Luke 7:6, 7.

Luke 7:6, 7.

The “rising of many” was another end of Christ’s coming—

[Jews and Gentiles were in a most deplorable condition: they were guilty, helpless, hopeless. From this state Christ came to raise them. This also was a subject of prophecy; and our Lord often declares that this was the end of his comingi: hence he calls himself “the resurrection and the life.”]

And his coming produced this effect also—

[Few believed on him before his death: but myriads were raised by him soon after. They rose from a death in sin to a life of holiness. This effect is still carrying on in the world. Many from their own experience can say with Hannah—]

These ends, however, were more remote.

  II.      The more immediate end—

The minds of men in reference to God were very little known: neither ceremonial nor moral duties could fully discover their state; but he came to make it clear how every one was affected towards God.

In order to this he was “a mark or butt of contradiction”—

[No man ever met with so much contradiction as he. He was contradicted by all personso, on all occasions, in the most virulent mannerq, in spite of the clearest evidence, and in the most solemn seasonss — — — This was frequently as a sword in Mary’s breast.]

By his becoming such a mark, the thoughts of men’s hearts were discovered—

[The Pharisees wished to be thought righteous; the Scribes, the free-thinkers of the day, pleaded for candour; the Herodians professed indifference for all religion: yet they all combined against Christ. Thus they shewed what was in their hearts.]

The preaching of Christ still makes the same discovery—

[Christ is still a butt of contradiction in the world. Before his Gospel is preached, all seem to be agreed; but when he is set forth, discord and division ensue: then the externally righteous people shew their enmity; then the indifferent discover the same readiness to persecute. On the other hand the humility of others appears: many publicans and harlots gladly embrace the truth, and many believers manifest a willingness to die for Christ.]

  By way of IMPROVEMENT we may inquire,

  1.      What self-knowledge have we gained from the preaching of Christ?

[He has been often “set forth crucified before our eyes.” This must in a measure have revealed our thoughts to us. What discoveries then has it made? Let us take the Gospel as a light with which to search our hearts. Let us beg of God to illumine our minds by his Holy Spirit.]

  2.      What effect has the preaching of Christ produced on our lives?

[We must either rise or fall by means of the Gospel. Are we then risen with Christ to a new and heavenly life? or are we filled with prejudice against his Church and people? Let us tremble lest be prove a rock of offence to us. If we rise with him now to a life of holiness, he will raise us ere long to a life of glory.]

MCCCCLXXIX

CHRIST’S EARLY HABITS

  Luke 2:49.

And he said unto them, How is it that ye sought me. wist ye not that I mutt be about my Father’s business?

THE prophets and apostles of old are proposed to us as examples in a variety of respects: but we are to follow men no further than they themselves followed Christ. Christ is the great pattern, to which all are to be conformed: and so fully is his character delineated in the Holy Scriptures, that we can scarcely ever be at a loss to know either what he did, or what he would have done, in any circumstances of life. The account we have indeed of his early days is very concise. There is little related of him to gratify our curiosity, but enough to regulate our conduct. The only authentic record which we have of the transactions of his childhood, is that before us.

His parents had carried him up at twelve years of age to Jerusalem, where all the males were obliged to assemble thrice in the year. After the paschal solemnities were completed, his parents set out on their journey homeward, and proceeded for one whole day, concluding that Jesus was in the company together with them. In the evening, to their great surprise, they sought for him in vain among all his kinsfolk and acquaintance; and therefore they returned the next day with their hearts full of sorrow and anxiety to Jerusalem, to search for their beloved child: but there they could hear no tidings of him all that night. Prosecuting their inquiries the third day, they found him at last, conversing with the doctors in the temple. Joseph being only his reputed father, left the task of reproving him to Mary his mother. She, gently chiding him for the distress he had occasioned them, received from him the reply which we have just read; in which he vindicated his conduct, from the superior obligations which he owed to his heavenly Father, and shewed, that their anxieties had arisen from their own ignorance and unbelief. They, we are told, “understood not his saying:” but we understand it: and from a sense of the vast importance of it, we will,

  I.      Explain to you his reply—

[This was probably the first time that he had ever been at Jerusalem since he was quite an infant: and he was solicitous to improve to the uttermost the opportunity which this season bad afforded him, of cultivating divine knowledge, and “increasing in heavenly wisdom.” Not wearied with the seven days that he had spent in spiritual exercises, he was happy to prolong the time, and to sit among the doctors (not with dictatorial forwardness, but with the modesty of a child) to answer any questions that were put to him, and to ask for information on those points, in which he found himself not yet sufficiently instructed. It was in the use of such means as these that the indwelling Godhead gradually irradiated his mind, and trained him up for the office, which at a more advanced age he was to fulfil. This was “the business to which his heavenly Father had called him,” at this time; and it was the delight of his soul to execute it: nor was he responsible to his earthly parents for overlooking on this occasion that attention to their feelings, which, in less urgent circumstances, he would have gladly shewn.

For all this he appealed to them: “How is it that ye sought me with such anxiety? Wist ye not that I must be about my Father’s business?” You know whence I am, that I am, in a way that no other child ever was, or ever will be, the Son of God. You know the end for which I was sent into the world, even to save my people from their sins. You know what marvellous interpositions have been vouchsafed me, insomuch that I was preserved, whilst all the children of Bethlehem, from two years old and under, were slain. You know also that the same heavenly Father who bade you carry me into Egypt, advertised you afterwards of Herod’s death, and directed you to return with me to our native land. And can you doubt that a child so born, and born for so great an end, and so miraculously preserved, shall be taken care of? Was not my heavenly Father’s care sufficient without yours?

Again, You have known my habits from my earliest infancy, and how entirely I have been devoted to my God, whilst in no single instance did I ever shew myself forgetful of you. You might well have concluded therefore, that I acted under the special direction of my heavenly Father, and might have been assured in your minds, that I was engaged “in my Father’s business.” You had abundant reason to be satisfied of all this; and therefore, though I cannot disapprove of your returning to search for me, I cannot altogether commend your sorrows and anxieties respecting me; since, if you had duly considered the circumstances I have referred to, your minds would have been comforted, being stayed on God.

Now, though “his parents understood not this at the time,” we, who enjoy a fuller revelation of God’s will, clearly comprehend it; and therefore may well, like Mary, treasure it up in our hearts. And being further informed, that during the whole of his youthful days “he was subject to his parents,” we see, that the construction we have put upon his words is true, and our vindication of his conduct is correct.]

Having explained his words, let me now,

  II.      Commend to your attention the sentiments contained in them—

Two things are here evidently insinuated;

  1.      That the service of God is of paramount obligation—

[God’s claims are infinitely superior to all that man can assert. We are to love and serve him with all our heart and soul and strength. In matters of mere arbitrary institution, he is pleased indeed to wave his claims, and to give a priority to ours; saying, “I will have mercy, and not sacrifice:” but in the service of the heart and of the soul, he will never for a moment abandon his rights: He says, “My Son, give me thine heart:” and this we must give him at the peril of our souls. In comparison of him, “our earthly parents, yea and our very life itself, are to be objects of hatred” and contempt. We are not to regard the authority of any superiors whatever, but to say, “whether it be right to hearken unto you more than unto God, judge yed. Nor are we to be influenced by any examples, however numerous; but like Joshua, we must say, “Whatever the whole nation may do, I and my house will serve the Lord.” This is strongly inculcated under the Christian dispensation: “Give thyself wholly to these thingsf.” “Rejoice evermore: pray without ceasing: in every thing give thanks: for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you.” In a word, our whole life should be such, as, if any one shall inquire after us, to leave no doubt upon his mind, but that we are dutifully and diligently engaged “in our Father’s business.” It is not necessary that we should be always praying: our Lord himself was not praying at this time, but gaining instruction in the things of God. This was his duty. Ours is to perform the various offices of life in their season, combining in their due measure the services which our station in life calls for, with those which we owe more immediately to God. But in all that we do, we must have respect to God’s authority as appointing it, and seek God’s glory in the execution of it. “We must live not unto ourselves, but solely and entirely unto God.”]

  2.      That in serving him, it is not possible for us to engage too early, or too earnestly—

[Our Lord was only twelve years of age at this time: and now, after having fulfilled all his duties during the seven days of the feast, he persisted even till the tenth day in prosecuting what he judged to be for the improvement of his own mind, and for the honour of his heavenly Father. It is probable that, whilst all the males of Israel were at Jerusalem together, he, a little child, could not gain the attention of the great doctors at Jerusalem, who would almost of necessity be fully occupied with those who had come from every quarter of the land. But when the strangers were all gone, he might without difficulty gain access to the great and authorized instructors of the Lord’s people. This probably was one reason of his staying at that time, that so he might improve to the uttermost the only opportunity that had ever been afforded him. In like manner, when, in the course of his ministry, he had been labouring all the day, and praying all the night, and then, without taking any sustenance, was labouring also the next day, his friends sought him, fearing “he was beside himself” (as we translate it), or rather, that “he was transported too far,” so as irreparably to destroy his own health Now in all this he has shewn us, that, however we may be wearied in the Lord’s service, we are never to be weary of it; but are to prosecute it incessantly to the very utmost of our power. In short, whatever progress we may have made in our divine course, we are to “forget the things which are behind, and to reach forth to those that are before,” and never to pause till we have gained the prize.]

  ADDRESS—

  1.      To parents—

[You have a solicitude for your children’s welfare: you are anxious for the preservation of their health, and the advancement of their temporal prosperity. These feelings, if kept within due bounds, I by no means condemn. But your chief anxiety should be for the welfare of their souls; and your labour should be to engage them thoroughly in the business assigned them by their heavenly Father. If you neglect this, or shew a lukewarmness about it, you will involve yourselves in guilt of the deepest die. You remember how Eli was punished for this sin: and his sons Hophni and Phinehas will reproach him in the last day as accessary to their destruction, Beware lest that reproach be vented against you by your children: for assuredly, if your souls will be required at the hand of your minister, much more will the blood of your children be required at your hands.]

  2.      To young people—

[You have from the moment you came into the world a business assigned you by your heavenly parent, and you are bound to execute it from the very beginning according to your capacity. If you commence it early, you have a special promise from God, that you shall succeed in your efforts. And tell me, what period of life is there, in which you can be so well employed as in doing your Father’s will? You may think that youth and manhood are seasons rather for pleasure and for temporal pursuits: but the more you resemble Christ, the happier you will be. Who is there amongst you that does not congratulate Samuel, Obadiah, Timothy, on their early surrender of themselves to God. Be assured, that such a retrospect in your own case will, in a dying hour, be a source of much comfort to your souls. In the meantime you will greatly honour God by dedicating your whole lives to him, and will diffuse blessings through the world, instead of being, as alas! too many are, curses to all around them. And thus, it may be hoped, you will conciliate the favour both of God and man. But if unhappily you be blamed for consecrating yourselves to God, then must you be ready to give a reason of your conduct with meekness and fear.”]

MCCCCLXXX

MINISTRY OF JOHN THE BAPTIST

  Luke 3:4–6.

It is written in the book of the words of Esaias the prophet, saying, The voice of one crying in the wilderness, Prepare ye the way of the Lord, make his paths straight. Every valley shall be filled, and every mountain and hill shall be brought low; and the crooked shall be made straight, and the rough ways shall be made smooth; and all flesh shall see the salvation of God.

THERE is an abruptness in the language of the prophets, which, though it sometimes casts an obscurity over their writings, often gives them very peculiar force and energy. This may be noticed particularly in the passage referred to in our text. At the beginning of the fortieth chapter of his prophecies, Isaiah, without any particular intimation of it breaks forth into a distinct subject, which from that time occupies his chief attention. He has indeed in the preceding chapters occasionally spoken of the Redeemer’s kingdom: but from the beginning of this chapter he almost loses sight of the deliverance from Babylon, and dwells, even in the primary sense of his words, on the more important deliverance of men from their bondage to sin and Satan. He informs us that God had commissioned him to comfort his drooping people with assured prospects of his returning favour through the intervention of the Messiah. Then, passing over eight hundred years as scarcely more than a single day, he seems to himself to hear the very voice of Christ’s forerunner, and to see him occupied in preparing the Messiah’s way: and then, with a confident expectation that God’s word should stand, he predicts the ultimate and universal establishment of the Messiah’s kingdom.

The passage is quoted by St. Luke as actually fulfilled in the preaching of John the Baptist; and it may well be considered as of peculiar importance, since it is quoted by all the Four Evangelists. In considering it, we shall be led to shew,

  I.      What are the chief obstructions to our Redeemer’s kingdom—

Some there were peculiar to the apostolic age—

[The Jews were so attached to Moses and their law, that they could not endure any thing which appeared to weaken their authority, and to transfer the people’s regard to any other teacher. Knowing that their religion was from God, and not aware that it was intended only to be of temporary duration, they accounted it the vilest blasphemy to speak of the ministry of the one, or the authority of the other, being superseded.

They had also very erroneous notions of the Messiah’s kingdom: they supposed he would be a great temporal prince, who would deliver them from the Roman yoke, and raise their nation to the highest pinnacle of human grandeur. Hence they were quite indignant that a poor despised Nazarene, who himself their Messiah.

These prejudices greatly obstructed the establishment of Christ’s kingdom among them, and proved an almost insurmountable bar to their conversion.

Nor were the Gentiles in a state more favourable than the Jews. They were addicted to the vilest lusts, the grossest superstition, the most confirmed idolatry. The more learned among them were still further from the kingdom of God, and more hostile to it, on account of their philosophic pride, which led them to reject every thing which did not savour of human wisdom, and the Gospel especially, which appeared to them so repugnant to it. To be saved by a man who was crucified, and therefore apparently unable to save himself, was in their eyes a most flagrant absurdity.

Thus St. Paul informs us, that “the preaching of the cross was to the Jews a stumbling-block, and to the Greeks foolishness.”]

But there are others, which are common to all ages—

[It is not needful to distinguish between the different parts of the imagery, whereby these obstructions are described; else we might see in the elations of pride, the stubbornness of passion, and the gloominess of despondency, a correspondence between the terms that are used, and the obstacles that are depicted. Certain it is, without intending to refine upon the text, that these are the most common impediments to the establishment of the Messiah’s kingdom.

Men will not endure to be told that they are justly obnoxious to the wrath of God, and utterly incapable of saving themselves; and that all, the best as much as the worst, must be indebted to the Lord Jesus Christ for all their hope and all their salvation. The pride of the human heart rises against this, and turns from it with disgust. The lusts and passions of men also are averse to the dominion of Christ: they hate controul: they will not submit to the restraints of the Gospel: to have them mortified, is like the plucking out of a right eye, or the cutting off of a right hand: the spiritual, as well as the fleshly, filthiness that is in us, pleads for indulgence: and every disposition of the mind, as well as every appetite of the body, sets itself against the authority of Christ, and rejects his yoke.

But besides these, which are the more obvious impediments to the Gospel, there are some others, which, though little noticed, are both powerful and common. There is in most men a tendency to despair. Whilst the unbelief of some leads them to despise the Gospel as an idle tale, in others, it operates to keep them back from embracing it, under an idea, that they never can be brought to the state that it requires. Either their guilt appears too great to be forgiven, or their lusts too strong to be subdued, or their circumstances so peculiar, as not to admit of so great a change in all the habits of their life.

These are obstacles which we all feel in a greater or less degree; and which must be removed, before Christ can enter freely into our hearts.]

That a view of these things may not discourage us, let us consider,

  II.      How they are to be removed—

As there were some peculiar obstacles in the apostolic age, so were there also peculiar circumstances calculated to remove them—

[The general expectation of the Messiah, which prevailed about the time of his coming, certainly tended to prepare his way. The preaching of John the Baptist, who with holy firmness laid his axe to the root of Pharisaic pride and hypocrisy, awakened a great and general attention to religion, insomuch that many doubted whether he were not the Messiah himself. The ministry of Christ also produced a general sensation through the Jewish land: the holiness of his life, the wisdom and authority of his words, and the number and beneficence of his miracles, wrought conviction upon the minds of thousands, and drove his enemies to the necessity of putting him to death, or of leaving him in the uncontrolled possession of universal influence. The ministry of the Apostles, confirmed as it was by the descent of the Holy Ghost, by the gift of tongues, and by miracles unnumbered, had yet greater effect: it bore down all opposition, and triumphed over the united powers of earth and hell. The universal extension of the Roman empire contributed also not a little to the facilitating of the establishment of the Redeemer’s kingdom; since it gave to the Apostles an easy communication both with Jews and Gentiles throughout the world, in almost every part of which the Jewish Scriptures had already prepared their way.]

But it is of more practical importance to shew how our difficulties are to be removed—

[As these are the same in every age, so the means of removing them are such as are open to the use of all. We need notice only two; and these are, repentance and faith. Repentance is the great leveller of all obstructions: it “humbles the loftiness of man,” and “brings into captivity every thought that exalts itself against the knowledge of Christ.” Wherever real penitence exists, it brings the soul into the dust before God. No longer is the Gospel deemed unnecessary or severe: the penitent sees, that without it he must inevitably perish. Whether he have been more or less moral, he is equally disposed to smite on his breast and cry for mercy. His vain conceits of his own goodness all vanish; and, instead of despising others as inferior to him in sanctity, he accounts himself rather “the chief of sinners.” And it deserves particular attention, that the Baptist himself prescribed this as the very first and principal means of smoothing the way for the reception of Christ.

The next means, and that which renders the other effectual, is faith. This, no less than repentance itself, is an universal leveller. If repentance brings down the hills and mountains, faith exalts the valleys, straightens the crooked paths, and smooths the rough. Wonderful indeed is the efficacy of humble faith: it dissipates at once all desponding fears: the things which appeared utterly insurmountable, now become plain and easy: the blood of Christ is acknowledged as sufficient to cleanse them from all sin; and the grace of Christ as sufficient to make them victorious over every enemy. It is remarkable that our blessed Lord, on his first entrance on his ministry, united this with repentance, as the grand, the effectual expedient for establishing his kingdom in the world. And his Apostles after him continued to further his interests in the very same way: they preached everywhere “repentance towards God, and faith in our Lord Jesus Christ.”]

To stir us up to that exertion which is necessary, let us contemplate,

  III.      The blessed consequences of their removal—

The manifestation of Christ’s glory is that which ever did, and ever shall, follow the removal of those things which have hitherto veiled him in obscurity.

See how it was on his first appearance—

[The clouds which surrounded him, concealed in a measure the bright effulgence of his rays: his humble birth, his mean appearance, the contempt and abhorrence in which he was held, all tended to cast a veil over his divine majesty: yet even then his own more immediate Disciples “beheld his glory, as the glory of the only-begotten of the Father.”]

See it more particularly after the day of Pentecost—

[Till that time his very Apostles saw but very imperfectly the nature of that kingdom which Christ came to establish: but when the Holy Ghost had opened their eyes, and had sealed their testimony on the hearts of others, what a splendour beamed from the countenance of our incarnate God! Then it was seen, that he who had been “crucified, was the Lord of glory,” the brightness of the Father’s glory, and the “express image of his person.” Every eye looked to him: every heart trusted in him: every soul “received out of his fulness grace for grace.” He was that object which, if I may so speak, was the centre and circumference of the globe: in him all united; and beyond him none aspired. “In him the whole body of believers, collectively and individually, were complete.”]

