Rom. 8:6.

Rom. 8:6.

  1.      To shew us how we are to seek justification before God—

[Abraham believed in God as able to accomplish all that he had promised: and by this faith he was justified Thus we are to believe in God as having already accomplished his promises, in having given up his Son to “die for our offences,” and having raised him from the dead as the author and pledge of our eternal justification. It is by the death of Christ, and through the prevailing intercession, which, in his exalted state, he makes for us, that we are to be reconciled to God — — — We must not for one moment dream of any other way of acceptance — — — If so eminent a man as Abraham was incapable of being justified by his works, much more must we: and if he was necessitated to look to Christ in order to obtain salvation, beyond all doubt we must stand indebted to the same Saviour for all our hopes of happiness and glory.]

  2.      To assure us that, if we truly believe in Christ, we cannot fail of being justified—

[Abraham’s views of Christ must assuredly have been very obscure: yet, dark as they were, they availed for his justification before God. But we have an incomparably clearer knowledge of Christ: we see him in his person, work, and offices, and therefore have stronger ground for our faith in him. If we then receive the record of God concerning him, and rely fully upon him as “dying for our offences, and as raised again for our justification,” shall not we be accepted? We need not fear. Our souls may appear as dead with respect to spiritual fruitfulness, as Abraham’s and Sarah’s bodies were with respect to their having a son and heir; and to the eye of sense it may appear as improbable that we should inherit the promise, as that they should; but if we believe, we shall soon find that “all things are possible to him that believeth:” we shall have the righteousness of Christ imputed to us; and, being made heirs with Abraham, we shall be enabled to “walk in his steps” on earth, and “sit down with him in the kingdom of our Lord in heavenk.”]

  By way of conclusion, we would entreat you to REFLECT upon,

  1.      The folly and danger of self-righteousness—

[For what end did the Apostle take such pains to shew us that the most eminent saints of old were not justified by their works, but to caution us the more strongly against trusting in our own works? Let us not imagine this a light matter: on this one point our everlasting happiness depends. If we will renounce all dependence on ourselves, and “submit to Christ’s righteousness,” we shall be saved: but if we will “go about to establish our own righteousness,” either in whole or in part, we must inevitably, and eternally, perish.]

  2.      The value and importance of faith—

[The highest commendation imaginable is given to faith, in the words before us. Two things are spoken of it, which should render it very precious in our eyes; it “gives the highest glory to God,” and brings the richest benefit to man. Faith glorifies all the perfections of the Deity, in a far higher degree than any other grace whatever: and it saves the soul; which cannot be said of any other grace. Faith is the (instrumental) cause of our justification: but all other graces are the fruits and effects of justification already imparted to us. Let us seek then to exercise faith, and to be “strong in faith:” and let us be well assured, that the more confidently we rely on the promises of God, the more certainly shall we laugh with holy exultation, and obtain a testimony from God that we were accepted in his sight.]

MDCCCXL

BENEFITS ARISING FROM A JUSTIFYING FAITH

  Rom. 5:1–5.

Therefore being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ: by whom also we have access by faith into this grace wherein we stand, and rejoice in hope of the glory of God. And not only so, but we glory in tribulations also: knowing that tribulation worketh patience; and patience, experience; and experience, hope: and hope maketh not ashamed; because the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost which is given unto us.

IT may excite surprise, that the Apostle should contend so earnestly for the doctrine of justification by faith alone, when on many other subjects he evinces a candour that might almost be construed into indifference. The eating of meats offered to idols; the observance of times and seasons which under the Jewish law were regarded as holy; yea, and even the practice of circumcision itself, if not set in opposition to the Gospel; were left by him to the discretion of men, to be used or neglected as they thought fit. But to receive the doctrine of justification by faith was not left to the option of any; nor was any alternative offered them, but to submit to it, or perish. This however was not without good reason, since it was not possible to substitute any thing in the place of that doctrine, or to interfere with it in any degree, without making void the whole work of redemption. Moreover, by this doctrine such blessings were insured to man as could not be procured by any other means. Some of these the Apostle enumerates in the passage before us: and we shall consider them in the order in which they lie—

  I.      A state of favour and acceptance with God—

[Man, as a sinner, is exposed to the wrath of God, and is under a sentence of actual condemnation. But being justified by faith in Christ, he is freed from guilt through the atoning sacrifice which has been offered for him, and is brought into a state of reconciliation with God. From the moment that he believes in Christ, “the anger of God is turned away from him;” and there remains, if we may so speak, no longer any thing upon him, which can call forth the Divine displeasure against him: his sins are all washed away in the Redeemer’s blood; and he is clothed from head to foot in the robe of the Redeemer’s righteousness, so that in the sight of God he stands without spot or blemish. Having thus perfect reconciliation with God, he has peace in his own conscience, even that “peace of God which passeth all understanding.”

Into this state “he has access by faith in Christ;” and in it “he stands,” having this peace as an abiding portion. It is the very portion which Christ himself promised to all his faithful followers; “In me ye shall have peace:” “My peace I give unto you.” And hence the Lord Jesus bears, as his own peculiar title, that glorious name, “The Prince of Peace.”]

Next, in succession to this blessing, is,

  II.      A joyful hope of his glory—

[The believer, being made a child of God, is become “an heir of God, and a joint-heir with Christ:” and he immediately begins to look forward to that inheritance to which he has been begotten, which is “incorruptible, and undefiled, and never-fading; and is reserved in heaven for them, as they are reserved by the power of God for it.” To this inheritance our blessed Lord encouraged his Disciples to have respect continually, and to anticipate in their minds the everlasting fruition of it: “In my Father’s house are many mansions: if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you. And, if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you unto myself, that where I am, there ye may be also.” And accordingly we find the Apostle Paul sweetly assured of the possession of it, as soon as he should be liberated from this earthly tabernaclef; and teaching all to expect the same portion at the period of their dismission from the body. Well may the believer rejoice in such a hope: for, what are earthly crowns and kingdoms in comparison of those to which he is heir?]

Whilst the believer receives such great benefits from Christ, he experiences,

  III.      A delight even in tribulations for his sake—

[Tribulations must of necessity in themselves be painful: but as endured for Christ, they become a source and occasion of joy. The believer knows beforehand that he shall be called to suffer them; and he is prepared to glory in them, as the Apostles did, who, when they had been imprisoned and scourged for their fidelity to Christ, went forth from their persecutors, “rejoicing that they were counted worthy to suffer shame for his sakek.” They know that their sufferings will be productive of present, no less than of eternal, benefit to their souls; that, though in the first instance tribulation may cause impatience, it will ultimately “work patience,” by bringing him to a meek submission to the Divine will: from patience so increased, he will derive “experience,” or a decisive evidence that God is with him, and that the grace of God has wrought effectually on his soul. By that experience his “hope” will be exceedingly confirmed; for he will see the very justice, as well as the truth, of God pledged to recompense what is so endured for his name’s sake: and this “hope will never make him ashamed,” as theirs will, who look for salvation in any other way than through faith in Christ. Thus he will see that “his light and momentary afflictions are in reality working for him a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory:” and in this view of them he will greatly rejoice; even as Paul did, who took pleasure in his multiplied distressesn, and counted even the most cruel death for the sake of Christ and his Church as a subject of the most heartfelt congratulation. Instead of repining at his trials, he receives them as a most invaluable gift of God to him for Christ’s sakep, and glorifies God for them as a most precious testimony of his love. His enemies indeed “think not so, neither do they mean so:” nothing is further from their hearts than to advance the work of godliness in the souls of those whom they persecute, and to augment their joy: but this is the real effect of persecution, which, like fire, purifies them from their dross, and causes its victims to leap for joy.]

To this elevated state of mind the believer is advanced by,

  IV.      A sense of his love shed abroad in the heart—

[This is a blessing which, though not to be appreciated or understood by those who have never received it, is yet most assuredly enjoyed by many of God’s chosen people. We scarcely know how to describe it, because it consists chiefly in an impression on the mind occasioned by manifestations of God’s love to the soul. Nothing is more certain than that Christ will “manifest himself to his people, as he does not unto the world.” This he will do by the agency of the Holy Ghost, who will “take of the things that are Christ’s, and will shew them unto us.” As “a spirit of adoption” too, he will give us views of the Father, as our Father in Christ Jesus: he will also “witness with our spirits that we are Christ’s;” and will be in us as “an earnest of our everlasting inheritance;” and will “seal us unto the day of redemption.” By all these operations on our souls, he will “fill us with joy and peace in believing,” yea, with “a joy unspeakable and glorified.” This is in reality a foretaste of heaven itself; and, where this is, a man, if he had a thousand lives, would be ready to lay them all down for his Lord and Saviour, accounting nothing dear to him, so that “Christ might but be magnified in him, whether by life or death.” How persons have been transported with these manifestations, and been enabled by them to triumph over their most malignant enemies, ecclesiastical history, yea the history of our own martyrs, sufficiently informs us. This sense of the Divine presence and love is not indeed at all times equally powerful on the soul: but it is the privilege of all who flee unto the Saviour as their only refuge, and rely upon him as their only hope.]

  We would EXHORT you then, beloved,

  1.      To hold fast the doctrine of justification by faith only—

[No other doctrine brings such blessings along with it. Hence, they who impugn this doctrine, pour contempt on all these effects of it, as fancies that have no reality, and as the creatures of a heated imagination. But we must discard the Scriptures themselves, if we discard these things from the experience of God’s people: and therefore let none deprive you of your hope. Believe in Christ: make him “all your salvation, and all your desire.” Dismiss with abhorrence every thought that tends to lower him in your estimation, or to rob him of his glory; and to the latest hour of your lives “live altogether by faith in Him, who has loved you, and given himself for you.”]

  2.      To seek the privileges connected with it—

[If any enjoy them not, the fault is utterly their own. Circumstances may interfere to put a difference between one and another, so that persons, equally pious, may not be equally full of peace and joy: and the same persons may sometimes experience a diversity of frames. But, generally speaking, these blessed exercises of mind will be found in men in proportion to the simplicity of their faith, and the entireness of their devotion to God. All the persons in the blessed Trinity are engaged to make you thus blessed. The Father lays his anger by, and speaks peace to your souls. The Lord Jesus Christ, as your Advocate with the Father, secures these blessings for you, and, as your living Head, imparts them to you. And the Holy Ghost communicates to you all those exquisite delights, which the sense of God’s love, and a prospect of his glory, are calculated to inspire. Seek then the peace that passeth all understanding; and the joyful “hope that purifieth the heart:” and seek such an abiding sense of God’s presence, as shall raise you above all the things of time and sense, and convert tribulation itself into a source of joy and a ground of glorying. Then will you adorn this doctrine of God our Saviour; and will put to shame the enemies of the Gospel, by the transcendent efficacy of it upon your souls.]

MDCCCXLI

THE BELIEVER’S SECURITY IN CHRIST

  Rom. 5:6–10.

For when we were yet without strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly. For scarcely for a righteous man will one die: yet peradventure for a good man some would even dare to die. But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. Much more then, being now justified by his blood, we shall be saved from wrath through him. for if, when we were enemies, we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, being reconciled, we shall be saved by his life.

IT is pleasing to see with what delight the Apostle Paul dwells upon the transcendent excellency and unbounded love of our Lord Jesus Christ. Whatever he is insisting on, he is sure to introduce the Saviour’s name; and, when once he has introduced it, he scarcely knows when to leave the heart-reviving topic: and, if he have left it for a moment, he is ever eager to recur to it again. Hence the connexion of his sentences is frequently remote; as we apprehend it to be in the instance before us. We conceive that the proper connexion of our text is with the two first verses of the chapter; in which the Apostle has spoken of Christ as the true and only source of our acceptance with God, and of that hope of the glory of God, which animates our souls. Then, after expatiating on the further benefits which we receive through him, he comes to state more explicitly, How it was that Christ procured these blessings for us; and, Why we may be assured of the ultimate possession of them. In this view of the text we shall be led to shew,

  I.      What Christ has done for us, as enemies—

Our state by nature is here but too justly described—

[We are “ungodly,” we are “sinners,” “enemies” to God and to all vital religion: at the same time, we are also “without strength,” altogether impotent to that which is good — — — What a description is this! how humiliating! and yet how just! — — —]

Yet, when we were in this state, did the Lord Jesus Christ undertake our cause—

[He assumed our nature, and in that nature died. Nor was it merely for our benefit that he died, but in our place and stead. “He bare our sins in his own body on the tree,” and suffered, “he, the Just, for us the unjust.” We were exposed to the wrath of God; and that wrath he bore for us: “He became a curse for us.” The cup which we must have been drinking to all eternity, he drank to the very dregs — — —]

What a stupendous exercise of love was this!

[Well may it be said, that God, in this act of mercy, “commendeth his love towards us:” for it is indeed such a display of love as finds no parallel in the whole universe. There could scarcely be found on earth, one person, who would consent to die in the place of another, who was confessedly “a righteous man,” and just in all his dealings: though possibly there might be some who would lay down their lives for “a good man,” who was eminently pious and useful in the worldd. But who ever made such a sacrifice for his enemy? The utmost stretch of human affection is, “to lay down one’s life for a friend.” But such was not the love of Christ: “while we were yet sinners and enemies, He died for us.” Truly this was “a love that passeth knowledge;” a love, the heights and depths whereof can never be explored — — —]

From this love of Christ to his enemies the Apostle takes occasion to declare,

  II.      What we may expect from him, as friends—

Nothing can be plainer or more conclusive than the Apostle’s argument, that, ‘if Christ has already done so much for us under circumstances so unfavourable, much more shall, whatever remains to be done for us, now that we are in a state of friendship with him, assuredly be completed in due season.’

To elucidate the force of this argument, we would call your attention to the following positions. If Christ should now abandon the work in which he has proceeded so far, and should leave his people to perish at last,

  1.      He would defeat all his Father’s counsels—

[The Father from all eternity predestinated unto life a number of the human race, who therefore are called, “A remnant according to the election of grace:” and these he gave unto his Son, that he might redeem them by his blood, and have them as “his portion for ever and everk.” These in due time he calls by his word and Spirit; he adopts them into his family, transforms them into his image, and will finally exalt them to a participation of his glory. That this counsel may be carried into effect, he commits them to his Son, that they may be kept by his power and grace, and “be preserved blameless unto his heavenly kingdom.” But if Christ should relinquish his care of them, and leave them ultimately to die in their sins, all these counsels would be defeated; and with respect to those who were so deserted, it would be said, “Whom he did predestinate, them he also called; and whom he called, them he also justified; and whom he justified,” them he left to perish. But shall God’s purposes be so frustrated? Shall this golden chain, which reaches from eternity to eternity, be so broken? No: “Of those whom his Father gave him, he never did lose any, nor ever willn.” We say not that he will save them in their sins: God forbid, that such a blasphemous idea should enter into the mind of any: but from their sins he will save them; and “through sanctification of the Spiritp,” “he will keep them from falling, and present them faultless before the presence of his glory with exceeding joy.”]

  2.      He would render void all that he himself had done—

[He has given up his own life a ransom for us, and has actually reconciled us to God by his own obedience unto death. Can we conceive, that, after he has done all this, he should become indifferent to those whom he has thus redeemed? Will he be satisfied thus to shed his blood in vain? If he has “bought us with a price,” will he be content to lose what he has so dearly purchased? After he has actually “justified us by his blood,” will he leave us to be condemned? Will he, now that nothing is wanting on his part, but to supply us with his grace, and to uphold us in his arms, will he, I say, relax his care of us, and leave us to perish? Having done the greater for us, when enemies, will he forbear to do the less for us, as friends? Having done the greater unsolicited, will he refuse to do the less when entreated night and day? In the days of his flesh, notwithstanding all the obstacles in his way, he ceased not to go forward till he could say, “It is finished.” And will he now leave his work unfinished? Having been “the Author of faith” to us, will he decline to be “the Finisher?” Justly does David argue, like the Apostle in our text: “Thou hast delivered my soul from death; wilt not thou then deliver my feet from falling, that I may walk before God in the light of the living?” In like manner, we also may be “confident of this very thing, that he who hath begun a good work in us, will perform it until the day of Jesus Christt.” Our great “Zerubbabel hath laid the foundation of his house; and his hands will finish it.”]

  3.      He would forget all the ends of his own exaltation—

[He is “exalted to be a Prince and a Saviour,” and to “put under his feet all his own, and his people’s enemiesy:” and do we suppose that he will neglect this work? After “having spoiled principalities and powers, and triumphed over them openly upon the cross,” will he, now that he is invested “with all power in heaven and on earth” on purpose to complete his triumphs, give up the palm of victory, and suffer Satan to rescue from his hands those, whom with such stupendous efforts he has delivered? It is not as a private person that Jesus has ascended, but as the “Forerunner” of his people. Will he then forget those whom he has left behind? Will the Head be unmindful of his members? And shall the first-fruits be waved, and no harvest followc? “Living, as he does, on purpose to make intercession for us,” will he forget to intercede? and having all fulness treasured up in him for his Churche, will he forget to impart of it to those for whom he has expressly received it? As our High Priest, he must not only enter with his own blood within the vail, and there make continual intercession for us, but must come forth to bless his peopleg: and, having fulfilled his office thus far, will he now abandon it? The Apostle had certainly no such apprehension, when he laid so great a stress on the resurrection of our Lord, as to make it more efficacious for the salvation of men, that even the whole of Christ’s obedience unto death. We may be sure, therefore, that as he, in his risen state, “is able to save to the uttermost all that come unto God by him,” so he will do it, and “will bring Satan himself shortly under their feet.”]

  4.      He would falsify all his own great and precious promises—

[How express is that promise which he has made to all his sheep, that “none shall ever pluck them out of his hands!” Will he be unmindful of this? or is he become so weak that he is not able to fulfil it? He said to his Disciples, “Ye have not chosen me; but I have chosen you, and ordained you, that you should go and bring forth fruit, and that your fruit should remain:” but how can this be true, if he suffer them to become barren, and to be cut down at last as cumberers of the ground? Why did he say, “Believe in God: believe also in me,” if he meant, after all, to disappoint our confidence? Can we conceive, that, after comforting his Disciples with the assurance, that he was “going to prepare mansions in his Father’s house for them, and would come again and receive them to himself;” can we conceive, I say, that he should leave them to take up their abode in the regions of everlasting darkness and despair? No: he is “the Amen, the true and faithful Witness;” and “every promise that is made to us in him, is yea and Amen,” as immutable as God himself.]

