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SERMONS 
 
 TOUCHING 
 
 SOME POINTS MUCH CONTROVERTED AT PRESENT. 
 
 
 y 
 
 BY THE REV. JOHN PURVES, 
 
 FREE CHURCH, JEDBURGH. 
 
 EDINBURGH: 
 
 W. P. KENNEDY, 15, SOUTH ST. ANDREW STREET. 
 
 GLASGOW: D. BRYCE. JEDBURGH: W, EASTON. DUNSE: J. BROWN. 
 KELSO: J. RUTHERFURD. LONDON: HAMILTON, ADAMS, & CO. 
 
 DUBLIN: J. M'GLASHAN. 
 
 MDCCCXLvT. 
 
EDINBURGH : PRINTED BY T. CONSTABLE, 
 PRINTER TO HER MAJESTY. 
 
CONTENTS. 
 
 Page 
 
 ADVERTISEMENT, ..... V 
 
 SERMON I. 
 
 CHRISTIANS NOT APPOINTED TO WRATH, . . 1 
 
 SERMON II. 
 
 CHRISTIANS APPOINTED TO SALVATION BY JESUS CHRIST, 23 
 
 SERMON III. 
 
 CHRISTIANS APPOINTED TO OBTAIN SALVATION BY JESUS CHRIST, 42 
 
 SERMON IV. 
 
 THE END FOR WHICH CHRIST DIED, 
 
 67 
 
 SERMON V. 
 
 SAVING FAITH, 
 
 • • 
 
 95 
 
 SERMON VI. 
 
 FAITH—ITS NATURE, 
 
 116 
 
 SERMON VII. 
 
 FAITH—ITS NATURE, 
 
 138 
 
IV 
 
 CONTENTS 
 
 Page 
 
 SERMON VIII. 
 
 FAITH—HOW IT SAVES, . 163 
 
 SERMON IX. 
 
 FAITH—BY WHAT POWER IT IS PRODUCED, . . 185 
 
 SERMON X. 
 
 FAITH—BY WHAT POWER IT IS PRODUCED, . . 207 
 
 SERMON XI. 
 
 peace first found in believing, . . . 224 
 
 SERMON XII. 
 
 PEACE preserved by continual faith, . . 245 
 
 SERMON XIII. 
 
 THE OBEDIENCE OF CHRIST THE SOURCE OF CHRISTIAN COM¬ 
 FORT, AND THE MODEL OF CHRISTIAN HOLINESS, . 265 
 
 SERMON XIV. 
 
 THE GOSPEL BY SETTING UP THE KINGDOM OF GOD BEGINS 
 
 THE KINGDOM OF HEAVEN, .... 289 
 
 NOTE ON SERMON XII 
 
 317 
 
ADVERTISEMENT. 
 
 It is with no small reluctance that the following 
 Sermons, so unfit in every respect to meet the pub¬ 
 lic eye, are allowed to do so. With the exception 
 of two, they were written during a single month, 
 when, in addition to the usual ministerial duties, 
 the state of his people required the writer to preach 
 to them on other topics night by night successively. 
 Begun even without a plan, still more without any 
 intention of publication, and thus hastily completed, 
 they would never have been sent to press but for a 
 local purpose. It has pleased God occasionally to 
 visit his people with little seasons of refreshing, such 
 as that above alluded to. During these, when the 
 minds of considerable numbers are awakened to the 
 reality and importance of Divine things, and not a 
 few are putting the question, “ What must I do to 
 be saved?” the style of preaching which alone 
 seems to meet the occasion, is that simple, rudimen- 
 tal kind of which there are such precious relics in 
 the Acts of the Apostles, and which consists in pro- 
 
VI 
 
 ADVERTISEMENT. 
 
 claiming the leading elementary facts of the Gospel, 
 and the offers of free forgiveness and eternal life 
 thereon, to all who feel their want of such blessings. 
 Advantage, however, has often been taken of this 
 to raise a prejudice in the minds of the young and 
 inexperienced especially, against that system of 
 truth which traces the whole salvation of sinners to 
 the sovereign grace of God alone, as exhibited in 
 personal, unconditional Election, in the special de¬ 
 sign and destination of the Atonement, and in the 
 special saving influence of the blessed Spirit. This 
 system of doctrine as entirely pervades all the Epis¬ 
 tles, which were the Apostles’ sermons to the Church, 
 as the other does the remnant of Apostolic preach¬ 
 ing in the Acts, in which we have their sermons to 
 the world at large. The writer was anxious to put 
 something into the hands of his own people, which, 
 while not affecting to be a formal discussion of the 
 points referred to, might serve at least as his per¬ 
 sonal testimony to the fact that there is no incon¬ 
 sistency between proclaiming the Gospel to sinners 
 at large, as freely and openly as words can do, and 
 at the same time claiming all the saving results of 
 this to God’s sovereign discriminating grace alone. 
 Even this humble purpose, he could have wished 
 for leisure or health sufficient to have executed in a 
 manner faintly suitable to the importance which he 
 attaches to the point referred to. But despairing 
 
ADVERTISEMENT. 
 
 Vll 
 
 of either, and in spite of a strong repugnance to the 
 step, he ventures to put this humble volume into 
 his people’s hands with the view now stated; hoping, 
 if it serve no other purpose, it may help at least to 
 keep up the remembrance of a season which God’s 
 grace rendered very sweet to many. May such 
 seasons frequently return ! And though they do 
 give occasion to use the Church’s prayer, “ Take us 
 the foxes, the little foxes that spoil the vines; for 
 our vines have tender grapes,”—it is blessed if they 
 make others thus to register their experience, and 
 breathe the desires of their heart—“ My Beloved is 
 mine, and I am His: He feedeth among the lilies, 
 until the day break, and the shadows flee aw r ay: 
 Turn, my Beloved, and be thou like a roe or a young 
 hart upon the mountains of Bether.” 
 
 Jedburgh, May 1846, 
 

SERMONS. 
 
 SERMON I. 
 
 CHRISTIANS NOT APPOINTED TO WRATH. 
 
 “ For God hath not appointed us to wrath, but to obtain sal¬ 
 vation by our Lord Jesus Christ, who died for us, that, whether 
 we wake or sleep, we should live together with him.”—1 Thess. 
 v. 9, 10. 
 
 These words are spoken of true Christians, and of 
 them only. It is of importance to state this, and to 
 carry it in mind; although it is too plain to need 
 any proof. The passage, you observe, stands in¬ 
 separably connected with the preceding context. 
 And in that context the persons spoken of are thus 
 described :—“ But ye, brethren, are not in darkness, 
 that that day should overtake you as a thief. Ye 
 are all the children of the light, and the children of 
 the dav: we are not of the night, nor of darkness. 
 Therefore let us not sleep, as do others; but let us 
 watch and be sober. For they that sleep, sleep in 
 the night; and they that be drunken, are drunken 
 in the night. But let us, who are of the day. be 
 sober, putting on the breastplate of faith and love; 
 
 A 
 
2 
 
 SERMON I. 
 
 and for an helmet the hope of salvation.” And 
 then follows our text, containing the reason why 
 they should assume for an helmet this hope of salva¬ 
 tion :— u For God hath not appointed us to wrath, 
 but to obtain salvation by our Lord Jesus Christ, 
 who died for us, that, whether we wake or sleep, we 
 should live together with him.” 
 
 Spoken, then, of genuine Christians in the days 
 of Paul, and of all genuine Christians still, the pas¬ 
 sage before us mentions several gracious things re¬ 
 specting such, and which, like all other gracious 
 things, are of a very humbling and sanctifying, as 
 well as comforting nature. It is, in fact, a brief 
 record of God’s grace towards his own people, from 
 
 beginning to end. 
 
 © © 
 
 I. The first thing it states concerning all true 
 Christians— u the children of the light and the child¬ 
 ren of the day,”—is a very gracious thing, the be¬ 
 ginning, indeed, of all grace—“ God hath not ap¬ 
 pointed us to wrath.” 
 
 He might have done so. This is plainly implied 
 in the passage. For why mention it as an instance 
 of his grace that he had not done so, if it could not 
 have been otherwise ? It is, therefore, plainly im¬ 
 plied, and, being so, is stated more strongly than it 
 could have been in positive form, that He might 
 have appointed all the individuals in question to 
 wrath. And if He might have appointed them, He 
 might have appointed any, He might have appoint¬ 
 ed all,—“ For there is no difference; for all have 
 sinned and come short of the glory of God.” Chris- 
 
SERMON I. 
 
 O 
 
 tia'ns were not more worthy of condemnation in 
 their natural state, than the myriads who still re- 
 main in it. All were alike involved in one ruin and 
 in one condemnation. And if it would have been 
 right and just in God “ to appoint to wrath” any 
 one class, or any one person of our fallen race, as 
 the text so plainly implies, it would have been as to 
 all who are now Christians ; it necessarily follows, 
 that it would have been equally right and just to 
 appoint any, to appoint even all. There would have 
 been no injustice had even all our race, without 
 so much as one exception, been appointed to suffer 
 the just consequences of their sin; which would 
 have been the wrath of G-od for ever. If this might 
 have been done without challenge in the case of any, 
 it might have been done in the case of every one of 
 us, and of every one of our fellow sinners through¬ 
 out this fallen world. The whole race of fallen man, 
 as well as the whole race of fallen angels, might 
 have been left, in the midst of God’s intelligent 
 universe, as an everlasting monument of his awful 
 justice. 
 
 What our text by implication so strongly states 
 respecting all who are Christians, every genuine 
 Christian will feel to be true in his own individual 
 case. However men may argue the matter as a 
 general point, it does not seem possible to be a 
 Christian at all without actually feeling that in so 
 far at least as he is concerned, God might most 
 justly have appointed him unto wrath. The full 
 conviction of this, a deep and heart-felt sense of 
 it, seems to be the basis of the whole Christian cha- 
 
4 
 
 SERMON I. 
 
 racter. It is necessary, to give any thing like mean¬ 
 ing and reality to the Christian system. Nor can 
 the truth and excellence of the Gospel be any far¬ 
 ther seen than this awful fact concerning our natu¬ 
 ral condition is personally felt and realized. How 
 can any individual be a Christian who has not been 
 made to feel that there was once a period in his 
 personal history in which he was deserving of the 
 wrath and curse of God ; in which he was actually 
 adjudged worthy of eternal death ; in which he stood 
 fearfully and perilously exposed to that death every 
 hour and every moment of his life ; in which God 
 might have justly inflicted it upon him, without 
 mercy, without remedy, without end? Why, this 
 feeling is just the beginning of u the new creature” 
 in every fallen being. The remedy of the Gospel is 
 of no meaning without it; nor can any one really 
 embrace the one, until, and but in so far as, he is 
 made to feel the other. The man who takes the 
 death of Christ as the only foundation of his hope 
 before God, as his only standing for eternity, does 
 in the very act acknowledge that there was a death 
 due to himself, of which this of Christ is the only 
 adequate substitute. He cannot really rely upon 
 the one, unless he see and feel that the other was 
 due to him, and might have been most righteously 
 inflicted. Reliance on the death of Christ is the 
 strongest way a fallen being can express to God the 
 feeling of his heart, that he himself deserved a wrath 
 that is equal to this, that is, eternal death. This 
 reliance is just the expression, not in words but in 
 fact, of this awful personal desert. And where the 
 
SERMON I. 
 
 O 
 
 latter is not felt, there may be a profession of reli¬ 
 ance, but there can be no more. Is it not the case 
 that we wdio are now Christians, were once “ dead 
 in trespasses and sins,” that we “ were children of 
 disobedience, and therefore children of wrath even 
 as others that we were “ enemies to God in our 
 hearts, and by wicked works,” impious rebels against 
 the government, and habitual transgressors of the 
 law of that blessed Being whose absolute property 
 we are; a law which has this awful sanction ap¬ 
 pended to it,—“ Cursed is every one who continueth 
 not in all things written in the book of the law to 
 do them ;” a government which includes this among 
 its fundamental and irrevocable principles,-—“ The 
 wages of sin is death ?” Was this really the criminal 
 condition of every one of us by nature ? The con¬ 
 science of every genuine Christian tells him that it 
 was. The difference, indeed, between that Christian 
 and every unawmkened sinner, is that the one has, the 
 other has not, seen this to be an awful reality re¬ 
 specting himself. It is the heart-felt, heart-hum¬ 
 bling conviction of the one—-a conviction that has 
 laid all his pride in the dust, and brought him to 
 cry for mercy at the foot of the cross, among the 
 chief of sinners. In the case of the other, it is no¬ 
 thing but the light and flippant confession of the lips, 
 if even so much as that—a confession that leaves 
 his spirit all at ease, and the atonement of the cross 
 without attraction or meaning. Now, if really made 
 to feel,—not to say or to acknowledge, but to feel, that 
 this was once his aw r ful state ; how can he fail at 
 the same time to perceive and to admit that at 
 
6 
 
 SERMON I. 
 
 such a moment, and always so long as this guilty 
 state continued, God might with perfect justice 
 have left him to eat the fruit of his own folly, to 
 endure the proper punishment of his sin ? And 
 what is this but just acknowledging, admitting in 
 terms the most explicit, that had it been the sove¬ 
 reign pleasure of that Great Being whom he had so 
 deeply injured, and to whom he had forfeited all, 
 he might have been most justly appointed to bear 
 for ever that measure of wrath which was due to his 
 criminal rebellion ? Surely God was under no obli¬ 
 gation to do anything whatever in order to save 
 him from the mere merited consequences of his own 
 sins ? He was under no more obligation to do this, 
 than is the judge to save from prison or from death 
 the wretched criminal who has just been found guilty 
 and received sentence at his bar. Every Christian 
 was once in the condition of this criminal before 
 “ the Judge of all the earth.” What was once the 
 condition of every Christian, is still the condition of 
 every sinner. The state of every sinner in his na¬ 
 tural condition is that of a criminal condemned 
 already by the righteous law of heaven, and waiting 
 at the sovereign pleasure of God the hour on which 
 he shall see meet to execute the sentence. Already 
 “ the whole world is brought in guilty before God.” 
 “ Being brought in guilty,” if words have meaning at 
 all, this must mean that the whole world without 
 exception might be justly left to bear the punish¬ 
 ment due to that guilt for ever. This might have 
 been the doom, the unchanging endless doom, of all 
 belonging to this guilty world, of each and all alike. 
 
SERMON I. 
 
 7 
 
 It would actually have been their doom had mere Jus¬ 
 tice alone been reigning on the throne of the universe. 
 It would have been strictly and simply just, had this 
 been the actual and eternal issue in the case of all 
 and each that ever came from Adam, 'without so 
 much as one solitary exception. And if it would 
 have been simply and strictly just in God to do this 
 thing; could it have been anything else than merely 
 just in Him to resolve or appoint to do it? If the 
 wrath, which a perfectly holy law has pronounced 
 on sin, has been actually incurred by all our race ; 
 on all our race that wrath might have been actu¬ 
 ally and justly indicted. If it might have been 
 actually inflicted with justice, let man’s ingenuity 
 twist the matter as it may, it can never be anything 
 more than mere simple justice in God to appoint 
 this wrath to be inflicted. A thing which it is right 
 to do, it cannot be wrong, it must be right to ap¬ 
 point to do. Therefore God, the Judge of all, might 
 have made a most righteous appointment to do this 
 perfectly righteous thing in the case of all. And if 
 in the case of all, where is the injustice of actually 
 doing it in the case of some, who are less than all— 
 in the case of any, wflio must be a part of all ? Every 
 Christian feels this might have been the case with 
 him. That it is not actually the case—that he has 
 not actually been appointed to endure that wrath 
 which he had so justly provoked, and within the 
 sw r eep of which he once stood so perilously exposed, 
 he ascribes entirely and exclusively to the mere rich, 
 sovereign, discriminating grace of God, which has 
 been set upon him when him and all our race it 
 
8 
 
 SERMON I. 
 
 might have left to the ruin they had in common in¬ 
 curred. The Christian feels this, simply because he 
 feels that he was once a sinner, deserving of nothing 
 but endless ruin. And if there be any individual 
 of our race "who disputes the right or the justice of 
 God to appoint him to wrath—and if him, why not 
 any individual similarly circumstanced ?—it is owing 
 to this, it can be owing to nothing else, that he has 
 never yet really seen himself to be a sinner in the 
 sight of God. He is living in practical unbelief as 
 to all that God has told him in his Word concerning 
 his own condition, and likewise concerning both the 
 justice and the grace of God. For no man knows 
 the true nature of grace, who does not allow the 
 true and full claims of justice. The man who does 
 not first see and acknowledge the one, cannot really 
 ever see and embrace the other. And neither the 
 one nor the other is truly seen, nor anything else 
 indeed in the whole compass of Divine truth, by 
 the man whose inmost soul is not possessed and 
 filled with this first and fundamental conviction, that 
 as a sinner in the sight of God, he might, in common 
 with all who are such, have been for ever appointed to 
 the endurance of wrath. 
 
 It seems very strange that any man, allow¬ 
 ing himself to be a sinner, should dissent from 
 a conclusion which seems to lie so much at the 
 very foundation of all Scriptural truth as this : 
 and stranger still, that such an outcry should be 
 made against the very supposition of God choosing 
 only some as the objects of his saving grace, and 
 leaving others to the bearing of that wrath which 
 
SERMON I. 
 
 9 
 
 their sins have made their due. Such an outcry 
 must proceed from an ignorance of all the great 
 principles of Scriptural truth the most deplorable. 
 It is as much opposed to plain palpable facts, as to 
 Scriptural principles. It necessarily implies either 
 that there is no guilt in man to deserve wrath; or 
 something wrong in God exercising simple justice 
 in any case whatever under the reign of grace ; or 
 a positive influence exerted, by the appointment of 
 God to punish sin, in producing the sin itself. And 
 it will be found that the feelings whence such an 
 outcry has arisen, when followed out to their legiti¬ 
 mate issues, will land the individuals who have 
 abandoned themselves to their impulse, in the denial 
 of the ultimate ruin of any creature whatsoever, 
 human or angelic, in the total denial of wrath, and 
 therefore justice and grace, and every attribute of 
 Godhead, for all are inseparably connected, and 
 must stand or fall together. We need not dispute 
 about abstract principles involved in a matter so 
 solemn as this ; about the right or the wrong of God 
 doing such a thing as we have supposed,'and whether 
 it can be reconciled with our conceptions of His 
 character as being love itself, and as being no re¬ 
 specter of persons. There are facts to appeal to, in¬ 
 disputable facts, which should put to silence all 
 such presumptuous reasonings, or which, had they 
 been seriously considered and really believed, would 
 never have suffered such reasonings to arise. There 
 is this fact, for instance, broad, palpable, beyond 
 dispute, that of two races which fell God has chosen 
 but one as the subject of his gracious treatment, 
 
10 
 
 SERMON I. 
 
 and lias left the other, without any attempt to save 
 it, to suffer the eternal consequences of its unpro¬ 
 voked and most criminal apostasy. The fact to 
 which we have now referred cannot he questioned. 
 It is recorded by the hand of God himself in the 
 Word of Truth, and is inseparably interwoven with 
 the "whole history of our fallen world. Here, then, 
 when the race of Adam was chosen as the subject 
 of gracious treatment on the part of God, we have 
 another race, in nature nobler than ours, whose 
 birth-place and abode had been near the eternal 
 throne, and who comprehend in point of numbers 
 myriads upon myriads, whom God hath appointed 
 unto wrath. “ The angels which kept not their 
 first estate, but left their own habitation, He hath 
 reserved in everlasting chains under darkness, unto 
 the judgment of the great day.” No attempt was 
 made to save them from the effects of their sin. 
 Grace was not commissioned to their rescue. They 
 were left in the hands of stern and simple justice 
 alone. Now this one awful fact, looming as it does 
 at the head of this world’s history, is enough of itself 
 to stop the mouths of all gainsayers, and should cast 
 us down in silent veneration before that Great 
 Being, who by it proclaims in language so emphatic, 
 in the audience of all his creatures, il That He will 
 have mercy on whom He will have mercy, and 
 whom He wills He hardens.” It carries plainly 
 and undeniably these two inferences, which it is so 
 important to announce in times like these, when 
 they have been called in question by arrogant spe¬ 
 culators as to the attributes of Godhead. God may 
 
SERMON I. 
 
 11 
 
 } r et be love, even should he make no attempt to save 
 from merited ruin a whole race,' and still more a 
 part of a race, who have fallen from their state, and 
 are involved in rebellion against his government. 
 And of those who are in the same guilt and con¬ 
 demnation, He may be graciously pleased to save 
 some only and leave the rest to the punishment 
 which was due to all, without giving any shadow of 
 ground for the charge that He is a respecter of per¬ 
 sons. He is love itself, in spite of the fact that one 
 entire race of beings is, according to his appointment, 
 lying in hopeless ruin. And He is no respecter of 
 persons, although of two rebel races, that of Adam 
 has been taken for the display of His sovereign grace, 
 that of angels for the display of His awful justice. 
 
 Now, if the fact just stated respecting two whole 
 races of beings, warrants no inrputation either on 
 the infinite love or the perfect rectitude of God, 
 why may not a similar fact respecting different in¬ 
 dividuals of the same race be asserted, without cast¬ 
 ing any reproach upon any attribute of Godhead? 
 When the case lies between fallen angels and fallen 
 men, God may choose the one as the subjects of 
 mercy, and leave the other to suffer the awards of 
 justice, without giving any ground to deny that He 
 is love, or to assert that He is a respecter of persons. 
 And why should not this be also and equally the 
 case, when out of the members of one fallen race, 
 all in same condemnation, all deserving of wrath, 
 all unworthy of mercy, He is pleased of his sove¬ 
 reign grace to make some the objects of his saving 
 mercy, and in the exercise of his strict justice alone 
 
12 
 
 SERMON I. 
 
 to leave others to suffer the consequences of their 
 own voluntary sins ? That this is actually the case 
 is as much a fact as the other. It is expressly and 
 repeatedly stated as such in the Word of God:— 
 Jude 4, “ For there are certain men crept in un¬ 
 awares, who were before of old ordained to this con¬ 
 demnation, ungodly men, turning the grace of our 
 God into lasciviousness, and denying the only Lord 
 God, and our Lord Jesus Christ.” Here, as expressly 
 as words can state the thing, we are told that some 
 of our race have been ordained, before, of old, to 
 condemnation. Not to sin —as if the ordination of 
 God were the cause of that; nor even to condemna¬ 
 tion, prior to and irrespective of sin. But they were 
 ordained of old to condemnation, as “ being ungodly 
 men, turning the grace of God into lasciviousness, 
 and denying the only Lord God and our Lord Jesus 
 Christ.” It was an ordination simply to the punish¬ 
 ment which their ungodly course, and especially 
 their denial of the only Lord God and our Lord 
 Jesus Christ so justly merited. Was it unjust to 
 inflict this condemnation on this ground ? Then it 
 could not be unjust, on this same ground, to ordain 
 them to this condemnation. In like manner we have 
 the fact itself, and the ground of the fact, stated in 
 1 Peter ii. 7, “ But unto them which be disobedient, 
 the stone which the builders disallowed, the same is 
 made the head of the corner, and a stone of stum¬ 
 bling and a rock of offence, even to them wdiich 
 stumble at the word, being disobedient: whereunto 
 also they were appointed.” They were appointed - 
 to this awful fate of stumbling on the true founda- 
 
SERMON I. 
 
 13 
 
 tion, and being thereby broken to pieces. And why 
 were they appointed to this ? Because they were 
 disobedient—because they stumbled at the word of 
 grace—because they were offended with the only 
 way of life, and, in their pride and their wicked¬ 
 ness, rejected it. This is the reason, the only 
 reason, why they were appointed to such an awful 
 doom—appointed to be broken in pieces on that 
 very stone which had been freely proposed to 
 them as the foundation of hope. And to question 
 the justice of such an appointment is to question 
 the justice of the doom itself. This, in fact, is 
 the ground, and the only ground, on which such 
 an appointment is ever made in the case of any 
 individual of our race; in every case whatever it is 
 made on the ground of previously existing guilt; it 
 is made in reference to persons who are not innocent 
 but guilty; who are seen by God in the twofold 
 guilt of having first trampled under foot His all- 
 lioly Law, and then rejected the overtures of His 
 all-gracious Gospel. This is the condition in which 
 they are viewed by Him when they are appointed 
 to wrath. It is on the ground of this accumulated 
 and impenitent guilt that such an appointment is 
 passed. And surely, if such a fact were borne in 
 mind, all objections to such an appointment would 
 be silenced for ever. For the plain and the only 
 question then comes to be, do such persons deserve 
 to perish ? do they who continue through life to 
 violate the law of that great Being who made them, 
 and to reject, moreover, that free and full salvation 
 which he procured at such cost, and pressed on their 
 
14 
 
 SERMON I. 
 
 acceptance, when he was under no obligation to do 
 either, not deserve in consequence of this to be left 
 as monuments of His awful justice and righteous 
 vengeance in the eyes of his whole intelligent uni¬ 
 verse ? If they do not, there is a denial of every 
 thing like guilt in man, and justice in God—that 
 the one deserves punishment, and the other has any 
 right to inflict it, and, therefore, a subversion of 
 all the principles of moral government. The throne 
 of Jehovah is overturned ; and man, his rebel worm, 
 is free to act as he wills. If they do deserve to be 
 abandoned to the consequences of their own guilty 
 course—if their transgression of His law, and their 
 continued and final rejection of His Gospel, merit 
 for them the infliction of his wrath, then to appoint 
 them to this wrath is an act of the merest justice, 
 awful though it be, and awful it certainly is, even 
 as the guilt which calls it forth, and of which it is 
 the adequate expression, is awful. In the appoint¬ 
 ment to wrath on such grounds as these—and they are 
 the only ones on which that appointment ever pro¬ 
 ceeds—God is doing nothing but simply exercising 
 that attribute of justice which belongs as essentially 
 to his Godhead as love itself, and the exercise of 
 which is every whit as necessary to the perfection 
 and stability of His government, and to the highest 
 well-being of all his creatures. And those who re¬ 
 claim against such a perfectly righteous appointment 
 as this, to be consistent should equally reclaim 
 against every thing like punishment, every thing 
 which has in it the nature of judgement or wrath, 
 either in this world or in the world that is coming, 
 
SERMON I. 
 
 15 
 
 under the paternal government of God. In point of 
 fact, it is this, and not the mere appointment to this, 
 which is but a resolution before-liand to do a righteous 
 thing, that is the real ground of quarrel. It is to 
 every thing like punishment, when final and irre¬ 
 vocable, that men object, as being inconsistent with 
 the conceptions they have formed of God as a being 
 of pure unmixed love. Disguise it from themselves 
 as they will, their true dislike is not to an appoint¬ 
 ment of God, in the past eternity, to inflict his wrath 
 in certain cases where impenitent and final guilt 
 deserves it—an appointment which has no influence 
 whatever in producing that guilt. Their dislike, 
 them real and rooted dislike, is to the punishment 
 itself in the eternity that is about to open; this 
 awful thing is the ground of all their quarrel; it is 
 this they would remove away out of the universe of 
 God, as being irreconcilable with the conceptions 
 they have allowed themselves to form of this great 
 being as all benevolence and nothing else. If this 
 dark and dread reality, which overspreads eternity 
 with its gloom, can be allowed to exist, and yet God 
 be love, every thing else may, that is not unjust or 
 sinful in itself; so that the proper landing place of 
 all such opinions and feelings—that to which they 
 have conducted thousands already, and to which 
 they are at this moment conducting thousands more, 
 is the denial of every thing like ultimate and ever¬ 
 lasting ruin in the case of any fallen being whatever, 
 whether they belong to the race of angels or the 
 race of men; it is the blotting out of hell from the 
 number of existing things; and thus the openly 
 
16 
 
 SERMON I. 
 
 infidel and wicked, and those, who, casting them¬ 
 selves loose from a stern adherence to God’s Word, 
 follow the dictates of a sickly sentimentalism in 
 things divine, find themselves in the end conducted 
 by different ways to the same fatal conclusion. 
 
 There is no way for any, who object to God ap¬ 
 pointing impenitent sinners to wrath, to avoid this con¬ 
 clusion, but one. If they ascribe to this appointment 
 some positive influence in producing the shiner’s 
 guilt, they may quarrel with it, and yet not quarrel 
 with the ultimate punishment itself. On this one 
 ground, they may object to the one and not to the 
 other—on no other but this. But there is not the 
 shadow of pretext for such an allegation. To as¬ 
 cribe any thing like positive influence in producing 
 the sin itself, to the appointment of God simply to 
 punish that sin, is to blaspheme it—it is to blas¬ 
 pheme the living God himself—it is to make Him 
 the author of sin who is holiness itself, and whose 
 whole nature is infinitely abhorrent from the most 
 distant approach to sin. There is the most palpable 
 difference between God’s appointment to save, and 
 God’s appointment to punish, though men are ever 
 seeking to confound the two, and, having confounded, 
 to condemn them both. The one proceeds on no 
 ground of desert in the sinner, the other does. The 
 one produces an active influence on the sinner, the 
 other does not. The sinner is saved, not because 
 he deserves it, but because, deserving the very re¬ 
 verse, God is pleased of his own infinite grace alone, 
 and to his own glory, and in his own most righteous 
 way, to appoint them to salvation and to every thing 
 
SERMON I, 
 
 17 
 
 that leads to it. And this all-gracious and most 
 sovereign appointment is the spring-head of all that 
 saving and sanctifying influence which afterwards 
 descends upon him, and, in consequence of which, 
 he becomes all he is both in time and in eternitv. 
 But it is entirely the reverse of this with everv 
 sinner who is appointed to ruin. This appointment 
 proceeds on the ground that he deserves it—on this 
 ground, and on this alone. And it is an appoint¬ 
 ment that produces no direct influence on the sin¬ 
 ner’s character, and, through that, on his ultimate 
 condition ; it is an appointment simply to punish 
 for their unbelief and sin, such individuals as, left 
 to the freedom of their own will and without that 
 grace of God which is due to none, shall be found 
 in the end to die impenitent, alike disobedient to the 
 law, and negiecters of the great salvation of the 
 Gospel. It in no respect whatever causes either this 
 disobedience or this rejection; it foresees them ex¬ 
 isting, the consequence of the man’s own guilty 
 heart alone ; and, on the ground of them, determines 
 to inflict on such that wrath which it would have 
 been no more than simple justice to inflict on all. 
 This wide distinction is strikingly brought out in a 
 passage to the Romans, where, speaking of “ the 
 vessels of wrath,” and “ the vessels of mercy,” being 
 alike prepared for their ultimate destiny, the apostle 
 plainly implies that this preparation, in the case of 
 the former, was all of themselves—in the case of 
 the latter, was all of God, (chap. ix. 22,) “ TVTiat 
 if God, willing to show his wrath and to make his 
 power known, endured with much long-suffering 
 
 B 
 
18 
 
 SERMON I. 
 
 the vessels of wrath fitted to destruction; and that 
 He might make known the riches of his glory on the 
 vessels of mercy which He had afore prepared unto 
 glory.” No, it was not the appointment of God 
 that made men sin, and made them reject the Gos¬ 
 pel. The thought is blasphemy. The whole Scrip¬ 
 tures repudiate and abhor it. The conscience of 
 the sinner rejects it, as well as the Word of God. 
 He feels that nothing and nobody in heaven, on 
 earth, or in hell, makes him sin but himself alone ; 
 none can, properly speaking, make another sin if he 
 be unwilling, it is in the very nature of sin that the 
 man does it freely, of his own voluntary spontaneous 
 act alone, notwithstanding of any influence that may 
 act upon him ; he sins simply because he loves to 
 sin; he rejects the Saviour, not from necessity, or 
 because of some unseen power holding him back, or 
 because of some deficiency in his own physical 
 powers, but simply and solely because he has aban¬ 
 doned his whole nature so entirely to the influence 
 of pride, and the world, and sin, that he cannot 
 bring himself to accept of and fall in with a salva¬ 
 tion so contrary to these in all its essential princi¬ 
 ples, and in all its necessary tendencies. There¬ 
 fore it is, and therefore alone, that he rejects it; 
 and being so rejected, therefore it is, and therefore 
 alone, that God has appointed him to wrath. This 
 appointment is in no case, and in no respect what¬ 
 ever, the cause of this rejection, and of the ruin that 
 follows on it. This rejection is in every case the 
 cause of this appointment. And the rejection is the 
 individual’s owm, his own act, his own guilt alone, 
 
SERMON I. 
 
 19 
 
 neither in whole nor in part ascribable to God; all 
 that God has done in the matter is simply to let the 
 sinner take his own way. He has not interfered 
 so as to prevent this. Who can blame him for not 
 doing so ? Was He in any way bound to do it ? if so 
 there could be no grace in the matter; grace cannot 
 be bound. If not bound, and if God in his sovereign 
 pleasure simply permit that sinner to take his own 
 way, with a free and a full salvation every moment 
 in his offer, should he ultimately perish, who but 
 that sinner himself can be to blame ?—most assuredly 
 God cannot. He might have withheld even the 
 offer of salvation from all our race, and yet stood 
 infinitely clear of all blame as to that universal ruin 
 which would in such a case have been the inevitable 
 consequence. Is he not clear of blame, when, mak¬ 
 ing the offer of salvation most freely and generously 
 to all, all He does in the case of any who perish 
 within its reach, is simply that he does not constrain 
 their acceptance of it—he leaves them to accept or 
 reject at pleasure ! This is all He does ; and is God 
 not free to do this—is He not at liberty simply to 
 leave the sinner at his liberty, without being charged, 
 either in whole or in part, with that sinner’s guilt 
 and ruin ? If so, then God is the only being in the 
 universe not free to do Avliat he will with his own. 
 And man, arrogant man, who fallen though he be, 
 and the miserable bond-slave of innumerable lusts, 
 asserts for himself a freedom worthy of a God alone, 
 in the very same breath denies a similar freedom to 
 the living God himself; and attempts to bring under 
 the worst of bondage, bondage to himself, forsooth, 
 
20 
 
 SERMON I. 
 
 the poor, creeping, filthy worm, worthy only to be 
 crushed under foot—under bondage to such a thing, 
 the very grace of God itself, which is the freest 
 thing in the wide universe of being, the freest thing 
 in the Godhead itself, whose very name, nature, 
 essence, every thing connected with it, proclaims 
 that it is and ever must be free , entirely free. Away 
 with such impious arrogance as this—an arrogance 
 that deifies man, and dethrones the God of heaven, 
 and, sensible of what belongs to us, worthless rebels, 
 and of what belongs to Him, the Great I Am, the 
 all-holy, most sovereign, most gracious Governor of 
 the universe, let us be willing to do at present, 
 what, willing or unwilling, an assembled universe 
 shall be constrained to do hereafter—lay all the 
 blame of ruin upon man alone, ascribe all the praise 
 of salvation to God alone. These two grand prac¬ 
 tical results, in which the whole of this world’s 
 transactions will at last take their issue, already 
 stand out indubitable in the light of conscience and 
 in the light of Scripture ; and neither the one nor 
 the other will be ever impeached or obscured, let 
 men reason as they will 
 
 Of providence, foreknowledge, will, and fate— 
 
 Fixed fate, free will, foreknowledge absolute, 
 
 And find no end in wand’ring mazes lost. 
 
 Had God appointed to wrath, not some merely, but 
 all our fallen race, as he might most justly have 
 done, still, the blame of ruin had fallen entire 
 and only upon man. His appointment of some, not 
 to wrath, but to obtain salvation by Jesus Christ, 
 secures all the glory of this grace, neither in whole 
 
SERMON I. 
 
 21 
 
 nor in part to man. but entirely and without reserve 
 to God alone. Notwithstanding of the one appoint¬ 
 ment, all the blame falls not on God but on man 
 alone ; because of the other appointment all the 
 praise ascends not to man but to God alone. And, 
 in fulfilment of the two combined, there shall stand 
 in the universe of God for ever, two monumental 
 pillars, inscribed by God’s own hand with those 
 two attributes, into which his whole character may 
 be resolved, justice and grace ; each reflecting light 
 upon the other through endless ages, and together 
 constraining all intelligent holy beings at once to 
 love and to venerate the Great I Am, as in those 
 saved by grace, and in those condemned of justice, 
 they read the full description of his character, “ God 
 is love u our God is a consuming fire.” 
 
 Wherefore, dearly beloved, ye who are truly 
 children of the light and of the day, meditate much 
 on this, the first of God’s manifold mercies to you, 
 the besfinnincr of his rich and sovereign s^ace. That 
 it may shine the brighter in your eyes, flew it on 
 the dark back-°round of wrath, that merited and 
 awful wrath which was due to every member of our 
 fallen race. He might have appointed you to wrath, 
 as he actually has appointed some not worse than 
 you, and might, without challenge, have appointed 
 all—He might have appointed you, but has not. 
 Oh the greatness of your escape ! and the ffeeness, 
 the riches, the sovereignty of that grace to which 
 you owe it all. Had you been left, as might have 
 been the case with any, how dreadful your condi¬ 
 tion would now have been, would have been for 
 
22 
 
 SERMON I. 
 
 ever. Think of that wrath, the wrath of Almighty 
 God, infinite and eternal, which once overhang your 
 horizon, dark as midnight, frowning as hell, and 
 which threatened every moment to make your 
 whole spiritual being a mighty and hopeless ruin. 
 That, you might have been enduring at this good 
 hour, you might have been enduring endless ages 
 after this, as long as God himself endures. But 
 all has passed away ; there is not a trace of it left 
 far as your eye can reach through the vast futurity 
 of your being—all is serene and safe, without a 
 cloud or spot, any more than rests on the prospects 
 of the happy spirits before the throne; all wrath 
 and ruin are past from you as from them. When 
 you think of it now, when you more clearly see it 
 hereafter, what now, and then, and ever should be 
 your feelings but those thus expressed in Holy 
 Writ, “ He brought me up also out of an horrible 
 pit, out of the miry clay, and set my feet upon a 
 rock, and established my goings ; and He. hath put 
 a new song in my mouth, even praise unto our 
 God; many shall see it and fear, and shall trust in 
 the Lord!” 
 
SERMON II. 
 
 23 
 
 SERMON II. 
 
 CHRISTIANS APPOINTED TO SALVATION BY JESUS CHRIST. 
 
 “ For God hath not appointed us to wrath, but to obtain sal¬ 
 vation by our Lord Jesus Christ, who died for us, that, whether 
 we wake or sleep, we should live together with Him.” — l Thess. 
 v. 9, 10. 
 
 God hath not appointed us to wrath .—He might 
 have done so to us. He might have done it to all 
 our race. For all in His sight are rebels, and there¬ 
 fore deserving of wrath—eternal wrath. And what 
 all deserved, it would have been mere justice to in¬ 
 flict on all. And what it would have been justice 
 to do , it would have been as much justice merely to 
 resolve to do—to appoint to do. Thus it would have 
 been nothing more than simple justice had God seen 
 good to appoint even all our race, as Fie did appoint 
 all the race of fallen angels, to the wrath which their 
 own spontaneous sins have merited. And all the 
 grace of the transaction lies in this, that when Fie 
 might have done so, when it would have been just 
 to do so, when lie has actually and justly done so 
 in the case of others not w r orse than we are, He has 
 not done so in. our case. As to all who are Chris¬ 
 tians—“ children of the light and of the day”—it 
 is quite sure “ Fie has not appointed them to wrath.” 
 
 This is a certain and a blessed fact in regard to 
 all genuine Christians; the beginning of all God’s 
 
24 
 
 SERMON II. 
 
 grace to them, and of all their blessedness. It is 
 certain. For though they cannot go back directly 
 into the distant eternity, and amid its unfathomable 
 depths search out their own place in this sovereign 
 appointment, they can easily know and ascertain 
 that they are Christians; this is one of the obvious, 
 open, and discoverable things of time. And as it is 
 the plain testimony, borne in language the most 
 unequivocal, of Him to whose eye the archives of 
 eternity are as open as the actings of time, that the 
 personal Christianity of every poor sinner has, in 
 every case whatever, its first beginning, its spring¬ 
 head in the sovereign, unconditional, all-gracious 
 appointment of God to save that sinner from the 
 wrath he has incurred; it follows of necessity, and 
 may be as certainly concluded as if the secret record 
 of God had been actually searched and seen, that if 
 any man be really a Christian, so surely God hath 
 not appointed that man to wrath. He never would 
 have been a Christian in time had it not been for 
 the fact which is thus brought out, patent as the sun 
 at noon, that God, in eternity, hath not appointed 
 him to wrath. And if, in the case of all Christians, 
 the fact is certain , surely it is not less blessed than 
 certain. For could w r e see what that wrath is to 
 which we might all have been justly left, but from 
 which God, in his own unprompted mercy, hath 
 saved all believers—could we, even for a single day 
 or hour, feel that -wrath which so many, not more 
 guilty, are now enduring for ever, and which we 
 might as well, and, but for God’s grace, -would as 
 certainly have been enduring as they; why, brethren, 
 
SERMON IT. 
 
 25 
 
 tlie mere fact that, by his appointment, we are for 
 ever freed from wrath—such wrath, such wrath for 
 ever —this, did it stand alone, would constitute, to 
 every one of whom it is true, one heaven of itself. 
 
 It is a heaven to be freed from hell. But it is 
 not the only one. To be not appointed unto wrath 
 is, after all. but a mere negative, though a blessed 
 one—a mere freedom from endurance. And no 
 mere negative can ever make man happy. He needs 
 something positive to do so. He must not only be 
 freed from merited misery, he must also be put in 
 possession of his needed, his full and satisfying good. 
 And this is accordingly provided; for in the case of 
 every individual of whom it is affirmed, and of whom 
 it is true, “ that God hath not appointed him to 
 wrath.” it is as much affirmed, and equally true, 
 ‘•that God hath appointed him to obtain salvation 
 by our Lord Jesus Christ.” 
 
 Notice, the appointment of God extends to both 
 these things. Each of them has its place in that 
 appointment, as much the one as the other. Our 
 obtaining salvation, no less than our being freed from 
 
 O / c_> 
 
 wrath, takes its rise from the one gracious appoint¬ 
 ment of Clod alone. “ God hath not appointed us 
 to wrath, but he hath appointed us to obtain salva¬ 
 tion by our Lord Jesus Christ.” God takes the 
 initiative in the case of every saved soul, and in his 
 whole case—not onlv in delivering him from 'wrath, 
 but in bringing him to the enjoyment of that full 
 salvation which is wrought out by, and laid up in 
 Jesus Christ, and there free to every one who will 
 freely take it. The whole gracious process begins 
 
26 
 
 SERMON II. 
 
 with God—with God alone—with God, unprompted 
 by any thing beyond himself—beyond his own na¬ 
 tive spontaneous grace ; begins not from a cause 
 without him, in man, in the creature, or in any other 
 external thing whatever, but springs from a well 
 within—a well of love in his own heart, deep even 
 as the very depths of his own unfathomable nature; 
 free withal, pure, generous, uncaused, unconditional, 
 entirely spontaneous, even as every thing must be in 
 the blessed Deity. The whole has its origin, not on 
 earth, in man, in time, but an origin as high as 
 heaven, as ancient as eternity, as pure, and holy, and 
 free as God himself; who before the foundations of 
 the world were laid, before any creature was, while 
 all were only foreseen, even while He dwelt alone 
 in his own infinite fulness, and ineffable blessedness, 
 who then and thus “having,”—to adopt the language 
 of perhaps the best form of words ever drawn up by 
 uninspired men—“ having out of his mere good 
 pleasure, from all eternity, elected some to everlast¬ 
 ing life, did enter into a covenant of grace, to deliver 
 them out of the estate of sin and misery, and to 
 bring them into an estate of salvation by a Re¬ 
 deemer.” 
 
 The whole Bible is full of this precious truth— 
 precious if it were for nothing more than because it 
 is God’s, for every truth of his must be precious, 
 whether man, who is blind, can see it or no ; and 
 especially precious because it lays, and keeps, the 
 sinner in the dust—the only place he should ever 
 occupy—-and sets God, the eternal, upon his own 
 sovereign throne, which he alone has any right to 
 
SERMON II. 
 
 27 
 
 occupy. Of this truth, indeed, the Bible is so full, 
 its statements are so plain, repeated, and incapable 
 of any interpretation but one, without doing vio¬ 
 lence to the Word of God, which would not be to¬ 
 lerated for a moment in the writings of man, and 
 which we never can regard in any other light than 
 as a species of sacrilege, when applied to that Word 
 which “ He has magnified above all his name that 
 the man who has taken up any opinion which can¬ 
 not consist with this truth, and who, to make way 
 for this, unscrupulously renounces it, cannot be re¬ 
 garded in the light of a humble disciple, whose 
 simple desire is to be taught at the feet of Jesus, 
 the whole counsel of God, but in the light of a 
 master or judge, who presumptuously takes his place 
 over and above that Word, at which every real 
 believer trembles, and whose endeavour is to con¬ 
 strain it, or rather God through it, to speak only what 
 he is pleased to determine and to dictate. And we 
 greatly fear that the individual who resolutely shuts 
 his eyes on the numerous passages which contain this 
 truth, or, still more, who boldly wrests and perverts 
 them, as if they were no part of God’s authoritative 
 record, merely because he does not see how they 
 can consist with some favourite opinion of his ow r n, 
 or some favourite inference he may have drawn from 
 the statements of Scripture—this individual, we 
 greatly fear, does not stand far from the verge of 
 infidelity, though he may not be conscious of it. If 
 a like temptation presented itself, we do not see what 
 doctrine in all the Word of God he might not just 
 as reasonably, and just as easily, dismiss ; for if v r e 
 
28 
 
 SERMON II. 
 
 were called to name that truth, the basis of which 
 is most broadly and firmly laid in the Sacred Scrip¬ 
 tures, and which can bring out the most numerous, 
 explicit, and unequivocal passages in its support, it 
 certainly would be the truth which is stated in our 
 text concerning the Tliessalonian believers, and 
 which is elsewhere stated concerning all other be¬ 
 lievers, that their salvation takes its spring in the 
 sovereign, uncaused, unconditional appointment of 
 God alone—that in the case of each and of all, without 
 exception, who shall be actually saved, the root and 
 origin of it is this, and this alone, “ God hath not 
 appointed them to wrath, but to obtain salvation by 
 Jesus Christ.” 
 
 To cite the various passages in winch this fun¬ 
 damental truth is expressed, would be quite an 
 endless task. The following are but a specimen. 
 And in them still more fully than in the text, it will 
 be seen that the salvation of sinners is uniformly 
 ascribed to the sovereign choice or appointment of 
 God ; that this appointment was made from before 
 the foundations of the world; that it is an uncondi¬ 
 tional appointment, proceeding not on the foresight 
 of faith or holiness, or any excellence in its objects, 
 but causing these ; and that it includes alike the 
 ultimate end, salvation itself, and all the means ne¬ 
 cessary to reach it, showing God’s grace to be the 
 only source, God’s glory to be the ultimate end of 
 all. (2 Thess. ii. 13.)—“ But we are bound to give 
 thanks alway to God for you, brethren beloved of 
 the Lord, because God hath from the beginning 
 chosen you to salvation through sanctification of 
 
SERMON II. 
 
 29 
 
 the Spirit and "belief of the truth ; whereunto He 
 called you by our Gospel, to the obtaining of the 
 glory of our Lord Jesus Christ.” (2 Tim. i. 9.)— 
 “ Who hath saved us, and called us with an holy 
 calling, not according to our works, but according 
 to His oxen purpose and grace , which was given us 
 in Christ Jesus before the world began ; but is now 
 made manifest by the appearing of our Saviour 
 Jesus Christ.” (1 Pet. i. 1, 2.)—“ Peter, an apostle 
 of Jesus Christ, to the strangers scattered through¬ 
 out Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, andBithynia, 
 elect according to the foreknowledge of God the 
 Father, through sanctification of the Spirit, unto 
 obedience and sprinkling of the blood of Jesus Christ, 
 grace unto you and peace be multiplied.” (Eph. i. 
 3.)— ££ Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord 
 Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with all spiritual 
 blessings in heavenly places in Christ Jesus”—the. 
 outstanding fruits in time; then comes the secret 
 cause or spring in eternity,—“ according as he hath 
 chosen us in Him before the foundations of the 
 world, that " 1 —not because of, but in order to, u that 
 we should be holy and without blame before Him 
 in love, having predestinated us to the adoption of 
 children by Jesus Christ to himself, according to 
 the good pleasure of his will, to the praise of the 
 glory of his grace, wherein He had made us accept¬ 
 ed in the Beloved.” (Romans viii. 28.)—“ And 
 we know that all things work together for good to 
 them that love God, to them who are the called 
 according to his purpose. For whom he did fore¬ 
 know, he also did predestinate to be conformed 
 
30 
 
 SERMON II. 
 
 to tlie image of his Son, that he might be the 
 first-born among many brethren. Moreover, whom 
 he did predestinate them he also called ; and whom 
 he called them he also-justified; and whom he justified 
 them he also glorified.” In addition to these, while 
 only referring to chap. xi. 5-10, of the same Epistle, 
 we would read a part of chap. ix. ver. 6-29,—“ Not 
 as though the Word of God hath taken none effect. 
 For they are not all Israel which are of Israel; 
 neither, because they are the seed of Abraham, are 
 they all children; but in Isaac shall thy seed be called. 
 That is, they which are the children of the flesh, these 
 are not the children of God, but the children of the 
 promise are counted for the seed.” Where, observe, 
 the apostle speaks of the real children of God in 
 distinction from the mere children of the flesh; 
 God’s true people who shall be ultimately saved, in 
 the midst of his mere outward professing people; 
 the Israel of Israel. And speaking of them in the 
 whole context, of Christians who are distinguished 
 from others not by outward privileges merely, but by 
 living faith, holiness, and ultimate salvation, he goes 
 on thus to account for the difference as to such sav¬ 
 ing matters between them and all besides. “ For 
 this is the word of promise, At this time will I come, 
 and Sarah shall have a son. And not only this, but 
 when Rebecca also had conceived by one, even by 
 our father Isaac, (for the children being not yet born, 
 neither having done any good or evil , that the purpose of 
 God according to election might stand , not of works 
 hut of him that calleth ,) it was said unto her, The 
 elder shall serve the younger. As it is written, 
 
SERMON II. 
 
 31 
 
 Jacob have I loved, but Esau have I hated. What 
 shall we say then ? Is there unrighteousness with 
 God ? ” Scriptural views on election seem to give 
 ground for such a question ; those are not Scriptural 
 views which do not this. “ God forbid. For He 
 saith to Moses, I will have mercy on whom I will 
 have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I 
 vull have compassion. So then it is not of him that 
 willeth, nor of him that runneth, but of God that 
 sheweth mercy.” All arises not in man’s will or 
 efforts, but in God’s mere sovereign mercy. “ For 
 the Scripture saith unto Pharaoh, Even for this 
 purpose have I raised thee up, that I might shew my 
 power in thee, and that my name might be declared 
 throughout all the earth. Therefore hath He mercy 
 on whom He will have mercv, and whom He will 
 He liardenetli. Thou wilt say then unto me, Why 
 doth he vet find fault? For w T ho hath resisted his 
 
 J 
 
 will ?” A question, again, which cannot have even 
 the semblance of relevancy, except where God’s 
 sovereign decree is maintained as the only origin, 
 and God’s special grace as the only cause of differ¬ 
 ence among sinners, wTiich, therefore, must be the 
 Scriptural system, as it gives rise in every natural 
 mind to this question,—“ Nay, but, 0 man ! who 
 art thou that repliest against God ? Shall the thing 
 formed say to him that formed it, Why hast thou 
 made me thus ? Hath not the potter power over the 
 clay; of the same lump to make one vessel unto 
 honour and another unto dishonour ? What, if God, 
 willing to shew his wrath and to make his power known , 
 endured with much long-sufferins: the vessels of 
 
 o o 
 
32 
 
 SERMON IT. 
 
 wrath fitted to destruction; and that he might make 
 known the riches of his glory on the vessels of mercy, 
 which he had prepared afore unto glory, even us, 
 whom He hath called, not of the Jews only, but also 
 of the Gentiles ?” 
 
 We may, indeed, make this general observa¬ 
 tion, that there is scarcely an Epistle in the 
 Word of God in which this doctrine is not merely 
 stated, and stated with a distinctness that none 
 can misunderstand or explain away; but in which 
 it is not made to take the first and most pro¬ 
 minent place —to stand out in the forefront of the 
 picture, as disclosing the very fountain and spring¬ 
 head of all the subsequent grace, and, therefore, 
 subsequent holiness too. And here we would call 
 upon you to notice a distinction which, had it 
 only been observed and kept steadily in view, 
 might have saved a world of controversy on this 
 subject, and kept men from entering on a wild 
 crusade against one of the plainest doctrines of 
 God’s AYord, one of the very pillars of the whole 
 system of truth, and grace, and godliness; be¬ 
 cause this distinction shows at once the precise 
 place, the only place, which God’s appointment, or 
 election of his people to salvation, is designed to 
 hold. It was never designed to be prefixed to the 
 Gospel, (as many, alas, have prefixed it;) and thus 
 to contract or obscure that aspect of grace, that 
 large, open, God-like countenance, with which that 
 Gospel, like its benignant author and object, looks 
 out upon all the families and individuals of Adam’s 
 fallen race without one solitary exception ; it was 
 
SERMON II. 
 
 o o 
 66 
 
 not designed to be prefixed to this open, uncondi¬ 
 tional, unrestricted, universal Gospel, but to come 
 in after it, to take its place underneath it, and sub¬ 
 ordinate to it, and only after that Gospel has been 
 received, as containing; and bringing; out to human 
 eyes the grand explanation of the fact, why, in any 
 place where the Gospel is preached, and where all 
 are alike opposed to it by nature, and, if left to 
 themselves, would assuredly reject it, as, in fact, 
 the great majority usually do—some, on the contrary, 
 do receive it in simplicity of faith, and live thereby. 
 The grand doctrine of God’s eternal sovereign ap¬ 
 pointment comes in after, and behind the Gospel, 
 in order to explain and account for this otherwise 
 inexplicable fact; it does not run before it as a 
 guard or fence to ward off or caution poor sinners 
 not to meddle with blessings to which they may 
 have no right. No. Man in his perversity may 
 have so placed it, and thereby cruelly accomplished 
 such a purpose; God has not, for He proclaims to 
 every sinner of our fallen race, that, in respect to 
 these blood-bought blessings, there is no distinction 
 —all are alike unworthy of them—all are alike 
 welcome to them—all have, and have at all times, 
 a right to take them, and to take them at once and 
 freelv, a right which God’s own invitation gives to 
 ail without distinction. And what more would any 
 one wish or can any one have, as a ground of action, 
 than an unrestricted right to take every blessing 
 whatsoever which is proclaimed in the Gospel, and 
 to take them at once and freely ? The distinction 
 referred to, and which shows the place which should 
 
 c 
 
34 
 
 SEKMON II. 
 
 be given to the sovereign appointment of God in 
 the system of Divine Truth, is one between the 
 Apostles’ sermons and the Apostles’ letters. You 
 find a record or specimen of the former in the Acts 
 of the Apostles, a record or specimen of the latter 
 in all the Epistles. The one are the sermons which 
 they preached to the world at large—to every pro¬ 
 miscuous audience they were called to address; 
 the other are the sermons which they preached to 
 Christians—to the Church—to those whom the 
 Spirit, by the open Gospel, had already separated 
 from the common ruin. Now, it is a striking fact, 
 which every one can verify for himself, and which 
 we may state thus generally, that the doctrine of 
 Election is never once named in the one; it is 
 scarcely ever once omitted in the other. We may, 
 indeed, extend the observation to all those peculiar 
 kindred doctrines which usually go under the name 
 of Calvinism—which, however, it has been justly 
 said, would be more properly called Jeliovahism— 
 and which must stand or fall together, one common 
 principle running through them all. Keeping, 
 however, to the one in hand, we repeat, you do not 
 find this doctrine so much as once even named in 
 the sermons which the Apostles preached to the 
 world at large; you never find it once omitted in 
 the sermons which they preached, or wrote, to the 
 Church of the living God. When going forth to 
 the world as the heralds of the cross, they knew 
 nothing of election—they knew of no distinction 
 among sinners—they knew of no special destination 
 as to the facts which formed the sum and substance 
 
SERMON II. 
 
 35 
 
 of the Gospel—the good news which they were 
 commissioned to proclaim to the world at large ; 
 they simply, openly, indiscriminately, announced 
 these grand all-expressive facts in which God has 
 revealed his character—has opened his heart to 
 sinners—as certain indubitable facts, as substantial, 
 historical, accredited verities. And then, upon the 
 ground of these, and these alone, they did not offer 
 merely, they proclaimed , as a public crier or herald 
 does —proclaimed free forgiveness and everlasting 
 life to each and all, without any distinction what¬ 
 ever, who should give credit to their tidings—whose 
 hearts should drink in the good news they brought. 
 Did the Spirit of God, through means of these news, 
 separate any from the common mass, hew them out 
 of the rock, and add them to the Church of the living 
 God ? Then the Apostles at once reveal the hither¬ 
 to secret spring of the grace which had thus reached 
 them. They tell them plainly, and reiterate in 
 every variety of form, the glorious fact that it is 
 God’s sovereign, secret, electing grace, which hath 
 made the difference between them and others—that 
 the whole plan of salvation, and likewise the per¬ 
 sonal penitence and faith by which they have em¬ 
 braced that salvation, and thereby made themselves 
 heirs to its manifold, infinite blessings, have, in 
 common, their rise in the sovereign, unconditional, 
 eternal appointment of God alone, who, in the 
 council of infinite wisdom, and before the founda¬ 
 tions of the world, devised and pre-arranged every 
 thing relating to it, down to the minutest iota. 
 And thus unveiling this great fact, the grace of the 
 
SERMON II. 
 
 36 
 
 | 
 
 Gospel, but half-known before, was made to stand 
 out to their eye in all its fulness. It appeared above 
 the horizon, hitherto dim at either extremity, full- 
 orbed and cloudless; and, instead of feeling, as 
 otherwise they must have done, that their personal 
 salvation was suspended on such a single slender 
 twig as an act of faith—an act of their own mind— 
 a mere independent self-originated act, which, hav¬ 
 ing been put forth once, might never be put forth 
 again—that salvation would now appear entirely se¬ 
 cure, as it is unspeakably gracious—made all fast, 
 by the hand of God himself, out of the mutable 
 region of earth and time altogether—taking fast 
 hold of the two extremities which lie on either side 
 of time—springing out of the one and issuing into 
 the other, and doing both in fulfilment of His high 
 decree, who is at once the Almighty and Unchang¬ 
 ing One. Under the overwhelming sense of which 
 great discovery—of grace so wondrous, security so 
 perfect—of a vast salvation so originating and so 
 issuing—originating and issuing at once in the 
 bosom of Deity—of Him who is light and love 
 combined—these believing sinners could not but 
 fall prostrate in the dust, as all of us should do, cry¬ 
 ing out, in gratitude, admiration, and humility un¬ 
 utterable—“ Oh! the depth of the riches both of 
 the wisdom and knowledge of God! Plow un¬ 
 searchable are His judgments, and His ways past 
 finding out! For who hath known the mind of the 
 Lord, or who hath been his counsellor? Or who 
 hath first given to Him, and it shall be recompensed 
 to him again. For of Him, and through Him, and 
 
SERMON II. 
 
 37 
 
 to Him, are all things ; to whom be glory for ever. 
 Amen.” 
 
