2 Cor. 3:15, 16.

[Adam was formed after God’s image, pure and holy; but he begat children in his own fallen image, corrupt and sinful. Nor could he do otherwise; for “who can bring a clean thing out of an uncleang?” The fountain being polluted, the streams that issued from it could not but participate of its malignant qualities. Hence it is that we are conceived in sin and born in iniquity; and that all, the Apostles themselves not excepted, “are by nature children of wrathi.”

Thus Christ also imparts his nature to those whom he has chosen to share his benefits. He makes them “partakers of a divine nature,” and transforms them into “the Divine image in righteousness and true holinessl:” “He himself lives in them;” and thus renders them meet for eternal life, even for the inheritance of the saints in lightn.

It is, however, proper to observe, that though all are said to die in Adam, and to be made alive in Christ, the benefits received from Christ do not extend to all that are affected by Adam’s fall; the word “all” must, in the latter clause, he taken in a more limited sense, and import that, as they, who were represented by Adam, and are partakers of his nature, die in him; so they, who were represented by Christ, and are partakers of his nature, shall live in him.]

INFER—

1. How much of Christ may be seen even in the character of Adam himself!—

[Adam is expressly said to be “a figure of him that was to come;” and Christ, in reference to him, is called the second Adamp. Both of them were the representatives of their respective seeds; but, blessed be God! not with the same success: the one destroyed, the other saves, the souls committed to him. Let us then renounce, as far as possible, our connexion with him who has brought condemnation upon us, and seek an union with him, “through whose obedience we may be made righteous.”]

2. Of what importance is it to understand and receive the Gospel!—

[It is only by the Gospel that we can be acquainted with the work of Christ, and obtain an interest in him: if we know him not, we remain under all the disadvantages of the fall. It is this Gospel which gives to the least and meanest of us so great an advantage over all the philosophers of Greece and Rome. They saw in what a fallen state the world was: but how it became so, or how it could be remedied, they had no conception. We however know both the one and the other: we know that in Adam we died, and that in Christ we all may be made alive. True, this does not accord well with the dictates of corrupt reason. But to dispute about this doctrine is to no purpose: we are dead in Adam, whether we will believe it or not; nor can we obtain life, but in and through Christ. Let us then not reject the gracious overtures of Christ, but turn to him in this our time of acceptance, this day of our salvation.]

3. How thankful should we be for God’s distinguishing mercy to the sinners of mankind!—

[When angels fell, there was no Saviour provided for them: they were punished for the first offence, and will remain monuments of God’s indignation to all eternity; but we are spared, yea, are saved by the mediation of God’s co-equal Son. Let heaven and earth praise him! and let every tongue now, as surely we shall hereafter, adore him for such unmerited, incomprehensible love!]

MDCCCCXCIII

DYING DAILY

1 Cor. 15:31.

I protest by your rejoicing which I have in Christ Jesus our Lord, I die daily.

THERE were many in the apostolic age who denied the resurrection of the dead. St. Paul, in opposition to them, maintained the truth of that doctrine. In confirmation of his word, he asserted that he himself, no less than the other Apostles, had seen the Lord Jesus Christ in his risen state; and that, consequently, there must be a resurrection of the dead; more especially because the Lord Jesus did not rise as a mere individual, but as the head and forerunner of his people, even as the first-fruits before the harvest. He then appeals to his adversaries themselves, whether, upon any other hypothesis than that of a resurrection to a future life of blessedness and glory, it would be possible to account for the conduct of himself and all his fellow Apostles and fellow Christians; all of whom so readily encountered the severest trials that men could endure in this world, in the hope and prospect of approving themselves to God, and of being approved by Him in the day of judgment? “What shall they do who are baptized for the dead,” that is, in the room of the dead, like soldiers filling up the ranks of those who have been cut off, if the “dead rise not at all? Why are they then baptized for the dead? and why stand we in jeopardy every hour?” Then, for their conviction, he protests most solemnly before God, that this was his own experience, and that “he died daily.”

In considering these words, I will notice,

I. The Apostle’s experience—

He here declares the daily habit of his mind,

1. As the fruit and consequence of the persecutions he suffered—

[The Apostle preached the Gospel “with great plainness of speech.” By this he gave offence to multitudes, both of Jews and Gentiles, who with implacable animosity sought his life. He had not preached the Gospel many days before his enemies conspired to destroy him; and necessitated him, for the preservation of his life, to be let down in a basket from the battlements of a walled city. From that time he was in continual danger, never knowing but that the address he was delivering would prove his last. Truly, he was “in deaths oft;” and “like a sheep appointed for the slaughterc;” or like the gladiators, who were to engage in renewed combats till they died. In truth, he was regarded only as “the filth of the world, and as the off-scouring of all things;” fit only to be sacrificed for the pacifying of a dæmon, or for the removal of a common plaguee. Thus “he was in jeopardy every hour of his life;” and, as he expresses it in my text, “he died daily.”]

2. As wrought and cherished in his own soul—

[It is plain that this also is included in the expression before us; and that it forms, in fact, the very jet of his argument. ‘I protest,’ says he ‘that, as I am daily exposed to death for my ministrations, so I willingly submit to it in an assured prospect that I shall be recompensed at the resurrection of the just.’ He knew that, independently of his persecutions, his life was very uncertain, and that he could not call a day or an hour his own: and the murderous cruelty of his enemies rendered his continuance in life still more precarious. But he was willing to die at any time, and in any way, for his Master’s sake: yea, “he desired to depart, and to be with Christ, as far better” than any thing he could attain in this lifeh; and he accounted every moment of his continuance in the body as a privation of blessedness in the immediate presence of his Lord. He knew, that, at the very instant of his departure from the body, he should “behold his Lord face to facek;” and, that, at the day of judgment, his body also should be raised to “meet the Lord in the air, and to be for ever with the Lord:” and, under this conviction, he looked upon martyrdom itself as a ground of cordial self-congratulation and joym.]

This subject derives peculiar importance from,

II. The solemn manner in which he affirmed it—

He takes for granted that those, whom he addressed, rejoiced in Christ Jesus, even as he did: and he protests by their rejoicing, as well as by his own, that this was indeed his experience from day to day. And from this protest we learn,

1. That this experience is not common—

[No, in truth: it is very rare even among “those who profess godliness.” That there is no such persecution now, as existed in the apostolic age, is certain; and, consequently, the preachers of the Gospel exercise not their ministry so much at the peril of their life: but there is as much need of zeal now as ever: and the servants of God are as much bound to be faithful in the discharge of their duty as ever; and they must be as ready to sacrifice their lives in the cause of their Divine Master as ever. There is to be no difference in these respects between the Apostles and us. If not called to endure the same trials as they, we must be willing to endure them, if called to it: and if we love our lives in comparison of Him and his glory, we shall lose our souls for ever.

As to looking forward to a longer stay on earth, we are no more entitled to indulge such a conceit than the Apostles were; for “we know not what a day or an hour may bring forth.” And it is our privilege to be anticipating the blessedness of heaven as much as it was theirs. We should count death amongst our treasures: and be “looking for, and hasting unto, the coming of the day of Christ,” quite as much as they did in their devoutest frames — — —

But is this a common attainment? Would to God it were! But the generality of Christians put the day far from them, as though it were to be dreaded, rather than desired: and even the more godly amongst us live far below their privileges in this respect.]

2. That, however, it ought to be found in all who believe in Christ—

[He takes for granted, that all true Christians “rejoice in Christ.” And truly this is a distinctive character of them: and the man who has not in himself this evidence of his relation to Christ, has no sufficient reason to think that he belongs to Christ. But, supposing that we are really Christ’s, then should the Apostle’s experience be ours: and so palpably should it be ours, that we should be able to join in the asseveration of St. Paul, and say, ‘ “I protest, by my rejoicing in Christ, and as I hope to rejoice in him in a better world, I am dying daily:” “I am crucified to the world,” and to all things in it: and I am, in the constant habit of my mind, like a dying man, expecting and preparing for my speedy dissolution, and anticipating with joy the blessedness that awaits me.’ Beloved brethren, if ye be Christians indeed, this is the experience which you are to aspire after; this is the experience which ye are bound to attain.]

3. That the existence of this, in the Lord’s people, is a strong presumptive proof of a future resurrection—

[A few enthusiasts may be supposed to be carried forward to strange excesses of zeal, even in a bad cause. But to act and suffer as the Apostles did, could not be general amongst pious Christians, if they were not animated by a hope beyond the grave: and their conduct in this world, if it prove not the certainty of a future resurrection, proves, beyond a doubt, the full persuasion of their minds respecting it. In truth, nothing but this expectation could carry persons on to such high attainments: and, on the other hand, there is nothing which those who are persuaded of it will not gladly do and suffer in the prospect of such happiness and glory.

Certify then yourselves, brethren, that there is indeed a future state; and labour, by the conformity of your lives to that of the holy Apostle, to shew that you are borne up, by the hope of it, far above all that the world can give, and above all that the most inveterate enemy can inflict.]

TELL me now, whether the Christian be not,

1. A happy man?—

[As “rejoicing in Christ,” he must of necessity be happy. Nor is he less so in his superiority to all the things of time and sense. In truth, the only way to live happily is to “die daily.” Be it so: he is an object of hatred and persecution amongst men: but he is beloved of God, and enjoys God; and is even led to anticipate more the blessedness of heaven by the very sufferings which he endures on earth. “When God therefore gives him such quietness, who can make trouble?” Verily “none can harm him, seeing that he is thus a follower of that which is good.”]

2. A man worthy to be imitated by all around him?—

[The poor, wretched, ignorant world run from vanity to vanity in pursuit of pleasure; and never find it. The Christian follows after righteousness; and happiness waits on him, even as the shadow of his body. To him every thing is a source of good: adversity itself comes to him as a blessing in disguise; and in his afflictions he tastes nothing but love. Seek then, my brethren, to rejoice in Christ; and then shall all the Christian’s blessedness be yours.]

MDCCCCXCIV

THE SHAMEFULNESS OF BEING IGNORANT OF GOD

1 Cor. 15:34.

Some hare not the knowledge of God: I speak this to your shame.

KNOWLEDGE is the foundation of all acceptable obedience. We must know whom we are to serve; and why we are to serve him; and what are the services that he requires at our hands. Hence the Scriptures represent us first as “renewed in knowledge after the image of him who created us.” On the other hand, ignorance is the root of all sin. It was to this, as its proper source, that our Saviour and his Apostles traced the wickedness of the Jews in crucifying the Lord of glory, and in persecuting his followers. To this also St. Paul referred the conduct of those at Corinth who taught, that “there was no resurrection of the dead.” From their erroneous views of this fundamental doctrine, and the consequent sinfulness of their conduct, he was sure that they were ignorant of God himself; and therefore he declared it to their shame.

The same may be said in reference to ourselves, if we err in any other fundamental point of faith or practice. In order therefore to bring it home to ourselves, we shall shew,

I. What is that knowledge of God, which, as Christians, we are supposed to possess—

God has revealed himself to us in his blessed word; and we ought to know him,

1. In his essential perfections—

[These perfections he proclaimed by an audible voice to Moses, in answer to that prayer of his highly favoured servant, “I beseech thee, shew me thy glory.” The Lord passed by before him and proclaimed, The Lord, the Lord God, merciful and gracious, long-suffering, abundant in goodness and truth, keeping mercy for thousands, forgiving iniquity, transgression, and sin, and that will by no means clear the guiltyd.” Yet it is not merely a speculative knowledge of him that we ought to possess, but such a knowledge as produces suitable emotions in our minds. The devils could say to our Saviour, “We know thee who thou art:” and in like manner they are acquainted with all the perfections of Jehovah; but their knowledge is unattended with any sanctifying influence: they know God, but they cannot love him; they see his holiness, and hate it; his justice, and tremble at it; his power, and lament it; his mercy, and despair of it; his grace, and oppose it; his wisdom, and endeavour to counteract it. But this view of him must fill us with wonder, and love, and gratitude, and affiance — — —]

2. As reconciled to us in the Son of his love—

[This more particularly characterizes us as Christians, because in this view he is fully exhibited to us in the Gospel. It is our happy privilege not only to have “the day-star from on high risen upon us,” but to have God himself “shining into our hearts, to give us the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.” In the cross of Christ we should see all the perfections of God united, and harmonizing, and glorified; or, as the Psalmist expresses it, we should see “mercy and truth met together, and righteousness and peace kissing each other.” We should realize every perfection of the Deity in this view: we should see his wisdom as providing a plan for the redemption of a ruined world, and as opening a way for the exercise of mercy, without infringing upon the rights of justice, or holiness, or truth. We should see even justice itself become our friend, and beaming upon us with the same benignity as love or mercy, seeing that its utmost demands have been satisfied in the atonement of Christ, and all the glory of heaven has been purchased for us by his obedience unto death — — — In a word, the language of David should be the language of our hearts: “Thy mercy, O Lord, is in the heavens; and thy faithfulness reacheth unto the clouds. Thy righteousness is like the great mountains; thy judgments are a great deep: O Lord, thou preservest man and beast. How excellent is thy loving-kindness, O God! therefore the children of men put their trust under the shadow of thy wings. They shall be abundantly satisfied with the fatness of thy house; and thou shalt make them drink of the river of thy pleasures. For with thee is the fountain of life: in thy light shall we see light.”]

Such is the knowledge of God which every Christian ought to possess. I proceed to shew,

II. Why it is a shame not to possess it—

Of many things we may all be ignorant without any imputation on our character. But to be destitute of the knowledge of God is a shame to all, because it is,

1. The most excellent of all knowledge—

[The knowledge of philosophy is a very valuable acquisition: but it is not to be compared with the knowledge of God, since that infinitely surpasses every thing that can occupy the Human mind. How glorious is it for a worm of the earth to see the perfections of the invisible God! to behold them all shining forth in the face of Jesus Christ! and, above all, to see them all interested in his salvation! How glorious is it for a helpless sinner to know that he has omnipotence for his support, and unbounded mercy for his refuge! How glorious is it for such an unworthy creature to survey the justice and holiness, the power and wisdom, the love and mercy, the truth and faithfulness of God, and then to say, “This God is my God for ever and ever!” Surely every thing else in comparison of this is lighter than vanity itself. And whoever seeks any other knowledge in preference to this, has reason to blush for his stupidity, and to be ashamed of his choice.]

2. The most needful of all knowledge—

[The knowledge of trade, and of politics, is necessary for the welfare of a state: but a statesman need not be conversant with the lowest branches of trade; nor need a tradesman know how to govern a state. But the knowledge of God is every man’s business; it is that for which God has brought him into existence, and for which the ordinances of the Gospel are continued to him. Every man is more interested in this, than even in providing bread for his body: for he may have food supplied to him by the benevolence of others; but who can supply the lack of this knowledge, or what substitute can be found for it? Without that a man can have no happiness; because, till he has it, he is exposed to the wrath of Almighty God. Without that he can have no holiness; because holiness is the fruit that springs from it, and therefore cannot subsist without it. Without that he can have no salvation; for “to know God and Christ is eternal life;” and when Christ shall come to judgment, it will be for the express purpose of “taking vengeance on them that know not God.” If then it be a shame to be destitute of all good, and to be a miserable outcast from heaven, it is a shame to be ignorant of God.]

3. The most easy to be obtained of all knowledge—

[There are many things which men have not a capacity to learn. But even the weakest of men may attain the knowledge of God, if they will seek it in God’s appointed way. Our Lord returns thanks to his heavenly Father on this very account, “because the things which he has hid from the wise and prudent, are revealed unto babes.” Nor is this expression merely figurative; for Samuel, Josiah, Timothy, and John, are standing monuments to the Church, that “God will ordain strength in the mouths of babes and sucklingsl.” In reference to this knowledge then, no man has any excuse for his ignorance; no man can say, “I am no scholar, and therefore have no reason to be ashamed;” for all may know the Lord, if they will seek the enlightening influences of his Spirit, since God has pledged himself, that “if any man lack wisdom, and ask it of him, he will give it liberally, and without upbraiding.”]

APPLICATION—

[Let those who know not God as reconciled to them in Christ Jesus, begin to seek that knowledge without delay. And let those who do know him, give God the glory: for though an ignorance of him is to our shame, the honour arising from this distinction, belongs to God alone; since it is “he who has given us an understanding to know him.”]

MDCCCCXCV

DEATH A CONQUERED ENEMY

1 Cor. 15:51–58.

Behold, I shew you a mystery; We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed, in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump: for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed. For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality. So when this corruptible shall have put on incorruption, and this mortal shall have put on immortality, then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written, Death is swallowed up in victory. O death, where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory? The sting of death is sin; and the strength of sin is the law. But thanks be to God, which giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. Therefore, my beloved brethren, be ye steadfast, unmoveable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, forasmuch as ye know that your labour is not in vain in the Lord.

THE doctrine of the resurrection was altogether unknown to the heathen world, and but imperfectly known even to the Jews themselves. The idea of bodies, once mouldered into dust and scattered over the face of the earth, being ever restored, and reunited to their kindred souls, appeared so visionary, as to be wholly inadmissible and incredible. But St. Paul shews, that the resurrection of our blessed Lord was a fact established beyond the possibility of doubt; and that he had risen “as the first-fruits,” which would assuredly be followed by an universal harvest. True it was that a great change would take place in the body, such as was necessary to fit it for its future state of existence: but still it would be the same body in reality, just as the wheat, which, when sown in the ground, first dies, and then rises substantially the same, though in a very different form. To the question, What shall be done with those who shall be living upon the earth at the last day? He answers, That they shall undergo a change equivalent to death and resurrection: and the manner in which this shall be effected he represents as a mystery, which in former ages had been wholly unknown, but which from inspiration he was now enabled to proclaim. However death had seemed hitherto to triumph over the many successive generations that had existed upon earth, there should at last be an end of his reign, and he himself should be triumphed over by all who belong to Christ.

That we may all have a fuller view of this mystery, we will endeavour to shew,

I. The victory that awaits the Christian—

Christians, like others, appear to be overcome by death—

[They, as well as others, yield to the stroke of death. Patriarchs, Prophets, Apostles, all have died: two only of all the children of men have been exempted from the common lot: and the time is quickly coming when every one of us must die; (for “the body is dead because of sin;”) and must “return to the dust” from whence we sprang.]

But in due time they shall assuredly triumph over it—

[It is the body only that death can reach: it cannot affect the believer’s soul: and it is for a time only that it can affect the body. When once the last day shall arrive, there will be an end of that empire which death has so widely extended. The bodies of the saints, of whom alone the Apostle here speaks, shall then be raised up, and with varied degrees of splendour shine forth anew. They were sown in corruption, weakness, and dishonour, and they shall be raised in incorruption, power, and glory: from natural bodies, they shall be transformed to spiritualf, each one shining forth, as our Saviour himself at his transfiguration, like the sun in the firmament for ever and ever. Thenceforth shall “death have no more dominion over them,” any more than it has over our Lord himselfh: on the contrary, it shall itself “be swallowed up in victory,” as the prophet has said, and, as the Apostle elsewhere speaks, “Mortality shall be swallowed up of lifek.”

By those also who shall be living at the time of our Lord’s advent, shall the same triumph be enjoyed. “In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye shall they be changed, as soon as ever the last trump shall sound:” as, in the case of those who have died, “corruptible shall put on incorruption,” so, in those who shall be found alive, “their mortal shall put on immortality,” and “their vile body shall in an instant be made like unto Christ’s glorious bodym,” even to that very body in which he now sits enthroned in glory, the blessed object of adoration to all the hosts of heaven.]

That the Christian may be encouraged the more confidently to look forward to that victory, we proceed to shew,

II. How it is, that he is assured of it—

It is sin that gives death its power—

[If sin had never entered into the world, death would never have existed, or would have been only a translation from earth to heaven. This is plainly told us by St. Paul; “By one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men, even upon those who have not sinned after the similitude of Adam’s transgression.” The law which passed the sentence of death on Adamo, still says to every child of man, “The soul that sinneth, it shall die.” And this law cannot be set aside: it is as immutable as God himself: and hence it is that sin is itself so powerful, and invests death also with such power over our fallen race.]

But the Lord Jesus Christ has taken away our sin—

[He has put himself in our place and stead, and, as our Surety, has satisfied all the demands of the law. Did the law require the death of the offender? He has put himself in the place of sinners, and has borne the penalty for them. Would sin yet prevail to destroy the soul? He has expiated its guilt, and put “away sin by the sacrifice of himself.” Must every one have a perfect righteousness before he can appear in the presence of a holy God? Christ has not only “made an end of sin, but by his obedience unto death has brought in an everlasting righteousness,” which “he imputes to all them that believeq.” Thus is death disarmed of its sting: for sin, which was its sting, is cancelled; and the law, from which sin derived its strength, is fulfilled: and the sentence denounced against us is reversed, so far at least as it is penal; insomuch that “God may now be just, and yet the justifier of sinful men.”]