  ADDRESS—

  1.      Those who are inquiring after the way of salvation—

[Nothing can be more plain than the way of salvation, as it is marked out in our text. How must we “be reconciled to God? Through the death of his Son.” How must we be justified and saved from wrath? We must “be justified by his blood,” and “saved from wrath through him.” How, after having been reconciled to God by the death of Christ, must we finally attain complete salvation? We must be “saved by his life;” that is, we must from first to last live by faith on the Son of God, looking to his death as the meritorious ground of our acceptance, and to his renewed life in heaven as the one source of all our stability, and the surest pledge of our eternal happiness. But, it may be asked, Am I among the number for whom these blessings were purchased? If you are among the number of those who feel themselves “ungodly and sinners, and enemies to God, and without strength,” then are you the persons for whom Christ died, and for whom he is improving every moment of his renewed life. What, I would ask, can be more plain than this? What room is here left for doubt? Verily, if salvation be not altogether by Christ Jesus, that is, by the efficacy of his death, and the operation of his grace, St. Paul must have been the most incautious and erroneous writer that ever lived. But, if he was neither ignorant nor deceitful, then is the way of salvation so plain, that not any poor “way-faring man, even though he be a fool, can err therein.” We charge you then, brethren, to flee for refuge to the hope that is set before you; and to “determine to know nothing as a ground of hope, but Jesus Christ and him crucified.”]

  2.      Those who, having sought for reconciliation through Christ, are afraid of being cast off, and left to perish—

[What is it that fills you with such fears as these? Is it on account of Christ that you are distressed? or on account of your own weakness and unworthiness? If you are afraid of Christ, what is it in Him that you stand in doubt of; his power, or his willingness to save? Surely there can be no doubt on either of these points. If your fears arise from a view of your own weakness and sinfulness, why should that prove a bar to your acceptance with him, which was, I had almost said, a reason for his dying for you, and which constantly calls forth his compassion towards you? True, if you continue ungodly, you have no hope: for “the unrighteous cannot inherit the kingdom of God.” But, if you desire truly to be delivered from all your corruptions, and to receive constant supplies of grace from him, then you may safely trust in him to carry on and perfect the work he has begun. He that first sought you, will not be sought by you in vain. He that bore your sins in his own body, will carry them all away into the land of oblivion. He that reconciled you to God, will maintain your peace with God: and he that has completed every thing as far as it depended on his death, will much more perfect what depends upon his life. Be strong then, and of good courage; and hold fast your confidence, and the rejoicing of your hope, firm unto the end.]

MDCCCXLII

HAPPINESS OF THE MORE-ADVANCED BELIEVER

  Rom. 5:11.

And not only so, but we also joy in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom we have now received the atonement.

THOSE remarkable words of the prophet, “Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love him,” are usually interpreted in reference to the future world: but St. Paul speaks of them as fulfilled to us under the Christian dispensation: for, having cited them, he adds, “But God hath revealed them unto us by his Spirit.” So great are the privileges and blessings which we enjoy under the Christian covenant, that no words can adequately express them, no imagination can fully conceive them. We may say respecting them, what God said to Ezekiel respecting the abominations practised by Israel in the chambers of imagery, that the oftener we search into them, the more and greater we shall find. Truly, “the riches of Christ are unsearchablec.” This is strongly intimated by St. Paul in the passage before us. He had expatiated on the blessings which we enjoy in, and by, Christ: “We have peace with God” by him; and through him are enabled to “rejoice in hope of the glory of God.” Nay more, we are enabled to “glory in tribulations also,” as the appointed means of perfecting the Divine work within us, and of fitting us for the glory which God has taught us to expect. But neither is this all: for God would have us rise above the mere consideration of our own happiness, even though it consist in a possession of all the glory of heaven; and he would have our minds occupied with the contemplation of his infinite perfections, and “filled with all the fulness” of his communicable felicity. Hence the Apostle, declaring this to be the actual experience of the great body of the Church at Rome, says, “And not only so,” (that is, we not only enjoy the fore-mentioned blessings,) “but we also joy in God himself through our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom we have now received the atonement.”

In discoursing on these words, we shall be led to shew,

  I.      The happy state of believers in general—

The believer has now already received reconciliation with God—

[The word translated “The atonement” is the same with that which twice in the preceding verse is translated “Reconciled:” and that is its true import here. Reconciliation has been purchased for men by Christ’s obedience unto death: and it is freely offered to them in the name of Christ, by those who go forth as his ambassadors to a guilty world: and it is accepted by those who believe their testimony, and embrace the proffered salvation. It is on this account that the Gospel is called, “The ministry of reconciliation.” Those who receive the glad tidings have all their iniquities blotted out from the book of God’s remembrance. He is no more angry with them, as he was in their unbelieving state; but looks upon them as dear children, in whose happiness he will be eternally glorified. They are now privileged to regard him no longer as an angry Judge, but as a loving Father. Their state is precisely that of the Prodigal Son, after he had returned to his Father’s house: they are freely forgiven for Christ’s sake; nor shall so much as one upbraiding word be ever uttered against them. Their Father rejoices over them as restored to his favour, and delights to honour them with all suitable expressions of paternal love. Are not these persons truly blessed?]

This is the state of every believer without exception—

[If a man have lived in sin for ever so many years, and have at last been led, with deep penitence and contrition, to the foot of the cross, this mercy is instantly vouchsafed to him. The long-continuance of his former iniquities is no bar to his acceptance. The very first moment that he comes weary and heavy-laden to Christ, he finds rest unto his soul.

Neither does the enormity of a man’s transgressions make any difference in this respect. He may have been as vile as ever David was; and yet, on coming truly to Christ, his iniquities shall all be pardoned, and it shall be said to him, “The Lord hath put away thy sin; thou shalt not die.” “Though his sins may have been as crimson, they shall instantly become as white as snow.” The healing virtue of the brazen serpent was not felt by those only whose wounds were of a less dangerous nature, but by those who were at the very point of death: and so shall a sight of our crucified Redeemer operate, however long the wounds of sin have been inflicted, or to whatever extent they may have brought death upon the soul.

We may add also, for the encouragement of the young, that, however weakly their infantine minds have embraced the truth, yet, if they be really sensible of their lost estate, and truly look to the Lord Jesus Christ as their only hope, he will “take them up in his arms and bless them,” and will “ordain praise for himself even in the mouth of babes and sucklings.”]

But the more immediate object of our text is, to set before us,

  II.      The yet happier state of the more advanced believer—

Every believer without exception receives reconciliation with God: but the advanced believer is yet more highly privileged. He has this blessing in common with others; but “not only so.” No: he rises higher; he soars even to God himself; and “rejoices” and “glories in” God,

  1.      As a God of all grace—

[The more we are advanced in the divine life, the more deeply do we feel our own emptiness and utter helplessness. This, we might suppose, would rather weaken and interrupt his joy: and so it would, if his views of God were not also proportionably enlarged. But he views God as “a God of all grace;” and whatever grace he more particularly needs, he sees a fulness of it treasured up in his reconciled God for the supply of his necessities. Does he desire peace? God is to him “the God of peace.” Would he abound in hope? God is to him “the God of hopem.” Would he have an increase of patience and of consolation to support him under his diversified afflictions? God is to him “a God of patience and consolation.” In short, whatever he want, God is a God of it to him, not only as having an inexhaustible fulness of it in himself, but as, if we may so speak, made up of it, as if it were his one only perfection. What a joyful thought is this to the believer who is accustomed to seek his all in God, and to “live altogether by faith in the Son of God, who loved him, and gave himself for him!”]

  2.      As his covenant God and Father—

[God, in the new covenant which he has made with us, has stated this as an inseparable provision of that covenant, that he will be “the God of his people,” and “a God to them.” Whatever he is, he will be for them: whatever he has, he will, as far as they are capable of receiving it, impart unto them. He will not merely be a Friend, or a Father, to them: no; he will be a God: and all that a God can be to them, or can do for them, he will be, and do. All this he pledges to them by covenant, and by oath; “that by two immutable things, in which it is impossible for him to lie, they might have strong consolation who have fled for refuge to lay hold on the hope set before them.” Well then may they who have laid hold on this covenant, rejoice in him. The Jews, on account of their external relation to him, “made their boast of Godq:” and they had reason so to do. But how much greater reason has the Christian to do so, who has laid hold on that better covenant, which “is ordered in all things and sure,” and which shall never wax old, or decay!]

  3.      As his everlasting portion—

[It is not here only that God will be the portion of his people, but for ever in the eternal world. Such he was to Abraham; “I am thy shield, and thy eternal great reward.” And such he will be to every believer; as it is written, “My flesh and my heart fail; but God is the strength of my heart, and my portion for evers.” In that tabernacle that is above, God will dwell in the midst of his people, and be their God, and will wipe away all tears from their eyes. It is his presence that will constitute the felicity of heaven: there will be no sun or moon there; for God himself, and the Lamb, will be the light of that world; and all created enjoyment will vanish, like the light of the glow-worm before the meridian sun. Justly in this view of his privileges does David say, and justly may every believer say, “The Lord is the portion of my inheritance and of my cup: the lines are fallen to me in pleasant places; yea, I have a goodly heritagex.”]

  ADDRESS—

  1.      Let all avail themselves of the opportunity now afforded them—

[At this hour do “we preach peace to you by Jesus Christ;” and “as ambassadors of God, we beseech you in Christ’s stead, be ye reconciled to God.” To all without exception is this invitation given. For every sinner in the universe has Christ “purchased reconciliation through the blood of his cross;” and to every one does he address those memorable words, “Look unto me, and he ye saved, all the ends of the earth.” Will any of you then be content to continue at enmity with God, and to have God an enemy to you? O lay down the weapons of your rebellion, and seek your happiness in God. Surely “in his favour is life; and his loving-kindness is better than life itself.” Only begin this day to rejoice in your God; and “there shall be joy amongst the angels in the presence of God on your account.”]

  2.      Let all seek the highest attainments in the divine life—

[There is a holy ambition which all should feel. We should not any of us be content to obtain reconciliation with God: we should seek to rejoice in God. We should say with David, “I will go unto the altar of God, of God my exceeding joy.” It is greatly to he lamented that the generality of Christians live far below their privileges. If only they have peace with God, and can rejoice in hope of his glory, and can glory in tribulations for his sake, they are ready to think, that they are in as good a state as they need to be. But, brethren, whilst we rejoice that ye are so far advanced, we would have you “not only so:” we would have you “forget what is behind, and press forward towards that which is before.” We would have you “covet earnestly the best gifts.” It is your privilege “to rejoice in God all the day,” yea, to “rejoice in him with joy unspeakable and glorified.” Nor is it your privilege only, but your duty also: for it is said, “In the Lord shall all the seed of Israel be justified, and shall gloryc.” I call you then to live nigh to God, and to “delight yourselves in God,” and to have even now “the earnest” of heaven in your souls. “Let Israel then rejoice in Him that made him; and the children of Zion be joyful in their Kinge.”]

MDCCCXLIII

DEATH BY ADAM, AND LIFE BY CHRIST

  Rom. 5:18, 19.

Therefore as by the offence of one judgment came upon all men to condemnation, even so by the righteousness of one the free gift came upon all men unto justification of life. For as by one man’s disobedience many were made sinners, so by the obedience of one shall many be made righteous.

THE more we investigate the Gospel of Christ, the more mysterious it appears in all its parts. To a superficial observer it seems that the way of salvation through a crucified Redeemer is plain and simple: but it is surely an astonishing mystery, that those who have destroyed themselves should be redeemed by the blood of God’s only dear Son, and be saved by a righteousness that was wrought out by him. Yet that is but a small part of the mystery revealed to us in the Gospel. There we learn, that at the instant of our birth we are under a sentence of condemnation for the sin of our first parent; and that, as we are lost in him, so we are to be recovered by the Lord Jesus Christ, inheriting righteousness and life from him, the second Adam, as we inherit sin and death from the first Adam. This is the subject of which the Apostle treats in the passage before us. He had throughout the preceding part of this epistle declared the way of salvation through Christ: but now he traces up sin and death to Adam as our federal head or representative, and righteousness and life to Christ as our federal head or representative under the new covenant. This opens to us a new view of the Gospel, and leads us farther into the great mystery of redemption than the preceding statements had enabled us to penetrate.

That we may avail ourselves of the light which is thus afforded us, we shall,

  I.      Consider the comparison here instituted—

It is here assumed as an acknowledged truth, that by the sin of Adam we all were brought under guilt and condemnation—

[Adam was not a mere private individual, but the head and representative of all mankind. Hence what he did in eating the forbidden fruit, is imputed unto us, as though it had been done by us: and we are subjected to the punishment that was denounced against transgression, “In the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die.” This in the preceding context is repeatedly affirmed: “By one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned.” Again, “Through the offence of one many be deadb:” Again, “The judgment was by one to condemnation:” And again, “By one man’s offence death reigned by oned.” So also it is twice mentioned in our text. Nor is it merely asserted: it is proved also, and that too by an argument which all can easily understand. The death of infants demonstrates the truth in question: for, nothing is plainer than that God will not inflict punishment, where no guilt attaches: but he does inflict punishment, even death itself, on infants, who cannot possibly have committed sin in their own persons. For whose sin then is this punishment inflicted? Surely for the sin of Adam, our first parent; who was the head and representative of all mankind. The law which denounced death as the penalty of transgression, comprehended, not him only, but us also: and therefore, having transgressed it in him, we are considered as sinners, and are subjected to all the penalties of transgression. To account for the agonies and death of new-born infants on any other supposition than this, is impossible.]

With this is compared our justification to life by the righteousness of our Lord Jesus Christ—

[Christ is that person “by whose obedience many are made righteous.” He is given to us as a second Covenant-Head. There is however this difference between him and Adam: Adam was the head of all his natural seed; and Christ is the head of all his spiritual seed. They are included in him; and all that he did or suffered is put to their account, as though they had done or suffered it themselves: and his entire righteousness is imputed to them for justification, precisely as Adam’s disobedience is imputed to us for condemnation. The parallel indeed holds yet farther still: for as Adam’s guilt is imputed to us before we commit personal sin, so is Christ’s righteousness imputed to us before we perform any personal obedience. Nevertheless, our obedience is not therefore rendered either useless or uncertain; for, as from Adam we receive a corrupt nature, so from Christ we receive a holy and divine nature: and as all our personal disobedience aggravates the guilt and condemnation which we derived from Adam; so our personal obedience, after we have been justified in Christ Jesus, enhances the degrees of glory to which we are entitled at the instant of our justification. Now all this is plainly affirmed in our text: (Read the text:) nay, it is, in the verses preceding our text, affirmed, that we receive more from Christ than ever we lost in Adam: (Read ver. 15–17.) And this is a striking, and very important, truth. For,

First, we are placed in a safer state than that which we lost in Adam. Adam was placed in a state of probation, to stand or fall by his own obedience; and, notwithstanding all his advantages, he fell, and ruined both himself and all his posterity. But we, when justified in Christ’s righteousness, are given to him, that we may be kept by his power unto everlasting salvation: and he has expressly declared, that “none shall ever pluck us out of his hands.”

Next, we are made to possess a better righteousness than any which we could ever have inherited from Adam: for if he had stood, and we had stood in him, and partaken of his righteousness for ever, we should still have had only the righteousness of a creature: but now we have, and shall have to all eternity, the righteousness of the Creator: yes, “Jehovah himself is our righteousness:” and whereas, with a creature’s righteousness, we could have claimed nothing, being only unprofitable servants, with the Creator’s righteousness we may claim on the footing of justice as well as of mercy, all the glory of heaven.

Once more: Our happiness is infinitely enhanced beyond any thing it could ever have been, if we had stood in Adam. The felicity of heaven would doubtless have been inconceivably great under any circumstances: but who can conceive what an addition it will receive from the consideration of its being the purchase of the Redeemer’s blood, and the fruit of those eternal counsels by which the whole work of redemption was both planned and executed?

Thus then is the comparison between the first and second Adam shewn to be strictly just; except indeed that the scale preponderates beyond all expression or conception in favour of the Lord Jesus, who has done “MUCH MORE” for us than ever we lost in Adam; or than Adam, though he had continued sinless, ever could have done, either for himself or us.]

But that this subject may produce a suitable impression on our minds, we will,

  II.      Suggest one or two reflections upon it—

It is much to be regretted, that the great mysteries of religion are but too often made the subjects of mere speculation. But every doctrine of Christianity should be practically improved, and especially a doctrine of such vital importance as that before us.

  From the doctrine of our fall in Adam and our recovery in Christ, we cannot but OBSERVE,

  1.      How deep and unsearchable are the ways of God!

[That ever our first parent should be constituted a federal head to his posterity, so that they should stand or fall in him, is in itself a stupendous mystery. And it may appear to have been an arbitrary appointment, injurious to the whole race of mankind. But we do not hesitate to say, that if the whole race of mankind had been created at once in precisely the same state and circumstances as Adam was, they would have been as willing to stand or fall in Adam, as to have their lot depend upon themselves; because they would have felt, that, whilst he possessed every advantage that they did, he had a strong inducement to steadfastness which they could not have felt, namely, the dependence of all his posterity upon his fidelity to God: and consequently, that their happiness would be more secure in his hands than in their own. But if it could now be put to every human being to determine for himself this point; if the question were asked of every individual, Whether do you think it better that your happiness should depend on Adam, formed as he was in the full possession of all his faculties; subjected to one only temptation, and that in fact so small a temptation as scarcely to deserve the name; perfect in himself, and his only companion being perfect also, and no such thing as sin existing in the whole creation; whether would you prefer, I say, to depend on him, or on yourself, born into a world that lieth in wickedness, surrounded with temptations innumerable, and having all your faculties only in a state of infantine weakness, so as to be scarcely capable of exercising with propriety either judgment or volition: Would any one doubt a moment? Would not every person to whom such an option was given, account it an unspeakable mercy to have such a representative as Adam was, and to have his happiness depend on him, rather than on his own feeble capacity and power? There can be no doubt on this subject: for if Adam, in his more favourable circumstances, fell, much more should we in circumstances where it was scarcely possible to stand. Still however, though we acknowledge it to be a gracious and merciful appointment, we must nevertheless regard it as a stupendous mystery.

