactly the reverse of all the teachings and influence of the 
 Spirit of God, it follows that, so long as a man continues thus to 
 receive honour, so long as he lays such a stress upon human ap- 
 probation, it is simply and forever impossible that he should be a 
 believer in Jesus Christ, or have the smallest share in his salva- 
 tion, or one single hope towards God, which will not perish as 
 infallibly as the leaf fades and falls in autumn. 
 
 This receiving honour one of another deceives men by its 
 specious form 
 
 The love of honour is a principle of our nature, as it came from 
 the hands of its Divine Maker. He framed us for glory, honour. 
 and immortality. But its beauties are all laid waste, and its 
 direction wholly perverted, by that universal destroyer, Sin. Yet 
 the principle, though depraved, remains, is found to operate most 
 strongly in the most ingenuous spirits, and has actually gone so 
 far as avowedly to dispute the empire with the law of God. We 
 hear it confidently stated, as if it were a moral axiom, that there 
 are two laws for society — religion, and the law of honour; and 
 that when a man disregards the sanctions of one, he is amenable 
 to the other. A notable expedient for a sinful worm, to improve 
 the moral government of God his Maker! Besides, we are bound, 
 even by the law of God, to render "honour where honour is due." 
 Great private worth and public services command, and should 
 command, our most respectful homage. But the misery is, that 
 this homage and this love of honour twine round about the soul, 
 and terminate without looking farther. It makes the man forget 
 his immortal destiny— forget the crown of righteousness— forget 
 
346 SERMON XVI 1. 
 
 the righteous Judge, and cleave to earth, and the voice of earthly 
 praise, as to the perfection of his bliss. This principle is most 
 observable in political and military men. I shudder when I think 
 the applauses of our country are avowedly the motives and the 
 reward of our most distinguished men ; and when I see the public 
 press commending the greatness and magnanimity of the senti- 
 ment and diffusing the moral pestilence through a thousand streams 
 into the very heart of the community — and that, too, in many 
 instances, under the control of men called Christians, but who 
 seem to forget, on these occasions, that God, or his glory, has any 
 any claim on their presses. happy for them, if God too were to 
 forget all the indignities which they have put upon his name. I 
 have assigned a reason which makes it very hard for Christianity 
 to thrive in a camp or in a cabinet : and it is quite a rarity, an 
 eighth wonder of the world, to find a godly soldier or statesman. 
 How melancholy the reflection, that from the field of honour, in 
 the very centre of their glories, our bravest men are often sum- 
 moned in an instant to their eternal reckoning, without having, 
 perhaps, had in their lives one serious thought of the God with 
 whom they have to do ! Alas ! what will the honour derived from 
 men avail them at his bar? My heart sickens at the thought, 
 and finds no relief but from the assurance that they are in the 
 hands of one who will do them no injustice. 
 
 4. Finally, the sin of which I speak— making the honour that 
 cometh from men to compensate and supersede that which cometh 
 from God only — cannot be excused as a sin of infirmity. The 
 strength of physical passions, the suddenness and violence of temp- 
 la tion, have here no place. It is a sin of calculation. The whole 
 soul enters into it; habits are formed by it; and habits do not 
 spring up like mushrooms— they grow by slow degrees. The last, 
 though at all times a feeble apology for crime— surprises, the being 
 taken unawares— is swept away. It is a deliberate, systematic 
 rebellion against God. It is the indulgence of wilful transgression, 
 which is utterly inconsistent with every gracious principle, and, 
 whore it reigns, marks without a peradventure, an unbeliever in 
 the Lord Jesus Christ. 
 
 And now, my friends, if these things are true, and that they are 
 is jusl as certain as that God hath spoken to us, how wide a scope 
 and how terrible a necessity do they create for the examination of 
 
TRUE HONOUR. 347 
 
 our own hearts ! Who does not, in some shape or other, fall under 
 the accusation of the text? Be persuaded to make diligent search : 
 for while it stands against a single individual, it infallibly shuts 
 him out of the kingdom of God. Should an angel be commis- 
 sioned by revelation to go among the hearers of the gospel — the 
 professors of the religion of Jesus Christ — and put his mark upon 
 the foreheads of all who are under the ban of the text, whose fore- 
 head would be without a stigma? Would it be thine? Why, 
 then, does thy bosom heave and thy heart palpitate? Why wilt 
 thou not learn betimes to seek the honour that cometh from God 
 only? How long shall the opinion of men usurp its place? 
 How long will ye seek in political or fashionable life that ap- 
 plause which the Lord abhors, and may, and without his great 
 prevention will, draw after it your eternal destruction? Where is 
 the man who has made even honourable politics his pursuit, whose 
 religious sensibilities were not blunted, and his conscience of recti- 
 tude warped? Who has carried into the vortex of the political 
 whirlpool a mind uncontaminated with the corruption that is in the 
 world, and brought it out again equally pure? 
 
 Among all the votaries of fashion in whom the religious sense 
 is not wholly obliterated, who has attempted to conciliate the ser- 
 vice of God with the honour that cometh one from another and 
 succeeded ? Whose garments hare not smelt, whose visages have 
 not been blackened, by the infernal fire which they have been com- 
 pelled to approach ? Who has not learned some maxims, or in- 
 dulged some practice, which has put a wider separation between 
 God and them, and prepared them for a deeper plunge into trans- 
 gression when the next opportunity should offer? Shall I propose 
 the question? Are there any whose lips have received the hal- 
 lowed symbols of the body and blood of Jesus the Saviour, and 
 whose feet, ere the taste of that holy pledge had died away, have 
 gone greedily into the same excess of riot with those who walk in 
 the vanity of their minds? In a word, are there none whose con- 
 sciences whisper to them that the inspiring motive to all their 
 religious appearance and profession has been the applauses of their 
 fellow-men? What shall I say to them all? Awake! arise! 
 flee ! flee for your lives from this treacherous ground that stretches 
 over the edge of the bottomless pit! Soon may the voice of that 
 thunder be heard which shall shake it into fragments beneath ycur 
 
348 SERMON XVII 
 
 feet, and you arc irrevocably ingulfed. Even now the cry of de- 
 spair from some who were gay and careless as any of you can be, 
 rings in my ear. They were taken unprepared, and hurried away 
 with all their reasonings, their decencies, their mistaken religion, 
 and have found their error when the hope of redemption was past ! 
 See that this be not your case. See to it soon ; see to it imme- 
 diately. To-day is the accepted time ; to-day is the day of salva- 
 tion. Be not deceived. Yet a little while, and " the Lord Jesus 
 shall be revealed from heaven in flaming fire, taking vengeance of 
 those who know not God and obey not the gospel." The Lord 
 grant that you may be able to stand before him in that final and 
 fiery visitation. 
 
SERMON XVIII. 
 
 APOSTOLIC COMMISSION. 
 
 LUKE xxiv. 47. 
 
 " And that repentance and remission of sins should be preached in his name 
 among all nations, beginning at Jerusalem." 
 
 The work which the Father had given the Lord Jesus to do was 
 now finished. He had gone through the several stages of his 
 humiliation, and had ceased to be the " man of sorrows and 
 acquainted with grief." He had magnified the law and made it 
 honourable, and brought in everlasting righteousness, even the 
 righteousness of God, for the justification of men. He had put 
 away sin by the sacrifice of himself, pouring out the blood of his 
 cross as a ransom for their souls. He had passed through the gates 
 of death; had remained in his territories long enough to prove the 
 fact of his having died, and to work the overthrow of his kingdom ; 
 had risen in his majesty, and repassed as a conqueror those barriers 
 through which he was led as a prisoner; had frustrated, defeated, 
 and made an open show of the hosts of hell, and was just about 
 ascending in the glory of the Captain of salvation up to his native 
 heavens, there to appear in the presence of God for us! How 
 awful the pause ; how tender yet terrifying the crisis! Methinka 
 the cry is heard to the farthest verge of Creation, "Now is come 
 salvation, and strength, and the kingdom of our God, and the 
 power of his Christ." The partition-wall is tottering to its base, 
 and presently will be heard the crash of its fall. The gates of 
 heavenly light are to be unbarred to the world, and floods of living 
 water from the rock of Zion, are to cool and refresh and invigorate 
 the nations. The tabernacle of God is to dwell with men ; thev 
 
SERMON XVIII. 
 
 are to become his people; he is to be their God; he is to dwell 
 among them, to walk in the midst of them, to east out the prince 
 of this world, and to bring back the days of primeval glory and 
 blessedness. What ! is all this to be effected in our world ? Yes ! 
 in our world ! Why, it is full of crimes and curses ; it is overrun 
 with the enemies of God. Devils and devilish men have the rule 
 here. The soil is yet reeking with the blood of the Prince of life. 
 Not a bosom heaves nor a tear starts under the guilt of this " deep 
 damnation." How then shall this marvellous revolution be accom- 
 plished? Gather together the wise men, the philosophers; ask 
 them whether the scheme is practicable, whether these fairy visions 
 can be realised. The wise men ! the philosophers. They are deep 
 in the great apostasy ; they are themselves ringleaders in treason, 
 leaders of the bands of rebels : they are as ignorant as they are 
 criminal. Away with their fooleries ! Let me hear the Son of God 
 breathe this portentous silence, " Not by might, nor by power, but 
 by my Spirit, saith the Lord." He who controls the spirits of all 
 flesh issues forth the command in its simple majesty, that repentance 
 and remission of sins should be preached in his name among all 
 nations, beginning at Jerusalem. Observe, my Christian friends, 
 the grandeur of this commission. The Lord Jesus speaks like one 
 who had the "spirits of all flesh" under his control. The magnitude 
 of the object, the difficulty of the enterprise, the feebleness of the 
 means, are not so much as mentioned. " Let there be light," was 
 not uttered with more decision at the first creation, than is this 
 charge to his apostles at the second. The speaker and the energy 
 were the same. It was all worthy of God manifest in the flesh, 
 and so surely as his lips have pronounced the words the effect must 
 follow. The disciples felt their power. Eleven men, without arms 
 or armies, influence, connections, wealth, or literature, are sent to 
 subdue the nations. Not a remonstrance, a scruple or a doubt, is 
 heard from their lips. " I am with you always, I will give you a 
 mouth and wisdom which all your adversaries shall not be able to 
 gainsay or resist," hushed every fear, resolved every difficulty, filled 
 them with courage, crowned them with success. 
 
 The text embraces three topics of most interesting inquiry ; the 
 extent of the apostolic commission, the substance of their message, 
 and a singular circumstance connected with the commencement of 
 their labours. They were charged with an embassy to "all nations." 
 
APOSTOLIC COMMISSION. 
 
 They were to " preach repentance and remission of sins in the name 
 of Jesus," and they were to " begin at Jerusalem."* 
 
 I. The substance of their commission : " To preach repentance 
 and remission of sins in the name of Jesus." 
 
 " Repentance" is a term of great latitude. It primarily signifies 
 "a change of mind:" and this general idea adheres to every form 
 of its application. When the Jew was commanded to " repent," 
 his whole notions concerning the person and salvation of the 
 Messiah were to undergo a revolution. " Repent ye, for the kingdom 
 of Heaven is at hand." All his preconceived opinions of the Christ 
 as a temporal deliverer, a magnificent conqueror, by whom his 
 nation was to be rescued from the domination of the Romans, and 
 placed at the head of the whole earth, were to be abandoned. 
 
 When the Gentile was commanded to repent, all his ideas con- 
 cerning the religion of his country, of his ancestors, were to be 
 inverted : " Surely our fathers have inherited lies, vanities, and 
 things wherein there is no profit." Both Jew and Gentile were 
 enjoined to alter entirely the nature of their conceptions of truth 
 and happiness. 
 
 What sort of an enterprise was this ? Judge ye who know how 
 difficult it is to root out an ancient prejudice from the mind of man. 
 Who can estimate the sacrifice which it costs his "vanity?" how . 
 little, how feeble, how paltry the success of similar attempts, upon 
 "any thing" consecrated by established modes of thinking and 
 feeling. Particularly, how hopeless must the experiment be, when 
 it is directed against men's ideas of national superiority. Their 
 climate and their country the finest in the world ! their persons the 
 handsomest, the bravest, the most skilful! their religion the best, 
 the most divine ! all their institutions of the highest order ! For 
 example : we are accustomed to applaud ourselves as " the most 
 enlightened people in the universe;" and our institutions, both 
 civil and political, as excelling all others ; as perfect, although we 
 are every now and then in the habit of mending, or trying to mend 
 them. Should any one now attempt to reason us out of our pre- 
 possessions, to persuade us that the objects of our admiration are 
 in reality detestable, and that we never shall know what decency, 
 and dignity, and pre-eminence mean, until we throw them all away, 
 
 * The third topic was reserved for a second sermon, which was never written. 
 
352 SERMON XVIII. 
 
 trample them under foot, and open our ears to a new set of in- 
 structions, and our hearts to a new set cf perceptions altogether. 
 What reception, suppose ye, would this apostle of revolution meet? 
 How many would he persuade? What other effect could he hope 
 to produce, than to arm the community against him, as an insane 
 man ? 
 
 Now, then, judge from your own sensations what the ambassa- 
 dor of the cross had to hope, when, attacking opinions and preju- 
 dices infinitely stronger than those of civil policy or political pre- 
 dilections, he preached to men the necessity of changing, radically, 
 their whole convictions of truth and happiness ! 
 
 Nor is the necessity of such a change less at this moment, nor 
 will it be less while the world endures, than it was at the first pro- 
 mulgation of the gospel. Be not startled at this assertion! Say 
 not, " The Jews had misunderstood and perverted the Scriptures 
 of their own prophets ; they were dreaming about a Messiah, such 
 as their vain imaginations had formed him ; and to reap any benefit 
 from him, they must be recalled to a sound mind." The Gentiles. 
 again, had lost altogether the knowledge of the true God. They 
 had run into all excess of riot in their madness upon their idols, 
 and must be reclaimed from these vanities to the living and true 
 God. To both Jew and Gentile, therefore, the doctrine and the 
 duty of repentance was strictly applicable; and so it is to these 
 unhappy men who, in the darkness of paganism, are without God. 
 But to us — to Christians, who have imbibed from our infancy those 
 important truths which were new both to Jews and Gentiles, the 
 doctrine of this repentance is superfluous. Stay a little and con- 
 sider. The effect of Jewish carnality and pagan idolatry was to 
 separate between them and their God; to make them forget the 
 end of their being; to drench them in sense ; to chain them to this 
 world; and, finally, to "drown them in destruction and perdition." 
 Are we, with all our superior light, with all our commiseration for 
 Jewish blindness and heathen degradation, in no danger of the 
 same sin, and of the same ruin? Are none of our affections 
 estranged from God, the sovereign good, and set on lying vanities 
 which cannot profit ? Are not the minds of many called Christians 
 as far from just ideas concerning the spiritual character and work 
 of our Lord Jesus Christ, as the grossest and most obstinate Jews ? 
 and their hearts as full of " abominable idolatries," as the most 
 
APOSTOLIC COMMISSION. 353 
 
 debased and polluted Pagan ? Deceive not your ownselves. The 
 Most High regards not the form, where he sees the substance of 
 idolatry. You may look with contempt and abhorrence upon a 
 wooden or golden god in the shape of a man, or a " four-footed 
 beast, or a creeping thing." Is it any thing better, suppose ye, 
 when it has the devotion of all your faculties, the ardour of your 
 whole hearts, your undivided love and worship, in the shape of a 
 dollar, or a guinea, or a bank note ? When the all-seeing glance 
 of God, your Maker, strikes through the bosoms of this assembly, 
 does he perceive there no perverted principles, no unhallowed 
 emotion, no lust of the flesh, nor lust of the eye, nor pride of life? 
 Cannot he single out any who place their happiness in these things 
 as if they were the chief good? Stand forth, ye idolaters, ye 
 evangelized, and therefore most criminal idolaters, and hear his 
 voice, fresh from the heavens, to you, "Repent," or perish. Change 
 all your principles and judgments, or not a man of you shall see 
 the kingdom of God. You may stand high in the respect of the 
 world, but know ye not that the friendship of this world is enmity 
 with God. If any man, therefore, will be the friend of the world, 
 he must be the enemy of God. And what will ye do, when he 
 shall meet you as a bear robbed of her whelps ? 
 
 But the repentance which my text enjoins, and the apostles 
 preach, is not merely such an alteration in men's views as amounts 
 to a rational and speculative conviction of truth, of duty, and of 
 happiness. Without this they shall in vain hope to enter the 
 kingdom of God. But this alone will not insure their admittance. 
 You may be, in these matters, as orthodox as the devil, and as far 
 from heaven. 
 
 The repentance which is expected from us goes much deeper, 
 and makes more thorough work. It teaches us to view our errors, 
 not merely as mistakes, but as sin; as having led us just as far 
 towards ruin as we wandered "from God. It sinks into the heart, 
 turns it inside out, shows the evils which lurk there, reaches the 
 very source of all our iniquities, the corruption of our nature; 
 makes us sensible that we are unlike the holy God, unmeet for his 
 fellowship, at enmity with him, exposed to the perdition of his 
 frown. If left to its own operation it would be the sorrow of the 
 world, which works melancholy, despair, death. But it is dire 
 by a kindlier and holier influence.- It creates, 
 
 Y 
 
354 SERMON XVIII. 
 
 1. Godly sorrow for sin: as against all that is good, and pure, 
 and kind, in the Infinite One ; against all his authority, all his 
 patience, all his grace. That our hearts should be a fountain, and 
 our lives a channel, of such floods of ingratitude, filth, rebellion, 
 fill us with dismay, and the most unfeigned compunction. 
 
 2. It fills with hatred of our sins. Hatred, as those things 
 which have dishonoured the majesty in the heavens, and have 
 rendered us accomplices in treason, with the spirits of the pit — 
 hatred as at those things which have abused the divine mercies, 
 despised the divine judgments, caused our Lord Jesus Christ to 
 shed his most precious blood — hatred, as being emphatically the 
 destroyers of soul, of body, of hope : which made the devil, which 
 kindled hell, and will consign to its untold wo all over whom they 
 reign. 
 
 3. This repentance leads to a confession of sin ; deep, humble, 
 unaffected. No apologies, no extenuations. u Behold, I am vile ; 
 what shall I answer thee ; if thou Lord should mark iniquities, 
 Lord, who shall stand — God be merciful to me a sinner," is the 
 language of a broken, a contrite, a repenting heart. 
 
 4. This repentance involves a forsaking of sin and return to God. 
 It is he who forsakes, not who conceals his sin, that shall find 
 mercy. The true penitent forsakes his sin wholly and universally. 
 He makes no reserve for a favourite lust. Compromise is out of 
 the question. Is it not a little one ? will never be heard from his 
 lips. Whatever he discovers to be provoking to the eyes of the 
 Lord's glory will be renounced. If it be a right arm, a right eye, 
 dear as one's own soul, it must be cast away ; it must be nailed to 
 the cross, and there left to die as our Lord died, a lingering, painful, 
 shameful, accursed death. 
 
 Finally. It is a divorce, not a temporary separation, that he 
 seeks. Whatever constituted sin's claim to dwell with him, or rule 
 over him, that must be extinguished. Never more shall his former 
 lasts in his ignorance find a welcome in his bosom. It is hence- 
 forth consecrated as a temple of God, and contains no room, no not 
 so much as a corner, for allowed retreat to his enemy. The expelled 
 devil returns not to his house with seven spirits more wicked than 
 himself. The voice of the Son of God, "I charge thee come out 
 of tbe man and enter no more into him," is peremptory, and Satan 
 -bey. 
 
APOSTOLIC COMMISSION. 355 
 
 What a marvellous revolution is here! The man's views, 
 principles, habits, changed ! Views, principles, habits, which had 
 grown with his growth and strengthened with his strength ! — to 
 which he was strongly attached as his nature would permit ! in 
 accordance with which he not long ago sought his happiness! 
 which he judged to be as firm as truth itself! All changed! 
 Radically changed ! Changed so as to hate what he loved and to 
 love what he hated ! By what process of reason was it effected ? 
 What motives enforced, what efficiency ensured it ? 
 
 Marvel not, my brethren ! The secret is very simple, but its 
 energy is all divine. The text contains it. The apostles succeeded ; 
 the gospel now so succeeds, by coupling with the doctrine of 
 repentance that of the " remission of sin." 
 
 That men are sinners conscience dictates, but her dictates are 
 dark, ill-boding, full of fears and undefined terrors. Hence all her 
 suggestions are melancholy, sour, sullen, very apt to breed super- 
 stition, but of cheerful religion absolutely barren. Of forgiveness 
 she knows nothing. This is the blessed discovery of the gospel ; 
 and plain as it appears to us, because the gospel hath put it in 
 meridian light and glory, it would have confounded the angels of 
 heaven to all eternity had they been asked whether there is for- 
 giveness with God. It is one of his deep things which he hath 
 revealed unto us by his Spirit. All ye know or can know of it is 
 from this revelation. Let us then inquire at the mouth of the Lord 
 himself what is that forgiveness which he bestows and which he 
 commanded his apostles to preach. 
 
 1. It is forgiveness or remission of sin, in which term we com- 
 prehend every offence of which God is the object. Now of this he 
 alone is the proper judge. Its thanklessness, its malignity, the 
 height, and length, and breadth, and depth of its evil, the Infinite 
 Mind only can measure. A creature can see and feel it chiefly in 
 the penalty which God has annexed to it ; and therefore a part 
 only, and but a small part, can come at once under his observation. 
 To the Eternal Mind, its hideousness and its horrors, from its first 
 introduction through everlasting ages, are all minutely and exactly 
 present. Now that he should be the only being in his own universe 
 who should have thoughts of pardon ! How good, how kind, how 
 gracious ! What an emphasis does it impart to his name ! " The 
 Lord, the Lord God, merciful and gracious, long-suffering, slow to 
 
356 SERMON XVIII. 
 
 anger, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin." Verity, it 
 sprang up in the bosom of his own love. Heaven would not have 
 had the compassion, nor hell the impudence, to sue for our pardon. 
 God alone shall be exalted in this matter ; God alone is the forgiver. 
 Let his great name have all the glory! 
 
 2. That remission of sin which the gospel proclaims is most free ; 
 it is forgiveness according to the riches of his grace. There is 
 indeed something gratuitous in the very idea of forgiveness. It 
 supposes in the forgiver the right of exacting his due, and of his 
 waiving that right with respect to the person of the offender. Of 
 course he must receive it as a free, unconditional gift. How could 
 it come to us in any other way? Who among the sons of men, 
 that rightly considers the case, can have the hardihood to talk or 
 think of compounding with his God ? Whose mind is so profane 
 as to insult him with the offer of his best deeds as a price for his 
 favour '? You might as well imagine that the gift of God can be 
 purchased with money. Your good deeds, your virtues, your 
 penitence ! How much will they cover of the ground of your 
 transgressions? Large and respectable as they may appear in 
 your partial eye, what figure shall they make before him ''whose 
 eyes are as a flame of fire ?" W hat but extort from your astonished 
 lips that exceeding great and bitter cry, " We are all as an unclean 
 thing, and our very righteousness are as filthy rags." Yet here is 
 the main difficulty with an awakened conscience ; first, to persuade 
 of the fact that there is forgiveness with God; next, to persuade 
 it, his forgiveness is absolutely free. No point do the Scriptures 
 labour more — none do they set in a greater variety of lights — none 
 exhibit in more various attitudes. They display — let me speak 
 of it with all reverence, for I have no other word ! — they display 
 the anxiety of the Holy One for what? Why, that sinful man 
 may believe that he is merciful, and that his mercy is infinitely 
 free ! " Turn ye, turn ye, why will ye die, house of Israel ?" 
 " Turn, and I will not cause mine anger to fall upon you, for I am 
 gracious I" " Ho ! every one that thirsteth, come to the waters !'.' 
 Come poor, come wretched; come with nothing to recommend, 
 with everything to disqualify you ; only come, and take the water 
 of life freely. 
 
 •'3. The remission of sin is full. The covering is sufficient to 
 wrap yourselves in, the bed is long enough for you to repose your- 
 
APOSTOLIC COMMISSION. 357 
 
 selves upon. He takes praise to himself that when he forgives, it 
 is of all trespasses, and your gladdened hearts should re-echo the 
 praise, " Bless the Lord, my soul ! and all that is within me 
 bless his holy name ;" who forgiveth all thine iniquities ! God is 
 as really God in his forgiveness as in his vengeance. He will no 
 more be compared with the children of men, with the sons of the 
 mighty, in his grace, than in his severity. So indeed it must be 
 if ever you enjoy the comfort of pardoned sin ; for if the divine 
 forgiveness do not completely cover the whole ground of our trans- 
 gressions — if it leave but one sin, original or actual, out of its 
 provision — we have that one sin to answer for, and so no flesh 
 should be saved. This one sin would be our unsheltered, our 
 vulnerable point, in which guilt would thrust in his mortal dart. 
 Oh ! it is our strong consolation, that when God forgives he for- 
 gives like God. ''When he pardons he will abundantly pardon." 
 Go with your half-forgiveness, limited, conditional pardons, with 
 reserves and limitations, unto the souls of men. It may be, it may 
 become them — it is like themselves. That of God is absolute and 
 perfect, before which our sins are as a cloud before the east wind 
 and the rising sun. Hence he is said to do this work with his 
 whole heart and his whole soul— xH l l s ^ a h freely, bountifully, 
 largely, to indulge and forgive unto us our sins, and to cast them 
 into the bottom of the sea (Mic. vii. 19), into the bottomless ocean, 
 an emblem of infinite mercy. Remember this, poor souls, when 
 you are to deal with God in this matter.* 
 
 4. The forgiveness of sins is final. In the justification of a 
 sinner, God, the gracious one, pardons once for all— pardons for 
 ever ! Pardon would be of no use to us, were it not irreversible : 
 it would no sooner be gained, than lost. The Lord doth not so 
 deal with his pardoned ones ; give them just to taste the sweetness 
 of his mercy, that their own sinfulness may the next moment fill 
 their mouths with the bitterness, and their hearts with the horrors 
 of the curse. His bounty is of another order altogether. His gifts 
 and his calling are withont repentance, i. e. unchangeable. His 
 love is everlasting, and so is the life which he bestows upon them. 
 They are united with his dear Son 5 their lives entwine with his 
 
 * Owen's 130th Psalm, p. 240, oct. Glasgow. 
 
353 SERMON XVIII. 
 
 life. Whatever reaches them to destroy them, must first kill their 
 Redeemer. " Because I live," is his gracious promise, " ye shall 
 live also." They are kept by the power of God, through faith un- 
 to salvation ; therefore they shall never perish. There is, there 
 can be, no condemnation for them — they shall have everlasting 
 life. 
 
SERMON XIX. 
 
 NON- CONFORMITY TO THE WORLD. 
 
 ROMANS xii. 2. 
 
 *' Be not conformed to this world ; but be ye transformed by tbe renewing of 
 your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect will 
 of God." 
 
 Many of my hearers will take instant alarm from the uncourtly 
 and unfashionable language of the text. They will assume, as 
 granted, that they are to be lectured away from society, shut out 
 from all the innocent and joyous freedoms of life, and persuaded to 
 spend their days in the recesses of a nunnery, or the cells of a 
 cloister. But, softly, there are no nunneries nor cloisters in the 
 Bible ; there are scarcely any in our country, and if there were 
 ever so many, it would be rather hopeless to try the experiment of 
 making converts of either sex from among this audience. Take 
 heed, however, that your prejudices do not assail the word of your 
 God ; that you stop not your ears, and steel not your hearts against 
 his counsels. You are here in his presence, and it may cost you 
 your souls if you turn away from his admonition. It cannot in- 
 deed be denied, that his commandment and the principles of his 
 children are infinitely at variance with a multitude of things which 
 the world calls harmless ; nor that it may appear to be your duty, 
 your bounden, your imperative duty, to make a secession even from 
 the innocences of the world, to take a firm stand, and to make a 
 full stop, in a career plausible, popular, reputable, for which many 
 ingenious things may be pleaded, but which are not lit for a Chris- 
 tian who is not of the world, but whom Christ hath "called out of 
 the world ;" let it be sulky, or cold, or abusive, as it pleases, and 
 
360 SEEM ON XIX. 
 
 that without infringing at all upon your active duties, or upon your 
 allowed, which are your greatest social comforts. Your souls are 
 too precious to compliment away to your giddy neighbours, and 
 eternal life too infinitely valuable to be put in jeopardy by your 
 desire to please them. Then let us see what the apostle means by 
 being " not conformed to this world," — what is that " transforma- 
 tion by the renewing of our mind," so zealously pressed upon us : 
 and what is the connection under which he has placed it — " that 
 ye may know what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect will of 
 *God." 
 