 Now, we humbly think that men cannot do 
 better than just walk implicitly, fully, and fear¬ 
 lessly, in the paths of the first apostles. In dealing 
 with divine things, we cannot improve on the plans 
 and the practices of inspired men. Unlike to every 
 thing else, Christianity, and the way of propagating 
 it, were perfect at first, and are incapable of im¬ 
 provement from the fancied lights of modern dis¬ 
 covery. We, for our part, shall make no such at¬ 
 tempt. Not even for the fancied hope of saving 
 
 a world would we be induced to adopt a policy, 
 
 or a practice, unsanctioned by, and, still more, 
 contrary to the practice of Paul, and of Jesus Christ 
 himself—would we be induced either to state for 
 truths what they never stated, or to keep back, 
 from fear of any consequences, truths which they 
 never concealed, which, on the contrary, they 
 set forth in their proper place* and proportion, 
 
 in the open sphere of spiritual vision. When, 
 
 therefore, like the first apostles, we are called 
 to deal with sinners who have not yet known, 
 or not yet received the way of life, our course is 
 plain—our only course—-to proclaim the good news 
 of free salvation, through the blood of the Cross, to 
 such persons indiscriminately and fearlessly, un¬ 
 shackled by any thing in heaven or on earth—-just 
 as if we knew that every individual before 11 s were 
 in God’s purpose of grace—or rather, as if we knew 
 of no such purpose—as if, in point of fact, there 
 were no such purpose at all. Silent as the grave 
 
38 
 
 SERMON II. 
 
 about a tiling of which no man, in the first instance, 
 can know any thing, and by which, therefore, no 
 man can, or ought, to be influenced, we would preach 
 the Gospel in all its openness and freeness—the good 
 news of free forgiveness, through the blood of the 
 Cross, to one and all, without exception and ’with¬ 
 out condition, who will only take that forgiveness 
 in. This we would preach as if there were nothing 
 else in our commission to use but this, and as if 
 there were nothin2f in the wide universe which con- 
 
 o 
 
 cerned the poor sinner but this. There is in fact 
 nothing, as yet , with wdiicli you have to do but this, 
 poor souls ! who are still out of Christ—poor in¬ 
 deed if out of Him ! You are perishing ; but Christ 
 took compassion upon such, and generously died for 
 sinners, even for the chief. The Father is pleased 
 with this—infinitely pleased. His law is vindicated 
 —His government upheld. There is no hinderance 
 on His side—no bar in the way of going to Him, 
 and being saved. He invites you to do it—to do it 
 at once—to do it now—to do it as you are. He 
 invites, He implores you , each one of you , with all a 
 fathers bowels, to come to Him on the already 
 finished work of His own Son—to come and be 
 pardoned, to come and be sanctified, to come and 
 be saved—saved for ever—saved from self, and sin, 
 and the world, and hell—from all your evils, and 
 that for ever! Oh, come! Nothing in the uni¬ 
 verse hinders you but yourself! It is your duty, as 
 it is your interest, to do it. It is at your peril, 
 your infinite peril, to refuse. This is your all, 
 your only thing.. The open, free, sincere, generous 
 
SERMON II. 
 
 invitation of the Gospel is the only thing in the wide 
 universe with which you have to do. Act on this 
 and you are saved. It is the policy and temptation 
 of the devil to turn your thoughts at present to any 
 thing else than this ; and you yield to him at the 
 peril of your immortal soul! 
 
 But while we say this to every sinner out of 
 Christ, because Paul did so, because God him¬ 
 self in the Bible does so, shall we, on account 
 of this, deny the doctrine of God's sovereign ap¬ 
 pointment to salvation of all who receive the 
 tidings—shall we deny this doctrine, or in any 
 way conceal or hold it back—a doctrine which in 
 its place Paul proclaimed, and God himself pro¬ 
 claimed as plainly and undeniably as the Gospel it¬ 
 self. God forbid we should ! It would be pre¬ 
 sumptuous arrogance—awful guilt to do so. None 
 can do it but at the peril of his own soul, and to the 
 unspeakable injury of the souls of others. It would 
 be to affect more wisdom than ^inspired apostles ; 
 more grace to sinners than the Saviour himself, who 
 is embodied love, and whose devout exclamation 
 was, on hearing the results of the Gospel preached 
 by his apostles, u I thank thee, O Father, Lord of 
 heaven and earth, because thou hast hid these things 
 from the wise and prudent, and hast revealed them 
 unto babes. Even so, Father, for so it seemed good 
 in thy sight.” Therefore, in the case of all who 
 have received the Gospel, whether now or previous¬ 
 ly, we speak in as unhampered terms, as undisguis- 
 edly and openly, of the hitherto secret, but now by 
 your belief discovered and most precious fact of your 
 
40 
 
 SERMON II. 
 
 eternal, unconditional, sovereign appointment of 
 God to salvation by Jesus Christ, just as formerly 
 and before your conversion, without a fear and with- 
 out a shackle we preached the open, free, common, 
 universal, glorious Gospel of the grace of God. And 
 when you think of that Divine appointment, (as 
 sure as your faith, its fruit is sure,) of such ancient 
 date, of such absolute freeness, of such wondrous 
 grace, an appointment formed before even the world 
 was made, amid the unsearchable depths of the past 
 eternity—an appointment formed respecting you, 
 even you, poor worthless insignificant worms of the 
 dust—an appointment of you, whom justice might 
 and would have appointed to hell, “ to salvation by 
 Jesus Christ,” and to such salvation ! from every 
 evil to every blessing—from sin, from guilt, from 
 death, from earth, from hell—to heaven, to holiness, 
 to God himself. When you think of such an appoint¬ 
 ment in the case of every one of you now in Christ, 
 we ask if there be any fact in the wide universe 
 which sets forth in such wondrous light the unutter¬ 
 able, unimaginable, infinite grace of God, or which . 
 diffuses through the heart such a sense of the sure¬ 
 ness, the stability of your salvation ? And doing 
 this, what can be so holy, so sanctifying, because so 
 comforting, as this great truth—what so honouring 
 to God, to whom it claims all the merit-—what so 
 humbling to man, to whom it allows nothing but 
 only all the benefit ? Wherefore, dearly beloved, 
 
 “ chosen, and called, and precious,” who have been 
 in God’s heart from everlasting ages, and who will 
 be in the bosom of his love for ever, let your hearts 
 
SERMON IT. 
 
 41 
 
 dwell on all his grace, its councils in eternity, its 
 doings in time, its issues in the eternity yet to come, 
 till these hearts go up like incense to Him u of whom 
 are all things, and through whom are all things, and 
 to whom are all things, to whom he glory for ever 
 and ever.” And, at the same time, and as the natu¬ 
 ral result of this same blessed all-holy doctrine in 
 its earthly aspects, its aspects towards men, “ Put 
 on as the elect of God , holy and beloved, bowels of 
 mercies, kindness, humbleness of mind, meekness, 
 long-suffering ; forbearing one another, and forgiv¬ 
 ing one another, if any man have a quarrel against 
 any, even as Christ forgave you, so also do ye ; and 
 above all these things put on charity, which is the 
 bond of perfectness ; and let the peace of God rule 
 in your hearts, to which also ye are called in one 
 body, and be ye thankful.” 
 
 
42 
 
 SERMON III. 
 
 SERMON TIL 
 
 CHRISTIANS APPOINTED TO OBTAIN SALVATION BY 
 JESUS CHRIST. 
 
 “ For God hath not appointed us to wrath, but to obtain sal¬ 
 vation by our Lord Jesus Christ, who died for us, that, whether 
 we wake or sleep, we should live together with Him.”—1 Thess. 
 v. 9, 10. 
 
 We return to tliat branch of the subject which 
 was considered in last discourse. Not so much to 
 the doctrine therein stated; either to explain or 
 confirm it. This doctrine is stated so plainly and 
 so repeatedly in the Word of God, that we may 
 well despair of making it plainer than the Scrip¬ 
 tures have already done; nor is it to be expected 
 that any one, who will not receive it on the autho¬ 
 rity of God, will be reasoned into the reception of 
 it by any arguments of men. There are various 
 perversions of this doctrine, however, and practical 
 objections raised against it by the natural mind, 
 which sometimes prove a stumbling-block to the 
 children of God, and hinder, if not the belief in it, 
 yet that cordial delight in it, which is due to every 
 truth of God, especially a truth so expressive of his 
 sovereign grace as this. To some of these more pre¬ 
 valent among us, it may therefore not be without 
 use, now to advert. 
 
SERMON III. 
 
 43 
 
 I. TTe begin with a mere vague and general ob- 
 
 C o o 
 
 jection. Allowing it to be the doctrine of God’s 
 Word, it is sometimes said, as if it were something 
 against the truth itself,—Is it not often abused—nay, 
 extremely liable to be abused ? Even grant that it 
 
 J 
 
 is ; and what will follow ? Must we renounce what¬ 
 ever is abused, however true and good in itself ? 
 Our food, therefore, because it is often abused by 
 gluttony ? Our clothing, because some make it an 
 occasion of vanity ? Our reason, because some set 
 it up as a rival to Scripture, and to the supreme 
 authority of God in his Word ? Everything true 
 and good may be abused—everything earthly, every¬ 
 thing heavenlv—the best things in themselves being 
 the most liable to this. And if, in consequence of 
 this, we are to renounce, not the abuse, but the 
 thing abused ; why, then, Satan has gained his pur- 
 pose, and man is pillaged of every treasure which 
 God hath put into his inheritance. Nothing, for 
 example, has been so much perverted as the doctrine 
 of justification by faith alone—thp doctrine of gra¬ 
 tuitous justification, on the work of Christ as its 
 onlv ground, and by faith as its only instrument. 
 This grand doctrine of grace—the Alpha and Omega 
 of a sinner’s religion—•• the article,” as Luther 
 called it, “ of a standing or a falling Church,” was 
 so abused in the days of Paul. By ungodly men it 
 was made an occasion of licentiousness then, as it 
 has been by such persons ever since. “ Do we make 
 void the law bv faith ? Shall we continue in sin that 
 
 J 
 
 grace may abound ? ” And how did “ this wise 
 ’ master-builder ” act in such a case ? Did he forth- 
 
44 
 
 SERMON III. 
 
 with renounce the doctrine as some have done—or, 
 with others, virtually explain it away—or, as a third 
 class have advised, conceal and withdraw it into a 
 corner? Pie did none of these things. With his 
 characteristic ardour he contended against the 
 abuse ; with unshaken firmness he kept the thing. 
 That precious doctrine he held and proclaimed, only 
 with the greater eagerness because thus assailed, as 
 being the life-blood of the spiritual system. While 
 he denounced the abuse of it, and sought to drive it 
 away from the Christian Church; shewing that it 
 was a mere and vile abuse—one of the chief devices 
 of Satan, and of Satan’s grand dupe, the corrupt 
 and wicked heart of man. Even so did the first 
 Reformers. “ Unlike the enthusiasts, they did not 
 utterly reject an institution because it w T as corrupted. 
 They did not say for example :— 4 The Sacraments 
 are disfigured, let us do without them ! the ministry 
 is corrupt, let us reject it! ’ but they rejected the 
 abuse and restored the use. This prudence is the 
 mark of a work of God.” * Just so would we do 
 with the doctrine of God’s sovereign appointment 
 or election to salvation by our Lord Jesus Christ; a 
 doctrine which bears the same relation to gratuitous 
 justification, as the artist’s secret plan, which he 
 keeps for his own guidance, does to the public edi¬ 
 fice which he rears; and wluch has been calumni¬ 
 ated, perverted, and abused in a way precisely simi¬ 
 lar,—a striking testimony to its Scriptural truth 
 and practical excellence; and concerning which 
 
 * D’Aubigne. 
 
SERMON III. 
 
 45 
 
 some, now-a-days, have in consequence given it as 
 tlieir counsel, that it should be utterly rejected, or 
 explained away into an unmeaning nothing, or at 
 least entirely withdrawn from the view of men. 
 But following the example of Paul, and holy men 
 of God in similar circumstances, we should refuse 
 to listen to the advisers of such an unscriptural and 
 carnal policy. Our maxim should be, distinguish 
 and separate the thing itself from its mere wicked 
 abuse. Preserve the one; renounce the other— 
 but the other only. PI old as one of the jewels of 
 Heaven, the pure Scriptural truth. Reject as the 
 imposture of Hell, its mere perversion. What! shall 
 we cast away or conceal, or lay aside from use, the 
 truths of God—all bright, pure, unblemished, be¬ 
 nignant in themselves, even as He is—merely be¬ 
 cause that arch-deceiver, the despoiler of all our 
 treasures, who entered the first paradise and with 
 his lies robbed ns of our innocence, at his old plans 
 again, is trying first to vilify and thereby tempting 
 us to renounce all those precious* truths in succes¬ 
 sion, the doctrines of God’s unutterable grace, by 
 the faith and the influence of which, fallen man 
 may yet be robed in better than his primeval inno¬ 
 cence, and made meet for a paradise more blessed 
 than that which he lost. 
 
 II. But to be more specific, do not many, it is 
 asked, argue in this way, and act according to their 
 arguments: If we are appointed to salvation, the 
 thing is sure, and shall be accomplished in God’s 
 time and way, so that we need to give ourselves no 
 
46 
 
 SERMON III. 
 
 concern about the matter ; let us remain as we are, 
 and let God accomplish his own purpose in his own 
 time and way. 
 
 But, first , do you not observe that this is to pro¬ 
 ceed on a supposition, which, in their present cir¬ 
 cumstances, such individuals have no right to hold 
 as true. It is taking for granted, what cannot by 
 any possibility be ascertained to be either true or 
 false, so long as they remain in their present condi¬ 
 tion. The persons arguing this way are as yet care¬ 
 less, unawakened sinners. Being in this condition, 
 they suppose themselves to be in God’s appointment 
 to eternal salvation. They proceed, and they act 
 on this supposition, as if it were a certain and ascer¬ 
 tained truth. No doubt, they in words put in an 
 “ if”—if we are appointed. This helps to preserve 
 the uncertainty to the ear ; but it is a delusion they 
 practise on themselves—for they act as if there 
 were no uncertainty at all. Their acting, which is 
 the truest of language, most obviously proceeds on 
 another ground. It proceeds on the supposition of 
 their being in the appointment of God’s grace. They 
 make no effort—they take their ease in the world 
 and sin ; because, supposing they are in that sove¬ 
 reign purpose of God, He will effect it in His own 
 time and way without their at all concerning them¬ 
 selves about the matter. So that, in reality, they 
 do take it for granted, that they already know as a 
 fact, what may be no fact at all, and what, even if it 
 were, is not and cannot be known, so long as they 
 are in their present condition, to any being in the 
 universe but one. Just because there is some pur- 
 
SERMON III. 
 
 47 
 
 pose, they jump to the conclusion that is a certain 
 purpose—a purpose of a specific, ascertained nature, 
 and all on their own side. And while the whole 
 subject, in so far as it concerns them, is wrapt in an 
 uncertainty and darkness the most profound — so 
 profound, that nothing but a work of the Holy Ghost 
 on their hearts in time, or the decisions of the Last 
 Day at the opening of eternity, can ever dispel it, 
 they arrogantly proceed to act in the matter—a 
 matter in which their eternal fortunes are all at 
 stake—as if the whole thing lay open to their eye, 
 clear as day ; as if they had actually looked into the 
 book of life with their own eye, and ascertained that 
 their own name were registered there. Where all is 
 
 o 
 
 uncertainty as yet—all is darkest night—they act as 
 if all were sure and clear as day; and this in a mat¬ 
 ter which inyolyes such mighty interests as their 
 souls, eternity, heayen, hell, endless weal or endless 
 woe. Oh the infatuation ! the irrationality—the 
 monstrous folly! a folly so monstrous and so big, 
 that it can haye no lesser parent than the great De¬ 
 ceiver himself. 
 
 Then, secondly , there can be no pretext for any 
 such indolence and inaction, because the same ap¬ 
 pointment which has salvation in it as its grand and 
 terminating end, has also and equally in it every 
 thing necessary to reach this end ; all the means of 
 attaining it, the precise, definite, only way in which 
 it ever has been, ever can be, reached. It is not 
 an appointment to salvation simply, at any rate and 
 any how; in that case there might have been some 
 reasonableness in doing nothing; though, even then, 
 
48 
 
 SERMON III. 
 
 only on the supposition that it had been previously 
 and expressly revealed, that they were of the number 
 appointed to life. But, when the means are all in 
 the appointment as much as the end, when it is not 
 to salvation absolutely, but only in a certain way, 
 a way which summons all the powers of our being 
 into action, which lays its demand on every affec¬ 
 tion of the heart, and every action of the life ; every 
 thing like even the remotest countenance for such 
 a course, the very shadow of a shade to hide it, is 
 utterly taken away. It is to “ salvation,” but only 
 “by our Lord Jesus Christ,” that is, by a humble, 
 penitential, vital, fruit-bearing faith in His great 
 sacrifice; or, as elsewhere stated, it is “ to salvation 
 through sanctification of the Spirit and belief of the 
 truth ;” or, as another passage has it, “ through 
 sanctification of the Spirit unto obedience and 
 sprinkling of the blood of Jesus Christ.” And this 
 being the case, all pretext for remaining careless 
 and at ease, is cut off for ever. The way is set 
 before us, as much as the end. There is but one 
 way—one, and one only, way ; and that way is the 
 very reverse of all inactivity, and all carelessness, 
 and all unholiness; it implies that our whole nature 
 be roused—that the conscience awake to a sense of 
 guilt and danger—that the dream of carnal security 
 be broken up for ever—that the past life, the state 
 of the heart before God, the judgment-seat, the 
 abyss of ruin, be all disclosed as naked realities 
 before the opened eyes—that Christ be seen and 
 Christ be fled to with such energy as a person would 
 flee with to the city of refuge when the manslayer 
 
SERMON III. 
 
 49 
 
 was at his heels—and that, being once fled to, Christ 
 be dwelt in continually, and loved and served with 
 the devotedness of a being that owes to Him his 
 eternal all. This is the way to salvation—the only 
 way ; and this, as the means, the only means to 
 such an end, having its place in the appointment of 
 God no less than the end itself; to suppose that 
 such an appointment gives any warrant or any en¬ 
 couragement to a continuance in sin, or in spiritual 
 indolence, is just as if we should suppose that a 
 positive assurance from the God of nature of a plen¬ 
 tiful harvest to all who should plough and sow their 
 fields, would arrest the whole activities of husbandry, 
 and induce men everywhere to leave the earth an 
 untilled and lumpish waste. Such an assurance 
 would have the very opposite effect; the mere bare 
 hope of harvest has ; it sets all the energies into live¬ 
 liest action. And, in like manner, the appointment of 
 God to salvation, through these means, and these 
 alone, “by our Lord Jesus Christ,”—“through sancti¬ 
 fication and belief of the truth,” should have an effect 
 the very opposite of carelessness or continuance in 
 sin; and it would, have, were men as much in earnest 
 in spiritual as in earthly things, were these to them 
 as great a reality in the one as in the other. Instead 
 of laying its arrest on the efforts of man, or fostering 
 indolence, of all things else such an appointment to 
 salvation, in such a way, should and would be the 
 means of stimulating all their activities into utmost 
 energy. Paul, in his voyage to Rome, was express¬ 
 ly and positively assured, by a vision from heaven, 
 that he and all who were in the vessel would be 
 
 D 
 
50 
 
 SERMON III. 
 
 saved. Well, did this positive and known appoint¬ 
 ment—which, you see, is more than ever can be in 
 the case before us—enervate his efforts in the hour 
 of shipwreck, and make him abandon himself with¬ 
 out concern to the drift of circumstances, of wind 
 and waves ? The very reverse ; with the appoint¬ 
 ment of heaven expressly revealed, he yet said to 
 the centurion, “ Except these abide in the ship, ye 
 cannot be saved.” And even so will it be with 
 every man in real earnest to escape the ship-wreck 
 of his eternal fortunes. The fact of there being 
 salvation appointed to any but only in such a way, 
 will be the circumstance of all others that will rouse 
 his whole being to be found in such a way, the only 
 way, the way of faith and holiness ; and we are 
 quite sure that every man who makes the appoint¬ 
 ment of God to salvation in such a way as this, an 
 excuse for doing nothing, is a mere trifler in re¬ 
 ligious things, an impious trifler, and will be treated 
 so by God at last. Yes, my friends, all this is a 
 mere pretext, a hollow pretext and nothing else. It 
 is infallibly proved to be so by the fact that, in all 
 earthly things, where a similar appointment exists, 
 no such similar inferences are drawn from it. For 
 instance, “it is appointed unto all men once to die,” 
 —the when—the how—the where. Well, what is 
 the effect of this ? Do you say, if it is not to be till 
 next year, I shall live in spite of everything till 
 then; therefore away with all the means of life and 
 health ? or, if it is to be to-morrow, then nothing 
 can retard it; away, therefore, with meat and 
 medicine ? Ah no ; you act not thus. The thing 
 
SERMON III. 
 
 51 
 
 being unknown, you act just as if there were no such 
 thing ; and in so doing you act wisely—you act as 
 rational men. Why is it otherwise in regard to 
 spiritual and eternal things, where the case is pre¬ 
 cisely similar, in so far as the appointment of God 
 is concerned; or, if there he any difference, it is 
 only this, that eternity being immeasurably more 
 momentous than time, the means of life in the one 
 case should be used with ten-fold more energy than 
 in the other ? Ah, the only reason of a different 
 acting in the two cases is this, that time, with its 
 shadows, seems to you a reality; eternity, with all 
 its mighty and overmastering realities, is but a 
 dream, a shadow, an empty nothing; and you wish 
 for some pretext to treat it as such. In the case of 
 an unconverted sinner, of every such sinner alike, 
 the only things in the universe with which he has 
 to do are these—the Saviour open and free to all, 
 able and willing to save us all. The great atonement 
 sufficient for all, and free to the use of every one 
 without exception. The invitations of God upon 
 the ground of that atonement, issuing out of his 
 heart, and embracing every fallen being alike within 
 the limits of Adam’s race ; His free, full, open, un¬ 
 conditional invitations, the very utterance of love 
 and sincerity itself, extending and speaking directly 
 to all and every being on the earth. “ Look unto 
 me, and be ye saved, all the ends of the earth ; for I 
 am God, and there is none else.”—(Isaiah, xlv. 22.) 
 “ Come unto me, all ye that labour, and are heavy 
 laden, and I will give you rest.”—(Matth. xi. 28.) “If 
 any man thirst, let him come unto me, and drink.”.— 
 
52 
 
 SERMON III. 
 
 (John vii. 37.) “Whosoever will, let him take the 
 water of life freely.”—(Rev. xxii. 17.) These—these 
 are the planks which heaven has thrown over to you 
 in the hour of your awful shipwreck; question them 
 not—suspect them not—hesitate not—delay not— 
 the billows of eternity are ready to engulph you; 
 seize them—use them—you are safe! 
 
 m. But is not the thought of this appointment 
 often a hinderance and a stumblino--block in the . 
 
 o 
 
 way of sinners beginning to be in good earnest 
 about their souls? No doubt it is; everything else 
 in Christianity may be and sometimes is. But then 
 it is only the devil that makes them so, as he would 
 make anything else to hinder an immortal spirit 
 on which he is about to lose his hold for ever. It 
 is not so in itself; and it should not be so. It is the 
 cause of any being saved, it is not the cause of any 
 being lost. In such a state, indeed, and at such a 
 period of his progress, the sinner has nothing what¬ 
 ever to do with such an appointment; he has just 
 to act precisely as if there were no such thing. 
 Virtually, and in point of legitimate influence, there 
 is really to him no such thing; he does not know 
 it, it is a total blank—it is j ust as if it w r ere a mere 
 nonentity—it never can be otherwise till once he has 
 repented and believed the Gospel; then it rises out 
 of the hitherto impenetrable depths of eternity, like 
 a star in the heavens to shed dowm the love and 
 light of the upper worlds on the poor benighted 
 traveller in this ; showing his salvation all fast and 
 sure, stretching from one end of heaven even to the 
 other, like its great author “ from everlasting to 
 
SERMON III. 
 
 53 
 
 everlasting.” But till he first believe and obey 
 the Gospel, open and gracious to all, he has 
 nothing whatever to do with such an appointment; 
 it has no existence then for him; it is one of the 
 secret things of God, which it is at his peril, the 
 peril of all that is dear to him in time and eternity, 
 to meddle with, to pry into or even to think of. It 
 then belongs not to him, but to God alone; and to 
 intermeddle with it then, to intermeddle with it at 
 all, till a real faith in the heart has divulged it, and 
 made it his as well as God’s, is not only perilous, 
 it is sinful, it is presumptuous, it is a criminal in¬ 
 terference with the ineffable secrets, and the sole, 
 and high, and awful prerogatives of the Eternal 
 One, the great Jehovah; and he that, leaving his 
 humble sphere and orbit, seeks to soar to such a sun, 
 is sure to be consumed to ashes. Ye who, for the 
 first time, are anxious about your souls—thanks be 
 to God there are some such present!—leave off such 
 a course, equally offensive to God and ruinous to 
 you. Begin at the beginning ; master the alphabet 
 of the Gospel before you try its higher and abstruser 
 Darts. “ Strong meat belongeth unto them who are 
 
 i C G 
 
 of full age, even those who have their senses exer¬ 
 cised to discern both good and evil.” You have 
 need of milk and not of meat, it is milk that alone 
 is meat for you—“ milk for babes;” and there is 
 abundance of it in the blessed Gospel; and oh, it is 
 sweet! and oh, it is free ! Here it is pure and un¬ 
 adulterated as ever flowed from mother’s bosom to 
 her new-born babe. “ The son of man came to 
 seek and to save that which was lost.”—“ Christ 
 
54 
 
 SERMON III. 
 
 Jesus came into the world to save sinners, of whom 
 I am chief.”—“ God so loved the world that He 
 gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth 
 in Him should not perish, but have eternal life.”— 
 “ For God sent not his Son into the world to con¬ 
 demn the world, but that the world through him 
 might be saved.”— u We have seen and do testify, 
 that the Father sent the Son to be the Saviour of 
 the world.”—“ In this was manifested the love of 
 God, because that God sent his only begotten into 
 the world, that we might live through him.”— u He 
 died, the just instead of the unjust, that he might 
 bring us unto God.”—“ Once in the end of the world 
 hath He appeared to put awrny sin by the sacrifice of 
 himself.”—“ He hath finished transgression, made an 
 end of sin, made reconciliation for iniquity, brought 
 in an everlasting righteousness.”—“ Christ is the 
 end of the law—hath fulfilled the law to be a justify¬ 
 ing righteousness to every one that believeth.”—“ Be 
 it known unto you, therefore, men and brethren, 
 that through this man is preached unto you the 
 forgiveness of sins ; and by Him all that believe 
 are justified from all things, from which he could 
 not be justified by the law of Moses.”—“ He that 
 spared not his own Son, but delivered him up for 
 us all, how shall he not with Him also freely give us 
 all things.”— u Whosoever shall confess with his 
 mouth the Lord Jesus, and shall believe in his heart 
 that God raised him up from the dead, shall be saved.” 
 —“ He that believeth shall be saved.” Oh, this is 
 milk indeed ! what more free, what more gracious, 
 what more heaven-like ? All this is true. All this 
 
SERMON III. 
 
 55 
 
 is addressed to you. Every word of it, as much as 
 if it had been spoken by an audible voice, or sent 
 expressly down from heaven in a letter written and 
 addressed individually to each of you. What have 
 you to do, poor souls, but to believe heaven’s blessed 
 news, and live for ever? Drink in the tidings as 
 the water of life, as cold water to a thirsty soul. It 
 is that water of which He said, who was its fountain, 
 “ If any man drinketh, he shall thirst no more.” Open 
 your mouth, and God will fill it! “ Hear and your 
 
 soul shall live!” “ Look and be saved!” What 
 more free than this ? what else needed than this ? 
 with life so open, so near, so free, what should hin¬ 
 der you ? The words of life, yea the record of 
 eternal life is in your ears. “ And this is the record 
 that God hath given to us eternal life, and this life 
 is in his Son.” Glad tidings indeed! glad tidings 
 of great joy ! enough to fill this fallen universe with 
 the gladness of heaven itself, and which will assured¬ 
 ly fill with at least the beginnings of that heavenly 
 gladness, every poor sinner now present, who will 
 but unsuspiciously open his anxious and broken 
 heart to take it in as assuredly true. 
 
 IV. But, in the last place, it is said, what good 
 can result from preaching a point so profound as this, 
 and which, after all, it is acknowledged is often 
 abused ? Would it not be better to dwell only, and 
 always, on the love of God, manifested without a 
 veil or cloud in the open glorious Gospel ? 
 
 Now, we cannot but think that, for creatures like 
 us, this is not a legitimate question; at least, it is 
 
56 
 
 SERMON III. 
 
 not the first question. For mere servants, who have 
 been commissioned to deliver the message of another, 
 and at whose peril it is if they either hold any thing 
 back, or add anything to it; the first, the main, if 
 not the only question is, What is our message—what 
 is in it—all that is in it ? That, that entire, and 
 that alone, we must deliver, whether we can see any 
 good end to he served by it or no. We must deliver 
 it in all its fullness, and in all its parts. No doubt 
 each part must be set, as far as possible, in its proper 
 place, and in due proportion. But nothing must be 
 omitted, nothing perverted, nothing concealed. The 
 proper question for ministers of the Lord Jesus 
 Christ is not what is good, but what is true. All 
 that is true is really good, whether we can see it or 
 not. But the first inquiry ever ought to be—there 
 is the Greatest danger of fatal error if it is not—the 
 simple question of Pilate, What is truth ? and this 
 is infallibly answered by another, What is revealed 
 in the Word of God ? 
 
 The question seems to be arrogant as well as ille¬ 
 gitimate. Has it not been decided already, and de¬ 
 cided in such a way as should have prevented all 
 meek and humble men from ever putting it again ? 
 If asked why we preach the doctrine of election, we 
 answer by asking, Why did Paul preach it ?—preach 
 it to these Thessalonians—preach it to the Romans, 
 to the Ephesians, to every Christian Church whom 
 he ever addressed ? Why did Peter preach it to the 
 scattered strangers ? Why did the greater than all 
 the Apostles preach it—the great Prophet of the 
 Church—the true, the only perfect preacher—Christ 
 
SERMON III. 
 
 57 
 
 himself, who is at once wisdom and love embodied, 
 and whose practice should be decisive to all his fol¬ 
 lowers, and shut their mouths on all farther in¬ 
 quiries ? I thank thee, O Father, Lord of heaven 
 and earth, because thou hast hid these things from 
 the wise and prudent, and hast revealed them unto 
 babes ; even so Father, for so it seemed good in thy 
 sight.” Did beings like these ever preach what was 
 not useful—what was not good? Can we be wiser 
 in our way of conducting the ministry than men 
 who, though not trained in colleges, yet fulfilled it 
 under the direct and infallible guidance of the Holy 
 Ghost ? Can we be more bent on well-doing—on 
 doing what is for the highest good—than He who is 
 
 *s o o 
 
 goodness itself—love embodied; and who renounced 
 all Heaven, and encountered earth and hell, and cast 
 awav his crown and life, all for his creature’s good ! 
 Oh the arrogance! 
 
 This cpiestion, indeed, is as short-sighted as it is 
 illegitimate and arrogant. It touches on a point 
 
 C C 1 
 
 where man is a mere mole, and nothing else. How 
 
 o 
 
 shall blinded man presume to sav what is for good 
 and what is not? He is looking but to one point— 
 his little self; or his equally little neighbours; or 
 his and their little corner ; or this not much larger 
 world. The eve of Him by whom we are ruled, 
 
 J V 
 
 and whom, it is at once the highest act of goodness 
 in itself, and the high road to all other goodness, 
 simply and implicitly to obey—that eye takes in all 
 beings, all worlds, all time, all eternity, and by that 
 truth, or thing which man. upon his little mole-hill, 
 may be able to see no use of—no good in, may be 
 
58 
 
 SERMON III. 
 
 accomplishing results so glorious as to be filling other 
 worlds with rapture. Even in his own narrow 
 sphere, man is perpetually erring when he takes 
 upon him to decide what is for good and what is not. 
 He makes himself the test of others, and wdiat he 
 does not feel to he good for himself (good, however, 
 it may be, even to himself, though he does not feel 
 it to be so, all the better, as a medicine is, because 
 felt to be bitter not good) he fancies to be good for 
 nobody. For example, after the first sermon -was 
 delivered, a friend, in the kindliest spirit, said, he 
 feared such a strain of preaching was good neither 
 for believers nor sinners. Before the week was 
 ended, however, God sent another message. He 
 sent a person who, pressed with the weight of eter¬ 
 nal things, came to open her spiritual state, saying, 
 that under that sermon she had seen more of her 
 lost condition, and more of the way of life, than ever 
 had been disclosed before. During the second, a 
 stranger from a distance was with us, to whom, 
 when a wish was afterwards expressed that the sub¬ 
 ject handled had been of a kind more generally use¬ 
 ful ; striking enough, that person made this answer 
 —an answer fitted to rebuke us for judging of the 
 usefulness of any part of God’s truth,—“ In all the 
 Word of God there is no subject so suitable to me ; 
 had I written beforehand, and presumed to prescribe, 
 it "would have been the one that was taken, so ex¬ 
 actly was it what I both wished and needed—so 
 humbling, so comforting also.” Thus we are prone 
 to mistake what is really for good, either to our own 
 souls or others, in the little inch of world around us. 
 
SERMON III. 
 
 59 
 
 And when to this we also remember, that by every¬ 
 thing happening in the Church God has a large 
 school to teach and to edify, of whom we can know 
 nothing at all—a school, so to speak, up in His own 
 house, or rather, a school spread over all worlds— 
 “ that it is even to the principalities and powers in 
 heavenly places that he is now teaching by the 
 Church the manifold wisdom of God.’’ Whv, in 
 such circumstances, to pick out divine truths, truths 
 confessedly divine, and to say of this, and of that, 
 it should be laid aside because I can see no good it 
 can accomplish, is neither more nor less than to act 
 the part of the fly in the fable, which, alighting one 
 day on a stone of some magnificent temple, and fix¬ 
 ing its eye on the unshapely roughness immediately 
 around it, is said to have exclaimed, What a mis- 
 shappen building is this ! 
 
 In fact, this objection, and the whole system out 
 of which it springs, show r s something sadly unhealthy 
 —sadly diseased in the spiritual state. It all pro¬ 
 ceeds on the false position that man, and his interests, 
 either in this world or the next, are the first and 
 capital thing in religion. Virtually, it makes man the 
 centre round which everything should revolve, and 
 to which everything should tend. God it makes a 
 mere subservient to man—a minister to his welfare— 
 and therefore, in comparison, a cipher, a nothing. 
 Man is in the centre, and everything is measured 
 by its relation to him—how it effects him, how it 
 ministers to his profit, whether in time or in eternity. 
 God—the great God—is removed far away to a mere 
 point in the cii'cumference. And He, and all His 
 
60 
 
 SERMON HI. 
 
 mighty attributes, and works, and plans, are made 
 to revolve about the puny creature which, in its 
 God-defying arrogance, has been set in the centre 
 of being. Thus, in religion—in the grand spiritual 
 system of the universe, the Copernican system of 
 God and of the Bible, has been supplanted by the old 
 Ptolemaic system—that of earth and error. Instead 
 of the sun being in the centre, round which all depen¬ 
 dent worlds revolve and pay their homage, earth 
 is in the centre, this little dark ball of clay; and 
 the mighty orb of day, the fountain of heat, and 
 light, and life to all, with all his attendant worlds, 
 and all the stars, even throughout the illimitable 
 spaces of the universe, move round about the little 
 inch of earth, were made for, and exist, and move 
 all for it. Oh, the vastness of such folly ! Yet we 
 are convinced this is, after all, the radical principle 
 of that system of doctrine which is spreading on 
 every side, and which, in point of fact, takes down 
 God from His throne, and sets man in it. Disguise 
 it as men will, at bottom, and stripped of every 
 covering, it is, after all, nothing better than the 
 mere selfishness of nature and of the world, which, 
 creeping into the Church, and putting on the garb 
 of sacred doctrines, and sacred things, is there grow¬ 
 ing up to a more enormous size than it can do any¬ 
 where else. For mere carnal selfishness has but the 
 thin empty shadows of earth to feed on—this that 
 has come into the Church has taken to itself all the 
 great things of God, and feeds on that Gospel of 
 His grace, the main design of which is just to banish 
 it from under the whole heavens. This, at bottom, 
 
SERMON III. 
 
 61 
 
 must be the principle, wherever men would suppress, 
 or hold back, or modify one single iota of God’s truth, 
 for the purpose, as they think, of making the way of 
 salvation plainer and easier to men, or for saving 
 more men. It is the self-same selfishness which, in 
 the material world, is driving everything on with 
 fearful speed, and making earth itself giddy with the 
 din and whirl; it is that selfishness, making liavock 
 of the truth of God itself, and laying waste every¬ 
 thing sacred that stands in its way. One of the 
 worst signs of the last and perilous times when 
 “ men shall be lovers of their ownselves !” How 
 different from the spirit of the men in former times, 
 the men who knew the Gospel well—though now 
 despised by novices—who knew it so well as to be 
 able to give up the world, and their own lives too, 
 for its sake. How different, for instance, from the 
 sentiment expressed so strikingly by John Living¬ 
 stone in his Letter to the parishioners at Ancrurn, 
 “ Christ’s small things are all very great things. 
 The smallest point of Christ’s prerogative royal is 
 not only worth the sufferings, but worth more than 
 the eternal salvation of all the elect.” Wherever 
 Christ is truly seen as the Alpha and the Omega, the 
 all in all, this sentiment will be felt in the inmost 
 heart. His honour, and everything essential to His 
 honour, and all truth is, for He is the truth, will 
 seem a greater thing than even the salvation of a 
 world. Even the salvation of a world is but a mere 
 means to that high end. It derives its main im¬ 
 portance from being a means to this. And, there¬ 
 fore, not an iota of that honour is to be cast away 
 
62 
 
 SERMON III. 
 
 even to gain that salvation. This would be entirely 
 subverting the order of things. It would make the 
 grand end to bow to the mere means, not the means 
 to the end. In fact, there is something radically 
 wrong whenever the good of man is made the only 
 question, or even the first question. Where this is 
 the case, everything is wrong. For man’s good can 
 never be legitimately pursued, nor actually attained, 
 wherever it is made the first and great end. It can 
 only be so when made secondary and subordinate to 
 another, a nobler, an infinitely higher—the glory of 
 God, the “ Great I Am,” the Being of beings, com¬ 
 pared with whom man, and his little world, and all 
 its and his interests and destinies, fade away into 
 shadows, and disappear. When everything is direct¬ 
 ed to this, the one only ultimate end in the wide 
 universe ; when this stands out above and high over 
 all, as high as heaven is above the earth, the first, 
 the last, the all in all; then all is right. Every¬ 
 thing is in its place ; everything is blessed. This 
 is real religion, and this is blessedness ; the perfec¬ 
 tion of both ; the very harmony of the universe. 
 Then everything is in its proper place, the place 
 that God has assigned it; and, among the rest, the 
 good of man, w r hich in God’s plan stands not first , 
 as if it were the little god of all this world; but 
 which, whenever the true and the only God has His 
 peerless place, the first and the last, the end as the 
 beginning of all, then, and only then, is infallibly, 
 fully, most blessedly secured. Pursued as the first 
 man’s good, even his eternal good, is nothing better 
 than one of those innumerable idols 'which impiously 
 
SERMON III. 
 
 63 
 
 rival God; and, like all the rest of them, it must 
 in that case be utterly destroyed. Pursued as but 
 the second , as subordinate to God, as infinitely infe¬ 
 rior, so that when seemingly opposed (it is always 
 but seeming merely) the human is to give place 
 to the Divine, as not only inferior, but as deriving 
 its real and prime importance from being conducive 
 to the glory of God ; so pursued, man’s good is a 
 blessed end, and never pursued in vain. It is only 
 second in blessedness to that elder and nobler end 
 to which it is its honour to be indissolubly linked. 
 For though to blinded man there is at times a seem¬ 
 ing, there never is nor can be any real rivalry be¬ 
 tween the two. God has linked his own glory and 
 man’s highest good indissolubly, everlastingly to¬ 
 gether ; and has given the very highest possible 
 security to the lesser, the human interest, by mak¬ 
 ing it one of the first and noblest means of advanc¬ 
 ing the larger, the Divine. And hence results that 
 first and infallible maxim in human conduct, the 
 creature’s pole-star through all the darkness of 
 earth and time. On everything, great and small, 
 have your eye, supremely and first on the glory of 
 God ; then you will scarcely need to fix it on your 
 own good, or on the good of any creature; these 
 will follow, as things of course. 
 
 But in reality, and even to our short-sighted 
 eyes, the greatest good results from the preach¬ 
 ing of such a doctrine in its place and proportion. 
 It tends unspeakably to the comfort of Christians; 
 shewing, as it does, the inviolable security of their 
 salvation; making that salvation even more valu- 
 
64 
 
 SERMON III. 
 
 able in their eyes, as being the result of a grace 
 which was planning their endless welfare before all 
 time, before the foundations of the world itself. 
 Thus feeding their comfort, magnifying their salva¬ 
 tion, it must strengthen the great principle of grati¬ 
 tude, and deepen their sense of obligation, which 
 are not only valuable, because most blessed feelings 
 in themselves, but are in fact the spring of all true 
 holiness, the root of all acceptable obedience. While 
 of all the separate graces which constitute true holi¬ 
 ness, it is fitted the most to foster that which in 
 every creature, in the fallen creature especially, is 
 the loveliest, the best of all—profound humility; that 
 blessed grace in us which is the unvarying fruit of 
 free, sovereign, overwhelming grace in God, and in 
 the exercise of which every sinner, saved by infinite 
 eternal grace, is made to feel that the only place 
 which fits now and for ever, is “to lie infinitely 
 low before the Lord.” 
 
 There is even a greater good than what results 
 to the Christian. This great truth is essential to 
 the full glory of God. It sets Him in the throne, 
 and casts every idol down, lays the whole world 
 prostrate at his feet. No doubt this is the reason 
 why it holds so constant and prominent a place in 
 the ministry of Christ, the grand Teacher of the 
 Church. The Gospel of John is from beginning to 
 end full of this precious truth; for in that Gospel 
 Christ, as the Son of God, is especially engaged 
 “ in declaring his Father’s name to his own.” 
 Hence in it the Father is ever set in the foreground 
 as the grand moving cause and end of all. The 
 
SERMON III. 
 
 65 
 
 Son came only to do the Father’s will, His supreme, 
 sovereign, all-gracious will, not his own ; and the 
 favourite expression by which he ever speaks of His 
 people is this, “ Those w T hom the Father hath given 
 me ; given me before the foundations of the wmrld.” 
 
 It is, indeed, by this doctrine alone, that one entire 
 attribute of the Godhead is or can be revealed, the 
 most Godlike of all his attributes, that which most 
 bespeaks him God and King—his absolute sove¬ 
 reignty. But for the “ election of grace,” the elec¬ 
 tion of Adam’s seed instead of the race of angels, 
 and out of Adam’s seed again the election of those 
 who are given to Christ, while the rest are left to 
 themselves ; but for this w r e had wanted the display 
 of one grand attribute “ of the blessed and only 
 Potentate, the King of kings, and Lord of lords.” 
 In that case He had not displayed before his crea¬ 
 tures the most kingly of all his attributes, the most 
 majestic of all the high prerogatives which belong 
 to him — u that of doing what He wills with his own,” 
 “ of doing all his pleasure in the armies of heaven, 
 and among the inhabitants of this earth.” The 
 great Jehovah had been but half revealed. He had 
 not stood out in the midst of his intelligent universe, 
 that awful, venerable, all-majestic Being, before 
 whom all creatures are as nothing; who sits on a 
 throne high above them all, moving in a sphere 
 entirely his own, under claims to none, uninfluenced 
 by motives, views, and ends like theirs, looking 
 down, indeed, in paternal grace, yet withal in ador¬ 
 able majesty on the little world with its little in¬ 
 terests in which “ they live, and move, and have 
 their being,” out of which, as the mere materials— 
 
 E 
 
66 
 
 SERMON III. 
 
 “ clay in the hand of the potter”—He is working 
 in the eyes of all intelligent beings the full mani¬ 
 festation of himself, “ the Great I Am !” Without 
 His sovereignty—with that any way obscured—with 
 that not beaming out in full, calm, lucid splendour 
 in the front of all—Deity had been maimed; the 
 full disc of that glorious orb had not been disclosed 
 in the sight of a prostrate universe. The obscura¬ 
 tion of even one part, the concealing or eclipsing 
 of a single attribute of such a Being, the Sun of the 
 universe, the Father of lights to all his creatures; 
 who can tell what a dismal loss this would have 
 been, not in time merely, but throughout eternity; 
 not only to redeemed spirits on earth and in heaven, 
 but to spirits unfallen, angels, principalities, and 
 powers, whose hearts in that case would not have 
 bowed down so infinitely low, nor their harps have 
 raised so loud, so lofty, so rapturous a Hosannah 
 before the eternal Father of all. To this great 
 Being, then, the only Sovereign, whose will is the 
 great source, whose glory is the great end of all 
 things, let us learn, in the full manifestation he has 
 given of himself, to bring the undivided homage 
 of our hearts and lives; saying, with Babylon’s 
 humbled monarch of old, “ And I blessed the Most 
 High, and I praised and honoured Him that liveth 
 for ever, whose dominion is an everlasting dominion, 
 and his kingdom is from generation to generation ; 
 and all the inhabitants of the earth are reputed no¬ 
 thing ; and He doeth according to his will in the 
 army of heaven, and among the inhabitants of the 
 earth, and none can stay his hand, nor say unto 
 him, What doest thou ?” 
 
SERMON IV. 
 
 67 
 
 SERMON IV. 
 
 THE END FOR WHICH CHRIST DIED. 
 
 u For God hath not appointed us to wrath, but to obtain sal¬ 
 vation by our Lord Jesus Christ, who died for us, that, whether 
 we wake or sleep, we should live together with him.” — 1 Thess. 
 v. 9 , 10 . 
 
 The latter part of this passage, to which we have 
 now come, stands in unbroken connexion with the 
 former. It stands under the same grand appoint¬ 
 ment of God which ushers in all the branches of the 
 subject; out of which appointment, indeed, they 
 all issue as their common womb, under which each 
 of them has its separate dependent place, and of 
 which each of them is the successive progressive 
 development. It is the fountain in eternity; these 
 are the streams, the issues and out-goings in time. 
 The branch now before us is, therefore, not to be 
 viewed apart and by itself, but in its connexion with 
 the previous clauses, all together making one un¬ 
 broken subject. It takes its rise in the same spring, 
 speaks of the same persons, and carries out to its 
 ultimate blessed issue that one scheme of rich, 
 sovereign, everlasting grace, the first traces of which 
 lie deep in the past eternity, out of which time 
 emerged, and the last issues of which stretch far 
 away into the coming eternity, now so near, in 
 
68 
 
 SERMON IV. 
 
 ■which time, and time’s concerns, will be swallowed 
 up and lost. “ God hath not appointed us to wrath, 
 but He hath appointed us to obtain salvation by- 
 Jesus Christ,”—“ Jesus Christ ,” who, in connexion 
 with and in accomplishment of the same compre¬ 
 hensive plan, “ died for us, that, whether we wake 
 or sleep, we should live together with him.” 
 
 In order to ascertain precisely the meaning of 
 this part of the text, it may be helpful to fix our 
 thoughts, first of all and most, upon the latter 
 branch of it. It speaks, you see, of three things ; 
 of Christ’s death ; of the persons for whom He died; 
 and of the great end, in respect to them, for which 
 this death was endured. This last point is, in its 
 present connexion, the first in point of importance, 
 inasmuch as it will conclusively determine the other 
 two. And, therefore, we wish to have it clearly 
 settled, in what sense we are to take the words 
 ■which express this end, “ that we should live to¬ 
 gether with Him.” Now, there is a life in point of 
 law , which all w r ho believe in Christ enjoy in virtue 
 of his death; in virtue of this death God passes 
 from that sentence of condemnation -which His law 
 had already pronounced, and which otherwise His 
 justice would have ultimately executed upon every 
 one of them. They are legally free from condem¬ 
 nation ; they are legally adjudged to life. This is 
 referred to in the passage, (John vi. 51,) “ the bread 
 ■which I -will give is my flesh, which I will give for 
 the life of the world.” There is a life in point of 
 fact , in point of feeling and action ; a moral and 
 spiritual life, a holy and happy condition of soul, 
 
SERMON IV. 
 
 69 
 
 a living above the world, and self, and sin ; a living 
 in the very spirit with Christ himself, from the 
 same motives and to the same ends with Him; a 
 living to God, and as God has required. This life 
 springs out of the former; is the native, necessary, 
 moral effect of that legal life, wherever the Spirit of 
 God opens the sinner’s heart to perceive its blessed 
 reality and freeness, and to receive and enjoy it as 
 its own. This secondary all-precious life, is de¬ 
 scribed in a well-known passage, which at once 
 traces its origin and states its nature, (2 Cor. v. 14, 
 15,) “ the love of Christ constraineth us, because 
 we thus judge that if one died for all, then were all 
 dead,”—rather, “ all died,” that is, died in Him, 
 died legally; “And he died for all, that they which 
 live (legally) should not henceforth live unto them¬ 
 selves, but unto him which died for them and rose 
 again.” These two lives are both enjoyed in this 
 present world by all who believe in Jesus. Wher¬ 
 ever one is, the other is ; and if either be wanting, 
 both must be wanting. They are the inseparable 
 twin product of the great Immanuel’s death. 
 
 But, we think, it is another life than either of 
 these which is spoken of in our text; it is different 
 from both; different, if not in substance and nature, 
 at least in degree and circumstances—in the scene 
 of its enjoyment—in the measure of its fulness—in 
 all the accidents and circumstances which attend it. 
 It may be said to be the maturity of the other two, 
 the consummation and endless continuance of them 
 both, the commingling of their respective waters 
 into one full tide of being, which, pure as the foun- 
 
70 
 
 SERMON IV. 
 
 tain whence it springs—the Cross of Christ—and 
 untroubled by any of the storms of time, shall flow 
 onward and onward for ever through that second 
 and better paradise in which every genuine believer 
 shall be at last set down, and where he shall abide 
 while eternity runs on. In other words, the life in 
 question is that life which Christ will come the 
 second time to communicate to each and all of His 
 people, in all its fulness; which He will give in this 
 perfect state, not to any of them apart and by them¬ 
 selves, but to all of them assembled together in one 
 vast brotherhood, united visibly and for ever to 
 himself, and visibly and for ever to one another, in 
 the world of life, out of which every element of 
 disease and dissolution are for ever banished, and 
 into which neither sin nor death can enter more. 
 Happy world! and happy union! union between 
 the Great Fountain of life, and all its blessed de¬ 
 pendent streams—between the Elder Brother and 
 all the younger brethren of His Father’s house ; 
 their union in that universe of life, wherein both 
 He and they, having clean escaped from “ that 
 earthly load of death called life, which us from life 
 doth sever,” shall enter upon their unbroken career 
 of brilliant and blessed being, on that all-holy, all- 
 happy, all-perfect existence, which sin shall never 
 stain, nor sorrow sully with its tear, and to which 
 there shall neither be night, nor death, nor change, 
 nor end. 
 
 That the life in question is a life out of this world 
 altogether—a life, it may be, far beyond the period 
 of death—a life, the time of whose enjoyment lies 
 
SERMON IV. 
 
 71 
 
 beyond the coming of Christ himself, dates from 
 that second and glorious coming, and runs thence¬ 
 forward throughout eternity: this appears from the 
 expression used in connexion with it, “ together with 
 Christ an expression which seems, from its pre¬ 
 vailing use in Scripture, to point to that blessed 
 union in immortal life and consummate glory be¬ 
 tween Christ and all his gathered people, which 
 shall be consummated at his coming in the clouds 
 of heaven. But it is especially manifest from the 
 expression which precedes this, and which most 
 obviously looks forward to such a period; the ex¬ 
 pression, “ whether we wake or sleep.” This has an 
 obvious reference to the close of the previous chap¬ 
 ter, out of which, indeed, the whole of our present 
 context takes its rise ; and where, while the second 
 coming of Christ is the grand event discoursed of—■ 
 “ His descending from heaven with a shout, with 
 the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of 
 Godthe persons -whom that event will chiefly 
 affect, and whom it will introduce into perfect feli¬ 
 city, are ranged under two distinct classes—“ those 
 who sleep,” and “ those who wake ”—“ those who 
 sleep in Jesus, the dead in Christ,” and “ those wdio 
 are alive, and remain unto the coming of the Lord.” 
 Those who, at the coming of their common Lord, 
 are to meet wdth one another, and to be with Him 
 for ever, shall be found existing in two great divi¬ 
 sions, “ the living,” and u the dead in Christ.” 
 There shall at that blessed period be no precedence, 
 no preference of the one above the other of these 
 two classes. But the dead in Christ “ shall rise first. 
 
72 
 
 SERMON IV. 
 
 And they which are alive and remain, shall be 
 changed; and then both shall be caught up together 
 to meet the Lord in the air, and so to be ever with 
 the Lord.” Now, it is in reference to this distinc¬ 
 tion, to be lost for ever in the common life and glory 
 which the second advent of our Lord is to usher in 
 to both, that the expression in the text is used— 
 “ whether we wake or sleep.” And speaking, there¬ 
 fore, of a life posterior to this—a u life together with 
 Christ,” and “ with another”— ; when this last parti¬ 
 tion between Christians shall be broken down, our 
 thoughts are necessarily carried far away beyond 
 earth and time, beyond the coming of Christ itself, to 
 that glorious scene of being which that great event is 
 to usher into the universe of God ; to that most spe¬ 
 cial, pure, perfect, and eternal existence, which lies 
 beyond death and resurrection too. Now, the Word 
 of God everywhere declares that this life is reserved 
 for those, and for those alone, wdio upon earth 
 acquire a title to it in virtue of their union with 
 Him w T ho hath both purchased and prepared it, and 
 in whom, indeed, it stands as its great and only 
 Fountain ; and who are also trained to a meetness for 
 it-—trained to the peculiar disposition and character 
 of mind which alone can fit us for its enjoyments, 
 by the Spirit of Christ in their hearts, using for such 
 an end all the events of Providence and all the 
 means of grace. Such and such alone, those who 
 are so entitled and so trained for it; entitled by 
 being in Christ, the lease-holder of such a life, and 
 trained under his own Spirit, the very earnest and 
 commencement of that life in the heart; such and 
 
SERMON IT. 
 
 73 
 
 such alone, whether they shall wake to it from the 
 sleep of death, or, surprised by His sudden advent, 
 shall be rapt away to it from amid the business and 
 bustle of common life—shall share with Jesus in 
 that most blessed and perfect of all existence which 
 shall be enjoyed upon the earth, when their blessed 
 Redeemer and her grand Heir and Lord shall, at his 
 coming, have effaced from her bosom the last trace 
 of death, and of sin, its fruitful source, and shall, as 
 the Incarnate Word, renew that world, which, as 
 the Word Eternal, he at first spake into being— 
 “ Behold, I make all things new!” And relating to 
 these persons, these defined, specific persons, the 
 heirs with Christ of that eternal life, which He pur¬ 
 chased for them at his first coming, for which He 
 has been separately training them all, and which 
 He will come the second time to communicate to 
 them in all its fullness; relating to these co-heirs 
 with Christ of this all-blessed life, the sentiment 
 affirmed by our text is this—a sentiment affirmed 
 with a plainness which it is neither possible to 
 misunderstand nor turn aside—that the end for 
 which Emmanuel died, the grand, ultimate, ter¬ 
 minating end regarding such, was to put them in 
 full and actual possession of this blessed life. “ He 
 died for them ’'—that is, He died in their room and 
 on their behalf. And for them He died wfith this 
 view, for this precise and definite purpose, even that 
 all such, whatever might befall them in the interval, 
 whatever might be their destiny upon earth, u whe¬ 
 ther they should wake or sleep,” might at last, be¬ 
 yond and after all such uncertainties, reach this 
 
74 
 
 SEKMON IV. 
 
 grand certainty, the surest and the best of all— 
 “ might live together with Him.” This we hold to be 
 the plain, obvious, undeniable meaning of this text, 
 standing in the place where we find it. And with 
 this meaning it is one of the innumerable kindred 
 passages which bear imprinted on their surface this 
 most precious truth, that in respect to all v r ho are 
 in the appointment of God’s rich, sovereign, discri¬ 
 minating grace, and who make this manifest in time 
 by that faith wdiicli is the fruit of the Spirit, and 
 that love and holiness which are the fruits of faith, 
 the death of Christ was endured with the express 
 purpose of securing, beyond the possibility of failure, 
 their complete and ultimate salvation—their salva¬ 
 tion not only in so far as it implies freedom from 
 condemnation, their free forgiveness, and their ac¬ 
 ceptance -with God—but the moral part of it also, 
 and everything necessary to this, the gift of the 
 Spirit, the renovation of their hearts and natures, 
 their perseverance in this estate even to the end; 
 and the blessed and glorious issue of this in the full 
 possession of eternal life—“ in the full enjoyment of 
 God to all eternity.” In respect to all such, the 
 death of Christ looked forward, in its design and 
 purpose, to the infallible accomplishment of their 
 full and final salvation, in the possession of this 
 most blessed existence—an existence out of the 
 sphere of time and earth altogether—an existence 
 in visible and ineffable union with Christ himself, 
 their grand life, after the shadows of time shall have 
 passed away, and when the scars our sins have 
 made on this once fair world shall be all effaced; 
 
SERMON IV. 
 
 75 
 
 and in the room of what we now behold shall come 
 those new heavens and that new earth wherein 
 dwelleth righteousness. And looking forward to this, 
 as its ultimate purpose, its grand terminating end, 
 that death also looked forward to everything essen¬ 
 tial to the accomplishment of this; to everything 
 needed for its completion, from the sinner’s awaken¬ 
 ing out of a state of nature up even to the attain¬ 
 ment of this highest conceivable pitch of glory, the 
 consummation of his being and his bliss. Securing 
 this grand end, it also, and as a thing of course, se¬ 
 cured everything whatsoever necessary for the ac¬ 
 complishment of this end. It is the one blessed 
 event in time, corresponding with the one gracious 
 ordination in eternity, out of which have issued the 
 whole salvation of every redeemed sinner, from the 
 very first movement of grace upon his heart, when 
 he began to think about eternal things, up even to 
 its consummation in the state of glory, when the 
 once creeping, earthly creature, bursting from its 
 chrysallis state, shall as a perfected spirit stretch its 
 wings, radiant with heaven’s light and glory, in 
 a purer atmosphere, a happier clime, and more 
 blessed scenes than anv here below. The death of 
 Christ has this whole salvation in it in respect to 
 procuring virtue, just as the appointment of God 
 had this same full salvation in it in regard to free, 
 unconditional, most sovereign grace ; the one being 
 the means of accomplishing in time, and in a way 
 entirely honouring to the character and government 
 of God, what the other had so graciously deter¬ 
 mined and pre-arranged even before time was, from 
 
76 
 
 SERMON IV. 
 
 the depth of the past eternity. This we believe to 
 be the uniform statement of Scripture concerning 
 the death of Christ, occupying the place it does 
 under the supreme, eternal, sovereign appointment 
 of God the Father, and in its bearing and aspect 
 upon the fortunes of those “ many sons,” whom the 
 Father sent the Elder Brother, as the captain of 
 their salvation, to bring unto glory. So considered, 
 that death is explicitly and uniformly stated as en¬ 
 dured for them, even in their room and stead; as 
 being the equivalent for their death; the one only 
 means of procuring deliverance from death and the 
 possession of life, even life everlasting to each and 
 all of them—“ Who gave himself for our sins,” says 
 Paul, in the name of all Christians, “ that he might 
 deliver us from this present evil world, according to 
 the will of God and our Father, to whom be glory 
 for ever and ever,” (Gal. i. 4.) “ Looking for that 
 
 blessed hope,” says the same Apostle, in the same 
 name, “ even the appearing of the glory of our great 
 God and Saviour Jesus Christ; who gave himself 
 for us, that he might redeem us from all iniquity, 
 and purify unto himself a peculiar people, zealous 
 of good works,” (Titus ii. 13.) “ Even as Christ 
 
 also loved the Church, and gave himself for her; 
 that, having cleansed her with the washing of water, 
 he might sanctify her by the word; that he might 
 present her to himself a glorious Church, not hav¬ 
 ing spot, or wrinkle, or any such thing; but that she 
 should be holy and without blemish,” (Eph. v. 
 25-27.) And with these, and innumerable passages 
 as explicit as these, we cannot hesitate for a moment 
 
SERMON IV. 
 
 77 
 
 to state, that one great end, the first and great end, 
 for which Emmanuel died, was to bring all whom 
 the Father had given him to the ultimate and full 
 possession of eternal life. It was not simply to re¬ 
 move a bar in the way of their salvation, and, hav¬ 
 ing done so, to leave them to struggle on, through 
 a thousand hazards and uncertainties, towards its 
 attainment. It was not merely to put them on the 
 way of saving themselves; to put within their power 
 the means of their own salvation, if they only willed 
 and pleased to use them. No, it was the one grand 
 means designed by God in his eternal councils, to 
 put them in actual, certain, infallible possession of 
 that entire salvation, whose earliest and almost in¬ 
 visible beginning is in the first feeble ray of grace 
 on the benighted soul, whose full maturity is in the 
 boundless ocean of glory, which eternity alone can 
 measure ; to put them in certain possession of every 
 thing which a fallen spirit can require from the 
 grace that is needed even “ to will as well as to do 
 of God’s good pleasure,” up to the ultimate issue, 
 the glorious consummation of all, beyond which 
 no eye can reach, even a full community with 
 Emmanuel himself—in that perfect, all-glorious life 
 which lies in Him, who is eternal life as its foun-. 
 tain, and which He will bring in all its blessedness 
 and fullness to be enjoyed by Him and them to¬ 
 gether, through endless ages, at the restitution of 
 all things, — “ when earth shall all be paradise 
 again, far happier place than that of Eden, and far 
 happier days.” 
 