See it at this hour—

[Who is loved? who is honoured? who is served? who is glorified, wherever the Gospel prevails? who, but that adorable Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ? Those who once saw “no beauty or comeliness in him for which he was to be desired,” now behold him as “fairer than ten thousand, and altogether lovely.” “He is truly precious” to their souls; and to call him “their Friend and their Beloved,” is the highest object of their ambition, or, rather, the only thing about which they have any material concern. It is the same in every quarter of the world: it is the same amongst high and low, rich and poor, learned and unlearned: if “God have shined into their heart to give them the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ,” they “determine to know nothing else,” to“glory in nothing else:” “this is all their salvation, and all their desire.”]

But who can tell what it shall be in the latter days?

[The text informs us, that “all flesh shall see the salvation of God.” Hitherto, notwithstanding all the efforts that have been used to spread the Gospel, darkness very generally prevails, and the obstacles to the Redeemer’s kingdom are but partially removed. But the day is near at hand, when “all nations shall serve him,” and “all people shall know him from the least of them to the greatest.” Yes, “the mouth of the Lord hath spoken it;” and therefore it shall assuredly come to pass. Obstructions there are, no doubt, both great and numerous: but “before Zerubbabel the mountains shall become a plain.” The extension of vital Christianity through the world is not more incredible than the establishment which it has already gained in the earth; especially when we consider, that, what has been already done, is, under God, the work of a few unlettered fishermen. O that that day may appear! O that God would “hasten it in his time!”]

  CONCLUSION—

[As “a voice crying in this our wilderness,” I would now say to you, “Prepare ye the way of the Lord.” He has entered into the world: he has established his kingdom among men; he now “stands and knocks at the door of your hearts,” and desires admission into them. O think what is it that obstructs his entrance into your hearts? Is it a proud conceit of your own goodness? Let this mountain be brought low, comparing your lives with the demands of God’s holy law. Is it an inveterate love of sin, and of this present world? let it give way to penitence and faith, that your path may be plain and smooth. Is it a doubt of the practicability of your salvation? Rely on Christ: “all things are possible to him that believeth.”

Perhaps you will say, that “a preparation of heart must be from the Lord:”true; but it must be sought by you in the daily exercise of meditation and prayer. If you need any incentive to these duties, do but reflect upon the benefits resulting from them: think of a revelation of Christ to your soul! think of his glory exhibited to the eyes of your mind, and shining with increasing brightness to the perfect day! think too in how little a time you will “see him as he is,” and “be with him for ever!” Dearly beloved, beg of God to “take the stumbling-blocks out of your way:” he is the same gracious God as ever he was; and if you cry unto him “he will make an high-way for you, like as he did for Israel in the day that he brought them out of the land of Egypt;” he “will make darkness light before you, and crooked things straight: these things will he do unto you, and not forsake youf.”]

MCCCCLXXXI

LIBERALITY TO THE POOR

  Luke 3:10, 11.

And the people asked him, saying, What shall we do then? He answereth and saith unto them, He that hath two coats, let him impart to him that hath none; and he that hath meat, let him do likewise.

IN order to understand the true meaning of any part of Scripture, the strictest attention must be paid to the context. If this rule be not observed, there is scarcely any thing which may not be sanctioned by the inspired volume; and the most contradictory positions may appear to stand on equal authority. Suppose, for instance, the question in our text be taken, as other apparently similar questions must be taken, namely, as an inquiry into the way of salvation; we shall make John the Baptist return an answer directly contrary to the whole tenour of the Gospel. When the gaoler asked Paul and Silas, “What he must do to be saved?” they answered, “Believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved.” This is the only true answer that can be given to that question; for “there is no other name under heaven given among men whereby we can be saved,” but the name of Jesus Christ. But if we look into the context, we find that John the Baptist had been “preaching the baptism of repentance for the remission of sinsc;” or, in other words, had been preaching salvation by Jesus Christ, exactly as the Apostle Peter, and indeed all the Apostles, did on the day of Pentecost. Then, seeing multitudes coming to him for baptism, and apprehending that the great majority of them were taking up a profession of religion upon very light and erroneous grounds, he cautioned them strongly against a presumptuous confidence on the one hand, or an unproductive and hypocritical profession on the other; and exhorted them, if they would not experience the fate of a barren tree, to “bring forth fruits worthy of repentance.” In reply to this, the people ask, “What shall we do?” That is, What fruits shall we bring forth, in order to evince our sincerity? And the direction which John gives them, is an answer exactly suited to the occasion: it is to this effect; ‘If you would approve yourselves sincere and upright in your profession of faith in the promised Messiah, shew forth your faith by your works, and, above all, by an abounding exercise of love.’

Having thus prepared our way by a view of the context, and having ascertained what the Baptist’s design was in giving the people the direction in our text, we shall proceed to the more distinct consideration of his answer, and shall open to you,

  I.      Its import—

It is manifest that the direction given by him is figurative, and therefore not to be taken in its strict and literal sense. But we must not therefore imagine, that we are at liberty to disregard it, as though it had no force at all. There can be no doubt but that the Baptist intended to inculcate a very tender compassion towards our indigent fellow-creatures, and a very enlarged exercise of liberality for their relief. To obtain, with as much precision as the subject is capable of, the true import of his words, we shall adduce from other parts of Scripture, but especially from the writings of the same Evangelist,

  1.      Some other passages of similar tendency—

[First, we shall notice one or two that are also figurative — — — There can be no doubt but that these require a very high degree of liberality to the poor, since they were actually practised in their strictest sense by the first Christians — — — From these we may turn to others that are more plaini — — — What an accumulation of words is there in the former of these passages to encourage our compliance with the precept; and what a gracious benediction in the latter! — — — To the rich there is an especial charge given to be bountiful; but it is not to them only that this duty belongs; but to those also who gain a daily subsistence by their manual labourl. To all, according to their ability, it equally appertains; for, on the foresight of a dearth in Judæa, all the disciples of Antioch, every one according to his ability, contributed instantly to their relief.]

  2.      Some examples which are set forth for our imitation—

[That of Zaccheus is particularly to our purpose, because he was just converted to the faith of Christ, and because our blessed Lord himself acknowledged this heavenly disposition to be an evidence of his having actually obtained acceptance with his God — — — But the example of the Macedonian Churches is yet more pertinent; because it is an example, not of an individual, but of whole Churches; and those, not in a state of ease and opulence, but of great affliction and deep poverty; and because it is expressly set forth for the imitation of others, who are called upon to imitate it, in order to prove the sincerity of their love to Christ. By carefully comparing these several passages, we see clearly what our duty is: we are not required to burthen ourselves in order to ease others, but so to participate their burthens that they may partake of our ease: thus to “bear one another’s burthens is eminently to fulfil the law of Christ.”]

Having thus marked the import of the injunction in our text, we proceed to shew,

  II.      Its reasonableness—

The whole of God’s “law is good,” and the service it requires is reasonable. But the duty enjoined in our text, though arduous to a selfish mind, is particularly reasonable. For consider,

  1.      What obligations we owe to God for the superior comforts which we enjoy—

[It is God who assigns to all their lot, not only in respect to the situation in which they are born, but in all the changes, whether prosperous or adverse, which they experience through lifes. Whatever therefore we have above others, “it is God alone who has made us to differ.” And how eminently is this the case with respect to the ravages of war which during these last twenty years have desolated almost the whole of Europe, but have never reached our happy land! Compare our state with that of a great part of Germany at this present moment, and then say, whether a compassionate regard for our suffering fellow-creatures be not called for at our hands, and whether such an expression of it as our text requires, be at all unreasonable? Methinks, it is not possible to have even the most indistinct view of our obligations to God, without saying from our hearts, “What shall I render unto the Lord for all the benefits that he hath done unto me?”]

  2.      What we ourselves should desire, if we were reduced to the state in which myriads of our fellow-creatures now are—

[It is not easy to place ourselves in the situation of persons of whom we hear only by report: but yet we may conceive what we ourselves should desire, and what we should think reasonable, if we were perishing with cold and nakedness and hunger, whilst others, embarked in the same cause with ourselves, were exempt from those sufferings, and were enjoying comparative ease and affluence. Should we not wish them to stand forth for our relief? Should we not think it reasonable, that their exertions should rise in proportion to our necessities, and that they should almost literally fulfil the precept in our text, the man who had two coats imparting to us who had none, and that he who had meat should do likewise? Let us adopt for our principle the golden rule, and “Do unto others, as we would they should do unto us.”]

  3.      What our blessed Lord and Saviour has done for us—

[This is the consideration which St. Paul himself suggests in reference to this very point. O consider, “how rich he was” in the possession of his Father’s glory; and how “poor he became,” “not having so much as a place where to lay his head,” but dying under the curse that was due to our sins. Consider too what his object was; namely, that we, who deserved to be in hell without a drop of water to cool our tongues, might through his poverty be rich, and possess all the glory of heaven. Does such love as this require no return? When this very Saviour tells us, that what we do unto the least of his brethren, he accepts as done to himself, shall we think any requisition hard, or any sacrifice too great? Truly, not only our property, but even our life itself, may well be sacrificed for him; and we should account ourselves happy in proportion as we have an opportunity to advance his glory in the world.]

But instead of dwelling any longer on the general reasonableness of this precept, we will proceed to notice,

  III.      Its suitableness to the present occasion—

[Rarely, if ever, has greater occasion for charitable exertions existed than at present — — — Now therefore we might justly call upon you to comply with our text almost in the literal sense. But, waving that, we must urge you to adopt the principle that is there inculcated — — — and to bear in mind, that “he who soweth sparingly, shall reap also sparingly, and he who soweth bountifully shall reap also bountifully. Let every man do according as he is disposed in his heart, not grudgingly or of necessity; for God loveth a cheerful giver.” Do not however forget the important distinctions with which we began the subject. It is to glorify Christ, and to shew the sincerity of your love to him, that we invite you;—not to purchase heaven by your alms. Bear that in mind; and God will not forget it in the day of judgment.]

MCCCCLXXXII

PRACTICAL DUTIES ENFORCED

  Luke 3:10–14.

And the people asked him, saying, What shall we do then? He answereth and saith unto them, He that hath two coats, let him impart to him that hath none; and he that hath meat, let him do likewise. Then came also publicans to be baptized, and said unto him, Master, what shall we do? And he said unto them, Exact no more than that which is appointed you. And the soldiers likewise demanded of him, saying, And what shall we do? And he said unto them, Do violence to no man, neither accuse any falsely; and be content with your wages.

WHATEVER want of human learning men may feel, they are, for the most part, well satisfied with their attainments in religious knowledge. If they are conscious of some faults, they do not suspect any want of just information, but only a defect in practising what they already know. But when persons begin to see their guilt and danger, they find that they need to be instructed in the very first principles of religion; and they are glad to make inquiries, which formerly they would have utterly disdained. This was the effect produced by the ministry of John the Baptist. The Scribes and Pharisees, being filled with self-conceit, rejected his word, and represented him as no better than a demoniac: but multitudes of others came to him with great solicitude, not to obtain answers to any speculative questions, but to ask, What they must do, to escape the wrath which he had so forcibly set before them.

We shall find it profitable to consider,

  I.      His answers to their inquiries—

Those who successively applied to him, and to whom he gave his answers, were,

  1.      The people—

[As these must of necessity comprehend a great variety of characters, the Baptist gave his answer generally, so as to strike at the characteristic evil of our fallen nature, selfishness. The natural man lives neither for God nor for his fellow-creatures, but for himself alone. If he has great superfluities, he may without any difficulty give something to the poor and indigent: but if he has little more than bare necessaries, he feels little, if any, responsibility for the use of them, and is chiefly occupied in making them subservient to his own comfort. From this selfish disposition innumerable evils proceed: indeed, it lies at the root of almost all evil. Hence the Baptist set himself in the first place to counteract it; and recommend in its stead the universal exercise of liberality and compassion.

That the Baptist’s injunction should be taken according to the strict letter, we do not say: but, to give it any sense at all, it must imply far more then is commonly practised, or generally supposed to be our duty. The least it can mean is, that we should consider ourselves as stewards of all that we possess, and dispose of it conscientiously for the honour of God and the benefit of our fellow-creatures.]

  2.      The Publicans—

[The publicans were persons appointed under the authority of the Roman government to collect the taxes; and so odious was the office among the Jews, that few who had any regard for their own characters, would undertake it. Hence it was executed very generally in an unjust and oppressive manner; insomuch that the office, which was at first hated only on account of its evincing the subjection of the Jews to a foreign yoke, became proverbially infamous on account of the conduct of those on whom it was conferred.

Among the candidates for baptism were some of these: and they likewise inquired, what they should do. Now it is worthy of observation, that John did not recommend them to give up their office, notwithstanding the difficulties and temptations that attended the execution of it; but only to guard against the evils that were commonly practised in the discharge of it. The greater the temptations to which they were exposed, the more desirable it was that the office should be filled by persons who were truly conscientious; and the more honour such persons would do to religion, by maintaining an unblemished character in such a post. His advice therefore to them was, to exact nothing beyond what they were authorized to demand, but to regulate their whole conduct agreeably to the laws of justice and equity.

This injunction however need not to be confined to them: it is equally applicable to all persons possessed of official authority, and indeed to all persons, whose interest might lead them in a way of trade or business to impose on others for their own advantage.]

  3.      The soldiers—

[The grace of God, which nothing can withstand, had reached the hearts of some of these: and they too made similar inquiries. To them also did the Baptist make a similar reply. Unfavourable as the life of a soldier is to the cultivation of piety, he did not tell them to get their discharge, but cautioned them against the evils incident to their profession. From their very education and mode of life, they are apt to disregard the feelings of men, and to injure or insult those who do not immediately comply with their wishes. In that age and country, it was also common for them to turn informers, that by false accusation they might share the fines that might be levied, or obtain bribes for exercising a pretended forbearance. Discontent and mutiny too were evils to which they were in general prone.

Against all of these practices the Baptist warned them. He testified that all such things were evil, and that every person must abstain from them, if he would avoid the wrath which hangs over the head of every impenitent transgressor.

But neither should these cautions be limited to those who made the inquiry, nor to persons engaged in the military life: for the duties of peacefulness, equity, and contentment are applicable to every situation, and every age — — —]

That these answers may appear in their proper light, we shall proceed to shew,

  II.      The suitableness of them to the occasion—

Certainly at first sight they appear defective, not to say, erroneous: for it never can be admitted for one moment that the correcting of those habits would procure everlasting salvation: such a reformation could make no atonement for their past sins, nor could it in any way supersede the necessity of believing in Christ. To understand the matter aright, we must consider what the import of their inquiries was, and what was the Baptist’s more immediate office. John had told them all to “bring forth, (the word means, do,) to do fruits meet for repentance.” They immediately inquire, each for himself, what are the particular things which they must do; that is, what they must do to evince the sincerity of their repentance? This is the question to which all his answers were directed. If it be thought that he should have begun to “preach Christ unto them,” I answer, This was not his office, at least, not in the plain specific way in which the Apostles preached Christ on the day of Pentecost: he was rather “to prepare the way of the Lord;” and therefore he “preached only the baptism of repentance.” Bearing these things in mind, his answer will be found precisely suited to the occasion. They were calculated to impress upon their minds the following truths:

  1.      Evil habits are an obstacle to the reception of the Gospel—

[Who does not see that the indulgence of their respective sins was calculated to blind their eyes and harden their hearts? Are persons, at the very time that they are addicted to the grossest immoralities, in a state fit to receive instructions in the sublime doctrines of the Gospel? Must not every word of it appear “foolishness unto them?” What was the effect produced on the worldly-minded Pharisees, when our Lord spoke of “making to ourselves friends of the unrighteous mammon?” We are told, “the Pharisees, who were covetous, heard all these things; and they derided him.” And does not daily experience shew, that there must be a certain preparation of mind for the due reception of truth? If you cast the best seed that can be procured into land not broken up, but overgrown with briers and thorns, will you expect a harvest? So, if persons be not sufficiently convinced of the evil of their ways as to be willing to reform them in matters which unenlightened reason would condemn, there can be no hope that they will improve aright the sublimer truths of revelation.

The Baptist’s answer then was precisely what you would give to a man who by continued drunkenness had brought on a fever: ‘I can recommend you to a physician, whose prescriptions will infallibly cure you; but it is in vain to go to him, if you do not determine to put away your habits of intoxication.’]

  2.      The putting away of besetting sins is an indispensable evidence of our sincerity—

[The people professed to be penitent, and asked what they must do to prove it. Now can any one imagine that they could be sincere, if they were not willing to change their lives? What is repentance? It is not a mere sorrow for having subjected ourselves to God’s displeasure; for then the devils, and those who have died in their sins, would be as great penitents as any: but repentance implies a hatred of sin, and a determination to forsake it: and consequently, the Baptist’s injunctions afforded the people a proper test, whereby to ascertain the truth of their professions. If we at this day heard any one expressing a desire after salvation, and were informed that, notwithstanding the plainest warnings, he still held fast his iniquities, and would not part with them; should we give him credit for sincerity? No: we should tell him at once, that all his professions were mere hypocrisy, and that whatever he might pretend respecting a dependence on Christ, he would only deceive his own soul.]

  3.      The following of the light we have, is a good preparative for more light—

[A man brought out of a dungeon cannot bear at once the full blaze of the meridian sun; he must be brought to it by degrees: so neither can we hear at once the bright effulgence of Divine truth. Our blessed Lord told his Disciples, that “he had many things to say unto them, which they were not at that time able to bear:” and “he spoke the word in parables, as the people were able to hear it.” St. Paul adopted the same method of apportioning to his people his instructions according to their respective capacities; “giving milk to babes, and strong meat to those who were of full age.” Had he not attended to this rule, he would have produced the same effects as would follow from a wrong administration of corporeal food; he would have destroyed those whom he designed to nourish: whereas by a more judicious conduct, he trained up the children for stronger food and higher attainments. Thus the Baptist directed his hearers to cultivate the acknowledged duties of humanity, honesty, and contentment: that in the exercise of these duties, they might gain a deeper insight into the evil of their past ways, and a fuller preparation of heart for a due reception of the Gospel.]

  Let us LEARN then from hence,

  1.      The importance of ministerial fidelity—

[People in general love to have a minister who will “prophesy unto them smooth things and prophesy deceits.” But what will be the end of such things? “If the blind lead the blind, shall they not both fall into the ditch?” It may be painful to us to hear the truth, when we are called to “pluck out a right eye, and to cut off a right hand:” but it is better far that we should be informed of our danger, than that we should be left to involve ourselves in irremediable ruin We are told that many of the publicans and harlots actually repented, and became partakers of the kingdom of heaven. Did not they bless him? And will they not continue to bless God for him to all eternity? Do not then be grieved, if your minister lay his axe to the root of your sins, if he “cry aloud, and spare not.” It is his duty to do so; and if he forbear to warn you, “your blood will be required at his hands.” He must “not use flattering words;” but must “commend himself to every man’s conscience in the sight of God.” It is in that way only that he can “deliver his own soul,” or hope to save the people committed to his charge.]