Thus is death disarmed of its power—

[Death, no longer envenomed by sin, is to be regarded only as a sleep, “a falling asleep in Jesus.” This “enemy,” this “king of terrors,” is turned into a friend, and may now be numbered amongst the richest treasures of the Christian. If we view it aright, it is only a friend who comes to draw aside the veil that hides the Saviour and all his glory from our eyes. What a blessed thought! O Christian, what joy should this thought impart unto thy soul! with what transport shouldest thou exclaim, “Thanks be to God who giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ!” Come forward, Christian; put thy foot upon the neck of this conquered enemy: exult over him, as God himself instructs thee, “O death, where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory?” Where are now thy boasted triumphs? Instead of swallowing up me, thou shalt be swallowed up; and instead of casting me into the lake of fire, thou thyself shalt have that for thine only and unchangeable abode.]

Such is the victory that awaits thee. Think then,

III. What exertions the prospect of it should call forth—

Let the expectation of this triumph stimulate thee to prepare for it. Prepare for it by,

1. A steadfast adherence to the faith—

[Much will thy faith be tried: temptations from without and from within will assuredly assault thee: perhaps even the glorious truths contained in our text may be wrested from thee by thy great adversary, so that thou shalt be led to question the reality of them, or thine interest in them. But “be steadfast, and immoveable;” “holding fast the profession of thy faith without wavering.” “Fight the good fight of faith:” “quit thyself like a man:” whoever would “move thee from the hope of the Gospel,” withstand him: whoever would turn thee aside from the right path, or discourage thee in running thy heavenly race, regard him not; but “run on with patience, looking unto Jesus, the Author and the Finisher of thy faith.”]

2. A diligent performance of thy duty—

[The Lord has given thee a work to do: O engage in it with, all thy heart. Has he assigned thee any office whereby thou mayest be useful in advancing his kingdom in the world? “Give thyself wholly to it.” Do the interests of thine own soul call for thine attention? “Forget all that is behind, and press forward for that which is before.” Be not content with small measures of service; but seek to “abound in the work of the Lord;” and this, not on some particular occasions only, but “always,” from day to day, and from year to year, “never being weary in well-doing,” but exerting yourselves the more, in proportion as your time for performing it is cut short. Think what is that work where you may best serve and glorify your Lord; and “make it your meat and drink to do it:” yea, “whatever thine hand findeth to do, do it with all thy might.”]

3. An assured expectation of thy reward—

[Moses himself “looked to the recompence of the reward,” as did also the martyrs of old, who “refused to accept deliverance from their tortures, that they might obtain a better resurrection.” If you had no prospect of future happiness, there would be some reason for that Epicurean maxim, “Let us eat and drink, for to-morrow we die.” But when you consider how short your present trials are, and how rich will be the recompence for all your labours, it were madness to draw back. Look at those who have already entered into their rest, and ask, Whether they repent of their former labours: or look at the glory that awaits thee, and then think whether the possession of it will not richly compensate all that thou canst do or suffer for thy Lord. “The Lord is not unrighteous, that he will forget your works and labours of love:” No: he has said, that “you shall be recompensed at the resurrection of the dead;” and he will with his own hand bestow the recompence: “nor shall even a cup of cold water given for his sake lose its reward.”]

ADDRESS—

[Happy should we be, if death had this aspect upon all, and we had no occasion to change our voice in relation to it. But to the ungodly it is still an enemy: and over the unbelieving it will retain its dominion to all eternity. Yes, brethren; if we have not sought refuge in Christ from the curses of the broken law, we are yet in our sins, and must perish under the guilt of them for evermore. Is this your case? how terrible then must the thought of death be to you! To you, it will be as the opening of the prison doors to a criminal, that he may be led forth to execution. For a season indeed, your body shall sleep in the dust: but in what image shall it rise in the last day? What will be its feelings, when it shall be re-occupied by the soul, that now claims it as the partner of its former sins, and of all its future sorrows! How glad would it be, if it could take its position under rocks and mountains! Even now, the thought of death is terrible to the unbelieving soul, and the contemplation of eternity distressing. But let it not be always thus; let what you have heard of the Christian’s privileges stir you up to seek a participation of them. Remember, how it is that death must be disarmed of its sting: it is altogether by faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, as having fulfilled the law for you, and taken away your sins by the blood of his cross. Only look to him as dying for your sins, and rising again for your justification, and all shall yet be well: your souls shall live before him; “because he liveth, you shall live also:” and when he who is your life shall appear, “ye also shall appear with him in glory.”

But to those who profess to believe in Christ, we would also suggest a salutary caution. If the prospect of a glorious resurrection produce not its due effect upon you, you have reason to doubt whether you have indeed an inheritance beyond the grave. It is only in proportion as your faith is operative, that you can have any evidence of its being the “faith of God’s elect.” And how painful will it be, when on the verge of eternity, to have your soul harassed with doubts and fears about your eternal state! Do not, I beseech you, walk so carelessly as to endanger your final acceptance with God, or to make it doubtful to your own mind. What can be the effect of sin, but to fill your dying pillow with thorns? Never then trifle either with sin or duty: let the one be put away from you with all care, and the other be practised with all diligence: and seek of God the aid of his good Spirit, that you may so live as to enjoy the testimony of your own conscience, and so walk, “that you may be found of him in peace without spot and blameless.”]

MDCCCCXCVI

CHRISTIAN COUNSEL

1 Cor. 16:13, 14.

Watch ye, stand fast in the faith, quit you like men, be strong. Let all your things be done with charity.

OF all the apostolic Churches, not any one seems to have been so corrupt as that at Corinth: at least, St. Paul reproves more evils there than in any other. In this epistle to that Church he addresses himself to the consideration of several abuses which had crept in among them: and now, in the close of it, he gives them, in few words, his pastoral advice; but evidently, I think, with a special view to all his preceding remarks. They were in the midst of manifold temptations; and therefore he bids them “watch.” They had amongst them false teachers, who, under a specious garb of sanctity and superior illumination, sought to turn them from the truth; and therefore he tells them to “stand fast in the faith.” They had trials of various kinds to encounter; and therefore he says to them, “Quit you like men, be strong.” At the same time, there were great contentions among them; and therefore he adds, “Let all your things be done with charity.” Now, as these subjects are worthy of universal concern, we will adopt the same line of instruction as was pursued by him; and, just changing the words, in order to convey more clearly what I conceive to be the meaning of them, I will say,

I. Guard against temptations of every kind—

[Of course, every Christian must watch against all the more open assaults of his three great enemies, the world, the flesh, and the devil: and I must therefore, in the first place put you on your guard against them — — — But, as the caution was given to persons who might he considered as on the whole pious, it may be proper rather to advert to such temptations as are peculiar to Christians, whether in their collective capacity as a Church, or in their personal experience as saints.

Now Christians, as collected into a society, have many things in their temper and deportment against which it becomes them to guard with all vigilance. Pride, envy, prejudice, uncharitableness, are very apt to disturb the harmony of those who ought to be united in the bonds of brotherly love: and they should be checked, by all, in their very first risings in the soul: and not only in ourselves should we watch against them, but in others also, so as to arrest their progress before they have had an opportunity of spreading to any great extent their malignant influence; ever bearing in mind, that “a little leaven, if suffered to spread, will soon leaven the whole lump.”

Against secret evils, too, must every one be on his guard; yea, and against the means and occasions of evil. There are many things that, when kept under proper restrictions, are innocent; which yet, through unwatchfulness or excess, are productive of great evil. The exercises of Christian affection may degenerate into feelings of a very unhallowed character; and lawful indulgences may gain an undue ascendant over the mind. It is not easy to draw the precise line between good and evil, especially when the quality of an action depends on its accidental circumstances: we should therefore scrupulously, and as before God, examine our whole deportment, and try it with severity by the test of his holy law. And against every deviation from right, and every declension from what is good, we should guard with the utmost vigilance; well knowing, that Satan will take advantage of our unwatchfulness, to ensnare and defile our souls.]

As materially assistant to you in the discharge of that first duty, I would say,

II. Hold fast your principles—

[It is by the adoption of Christian principles that any one is brought to the performance of Christian duties: and any dereliction of the one will infallibly introduce a relaxation of the other. God himself asks, “Who is he that overcometh the world, but he that believeth that Jesus is the Son of God?” The high standard of Christian morals and of Christian piety is observed by no other person under heaven. Nothing but love to the Saviour ever did, or ever can, lead to an entire surrender of the soul to God. But let a person be drawn aside by vain philosophy or Jewish superstition, and he will soon lose the ardour of his soul in divine exercises, and the delight attendant on close intercourse with God; and a correspondent change in the whole tone and temper of his mind will soon follow. In proportion as the eyes are turned from the Lord Jesus Christ to any matters of doubtful disputation, will a stop be put to a progressive transformation of the soul into his blessed image. To every one, therefore, I would say, “Hold fast the Head,” the Lord Jesus Christ, and “live entirely by faith on him;” “receiving continually, out of his fulness,” additional supplies of grace. And this is the very advice which St. Peter, by his own bitter experience, learned to give to the Christian Church, as the only effectual means of overcoming their great adversary: “Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour; whom resist, steadfast in the faith.”]

In this course, however, you will meet with opposition; against which you must,

III. Act with courage—

[“All who will live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution.” You may “watch” as much as you please, and yet suffer no persecution, provided you will relax, as it respects your giving honour to Christ: or you may exalt Christ as much as you please, provided you will relax in your watchfulness against the evils of an ensnaring world: but if you will “live godly in Christ Jesus,” giving all the glory to him, whilst you are serving him with fidelity to the utmost of your power, you will be sure to offend the lovers of the world, and the haters of Christ: and you may assuredly expect to feel, in a greater or less degree, the effects of their enmity. But whether assaulted by ridicule or menace, you must be alike prepared to act a manly part, withstanding every effort that men or devils can make against you. You are not, as children, to be either allured or awed to a deviation from any thing which your better judgment directs. As “men,” you should examine well whatever is proposed to you, and compare it with the word of God: and, as “men,” you should determine for yourselves, and resolutely adopt the line of conduct which the word of God prescribes. If “men” in the service of an earthly monarch meet with opposition, they consider it as an occasion for summoning and putting forth all their energies with augmented zeal: and this is the way in which you are to “play the man,” and to approve yourselves to Him, under whose banners you are called to fight.]

And, in this resolute conduct, you must,

IV. Persevere with constancy—

[This I conceive to be the precise distinction which the Apostle intends between those nearly parallel expressions, “Quit yourselves like men; be strong.” We are not to suppose that the opposition made to us will be of short continuance. We shall experience it more or less to the very end of life; and we must be prepared to meet it in its most terrific forms. Never are we to give way to fear or discouragement: never are we to “be weary or faint in our minds.” No past trials, no impending calamities, should dishearten us. We should be prepared to say, as well in the prospect of future evils as in the remembrance of past, “None of these things move me; neither count I my life dear unto me, so that I may but finish my course with joy.” When we read the long catalogue of sufferings which the Apostle underwent, we are amazed at his fortitude and perseverance. But the same firmness is required of us: for “if any man turn back, my soul,” says God, “shall have no pleasure in him.” It is “he only who endures unto the end, that shall be eventually and eternally saved.” “Be strong,” therefore; and especially “be strong, not in yourselves, but in the Lord, and in the power of his might:” and you need not fear but that “his grace shall be sufficient for you,” and “your strength be augmented according to your day” of trial.]

But,

V. Let all be done under the influence of love—

[Christians are very prone to err in relation to this matter: they are ready to think, that zeal and courage constitute the whole of their duty; and, in consequence of this mistake, they too frequently overlook the frame of their own minds, and indulge, without being aware of it, a spirit most offensive to God. Acrimony in opponents often begets a similar disposition in those who are opposed: and it may be hard to say, who are most in error, the bitter persecutors, or the indignant sufferers. Beloved brethren, I wish you to be particularly on your guard in relation to this matter. You are to “be gentle to all men; and, in meekness, to instruct them that oppose themselves;” “not rendering evil for evil, or railing for railing; but, contrariwise, blessing.” Our blessed Lord, and the first martyr, St. Stephen, prayed for their murderers, at the very moment that they were suffering all imaginable cruelties at their hands: and this is what you are to do; as our Lord has said; “Love your enemies: bless them that curse you; and pray for them that despitefully use you and persecute you.” To young persons, in particular, I would give this caution. You will probably find your greatest enemies amongst those of your own household: and as you must, of necessity, “obey God rather than man,” you will be called to shew your fidelity to God in tins respect: but do not, under the idea of quitting yourselves “like men,” indulge a petulant and unbecoming spirit: (persons, so acting, “know not what spirit they are of.”) Nor are you to indulge a querulous spirit behind the backs of your enemies; but to take up your cross meekly, and to bear it patiently, and to bless God that you are counted worthy to bear it for Jesus’ sake. Remember, that “love is the very bond of perfectness;” and that “without it, though you give your body to be burned, you are no better than sounding brass and tinkling cymbals.”]

MDCCCCXCVII

THE GUILT AND DANGER OF NOT LOVING CHRIST

1 Cor. 16:22.

If any man love not the Lord Jesus Christ, let him be Anathema Maran-atha.

EVERY religion has some characteristic mark whereby it may be distinguished from all others. The leading feature of Christianity is, that it requires a resolute adherence, and an inviolable attachment to Jesus Christ. Though it includes both morality and a regard to God, it does not stop there; but leads us to Jesus Christ as the only mediator through whom divine blessings can flow down to us, or our services go up with acceptance before God. Whatever difference may exist between Christians with respect to other points, all are agreed in love to Christ. St. Paul did not hesitate to denounce the severest curse against all who should be wanting in this most essential point. He had finished this epistle by the hand of an amanuensis, and was going, as his manner was in every epistle, to write his benediction with his own hand; but deeply solicitous for the welfare of the Church, as well as for the glory of his Divine Master, he inserted between his salutation and his benediction these ever memorable words;—“If any man,” &c. These are in the form of a judicial sentence, which we shall,

I. Explain—

The solemnity with which this sentence is delivered surely bespeaks our most candid attention: but how shall we, in drawing the line between nominal and real Christians, speak with such precision, as neither to discourage the weak, nor to confirm hypocrites or formalists in their delusions? Let us explain,

1. What it is to love the Lord Jesus Christ—

[Love, whatever be its object, implies such an esteem of that object, such a desire after it, and such a delight in it, as the object itself deserves. What would be an idolatrous fondness when placed on one object, would fall very far short of the affection that might be justly claimed by another. Now Christ being incomparably more worthy of our love than any created being, our love to him ought to be unrivalled and supreme. To compliment him with honourable titles, while we feel no real regard for him in our souls, is no better than an impious mockery. We must entertain high and exalted thoughts of him as the Saviour of the world; and have learned with Paul to “count all things but dross and dung in comparison of him” — — — We must also feel such need of him in his mediatorial office and character, as to say with David, “My soul longeth for thee even as the hart panteth for the water-brooks;” “Whom have I in heaven but thee, and there is none upon earth that I desire besides thee” — — — Our fellowship with him, moreover, must be sweet: nor must we find less pleasure in doing his will than in enjoying his presence — — — This is the criterion whereby he himself has taught us to judge of our love to him.]

2. What is the judgment denounced against those who are destitute of this love?—

[“Anathema” is a term often used to signify only an ecclesiastical censure, or an excommunication from the Church; but the addition of the word “Maran-atha” necessitates us to understand it in reference to the judgment at the last day. Under the Jewish law there were many crimes that were to be punished with death; and, when a person was convicted of one of these, he was executed according to the divine command: but when the Jews were brought into subjection to the Romans, they lost the power of life and death: when therefore a person committed any crime, that would have been punished with death by the Jewish law, the Jews excommunicated the offender, and expected that God would visit him in some signal manner; or at least inflict an adequate punishment upon him at the last day. In reference to this, it should seem the Apostle used the word “Maran-atha,” which in the Syriac language means, “The Lord cometh.” The import therefore of the denunciation in the text is, That, as they, who did not love the Lord Jesus Christ in sincerity, deserved to be blotted out of the list of true Christians, and to be punished with everlasting destruction, so there was no doubt but that, although man could not take cognizance of that offence, God would; and execute signal vengeance on all those who should live and die under the guilt of it.]

Severe as this sentence is, it is such as we may undertake to,

II. Vindicate—

It may not be improper first to vindicate the Apostle himself—

[To consign to everlasting destruction those who are free from any gross sin, and who perhaps abound in “the form of religion, while they are only destitute of its power,” may seem harsh; but we shall in vain attempt to put any milder interpretation on the words of the text. Shall we then censure the Apostle as uncharitable and severe? If we do, we must involve all the other inspired writers and Christ himself in the same censure. Moses, by God’s command, denounced similar vengeance on persons of various descriptions, and required the people to confirm his word by an express declaration of their own consent and approbation. Jeremiah and Malachi repeatedly spake to the same effectd. Nor was this peculiar to those who lived under the legal dispensation: St. Paul repeatedly denounced a curse even against any angel from heaven that should presume to publish any other Gospel than that which he had preached. Yea, the meek and compassionate Jesus declared, that God would be a father to none who did not love him; and that he himself would in the last day summon before him all that had refused his yoke, and order them to be slain without mercyg. Such examples as these may well screen the Apostle from any imputation of needless severity.]

Next we will vindicate the sentence he denounced—

Awful as it is, it will appear both just and reasonable, if we only consider the exceeding sinfulness of not loving the Lord Jesus. This sin implies,

1. Rebellion against the highest authority—

[God has by an audible voice from heaven commanded us to “hear” his Son, that is, to regard him with attention, love, and obedience. He has enjoined all the great and noble of the earth to “kiss the Son” in token of their affection and homage. He has required all men to honour the Son even as they honour the Fatheri. And are we at liberty to set at naught this authority? Do we feel indignant, if our child or our servant refuse obedience to our just commands, and shall not the Most High God express his indignation against us for resisting and despising the most reasonable command that could possibly be given us? If man forbear to notice this iniquity, shall God also? shall he give us reason for that atheistical reflection, “Thou God wilt not regard it?”]

2. A contempt of the highest excellency—

[In the Lord Jesus Christ is every possible excellency combined. Whether we view him in his divine, his human, or his mediatorial character, he is “altogether lovely.” There is nothing wanting in him which can in any way conduce to the glory of God or the good of men. What shall we say then of those who love not such a glorious Being? Surely they pour contempt upon him. This is the construction which God himself puts upon their conduct; “Him that honoureth me, I will honour; but he that despiseth me, shall be lightly esteemed.” And is not this a sin of the deepest die? to despise him who is the fountain of all excellency! to despise him whom all the angels adore! What must not such iniquity as this deserve? Surely to be despised and abhorred of him is the least that such offenders can expect.]

3. Ingratitude towards the greatest Benefactor—

[Can we reflect a moment on what Christ has done and suffered for us, and not stand amazed that there should be a creature upon earth that does not love him? Can we contemplate his mysterious incarnation, his laborious life, his painful death, his continual intercession, and all the other wonders of his love, and feel no emotions of gratitude towards him? Or shall ingratitude to earthly benefactors be deemed the greatest possible aggravation of a fault, and shall such horrid ingratitude of ours be thought light and venial? No; it stamps an inexpressible baseness on our character; nor can any punishment short of that denounced in the text, be adequate to such impiety.]

APPLICATION—

[Let us seriously examine into the evidences of our love to Christ; that if he should ask us, as he did Peter, “Lovest thou me?” we may be able to reply with him, “Lord, thou knowest all things, thou knowest that I love thee.” Let us tremble at the thought of subjecting ourselves to the judgments here denounced, and instead of presuming to speak against them as too severe, let us make it our constant endeavour to escape them. So shall death and judgment be divested of all their terrors; and Christ, whom we love, be the eternal portion of our souls.]

2 CORINTHIANS

MDCCCCXCVIII

THE TRIALS AND CONSOLATIONS OF MINISTERS USEFUL TO THEIR PEOPLE

2 Cor. 1:3, 4.

Blessed be God, even the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies, and the God of all comfort; who comforteth us in all our tribulation, that we may be able to comfort them which are in any trouble by the comfort, wherewith we ourselves are comforted of God.

THE former Epistle to the Corinthians abounded with reproofs, for which indeed there was in that Church but too much occasion. This epistle is altogether of a different kind, and contains a rich fund of paternal and most affectionate instruction. In the opening of it, St. Paul quite forgets all the pain and sorrow which they had occasioned him, and blesses God for the consolations he enjoyed, especially in the view of those blessed effects which had been produced upon their minds by his former letter. How “full of comfort” he was, we may judge from the frequent repetition of the word “comfort;” he knew not how to leave the subject, or to vary his expression: his whole soul appears to have been swallowed up in the contemplation of the comfort which he had received from God, and which he hoped to be the means of communicating to them also.