But what shall we say of the appointment of the Lord Jesus Christ to be a second Covenant-Head, to deliver us by his obedience from the fatal effects of Adam’s disobedience? Here we are perfectly lost in wonder and amazement. For consider, Who Jesus was? He was the co-equal, co-eternal Son of God — — — Consider, What he undertook to do? He undertook to suffer in our place and stead all that was due to us, and to confer on us his righteousness with all the glory that was due to him — — — Consider farther, On what terms he confers this blessing upon us? He requires only, that we believe in him: “Look unto me, and be ye saved, all the ends of the earth” — — — Consider yet farther, What provision he has made for the final happiness of those who thus believe in him? He does not restore them to the state of trial in which Adam was originally placed, but to a state of comparative security, inasmuch as he himself undertakes to “perfect that which concerned! them,” and to be “the Finisher of faith” to those in whom he has been “the Author of it.” What an inscrutable mystery is here! that such a person should be given; and such a righteousness be wrought out by him! that an interest in this righteousness should be conferred on such easy terms! and lastly, that such security should be provided for all his believing people! Well might the Apostle say, “Great is the mystery of godliness:” and well may all the angels in heaven occupy themselves, as they do continually, in searching into it with the profoundest adoration. Let us then contemplate these wonders with holy awe. Let us not make them a theme for disputation, but a subject of incessant admiration, gratitude, and praiseg.]

  2.      How obvious and urgent is the duty of man!

[Here we are in the situation of fellow-creatures, wholly incapable of saving ourselves, and shut up to the way of salvation provided for us in the Gospel. God does not consult us, or ask our approbation of his plans. He calls us, not to give our opinion, but to accept his proffered mercy. To dispute, or sit in judgment on his dispensations, is vain. We are like shipwrecked persons, ready to perish in the great deep. When the ship is just on the point of sinking, it is no time to complain, that our lives, by the laws of navigation, were made to depend on the skill of the captain; or that the management of the vessel had not been committed to ourselves; or that God, when he formed the world, placed a rock in that particular situation, notwithstanding he foresaw, from all eternity, that our ship would be wrecked upon it: all such thoughts at that time would be vain: our only consideration under such circumstances should be, how shall I be saved from perishing? And if we saw a ship hastening towards us for our preservation, we should be wholly occupied in contriving how we might secure the proffered aid. This, I say, is precisely our case: we are lost in Adam: but that God, who foresaw that we should be wrecked in him, provided his only dear Son to be a Saviour to us; and has sent him to save all who feel their need of mercy, and are willing to enter into this ark of God. Behold then, brethren, what your duty is: it is to “flee for refuge to the hope that is set before you.” If you feel a rebellious thought arise, why did God make me thus? let it be answered in the way prescribed by the Apostle, “Nay but, O man, who art thou that repliest against God?” If you were not consulted about your dependence on Adam, were you consulted about the appointment of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the way of recovery by him? No: this was the unsolicited gift of God, who determined thus to glorify himself in blessing and exalting you. Embrace then, with all thankfulness, the salvation offered you in the Gospel. Lay hold on Christ: rely upon him: place all your hope in his obedience unto death; seek for justification solely through his blood and righteousness: and expect to receive from him all, yea “exceeding abundantly above all that ye can either ask or think.”]

MDCCCXLIV

THE ABUNDANT GRACE OF GOD

  Rom. 5:20, 21.

Where sin abounded, grace did much more abound: that as sin hath reigned unto death, even so might grace reign through righteousness unto eternal life by Jesus Christ our Lord.

FROM eternity God determined to glorify his grace: for this end he permitted sin to enter into the world. The publication of his law also promoted the same end: it served to shew how awfully sin had abounded, and consequently to magnify that grace which destroyed sin. To this effect the Apostle speaks in the text and the words preceding it.

We shall endeavour to shew,

  I.      How sin has abounded—

The transgression of Adam was of a very malignant nature.

[In the whole preceding context that sin in particular is referred to, and it may well be considered as of a crimson dye. It argued a contempt of God’s goodness, which had bestowed so much upon him: it argued a doubt of his veracity, which was engaged to inflict the penaltyb: it argued a rejection of his authority, which forbad the eating of that fruit: It argued an attempt to invade the peculiar prerogatives of Godd. Surely in this single transgression sin greatly abounded.]

But sin spread also over the whole world—

[Adam begat sons “in his own fallen likeness.” All his descendents inherited his corruption, and cast off the yoke which their Maker had imposed upon them: there was not so much as one single exception to be foundf. On this very account God once destroyed all but one family.]

It had moreover prevailed in every heart to an awful degree—

[Every faculty of men’s souls was debased by it. The understanding was blinded, the will made obstinate, the conscience seared: all the “members of their bodies also were made instruments of unrighteousness.” There was not an imagination of their thoughts that was not evil.]

It even took occasion from the holy law of God to rage the more.

[God gave his law to discover and repress sin: but sin would not endure any restraint: it rose like water against the dam that obstructs its progress, and inflamed men both against the law, and against him who gave it. Thus, in using so good a law to so vile a purpose, it displayed its own exceeding sinfulnessi.]

But God did not altogether abandon our wretched world—

  II.      How grace has much more abounded—

God determined that his grace should be victorious and that it should establish its throne on the ruins of the empire which sin had erected. For this purpose he gave us his Son to be a second Adam. He laid on him the curse due to our iniquities: he enabled him to “bring in an everlasting righteousness:” he accepted us in him as our new Covenant-Head: he restores us through him to eternal life. Thus the superabundance of his grace is manifest,

  1.      In the object attained—

[The destruction of man for sin was certainly tremendous: yet was it no more than what was to be expected. The fallen angels had already been banished from heaven. No wonder then if man was made a partaker of their misery. But how beyond all expectation was the recovery of man! How wonderful that he should be restored, whilst a superior order of beings were left to perish; and be exalted to a throne of glory from whence they had been cast down! This was indeed a manifestation of most abundant grace.]

  2.      In the method of attaining it—

[Sin had reigned unto death by means of Adam, and certainly the destruction of the whole world for one sin argued a dreadful malignity in sin. Yet was there nothing in this unjust or unreasonable. But who could have thought that God should send us his own Son? That he should constitute HIM our new Covenant-Head and representative? That he should remove the curse of sin by HIS death? That he should accept sinners through HIS righteousness? That he should remedy by a second Adam what had been brought upon us by the first? This was a discovery of grace that infinitely transcends the comprehension of men or angels.]

  3.      In the peculiar advantage with which it was attained—

[If Adam had retained his innocence, we also should have stood in him as our representative. We should however have possessed only a creature’s righteousness; but in Christ we possess the righteousness of God himself. Our reward therefore may well be augmented in proportion to the excellence of that, for which we are accepted: besides, the glory of God is infinitely more displayed in Christ, than ever it would have been if Adam had not fallen. Our happiness therefore, in beholding it, must be greatly increased. Thus our restoration through Christ will bring us to the enjoyment of far greater happiness than ever we lost in Adam. What can more fully manifest the superabounding grace of God?]

  IMPROVEMENT—

  1.      For caution—

[This doctrine seems liable to the imputation of licentiousness. St. Paul foresaw the objection, and answered it: his answer should satisfy every objector: but the reign of grace consists in destroying every effect of sin; therefore to indulge sin would be to counteract, and not to promote, the grace of God. Let the professors of religion however be careful to give no room for this objection: let them “put to silence the ignorance of foolish men by well-doing.”]

  2.      For encouragement—

[How strange is it that any should despair of mercy! The infinite grace of God has been exhibited in many striking instances. Let us seek to become monuments of this mercy: let us not indeed “sin, that grace may abound;” but let us freely acknowledge how much sin has abounded in us, and yet expect through Christ “abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness.”]

MDCCCXLV

THE GOSPEL SECURES THE PRACTICE OF HOLINESS

  Rom. 6:1–4.

What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin, that grace may abound? God forbid. How shall we, that are dead to sin, live any longer therein? Know ye not, that so many of us as were baptized into Jesus Christ were baptized into his death? Therefore we are buried with him by baptism into death: that like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life.

WE are told that “the Gospel was to the Jews a stumbling-block, and to the Greeks foolishness;” whilst to all who had an experience of it in their souls, it was both “the power of God, and the wisdom of God.” The grounds on which the Jews and Greeks so greatly inveighed against it were various: its apparent contrariety to the revelation given by Moses rendered it offensive to the one; and its proposing to us a Saviour, who appeared unable to save himself, rendered it contemptible to the other. But there was one ground of offence which exposed it equally to the reprobation of all; and that was, the unfavourable aspect which it had in relation to holiness. Men of every religion were ready to cry out against it in this view: and therefore the Apostle, having stated the plan of the Gospel salvation with all possible clearness, takes up this objection, and gives an answer to it;—such an answer, indeed, as neither Jews nor Gentiles could have anticipated; but such as must approve itself to all whom God enables to comprehend it.

From the words of my text, I will take occasion to shew,

  I.      The supposed tendency of the Gospel to encourage sin—

The Gospel certainly, when stated as St. Paul stated it, has, to a superficial observer, this aspect—

[It greatly magnifies the grace of God in the salvation of fallen man. It sets forth that grace, in all its freeness, and in all its fulness. It offers salvation freely, “without money and without price.” It offers salvation through the righteousness of another, even the righteousness of our incarnate God and Saviour. It offers salvation by faith alone, without works; saying, “To him that worketh not, but believeth in him that justifieth the ungodly, his faith is counted for righteousness.” Nor does it make its offers to the most righteous only; but to all, not excepting even the vilest of mankind; saying, “Where sin hath abounded, grace shall much more abound; that as sin hath reigned unto death, so shall grace reign, through righteousness, unto eternal life, by Jesus Christ our Lordc.”]

Hence men in every age have characterized it as licentious—

[In St. Paul’s day, many drew from his statements this inference, that, supposing his statements to be true, men might very safely “continue in sin, that so the grace of God,” in pardoning it, “might be the more abundantly displayed.” At this day also, wherever the Gospel is faithfully delivered, men bring the same objections against it. Because we offer salvation to the chief of sinners, saying, “All that believe shall be justified from all things,” we appear to them to make light of sin. And because we declare, that the good works of men make no part of a man’s justifying righteousness; and that the best work that ever we performed would, if relied upon in ever so small a degree, not only not add any thing to the work of Christ, but would invalidate and render void all that he ever did and suffered for us; we seem to make light of holiness; since we declare, that the evil we have committed shall never condemn, nor shall the good that we may do ever justify, the believing soul. Men cannot imagine what inducement we can have to practise good works, if they are not to justify us; or to abstain from sin, if it may so easily be blotted out by one simple exercise of faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. Hence the whole Gospel appears to them a strange, unintelligible, and licentious doctrine; calculated only to mislead the simple, and palatable only to hypocrites and fanatics.]

But, in answer to all such objections, I will shew,

  II.      The security it gives for the practice of universal holiness—

Doubtless, nothing but divine grace can secure the practice of holiness: and, to a man destitute of that sanctifying principle, all sentiments, of whatever kind, will be ineffectual for the purification of his soul. A man may profess the greatest regard for good works, yet not perform them; or he may profess the greatest regard for Christ, and not render to him the obedience of the heart: on the contrary, he may “turn the grace of God into lasciviousness.” But, so far as any principles can prevail, those of the Gospel, when embraced in their purity, will be found to produce holiness both of heart and life. So the Apostle declares, in answer to the objection before stated.

To enter fully into the Apostle’s argument, see what a man professes at his first entrance into the Church of Christ—

[He is “baptized into Christ:” into Christ, “as dying for his offences, and as raised again for his justification.” To the Saviour, so dying and so rising, he feels himself bound to be conformed; dying to sin, as He died for sin; and rising, like him, to a new and heavenly life. His immersion, at the time of his baptism, represented this to him: and he, in submitting to it, pledged himself to seek the experience of this change in his soul, and never to rest till he shall have attained it. Christ, after his crucifixion, was buried: and in baptism the believer is “buried with Christ;” and engages to become as separate from all his former lusts, as Christ was from all the concerns of this perishing world. And the same power that wrought in Christ, to raise him from the dead, works effectually in his soul, to accomplish in him this wondrous renovation after the Divine image. “Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father;” and by the same glorious power the believer is enabled to “walk in newness of life.”

Now, all this a man professes in his baptism: he then, in the sight of God and of the world, acknowledges these to be his most decided sentiments, and his unalterable obligations. He declares, before all, that he owes every thing to Christ, and is bound to employ every faculty of his soul for Christ; “living altogether for that Saviour who died for him and rose again.”]

Now mark what aspect this profession must have on all his future life—

[I grant, that he may be drawn aside from the path of duty, and go back to all the evil courses from which he professes to have been delivered. But, in the midst of all he must say, ‘This course of life does not proceed from my principles; nor is it in accordance with them. No: it is altogether in opposition to my avowed sentiments, and is one continued violation of my most solemn engagements. The Gospel is not to be blamed for what I do, any more than it was for the sins of Judas or of Peter, of Ananias or of Demas, or of any other person that ever dishonoured his Christian calling.’ In a word, the man who has been baptized into the faith of Christ bears in the face of the whole world this unequivocal testimony: “The grace of God, which bringeth salvation, teaches me, that, denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, I should live soberly, righteously, and godly, in this present world:” and, if it produce not this effect, the fault is in myself alone.

Now, I look upon this as a complete answer to the objection in my text. I admit that a person professing the principles of the Gospel may walk unworthy of them: but I utterly deny that the Gospel has any thing in it to encourage such a life: on the contrary, I assert, that a man’s entrance into the Church by baptism is an open acknowledgment that a very different life becomes him; and that he cannot depart from holiness without expressly contravening all his principles and all his obligations.]

  APPLICATION—

  1.      Is there now any one present who entertains the objection here made against the Gospel?

[Alas! there are many who will represent the preachers of the Gospel as saying to their hearers, “Only believe; and you may live as you please.” But methinks there is not one, amongst all this host of objectors, that believes his own statement. For it is a notorious fact, that those very persons, who decry our ministry as encouraging licentiousness, will, with the very next breath, cry out against us, as making the way to heaven so strait, that none but a few enthusiasts can walk in it. But, supposing them to be sincere, they only betray their own ignorance. St. Paul says in my text, “Know ye not, that so many of us as were baptized into Christ were baptized into his death?” No: they know nothing of the matter: they know nothing of the Christian’s principles; nor do they at all consider his obligations. The Christian never accounts himself free from the moral government of the law, though he knows himself free from its condemning sentence. On the contrary, he feels a thousand motives for obedience, which a mere self-righteous moralist has no idea of: and if a proposal were made to him to “sin, that grace might abound,” he would reply with indignation and abhorrence, “God forbid!” To you, then, I say, be diligent in your inquiries, and candid in your judgment. Where, amongst the self-righteous moralists, did you ever find such attainments in holiness as in the Apostle Paul? These attainments were the genuine fruit of his principles; as he himself has told us: “The love of Christ constraineth us; because we thus judge, that if one died for all, then were all dead; and that he died for all, that they who live should not henceforth live unto themselves, but unto Him who died for them, and rose again.” Only receive the Gospel as he preached it; and it shall operate in you as it did in the Churches which were planted by him.]

  2.      Is there any one here who, by his conduct, gives occasion for this objection?

[That there is not any avowed Antinomian amongst us, I can easily believe: but are there not those who, by their ungoverned tempers, or their covetous practices, or their unholy lives, “give occasion to the enemies of religion to blaspheme,” and to “speak evil of the truths” which Paul preached? Ah! brethren, if there be one such person in the midst of us, let him remember what our blessed Lord has said: “Woe unto the world because of offences; for it must needs be that offences will come: but woe unto him by whom they come: for it were better that a millstone were hanged about his neck, and that he were cast into the midst of the sea, than that he should offend one of God’s little ones.” It is a lamentable fact, that one man who dishonours the Gospel by an unholy conversation, does more injury to the souls of men, than ten holy men can do them good. Every one, however blind to the excellencies of the godly, has his eyes open to behold the faults of those who profess godliness; aye, and his mouth open too, to report and aggravate all the evil that he has either seen or heard: for it is by this that worldly men seek to justify themselves in their contempt of a religion which is so disgraced. I charge you then, my dear brethren, guard against every thing which can produce these fatal effects; and beg of God rather to cut you off from the earth at once, than to suffer you to become a stumbling-block to the world, and a scandal to his Church.]

  3.      I trust there are those present who bear in mind and exemplify their baptismal vows—

[Yes, I hope there are amongst us many who “walk worthy of their high calling,” and “adorn the doctrine of God our Saviour” by a holy and heavenly conversation. To such persons I would say, be steadfast in your course, and endeavour to “abound more and more.” And, that you may see what heights are to be attained, set the Lord Jesus Christ before you both in his death and resurrection; that, “being planted in the likeness of the one, ye may be also in the likeness of the other.” What had he to do with the cares or pleasures of this world, when he was “buried” in the grave? Or when has a moment’s intermission of his services to God occurred, since his resurrection from the dead? Let this, then, be your pattern, both in your death unto sin, and in your living unto righteousness: and, as you acknowledge yourselves to have “been bought with a price, seek and labour to glorify Him with your bodies and your spirits, which are his.”]

MDCCCXLVI

THE CHRISTIAN RISEN WITH CHRIST IN NEWNESS OF LIFE

  Rom. 6:8–11.

Now if we be dead with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with him: knowing that Christ being raised from the dead dieth no more; death hath no more dominion over him. For in that he died, he died unto sin once: but in that he liveth, he liveth unto God. Likewise reckon ye also yourselves to be dead indeed unto sin, but alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord.

THE Gospel in every age, when freely and faithfully delivered, has been calumniated as injurious to morality. But St. Paul, though he well knew how his doctrines would be misrepresented, did not on that account mutilate the Gospel, or declare it less freely than it had been revealed to him: he proclaimed salvation altogether by faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, without any works or deservings on our part: but at the same time he shewed that good works, though excluded from any share in justifying the soul, would of necessity be practised by every believer; because the believer, by his very profession, was, and could not but be, “dead unto sin, and alive unto righteousness.” He shewed, that there would of necessity be in the believer’s soul a conformity to his Lord and Saviour, since he bound himself to it in his baptismal engagements, or rather professed to have the actual experience of it before he was baptized; so that he must be a hypocrite, and no true believer, if he was not holy both in heart and life. To this effect he speaks in the whole of the preceding context; — — — and in the words which we have just read, he confirms the idea, and founds upon it an animated exhortation.