 But, while it is one end, the first and grand end 
 
78 
 
 SERMON IV. 
 
 for which Christ died, to bring “ all whom the 
 Father has given him,” whether they wake or sleep, 
 to the actual full possession of this eternal life. And 
 while, in this special sense, that is, with the view of 
 actually securing eternal salvation, he can be said, 
 with no propriety, to have died for any but these; 
 it does not follow that this is the sole and exclusive 
 end for which Christ died. It is quite consistent with 
 this to suppose that there may be other and subor¬ 
 dinate, yet most important, ends which God designed 
 to accomplish by this, the most wonderful and preg¬ 
 nant event which has yet occurred within the boun¬ 
 daries of this lower world. It would have been only 
 in harmony with the uniform proceedings of his 
 “ manifold wisdom” to have supposed such other and 
 subordinate ends, even had they not been revealed; 
 for it is the way with this manifold wisdom, in every 
 department over which she extends her range, to 
 accomplish, by one single means, manifold and most 
 blessed ends. But in the case before us, we do not 
 need to suppose it. It is a truth revealed, that the 
 death of Christ does accomplish other ends additional 
 to, and entirely consistent with, that great one on 
 which we have now been dwelling. And all the 
 ends which it actually does accomplish, we think, we 
 may safely say, it was expressly designed to accom¬ 
 plish. It accomplishes ends the most benignant in 
 other worlds than ours, and other ranks of beings 
 altogether—even on the myriads of angels and arch¬ 
 angels—“ of thrones, dominions, principalities, and 
 powers,” which have never fallen, and which may 
 be supposed to people the vast plurality of worlds. 
 
SERMON IY. 
 
 79 
 
 For to do nothing more than merely recite the 
 famous passage in Ephesians, (cli. iii. 9,) “ And to 
 make all men see what is the fellowship of the 
 mystery, which from the beginning of the world 
 hath been hid in God, wdio created all things by 
 Jesus Christ: to the intent that now unto princi¬ 
 palities and powers, in heavenly places, might be 
 known by the Church the manifold wisdom of God, 
 according to the eternal purpose wdiich he purposed 
 in Christ Jesus our Lord.” In the still more ex¬ 
 plicit passage (Colossians, i. 16-20,) which speaks 
 of the person and the work of Christ, in their con¬ 
 nexion, not only with “ things visible ” but “ in¬ 
 visible not only with u things on earth,” but 
 “ things in heaven w r e find a scope and range 
 given to their influence far beyond his own people, 
 or sinners of our race merely, far beyond the limits 
 of our little world altogether—“ For it pleased the 
 Father that in Him should all fullness dwell; and 
 (having made peace by the blood of the Cross) by 
 Him to reconcile all things unto himself; by Him, 
 I say, whether they be things in heaven, or things on 
 earth.” Here He himself, and His work for sinners* 
 “ the blood of the cross,” are set forth as being the 
 cement of the universe—the centre of all its widely 
 scattered parts, visible or invisible, human or an¬ 
 gelic—the Sun of the whole intelligent universe, by 
 wdiose powerful attraction all its countless myriads, 
 both of unfallen and of redeemed beings are to be 
 kept for ever in their blessed orbits, ever sending up 
 to his throne, as they revolve around it, one glad 
 unanimous hosannah. Nor can w r e think that the 
 
80 
 
 SERMON IV. 
 
 immortal Howe* has ascribed more meaning to the 
 word “ reconciled,” which, speaking of the blood of 
 the Cross, this passage uses in reference both to 
 angels and to men, than is amply warranted, when 
 he says, that while that blood directly and properly 
 reconciled those only who once were enemies, yet in 
 the act of doing this, it has given such a full-orbed dis¬ 
 closure of all the attributes of God, and all the prin¬ 
 ciples of His government, as to confirm for ever, in 
 their love to Him, and their allegiance to it, all 
 those blessed angelic spirits throughout their numer¬ 
 ous ranks and unknown worlds, who, indeed, had 
 never fallen, but, up to that good hour, were at least 
 liable to fall. And we cannot but think that it 
 would be well for Christians—well for giving large¬ 
 ness and strength to their faith, no less than for re¬ 
 moving all selfishness away from it—were they, 
 while holding tenaciously the one great end which 
 Christ’s death was designed to accomplish, in respect 
 to his people, sometimes allowing their minds to ex¬ 
 patiate on its wide and blessed bearings, even on 
 other worlds, and on higher ranks of beings, than 
 ours; were they, at times, considering that infinite 
 redundancy of merit which must be in the death of 
 Him who was God in the flesh of man, and which, 
 over and above procuring eternal life for all his 
 people, has a savour in it enough to perfume with its 
 sweetness both earth and heaven, all worlds whatever. 
 
 Now, we believe that the death of Christ, over 
 and above procuring eternal life to the many sons of 
 glory, has actually accomplished, and was therefore 
 * The Redeemer’s Dominion over the Invisible World. 
 
SERMON IY. 
 
 81 
 
 expressly designed to accomplish, a most important 
 end, in regard to all sinners of Adam’s fallen race 
 without exception, and in a way precisely similar to 
 this collateral benefit accruing from it to all the un¬ 
 fallen angels. It has procured to all such, without 
 a single exception, or a single condition, the offer of 
 a free and a full salvation. It has become the one 
 orand basis on which the eternal Father can, with 
 perfect honour to his unsullied character, and per¬ 
 fect safety to his holy government, lift up his voice 
 of love to the whole family of his wide-wandering 
 prodigals, and, proclaiming free forgiveness in their 
 ears, can thereby invite and woo them to return 
 home to the bosom of his family—the only home of 
 souls immortal. In actually, efficiently, and infallibly, 
 purchasing the redemption of all his people, in secur¬ 
 ing eternal life to them through the blood of the 
 Cross, He has made such a display of his moral cha¬ 
 racter and moral government—He has so exhibited 
 the purity and love of the one, and the untainted 
 justice and eternal rectitude of the other, that on 
 this moral ground—the ground of such an unheard 
 of display of hatred to sin, and love to sinners, He 
 can at once, with perfect honour to himself, and 
 safety to every interest in his holy keeping, both 
 invite and demand the return—the instant, the free, 
 the unfearing return, of every prodigal on the face 
 of this earth, to that place in his happy family from 
 which he has fallen, and to the full and endless 
 enjoyment of all the treasures which are in his pa¬ 
 ternal home. He does make such an offer—freely, 
 generously, honestly makes it—yea, makes it, with 
 
 F 
 
82 
 
 SERMON IV. 
 
 all a Father’s bowels, to every one of them—and 
 He makes it on such a ground —He makes it on this 
 ground alone, all-sufficient as it is to bear it. Poor 
 wanderers ! he makes it this day expressly to you— 
 to you in the spot you now occupy—in the very state 
 in which you now are—to each one, even the very 
 worst of you, at this good hour. It is our duty, the 
 duty of every minister, of every reconciled man, to 
 make it—to make it to you, and to make it in his 
 name—yea, in his very stead. For the commission 
 which heaven has given to all such runs in these 
 universal terms, and it is based on this immovable 
 foundation:—“Now then we are ambassadors for 
 Christ, as though God did beseech you by us : we 
 pray you, in Christ’s stead, be ye reconciled unto 
 God. For he hath made him to be sin for us 
 who knew no sin, that we might be made the 
 righteousness of God in him.”—(2 Cor. v. 20, 21.) 
 Here, plain as day, the eternal Father himself is 
 making offer of his infinite, everlasting friendship to 
 every one of you—the greatest rebel of you all;— 
 nay, as a suppliant—as a father, whose bowels 
 yearn over you, is beseeching you to accept of 
 that friendship, to accept of it freely, to accept of it 
 now. He is doing this on the ground of the one 
 wondrous doing of his Son—His substitution and 
 death in the room of the guilty. And call you this 
 nothing ? Is not this a blessed end which the death 
 of Christ has accomplished for all? Why, it is 
 everything—everything, at least, to every soul which 
 really wishes salvation , and will take it for nothing. It 
 is all which that soul needs ; and what room has any 
 
SERMON IV. 
 
 83 
 
 soul to complain that does not wish salvation, and 
 will not take it for nothing, without money and with¬ 
 out price. 
 
 There are, therefore, two classes, the extreme op¬ 
 posites, on this subject, with neither of whom do we 
 agree, nor have we any sympathy. In the first 
 place, there are those wdio, not satisfied with the 
 general indefinite statements as to the objects for 
 whom Christ came—such as, “ The Son of Man 
 came to save that which was lost“Christ Jesus 
 came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am 
 the chief,’ 5 —feel as if there were no grace and no 
 power in these, unless they can say, what Scripture 
 nowhere says, that He died alike for all, in the same 
 sense, and for the same end, in regard to all—in re¬ 
 gard to every sinner throughout the earth, and even 
 in hell—in regard to Judas, and the other spirits of 
 the lost, as in regard to Paul and all the redeemed 
 now T in glory. We object to this, in the first place, 
 because it is not a Scriptural statement. There is 
 not one passage in the Word of God which either 
 makes this statement expressly or can be warrant- 
 ably made to bear it. It is an interpretation which 
 some individuals, as if wishing to be more generous 
 than He who is love itself, have themselves, and 
 without any warrant, put upon God’s own simple 
 Word, which is ever too much in earnest in directing 
 sinners as to the grand business of salvation, to give 
 any encouragement or countenance to the mere spe¬ 
 culations and generalizing theories of curious men. 
 We object to the statement, in the second place, be¬ 
 cause it is not true. It is not only without , it is 
 
84 
 
 SERMON IV. 
 
 against , the testimony of Scripture. It is not simply 
 unscriptural, it is anti-scriptural. For, clear as day, 
 the Bible tells us that, in regard to all believers, 
 Christ died in order to put them into full and actual 
 possession of eternal life. Obviously this cannot be 
 true of Judas, who is now in hell, nor of any of the 
 other damned spirits, who are, in point of fact, not 
 now in possession of eternal life, but in the endur¬ 
 ance of endless ruin. Unless, indeed, it be main¬ 
 tained that, in regard to all such, the purpose of 
 Emmanuel’s death has been actually defeated, and the 
 plans of the almighty and unchangeable One, have 
 been traversed by a feeble worm of the dust. There¬ 
 fore, in the case of all such, wdiose eternal state is 
 hopelessly ruined, while there is a secondary sense 
 in which Christ may be said to have died for them, 
 while He died for them in the sense of putting sal¬ 
 vation honestly and freely in their offer, He cannot 
 be truly said to have died for them in the same sense 
 in which he died for all his people, which was not 
 only to make them the offer of salvation, but to se¬ 
 cure, beyond the possibility of failure, their everlast¬ 
 ing enjoyment of it. In this high and special sense, 
 He cannot be truly said to have died for any of the 
 lost, otherwise these solemn declarations of God 
 would be made a lie:—“The counsel of the Lord shall 
 stand, and He shall do all his pleasure.” “ He shall 
 see of the travail of his soul and shall be satisfied 
 and that supposition, from which Paul recoiled, 
 would turn out an actual truth, that, in regard to 
 not a few, “ Christ had died in vain.” And we ob¬ 
 ject to all such statements, in the third place, be- 
 
SERMON IV. 
 
 85 
 
 cause they indicate and breed a most diseased, un¬ 
 healthy, state of mind. No man in earnest about 
 his own soul will be sitting down to speculate about 
 the bearings of Christ’s death on the souls of Judas 
 and the lost. What hast thou to do with Judas, poor 
 sinner, if standing still within the sweep of heaven’s 
 judgment—standing still in Sodom’s doomed plain ? 
 Arise and escape for thine own life ! The way is 
 open and plain to thee. On the death of Christ 
 every one anxious to he saved may be saved, and 
 saved freely. Is not that enough ? Over and above 
 must the Great God stoop to settle all the idle 
 questions, which, not the earnest and the anxious, 
 but the merely curious—the very triflers in sacred 
 things, may think fit to raise on points of such mo¬ 
 mentous magnitude, that the naming of them is 
 enough to strike a whole world with awe ? Your 
 life is in peril if not yet in Christ, and the peril is 
 instant and awful. If you but saw it, your only 
 question would be—and it would be put with an 
 energy never felt about any other—“ Sirs, what 
 must I do to be saved ?” Are you putting that 
 question—the only legitimate one—the only one 
 that is not impertinent, trifling, on the lips of 
 any sinner who, it may be, is not an hour’s dis¬ 
 tance from hell ? Is any one of you all now put¬ 
 ting it in your own conscience and in the sight 
 of an Omniscient God 1 Then is there an answer 
 given to it by God himself, and in words as plain 
 as even He can use, u Believe in the Lord Jesus 
 Christ, and thou shalt be saved !” This lie says to 
 each of you, He says to all. If you are in earnest, 
 
86 
 
 SERMON IV. 
 
 what more can you need ? what more can you wish ? 
 It is all you want; it is every way sufficient; so 
 plain that the simplest may understand it; so full 
 that the guiltiest can need no more. If you are not 
 in earnest, in earnest about your own soul and 
 about your own salvation; what have you to do, in 
 such a mood of mind, with the high and awful con¬ 
 cerns of God and eternity, of salvation and ruin ? 
 Are these matters to be touched with a merely 
 curious hand, looked to with an easy, prying, inqui¬ 
 sitive eye ? It is death to do so. Intermeddling 
 with them in such a spirit, what was meant for the 
 healing, becomes the poison of your immortal souls. 
 The Gospel is for practice, practice alone, your own 
 and your earnest practice in the matter of your eter¬ 
 nal salvation. You, in raising or entertaining such 
 inquiries, are turning it into a thing of idle, empty 
 speculation. And be sure there is ruin in such a 
 course. There is impiety in such inquiries, and 
 ruin at the end of them. Their essence is presump¬ 
 tion ; their end is death. Whenever we hear an 
 immortal spirit flippantly talking about the death of 
 Jesus in connexion with Judas, we seem to see one 
 heedlessly taking the first steps which will ultimately 
 land him in the traitor's place. Judas ! what have 
 you and I to do with Judas, or with any now in 
 ruin ? They are there, beyond recal—spirits fallen 
 into the hands of the living God. Leave them there. 
 Our only care and business be it, not to join them 
 there. Away, then, with every inquiry which does 
 not concern ourselves personally in this grand mat¬ 
 ter of life or death. “ Men and brethren, what 
 
SERMON IY. 
 
 87 
 
 shall we do V’ —“ Sirs, what must I do to he saved ?” 
 This is the question, the only question for each im¬ 
 mortal spirit, till safe from the hail so soon to sweep 
 the earth. Till then every question hut this is im¬ 
 pious trifling, is a grand impertinence ! Do you re¬ 
 member the man who came to Christ with some 
 such curious point, “ Lord, are there few that he 
 saved ?” And do you recollect the solemn rebuke 
 with which it was frowned away by the all-earnest 
 Saviour, who turning his back on the trifler without 
 deigning him a single word, said to the more simple 
 multitude, “ Strive ye to enter in at the strait gate, 
 for many, I say unto you, shall seek to enter in, and 
 shall not be able !” 
 
 But, on the other hand, we have just as little 
 sympathy with those in the opposite extreme, who 
 equally jealous of all such general and large expres¬ 
 sions of heaven’s benignity, but for the opposite 
 reason cannot even quote incidently a passage like 
 this,—“ God so loved the world as to give his only- 
 begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him might 
 not perish, but have eternal life,” without correcting 
 or supplementing the language chosen by the Holy 
 Ghost himself, and saying “ elect world ;” and who 
 whenever they speak of the death of Christ, in place 
 of saying as the God of mercy says, in a thousand 
 different places, “ He died for the unjust,” “the un¬ 
 godly,” “ the lost,” “ sinners,” are careful to sub¬ 
 stitute “ for his own elect people,” “ for his own peo¬ 
 ple alone.” Alas, alas ! is not this to affect a wisdom 
 above that of “ the Only Wise” himself; and to be 
 more jealous about his supposed prerogatives, and 
 
88 
 
 SERMON IV. 
 
 interests, and truths, than He himself has been, 
 whose name is Jealous? When will man learn to 
 count his own wisdom but folly, and be satisfied to 
 be just as jealous, and no more so, about the truth, 
 the holiness, the sovereignty of God, as God him¬ 
 self—the true, the holy, the sovereign One? This 
 practice not only indicates a spirit either extremely 
 timid or extremely arrogant; but in its effects it is 
 utterly ruinous. It is setting the election of God, 
 where the Bible never sets it, in the very forefront 
 of the Gospel, prefixed to it, as a kind of fence or 
 guard to ward poor sinners off from meddling with 
 its grace, and so set it is as a rock in the very mouth 
 of the haven, on which every tempest-driven vessel 
 is almost certain to strike and go to pieces—go to 
 pieces in the attempt to enter it and be safe for ever. 
 It almost necessarily raises the question, at a stage 
 when no being in the universe but the Omniscient 
 himself can, and when He will not answer it, “ Am 
 I among the elected ones ?” It sets the anxious 
 sinner to resolve this, then, unresolvable point, 
 instead of opening out and resigning his whole soul 
 with the unsuspicious ffeeness of a little child to the 
 generous grace and godlike invitations of heaven; 
 and, stranded there where there is no drop of the 
 w r ater of life to any sinner in his state of nature, he 
 is wearied even unto death with his own fruitless 
 inextricable inquiries, as to the secret purposes of 
 God ; instead of being presented at once, without 
 hesitation or fear, even as if there never had been, 
 and were not now another sinner in the world to 
 dispute with him the possession of heaven’s trea- 
 
SERMON IV. 
 
 89 
 
 sures, with Christ’s all-gracious character and work 
 —with the open, large, benignant overtures of the 
 Gospel—with those invitations of love,—free, indis¬ 
 criminate, unconditional, universal invitations to 
 partake at once, and without a scruple, of all its 
 blessings, every one of which falling from His lips 
 “ which are like lilies,” drop balm into every broken 
 heart, and often break the heart which had only 
 hardened into rock amid Sinai’s thunders. “ Ho 
 every one that thirsteth, come ye to the waters !”— 
 “ If any man thirst let him come unto me and 
 drink !”—“ Whosoever will, let him take of the 
 water of life freely !” 
 
 And, as to saying that Christ died for his people 
 alone . we can only state, that the Bible never savs 
 so. Men may infer this fact from its statements ; 
 and, in one sense, the sense of the text, the infer¬ 
 ence is undoubtedly true. But, after all, it is only 
 an inference—not a formal statement, not a positive 
 independent proposition to be found in the Word of 
 God. And it is very questionable whether w T e 
 should state in its positive form, and, more especi¬ 
 ally, dwell and descant upon a proposition, which 
 is never stated in such a form in the Word of God. 
 No doubt it is said, “ He laid down His life for the 
 sheep,”—“ He loved the Church and gave himself 
 for herand let these blessed truths be dwelt 
 upon in their positive form, till these sheep, till this 
 Church be made to sing for joy. But it is never 
 added, that it was for these only, or for her alone ; 
 and why should we add expressly the exclusive term 
 vehich was never on the lips of God ? No doubt in 
 
90 
 
 SERMON IY. 
 
 the sense of our text, with the view of infallibl) r 
 securing their possession of eternal life, it could be 
 for no other than these that Jesus died. But when 
 the Scripture everywhere uses such general language 
 —we say general , for strict and literal universality 
 the words do not necessarily import—as “ the lost,” 
 —“sinners,”—“ ungodly,”—“ under the law,”—“the 
 world,”—“all,”—“every man;” when it uses such 
 terms so copiously, so constantly, indeed, in con¬ 
 nexion with the death of Christ, except when the 
 Church or the people of God are expressly and 
 personally addressed ; why not confide in and copy 
 the wisdom of God in this respect, and, eschewing 
 the use of a word not used in God’s Word, and in 
 one sense not true, why not with a free, a fearless, 
 a loving voice, like that of Christ himself, proclaim 
 through the length and breadth of the dying world, 
 “ That the Father sent the Son to be the Saviour of 
 the worldf —“ That he came not to condemn the world , 
 but that the world through him might be saved S' Let 
 us do this constantly, without hesitation, without 
 hamper, without fear, leaving God himself to work 
 with it all his holy purpose and pleasure. And 
 there will be no danger either to truth or to souls 
 if the other parts of the one grand consistent system 
 of perfect verity and perfect grace, be also intro¬ 
 duced in their proper place and in their due pro¬ 
 portion. 
 
 In fact, the preaching or the statement of the 
 Gospel, which so much as raises the question, was 
 Christ’s death for me or was it not ? must have some¬ 
 thing wrong in it; it errs either on the one side or 
 
SERMON IV. 
 
 91 
 
 on the other—either by excess or by defect. Such 
 a question was never raised by the preaching of the 
 Apostles, and could not be. They, as the heralds of 
 the Cross, going forth to the high-ways and hedges, 
 to the world at large, never said, Jesus is the Christ 
 only for some —Jesus died, but only for his own. 
 Neither, on the other side, did they ever labour the 
 point, as men think it so necessary, so all-important 
 now to do, it was for you—for each and all of you 
 —for all alike. The very attempt to establish this 
 is just as bad, in effect, as the attempt to deny it; 
 it turns the whole soul in upon self instead of out 
 upon Christ —it fixes its thoughts upon the persons 
 for whom the thin" was done, instead of fixing them 
 supremely, if not exclusively, upon the glorious 
 thing itself and its glorious results—it fixes the 
 thoughts upon the little and the earthly element in 
 this blessed scheme, instead of the heavenly and 
 only grand one, from which alone it derives all its 
 moral transforming power. And thus a point in it 
 being taken out of its place, the whole Gospel is 
 made actually to feed that very disease of our nature 
 which it was framed of God and is so admirably 
 fitted to cure, its tendency to earth and self. And 
 agitating the point either on the one side or on the 
 other, a dust is raised by the combatants, in the 
 midst of which, Christ, the only being that can heal 
 our moral maladies, is hidden, is lost: His cross, 
 the only object in the universe that has power 
 either to subdue, attract, or sanctify the nature of 
 man, is covered up from the view ; and there is 
 nothing in the eye but what should never be there, 
 
92 
 
 SERMON IY. 
 
 and what cannot heal it—man, man; me, me. The 
 Apostles never did this. The question was never 
 raised by their preaching. There was no attempt 
 to settle it one way or other. They went forth in a 
 spirit as large and generous, as free and unfettered, 
 as far remote from all the little points and particu¬ 
 lars of party men, as the gospel they bore in their 
 hands is. Its general, open, true, and all-glorious 
 facts, were what they proclaimed wherever they 
 went, as what were true to all, sufficient and free to 
 all —as, like the sun in yonder heavens, the common 
 property, if men would use it, of men, of sinners, 
 of the lost, of the whole world. On these common 
 facts they stood like Heaven’s Heralds, and with a 
 largeness and a grace becoming their high office and 
 errand, proclaimed to one and to all alike, free for¬ 
 giveness and eternal life through His name—pro¬ 
 claimed this without terms or exceptions, as with 
 the sound of a trumpet; a striking instance of which 
 we have in the case of Paul at Antioch, where, 
 after a sermon containing just these three open 
 points or facts—Jesus is the Christ, He died, and 
 He rose again—without a syllable of the persons at 
 all, except that unto them, to them all alike, had 
 the word of this salvation been sent; he stood, and, 
 pointing his application to each and to all, without 
 one solitary exception, as was his uniform cus¬ 
 tom, made this striking announcement, one of the 
 freest, fullest, most godlike in all the Word of 
 Life: “ Be it known unto you, men and brethren, 
 that through this man is preached, proclaimed un¬ 
 to you the forgiveness of sins: and by Him all 
 
SERMON IV. 
 
 93 
 
 who believe are justified from all things, from 
 which they could not be justified by the law of 
 Moses!”—(Acts xiii.) This they everywhere did; 
 and then, God having in this way, by such an 
 open, common proclamation, through His blessed 
 Spirit, called out his own, from the common ruins, 
 and formed them into His living Church, not only 
 is the cause, the only cause of difference, immedi¬ 
 ately revealed and stated—“ as many as were or¬ 
 dained to eternal life believed,” but the grace which 
 had been announced in common before, is then and 
 thenceforth ever specially pointed to such ; specially 
 and expressly, but not exclusively. The language 
 —-the blessed, the exhilarating language then is—- 
 “ who loved us, and gave himself for us.” And never 
 shall we be right, till leaving the leanings of men to 
 either side, and taking the golden mean, we walk 
 with a firm, free, fearless, unembarrassed step in the 
 footprints of these heaven-inspired and heaven- 
 stamped men—the heralds of the world, and the 
 teachers of the Church. The man who never pro¬ 
 claims, as with a herald’s voice, the common, gene¬ 
 ral, all-gracious facts of the Gospel, as for all, and 
 free to all, will never call out and constitute a 
 Church. The man who, that Church being once 
 formed, does not as its teacher expressly and spe¬ 
 cially point all these gracious facts to them, fails to 
 feed that Church which God has purchased with 
 his own blood, and separated to himself by his own 
 Word and Spirit. The harmony of the Christian 
 system, the perfection of Christian truth,—lies, not 
 in the exclusion of either of these, nor in the pre- 
 
94 
 
 SERMON IV. 
 
 ference of either of these, but in the union of them 
 both. Therefore, to every sinner in this assembly; 
 to every sinner out of Christ, as the herald of the 
 Cross, we this day make public proclamation, in the 
 name of God, that Christ Jesus died in the room of 
 the guilty, and on the ground of this one fact alone, 
 there is a full and free salvation laid down at your 
 door. Take it and live for ever ! While, as a teacher 
 of the Church, to every soul here present now in 
 Christ, we say, “ Christ loved thee, and gave him¬ 
 self for theeand this love to thee, as it had no 
 beginning, so shall it have no end. Stretching from 
 one side of heaven to the other, like the bow of pro¬ 
 mise after the waters of the deluge—from eternity 
 to eternity; it has spread over all its golden colours 
 —shed down on your whole estate its golden trea¬ 
 sures ; all its wondrous doings in the fulness of 
 time, being but its counsels in the ancient eternity 
 come to their birth ; and its joys and its glories in 
 the eternity we look for, being but that birth in 
 time, nursed by his own care, and in his own 
 kindly skies, into perfect manhood, the maturity of 
 its being. Therefore, with one heart and one voice 
 let us say — u Unto him that loved us, and washed 
 us from our sins in his own blood, and hath made 
 us kings and priests unto God and his Father; to 
 him be glory and dominion for ever and ever. 
 Amen.” (Rev. i. 5, 6.) 
 
SERMON V. 
 
 95 
 
 SERMON V. 
 
 SAVING FAITH. 
 
 u But these things are written, that ye might believe that Jesus 
 is the Christ, the Son of God; and that believing ye might have 
 life through his name.”— John, xx. 31. 
 
 It seems too plain to be denied by any one that the 
 belief here spoken of—“ that Jesus is the Christ 
 the Son of God*’—is not a common and useless 
 thing, which almost every one in a Christian land 
 possesses, and which any may possess and be noth¬ 
 ing the better of it; but, on the contrary, the most 
 important belief which can fill the mind of a fallen 
 being—that which makes his character holy here 
 and his destiny blessed hereafter. It appears to be, 
 it can indeed be no other than what, in common 
 language, is usually called Saving Faith ; and to 
 which so many important and precious results are 
 everywhere ascribed throughout the Word of God. 
 It is the same with the faith which is said “ to jus¬ 
 tify” us—“to save” us—to be accounted unto us 
 “ for righteousness”—which lays hold of, and applies 
 to every soul that has it, “ the righteousness of God 
 himself”—which, so doing, gives that spirit peace 
 with God and good hope for eternity—which, along 
 with peace, brings in purity, and begins the con¬ 
 quest of sin and self, and a present evil world— 
 
96 
 
 SERMON V. 
 
 which, in a word, is the grand instrument of a full 
 and complete salvation, beginning at present, and 
 perfecting in another world, the well-being of every 
 fallen creature in whose heart it is really planted by 
 the Spirit of God, and over whose principles and 
 habits of life it obtains the practical dominion. 
 
 To us, scarcely any thing can be plainer or more 
 undeniable than this. It seems to lie even on the 
 surface of the text, and to be conveyed to every mind 
 by the mere sound of it. To a man entirely ignor¬ 
 ant of human opinions and systems, understanding 
 only the meaning of the simple words before us, and 
 taking them in their most obvious natural accepta¬ 
 tion, it does not seem to be possible that they can 
 fail to convey the impression we have now mentioned, 
 or that they can convey any other than this. The 
 impression of such a man, on reading the passage, 
 would certainly be this, that whosoever possessed 
 this belief would also possess, either now or here¬ 
 after, the life here mentioned. And gathering from 
 other parts of Scripture what this life contains— 
 what is the life of an immortal spirit—a spirit con¬ 
 ditioned, as man’s now is, under condemnation, 
 under the power of sin, and liable to everlasting 
 death—he would feel that the full idea conveyed at 
 once, and necessarily, by this passage is this, that 
 wherever a man believes, as it describes him to do, 
 he is sure of this life, sooner or later, in all its full¬ 
 ness—sure of being freed from condemnation, de¬ 
 livered from the power of sin, restored to the favour 
 and image of God, and put on the way which leads 
 infallibly to an endless, sinless, most blessed existence. 
 
SERMON Y. 
 
 97 
 
 And the slightest consideration of the passage will 
 go to deepen this first impression-—to confirm and 
 establish, beyond a doubt, that it is just and natural. 
 For if we consider either, first, what is designed to 
 produce this belief; or, second, what this belief, once 
 existing, is designed to produce—either what it 
 arises from or what it gives rise to, we shall not be 
 able to resist the conviction, that, in the case of 
 every fallen being, this belief is the all-important 
 thing—the u one thing needful,”—the germ or ele¬ 
 ment of an endless, blessed existence —that having 
 which, he is infallibly and for ever saved —that want¬ 
 ing which, he has even now'' no true life in him—is 
 “ condemned already,” and continuing in such a 
 state till death shall extinguish his last hope of 
 salvation—must die “ the second death,” which is 
 death eternal. This belief, you observe, stands as 
 the middle term between two other things. It is 
 the necessary link that connects them. It springs 
 from the one, it leads to the other. It is the daughter 
 of the first, the mother of the second. “ These 
 things are written that ye might believe that Jesus 
 is the Christ, the Son of God ; and that believing ye 
 might have life through his name.” These things 
 are written to produce this belief. This belief, 
 again, is produced to put us in possession of this life. 
 The belief, therefore, is the effect of the one and the 
 cause of the other—of the two things which are here 
 set down on either side of it. And whether we 
 consider the one or the other of these two things— 
 that of which it is the effect, or that of which it is 
 the cause, we shall see ample reason to conclude 
 
 G 
 
98 
 
 SERMON V. 
 
 that the belief which has such a parentage and such 
 an issue can be no ordinary every-day thing, but is 
 in fact the most peculiar, precious, sacred, all-im¬ 
 portant thing “ under the whole heavens.” 
 
 I. First, Think of “ the things” here said to have 
 been written in order to produce this belief. What 
 are “ the things” here spoken of—the things de¬ 
 posited in the Word of God, as the raw materials— 
 the rude elements out of which the ever-blessed 
 Spirit is to work this one simple belief into the sin¬ 
 ner’s heart ? They are none other than “ the things 
 which are Christ’s ”—all the things relating to Him¬ 
 self—all that go to make up his eventful history upon 
 earth—his incarnation, his miracles, his doctrine, 
 his death, his resurrection ; especially those signs 
 and wonders, either of power or of grace, with 
 which his whole career was tilled, by which it was 
 evinced that He was the great Messiah, and which, 
 had every one of them been written, John supposes 
 “that even the world itself could not have contained 
 the books that would have been written.” Every 
 thing is here referred to, either before or after the 
 death of Jesus, which went to demonstrate to the 
 world in which he had at last appeared, this greatest 
 of all truths—the germ or seed of all others truly 
 jjreat—“ That He was indeed the Christ, the Son of 
 the living God.” The things here spoken of are the 
 various constituents of Emmanuel’s life—the cha¬ 
 racteristics, the credentials, all the signs and testi¬ 
 monies of the great Messiah; those high testimonials 
 written out by the hand of heaven itself, in the eyes 
 
SERMON V. 
 
 99 
 
 of the intelligent universe, to substantiate the claims 
 of Him, who, though now appearing in the human 
 world, and in the human form, jet professed to be 
 “ the Son of God—the only Saviour of the world.” 
 They are everything which infinite wisdom has 
 seen meet to furnish in order to complete, before an 
 incredulous world, this highest and greatest of all 
 demonstrations, that He who has at last appeared 
 within its boundaries is in truth none other than the 
 great Jehovah himself-—the Being of beings—the 
 Maker and Owner of all worlds, come down to the 
 fallen creature’s abode, and sphere, and form, and 
 place, for the all-gracious purpose of working out by 
 his own single arm, that creature’s great redemption. 
 They are, therefore, no common things we have be¬ 
 fore us. They are, in fact, the greatest of all things— 
 the greatest of which this earth has ever been made 
 the theatre—the greatest yet known to us which have 
 been anywhere exhibited in the eyes of God’s in¬ 
 telligent universe. They are greater even than those 
 which were wrought at the making of this material 
 world, which, however, were so great, that at the 
 sight of them “ the morning stars sang together, and 
 all the sons of God shouted for joy.” These, great 
 though they be, were but the initial exhibition which 
 God made of himself—the exhibition of Himself 
 simply as God, and as the Creator, and in that glory, 
 merely, which belongs to him as such—not as the 
 Redeemer, which is a higher character than Creator, 
 and in all the augmented glories which belong to 
 him as such. They were, indeed, not so much an 
 exhibition of Himself, as rather a few shadows— 
 
100 
 
 SERMON V. 
 
 dim, visible shadows, which the great “I AIM” cast 
 around Him, ere He himself became apparent, that 
 his creatures might learn to contemplate his being 
 in its visible shadows, till their eyes should be strong 
 enough to behold that being itself, exhibited in per¬ 
 sonal form, and without a veil. But the things 
 spoken of in our text, and which ushered in that 
 new and nobler creation, of which the former was 
 designed to furnish but the outward scaffolding, 
 were the manifestation of a wonder which is an ad¬ 
 vance, and a high advance, upon that which had in 
 the beginning awakened such rapture among the 
 first-born sons of God. These constitute a manifest¬ 
 ation of God, not simply and in Himself considered, 
 but, which is unspeakably more wonderful, of God 
 with us—of God come down to the nature and 
 sphere of man—of God “ stooping to the senses, and 
 speaking to the heart of man”—of God, not merely 
 shadowed forth in visible material things, but actu¬ 
 ally embodied before his creature’s eyes—clothed and 
 veiled in human flesh, and so come down to the 
 habitations of men, that they might no more see 
 Him merely in his shadow and afar off, but in Him¬ 
 self and close beside them. This is the greatest 
 wonder which the universe of God has yet been 
 called to witness. It is at once the nearest, the 
 clearest, the fullest phasis which Deity has yet 
 assumed, at least in the eyes of his human family. 
 Here we have not merely some scattered rays, thrown 
 off from the material objects around us—those in¬ 
 numerable mirrors from which the great Creator is 
 ever reflecting a portion of his glory: but we have, 
 
SERMON Y. 
 
 101 
 
 so to speak, tlie grand orb itself, risen visibly, and 
 on every eye, above the horizon of this fallen world ; 
 and yet, with such a merciful haze of earthliness 
 drawn over it, that all mav be able to look on the 
 new-born wonder—may look, yet live—yea, look 
 and live. “ The things” in our text, therefore, are, 
 in truth, the very greatest of all things which have 
 ever happened on the earth, or are known to us as 
 yet, being the elements of this last and highest mani¬ 
 festation of Godhead. They are the greatest which 
 the language of mortals has ever registered, or ever 
 can, till the same being come again, and the grand 
 mystery of the Incarnation be completed by His 
 pitching “ His tabernacle with men.” They are 
 none other than the full biography of Jehovah him¬ 
 self, when He lived as one of his creatures—as one 
 of ourselves, upon the earth—the biography of the 
 great I AM—the eternal One, during what is, per¬ 
 haps, the greatest passage even in His existence— 
 his abode for thirty-three years among his own fallen 
 creatures—a full biography, not written in feeble 
 words, but made to stand out visibly to every eye, in 
 godlike and godwortliy deeds, as to all that He thought, 
 and felt, and said, and did, and endured while He 
 was an inhabitant of this fallen planet of ours, and 
 presented, in the midst of it, that wonder of wonders 
 —the natures of God and of Man, in one living per¬ 
 son—in one being—the Son of God and the Son of 
 Man—the great Emmanuel, God with us ! 
 
 These, then, are the things here spoken of, the 
 grandest of all things—in comparison with which all 
 else in this world's history are but empty shadows. 
 
102 
 
 SERMON Y. 
 
 And these, the grandest of all things, are written 
 for this very end, for this purpose expressly, and for 
 this alone, even “ that we might believe that Jesus 
 is the Christ, the Son of God.” The planting of 
 this one simple belief in the sinner’s mind, is the 
 grand end for which all these things were once per¬ 
 formed, and have since been recorded. They take 
 their end and have their completion in this ; even 
 in this, that every one reading them, considering 
 them, pondering them, may rise up from the nar¬ 
 rative, may depart from the wondrous panorama, 
 with a deeper, a higher, a holier persuasion filling 
 his bosom than that with which the centurion left 
 the foot of the cross—with the profoundest, most 
 elevating, most hallowing, most transforming per¬ 
 suasion filling his heart and fashioning his whole 
 being, which that heart and that being ever have 
 felt or can possibly feel—that once expressed so 
 fervently by the lips of Peter, “We believe and are 
 sure that thou art that Christ, the Son of the living 
 God.” If this, then, be the end of these things— 
 if these are but the means designed to accomplish 
 such an end; may we not expect to find something 
 in the end worthy of the means—something in the 
 result corresponding in importance, in kind, and in 
 degree, to the singular apparatus framed and used 
 by God in order to produce it—to find a greatness 
 in the one, bearing at least some proportion to the 
 greatness that is in the other ? Surely it cannot be 
 an insignificant thing, an ordinary or useless thing, 
 it eannot be anything else than one of the most un¬ 
 common, important, and blessed of all things, for 
 
SERMON V. 
 
 103 
 
 the production of which the most extraordinary and 
 magnificent of all transactions ever witnessed on 
 earth were accomplished and recorded. To suppose 
 anything else would be to subvert all the laws which 
 regulate the doings either of God or man, and to 
 charge the Only Wise with folly. In the doings of 
 both it is the character of wisdom to proportion the 
 means and the end together-—to make the one ex- 
 actly correspond with the other. The greatness of 
 the one is, usually speaking, the measure of the 
 greatness of the other. As much as there is in the 
 one, so much is there in the other, so much and 
 neither more nor less. And if this principle hold 
 good in the case before us, who can over-estimate, 
 who in their conceptions can ever reach the im¬ 
 portance, the greatness, the magnitude of this one, 
 most simple belief ?—who can over-estimate, who 
 can even make anything more than a mere approach 
 to the magnitude of that belief, for the production 
 of which those mightiest and most magnificent of 
 all things in the language of mortals were expressly 
 written out; for the forming and the feeding of 
 which among the other beliefs of man, as the master 
 and ruling belief in his heart, we have now in our 
 
 O J 
 
 own language the most marvellous of all biographies, 
 the biography of Emmanuel, God with us? No, 
 brethren; that belief, for the production of which 
 in the bosom of a fallen being, such things were all 
 
 O' O 
 
 done and are all recorded-—the doings of a God, 
 His doings on earth, and in the form of his creatures 
 —cannot be a common and ordinary thing. It must 
 be one of the greatest of all things. Arising from 
 
104 
 
 SERMON V. 
 
 things like these, with such a parentage, such a 
 pedigree, this belief, though one of the simplest, must 
 also be one of the sublimest that can enter the mind 
 of man. To call it one of the ordinary inoperative 
 beliefs which usually fill men’s hearts, or rather keep 
 them empty, is to blaspheme it. It is above them 
 all, high even as heaven is above the earth; the 
 greatest of them all, the noblest, the best. Nothing 
 like it ever entered his heart before. Nothing equal 
 to it can ever enter that heart again. Like the 
 materials from which it grows it stands unparalleled, 
 the greatest and most blessed that can be experienced 
 by man on earth. 
 
 II. The same conclusion is warranted not less by 
 what this belief gives rise to, than by what it springs 
 from. Its progeny, as much as its parentage, proves 
 it to be a thing divine—a thing, not of earth, but 
 altogether of heaven, both in respect to nature, ori¬ 
 gin, and end. If it is the child of God’s life on 
 earth; it is the parent of our life with God, a god¬ 
 like life, in heaven. It takes its high and unearth¬ 
 like spring from Emmanuel, God with us ; it has its 
 not less high and unearth-like issue in Emmanelu, 
 Us with God. And, connecting on either side two 
 such things as these, the making of God like man, 
 and the making of man like God ; who can deny it 
 to be a saving thing, a wondrous and wonder-work¬ 
 ing thing, a thing entirely sacred, all divine ? 
 
 How it brings life like this into the soul, how it 
 becomes the parent of such a progeny, will fall to 
 be afterwards considered. But that it does so—the 
 
SERMON V. 
 
 105 
 
 actual fact—no one can deny, with such a passage 
 as this before him. It is written as with a sunbeam 
 on the bosom of this blessed text. The mere read¬ 
 ing of the words, conveys this great intelligence to 
 our ears. “ These things are written that ye might 
 believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God ; 
 and that believing ”—believing what ? what but the 
 fact just mentioned, that Jesus is the Christ, the 
 Son of God ?—“ that believing this ye might have 
 life through his name.” This belief is the end of 
 “ the things writtenthis life is the end of “ the 
 things believed.” These things land us in this be- 
 lief; and this belief lands us in this life. There is 
 no meaning and no certainty in language, if this be 
 not the meaning of the passage, and if this meaning 
 be not infallibly certain. The two things in the 
 extremities of this verse, are linked in close indisso¬ 
 luble union by the hand of God himself; and the 
 belief in the middle is the bond by which he has 
 tied them together. If proper weight be given to 
 the things which are written, we must believe that 
 Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God ; and, believing 
 this, we must as necessarily “ have life through his 
 name”—nay, we have it already, have it in germ, in 
 its incipient state. This life is in this belief, as the 
 bird is in the egg—the oak is in the acorn. Deposit 
 this egg where you will, the living being that is in 
 it—Heaven’s beauteous creature—shall in due time 
 break the shell, and, fully fledged, shall stretch its 
 wing and fly away as an eagle towards heaven. 
 Plant this acorn where you will; and, small and 
 seemingly lifeless though it be, imbedded, too, 
 
106 
 
 SERMON V. 
 
 among rocks and thorns, in an ungenial soil and 
 unkindly clime, yet shall it in due season break the 
 ground ; and, growing up silently and slowly— 
 gathering strength and sturdiness by all that seems 
 to hinder it—seeking support from beneath by its 
 roots, which, unseen by human eye, it strikes deep 
 into the earth; as well as from above by every 
 leaf and twig which drink in the dews of heaven— 
 it shall at last reach the full maturity of its being, 
 and, with its branches shadowing the earth, and its 
 head towering towards heaven, stand confessedly “the 
 monarch of the wood ”—a thing of earth, indeed, but 
 in its annual decay and revival, and its endurance, 
 notwithstanding, for century upon century after the 
 hand that has planted it is in the dust, the earthly 
 emblem at once of the resurrection and of the im¬ 
 mortality of man. Just so it is with this simple be¬ 
 lief—the egg of a more beauteous creature—the 
 acorn of a still nobler tree; a tree of which “ the 
 tree of life ” in the first paradise was but the type, 
 and which, though having its root in such an unge¬ 
 nial soil as the heart of fallen man, and the first 
 stage of its progress in this cold and wintry world, 
 is yet destined to grow and to flourish in that better 
 paradise, which is yet to end as a former opened 
 earth’s eventful history, where, planted “ by the 
 river of the water of life,” its leaf shall not wither; 
 its fruits shall be abundant, and its endurance mea¬ 
 sured only by the years of Him who is the Eternal 
 no less than the Ancient of days, and to whose years 
 there shall be no end. Now, think of this belief 
 orivino; rise to a life like this in the dead soul of 
 
SERMON Y. 
 
 107 
 
 man—the beginnings even now, and the full matu¬ 
 rity hereafter, of such a blessed existence to every 
 poor, lost, withered spirit, into which it is kindly 
 dropped by the hand of the great Husbandman. 
 Think that to every such soul this one simple belief 
 brings first of all, and even at present, life from the 
 death of condemnation ; and next, and as the fruit 
 of this, life from the death in trespasses and sins ; 
 and lastly, and as the glorious consummation of 
 both, life above the region and reach of death alto¬ 
 gether, in the immediate presence of Him who is 
 life itself—life there endless, immortal, all-holy, 
 all-blessed, Christ-like, Godlike—life, higher in its 
 nature than that of angels, for its root is in the 
 God-man, the God that is in man—a life, in fact, 
 which is just a full fellowship in everything—nature, 
 purity, blessedness, endurance—with the Eternal 
 Father himself, and with his Son Jesus Christ, the 
 channel between the great Fountain of being, and us 
 the dependent streams. Think that such a belief is 
 the spring of such a life to every being in whom it 
 exists; and who can deny it to be a saving belief— 
 a sacred, a divine, a Godlike thing? Simple, in¬ 
 deed, it is. Little it looks in eyes, with which out¬ 
 ward bulk is everything. The fool in spiritual mat¬ 
 ters may pass it over as a thing of nought, just as 
 the peasant will the upland mountain rill, little 
 thinking that when it has gathered its tributary 
 waters from a hundred hills and valleys, spreading 
 health, verdure, and beauty everywhere around, it 
 shall in the end measure a continent in its winding- 
 course, and be capable of holding the navies of the 
 
108 
 
 SERMON Y. 
 
 world in its mouth. Yet this belief, find it in what 
 mountain cliff you will, is indeed the very well- 
 spring of eternal life—a spring which, He who once 
 sat on Jacob’s well, and opened it there, lias opened 
 in the sinner’s heart with His own blessed hand. 
 And, opened there, the water which is in it, and 
 which Himself brought down from its fountain in 
 heaven, shall yet “ spring up even to everlasting 
 life refreshing, first of all, the poor heart in which 
 it has been opened, till it make it blossom and bear 
 fruit like the garden of the Lord: it shall stretch its 
 unbroken, ever-swelling course over all earth’s wil¬ 
 derness, and burst out at last in the new and reno¬ 
 vated world, where, troubled and polluted no more, 
 it shall sweep along its endless career, a pure, full 
 tide of blessedness, mingling its waters, whence it 
 drew them, in the unfatliomed boundless ocean of 
 being, the great “ I AM,” the First and the Last, 
 the all in all. 
 
 Oh ! how little can man either span the compass, 
 or sound the depths of such a principle of life and 
 action as this. Here his calculations are all at fault, 
 for he brings them to sound u the deep things of 
 God.” The deepest of all these things, the highest, 
 too, the longest and the broadest, is this one belief, 
 “ That Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God.” Ex¬ 
 pressed in nine brief words, which a child may un¬ 
 derstand, it yet contains a universe of meaning, a 
 universe of truth, and life, and love, and blessedness, 
 which not even an angel’s mind can fully compre¬ 
 hend. Springing from the most wondrous source— 
 God’s own life on earth—it carries in its bosom a 
 
SERMON Y. 
 
 109 
 
 thing little less wonderful, the poor sinner’s life with 
 and like God in heaven. It thus connects, and has 
 in it, the two most wondrous things ever yet seen 
 in the universe of God. Therefore let it not be un¬ 
 dervalued. It is no common, every-day thing. Not 
 the common property of every man, born and bap¬ 
 tized in a Christian land. Most assuredlv it is not. 
 It never filled any heart but the heart of a God- 
 born thing, a child of God. And no heart did it 
 ever fill, without beginning there a Godlike course 
 both of being and of blessedness. It enters that 
 heart, as if it were a visitant from the heavenly world, 
 an angel of light among the empty, ordinary forms 
 of earth, bidding them all give place. It is really 
 such. It comes from heaven. It brings all heaven 
 with it. It sets an infant heaven up in every bosom. 
 It heals it. It hallows it. It ennobles it. It saves 
 it. It makes all things new, and all things blessed. 
 It there begins a new being ; a new course of thought, 
 and feeling, and principle, and action, which, ulti¬ 
 mately refined from the sands of earth, and flowing 
 on through a heavenly channel, wherein it can take 
 no more taint, swells, and widens, and expands for 
 ever in a tide of blessed existence—pure even “ as the 
 river, clear as crystal, which proceedeth out of the 
 throne of God and of the Lamband having no 
 limits to its length and its breadth, but the limits of 
 eternity itself. Oh no ! this belief, this one, simple, 
 elementary, yet all-comprehending belief, is not the 
 ordinary empty nothing which men, in their fancied 
 wisdom, and judging of everything by its outward 
 bulk and show, have presumptuously pronounced it. 
 
110 
 
 SERMON Y. 
 
 It is the sinner’s all. It is to him, the end of death, 
 the beginning of life, the seed or embryo of an 
 endless existence. The elements of heaven are in it. 
 There is at once a universe of truth and a universe 
 of love, and therefore a universe of blessedness, in 
 it,—for God himself is in it, the sinner’s God; that 
 God who is at once light and love, even holy love. 
 And therefore, bringing Him, it brings all that can 
 possibly be either needed or wished for, into the 
 bosom of every poor fallen being, who has only grace 
 to open and take it in. 
 
 Enough has now been said to show that the be¬ 
 lief described in this text is a saving belief. If there 
 be a faith in the world that deserves to be called 
 saving, it is here ; it is this one simple belief, which 
 has God’s life upon earth as the materials out of 
 which it grows and on which it feeds, and our life 
 with, and like God in heaven, as the issue to which 
 it ultimately leads. Many other passages might be 
 adduced bearing out the same conclusion. Those 
 in John, for instance,—“ Whosoever believeth that 
 Jesus is the Christ is born of God.”—1 John v. 1. 
 This one belief makes every man who has it a 
 heaven-born creature, of a family, and with an 
 origin and end high above all on earth, high above 
 angels even,—next in kin to God himself. “ For 
 whatsoever is born of God overcometh the world; 
 and this is the victory that overcometh the world, 
 even our faith. Who is he that overcometh the 
 world, but he that believeth that Jesus is the 
 Son of God?”—1 John, v. 4, 5. Omnipotent belief! 
 
SERMON Y. 
 
 Ill 
 
 which makes every man that has it a conqueror 
 of the world, in an infinitely nobler sense than were 
 any of the warriors either of ancient or modern 
 times. “ And we have seen and do testify that the 
 Father sent the Son to be the Saviour of the world. 
 Whosoever shall confess that Jesus is the Son of 
 God, God dwelleth in him, and he in God.”—1 John, 
 iv. 14, 15. Marvellous belief indeed ! which, when 
 felt and professed, accomplishes the most wondrous 
 thing that can surely ever happen to a fallen being 
 either here or hereafter. It makes that being and 
 the living God mutually to inhabit each other— 
 u him to dwell in God, and God to dwell in him.” 
 Verily this is to be sure of heaven. Nay, it is to 
 be in heaven already. It is even more ; it is to 
 have heaven in him ; for God in him is that. There 
 is sufficient, however, in the text itself for the pur¬ 
 pose in regard to which we have been using it. And 
 having by it, we trust, established this point beyond a 
 doubt—if it is right to talk of a point being, or admit¬ 
 ting of being, established, which is actually expressed 
 in the Word of God—that wherever the belief of the 
 text is, there salvation follows, nay is begun already; 
 w r e have laid the foundation for several important 
 inquiries, which, God willing, we shall afterwards 
 prosecute. Such as, What is this belief ? its nature ; 
 How is it produced ? its author ; and, How does it 
 save ? its influence. Meanwhile, from the point 
 already handled there arises a very solemn' inquiry, 
 involving the highest and dearest interests of every 
 immortal being, and which every one should press 
 upon his own conscience with an earnestness some- 
 
112 
 
 SERMON Y. 
 
 what proportioned to the interests it involves. Have 
 we this simple, precious, all-important belief, com¬ 
 pared with which every other is an empty nothing; 
 having which, we are saved ; wanting which, we 
 are lost? Has this belief filled our bosoms ? Does 
 it actuate and mould our life? Nothing can be 
 more interesting than this inquiry; settling as it 
 does whether we are at this moment among the 
 lost or the saved. Nothing should be more easily 
 determined ; relating as it does to a thing so pecu¬ 
 liar, so great, so fruit-bearing, so distinguished both 
 in its origin and in its issues from all the common 
 beliefs of man. One would think it were as possible 
 to have an angel from heaven inhabiting our house 
 without knowing it, as such a divine belief in our 
 bosom without discovering its presence. He who has 
 it “ is born of God.” Are you ? Are you God-born 
 beings ? He that has it, “ hath overcome the world.” 
 Have you ? Are you loose from its thraldom, and 
 victors over it ? He that has it, “ dwells in God, 
 and God in him.” Is this the case with you ? 
 Know you anything of a communion like this, of 
 such intimacy, such indwelling even with the highest 
 and holiest being in the universe ? Or, to adhere 
 to the test furnished by the text, he that has this 
 belief, has also the life of which it speaks—that 
 high, special, most blessed, endless life, whose out¬ 
 goings are in heaven itself, and throughout eternity. 
 Are you possessed of such a life ? Have you tasted 
 in your souls anything which you could warrantably 
 call u eternal life ”—anything so holy—anything so 
 blessed as this ? Is there anything in you which it 
 
SERMON V. 
 
 113 
 
 would not be impious mockery to call by so high a 
 name ? Is there in you even already, the begin¬ 
 nings, at least, of this most blessed and endless life ? 
 Search and see. For he who wants this life en¬ 
 tirely, also wants entirely this belief. He who is 
 without the one is as surely without the other. 
 "Where there is no such life, there is no such belief. 
 Every soul entirely ignorant of the life of God—the 
 life eternal, is as yet also entirely destitute of this 
 belief, “that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God.” 
 And if he be entirely destitute of even a belief like 
 this, it behoves him very seriously to consider, what 
 in the shape of Christian belief can exist within him? 
 Can there be any thing at all ? Must there not be a 
 total void ? A blank as drear and awful as avowed 
 infidelity itself? If a faith like this be wanting, 
 must not all faith be wanting ? IIow can there be 
 any Christian faith where there is not so much as 
 this—“That Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God?” 
 What is the difference between such a state and 
 absolute, avowed infidelity, except that the one con¬ 
 ceals, or does not see, the other sees, and avows the 
 awful blank—the dreary, cheerless, waste within ? 
 And is this a difference to be much accounted of? 
 Nay, does it not cast any little advantage all on the 
 side of the infidelity which is seen and acknowledged, 
 inasmuch as the want, which is known and acknow¬ 
 ledged, is much more likely to be supplied than the 
 want which, though every whit as great, is all con¬ 
 cealed and unsuspected. Ah! it is to be greatly 
 feared that thousands practise a ruinous delusion on 
 themselves, in thinking that though they have not 
 
 H 
 
114 
 
 SERMON V. 
 
 the right faith, or to the right degree, the faith that 
 saves, they have, at least some faith—faith of a cer¬ 
 tain kind, and to a certain extent—they have what 
 has been called historical faith, for instance, and 
 which, though not enough, is yet better than no¬ 
 thing. This dim, indistinct, imperfect faith, is 
 something they think between them and the yawn¬ 
 ing awful blank of total infidelity; something which 
 makes them at least safer than if they had been 
 born and bred in absolute heathenism—something 
 which has the rudiments of good in it, of all they 
 need, in fact, and which, when some fit of sickness 
 or seriousness comes upon them, -when some of the 
 great realities of eternity present themselves with 
 more than ordinary power and nearness, will some 
 way or other be quickened, strengthened, vivified, 
 into the real, substantial saving faith. Thus this 
 imaginary, traditionary, shadowy faith hides from 
 their eye the awful blank that is in them, and, thin 
 and insufficient though it be, lies as a flattering 
 unction on their soul. Oh, it is a sad delusion. 
 Surely the belief before us is the most initial, the 
 most elementary of all belief, it is the most alpha¬ 
 betical of all—the very alphabet of Christianity— 
 nay, the very alpha, the very first letter of that 
 alphabet. It begins the whole of Christianity. 
 Where this is wanting, every thing must be wanting. 
 He who does not even believe so much as this, 
 “that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God,” believes 
 nothing, absolutely nothing, of Christianity, not even 
 its first syllable, its first letter. He has nothing in 
 his heart in the shape of Christian faith at all; not a 
 
SEIOION V. 
 
 115 
 
 particle, not a shred, not a shadow, not even the sha¬ 
 dow of a shade. A profession, a sound, a name there 
 may be ; but excepting these, which, in the eye of 
 God and in the light of eternity, are nothing, he has 
 no more of faith, if he wants the belief before us, than 
 an infidel, a heathen, a Chinese, a man who never 
 so much as heard the name of Jesus. Between the 
 want of this belief and entire total infidelity, there is 
 no midway—no standing room—there is absolutely 
 nothing—in either case there is a total absence of all 
 belief. The one avows the want—the other tries to 
 conceal it. This is all the difference. Notwith¬ 
 standing of this difference—which is something in the 
 eye of man, nothing in the eye of God—they stand, 
 in point of fact, on the same dead level. They are 
 both without the shadow of belief. The spirit of 
 the one, as much as the spirit of the other, is un¬ 
 protected by a single shred, is without a covering, 
 is absolutely naked before the great God, and in 
 reference to the great eternity. Without this life, 
 we are without this belief—without this belief, we 
 are infidel. 
 
116 
 
 SERMON VI. 
 
 SERMON VI. 
 
 FAITH—ITS NATURE. 
 
 u But these are written, that ye might believe that Jesus is the 
 Christ, the Son of God ; and that believing ye might have life 
 through his name.” —John, xx. 31. 
 
 We have seen in last discourse, that whatever 
 the belief mentioned in this passage may be in it¬ 
 self, it is, at all events, what is commonly termed 
 saving faith. There is no faith, entitled to such a 
 name, if it be not the belief which these things were 
 written to produce, and which, when produced, 
 issues in such a life. Whether we consider its 
 source, or its issue ; what it arises from, or wdiat it 
 leads to ; what has been recorded for the purpose 
 of awakening it, or what, whenever or wherever 
 awakened, it introduces into the sinner’s heart; 
 there can be no room to doubt that this one belief 
 is the very thing, and the only thing, which places 
 the spirit possessing it among the number of the 
 saved. Having this it lives, and shall live for ever 
 —wanting this, it is still dead, and liable even to 
 eternal death. 
 
 This being the case, there arises a very important 
 and interesting question, what is this belief ? what 
 is its true, real, and proper nature ? 
 
 On this point our minds are extremely apt to be 
 
SERMON VI. 
 
 117 
 
 misled from the truth, by the considerations which 
 have led us to adopt the conclusion already men¬ 
 tioned. Both the sources and the issues of this 
 belief are so truly great; the materials out of which 
 the Almighty Spirit works it, and the results to every 
 immortal soul in which it is inwrought, are so very 
 magnificent, that one can scarcely resist the natural 
 inference, that the thing itself must be equally vast 
 and magnificent. TV r e naturally expect to find that 
 what springs from such wonderful causes, and gives 
 rise to such blessed consequences, must entirely 
 differ in its nature, and greatly transcend all that 
 men are familiar with in common life. Confounding 
 the thing believed, which alone is great, with the 
 belief itself, all the magnitude of the former is at¬ 
 tached to the latter, and we therefore expect to find 
 in it something quite extraordinary, and out of the 
 common course of things. 
 
 Hence it is, that in so many of the systems of 
 men, belief or faith—for the word is one—is made 
 one of the most abstruse, mysterious, and compli¬ 
 cated of things; a thing which numbers have lost 
 themselves in attempting to explain, and still 
 more have lost themselves in attempting to follow 
 them. It is supposed to comprehend an endless 
 variety of things, almost every thing, indeed, in the 
 •ompass of religion ; this feeling plainly lying at the 
 'oot of all such opinions, that it would be irrational 
 )r dangerous to attach so vast a blessing as eternal 
 fife to any thing so simple, so slim, we might say, 
 as belief or faith in the common acceptation of the 
 term. Before it would be safe or right to suspend 
 
11 8 
 
 SERMON VI. 
 
 on it, and on it alone, a consequence so immense 
 and blessed, it must be made a vast and wonderful 
 thing, one in name, yet every thing in nature. The 
 feeling which has led to this magnifying of faith is 
 the same with that to which Naaman’s servants so 
 naturally referred, when, on his being offended at 
 the seeming impotence of the means presented for 
 his cure, they said to him, “My Father, if the pro¬ 
 phet had bid thee to do some great thing , wouldst 
 thou not have done it ? how much rather then wdien 
 lie saith unto thee, wash and be clean!” Every 
 one feels, that for the cure of a great disease, there 
 must be a remedy proportionally great, that to at¬ 
 tain a blessing so vast as the life or salvation of our 
 souls, some means must be prescribed which bear 
 some proportion to it in point of vastness. Accor¬ 
 dingly, when the one simple prescription is, “ Believe 
 in the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved 
 or, as in the text, “ that believing ye might have life 
 through his name not thinking on the Lord Jesus 
 Christ himself, on “ His name,” or character and 
 work, as the all-important thing in the prescription, 
 but fixing attention mainly, if not exclusively, on 
 the believing, as if all the charm and the potency lay 
 in this, a kind of necessity is laid upon men to mag¬ 
 nify this into “ some great thing,” which all must 
 do in order to be saved. Keeping out of view en¬ 
 tirely, or, at least, not viewing sufficiently the truly 
 “ great thing,” the only great thing which enters 
 into the cure of our spiritual leprosy, even the fact 
 —not the belief itself, but the fact we are to believe, 
 the greatest ever expressed in words, “ that Jesus is 
 
SERMON VI. 
 