That we may enter into the spirit of his words, let us notice—

I. His representation of the Deity—

In the Old Testament, Jehovah was known as “the God of Abraham;” but in the New Testament, he is exhibited under a yet more endearing character, as “the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies, and the God of all comfort.” Observe here,

1. His relation to Christ—

[There is in the Godhead a distinction between the Three Persons of the ever-blessed Trinity; the first Person is called the Father; the second Person, the Son; and the third Person is called the Holy Ghost. The Son is said to be “the only-begotten of the Father:” but of this inscrutable mystery it were in vain to speak, since we should only “darken counsel by words without knowledge.” It is sufficient for us to know, that such a distinction in the Godhead does exist, and that, in this sense, God was, from all eternity, “the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.”

Of the manhood of Christ, formed as it was by Omnipotence without the intervention of man, God may in a more definite sense he said to have been the Father: and in reference to this, his miraculous conception in a virgin’s womb, Jesus was especially designated “the Son of God.”

In his mediatorial capacity also, as “Emmanuel, God with us,” our Lord Jesus Christ stands in covenant relation to God, as a Son to a Father; agreeably to what he himself says, “I ascend unto my Father and your Father, to my God and your God.”

Now, as all the children of Israel claimed a special interest in Jehovah as being the seed of Abraham whose God he was, so we, who look to Jesus as our common Head and Saviour, are entitled to consider his God as our God, since we are in him as members of his mystical body, and are altogether “one spirit with him.” And, as Jesus is infinitely greater in himself, and more dear to God, than ever Abraham was, our interest in God, by virtue of our union with Jesus, is proportionably greater and more endeared.]

2. His relation to us—

[To us, who are involved in the deepest guilt and misery, he is revealed as “the Father of mercies, and the God of all comfort.” What remarkable expressions are these! There is not a mercy which we enjoy, but it must be traced to him as its proper source; nor is there a mercy which we want, but it may be found in him to the utmost extent of our necessities. Nothing but mercy properly flows from him: “judgment is his strange act,” which is never called forth, till mercy has been as it were exhausted. Judgments are his servants; but mercies are his children, in whom is all his delight. As for comfort, he is the God of it, “the God of all comfort.” Were his will complied with, there would be nothing but comfort in the whole universe: it would flow from him as light from the sun; so free, so rich, so abundant would be his communications of it to every soul. Let the afflicted, of every name and every class, only go to him, and he will approve himself “the comforter of all them that are cast down,” and “the God of that particular comfort” which they need; as if all his perfections and all his powers centered in that point alone, and were exerted to their utmost extent for the relief of their particular wants.

Such is the view which we should at all times have of the Deity. If we regard him only as a Lawgiver and a Judge, we have no better apprehensions of him than Satan himself has. It is our privilege to know him, not merely in the terrors of his majesty, but in all the endearments of his love and mercy.]

With this beautiful description of the Deity the Apostle combines,

II. His thanksgiving to him—

Great and manifold were the tribulations which he was called to sustain—

[The whole world, both of Jews and Gentiles, seemed to be confederate against him. Every man, with the exception of those who were converted by his ministry, was his enemy, and sought his destruction; insomuch that he was in daily, and hourly, expectation of a violent death. From the Church itself too he endured much. The false brethren, who laboured incessantly to undermine his influence, and to create dissensions in the Church, were a source of continual sorrow to his mind. Nor was he free from internal trials also, which caused him great uneasiness. What “the thorn in his flesh” was, we do not exactly know: but he regarded it as a “messenger of Satan, sent to buffet him;” nor could he find any relief from the anguish it occasioned, till he was assured, in answer to his repeated and earnest cries, “that a sufficiency of grace” should be imparted to him, and that “Christ’s strength should be perfected in his weakness.”

Not that these trials were peculiar to him: he felt them indeed in a more abundant measure than others; but every faithful minister in his measure experiences the same. Who that is zealous for his God does not incur the hatred of an ungodly world? Who that has long ministered in holy things has not had occasion to deplore the fall of some, the apostasy of others, and the little progress of almost all; insomuch that with many he is made to “travail, as it were, in birth a second time, till Christ be formed in them?” Some perhaps, who would once have plucked out their own eyes and given them to him, are now “become his enemies, because he has told them the truth,” and reproved them for their reigning and besetting sins. And in himself also every minister will find abundant occasion to sigh and mourn, especially when he reflects on his great insufficiency for the work assigned him, and the effects of his unprofitableness upon the souls of others.]

But he had rich consolations to counterbalance his afflictions—

[It was no small comfort to the Apostle that his trials were endured in so good a cause. The cross he bore was the cause of Christ; and his afflictions were but the filling up of the measure of Christ’s afflictions. Moreover they were so many testimonies to him of his fidelity; and of God’s acceptance of him in his workg. He was sure also that in due time they would all be richly recompensed, agreeably to that blessed promise, that “if we suffer with Christ, we shall also reign with him,” and “be glorified together with him” for evermore. But besides these consolations of faith and hope, he had, as every faithful minister shall have, special manifestations of God to his soul, sufficient to make him “exceeding joyful in all his tribulations.” What but a sense of redeeming love carried him forward with such zeal and steadfastness in all his course? What but this enabled him, when his back was torn with scourges, and his feet were made fast in the stocks, to fill his prison, not with mournings and complaints, but with songs of praise and thanksgiving? And in like manner shall all who serve the Lord with fidelity be supported under their trials, and be favoured with consolations proportioned to their afflictions.]

To enter into his feelings aright, it will be proper to notice yet further—

III. The more particular grounds of his thanksgiving—

The design of God in these dispensations was in a more especial manner an occasion of gratitude to his soul. He felt that by this his diversified experience, he was better fitted for the discharge of his high office, and better qualified to comfort his afflicted brethren. By it,

1. He was better qualified to comfort others—

[None but those who have been in deep waters are capable of entering into the feelings of a tempest-tossed soul. It was from his “having been in all points tempted like as we are, that Jesus himself was so tenderly touched with the feeling of our infirmities,” and that he acquired, so to speak, “a power to succour his tempted people.” Thus Paul learned to participate with others both in their joys and sorrows. Were they assaulted either by men or devils, he knew both the extent of the trial, and the consolations proper to be suggested for the mitigation of it. He could delineate the workings of the afflicted mind: he could state its various discouragements, and the devices by which Satan laboured to aggravate its sorrows. He needed only to report his own experience, and to apply to others the remedies he had found effectual for his own soul. In a word, the lessons which he himself had learned in the school of adversity, he was enabled to teach others, and thus eventually to “comfort others with the same comfort where-with he himself had been comforted of God.”

Now this very consideration constituted no small part of that comfort for which he so gratefully adored his God. He saw that, whether he was afflicted or comforted, his experience was designed to promote, and did actually promote, “the consolation and salvation of others:” and there he did rejoice, and determined, even though his trials should proceed to the utmost possible extremity, to rejoice, and to bless and magnify his Godl.

In this view will every faithful minister rejoice, thankful alike either for joys or sorrows, if only they may fit him for a more profitable exercise of his ministry, and ultimately advance that for which alone he deserves to live, the consolation and salvation of those committed to his charge.]

2. He was made to edify others by his example—

[The supports which Paul experienced under his accumulated trials, were a source of great encouragement to others. His imprisonment at Rome, which he was apprehensive might intimidate many, and impede the success of his ministry, “turned out rather to the furtherance of the Gospel: for his bonds in Christ being manifest in all the imperial palace, and in all other places, many of his brethren, waxing confident by his bonds, were so much the more bold to speak the word without fear.” Thus, though he was bound, “the word of God was not bound;” on the contrary, “it had free course and was glorified:” and the tidings which he received respecting the steadfastness of his converts, far overbalanced all his pains and sorrows. Hear how he speaks of this in his First Epistle to the Thessalonians: “When Timotheus came from you unto us, and brought us good tidings of your faith and charity, we were comforted over you, brethren, in all our affliction and distress by your faith: for now we live, if ye stand fast in the Lord.”

And who that loves his people will not gladly lead them in the van of the battle, if he may but encourage them to “fight the good fight of faith?” Surely no good soldier of Jesus Christ will regret the wounds he receives in this holy conflict, if others be animated by his example to “quit themselves like men” till they have gained the victory.]

ADDRESS—

1. Those who are afraid of suffering for Christ’s sake—

[Let it not be thought that the cross of Christ is so heavy as it appears to be. Were we indeed left to bear it alone, or were there no consolations afforded by him to his suffering people, we might well be terrified at the idea of being called to sustain it. But the Lord himself will lighten it by his almighty power, and will succour us with such preternatural strength, that, instead of sinking under the weight, we shall rejoice that we are counted worthy to bear it, and shall account our very sufferings an inestimable gift bestowed upon us for his sake. And if here we are enabled so to “glory in the cross of Christ,” what shall we do hereafter? Do any of those who once “came out of great tribulation,” now regret any thing that they ever endured for Christ’s sake? Are not their present joys an abundant recompence for all their sorrows? — — — Fear not then to follow Christ, though you should have to take up the heaviest cross that can be laid upon you: for, if you will but bear it after him, you shall find that “his yoke is easy, and his burthen light.”]

2. Those who have experienced the consolations of the Gospel—

[Make the improvement of them which the Apostle did; Bless God for them; and improve them for the good of others. Have you by your own experience found God to be “a Father of mercies, and a God of all comfort?” acknowledge him under this blessed character, and commend him to all for the instruction and comfort of their souls. Your consolations are not given you for yourselves merely, but for others also; that you may be channels of communication between God and them. Many there are who need your friendly offices; many with weak “hands, and feeble knees, and fearful hearts,” whom, with God’s blessing, you may support and comfort. O remember, that it is a god-like office to “comfort them that are cast down,” “to give them beauty for ashes, the oil of joy for mourning, and the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness!” And in thus improving your diversified experiences, you will enrich both yourselves and others: I may add too, you will have the best evidence, that they are wrought in you by the Spirit of God: for it is in this improvement of them that “pure and undefiled religion” very principally consists. You may be assured also, that, in thus drawing out your soul to the hungry, and satisfying the afflicted soul, “your own souls shall become like a watered garden, and like springs of water, whose waters fail not.”]

MDCCCCXCIX

THE TESTIMONY OF A GOOD CONSCIENCE

2 Cor. 1:12.

Our rejoicing is this, the testimony of our conscience, that in simplicity and godly sincerity, not with fleshly wisdom, but by the grace of God, we have had our conversation in the world.

GREATLY as the Apostle merited the admiration of all, there was not any thing which he did that was not made an occasion of complaint against him. His enemies at Corinth were numerous and powerful: and so grievous had been their influence in producing divisions and contentions amongst his converts, that he was constrained to menace them with a speedy visit, in case his remonstrances with them should not be duly regarded. Had he proceeded thither immediately, they would have represented him as a man, who could not endure the least contradiction, but tyrannized over his followers in a most despotic manner: but when a few months elapsed without their seeing him, they spoke of him as a weak man, who did not know his own mind, or dared not to execute his own purpose. But against these accusations he answered, that the delay of his journey had been not at all owing to any versatility of mind in him, but partly to outward impediments which he could not easily have removed, and partly to the unwillingness he had felt to exercise the severity which their misconduct called for. Under all their misrepresentations, however, he had felt much peace of mind: because he had the testimony of his own conscience, that, in his ministrations in general, and in his whole conduct towards them in particular, he had acted to God, without any corrupt bias whatsoever. This he asserts in our text; from whence we shall take occasion to shew,

I. Of what kind our conversation in the world should be—

That our actions should be consonant with all the strictest rules of morality, is a truth so obvious, that we need not at present insist upon it. It is not so much of actions, as of principles, that we are now called to speak. The Christian should have respect to God in all that he does, and should approve himself to God,

1. In his ends and designs—

[There should be no leaning to self in any thing that we do; no view to the advancement of our own interest, or reputation, or influence, but a single desire to do only what we verily believe to be the will of God, and what shall most conduce to his glory. This principle is to be carried into every thing, the most minute, as well as the most important: “Whether we eat, or drink, or whatever we do, we should do all to the glory of God.” By this the Apostle had regulated his conduct towards the Corinthian Church. Whether he had exercised authority or forbearance, he had had this only in view; And we in like manner, whether we proceed in an uniform tenour, or diversify our conduct according to existing circumstances, should exclude every other consideration from our minds: “we should choose only the things that will please” and glorify our God.]

2. In the means by which he prosecutes his ends—

[Here the utmost simplicity of mind should always prevail. We should not listen to the dictates of “fleshly wisdom,” but with “godly sincerity” proceed in a plain straight-forward way. Not that we are to discard human wisdom: for we are told to “walk in wisdom towards them that are without.” But, though we are to he “wise concerning that which is good, we are to be simple concerning evil,” and are to combine the “wisdom of the serpent with the harmlessness of the dovef.” In no respect are we ever “to do evil that good may come.” Here, however, many fail. On two different occasions do we find even Abraham himself grievously erring in this particular, and reproved for it by a heathen prince. And Isaac also was faulty in the very same thing, denying his wife, lest for her sake he should be put to death. It was to the same weakness that we must ascribe the conduct of Peter, when, through fear of Judaizing teachers, he constrained the Gentiles to conform to the Jewish rites. He thought he should in that way remove a stumbling-block from the Jews: and so far he was right, in wishing to remove a stumbling-block out of their way; but he was wrong in the means he adopted for that end: he knew that the Gentiles were not bound by the Jewish law; and therefore he had no right to impose this yoke upon them: and he was justly blamed by Paul as “not walking uprightly” in this particular. Whatever be our end, we must do nothing to accomplish it which will not bear the light, and stand the test of the severest scrutiny. We must act simply under the influence of “the grace of God,” and never in a way of carnal policy. Our ends, and our means, must be alike regulated by the word of God, and alike conducive to the glory of his name.

Such then is to be our conversation in the world; it must not only be moral, but religious, having respect in all things to God’s word as the rule, and his honour as the end; whilst all selfish ends and human policy must be utterly discarded.]

But as internal principles are difficult to be dis cerned, we proceed to shew,

II. What evidence we should have, that it is such as God requires—

Men can judge only of acts, and can ascertain principles no farther than they are illustrated by the outward fruits produced by them. The inward motives and dispositions of the mind can be discerned only by ourselves, and by God, who searcheth the heart. Nor can they be discovered even by ourselves without great care and watchfulness. We are very apt to mistake our own motives and principles, just as the Disciples did, when they would have called fire from heaven to consume a Samaritan village: “they knew not what spirit they were of.” But we ought not to be so deceived respecting our conversation:

We ought to have “the testimony of our conscience” respecting it—

[We should have a consciousness, that we do indeed desire to do the will of God, and that we would not willingly either go beyond it, or fall short of it, in any thing. We should be able to make the same appeal to our God and Saviour as Peter did, “Lord, thou knowest all things; thou knowest, that I love thee,” and that I am seeking nothing but the glory of thy name: ‘thou knowest that, in order to find out thy will, I study thy blessed word, and seek instruction from thy good Spirit, and commit my ways to thy guidance: thou knowest that, though I often have doubts and misgivings whether I do really adopt the most perfect line of conduct, I do not intentionally deviate from any thing which I believe to be pleasing and acceptable to thee. I can appeal to thee, that I do continually exercise myself to keep a conscience void of offence both towards God and man.’]

Such a testimony may be enjoyed by every one of us—

[It is not the result of pride, as some would imagine; but the voice of God’s blessed “Spirit bearing witness with our spirits.” When Job was accused of harbouring some hidden iniquity, which had brought down such signal judgments upon him, he made his appeal to God in these energetic terms, “Thou knowest that I am not wicked.” The Apostle Paul frequently appealed in like manner to the heart-searching God. In the very chapter before us he says, “I call God for a record upon my soul, that, to spare you, I came not as yet unto Corinth.” But in the Epistle to the Romans we have a more remarkable instance. It was supposed by the Jews, that the Apostle’s love to the Gentiles necessarily argued a want of love towards his brethren of the Jewish nation: and he, in order to silence for ever such an accusation, says, “I say the truth in Christ, I lie not, my conscience also bearing me witness in the Holy Ghost, that I have great heaviness, and continual sorrow in my heart for my brethren.” What forbids then that we should have the same testimony respecting our principles, and that we should be able to make the same appeal to Almighty God? If we have really walked as before him, we “have the same witness of it in ourselves,” and may say with Job, “He knoweth the way that I take: when he hath tried me, I shall come forth as gold. My foot hath held his steps: his way have I kept, and not declined.”]

Blessed is that man who has such an evidence within him! but no words can adequately describe,

III. The comfort which such a testimony will produce—

It was a matter of no small comfort to the Apostle that he had this testimony. And to every one who possesses it, it is a solid ground of joy and triumph. It is of unspeakble comfort,

1. Under the reproaches and calumnies of men—

[The servants of God will always be hated and calumniated by an ungodly world: and, generally speaking, the more zealous they are in the discharge of their duty, the more virulent will be the opposition made to them. We have seen already the construction which the Apostle’s enemies at Corinth put on the delay of his journey thither: and in other parts of this epistle we are told, that he was represented by them as “walking after the flesh,” and as “craftily endeavouring to catch men with guiler.” And it is highly probable that those who did not understand the principles on which he acted, would speak of him as the most changeable and inconsistent of men; sometimes observing days and ceremonies, and at other times violently opposing the observance of them. But he cared little for their censures, when he had the testimony of his own conscience that he was acting right. Thus it is that pious characters are judged at this day. People are glad to find fault with them. Every thing they do is made an occasion of reproach to them. Whether they more affect the austerity of John, or the ease and familiarity of Jesus, whether they pipe or mourn, they are equally condemned. As for the reasons of their conduct, or the truth of the reports that are circulated respecting them, no one will take the trouble to make the least inquiry. Sometimes it happens, as in the case of Joseph, that appearances are against them, and that they have no means of clearing their own character: O what a satisfaction is it to them under such circumstances, that God knoweth their hearts, and will vindicate them in the last day from the aspersions that are cast upon them! Doubtless that pure and conscientious man had much sweeter composure of mind in prison, even whilst “the iron of the stocks entered into his soul,” than had the adulterous queen, at whose instance these pains were inflicted on him. And every man who enjoys the testimony of his own conscience, is out of the reach of those shafts by which ungodly men endeavour to wound his reputation, and destroy his peace.]

2. In the prospect of death and judgment—

[No man who knows his own sinfulness will presume to justify himself before God: but, in relation to particular accusations, or to the general desire of his soul to please God, every man, who is truly upright, may enjoy the richest consolation in the prospect of that day when the truth shall be brought to light, and every man who has served God in sincerity and truth shall have a sentence of approbation from the lips of his Judge. It was in the view of this day, that Paul made so light of the obloquy that was cast upon him. And in the near approach of death, Hezekiah found in the records of his own conscience a most consolatory reflection. For his country, and for the cause of God in the land, “he wept sore:” but for his own departure he had no reason to mournu: he had approved himself faithful in the discharge of his duty; and he had no ground to dread the judgment that would be pronounced upon him. But would the same confidence become us? Yes, in proportion as the same grounds exist for it: for “if our heart condemn us, God is greater than our heart, and knoweth all things: but, if our heart condemn us not, then have we confidence towards God, and may assure our hearts before him.”]

ADVICE—

1. Seek to have your conscience duly enlightened—

[If conscience itself be not enlightened by the word and Spirit of God, its testimony will be extremely fallacious: it may give a sentence of approbation where the severest condemnation is due. If not itself regulated according to the Scriptures of truth, it will be a false guide and a deceitful comforter — — —]

2. Consult it daily as in the presence of God—

[Inquire into its records of the past, and seek its direction for the future. Consult it in reference to even part of your duty, and especially in reference to the end for which you live, and the means you are using to attain it. If you will listen to its voice, it will tell you whether you are living to yourselves, or to your God; and whether you are exercising that care and watchfulness, that labour and self-denial, that zeal and love, which are necessary to bear out a testimony in your favour — — — The more diligently you consult it in your hours of leisure and retirement, especially if you take care to implore earnestly from God the influences of his Spirit, the more salutary will be its warnings, and the more consoling its testimonies in your favour.]

3. Endeavour to keep it pure—

[Excellent was that resolution of Job, “My heart shall not reproach me as long as I live.” True it is, that whilst you are in this ensnaring world, exposed as you are to temptations without and to corruptions within, there will be frequent occasion to lament the defilements you contract. But go from day to day, and from hour to hour, to the fountain of Christ’s blood, which is “able to cleanse you from all sin,” and “from an evil conscience.” And let not any sin, however small it may in appearance be, continue unrepented of, or unmortified — — —]

4. Aim at the highest attainments—

[It is not at a course of moral actions only that you must aim, but at a life entirely and unreservedly devoted to God. “The single eye” is that after which you must aspire; and “the simplicity that is in Christ,” is that which you must hold fast under all possible circumstances. Every action, every word, every thought, must, if possible, be under the influence of Divine grace, and be “brought into captivity to the obedience of Christ.” Strive for this with all your might; and then we will venture to say, that in you shall that word be fulfilled; “Mark the perfect man, and behold the upright; for the end of that man is peace.”]

THE CHURCHMAN’S CONFESSION, OR AN APPEAL TO THE LITURGY

2 Cor. 1:13.

We write none other things unto you, than what ye read or acknowledge.