 I. Let us look at the nature of that a non-conformity to this 
 world," which the text enjoins. 
 
 This world emits a bad savour in the records of God. "Wherein, 
 in trespasses and sins, says the apostle, "ye walked according to 
 the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of 
 the air, the spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience." 
 The course of this world, then, is directed by the prince of dark- 
 ness ; and in directing it, he employs all the faculties of their souls, 
 and all the members of their bodies, " as instruments of unright- 
 eousness unto sin." The world is at this moment full of demoniacs, 
 the evil one takes as complete possession of their persons, and 
 abuses them to as ignoble purposes, as ever he did their bodies 
 in the days of our Lord's humiliation. Oh that men who are 
 estranged from God would believe the terrifying truth ! Yes, in 
 that fair, and gentle, and courteous, and polished form, dwells the 
 spirit that organizes all the rebellion against God, all the misery 
 of man ; all that he fears and has reason to fear ; and causes that 
 lake of/re and brimstone, into which his intention is to plunge his 
 votaries. Do you wonder, then, that the Scripture has said, " who- 
 ever will be the friend of the world is the enemy of God." Under 
 his evil control the world, like a rebellious province, has set up for 
 itself; and acts as if it were perfectly independent of the divine 
 government. It has its own institutions, statutes, and customs — 
 its own pursuits— its own ethics— its own penal code, and its own 
 recompenses. It covers the very same ground which is covered 
 by the law of God; but is, of course, perfectly hostile and contra- 
 dictory both to the law and the Lawgiver. Here, then, is the 
 cause and origin of all those injunctions of the Scriptures, con- 
 cerning our non-conformity to the world. It is in necessarv and 
 
NON-CONFORMITY TO THE WORLD. 361 
 
 perpetual collision with the authority of our rightful Sovereign. 
 Obedience to the oue infallibly excludes obedience to the other. 
 And it is most idle and ridiculous to attempt their conciliation ; 
 the very attempt proves its author to be an enemy to God, and a 
 slave to the usurper. 
 
 The case, my friends, admits of but one alternative : yon must 
 either take your part with the world, and share in its guilt and 
 condemnation, or you must " come out from the world, and ho 
 separate," i. e. you must be Christians wholly or not at all. No 
 middle character can be allowed. If you are not for the Saviour, 
 you must be against him. If you do not " gather with him" you 
 must be numbered among those who " scatter abroad." Neither 
 the kingdom of heaven nor the kingdom of hell tolerates a neutral 
 character. " If Jehovah be God, follow him ; and if Baal be God, 
 follow him." But to halt between two opinions marks the feeble- 
 ness of present indecision, and will only conduct to future ruin. 
 
 Yet it is not from all intercourse with the world that lieth in 
 wickedness that the authority of Jesus Christ prohibits you. For 
 then, as saith the apostle, "ye must needs go out of the world." 
 But in your separation from it you must show a character which 
 the world never forms, and cannot understand ; must show that 
 while you are in it you are not of it — that you do not love it — 
 that your commerce with it is of pure necessity, and that you are 
 going rapidly as time can carry yoti to that glorious home, where 
 it shall never more show its face. You must be separated from 
 and have no communion with those things which distinguish the 
 world from the redeemed of the Lord, and which qualify you for 
 the career of that graceless society whose " steps lake hold on hell, 
 leading down to the chambers of death." 
 
 1. There must be a renunciation of the maxims of the world. 
 
 These maxims, without exception, centre in the creature, and 
 are bounded by time. There is not one of them which regards 
 an immortal destiny. " Let us eat and drink, for to-morrow we 
 die," is the sum of its philosophy. And were it true— did the 
 spirit of man, like that of a beast, go downward— there is nothing 
 to arraign its wisdom nor to demonstrate the prudence of a very 
 different course. But if, on the contrary, we are immortal beings 
 than which nothing can be more certain, then to have all our 
 principles of action shaped only to the requisitions of a mortal life, 
 
362 SERMON XIX. 
 
 is the extreme of folly and madness ; and the farther we can be 
 from so great a delusion, the better for us. Now for example : 
 
 It is one of the maxims of the world, that if we are virtuous, 
 i. e. if we render to every man his due, cultivate the mild and 
 beneficent affections, do good actions, and are free from gross 
 iniquities, it is enough. No more will be required of us by God 
 himself, and we may sit down at our ease in the calm and undis- 
 turbed hope of unquestioned bliss. 
 
 Brethren, let me deal very plainly with you on this point, for it 
 is in reality the rock on which a great portion of men make ship- 
 wreck of their souls ; and I would observe that it confines all your 
 accountability to the second table of the law, leaving the first, all 
 your duties and your relations to God, unprovided for. Who 
 knows not that amiable and beneficent tempers are an essential 
 part of the religion of our Lord Jesus Christ? But who knows 
 not that, separated from the connection under which his word has 
 placed them, torn asunder from supreme love to God from which 
 he has made them to spring, they are at best but a milder form of 
 rebellion against him ? How often must you be reminded that 
 mutual acts of kindness, the various good offices of life, are simply 
 necessary to the existence of society among rebels, and that the 
 man who may be most distinguished for them may himself be the 
 most obnoxious rebel among the whole, and may be condemned 
 for abetting and encouraging others in their rebellion ? Was such 
 a plea ever of any value before the tribunals of men? Has it not 
 appeared that the most humane, beneficent, and even righteous 
 among a band of transgressors, was himself a principal culprit? 
 And did the abuse of these good qualities in the service of rebellion 
 for one moment arrest the most condign punishment ? And shall 
 we impute to the perfect government of God a blunder which 
 cannot find a place among the imperfect governments of men ? 
 Besides, what becomes of the rights of God your Maker ? Where 
 is the obedience to the first and greatest commandment : " Thou 
 shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy 
 strength, and with all thy mind?" Is this to be trodden under 
 foot with impunity ? Are you to go all your lives long forgetful 
 of the infinite good, and when called to account escape under the 
 pretext that you were kind to rebels like yourself? Never to 
 bestow a thought upon the eternal world, and to step as a matter 
 
NON-CONFORMITY TO THE WORLD. 363 
 
 of course into all its blessedness? Never to have any concern 
 about glorifying God here, and to be taken up from the mire of 
 your pollutions unpardoned, unwashed, unsanctified, into the full 
 possession of his glory hereafter? more than sottish! Who 
 hath bewitched you, children of men? And do I not speak to 
 many, who, with the gospel of salvation freely and fully proclaimed 
 in their hearing, have yet no other hope of divine acceptance than 
 this absurd and stupid lie ? Believe not the world. Her theology 
 is not for sinful man. To behave decently on earth is no passport 
 for heaven. It may do well enough among the blind and clumsy 
 judges here, but will infallibly be detected by the keen-eyed 
 righteousness beyond the grave. " That which is born of the 
 flesh is flesh;" but "except a man be born of the Spirit, he cannot 
 enter into the kingdom of God." Hope for no change, for no 
 mitigation. If the Lord Christ speaks true, you shall find, when 
 there is no rectifying mistakes, that every man of you who has all 
 that the world pronounces enough, and has no more, will be forever 
 shut out from the kingdom of God. 
 
 2. Where the world cannot succeed in expelling religious sensi- 
 bility altogether, there is another maxim calculated to neutralize 
 its power and render it ineffectual: " You need not be so strict; 
 this great precision only does harm ; it makes religion unamiable, 
 and yourselves odious. Why cannot you enjoy in moderation and 
 with dignity the innocent freedoms which form the zest of society, 
 and not put on that sombre air, and keep at so chilling a distance 
 from all the relish of life ?" 
 
 In this way do men contrive to make void the law of God by 
 their manner of representation. To fear God and do his will, is 
 " strictness " and " hurtful precision." To preserve tenderness of 
 conscience, is to be " unamiable and odious." To follow the mul- 
 titude, is to " enjoy with moderation and dignity only innocent 
 freedoms ;" and to avoid all appearance of evil, is to have " a 
 sombre air and to keep at a chilling distance from the relish of 
 life." So they wrap it up. To make short work of all these fair 
 words and false pretences, do those who use them really love the 
 law of God? and is it only against extravagant and fanatical 
 excesses that they set their faces ? Or is their opposition in very 
 deed pointed at all to that " holiness without which no man shall see 
 the Lord?" Is it not precisely the image of God which they can- 
 
3G4 SERMON XIX. 
 
 not endure, and his authority which they would gladly set aside? 
 Would they not rob you of all the comforts of a good conscience? 
 of all the sweets of a peaceful walk with God? and persuade you 
 to exchange them for the giddy whirl, for the idiot laugh, for the 
 midnight debauch, and whatever belongs to that mental and bodily 
 dissipation which " is like the crackling of thorns under a pot," 
 noisy for a moment and gone forever? Among the other things 
 which form the "zest of society," you must pollute your conscience, 
 corrupt your morals, and dishonour " the glorious and fearful name 
 of the Lord your God " by a little " innocent " gambling. You must 
 also participate in that rational and elegant amusement which 
 the abandoned and thieves select for their special entertainment, 
 the play-house — all, lest your religion should appear unamiable. 
 Were the Lord Jesus now on earth, should he not pass with our 
 fashionable judges as morose, petulant, impertinent, a perfect 
 stranger to polished manners, an enemy to all the cheerfulness and 
 the graces of life ? His apostle Paul would be derided as a fanatic ; 
 and John, the beloved disciple, would be pitied as a well-meaning 
 enthusiast, endurable only because he was weak. In short, my 
 friends, if you mean to be Christians, you " must walk as Christ 
 also walked." Your ears must be deaf alike to the open enmity 
 and the hollow friendship of the world. You must have nothing 
 to do with their plausible maxims — parleying is half a surrender. 
 You must put down your foot decisively in the King's highway, 
 the way of holiness, in which " the elders obtained a good report," 
 and which is your short and only way to the kingdom. 
 
 3. When guilt, who pays no regard to etiquette, bursts in upon 
 the conscience, raises his rugged voice, and reads his fearful 
 lectures, the world has another maxim to soothe him down and to 
 keep all quiet within : " God is a merciful God ; we injure his 
 name by ascribing harshness and rigour to him. He pities his 
 poor, feeble creatures, compassionates their infirmities, takes de- 
 light in forgiving their faults, and will not be extreme to mark 
 what is amiss." 
 
 How false and foul a conclusion, coupled with the most blessed 
 truth that can sound in the ears of an awakened sinner! He is 
 merciful. The dimensions of his mercy, its height, and depth, and 
 length, and breadth, it is not for the creature to scan. The gospel 
 alone however has revealed it in all its magnitude and freedom. 
 
NON-CONFORMITY TO THE WORLD. 365 
 
 But it is not to that mercy as thus revealed that the world appeals. 
 Jesus Christ and his merit and grace find no place among its 
 maxims. The creed of the world and that of the Unitarians are 
 perfectly agreed. Shut out the Saviour ; make no use whatever 
 of him as " the way, and the truth, and the life;" know nothing, 
 believe nothing, say nothing, of that " new and living way which 
 he hath consecrated by his blood," and all the rebels together will 
 be loud in their praises of the divine mercy. But all this cry about 
 the mercy of God is to encourage sinners who continue in their 
 sins. It has nothing in common with the salvation of our Lord 
 Jesus Christ, who saves his people from their sins. It creates a 
 deceitful hope, a lying persuasion, that a man may live habitually 
 neglectful of God, of his immortal soul, of his eternal interests, and 
 after all have a just confidence in the divine mercy. Believe it 
 not — shut your ears against so popular and fatal a delusion. It is 
 not he who palliates, but he who confesses and forsakes his sins — 
 he who turns from them wholly, impartially, forever, and turns his 
 feet unto God's testimonies — that shall find mercy. Have as 
 much us you please of this divinity of the world. It is reprobate 
 silver; it will never make you rich unto everlasting life, nor buy 
 one shred of clothing to cover your nakedness. The " blood of 
 Jesus must cleanse you from all sin ; the righteousness of Jesus 
 must be your spotless robe; the spirit of Jesus must be your 
 sanctifier ; or in that great and terrible day of the Lord you have 
 nothing to look for but to "be condemned with the world." 
 
 2. To renounce in words the maxims of the world, will be of 
 little avail, if we do not also renounce its practices. 
 
 The world has a method of forming a conscience of its own, and 
 a moral law to correspond with it, so that whoever observes this 
 law, however he may disregard and insult the law of God, is to be 
 respected as a correct and honourable man. For example : 
 
 You may spend a life in utter forgetfulncss of God and his 
 worship — in the most positive unbelief, and the most mark cm! 
 contempt of our Lord Jesus Christ — in habitual and even studious 
 neglect of his great salvation, and every thing referring to its ex- 
 istence, and you never break the chain of your harmony with the 
 world. These things give no uneasiness to a worldly conscience, 
 nor disqualify you in the least for worldly honour and confidence. 
 Nay, more : you may convert the Sabbath-day, the day which the 
 
366 SERMON XIX. 
 
 Lord emphatically calls his own, into a season for secular business, 
 or carnal amusement— you may even profane the name of the Lord 
 your God— you may bestow your highest affections upon as many 
 idols as you can find places for in your heart— it breaks no scores 
 with a worldly conscience, nor depreciates you in the least in the 
 eyes of worldly men. If you live in a commercial country, you 
 may defraud the government of its just dues — may make false 
 entries of your goods. If your country be neutral, may furnish 
 forced papers for your vessel, to suit either belligerent, as circum- 
 stances shall require — may crown the whole with some hard 
 swearing, which old-fashioned men call perjury ; you may break, 
 as it is termed, may convey your property fraudulently out of the 
 reach of its true owners ; may bring multitudes of the poor, the 
 widowed, and the fatherless, who trusted in your integrity, to the 
 extreme of wretchedness — and when you have secured a human 
 acquittal, by laws perhaps not a whit more righteous than your 
 own principles, may erect your crest, may turn round and look full 
 in the face the very persons you have ruined ; may insult them 
 with the ostentatious display of your wealth, and receive not a hat 
 the less. If you have spirit to carry the matter so high, you may 
 disturb domestic peace, and then blow out the brains of the injured, 
 for breathing upon your honour. The skirts of the world's con- 
 science are very large, and its bowels of charity very strong, for 
 all who side with it against the puritanical practices of " fearing 
 God and keeping his commandments." But now hear a moment 
 what He who is to be your Judge hath said : " Be not deceived : 
 Neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor abusers of 
 themselves with mankind, nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, 
 nor revilers, nor extortioners, shall inherit the kingdom of God." 
 His law is made, and its penalty enacted, "for the lawless and 
 disobedient, for the ungodly and for sinners, for unholy and profane, 
 for liars, for perjured persons, for murderers, and if there be any 
 other thing that is contrary to sound doctrine." He has said that 
 the wicked, whoever they be, by whatever names they go, and 
 under whatever sanctions they may shield themselves, " shall be 
 turned into hell ;" if you mean to take up your bed there and to 
 know, by awful experience, what it is to "dwell with everlasting 
 burnings," why then go, " be conformed to this world," and divide 
 its recompense. But if not, if you are set for another course, and 
 
NON-CONFORMITY TO THE WORLD. 367 
 
 for another issue, if you design to meet the Lord in the air, when 
 all that belongs to the world will be poor and contemptible enough, 
 then see, in the 
 
 II. Place, the necessity of the transformation mentioned in the 
 text. " Be ye transformed in the renewing of your mind." 
 
 Your speculative opinions, and your practical judgments, on those 
 vital questions which affect your relations to God, and the salvation 
 of your soul, must be exactly the reverse of the maxims and habits 
 of this world. You must change sides : do it effectually, decidedly, 
 visibly. You are to enquire, not what is fashionable, but what is 
 right; not what is reputable or passable among men, but what the 
 Lord God hath spoken ; you must, in a particular manner, come 
 out for the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, and for the truth which 
 is according to godliness. Let me address a word to those who 
 are sensible of their duty, and yet shrink from the performance of 
 it. " How long halt ye between two opinions ? " If your opinion 
 is fixed on the great matters of your eternal hope, of what are you 
 ashamed or afraid ? Smothered regard our Captain disdains. Do 
 not imagine that if you are really his disciples ye can escape de- 
 tection by the world, or that it will spare you the more, or hate 
 you the less. Wo be unto you if it should ! Are you afraid, 
 when you look around you and observe the mighty difference be- 
 tween the character of professing Christians, and the requisitions 
 of your Divine Master, that you too, will one day fall back and 
 bring a blot upon that " worthy name whereby ye are called ?" 
 It is a salutary fear ; but may be worked up to a grievous tempta- 
 tion. It should inspire caution ; not keep among the ranks of un- 
 believers, and apparently in the interests of enmity against God. 
 To omit the plain duty of leaving the world that lieth in wickedness, 
 is not the way to find freedom or peace. Cast you fears of falling 
 upon him who has said, " my grace is sufficient for thee ;" start 
 from your lethargy and " run with patience the race that is set 
 before you, looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of your faith." 
 
 And let these careless professors, whose lives lay a stumbling- 
 block before their more conscientious brethren, suffer the word of 
 reproof and exhortation. You arc justly liable to part of that 
 same rebuke which our Lord gave to the Jewish lawyer; not 
 indeed for " taking away the key of knowledge," but to the other 
 
368 SERMON XIX. 
 
 and severer part of his charge, " you go not into the kingdom of 
 heaven yourselves, and them that would enter in ye hinder." Is 
 it not enough to dishonour the Saviour under the pretence of being 
 his friends, but must you keep back others from honouring him ? 
 Are ye not satisfied with perishing alone— must you strive to make 
 your neighbours bear you company ? Is the taste of their blood 
 sweet to you ? or will it be pleasant to sink down to death under 
 the weight of their ruin, superadded to your own ? rather seek to 
 encourage them ; to cheer their drooping hopes ; to revive their 
 fainting spirits ; to " strengthen the hands that hang down, and 
 confirm the feeble knees ; and make straight paths for your feet — 
 lest that which is lame be turned out of the way, but let it rather 
 be healed." how delightful to enter the palaces above, with a 
 friend on either side ! To hear a saved one, whom perhaps you 
 never knew, acknowledge, if it had not been for this man's firm- 
 ness — for that woman's tenderness — for yonder person's fidelity, I 
 had perhaps missed my road, been led astray in the paths of the 
 seducer, and had never been here? Think you that such things 
 will not add to the lustre of your crown, to the intensity of your 
 bliss, to the beauty of your heaven ? As you value all the three, 
 be persuaded by a close imitation of Jesus Christ, to help and not 
 to hinder others in the prosecution of their high calling. 
 
 This transformation must be by the " renewing of your mind." 
 Outward things alone will not do. " Bodily exercise profiteth 
 little." The resolution must be radical, and within the soul. That 
 Holy Spirit, who is the vicegerent of Jesus Christ, must apply his 
 power to create men anew ; or after all their reformation, their 
 hearts will be still hankering after " the lust of the flesh, the lust 
 of the eye, and the pride of life." Trifle not with eternal things. 
 Never imagine that what man can see and understand is enough. 
 Though, if you have not what he can see and understand, there is 
 a fatal deficiency. " Your light must so shine before men. that 
 others, seeing your good works, may glorify your Father which is 
 in heaven." But in order to effect so divine a result, marvel not 
 if we perpetually ring in your ears that proclamation of the Master, 
 " Ye must be born again !" Your faculties must be turned away 
 from the objects of sinful pursuit, to the will and the work of your 
 reconciled God and heavenly Father. Like the great High Priest 
 Of your profession, you must " delight to do the will of God." 
 
NON-CONFORMITi T TO THE WORLD. 3G9 
 
 Your .affections too must be changed, and must change their ob- 
 jects. " If ye, then, be risen with Christ," to a new and holy life, 
 " seek those things which are above, where he himself sitteth at 
 the right hand of God. Set your affections on things above, not 
 on things on the earth. For ye are dead, and your life is hid with 
 Christ in God." In fine, this " renewing of your mind" will make 
 yon " spiritually minded, which is life and peace." 
 
 III. The connection under which this non-conformity to the 
 world is placed in the text demands your serious attention : " That 
 ye may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of 
 God." 
 
 So long as men live conformably " to the course of this world," 
 they labour under an incapacity, criminal indeed, but still an 
 incapacity, of clearly perceiving what the will of God is, and 
 especially that it is good and acceptable and perfect. The motives 
 which govern them, the influences which act upon them, the objects 
 of their preference, all conspire to draw a thick film over their 
 moral vision. So that the most conclusive scriptural demonstra- 
 tions do not operate with their proper force, nor can the strongest 
 scriptural light make their way plain before their face. They still 
 grope in the dark, and though " the light shineth in darkness, the 
 darkness comprehendcth it not." They still profess their honesty, 
 avow themselves sincere inquirers after truth, and wonder that 
 they come no nearer to a satisfying conclusion ; or perhaps they 
 do come to a conclusion, and equally wonder to find all the plain 
 simple-hearted Christians in the world are against them. 1 have 
 only to say, that one beam of the glory of God in Christ Jesus 
 darting into their minds, will instantly put to flight this boasted 
 honesty, this pretence of sincere inquiry, and make them see and 
 own the inconceivable deceitfulness of their own hearts. Under 
 the power of his renewing grace their vision is purified. The 
 images which it forms are in their proper place and position. 
 Obscurities are enlightened, entanglements are unravelled, doubts 
 resolved, and the wonder now is at the former blindness. The 
 words of God have an evidence and an efficacy altogether surprising. 
 The will of God there is no difficulty, generally speaking, of 
 determining with the greatest precision; particularly all that 
 revealed will which affects the substance of our faith, our duty, 
 
 z 
 
370 SERMON XIX. 
 
 and our hope. They who believe his testimony the most firmly 
 receiving it upon his own authority as undisputed and indisputable 
 truth, make the most rapid and eminent progress. They ask no 
 questions but " what said my Lord unto his servant?" and they are 
 enabled to perceive both what he does say and that it is all good, 
 and of such a sort as must be acceptable when it takes place in 
 them, and precisely that which suits their circumstances and 
 promotes the end for which it was intended, being therefore every 
 way perfect. It is just what they themselves would wish it. 
 They have nothing to diminish, to add, nor to alter. They complain, 
 indeed they have reason to complain, often and bitterly, of " sin 
 that dwelleth in them — of the lusting of the flesh against the 
 spirit — rof the law in their members warring against the law of 
 their mind, and bringing them into captivity to the law of sin and 
 death.'' But of the law, of the will of God, not a whisper of 
 complaint — no lamentation about its breadth or strictness — none 
 about its spirituality, " searching even to the dividing asunder of 
 the soul and spirit." They know nothing of what some men call 
 a milder form of grace. They ask for no dispensations, no 
 relaxation. Their unanimous verdict is, that God's " command- 
 ments are not grievous ; that the law is holy, and the commandment 
 holy, and just, and good." With these views of the divine will, 
 " they go from strength to strength, their path being that of the 
 just, which shineth more and more unto the perfect day." 
 
 Such, my brethren, is the non-conformity to this world enforced 
 
 by the text, and such its fruits. Say, then, if there is not a most 
 
 lamentable and ruinous difference between what we are and what 
 
 we should be. Who is there that, like Enoch, " walks with God ?" 
 
 Who makes it his main study to be " conformed to the image of 
 
 the iirst-born ?" and inquires, conscientiously, into the state and 
 
 progress of his conformity? Who "crucifies the old man with 
 
 his deeds, the flesh with the affections and lusts?" If we were to 
 
 m the appearance, and of professing Christians, we should 
 
 ainly conclude that it is a part of their duty to be as unlike 
 
 and as like the world as possible. Look at their spirit; is it 
 
 not the spirit of the world ?— at their affections ; are they not the 
 
 ions of the world ?— at their pursuit ; are they not the pursuits 
 
 of the world?— at their law of morals ; is it not the world's law ? 
 
 Have they any better or higher motive or standard of conduct than 
 
NON-CONFORMITY TO THE WORLD. 371 
 
 the prevailing fashion ? Away with evasion ! Come to the matter 
 of fact. How do yon stand with respect to the law of God ? — to 
 the active faith of our Lord Jesus Christ? that faith which purifies 
 the heart, and which works by love ? Why do you turn pale at 
 the thoughts of death? Why shiver with terror in the prospect 
 of the judgment-seat and the judicial process? To a Christian 
 actively engaged in his vocation, the " appearing of the Great God 
 our Saviour" ought to be and is a " blessed hope." Why does the 
 very idea of it fill you with trepidation ? Ah ! my dear friends, 
 be assured all is not right. There is something rotten and ruinous 
 in your condition, and must be rectified if you would have a hope 
 that shall not put you to shame. Rouse up, all ye who have any 
 regard for your heavenly Master ! Rouse up in his strength ! 
 shake off your indolence and the entanglements which enwrap you ! 
 Many of you are convinced, that to your own peace and to your 
 Redeemer's glory it is necessary that the distance between you and 
 the mere people of the world be greatly widened. Stifle not con- 
 victions while you repress the urgencies of duty. Do what the 
 heathen sage advised a young man to do, dare — dare to snap your 
 trammels — dare to be singular — dare to "obey God rather than 
 man." You will lose nothing either of comfort or of dignity. 
 "The peace of God which passeth all understanding will keep 
 your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus." The ministering spirits 
 will descend from on high to help and honour those who honour 
 God. He will himself cast his compassionate and complacent 
 regards upon you, and will abundantly sweeten all the mortifications 
 which may be poured into your cup. Jesus hath said, " Wiiere I 
 am, there shall my servant be also." The full grace of which 
 promise you shall enjoy in the ecstasy of your hearts when he 
 shall lake you to himself to be with him in safety; and you shall 
 see the world with its gods, its glories, and its worshippers, 
 consuming together in the last fire ! 
 
SERMON XX. 
 
 THE FOUNTAIN OF LIFE. 
 
 JOHN vii. 37. 
 
 11 In the last day, that great clay of the feast, Jesus stood and cried, saying, If 
 any man thirst, let him come unto me and drink." 
 
 The blessed Jesus was ever employed in doing good. To save the 
 souls of men was the benevolent purpose for which he came into 
 our world, and which he continually prosecuted during the whole 
 of his ministry. Love to our ruined race prompted him to leave 
 the bosom of his Father, to empty himself of his glory, to become 
 a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief. With all the tender- 
 ness of faultless humanity, he sympathized with even the bodily 
 distresses of those whom he came to redeem, and lent a willing 
 hand to their relief. But on their spiritual miseries his thoughts 
 were principally set. Of these he saw perfectly the deadly nature 
 and the alarming extent. To these he called perpetually the 
 attention of men ; for these he proclaimed himself a sovereign 
 Physician, and offered freely his almighty aid. In this labour of 
 love his life was spent. He omitted no opportunity of exercising 
 it, and the same principle which animated all his kind and gracious 
 actions, now leads him to Jerusalem at the feast of tabernacles. 
 
 This feast, which God ordained to commemorate the travels of 
 his people in the wilderness, where they dwelt in tents or taber- 
 nacles, was one of the three solemn occasions on which all the 
 males of Israel were obliged to appear before God at Jerusalem. 
 Accordingly, vast multitudes resorted thither from every part of 
 me land. The city, and especially the temple, was thronged. On 
 
THE FOUNTAIN OF LIFE. 373 
 
 the eighth, which was the last and greatest day of the feast " it 
 was customary for the priests to surround the altar with their 
 palm branches, and to pour out water in the temple, as an expres- 
 sion of the general desire of the Messiah's appearance, and the 
 pouring forth of the Spirit by him." The Redeemer seized this 
 occasion of claiming publicly the honours of his character, and 
 inviting the Jews to faith in his name, lie ascends a small emi- 
 nence from which he might command a view of the people, and be 
 himself both seen and heard. How august the scene ! Was there 
 ever such an assembly and such a minister? The incarnate God 
 preaches to the tribes of Israel! How awful and venerable his 
 aspect! What majesty and love beam from his countenance! 
 What grace flows from his lips ! Be still every tumult! be hushed 
 every unhallowed passion! be collected all wandering thoughts, 
 while the Saviour speaks ! " Look," says he, " from ordinances 
 to the God of ordinances — from the symbol to the thing signified* 
 Behold in me the accomplishment of the prophetic promise, ' The 
 Lord whom ye seek, shall come into his temple suddenly, even the 
 Angel of the covenant whom ye delight in.' Are you longing for 
 the Messiah promised to the fathers ? I that speak unto you am 
 he. Do your thirsty souls need to be refreshed by the waters of 
 the sanctuary? I am the Fountain of life. 'If any man thirst 
 let him come unto me and drink.' " Happy nation ! had they 
 known their privileges when the Lord of the temple was present 
 in the temple and explained his own institutions ! 
 