  2.      The need of mortifying our besetting sins—

[Every man has some sins to which he is more particularly addicted, or, at least, to which he is more exposed. His age, his situation, his employment in life, have some peculiar snares, against which he ought to guard. Every one therefore should inquire, what are the dangers to which he is more especially exposed. Persons advanced in life should examine themselves respecting querulousness: men of business should maintain a jealousy respecting worldliness and the frauds of trade: young people should watch over the vanity of their minds, and the violence of their passions. In short, the inquiry of every one should be, what have I to guard against? What have I to do? What are the chief obstacles to my advancement in religious knowledge, and to my attainment of everlasting happiness? Happy indeed would it be, if we were thus intent, every one on his own particular case! and happy would it be, if, having found out our besetting sins, we could say with the Psalmist, “I have kept myself from my iniquity!” Doubtless there is much beyond this: this is only the threshold of the sanctuary: but it is a threshold which we must pass over, before we can get within the veil. It is not our concern at present to expatiate upon the Divine life, as it is experienced by the advanced Christian: we are now only preaching, like John, the baptism of repentance; reserving to other occasions the fuller delineation of the Gospel salvation. But we shall have attained no trifling object, if the drunkard, the swearer, the whoremonger, or any other person, be led to see, that, till he has put away his besetting sins, he can no more go to heaven, than Satan himself be brought there from the depths of hell.]

  3.      The moral tendency of the Gospel—

[The things insisted on by John, are mere preliminaries: instead of being the whole Gospel, they are only an introduction to the Gospel. The Gospel itself is not satisfied with a renunciation of evil habits; it requires also the cultivation of good ones: not to put away selfishness, dishonesty, and discontent, but to live altogether above this world, and to be ready even to “lay down our lives for the brethren.” It does not call us to believe in Christ, in order that we may afterwards indulge in sin; but that our hearts may be purified by faith, and that we may be transformed into the very image of our God.

See then who are the true Antinomians: not they who urge you to come to Christ for life and salvation, but they who tell you that to be honest and just, and sober and charitable, is all that is required of you. With such persons it is common to quote those words of Balaam, “Do justly, love mercy, and walk humbly with thy God.” But they quite forget the walking humbly with God; and then confine the doing justice and loving mercy to a few outward acts. Give the full scope to these words, and they do contain the whole of our duty: but we must omit no part of them: nor must we reduce any part to the puny standard of Pharisaic morality. Look at Christ and his Apostles, and there we see the morality which we are to aspire after. Those who are inquiring after Christ, do well to ask, What shall I do? but those who profess to have believed in Christ, must rather ask, “What do I more than others?]

MCCCCLXXXIII

THE IMPRISONMENT OF JOHN

  Luke 3:19, 20.

Herod the tetrarch, being reproved by him for Herodias, his brother Philip’s wife, and for all the evils which Herod had done, added yet this above all, that he shut up John in prison.

THE inspired volume, when considered only as containing a history of other ages and other nations, is read rather for the purpose of informing the mind, than of benefiting the heart; and hence it produces comparatively little effect even on those who are most conversant with its contents. But the true light in which it should be regarded is, as a history of man, to whatever age or nation he may belong. It is a mirror, that reflects the human heart in all its dispositions, and in all its actings: and, when viewed in this light, it acquires a ten-fold greater importance, because it exhibits us to ourselves, and makes us the actors in all that is done.

In reading an account of John the Baptist, and of his imprisonment by Herod, we feel but little interest, except as we condemn the licentiousness of Herod, and commiserate the fate of his faithful monitor. But if we would divest ourselves of the idea that it passed many centuries ago, and consider the transaction as having recently occurred in our own neighbourhood, we should almost of necessity be led to contemplate it in a more general view, and to notice in it the power and malignity of sin. It is in that view that I propose to call your attention to it at this time.

Let us take occasion then to remark from it,

  I.      The power of sin—

Wonderful indeed is its power to blind, to enslave, to harden all in whom it dwells—

  1.      It blinds—

[Herod could not but know, that it was wrong for him to take his brother Philip’s wife. Yet doubtless he contrived by some vain excuses to justify it to himself. And thus it is that every sinner deludes himself. In some cases, he denies the criminality of his actions altogether, “calling evil good, and good evil, and putting darkness for light, and light for darkness.” Where they cannot altogether hide from themselves the evil of their ways, they find some excuse, either from their constitutional propensities, or the habits of all around them, or some peculiarity in their situation at the time. “They feed on ashes; and yet to such a degree hath a deceived heart turned them aside, that they cannot deliver their souls, nor say, Is there not a lie in my right hand?” Whatever be the particular lust of which they are enamoured — — — it is “Satan that hath blinded their eyesc;” they walk in the vanity of their mind, “having their understanding darkened, being alienated from the life of God through the ignorance that is in them, because of the blindness of their hearts:” and “they know not whither they go, because that darkness hath blinded their eyese.”]

  2.      It enslaves—

[Though Herod was willing to “do many things,” and forbear many things respecting which he was admonished by John, he could in no wise be prevailed on to part with his incestuous consort. And thus it is with sinners of every description: there are some sins to which they have but little inclination, and which therefore they may be induced to renounce: but their besetting sin they cannot find it in their hearts to mortify, so addicted are they to the commission of it, and, as it were, “tied and bound with it as with a chain,” which they cannot break — — — Whilst they see, and cannot but acknowledge the sinfulness of their habits, they have a “law in their members warring against the law in their minds, and bringing them into captivity to the law of sin which is in their members;” or rather, they are “taken in the snare of the devil, and led captive by him at his willh.”]

  3.      It hardens—

[One would have supposed that when Herod, “knowing that John was a holy and just man, feared” him, he would never have been induced to persecute him for his fidelity. Yet of his own mind he had imprisoned John, and would have put him to death, had he not been restrained by his fear of the people; and, when solicited by his daughter to give her John’s head in a charger, he sent an executioner to behead him, and presented it to her according to her desire. This he did for hs oath’s sake. But how could any oath bind him to the commission of murder? He would have found ample means of inducing her to alter her request, if sin had not “seared his conscience,” and “made his heart as adamant.” But sin is of its own nature progressive: and to such a degree do men become “hardened through the deceitfulness of sin,” that evils, which once they could not have contemplated as possible ever to be committed by them, are committed easily and without remorse. Hazael, when warned of the enormities which he would one day commit, exclaimed, “Is thy servant a dog that he should do such things?” Yet he afterwards executed these things to the full extent of the predictions concerning him. And if the future conduct of many, who are now but just beginning their career of sin, were opened to their view, they would not believe that they should ever attain to such impiety. But, what is said of strife, may be said of every other sin; namely, that “the beginning of it is like the letting out of water:” the breach at first is small; but it soon widens, till the inundation becomes irresistibly powerful, and irremediably destructive.]

Such is the power of sin; of which in the history we may yet further see,

  II.      The malignity—

It tends to inflict misery,

  1.      On all who indulge it—

[Look at Herod in the midst of all his indulgences: was he happy? Which of the two, I would ask, was the happier; Herod, in the midst of his excesses, or John, when bound with chains in prison for righteousness’ sake? No one, I think, can entertain a doubt. The truth is, that sin and misery are indissolubly connected even in this life; according as the Apostle, speaking of the ungodly, has said, “Destruction and misery are in their ways, and the way of peace have they not known.” Take the adulterer, for instance: You may suppose him as happy as his heart can wish. But what is Job’s account of him? “The eye of the adulterer waiteth for the twilight, saying, No eye shall see me; and he disguiseth his face. In the dark they dig through houses which they had marked for themselves in the-day time. They know not the light: for the morning is to them even as the shadow of death: if one know them, they are in the terrors of the shadow of death.” And of the wicked generally, Eliphaz says, “The wicked man travaileth with pain all his days: a dreadful sound is in his ears: he believeth not that he shall return out of darkness, and he is waited for of the swordl.” Yes, an evil conscience will so haunt a man, that he shall be afraid to go out into the dark, or almost even to look under his bed: so truly is it said, “The way of transgressors is hard.” There are indeed those who will profess to feel no apprehensions: but we are assured by the heart-searching God, that their boastings are vain: for “the wicked are like the troubled sea, when it cannot rest, whose waters cast up mire and dirt: there is no peace, saith my God, to the wicked.”]

  2.      On the world at large—

[See what misery the gratification of Herod’s lusts produced; on Philip, whose wife he took; on Herodias, whose mind and conscience he so defiled; on John, whom for his fidelity he murdered; and on all the Church of God, whom he thus deprived of a faithful counsellor and instructor. But he cared not what evils he inflicted, if only he might have his own licentious passions gratified. And who can tell what miseries the seducer inflicts upon his hapless victim; and the adulterer, on the object of his unlawful desires? — — — The same may be spoken of the ambitious man, who wades through seas of blood to the attainment of fame and power — — — May I not mention the scoffer too, who hates and derides all serious piety, and cares not how many souls he ruins, provided he may but indulge his enmity against God and his Christ? — — — But what is it that has turned the whole world into one vast theatre of contention and sorrow? It is sin, which has established its empire on the ruins of peace and love. Nor is there to be found a nation, or family, or individual, whose happiness has not suffered from this malignant evil.]

  From this subject we may yet further LEARN,

  1.      The danger of indulging sin—

[Who shall say whither one sinful thought shall carry us? Little did Herod imagine to what the first desire which he formed after Philip’s wife would lead him. And little did David anticipate the results of the first glance which he caught of Bathsheba. Say not then, of a sinful thought or desire, that it is little: but learn to flee from it as from the face of a serpent; and let every declension from the path of duty be viewed by you as a step towards hell itself — — —]

  2.      The duty of reproving it—

[We are not all called to act like John, and to obtrude our remarks on the ears of kings and princes. But a holy fidelity becomes us all in our respective spheres. We must take care indeed that we do not reprove others in a wrong spirit. There are many circumstances wherein silence may be the most effectual reproof. But a holy fortitude becomes us all. We must all be witnesses for God in the place where we live, and shine as lights in a dark world. And if for our fidelity we be called to suffer, as John suffered, we must rejoice that we are so honoured of our God, and be willing to lay down our own lives, if only we may save the souls of others.]

MCCCCLXXXIV

THE DESCENT OF THE SPIRIT UPON CHRIST

  Luke 3:21, 22.

Now when all the people were baptized, it came to pass, that Jesus also being baptized, and praying, the heaven was opened; and the Holy Ghost descended in a bodily shape like a dove upon him, and a voice came from heaven, which said, Thou art my beloved Son; in thee I am well pleased.

IN every part of our Lord’s history, from his first entrance into the world to his dissolution upon the cross, we observe an astonishing combination of the most opposite events: we see the majesty of heaven degraded to the lowest depths of humiliation; and the meanest of mankind, who was “a worm, and no man, the very scorn of men, and the outcast of the people,” exalted to the highest honours that Heaven itself could confer upon him. Observe the circumstance of his birth: what can we conceive more degrading than for the Saviour of the world to be born in a stable, and to be laid in a manger? Yet, to counterbalance this, angels were sent to announce his advent, and a star to point out to the inquiring Magi the place of his nativity. Thus it was also at his baptism. The ordinance of baptism was intended to intimate the need which we have to be washed from our sins: Jesus, therefore, could not submit to baptism without acknowledging, in appearance, that he was a sinner, like unto us: nevertheless, for wise and gracious reasons, he insisted that that rite should be administered to him. But whatever ignominy might attach to him on this account, the offence was completely rolled away by the interposition of his God and Father, who on that occasion bore testimony to him by an audible voice from heaven, and by a visible descent of the Holy Ghost upon him. These are the two subjects for our present consideration. We notice,

  I.      The visible descent of the Holy Ghost upon him—

There are many things relative to the descent of the Spirit upon Jesus, which are worthy of observation—

  1.      The time of it was remarkable—

[Jesus had just conformed to God’s ordinance of baptism. Though he had no need of baptism, (not having any sin to wash away,) yet, as it was a rite instituted by God for the introducing of men into the Messiah’s kingdom, he judged it expedient to comply with it himself, that he might “fulfill all righteousness” in his own person, and be in all things a pattern to his followers. This was well pleasing to God, who cannot but be interested in the observance of his own ordinances. And the conferring of so distinguished an honour upon Jesus on that occasion clearly shews, that “God will honour those who honour him;” and that in a reverential attendance on the instituted means of grace, we may expect blessings which we shall in vain hope for in the neglect of them.

He was, moreover, actually engaged in prayer. On three different occasions did the Father bear testimony to Jesus by an audible voice from heaven; and every time was either in, or immediately after, prayer. What an evidence does this afford us of the importance and efficacy of prayer! And who that lives nigh to God in the exercise of that duty, has not found that promise realized, “Thou shalt call, and the Lord shall answer; thou shalt cry, and he shall say, Here I amc?” Audible voices, indeed, we are not to expect; but we are sure that “God has never said to any, Seek ye my face in vain.”]

There was something peculiar also in the manner of it—

[It was of great importance that the attestation thus publicly given to the character of Jesus should be such as could admit of no doubt. Accordingly “the heavens were opened,” just as they afterwards were at the time of Stephen’s death, so that the very throne of God, as it were, became visible to mortal eyes; and the Holy Ghost descended visibly, in a bodily appearance, and abode upon him. Whether the Holy Ghost assumed the shape of a dove, or only appeared in a luminous body with a hovering motion, like that of a dove, we do not take upon us to determine: but the appearance was such as could leave no doubt in the minds of the spectators that there was a special communication to Jesus from heaven, even such a communication as had never before been vouchsafed to mortal man.]

But the ends of the Spirit’s descent are most worthy of our attention—

[We are sure that it was designed to confirm the Baptist’s mind. The providence of God had so ordered events, that John and Jesus, though related to each other, had lived thirty years in the world without forming any acquaintance with each other. Had they been intimate with each other, it might have been thought that an agreement had been formed between them to deceive the world: but John had no knowledge of the person of Jesus, till he was inspired to point him out as “the Lamb of God, that was to take away the sin of the world:” and this very sign was promised to John, as the means whereby his mind should be satisfied that the testimony which be had borne was true: and John himself declares, that his own conviction of Christ’s Messiahship was grounded on this very thing.

But there was another end, even the inauguration of the Messiah himself to his high office. The Jewish kings and priests, and in some instances the prophets also, were anointed with oil at the time of their consecration to their work: and therefore it behoved Jesus, in whom all these offices were to be combined, to be set apart for them by a nobler unction. Accordingly he was “anointed with the oil of joy and gladness above his fellows.” It had been expressly foretold that he should be so anointedh, and that “the Holy Spirit should rest upon him; and he himself mentioned, in his very first sermon, that these prophecies were then accomplished; and that he was then executing the very office for which he had been commissioned and qualified by that peculiar unctionk.]

Besides this visible attestation to his character, we are called to notice also,

  II.      The audible testimony of the Father to him—

In many different ways did the Father bear witness to his Son: every miracle that was wrought by Jesus was a seal whereby the Father attested the truth of his divine mission. But on this occasion he addressed his Son by an audible voice; and therein bore witness to,

  1.      His person as the promised Messiah—

[The Messiah had been long foretold under the character of “the Son of Man;” and that term was understood by the Jews as equivalent to the Son of Godm. That Jesus did indeed sustain this character, and that he was the very person of whom all the prophets spake, was a point to be proved; and God determined that it should be proved by every species of evidence that could be adduced. Hence, besides the foregoing proof which was offered to the eyes of men, another was added which appealed to their ears. And in the very words which are used, there seems a reference to the prophecies which were accomplished in him. “Thou art that my beloved Son,” that Son, whose advent has been so long foretold, and so long expected. In this view the expression of the text precisely corresponds with that which had been long before used by the Prophet Isaiah: “Behold my servant whom I uphold, mine elect in whom my soul delighteth: I have put my Spirit upon him; HE shall bring forth judgment to the Gentiles.” Whatever pretensions, therefore, false Christs may urge, or whatever objections infidel professors of Christianity may raise against Jesus, we have the infallible testimony of God himself that Jesus is the Christ.]

  2.      His acceptableness in that office—

[In every view the Father could not but feel complacency and delight in him. As voluntarily undertaking the mediatorial work, as richly qualified for the discharge of it, and as persevering in it notwithstanding all the difficulties that he should have to encounter, he must be highly acceptable to the Father. But God foresaw the perfect accomplishment of all his designs through the ministration of his dear Son: he saw, as it were, all his elect delivered from their guilt and misery, and made partakers of everlasting glory and felicity: he saw all his own perfections also honoured and exalted in the mystery of redemption: and he cordially approved of it as the most stupendous effort of wisdom and of love. None can henceforth entertain a doubt whether he will accept those who come to him by Christ, since it was on account of the suitableness and sufficiency of his atonement that the Father was so “well pleased in him.”]

  We may LEARN from hence,

  1.      How we should think of God—

[We know nothing of God except from revelation. It is presumptuous, therefore, either to form notions about him from our own vague conjectures, or to refuse our assent to the representations which he has given us of himself. That there is a Trinity of the persons in the Godhead is doubtless an incomprehensible mystery: but it is plainly revealed in numberless passages of Scripture. It is indeed from other passages that we know each of the persons in the Trinity to be God: but that the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, are Three distinct persons, is as clear as any truth can be: and so clearly is it intimated in the very words of our text, that the ancients were wont to say, “Go to Jordan, and there learn the doctrine of the Trinity.”]

  2.      How we should act towards him—

[All that is required of us is, to be like-minded with God. Did God point him out as his beloved Son? let us believe in him as the Messiah, the Saviour of the world. Did the Father profess himself well pleased in him? let us delight ourselves in him: let it be the joy of our, hearts to contemplate his fulness and sufficiency, and to be receiving out of his fulness grace for grace. Let us, in short, “count all things but dung for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ,” and glory in him as all our salvation, and all our desire.]

MCCCCLXXXV

OUR LORD’S FIRST SERMON AT NAZARETH

  Luke 4:21, 22.

And he began to say unto them, This day is this Scripture fulfilled in your ears. And all bare him witness, and wondered at the gracious words which proceeded out of his mouth.

THE Sabbath was appointed as a day of rest; yet not altogether for the rest of the body, but that the soul might be the more at leisure to acquaint itself with God. In this view it is a most gracious and merciful appointment; because, the time being fixed, all are disengaged at once, and ready both to serve their God together, and to receive instruction respecting their duty towards him. Our blessed Lord, after he had entered upon his ministry, employed every day in the execution of his work: but he availed himself especially of the opportunity which the Sabbaths afforded him, to instruct the people. At Nazareth, where he had been brought up, “he went into their synagogue, as his custom was;” and being called upon to read the portion of Scripture appointed for the day, he stood up and read a passage from the prophecies of Isaiah; and then sat down to expound it. His exposition or comment is not given us: but the substance of it is set before us, in few, but comprehensive, words.

It is our intention to consider,

  I.      His comment on the Scripture—

When he told the people, that on that very day the passage which he had read to them was fulfilled in their ears, we must suppose him to have spoken to this effect:

‘I am the person whom the Father has sent—

[‘From my mean appearance you will be ready to think that I can have no pretensions to the office of the Messiah: but it is of me that the prophet speaks in the words which I have now read: I am the person on whom the Spirit has been poured out; “the Lord hath anointed ME, and sent ME” to instruct and save the world.]