AS the testimony of one’s own conscience is the strongest support under false accusations, so an appeal to the consciences of others is the most effectual means of refuting the charges that are brought against us. To this species of argument God himself condescended to have recourse, in order to convince his people, that the evils which they imputed to him originated wholly in their own folly and wickedness: “O inhabitants of Jerusalem and men of Judah, judge, I pray you, betwixt me and my vineyard. What could have been done more to my vineyard, that I have not done in it? wherefore when I looked that it should bring forth grapes, brought it forth wild grapes?” ….. “Have I been a wilderness unto Israel? a land of darkness? wherefore say my people, We are lords, we will come no more unto theeb?” “Ye say, the way of the Lord is not equal. Hear now, O house of Israel, Is not my way equal? are not your ways unequal?” The inspired writers also not unfrequently vindicate themselves in a similar manner. St. Paul, for instance, had been represented by some at Corinth as fickle and inconstant, because he had not come to them at the time they had expected him. To clear himself from this imputation, he informs them, that he had met with insuperable obstacles in Asia, which had prevented him from prosecuting his intended journey; and that in the whole of his conduct towards them he had been actuated, not by temporizing motives and carnal policy, but by the most strict unblemished integrity. He declares, that he had “the testimony of his own conscience” respecting this; and that he had a further testimony in their consciences also, respecting the truth of what he said; that, in asserting these things, “he wrote no other things than what they read in his former epistle, and were constrained to acknowledge; and he trusted they should acknowledge even to the end.”

The faithful minister of Christ derives great advantage from being able to appeal to records, the authority of which is acknowledged by his hearers. By referring them to the Holy Scriptures in proof of all that he advances, he establishes his word upon the most unquestionable authority, and fixes conviction upon their minds. The ministers of the Church of England have yet further advantage, because, in addition to the Scriptures, they have other authorities to which they may refer in confirmation of the truths they utter. It is true, we are not to put any human compositions on a level with the inspired volume: the Scriptures alone are the proper standard of truth; but the Articles, Homilies, and Liturgy of the Church of England are an authorized exposition of the sense in which all her members profess to understand the Scriptures. To these therefore we appeal as well as to the sacred records. But because it would occupy more time than can reasonably be allowed for one discourse to appeal to all at once, we shall content ourselves with calling your attention to the Liturgy, and especially to that part of it which we call the General Confession. We will briefly state what doctrines we insist upon as necessary to be received; and under each we will compare our statements with what we “read” in the Scriptures, and “acknowledge” in our prayers: And we trust that, after having done this, we shall be able to adopt the language of the text, and say, “We write none other things unto you than what ye read, and acknowledge.”

There are three things, which, as it is our duty, so also it is our continual labour, to make known; namely, Our lost estate—The means of our recovery—and The path of duty.

Permit me then to state what we declare respecting the first of these points, Our lost estate.

We declare, that every man is a sinner before God: that both the actions and the hearts of men are depraved: that whatever difference there may be between one and another with respect to open sin, there is no difference with respect to our alienation from God, or our radical aversion to his holy will. We affirm, that, on account of our defection from God, we deserve his heavy displeasure: that the most moral and sober, as well as the base and profligate, are under condemnation on account of sin: and that all of us without exception must perish, if we do not turn to God in the way that he has prescribed.

We think, yea we are sure, that we have abundant proof of these things in the Holy Scriptures. The universality of our departure from God, and of our danger in consequence of it, is declared in the strongest terms by St. Paul in his Epistle to the Romans. “There is none righteous,” says he, “no not one: there is none that understandeth; there is none that seeketh after God: they are all gone out of the way; they are together become unprofitable; there is none that doeth good, no not one.” To this he adds, “that every mouth must be stopped, and all the world become guilty before God.” We could wish you particularly to notice what an accumulation of words there is in this short passage to prove the universality of our guilt and misery. Of righteous persons, there is “none,” “none,” “none,” “no not one,” “no not one:” “all” are guilty, all “together,” even “every” person, and “all the world.” Will any one, after reading this passage, presume to think himself an exception?

Nor is the depth of our depravity less clear than its universality. “The heart,” says Jeremiah, “is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked; Who can know it?” This is spoken, not of some particular person or age or country, but of mankind at large, even of our whole race. Solomon affirms the same when he says, “The heart of the sons of men is full of evil; madness is in their hearts while they live, and after that they go to the dead.” And to the same effect is that declaration of St. Paul, that “the carnal mind is enmity against God, for it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can beh.” To these general affirmations of Scripture, we may add the confessions of the most eminent saints. Job, who was the most perfect man on earth in his day, no sooner attained the knowledge of his real character, than he exclaimed, “Behold I am vile.” St. Paul also, speaking of himself and of all the other Apostles, says, “We all had our conversation in times past in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind; and were by nature the children of wrath, even as othersk.”

In labouring to establish these awful truths, we are often considered as libelling human nature, and as representing men in such an humiliating and distressed state as to fill them with melancholy, or drive them to despair. Let us then, in vindication both of ourselves and of our doctrines, compare these assertions with our public acknowledgments. We begin our Confession with saying, “We have erred and strayed from thy ways like lost sheep.” This is a peculiar expression that must not be overlooked. We apprehend it does not mean merely that we have departed from God, but also that we have never sought to return to him: for other animals will find their way back when they have wandered from their home; but it is rarely, if ever, known that the sheep traces back its footsteps to the fold from whence it has strayed: if it return at all, it is not by any foresight of its own. How just a picture does this exhibit of our fallen race! That we have departed from God is too plain to be denied: but in how few do we behold any solicitude to return to him! How few are there who search the Scriptures daily, in order to find their way back! How few who implore help and direction from their God with an earnestness at all proportioned to the urgency of their case!

Is it inquired, wherein we have so greatly erred? Our own acknowledgments contain the most satisfactory reply: “We have followed too much the devices and desires of our own hearts.” How true is this! Look at all mankind; see them from infancy to youth, and from youth to old age; What are they all following? are they obeying unreservedly the commands of God? are they, in compliance with his will, mortifying every evil propensity, and doing the things which are pleasing in his sight? Alas! nothing is further from their minds than this. Their pursuits indeed vary according to their age, their circumstances, their habits; but whatever they be, they are no other than the devices and desires of their own hearts: if in any thing they appear to do the will of God, they do not act from a principle of love to him, but from a desire to conform to the customs of their country, and to lay a foundation for self-applause. The whole tenour of our lives is but too justly marked in those following acknowledgments, “We have offended against thy holy laws: we have left undone those things which we ought to have done; and have done those things which we ought not to have done.” Permit me to ask, which of the laws of God have we not violated times without number? Shall we say, We have not committed murder or adultery? How vain the boast, if we interpret the commandments in their full latitude, and call to mind the declarations of our Lord, that an angry word is murder, and a wanton look adultery! To go into all our sins of omission and commission, were an endless task. Suffice it to say, that in ten thousand instances “we have sinned, in thought, word, and deed, against the Divine Majesty;” and have habitually neglected the interests of our souls.

Perhaps it may be said, “Our actions indeed have been evil, but our hearts are good.” But how does this accord with that which in our confession forms the summit of the climax, “There is no health in us?” Here our Church has taught us to trace all the evils of our life to the fountain-head, a corrupt and wicked heart. In this expression she evidently refers, either to that confession of the Apostle, “In me, that is, in my flesh, dwelleth no good thing;” or rather to that most humiliating declaration of the prophet, “From the sole of the foot even to the head, there is no soundness in us, but wounds, and bruises, and putrifying sores.” The import of the words is plain: we confess before our God, that we are altogether depraved; that we are disordered in every member of our body, and in every faculty of our soul; that our understanding is darkened, our will perverse, our affections sensual, our memory treacherous, our conscience seared, and all our “members instruments of unrighteousness and sin.”

Thus far then we are fully vindicated, vindicated too, we trust, in your consciences, in all that we have affirmed respecting the lost estate of man. We do indeed represent the whole human race as in a most deplorable condition: but no member of our establishment can controvert our positions without denying the plainest asseverations of Holy Writ, and contradicting his own most solemn acknowledgments.

Let us now turn our attention to the second point which we proposed to notice, namely, The means of our recovery from this state.

We affirm that, in order to obtain salvation, two things are necessary; “Repentance towards God, and faith in our Lord Jesus Christ.” By repentance, we do not mean that superficial work which consists in saying, ‘I am sorry for what I have done;’ but in such a deep sense of our guilt and danger, as leads us with all humility of mind to God, and stirs us up to a most earnest application to him for mercy. We must feel sin to be a burthen to our souls: we must be made to tremble at the wrath of God which we have merited: we must cry to him for deliverance from it, as Peter cried for preservation from the waves, “Save, Lord, or I perish:” and this must be our experience, not merely after some flagrant transgression, or on some particular occasion, but at all times: it must be, as it were, the daily habit of our minds.

Is it needful to confirm this from the Holy Scriptures? Surely we need not be reminded of what our Lord has repeatedly affirmed; “Except ye repent, ye shall all perish.” We need not be told that it is “the weary and heavy laden” whom Christ invitesq: that it is “the broken and contrite heart which God will not despise:” that we must “lothe ourselves for all our abominationss;” that we must “sow in tears, and go on our way weeping:” that we must cry with Paul, “O wretched man that I am, who shall deliver meu?” and with Job, “I repent and abhor myself in dust and ashes.”

Yet, when this is insisted on, and pressed upon the conscience as of universal, absolute, and indispensable necessity, we are told, that we carry matters to excess: that, however such bitter contrition may suit the profligate and abandoned, it is unnecessary in the case of the more moral and decent: they have never done any thing that requires such deep humiliation; they have no such cause to fear and tremble; they have indeed sinned, but are in no danger of perishing; nor have they ever merited the wrath of God.

But is it not astonishing that any member of the established Church should be so ignorant as to make these vain assertions? What are the terms in which we address the Divine Majesty every time that we attend his worship? “Do thou, O Lord, have mercy upon us, miserable offenders: Spare thou them, O God, which confess their faults: Restore thou them that are penitent.” Have we then been dissembling with God all our days; calling ourselves “miserable offenders,” when we feel no misery at all; and when, instead of bewailing our offences, we think ourselves almost, if not altogether, as good as we need to be? In this prayer we do not presume even to expect mercy, except as persons deeply penitent and contrite. And let it be remembered, that these petitions are put into the mouths of all the congregation; there is not one form for one class of persons, and another for another; but all profess to approach God as the repenting publican, “smiting upon their breasts, and crying, God be merciful to me a sinner!” We mean not to say, that no person can hope for mercy, who does not feel such or such a measure of contrition (for all who pray in sincerity may hope for acceptance, though ther hearts be not so contrite as they could wish), but to shew, that all members of the Church of England acknowledge that penitence is highly suited to their state.

But, besides their repentance, we observed, that faith also was necessary, even faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. This we invariably and inflexibly affirm. As it is not our good works and meritorious life that will save us, so neither will our repentance save us. If we could shed rivers of tears, they would never avail to cleanse us from one single sin. It is the blood of Christ, and that alone, that can atone for our guilt: That is “the fountain that was opened for sin and for uncleanness:” and as long as the world shall stand, we must require of sinners to wash in it, in order that they may be clean. And, forasmuch as men are with great difficulty turned from endeavouring “to establish their own righteousness,” or to unite their own fancied merits with the merits of Christ, we guard them strongly against this fatal error; we declare to them, that, if they do this, they will invalidate the whole Gospel; and that, if ever they be saved at all, it must be by a humble, simple reliance on the Lord Jesus Christ. That there are blessings promised to the penitent, and to the obedient, we very willingly allow: and on proper occasions we are glad to bring forward those promises, in order to encourage men to repent and obey: but that men are justified by their repentance or obedience, or in any other way than by faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, we utterly deny. And we declare that, if men seek to be justified in any other way, “Christ shall profit them nothing.”

And do we, in affirming these things, deviate at all from what we read in the Holy Scriptures? Does not our blessed Lord expressly say, “I am the way, the truth, and the life; no man cometh unto the Father but by me?” He tells us plainly, that “he who believeth on him, hath everlasting life; and that he who believeth not, shall not see life, but the wrath of God abideth on himd:” and again, “He that believeth, shall be saved; and he that believeth not, shall be damned.” To the same effect also is the testimony of his Apostles: we find them invariably directing penitents to believe in him as the only, and effectual, means of obtaining acceptance with God. When the jailor came in to Paul and Silas, trembling, and crying, “Sirs, what shall I do to be saved?” the answer given him was, “Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved.” Instead of varying their directions according to the different characters they addressed, they affirm, in the strongest manner, that “there is no other foundation whereon any man can build,” “nor any other name whereby any man can be savedh.” And when they saw in any a disposition to unite the observance of some ceremonial or moral duties as a joint ground of their hope, they warned them plainly, that their salvation must be “wholly of grace or wholly of works;” and that, if they relied in any measure upon their works, “they were fallen from grace,” they were “become debtors to do the whole law,” and that “Christ was become of no effect unto them;” with respect to them “he was dead in vainl.”

Offensive as these statements are, and reprobated as being of a licentious tendency, wherein do they differ from our own acknowledgments? We pray that God would “restore to his favour them that are penitent;” but how, and in what manner, do we expect that restoration to be accomplished? Is it uncovenanted mercy that we ask? Or is it according to our own good works that we desire to find acceptance? No; we profess that our reliance is altogether on God’s promises as they are revealed in the Gospel; “Restore us, according to thy promises declared unto mankind in Christ Jesu our Lord.” Among the promises to which we may be supposed to refer, the following must certainly be numbered: “Look unto me, and be ye saved.” “Come unto me, and I will give you restn.” “Him that cometh unto me, I will in no wise cast out.” “The blood of Jesus Christ cleanseth from all sinp.” “All that believe, shall be justified from all things.” “Though your sins be as crimson, they shall be white as snow.” But whatever the promises be, whether their reference to Christ be more or less plain, we are assured, that it is in him, and in him alone, that the promises are confirmed to us; for the Apostle says, “All the promises of God IN HIM are yea, and IN HIM amen.” It is in Christ alone that God can “be just, and at the same time the justifier of sinnerst:” and therefore when we plead that promise, that “if we confess our sins, God is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness,” we can expect its accomplishment in no other way than through faith in Christ.

Thus under this head also may be seen a perfect harmony between those things which we have affirmed, and those which you “read” in the Scriptures, and “acknowledge” in your prayers.

Nor do we doubt a similar issue to our inquiries, while, under the last head of our discourse, we state to you The path of duty.

We inculcate the practice of every personal and relative duty. But we are not satisfied with that standard of holiness which is current in the world: we require a higher tone of morals: in addition to sobriety and honesty, we insist upon a life entirely devoted to God: we affirm, that it is every man’s duty to delight himself in God;” to have such a lively sense of Christ’s love to him, as shall constrain him to an unreserved surrender of all his faculties and powers to the service of his Lordy. We must live for God: we must be like a faithful servant, who inquires from day today what his master’s will is; and inquires, in order that he may do it. As a servant who had neglected all his duties through the day, would feel ashamed and afraid of his master’s displeasure, so should we feel ashamed and afraid, if any day pass without having executed to the utmost of our power the duties of it. We should walk as on the confines of the eternal world, and act as persons who must shortly give account of every talent that has been committed to them. To be “dead unto the world,” and “alive unto Goda;” to attain more and more of the Divine image; to grow up into Christ in all thingsc; to enjoy fellowship with God, and anticipate the enjoyments of heavene; this is our duty, and should be our daily study and delight.

In requiring so much, we are supposed to require what is altogether impracticable, or, at least, what, if practised, would unfit us for all the common offices of life. But what do we read in the Holy Scriptures? Do they require of us less than this? Do they not teach us to “yield ourselves living sacrifices to God, as our most reasonable service?” Do they not enjoin us to “live henceforth not unto ourselves, but unto him that died for us and rose againg?” Do they not require that “whether we eat or drink, or whatever we do, we should do all to the glory of God?” And is not the Holy Spirit (through whose Divine agency alone we can do any thing that is good) promised to us for this very end, to renew us after the Divine image in righteousness and true holiness?

And wherein do our own acknowledgments differ from this? Let us attend to the supplications which we offer before God:—“Grant, O most merciful Father, for Christ’s sake, that we may hereafter live a godly, righteous, and sober life, to the glory of thy holy name.” Here, so far from putting godliness out of our thoughts, we profess to desire it in the first place; and justly do we ask that first, because, without that, all our acts of righteousness and sobriety would be no better than splendid sins; they would want the motives and principles which alone distinguish them from heathen virtues. Mark too the measure and degree in which we desire these virtues: we are not satisfied with that which shall gain us a name among men; we ask, (and let it ever be remembered that without the influences of God’s Spirit all our own efforts will be in vain,) that we may be enabled to attain such a degree of piety, as that God may be glorified in us, and that the transcendent excellence of Christianity may be visibly exhibited in our lives.

We appeal then to all; What do we, or what can we, ask of you more than this? And if these high attainments be not necessary, why do you ask of God for Christ’s sake to give them to you? If, on the other hand, they are necessary, why are we deemed enthusiastic and over-righteous for requiring them at your hands? If in your prayers you mean what you say, you justify us; and, if you do not mean what you say, you condemn yourselves; you confess yourselves to be hypocrites and dissemblers with God.

We have now finished our consideration of that truly scriptural prayer: and we will conclude with commending it to you as a test in a two-fold view.

First; Take it as a test whereby to try the discourses which you hear. As members of the Church of England, we have a right to expect that the discourses of ministers shall correspond with the Liturgy of our Church. Certainly, in the first instance, the Holy Scriptures are to be our guide: but, as all profess to have the Scriptures on their side, let us bring to our aid that excellent compendium of religion which we have been considering.

Are there any who descant upon the dignity of our nature, the goodness of our hearts, and the rectitude of our lives? What appearance do such sentiments make when brought to the touchstone of this prayer? Are they not as opposite as darkness is to light? and should we not regard such statements as the effusions of pride and ignorance? should we not tremble for those who hear them, lest, being “blind followers of the blind, they all together should fall into the ditch?”

Are there others who tell us that we are to be saved by our works, and who would thereby lull us asleep in impenitence, and divert our attention from the Saviour of the world? Let us not be deluded by the syren song. Let us turn to our own confessions, to refute such anti-christian doctrines: let us learn from them the necessity of humiliation and contrition, and of “fleeing to Christ, as to the refuge that is set before us.” As for the idea, that the founding of our hopes upon Christ, and upon the promises made to us in him, will lead to a neglect of good works, let us see what the compilers of our Liturgy thought of that, and what they have put in the mouths of all believing penitents. Do not the very same persons who seek for mercy through Christ, entreat of God that they may be enabled to “live a godly, righteous, and sober life, to the glory of his holy name?” And is it not notorious, that the very persons who maintain most steadfastly the doctrines of faith, are uniformly condemned for the excessive and unnecessary strictness of their lives?

In the same manner, if there be any who plead for a conformity to the world, and decry all vital godliness as enthusiasm, we may see what judgment is to be formed of them also. They may call themselves Christians; but they have nothing of Christianity, except the name.

Lastly; If there be any who separate the different parts of religion, inculcating some to the neglect of others; magnifying works to the exclusion of faith, or establishing faith to the destruction of good works; or confounding faith and works, instead of distinguishing them as the fruit from the root; if such, I say, there be, let their statements be contrasted with the order, the fulness, and the harmony of this prayer; and the erroneousness of them will instantly appear. We do not wish to produce critical hearers; but it is the duty of every man to “prove all things, and to hold fast that which is good;” and as we have the advantage of an authorized standard of divine truth, we invite all to search that, as well as the Holy Scriptures: and we do not hesitate to say of this prayer in particular, what the prophet speaks of the inspired volume, “To the law, and to the testimony; if ministers speak not according to this word, it is because there is no light in them.”