To elucidate this difficult, but important subject, we shall consider,

  I.      The truth he assumes—

[He takes it for granted that the believer is “dead with Christ.” The believer, by virtue of his union with Christ, partakes in all that Christ either did or suffered for him. Was Christ crucified, dead, and buried? The believer also is crucified, dead, and buried: only Christ underwent this in his body; whereas the believer experiences it in his soul. The believer has what is called “the old man,” or “the body of sin:” and this it is which undergoes a change equivalent to that which Christ experienced in his mortal body. This old man is “crucified.” Crucifixion was a long protracted punishment: but though the death of the crucified person was slow and gradual, it was sure. It is in this way that “the old man,” or “the body of sin,” in the believer, is destroyed: is is not so instantly slain, as never to move again: but it is nailed to the cross: it is gradually weakened: and, in the purpose and intention and determination of the believer, it is as really dead, as if it were already altogether annihilated. The believer, at his baptism, considered this as solemnly engaged for on his part, and as shadowed forth, yea, and as pledged also to him on the part of God, in the rite itself: “he was baptized into Christ’s death, and buried, as it were, with Christ by baptism into death.” This was his profession; and this is his obligation: and wherever true and saving faith exists in the soul, this profession is realized, and this obligation performed. Hence it may be assumed as an universal truth, that, as a scion participates in the state of the stock into which it has been engrafted, so the believer, engrafted as he is into a crucified Saviour, “is planted together with him in the likeness of his death,” or, in other words, is “dead with Christ.”]

In close connexion with this is,

  II.      The persuasion he intimates—

“We believe,” says he, “that we shall also live with him.”

[It is not in his death only that the believer is conformed to Christ, but in his resurrection also. As the believer has an “old man,” which dies, so he has also “a new man,” which lives: and in the latter, no less than in the former, he resembles Christ. The Lord Jesus Christ, in his risen and ascended state, lives with God, and to God, employing for his God and Father all the power that has been committed to him. Thus the believer lives in a state of intimate fellowship with God, consecrating to him all his newly-acquired powers, and improving for him every faculty that he possesses. This is his privilege, no less than his duty: and therefore we may be fully persuaded that the weakest believer, if truly upright, shall attain this high and honourable employment.]

This persuasion is founded on a firm and solid basis—

[We “know that Christ dieth no more.” Those whom he raised to life, as Lazarus and others, were constrained at last to pay the debt which our nature owes, and to yield to the stroke of death: but “over Christ death hath no more dominion.” He so fully expiated sin, that none of its penal consequences attach to him any longer. But the life which he possesses has both perpetuity and perfection, being wholly and eternally devoted to the care of his people, and the honour of his heavenly Father. And here is the believer’s security: “Because Christ liveth, he shall live also.” The believer’s “life is hid with Christ in God;” yea, “Christ himself is his life:” and therefore we may be assured, that his believing people shall be preserved to “appear with him in gloryc.” We do live in him: and therefore we shall live with him for evermore.]

From hence is deduced,

  III.      The duty he inculcates—

[“Reckon ye yourselves to be dead indeed unto sin, but alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord.” This should be a point fixed and settled in our minds: I am a Christian: I am dead to sin: I have no more to do with “my former lusts in my ignorance,” than Christ himself has with the “sins which he once bore in his own body on the tree.” “The lust of the flesh, the lust of the eye, and the pride of life,” have no more charms for mee: those “lords which once had dominion over me,” are now dead; and I am liberated from their yoke. As a Christian, I possess a new and heavenly life: I am alive unto God, as Christ himself is; and must live unto God, as Christ himself does. There is not an act performed by Christ either in providence or grace, which has not respect to the glory of his Father: so, “whether I eat, or drink, or whatever I do, I must do all to the glory of God.” As for being satisfied with any lower standard, it is impossible: my Christian profession utterly forbids it. Those who seek to be justified by their works, may be satisfied with such a tale of bricks, as shall, in their apprehension, screen them from punishment; but I can be satisfied with nothing but a perfect conformity to Christ. My lusts that are crucified, shall never (God helping me) come down from the cross: there they are doomed to perish: and the sooner they die, the better. My new life shall be spent as Christ’s is, in executing the office assigned me, and in glorifying my God. Christians, this is the state to which you are to aspire; and if you rest in any thing short of this, you are not worthy of the Christian name.]

  In this subject we may SEE,

  1.      The proper tendency of the Gospel—

[The proper tendency of the Gospel is, to “sanctify us wholly,” and to make us pure, as Christ himself is pure, And let the enemies of the Gospel calumniate it ever so much as tending to licentiousness, they shew that they believe it to be a doctrine according to godliness, by the excessive offence which they take at the smallest inconsistency in the Christian’s conduct. If they did not know that his principles required, and tended to, the highest possible perfection, why are they so offended, and why do they exult so much, at the smallest imperfection? The proper tendency of the Gospel then is holiness, the enemies themselves being judges.]

  2.      The true criterion whereby to judge of our faith in Christ—

[We will not disparage other parts of Christian experience; but the only safe test whereby to try ourselves, is, the degree in which we are dead to sin, and alive to God — — — “The tree must be known by its fruits” — — —]

  3.      The connexion between our duty and our happiness—

[We have fixed the standard of Christian duty high. True: but does any one doubt, whether such a conformity to Christ be not also our truest happiness? Verily, heaven itself consists in this: “We shall be like him, when we shall see him as he is.”]

MDCCCXLVII

A PROMISE OF VICTORY OVER SIN

             Rom. 6:14.

Sin shall not have dominion over you: for ye are not under the law, but under grace.

IT is often made a ground of objection against the Gospel, that it is unfavourable to morality. But the very reverse of this is true; for the Gospel not only inculcates moral duties as strictly as the law itself, but suggests far stronger motives for the performance of them, and even provides strength whereby we shall be enabled to perform them. A great part of this epistle was written on purpose to establish the doctrine of justification by faith: and yet here is one whole chapter devoted entirely to the enforcing of universal holiness, and to the removing of all ground for the objection before referred to: and in the text an express declaration is given, as from God himself, that sin shall never regain its ascendency over the hearts of his people. We shall consider,

  I.      The promise here given us—

The promise is express, and relates to our deliverance from sin, of whatever kind it be—

[Sin of almost every kind has dominion over the unregenerate man. All persons indeed are not addicted to the same lusts; nor do they gratify any one lust in the same degree: but the seeds of all evil are in the hearts of men; and if any person abstain from any particular act of sin, it is rather because he is not strongly tempted to commit it, than because he has not a propensity to commit it; and it is universally found, that the sins, which are peculiar to our age, our constitution, our situation and circumstances in life, do habitually get the dominion over us. But God promises, that it shall not be so with his people; that they shall be delivered from this ignominious bondage; and be enabled to resist the solicitations of appetite and passion.

We must not however imagine that this promise extends to absolute perfection: for, however desirable the attainment of perfection might be in some points of view, it is not the lot of any in this world. Even the most eminent of God’s saints have failed, and that too, in those very points wherein their peculiar eminence consisted: Abraham, Moses, Job, and all others, have proved sufficiently, “that there is not a just man on earth that liveth and sinneth not:” and that, “if any say they have no sin, they deceive themselves, and the truth is not in them.” Nor does the Apostle mean that sin, even of a grosser kind, shall never, in any instance, be found in a child of God; for, as “in many things we all offend,” so, under the influence of strong temptation, we may act very unsuitably to our holy calling: Noah, Lot, David, Solomon, afford melancholy proofs of such weakness and depravity. But this is asserted in the text, and attested by the universal voice of Scripture, that no child of God shall ever give himself up to the wilful and habitual indulgence of any one sin whatever. No: every child of God will watch against sin in the heart, as well as in the act; and will pray and fight against it to the latest hour of his life — — — And the reason why he never can sin in the same wilful and habitual way that he did before, is, that he has the seed of God, or a living principle of grace, within him, that constantly impels him to hate and flee from all iniquity; and, “because he is Christ’s, he cannot but daily crucify the flesh with its affections and lusts” — — —]

The limiting of this promise to believers leads us to shew,

  II.      Its connexion with our new-covenant state—

Believers are “no longer under the law but under grace”—

[Once they were, like others, under a covenant, which cursed them for disobedience, but afforded them no hope of pardon for past offences, nor any means of resisting sin in future: but now they have embraced that better covenant, the covenant of grace, wherein God offers them a full remission of all their former sins, and assures them that he himself will give them grace sufficient in every time of need. On this promise they rely, knowing by bitter experience that they have not in themselves a sufficiency even to think a good thought, and that God alone can give them either to will or to do any good thing.]

It is on this very account that God guarantees to them, if we may so speak, the attainment of universal holiness—

[By embracing God’s covenant, they become his children, members of his family, and heirs of his glory. Now God’s honour is concerned that his own children shall not be left in bondage to the devil — — — Besides, after having made them heirs of his glory, he never will leave them under the power of a corrupt nature; because that would incapacitate them for the fruition of his glory, even if they were admitted to a participation of it: an unholy nature would utterly unfit them for the services and enjoyments of heaven — — — But there is yet another reason why God fulfils this promise to them; God has made it a part of his covenant, that he will cleanse his people from all their filthiness and all their idols; and pledged his word that he will not only forgive all their sins, but cleanse them from all unrighteousnessc — — — Now this promise they rest upon, and plead as their only hope; and will God, who cannot lie, rescind it? No: he will fulfil it to them in the time and manner that he judges most conducive to his own glory.]

  To IMPROVE this subject, let us observe that,

  1.      To lay bold on this covenant should be the first great object of our lives—

[Where else shall we find deliverance from the judgments denounced against us for our violations of the first covenant, or obtain strength for our obedience to God’s holy will? All efforts of our own will be utterly in vain; it is Christ alone that can effect either the one or the other of these things; and it is only by looking to him, and laying hold of his covenant, that we can obtain these blessings at his hands. But let us once obtain an interest in him, and all these things are ours; pardon, peace, holiness, glory, all are ours, the very instant we believe in him. What then can be put in competition with this? Verily all the things of time and sense sink into utter insignificance, when compared with this: and therefore let us regard this as the one thing needful, and make it the one object of our whole lives to be found in Christ, and to secure the blessings which he has purchased for us.]

  2.      None, however, can have any interest in the covenant of grace who do not experience deliverance from sin—

[Though no man is admitted into the covenant of grace on account of any holiness that there is in him, yet none are left unholy after that they have been admitted into it. “That very grace of God which bringeth us salvation, teaches us to deny every species and degree of ungodliness.” To fail in this would be to defeat a principal end of Christ’s deathe. If there be any allowed sin in us, we deceive ourselves, and our religion is vain.]

  3.      But none have any reason to despair on account of the inveteracy of their lusts—

[Were it required of us to purify our hearts by any exertions of our own, we might well despair. But holiness is not only enjoined; it is promised; it is promised by Him, who is able also to perform. Let none then say, “My wound is incurable;” for with God all things are possible: and we, however weak in ourselves, shall be “able to do all things through Christ who strengthened] us.” If we were at this instant led captive by ten thousand lusts, no sin whatever should have dominion over us in future, provided only we took refuge in the covenant of grace — — —]

  4.      Nevertheless, this promise does not supersede the necessity of prayer and watchfulness on our part—

[God’s promises are free; “yet will he be inquired of by us before he will perform them.” Nor are we at liberty to run into temptation because he has promised to keep us; for that would be to tempt him: but, in the exercise of prayer and watchfulness, he will keep us. If Paul, that chosen vessel, was obliged to keep his body under, and to bring it into subjection, lest he himself should be a cast-away, surely the same care and diligence are necessary on our part. It is our comfort however, that, while we run, “we do not run as uncertainly;” and while “we fight, it is not as one who only beats the air:” for victory is secured for us, and God himself “will bruise Satan under our feet,” and preserve us blameless to his heavenly kingdom.]

MDCCCXLVIII

CONVERSION A GROUND OF THANKSGIVING

  Rom. 6:17.

God be thanked, that ye were the servants of sin, but ye have obeyed from the heart that form of doctrine which was delivered you.

EXEMPTION from the punishment of sin is doubtless an inestimable blessing; but deliverance from its power is equally precious. The most advanced Christians greatly delight in this part of salvation. Hence St. Paul thanks God for bestowing this mercy on the Church at Rome. We shall consider from the text,

  I.      The character of all while in an unconverted state—

All are “servants of sin” till they receive converting grace—

[All indeed are not slaves to the same sin. Some are led captive by their lusts and passions: others are drawn away by the pleasures and vanities of the world: others are under the dominion of pride and self-righteousness; but all, without exception, are alienated from the life of God: all are full of unbelief and self-sufficiency.]

This, however humiliating, is an indisputable truth—

[The Scriptures every where assert this respecting fallen man. The most eminent saints confess it to have been their own casec: experience proves it with respect to ourselves. The very excuse which men offer in extenuation of their sins, viz. “that they cannot live as God requires,” establishes this truth.]

But it does not remain so in regenerate persons; as appears from,

  II.      The change they experience in conversion—

God instructs them in “the form of sound doctrine”—

[There is in Scripture a “form of sound doctrine.” This in all its parts is set before them. They are enlightened by the Spirit to understand it: they have it applied with divine efficacy to their souls.]

This form of doctrine they “obey from the heart”—

[They yet indeed feel a law of sin in their members; but “they no more serve sin” willingly as before: on the contrary, “they now delight in the law of God.” They obey it, not in appearance only or by constraint, but willingly and without reserve.]

They are now cast, as it were, into the mould of the Gospel—

[This is the force of the original; and is the marginal version: this is also the case, wherever the Gospel takes effecte. The wax has every lineament of the seal, and the coin of the die: so do they resemble God, who are renewed by the Gospel.]

The blessedness of this change will appear if we consider,

  III.      How great a cause of thankfulness such a conversion is—

The Apostle thanks God that they were no longer slaves of sin—

[Sin is at all times a ground of shame and sorrow. Paul esteemed it so in his own particular caseh: every saint of God views it in the same light: St. Paul therefore did not mean that their subjection to it was a ground of thankfulness; but the subject of his thanksgiving is, that the Romans, who once were slaves of sin, were now entirely devoted to God.]

This is a ground of unspeakable thankfulness on many accounts:

  1.      On account of the moral change in the persons themselves—

[What can be more deplorable than to be a slave of sin? What can be more truly blessed than to have all our actions and affections corresponding with the word of God? Surely this is a ground of thankfulness.]

  2.      On account of the effects of this change on society—

[How much better member of society must a child of God be than a slave of sin! How much happier would the world be, if such a change were general! On this account therefore it became the Apostle to be thankful.]

  3.      On account of the eternal consequences that must follow this change—

[They who die slaves of sin must suffer its punishment: they are now the children of the devil, and must soon be his companions in misery; but the regenerate are children and heirs of God. Surely eternity will scarcely suffice to thank God for this.]

  We shall conclude with a suitable ADDRESS—

  1.      To the unregenerate—

[All who have not been freed from sin are of this number. Alas! the friends of such have little cause to thank God for them: they have rather reason to weep and mourn: they may indeed bless God that the stroke of vengeance has been delayed. O that all such persons might know the day of their visitation! Let all cry to God for his converting grace: nor let any rest in an external or partial change. Nothing but a cordial compliance with the Gospel, and a real conformity to it, will avail us in the day of judgment.]

  2.      To the regenerate—

[The foregoing marks have sufficiently characterized these persons. Such persons will do well to reflect on the mercy they have received: the recollection of their past guilt will serve to keep them humble. A consciousness of their remaining infirmities will make them watchful: a view of the change wrought in them will make them thankful. Let the regenerate then adopt the words of the Psalmist— let them beware of ever returning to their former waysm: let them press forward for higher degrees of holiness and glory.]

  3.      To those who doubt to which class they belong—

[Many, from what has been wrought in them, have reason to hope; yet, from what still remains to be done, they find reason to fear. Hence they are long in painful suspense. But let such remember, that sin, if truly lamented and resisted, does not prove them unregenerate: on the contrary, their hatred of it, and opposition to it, are hopeful signs that they are in part renewed: nevertheless, let them endeavour to put this matter beyond a doubtp. Let them look to Christ as their almighty deliverer: let them pray for, and depend upon, his promised aidr.]

MDCCCXLIX

UNPROFITABLENESS AND FOLLY OF SIN

  Rom. 6:21.

What fruit had ye then in those things whereof ye are now ashamed? for the end of those things is death.

AS an appeal to the judgment of men is, when just, the most powerful mode of silencing the contentious, so an appeal to their conscience is the strongest possible method of convincing the ignorant, and of humbling the proud. With such kinds of argumentation the Scripture abounds. God himself appeals to his apostate people: “What iniquity have your fathers found in me, that they are gone far from me, and have walked after vanity, and become vain?” “Have I been a wilderness to Israel?” Thus, in the passage before us, St. Paul, labouring to impress the Christians at Rome with a sense of the indispensable necessity of renouncing all their former ways, and devoting themselves wholly to the Lord, puts to them this pungent question; “What fruit had ye then in those things whereof ye are now ashamed?” To answer this question, no strength of intellect, no extent of information, is required: nothing is wanting but an honest and upright heart. The poor, as well as the rich, can tell whether they have been happy in the ways of sin: to the one therefore as well as to the other, we would address the language of our text; entreating every one to consult the records of his own conscience, and to answer to himself the question, as in the presence of his God.

The points respecting which we would make our appeal to all, are,

  I.      The unprofitableness of sin, as learned by experience—

Whether men have drunk deep of the cup of pleasure, or have followed their earthly inclinations with more measured steps, we would ask, in reference to all their former ways,

  1.      What fruit of them had ye at the time?

[Sin, previous to the commission of it, promises much: but what solid satisfaction has it ever afforded us? Suppose a man to have had all the means of gratification that ever Solomon possessed, and, like him, to have withheld his heart from no joy; still, we would ask him, Was your pleasure of any long duration? Was it without alloy? Is not that true which Solomon has said, “Even in laughter the heart is sorrowful, and the end of that mirth is heaviness?” I doubt not but that every man who will faithfully relate his own experience, will “say of laughter, It is mad; and of mirth, What doeth itc?”

A similar testimony must be given by those who have been the most sober and discreet. They have not, it is true, the same measure of guilt upon their consciences, as they would have had, if, like the others, they had “run into every excess of riot∙” but if, as must he confessed by all, they have lived to themselves, and not unto the Lord, we must put the same question to them, Have you found real happiness in your ways? Have you not, in the midst of all your self-complacency, had a secret consciousness that you were not prepared for death and judgment? and did not that consciousness embitter your lives, so far at least, that you could not bear to think of the state of your souls, and the realities of the eternal world? — — — God had said, that “the wicked are like the troubled sea when it cannot rest, which casteth up mire and dirt.” Whatever peace therefore you have felt has been a false peace, which in reality rendered you more miserable, in proportion as it hid your misery from your view. “There is no peace, saith my God, to the wicked.”]