 But we must not eonfine to the Jews the Saviour's grace. To 
 all who enjoy the gospel he offers the same invitation. To us he 
 cries, and we are warned not to turn away from him that speaketli 
 from heaven; to every one of us he cries, " If any man thirst, let 
 him come unto me and drink ! " 
 
 How rich, how free, how adorable his grace is, will appear from 
 considering the persons invited, and the invitation itself. 
 
 I. Let us attend to the persons invited. They are the thirsty. 
 
 No man can be so senseless as to imagine that the Redeemer 
 speaks of a bodily thirst. He is addressing sinners on the things 
 which belong to their eternal peace, and as that great Prophet 
 whom the Lord God had promised to raise up in the midst of 
 Israel. The meaning of his language must, therefore, correspond 
 
374 SERMON XX. 
 
 with the importance of his object, and the dignity of his character. 
 His words undoubtedly relate to the state of men's souls, and sup- 
 pose that there is in the minds of those with whom he is dealing, 
 an uneasiness and anxiety analogous to that painful sensation 
 which arises from extreme thirst. The strong terms in which this 
 state of mind is characterized, have induced the current opinion, 
 an opinion adopted indeed, though very negligently, by even great 
 and good men, that the Lord Jesus here invites none but such m 
 are thirsting after an interest in his everlasting righteousness. 
 How many of those who, driven from every other hope, were en- 
 deavouring to fix their trembling eye upon the Redeemer's atone- 
 ment, have heard as a sentence denounced in thunder against them, 
 this interpretation of the text ! " Alas ! I fear that I have not the 
 spiritual thirst which is here required, and am therefore excluded 
 from the gracious warrant," has often been the language of exer- 
 cised people. These are certainly included, but they may not 
 monopolize the warrant : and in truth they are frequently the first 
 to decline it, as not belonging to them. If the words imply any- 
 thing, they imply that those who have never yet drunk of the water 
 of life, which is in Christ as in a fountain, may come and drink. 
 But surely, they who have learned the vanity of every portion but 
 a reconciled God— who have learned that it is Christ Jesus alone 
 by whom the reconciliation is effected — who have learned to re- 
 nounce every refuge of lies, and count all things but loss and dung 
 that they may win Christ, and be found in him, not having their 
 own righteousness, are already quickened by the Spirit of grace 
 and truth; have already been refreshed from the fountain of living 
 waters. While, therefore, the text encourages such to apply con- 
 tinually to the fulness of the Redeemer, let us not restrict its 
 freedom by appropriating it to them alone. Christ does not say, 
 " If any man thirst for righteousness — for deliverance from the 
 guilt and power of sin — for communion and fellowship with God, 
 lot him come unto me or else let him stay back ;" but simply, and 
 in the most unqualified manner, "If any man thirst, let him come 
 unto me and drink." Is it necessary to prove, that there is in 
 mankind, universally, a principle which brings them all within the 
 compass of the gracious offer ? The fact is as clear as noonday. 
 They all thirst, and insatiably too, they thirst for happiness. This, 
 indeed, is a propensity congenial to the soul, and coeval with its 
 
THE FOUNTAIN OF LIFE. 375 
 
 existence. It was implanted in man when < iod "breathed into 
 his nostrils the breath of life." It was intended to answer the 
 most exalted end, by leading him perpetually to God, the uncreated 
 source of bliss. When he fell, the propensity remained, but the 
 direction was lost. The moment man left the way of God and 
 duty, he left the way of peace and joy. His understanding is so 
 blinded that he knows not how to find it again. His strength is 
 so enfeebled that he is unable to remeasure his steps, to remount 
 the heights of glory from which he fell — and his will and affections 
 are so depraved, that he is not more unable than unwilling to re- 
 turn. From this sad condition of doubt, disquietude, helplessness, 
 and misery, his thirst for happiness impels him to flee. He gropes, 
 he struggles : but he gropes at midnight. He struggles with ob- 
 stacles which he can neither remove nor surmount. Bewildered 
 in the dreary mazes of an inextricable labyrinth, without light to 
 cheer, without a clue to guide him, he wanders from creature to 
 creature ; and after all his labour and all his toil, finds himself as 
 far as ever from the object of his wishes. Deplorable situation ! 
 He can do nothing but tread the same insipid, lifeless, hopeless 
 track. Fainting with thirst, he can find nothing to revive his 
 drooping spirit, nothing to cool the fever of his tongue. Utterly 
 ignorant of God and his consolations, he knows not where or how 
 to obtain that grace which alone can relieve him from his trouble. 
 But his necessities are not silent. Ten thousand wants lift up 
 their voices, and send their cry to the very heavens. Pitiable, my 
 brethren, is the note of wo : and so importunate was the entreaty 
 of human wretchedness, that the Son of God, out of pure compas- 
 sion, left the throne of his glory, and clothed himself with mortality, 
 that he might apply a remedy to our otherwise incurable evils, and 
 deliver us from becoming the victims of eternal death. In conse- 
 quence of what he has done and suffered, he has opened a fountain 
 of living waters, and invites all poor sinners, who are perishing 
 with thirst, whether they believe it or not, to come and drink. 
 That you may be more firmly convinced of this delightful truth; 
 turn to the beginning of the fifty-fifth chapter of Isaiah's prophecy, 
 and there you will see that a similar invitation is extended to 
 every one who hears the gospel, even though he totally disregards 
 the great salvation which it reveals. " Ho, every one that thirsteth, 
 come ye to the waters; and he that hath no money ; come ye, buy, 
 
376 SERMON XX. 
 
 and eat; yea, come, buy wine and milk," the choicest blessing 
 " without money and without price," without merit or recommend- 
 ation. Mark what follows. "Wherefore do ye spend money for 
 that which is not bread ? and your labour for that which satisfieth 
 not?" Do they, who are seeking Christ Jesus, spend their time, 
 and their talents, and their labour, in pursuing vanity ? Assuredly 
 not ! There cannot be a more exact description of those who seek 
 everything else but Christ; and, therefore, he adds, with infinite 
 tenderness, " Hearken diligently unto me, and eat ye that which 
 is good, and let your soul delight itself in fatness." And in the 
 same unlimited manner he speaks in the text, "If any man thirst, 
 let him come unto me and drink." 
 
 Having seen who are the persons invited, let us now attend, 
 
 II. To the invitation itself. 
 
 Since human misery was designated by the metaphorical term, 
 thirst, the remedy to that misery is very properly exhibited under 
 the idea of drinking. The command of Christ is, therefore, nothing 
 else than a command to receive from him all the happiness our 
 souls can wish. As if he had said, " Miserable men, who are 
 searching for happiness, but have missed the way, expect not 
 from the creature that solid and permanent enjoyment which is to 
 be found in the Creator alone ; quit the broken cisterns which can 
 hold no water ; come to me ; I only am the portion of the immortal 
 soul ; my fulness is abundantly adequate to gratify your largest 
 wishes ; come, take, taste, drink, and live for ever. " He that be- 
 lievcth on me," as the Scripture hath said, " out of his belly shall 
 How rivers of living water." 
 
 Without insisting on a number of remarks which naturally occur 
 on this copious and interesting subject, let us direct our attention 
 to the following important truths, that are plainly inculcated in the 
 text. That Christ Jesus requires perishing men to place their 
 confidence in him only. That his salvation is exactly fitted to 
 their necessities — and that it is freely offered. 
 
 1. Christ Jesus requires perishing men to place their confidence 
 in him alone. 
 
 It is a principle uniformly taught in the Scriptures — a principle 
 which cannot dwell too frequently upon our recollections, nor too 
 powerfully affect our hearts — that the great Redeemer is the only 
 
THE FOUNTAIN OF LIFE. 377 
 
 hope of sinners, and therefore in this, as well as in every other in- 
 vitation of the gospel, he keeps out of sight every thing but his 
 glorious self. The new covenant is so constituted, that let men 
 view it in any direction they think proper, the first object which 
 meets their eyes is the divine Head of the covenant ; and of all the 
 blessings with which this covenant abounds, though immense in 
 their magnitude, infinite in their number, inestimable in their 
 value, the soul can neither enjoy nor see any, till faith not only 
 look but enter through Christ the door. Accordingly, the chief 
 and favourite theme of the gospel is the Lord Jesus. Mark his 
 own invitation in the passage before us. What instructions does 
 he give to poor sinners who are dying with thirst V Does he bid 
 them first to drink as much as they can from the polluted waters 
 they may have in themselves, and if they be not then satisfied, to 
 come to him and supply the deficiency ? Or, to strip the text of 
 metaphor, does he bid them do what they can to obey the divine 
 law, and when they find their righteousness inadequate to answer 
 its high demand, to come to him and receive from his righteousness 
 so much as will make up the defect of their own, and render the 
 compound an oblation worthy of God's acceptance ? No such 
 thing ! Christ declares to men their misery ; he declares himself 
 their Saviour, and not a syllable do we hear of their own righteous- 
 ness. This indeed is a doctrine very unpalatable to the unrenewed 
 nature, and rouses into opposition all the enmity of the carnal 
 heart. But it is among the first lessons in the divine life, and if 
 we do not effectually learn it, all our other learning is of trifling 
 moment. Little do sinners know the indignity they offer to the 
 Son of God, and the injury they do to their own souls by endea- 
 vouring to associate themselves with him in the work of their re- 
 demption. Brethren, deceive not yourselves. Christ will not give 
 his glory to another. He will not share with you the honour of 
 your salvation. He must have all the praise, or he will have none. 
 You must depend entirely on him or entirely on yourselves. Christ 
 is the way, and the only way to the Father and to everlasting life. 
 You must be either wholly in this way or wholly out of it. There 
 is no medium. You cannot combine the old and new covenants, 
 and climb to heaven partly by one and partly by the other. If you 
 please yourselves with such an idea, shame and destruction will be 
 the end of your hope. Foolish men ! Abandon the vain attempt ! 
 
378 SERMON XX. 
 
 You must tear Jehovah from his throne before you succeed. And 
 what do you intend by this mad behaviour ? Is not the righteous- 
 of Christ sufficient ? Is it not perfect ? Is it not spotless ? Do 
 you think that this glorious robe cannot beautify, nor cover, nor 
 secure you, unless it be patched with the filthy rags of your own 
 righteousness ? If the Lord Jesus will adorn you with his right- 
 eousness, you may well part with your own, and you will be infinite 
 gainers by the exchange ; for, 
 
 2. His salvation is exactly fitted to your necessities. 
 In forming an estimate of these necessities, we may not credit 
 the report of our own hearts, for they are " deceitful above all 
 things, and desperately wicked." We must appeal from their par- 
 tial sentence to the judgment of " the law and the testimony." 
 Now what account does the divine Word give of men in a natural 
 state ? It represents them as spiritually dead — as covered with 
 defilement and loathsomeness— as far from God and hope — as un- 
 fruitful in righteousness, and, in consequence of these things, like 
 briars and thorns, whose end is to be burned. What eye that looks 
 back upon the original beauty, and dignity, and bliss of man, and 
 surveys the dread havoc that sin has made, can refuse a tear over 
 the ruins of our pristine glory ? What eye that looks around, and 
 sees no arm to deliver from these depths of disgrace and woe, will re- 
 fuse a flood of tears at the gloomy prospect ? But let the sigh of 
 anguish be turned into the shout of joy, for Jesus the deliverer 
 comes, and salvation, complete, everlasting salvation, is in his hand. 
 He saves from spiritual death. " And you hath he quickened," 
 says the apostle, " who were dead in trespasses and sins." " The 
 hour is coming," said he to the Jews, " and now is, when the dead 
 shall hear the voice of the Son of God, and they that hear shall 
 live." He sends forth his Holy Spirit and breathes upon the dry 
 bones, and flesh and sinews come upon them, and life enters into 
 them, and they stand up upon their feet. He gives them to drink of 
 the river of the water of life, not merely a temporary draught, 
 which may relieve them for a moment and fail them hereafter, but 
 imparts it in such abundance that they never again thirst. He 
 bestows upon them that precious faith which unites them insepar- 
 ably to himself, and forms a channel through which streams from 
 his fulness flow perpetually into them, and flow so copiously as to 
 send forth from themselves rivers of living water. 
 
THE FOUNTAIN OF LIFE. 379 
 
 Farther, Christ Jesus not only quickens but sanctifies. Sancti- 
 fication is indispensably necessary to lit us for seeing the Lord, for 
 relishing the employments of heaven. But ah ! how polluted is 
 the unrenewed soul ! Hear how Jehovah himself describes it : — 
 " As for thy nativity, in the day thou wast born thy navel was not 
 cut, neither wast thou washed in water to supple thee ; neither 
 Avast thou salted at all, nor swaddled at all — but thou wast cast 
 out in the open field to the loathing of thy person." (Ezek. xvi. 
 4, 5.) And there mightest thou have lain and perished for ever, 
 had not the Redeemer had compassion on thee. Yet even from 
 this pollution mayest thou be washed in the fountain opened for 
 sin and uncleanness. The Lord God has promised to all who credit 
 his testimony respecting his Son, " I will sprinkle clean water up- 
 on you, and you shall be clean from all your filthiness, and from 
 all your idols will I cleanse you." But this purifying water can 
 be obtained only in Christ Jesus. All who are now in glory, with- 
 out a single exception, " washed their robes and made them white 
 in the blood of the Lamb/' Here too must you be washed or you 
 must die. 'Tis the unchangeable decree of an unchanging God. 
 And be not discouraged. The diseases of the soul, though terrible 
 beyond conception, are not so noisome and inveterate as to baffle 
 the healing energy of this sacred fountain. The blood of Jesus 
 cleanses from all sin, and it can cleanse from yours, though it 
 equalled the united pollutions of all the redeemed who ever lived 
 or shall live hereafter. 
 
 By performing in our favour such miracles of mercy, our Al- 
 mighty Friend restores us to the divine image and approbation — 
 brings us near to God, and inspires us with the sweet hope of 
 everlasting life. Holiness is the divine image, and God must love 
 what is like himself. True, our highest earthly attainments are 
 stained with many a blot, and cannot abide the severe scrutiny of 
 Him who chargeth his very cingels with folly. But personal holi- 
 ness, though it forms the lineaments of the divine image on the 
 soul, and is our qualification for heaven, is not our title to it. 
 This is the imputed righteousness of our Redeemer. We have 
 nothing to do with God but in Jesus Christ, neither has God as a 
 God of mercy any thing to do with us but in Jesus Christ, and we 
 are complete in him. In his righteousness, and therefore in his peo- 
 ple's righteousness, not even Jehovah's eye can discern a blemish. 
 
380 SERMON XX. 
 
 Thus, in receiving him by faith, we who once were afar off are brought 
 nigh by the blood of his cross— nigh in the acceptance of our per- 
 sons with God— nigh to him as a reconciled Father— nigh in 
 fellowship and communion with him. We have boldness and con- 
 fidence in approaching his throne of grace, for every step in our 
 way to the mercy-seat is sprinkled with the blood of our great 
 Paschal Lamb; and shielded by the faithfulness of him who can- 
 not lie, we are perfectly safe from the blow of the destroying angel. 
 Tell me, ye who are strangers to the Saviour, how do you expect 
 to obtain access to the living God? Lay the word of truth before 
 you — lay your hands upon your hearts — listen to the monitor 
 within, and say, is not the plan which brings you near by Christ 
 Jesus, a glorious plan ? Children of deception, who look for this 
 privilege from any other quarter, be assured that if God is true, 
 your " hope shall be as the spider's web," and your " confidence 
 shall lead you to the king of terrors." 
 
 But to those who trust in his merit and grace, the kindness of 
 our great High Priest goes still farther. He does not only quicken 
 and sanctify their souls and bring them near to God, he also frees 
 them from the reproach of unfruitfulness. 
 
 The human heart is naturally a dry, a barren, a rocky soil — not 
 one heavenly temper, not one good disposition, can flourish there. 
 All the graces of the divine life are plants of foreign growth. They 
 are rooted in the soul by none but Jehovah the Spirit, and in none 
 but those whom he savingly unites to the Lord Jesus. Here again 
 we see see the fitness of Christ's salvation to our wants. Is there 
 present, a sinner whose heart is so hard and barren that not one 
 holy thought can spring from it ? Thus runs the rich promise, " I 
 will pour water upon him that is thirsty, and floods upon the dry 
 ground. I will pour my spirit upon thy seed, and my blessing up- 
 on thine offspring; and they shall spring up as among the grass, 
 and as willows by the water-courses." (Is. xliv. 3, 4.) Let the 
 heart be hard, let it be stubborn and impenetrable as the flint, the 
 streams which issue from the fountain opened for the house of 
 David pierce and soften and fructify the most unyielding and bar- 
 ren soil. Then faith and all the kindred graces strike deep their 
 roofs, spread wide their branches, unfold their blossoms, diffuse 
 their fragrance, and bear much fruit to the glory of God, Nor is 
 this an honour and a happiness of short duration. The righteous 
 
THE FOUNTAIN OF LIFE. 38 1 
 
 do not resemble those plants of rapid growth, which start almost 
 immediately from the seed into maturity, and as quickly fade and 
 die. They are like the palm-tree, stately, majestic, permanent — 
 like trees planted by the rivers of water, which bring forth their 
 fruit in their season, and whose leaf doth not wither. Thus they 
 continue, ripening by grace for glory, till Christ transplant them 
 into the paradise of God. Here, therefore, let me introduce the 
 last remark on the fitness of his salvation. 
 
 It was observed, that in consequence of their guilt, their pollu- 
 tion, their distance from God, and their unfruitl'ulness, sinners are 
 like briers and thorns whose end is to be burned. Dreadful idea! 
 " Who can dwell with devouring flames ? Who can dwell with 
 everlasting burnings?" This is all we can expect on our own 
 account, yet from this tremendous fate the salvation of Christ, and 
 that alone, can deliver us. The moment we draw the breath of 
 life, the curse of a violated law seizes and binds us with chains too 
 strong for the might of all the angels in heaven, and reserves us 
 as criminals for the day of slaughter. But our great Redeemer 
 bursts these chains, looses this iron grasp, sets the captives at 
 liberty, and puts into their mouths a song of triumph. Faith in 
 his precious atonement is not only connected with the important 
 blessings that have been mentioned, but secures to their happy 
 possessors an unfailing title to eternal joy. For by this faith we 
 have " our fruit unto holiness, and the end everlasting life." Christ 
 cannot disappoint the hope of them who trust in him, and he hath 
 said, " Whosoever believeth on me hath everlasting life, and I will 
 raise him up at the last day. Who, then, shall lay anything to 
 the charge of God's elect ? Shall God that justifieth ? Who is he 
 that condemneth? Is it Christ that died? Yea rather that is 
 risen again, who also sitteth at the right hand of God." Repro- 
 bate the suspicion, and be persuaded that "neither death, nor life, 
 nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, 
 nor any other creature, shall be able to separate believers from the 
 love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord." 
 
 Adorable salvation! Who would not wish to partake of it? 
 Who would not exult in the faintest dawn of hope that they may 
 partake of it? "But what shall we give, what shall we do, to 
 purchase an interest in it?" Give! Do! Misguided men! 
 Nothing. It is not only treasured up in Christ Jesus— it is noi only 
 
SERMON XX. 
 
 adapted in the most glorious fitness to all your wants, but, in the 
 3d. Place, It is free, absolutely free. And bless God that it is so. 
 Did it require anything to be merited on our part, we might bid an 
 eternal adieu to heaven and happiness. The salvation of Christ 
 cannot be deserved. Infinitely precious, its value surpasses all 
 desert. Every thing about it is infinite. It saves from infinite 
 guilt, infinite pollution, infinite wrath, and infinite wretchedness. 
 It confers on all who enjoy it, infinite dignity and infinite bliss. 
 All the works of all sinful men, from the beginning to the end of 
 time, could not merit the smallest portion of it. The best services 
 of the unregenerate are iniquity, and deserve to be u punished with 
 everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord, and from the 
 glory of his power." If you are resolved to merit at the hand of 
 God, you shall get, indeed, what you merit ; but it will be in hell. 
 The new covenant has no conditions to be performed by us. These 
 were fulfilled by Christ the Mediator. It is, therefore, to us a 
 covenant of grace. But if you think that you must merit some-!* 
 thing to put you in possession of its blessings, you change its very 
 nature — you transform it immediately into a covenant of works, 
 and then, as the apostle says, " grace is no more grace." — " But 
 must we not repent before we may come to Christ?"' No! you can 
 never repent as you ought, till you be interested in his love, and 
 influenced by his Spirit. The tears of true repentance flow from 
 the eye of faith. " They shall look on me whom they have pierced, 
 and shall mourn." 
 
 " Are we, then, to be furnished with no qualifications that may 
 fit us for receiving the gospel salvation?" None but the utter 
 want of every good quality. Christ Jesus " came not to call the 
 righteous;" he did not expect to find men so; he expected to find 
 them " altogether filthy," and therefore he came to call "sinners to 
 repentance." Tell me, ye who strive to wed the covenant of works 
 with the grace of the gospel, if a man were lying, panting, fainting, 
 dying with thirst, so feeble that he could not move a limb to help 
 himself, and if some kind friend were to carry him to a pure and 
 wholesome stream, and to put the water to his lips, would he merit 
 anything by drinking it? 'Tis just so, brethren, with the salva- 
 tion of Christ. Unconnected with him you must perish! And 
 you are so far from being able to do anything to merit an interest 
 in the blessings of his purchase, that you cannot perform a single 
 
THE FOUNTAIN OF LIFE 583 
 
 action which will be honoured with the approbation of God, till 
 you drink of the water of life, and your souls be invigorated by its 
 quickening efficacy. 
 
 These, my friends, are important truths ; and in bringing them 
 by a close application home to your own consciences, the first 
 question that occurs is, Have you drunk of these living waters 
 which are in Christ Jesus? Too many of you, I fear, if they will 
 act honestly, must reply, that till tins hour they have never tasted 
 them. With such of you, my brethren, I have some weighty 
 business. God sent you into this world to glorify him : and as you 
 are sinners, he requires you to glorify him by believing the record 
 he has given of his Son, and securing your happiness by thus 
 obeying his will. Has this been your employment? Far, very 
 far from it. You must have been seeking happiness, indeed, with 
 the most unwearied perseverance. But have you found it? Your 
 conduct declares that you have not. Why else, ye young, ye 
 giddy and ye gay, why this perpetual round of amusement and 
 vanity? Why do ye run from one enjoyment to another, and 
 studiously avoid conversing with yourselves ? Why labour to 
 outstrip, in a race of folly, the close pursuit of a vexing conscience? 
 Why endeavour to banish from your minds every settled thought 
 about an eternal world? Is it not because that world wears a 
 gloomy appearance, because all beyond the grave is dreary and 
 cheerless ? Ye young, ye giddy, and ye gay, be faithful to your- 
 selves. Lay your hands upon your hearts, and own the truth. 
 Have you not sometimes felt in your own souls, a vacuum which 
 all your amusements could not fill? Has it not sometimes hap- 
 pened, even in your most heedless moments, that reflection — an 
 unbidden and unwelcome guest — has stolen into your bosoms, and 
 whispered the alarming suggestion, that all is not right? Is it 
 not this which makes the idea of God, eternity, heaven, and hell, 
 to trouble you? Is it not this which sheds a freezing terror 
 through your souls? Or are you so benumbed as never to be con- 
 scious of such emotions? God grant that you may awaken from 
 this deadly sleep before you open your eyes in that place of torment 
 where the Lord hath forgotten to be gracious, and where his tender 
 mercies are shut up in his wrath. 
 
 And you, who, more advanced in years, are sick of the frolic of 
 youth, and plunge with ardour into the busy scenes of active life, 
 
384 SERMON XX. 
 
 has happiness taken up her abode in your breasts ? If strangers 
 to the Redeemer, you cannot say so. Why else strive to join 
 house to house, and field to field ? Why form plan after plan, and 
 scheme after scheme, to augment your wealth, and honours, and 
 grandeur, in the hope of more complete and contented enjoyment ? 
 why be so dejected at the failure of your projects or at the other 
 ills of life, and seek in the gratification of sense relief from the 
 gnawings of an anxious mind? Your acknowledgment may not 
 correspond with the language of the fact, but the fact speaks truly, 
 and declares plainly that the acquisitions of manhood are as unable 
 to satisfy the soul as the trifles of early days. Do not pretend that 
 you labour only for future days, nor flatter yourselves with the 
 expectation of spending quietly, and peaceably, and happily, the 
 evening of your age. To old age be our appeal. Say, hoary 
 sinner, who hast passed through youth and riper years, and ap- 
 proached the confines of eternity, where is thy happiness ? The 
 turbulence of passion may have subsided — the vexations of active 
 business may be over — and in these respects you may possess a 
 tranquillity. But if the turbulence of passion has subsided, if the 
 vexations of active business are over, the capacity of enjoyment is 
 also gone. State, then, fairly, both sides of the question, and you 
 will find that you have nothing left. What now strengthens the 
 feeble knees and lifts up the hands that hang down ! When the 
 grasshopper is become a burden — when the shadows of the night 
 grow large and long — when the sprightliness of youth has vanished 
 and the vigour of manhood failed — when the king of terrors lifts 
 his unerring arm and threatens to strike the blow which will 
 shatter to atoms thy clay tabernacle, and hurry its lingering in- 
 habitant to the tribunal of God — what revives the fainting spirit? 
 The streams of earthly consolation are already dried up, and wilt 
 thou yet hug to thy bosom, with unavailing fondness, the wretched 
 remnants of its fleeting joy? " more than sottish!" Be per- 
 suaded, all of you who are unacquainted with the gospel, to aban- 
 don the hope of finding happiness in created comforts. You are 
 perpetually disappointed, and yet continue to deceive yourselves 
 by imagining that if you miss your object here, you will meet it 
 yonder. But when you arrive at the longed-for spot, the airy 
 phantom eludes your embrace and mocks your hope. But do not 
 blame the creature nor think I mean to blame it. The creature is 
 
THE FOUNTAIN OF LIFE. 385 
 
 your friend. The creature bears a testimony for God. Eterna 
 truth has told you, that nothing below can be a suitable portion 
 for the immortal soul ; and that when you betake yourselves to the 
 creature in this view, you flee to " a refuge of lies." All the 
 creatures re-echo the important monition, and loudly cry, " It is 
 not in us !" Quit then, quit immediately these " broken cisterns, 
 which can hold no water." Haste with the speed of men who know 
 that eternal glory is the depending stake— haste to Jesus, "the 
 Fountain of living waters." Here " taste and see that the Lord 
 is good." 
 
 Ye young, ye giddy, and ye gay, listen to the voice of the great 
 Redeemer, who tenderly invites you to the heavenly draught. The 
 water which He gives will effectually quench that fearful thirst 
 which must afflict you whilst you are unacquainted with his grace. 
 It will abundantly repay every sacrfice he requires you to make ; 
 for it will be in you " a well of water springing up to everlasting 
 life," and he requires you to renounce nothing but what is really 
 your misery and will prove your'ruin. Not only the Word of God 
 asserts, the experience of ages also demonstrates, that " Wisdom's 
 ways are ways of pleasantness, and all her paths peace." Ask the 
 Christian and he will inform you, that, let the devil, and the world, 
 and the corrupt heart say what they will, there is, beyond all 
 controversy, " peace and joy in believing." 
 
 Let those who are in middle age reflect seriously on the indis- 
 pensable necessity and inestimable value of this water of life. 
 My friends, you must drink or you must perish, and the salvation 
 of Christ Jesus will not only secure your own souls, but will extend 
 its divine influence to every circumstance and every relation. Are 
 you blest with comforts ? This is the embalmer of joy. Are you 
 harassed with anxious solicitude ? This is the sweetener of care. 
 Are you visited with trials ? This is the cordial of affliction. Is 
 the favour of God the truest dignity and only bliss of man? This 
 will wash you from all your pollution, and render you fair in his 
 sight. shut not your eyes upon your own mercies ! " Now is 
 the accepted time, now is the day of salvation." — " To-day if ye 
 will hear his voice harden not your hearts." 
 