Next, let us take this prayer as a test whereby to try our own experience. We may now discard from our minds all that this or that minister may lay down as necessary to our salvation. We have here, what no man can reasonably dispute, our own acknowledgments. We have here as beautiful, as just, as scriptural a summary of experimental religion, as ever was penned from the foundation of the world. The man, that from his inmost soul can utter this prayer, is a real Christian. Whatever be his views with respect to some particular doctrines (those I mean which are distinguished by the name of Calvinism,) his heart is right with God. Whether he admit or reject those abstruser points, he is accepted of God; and if he were to die this moment, he would be in heaven the next: the termination of his warfare would be to him the commencement of everlasting felicity. But is this the experience of us all? Would to God it were! All will repeat the words: but it is one thing to repeat, and another to feel, them. Let us then bring ourselves to this test; and never imagine that we are in a Christian state, till we can appeal to God, that this prayer is the very language of our hearts. In examining ourselves respecting it, let us inquire, Whether from our inmost souls we lament the numberless transgressions of our lives, and the unsearchable depravity of our hearts? When we cry to God for mercy as miserable offenders, do we abhor ourselves for our guilt, and tremble for our danger? Do we indeed feel that we deserve the wrath of Almighty God? Do we feel this, not only on some particular occasions, but, as it were, daily and hourly? Is the consciousness of it wrought into us, and become the habit of our minds, so that we can find no peace but in crying unto God, and pleading with him the merits of his dear Son? Is Christ, in this view, “precious” to our souls? Is HE “our wisdom, HE our righteousness, HE our sanctification, HE our complete redemption?” Having nothing in ourselves, do we make HIM our “all in all?” Are we at the same time “renewed in the spirit of our minds?” Do we hate sin, not merely as it is destructive, but as it is defiling, to the soul? Do we account “the service of God to be perfect freedom;” and instead of wishing his law reduced to the standard of our practice, do we desire to have our practise raised to the standard of his law? Is it our labour to “shine as lights in a dark world,” and “to shew forth in our own conduct the virtues of him that has called us?” Let us all put these questions to ourselves; and they will soon shew us what we are. If this be not the state of our souls, we are in an awful condition indeed. Our very best services have been nothing but a solemn mockery: in our prayers, we have insulted, rather than worshipped the Majesty of Heaven; we have come before our God “with a lie in our right hand.” O that it might please God to discover to us the heinousness of our guilt; and that we might all be “pricked to the heart,” ere it be too late! Let us, the very next time we attempt to use this prayer, take notice of the frame of our minds: let us mark the awful incongruity between our professions, and our actual experience: and let a sense of our hypocrisy lead us to repentance. Thus shall the returning seasons of worship be attended with a double advantage to our souls: in praying for what we ought to seek, we shall be stirred up to seek it in good earnest: and, through the tender mercy of our God, we shall attain the experience of those things, which too many of us, it is to be feared, have hitherto hypocritically asked, and ignorantly condemned.

MMI

THE STABILITY OF THE PROMISES

2 Cor. 1:20.

For all the promises of God in him are yea, and in him Amen, unto the glory of God by us.

MANKIND in general discover much versatility in their spirit and conduct. They form purposes and rescind them according as they are influenced by carnal hopes or fears; but the Gospel teaches us to lay our plans with wisdom, and to execute them with firmness. A light, fickle, wavering mind, if not incompatible with, is at least unworthy of, the Christian character. St. Paul has been accused of “lightness” for not paying his intended visit to Corinth. It is probable too (as appears by his apology) that his enemies had thrown out insinuations against his doctrine also, as though it could not be depended upon. He thought such charges extremely injurious to his person and ministry: he therefore first affirms that his doctrines had been uniform, and next appeals to God, that there had been the same uniformity in his conduct also. In speaking of his doctrine he digresses a little from his subject; but, what he says of the promises, is worthy of peculiar attention. It suggests to us the following important observations:

I. All the promises of God are made to us in Christ Jesus—

God has “given to us exceeding great and precious promises”—

[He has engaged to bestow all which can conduce to our temporal welfare: all too, which can promote our spiritual advancement. To this he has added all the glory and felicity of heaven itself. Such are the benefits annexed by God himself to real godliness.]

But all these are given to us only in Christ Jesus—

[Man, the instant he had sinned, was exposed to the wrath of God; nor could he any longer have a claim on the promises made to him in his state of innocence; but Christ became the head and representative of God’s elect: with him God was pleased to enter into covenant for us, and to give us a promise of eternal life in him. Our original election of God, our adoption into his family, with every blessing consequent upon these, were confirmed to us in hime: hence, in the text, it is twice said, that the promises are in him; and, in another place, that they were made before the existence of any human being: even when the covenant was apparently made with Abraham, Christ was the true seed in whom alone it was confirmedg.]

From this circumstance they derive all their stability.

II. In him they are all firm and immutable—

The terms “Yea and Amen” import steadfastness and immutability. Now the promises cannot fail unless they be either revoked by God, or forfeited by man; but God will not suffer them to fail by either of these means—

He himself will not revoke them—

[Some of his promises are absolute and others conditional: the conditional are suspended on the performance of something by man: the absolute are made without respect to any thing to he done by us. If the former fail, it is not so properly a breach of promise, as an execution of a threatening implied in iti: the latter never have failed in any one instance; nor can one jot or tittle of them ever fail to all eternity. This is declared in various passages of Holy Scripture. God’s word, like his nature, has “no variableness or shadow of turning:” he confirmed his promises with an oath, in order that we might he more assured of the immutability of his counsel: hence it is expressly said, that “the promise is sure to all the seedm.”]

Nor will he suffer his people to forfeit their interest in them—

[Doubtless his people, as free agents, are capable of apostatizing from the truth: yea, they are even bent to backslide from him; and, if left to themselves, they would inevitably fall and perisho: hence they are bidden to take heed lest they come short of the promised blessings. St. Paul himself felt the need of much labour and self-denial to prevent his becoming a cast-away. Nevertheless these truths are not at all inconsistent with the doctrine insisted on: it is by the fear of falling, that God keeps us from falling; and he will keep us by his own power unto final salvations. Of this St. Paul was as confident as of any truth whatever; nor is there any other truth more abundantly confirmed in Scripture. God will indeed punish his people for their declensionsx; but, instead of casting them off, he will reclaim them from their errors: if it were not thus, not one only, but all of those, who had been given to Christ, might perish. God however will effectually prevent this; and the weakest of his people may join in the Apostle’s triumpha.]

This doctrine is far from being a matter of speculation only:

III. In their accomplishment God is glorified, and the ends of our ministry are answered—

The promises, as recorded in the Scriptures, are the foundation of our hopes: but it is by their accomplishment alone that the effects attributed to them are produced. In that,

1. God is glorified—

[Every perfection of the Deity is interested in the accomplishment of his word: the mercy and love of God have given us the promises: his truth and faithfulness are pledged to fulfil them: his almighty power is engaged to execute whatever his goodness has given us reason to expect. Were his promises to fail of accomplishment, these perfections would be all dishonoured; but when they are fulfilled, these perfections are all glorified. Justice itself is made to harmonize with truth and mercy, and matter is furnished for endless praise and adoration.]

2. The ends of our ministry are answered—

[The great ends of our ministry are to convert, edify, and comfort immortal souls. In pursuance of these, we set before men those promises which are most suited to their respective conditions; and assure them that their affiance in those promises shall bring them the blessings they desire. When therefore the contrite are brought to experience rest in Jesus, when the afflicted are comforted, the backsliding reclaimed, or the wavering established, then the great ends of our ministry are so far answered with respect to them. The truth of God in his promises is then made to appear; the benefits contained in them are enjoyed by our fellow-creatures; and our labours receive their richest recompence.]

APPLICATION—

[The Scripture speaks of some as “heirs of promise,” and others as “strangers from the covenant of promise.” Let us inquire to which of these characters we belong. Have we renounced every other hope, and rested simply on the promises made to us in Christ? And are we living in the earnest expectation of their full accomplishment? Have we so embraced them as to shew that we are seeking another country? Let us not mistake our true and proper character. If we be strangers from the covenant of promise, we are without Christ, and without hope. The threatenings, and not the promises, belong to us, and they will infallibly be executed upon us in due season. O that we might now flee for refuge to the hope set before us! But if we be “heirs of promise,” happy are we beyond all expression. Every promise of God, temporal, spiritual, or eternal, is made to us. Let every one then of this description be filled with consolation: let them also be followers of those, who now inherit the promisesf. May it never be said of them, that they glorify God by their faith, but dishonour him by their works! The promises are given, not merely to save, but to sanctify, the soul. Treasure up then, brethren, those inestimable pledges of God’s love, and let them operate according to the direction given youh.]

MMII

THE DIFFERENT OPERATIONS OF THE HOLY SPIRIT

2 Cor. 1:21, 22.

Now he which stablisheth us with you in Christ, and hath anointed us, is God; who hath also sealed us, and given the earnest of the Spirit in our hearts.

IT is the inseparable property of divine grace to make us jealous for the honour of God, and studious to promote it to the utmost of our power.

St. Paul, when accused of instability, vindicated his own character, because it was connected with his usefulness in the ministry; but instantly ascribed to God the glory of whatever steadfastness he had been enabled to maintain.

His words naturally point out to our consideration,

I. The blessings which all true Christians enjoy—

Though all Christians do not attain the same measure either of holiness or of comfort, yet there are blessings common to all who are born of God.

1. They are established in Christ—

[All who believe in Christ are united to him as “branches of the true vine.” At first indeed they are but as babes, or children, liable to be tossed to and fro; but by experience they become more rooted and grounded in Christb. As their views of their own weakness and of his sufficiency are enlarged, they grow more and more; nor was this peculiar to the Apostle, but the common privilege of all the Church at Corinth. Indeed, it is the great end for which all other blessings are communicated; and, in attaining it, the believer becomes immoveable as Mount Sion.]

2. They are anointed with a heavenly unction—

[It is the communication of the Holy Spirit that first enables them to believe in Christ; but, as the lamps in the sanctuary, they have daily supplies of the holy oil. By means of these they obtain more abundant knowledge and gracee, and are progressively renewed after the image of their God. Not that all, even of true Christians, are alike favoured; but every one receives according to the measure of the gift of Christg.]

3. They are sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise—

[A seal is for the purpose of both marking and securing property; and with both these views the Holy Spirit seals the people of God. He stamps the very image of God himself upon their souls; he thus marks them as his peculiar, his “purchased possession;” he secures them also to the day of complete redemptioni.]

4. They have the earnest of the Spirit in their hearts—

[An earnest is both a part of a payment, and a pledge of the remainder; and such is the Spirit to us, not in one only, but in all his operations. In illuminating, quickening, sanctifying, or comforting the soul, he is an earnest of that light and life, that purity and joy, which will be more richly communicated to us in the future world. As a seal, the Spirit assures us of our right to heaven; as an earnest, he gives us a foretaste of it.]

The consideration of such inestimable blessings may well lead us to inquire after,

II. The source from whence they flow—

It appears needless, at first sight, to enter minutely into this part of our subject: but the very construction of the sentence shews that there is something particularly emphatical in it. It implies,

1. That these blessings are purely the gift of God—

[They are not the creatures of a vain and heated imagination; nor are they the offspring of man’s will and power; nor, though imparted in the use of means, do they necessarily flow from the means themselves. They are purely and entirely the gift of God, and are bestowed by Him according to his sovereign will and pleasurem.]

2. That they evidently bear the Divine stamp and character upon them—

[The visible creation manifestly approves itself to be of Divine workmanship, and in the same manner do these blessings evidently appear to proceed from God. The very effects which they produce upon the soul, discover this: but the conviction, which they, who possess these blessings, feel of their Divine original, is inexpressibly clear and strong: without the smallest hesitation they ascribe them to God as their only sourcep.]

3. That God is glorified by means of them—

[It is the Apostle’s express design to glorify God on account of them: and surely we cannot fail of admiring his power and goodness in them; or experience them, without an increased desire to devote ourselves to him; and most of all shall we adore him for these beginnings of his grace, when we shall have received their full completion.]

INFER—

1. How little is true religion known and experienced in the world!—

[Christianity is in general viewed as a system of restraints, rather than as a source of enjoyments; but none can have a just view of it who do not experience a measure of these blessings. Let not any one then rest in false notions, or uninteresting professions. Let all seek rather such a religion as will make them holy and happy, and pray, with the Apostle, that God would fulfil in them all his good pleasure.]

2. How much do many true Christians live below their privileges—

[Many, instead of enjoying a heaven upon earth, are filled with doubts and fears: yet even these have the image of God manifestly instamped upon them, and the hope which they possess is more precious to them than the whole world: but we may well say to them, “Why art thou lean, seeing thou art a king’s son?” Let them be ashamed of giving such occasion to the enemies of religion to triumph; and let them seek that full liberty which God will vouchsafe to all his children.]

3. How astonishing are our obligations to each person in the Sacred Trinity!—

[The Father is the great source and fountain of all our blessings: Christ is the procurer of them, and the medium through whom they come: and the Holy Spirit is the agent, by whom they are conveyed to us. Let us hold fellowship with each in his distinct office and character, and acknowledge with gratitude their united exertions; and let every blessing received from them quicken us to the service, and lead us to the enjoyment of our triune God.]

MMIII

THE DEVICES OF SATAN EXPOSED

2 Cor. 2:11.

We are not ignorant of his devices.

MEN in general think but little of Satan and his agency: yet is he the most formidable adversary that we have to contend with. Great was the grief which he occasioned to the Apostle Paul; and imminent was the danger to which he reduced many of the Church at Corinth. When one of the members of that Church had been guilty of the crime of incest, Satan stirred up many to support his cause, and to protect him from the censures he had merited. Again, when, at the Apostle’s instigation, the Church had inflicted punishment on the offender, and the correction had produced the desired effect, the same subtle enemy prompted many to harden their hearts against him, and, notwithstanding his acknowledged penitence, to refuse him a re-admission to communion with them. In both these ways, he laboured equally to undermine the interests of true religion; and, if St. Paul had not authoritatively interposed to regulate the conduct of that Church by the Gospel-standard, Satan would soon have prevailed to root out of it all vital godliness.

The Apostle’s interposition was extremely painful to him. It was “with much anguish of heart and many tears” that he had written the former epistle: and the thought of having, however reluctantly, occasioned grief to those whom he had reproved, was so painful to him, that nothing but an assurance of good having accrued from it to them, and a consequent restoration of peace to their souls, could compose his mind. Still however he was bound to proceed in the discharge of his high office, and to urge upon them that duty which they were so backward to perform. And this he does, requesting them to “confirm their love towards the offender, (whose name from delicacy he forbears to mention,) lest Satan should get a further advantage over them;” for, adds he, “we are not ignorant of his devices.” This was a weighty argument: and, that we may enter more fully into it, I propose to shew,

I. The devices of Satan—

It is but little that we know of them: yet, as far as we do know them, it will be profitable to consider,

1. Their number—

[This is great beyond all that we are able to conceive. I doubt whether the sands upon the sea-shore form such a countless multitude as do the devices of this great adversary. There is not a person of any age, or any condition, or under any circumstances, for whom he has not devices peculiarly fitted, as a key to the wards of a most ingenious and complicated lock. For every successive variation in their circumstances, he can in an instant adapt his temptations, and so modify them to the occasion, as to give them the greatest possible influence over the mind of his victim.

It must not be forgotten, that, though we speak of Satan as one, he has millions of other spirits at his command, all cooperating with him with an activity inconceivable, and an energy incessant. All of these were once bright and glorious angels around the throne of God: but “they kept not their first estate;” and, for their wickedness, were cast down to the regions of darkness; whence however for a season they are permitted to emerge, in order that they may exert their powers, and subserve unwittingly the counsels of the Most High. Of these there are distinct orders, called principalities and powers, all under Satan as their head and leader, whose will they execute, and whose designs they promote. Hence, though Satan is limited both as to space and knowledge, he is, by his agents, in every part of the globe, receiving information from them, and exercising rule by means of them: and hence his devices, founded on such a combination of wisdom, and carried into effect by such an union of power, become so manifold as to exceed what on any other supposition would have been within the power of any finite creature to devise and execute. In a word, they are to any but God himself altogether unsearchable and without number.]

2. Their subtilty—

[We have already said, that he knows how to adapt his temptations to all different persons and occasions. But the subtlety of Satan is yet farther discoverable in this, that he puts such a specious appearance on his temptations, as removes from us all suspicion from whence they come. “He transforms himself into an angel of light,” so that his suggestions seem rather to bear the character of heaven than the stamp of hell. Who would think that he should pretend a zeal for God’s honour, and make use of the very perfections of God to countenance and confirm his impious suggestions? Yet so he did, both in his assaults on the first Adam in Paradise, and on the second Adam in the Wilderness. When he sought to prevail over our first parents, he asked “Hath God said, ye shall not eat of every tree in the garden?” that is, You surely must have made a mistake: it cannot be that so good and bountiful a God should have laid upon you any such unkind restriction. Then again, when Eve replied, that God had not only forbidden the use of that tree, but had enforced the prohibition by the sanction of death, he answered, “Ye shall not surely die;” you may be perfectly assured that God is too good ever to inflict such an awful penalty for so trivial a transgression. In like manner, when he took our Lord to a pinnacle of the temple, and advised him to cast himself down, for that God had engaged to preserve him from all evil, and had given his angels charge over him for that very purpose; his argument was, in fact, You may safely cast yourself down, for God, who cannot lie, has pledged his truth and faithfulness for your preservation. Perhaps there is no one device in which his subtilty more appears than this: for it is by a pretended zeal for God’s honour more than by any other thing whatever, that he leads men to sin, and lulls them asleep in sin. To one, he suggests, that God is too merciful to consign over any man to everlasting torments: to another, that God is too holy and too just ever to pardon such iniquities as he has committed: and then to another, that God, as a mighty Sovereign, has ordained men to life, and will save them without any trouble or efforts of their own. In all these instances he employs the very name and character of God, in order to subvert God’s influence in the world.

Another point wherein his subtilty appears is, in his choice of instruments whereby to operate the more forcibly upon our minds. He will be sure to employ such as will have most influence, and such as we should be least likely to suspect. Whom should he employ to seduce Adam from his allegiance, but Eve, whom God had given him to be his comfort and support? It was most probably with the hope of using her influence to tempt her husband, that Satan spared Job’s wife, whom he might have destroyed, together with his children: and how readily she concurred with Satan, appears from the advice she gave Job in his extremity, “Curse God, and die.” When he wanted to instigate Ahab to his destruction, whose agency did he employ but that of the four hundred and fifty prophets, whose united testimony Ahab could not withstand? and when he sought to divert even Jesus himself from the great work of redeeming a ruined world, by whom did he endeavour to accomplish his purpose, but by Peter, a favourite Disciple, and that too under a semblance of love?

Well is he called “that old serpent:” for, in truth, he is “a crooked serpent,” whose windings are only equalled by his venom.]

3. Their power—

[But who can estimate this, seeing that “he deceiveth the whole world?” It is on this account that he is called “the god of this world,” for he “worketh in all the children of disobediencee,” and “leads them captive at his will.” What he would effect, if suffered to execute all his own pleasure, we may see in Peter, whom he sifted as wheat, and would soon have reduced to chaff, if the Saviour himself had not interceded for him that his faith might not failg. When expelled from the demoniac, he entered into a herd of swine, who all ran immediately down the mountain, and perished in the sea. And thus it would be with all of us, if God gave us over to his uncontrolled dominion; we should precipitate ourselves speedily into irrecoverable and endless ruin. In the hands of that “great dragon,” we should be no more than as a lamb in the jaws of a roaring lion.]

But though in all their extent they cannot be known by us, yet, as far as they can be known, we are anxious to mark,

II. The importance of being thoroughly acquainted with them—

It is of unspeakable importance to us all,

1. Individually—

[There is not an individual amongst us, “at whose right hand he does not stand,” and whom he is not seeking to destroy. “As a roaring lion, he is going about continually for this very end,” seeking to find some one off his guard, that he may prevail the more easily against him. He notices particularly the dispositions of our mind, and is constantly on the watch that he may ensnare us by means of our besetting sin. Does he see David inclining to pride and vain confidence? he puts it into his heart to give an order for the numbering of the people; well knowing that by means of that act God would be provoked to execute upon him and on his people some heavy judgment. Did he see in Judas the love of money? by that he draws him to betray his Lord. Did he behold in Peter the fear of man? he instigates several to accuse him as a follower of Christ, and thereby causes him to deny his Lord with oaths and curses. Did he see Ananias and Sapphira affecting man’s applause? he puts it into their heart to appear liberal at a cheap rate; and then, for the preservation of their character, to lie unto the Holy Ghost. Thus he will watch the motions of our hearts; and, by means of some evil propensity in us, drive us to the commission of some heinous sin. Nor is he inattentive even to the state and temperament of our bodies; since from that also he can derive much advantage against us. If he perceive that our bodies are enervated by heavy afflictions, or such disorders as induce both bodily and mental debility, he will be sure to assault the soul, in order to drive it to despondency. The whole system being weakened, he hopes that he shall the more easily prevail against us to destroy us. In a word, he knows the weak side of all, and will be sure to assault us there. Hence arises a particular necessity for watching against him with all possible care. Whatever there be, either in our minds or bodies, that seems to favour his temptations, it is only with our own concurrence that he can effect any thing: against our will he can do nothing. “If we resist him, he is constrained to flee from us.” But the difficulty is, to know when, and where, and how he will assault us. Could the bird certainly know that the fowler was laying a snare for him, he would take care not to run into the net; and could the fish be fully aware of the hook, he would never be induced to swallow the bait. Thus, if we knew beforehand what the devices were whereby Satan was studying to deceive us, we should stand on our guard against him. But it requires a very deep knowledge of “his wiles,” and a constant watchfulness over every motion of our hearts, to resist him with effect.]