  2.      What fruit have ye in the retrospect?

[Supposing sin to have made us ever so happy at the time, how does it appear when we look back upon it? Is not that which was “rolled as a sweet morsel under the tongue become as gall in the stomach?” Would not the voluptuary be well pleased on the whole, that the criminal excesses of his former life had never been committed? Would he not be well satisfied to have lost the gratifications, if he could expunge from his conscience, and from the book of God’s remembrance, the guilt which they have entailed upon him? — — — And if the man who has sought his happiness in less criminal enjoyments, but has wasted in mere earthly pursuits the time that was given him to prepare for eternity, could recall his mispent hours, would he not rather that they should have been spent in seeking the things belonging to his peace? Though he may not look with complacency on a pious character who has given up himself unreservedly to God, does he not secretly reverence that man, and wish that his latter end might be like his? — — —]

  3.      What fruit have ye in the prospect of your great account?

[If ever we look forward to death and judgment, what do we think of a sensual or worldly life in reference to those seasons? Will it afford us any pleasure in a dying hour, to reflect, that we have, on such and such occasions, gratified our criminal desires, or indulged in revelling and excess? Or will a life of mere external decency afford us comfort, when we consider how we have neglected God and our own souls? Shall we not then wish that we had paid more attention to the Saviour, and lived under the influence of his blessed Spirit? Still more, when standing at the judgment-seat of Christ, will it be any joy to us, that, whilst in this world, we took so little pains to obtain mercy of the Lord, and to secure his favour? — — — Alas! alas! How will a carnal or worldly life then appear? Would to God, that we would view things now, as we shall surely view them in that day!]

Instructed by these lessons of experience, let us proceed to contemplate,

  II.      The folly of sin, as taught us by grace—

The very first effect of grace is to humble us before God. The more enlarged our views are of our past transgressions, the more shall we blush and be confounded in the remembrance of them. Of every true Christian it may with certainty be affirmed, that, like Job, he “abhors himself, and repents in dust and ashes.” He is “ashamed,”

  1.      That he has so requited the goodness of his God—

[In an unconverted state, men can receive innumerable blessings at the Lord’s hand, and never consider from whence they flow. Even the great work of salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ is not regarded as any sufficient incentive to love and serve him. But no sooner does grace enter into the soul, than all the wonders of God’s love and mercy are seen in their proper colours; and the man is amazed at his more than brutish ingratitude. How wonderful does it appear, that God should so love him as to give his only dear Son to die for him; and yet that he should live all his days in an utter contempt of that stupendous mystery, trampling on that precious blood that was shed to cleanse him from sin, and doing despite to that blessed Spirit, who strove to bring him to repentance! Verily, that expression of Agur is adopted by him, not as an hyperbole, but as a just representation of his case; “I am more brutish than any man, and have not the understanding of a man.” The circumstance of his being forgiven is so far from obliterating this sense of his baseness, that it renders the feeling of it incomparably more poignant; according as the Prophet Ezekiel hath said, “Then shall ye lothe yourselves for all your iniquities, and for all your abominations, after that I am pacified towards you, saith the Lord.”]

  2.      That he has bartered for such trifles an immortal soul—

[The loss of the soul is scarcely thought of, when the fascinations of sin are strongly felt: but after a man is awakened to see, that “the end of these things is death,” what folly and madness does a life of sin appear! Even if the whole world could have been gained, it would be regarded as of no value in comparison of the soul: how empty then and vain do such trifles as he has obtained appear, when for the enjoyment of them his eternal interests have been sacrificed, and the everlasting wrath of God incurred! The folly of Esau in selling his birthright for a mess of pottage may be considered as wisdom in comparison of his, in selling heaven and his immortal soul for the transient pleasures of sin: and, if an irrevocable sentence of exclusion from the heavenly inheritance be passed upon him, he is ready to acknowledge the justice of it, or, like the man without the wedding garment, to confess by silence the equity of God’s judgments.]

  ADDRESS—

  1.      Those who are yet seeking their happiness in the creature—

[We need not here discriminate between different degrees of guilt. It is sufficient for our condemnation that we have lived to ourselves rather than to God. Whatever we may have had recourse to for consolation, it has proved only like the husks with which the Prodigal sought to satisfy the cravings of nature: nothing but the bread that is in our Father’s house can ever satisfy an immortal soul. O let us think, What must be the consequence of living at a distance from God? Speak not peace to yourselves in such a state! Well does St. Peter say, “What must the end be of them that obey not the Gospel of God?” Only let the end of our course be kept in view, and we shall see the folly and madness of every pursuit that has not an immediate tendency to secure the blessedness of heaven.]

  2.      Those who are seeking their happiness in God—

[You have no reason to be ashamed of the fruit which you have gathered. At the time that you have been serving God, you have found “the work of righteousnees to be peace,” and, that “in keeping God’s commandments there is great reward.” In the retrospect of a life devoted to God there is the purest joy. “Our rejoicing,” says St. Paul, “is this, the testimony of our conscience, that in simplicity and godly sincerity we have had our conversation in the world. And O! what comfort is there in the prospect of our great account! We know that “if we have our fruit unto holiness, our end will be everlasting life:” and if in our last hours we can say with Paul, “I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith,” we may add with him, “Henceforth there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness, which the Lord the righteous Judge shall give me.” Go on then, brethren, “strong in the Lord, and in the power of his might.” We congratulate you that you have learned to blush and to be ashamed of all your former ways: and we would, as we are specially instructed by God himself, urge you to a most careful observance of all the commandments of your God. This is the way to preserve a good conscience before him; and so acting, “you will not be ashamed before him at his comingh.”]

MDCCCL

MAN’S DESERT, AND GOD’S MERCY

             Rom. 6:23.

The wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.

THE distribution of rewards and punishments in the day of judgment will be in perfect agreement with the works of men; the righteous will be exalted to happiness; the wicked be doomed to misery. The Gospel makes no difference with respect to this: it provides relief for the penitent, but rather aggravates than removes the condemnation of the impenitent. But it opens to us an important fact: namely, that the punishment of the ungodly is the proper fruit and deserved recompence of their own works: whereas the reward bestowed upon the godly is a free unmerited gift of God for Christ’s sake. The Apostle has been shewing, throughout this whole chapter, that the Gospel increases, instead of relaxing, our obligation to good works; and that it will avail for the salvation of those only who “have their fruit unto holiness:” but in the text he assures us, that they who are saved will be saved by mere grace; whereas they who perish will perish utterly through their own demerit.

In the words before us, we have a short, but accurate, description of,

  I.      Man’s desert—

By “death,” we must understand everlasting misery—

[It is a truth that temporal death was introduced by sin: but that cannot be the whole that is meant by the Apostle in the text, because the “death” procured by sin stands in direct opposition to the “life” which is bestowed by God, which is expressly said to be “eternal.” By “death” therefore we understand an everlasting banishment from God’s presence, together with a “suffering of his vengeance in eternal fire.”]

This is the penalty that is due to sin—

[It is in vain that people endeavour to soften down the expressions of Scripture upon this subject, and to substitute annihilation for misery. Our blessed Lord, in his account of the judgment-day, declares that he himself, as the Judge of quick and dead, will doom the wicked to a participation of the misery inflicted on the fallen angels, and that their punishment shall be of the very same duration with the happiness of the righteous.

Nor is this more than the real desert of sin. The word we translate “wages,” means “provisions,” which in the earlier part of the Roman empire constituted the only pay of soldiers: and it must be confessed that a soldier’s pay, at the best, is but a very moderate compensation for the dangers and fatigues of war: his wages are certainly no higher than justice demands. Thus the penal evil of damnation is no more than a just recompence for the moral evil of sin: it is the “wages” due to sin.

It is worthy of remark also, that this awful doom is not spoken of as the penalty of many or of great sins, but of “sin,” of every sin, whether great or small. Every “transgression of God’s holy law is sin;” and, though all sins are not of equal malignity, there is not any sin which does not deserve God’s wrath and fiery indignation, or against which an everlasting curse is not denouncedd.

How terrible then is the desert of every man, of the more moral and decent, as well as of the immoral and profane! for “all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God;” and therefore all are obnoxious to the punishment of sin.]

Let us now turn our thoughts to a more pleasing subject, namely,

  II.      God’s mercy—

Notwithstanding our ill desert, God has tendered to us everlasting life—

[“He is not willing that any should perish, hut that all should come to repentance and live.” He has opened the gates of heaven, and invited sinners of every description to enter in. Nor has he required any thing to be done in order to purchase an admittance into it: he offers it freely, as a “gift” to all who will accept it. His invitation is to all who wish for it, to those also who have no money, to come and receive it at his hands “without money, and without price.” In this he has strongly marked the different grounds of a sinner’s condemnation, and a saint’s acceptance. Misery is awarded to the one, as “wages” earned; and happiness is conferred upon the other, as a gift bestowed. Indeed our minds must be humbled: and we must be willing to accept salvation as a gift: for, if we carry any price whatever in our hands, we cut ourselves off from all hope of obtaining the desired blessing.]

This gift however is bestowed only “through the Lord Jesus Christ”—

[All possibility of regaining happiness by the covenant of works was prevented by the very terms of that covenant: in token of which, the way to the tree of life was obstructed by a fiery sword. But another, and a better “way, is opened to it through the Lord Jesus Christ, by whom we may have boldness, and access with confidence” into the presence of our Godh. Through him, as a Mediator, God can exercise mercy towards us in perfect consistency with his own honour; and through him, as the appointed channel, God will convey to us all the blessings of grace and glory. But then he expects that we come to him through Christ, and receive his blessings from Christ: for, as there is no other way unto the Father but through the Son, so neither is there any way of obtaining from the Father, but by receiving out of the fulness which he has treasured up for us in Christ Jesusk.]

ADDRESS—

  1.      Those who are living in any allowed sin—

[We will suppose you are free from any gross immoralities; but that you are neglecting the great concerns of your souls, or attending to them with only a divided heart. Consider then, I beseech you, what you are doing: you are earning wages every day, every hour, every moment: whether you think of it or not, you are earning wages, and the day of reckoning is near at hand, when they shall be paid you by a just and holy God. Every act, every word, every thought is increasing the sum that shall be paid you: and who can calculate the amount of a debt which has been increasing with awful rapidity from the first moment that you began to act? Yes, you have been doing nothing throughout your whole lives, but earning wages that shall be paid you to the full, or, in other words, “treasuring up wrath against the day of wrath.” Consider, if the desert of one sin is death, What must be your desert, whose sins are more in number than the sands upon the sea-shore? Reflect on this, while there is an opportunity of cancelling the debt, and while the mercy of God can be extended to you. But remember, that you must not attempt to discharge the smallest part of this debt yourselves: if you take but one single sin upon you, you must suffer death for ever. Go therefore to Christ, and through him unto the Father: go with the guilt of all your sins upon you; cast yourselves entirely upon the mercy of your God; plead nothing but the merits of his dear Son; and “look for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ unto eternal life.”]

  2.      Those who have obtained mercy, and deliverance from sin—

[Numberless are the considerations which should excite your gratitude for the mercies you have received. Consider the greatness of the guilt that has been forgiven you; the riches of the glory which has been conferred upon you; the freeness with which it has been bestowed; and, above all, the means which have been used in order that you might be partakers of these benefits, even the appointment of God’s only-begotten Son to be your dying Saviour, and your living Head. Consider these things, I say, and then judge what ought to be the frame of your minds. What an abhorrence should you have of sin! What gratitude should you feel towards that God who exercised such mercy towards you, and towards that adorable Jesus, through whose mediation alone it could ever have been communicated! Stir up yourselves then to “render unto God according to these benefits;” and exert yourselves to the uttermost to “glorify him with your bodies and your spirits, which are his.”]

MDCCCLI

DEADNESS TO THE LAW, AND UNION WITH CHRIST

  Rom. 7:4.

My brethren, ye also are become dead to the law by the body of Christ; that ye should be married to another, even to him who is raised from the dead, that we should bring forth fruit unto God.

THAT the Gospel is hostile to the interests of morality, is an objection that has been raised against it, from the first promulgation of it by the Apostles, even to the present age. That the Gospel is a most wonderful display of grace and mercy, must be acknowledged: but it does not therefore encourage any man to live in sin: on the contrary, it teaches men, and binds them by every possible tie, to “live soberly, righteously, and godly, in this present world.” To this effect the Apostle speaks throughout the whole preceding chapter. He begins with stating the objection urged against the Gospel; “What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin, that grace may abound?” And then he answers it at large; and affirms, that the covenant of grace, so far from invalidating our obligation to good works, absolutely secures the performance of them. In the chapter before us he is continuing the same argument, and putting it in a new light: he represents men as by nature married to the law, and bringing forth fruit to sin and death; but afterwards, as separated from the law, and married to Christ, in order to their bringing forth the fruits of holiness to the praise and glory of God.

His words will naturally lead us to consider,

  I.      The state to which we are brought by the death of Christ—

We are all by nature bound to the law—

[God gave his law to Adam as a covenant, promising life to him if he were obedient, and denouncing death against him as the penalty of disobedience. Under that covenant we all are born: and on the terms prescribed by it we look for happiness or misery in the future world. The connexion between us and it is indissoluble; like that of an husband; our obligations to whom nothing but death can dissolve.]

But by the death of Christ we are liberated from it—

[Christ, our incarnate Lord, has fulfilled every part of God’s law; enduring its penalties, as well as executing its commands: and this he has done, as our Surety: so that, if we believe in him, we may plead his obedience unto death in bar of all the punishment it denounces against us; and may even plead it also as having procured for us a title to all its promised blessings. Our blessed Lord, in fulfilling the law, has abrogated it as a covenant; and has obtained for us a new and better covenant, of which he himself is the Surety. As a rule of conduct, the law does, and ever must, continue in force; because it is the transcript of the mind and will of God, and contains a perfect rule for the conduct of his creatures: but as a, covenant it is dissolved; and is, in respect of us, dead; so that we have no more connexion with it than a woman has with her deceased husband: our obligations to it, and our expectations from it, have ceased for ever. This is a just and beautiful representation of the believer’s state: perhaps there is not in all the Scriptures another image that conveys a complete idea of our state, in so clear, and so intelligible a way as this. We all see in a moment the bonds by which a woman is tied to her husband during his life, and the total dissolution of them all by his death: we see that the deceased husband has no longer any authority over her, nor can any longer be to her a source either of good or evil. Now if we transfer this idea to the law, and think of the law as a husband that is dead, or as a covenant that is annulled, then we shall have a just view of a believer’s state respecting it. Throughout the whole context, St. Paul expatiates so fully upon this point, and explains himself so clearly, that we cannot possibly mistake his meaning. The only doubt that can arise is, what law he refers to? But this doubt is dissipated in a moment: for he speaks of that law which prohibits inordinate desire; and consequently it is, and must be, the moral law.]

Such being the liberty which Christ has procured for us, let us consider,

  II.      The improvement we should make of it—

Our blessed Lord offers himself to us as an husband—

[Under this idea he is frequently spoken of in the Old Testament — — — The same is also frequently applied to him in the New Testamenth — — — In some sense indeed it is the espousal only that takes place in this world — — — The consummation is deferred till our arrival in the world abovek — — —]

In this relation we should cordially receive him—

[Our former husband being dead, we are at liberty to be married to another. And where shall we find one who is more worthy of all our love and obedience? If Jesus so loved us when enemies, as to lay down his own life for us, what will he not do for us, when we become bone of his bone, and flesh of his flesh; yea, when we become “one spirit with him?” To him then let us unite ourselves by faith, and devote ourselves to him as wholly and exclusively, as the most faithful and affectionate of women does to her newly-acquired lord.]

We shall then have the honour and happiness of bringing forth fruit unto God—

[By our connexion with the law, we have brought forth fruit only unto sin and death: but by the mighty operation of divine grace, we shall be enabled to bring forth fruit unto God, and holiness, and life. We shall no longer live under the influence of a slavish spirit, aiming only at the mere letter of the commandment, and regarding even that as an irksome service; but we shall aspire after the utmost spirit of the commandment, and strive with holy ardour to make the highest possible attainments, longing, if possible, to be “holy as God is holy,” and to be “perfect as God is perfect.” Our services will resemble those of the heavenly choir, who look, and watch, and pant, as it were, for an opportunity to testify their love to God, and to execute, in all its extent, his holy will.

How should the prospect of such fruit stimulate our desires after Christ! Let us bear in mind, that the bringing of us to such a state was the great object which he sought in giving up himself for us; and let it be also the great object of our solicitude in devoting ourselves to himo.]

  From hence then it APPEARS,

  1.      How concerned we are to know the law—

[It was “to those only who knew the law,” that the Apostle addressed himself in our text: others could not have understood his meaning, but would have accounted all his representations “foolishnessq.” Thus shall we also be incapable of entering into the sublime import of this passage, if we do not understand the nature of the law, the extent of its requirements, the awfulness of its penalties, and the hopeless condition of all who are yet under it as a covenant of life and death. But if we have just views of the law, then shall we be prepared for the Gospel, and be determined, through grace, that we will not give sleep to our eyes, or slumber to our eye-lids, till we have obtained an interest in Christ, and been received into a covenant of grace with him, as our Husband, our Saviour, and our ALL.]

  2.      How interested we are in embracing the Gospel—

[By this we are brought into a new state: we have new relations, both to God and man: our spirit is altogether new, as our attainments also are: our hopes and prospects also are new: “A beggar taken from a dunghill, and united to the greatest of earthly princes,” would experience a very small change in comparison of that which we experience, when we enter into the marriage covenant with Christ. O let us consent to his gracious proposals, and give up ourselves wholly unto him; then shall we “know the blessedness of his chosen,” and comprehend, as far as such imperfect beings can, the incomprehensible wonders of his love; and after bringing forth fruit to his glory here, we shall be partakers of his kingdom in the world above.]

MDCCCLII

THE SPIRITUALITY OF THE LAW

  Rom. 7:7.

What shall we say then? Is the law sin? God forbid. Nay, I had not known sin, but by the law: for I had not known lust, except the law had said, Thou shall not covet.