‘And this is the commission which I am come to execute—

[‘ “The poor” are the special objects of my attention; they being particularly “chosen of my Father to be rich in faith, and heirs of my kingdom.” Yet, if any be “poor in spirit,” and sensible of their low and lost estate, to them am I sent; and to declare to them the glad tidings of salvation, is the delightful work which I have undertaken.

‘More particularly, if any be “broken-hearted” with a sense of guilt and misery, I am come “to heal” them by an application of my blood and Spirit to their souls: their guilt will I remove by my all-atoning blood; and their misery, by sending them my Holy Spirit to be their comforter and guide — — — It is not as a temporal prince or conqueror that I am come: my conquests are altogether of a spiritual nature; but they are irresistible, and shall be complete. Are any persons so blinded by Satan, and enslaved by sin, that they appear like captives, immured in a dungeon, and bereft of sight, and galled with massive chains? I am come to set them free, not only breaking off their fetters, and restoring them to the light, but renewing even their organs of vision, and bringing them into the glorious liberty of the sons of God — — — And this I shall do, not by war and bloodshed, but by an exhibition of truth to their souls. The word is my sword, and the ministry of it is that chariot in which I will ride on, conquering and to conquer, till every enemy be put under my feet — — —

‘In a word, you all know what is done in the year of jubilee, how debts are cancelled, slaves are liberated, and inheritances are restored: such are the benefits which I impart: I proclaim the arrival of that happy period, at least as far as respects the souls of men. Whatever debt of sin any man may owe, it shall be forgiven him: his bondage, however severe, shall be brought to an end: and his inheritance, however justly forfeited, shall be restored to him, even all the inheritance of heaven — — —

‘Thus circumstantially has the prophet described my office, which already I have begun to execute: “This very day is this Scripture fulfilled in your ears:” and all of you who will believe in me, shall enjoy the benefits I am come to bestow.’]

Such we may suppose to have been our Saviour’s comment on the Scripture which he had read. Let us next view,

  II.      The effect produced by it—

This was far different from what might have been expected: yet it will afford much instruction to us—

  1.      They listened—

[No sooner had he read the passage, than “the eyes of all were attentively fixed on him.” The sublimity of the words, and the impressive energy with which they were read, engaged their attention, and made them very desirous of hearing what this celebrated teacher should deduce from them.

Happy would it be, if this eagerness to receive instruction were more visible amongst us. But, in general, when a minister has read the words which he proposes to explain, many, instead of putting forth all the powers of their minds to understand and apply the subject, compose themselves in the most easy posture, and sink habitually into listlessness and indifference; satisfied with having performed a duty, though they reaped not the smallest benefit — — — But consider, the word which you hear, though spoken by a sinful man like yourselves, is, as far as it is agreeable to the mind and will of God, to be regarded “not as the word of man, but as the word of God.” “We are ambassadors for Christ; we speak to you in Christ’s stead; and God himself beseeches you by us,” Whenever, therefore, you hear the Scriptures explained, you should, like the Centurion and his friends, receive the word with all humility of mind, and treasure it up in your memory for the regulating of your hearts and lives — — —]

  2.      They wondered—

[Their wonder arose, in part, from their recollection of his parentage and education, which appeared to them ill suited to his high pretensions. But, in part also, it arose from the suavity of his manner, and the exalted nature of his discourse, to which they could not but “bear witness.” And well indeed might they wonder that such a messenger should be sent from heaven, and that such blessings should be imparted unto men.

But alas! the very same truths delivered amongst us are heard with indifference: yea, though opened in the fullest manner, and exhibited in the clearest light, they are regarded as uninteresting speculations, if not as an idle tale. The work and offices of Christ may be explained, and all the wonders of redeeming love be opened to our view, and yet no admiration be excited; yea, the talents of the speaker may be admired, and the subject itself be overlooked. But would this be the case if men felt their need of this salvation? — — — No, surely: they would be filled with rapture, and adore their God all the day long — — —]

  3.      They disobeyed—

[Much as they were struck with the gracious words which proceeded out of his mouth, they could not overcome their prejudices. They had but lately seen him following the humble occupation of a carpenter, and they could not conceive that such an one could possibly be the Messiah. Hence they did not receive his testimony: hence also, when warned of the danger of rejecting him, and of God’s determination to communicate to the Gentiles those blessings which they despised, they burned with rage against him, and sought to destroy him.

Alas! how common a character is this! How many are there who hear, and to a certain degree approve, the Gospel, while yet they are not effectually changed by it! They are still under the dominion of prejudice and passion; and sit in judgment on the Gospel, instead of yielding obedience to it. The sublimity of its doctrines is a stumbling-block to them; and the purity of its precepts an offence. What is gratifying to their feelings they will receive; but whatever tends to the mortifying of their pride or the subduing of their besetting sins, they will not endure — — —

O that the example before us may put us on our guard! This day is this Scripture fulfilled in our ears, as truly as in the day that Jesus read it in the synagogue. Jesus is still the anointed Saviour: still does he retain and execute the commission given him by the Father: still does he “say to the oppressed, Go free:” the captive that is bruised with chains, and deprived of sight, and broken-hearted with a sense of his sorrows, may even now be restored to sight, and liberty, and joy. Our adorable Saviour is ever ready to give him “the oil of joy for mourning, and the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness” — — —

Beloved brethren, “receive not this grace in vain;” neither be contented with a partial approbation of the Gospel: but surrender up yourselves unfeignedly and unreservedly unto the Lord; ever dreading, lest your misimprovement of the light afforded you should provoke him to remove your candlestick, and to transfer your advantages to others.]

MCCCCLXXXVI

PHYSICIAN, HEAL THYSELF

             Luke 4:23.

And he said unto them, Ye will surely say unto me this proverb, Physician, heal thyself.

WE are told that “Solomon spake three thousand proverbs.” To condense the results of general observation in some brief sentence, was a mode of communication which wise and learned men of old greatly affected: and to search out what was so communicated, was a study in which the young were deeply employed. By proverbs every species of instruction was imparted. By them, also, were reproof and encouragement conveyed with peculiar force and emphasis. Nor was there any one so wise, but he might be addressed in this manner without offence. Even our blessed Lord, after having represented himself as the great Healer of the world, conceived that his hearers would apply to him this proverb, “Physician, heal thyself.” This, doubtless, was a common proverb at that time, as it is also amongst us at the present day: and it shall be my endeavour to shew,

  I.      What is its import—

It may be understood,

  1.      As a sarcastic reflection—

[This is the precise view in which it was understood by our blessed Lord. He had wrought many miracles at Capernaum: and now at Nazareth, where he had lived from his earliest years, the people hoped to see similar exertions of his almighty power: and, because he did not see fit to gratify their unreasonable expectations, they doubted the truth of the reports which they had heard concerning him. Hence “our Lord said to them, Ye will surely say unto me this proverb, ‘Physician, heal thyself.’ Whatsoever we have heard done in Capernaum, do also here in thine own country.” But they had no right to dictate to him thus. The report of what he had done in Capernaum was authenticated beyond all reasonable doubt; and the people of Nazareth ought to have believed in him. But, being offended at him on account of his low parentage and connexions, they could not endure to regard him as their promised Messiah: and it was to punish this unbelief, that our Lord withheld from them any further evidence at that time. This is the account given both by St. Matthew and St Luke: and this shews the precise meaning of the proverb, as applied to him by his countrymen at that time. Its meaning was, ‘You profess yourself the Messiah; and, if you do not give us all the proofs of it which you have given to others, we will not receive you. We shall take it for granted that you are incompetent to the task; and that you decline all efforts for our conviction, because you are not able to impose on us, who know you, in the way that you have imposed on others, to whom you were not so well known.’ Thus was the proverb used by them as a sarcastic reflection; intimating, that he could not do in his own country what he pretended to have done at a distance from it.]

  2.      As a salutary admonition—

[Certainly, a person seeking to reform others should, so to speak, begin at home; and, if he do not, he will provoke others to retaliate with this advice, “Physician, heal thyself.” It is in this sense that the proverb is more generally used amongst ourselves. And in this sense it exactly accords with the instruction given by our Lord, in his Sermon on the Mount: “Why beholdest thou the mote that is in thy brother’s eye, and perceivest not the beam that is in thine own eye? Either, how canst thou say to thy brother, Brother, let me pull out the mote that is in thine eye, when thou thyself beholdest not the beam that is in thine own eye? Thou hypocrite, cast out first the beam out of thine own eye; and then thou shalt see clearly to pull out the mote that is in thy brother’s eye.” In this view it is a salutary admonition, for which all must be prepared who would do good to others: and to cut off all just occasion for it must be the one labour of their lives.]

When we see our blessed Lord supposing it applied to himself, it will be desirable to ascertain,

  II.      To whom it may with propriety be addressed—

You will bear in mind, that our Lord was supposed to possess and exercise such powers as fully attested his divine mission. These powers the people of Nazareth, therefore, called upon him to display amongst them: and on his compliance with these terms, they suspended their acceptance of him as their promised Messiah. Had he never given sufficient proof of his divine mission, they would have been justified in demanding more convincing evidence of it. But what he had done at Capernaum was abundantly sufficient to shew that God was with him of a truth; and therefore their demand was unreasonable, and the refusal of it was a just punishment for their incredulity. But we may well apply the proverb,

  1.      To the proud moralist, who pours contempt upon the Gospel—

[Many, like the Pharisees of old, adhere to the law of works, and regard the Gospel as foolishness. Their principles, they judge, are quite sufficient for the effecting of every thing that is necessary for their salvation. Then, I say, ‘Prove it to us. You profess that you have satisfied others: but, before we can acquiesce in your high pretensions, we call upon you to satisfy us. ‘Physician, whoever thou art, heal thyself,” and let us see in thee a proof of the efficacy of those principles of which thou boastest. That they will suffice to “cleanse the outside of the cup and platter,” we readily admit: but that they will operate effectually to the cleansing of the inside, we greatly doubt. We will admit the truth of all that was alleged by thy great prototype in the Temple: “I thank thee, O God, that I am not as other men are, extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even as this publican: I fast twice in the week; I give tithes of all that I possess.” But, in our view of religion, humility, and faith, and love, are very primary and essential parts: and we beg leave to ask, What evidence thou givest us of these? we see not of these any proof whatever: and, till we see them visibly wrought into the frame and constitution of thy soul, we must call in question all thy high pretensions; and must consider thy rejection of the Gospel as a proof of thine own pride, and ignorance, and unbelief’ — — —]

  2.      To the censorious professor, who dishonours the Gospel—

[Almost all classes of Christians are ready to censure and condemn those who differ from them: and, even in their own society, there are but too many who cast on each other unkind and censorious reflections: and, in fact, those who are the most faulty themselves are the foremost in finding fault with others. This disposition greatly prevailed amongst the Pharisaic Jews; who, boasting of their high privileges, were forward to condemn others, whilst they themselves were guilty of the very same or worse enormities than those which they censured in others. Hence St. Paul, in the true spirit of this proverb, reproved them; saying, “Thou who teachest another, teachest thou not thyself? thou that preachest, a man should not steal, dost thou steal? thou that sayest, a man should not commit adultery, dost thou commit adultery? thou that abhorrest idols, dost thou commit sacrilege?” Now, in this, must I reply to multitudes of professing Christians: do you complain of others as carnal and worldly and covetous, and are ye yourselves faulty in these respects? Do ye complain of pride, anger, and un-charitableness in others, and yet indulge them in yourselves? Do ye censure others for bigotry and intolerance, and yet betray the same unhallowed spirit towards those who differ from you? In a word, look at home; and let your severity be directed rather against your own defects, than the defects of others; and, instead of prescribing remedies so profusely to others, apply them first for the healing of the disorders of of your own souls.]

  3.      To true believers, who desire to adorn and recommend the Gospel—

[Be sure that those to whom you recommend the Gospel will first mark its operation upon your minds: and, if they see that it has done little or nothing for you, they will not be disposed to expect any great benefits from it to themselves. On the contrary, if they see that it has wrought a valuable change on you, they will be ready to receive it, in order that they themselves may be made partakers of the same benefits. Hence, your first care must be to experience all its sanctifying and saving operations in your own souls; that, when you commend it to others, you may be able to say, “What my eyes have seen, my ears have heard, and my hands have handled, of the word of life, that same declare I unto you.” St. Paul could appeal to his hearers, “how holily, justly, and unblameably he had behaved himself among them:” and could boldly say, “Whatsoever ye have heard and seen in me, do, and the God of peace shall be with youi.” This rendered his word incomparably more powerful than it would have been under other circumstances; and no doubt, if you also can make a similar appeal, whether you be ministers or private Christians, it will give ten-fold effect to your instructions. To all, then, I would say, labour first to improve the Gospel for the sanctification and comfort of your own souls; and then will those who behold the brightness of your light, acknowledge that God is with you of a truth; and that the Gospel, which has wrought such things for you, is worthy of universal acceptation.]

MCCCCLXXXVII

CHRIST ESCAPES FROM HIS BLOOD-THIRSTY PERSECUTORS

  Luke 4:28–30.

And all they in the synagogue, when they heard these things, were filled with wrath, and rose up, and thrust him out of the city, and led him unto the brow of the hill whereon their city was built, that they might cast him down headlong. But he passing through the midst of them went his way.

NOTHING is more uncertain or transient than popular applause. However just may be the grounds of any praise that is bestowed, the smallest circumstance is sufficient to obliterate all remembrance of a person’s merit, and to render him an object of general indignation. At the close of his life our Lord experienced this in a most astonishing degree: for the very people, who but three days before had followed him with acclamations and hosannas, were instigated by their rulers to cry out with equal fervour, “Crucify him, crucify him.” Scarcely inferior to this was the instance that occurred to him the very first time he preached at Nazareth. When his sermon was but half finished, his auditors were filled with admiration at the gracious words that proceeded out of his mouth: but before the close of it, they rose up in murderous rage in order to destroy him.

We shall consider,

  I.      The occasion of their wrath—

Our blessed Lord had preached to them in a kind but faithful manner—

[He had opened to them a passage from the prophet Isaiah, and informed them, that it was accomplished in him. This on the whole afforded general satisfaction: but yet he saw that there were some objections lurking in their minds, relative to his parentage and education; and that they were displeased because he had not given a preference to his own townsmen, and wrought his miracles there rather than at other places. These objections he anticipated, and proceeded to return an answer to them. He observed, first, that prophets in general were not received in the place where they had been educated, because the people who had known them as equals or inferiors, did not like to submit to them in their prophetic character. Secondly, he shewed them, from different instances in the Scriptures, that God had always dispensed his favours in a sovereign manner, and had sometimes imparted them to the despised Gentiles in preference to his own peculiar people.

This was the immediate purport of what he spake; but doubtless there was much more insinuated, than what was plainly expressed. His answer was intended to bring conviction upon their minds, and to shew them, that they were indulging prejudices against him in spite of all they had heard respecting him; and that, if they yielded to their unbelief, they would constrain him to withhold his blessings from them, and even to send them to the Gentile world in preference to them.]

This was the true ground of all their rage—

[They saw the drift of his discourse: but they hated the light; and therefore sought immediately to extinguish it. They were not disposed to contend with him in a way of argument; for they saw that the truth was against them. They resorted therefore to clamour and persecution, the usual substitutes for truth and reason. But to reject him merely, was not sufficient; nor could they be contented even with expelling him from the city: no; nothing but his blood would satisfy them; and therefore, forgetting the sanctity both of the synagogue and of the sabbath, they rose up with one consent, and thrust him out of the city to an eminence, that they might despatch him in a moment. Probably in executing thus, what they would have called, the judgment of zeal, they thought they were doing an acceptable service to their God; so blinded were they by their own passions, and “captivated by the devil at his will.”]

The inspired historian has declared to us,

  II.      The manner in which our Lord escaped itseffects—

Our blessed Lord on different occasions withdrew himself from those who loved, and from those who hated him. His escape from them at this time may be considered,

  1.      As it respected them“

[His withdrawment from them was miraculous, as much as if he had beaten them all down with his word, or smitten them with blindnessd, or struck them dead upon the spot. The precise mode of his withdrawment is not specified; but it seems that he rendered himself invisible, and thus escaped from their hands.

It was also merciful, both as it tended to convince them of his miraculous power, and especially as it prevented them from executing their murderous purposes. What a mercy did David esteem it, when by the interposition of Abigail he was kept from destroying Nabal! Much more, if they ever received grace to repent of their wickedness, was it a mercy to those infatuated zealots, that they had not been suffered to imbrue their hands in the blood of God’s only Son.

But it was also judicial: for, by means of his departure, the people of Nazareth were deprived of many temporal benefits, which, if they had received him more worthily, he would have imparted to them: they were deprived also of his spiritual instructions, which, if duly improved, would have converted and saved their souls.]

  2.      As it respects us—

[In this escape of his we see, what care he will take of us, and what care we ought to take of ourselves.

Every faithful servant of God must expect persecution. But he is immortal till his work is done. God will screen him from his enemies, how numerous, potent, or inveterate soever they may be. Look at Paul when a conspiracy w;as formed against his life; and at Peter when chained in an inner prison in order to be brought forth the next day for execution: how seasonably, and in what an unlooked-for manner, did God interpose for their deliveranceh! Thus will he exert his almighty power on behalf of all who serve him faithfully, unless indeed the hour is come for them to receive their full reward. We never need to fear the face of man: for God has “put a hook in the nose, and a bridle in the jaws,” of every man; “nor can any have even the smallest power against us, except it be given him from above.”

But notwithstanding our assurance of Divine protection, we ought to take all prudent precautions to avoid the fury of our enemies, and to avail ourselves of those methods of escape which God in his providence has opened to us. “If they persecute us in one city, we should flee to another,” and like Paul, when “let down by the wall in a basket,” elude the resentment which we cannot pacify. We must not indeed deny Christ, or decline any duty, even though death should be the inevitable and immediate consequence of our fidelity: but we must never court death, if we have an opportunity of saving our lives by privacy or flight.]

  INFER—

  1.      What need have all Christ’s followers to count the cost before they take up a profession of religion!

[Ministers indeed, for the most part, are called to stand foremost in the post of danger, and to bear the brunt of the battle: but every soldier of Christ is called to “endure hardness,” and to “fight a good fight.” If by our life and conversation we condemn the world, though the reproof be tacit, and rather intimated than expressed, the world will be filled with wrath against us; and, if suffered by God, will persecute us unto death. Let us then know what we are to expect, and stand at all times prepared for the worst.]

  2.      What a ground of thankfulness should we esteemit, if we are in any measure divested of carnal prejudice!

[All of us, if not restrained by God, should, like the Nazarenes, be ready to vent our indignation even against Christ himself, if he uttered any truths offensive to our ears. What a mercy then is it if we can hear our sins condemned, and have our indignation turned against them, rather than against our faithful monitor! Let us cultivate this disposition, whether it respects the public preaching of the word, or private admonition. Against our sins we cannot manifest too much displeasure. Happy would it be for us, if by one act of zeal we could despatch them utterly. Let us at least set ourselves against them without delay, and prosecute them from henceforth without intermission, and without mercy.]