2. In our collective capacity—

[Whole Churches are often grievously distracted by this powerful adversary. Where Christ is sowing wheat, he will be active in sowing tares. It was thus at Corinth: he had prevailed to a great extent, first in setting the people against all discipline, and then in urging them to carry their discipline beyond all reasonable bounds. The latter device would have been attended with incalculable evil, if it had not been exposed and counteracted by Paul: the offender himself might have been driven to despair, and constrained to go back for happiness to the ungodly world. The weak in the Church would have been greatly discouraged: and unbelievers would have been led to think of Christianity as the most odious system that had ever been professed in the world. In like manner, there are in every Church some circumstances which Satan would over-rule for the dishonour of God and the injury of immortal souls. Against these therefore, whatever they may be, both minister and people should be much upon their guard. In matters of doctrine, our subtle adversary may easily lead us astray; and in matters of discipline, he may easily succeed in stirring up contentions and divisions amongst us. If we neglect to purge out the old leaven, the whole lump will soon be leavened: and if with too indiscriminate a hand we attempt to pluck up the tares, we may root up also much of the wheat along with it. We are in danger on every side: and if we do not, with the utmost possible care, guard against his devices, he will, in some way or other, “get advantage of us,” to the weakening of our hands, and the great discouragement of our hearts.]

As an IMPROVEMENT of the subject, we will briefly shew how most effectually to counteract his devices—

1. Be ever on your guard against them—

[You have to contend, “not against flesh and blood only, but against principalities and powers:” and therefore must be continually on your guard. This is the advice which Peter gives, and gives from bitter experience. He had been warned by his Lord to watch and pray, and especially because Satan was peculiarly anxious to destroy him. But he slept, yea slept repeatedly, though repeatedly awaked by his Lord: and the consequence was, that he “fell into the snare of the devil.” Hence he warns others to “be sober and vigilant, because the devil as a roaring lion goeth about seeking whom he may devour.” Moreover, it was in consequence of the Saviour “praying for him that his faith might not fail,” that he did not ultimately perish, like Judas, in deep despair. Hence he adds this further direction, “whom resist, steadfast in the faith.” It is scarcely to be hoped, however vigilant you may be, that Satan shall never get any advantage over you; but you must not on that account despond, as if he were invincible: for your God has pledged himself that “he will bruise Satan under your feet shortly.” Rely therefore on his word; and in the strength of it go forth again and again to the combat; praying always, that God would either “not lead you into temptation,” or, if he do, that he would “deliver you from the evil one.” It is said of young men in Christ, “that the word of God abideth in them, and they have overcome the wicked one.” Let it abide in you also; and success is yours. The Lord Jesus Christ drew all his arrows from that quiver: “It is written,” was the reply with which he vanquished every temptation: and with “that sword of the Spirit, the Word of God,” you shall speedily and eternally prevail.]

2. Look to the Lord Jesus Christ as your Protector and Deliverer—

[He is “stronger than the strong man armed:” and, whilst he yet hanged upon the cross, he bruised the serpent’s head; yes, “by death he overcame him that had the power of death, that is, the devil.” On the cross “he spoiled all the principalities and powers of hell, triumphing over them in it:” and in his ascension “he led captivity itself captive.” Then was the god of this world vanquished: “then was the prince of this world cast out.” It is therefore only with a vanquished foe that we have to contend; for “the prince of this world is judged.” Go forth then “strong in the Lord and in the power of his might.” Our almighty Joshua calls you to come and put your feet on the necks of your vanquished enemies. Do it; and assure yourselves, that through him you shall be “more than conquerors over all.” For a little time this subtle adversary will yet continue his assaults. It was only “for a season” that he suspended his efforts even against the Lord Jesus Christ himself. Depend upon it, therefore, that you shall have some “thorn in the flesh, some messenger of Satan, still to buffet you.” But “be strong and very courageous.” “Be strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus.” “Gird on the whole armour” provided for you in the Gospel; and “quit yourselves like men.” If you say, “True, but I am weak;” know that, “when you are weak, then are you strong;” and “the strength of Christ shall be perfected in your weakness.” The palm of victory, and the victor’s robe, are already provided for you: and, after a few more conflicts, your triumph shall be complete. Already may you “behold Satan fallen from heaven, like lightning.” Hallelujah! hallelujah!]

MMIV

THE IMPORTANCE OF THE MINISTRY

2 Cor. 2:15, 16.

We are unto God a sweet savour of Christ, in them that are saved, and in them that perish: to the one we are the savour of death unto death; and to the other the savour of life unto life. And who is sufficient for these things?

THE difficulties which faithful ministers have to encounter, are great and numerous. Through the goodness of God, the flames of persecution are not permitted to rage against them, as in the apostolic age; but the embers are by no means extinguished; hatred and contempt are yet the portion of all who will bear their testimony for God, and reprove the wickedness of an ungodly world. But if “their afflictions abound, their consolations abound also.” They are sustained by the providence and grace of God, and have reason to “thank him for causing them always to triumph in Christ.” They have also the satisfaction of seeing, that God, by their instrumentality, “makes manifest the savour of his knowledge in every place.” And though they are unhappily the occasion of deeper condemnation to those who reject their message, yet are they accepted and approved of God, as well in their ineffectual, as in their successful, labours.

This is the consolation expressed in the text; from whence we shall take occasion to shew,

I. In what way the ministry of the Gospel is regarded by God—

God is pleased to speak of himself as delighting in the ministry of his Gospel—

[That which his servants labour to diffuse, is, the knowledge of Christ. They set forth incessantly his name, his work, and offices: and exalt him as the only Saviour of the world — — — This, like the sacrifice which Noah, and which Christ himself, offeredb, is to God “an odour of a sweet smell.” It is to him “as ointment poured forth.”]

And good reason there is why he should be so delighted with it—

[The Gospel of Christ is that wherein all the glory of God is concentrated and made manifest. We may behold the power, the wisdom, and the goodness of God in the works of creation and providence; but in the work of redemption we see an united display of all his perfections: “Mercy and truth meet together; and righteousness and peace kiss each other” — — — No wonder therefore that his ministers, who proclaim this Gospel, are considered as rendering to him an acceptable service.]

Nor does his approbation of it at all depend on the success with which it is attended—

[God is certainly well pleased when any “are saved” by his Gospel: for then all his gracious purposes respecting them are accomplished — — — Then is his dear Son honoured, and, as it were, rewarded “for the travail of his soul.” Then “mercy,” his darling attribute, “in which he chiefly delights,” has free and full scope for exercise.

But God is no less glorified “in them also that perish:” for they must to all eternity acknowledge the goodness of God towards them; and confess his justice in the judgments inflicted on them.

To us the punishment of the wicked is a ground of lamentation only: but we must not “imagine that God is such an one as ourselves:” whatever tends to his glory, is pleasing in his sight.]

Our pleasure, however, in ministering the Gospel, is mixed with pain, when we reflect on,

II. The effects which it produces upon men—

To some we are an occasion of deeper condemnation—

[It had been foretold by the prophet, that Christ should be, not merely for a sanctuary, but also for a stone of stumbling, and a rock of offence. The holy patriarch, who embraced our Saviour in his arms, declared, that he was set for the fall, as well as for the rising again, of many in Israelg. Our Lord himself also attests, that the design of his coming was, to shut the eyes of those who proudly imagined that they saw aright, as well as to open the eyes of those who were sensible of their blindness. And the ministrations of his Apostles were actually attended with these contrary effectsi. Thus we also find it at this time: we are, however unwillingly, the unhappy occasion of increasing the misery of many whom we labour to save. Some hear our word, and disregard it—others despise it—others abuse it, to encourage themselves in their evil ways. For all such persons it would have been better never to have heard the word at all.]

To others, we are the means and instruments of their salvation—

[As odours which are most offensive to some are most pleasing and refreshing to others, so are we in the discharge of our ministry. Some hear our word, and receive it with joy and gratitude. The name of Jesus becomes truly precious to them: they trust in him for salvation: they are brought by him into a state of reconciliation with God: they receive out of his fulness all the grace which they stand in need of: they are enabled by him to live a new and heavenly life; and, finally, they are exalted by him to a state of everlasting happiness and glory. In effecting this blessed work, we are his highly-honoured instruments: by our word he quickens them from the dead; by our word he gives them life more abundantly; by our word he carries on, and perfects, the work he has begun. And thus, while to some we are “a savour of death to their death” and condemnation, we are to others “a savour of life to their eternal life” and salvation.]

Well might St. Paul, in contemplating these effects of his ministry, express his sense of,

III. Its arduousness and importance—

Let it only be considered what a sacred trust is committed to us: on the one hand the glory of God, and on the other hand the salvation of man, is entrusted to our care: What a treasure is this to be deposited in such earthen vessels as we are! “Who is sufficient for these things?” Who is sufficient,

1. In wisdom and knowledge—

[To discharge the ministerial office aright, we should understand in all its bearings that mystery which was hid from ages—the redemption of man by the incarnation and death of God’s only-begotten Son. We should be acquainted also with all the devices of Satan, whereby he is continually labouring to defeat the gracious purposes of our God. We should be able also to discriminate between all the shades of Christian experience, so as to administer suitable advice to all who are under our care. The effects of ignorance would be most fatal: we should be “blind leaders of the blind;” and thus, together with our deluded hearers, should “fall into the ditch.” Alas! alas! Who has not reason to lament his utter insufficiency for so great a work?]

2. In zeal and love—

[If we duly considered the importance of our work, we should find neither time nor inclination to think of any thing else. We should scarcely allow ourselves the necessary refreshments of food and sleep. Persons who see us a little earnest are ready to give us credit for our zeal, or perhaps to condemn us for it: but we should not minister in the way we do, if we justly appreciated the value of a soul, or the glory of our God. No, truly; we should never think of you but with the tenderest compassion, nor even speak to you but with floods of tears. Whether we spake to you in public or in private, we should take no denial: and, in our addresses to God in your behalf, we should “give him no rest, till he arose, and made our Jerusalem a praise in the earth.”]

APPLICATION—

[Inquire, What improvement you have made of our ministry? We ask, not merely whether you approve of what you hear? but whether you find it a sweet savour unto your souls? Does it endear to you the Lord Jesus Christ? Does it bring you into closer and more habitual communion with him? Does it stir you up to live more to his glory? Let not our labours of love be the means of augmenting your guilt and misery. Force us not to be “swift witnesses against you” in the day of judgment: but rather seek, that we may have you as our joy and crown of rejoicing in that day.

In the meantime, “pray for us.” Our responsibility is great and fearful. It is no light matter to answer for our own souls: but to have your souls also required at our hands, is formidable in the extreme. May God pity our infirmities, and pardon our insufficiency! Yea, may he so “perfect his own strength in our weakness,” that, through our feeble ministrations, his name may be glorified, and your souls be saved!]

MMV

CHRISTIANS ARE EPISTLES OF CHRIST

2 Cor. 3:2, 3.

If are our epistle written in our hearts, known and read of all men: forasmuch as ye are manifestly declared to be the epistle of Christ ministered by us, written not with ink, but with the Spirit of the living God; not in tables of stone, but in fleshy tables of the heart.

HATEFUL and detestable as boasting is, there are occasions whereon it may be proper, and even necessary. As far as a man’s own reputation merely is concerned, he need not be forward to vindicate himself from false accusations: if he be a holy and consistent character, he may safely leave himself in God’s hands, indifferent about the censures of an ungodly world: but where the honour of the Gospel is at stake, and there is danger of its influence being undermined by the falsehoods that are circulated, it is by no means unworthy even of an Apostle to refute the calumnies that are raised against him. There were at Corinth false teachers, who sought by all possible means to destroy the character of the Apostle Paul, and who even denied his claim to apostolic authority. In answer to their malignant accusations, St. Paul, in his former Epistle to the Corinthians, says, “Am I not an Apostle? Have I not seen Jesus Christ our Lord? Are not you my work in the Lord? If I be not an Apostle unto others, yet doubtless I am to you: for the seal of mine apostleship are ye in the Lord.” Thus, in this epistle also he vindicates himself as ministering, not like the false teachers, who corrupted the word of God, but with a holy integrity befitting his high office. Yet apprehensive lest he should be misunderstood, as though he felt a need of such commendations either from himself or others, he appealed to his converts themselves as proofs sufficient of his apostleship, even such proofs as carried, to the most thoughtless beholder, their own evidence along with them: “Ye are our epistle, &c. &c.:” that is, ‘I need not epistles from men, since ye yourselves are epistles from the Lord Jesus Christ, testifying that I am his servant, and that the Gospel which I preach is the very truth of God.”

In further considering these words, we may notice from them,

I. The character of all true converts—

Christians are epistles of Christ, written for the instruction of the whole world. Epistles from man to man, such as were those which the false teachers carried with them as letters of recommendation from Church to Church, were written with ink; but Christ’s epistles are written with the Spirit of the living God; and not, as the law of the ten commandments was, in tables of stone, but in fleshy tables of the heart; to which God alone can have access, and on which God alone can make any valuable impressions. Ministers indeed are used by him as instruments, as the word also is; but these can effect no more than a pen or ink can without the hand of a writer: “Paul may plant, and Apollos may water; but it is God alone who can give the increase.”

By these epistles the Lord Jesus Christ teaches men,

1. What is that change that must be wrought on every child of man—

[Christians once walked after the course of this world, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were children of wrath, even as others. But a great change has been wrought in them: they have been “turned from darkness. unto light, and from the power of Satan unto God.” They are become “new creatures:” their views, their desires, their pursuits, are all new. The change that has taken place in them is not unlike that of a river, which, from flowing rapidly towards the ocean, is arrested in its course, and made by the refluent tide to return with equal rapidity towards the fountain-head. Thus are these turned “in the spirit of their minds,” the whole bent of which was formerly after the things of time and sense, but is now directed to the service of the living God.

These being still in the world, though not of it, are living instructors to all around them: they are epistles “known and read of all men.” From the Scriptures men will turn their eyes; but from these epistles they cannot: they are constrained to see the truths recorded in them: and, however they may hate the change which they behold, they are compelled to acknowledge it: and they are admonished by it, that, without such a change, they themselves can never be partakers of the kingdom of heaven. In a word, by every true convert, Christ speaks to all, as once he did to Nicodemus, “Verily, verily, I say unto thee, except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of heaven.”]

2. By what means that change is to be effected—

[However the followers of Christ may differ from each other in minor points, they all agree in founding their hopes of salvation entirely on his atoning blood, and on the effectual operation of his Spirit within them: the declaration of every one amongst them is, “Surely in the Lord, and in him alone, have I righteousness and strength.”

These things then does the Lord Jesus Christ proclaim to the world by them. By them he says, “I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.” “There is no other name but mine given under heaven whereby men may be saved;” “nor is there any other foundation whereon any man can build” his hopes. ‘And, as they look to me for their acceptance with God, so must they also do for the gift of my Spirit, who alone can begin, or carry on, or perfect, a work of grace in their souls.’ It is in reality this testimony which so offends the world. If they were taught to rely on their own merits, or to depend on their own arm, they would extol the persons who thus distinguished themselves by their superior attainments in holiness: but, when they are told that all their hope must be in the righteousness of another, and in strength communicated from above, they pour contempt upon it all as foolishness. Nevertheless such are the lessons which Christians teach to all around them; and such are the instructions which Christ conveys by them to a benighted world.]

Whilst they thus speak from Christ they give us just occasion also to notice,

II. The honour they reflect on the Gospel of Christ—

They are all not merely epistles from Christ, but witnesses also for him. As the Jews were witnesses for God to all nations of the earth, since no other god could ever have effected what he had wrought for them, and as all the persons whom Jesus healed were witnesses for him as the true Messiahh, so are all true converts witnesses,

1. Of the truth of the Gospel—

[What other system ever wrought as that has done? Look at all the means which men have devised for obtaining reconciliation with God; and see if they have ever operated so powerfully, and so beneficially, on the souls of those who have embraced them, as has the simple doctrine of the cross? No: by no other doctrine did God ever work, nor by any other doctrine will he ever work, for the sanctification and salvation of a ruined world. Go to any place under heaven where Christ is not exalted as the only Saviour of the world, or where the Spirit of the living God is not honoured as the only source of all real holiness of heart and life, and see what the state is of those who are so taught: will there be found among them any work like that on the day of Pentecost? Will the word preached there be quick, and powerful, and sharper than a two-edged sword? Will “the weapons used there be found mighty to pull down the strong holds” of sin and Satan, and to “bring men’s thoughts into captivity to the obedience of Christ?” No: God does not, and will not, work by any thing but a simple exhibition of Christ crucified. It is the Gospel only that is “the rod of his strength,” or that will ever prove “the power of God to the salvation of the soul.” But where that is preached, these effects are wrought; multitudes are “brought out of darkness into marvellous light,” and are enabled to shew by their works the reality of their faith; and thus they give undoubted evidence, that the Gospel which is ministered unto them is the true Gospel. As Christ said of the people whom he had healed, “The works that I do, the same bear witness of me,” so may we say of these persons, that they are “seals,” whereby God himself attests the mission of his servants, and the truth of the doctrine which they deliver.]

2. Of the efficacy of the Gospel—

[It is not a mere external change which the Gospel effects, but a change of the whole soul, from sin and sorrow to holiness and joy. The “peace” which it introduces into the troubled mind, “passeth all understanding:” and the “joy” to which it elevates the repenting sinner, is “unspeakable and glorified.” In respect of sanctification, it does not produce absolute perfection; for “there is not a man on earth that liveth and sinneth not;” but it transforms the soul in a very wonderful manner, and changes it progressively, if not perfectly, “into the very image of God, in righteousness and true holiness.” In short, it brings the Lord Jesus Christ and the believer into so near an union with each other, that they are one body, and “one spiritk,” partakers of the same blessings in this world, and heirs of the same glory in the world to come.

What other doctrine ever did, or can, effect such a change as this? Not even God’s law, which he wrote in tables of stone, could operate to such an extent as this: the Gospel alone is competent to such a task: as St. Paul has said; “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, did; that is, he 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.” Moreover, it is not on those only who are of a better and more pliant frame of mind, that the Gospel thus operates, but on the vilest of the human race; as indisputably appeared in the Corinthian Churcho — — — The instances too of such efficacy are not rare, but frequent. On one day were three thousand such converts made; and in every age from that period to the present has the same power been exerted to change the lion to a lamb, and “a desert to the garden of the Lord.” Such converts “shine as lights in a dark world,” and, by “holding forth the word of life” as epistles from Christ, they shew that “the minister has not run in vain, nor laboured in vain.”]

ADDRESS—

1. Seek to have the mind of Christ more fully inscribed upon your hearts—

[Beloved brethren, let not a day pass without your having some divine lesson written more clearly and more legibly upon your souls. Bring your hearts daily to the Lord Jesus Christ, and present them as a tablet to him, that he may write upon them something which they have not hitherto contained. And when you come up to the house of God, come, not to gratify curiosity, or to perform a duty merely, but to spread your hearts again before the Lord, that, by the instrumentality of his minister, and the operation of his word and Spirit, he may inscribe on them some further lesson, which shall attract the notice of an ungodly world, and constrain them to acknowledge that God is with you of a truth. If there be a blot upon your hearts, entreat him to erase it: and whatever is but indistinctly written, entreat him to trace it over again and again, till it shall appear in characters worthy of the Divine Author, and convey to all who behold it a decisive proof of its divine original. And, at the close of every day, examine the contents of the epistle, to see what progress has been made, and what yet remains to be added for its perfection. Nor ever forget by whom the characters must be inscribed: it is “by the Spirit of the living God,” and by the Lord Jesus Christ through him. If you look to any other quarter, you will be disappointed: but, if you go to Christ for the gift of his Spirit, and desire really to have his whole mind and will written upon your hearts, it shall be done; till you are “changed into his image from glory to glory by the Spirit of our God.”]

2. Endeavour to exhibit the whole mind of Christ to a careless and ungodly world—

[Let there not be seen in you those tempers and dispositions which dishonour the Christian profession, and make the Gospel a stumbling-block to the world. In too many professors of religion there is little seen but pride, and forwardness, and self-confidence, and loquacity, and uncharitableness, and a disputatious temper, and a party spirit. But are these the characters inscribed by Christ? No: but by that wicked one, who counterfeits the hand of Christ, on purpose to bring him and his Gospel into general contempt. Whatever there is of such dispositions within you, get them obliterated without delay; and all the graces of humility, and meekness, and love, inscribed in their place. People will judge of our ministry by the lives of those who attend it; and will impute to our doctrines every evil which they can find in you. This is unreasonable indeed: but they will do so; and we cannot prevent it; and if they see in you what is odious, they will represent it as the necessary fruit of the system you profess. Take care then that “the way of truth be not evil spoken of through you.” Endeavour rather so to “make your light shine before men, that all who behold it may glorify your Father which is in heaven:” yea, “let it shine brighter and brighter unto the perfect day.”]

MMVI

THE EXTENT OF MAN’S IMPOTENCY

2 Cor. 3:5.

Not that we are sufficient of ourselves to think any thing as of ourselves; but our sufficiency is of God.