 Are there here any old persons who have never embraced the 
 glorious Saviour ? My brethren, your guilt is great, and as your 
 glass is almost run, your day of grace cannot be long. Yet even 
 
 2 A 
 
386 SERMON XX. 
 
 you, who are at the eleventh hour, are entreated to come and drink 
 of the water of life. You have much reason to be terribly alarmed, 
 but none to despair. The rich warrant proclaims, "whosoever 
 will, let him come." Start from your stupid lethargy and flee at 
 this critical moment to the Saviour of souls. He can save even 
 you, for his grace is sovereign, and it is almighty. If you cast 
 yourselves upon it, all shall yet be well. You are come near to 
 that dread valley, where burning sands swallow up the shallow 
 rivulets of earthly comfort. But the streams that flow from our 
 Rock, Christ, will follow you through these sands — will accompany 
 you into the dark and dreary vale of the shadow of death — will 
 support, and strengthen, and cheer your spirits, till you arrive in 
 safety and triumph at the celestial Canaan. 
 
 Is any one saying, in the bitterness of his soul, " Oh that I could 
 obtain a draught of this divine, this living water ! I see, I feel, 
 that all the creatures, though well suited to answer the end for 
 which they were given, are too gross in their nature, too limited 
 in their extent, and too short in their duration, to satisfy my vast 
 desires. I see that sin has ruined me, that I cannot help myself, 
 and that without Christ I am lost forever. that he would visit 
 me with his mercy !" Are these your views, your fears, your 
 wishes ? Then to you, in a peculiar manner, is the word of this 
 salvation sent. If Christ has made you sick of sin, it is the most 
 pleasing symptom that he has begun to draw you to himself; and 
 you may soon find, to your unspeakable joy, that he has drawn 
 you much farther than you can now believe. It is the sweet 
 pledge that he will send his word and heal you, that he will set 
 you in a large place, and enable you to shout the praises of your 
 redeeming God. Be not discouraged by your weakness, for a 
 "bruised reed he will not break, and smoking flax he will not 
 quench, till he send forth judgment unto victory." Let not your 
 guilt terrify you, for " though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be 
 white as snow; though they be red like crimson, they shall be as 
 wool." Think not the stain of your filthiuess too deep to be washed 
 out, for " the blood of Jesus cleanseth from all sin." — " Fear not, 
 only believe." Throw yourself upon his sovereignty, lay hold upon 
 his promise, "Him that cometh to me, I will in no wise cast out." 
 ►Say not, " I would, but cannot, hold fast of the promise." Your 
 own ability is out of the question. You are not to consider what 
 
THE FOUNTAIN OF LIFE. 387 
 
 you can do, but what Christ can do. None embrace the gospel 
 offer but they whom he enables to do it ; and whenever a poor 
 sinner stretches out his frail trembling hand towards the free pro- 
 mise, Christ incloses it in his own hand, and clasps it round the 
 promise in so firm a grasp, that neither earth, nor death, nor hell 
 can ever loose it. "Trust," then, "in the Lord forever, for in this 
 Lord Jehovah there is everlasting strength ; and they who believe 
 on him shall never be confounded." 
 
 Finally. Let all the disciples of Jesus, who have been drinking 
 at the fountain of living waters, be careful not to undervalue their 
 privilege, nor to throw contempt upon its adorable Author. Chris- 
 tians, have you, as the children of God, free access to the pnre 
 streams of uncreated bliss; and will you so injure your own souls, 
 and dishonour your Redeemer, as to grovel in the polluted and 
 poisonous waters of sinful pleasure? Shrink with horror from the 
 idea! Have you, as the children of God, free acccess to all the 
 fulness which is treasured up in Christ Jesus, and will you ever be 
 at a loss where to apply for the relief of your wants ? Let it be 
 your study to improve this unspeakable gift of God. His nature, 
 his attributes, his names, his covenant, his promises, his ordinances, 
 are to his people so many "wells of salvation," and their faith is 
 never rightly employed, but in drawing water from them. The 
 graces of the divine Spirit cannot divinely grow unless they be 
 divinely cherished. The new creature is of heavenly birth, and 
 must be nourished with heavenly food. As well might you expect 
 that an infant should advance to youth, to manhood, to age, with- 
 out continual supplies of provision, as that you should grow from 
 babes, to men and fathers in Christ, without the perpetual aids of 
 his Spirit and grace. Why do Christians become languid and 
 faint? Why do they yield to temptation? Why are they van- 
 quished by indwelling sin? It is because they so unfrcquently 
 visit the fountain of living waters. Let us learn, my brethren, to 
 live not so much upon what we have received, as upon what Christ 
 has to give. " Be strong," says the apostle, not in the grace 
 which is in yourselves, but "in the grace which is in Christ 
 Jesus." Relying upon his all-sufficiency, we shall find that " they 
 who wait on the Lord," and they only, " shall renew their strength ; 
 they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run, and not 
 be weary; they shall walk and not faint." 
 
SERMON XXI. 
 
 THE GOSPEL OFFER. 
 
 JOHN vi. 37. 
 
 These words are part of a most interesting discourse which our 
 Lord addressed to a number of his hearers, whom, shortly before, 
 he had miraculously fed. Highly delighted with such an abun- 
 dant, cheap, and seasonable supply, when they were worn out 
 with fatigue, and fainting through hunger, and hoping, it seems, 
 to be again feasted, by the repetition of the miracle, they soon re- 
 newed their visit to the Saviour. The Lord Jesus immediately 
 saw, (for how could Omniscience not see?) the baseness of the 
 principle by which they were actuated. " Ye seek me," said he, 
 " not because ye saw the miracles, but because ye did eat of the 
 loaves and were filled." Not because your souls were lost in 
 astonishment at the power, and your hearts melted with the love, 
 of God, displayed in my ministration, but because your animal 
 senses were gratified. My brethren, would to God there were not 
 ground to fear that many who now profess the name of Christ, are 
 governed by no better motives. 
 
 The Redeemer, however, who lost no opportunity of doing good, 
 did not neglect to improve the present occasion. After discovering 
 to these people his profound knowledge of their hearts, he leads 
 their views from temporal to eternal things — from anxiety about 
 their bodies, to concern for their souls. Under the metaphor of 
 bread, he opens up his mediatorial character and office, illustrates 
 the spiritual nature of his salvation, and strongly inculcates their 
 
THE GOSPEL OFFER. 389 
 
 absolute need of it. The farther he advances in his important 
 instructions, the closer he brings his doctrine to their consciences. 
 Having pointedly charged them with unbelief, that he might at 
 once alarm their fears, and humble their pride, he solemnly tells 
 them, " All that the Father giveth me shall come to me;" and to 
 encourage their hopes, he adds, "Him that cometh to me, I will in 
 no wise cast out." Can tongue express, can heart conceive, the 
 glory, the riches, of this precious promise ? On this promise, many 
 who are now singing the song of Moses and the Lamb, once hung 
 their fainting spirits, and it carried them safely through guilt, 
 through temptation, through death. Is its freedom restrained? or 
 its grace diminished? or the power of the Promiser abridged? No. 
 It is made by the same Saviour, to the same kind of sinners, and 
 conveys the same invaluable blessings. It holds up to the most 
 daring offender, who will avail himself of the offer, a free, a full, 
 an irrevocable pardon. It infolds in its spacious bosom all the 
 benefits of the everlasting covenant — all that man can receive, or 
 God bestow. Can any human heart remain insensible to such 
 wondrous condescension ? Can you hear with indifference, that 
 Jesus, the Prince of life, the Lord of glory, stoops so low as to 
 present such sweet invitations to the chief of sinners ? that 
 " He who has the key of David, who openeth and no man shutteth, 
 and shutteth and no man openeth," would send forth his light upon 
 those truths which will demand your attention, while we inquire 
 what is meant by coming to Christ, and endeavour to unfold the 
 annexed promise. 
 
 I. We are to inquire what is meant by coming to Christ. 
 
 To come to Christ is, in general, to believe in him ; and to be- 
 lieve in him is to " receive and rest upon him alone for salvation 
 as he is offered in the gospel." 
 
 This coming to Christ supposes several things. 
 
 1. That we are by nature strangers from God, and feel the 
 misery of our destiny. While our first parents continued in their 
 integrity, they were honoured with free access to their Creator ; 
 but the breach of their fidelity ruined this divine privilege, and 
 produced in their minds an alienation from their God. His right- 
 eous judgment made their choice their punishment, prohibiting 
 them from that intercourse with himself which they laboured to 
 
390 SERMON XXI. 
 
 shun ; and the flaming sword of the cheruLim, and what is more 
 terrible, " the decree of justice," barred up forever all approach to 
 .Jehovah by the old covenant. That this is our forlorn condition, 
 and that there is no possibility of approach to God acceptably but 
 by the new and living way which the Redeemer has opened, the 
 very nature of his mission and his earnest invitation declare. 
 Approaching to God by Jesus Christ supposes that we feel our 
 distance from him, and farther, that we feel the misery of our 
 estrangement. I need not tell you that when Adam fell he lost 
 not only his dignity but his happiness. His mind, which was 
 filled with light, serenity, innocence, bliss, and joy, became the 
 abode of darkness, inquietude, guilt, wretchedness, and sorrow. 
 He has transmitted to us the doleful inheritance. Offenders in our 
 offending parent, " we are by nature children of wrath." By losing 
 the favour of God we lost our all ; we were degraded from his 
 children and friends into the children and drudges of the devil. 
 The temple of the Lord of hosts is converted into a den of thieves. 
 A crowd of fiends, attended by every vile and hateful affection, has 
 entered the soul of man. Enmity against God headed the gang, 
 and the standard of rebellion is erected in that very spot which 
 was once the palace of the King of kings. Can such a state be 
 happy ? Can it possibly not be miserable ? God is the pure and 
 only source of blessedness, and woe and death are as invariably 
 the effects of distance from him, as darkness and cold, of distance 
 from the sun. But a considerable part of man's misery is. that 
 his apos/acy has blinded his eyes and deadened his sensibility. He 
 sees not that sin has robbed him of his beauty in defacing the 
 image of his God. He sees not that sin has obliterated his fan- 
 title to eternal life. He feels not that sin, like a venomous reptile, 
 is gnawing his vitals and infusing a mortal poison. These things, 
 however, he must know, or he will not, he cannot, come to Jesus 
 Christ. It is his office to save sinners, and to sa.yafrom sin. But 
 surely they who discern neither danger in the state nor deformity 
 in the character of a sinner, and who roll sin itself "as a sweet 
 morsel under their tongues," will not, while under the influence of 
 such views, think the gospel salvation any favour. Nobody, who 
 is not conscious of a disease, will thank you for a remedy. It is, 
 therefore, the first work of the Holy Spirit to convince of sin. In this 
 work he rouses the conscience from its torpitude— he quickens the 
 
THE GOSPEL OFFER. 
 
 soul into life — he opens the eyes that were shut in spiritual death 
 — he unmasks the sinner to himself — but ah! how great 
 alteration! Like a palsied limb, which, on the recovery of health, 
 feels the acutest pangs shoot through every nerve, the sinner now 
 finds himself inconceivably wretched. He finds himself under 
 the curse of a broken covenant, and therefore exposed to the ven- 
 geance of an angry God, exposed to the horrors of everlasting ruin. 
 As the human mind is engaged in a perpetual search alter happi- 
 ness, the first question on such a discovery will be, how shall I 
 escape the destruction which threatens me? It is more than 
 probable that, unacquainted as yet with the wiles of Satan and the 
 deceitfulness of his own heart, a person in this condition will be- 
 take himself to the law, which in its original form said, " Do and 
 live," and try to help himself by his " good works." He will form 
 resolutions of amendment, and fondly hope to atone for the folly 
 and guilt of his past, by the wisdom and sanctity of his future 
 conduct. But if the Lord intend to be gracious to him, he will 
 not be allowed to trust in that "refuge of lies." The Holy Spirit 
 will show him that if he stop there, he is undone forever; and 
 therefore coming to Jesus Christ supposes, 
 
 2. A sense of our utter inability to assist ourselves. 
 
 Under the divine instruction men learn wonderful lessons. The 
 sinner had been convinced that he was guilty, he is now carried a 
 step farther, and sees that he is filthy. His eyes are turned 
 inwards upon his heart, and he is made acquainted with facts of 
 which he had not the least suspicion, when he was told by the 
 divine word, he would not believe what is proved to be too true, 
 "that he is all as an unclean thing"— that his "very righteous, 
 as he had simply imagined them, "areas filthy rags" — that his 
 heart is a nest of abominations, "a cage of unclean and hateful 
 birds " His loathsomeness in his own sight and in the sight of a 
 holy God, who is "of purer eyes than to behold iniquity,'' added 
 to his danger, renders him doubly miserable. He gets a glii 
 of the infinite evil of sin. He is sensible that nothing short of a 
 spotless obedience to the divine law will be accepted by the Law- 
 giver. He is sensible, too, that a satisfaction must be made for the 
 innumerable instances in which he has violated its precepts. 
 What can he do? Were he to obey perfectly hereafter, all his 
 obedience is a debt. There is no surplus to satisfy for past oflfi 
 
392 SEKMON XXI. 
 
 But instead of giving perfect obedience, he is incapable of per- 
 forming one acceptable action. Sin is so mingled with all he does, 
 that his best deeds, the incense of his purest offerings, are "a smoke 
 in Jehovah's nostrils." And to put the finishing stroke to his 
 self-confidence, he is obliged to subscribe the humiliating doctrine 
 which tells him, that the broken law spreads its broad curse over 
 his very righteousness. In the anguish which these views must 
 excite, no wonder that he despairs of helping himself — no wonder 
 that he is troubled and terrified with the apprehension of a God 
 absolute and unreconciled. He can enter into the spirit of that 
 passionate exclamation, "What shall I do to be saved?" The 
 business, however, is not finished. The Lord is tearing him from 
 the old root, but has not yet ingrafted him into Christ the living 
 Vine. He has hitherto looked only at the high demands of God's 
 law, and his own unworthiness, weakness, and vileness ; but he 
 has not looked at the blessed Mediator. Coming to Jesus Christ 
 supposes then, 
 
 3. A view of him as that very Saviour whom we need. When 
 the soul is sinking under the weight of guilt, and every moment 
 fears that the black cloud of divine wrath will burst over his 
 devoted head, how reviving, how transporting the thought, that 
 the " blood of Jesus Christ cleanseth from all sin !" This precious 
 truth, my brethren, is the only thing which can revive the dying 
 hope of a convinced sinner. A Saviour! Delightful sound! A 
 Saviour who has made an atonement for sinners ! May I depend 
 upon this heavenly information? Yes, for "his blood cleanseth 
 from all sin." AVhat ! from all sin ? Will it cleanse from my sin ? 
 It will. In the mingled emotions of wonder and joy, a sinner 
 cannot but long to be better acquainted with this celestial Friend. 
 He opens the volume of inspiration, and there he obtains all the 
 intelligence he can wish. He is told that in the glorious Redeemer 
 there is a fulness to relieve every want. Does he find himself 
 debarred by the flaming sword of justice from approaching to God 
 by the old covenant? He is told that Jesus Christ is the new and 
 living Way to the Father. Does he need a justifying righteousness? 
 He is told that Jesus Christ has "brought in an everlasting righte- 
 ousness." Nay, that he is himself "the Lord our righteousness." 
 Does he need strength? He is told that Jesus Christ is the Lord 
 our Strength also. Does he need to be purified from his pollution ? 
 
THE GOSPEL OFFER. 393 
 
 He is told that by pleading the merits of Jesus Christ he may 
 expect the accomplishment of that gracious promise, "I will sprinkle 
 clean water upon you, and you shall be clean; from all your 
 filthiness and from all your idols will I cleanse you." Oh ! my 
 brethren, how does a sight of glorious Christ tarnish all other 
 glory ! It sickens a man to the covenant of works — it makes him 
 say of the covenant of grace, of which Jesus Christ is the Surety 
 and the Head, *' It is well-ordered in all things and sure ; it is all 
 my salvation and all my desire." But as a bare sense of the 
 suitableness of the Mediator is different from surrendering ourselves 
 up to him, coming to Jesus Christ is, 
 
 In the last place, the rolling of our guilty souls, with all their 
 vileness and all their unworthiness, upon his rich sovereign grace. 
 
 When a man, into whose mind God hath sinned so as to gi?e 
 him an insight into the great things of which we have been dis- 
 coursing, looks at himself and sees nothing but death there — when 
 he looks at the law and sees nothing but death there — when he 
 looks at the creature, and sees nothing but emptiness and barren- 
 ness and death there — when he looks at Jesus Christ and sees in 
 him light, and life, and grace, and all the fulness of Deity, he cannot 
 but say, in the prospect of going away from Christ, " Lord, to whom 
 shall I go? thou hast the words of eternal life." He reasons as 
 the lepers of old, "If I sit here, I die; if I go back, I shall die : 
 if I push forward and make an experiment of his grace, I can but 
 die." These exercises are the suggestions of the blessed Spirit. 
 They terminate upon a whole Christ, upon Christ in all his offices. 
 With these exercises, and with " the everlasting arms underneath 
 him,'' the sinner casts himself down at the feet of Jesus. Happy, 
 thrice happy they, whose souls are exalted into sueli humility — 
 who willingly lay their honours in the dust, and set the crown 
 upon the Redeemer's head. Nor is this the characteristic of a few ; 
 it is the common temper of all God's children— a temper which 
 you must have, if you ever see his face in peace. 
 
 To prevent poor sinners from thus coming to the Saviour, Satan 
 leaves nothing unattempted. When he cannot lull them any 
 longer in a state of security, he commonly endeavours to persuade 
 them that they have sinned away their day of grace, and thai Christ 
 will not receive them. But " he was a liar from the beginning." 
 Tear not, trembling soul; impudent as he is, you may stop his 
 
394 SERMON XXI. 
 
 mouth. He cannot, blessed be God, he cannot erase from your 
 Bibles the gracious declaration of the text, " Him that cometh to me 
 I will in no wise cast out." The unfolding of this promise is the 
 
 II. Topic to which your attention was invited. 
 
 "Him that cometh to me I will in no wise cast out," i. e. I will 
 undoubtedly receive him* I will not cast him from me now. 
 Whatever has been his past character — whatever the aggravations 
 of his guilt — whatever are his present fears — whatever the temp- 
 tations of Satan, I invite him to the arms of my love ; I promise 
 him a welcome reception. 
 
 This however is not all. Jesus will not only admit you into his 
 favour ?iow, but he will not cast you out of it hereafter. Those 
 whom " he once loves he loves to the end." He gives to all his 
 people " eternal life, and they shall never perish — no future back- 
 slidings, no provocations, will induce him to forsake them utterly. 
 If they " break his statutes, and keep not his commandments, then 
 will he indeed visit their transgressions with the rod and their 
 iniquity with stripes." If, like refractory children, they attempt to 
 run from home, he will scourge them back to their Father's house ; 
 but he administers his corrections with a parent's hand ; he intends 
 to teach them how bitter sin is — to make them live more by faith, 
 and nearer himself. His chastisements are no proof that they have 
 lost the privilege of their adoption, for " nevertheless," says he, 
 " my loving kindness will I not utterly take from him, nor sutler 
 my faithfulness to fail." And why not? Because of their good 
 behaviour? That would be a dreary doctrine. Far otherwise. 
 " My covenant," he adds, " will I not break, nor alter the thing 
 that is gone out of my lips." (Ps. Ixxxix. 31, 34.) And a clause 
 of this covenant is, " I will put my fear in their hearts, that they 
 shall not depart from me." ( Jer. xxxii. 40.) " Therefore there is 
 no condemnation to them who arc in Christ Jesus." As a conse- 
 quence, it follows that those who come to Christ he will not cast 
 out of his kingdom of glory. The connection between faith in the 
 Lord Jesus and eternal life is as infallible as God can make it ; 
 we ran no more disjoin them than we can separate truth from the 
 divine nature. And this is a principle so clearly revealed in your 
 Bibles, that it would be needless to attempt its proof. 
 
 Pause then a moment, and ask yourselves what an immortal 
 
THE GOSPEL OFFER. 
 
 being can wish that the Redeemer does not promise in the text ? 
 Say, is it not your wisdom, is it not your honour, is it not your 
 happiness, to surrender your hearts and devote your lives to this 
 heavenly Suitor? What greater wisdom than to secure thai good 
 part which shall not be taken from you? So that, happen what 
 will, all shall be well with you. AVhat honour should be so ardently 
 courted as that of becoming the sons of God? — of shining in the 
 robes of imputed righteousness? — of wearing through eternity a 
 crown of glory ? What happiness like that which lies in Jehovah's 
 favour? for it is life, and his loving kindness is better than life. 
 
 " Precious blessings! but we dare not contemplate them only at 
 a distance. We have so often turned our backs upon them and 
 their adorable Author, that we fear there is no hope for us," may 
 perhaps be the language of some present. Why, my friends, why 
 indulge such a fear? You have all the encouragement imaginable 
 to believe that he will freely pardon even your transgressions, and 
 adopt you into his family. 
 
 For, in the first place : The salvation of sinners is the object 
 and the business of his mediation. " The Son of man is come to 
 seek and save that which was lost." For this very purpose he was 
 set up from everlasting, and commissioned into our world : nay, it 
 is so peculiarly his office that, he received his name from it. " Thou 
 shalt call his name Jesus, because he shall save his people from 
 their sins." Who are his people ? Certainly they to whom " he 
 gives power to become the sons of God." And who are these ? 
 "As many as believe on his name." Stretch forth, then, tin 1 
 withered arm; endeavour to lay hold on his covenant; let your 
 hope lift up her languishing head; for the Redeemer is never 
 employed in work more suitable to his character than when 1m 
 confers on such as you the blessings of his grace. You have, 
 therefore, nothing less to animate your souls than the express design 
 of the scheme of salvation, and all the perfections of God, which 
 are pledged for the security of those who embrace it. 
 
 2. As it is the business, so it is the delight of the Lord Christ, 
 to save even the chief of sinners. It was in the prospect of this 
 blessed work, that when the council of peace was held in etcrniiy, 
 "he rejoiced in the habitable parts of the earth, and his delights 
 were with the sons of men." The conversion of a sinner produces 
 great joy in heaven, and the first smile brightens on the countenance 
 
39G SERMON XXI. 
 
 of the Son of God. This heavenly personage, this incarnate God, 
 is never so much grieved, nor considers himself treated with so 
 much dignity, as when sinners refuse the offers of his lore. If they 
 will not listen to his expostulations, he leaves them with regret. 
 "How shall I give thee up, Ephraim?" — "How shall I deliver 
 thee, Israel?" — "How shall I make thee as Admah?"— " How shall 
 I set thee as Zeboim ?" — " Mine heart is turned within me ; my 
 repentings are kindled together." (Hos. xi. 8.) 
 
 The Lord Jesus is well pleased to be employed by sinners in 
 transacting their eternal interests. Be persuaded to put your souls, 
 and all their concerns into his hand. You cannot commit them 
 to a better, nor a more faithful agent. You cannot find a more 
 powerful friend, nor a more effectual pleader. He is minister 
 plenipotentiary in the court of heaven ; and they whose cause he 
 undertakes, shall undoubtedly succeed. Rob not the Saviour of 
 his glory, but let your redemption add a new trophy to the triumphs 
 of his grace. 
 
 3. He has actually saved sinners as unlikely as yourselves to 
 obtain his favour. The Scriptures tell us of a Manasseh, whose 
 murders made the streets of Jerusalem run down with innocent 
 blood, and who, nevertheless, became a wondrous monument of 
 redeeming grace. They tell us of a Mary Magdalen, in whom 
 dwelt seven devils, and yet they could not prevent a gracious visit 
 from Christ. They tell us of a Paul, who was a persecutor, blas- 
 phemous, and injurious, "but he obtained mercy." They tell us 
 of those- who were guilty of crucifying the Lord of glory, and yet 
 this blackest of guilt was washed away in the blood of sprinkling. 
 Were you to enumerate the vile abominations which have disgraced 
 and rendered miserable our nature, and to present the list to the 
 redeemed in heaven, how many would say, "And such were weT 
 Oh, sinner ! the path you wish to tread, has been trodden by mil- 
 lions before you, and like you. You injure the freeness and fulness 
 of the Redeemer's grace, by hesitating a moment about his willing- 
 ness to save you. 
 
 4. Christ has told you— in the text he tells you, that he is as 
 willing, as he is able, to save to the uttermost, all that come to God 
 by him. And where has he contradicted himself? "Him that 
 cometh to me," is the unlimited proclamation, " I will in no wise 
 cast out." Nay, he has gone farther; he has not only said, he has 
 
THE GOSPEL OFFER. 397 
 
 sworn, and sworn by himself (the most solemn oath that God can 
 take,) that he will not reject you. But by your questioning bis 
 willingness you give him the lie; you believe the devil and your 
 own deceitful hearts, and believe them at the expense of Jehovah's 
 truth. Away with this false humility. It dishonours God, and is 
 fraught with poison to your own souls. It is the most inveterate 
 enemy the Redeemer has — seize this traitor and nail him to his 
 cross. The great Mediator has promised to receive you. That is 
 enough — take him at his word. He has put no qualification in 
 his warrant — see that you put none there. Fix your eye upon his 
 atonement — bring his promise to his throne, plead it there, " Lord, 
 do as thou hast said." Such a cry has never been, shall never be 
 unanswered ; it pierces the third heavens, and brings Jesus to the 
 relief of the soul. And in all your supplications, remember that 
 the salvation of Christ is absolutely free ; a quality which it could 
 not have if it excluded any who are willing to submit to it There 
 is not one way to life for little, and another for great, sinners. Are 
 your iniquities heinously aggravated ? Then you have more need 
 of the Saviour ! Then the honours of his love will be more 
 magnified in your salvation ! Then you will be more deeply in- 
 debted to his grace ! The redeemed will all shout, but you will 
 shout upon a higher note, " to him that loved us, and washed us 
 from our sins in his own blood — be glory and dominion forever and 
 ever." (Rev. i. 5, 6.) 
 
 As the whole of this discourse has been practical, the improve- 
 ment shall consist in a very few obvious reflections. 
 
 1. If coming to Jesus implies the several things which hare 
 been mentioned, it highly concerns all who have hitherto lived 
 contented with a mere profession, to realize their misery and their 
 danger. My brethren, you seem to forget that a "form of godli- 
 ness " will not save your souls. All who have any respect for the 
 system of divine truth, profess to believe, though the conduct of 
 too many belies their creed, that there is no salvation detached 
 from faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. Now what will it profit you. 
 that this precious principle is inscribed in every page of your 
 Bible, and has a place in your understandings and memories, if it 
 do not, by the blessing of God, deeply affect, and thoroughly renew 
 your hearts? Let me ask you, and let conscience, as in tin- 
 presence of Jehovah, put home the question, Have you felt your- 
 
398 SERMON XXL 
 
 selves wretched, aliens from God, children of wrath, under the 
 curse, and obnoxious to the vengeance of his holy law? Have 
 you found yourselves polluted, your power to do good entirely lost, 
 and inherent depravity contaminating and poisoning, like the 
 pestilence, what you once imagined your best works ? Have you 
 utterly despaired of doing any thing to relieve yourselves from 
 your woful condition? Have your minds been illuminated to see 
 the glory of the Redeemer's person, the suitableness and the 
 necessity of his offices, the freedom and the fulness of his grace ? 
 Are you pleased with the plan of salvation ; that wondrous plan 
 which puts the crown upon the Mediator's head, and lays your 
 honours and your importance prostrate in the dust? Have you 
 surrendered your hearts, and consecrated your lives, to this al- 
 mighty Saviour? If you are his people indeed, if your are the 
 just expectants of a happy immortality, you certainly know some- 
 thing of these things. If you do not, it is to be hoped you will 
 not dare, in virtue of a mere profession, to seat yourselves, to- 
 morrow, at the table of the Lord. Allow me, my friends, to deal 
 plainly with you; and do you deal plainly and honestly with your- 
 selves. The table shall be spread, but only for the children of the 
 kingdom — the Master comes, but he calls not for you — you have 
 not the wedding garment; you have no invitation from Zion's 
 King to this feast of love ; and at your peril be it, if you go unin- 
 vited. Nay, if you know nothing of those exercises of the soul on 
 which our reflections have dwelt this evening, you are not only 
 unbidden to our gospel repast, but the whole of your religion is a 
 dead form, an empty shell, a religion for this world, and it will 
 attend you no further than this world. It will leave you at death, 
 when you will most sadly need comfort and support. "Be not 
 deceived: God is not mocked. If any man be in Christ, he is a 
 new creature." — "You must be born again" — you must have a 
 justifying righteousness, and sanctifying grace; without this " no 
 man shall see the Lord." Without this, no splendid profession, 
 no extensive knowledge, no exalted privileges, will benefit you in 
 the most trying hour. All these you may have, and yet go down 
 to the grave with a "lie in your right hand." that you were 
 wise to know, " in this your day, the things that belong to your 
 peace." 
 2. Will Jesus Christ reject none who come to him? then all 
 
THE GOSPEL OFFER. 
 
 who perish, perish by their own fault. Christ and all thp benefits 
 of the everlasting covenant are now offered to the chief of sinners. 
 To every one in this assembly, whatever his character, whatever 
 his crimes, the free promise of eternal lift; is presented. Nay, 
 wherever the joyful sound is heard, the gracious proclamation 
 announces peace and pardon through the blood of Jesus. By this 
 blood a fountain is opened for the house of David, and fur the 
 inhabitants of Jerusalem. "Ho! everyone that thirsteth, come 
 ye to the waters!'' — " Whosoever will, let him come and take tin- 
 waters of life freely!" Whatever, therefore, you may pretend; 
 however plausible the excuses by which you satisfy your consciences 
 while you despise the blessed Saviour; the truth is, (for He who 
 cannot lie hath said so,) " You will not come to him that you may 
 have life." You are, then, your own destroyers; and at the awful 
 appearance of your Judge, guilt will stop your mouths ; or should 
 you attempt to speak, your mouths will condemn you. The Lord 
 now waits to be gracious ; but remember, that if you persist and 
 die in your unbelief, " there remaineth no more sacrifice for sin, 
 but a certain fearful looking-for of judgment and fiery indignation 
 which shall devour the adversaries. 
 