 119 
 
 the Christ, the Son of God,” or, which is the same 
 thing, that this man Jesus is in truth Jehovah him¬ 
 self come down to the sinner’s place and form, to be 
 the Saviour of the w T orld; keeping this great fact 
 much if not entirely out of view, the part prescribed 
 to the sinner has insensibly been allowed to take its 
 place ; the sinner’s belief has taken the place of the 
 Saviour’s person and the Saviour’s work; that be¬ 
 lief, not this person and work, has become the great 
 thing in the matter of salvation; and, consequently, a 
 necessity has been felt, and very naturally, to mag¬ 
 nify exceedingly the act of man, which has thus 
 taken the place of the act of Christ, and to ascribe 
 the importance which belongs exclusively to the fact 
 in our text, to the mere belief of this fact, a thing 
 which in reality has no other importance or magni¬ 
 tude, except what its object—the grand fact before 
 us, gives it. The real and the only magnitude in 
 this matter, which lies entirely in the outward ob¬ 
 ject, in the things believed, in the great facts about 
 God—His incarnation in the nature of man—His 
 death in the room of the guilty—His resurrection to 
 prove his work, as the Messiah, finished, and man’s 
 redemption complete, has in human perversity been 
 withdrawn from these, and made to consist in the 
 inward thing, in man’s own act, in his act of mere 
 belief, which, in point of fact, is nothing but these 
 outward, all-glorious objects impressing and filling 
 his mind as realities, as certain substantial things. 
 Thus, the attention and the confidence of sinners 
 have, undesignedly and unconsciously perhaps, yet 
 really and effectually, been withdrawn from the 
 
120 
 
 SERMON YI. 
 
 Saviour himself, and the Saviour’s doings, which 
 are the sinner’s all in all; and they have been fixed 
 on the sinner himself, and on his own feelings and 
 acts, which are never more genuinely scriptural and 
 right than when they do not attract the slightest 
 regards to themselves at all, when they leave nothing 
 in the eye of the mind, nothing in the whole sphere 
 of vision but the all-glorious Saviour himself, and 
 His all-glorious work for the salvation of sinners. 
 Faith, which is a nonentity, a mere nothing, apart 
 and away from its object, which gives it all its being 
 just as the substance does the shadow, has in human 
 systems often been made so large and vast a thing, 
 as to cover entirely up from view the blessed 
 Saviour himself. It has been drawn as a thick and 
 a figured screen, between the eye of the dying sinner 
 and the Cross of his dying Lord. And occupied 
 with it, with it chiefly, if not alone—searching for 
 it, examining it, testing it, proving its properties and 
 qualities—engrossed wrth this, alas ! the thing be¬ 
 hind it, heaven’s highest wonder, man’s only means 
 of health—the Cross of the Eedeemer, Emmanuel’s 
 dying love has been but faintly seen, if seen at all. 
 Lifted up upon the Cross, in order to draw all men 
 to Him, multitudes have perished within sight of this 
 only saving object, busied as they have perversely 
 been, during their little hour of grace, in thinking, 
 not of Him, but of the eyes with which they were 
 to look to him. Expecting and seeking the great 
 thing in themselves, they have missed seeing the 
 only great thing which has ever appeared in our 
 fallen world, even Christ himself, the Son of the 
 
SERMON VI. 
 
 121 
 
 living God, the only Saviour of the world. Occu¬ 
 pied with the shadow, the substance has been lost. 
 
 Leaving the laboured and complex theories of 
 men, and betaking ourselves with docile minds to 
 the Word of God alone, we shall be struck with the 
 simple light in which faith, or belief, is there set out 
 to every eye. The complexity, indeed, in which it 
 is involved in human systems, stands so strikingly 
 contrasted with the absolute simplicity which belongs 
 to it in sacred Scripture, that in passing from the 
 one to the other, we seem as if we had made our 
 escape from the heart of some wild trackless forest, 
 where we were bewildered and lost, to the clear open 
 table-land, where the beaten highway lies before 
 us, with not a stone in it on which our feet can 
 stumble, nor a tree beside it to obstruct the view, 
 and with the light of heaven beaming so brightly on 
 it, “ that the way-faring man, though simple, shall 
 not err therein/’ In the text, and everywhere else 
 in the Word of God, it seems to us that belief is one 
 and the same thing, never more, and never less. It 
 is nothing else than seeing a thing to be true. It is 
 that thing entering and filing the mind, as true, 
 not false. The thing, in its real nature and proper 
 character, effecting its entrance, and establishing 
 itself among the active principles of the soul, as a 
 reality, a substantial indubitable truth. The thins 
 as it really is—what it is, and all it is—felt by the 
 mind, and filling and influencing the mind, as a cer¬ 
 tainty—a real, substantial, existing thing. This is 
 belief. This is belief in common life and common 
 language. This is also belief in the language 
 
 v-. (J O 
 
122 
 
 SERMON VI. 
 
 of Scripture, which, it should never be forgotten, 
 is just the common language of man, applied to 
 uncommon, sacred things. God used the ordinary 
 language which he found in use among men, when 
 he wished to reveal his mind to his fallen crea¬ 
 tures. As He intended not to mislead them, but 
 to make the most illiterate of them all thoroughly 
 understand his meaning, He used that ordinary 
 language in its ordinary and most obvious sense, 
 just as it then was, and still is, used among men. 
 And as belief then was, and still is, in all common 
 matters, mere belief—for a plainer or more intelli¬ 
 gible word cannot be found as a substitute for it— 
 mere belief, and nothing else—belief, and neither 
 more nor less ; as in ordinary phraseology, to believe 
 any thing means, universally, in every language, and 
 all over the earth, merely and no more than to per¬ 
 ceive that thing to be a true or real thing—to per¬ 
 ceive that thing, the thing itself, not another, or 
 different, or similar thing, but the very thing in its 
 proper nature and character, to be real and true ; 
 God, when he employs this term in his blessed Word, 
 intends us to take it just in this sense, and in no 
 other—intends to mean by it, that we receive into 
 our minds as truths, as certainties, as real substan¬ 
 tial things, whatsoever it is spoken of. To every 
 simple, unlettered reader of the text, how plain is 
 it that the belief of which it speaks, and of which 
 such great things are spoken, is, after all, used in the 
 sense now mentioned, in this sense alone, and no 
 other. In this passage there is something which 
 undeniably affixes to it this simple meaning—this, 
 
SERMON VI. 
 
 123 
 
 to the exclusion of every other. It is used in both 
 
 •/ 
 
 branches of the text, without the slightest hint of its 
 having changed its meaning in passing from the one 
 to the other—of its having either dropped or ac¬ 
 quired any thing in the transition. The two clauses 
 are, indeed, so obviously and inseparably knit to¬ 
 gether. that to suppose any change of meaning in a 
 word used in both—used in the same breath—used 
 in the one place with an express reference to the 
 other, would be to destroy the certainty of language 
 altogether, and to make the Word of God, instead 
 of being the plainest and the surest, the most uncer¬ 
 tain and misleading thing on earth. In each of the 
 clauses, then, the word means the same. Now, in 
 the first, its meaning is determined beyond a doubt. 
 There it is used in a sense obvious, in a single 
 moment, to every reader—the most ignorant and 
 most learned alike. But these are written that 
 ye might believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of 
 God.” How can the meaning here be missed or 
 mistaken ? How can it be doubted or denied ? 
 What meaning is it possible to attach to it but this, 
 that we perceive and credit the statement here made 
 concerning Jesus as true—as not a false or even 
 doubtful statement, but a true and indubitable one ? 
 Here, to believe, is neither more nor less than to 
 perceive the certainty of what is here affirmed con¬ 
 cerning Jesus of Nazareth. It is to receive into our 
 minds the information here communicated concern¬ 
 ing Him as “ a truth and no lie.” It is to perceive 
 that this same Jesus is neither more nor less than 
 what He is declared to be; that he is all the words 
 
124 
 
 SERMON VI. 
 
 before us mean—-just that, all that, neither more 
 nor less than that; that it is an actual, positive 
 truth, “ that He is the Christ, the Son of God ”—this, 
 whatever this may be, as really and truly this, as 
 we are really and truly men, really and truly sin¬ 
 ners. Most obviously, this is the only sense of the 
 word as used in the first branch of the text—this, 
 and none other. And if it be so, this also, and this 
 only, must of necessity be the meaning attached to 
 it in the second. For in the second, it plainly refers 
 to its use in the first, and must, therefore, have the 
 same meaning and nothing else. It is a mere re¬ 
 petition of the same word, and in the same sense. 
 The unbroken reading of the clauses assures us of 
 this. “ But these are written that ye might believe 
 that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that 
 believing ”—believing what and how ? Why, just be¬ 
 lieving what had been mentioned but the moment 
 before—this one thing, and in this one way—be¬ 
 lieving that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God. ye 
 might have life through his name.” So that did 
 this passage stand alone, as it certainly does not, it 
 is so explicit and so decisive that we would hold the 
 conclusion established, beyond the possibility of being 
 shaken, that the belief or faith which, on the one 
 side, has all the things constituting God’s life in our 
 nature and world, as the materials out of which it 
 springs, and which, on the other side, has our life 
 in the nature and world of God, as the glorious 
 issue to which it certainly leads, is, after all, and 
 notwithstanding these, its so high and unearthlike 
 springs, and its scarcely less high and unearthlike 
 
SERMON VI. 
 
 125 
 
 issues, just belief, and nothing more—mere, bare 
 belief of that glorious truth—nothing else. 
 
 There are many kindred passages where the word 
 obviously means the same thing—can mean nothing 
 else. These two, for example, out of one chapter, 
 in 1 John v. 1 and 5, “ Whosoever believeth that 
 Jesus is the Christ is born of God.”—“Who is he 
 that overcometh the world, but he that believeth 
 that Jesus is the Son of God V’ There are two 
 striking facts, indeed, which cannot be otherwise 
 accounted for but on the supposition that the sense 
 now ascribed to the word, is that in which it is uni¬ 
 formly employed in the Word of God. The first is, 
 that the inspired writers nowhere think it necessary 
 to define the sense in wdiieh they are ever using this 
 term. This could hardly have been the case had 
 they used it in any sense peculiar to themselves—in 
 any new or special sense. It seems necessarily to 
 imply that they employed it with that meaning, and 
 that meaning only, which it uniformly bears when 
 used in the Ian2:ua2:e of common life. To have used 
 it in a different acceptation without telling us what 
 this is, and without giving any warning or hint of 
 the circumstance, would have certainly been to mis¬ 
 lead their readers. The second fact is, that w r e 
 never hear of persons in primitive times being at 
 any loss or in any perplexity about the nature of 
 faith. None wdio heard the Apostles preach, or 
 who read their Epistles, seem to have ha^l any diffi¬ 
 culty to understand what the belief is of which they 
 were continually speaking and writing. The in¬ 
 quiries awakened by apostolic preaching were all of 
 
126 
 
 SERMON VI. 
 
 one kind, and very different from the inquiries 
 awakened in modern times. They were not as 
 often now, do I believe aright ? is my belief of the 
 right kind, or to the right degree ? But, are these 
 things so ? are the tidings you bring us really true ? 
 do they correspond with the Old Testament Scrip¬ 
 tures ? do they agree with fact ? are they actual sub¬ 
 stantial things, and what are the evidences of their 
 being so ? This could scarcely have been the case 
 had they used the term in the text in any sense pe¬ 
 culiar to themselves. In that case the perplexities 
 and inquiries would have related not to the truth of 
 the tidings but to the nature, properties, and evi¬ 
 dences of the faith itsejjf, as they almost uniformly 
 do in modern times, when the expression is so often 
 used in a special sense, and a sense peculiarly com¬ 
 plex. These two facts together are conclusive 
 evidence that the belief in the Word of God 
 is one—one and the same throughout, the same 
 as it is in common language and common life; 
 is just belief, mere belief, that and neither more 
 nor less, that and nothing else. And this being 
 so, one thing very obviously arises out of it, and 
 cannot be too constantly kept in mind. There is no 
 charm, no spell, no peculiar excellence, or virtue, or 
 power in the belief itself—in the mere act of our 
 own mind by which we receive God’s testimony 
 concerning his Son. In this act there is neither 
 mystery nor merit. All the mystery and the merit 
 lie not in the belief but in the things believed. And 
 to account for the salvation of any sinner we must 
 look entirely away from that act of his by which he 
 
SERMON VI. 
 
 127 
 
 receives the truth, and in which there is by itself*, 
 and apart from the truth, nothing special and no¬ 
 thing meriting, to the truth itself, to the great reali¬ 
 ties concerning Jesus, His acts and doings alone, in 
 which all the merit and all the efficacy lie. From 
 the belief in us, considered in itself, we must look 
 as entirely away as from any thing and every thing 
 else that is ours. And Christ himself, Christ alone, 
 his person, character, and work for sinners, must 
 stand out singly and solitarily, not only as above 
 every thing, but to the exclusion of every thing else 
 in the matter of our salvation—its one only cause, 
 our only foundation of hope, our only ground of 
 rejoicing. 
 
 II. We advance a step farther, and say that the 
 belief in our text, from which such blessed conse¬ 
 quences follow, is the belief of a plain, precise, defi¬ 
 nite proposition or truth. 
 
 All truth, indeed, revealed by God to us, is the 
 object of this faith. The mind which really receives 
 as true the statement made concerning Jesus in the 
 text, will receive, likewise, every other statement 
 which is made concerning Him in the Word of 
 God, so soon as it perceives it to be so made. For 
 all truth emanates from the same source, rests on 
 the same authority, and relates ultimately, more or 
 less closely, to the one grand object which the text 
 presents to the mind. It is not without its use, how¬ 
 ever, to remark, that while the faith which is 
 wrought by the Spirit of God in any fallen crea¬ 
 ture’s heart, will embrace all Divine truth, in all its 
 
128 
 
 SERMON VI. 
 
 latitude and depth, whenever discovered; there is 
 one department of that truth, one branch of it, to 
 which, as being the root or germ, the sum and sub¬ 
 stance of all the rest, it has an especial reference, 
 and with which it is principally occupied. This re¬ 
 lates to Christ himself, “ the Truth,” the sum and 
 substance of all saving truth; and in the text it is 
 all comprehended in a single proposition, which— 
 though properly speaking, it implies every thing 
 else, every thing else may be found in it and drawn 
 from it—is the proposition which the faith of the 
 sinner receives as true, and receiving which as true 
 that sinner is saved. 
 
 The belief in question is, then, the belief of a pro¬ 
 position or truth which it is as possible to express 
 in words as any other proposition in history or in 
 common life. It is a proposition which actually is so 
 expressed in the text, expressed so briefly that eight 
 short words contain it all, and so plainly, that a child 
 may be made to understand it, u that He who runs 
 may read.” It is a proposition or truth which lies 
 in the page of history like any other whatsoever; 
 only it is in the history of God’s doings, not man’s 
 —in the Biography of the Great Creator, not his 
 petty fallen creature. It is, therefore, a proposition 
 which may properly be termed historical; for it re¬ 
 lates to an occurrence which happened in the his¬ 
 tory of this present world, as other historical facts 
 have done, and it may be and is established by out¬ 
 ward historical evidence, though not by that alone. 
 It is one which is true in itself, independent of our 
 believing it, before we believe it, and whether we 
 
SERMON VI. 
 
 129 
 
 believe it or not; which is true to all alike, and 
 would be blessed to all alike were their eyes and 
 hearts but opened to admit it in all its meaning 
 and fulness. It is a proposition which man neither 
 makes, nor modifies, nor adds to, in any respect or 
 degree whatever. But finding it already existing 
 in the page of Scripture, where it has stood for 
 eighteen hundred years, complete in itself, perfect, 
 common to all and free, with the life and blessed¬ 
 ness of an entire fallen world in its bosom, over 
 which it is stretched like the bow of promise, or 
 down on whose inhabitants it is ever ready, like a 
 second sun, to shed its life-giving beams; finding it 
 so existing in our horizon, man, each and all alike, 
 is welcome to admit into his bosom all the healing 
 and heavenly influence with which it is fraught, and 
 which he does actually admit, by simply admitting 
 itself, as a certain indubitable truth, in its fulness 
 of meaning and fulness of grace. 
 
 That there is such a plain, precise, announceable 
 proposition, which it is life to believe; and what 
 this proposition is, our text itself is sufficient evi¬ 
 dence. It lies in it. It is announced, and is to be 
 found in the letters, syllables, and words of which 
 it consists. Strange! that it should so often have met 
 both our eyes and our ears, and not long ere this 
 have opened the glories of heaven on the one, and 
 poured all its melody into the other. Strange! that 
 we should have crossed it and recrossed it an hun¬ 
 dred times, with many such places in the "Word of 
 God, and yet, perhaps, have never discovered the 
 treasure that is hid in such a field. Yet here it is, 
 
 i 
 
130 
 
 SERMON YT. 
 
 plain as the words of man, plain even as the words 
 of God can express it. “ These are written, that ye 
 might believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of 
 God; and that believing”—believing what? what 
 but the proposition just announced, the statement 
 about Jesus, that He is the Christ, the Son of God. 
 nothing else than this, neither more nor less than 
 this—“ that believing this ye might have life through 
 his name.” Language has no meaning and no cer¬ 
 tainty if this be not the meaning of the passage, 
 and if this meaning be not certain, indubitable. It 
 is hardly possible to conceive a form of words which 
 could assert the point we are now maintaining, if 
 this passage does not assert it. It seems to be 
 asserted here, beyond the possibility of either mis¬ 
 apprehension or denial. The words, read together, 
 express it so natively and obviously that we cannot 
 but be astonished at any reader, lettered or unlet¬ 
 tered, not finding it here. It lies so much upon the 
 surface, that the most careless eye can scarcely fail 
 to find it, and find it at once. TChile it is also 
 wrought so much into its whole texture, that should 
 perverted ingenuity attempt to extract and remove 
 it, the passage would fall into a heap of meaningless 
 ruins. Here, then, is the one proposition, the belief 
 of which—that is, the intelligent perception of whose 
 truth or reality—is the saving of our souls, the sav¬ 
 ing of the worst and wickedest spirit now on earth. 
 Here, before our eyes, in a compass strikingly brief, 
 in language extremely simple, in the language in 
 which God himself has chosen to express it, and 
 which any mind, simple as that of a little child, 
 
SERMON VI. 
 
 131 
 
 may understand—here, in its nakedness, its single¬ 
 ness, its unencumbered simplicity, stands beaming 
 out on every eye, that blessed Truth, the essence of 
 all other—the sum of Heaven’s benignity and grace 
 to sinners, which, whoso believes, lives for ever— 
 which once understood in the fulness of its mean¬ 
 ing, and perceived to be an indubitable certainty, 
 brings life, yea, life everlasting, into every spirit 
 now “ dead in trespasses and sins.” This truth is 
 conveyed in common language, and speedily pro¬ 
 nounced. “ Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God!” 
 It is brief and simple in the extreme. It bulks little 
 in the eye of man. And it lias sounded so long in 
 his ear, as with many to have lost nearly all its 
 meaning, and to be often passed over as if it were a 
 thing of nought, by those who are ever in quest of 
 great and glaring objects. Yet, assuredly, it is not a 
 thing of nought, nor a common, unmeaning, trifling, 
 inefficient truth. On the contrary, it is the truth of 
 truths, the greatest in language, with the weight of 
 which language sinks, and the thoughtful mind is 
 overpowered. The life of all our souls, of all the 
 souls within this fallen world, their present and 
 endless life, is in this one truth, so familiar to our 
 lips and ears, so speedily pronounced and heard. 
 This life, each and all might draw" in and enjoy for 
 ever, by simply taking in the full meaning of this 
 one truth into their understanding, and its absolute 
 certainty and infinite grace into their hearts. The 
 discovery of its real import, and the clear perception 
 of its absolute truth, its indubitable certainty, would 
 put every heart within this fallen universe in posses- 
 
132 
 
 SERMON VI. 
 
 sion of life eternal—life in its beginnings now, in its 
 fulness hereafter. Oh the grace! the blessedness! the 
 nearness and the freeness of life in this universe of 
 death ! The very fountain is opened in the midst of it, 
 though blinded by the god of this world it sees it not. 
 It is here, within sight, within reach, at the side of us 
 all, and for the use of us all. A whole universe, a 
 universe now death-doomed, w r ould live at once and 
 for ever, did they but understand the full glorious 
 meaning of these few words, and perceive that they 
 stated a certain fact, a God’s truth—“ Jesus is the 
 Christ, the Son of God.”' This one truth, through 
 the power of the great quickening Spirit, impreg¬ 
 nating the inert mass of night, and death, and chaos, 
 which is man’s wmrld now, would bring even out of 
 such ruins a world of light, and life, and order, and 
 beauty, compared with which, that material one 
 which in the beginning came fresh and fair from its 
 Maker’s hand, and impressed all over with its 
 Maker’s image, was after all but the faintest type. 
 
 There are many other passages which state as 
 distinctly and briefly as our text does, the proposi¬ 
 tion or truth, or (to express it more accurately) the 
 system of facts which, received into the mind and 
 heart in their proper character and moral import as 
 truths, not fancies or notions, but as facts, as substan¬ 
 tial realities, fill them with life, with a full and free 
 salvation. Take but one as a specimen :—“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 shalt believe in thine heart that God raised him 
 
SERMON VI. 
 
 133 
 
 tip from the dead , thou shalt be saved.”—Rom. x. 8, 9. 
 Here, again, as if written with a sunbeam, is the thing 
 ■which if any man, understanding its full meaning, be¬ 
 lieves to be true, he shall be saved. And this thing is 
 one and single-—not many but one. It is a plain, ob¬ 
 vious, outward, intelligible thing. Not one of the 
 unsearchable mysteries up in heaven, which even 
 no angel’s eye can fully explore ; nor one of the 
 almost equally hidden mysteries of man’s own heart, 
 whose movements and actings are often as dark and 
 untraceable as hell itself. No, it is one of the open, 
 outstanding, visible facts in this world’s recorded 
 history, the wrnrld which we inhabit, and see, and are 
 so familiar with. It is one of those outward, noon¬ 
 day occurrences which once happened on its surface, 
 in the light of heaven, in the eyes of men, in the 
 sight of "witnesses who were counted by hundreds— 
 an event which their eyes beheld, as really as ours 
 now do, these heavens and this earth, and which with 
 one consent they proclaimed with their lips, and at¬ 
 tested by their lives and deaths, as if they at least 
 knew full well -what was its blessed import, and were 
 convinced that the life of a fallen race lay virtually in¬ 
 closed therein. It is just an open, authentic, accre¬ 
 dited fact, which has its place in this world’s outer his¬ 
 tory, like any other fact; though in meaning sur¬ 
 mounting them all, as heaven does earth—eclipsing 
 them all as the sun on rising does the mvriads of stars. 
 It is a fact which has its place in history, just as the 
 birth and death of Adam have ; as the making of the 
 ■world or the deluge has ; which measures back from 
 
 O 7 
 
 this eighteen hundred years, and there you find it— 
 
134 
 
 SERMON VI. 
 
 find its exact locality, the place, the hour, the ac¬ 
 companying circumstances in which it occurred ; 
 which, in short, differs from no other fact in the 
 whole line of history, except in point of meaning and 
 importance, except that in it lie wrapt up the ful¬ 
 ness of God’s love, the completion of man’s redemp¬ 
 tion, all heaven’s plans of mercy, all our hopes of 
 happiness. It is none other than Christ’s resurrec¬ 
 tion from the dead by the power of his Father—the 
 resurrection of Him who had died in the room of 
 sinners, “ the just for the unjust, to bring us unto 
 God.” This one fact believed, believed with the heart , 
 for no way else can such a fact, with a world of 
 such moral meaning in it. be ever believed—believed, 
 not with the Ups, a mere profession, nor with the head , 
 a mere assent, but in the heart , the innermost recesses 
 of our being, as what addresses itself to them all, 
 affects and fills them all as the most vital and ex¬ 
 pressive of all realities—believed so as to constrain 
 both the mouth and the life to confess Him, to whom 
 the fact relates, as u the Lord Jesus Christ,” the 
 Saviour and Lord of all; this one fact, so believed, 
 has a full salvation with it, or rather in it, and 
 wherever it enters as a reality itself, brings this 
 precious blessing along with it, and deposits it there. 
 Go where we will over the whole earth, “ to Green¬ 
 land’s icy mountains, to Afric’s burning sands,” to 
 the farthest east, to the remotest west, and find out 
 the most degraded, ignorant, sunken member of all 
 our race, could we but succeed in conveying to his 
 dark, barbarian mind a full conception of what this 
 one fact presupposes and implies—it is not under- 
 
SERMON VI. 
 
 135 
 
 stood otherwise, it is not the fact, but only something 
 like it,—even to him we would be warranted to say, 
 therefore to each of you, to all our race, “ If thou 
 shalt believe in thine heart that God raised Him”— 
 the Christ who died as the substitute of sinners— 
 “ raised Him from the dead,” if thou shalt believe 
 this, and just this, “ thou shalt be saved !” It was, 
 in truth, just this, and the other facts implied in and 
 essential to this, that the Apostles, to whom the 
 ministry of reconciliation was first entrusted, did 
 actually say wherever they went; and it was just 
 because of their saying this, because their whole 
 ministry was made up of sayings like this, that it 
 was everywhere the means of accomplishing such 
 miracles of saving grace. They proclaimed these 
 facts in all their meaning, and with all their evidence, 
 wherever they went; and, in consequence of this, 
 life waited on their steps, it sprang up in souls at 
 every point of their progress. Their whole ministry 
 was just the proclamation and establishment of such 
 facts as these; it consisted entirely of these, and of 
 nothing else, as the sermon of Peter on the day of 
 Pentecost, that of Paul in the synagogue of Antioch, 
 and every other precious relict of apostolic preach¬ 
 ing preserved in the book of Acts, do so amply testify; 
 not of human theories, nor laboured reasonings, nor 
 ingenious disquisitions, nor nice points of doctrine, 
 but of historical facts, plain, solid, substantial, all¬ 
 meaning facts—the incarnation of God, His life on 
 earth, His death for sinners, His resurrection from 
 the dead, and every thing else essential to his cha- 
 
136 
 
 SERMON YI. 
 
 racter as the Christ, the Son of God, and to the 
 work which in this character; He came down from 
 heaven to perform. These things they announced 
 as facts ; facts as sure as the making of the world or 
 the fall of man ; facts full of all heaven’s love, and 
 of all man’s salvation. And as if these were all— 
 they are all, when rightly understood and really be¬ 
 lieved—on the ground of these, these alone, without 
 any supplement, or addition, or doing on the side of 
 man, they lifted up their voice like a trumpet, and 
 proclaimed —proclaimed as heralds do at the market¬ 
 place in the name of majesty—free forgiveness and 
 eternal life to all who had ears to hear, to all who 
 would receive their tidings and take the blood-bought 
 blessings freely in. Oh that something of their 
 spirit were poured out on all who are ministers of 
 Christ in the present day, that they might rightly 
 know their high office and benignant work, that of 
 heralds, heralds of heaven’s love to this fallen world! 
 Oh that going forth in Divine simplicity, in the sim¬ 
 plicity of the Galilean fishermen again, in heaven’s 
 holiness, heaven’s grace, heaven’s strength alone, they 
 might just set forth, as in “the beginning of the Gos¬ 
 pel,” and in God’s own light, all the facts of God— 
 those facts in which He has written out the story of 
 His love to sinners in characters so large, so plain, so 
 bright, that they may be read from the ends of the 
 earth! And on these facts, these facts by themselves, 
 and alone—not the feelings, the actings, the doings 
 of man; no, but on the grand doings of the Lord 
 alone, stand in the midst of a dying world, and, as 
 
SERMON VI. 
 
 337 
 
 2 iien who know they have -words of life upon their 
 lips 5 might “ publish peace ! publish salvation !” Souls 
 innumerable starting into life on the hearing of these 
 good news, would everywhere rise up and exclaim, 
 “ How beautiful on the mountains are the feet of 
 those that bring glad tidings of good things!” 
 
138 
 
 SERMON VII. 
 
 SERMON VII. 
 
 FAITH-ITS NATURE. 
 
 “ But these are written, that ye might believe that Jesus 
 is the Christ, the Son of God; and that believing ye might have 
 life through his name.”'— John, xx. 3J. 
 
 Continuing the subject introduced in last dis¬ 
 course, we remark,— 
 
 III. In the third place, that while the belief 
 spoken of in this passage—that which gives eternal 
 life to every soul in which it exists—is, notwith¬ 
 standing, mere belief; and the mere belief of a pre¬ 
 cise announceable proposition, or rather of a system 
 of open historical facts, of which the proposition in 
 the text concerning Jesus is the nucleus or germ ; 
 yet such a proposition or truth has no resemblance 
 to, and must not be confounded with, a mere dry, 
 barren, speculative notion. It differs as widely as 
 can well be imagined from all those bald, abstract, 
 sapless notions with which men have sometimes con¬ 
 founded it, and which bring up no living person 
 before the mind as the object of our confidence and 
 love, and therefore neither fill the heart nor influence 
 the life. The truth before us, to which this belief 
 especially refers, is not a cold abstraction, which, 
 like some mathematical proposition, may be admit- 
 
SER3I0N Til. 
 
 130 
 
 ted .into the understanding without stirring one single 
 affection of the heart; nor is it like some historical 
 facts, some facts in the history of other countries or 
 of former times, which we may perceive to be true 
 without being at all affected by them, without being 
 made either the better or the worse, more or less 
 happy, without being warmed either into love or 
 hatred. Men have confounded it with such; and 
 hence their fear at reducing faith to mere belief, and 
 the belief of a truth or proposition which it is as 
 possible to express in words as any other in human 
 science or in profane history. But the proposition 
 to which this belief refers, and of which this belief 
 is just the full perception in its meaning and its 
 truth, differs entirely from every thing of the de¬ 
 scription now referred to. It may, indeed, be as 
 truly called a proposition—a proposition about an 
 outward historical fact—as any other wdiich our 
 language contains. But in this respect it is unlike 
 to most, it is .superior to all others; that it is a pro¬ 
 position of the deepest personal interest to ourselves, 
 of the most direct and powerful bearing on all our 
 fortunes here and hereafter, and which cannot be 
 truly understood and really believed, without affect¬ 
 ing every part of our being, moral and spiritual, 
 without producing a total revolution both in the 
 inner and outer man. Instead of being a cold, dry 
 abstraction, the truth of which may be perceived 
 without any object being thereby summoned into 
 view that can interest our heart, command our vene¬ 
 ration, influence our principles, or affect our lives. 
 It is. on the contrarv, a truth instinct with life and 
 
140 
 
 SERMON VII. 
 
 power. It opens to us a universe of wonders, re¬ 
 lating both to God and to ourselves, to this world 
 and to the next, none of which can be seen as reali¬ 
 ties without leaving their impression on every part 
 of our being, without forming us more or less in¬ 
 to their mould. The history of our own lost and 
 helpless condition is in it. The history of all God’s 
 holy love is in it. We do not understand it, unless 
 it presents fully to mind both the one history and 
 the other. Nor can either of these two histories be 
 realized without affecting our whole being, all our 
 feelings and our prospects, all we are at present, 
 and all we hope to be hereafter. It is, especially, a 
 truth which brings up to view, and presents for the 
 affectionate confidence of our hearts and the practical 
 homage of our lives, a real living personal Being, 
 who has a character as distinctly marked as any of 
 us, who is possessed of properties, and dispositions, 
 and feelings which distinguish him from all our race, 
 and who cannot be really contemplated as a living- 
 being—cannot be seen to be a real, living, conscious 
 person, without at once, and as a thing of course, 
 taking to Himself a place in our thoughts, our sen¬ 
 timents, our affections, our whole course of life, 
 entirely peculiar, above every other being either on 
 earth or in heaven, without becoming to us “ the 
 chiefest among ten thousand,” of whom we are con¬ 
 strained to say, “ Whom have we in heaven but 
 thee ? And there is none upon earth wdiom we de¬ 
 sire besides thee.” 
 
 The great value of this truth, indeed, just lies in 
 this. It presents us not with inanimate things, 
 
 t 
 
SERMON VII. 
 
 141 
 
 but with a living person. Not with inanimate things, 
 about which we may talk and speculate at our ease, 
 unaffected either one way or another; but with a 
 living, conscious Person, whom we are sent to com¬ 
 mune and converse with, and with whom we have 
 to transact the great business of our soul’s salvation, 
 and to settle, by direct personal intercourse, all the 
 concerns of eternity. The truth before us is full of 
 this Person—this great and blessed Person. It has 
 nothing else in it but Him ; not even his actions or 
 his sufferings, which may be separated from the 
 being, and are chiefly valuable as showing what the 
 being is ; nothing but Himself alone. It presents 
 Him before our eyes in absolute solitariness, so that 
 if we would make any use of it at all, we must use 
 Himself—not merely something done by Him, or 
 purchased by Him, and which may be separated, 
 and thought of, and had apart from Him—but Him¬ 
 self,] His very sacred self, the vital conscious person, 
 “ the man Christ Jesus.” And the individuals to 
 wdiose eyes and hearts the truth before us does not 
 bring up the Lord Jesus Christ himself, the living 
 Saviour, the great Emmanuel, the perfect God, and 
 the perfect man ; and, setting Him full before them 
 in all the grandeur of his person and being, make 
 Him fill up the whole sphere of their vision, the Ob¬ 
 ject that centres all their thoughts, the Friend that 
 wins all their confidence, the Beloved that holds the 
 throne of their hearts, the Lord that rules their life ; 
 these individuals have the very meaning of this ele¬ 
 mentary truth yet to learn. The sound of its words 
 may be familiar to their ears, but its substance they 
 
142 
 
 SERMON VII. 
 
 have yet to learn. The great Emmanuel himself, 
 who is its all in all, they have yet to form an ac¬ 
 quaintance with. 
 
 Religion throughout is a thing of personalities— 
 of distinct, defined, living, moving, breathing per¬ 
 sons. It is nought, if it be not this—a name, a pro¬ 
 fession, a form, a semblance, an empty nothing. It 
 is full of persons ; instinct with persons—not sha¬ 
 dows, theories, notions, abstractions, forms, words, 
 nor any such impersonal, inanimate things. It is 
 intended for persons, and it deals with persons, and 
 it brings persons to deal with them. It is intended 
 for us, ourselves, our living, moving, breathing 
 selves, who are persons framed most wondrously, 
 situate most critically, on our way out of all the 
 shadows of time into the vast realities of eternity; 
 on our way to judgment, to our eternal home ; on 
 our way to meet the greatest of all persons, “ the 
 great I AM himself,” and Him in the greatest of 
 all circumstances, about to assume “ His great "white 
 throne,” and, dealing with us personally, and one 
 by one, to fix our state for ever, either for weal or for 
 woe. Thus, dealing with living, conscious beings, 
 religion brings nothing but beings, beings as sub¬ 
 stantial, as real, as vital, as conscious, as solemn, 
 as awful, yea, infinitely more so, to deal with 
 them. The greatest and most real of all beings 
 especially, compared with whom all others are but 
 shadows, the being of beings, the first and the foun¬ 
 tain of all, the great Jehovah, the living God him¬ 
 self. Him it brings down from heaven to earth, 
 down into our own world, down into the midst of us, 
 
SERMON Til. 
 
 143 
 
 down to our very side; and clothing Him over with 
 the nature which we wear, in order that we may be 
 able to bear the nearness of His presence, and setting 
 Him in the very sphere of action and suffering in 
 which we are now placed—substituting Him in our 
 room—it says to each of us, “ Here is the Being of 
 beings, the supreme Himself, stooping down to your 
 own level! go deal with Him ; with Him transact 
 the business of your souls and of eternity; join your¬ 
 self to His company; study His character; look up 
 into His countenance; listen to His voice; learn 
 His thoughts and sentiments : see how He lives, 
 and how He dies, and how He rises again, and 
 yet continues ever to live by your side in His 
 Word, and by His Spirit ; your safety, your 
 happiness, your holiness, your whole religion and 
 business lie with Him!” All religion centres in 
 this one grand person. He is its soul and its sub¬ 
 stance—its source and its issue—its Alpha and its 
 Omega—its all in all. Every truth in it is but the 
 discovery of something in Him. Every influence 
 in it, or connected with it, is but to bring us to Him. 
 It is with Him himself it calls us all to deal; not 
 with mere verbal truths—these are but the em¬ 
 blazonry of this great Being, the varied figures and 
 forms in which He has sought to show forth Him¬ 
 self in his creature’s eyes. It is not with these , mostly 
 or alone ; it is with these chiefly, if not altogether, as 
 more or less containing and exhibiting Him , that 
 the fallen creature has all to do. It is with Him¬ 
 self, the living personal Being, whom all these truths 
 serve to exhibit, and who is the fountain of all other 
 
144 
 
 SERMON Til. 
 
 being, and of all blessedness, that we are called 
 directly, closely, and constantly to deal; with whom 
 we have the great business, both of time and of 
 eternity, all to transact. The truth in which we 
 do not find something of Him, something of Himself 
 —His own love, or grace, or purity, or power— 
 Himself, in some or other of His varied attributes, 
 we do not lightly understand—we do not understand 
 at all. The truth that has not God in it, this God, 
 this creating, and now incarnate, redeeming God, is 
 no truth ; severed from Him, it is not a truth but a 
 lie—not a substance but a shadow—the shell of the 
 thing and nothing else. And the truth which, so 
 derived from God, does not bring Him to us, and us 
 to Him ; which does not bring Him into our minds 
 and into our hearts ; which does not bring Him into 
 immediate contact with us, into felt personal com¬ 
 munion, so that He speaks to us and we speak to 
 Him, and there is a mutual mingling of His mind 
 and heart and ours ; the truth which, instead of thus 
 bringing us into personal dealing with our God, 
 rather shuts Him out; occupying the mind itself, 
 does not suffer it to rise to, and mingle with Him 
 who is “ the Truth this, though it may be all 
 correct in itself, as the most rigid orthodoxy can 
 make it, and even all about Him, His love, His 
 work, yet if this be all, if this do not hand us over to 
 the Saviour himself, in living person, as being our all, 
 it is not only useless to us as immortal beings, it is 
 actually mischievous—it is nothing but the screen 
 and the covering of man’s nature—awful Atheism. 
 
 Ah! it is greatly to be feared that even in the 
 
SERMON VII. 
 
 145 
 
 Christian world (so-called) there is much of this kind 
 of truth—truth so considered and so used-—severed 
 and severing us from Jesus, Emmanuel, God with us, 
 who is comprehensively and emphatically “ the 
 Truthand who, by all its varied forms, material, 
 moral, spiritual, evangelical, is but seeking to in¬ 
 sinuate Himself, as their long banished God, their 
 long lost portion, into the bosom of His creatures, 
 and there again to seat Himself, in the heart and 
 fountain of their being, as the life, the light, the 
 health, the holiness, the happiness of all. Where 
 this is not the effect, no truth is known aright, nor 
 used aright. Yet too plainly is such a blessed effect 
 wanting with many who contend for what they 
 think truth, and what may be parts of truth, both 
 on the right side and on the left. It is so, for 
 example, with many who are the champions of mere 
 theoretical orthodoxy, in whose cold frozen grasp 
 the richest truths of Scripture, redolent with God 
 and his Christ, wither into mere dry abstractions— 
 into mere points of doctrine, sharp and hard—into 
 mere articles of creeds and confessions, which do 
 not serve to humble and hallow those who hold 
 them, but are only used to contend for and wrangle 
 about—which do not fill their spirits with a present, 
 felt, overawing reality, God himself, but are empty, 
 withered notions alone—the mere herbal of those 
 truths which, all life and beauty, breathe and blos¬ 
 som, like flowers of paradise, in the beautiful field 
 of the Word. And it is not less so with those on 
 the other side, who, parting far from orthodoxy— 
 far from Scriptural truth in its fulness, make the 
 
 K 
 
14G 
 
 SERMON VII. 
 
 whole of their religion to centre in one bald, barren 
 abstraction—“ Christ died for me, because he died 
 for all, and believing this I am safe but who, by 
 this, are not humbled, not subdued, not hallowed, 
 not mellowed, into love and meekness, not brought 
 nigh unto God, nor made to walk with holy rever¬ 
 ence, as ever in His presence ; who, on the contrary, 
 live in the world, in the acquisition of its substance, 
 and in the exercise of its self-righteous, censorious 
 spirit, as entirely as ever ; with scarcely a single 
 point of difference from the keenest around them, 
 except it be the light, flippant, vaunting way in 
 which they are ever obtruding upon others their 
 certainty of salvation, and thus serving themselves 
 heirs to those of old, “who trusted in themselves 
 that they were righteous, and despised others.” In 
 the case of such persons as these, as much on the 
 one side as on the other, what truth they partially 
 hold, does not bring to them a living Christ, and 
 enshrine Him in their hearts ; but it takes that place 
 itself, and becomes the god of their idolatry. They 
 do not find their God in the truth, and repose in and 
 worship Him ; but rather, such truth as they hold 
 they turn into a god, and transfer to it all their 
 confidence and homage. No confidence and homage 
 rise beyond it to the God of heaven, the real, living, 
 personal God. This, therefore, is not truth, not 
 real truth, but rather a lie, a cheat, an empty 
 shadow; cold, barren abstractions, or wild, mislead¬ 
 ing delusions ; either the cold, clear, frosty moon¬ 
 light of the schools, or the mere wild-fire—the ignis 
 fatuus of the fens. Entirely different it is with the 
 
SERMON VII. 
 
 147 
 
 blessed truth in the text. Filled itself with Him, 
 it fills the whole sphere of our vision with one grand 
 Being, with one bright, blessed personality, Jesus 
 himself, Jehovah-Jesus, the God incarnate, God 
 manifest in the flesh, “ God stooping to the senses 
 and speaking to the heart of man.” Him it pre¬ 
 sents full in our view, and sends us to contemplate 
 and converse with. Him it brings up before us in 
 plain, personal, living form, all the God within Him, 
 and all the man about Him. And commending 
 Him to our hearts, as at once of heaven and earth, 
 of God and of us, the link between them, their com¬ 
 mon bond, showing Him in all his grandeur, all his 
 grace, high as heaven’s throne, yet lowly as a 
 human babe, it seems to say, “ Go near Him; be 
 not afraid ; He is at once your God and your bro¬ 
 ther ; He is doing your work ; He is dying your 
 death ; it is to lure you to His heart; He smiles on 
 you from His cross; He smiles on you even from 
 His throne : Yes, He is the sinner’s God, yet the 
 sinner’s friend—the man—the brother—with looks, 
 with language, with feelings all our own—come 
 down from heaven to save us—bearing on His per¬ 
 son now and ever the marks of that conflict which 
 He endured on our behalf: Be not afraid, neither 
 stand afar off; enter into the freest and friendliest 
 dealings with Him; it is for this purpose He is pre¬ 
 sented to your eyes: Go unbosom your whole eternal 
 concerns into His ears—it is the business on which 
 He has come to earth, come so near you ; and it is 
 His delight: Commit all your interests into his hand ; 
 lean upon His arm; lay your heads to rest on His 
 
148 
 
 SERMON VII. 
 
 affectionate bosom ; the fountain of life and love is 
 there, and there is the home and the hiding-place of 
 every fallen spirit.” 
 
 It is thus that a truth, presenting, as this does, a 
 living person to our eyes and hearts, is designed to 
 operate. It hands us over to that person, as the 
 Being with whom we have to do. And the man 
 who does not know it and use it in this way, does 
 not know it at all, he has it all—all its design and 
 meaning, yet to learn. It is not really believed, if 
 it does not bring the Saviour and the sinner into 
 living personal intercourse about that grand matter 
 of salvation, which is all the business of the one, 
 and all the blessedness of the other. 
 
 IV. In the fourth place, it is not unworthy of re¬ 
 mark in present times, that in the proposition or 
 truth before us, the mere knowledge and simple be¬ 
 lief of which gives life to the soul, there is yet no¬ 
 thing said of us individually, of any individual 
 human persons. It is not a proposition in which 
 any distinct place is given to the sinner himself, 
 far less to any particular sinner. This propo¬ 
 sition has, indeed, the good, the life of all in its 
 bosom, if they would but seek it there, and extract 
 it thence. Nay, it is promulgated for the very pur¬ 
 pose of being used by all, as the common property 
 of all, and free to all, even as all truth is. And not 
 only may every one of our race, without exception, 
 use it, but every one of them ought—it is their 
 duty, they are solemnly bound to do so ; and did 
 every one actually do so, each and all alike would 
 
SERMON VII. 
 
 149 
 
 find it sufficient to minister to their endless welfare. 
 But while this great truth may thus be said to look 
 with a benignant and impartial aspect towards all 
 our race, to open to them all the fountain of living 
 waters, and that for the purpose that they may 
 come to it freely and drink and live for ever, it is 
 important, in present times, to remark, that it singles 
 out no individual person, specifies none, does not 
 mention any, not even so much as one. Grant that 
 it includes, and is common to all, still it does not 
 expressly specify any. There is no mention made 
 of a single person in its blessed terms. The whole 
 of it is this, “ Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God 
 where, though every' thing may be turned to our 
 endless benefit, nothing relates expressly to you or 
 to me, all relates expressly and directly to Christ 
 himself, and to Christ alone. This is striking and 
 pregnant with meaning. It indirectly, yet most 
 conclusively, determines how far wrong in their 
 conceptions of the Gospel those persons must be, 
 who seem to make its whole value to lie in the fact, 
 that every thing in it was done expressly and de¬ 
 signedly for each individual person of our race ; 
 who make its whole worth and efficacy to rest, not 
 on the glorious Person, who is its Alpha and Omega, 
 nor on the glorious work which He hath wrought, 
 and with the fragrance of which it fills the world, 
 but mostly and mainly on the persons for whom 
 this work was wrought, on its being for this and for 
 that individual, for you, for me, for every one. 
 Singling out this, the human point, the earthly, 
 personal element, in a scheme where all else is Di- 
 
150 
 
 SERMON VII. 
 
 vine, not to give magnitude to the rest, which is its 
 proper legitimate use, but as if this were the main 
 and most important of them all; such individuals 
 have dwelt upon it, and argued about it, and mag¬ 
 nified it to such a degree, that, in point of fact, 
 whatever may have been their design, it has actu¬ 
 ally been made to take the place of all the others. 
 It has almost entirely excluded the other in men’s 
 minds, or at least greatly obscured them and thrown 
 them into the shade. The whole current of atten¬ 
 tion has been directed towards this, and fixed upon 
 this, as if it were the leading principal point in the 
 whole matter; and every thing else has been mea¬ 
 sured by its bearing upon it, and esteemed of great 
 or little value merely as it ministered to it. Thus, 
 in such a view of the Gospel, the little person, man, 
 has been made to take his place above the truly 
 and the only great person, Emmanuel, God with 
 us. The first has been turned into the god of the 
 whole system, round which it all revolves, and on 
 which it all terminates: And the true, the great, 
 the only God—all the greater because God incar¬ 
 nate, God come down to shine in our benighted 
 sphere —He has become a mere satellite to the 
 other, a secondary, subordinate light, -whose only 
 end is to give attendance on, and minister to its 
 good. We cannot but think there is something 
 sadly -wrong in this way of stating the Gospel. It 
 seems a perversion of its whole nature, and a de¬ 
 feating of its whole design and end. In this system 
 the pyramid is turned upside down, set upon its 
 apex, not its base. The sinner is set in the fore- 
 
SERMON VII. 
 
 151 
 
 ground of the scene, as if he were its capital figure, 
 and the Saviour put far behind into the background, 
 as if all His use were to minister to the wants of 
 the other. The vast universe of God’s all-glorious 
 truth which the Gospel opens up to view, and which 
 comprehends Himself, Jehovah, and all His doings— 
 His incarnation, His life on earth, His death, His 
 wondrous love—all this is made to converge to, and 
 terminate on one mere solitary atom, self; and that 
 atom a worm, a nothing. As if, even in this great 
 universe of wonders—greater far than the material 
 universe in which it has been disclosed—there were 
 nothing to be looked to, to be wondered at, to be 
 adored, but in so far as it bears directly on the in¬ 
 terests of that little atom. 
 
 It is plain that the giving of such an express and 
 prominent place to man in the Gospel, instead of 
 being necessary to its efficacy and its fulness, lias a 
 tendency to destroy its whole design. Necessary to 
 its efficacy, it cannot possibly be. To render it an 
 efficient thing, it is not necessary that each indivi¬ 
 dual person should be made to stand out expressly 
 and prominently as the person for whose salvation 
 Emmanuel came and died. This cannot be neces¬ 
 sary; for here, in the text, in the truth which it 
 expresses, is the substance of the Gospel—a Gospel 
 so full and sufficient, that whoso believes it lives 
 for ever: and yet there is not a single syllable said 
 expressly concerning any person but one ; and that 
 one is not the sinner but the Saviour; not man, but 
 Emmanuel Himself—the Son of Man and the Son 
 of God in one. It is not spoken of you or of me , or 
 
152 
 
 SERMON VII. 
 
 of any such miserable empty nothings, but of One 
 who swallows them all up, as the ocean does the 
 drops that fall into its bosom, even of the great Je¬ 
 hovah himself, come down to the world and nature 
 of man—appearing openly in the sphere, and doing 
 the work of His fallen creature ! No doubt man, 
 and man’s benefit are implied in this. They are 
 embraced in the bosom of this great wonder—com¬ 
 prehended as a thing of course. Every thing, in fact, 
 wdiich the Gospel tells, it tells to me, and for me. It 
 is good new T s to me, otherwise it would not be good 
 news to every creature under heaven; as we know 
 it is, and as its name imports. All its tidings are 
 for us, for you and for me, for our individual use, 
 and, if we use them, for our individual, endless wel¬ 
 fare. Does it tell us of ruin—does it proceed on 
 this as its fundamental fact ? That ruin is ours, our 
 own, not that of others merely. Does it proclaim 
 salvation, full to meet that ruin, and free as full ? 
 Well, that salvation, too, is ours, for our own indi¬ 
 vidual use, as much for yours and for mine, as for 
 any being whatever under the whole heavens. All 
 this is the case with every person to whom the Gos¬ 
 pel comes, otherwise it would belie its name—it 
 would not be good news to every creature. But it 
 is not necessary either to its meaning or its efficacy, 
 that all this be actually and on every occasion ex¬ 
 pressed—that it be made prominent, that it be the 
 main point, that it be always singled out, and set 
 in the very front, and every thing else made to 
 minister and yield to it, as if the substance and 
 worth of the Gospel lay entirely in this. It is not 
 
SERMON VII. 
 
 153 
 
 necessary that the fact of our interest should be 
 always expressed and made prominent. It is only 
 necessary that it be not denied ; that it be included 
 and implied as a thing of course. Generally speak¬ 
 ing, indeed, it is better to be merely implied than 
 expressly mentioned; silently understood, than po¬ 
 sitively stated, and still more than to be prominently 
 set forth. It is usually so put in the Word of God. 
 Man’s interest in the matter, and his right to use it 
 all for himself, is there usually taken for granted, as 
 if it were wrapt up in the very bosom of the other, 
 the infinitely grander, more absorbing, elevating, 
 ennobling verities, with which that Word abounds. 
 And there is wisdom in this, consummate wisdom. 
 Thus sunk in the other, and all-glorious truths, 
 man’s interest in the matter is not, as so often hap¬ 
 pens in human systems, ever and anon rising up 
 painfully on the view, and awakening anxious 
 thoughts, and harassing inquiries, or some way or 
 other rivetting attention on itself. But lying silent 
 and concealed, it sutlers the mind to be opened 
 freely, and without suspicion, let, or hinderance, 
 to the whole influence of heavenly, truth, to the 
 whole compass of God’s discoveries, to the grand 
 object in these discoveries, especially, to Emma¬ 
 nuel Himself, and all His wondrous doings, to 
 the Christ the Son of God, His person, His God¬ 
 head, His incarnation, His life, His death, His love, 
 His full salvation. Let but the mind once be filled 
 with these; arrested, rivetted, ravished, expanded 
 with these—Heaven’s wonders upon earth, the sta¬ 
 tuary of her marvellous love; and, unless it be po- 
 
154 
 
 SERMON VII. 
 
 sitively forbidden, that mind will take an interest 
 in the offered fruits and effects of sueli doings, as a 
 matter of course. Enlarged by the contemplation 
 of facts which breathe and utter such an infinite 
 grace, it will not need to be told, and told for ever, 
 that it is welcome to the fruits of all. This, it 
 would believe and act on, at once, and as a thing of 
 course, it would feel it impossible to believe any 
 thing else, did not the devil, in his deep malignity, 
 set men to agitate the question of personal interest, 
 and thus stem the full, free tide of love, while 
 making its way into the sinner’s heart. 
 
 Whereas, let men reverse the thing, as so many 
 are now doing. Instead of being satisfied with the 
 glorious facts of the Gospel, stated generally, with¬ 
 out specifying any one, and without excluding any 
 one; let the point be ever raised into high and 
 sharp relief—it was all for us, for you, for me, for 
 every one; let the bulk and burden of discourse 
 ever be, the persons for whom all was designed and 
 all was done, not the great Person doing and the 
 great work done. And the probability, the cer¬ 
 tainty is, that all the benign and blessed influences 
 of the Gospel, its subduing, sanctifying, transform¬ 
 ing influences, will be utterly lost, at least, if not 
 even miserably perverted. Round the very foot of 
 the Cross, the company of dying sinners will be set 
 awrangling among themselves as to whether it was 
 for some or for all, for one or for another; while, 
 above their heads, the Saviour of the universe is 
 left, almost unheeded, to breathe out his dying 
 groan—enough, if listened to, to draw all men to 
 
SERMON VII. 
 
 155 
 
 Him. In the affray, Himself is forgotten—the 
 power of His death is lost. Or, by this system, the 
 influence of this wondrous event may be worse than 
 lost—it may be grievously perverted. It may be 
 made to feed that very disease in the vitals of man, 
 which it was the main design of the Gospel to heal. 
 That disease is selfishness—the giving to self, in any 
 of its forms, that place in his thoughts and affec¬ 
 tions which is due to God alone. Now, when 
 every thing, even in the Gospel, is viewed in refer¬ 
 ence to self, and self alone ; when the eye is opened, 
 not so much on the love itself, the all-holy, gene¬ 
 rous, self-sacrificing love, which is there seen to 
 come down from Heaven, and clothe itself in flesh, 
 and die upon the cross, but on the subordinate cir¬ 
 cumstance, this was all for me , for favoured me; 
 why, the effect can scarcely fail to be, that instead 
 of being subdued and broken down in the dust, as 
 never fails to be the case when God’s love in itself 
 forms the special object of contemplation, thinking 
 mostlv, if. not altogether, of his own interest in this 
 love, of the high favour it expresses towards himself, 
 the poor misdirected spirit will become proud and 
 uplifted, even as Lucifer. The balm of Gilead, not 
 administered purely, and by the hand of the great 
 Physician, but as mixed and adulterated by the 
 meddling, marring hand of man, turns into the 
 worst of poison, and, so far from curing, aggravates 
 man’s radical malady a thousand fold. For if his 
 selfishness grows so rank and so large when it has 
 nothing but the husks of time to feed on, to what 
 size may we expect it to swell when it betakes itself 
 
156 
 
 SERMON VII. 
 
 for aliment to all the great things of God in His 
 glorious Gospel, perverted and abused ? The con¬ 
 sequence of such a perversion of the Gospel, of its 
 being so turned to a mere selfish end, may soon be 
 in this country what it actually was last century on 
 the continent of America. There, the facts of the 
 Gospel being similarly misplaced, all their moral 
 meaning and import left out, and the dry shell re¬ 
 maining, used only to intoxicate the minds of men 
 with proud and elated notions of their own safety, 
 and their high standing in the sight of Heaven ; that 
 piety—calm, pure, and profound—which had been 
 kindled by such holy men as Brainerd and Edwards, 
 ran all into wild-fire in the hands of Davenport and 
 the ignorant fanatics who followed in his train, and 
 this wild-fire spreading far and wide, like some 
 mighty conflagration, ultimately laid waste the whole 
 heritage of God, and left it in the end a heap of ashes. 
 All! brethren, there is a far greater point in the Gospel 
 than the little human element, our own personal 
 interest, the you or the me. Its first and its greatest 
 point is far above the creature altogether. It con¬ 
 cerns the who, and the what ?—who is this Christ, 
 and what has this Christ done ?—the glorious Per¬ 
 sonage, His all-glorious work! This lifts us at once 
 above the earth and the creature, and sets us down 
 in the very presence, and amid all the wondrous 
 doings of the great “ I AM.” And till the mind 
 and heart be opened, and awed by these, be filled 
 with the moral glory, subdued by the grandeur and 
 the grace which characterize such realities—to in¬ 
 termeddle with the former point; above all, to 
 
SERMON VII. 
 
 157 
 
 make it the grand, the only topic, is to inhale the 
 very worst malaria at the side of the Cross, and, 
 tainted and diseased, thence go down to ruin, 
 
 Y. But we remark, in the last place, that while 
 the truth before us, the real belief of which gives 
 life to the soul, does not contain a single word ex¬ 
 pressly about us, about you and me, yet no man can 
 intelligently believe it, that is, perceive its full mean¬ 
 ing and absolute certainty, without at once and 
 necessarily appropriating, and resting in, the Saviour 
 whom it exhibits, and His w T ork, and His perfect 
 salvation, as his owm. There will be, and there 
 must be, the appropriation of this- Saviour to our¬ 
 selves, and the resting upon that work, which he 
 performed as such, as the sole foundation of our 
 own hopes, and the reception of, and rejoicing in 
 that full salvation, which is freely, unconditionally, 
 and universally proclaimed on the ground of that 
 work, on the part of every one who clearly appre¬ 
 hends the meaning and really perceives the truth of 
 this great compendious statement, the essence of all 
 other Gospel truth. These things, if they do not 
 enter into the very essence of this belief, are at least 
 its immediate and necessary fruits ; so much so, that 
 we cannot admit of the existence of this belief where 
 these results are wanting, nor of its existence to any 
 greater extent than the existence and the strength 
 of these. The man who does not embrace this 
 Saviour as his own, who does not rely upon His 
 finished wmrk as his only ground of confidence in 
 the sight of God, who does not receive and exult in 
 
158 
 
 SERMON VII. 
 
 His full and freely proclaimed salvation, as 44 all 
 his salvation and all his desire,” is not really under¬ 
 standing and crediting the intelligence that 44 Jesus 
 is the Christ, the Son of God.” No doubt, many 
 profess to believe this statement who have experienced 
 nothing of these blessed feelings. They have assent¬ 
 ed to the words as containing a long familiar truth, 
 or rather as being a long familiar sound ; but have 
 never received into their hearts the Saviour himself, 
 the adorable person whom the words present to us, 
 and for whom they claim the unreserved confidence 
 and the undivided homage of every fallen being. 
 They say they believe this truth; they perhaps 
 think they believe it; at all events, they would never 
 venture to give it a positive denial, or even to call 
 it in question: and yet, instead of resting on 44 the 
 Christ” w r hom it exhibits as 44 the sent of God” and 
 the only Saviour of the world, they are going about 
 in some way or other to save themselves, to be their 
 own Christ; and so far from rejoicing in His perfect 
 work, and in His complete and free salvation, as 
 being every thing to them, every thing they can 
 either need or wish for, these things nil their hearts 
 with no stable confidence, no assurance of safety, no 
 solid peace, no lively joy, no unclouded hope. It is 
 to be feared there is some sad delusion here. A 
 faith is professed, or a faith is fancied, which has no 
 existence. The belief in the text cannot exist and 
 leave the heart in a state like this, void of the 
 Saviour as its blessed confidence, and of His salva¬ 
 tion as its felt possession. It never did so in primi¬ 
 tive times, and it cannot do so now. It was the 
 
SERMON VII. 
 