COMMONLY as these words are cited, they are not easy to be satisfactorily explained. There is an evident abruptness in them: and they appear to go far beyond what the context requires. The Apostle had spoken of the success of his ministry: and “thanked God for making manifest the savour of the knowledge of Christ by him in every place.” He had appealed to the Corinthians, as living witnesses of the power of Christ in his ministry; seeing that they were, in fact, “epistles of Christ, known and read of all men.” And he trusted that God would yet further manifest his power, in carrying on amongst them, and in other places, the work of men’s salvation, through the instrumentality of his ministry. But whilst he spoke thus, did he arrogate any thing to himself, as though these effects were produced by any powers of his own! No: he utterly disclaimed all such pretensions; and declared, that, so far from being able to convert others by any powers of his own, he had not of himself a sufficiency even to think a good thought: his sufficiency even for that, and much more for all his ministerial success, was from God alone.

The word which we here translate “think any thing,” means also to reason: and if it could have borne the sense of convincing by reasoning, that is the sense we should have preferred; because that would have been the precise idea which the subject called for. But, as no such construction can be put upon it, we are convinced that the version given to it in our translation is right; and that the Apostle must be understood as going designedly beyond what the occasion called for, and as intending to intimate, not only that he could not convert others by any power of his own, but not even excite any good thought within his own bosom, unless he were strengthened for it from above. He had before said, “Who is sufficient for these things?” and here he ascribes all his sufficiency, for every part of his ministry, to God alone.

To mark fully the meaning of the Apostle, I will endeavour to shew whence all our sufficiency arises,

I. For the communicating of good to the souls of others—

Whatever force there may be in the reasonings of men, or whatever fascination in their eloquence, it is certain that neither the one nor the other have any power to convert a soul to God—

[Our blessed Lord spake to many, in vain. Though he spake as never man spake either before or since, yet did he not convince all his hearers. If “some said, He is a good man; others said, Nay, but he deceiveth the people.” Nor did his miracles produce the same effect on all. The poor man, whose eyes he had opened, argued with the Pharisees in vain, because their minds were not open to conviction: “Herein is a marvellous thing,” said he, “that ye know not from whence this Jesus is, and yet he hath opened mine eyes. Since the world began, was it not heard, that any man opened the eyes of one that was born blind. If this man were not of God, he could do nothing.” And what was the effect of this reasoning? It only incensed them the more; and caused them to pass on the poor man a sentence of excommunication. One would have thought that the raising of Lazarus from the grave, after he had been dead four days, should have carried conviction to all: but the chief priests, instead of being duly influenced by it themselves, sought to put Lazarus to death, in order to obstruct the influence of this miracle on the minds of others. Thus it was also with the Apostles. When, in consequence of the Holy Spirit being poured out upon them on the day of Pentecost, they were enabled to address persons of different countries, each in their own particular language, some, who beheld this stupendous miracle, only “mocked at it, and said that the Apostles were full of new wine,” and in a state of intoxication at nine o’clock in the morning. So when Paul pleaded the Saviour’s cause before Festus and Agrippa, Festus, who was full of prejudice, cried out, “Paul, thou art beside thyself; much learning hath made thee mad:” whilst Agrippa, who was more intelligent and more candid, said, “Almost thou persuadest me to be a Christian.” In fact, truth hath no force with those who have not eyes to see it.]

Whatever good, therefore, is done to any man, it must be ascribed to God alone—

[It was “the Lord who opened the heart of Lydia to attend to the things that were spoken by Paul:” and to a want of such a divine operation did he ascribe the obstinacy of the Jews whom he addressed at Rome. After expounding the Scriptures from morning to evening to many of them in vain, he said, “Well spake the Holy Ghost, by Esaias the prophet unto our fathers, saying, Go unto this people and say, Hearing, ye shall hear, and shall not understand; and seeing, ye shall see, and not perceive: for the heart of this people is waxed gross, and their ears are dull of hearing; and their eyes have they closed, lest they should see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and understand with their heart, and should be converted, and I should heal them.” So true is that declaration of Solomon, “The hearing ear, and the seeing eye, the Lord hath made even both of themo.” And most important is this truth for the instruction of all who minister in holy things, that they may know where to look for the success of their labours for “neither is he that planteth any thing, nor he that watereth, but God that giveth the increase.”]

From the same divine source must be derived all our sufficiency,

II. For the exercising of good in our own souls—

The foregoing observations illustrate the Apostle’sargument. What I shall now adduce is for the illustration of his particular assertion, that “of himself he could not even think a good thought.”

There is not, in unassisted man, an inclination to entertain a good thought—

[“The heart of the sons of men is full of evil:” yea, “every imagination of the thoughts of their hearts is evil, only evil, continuallyr.” What is morally good may arise in the hearts of many: but what is spiritually good must be put there by the special agency of the Holy Ghost. Kindness, benevolence, compassion, though certainly referable to God as their prime Author, exist in the minds of many who are not partakers of saving grace: but hatred of sin, and love to God and Christ, and holiness, find no place in the bosom of an unconverted man: there is between him and them as great a difference as between “light and darkness, or Christ and Belial:” they have not, they cannot have, communion with each other. As well might a stone ascend of itself, or a spark descend, as an ungodly man give birth to that which is so foreign to his nature, as spiritual good is to a carnal heart.]

Nor is there in unassisted man a capacity to cherish what is truly good—

[We are told, from unquestionable authority, that “the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God; for they are foolishness unto him: neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned.” This may be illustrated by the metaphor which St. Paul makes use of in the preceding context. He has spoken of “spreading the savour of the knowledge of Christ;” and has stated, that, in his ministry, he was to some “a savour of death unto death, and to others a savour of life unto life.” Now we know that odours have very different effects on different persons: the very same odour which to one may be grateful and reviving, to another may be offensive and injurious: and none but God could reverse these tendencies. So, to some, the sublimest truths of the Gospel appear only as “foolishness, whilst to others they are the wisdom of God and the power of God.” And whence is this, but because a spiritual discernment has been given to the one, whilst the other possesses only that natural intellect which is conversant with earthly things? In a word, “to the one it is given to know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven; but to the other it is not given:” nor, till “God, of his own good pleasure, has given us to will and to do what is pleasing in his sight,” shall we ever do it, or ever so much as will it. Our sufficiency for the one, as well as for the other, must come from God alone: for “without Christ we can do nothing.”]

SEE, then, in this subject,

1. What matter there is for humiliation—

[It is scarcely possible to conceive any thing more humiliating than the declaration in my text. And if any man doubt the truth of it, let him look: back and see, even in the space of the longest life, who ever, by the force of his own natural powers, entertained so much as one thought that was truly in accordance with God’s perfect law, or fully consonant with his Gospel? I have said before, that things morally good are attainable by the natural man; but things spiritually good are altogether out of his reach. Only keep in mind this important distinction, and no language that can be used can be too strong to declare our destitution of all good, and our dependence upon God for every good disposition or desire — — —]

2. What matter there is for encouragement—

[Was Paul’s sufficiency derived from God alone? Then I also may obtain all that I need. Since the same source and fountain is open for me also, why need I be discouraged at the thought of my own impotency? If God, in instances without number, “has revealed unto babes what he has hidden from the wise and prudent,” and “by things which are not, has brought to nought things that areb;” what need have I to be discouraged? Whatever be my duties, whether personal or official, God can strengthen me for them; yea, and “he will perfect his own strength in my weakness.” “I will be strong then in the Lord, and in the power of his mightd,” and address myself to every duty in dependence on him. Then shall I not fail in any thing that I undertake: for “I can do all things through Christ who strengtheneth me.”]

MMVII

THE LETTER THAT KILLETH, AND THE SPIRIT THAT GIVETH LIFE

2 Cor. 3:6.

Who also hath made us able ministers of the new testament; not of the letter, but of the spirit: for the letter killeth, but the spirit giveth life.

IN the Holy Scriptures there is often incidentally introduced some information of the deepest and most important nature, where the subject did not immediately appear to call for it. In a parenthesis, as it were, a world of instruction is often conveyed. The fact is, that the inspired writers, and especially St. Paul, had so full an insight into the mysteries of our holy religion, that they spake of them as persons familiar with the truths they uttered, and scarcely conscious, as it were, of the depths into which they so abruptly led the minds of their readers. St. Paul, vindicating himself against a supposed charge of egotism and of boasting, here acknowledges, that “all his sufficiency, for every part of his ministerial duty,” was of God. But, together with this, he gives, in few words, his entire view of the Gospel which he preached, and of the effects which he expected to follow from his labours. To set before you the precise import of his words, I will shew,

I. What is that Gospel which we minister—

St. Paul calls himself “a minister of the new testament,” or, as the word also means, “the new covenant:” and, for the purpose of explaining himself more clearly, he contrasts that new covenant with the old covenant, which was superseded by it.

His view of the Gospel may be thus explained—

[The old covenant, as published by Moses, was written in ten commandments, upon tables of stone. The substance of those ten commandments is by our Lord comprised in two: the one of which is, “Thou shalt love God with all thy heart, and mind, and soul, and strength;” and the other, “Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself.” For the performance of these commandments the law afforded no strength, whilst yet it made no allowance whatever for the smallest defect in our obedience. The terms it prescribed were plain and positive, “Do this, and live.” On the other hand, it said, “Cursed is every one that continueth not in all things that are written in the book of the law to do them.” Hence the Apostle calls this law, “The letter that killeth:” for though as given originally to Adam, “it was ordained to life,” to his fallen descendants it has been found only “to death.” Hence he calls it also “a ministration of death, and of condemnationc,” because nothing but condemnation and death can result from it to fallen man. So true is that declaration of his, that “as many as are under the law, are under the curse.”

In opposition to this, the Gospel is set forth as “a new covenant,” given to us to remedy the defects of the former covenant. In this new covenant a Saviour is provided for us; and the Holy Spirit also is promised to us, to effect in our hearts all that our necessities require. Are we blind? this blessed Spirit will enlighten us. Are we weak? He will give us strength. Are we polluted? He will sanctify us throughout: and thus will he impart to us all that the Saviour has obtained for us, even peace, and righteousness, and life. Hence the Apostle calls the Gospel, “the spirit that giveth life;” and represents the ministration of it as “a ministration of the spirit, and of righteousness.”

In the Epistle to the Hebrews this contrast is more fully opened: “Behold, the days come, saith the Lord, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah; not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers, in the day when I took them by the hand to lead them out of the land of Egypt: … for this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, saith the Lord; I will put my laws into their mind, and write them in their hearts; and I will be to them a God, and they shall be to me a people. For I will be merciful to their unrighteousnesses, and their sins and iniquities will I remember no more.” Here, then, the defects of the former covenant are completely supplied. The law issued commands without aid, and menaces without hope: but the Gospel offers a free pardon of all sin, and communicates strength for future obedience. Thus the one is “a letter which killeth;” the other is “a spirit, which giveth life.”]

This is the Gospel which we also preach—

[We are careful to distinguish between the two covenants; well knowing, that all who remain under the former covenant must perish; and that there is no salvation for any man, but on the terms prescribed I the new covenant, the covenant of grace. In accordance with this, it is our constant labour to mark the danger of trusting to any works of righteousness which we can perform, and to shew the indispensable necessity of looking to Christ as “all our salvation and all our desire.” In a word, St. Paul’s views, as declared by himself, are those which we endeavour both to adopt and follow. He says, “Moses describeth the righteousness which is of the law, That he that doeth those things shall live by them. But the righteousness which is of faith speaketh on this wise … The word is nigh thee, even in thy mouth, and in thy heart: THAT IS, THE WORD OF FAITH WHICH WE PREACH; that if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shall believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, (and consequently, that he is the promised Messiah,) thou shalt be saved. For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation. For the Scripture saith, Whosoever believeth on Him shall not be ashamed.”]

Having thus declared what the Gospel is which we preach, let me also declare,

II. What we look for as the fruit of our ministrations—

St. Paul had spoken of himself “as a savour of life unto life” and salvation to many. And this is what we also hope to be, and what we aim at in all our ministrations. We hope, and, so far as God shall render our word effectual, expect,

1. To deliver you from all legal bondage—

[Every man by nature is under the law, and expects to be saved by his obedience to it. Hence arise those self-denying efforts which unenlightened heathens make to commend themselves to their deities; and hence also spring those laborious exertions which Christians of a Pharisaic cast put forth to purchase the favour of the Most High. But, however much they labour, they cannot attain solid peace. There always remains upon their mind, as well there may, a doubt, whether they have done enough to purchase the remission of their sins, and enough also to secure a title to heaven. Hence they spend their days in a state of bondage, labouring incessantly to acquire such a measure of righteousness as shall serve as a foundation of hope, and yet are unable so to satisfy their conscience as to find peace in their souls. But, in bringing before you the new covenant, we shew that you may dismiss all your fears, and indulge a better hope; since the Lord Jesus Christ has suffered for your sins, and has wrought out a righteousness wherein you may stand accepted before God. Thus you may be brought at once into the condition of a prisoner, who, having been long shut up under a state of condemnation, has at last had his pardon sealed, and is permitted to live free from all fear or painful restraint.]

2. To bring you into perfect liberty—

[A mere hope of pardon is by no means the full extent of the mercy accorded to us under the new covenant. There is a perfect peace, into which they are introduced who believe in Christ; yea, they possess “a joy unspeakable and glorified.” The Spirit of God is to the believer a Comforter, who “sheds abroad the love of God in his heart,” and “seals him unto the day of his final redemption.” O, who can declare the full liberty of the children of God; the sweet confidence which they have in God; and the exquisite delight they feel in communion with him? Who can adequately declare the foretastes which they enjoy of their heavenly inheritance? Now, to these blessings we hope to introduce you: nor do we ever consider our ministry as fully answering the ends which God has ordained, till we see you “rejoicing in hope of the glory of God;” and longing to be dissolved, that you may be with Christ. “Wherever the Gospel has its proper work, there is the liberty” which I have here described.]

3. To effect in you such a change as shall commend our doctrine to the whole world by your life and conversation—

[No other “commendation” do we desire either to you or from you. Applaud us as much as you please, and we shall regard that as, at best, a very doubtful evidence of our real usefulness. But let us see you changed both in heart and life; let us see you so changed, as to be “epistles of Christ, known and read of all men;” and we shall desire no better testimony, either from God or man. If we see “you crucified to the world by the cross of Christ;” if we behold you dedicating yourselves to the service of your God, and “renewed after his image in righteousness and true holiness;” if your spirit and temper in your families; your meekness, your gentleness, your patience, your forbearance, and your conformity to “the mind that was in Christ Jesus,” be visible to all around you; that, that is the object which we aim at; that so, if our doctrine be condemned, we may challenge the world to produce such effects wrought by any other means than those which we use,—an exhibition of “Christ crucified,” and an unqualified offer of salvation to all who will believe in him.]

APPLICATION—

1. Inquire, then, I pray you, what reception you have given to this Gospel—

[It is not a mere outward approbation of it that will suffice. You must embrace it with your whole souls. You must “be delivered into it, as into a mould;” and assume the features of it, in every part of your character and conversation. There is found in many a very considerable change, as wrought by legal doctrines. The Pharisees of old were very abundant in outward acts of righteousness: but their services were altogether performed on self-righteous principles, and not from love; and were wrought for their own glory, and not for the glory of their God. But you must render a far higher obedience: for you “are delivered from the law; that being dead wherein you were held;” and therefore you are expected to “serve God in newness of spirit, and not in the oldness of the letter.” The works which proceed from self-righteous principles are such as please men: but those which are expected from you, will please God only: they proceed from the heart; and they alone prove you to be Christians indeed: as God has said, “He is a Jew who is one inwardly; and circumcision is that of the heart, in the spirit, and not in the letter; whose praise is not of men, but of God.”]

2. Beg of God a blessing on our ministrations—

[It is God alone who can instruct ministers to proclaim his Gospel; as St. Paul has said in my text: “Our sufficiency is of God, who has made us able ministers of the new testament.” Hence St. Paul so often entreated his brethren to “pray for him, that utterance might be given him to speak truly and faithfully, as he ought to speak.” And it is God alone who can render the word effectual for the good of those who hear it. “Paul may plant, and Apollos water, to no purpose, unless God himself shall give an increase.” Pray, then, that the word may come to you, not in word only, but in power, and in the Holy Ghost, and in much assurance:” for it will then only be profitable to your souls, when “it comes to you in demonstration of the Spirit and of power.”]

MMVIII

THE LAW AND THE GOSPEL COMPARED

2 Cor. 3:6.

The letter killeth, but the spirit giveth life.

THE Gospel is that weapon, whereby God subdues a rebellious world to the obedience of faith: and the Apostle Paul, when his commission to preach it was called in question, appealed to the effects wrought by it on the hearts of his hearers, as a decisive evidence that he was sent of God to proclaim it, and that the word he preached was the true Gospel. But, though constrained thus to vindicate his apostolic character, he would not arrogate to himself any praise, as though the work had been wrought by any wisdom or power of his own: he disclaimed “all power even to think a good thought,” and much more to produce such a wonderful change on the hearts of others: this change was effected by a simple exhibition of Gospel truth; yet not by the mere promulgation of it as a record, but by a representation of it as God’s appointed instrument to save the world. In this respect, his ministry differed widely from that of the priests under the Law, and from that of the false teachers under the Gospel: for both the one and the other of those, resting in externals, betrayed their hearers to their ruin; whereas he, by setting forth the true Gospel according to its spiritual import, was instrumental to their salvation: “He was a minister of the new testament,” not of the letter, but of the spirit: for, says he, “the letter killeth, but the spirit giveth life.”

How any revelation from God should have the effect of “killing “those to whom it was given, and, more especially, how the new testament should be attended with any such consequences, does, it must he confessed, at first sight appear strange and incredible. But the Apostle’s declaration is true: “the letter does kill; and the spirit alone makes alive.” This will be seen,

I. By contrasting the new testament with the old—

The old-testament dispensation had no power to give life—

[The Law, as given to man in Paradise, was undoubtedly “ordained unto life:” and was capable of giving him life, if he had continued obedient to it: but to fallen man it never has been, or can be, a source of life.

Its commands are such as fallen man cannot obey. It requires us to “love God with all our heart, and all our mind, and all our soul, and all our strength, and our neighbour as ourselves.” But who can do this? Who, except the Lord Jesus Christ himself, has not failed in some particular?

At the same time that its commands are so difficult, it affords no strength whatever for the performance of them. It simply says, Do this, and live: but it contains no promise of assistance for the doing of it, nor any intimation of pardon for one single act of disobedience.

It moreover enforces its commands with a most awful sanction, denouncing “a curse against every man who continueth not in all things that are written in the book of the law to do them:” so that if there be in our obedience no absolute dereliction of duty, but only a defect; and if that defect be of the slightest kind, and occur only once in the whole course of our lives; the penalty instantly attaches to us, and is irreversibly denounced against us.

Thus, in itself, the law is, as the Apostle justly calls it, “a ministration only of death and of condemnation.”

But, in the manner in which it is promulgated, it has yet a further tendency to “kill.” For it is promulgated now exactly as it was in Paradise: and there is no notice given in the decalogue that we are not to trust in it for acceptance: so that a person who does not inquire diligently into the design of God in giving it, is but too likely to misapprehend its real use, and to rest in it, instead of looking out for some other law in which he may rest.

Further, the ceremonial law also has, through the ignorance of man, the same tendency to “kill” those who are placed under it. For, whilst it prescribes certain observances, as means of expiating transgression, it gives no direct information concerning the precise nature and extent of the remission obtained by them: so that a person performing the appointed ordinances would be likely to conceive that his sins were actually pardoned in the sight of God; whilst, in reality, the annual repetition of the same sacrifices might teach him that they were not completely and finally forgiven.

The truth is, that neither the moral nor ceremonial law was given for the purpose of enabling any one to obtain, by means of it, a justifying righteousness. They were both given with a view to prepare men for that better dispensation which was in due time to be introduced; the moral law shutting them up under condemnation; and the ceremonial law opening to them a door, whereby they might find access to that better dispensation, which should in due time be revealed.

It will naturally, then, be asked, ‘Did the legal dispensation actually “kill” all who lived under it?’ I answer, God forbid. There were multitudes saved under that dispensation; not, however, through any influence of the law itself, but by looking forward to the Gospel, and by apprehending that Saviour who was held forth to them in their types and shadows. “Abraham by faith beheld the day of Christ, and rejoiced;” and so did thousands of his believing posterity. The giving of the law made no difference in that respect. The use of the law was to shew men their need of a better dispensation, and to prepare them for it; that, when the time for the full manifestation of the Gospel should arrive, the Saviour might be welcomed by his own people, and the whole world be made partakers of his salvation.]

The office of giving life was reserved for the Gospel—

[The Gospel contains the substance, of which the law was the shadow. The commands of the Gospel are different: the law says, “Do:” the Gospel says, “Believe.” The promises of the Gospel are different. Under the law no mention was made of spiritual assistance to anyone: but under the Gospel, the Spirit is promised to every believer: and “grace sufficient for him,” how great soever his necessities may beh. In fact; the Gospel provides a remedy for every want of man. Is he guilty? it provides a righteousness wherein he may stand faultless in the presence of his God, even the righteousness of our Lord Jesus Christ. Is he a polluted creature? it provides, that through the operations of the Holy Spirit he shall “be sanctified wholly in body, soul, and spirit.” However weak he may be in himself, “God’s strength shall be perfected in his weakness;” so that he may boldly say, “I can do all things through Christ who strengthened me.” Is he deserving of the lowest hell? by embracing this Gospel he shall obtain all the glory and felicity of heaven.]