 3. Since Jesus Christ will cast out none who come to him, let it 
 be your care, Christians, to live by faith upon him. May the most 
 inveterate rebel against God look for forgiveness and acceptance 
 through the Mediator's atonement? and shall not his children, 
 who are already justified by that atonement, have boldness and 
 confidence in their approaches to his throne? You have many 
 corruptions to subdue — many trials to sustain — many foes to resist 
 — and therefore, if you expect to succeed, you must have many 
 errands to the throne of grace. And be not now strangers at that 
 throne — spread before it all your weaknesses and all your wants. 
 Pour out, into the bosom of your Father, all your anxieties and all 
 your griefs. Do you feel your lusts strong, and your graces weak ? 
 Do not spend your time in lamenting your feebleness, but betake 
 yourselves to him who is not only the Lord your righteousness, 
 but the Lord your strength. Does your great adversary seem to 
 be let loose upon you? Does he, as a ravenous lion, terrify yon 
 by his roarings? Does he, as a skilful and malicious enemy, 
 discharge into your souls his fiery darts ? Run instantly to the 
 Captain of your salvation— he has an arm thai is full of power. 
 
400 SERMON XXI. 
 
 In our text he has pledged himself to secure you ; and as he cannot 
 deny himself, his faithfulnes will be your shield and your buckler. 
 Have you acted treacherously towards your Lord ? Have you 
 grieved him by backsliding from him ? And has he, in righteous 
 indignation, withdrawn from you the light of his countenance? 
 Humble yourselves under his mighty hand, but do not mistake the 
 meaning of his providence. He chastens, because he loves you. 
 He says with inexpressible tenderness, " Return, ye backsliding 
 children, and I will heal your backslidings." Answer his call, 
 " Behold ! we come unto thee, for thou art the Lord our God." 
 (Jer. iii. 22.) Whilst the tear of ingenuous shame starts in your 
 eye, fix it on his everlasting righteousness — let your trembling 
 hand again lay hold of his covenant — bow at his footstool — plead 
 his promise — you shall not be disappointed, for it is a truth more 
 stable than the heavens, that " them who come to him he will in 
 no wise cast out." 
 
SERMON XXII. 
 
 THE GOSPEL NO CAUSE OF SHAME. 
 
 ROMANS i. 16. 
 
 "lam not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, for it is the power of God unto 
 salvation to ever)'- one that believeth." 
 
 Zeal for the glory of his Divine Master was the most prominent 
 feature in the character of the apostle Paul. Hurried away by 
 the blind impulses of ignorant superstition and inveterate malice, 
 he had formerly persecuted with unrelenting fury all who named 
 the name of Jesus. The account which he gives of himself ex- 
 hibits the most hideous picture of frantic impiety. " I verily 
 thought with myself that I ought to do many things contrary to 
 the name of Jesus of Nazareth. Which thing I also did in Jeru- 
 salem ; and many of the saints did I shut up in prison, having 
 received authority from the chief priests; and when they were, 
 put to death I gave my voice against them. And I punished 
 them oft in every synagogue, and compelled them to blaspheme ; 
 and being exceedingly mad against them, I persecuted them even 
 unto strange cities." (Acts xxvi. 9-11.) 
 
 Under these circumstances, who would have thought, accord- 
 ing to human judgment, that the conversion of Paul was a proba- 
 ble, not to say a possible, event? Assuredly, had he been gov- 
 erned by worldly motives, we never should have heard of him as 
 a Christian, far less would his name have shown with such splen- 
 dour on the list of apostles. But what obstacles can arrest the 
 power of Christ, or prevent him from bringing to himself in the 
 moment of love the " chosen vessels" of mercy. No sooner does 
 divine grace take possession of the sou! than the heart of stone 
 2 i: 
 
402 SERMON XXII. 
 
 melts— the fury of persecution subsides — the murdering sword is 
 past away— the first breath of penitence cries, " Lord, what wilt 
 thou have me to do?" — Saul the persecutor becomes Paul the 
 apostle. With an ardour proportioned to his former enmity, " he 
 now preaches the faith which once he destroyed" — he plants the 
 standard of the Messiah in that very city which witnessed his 
 rebellion, and was the scene of his cruelty — he glories in the cross 
 of Christ — he sees clearly all the dangers which attend such a 
 profession, and all the calumny and odium which are heaped 
 upon those who make it. But unappalled by danger, unmoved 
 by calumny, he throws to his adversaries the gauntlet of defiance. 
 11 Why,'' says he, " should I blush for my Redeemer? Let them 
 blush wiio never saw his glory nor felt his love. But I, who 
 know both, " am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ ;" and I 
 have the best reason not to be ashamed of it, for, let men reproach 
 it as they please, "it is the power of God unto salvation to every 
 one that believeth." 
 
 In this noble testimony which Paul gives to the gospel, he 
 speaks with the warmth and eagerness of a man who felt its 
 importance and certainty. Enlarged views of the gracious scheme 
 it unfolds impressed him with the deep conviction that it alone 
 can bear the weight of an immortal soul. Enraptured with the 
 heavenly prospects it opens, not only in this world but beyond the 
 grave, his heart glowed with fervent gratitude to their adorable 
 Author; and unable to repress his devout affection, he cries out, 
 " I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ." This was not more 
 the heroism of an inspired apostle than it is the temper of all 
 believers. They have in their own bosoms the same divine 
 principle which animated the faith and hope and magnanimity of 
 Paul. Tis true, in them it may not be equally active, nor its 
 operations of equal extent; but the principle they have and must 
 have. Born of the same Father— united to the same Redeemer — 
 guided by the same Spirit, they must have the same disposition. 
 However weak their faith, however faint their hope, however dead 
 their frame, it is their "unaltered wish" to glorify their Saviour. 
 And could you see their inmost souls, you might read there, in 
 very legible characters, " I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ." 
 Too often, indeed, their actions are wholly inconsistent with their 
 character and sentiments. They shrink from the frown or sneer 
 
THE GOSrEL NO CAUSE OF SHAME. 
 
 of "a world that lieth in wickedness." But of this timidity they 
 ought to be ashamed. It is the fruit of their unbelief— the b 
 of their folly — the chastisement of their sin. 
 
 That they may not be left to act so unworthy and ungrateful a 
 part should be the constant study and pniyer of Christians; and 
 they will find the subject of our present attention fraught with 
 sweet and powerful motives to " hold fast," not merely their faith, 
 but "the profession of their faith, without wavering;" for it 
 naturally leads us to take a view of the gospel of Christ — to notice 
 some of the reasons for which carnal men are ashamed of it — 
 to display the Christian temper by showing what is comprehended 
 in not being ashamed of it — and to illustrate the argument by 
 which the bold profession of it is defended. 
 
 In prosecuting the plan which has now been proposed, and 
 depending upon that gracious aid, without which we can do no- 
 thing, let us, 
 
 In the first place, take a brief view of the gospel of Christ. 
 Gospel, as is commonly remarked, signifies glad tidings ; and 
 the term is appropriated, with peculiar propriety, to the revelation 
 of divine mercy as it is manifested in Christ Jesus. 
 
 The gospel well deserves to be termed glad tidings in a variety 
 of respects, as it answers to complete satisfaction the most im- 
 portant questions that man can ask. It resolves our doubts about 
 the nature and character of God — about the dispensations of his 
 providence, about a future state, about the misery of our present 
 condition, and about the method of our recovery. 
 
 1. The gospel of Christ informs us about the nature and cha- 
 racter of God. 
 
 That man, who was created in the divine image, and honoured 
 with the divine Pfavour and communication, should so fatally 
 degenerate as to forget the first lesson which was taught to his 
 species, a knowledge of the God who made him, is not a more 
 melancholy proof of his depravity than it is a part of his miser] . 
 Credulity itself could scarcely have believed that human reason, 
 which originally was pure and clear, should be so debased and 
 blinded as to mistake entirely the nature and plainest attributes 
 of God, and to ascribe any of them to the creatures of his hand. 
 But the fact is unquestionable. The dreadful apostacy of oor 
 race plunged us into such woful ignorance, that we groped in 
 
404 SEEMON XXII. 
 
 darkness, even at noon-day. I should abuse your understanding? 
 should I attempt to prove that the heathen world was overspread 
 with the grossest superstition and idolatry. I should waste your 
 time in recapitulating the opposite opinions which were entertained 
 of God, not only by the multitude, but also by the greatest philo- 
 sophers. Whether there is one great and glorious being, who 
 centres in himself all the perfections of Deity, or whether these 
 are distributed amongst more than one, is a question about which 
 the philosophers hesitated, and which the vulgar decided in favour 
 of Polytheism. Such a decision must necessarily draw after Jt a 
 train of fatal errors respecting every part of the divine character 
 and every relation it bears to us. Its practical effects are briefly, 
 but elegantly and strikingly, summed up by our apostle, when he 
 tells us, in the close of this first chapter of the epistle to the Ro- 
 mans, that men " changed the glory of the incorruptible God into 
 an image made like to corruptible man, and to birds, and four- 
 footed beasts, and creeping things, and worshipped and served the 
 creature more than the Creator, who is blessed for ever." Even 
 they, who, a little more enlightened, condemned idolatry, and 
 were inclined to favour the doctrine of the unity of God, were 
 much at a loss concerning other matters of the highest moment. 
 Is God a Spirit ? Is he the author of evil ? If not, is he so 
 necessarily holy that he must punish sin ? Is there any possible 
 way of escaping his righteous indignation ? Will he certainly 
 bring us into judgment for all our actions, or only for some ? 
 Ooes he take notice of our thoughts ? How is he to be worship- 
 ped ? Ought we to worship him at the hazard of mistaking the 
 acceptable mode, and thus bring upon ourselves new and accu- 
 mulated guilt; or ought we to omit it altogether? On these and 
 other important questions the wisest of the heathens said the 
 least ; and they who were most positive most frequently erred. 
 So truly does the apostle say, that " professing themselves to be 
 wise they became fools," and that " the world by wisdom knew 
 not God." From this frightful state of doubt, suspense, and per- 
 plexity, the gospel of Christ delivered the world. It chased away 
 i lie clouds which wrapped in darkness the human mind, and 
 poured upon the gloom of midnight a flood of day. This gospel 
 declares that God is One. " Hear, Israel! the Lord our God 
 e Jehovah. It also declares how he is one, in revealing to 
 
THE GOSPEL NO CAUSE OF SHAME. 
 
 us the mystery of the adorable Trinity — the wonderful mystery of 
 three equal divine persons subsisting in one undivided essence; a 
 mystery of dread importance, of which the knowledge is abso- 
 lutely necessary to our eternal happiness, but which mere reason 
 never could have conjectured, far less discovered. The gospel 
 declares that " God is a Spirit, infinite, eternal, unchangeable, in 
 his being, wisdom, power, holiness, justice, goodness, and truth." 
 In his being, and therefore as he could have no beginning, so ho 
 can have no alteration nor end, but must continue the same, in 
 all the glory of his nature, to-day, yesterday, and forever. In his 
 ivisdo?n, and therefore all things, even the most secret thoughts, 
 are open 1o his sight, and shall all be conducted to the lust and 
 noblest end. In his power, and therefore the determinations of 
 his wisdom can never be frustrated, but shall certainly be carried 
 into complete execution. In his holiness, and therefore he cannot 
 be the author of evil ; he must hate sin with a perfect hatred ; be 
 cannot allow it to pass with impunity, but must punish it as 
 Infallibly as he is God. In his justice, and therefore while he 
 supports the dignity of his laws and the rights of his government, 
 and vindicates the honours of his character, his decisions must hi 1 
 according to truth, and so perfectly equitable as to shut the mouth 
 of every offender. In his goodness, and therefore we may be 
 assured that "he does not afflict willingly, nor grieve the children 
 of men;" that the innocent cannot suffer; that they who do suffer 
 must be sinners, and the authors of their own misery; and thai 
 there is here laid a foundation on which even the guilty may hope 
 to be delivered from the condemnation to which their consciences 
 tell them they are liable, provided the deliverance can be effected 
 in a consistency with all the divine attributes. And in his truth, 
 so that neither his promises nor his threatenings can possibly fail. 
 Farther, the gospel of Christ declares that God is to be wor- 
 shipped — that he is to be worshipped in spirit and in truth ; secretly 
 and openly; that to neglect this duty is death; and that it cannot 
 be acceptably performed, but in the mode prescribed in the reve- 
 lation of the covenant of grace. 
 
 As the account which divine revelation gives of the nature and 
 character of God far exceeds, both in value and extent, all the 
 accounts to which uninspired philosophy can pretend; so the 
 marks of decided superiority are stamped with equal cle, 
 
406 SERMON XXII. 
 
 upon the account which it gives of the government of God, I 
 therefore observe, 
 
 2. That the gospel of Christ affords us true and interesting 
 views of Divine Providence. 
 
 How great was the confusion and perplexity of the acutest 
 observers of the moral world, when, unaided by revelation, they 
 attempted to develop the mysteries of Providence ; and how vain 
 were all their efforts to extricate themselves from their difficulties, 
 can be a secret to none who are acquainted with the state of man- 
 kind before the promulgation of the gospel. That God, the Creator 
 of the universe, governs it with unerring wisdom, almighty power, 
 and unceasing care, is a proposition so plain to those who know 
 their Bibles, and with which conscience so immediately closes, that 
 we are apt to imagine no man can refuse, for a moment, his cordial 
 and unhesitating assent. Yet even this proposition, all clear and 
 commanding as it is, was much controverted by pagans of old, and 
 as if God meant to stain the pride of human reason, it is contro- 
 verted at this hour by many who reject the scriptures of truth. 
 Amongst the heathen, Divine Providence was a subject which 
 seldom occupied the thoughts of the vulgar, and about which the 
 wise were perpetually quarrelling. Some denied, in the gross, God's 
 creating power and goodness. Some, though they ascribed to him 
 the power of creating, were for excluding him entirely from govern- 
 ing, the world; fondly and impiously dreaming that all things j.re 
 driven at random by blind fatality, or blinder chance, and that God 
 concerns himself neither in human affairs, nor in anything else. 
 Others, measuring Infinite Wisdom and power by their own igno- 
 rance and feebleness, and unable to comprehend how a single mind 
 can attend to the varied, and multiplied, and intricate affairs of a 
 universe, wished to rid the Deity of fatigue, and contrived to par- 
 cel out the world amongst a number of divinities, to each of whom 
 they assigned a peculiar province. And the few who, more sound 
 in their judgments, and more sober in their inquiries, admitted God's 
 superintendence over the works of his hands, and laboured to shun 
 the dangers of a contrary opinion, were yet puzzled and confounded 
 by the occurrences of every day. When they adverted to the differ- 
 ent classes and characters of men, they felt that to reconcile their 
 situations, in the common course of events, with a good, a wise, 
 an equitable providence, was a task too hard for their deepest 
 
THE GOSPEL NO CAUSE OF SHAME. 407 
 
 thought and most diligent research. If anything is to be gathered 
 from a general notion of God's character, and the first dictates of 
 reason and conscience, it is this general maxim, that evil ought to 
 be punished, and good rewarded. But when men, guided by the 
 mere light of nature, turned their attention to the actual admini- 
 stration of Providence, how awful and disheartening was it to 
 that this leading character of an upright governor was apparently 
 contradicted by almost every act of his government. When they 
 saw iniquity at ease, and prosperity taking up her abode in the 
 dwellings of the wicked — when they saw plenty open her treasures, 
 and pour upon their heads her choice, her balmy blessings- 
 honour crowning their lives with her most flattering distinctions ; 
 especially when they saw, on the other hand, that men, to their 
 discernment unblemished in their characters, and venerable for their 
 virtues, were frequently reduced to struggle with the complicated 
 ills of life — to languish under disease, or pine in poverty— to be- 
 come the victims of oppression and falsehood, or to sink beneath a 
 load of injuries ; when they observed these things what could they 
 say? Renounce the doctrine of a providence they could not with- 
 out renouncing their reason; and they could hardly retain it with- 
 out renouncing their senses. Who will help thorn in tiii- 
 dilemma ? Who will answer a question like the following : " Do 
 not such dispensations look like a bounty on crimes and a penalty 
 on innocence?" The difficulty is great and serious: it is so ■. 
 that reflection upon it staggered the faith, and almost overturned 
 the steadfastness of one who was favoured with divine revelation. 
 "Verily," said Asaph, in the agony of his soul, " Verily, I 
 cleansed my heart in vain, and washed my hands in innocency." 
 (Ps. Ixxiii. 13.) Nor were his doubts removed, nor the rebellio 
 his heart subdued, " till he went into the sanctuary of God." 
 for those who had not revelation, the only thing which could in the 
 least alleviate their painful anxiety is the idea of future retribution. 
 But this idea, as we shall hereafter see, was at most the trembling 
 conjecture of a probable fact, and by no means the firm and solid 
 conviction of an undoubted reality. But had the conviction 
 ever so firm, dinicuities which we cannot now mention, still re- 
 mained. If philosophy was required to solve thei rank 
 from the unequal attempt; or if she undertook it, it was only to 
 betray her feebleness, and to mock the expectation of her toll. 
 
408 SERMON XXII. 
 
 But here, when every human resource failed, the gospel of Christ 
 stepped in, and with all the dignity and ease of heavenly truth, 
 untied those gordian knots which bade defiance to the ingenuity of 
 man. I do not mean to say that the gospel disclosed all the secrets 
 of the divine government. There are many things which we may 
 not, should not know. Things of which the knowledge is graciously 
 concealed from us, as it could serve no purpose but to render us 
 miserable. There are many things which we could not know. 
 Things so deep and mysterious as to be far beyond the reach of 
 any created intellect. And therefore, intruding curiosity may start 
 a thousand difficulties which no mortal can remove. But this is 
 no prejudice to the gospel. Its discoveries are adapted, with in- 
 finite wisdom, to our circumstances. It unfolds so much of the 
 plan of Divine Providence as is necessary and useful — so much as 
 may justify, even to our frail understandings, " the ways of God to 
 men" — as may teach the wicked the most alarming lessons— as 
 may strengthen and animate the faith, and hope, and peace of the 
 believer. 
 
 The gospel informs us, that as God "created all things for him- 
 self,'' so he "upholds them by the word of his power," and rules 
 them by the counsel of his will. It informs us that he framed, in 
 eternity, the plan of all his operations; and that Providence is no- 
 thing but the gradual development of this plan, at such seasons, 
 and in such degrees, as to his wisdom appears fit— that the plan is 
 unalterable in itself: " I am Jehovah, I change not ; mv counsel 
 shall stand," says he, "and I will do all my pleasure,"— that it is 
 so infallible in its execution, as not to be hindered for a moment by 
 any impediment whatsover ; for " he doth according to his will in 
 the armies of heaven, and among the inhabitants of the earth ; and 
 none can stay his hand, or say unto him, what dost thou?"— that 
 it is so boundless in its extent as to comprehend all things, even 
 ts the most minute, and incidents apparently the most trifling. 
 "The hairs of your head," they are the words of our Redeemer 
 "the very hairs of your head are all numbered;" and "a sparrow 
 shall not fall to the ground without your Father." That nothing 
 can happen but in a subserviency to the end which God has in 
 v.ew-that all second causes, though operating in different wavs 
 even though hostile in themselves to this end, are combined 
 effectually to promote it. « Surely the wrath of man shall praise 
 
THE GOSPEL NO CAUSE OF SHAME/ 
 
 thee, and the remainder of wrath thou wilt restrain." The gospel 
 bids us not to wonder if we cannot account for many proceedings 
 of the Governor of the universe, since his "way is in the sea, and 
 his path in the great waters, and his footsteps are not known." It 
 bids us not to be stumbled if we see the ''wicked spreading like a 
 green bay tree," high in power, and wantoning in plenty; because 
 this is not the way in which God expresses bis approbation and 
 favour, as his word declares, and innumerable facts prove : for no- 
 thing is more certain than that inward happiness is far from being 
 a necessary attendant upon outward prosperity, and because wise 
 and valuable purposes are accomplished by this dispensation. 
 Were God to cut off immediately the notoriously wicked, he could 
 not bring all his sons to glory, many of whom are to spring from 
 them, and are to receive, and love, and honour that Rede 
 whom their fathers rejected, and hated, and vilified. In the mean 
 time he makes them, though they know it not, the instruments of 
 building up his church, and by loading them with benefits, he ren- 
 ders their impiety the more inexcusable, their guilt the more flag- 
 rant, and his justice in punishing them the more conspicuous. li\ 
 in righteous indignation, he sometimes scatter their wealth, and 
 stain their honours, and blast their prospects, and bring upon them 
 the swift and fearful recompense of their crimes, he teaches men 
 that " verily there is a God who judgeth rightly." Thus, both his 
 long-suffering and his vengeance throw a lustre on his wisdom. 
 Were all punished, men would forget an hereafter. Did all escape, 
 they would think that God had forsaken the earth, and whatever 
 they did, the Lord regarded not. 
 
 On the other hand, as the gospel tells us that external felicity is 
 not always a mark of the divine favour, so it bids us not be sur- 
 prised if we see good men labouring under the pressure of calamity. 
 It silences the voice of murmuring, by giving us to understand, 
 that considering the infinite evil of sin, however God may frown 
 upon even the righteous, he treats them far more gently and ten- 
 derly than they deserve. " Wherefore doth a living man complain, 
 a man for the punishment of his sins?" (Lam. iii. 31).) As if the 
 prophet had said, " What ! out of hell, and yet complain ? Blush, 
 man, for thy ingratitude 1 Tremble for thy presumption !" But 
 the gospel farther informs us, that we greatly mistake in concluding 
 a man miserable because he is poor, or despised, or oppressed— 
 
410 SERMON XXII. 
 
 that the peace and pleasure of a Christian are a peace and pleasure, 
 which, as the world cannot give, so it cannot takeaway — that even 
 in calamity the " consolations of God" impart more gladness and 
 better enjoyment than can be felt or known by the wicked " when 
 their corn and their wine abound." It informs us that all things, 
 even the most unpromising, " shall work together for the good of 
 them who love God, and are called according to his purpose," that 
 afflictions are the discipline of their Father's house, and that the 
 exercise of this discipline towards them is at once a proof and a 
 privilege of their adoption, for " whom the Lord loveth he chasten- 
 eth, and scourgeth every son whom he receiveth," — that he makes 
 affliction an instrument by which he ' ; purges away the dross, takes 
 away the tin, and purines the gold of his people," — by which he 
 mortifies their corruptions and quickens their graces— by which he 
 weans them from a criminal attachment to this world, and teaches 
 them that as they profess to be citizens of heaven, they should jus- 
 tify their title to the exalted character by " setting their affections 
 on things above," — and finally, the gospel informs us, that their 
 sufferings shall not only be blessed to them here, but shall be 
 abundantly repaid hereafter, when Jehovah shall finish the present 
 dispensation of things by giving to the wicked the exact and im- 
 partial due of their iniquities, and bringing the righteous to " Zion 
 with songs," when " everlasting joy shall be upon their heads," 
 when " sorrow and sighing shall flee away," and God himself shall 
 wipe away all tears from their eyes. I therefore remark, 
 
 3. That the gospel of Christ affords us the truest information 
 about a future state. 
 
 The gospel informs us that we shall live hereafter — that as soon 
 as the soul is separated from the body by death, it repairs to the 
 tribunal of God, where it receives a sentence which fixes its eternal 
 destiny— that this sentence, however, is but the first part of the 
 divine proceeding— that God has appointed a day in which he will 
 openly judge the world by Jesus Christ — that at this awfully 
 interesting period the trump of God shall burst the caverns of the 
 dead, and startle into life the slumbering dust — that the bodies of 
 men thus raised shall be reunited to their souls— that after this 
 new union they shall be summoned, amidst the dread solemnities 
 <>i a descending God and the convulsions of a dissolving universe, 
 before the judgment seat of Christ— that there they " must give 
 
THE GOSPEL NO CAUSE OF SHAME. A 1 1 
 
 an account of all the deeds done in the body, whether they be 
 or^whether they be evil" — that infinite equity will pass upon 
 every individual an irreversible decision — that then the scene will 
 be forever closed, when the " wicked shall go away into everla 
 punishment, but the righteous into life eternal." 
 
 When men consider themselves immortal beings, and believe 
 that their present state has a most serious influence upon the 
 happiness or misery of an eternal existence, it becomes a subject 
 of important investigation to know what their state is, and h<>v. 
 they may be sure of future bliss. 
 
 To obtain true satisfaction, let them not run to philosophic 
 schools — let them not trudge through the pathless desert of wild 
 conjecture — let them not be duped by the high pretensions of 
 learned ignorance. Miserable comforters are they all! The Bible 
 alone can help them in their straits; and, therefore, we may 
 observe, 
 
 4. That the gospel of Christ opens to our view the nature of 
 our present condition. 
 
 Vain was every exertion to account for the introduction and 
 prevalence of sin, and to discover the extent of its direful conse- 
 quences. The gospel reveals to us the dreadful secret. It informs 
 us that man was at first created pure, spotless, and transcendentlv 
 happy— perfectly innocent— shining in the rays of his Creators 
 glory— surrounded with delights, and dignified with the ho; 
 of an obedient world, there was nothing which could give him one 
 painful emotion. AH within was serene and joyous — all without 
 secure and peaceful. That in this situation his God entered into 
 a covenant with him by giving him, as the test of his gratitude 
 and his duty, a law which was admirably fitted to promote his 
 happiness. That the condition of this covenant was perfect obed- 
 ience to the divine law. That eternal life and glory were prOE 
 as the high reward of iidelity; and death, in the largesl me. 
 of the word, death temporal, spiritual, and eternal, was threatened 
 as the tremendous penalty in case of unfaithfulness. That this 
 covenant was made with our first parents, not as individuals, but 
 as a nature, as the public representatives of their future family. 
 who should therefore stand or fall with them, live in their life, and 
 die in their death. That God marked, as the pledge of their 
 obedience, a certain tree, from which he commanded them t< 
 
412 SERMON XXII. 
 
 stain. That, regardless of his command, abusing the liberty with 
 which he had endued them, and yielding to the suggestions of 
 Satan, an apostate spirit, they plucked the forbidden fruit— they 
 transgressed the covenant of their God — they fell from their 
 integrity. That at the instant of their fall the broken law arrested 
 them, and they became exposed to all the horrors which its curse 
 contains. That by their disobedience they broke down the sacred 
 hedge which divine faithfulness had placed around them. That 
 sin, with all her hellish train, rushed through the breach into our 
 world, and from that fatal moment to this has spread desolation 
 and woe amongst men. But this is not all. The gospel informs 
 us, that we are, every one of us, " by nature children of wrath," 
 deriving from our first parents both guilt and depravity; and that 
 this is the corrupted source from which all actual transgressions 
 proceed. That, in consequence of our guilt and pollution, we are 
 odious and loathsome in the sight of a holy God, and have in our 
 hearts a principle of enmity against him. That " dead in tres- 
 passes and sins," we can do nothing to help ourselves, as we can 
 do nothing but sin. That no created power can help us, or loose 
 us in the least from our connection with the violated covenant. 
 That while this connection subsists we can expect nothing but 
 what the covenant has to give, and that this is nothing but " the 
 fiery indignation which shall devour the adversaries." 
 