MCCCCLXXXVIII

AN UNCLEAN SPIRIT CAST OUT

  Luke 4:33, 34.

And in the synagogue there was a man which had a spirit of an unclean devil, and cried out with a loud voice, saying, Let us alone; what have we to do with thee, thou Jesus of Nazareth?

IF any doubt the existence and agency of devils, the history before us is well calculated to satisfy them upon that head. It is evident that though Satan spake by the mouth of the man whom he possessed, he spake in his own person, and in the name of those other spirits that were leagued with him. To represent this man as disordered with an epilepsy or falling sickness is to confound things which the evangelist was most careful to distinguish. Besides, we cannot conceive that a physician (for such was St. Luke) should mention it as a remarkable circumstance that a disorder “did not hurt” a man by leaving himb; whereas, if we suppose this to have been a demoniacal possession, the observation is just and proper; for we may be sure that when Satan threw down his poor vassal, he would have hurt, yea, killed him too, if Jesus, by an invisible but almighty agency, had not interposed to prevent it. There being many accounts of evil spirits cast out by our Lord, we shall not advert to every circumstance of this miracle, but endeavour to improve that particular incident mentioned in the text; viz. the request of Satan that Jesus would let him alone. In order to this we shall,

  I.      State the grounds of Satan’s request—

In acknowledging Jesus to be “the Holy One of God,” Satan might be actuated by a desire to bring the character of Jesus into suspicion, as though they were in confederacy with each other; or perhaps he wished to impress the people with an idea that none but madmen and demoniacs would make such an acknowledgment: but in requesting Jesus to let him alone he was instigated rather by his own fears—

  1.      He knew Jesus—

[Jesus was like any other poor man; his own Disciples, except on some extraordinary occasions, did not appear acquainted with his real character. But Satan knew him, notwithstanding the lowly habit in which he sojourned among men. He knew Jesus to be the Son of God, who had left the bosom of his Father, that he might take our nature, and dwell amongst us. He was well aware that this Holy One must of necessity feel an irreconcileable aversion to such an “unclean spirit,” such a wicked fiend as he was; while at the same time there was no hope of prevailing against him either by fraud or violence. Hence he wished to be left to himself, and to be freed as much as possible from his interposition.]

  2.      He dreaded Jesus—

[It is not impossible but that Satan’s expulsion from heaven might have arisen from his refusal to do homage to the Son of God. However this be, he well knew that Jesus was “the promised seed,” who should ultimately “bruise his head.” He had already been foiled in a conflict with this despised Nazarene, and had learned by experience the impossibility of resisting his command. Nor could he be ignorant that Jesus was to be his judge in the last day, when the full measure of his sins should be meted out to him, and his present miseries be greatly augmented. Hence, while he “believed, he trembled.” Hence those requests which he offered on other occasions, “Torment me not;” “send me not into the deep,” that is, the depths of hell. Hence also that question, in the passage before us, “Art thou come to destroy us?” No wonder that, under such circumstances, he should be filled with terror, and ask, as the consummation of his highest wishes, to have a respite granted him.]

That such desires were not peculiar to Satan will appear, while we,

  II.      Inquire whether similar requests be not offered by many amongst us—

It is certain that many hate the declarations of Christ in his Gospel—

[Men will endure to hear those sins, from which they themselves are free, exposed and condemned; but when the light is brought to discover their besetting sins, they hate it, and wish to have it removed from them. This is found to be the case even in the public ministration of the word. But it obtains in a still higher degree in private and personal admonition. Let a servant of Christ come in his master’s name to a man that is proud or covetous, lewd or dissipated, or under the dominion of any particular lust, and let him set before that man the enormity of his besetting sin, and the judgments denounced against it; will he find a welcome? will not the sinner wish to change the conversation? will he not say in his heart, perhaps too with his lips, ‘Let me alone; what hast thou to do with me?’ Will not he regard such a monitor as an enemy to his peace, and be ready to ask, “Art thou come to destroy” all my hope and comfort? Yes; nor is this aversion to the light peculiar to the sensual and profane: it is rather found to be more inveterate among those, whose regularity in outward things has afforded them a ground for self-admiration and self-complacency.]

Such persons accord with Satan both in sentiment and inclination—

[To hate the authority of Christ in his word is exactly the same as to hate his personal authority when he was upon earth: and to wish to have the light of his truth withheld from us, is the same as to desire the restraint of his personal interposition. Nor is this a mere fallible deduction of man’s reason; it is the express declaration of God. They, who would not hear the law of the Lord, are represented by the prophet as saying to him, “Prophesy not unto us right things, speak unto us smooth things, prophesy deceits, cause the Holy One of Israel to cease from before us.” Job speaks yet more plainly to the same effect: he represents those who spent their days in wealth and pleasure, as saying to the Almighty, Depart from us, for we desire not the knowledge of thy ways: what is the Almighty that we should serve him? and what profit should we have if we pray unto him? It is evident, that not only the sentiments of these sinners, but also their very expressions, are almost the same with those of Satan in the text.]

To evince the folly of harbouring such dispositions, we shall,

  III.      Shew the inefficacy of such requests, by whomsoever they may be offered—

It was in vain that Satan pleaded for a temporary liberty to indulge his malice—

[Jesus would not even receive his acknowledgments, but peremptorily enjoined him silence. Nor would he suffer Satan to retain possession of his wretched slave: he would not even permit this cruel enemy to “hurt” him; so little were the wishes of Satan consulted by our Lord and Saviour.]

In vain also will be all our wishes to retain with impunity our beloved lusts—

[God may indeed forbear to counteract us for a season, and say, “Let him alone.” When he sees that we “will none of him,” he may justly give us up to our own hearts’ lusts. But this would be the heaviest curse that he could inflict upon us. It would be even worse than immediate death, and immediate damnation; because it would afford us further opportunities of “treasuring up wrath” without any hope of obtaining deliverance from it: besides, it would be only for a little time, and then “wrath would come upon us to the uttermost.” When we stand before the judgment-seat we shall in vain say, ‘Let us alone; What have we to do with thee, thou Jesus of Nazareth?’ Our doom will then be fixed, and our sentence executed with irresistible power and inexorable firmness. When once we are “fallen into the hands of the living God,” all hope of impunity or compassion will have ceased for ever.]

  This subject affords us occasion to suggest a word or two of ADVICE—

  1.      Rest not in a speculative knowledge of Christ—

[We observe that Satan was well acquainted with the person and offices of Christ: but, notwithstanding all he knew, he was a devil still. To what purpose then will be all our knowledge, if we be not sanctified by it? It will only aggravate our guilt, and consequently enhance our condemnation also. We never know Jesus aright till we love his presence, and delight in an unreserved compliance with his will.]

  2.      Endeavour to improve his presence for the good of your souls—

[He comes to us in the preaching of his Gospel: he has promised to be with us whenever we are assembled in his name. Shall we then either by our aversion or indifference say to him, ‘Let us alone?’ Let us rather say, ‘Lord, expel this evil spirit from my heart; take me under thy care; and “fulfil in me all thy good pleasure.” ’ Thus shall the “prince of this world be cast out:” and we, his poor vassals, be “brought into the glorious liberty of the children of God.”]

MCCCCLXXXIX

PETER’S WIFE’S MOTHER CURED

  Luke 4:38, 39.

And he arose out of the synagogue, and entered into Simons house. And Simons wife’s mother was taken with a great fever; and they besought him for her. And he stood over her, and rebuked the fever; and it left her: and immediately she arose, and ministered unto them.

HOWEVER much we may be beloved of God, we are not to expect an exemption from those troubles which are the common lot of humanity. Peter was one of the peculiar favourites of our Lord, and privileged to have more intimate access to him than almost any of the Apostles. Yet we find severe affliction in his family. This affliction however tended in the issue (as all the trials of God’s children will) to the glory of God and to his own personal benefit. This observation naturally arises from the account which we have just read respecting the miraculous recovery of his wife’s mother through the interposition of our Lord. In discoursing upon it we may notice,

  I.      The service which Jesus rendered her-

She was seized with a very dangerous disorder-

[Peter, an utter stranger to the doctrine since established in the church of Rome respecting the celibacy of the clergy, was a married man, and an eminent pattern both of filial piety and conjugal affection. The aged mother of his wife was permitted to spend her declining years with him:but her near connexion with this eminent servant of God could not preserve her from the common calamities of life; nor could her son-in-law restore her by a miracle without an express commission from God himself. The circumstance of her being detained from the ordinances of God must doubtless have been a great additional trial to her mind, especially at a season, when he, who “spake as never man spake,” had come thither to instruct the peopleb. Peter however saw no necessity for staying from the synagogue when his mother was properly attended at home. He the rather went; and availed himself of his access to Jesus to intercede for his afflicted relative.]

At the request of Peter and his friends, Jesus restored her to perfect health—

[Jesus paid the same attention to the intercessions of friends as he did to men’s personal applications. It was the delight of his soul to relieve misery wherever he found it. Nor did he think his work finished, when he had exercised his ministry in the house of God. He would not cease from labour while the continuance of his labours could be of any essential service. He could indeed have healed her by a word without going to her in person; but he delighted to visit the chambers of affliction. And behold! with what condescension he acted towards her; “he took her by the hand and lifted her up;” he, the Maker and Governor of the universe, administered unto her as if he had been her menial servant! Yet with what authority did he “rebuke” and dispel “the fever!” Who could act thus but God? Instantly did the disease vanish, and instantly did her former strength return; and universal joy succeeded to the tears of sympathy and compassion.]

In what manner she endeavoured to requite this favour we shall see by considering,

  II.      The service she rendered him—

We are not to estimate services by the intrinsic worth of them, so much as by the affection manifested in them. In this view her services were as acceptable as any that could be rendered; “she arose and ministered unto them.” By this conduct she unwittingly discovered,

  1.      The reality of the miracle—

[Had she merely joined her family, the departure of her fever might have been imputed to a fortunate coincidence of circumstances. Nor would they, who ascribed the expulsion of devils to the agency of Beelzebub, have been ashamed to adopt such a sentiment: but, if this had been the case, her body must have still continued in a state of debility; whereas she was able to exert herself as much as before her sickness. This then was an unquestionable proof of the reality of the miracle; and she became a witness for Jesus while she intended nothing more than to testify her love towards him.]

  2.      The goodness of her own heart—

[The hearts of all are, strictly speaking, most “desperately wicked.” But our Lord tells us that “a good man out of the good treasure of his heart bringeth forth good things.” In this sense she discovered much goodness of heart. So far from being puffed up with the favour conferred upon her, she was glad to execute the meanest offices. Her heart glowed with a desire to honour her benefactor: nor was she unmindful of the obligations she owed to those who had assisted her, or interceded for her. She ministered not to him only, but to “them” also. She rejoiced in an opportunity to testify her gratitude to all. How different was this from the conduct of the nine lepers! Who does not reprobate them as the basest of mankind? Whereas she did not delay one moment to testify her sense of the mercy vouchsafed unto her. The one thought of her heart was, “What shall I render unto the Lord for all the benefits he hath done unto me?” O that all were like-minded with her in performing a duty which is so “lovely and of such good report!”]

  3.      The duty of all who have received mercies from God—

[God is to be acknowledged as much in the blessing given to our food or medicine, as in the more visible effects of his miraculous interpositions. Have we then been preserved in health, or restored from sickness? Surely we stand indebted to God as much as if a miracle had been wrought in our behalf. And shall we be satisfied with making a few cold acknowledgments, and not render any active services to our benefactor? Or shall we pretend that there is nothing that we can do for him? Let us do what our capacity and situation enable us to do. However mean the service, it shall be accepted of him. But if we be too proud to stoop, or too idle to exert ourselves, we violate the plainest law of our nature, and render ourselves unworthy of the Christian name.]

  The foregoing history may be IMPROVED,

  1.      In a way of reproof—

[There is not one of us who does not stand indebted to God for an infinite multitude of mercies. But in what manner have we requited him? Perhaps “in the time of trouble we have visited him, and poured out a prayer when his chastening was upon us.” But no sooner has his rod been removed, than, like metal from the furnace, we have returned to our former hardness. We have resembled the hypocritical Jews, and forgotten all the vows which we made in troubleh. Ah! what a contrast between us and this pious matron! Let us be ashamed, and humble ourselves before God. Let us remember how awfully Hezekiah was punished for his ingratitude. Let us instantly awake from our lethargy to the discharge of our duty, and “glorify Christ with our bodies and our spirits which are his.”]

  2.      In a way of consolation—

[Whether we go up to God’s house, or be confined on a bed of sickness, we may have access unto Jesus. He is with us at all times and in every place; and we may go to him with our petitions either for ourselves or others. What a rich source of consolation is this! And have we no disorders, bodily or spiritual, which need his aid? If our body be healthy, is not our soul languishing? Or if we ourselves be lively, have we no friend or relative that is in a sickly condition? Let us then apply to this almighty Physician, and we shall find him as condescending and as gracious as ever. He calls himself by this endearing name, “The Lord that healeth thee.” He will “send his word and heal us;” yea, he will strengthen us for the most active and difficult services. Let all of us then surround his throne, and cry with united voices, “Arise for our help, and redeem us for thy mercy’s sakel.”]

MCCCCXC

THE DRAUGHT OF FISHES

             Luke 5:8–11.

When Simon Peter saw it, he fell down at Jesus’ knees, saying, Depart from me; for I am a sinful man, O Lord. For he was astonished, and all that were with him, at the draught of the fishes which they had taken: and so was also James and John, the sons of Zebedee, which were partners with Simon. And Jesus said unto Simon, Fear not: from henceforth thou shalt catch men. And when they had brought their ships to land, they forsook all, and followed him.

OUR blessed Lord from the time that he entered on his ministry, prosecuted it without intermission, preaching in the synagogues, and wherever the people were assembled to hear him. On the occasion before us, that he might not be obstructed by the populace that pressed upon him, he got into a small fishing vessel; and having pushed out a little from the land, addressed them to the greater advantage. The discourse he delivered is not recorded: but the miracle which he wrought immediately after it, is deserving of particular notice, and that in different points of view;

  I.      As perverted by Peter—

Peter, and his partners James and John, had been engaged in fishing all the preceding night, and had caught nothing: but at our Lord’s command they let down their nets, and inclosed such a multitude of fishes, that their nets began to break, and their ships, when filled with them, were almost ready to sink. Peter, overwhelmed with astonishment, saw that this was none other than the hand of God; and prostrating himself before the knees of Jesus, exclaimed, “Depart from me, for I am a sinful man, O Lord!”

Now this was well meant on the part of Peter—

[He had a consciousness that he was “a sinful man;” and feared therefore that some heavy judgment would befall him in the presence of a holy God. Ever since Adam fled from the presence of Jehovah in Paradise, the presence of God has been rather a ground of fear and dread, than of hope and joy to fallen man. Manoah exclaimed to his wife, “We shall surely die, for we have seen God. This kind of apprehension it was which arose in the mind of Peter, and dictated his unwise request. If the circumstance of his being a sinful man was a reason why the Lord Jesus should depart from him, what person is there on the face of the whole earth that can desire his presence? — — —]

But his request should have been the very reverse of what it was—

[Was he a sinful man? he needed so much the more to receive instruction from the Saviour respecting the way which God had provided for his deliverance. He should rather have said, therefore, ‘Lord, I am a sinful man, and all my hope is in thee alone; for, “to whom else can I go either for mercy or for grace to help me in the time of need?” Thou alone canst bear with me; thou alone canst save me. My efforts to catch fish shew me how little I can do of myself even in the way of my trade: and how much less can I do in the things that relate to heaven! O, then, I entreat thee, never, never leave me; never, never forsake me; but be with me as my Guide and Comforter, my Righteousness and Strength, even unto the end. Without thee I can do nothing; but by strength communicated from thee I shall be able to do all things.’ Thus, instead of making his sinfulness a reason for entreating the Lord to depart from him, he should rather have urged it as a plea for mercy, saying, with David, “O Lord, for thy name’s sake, pardon mine iniquity; FOR it is GREAT.” This would have honoured the Saviour, whose mercy is equal to his power; and any other use of the miracle was, in fact, an ignorant and unbecoming perversion of it.]

The true intent of the miracle will appear, whilst we view it,

  II.      As explained by our blessed Lord—

He dissipates the fear of his trembling Disciple, saying to him, “Fear not;” and for his comfort assures him, that the miracle was designed as an emblem,

  1.      Of the effects which should be produced by the Gospel—

[The whole world is like the ocean, where sinners range without controul: and the Gospel is as a net, which the servants of the Lord spread in order to gather them for him, not that they may be destroyed, but that they may live under his protection, and be regarded by him as his peculiar possession. The prophets in their endeavours succeeded to a very limited extent: but the time was fast approaching, when the whole world, both of Jews and Gentiles, should be drawn to the Lord by the influence of his grace, and all nations be brought to the obedience of faith.” True indeed, both bad and good are gathered by the Gospel now, and are brought to an outward profession of the faith; a separation of the one from the other being left to be made at the last day: but the scope of the miracle before us is rather to shew the saving effects of the Gospel, without adverting to any minute particulars respecting those in whom a difference shall be found.

And here let me remind you, that the emblem is now realized amongst you at this very hour. Whilst I preach to you the glad tidings of salvation through a crucified Redeemer, I am, in fact, spreading the Gospel net, that I may draw you from the midst of a wide and sinful world, and present you to God as a peculiar people, zealous of good works — — —]

  2.      Of the office to which Peter himself was now definitively called—

[Peter and his partners had followed our Lord before, but not so as to remain with him as his stated attendants. But now they were to abandon their worldly calling altogether, and to become exclusively the servants of his household: they were henceforth to be by profession, as it were, “fishers of men.” In this office Peter was to be pre-eminently distinguished: nor was either his apprehended sinfulness or his want of education to be any obstacle to his success. Accordingly the promise now given him was very fully accomplished in the first sermon which he preached on the day of Pentecost, when three thousand were converted to the faith of Christ. It was also again fulfilled, when he was made the honoured instrument of first opening the kingdom of heaven to the Gentile world, by the conversion of Cornelius and his company. From that time to the present hour the Gospel net has been cast with different measures of success in all the quarters of the globe: and we are looking for a period, not far distant now, when Pentecostal scenes shall be renewed in every place, and “all flesh shall see the salvation of God.”]