If it he asked, Whether the Gospel produces this effect on all to whom it is sent I must answer, No: and this will lead me to make distinctions in reference to the Gospel itself,

II. By contrasting the new testament as externally administered, with the same as internally and spiritually received—

The new testament itself, as a letter, has no other effect than that of “killing” those to whom it is proclaimed—

[The new-testament dispensation is, in its very nature, calculated to offend the pride of man, and to prove a stumbling-block to the unhumbled spirit. It was declared, by the Prophet Isaiah, that it should be so: “Sanctify,” says he, “the Lord of hosts himself; and let him be your fear, and let him be your dread: and he shall be to you for a sanctuary; but for a stone of stumbling and a rock of offence to both the houses of Israel, for a gin and for a snare to the inhabitants of Jerusalem; and many among them shall stumble, and fall, and be broken, and be snared, and be taken.” And when the Saviour came into the world, the holy man, who took him up in his arms, declared, that “he was set no less for the fall than for the rising again of many in Israel.” And did not the event correspond with these predictions? St. Peter tells us, that, whilst “to some he was precious, to others he was a stone of stumbling and a rock of offence, even to those who stumbled at the word, being disobedient.” It was from foreseeing these effects, that our blessed Lord gave that solemn caution to his hearers, “Blessed is he that shall not be offended in mem.” If it be thought that this offence arose only from his person, as appearing in a low and degraded state, I answer, that it arose from the entire constitution of the Gospel altogether. The whole doctrine of salvation by “the cross of Christ was to the Jews a stumbling-block, and to the Greeks foolishness.” The Jews could not conceive how the Mosaic law should be superseded, and how they should be required to look for salvation otherwise than by their obedience to it: and the Greeks thought it perfectly absurd to expect salvation from one, who, in appearance, Was not able to save himself. So, at this day, thousands who hear the Gospel are offended at being told that they must renounce all dependence on their own works, and be saved simply by faith in Christ. They cannot comprehend how we are to be dead to the law as a covenant, and yet alive to it as a rule of life: and the being saved entirely by the righteousness of another appears to supersede all occasion for any righteousness of their own. They can see no more suitableness or sufficiency in such a Gospel, than Naaman could see in the direction given him to wash in Jordan in order to cure his leprosy.

Thus, in the very constitution of the Gospel, there is much which has a tendency to kill those who are not of a humble mind.

But the Gospel is thus fatal, not only to those who reject it, but to many, also, who imagine that they have received it. For, through the corruption of the human heart, the very principles of the Gospel are themselves often perverted; so that even “the grace of God is turned into lasciviousness,” and “Christ himself is made a minister of sin.” This was the case with some in the apostolic age: and it is the case with some at this time also. There are at the present day some who so embrace the letter of the Gospel, as altogether to overlook its spirit; and who so glory in a salvation finished for them, as to disregard the salvation that remains to be accomplished in them: and thus they take occasion, from the freeness and fulness of the Gospel salvation, to represent all demands of labour and watchfulness on their part as legal: and because God has undertaken to work in them both to will and to do his will, they cannot see any necessity for them to work out their own salvation with fear and trembling. Thus, I say, some take occasion, even from the promises, to rest satisfied without attaining the things promised.

But, besides these, there are others, who take occasion from the precepts of the Gospel, to make their obedience to them a joint ground of their hope. They see rewards promised to obedience; and they know not how to distinguish between a reward of grace, and a reward of debt; or between that which forms their justifying righteousness before God, and that which shall be approved in those who are already justified. Thus, by uniting their own righteousness with that of Christ, they make void all that Christ has done, and perish without any interest in his salvation.

Thus even the new testament, as externally administered, but not rightly and vitally apprehended, may “kill,” no less than the law itself. And so St. Paul has told us, that the word which he preached, whilst “to some it was made a savour of life unto life, became to others a savour of death unto death.”]

But, when internally and spiritually received, it “giveth life”—

[To some “the word comes, not in word only, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power:” and to them it is a source of life. It conveys to them a new and vital principle, whereby they are enabled to live unto their God: or, as the Scripture expresses it, “they, by means of it, are made partakers of a divine nature,” and “have all things given them that pertain unto life and godliness.” They now, from their own experience, know the meaning of that declaration of our Lord, “I am the resurrection and the life: he that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live; and whosoever liveth and believeth in me shall never die.” Their whole conduct now evinces the change that has been wrought in them. Being quickened from the dead, they henceforth “live no more unto themselves, but unto Him who died for them, and rose again.” And now they can look forward to the eternal state with sweet assured confidence, that, “because their Saviour lives, they shall live also;” and that “when He, who is their life, shall appear, they also shall appear with him in glory.”]

LEARN, then, from hence,

1. What the hearers of the Gospel should more especially guard against—

[Of those who hear the Gospel, many think, that if they receive the truths of Christianity into their minds, so as to be orthodox in their sentiments, they have no need of any thing further to make them partakers of its benefits. But God forbid that any of you, brethren, should be left under any such delusion. You must not be satisfied with hearing the truth, but must consider “how you hear it;” whether you give merely a speculative assent to it; or whether you receive it into your hearts, as the ground of all your hopes, and as the well-spring of all your joys. Dearly beloved, it is for this end that, as “a minister of the new testament,” I would impress on your minds the truths which I declare. And, if at any time I manifest a jealousy over you in relation to these matters, know, that, it is not an uncharitable, but “a godly, jealousy;” which I am bound to exercise over you for your good. I am bound to “stand in doubt of you, till I can see Christ formed in your hearts,” the hope of glory. Concur then with me in this important work. Bear in mind that you are in danger, even from the Gospel itself; in danger of deceiving your own souls by means of it; and of causing “that which is ordained to life, to be found at last unto death.” You may possibly delight in the ministry of the word, like Ezekiel’s hearers; who came to him, just as those who were truly pious did; and he was to them as “a very lovely song of one that had a pleasant voice, and played well upon an instrument: but though they heard his words, they would not do them; for their heart went after their covetousness.” Beware, lest by any means the Gospel prove but a dead letter: for if it bring not your whole soul into captivity to Christ, it will be preached, as it respects you, in vain. Beware, I say, of this: for our Lord himself gives you this very caution; “It is the spirit,” says he, “that quickeneth: the flesh profiteth nothing: the words that I speak unto you, they are spirit, and they are life.”]

2. What fruit a minister expects to find from his labours—

[The Apostle spoke of the Corinthians themselves as bearing the best testimony to his ministrations: and that is the return which we hope to receive from you. Beloved brethren, you yourselves are to be as “epistles of Christ, known and read of all men.” Let it be seen that you are such indeed; that you are “epistles, written, not with pen and ink, but with the Spirit of the living God.” The Gospel, whilst it saves you from condemnation, must save you also from sin; and, whilst you are “delivered by it from the law, as a covenant of works, you are to be serving God, in newness of spirit, and not in the oldness of the letter.” Let us, then, behold this change in you: let us see that “the Son of God hath made you free indeed;” free from carnal desires; free from legal hopes or fears; free to run, with enlarged hearts, the way of God’s commandments. Then shall we know that we have not laboured in vain; and that God has set his seal to our ministry for your good: for “he is not a Jew who is one outwardly; neither is that circumcision which is outward in the flesh: but he is a Jew who is one inwardly; and circumcision is that of the heart, in the spirit, and not in the letter; whose praise is not of men, but of God.”]

MMIX

THE GLORY OF THE GOSPEL ABOVE THAT OF THE LAW

2 Cor. 3:7–11.

If the ministration of death, written and engraven in stones, was glorious, so that the children of Israel could not steadfastly behold the face of Moses for the glory of his countenance; which glory was to be done away: how shall not the ministration of the spirit be rather glorious? for if the ministration of condemnation be glory, much more doth the ministration of righteousness exceed in glory. For even that which was made glorious had no glory in this respect, by reason of the glory that excelleth. For if that which was done away was glorious, much more that which remaineth is glorious.

THE Apostle, in vindicating his claim to apostolic authority against the false teachers at Corinth who disputed it, appeals to the Corinthians themselves as proofs and evidences of his divine mission; since the work of God upon their hearts abundantly manifested, that his ministrations among them had been attended with a power more than human. In thus substantiating his title to apostolic authority, he is led, incidentally as it were, to mention the excellency of that Gospel which he was sent to preach; and from thence to shew, that the deference due to him was the greater, in proportion to the excellency of the Gospel which he ministered unto them. Honourable as the state of the Levitical priesthood was, it was not to be compared with that of those who preached the Gospel; because the law, as ministered in the “letter” of it, proved fatal to all who trusted in it; whereas the Gospel was a source of “life” to all who cordially embraced it: the one, as a mere “letter, killed;” the other, as a quickening” spirit, gave life.”

The Apostle, having touched upon this point, proceeds to open it more fully in the words which we have just read: for the fuller understanding of which we shall consider,

I. The different terms by which the law and the Gospel are here designated—

The law is called “the ministration of death and of condemnation.”

[The law as given to Adam in Paradise “was ordained to life,” and would have entitled him to life if he had continued obedient to it: but, as republished by Moses, it was never intended to give man. any title to life; nor could it possibly give life, because every human being is corrupt, and incapable of rendering to it a perfect obedience. The law is a perfect transcript of God’s mind and will. It makes known to man the whole extent of his duty; and requires a perfect obedience to every one of its commands. If transgressed in any one particular, it denounces death: it says to every soul of man, “The soul that sinneth, it shall die.” At the same time that it thus rigorously exacts a perfect obedience, it neither imparts to man any strength for obedience, nor provides any remedy for one single act of disobedience: and hence it is called in our text, “a ministration of death and of condemnation.” Its voice to all is, “Do this and live: transgress, and perish.” But as every man has transgressed it, and consequently can never do all that it commands, it consigns to death every child of man, according as St. Paul has said; “As many as are of the works of the law are under the curse: for it is written Cursed is every one that continueth not in all things that are written in the book of the law to do them.” We must not desire to do them, but “do” them; not some, but “all;” not for a time, but for a “continuance,” from the first to the last moment of our lives: nor is there any exception in favour of any child of man; for “every one” must stand or fall, be saved or “cursed,” according to this law; and consequently, every man being of necessity born under this law, “every mouth must be stopped, and all the world become guilty before God.”]

The Gospel is called “a ministration of righteousness and of the Spirit”—

[The law condemning all, the Gospel applies a remedy: it reveals a Saviour, who, by his own obedience unto death, has “made reconciliation for iniquity, and brought in an everlasting righteousness.” This righteousness is revealed to us in the Gospel to be apprehended by faithh; and it is actually given “unto,” and put “upon,” “all who believe” in Jesus, his righteousness is totally independent of any obedience to the law on our part: it exists in Christ alone, and is imputed unto us by faithk: and, so far from being augmented by any works of ours, it would be made void by the smallest dependence on our own works; and we must renounce all hope in ourselves, before we can have any part or lot in the righteousness of Christm. Hence the Gospel is called “a ministration of righteousness,” because it reveals a righteousness commensurate with all the demands of the law, and offers that righteousness to every man who will believe in Christ. It declares that “Christ himself is the end of the law for righteousness to every one that believeth;” and that the law was given as a ministration of death on purpose to shut men up to this righteousness, and to constrain them to seek salvation in the way provided for themo.

The Gospel is also “the ministration of the Spirit.” In the first ages, the Spirit was given in his miraculous powers to attest the truth and Divine authority of the Gospel. That end having been fully answered, his miraculous powers are no longer exercised: but his gracious influences still continue, and will continue to the end of time. Still is he sent “to convince the world of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment;” still it is his office “to glorify Christ,” and to “take of the things that are Christ’s, and to shew them unto us:” still does he enlighten the minds, and sanctify the souls, of them that believe: still does he, as the Comforter promised to the Church, operate in the saints as “a Spirit of adoption,” “witnessing with their spirits that they are the children of God,” and “sealing them unto the day of redemption.” To none is he imparted for these ends but through the Gospel of Christ; and, wherever the Gospel is faithfully ministered, he does accompany it with these blessed influences; producing holiness and comfort in all who truly receive it.

Thus the Gospel supplies what the law knew nothing of. We have before said, that the law spake nothing of pardon to the guilty, or of strength to the weak: but the Gospel administers both; and that too in such an abundant measure, as is adequate to the necessities of the whole world: it ministers righteousness sufficient to justify the most guilty sinner upon earth; and imparts the Spirit, so that the weakest may be more than conqueror over all the enemies of his soul.]

Corresponding with this description of the law and of the Gospel were,

II. The different degrees of glory pertaining to each—

The law was truly glorious—

[It was proclaimed by God himself with an audible voice in the midst of such displays of glory as had never been seen from the foundation of the world: and, that it might never be forgotten, it was written also by the finger of God in tables of stone. Moreover, the person through whom it was given to Israel, had such glory imparted to him, that the people of Israel were no more able to look steadfastly upon his face, than upon the face of the meridian sun. Whilst this reflected a very high degree of glory upon the law itself, it was especially intended to intimate to all Israel, that they were unable to apprehend the full scope and meaning of the law! They thought it a covenant whereby they were to obtain acceptance with God; whereas it had an infinitely higher office, even that of “a schoolmaster to bring them to Christ, that they might be justified by faith.” But this, which was its chief glory, they were not able to discern: and, in consequence of their ignorance of its true meaning, they supposed it to be of everlasting obligation; whereas it was, together with all its attendant rites and ceremonies, to continue only till Christ should come, and then to give way to a more perfect dispensation. Still, however, when all the circumstances attending its promulgation are considered, it was certainly exceeding glorious.]

But the Gospel was far more glorious—

[As imparting life, it must of necessity be far more glorious than that which only occasioned death: for the law did really occasion death; inasmuch as, if there had been no law, there would have been no transgression, and consequently neither sin nor death. In revealing such a way of salvation too, it is inconceivably glorious. How mysterious is that record, “that God hath given unto us eternal life; and this life is in his Son: that whoso hath the Son, hath life; and he that hath not the Son of God, hath not life:” and finally, that “he was made sin for us, who knew no sin, that we, who had no righteousness, might be made the righteousness of God in himt!” Well is this called, “The glorious Gospel of the blessed God!” for in it are “riches” of love that are altogether “unsearchable,” and heights and depths that can never be explored.

That the Gospel too transforms the soul into the Divine image is another ground of excellence, which exalts it infinitely above the law. The law rather irritates and inflames the corrupt principle within us, than tends at all to the subjugation of it; but the Gospel both frees us from the dominion of sin, and liberates us from all its penal consequences: “the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus makes us free from the law of sin and deathx.”

The Gospel too, as being God’s last dispensation, will endure for ever; whilst the law, which was only introductory to it, is altogether abolished. So that in this respect also its superiority to the law is great and indisputable.

Compare the two then, and see the difference between them: the lustre imparted by the one was external, on the face of Moses; the change wrought by the other is internal, in the heart and in the soul. In the one, the radiance shone from one only; in the other, it is conferred on all who believe. In the one, it passed away quickly; in the other, it is abiding, even to the end of life, and through eternal ages. In the one, it was to be veiled from the sight of all; in the other, it is to be displayed for the instruction of all, that all may see in it the hand of God, and learn to glorify its Divine Authorz. Well then may it be said, that “that which was made glorious, had no glory in this respect, by reason of the glory that excelleth:” for in truth, though the law shone like the starry heavens in the brightest night, the Gospel, like the meridian sun, has eclipsed its splendour, and cast a veil over all its glory.]

Let not this however be with us a matter of speculation only: let us consider,

III. The conduct which our superior dispensation demands—And,

1. Of ministers—

[The influence which these considerations had upon the Apostle was, to make him “use great plainness of speech.” He would not, like Moses, “put a veil upon his face,” to conceal any part of the splendour of this Gospel; but would preach it with all fidelity, and, by the fullest possible “manifestation of it, commend himself to every man’s conscience in the sight of Godb.” This then is what we must do; and what, through grace, it is our delight to do. Yes, brethren, we declare to you freely that the law, as a covenant of works, is abrogated; and a new covenant, with a better Mediator, and with better promises, is proposed to you in the Gospel. This new covenant provides, as you have heard, righteousness for the guilty, and strength for the weak; and authorizes every believer to say, “In the Lord have I righteousness and strength.” O that we might be instrumental to the bringing you into a near and full acquaintance with this better dispensation! Never would we forget that our one great office is, to make it known to you, and to bring you to the enjoyment of all its blessings. We would go up to the holy mount ourselves to receive it from God, and we would come down with it in our hands and in our hearts to proclaim it to you. We do proclaim it to you at this moment: we do declare to you, that the most guilty sinner in the universe may now find acceptance with God through the blood and righteousness of the Lord Jesus Christ: and we declare also, that a new heart shall be given you, and a new spirit shall be put within you, and the whole law of God be written in your hearts, if only you will believe in him: for he will send down his Holy Spirit upon you, according to his promise, and, by his gracious influences upon your souls, will “cause you to keep his statutes and his judgments.” All this shall be “ministered unto you abundantly through the knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ,” if only you will come unto him; and it shall be given you “freely, without money and without price” — — —]

2. Of the Church at large—

[Your minds should be intent on this great subject: you should seek to grow daily in the knowledge of it: you should come up to the house of God with the same preparation of heart to receive the word of God from your ministers, as the Israelites did to receive the law from the hands of Moses: your state of mind should be like to that of Cornelius and his company, when Peter came to preach the tidings of salvation to them; “Now are we all here present before God, to hear all things that are commanded thee of God.” And as there is no veil put before our face, so you should beg of God that no veil may remain on your hearts. The law was hid from Israel without involving them in any guilt or danger, if only they complied with it as far as it was revealed to them: but “if the Gospel be hid from you, you must eternally perish;” because it is the only possible way of salvation, and can save only by operating effectually both on the understanding and the heart. O then beg of God to counteract the devices of Satan, who strives continually to hide this Gospel from you; and entreat him “to shine into your hearts to give you the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christi!”

At the same time you must remember, that in this respect the obedience you pay must correspond with the privileges you enjoy. Being liberated from the law, you are released also from all servile hopes and fears: and your service must be no longer that of a slave, but of a child: you must serve God, not in the oldness of the letter, but in newness of the spirit; and in this way you will attain all the blessings which the Gospel is intended to impart. The intent of this Gospel is, to assimilate you to that Saviour who proclaims it to you. Whilst you receive it from him, a portion of his splendour must cleave unto you, so that all who behold you may see of a truth that you have been with Jesus. You must be “his epistles” to an ungodly world: and so plain must be the characters written on your heart and life, that they may be “known and read of all men.” Daily must this writing be more visible; and daily shall the radiance around you increase, if you live near to the Lord, contemplating continually the wonders of his love: for, “if with unveiled face you behold as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, you shall be changed into the same image from glory to glory by the Spirit of the Lord” — — —]

MMX

THE FUTURE CONVERSION OF THE JEWS

2 Cor. 3:15, 16.

Even unto this day, when Moses is read, the veil is upon their heart. Nevertheless, when it shall turn to the Lord, the veil shall be taken away.

THERE is confessedly much obscurity in different parts of the sacred volume: even in St. Paul’s writings there are, as St. Peter tells us, “some things hard to be understood.” And this is no more than might well be expected, considering the depth of the subjects treated of, even all the hidden counsels of the Almighty, and the necessary ambiguity of prophetic language, in order to conceal the purposes of the Deity, till the prophecies should be unravelled by subsequent events. Other difficulties arise out of errors, which in the course of so many hundred years have, through the inadvertence of transcribers, crept into different copies of the Holy Scriptures. But, after all, the chief source of obscurity is, the veil that is on the heart of man, (the veil of prejudice, and ignorance, and unbelief,) which conceals from unconverted men even the plainest truths. To intimate the existence of such a veil, was one of the reasons for Moses putting a veil over his face when he came down from the holy mount with the tables of the law in his hands. He intimated thereby, that the children of Israel could not look to the end of that which was to be abolished; that is, that they could not comprehend the nature of the dispensation which he was commissioned to establish; seeing that there was a veil upon their hearts, “by which their minds were blinded.” That veil remained on their hearts during the whole of that dispensation; and, notwithstanding “it is done away in Christ,” so that, if they were disposed to avail themselves of the light which Christianity reflects on their inspired writings, they might now acquire a clear insight into them, “the veil yet remains on their hearts even unto this day.” But it shall not be always so: there is a time coming, “when that infatuated nation shall turn unto the Lord; and then the veil shall be taken away.”

To enter fully into this subject, we must distinctly mark what was intimated by his putting on the veil to speak with them, and his putting off the veil to speak with the Lord.

I. His putting on the veil was designed to shew their present blindness—

Truly there is a veil, a thick veil, upon their hearts; so that to this day they cannot see,

1. The scope and intent of the Mosaic dispensation—

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