 This information, if viewed in itself, is dreadful — enough to 
 strike the chill of death into every heart — and were the message 
 of God to stop here, instead of bringing glad tidings, it would 
 convert our world into a very hell. But it is one of the benevolent 
 characteristics of the religion of Jesus, that it smites only to heal; 
 it lavs open the disease, that it may apply the remedy. And hence 
 we remark, 
 
 Lastly, That the gospel of Christ reveals a method of recovery 
 from our ruined condition. 
 
 Had Gabriel, who stands in the presence of God, been asked, 
 "Can sinful men be saved, and the honour of his Creator be pre- 
 served?" his silence would have proclaimed his inability to answer. 
 It is one of the first dictates of reason, that a criminal ought to 
 atone for his crime. But what atonement, what satisfaction, can 
 ;i sinner make? His offence is infinite— all that he has, all that 
 be cin do, is a debt. Will repentance help him ? Alas ! the law 
 
THE GOSPEL NO CAUSE OF SHAME. 
 
 knows not of repentance. It fixes the penalty with the tn 
 gressor; and if God be faithful to himself, the penalty must 
 executed. And now, when all prospect of escape is cut oil', who 
 shall screen the offender from wrath ? Shall not despair blacken 
 his countenance, and harrow up his soul? Oh no! at this Beason 
 of need, the gospel of Christ leaps down from heaven, and brings 
 speedy and effectual relief. It is the sum of her reviving message, 
 " Deliver him from going down to the pit ; I have found a ransom." 
 In the explication of this transporting news, the gospel informs as 
 that God, out of mere mercy, resolved to save a number of sinful 
 men, and to save them in a way which should bring all the glory 
 to his sovereign grace ; that as he could not dispense with the 
 sanction of his law, and as man was utterly unable to give the 
 satisfaction which the law required, the Second Person of the 
 glorious Trinity voluntarily offered to assume our nature, to become 
 the substitute of all whom the Father should give him, and who 
 should believe upon his name, and in that character to obey per- 
 fectly the divine law, and endure the whole of the terrible punish- 
 ment which their sins deserved; and thus pave the way for 
 restoring them to divine favour and making them certain heirs of 
 eternal life. That in the fulness of time, fixed by infinite wisdom, 
 the Lord Jesus actually came into our world — that being born in 
 an extraordinary manner, he was not one of Adam's represented 
 children — was neither guilty, norpollutted— was not exposed to the 
 curse, nor bound by the obligations of the law, and that he con- 
 sented to be made under it as the representative of his people, both 
 in its obligations and in its curse. That having graciously 
 mitted to be made thus under the law, he did perfectly obey it, 
 through a life of labour, temptation, and suffering. That at his 
 death he did make himself an offering. That stretched upon the 
 accursed tree, and deprived of the light of his Father's counte- 
 nance, he drank the dregs of his Fathers wrath ; received into his 
 soul the bitter anguish which would have been our portion thr 
 eternity; and struggled, at the same time, with all the malice and 
 all the madness of hell. But being Jehovah in our nature, his 
 sufferings, though short, were of infinite value, and completed the 
 purchase of our redemption. His own arm defeated the hosl 
 darkness — his expiring breath proclaimed his victory— and the 
 cross of Calvary stood the bloody trophy of his con 
 
414 SERMON XXII. 
 
 The gospel informs us that, though our Redeemer died, he rose 
 again, and ascended up, visibly, into the highest heaven — that he 
 appears there at this moment, as the intercessor of his people, 
 presenting in their room his everlasting merits — that there he 
 manages all their concerns — that thence he sends down his Spirit 
 to work effectually in their hearts, and to prepare them for being 
 with him in glory. 
 
 The gospel further informs us, that the salvation which Jesus 
 Christ has procured is freely offered to the chief of sinners ; that 
 whosoever will, may come and receive it, and be forever happy : 
 and that if any to whom it is preached, shall perish at last, they 
 will have nothing to blame but their own wilful, obstinate unbelief. 
 
 [The application is wantingJ] 
 
SERMON XXIII. 
 
 ON STEADFASTNESS IN RELIGIOUS SENTIMENT. 
 
 EPHESTANS iv. 14. 
 
 " That we henceforth be no more children, tossed to and fro, and carried about 
 with every wind of doctrine, by the sleight of men, and cunning craftiness, 
 wJbereby they lie in wait to deceive." 
 
 The unity of Christians in the faith, the growth and strength of 
 their character, have much importance attached to them by the 
 Lord Jesus, and appear, if we may use the expression, to lie very 
 near his heart. After his ascension to the throne of his glory, one 
 of the first acts of his intercession, and of the power of his exalted 
 state, was to make provision for the continuance and increase of 
 these graces. "When he ascended up on high, he led captivity 
 captive, and gave gifts unto men : and he gave some, apostles ; 
 and some, prophets ; and some, evangelists; and some, pastors and 
 teachers ; for the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the mini- 
 stry ; for the edifying of the body of Christ, till we all come in the 
 unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God. onto a 
 perfect man; unto the measure of the stature of the fulness ol 
 Christ." What the particular connection is between his people's 
 advancement in knowledge and spiritual attainments, and the de- 
 gree of happiness in their unseen witnesses, or what especial in- 
 fluence it may exert upon the general economy of his kingdom, in 
 the invisible world, we do not know, nor is it useful if it were 
 proper to inquire. But we do know, from the passage just read, 
 that whatever is great or magnificent in the office of an apostle, 01 
 prophet, or evangelist; whatever is useful or honourable in a pas- 
 
416 SERMON XXIII. 
 
 tor or teacher, it was and is conferred upon them, not for their own 
 sakes, but for the sake of " his body, the church." We are fur- 
 nished with ordinances, and means in every variety, that there may be 
 no hindrance to our profiting in the school of Jesus Christ — that 
 we may habitually enlarge our knowledge of those things " which 
 the angels desire to look into;" and as fellow-students with them 
 of "the mystery of God," may grow in the intelligence which they 
 value and in fitness for their fellowship, when, after a few days 
 spent here, in " absence from the Lord," we shall join their society 
 in his presence and service. 
 
 Surely, if such is our destination — if these the prospects which 
 cheer us in this vale of tears — if our hearts are set upon their 
 invigorating refreshment and peerless dignity — nothing can worse 
 become us than indifference about our progress in the Christian 
 lesson ; nothing should fill us with deeper shame than the poor 
 account which most of us have to give of the pains wasted upon 
 our spiritual education, and of our slowness of heart to under- 
 stand our Lord's instructions. On nothing should our eagerness 
 be prompted, our ambition fired, and our efforts expended, more 
 than on this, " that we henceforth be no more children, tossed to 
 and fro, and carried about with every wind of doctrine by the 
 sleight of men and cunning craftiness, whereby they lie in wait 
 to deceive." 
 
 It may be of advantage to us to consider, somewhat more mi- 
 nutely, this description of religious children — the contrast which 
 ought to mark our characters — and the means and motives to our 
 solid improvement. 
 
 I. Our notice is drawn to the characters of these religious 
 children. The apostle states it to consist principally in two things : 
 fickleness in matters of faith, and faciliiij of deception by design- 
 ing men. 
 
 1. Fickleness in matters of faith — being "tossed to and fro, and 
 carried about with every wind of doctrine." 
 
 There always has been and always will be a desperate and deadly 
 conflict between truth and error, nor can there can be any com- 
 promise between them. The bastard charity of the day is very 
 clamorous to make us give up all that we account most precious, 
 or at least to compound with and not to molest their contraries. 
 
ON STEDFASTNESS IN RELIGIOUS SENTIMENT. 117 
 
 But the demand is absurd and the concession impossible. It fa 
 the nature of truth to be the most intolerant thing conceivable. 
 That truth is and can be but one. And the Liar plays off his mosl 
 ancient, most extensive, and most successful game, when he can 
 sow in the church the seeds of all sorts of discordant principles 
 touching the faith and hope of sinful men. In this, it is true God 
 does as he does in other cases, bring good out of evil. "There 
 must be heresies among you," i. e. divisions on account of the 
 truth, " that they which are approved may be made manifest among 
 you." Thus it fared with the churches in the days and under the 
 eyes of the apostles themselves. The apostle Paul was constantly 
 in armour combating for the faith that had been delivered once l«»r 
 all to the saints. Every gross corruption of the gospel, every 
 foolish and fantastic whim invented and broached by men of re- 
 probate minds, or of distorted imagination, infested the churches 
 in as great a variety as at any later period. Perhaps modern times 
 cannot reckon a single deviation from the gospel, which in form or 
 in substance was not a curse of the apostolic age. No sooner were 
 the pestiferous notions started, than crowds started and ran after 
 them. If any thing, in the mean while, struck the fancy of one 
 who was or who wished to be a leader, a part of the crowd would 
 turn aside after him. Some of them, after fatiguing themselves 
 in the pursuit of every vanity, would perchance return to a sober 
 mind, and re-adhere to the cause which they had deserted. Others 
 again, though cured of one extravagance, were just as ready to 
 fall into another as the occasion recurred ; and many, proceeding 
 from one step to another in their evil course, at last made ship- 
 wreck of the faith altogether, and became downright apostates: 
 abandoning the grounds of their confidence before God and the 
 communion of his people, and "perishing at last in their own 
 corruption." — "These were they who separated themselves; sensual, 
 not having the spirit." — " They went out from us," says John, 
 "but they were not of us ; for if they had been of us they would 
 have continued with us ; but they went out that they might be 
 made manifest that they were not all of us." 
 
 It is no otherwise yet. Old errors of every sort, which have 
 
 been exploded long ago, revive, arc new-dressed, and recommended 
 
 to the acceptance of the religious world. I say "old errors," for 
 
 the devil's wit is not inexhaustible; and therefore his delusions, 
 
 2 c 
 
418 SERMON XXIII. 
 
 plausible though they be, are only stale artifices newly tricked up 
 to catch the ignorant and. the conceited. All that the "rational 
 Christianity" of the clay glories in as its own discoveries, has many 
 centuries ago been cast out of the Christian Church as " heresies 
 of perdition." But come when they will, and how they will, they 
 are sure of a ready reception, and many abettors among those who 
 are " tossed to and fro, and are carried about with every wind of 
 doctrine." They, indeed, call themselves "philosophers," and 
 " liberal inquirers ;" but the apostle calls them by their true name, 
 " babies," and will allow them no place among inquirers but the 
 place of those "who are ever learning and never coming to the 
 knowledge of the truth." Learn what they will, the truth is what 
 they do not learn and never can perceive. They have no fixed 
 first principles ; nothing to keep them firm and steady in the hour 
 of temptation, or to prevent them being led away by the error of 
 the wicked. In* the calm sunshine, while there is no disturbance 
 of the church's tranquillity, they mingle with the multitude and 
 pass for Christians. But when the storm gathers, the waters swell, 
 the winds blow, they are shaken from their own stedfastness. 
 They never were secured to the rock of safety, but lay loose and 
 idle upon the surface. Now the trial hath reached them, and 
 without strong moorings, without grapplings, without anchors, 
 without any fastenings, they are swept out of the Christian roads, 
 and are the sport of the waves and the winds on the trackless ocean. 
 Soon are they scattered away from the rock ; and while they run, 
 swift as the evil blast can drive them, towards certain destruction, 
 they are elated, ignorant as they are, with the rapidity of their 
 course, until they are suddenly dashed among the breakers, or 
 engulfed in the billows, or absorbed in the quicksands. Thus 
 terminates their adventurous speculation, and the last news of the 
 poor souls is, " they perished I" 
 
 I have been referring to those errors, in the success of which the 
 Destroyer goes directly to his proper work, the irretrievable ruin 
 of men. But a capital error seldom comes alone; so there are 
 many smaller deviations from the soundness of the faith which 
 attend the steps and prepare the way for that which strikes at the 
 foundation of entire Christianity. It is melancholy and almost 
 incredible to see what a mere puff of wind is sufficient to drive 
 many a gallant looking vessel out of her course : and the odds are 
 
ON STEDFASTNESS IN RELIGIOUS SENTIMENT. 419 
 
 infinitely against her, but before she recovers it, she (alls among 
 enemies who decoy her to her ruin. Without figure, you often 
 find those who, upon the whole, are friendly to the truth ; yet, by 
 the merest trifle in the world— something which appears to them 
 ingenious when it is only absurd — something which is recommended 
 by a respectable name — something of which the whole attraction 
 is its supposed novelty— turns them aside from "the old paths 
 where is the good way." 
 
 The swarms of little sects which spring up and die almost a • 
 soon as they are known, yet for the time being vex the friends and 
 furnish matter of exultation to the foes of evangelical doctrine, 
 owe their origin for the most part to a paltry individual vanity. 
 The peace of the church is broken; her strength is divided ; the 
 vigour of her sons is impaired by foolish contentions. The wily 
 adversary does not let the occasion slip. Many who set out with 
 an apparent trifle, do not end till they have made inroads upon the 
 substantial truth ; and Christians are called to struggle with an 
 enemy who has already penetrated their camp. On such fickh- 
 beings you never can count; they want that sobriety of mind, that 
 Christian common sense, which is proof against such small attacks, 
 and is infinitely better for preserving the order and the truth of God 
 pure and entire, than the finest genius and the profoundest learning 
 can be without it. 
 
 2. Liableness to imposition by the arts of the insidious is 
 another character of these religious children. 
 
 Error, when seen in its true colours, is rather apt to deter than 
 to allure. Nor is there, perhaps, a single one which, if exhibited 
 without disguise, would ever succeed in making proselytes. Even 
 children would be too sagacious for such dupery. Accordingly, its 
 approaches are conducted with caution and address. It is wrv 
 careful not to alarm suspicion or excite prejudice. Concealment is 
 its very life. Its abettors will pretend that your faith and theirs, 
 however they may differ upon speculative points, come nearer to 
 each other on all questions of practice than you are ready to admit. 
 They will enumerate a number of things which no man in his 
 senses ever thinks of disputing; and when there is no gainsaying 
 them in these matters they will leave you, if they arc master- 
 workmen, to draw the inference that, after all, they cannot be BO 
 far wrong as some would persuade you ; well knowing that the 
 
420 SERMON XXIII. 
 
 great obstacle to your conversion is surmounted when you are" 
 brought, by this piece of craft, to form a favourable opinion of their 
 tenets. But you have already entered into temptation ; you have" 
 already set your foot in the path which goes down to death, and if 
 God in his great mercy do not enable you to make a speedy retreat,, 
 your ruin is inevitable. Take it then at the very beginning, as a 
 simple rule, and of easy and sure application. The man who 
 equivocates in religious matters, who declines giving you a prompt 
 explanation of his views, and rather evades your inquiries than 
 meets them, that man is a deceiver and an Antichrist. Truth was 
 not intended to be smuggled. A eity set on a hill cannot be hid r 
 nor is a lighted candle to be put under a bushel. " Preach the 
 word," is the commandment of our Lord Jesus Christ ; and the 
 teacher who does not do it frankly, so that men may not only 
 understand his meaning, but cannot possibly misunderstand it,, 
 when treating of our eternal peace, is an enemy to our happiness 
 and to our Lord. Avoid him as you would a pestilence. My 
 contempt and horror embrace all those, who, after years of public 
 ministrations, leave their people in doubt what their sentiments 
 are. Truth is not with them the infinitely important interest. 
 Their prospect is that of a fearful reckoning with that Saviour, 
 " who came into the world that he might bear witness to the truth ;* 
 and even here it is the duty of his church to spew them out of 
 her mouth, 
 
 3. Another artifice of those who lie in wait to deceive, is the 
 wrapping up of their deceptions in scriptural phrases, and even in 
 the language which is consecrated by the usage of the Christian 
 church. Every thing sounds fair and looks well ; has a pious air y 
 and apparently a sound sense ; and they may notwithstanding be 
 inculcating the most damnable errors, and converting the very 
 Word of God into a vehicle for the poison. Undoubtedly the in- 
 spired word expresses revealed truth in the most precise and proper 
 manner. And the objection to these men is, not that they quote 
 the scriptures, but that they quote them fraudulently. The cheat 
 lies here— the passages quoted have, from time immemorial, borne 
 in the Church of God a definite sense. You of course understand 
 them in that received sense. But you are not aware that these 
 apostles of error take them in quite a different sense, they and you 
 use the same terms, but you do not intend the same thing; and when 
 they think you are not drilled quite enough, thev will never have the 
 
•ON STEDFASTNESS IN RELIGIOUS SENTIMENT. 421 
 
 candour to undeceive you. They will let out in other places and 
 at other times, as far as they judge it prudent, what their meaning 
 is ; and in the meanwhile you are become so accustomed to hear 
 this perversion of Holy Writ, that your minds arc debauched from 
 the simplicity of Christ, and you imperceptibly slide into the pit 
 they have digged for you. Sometimes, indeed, this trick over- 
 shoots the mark. It is related of John Taylor, the famous Arian 
 of Norwich, that he gave mortal offence to an Arian congregation 
 in London by the use of Scripture language. His hearers, like 
 people of that class everywhere, were not much acquainted with 
 their bibles, and mistook him for an old-fashioned puritan ! Thus 
 the common sense of mankind, even of Arians themselves, when 
 they are not put on their guard, decided that whatever the Bible 
 teaches, it does not teach Arianism. 
 
 4. A fourth stratagem of deceivers is an affectation of unbound- 
 ed liberality and charity. 
 
 Nothing is so odious in their eyes as bigotry. Why must you 
 claim the exclusive privilege of being in the right ? Why is not 
 another man's opinion as good as your own ? Why not allow your 
 neighbours the privilege of which you are so tenacious, the privi- 
 lege of thinking for themselves ? Why must your charity be con- 
 fined to sects or principles ? Cannot a man be distinguished for 
 Christian virtues, and exemplary in the discharge of his Christian 
 duties, a sincere lover of the truth, and ardent in the pursuit of it, 
 unless all his ideas of propriety be squared by your own rule? 
 How terrible that the religion of peace should set friends quarrel- 
 ling ? How unworthy of the good will which the gospel was in- 
 tended to cherish, and of the generous philanthropy of its Divine 
 Author ! All this is very fine, no doubt, for plausible talk ; but 
 in the mouths of the crafty nothing but talk ; yet its effect is to 
 overthrow the faith of some, who from want of discrimination, from 
 a softness of mind, from not suspecting any mischief with so bene- 
 volent a face, from not having nerves to withstand a little raillery, 
 from the joint power of ridicule and flattery, run headlong into the 
 arms of a fiend, and from a dread of bigotry adopt ruinous heresy. 
 On all which I crave leave to submit a remark or two. 
 
 (1.) They who are so very anxious about the liberty of thinking 
 for themselves, mean in reality the liberty of thinking/or you and 
 thinking through you. Who hinders them from thinking and 
 speaking too ? Who meddles with their thoughts or their speech 
 
422 SERMON XXIII. 
 
 until they invade the sanctuary of our own faith ? Then if they be 
 resisted — if everything is not yielded to them as a matter of course 
 — if we exercise the right of thinking and speaking — they are vastly 
 indignant. Then come forth the lamentations about the lack of 
 charity, and all the winnings about " bigotry" and " persecution," 
 of which the true grievance is that they cannot provoke something 
 which might appear worthy of the name. But do you shut your 
 mouths and allow them to have all the representation in their own 
 way — let them without contradiction or opposition spread their 
 doctrines and instil their poison throughout the community — and 
 you will doubtless be lauded for your liberality and charity. 
 
 (2.) My second remark is, that, after all, the truths of the gospel 
 are not matters of human opinion, nor have you any right to treat 
 them so. They are facts about which our appeal must lie to the 
 veracity of God speaking in his word. He has committed them to 
 us as a sacred deposit, which we are ordered to keep pure and en- 
 tire, contending earnestly for them, and are not at liberty to make 
 a compromise of them with any opinions whatsoever. 
 
 (3.) Once more. This profession about " liberality" and " cha- 
 rity," is a mere artifice of imposture. No men have less of it than 
 they whose boast of it is the loudest. How do they exult End tri- 
 umph in the .misconduct of any who hold sounder principles than 
 themselves? Now, if the apostle understood the nature of charity 
 when he said that she rejoiceth not in iniquity, they who do so re- 
 joice proclaim that they are utterly destitute of its influence. 
 
 You shall find these advocates for charity, when they are in 
 mixed companies, all gentleness, all forbearance, with nothing but 
 the milk of human kindness ; but when they are by themselves, to 
 use the expression of one who had been once of their party, " bitter 
 enough." In short, of all the sects which are abroad in the world, 
 not excepting even the followers of the Man of Sin, there are none 
 which occasionally evince more virulence and violence of feeling, 
 nor a more persecuting temper, than these same smooth-tongued 
 praisers of charity. Of all the bigots on this earth, let me be far- 
 thest from the bigot to modern liberality. 
 
 Let us now turn our eyes for a moment, 
 
 II. To the contrast which we ought to exhibit to these religious 
 children. " That ye be no more children." We should then display. 
 
ON STEDFASTNESS IN RELIGIOUS SENTIMENT. 
 
 1, Intelligence. I know not how it has come to pass, but such 
 is the fact, that hearers of the gospel are prone to take their pro- 
 fession upon trust. They think, or act as if they thought, that any 
 particular acquaintance with its principles and proofs, belong 
 clusively to the ministry. They commit the inlcrests of their pro- 
 perty to the lawyer; of their bodies to the physician ; and as for 
 their immortal souls, the clergyman may look after them, if lie 
 pleases. In this spirit of listlessness do they hear the gospel, and 
 forget it almost as soon as heard. But for diligent inquiry— fa- 
 ascertaining with their own eyes and understandings what arc re- 
 vealed truths, on points too of infinite moment — for searching the 
 scriptures daily, whether these things which they are taught from 
 the pulpit are really so, why its what no genteel professor 
 thinks about. The consequence is, and must be, that they are 
 mere children in the most important of all knowledge — even men 
 of high respectability for talents and research in other things, he- 
 tray the most surprising ignorance of the Bible. No wonder that 
 they are carried about by every wind of doctrine, and fall helpless 
 victims into the snares of those who lie in wait to deceive. At the 
 same time, if they happen to get any crude and undigested notions 
 of Christian truth, they are as obstinate and positive in maintain- 
 ing their own hasty views, as if they had studied the scriptures all 
 their lives long. My friends, this will not do. Have you not im- 
 mortal souls? Do you know when they will be required of you ? 
 Are you fully aware of their natural condition; and what is re- 
 quisite to their eternal happiness? On all these questions the 
 Bible treats plainly and decisively. It fairly warns you that ;i 
 mistake is very possible, very common, and infinitely dangerous. 
 Is it a waste of time, think you, to know what it really does deter- 
 mine ? Is the message of the great and terrible God, to men, to 
 you, to you personally, to be thrown aside with less ceremony than 
 a daily newspaper, and without an effort so much as to understand 
 what he says? And all your awful concern in it to h 
 away with a carelessness which makes the angels tremble ? Do 
 you consider, while you indulge this supineness, while you neglect 
 to become proficients in the knowledge of that wisdom which 
 cometh from above, vou are habitual breakers of God's command- 
 ments, in as high and in a higherdegrce, than if you were common 
 drunkards, thieves, adulterers, and prostitutes ? Rouse from your 
 
424 SERMON XXIII. 
 
 slumbers, or you may see stranger things than publicans and har- 
 lots going into the kingdom of God before your faces, and leaving 
 you, with all your decencies, your morals, your accomplishments, 
 your respectability, to beg for admission and be refused. Strive 
 to enter in at the straight gate. Aim at being not only Christians, 
 but intelligent Christians. Study that great charter of your sal- 
 vation, the Bible, until, by God's rich blessing r you shall " always 
 be ready to give a reason of the hope that is within you/' and no 
 longer be ranked as children, nor be considered as an easy prey to 
 them who lie in wait to deceive. 
 
 2. The second attribute of Christian character as opposed to the 
 infirmities of children, is firmness. 
 
 In religious, as in other life, the plausible are the least solid and 
 the least to be trusted. They who have arrived at what the scrip- 
 tures call perfection, who have grown up into Christian manhood, 
 are not to be moved away from the hope of the gospel by smooth 
 stories and bland professions ; nor to be cajoled out of their faith 
 concerning our Lord Jesus Christ, by pretenders to new illumina- 
 tion, or more expansive charity. " Beloved," says John, " believt 
 not every spirit, but try the spirits whether they be of God ; be- 
 cause many false prophets are gone out into the world." And 
 they are to try them by their doctrines, especially, adds the 
 apostle, try their doctrines concerning the person of our Lord 
 Jesus Christ. " Every spirit that confesseth that Jesus Christ 
 is come in the flesh, is of God ; and every spirit that confesseth 
 not that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh, is not of God." Do 
 you think the insipid, the frigid notion, that Jesus Christ was 
 born like any other man, gives you the meaning, or touches the 
 emphasis, of his " coming in the flesh ?" A Christian, that is, a 
 settled, established Christian, is not thus to be fooled and wheedled 
 out of the true doctrine of his Redeemer, and of eternal life along 
 with it. Ten sheep-skins, ever so artfully put on, cannot conceal 
 the insidious wolf. His voice betrays him, and the real sheep flee 
 from him. It is no new thing for Satan to be transformed into an 
 angel of light ; nor his ministers as ministers of righteousness. 
 A well-trained Christian will use the freedom to look under this 
 angel mask — to inquire how far the resemblance to ministers of 
 righteousness goes— and by faithfully and fearlessly applying the 
 apostle's rule, will speedily detect both the devil and his ministers. 
 
ON STEDFASTNESS IN RELIGIOUS SENTIMENT. 425 
 
 He has told us how these gentry, the ministers of Satan, must be 
 treated. l( If there come any unto you," viz. witli the pretensions 
 of a teacher, and "bring not this doctrine," the doctrine of Christ 
 as come in the flesh, "receive him not into your house, neither bid 
 him God speed, for he that biddeth him God speed, is partaker of 
 his evil deeds." He carries his master's mark in his forehead. 
 Christians, who are enlisted under the Captain of salvation, are to 
 allow no place to such an Antichrist — far less do anything to en- 
 courage him. There must be no half measures — no parleying — 
 no pausing. Shut your doors upon him, saith the inspired direction, 
 and let him go where the devil and his doctrines are in better re- 
 pute. If not, if you are frightened by the terror of an ill name, 
 if you are unable to stand the small shot of Antichrist, and begin 
 to tremble and tamper when the breath of the evil one approaches 
 you — look well to yourself; you are in a fair way of changing your 
 professed service, of being disowned by Jesus Christ, and linking 
 yourself forever with the devil and his angels. Let it be known, 
 Christians, openly known, so that there can be no mistake, that 
 you have neither hearts, nor hands, nor ears, for any, who, upon 
 whatever pretext, would unsettle your faith on the Son of God. 
 So that men may save you the pain, and themselves the judgment, 
 of trying to break up your trust for eternity, and of persuading 
 you to lay another foundation " than that is laid, which is Jesus 
 Christ." 
 
 III. The means of our preservation and solid improvement are 
 very obvious and simple. 
 
 1. Be students of the Holy Scriptures : search them ; dig in them 
 as for hidden treasures, and you shall find that which will make 
 you wise to salvation, while the scorner seeketh wisdom and findeth 
 it not. But remember that he who gave them for a light to your 
 feet and a lamp to your paths, must open your eyes before yon 
 shall see wonderful things in his law. Sweet, and blessed, and 
 freely given are his gracious teachings. " Did not our hearts burn 
 within us," said one disciple to the other, "while he talked with 
 us by the way, and while he opened to us the scriptures.'' 
 
 2. Repress vain curiosity. Inquire not into the reason of those 
 things which are to be received on the credit of tlie divine testi- 
 mony. Be satisfied that the Lord hath said it, and ask no farther 
 
426 SERMON XXIII. 
 
 They, " who boldly intrude into those things which they have no 
 seen," may pretend what they please ; but you have the highest 
 authority in earth or heaven for being assured that " they are only 
 vainly puffed up by their fleshly mind," and with all their know- 
 ledge or speculations, can do you nothing but harm. 
 
 3. Open not your ears to the suggestion of new light and new 
 discoveries in religion. " The true Christ is no new Christ." He 
 is the same yesterday, and to-day, and forever, There is no room 
 for discoveries in God's revelation for the salvation of men. The 
 revelation is itself the discovery. You are not to look for a new 
 way to heaven. Jesus Christ is the way, and the truth, and the 
 life; no man cometh to the Father but by him. This has been 
 the divine method from the very beginning. That which a thou- 
 sand years ago brought his sons and daughters to glory, viz. the 
 making the Captain of their salvation perfect through sufferings, 
 must bring you thither, or your arrival there is hopeless. And as 
 to the new light, which is the boast of those who turn aside from 
 the holy commandment delivered unto them, rely upon it, it is 
 nothing but a new edition of old darkness, only resembling more 
 than it did the dunnest smoke of hell. 
 