That the miracle may produce its full effects, let us contemplate it,

  III.      As to be improved by us—

See what it wrought on Peter and James and John: this is the effect it is to produce on us. We should all of us without exception be led by it,

  1.      To receive the Lord Jesus as the true Messiah—

[To his miracles the Lord Jesus himself appealed as demonstrative seals of his Divine commission. And what could convey clearer evidence of it than the miracle before us? For, whilst it did not admit of a possibility of collusion, it shewed how unbounded was the power of the Lord over the whole creation, and consequently how “competent he was to save to the uttermost all that should come unto God by him.” Whilst this proved that he was the true Messiah, it proved to our comfort, that all which he has undertaken for us shall surely be accomplished — — —]

  2.      To trust in him under all circumstances, however discouraging—

[Peter felt discouraged on account of his sinfulness; and he had seen his incompetency to effect any thing by any power of his own. Now the same grounds of discouragement often exist in reference to ourselves, whether as objects of the Lord’s mercy, or as agents in his service. But behold what the Lord effected both for him and by him in an instant of time: and can he not accomplish either for us, or by us, whatever shall be deemed conducive to his glory? Yes, he can, and will: our iniquities, if only we trust in him, shall be forgiven, and our wants of every kind shall be supplied: and through the communications of his grace we shall be made successful in all our efforts, whether to serve him ourselves, or to bring others to the enjoyment of his salvation — — —]

  3.      To serve and honour him with our whole hearts—

[These fishermen left their all to follow him. And this is what we also must do, in heart at least, and in act also, if fidelity to him require it: nor on any other terms than these will he acknowledge us as his disciples. And is he not worthy of being served thus? Did his Disciples ever find cause for regret that they had forsaken all for him? No: nor shall we. The Apostle Paul counted all things but loss for Christ: and thus must we hold in utter contempt every thing that may interfere with our duty to him, or impede us in his service — — — I call on all of you then to make this improvement of the miracle before us. For those who minister in holy things the duty is indispensable — — — nor is it less so for those who are ministered unto — — — To follow him fully is the sure way to enjoy his presence both in this world and in the world to come.]

MCCCCXCI

THE CALL OF MATTHEW

  Luke 5:27–29.

After these things, he went forth, and saw a publican named Levi, sitting at the receipt of custom: and he said unto him, Follow me. And he left all, rose up, and followed him. And Levi made him a great feast in his own house.

IF we notice particularly who they are whom God has more especially selected as objects of his grace and mercy, we shall be struck with this plain and obvious truth, that “God’s thoughts are not as our thoughts, nor his ways as our ways.” Had it been left to man to dispense the blessings of salvation, he would have imparted them to those whose previous qualifications and endowments seemed to have marked them out for this high distinction. But God has rather sought, by the preference which he has shewn, to magnify his own grace and mercy.

The person here chosen to the apostleship was a “publican.” Now the publicans were characters universally hated by the Jewish nation, because, as tax-gatherers, they aided the Roman government, by whom they were appointed, and whose interests they served. The persons who executed this office, knowing that, independently of their own character, they were hated and despised by their brethren, were intent only on advancing their own interests, and were guilty of exacting in many cases more than they were authorized to require; and thus by their oppressive conduct they rendered the office, and all who held it, objects of unqualified reprobation. Yet of these persons did God select many, in preference to the Scribes and Pharisees, to participate the benefits of the Redeemer’s kingdom; as our blessed Lord himself says, “The publicans and the harlots go into the kingdom of God before you.” The person whom our text mentions as executing that office, is here called “Levi:” but in his own account which he gives of himself, he calls himself by the name of Matthewb. Of his conversion we are informed in the words before us. He was “sitting at the receipt of custom,” in the regular discharge of his duty, and, without any previous intimation or instruction, was called by our blessed Lord to a constant attendance upon him, as one of his Disciples. This event will be found deeply interesting to us all, whilst we consider,

  I.      His unexpected call—

In this there was doubtless somewhat peculiar. He was called to an office which was limited to twelve, and which now no longer exists. But still, excepting that peculiarity,

  1.      The same call is given to every one of us—

[To us the Gospel speaks in the same authoritative tone as that in which Jesus addressed this busy publican: and in it the Lord Jesus Christ himself says to every one of us, “Follow me.” ‘Believe in me as the true Messiah: receive me as sent of God to be the Saviour of your soul: give yourself up to me as your Lord and Master: obey my commandments, and tread in my steps. Let no present considerations operate to retard your compliance with my will: come, leave all, and follow me.’ In all this there is nothing peculiar: it is the duty of every living man: the command is issued equally to all: “If any man will be my Disciple, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me” — — —]

  2.      Wherever it is effectual, it is equally the gift of sovereign grace—

[To Matthew, the call came unexpected and unsought: and so it does in reality wherever it takes effect. The precise time of its operation may not, in all cases, be so distinctly seen, nor its power so deeply felt; but in all cases must its efficacy be traced to God, who, of his own good pleasure, dispenses his gifts to whomsoever he will. There may in some cases be a long season of gradual illumination, even as the early dawn, whose transition from darkness to light is imperceptibly progressive: but still, if we trace it to the first thought and first desire originating in the soul, we must without hesitation ascribe it altogether to God, who “gives both to will and to do of his good pleasure” Of all true converts it must be said, “Ye have not chosen me; but I have chosen youd:” “You loved me, because I first loved you:” You did not “know me, till after you were known of mef;” or “apprehend me, till you had first been apprehended by me.” In reference to you all it must in this sense be said, no less than of St. Matthew himself, “I am found of them that sought me not; I am made manifest to them that asked not after me.” Whatever “holy desires we feel, or good counsels we follow, or just works we perform,” they all, as our Liturgy informs us, “proceed from God;” who, as our Tenth Article states it, “by his grace in Christ Jesus prevents us, that we may have a good will, and worketh with us when we have that good will.”]

That this call of Matthew may have its due effect upon us, let us consider,

  II.      His exemplary obedience to it—

As in the call itself, so in his obedience to it, there was somewhat peculiar. The office which he had held, he instantly resigned, (committing it no doubt to proper hands,) and became from that moment a stated attendant on our Lord. In this respect it is not necessary that we should follow him, unless the occupation in which we have been engaged be criminal. We are rather to “abide in the calling in which we have been called:” yea, “therein to abide with God.” But in other respects our obedience must resemble his. It should be,

  1.      Prompt—

[There was in him no “conferring with flesh and blood.” Elisha, when Elijah’s mantle was cast upon him, felt an irresistible attraction, and obeyed without hesitation or delay. So it should be with us. Does the Lord Jesus by his word and Spirit command us to follow him? We should not wait for a second call: we should so act, that we may be able to say with David, “I made haste and delayed not to keep thy commandments”]

  2.      Self-denying—

[Lucrative as his situation was, Matthew resigned it without reluctance, determining that nothing should obstruct him in the path of his duty. And should not we also despise all earthly gains or prospects in comparison of Christ? Should we not be ready to shake them from us, as we would “the thick clay from our feet” when we were about to run a race? — — — Yes verily, we should be ready to “leave all to follow Christ;” and account not even life itself dear to us, if only we may honour him by the sacrifice of it — — —]

  3.      Grateful—

[Immediately Matthew made a great feast for his divine Master, and invited to it a number of his former friends, who were still prosecuting the line which he had just relinquished. In this he sought to honour his Lord in the face of the whole world, and to advance the interests of His kingdom, by bringing others to the knowledge of him. This, under any circumstances, was a just expression of his gratitude for the mercy vouchsafed unto him. And it shews us how we also should use our influence, when once we have become followers of our blessed Lord. We should not only not be ashamed to confess him openly before men, but should exert ourselves to bring our friends and relatives to an acquaintance with him, that they also may be made monuments of his grace, and become partakers of the blessings which we enjoy. Our very feasts should now be ordered with that view, and be made conducive to that end. Nor should we make any account of either expense or trouble, if we may but testify in the smallest degree our love to Christ, or advance the ends for which he came into the world — — —]

  4.      Determined—

[We never read of his expressing a wish afterwards to return to his former employment, or of his regretting that he had made so great a sacrifice. Nor should we ever “look back, after having once put our hand to the plough.” The patriarchs, who had left their country and their kindred at the call of God, “had opportunities enough to return, if they had been so minded;” but they “looked forward to a heavenly country,” and to their dying hour pursued their pilgrimage towards it with unabated ardour. And we also must go forward in a sweet and assured hope, that in the place of all that we resign or lose for Christ, we shall have “a better and an enduring substance in heaven” — — —]

  REFLECT,

  1.      How strongly does this example reprove the whole Christian world!

[We are all called as he was, and have been called ten thousand times, to serve and follow Christ. But on whom amongst us have the same effects been produced? Who has not had many excuses to offer for declining to accept the invitations of his Lord? — — — I may even say, who, if his own friend or relative had acted as Matthew did, would not have been ready to cry out against him as a weak deluded enthusiast? But this call must be obeyed, if ever we would be acknowledged by our Lord as his obedient people. I do not say that we must actually renounce all our worldly interests for Christ; but this I say, that we must be ready to renounce them, if they interfere with our duty to him, or if by the surrender of them. we may more advance his glory in the world. On no other terms will he receive us: if we be not willing to “lose father and mother, and houses and lands, yea, and our own lives also for his sake, we cannot be his disciples.” O that his power might now go forth amongst you, as it did in the case before us; and that all your “souls may be subdued to the obedience of faith!”]

  2.      How great is the benefit of obeying the Gospel call!

[Matthew in appearance was degraded and impoverished; but he was made an eminent servant of Christ, and a blessed instrument of diffusing the knowledge of him through the whole world. (Of all the Evangelists, not one marks so fully the Messiahship of Jesus, and the accomplishment of prophecy in him, as he.) And what is his condition now? Has he not far better treasures than ever he possessed on earth? Know ye then, that you also may appear to suffer loss by devoting yourselves to Christ; but if you have the honour of being his servants, his friends, his heirs; if he acknowledge you as members of his own body, yea, as his spouse, who shall participate all his glory, and have the everlasting fruition of his love; you have made a good exchange. Rejoice then in your high privileges; and be thankful to Him, by whose almighty power alone you have been made willing to accept them; and let your whole lives be henceforth consecrated, as Matthew’s was, to his service: so shall you in your place be his witnesses to all around you; and ere long be joined to that blessed society, where every loss shall be compensated with a proportionable weight of glory.]

MCCCCXCII

THE NEW WINE AND OLD BOTTLES

  Luke 5:36–38.

And he spake also a parable unto them; No man putteth a piece of new garment upon an old; if otherwise, then both the new maketh a rent, and the piece that was taken out of the new agreeth not with the old. And no man putteth new wine into old bottles; else the new wine will burst the bottles, and be spilled, and the bottles shall perish. But new wine must be put into new bottles; and both are preserved.

THE cavils of objectors have been frequently overruled for the benefit of the church. They have given rise to many of our Lord’s most instructive discourses, and thereby furnished us with a much clearer and more extensive knowledge of our duty. Thrice in this chapter do we see our Lord called upon to answer the objections that were either secretly entertained, or openly expressed, against him. His forgiving of sins, and associating with sinners, had given offence; but he vindicated his conduct with respect to both, and has afforded us herein a rich discovery of his power and grace. In the context he was condemned for leaving his Disciples so much at liberty respecting the duty of fasting. In reply to the queries put to him on this subject, he delivered the parables which we have now read: and in which are contained,

  I.      A virtual acknowledgment of the duty of fasting—

[This duty, together with the attendant offices of humiliation and prayer, our Lord had forborne to insist upon so much as John had done: and for that he was blamed by the self-righteous Pharisees. But in his answer to the question put to him, he does not say, that the children of the bride-chamber were never to fast, but only not during the present season, “whilst the Bridegroom was yet with them.” Nor in the parables before us does he say, that the old garment should not be mended, nor the wine put into vessels at all, but only that discretion was to be exercised with respect to the manner of doing these things. These intimations alone were sufficient to establish the propriety of practising the duty there spoken of: but they are enforced by many other passages of Holy Writ; and especially by the admonitions given by our Lord himself respecting our conduct when we fast. Indeed, in our text itself he says, that after his removal from them “they should fastb.”]

There being no doubt amongst us on this point, I proceed more particularly to notice that which is in fact the substance of both the parables, namely,

  II.      A special direction for the performance of this duty—

In inculcating or practising this solemn duty, we are here taught to pay the strictest attention to the principal circumstances relating to it, such as the time, the manner, the end.

  1.      The time—

[It is not every season that is suited to this duty. At a wedding-feast, for instance, it would be absurd to fast. But on occasion of any great calamity, whether public or private, a fit opportunity would offer itself. In a season of war, famine, pestilence, the deepest humiliation becomes us. So under the pressure of any personal affliction, and especially in a time of spiritual distress, when corruptions are strong, and temptations powerful, and self-reproach is deep, and God has hidden his face from us, it becomes us to betake ourselves to fasting and prayer. Respecting an unclean devil, which the Disciples were not able to eject, our Lord said, “This kind goeth not out but by fasting and prayer.” And so we find on many occasions our lusts too strong for us; and therefore too strong, because we use not these means of obtaining the victory over them. There are also in domestic life seasons when husband and wife may profitably separate from each other for a short time in order to address themselves more effectually to the discharge of this high duty of fasting and prayer. And thus has Solomon informed us; “There is a time to weep, as well as a time to laugh, and a time to mourn as well as a time to dance:” and these seasons we ought more particularly to select, even “when the Bridegroom is taken away from us.”]

  2.      The manner—

[Here also discretion is greatly wanted. To carry our austerities so far as to injure our own health, is highly inexpedient. Such conduct, instead of fitting us the more for the Lord’s service, would rather incapacitate us for it, and defeat the very object we had in view. The putting of new wine into leathern bottles that were weakened by use and age, would lead to the destruction of the bottles themselves, and of the wine committed to them. And so would indiscreet austerities operate on us, and on all around us. For, what would the world at large think of a religion that prescribed such things? Would they not cry out against it as a gloomy superstition? And what would an inquiring soul be ready to feel? Would he not be discouraged and disheartened, and, through a distaste for such self-tormenting exercises, be ready to relinquish it altogether? We must take care then, that in our mode of inculcating these self-denying duties, we do not give occasion for such unfounded sentiments, and such erroneous conceptions.]

  3.      The end—

[The Pharisees put these services in the place of true religion, not knowing that they are only as means to an end, and as the scaffolding to the edifice which it is employed to construct. Hence arose their bitter complaint against our Lord. But we must ever remember, that, to whatever extent we multiplied these services, they never could stand in the place of repentance, and faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. This is the great error of the Church of Rome: they place penance, that is, a round of observances prescribed by man, in the place of repentance as enjoined by God, and in the place also of the Lord Jesus Christ, “whose blood alone can cleanse from all sin.” But I charge you before God to be on your guard against this, since it will “make void the whole Gospel of Christ,” and cause “the blood of Christ to have been shed in vain.” As a discipline for the mortifying of the flesh and the quickening of the spirit, fasting is good: but as a substitute for an entire renovation of soul, and for a simple faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, it is a broken reed, which will pierce even unto death the hand that rests upon it.]

  LEARN then from this parable,

  1.      To judge with candour—

[The Pharisees through their pride and ignorance were led to condemn our Lord. And thus we also are apt to judge our unoffending brethren. We have a standard of our own; and by that we try all other persons: and, if they exceed that standard we condemn them as enthusiasts; or, if they fall short of it, we account them but lukewarm formalists. But the same standard cannot be applied to all. There are ten thousand circumstances which may not only justify a difference of conduct in pious persons, but may actually produce it. The Disciples of John, we readily acknowledge, did right in fasting oft: but did the Disciples of our Lord act wrong because they did not fast at all? No: the circumstances of the two parties were widely different, as our Lord informed them; and therefore both were right. So it may be with many of our brethren, who differ from us in relation to this matter: and it does not become us to judge them. “To their own Master they stand or fall:” and it is our part to commit them altogether unto God, who judgeth righteously, and who alone can estimate every thing which is to be taken into the account.]

  2.      To give advice with caution—

[We ought to bear in mind the different situations and capacities of men, and not to be requiring of novices what is suited only to the strength of an established saint. Our blessed Lord spake not all he knew, but only what his hearers were able to receive; and even from his own Disciples he kept back much which they were not able at that time to comprehend. So St. Paul “fed his Corinthian converts with milk and not with meat,” because they were yet in too carnal a state to enter into the deeper subjects which he would gladly have brought before them. Thus then should we also do. We should “feed babes with milk, and minister meat to those only who by reason of a more adult age are able to digest it.” Nor let any one think this unbecoming a minister of God. It is the true and proper office of love. Jacob would not drive his lambs too far, lest in one day he should kill them all. And our blessed Lord “carried the lambs in his bosom, and gently led those that were with young.” And thus must we also exercise the same tender care in administering to the lambs of our flock, lest by undue rigour we “break the bruised reed,” or by overwhelming exactions we “quench the smoking flax.”]

  3.      To press forward with holy unremitting diligence—

[It was of his holy Apostles that our Lord said, that in the days after his removal from them they should fast. Who then are we that we should think ourselves at liberty to remit our exertions in our heavenly course? Never will there be in this life a moment when our vigilance can be dispensed with, or our most self-denying labours be relaxed. Nor, if St. Paul was “in fastings often,” should we account that holy discipline unnecessary for us. On the contrary, we should by all possible means “keep our body under and bring it into subjection, lest by any means, after having ministered to others, we ourselves should be deemed unworthy the approbation of our God.]

MCCCCXCIII

THE APOSTLES CHOSEN

  Luke 6:12, 13.

And it came to pass in those days that he went out into a mountain to pray, and continued all night in prayer to God. And when it was day, he called unto him his Disciples: and of them he chose twelve, whom also he named Apostles.

THE short period of our Lord’s ministry on earth rendered it expedient for him to employ others as his co-adjutors in the work. Accordingly, in reference to the twelve Patriarchs, who might be considered as the fathers of the Jewish Church, he selected twelve of his Disciples, who should be his instruments for planting and establishing his Church. There were other seventy, whom at a later period he sent forth, two and two, for the purpose of preparing the minds of the people for his personal ministry among them; but the Apostles were to be his stated servants after that he should have left this world and returned to his heavenly Father. The circumstances of their appointment were peculiar, and deserve our most attentive consideration. The night previous to their appointment he spent in prayer to his heavenly Father:which remarkable occurrence it will be proper to notice in a threefold view:

  I.      As an act for our benefit—

The appointment of the Apostles was a work of singular importance—

[They were to be employed in the Church as his messengers to declare his truth—his witnesses to attest it—as patterns also to illustrate—and as martyrs to confirm it. But whence could a number of poor fishermen attain “a sufficiency for these things?” — — —]

Hence our blessed Lord continued the whole night in prayer for them—

[His heavenly Father was able to furnish them for this great work, and to give them success in it; and therefore our Lord importunately sought for them the grace which they stood in need of: nor would he cease from his exertions, till he had obtained all that their necessities required. The benefit of his prayer was fully manifested as soon as they were endued with power from on high: then nothing could withstand their wisdom, or subdue their courage: they were deaf to menaces, and regardless of death. Their success was rapid, extensive, permanent: and we at this day enjoy the fruits of their labours. Through that prayer the Apostles were richly furnished unto every good work; and were enabled so to establish the kingdom of our Lord, that neither earth nor hell have ever been able to prevail against it.]

  II.      As a lesson for our instruction—

The ordination of ministers is also a most important work—

[On them, under God, depends the everlasting welfare of thousands. We need only compare the state of those congregations where the Gospel is faithfully preached with those which are under the superintendence of careless ministers: in the one will be found little but ignorance and irrehligion; in the other, there will be many whose minds are enlightened with divine truth, and whose souls are quickened to a new and heavenly life.