 159 
 
 simple discovery that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of 
 God, which led all whom we read of in the New 
 Testament to take Him, at once and as a matter of 
 course, as their only Saviour, and to repose in Him 
 as having accomplished every thing necessary for 
 their eternal well-being, and to rejoice in him on 
 this account, “ with joy unspeakable and full of 
 glory.” Nor does it seem possible that it can be 
 otherwise in the present day. For what does this 
 truth really mean ? what does it imply, and what 
 does it express—imply or express respecting us 
 and respecting God ? It seems to express but 
 one thing, and to an unthoughtful mind this thing 
 contains but little ; but, in point of fact, it contains 
 every thing—it is the germ of every thing connected 
 either with us or with God—all the truth relating 
 to either is here in abstract, in brief compendious 
 form; and if all such truth be not seen, more or 
 less distinctly and fully, in this before us, this itself 
 is not seen, its real meaning is not discovered ; and 
 where a thing is not understood, it is not and can¬ 
 not be believed. For example, in this proposition 
 concerning Jesus, an awful fact is implied concerning 
 us, every one of us; it is implied that, as sinners, 
 we are awfully, totally, and, in so far as we are con¬ 
 cerned, hopelessly undone ; exposed to a ruin so 
 vast and awful that it baffles the tongue of man to 
 express, or his mind even to imagine it; so help¬ 
 lessly exposed to this that there is but one power in 
 existence which can deliver us from it, and even 
 this power can deliver us but in one way, by the 
 mission to earth of God himself to be our Saviour, 
 
160 
 
 SERMON VII. 
 
 and His subjection, in our nature and place, to the 
 life of a creature, and to a criminal’s death ! This 
 great fact concerning the sinner is in the very bosom 
 of this great truth respecting Jesus. If 44 Jesus is 
 the Christ, the Son of God,”—in other words, if a 
 Divine being, the highest of all beings, the High 
 and Eternal One himself, has been made 44 the 
 Christ,” the anointed Saviour, then is it true of 
 that sinner, and of every sinner, that his condition 
 as such, his danger, his ruin is the most appalling 
 thing that can possibly be imagined. That fact 
 concerning Jesus, implies this fact concerning the 
 sinner ; it implies it, proceeds on it—is indeed its 
 proper measure. The only adequate measure of 
 the ruin of man, is the remedy by Christ. How 
 vast the one must be, if it can only be measured by 
 the other! No man therefore believes the one 
 who does not first, who does not at the very time, 
 believe the other. He cannot realize this wondrous 
 truth respecting Jesus ; the marvellous intelligence 
 respecting Him cannot enter his mind as a reality, 
 unless he be at the time realizing the awful fact 
 concerning himself, that, as a sinner, lost and un¬ 
 done, he stands every moment exposed to a ruin 
 that is infinite. And realizing this , with this full in 
 his eye, can he receive the tidings concerning Jesus 
 as true without embracing him as the mariner does 
 the only surviving plank after the shipwreck—with¬ 
 out exulting in him and in his work for sinners, as 
 life from the dead? For what are these tidings 
 briefly and compendiously expressed in the text? 
 What do they not merely imply, but openly declare 
 
SERMON VII. 
 
 161 
 
 and proclaim concerning God? What but this, 
 that moved with an unutterable compassion He hath 
 sent the highest of all, the Eternal Word, Jehovah 
 himself, to assume the office of Saviour, “ the 
 Saviour of the worldto sustain the character, to 
 perform the work, to exercise all the blessed be¬ 
 nignities of such : and that all this having now been 
 done most perfectly—the whole office and work of 
 Saviour discharged—He is now, on this one ground 
 alone, proclaiming forgiveness and eternal life to 
 every member of our fallen race, without exception 
 and without condition, without money and without 
 price ! These are the good news about Jesus com¬ 
 pendiously expressed in the text, when it is said, 
 that He is the Christ, the Son of God. And can 
 a poor sinner—realizing his own estate as such, in 
 sight of hell, ready to perish—understand and credit 
 news like these, news so suited to his case, so suffi¬ 
 cient, so full, so free, without drinking them into his 
 heart, as the very water of life—without embracing 
 the Saviour and the salvation that are in them, as 
 the criminal would do the sovereign’s pardon re¬ 
 ceived at the foot of the scaffold—without feeling 
 that they are every thing he needs and every thing 
 he can possibly desire to have. They are truly 
 such. Not to feel them to be so is not to understand 
 or not believe them. It is impossible for a sinner 
 with his own impending awfful ruin in his eye, not to 
 embrace, and to embrace with all his heart, such a 
 divine, all-glorious remedy, if seen as a reality and 
 as free to himself; and if it be not so seen, it is not 
 rightly seen, not seen at all. Such a Saviour as 
 
 L 
 
162 
 
 SERMON Til. 
 
 our text discloses, sent on such an errand, and having 
 now completely executed it, cannot he really seen 
 by such a sinner without being at once appropriated, 
 and relied on, as that sinner’s all—so appropriated, 
 so relied on as to be gloried in, u rejoiced in with 
 joy unspeakable and full of glory,” which is the 
 highest kind of reliance, the fullest measure of ap¬ 
 propriation. It is by the “ knowledge of Him” that 
 the righteous servant justifies many. This know¬ 
 ledge is so excellent, so far transcending every thing 
 else, so sufficient by itself, that wherever it enters 
 the heart all besides is cast away as but loss. It, by 
 itself, is felt to be all—to be the essence, the entrance 
 of eternal life itself. Surely the man who feels this 
 is relying on, and rejoicing in Jesus and His finished 
 work, as not simply the means, the only means, but 
 as being in themselves to his soul the very beginning 
 of eternal life. And where this is in no respect and 
 to no extent the case, the meaning of this precious 
 truth is yet all to learn, its reality yet to be seen, 
 that “ Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God.” 
 
SERMON VIII. 
 
 163 
 
 SERMON VIII. 
 
 FAITH—HOW IT SAVES. 
 
 “ But these are written, that ye might believe that Jesus is the 
 Christ, the Son of God ; and that believing ye might have life 
 through his name.”— John xx. 31. 
 
 We have now considered what the belief in this 
 passage really is, and have found that it is the mere 
 belief of all that God has revealed to us concerning 
 Jesus—of the record or testimony which He has 
 given us concerning His Son ; or, to express this 
 testimony, as it is so briefly, yet so comprehensively, 
 summed up in the text—the simple belief “that 
 Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God.” This one 
 seminal, all-comprehending truth, seen in its fill! 
 meaning, embraced as an absolute certainty—this is 
 saving faith ; and wherever it fills the mind, there 
 life eternal is begun—that soul is saved. 
 
 -This being its simple nature, an interesting ques¬ 
 tion arises—How does this belief save a lost soul ? 
 What power is there in such a belief to bring a full 
 salvation into such a soul ? Wherein does its sav¬ 
 ing efficacy lie; is it in itself- —the act of believing, 
 or in the truth —the thing believed, and which that 
 belief brings into the heart in all the fulness of its 
 meaning and its grace ? Issuing, as this belief un¬ 
 failingly does, wherever it really exists, in so blessed 
 a tiling as life, life everlasting, the life of God in the 
 
164 
 
 sermon yin. 
 
 soul on earth, that life in its fulness and endless con¬ 
 tinuance in heaven, it becomes a natural inquiry, 
 and not more natural than practical and important, 
 whence has it such a power—how does it accomplish 
 such a wonder ? How does a thing so simple in it¬ 
 self effect a result so stupendous—so unutterably 
 blessed; bringing into the sinner’s heart, which, when 
 this enters it, is a region of mere darkness and death 
 —“ a universe of death, where all life dies, death 
 lives,” such life, and light, and blessedness, as to 
 make it not only sure of the kingdom of heaven 
 hereafter, but that very kingdom even now—to 
 transform it into the u kingdom of God,” the king¬ 
 dom of heaven. 
 
 In answering this inquiry, it is needful to remark, 
 in the first place, that if in our thoughts we were to 
 separate the belief itself from the thing believed, the 
 act of faith from the object of faith, it is not in the 
 belief itself, in the mere act, that we are to look for 
 any virtue, nor to it that we are to ascribe such a 
 glorious result. If the belief be separated from the 
 truth, the act of faith from the object on which it is 
 set, it has no power at all. The first considered 
 apart from, and without the second, is nothing, and 
 lias nothing, and can do nothing, no more than would 
 an act of vision were there no material universe on 
 which to look, and no light in which to set that uni¬ 
 verse ; wanting the outer world itself, or wanting the 
 glorious light which, to us, gives it all its being and 
 beauty, we might look, and look for ever, yet nothing 
 be seen without, nor felt within. That look, in such 
 circumstances, would be useless, utterly impotent, 
 
SERMON VIII. 
 
 165 
 
 an unproductive nothing, leaving all a blank, mak¬ 
 ing the mind sensible of nothing, bringing into it 
 neither light, nor beauty, nor being of any kind, 
 “ but cloud instead, and ever-during dark.” Now 
 just like this look, wanting the material world as its 
 object, and wanting light as the medium through 
 which that world can be seen, would be man’s mere 
 act of belief, could we suppose it separated from 
 God’s glorious truth, tlie object to which it relates. 
 Separated from that object, considered apart from it, 
 in itself alone, it is as empty, as impotent, and use¬ 
 less as the look we have now supposed. It brings 
 in nothing, does nothing, is nothing. It leaves the 
 mind as much in a state of darkness and death as 
 ever, without one ray of light, without one move¬ 
 ment of life. In fact, so entirely dependent is the 
 act of belief on the thing believed, it so completely 
 takes its bulk, its shape, its virtue, its life, its very 
 being from that object—it is so inseparable from it 
 in reality, or even in imagination, that it is improper 
 perhaps to speak of the two things as apart and ex¬ 
 isting separately. It is apt to breed confusion in 
 the mind to do so—to leave the impression that it 
 is a possible thing for the one to have an indepen¬ 
 dent existence without, and away from, the other, 
 or that the one is any thing else than the other, seen 
 as it really is. This belief has no existence without 
 this truth. As wmll might we suppose the shadow to 
 exist without the substance which casts it. The 
 shadow and the substance, indeed, are not one; 
 they are widely different. Nothing can well be 
 more so. The one is a reality, the other an empty 
 
166 
 
 SERMON Vm. 
 
 show—the mere semblance of a thing. Yet though 
 different they are inseparable. At least the shadow 
 cannot subsist one moment without the substance, 
 nor be one iota otherwise than the substance makes 
 it. Its all is in it, and inseparable from it. Remove 
 the substance, and the shadow does not linger be¬ 
 hind—it vanishes away—its very existence is gone. 
 No otherwise is it with this belief and this truth, 
 the act and the object. The former comes and goes 
 with the latter. It is entirely shaped and sustained 
 by it. It is created by it, and departs along with 
 it. If that act be not the shadow of the truth, at 
 least it is the mere impression which that truth 
 makes on the mind—on the whole soul of man. It 
 is just that truth in that soul, in its real proper na¬ 
 ture, in all its moral import, in all its glorious truth. 
 It is the thing itself, in its proper place and sphere 
 of influence, the inner man —there as it is, a verity, 
 a reality, an absolute truth. So that it is not strictly 
 proper to say, that the belief, apart from the truth 
 believed, can be of no service, has no virtue, pos¬ 
 sesses no power. The proper expression is, that it 
 cannot be at all. It has no existence. There is no 
 such thing. Take away the truth, and every thing 
 vanishes away; you leave nothing behind, not even 
 a shadow, not “ the shadow of a shade.” The truth 
 may be -without the belief. But the belief cannot 
 be without the truth. Remove the one and in the 
 very act, and of necessity, you remove the other 
 also. Wanting two things, belief has no being and 
 never can have any. Wanting its proper object, 
 which may be called the universe of truth, that 
 
SERMON VIII. 
 
 167 
 
 outer moral universe, the infinite holiness and in¬ 
 finite love of God, which exist in glorious combina¬ 
 tion in the truth before us ; and wanting the medium 
 of vision, the light of heaven, the light of God’s 
 blessed, all-revealing Spirit, the only thing which 
 can ever make such a moral and spiritual universe 
 a "visible, a manifest thing to man’s darkened eye; 
 wanting either the one or the other of these two 
 things, there is, and there can be, no such thing as 
 belief, none at all, not even the semblance of it, 
 nothing but a total blank, a universe of night and 
 death. 
 
 From the mere shadow, therefore, we turn away, 
 and betake ourselves to the substance—the true, the 
 only substance; and, in this substance, the truth 
 itself, the truth concerning Jesus, we find all the 
 efficacy, all the virtue. The whole charm is here. 
 Here is the secret of life and power. The only 
 thing our act of belief does is this ; whereas the 
 health, the life, the salvation of the fallen spirit 
 lay heretofore outside the being, in the outward 
 truth respecting Jesus, and so lying never could do 
 it any good, no more than if they did not even exist. 
 Our belief brings in this truth in which they are all 
 deposited, and therefore brings in along with it, or 
 rather in it, that spirit’s life, and health, and whole 
 salvation. What was heretofore without , faith takes 
 up and plants within the being, and so accomplishes 
 the glorious change. This is its simple province. 
 In this lies all its charm and all its (supposed) mys¬ 
 terious power. It just takes up, so to speak, the 
 full, perfected salvation of Jesus, which God, in the 
 
168 
 
 SERMON VIII. 
 
 word of the Gospel, has brought near to us all, which, 
 in baptism, he has actually placed in shadow on the 
 person of each, but which, chasing this world’s 
 shadows, and reaping vanity and vexation of spirit, 
 each and all had hitherto overlooked and despised ; 
 this salvation, sufficient for all, free to each, faith 
 takes up in the truth, where it finds it, and carries 
 within the being, and, planting it in the heart, hence¬ 
 forth gives it its place, its power, its vital being 
 there. There placing it, there keeping it for ever, 
 that soul cannot but be saved—saved not hereafter 
 merely, but here and now—saved even on earth in 
 part, and as the commencement, the earnest of what 
 is coming—saved perfectly and for ever in heaven, 
 when the bright and blessed realities, which faith 
 only gives us a glimpse of, a mere mental subsist¬ 
 ence to here, shall stand out in them actual substance 
 and form before the glorified eye, embosomed and 
 beaming in heaven’s own light; and shall be seen 
 as they are, seen near at hand, seen by every eye, 
 seen without veil or cloud or any obscurity, and so 
 seen shall fashion every entranced spirit into their 
 own perfect mould, which will be to each salvation 
 in its perfect state, salvation in the stature and ma¬ 
 turity of heaven itself. 
 
 This seems to be the way in which faith saves 
 the soul, in which it brings life into, and spreads it 
 throughout, the fallen spirit—it makes nothing—it 
 merits nothing—it purchases nothing; it simply 
 takes and uses all the blessings purchased fully by 
 Christ and proclaimed freely in His Gospel. It is 
 not in any respect whatever a term performed in 
 
SERMON Yin. 
 
 169 
 
 order to entitle us to these blessings, or a price given 
 which either in whole or in part procures them. 
 Neither does it enter at all into the ground on which 
 God is induced to give these blessing’s ; as if He 
 looked to it no less than to the work of his own 
 dear Son, when He bestows them upon any indi¬ 
 vidual soul. It holds no such place nor office in the 
 economy of grace; and every thing approaching to 
 such a notion infringes on the absolute freeness of 
 salvation, and has its origin, not in heaven's pure 
 grace, but man’s self-righteousness. The only 
 ground on which God is induced to bestow these 
 blessings is the one perfect work of His own 
 Son ; and having, on this ground, bestowed and 
 proclaimed them freely, the only thing faith does, 
 is freely to take them in. It merely receives what 
 He freely gives. Faith does not make salvation, it 
 finds it made to its hand, perfect in all its parts, full 
 and free—made by Jesus alone, without help from 
 any other quarter in us or without us, from man, 
 from angels, from any other being in the universe. 
 It is His own perfect workmanship alone—the fruit 
 of His u one obedience unto the death of the cross.” 
 And finding it thus made, perfect, free, expressly 
 offered to all, faith just takes it as from His pierced 
 hand, all fresh and fragrant with His love, and 
 brings it home. Faith does not make forgiveness, 
 nor does it buy it, it only hears the blood-bought 
 pardon proclaimed—proclaimed on the one naked 
 ground of Emmanuers death—proclaimed on this 
 ground to every sinner under heaven, without ex¬ 
 ception and without condition—so proclaimed in the 
 
170 
 
 SERMON Tin. 
 
 word of the truth of the Gospel, that Gospel which 
 is addressed to all, and is true to all—and hearing 
 this blood-bought, entirely free forgiveness so pro¬ 
 claimed, faith listens to “ the joyful sound,” drinks 
 in the tidings as good and true, and in the tidings 
 the self-condemned soul finds and enjoys all the 
 pardon which it needs. If pardon be freely pro¬ 
 claimed to all, what else can be necessary than the 
 simple belief of this proclamation in the case of any 
 spirit that feels itself condemned, and longs to be 
 forgiven ? We are said “ to be justified by faith.” 
 But it is not because of this faith, as if there were 
 any spark of merit or righteousness in it, on seeing 
 of which God is moved to take the sinner into favour; 
 no, it is only by it, by means of it, which, utterly 
 void of merit or righteousness in itself, lays hold of 
 another righteousness altogether—a righteousness 
 which is “ without works,” and exclusive of all 
 works in us in this great matter, which will suffer 
 nothing to be added to or mixed with it in order to 
 commend us to God, which asserts to itself the sole 
 prerogative of procuring for us His endless favour; 
 in consequence of which the sinner, when justified, 
 is, though believing, viewed in himself as “ un¬ 
 godly.” 11 To him that worketh not, but believeth 
 on him that justifieth the ungodly , his faith is counted 
 for righteousness. Even as David also describeth 
 the blessedness of the man unto whom God imputeth 
 righteousness without works— righteousness , yet with¬ 
 out works.” It is the righteousness of God himself 
 which is here spoken of—a righteousness wrought 
 out by the living God in the flesh of man, a right- 
 
SERMON yin. 
 
 171 
 
 eousness, therefore, which it is blasphemy to suppose 
 the sinner either makes, or modifies, or adds to, or 
 purchases, or does any one thing to whatsoever, but 
 simply receives , receives as it is held out to him, and 
 to every one without exception, as at once infinitely 
 perfect and entirely free. This is the righteousness, 
 the righteousness of Emmanuel, God with us, the 
 one only righteousness, indeed, which has ever been 
 in the world, since Adam, by his fall, lost both his 
 and ours; it is this by itself alone, and to the ex¬ 
 clusion of every thing whatever in us, which forms 
 the solitary naked ground on -which any guilty sin¬ 
 ner can , and every guilty sinner in the universe may 
 be justified. This being the case, faith does, and 
 indeed can do nothing more, than simply to see it 
 in all its Divine sufficiency and freeness, and so far 
 to be satisfied with it, as to consent to stand upon it 
 alone as the sinner’s all, in all his dealings with 
 God, in reference both to this world, and the world 
 that is coming. It does, and it can do nothing to 
 this righteousness, which is not only perfect, but all¬ 
 divine, except receiving it, just as it is revealed and 
 brought near in the record, as being enough in itself 
 alone. No; there is such a glory in this one Right¬ 
 eousness, such a universe of worth and excellence 
 in it, it so far transcends every thing known among 
 creatures, it stands so entirely alone and by itself, 
 an all-glorious godlike thing—“ the obedience unto 
 death ” of the great Creator himself, rendered by 
 Him in this far-distant world, in the creature’s na¬ 
 ture, the creature’s acts, the creature’s place; there 
 is a glory in this one thing so far outshining that of 
 
172 
 
 SERMON YIII. 
 
 the firmament itself, that the soul, when once her 
 eye is opened on it, is enraptured and ravished with 
 it; can do nothing hut admire and glory in its con¬ 
 summate perfection; would no more think of adding 
 a single iota to it than she would think of trying 
 her hand in remodelling or adding to this material 
 world; and being told she is as free to use it all, as 
 her ground of confidence with God and for eternity, 
 as if it had been all the doing of her own hand, no 
 sooner does she understand and believe the news 
 than she breaks out into the holy gloriation which 
 shall hereafter burst forth from the whole redeemed 
 nation of Israel, “I will greatly rejoice in the Lord, 
 my soul shall be joyful in my God; for He hath 
 clothed me with the garments of salvation, He hath 
 covered me with the robe of righteousness, as a 
 bridegroom decketh himself with his ornaments, 
 and as a bride adorneth herself with her jewels.” 
 
 <c Jesus, thy blood and righteousness, 
 
 My beauty are, my glorious dress ; 
 
 ’Midst flaming worlds in these array’d, 
 
 "With joy shall I lift up my head. 
 
 “ When frpm the dust of earth I rise, 
 
 To claim my mansion in the skies, 
 
 Ev’n then shall this be all my plea— 
 
 Jesus hath liv’d and died for me !” 
 
 This is plainly the view given in the text. Here 
 nothing is attributed to the mere belief; every thing 
 to the truth believed. It is not the act of man, 
 which, in itself considered is nothing; but the per¬ 
 son and the work of Emmanuel, which are set forth 
 as the fountain-head of all this vital influence—the 
 
SERMON VIII. 
 
 173 
 
 source, and the only source of the entire salvation. 
 And the act of man simply draws from this work of 
 Emmanuel. The belief of the one but opens the 
 heart to let in the overflowing, life-giving virtue of 
 the other. Observe how distinctly this is stated in 
 the words before us—liow accurate a distribution 
 these words make of what belongs to the doing of 
 the Saviour, and what belongs to the believing of the 
 sinner. “ These things are written that ye might 
 believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God ; 
 and that believing ye might have life through His 
 name.” It is through or from His name that this 
 life comes ; and it comes to us bg or in believing what 
 we are here told concerning Him. The one is its 
 only source, the other is its mere and only channel. 
 It comes from such a quarter, and it comes in such 
 a way. “ His name ” may be taken for His whole 
 character, work, and office, as the Messiah or Christ, 
 the Son of God. This, therefore, is the fountain¬ 
 head of life to a lost world. No life but here; 
 none in any quarter, other or lower than this—the 
 person and work of Emmanuel! By such an ex¬ 
 pression, the eye is at once carried entirely and far 
 away from every thing in us, from every thing in 
 the creature, from his belief, his penitence, his 
 prayers, his works—all that are his, even to Christ 
 himself and alone, who, as the Son of God and all¬ 
 divine, brought life down in His own person into 
 this fallen world of ours, and by His work upon the 
 cross, opened its fountain in the midst of us, in our 
 own flesh, at our very side, so that henceforth there 
 should be no hopeless distance, no insuperable bar- 
 
174 
 
 SERMON VIII. 
 
 rier between it and us, but every one might have 
 ready and free access to it, and draw from it the 
 water of life. That fountain, the fountain of life to 
 this lost world, is nowhere else than here; even in 
 Himself, his name, his adorable person, his glorious 
 w r ork, every thing He has done and procured, and by 
 which He is now known to sinners. Herein lies all our 
 life, all our blessedness. And faith does nothing 
 whatever in the matter, but simply goes and finds 
 it there, and fetches it thence. And it fetches it 
 thence by simply receiving the truth that tells us of 
 it—that truth which has it within it, which is full of 
 it, because full of Emmanuel himself, his work, his 
 grace, his great salvation. By receiving this all- 
 vital truth, the written word about Jesus, and in it, 
 therefore, the Incarnate Word himself, and all the 
 treasures which are stored in him, we necessarily and 
 in the very act receive the life of our immortal souls, 
 for He is that life; He bought it for us at the ex¬ 
 pense of his own, and He puts it in us by putting 
 deep down in our hearts these good news, which tell 
 us of this and of all his wondrous love. The name 
 of Jesus—that is, his person and work is the foun¬ 
 tain of it all; the sinner’s belief is the mere inlet 
 or opening by which the waters, ever issuing out of 
 that full, overflowing fountain, find an entrance, 
 and carry their tide of blessedness into his indivi¬ 
 dual bosom. But all the worth and the healing 
 virtue lie, not in the mere inlet, but in what enters 
 by it—not in the channel, but in “ the living waters,” 
 which, issuing from the side of Jesus, find an 
 entrance by means of it into the moral wilderness 
 
SERMON VIII. 
 
 175 
 
 which is in every fallen spirit, and there spreading 
 themselves on every side, clothe it with all the ver¬ 
 dure and freshness of Eden. In this fallen world, 
 therefore, is set forth “ the Christ himself,” in all 
 his fulness of person, character, worth, and love, 
 He is set forth apart and by himself, unconnected 
 wdth every thing else, exclusive of every thing else, 
 as high above and far away from every thing else 
 as heaven is from earth, in high supremacy, in soli¬ 
 tary glory, in undiminishable fuhiess, as the only 
 fountain whence flow forth to the lost on every side 
 forgiveness, peace, purity, eternal life, the Great 
 Spirit himself, all of which are but “ the streams 
 from Lebanonwhile the belief of individual 
 sinners serves no other office than do the various 
 channels down that mountain’s sides—dry, empty, 
 useless in themselves, except when he pours along 
 them his melted snows into the plains beneath, and 
 thereby makes these plains “ a promised land,” the 
 garden of the Lord, “ where the little hills rejoice 
 on every side, the pastures are clothed with flocks, 
 the valleys also are covered over with corn, they 
 shout for joy, they also sing !” 
 
 Thus is the matter stated in the text; and the 
 statement here given corresponds with every other 
 part of Scripture. Throughout the whole, the life 
 or salvation of every lost soul is represented as be¬ 
 ing in Christ alone; purchased by His own blood, 
 without any help from the sinner himself, or any 
 other being whatever; and deposited in Him who 
 purchased it, as its only keeper and only dispenser 
 -—■“ for it pleased the Father that in Him should 
 
176 
 
 SERMON Till. 
 
 all fulness dwell.” But whatever is in Him may 
 with equal propriety be said to be in the truth, 
 which reveals Him, and brings Him near to us. 
 That truth, indeed, is just the full manifestation of 
 Jesus ; it is Himself in all his fulness presented to 
 our eyes and hearts ; the written Word is nothing 
 but the Incarnate Word unfolded ; and is filled with 
 Him from beginning to end. In this truth, there¬ 
 fore, stored with such divine realities as the person, 
 the character, the work, the love of Emmanuel, lies 
 all our life, complete and perfect, near at hand, 
 entirely free, for the use of each and all without 
 exception, waiting to be drawn forth at once and 
 freely by every poor Samaritan that brings her 
 pitcher to such a well. And whosoever takes in this 
 truth in its full meaning and certainty—not a dry, 
 bald, withered, notion—but God’s own truth, with 
 all the things of God in its bosom, with a living, 
 dying, risen Messiah, and in him an all-perfect 
 atonement, a divine righteousness, a full salvation; 
 whosoever takes into his understanding, conscience, 
 and heart a truth full of and instinct with vitalities 
 like these, takes also, and cannot but take along 
 with it, immortal life itself; that blessed life of the 
 never dying spirit, which, begun upon earth, is to 
 run out coeval with eternity. This life cannot but 
 be taken in alone- with this truth. It is not con- 
 
 o 
 
 ferred in consequence of its being believed, and as 
 a reward of believing it. The one is inseparable 
 from the other, or rather is in the other. For as 
 the life is all in Jesus himself, in his person, his 
 name, his glorious work, his love, his perfect right- 
 
SERMON "VIII. 
 
 177 
 
 eousness ; and as the truth is nothing else than these 
 vital realities—the full Emmanuel himself, present¬ 
 ed before us in visible written characters; it is no 
 more possible to admit this truth without at the same 
 time admitting that life, in part at least, and in so far 
 as the truth is admitted, than it is to admit the sun¬ 
 beam and not also admit its light and heat. The 
 things are one. At least, if not, they come together 
 and without an effort. Wherever the one is per¬ 
 mitted to enter, the other is felt and enjoyed. Ob 
 yes! the sinner that admits into his bosom the truth 
 respecting Jesus, admits the Lord himself, and in 
 that Lord, salvation too. He cannot do otherwise. 
 He cannot receive the one, yet exclude the other. 
 He receives both together, without an interval, with¬ 
 out an effort, by the same act, and as a thing of 
 course. That blessed life comes unbidden, unsought; 
 not after, and as the reward of believing the truth, 
 but in the very bosom of the truth itself. The belief 
 of the one is the entrance and actual commencement 
 of the other. Let the eye but see that truth of heaven 
 in heaven’s own light, and the heart at once, without 
 a thought, or an effort, feels through all its powers, 
 the first movements of the new and better being— 
 feels a sense of forgiveness, assurance of God’s love, 
 and the hope of eternal life, all of which are the very 
 elements of the heavenly life, and which, ever deep¬ 
 ening and expanding, as the truth is better known, 
 spring up at last “ into life everlasting.” How can 
 it be otherwise to a spirit that sees itself condemned 
 and ready to perish ? And no other can ever see 
 the truth in its real meaning and import. Some- 
 
 M 
 
178 
 
 SERMON Till. 
 
 thing about it may be seen ; something like it; its 
 semblance, its shadow, its dry shrivelled skin, or cold 
 petrifaction. But the real vital truth itself, in its 
 full import and grace, instinct with all its grand 
 realities, no man ever saw, or ever can see, whose 
 eyes have not first been opened by the Spirit of God. 
 to see that he stands every moment perilously ex¬ 
 posed to an infinite because an endless ruin. And 
 to a spirit seeing this, it is not possible that the truth 
 respecting Jesus can come in all its light, and evi¬ 
 dence, and glory, without bringing along with it, and 
 in it, the very beginning of eternal life. For what 
 is this truth—what is in it—in this little, despised, 
 and seemingly impotent thing ? Why, all heaven is 
 in it, for God himself is in it—the sinner’s God, 
 God in his gracious aspect towards the lost. There 
 is a universe of love in it, and a universe of holiness 
 in it; both in blessed harmony—both embodied, and 
 both for us. There is an all-sufficient atonement in 
 it, and an infinitely perfect righteousness in it, and 
 an unconditional forgiveness in it, and the friendship 
 and favour of the Highest in it, and all the other 
 parts of a full salvation in it, and every thing in it 
 is free. Emmanuel himself is in it, in all His ful¬ 
 ness ; the sinner’s portion, the sinner’s all; with life 
 legal, spiritual, and eternal in Him. And to sup¬ 
 pose a truth like this, so instinct, so pregnant with 
 all divine realities, to enter into the soul of a poor 
 condemned sinner, without carrying life along with 
 it, and diffusing that life at once through all the 
 powers of his being, is much the same as to suppose 
 that the darkness of midnight should still continue 
 
SERMON AMII. 
 
 179 
 
 when the sun has risen to highest noon, and, cloud¬ 
 less, is pouring down his full Hood of splendour into 
 the bosom of the prostrate earth. 
 
 W e are, therefore, to look for no mystery in the 
 mere act of belief. The mystery lies altogether in 
 the thing belie\ r ed. And that is a thing mysterious 
 indeed, the mystery of mysteries—“ God was mani¬ 
 fest in the flesh !” There is neither greatness nor 
 virtue in our act of believing; but there is both, and 
 
 both to a degree which words can do nothing to ex- 
 press in the things believed, in those glorious realities 
 which this belief apprehends, and brings into the 
 soul, and invests with the mastery over all its prin 
 ciples and all its actings—realities before the vast¬ 
 ness, brightness, and blessedness of which, earth and 
 time, with all their shadows, fade aA\ r ay—God in¬ 
 carnate ! His death in the room of the guilty ! and 
 that universe of holy lo\*e which such an e\~ent both 
 expresses and procures ! From which it follows 
 that while belief or faith, in itself considered, is al¬ 
 ways the same act, and the simplest and most un¬ 
 meriting act in the world; yet, Avhen set upon such 
 objects as these—when turned to such a world of 
 AA-onders, and filled A\fith them, or rather filling the 
 soul with them, these make what is so empty in it¬ 
 self, of infinite power and value—the grandest of all 
 things human, of all things even divine, and having 
 the grandest of all results—results bright as heaven's 
 glories, and vast as eternity. The look, or the eye, 
 bv Avhich we survey this little dwelling in Avhich we 
 are assembled, is the same as that by which Ave sur¬ 
 vey the fair earth without, and the glorious heavens 
 
180 
 
 SERMON Till. 
 
 above us. Yet how different the effect on our mind 
 when turned to the one, from what it is when turned 
 to the other ! And all the difference in the effect 
 is owing, not to any difference in the act of looking, 
 but to the infinite difference in the objects looked to. 
 The one is a small apartment, the walls and con¬ 
 tents of which can awaken no sensations of blessed¬ 
 ness on being seen. The other is God’s own glorious 
 world, glorious and godlike even in ruins, and which 
 cannot be seen when brilliant with the light of day, 
 or bespangled with the stars of night, without en¬ 
 kindling a corresponding world of beauty, gladness, 
 and glory, within the mind itself, on which, through 
 that eye, it has pencilled all its scenes. Even so 
 while the belief of man, considered merely as his act 
 and separate from its object, is the self-same thing 
 when it receives, as true, any report in common life, 
 as when it receives the most wondrous of all reports, 
 the good news of God's great love to a fallen world; 
 yet how different the effect-—infinitely different! 
 The one brings into the heart nothing but shadows, 
 emptiness, vanity, and vexation ; the other brings 
 in a universe of bliss, even heaven itself. And why, 
 but because these different contents are in their re¬ 
 spective reports? The faith is the same—-the re¬ 
 ports are infinitely different. The act is nothing— 
 the object is all. Salvation is all of Christ—our 
 faith only takes it in. 
 
 Nor let men fear that in thus making nothing of 
 the mere act of belief, and every thins; of the truth 
 believed—nothing of the act of man, every thing of 
 the work of Christ, we run the risk of giving coun- 
 
SERMON VIII. 
 
 1 81 
 
 tenance to a slight, superficial, self-confident reli¬ 
 gion, which lies all on the surface of the being, in 
 the animal feelings alone—which has no solidity, 
 nor depth, no humility, nor meekness, nor Christ- 
 like mind in it—which consists of little else than a 
 shallow, babbling, noisy, stony-ground joy, the 
 mere smoke or chaff of religion. Such a mockery 
 of religion it is to be feared, does prevail, and pre¬ 
 vails in connexion with simple views of faith. But 
 it is only in connexion with, not in consequence of 
 these. The error lies not so much in erroneous 
 views of belief, as in erroneous, or at least entirely 
 defective views of the thing believed. The mistake 
 is not about faith, but about, what is of infinitely 
 greater moment, the Gospel itself—“ the glorious 
 gospel of the blessed God.” That , in their hands, 
 has dwindled down into a bare, dry, sapless notion 
 —into a single point, about Christ having died for 
 me, and about me therefore being safe; from which 
 all moral meaning, all the great things of God, His 
 character. His government, His law, His justice, 
 His hatred of sin, and love of righteousness, have 
 been well-nigh banished away. That being the 
 notion, and this notion being next to all their 
 gospel, why, of course, the belief of this must pro¬ 
 duce a religion as empty, slight, and worthless as 
 itself. The child is in the likeness of its parent. 
 But the error lies, not in attenuating faith, but in 
 banishing the substance of the Gospel altogether— 
 in reducing it to a mere dry abstraction, which has 
 next to nothing of the great God in it, nor the great 
 eternity, nor any of all the other vast and vital rea- 
 
182 
 
 SERMON Yin. 
 
 lities with which the true Gospel is instinct and full. 
 And the cure must correspond with the evil. It is 
 not to mystify faith, not to magnify the mere belief, 
 not to make a great thing, an every thing, of it. 
 No; this would be to expel one evil by introducing 
 as great, perhaps a greater, in its place—supplanting 
 the slightness which results from an attenuated Gos¬ 
 pel, by the self-righteousness which is the conse¬ 
 quence of magnifying the mere faith, and covering 
 up the cross itself, and the Saviour who died on it, 
 by the thick, opaque, impervious medium through 
 which we are required to look at both. The cure 
 is this. Let the Gospel, in all its fulness, in all its 
 breadth and length, in all its depth of moral mean¬ 
 ing, its height of holy requirement, be brought out 
 from the corner into which it has been driven, and 
 exhibited without a veil or covering in the eyes of 
 all—with God’s heart, and character, and govern¬ 
 ment all laid open, and man’s full salvation lying 
 perfect and free in its bosom. And that chaff will 
 soon be driven away from the Church, and in its 
 stead will grow up that solid, pure, precious wdieat, 
 which is destined to be gathered into the garner of 
 the great Husbandman. Let but all the glorious 
 facts of the Gospel—those facts which have all the 
 moralities both of heaven and earth, both of God 
 and man in their bosom, be ever set fully forth 
 in their due place and prominence, in heaven’s own 
 clear light; and make of faith what you will, you 
 will have a religion, as the result, like these facts 
 themselves, simple but substantial, pure, free, strong 
 as adamant—walking abroad in this world with a 
 
SERMON VIII. 
 
 183 
 
 firm step and an erect countenance—a thing all of 
 heaven, not of earth—the rock beneath its feet, the 
 light of open day on its path, and heaven’s own 
 sunshine on its brow. 
 
 In fact, the less that is said about faith—the mere 
 act we mean—and the more that is said about its 
 object, the Saviour, all the better. And the less 
 that people think about faith, and the more they 
 think, and hear, and read about the Saviour him¬ 
 self, and his work, and his great salvation, all the 
 better. There is a discoursing about the mere be¬ 
 lief, and an exhorting to the mere belief, the only 
 effect of which is to leave the impression on the 
 mind that it is some “ great thing” which people 
 have to do in order to their acceptance with God. 
 Whereas, saying nothing, or as little, at least, as the 
 Bible says, about the act and the duty, and all about 
 Jesus himself, his cross and his crown; faith, 
 through the spirit’s use of this, will spring up as a 
 thing of course. There is a dry arguing in behalf 
 of the belief, and a setting forth of reasons and mo¬ 
 tives for exercising it ; as if the thing could ever go 
 into the heart by mere force, or dint of argument, 
 or bribes, or terrors, or any way else whatever, but 
 by the truth itself being exhibited and seen. The con¬ 
 sequence is, that some, through an excitement from 
 without, or by a direct force on their feelings, per¬ 
 suade themselves that they have done u this great 
 thing”—that they have believed, and they are forth¬ 
 with glad ; but glad in it , their fancied faith, not in 
 the Lord himself it is the gladness and joy, if not of 
 the hypocrite, at least of the self-righteous and the 
 
184 
 
 SERMON VIII. 
 
 / 
 
 self-deceived ! While others are kept labouring and 
 labouring after this thing in legal miserable bondage 
 all their life-time, and never advance an inch nearer 
 the object of their wishes. Oh that we all, minis¬ 
 ters and people, took the wiser and Scriptural course! 
 the one making the facts of the Gospel, their mean¬ 
 ing, their glory, their grace, their truth, the con¬ 
 stant burden of their ministry; the other making 
 these same facts the grand and sole objects of their 
 regard. Then would faith, which, like our shadow, 
 only flees from us if we follow it, arise without 
 our seeking or labouring for it at all; because 
 the things, the realities which give it being, the 
 substance which, with the light of the Spirit, always 
 casts it, would be there. Men would believe with¬ 
 out argument, without exhortation, without being 
 even directly told to do so. Truth, exhibited in its 
 proper nature, and light, and evidence, necessarily 
 begets belief. And that truth respecting Jesus once 
 filling their hearts they would not only feel the 
 blessedness of believing, but would also see, what 
 till then can never be clearly seen, that a sinner’s 
 salvation, though by faith, is yet all of grace ; nay, 
 is “ of grace” just because “ it is by faith for faith 
 like this ascribes every thing to its object, nothing 
 to itself. It is nothing: Christ is all—all and in all! 
 
SERMON IX. 
 
 185 
 
 SERMON IX. 
 
 FAITH-BY WHAT POWER IT IS PRODUCED. 
 
 u But these are written, that ye might believe that Jesus 
 is the Christ, the Son of God; and that believing ye might have 
 life through his name.”— John xx. 31. 
 
 The points already considered are these :— First, 
 That the belief mentioned in this text is vital saving 
 faith—that faith which conveys life or salvation to 
 the soul. 
 
 Second, That as to its nature, this faith is the 
 mere belief of the proposition stated in the text— 
 seeing it to be true, or seeing in its truth that great 
 system of divine facts of which the proposition in 
 the text is the sum or short compendium ; a system 
 of facts, however, of such wmndrous moral import 
 and glory—giving such a discovery of the condition 
 of man, and the character and government of God. 
 as cannot be really seen—seen as it is, and as true 
 —without necessarily and at once drawung the heart 
 to Christ as its only object of confidence, and mould¬ 
 ing the whole character and life into blessed con¬ 
 formity with Him. 
 
 Third, That this belief saves the soul, not because 
 of any peculiar worth, or virtue, or power in the 
 mere act by itself, and apart from its object; but 
 
186 
 
 SERMON IX. 
 
 altogether and only because of the grand object on 
 which it is set—even because it brings into the 
 understanding, conscience, and heart of man, that 
 great system of truth concerning Jesus, which has 
 all the virtue in it, which has the life and eternal 
 well-being of an entire world of lost souls within 
 it, since it has an infinite atonement, a divine 
 righteousness, a free and full salvation, a universe 
 of holy sovereign love in it; or, to express it all in 
 one, because it has in it Emmanuel himself, the 
 sinner’s all, “ made of God unto us wisdom, and 
 righteousness, and sanctification, and redemption, 
 that, as it is written, Let him that glorieth, glory 
 only in the Lord.” 
 
 An important question still remains, How is this 
 belief produced? By what power is the saving- 
 truth made to enter the heart of a fallen sinner, 
 and there diffuse the life and blessedness which it 
 carries in its bosom? Is this done by a power 
 which belongs to man himself, or is it only by 
 “ that great power of God,” even “ the exceeding- 
 greatness of his power?” If the life-giving virtue 
 lie in the truth itself, or in Jesus who is u the truth;” 
 and if the belief before us be just this truth im¬ 
 pressing and filling the mind, as a reality, and in 
 all its fulness of meaning; the whole thing is so 
 simple, and seems so easy, that we are tempted to 
 ask, what need can there be for its accomplishment 
 of any power beyond that of the sinner himself ? 
 what need, especially, of a power so great as that 
 of the Holy Ghost himself, the third person in the 
 glorious Trinity ? 
 
SERMON IX. 
 
 187 
 
 I. Now, on this point, we remark in the first 
 place, that simple as this belief assuredly is, and 
 easy though it seem to be, it never yet entered, and 
 it never will enter, into the heart of any sinner by 
 his own unaided act. It is by no native, spontane¬ 
 ous, unprompted movement of his own, that his 
 understanding is opened to discern the meaning, 
 and his heart to perceive the excellence and glory 
 of this great and saving truth about Jesus. On this 
 point, the testimony of God, in His Word, is as dis¬ 
 tinct as words can possibly make it. How, for ex¬ 
 ample, can language be framed to exclude the sin¬ 
 ner himself as the first moving cause in this matter, 
 if it be not done, by the solemn and unambiguous 
 declaration of our Lord? u No man can come to 
 me, except the Father, which hath sent me, draw 
 him. It is written in the prophets, And they shall 
 be all taught of God. Every man therefore that 
 hath heard, and hath learned of the Father, cometh 
 unto me.”—(John vi. 44.) Notice, this passage 
 was spoken to and of Jews, who had already pos¬ 
 sessed all the external teaching of God, in so far as 
 this was communicated by the prophets or any other 
 outward means, and wdio w^ere at this moment en¬ 
 joying all the external teaching of Christ himself, 
 the great Prophet of the Church. It must, there¬ 
 fore, refer to some teaching other than, and addi¬ 
 tional to this external teaching, common to all— 
 this teaching by the Word, and by ordinances, and 
 by prophets, and by Christ himself. It must refer 
 to some special inward teaching accompanying this, 
 to a teaching of the mind itself, to an opening of it 
 
188 
 
 SERMON IX. 
 
 by an invisible hand, as in the case of Lydia, to an 
 influencing and drawing of it by the immediate 
 power of God himself, along with the presenting of 
 the external truth, though imperceptible by human 
 eyes, as being in every case whatever indispensable 
 to the cordial reception of that truth, as being the 
 grand moving cause why any sinner ever comes to 
 Christ. And while the passage on the one side thus 
 claims for God himself that special power or influ¬ 
 ence by which the sinner is moved to come to Jesus; 
 it on the other side, as if to make certainty more 
 sure, with equal explicitness excludes the power of 
 man—denies to every man by nature a power like 
 this. “ No man can come unto me, except the Fa¬ 
 ther which hath sent me, draw him.” The Being 
 who sent the Son, and who draws the sinner to that 
 Son, is one and the same. The Father does the 
 one, as much as He did the other. The drawing 
 the sinner to Christ, is as much the act of the Fa¬ 
 ther himself, as the sending of Christ into the world 
 was : “ Except the Father which sent me draiv him.” 
 He that did the one, He, and He only, does the 
 other. And without this act—as much the Father’s 
 own and sole as the sending of the Son—the state¬ 
 ment is explicit, strong, and universal— u no man 
 can come to me.” It is no doubt true, that when 
 properly considered, this u cannot” just resolves 
 itself into a u will not ” u ye will not come unto me 
 that ye might have life.” The two expressions mean 
 the same thing. It is not a want of the physical 
 faculties, the mere mental or natural powers neces¬ 
 sary to believing; in respect to these, every fallen 
 
SERMON IX. 
 
 189 
 
 sinner still possesses all that are requisite to the he- 
 lief of the truth, or coming to Christ. It is not 
 such an impotency as that of the man who wants 
 the eyes to see, or the man who wants the limbs to 
 walk. It is an impotency, merely and altogether 
 in his moral nature, consisting in the prevalence 
 and power of sin over his whole being, such as is 
 ascribed to the abandoned reprobate— u having eyes 
 full of adultery and that cannot cease to sin”—an 
 impotency which is not so much his calamity as his 
 highest crime, which is not to be deplored as if it 
 were a simple loss, but blamed as the height of ini¬ 
 quity. But though the impotency be in its nature 
 all and onlv moral, yet is it as strong in itself and 
 insuperable by his own power, as if it were entirely 
 otherwise. It renders the coming to Christ—were 
 the man left in himself—an entirely impossible, 
 though it be also an entirely voluntary and awfully 
 criminal thing. Even after all that Christ hath 
 done, were he left to himself, it would make his 
 ruin absolutelv certain. In order to remove it, it 
 requires an act of omnipotent grace, second to that 
 only which made provision for salvation at all by 
 the sending of the only begotten Son. For such, 
 the mission of the Great Spirit into the heart of a 
 fallen sinner, must seem to be, when we think that 
 it is done on behalf of a being, who, after all the 
 grace displayed in the cross of Christ, remains so 
 awfully depraved, that no power in the universe 
 can prevail with him to accept of a free salvation, 
 short of omnipotence itself. Oh the wonder of 
 grace in God, and of guilt in man ! To save even 
 
190 
 
 SERMON IX. 
 
 one worm of the dust, the Father, and the Son, and 
 the Eternal Spirit, must all conspire ! and yet it is 
 done! 
 
 Not less decisive is the testimony which God 
 bears by the mouth of Paul in 1 Cor. ii. Through¬ 
 out this whole chapter, the Apostle speaks of one 
 unbroken subject, viz., his ministry at Corinth, 
 which he first calls “ the testimony of God,” aritt 
 says it consisted mainly of “ Christ Jesus and Him 
 crucifiedwhich, in respect to manner, was deli¬ 
 vered “ not in the enticing words of man’s wisdom, 
 but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power 
 which, because of its having been but darkly inti¬ 
 mated heretofore, not clearly revealed, he further 
 describes “ as the wisdom of God in a mystery, the 
 hidden wisdom, which God ordained before the 
 world unto our glory, but which none of the princes 
 of this world knew, otherwise they had not crucified 
 the Lord of glory,” but which wisdom had now 
 been clearly disclosed by the coming of Christ, and 
 the revelation of the Spirit, and which was freely 
 given them of God, to be as freely spoken to all 
 others, “ not in the words which man’s wisdom 
 teacheth, but which the Holy Ghost teacheth.''' 
 Thus speaking from beginning to end of one and 
 the same subject—the great things of God concern¬ 
 ing our salvation, previously hidden, now unfolded, 
 and forming the substance of his ministry at Corinth 
 and everywhere else, the Apostle adds these memor¬ 
 able words in reference to the same thing : “But the 
 carnal mind receiveth not the things of the Spirit of 
 God; tor they are foolishness to him; neither can 
 
SERMON IX. 
 
 191 
 
 lie know tliem, because they are spiritually discern¬ 
 ed ”—discerned, that is, by the help of God’s own 
 blessed Spirit. How language can be framed to 
 deny to man, in his natural state, the power of dis¬ 
 cerning the truth and glory of the Gospel, and to 
 ascribe all the credit of this to the teaching of 
 God’s Spirit alone, we are utterly at a loss to con¬ 
 ceive, if it be not effectually done in the language 
 before us. 
 
 There are other passages equally explicit in as¬ 
 serting man’s moral impotency without grace from 
 on high; such as, “No man can say that Jesus is 
 the Lord but by the Holy Ghost.” 
 
 II. But we turn to those on the other side which 
 expressly ascribe the faith of the sinner to the power 
 or Spirit of God as its grand originating cause. Of 
 these take the following as a specimen:—“For by 
 grace are ye saved, through faith, and that not of 
 yourselves ; it is the gift of God.” Eph. ii. 8. Here 
 the salvation itself is first ascribed to grace as its only 
 source ; and then accounting for the instrument by 
 which we on our side receive this salvation—the 
 faith, it is added, “ that is not of yourselves, it is the 
 srift of God.” As if it had been said, this faith does 
 not abate the mere grace of the salvation, for even 
 this—the only thing in the matter that seems to be 
 man’s—even this is not his own, it is as gratuitous 
 as the salvation itself, “ it is the gift of God.” 
 Exactly coincident with this is the statement of the 
 same Apostle to the Philippians, where speaking 
 of the grace bestowed on them in being called to 
 
192 
 
 SERMON IX. 
 
 suffer for the name of Christ, he puts “ their believ¬ 
 ing in Christ,” and “ their suffering for Him,” on 
 the same level, as being alike the gifts of God, what 
 they owed entirely to His grace, (chap. i. 29,) “ for 
 unto you it is given , not only to believe on Him, 
 but also to suffer for His sake.” In Matth. xvi. 
 15-17, “Christ saith unto them, But whom say ye 
 that I am ? And Simon Peter answered and said, 
 Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God.”— 
 The very belief in our text.— u And Jesus answered 
 and said unto him, Blessed art thou. Simon Bar-jona: 
 for flesh and blood hath not revealed this unto thee, 
 but my Father which is in heaven.” Here, observe, 
 the revelation of this saving truth—that is, the belief 
 of it—is first denied to all power and instrumentality 
 in man, in the widest possible sense that terms can 
 express, “ flesh and blood hath not revealed this 
 unto thee.” This would not have been true had the 
 revelation here spoken of been the mere outward 
 statement of the truth which is made by the instru¬ 
 mentality of man to man. It is, therefore, some 
 inward revelation peculiar to Christians alone, and 
 by which they are blessed above all besides ; an 
 inward revelation, moreover, not made “ by flesh 
 and blood,” that is, not made by any human instru¬ 
 mentality, neither by the unaided power of the in¬ 
 dividuals themselves, nor by any individual merely 
 human. This inward, special, most blessed revela¬ 
 tion, while thus denied to the creature, in the widest 
 sense possible, to every thing in man inward or 
 outward, to all “ that is flesh and blood,” is as ex¬ 
 pressly ascribed by our Lord to His own Father in 
 
SERMON IX. 
 
 193 
 
 heaven alone. Notice, it is not ascribed even to 
 Himself, in which case it might have been thought 
 that His mere outward personal ministry was suffi¬ 
 cient to account for it. But plainly implying some 
 influence over and above this, and working with it, 
 an influence altogether separate from it in its source 
 and nature, invisible to human eyes, and directly 
 from heaven; he ascribes the effectual revelation of 
 the saving truth—not even to himself—but to His own 
 Father exclusively and alone, as having the residue 
 of the Spirit, and as having not yet given him to the 
 Son, because the Son was not yet risen. In John 
 i. 11-13, we have the “ beloved disciple” bearing a 
 testimony exactly equivalent with that of the master 
 himself. “ He came unto his own, and his own 
 received him not. But as many as received him, 
 to them gave He power (privilege or right) to be¬ 
 come the sons of God, even to them that believe on 
 His name ; which were born, not of blood, nor of 
 the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of 
 God.” In this passage three things are observable. 
 First, the character of the persons. u They receive 
 Christ,” or, in the words which are used as equiva¬ 
 lent to this, “ they believe in His name,” that is, in 
 His character and work as the Messiah. The man 
 who receives Christ is the man who just believes 
 him to be the Messiah. To receive Christ and 
 to believe Him to be the Messiah, is the same 
 thing. Second, the privilege of such ; “ they be¬ 
 come Sons of God.” This faith in the eldest, 
 “ the only begotten Son,” entering the sinner’s heart 
 with all the love of the Father in its bosom, trans- 
 
 N 
 
194 
 
 SERMON IX. 
 
 forms that heart into that of a child ; makes all 
 who admit it feel themselves younger sons and 
 younger brethren—younger sons of the Father, 
 younger brethren of “ the first-born.” And, third, 
 the cause of this, both of the character and the 
 privilege embosomed in the character; for it obvi¬ 
 ously refers to both. All is traced up from earth to 
 heaven—from man to God—to a source, in no re¬ 
 spect human, entirely and exclusively divine. All 
 is ascribed, not to the creature in any of its varied 
 forms, or faculties, or powers, but in express exclu¬ 
 sion of every thing else, to the great Creator himself. 
 It springs not from a birth of human loins, but a 
 birth of the eternal Father alone. They who so 
 believe, and in believing become such blessed sons, 
 owe it all—both the character and the privilege, 
 which springs out of the character natively, neces¬ 
 sarily, and is not the product of another act—owe all 
 to one most gracious act of the Almighty Father's 
 new creating power : “ They w^ere born, not of 
 
 blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of 
 man, but of God.” In connexion with these passages 
 let us take the history which Paul, writing to the 
 Ephesians, has given of the origin of faith in them, 
 and, therefore, in all genuine .Christians, (chap. i. 
 19,) “ And what is the exceeding greatness of his 
 power to usward who believe, according to the 
 working of his mighty power, which he wrought in 
 Christ, when he raised him from the dead, and set 
 him at his own right hand in the heavenly places.” 
 Here the belief of these Christians is expressly 
 ascribed “ to the power of God,"—to His “ mighty 
 power,”—to “ the greatness of this mighty power,”— 
 
SERMON IX. 
 
 195 
 
 nay, “ the exceeding greatness of this mighty power.’* 
 To such an exercise thereof as was put forth on 
 Christ himself when God “ raised him from the 
 dead, and set him at his own right hand in the 
 heavenly places.” To originate belief in the heart 
 of a sinner, is as pure, as great an act of almighti- 
 ness, as was the resurrection of Christ from the 
 dead. Add to this, the history given of the way in 
 which faith sprang up in the heart of one individual 
 soul, that of Lydia, “ Whose heart the Lord open¬ 
 ed, that she attended unto the things which were 
 spoken of Paul."—Acts xvi. 14. Here, observe, 
 of the only two things which make up the history 
 of her simple case, the one was in order to the 
 other; it was therefore distinct from it, and it was 
 before it, as the cause ever must be distinct from 
 and before the effect. The one was “ the Lord’s 
 doing,” the other was hers. The Lord’s doing was 
 before hers, and the cause of hers ; hers was subse¬ 
 quent to, and in consequence of His. u The Lord 
 opened the heart of Lydiathis first, and in order to 
 lead to what followed. So that upon the mind or 
 heart of Lydia, there was some action of that Almighty 
 hand which had originally made her mind in order 
 to open it for the entrance of the truths which Paul 
 was commissioned to proclaim; an action invisible, 
 indeed, not far apart in point of time, not cognizable 
 perhaps to her own consciousness, yet withal and 
 notwithstanding as real, as distinct in nature, as 
 separable from the act of her own mind when she 
 •• attended” to the Apostle, as if the interval of 
 years had passed between it and all which flowed from 
 it; an action of the Almighty’s invisible power di- 
 
196 
 
 SEE MON IX. 
 
 rectlv on the soul itself, in the very crisis of its 
 spiritual history, not only prior to faith, but to that 
 attention to the things spoken by Paul, out of which 
 the faith sprang; an action, all the Lord’s alone, 
 though done in the presence of Paul, and while he 
 was speaking of those things to which it first of all 
 led her “ to attend,” attending to which she next 
 believed, and believing was then and thenceforward 
 filled with life and blessedness. There is sun-light 
 on the whole process from first to last. God himself 
 and alone stands as the originating spring of all: 
 Paul, and the truths of the Gospel, are the outward 
 means he employs : His own direct opening of 
 Lydia’s heart makes way for attention, attention 
 leads to faith, faith brings into the opened bosom 
 all the things about Christ, and in these things, in 
 the very bosom of them, came in her pardon, her 
 peace, her life, her blessedness, her incipient heaven! 
 To her was all the benefit—to God was all the praise! 
 
 Such, then, being the solemn testimony of Scrip¬ 
 ture, expressly excluding on the one side the free 
 will and native power of man, and as expressly as¬ 
 cribing on the other side every thing to the power 
 or Spirit of God in the matter of faith ; how can 
 any one, who does not make a creed to himself, but 
 simply takes it as made to his hand by God in His 
 Word, refuse to acknowledge that, in every case 
 whatever, where the truth as it is in Jesus is really 
 received into the heart in simplicity and power, this 
 is not the doing of the man himself, but the doing 
 of the Lord alone, u who worketli in us both to will 
 and to do” and this not of debt but of grace alone, 
 “ even of his own good pleasure.” 
 
SERMON IX. 
 
 197 
 
 III. Had the testimony of Scripture, in fact, been 
 far less ample and explicit than it really is, we would 
 by necessity, and by the nature of things, have been 
 shut up to the same conclusion. 
 
 Man being what he is by nature, the enemy of 
 God, and of all that is God’s, and the Gospel being 
 what it is and ever must be, the full discovery of 
 God to the sinner, it is a moral impossibility, the 
 strongest in the universe, for the one of these two 
 infinitely opposite things ever to be cordially em¬ 
 braced bv the other, that other remaining in its 
 natural state, remaining unchanged; it is morally 
 impossible for that Gospel to be either understood 
 or embraced by that man, except by an act ot 
 Omnipotence passing upon the latter, which, though 
 unseen by the bodily eye, is yet as real and as vast 
 withal as that by which in the beginning this world was 
 made, or that by which in the end all the dead shall 
 be raised. No doubt the Gospel is in itself a simple 
 thing—so simple that in respect of mere intellectual 
 power the mind of the youngest child may under¬ 
 stand it. And simple as that Gospel itself, and in 
 beautiful harmony with it, is the faith that receives 
 it. Nothing on earth, we believe, to be more per¬ 
 fectly simple in themselves than both. The very 
 simplicity of God himself, the most simple and un¬ 
 mixed of all beings, is in each. And hastily run¬ 
 ning away with this, which is only the one side of 
 the matter, and not thinking of the other, the fallen 
 being into whose benighted, depraved mind, this 
 simplest, yet purest of things, this thing of heaven’s 
 own light and love must effect an entrance; some 
 
198 
 
 SERMON IX. 
 
 have fancied, or have spoken as if they fancied, that 
 man himself is adequate to procure for it a lodgment 
 in the centre of his heart. It is but merely believ¬ 
 ing a mere proposition or truth about Jesus; and 
 what is to hinder man from doing this ? why call 
 in the agency of God to accomplish a thing so simple, 
 so easv, so diminutive as this seems to be ? Ah ! 
 brethren, they forget that it is its very simplicity 
 which makes it so dissimilar from, so entirely op¬ 
 posite to the nature of man, all in ruins as it now is, 
 and disjointed and complex to the last degree, and 
 which therefore constitutes the grand difficulty in 
 the way of its being even understood, not to say be¬ 
 lieved, by such a fallen creature. Had man’s mind 
 been of a nature congenial to, and corresponding 
 with it—as simple, guileless, unmixed as when it 
 came at first from the hand of God, then would the 
 simplicity of the Gospel, so beauteous and so god¬ 
 like, have secured its being understood at once. 
 But that mind being now by nature, and more espe¬ 
 cially when long accustomed to the traffic of the 
 world, the whole of which is based upon a principle 
 as opposite to that of the Gospel as heaven to earth, 
 day to night—that mind being the very reverse of 
 simple and generous; it is the very simplicity and 
 pure grace of the Gospel which constitute the grand 
 barrier to its being received by any natural man— 
 a barrier which nothing short of God’s new-creating 
 power upon man can ever remove. And we believe 
 that no man has ever been called to deal with a 
 spirit all in earnest about its endless welfare, but in 
 which the old make of our nature still remains,. and 
 
SERMON IX. 
 