THERE is not any thing, however good, which has not been abused to the vilest purposes. The blessings of providence are rendered subservient to intemperance. The Holy Scriptures also are often wrested to support error. But we must blame not the things that are perverted, but the persons who pervert them. We must estimate things by their use, and not by their abuse. To this effect the Apostle speaks respecting the law of God; and, in his vindication of it, he opens to us,

  I.      Its nature—

The law here spoken of must be the moral law, because it is that which forbids inordinate desire. Its spirituality may be seen by considering,

  1.      The commandments in general—

[Our Lord comprises them all in two, namely, love to God, and love to man. Our love to God must be supreme, without intermission or reserve. The smallest defect in the degree or manner of our love is a violation of our duty towards him: our love to our neighbour must resemble our love to ourselves: it must be as extensive, as constant, as uniform, as influential. This is transgressed, not by overt acts only, but by secret thoughts. In this extent our Lord himself explains those very commandments, which we should be most ready to limit and restrict: hence it appears, that we may be blameless respecting the outward breach of the law, and yet have transgressed every one of the commandments throughout our whole lives.]

  2.      The particular commandment before us—

[This, in the very letter of it, extends to our inclinations and desires: it prohibits all dissatisfaction with our own state or lot; it prohibits all envy at the prosperity of others; it prohibits all desire of any evil or forbidden object; it prohibits all inordinate love even of good and lawful objects; it does not say, that we must not indulge a wrong desire, but that we must not have it. Well therefore does David say respecting the law, “Thy commandment is exceeding broad.”]

It may seem unjust in God to publish such a law, seeing that man in his present fallen state cannot keep it one single hour. But God could not, consistently with his own honour and our good, publish a less spiritual law than this; and this will be found both “just and good,” if we consider,

  II.      Its use—

Many are the uses of this law both to saints and sinners, but there is one use in particular mentioned in the text; and to that we shall confine our attention. The nature of sin is but little understood—

[The generality think that sin consists only in the outward act. Hence they suppose themselves in a good and safe state. This was the case with St. Paul himself before his conversion. And it is equally the case with every unconverted man.]

But the law is intended to discover sin to us in its true colours—

[Like a perfect rule, it leads to a discovery of our smallest obliquities. When applied to our motives, and principles, and to the manner and measure of our duties, it shews us that our very best actions are extremely defective. Thus it plucks up by the roots all conceit of our own goodness, and causes us to lie low before God as miserable sinners. It was to a view of the law that St. Paul owed his knowledge of his own sinfulness. And it is by this light that we must see the evil of our state.]

  APPLICATION—

  1.      What “know” we of “sin?”

[Have we ever seen the spirituality and extent of the law? Have we ever laid the law as a line to our consciences? Have we ever discovered by it the obliquity of our best actions? Have we ever been bowed down under the weight of our transgressions? Have we ever felt the impossibility of being justified by the law? No attainments in knowledge or goodness will profit us without this. Paul himself, though he thought well of his own state, was really dead while he was ignorant of the law; and when the spirituality of the law was revealed to him, then he saw and confessed himself an undone sinner. Let us then seek increasing views of the law, that we may be made truly humble and contrite.]

  2.      What know we of the Deliverer from sin?

[There is One who has fulfilled the demands of the law. His obedience and righteousness will avail for us. Have we fled to him as the fulfiller of the law for us? Have we take refuge in him who bore its curse for us? Do we see the need of him to “bear the iniquity of our holy things?” Let us then bless God for such a Saviour, and “cleave to him with full purpose of heart.”]

  3.      What regard are we yet daily shewing to the law?

[We are indeed delivered from its penal sanctions; nor ought we to regard it any longer as a covenant. But we are still subject to its commands, and ought to receive it as a rule of life. If we are sincere, we shall not account even the strictest of its commandments grievous. Let us then remember that it still says to us, “Thou shalt not covet.” Let us, in obedience to it, mortify all discontent and envy, all improper and inordinate desire: and let it be the labour of our lives to glorify God by our professed subjection to it.]

MDCCCLIII

THE SPIRITUALITY OF THE LAW

             Rom. 7:9.

I was alive without the law once: but when the commandment came, sin revived, and I died.

WHEN we behold the extreme supineness of those around us in relation to their eternal concerns, we are naturally led to inquire, What the reason of it is? Is it that they imagine there is no God; or no future state; or no connexion between their present life and their eternal destiny? No: they acknowledge their accountableness to God; but they are ignorant of the rule by which they shall be judged: and hence they conclude that they are in no danger, when, if they were apprised of their real state, they would he filled with alarm and terror. Thus it was with the Apostle Paul previous to his conversion: whilst ignorant of the spiritual nature of God’s law, he thought himself secure of acceptance with God: but when he had juster views of the law, he had juster views of his own spiritual condition also. Here then, as in a glass, we see,

  I.      The apprehensions which ignorant men have of their state before God—

[None are so blind as to think they have never sinned: but the generality suppose that they have never sinned in any great degree, so as to endanger their eternal happiness, or to justify God in consigning them over to eternal misery. If in some respects their actions have been incorrect, they have had no bad intentions: their conduct may have been bad; but their hearts were good. If they have refrained from gross immoralities, and been observant of some outward duties, they will, like the Pharisee, “thank God that they are not as other men;” and will boast before him of the good deeds which they have done. As for being in any danger of perishing, they cannot for a moment admit the idea: they think, that if God were to cast them into hell, he would be unjust; that they have never merited such a doom: and it would be quite irreconcileable with the goodness of God to suppose him capable of proceeding with such severity against persons of their description. Such were Paul’s views of himself; “he was alive without the law once:” having extremely contracted views of his duty, he thought he had done nothing to deserve punishment, and was secure of eternal life and salvation. And such is the delusion by which the whole host of unconverted men are blinded at this day.]

Hence we perceive,

  II.      The means by which alone they can be brought to a juster knowledge of their state—

[When God was pleased to arrest Paul in his way to Damascus, and to reveal himself to him, he discovered to him the spirituality and extent of the law. Paul had before thought that the commandments related only to outward acts; whereas he was now made to see that an inordinate desire was as much forbidden as the most criminal action; and that an impure or angry thought were in God’s sight as adultery or murder: he saw too that the curse of the law was denounced against every violation of its commands; and that it as truly condemned men for a dissatisfied or envious wish, as for the most flagrant transgression. From this time all his delusions vanished: he no longer cherished the fond idea of meriting salvation by his past or future obedience: he saw that he had not in any one action of his life come up to the full demands of the law; and that consequently he must renounce all dependence on the law for his justification before God.

Thus were his views rectified: and it is in this way alone that any one can attain a just knowledge of his state. “The commandment must come” with power to his conscience: he must see the spirituality of the law as extending to every thought and motion of the heart, and the holiness of the law as unalterably consigning over to the curse every one who shall transgress it in the smallest particular. Then his hopes from it will for ever vanish; and he will seek for mercy solely through the atoning blood and righteousness of the Lord Jesus.]

But let us more distinctly consider,

  III.      The view they will have of themselves, when rightly informed—

[Whilst men are ignorant what the law requires, sin appears to be, as it were, dead, and destitute of power either to enslave or condemn them: but when they have a discovery of the law, they will perceive that sin has all along exercised a tyrannic sway over them, and brought them under the heaviest condemnation. Their whole life will appear to have been one uninterrupted course of sin; and to have been spent, unwittingly indeed, but truly, in “treasuring up wrath against the day of wrath.” Their best actions now will be viewed as defiled with sin, and as deserving punishment: and they will see their need of one to “bear the iniquity of their holy things,” as well as of their more evident transgressions. They will now confess, that “if God should enter into judgment with them, they could not answer him” for one act, or word, or thought, in their whole lives. Hence they lie before him as sinners under sentence of “death,” and cast themselves wholly on the mercy of God in Christ Jesus. Instead of rising against the denunciations of his wrath, as they once did, they are dumb; well knowing that “he will be justified in his sayings, and be clear when he judgethe.” Thus from thinking themselves “alive” and pure, “sin revives in them, and they die.”]

  IMPROVEMENT—

  1.      How mistaken then are they who imagine that they have no cause to fear the wrath of God!

[We will grant, that, according to the world’s estimate, they are very worthy characters: but are they more exemplary than the Apostle Paul was before his conversion? Let them hear his own account of himself, and judge. If then he, when his eyes were opened, saw that he was a “dead” condemned sinner, let not any of us delude ourselves with the idea that we are in any better state — — —]

  2.      How suited is the Gospel to those who feel their guilt and misery!

[Are we lost? it was such persons that Christ came to seek and to save. Have we nothing to present to God in order to obtain salvation? He requires nothing at our hands, but to receive it freely from him “without money, and without price” — — — Let “the law then be to us as a schoolmaster, to bring us unto Christ;” and let us look to “Christ as the end of the law for righteousness to every one that believeth.”]

MDCCCLIV

SPIRITUAL CONFLICTS OF BELIEVERS

  Rom. 7:18–23.

I know that in me (that is, in my flesh,) dwelleth no good thing: for to will is present with me; but how to perform that which is good, I find not. For the good that I would I do not: but the evil which I would not, that I do. Now if I do that I would not, it is no more I that do it, but sin that dwelleth in me. I find then a law, that, when I would do good, evil is present with me. For I delight in the law of God after the inward man: but I see another law in my members, warring against the law of my mind, and bringing me into captivity to the law of sin which is in my members.

OF all evils that can be mentioned, Antinomianism is the worst; because it makes the Lord Jesus Christ himself a minister of sin, and turns the most glorious revelation of his grace into an occasion of unrestrained licentiousness. But whilst we reprobate with utter abhorrence the idea of sinning that grace may abound, we dare not, with some, deny or pervert the Gospel of Christ. We must affirm, that the Gospel offers to us a free and full salvation through the blood of Christ, and that they who believe in Christ are altogether dead to the law, so as to have nothing to hope for from its promises, or to fear from its threats. If, from this assertion, any one should infer, that we think ourselves at liberty to violate the precepts of the law, he would be much mistaken. There were some who put this construction on St. Paul’s statements; to whom he replied, “Shall we then continue in sin, that grace may abound?” and again, “Shall we then sin, because we are not under the law, but under grace?” To each of these questions he answered, “God forbid:” and in like manner we reject with indignation the remotest idea that we would make the Gospel an occasion of sin.

But, whilst St. Paul vindicated himself from this charge, he shewed, that, as a woman who had lost her husband was at liberty to be married to another man, so the law to which he once owed allegiance being dead, he was at liberty to be married to Christ, and by him to bring forth fruit unto God.

The terms however in which he expressed himself seemed to criminate the law, as much as he had before seemed to cast reflections on the Gospel. “When we were in the flesh, the motions of sins which were by the law did work in our members to bring forth fruit unto death.” Here, as he had before denied to the law the office of justifying a sinner, so now, in appearance, he seemed to accuse it as being to him the author both of sin and death. But these representations also he rejects; and shews, that the law had only been the occasion of sin, and not the cause of it; and that it had also been the occasion of death, but was by no means the cause of it. The proper cause both of sin and of death was the corruption of our nature, which remains with us even to our dying hour; as he himself could testify by bitter experience. This experience of his he then proceeds to describe. But as commentators have differed widely from each other in their explanations of the passage, we will endeavour to shew,

  I.      Of whom it is to be understood—

That we may bring the matter to a fair issue, we will distinctly inquire,

  1.      Does the passage relate the experience of an ungodly man, or of one that is truly pious?

[Those who explain it of an ungodly man say, that the whole preceding chapter represents a true Christian as made free from sin; and that to interpret this passage of a true Christian, would be to make the Apostle contradict himself. As for the opposition which the person here spoken of makes to his sinful propensities, it is nothing more (say they) than the ordinary conflict between reason and passion; and it may therefore properly be interpreted as experienced by an ungodly man.

But to this we answer, that, though an ungodly man may feel some restraints from his conscience, and consequently some conflicts between reason and passion, he cannot say that he really “hates sin,” or that “he delights in the law of God after the inward man.” The carnal and unrenewed mind neither is, nor can be, subject to the law of Godg; it is altogether enmity against God: and therefore the character here drawn cannot possibly be assigned to an ungodly man.]

  2.      Does St. Paul in this passage personate a godly man who is in a low state of grace, or does he speak altogether of himself?

[That the Apostle does sometimes speak in the person of another, in order that he may inculcate truth in a more inoffensive manner, is certain: but we conceive it to be clear that he speaks here in his own person: for it is undeniable that he speaks in his own person in the preceding part of the chapter, where he tells us what he was in his unconverted state: and now he tells us what he is, at the time of writing this epistle. In ver. 9. he says “I was alive without the law once;” and then afterwards, in ver. 14. he says, “The law is spiritual, but I am carnal:” and so he proceeds to the very end of the chapter declaring fully and particularly all the workings of his mind. This change of the tense shews clearly, that from stating his former experience he proceeds to state that which he felt at present. Moreover, in the concluding verse of the chapter, where he sums up, as it were, the substance of his confession in few words, he particularly declares, that he spake it of himself: “So then with the mind I myself serve the law of God, but with the flesh the law of sin.” And this is yet further evident from what he adds at the beginning of the next chapter, where he says, “The law of the spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and death.”

The only thing that can raise a doubt whether the Apostle speaks in his own person or not, is the strong language which he uses. It is certainly strong language to say of himself, “I am carnal, sold under sin.” But this differs as widely from what is said of Ahab, who “sold himself to work iniquity,” as the motion of a volunteer differs from the motion of a person who is dragged in chains. To understand the Apostle, we must consider the subject on which he is writing. He is comparing himself with the spiritual and perfect law of God. To fulfil that in its utmost extent, was his continual aim: but by reason of his indwelling corruption he could not attain his aim: and this may well account for the strong terms in which he speaks of his corrupt nature. And, if we compare his language with that which the holiest men that ever existed have used in reference to themselves, we shall find that there is a perfect agreement between them. “Behold, I am vile!” says Job; “I repent and abhor myself in dust and ashes.” David also complains, “My soul eleaveth to the dust.” And the Prophet Isaiah, on being favoured with a vision of the Deity himself, exclaimed, “Woe is me, I am undone! I am a man of unclean lips.” And it is a fact, that the most eminent saints in every age have felt a suitableness in the language of St. Paul to express their own experience, just as they have also in those expressions of our Liturgy, “We are tied and bound with the chain of our sins; but do thou, O Lord, of the pitifulness of thy great mercy, loose us!”]

Having shewn that the passage relates the Apostle’s own experience, we will proceed to shew,

  II.      Its true import—

The Apostle is speaking of that corrupt principle, which, notwithstanding his attainments, still remained within him, and kept him from that perfect conformity to the law of God to which he aspired. This principle he represents as having the force of a law, which he was not able fully to resist. He had indeed within himself a principle of grace which kept him from ever yielding a willing obedience to his indwelling corruption; but it did not so free him from the workings of corruption, but that he still offended God in many things;

  1.      In a way of occasional aberration—

[To conceive of this subject aright, we may suppose the holy and perfect law of God to be a perfectly straight line on which we are to walk; and the corrupt principle within us to be operating on all our faculties to turn us from it. Sometimes it blinds the understanding, so that we do not distinctly see the line: sometimes it biasses the judgment, so as to incline us, without any distinct consciousness on our part, to smaller deviations from it: sometimes with force and violence it impels the passions, so that we cannot regulate our steps with perfect self-command: and sometimes it operates to delude the conscience, and to make us confident that we see the line, when in reality it is only a semblance of it, which our great adversary has presented to our imagination in order to deceive us. By this principle a continual warfare was kept up in his soul against his higher and better principle, keeping him from what was good, and impelling him to what was evil; so that he often did what he would not willingly have done, and did not what he gladly would have done. Thus, as he expresses it, there was “a law in his members warring against the law of his mind, and bringing him into captivity to the law of sin in his members.” This representation exactly accords with that which he gives of every child of God, in the Epistle to the Galatians: “The flesh Justeth against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh; and these are contrary the one to the other, so that ye cannot do the things that ye would.”

This is by no means to be understood as though he acknowledged that he was driven to any gross violations of God’s law; for with respect to them he had a conscience void of offence: but in respect of smaller deviations from the exact line of duty, he could not assert his innocence: he felt, that however much he longed for perfection, “he had not yet attained, nor was he already perfect.”]

  2.      In a way of constant defect—

[The law of God requires that we should love God with all our heart, and all our mind, and all our soul, and all our strength; and that every action, every word, every thought, be in perfect accordance with this rule. But who has not reason to confess that his very best duties are defective, in extent, in intensity, and in continuance? Who comprehends in any one action all that assemblage of nicely-balanced motives, and purposes, and affections, that were combined in the heart of our Lord Jesus Christ? Who at any time feels all that ardour in the service of his God which the angels in heaven feel? Or, supposing he did at some highly-favoured season serve God on earth precisely as the glorified saints are serving him in heaven, who must not confess that it is not always thus with him? However “willing his spirit may be, he will find that his flesh is weak.” Indeed, in proportion as any man aspires after perfection, he will lament his imperfections; and in proportion as he sees the beauty of holiness, he will lothe himself for his defects: and we doubt not but that St. Paul’s spirituality of mind led him to complain more bitterly of the defects, which, with all his exertions, he was not able to prevent, than he would have done in his unconverted state of more plain and palpable transgressions. It might be supposed that the more holy any man was, the more free he would be from such complaints: but the very reverse of this is true: the persons “who have received the first-fruits of the Spirit, are they who groan most within themselves for their complete redemption;” yea Paul himself, as long as he was in the body, did “groan, being burthenedp:” to his dying hour he resumed at times that piteous moan, “O wretched man that I am! who shall deliver me?”

St. Paul indeed makes a wide distinction between these sins of infirmity, and wilful sins. Of these (these sins of infirmity) he twice says, “If I do that I would not, it is no more I that do it, but sin that dwelleth in me;” that is, my new nature in no respects consents to these sins; nay, the full bent and purpose of my soul is against them; but the remainder of my in-dwelling corruption, which I hate and oppose to the uttermost, keeps me from attaining that full perfection that I pant after: and therefore I hope that God will accept my services, notwithstanding the imperfection that attends them. In like manner, we, if we have the testimony of our consciences that we allow no sin, but fight against it universally, and with all our might, may rest assured, that “God will not be extreme to mark what is done amiss,” but that our services, notwithstanding their imperfection, shall come up with acceptance before him.]