But where shall persons be found duly qualified for the work—where those who will be willing to undertake it? True; if the ministry of the word be made a source of temporal emolument, there will be multitudes ready to engage in it: but if the “signs of a minister,” or accompaniments of the ministry, be like those in the Apostles’ days, “reproaches, necessities, and distresses for Christ’s sake,” and the only pluralities be “labours, stripes, prisons, deaths,” there will not be many candidates for the office, nor will the qualifications for it be thought so common as they are at present. How few are ready to go and preach to the heathen, where the labour and self-denial are great, and the earthly recompence is small! Large benefices, where little is to be done, or the work can be done by proxy, are caught up with avidity: but if nothing but a future reward be held forth, and God say, “Who will go for us?” there are few indeed that will answer with the prophet, “Here am I, send me.”]

This, therefore, should be the subject of our devoutest prayers—

[God himself has commanded us to commit the matter to him in prayer: “The harvest truly is plenteous, and the labourers are few; pray ye therefore the Lord of the harvest, that he will send forth (thrust out) labourers into his harvest.” And truly, all ranks and orders of men are concerned to “labour earnestly in prayer” concerning it.

How fervently should they pray, to whom the office of ordaining others is committed! for “if they lay hands suddenly on any man, they make themselves partakers of other men’s sins.” Nor should they be less earnest who are to be ordained. When we consider how arduous their work is, and how great their responsibility before God; when we reflect that their word will be “a savour of life to the life and salvation of many, or a savour of death to their death” and condemnation; and that the blood of all that perish through their neglect will be required at their hands; methinks it is a wonder that any one can be found, who, for the sake of filthy lucre, will dare to undertake it. Were the weight of the office duly considered, no one would presume to enter upon it without much prayer to God to qualify him for the discharge of it, and to bless his labours to the edification of the people.

But the people themselves also are no less concerned to pray, that God would “send them pastors after his own heart;” for the welfare of their souls essentially depends on the kind of ministry which they attend: if Christ be not exhibited to them in his person and offices; if they be not encouraged to receive out of his fulness all the blessings of salvation; if they be not led into discoveries of the evil of their own hearts, and instructed in the nature of that change which the Holy Spirit will effect within them; if, in short, they have not “the whole counsel of God set before them,” they will be left to rest in very low attainments, if not to “perish utterly through lack of knowledge.”

This lesson then should be learned by all; and so learned, as to be reduced to practice.]

  III.      As a pattern for our imitation—

Prayer is both the duty and the privilege of all—

[Our blessed Lord had doubtless more intimate communion with his Father than we can possibly have; yet are we also authorized to call God “our Father;” yea, we are commanded to do it, and to “open our mouths wide, that he may fill them.” It is not, indeed, required of us that we should spend whole nights in prayer to God; for that would probably, unless in some very peculiar circumstances, render us unfit for prosecuting the duties of the ensuing day: but we are required to “continue in prayer, and to watch thereunto with thanksgiving:” and the more nearly we can approach to the example of our blessed Lord in the frequency and urgency of our prayersk, the more remarkable will be the answers that we shall receive, and the more abundant the communications of God to our souls. If we wrestled more like Jacob, we should certainly prevail to a much greater extent than in general we do.]

We should therefore resort to it on every particular emergency—

[Though the particular object of our Lord’s continuance in prayer does not occur to us, yet we all have some occasions that call for more than ordinary direction and assistance from God. On these occasions, whatever they may be, whether they relate to the body or the soul, to time or to eternity, we should go and spread our wants before God. His own command to us is, “In every thing, by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known unto God.” “In all our ways we must acknowledge him, and he will direct our paths.”

In this then must all of us resemble the Lord Jesus Christ. In this has “he set us an example, that we should follow his steps:” and “we must walk as he walked.” By this must all his followers be distinguished; for they are “a people near unto him.” They are hypocrites, of whom it is said, “They will not always call upon God:” all true Christians can say, “Truly our fellowship is with the Father, and with his Son Jesus Christ.”]

  APPLICATION—

[Learn hence the real state of your souls before God. Prayer has often been called the pulse of the soul: and truly it is so; for by that you may discern the state of the soul, incomparably better than you can by the pulse the state of the body. If you are prayerless people, you are dead, altogether dead in trespasses and sins. If your prayers are habitually cold and formal, they are such as God will never accept. No prayer will enter into the ears of the Lord of Hosts, but that which is offered “in spirit and in truth.” Let us then beg of God to give us a spirit of grace and of supplication; and let us interest ourselves with God for the welfare of his Church. Let us especially remember “those who are over us in the Lord,” and “labour always fervently for them in prayer,” that they may be enabled to fulfil their ministry with diligence and success. Thus shall we both ensure blessings to our own souls, and be instrumental to the hastening on of that day, when “all shall know the Lord, from the least to the greatest,” and “all flesh shall see the salvation of God.”]

MCCCCXCIV

THE ANALOGY BETWEEN BODILY AND SPIRITUAL CURES

             Luke 6:19.

And the whole multitude sought to touch him: for there went virtue out of him, and healed them all.

IN perusing the histories of ancient heroes, we may often be led to admire their skill and valour; but we shall much oftener be shocked at the means they used to exalt and aggrandize themselves; and, when we see them raising trophies to themselves on the ruins of slaughtered nations, we shall be induced to consider them rather as the plagues and scourges of mankind. But how different will be our sensations, when we read the history of Jesus! There we shall meet with nothing which will not be delightful to a benevolent mind. If we trace him in his circuits through the country, and view in every place the objects that surround him, we shall behold at one time the eyes he has just now opened, gazing on him with wonder and amazement; and at another time the ears he has unstopped, drinking in his words with insatiable eagerness and attention. Here we shall behold the hands he has restored to use, stretched forth to proclaim his praises; and the feet he has strengthened, leaping and dancing round him with inexpressible delight: there we shall hear the tongues he has loosed, shouting with exquisite love and gratitude; and see those whom he has dispossessed of devils, sitting with composure at the feet of their Benefactor. Sometimes we shall see the very dead starting forth into life and vigour at his command, and either rapturously saluting their disconsolate relations, or rending the air with their acclamations and hosannas. Such accounts as these, if considered only in a temporal view, cannot but excite in us a sympathetic joy, and afford the most pleasing sensations: but, no doubt, they were intended also to convey some spiritual instruction; in which view they acquire an additional, and almost an infinite, importance. Perhaps it may be too much to say that the miracles, wrought by our Lord, were types of the spiritual blessings he conveys; but we may affirm without hesitation, that there is a very strong analogy between them: and therefore, when we see what he did to the bodies of men, we have, at least, a very just occasion of considering what he will do for our souls.

In this view we propose to consider the account given us in the chapter before us. We are informed that a great multitude came to him out of Judæa and Jerusalem, and from the sea coast of Tyre and Sidon, to hear him, and to be healed of their diseases: and then it is said, in the words of the text, “The whole multitude sought to touch him: for there went virtue out of him, and healed them all.”

To illustrate this subject we shall,

  I.      Trace the analogy between the miracles wrought by our blessed Lord on the bodies of men, and those which he yet works on men’s souls—

For the more distinct elucidation of this point, we may observe,

  1.      There is resemblance between the disorders of the body, and the disorders of the soul—

[Many were brought to our Lord, who were blind, deaf, leprous, and possessed with devils. And such are men at this time, in a spiritual view. Like the Laodiceans, however they may “think themselves rich and increased with goods, they are wretched and miserable, and poor, and blind; and therefore need to take counsel of our Lord, and to anoint their eyes with his eye-salve, that they may see.” “Their eyes must be opened, before they will turn from the power of Satan unto Godb.”

The natural man too is represented as spiritually deaf; as having ears, and not hearing; as being unable to hear the voice of the good Shepherdd; yea, as like the deaf adder that stoppeth her ear.

The leprosy also of sin lies deep in our hearts; as the prophet intimates, when, in allusion to the convicted leper, he says of himself, and of all around him, “Woe is me, I am a man of unclean lips, and dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips.”

Though demoniacal possessions were not properly disorders, yet are they always enumerated with them, when the miracles of our Lord are recited. And, however humiliating the truth may be, it is certain that we are all, while in an unconverted state, possessed by Satan. The unbelieving world are blinded, governedh, and led captive by him at his will. And, whatever evil they are excited to commit, it is through the instigation of that wicked fiendk.]

  2.      There is a resemblance between the cures wrought by our Lord upon the bodies of men, and the cures which he will work upon their souls—

[Wherever the blessings of salvation are mentioned in the prophets, they are set forth in some highly figurative expressions; and by none more commonly than by those relating to bodily cures. Isaiah says, “In that day shall the deaf hear the words of the book, and the eyes of the blind see out of, obscurity and out of darkness.” And again, “Then the eyes of the blind shall be opened, and the ears of the deaf shall be unstopped: then shall the lame man leap as an hart, and the tongue of the dumb sing;” which figures are afterwards explained as relating to the spiritual salvation of the Church.

The application which the inspired Apostles make of these prophecies further evinces the truth of our position. St. Matthew quotes a passage, which beyond all doubt relates to spiritual benefits that were to be obtained through the death of Christ, and explains it, in a way of accommodation, as referring to the bodily cures which our Lord had wrought. Further, our Lord himself, having healed a blind man, takes occasion to trace this very analogy between the spiritual blindness of the Pharisees, and the bodily blindness which he had just healed: “For judgment I am come into this world, that they who see not might see, and that they who see might be made blind.” And both the answer which the Pharisees made to him, and the reply which our Lord gave them, manifest that this analogy was intended to be pointed outq.]

  3.      There is a resemblance between the manner in which the diseased persons applied to our Lord for healing, and the manner in which we should apply to him for spiritual healing—

[Of all the multitudes that came to our Lord, there was not one who was not sensible of his disease. Moreover, they all came to him with deep humility, prostrating themselves before him in the most abject manner, and acknowledging the utter insufficiency of all other meanss. And such was their earnestness, that they came from afar, and could not be prevailed upon to hold their peaceu, nor would take a denial even from our Lord himself. It is worthy of notice also, that they all came in faith: some few indeed doubted his power, and some his willingness, to help them: but none doubted both his power and his willingness; and the greater part entertained no doubt at all.

Thus then should we go to him, “weary and heavy-laden” with our sins, and so sensible of our spiritual wants, that if he should ask us, What wilt thou that I shall do unto thee? we may answer him immediately, “Lord, that this disorder may be healed, and that sin forgiven.” We must also, with all lowhness of mind, confess our inability to obtain relief from any other quarter, and our dependence on him alone. Moreover, in proof of our earnestness, we must not merely seek, but strive, determining to take the kingdom of heaven by violenceb, and not to let the Saviour go, except he bless us. Lastly, we must be sure to exercise faith on Christ, believing him both able and willing to save us: for we are expressly told that, he who wavereth and is of a doubtful mind, must not expect to receive any thing of the Lord.]

  4.      There is a resemblance between the manner in which our Lord cured their disorders and the manner in which he will cure ours—

[He sometimes healed the people secretly, as when he took the deaf man aside from the multitude, and put his fingers into his ears, and said, Ephphatha, be opened, and then charged him to tell no man. So he has now many “hidden ones,” in whose hearts he carries on a secret work, and heals them without attracting the notice of the world. At other times he performed the cures openly, and in the sight of all; as when he bade the man with the withered hand to stand forth. So he often converts the souls of profligate sinners, or bitter persecutors, in such a striking manner, as to fill all around them with wonder and amazement.

Sometimes he wrought his cures instantaneously; as in the man at the pool of Bethesda: and so he effects a sudden change in the hearts of many, causing them to cry out like the first converts and the jailor, “What shall I do to be savedi?” At other times he performed his cures gradually, as in the blind man, who at first saw men, as trees, walking: and so he often carries on his work in a gradual manner in our souls, leading us from progressive conviction to thorough conversion.

Sometimes he used means in curing them; as when he put clay and spittle on the blind man’s eyes: so he now converts many by the preaching of his Gospel. At other times he used no means, as in the case of the ten lepers, who were cleansed as they were going in the way: and so he often imparts the knowledge of himself by the teachings of his Spirit, without using any particular means or instrument to convey it.

But however varied his manner was with respect to these things, in one respect it was uniformly the same: whomsoever he cured, he cured perfectly: and thus he always carries on the work he has begun in the souls of men, and perfects that which concerneth themo.]

Since then, without any forced interpretations or conceits, we may draw such instruction from the miracles in general, let us endeavour to,

  II.      Improve the particular miracle recorded in the text—

If, in the concerns of our souls, we desire either direction or encouragement, we cannot find them any where more suitably afforded than in the passage before us; where the conduct of the multitude suggests the former, and the conduct of Jesus the latter. Let us then improve it,

  1.      For direction—

[We should not dare to exhort you in general to follow the multitude; since that would be to lead you in the broad road to destruction. But in the present instance we say, Follow that multitude.

Follow them in the conviction which they had of their own need of Christ. Every one felt within himself that he laboured under a disorder which needed healing; and, if each of them had been asked, ‘What is your disorder? and what is yours?’ they could all have specified the principal symptoms of the disorders under which they laboured. Now thus must we go to Jesus, feeling and lamenting the ravages which sin has made upon our souls. It is not sufficient for us to confess in general that we are sinners; we must open our case to him, and tell him, “Thus and thus have I done!” And, if the Spirit of God have truly convinced us of sin, we shall find no more difficulty in this, than a poor man does in opening his complaints to a physician. More particularly, we should get our hearts impressed with the evil of our besetting sin; and, carrying it to Jesus, we should confess it, lament it, aggravate it, and implore both his mercy to pardon it, and his grace to subdue it: and, if we thus go to him labouring and heavy-laden, we have his promise that he will give us rest.

Follow them also in their earnestness. We are told that the people pressed on Jesus, so that they who were nearest to him could not maintain their place by reason of the multitudes, who strove to get access to him, and to touch him. They not only left their own business, but, in many instances, prevailed on their friends to relinquish their occupations also, in order to carry them to Jesus. In short, they postponed every consideration to that of obtaining a cure from him. And who could blame them? They felt their need of healing, and knew that they might obtain it by going to him, and therefore they would on no account lose the opportunity afforded them: and, when they could in no other way get access to him, they would go up to the top of the house, and let down their diseased friends in a couch through the tiling. Would to God that we were all thus earnest for the salvation of our souls! that no consideration whatever were suffered to detain us from the Lord! and that not one of us might delay another hour to go unto him! We are far more favourably circumstanced than they were, since we can go to him without removing from our chamber, or intermitting our earthly business. He is every where present to heal us; if we can only break through the crowd of lusts and cares that are within our own hearts, there is no other crowd that can keep us from him. How anxious should we be to get immediate relief from an acute disorder, especially if there were but one physician able to heal us, and his continuance in our neighbourhood were likely to be very short! Let us then shew the same care for our souls, and go to Jesus without delay, knowing that “this is the accepted time, this is the day of salvation.”

Once more—Follow them in their faith. They were not only convinced of Christ’s power and willingness to heal them, but were assured that, if they could but touch his garment, they should be whole. They did not stand reasoning about the matter, or go and try other means, but applied to him as their all-sufficient helper. So must we go to him, not endeavouring first to heal ourselves by our repentance, or labouring to make ourselves fit for him by our amendments, or questioning whether he be willing to receive us: we must go to him just as we are, altogether filthy and abominable; and be firmly persuaded that we shall not seek his face in vain. To be reasoning and yielding to doubts and fears will be of little avail; but to go to Christ in faith, will prove an infallible remedy for every ill: whatever be our complaint, he will say, “Go thy way; and, as thou hast believed, so be it done unto thee;” and we shall be made whole from that very hour.]

  2.      For encouragement—

[We cannot conceive any thing more encouraging than the behaviour of our blessed Lord to the people.

Behold his condescension! How wonderful was it, that he, the Lord of glory, should suffer such a multitude of miserable and filthy objects to press upon him! yea, that he should go about through all cities, towns, and villages, for that very purpose! And will he now be inattentive to our spiritual wants? When we rush, as it were, with holy violence into his presence, and seek to touch him, will he forbid us? Will he withdraw himself from us, or say, ‘Stand off; thou art too vile to be admitted to my presence?’ Has he not said, on the contrary, that “whosoever cometh unto him, he will in no wise cast out?” Let the trembling sinner then take courage; for his sighing shall soon be turned into that triumphant song, “Bless the Lord, O my soul, and all that is within me bless his holy name, who forgiveth all thy sins, and healeth all thy diseases!”

Behold also his compassion! There was not one of all the multitudes that came to him, dismissed without a cure. Though many of them probably had despised him, and though he foresaw that many of those very persons would join in that general cry, “Away with him, crucify him, crucify him!” (as it is highly probable they did) yet his bowels of compassion yearned over them. Many, no doubt, were as unthankful as the nine lepers; yet did he not withhold his mercy from their bodies. How much more then will he have compassion on those who seek him for their souls! When he beholds them supplicating for the pardon of their sins, and the renovation of their hearts, will he turn from them, and shut his ear at their cry? no; he will rather fall upon their neck, and kiss them; or, as the prophet speaks, “He will save; he will rejoice over them with joy, he will rest in his love, he will joy over them with singingb.” Only let us seek him in truth, and we shall find him rich in mercy unto all that call upon him.

Lastly, behold his power! However inveterate the diseases of many might be, the whole multitude were healed. And has he less power now that he is in heaven? Has he not “the residue of the Spirit,” yea, and “all the fulness of the Godhead dwelling in him?” Why then should any be discouraged? What though our sins be great? can he not forgive them? What though our habits be deeply rooted? can he not overcome them? What though our temptations be manifold? can he not deliver us out of all? Be our “enemies ever so mighty, he that dwelleth on high is mightier.” Let us all surround him in expectation of his benefits; and “we shall find him able to save us to the uttermost.”]

  To CONCLUDE—

[Let us now picture to ourselves the state of the multitudes who had touched him: what joys! what raptures! what ecstasies! what congratulations from surrounding friends! what universal shouts and acclamations to the honour of the Lord Jesus! none ascribing their recovery to an arm of flesh; but all acknowledging Jesus as the sole author of their happiness! And why should it not be thus with us at this time? Surely, if this whole congregation would but vie with each other in their endeavours to obtain his blessing, they would soon have far more abundant cause for joy, than ever they had, whose bodily health was restored: for their souls should be freed from the deadly malady of sin, yea, “virtue should come forth from him to heal us all.”]

MCCCCXCV

TRUE HAPPINESS STATED

  Luke 6:20–26.

And he lifted up his eyes on his disciples, and said, Blessed be ye poor: for yours is the kingdom of God. Blessed are ye that hunger now: for ye shall be filled. Blessed are ye that weep now: for ye shall laugh. Blessed are ye, when men shall hate you, and when they shall separate you from their company, and shall reproach you, and cast out your name as evil, for the Son of man’s sake. Rejoice ye in that day, and leap for joy: for, behold, your reward is great in heaven: for in the like manner did their fathers unto the prophets. But woe unto you that are rich! for ye have received your consolation. Woe unto you that are full! for ye shall hunger. Woe unto you that laugh now! for ye shall mourn and weep. Woe unto you, when all men shall speak well of you! for so did their fathers to the false prophets.