 199 
 
 who in that case has tried to present the Gospel in 
 its heaven-like grace and simplicity, as the only 
 thing it needed, that which entirely meets its case, 
 and which requires to be but seen to relieve it all, 
 and all at once, but who has tried, and tried it all 
 in vain—the poor soul, in its self-righteous per¬ 
 plexity, ever overlooking heaven’s all-simple remedy, 
 just because of its simplicity, and groping after 
 something greater and more complicated than it; 
 no man has ever been in such a position without 
 being fully convinced that that venerable servant of 
 God who had so long preached the Gospel did in 
 reality state the grand difficulty to its being received 
 in a world like ours, when now lying at the threshold 
 of that world for which it had made him so meet, and 
 musing on all its simplicity and all its grace, he was 
 overheard to say, “ Ah yes, Lord, it is too simple 
 to be understood—it is too good to be believed !”* 
 There is, no doubt, a way to simplify the Gospel, 
 so as to secure its being received by the natural 
 mind in its natural state, and without an effort. 
 Properly speaking, however, it is not to simplify it, 
 it is to reduce it to a mere skeleton or shadow—even 
 to this u one Christ”—for in the ignorance of minds 
 to which it is often addressed, it amounts to little 
 if any thing more than this, “ One Christ died for 
 me, and by so doing I am safe.” When the Gospel 
 is not simplified, but shrivelled to a point like this, 
 it is easy to persuade almost any natural man to 
 receive it. It needs no act of new-creation, no act 
 of resurrection power. The will, and inclination, 
 * Dr. Stewart, late of the Canongate. 
 
200 
 
 SERMON IX. 
 
 and power of man are all enough. Without an 
 effort he receives a statement so congenial to his 
 own wishes, so flattering to all his feelings. And 
 instant joy is the consequence ; “ the joy, how T ever, 
 of the hypocrite ” or self-deceiver; “ the peace, 
 peace ” to a spirit in its sins “ when there is no 
 peace,” if one may judge by the lightness, the self- 
 conceit, the arrogance, the trusting in themselves 
 that they are righteous, and despising others, which 
 are the invariable fruit of such a spurious Gospel, 
 and such a spurious joy. But put substance and 
 fulness into the Gospel which you proclaim. State 
 all its glorious facts, in all their meaning and im¬ 
 port. Exhibit the moral character and glory of 
 these. Shew the state of man by nature as implied 
 in these, and necessary to give them either meaning 
 or truth; the nature and desert of sin; the attri¬ 
 butes, character, and government of that great God 
 of whom it is full—His justice, truth, holiness, so¬ 
 vereignty, love, irreconcilable repugnance to all sin, 
 and unalterable determination to punish it wherever 
 it is cherished. Let all this be set fully forth ; and 
 the Gospel is neither shewn nor seen where it is 
 not. And do this as simply and freely as you can 
 —the more simply and freely the better. But, in¬ 
 stead of this free and simple w T ay of exhibiting the 
 truth prevailing with all or even any to accept it of 
 their own accord, it will be the very thing to make 
 every natural spirit recoil from it and spurn it away, 
 in whose inner being, unseen by man, the great and 
 gracious Spirit does not at the very instant slay its 
 enmity, and by an act of new T -creating power 
 
SERMON IX. 
 
 201 
 
 chancre the whole constitution of its moral nature. 
 Unless that Spirit move upon the natural mind, 
 at the very time the Gospel is proclaimed, to subdue 
 its enmity to all that is God’s, and to incline it to 
 receive the truth; the very simplicity, plainness, 
 and freeness with which that truth is exhibited, will 
 prove the reason of its being not received, but en¬ 
 tirely rejected. The reason why a spirit of darkness 
 recoils from an angel of light, is not because he 
 does not know him sufficiently, but because he 
 knows him too well. It is not simply a want of 
 light that makes many reject the Gospel, as if the 
 mere intellectual discovery of its facts were all that 
 is needed. Some speak upon this subject, as if this 
 were the case. They merely pity, not blame, the 
 mass wffio reject the Gospel, as if they were in a 
 state of simple ignorance, kept so by unskilful or 
 defective preaching. And they seem to fancy, that 
 could they only be delivered from this simple and 
 very innocent kind of ignorance, and fully instructed 
 all about the thing, there would be quite an eager 
 and universal desire to embrace the truth as a thing; 
 of course. So thought the ancient moralist who 
 said, that could virtue be but embodied and seen, 
 all would fall in love with it. It actually was em¬ 
 bodied—perfect virtue, perfect love, the perfection 
 of all being, God himself. And did the world em¬ 
 brace it, now it was seen ? Why, when once it had 
 seen it, it could rest neither night nor day till it had 
 nailed it on a cross, and crucified it between two 
 thieves. So, too, thought the young warm-hearted 
 Reformer and friend of Luther, when the Gospel, 
 
20*2 
 
 SERMON IX. 
 
 in all its freshness, simplicity, and grace, came glow¬ 
 ing into his own bosom. Oh, had he but an oppor¬ 
 tunity to make these good news known to sinners— 
 all would surely embrace them ! He had the oppor¬ 
 tunity—he made the experiment. But he was soon 
 constrained, in the bitterness of disappointed hopes, 
 to say—he found that old Adam was too strong for 
 young Melancthon ! And he is too strong for all. 
 for Melancthon or Luther, for young or for old, the 
 Boanerges or the Barnabases, the sons of thunder 
 or the sons of consolation, for all in the universe, 
 separate or combined, unaided by the Eternal Spirit 
 himself, u the great power of Almighty God.” No. 
 beloved ; it is not a want of simple knowledge of mere 
 intellectual light, nor of any thing else that man can 
 give, which forms the grand obstacle to the cordial 
 reception of the Gospel of God’s glorious grace. 
 There is a hatred of the thing itself in the heart of 
 every natural man, so profound and rooted, that 
 nought in the universe, but the omnipotent grace of 
 God can ever remove. That Gospel and that heart 
 are as diametrically opposed, the one to the other, 
 as light is to darkness, Heaven is to Hell; the one 
 being at once the holiest and most humbling of all 
 the things of God, the other being the very seat of 
 all pride and of all impurity. And, therefore, the 
 more fully and clearly you reveal the one to the 
 other, reveal its grace especially, which of all its 
 elements is the most remote from and the most 
 mortifying to a nature like man’s, the more cer¬ 
 tainly you secure its universal rejection, except in 
 the case of those individual sinners, on whom, un- 
 
SERMON IX. 
 
 203 
 
 seen by any outward eye, unfelt, perhaps, by the 
 persons themselves, there has been at work within 
 that Almighty Creative Power by which in the be¬ 
 ginning the heavens and the earth were made. 
 
 In fact, when one seriously ponders the nature, 
 import, and magnitude of the truths of which the 
 Gospel is made up, the wonder is, not that it takes 
 the power of the Highest himself to effect an en¬ 
 trance for such truths into the heart of such a fallen 
 creature as man, but that even with that power 
 this greatest of miracles is ever accomplished. These 
 truths are so vast in themselves, so remote from all 
 the common thoughts and ways of man, so infinitely 
 different from every thing that meets his eyes and 
 his ears in this sensual and selfish world, that to 
 gain an entrance into any human bosom for such a 
 system, such a new world of wonders, as obviously 
 takes one work of new-creation, even as when 
 effected, it makes another. We might dwell on 
 what this system of truth, few and simple as the 
 words are which announce it, implies respecting 
 man himself—his sin, his guilt, his lost condition. 
 For in its very bosom it carries this humiliating, 
 appalling fact, that in every sin, in every sinner, 
 there lies such a universe of guilt, as cannot be ade¬ 
 quately expressed by God, except by inflicting on 
 the person to whom it is attached an eternity of 
 punishment. This fact is the substratum of the 
 whole Gospel—that, on which it all proceeds. And 
 what natural being, continuing such, and before the 
 light of the great revealing Spirit is made to pene¬ 
 trate his benighted soul, will ever admit this awful 
 
204 
 
 SERMON IX. 
 
 fact as true respecting himself-—will ever pass such 
 a heavy condemnation on all the principles and pro¬ 
 ceedings of his past life, as to feel he would receive 
 nothing more than his due were he doomed to re¬ 
 mediless ruin ? Till this be clearly seen, and really 
 felt, the very first alphabetical facts of the Gospel 
 are not, and never can be seen—seen in their real na¬ 
 ture and import. But surely such a discovery never 
 was made by the unassisted mind of man—a mind by 
 nature which is, in every case, till visited by an influ¬ 
 ence from above, filled with all pride and self-right¬ 
 eousness? No, this great discovery is in every instance 
 the work of that Infinite Spirit whose errand to earth 
 is, “ to convince the world of sin and of righteousness 
 and of judgment.” But not to dwell on this; just think 
 for a moment on what the Gospel actually expresses 
 respecting God, the Eternal One, the maker of all 
 worlds, and what forms indeed just its sum and 
 substance. That He, Jehovah himself, became a 
 creature! That the Great God was once a man on 
 this earth like you and me! That He let himself 
 down from yonder Heavens to become our brother, 
 one of ourselves—“ bone of our bone and flesh of 
 our flesh ! ” That He clothed himself in our flesh, 
 spake our language, abode in our dwellings, ate our 
 food, went in and out amongst us no otherwise than 
 any mere man would do for upwards of thirty 
 years; the Great God of heaven and earth did 
 this! That in that little infant laid down in the 
 manger of a stable—in that way-worn man sitting 
 on Jacob’s well and asking water to drink—in that 
 reputed criminal who was nailed to a cross between 
 
SERMON IX. 
 
 205 
 
 two thieves, and whose lifeless corpse was after¬ 
 wards laid down in a stranger’s grave—that in this 
 person “ dwelt all the fulness of the Godhead bodi¬ 
 ly, ” that He was none other than God himself, 
 - God manifest in flesh,” the great, the only God, 
 by whose hands these heavens and earth were 
 made, come down in visible form into the midst of 
 his own creatures, and living and dying in their na¬ 
 ture and place, that they might not die but live for 
 ever with Himself! No, brethren, no; truths like 
 these, vaster than the heavens, which it beggars 
 the words of man to utter, and which contain within 
 them worlds of wonder, a very universe of love and 
 holiness; such truths never entered the narrow 
 earthly mind of man, till that mind was opened up 
 to receive them bv the hand of Him who made that 
 mind at first. Such a vastness belongs to them, 
 that the mind of a fallen creature behoves (if we 
 may say so) to be made over again, made to a large¬ 
 ness somewhat corresponding with them, e’er it can 
 form a right conception of their meaning, and give 
 to them the rule and mastery over all its powers as 
 the grand, and as it wrnre the only verities. Do 
 you credit these things—the incarnation of God—- 
 His death on the cross as a criminal—His resurrec¬ 
 tion and ascension to the throne of all worlds, in 
 that same nature in which He died ? You do ? 
 Then verily God himself has been at work upon 
 your minds. He that made you at first, has been 
 making you a second time. The revelation of these 
 things to any mind is as much “ the doing of the 
 Lord,” as are the things themselves. He did them; 
 
206 
 
 SERMON IX. 
 
 He shews them too. The shewing no less than the 
 doing of them, is His work alone. And when men 
 are heard to speak lightly of this belief, as if it were 
 some common thing which every body puts forth 
 himself, which almost every body possesses, and 
 which, as it is the simplest, is also the easiest of all 
 things; there is reason to fear they are cheating 
 themselves by assenting to mere familiar sounds, 
 sounds so long familiar to the ear as to have lost all 
 meaning to the mind, and that the things to which 
 this belief refers, the grand realities themselves, 
 have never yet risen on their eyes, high over all the 
 littleness of time, over all its empty shadows, in all 
 their godlike majesty and magnitude. “ Thou say- 
 est thou believest ? ” said a holy man of old— 
 “ then thou sayest the greatest word in the language 
 of men/’* “ I have often shewed you,'*’ says another, 
 u that it is the greatest difficulty under heaven to 
 believe that there is one God and one life after this.”| 
 It is told of a third, one of our early Keformers, 
 that after sitting long in the pulpit, as if unable to 
 begin to pray, he used at last to stand up and say. 
 with awful solemnity, to the waiting audience, “ It 
 is no small thins; to believe that there is a God.”i 
 No small thing, indeed: the greatest of all things; 
 and to plant the real belief of this in the heart of 
 any sinner—the real belief, especially of this God, 
 as the Gospel represents Him, becoming flesh, 
 and dying to save His fallen creatures, is as much 
 the work of God himself as was the making of this 
 material world. 
 
 * Wilcox. + Livingstone. + Blair. 
 
SERMON X. 
 
 207 
 
 SERMON X. 
 
 FAITH—BY WHAT POWER IT IS PRODUCED. 
 
 “But these are written, that ye might believe that Jesus is 
 the Christ, the Son of God; and that believing ye might have 
 life through his name.”— John xx. 31. 
 
 Connected with this subject there are some points 
 of practical difficulty which it will be necessary to 
 notice. 
 
 I. Because some passages assert, or seem to as¬ 
 sert, that all spiritual life in the sinner comes from 
 union with Christ, it is maintained by some, that 
 previous to faith, by which we come into this union, 
 and in order to its exercise, there is no such thing 
 as any action of the Spirit upon the sinner’s heart, 
 no such action at least as imparts to it any measure 
 of spiritual life. The whole of this life, and the 
 whole influence of the Spirit, they place subsequent 
 to faith, and consider it not as leading to our union 
 with Christ, but as flowing from that union. Upon 
 this system, faith is either made a mere natural 
 act, an act in which there is no spiritual life, an 
 act which the sinner, in his natural condition, 
 and unquickened by the Spirit of God, performs 
 himself, and which therefore, like every other act of 
 a fallen being, has nothing in it pleasing to God. 
 
208 
 
 SERMOX X. 
 
 Or allowing it to be a spiritual act, and pleasing to 
 God, it is ascribed to a being who is still in his na¬ 
 tural state, and, by the very supposition, void of all 
 spiritual life, and of every thing on which God can 
 look with approval. Either faith is a mere natural 
 thing, or, if spiritual.in its nature, it flows from a 
 mere natural source; it is a dead, natural, unspiritual 
 thing, either in itself or in its source. But we can¬ 
 not adopt the first of these two suppositions, for it 
 flatly contradicts the whole current of Scripture, 
 which everywhere speaks of faith, not as a natural 
 act, but as one of the most vital, spiritual, and graci¬ 
 ous of all acts, that which, above every other, is most 
 pleasing to God and glorifying to God, and which, 
 along with “ love, joy, peace, long-suffering, gentle¬ 
 ness, goodness, meekness, temperance”—not natural 
 things surely, nor the produce of a mind in its na¬ 
 tural state—is expressly called u the fruit of the 
 spirit.” Faith, then, is in itself as much a vital, 
 spiritual, gracious thing as any of the acknowledged 
 graces now named—as much above nature, as much 
 the fruit of the Spirit, as any of these are. And 
 being so, it would be preposterous to adopt the 
 second supposition, that though spiritual in itself, it 
 is yet the act of a man in no degree spiritual, a man 
 still in his natural state, untouched by the Spirit of 
 God, entirely dead. The latter supposition is as 
 contrary to nature as the former is contrary to Scrip¬ 
 ture. “ For who can bring a clean thing out of an 
 unclean ? not one.” How can a being that is na¬ 
 tural merely, put forth an act that is above nature, 
 an act that is eminently spiritual ? How can a 
 
SERMON X. 
 
 209 
 
 thing that is vital come from a person who is him¬ 
 self entirely void of life ? How can you have one 
 of the movements of life, before life itself in any 
 degree exists ? A man doing a thing the most pleas¬ 
 ing of all others to God, yet himself in a state of 
 nature, and therefore, as yet, an enemy to God ? 
 This is the same absurdity in spiritual things, as it 
 would be in natural to suppose a man to act before 
 he lives, or fruit to be reaped before even so much 
 as the existence of the tree. There must, therefore, 
 be some life in the soul before, and in order to that 
 soul exercising faith in Christ, which is one of the 
 most spiritual and God-glorifying of all acts ; and as 
 no spiritual life can arise from the man himself while 
 dead in trespasses and sins, but all springs from the 
 quickening Spirit, there must be the presence and a 
 certain action of that vital Spirit, in every soul be¬ 
 fore, and in order to its believing in Jesus. And 
 this is perfectly consistent with saying, that all the 
 life of a lost world is in and from Christ alone. For 
 does not that Spirit himself proceed from Christ % 
 Is He not just life from Him ; according to the name 
 anciently given Him, “ the communicative love and 
 life,” emanating from Christ the fountain of life, 
 and acting on us in order to bring us into union 
 with that fountain ? So that all life by the Spirit is 
 life out of Christ himself. The passages so much 
 founded on, as proving all spiritual life to be subse¬ 
 quent to union with Christ, most obviously refer, 
 not to the first principle of life, to its earliest inci¬ 
 pient existence—to its germ in the soul, but rather 
 to the life in general, to life when advanced and 
 
 o 
 
210 
 
 SERMON X. 
 
 matured, to life in its fulness and blessedness. When 
 so considered, considered as grown up and developed 
 in action, as formed and bearing fruit, of course it 
 is subsequent to union with Christ, and can only- 
 flow from that. But when, in distinction from this, 
 from life mature and full, its mere commencement, 
 its first principle, or germ in the soul, is spoken of; 
 if we would make Scripture consistent with itself, 
 we must maintain that this is before union with 
 Christ, and that union with Christ is the result of 
 this. The Spirit first moves upon the soul, that 
 movement communicates life in its first elements, its 
 earliest, incipient stage ; and it is in consequence of 
 life thus imparted that the true condition of the soul, 
 and the truth and the glory of the Gospel are dis¬ 
 covered, and as the result that Christ is embraced 
 as the only Saviour, from which time, the life that 
 was only r inward before, and unseen by human eye, 
 it maybe unrecognized by the individual’s own, was 
 impelling the soul to Christ its proper source, now 
 comes out into visible form, is developed in all its 
 principles and actions, and exists in maturity and 
 fulness. As to this earliest stage of spiritual life, 
 that which is inward and hidden from human eye, a 
 great deal too much, perhaps, has at times been said, 
 and injury has thus been done to the work of Christ. 
 We can know nothing upon such a subject but what 
 is revealed; and all that is revealed is just the naked 
 fact that the Spirit does act, does actually quicken 
 every soul that comes to Christ. But because some 
 men have run into one extreme, entering into large 
 details about this incipient action of the Spirit, where 
 
SERMON X. 
 
 211 
 
 the Scriptures have given us none, that is no reason 
 why we should rush into the opposite, and perhaps 
 most dangerous extreme, and deny any action of the 
 Spirit on the mind previous to faith, and in order 
 to its exercise. The mere fact that the Spirit of 
 God does so move upon the soul, and begin its new 
 and better being, is all, or almost all, the Scriptures 
 have seen fit to reveal on this subject. But though 
 all, it is most important, it is the only thing indeed 
 of practical moment, and should ever be held and 
 affirmed, though with the discretion and simplicity 
 taught us on the subject by the Word of God, be¬ 
 cause it is necessary, and it is sufficient, to preserve 
 the credit and honour of the commencement of the 
 spiritual being—which is every thing—to God alone, 
 instead of allowing it to be claimed by man himself, 
 as something in the process which of right belongs 
 to him. The whole mystery of the new creation in 
 the soul, indeed, will perhaps never be fully expressed 
 till two such stages of being are supposed in it as 
 marked the origin of this material world, and as still 
 marks the entrance into life of every natural being. 
 On the first formation of the material creation, and 
 on that of every individual person who is born into 
 this world, we have a type or emblem of what takes 
 place on every soul that is born from on high. In 
 the beginning, when “ God created the heavens and 
 the earth,” we are told that the earth was without 
 form and void, and darkness was upon the face of 
 the deep. The raw materials, the mere elemental 
 mass out of which the present existing state of things 
 was to be formed, thus lay inert and shapeless, void 
 
212 
 
 SERMON X. 
 
 either of life or form. The first step in the process 
 of formation was this, “ The Spirit of God moved 
 upon the face of the waters”—brooded like a dove 
 over the chaotic mass, as if to impregnate it with the 
 principle of vitality—with the power of life, motion, 
 form, and beauty. And then, all things being thus 
 prepared to obey the creative voice, came forth God 
 himself, even the Eternal Word, “by whom the 
 worlds were made,” and drew forth, by the acts of 
 each successive day, the hitherto shapeless materials 
 into all that perfect order, and finished form, and 
 perfect beauty, which they now bear. “ Let there 
 be light—let there be a firmament—let the waters 
 be gathered together—let there be lights in the fir¬ 
 mament—let the waters bring forth abundantly—- 
 let the earth bring forth the living creature—and 
 then, as the crown and glory of all, let us make 
 man in our own image.” Here you have the vital 
 act of the Spirit stated but not explained, as the 
 commencement of this present world, as the first step 
 to all that follows. And then, proceeding upon this, 
 proceeding to draw out the life thus infused, you have 
 the Word or Son in person, deliberately and in 
 detail, constructing the glorious fabric we now be¬ 
 hold, giving to all its varied parts their form, and 
 place, and office, and action, and harmonious unity. 
 Life is given to the rude materials by the Spirit who 
 quickeneth all things. The life thus given is drawn 
 forth into all its endless shapes, and forms, and 
 movements, by the blessed Son. And why should 
 not some thing similar to this be supposed to take 
 place at the commencement of the spiritual being, 
 
SERMON X. 
 
 o i ■> 
 iilo 
 
 and which, because of its resemblance to the old, is 
 called a new creation ? Why should we not sup¬ 
 pose that here, too, unseen by human eye, unfelt by 
 the individual himself, the quickening Spirit should 
 first move on the chaos within the dark dead soul 
 of man, without form and void, infusing the prin¬ 
 ciple of life, making it capable of obeying the 
 Saviour’s voice ; and that then the Saviour himself, 
 the Eternal Word presenting Himself, openly and 
 visibly to that soul in the glorious Gospel, should 
 give consistence and shape to the elemental mass, 
 should mould it into visible form, and life, and 
 beauty, should impart to it his own blessed image ? 
 Or, take the first formation of every separate human 
 being who is so fearfully and wonderfully made; 
 may there not be said to be something like a double 
 birth at the commencement of every such being—- 
 the one preliminary to the other—the one hidden 
 from human eye, but as necessary and real as if 
 seen, the other visible and open to all—the one 
 when he begins to be, “ when made in secret, curi¬ 
 ously wrought in the lowest part of the earth the 
 other when he begins “to live, and move, and have 
 his being,” in this open outer world of ours, to take 
 an independent self-subsistent form of being, and 
 grow up amid its air and objects, actuated and 
 moulded by these, till ripe for another and higher 
 stage of existence. Even so there seems to be a 
 double birth in every spiritual being ; the one the 
 mere infusion of life, the other the drawing forth of 
 this life into visible form, and shape, and action ; 
 the one in secret, hidden from human eye, but ex- 
 
214 
 
 SERMON X. 
 
 pressly revealed by God, the work of the great 
 quickening Spirit, whose path is in the deep, where 
 none can trace his goings; the other, which is just 
 the issue and outcoming of this, and is open and 
 visible to every eye, the work of the creative Word, 
 the ever-blessed Son, when, by the Gospel of His 
 grace, He calls forth the soul thus vivified by the 
 Spirit into a new world, and imparts to it new views, 
 principles, motives, modes, and ends of action. To 
 effect an entrance for the Gospel into any soul, life 
 must be given, this is one act of Omnipotence, a new 
 creation, and it is performed by the Spirit of God 
 in secret, hidden, undiscoverable, had it not been 
 expressly revealed, never discoverable by us till 
 seen in its outward issue, with which it is inseparably 
 connected. When once an entrance is effected, that 
 Gospel accomplishes a second and a greater creation 
 —or, to speak more correctly, completes the first, 
 brings it out into visible form and fulness, gives it a 
 place among open existing things. This is the work of 
 the Son, in which, as in the first creation, acting on 
 materials prepared to His hand, the awakened and 
 quickened soul, He by the Gospel, the good news 
 about Himself, moulds it all into His own blessed 
 likeness, fills it all with His truth and love, and 
 brings it forth into the place assigned in this open 
 world, definitely formed and charactered, instinct 
 with life, full of order and beauty, with more of the 
 lineaments of its Maker’s image upon it, than had this 
 universe itself when fresh from His creating hand. 
 
 II. In the second place, while we maintain the 
 
SERMON X. 
 
 215 
 
 Scripture truth, that the Spirit of God is in every 
 case whatever the parent of saving faith, we must 
 be careful to guard against the notion, that the pre¬ 
 sence and operation of that Spirit are in any respect 
 our warrant to come to Christ, or to believe the 
 saving truth concerning Him—that which entitles 
 us to do so, and without which it would not be an 
 allowable thing. On this subject language so un¬ 
 guarded has at times been used as, in point of fact, 
 and almost necessarily, to convey such an impression 
 to the mind. The action or work of the Spirit in 
 bringing a soul to Christ has been discoursed of with 
 such minuteness and detail; such an independent 
 and substantive existence, so to speak, has been 
 given to this work or action; it has been viewed as 
 so separate, and not only separate, but even so far 
 remote from Christ and His work, that men have 
 learned to regard it as a certain something, a distinct, 
 ascertainable subsistence within the soul, which we 
 may be able to feel, and see, and examine, and deter¬ 
 mine as to whether it be really the Spirit’s or no, 
 and without which, and until its reality and genuine¬ 
 ness be determined, it would be presumptuous to go 
 to Jesus, or intermeddle with the overtures of the 
 Gospel—a thing we have no title to do, and in doing 
 which we would not be welcome. We need scarcely 
 say, that this is an entire misunderstanding or per¬ 
 version at once of the work of the Spirit, and of the 
 freeness of the Gospel. There is no warrant under 
 heaven required by any sinner for going unto Jesus 
 just as he is, and at any moment, except Christ’s 
 own invitation, which is already in his hand, free, 
 
216 
 
 SERMON X. 
 
 unconditional, unrestricted, and on the ground of 
 which he may and ought to go to Him at once 
 without a moment’s delay. Surely no warrant can 
 be needed for any man to believe the truth of God, 
 the message of God concerning the state of his soul 
 and the work of His own Son, but just the truth of 
 that message, and the evidences of its truth. The 
 truth of a message and the evidences of its truth, 
 either in it or accompanying it, are all that consti¬ 
 tute any man’s warrant to believe. Or rather, that 
 truth and evidence constitute, not a mere warrant, 
 but a solemn obligation to believe it. Nothing 
 more than that can be requisite to lay every in¬ 
 dividual to whom it is brought under a solemn obli¬ 
 gation to believe it. It does not give him permission 
 merely, it positively binds him, it makes it his im¬ 
 perative duty, to receive it with confidence the first 
 moment it is announced in his ears. Now it is 
 even so with the Gospel, the best message lips ever 
 uttered, or ears ever heard ; God’s own message to 
 each of us about free forgiveness and eternal life, 
 through the death of His Son. This message is true. 
 The evidence of its truth is enstamped on its very 
 bosom. It bears all God’s attributes beaming 
 brightly there, and bearing witness to its divine 
 origin, and therefore its certain truth. Nothing, 
 therefore, but the thing itself can be necessary to 
 make it the duty of every human being to whom it 
 comes, to believe it at once, and to act on it as true. 
 It is his duty to do so. Not only has he full per¬ 
 mission—as full a warrant or title as ever can by 
 possibility be given—but it is his bounden duty, he 
 
SERMON X. 
 
 217 
 
 is under the strongest obligation to do so ; a duty 
 and an obligation which he sins, and sins to an 
 awful extent every moment he does not comply with 
 them, sins to the extent of “ making God a liar.” 
 The Gospel is God’s* own message, on God’s own 
 authority, with God’s own evidence, addressed to 
 each individual soul; and nothing besides itself is 
 necessary as a warrant to credit such a message, nor 
 can the want of any thing under heaven be an ex¬ 
 cuse for withholding our cordial trust in it the verv 
 instant it meets our ears. No work of the Spirit is 
 necessary either to make this message true, or to 
 give evidence of its truth, or to warrant us to re- 
 ceive it as true, and to act upon it for our own 
 salvation. Its truth, its evidence, our warrant and 
 obligation to receive it, are all independent of the 
 work of the Spirit, are complete and full in them¬ 
 selves, before that work, and even supposing that 
 work had no existence. It is true, the god of this 
 world has so blinded the eyes of our understanding, 
 that, until they be opened by the Spirit of God, we 
 cannot see the truth and the evidences of this 
 Gospel, though they ever shine in it, clear and 
 bright as the firmament itself. So bound are we, 
 also, by the chain of sin and of earthliness, that, 
 except the Spirit loose us, that Gospel in all its 
 purity, and love, and grace, has no charms to draw 
 us to Christ, and God, and heaven. Without that 
 Spirit, therefore, we never will, in point of fact, 
 believe that Gospel. But we might —that is, we are 
 fully permitted, as much so as any thing either on 
 earth or in heaven can ever make us. We ought — 
 
218 
 
 SERMON X. 
 
 that is, we are solemnly bound to do so, as much as 
 any thing in the universe can ever bind us. Nothing 
 is necessary to the completeness either of our war¬ 
 rant or our obligation. Nothing can make either 
 of these stronger or more perfect than they are. 
 Every moment we refuse to comply with the one 
 or to act upon the other, we are not merely inex¬ 
 cusable, but most criminal beings—not only refusing 
 a mercy we are most free to accept, but resisting an 
 obligation we are infinitely bound to yield to. When 
 the Spirit does actually and savingly operate, he gives 
 us no new evidence; He only shines on that which 
 already exists, and which it was nothing but our sin 
 that we did not see at the very first, or, seeing then, 
 resisted. He gives us no new warrant, or title, or 
 ground to go upon ; every thing of this kind is per¬ 
 fect before and without the Spirit. He only per¬ 
 suades us to act on what already exists, and is already 
 complete and perfect, and which ~\ve were as wel¬ 
 come, and as much bound to act on, before as since 
 He moved upon our hearts—were solemnly bound, 
 and w r ould have been entirely welcome to act on, 
 the very first moment the Gospel reached our ears. 
 
 IH. But, in the third place, though the full war¬ 
 rant and obligation to believe the Gospel indepen¬ 
 dent of the Spirit’s work be allowed, still, as none 
 do, in point of fact, use that warrant and comply 
 with that obligation till the Spirit move them, it is 
 sometimes asked by the sinner, must I not wait till 
 then ? is it not necessary and allowable that I should 
 rest contented as I am till I become the subject of 
 
SERMON X. 
 
 219 
 
 the Spirit’s saving grace ? We answer, No; you 
 should do no such thing. It is neither necessary 
 nor allowable that you should wait for any thing 
 while in a state of sin and unbelief. Wait in this 
 condition ! Why, every moment you do, you con¬ 
 tract the guilt of making God a liar; and can any 
 thing in the universe either be a warrant or an ex¬ 
 cuse for doing so deep a crime ? And you incur a 
 ruin so vast as hell; and what man in his sober 
 senses can speak of remaining contented in such a 
 condition, with such a calamity overhanging him 
 every moment ? Most obviously there should be no 
 waiting in such a state. There is guilt unspeakable 
 in doing so, and there may be irretrievable ruin. 
 And to suppose there is any necessity to do so, is to 
 trifle with your eternal interests, and abandon your¬ 
 selves to a mere and fatal delusion. Why, instead 
 of needing to wait for the Spirit, the Spirit has been 
 long, and is even at this moment, waiting for you. 
 For as He accomplishes His blessed office by means 
 of the truth concerning your own lost condition, and 
 the truth concerning Jesus, the truth respecting both 
 which is plainly revealed in the Word of God ; every 
 moment you refuse to look that truth fully and 
 steadily in the face, the whole truth concerning 
 vour own condition, and the whole truth concern- 
 ing Jesus, you are, in point of fact, repelling the 
 Spirit away from you—you are positively refusing 
 His promised aid—“ you are doing despite unto 
 the Spirit of grace.” No ; there is no necessity for 
 waiting; there is, on the contrary, a necessity for 
 instant action on the part of every sinner who is out 
 
220 
 
 SERMON X. 
 
 of Christ, and therefore it may be not more than a 
 day or an hour’s distance out of hell. On every such 
 person there lies a necessity to rise on the instant 
 and flee as for their lives—a necessity to do this, 
 stern as even the second death, and vast as the com¬ 
 ing eternity. And did they but look this grand neces¬ 
 sity full in the face, did they but solemnly consider 
 what they are and whither they are going, and what 
 they are hourly exposed to, all metaphysical puzzles 
 and notional difficulties, with which men divert them¬ 
 selves w T hen they are not in earnest, or earnest only 
 about a present world, would be swept away as so 
 many cobwebs, and the spirit aroused "would flee to 
 the only covert, without once considering whence 
 comes the power or how. 
 
 Still you allege, we have been telling you out of 
 God’s own Word, that you cannot. But that means, 
 you are so vile a sinner, so thoroughly depraved by 
 the love of earth and all iniquity, so bitterly opposed 
 not only to God, but even to His very grace itself, 
 that though your own salvation through the coming 
 eternity depends entirely upon this, still you cannot 
 be prevailed on to give credit to the God of truth 
 when He proclaims the good news of free salvation 
 in your ears, you cannot be prevailed on to accept 
 of the free offer of full forgiveness and eternal life 
 through the blood of the Cross ! What a state to 
 be in ! What a state to confess to ! If it be really 
 so with you—and this is what God in His Word 
 alleges against every natural man—instead of find¬ 
 ing in it some excuse or palliation for your unbelief, 
 are you not afraid it may provoke God to consign 
 
SERMON X. 
 
 221 
 
 vou at once to that doom which awaits in the end 
 all impenitent and final unbelief, it is such a con¬ 
 summation of purest villany ? And think ! if you 
 cannot , in this highly criminal sense, believe the 
 Gospel, or believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, no more 
 can you do any thing else that is really spiritual or 
 pleasing to God, or profitable to yourselves. There 
 is no refuge for vou in some lower and easier duties. 
 Sometimes the sinner has been spoken to as if there 
 were. The belief which the Bible uniformly presses, 
 as the instant and the only duty for a soul seeking 
 safety, has been put far oif, as an unattainable thing 
 at first; and prayer, reading of the Scriptures, at¬ 
 tendance on the means of grace, have been recom¬ 
 mended in its place, as the easier thing, an interme¬ 
 diate step to lead to it. But you can believe just 
 as much as you can do any of all these exercises, in 
 the only way in which they are of the slightest 
 worth, in a spiritual way. There is no release, then, 
 from the obligation—the necessity to believe in Jesus 
 as the Christ, the Son of the living God, the only 
 Saviour of the world. There is no midway thing in 
 which you may take refuge and rest; and neither ex¬ 
 cuse, nor warrant, nor need for any delay. You ought 
 to believe just now; it is your instant, present duty. 
 You must, there is no room to hesitate ; there is an 
 inflexible necessity in the case ; either you must or 
 you must perish. And you would , did you but take 
 the trouble to look in good earnest into the whole of 
 your spiritual condition and destiny in the light of 
 God’s own Word, and to look to that full remedy 
 provided for it in the blessed Gospel. It is never by 
 
SERMON X. 
 
 waiting for some sudden, mysterious illapse on your 
 spirits from above, when you are thinking of nothing 
 but earth and time, that you will be brought to be¬ 
 lieve and be saved. No ; whenever the Spirit works, 
 it is not apart from truth, but in close connexion 
 with, and by means of it—the truth respecting your¬ 
 selves, the truth respecting Jesus. Both are-now 
 fully before you in the Word of God. Look at once 
 and fully to them both. Bring your whole souls to 
 the instant consideration of them, separately and to¬ 
 gether. Look to yourselves in the glass of God’s 
 Word, to the world of sin behind, in an ungodly 
 life—to the unfathomed depth of depravity within, 
 in a heart deceitful above all things, and desperately 
 wicked—to the hell that lies near before, for with a 
 life and a heart full of rebellion and enmity to the 
 Being that made you, you are posting every moment 
 to His dread tribunal to get the awful award of it, 
 eternal ruin! Stop, poor sinner, stop and think! 
 Think before you plunge into the unfathomable 
 abyss, out of which there is no escape—where there 
 is neither relief, nor change, nor end. Think just 
 now, for but a little hence and it may be too late 
 for ever. And thinking now of all your guilt and 
 all your ruin; think also, and think now, of the 
 way in which God has met it. See the remedy 
 just at hand—all complete, infinitely full, entirely 
 free. Consider, an incarnate God, a perfect atone¬ 
 ment, a divine righteousness, a free and full salva¬ 
 tion issuing from such a source to the chief of sin¬ 
 ners, to you, to yourselves, if you will only let it in. 
 Take this salvation, so dearly bought, so freely pro- 
 
SERMON X. 
 
 223 
 
 claimed. Take it free —take it now ! Are you will¬ 
 ing so to take what now lies at your door ? If so, 
 then the Spirit’s work is done. Unfelt by you, He 
 has accomplished all. For to have won the sin¬ 
 ner’s consent to take a salvation which is at once 
 full and free, is to have accomplished every thing 
 that sinner needs. 
 
224 
 
 SERMON XI. 
 
 SERMON XI. 
 
 PEACE FIRST FOUND IN BELIEVING. 
 
 “ Now the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in be¬ 
 lieving, that ye may abound in hope, through the power of the 
 Holy Ghost.'’— Rom. xv. 13. 
 
 There is almost every thing in this text. Every 
 thing that a sinner can need or wish for. And 
 every thing in its blessed order. 
 
 It is scarcely possible for a sinner to wish for any 
 thing on this side of heaven more blessed than the 
 state of mind here described. It is described as 
 consisting of “joy and peace,” and “hope;” “ all 
 peace and joy ;” being “ filled with these ;” “ abound¬ 
 ing in hope.” And putting all these elements of 
 blessedness together, and in the measure here ex¬ 
 pressed—“ all joy, and peace, and hope”—these in 
 abundance—these so as even to fill the soul; surely 
 no sinner who, as yet, is but seeking to find a portion, 
 no saint even who in part has found it, can wish 
 for, or even think of, any thing better than this. 
 
 Thus setting before us the most blessed condition 
 that can well be conceived of on earth, the passage 
 intimates, very distinctly, the only quarter in the 
 universe, whence it can come to us. It sets forth 
 God himself, “ the God of hope,” elsewhere called 
 
SERMON XI. 
 
 225 
 
 also the “ God of peace, and the God of comfort,” 
 as the one only source where such manifold blessed¬ 
 ness can be found, and whence it must be drawn 
 by any fallen spirit in this blighted world. The 
 God to whom this prayer is addressed, is set before 
 us, high over all instruments, and means, and agents, 
 as the one solitary being who has it in his power 
 to fill any bosom with such blessedness—who, though 
 he acts in this matter through a glorious agent, and 
 a blessed means, is yet, after all, to be himself 
 acknowledged as the grand fountain whence the 
 tide of blessedness ever takes its rise, and whither 
 alone it should always return with all the honour and 
 all the praise. 
 
 Then we have set forth with equal clearness the 
 divine agent by whom God acts in conveying down 
 this tide of blessedness from its only source, His 
 own bosom, to any poor spirit on earth. The “ God 
 of hope” is addressed as the fountain and dispenser 
 of all. “ The Holy Ghost” is mentioned as the 
 blessed agent, who as “ the communicative love,” 
 proceeding from the Father and the Son, conveys 
 the treasure from its fountain-head in heaven to the 
 several streams on earth which it is designed to fill, 
 “ that ye may abound in hope through the power of 
 the Holy Ghost.” 
 
 And, last of all, we have the blessed and only 
 means by which this divine agent ever effects His 
 errand of grace ; the one only way in which even He 
 either can, or ever does, convey “ all the fulness of 
 joy, and peace, and hope,” into any such disconsolate 
 bosom as that of a fallen sinner. “ Now, may the 
 
 p 
 
226 
 
 SERMON XI. 
 
 God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in be¬ 
 lieving” in this way, even “ in believing” the record 
 of his love and grace to sinners. And as this latter 
 point brings in Jesus, “in whom it hath pleased the 
 Father that all fulness should dwell,” as the only 
 way of conveying all that is in the fountain down to 
 us, the otherwise empty streams ; we have thus a 
 whole Trinity engaged in the great and benignant 
 work of imparting blessedness to any poor sinner's 
 heart, and are hereby taught, while we are made 
 welcome to all the benefit, not onlv to ascribe all the 
 
 * V 
 
 praise of it to the one undivided Godhead, but to 
 distribute to each of the glorious Persons in this 
 Godhead, without confusion and ’without rivalry, the 
 special honour of the special part which each has 
 condescended to act in the great economy of grace. 
 
 As this passage has been selected for the special 
 purpose of leading, through God’s grace, sinners who 
 are seeking rest into the way of peace, it is with 
 the last of these several points that we shall chiefly 
 concern ourselves at present. 
 
 The very fact of a quarter so high as heaven 
 being pointed to as the source of this blessedness; 
 and an agent so mysterious as the Holy Ghost being 
 mentioned as necessary to convey it down to us. 
 sometimes distracts, and even discourages the sinner 
 just awakened to a sense of his lost condition, and 
 looking anxiously on every side for something to 
 give him rest and peace. The diversity distracts 
 him. The supposed distance of the one, and the 
 profound mysteriousness of the other, discourages 
 him. And as if there were nothing just at hand, 
 
SERMON XI. 
 
 227 
 
 within touch of his trembling fingers, that he may 
 lay hold of; as if there were no plank in his mighty 
 shipwreck floating by his side, by clinging to which 
 he may reach the desired haven ; as if he must either 
 go up to heaven to bring something down, or de¬ 
 scend into the depth to bring something up ; per¬ 
 plexed and bewildered, as a spirit is then so apt to 
 be when just awakening from the dead, he is tempted 
 to give up the endeavour to find peace as utterly 
 hopeless, and to sit down in his wretchedness forlorn 
 and in utter despair. Oh, it is a blessed thing to be 
 able to tell the sinner in a state like this, that the 
 fountain of his peace is not far away out of reach in 
 yonder heavens, but has been brought down and 
 opened by his very side. It is blessed to shew him 
 this fountain, open, full, free, within sight, within 
 reach, within touch, requiring neither time nor effort 
 to reach it, requiring only this, “ drink, and thirst 
 no more just as the angel shewed the well to 
 Hagar in the burning desert, when she had cast 
 herself and her child down to die of thirst. It is 
 blessed thus to shew to the weary, distracted sinner, 
 that his relief is not far away—high as heaven or 
 deep as hell, the one of which he cannot scale, the 
 other of which he cannot penetrate—but that it is 
 just at hand, u near him, in his mouth and in his 
 heart,” all open and clear as day, sunlight shin¬ 
 ing full and bright upon it—even heaven’s own light 
 —so that he cannot but see it and receive it; and so 
 seeing and receiving it, cannot but rejoice at once, 
 and be no more sad. It is quite possible, with 
 God’s help, to do this ; for such is the actual state 
 
228 
 
 SERMON XI. 
 
 of matters, whether the sinner see it or no. Relief, 
 instant and complete, free and full, even “ all 
 peace, and joy, and hope,” as much as hearts 
 can hold, is actually within his reach, placed by 
 his very side, needing to be only taken to be 
 his, at once and for ever. And though the Father, 
 the Son, and the Holy Ghost have all to act a part 
 in this matter, adored be each one of them that 
 they condescend to act a part in any poor sinner’s 
 well-being! And secure and blessed that well-being 
 must be, to accomplish which such glorious person¬ 
 ages are all engaged! Yet let not the poor sinner 
 be bewildered, far less discouraged by this ; yea, 
 rather let him be encouraged and animated at once 
 with hope. An affair in which all the persons in 
 the Godhead are enlisted cannot but be carried to a 
 successful and glorious issue. And though the 
 power and grace which belong to them, seem to 
 be far off from you, and you cannot w r ell see how to 
 get access to such resources, or how to draw them 
 forth, or to make anything of them ; yet is the help 
 really at hand. There is one point—a blessed, 
 single, unperplexed point, in which, as it were, all 
 the Godhead comes into immediate contact with 
 your poor empty spirits; and through that single 
 point of contact, the Father, the Son, and the Eter¬ 
 nal Spirit stand ready at this moment to pour into 
 you all the treasures of manifold grace. There is a 
 thing on earth, one of the least and simplest things 
 in it, so little, that a child may take it in his hand; 
 so simple, withal, that that child may understand it 
 too; in wdiich, as in some well, the Godhead has 
 
SERMON XI. 
 
 229 
 
 deposited all its gracious treasures for each poor 
 sinner’s use—has deposited all peace, and joy, and 
 hope; these in abundance, these in fulness, these in 
 absolute freeness, these as the very water of life. 
 And this one thing, in which is the sinner’s all—all 
 for life and for comfort, is in the sinner’s own pos¬ 
 session, in his own hands ; not only in his own field, 
 this present world, but actually in his very hands; 
 he can touch it, and handle it, and feel it as we do 
 the blessed book of God now lying before us. And 
 this one thing—so full, so free, so near, so entirely 
 within his grasp—he has but to see distinctly, to 
 know, to understand, to use for himself, to take 
 home into his own bosom, to make in this way his 
 own, and the whole healing of his case is aecom- 
 plished at once, without an effort, with Divine faci¬ 
 lity, with glorious completeness. This one only 
 thing, is the “ glorious Gospel of the blessed God ” 
 —the good news, the best ever heard on earth, or 
 even in heaven, of free forgiveness, and eternal life 
 through the blood of the cross even to the chief of 
 sinners. This Gospel has been expressed in a single 
 sentence, worthy to be written in letters of gold, all 
 over the firmament of this lost world—“ It is a 
 faithful saying and worthy of all acceptation that 
 Christ Jesus came into the world to save sin¬ 
 ners, of whom I am chief.” This is the one thing, 
 Heaven’s well of life opened on earth, opened before 
 our eyes, opened for our use, free to be used by us 
 all, by every one of us alike, and at this very mo¬ 
 ment. And the only way in which this well of life 
 is to be used, the only way in which it can , and by 
 
230 
 
 SERMON XI. 
 
 which its life-giving waters are at once made ours, 
 is by simply believing this Gospel, these good news 
 of life through the crucified One; is just to see the 
 thing as it is —in its real nature and meaning, and 
 to see it as a truth; to see all the tidings in it to be 
 true. This one Gospel is your all; your all for life, 
 for peace, for joy, for hope, for Heaven begun. 
 These good news just believed, these simplest of 
 news, and simply believed, at once, and 'without an 
 effort on your side, let in all Heaven into your 
 heart, for they let in all God’s love; and there is 
 no Heaven if that does not make it. And whenever 
 this is done, the Trinity, unseen by you and un¬ 
 thought of, perhaps, has effected the whole process 
 of consolation, has filled you with all joy and peace 
 in believing, has made you abound in hope. By 
 this one instrument these glorious persons have ac¬ 
 complished it all; leaving in the but now disconso¬ 
 late heart a manifold blessedness which is felt to be 
 of a nature too pure to be ascribed to any source 
 but Heaven itself—a heaven-like, a godlike thing. 
 Oh the nearness, the freeness, the simplicity of this 
 grace ! Why cannot we bring this full blessedness 
 into the bosom of each and all. None are excluded 
 from sharing in it, none are hindered, but such as 
 hinder themselves. It is in the midst of you all. 
 It is for the use of you all. It is free to you all, 
 and there is but one way, common and alike for all. 
 It is this—but this—this to all. “ Look unto me 
 and be ye saved ! ” “ Hear and vour soul shall 
 
 live !” Believe and enter into peace. “ The word 
 is nigh thee, even in thy mouth, and in thy heart: 
 
SERMON XI. 
 
 231 
 
 that is, the word of faith, which we preach unto 
 thee ; That if thou shaft confess with thy mouth 
 the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that 
 God hath raised him up from the dead, thou shalt 
 be saved “ If thou knewest the gift of God, and 
 who it is that saith unto thee, Give me to drink, 
 thou wouldst have asked of him and he would have 
 given thee living waters!” Asked! What more 
 simple ? Given ! What more free ? Would'st have 
 done it! The thing would have been accomplished 
 and passed already! Oh the freedom, the simpli¬ 
 city, the readiness, the instantaneousness of the 
 grace of God ! And as free, simple, ready, instanta¬ 
 neous as this, is that, which never fails to follow it, 
 wherever it is believed—the sinner’s peace, and joy, 
 and hope. 
 
 If then there be an anxious, perplexed sinner, 
 putting the question, How, or when, or where can 
 I find peace ? We answer, you have at least no 
 need to wait for it—no, not a day, not an hour, not 
 a moment. You need not, and you ought not. The 
 peace is already waiting on you—waiting your free 
 and instant acceptance. And should you wait a 
 whole life time, and find it at last, you will find it 
 then just where you may as easily find it now; and 
 where you will then be amazed you did not find it 
 at first and at once—amazed you ever missed to 
 find it; even in the open, true, free, simple Gospel, 
 which is at this moment sounding in your ears like 
 the melody of heaven. There the God of peace has 
 placed your peace, that it might be within the reach 
 of every one who feels his want of it, and will con- 
 
232 
 
 SERMON XI. 
 
 sent to take it at once from the work of Christ. 
 That Gospel, indeed, is just the proclamation of peace 
 —a peace already made—fully purchased by Em¬ 
 manuel’s blood ; the mere, free proclamation of this 
 peace as by a public crier’s voice. And surely such 
 a proclamation needs but to be heard and believed, 
 in order to bring in all that peace, at once and fully, 
 into every bosom that is really longing to obtain it! 
 
 And as you do not need to Avait for it—as you 
 may all have it even now, so all may have it in one 
 common way. There is one way—one way to all the 
 race, and one way only —this and no other. And it is 
 a way so simple, so unperplexed, so entirely remote 
 from, and opposed to, every thing like doing, work¬ 
 ing, labouring, suffering, feeling, changing, being on 
 our side, that there is a danger in even speaking at 
 length about it, lest by the very act of doing so we 
 run the hazard of conveying a wrong conception of 
 it to your minds—of making you think of it as some¬ 
 thing greater or something other than it really is. 
 You will reach the peace and the joy you are seek¬ 
 ing, not by praying for it. Some, indeed, prescribe 
 this as the way to peace. But the Bible does not. 
 It does not lead us to expect it ever will come in to 
 us as the fruit of prayer. When it has been once 
 obtained in part, and in believing, as was the case 
 with the persons for whom this prayer was breathed, 
 then prayer is one grand means of procuring its 
 increase. But to send a soul that is seeking it for 
 the first time to prayer, as the means of obtaining 
 it, before, and instead of believing, as if it could do 
 this and cannot do the other, is to prescribe a re- 
 
SERMON XI. 
 
 233 
 
 medy which God, by His inspired ministers, never 
 did, and to inculcate, by implication at least, a fatal 
 error, and almost necessarily to mislead a benighted 
 spirit from the only way of peace. And neither does 
 it come to us by just attending on the means of grace , 
 as if the thing would, in such a course, slip unex¬ 
 pectedly and unconsciously into your possession 
 some day or other, one knows not how, or why, or 
 whence. To prescribe a waiting on the means of 
 grace to a spirit anxiously seeking rest, as a substi¬ 
 tute for the instant belief of the truth concerning 
 Jesus which gives the rest, as if the one could , the 
 other could not be done—or as if in doing the one, 
 God would at last reward the diligent soul with the 
 other, is to mislead that spirit to its endless ruin. 
 And every thing like attempting a change upon 
 ourselves, bettering our own estate, inward or out¬ 
 ward, with whatever has reference to ourselves— 
 all are of the same description. These are weeds 
 which man is trying to plant, when God has already 
 set with his own right hand the plant of renown— 
 “ the branch,” already laden with the fruits of right¬ 
 eousness, peace, joy, everlasting consolation, all for 
 you, all free. They are part of that human quack¬ 
 ery to which man is so prone to have recourse ; in¬ 
 stead of the true and the only medicine that can 
 bring health and happiness to souls—the balm of 
 Gilead itself—an entire, a crucified, a risen Christ, 
 and in him a full and free salvation. There is but 
 one thing in all the earth that can fill the soul, 
 “ with all joy, and peace, and hope”—one thing, 
 and nothing but that, nothing beside that, nothing 
 
SERMON XI. 
 
 284 
 
 before tliat, that by itself, and that at once. If ever 
 genuine peace lias been found by any fallen spirit 
 upon earth, it has been in one and the same way, 
 and it ever will be so, while the world endures— 
 just u in believing ,” in the very act of believing the 
 good news concerning free salvation to the chief of 
 sinners through the- blood of the Cross—in the act 
 of seeing what these good news mean, and seeing 
 that they are true, are real, are glorious certainties. 
 It is not after believing, as if the peace and the 
 blessedness were superadded, as something out of 
 the Gospel and separable from it, and which God 
 bestows when this act of believing has been accom¬ 
 plished in token of his delight therewith, and as a 
 kind of reward to those who do so. The peace and 
 the blessedness are in the Gospel itself—are its prime 
 ingredients, inwrought among its very elements, so 
 that you cannot take the one and not take the other 
 —you cannot take the one and have the other still 
 to seek—you cannot take the one and need a subse- 
 
 J 
 
 quent effort to acquire the other. The one is em¬ 
 bosomed in the other, it is inseparable from it, just 
 as light and heat are from a sunbeam, so that both 
 come at once and together ; and so far as the Gospel 
 is understood and credited, to that extent peace, and 
 joy, and hope, unsought, unlaboured for, are already 
 in the bosom, the guests of heaven introduced unseen 
 in heaven’s own message, the tidings of heaven’s love 
 and peace. It is not after, and it may be long after 
 you have opened your eyes on the light of day, that 
 that light enters, as if it took time, or required an 
 additional effort to bring it in. It is in the very 
 
SEE MON XI. 
 
 235 
 
 act of opening these eyes that that light, “ offspring 
 of heaven first-born,” unmade, unbonght, unsought 
 for by man, the creature of God alone, already 
 shining and seeking to spread itself everywhere, 
 enters at once and with divine facility, and fills with 
 its own gladsome brightness the previously darkened 
 chambers of our being. It is not after we have 
 looked on the beauties of some summer’s landscape, 
 wliereip the glories both of earth and heaven seem 
 to meet and mingle together — u the bridal of the 
 earth and sky,”—not after we have looked on these 
 and begun to think of our looking, and to turn away 
 from them to this act of ours ; no, it is in the very 
 act of gazing on the outstretched scene itself, drink¬ 
 ing in all its loveliness and all its splendour, uncon¬ 
 scious of any thing in the wide universe but itself, 
 unconscious of our own acts or any thing about our¬ 
 selves, conscious only of it and of it alone—it is 
 thus in directly saziim on the thins: itself that we 
 absorb as it were ail its beauties; and without an 
 effort, or desire, or thought on our side, whether we 
 will or no they become all our own. Even so is it 
 with the light of the Gospel; that most marvellous 
 light which heaven ever shed down upon the earth 
 —that loveliest moral landscape ever spread out to 
 creature’s eye; for it has all God’s heart and 
 character and government in it, and all these ex¬ 
 pressed in one holy love. In it we see the Creator 
 and the creature met in one—heaven and earth 
 reconciled—the punishment of sin and the pardon 
 of the sinner harmonized—a magnified law and a 
 forgiven rebel — mercy and truth met together, 
 
236 
 
 SERMON XI. 
 
 righteousness and peace kissing each other. And 
 
 it is just in seeing these things—not after, but in 
 
 the act of seeing and grazing; on them—that the 
 
 manifold blessedness of which they seem to be the 
 
 elements enters into the hitherto benighted bosom. 
 
 and transforms it at once into the kingdom of God, 
 
 the kingdom of heaven. It was so in the beginning 
 
 of the Gospel; and, as both man and that Gospel 
 
 are still the same, wherever and whenever he sees 
 
 it, it will be so still. The heathen jailor, dark 
 
 within as the midnight without, trembling under 
 
 © " © 
 
 the tokens of an angry God, with a hell awakened 
 in his bosom, and another yawning beneath his feet, 
 crying aloud, “ what must I do to be saved?” hears, 
 just hears the word of Paul and Silas concerning 
 Jesus, and, believing , rejoices through all his house ! 
 From the verge of hell, he passes, as with one 
 bound, to the suburbs of heaven—a spirit of dark¬ 
 ness this moment, he is a spirit of light the next. 
 And what made the change ? the one, the only 
 thing, was the good news believed. So, with the 
 swarthy Eunuch, who, perplexed and bewildered 
 about the way of life, took up into his carriage a 
 wayfaring man with whom he fell in. This stranger, 
 from that text in his opened Bible, “ He was led as 
 a lamb to the slaughter,” preached unto him Jesus. 
 And having heard the wondrous tale, “ the story of 
 God’s love,” just this, not more ; without waiting, 
 wdthout effort, without examining, without a thought 
 of himself, or any thing else but one, in the very act 
 of listening to and drinking in the tidings about 
 Christ, the night passed away, the day dawned ; the 
 
SERMON XI. 
 
 0*3 — 
 JO 4 
 
 joy of heaven was in his bosom, because the tidings 
 of heaven in which that joy was embedded w r ere 
 there—and leaving Jerusalem, and Philip, and ordi¬ 
 nances, with all the darkness he had brought out 
 with him from Ethiopia behind him, “ He went on 
 his way rejoicing,” radiant with heaven’s light, and 
 peace, and hope, and joy. And so with the two 
 disciples journeying to Emmaus, who going forth with 
 downcast countenances, and sad of heart, fell in with 
 •* a stranger” by the way, who spake to them “ out 
 of the Scriptures all the things about Jesus,” and 
 who left them lightened of their burdens, and ex- 
 claiming, like men entranced, “ Did not our hearts 
 burn within us, when he spake with us by the way, 
 and opened to us the Scriptures.” And so also with 
 the three thousand in the day of Pentecost, and with 
 all throughout the Xew Testament history. They 
 all found peace ; and they found it in the same way ; 
 thev found it in the same thins;—that thing which 
 contains it still, and where it may still be as easily 
 and instantly found by every one of us. It was not 
 
 •/ %/ J 
 
 in themselves, nor in any thing about themselves. 
 It was in a thing which happened at a distance from 
 them, which happened at the distance of eighteen 
 hundred years from us. It was not in doing any 
 one thing about this event, but listening to the tidings 
 concerning it, and perceiving it to be. It was not 
 in labouring, doing, feeling something within ; not 
 in any change in themselves felt or seen. It was 
 
 v CJ 
 
 simply and exclusively, and in the very act of at- 
 tending to the wonderful tidings concerning Jesus, 
 and drinking in these as news direct from heaven. 
 
238 
 
 SERMON XI. 
 
 It was just in hearing that one saying, which is 
 faithful, that is, true , and if true, worthy of all accep¬ 
 tation, u That Christ Jesus, the God that made all 
 things, came into the world to save sinnersnot 
 excluding the very chief. And if you, beloved, 
 would ever find peace—not the world’s peace or the 
 devil’s peace, hut the peace of God, which passeth 
 all understanding—yea, “ all peace, and joy, and 
 hope,” it must and can only be in the same way, 
 the only way on earth or in heaven to a fallen crea¬ 
 ture, just “ in believing.' 1 '’ Not in working up your 
 own feelings, or making any change within, or see¬ 
 ing any change, or seeing your own faith, or conver¬ 
 sion, or any thing else about yourself, but exclusive¬ 
 ly, and only just where you sit, and as you are, in 
 opening your ears to hear the joyful sound about 
 Jesus, about him and his doings, and his free and 
 full salvation. Peace cometh by “ believing, and 
 believing cometh by hearing, and hearing by the 
 Word of God.” 
 
 Let me, therefore, caution you against the grand 
 delusion of the devil, by which, when awakened, he 
 seeks to keep souls from peace, knowing that with¬ 
 out peace there is no purity, no religion at all. Be¬ 
 ware, lest you try to find your peace by trying to 
 work up your own feelings, as if faith instead of 
 being the simple entrance of the blessed truth, which 
 affects the feelings whenever it enters, not before, 
 and whether you will or no, were some direct effort 
 or force put upon your own nature, a thing of mere 
 power, which man can effect by his own will, and 
 bv dint of mere determination. Such forced and 
 
 J 
 
SERMOX XI. 
 