In considering this experience of the Apostle, we must especially attend to,

  III.      The improvement to be made of it—

  We may LEARN from it,

  1.      How constantly we need the atonement and intercession of Christ—

[It is not for the sins only of our unconverted state that we need a Saviour, but for those of daily incursion, even for those which attend our very best services. As Aaron of old was to bear the iniquity of the people of Israel, even of “their holy things,” so our great High-Priest must bear ours: nor can the best service we ever offered unto God be accepted of him, till it has been washed in the Redeemer’s blood, and perfumed with the incense of his intercession. Guard then against all conceit of meriting any thing at the hands of God: guard also against self-complacency, as though you had wrought some good work in which no flaw can be found. If God were to lay a line and plummet to your best deeds, there would be found inconceivable obliquities and defects in them. Be sensible of this, and then you will learn how to value the Pearl of great price, even the Lord Jesus Christ, for whom you will gladly part with all that you have, that you may obtain an interest in him and in his salvation.]

  2.      What reason we have to watch over our own hearts—

[Carrying about with us such a corrupt nature, and knowing, as we do, that even St. Paul himself could not altogether cast off its influence, how jealous should we be, lest we be led into the commission of iniquity, even whilst we imagine that we are doing God service! Even the Apostles of our Lord, on more occasions than one, “knew not what spirit they were of:” and we, if we will look back on many transactions of our former lives, shall view them very differently from what we once did: and no doubt God at this moment forms a very different estimate of us from what we are disposed to form of ourselves. How blinded men are by pride, or prejudice, or interest, or passion, we all see in those around us. Let us be aware of it in ourselves: let us remember, that we too have a subtle adversary, and a deceitful heart: let us never forget, that Satan, who beguiled Eve in Paradise, can now “transform himself into an angel of light” to deceive us, and to “corrupt us from the simplicity that is in Christ.” Let us pray earnestly to God to keep us from his wiles, to disappoint his devices, and to bruise him under our feet. If God keep us, we shall stand; but, if he withdraw his gracious influences for one moment, we shall fall.]

  3.      What comfort is provided for us, if only we are upright before God—

[If we wish to make the Apostle’s experience a cloak for our sins, we shall eternally ruin our own souls. His experience can be of no comfort to us, unless we have the testimony of our own consciences that we “hate evil,” of whatsoever kind it be, and “delight in the law of God,” even in its most refined and elevated requirements, “after our inward man.” But, if we can appeal to God, that we do not regard or retain willingly any iniquity in our hearts, but that we unfeignedly endeavour to pluck out the right eye that offends our God, then may we take comfort in our severest conflicts. We may console ourselves with the thought that “no temptation has taken us but what is common to man,” and that “God will, with the temptation, make for us also a way to escape.” We may go on with confidence, assured of final victory; and may look forward with delight to that blessed day, when sin and sorrow shall depart from us, and death itself be swallowed up in everlasting victory.]

MDCCCLV

PAUL’S SPIRITUAL CONFLICTS

  Rom. 7:24, 25.

O wretched man that I am! who shall deliver me from the body of this death? I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord.

THE Epistle to the Romans, as a clear, full, argumentative, and convincing statement of the Gospel salvation, far exceeds every other part of Holy Writ. And the seventh chapter of that epistle equally excels every other part of Scripture, as a complete delineation of Christian experience. The Psalms contain the breathings of a devout soul, both in seasons of trouble and under the impressions of joy. But in the passage before us the Apostle states the operation of the two principles which were within him, and shews how divine grace and his corrupt nature counteracted each other. The good principle did indeed liberate him from all allowed subjection to sin: but the corrupt principle within him yet exerted such power, that, in spite of all his endeavours to resist it, he could not utterly overcome it. Having opened thus all the secret motions of his heart, he gives vent to the feelings which had been alternately excited by a review of his own experience, and of the provision which was made for him in Jesus Christ.

In discoursing upon his words we shall shew,

  I.      The Apostle’s experience—

We shall not enter into the general contents of this chapter, but confine ourselves to the workings of the Apostle’s mind, in,

  1.      His views of his sin—

[He considered sin as the most lothesome of all objects. In calling his indwelling corruption “a body of death,” he seems to allude to the practice of some tyrants, who fastened a dead body to a captive whom they had doomed to death, and compelled him to bear it about with him till he was killed by the offensive smell. Such a nauseous and hateful thing was sin in the Apostle’s estimation. He felt that he could not get loose from it, but was constrained to bear it about with him where-ever he went: and it was more lothesome to him than a dead body, more intolerable than a putrid carcass.

The bearing of this about with him was an occasion of the deepest sorrow. Whatever other tribulations he was called to endure, he could rejoice and glory in them, yea, and thank God who had counted him worthy to bear them. But under the burthen of his indwelling corruptions he cried, “O wretched man that I am!”

Nor was there any thing he so much desired as to be delivered from it. When he had been unjustly imprisoned by the magistrates, he was in no haste to get rid of his confinement: instead of availing himself of the discharge they had sent him, he said, “Nay, but let them come themselves and fetch me out.” But from his indwelling sin he was impatient to be released; and cried, “Who shall deliver me from the body of this death?” Not that he was at a loss where to look for deliverance; but he spake as one impatient to obtain it.]

  2.      His views of his Saviour—

[If his afflictions abounded, so did his consolations abound also. He knew that there was a sufficiency in Christ both of merit to justify the guilty, and of grace to sanctify the polluted. He knew, moreover, that God for Christ’s sake had engaged to pardon all his sins, and to subdue all his iniquities. Hence, with an emotion of gratitude, more easy to be conceived than expressed, he breaks off from his desponding strains, and exclaims, “I thank God, through Jesus Christ our Lord;” I thank him for Christ, as an all-sufficient Saviour; and I thank him through Christ, as my all-prevailing Advocate and Mediator. While he saw in himself nothing but what tended to humble him in the dust, he beheld in Christ and in God as reconciled to him through Christ, enough to turn his sorrow into joy, and his desponding complaints into triumphant exultation.]

That we may not imagine these things to be peculiar to St. Paul, we proceed to shew,

  II.      Wherein our experience must resemble his—

“As face answers to face in a glass, so doth the heart of man to man:” and every one who is con verted to God will resemble the Apostle,

  1.      In an utter abhorrence of all sin—

[Sin is really hateful to all who see it in its true colours; it is properly called, “filthiness of the flesh and spirit:” and all who feel its workings within them, will “lothe both it, and themselves on account of it, notwithstanding God is pacified towards them. Ungodly men may indeed hate sin in others; as Judah did, when he sentenced his daughter Tamar to death for the crime in which he himself had borne a share; and as David did, when he condemned a man to die for an act, which was but a very faint shadow of the enormities which he himself had committedd. Ungodly men may go so far as to hate sin in themselves, as Judas did when he confessed it with so much bitterness and anguish of spirit; and as a woman may who has brought herself to shame; or a gamester, who has reduced his family to ruin. But it is not sin that they hate, so much as the consequences of their sin. The true Christian is distinguished from all such persons in that he hates sin itself, independent of any shame or loss he may sustain by means of it in this world, or any punishment he may suffer in the world to come. The Apostle did not refer to any act that had exposed him to shame before men, or that had destroyed his hopes of acceptance with God, but to the inward corruption of which he could not altogether divest himself: and every one that is upright before God will resemble him in this respect, and hold in abhorrence those remains of depravity which he cannot wholly extirpate.

Nor will the true Christian justify himself from the consideration that he cannot put off his corrupt nature: no; he will grieve from his inmost soul that he is so depraved a creature. When he sees how defective he is in every grace, how weak his faith, how faint his hope, how cold his love; when he sees that the seeds of pride and envy, of anger and resentment, of worldliness and sensuality, yet abide in his heart; he weeps over his wretched state, and “groans in this tabernacle, being burthened.” Not that this grief arises from fear of perishing, but simply from the consideration that these corruptions defile his soul, and displease his God, and rob him of that sweet fellowship with the Deity, which, if he were more purified from them, it would be his privilege to enjoy.

Under these impressions he will desire a deliverance from sin as much as from hell itself: not like a merchant who casts his goods out of his ship merely to keep it from sinking, and wishes for them again as soon as he is safe on shore; but like one racked with pain and agony by reason of an abscess, who not only parts with the corrupt matter with gladness, but beholds it afterwards with horror and disgust, and accounts its separation from him as his truest felicity.

Let every one then examine himself with respect to these things, and ask himself distinctly, “Am I like Paul in lothing sin of every kind, and of every degree? Does my grief for the secret remains of sin within me swallow up every other grief? And am I using every means in my power, and especially calling upon God, to destroy sin root and branch?”]

  2.      In a thankful reliance on the Lord Jesus Christ—

[The hope of every true Christian arises from Christ alone: if he had no other prospect than what he derived from his own inherent goodness, he would despair as much as those who are gone beyond a possibility of redemption. But there is in Christ such a fulness of all spiritual blessings treasured up for his people, that the most guilty cannot doubt of pardon, nor can the weakest doubt of victory, provided he rely on that adorable Saviour, and seek his blessings with penitence and contrition. In him the Apostle found an abundance to supply his want; and from the same inexhaustible fountain does every saint draw water with joy.

And what must be the feelings of the Christian when he is enabled to say of Christ, “This is my friend, this is my beloved?” Must he not immediately exclaim, “Thanks be unto God for his unspeakable gift!” Must not the very stones cry out against him, if he withhold his acclamations and hosannas? Yes; “to every one that believes, Christ is, and must be, precious.” “All that are of the true circumcision will rejoice in him, having no confidence in the flesh.” And the deeper sense any man has of his own extreme vileness, the more fervently will he express his gratitude to God for providing a Saviour so suited to his necessities.]

  Let us then LEARN from this subject,

  1.      The nature of vital godliness—

[Religion, as it is experienced in the soul, is not as some imagine, a state of continual sorrow, nor, as others fondly hope, a state of uninterrupted joy. It is rather a mixture of joy and sorrow, or, if we may so speak, it is a joy springing out of sorrow. It is a conflict between the fleshly and spiritual principle, continually humbling us on account of what is in ourselves, and filling us with joy on account of what is in Christ Jesus. As for those who dream of sinless perfection, I marvel at them. Let them explain their notions as they will, they put away from themselves one-half of the Apostle’s experience, and suffer incalculable loss, in exchanging true scriptural humility for Pharisaic pride, and unscriptural self-complacency. The being emptied of all our own imaginary goodness, and being made truly thankful to God for the blessings we receive in and through Christ, is that which constitutes the Christian warfare, and that which alone will issue in final victory.]

  2.      How little true religion there is in the world—

[We hear every living man complaining at times of troubles, civil, domestic, or personal: and we find every man at times exhilarated on some occasion or other. But we might live years with the generality of men, and never once hear them crying, “O my inward corruptions: what a burthen they are to my distressed soul!” Nor should we see them ever once rejoicing in Christ as their suitable and all-sufficient Saviour. Yea, if we were only to suggest such a thought to them, they would turn away from us in disgust. Can we need any further proof of the prevalence, the general prevalence, of irreligion? May God make use of this indisputable fact for the bringing home of conviction upon all our souls!]

  3.      What consolation is provided for them who have ever so small a portion of true religion in their hearts—

[Many experience the sorrows of religion without its joys; and they refuse to be comforted because of the ground they have for weeping and lamentation. But if their sins are a just occasion of sorrow, their sorrow on account of sin is a just occasion of joy: and the more they cry, O wretched man that I am, the more reason they have to add, “Thanks be to God for Jesus Christ.” Let this ascription of praise be our alternate effusion now; and ere long it shall be our only, and uninterrupted, song for ever.]

MDCCCLVI

THE PRIVILEGE OF TRUE CHRISTIANS

  Rom. 8:1.

There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit.

TO establish that fundamental doctrine of our religion, the doctrine of justification by faith alone, is the main scope of this epistle. Having argued the point, and shewn that the objection of its encouraging men to sin, is without any real foundation, the Apostle sums up the whole in the words before us; and declares, as the just inference from his preceding arguments, that the believer in Christ, who acts agreeably to his profession, has nothing to fear from the condemnation of the law.

From this inspired declaration we learn the state, the character, and the privilege of every true Christian—

  I.      His state—

He is “in Christ Jesus.” This is altogether a term peculiar to the New Testament: but it expresses admirably the condition into which the Christian is brought, as soon as he believes in Christ.

He is interested in Christ as his all-sufficient Saviour—

[He has fled to Christ for refuge from the curses of the broken law — — — and has obtained peace with God by faith in his atoning sacrifice — — — Though in himself he deserves nothing but condemnation, he is “accepted in the beloved,” and “made an heir of God through Christ.”]

He is united to Christ as his living Head—

[Christ is “made Head over all things to the Church.” “He is the vine, of which believers are the branches.” Every one knows how it is that the branch is nourished and enabled to bear fruit, namely, by its union with the stock, and by sap derived from the root. Thus it is that the believer “receives continually out of the fulness that is in Christ,” being, in fact, not only “one body,” but also “one spirit, with him” — — —

In a word, the person that is in Christ is one who can say, “In the Lord have I righteousness and strength.”]

In strict accordance with this is,

  II.      His character—

“A tree is known by its fruit,” as the Christian is by his.

“He walks not after the flesh.”

[Notwithstanding he is in Christ, he still carries about with him a corrupt nature, “a body of sin and death.” He has yet “the flesh lusting against the Spirit, and incapacitating him to serve God so well as he could wish. But “he does not walk after the flesh;” nor will he “obey it in the lusts thereof.” In this respect he is widely different from the ungodly world. They affect nothing but the things of time and sense. He is not satisfied with any thing which has not a direct reference to eternity — — —]

“He walks after the Spirit”—

[He possesses a new and heavenly principle, under the influence of which he lives: and his conversation is in heaven,” “where Christ sitteth at the right hand of God:” nor can any thing please him which does not advance his eternal interests, and tend to the honour of that Saviour who bought him with his blood — — —]

Viewing thus his state and character, we shall not wonder at what is here declared to be,

  III.      His privilege—

“There is no condemnation to him.” We say not, that there is no desert of condemnation in him: for he is still a weak and corrupt creature; and there is much “iniquity even in his holiest acts.” But “there is no condemnation now remaining to him.”

[The law curses those only who are under the law. But the believer is “no longer under the law, but under grace;” and consequently, so far as he is concerned, the law is disarmed of its power, and is incapable of inflicting upon him its penalties. As a woman, when her husband is dead, is no longer under his power; so the Christian, now that the law is abrogated, is no longer obnoxious to its sentence. He stands before God perfect in Christ Jesus, yea, “without spot or blemish:” and he has nothing to fear on account of his past infirmities or his present conflicts: for God will carry on the work begun in his soul, and will “perfect it until the day of Jesus Christ” — — —]

  ADDRESS—

  1.      The mere nominal Christian—

[Think not that your observance of a round of duties is any evidence of your acceptance with God. You must be “in Christ” by a living faith, if ever you would be accepted of him; and by virtue derived from him, must be bringing forth to the glory of his name. And, if this be not your state and character, deceive not yourselves, for the text itself intimates, that there is condemnation for you, and that you have no part or lot with God’s believing people. I pray you, lay this matter to heart, and seek, ere it be too late, the blessings purchased for you by the Redeemer of the world — — —]

  2.      The over-confident professor—

[Some there are who will pronounce the words of our text with the same unhallowed confidence, as if there were no condemnation awaiting any child of man. But, brethren, your state and character should be tried, before you claim the privilege belonging to God’s faithful people. “If ye walk after the flesh, ye shall die,” whatever ye may imagine to the contrary: “If ye be Christ’s, ye will surely crucify the flesh with its affections and lusts” — — —]

  3.      The timid and doubting Christian—

[Some, because they still feel within themselves the workings of corruption, will doubt whether they can by any means belong to Christ. But the very text intimates, that there will yet be the flesh stirring within us; only, that, if we be Christ’s, we shall not “walk after it.” Say then, my dear brethren, do you find your pleasure in earthly things? Is it not, rather, painful to you that you cannot more entirely mortify all earthly desires, and find all your comfort in the things of God? I say not this, to encourage or sanction a slothful habit; but I say it in order to “strengthen your hands that hang down,” and to shew you, that, if, with Paul, you are constrained to cry, “O wretched man that I am! Who shall deliver me?” you should also add with him, “I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord.”]

MDCCCLVII

THE GOSPEL FREES MEN FROM SIN AND DEATH

             Rom. 8:2.

For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and death.

THE world in general account it liberty to give loose to their passions. But such freedom is indeed the sorest bondage to sin and Satan. None possess true liberty but those who are freed by Christb. The state of the demoniacs when healed by Christ resembled theirs. Paul was made a glorious example of it to all ages. He was once under condemnation, both because he adhered to the covenant of works, and was governed by his own impetuous will: he now rejoiced in a freedom from the sin that he had indulged, and from the curse to which he had subjected himself. “The law of,” &c.

We shall first explain, and then improve the text—

  I.      Explain it—

It is not needful to state the various interpretations given of the text. We shall adopt that which seems most easy, and agreeable to the context. We will begin with explaining the terms. “The law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus” is the Gospel covenant, as confirmed to us in Christ, and revealed to us by the Spirit—

[The “Spirit of life” is the Holy Ghost, who is the author and preserver of spiritual life. The “law” of the Spirit is the Gospel as revealed and applied by him: it is called a law because it has all the essential properties of a lawe: it is often spoken of as a law both by prophets and Apostles: it is said to be the law of the Spirit “in Christ Jesus,” because the blessings of the Gospel are treasured up in Christ, confirmed to us through Christ, and received by us from Christg.]

“The law of sin and death” may be understood either of the covenant of works or of our indwelling corruption—

[The covenant of works is a “law” to which all are by nature subject: it is called the “law of sin and death,” because both sin and death come by that law. Our indwelling corruption also operates as “a law” within usi; it invariably hurries us on to “sin and death.”]

We shall next explain the proposition contained in the terms. The proposition is, that “the Gospel frees us from the curse of the law, and from the dominion of sin”—

[When we embrace the Gospel we cease to be under the covenant of works; we then partake of all the blessings which Christ has purchased for us; we are liberated from the condemnation due to sin; we are freed, through the aid of the Spirit, from the power of sinn.]

This proposition is to be understood as extending to all believers—

[It is not true with respect to the Apostles only; it was exemplified in all the first converts, and is experienced still by every sincere Christian.]

The text thus explained is capable of most useful improvement—

  II.      Improve it—

  It is replete with very important INSTRUCTION—

It shews us the wretched state of every unregenerate man—

[We are all in bondage to “the law of sin and death;” we are justly subjected to the curses of the broken law; we are also led captive by our own corrupt appetites; even St. Paul himself was in this very stateq. Let us then humble ourselves under a conviction of this truth.]