 4. Keep especially clear of uncommon pretenders to charity. 
 Satan will mask his designs so long as he can, and so will all his 
 ministers. Believe that God is love, that he is the great and 
 essential Charity. Be satisfied then with as much charity as he 
 has shown, and do not think of improving upon your Maker, by 
 entertaining and expressing a more charitable opinion of sinners 
 than himself. He hath said, and will make it good, and see that 
 your charity do not trench upon his truth, he hath said, gainsay it 
 who will, " He that believeth not shall be damned." 
 
 IV. Lastly, we have abundant motives for our Christian culti- 
 vation. 
 
 The angels are our fellow-students, and in some particulars of 
 their education Christians have the preference. Their first know- 
 ledge of God's gracious design of forming Jews and Gentiles into 
 one family with themselves, under Christ the head, they got from 
 the church, and probably from the revelations made to Paul. " To 
 the intent," says that great proficient in sacred things, " that now 
 unto the principalities and powers in heavenly places might bo 
 
ON STEDFASTNESS IN RELIGIOUS SENTIMENT. 427 
 
 made known by the church the manifold wisdom of God,'' If tlie 
 thought of being scholars in the same school, and learners of the 
 same things, with those blessed beings, docs not raise in your 
 minds the glory of your studies, and cause you to strain every 
 nerve in patient and persevering application, that you may he lit 
 to hold converse with them when you shall throw off this body, it 
 is not for the speech of earth to tell the baseness of your spirits ; 
 eternity must find the proper expressions. 
 
 Moreover, every advance in true scriptural knowledge advances 
 you at the same time in righteousness and true holiness, deepens 
 and brightens the features of the divine image, and is a step in 
 your heavenly promotion ; for " they that be wise shall shine as 
 the sun" in the kingdom of their Father. 
 
 Farther, every victory over error renders every succeeding one 
 more easy. " Resist the devil and lie will flee from you." And 
 when the chief has taken himself to flight, his subalterns will not 
 be long in quitting the field. It is the first attack in which they 
 are most furious, and lay the basis of their future success. Foiled 
 here, they become less troublesome. Satan and his servants have 
 something else to do with their time and talents than to waste 
 them upon fruitless attempts. 
 
 Once more. Not only will your duty become easier in proportion 
 as you faithfully perforin it, but every advantage gained over the 
 foe, draws you into closer communion with our Lord Jesus Christ. 
 It is in his strength that you withstand and conquer. His glory 
 gains by every achievement performed in his name. You press 
 hard upon his steps as a victorious Saviour, and are safe, as you 
 are near him. He notes and be rewards your efforts. " To him 
 that overcometh," is his magnificent promise, " will I grant to sit 
 down with me on my throne, even as I also overcame and am set 
 down with my Father on his throne." 
 
 Wherefore, my beloved brethren, be stedfast, immovable, always 
 abounding in the work of the Lord, forasmuch as ye know that 
 your labour is not in vain in the Lord. Amen ! 
 
FUNERAL ORATION 
 
 DEATH OF GENERAL WASHINGTON* 
 
 Fellow-Citizens, — The offices of this day belong less to eloquence 
 than to grief. We celebrate one of those great events, which, by- 
 uniting public calamity with private affliction, create in every 
 bosom a response to the throes of an empire. God, who doeth 
 wonders, whose ways must be adored but not questioned, in severing 
 from the embraces of America her first-beloved patriot, has imposed 
 on her the duty of blending impassioned feeling with profound and 
 unmurmuring submission. An assembled nation, lamenting a 
 father in their departed chief; absorbing every inferior consideration 
 in the sentiments of their common loss ; mingling their recollections 
 and their anticipations ; their wishes, their regrets, their sympathies, 
 and their tears ; is a spectacle not more tender than awful, and 
 excites emotions too mighty for utterance. I should have no right 
 to complain, Americans, if, instead of indulging me with your 
 attentions, you should command me to retire, and leave you to 
 weep in the silence of woe. I should deserve the reprimand were 
 I to appear before you with the pretensions of eulogy. No ! Eulogy 
 has mistaken her province and her powers when she assumes for 
 
 * Delivered in the Brick Presbyterian Church, in the City of New York, 22d 
 February, 1800. 
 
430 FUNERAL ORATION ON THE 
 
 her theme the glory of Washington. His deeds and his virtues 
 are his high eulogium. His deeds most familiar to your memories 
 —his virtues most dear to your affections. To me, therefore, 
 nothing is permitted, but to borrow from yourselves. And though 
 a pencil more daring than mine would languish in attempting to 
 retrace the living lines which the finger of Truth has drawn upon 
 your hearts, you will bear with me, while, on a subject which 
 dignifies everything related to it, "I tell you that which you 
 yourselves do know." 
 
 The name of Washington, connected with all that is most 
 brilliant in the history of our country and in human character, 
 awakens sensations which agitate the fervours of youth, and warm 
 the chill bosom of age. Transported to the times when America 
 rose to repel her wrongs and to claim her destinies, a scene of 
 boundless grandeur bursts upon our view. Long had her filial 
 duty expostulated with parental injustice. Long did she deprecate 
 the rupture of those ties which she had been proud of preserving 
 and displaying. But her humble intreaty spurned, aggression 
 followed by the rod, and the rod by scorpions, having changed 
 remonstrance into murmur, and murmur into resistance, she 
 transfers her grievances from the throne of earth to the throne of 
 heaven, and precedes by an appeal to the God of battles her appeal 
 to the sword of war. At issue now with the mistress of the seas 
 — unfurnished with equal means of defence — the convulsive shock 
 approaching — and every evil omen passing before her — one step of 
 rashness or of folly may seal her doom, In this accumulation of 
 trouble, who shall command her confidence, and face her dangers, 
 land conduct her cause? God, whose kingdom ruleth over all, 
 f prepares from afar the instruments best adapted to his purpose. 
 I By an influence which it would be as irrational to dispute as it is 
 ! vain to scrutinize, he stirs up the spirit of the statesman and the 
 soldier. Minds, on which he has bestowed the elements of great- 
 ness, are brought by his providence into contact with exigencies 
 which rouse them into action. It is in the season of effort and of 
 peril that impotence disappears and energy arises. The whirlwind 
 which sweeps away the glowworm, uncovers the fire of genius, 
 and kindles it into a blaze that irradiates at once both the zenith 
 and the poles. But among the heroes who sprung from obscurity 
 when the college, the counting-house, and the plough, teemed with 
 
DEATH OF GENERAL WASHINGTON. 431 
 
 " thunderbolts of war," none could, in all respects, meet the wants 
 and the wishes of America. She required, in her leader, a man 
 reared under her own eye; who combined with distinguished talent. 
 a character above suspicion; who had added to his physical and 
 moral qualities the experience of difficult service; a man who 
 should concentrate in himself the public affections and confidences ; 
 who should know how to multiply the energies of every other man 
 under his direction, and to make disaster itself the means of suc- 
 cess — his arm a fortress and his name a host. Such a man it 
 were almost presumption to expect; but such a man all-ruling 
 Heaven had provided, and that man was Washington. 
 
 Pre-eminent already in worth, he is summoned by his country 
 to the pre-eminence of toil and of danger. Unallured by the 
 charms of opulence — unappalled by the hazard of a dubious war- 
 fare — unmoved by the prospect of being, in the event of failure, 
 the first and most conspicuous victim, he obeys her mandate be- 
 cause he loves his duty. The resolve is firm, for the probation 
 is terrible. His theatre is a world ; his charge, a family of nations ; 
 the interest staked in his hands, the prosperity of millions unborn 
 in ages to come. His means, under aid from on high, the resources 
 of his own breast, with the raw recruits and irregular supplies 
 of distracted colonies. crisis worthy of such a hero ! Followed 
 by her little bands, her prayers and her tears, "Washington espouses 
 the quarrel of his country. As he moves on to the conflict, every 
 heart palpitates, and every knee trembles. The foe, alike valiant 
 and veteran, presents no easy conquest nor aught inviting but to 
 those who had consecrated their blood to the public weal. The 
 Omnipotent, who allots great enjoyment as the meed of great 
 exertion, had ordained that America should be free, but tliat she 
 should learn to value the blessing by the price of its acquisition. 
 She shall go to a " wealthy place/' but her way is " through 
 fire and through water." Many a generous chief must Meed, 
 and many a gallant youth sink at his side, into the surprised 
 grave; the field must be heaped with slain, the purple torrent 
 must roll, ere the angel of peace descend with his olive. It is. 
 here, amid devastation, and horror, arid death, that Washington 
 must reap his laurels, and engrave his trophies on the shields of 
 immortality. Shall Delaware and Princeton? Shall .Monmouth 
 and York? But I may not particularize; far less repeat the tale 
 
432 FUNERAL ORATION ON THE 
 
 which babes recite, which poets sing, and Fame has published to 
 a listening world. Every scene of his action was a scene of his 
 triumph. Now he saved the republic by more than Fabian cau- 
 tion ; now he avenged her by more than Carthaginian fierceness ; 
 while at every stroke her forests and her hills re-echoed to her 
 shout, "The sword of the Lord and of Washington !" Nor was 
 this the vain applause of partiality and enthusiasm. The blasted 
 schemes of Britain, her broken and her captive hosts, proclaimed 
 the terror of his arms. Skilled were her chiefs, and brave her 
 legions ; but bravery and skill rendered them a conquest more 
 worthy of Washington. True, he suffered in his turn repulse, and 
 even defeat. It was both natural and needful. Unchequered 
 with reverse, his story would have resembled rather the fictions 
 of romance than the truth of narrative : and had he been neither 
 defeated nor repulsed, we had never seen all the grandeur of his 
 soul. He arrayed himself in fresh honours by that which ruins 
 even the great — vicissitude. He could not only subdue an enemy, 
 but, what is infinitely more, he could subdue misfortune. With an 
 equanimity which gave temperance to victory, and cheerfulness to 
 disaster, he balanced the fortunes of the state. In the face of 
 hostile prowess ; in the midst of mutiny and treason ; surrounded 
 with astonishment, irresolution, and despondence; Washington 
 remained erect, unmoved, invincible. Whatever ills America 
 might endure in maintaining her rights, she exulted that she had 
 nothing to fear from her commander-in-chief. The event justified 
 her most sanguine presages. That invisible hand which girded 
 him at first, continued to guard and to guide him through the 
 successive stages of the revolution. Nor did he account it a 
 weakness to bend the knee in homage to its supremacy, and 
 prayer for its direction. This was the armour of Washington; 
 this the salvation of his country. 
 
 The hope of her reduction at length abandoned; her war of 
 liberty brought, in the establishment of independence, to that 
 honourable conclusion for which it had been undertaken ; the hour 
 arrived when he was to resign the trust which he had accepted 
 with diffidence. To a mind less pure and elevated, the situation 
 of America would have furnished the pretext as well as the means 
 of military usurpation. Talents equal to daring enterprise ; the 
 derangement of public affairs: unbounded popularity; and the 
 
DEATH OF GENERAL WASHINGTON. 438 
 
 devotion of a suffering army, would have been to every other a 
 strong, and to almost any other an irresistible temptation. In 
 Washington they did not produce even the pain of self-deniaL 
 They added the last proof of his disinterestedness, and imposed on 
 his country the last obligation to gratitude. Impenetrable by 
 corrupting influence ; deaf to honest but erring solicitation; irre- 
 concilable with every disloyal sentiment; he urged the necessity, 
 and set the example, of laying down in peace arms assumed for 
 the common defence. But to separate from the companions of his 
 danger and his glory was, even for Washington, a diflicult ta -k. 
 About to leave them forever, a thousand sensations rushed upon his 
 heart, and all the soldier melted in the man. He w ho has no ten- 
 derness, has no magnanimity Washington could vanquish, and 
 WasningtoiTcould weep. Never was affection more cordially red 
 procated. The grasped hand; the silent anguish; the spontaneous 
 tear trickling down the scarred cheek; the wistful look, as he passed, 
 after the warrior who should never again point their way to victory 
 — form a scene for Nature's painter and for Nature's bard. 
 
 But we must not lose, in our sensibility, the remembrance of his 
 penetration, his prudence, his regard of public honour and of public 
 faith. Abhorring outrage ; jealous for the reputation ; and dreading 
 the excesses, of even a gallant army, flushed with conquest, prompted 
 by incendiaries, and sheltered by a semblance of right, his last act 
 of authority is to dismiss them to their homes without entering the 
 capital. Accompanied with a handful of troops, he repairs to the 
 council of the States, and through them surrenders to his country 
 the sword which he had drawn in her defence. Singular pheno- 
 menon! Washington becomes a private citizen. He excha 
 supreme command for the tranquillity of domestic life. 
 incomparable man! to adorn no less the civic virtues than 
 splendid achievements of the held. Go, rich in the consciou 
 of thy high deserts ! Go, with the admiration of the world, with 
 the plaudit of millions, and the orisons of millions more for thy 
 temporal and thine eternal bliss ! 
 
 The glory of Washington seemed now complete. While the 
 universal voice proclaimed that he might decline with honour i 
 future burden, it was a wisli and an opinion, almost as universal, 
 that he would not jeopard the fan:" which lie had BO nobly 
 Had personal considerations swayed his mind, i\.l< would have 
 
 •J D 
 
434 FUNERAL ORATION ON THE 
 
 been his own decision. But, untutored in the philosophism of the 
 age, he had not learned to separate the maxims of wisdom from 
 the injunctions of duty. His soul was not debased by that moral 
 cowardice which fears to risk popularity for the general good. 
 Having assisted in the formation of an efficient government which 
 he had refused to dictate or enforce at the mouth of his cannon, he 
 was ready to contribute the weight of his character to insure its 
 effect ; and his country rejoiced in an opportunity of testifying that, 
 much as she loved and trusted others, she still loved and trusted 
 him most. Hailed by her unanimous suffrage the pilot of the state, 
 he approaches the awful helm, and grasping it with equal firmness 
 and ease, demonstrates that forms of power cause no embarrassment 
 to him. 
 
 In so novel an experiment as a nation framing a government for 
 herself under no impulse but that of reason, adopting it through 
 no force but the force of conviction, a"hd putting it into operation 
 without bloodshed or violence, it was all important that her first 
 magistrate should possess her unbounded good will. Those ele- 
 ments of discord which lurked in the diversity of local interest ; in 
 the collision of political theories ; in the irritations of party ; in 
 the disappointed or gratified ambition of individuals ; and which, 
 notwithstanding her graceful transition, threatened the harmony of 
 America, it was for Washington alone to control and repress. His 
 tried integrity, his ardent patriotism, were instead of a volume of 
 arguments for the excellence of that system which he approved and 
 supported. Among the simple and honest whom no artifice was 
 omitted to ensnare, there were thousands who knew little of the 
 philosophy of government, and less of the nice machinery of the 
 constitution; but they knew that Washington was wise and good; 
 they knew it was impossible that he should betray them ; and by 
 this they were rescued from the fangs of faction. Ages will not 
 furnish so instructive a comment on that cardinal virtue of repub- 
 licans, ice in the men of their choice ; nor a more salutary 
 antidote against the pestilential principle, that the soul of a republic 
 is jealousy. At the commencement of her federal government, 
 mistrust would have ruined America; in confidence she found her 
 .safety. 
 
 The re-appearance of Washington as a statesman excited the 
 conjecture of the old world, and the anxiety of the new. His 
 
DEATH OF GENERAL WASHINGTON. 
 
 martial fame had fixed a criterion, however inaccurate, of his civil 
 administration. Military genius does neither confer nor imply 
 political ability. Whatever merit may be attached to the faculty 
 of arranging the principles, and prosecuting the details, of an army, 
 it must be conceded that vaster comprehensions belong to the 
 statesman. Ignorance, vanity, the love of parodox, and the love 
 of mischief, affecting to sneer at the " mystery of government," have 
 indeed taught that common sense and common honesty are his only 
 requisites. The nature of things and the experience of 
 people, in every age, teach a different doctrine. America had 
 multitudes who possessed both those qualities, but she had only 
 one Washington. To adjust, in the best compromise, a thousand 
 interfering views, so as to affect the greatest good of the whole 
 with the least inconvenience to the parts; to curb the drag 
 faction by means which insure the safety of public liberty; t<> 
 marshal opinion and prejudice among the auxiliaries of the law ; 
 in fine, to touch the mainspring of national agency, so as to 
 preserve the equipoise of its powers, and to make the feeblest 
 movement of the extremities accord with the impulse at the centre, is 
 only for genius of the highest order. To excel equally in military and 
 political science has been the praise of a few chosen spirits, among 
 whom, with a proud preference, we enrol the Father of our country. 
 It was the fortune of Washington to direct transactions of which 
 the repetition is hardly within the limits of human possibilities. 
 W^hen he entered on his first presidency, all the interests of the 
 continent were vibrating through the arch of political uncertainty. 
 The departments of the new government were to be marked out 
 and filled up ; foreign relations to be regulated ; the physical and 
 moral strength of the nation to be organized; and that at a time 
 when scepticism in politics, no less than in religion and mo 
 was preparing throughout Europe to spring the mine of revolution 
 and ruin. In discharging his first duties, that same intelligent, 
 cautious, resolute procedure, which had rendered him the bulwark 
 of war, now exhibited him as the guardian of peace. Appropri 
 of talent to employment, is one of the deep results of pol 
 sagacity. And in his selection of men for office, Washii 
 displayed a knowledge of character and busini 
 favouritism, and a devotion to the public welfare, which permitted. 
 the General to be rivaled only by the President. 
 
436 FUNERAL ORATION ON THE 
 
 Under such auspices, the fruit and the pledge of divine blessing, 
 America rears her head and recovers her vigours. Agriculture 
 laughs on the land : Commerce ploughs the wave : Peace rejoices 
 at her home ; and she grows into respect abroad. Ah ! too happy 
 to progress without interruption. The explosions of Europe bring 
 new vexations to her, and new trials and new glories to her 
 Washington. Vigilant and faithful, he hears the tempest roar 
 from afar, warns her of its approach, and prepares for averting its 
 dangers. Black are the heavens and angry the billows, and narrow 
 and perilous the passage. But his composure, dignity, and firmness, 
 are equal to the peril. Un seduced by fraud ; unterrified by threat ; 
 unawed by clamour; he holds on his steady way, and again he 
 saves his country. With less decision on the part of Washington, 
 a generous but mistaken ardour would have plunged her into the 
 whirlpool, and left her till this hour the sport of the contending 
 elements. Americans! bow to that magnanimous policy which 
 protected your dearest interests at the hazard of incurring your 
 displeasure. It was thus that Washington proved himself, not in 
 the cant of the day, but in the procurement of substantial good, in 
 stepping between them and perdition, the servant of the people. 
 The historian of this period will have to record a revolt raised by 
 infatuation against the law of the land. He will have to record 
 the necessity which compelled even Washington to suppress it by 
 the sword. But he will have to record also his gentleness and his 
 lenity. Deeds of severity were his sad tribute to justice ; deeds of 
 humanity the native suggestions of his heart. 
 
 Eight years of glorious administration created a claim on the 
 indulgence of his country, which none could think of disputing, 
 but which all lamented should be urged. The ends which rendered 
 his services indispensable being mostly attained, he demands his 
 restoration to private life. Resigning to an able successor the 
 reins which he had guided with characteristic felicity, he once 
 more bids adieu to public honours. Let not his motives be mis- 
 taken or forgotten, ^ It was for him to set as great examples in 
 the relinquishment, as in the acceptance of power. No mortified 
 ambition; no haughty disgusts; no expectation of higher office, 
 prompted his retreat. He knew that foreign nations considered 
 his life as the bond, and his influence as the vital spirit of our 
 Union. He knew that his own lustre threw a shade over others, 
 
DEATH OF GENERAL WASHINGTON. 437 
 
 not more injurious to them than to his country. He wished to 
 dispel the enchantment of his own name, He wished to re;; 
 the apprehensions of America, by making her sensible of bet 
 riches in other patriots; to be a spectator of her prosperity under 
 their management ; and to convince herself, and to convince the 
 world, that she depended less on him than either her enemies or 
 her friends believed ; and therefore he withdrew. 
 
 Having lavished all her honours, his country had nothing more 
 to bestow upon him except her blessing. But he had more to 
 bestow upon his country. His views and his advice, the con- 
 densed wisdom of all his reflection, observation, and experience, 
 he delivers to his compatriots in a manual worthy of them to 
 study and of him to compose. And now, when they could hope to 
 enjoy only the satisfaction of still possessing him, the pleasure 
 of recounting his acts, and the benefit of practising his lessons, 
 they accompany his retirement with their aspirations that his 
 evening may be as serene as his morning had been fair, and hit 
 noon resplendent. 
 
 That he should ever again endure the solicitudes of office Was 
 rather to be deprecated than desired; because it must be a crisis 
 singularly portentous which could justify another invasion of his 
 repose. From such a necessity we fondly promised ourselves 
 exemption. Flattering, fallacious security ! The sudden whirlwind 
 springs out of a calm. The revolutions of a day proclaim that an 
 empire was. However remote the position of America; however 
 peaceful her character ; however cautious and equitable her policy ; 
 she was not to go unmolested by the gigantic fiend of Gallic 
 domination. That she was free and happy, was crime and provo- 
 cation enough. He fastened on her his murderous eye ; he was 
 preparing for her that deadly embrace in which nations lupine and 
 credulous had already perished. Reduced to the alternative of 
 swelling the catalogue of his victims, or arguing her cause with 
 the bayonet and the ball, she burst the ill-fated bonds which had 
 linked her to his destinies, and assumes the tone and attitude ol 
 defiance. The gauntlet is cast. To press on is perilous ; to retreat 
 destruction. She looks wistfully round, and calls for Washington. 
 The well-known voice, that voice which he had ever accounted a 
 law, pierces the retreats of Vernor, and thrills his bosom. Domestic 
 enjoyments lose their charm; repose becomes to him inglorious 
 
438 FUNEEAL ORATION ON THE 
 
 every sacrifice is cheap, and every exertion easy, when his beloved 
 country requires his aid. With all the alacrity of youth he flies 
 to her succour. The helmet of war presses his silver locks. His 
 sword, which dishonour had never tarnished nor corruption poisoned, 
 he once more unsheathes, and prepares to receive on its point the 
 insolence of that foe whose intrigue he had foiled by his wisdom. 
 
 It must ever be difficult to compare the merits of Washington's 
 characters, because he always appeared greatest in that which he 
 last sustained. Yet if there is a preference, it must be assigned 
 to the Lieutenant-General of the armies of America. Not because 
 the duties of that station were more arduous than those which he 
 had often performed, but because it more fully displayed his mag- 
 nanimity. While others become great by elevation, Washington 
 becomes greater by condescension. Matchless patriot ! to stoop, 
 on public motives, to an inferior appointment, after possessing and 
 dignifying the highest offices ! Thrice favoured country, which 
 boasts of such a citizen ! We gaze with astonishment ; we exult 
 that we are Americans. We augur every thing great, and good, 
 and happy. But whence this sudden horror ? What means that 
 cry of agony? Oh ! 'tis the shriek of America ! The fairy vision 
 is fled : Washington is — no more ! 
 
 " How are the mighty fallen, and the weapons of war perished 1" 
 
 Daughters of America, who erst prepared the festal bower and the 
 
 laurel wreath, plant now the cypress grove, and water it with tears. 
 
 " How are the mighty fallen, and the weapons of war perished !" 
 
 The death of Washington, Americans, has revealed the extent 
 
 of our loss. It has given us the final proof that we never mistook 
 
 him. Take his affecting testament, and read the secrets of his 
 
 soul. Read all the power of domestic virtue. Read his strong 
 
 love of letters and of liberty. Read his fidelity to republican 
 
 principle, and his jealousy of national character. Read his devo- 
 
 j tedness to you in his military bequests to near relations. " These 
 
 J swords," they are the words of Washington, "these swords are 
 
 I accompanied with an injunction not to unsheath them for the pur- 
 
 I pose of shedding blood, except it be for self-defence, or in defence 
 
 \ of their country and its rights ; and in the latter case to keep them 
 
 unsheathed, and prefer falling with them in their hands, to the 
 
 relinquishment thereof." 
 
 In his acts, Americans, you have seen the man. In the com- 
 plicated excellence of character he stands alone. Let no future 
 
DEATH OF GENERAL WASHINGTON. 
 
 Plutarch attempt the iniquity of parallel. Let no soldier of fortune ; 
 let no usurping conqueror; let not Alexander or Caesar; let not 
 Cromwell or Bonaparte; let none among the dead or the living: 
 appear in the same picture with Washington ; or let them appear 
 as the shade to his light. 
 
 On this subject, my countrymen, it is for others to speculate, but 
 it is for us to feel. Yet in proportion to the severity of the stroke, 
 ought to be our thankfulness that it was not inflicted sooner. 
 Through a long series of years, has God preserved our Washington 
 a public blessing; and now that he has removed him forever, shall 
 we presume to say, "What doest thou?" Never did the tomb 
 preach more powerfully the dependence of all things on the will of 
 the Most High. The greatest of mortals crumble into dust the 
 moment he commands, " Return, ye children of men." Washington 
 w r as but the instrument of a benignant God. He sickens, he dies, 
 that we may learn not to "trust in men," nor to "make flesh our 
 arm." But though Washington is dead, Jehovah lives. God of 
 our fathers ! be our God, and the God of our children ! Thou art 
 our refuge and our hope; the pillar of our strength; the wall of 
 our defence, and our unfading glory. 
 
 Americans! This God, who raised up Washington and gave 
 you liberty, exacts from you the duty of cherishing it with a zeal 
 according to knowledge. Never sully by apathy or by outrj 
 your fair inheritance. Risk not, for one moment, on visionary 
 theories, the solid blessings of your lot. To you, particularly, < I 
 youth of America! applies the solemn charge. In ail the perils 
 of your country remember Washington. The freedom of re 
 raid of right has been handed down to you on the point of the 
 hero's sword. Guard with veneration the sacred deposit. 
 curse of ages will rest upon you, youth of America, if 
 surrender to foreign ambition or domestic lawlessness, the precious 
 liberties for which Washington fought, and your fathers bled ! 
 
 I cannot part with you, fellow-citizens, without urging the long 
 remembrance of our present assembly. This day we wipe 
 the reproach of republics, that they know not how to be gratefuL 
 In your treatment of living patriots, recall your love and your 
 regret of Washington. Let not future inconsistency charge this 
 day with hypocrisy. Happy America, if an instance --! 
 
 universal principle in her sorrows for the man, "first in war, 
 in peace, and first iu the affections of his country l" 
 
AN ORATION, 
 
 COMMEMORATIVE OF THE LA/TE 
 
 MAJ.-GEN. ALEXANDER HAMILTON* 
 
 Sad, my fellow-citizens, are the recollections and forebodings 
 which the present solemnities force upon the mind. Five years 
 have not elapsed since your tears flowed for the Father of your 
 country, and you are again assembled to shed them over her 
 eldest son. No ! it is not an illusion — would to God it were : 
 your eyes behold it, — the urn wdiich bore the ashes of Washington 
 is followed by the urn which bears the ashes of Hamilton. Cruel 
 privation ! — but I forbear. God's " way is in the sea, and his 
 path in the great waters, and his footsteps are not known." It is 
 not for mortals to repine, — much less to arraign. Our Hamilton 
 is removed ; and we have nothing left but to recall his image ; to 
 gather up his maxims, and to profit by our affliction. Accompany 
 me, therefore, to a short retrospect, I feel that I shall not justify 
 an appointment too imposing to be declined. Your own hearts 
 must supply my deficiency. I aspire to nothing more than a faint 
 outline of tlie man whom you loved. 
 
 Presages of his future eminence were evolved by the first bud- 
 dings of intellect in Alexander Hamilton. The course of the boy, 
 
 * Pronounced before the New York State Society of the Cincinnati, on Tuesday. 
 the 31st July, 1804. 
 