 239 
 
 excited feelings may pass for faith ; they may bear 
 some resemblance to it; but they are a cheat and a 
 delusion. Belief itself, and peace in this, they can¬ 
 not be. Beware, lest you speak peace to yourselves, 
 simply because you are converted; because you 
 think, or merely say you are. The great deceiver 
 will be ready to help you to think and say so, if you 
 mean to comfort yourself therewith. Plenty com¬ 
 fort he will give you from such a source. For by 
 this he disposts the Saviour. Instead of the Saviour 
 himself, “ our peace,” “ our hope,” our joy, our all, 
 he wishes to leave you with nothing but a supposed, 
 a bastard conversion, which in the day of trial will 
 turn out to be no better than the mere semblance 
 of the thing, and all the peace that came from it a 
 delusion, a dream. That conversion by which a 
 man speaks peace to himself, it is to be feared, is 
 but a devil's conversion; and the peace that flows 
 from it is but the devil’s peace. Beware, likewise, 
 of taking peace to yourselves because things are 
 right within. Awakened souls are ever looking for 
 this. They are ever inquiring, is this right or this f 
 is this the thing I need or that ? Poor souls, so long 
 as you try, and look, and think of a rightness within, 
 you never can be right ; you must be wrong. The 
 very trial prevents you being right. It proves you 
 to be wrong, and it keeps you so. For it shews you 
 are seeking your peace from a source within, which 
 is just seeking the living among the dead. And it 
 is, therefore, keeping out the only peace, which is 
 not from within, but from without; which is in the 
 open Gospel, waiting, like an angel of light, at your 
 
*240 
 
 SERMON XI. 
 
 door to be taken in. Open and let the heavenly 
 visitant in. Ah! you will never be right till you 
 see, and be content to see, that all with you is wrong , 
 and that there is nothing right in the wide world 
 but one, the righteousness of Jesus. This, just taken 
 as it is, would make, not one heart merelv, but a 
 whole universe right. Beware, in short, you at¬ 
 tempt to comfort yourselves by seeing your faith. 
 Faith there must be, not to purchase, entitle, merit, 
 or procure peace, but simply to let it in. Just as 
 there must be the opening of the eye to let in the 
 light already made. Faith is just the opening of that 
 eye. But then it is not faith looking to itself, but 
 faith looking to the Saviour that comforts us. It is not 
 faith seen , but it is unseen, it may be unconscious 
 faith seeing only, always, the Lord Himself—Him, 
 His work. His great salvation. It is not seeing the 
 Saviour and seeing our own faith too, not seeing the 
 atonement and our own faith too. Ao; this is 
 mingling the clay with the iron in the foundation 
 of our peace. It is seeing the Saviour himself and 
 alone—in all his single solitary glory—as if there 
 was nought in the vide universe but himself. It is 
 seeing the atonement alone and by itself—in its 
 infinite worth, and in the absolute freeness of that 
 salvation proclaimed thereon; seeing this, and 
 nought but this, that fills the soul with all peace, 
 and joy, and hope. It is often, indeed, the purest, 
 the best, the strongest faith that never looks to, that 
 never even sees or knows itself, just as it is the 
 ripest grace which never knows its own face. Such 
 was that of a poor soul we once knew, wdio, brought 
 
SERMON XI. 
 
 241 
 
 up ignorant as a heathen of things divine, heard 
 first and merely of Jesus, the story of His love. His 
 death, His free salvation ; she heard this, and the 
 mere hearing filled her heart with what Samuel 
 Rutherford calls, “ a young heaven.” Being after¬ 
 wards pressed and importuned by some who, per¬ 
 haps, thought this too simple a way to peace, “ to 
 believe, to believe,”—“ Ah, then,” she said with a 
 saddened heart, “ I find there is something else than 
 the Saviour necessary; I thought He was all; now 
 there is this believing !” Such was that also of poor 
 Joseph, to whose case we refer, because it is perhaps 
 the best exhibition in our language, both of what the 
 Gospel is, and of what faith is, and of what our 
 peace should flow from. He one day heard, and 
 heard for the first time, the faithful saving, worthv 
 of all acceptation, “ that Christ Jesus—the God 
 that made all things—came into the world to save 
 sinners, even the chief.” That saving itself entered 
 his whole heart, and made its lodgement there, and 
 there wrought its wonders, diffused its blessedness. 
 Trudging homewards, with his burden on his back, 
 he kept saying to himself, “Joseph never heard 
 such news before ; Christ Jesus, the God who made 
 all things, came into the world to save sinners like 
 Joseph ; and this is true—it is a faithful saying !” 
 This continued to be all his Gospel, but it was 
 enough—enough to live on, enough even to die with. 
 'When he came to die, which he did shortlv after- 
 wards, it was all he comforted himself with, his only 
 consolation, his all. His neighbours, hearing him 
 repeat no more than this, and fearing, we suppose, 
 
 Q 
 
242 
 
 SERMON XI. 
 
 as thousands still do, it was a perilous thing to take 
 all our comfort from Jesus alone, to have nothing 
 but a mere naked outward common fact to trust to 
 and comfort ourselves withal, said to the poor dying 
 soul, as if the devil had sent them to mingle gall in 
 his cup of pure heaven’s bliss, u but what say you of 
 your ow r n heart, Joseph ? is there no token for good 
 about it, no saving change there ? have you closed 
 w T ith Christ by acting faith upon him?” Joseph, better 
 taught than them all, because taught by the Spirit of 
 God, and too blessed to know of any such additions 
 by the hand of man to God’s own perfect Gospel, 
 replied, in language which sets out God’s comfort 
 in contrast with man’s, pure as amber, bright and 
 simple as heaven itself, “ Ah no, Joseph can act 
 nothing ; Joseph has nothing to say for himself but 
 that he is the chief of sinners; yet seeing it is a 
 faithful saying that Jesus, he who made all things, 
 came into the world to save sinners, why may not 
 Joseph after all be saved ?” Happy spirit that 
 found all his happiness in this; and happy they, 
 who, simple like him, wish for and will accept of no 
 comfort but that which comes straight from Christ. 
 There is no other; no other pure, no other lawful. 
 But in the one fact, which this poor creature rejoiced 
 in, there is so much as would fill a whole universe 
 of fallen and desolate bosoms, and it is so free 
 withal, that it would enter all these bosoms did they 
 but open to receive it—did they but just believe the 
 tidings true. How then, you may ask, shall we set 
 about believing? We answer, how believe this 
 large material universe to be the work of God, but 
 
SERMON XI. 
 
 243 
 
 just by looking at it, gazing on its wonders, learning 
 and knowing all its contents, and laws, and crea¬ 
 tures, on all of which God its maker has enstamped 
 Himself, His own character, His wisdom, His power, 
 His goodness, His majesty? Even so let the spirit 
 that would see its heavenly origin and truth, just 
 look to, and gaze on, and understand the scheme of 
 grace, of which the faithful saying is the brief com¬ 
 pendium, and which, small though it be to the 
 outward eye, opens up a universe of truth, and 
 purity, and love far more full of God, of all His 
 character, of His very heart, than is the large 
 material universe about us. Let him just do this, 
 gaze on the things themselves, on heaven’s bright 
 realities, an incarnate God, an infinite atonement, a 
 divine righteousness, a free salvation, all heaven’s love 
 in these ; let him do this, and sure as there is a Spirit 
 whose delight and blessedness it is “ to take of the 
 things that are Christ’s, and show them unto us,” 
 that Spirit, to a soul so occupied, will shed down 
 such a flood of light on the objects that are rivetting 
 his eyes—the Saviour’s self, and the Saviour’s work 
 —as shall make them stand out from the dark back¬ 
 ground of this poor world and its dark shadows, 
 lustrous with all the features and splendours of 
 heaven about them, so that that soul shall be able 
 to doubt no more, shall see the Gospel, heaven’s 
 world of truth and love, to be as much a God-made 
 thing as is that grand world without us. Thus, in 
 heaven’s own light, perceiving it to be heaven’s own 
 truth, the Gospel will convey at once strong and 
 everlasting consolation into the bosom, even the 
 
244 
 
 SERMON XI. 
 
 sense of God’s love—the assurance of free forgive¬ 
 ness, the hope of eternal life, all the elements of 
 bliss. And thus, on that soul, so occupied with the 
 blessed facts of the Gospel, the Trinity,—unknown 
 to him, perhaps, while he knew of nothing, and w r as 
 thinking of nothing but the truth about Jesus, which 
 had arrested all his thoughts,—have accomplished all 
 their work of holy consolation. “ The God of hope 
 has filled him with joy and peace in believing—He 
 lias made him even to abound in hope, through the 
 power of the Holy Ghost.” 
 
SERMON XII. 
 
 245 
 
 SERMON XII. 
 
 PEACE PRESERVED BY CONTINUAL FAITH. 
 
 “ For we are made partakers of Christ, if ice hold the beginning 
 of our confidence stedfast unto the end .”— Heb. iii. 14. 
 
 We have directed attention to the only way 
 in which any sinner can ever attain to a state of 
 “ joy, and peace, and hope.” We now advance to 
 a point which stands closely connected with this— 
 How can that sinner always preserve the blessed 
 condition which he has reached in a way so sim¬ 
 ple and open ? How shall he ever keep the peace 
 which he has thus acquired ? 
 
 Now, to this important question we reply,—Just 
 and only in the way in which he first acquired it. 
 The peace which he found at first by looking simply 
 and solely to the cross of Christ, he will ever keep 
 in no other way except by a continual and simple 
 dependence on that cross as the only foundation of 
 hope. The way of prolonging this blessed state of 
 mind is not different from the way of first obtaining 
 it. It is not different, it is the very same. There 
 is not one v r ay of reaching a state of good hope to¬ 
 wards God at first, and another and totally different 
 way of preserving that state, even to the end. The 
 sinner who has found peace with God, and peace in 
 his own conscience, by simply believing the good 
 
246 
 
 SERMON XU. 
 
 news about Jesus, does not, when he then becomes 
 a Christian, preserve and perpetuate that precious 
 state of mind bv striking out into some new and 
 different path. He preserves it by simply continu¬ 
 ing in the very path on his first entrance into which 
 he found it lying at the very threshold—by continu¬ 
 ing a life of direct, simple faith on the Son of God. 
 The Christian , to preserve for ever the holy peace he 
 has found, has just one and the very same thing to 
 do as the sinner had in his first awakenings to ac¬ 
 quire it at all. Nothing different, and nothing ad¬ 
 ditional ; nothing else, and nothing more. No doubt, 
 a great deal more he will do. Having found his 
 peace in the blood of the cross, he will begin from 
 that moment, what till then he never even in the 
 remotest degree understood—a life of generous, dis¬ 
 interested, devoted holiness. And this life of holi¬ 
 ness will yield him a peace and blessedness of its 
 own, the very purest and highest our nature can 
 experience, the same in kind with that which the 
 spirits in heaven enjoy, and which, indeed, xvhen 
 complete, just constitutes Heaven. And, besides 
 this separate blessedness of its own, which such 
 holiness will yield him; it will also minister very 
 greatly, and in a way which may be afterwards 
 noticed, to the increase of that other and original 
 peace, the peace with God and in his own con¬ 
 science, which he found at first in simply and merely 
 believing. But though this is a great and important 
 truth, it is also true, and quite consistent with this, 
 that while the Christian is a widely different per¬ 
 son from what the sinner was. leads a totally differ- 
 
SERMON XII. 
 
 247 
 
 ent life, does innumerable new and additional 
 tilings; yet for preserving continual peace -with God 
 and peace in his own conscience, he has nothing 
 different, nothing additional to do from what the 
 other did. For this specific purpose, he has but 
 that one thing to do for ever, which the other did at 
 first, and immediately found peace. As to this parti¬ 
 cular point, the two stand on precisely the same level. 
 That Christian keeps his peace, just as that sinner 
 found it, by simple faith. He increases that peace, 
 not by ceasing from that faith, and taking up some 
 new T principle of life, or adding to that old principle 
 any thing else whatever,—but just by prolonging 
 that self-same faith even to the end, and ever in¬ 
 creasing it in strength, simplicity, purity, and lively 
 exercise. In fact, the Christian is nothing in himself, 
 but a sinner even to the end, and after all his attain¬ 
 ments. As a sinner,-therefore, he must ever consent 
 to stand before God, and to maintain all his inter¬ 
 course with Him, down to the very hour of his 
 being taken into His immediate presence. As a 
 sinner, in himself poor and empty to the very last, 
 he must consent to carry on all his dealings with 
 the Holy One; not as a Christian who has now en¬ 
 tered into a new class, and acquired a new standing 
 in the sight of God, and has henceforth something 
 in himself as well as out of himself to sustain his 
 confidence, and inspire him with good hope towards 
 God and in reference to eternity. And as a sinner, 
 and always a sinner, there is but one ground of 
 confidence, one way of peace throughout his whole 
 career, from the very commencement down to the 
 
248 
 
 SERMON XII. 
 
 very end of his new and better being. That one 
 ground is Christ, and Christ alone—Christ to the ex¬ 
 clusion of every thing in him, call it by what name 
 you Mull—Christ by Himself, His person, His work, 
 His one obedience even unto the death of the cross; 
 this is the only ground of confidence, naked and 
 solitary, in all this fallen universe, to saint and to 
 sinner alike; for the saint is ever a sinner, and 
 often the greatest of sinners, greatest just be¬ 
 cause he is a saint. And the only way of enjoy¬ 
 ing confidence and good hope towards God is just 
 to rest on this only ground; to rest on it first and 
 last; to rest on it at last even as we did at first, no 
 otherwise than then, as simply and unmixedly, as 
 entirely and exclusively as then—to rest on it only, 
 and always. As the sinner first found, so must the 
 Christian, ever sinner, though a pardoned one, still 
 preserve his peace, his hope, his joy. The way is 
 one from the very beginning to the very end, from 
 the point where the path emerges out of the smoke, 
 and clouds, and thick darkness, the fire and thun¬ 
 ders of Sinai, to where it melts away and is lost 
 amid the opening sanctities, felicities, and glories of 
 Mount Zion. From the one of its extremities even 
 to the other, it is the same unaltered, simple, open, 
 noon-day path. It is faith, and faith alone—sim¬ 
 ple, direct, unmixed faith—first and last, from the 
 beginning, wdiere the peace is first found—found at 
 the cross of Christ, free as the very air of heaven, 
 nhaled direct and fresh from that cross in simply 
 gazing on its wonders ; down to the very end wdiere, 
 on the spirit’s entrance into glory, that peace will 
 
SEKMON XII. 
 
 249 
 
 expand into a mighty river from the constant and 
 immediate presence of those realities, the distant 
 sight of which first gave rise to it. In other words, 
 and words it were well to have written on all our 
 hearts—If the Christian would ever keep that peace, 
 and joy, and hope, which sprang up in his benighted 
 bosom, when as a poor, empty, helpless sinner, just 
 sinking into despair, he first saw the great atone¬ 
 ment of the cross to be his all; if he would keep 
 the blessedness which then dawned on him as light 
 from another world, down even till that hour when 
 he shall be in that world and amid all its lights, 
 there is but one only course, “ He must learn to 
 hold the beginning of his confidence stedfast to the 
 end.” 
 
 This may be somewhat mortifying to creatures 
 like us, in whom the fall awakened the spirit of self- 
 dependence, and which spirit is never entirely eradi¬ 
 cated so long as one trace or remnant of that fall re¬ 
 mains about us. To a nature like ours, even in its par¬ 
 tially sanctified state, it is mortifying for one—even 
 when he has become a Christian, and long after he 
 has continued such, and after all the attainments he 
 is supposed to have made as such—to be under the 
 necessity of living as simply and exclusively for all 
 his peace, and hope, and joy, on Christ and Christ 
 alone, as the poor empty sinner is when first awak¬ 
 ened to a sight of his guilt and ruin. It is mortify¬ 
 ing ; for man in his very best estate, and to the very 
 end, is ever wishful to have something of his own to 
 live on—something in himself on which he can fall 
 back, and from which he may, in part at least, de- 
 
250 
 
 SERMON XII. 
 
 rive his comfort. The self-righteousness of the 
 natural man, by which he is prompted to find some¬ 
 thing in himself as a ground of his confidence, sur¬ 
 viving in the Christian man, though then in a cru¬ 
 cified state, prompts him to find something in him¬ 
 self, if not as a ground of dependence, at least as a 
 source of comfort and hope. He goes then to what 
 the Spirit has wrought in him as a help, at least, to 
 his peace, and joy, and hope, even as the other does 
 to what he thinks he has wrought in, or for, himself 
 as the ground of all his confidence. And, even as 
 God has such a struggle to maintain with the sin¬ 
 ner, till he be driven out of every thing in himself 
 to Christ and His work alone, as his all and his only 
 hope of salvation, just such a struggle He has to 
 maintain with the Christian, till He has driven 
 him entirely out of every thing in himself, his faith, 
 his feelings, his conversion, his evidences, every 
 thing else that is his, to the same Christ and His 
 sole work, as his all and his only thing for peace, 
 for joy, for hope, for assurance, for full and ultimate 
 blessedness. But the struggle must be yielded on 
 the part of the Christian, if he would ever find steady, 
 stable peace ; just as it must be yielded on the part 
 of the sinner if he would ever be saved. Mortifying 
 as it may be to the old man that is in us to be 
 brought to this, it is absolutely necessary. There 
 is no lasting, continuing, pure, and healthly peace 
 till then. And it is blessed as well as necessary— 
 as blessed to the new man in us as it is mortifying 
 to the old—blessed to the one on the very account 
 of its being mortifying to the other. In fact, this 
 
SERMON XII. 
 
 251 
 
 withdrawal from himself in every shape is indispen¬ 
 sably necessary to restore man to the proper and 
 full blessedness of his being. That blessedness 
 cannot be attained till, brought off from every 
 thing in himself without exception, he be taught 
 to hang dependent for every thing on a source 
 without him, on his great Creator, and Saviour, 
 and Preserver alone, on the living God himself, 
 even on the sinner’s God, “ God with us.” This 
 is the only right state for a creature, the only 
 creaturely state, the only state in which that creature 
 can ever enjoy that full and proper blessedness he 
 was made for. The root of his whole being must 
 again take hold on God himself, directly, simply, 
 solely on God—that is, on Jesus Christ, who is for 
 tlxis very purpose God come down to our world, 
 nature, sphere of being—God with us. The fall 
 began in man acting an independent part—following 
 his own will instead of God’s. It was completed, 
 and it still continues, in his being wholly severed 
 from the fountain of life—in his inner and only real 
 man being utterly cut off from the state of simple 
 dependence and affectionate confidence in the Being 
 who made him, and who alone can make him 
 blessed. And this being the case, the only adequate 
 remedy for such a state is to devise some means by 
 which he may be brought off from his own root al¬ 
 together, and be brought again to take hold on God, 
 and to live on God for every thing essential to the 
 welfare of his inner being, as directly, as simply, as 
 exclusively as Adam did in Paradise before he fell. 
 Such a means the Gospel is, because it presents to 
 
252 
 
 SERMON XII. 
 
 the eyes, and to the hearts of his fallen creatures, 
 their long lost God and portion, their God come 
 down to their nature and place, and in that nature 
 and place becoming “ their wisdom, and righteous¬ 
 ness, and sanctification, and redemption ”—their 
 life, their hope, their peace, their strength, their all 
 in all. And this being its nature and design, there 
 arises from both an absolute necessity for a life of 
 direct, constant, simple faith in the case of every 
 fallen being who would be recovered from the ruins 
 of his fall. That person, from the very beginning 
 of his better being to the very end of it, must be 
 brought to live by faith on the Son of God, by faith 
 only, always, directly, simply, without the admix¬ 
 ture or addition of any thing else whatever. It is 
 the one only principle of his redeemed life from its 
 commencement to its close, the only thing that can 
 either begin, or carry on, or complete his recovery, 
 because it is the only thing that brings him into 
 direct, and close, and constant connexion with 
 Jesus, in whom is all his soul’s life, and light, and 
 health, and happiness. And any thing that inter¬ 
 feres with, or suspends in the least degree this life 
 of direct, simple, unmixed, everlasting faith on the 
 Lord Jesus Christ himself, that hinders this turning 
 of the soul’s eye every moment to Him for every 
 thing, for comfort as well as safety, for peace, for 
 purity, for hope, for joy, for all it needs on earth, 
 and can wish for in heaven—any thing whatever 
 that interferes with this, is an irreparable injury to 
 this soul. More or less it must bring darkness, dis¬ 
 comfort, death upon it—it is interposing a cloud 
 
SERMON XII. 
 
 20o 
 
 between the sun and its dependent world. It is 
 cutting off the stream from its only fountain. It is 
 severing the all-dependent branch from the parent 
 stem. 
 
 This, we fear, has been done to no small degree 
 with the Christian Church, and in consequence of 
 this she has sustained a grievous injury—has been 
 withdrawn from Him who is her only peace and 
 strength, “ the very bread of life,” and has been left 
 to famish upon husks. Taught to think that, though 
 Christ at first, and in the moment of conversion, is 
 the sinner’s all, yet afterwards, and when peace has 
 once been found in Him, there must be also com¬ 
 bined with Him, in order to preserve it, an ascer¬ 
 tained faith, its evidences, and all the fruits of the 
 Spirit—believers falling from the simplicity that is in 
 Christ, have gone anxiously and painfully in quest 
 of these. As if the sight of these, no less than the 
 sight of Jesus, were indispensably necessary to sus¬ 
 tain and prolong their peace—as if a peace which 
 could be only warrantably found, w r hich could in¬ 
 deed be only found at all, in simply seeing Him and 
 His glorious work, could nevertheless not be kept 
 up and continued any way else save by seeing their 
 own faith, and all its evidences, as well as the blessed 
 Saviour himself. Thus they have been insensibly 
 withdrawn from a life of direct, and constant, and 
 exclusive reliance upon Jesus, the only life for any 
 sinner upon earth, to a life of feeble, sickly, languid 
 dependence on evidences, which, in most cases, is 
 nothing else than the most insidious kind of self- 
 righteousness. Instead of living upon Jesus, who is 
 
254 
 
 SERMON XII. 
 
 all our life, they have been trying to live, partly at 
 least, upon self—upon self as a kind of warrant, to 
 continue the use of Christ. An element has been 
 allowed to come between Him and them, which has 
 destroyed the openness, the directness, the simplicity, 
 the soleness of their dependence. And, mostly con¬ 
 cerned about this earthly element, to find it, to ex- 
 amine it, to keep it, the Saviour, the great and the 
 only fountain of peace to a fallen world, has been 
 allowed to stand by comparatively unused, or has 
 been frequented only by this circuitous path, and 
 with this acquired certificate or warrant in their 
 hand. They have fallen from the way in which 
 their confidence at first arose, in merely believing. 
 The beginning of this confidence has not been held 
 stedfast to the end. In catching at a shadow they 
 have let fall the substance itself. Or, which is much 
 the same thing in point of comfort, they have at¬ 
 tempted to combine something of tlieir own along 
 with it. And this something, as always will be the 
 case in self-risditeous natures like ours, has with- 
 drawn their attention and confidence from the 
 “ great thing,” and thereby darkened and impover¬ 
 ished their spirits. Groping for this something within 
 the darkened cell of their own bosom, amid its filth 
 and heaps of rubbish, the Sun of Righteousness, in 
 whose direct, all-powerful beams they might have 
 walked and basked for ever, has been allowed to 
 shine almost unheeded, high and cloudless in the 
 firmament of this fallen world. 
 
 Surely this is a departure from the simplicity that 
 is in Christ; and in place of being necessary, is not 
 
SERMOX xn. 
 
 255 
 
 even warrantable, is in the highest degree injurious. 
 Nothing, surely, can be more full, more pure, more 
 blessed, than “the beginning of a sinner’s confidence;” 
 than the peace which he feels when first he sees the 
 Lord. That peace comes straight and fresh from 
 the cross of Christ; from His work in the sinner’s 
 room, and God’s grace proclaimed freely on that 
 work—from that and that alone. There is, indeed, 
 at such a period, nothing else from which one feel¬ 
 ing of peace, one ray of hope can possibly spring. 
 For all in the sinner himself, in the past and the 
 present alike, is then one dreary waste, barren of 
 every thing that is good, as the heath in the desert. 
 His opened eye sees there nothing but sin, sin from 
 first to last, and sin alone. There is, therefore, no¬ 
 thing there that can give him one drop of comfort. 
 
 And it is his safety and his blessedness that there is 
 
 * 
 
 nothing. This shuts him up to one thing and to one 
 thing only, as his ground of confidence, and his 
 source of peace. Blessed it is to be shut up to this, 
 for when it is taken alone , it never fails to fill the 
 bosom with the purest and the fullest peace. Emerg¬ 
 ing out of the long death of sin, he has nothing else 
 but this that he can cling to, as a ground of confi¬ 
 dence, or discover as a spring of hope. The cross 
 of Christ alone, free salvation through it, is the only 
 thing which, in the hour of his darkness, can shed 
 one ray of light on his benighted spirit. And just be¬ 
 cause it is the only thing, it is found to be all. He 
 rinds it to be every thing he needs, because it is the 
 only thing to which he can go ; opening his bosom 
 to it, to it exclusively, to it alone, it fills it with a 
 
256 
 
 SERMON XII. 
 
 blessedness as large as that bosom can hold. It is 
 not only the purest in its nature; because there is 
 no grain of self-righteousness in it, because it comes 
 all from Christ, from seeing no object in the wide 
 universe but Christ alone,—but on this very account 
 it is also the fullest. When we seek to open any 
 other spring but this one well of life, we do not in¬ 
 crease our supply of water: we diminish it: we 
 drain it away. Ah! how many souls look back 
 with a sigh from every subsequent stage of their 
 course to that memorable, ever-blessed hour, when 
 the finished work of Christ first arose upon their 
 despairing eye, like the sun on this benighted world ! 
 A fulness and a pureness of blessedness then flowed 
 into their bosom, which left them nothing to desire 
 but that it might be prolonged for ever. And this, 
 their first blessedness, the blessedness they felt when 
 first they knew the Lord, has stood out, bright as a 
 gleam from heaven itself, in but too painful contrast 
 with the comparative joylessness of their course 
 ever since; leaving them with Job to sigh, “ Oh 
 that it were with me as in the months that are 
 past! ” And why is this the case ? Why has the 
 blessedness, instead of increasing, only decayed 
 since the beginning, till even ready to vanish away ? 
 WTiy but this—Christ was then their only one and 
 their all. They not only took Him, but they took 
 Him alone. They had none else, and that was their 
 blessedness. Oh that they had but knowm it was ! 
 But since that day faith has not been alone, but 
 followed by all her attendant graces. She has work¬ 
 ed by love, and purified the heart, and overcome 
 
SERMON XII. 
 
 257 
 
 the world—has induced upon the soul the graces of 
 the Spirit, and overspread the life w r ith the fruits of 
 righteousness. And, becoming enamoured with 
 these, and forgetting their only source ; these things 
 rising on their eye between them and Jesus, and 
 insinuating the self-righteous thought that they are 
 not quite so poor as they were at first, and not quite 
 in such absolute and perishing need of Him as they 
 were then; at all events, occupying their minds, 
 and thoughts, and cares, as one element at least in 
 continued peace, and so far withdrawing their sole 
 confidence from Him; the charm which held them 
 at first, as it were entranced before the cross, has 
 been broken, and ceasing to look exclusively to it, 
 their light has grown dim; ceasing to live entirely 
 and merely by faith, they have fallen from peace; 
 and life has at last become a miserable alternation 
 between hope and fear, slavish fear and self-right¬ 
 eous hope. Or the feeble light in which they walk, 
 is a light, which, if it came at first and ultimately 
 from Christ, the Sun of Righteousness, is at least 
 no more drawn from Him directly, but, indirectly, 
 from themselves, from remembered acts of faith, or 
 past experiences, or present evidences. It is there¬ 
 fore a poor moonlight thing, cold and feeble, waxing 
 and waning according to the posture of the dark 
 body from which it is cast. How infinitely better 
 to walk first and last in the clear, warm, open light 
 of day, full in the direct beams of the Sun of Right¬ 
 eousness himself, "who shines constantly and always 
 the same, high in yonder heavens, above all the 
 mists of self, and the shadows of earth, in order that 
 
 ii 
 
258 
 
 SERMON XII. 
 
 every fallen creature may come out from his cell 
 and walk ever and only in the light thereof—that 
 “ marvellous light,” which is free to all, at last, as 
 at first, and which needs no warrant for its use at 
 one time more than another; which, to be enjoyed, 
 needs only and ever to be used. 
 
 And if the peace, and joy, and hope, which the 
 Gospel, merely believed, yields unfailingly to a sin¬ 
 ner at the beginning, be so pure, so full, so pre¬ 
 cious ; why should the Christian ever seek any 
 thing else than the mere continuance and increase 
 of this, of this same blessedness, and in this same 
 way? He always may find this—may find it just 
 as he found it at first. He never can find it in any 
 other way; and he will search long before he can 
 find any thing better. If the Gospel yielded him 
 this at the first, when he was at the worst; what 
 should hinder it from yielding him the very same 
 ever afterwards, all through life, down even to his 
 dying hour ? That Gospel does not change its na¬ 
 ture, and it does not change its terms. These are 
 the same to every human being, and to the same 
 being at all times, when he is a sinner, and when 
 he is a saint, when he begins and when he ends his 
 course. That Gospel is always true; and all its 
 blessings are always free; as true and free at the 
 end as at the beginning; when we have been long 
 in Christ, as when first we entered; when we have 
 once fallen away, as even before we came to Him at 
 all. And what more than the truth of the one, and 
 the freeness of the other, can ever be necessary to 
 all peace, and hope, and joy ? It was these two 
 
SERMON XII. 
 
 259 
 
 things, seen at first, that brought this state of bless¬ 
 edness into the bosom of the awakening sinner. 
 These two things always seen will always keep 
 them there—always seen more clearly, will always 
 increase them there. Nothing else but the truth of 
 the Gospel can be necessary to warrant our constant 
 belief of the Gospel. And nothing else but the con¬ 
 stant belief of the true Gospel can be necessary to 
 make a fallen creature fully blessed. Nothing else 
 than its blessings being absolutely, unconditionally, 
 always free, is necessary to warrant any one taking 
 them. And what but taking the blood-bought bless¬ 
 ings of Christ can be at any time needful to the 
 continued and full felicity of any poor soul on earth ? 
 It is therefore always and only in believing this 
 true Gospel—always and only in taking these free 
 blessings that any soul can have continued blessed¬ 
 ness on earth. This is all the way to blessedness, 
 and this is the only way; at the last, as at the first; 
 to the oldest Christian, as to the newly-awakened 
 sinner. At all times, and to all alike, it is faith, 
 and faith only—faith direct, simple, unmixed, alone. 
 And when any one is led to leave this for something 
 else, or with this to add any thing else for the pur¬ 
 pose of keeping or increasing his peace, or hope, or 
 joy, he is on the brink of losing it all, or for the 
 pure and the purifying peace of Jesus to substitute 
 the false, the carnal, the worldly, the self-righteous 
 peace of man. 
 
 T\ hat part, then, it may be asked, does holiness 
 act in a matter like this ? It gives, we have said, a 
 blessedness of its own, the purest and highest of all, 
 
260 
 
 SERMON XII. 
 
 and that, not by being seen and reflected on, but 
 by being simply exercised ; just as health gives 
 happiness, by being, not seen, but simply exercised 
 and used. But, besides this, it adds greatly to the 
 blessedness Avhich springs first and last from simply 
 believing the glad tidings of great joy. Not, again, 
 from being seen, and from proving the faith to be 
 right—which is the only way most use it in, and 
 which is the only use of it that is next to entirely 
 unprofitable. But by re-acting on, and mightily 
 strengthening the faith itself, and thus enabling that 
 faith to draw larger and larger supplies from the 
 only full, open, fountain of blessedness in a lost 
 world, Christ himself. Holiness to the soul, is just 
 what health is to the body. It enables all its powers 
 to act in full vigour, and faith among the rest. In 
 proportion as a spirit becomes refined and pure, 
 which it can only do by the faith of the Gospel, it 
 sees more of the truth, and of the meaning, and of 
 the glory of that Gospel. That is, it believes it 
 more fully, and hence has a fuller measure of bless¬ 
 edness from it. Thus holiness improves the instru¬ 
 ment by which blessedness is ever drawn from that 
 Gospel; it enlarges the capacity for taking such 
 blessedness in. But that blessedness, first and last, 
 is in that Gospel, or, which is the same thing, in 
 Christ himself, its Alpha and Omega, its sum and 
 substance. And faith is the only instrument for 
 drawing that blessedness forth. And holiness ever 
 augments that blessedness, not directly or by being 
 reflected on, but by strengthening the faith that 
 alone draws it forth. It is, therefore, a sound, 
 
SERMON XII. 
 
 261 
 
 though it seems a paradoxical maxim, mentioned 
 by Leighton—“Would you have much holiness? 
 have much faith : And would you have much faith ? 
 have much holiness.” And we may add to this, 
 you shall have much of blessedness when you have 
 much of both; much both of faith and of holiness, 
 and these not seen and reflected on, as if that were 
 the way to comfort, or were not even an interfer¬ 
 ence with comfort—but these simply, directly, al¬ 
 ways, only exercised. 
 
 Have we then no room for reflection on faith and 
 
 • 
 
 its fruits—no call to examine these? We have— 
 but not in order either to find or to prolong our 
 peace, and joy, and hope. They should be consi¬ 
 dered and investigated always, because, if not what 
 the Gospel describes genuine faith and its fruits to 
 be, w^e are abandoning ourselves to a mere delusion, 
 which, unless broken up, will be our eternal undo¬ 
 ing. But when the investigation proves the faith 
 to be Scriptural, and its fruits to be genuine; while 
 this should fill us with liveliest gratitude to God, it 
 should not be used, and cannot be necessary as a 
 warrant to our rejoicing in Christ. We may and 
 ought to do that before either the faith or its fruits 
 are seen. Our first joy should be, not in seeing 
 these, but in seeing Christ himself. The discovery 
 of faith and its fruits is a call for thanksgiving. But 
 it is not our proper warrant for joy, even the fullest 
 of joy. Christ himself is that—is all that, is always 
 that, is that alone. 
 
 Have we then no place to give to our past expe¬ 
 rience, no use for recalling our conversion, or our 
 
262 
 
 SERMON XII. 
 
 penitence, or our past acts of faith ? There is much 
 use in recalling the past, as containing God’s deal¬ 
 ings with us, both for our humility, and our encou¬ 
 ragement in the grace which we then found to be 
 free and sufficient, and which remains free and suf¬ 
 ficient still. But to recall them, and, still more, 
 without recalling them, to rest in them, as past 
 concluded certainties, so to recall and rest in them 
 as reasons for speaking peace to ourselves, or enter¬ 
 taining good hope towards God, is neither necessary 
 nor warrantable. It is substituting things of ours, 
 past, dead things, whose very reality and nature it 
 is most difficult to ascertain, just because past and 
 dead, in the room of Christ himself, who is our only 
 peace, and our only hope towards God, and for 
 eternity—is always, and only this. To rest in 
 these past things, without recalling them, as so 
 many do—to rest in them as concluded, ascertained 
 certainties, never again to be opened up—so to rest 
 in our supposed conversion, or in our past faith, or 
 any thing else, as our warrant for safety, and peace, 
 and constant hope towards God, is to abandon our¬ 
 selves to one of the worst delusions of Satan, by 
 which he keeps his victims in a state of false secu¬ 
 rity, wdiile they are perhaps away from Christ, and 
 have fallen into a careless life, or into worldly mind¬ 
 edness, and have become full of self-righteous pride 
 and bitter censoriousness. To recall and re-examine 
 them in order to warrant our renewed confidence in 
 Jesus, and our title to all the blessedness which re¬ 
 mains so full and so free in Him, is at once a thank¬ 
 less and a needless task. Who, by searching after. 
 
SERMON XII. 
 
 263 
 
 or reviving from the dead, past acts of faith, can 
 ever he sure that he has formerly believed ? None 
 whatever. Like any other corpse, that past, dead 
 faith, to appear a living thing at all, must have life 
 anew put into it. It must have its object, Jesus 
 himself, presented afresh and full in its eye. It is 
 therefore the present, not the past act of faith, that 
 ever makes us feel that we really do believe. No 
 recalling of the memory will ever do this. Nothing 
 will but Jesus seen at present, Jesus ever and only 
 seen. And why thus grope among the dead for 
 peace, when peace is ever present, free, full, direct 
 as at first. Why determine that we formerly be¬ 
 lieved? Why not believe at present?—believe al¬ 
 ways? We are welcome ; and this is every thing. 
 We do not need to determine our past Christianity 
 to entitle us to believe at present. Every sinner 
 may and ought to believe now and at all times. 
 And last or first, Christian or sinner, it is in be¬ 
 lieving, directly, simply, only believing, that all 
 peace, or hope, or joy, are either brought into or 
 retained in the soul. This was our first way to peace. 
 And it must be our last. No man can die in peace 
 any way else but this. It is striking to see with 
 what simplicity the most experienced and ripened 
 saint reverts to the very first elements of the Gospel 
 then. He may try to live some other way. No 
 other way can he peacefully die, but in the exercise 
 of direct simple faith. As he entered on his spirit¬ 
 ual being, so must he end it. It was looking to Jesus 
 that he entered on the way of peace. It is looking to 
 Jesus, and thus alone, that he enters on the world of 
 
264 
 
 SERMON XII. 
 
 peace. Why, then, since this was the beginning of his 
 course, and this must be the end of it, should it not 
 be the middle of it, too—the whole of it from first 
 to last ? Oh yes, the whole of Christian blessedness 
 is one unbroken thing ! It is “ Looking to Jesus 
 “ Holding the beginning of our confidence stedfast 
 to the end.” Its all and in all, is Christ himself. 
 
SERMON XIII. 
 
 265 
 
 SERMON NIII. 
 
 THE OBEDIENCE OF CHRIST THE SOURCE OF CHRISTIAN 
 
 COMFORT, AND THE MODEL OF CHRISTIAN HOLINESS. 
 
 “ Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus; who, 
 being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with 
 God; but made himself of no reputation, and took upon him the 
 form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men; and 
 being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself, and became 
 obedient unto death, even the death of the cross. Wherefore 
 God also hath highly exalted him, and given him a name which 
 is above every name ; that at the name of Jesus every knee 
 should bow, of things in heaven, and things in earth, and things 
 under the earth; and that every tongue should confess that Jesus 
 Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.” —Phil. ii. 5-11. 
 
 This passage presents us with one glorious sub¬ 
 ject of contemplation, constituting the substance of 
 a sinner’s religion, the foundation of all his hopes, 
 the source of all his comfort, and the spring of ail 
 his holiness—we mean the humiliation and obedience 
 of Christ, viewed as the object of unutterable compla¬ 
 cency in the eyes of the Father, and as embodying 
 and exemplifying the spirit which should be in all 
 true Christians. 
 
 There may appear, indeed, at first sight, to be 
 many more subjects than one in this passage. We 
 have the Divinity no less than the Humanity of our 
 blessed Lord; His exaltation no less than His hu- 
 
266 
 
 SERMON XIII. 
 
 initiation ; His reward as well as His obedience ; and 
 all some way connected with the practical demeanour 
 of Christians. It is true, these various points are 
 here ; but they are here, not as so many separate 
 independent topics, but as all related to, and casting 
 tight upon, that one great central point which is not 
 more the heart of this vtiole passage than it is the 
 heart of all religion—the fountain of influence to a 
 whole redeemed world. The Divinity of Christ is 
 introduced only to enhance the depth of His humi¬ 
 liation and the worth of that obedience which, in 
 the nature and place of man, He displayed and ren¬ 
 dered. The exaltation of Christ is brought in to 
 show with what full and ineffable satisfaction the 
 Father beheld and accepted of that obedience at 
 His hands. The obedience itself is placed between 
 these two brightest and most refulgent objects, that 
 it may collect and concentrate on itself the respec¬ 
 tive rays of each ; and, so illumined and divinely 
 commended, may become at once the sole object 
 of a sinner’s confidence, and the grand incentive and 
 model of a sinner’s obedience. 
 
 Considered even in itself alone, and without re¬ 
 ference to the Divinity of Him who rendered it, the 
 obedience of Christ is one of the loveliest objects 
 which this created universe ever either displayed or 
 beheld—lovelier far than that of the first Adam in 
 Paradise, w T hile yet unfallen and stainless, in as much 
 as it proceeded on far more exalted principles, and 
 was carried out to an infinitely higher and more 
 arduous extent. Even so considered, the obedience 
 of Christ is perfect, both in kind and measure ; the 
 
SERMON XIII. 
 
 267 
 
 work of a Spirit, whose very essence seems to be 
 obedience—the result of motives the most entirely 
 pure, disinterested, and generous—the embodying 
 of principles in perfect harmony with the mind and 
 law of God—a work in which there is neither de¬ 
 fect nor stain, and with which, therefore, being ab¬ 
 solutely perfect, both in its inward principles and 
 outward acts, both in kind and measure, God can¬ 
 not but be well-pleased. But it is when taken in 
 connexion with His own sacred person, as it is here 
 and everywhere else in Scripture ; it is when viewed 
 as the obedience, not of a mere creature, but of God 
 himself in the creature’s nature, and in the creature’s 
 place, that it acquires its full worth, and loveliness, 
 and glory, and shines forth, not merely in our eyes, 
 whose range of vision is so limited, and whose per¬ 
 ceptions are all so dim, but in the eyes of the ever¬ 
 lasting Father himself, which embrace the universe 
 and scan it perfectly, and doubtless also in the eyes 
 of all his unfallen myriads, whose bright orbs no sin 
 has dimmed—in the eyes of the whole intelligent 
 and holy universe, shines forth with a brightness 
 and a glory immeasurably transcending every 
 thing else, either material or moral, which even 
 these all-seeing eyes behold, and which sets it entirely 
 alone, and by itself, in the universe of God. Be¬ 
 tween the obedience of Christ, considered as a crea¬ 
 ture, and that obedience considered as the work of 
 God in the creature’s form, there is a difference in¬ 
 finitely wider than between heaven and earth. There 
 is all the difference of divinity itself; and who can 
 tell, who can imagine, how much that is 1 Who 
 
268 
 
 SERMON XIII. 
 
 but the infinite himself can take the measurement of 
 Deity? Had even the obedience, formally con¬ 
 sidered—considered in the mere acts and principles 
 which make it a separate substantive thing, been in 
 each case the very same ; the Divinity of Him who 
 wrought it, imparts to it a property, and overspreads 
 it with a lustre, which makes it as entirely a differ¬ 
 ent—an infinitely superior thing, as if there were 
 no trace of resemblance between the two. Still 
 there would be all the difference between them on 
 this account, which there is between the righteous¬ 
 ness of God and the righteousness of man ; and, both 
 in intrinsic worth and moral influence, that differ¬ 
 ence is nothing less than infinite. It is the differ¬ 
 ence which subsists between the Creator himself and 
 the mere creature. 
 
 We must first, then, look up to the “form of 
 God” before we look down “ to'the form of a ser¬ 
 vant”—even the lowest form of servant, that in 
 “the likeness of man.” We must first consider 
 Him as the Father’s equal, possessed of the same 
 nature, and entitled to the same prerogatives and 
 honours w T ith Him, before we are qualified to consider 
 Him as the Father’s subject and servant, bowing 
 his neck as meekly and humbly to the yoke both of 
 obedience and of suffering, as if it had been born to 
 bear it—as if it had been its native due. We must 
 see Him in the height of His glory, enshrined in 
 light, which “no mortal eye can approach unto,” 
 and in the possession of joys and honours ineffable, 
 before we can rightly see Him in the depth of his 
 abasement, in the lowest possible form, in the lowest 
 
SERMON XIII. 
 
 269 
 
 possible nature, in the lowest possible condition, in 
 the lowest possible acts of obedience. The eye must 
 scale the one before it can fathom the other, it must 
 gaze on the uncreated glory before it can penetrate 
 the more than mortal gloom; it must be with the 
 impressions which it gathers round the throne that 
 it goes down to estimate the worth of what it wit¬ 
 nesses around the cross. Never can we know the 
 depth of the one till we know the height of the 
 other ; never can we know the worth of the work till 
 -we kno^v the infinite worthiness of the workman. 
 And vdio, therefore, can fully know 7- either the one 
 or the other—for that depth is to be measured, not 
 from the surface of the earth, but from the very 
 summit of heaven ; the value of that obedience is to 
 be measured by the worth, not of a creature, not of all 
 creatures combined, but of what is infinitely greater 
 than all—the great Creator himself. In this obedi¬ 
 ence, it is not finite but infinite dimensions with 
 which we are presented. The acts in w T hich it con¬ 
 sists are human, but the worth of these acts is all 
 divine. 
 
 It is because men are so slightly impressed wdth 
 the Divinity of our Lord that they are so little af¬ 
 fected with the thought of His true humanity—with 
 the thought of His entire obedience. If they but 
 realized the one, they would be utterly overwhelmed 
 with the thought of the other. Our nature, indeed, 
 is incapable of fully comprehending the former, and 
 therefore incapable also of fully conceiving the 
 latter. There is a height in the one, a depth in the 
 other, a length and breadth in both, passing far all 
 
270 
 
 SERMON XIII. 
 
 human, all finite knowledge. But though we can by 
 no possible effort of ours, and by no possible dis¬ 
 coveries of God, ever be made to comprehend the 
 fulness, or conceive the ineffable glories of his God¬ 
 head, yet, were we but firmly and fully possessed 
 with the conviction of its reality—with the convic¬ 
 tion of His having been as really in the form of God, 
 as He was really in the form of a servant—with the 
 conviction of His having been as really God as He 
 was really man—as really the Father’s equal as He 
 ■was really the Father’s servant, then would we see a 
 depth of submission in His assuming the form of a 
 servant, and in that form performing the whole work 
 of a servant, even to the farthermost pitch of exac¬ 
 tion, sufficient to amaze the whole intelligent uni¬ 
 verse, and to lay a foundation broad and ample 
 enough for the complete salvation of a universe lost, 
 and for the unanimous never-ending praise of a uni¬ 
 verse redeemed. Just think of God! Think what 
 this being is, the source, the support, the sum, the 
 end of all being. Think of the great “ I AM,” 
 whose very essence is life and all excellence; the 
 eternal, self-subsistent, independent, infinite, all- 
 creating, all-comprehending One. Think of Him 
 who is the one sole source of all life and being, all 
 excellence and blessedness, the Maker of all that is, 
 and, therefore, greater and better than all that is, 
 were all combined; the source of all the light, the 
 beauty, the glory, the magnificence, the benevol¬ 
 ence, the goodness, the blessedness which this world, 
 either material or mental, moral or spiritual, human 
 or angelic, has ever displayed; Himself, therefore. 
 
SERMON XIII. 
 
 271 
 
 possessed of more light, more life, more beauty, more 
 glory, more magnificence, more benevolence, more 
 goodness, more blessedness than all combined. 
 Think of that great Being, of whose invisible essence 
 and attributes this material universe, in all its bound¬ 
 less extent and magnificence, is but the outward ex¬ 
 pression, the faint, dim shadow, from whose infinite 
 fulness this whole universe is but a feeble emana¬ 
 tion, leaving as much, yea, infinitely more, in the 
 fountain than has yet flowed forth of it—leaving that 
 fountain full as ever ; who comprehends and fills this 
 mighty universe, whom even this mighty universe 
 cannot contain, and who useth all its most magni¬ 
 ficent parts in His service, and as the means of 
 making himself manifest to His creatures; the 
 heavens being His throne, the earth His footstool, 
 the winds His chariot, the clouds the dust of His 
 feet, the light the garment in which He is clothed, 
 the sea the pavement on which He walks, the 
 thunder His voice, the whole His habitation, His 
 temple, everyAvhere full of His presence, every¬ 
 where vocal with His praise. Think, in short, of 
 Him—for after all conceptions and all descriptions, 
 we must come back to the original and simple idea, 
 as far more sublime than all—think of Him who is 
 “ over all, God blessed for ever ? ” Think of Him , 
 and say if it be possible for human words to express, 
 or human minds to admit, any idea half so sublime 
 as what is expressed in the few simple words— 
 “ God was manifest in the flesh ! ” The immense, 
 all-creating, all-majestic Being of whom we have 
 been speaking, He himself became a creature, a 
 
272 
 
 SERMON XIII. 
 
 man, a child, a servant! He who gave birth to all 
 things, was Himself born; born of a woman, not 
 despising even the virgin’s womb ; born in the very 
 condition in which we were born ; as real a partaker 
 of our nature as we now are, and in its dismantled 
 and ruined state, with all the conditions and infir¬ 
 mities entailed on it by the fall, sin only excepted 
 — u a partaker of fiesli and blood as we now are,” 
 “ bone of our very bone, and flesh of our verv 
 flesh !” This was a measure of humiliation, indeed, 
 a depth of abasement unfathomable, which none 
 but God himself could stoop to, and none but God 
 himself can measure ! For the extreme limits of the 
 universe to meet together is nothing compared with 
 this; for between creatures, however distant, there 
 is always some proportion, between God and the 
 creature there is none. For God and man to unite 
 in one personal, vital, inseparable, everlasting union 
 —a union as intimate and indissoluble as that be¬ 
 tween the Father and the Son—for the divine and 
 human natures, infinitely more distant from each 
 other than heaven is from earth, to be united in one 
 person for ever, this, this is the wonder of the uni¬ 
 verse ; a greater wonder than any which this uni¬ 
 verse contains; a wonder, a glory, a reality, com¬ 
 pared with which all things fade into shadows, 
 “ into trifles light as air.” This is the grand, and 
 as it were the sole reality, set by the side of which 
 all things else, this whole universe itself, seems but 
 an empty pageant, an unreal form, a passing dream, 
 unworthy of a thought. This, this only seems 
 worthv to be known and thought of, that the God 
 
SERMON XIII. 
 
 273 
 
 who made this world was once in it as a creature, 
 and so dwelt in it for upwards of thirty years ; 
 
 “ that He who was in the form of God, and thought 
 it not robbery to be equal with God,” so emptied 
 himself, stooped so profoundly, so unfathomably 
 low, as to take upon him the form of a servant, 
 even the very lowest form of servants, being made 
 in the likeness not of angels, who are but servants, 
 but of men, the lowest of all. 
 
 But this, though so stupendous in itself, was but 
 in order to something else, which, therefore, if that 
 be possible, must be still more stupendous. He who 
 was in the form of God, habited himself in the form 
 of a servant, in order to do the actual work of a 
 servant, of the servant of all. He who was the 
 Almighty’s equal, became the fellow of men, their 
 very brother, one of themselves, that in their stead, 
 He might render to his own Father that very obe¬ 
 dience which was due by them, that obedience both 
 in its active and passive form, which the holy Go¬ 
 vernor of the universe was now demanding at their 
 hands; that creature’s, that sinner’s exacted obe¬ 
 dience even to its highest possible pitch, to its utter¬ 
 most farthing, “ even unto death”—even “ unto the 
 death of the cross !” The very end for which God 
 became incarnate, was, that He might become 
 “ obedient ” too; that He might be capable of ren¬ 
 dering an obedience, both in kind and measure, 
 which no mere creature had been capable of doing, 
 obedience to an extent, which, had He not been 
 God as well as man, it would have been impossible 
 for him to render, the very last and highest extent 
 
 s 
 
274 
 
 SERMON XIII. 
 
 to which it is possible to conceive obedience carried, 
 “ an obedience even to the death of the cross.” For 
 the glorious Majesty of heaven and earth, He whose 
 native and inalienable right it is to rule, not to obey 
 —to be over all, not under any—He who was the 
 maker, the proprietor, the Lord, and sovereign of 
 the whole universe—for Him to let himself down to 
 a nature and to a place, in which obedience became 
 as much His due as supreme sovereignty had ever 
 been and still was His right—to let himself down so 
 completely to the place of the sinful creature, that 
 obedience became as much his duty as it is ours— 
 that it became as much his duty as it was ours to 
 obey the very law which Himself had framed, to 
 obey his Father in all things, and to love his breth¬ 
 ren as himself, to obey the one and to love the other 
 to the very extent of even laying down his life; for 
 Him who was, and is, and ever must continue to 
 be, the rightful Sovereign of all being, and all 
 worlds, to stoop down to a state where He came 
 under obligations so infinitely dissimilar, so infinitely 
 distant, from all His native rights and prerogatives; 
 this was amazing, matchless condescension indeed ! 
 An humbling of Himself which who can utter ? In 
 such a situation, the situation of a creature, nay, 
 the situation of a sinner, “ in the fashion of a man,” 
 even a sinful man, to obey in the spirit and manner 
 which He actually did, no otherwise than if He had 
 been nothing else than the Father’s servant, no 
 otherwise than if He had been natively bound to do 
 so, than if, both in precept and penalty, He had 
 been simply discharging a debt which He had con- 
 
SERMON XIII. 
 
 275 
 
 traded himself; with such profound submission, 
 such lamb-like meekness, such dumb unmurmuring 
 patience, such perfect acquiescence, such holy ar¬ 
 dour, even such intense delight and full complacency 
 in the Father's will, did He, from first to last, con¬ 
 sign himself into the Father’s hand, submit himself 
 to the Father’s authority, resign himself to the Fa¬ 
 ther’s disposal, consecrate and devote himself to the 
 Father’s glory—oh, this is beyond expression, be¬ 
 yond conception, wondrous ! Hear the language in 
 which the Lord and Sovereign of the universe offers 
 Himself to the work and office of a servant—“ Burnt- 
 offering and sin-offering hast thou not required : 
 Then said I, Lo I come, in the volume of the book 
 it is written of me: I delight to do thy will, 0 my 
 God; yea, thy law is within my heartthat will 
 was his delight, that law was enshrined in his very 
 heart, wffiich comprehended and prescribed his own 
 sufferings unto death ! While embarked in a ser¬ 
 vant’s form on a servant’s work, the great work of 
 entire and unreserved obedience, how completely 
 was his will coincident with that of God, or rather 
 sunk in, entirely sacrificed to that of God! “ The 
 Son can do nothing of himself but what He seeth 
 the Father do”—* 4 I can of mine ownself do no¬ 
 thing; as I hear I judge; because I seek not mine 
 own will, but the will of the Father which hath 
 sent me”—“ My meat is to do the will of Him that 
 sent me, and to finish His work ”—“ As the Father 
 hath given commandment even so I do.” And when 
 brought even to the last and highest act of this obe¬ 
 dience ; that at the very prospect of which a sorrow 
 
276 
 
 SERMON XIII. 
 
 even unto death came over his soul, and all human¬ 
 ity staggered and was like to faint, the submission 
 of his very heart and soul was as unwavering, as 
 entire, as perfect as ever : t; Nevertheless, not as I 
 will, but as thou wilt! ” “ The cup which my Fa¬ 
 
 ther has given me, shall I not drink it?” “ Now is 
 my soul troubled, and what shall I say? Father, 
 save me from this hour? but for this cause came I 
 unto this hour. Father glorify thy name.” “ Father 
 into thine hands I commend my spirit! ” All this 
 was the voice of a perfect obedience, of an obedience 
 in which there was no defect and no stain, of an 
 obedience such as had never yet been rendered to 
 the Divine will either by man or by angels, an obe¬ 
 dience up to the very measure of the Divine will, 
 both in principle and act, both in spirit and extent. 
 And in addition to what it was in itself, from first 
 to last unspotted and perfect, what must this obedi¬ 
 ence have seemed, considered as the doing of Him 
 who from everlasting ages dwelt in the bosom of 
 the Father, the partner of his throne, the possessor 
 of his nature, with all its high prerogatives and 
 honours—considered as the doing of Him who ere- 
 while filled the throne and swayed the sceptre of the 
 universe, and who, from that very throne, had risen 
 up and come down to yield it. Oh, it was this , it 
 was this that gave it such an inestimable value, that 
 lent it such a more than mortal loveliness, that 
 spread over acts, which in themselves were human, 
 the very aspect and excellence of Divinity itself. 
 In itself considered, it was perfect; considered as 
 the doing of the Lord under a servant’s guise, it is 
 
SERMON XIII. 
 
 Z l l 
 
 more than perfect, it is all Divine; and, like the 
 Divinity itself, whose work it is, it has a worth and 
 value in it which are absolutely infinite and ever¬ 
 lasting. You know well, how in common things 
 the same act or the same work done bv different 
 hands acquires a corresponding different value; 
 how the man imparts a measure of his own worth 
 to the act. A cup of cold water, given by whatever 
 hands, is in itself the same; but given by a prince 
 as an act of condescending love, and given by a 
 mere menial as an act of stipulated service, how 
 widely different to our feelings! how widely differ¬ 
 ent in reality! In itself, what more simple than 
 the act of washing the feet, an act so common in 
 the East, that it followed almost every journey, and 
 preceded almost every meal ? But what an act did 
 this become when done to the disciples by our Lord 
 himself, by the Sovereign of the whole universe, by 
 that Sovereign in circumstances that gave it almost 
 unimaginable value, when His mind was filled with 
 the thought of having come from God, and of being 
 just about to return to God, when the throne He 
 had left, and the throne He was about to assume, 
 were both bright in his eye, and when, therefore, it 
 was no otherwise in point of feeling to Him, and of 
 love to them, than if He had stepped down from 
 both to do to them that menial act ? Small in itself, 
 in such circumstances, and by such hands, that act 
 had in it a worth, and was expressive of a love, 
 which are absolutely infinite. It is just so with the 
 whole obedience of Christ as it is with this indivi¬ 
 dual act of it. Even had it been no better in itself 
 
278 
 
 SERMON XIII. 
 
 than that of Adam or than that of angels, the fact 
 of its being His, who is the Maker and the Sovereign 
 of the whole world, sets it immeasurably above them 
 all, above that of all creature-obedience combined, 
 imparts to it a value that is absolutely infinite. It 
 is the fact, that it is the same Being u who was in 
 the form of God, and thought it not robbery to be 
 equal with God,” this self-same Being, “who humbled 
 himself and became obedient unto death, yea, even 
 the death of the cross,” which spreads over all the 
 doing an infinite glory. The obedience in itself 
 was amazing; but considered as the work of such a 
 Being as this, it is unspeakable, beyond conception, 
 glorious; considered as the obedience of the self¬ 
 same person—the self-same person, though in ano¬ 
 ther form—of whom such high and ineffable things 
 could be truly affirmed, as “ His being in the form 
 of God,” “ His being equal to God,” its worth par¬ 
 takes of His own nature, and like Himself is un¬ 
 bounded. To the perfection of humanity is super- 
 added the lustre and glory of absolute Godhead. 
 Its very minutest act thence becomes Divine, and 
 to the whole is lent the infinite worth and loveliness 
 of Deity. In this, indeed, we have just Deity him¬ 
 self, not the less Deity because embodied—Deity 
 himself descending from His throne, and habiting 
 Himself in the form of a servant, and in that form 
 doing homage to the rights of Godhead, to the cause 
 of holiness, to the eternal majesty of the Divine 
 Government, to the immutable rectitude, everlast¬ 
 ing obligation, and absolute perfection of the Divine 
 Law, that law which rules the universe. And Deity 
 
SERMON XIII. 
 
 279 
 
 himself doing homage to this law and government; 
 was not this an higher homage than all the crea¬ 
 tures combined, and to all eternity could have ever 
 paid them ? Was it not, once for all, to proclaim 
 wide as the universe of being, and louder far than 
 the eternal obedience or the eternal punishment of 
 all the creatures could ever have done, that they 
 are both eternal, both immutable—that even Deity 
 may change his mode of being, make so great a 
 change as between the form of God and the form of 
 a servant, but that the law which binds his derived 
 and dependent creatures to himself, never shall, 
 never can be abrogated. And thus, once for all, 
 and better than all things else combined could ever 
 have done, having vindicated all the honours of 
 Deity, and established all the principles of God’s 
 holy government, so that, by no act of indemnity, 
 however large or however free, any stain, any sha¬ 
 dow of a shade can ever be cast upon the one, or 
 any injury can ever be done to the other : Oh, what 
 a sure, what a broad, what a large foundation, does 
 this one obedience of Christ, this one obedience 
 unto death become, on which to proclaim forgive¬ 
 ness and eternal life most freely, unrestrictedly, 
 and unconditionally, to the whole ruined race of 
 man ! 
 
 All this is even on the supposition that his Deity 
 did not enable our Lord to render a higher kind 
 and measure of obedience than men or angels. Iiad 
 it been even the same in itself, his Divinity gave to 
 it a moral worth and influence which would have 
 made the difference infinite. But it is too plain to 
 
280 
 
 SEKMON XIII. 
 
 need to be more than mentioned, that his Divinitv 
 enabled him to render an obedience infinitely higher 
 in itself, as well as in its moral influence. It enabled 
 him, especially, to yield an amount of passive obe¬ 
 dience, such as all the creatures, human and an¬ 
 gelic, could never have yielded, even to all eternity. 
 The debt of suffering at any imaginable point in 
 the progress of eternity, however distant, could 
 never have been fully paid, could never have been 
 more than merely begun to be paid; for being infi¬ 
 nite, to make it so in the case of any creature who 
 is finite, the only way is to make it eternal. But all 
 that debt, in the case of Christ, was discharged in 
 one awful payment. An eternal, an infinite amount 
 of death, his all-sustaining Deity enabled his hu¬ 
 manity to bear in one short but woful, unutterable 
 hour. And the darkness, the dreadfulness, of that 
 hour, who may utter, who may imagine, when into 
 it was compressed the sufferings of myriads of sin¬ 
 ful beings through myriads of ceaseless ages,—in an 
 hour, in a moment, the sufferings of eternity ! Oh, 
 who can tell the depth of meaning which lies in 
 the simple words: “ He —he who was in the form 
 of God, and thought it not robbery to be equal with 
 God, became obedient unto death, even the death 
 of the cross.” 
 