It declares to us the only method of deliverance from that state—

[It was the Gospel which freed the Apostle. The same will avail for every other person. We must however “obey the Gospel,” and receive it as our “law of faith;” we must look for its blessings from Christ through the Spirit. In this way we may all adopt the language of the text in reference to our own happy experience.]

  It affords also abundant matter of REPROOF—

It reproves those who despond as though there were no hope for them—

[Many think their guilt too great to be pardoned, and their lusts too strong to be subdued; but Paul’s case was intended to prevent such desponding fears. Let none therefore any more complain like those of olds: every one may find encouragement in the power and mercy of God.]

It reproves also those who speak against an assurance of faith—

[It would indeed be presumptuous in some to profess an assurance of faith; but God is desirous that all his people should enjoy it; let not any one therefore reprobate it as presumption; let every one rather seek the assurance expressed in the text.]

  It may administer COMFORT also to many sincere Christians—

[Many are yet fighting against their manifold corruptions, and because they obtain not a perfect deliverance, they tremble under apprehensions of the divine wrath. But Paul himself bewailed bitterly his indwelling corruption: yet that did not prevent him from rejoicing in the partial freedom he experienced. Let upright souls take comfort from this reflection.]

MDCCCLVIII

CHRIST THE AUTHOR OF OUR SANCTIFICATION

  Rom. 8:3, 4.

What the law could not do, in that it was weak through the flesh, God sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin, condemned sin in the flesh: that the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit.

THE necessity of holiness is allowed by all: the means of attaining it are known to few. Christ is regarded as the meritorious cause of our justification before God; but he is not sufficiently viewed as the instrumental cause of our deliverance from sin. He is represented in the Scriptures as “our sanctification,” no less than “our wisdom and our righteousness:” and we should do well to direct our attention to him more in that view. In the preceding context he is spoken of as delivering his people from condemnation, and many judicious commentators understand the text as referring to the same point: yet, on the whole, it appears more agreeable both to the words of the text, and to the scope of the passage, to understand it in reference to the work of sanctification. St. Paul had just said that “the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus,” that is, the Gospel, “had made him free from the law of sin, as well as of death.” He then adds, that on account of the insufficiency of the law to condemn and destroy sin, God had sent his own Son to effect it; and that through his incarnation and death its power should be effectually broken.

From this view of the text, we are led to consider,

  I.      The end and design of Christ’s Mission—

God’s desire and purpose was to restore his people to true holiness—

[Sin was the object of his utter abhorrence: it had marred the whole creation: it had entered into heaven itself, and defiled the mansions of the Most High: it had desolated the earth also, and all that dwelt upon it. To remedy the miseries introduced by it, and to root it out from his people’s hearts, was a design worthy of the Deity; since, if once they could be brought to “fulfil the righteousness of the law,” by walking, in their habitual course of life, no longer after the flesh, but after the Spirit, eternal honour would accrue to him, and everlasting happiness to them.]

The law was not sufficient to effect this—

[The law was indeed perfectly sufficient to direct man, while he remained in innocence: and it was well adapted to reclaim him when he had fallen; because it denounced the wrath of God against every transgression of its precepts, and set forth a perfect rule of duty. But “it was weak through the flesh:” man was deaf, and could not hear its threatenings; dead, and could not execute its commands. Hence, as to any practical effects, it spake in vain.]

God therefore, in order that his purpose might not fail, sent his only dear Son—

[He sent his co-equal, co-eternal Son, “in the likeness of sinful flesh,” and to be a sacrifice “for sin;” that, through his obedience unto death, he might “deliver those who had been, and must for ever have continued, subject to bondage.” How this expedient was to succeed, will come under our consideration presently: we therefore only observe at present, that it was a plan which nothing but Infinite Wisdom could have devised. It could not have entered into the mind of any finite being, to subject God’s only dear Son to such humiliation; to make him a partaker of our nature, with all its sinless infirmities; to substitute him in our place, and, by his vicarious sacrifice, to restore us to the image and favour of God: this does, and must for ever, surpass all finite comprehension.]

But though we cannot fathom all the depths of this mystery, we may shew

  II.      In what way it is effectual for the end proposed—

We speak not of the way in which the death of Christ obtains our justification, but of the way in which it is instrumental to our sanctification. In reference to this, we say,

  1.      It displays the evil and malignity of sin—

[The evil of sin had been seen in a measure by the miseries which it had introduced, and by the punishment denounced against it in the eternal world. But in what light did it appear, when nothing less than the incarnation and death of Christ was able to expiate its guilt or destroy its power! Let any person behold the agonies of Christ in the garden, or his dereliction and death upon the cross, and then go and think lightly of sin if he can. Surely if men were more habituated to look at sin in this view, they would be filled with indignation against it, and seek incessantly its utter destruction.]

  2.      It obtains for us power to subdue sin—

[Though man is in himself so weak that he cannot, of himself, even think a good thought, yet through the influence of the Holy Spirit he can “fulfil the righteousness of the law,” not perfectly indeed, but so as to walk altogether in newness of life. Now, by the death of Christ the promise of the Spirit is obtained for us; and all who seek his gracious influences, shall obtain them. Thus the axe is laid to the root of sin.“The weak is enabled to say, I am strong:” and he, who just before was in bondage to his lusts, now casts off the yoke, and “runs the way of God’s commandments with an enlarged heart.”]

  3.      It suggests motives sufficient to call forth our utmost exertions—

[The hope of heaven and the fear of hell are certainly very powerful motives; yet, of themselves, they never operate with sufficient force to produce a willing and unreserved obedience. While the mind is wrought upon by merely selfish principles, it will always grudge the price which it pays for future happiness. But let the soul be warmed with the love of Christ, and it will no longer measure out obedience with a parsimonious hand: it will be anxious to display its gratitude by every effort within its reach. “The love of Christ will constrain it” to put forth all its powers; to “crucify the flesh, with its affections and lusts,” and to “perfect holiness in the fear of God.”]

  INFER—

  1.      How vain is it to expect salvation while we live in sin!

[If we could have been saved in our sins, can it be conceived that God would ever have sent his own Son into the world to deliver us from them; or that, having sent his Son to accomplish this end, he would himself defeat it, by saving us in our iniquities? Let careless sinners well consider this: and let the professors of religion too, especially those in whom sin of any kind lives and reigns, lay it to heart: for if sin be not “condemned in our flesh,” our bodies, and souls too, shall be condemned for ever.]

  2.      How foolish is it to attack sin in our own strength!

[A bowl, with whatever force it be sent, and however long it may proceed in a right direction, will follow at last the inclination of its bias, and deviate from the line in which it was first impelled. Thus it will be with us under the influence of legal principles: we shall certainly decline from the path of duty, when our corrupt propensities begin to exert their force. Our resolutions can never hold out against them. We must have a new bias; “a new heart must be given us, and a new spirit be put within us,” if we would persevere unto the end. Let us not then expect to prevail by legal considerations, or legal endeavours. Let us indeed condemn sin in the purpose of our minds, and sentence it to death: but let us look to Christ for strength, and maintain the conflict in dependence on his power and grace. Then, though unable to do any thing of ourselves, we shall be enabled to “do all things.”]

  3.      How are we indebted to God for sending his only Son into the world!

[If Christ had never come, we had remained for ever the bond-slaves of sin and Satan. We had still continued, like the fallen angels, without either inclination or ability to renew ourselves: whereas, through him, many of us can say, that we are “made free from the law of sin and death.” Let us then trace our deliverance to its proper source; to the Father’s love, the Saviour’s merit, and the Spirit’s influence. And let us with unfeigned gratitude adore that God, who “sent his Son to bless us, in turning away every one of us from our iniquities.”]

MDCCCLIX

THE CARNAL AND THE SPIRITUAL MAN COMPARED

  Rom. 8:5.

They that are after the flesh do mind the things of the flesh; but they that are after the Spirit the things of the Spirit.

IT is a certain and blessed truth, that all who believe in Christ are delivered from the condemnation due to their sins. But it is no less true, that all who believe in Christ are delivered also from the dominion of sin, and are enabled to walk in the paths of righteousness and holiness: and it is only by men’s attainment of this latter state that their attainment of the former can be ascertained. At the time that men believe in Christ, they have a new and spiritual principle infused into them by the Spirit of God: and where that principle exists, it will of necessity manifest itself by its appropriate operations. Hence the carnal and the spiritual man may be clearly distinguished from each other. Each will follow the predominant principle by which he is actuated: “They that are after the flesh, will mind the things of the flesh; and they that are after the Spirit, the things of the Spirit.”

That the two characters may the more clearly appear, I will set them before you,

  I.      In a distinct and separate view—

The carnal man will follow carnal things—

[There is in man, by nature, a carnal principle only. Whatever be his feelings, or whatever his pursuits, he is influenced by no other principle than that which he has in common with the whole human race: and the objects of his pursuit are such only as that principle affects. In a word, he seeks nothing beyond the things of time and sense. Pleasure, riches, honour, are, in his estimation, the great sources of happiness to man; and they alone are deemed worthy of his attention. His pleasures may be more or less refined; but, whether they be of an intellectual or corporeal nature, his end in pursuing them is the gratification of his own taste. As in the animal creation there is a diversity of pursuit, but the same end; so in men one may affect the sports of the field, another the indulgence of his appetites and passions, and another the investigations of science; but still self-pleasing is alike the principle of all. So also, in the pursuit of riches or honour, the immediate efforts of men will be suited to the sphere in which they move: but the king upon a throne, and the beggar upon a dunghill, however wide asunder the objects of their pursuit may be, will be wrought upon in the same way by the things which appear to be within their reach, and will shew that they are alike under the influence of a principle that is purely carnal. Even in the things which have respect to religion, a carnal man will still feel no higher principle than self: self-seeking, self-pleasing, self-righteousness, and self-dependence, will be found at the root of all that he does in waiting upon God. He has no real delight in any religious exercise; and all his conformity to religious observances is a mere tribute to self, rather than to God: it is a price paid for self-esteem, and for the esteem of those around him.]

The spiritual man, on the other hand, will follow spiritual things—

[There is in him, as we have said, a principle infused into his soul by the Spirit of God, and operating to the production of a new and spiritual life. The person who has received this new nature will affect objects and employments suited to it. Acceptance with God will be the first great object of his pursuit. In comparison of this, nothing under heaven will be of any value. The care of the soul will be, in his estimation, the one thing needful. Hence he will devote much time to reading the Scriptures and to prayer. The great work of repentance will now occupy his mind; and the Lord Jesus Christ will be endeared to him as the Saviour of the world. There will be between him and the carnal man the same difference as existed between the whole and the sick in the days of our Lord. The whole beheld him with mere curiosity: the sick flocked around him with a determination to obtain, if possible, the healing of their diseases. The spiritual man is in pursuit of heaven, as begun on earth, and perfected in glory: and, like a man in a race, or in a conflict, he engages with all his might, if by any means he may obtain the prize of his high calling. Even in his earthly engagements he bears in mind his great object, and endeavours to make even temporal pursuits subservient to his attainment of it. He considers his responsibility to God, and acts in every thing with a reference to his great account.]

But, that we may render the distinction between the two characters more clear, it will be proper to consider them,

  II.      In a combined and contrasted view—

Take both the characters, and consider them,

  1.      In their judgment—

[A carnal man may feel a general approbation of religion; but he does not regard it as of paramount importance. What he allows to religion, he rather concedes from necessity, than claims as its unquestionable due. He will conform to religion so far as his temporal interests will admit of it: but where the two come seriously in competition with each other, the world will have a decided preponderance in its favour. The good opinion of men will limit his exertions for God; and the attainment of some earthly object be prosecuted in preference to the best interests of his soul. To attend to the interests of time and sense will be esteemed by him as of the first necessity; and his spiritual welfare will be subordinated to it.

The spiritual man, on the other hand, will decidedly declare himself on the side of God and of religion. He will not neglect his earthly duties; for he considers them as a part of his duty to God: but if any thing earthly stand in competition with what is heavenly, he hesitates not to which he shall give the preference. The things of time and sense are in his eyes but as the dust upon the balance, in comparison of the things which are invisible and eternal: and in the contemplation of his God and Saviour, he gives this as the deliberate judgment of his mind, “Whom have I in heaven but thee? and there is none upon earth that I desire in comparison of thee.”]

  2.      In their will—

[The will of man, for the most part, is determined by his judgment: for though he may see a better path, and pursue a worse, yet, at the time, he wills that which he thinks will, under the existing circumstances, contribute most to his happiness. Hence the carnal man, though he may feel some good desires after religion, and some purpose of heart to seek after it at some future period, determines that he will, for the present, give himself to the prosecution of his earthly objects. Hence, too, he chooses as his associates those who are like-minded with himself, and who can participate with him in his enjoyments. He may know of persons capable of advancing his spiritual welfare: but he has no sympathy with them, nor any desire after their company, Any excess in worldly-mindedness he can forgive and palliate: but any thing that approximates to excess in religious matters is deemed by him an unpardonable offence: and one instance of it will do more to repel him from religion, than ten thousand instances of the opposite habit to deter him from a conformity to the world.

The spiritual man, on the contrary, chooses, with deliberate purpose, his spiritual pursuits; nor will he be deterred from them by any regard to the things of this world. His heart is fixed; and though he finds that the world has yet too great an ascendant over him, he maintains his conflicts with vigour, and becomes daily more dead to the world and more alive to God. He uses diligently, too, the means of spiritual advancement; and takes for his friends and associates those who will help him forward in his heavenly way.]

  3.      Their affections—

[These invariably are most called forth by the things which most preponderate in the soul. The carnal man accordingly betrays his indifference to spiritual objects by his total want of feeling in relation to them. He may go through his religious observances with constancy; but he rests in them, and never thinks of the way in which his duties have been performed. But, in reference to earthly things, he is alive: his hopes and fears, his joys and sorrows, are called forth, according as he succeeds or fails in the objects of his pursuit. The spiritual man, on the contrary, though not regardless of earthly pursuits, is comparatively unmoved by them; because he is chiefly solicitous that his soul may prosper, and that he may advance in a meetness for his heavenly inheritance. You may find him dejected or happy, without any visible cause: but when you inquire into the reasons of his experience, you will find that some change has taken place in his conflicts with sin, or in his sense of the Divine presence, or in his prospects in the eternal world; and, according as these are favourable or not, his soul becomes elevated or depressed; by which he shews that his chief treasure is in heaven.]

  APPLICATION—

Take this portion of Holy Writ,

  1.      As a test whereby to try your state—

[Hitherto I have left unnoticed the peculiar force of the word which the Apostle uses to designate the regard which we feel towards the different objects here spoken of. But the question is, not so much what our external conduct is in relation to them, as what the disposition of our minds is. Which of the two objects do we savour? to which does our taste lead us? and in which do we find most enjoyment? Now, if we will only take notice whither our thoughts lead us, at those seasons when nothing particular has occurred to determine their course, we shall infallibly discover the real bias of our minds: if they run out after any thing that relates to this vain, transient world, we are carnal: if after things spiritual and eternal, we may rank ourselves amongst the number of those who are truly spiritual. The same judgment we may form, by noticing what subjects we most delight to converse about, whether on those which pertain to this life only, or those which relate to the kingdom of our Lord and the interests of our souls. Whatever it be that we most relish and and most delight in, that is the thing which occupies the chief place in our hearts, and determines us to be either spiritual or carnal, as the case may be. Take, then, this test; and “judge yourselves, that ye be not judged of the Lord.”]

  2.      As a rule whereby to regulate your conduct—

[It is clear, from this passage, what ought to be the constant habit of our lives. We should be growing continually in a deadness to the world, and in a superiority to every thing here below. The great concerns of eternity should more and more occupy our minds; and the whole course of our life should be such as to bear witness to us that we are candidates for heaven. As to this present world, we should consider ourselves as mere pilgrims and sojourners, that have but little interest in any thing around us, and whose chief concern is to pass through it in safety to our destined home.]

MDCCCLX

THE CARNAL AND SPIRITUAL MIND CONTRASTED

             Rom. 8:6.

To be carnally minded is death; but to be spiritually minded is life and peace.

THE world in general are much mistaken with respect to the means of solid happiness. They seek the vanities of time and sense in hopes of finding satisfaction; and they shun religion under the idea that it would make them melancholy: but the “way of transgressors is hard.” On the contrary, the ways of religion afford both peace and pleasure. The testimony of St. Paul respecting this is clear and decisive. His words naturally lead us to consider the difference between the carnal and the spiritual mind,

  I.      In their operations—

By “the carnal mind” we understand that principle of our fallen nature which affects and idolizes carnal things. The spiritual mind imports that principle which leads the soul to spiritual objects, and is implanted by the Holy Spirit in the hearts of the regenerate. The difference between these two principles is discoverable in our thoughts—

[The thoughts will naturally be fixed on the objects that are best suited to the reigning principle: to these objects they recur with frequency, fervour, and complacency. If we be under the dominion of a carnal principle, we shall be thinking of some pleasure, profit, honour, or other worldly vanity: if we be led by a spiritual principle, God, and Christ, and the concerns of the soul, will occupy the mind.]

The principles will also operate on the affections—

[Whatever we most esteem, we desire it when absent, hope for if it be attainable, love the means of attaining it, and rejoice in it when secured. If there be danger of losing it, we fear; we hate the means that would deprive us of it; and if it be lost, we grieve. The carnal mind is thus exercised about carnal objects: the spiritual mind is thus exercised about spiritual objects. Hence that caution given us with respect to the affections—]

The principles will yet further influence our aims and ends of action—

[A carnal man can only act from carnal motives: he will have carnal aims even in spiritual employments. A spiritual man, on the contrary, will act from spiritual motives: he will act with spiritual views even in his temporal concerns. The one will seek his own interest or honour, and the other God’s gloryf.]

This difference in the operation of the two principles causes a corresponding difference,

  II.      In their effects—

The effect of the carnal principle is beyond measure awful—

[This principle reigning in us proves us destitute of life; yea, rather, the reign of it is itself a state of spiritual “death:” it must moreover terminate in everlasting death. This is irreversibly decreed by God; and it must be so in the very nature of thingsh.]

The effect of the spiritual principle is inexpressibly glorious—

[Wherever it prevails, it is a proof of spiritual life: it is also invariably the means of filling the soul with “peace.” Nor can it issue otherwise than in eternal life and peace. This also is according to the express constitution of God; and it must be so in the very nature of thingsk.]

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