MEN who dislike the doctrines of the Gospel are no less averse to its precepts. They may both approve and practice heathen morality; but the morality of Jesus will appear to them unamiable and precise. The words before us will fully establish this assertion: they lead us to consider,

  I.      The false notions which the world entertains of happiness—

Many have been the speculations of philosophers on this subject; but there are general views in which the world at large are agreed—

[They think that wealth must of necessity conduce much to our happiness: they think that a freedom from care and trouble will greatly augment it: they think that an easy access to pleasurable amusements and carnal enjoyments will abundantly promote it; and, above all, that universal respect and honour will complete it.]

These views, however, are very erroneous—

[We deny not but that these sources of enjoyment afford a present gratification: nor do we say that wealth, or ease, or pleasure, or reputation, may not be very innocently enjoined: but it is a great mistake to think that happiness consists in these things; or that, if possessed in ever so great abundance, they would compensate for the want of spiritual blessings. There are riches of far greater value than the wealth of this world; nor can any one possess those, who is very solicitous about this. None can know his need of divine grace, and not pant after itc: in such indigent creatures, a Laodicean state is abominable. Moreover, God calls men to mourn and weep for their sins: is it desirable then to possess a light and vacant mind? Such too is the enmity of the world against God, that it is not possible to retain the friendship of both at the same time. Should we then consider human estimation as of transcendent value? Surely these things may shew us how erroneous the world’s judgment is.]

Nor is there any delusion more fatal—

[Our Lord could not be mistaken in his judgment; yet he denounces the heaviest woes against the rich, the full, the gay, and the respected, and distinctly assigns his reason for each denunciation. They who are occupied with carnal gratifications, make no provision for their eternal welfare. Hence, when bereft of the things of this life, they will be for ever destitute. Having had their portion now with the men of this world, they will participate in their lot hereafter. We may see these truths realized in the parable of the Rich Man and Lazarus.]

Having exposed error, we would establish truth, by shewing,

  II.      The representations of happiness given us in the Scriptures—

Poverty, dissatisfaction, sorrow, and contempt, are, it must be confessed, not pleasing in themselves; nor indeed does any blessing necessarily attach to them; but under certain circumstances they may be a desirable portion—

[Poverty and sorrow often have been, and still are endured for Christ’s sake; nor is there any thing more common than for his servants to be reviled and despised for their fidelity to him. It should seem indeed that the world could not hate and execrate those whom God esteems and declares blessed; but the treatment which the prophets, and Christ, and his Apostles, met with, proves the contrary. If we then be treated like them, we have no reason to be dejected; yea rather, we may consider it as an honour conferred on us by God.]

In a spiritual sense, poverty, hunger, &c. are great blessings—

[No doubt there is a spiritual meaning also in our Lord’s words. And what so desirable as to feel our need of Christ? And what so desirable as to be hungering after his righteousness? And what so desirable as to be mourning for our corruptions? And what so desirable as to endure shame for his sakek? They who experience most of this state, find most delight in it; they are most fortified against the incursions of worldly sorrow, and most abound in spiritual consolations.]

And all who now submit to the pressure of spiritual afflictions, shall be abundantly recompensed in the eternal world—

[In heaven there is enough to repay all our labours. The riches of glory will compensate for all present losses; the fulness of joy in those blest abodes will satiate the hungry soul; the inconceivable delights will far outweigh our transient sorrows; and the honour which God will put upon us in the society of saints and angels, will make us forget our short-lived disgrace. Christ, the true and faithful witness, has repeatedly affirmed this: and he who declares such persons blessed, himself will make them so.]

  ADDRESS—

  1.      The mistaken votaries of this world—

[All profess to seek after happiness; but how many mistake the shadow for the substance. We may even appeal to you to declare who are truly blessed. O that we would take eternity into our estimate of present things! O that we would cease from circulating our fatal errors, and acquiesce in the unerring declarations of God! We can easily see, that a man who should drink a palatable but poisonous draught, would be no object of envy. Let us be persuaded then that momentary delights can never constitute us blessed. He alone is happy, who is happy for eternity.

  2.      The humble followers of Jesus—

[Let not your hearts envy the prosperity of sinners. Remember that you are the only blessed people upon earth. Your very griefs and sorrows are grounds of self-congratulation. The time is shortly coming, when men’s apparent states will be reversed. Then will be fulfilled that glorious prophecy of Isaiah—Be content then to “fill up the measure of Christ’s sufferings,” and take for your comfort that delightful promisep—]

MCCCCXCVI

THE BLIND LEADING THE BLIND

  Luke 6:39.

And he spake a parable unto them; Can the blind lead the blind? shall they not both fall into the ditch?

IGNORANCE is, in itself, more excusable than vice; but in some cases its effects are equally pernicious. This is manifestly true in the concerns of the soul: a person, ignorant of the way of salvation, must fall short of heaven; and if he undertake to direct others, will ruin all who follow him. To impress this truth on our minds, our Lord repeatedly uttered this parable—

  I.      The scope of the parable—

The Pharisees, through their professed sanctity, gained extensive influence, and were implicitly followed by the deluded populace. The consequences were extremely fatal to them both.

In this parable our Lord intended to reprove,

  1.      The presumption of such guides—

[No man should undertake an office for which he is not qualified, much less so important an office as that of guiding men to heaven. Yet many assume it for filthy lucre’s sake, without any other qualification than that of a little human learning. But what would be thought of a man, who, because he was conversant with the learned languages, and philosophy, should engage to navigate a ship? Yet he would only subject a few hundreds of persons to temporal death; whereas a minister that misleads his people, involves thousands in everlasting destruction. How horrible is such presumption! and how surely must it bring down upon the offenders the signal vengeance of heaven! Let all who would not perish under such an accumulated load of guilt, examine well their motives for undertaking, their qualifications for discharging, and their manner of executing, this high officed.]

  2.      The folly of such followers—

[The generality never once consider whether their guide be competent to direct them, nor inquire into the truth of the directions given them. They commit their souls to his care, as though there were no possibility of erring, or no danger in error. They even prefer such teachers as “prophesy unto them smooth things.” But would any man act thus in matters of less importance? Would any person who had a disorder to be healed, or a cause to be tried, employ a physician or a lawyer that was ignorant of his profession, if he could have access to one of approved ability? Would any blind person commit himself to the guidance of one who also was destitute of sight? Can any one doubt what would be the consequence of such folly? What madness then is it for men to rest satisfied with the instructions of those, whose whole dispositions and conduct manifest, that they are ignorant of the way to heaven! That their guides will be partakers of their doom, will afford but little consolation to them, when they themselves are suffering the bitter consequences of their folly.]

The truth asserted in the parable is too obvious to need either proof or illustration; we shall therefore proceed to consider,

  II.      The lessons we should LEARN from it—

Though the familiarity of our Lord’s expressions appears at first sight calculated to produce a smile, they afford just occasion for the most solemn admonitions.

  1.      Guard against errorin the concerns of your souls—

[Many suppose that ignorance is an excuse for error: but God has sufficiently warned us against this mistake. It is certain, that there is a great diversity of doctrines among those who undertake to teach — — — and, that error is more prevalent than truth — — — But the multitudes who throng the broad road, cannot procure safety for those who walk in it. We must dare to leave the beaten track of self-righteousness and formality, for the less frequented path of faith and holiness; nor must we hope to reach the fold of God, unless we follow the footsteps of his flock.]

  2.      Try what you hear by the touchstone of God’s word—

[The Scriptures are the only proper rule of our faith and practice: to them we must refer every thing as to an unerring standard, nor must any human authority supersede the exercise of our own judgmentk. If an angel from heaven were to preach, we ought to try his word by this test. This was approved in the Bereans of old; and it is expressly enjoined on usm.]

  3.      Seek the instruction and guidance of the Holy Spirit—

[However plainly man may preach, God alone can enable you to profit. Of yourselves you will be far more ready to embrace the self-exalting tenets of deceivers, than the humiliating doctrines of the Gospel. But the Holy Ghost shall be given to those who seek his influence, and shall guide into all truth those who submit to his teachingp. Let all then, whatever be their capacity or attainments, implore his help: then, though babes in human science, they shall be taught the things that are hid from the wise and prudent.]

MCCCCXCVII

THE TREE KNOWN BY ITS FRUITS

  Luke 6:43–45.

A good tree bringeth not forth corrupt fruit; neither doth a corrupt tree bring forth good fruit. For every tree is known by his own fruit. For of thorns men do not gather figs, nor of a bramble-bush gather they grapes. A good man out of the good treasure of his heart, bringeth forth that which is good; and an evil man out of the evil treasure of his heart, bringeth forth that which is evil: for of the abundance of the heart his mouth speaketh.

IT is of infinite importance to every man to attain a knowledge of his state and character before God. For, as such a knowledge would be the best preservative against a self-exalting and censorious spirit, so would it keep us from deluding ourselves with a merely nominal and formal religion. In order to attain it we must examine our words and actions, and trace them to their proper source. Thus, by discovering what is in the heart, we shall be enabled to form a just estimate of our own character, and be guarded against a fatal presumption on the one hand, and a needless disquietude on the other. This mode of inquiry is suggested in the parable before us; which indeed deserves the more attention, because it was delivered by our Lord on several different occasions. There are two truths which it offers to our consideration:

  I.      It is the heart that regulates the life—

The heart is, as it were, a fountain, from whence all our actions proceed—

In it there is a treasure either of good or evil—

[While we are unregenerate, we are full of erroneous principles, and sinful affections. We “think that God is even such an one as ourselves;” that he will neither “do good” to them that serve him, “nor evil” to those who rebel against him. We judge sin to be light and venial, and a worldly carnal life to be consistent with a hope of immortality and glory. While such are our principles, what can be expected, but that “our affections should be set on things below, and not on things above?” Our hopes and fears, our joys and sorrows, are excited only by the things of time and sense: and those invisible realities, which alone deserve our esteem, are disregarded and despised. What a “treasure of evil” is thus formed within us! who can number our rebellious thoughts, our unhallowed desires, our vicious indulgences? How has this treasure been accumulating from our earliest infancy to this present moment! and we, alas! are as averse to part with it as if it rendered us really happy, or would “profit us in the day of wrath.” The regenerate person, on the contrary, has within him a “treasure of good.” His principles and affections are the very reverse of what they once were. His views of God, of sin, and the world, are regulated by the Holy Scriptures; and his desires and pursuits are conformable to the dictates of religion. Thanks be to God, this treasure also is daily accumulating; and he esteems himself rich only in proportion as the love and fear of God increase in his heart.]

According as this treasure is, such will be the life—

[The “waters flowing from a fountain” must of necessity be “bitter or sweet” according as the fountain itself is good or bad. So where a treasure of evil is in the heart, the words and actions must be evil also. “Out of the abundance of the heart, the mouth will speak;” and by that great moving spring will all the members be actuated. Doubtless there may be a freedom from gross immorality, and a conduct in many respects amiable and praiseworthy, while yet the heart is unrenewed: but fruit that is really good can no more proceed from an unregenerate soul, than “figs and grapes from a thorn or bramble-bush.” On the other hand, where the treasure of the heart is good, the life will certainly be good also. A holy practice must of necessity flow from holy principles and heavenly affections. We say not indeed but that there may be found some faults even in the holiest of men, even as blighted or unsound fruit may be found upon the choicest tree. But the good can no more practise iniquity, so as to continue in it, than the bad can bring forth habitually the fruits of righteousness. St. John assigns the same reason as is suggested in the text, “He can not sin, because the seed of God remainethin him,” and, as an operative principle, regulates his life.]

This truth being established, the other follows as a necessary consequence, viz.

  II.      It is by the life that we must judge of the heart—

Though we are not to scrutinize too nicely the motives by which others are actuated, so as to form an uncharitable judgment respecting them, yet we may, and must in some cases, judge of men by their actions. Our Lord uttered the very parable before us on one occasion, expressly with a view to guard us against the influence of false teachers and false brethren. But it is of our own hearts that we are principally called to judge; and assuredly,

The man whose life is good may know his heart also to be good—

[If “every tree is known by its own fruit,” (and no man hesitates to call a vine, or a bramble, by its proper name when he sees the fruit) we need be in no fear of concluding that our hearts are good, when our dispositions and actions accord with the word of God. No man indeed is perfectly good, because we still carry about with us “a body of sin and death:” but he, who discovers the renovation of his heart by the holiness of his life, is certainly possessed of a “good treasure,” and may justly be called “a good man.”]

The man also whose life is evil may conclude with equal certainty that his heart is evil—

[Many, when they cannot deny the sinfulness of their conduct, will yet affirm that their hearts are good. But what is this but to affirm, in spite of the most indubitable evidence to the contrary, that a bramble is a vine or fig-tree? Let any man put the question to his own conscience, Can a man, who lives in a neglect of God and his own soul, have a good heart? Can the proud, the passionate, the revengeful, the lewd, the intemperate, the covetous, have good hearts? Then may a bramble be a fig-tree, notwithstanding it never bears any thing but thorns and briers.]

  ADDRESS—

  1.      Those whose fruits are evil—

[It is not the openly profane, or the grossly sensual alone, but all, who are not really bringing forth the fruits of righteousness and true holiness, that we now address. And what must we say? Shall we flatter you? We dare not: the Scripture speaks plainly; and it would be at the peril of our souls to conceal the truth: St. John expressly calls you children of the devil: and our Lord declares that everlasting fire must be your portiong. Shall it seem unreasonable that such should be the doom of the ungodly, while the righteous are admitted into heaven? Are you at a loss to assign a reason why so great a difference should be put between persons, who, to outward appearance, do not differ very widely from each other? Know that, if you trace the stream to its source, and examine their hearts, there will be found as great a difference between them, as between the portions that they shall hereafter receive. The one has nothing but a treasure of evil principles and evil affections within him; the other is a “partaker of the Divine nature,” and is “transformed into the very image of his God.” Seek then to have “a new heart and a right spirit renewed within you.” “YE MUST BE BORN AGAIN;” and that too for this plain reason, because what you have by nature is altogether carnal; and you must receive a spiritual nature to qualify you for the enjoyment of a spiritual kingdom. Ye must become “new creatures:” “instead of the thorn must come up the fir-tree, and instead of the brier must come up the myrtle-tree,” if ever you would be monuments of God’s saving mercyi.]

  2.      Those whose fruits are good—

[Doubtless you wish to have your evidences of conversion more and more clear. With this view it will be well to mark all your words and actions, and to trace them to their motives and principles. But do not forget that though your own works are the evidences of your conversion, they are not the grounds of your acceptance with God. It is Christ’s obedience unto death that must be the one foundation of your hope. However holy your life be, your eyes must never be turned from Christ. HE is your only, and your all-sufficient Saviour. In him you are to hope, as well when your evidences are obscured, as when they are bright. Nevertheless you should endeavour to abound more and more in all the fruits of righteousness, that you may have the comfort of an assured hope, and God may be glorified in your deportment.]

MCCCCXCVIII

THE FOLLY OF A FRUITLESS PROFESSION

             Luke 6:46.

Why call ye me, Lord, Lord, and do not the things which I say?

THE honour of Christ and the salvation of our souls depend on our having right views of the Gospel: we cannot therefore too earnestly insist on the doctrine of justification by faith in Christ. Nevertheless we should constantly urge the practice of good works as the fruits and evidences of our faith. The folly of expecting salvation while we neglect them is strongly represented by our Lord in the text.

  I.      Shew who they are that deserve the censure in the text—

The heathens have less to aggravate their sins than Christians. The greater part of those who live in countries that are evangelized are obnoxious to this censure—

  1.      Mere nominal Christians deserve it—

[Many are Christ’s, as having been devoted to him in baptism. By the appellation of Christians they profess themselves his followers; but they are in no respect subject to his will and word. Christ commands them to “seek first the kingdom of God,” &c. and they seek it last.]

  2.      Formal, self-righteous persons deserve it—

[Many will go far in the outward duties of religion: they will profess too a veneration for the name of Christ: but he calls them to regeneration, and they deny their need of it. He bids them live by faith on him, and it proves a hard sayingb: they are satisfied with the form of godliness, without the power.]

  3.      False professors deserve it—

[None are so worthy of reproof as they: they will talk much of their dependence on Christ: they will profess perhaps to have experienced much of his power and grace: they may even glory in the recollection of his truth and faithfulness; but in the midst of all, they can be proud, covetous, passionate, censorious, unforgiving, deceitful, and dishonest. To such the text may be applied with peculiar energy.].

Such persons ought to be addressed with all plainness of speech—

  II.      Expostulate with them on the folly of their conduct—

The service of God is justly called a “reasonable service;” but a fruitless profession is most unreasonable. No reason can be assigned “why” persons should rest in such a state—

  1.      Is not a conformity to Christ’s precepts practicable?

[Many allege, that such strictness as he requires is unattainable. We allow that absolute perfection is not to be expected in this world; but an unreserved devotedness of ourselves to God is attainable. Thousands of the saints of old have walked thus with God: there is a cloud of living witnesses who exemplify this conduct. God has promised grace to all who seek it diligently.]

  2.      Is not obedience to him necessary?

[We may be good citizens if we possess only the virtues of heathens; but an unfeigned regard to Christ is necessary to constitute us Christians. St. Paul has fully declared the in-efficacy of outward religion. Judas and the foolish virgins awfully exemplified itd. Our Lord has warned us all respecting it.]

  3.      Will not a feigned allegiance be discovered by him?

[We may easily deceive our fellow-creatures; but every motion of our hearts is visible to Christ: nor can the most specious appearances deceive himg. In his final judgment he will shew that he was privy to our most secret thoughts and desires.]

  4.      Shall we not wish at last that we had been sincere and upright?

[The reproach which attends the exercise of real religion, may make us satisfied with the form of it at present; but in the day of judgment we shall see our folly. We shall not know what to reply to this question then. The vain excuses we now make we shall not even dare to offer.]

  APPLICATION—

[Let all then seek to become Christians indeed. Let us not be afraid to confess our Lord before men; and let us regard “what he says” not only above all, but in opposition to all, that human counsellors can suggest. Let us take care that our lives be consistent with our professions. Let us trust in the Lord as simply, as if obedience were not required. Let us obey the Lord as zealously, as if obedience only were required.]

MCCCCXCIX

THE CENTURION’S SERVANT HEALED

  Luke 7:6, 7.

Then Jesus went with them. And when he was now not far from the house, the centurion sent friends to him, saying unto him, Lord, trouble not thyself: for I am not worthy that thou shouldest enter under my roof: wherefore neither thought I myself worthy to come unto thee: but say in a word, and my servant shall be healed.

NOTHING makes a wider breach among men than a difference in political and religious opinion: but mutual good offices would greatly counteract this evil. Though we can never hope to soften the rancour of all, we may by persevering kindness conciliate the esteem of many. We have before us a remarkable instance of the efficacy of such conduct. The centurion was a heathen, an officer of a hostile nation, stationed in Judæa to keep the Jews in subjection; but instead of oppressing the Jews he had shewed them much favour. He, in his turn, needed their good offices on behalf of his servant; and they gladly became his advocates and intercessors; they even prevailed on Jesus to work a miracle on his behalf.

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