 All this is surely glad tidings of great joy to the 
 guilty—for all this divinely perfect, infinitely meri¬ 
 torious obedience was done in our name and in our 
 behalf—was done to be the all-sufficient and eternal 
 oround on which a free and full salvation might be 
 honourably given to us—and is, in fact, now offered 
 
SERMON XIII. 
 
 281 
 
 entire, in its undivided and infinite worth, for this 
 gracious purpose to every one, even the very vilest 
 and most worthless of us all. And, methinks, if we 
 had nothing but even our own estimate of this grand 
 and all-glorious work to go upon; if it had not the 
 Father’s superadded imprimatur at all, we might 
 have some measure of boldness in making this the 
 foundation of our eternal hopes, in founding upon 
 this, interests as immense as eternity, hopes as high 
 as heaven, as bright as immortality itself. But, 
 when to our own estimate, is added the estimate of 
 the Father himself, His high ineffable approval, to 
 whom the obedience was due, and who behoved 
 therefore to be satisfied; with what holy boldness 
 may we build thereon, even though we are building 
 for eternity, and doing so, should build sure! High 
 as may be our admiration of the obedience of his 
 Son, what is this compared with the unutterable 
 complacency which that work must have awakened 
 in the bosom of the Eternal Father? He, and He 
 only, in the wide universe knew the height of glory 
 whence He had descended, and the depth of abase¬ 
 ment to which He had stooped. His eye alone 
 could either gaze on the dazzling glories of the one, 
 or fathom the profound abyss of the other. He only 
 could measure the amazing distance between the 
 two—could see the vivid, the infinite contrast which 
 the two presented, when seen at once, as they were 
 by Him—could therefore measure the condescen¬ 
 sion, the love, the ineffable obedience which lay in 
 exchanging the one for the other. His mind could 
 comprehend the whole worth and glory of His Son. 
 
282 
 
 SERMON XIII. 
 
 His mind could likewise comprehend the whole 
 worth of His obedience, the whole extent of His 
 sufferings, the whole of its vast dimensions, both in 
 kind and measure. And if a perfect, a divine obe¬ 
 dience, be so lovely even in our dimmed and narrow 
 eyes, what must such an obedience have been, seen 
 as it w r as and still is, in the eyes of Him, whose 
 moral perceptions are absolutely perfect, whose 
 range of vision is absolutely infinite ; who saw all 
 its worth at once and perfectly; and saw it as the 
 doing of His own Son, the doing of that Son out of 
 unimaginable love to Himself'? To Him who knew 
 the Son, in whose bosom He had ever dwelt, who 
 had seen and known Him in all His glory, and who 
 loved as fully as He knew Him, what a sight it 
 must have been to behold Him on this distant earth, 
 in the form of a servant, in the likeness of man; 
 and in this state to hear from his lips the very lan¬ 
 guage of a creature, the very language of the most 
 submissive and obedient of servants, a servant car¬ 
 rying his obedience even to the immeasurable length 
 of the death of the cross ! No -wonder that on sight 
 of this, the Eternal Father, breaking through that 
 ancient silence that had reigned from the beginning 
 between the upper -world and this, should, twice 
 over, with an audible voice, have attempted to utter 
 that overflowing infinite complacency with which 
 He beheld his all-obedient Son, u This is my be¬ 
 loved Son, in whom I am well pleased.” No won¬ 
 der -when His work was done that He should have 
 taken Him up—even “ the man Christ Jesus,” to 
 His own bosom, His own throne, there to express 
 
SERMON XIII. 
 
 283 
 
 to Himself tliat ineffable complacency, that over¬ 
 flowing satisfaction of heart with which He ever 
 rests in the sight of Himself and of His work— 
 “ That He should have highly exalted him, and 
 given him a name which is above every name; that 
 at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of 
 things in heaven, and things in earth, and things 
 under the earth ; and that every tongue should con¬ 
 fess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God 
 the Father.” And, as if even this could do nothing 
 to utter the fulness of His infinite heart, that He 
 is even now preparing a new heaven and a new 
 earth, into the midst of which, and in the presence 
 of a whole assembled universe, bringing forth his 
 vSon, the Beloved, He will crown Him with many 
 crowns, and accumulate on his sole Head the 
 honours of all the creatures, of all the universe, and 
 for his sake, and as an expression of his overflowing 
 delight in Him, shall likewise bless with the same 
 inheritance, and invest with the same honours, and 
 make partners in every thing with Him, all his 
 own brethren, the members of his own body, poor 
 sinful worms of the dust like us. And never, even 
 thus will his complacency be fully uttered; for on 
 Him, and on them together, it will prompt Him to 
 lavish the treasures of an immortal life, an immortal 
 blessedness, a life and a blessedness whose property 
 it is never to end. 
 
 'WJiat more than this then, can be requisite to fill 
 the mind of the guiltiest and most fearful sinner 
 upon earth with perfect peace, with that “great 
 peace which passeth all understanding,” “ with 
 
284 
 
 SERMON XIII. 
 
 quietness and assurance for ever,’’ yea, even “ with 
 everlasting consolation and good hope through 
 grace ?” What more can be sought for, what more 
 can even be thought of, as a ground of hope to the 
 guiltiest, as a source of comfort to the most discon¬ 
 solate ? Tell me what else can be needed to allay 
 the apprehensions of the most awakened, and to 
 minister life, and happiness, and joy, even to an en¬ 
 tire universe of lost souls ? What but to under¬ 
 stand and believe the intelligence of the text con¬ 
 cerning the obedience of Christ, and the Father’s 
 unutterable, everlasting satisfaction therewith, in 
 order to diffuse over all this apostate and death- 
 doomed world, a flood of gladness wide even as the 
 waters of Noah’s deluge ? Look at that work! how 
 perfect, how divine, of what infinite, inexhaustible, 
 everlasting worth—“the obedience even to the death 
 of the Cross,” of that great Being “ who was once 
 in the form of God, and counted it not robbery to be 
 equal with God !” That work was wrought for you, 
 poor sinners, in your nature, in your place, in your 
 name ; it is now offered entire to you as the ground 
 of your acceptance with God, as the ground on 
 which God will deal with you in friendship and 
 peace now and for ever. On such a ground, what 
 may you not expect ? what reason have you to fear ? 
 why should you not hope even for free forgiveness 
 and everlasting life? And think of the Father’s 
 unutterable, infinite complacency with that work ! 
 Think of the state of feeling which that work, 
 wrought out for you, has already produced in the 
 mind of God—how full of peace, of perfect satisfac- 
 
SERMON XIII. 
 
 tion, of supreme delight, of unmingled, infinite good 
 will. Has He not already proclaimed to you, pro¬ 
 claimed in a way which words can never do, even 
 by deeds the most expressive, that, in the sacrifice of 
 his Son, He has smelled a savour of eternal rest, 
 that with that work He is now, and ever will he, 
 infinitely “ well pleased.” And what more can you 
 need—what more can you wish than this? How 
 can you harbour any more anxieties, and suspicions, 
 and fears, if you really believe that God is verily, 
 and in point of fact, “well pleased?” What far¬ 
 ther and more favourable change on the divine 
 mind can you wish or even imagine than this ? how 
 can you wish that mind to be better disposed than 
 just to be completely satisfied, longing to express its 
 overflowing satisfaction in gifts of pardon and eter¬ 
 nal life to all the guilty who will only take them ? 
 If this be so, why then should you not enter at once 
 into peace ? What else is, or can be, necessary ? 
 If you really believe it, how can you fail to see, and 
 seeing, to rejoice, that every thing necessary for 
 your salvation, every thing you can need or even 
 wish for, has already been perfectly accomplished— 
 and who can see this and not enter at once into rest, 
 at once into life ? Ah yes, my friends, the work of 
 Christ is every thing! It has done, once and for 
 ever, every thing for us which we can need or even 
 think of. Who can see it and not believe that the 
 Father is well pleased? Who can believe, really 
 and intelligently believe, that the Father is well 
 pleased, and not at once be satisfied, be glad, rest 
 with unutterable satisfaction in the intelligence, go 
 
286 
 
 SERMON XIII. 
 
 to Him in the full assurance of faith for every thing ; 
 entertain the constant, and unclouded, and fearless, 
 yet withal most humble, holy hope of free forgive¬ 
 ness and everlasting life. 
 
 But we must not omit to add, that this godlike 
 work, this obedience of God manifest in flesh, 
 crowned as it is with the Father’s high approval, is 
 set before us in the text, not more as a ground of 
 comfort than as the very model and measure of our 
 own obedience. Even in this, the very highest walk 
 of obedience, Christ was not only laying, broad and 
 firm, the foundation of immortal hope to us, but was 
 also setting us an example that we should walk in 
 his steps. It was in this obedience, even “ the obe¬ 
 dience unto the death of the Cross,” that He was 
 expressing “ the very mind” which w r e are here 
 enjoined to have in us. The whole passage is intro¬ 
 duced just in order to display what that mind was, 
 to unfold it in all its divine-like properties, to set it 
 before us in its more than earthly fairness and ful¬ 
 ness. And, oh, what a mind it was ! what a mind 
 to be required to have in us ! What a thought that 
 the obedience is here detailed in all its height, and 
 depth, and length, and breadth, from the point of 
 first descent at which it commenced, to the very 
 lowest pitch at which it ended, from the throne to 
 the Cross, crowned and commended withal with the 
 Father’s high and ineffable approval, just in order to 
 show what the obedience of Christians ought to be, 
 what ought to be its kind, what its extent; from 
 what principles it should flow, to what length it 
 should be carried. Not that absolutely the same obe- 
 
SERMON XIII. 
 
 287 
 
 dience is required to be rendered by Christians as 
 by Christ; alas, had that been so, what would 
 have become of us ! Who but himself could render 
 that ? And why did He render it, but because we 
 never could, and in order that we might never need ? 
 No, the obedience unto the death of the Cross is to be 
 paid but once, and having been paid by our substi¬ 
 tute, is not now to be paid by us. It is not the obe¬ 
 dience of Christ itself, but it is “ the mind ” which 
 that obedience embodied and expressed, which we 
 are enjoined to possess and exemplify. It is the 
 mind which was in Him, and from which, in Him, 
 this obedience flowed, and of which it was the out¬ 
 ward expression, the visible embodiment, it is “ this 
 mind” which is to be in us. And what a mind it 
 was! Who shall express a mind, of which the 
 obedience, even unto the death of the Cross, was the 
 outward and the only full and adequate expression ? 
 It is above all expression other than this. We may 
 only say it was a mind entirely free from selfishness, 
 in which self had no part, in which the individual 
 will was entirely lost in the will of the Father, the 
 individual end entirely sunk in the Father’s glory, 
 in which there was but one will and one end—the 
 will and the glory of the Father ; and in which the 
 love, the ardour, the determination to accomplish 
 them, was stronger than life itself. Life was renounced, 
 death was encountered in order that these might be 
 fully accomplished. And this is the mind which is 
 to be in us ! a mind in which self is entirely sacri¬ 
 ficed, and God has taken its place, and the will of 
 God has become its only rule, and the glory of God 
 
288 
 
 SERMON XIII. 
 
 its all in all—a mind whose devotion to God is such 
 that it would rather die than disobey. Who of 
 fallen creatures shall ever attain to this ? What a 
 thought, that it is to be the actual and perfect at¬ 
 tainment of every genuine believer hereafter! Surelv 
 such a state of holiness will be a heaven in itself. 
 What a thought, that every believer is bound to 
 labour to attain it even now—that this should just 
 be the aim and business of his whole life ! If this be 
 so, what then becomes of your obedience of mere 
 restraints, of mere outward acts and empty forms f 
 And what should equal the divine-like comfort of 
 Christians except their divine-like purity, when the 
 very obedience of Christ is the ground of the one— 
 the mind which prompted that obedience the model 
 and measure of the other ? 
 
SERMON XIV. 
 
 289 
 
 SERMON XIV. 
 
 THE GOSPEL BY SETTING UP THE KINGDOM OF GOD BEGINS 
 THE KINGDOM OF HEAVEN. 
 
 K And he sent them to preach the kingdom of Ctod.”— Luke, 
 ix. 2. 
 
 “ And as ye go, preach, saying, The kingdom of heaven is at 
 hand.” —Matt. x. 7. 
 
 Though these two verses occur in two different 
 Evangelists, the subject referred to in both is one and 
 the same. They belong not to two different though 
 similar occasions in our Saviour’s history, but to the 
 very same occasion, and to the very same point, as 
 recorded by two different and independent historians. 
 The occasion referred to in both is one ; it w r as that 
 on which our Lord, for the first time, despatched his 
 twelve Apostles by themselves, to proclaim to the 
 lost sheep of the house of Israel the advent of the 
 great Messiah. And the precise point referred to in 
 both is also one, viz., what was to be the substance 
 of their preaching on being thus sent forth—the 
 Gospel or good news which they were commissioned 
 to proclaim. In referring to this one point, the one 
 Evangelist tells us that they were sent out by Him 
 “ to preach the kingdom of God v —the other tells us 
 that they were sent out by Him “ to preach the king- 
 
 T 
 
290 
 
 SERMON XIV. 
 
 dom of heaven .” From which, we think, this infer¬ 
 ence is abundantly obvious and undeniable, that 
 these two different expressions relate to the very 
 same thing, and, in the mind of u that Spirit who 
 moved these holy men to write as they did,” are of 
 precisely the same import—that “ the kingdom of 
 God” and “ the kingdom of heaven” here refer to 
 the same object, and mean exactly the same thing. 
 
 It is not difficult to see what this one thing is to 
 which these two equivalent expressions are applied 
 —what it is that the one Evangelist calls “ the 
 kingdom of God” and the other calls “ the kingdom 
 of heaven.” It is manifest that it was something not 
 far remote, either in point of time or place, from the 
 people to whom these twelve Apostles were sent, for 
 they were expressly commanded to tell them, u The 
 kingdom of heaven is at hand. The kingdom of 
 God is come nigh unto you.” It was something, 
 therefore, not far away in some distant region of the 
 universe, or in some remote period of futurity, but 
 of which it could be truly said to the inhabitants of 
 Judea, at the time of Christ’s public appearance and 
 ministry amongst them, “ It is at hand,” “ It is 
 come nigh unto you.” Now, what was there at that 
 period that could by way of eminence be said to be 
 at hand—to be come nigh to that people, but Christ 
 himself, the great Messiah, and that great and 
 spiritual economy which Christ was about to intro¬ 
 duce? Accordingly, we find that the very design 
 of sending out the twelve Apostles was just that 
 they might act as heralds or forerunners of the great 
 Messiah, that “ they might go before His face,” as 
 
SERMON XIV. 
 
 291 
 
 it is expressed in the case of the seventy who were 
 afterwards despatched on the same errand, u into 
 every city and place whither He himself should 
 come,” in order to announce his advent. This was 
 the reason why they were not to go into the way of 
 the Gentiles, but only to the lost sheep of the house 
 of Israel, and why they were to go so unprovided, 
 and with such external signs of despatch, and why 
 they were to work such glorious miracles, as speci¬ 
 mens—earnests of that power and grace which had 
 now visited the earth ; it was in order to impress the 
 minds of all with the belief, that the glorious era they 
 were commissioned to announce was at hand, that 
 the personage to whom they were acting as heralds 
 was just about to appear, and his long promised 
 reign about to commence. It is, in fact, expressly 
 stated in the discourse which Christ addressed to 
 the twelve, on the occasion in question, that they 
 were the heralds of the Son of Man or the Messiah, 
 and that it was the coming of His dispensation of 
 grace and blessedness which they were to announce 
 —“ Verily, I say unto you, ye shall not have gone 
 over the cities of Israel till the Son of Man be come.'’ 
 And in recording the accomplishment of their mis¬ 
 sion, the language of the other Evangelist is—“ And 
 they departed and went through the towns, preach¬ 
 ing the Gospel or good news,” which, we know, is 
 used both in Scripture and in common language, by 
 way of eminence, to denote the good news concern¬ 
 ing Christ, His coming, His death, His free and full 
 salvation, His spiritual, everlasting kingdom—the 
 best news that ever fell upon the ears of guilty 
 
202 
 
 SERMON XIV. 
 
 sinners. Add to all this, that John the Baptist, the 
 very end of whose life and ministry was to announce 
 the coming of Christ, described this coming by 
 one of the terms before us :—“ Repent ye, for the 
 kingdom of heaven is at hand”—that Christ him¬ 
 self, also, in reference to the same subject, uniformly 
 employed one or other of the same expressions :— 
 u Repent ye, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.” 
 “ The kingdom of God is like unto a grain of mus¬ 
 tard seed.” From ail which it follows, certainly, 
 that the expressions in both our texts, “ the king¬ 
 dom of God” and “ the kingdom of heaven,” can, 
 and do refer to nothing else than the first coming of 
 the great Messiah, and that economy of pure and 
 spiritual religion which He was to establish; that 
 as here used they do not refer to some external local 
 kingdom, such as the name imports, upon earth, whose 
 site and locality lie far remote from this terrestrial 
 world in some distant region of space, but simply 
 describe that beautiful and glorious order of things, 
 the combination of all that is pure and all that is 
 blessed, which the Messiah came from heaven to 
 establish upon the earth, and which he has founded 
 in his own blood, and framed and fashioned in the 
 exercise of his infinite wisdom, and purity, and 
 truth, and love. In other words, it was the pure, 
 and spiritual, and blessed economy of the Gospel— 
 that new and better order of things, that holy, 
 happy, divine constitution, so full of love, so full of 
 grace, which our Lord came in person to set up in 
 this apostate world, and which He will ever extend 
 and perpetuate here till all his elect be gathered into 
 
SERMON NIY. 
 
 293 
 
 it, when He shall come the second time to exhibit it 
 in all its fulness, and with visible glory—it was this 
 that is here described as “ the kingdom of God” and 
 as “the kingdom of heaven.” 
 
 The kingdom of God and the kingdom of heaven, 
 then, are just two names for describing that pure and 
 spiritual economy of which Christ was at once the 
 author and the head—that holy and happy order of 
 things which He came to introduce into this fallen 
 world, and which prevails to a greater or lesser de¬ 
 gree wherever the Gospel is understood and received. 
 How then comes this state of things, which the Gos¬ 
 pel sets up, to receive such names? or, to take the 
 well-known term of abbreviation which stands for all 
 that is happy and all that is holy, how comes the 
 Gospel to acquire the name, “ The Kingdom of 
 God—The Kingdom of Heaven ?” In seeking an 
 answer to this question, we will be led into some 
 views concerning two things which enter deeply into 
 the foundation of all practical religion—the nature 
 of the Gospel, and the nature of heaven, which, 
 rightly understood and constantly kept in mind, 
 would go far to correct many of the errors which 
 are current in the world on the grand subject of 
 religion. 
 
 Now, in attempting to answer the question just 
 proposed—How comes the Gospel, or the state of 
 things introduced by the Gospel, to be called the 
 kingdom of God and the kingdom of heaven ?—the 
 first and most important thing we have to do is to 
 fix precisely what is meant by the phrase, “ the 
 kingdom of God,” for this is the middle term that 
 
294 
 
 SERMON XIV. 
 
 will enable us at once to ascertain the grand de¬ 
 sign of tlie Gospel and the true nature of heaven. 
 “ The kingdom of God” may either mean that king¬ 
 dom or empire which He has founded and esta¬ 
 blished, or that kingdom or empire in which He 
 himself reigns. The expression can mean nothing 
 else than one or other of these two things, or these 
 two things combined. In the present case, it does 
 not, and cannot, mean the one apart from the other, 
 but both combined ; for God nowhere sways a sceptre 
 which He did not sain for himself. The kingdom of 
 God, then, is that dominion or empire which belongs 
 to the Supreme Being, as at once founded by Him 
 and ruled over by Him; it is that kingdom which 
 acknowledges Him as the Head, where He is su¬ 
 preme, all else are subject—where He is the object 
 of supreme love, and the source of supreme autho¬ 
 rity—it is that kingdom in which His sceptre bears 
 sway, His authority is respected, His commands are 
 executed, His laws are obeyed, His will and pleasure 
 are accomplished, His glory and honour are ad¬ 
 vanced over all. Such being the kingdom of God, 
 if there be any propriety in calling the Gospel, or 
 that spiritual order of things which the Gospel in¬ 
 troduces, by such a name, it can be owing to no¬ 
 thing but the fact, that that Gospel was designed to 
 restore, and, so far as it is understood and believed, 
 does actually restore the reign of God to this apos¬ 
 tate world ; that its grand object and tendency is to 
 re-establish his long-lost empire over the hearts and 
 lives of men, to recover to Him that moral as well 
 as physical dominion over his rational, intelligent 
 
SERMON XIV. 
 
 295 
 
 creatures, which is his everlasting right, but which 
 has been practically denied ever since the fall; and 
 that wherever it is cordially acquiesced in, and pro¬ 
 duces its genuine native fruits, this blessed conse¬ 
 quence does indeed prevail,—there God actually 
 reigns ; He is felt and acknowledged to be the great 
 Supreme, His downcast throne is erected in the soul, 
 His authority is re-extended over every part of the 
 being, His love is restored to its mastery in the 
 heart, His supremacy to its seat in the conscience, 
 His law to the regulation of the life, both the inner 
 and the outer man is subjected to His sway—God 
 rules and man obeys. There can be no other rea¬ 
 son for calling the Gosjiel economy the kingdom of 
 God, but just because the grand design and ten¬ 
 dency of the former is to produce the latter—but 
 just because in so far as the Gospel is understood 
 and believed, there God reigns, reigns in the heart 
 and over the life—but just because the very end of 
 the Gospel, and, in so far as it is received, its actual 
 effect is to restore, in this apostate world, the reign 
 of the true God, and to every heart and life the 
 reign of all pure, divine, and godlike principles. 
 
 That this is indeed the great design of the Gos¬ 
 pel, its ultimate end and actual tendency, must be 
 obvious to every one who reflects for a moment what 
 is the natural state of man, to which that Gospel 
 was intended to minister a full and effectual remedy, 
 and what is the nature of that intelligence, or those 
 glad tidings, which that Gospel conveys to his ears. 
 Now, it is true that man in his natural state is lying 
 under a sentence of condemnation, and is ready to 
 
296 
 
 SERMON XIV. 
 
 perish in hell. This is part of his evil condition ; 
 but though it stands out most prominently to the eye. 
 and makes the deepest impression on the imagina¬ 
 tion, it is not the whole of it, it is not even the 
 Avorst of it. We may suppose it completely re¬ 
 moved and man would be wretched still; we may 
 suppose the sentence of condemnation repealed, and 
 hell completely obliterated from the number of 
 existing things; and did no change take place upon 
 man himself, on the moral principles and affec¬ 
 tions of his being, man would still remain purely, 
 unspeakably Awetched. There is a misery inwrought 
 into the very elements of his being; there is a hell 
 enkindled within him, which no mere change in his 
 outward condition can ever touch, can in the slight¬ 
 est degree abate, and winch must make him equally 
 AATetched, whether the outward place of his abode 
 be heaven or hell, or Avhieh would rather make him 
 more Avretched in heaven than in hell, since in hea- 
 A~en is the clear and manifested presence of that 
 God. enmitv to whom is at once his crime, his guilt. 
 
 J ' c 
 
 his disease, his consuming hell, all of which, there¬ 
 fore, would be but the more inflamed and aggra- 
 A*ated in that blessed abode. Man was formed at 
 first to find his happiness in God, in the love, in the 
 service, in the presence, in the favour, in the fellow¬ 
 ship of that all-lioly, all-blessed Being that made 
 him. By the very constitution of his being he can 
 find his happiness nowhere else than there. There 
 is an impossibility of his doing so as strong and un¬ 
 alterable as his own rational, immortal nature. Even 
 God omnipotent cannot make him happy any where 
 
SERMON XIY. 
 
 297 
 
 or any liow else, unless lie change the very constitu¬ 
 tion of his being; and just the more he himself 
 seeks that happiness any where else just the less 
 will he find it. But man has completely fallen 
 away from this, his original and only blessed condi¬ 
 tion. u The sentiment of love to God,” which has 
 been called, “ the key-stone of the arch,” has fallen 
 down, and, in consequence, his whole nature and 
 happiness alike have fallen into ruins. He has 
 withdrawn his affections from the Being that made 
 him, and has set them upon idols. He has forgotten 
 that God alone can make him happy, and has at¬ 
 tempted to take his happiness into his own hands, 
 to be in this respect a god unto himself. Having 
 thus banished the Divine Being from the throne of 
 his heart, and the centre of his being, the conscious¬ 
 ness of guilt which always follows sin, and the fear 
 of punishment which always follows guilt, have 
 widened the breach, and driven him farther and 
 farther away from God, till at last he has come to 
 regard the Divine Being, the fountain of living 
 waters, the only source of blessedness, as his only 
 enemy; and distance from, and forgetfulness of, that 
 Divine Being as his only means of peace. This is 
 the state of every man by nature; this is his guilt, 
 his grand unhappiness, the source of all his misery, 
 his hell of hells. How then may this be cured ? 
 Not simply by remitting the sentence of condemna¬ 
 tion, and saving him from going down to hell. Had 
 the Gospel done nothing more for him than this, it 
 would have been but hiding or skinning over the 
 wound it professed to heal, quenching the flame 
 
298 
 
 SERMON XIV. 
 
 without, while it left unquenched the fiercer and 
 more tormenting flame within, and leaving man in 
 all the destitution and wretchedness of a creature 
 cut off from the only fountain of its being and its 
 blessedness, the great Creator. But no; the Gospel 
 has done far more for him than this. It not merely 
 reveals an all-sufficient atonement, and proclaims to 
 all, on that ground, a free forgiveness; but in the 
 act of providing that atonement, and proclaiming 
 that forgiveness, it reveals the Divine Being in a 
 light and attitude which cannot be believinglv con- 
 templated without restoring Him at once to the 
 throne of the heart, and the supremacy of the life, 
 without regaining to Him their long-lost confidence, 
 dispelling their guilty fears, awakening the long- 
 dormant sentiments of reverence, and gratitude, and 
 love, and convincing them that the Being from 
 whom they have so long been seeking to make their 
 escape as their enemy, the very extinction of their 
 bliss, ever was, and still is, their most compassionate 
 Father and Friend, who is at this moment invit¬ 
 ing them most freelv to his bosom, and in whose 
 bosom, in whose love is the very home and resting- 
 place of their souls—their life, them happiness, their 
 full and endless well-being. That Gospel displays 
 the divine character as the combination of infinite 
 purity and of infinite love, as blending in most 
 blessed harmonv an unfathomable abhorrence of sin 
 
 J 
 
 with an unfathomable love to the poor sinner; so 
 that while his heart is melted and won by this un¬ 
 utterable love, it is at the same time awed and sanc¬ 
 tified by this unutterable purity; and under this 
 
SERMON XIY, 
 
 299 
 
 blended influence he is brought to resign himself to 
 the Divine Being with all the confidence of a child, 
 and to devote himself to that same Being with all 
 the reverence and fear of a servant. Therein see¬ 
 ing Him as the God who, even amid all his wander¬ 
 ings and rebellions, had such parental feelings to¬ 
 wards him, such inexpressible longings for his wel¬ 
 fare, as to make provision for it by the death of his 
 own Son; seeing Him as “ the God who so loved 
 the world as to give his only begotten Son, that 
 whosoever believeth in Him might not perish but 
 have everlasting life,” how can he fail to love Him 
 —how r can he fail to trust in Him—how can he fail 
 to hope in His mercy ?—how can he fail to resign to 
 such a benignant Being the dominion of his heart, 
 to devote to such a blessed Being the homage of his 
 life ?—how can he fail to perceive that all his duty 
 and all his happiness lie in the love, and service, 
 and fellowship, and favour of such a being? And 
 thus it is, that through the manifestation which it 
 makes of the Divine character, the Gospel restores 
 the long-lost dominion of God to the hearts and 
 lives of all who truly understand and really believe 
 it; and thus has it earned for itself the noble title, 
 “ the kingdom of God ”—for wdierever it extends in 
 truth and in power, there is the reign of the true 
 God, the blessed and only potentate—the reign of 
 his love and of his law, the reign of every divine 
 and godlike principle, the reign of righteousness, 
 and peace, and joy, in the Holy Ghost. 
 
 This is the reason why the Gospel, or that order 
 of things which the Gospel is intended to introduce, 
 
300 
 
 SERMON XIY. 
 
 is called in so many places of Scripture u The king¬ 
 dom of God.” The grand design and actual ten- 
 dency and ultimate end of that Gospel is, to re¬ 
 establish the holy dominion of God over the hearts 
 and lives of men—to set the supreme Being again 
 in the throne, and bring back the whole man into 
 willing and loving subjection to His blessed sway. 
 Our next question is, why is the same holy order of 
 things which the Gospel introduces called “ The 
 kingdom of Heaven ? ” How comes the state of 
 things which the Gospel sets up in the hearts and 
 lives of all who truly receive it upon earth, to re¬ 
 ceive the very same name with that blessed order 
 of things which we are taught to expect in another 
 world as the very consummation of our being and 
 our happiness ? How do both these states—the state 
 of grace and the state of glory—happen to be called 
 “ The kingdom of heaven?” In answering this 
 question, it is not enough to say, that since the Gospel 
 brings into every soul, truly and intelligently re¬ 
 ceiving it, the very purest and highest state of hap¬ 
 piness which it is possible to enjoy upon earth, 
 therefore it gets the name of heaven; which is the 
 hallowed term for consummate and perfect bliss. 
 This is true so far as it goes. It is true that the 
 Gospel fills the soul with a blessedness to which it 
 has hitherto been a total stranger—a blessedness 
 which no other object in the universe can yield— 
 which nothing on earth can equal—which heaven 
 alone can excel. This blessedness springs not merely 
 from the glad tidings of a free forgiveness which 
 the Gospel proclaims—not merely from the assu- 
 
SERMON XXT. 
 
 301 
 
 ranee of pardon, a sense of acceptance, the hope 
 of eternal life, with which it tills to overflow 
 every soul that ingenuously, simply, and unsuspi¬ 
 ciously admits its blessed tidings; though, to the 
 soul that has long been trembling under the con¬ 
 sciousness of guilt, and vainly labouring after a 
 righteousness of its own, oh! how sweet, how preci¬ 
 ous, how transporting the blessedness that flows into 
 and through it, from a source like this. But the 
 Gospel is the fountain of a higher, and purer, and 
 fuller blessedness still, owing to the reign of purity 
 and of piety, as well as the reign of peace which it 
 establishes within the soul, and preserves continually 
 there. It is the blessedness which flows from purity 
 of heart and life, as well as from pardon—from the 
 conquest, as well as from the remission of sin—from 
 the sanctification of the whole moral nature, as well 
 as from the justification of the person—from the re¬ 
 newal of the one into the image of God, as well as 
 from the acceptance of the other into the favour of 
 God. It is that high and holy blessedness which 
 flows from a right state of all the affections, and all 
 the powers of our being, which is the result of these 
 being thoroughly purified and rectified, and set upon 
 their only proper, only satisfying object; the bles¬ 
 sedness, the divine and heaven-like harmony of a 
 soul all wdiose feelings and faculties are ennobled 
 and set supremely upon God, and move without re¬ 
 luctance and jarring in his free and holy service, 
 and are under the happy control of reason, and con¬ 
 science, and Scripture, and seek no end but the 
 glory of their Maker, and no reward but His high 
 
302 
 
 SERMON XIV. 
 
 approval. This sanctified soul is the perpetual 
 abode of blessedness. The peace of God, “ that 
 great peace which passeth all understanding,” driven 
 from every other corner of this guilty and turbulent 
 world, retreats to that heart as its home; and there 
 abides, and there reigns continually; keeping ail 
 serene and tranquil—a remnant of paradise, an 
 emblem of heaven—till the time arrive for its being 
 recalled up to that happy world which is the place 
 of its nativity, and its only permanent home. Oh. 
 yes, the Gospel does bring into every believing soul 
 a blessedness above the tongue either of men or of 
 angels fully to express. In its twofold peace—the 
 peace of pardon, and the still sweeter and serener 
 peace of sanctification—it establishes within it a 
 manifold happiness, a fulness of bliss which nothing 
 besides can either yield or equal. And would but 
 the ignorant unthinking crowds that roam in quest 
 of happiness all over the world, but all in vain, 
 chasing shadows and finding vanity and vexation 
 of spirit, sowing the wind and reaping the whirl¬ 
 wind, would these but listen to the Gospel, which 
 is heaven’s voice of mercy heard on earth, God’s 
 friendly and fatherly voice to his apostate infatuated 
 offspring, wooing them to himself; and would they 
 but receive its tidings into then* hearts, and resign 
 themselves to its native peace-giving, purifying in¬ 
 fluence, they would suddenly find what they are 
 now so vainly seeking, they would find rest and 
 blessedness to their weary souls, yea, even quietness 
 and assurance for ever. 
 
 But though it is true, and a glorious truth, that 
 
SERMON XIV. 
 
 303 
 
 the state or frame of things which the Gospel sets 
 up in the heart, is one of pure and perennial bles¬ 
 sedness ; this is not the whole truth involved in the 
 expression before us. This does not fully explain 
 why that spiritual order which the Gospel introduces 
 wherever it is received, is called the kingdom of 
 heaven. One name is given to both, not merely 
 because both are states of happiness, but because the 
 happiness of both is one—is one and the same in 
 kind, though different in degree. The happiness 
 introduced into the heart by the Gospel not merely 
 resembles the happiness felt in heaven ; it is the 
 same in kind, the same in its source and nature ; it 
 is just that same happiness begun—it is heaven in 
 its commencement—heaven in its elements—heaven 
 in infancy; the one is the dawn, the other the full 
 unsetting meridian of the same day; grace is nothing 
 but glory begun, and glory is nothing but grace 
 mature and perfect. The happiness introduced by 
 the Gospel, and the happiness felt in heaven spring 
 from the very same ingredients, with this difference 
 only, that in the one case these ingredients exist in 
 imperfect measure, and are mixed with others of an 
 opposite and bitter nature, in the other they exist 
 without mixture and without measure, they are pure 
 from every thing that would adulterate them, and 
 full as heart could wish or God can make them. 
 What then did we find to be the great design of the 
 Gospel—its actual tendency—its ultimate end—the 
 prime cause of all its blessedness ? Why, nothing 
 but this, that it gave such a manifestation of the 
 holy and compassionate character of God in his 
 
304 
 
 SERMON XIY. 
 
 treatment of sinners, as, when rightly seen and be¬ 
 lieved, brings back all the affections of the heart, 
 and all the actions of the life to Him—as secures for 
 Him the throne of the heart, the homage of the lips, 
 and the submission of the life—as re-establishes, in 
 fact, both in the inner and outer man, the reign of 
 the Great Supreme, who is the blessed and the only 
 potentate. This is the grand design, and end, and 
 blessedness of the Gospel. If, then, the frame or 
 constitution of things which it introduces, and which 
 cannot be so fully described by any other name as 
 by just calling it the reign or kingdom of God; if 
 this be the same in nature, and yield the same bless¬ 
 edness with the kingdom of heaven, so much so as to 
 acquire for itself that very name ; how obviously 
 does this lay open to our eyes the true nature of 
 heaven, the proper source and cause of its blessed¬ 
 ness ! and how clearly and conclusively does it de¬ 
 monstrate, that heaven is nothing else than just the 
 reign of God, His reign in every heart and over 
 every life! and that the reason why happiness is 
 perfect and perpetual there, is just that there that 
 reign of God, and of godlike principles, is perfect, 
 and universal, and everlasting. “ The kingdom of 
 God” and “the kingdom of heaven” are applied in¬ 
 differently to denominate the same thing, even that 
 holy and happy frame, that reign of pure and blessed 
 principles wdiich the Gospel sets up in every heart 
 which ingenuously opens to its influence. What 
 can follow more plainly from this, than that these 
 two names are of the same meaning, that these two 
 kingdoms, in fact, are but one—that the one is but 
 
SERMON XIY. 
 
 305 
 
 the other begun; and that heaven, therefore, is just 
 that state of perfect blessedness which results from 
 the fact that God is reigning there, sole and 
 supreme, without a rival and without limits; that 
 He is the object of supreme affection, and of sole 
 authority, occupying the throne of every heart, 
 and engaging the homage of every mouth, and en¬ 
 grossing the service of every life, being, in fact, the 
 first and the last, the all in all. Oh yes, this, and 
 this alone, constitutes the true nature and the full 
 blessedness of heaven. Its very essence lies in this, 
 that God is there—that it is full of his presence and 
 full of his praise—that there God is fully known, 
 and clearly seen, and intimately felt, and supremely 
 loved, and entirely obeyed, and perfectly adored— 
 that there every sanctified creature stands in its 
 proper place, and cherishes the proper feelings 
 towards the Great Supreme, the Great Creator, the 
 Being of beings, the source and centre and end of 
 all—that there every purified spirit finds in that 
 great Father-Spirit the object of its supreme affec¬ 
 tion, and its full felicity ; its parent and its portion, 
 its centre and its resting place, its beginning and its 
 end; and losing sight of itself, and of every thing 
 else in Him, has no feeling, no sentiment, no will, 
 no interest, no end apart from Him—lives, and 
 moves, and breathes, and has its being in Him— 
 feels Him to be all its life, its glory, its happiness, 
 its all in all. Yes, brethren, this is heaven ; and to 
 creatures framed as we are, fashioned in the image 
 of God, endowed with the imperishable power of 
 knowing, and serving, and enjoying Him, cut out for 
 
 u 
 
306 
 
 SERMON XIY. 
 
 a portion large and everlasting as Himself, nothing 
 else, nothing less than this can be heaven. Not all 
 the creatures in the universe, were they combined 
 in one, not all the excellence and all the blessedness 
 scattered over these, were they culled and concen¬ 
 trated in one, could form a heaven to us. Heaven 
 is not any nor all the creatures, it is the great Cre¬ 
 ator himself, fully and for ever enjoyed. It is not 
 some outward place merely, the repository of all that 
 is lovely, and blessed, and glorious, where happiness 
 flows in upon the soul from the thousand beauteous 
 objects amid which it is embosomed. No ; it is 
 far more a pure and spiritual and perfect character 
 than a place—such a holy, blessed, God-ward state 
 of all the affections and all the powers of the being, 
 as universally existed before sin entered the uni¬ 
 verse of God—and as shall for ever exist when sin 
 and all its effects shall be completely removed—when 
 God was the grand centre and resting-place, even as 
 He v r as the source of all being—when God reigned 
 over all, supreme and sole, and by all most lovingly, 
 delightfully, adoringly obeyed. The perfection of 
 my blessedness as a rational immortal creature, come 
 when it may, will not arise from the fact, that I am 
 set dovm in the midst of some beautiful paradise, 
 compared w r ith which even that of Eden was bleak 
 and barren as the heath in the desert—-not that I 
 am stationed before some glorious throne, whose 
 splendour outshines the meridian sun, and am in¬ 
 vited to company with myriads of shining forms, 
 and open my eyes continually on fields and sights 
 of purest loveliness, and my ears to the melody of 
 
SERMON XIV. 
 
 307 
 
 ten thousand times ten thousand angels 5 tongues and 
 angels’ harps. Xo : but it will arise from this, 
 that with an eve purged from every darkening 
 scale, and with a mind full of unclouded light, and 
 with a heart on which there is no spot and no stain 
 —with an entire being from every part of which 
 the last trace of sin is banished away, and on 
 all whose powers are spread the beauties of a 
 perfect holiness, I shall see and contemplate, and 
 love and serve fully and for ever, the Being that 
 made me. the Being that made this universe, the 
 
 j 
 
 Being from whom, as from an ever full and ever 
 tlowing fountain, all life and blessedness from the 
 beginning has streamed, but who has never made 
 anv thing equal anv thing like himself, who Him- 
 self is fairer and lovelier, and better, and more bles¬ 
 sed than all combined—in comparison with whom 
 all is nothing. This is a blessedness which I cannot 
 conceive it possible to be exceeded, to which, it 
 seems to me, no external juncture or combination of 
 circumstances can make any addition, to which not 
 even Omnipotence itself can add in any way else 
 but bv enlarging the creature’s capacity of eniov- 
 ment from the same inexhaustible source. And 
 whether this blessedness be enjoyed here or here¬ 
 after, in this sin-scathed planet, or in some other 
 region of the universe where sin has never entered, 
 some new heavens and new earth wherein dwelleth 
 righteousness, this is perfect happiness, this is con¬ 
 summate bliss, this by itself is heaven ; for what can 
 add to the happiness of a creature which loves with 
 all its powers that Being who is worthy of all its 
 
308 
 
 SERMON XIV. 
 
 love, and which in its turn is loved by that perfect 
 Being with an infinite, unchanging, everlasting love ? 
 
 1. From this subject we may learn the value of 
 the Gospel, that poor despised Gospel which is 
 every day sounded in your ears, and which the 
 great majority treat no otherwise than if it were an 
 idle tale, or a cunningly devised fable. Why, that 
 Gospel, despised as it is, has been framed by God, 
 and is endowed by him with the power of accom¬ 
 plishing a no less noble, a no less Godlike design, 
 than that of restoring both the kingdom of God and 
 the kingdom of heaven to this now apostate and most 
 miserable world ! Notwithstanding the mass of guilt, 
 and the mass of wretchedness which overspread this 
 world—wide and waste as the waters of Noah’s de¬ 
 luge—this simple Gospel, were it only understood 
 and credited, could every where, even out to its re¬ 
 motest boundaries, supplant it by a frame of things 
 so holy as to earn for it the title of “ the kingdom 
 of God,” so blessed as to be adequately described 
 only by calling it “ the kingdom of heaven,” could 
 every where introduce the reign of such Godlike, 
 such heavenlike principles, that it might again be 
 said of this earth, which is now a world without 
 God, “ there God reigns ;” and, instead of being as 
 it is now, a type of hell, would make it an emblem, 
 or, as it were, the ante-room of heaven.* Oh, then, 
 the blessedness of those who have grace to under¬ 
 stand and believe this Gospel! In them “God 
 reigns,” in them “ heaven is begun.” But, oh, the 
 guilt, and the misery, and the ruin of those who re- 
 
SERMON XIY. 
 
 309 
 
 ject it—they live without God, they die without 
 hope, from every part of their being, both here and 
 hereafter, both God and heaven are far away-—in 
 them is the kingdom of Satan and the kingdom of 
 hell. 
 
 2. The two parts of this subject combined, tend 
 to correct the erroneous notions that prevail in rela¬ 
 tion to the great desigii of the Gospel, and the true 
 nature of Heaven. To hear men speak, one would 
 suppose that the former—the Gospel—was nothing 
 but a very kind and indulgent way of securing par¬ 
 don to the sinner, and saving him from some great 
 external evil called Hell; and that the other—Hea¬ 
 ven—was nothing but some very blessed outward 
 abode, where men will be made happy, they know 
 not why nor how. Now, both the design of the one, 
 and the nature of the other, may be expressed in 
 one single term—“ the Eeign of God.” No doubt, 
 the Gospel provides for the free remission of sin. 
 and exemption from the wrath to come, and it may 
 be that Heaven will be found to be an outward 
 place, with a locality as well-defined as Eden, and 
 stored with beauties fairer far than any which flou¬ 
 rished there. But the remission of sins, and the ex¬ 
 emption from punishment, which the Gospel brings, 
 is not the whole of it. It is but the least part of it. 
 It is but the means to a farther and far more glori¬ 
 ous end. It is but the removal of an otherwise in¬ 
 superable barrier that lay in the way of attaining 
 that end. Its grand design, its ultimate end, its 
 glory, what makes it sufficient and valuable for a 
 
310 
 
 SERMON XIV. 
 
 guilty sinner is this, that it restores his heart to the 
 love, and his life to the allegiance, of the one living 
 and true God. It makes him a subject of the King 
 of kings. It sets up within him that blessed king¬ 
 dom which cometh not with observation, which con¬ 
 sisted in righteousness, and peace, and joy in the 
 Holy Ghost. And though there may be an outward 
 and a glorious place called Heaven, yet the blessed¬ 
 ness which inhabits it, how's from a far higher and 
 purer source, hov T s from the Fountain Being him¬ 
 self, and mainly consists in seeing, and loving, and 
 serving Him. Away then with all gross and carnal 
 notions under which men’s souls delude themselves 
 to ruin. Neither the Gospel nor Heaven are any 
 thing else than a pure and spiritual state of things. 
 The one is the kingdom of God, the other the 
 means of erecting it. The amount and value of 
 both may be expressed in a single sentence. It is 
 the reign of God, God reigning in the heart and 
 over all the life. 
 
 3. The combination of views now given, may 
 serve to explain the facts which to careless observers 
 seems so passing strange, that both the Gospel and 
 Heaven are perfectly free, and yet that both are 
 almost universally rejected. The terms on wdiich 
 xhe blessings of the one, and the possession of the 
 other, are offered to all, are the easiest in the world; 
 or rather, both are offered without any terms at all 
 —are offered in the most unqualified sense of the 
 words gratuitously, unconditionally—are just offered 
 to all or to any who wall only take them—are sim- 
 
SERMON XIV. 
 
 311 
 
 ply and freely offered to every human being, with¬ 
 out exception, and without money and without price. 
 Why then are they offered to almost all in vain ? 
 Why do we stand all day long and beseech sinners 
 with next to no success ? Why are so few, so very 
 few, prevailed on to accept what are offered and 
 pressed upon all so freely ? The reason is plain and 
 obvious. You have no relish and no liking for the 
 things we offer. It is not the terms which prevent 
 your acceptance, but the things themselves , for which 
 you have no taste and no desire. It is not because 
 they are hard to be obtained, but because they are 
 utterly offensive to your taste, perfectly repugnant 
 to all the principles of your fallen nature. Did we 
 talk to you simply of pardon and of safety from 
 hell, and of any other blessings external to yourself, 
 and away from God, you might not be so reluctant 
 to hear us and accept of our offers. But to offer to 
 restore the kingdom of God to your hearts, to re¬ 
 establish the Divine Being in the throne of your 
 affections, and his law in the government of your life, 
 to bring you simply to the perfect love and the per¬ 
 fect obedience of such a Being, and to make this 
 the whole of the Gospel and the whole of Heaven; 
 why, brethren, do we not in this seem to have shorn 
 both the one and the other of all their value?—do 
 we not seem to have reduced them to a thing of 
 nought, a thing utterly valueless ?—if this be all the 
 Gospel, and all Heaven, will any of you take it, 
 will any of you take it just now?—seems it not 
 “ light food,” which you cannot conceive in the 
 slightest degree to minister to your happiness, which 
 
312 
 
 SERMON XIV. 
 
 your souls, in fact, u do loathe.” Ah! if the spirit¬ 
 ual design of the Gospel, and the spiritual nature of 
 Heaven were always prominently stated, men need 
 not be afraid of offering both the one and the other 
 too freely; nor would there be any necessity of 
 always hampering and restricting their offers with 
 this explanation and with that, as if too many would 
 accept of them : So stated, they may be safely offered 
 to all, and offered to all free as the very wind of 
 Heaven ; and so stated and offered, men would 
 come at length to see that it is not because they 
 cannot believe—understanding by this some great 
 work beyond their physical power—and cannot do 
 this and cannot do the other thing required, that all 
 the blessings of the Gospel, and all the happiness of 
 Heaven are not theirs; but simply and solely, and 
 for no other reason in the wide world, but, because 
 they do not like the things, they do not wish them. 
 
 4. According to the views now given, it follows, 
 that no man has any farther understood and re¬ 
 ceived the Gospel, nor is any farther ripe for heaven, 
 than he has been recovered to the love and service 
 of God—than the kingdom of God has been set up 
 within him. The one is the exact test and measure¬ 
 ment of the other. There is no more faith in the 
 Gospel, and no more meetness for heaven, than there 
 is of the reign of God in the heart: and tried by 
 such a test, where almost all profess themselves to 
 be Christians, and hope for eternal life, Oh how few 
 are there that truly believe—how few, therefore, 
 shall be saved! 
 
SERMON XIY. 
 
 nio 
 
 olo 
 
 5. How gross is the delusion of those who, 
 though practically rejecting the Gospel, yet confi¬ 
 dently talk of heaven at last, and flatter themselves 
 with the hope of ultimately reaching it! Why, 
 poor deluded souls, what is the heaven you think of? 
 It is nothing else than the very thing you are now 
 rejecting with so much loathing. It is the very 
 thing, the mere mention of which makes your heart 
 grow sick and weary. It is just that holy frame of 
 mind, that reign of pure and spiritual affections where 
 God is all in all, which the Gospel is every day offer¬ 
 ing to set up in your soul, and which you are every 
 day spurning away. It is the love, the presence, 
 the favour, the service of that very God from whom 
 you are now seeking to make your eternal escape, 
 and whom, in the bottom of your hearts, you more 
 dislike and fear than any thing else in all the uni¬ 
 verse. “ And this is life eternal, that they might 
 know thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ 
 whom thou hast sent.” This is eternal life, this is 
 heaven, this is the only heaven in the universe of 
 God. What do you think of it ? You think you 
 would be glad of heaven when you receive your 
 dismission from earth. That is, you would rather 
 have it than hell. But what do you think of it just 
 now ? Here it is—it may be enjoyed in part at this 
 very moment. It is just the true knowledge of the 
 true God, and of Him whom God hath sent. It is 
 nothing else than the knowledge of the divine cha¬ 
 racter as that is unfolded in all its comminglinc; 
 glories of grace and truth, of holiness and love in 
 the face of Jesus Christ. Well, then, do you relish 
 
314 
 
 SERMON XIY. 
 
 it? do you wish it? will you have it, have it just 
 now ? Could you find your happiness in it ? Do 
 you not think that your happiness would be poorly 
 provided for with nothing but this throughout eter¬ 
 nity? How then, think you, will you come to 
 relish this thing more after death than before it— 
 more in the next world than in this—more in heaven 
 than on earth—more in eternity than in time— 
 more in its full maturity than in its scanty beginnings 
 —more for ever than for a moment ? Poor deluded 
 souls, who are denying to God your heart, and giv¬ 
 ing it to the world and sin, there is no heaven in 
 the universe but that which you now hate, which 
 you are now rejecting every day ! In rejecting the 
 pure and spiritual Gospel, you are rejecting the only 
 heaven that any where exists—you are judging your¬ 
 selves unworthy of eternal life. What, then, is to 
 become of you when at last dismissed from earth ? 
 Whither shall your disembodied spirits betake them¬ 
 selves ? There will then be no choice, no alterna¬ 
 tive but that heaven which you now abhor, and 
 which you will then abhor still more, and—hell. 
 
 6. What a change must take place upon all na¬ 
 tural men when they understand and believe the 
 Gospel, and before they are meet for heaven. Why, 
 the whole current of their nature must not merely 
 be changed, it must just be entirely reversed. Such 
 a revolution must take place on all the principles of 
 their moral being as now to hate what they formerly 
 loved, and now to find their happiness in what they 
 formerly found their misery. The bitter must to 
 
SEKMON XIV. 
 
 315 
 
 them become sweet, the sweet bitter. And how can 
 such a complete revolution of their whole nature be 
 adequately described but by saying that they must 
 become new creatures, they must be new made, as 
 it were taken down to their first elements, and made 
 up new and directly opposite creatures; and how 
 true, how unchangeably true, the solemn asseveration 
 of Christ:—“ Verily, verily, I say unto you, except 
 a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of 
 God.'’ “ Verily, verily, I say unto you, except ye 
 be converted, and become as little children, ve shall 
 
 J J V 
 
 not enter into the kingdom of heaven.” 
 
 7. Unless this change do take place on earth, 
 how certain, how inevitable, is the eternal ruin of 
 sinners. There is a necessity of perishing—a neces¬ 
 sity not created by any thing without—not created 
 by the final condemnatory sentence of God, but 
 arising from the state of your own moral natures. 
 Yourselves constitute the awful necessity—a necessity 
 so strong that even omnipotence cannot avert it but 
 by changing your whole moral nature. It is awful 
 to think, that if God, and every being in the uni¬ 
 verse, were to conspire in inviting you to enter 
 heaven, so long as you continued in your present 
 state, there would be an utter impossibility in 
 you to comply—an impossibility which nothing 
 could remove. You could not cross the threshold 
 of that holy abode. You could not breathe the 
 atmosphere of that holy place. Your character is 
 such that even had you your option, after being 
 driven from the earth, there is no place in the 
 
316 
 
 SERMON XIV. 
 
 wide universe "where you could subsist but hell. 
 Every place w r ould be less favourable than that. 
 You are pressed then by one or other of these two 
 grand necessities. “ You must be born again,” 
 or “ You must perish.” Now is the determination 
 being made respecting each of you. What myriads 
 determine such a solemn alternative without one 
 serious thought, and to their eternal ruin! 
 
 EDINBURGH PRINTED BY T. CONSTABLE, 
 PRINTER TO HER MAJESTY. 
 
•NOTE ON SERMON XII. 
 
 I would wish to have it understood, that by u the peace, 
 and hope, and joy,” spoken of in this Sermon, nothing more 
 is meant than the blessed feelings which the Gospel awakens 
 in every sinner’s heart as soon as it is really understood and 
 believed. That such blessed feelings, called by the Apostle 
 (Heb. iii. 14,) ‘•'the beginning of our confidence,” are awakened 
 by the Gospel at the very first, on its being cordially received, 
 without any reflection upon ourselves, or examination into the 
 nature and fruits of faith, no reader of the book of Acts, we 
 think, can possibly doubt. And the only design of this Sermon 
 is to keep in view, what, in point of fact, has so often been 
 forgotten bv Christians, that this confidence towards God first 
 awakened in the sinner’s heart by the Gospel itself, should be 
 preserved throughout his whole course by that same Gospel, 
 simply and directly used. There is a peace, and hope, and 
 joy, which the sinner first feels in receiving God’s testimony 
 concerning his Son. It is of the last importance that he 
 should feel these at the beginning, because till he do so he 
 cannot have any enlargement of heart to run the way of the 
 Divine commandments. It is of equal importance that he 
 should retain these feelings throughout; because what was ne- 
 cessarv to begin is necessarv to continue a course of disinte- 
 rested, devoted holiness. And nothing else seems necessarv 
 to prolong these feelings than what was necessary to originate 
 them. This is the amount of what I have wished to maintain 
 in the twelfth Sermon. The very same state of mind is spoken 
 of as in the eleventh. It is the mere continuance of what the 
 
 x 
 
318 
 
 NOTE. 
 
 sinner first finds at the Cross of Christ, and by simple reliance 
 on that Cross. Being a sinner to the end, as well as a Chris¬ 
 tian, he maintains his sense of forgiveness and his peace with 
 God, not by establishing his title to the latter character, but by 
 ever acknowledging and feeling the former, which is common 
 to him with all our race, and in this capacity using the atone¬ 
 ment of Christ alone. 
 
 There seems to be a great deal' more than this original 
 peace, common to all sinners who really believe, expressed iu 
 the Confession of Faith, by the name of assurance of grace 
 and salvation. This seems to relate exclusively to the indi¬ 
 vidual’s state—to his being in a state of grace, and sure of ul¬ 
 timate salvation. To this, examination into the individual’s 
 character seems not only competent but necessary. None 
 but Christians are actually in a spacious state—none but 
 Christians shall actually be saved. And if the question is, 
 am I an individual now in the one state, and shall I be ulti¬ 
 mately in the other, the inquiry to be instituted is, am I a 
 Christian ? But the conscience may be relieved from a sense 
 of guilt, and brought into a state of peace with God, before 
 there is room for raising such an inquiry—while the indi¬ 
 vidual is sensible of being nothing but a condemned sinner, 
 and by simply hearing the good news of free forgiveness to 
 such by the blood of the Cross. And it seems to me not only 
 legitimate, but of the highest importance, both as to their 
 comfort and progressive holiness, that the blessed relief and 
 peace obtained at first by sinners in this direct and simple 
 way, should in this same way be preserved continually, and to 
 the very end, by all Christians—that all Christians, in short, 
 should never forget they are still sinners, and as such, in their 
 intercourse with God, and in looking forward to eternity, 
 should not use their own past or present Christianity, but the 
 past and present mediation of God's dear Son alone. 
 
 I fear the idea now expressed is but very indistinctly 
 brought out in the Sermon ; and this hasty note will have 
 done little more to make it plain. Those who ’wish to see the 
 subject handled with great power and clearness, I would 
 refer to a little tract published about the close of last cen- 
 
NOTE. 
 
 319 
 
 tury, when the diseased and introverted kind of religion re¬ 
 ferred to in the Sermon so much prevailed. It is entitled, 
 “ Brief Thoughts concerning the Gospel, and the Hindrances 
 to believe it ; likewise, concerning the way in which a Chris¬ 
 tian obtains true satisfaction respecting his state towards God. 
 To whiclris added, the necessity of Christians holding the be¬ 
 ginning of their confidence stedfast to the end.” The mate¬ 
 rials of the tract were, I believe, contributed by more hands 
 than one; but they were cast into their present form and pub¬ 
 lished by the late Dr. John Erskine of Edinburgh. 
 
 I cannot resist the temptation of subjoining the following 
 account of a passage in the life of an eminent minister, as il¬ 
 lustrative of the statement made in the close of the Sermon, 
 about the simplicity with which the most experienced saint at 
 death reverts to the first elements of the Gospel. Then, as 
 at first, there is but one ground of peace and hope. The nar¬ 
 rative may be confidently relied on, though the names are not 
 given. It rests on the testimony of one of the most respected 
 ministers in our Church. 
 
 Some time ago, Mr. S- of C-related to a friend of 
 
 mine a few circumstances of great interest, with regard to the 
 
 last illness and death of the Rev. Mr. M‘G-of L-, a 
 
 well-known minister in the west of Scotland, one who had 
 long been very eminent for godliness, and had done much for 
 his Lord and Master in his day. In some respects, I believe, 
 he was a peculiar man, but if in any thing singular, he was 
 singular in holiness. Universally was he reverenced as a 
 man that walked with God, and whose secret was with him ; 
 
 and the very name of Mr. M‘G-still creates a sensation 
 
 in all that country side, which powerfully tells what he must 
 have been, and confirms the truth of the Word, “ The memory 
 of the just is blessed.” 
 
 Well, Mr. S-went to see Mr. M‘G-on his death¬ 
 
 bed, and he said he was awfully solemnized by the way he 
 spoke to him of his own experience. He seemed to have had 
 great searchings of heart, and to have been brought very low , 
 
 and he related a dream to Mr. S-which he had had, and 
 
 which, he said, expressed very clearly both what he had been 
 
320 
 
 NOTE. 
 
 brought through and brought to. He dreamt that he saw hea¬ 
 ven opened, and a company approach and go in, and the door 
 was shut; in this company he beheld Abraham, Isaac, and 
 Jacob, and many of the Old Testament saints, and there were 
 amongst them those whom he himself had known, but he 
 could not get in along with them. There was a short pause, and 
 again the door was opened, and again a company approached, 
 and in that company he knew many, but again, he said, I 
 could not get in along with them, and I began to tremble ex¬ 
 ceedingly. A third time the door was opened, and another 
 company approached, one went in after another, and Mr. 
 
 M‘G-said, terror began to seize upon me, and my knees 
 
 smote one upon another, when all at once, looking round, I 
 saw’ Manasseh ! Manasseh, that had made Jerusalem stream 
 
 with blood! And, giving Mr. S-an indescribable look, he 
 
 said, “ And I crept in at Manasseh’s back !” 
 
 Mr. M‘G- told Mr. S- he had now found peace, 
 
 having been bi’ought to Paul’s experience, “ This is a faithful 
 saying, and worthy of all acceptation, that Christ Jesus came 
 into the w'orld to save sinners, of whom I am chief,” and that 
 he had nothing in the world to trust to but this. 
 
 It is an interesting fact, that a minister to whom Mr. S- 
 
 related the above was smitten to the heart by it; he thought, 
 
 “ Oh, if it was so difficult for Mr. M f G-to get into heaven, 
 
 what will become of me !” From that moment he saw, that 
 whilst he had had a name to live, he had been dead; he was 
 brought to faith and repentance, and died four months after¬ 
 wards, a debtor to Sovereign grace. An awful view’ w’as given 
 him of the sin of his unfaithful ministry, under which he had 
 almost sunk into despair, but at last he was brought to Mr. 
 
 M‘G-’s confidence, and Paul’s confidence. “ This is a 
 
 faithful saying, and worthy of all acceptation, that Jesus 
 Christ came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am 
 chief.”—1st Timothy, i. 15. 
 
 ERRATUM. 
 
 P. 144, l. 2 from bottom, for nature, read native.