OR ATION ON THE DEA T IT < I Fi , E N E RAL HAMILTON. -1 4 I 
 
 like that of the man, was ardent, rapid, and beyond the rea 
 his contemporaries. History will hereafter relate that In- 
 numbered among statesmen at an age when in others the rudi- 
 ments of character are scarcely visible. In the contest with Great 
 Britain, which called forth every talent and every passion, his 
 juvenile pen asserted the claims of the colonies against wri 
 from whom it would derogate to say that they were merely re- 
 spectable. An unknown antagonist, whose thrust was neither to 
 be repelled nor parried, excited inquiry; and when he began i 
 discovered, the effect was apparently so disproportioned to the 
 cause, that his papers were ascribed to a statesman who then held 
 a happy sway in the councils of his country, who has since 
 rendered her the most essential services; and who still Uvea to 
 adorn her name.* But the truth could not long be concealed. 
 The powers of Hamilton created their own evidence ; and America 
 saw with astonishment a lad of seventeen in the rani; of her 
 advocates, at a time when her advocates w r ere patriots and sages. 
 A distinction thus nobly acquired, and ably maintained, was a 
 pledge to the commonwealth, which he lost no time in redeeming. 
 His first step from the college was into a military post ; his second 
 into the family and confidence of Washington. Here lie had 
 opportunities of studying a man, from whom no other man was 
 too great to learn ; of analyzing those rare qualities which met in 
 his character; and of nourishing his own magnanimity by free 
 communication with the magnanimity of his chief. His sound 
 understanding, his comprehensive views, his promptitude, appli- 
 cation, and patience would have endeared him to a man less dis- 
 criminating than Washington ; but to him they were inestimable, 
 and they speedily sunk the patron in the friend. The pair became 
 inseparable. While others were indulging in wonted gaiety, they 
 were closeted on matters of state; and the pensive brow of the 
 youth was often the first intimation of serious design in the 
 veteran. 
 
 It was impossible for such a pupil, in such a school, not t<> be 
 conspicuous. The materials furnished by Washington's experi- 
 ence, by his consummate prudence, by the disclosure of his plana, 
 and of the springs of national operations, fostered the genii 
 
 * John Jay, Esq. 
 
/ 
 
 442 FUNERAL ORATION ON THE 
 
 Hamilton, and fitted him for command. His agency in the cor- 
 respondence of the commander-in-chief, and in directing the 
 movements of the army, is for the research of his biographer. 
 I pass over his personal valour, not only because it never was 
 disputed, but "because the possession of it, as being one of the 
 most common of military attributes, is not so much the praise 
 of a soldier, as the want of it is his infamy. But be it remem- 
 bered with pride, that he was as humane as he was brave. He 
 knew how to storm an enemy's entrenchments, but not how to 
 sacrifice a suppliant. His gentleness assuaged martial rigour; 
 nor was his sword polluted by a drop of blood wantonly or care- 
 lessly shed. 
 
 The capture of Lord Cornwallis having secured our independ- 
 ence, there was nothing to protract the war, but a few measures 
 proper to save appearances, and to prepare for acceding, with 
 decorum, to preliminaries of peace. It became, of course, a sub- 
 ject of solicitude to reflecting young men, who had no profession 
 but that of arms, how they should procure an honourable subsist- 
 ence, and be useful to the community, when that profession 
 should be superseded. Among these was Hamilton. Encum- 
 bered with a family, destitute of funds, and having no inducement 
 to continue in the army, he sheathed his sword, and at the age 
 of twenty-five applied to the study of the law. 
 
 To most men, sudden alterations of habit are seldom advantage- 
 ous, often ruinous. To Hamilton they did but introduce an 
 acquaintance with his own inexhaustible mind. Hardly had he 
 exchanged the camp for the bar, when he burst forth in the lustre 
 of a civilian ; and gave a promise, which he more than fulfilled, of 
 excelling in jurisprudence, as he had excelled in war. 
 
 But it was not for Hamilton to detach his private pursuits from 
 the public welfare. Scenes were about to open in which it would 
 need his resource and his energy. The war of independence had 
 terminated gloriously ; the states had risen to their natural position ; 
 their career of prosperity had commenced, but their struggles were 
 not over. Resentments, jealousies, and the farce of an advising^ 
 government, kept them in jeopardy. That foresight, moderation, 
 and firmness ; that comprehension of the public interest, and of the 
 means of promoting it; that zeal, and vigilance, and integrity, 
 which were indispensable to our safety, the inspiration of God had 
 
DEATH OF GENERAL HAMILTON. 
 
 assembled in the soul of Hamilton. To many who now hear me 
 it is familiar, that after the conclusion of peace, Home of our citi 
 impelled by their temper, their cupidity, or both, were meditating 
 violence against the property and persons of all who had remained 
 in this city during the war. The generous Hamilton revolted. 
 consideration of private friendship or hazard could prevail with 
 him to connive at faithlessness and revenge. He remonstrated 
 against a scheme of which the policy was as false as the spirit was 
 malignant. His voice was authority, for it was honour and truth. 
 The public listened, and the infatuation was at an end.* 
 
 To these agitations succeeded a more perplexing difficulty. The 
 confederation, framed under the pressure of common danger, pi 
 unequal to its object whenever that pressure was removed. Thirteen 
 republics, with an internal organization which commanded their 
 whole moral and physical force; connected by a fictitious tie under 
 a head without a single effective power, afforded a spectacle of 
 which it is hard to say, whether it was more ludicrous or melancholy. 
 Such a condition of things could not last. The very first occurrence 
 which should put the will of congress at issue with the will of i oe 
 of the larger states, would have dissolved the phantom, and shown 
 America to be. what the discerning at home and abroad already 
 perceived her to be in theory, a nation; in fact, a number of rival 
 and hostile sovereignties. The evils to be apprehended from such 
 a conflict were alarming; and they were approaching with no 
 certainty, than it is certain that the principles of human action are 
 not to be altered, nor suspended by compact. The failure of a 
 request from Congress for permission to levy a small duty upon 
 imports, w r as hastening a crisis which the mighty mind of Hamilton 
 proposed to avert. With the express intention of making an effort 
 to retrieve our affairs byestablishing an efficient general government, 
 did he consent to be nominated as a candidate for the legislature of 
 this state. The design was magnanimous. It embraced the only 
 expedient to prevent our ruin; but it was confided to a few chosen 
 friends. For such was the national inexperience and the popular 
 jealousy, that the least suspicion of his purpose would have blasted 
 
 * On this subject it would be less a compliment to mention, than an injury to 
 omit, the name of his excellency George Clinton, Esq., then 
 whose honourable, independent, and successful exertions to restrain our citi. 
 cannot be remembered but with respect and veneration. 
 
444 FUNERAL ORATION ON THE 
 
 his reputation as an enemy to freedom. Oh, Hamilton ! equally 
 pure and disinterested were all thy plans, though often misunder- 
 stood and calumniated ! And now, when there is no more room 
 for suspicion, let his country, in judging of them, not forget that 
 the very measure which, at first she would bitterly have execrated, 
 has been her salvation. Yes, it is indubitable, that the original 
 germ out of which has grown up her unexampled prosperity, was 
 in the bosom of Hamilton. From the abortive attempt of Con- 
 gress already mentioned, proceeded a commercial convention ; and 
 to the report of that body, which, as he foresaw, was unable to 
 extricate the- nation, do we owe the federal convention. Here, 
 Americans, was the constellation of your heroes and 'your states- 
 men. Here your Washington presided, and your Hamilton shone. 
 What weight the first of these names added to every thing which 
 received its sanction, and what a conciliating charm it diffused 
 through the States, you need not to be informed. But you ought 
 not to be ignorant, that the benefit arising from the signature of 
 Washington substantiates a claim on your gratitude to Hamilton; 
 as it was the advice of the latter, previously consulted, which per- 
 suaded the former to accept a seat in the convention. A prudent 
 secrecy covers the transactions of that august assembly. But 
 could the veil be drawn aside, you would hear the youth of thirty 
 fascinating with his eloquence the collective wisdom of the States, 
 and instructing the hoary patriot in the recondite science of gov- 
 ernment. You would observe all the emotions of his manly heart 
 occupying, in turn, his expressive features ; and see, through the 
 window in his breast, every anxiety, every impulse, every thought 
 directed to your happiness. The result is in your hands ; it is in 
 your national existence. Not such, indeed, as Hamilton wished, 
 but such as he could obtain, and as the States would ratify, is the 
 federal constitution. His ideas of a government which should 
 elevate the character, preserve the unity, and perpetuate the liber- 
 ties of America, went beyond the provisions of that instrument. 
 Accustomed to view men as they are ; and to judge of what they 
 will be, from what they ever have been, he distrusted any political 
 order which admits the baneful charity of supposing them to be 
 what they ought to be. He knew how averse they are from even 
 wholesome restraint ; how obsequious to flattery ; how easily de- 
 ceived by misrepresentation; how partial, how vehement, how 
 
DEATH OF GENERAL HAMILTON. I L5 
 
 capricious. He knew that vanity, the love of distinction, is inse- 
 parable from man; that if it be not turned into a channel useful 
 to the government, it will force a channel for itself; and if cut off 
 from other egress, will issue in the most corrupt of all aristocracies 
 — the aristocracy of money. He knew that an extensive territory, 
 a progressive population, an expanding commerce, diversified cli- 
 mate, and soil, and manners, and interest, must generate faction ; 
 must interfere with foreign views, and present emergencies requir- 
 ing, in the general organization, much tone and promptitude. A 
 strong government, therefore, — that is, a government stable 
 and vigorous, adequate to all the forms of national exigency, 
 and furnished with the principles of self-preservation, was un- 
 doubtedly his preference ; and he preferred it because he conscien- 
 tiously believed it to be necessary. A system which he would . 
 , have entirely approved, wj3ujpl,rjrobably keep in their places lho& a J 
 \ little m en who aspire to be great; would withdraw much fuel from 
 ■the passions of the multitude; would diminish the materials which 
 the worthless employ for their own aggrandizement ; would crown 
 peace at home with respectability abroad ; but would never infringe 
 the liberty of an honest man. From his profound acquaintance 
 with mankind, and his devotion to all that good society holds dear. 
 sprang his apprehensions for the existing constitution. Convinced 
 that the natural tendency of things is to an encroachment by the 
 States on the Union; that their encroachments will be formidable 
 as they augment their wealth and population ; and, consequently, 
 that the vigour of the general government will be impaired in a 
 very near proportion with the increase of its difficulties; he anti- 
 cipated the day when it should perish in the conflict of local 
 interest and of local pride. The Divine mercy grant that his 
 prediction may not be verified ! 
 
 But whatever fears he entertained for the ultimate safety ol 
 federal constitution, it is, in every respect, so preferable to the old 
 confederation, and its rejection would have been so extremely 
 hazardous, that he exerted all his talents and influence in its rapport 
 In the papers signed Publius, which compress the experiei 
 .ages, and pour original light on the science of government, his 
 genius has left a manual for the future statesman. And they will 
 be read with deeper interest when it is considered that, eloquent 
 and powerful as they arc, they were written under the | 
 
416 FUNERAL ORATION ON THE 
 
 business, amidst the conversation of friends, and the interrogatories 
 of clients, Alas ! the spirit which dictated them is fled ; the hand 
 which penned them moulders in death ! 
 
 His voice co-operated with his pen. In the convention of this 
 state, which met to deliberate on the federal constitution, he was 
 always heard with awe, perhaps with conviction, though not always 
 with success. But when the crisis arrived — when a vote was to 
 determine whether New York should retain or relinquish her place 
 in the Union; and preceding occurrences made it probable that she 
 would choose the worst part of the alternative, Hamilton arose in 
 redoubled strength. He argued, he remonstrated, he entreated, he 
 warned, he painted, till apathy itself was moved, and the most 
 relentless of human things, a preconcerted majority, was staggered 
 and broken. Truth was again victorious, and New York enrolled 
 herself under the federal standard. 
 
 The government happily erected, was now to be organized. 
 Every eye fixed upon Washington for the first magistrate. He 
 knew it, and hesitated. The competition between his love of 
 retirement, his former resolutions, and the new state of affairs, 
 held him in painful suspense. But the judgment of Hamilton 
 preponderated, and he yielded to the public wish. 
 
 That faithful adviser, whom he had consulted upon every question 
 of moment, and who never gave him an unsound advice, could not 
 be omitted in the original administration. The department best 
 suited to him, because the most arduous, was the treasury. He 
 had already passed from the warrior into the jurist, and he was 
 now to appear in the new and very different character of a financier. 
 A losing commerce, a famished agriculture, an empty purse, and 
 prostrate credit, would have overwhelmed the ordinary man ; but 
 they only brought into action the resources of Hamilton. His 
 plans for redeeming the reputation of the country, by satisfying her 
 creditors; and for combining with the government such a monied 
 interest as might facilitate its operations, were strenuously opposed. 
 But as it is easier to cavil than to refute, to complain than to 
 amend, the opposition failed. The eflect was electrical. Commerce 
 revived ; the ploughshare glittered ; property recovered its value ; 
 credit was established; revenue created; the treasury filled. 
 
 This great fiscal revolution enriched numbers who held a large 
 amount of the public paper, purchased at a season when the un- 
 
DEATH OF GENERAL HAMILTON. U7 
 
 promising state of the public faith had set it afloat in the market 
 at a most ignoble price. None could have fairer opportunities of 
 acquiring a princely fortune than the financier himself. So in\ iting 
 was the occasion, and the disposition to profit by it. bo 
 variance with the common estimate of honourable gain, that few 
 supposed it possible to resist the temptation. The fact being pre- 
 sumed, every petty politician erected himself into a critic; while 
 the gazettes, the streets, the polls of election, resounded with the 
 millions amassed by the secretary. It is natural that the idolators 
 of gold should treat the contempt of it as a chimera; but gold was 
 not the idol of Hamilton. He had formerly relinquished his own 
 claims to compensation for military services, that obloquy might 
 not breathe an impeachment of his motives in espousing the claims 
 of his brother officers.* And from this proud eminence whicl 
 then ascended, he was not now to be seduced by the attractions of 
 lucre. Exquisitely delicate toward official character, he touched 
 none of the advantages which he put within the reach of oth 
 he vested not a dollar in the public funds. 
 
 Although his particular province was the treasury, his genius 
 pervaded the whole administration; and in those critical events 
 which crowded each other, had a peculiar influence upon 
 measures. The French Revolution, which our fondness mistook 
 for the birth of virtuous freedom, stood before him, from the 
 beginning, in that hideous form which it has since unmasked. 
 Not to be duped by hollow pretences, he was active in arresting 
 the course of an insolent minister; and not to be biased by popu- 
 lar frenzy, he secured that dignified ground to which the United 
 States were led by the proclamation of neutrality. Without his 
 
 * Being a member of congress, while the question of the commutation of the 
 half-pay of the army for a sum in gross was in debate, delicacy, and a desire I 
 useful to the army, by removing the idea of his having an interest in the qui 
 induced him to write to the secretary of war, and relinquish his claim to ball 
 which, or the equivalent, he accordingly never received. Neither 
 apply for the lands allowed by the Uuited States to officers of his rank, 
 that having served through the latter periods of the war on 
 United States, and not in the Hue of this state, he could not claim th 
 as a matter of course. But having before the war resided in this state, and fa 
 entered the military career at tho head of a company of artillery r, 
 particular defence of this state, he had better pretensions to th 
 others to whom it was actually made. Yet has it not been extended to him. 
 
443 FUNERAL ORATION ON THE 
 
 aid, great Washington himself might have been borne down by 
 the torrent, and the nation implicated in war, to gratify the resent- 
 ment and ambition of France. 
 
 Internal embarrassment soon added fresh honours to Hamilton 
 as a statesman. The western insurrection, which had rejected 
 the condescending proposals of government, was to be quelled by 
 force. A more serious question had not occupied the cabinet, as 
 nothing had hitherto occurred to try the strength of the national 
 arm. It was now to be ascertained how far the turbulent might trifle 
 with the law, and what reliance they might place upon armed opposi- 
 tion. Incalculable consequences hung upon the precedent. Feeble 
 measures would have surrendered the peace, perhaps the life, of 
 the Union ; but feeble measures were contemplated. That timidity 
 which shrinks from decision ; that economy which accounts every 
 thing less precious than money ; and that covered treason which 
 favoured the rebellion, would have ordered out a detachment that 
 might have been met and defeated. 
 
 The penetration of Hamilton was not to be eluded, nor his 
 firmness to be shaken, by any argument in support of so dangerous 
 an experiment. li If you wish," said he, " to maintain the authority 
 of the laws ; to prevent the repetition of similar outrages ; to spare 
 your treasure and your blood ; let the insurgents, let the continent 
 \see, that it is never to admit of a doubt whether the national shall 
 ^be obeyed or not. Teach them this lesson by employing a force 
 that shall put resistance out of the question." This sage and 
 humane policy was adopted by Washington ; and the rebellion 
 disappeared without effusion of blood. 
 
 After the restoration of order, Mr Hamilton remained but a short 
 time in office. His numerous services gave him, perhaps, a right 
 to retire when the state might be safely intrusted to other hands. 
 But one reason of his retreat deserves particular notice, because it 
 involves a mischievous and disreputable principle. A general error 
 in popular systems, is a frugality which computes nothing but 
 pence. The affairs of a nation, however, cannot be ably conducted 
 without able and independent men. But such men, in a country 
 where the demand for active talent is greater than the supply, will 
 always hold their fortunes in their own hand : nor are we to expect 
 that they will submit to the toils and responsibility of public office, 
 with a support utterly disproportioned both to their station and 
 
DEATH OF GENERAL HAMILTON. 1 i'.» 
 
 their means of providing for themselves. No people [g in jeopar- 
 dy from the liberality of their civil list; but when this i- niggardly, 
 able men withdraw in succession, and the state falls al Length into 
 the hand's of the weak or the wicked, whose want of capacity or of 
 integrity squanders on one occasion the public revenue, and on 
 another overloads it with the expenses of war. The last of these 
 consequences God forbid we should experience; the first was 
 exemplified in the history of Hamilton. He entered into public 
 service with property of his own, the well-earned reward of pro- 
 fessional talent; he continued in it till his little funds were dissi- 
 pated; and left it to get bread for a suffering family. It was 
 surely enough that he had impoverished himself while he was 
 enriching the commonwealth; but it was beyond measure insult- 
 ing to charge him, under such circumstances, with invading the 
 public purse. Nobody believed the charge ; and least of all, the 
 slanderers who brought it. But Washington was vilified, and how 
 should Hamilton escape ! The virtuous saw with regret that he 
 stooped to repel it, and with anguish that, in regard to a private 
 aberration, his defence contained a disclosure of which they ad- 
 mired the ingenuousness, but deplored the occasion, while they 
 wept over a spot in a blaze of excellence. 
 
 Large and lucrative practice at the bar promised to replace his 
 pecuniary sacrifices in official life. But a new distress of his 
 country drew him again from his professional engagements. Our 
 remonstrances against the injuries committed by France had 
 proved unavailing; and her rude and humiliating requisitions had 
 fired the national spirit. Little was to be expected from the. gene- 
 rosity, and less from the rectitude, of a government framed upon 
 the maxims of the new philosophy. Tribute or the sword was the 
 only choice of the States, and it would have been a libel on the 
 war of independence to have hesitated a moment. A provisional 
 army, with Washington at their head, was summoned into the 
 field; but the condition on which he suspended the acceptance of 
 his own commission was, that Hamilton should be his asso< 
 The end of this stipulation could not be misunderstood. He not 
 only designed to have his age relieved from Borne heavy carea by 
 his younger friend, but, in the event of his own decease, to I 
 the sword of America in the hands of a man whom nothing i 
 overreach, nothing intimidate, nothing corrupt 
 
 2 1: 
 
450 FUNERAL ORATION ON THE 
 
 Subsequent adjustment of our dispute with the French Republic, 
 was accompanied with the discharge of the provisional army, and 
 with Hamilton's second return to his profession. Here, unwearied 
 in diligence, and unrivalled in fame, he filled up the residue (ah, 
 too transient !) of his invaluable days. But, as you have truly 
 been told, though he had withdrawn from public life, he was not 
 an hour absent from the public service. It did not belong to a 
 man absorbed in his country's welfare, to look with indifference on 
 the course of her affairs. Office he wanted none. None in the 
 gift of the nation would have moved him from his purpose. He 
 reserved himself for crises which he feared are approaching ; such 
 crises, especially, as may affect the integrity of the Union. How 
 he was alarmed by every thing which pointed at its dissolution ; 
 how indignant were his feelings and language on that ungracious 
 topic; how stern and steady his hostility to every influence which 
 only leaned toward the project, they will attest with whom he was 
 in habits of communication. In every shape it encountered his 
 reprobation as unworthy of a statesman, as fatal to America, and 
 desirable to the desperate alone. One of his primary objects was 
 to consolidate the efforts of good men in retarding a calamity 
 which, after all, they may be unable to avert; but which no par- 
 tial nor temporary policy should induce them to accelerate. To 
 these sentiments must be traced his hatred to continental factions ; 
 his anxiety for the federal constitution, although, in his judgment, 
 too slight for the pressure which it has to sustain ; his horror of 
 every attempt to sap its foundation, or loosen its fabric ; his zeal 
 to consecrate it in the affections of his fellow-citizens, that, if it 
 fall at last, they may be pure from the guilt of its overthrow — an 
 overthrow which may be accomplished in an hour, but of which 
 the woes may be entailed upon ages to come. 
 
 With such dignified policy he joined the most intense applica- 
 tion to his professional duties. But the description of these is not 
 my province. How he resolved the most intricate cases ; how he 
 lied general principles through their various modifications; 
 how he opened the fountains of justice ; how he revered the rights 
 of property ; how he signalized himself in protecting the defenceless; 
 how judges, and jurors, and counsel, and audience, hung on his 
 accents, let them declare who have entrusted their fortunes to his 
 hand ; let them declare who have wondered that any man should 
 
.1 I] OF GENERAL HAMILTON. 151 
 
 be thought great while Hamilton appeared at the American 
 
 bar. 
 
 But enumerations were endless. He was born to I 
 Whoever was second, Hamilton must be first. To his stupendous 
 and versatile mind no investigation was difficult — n<> subjeel 
 scntcd which he did not illuminate. Superiority in some part 
 lar belongs to thousands. Pre-eminence, in whatever he 
 undertake, was the prerogative of Hamilton. No fixed criterion 
 could be applied to his talents Often haa their display hern sup- 
 posed to have reached the limit of human effort ; and the judgment 
 stood firm till set aside by himself. When a cause of n i 
 nitude required new exertion, he rose, he towered, he 
 surpassing himself as he surpassed others. Then was na 
 tributary to his eloquence! Then was fell 
 
 heart! Touching, at his pleasure, every string of pi! or, of 
 
 indignation or grief; he melted, he soothed, he roused, he 
 tated; alternately gentle as the dews, and awful as the tiro 
 Yet, great as lie was in the eyes of the world, he was 
 the eyes of those with whom he was most 
 greatness of most men, like objects seen through a mi 
 with the distance; but Hamilton, like a tower 
 a clear sky, rose in grandeur and sublimity with 
 approach. Familiarity with him was the parent of v. 
 Over these matchless talents, probity threw her brighte 
 Frankness, suavity, tenderness, benevolence, breathed tl 
 their exercise. And to his family !— but he is gone : that 
 heart beats no more ; that eye of fire is dimmed ; and • 
 those oracular lips. Americans! the beam of ] 
 
 is extinguished in the tomb. 
 
 Fathers, friends, countrymen! the death of Hamill 
 common affliction. The loss of distinguished men is at all 
 a calamity; but the loss of such a man, at such a time, and in the 
 very meridian of his usefulness, is singularly port, i When 
 
 Washington was taken, Hamilton was left; bu 
 taken, and we have no Washington. V. 
 man to die. Washington and Hamil 
 America! Thou art languishing beneath the divine di 
 Let this truth awfully impress my hearer-, thai when ti 
 mighty God is about to " shake terribly the earth ;" when h 
 
452 FUNERAL ORATION ON THE 
 
 bidden scourge to follow scourge, and vengeance to press on ven- 
 geance, one of bis means is to deprive a nation of their ablest 
 men. Thus bereft of counsel, their affairs run into confusion, and 
 bring forth misery. I invent nothing ; I only repeat the admoni- 
 tion of Holy Writ : " For behold, the Lord, the Lord of hosts, doth 
 take away the mighty man, and the man of war, the judge, and 
 the prophet, and the prudent, and the ancient, the captain of fifty 
 and the honourable man, and the counsellor and the cunning arti- 
 ficer, and the eloquent orator." The disastrous consequences are 
 impotent governors and ruthless anarchy. For the prophet con- 
 tinues : " I will give children to be their princes, and babes shall 
 rule over them. And the people shall be oppressed, every one by 
 another, and every one by his neighbour; the child shall behave 
 himself proudly against the ancient, and the base against the 
 honourable." 
 
 Fathers, friends, countrymen ! the grave of Hamilton speaks. 
 It charges me to remind you that he fell a victim not to disease or 
 accident, — not to the fortune of glorious warfare ; but how shall 
 I utter it ? To a custom which has no origin but superstition, no 
 aliment but depravity, no reason but in madness. Alas ! that 
 he should thus expose his precious life. This was his error. A 
 thousand bursting hearts reiterate — This was his error. Shall I 
 apologize? I am forbidden by his living protestations, by his 
 dying regrets, by his wasted blood. Shall a solitary act into 
 which he was betrayed and dragged, have the authority of a pre- 
 cedent? The plea is precluded by the long decisions of his un^ 
 derstanding, by the principles of his conscience, and by the 
 reluctance of his heart. Ah! when will our morals be purified, 
 and an imaginary honour cease to cover the most pestilent of 
 human passions ? My appeal is to military men. Your honour is 
 sacred. Listen. Is it honourable to enjoy the esteem of the wise 
 and good ? The wise and good turn with disgust from the man 
 who lawlessly aims at his neighbour's life. Is it honourable to 
 serve your country? That man cruelly injures her, who, from 
 private pique, calls his fellow-citizen into the dubious field. Is 
 fidelity honourable? That man forswears his faith who turns 
 against the bowels of his countrymen weapons put into his hand 
 for their defence. Are generosity, humanity, sympathy, honour- 
 able ? That man is superlatively base, who mingles the tears of 
 
DEATH OF GENERAL HAMILTON. 453 
 
 the widow and orphan, with the blood of a husband and father. 
 Do refinement, and courtesy, and benignity, entwine with tin- 
 laurels of the brave? The blot is yet to be wiped from the soldier's 
 name, that he cannot treat his brother with the decorum ..I a 
 gentleman, unless the pistol or the dagger be every momeni at his 
 heart. Let the votaries of honour now look at their (]vn\<. Let 
 them compare their doctrine with this horrible comment. Ah ! 
 what avails it to a distracted nation that Hamilton was murdered 
 for a punctilio of honour ! My flesh shivers ! Is this indeed onr 
 state of society? Are transcendent worth and talent to be a capital 
 indictment before the tribunal of ambition? Is the angel of death 
 to record, for sanguinary retribution, every word which the colli- 
 sion of political opinion may extort from a political man? Arc 
 integrity and candour to be at the mercy of the assassin? And 
 systematic crime to trample under foot, or smite into the grave, 
 all that is yet venerable in our humbled land? My countrymen, 
 the land is defiled with blood unrighteously shed. Its cry, disre- 
 garded on earth, has gone up to the throne of God ; and this day 
 does our punishment reveal our sin. It is time for us to awake. 
 The voice of moral virtue, the voice of domestic alarm, the voice 
 of the fatherless and the widow, the voice of a nation's wrong, the 
 voice of Hamilton's blood, the voice of impending judgment, calls 
 for a remedy. At this hour, Heaven's high reproof is sounding 
 from Maine to Georgia, and from the shores of the Atlantic to the 
 banks of the Mississippi. If we refuse obedience, every drop of 
 blood spilled in single combat will lie at our door, and will be 
 recompensed when our cup is full. We have then our choice, 
 either to coerce iniquity, or prepare for desolation ; ami in the 
 mean time to make our nation, though infant in years, yet mature 
 in vice, the scorn and the abhorrence of civilized man? 
 
 Fathers, friends, countrymen ! the dying breath of Hamilton 
 recommended to you the Christian's hope. His single testimony 
 outweighs all the cavils of the sciolist, and all the jeers of the 
 profane. Who will venture to pronounce a fable, that doctrine of 
 " life and immortality," which his profound and irradiating mind 
 embraced as the truth of God? When you are to die, you will find 
 no source of peace but in the faith of Jesus. Cultivate for your 
 present repose and your future consolation, what our departed 
 friend declared to be the support of his expiring moments : " A 
 
454 QRATION ON THE DEATH OF GENERAL HAMILTON. 
 
 tender reliance on the mercies of the Almighty, through the merits 
 of the Lord Jesus Christ." 
 
 Hamilton! we will cherish thy memory, we will embalm thy 
 fame! Fare thee well, thou unparalleled man, farewell — for 
 ever! 
 
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 LECTURES 
 
 ON THE 
 
 GOSPEL ACCORDING TO LUKE, 
 
 BY THE 
 
 REV. JAMES FOOTE, D.D,, 
 
 LATE MINISTER OP THE FREE EAST CHURCH, ABERDEEN. 
 
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